Chapter 75: Mastery Of Harmonic Flow Breathing Has Increased, Cursed Spirit [Favorite Drink Vending Machine]
I stared at her calmly, and remained silent.
"You shouldn’t stay silent. Your answer here could decide whether you leave this room alive or not."
The silence lingered.
’Something’s off.’
Chryseis Hargraves had come too quickly to interrogate me.
That was only possible if she was here before I revealed the Ruyi Bang replica.
’Why is the Head of House of Hades here? This isn’t the main base of the Underworld. It’s just a side branch.’
Before revealing my ’connection’ to Monkey King moments ago, I was just a suspicious person with the ability to use portals in their eyes.
It wasn’t enough to bring Chryseis Hargraves down personally.
’There’s another reason she’s here.’
No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what could be the reason.
I was missing a crucial piece in the puzzle.
"Alan Veritas?"
Her voice brought me out of my thoughts.
I looked at her.
"Chryseis Hargraves, I’ve already given you two pieces of proof. If that’s not enough, then let me be clear."
My voice dropped a little colder, and I made sure my tone left no space for ambiguity.
"You have two options in front of you."
She lowered her fan slightly, enough that I could see the faint curve of her lips again.
"First, you can keep an eye on me. Since I’m going to work as a Cursed Spirit Hunter, you’ll get plenty of chances to observe me. You will know in due time if I’m the disciple of Monkey King or not."
"And the second?" she asked.
"I don’t care whether you believe me or not."
Her eyebrows twitched slightly.
"If you think I’m lying, go ahead and do whatever you want. Interrogate me. Throw me in a cell. Kill me. But just keep this in mind: If you touch me, Master won’t let you go."
The room fell into silence again.
The heavy, charged silence thundered.
Then she chuckled softly.
She chuckled, folding the fan and resting it on her lap.
"That bold and arrogant attitude does match him, to be honest. Maybe you really are his disciple."
Her tone had softened slightly, but her eyes remained sharp.
"This still isn’t enough to count as proof, so I’ll keep watching. And I’ll find out if you’re telling the truth."
The swirling darkness began to recede, drawing back into her body like ink soaking into fabric.
Within seconds, the room was back to normal. Dim lights. Scratched floor. Metal walls. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
"You can go meet your team," she said.
I nodded, stood and moved toward the door, placing my hand on the knob.
I’d taken one breath—just one, invisible sigh of relief—when her voice called out again.
"Alan Veritus."
I paused and turned slightly.
Her glowing crimson eyes locked onto mine.
My chest tightened instantly. My body froze before I could respond.
The moment our gazes met, the buzzing returned.
It was much stronger than before.
It tore through my mental defenses like wet paper.
The moment I let my guard down, she attacked.
"Is there any reason you chose this specific mission for your Cursed Spirit Hunter license?" she asked.
"...Yes."
The word slipped out before I could stop it.
I clenched my fists and tried to hold back the rest, but my lips were already moving again.
’Damn it. I can’t tell her the truth.’
If she really was working with the invaders, saying I knew about [Area 51] could get me killed.
Worse, it could speed up the timeline and put more people at risk.
She leaned forward. "And the reason you chose this mission is?"
I bit down on my lip, drawing blood.
The pain brought clarity.
My mind steadied for just a second, and I forced my body to resist.
I quickly used [Harmonic Flow Breathing].
The buzz in my head dulled slightly. I couldn’t control my body fully, but a bit of control returned to me.
"....I want to get the Cursed Spirit Hunter license," I said, acting as if I was still under complete control of her mental attack.
"Is that the real reason?" she pressed.
"...Yes."
I kept my voice neutral.
Thanks to the effect of Harmonic Flow Breathing calming one’s mind, I could resist a bit of her mental attack.
She studied me for a few seconds, then leaned back and nodded.
The glow in her eyes faded away.
"You can leave," she said.
[You have resisted a powerful mental attack with Harmonic Flow Breathing and your Spirit.]
[Minor Increase in Harmonic Flow Breathing Mastery, Spirit +5]
I didn’t wait this time. I opened the door and stepped out of the room.
"That woman was strong," Yuna muttered.
The hallway outside was just as dim and quiet as before. As I turned, something caught my eye in the corner.
A vending machine.
It was not just any vending machine.
’Cursed Spirit [Favorite Drink Vending Machine].’
The Karivara coffee must’ve come from this.
’Lunatics.’
Cursed Spirit [Favorite Drink Vending Machine] gives you the person’s favorite drink of random type.
You needed a photo of the person, and you had to write their name on it.
Fake names worked. Photos with disguised faces worked too.
As long as the person internally accepted that name and identity, there was no problem.
You slid the signed photo into the machine like it was money.
And the machine gave you a random drink.
Cola. Tea. Juice. Or coffee.
But it wouldn’t be just any drink. It would be that person’s favorite version of it.
If it was coffee, it would be their favorite coffee. In my case, that meant Karivara.
’It is a Rank 1 Cursed Spirit.’
If the person drank the drink—one produced by the Cursed Spirit—their soul would temporarily leave their body.
It wasn’t dangerous most of the time. Just disorienting.
But here?
We were underground.
And the deeper you went below the surface, the more dangerous things appeared.
Especially Parasitic type Cursed Spirits like ghosts and Erinyes.
They were creatures that existed in spiritual states, invisible to most detection methods, and were unable to physically interact with the world above.
The stronger these specific Parasitic types of Cursed Spirits — they were called ghost-type — were, the deeper underground they lurked.
If my soul had left my body for even a few seconds down here, something else might’ve stepped in.
And that’s how undead and zombies were made.
If something like that took over, you were gone.
Forever.
...
Chryseis Hargraves’ POV
"He’s interesting," Chryseis murmured, folding her arms as she leaned back in the chair.
She hadn’t planned on meeting Alan personally.
In fact, she’d come to this branch for a private matter entirely unrelated to him.
She wasn’t even in the mood to get involved until Nikandros, the Rank 3 inspector handling Alan, had approached her with the replica of Ruyi Bang.
It was genuine.
"He knows about the Maw of Gluttony, and he knows how the Favorite Drink Vending Machine works."
Her eyes shifted toward the paper cup sitting on the table.
Steam rose from it. The scent lingered in the room.
She’d never smelled anything like it before.
She picked up the cup and stared at it.
"Is he really the Monkey King’s disciple?"
She didn’t have an answer yet.
Normally, she wouldn’t have wasted time personally questioning a teenager.
If anything, she would’ve sent someone else, and only intervened after it was confirmed he was the Monkey King’s disciple.
There was only one reason she met him.
"He took Mission D. I wonder if this is a coincidence, or if it’s a planned move on his part."