Chapter 232: Byeol’s Comfort

Even after removing the equipment’s added Mental Power, his Mental Power was still as high as 18 points. It was no exaggeration to say that as long as he fell asleep and let his guard down, he would immediately be affected. There was simply no other possibility.

Moreover, if it happened again, Joo Joowon was not confident that he could withstand it.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had managed to wake up this time largely because of luck.

His willpower had allowed him to hold on until that point, but if he had not managed to grasp the key point through that last bit of persistence at the final moment, he absolutely would have sunk into it and been unable to wake up.

It was terrifying... That was simply not something a tiny human being could resist.

Joo Joowon even felt that those whispers were not actually targeting humans. They might simply have been the traces of the other side accidentally left behind while passing through Earth. Yet, just as humans viewed ants, humans were probably no different from ants in the eyes of that existence.

Even without deliberately harming them, merely passing by could drive them into madness.

"Mm~" Byeol licked Joo Joowon’s finger.

Joo Joowon froze for a moment before suddenly relaxing.

Byeol rarely made this kind of sound. It sounded almost as though he were calling for his mother. For a period of time, Byeol had always called him this way.

During that period, Byeol had been staying in the hospital, while the company Joo Joowon worked for had been withholding his wages, leaving him struggling financially.

At that time, the savings he had were only barely enough to afford food and basic living expenses. They were nowhere near enough to pay for Byeol’s surgery. Even if he wanted to bring Byeol home and let him recover on his own, the surgery had to be completed first before there could be any hope of recovery.

At that time, he had thought that perhaps he should just give up. He could barely take care of himself, so how could he possibly take care of anything else?

There had been far too many setbacks in his life during that period. It was almost as though the God of Misfortune had possessed him. Reason told Joo Joowon that he could not even support himself, so why should he bother taking care of a cat he had only known for a short time?

It was around that time that Byeol suddenly began making this kind of sound.

Joo Joowon felt as though he had been "held hostage" at that time.

Actually, it could not really be called being held hostage. Back then, Joo Joowon could sense that Byeol wanted him to give up on him.

After all, he was a stray cat. His life would normally only last three or four years, and he had already been prepared to die. Yet the sound he made was like an excuse that made Joo Joowon unable to refuse.

He could not help smiling as he pulled Byeol into his arms and rubbed his face against him.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

Just like in the past, he had been able to work three jobs a day while taking care of Byeol. Things were the same now. He had endured it once, then twice. There was no reason he could not endure it a third time, a fourth time, or even reach the day when instead of merely enduring his opponent, he would actually defeat them.

He was not omnipotent, nor could he remain undefeated in every battle, but he was unbreakable.

There was no need to run away. There was no need to be afraid. He had always faced difficulties head on, had he not?

The heavy gloom in his heart began to disperse. However, rather than saying that it had been driven away, it would be more accurate to say that he had digested it. It was like snow melting when spring arrived, like the sky clearing after the rain.

He would not be defeated.

[ Ding! ]

[ System Notification: You have successfully passed a Will check from the Supreme Sovereign of Profound Darkness. Mental Power +10 ]

Joo Joowon showed little reaction. Even though the Mental Power gained from this Will check was twice as much as the previous time, it had once again affected his body.

When too much Mental Power flooded into the body at once, it was difficult for the Mental Power attribute to maintain its balance. Instead, it could cause a kind of "disturbance." Perhaps even calling it a disturbance was not quite accurate. It was more like a feeling of "not belonging," existing outside his original Mental Power. He needed to spend some time regaining control over it.

This feeling was not pleasant, but compared with what he had experienced before, this discomfort was almost no different from being tickled.

Cats have an extremely high tolerance for pain, and Byeol continued comforting Joo Joowon without showing the slightest abnormality.

Earlier, while Joo Joowon had been asleep, his body temperature had suddenly begun to drop, and his heartbeat had also become slower and slower. This had frightened Byeol badly, so he had hurriedly climbed onto him from the side, trying to wake him up.

However, not only had he failed to wake Joo Joowon, but Joo Joowon, who was still asleep, had instead instinctively grabbed him. The amount of strength he used had been unexpectedly great, making Byeol feel as though he were about to be strangled to death.

Or rather, if he had not already become a mutated beast and had not gained greater physical strength, he really would have been strangled to death just now.

At that time, however, Joo Joowon seemed to have fallen into a nightmare. No matter how much Byeol struggled or called out to him, he would not wake up. In the end, it was only after Joo Joowon woke up on his own that Byeol finally had a chance to breathe, and when he truly could not endure the pain any longer, he finally scratched him.