Mistaken for a Geniu Chapter 59 : Chapter 59

Chapter 59: Curse

“......What is his condition?”

A low, heavy voice ca from sowhere.

Soon, another voice followed.

“Both pulse and blood pressure are stable. He will be fine as long as he doesn't overexert himself yet.”

The conversation drifted through my hazy consciousness.

The sll of disinfectant brushed my nose.

As I forcibly lifted my eyelids, a white ceiling caught my vision.

‘Where am I?’

Slowly rolling my head, I saw the shape of a dical office. It was a hospital bed.

‘Did I collapse?’

I rembered up to the mont Stage 4 started, and converting ‘Pain’ into electric shock pain and releasing it.

After that, it was just a blank, like cut film.

“Ugh.”

As a groan escaped, a ssage window popped up before my eyes.

[Tactical Manual]

[You have realized the utilization of Pain.]

[Pain: You can convert the energy swimming inside your body, ‘Pain,’ into a specific form of pain. The types of pain you can reproduce increase based on experience.]

“......Huh?”

Ding-!

ssages appearing consecutively.

[Pain]

- Electric Shock: Converted into the pain of current.

- Forging: Converted into the pain of battering the body.

.

.

.

‘Converted into pain?’

So, in other words, does this an I can self-harm with this power?

‘Is it crazy?’

I glossed over it earlier because I was distracted.

But looking at the status window explanation, it beca clear.

Pain literally gives

‘pain,’ and my bizarre constitution converts that pain back into power.

Put differently, Pain ant a power that literally tortured myself.

I looked down at the Black Fang, utterly dumbfounded.

This cursed sword bastard, what kind of power did it give ?

At that mont, while sitting blankly, a shadow cast over the bed where I lay.

“Oho, you regained consciousness early.”

The identity was Instructor Kang Mooseong.

At the sa ti, a scene vividly resurfaced in my brain like a lightning strike.

‘─Stop it, you son of a bitch.’

I clearly rembered saying that to soone, and I realized that soone was Kang Mooseong.

‘......Ah.’

I'm screwed.

I reflexively sat up and knelt on the hospital bed.

“Uh-oh, Cadet Ryu Jinwoo! It’s dangerous if you overexert yourself!”

The school nurse urgently grabbed my arm, but my priority was different right now.

Surviving in front of the instructor whose temper I had provoked.

“It seems you rember.”

Kang Mooseong’s voice was unexpectedly calm.

“Don't worry about it. It was like an accident.”

Although he spoke coolly, a thick vein was bulging on his forehead.

[Kang Mooseong]

[Displeasure, Anger]

‘Damn it......’

Kang Mooseong approached

and slowly continued.

“It was an accident. Yes. But it was refreshing. Because no one has ever called

a son of a bitch before.”

“Haha......”

Avoiding Kang Mooseong’s narrowly slitted eyes, I bowed my head deeply.

“......I apologize.”

“Right, that’s enough. What's the big deal about hearing a little curse.”

He kept ntioning it for sothing that wasn't a big deal.

However, I didn't voice those words.

I knew he was already angry, so there was no need to fan the flas.

A brief silence hung in the air.

In the atmosphere that had settled down to so extent.

“How is your body?”

Kang Mooseong broke the silence and asked.

“I think...... it's okay.”

“What about your heart?”

“My heart? I do feel a slight tightening sensation.”

“I see.”

A mont of silence.

Kang Mooseong seed to be pondering sothing deeply, then finally spoke.

“First of all, your performance in this training was truly outstanding. I couldn't help but praise it.”

“Performance?”

“Yes, cutting down all the targets. In an instant. It was amazing.”

“......Targets?”

My mory was faint.

Converting Pain into electric shock, dropping the sword due to that pain, and grabbing it again—after that, it was blank.

The remark that I had cut down dozens of targets was unexpected.

Did I swing the sword while unconscious?

Kang Mooseong nodded with satisfaction and patted my shoulder.

But that was only for a mont.

“However, there was one problem.”

He narrowed his brow and continued.

“For a mont, your heart stopped. To be precise, it was on the verge of stopping.”

The words flowing from Kang Mooseong’s mouth were shocking.

‘My heart almost stopped?’

I barely closed my mouth, which refused to shut, and looked down at my chest.

A tingling sensation still remained.

“This is the first ti I’ve seen a case like this. You weren't hit by anyone, nor did you suffer any damage, yet your heart stopped purely while swinging a sword.”

“......”

“Do you have any idea why? It would be trouble if sothing similar happened again. Like a history of heart disease.”

“That’s not really......”

Probably not. Actually, I don't know well.

Because I don't know the details of the past of this body, ‘Ryu Jinwoo,’ which I possess.

I didn't inherit his mories, nor was he the type to keep a diary. He had no family either.

After possessing him, I was too busy with quests and training to even check.

“I suppose so. Since there were no dical records either. I asked just in case.”

“Are you saying I collapsed while swinging my sword?”

“Yes, you cut all the targets, and at that mont, your heart stopped. It was a terrifying event. You were safe thanks to imdiate ergency asures.”

Safe, but it ant I almost died.

Feeling a chill run down my spine, I looked at the status window.

[Pain: You can convert the energy swimming inside your body, ‘Pain,’ into a specific form of pain.]

Black Fang, you bastard, what kind of power did you give ?

At that mont, Kang Mooseong’s gaze also turned to the Black Fang.

He spoke calmly.

“This accident, that might be the cause.”

“Excuse ......?”

“A healthy boy with no history of heart disease suddenly had his heart stop. Coincidentally, just a few days after acquiring the ‘Cursed Sword’.”

He paused for a mont, then added in a low voice.

“No matter how much I think about it, no scientific cause cos to mind. But if it's a ‘curse’...... it makes sense.”

His gaze staring intently at the Black Fang.

‘......He's not wrong.’

The reason my heart almost stopped was probably because I converted too much Pain into suffering at once.

Pain is a power that erged after acquiring the Black Fang. So, the cause ultimately circles back to this damned sword.

The problem is that I can't guarantee that the current

can fully control that power.

To be blunt, another cardiac arrest might occur if I make a wrong move.

“So, if the Black Fang is the cause, so asure is needed.”

“A asure, you say?”

“Yes.”

If it's a asure, what kind of asure is he talking about?

Just as I was wondering, he took sothing out of his pocket.

“This is it.”

What he took out was a glove.

A glove emitting a pure white light.

On the back of the hand, a pattern was engraved that looked like thin, intricate chains intertwined and wound around each other.

A shape of unbreakable links interlocking to form a circle.

I instinctively knew the mont I saw it.

That this was not a simple item.

Kang Mooseong held out the glove and said calmly.

“This glove has the effect of resisting curses. I brought it directly from the Central Order. It will probably be effective.”

I hesitated for a mont, then accepted the glove and put it on my hand.

Snap- The feeling of it adhering to my hand.

It felt as if soone covered and held my hand with both hands.

And soon, a sohow warm and cozy feeling spread. Is it just an illusion?

And at that mont, the energy that had been wildly stirring inside my body cald down.

The flow that had been sloshing and swirling uneasily until now felt stabilized.

I stared blankly at my gloved hand.

‘This actually has an effect.’

Surprise and admiration.

And at the sa ti, a realization suddenly flashed.

‘......Wait, the flow of Pain subsides when I wear this?’

Then Pain really was a ‘curse.’

Red pill swallowed in an instant.

I looked down at the glove on my hand in a daze.

Even the flow circulating in my body began to feel ominous sohow.

“Do you feel anything?”

Kang Mooseong asked with his hand on my shoulder.

I clenched and unclenched my fist and answered carefully.

“Uh....... The tightening sensation in my heart has decreased.”

“Is that so? That's a relief. Consider it a minimum preventive asure. It should prevent the curse from taking your life.”

Then Kang Mooseong’s gaze turned to the Black Fang again.

“If the Black Fang was truly the cause...... your goal is clear. To beco able to fully control the Black Fang. Then this guy's curse won't be able to take your life. Rather, that curse will beco your strength.”

Kang Mooseong stroked his chin as if intrigued and assessed the situation.

I also followed his gaze and looked at the Black Fang.

A strange guy that suddenly got caught in my hand and stuck to .

[Kee hee hee! Soft! Fluffy! Smooth!!!]

And even the strange crazy guy who was stuck to

from the beginning.

‘What a fate.’

One guy causes cardiac arrest.

One guy throws a full-body pain party.

A miraculous combination has been completed.

***

A few days later.

A large cafe outside the academy.

Soft sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

It was bustling with students and citizens, and the scent of fruit lingered along with the subtle aroma of coffee.

My group occupied a window seat in a corner, lounging around.

On the table, scattered were an iced Aricano with lting ice floating, a sweet latte, and a half-eaten dessert plate.

Seol Hayun had a book open.

The sound of calmly turning pages served as appropriate white noise.

Do Haru, who was fiddling with her phone, sucked up the drink she was holding, glanced at , and opened her mouth.

“So you won't suddenly collapse if you wear that, right?”

Do Haru pointed at my hand with a straw in her mouth.

The glove with geotric decorations of connected rings on the back of the hand exuded a mysterious aura.

“For now, they say so.”

My answer was calm.

The incident where I collapsed during specialty training was officially concluded as ‘accumulated fatigue.’

If the fact that the Black Fang's curse was the cause spread publicly, it was obvious things would get complicated for . It was Kang Mooseong's consideration in his own way.

However, Do Haru and Seol Hayun had already noticed before I even said anything.

Both knew that the Black Fang was bound to , and more than anything, Do Haru had experienced that curse firsthand.

“Anyway, I told you that sword is really strange! Do you know how much I suffered last ti?”

Do Haru shook her head from side to side and sighed.

By last ti, she ant the incident where she held onto the Black Fang for a long ti, got cursed, and was trapped in the bathroom for 30 minutes.

Although the curse didn't have a na, if it did, wouldn't it have been sothing like ‘Curse of Stomachache’?

“I will never touch it again. Never......”

Perhaps recalling the mory of that ti, Do Haru shrank back and distanced herself from , chair and all.

‘You’re blatantly avoiding it, but I’m wearing it on my waist......’

Even the curse emitted by that guy is circulating inside my body.

Under the na of Pain, ready to turn into suffering at any ti.

Even at this mont, it was flowing, only suppressed to so extent.

I couldn't get used to the sloshing sensation at all. Damn it.

“Still, it’s a relief that there is at least a way to control it.”

Seol Hayun said calmly while turning a page.

Certainly, after wearing the curse resistance artifact Kang Mooseong gave , the unstable energy swirling around my body subsided to so extent.

I tried using Pain a few more tis after that, but cardiac arrest or fainting didn't happen.

What I confird during that ti is as follows.

The Black Fang's curse is converted into pain.

And that pain is converted into strength according to my constitution.

If I think of the stat I want to raise, the flow within my body generates the corresponding pain.

Agility corresponds to electric shock pain, Strength to pressure pain and fracture pain, Stamina to fatigue, etc.......

Since the pain rushes in real-ti, it felt like dying every ti I used it.

Amidst this, should I say it's fortunate?

The pain given by Pain did not lead to actual injury.

If converted to a burn, I only felt the pain of a burn, but no marks remained on the skin.

The sa applied to the pain of broken bones and electric shock. My body was fine.

It only perfectly transmitted that vivid pain to my senses.

‘Was the cardiac arrest because it was excessive and caused shock?’

I unconsciously pressed my chest.

The mory of the mont my heart almost stopped was still vivid.

In any case, I decided to share the truth that ‘my heart almost stopped due to the Black Fang’s curse’ only with Instructor Kang Mooseong, the dical staff, and a very few instructors.

It's an unknown phenonon that hasn't been fully identified yet, and there's a high possibility it might attract the attention of monsters or other villains.

‘......Actually, I’m already entangled with a villain group because of Balzac.’

There is a group of lunatics who mistake

for Balzac.

One guy even ca in person, pretended to be my uncle, and left.

‘Bren.’

A crazy group that covets relics and artifacts even to the point of terrorizing governnt agencies.

‘If those guys find out about the Black Fang's curse, they'll definitely go crazy for it.’

The Black Fang had very high value as a special artifact.

It's famous as an item shrouded in mystery, and I'm in a position where I'm using the curse of such a Black Fang.

To that psychopathic group, I would be a subject worth researching with fire in their eyes.

Regarding them, there hasn't been any news since Jack took care of Seo Seungbeom's gang.

Perhaps from their perspective, since I'm already a colleague who successfully infiltrated the academy, their calculation is not to make trouble unnecessarily.

But we are bound to run into each other soday.

Above all, when incidents occur in the future, I won't be able to help but be conscious of their gaze.

‘I'll have to keep pretending to be Balzac to them.’

Because if they find out by any chance that I'm not Balzac, I don't know when my neck might be severed without anyone knowing.

Although I managed to defeat Balzac sohow, Balzac was the weakest among them simply in terms of martial power.

If I end up fighting the others, and furthermore, turn that entire group into enemies?

‘Just imagining it gives

the creeps.’

I shook my head.

Anyway, since I'm living a normal academy life now, I just need to focus on what's in front of .......

“Hey, hey, Jinwoo. Isn't that your uncle?”

“......What?”

I turned my head.

The cafe door pushed open, and a man dressed in a black suit entered.

A familiar face.

[Jack]

The familiar na that appeared in the Eye of Deception.

The mont I resolved to focus on what was in front of , the guy appeared right before my eyes.

‘Fuck.’

It was driving

crazy.