"
"For now, wait here."
To prepare for today, I had brought a hundred rounds each for the pistol, shotgun, and sniper rifle, along with no fewer than nine hundred 5.56mm rounds.
"Who are you to tell me to wait or not wait······?"
"We need to deal with the underlings first so the leaders can fight each other in peace."
"······Hmm. That is true."
I climbed a tall tree nearby and took out my sniper rifle.
My first-priority targets were the ones dozing off in the distance, or the ones already asleep.
My bullets would fly silently and force them into an eternal slumber.
There was no need to hesitate. There was no reason to feel guilty.
This place was merely a recreation of the past.
Those people were not real. They were not actually alive······.
I clenched my teeth and pulled the trigger.
The enemies struck in their vital points crumpled without even managing to scream. Rather than watch them die, I immediately selected my next target.
"······Haa."
After sending five people off, I found myself drenched in cold sweat.
I had to close my eyes for a moment.
* * *
Meanwhile, Kim Suho's team had also infiltrated the area near the transmission tower.
"Hmm······."
Yu Yeonha stared silently up at the tower, lost in thought.
A purple crystal was shining at the very tip of the tower. However, since it had undergone special magical processing, it was impossible to snatch it with a whip.
"······What is the plan?"
Lee Yeonghan asked.
Yu Yeonha lowered her gaze and assessed the enemy's forces.
There were roughly forty people by visual estimation alone. It was a considerable number.
If all of them were assumed to be at the level of Cube cadets, four people might have a difficult time dealing with them.
When assigning Hero ranks, the definition of "class" meant that one could face ten people of a class one level below one's own at the same time. In other words, a mid-class, first-grade Hero had to be capable of subduing ten lower-mid-class, first-grade Heroes simultaneously.
But now.
I did not think there was such a difference in class between them and us.
With the sole exception of Kim Suho.
Yu Yeonha looked at Kim Suho and spoke.
"Kim Suho. Draw the attention of as many people as possible. Most of them will chase after you, but a few will remain behind to guard the main force. We will subdue them and slowly reduce their numbers."
"What? Hey, isn't that too dangerous?"
Chae Nayun sounded slightly concerned, but Kim Suho readily agreed.
"No. It seems like the best method."
Kim Suho smiled faintly.
"Then I'll go right away."
He gathered magical power in his legs and explosively released it, accelerating rapidly. A sonic boom swept through the air as he charged.
Kim Suho ran straight toward the outskirts of the battlefield and struck a man patrolling the area with a tree branch.
"Ugh!"
The man collapsed with a loud scream, and in an instant, the gazes of every enemy turned toward Kim Suho.
"It's the enemy! We're under attack!"
At that shout, most of the troops ran in that direction.
Yu Yeonha, Chae Nayun, and Lee Yeonghan charged toward the now-empty main camp, where around ten remnants remained.
"W-What the!"
"Argh!"
Lee Yeonghan subdued them with a monstrously powerful headlock, Chae Nayun with the magical power infused into her sword, and Yu Yeonha with her whip.
"Ugh, uuu······."
One man who had been swaggering around with a sword in hand was knocked unconscious, his neck constricted by Yu Yeonha's whip. Just as Yu Yeonha was about to turn away leisurely, a sharp slash came at her from behind.
Yu Yeonha hurriedly lowered her head, but some of her hair was cut off by the blade.
"You crazy bastard!"
Furious, Yu Yeonha swung her whip and seized the neck of the man who had launched the surprise attack.
"······Do you have any idea how carefully I grew this hair?!"
The man's face gradually turned purple. As she looked at the hair scattered on the ground, Yu Yeonha fiddled with her own head. A lot had been cut off. Her eyes blazed with rage.
"Ugh, urk······."
However, in a great display of mercy, Yu Yeonha stopped choking him just as he was nearing death.
Kim Hajin had said that these people were merely byproducts of the past, not real human beings. But even so, killing them would leave a rather unpleasant aftertaste.
"Hey, Lee Yeonghan! You take care of that tower. Yeonha and I are going to help Kim Suho!"
"Okay!"
Chae Nayun shouted hurriedly.
Yu Yeonha also raised her gaze and watched Kim Suho. He had drawn several people after him, but he did not seem to be in a particularly disadvantageous situation. In fact, the thirty men who had initially charged after Kim Suho had already been reduced to around fifteen.
······It was then.
"Ugh, hey! Don't help Kim Suho, help me! Ju Parang is here!"
Lee Yeonghan's desperate shout rang out from atop the transmission tower as he climbed it.
* * *
Just as in the original story, the two teams recovered the purple crystal without much trouble.
So, intending to hold a party as well, we slaughtered an entire pig. I had little appetite and stopped after eating a few pieces, but Chae Nayun and Kim Suho were eating as if they had been possessed by starving ghosts.
After watching them for quite some time, I smiled and spoke.
"The south and northwest will soon be deactivated."
All we had to do was proceed slowly, very slowly, just as we had today.
"······Cough."
All of a sudden, Yu Yeonha clutched her throat. As if something had gone down the wrong way, she pounded her chest and gulped down water. Her face had gone somewhat pale.
"Yeonha. What's wrong?"
Chae Nayun asked worriedly.
"No. It's nothing. I just······ seem to be having trouble digesting."
My brow furrowed.
"Trouble digesting? There is no way you would have trouble digesting something."
"W-What are you talking about? I'm not a pig. It's possible to have a little indigestion."
No, that was not the issue. With the mana making everything here so soft, there was no way she could have trouble digesting. I narrowed my eyes and examined Yu Yeonha.
Was she injured somewhere······?
Her hair.
The length of her hair was asymmetrical.
In other words, someone had cut it during the battle.
"Hey, what happened to that?"
"What?"
Yu Yeonha tilted her head. I pointed at her hair.
"Your hair. Where did it go?"
"Oh. This? It was cut off while I was fighting······."
"······Damn it."
To repeat, Kim Suho's team would have only "subdued" the enemies.
Some of them would have survived and returned to the main force, carrying evidence of the people who had ambushed them—hair, for example.
"Ah, but seriously, why does my stomach feel like this······?"
Yu Yeonha kept pounding her chest.
If my guess was correct······ this was a curse. Depending on the caster's ability, the Curse of Debilitation could drive someone to the brink of death with nothing more than a handful of hair.
Certainly, there had been one voodoo curse practitioner on the Gwangmyeong City Hall side.
This made the situation somewhat troublesome.
"By the way, why are you staring at me like that? I'm not in enough pain to deserve that look, you know?"
Yu Yeonha suddenly frowned and snapped at me.
Chae Nayun, who was beside her, snickered and chimed in.
"Seriously. Why's he making such a fuss? Anyone would think he likes you."
"If that's the case, I'll say this in advance. I'm sorry."
"······What a load of crap."
Moreover, the curse's power would be greatly amplified in a place with such a high mana concentration. Yet the two women, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, merely giggled among themselves.
End
I explained the possibility: what might happen if Yu Yeonha's hair had fallen into the hands of the voodoo practitioner.
I told them frankly that the Curse of Debilitation was not something that could easily be dispelled. Although the curse could not kill someone directly, in an environment without IVs or anything else, it could lead to the worst possible outcome.
By the time I finished speaking, the atmosphere in the hideout had become terribly heavy.
"Ah, right. You did mention that back then. I forgot······ What a mess."
Chae Nayun covered her face with both hands and blamed herself. But it was understandable that she had forgotten. A week ago, while she was sleep-deprived from standing watch, I had only mentioned it in passing.
Perhaps I was more at fault for failing to give them proper warning. If I had made it clear, she would not have forgotten to secure her hair even after getting caught up in the battlefield.
We were silent for a moment.
The anxious yet composed silence was broken by the lively voice of the person at its center.
"Why do you all look so serious?"
Yu Yeonha continued with a fairly bright smile.
"We don't even know for sure whether it's a curse. And I'm surprisingly resistant to dark magic, you know. A mere curse? I'll be able to overcome it······ Ah."
A large hand descended onto Yu Yeonha's head. Shin Jonghak gazed steadily at the startled Yu Yeonha and spoke.
"······Tell me if it hurts."
Yu Yeonha's cheeks reddened faintly.
Was that what they called a bad boy?
While I was thinking that, Yu Yeonha nodded vigorously.
"Okay. But I don't think it'll hurt much."
"······Tsk."
All of a sudden, Shin Jonghak stood up with his spear in hand. Everyone's gazes focused on him. In a voice hot with anger, Shin Jonghak said,
"They'll be busy dealing with the place we attacked. Before dawn breaks, we'll strike another location."
It was three in the morning. There was still some time before daybreak.
Furthermore, if this really was a curse, we no longer had time to sit around comfortably. As Shin Jonghak had said, we had to bring them down as soon as possible.
The group rose after Shin Jonghak. With grim expressions, they sharpened and polished their weapons.
"I-I'll go too. I'm still fine for now······."
"You stay here."
As expected, Shin Jonghak stopped Yu Yeonha when she tried to follow.
And so, we left Yu Yeonha behind and set out.
This battle took only an hour. Enraged, Shin Jonghak swept through the battlefield and seized yet another purple crystal from the northern tower.
It was the moment when Shin Jonghak's constitution, "Anger Management Disorder," truly shone.
For reference, Anger Management Disorder was a unique constitution that could amplify one's physical abilities by up to 1.3 times depending on the degree of one's anger.
* * *
Gwangmyeong City Hall.
Asura sat calmly upon his throne and received a report from a subordinate. In an urgent voice, the subordinate said that they had lost no fewer than three crystals in a single night.
Asura had initially been furious, but soon he felt relieved.
That was thanks to Lee Yohan, the curse practitioner he had kept nearby just in case.
Lee Yohan was a highly capable curse practitioner in his own right. And one of the enemies' hairs had fallen into his hands.
"It's fine. Why are you making such a fuss?"
He had already sent scouting familiars to learn the enemies' identities and locate their hideout. They seemed quite young and close-knit. Children like that would never sit by and watch one of their friends die.
Benevolence, love, friendship······ Humans were weak because they were bound by such useless emotions.
"Just bring the crystals to City Hall."
"······Excuse me?"
Three crystals remained. The northeast and the east.
Of course, removing the crystals would weaken some of the people from the past, but this was the best course of action for now.
The children would be unable to watch their dying friend, and would ultimately ruin things all on their own.
"Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak······."
Asura, too, knew of Kim Suho. Cube's greatest rising star. He had already warned his subordinates in advance to be wary of two handsome men.
"I could rise in the world."
If he brought back their heads, he would likely walk a smooth road all the way to becoming an executive of Myeolak.
* * *
The first day.
As expected, Yu Yeonha's body began to lose its strength.
And we belatedly realized that Asura had recovered all the crystals from the crystal towers.
The third day.
After only three days, she had reached the point where she could barely stand.
Unable to bear the frustration, the group went outside and watched Gwangmyeong City Hall, but the City Hall showed no sign of movement. It neither came toward us nor emerged. It simply remained still.
We spent a whole week wasting time as we watched Gwangmyeong City Hall.
As each day passed, Yu Yeonha grew more haggard, until she eventually took to her bed.
Suffering from high fever, chills, and vomiting, Yu Yeonha gradually grew thinner.
Everyone thought the same thing as they watched her.
If this continued, she might really die.
"Yeonha. Can't you eat a little of this······?"
"······."
She could not even eat the porridge Lee Yeonghan and Chae Nayun had painstakingly prepared. Yu Yeonha merely shook her head slightly at the spoon Chae Nayun held out, then lay silently on the floor of the tent.
I had tried, but even the magic power of the Stigma couldn’t resolve this curse. In the first place, curses weren’t made of magic power, but of ‘talent.’
“There was nothing today, either. Looks like he plans to hole up in City Hall and never come out.”
Kim Suho said this with a frustrated expression after returning from his patrol.
Asura had chosen a different method from the original.
Knowing that one of his comrades was dying, he had collected all the crystals in his possession and decided to simply wait. If you don’t like it, come and get me yourselves. That was probably what he was thinking.
“It can’t be helped. We’ll have to do as those goddamn bastards want.”
Shin Jonghak’s face was flushed red, as though he were absolutely furious.
Lee Younghan replied with a troubled expression.
“Wait, wait. You’re saying the four of us should fight five thousand people?”
I answered in his place.
“If the crystals are concentrated in one location, the past becomes unstable. The same should apply to the people of the past, who are byproducts of the past. Therefore, only about two hundred people will be able to participate in the battle. And among them, there are only around ten people we need to be wary of, including Asura.”
The people of the past grew weaker if the power of the crystals wasn’t spread evenly.
Kim Suho and Chae Nayun. Shin Jonghak and Lee Younghan.
With me joining them as well, we should be able to handle them.
However, the problem was still Yoo Yeonha. We couldn’t leave Yoo Yeonha alone somewhere. Taking her to the battlefield would be insane, and someone would have to stay behind to protect her until we killed the Voodooist, but······
Wait.
I looked at the purple crystals inside the leather pouch.
Three crystals the size of fingers, and one the size of a fingernail.
But if I were the only one carrying them, wouldn’t Asura come looking for me?
“Then it’s doable. Two hundred against five. I feel like I could really kill them all, you know?”
Chae Nayun muttered through clenched teeth. Amid the strangely shifting atmosphere, Lee Younghan, who had been anxiously biting his nails, raised one objection.
“W-what if he sends his lackeys to kidnap Yoo Yeonha?”
“I’ll protect her.”
I raised my hand high.
“I’ll protect both this purple crystal and Yoo Yeonha. If things get bad, I can just ride away on the bike.”
You could call it a trap.
If Asura came looking for me alone, I was confident I could deal with him. And if he didn’t come alone, I was confident I could escape on the bike.
“······All right.”
Kim Suho closed his eyes and thought for a while, but in the end, he had no choice but to admit that, for now, there was no way we could refuse to do as they wanted.
“That’s the only method we have.”
“······Damn it. Fine, fine, I get it. Don’t blame me if I get beaten half to death.”
Though he grumbled, Lee Younghan loosened up his body. His bulging muscles moved as if preparing for battle.
Shin Jonghak also raised his magic power.
“Tonight. We tear them apart.”
*
It was a night when the full moon shone brightly.
The group was walking along the road. The past, deprived of its crystals, had changed into a bleak wasteland. The bushes had lost their color, and the trees had withered limply.
How long had they walked through that desolate landscape without saying a word?
At last, the view of Gwangmyeong City Hall began to emerge.
A haphazard barricade and City Hall, modified into a fortress······ Yet no one was guarding the barricade.
It was clearly a trap.
But the group had no other choice.
They walked toward Gwangmyeong City Hall with protective qi wrapped around their bodies.
The spaces between the ruined shops and the houses built from planks were quiet and still.
Then, at one moment—
In the middle of the road, a man suddenly rose atop a demolished bus. His entire body was powerfully built, and he carried a long steel beam over one shoulder.
Tall.
A bandit-like appearance.
One of Asura’s closest confidants, as Kim Hajin had said—‘Yoo Dongseok.’
“Now, now. Children aren’t allowed in here.”
At the same time, men carrying various deadly weapons appeared from all directions.
Shin Jonghak asked calmly.
“Are you Yoo Dongseok?”
“Heh heh. A child is speaking informally to me.”
Shin Jonghak snorted and pointed his spear at him.
“Lackey, get lost. Where’s Asura?”
“He isn’t here, though?”
“······I won’t ask twice.