ALL NOVEL Chapter 277
Chapter 277. Bad Fate
After discovering that my father’s acquaintance was still alive.
Yoo Ji-han contacted Yang Ji-cheol, requesting to borrow Desa.
When he arrived at his call, Desa spoke with a blunt expression.
“You treat me like a tool that you only borrow when you need me.”
“I’ve got no one else to ask.”
“… Well, if that’s the case, I guess it can’t be helped.”
Desa, who strangely didn’t seem too offended.
Yoo Ji-han took him to a large hospital in Songpa, Seoul.
A man in his sixties, known as a patient of Magic Discoloration Syndrome, was hospitalized there.
“This way, please.”
The group followed the nurse’s guidance to the room.
Finally, they met the individual that Han Seo-in had investigated…
Desa squinted and said,
“The doctors in this hospital must be quite skilled.”
“……”
“It’s impressive that they’ve managed to keep someone like ‘that’ alive.”
“Don’t say that in front of his family.”
“It’s only because I can say it.”
The man had lifeless, dark skin that seemed not alive.
His body was so thin that the bones seemed to be fully adhered to the skin.
If children saw him, they would surely burst into tears out of shock.
Yoo Ji-han felt sorry for his family, but even he thought that this patient looked so wrecked that it wouldn’t be strange for him to depart for the great beyond at any moment.
‘More serious than Ms. Yoo-ri’s brother.’
He had received various complications on top of the Magic Discoloration Syndrome.
Numerous medical devices, whose purposes were entirely unknown, were haphazardly lined up beside his bed.
Given the presence of devices that felt magical, it seemed that advanced magical engineering technology had been mobilized to save this one patient.
If it weren’t for a family that had reportedly succeeded in business, ongoing treatment would likely have been impossible by now.
“Even from a distance, it’s definitely a curse.”
“Seems so.”
“I’ll say it in advance, but treatment is out of the question. It’s far worse than the young woman I saw last time.”
Though Desa was brought in with some hope,
He shook his head before even making contact with the patient.
It was serious enough to warrant it.
“I don’t expect a cure, just confirm what kind of curse this person is under.”
“That’s easy enough.”
After a short reply, Desa approached the bed and placed his fingers on the man’s wrist.
He seemed careful, as if a slight touch might break it.
“……?”
However, from the information transmitted after physical contact.
Desa frowned, feeling an unsettling energy.
“……I don’t understand.”
“What’s the matter?”
“The curse this man has is almost identical to the one I felt from you when we were at the Island of Death.”
“……!”
“A curse this terrible isn’t just one—it’s two? At this point, I’m curious who cast such a curse. I’d guess it’s not your average lunatic. A curse this powerful brings an enormous burden to its user, too…”
Yoo Ji-han listened to Desa’s mumbling as he looked at the man lying there.
Perhaps he shared the same curse as his father’s acquaintance.
He must know all the information related to his father and this curse.
‘He probably knows about me too, right?’
Though there were no memories surfacing at all.
Yoo Ji-han was convinced that he must have met this man when he was too young to speak.
“I will administer the potion right away.”
The nurse, who entered the hospital room with them, infused the patient with an IV made from Kallem’s herbs.
Thanks to the family’s consent, no additional procedures were necessary.
Then, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes.
As time passed, the man’s complexion visibly improved.
“Whoa! Such a quick change…”
“Is it showing that effect with no side effects at all?”
“We, our hospital’s elixirs and techniques feel utterly inadequate now.”
The medical staff were amazed by the effects of the elixir brought from another world.
However, Yoo Ji-han was not satisfied in the slightest.
He had merely extended the life of someone on the brink of death by a few days.
‘Don’t die before I visit again.’
In the bustling hospital room due to the effects of the IV, Yoo Ji-han made a vow.
The next time he came back here, he would definitely learn about the family.
While Yoo Ji-han busily searched for information related to his family.
Kim Si-hu invested time in matters he had previously neglected.
“Are you the Mage Kim Si-hu?”
“Yeah, come in!”
“Could I get your autograph first?!”
“If you do a thorough cleaning, I’ll give you as many as you want!”
Hiring a cleaning company, he had a thorough clean-up done in his vacant house.
“Nam Ho-yeol! Please make the incision in the waist area that we talked about.”
“Since we’ve got the materials, how about just making a new one now?”
“That sounds good! Just make sure the design is like this…”
He also discussed the equipment he had gradually felt discomfort with while using in Kallem along with Nam Ho-yeol.
With plans already set to depart for Japan with the party members soon.
He wanted to handle as much as possible in Korea beforehand.
And…
“Still no news on Young-wook?”
—Honestly, I have nothing to report.
Kim Si-hu was also looking into the whereabouts of his longtime friend, Jung Young-wook, who had completely vanished.
He had even hired a specialized detective from the Hero Department to find him.
—Family, relatives, friends, heroes from the Dice Guild, acquaintances from Hero Academy… We’ve tracked down all the footprints of Jung Young-wook, but he was nowhere to be found.
“……”
Jung Young-wook had completely disappeared after being sighted in the treatment room of the Hero Department.
Even a skilled detective with a success rate of 91% couldn’t find a trace of him.
—Customer! There’s no need for any additional fees, so if you could just trust us a little longer and wait…
“Okay. I’ll wait.”
—Thank you!
After finishing his call with the detective agency, Kim Si-hu let out a short sigh.
He started to wonder if Jung Young-wook had already left Korea.
At that moment, he was deep in thought.
‘Jung Young-wook. Where on earth have you gone?’
During the local expedition, Jung Young-wook had betrayed Kim Si-hu and used him as bait for otherworlders.
Kim Si-hu had no intention of becoming friends with him again.
He merely wanted to ask why he had been so deceitful instead of acting sincerely.
“Tsk.”
Kim Si-hu shook his head as if shaking off his increasingly tangled thoughts.
Then he lay down with his arms and legs spread out in the now clean living room.
Just then, while he was enjoying his rest.
Ding-dong!
As the doorbell rang, he got up.
“Who’s there?”
“Delivery!”
Opening the front door, a delivery man handed him a small box.
It was a box that felt almost weightless.
“Where did this come from?”
Kim Si-hu examined the sticker attached to the box.
And…
[Sender: Jung Young-wook]
His gaze dropped sharply as he discovered Jung Young-wook’s name on the sticker.
How could someone who had gone missing send a package?
‘Is someone messing with me?’
Even before disappearing, Jung Young-wook didn’t know Kim Si-hu’s home address.
Perhaps the information that he had recently entrusted a detective had leaked out somehow.
The more someone’s fame grows, the more strange people seem to surround them.
“Just wait till I catch you. I won’t let it slide.”
Kim Si-hu put the box down and grabbed his staff.
It was a piece of cake to open the box without using his hands.
Zzzzz! Zzziip!
With precise magical control, the tape on the delivery box was torn off without leaving a single trace.
But just before the box opened…
“……!!”
Kim Si-hu felt a surge of magic from inside the box.
He quickly waved his staff.
[Shield]
[Shield]
[Shield]
[Shield]
…
…
Among all defensive magic, the Shield was the most basic and had the fastest casting speed.
Totaling ten layers of shields took around 0.2 seconds to encase the box.
Bam!!
However, the explosion that emanated from the center of the box shattered Kim Si-hu’s magic with ease.
As he watched the shields being torn like paper, one layer after another, Kim Si-hu was taken aback.
This was not merely being overwhelmed by the power of the magic.
It was as though the magic inside the box was penetrating through his own.
‘How on earth…!’
Startled, he kept pouring magic to counter the explosion.
Even then, it was somewhat overwhelming to fully suppress it.
‘This is going to break through!’
Grinding his teeth, Kim Si-hu concentrated on maintaining the last remaining shield.
He dashed out of the living room window, box in hand.
Crash!
The transparent window shattered, and shards of glass flew everywhere.
[Air Suit]
He used magic to extend his hang time while falling from the eighth floor.
Afterward, he threw the box into the air and summoned a giant just as the last shield was about to break.
[Promise of the Giant]
The cramped entrance for the hastily generated giant was exceedingly narrow.
But for now, that would suffice.
“Stop it!”
Swaaaah!
The box was sucked into the space between the giant’s pinky finger, made of meticulously arranged trees.
As the finger bent inward…
Boom——!!
A massive shockwave erupted from where the box was sucked in.
Due to the shock wave spreading, all nearby vehicles and buildings had their windows shattered.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The street was engulfed in chaos due to the numerous car alarms and sirens.
This was an excessively large price to pay just for opening a delivery box!
‘That was magic solely aimed at killing me!’
It felt as if the magic had been prepared after keenly observing how Kim Si-hu usually controlled his magical energy.
Just realizing this, goosebumps spread up his arm more than the sensation of the magical explosion.
“What the hell is happening all of a sudden?!”
“What is that huge pillar?!”
“Oh my! Look at the cracked window of my brother’s car!”
“Did a monster appear or something…?!”
Caught off guard, everyone passing by the street fell into confusion.
Successfully landing barefoot on the ground, Kim Si-hu gazed at the fragments of the box falling from the sky.
‘What’s that…?’
Amidst that explosion, he saw something that survived the fall.
Among the falling debris was a small piece of paper.
Kim Si-hu reached out to grab it.
It was a note with very small letters written on it.
[Remember this, Kim Si-hu.]
[In the past, now, and even in the future.]
[I will always be a far superior mage than you.]
The content would be incomprehensible to anyone else.
But Kim Si-hu understood.
‘It’s you.’
The person who wrote this arrogant note.
The Jung Young-wook he remembered.
“You’ve really lost it, haven’t you?”
Jung Young-wook, a fellow graduate from the Blue Moon Hero Academy.
Kim Si-hu vaguely knew of the inferiority complex he possessed.
In essence, if Kim Si-hu hadn’t been there, the top honor at the academy would have been his, which made it all the more absurd that he didn’t understand this.
Even so, Jung Young-wook, who had pretended to be kind on the outside, had maintained some level of friendship with Kim Si-hu…
Now this matter was no longer something that could just end with a simple severing of ties.
With a sharp expression on his face, Kim Si-hu crumpled the note into a ball.
Then, the crumpled note in his hand ignited with bluish flames fueled by magical energy.
It was a blazing blue flame that reflected the coldness in his heart.
‘You’ve crossed the line…!’
He made a vow.
The next time he encountered that guy.
He would kill him for the sake of peace around him.