Chapter 273

However, Bae Jaemin didn’t regain consciousness even though she activated her skills, taking herself to the limit.

“[Cure]!”

“…….”

“[Recovery]!”

“……”

“Bae Jaemin…Bae Jaemin open your eyes!”

“……”

Ryu Hyerin eventually gave up on her skills, opened her inventory with trembling hands, and placed a potion to the Priest’s lips.

His eyeballs had rolled up in their sockets. The man only resumed breathing in thin gasps, after she poured four bottles of advanced potions into his mouth, one right after the other.

When Bae Jaemin’s condition seemed to have improved enough to transfer him to a hospital, she rose from her seat to find a coat to wear.

“C…Cough…” But, at that moment, the prone Bae Jaemin suddenly opened his eyes, gasping and coughing. Ryu Hyerin hurriedly approached him again; the Priest breathed deeply and furrowed his brows.

“Hey! What happened to you?” She shouted.

“…Hah.”

However, Bae Jaemin looked calm; it was as if he had collapsed like this before several times. He shook his hand to show he was fine before bowing his head, as if he were still suffering.

Ryu Hyerin looked at him anxiously and asked in a quiet tone, “Are you suffering from some chronic disease?”

“No.”

“Then, why did you suddenly collapse?”

“……” Bae Jaemin hesitated to answer; his lips flinched when Ryu Hyerin crouched in before him. Then, he continued grudgingly, “…It’s always like this after I see something with [Clairvoyance].”

“What?” Ryu Hyerin scrutinized the Priest’s face. Since he was with her the entire time, he couldn’t have taken any drugs… It felt meaningful that he had mentioned [Clairvoyance] in this situation.

‘…He can really see the future?’

Eventually, she kept quiet to allow him to finish talking.

Once he noticed that Ryu Hyerin wasn’t going to interrupt him, Bae Jaemin looked at her. “Do you…believe me now?”

“No. But… I don’t think you’d go so far as to bleed out to deceive me.”

“……”

“Tell me. What is this [Clairvoyance] you keep talking about.”

Bae Jaemin faced her, a complicated expression on his face. After a short sigh, he began to explain what happened when he first received the skill. “When I first got it…there were no side effects. I had almost no ability to see even a glimpse of the future either; the skill had no proficiency. In fact, I thought I was scammed by the skill book… There was nothing to the skill. However, this was supposedly something that could see the future? I was too curious; I couldn’t be patient.”

Following that dramatic opening statement, he continued after a brief silence. “So… I started practicing; I thought things might change if I improved my skill level. I would use it often while looking at the people around me. And…After a difficult climb to the intermediate rank… At long last, I could begin to tangibly see a person’s ‘luck.’”

“A person’s luck?”

Bae Jaemin nodded at her inquiring tone. His eyes sparkled, as if he had been mentally plunged into some distant memory, “Yeah. I could see it so very clearly.”

“…?”

“I knew it when I saw it–I could see the signs of a ‘born-lucky’ human being. An ordinary User’s luck was mostly invisible or had a faint outline, but all successful users had golden lines floating around their bodies. And…of all the people I saw, Seo Dawon was the most spectacular.”

“Seo Dawon?”

“At first, the golden lines surrounding him were so dazzling, I could barely see his face.”

Ryu Hyerin’s lips slightly twisted; the Priest’s appreciation for Seo Dawon strangely overlapped with her own feelings when she first saw the Mage. However, this was quite an interesting story, so she tamped down her desire to tease Bae Jaemin and paid him her full attention. “Continue.”

“…Actually, Seo Dawon was the type to extend his luck to his surroundings. The people around him were highly talented as well… That is to say, those people were originally born with a high amount of luck, but, when they acted in tandem with the Mage, their luck strengthened. In short, he’s the core. I’ve never seen anyone else who had his type of luck. Even now.”

“…Hmm.”

“Anyway, that’s why I decided to throw in my lot with Seo Dawon. I couldn’t see my own natural luck, but, through this ability, I could find those whose lifepath was on the rise… That is to say, I believed my career wouldn’t fail if I was with the Mage.”

Bae Jaemin had been startled by the Mage’s luck after their coincidental meeting; during his investigation, he noticed that the Mage was spreading his luck around. Therefore, he began to make preparations to join the man’s party.

He analyzed the regular members at [Red Lotus]–he thought about what they lacked and what class they needed the most. Then, he waited until they were recruiting new members; before even becoming an official temporary participant in their raids, he tried to show off his skills before the Mage’s observant eyes.

His efforts were eventually recognized; he received Seo Dawon’s offer to join [Red Lotus] when the raid completed. There were no snags up until this point.

“However, after joining [Red Lotus]…my [Clairvoyance] skill advanced significantly. If I could only see one’s luck before then, afterwards I could predict one’s incoming bad luck or catastrophes. I began seeing a black line–the gold line’s opposite.”

“……”

“And… If certain conditions were met, I could co-opt another’s luck and convert it into my own.”

After hearing that, Ryu Hyerin paused and stared at Bae Jaemin.

He nodded with a jubilant smile; he had expected her surprise. “That’s right. I was able to take and use Seo Dawon’s colossal luck.”

“You’re kidding me!” Ryu Hyerin reflexively denied.

Regardless, Bae Jaemin continued, “You don’t believe me, right? I could barely believe it either. But, you know, I was someone who would barely be able to do a chin-up while the others in [Red Lotus] do push-ups; I wasn’t always someone who had the potential to become a High Priest, like I am now. However, as I moved with Seo Dawon, I snatched his luck and started using it for myself. My skills began to drastically improve at that moment.”

“Then…”

“At first, I doubted this ability as well. I doubted it for far longer than you.”

“……”

“But, even I had to concede to the facts; everytime I absorbed Seo Dawon’s luck, my results changed completely. I avoided major injuries by a hair’s breadth; I kept getting good items from random reward chests. If a skill was supposed to fail five out of ten times, the number of failures would reduce to two out of ten.” Bae Jaemin whispered to her with a mean-looking smile, “Furthermore… When I took his luck, Seo Dawon began to have troubles with women. No matter who he met, there would suddenly be a fall-out or he’d break up with her. It was then Seo Dawon’s reputation would fall as his personal life would trend in mass media.”

“……”

“That may have happened because I absorbed his luck. After all, it takes luck to meet good people, right?”

Ryu Hyerin found it hard to believe all of the Priest’s words. The more she listened, the more his [Clairvoyance] skill sounded like a cheat–a fraud. Something to shake the entire foundation of User Society, more than any other class or skill. She couldn’t help but be suspicious as she’d never heard of such a skill.

However, Bae Jaemin had such absolute confidence in his story that it was difficult for her to flatly deny it. So, she asked, “If what you said is true… Aren’t you someone born with incredible luck? That in and of itself is a ridiculous skill…”

Bae Jaemin fell silent. Then, in a downcast voice, “…That’s what I thought not too long ago. ‘Perhaps I’m the truly lucky one,’ things like that. ‘If this continues, then perhaps pushing Seo Dawon off the top spot wouldn’t be a mere dream’… But…”

“But?”

“Things changed when my [Clairvoyance] skill upgraded to the highest rank.” Bae Jaemin’s face was momentarily pierced by a fear that he could not hide. “I started dreaming. If I could only see vague strands before…That is to say, before it was more like [Forecast] rather than [Clairvoyance]…. But, finally, I could see the future through my dreams, finally something suitable for a skill named [Clairvoyance].”

“And?”

“The dreams were an issue.” Bae Jaemin looked pale, as if he were reluctant to speak on the subject of his dreams.

However, Ryu Hyerin looked at him, hurriedly urging him. After a long silence, the Priest spoke falteringly, as if he were broaching some deep secret. “I dreamt of…Seo Dawon murdering me.”

Become a Patron!

TL: AHHHHHH There’s too many revelations in this chapter? Stealing Luck? Dreams of being murdered by Seo Dawon? SEO DAWONS GIRLFRIENDS AND HIS DATING HISTORY MESSED WITH BY BAE JAEMIN? The man is so totally private and mum about his life–he probably wouldn’t open his mouth to explain or defend himself to others. Even if things ended unfortunately for him.