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Chapter 122
Frowning in displeasure, Seo Dawon approached me and suddenly held out his hand.
“Why?” I asked.
“Give me your hand for a minute. I want to add something while I’ve thought of it.” Seo Dawon snatched my hand as soon as I stretched it towards him and opened his mouth.
Strangely, though, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. “What are you doing?”
“Mm, just…I added another protective magic.” With that said, Seo Dawon minutely changed the shape his of mouth again. I felt a bit weird–it felt like there was a glass wall between us–but I did as he asked and simply watched the other.
[One skill link has been added from Servant ‘Seo Dawon.’ A total of 14 types of protection skills are currently applied–all of which are Grade S or higher first-degree protection skills. If you’d like to terminate these skills, please enter your password.]
[Click here to see the list of the applied skill links]
[Description of the added skill link: ‘Prickle Prickle’]
[The description of the added skill link has been written by Servant ‘Seo Dawon’.]
When I waited silently, I saw a completely unfamiliar system message appear in front of me. Just… What on earth was a skill link? 14 additionally applied protection skills? S-grade?? And what’s with ‘prickle prickle’ anyway… What did all of this even mean?
“W-wait a minute…what’s a skill link?”
“Simply put, it’s like storing the skills I can use temporarily in your body. It functions similarly, in a way, to [Memo Rize]?”
[Memo Rize] was such a famous skill that even I knew of it–at least to some extent. [Memo Rize] was one of the most essential skills that a Mage must master; roughly described, the skill allowed one to ‘store’’ a few usable skills before battle.
For example, when using the skill [Fire Ball], a Mage that had mastered the [Memo Rize] skill could activate the spell by flinging his hand or simply shouting, “Fire!” Of course, my simple explanation did not account for the extent by which the skill’s efficiency would vary by the elaborate range of activation, and Users would find it hard to utilize the skill–more so than they originally thought. So, they would often search for know-how from rankers on community boards or pay separate charges to take classes on the uses of [Memo Rize].
“Then….. Will I be able to use your skills?”
“Mm, no. To be exact, the skills I have saved will activate under specific situations. For example, if you incur more than a certain number of injuries, [Recover] is supposed to trigger immediately.”
Which meant that whenever I was in danger or am injured, Seo Dawon’s skills may be activated…
Disconcerted, I asked, “Then, since when have you placed these on me?”
“From the first day. While you were sleeping… Of course, I didn’t do anything strange; I was just merely worried about you, because you were so weak.”
“…What?” If he did that back then, the reasons for his behavior now were clear as well. I mean, no wonder he’d been trying to share a room with me since the very first day he arrived at my home… Was all that effort just to trick me and to sneakily apply skills onto me?
No matter how much he claimed it was all for my benefit, I couldn’t stand feeling like I’d been fooled. Suddenly, all my attention snapped to the system message that still hung in front of me.
[Press ‘here’ to see the list of applied skill links.]
I glanced at Seo Dawon and pressed the bolded ‘here’ in the system message. The list of protective magic that Seo Dawon had applied on me without explaining beforehand popped up.
[‘Counter Attack’ – Trigger: When encountering a magical attack with 4 magic circles’ worth of power (or the equivalent physical strike), counter 150% of the damage to the opponent and allow Choi Lee-kyung to escape to some random coordinates within 10 km. The designated target of the skill is ‘Choi Lee-kyung.’ However, the skill will not activate if ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ avoids the attack.]
[‘Recover’ – Immediately triggered when the designated target, ‘Choi Lee-kyung,’ is injured past a certain threshold. The conditions for activating ‘Recover’ take precedence over the conditions to invoke all other protective magic (leeway of 3 seconds range for error).
Trigger conditions are as follows: Excessive bleeding–losing more than 25% total blood. Unable to move or hide due to broken bones and ruptured muscles. Loss of 50% of vision due to damage to the eyeballs. Loss of consciousness…]
[‘Defense against Convulsions/Insanity’ – When Choi Lee-kyung’s mental state is attacked due to exposure to psychological attacks or curses–resulting in hallucinations, visual or auditory–this skill protects Choi Lee-kyung’s consciousness. This skill is triggered by all evil-attribute attacks, 3-circle or less power.]
As Seo Dawon said, the skills applied to me were there to protect and for no other reason. The skills below ran along the same lines, such as [Cure Rise]: used to cure effects like poison.
The latest added skill, [Tingling], was a kind of self-defense skill: it delivered a slight electrical shock to those who initiate unwanted, unpleasant physical touches. However, the more I investigated, the more I wondered why he hid the fact that he applied these protective magics on me.
“Well, I appreciate what you’ve done for me,” I started.
“Yeah.”
“Why did you keep it a secret from me? It would have been nice for me to know I have this…”
“Since they’re single-use, I thought it would be for the best if you weren’t conscious of them.” Seo Dawon added, “If you know the trigger conditions, you may trust those specifications and act recklessly.”
It was as if he were lecturing a child that ignorantly messed with a fire extinguisher, wondering what it was. Now I understood why Jung Garam was frustrated and insisted on being a key player. If Seo Dawon showed the same attitude to Jung Garam as he did to me, then the younger must have felt like he was talking to a brick wall. The more I thought about it, the more it felt ridiculous. Am I supposed to just trust him and dive in naked?
“Do I look like a child who can’t tell the difference between left and right? More and more, you continue to treat me like a fool…”
“It’s not about not trusting you. I just want you to know that your life shouldn’t be gambled.”
“…….”
“You understand why we’re doing this, right?” Despite knowing my frustrations, Seo Dawon’s tone was off-puttingly aloof. Even though he was ignoring my concerns, he was acting as if it was all for my own benefit… Even my father didn’t act like that.
Eventually, anger filling my every cell from the toes to the top of my head, I snapped at Seo Dawon, “Then, why don’t you just lock me up somewhere and put me on a leash whenever you need to drag me around!?”
“……”
“Wouldn’t you find that more comfortable?!”
However, as soon as I uttered those words, I was surprised by the gleam in Seo Dawon’s eyes. It was only a brief moment, the cold sneer that momentarily clouded his face seemed to say, ‘Do you really think I haven’t thought about doing just that?’
Soon, though, Seo Dawon erased his expression and calmly began to soothe me. “I didn’t mean to treat you like a fool. I just wasn’t confident in my ability to explain things, one by one, and help you to understand. No wonder you find it unpleasant… I understand.”
“……”
“However, Lee-kyung-ah. In the future, there will still be things I must do on my own without being able to explain things to you. Because I don’t know what situations we may find ourselves in–we may not even be prepared.” With that said, Seo Dawon held my hand and put more force into his grip. Then, seeing how I stood at a loss, he released a small sigh. “But, I’ll strive to tell you what I’m going to do before doing it in the future.”
“……”
“So, don’t taunt me to lock you up… Don’t think like that. Don’t misunderstand me.”
Perhaps he noticed my shock at the dark gleam in his eyes earlier.
After speaking, Seo Dawon gently let go of my hand. I felt that he had metaphorically retreated a step, but I didn’t appreciate it one bit. Right now, he said he would let me know his plans in advance, but it was simply a one-sided notice and not a promise to treat me as an equal.
Rather, my head hurt at the implication that I should be satisfied with him telling me things in advance. Eventually, I asked the question I had been wanting to say from long ago but couldn’t form the words, “Are you looking after my body for the sake of your revenge, or… are you truly worried about my safety?”
TL: Update~ I’ll also have an update tomorrow (Thanks for the Kofi Miya!) I’m just slower nowadays bc of class, so bonus chaps are a bit hard >.