DTW 81

Chapter : 81

The Long Road Toward Curses (3)

“Why are you coming out?!”
Shaina was listening to the conversation outside when Suhyun came out, and she was startled. Even if he wasn’t going to drink it himself, he needed to watch Kang In-gyu since he was the one drinking.

“Why am I coming out? To tell me to drink too?”
“I already taught you how to stop it. Is it really okay to just leave him like that?”
“It’s fine. I’m watching from here.”

Suhyun hadn’t come out because he didn’t want to inhale the smoke. It was because if Kang In-gyu awakened midway, he might indiscriminately hurl curses.

Normally, Suhyun wasn’t easily scared, but there was no way to dodge a curse in such a confined space. To stop it, he’d have to kill the caster—but that wasn’t an option. Getting caught in the curse and suffering unnecessarily wasn’t something he wanted.

Curses were among the more complex psychic abilities, and Suhyun had only heard about them in theory—he couldn’t be sure what would happen.

“Ugh… uh…”
Kang In-gyu began trembling violently while sitting. Saliva dripped from his mouth, and the whites of his eyes were starting to show.

“Is that… okay?”
“Yeah. That’s how it normally looks.”
“Hmm…”

Suhyun stroked his chin, observing Kang In-gyu’s condition. After what felt like quite a while, Kang In-gyu suddenly jumped to his feet.

“!”
Bang!
He started punching the wall. Suhyun had trained him, but that didn’t mean he suddenly had Suhyun-level strength.

“What’s he doing?”
“Maybe he’s fighting an enemy in a hallucination?”

After a while, Kang In-gyu stopped punching and turned toward the door. He reached out his hand. Suhyun thought he saw purple smoke rise from his hand and then vanish.

“?”
“Uh…?”

Shaina staggered. She had been standing fine, but suddenly she could barely maintain her balance.

“What’s wrong?”
“My, my legs… suddenly…”

A curse!
Suhyun realized instantly what was happening. Kang In-gyu had cast a curse. Otherwise, Shaina wouldn’t suddenly be in this state.

Thud!
Suhyun opened the door. Since Kang In-gyu had already cursed Shaina outside, it was only a matter of time before Suhyun was targeted. As soon as he appeared, Kang In-gyu sharply turned his head.

Ugh.
Kang In-gyu’s eyes had turned black. Even Suhyun, who had seen countless dangerous situations, felt a chilling aura from him. Kang In-gyu reached out toward Suhyun.

“Is reaching out a trigger?”
Even a rational Kang In-gyu would struggle against Suhyun. In a state of lost reason, it was practically impossible. Kang In-gyu’s arms couldn’t even rise and remained firmly at his sides.

“You did well. I half-doubted it, but…”
Thunk!
Kang In-gyu collapsed easily. Suhyun lifted him onto his shoulder, planning to throw him in the medical room.

“Can you get up on your own?”
“F-fine…”

Suhyun silently supported Shaina as well. Judging by her condition, she had probably been hit by a mild curse affecting her balance. Being a psychic herself, she would recover after a short rest.

“Gasp!”
“Awake?”

Kang In-gyu jumped up, looking around, as if he’d just woken from a terrible nightmare.

“How’s your body feeling?”
“Huh? I’m fine…”
“Don’t you feel anything different?”

At Suhyun’s question, Kang In-gyu looked around, lost in thought.

“Now that I think about it… something inside… ah!”
“Don’t reach for me.”

When Kang In-gyu instinctively tried to aim at Suhyun, Suhyun immediately twisted his arm.

“You have a long way to go, but congratulations. You’ve become a psychic.”
“Wha?! Me?!”
“Then what else could that feeling have been? I’m curious what you saw—it seemed wild.”
“Ah… my memory’s fuzzy… I think I saw others dying because of me.”
“That’s a bit terrifying, I guess.”

It was slightly unexpected. Suhyun had thought he’d see visions of family or important people dying, but apparently, Kang In-gyu carried heavy burdens regularly.

Still unable to believe he had become a psychic, Kang In-gyu stared at his palms.

“Stand up. Let’s do a quick check and file a report first. The test…”

Suhyun paused mid-sentence. There wasn’t a suitable place to confirm Kang In-gyu’s curse. It needed to be tested on a living being, but the effect was unknown, so he couldn’t experiment on other team members.

‘Is there an easy target? Should I test it on a monster…’

Usually, psychics instinctively understood their abilities upon awakening, but that wasn’t always the case.

Even if the test had to wait, reporting it first was necessary. Now that they officially worked with the government, hiding information could easily cause misunderstandings.

However, Suhyun had overlooked one thing. He hadn’t brought Kang In-gyu just for him—he had brought him in exchange for an artifact from Jindo Dog. Now that Kang In-gyu had awakened as a psychic, rumors were bound to spread.

“Procedures are done, so let’s train your psychic ability. You need to at least know how to use it in real situations. Can you?”
“Yes… but I’m not sure what will happen…”

Suhyun had seen it firsthand and knew about the curse, but Kang In-gyu wasn’t confident.

“You’ll know once you try.”
“Try on… whom?”
“There are plenty of people in Pyongyang I could provoke… Ah, might as well bring Shaina too.”

Suhyun called Shaina. While the other team members roamed outside during rest, she barely went out. Without friends, a dark elf wandering in human cities rarely ended well.

“Alright, be as reckless as possible.”
“Uh… okay…”

Entering the alleys of the black market, it was easy to encounter humans like Franzo and his friends. They’d start trouble at first sight—especially if a dark elf was with them.

“Can I stay here? I don’t want any trouble.”
“Any issues will be handled by the Development Planning Bureau, so don’t worry.”

Suhyun, having just received authority, was already using it freely.

“What… a dark elf?!”
“Wait there…”

Suhyun struck one person down with a single blow and immediately slammed another into the wall. The last one was frozen in shock.

“What did you say?”
“I-I’m not involved!”
“You look involved.”
“No! I’ve never seen them before today!”

The two who were hit couldn’t speak, leaving only the unharmed person to talk.

“Alright, forget it. Go ahead.”
“Huh?”
“Try it. You won’t know unless you do.”

Kang In-gyu tightly closed his eyes and cast the curse. Purple smoke rose from his hand, and the man in front began rolling on the ground.

“Ugh! Ahh!”
“Can you stop it?”
“Uh… yes.”
“Then stop it.”

Kang In-gyu stopped, and the man’s screams ceased. He looked up at Suhyun with teary eyes.

“How was that just now?”
“Huh…?”
“I said, how was that? Didn’t you hear me? Do it again?”
“Ah, no… my stomach really hurt…”

Terrified, the man babbled everything he felt.

“Stomach pain… hmm, you get up too.”

Suhyun helped the man to his feet.

“Go.”

The second attempt was done with more confidence than the first.

“Ugh!?”

After several repetitions, with the troublemakers crying and sniffling, Suhyun could assess the results.

“There really… isn’t any pattern.”
“S-sorry.”
“No need to apologize. The psychic ability alone is enough…”

All sorts of effects appeared: stomach pain, imbalance, weakness, bad luck, and reduced psychic power—completely random.

“Well… just practice for now. You might not be able to control it yet.”
“Yes…”

Even though Kang In-gyu had awakened as a psychic, he still looked unsure of himself. Unlike most who gain confidence when awakened, he was tense.

‘Better than being arrogant.’

“Interesting ability. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

As Kang In-gyu went to rest, Shaina spoke.

“The curse is a unique type of ability. That makes it difficult… but valuable.”

Rare psychic abilities were a double-edged sword: powerful, but hard to gather information on. Fire abilities, for instance, had abundant data accumulated.

“Ultimately, the user has to figure it out themselves.”
“You think he can?”
“I don’t know. If not, we’ll use it as is. I’m not in a position to be picky.”

Awakening him as a psychic was already half a success. Randomness was a concern, but it was usable. In the future, he could even be called a ‘curse master,’ so expectations for growth were high.

“Suhyun.”
“Oh, did you come because of Kang In-gyu?”
“What? No. Did he do something?”
“Haven’t you been told yet? He awakened as a psychic. I finished all procedures, so you don’t need to worry.”
“WHAT?!?”
“So if not for Kang In-gyu, why did you come?”

Joo Seung-hyun was startled by how casually Suhyun mentioned the awakening of a team member, but he quickly explained why he had come.

“The Development Planning Bureau asked for you. I think they have something to say.”
“Calling me directly… must be a confidential matter, right?”

‘Is it really?’

Suhyun stood up, suspicious. Did the Development Planning Bureau really have something to tell him in this situation?

“No, more importantly! What about Kang In-gyu?!”
“He’s resting, so ask him directly. That’ll be faster. I’ll step out for a moment.”
“Hey!”

“Congratulations. A new team member has awakened as a psychic?”
“Ah, yes.”
“The one brought from Jindo Dog?”
“Exactly.”
“…Mr. Kim Suhyun, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not forcing you, but… the government has enough resources to pay.”
“?”

Suhyun didn’t understand what Lee Won-jae meant.

“What do you mean?”
“Team member Kim Chang-sik, and Kang In-gyu you brought from outside… do you know anything about psychic awakening? Any tips, or at least how to distinguish them…?”

Suhyun finally realized the misunderstanding.

‘Damn it…!’

In focusing solely on gathering psychics quickly, he had overlooked how people would perceive it if all the people he brought awakened.

“It’s a misunderstanding. Chang-sik and Kang In-gyu awakening was purely coincidental.”
“Is that so?”

Lee Won-jae accepted the denial for now but didn’t look convinced. Suhyun smiled bitterly inside.

‘Could be useful.’

Even as a misunderstanding, it was a positive one. If the Development Planning Bureau suspected this, rumors would spread elsewhere. And then…

‘Even if I don’t intend to scam anyone, they’re pushing me forward.’

Kim Suhyun of Uncle Jo Company had knowledge of psychic awakenings. Even just the rumor would shake people, and they’d try to contact him and look for weaknesses.

“So, is that why you called me? If so, you could have just asked through normal channels.”

After the tension, it turned out to be a useless misunderstanding. Suhyun looked at Lee Won-jae, feeling slightly drained.

“Oh, no. That’s not it.”
“?”

Lee Won-jae waved his hand, denying it.

“I asked about that just now, but I contacted you for a different reason.”
“For what? Something worth calling me for?”

“First, this matter cannot be leaked externally until a decision is made. Refrain from telling your team.”
“Understood.”

“Currently, there are plans underway to establish a new city in cooperation with the U.S.”
“!”

Suhyun felt a chill run down his spine—not because of the new city itself, but because of what it implied.

‘No way…’

“Location?”
“Not finalized yet, but likely further south in Outerf, in the Dragonia Basin.”

It was confirmed. Suhyun swallowed unconsciously.

‘Dragon Slayer Project…!’