Chapter 193: The Day Ending in 9.

“Tsk.”

The office worker clicked his tongue upon seeing the guy recently being hyped up in the media.

There are way too many talented people in the world.

And most of them got that way not because of skill, but just pure luck.

“What’s so saintly about a saint?”

That hunter called the saint is no different.

While some people slave away at crappy companies for peanuts in salary just to scrape by,

Others, just because they’re young and awakened with good skills, live it up without a care.

“If I’m a saint, I should try saving people too.”

Whenever the office worker found posts praising the saint, he left malicious comments.

└The saint might be a saint, but he’s probably a bastard obsessed with sex. I can tell from his face; he looks like he goes around hitting on women.

└Is he handsome? Honestly, I think I’m better looking.

└Yeah, it’s all thanks to skills. But he can’t even handle them properly. If I had the same skills, dungeons would be wiped out on Earth by now.

As a hunter who’s currently riding high, every time he posted malicious comments, immediate counterarguments would follow.

But there was no need to counter all of them.

└If he’s a saint, he should be saving people, not just killing monsters well. That’s a slaughterer, not a saint.

It wasn’t a comment from the office worker; it was from someone else.

Jealousy is an emotion everyone harbors, big or small.

The office worker wasn’t the only one who disliked the saint.

People with the same dark feelings joined in to attack the saint.

The office worker scattered malicious comments everywhere like seeds.

He snickered while watching people get furious and cause chaos.

After leaving malicious comments for so long, the office worker’s eyes had an automatic filter on them.

Comments cursing him didn’t register properly.

After all, malicious comments aren’t based on logic, so there was no need to read them properly.

It was enough to just pick out words he could nitpick and use to torment the other person.

└Please don’t leave malicious comments. You’ll get heavenly punishment for it.

A rare response with unusual content was posted.

That’s why the filter didn’t work properly.

“Ha! Heavenly punishment my ass.”

If you get heavenly punishment for leaving malicious comments, the world’s population would have halved by now.

└You’re probably more likely to get a spine-smashing. 😀

The office worker kept leaving malicious comments nonstop until he fell asleep.

Was that behavior so wrong?

‘I can’t even get up?’

When the office worker woke up in the morning, he couldn’t control his body.

It was as if all the bones and joints in his entire body had melted away.

The office worker barely lifted his arm to look and was horrified.

What he thought was his arm was a translucent, strangely wriggling mass of tentacles.

The office worker tried to open his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

As a modern person, he first searched for his smartphone.

Somehow managing to operate the smartphone with the tentacles, instead of contacting someone he knew, he started searching.

And he found a hunter who had turned out similar to him.

A has-been who had retired for a long time and then made a comeback had a body similar to the office worker’s.

Apparently, he was in his prime with an even better body than before.

The office worker writhed in anger and injustice.

‘Why! Why do I always draw the short straw!’

They experienced the same phenomenon, but that has-been hunter still had a clearly human form.

Whereas he was in a state like a useless trash monster that couldn’t even stand properly!

Contrary to the office worker’s thoughts, he hadn’t drawn the short straw.

The difference came down to how much one recognized and controlled their own body.

The child with wings of flame had desperately tried to control his non-human body, so he adapted quickly.

The hunter with 7 years of experience had finely tuned his body over a long time, so he could handle the changed body well.

And in another world line, someone had been running around everywhere, sticking his head into all sorts of places, so he was trained in many ways.

There was also a difference in mental strength.

Compared to the other two and the weirdo from another world line, the office worker clearly had weak mental strength.

The office worker was unaware of such facts.

Even if he knew, his thoughts wouldn’t have changed.

It’s because he’s not a hunter that he can’t control it properly. If he had awakened back then, he wouldn’t have suffered even if he suddenly changed like this.

He would have thought something like that.

Even if he had awakened, he would have complained that his innate talent was lacking this time.

‘Level. If I raise my level, something will change.’

His instincts told him.

To raise his level.

He also knew how to raise his level.

It was as if someone inside him was whispering.

By swallowing various things in the house, his level went up.

The higher his level rose, the better his body control became.

And upon reaching level 5, he acquired the [Penetration] skill.

It was an optimal skill for sneaking into somewhere.

Greed immediately surged.

He had to keep eating and living from now on.

Going to the office in this state was impossible.

And he couldn’t go to dungeons like that has-been hunter.

Because he had drawn the short straw unlike that hunter.

‘What can I do with this body?’

The office worker planned to raise his level more and then turn to crime.

“Hello.”

If that guy hadn’t come looking for him after not much time had passed.

He rang the doorbell incessantly, as if he knew exactly where he was.

Even if he tried to pretend he wasn’t home.

“I know you’re inside. If you don’t open up, I’ll break in.”

It was like a tax collection team coming for tax evaders or a loan shark after debtors.

“I know you’ve changed, and I’m not here to subjugate you, so please open the door. If I were here to subjugate, I would have already broken in.”

The office worker had no choice but to open the door.

He opened the door, but he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact. Memories of the malicious comments he left on the internet were flooding back.

‘Who would have thought we’d meet like this!’

It was like someone from another world.

He had thought of him as someone he’d never meet, so it was fine to throw stones at him for fun.

For the first time, the office worker was grateful for this body.

Since he hadn’t fully stabilized his form yet, his gaze often wandered to unintended places.

Thanks to that, the saint probably didn’t know where his eyes were directed.

“Why are you avoiding my eyes?”

“Avoiding… no….”

Since he wasn’t used to making sounds yet, he tried to answer briefly.

But the saint cut him off and said what he wanted to say.

“As if you have a lot of sins against me. Did you perhaps leave malicious comments about me normally?”

The office worker was shocked.

He didn’t want to reveal that fact, but his body, which still wasn’t under perfect control, moved on its own and slowly backed away.

“It was just something I said offhand, but it really seems to be true.”

The office worker was overcome with terror.

The saint had said he wouldn’t subjugate himself, but how long that sentiment would last was uncertain.

“I have no intention of delivering heavenly punishment just for some malicious comments, so don’t be so scared.”

At the word heavenly punishment, the office worker flinched.

Could he be the one who wrote that reply?

Was he here to personally deliver heavenly punishment?

“I’ve come today to ask for your opinion. What are your plans for living from now on?”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem so.

Even so, it wasn’t a topic that was easy to discuss.

Because it was something unproductive that he had meddled in.

“You won’t keep going to the company in that form, right? Humanity’s heart isn’t that broad yet.”

“And it doesn’t seem like you plan to work as a hunter either.”

The saint narrowed his eyes sharply.

“Or perhaps you have some plan you can’t reveal to others?”

Who was the first one to call this guy the saint?

With his sharp insight, he was more like an inquisitor, stripping away everything.

-Simulation end.

***

In the simulation, that child easily found the office worker, the third curse holder.

There were two reasons.

By securing two samples, he established a means to find curse holders. He might not know the exact location, but he could identify the approximate area.

And another one.

Because he could feel the chains of the barriers that had encased each curse being completely shattered.

Other curse holders instinctively resisted the curse.

Thanks to that force suppressing the curse, the chains of the barriers only creaked without giving a clear reaction.

But the office worker was different.

The office worker had an excessively good compatibility with the curse of jealousy.

He didn’t resist and instead complied, which led to the result of completely smashing the chains of the barrier.

A very clear signal was transmitted to that child.

In the simulation, the office worker suspected and guarded against that child.

Even after suppressing the curse again with [Barrier☆] skill, he did so.

That child soothed the office worker who was raising his guard.

“You’re not incompetent. You’re just inexperienced.”

“See? It works if you try.”

“You said you’d cut up your body and sell it? What an interesting idea. Then shall we set up a deal?”

The longer the time spent with that child, the more the barriers built up in the office worker’s heart collapsed.

And soon, he began to show the same kind of loyalty to that child as the office worker in reality had shown.

That child gave the office worker the conviction that he would repay that loyalty.

He proved his faithfulness through words and actions.

Makina recalled.

The time when she had clung to that child due to the curse and lived that way.

The story of the spoiled child who tried to monopolize that child.

***

After being chased by the curse, Makina stopped all her competition activities.

She always stayed only by that child’s side.

Makina was anxious.

For her, there was only that child.

Even though she knew that wasn’t the case, she worried that that child might become preoccupied with others and ignore her.

If that child’s heart grew distant, it felt like the warm barrier protecting her in the cold and cruel world would collapse.

So she tried to monopolize that child.

That possessiveness was closer to a survival instinct than love.

Whenever that child spent time with others and it felt long, she felt threatened in her survival.

She didn’t like that child becoming known to many people.

Especially, she hated that child expanding his network online.

-Package game? Fine.

It was around that time.

The games she played with that child shifted from online games to mainly package games.

Even if there was participation from others, they would join as rivals rather than allies, and she suggested focusing on games with little opportunity for conversation with that child.

She tried to cut off that child’s online connections.

Afterward, she cleared the games quickly.

It was so simple because she could see exactly how the developers had designed and hidden things.

-Too fast!

-Ah, stop the spoilers.

She deliberately mentioned impressions of parts that child hadn’t reached yet or bragged about items that child hadn’t obtained.

To make that child progress through the game faster.

To make him play longer.

To ensure he had no time for other things because of the game.

That child wasn’t easily swayed.

That child handled other tasks simultaneously while playing the game, securing time.

He showed one aspect of his ability to handle numerous clones currently.

Thus, he managed to do what he had to do, what he wanted to do, and even get along with Makina.

At that time, that child knew Makina’s feelings.

He realized she had failed in relationships and was fixated on him.

Even though he noticed, he still hung out with Makina.

Makina acted spoiled due to that child’s kind heart.

Then one day.

Makina crossed the line.

That child was troubled but didn’t get angry.

Instead, he firmly drew a new line in place of the one Makina had crossed.

-I’ll promise.

That child said.

-Days ending in 9.

-Every month, the 9th, 19th, and 29th.

-On those days, I’ll definitely make time for you.

-Time just for you.

-Because on days ending in 9, there’s a special day that comes once every four years.

The first thing that came to mind was the special day that comes once every four years.

She had no way of knowing.

It seemed like he was saying it knowingly.

-Days ending in 1, there’s a special day twice a year every year?

-That’s why I hate quick-witted kids.

-It’s a joke.

-I don’t make promises I can’t keep.

-Honestly, making time just for you four times a month seems a bit tough.

-It might be possible for now, but it feels like it could break down eventually.

-Instead, on days ending in 9, even if it’s just one minute or one second, I’ll definitely make time for you.

-Just that?

-It’s a big decision, you know.

-I intend to keep it for life.

At least twice a month.

And in a leap year, three times a month.

The appointment with that child was made.

-Sorry. I’m a bit busy.

After that, that child kept the line they drew.

Ignored Makina’s persistent urging every day.

Instead.

“Do you have time on this 9th?

“I’m sorry. That day I have an important prior appointment. It’s not an excuse. On days ending in 9, I have a prior appointment.”

Showed the effort to clear the schedule on days ending in 9.

Even though they said one minute or one second, in reality, they showed preparation to spend that day with Makina.

“It’s the day I play with my precious friend, you see.”

Even if something unexpected happens on a day ending in 9 and it’s impossible to make time.

-Sorry! But there’s still 1 hour left! I said one minute or one second, but one hour is plenty long!

With wit, will, and connections, they somehow handled that matter and made time for Makina.

Instead of just asking Makina for understanding, they secured definite time to be together.

The time that child spent for Makina decreased.

But once a clear rule was established, Makina felt at ease.

Even on days not ending in 9, they gradually reduced the contacts they used to send.

Yet, Makina’s anxiety clearly decreased.

Makina needed conviction.

Conviction that that child would stay by their side forever.

And that child instilled that conviction in Makina by thoroughly keeping their promise.

That child promised not to let the ties end.

Consistently showed the action of fulfilling that promise.

And.

-Most things that could be a threat to you seem to have been mostly removed.

-Even if something remains.

-No matter what happens.

-I’ll protect you.

-So, won’t you come out slowly?

Even now, when Makina doesn’t send even a single reply.

That child is still keeping the promise.