episode_0115

Hong Chang-gi uttered a question.

[Notify that the cursed target has encountered the keyword.]

[Notify that the cursed target has encountered the keyword.]

[Notify that the cursed target has encountered the keyword.]

“…Ouch!”

“As expected!”

The system window continued to repeat the same warning.

He kicked the floor in anxiety, unable to contain his restlessness. He couldn’t stop tapping his foot to the rhythm, drumming the table with his index finger, and shaking his body.

He never expected to reach the answer so easily.

[Judgment in progress.]

[Judgment in progress.]

[Judgment in progress.]

[‘Curse of Lust’ judgment….]

[Confirmation of the intervention of the Seat….]

[Reevaluation in progress….]

“This curse was attached to my brother and sister’s bodies.”

“Please, spare me.”

The sudden appearance of the system window made both of them silently fix their gaze on it.

Seres’ eyes turned red with worry, fearing he might explode, while Chang-gi couldn’t hide his restlessness as he drummed the floor.

[Judgment.]

[Seat’s intervention rate 20%….]

[Song Seong-yeon’s intervention rate 45%….]

[External intervention rate exceeds 65%.]

[Reevaluation in progress….]

Unpleasant words were exchanged.

65%.

Normally, when measuring such a figure, it would be based on 100%, so they had already surpassed half.

“The Seat’s intervention probably refers to the advice he gave back then. Seong-yeon’s intervention likely involves the actions she showed me or the physical contact we had.”

He had a feeling that the sexual ratio would be significant.

[Judgment complete.]

“……!”

“Please….”

The system window spoke.

Seres begged, and his saliva was swallowed like hot lava.

A man’s life depended on this judgment.

Whether the text knew about his restlessness or not, it coldly presented the answer.

[There was a considerable external intervention.]

“It was judged that you engaged in a physical relationship with Song Seong-yeon as part of it.”

“However, the series of actions and preparations to reveal that she is a woman were done by yourself.”

“On this basis, permission is granted to partially lift the ‘Curse of Lust.’”

“Do you agree?”

[YES] [NO]

“Oppa!”

“Don’t shout. I’m so nervous right now that I might die, so please, please help me.”

“Yes…! Just a moment!”

Seres grabbed his hand and guided him to press YES.

Fortunately, it didn’t backfire.

[Confirmation complete.]

“From now on, a partial lifting of the ‘Curse of Lust’ will be carried out.”

“A partial one?”

“Just a moment. The text is coming up.”

“The ‘Curse of Mental Interference’ on the cursed target Hong Chang-gi has been lifted.”

“There will be no ‘Misunderstanding Correction’ regarding Song Seong-yeon’s actions or behavior in the future.”

“Also, since the curse has been partially lifted, the ‘Curse of Lust’ will not be lifted.”

“Thank goodness. It’s okay to tease Seong-yeon for being a woman.”

As he relaxed his shoulders and sighed in relief, the final text hit him.

“To lift the correction, the mind will be reset.”

“Be aware that there may be slight headaches and dizziness.”

“…Ugh!?”

“Oppa!”

Following the warning, Chang-gi grabbed his head and leaned to the side.

Thanks to Seres, he didn’t get hurt badly and quickly corrected his posture and stood up.

Song Seong-yeon had tried so hard, but her efforts had vanished in a ridiculous manner.

Neither Seres nor the absent Song Seong-yeon knew what had happened.

And about 10 minutes passed.

I finally regained my senses and sat down.

All that overwhelmed me now was a strong sense of self-loathing and regret for not realizing it sooner.

“Wow. I’m really something. I even had sex after seeing her bra and guessing her body shape… Wow, how did I not recognize her? Am I really a human being?”

“Oppa, please snap out of it. It’s all because of the curse.”

Taking all that into consideration, this Hong Chang-ki guy is a real clueless idiot. Something just clicked in my mind and now my brain is working… and it’s driving me crazy. The more I think about it, the more things keep popping up. I feel like I’m going to lose it because I can’t believe I didn’t catch on to this.

I got up from my seat, grabbed a bottle of burdock tea from the fridge, and chugged it down.

Even though there was black tea brewed for me, I didn’t touch it separately. Instead, I pushed the teacup and leftover black tea into the sink and came back.

Seemingly catching on to my actions, he cleverly prodded for an answer.

“So, you’ve set something on fire, haven’t you?”

“Oh, well, I did. It was actually meant as a joke. But I hadn’t finished preparing yet, and my body was shaking, cold sweat running down my back, and I couldn’t stop because I thought, ‘Oh, there’s something here.’”

“Instinctively sensing death, perhaps. Or trying to ward off a curse.”

It was both.

So, I tried to.

Even the me inside my heart was pushing me for an answer.

“Hey, let me ask you something. Nayami was in our guild, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“Just answer my question first. Was she in our guild or not?”

“If you can call it a guild, she joined for a very short time, maybe about an hour. She joined our guild right after being kidnapped by Natalia to ask for help and was dragged along. At that time, Seongyeon… no, unnie, was disappointed that she couldn’t help her fan who came for help.”

I see.

On my way back, I asked the same question just in case.

“Was Nayami’s presence a flag set up by unnie?”

“No, it couldn’t have been. It must have been purely coincidental. Seongyeon couldn’t have orchestrated something like that.”

Nevertheless, openly stating her desire to “trust me and join the guild in the forest beyond the sea” was a kind of message.

Hoping that Nayami would notice, even by chance, that she had been forcibly masculinized.

A very subtle hint hoping to be associated with herself.

Of course, the weight of it wasn’t significant.

Nayami, who was actually there, didn’t even realize that it was about her.

I didn’t deny Seongyeon being a woman for that reason.

“How did you know then?”

“Your initial reaction when we first met, the cow bra that came out of your room, the cow covering your face, and the fact that you reconciled with me too quickly… honestly, there were many points of contact. Even on the 20th floor, the system made an error and wiped my memory.”

“Have all your memories returned?”

“No, just a little. But I figured out why the error occurred.”

It was unbelievable up to this point.

I was so shocked that I burst into laughter, almost going crazy at the end.

“Ugh, aah, aaaaah!!! Oh, seriously, damn it!!! How could I not know this? Is this guy an idiot? Does he have a brain disorder that he doesn’t know this?? Seres, you, who only reveal women, should have realized from the moment you started picking a fight with me, right!?”

“Stop it. No matter how loud you yell, you can’t go back to that time.”

“Ha… hahaha…! It’s really unbelievable.”

I chugged down the burdock tea again.

It felt like my throat was burning.

I could have realized it sooner, what the hell did I do.

“What was the decisive hint?”

“The recent appearance of the Archangel and the Knight of Pure Love desperately trying to appeal! This time, the gate said the rewards were lame and pretended not to tell us anything! They said they couldn’t talk about the TS because they were under oath to the Tower Master, you were already prepared to reveal his secret, even if it was a joke… so when they told me to come and play around…!?”

“They blatantly gave you hints and pushed you, huh?”

“Sure! I’m even ready to reveal that secret! The only thing I got from this floor was ‘that,’ so of course I was planning to play a prank!!”

“‘That’?”

Quickly opening the refrigerator door, I took out some water.

I suspiciously labeled it with an X to make sure I wouldn’t drink it.

“Is it water?”

“…Where do you think I got the water from?”

Ceres’ eyes widened at that.

She was much smarter than me. She immediately understood what kind of water it was.

“The water that turns you into a woman, as part of the gimmick on this floor…!!”

“Yeah. Why would I make you and Seongyeon drink it? I was just playing around. Nami was happy to receive this water and turn back into a woman. I thought it would be funny if Seongyeon also turned into a woman.”

I was just fooling around, pushed by the Seat.

At the same time, there was a faint conviction beyond my clouded mind.

『Why am I feeling like this?』

『At most, I was just playing a prank on Seongyeon.』

『Why is my mind so… ugh…!?』

So it took time to boil the tea.

Every time I tried to do something, I hesitated, and I barely managed to make the tea before the two of them arrived.

“You seem to be experiencing some strange symptoms.”

“Yeah. The more I prepared to play a prank, the more my memory faded. I couldn’t remember why I met Nami again on the way here, why I asked her if she had joined our guild, in a situation where I felt like I might forget something… In the midst of that, preparing the tea made me dizzy… so I couldn’t stop.”

Thanks to that, I made a mistake without hesitation.

Without stopping in the middle, I used dizziness as a hint and ended up feeding it.

“How did you feel right after drinking it?”

“The fog cleared and my mind became clear, it felt like I was going crazy. Surely the headache disappeared and I felt comfortable, but something that I had pushed to the back of my mind stuck together, and when I came to my senses, something huge was pushing the truth to me, saying ‘This is the answer.’”

“So that’s why you sweated so much.”

Taking out a handkerchief from her pocket, she tried to wipe my face.

Our younger sister was still kind.

Even though I caused such an incident and made her boil bathwater, she had no complaints.

“Well done. It was a risky gamble, but it seems to have succeeded. Now you just have to go and tell everything to your sister.”

“Really? Can I tell her?”

“…Why are you hesitating?”

She grabbed my wrist.

“Oppa?”

“Sorry. I brought up the story, but it’s not over here. In fact, this is just the beginning.”

“What do you mean? Oppa, you’ve revealed everything. You even found out your sister’s true identity. Now there’s no need to worry, you can just calmly talk to each other and finish it.”

“What do you mean finish? The curse hasn’t been lifted yet. And it’s still the same for you.”

“Is there a problem with me?”

She shook her head vigorously.

At the moment when she realized Seongyeon’s true identity and her mind cleared, she inferred the relationship between the two.

Now I understand why we didn’t completely reconcile with our cow back then.

“Ceres. Our foolish little sister. Are you still angry at your sister?”

“I’ve made up with my sister. As Oppa said, there may be some lingering resentment, but it’s not that bad anymore.”

“I know you have a personality that holds grudges. It was just a temporary thing because I interfered.”

“Oppa.”

She grabbed my shoulders to tell me honestly.

Her blue eyes watched me intently, but eventually she avoided my gaze.

“So what? It’s not like everything can be resolved anyway. Thanks to my sister, I met you, but on the other hand, my sister also tormented you.”

“So you stuck a carrot in her butt?”

“It was just a way to vent my frustration.”

She shrugged indifferently.

It was cute, but there was no room for soothing while kissing.

I must convey the truth I know to Seres.

“Hey. You don’t have to do that anymore. You don’t have to resent her. It was all a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding? If it wasn’t for Unni, Oppa wouldn’t have gone through that.”

“I wouldn’t have gone through that, and I wouldn’t have met you either.”

“Don’t say that. Oppa is more important to me than myself.”

“So listen to me.”

I interrupted.

“Seres. Everything that has happened so far is all my fault. I made Seongyeon like that. I made her happy by sacrificing myself for Majol.”

“…Oppa?”

She looked confused.

Of course, she would be surprised if I suddenly talked about this.

So, just in case Seres tried to run away, I grabbed her shoulder.

“I’ll tell you about the dream I had during the first round. And everything that’s happening in my body right now. Listen to my story and judge for yourself.”

“Oh, okay.”

We moved to another place.

It was more reassuring to speak openly in the bedroom rather than at the dining table.