Chapter 31
Hamma leaned in toward the notebook, his face full of curiosity.
The strength drained from my hand that was gripping it. I must’ve been squeezing it ridiculously hard—the front cover had become crumpled and ragged.
Letting out a sigh, I gestured toward the two of them.
“Let’s look at it together.”
There was no turning back now anyway. I gave in and opened the first page of the notebook.
The first thing that came into view was a memo written in crooked, messy handwriting.
‘The reason this notebook has been delivered to you is to treat the abnormal status of the Hero, which can no longer improve.’
I only got that far before snapping the notebook shut in shock.
“Holy crap… what the hell is this?”
“W–Why? What happened?”
How did it know?
The skull icon gauge above Kaizen’s head had dropped down to just one bar recently, but it still hadn’t disappeared completely.
I’d been wondering why that was…
So there really was a problem?
Taking a deep breath, I opened the notebook again.
‘The Hero is under multiple curses. To resolve each curse, special materials will be required.’
“Damn it…”
I snapped the notebook shut again.
My vision started spinning.
“Why are you like this all of a sudden?”
“It says multiple curses. And that you need different materials to fix each one.”
“Multiple… curses? Then that means… no way!”
“So it wasn’t just one curse…”
Kaizen muttered in disbelief.
You’re stunned too, huh? Me too.
Doesn’t it feel like you’re right in front of the goal—and suddenly the goalpost gets pushed ten miles away?
“No wonder this hasn’t been easy…”
Hamma mumbled with a gloomy face.
“Yeah. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but this is still kind of shocking.”
After mentally preparing myself, I opened the notebook once more.
‘If you wish to know the special materials, drop the Hero’s blood on the next page. Then, the hidden secret shall be revealed.’
My eyes met Kaizen’s as we silently stared at the words.
“……”
“……”
Hamma, who had been reading the text out loud, suddenly widened his eyes. Then, a moment later, he burst out laughing so loudly it felt like the whole village shook.
“Hero! I’ll stab you so it doesn’t hurt!”
He looked wildly excited, like he’d finally been granted the chance of a lifetime.
Kaizen frowned at Hamma’s noisy excitement, then pulled out the dagger the kid had made earlier from his chest.
He lightly cut his own fingertip.
“Hmph. I could’ve stabbed you properly.”
Didn’t you say you’d do it painlessly…?
Ignoring Hamma’s grumbling, Kaizen asked calmly.
“If I drop it here, is that enough?”
“Huh? Uh… yeah. Doesn’t it hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
Kaizen’s blood dripped onto the notebook.
And immediately, the notebook absorbed it like a sponge, erasing every trace of the blood.
“Wow… it really is a magic notebook…”
Hamma gaped in amazement.
We waited for the notebook to change.
All four of us leaned in, staring without blinking. After a moment, something slowly appeared on the page.
It was an icon I was far too familiar with.
A skull.
*‘Type: Skull ☠️
Status: Lethargy
Danger Level: ★★★★★
Recipe: Savior’s Cooking + Essence of the Volcano + Unextinguishable Flame’*
Below it was a drawing of the Essence of the Volcano and a fire spirit breathing flames.
And the drawing looked like it had been done by a six-year-old.
“Wait… what is this? Hamma, did you draw this?”
“Do you really think I did?”
I closed the notebook and checked the leather cover again.
〈 Secret Recipe 〉
“This is ridiculous.”
This is supposed to be a secret recipe?
If it’s a recipe, shouldn’t it at least list the exact ingredients and cooking steps?
Then Kaizen, who had been quiet, suddenly asked.
“Is this skull the one you mentioned last time?”
“Huh? The skull I mentioned?”
“You told me. That there was something terrible floating above my head.”
‘How do I get rid of it?’
‘There is. Something really terrible. Right above your head.’
Kaizen stared at me with an expression I couldn’t read.
I held his gaze, then slowly nodded.
“I wasn’t trying to hide it. Yeah. This is the mark of your curse.”
“If what’s written here is right… then it’s still above my head.”
“Yeah. I almost got rid of it, but the last bit wouldn’t disappear, so I was worried.”
So there really had been a specific method to remove it.
It’s a good thing I found out now, at least.
The fact that there wasn’t just one curse bothered me, but as long as I had this notebook, I could manage it—even if it took time.
This basically means I have a攻略 guide now.
I lifted one corner of my lips in a satisfied smile.
Hamma, who was peeking in from the side, tilted his head.
“But if it’s the Essence of the Volcano… that should be inside Volcano Village. Isn’t that place impossible to enter?”
“What?”
“The villagers there are super closed-off. They hate outsiders and never let them in. I bet they even sealed the entrance.”
Hey… why are you telling me that now?
I grabbed my head and groaned.
Closed-off? What the hell happened there?
The Volcano Village I knew from Tales World was full of cheerful, friendly NPCs.
I’d gone there every single run to get the Demon King’s Castle map fragment—I remembered it clearly.
Those NPCs were so nice…
The gap between the game I knew and this reality was getting wider.
Did I mess something up? Or did some variable change?
It suddenly felt like applying all the walkthroughs and settings I knew from the game to this world might’ve been wrong from the very start.
Let’s think about that later.
Right now, I needed to focus on what to do next.
What should we do…
If the entrance was sealed, we couldn’t walk in normally.
Which meant there was only one option.
After thinking quickly, I made up my mind and spoke firmly.
“Let’s sneak in. We just steal the Essence of the Volcano and whatever fire spirit thing that is, and get out.”
What choice did we have? If the proper route was blocked, we’d just have to find another one.
At that, the village chief rolled his eyes back like he was about to faint.
“K–Kugh…! What if you get caught?! The Essence of the Volcano is the treasure of Volcano Village! If you mess this up, it could turn into a war between villages!”
“Then what else are we supposed to do? There’s no other way.”
“You’ve got time. You should think this through slowly. It’s not like something terrible will happen if you don’t go right awa—”
“Everyone, look at this!”
Hamma, who had been checking the notebook from behind us, suddenly squeezed into the middle in a panic.
When we looked closely, new words were being carved into the bottom of the page.
“Warning. If the curse is not lifted within 100 days from the time of activation, the cursed target will die…? What the hell does that mean?”
“Come on. Isn’t it obvious? It means we only have one month left.”
“……”
Did I really not know that? No—I just couldn’t believe how absurd it was.
I couldn’t even laugh.
I turned my head slightly and looked at Kaizen.
He had sensed the seriousness too—his face had gone stiff.
I pressed my fingers to my forehead and let out a long sigh.
So even if Kaizen doesn’t try to die… he’ll die anyway?
This wasn’t a regression game. This was more like a death game.
Everyone fell silent. The table was swallowed by a heavy, quiet stillness.
Let’s organize my thoughts calmly.
If it was talking about when the curse activated, that probably meant the point when the loop reset.
In other words—if we didn’t erase the skull icon within 100 days of regressing, Kaizen would die even if he didn’t want to.
And since the skull wasn’t the only curse, it meant every new curse would come with its own 100-day timer.
This really feels like the system is desperately trying to kill Kaizen.
I glanced at him.
He looked calm, like he was observing everything from outside the situation.
That bothered me.
Because it looked like he was just accepting his own death.
I wish I knew what he was thinking.
With a tired sigh, I turned to the village chief.
“Old man. You heard that, right? If we don’t go now, we’re just going to reset again.”
“This… this makes no sense. How could something like this even be happening…!”
The village chief lowered his head in despair. I felt like crying too.
“Uh? More words are appearing!”
