Chapter 59
A master box!
It was the class right below a challenger box. The System was generous to the second place.
“Ah…” Woo Yeon-Hee became speechless after seeing the row of ten computers in the room.
“Have you seen your clothes on the table?” I asked
“The ones in a paper bag? Those are mine?” she questioned.
I replied, “Take a shower first.”
I checked the rest of the photos the private company had emailed me while Woo Yeon-Hee was taking a shower. None of the others being pictured seemed important. I then asked her if she was the second pre-Awakened, but she wasn’t. In other words, there was a high possibility that one of the Eight Evils or Eight Virtues had received the reward. I suspected that either the First Evil or the First Virtue got it.
However, considering that Woo Yeon-Hee was the second person to discover a dungeon, no one else had the misfortune of discovering a dungeon before her. Not yet.
She came out with wet hair, and, despite her previous wounds, her skin was now perfect, due to her pre-Awakened regenerative powers. Even though she only wore minimal makeup, it was smooth, with no blemish. She might have thought that she was born with nice skin, but we Awakened didn’t even need wrinkle care in the first place.
“Come and sit here,” I said.
I didn’t ask what happened on the hill. It had taken a week for her to find the entrance, so it was obvious what she had gone through. She looked frail, but she was filled with determination. I handed her a pen and paper. She remembered writing her father’s information the other day and asked me what to write down.
“Open the status window and write down what you see including the skill list and trait information,” I said.
“Status window.”
Woo Yeon-Hee mumbled and began writing down, and this was the information:
[Name: Woo Yeon-Hee
Mental Strength: F (20)
Total points: 50
Trait(1) Skill(3)]
[Empathy (Trait)
Effect: The user can unpredictably feel the target’s emotions.
Class: F (0)]
[Anxiety Healing (Skill)
Effect: The user can heal the target’s fear, but cannot use it on oneself.
Class: F (0)
Cooldown: 24 hours]
[Physical Healing (Skill)
Effect: The user can heal the target’s physical body, but cannot use it on oneself.
Class: F (0)
Cooldown: 5 minutes]
These were expected, and I was waiting for the last skill that came from the master box.
[Mary’s Hand (Skill)
Effect: The user can significantly offset the damage that makes the target unable to fight.
Class: F (0)
Cooldown: 24 hours]
There was no doubt about it—Mary’s Hand was something that would come out only from the master box. Woo Yeon-Hee’s codename was thus decided. It would be 'Mary'.
***
If there were any A or S class hunters with the codename Mary, I would’ve remembered it right away. If so, I would’ve grasped the explanation of the potentially A-class skill ‘Mary’s Hand.’
“It’s important to understand what the System means in the skill description. If the word ‘offset’ means what it usually means, then it may be a double-edged sword. However, I think this skill might turn out to be an exceptional one if there’s a gap between the skill user and the target. Do you understand what I’m saying?” I said.
“You’re talking about our teamwork, right?”
She was correct.
I continued, “I think the skill transfers the target’s injury to yourself. Can you see the class? ‘F(0)’, right?”
Woo Yeon-Hee nodded.
“The risk is high at first, but it will decrease as your skill class increases along with other factors like effects, duration and cool time. We’d better start training here today. How’re you feeling?” I questioned.
“Not too bad.”
Woo Yeon-Hee seemed nervous from what she felt from me and her own tension on top of that. We never got used to pain; we only learned how to endure it. It was better in combat as adrenaline helped, but when we tested skills, we focused on the pain and irritation. I went to the workout room and opened the drawer. Woo Yeon-Hee followed me and expressed the same astonishment she had in the computer room as she saw syringes, ampoules and plastic medication bottles.
“As you already know, I’m not a healer. All I can do is reduce your pain.”
I said while drawing up an analgesic ampoule with the syringe. Then, I placed it in a metal container. I had a feeling that she would need a direct injection rather than oral pills as injections worked faster.
“You know what I’m about to do, right?”
I asked Woo Yeon-Hee, and she nodded, her eyes round. What was the best way to make myself incapable of fighting? If I asked her to punch me like a heavy bag in the boxing gym, she'd break her own bones instead. I walked up to her and gave her a dagger.
“Here, take this. You wanted to have one. It’s more expensive than you think.”
“...Seon-Hu?” Her eyes widened.
I put the dagger in her hand and moved her to the washroom. It was difficult to remove blood from the carpet, and the room was still filled with steam from the shower Woo Yeon-Hee took earlier. She trembled as she came with a dagger in her hand as I expected. I didn’t want to rush her.
I explained patiently, “This is how things will go. You’ll stab me, and when I give you the signal, you’ll use Mary’s Hand. I should call it to transfer, as you’ll receive my injury. You’ll suffer from horrible pain.”
“...”
“I use all of the space on this floor and most of the rooms on the floors above and below us are empty because of the IMF crisis. So, you don’t have to hold back your screams.”
I took out the syringe from the metal container.
“Try your skill and stick it in your thigh. I guarantee it will reduce your pain right away,” I said.
Woo Yeon-Hee was placing her hand on the chest as if she wanted to check how fast her heart was beating.
“Let’s take off our clothes first.”
I removed my shirt and hung it on a towel rack. Woo Yeon-Hee was hesitating because it may be embarrassing, but her real reason came from the dagger. The tip of the dagger was shaking with her whole arm.
Woo Yeon-Hee took off her top and lowered her gaze while putting her arms around her chest. Yea, it made sense because a week on the hill wouldn’t make her into a hunter. She picked up the dagger she had put on the ground to remove her clothes.
“You’ll stab and be stabbed. Are you ready?” I questioned.
“Yes,” she answered.
I held her hands which were grabbing the dagger. Then, I pulled it to a spot on my abdomen slightly angled away from the pancreas. A cold piece of metal touched my flesh.
“Stab as hard as you can,” I said.
Woo Yeon-Hee closed her eyes tightly and grimaced. However, she didn’t push it right away. I had to shout at her to stab me.
“Stab!”
Shikk-
I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and clenched my teeth.
***
Woo Yeon-Hee’s face was right in front of me. Her face was covered with indescribable emotions, and her eyes were filled with tears.
“Good job. It…ugh…got the…right spot,” I grunted while looking into her eyes.
It hurt like hell, and I grabbed the dagger handle. She was leaning against the bathtub, and tears fell from her eyes like how my mom reacted when first saw the tattoo on my father’s chest. I pulled out the dagger, and my body began to tremble which I couldn’t control.
I sat on the floor, and blood was gushing from the stab wound. She was staring at the blood flow along with the tiles like it was alive and looked at me as her voice grew louder.
“Now?”
“No…wait…” I barely managed to respond.
Since I didn’t decide to cut out my eyeball, I had to wait for more blood to pour out. The anticipated chill covered my body, and my vision became blurry as my body shook more severely. The System message that I had been waiting for looked hazy at the moment. It wasn’t because of the steam that filled the washroom, but…
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity has been activated.]
It was then everything became clear, and the tremors all over my body subsided.
“Now,” I shouted.
Woo Yeon-Hee was waiting for me, and her scream filled the air with a new message.
“Ahhh! Ahhhhhhh!”
[Woo Yeon-Hee used Mary’s Hand.]
I felt my muscles jump and power flooded me since my Strength and Agility had increased by one class due to the activation of the Man Who Overcomes Adversity. It was only possible to temporarily forget about the pain and recover my wounds slightly, but I couldn’t completely heal like this then.
Meanwhile, Woo Yeon-Hee’s scream continued as she lay down on the tiled floor. Blood came from her stomach and was mixing with mine.
“We don’t die from this kind of injury. It just hurts like crazy,” I looked down at her.
Woo Yeon-Hee slowly raised her pale face and desperately looked at me.
However, there was only one thing I could tell her.
“Use the syringe, Woo Yeon-Hee.”
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