"Myaak!"
“Pathetic!”
“Shut up,” I said, but honestly, I couldn’t refute my familiar because it was true.
I let out a sigh.
A Dungeon Break has occurred.
Conquer the dungeon.
Damn it. Why did things get so tangled? All I wanted was to satisfy a bit of curiosity, that was all.
The quest "Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿" is in progress.
User “Jeong Daon” has thrown herself into danger to rescue the weak.
“I said shut up.”
Who exactly is this system mocking right now?
The system entrusts the judgment of “Jeong Daon”’s behavior suitability to members of society.
Deriving results…
A majority of society judges “Jeong Daon”’s actions to be somewhat just.
Quest “Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿” has been completed. “Jeong Daon”’s ability restrictions are weakened.
Jeong Daon (Normal)
Potential Ability Rating: S-rank
Stamina: LV. 21 (No cap)
Strength: LV. 16 (No cap)
Mana: LV. 30 (No cap)
Overall Level: LV. 20 → 22
Recommended Dungeons: C–D rank
"..."
It’s not bad that my ability restrictions were loosened again, but this is clearly screwing with me.
“Somewhat just,” my ass. When I was encouraging murder, fine, but now the system’s criticizing me for getting dragged into a Dungeon Break to save people. How ridiculous.
No—actually. What’s truly ridiculous are these two.
I looked at the two women I had barely managed to rescue before getting crushed by the Dungeon Break.
Choi Miyeon and Lee Arin. They were ready to kill each other just moments ago, so how did things end up like this? Well, Lee Arin almost succeeded, at least…
It’s absurd, but since my ability restrictions were eased, keeping both of them alive seems beneficial to me. I carefully poured a recovery potion sponsored by Han Jaeyeong into their mouths and cast healing magic. Even so, Lee Arin had stabbed straight through her own neck, so she was practically at death’s door…
Not an instant death, at least.
She probably intended to complete the soul core through pain, then destroy it just before dying. To destroy a soul core using a unique skill, you have to cling to life until the very end.
Killing yourself is one thing, but deliberately increasing the pain right before death? That was obsession and vengeance to a truly grotesque degree.
Even so, I still can’t understand why she turned away from the easiest path.
"Cough!"
Of course, thanks to that, she avoided instant death and now she’s going to suffer even more, since a great mage like me is delicately applying healing magic.
“Consider it the price for toying with a demon who takes contracts seriously.”
I really thought Lee Arin would kill Choi Miyeon and trigger the Dungeon Break. That’s why I was controlling the surrounding mana so the Dungeon Break’s effects would swallow only Lee Manbok.
Up until now, Dungeon Breaks caught everyone off guard because no one knew their cause, but if you keep your distance and observe the process, it’s not impossible. In the end, the theoretical hypothesis that destroying a soul core causes a Dungeon Break proved correct, but…
My second curiosity went unsatisfied.
The quest "Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿" is in progress.
The last soul core of Lee Arin I saw carried a hue slightly different from the murky color of hatred I had been observing. It might have been a feeling known as compassion.
How amusing. She had mortgaged her entire, not-so-long life to this cult, burning her soul entirely with hatred. And yet, the final moment of her death was compassion for another person trapped in the same circumstances.
At this rate, my hypothesis that the human soul is made entirely of hatred toward others can’t be proven.
“Ah, my theory gets shattered yet again.”
The pursuit of ultimate truth, of magic, never truly ends.
"Ugh."
Unlike Lee Arin, who had suffered completely fatal injuries, Choi Miyeon quickly regained consciousness once healing magic and potions were used. As awareness returned, she began to groan.
“Ahh… it hurts, it hurts…!”
Of course, she had only barely stopped just short of going berserk, so the physical pain inflicted on her body would still remain. The enhancement potions had brought some relief and there would be some temporary effects, but fundamentally, her body was still a vessel on the verge of shattering.
That couldn’t be helped.
Death is an end, but continuing to live means enduring all this miserable, pitiful pain.
Though in my case, even death was not the end.
“The potion also has pain-relieving effects, so just hold on a little until it kicks in.”
“H-hic… sob…” Choi Miyeon coughed as she cried.
And that sound awakened someone else as well.
“Ugh… where the hell is this…?”
It was one of the members of the Truelight Sect whose name I didn’t know, the one whose hand had been completely crushed by Choi Miyeon while trying to steal Lee Arin’s soul core. I hadn’t tried to save her; she must have gotten dragged along when I grabbed Lee Arin and Choi Miyeon. Her crushed hand must hurt badly, but compared to the other two who had gone on a rampage right before being swallowed by the dungeon, she was in relatively good condition.
The woman regained consciousness, pushed herself up, and stared at me with wide eyes. “H-Hunter Jeong Daon! What on earth is going on? What happened?”
“You can tell just by looking.”
I didn’t know whether she had awakened or not, but even a quick glance around made it obvious that this wasn’t Earth. We were in the middle of a vast desert, where an endless horizon of cold sand stretched out in every direction.
The woman’s eyes filled with shock. “What in the world is this…?!”
And strangely enough, at the sound of her voice, Choi Miyeon, who had been too overwhelmed by pain to think clearly, snapped her eyes open. “Big Sis…Suyeon…?”
“…Choi Miyeon! Y-you!” The woman called Suyeon pointed angrily at Choi Miyeon. “How dare you! How dare you! After everything I’ve done for you, to ignore that kindness and—agh!”
Thud!
The woman who had just been punched stared at me in disbelief. I didn’t see what was so surprising.
“Enough noise. Figure out the situation before you start screaming.”
From deep beneath the seemingly calm sand, faint vibrations were spreading. Ssssh—
A massive monster was approaching. Judging by the intensity, it was still some distance away, but caution was clearly necessary.
“This is inside a dungeon. If you want to make it out alive, shut your mouth at least.”
“Th-that’s…”
“…Inside a dungeon?” Now fully conscious, Choi Miyeon shakily pushed herself upright. Her face still showed lingering pain, but her eyes were clear. “Then trying to destroy the soul core was…”
“Yes. The plan was to trigger a Dungeon Break to kill Lee Manbok. Well, it worked to some extent.”
I looked out over the vast dungeon. I had clearly confirmed that Lee Manbok had been caught in the Dungeon Break’s aftermath. The problem was that, at the final moment, I failed to control the Dungeon Break’s range because I was grabbing Lee Arin and Choi Miyeon.
There was a high chance that Lee Manbok’s guards had been dragged into the dungeon as well.
System Guide: The current dungeon’s rank is B-rank.
If the system guide was accurate, then a B-rank dungeon meant someone as incompetent as Lee Manbok had a low chance of surviving… but still, I couldn’t let my guard down. Humans were unpredictable.
“Then what do we do now? I mean, what about Lee Arin?” Choi Miyeon gestured toward Lee Arin, who still lay on the ground like a corpse, proving the point. “She’s not completely dead, right? I can still feel the flow of mana…”
“Yes. She avoided the vital points, and her unique skill is telekinesis-based.”
Rationally, she might have wanted death, but as a living being, it was only natural to instinctively cling to life. Moreover, Lee Arin’s unique skill, telekinesis, was still sealing her wounds even while she was unconscious, so her life would likely last a bit longer.
As I tried to examine Lee Arin’s injuries more closely, a sharp voice rang out, “You damn bitch!”
"Jeong Suyeon!"
So her name was Jeong Suyeon.
With bloodshot eyes, Jeong Suyeon lunged toward the unconscious Lee Arin, but Choi Miyeon stepped in to block her. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Because of that bitch, I—! If Lee Arin had just listened to me—!”
“If she’d listened to you, what? She’d have just been dragged to the lab and died?”
“Wh-what?”
“…I’m not stupid. Well, I was stupid—but still.” Choi Miyeon briefly looked at Lee Arin with gloomy eyes, then turned back to Jeong Suyeon. “I should’ve realized sooner that you weren’t someone who cared about me.”
“Hey, Choi Miyeon! What are you saying?! Do you know how much I’ve done for you—!”
“You exploited me. From what I hear, you were planning to kill me and offer me to the cult leader. You’re really scary. Were you jealous because you’re only an F-rank Hunter?”
Jeong Suyeon gaped at Choi Miyeon’s sharp words. She looked as though she had never imagined hearing something like that.
“Wh-what? Jealous?”
“No wonder your face was weird when I finished the Supernatural Test. There’s really no one you can trust. A religious believer, my ass—you bastard. Are you even human?”
“Hey—agh!”
Smack!
At the sharp sound, my eyes widened. Choi Miyeon had slapped Jeong Suyeon across the face with all her strength. No matter how dangerous her condition was, a Hunter was still a Hunter. When she deliberately drew out her strength, someone as close to an ordinary human as Jeong Suyeon had no chance of enduring it.
Jeong Suyeon collapsed to the ground. Choi Miyeon looked down at her with cold eyes. “Let’s never see each other again, Jeong Suyeon. And… Hunter Jeong Daon.”
“…Ah, yes?”
I was so shocked by Choi Miyeon’s transformation that I reacted a moment late to her calling me.
She fiddled with her hands as she asked, “My dad… do you think his body was dragged somewhere into this dungeon too?”
“…Probably. I can’t be certain, though.”
“It’ll be hard to find, won’t it?”
“Yes.”
With a dimensional rift having opened and pulled things in from outside, it was doubtful whether the body was even intact.
Choi Miyeon fell silent for a moment, then nodded. “I understand. Then, Hunter Jeong Daon, let’s part ways here.”
“Part ways?”
“Yes. You need to clear the dungeon and return to reality, but Lee Arin and I won’t be much help. It’d be even better if you took that unpleasant person with you while you’re at it.”
“You’re going to just sit here and die?”
“No.” As she spoke, Choi Miyeon lifted Lee Arin’s limp body onto her back. “I’m going to find Lee Manbok and kill him, with her.”
Leo, wrapping his tail around my leg, let out a low cry as he looked at this insane situation. “Meow.”
Yeah. I feel the same way.
Thud. Choi Miyeon’s foot buckled as she tried to walk while carrying Lee Arin. In a state where she could barely support herself, carrying someone on the brink of death was no easy task. It was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been grinning at idol videos on my phone just half a day ago. Now there was nothing left in her but grim resolve.
That much had happened. Then again, before I casually infiltrated the Truelight Sect, I never imagined things would turn out like this either.
“…Let’s go together.” I let out another sigh and took Lee Arin from Choi Miyeon. Her limp body was heavy.
Choi Miyeon looked at me in surprise. “Wh-why? You don’t really have to help us…”
“I made a promise to Lee Arin.”
That I would help her get revenge. That was a promise I had clearly made. In exchange, I had intended to obtain answers about the human soul, something I had always been curious about…
Even if it wasn’t the answer I wanted, I did get part of it.
That meant all that remained was to fully fulfill the contract.
I could hear Lee Arin’s weak breathing as she rested against me. She didn’t have much time left.
“…If that’s the case.”
Choi Miyeon too.
Since this whole affair was of my making, I had an obligation to see this revenge through to the end. Supporting Lee Arin, I moved forward together with Choi Miyeon.
“P-please don’t leave me behind!”
The voice trailing behind us was just an extra.