The Impact of the Author’s Intervention on a Blank Page - Chapter 43

Soon, breath passed between their tightly sealed lips. His rapid breathing was forcibly blocked, leaving him only able to inhale the breath his brother gave him. His chest rose slowly and fell gently in repetition.

It was painful at first, but gradually both his breathing and dizziness stabilized. The tears that had been dampening his eyes and the hand covering them also subsided. Reflexively swallowing the saliva pooled in his mouth from the pain, he filled his lungs only with the breath his brother provided.

Even after a long while, their lips didn’t part. A soft tongue entered his mouth, lightly touching the tip of his tongue as if tasting it. But that was all. Nothing more happened, and his brother pulled away their locked lips and drew back his head.

However, the hand covering his face remained there for a long time.

He felt as though his brother was carefully embracing him. Perhaps he was experiencing such phantom sensations because his body was in poor condition from the high fever. Or maybe it was a dream.

His mind, half-asleep from fatigue and pain, fell back into darkness.

***

It seemed he had dreamed quite a long dream for the first time in a while. Since coming here, he hadn’t dreamed much, either passing out from his suffering or falling into light sleep.

His consciousness, deeply submerged beyond sleep, gradually began to surface. He frowned, blinked, and slowly opened his eyes to narrow slits. The light wasn’t harsh. The room seemed to maintain a moderately low brightness. His consciousness was becoming clearer too.

Somewhere, the sound of a fierce snowstorm rattled against thick windows.

‘This doesn’t seem like our house…’

As soon as that thought occurred, he suddenly remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness.

Meeting the prince, talking with him about dragon’s blood, thinking about his brother, and then using worldview points to see the prince’s information. The blood-soaked floor, his useless body falling limply, and his brother appearing before him.

Cold sweat seemed to trickle down. Brother… was he alright? Ja-hyun squeezed his eyes shut again, which hadn’t even properly opened. He suddenly feared facing reality upon waking.

He had already accumulated plenty of anger points as it was. This time, he might receive orders for house arrest, forbidden to leave his room.

It would be fortunate if that was all. It wouldn’t be strange if worse things happened.

‘Ha…’

What should I do?

Moreover, his own wellbeing and future weren’t the only concerns. Those last system windows he saw.

He had seen his brother’s Dream Catcher durability crash down. Though his brother couldn’t properly remember him, the shock of seeing such a sudden sight must have been quite large. Or perhaps it was worry about losing the authority he had carefully protected. Maybe both.

When he got up and saw his brother, he would need to reassure him, even if it meant lying about overdoing things.

[Insufficient modification points for maintaining the existence of the temporary supporting character ‘Raijin el Izatrix’.]

Meanwhile, the system window kept being annoying. But the flashing system window before his eyes wasn’t finished.

[Special characteristic progress has been modified.]

[??? (Special): Loading detailed information… Progress 78%]

[??? (Special): ??? ??? ??? to ???. You can summon power from the target’s original world within a certain range for a limited time. Range and total power can be adjusted using points. The wider the range and larger the total power, the more points consumed. (Consumes modification points, minimum 1,000 points required for activation)]

With his aching head and confused mind, he couldn’t properly understand what it meant. Summon?

But minimum 1,000 points – were they insane? This had to be a joke. He was already in this much pain just from being 200 points short. Were they suggesting he should get tortured? Since he wouldn’t die unless he chose to do so voluntarily, it would be a perfect torture device.

Damn, wasn’t there a way to earn modification points quickly? Quests gave hundred or two hundred points each, but he wondered if that was all, or if there were other methods…

Memories that wouldn’t come clearly gave him a headache. Along with the throbbing pain, he recalled the ‘Administrator’s’ advice.

[As you clear quests and progress the story to avoid destruction, you should be able to collect even a hundred or five hundred won at a time.]

‘A hundred or five hundred points? What is this, shoe shining? Telling me to earn a hundred million by collecting hundred-points pieces, what nonsense.’ He had thought that once. But now, it was more precious than anything. Even if they offered fifty points instead of five hundred, he would have no choice but to do it.

Whatever it was, he needed to act quickly. Who knew when the side effects would strike again…

He vaguely recalled his brother helping him when hyperventilation struck while he was unconscious. Though he only remembered the voice and touch from his hazy consciousness, that probably wasn’t a dream.

The feeling of his brother embracing him too…

As he thought that far, he suddenly sensed something. Someone was beside him. Ja-hyun reflexively opened his eyes wide. Someone really was lying next to him, sleeping.