A wooden room designed like a typical bedroom for the lower class flickered under the faint glow of an oil lamp.
A hand reached out to take the pen resting in the ink pot, writing a few lines on the paper; beside it was a stack of thick books.
"You're still looking into it, huh?"
Lunas walked toward me from behind, carrying neatly arranged sheets of paper, then placed them beside me.
Wearing a pair of non-prescription glasses to look scholarly, I took the papers from Lunas, licked the brush tip, dipped it into the ink, all while being stared at with mild contempt.
"Yeah. Is it really this special?"
I set my books down on a nearby chair, then returned to the wooden desk, picking up one of the pages I had written and handing it to Lunas.
"If you would, my dear little brother~"
I flashed a sly smile as I passed him the thick tomes on magic. He let out a sigh, grabbed a book, and sat down at the edge of the bed to start reading.
I picked up the oil lamp, placed it on the bedside shelf, and stepped out of the room. It was already late, and we were stuck in a cheap inn.
Stepping outside, I sat on the balcony railing of the inn, looking down at the bustling city below.
Even late at night, the village of Jinlus was still lively. I sighed at the door I had just closed, took out a cigarette, considered lighting it—but then threw it away.
I had tried to quit smoking. Even though it didn't harm my body like before thanks to mana, the stigma remained deeply ingrained.Still, lately I had to smoke sometimes, just to dull the pain caused by the necrosis.
'Not much time left.'I thought to myself, calmly enjoying the breeze. If everything could stay like this, it'd be nice. But some things linger, refusing to let me rest.
Lifting my sleeve, it wasn't hard to see a few necrotic patches along my arm. Touching them, I felt nothing.
'The nociceptive pain receptors must've stopped functioning.'
My arm had already stopped working from the elbow down; the condition was getting worse.
I wasn't sure why—but it was probably because of my Gift.
Glancing toward the room where Lunas was still researching, every book I had brought back recorded known Gifts, their mutations, and achievements born from them.
Gifts were hereditary across generations, yet they could also appear randomly in anyone. Even so, there were always anomalous Gifts—those that vanished and resurfaced with new mutations, like genetic aberrations.
And it seemed my Gift was one of those mutations. I'd spent months searching, but a Gift like mine—where "one touch kills"—was absurd.
'Still, maybe this decaying body is the price of such a monstrous power.'
I looked at my body wrapped in bandages like some full-body casualty, frowning nonstop.
There were two hypotheses for the necrosis:
Because I reincarnated into this body, my soul—deeply tied to the flesh—was damaged.
Because of my Gift, which traded my body for power.
I didn't know which it was, but either way, it wasn't ideal.
'I should settle this as soon as possible.'
"…"
I recalled what had happened today, picked up the cigarette I had thrown earlier, reluctantly lit it, and put it between my lips.
'Was it the right thing to do?'
Leaning my head back, I exhaled a stream of smoke and closed my eyes.
Whoosh—Thud.
I leaned too far and fell backward into the dark alley below, landing among scattered trash bags.
Even a fall from the third floor didn't hurt me anymore. I'd been in so much pain that this didn't even make me flinch.
A few rats glanced at me, ready to run, but when they realized I wasn't moving, they returned to rummaging through the garbage. A tear slipped from my eye.
'Do I really have to do this?'
My hands twitched—the necrotic fingers as well—but soon stilled again.
Everyone wears different masks.But what if those masks become too real?How do you make sure you don't turn into the mask itself?
Fragments of what happened today lingered in my mind. My decaying hand twitched again, but I couldn't control it.
"Ha-ha~"
My ragged breathing echoed through the dark alley, blending with the rustling of rats in the trash.
'So sleepy…'
Maybe I needed sleep. Just a little.
"…Hey, Ron… I was looking… hey…"
CRACK
…
I opened my eyes. This was an abandoned room—its owner had long been killed, so I'd been living there.
Beside me, my wristband was ringing. I reluctantly raised my hand to silence it.
A nightmare?
I touched my face, brushing away a tear that had rolled down my cheek.
Standing up, I pulled open the curtains. A bright, sunlit sky with only a few clouds greeted me—a lively new day.
"Sigh…"
I reached into my pocket and took out an unwrapped piece of dark chocolate. I stared at it like an addict eyeing his drug, but tossed it aside. I couldn't keep going like this.
I looked again at the three items on the shelf:the Steel Cloak (Grade 3),The One-Eyed Impostor (Grade 5),and a skull I called Lusk.
Ding~
A sound came from the wristband. I checked it and exhaled.
"It's here."
I said to Lusk—the thing now wrapped entirely in dense darkness.
Grabbing the other two items, I put on the Steel Cloak and prepared The One-Eyed Impostor to begin observing.
Throwing open the window, I stepped onto the ledge and jumped from the third floor. The wind tore past me, but I didn't care.
Looking down, I saw the Western-style district below—ruined, devastated…yet to me, it felt like countless hands reaching up to drag me under.