Chapter 48
Perhaps it was because he had been startled by the talk about the earring. Han Chasu left half his meal uneaten.
“Is that all you’re going to eat?”
When Han Chasu nodded, Gi Taeyeon clicked his tongue soundlessly. ‘The kids at the medical center are going to scold me later.’ His blue eyes swept over Han Chasu from head to toe. The clothes should have been issued to fit his build, yet they looked far too loose on him. It was because he had so little flesh on his frame.
Then again, after all the hell he had been through, it would have been stranger if he had put on weight.
“Then let’s talk.”
Han Chasu hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded. Perhaps he was nervous; he was gripping in his hand the mask he had been wearing until just a moment ago.
Come to think of it, they had said his mental state was unstable. With an indifferent expression, Gi Taeyeon recalled what the medical staff had told him.
Perhaps because he had crossed the line between life and death too many times in too short a span, Han Chasu’s psychological state was said to be quite unstable.
“He was already somewhat defensive by nature, but being exposed to so many violent situations in such a short period seems to have worsened it.”
The medical staff guessed that his insistence on wearing a mask stemmed from the same reason.
“It’s likely an expression of his desire to cut himself off from the outside world and be protected.”
The psychological counselor whom the medical center occasionally consulted had been of the same opinion.
A man who already looked as if he might snap if handled the wrong way, and mentally extremely fragile on top of that. Gi Taeyeon swept back his hair. Wasn’t this exactly the kind of situation where a “water ghost” was likely to occur?
“Haa…”
When things got tangled, they really tangled like this.
A heavy sigh flowed from Gi Taeyeon’s mouth. As he dropped into a seat, Han Chasu looked at him.
His gaze was urging him to start talking.
“So, as for how this happened…”
Gi Taeyeon slowly began to explain. The same way he had explained it to Jeong Iheun, Geum Myeonggyeol, and Baekdam.
In other words.
“It seems that among the potions administered to you on the day you collapsed at the Bureau, Mr. Han Chasu, there was one that caused an abnormal status effect.”
Meaning, he shamelessly lied through his teeth.
“At the time, all healers affiliated with the Bureau had been dispatched, so we urgently received help from the medical center. It appears that in the process, several potions under development by the Development Lab were mixed in.”
As expected, Han Chasu looked shocked. Then, before long, his brow furrowed.
It seemed he did not understand how that connected to the earring.
This was the highlight. Gi Taeyeon crossed his right leg over his left and continued.
“Mr. Han Chasu, you appear to be under the abnormal status of spiritization. It won’t show up in your status window, so don’t waste your effort. The reason the earring that was supposedly a bound item was released is also because of that.”
There came the sound of a short, sharp intake of breath. Gi Taeyeon nodded as though he understood.
“Guildmaster Jeong Iheun told me. That the earring you were wearing was a bound item, Mr. Han Chasu. And also that you wanted to hand it over to Guildmaster Geum Myeonggyeol.”
“That… cough!”
“Would you like some water?”
Pale-faced, Han Chasu shook his head and slowly steadied his breathing. Then he carefully spoke, one syllable at a time.
“Spirit… ization. What does that… mean?”
“Mm. Would you like the long version, or the short version?”
Gi Taeyeon raised his hands and pointed in two different directions. Han Chasu stared to the left. That was the long one.
“As you can tell from the name, it literally means becoming spiritized. Your presence becomes faint like a ghost’s, and your bodily composition changes along with it. Ah, there’s no need to take it too seriously.”
Gi Taeyeon said it decisively.
“It’s a potion the Development Lab is still experimenting with, so all the antidotes have been prepared as well. In a week, you’ll recover without any problems.”
Of course, it was complete nonsense. There was no potion, no antidote, nothing.
What Han Chasu had was not spiritization, but a side effect brought on by Gi Taeyeon’s blood.
Even so, Gi Taeyeon poured out lies without a hint of shame. It was because he was confident he would not be caught. ‘Still, it seems he accepted my blood more deeply than I expected. Considering I was even able to unbind his bound item.’ Someone who became a water ghost fell under Gi Taeyeon’s influence. If one had to define it, it meant they were regarded as something akin to a retainer.
That was why Gi Taeyeon had been able to release his bound item. ‘At any rate, because of this damned side effect, there’s never a peaceful day.’ Gi Taeyeon recalled Jeong Iheun glaring at him as if he would burn him alive.
“Unless he’s dead, there’s no way a bound item would be released, Chief Gi Taeyeon.”
It suited a man who had boldly called the Director’s direct line in the dead of night. Should he say he had been overflowing with spirit? Or should he call it killing intent?
If he had not prepared an excuse in advance, Jeong Iheun really would have burned down the Bureau. And Geum Myeonggyeol and Baekdam would have egged him on. ‘Just thinking about it gives me a headache.’ Gi Taeyeon erased his idle thoughts and focused on the reality before him.
He had been somewhat annoyed because of those unruly S-ranks, but looking only at the conclusion, it was good for him too. It had become certain that Han Chasu had shown side effects.
Now all that remained was to stay by Han Chasu’s side while he remained at the medical center and collect the traces of his own energy left in his body.
“Just think of it as having caught a cold. If you rest while steadily taking the antidote, you’ll get better.”
This should be enough. Gi Taeyeon wrapped up the conversation. He had tried, in his own way, to speak gently, though he was not sure whether it had worked.
Well, judging by the fact that Han Chasu was not bawling his eyes out, it seemed to have gone well.
“Then I’ll see you in a bit.”
And so the greatest swindler of the Awakened Management Bureau left Han Chasu behind and exited.
“……”
Left alone, Han Chasu flopped down onto the bed.
“Ha, haha…”
A stifled laugh leaked through the hands covering his face. How long had he remained like that? His gray eyes, filled with emptiness, stared up at the ceiling. ‘Damn it, thank goodness.’ He had never imagined things would resolve themselves in this kind of way… ‘Maybe, because my life after possessing a villain has been so unfortunate, God gave me a gift.’ In truth, it was not as though there were no suspicious points. They said he had been afflicted with an unusual abnormal status called spiritization, but he himself did not feel any particular symptoms.
However, there were plenty of abnormal statuses that did not appear in the system window. Hadn’t Jeong Iheun in the original novel also suffered after being afflicted by one of those?
On top of that, it was not a disease he would have to carry for life; they said he would recover in a week. And in addition, even the bound item had been released. ‘That’s enough.’ Han Chasu was an adult who was satisfied as long as he could look after his own body. In other words, an adult who did not waste time digging into questions that would yield no particular benefit.
Whatever the method, he had achieved what he wanted.
Complete freedom from Geum Myeonggyeol.
“Phew…”
An exhilarating sense of liberation filled his entire body. It was the first satisfaction he had tasted since possessing this body.
Now that Geum Myeonggyeol had been dealt with, all that remained was to release the restriction on his Regeneration skill. If he tried to say he was resigning with a body that could not even produce a voice, there was no way Jeong Iheun would listen.
To do that, he would have to eat properly.
“You want to eat more?”
Han Chasu nodded at the medical staff member who asked back in surprise. The Post-it note he was holding said that he wanted more food.
“Mm, I don’t think it would be good to overdo it. Eating well is important, but there’s still such a thing as a proper limit. With your current body, Mr. Han Chasu, you probably won’t be able to digest a large amount of food.”
Han Chasu shook his head with a firm expression. No one knew his body better than he did.
Right now, his body needed energy. Not the energy required to maintain biological activity, but the massive amount of energy needed for the Regeneration skill. ‘I need at least two or three times more than now.’ For swift recovery, a large intake of energy and restrained expenditure had to go hand in hand. That was why he was deliberately not using his voice even now. ‘Every minute and every second is precious.’ Once he put his body back on track, he would make sure not to leave his house at all.
Han Chasu resolved this as he tackled his meal with a fighting spirit. If he was discharged from the medical center and went home, he would not set a single foot outside for the time being.
After all, recently, he had not had even a single day when he could relax and rest in peace.
As soon as he possessed this body, his back had been shredded in place of the protagonist’s younger sibling. When he had barely survived and tried to disappear, the protagonist had caught him; when he thought he had shaken him off, Geum Myeonggyeol attacked…
Just thinking about what happened at the Item Exchange Association and Baekdam’s house made him tired of talking.
It was a miracle that he had survived until now with a body this battered. ‘It’d be better to roll around on a battlefield instead.’ At least there, he would not have to get a headache because of so many people. Han Chasu sighed and drank a beverage. The medical staff had left an entire box of it, saying it was good for his health.
“Ugh.”
Why did this taste like this? Han Chasu hurriedly poured water into his mouth, then checked the label with a grimace.
In the place where the manufacturer’s name should have been written were the words “Awakened Management Bureau Development Support Office.”
“……”
What on earth was the Development Lab? A question surfaced in Han Chasu’s eyes.
The treatment device that had supposedly made a remarkable contribution to saving him, the potion that had supposedly given him a strange abnormal status, and even this bizarre-tasting beverage were all works of the Development Lab, weren’t they?
“Hmm…”
After pondering for a moment, Han Chasu reached a neat conclusion. ‘It’s a place that won’t do me any good to get involved with.’ After moving the Development Lab’s masterpiece somewhere out of sight, Han Chasu closed his eyes. He had judged that a nap would help him preserve his strength.
His judgment was correct. Two mornings later, as soon as Han Chasu opened his eyes, he received good news.
[ Notification! ]
[ Energy supply required for the skill “Regeneration” is stable. ]
[ Restriction “Watch Your Mouth” has been released. ]
And he also received one not-so-welcome guest.
“I have good news, Mr. Han Chasu.”
It was Jeong Iheun.
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