Chapter 2 - Divinely Cursed
Sprawled out on the wondrously soft-to-the-touch and springy satin bed, Jae instinctively let out a lengthy exhale.
“Fuuuu....”
Currently, he was in the room assigned to him by one of the royal palace’s maids. It was certainly one far bigger than would ever be necessary, and some may even consider it uncomfortably excessive in ways, but to complain would be a sin.
He thought the situation was phenomenal, of course, but he wasn’t nearly as pleased as he had hoped he’d be.
Covering his face and eyes with his hands as if to hide from the gaze of the world, he rolled onto his stomach, dug his face into the inexplicably soft duvet, and groaned.
“Ugh... What do I do...?”
He didn’t want to look at it again. He really didn’t want to, but there was no choice.
Once again, still with reluctance, he recited the words, but this time in just his mind.
...Open Status.
That was all it took for a transparent, floating screen to appear in the air in front of him. Jae was still dumbfounded and astonished that it actually worked, but more than anything, he was concerned about his future.
Earlier, he didn’t have much of an opportunity to look at his so-called ‘Status’ because he needed to pay attention to what the princess was saying... But it was enough to get an incredibly bad feeling from it. In any case, now that her introduction was over with, he could study it in detail.
Praying that what he already saw might have somehow changed, he looked with deflated eyes at the display.
〔Status〕
Name: Jae Kang [Cursed]
Class : No Available Classes
Level 1
Race : Human
Age : 16
Title : Apostle of Sin
Trait : Steadfast Mind
Distributable Points: 0
Health Points (HP) : 317 / 317
Mana Points (MP) : 100 / 100
Strength: 17
Endurance: 17
Agility: 18
Dexterity: 17
Magic: 20
Wisdom: 0
Luck: ―
Titles : 「Apostle of Sin」, 「Cursed by a God」, 「Sinful God's Affliction」, 「World Traveller」
Resistance Skills : 「Mental Abnormal Status Nullification [Lv.MAX]」
Communication Skills : 「Seronian Language Comprehension [Lv.MAX]」
Staring at one item in particular, his eyes closed with a sigh.
“It’s still there...”
Please...
He calmed his breathing, prayed to a god he was this close to resenting, and opened his eyes to a slit. Jae re-read his Status for a third time, but what looked and sounded like nothing less than a disaster, unfortunately, didn’t show any signs of going away.
“...Fuck...”
He thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
“Is it already over...?”
Needless to say, Jae didn’t know how his base stats compared to the average, but surely his possessing two titles with “sin” in them was bad news. Not to mention whatever that ‘Curse’ meant. No, in the first place, wasn’t it especially dangerous since this was a world with a presumably similar mindset to that of the mediaeval ages? Supposing it was the case, being 'cursed' or 'sinful' was something infinitely worse than if he were simply on Earth, was it not?
Anxiety-fuelled pessimism leading his thoughts naturally down such a path, all colour washed clean from his face as he became all the more certain.
...I’m dead...
It didn’t take much convincing. Anyone could see that people with such ingrained mysticism in their culture would hunt him down and perhaps even burn him at the stake simply for being cursed. If he was cursed by a god of all things, didn’t that classify him as heretical? No, being called something like the ‘Apostle of Sin’ was alone enough cause to brand him as a heretic. The curse was simply a way to beat the horse after it had already died.
Nonetheless, he tried his best to keep calm.
I should be okay so long as nobody finds out... Right?
Logically speaking, it was true that no one could tell something was wrong with him from a glance; otherwise, trouble would have surely sprouted earlier on. Because of this, he could at least hold some semblance of courage; enough to foster the resolve necessary to figure a way out of the situation.
...Unless they were waiting for the perfect moment to strike? No, that’s ridiculous. We were all already surrounded by knights. There would be no reason to spare me there if they already knew.
Of course, there’s a possibility they were waiting because they didn’t want to apprehend Jae in front of everyone else, but baseless speculations were pointless. It still remained true that as long as he could successfully hide the fact he possessed such sinister-looking things on his Status―which nobody else seemed able to see when he opened it earlier―then, theoretically, there shouldn’t be any problems.
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Not only that; there's the silver lining that he owns the max-level ‘Mental Abnormal Status Nullification’ skill, most likely originating from his trait, ‘Steadfast Mind’. Whatever it was, it sounded extremely useful, so he was glad for that much.
If there was one unfortunate thing, it would be that hiding such a big secret would undoubtedly be an exceedingly tough act to keep up. To live within this royal palace for God knows how long, within a place where countless important people and national treasure-level items are most likely located, as well as his classmates, the so-called "Summoned Heroes"...
...Yeah, no, that’s plain fucking impossible, right?
Put simply, it’s more than just a little unrealistic to be able to expect him to survive hidden in such a place when all he had going for him was resistance to mental status effects and what was effectively a ticking time bomb. In the first place, Jae knew absolutely nothing about this world, and if it turned out that looking at other people’s Status was a much more paltry task than expected, he would really be screwed.
For all he knows, there could be someone here who can look at other people's information right now. In fact, such a thing should be expected in a place like the royal palace. Wouldn't there be all sorts of incredibly powerful and influential people here?
Relying on just the knowledge he has from Earth about these sorts of fantasy worlds was more a setback than an advantage―if it turned out that what he thought to be true was actually mistaken, then things could turn out far worse than if he were to not know anything at all. Misinformation can be much more fatal than no information, after all.
Realising all of this, Jae decided that escaping the palace was to be his topmost priority. He felt like there was no other choice, at least not that he could accomplish right now. In any case, to do that, figuring out a plan to flee was required; more specifically, knowledge of the palace’s layout.
Thus, he felt compelled to take a look around the place.
The princess said dinner will be in three hours, right? I don’t know what the time is, but if they eat at around 6-7pm, then right now it should be roughly around 3.
Considering he had started out with the Seronian Language Comprehension skill, that probably meant everything he said and heard would be automatically translated into English. Whether or not that included measurements such as time was yet unclear, but he had no choice but to assume it was the case since Eleanor had specified the hours.
In the end, it was only more stuff he had to think about in the future.
“Right, then.”
Jae closed his Status, jumped up from the bed and walked over to the desk on the other side of the room, where an oddly thick-looking pen sat atop a pile of parchment. Picking it up rather curiously, he tried scribbling something to see how it worked, but it seemed to work just the same as any old pen.
It’s really smooth. Does it use magic to write instead of ink? Feels way nicer to write with than the pens I normally use.
He thought mapping out the layout of the palace would be ideal if he wanted to escape, but then the notion that someone might question what he was doing came to mind. If someone interrogated him or asked what he was doing, it would be a bit awkward to say something like, “Yeah, I’m making a map so I can escape, haha!”, wouldn’t it? There was no suitable response he could think of at the moment, so Jae put the pen down with a sigh of resignation.
Let’s just try with a mental map for now.
Thinking so, he clicked his tongue and exited the room.
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Walking through the palace halls, Jae passed some of his classmates chatting in the corridors. He didn't stop to speak to any of them since their relationship couldn't be called much more than just that―classmates―and they probably didn’t want to talk to him either.
Although, with the current situation and all, it's not like he had the leisure to stand around and converse excitedly whether they were close or not anyway, so he simply ignored everyone he passed and focused on formulating a mental map of the palace’s layout, starting with the Heroes’ living quarters near the centre of the palace.
It was easy enough to figure out the way around there since they had the students’ names engraved with magic on metal plates placed on the doors; the two sections were additionally separated into male and female quarters.
There were two corridors of rooms for the boys and two for the girls. When he arrived at the final corridor, someone exited a nearby room without looking where they were going; evidently in a hurry.
“Woah!?”
The person almost bumped into Jae because of this, but swiftly moved out of the way just before they collided. The boy turned to Jae after barely missing him and spoke.
“Ah, Jae. Sorry for that, I’m in a bit of a hurry. See you later!” He said briefly, before running off down the corridor.
A little confused, Jae stared at the guy’s back until he rounded a corner, then turned his eyes back towards the room from which he came. The room he left wasn’t his own.
...What was Chris doing in Ashley’s room?
The thought of something obscene crossed his mind for a moment but he quickly shook his head. Something like that would be ridiculous in this situation; even still, the door was slightly ajar, and Jae’s curiosity was quickly taking over. As he was contemplating whether to peek inside or not, Ashley herself popped out.
She appeared normal at a glance, showing that nothing strange was going on inside, but her eyebrows hopped upon seeing Jae. Eyeing him with suspicion, she asked.
“Hm? Jae, your room isn’t this way, is it...? Did you need something?”
She asked as if she wasn’t entirely sure, but they both knew this was where the girls’ rooms were. She was absolutely correct in that, normally, there would be no need for him to be here.
Wait. Chris was here just now, wasn’t he? Why is she questioning me as if I did something wrong?
Perhaps she was just being careful, but even still, couldn’t she see how her words were a little insulting?
Whatever. She probably doesn’t mean it. Either way, there’s no time to care.
Ashley was one of the few people in the class that could be considered on friendly terms with Jae, including Chris―it wasn’t because they were particularly well-acquainted or close personally, but more so that those two friends were just genial with everyone. Due to that kind of superficial closeness, he felt a bit awkward when interacting with them and wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.
Jae hesitated before speaking, his tone carrying a slight stiffness.
“Uh, no, I was just bored so I decided to take a look around the place. By the way, that guy...”
He glanced and gestured the way Chris ran off but let the end of his sentence trail off. Ashley formed a smile that gave off a curious feeling and guessed what he wanted to ask, “Right. Sorry about him. You’re fine, right?”
It appears she knew he and Chris had almost collided. Did she hear it from beyond the door?
"Yeah, no worries. Did something happen?"
“It’s not a huge deal. Chris went to admonish Ryan; apparently, he already stole something from somebody's room.”
'Already'...?
"Ah, I see.”
Guess it explains why he was in such a hurry. I don't get why he cares so much, though.
“Ahaha, always causing trouble, isn’t he, that guy? Even in this situation...”
She sighed exasperatedly, evidently quite exhausted with everything going on. If her actions from earlier were anything to go by, he was sure that Ashley was performing her job well as a counsellor for the girls.
It must be tough. Well, it's a personal choice if you want to be a pillar of emotional support for others. Couldn’t be me, but I think it deserves some respect.
“We were in my room with some others when someone came in and informed us. I seriously can’t believe Ryan. Like, what are his priorities in this situation? What is he stealing when we weren't even able to bring anything with us from Earth?”
Ashley was obviously frustrated that certain people, particularly Ryan, were causing trouble at such a time. To her, Jae responded with apparent indifference.
“Sure. It sounds tiring to deal with.”
“Oh, pardon me, would you like to come in and join us--”
Immediately, Jae cut her off.
“―Ah, sorry; I’ve actually got something I need to do. Later, then.”
I can't drag this on any longer. I don't want-- No, I can't afford to waste time unnecessarily. It's a good thing this was the last dorm area to check; there shouldn’t be any more distractions.
“No, that’s alright! I'm sorry for keeping you. Then, I’ll see you later!”
Jae nodded towards her amiable smile before quickly leaving the corridor; his hasted steps carrying a sense of unknown urgency.
"...”
Ashley continued to stare at the place where he left, her expression growing ever more curious. Subconsciously, she muttered to herself, “...Did he always feel so weird to interact with...? Ah, what are you saying, Ashley? That’s so rude... It’s probably just me being tired.”
Burying the shameful thought deep at the back of her mind, Ashley shook her head and closed the door.
Not realising the meaning behind her unique intuition, or what it would inevitably entail.