Academy's Drunk Fighter-Chapter 20: Followers of the End (2)

The Dreaming World has a few peculiar traits, and among them, curses have one especially strange mechanic.

That is: if a higher-tier curse exists, then lower-tier curses don’t apply.

There’s no limit to how many curses you can carry—but if a superior curse is already in place, any inferior ones can’t be used.

That’s why, right now, I only have two active curses.

The physical-type curse [Drunkard], and the mental-type curse [Alcoholic].

But whether that system applies to reality? I had no fucking clue.

So, this was a gamble.

To prepare in advance, I drank first and headed to the place where the doomsday freaks were supposed to meet me.

[Current Intoxication: 5%]

With my head still spinning, a needle went into my arm.

Thwip.

Then I passed out—and woke up inside some tiny coffin.

All I could see around me was a pitch-black void.

I realized there was no way I’d get out of this by myself, and all I could do was hope someone on the outside would drag me out.

And then suddenly—black smoke filled the entire space.

It began to surround and smother me from all sides.

Strange things started pouring into every possible opening—my nose, ears, eyes—any hole they could crawl through.

Squirm.

It felt like they were kneading my brain, and the dizziness got ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ worse.

It felt like they were trying to crack open my mind and stuff something else inside.

“Uweegh...”

I really hope this works.

I’m not a fan of brainwashing juice...

     Bzzzzt—

[External interference detected.]

[<Mid-tier Curse, Sinking (D)> <Mid-tier Curse, Craving (D)> <Low-tier Curse, Encroachment (C)> detected.]

BZZZZZT—

[A superior curse is currently in effect.]

[<Top-tier Curse, Alcoholic (F)>]

[Mental strength is declining.]

[Maintained.]

[Mental strength is declining.]

[Maintained.]

[Mental stren—]

     [Lower-tier curses have been nullified.]

[External intrusion assessment complete.]

[Mental strength exceeds minimum requirement.]

[Infection attempt detected.]

[Intrusion.]

[Attempting defense.]

[Success.]

[Mental infection has been repelled.]

    “Urgh...”

I feel like shit.

“Haah... haah...”

My head’s pounding.

It feels like my brain got turned inside out.

And then I immediately wonder if I’ve already gone off the deep end.

Destruction. Apocalypse. The End. Nothingness.

Normally, if someone gets mentally infected by those nutjobs, they start reacting positively to those words.

But I didn’t feel like agreeing with any of that.

If you asked me to choose between yes or no, I’d pick “no” without hesitation—my mind was still solid.

Which meant I resisted it.

“Phewwww...”

And just as I realized that, a message popped up in front of me:

[You have withstood the curse of the Followers of the End.]

[This will be recorded as a new achievement.]

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on ƒreewebɳovel.com.

[A small amount of bonus stats has been permanently granted.]

Finally, the status window said something that actually mattered.

“Hah.”

I clenched my fist inside the coffin—and yeah, I could definitely feel it.

My muscles didn’t suddenly bulk up or anything, but the strength flowing through my body? It was definitely different from a few hours ago.

If I fought the me from back then, I could probably take on two of him now.

Even if the increase was small, it was real and it mattered.

Taking a risk and landing a solid reward always felt damn good.

It was a shame I couldn’t allocate the bonus stats myself, but if they were distributed evenly, that was fine.

But I couldn’t celebrate yet.

If my guess was right, this place was one of the cult’s branches.

And that meant there were probably a bunch of them waiting for me to come out of the coffin.

That thought had barely formed when the lid started to creak open.

Thudk.

The wood groaned with an eerie sound as I sat up and stared at the ceiling.

And only then did I realize—there was a mask sitting on my face.

The room was so dark I hadn’t even noticed it was there.

“Greetings.”

“Yes.”

I played along, nodding halfheartedly.

“Are you ready to walk with us?”

“I am.”

Now then—what the hell should I do with these guys?

If I want to avoid immediate danger and make sure I don’t die, it’d be best to kill them or knock them all out and run.

But on the flip side, these guys were the perfect stepping stone for my growth.

They were definitely going to use every resource in this branch to try and bring the Academy down.

Which meant if I could snatch up the good stuff while I was here, not only could I make some money—I could rack up some decent stat gains, too.

Besides, let’s be real—I’m still too weak to take them all down.

I had no clue what their total power level was, and the second I destroy this branch, the other ones will realize something’s wrong.

In that case...

Isn’t the answer obvious?

“Now, please proceed with your task.”

I barely held back a smirk as I replied:

“Understood.”

When people talk about dangerous things in a group like this, there’s usually a few options.

Incompetent leaders. Teammates who don’t follow the rules. And all the rest.

But it all boils down to this:

The enemy within.

So yeah—I decided to infiltrate them from the inside and devour everything worth devouring.

“Fuhaha!!”

“Hehe...”

No one would ever know.

Everyone standing there was laughing.

But only one of us was laughing for a very different reason.

****

After returning to the dorm, those bastards gave me one order.

“On the exact day the new moon begins this month, trap all Academy personnel inside the Academy.”

“Understood.”

Once they left, I flipped them off behind their backs and sprawled out on the floor, thinking.

The event will happen as scheduled.

The new moon—the day when the moon is perfectly positioned between the sun and the Earth, making it invisible.

Whether it’s day or night doesn’t matter.

What matters is, it’s these lunatics’ favorite day of the month.

And if everything goes according to the original timeline, Noah dies that day.

“That’s not happening.”

I downed the rest of the bottle I hadn’t finished earlier and started thinking about the most satisfying way to wreck their little plan.

I don’t feel sorry for them.

Even if the game didn’t depict it explicitly, they’re the kind of bastards who’d use children as tools for their twisted ends.

On the day they thought everything was falling into place, those doomsday freaks would face their most humiliating failure.

“Hehehe...”

Grinning to myself for a while, I noticed a mask tossed to the side and picked it up.

“Huh. They didn’t take this with them.”

Was it not that important?

But that can’t be right. Every time they attacked the Academy, they always wore masks like this. Doesn’t feel like something with low importance.

“......”

As I stared at the mask, for the first time, something detailed popped up in the status window.

[False Mask of the Doomsday Followers]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Description: The end shall come unto thee.]

[Effect: Permanently grants a small amount of stats once per month. However, mental strength decreases with each use. If mental strength falls below a certain threshold while wearing the mask, there is a chance of being brainwashed.]

The entry displayed the mask’s info in full for the first time.

That’s never happened before, so that must mean...

“Aha.”

I guess only items that I officially own display their information like this.

That’s the only thing that makes sense.

I mean, the gloves and gun I got from the Academy never had any info pop up. So either they still count as Academy equipment, or they’re just below rare tier.

And judging by the description, the smoke from earlier probably came from this mask.

“Should I just throw it out?”

The stat buff aside, the whole “once a month” thing is way too long—and besides, it gives me the creeps.

Even I—who’s immune to curses—don’t really want this thing anywhere near me.

But just tossing it might trigger something. Wrapping it in a trash bag and chucking it seems like a bad idea.

Maybe I’ve just watched too many movies where people dump nuclear waste in rivers and oceans and end up spawning monsters.

Point is, if I just throw it out, some shit will probably go down somewhere I can’t see.

“Hmm...”

Maybe I’ll just hang it on the wall for now.

Kinda... stylish? Hanging it there gave off rich mansion vibes, surprisingly.

There wasn’t even a desk or chair in this shitty studio apartment, but with just that mask on the wall, the vibe turned oddly chilly. But hey—it’s almost summer, right? A little chill is nice.

I started refocusing and sorting through my plans again, when—

“Shit, I’m out.”

Turns out the booze I’d been sipping from earlier was now completely gone.

And the nearby convenience stores were about to close soon.

I hurriedly threw on some clothes and bolted outside, heading for the closest supermarket.

That store owner’s always let me slide if I say it’s for my parents, so he probably wouldn’t check ID.

Technically, yeah, I should be reporting him or whatever—but from my perspective, he’s a goddamn lifesaver who lets me buy liquor.

Other places—whether convenience stores or supermarkets—always card me. Probably because I look young. Or maybe it’s the height.

When I got there, thankfully, the lights were still on.

I headed straight to the alcohol section, but on the way, I spotted a familiar back.

“...Huh? Yoon Siwoo?”

No idea what that guy’s doing here. Not like I’ve got good memories involving him.

So I was planning to just avoid him and keep walking, but...

Step.

He walked out from between the other shelves he’d been checking, our eyes met—and then he started walking toward me.

‘What the hell? Why’s he coming over here?’