Good News, Bad News

Tap. Tap.

Fss...

"The prince is waking up!" With bated breaths, Dolly, who had been patiently watching the cocoon of clouds, suddenly stood in excitement as the mist began to slowly dissipate.

Tap... Tap... Tap.

As the strange, rhythmic tapping grew louder, Red and Leo, as well as the two post-apocalyptic brothers, Ten and Hansel, couldn't help but turn to look towards the cocoon.

Even the cold-faced girl who minded her business in a corner, looked up briefly.

Fsss....

...

[Mana: 520 (+10 +10 +10 +10...)]

When Haneul emerged from the cocoon, the cloud which had originally surrounded him and solidified, cracked and splintered into uncountable pieces.

[Warning! Mana Overload! Your mana stat has exceeded what your current body can contain.]

[Mana: 670 (+10 +10 +10...)]

[Warning! Mana Overload! Your mana stat has exceeded what your current body can contain.]

[Mana: 890 (+10 +10 +10...)]

[Warning! Mana has surpassed the extreme danger threshold!]

[Mana: 1200]

With the accompaniment of a rain of white particles from the cocoon which was akin to glistening snow, Haneul slowly walked towards where he perceived his companions to be.

'Perceived'.

For some reason, since a few moments ago, his ears began to buzz and his vision turned white. His head throbbed painfully as if a sledgehammer was repeatedly pounding onto it.

"Hey! You're finally out!" Seeing his companion finally out of the cocoon, Leo called out casually, the slight worry which had secretly occupied his thoughts finally put to rest.

But, despite his unnecessarily loud voice, the white-haired boy didn't respond, with no indication of having even heard at all.

"You-" As Leo was about to rush towards Haneul, instinctively feeling something was wrong, a pale arm quickly blocked his path.

With the same smile on his face, Red shook his head towards him, his finger on his lips in a shushing motion.

Ting.

A clear ringing sound echoed in the corridor.

Feeling something making contact with his foot, Haneul slowly bent down and, despite not being able to see anything currently, began to look for what he had accidentally kicked.

Quietly, the spectators stayed motionless, watching his movements with hesitation as if they all came to a silent agreement.

When a cold surface made contact with his fingers, he immediately grasped it without hesitation.

A cold, metalic texture. It had a thin bridge with one end being a ring and the other having a complex, pronged edge.

It should be a key.

[Detecting abnormal movement from [???]. Mana is being rapidly consumed.]

Feeling the the throbbing in his head subside, and begin to be replaced by a cold wave from the stone on his forehead, Haneul cautiously blinked his eyes.

Starting from the central part of his eyes, the blinding white surface slowly receded, and all that remained was a slight bluriness in his vision. But that too would most likely disappear with time.

As the buzzing in his ears quieted down, Haneul was finally able to hear his surroundings again.

It was quiet.

Did everyone end up leaving him while he was stuck inside the cocoon?

Nervously, Haneul looked around but, with his blurry eyesight, all he could see were the outlines of various debris from the broken walls and shadowy, unmoving lumps that jutted out from the ground.

'This... should be expected. In the first place, we weren't close enough to even be acquaintances.'

[Mana: 1200 (-700)]

[Conditions have been met. You have acquired [Divine Sense] stat.]

[700 points have been transferred from Mana to Divine Sense. 700 [Mana] stats have been converted to 7 [Divine Sense] stats.]

The still coldly pulsing stone on his forehead made its presence known at this time.

'Ah. It's probably because of this.'

Then, as if to agree to his hypothesis,

[Evolution pathway has been detected. Evolution from [Godling] to [Middle God]. Progress: 0.7%]

'It's really strange how these notifications come just at the right moment. It somehow reminds me of that guy.'

Suddenly, the image of a certain annoyingly grinning guy made it's way into Haneul's mind, causing him to freeze momentarily.

'Appraisal.'

Trying to ignore the strange emptiness in his chest, Haneul turned towards the silvery key in his hand.

[Boss Room's Key.

-Has a 1 out of 100 chance of acquisition through destroying a key object in a dungeon.]

'Ah. Of course it would be this thing.'

So this was what it meant.

[Luck: 0 [MAX]]

The troublesome stat that flickered between zero and max had this sort of effect.

Because they had been chased down by the monsters, he ended up acquiring two blessings and the key to the boss room.

And, in exchange for his now blurry eyesight, he had recieved [Divine Sense].

It might be perceived as something akin to Cause and Effect by most people but, he found it more similar to Equal Exchange.

If he were with other people, he would've felt cautious about it, though, since he was alone now, it didn't matter anymore.

At most, he would just get hurt a little in exchange for more benefits.

Despite of the carefree mood he tried to impose on himself, he still unconsciously felt unsettled.

Even the smile he wore on his face looked unbelievably ugly.

'Why... is it? Didn't I want to be left alone from the start?'

Eventually, he still had to move on so, reluctantly he stepped forward but, a heavy piece of debris which went unseen to him got caught on his foot.

'D*amn this sh*t luck!'

"Hey! Careful!" Right when he braced himself about to crash head first onto the ground, a steady arm quickly grabbed onto him.

"Jeez! Don't you think tripping once today is already plenty enough?!" The voice which Haneul had previously thought to be obnoxiously loud, now felt incredibly reassuring as it spoke to him with a hint of worry. "I can't always be here to save you, you know!"

"Leo?" Hesitantly, Haneul called out since all he could see was a blurry outline of a person with golden hair.

"Yeah, obviously!" The person in front of him nodded furiously as he steadied himself. "What's with you? You're acting strange."

"I, uh..." Suddenly, a mixture of relief and other complex emotions bombarded him, causing him to be overwhelmed and stutter.

'So they didn't leave..?'

Walking silently from nearby, Red quietly studied the recently emerged Haneul.

Truthfully, there didn't seem to be much to notice. But, as Leo had pointed out, he too realized that Haneul had been acting quite strange.

From the way he awkwardly walked around to how he almost ended up crashing to the ground earlier, each movement he made was with caution. Then, Red noticed the boy's eyes. Though they were still brilliantly gleaming the same sheen of gold, it was actually a shade lighter than it was previously.

It was at this moment that he realized.

Standing right in front of Haneul as the boy's slightly unfocused eyes turned towards him, he asked.

"By any chance, can't you see us well?"

"Ah..."