The Dreaming World has a few peculiar traits, and among them, curses have one especially strange chanic.
That is: if a higher-tier curse exists, then lower-tier curses don’t apply.
There’s no limit to how many curses you can carry—but if a superior curse is already in place, any inferior ones can’t be used.
That’s why, right now, I only have two active curses.
The physical-type curse [Drunkard], and the ntal-type curse [Alcoholic].
But whether that system applies to reality? I had no fucking clue.
So, this was a gamble.
To prepare in advance, I drank first and headed to the place where the doomsday freaks were supposed to et .
[Current Intoxication: 5%]
With my head still spinning, a needle went into my arm.
Thwip.
Then I passed out—and woke up inside so tiny coffin.
All I could see around was a pitch-black void.
I realized there was no way I’d get out of this by myself, and all I could do was hope soone on the outside would drag out.
And then suddenly—black smoke filled the entire space.
It began to surround and smother from all sides.
Strange things started pouring into every possible opening—my nose, ears, eyes—any hole they could crawl through.
Squirm.
It felt like they were kneading my brain, and the dizziness got ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ worse.
It felt like they were trying to crack open my mind and stuff sothing else inside.
“Uweegh...”
I really hope this works.
I’m not a fan of brainwashing juice...
Bzzzzt—
[External interference detected.]
[ detected.]
BZZZZZT—
[A superior curse is currently in effect.]
[]
[ntal strength is declining.]
[Maintained.]
[ntal strength is declining.]
[Maintained.]
[ntal stren—]
[Lower-tier curses have been nullified.]
[External intrusion assessnt complete.]
[ntal strength exceeds minimum requirent.]
[Infection attempt detected.]
[Intrusion.]
[Attempting defense.]
[Success.]
[ntal infection has been repelled.]
“Urgh...”
I feel like shit.
“Haah... haah...”
My head’s pounding.
It feels like my brain got turned inside out.
And then I imdiately wonder if I’ve already gone off the deep end.
Destruction. Apocalypse. The End. Nothingness.
Normally, if soone gets ntally infected by those nutjobs, they start reacting positively to those words.
But I didn’t feel like agreeing with any of that.
If you asked to choose between yes or no, I’d pick “no” without hesitation—my mind was still solid.
Which ant I resisted it.
“Phew..”
And just as I realized that, a ssage popped up in front of :
[You have withstood the curse of the Followers of the End.]
[This will be recorded as a new achievent.]
[A small amount of bonus stats has been permanently granted.]
Finally, the status window said sothing that actually mattered.
“Hah.”
I clenched my fist inside the coffin—and yeah, I could definitely feel it.
My muscles didn’t suddenly bulk up or anything, but the strength flowing through my body? It was definitely different from a few hours ago.
If I fought the from back then, I could probably take on two of him now.
Even if the increase was small, it was real and it mattered.
Taking a risk and landing a solid reward always felt damn good.
It was a sha I couldn’t allocate the bonus stats myself, but if they were distributed evenly, that was fine.
But I couldn’t celebrate yet.
If my guess was right, this place was one of the cult’s branches.
And that ant there were probably a bunch of them waiting for to co out of the coffin.
That thought had barely ford when the lid started to creak open.
Thudk.
The wood groaned with an eerie sound as I sat up and stared at the ceiling.
And only then did I realize—there was a mask sitting on my face.
The room was so dark I hadn’t even noticed it was there.
“Greetings.”
“Yes.”
I played along, nodding halfheartedly.
“Are you ready to walk with us?”
“I am.”
Now then—what the hell should I do with these guys?
If I want to avoid imdiate danger and make sure I don’t die, it’d be best to kill them or knock them all out and run.
But on the flip side, these guys were the perfect stepping stone for my growth.
They were definitely going to use every resource in this branch to try and bring the Academy down.
Which ant if I could snatch up the good stuff while I was here, not only could I make so money—I could rack up so decent stat gains, too.
Besides, let’s be real—I’m still too weak to take them all down.
I had no clue what their total power level was, and the second I destroy this branch, the other ones will realize sothing’s wrong.
In that case...
Isn’t the answer obvious?
“Now, please proceed with your task.”
I barely held back a smirk as I replied:
“Understood.”
When people talk about dangerous things in a group like this, there’s usually a few options.
Incompetent leaders. Teammates who don’t follow the rules. And all the rest.
But it all boils down to this:
The enemy within.
So yeah—I decided to infiltrate them from the inside and devour everything worth devouring.
“Fuhaha!!”
“Hehe...”
No one would ever know.
Everyone standing there was laughing.
But only one of us was laughing for a very different reason.
****
After returning to the dorm, those bastards gave one order.
“On the exact day the new moon begins this month, trap all Academy personnel inside the Academy.”
“Understood.”
Once they left, I flipped them off behind their backs and sprawled out on the floor, thinking.
The event will happen as scheduled.
The new moon—the day when the moon is perfectly positioned between the sun and the Earth, making it invisible.
Whether it’s day or night doesn’t matter.
What matters is, it’s these lunatics’ favorite day of the month.
And if everything goes according to the original tiline, Noah dies that day.
“That’s not happening.”
I downed the rest of the bottle I hadn’t finished earlier and started thinking about the most satisfying way to wreck their little plan.
I don’t feel sorry for them.
Even if the ga didn’t depict it explicitly, they’re the kind of bastards who’d use children as tools for their twisted ends.
On the day they thought everything was falling into place, those doomsday freaks would face their most humiliating failure.
“Hehehe...”
Grinning to myself for a while, I noticed a mask tossed to the side and picked it up.
“Huh. They didn’t take this with them.”
Was it not that important?
But that can’t be right. Every ti they attacked the Academy, they always wore masks like this. Doesn’t feel like sothing with low importance.
“......”
As I stared at the mask, for the first ti, sothing detailed popped up in the status window.
[False Mask of the Doomsday Followers]
[Rarity: Rare]
[Description: The end shall co unto thee.]
[Effect: Permanently grants a small amount of stats once per month. However, ntal strength decreases with each use. If ntal strength falls below a certain threshold while wearing the mask, there is a chance of being brainwashed.]
The entry displayed the mask’s info in full for the first ti.
That’s never happened before, so that must an...
“Aha.”
I guess only items that I officially own display their information like this.
That’s the only thing that makes sense.
I an, the gloves and gun I got from the Academy never had any info pop up. So either they still count as Academy equipnt, or they’re just below rare tier.
And judging by the description, the smoke from earlier probably ca from this mask.
“Should I just throw it out?”
The stat buff aside, the whole “once a month” thing is way too long—and besides, it gives the creeps.
Even I—who’s immune to curses—don’t really want this thing anywhere near .
But just tossing it might trigger sothing. Wrapping it in a trash bag and chucking it seems like a bad idea.
Maybe I’ve just watched too many movies where people dump nuclear waste in rivers and oceans and end up spawning monsters.
Point is, if I just throw it out, so shit will probably go down sowhere I can’t see.
“Hmm...”
Maybe I’ll just hang it on the wall for now.
Kinda... stylish? Hanging it there gave off rich mansion vibes, surprisingly.
There wasn’t even a desk or chair in this shitty studio apartnt, but with just that mask on the wall, the vibe turned oddly chilly. But hey—it’s almost sumr, right? A little chill is nice.
I started refocusing and sorting through my plans again, when—
“Shit, I’m out.”
Turns out the booze I’d been sipping from earlier was now completely gone.
And the nearby convenience stores were about to close soon.
I hurriedly threw on so clothes and bolted outside, heading for the closest supermarket.
That store owner’s always let slide if I say it’s for my parents, so he probably wouldn’t check ID.
Technically, yeah, I should be reporting him or whatever—but from my perspective, he’s a goddamn lifesaver who lets buy liquor.
Other places—whether convenience stores or supermarkets—always card . Probably because I look young. Or maybe it’s the height.
When I got there, thankfully, the lights were still on.
I headed straight to the alcohol section, but on the way, I spotted a familiar back.
“...Huh? Yoon Siwoo?”
No idea what that guy’s doing here. Not like I’ve got good mories involving him.
So I was planning to just avoid him and keep walking, but...
Step.
He walked out from between the other shelves he’d been checking, our eyes t—and then he started walking toward .
‘What the hell? Why’s he coming over here?’
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