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Stumbling into knocking down the White-Faced Bride and making her fall head over heels had somehow cleared the quest.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Quest Cleared!] [You have successfully survived.] [Rewards will be distributed.]
A light notification popped up, followed by bundles of cash and items scattering everywhere.
Money rained down from the ceiling like a storm.
'Holy shit. How much is all this?'
I hadn't counted it yet, so I couldn't tell the exact amount, but it had to be over a million won at least.
In the original game, the first quest only rewarded about 50,000 won, but thanks to Easy Mode, I'd raked in a serious haul right from the start.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ['New Groom' Achievement Unlocked!] [Condition: Make the White-Faced Bride fall for you.] [Reward: Token of Pure Love]
On top of the quest clearing, I'd unlocked some achievement I'd never seen before.
No way—the original game didn't even have an achievement system.
"Ugh... Hubby... I-I'm scared..."
The White-Faced Bride whimpered with a terrified look on her face since I wasn't responding no matter how much she called, while wads of cash and rewards rained down from thin air.
Is this for real? Things were going way too smoothly from the get-go.
'Ah, this is the power of the Baby Mode Pack for Cowards.'
If I hadn't swallowed my pride and downloaded that coward's Baby Mode Pack?
I'd have had my face ripped off ages ago and become the White-Faced Bride's next meal.
Baby Mode Pack is the best.
Not only did it keep me alive, but I even scored a ton of cash.
"Stay down and get up already."
"A-Ah... Y-Yes..."
Since she supposedly liked manly guys, I tried barking an order a bit aggressively. Did it work?
Favorability: 90% → 91% [She adores you.] [Already serving you as her master.]
Crazy—it went up, even if just by 1%.
Seemed like it got harder to raise after 90%.
'What happens at 100%?'
No way I'd get eaten, right?
According to the mod pack description, it led to a marriage ending.
So maxing out favorability meant I'd have no choice but to marry the anomaly.
Is that right?
"Hubby... Um, over there..."
As I pondered how to manage her favorability, the White-Faced Bride awkwardly approached, trying to say something.
"What? Spit it out."
"Ugh... Well... This..."
I snapped curtly on purpose to try dropping her favorability, and she hemmed and hawed for a while before suddenly reaching into her cleavage and pulling out a nicely warmed ring.
Hold up—a ring?
Was she about to max out favorability and eat me right now? Was being curt the wrong move?
"Hey, what's that?"
"Th-This... It's... a wedding ring... P-Please..."
The White-Faced Bride shyly offered the ring.
We'd barely even met, and she was already handing over a wedding ring? Speed-dating psycho.
I stared at it, debating whether to take it or not, and its info popped up.
⚔ ITEM INFO ⚔ Name: Token of Pure Love Description: The crystallization of the White-Faced Bride's lingering obsession. Effect 1: Stay by the White-Faced Bride's side for life. Effect 2: Store the White-Faced Bride inside the ring.
So this was the achievement reward.
Token of Pure Love, huh? Fitting, almost.
'Rude, but pure love... Wait, no, that's not it.'
I took the ring from the White-Faced Bride.
It was a reward, so better to hold onto it.
"Y-You really took it...? Hehehe... Hubby. My real hubby..."
She beamed with joy the moment I accepted it, then grabbed my hand tight and started swearing some vow.
"Please... make me yours... I could give you everything I have..."
She pleaded with teary eyes, thrusting them close.
I had no clue how to respond to her solemn vow of total devotion.
Then a new prompt appeared.
📜 CONTRACT EVENT 📜
[Will you 'possess' the White-Faced Bride?]
YES NO
A contract event? Wasn't this exclusive to Onmyoji?
'No, the wording's off.'
In the game as an Onmyoji, you got events to contract low-grade spirits.
It specifically said, "Will you contract with this spirit?" as I recalled.
'This is straight-up...'
Possess her?
It went beyond a mere contract—asking if I wanted to fully claim this anomaly as my own.
'The White-Faced Bride is a disaster-class anomaly. In normal circumstances, she'd wield absolute power.'
Of course, with my absurdly high stats, it didn't matter much.
Still, more was always better, right?
I hit YES without hesitation.
"You... accepted me... Thank you... You're the first to ever take me in..."
The woman in her mourning garb burst into grateful tears and threw herself into my arms.
The softness of her chest mixed with the anomaly chill felt oddly thrilling.
Maybe accepting was the right call...
"Hey. Too close. Back off a bit."
"Ah, y-yes... We haven't even had our wedding night yet... I got too clingy..."
The White-Faced Bride blushed, covered her face, and squirmed.
She looked just like any lovestruck girl, but no doubt about it—this was an anomaly.
Don't let my guard down. She might still eat me.
"Get in the ring for now. I'm heading out."
"Got it... If that's what you want, Hubby..."
The White-Faced Bride got sucked neatly into the Token of Pure Love.
Somehow I'd ended up with an anomaly in hand, but now I had no idea what to do next.
[Return to the office.]
The next quest had popped up, at least.
A faint glowing line on the floor seemed to mark the path back to the office.
'Before I go, better pick up the cash on the floor.'
No way I'd leave rewards behind.
I scooped up the scattered bundles.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Korean Buddhism White Lotus Order.
Lotus Sect exorcist and spirit purification specialist.
Flame Rock Hye-ryeong Monk.
At the young age of 23, Monk Hye-ryeong had become an exorcist. Today, fully prepared to confront a "massive evil," he headed to an abandoned motel long left to rot.
"Great and Vast Buddha Flower Garland Sutra. Great and Vast Buddha Flower Garland Sutra. Om...!"
He'd arrived at the abandoned motel before he knew it.
Cold sweat beaded on his closely shaven head.
His hand trembled slightly on his prayer beads, assaulted by the thick malice wafting from the entrance.
"What deep grudge could cause this..."
The Korean Buddhist Association had tasked him with exorcising the earth-bound spirit haunting the building, but he lacked the courage to step inside.
Through his awakened exorcist's eyes, the interior was a hellscape straight out of nightmares.
One step in, and death.
His face would likely be peeled off in a gruesome end.
"Begone!!!"
Monk Hye-ryeong snapped his eyes open, steeling his resolve.
As a student of the Dharma pursuing enlightenment, how could he yield to such foul, deluded energy?
"Om mani padme hum, Kwanseum Bosal."
He chanted mantras nonstop, pushing back the encroaching malice.
Over 108 earth-bound spirits clung here—who knew how many had died inside?
At their center loomed a demon with jaws wide, awaiting the monk's entry.
"No one can illuminate me. I shall be my own light."
Gathering his courage, he pushed open the motel door.
Uncertain of his fate.
Solely to banish the evil tormenting people from this land.
"Hup...!!"
The moment he opened it, a blast of malice hit him; he gritted his teeth and focused his mind.
Any lapse, and the crashing darkness would crush him into madness.
'Insane power...! I can't handle this alone!'
Realizing his hubris, Monk Hye-ryeong tried to close the door again.
This grudge was an impossible solo job.
No choice—he'd lock it, seal it with talismans, and call in reinforcements.
"Huh? Monk, what are you doing in a dump like this?"
Then a young man about his age descended from the second floor.
For a moment, Monk Hye-ryeong couldn't even process what he was seeing.
'That guy...'
He'd glimpsed him once during a joint op with cathedral exorcists.
When the Vatican priest summoned the Western Guardian to stop a great demon's revival.
"Halo..."
A saintly halo from the Pure Land shone behind the young man's back.
His shadow writhed with an unfathomable abyss.
Monk Hye-ryeong couldn't tell if the man was "good" or "evil."
He was simply an existence unto himself.
A prodigy of indescribable powers.
"Uh, Monk? You okay?"
"Huh!? Oh, forgive my rudeness. Ahem."
The halo and abyss vanished from the young man in an instant.
Monk Hye-ryeong rubbed his eyes and peered again, but they were gone.
Instead, something in the ring on the man's left ring finger glared at him.
'Did he... take care of it?'
The moment he saw the ring, enlightenment dawned.
The young man had subdued and bound the massive evil inside the motel to himself.
Yet how was he unscathed with such a horror contained?
'He sacrificed himself to save this land. Perhaps... he could...'
Maybe even stop one of the Association's greatest headaches: the [Reciter of the Hell Sutra].
So thought Monk Hye-ryeong.