A strange change occurred globally and simultaneously.
It was a change that was difficult to express in words.
One of the first to feel this change was a mercenary.
“What’s going on? The monsters seem a bit weaker, don’t you think?”
“Isn’t that just your imagination?”
“I feel like they’ve weakened too.”
During a dungeon conquest, the mercenaries noticed that the monsters’ strength had diminished.
However, it wasn’t a drastic change; it was just a slight reduction.
In a moment where life and death hung in the balance, it wasn’t hard for the mercenaries to notice the difference.
“That’s great!”
“What luck!”
Most of them didn’t think too much of it.
It was a minor power drop, so insignificant that for mercenaries, it was a good thing.
—
“Aah! Ugh!”
[What’s going on, Seo Gong?]
“My head… it hurts…!”
In a deep valley of the Northern Continent, Seo Gong, who had been endlessly training in a cave, collapsed, complaining of a headache.
Gui Ho rushed in but had no idea what was wrong.
Despite searching, there seemed to be nothing wrong with his body.
Was it due to a curse or magic? But no, it wasn’t that either.
All Gui Ho could do was watch helplessly.
[Something feels ominous. Very ominous…]
Gui Ho held his disciple and looked up at the sky blocked by the cave ceiling.
An unknown sense of foreboding surrounded Gui Ho.
It felt as if something massive was approaching, a feeling he couldn’t shake off.
—
“Make excuses all you want, but you found Yoo Jin, and you’re telling me you didn’t catch him because you were scared of the pet spider he had? Seriously?”
“…… Ah!”
Meanwhile, Tranquil, who was kneeling and being scolded by Yerina, felt her eyes widen.
She sensed something was vanishing from within her.
Whatever it was, it had been dwelling inside her for a long time.
Something that had been binding Tranquil was disappearing.
“Hey! Are you even listening!!!”
“I’m sorry…”
But even if that thing had disappeared, it didn’t bring about any meaningful change for Tranquil.
She decided it wasn’t worth worrying about and dismissed it from her mind for now.
—
[Hmm…?]
Meanwhile, in the Clockwork City.
Linda’s movements halted as she sorted through the mail.
In the midst of clearing out the pointless letters from Cornelia, Linda felt her circuits starting to transform.
[Ah… this is… dangerous…]
As Linda felt the seriousness of the situation, her speech began to draw out.
She felt some kind of ‘will’ emerging within her.
It was a familiar sensation.
When she had fallen below the dungeon before.
It felt like the same will from the otherworldly presence that had contacted her then.
However, this time, the quality of the will rushing in was on a different level altogether.
That will was enough to twist and transform the circuits into a different form.
If left unchecked, the same thing that happened in the past would occur again.
She would lose control over the circuits.
With that conclusion, Linda made an immediate decision.
Her execution was swift.
[I’m sorry, Master.]
Crack!
Linda’s hand shot into the engine in her chest.
Blue coolant sprayed out, and Linda’s movements gradually stiffened.
After that, Linda never moved again.
—
“What…?”
And far away from Cologne, in a certain plain.
Mi Jeong, who had been lying in the middle of a campsite, opened her eyes wide.
A confusing sensation filled the Blood Ghoul’s body, twisting it in every moment.
“Ugh! Ack! Ugh!”
“What’s going on?!”
Yoo Jin, who had been alert even while sleeping, immediately reacted and rushed to Mi Jeong.
He pressed his forehead against her, feeling her pulse, and checked her breath.
“Damn it. What’s happening?”
After laying the deeply asleep Nameless flat, Yoo Jin focused all his efforts on examining Mi Jeong’s body.
However, he found no significant issues.
She was still cold.
The mana and flow of demonic energy inside her hadn’t changed strangely either.
Mi Jeong’s body was perfectly normal.
Holding the suffering Mi Jeong in his arms, Yoo Jin could only massage her and continuously feed her blood.
“Please, come to your senses. Please.”
“Ugh…”
And so the night passed.
Around dawn, Mi Jeong closed her eyes and fell asleep, while Yoo Jin finally couldn’t hold on any longer and fell asleep himself.
In his dreams, Yoo Jin felt as if he heard a voice.
Mi Jeong’s whispering voice.
“Please… don’t forget me.”
Though he couldn’t hear it all, this one sentence faded in his mind like a dream.
—
“Yoo Jin.”
Tap, tap.
A regular tapping on my shoulder.
And with a gentle voice, I woke up.
Wait a minute.
A gentle voice?
I jolted awake, remembering how Mi Jeong had suddenly been in pain last night.
But with no idea what was wrong, the best I could do was hold her and grasp her hand.
After that, my memory fades.
I had intended to stay awake until Mi Jeong regained consciousness.
But clearly, upon seeing Mi Jeong sound asleep, I couldn’t help but drift off.
“…?”
But when I opened my eyes, Mi Jeong was gone from my arms.
I turned around in shock.
I froze at a sensation that felt like my breath was stuck.
“Are you finally awake?”
“Uh…? Mi Jeong?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“What’s that…?”
“An apron? I found it in the bag, so I tried it on. Don’t you think it’s nice to wear something like this when cooking? Anyway, hurry over! I made vegetable porridge!”
“…”
Mi Jeong, cheerfully running towards the fire with a pot in her hands, gripped a ladle that looked like it had never been touched in her life.
She had tied the apron neatly with a ribbon in the back.
Her expression radiated various emotions, and her previously worn voice transformed beautifully.
In light of this unfamiliar sight, I could only draw one conclusion.
“Who are you?”
“Ah?!”
This wasn’t Mi Jeong.
Could it be that she had been affected by Belphegor’s magic?
I quickly ran over, restrained Mi Jeong’s arms, and placed my hand on her chest to examine her.
“Huh?”
But I didn’t sense Belphegor’s magic inside her at all.
I had confidence in distinguishing it because I had detected it when Tay was here.
But wait, could it potentially be Luna’s handiwork instead?
Technically, Mi Jeong was also a corpse.
So Luna could very well be controlling her through necromancy.
However, I sensed not a trace of necromancy in Mi Jeong’s body.
“Hey, Yoo Jin… I’m a bit embarrassed…”
“Who are you really?”
Mi Jeong looked at me as if she was genuinely embarrassed, tilting her head.
I felt utterly confused.
Mi Jeong’s body seemed fine.
That meant this was indeed Mi Jeong…
I was left dumbfounded, releasing Mi Jeong’s wrists from my grip.
There was something else I needed to confirm.
“Wait a minute. Let’s check. Where did we first meet?”
“I don’t know the area’s name… but we definitely met in a dark slave market warehouse. Why are you asking that?”
“Just answer me. What was the name of the person you beat to death with a club?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Try to recall.”
“I can’t! I don’t want to think about killing someone! I remember he was some big shot from Cologne… but other than that, he had a really ugly face!”
“……”
She remembered all of it.
Everything from the journey I took with Mi Jeong.
Still, just to be sure, I threw more questions.
I thought Mi Jeong had a good memory, so she couldn’t possibly forget.
Though her change in personality made her less cooperative, making the Q&A challenging.
Nevertheless, with each passing question, my confidence only grew that this was indeed Mi Jeong.
“You’re Mi Jeong, right?”
“That’s right! How many times do I have to say it for you to get it?!”
“Why… why have you changed like this?”
“I don’t know. I just woke up and found myself like this. But Yoo Jin… do you not like this me?”
“……”
Suppressing my mixed feelings, I locked eyes with Mi Jeong, who was staring intently at me.
Her eyes were vibrant.
Filled with emotion.
This sight felt so unfamiliar that I instinctively looked away.
“It’s not that I dislike it, but I need to know why this is happening. It may not just end with simply regaining emotions.”
“Can’t we just think simply? I’m just happy I can finally think and feel like a person, like you…”
“……”
Unlike my worries, Mi Jeong seemed just ecstatic.
She had been insisting that I try the vegetable porridge she made.
I took a bite, not expecting much.
“It’s good!”
“Right? Hehe!”
To be honest, it was surprisingly delicious.
Though it was too embarrassing to call it cooking.
The seasoning was just right, and the ratio of rice to vegetables was decent; it felt like a solid homemade meal.
This skill couldn’t have come from just cooking once or twice.
Surely it was honed from her long-standing habits.
I had never seen Mi Jeong cook before. Who would have thought she had such hidden talent?
“Uh-oh?”
“I’m not giving you any. Go away.”
“Why? Let me have a bite too!”
“Geez…”
“……?”
Suddenly, Mi Jeong puffed her cheeks like she was sulking, sticking out her lips.
Then she scooped some porridge and fed it to Nameless.
“Yum! Mmm! Yummy!”
Nameless nodded enthusiastically, obviously enjoying it.
Or wait, maybe he was just reacting to the heat.
It could be both.
“Geez… how are you getting it all over yourself…?”
Mi Jeong clicked her tongue at Nameless’s messiness and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.
As I stepped back to watch that scene for a moment…
This thought crossed my mind.
‘…Do I really need to fix this?’
Though the cause was unknown, Mi Jeong’s transformation from her previous mechanical self could be seen as a positive change.
There was no reason to find a way to revert it.
In fact, if you think about it, this is normal.
Tranquil expresses emotions just fine, without any malfunctions.
A Blood Ghoul who regained rationality is just like a living person in that they maintain their personality from before death, apart from the physical status.
Thus, this new form reflects Mi Jeong’s personality before she became a Blood Ghoul.
Maybe I had overreacted.
Perhaps it was okay just like this.
Such thoughts crossed my mind.
‘This is right. This is the natural order.’
It was time to organize my thoughts.
What had been abnormal until now.
This was normal.
I had to accept it.
But just for a moment.
I quickly realized a serious problem.
[Stats]
[Strength: 19 (-5) *Guardian Knight penalty in effect]
[Stamina: 44 (-5) *Guardian Knight penalty in effect]
[Mana: 50 (-5) *Guardian Knight penalty in effect]
[Dexterity: 25 (-5) *Guardian Knight penalty in effect]
[Luck: 10 (-5) *Guardian Knight penalty in effect]
“Huh…?”
The initial trait, ‘Guardian Knight,’ which always activated when I was with Mi Jeong, wasn’t activating now.
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