Chapter 9
My temporary body could only be described as gaunt and skeletal. What made it worse was that my height, which had always been above average, remained unchanged, making me appear even more unstable.
Perhaps because some time had passed, the twisting pain in my internal organs was gradually subsiding. Though in its place, my joints ached with a mysterious muscle pain that sent chills through my bones.
Ja-hyun let out a deep sigh of frustration, mentally reciting familiar terms.
‘Status window, stats, you damn administrator…. anything, just appear and explain this situation….’
There was a sense of déjà vu about his predicament. He never thought he’d experience something like this again.
As expected, the administrator didn’t appear. Though he’d been told beforehand that direct intervention would be difficult, shouldn’t they at least provide customer service in this state? Or at least a product description!
Instead, a status window appeared with the familiar system sound.
[Warning! You are currently proceeding with an administrator-exclusive quest. During the quest, the status assigned to your ‘role’ takes priority.]
[Kwon Ja-hyun (Raijin El Izatrix)]
[An illegitimate child of the Izatrix family. Taken in by the current Grand Duke of Izatrix 10 years ago and currently residing in the Grand Duke’s mansion. Extremely frail and never leaves the mansion. Received a terminal diagnosis one year ago.]
[Age: 22]
[Remaining Lifespan: 512 days]
[Disposition: Neutral]
[Title: None]
[Alias: None]
[Reputation: Insufficient information available.]
[Information Beyond Boundaries]
-Divine Name: Sacred Divinity Falling from Heaven
-Administrator of ‘Blank Star’
.
.
‘Raijin El Izatrix.’
That appeared to be his new name. An illegitimate child of a Grand Duke’s family – not exactly a role he was fond of. Though from the atmosphere around him, he didn’t seem to be an object of taboo or contempt.
‘A terminally ill patient….’
Ja-hyun suppressed his bubbling anger as he read through the other entries.
[Possessed Characteristics]
[1. Script Verification: Ability to access information from the original work.]
[2. Character Browse: Ability to view information about characters. Some information may require payment.]
[3. Until the Curtain Falls (Special): You cannot die under any circumstances until your role’s assigned lifespan ends.]
These characteristics were already known to him from the contract terms. Particularly, characteristics 1 and 2 were ones he had specifically requested and his brother had agreed to possess as well. After all, they would need them to act appropriately after being dropped into such a world.
Besides those, there was the quest window he’d seen earlier. Below it, his existing information and newly acquired data were chaotically mixed together in various forms.
[The following additional privileges have been added: ‘Plot Detection’ and 2 others]
[Loading detailed information for additional privileges… Progress: 36%]
[Status Ailments!]
[Hemoptysis] [Headache] [Chronic Fatigue] [Reduced Stamina] …
Stamina is fixed at minimum level.
‘Look at the number of status ailments.’
It was a miracle he was even alive. Still, seeing some familiar elements helped his rationality gradually return. Though his anger hadn’t subsided, he could now assess the situation coolly.
Ja-hyun looked at himself again in the mirror. He could endure being sick and ending up in this state. That is, if these were burdens he had to bear alone.
But Ja-hyun hadn’t come here alone. He hadn’t even figured out where his brother was in this world yet.
How could he protect his brother in this situation? He didn’t want to force his brother to struggle excessively in an unfamiliar environment.
Ja-hyun thought of his brother from their original world. There was another reason for his overprotectiveness. His brother’s condition hasn’t been great lately. He’d been suffering from nightmares recently. Of course, if they were just ordinary nightmares, he wouldn’t be this worried.
‘Should I abandon the contract?’
He clutched his chest, which was pounding from stress and pain. The fabric of his clothes crumpled in his grip.
Ja-hyun seriously considered abandoning this contract. Although the quest difficulty had somehow become complicated and things had gotten messy, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t give up the contract and leave from here.
He wasn’t such a novice that he’d accept a job without creating an emergency escape button. Ja-hyun had already experienced various situations while carrying out quests in his own world.
He knew one way to abandon everything immediately and return to their original world with his brother.
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