Chapter 116
There was talk about these yellow charms from very early on. It was just a story that went around on the Internet. The civil servant exam didnt cover it, and the rumors were never officially proven.
It was said that yellow charms brought luck, and in so cases, even activated a gate.
Of course, no one believed it. People just bought it as a joke because it was trending. But now, it seed like it wasnt just an empty rumor. The proof was clearly before my eyes.
[Yellow Charm]
The Yellow Charm can activate a gate.
The description window can only be activated by the eyes of one with the qualifications to activate the gate, and entry is limited to 1 person.
According to the Internet story, the Yellow Charm Gate had a huge reward.
Co to think of it
I vaguely rembered the difficulty being low and the reward being big because it was a charm imbued with ones wishes, or sothing like that.
Cant believe that was actually true.
The lethargy I felt was too severe for
to do anything right now. I had to activate the gate after recovering my stamina a little, so I closed my eyes, deciding to rest.
Oppa, co eat.
I woke up to soone shaking .
Sunhwa?
You must have been really tired. You were sleeping for so long I ca to wake you.
Really? What ti is it now?
11 AM.
11 AM?
E-le-ven in the morning. You slept for over 24 hours. Its Saturday.
Saturday? That ant I slept through the entire day.
The Yellow Charm?
I couldnt see it anywhere.
Whered it go?
Was that Yellow Charm all a dream?
No. It wasnt a dream.
It felt far too real to be a dream. Cold sweat ran down my back, my shirt wet with perspiration.
Sunhwa.
Yes?
You said I slept for over 24 hours, right?
Yes. I thought you were dead, you know? Mom and Unnie are worried too. Hurry and co eat.
I slept for over 24 hours, so how was my back still soaked in sweat? On this very dry early-October day?
Ah. Noona worried a lot?
She did. I think Unnie really loves you.
That so?
Ill wait outside.
I called Sunhwa back, who was turning to leave.
Sunhwa.
Yes?
Co over here for a sec.
Why?
Tilting her head, Sunhwa ca up to .
Youre coming in without knocking, huh?
Uh, uh, um, th-thats
Pak!
I flicked Sunhwas forehead with my pointer finger.
Owww!
Knock before you co in next ti.
Sunhwa clutched her forehead, her eyes tearing up a little.
Nngh. Violence is bad.
I activated Observers Eye, the eye that discerned the true nature of things and read their flow.
My back, which remained wet after 24 hours. The Yellow Charm that disappeared. And the genius tank Kim Sunhwa, who yelped in pain from a re forehead flick.
Make sure you knock next ti.
Okay.
My head hurts a little right now, so Ill co out after stretching.
I had experienced this feeling of strangeness before, when I was in the distortion created by the Thin Hobgoblin using the power of the mana crystal.
I was sure of it.
This is the inside of a gate.
The Sunhwa who had just gotten flicked by
wasnt the real Sunhwa.
The Yellow Charm activated the gate.
Sothing might have happened while I was asleep. In any case, the Yellow Charm Gate was triggered while I was sleeping, and I was inside of it.
A gate with no existing strats.
So how should I clear this gate? I closed my eyes and focused my mind. I concentrated on my innate power, Eye of Perception, and specifically drew on the 4th aspect of the traits.
Resistance towards illusory attacks or apparition magic
My level of concentration could maximize my ability and strength. While I was focusing, I heard a notice.
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate]
* * *
Kim Hyukjin sat onto his bed. He didnt deliberately sit down; his body just automatically moved into that position. He closed his eyes, his legs crossed in the lotus pose.
He saw nothing, and he heard nothing.
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate has begun to perate the Players body.]
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate has begun to influence the Players body.]
Words flowed out of Hyukjins lips.
Illusions and apparitions, distortions and lies, cannot covet .
What he spoke was more like an incantation, a mantra that bubbled out of him involuntarily. Just like how humans were unable to control the beating of their heart, he could not control his instincts or the incantation.
No matter what ravine of evil in this world I must traverse.
Hyukjins body began to glow faintly with golden energy. It quickly ford a circular shape around him.
No evil power that seeks to harm
can violate .
The golden energy encircling Hyukjins body began to whirl fiercely around him.
Such is the power of intuition.
The light flared.
The eye of insight that sees the true nature of things.
Hyukjins eyes opened. The world surrounding him began to contort. It twisted and distorted, and the hour and minute hands on the clock hanging on the wall began to spin. From his mouth ca a voice that was not his, almost like when Sunghyun and Sung-gu chanted magic incantations.
But there was sothing that set it distinctly apart from a magic incantation. Magic incantations were composed of an incomprehensible, unknown language.
[May all lies.]
But the aning of Hyukjins words was clear.
[Be shattered.]
The twisting and distorted space around him shattered like a window with a shrill crash. His eyes opened.
* * *
* * *
...What was that?
I had the hazy feeling I had a dream and had said sothing within that dream.
Why am I
Why was I sitting here in the lotus pose? I thought I was in the Yellow Charm Gate, but my bed was nowhere to be seen, and everything around
was entirely gold. It was like I was in an empty room painted completely in gold.
Sothing definitely happened.
My head felt clearer, and I knew I had been mumbling sothing.
Just now
I didnt rember it in detail, but it felt like sothing was engraved in my instincts.
It feels like I just uttered an incantation
The sensation was elusive, like it was dangling just out of my grasp, that intensely uncomfortable feeling of needing to reach out just a tiny bit more to be able to touch it.
Lets not rush it.
I took a deep breath to steady myself. It was hazy, but it felt like I had a taste of sothing on the next level, like I dipped my toes in a new world before returning to reality.
Just then, I heard a notice.
[You have passed the test of the Yellow Charm Gate.]
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate commands thee.]
[The Yellow Charm Gates quest has been activated.]
A quest is a quest. Whats with the power commanding ?
Not long afterwards, the quest window popped up.
[Sacrifice of a Strong Wish]
This is a space imbued with a strong wish. The power of that wish is infinite and carries a noble will. The wishers will has life and wishes to bestow a power.
Offer the wisher as a sacrifice.
A great reward will be granted depending on the power of the wish.
Information surged naturally into my mind. I found out what the Yellow Charm Gate was, what the wish was, and what the power that wish possessed was.
I was so dumbfounded I couldnt help but smile.
This is Noonas wish?
As absurd as it was, Noona had a wish like this:
I wish for my little brother to be happy.
But the intensity of her prayer for my happiness was far from ordinary. I had no idea how it was possible my sister could have such intense emotions for . She wished for my happiness more than her own life, and that manifested as this power of a wish.
By offering a sacrifice, I would achieve happiness. That sacrifice was my older sister herself.
Is she crazy?
This wasnt sothing I could evaluate with my mind or logic. Questions like why and how didnt even apply.
I dont deserve it
Who was he to deserve such feelings from Noona? Regardless of the reason or motive, the fact was that Noona had such feelings, and those feelings satisfied so kind of condition and created this situation.
Sooneno, sothingwalked over to , appearing in this golden room that definitely had no one else in it.
Noona.
Where is this place?
My Eye of Perception captured the true nature of that figure. It was her, but not her.
Offer the wisher as a sacrifice.
This image before
was definitely not Noona. But if I offered this image as a sacrificein other words, killed itmy older sister would die in reality. That was the kind of place this was from the very start.
Were inside a gate right now.
A gate?
Noona looked completely the sa as usual. I heard a notice.
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate commands thee.]
[Offer the wisher as a sacrifice.]
[Offer the wisher as a sacrifice and be granted the Badge of Glory.]
Badge of Glory. I didnt know what it was. I stood up and approached Kim Ahyoung.
Noona.
What?
Nothing.
I didnt tell her the words that were on my lips. That I was already more than happy enough.
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate commands thee.]
[Offer the wisher as a sacrifice.]
I steeled my resolve.
Ill give up on this gates reward.
This place never factored into my expectations or plans to begin with. I didnt need the reward it offered, especially if it was earned through sacrificing my sisters life.
[The power of the Yellow Charm Gate commands thee.]
[Offer the wisher as a sacrifice.]
An invisible force pressed down on . My body throbbed with a compulsion that pushed
to move, move, move. I clenched my teeth.
A place where will has life.
That sentence didnt escape . Here, will had life.
My will has to be stronger than Noonas.
The desire to draw out the future with my two hands, unlike the past. The desire to bring happiness to the people I held dear this ti. The desire to not let anyone sacrifice themself for . If all of those could have life breathed into them, I would be able to ignore this places power.
Im sure of it.
Even if I gave up on the reward, I could leave this gate.
[You are disobeying the authority of the Yellow Charm Gate.]
[Submit to the authority.]
Who gave a shit about so authority?
Id be bringing sha to my regressor na if I were so weak I surrendered to an authority of this level.
I focused my mind and closed my eyes, strongly refusing the compulsion taking effect on . I asured the flow of each and every breath, each individual inhalation and exhalation, falling into a trance. Id experienced this state once already. Earlier, it was an unconscious trance, but this ti, I moved with intent, and an incantation spilled from my lips.
Illusions and apparitions, distortions and lies, cannot covet .
No matter what ravine of evil in this world I must traverse.
No evil power that seeks to harm
can violate .
Such is the power of intuition.
The eye of insight that sees the true nature of things.
My voice changed to a voice belonging to soone else, one that echoed outward in a low tone.
[May all lies.]
[Be shattered.]
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