Ch 25-31 - Online Story Read Mode

Chapter 25 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (5)

Dungeons. Following a cataclysm unprecedented in human history, these 'monster lairs' emerged worldwide. The dungeon within the game set on Youngdeung Mountain was named "Mad Wizard Kate's Laboratory." In the past, a wizard named Kate discovered this dungeon and conducted experiments to fuse humans and monsters into a single entity. To prevent intrusions, Kate turned the dungeon into a fortress by setting traps and releasing monsters within.

The dungeon was well-designed, having already seen the failed attempts of heroes to conquer it. Especially the traps. There were falling rock traps, collapsing ﬂoor traps, tentacles that shot up from the ground, ceilings that came crashing down, and teleportation traps that randomly relocated people. The traps in Youngdeung Mountain Dungeon could be considered even more dangerous than the monsters themselves. But here's the thing: a trap only shows its true worth when its presence is unknown. What if one were to enter the dungeon already aware of its layout, traps, monsters, and mechanisms?

"Hold on a moment."

A team of seven, following the path of the vanguard, was exploring the interior of Youngdeung Mountain Dungeon.

"Let's stop here for a second."

Lee Jinhyuk, who had been cautiously following, suddenly called everyone to a halt. Oh Jeongnam and Park Sangcheol stopped and looked back, wondering why they were being summoned.

"What's the matter?"

"Could you look over there?"

Lee Jinhyuk pointed to an area of the ground a little distance away. The team focused their gaze where he indicated and realized that there were rectangular tiles slightly protruding from the surface.

"I think that might be a trap." "Huh?"

Oh Jeongnam, who was responsible for leading the way and ensuring the team's safety, gave Lee Jinhyuk a direct look.

A trap? This corridor had already been traversed by the vanguard. Moreover, as the scout, Oh Jeongnam hadn't detected anything. Could it be that a trap missed by a seasoned veteran was discovered by a newly enrolled Academy student?

"If you look closely, you can see a mechanical device in the cracks of the ﬂoor. It seems to be a trap that activates when stepped on."

Oh Jeongnam furrowed his brows slightly. Had Lee Jinhyuk identiﬁed something so minute with the naked eye? While slightly skeptical, he inspected the ground again, more slowly this time.

Indeed, just as Lee Jinhyuk had said, a mechanical device was visible between the slight opening, conﬁrming it was a trap. Despite leading the team with thorough checks, this oversight was on Oh Jeongnam. If they had continued walking, someone from the team would have undoubtedly triggered the trap.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I must not have checked properly."

"No, it's not your fault. This place was overlooked by the vanguard, and it's quite dark, so it's hard to see."

Indeed, upon reﬂection, Oh Jeongnam realized the trap was so well-concealed it was diﬃcult to notice initially. He might have detected it if he had scrutinized every inch, but knowing the vanguard had passed safely, he might have unconsciously been less vigilant.

"But Lee Jinhyuk, how did you spot that in such a dark place? Your keen eyesight is impressive."

Oh Jeongnam's question wasn't driven by wounded pride but pure curiosity. Lee Jinhyuk had mentioned he was an archer, and with Union full of talents, he might have eyesight even keener than Oh Jeongnam's.

Lee Jinhyuk's answer, however, was unexpected.

"I watched the body cam footage of the vanguard. That's how I knew about it."

"The body cam?"

That was something Oh Jeongnam had also seen.

"Yeah, I upscaled the video, maximized the brightness, and paused it frame by frame to ﬁnd any anomalies."

"Really?"

"So I found about 108 suspicious spots, among which I identiﬁed those likely to be traps and submitted that information to you."

"Ah, yes, that…"

"It's okay. I probably wouldn't have worried too much about it either. It was a place already passed by the vanguard, and after all, I'm just a hero hopeful who doesn't know much about the ﬁeld."

Listening to Lee Jinhyuk's easygoing explanation, Oh Jeongnam silently admired him. It would have taken considerable concentration and memory to review the footage and memorize it all day. To memorize 108 suspected trap locations just like that? It was impressive to realize a place memorized only through lantern-lit footage, especially in the pitch-black dungeon.

He remembered hearing that Lee Jinhyuk had excellent theoretical scores. He got into Korea's top hero training institution just on his written exam scores. Wasn't his acceptance into Union based on pathetic practical scores after all?

Oh Jeongnam nodded to himself, accepting the situation that wasn't quite acceptance. The world was full of eccentrics and geniuses. Some could remember anything they saw or calculate dozens of digits in their head instantly. He had once seen someone with perfect memory in the Gaon Nuri Clan.

Later on…

"Kiiieeek, eeeeeeek!" "Kiieek, kiieeek!"

"Red vampire bats spotted up ahead."

Bats soared energetically towards them, ﬂapping their large wings, ready to dive in hungrily.

"Everyone, get ready for combat."

Han Seowoo gripped her whip ﬁrmly. The monsters weren't powerful, but they were numerous and agile, with an ability to heal wounds instantly by drinking blood. A careless ﬁght would drain stamina.

"Park Sangcheol, could you take the aggro at the front…?" It was then that something unexpected happened.

"Wait, you!"

Suddenly, Lee Jinhyuk was spraying something into the air like a can of repellent.

"What in the world are you doing?"

Han Seowoo frowned deeply, rushing to stop him from his pointless actions.

The bats that had been rushing in like arrows started to falter, evidently in distress.

Some crashed head-ﬁrst into stalactites, splattering blood before collapsing to the ﬂoor, trembling helplessly. The rest quickly ﬂed.

"What just happened?"

After dealing with the surviving bats, Han Seowoo approached Lee Jinhyuk for an explanation.

"Red vampire bats have a very sensitive sense of smell. They're particularly vulnerable to certain chemical scents."

"What?"

"Just like humans can detect geosmin, a substance they are very sensitive to, even at high dilution rates, those bats are much more sensitive…"

"Wait, wait."

Han Seowoo waved her hands, interrupting him. "How do you know all this?"

"I read it in a paper recently." "A paper?"

"Yeah, it was published two days ago by Professor Guk Seokyeon… It detailed the biological evolution of the red vampire bat, its characteristics, and their ecological dynamics. That's where I found it."

"Huh."

Han Seowoo was ﬂustered.

What is this guy talking about? He read a paper about vampire bats and ﬁgured out their weakness?

Was it not curious that a busy Union hero trainee was reading papers, let alone accurately predicting the

appearance of red vampire bats?

"You, how did you know red vampire bats would appear? They weren't in the vanguard's report."

"I didn't know." Huh?

He didn't know?

"I just made a guess."

Lee Jinhyuk continued nonchalantly.

"Based on the vanguard's reports, the environment near Youngdeung Mountain, the dungeon's temperature, humidity, geography, levels of magic concentration, and its ﬂora suggested about 53 possible monster types."

"Oh, um."

"And from those, I narrowed down the most likely monsters and searched the internet for their characteristics and countermeasures."

"Really?"

"Of course, I also brought items for other monsters too."

Lee Jinhyuk then began to pull various items out of his backpack. A 100,000-lumen ﬂashlight, an ultrasonic repeller, a 170-decibel noise device, pheromone perfume of the lotus claw frog, among other things. These were highly effective against several monsters that could potentially appear in the dungeon.

Han Seowoo's face soured slightly.

"All that in one day? You found, memorized, and prepared all this?"

"I knew a lot of it already, and thankfully, when I asked Yoo Seolhyun, she was able to prepare it quickly."

Han Seowoo was speechless.

"And you memorized all those potential traps from the body cam footage in just one day?"

"Yes."

Is he insane?

How did he research and memorize all that in just one day?

"It's always best to be well-prepared, right? Preparedness prevents poor performance."

"Umm."

"And I didn't tell you about these preparations because I wasn't certain those monsters would appear, and I didn't want you to think I was strange."

She couldn't really argue with that.

'Now that I think about it, he mentioned he had compiled data from his research. Could Yoo Seolhyun have given him advanced information during the previous expeditions?'

After all, thorough preparation could never be a bad thing.

However, she needed to warn him about acting on his own. If left unchecked, he might continue to act independently.

With that thought, Han Seowoo was about to speak when… "I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

Lee Jinhyuk had preempted her.

"There's such a thing as team positioning, and I think I acted a bit rashly. I was lucky this time, but that doesn't mean I always will be."

"…Well, that's true."

"Sorry, team leader Han Seowoo. I won't move on my own next time."

"…Alright, as long as you understand."

What could she say when he was the ﬁrst to bow his head and admit his mistake?

Besides, he had just saved the team from an unnoticed trap and his demeanor had been polite enough to attract sympathy and support from the other team members.

Just like this.

"Aww, it's alright, Lee Jinhyuk. Thanks to you, we easily drove off the bats. Seowoo will understand too, right?"

The amiable Park Sangcheol defended him, which was to be expected given his usual character. Plus, if Lee Jinhyuk hadn't noticed the trap, Park Sangcheol would have been the one to trigger it.

"It's your ﬁrst time, so just be careful from now on."

Even the mage Erina shrugged, signaling that it was okay, and Han Seowoo had to concede internally, as speaking up in such an atmosphere would do no good.

"Well… let's regroup and move on." And not long after…

"What's this now?"

"There's no other way but this door…"

The team halted before a large metal door blocking their path. On the control panel above, there was a cryptic number display. What could this mean? The team members pondered.

5212 = 0

6202 = 2

9408 = 5

8102 =?

*3 wrong attempts and boom~!

"A riddle? Are they kidding?"

"I've heard of dungeons like this, but isn't this a bit artiﬁcial?"

"Should we just break the control panel? It might open if we do."

"Stop, don't. We might just end up breaking the door for good."

"Hmm. That door looks solid. It's gonna take a lot of time to break through."

"Ah, I give up. I'm terrible at thinking puzzles."

While the others exchanged opinions, Lee Jinhyuk stepped forward.

"I think I know the answer." "What?"

Han Seowoo was taken aback.He'd solved the weird riddle? Already?

"Mind if I try entering the answer?"

"Umm… I guess."

Han Seowoo glanced at the other team members for consensus, and they all nodded, indicating he could proceed. It didn't seem likely they'd ﬁgure it out anytime soon anyway, and they still had more than three tries. Plus, there was a glimmer of expectation after everything Lee Jinhyuk had shown so far.

"What's the answer then?"

"It's not certain, but I think it's 3." "3? Why?"

Han Seowoo expressed her confusion. Why 3?

"If you consider the pattern of the riddle, it's simple. Just think of each hole in a number as 1."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. The numbers 0, 4, 6, and 9 have one hole each, so they count as 1. Number 8 has two holes, so it's 2, and so on."

"Hmm…"

How should she put it?

Was it a really intuitive problem?

Although she wasn't sure if it was the correct answer or not. Han Seowoo stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Let's try entering it."

Then Lee Jinhyuk keyed in the number 3 on the panel.

Han Seowoo watched, wondering what would happen, when suddenly the large door opened with a grind.

Was it really the right answer? "Really?"

"Admittedly, it was a rather intuitive and one-dimensional riddle, wasn't it?"

Han Seowoo bit her lip.

She hadn't even thought of that simplistic solution.

While the riddle might have seemed silly, since Han Seowoo hadn't even attempted to solve it, what could she say?

"Well, the door's open now, shall we continue? It looks like the trail of the vanguard being dragged away continues that way."

"…Yeah, let's go."

Han Seowoo internally adjusted her thoughts. Honestly, this guy…

She had hoped he wouldn't be a hindrance, but it seemed that thought needed quite a bit of revision.

Not just a bit, but a lot.

***

In a wide clearing.

A moment of rest.

Separated slightly from the group, Yoo Seolhyun and Lee Jinhyuk whispered to each other.

"Ah, how could I have memorized all that in just one day?"

It was just as strange that he remembered content from a game in his past life so vividly, even though he had forgotten quite a bit too.

"Chuckle, you did well. Saying you had read the paper in advance, dissecting the footage frame by frame… Those excuses were amusing."

"…But that paper really did exist, published two days ago. I'm serious."

"Really~? Chuckle."

"Why does everyone seem to just believe it? If it were me, I'd have looked at him as if he was spouting nonsense."

"You charmed them with your top theoretical score." "Still, that's no excuse…"

As Yoo Seolhyun watched Lee Jinhyuk's uncharacteristic excuses, all she could do was chuckle.

You've got to make use of the information you foresaw, right, Lee Jinhyuk?

Isn't that right?

Chapter 26 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (6)

Memory is a ﬁckle thing.

Even though the memories of playing the game in his past life assailed him vividly as if they were from just yesterday, they were now no more than fragments faded by time.

Even if it was a life-encompassing game played with fervor for a long time, against the passage of time, it crumbled effortlessly like a sandcastle, a natural progression.

Thus, managing to get this far using memories of his past life could be considered partly luck.

Luck, indeed…

Lee Jinhyuk couldn't help but smile bitterly in secret.

Surely, it could be called luck, since almost everything from the monsters he recalled, the locations of traps, to the foolish riddles, had aligned perfectly with his memories.

It felt akin to receiving an exam paper and ﬁnding that all the questions you studied for were asked one after the other.

Moreover, the fact that they had barely encountered any monsters on the way here could deﬁnitively be called lucky.

In the game, they would have had to engage in at least three or four more battles.

Even though they avoided monster-prone areas as much as possible, thanks to Yoo Seolhyun's extraordinary ability, he didn't expect things to resolve this smoothly, leaving him feeling a bit uneasy.

Games and reality differ.

Reality can produce countless variables incomparable to a game.

Hadn't Lee Jinhyuk recently defeated the Black Hand Monkey in a way he couldn't have in the game?

Thus, numerous variables could arise. Whether they were good or bad.

'Things are going smoothly now, but let's not get complacent. We never know what might happen next.'

Lee Jinhyuk's thoughts deepened.

And rightly so, for without others' help, he was weak enough that he couldn't even properly face monsters or villains, let alone conquer a dungeon.

Born without talent, ability, or family support, and even with effort, there were realms he could not hope to reach.

Whether it's good or bad news, or an unexpected turn of events, only the strong could laugh it off nonchalantly.

The strong who were conﬁdent they could overcome any situation or at least survive.

But Lee Jinhyuk?

If an unfavorable variable arose or an unexpected event occurred, could he handle it on his own?

'Ah, I really need to start farming for items…'

To become even slightly stronger and react proactively to danger, Lee Jinhyuk desperately needed that item lying dormant deep within the dungeon.

After all, an RPG game boils down to leveling up or 'item power.'

'But knowing where various items are, what good is it if I can't go farming for them?'

Lee Jinhyuk was well aware of the locations of not-yet- revealed items, but there was a reason he hadn't, or rather couldn't, retrieve them yet.

Most items were located in dangerous places: dungeons, monsters' lairs, villains' secret bases…

How could Lee Jinhyuk possibly retrieve items from such perilous places?

To actively farm items, he needed someone willing to help. That's why he approached Yoo Seolhyun.

Providing her with information and dispatching a hero team to clear dungeons so he could share in the rewards.

'Yoo Seolhyun isn't a bad choice.'

Even though she was set up as an antagonistic noble lady, she was reasonably approachable before her 'corruption.'

And Yoo Seolhyun had her own hero team, didn't she?

With her abilities, talents, and family backing, she had everything: understanding, heroes to command…

She was the most suitable candidate for the time being.

Having lied about having foresight, he could tell her about any item's location without raising too much suspicion.

Yoo Seolhyun would beneﬁt from clearing multiple dungeons and earning recognition from her family, while Lee Jinhyuk could accumulate items and wealth without lifting a ﬁnger— a mutually beneﬁcial relationship.

In essence, Yoo Seolhyun was an excellent business partner.

'If we wrap this up well, I'll tell her about a few more hidden dungeon locations so we can share the items. She knows I have foresight, so she wouldn't dare do anything foolish over a few items.'

Of course, ﬁrst, they had to safely clear this dungeon.

As long as they managed this without incident, there would be no cracks in Yoo Seolhyun's mental state, and they could establish a friendly relationship for the foreseeable future.

"Lee Jinhyuk? What are you thinking about so deeply?"

Yoo Seolhyun's curious voice pulled Lee Jinhyuk out of his reverie.

"Just this and that."

"There's a lot on your mind, I see."

"We just have to defeat the gatekeeper now, and we'll reach the laboratory. We need to prepare for facing Kate."

"Hmm? Is that so?" Mad Wizard Kate.

Kate was obsessed with fusion magic.

She mixed her own body with monsters to the point of becoming a monstrosity herself.

It granted her a nearly ageless body and immense magical and physical strength—but at the cost of a tainted mind and regressed intelligence to the level of a child.

If things were the same as in the game, then Kate and the missing heroes would be trapped there.

"With our current strength, we should be able to subdue her without much trouble."

As the setting of the world wasn't home to overwhelmingly strong monsters, and the weaknesses were clear, especially for these veterans, Kate was not considered a particularly dangerous opponent.

They had the skill to even defeat the Black Hand Monkey, albeit by ganging up on it.

While he didn't trust his past memories completely, his research had given him a fair estimation of Kate's strength.

Unless they were scattered and picked off one by one, they would surely clear this dungeon safely.

"Alright, break's over. Let's start moving."

"Is it over already?"

Erina's grumpy response followed Han Seowoo's announcement that the rest period had ended.

As a mage, she had less stamina than the other heroes. "Erina, I told you to improve your stamina."

"Maybe I'm just not cut out for ﬁeldwork."

"Quiet, and get up. Aren't you embarrassed in front of your junior?"

"Always nagging. I got it, okay?"

Grumbling, Erina rose to her feet and glanced over at Lee Jinhyuk and Yoo Seolhyun.

"Kids, she says to come on. Hurry up, hurry."

"Okay."

Lee Jinhyuk and the others began to move again, towards the deep and dark place.

Ready for the imminent battle with the dungeon boss, and to take down the gatekeeper guarding the laboratory.

***

"What a vast room."

The party hadn't gone far before reaching the chamber where the gatekeeper awaited.

"About 100 meters across?"

They faced a room as open as a ﬁeld, with an exit on the opposite side.

"Hmm?"

While surveying the unusually vast room from outside, Oh Jeongnam soon noticed a giant ﬁgure in the center.

"Is that an orc? Has horns and is quite tall too?"

"Could be a mutant."

As Oh Jeongnam and team leader Han Seowoo exchanged thoughts, Lee Jinhyuk also observed the orc.

This was the dungeon gatekeeper, the Black Horned Orc.

Being one of the creatures fused with fusion magic before Kate's intelligence regressed, this orc was much stronger than the average.

But still, an orc remained an orc.

If it fought the party, it wouldn't last a few minutes before falling.

'What's important in this room isn't that orc.'

Because here lay a trap far more dangerous and bothersome: the random teleportation device.

A sinister mechanism that could teleport the room's occupants to random locations throughout the dungeon.

Once they entered, the magical circle on the ﬂoor would glow, activating the random teleportation device after ﬁve minutes. So, unless they wasted time unnecessarily, they had plenty of time.

The room stretched no more than 100 meters.

Knocking down the orc and strolling to the exit would take no more than three minutes.

Or, well…

They could simply retreat to the entrance.

"Yoo Seolhyun, how's the room? Besides that orc, are there any monsters hiding?"

"Just a moment."

Han Seowoo asked Yoo Seolhyun.

She asked the rookie Yoo Seolhyun because of her extraordinary ability. Yoo Seolhyun's ability was scanning, detecting any monsters within a certain radius, excluding humans.

The ability was quite draining on her psychic and mental energy, limiting its frequency and duration, but it proved extremely useful in dungeon exploration. If any monsters hid in that large room, they would be detected by Yoo Seolhyun's radar.

"The room is too big to scan completely, but for now, I don't detect anything."

"Is that so? For the moment…"

"Wait."

Erina approached, casting a spell.

"There's a faint magical circle on the ﬂoor." "A magical circle?"

"Yes."

Erina then began to decipher the magical circle's content, her magical energy illuminating it.

"…It appears to be related to teleportation. It's triggered by intruders but takes time to activate. Maybe about 5 minutes?"

Thanks to Erina's explanation in the game, players didn't waste time in the room.

"Can you disrupt the magic circle?" "Probably not."

"Even if we break the ground it's drawn on?" "Yes."

"Then we need to defeat that orc quickly."

"Or, we could just lure the orc out of the room, right?"

"It looks like a gatekeeper… would it work?" "Shall I try luring it out with magic?"

After exchanging opinions, the team members decided to try luring the orc.

But…

"Damn it, the orc isn't following, is it?" "As expected, it's not working."

Fitting for a gatekeeper, it wouldn't rashly follow them. Created by Kate herself, it followed her commands, controlled by her brainwaves, as per the game setting.

Of course, this control didn't extend to other monsters. "Just wasted magic."

Erina tried attacking from outside the room with magic, but the distance was too great for a precise hit, and it was fruitless to expect strong ﬁrepower from her, whose specialty was support spells.

In this place, the only ranged damage dealers were Lee Jinhyuk and Erina.

Thus, the team members concluded they needed to quickly defeat the orc and pass through the room.

"Let's maintain a triangular formation and break through quickly. And watch out for any unexpected traps."

Upon setting foot inside the room…

"The magic circle is activating! We have 5 minutes, so hurry up!"

"Got it!"

At Erina's shout, the team members charged toward the orc. "Kiiieeek, eeeeeeek!"

Is there no bettering a mob?

The Black Horned Orc fell, bellowing in defeat, within two minutes of engagement.

It wasn't much of a powerful monster, to begin with.

While there were more monsters created by Kate, none were strong enough to warrant concern, and since they didn't appear in the game, there wasn't much information about them.

'Even if Kate appears, with our current strength, we shouldn't have any problems.'

As he thought this…

"Nothing much, let's hurry and get out of here…" "Wait a moment."

Yoo Seolhyun shivered.

She was intently looking towards the dark entrance from where indistinguishable ﬁgures approached.

Not just one or two, but dozens upon dozens.

Chapter 27 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (7)

It was a trap. The wide room was meant to be a lure—a trap designed to corner them with monsters and prevent their escape.

"Krraaahh, eeeeeeek!" "Kirrk, rrrk! Kirrk!"

"Keee-ah, eeeeee, kee-ah!" "Krrrr, rrrk."

Monsters swarmed in like a rising tide.

Saw-toothed ants. White orb spiders. Poison dart lizards. Blue clawed frogs, and more.

They were ﬂooding in from both the exit and the entrance. Although none of the monsters were particularly strong, their numbers were overwhelming. They were ﬂanked, completely surrounded.

'Just when I thought things were too quiet, was this the setup for a soul-crushing blow?'

Lee Jinhyuk couldn't hide his dismay.

Why would dozens of monsters suddenly rush at them from both directions? This must be the work of someone's scheme—most likely the boss of this dungeon, the Mad Wizard Kate.

He was aware that games and reality differed, but never expected this to happen.

Yet something felt off. Kate's ability to control ordinary monsters wasn't part of the game's setup, was it? Had he forgotten something, or was there a detail he missed?

"Erina! Blast us a path with a big spell! Park Sangcheol, Oh Jeongnam, follow through after her! Baek San, hold the center! Lee Jinhyuk, Yoo Seolhyun, don't linger behind!"

Han Seowoo quickly issued orders to the team.

Although the number of monsters was large, they weren't a threat to their lives if handled calmly.

However, the priority wasn't defeating the monsters; it was escaping the room before the random teleportation trap activated.

Could they really push through the horde of monsters in the few short minutes they had left? Even Han Seowoo was skeptical.

But they couldn't just stand by and do nothing. "Erina, now! Fire towards the exit!"

Support magic was Erina's specialty, and though elemental magic wasn't her forte, they needed it to clear a path.

"Magic Boost! Dragon Lightning!"

Chanting the incantation, Erina activated her spell.

In an instant, a blue-tinged lightning in the shape of a dragon surged forward, piercing through the mass of assembled monsters.

"Keee-aaahh, eeeeeek?!" "Krrrrk?! Krrr!"

Around a dozen monsters charred to a crisp. They smoked from their bodies like toast in an oven.

"Ugh, ugh… My magic is draining…"

Erina panted heavily. It was the strongest spell she could muster, and it drained her energy and magic signiﬁcantly.

"Han, Han Seowoo! Until the magic circle activates… Ugh, ugh, only 2 minutes left… We've got to break through somehow!"

"Kkh! Easier said than done…!"

Thanks to Erina, a path cleared slightly, but there were too many monsters still blocking their way.

Damn it. Han Seowoo swore inwardly. Over ﬁfty monsters encircled them. How could they break through in just two minutes?

'Damn it! Should we just try to break through by force?'

They could perhaps make it by pushing hard, but Lee Jinhyuk and Yoo Seolhyun were likely to fall behind.

Being the third daughter of the Gaon Nuri Clan, Yoo Seolhyun couldn't afford an accident to happen.

This was why they had formed a team with such strength… "Damn it! Time's almost up…!"

With Erina's announcement, Han Seowoo could only frown. 'What to do?'

Even if the random teleportation trap scattered them, each team member had the experience, skill, and ability to survive on their own.

They all wore location trackers to reunite after dispersing, but what about those two…

"Yoo Seolhyun, Lee Jinhyuk! If you're teleported, just hide and stay put! We'll ﬁnd you, so don't do anything rash, got it…?!"

Before Han Seowoo could ﬁnish… "Ugh, ugh?!"

"Wait!"

"Aah!"

A blinding white ﬂash engulfed them as the teleportation magic circle activated.

Surrounded by particles of light scattering like the sun, Lee Jinhyuk thought:

Was it just carelessness? Or a detail he missed?

A variable caused by the difference between the game and reality?

Who knows why. The reason wasn't clear, but one thing was certain: Lee Jinhyuk was powerless in this situation.

If he had been as strong as the others, could he have coped with this variable better?

If it weren't for the burden that was Lee Jinhyuk, perhaps they could have made a break for it.

But Lee Jinhyuk was weak. Too weak.

***

'Ugh, ugh.'

Intense light blinded Lee Jinhyuk. His vision blurred, making it diﬃcult to see. He needed to clear his sight quickly since monsters might be nearby, but a pungent odor made it hard to focus.

'What the hell is that smell…?'

It was a putrid, nauseating stench, churning his stomach and causing bile to rise.

The smell was akin to long-forgotten stinky tofu or a sewage treatment plant, so Lee Jinhyuk wrinkled his nose in disgust.

'Ugh, this is revolting.'

Forcing his heavy eyelids open, Lee Jinhyuk looked around.

But all he could see was pitch blackness.

He had a lantern, but couldn't risk attracting any monsters that might be nearby.

'But it's too dark…'

The chilling thought of being trapped alone in the dark clenched his heart.

Then he heard a voice. "Ugh, the smell… This is…"

It was Yoo Seolhyun's voice right beside him. Oh, she was teleported to the same place?

That was a lucky break amidst the misfortune.

He had feared being alone. Relieved, Lee Jinhyuk responded.

"Yoo Seolhyun? Are you okay?" "Ugh, you're here too… ugh!" He approached her to talk.

Though hard to see, they were close enough to make out each other's ﬁgures.

Yoo Seolhyun's face was twisted in disgust as she hunched over, retching helplessly.

The fetid odor seemed to have taken her senses.

"Ugh, ugh. Where are the others?"

"Can't see them. We must have been scattered." "The smell, it's too much… ugh, what is this stench…"

"Yoo Seolhyun, can you scan for monsters around us?" "Hoo, hoo, okay, I'll try…"

As Yoo Seolhyun braced herself to use her ability, light ﬂashed.

Bright illumination ﬁlled the room. Luminous ores hanging from the ceiling burst into light. Someone had turned them on. Before he could ponder who it might be, Lee Jinhyuk noticed something unfamiliar in his ﬁeld of vision.

'Where is this?'

As the dim shadows lifted, he could see ﬂasks, beakers, test tubes, and pipettes strewn about in disarray.

The ﬂoor was smeared with indistinguishable viscous substances, and decomposing monster carcasses, bone fragments, and ﬁlth were intermixed in the mess.

Then Lee Jinhyuk realized where he was. "Pleased to meet you~."

A young woman's voice tickled his ear.

It was familiar yet not—a voice he had only heard in the game.

"Who would've thought we'd have guests again~."

Quickly turning towards the source of the voice, a ﬁgure began to emerge from the distance.

Not walking, but crawling.

"Uh-he. These days have been quite fun~." A half-human, half-serpent ﬁgure. "Greetings~?"

She reminded him of a mythological Lamia.

The woman greeting him cheerily, with her bleached hair gently swept aside, was none other than Kate von Bernstein.

The boss monster of this dungeon.

'Why of all places was I teleported here?' "Lee Jinhyuk… is that… her?"

Yoo Seolhyun whispered quietly, gripping her spear tightly, seemingly realizing the snake-shaped creature was the boss monster.

"Uh-hehe. Hello? Hello?"

Kate, with her degraded intelligence, acted childishly. "Aren't you going to greet me back? That's so mean~."

'She deﬁnitely seems to have the personality from the settings.'

Initially, he thought they were doomed, but Kate just smiled amiably without showing any hostility.

She didn't appear to have any immediate harmful intent, but that could just be a brief amusement.

Before long, she would likely show her true nature. "Are you making me angry?"

"Ah, sorry."

Lee Jinhyuk placated her, knowing it was unwise to ignore her continuously.

"…Lee Jinhyuk, this."

Whispering so softly it was nearly inaudible, Yoo Seolhyun stealthily showed her phone screen.

It displayed the locations of the other team members, all seeming to be closing in from a considerable distance.

They would need to stall for time until they arrived. "I'll keep her talking to buy us time."

"Okay for now."

"Why are you two whispering~? Leaving me out~?"

Kate pouted, annoyed by their murmurs.

"Include me too, will you play with me? Hmm? Hmm? Then let the games begin…"

"Wait a second. Before that, I have a question." "Hmm~? What?"

This was risky.

Her idea of 'play' was far from normal.

Knowing Kate's character settings was a stroke of luck.

It was necessary to divert the conversation elsewhere before she started whining about wanting to play.

"Did any people come in recently?"

"Oh. Yes. Over there~ I've got them locked up, ehehe. Planning to eat them later."

Kate gestured towards a deeper room, likely where she kept captured humans.

"To eat them, you say…" "Hmm? What's wrong~?" "Nothing, nothing at all."

He knew from the lore that she could even devour humans, but hearing it directly was somewhat shocking.

And this place was also an experimental laboratory for humans and monsters.

"Oh. But you know what?" "Hmm-hmm."

"Did you sic the monsters on us? Was it you?" "Me? Ehehe, no, not me."

Flippantly waving her ﬁngers, she chuckled arrogantly. "My children did it. Impressive, isn't it?"

"Your children?"

"Yes! The ones I made a long time ago~? Um? I mean, a very long time ago~. Can't make any more now, which is sad."

Was she talking about the monstrous offspring she'd created using fusion magic before losing her wisdom?

"Among them, there are monsters? I guess. Anyway, they can direct their movements."

The speciﬁcs about Kate's creatures weren't detailed, and they didn't seem important enough to remember explicitly.

He hadn't expected any of Kate's creations to have such capabilities.

"Oh. But my children…"

Kate, who had lowered her head as if pretending to be sad, suddenly lifted it to look directly at Lee Jinhyuk. Her lips, which had been playfully grinning, downturned. A subtle, sinister intent began to emanate from her.

"…Did you kill them? Was it you? They were just roasted by your lightning a while ago. It makes me so sad."

Muttering in a dispirited tone, she suddenly glared with malevolence.

She was highly unstable, her mood swinging wildly. There was no way to follow the emotional train of a monstrous creature. After all, Kate was mad long before she became a monster.

"Still, it's okay, it's okay. Because."

Suddenly, her jaw elongated grotesquely, splitting into four, and something like tentacles or tongues protruded out.

Sticky ﬂuid dripped from the tips of the tentacles. It was some kind of paralytic poison.

"I'll just eat you."

Joints cracking, a mass of tentacles burst forth from near Kate's shoulder blades.

Tearing through her skin, the slimy tentacles were visible. Coated in viscous liquid and blood, they writhed like living snakes.

Disgusted, Lee Jinhyuk grimaced. It was somewhat tolerable in the game, but seeing it in reality was revolting.

Was this supposed to be the boss visual of a female- oriented game?

"I'll just eat, hehe! Maybe that will cheer me up again?" "Ugh."

Yoo Seolhyun bit her lower lip, recalling the much stronger foe they had previously defeated, and managed to withstand Kate's malice.

Lee Jinhyuk had said that the Black Hand Long-Arm Monkey was much tougher.

By appearances, this hybrid snake-monster seemed more menacing, but it lacked the heart-clenching fear and dread of the monkey.

Of course, it was probably stronger than Yoo Seolhyun and Lee Jinhyuk.

"I'll eat you gently if you surrender obediently~? The ﬂesh of females is soft and delicious~."

"Crazy woman."

Unable to contain her frustration any longer, Yoo Seolhyun spat out an expletive and braced herself with her spear.

"Get ready, Lee Jinhyuk. It will take a while for the other team members to arrive."

Yoo Seolhyun took a defensive stance, not looking back, focusing intently on Kate.

"You brought a lot of stuff, right? I'll try to tank as best as I can, so I'm counting on your support."

"…Okay."

Reluctantly, Lee Jinhyuk began to rummage through his large backpack for various items.

They were boss-ﬁght-speciﬁc items he had prepared for emergencies.

Pheromone bombs, ﬁre attribute magic scrolls, sprays for Kate, nerve poison arrows, adhesive explosive talismans, ultrasonic repellers, 100,000 lumen ﬂashlights, shrapnel for scattering.

A build created from both the memories of the game and reality's various bits of information.

With this, he could probably put up a decent ﬁght. Probably.

***

Had it been about 15 minutes? "Heave, heave, heave…"

Yoo Seolhyun gasped for air, her chest heaving intermittently.

Her clothes were torn in several places, barely any part of them intact.

Her blonde hair was disheveled, and she had bruises all over, with what seemed to be a cracked rib.

"Hoo, hoo…"

She used her spear as a crutch, struggling not to collapse.

Her left arm was immobile, and her legs shook as if they might give out at any moment, but she endured.

If she fell now, she would die.

So Yoo Seolhyun bit down hard on her lip, determined to stay conscious.

"Ugh, ugh, it hurts, it hurts so much!" Kate screamed loudly.

Her condition was far from normal.

Her bleached white hair was scorched black by a ﬁre attribute scroll, and her tentacles, almost entirely severed, oozed blood.

Her upper human half was aﬄicted with various bruises, poisoned, and coughing blood from the strange spray she had inhaled.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, and several arrows were embedded in her shoulder, arm, and upper abdomen.

The snake half of her body also suffered from spear wounds and the shrapnel Lee Jinhyuk had scattered.

"You weaklings! Only irritating me with those petty tricks!" Kate growled with intense malice.

Despite their weaknesses, they kept using strange tricks to make her miserable.

She was infuriated by their persistent attacks on her sensitive spots.

"Haa, haa, I'm not sure I can hold on much longer, Lee Jinhyuk. Where are the others?"

"It looks like we'll need to wait another 10 minutes."

Yoo Seolhyun had depleted most of her stamina and had little left to keep ﬁghting.

They had made it this far thanks to the items Lee Jinhyuk brought and his leadership.

If Yoo Seolhyun had been alone, she would have died at least three or four times by now.

"…Yoo Seolhyun." "Haa, haa, what?"

"I need a moment to prepare. Just keep her at bay for one minute, one minute is all I need."

"…One minute?"

"Yeah, after that, I'll take over."

Yoo Seolhyun looked puzzled, but with no other options, she slowly nodded.

The way Lee Jinhyuk had conducted himself thus far gave her an inexplicable trust in his abilities.

"Okay, one minute, you say?"

Had she used up all her methods already, or was there a hidden trump card?

Lee Jinhyuk had claimed to be a foresight ability user, so perhaps he had some extraordinary method Yoo Seolhyun didn't know about.

Let's trust him this once. Lee Jinhyuk.

"What are you whispering about?!" "Ugh!"

Crash!

Kate lashed out with her tail like a whip.

Yoo Seolhyun felt numbness as if she'd been struck by a large steel beam and frowned, swiping her spear to deﬂect the tail to one side.

"Die! Just die!"

Kate pressed the attack relentlessly.

She brandished her remaining tentacles, pressuring Yoo Seolhyun.

Though she fought hard, it was impossible to block every assault, and blows landed on her shoulder, side, and thigh.

Dizzy with pain, she clung to the hope of enduring the one minute Lee Jinhyuk had requested.

'One… minute… Just one minute…'

With her stamina already sapped, it was a herculean task to last one minute without Lee Jinhyuk's support. Yet, Yoo Seolhyun persevered.

She repeated to herself, holding on, that being all she could do.

'Just a bit more, just a little longer…'

She fended off the merciless tentacles, gritting her teeth, when suddenly…

'…Why? Why has she stopped attacking?'

Kate ceased her assault, a vague smile on her face. It was an opportunity, if ever there was one.

It seemed like a minute had passed.

"Lee, Lee Jinhyuk, is this long enough…?" "Keke, keke."

Yoo Seolhyun glanced behind her, but there was no one there.

Only Kate's laughter pierced her ears.

Where was Lee Jinhyuk?

Had he hidden himself somewhere close? "Keke, keke, ah, you're amusing~." "Lee… Jinhyuk?"

"Hey, silly girl~ He ran away."

"What?"

Kate laughed slyly.

"That boy left you and ran away." Suddenly, Yoo Seolhyun's heart sank.

She didn't want to believe what she heard, but as she extended her senses, she couldn't detect any trace of Lee Jinhyuk.

Meaning, he was no longer there. Was it true?

'Did… Did Lee Jinhyuk… run away?' And he did it to save himself.

Leaving her behind?

Chapter 28 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (8)

There's a term often used in gaming known as "gameplay concession."

It means balancing the game for fun, convenience, or functionality, even if it doesn't ﬁt the world's lore.

For instance, a legendary weapon capable of cleaving mountains in the lore might be weak in the game to maintain balance, right?

In the RTS game "War of the Stars," a 1.2km battleship can be shot down by ﬁve marines with riﬂes due to its signiﬁcantly reduced performance.

Thus, a world's lore and in-game performance do not always correlate.

No matter how impressive the lore, in-game performance is often signiﬁcantly reduced for balance.

But what if the game world became reality?

Would the numerous items in "Romance Hero Academy" follow the world's lore or the game's settings?

There's no need to think about it.

'Obviously, it would follow the world's lore.'

Gameplay concession exists for the value of the game as a game.

But if the game's world becomes reality, it's only right to follow the lore of that world.

After all, it has been conﬁrmed through the internet that all artifacts follow their lore-based performance, not their in- game performance.

Therefore, the artifact I am looking for should be no different.

'I need to ﬁnd it quickly… where could it be?' Artifacts.

In this world, artifacts exist—objects of unknown origin with special powers that are a staple in any RPG game.

Due to their mysterious origins and sources, very few artifacts have been discovered to date.

Even if one ﬁnds an artifact, it's diﬃcult to distinguish it from an antique based on appearance alone.

They often have speciﬁc conditions for use or activation, making them tricky to handle.

In modern Korea, the number of heroes or villains using artifacts can be counted on one hand.

'There must be one here somewhere.'

Finding the artifact won't guarantee victory, but it can at least buy time until the other heroes arrive.

I must hurry and retrieve it to return to Yoo Seolhyun.

'How much longer can Yoo Seolhyun last… She must think I've run away…'

But, technically speaking, it is a form of running away.

Since I moved without telling Yoo Seolhyun, it's considered running away.

However, there is a reason.

Because if I told Yoo Seolhyun, 'Wait here while I fetch an artifact that can defeat that snake woman,' she wouldn't just nod agreement.

She'd suspect it was an attempt to use her as bait and escape.

That's why I didn't tell her. 'I can explain later.'

The immediate concern is to extinguish the urgent ﬁre.

I scoured the laboratory for any length of time I could afford.

If my memory served me correctly, there should be an artifact around here.

'Nowhere in sight… Ah!'

A single sword caught my eye in an unguarded moment.

I rushed over and inspected the sword closely.

It seemed neglected for a long time, but there was no sign of rust, and the blade felt acutely sharp.

'I found it, it was here all along.'

A sword once wielded by a man known as the Vigilante—it looked ordinary but was actually quite a remarkable blade.

However, the sword itself wasn't the artifact.

What I sought was the small gem-shaped artifact attached to the hilt, the Tears of the Moon.

An equipment-attached artifact, it had the unique property of absorbing and releasing magical power according to the lore.

It was one of the legendary artifacts that could be farmed early on and was useful until the mid-game.

Its function of absorbing and releasing magic was greatly reduced in-game for balance, but here, in reality, it could utilize its full power as set by the world's lore.

Of course, a test was in order, just in case. 'Let's see…'

I settled my mind and placed my hand on the hilt. Gripping it, I felt nothing out of the ordinary.

Even touching the artifact, the Tears of the Moon, yielded no extraordinary sensation. It was as quiet as an ordinary gemstone.

Well, that's to be expected.

Because this artifact also had a condition for use.

A sort of pact had to be made, and the contract would break if the owner died or moved too far away.

The condition of the contract was simple: blood. Just a bit of blood on the artifact would suﬃce.

'The previous owner must be dead by now. Let's give it a try.'

I gingerly made a small cut on my ﬁnger. Blood dripped down in a few drops. I hurriedly let the blood ﬂow onto the artifact. It trembled—a reaction.

'Good, it seems the contract is made.' It was a sort of sensation.

A feeling as if unknown mysteries and power were emanating from within.

How to use it? If my memory is correct, I should try infusing the artifact with magic…?

"Uh?!"

It happened in an instant.

The artifact, which had begun to greedily suck in the scant magic I possessed, left me ﬂustered and I swung the sword aimlessly.

A blue-tinged magical energy was released outward. Like a blade of energy.

'Haa… This is harder than I thought…'

It seemed to consume a lot of stamina, just like in the lore. I was already out of breath after just one use.

Continuously using it would be diﬃcult?

'And since it's using my magic, the power is quite pathetic.'

The attempt at a sword qi ﬂew and hit the wall, creating only a slight crack.

It wasn't as powerful as Lee Siwoon had demonstrated. I was slightly disappointed, but it was still okay.

That's not the original method of using this artifact.

'Maybe it's time to head back.'

I gripped the sword tightly and set off. Heading back to where Yoo Seolhyun was.

…

"Ugh, so persistent, so very persistent…!" "…"

"What, you've ﬁnally collapsed? Ugh, this is annoying." "…"

Yoo Seolhyun lay half-drenched in blood, her body sprawled on the ground.

Her clothes were torn like rags, no different from trash. Her pale skin was covered in purplish-red blood, her collarbone was cracked, and her right leg was broken—she was in no ordinary state.

'I need to move, but I can't.'

Her body wouldn't move anymore.

Her spent frame failed to heed her commands. Even mustering strength did nothing. She lacked the power to twitch a ﬁnger. Breathing properly was a question. Her eyes barely opened.

'…Ugh, ugh.'

Even her consciousness was fading.

If she relaxed, she feared she would lose consciousness completely.

Yoo Seolhyun, unable to open her eyes properly, could only stoically brace for the inevitable end.

"I'll burn you to a crisp, for real."

Kate's mouth opened wide, like a serpent's.

A tremendous magical energy began swirling inside her mouth.

The magic gathered and condensed into something resembling a ﬁreball.

'…A breath attack.'

A technique Kate often used.

Unlike before, Yoo Seolhyun's battered body couldn't possibly dodge it.

Soon, that ﬁreball would incinerate her whole body.

Just weeks ago, she'd narrowly survived at the academy, only for her life to be in peril again so soon.

Back then, Lee Jinhyuk had saved her with an arrow, but this time… Ha.

Yoo Seolhyun scoffed to herself. Lee Jinhyuk.

She hadn't expected him to run away alone. She had thought him a decent person.

With his conﬁdent demeanor and the impressive results he led them to, she believed building a positive relationship with him would be beneﬁcial.

But to be betrayed like this was unthinkable.

For an aspiring hero, abandoning a comrade and escaping was the ultimate act of cowardice.

A hero who runs away? Ridiculous.

'…In the end, one's own life is the most precious, hero or not.'

Ultimately, Yoo Seolhyun closed her eyes in resignation.

Accepting death was the only escape from this situation.

But then… "Phew… lucky."

At the sound of a familiar male voice, Yoo Seolhyun sluggishly lifted her heavy eyelids and rolled her eyes.

Before her stood a man's back. It was Lee Jinhyuk.

"Is she just unconscious and not dead…?"

Lee Jinhyuk muttered to himself as if it was a relief she was merely unconscious, while Yoo Seolhyun fell into thought.

'…Did he not run away? Why did he come back?'

For reasons unknown, Lee Jinhyuk stood protectively in front of Yoo Seolhyun, who had collapsed.

He held the sword quietly, focusing solely on Kate. But why a sword?

Lee Jinhyuk, an archer, with a sword?

Yoo Seolhyun assumed it was a secondary weapon he'd brought, given that the sword looked ordinary.

But what could Lee Jinhyuk do with a sword?

The very idea of an archer like Lee Jinhyuk imitating a swordsman was absurd.

Wouldn't it have been better to maintain a distance and use his bow to ﬁght?

Why stand in front of Kate with a sword? "…Ugh, why are you still here? Huh, huuh."

Kate mumbled, her mouth full of concentrated ﬁery breath, ready to unleash it.

Soon she would spew the breath of ﬂame.

Lee Jinhyuk had no means to block this ﬁery breath. So why was he waiting there so calmly?

"…Puh, I'll enjoy roasting you!"

Finally, she expelled the ﬁery breath with a whoosh. Ah, it was over.

Yoo Seolhyun thought so.

That breath could barely be warded off even by professional heroes.

Then what was an aspiring hero like Lee Jinhyuk thinking, standing in front of those ﬂames?

Did he have some sort of trick up his sleeve?

But with his abilities, he couldn't stop that ﬁre… wait, what? With a swift motion, Lee Jinhyuk sliced downward.

An ordinary strike, with no magic felt, was sure to be swallowed by the ﬂame.

You couldn't possibly slice through ﬁre with a sword. But then…

Whoosh! The ﬁery onslaught that threatened to engulf both Lee Jinhyuk and Yoo Seolhyun was split in two by a single swing of his sword, dissipating quickly.

Yes, slashed it.

He cut through the breath of ﬂame. With a sword.

Chapter 29 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (9)

The breath of ﬂames, greedy to engulf everything in its path, scattered a deep crimson light.

Just looking at it felt like one's eyes would burn and the body's moisture would evaporate.

The ﬁerce ﬂames seemed to heat even the surrounding air. Yoo Seolhyun felt her own breath grow hot, and a sense of suffocation came inexplicably.

Any human would combust into mere ﬂesh and char into ash upon contact with such terrifying ﬁre.

Even a hero wouldn't escape death if struck directly.

Hadn't Yoo Seolhyun come close to death several times already from that very ﬂame?

But, but… how could this be?

Yoo Seolhyun couldn't easily calm the astonishment in her heart from the scene she had just witnessed.

Had it been sliced? The ﬂame?

'He cut through the ﬂame with a sword?'

As Lee Jinhyuk drew the sword, the breath of ﬁre split in an instant.

The magic-laden ﬂame dissipated emptily, and the ﬁerce gusts ﬂuttered away like a butterﬂy's wings, soon extinguishing.

…How could this have happened?

Caught off-guard by the bewildering sight, Yoo Seolhyun could only stare in confusion at Lee Jinhyuk's back.

Was it even possible to cut through a breath of ﬁre without infusing sword qi?

Even if sword qi was used, it wouldn't have been strong enough to extinguish such a magical ﬂame.

Just as one can't slice water with a sword, one certainly can't slice ﬁre with one.

Thus, what Yoo Seolhyun had witnessed was an occurrence beyond common sense and logic, naturally raising a question in her mind.

'…A superpower? Could it be a superpower?' Superpower.

The power to manifest one's ideals into the world.

This peculiar power broke down the many established norms and laws of humanity and suggested new possibilities.

If a superpower was used to cut and eliminate the ﬂame, it was somewhat comprehensible.

The types and powers of superpowers are so varied.

But if he had such a superpower, why had he hidden it until now? There seemed no reason to.

Besides, didn't Lee Jinhyuk already possess the ability to foresee the future? Having foresight and another superpower? That seemed diﬃcult to accept.

'Could it be, not a superpower but pure swordsmanship?'

To possess such technique and skill, he would have to be a sword master, wouldn't he? It wasn't as if the title of master was as commonplace as the name of the neighbor's dog.

Yoo Seolhyun shook her head internally. It was impossible for him to become a master at such a young age. Unless he was an unprecedented genius among swordsmen.

Amidst Yoo Seolhyun's deepening confusion, there was a commotion.

"You, you!" "…"

"What did you do? How did you do that!" "…"

Kate roared at Lee Jinhyuk, but he remained silent, just quietly observing her.

Unlike before, the coldness in his eyes and the sternness of his expression, along with the way he had swung his swordas if it were natural to fend off the attack, lingered in Kate's mind.

It was an incomprehensible sight for Kate to see her breath of ﬁre casually cleaved.

After all, none of the so-called heroes who had sought her out before had managed to block her attacks with a mere swing of their swords.

Even stronger foes had mostly been desperate to avoid her attacks, but how did this man do it?

He'd been hiding behind a girl, pitifully shooting arrows and using various tools until just moments ago!

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you for sure." Kate growled angrily.

"To think this time will be zero chance!"

She screamed, trying to shake off an inexplicable anxiety, as she quickly gathered her magic once more.

Whatever trick he'd pulled off, this time she wouldn't give him a chance!

She would end it with a strike stronger than before.

While thinking this, Lee Jinhyuk silently raised his sword. What was he thinking?

"…You?"

"…"

An immense amount of magic began focusing on the raised blade. The sword glowed with a bluish light, heated to its core. The concentrated magic was almost comparable to the ﬂames Kate had unleashed.

How could a mere archer, no, a swordsman, wield such an amount of magic?

Kate, once a mage herself, was taken aback.

If that boy could summon such magic, why had he only ﬁred unremarkable arrows before?

Questions upon questions surfaced, but now wasn't the time for answers.

Right now, the focus was to incinerate that man.

'At this distance, I have the advantage. I'll burn him before he can get close.'

The weakness common to all swordsmen was range.

The sword, being an inherently melee weapon, had its innate weaknesses, just as all melee weapons did.

No matter how fast that boy could approach, he would still be slower than Kate, who had nearly completed her preparations.

'So now, just die…?' Whoosh.

The sword swung out in an involuntary moment.

What's he doing? Swinging a sword at that distance? She thought as she gathered the ﬂames, but from his swing, a crescent-shaped magic shot forth.

Could it be… Sword Qi Wounder? "?!"

Taken by surprise, Kate hastily spewed out the incomplete ﬂames, but it was futile.

The swiftly advancing sword qi tore through the ﬂames and reached right before Kate.

She instinctively extended her arms and remaining tentacles to shield herself.

But the moment they touched the searing sword qi, the tentacles were cleanly sliced, and Kate's arms and bones were cut off cleanly, reaching her chest.

"Kuh, ugh, ahhh?!"

Overwhelmed by excruciating pain, Kate lost focus, and the vast magic she had gathered scattered aimlessly, causing havoc within her.

"Cough, gugh, ugh, blargh!"

Suffering severe damage, Kate fell with blood gurgling from her mouth.

"Ah, uh, impossible. I've been, by such a… creature…"

"…Sword Qi Wounder…? You, how could someone like you… possess such a technique…!"

Even with her mental age regressed, Kate vividly remembered the very few swordsmen capable of wielding Sword Qi Wounder.

So, she could never have imagined that this youngster could wield it.

Was he not a mere archer?

Could it have been a feint to catch her off-guard? She didn't know.

"…Ugh, ugh."

"…"

As Lee Jinhyuk approached silently, very slowly, Kate screamed out.

She seemed like a delicate snake anticipating death.

Kate felt a surge of fear and tried to escape, but her body, wracked with the state of her tentacles, arms, and internal organs, wouldn't cooperate.

Already in no state for an average person to be alive. As a half-human, half-beast, she barely clung to life.

But that wouldn't last much longer.

A man was approaching her, slowly enjoying the prey's ﬁnal moment.

"Ugh, ugh, cough, gugh."

Thud, thud.

The slow, quiet footsteps echoed in Kate's ears like thunder.

The unavoidable death reached right before her, and all Kate could do was spit blood while looking up at Lee Jinhyuk with powerless eyes.

Lee Jinhyuk paused for a moment, looking down at Kate. She didn't know, but this was hesitation.

But the hesitation was brief. Lee Jinhyuk made a decision. He raised the sword.

"…Ugh, am I, cough, cough, really going to die?"

Without saying a word, Lee Jinhyuk ended the life of Kate, the Mad Synthetic Mage, as she reminisced about her past.

She had become a monster herself through relentless research in fusion magic.

Her greed had invited destruction; she didn't want to die of old age, she had only desired to continue her research longer.

How many lives had she sacriﬁced to extend her own?

Now, she too lay defeated, her existence as ﬂeeting as the next.

Kate closed her eyes in resignation. Death was imminent.

Then, thump.

Lee Jinhyuk's hand seemed to tremble slightly, but with a thrust, he delivered the ﬁnal blow, piercing through Kate's heart.

This was the end of the boss monster of Youngdeung Mountain Dungeon.

'…Lee Jinhyuk.'

And Yoo Seolhyun, who had witnessed the entire sequence, was left with turmoil in her mind.

It was because she had seen so many unbelievable scenes. '…It was Sword Qi Wounder, wasn't it?'

Sword Qi Wounder.

A secret technique dreamed of by countless swordsmen.

A distant attack only possible for swordsmen endowed with high-level skills in concentrating, accelerating, and releasing magic.

Among the current academy students, only a handful could wield Sword Qi Wounder. Many instructors couldn't even use it.

In an institution like Union Academy, where geniuses congregated, such skills were rare.

Yoo Seolhyun couldn't use it either. There was a similar technique in spearmanship to shoot out magic, but Yoo

Seolhyun had only faced continual failure in learning it. It was that diﬃcult.

'The power was much stronger than what Lee Siwoon showed at the last performance assessment.'

It might not have been Lee Siwoon's full strength during the test, but the force of Lee Jinhyuk's Sword Qi Wounder was incomparable.

Didn't it incapacitate that powerful half-human, half-monster beast in one blow?

Yoo Seolhyun knew well how strong and resilient Kate was, having fought for her life against the creature.

She had fought hard, bleeding and striving for tens of minutes, yet was unable to defeat the monster that now met such a desolate end.

Lee Jinhyuk, what are you?

Cutting through ﬂames and using Sword Qi Wounder.

His skills were said to be so poor he barely got into the academy. Why, then, hide such abilities?

Whether it was a superpower, swordsmanship, or something unknown to Yoo Seolhyun… why?

If one dreams of becoming a hero, isn't it better not to hide? '…Ah, consciousness.'

Was it the release of tension?

She could feel her grasp on consciousness waning.

Before losing consciousness, Yoo Seolhyun thought hazily of Lee Jinhyuk.

'Why are you…?'

Questions swirled in her mind but soon, her awareness ﬂickered out.

She thought she heard Lee Jinhyuk calling from beyond the dimness of consciousness, but then she lost consciousness completely.

***

"Ah, thought I was a goner."

I collapsed with a thud. Oh, look at my shaking legs.

Chapter 30 – Side Quest Dungeon Exploration Failure and Strategy (10)

After ﬁnding the artifact, I hurried back to where I had originally been.

I cautiously surveyed the surroundings while staying slightly concealed.

Yoo Seolhyun was lying motionless in the distance, which made me wonder if she was still alive.

'She couldn't be dead, could she?'

I swallowed hard as the worst-case scenario loomed large in my thoughts.

Doubts about being too late circled in my head. "Ugh, so persistent, so very persistent…!"

"…"

"What, you've ﬁnally collapsed? Ugh, this is annoying." "…"

Ah, is she alive?

It seemed likely as Kate was spitefully raising her voice.

Yoo Seolhyun must have hit her head hard and passed out for a moment. Phew. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"I'm going to burn you to a crisp, for real."

Kate was starting to concentrate a signiﬁcant amount of magic power, her intent sinister.

It looked like she intended to use the breath of ﬂame technique.

Was she preparing to incinerate Yoo Seolhyun, who was lying unconscious? Damn, this is bad.

What should I do?

Shall I use an arrow to distract her? Oh, right. I'm out of arrows, aren't I?

Then other items…

But no, I've almost used them all up. Damn it.

"Phew."

I gripped the artifact I had farmed tightly, taking deep breaths to steel myself.

Let's not get cold feet now, I'd braced myself for this from the start.

"…Okay, let's go."

After muttering to myself to shake off the fear, I quickly dashed to where Yoo Seolhyun had fallen.

Then, standing before her, I glanced over her condition.

"Phew… that's a relief."

She had quite a few injuries, but thankfully, it didn't look fatal.

"She's just unconscious, not dead…"

It seemed we had narrowly averted the worst situation.

If something had happened to Yoo Seolhyun, it would have been my fault.

"…Why, why did you bother coming back? Huuuh, huuuh."

Kate had gathered nearly all her mana and murmured mockingly upon seeing me.

Well, she must ﬁnd it ridiculous, seeing as I had shamefully run away only to return like this.

But her letting her guard down like this was actually to my advantage.

The more the opponent is off guard, the better it is for using this artifact properly.

"…Heheh, you're going to be burned too!" 'Here it comes.'

Kate unleashed her ﬂame.

As the roaring blaze approached, I bit my lower lip.

I could feel the heat as if it would singe my skin, but I couldn't dodge.

Running away would do me no good – I had to face it head- on.

'Ugh! Please.'

As I prayed internally, I activated the artifact and swung my sword horizontally.

Though I had only experimented with it brieﬂy before and couldn't be 100% sure, I had faith in the power of this artifact.

Right now, faith was all I had.

'…Done, it worked!'

The volcanic ﬂames that had been raging lost their power and vanished like smoke, as if I had sliced through the ﬁre with my sword.

It was a bit confusing, but as someone who had formed a contract with the Tears of the Moon, I understood.

It wasn't just that the ﬂames had disappeared; they had been absorbed.

'So this is how it absorbs.'

Amazement was short-lived as I faltered, my expression wincing.

That's because the moment I activated the artifact, a considerable amount of my stamina evaporated.

I knew that using the artifact would consume stamina, but I hadn't expected it to be this extensive.

The stamina depletion was much greater than when I had experimented with absorbing magic.

It seemed that the more powerful the magic I absorbed, the greater the stamina cost, so I couldn't help but take a long, covert breath.

'Haah, but I can still hold on for now.'

I looked towards Kate, feigning calmness.

Showing weakness in such a critical situation would do no good, so I had to pretend to be unfazed.

"I'll kill you, you're going to die." 'Ah crap, her?'

Kate was gathering magic again.

The magic swirled, indicating that she was no pushover for a boss monster.

What to do? Should I just rush in and swing my sword? No, I am not a swordsman.

A close ﬁght with Kate would not last long. One mistake and I could be counterattacked.

'Should I just use the release of magic power, then?'

I swallowed dryly and gripped the sword hilt even tighter.

The consumption of stamina had been signiﬁcant from just absorbing Kate's magic, leaving me apprehensive about how much would be required for a release.

However, thanks to Kate's gathering of magic, which would increase my hit rate, I considered it worth attempting.

Moreover, releasing magic through the artifact was the best attack I could muster at the moment.

'Haah.'

I bit my lip slightly and raised the sword.

The immense power I felt swirling from my ﬁngertips had just been absorbed from Kate's magic – an amount of power that was shameful even to compare to my own.

'This should be enough, right?'

Before Kate could move, I quickly utilized the artifact and swung the sword to release the magic.

The keenly focused blade of magic radiated a brilliant light as it surged towards Kate with tremendous speed.

With the help of the artifact, it was like unleashing a Sword Qi Wounder.

It was no wonder it was considered a precious item.

Kate, taken by surprise, ﬁred her ﬂames, but they wouldn't be much use.

Because, according to the artifact's settings, when the absorbed magic was released all at once, its power would be increased by 1.5 times.

"Kuh, ugh, ahhh?!"

Directly hit by the sword qi, Kate spilled blood and stumbled backward, her arms and tentacles severed.

The scene was ghastly, and I furrowed my brows.

"Sword Qi, Sword Qi Wounder…? You, how could someone like you… possess such a technique?"

The damage seemed more severe than I had thought.

In gaming terms, the damage might have been considered ampliﬁed by the artifact's 1.5x effect, a 1.9x strike on a physical weakness, plus a 2.0x critical hit.

In any case, Kate writhed helplessly on the ground, but I was unable to land a follow-up blow.

The stamina expenditure had been too severe. "Ha, *pant*… this much, al, already?"

After releasing the magic just once, my heart pounded, and my arms and leg shook uncontrollably.

It was as if I had marched a long distance in full battle gear. An inexplicable exhaustion enveloped my body.

My muscles ached, my eyelids weighed heavy like lead, and my limbs refused to move as if I were a waterlogged puff of cotton ﬁshed from the deep.

I felt an urge to sprawl and gasp for air, to greedily inhale the sweet oxygen, but Kate hadn't completely fallen yet.

I couldn't afford to show I was exhausted.

Doing so might inspire her to struggle or resist unnecessarily.

Thus, I gritted my teeth and forced a rigid expression as I slowly stepped forward.

'What's wrong with my legs? Are they giving out?' I almost staggered.

A release of tension, and I felt I might collapse on the spot.

However, I calmed the trembling in my legs, like a tree swaying in the wind, as I moved toward Kate, who lay fallen.

Despite my long history of endurance training, just a few uses of the artifact had left me in this state.

It crossed my mind that it wasn't only about farming artifacts; I should also consider securing some high-quality elixirs.

"…Ugh, ugh."

Before I realized it, I had reached Kate and raised my sword subtly.

"Are you, cough cough, seriously, are you going to let me die like this?"

With her face a mess and continuously expelling blood, Kate looked up feebly.

For a moment, I pondered as I looked down at her conﬂicted.

Though her lower body was that of a serpent, her upper body was human.

In the midst of battle, I had no luxury for sentiment, but now it was different.

She could talk like a person, and her appearance was human, which naturally gave me pause.

But then… "Ugh, ugh." Thump.

I reluctantly stabbed with the sword.

The sharp blade penetrated straight into her heart.

Kate uttered a brief moan, shuddered violently, and then, losing the light in her eyes, she passed away.

"…"

Looking down at Kate, now a cold body, I pondered.

Leaving her alive was far too dangerous.

Kate wasn't human; she was half monster and capable of creating unforeseen troubles.

I was too weakened to leave her alive; it was never really an option for me.

Someone else would have come along to ﬁnish her if I hadn't.

'I just didn't want to be the one to do it myself.' Yes, maybe that was all it was.

I sighed deeply inside.

As I had resolved to become a hero, I was bound to kill villains someday.

In a ﬁght, a moment's distraction could lead to death.

I was not strong enough to spare an opponent. For the weak to show mercy to the strong is absurd.

With a sudden movement, I pulled out the sword and collapsed to the ground.

"Ah, thought I was a goner there."

Shiver. My arms and legs trembled.

Was it due to the tension release, or because I had killed Kate? I couldn't be sure, but one thing was clear; I didn't feel good.

It was tough both mentally and physically. Still, I couldn't whine like a child at my age.

Besides, in my past life, I had even been to the military; I needed to shake off this uncomfortable feeling quickly.

'Ah, right, Yoo Seolhyun, how is she?'

I was slightly worried about Yoo Seolhyun lying there.

She seemed not to have died, but her injuries looked serious enough to require immediate attention, so I hurried over to her.

"Yoo Seolhyun, are you okay? Hey?" "…"

I gently shook her shoulder without touching the injuries to try waking her, but she didn't respond.

It seemed it would take some time for her to regain consciousness.

I quickly checked around, and after rummaging through a torn bag from the ﬁght with Kate, I took out the necessary medicine to stop Yoo Seolhyun's bleeding.

I wanted to give her some healing elixir because her injuries were serious, but I had used them all up in the midst of the ﬁght.

For now, this emergency treatment would have to do. "Phew. Is that everything done?"

I had done all I could, applying the medicine and wrapping the bandages.

"Now all that's left is… to wait for the rest of the team to arrive?"

But why in the world aren't they showing up yet? It's like they're purposely avoiding this place. "…Huh?"

My gaze suddenly drifted to the sword.

I realized that I'd made a deal in the dungeon to get an item. One, just one…

'There were quite a few decent items, though not as good as the Tears of the Moon.'

After such a grueling ordeal, just one artifact seemed somehow lacking, didn't it?

Yoo Seolhyun was the type to keep her promises, but conversely, she didn't go out of her way for things she hadn't committed to.

In other words, if I asked for a bit more compensation, there was a high chance Yoo Seolhyun wouldn't oblige.

'Umm.'

I sneaked a glance at Yoo Seolhyun, still unconscious. She had been out for the entirety of the ﬁght.

She wouldn't know how I had defeated Kate. 'Hmm.'

After a mock cough to solidify my plan, I subtly pulled out the longsword I had brought as a sidearm and tossed it far away.

Then, I placed the famous sword equipped with the Tears of the Moon I had found here into the scabbard.

It slid in smoothly. Oh, it ﬁts perfectly?

'It looks just like the ordinary sword I brought with me.' Its appearance was so average that it seemed ﬁtting.

The size was similar, too.

Minus the gem on the cross-guard, it was indistinguishable.

She wouldn't check for a stealthily taken item, would she?

Even if she did, there was no way to tell if it was an artifact or not.

So… maybe this sword will just be the ordinary one I brought, and I'll ask for a different item from Yoo Seolhyun.

Frankly, it's a little… no, quite a petty method.

But it's beneﬁcial to farm as many items as possible early in the game.

Midterms, ranking matches, intensive training camps – several events are on the horizon, and gathering more items would be advantageous.

'I could just tell Yoo Seolhyun about the dungeon's location from the game and get a larger share of the loot.'

After all, haven't I saved Yoo Seolhyun's life twice now? Wouldn't that make me somewhat of a life-saving benefactor? Maybe this isn't too bad of an ask?

…I gave myself a little self-justiﬁcation inside.

'Ah, but how do I explain to Yoo Seolhyun about running away earlier?'

I was genuinely concerned about it.

Initially, I planned to show her this artifact and make excuses with it.

I had intended to persuade her that I temporarily left to fetch an artifact that could defeat Kate, but deciding to covertly take it meant that plan was no longer an option.

'Maybe I just waited hidden until Kate let her guard down and then ambushed her?'

There were large injuries on Kate's body, but I could just say I used a magic scroll or something.

Though the excuse was rather ﬂimsy, with the right spin, it might become quite plausible.

'Alright, maybe I should come up with a decent excuse before the others arrive.'

So, I decided to come up with several excuses until my teammates arrived.

***

After rescuing all the trapped heroes and heading home, the wounds of Yoo Seolhyun and the other heroes were somewhat healed thanks to healing water provided by team members. Nevertheless, for thorough medical examination and treatment, I turned the car towards the Gaon Nuri Clan.

But then…

'Lee Jinhyuk, he keeps glancing over, doesn't he?'

Casting sidelong glances as if walking on eggshells, Lee Jinhyuk's behavior caused Yoo Seolhyun to tilt her head in puzzlement.

'Ah, wait a minute.'

Amidst her thoughts, Yoo Seolhyun gulped down a suspicion.

'Is he acting like this because he's afraid I saw what he did during the ﬁght with the snake woman?'

Well, he came up with various strange excuses, such as ambushing and luckily defeating her…

In truth, he had been hiding until Yoo Seolhyun collapsed.

It was fairly obvious that he disliked showing his strength in front of others.

At the time, Lee Jinhyuk must have believed Yoo Seolhyun had been unconscious, although she could have been just barely aware.

Indeed, if Lee Jinhyuk was more skilled than expected, he might have sensed her consciousness – or lack thereof – by her presence.

Regardless of what Lee Jinhyuk was hiding or why he was reluctant to reveal it, relentlessly prying would do no favors to positive human relations.

So, Yoo Seolhyun decided to play dumb for once.

"It's ﬁne."

"Hm?"

"Don't worry so much. I'll pretend I don't know." "Noted."

Forcing someone to bring up what they want to keep hidden can quickly damage a positive relationship, can't it?

Isn't that right, Lee Jinhyuk?

"Hmm."

Meanwhile, Lee Jinhyuk just blinked in confusion.

What was Yoo Seolhyun suddenly talking about?

What is there to worry about, and what is she going to pretend not to know?

'Oh, she's caught on, hasn't she?'

Did she realize I was lying to get other items? "…"

Suddenly, Lee Jinhyuk fell silent.

Perhaps his conscience was pricking him for he longed to return home.

Chapter 31 – Interlude, The Dark Hero (1) Yoo Seolhyun arrived home.

'…So tired.'

Her eyelids felt as heavy as bars of iron. Half-closing her eyes, she nodded off, swaying like someone who hadn't slept for days.

'Shower, shower… right… I took one… when I stopped by the clan, didn't I?'

Maybe she should at least change her clothes. With sleepy eyes, Yoo Seolhyun approached her wardrobe and ﬂung it open, randomly pulling out a pair of pajamas to change into. It was a silk one-piece pajama set. She remembered buying it a while ago in an attempt to seem more grown-up.

'Ah… sleepy.'

Eventually, Yoo Seolhyun stumbled to her bed and ﬂopped down onto it like a waterlogged cotton ball.

Burrowing into the plush bed felt like reaching nirvana.

Nuzzling her face into the pillow, she slowly closed her eyes.

As her eyelids drooped fully, today's events began to resurface vaguely in her mind.

Exploring the dungeon, battling the boss monster, rescuing people, farming items, arriving at the clan for a detailed examination and treatment, writing reports, and so on…

Looking back, a lot had happened.

'At least the urgent ﬁres have been put out…' Yoo Seolhyun let out a deep sigh of relief.

She had been shocked when she ﬁrst heard about the dungeon exploration failure.

Not only did the exploration fail, but people had gone missing, which had left Yoo Seolhyun unable to calm her anxious heart.

Especially since it was clear that the hyenas, ever eager to exploit Yoo Seolhyun's weaknesses, were baring their fangs.

'It was diﬃcult, but… I'm glad it ended safely.' All's well that ends well, right?

After all, they managed to rescue the missing people, successfully overcame the dungeon, and obtained several items.

It seemed like they had smoothly overcome a major crisis. 'Come to think of it, I almost died again.'

Not long ago, she was nearly killed by the Black Hand long- armed monkey at the academy, and now, she had nearly been killed by a half-human, half-snake woman in the dungeon.

Had it not been for Lee Jinhyuk, she might have already lost her life.

'…'

Yoo Seolhyun bit her lip tightly.

Thinking of Lee Jinhyuk brought forth numerous doubts and questions.

'Lee Jinhyuk, Lee Jinhyuk… Still, I don't understand.'

Who exactly is he?

She mulled over it but couldn't come up with any satisfactory answer.

Especially, his actions during the ﬁght with Kate were still incomprehensible.

How he simply cleaved through the ﬁerce breath of ﬁre with a mere slash of his sword.

It seemed likely that he used a superpower.

But…

'Surely, Lee Jinhyuk's superpower is supposed to be precognition. And his actions so far seem genuine.'

Could he possibly possess multiple superpowers? Or maybe an ability to copy others?

'Maybe he had an artifact hidden away.'

Logically, the chance of a mere academy cadet possessing an artifact is extremely low.

Even Yoo Seolhyun, with her Gaon Nuri Clan lineage, doesn't own one.

Artifacts are scarce, and those of any use are even rarer. It seemed unlikely that Lee Jinhyuk, with no signiﬁcant backing, would have one.

'Though, since Lee Jinhyuk has the ability for precognition, maybe he found something like an artifact somewhere?'

What exactly is he hiding? Superpower? Swordsmanship? Artifact?

The more she thought about it, the more questions arose. '…Well, regardless, it doesn't really matter.'

Yoo Seolhyun chuckled lightly.

Though what he is hiding remains unknown, the results of Lee Jinhyuk's actions haven't been false, have they?

Regardless of the methods, the outcomes—from injuring the long-armed monkey, sharing dungeon exploration strategies, to defeating the boss monster—Lee Jinhyuk's contributions were indeed remarkable.

Yes, whatever Lee Jinhyuk might be hiding, what does it matter?

His competence is undeniable.

'Lee Jinhyuk. Deﬁnitely useful.'

Perhaps even more so than Lee Siwoon.

Though Lee Siwoon had been the top scout priority, judging by the results shown so far, Lee Jinhyuk held more value.

Not just in tactical ability but also in combat prowess.

Considering everything together, Lee Jinhyuk was naturally the top priority.

Yoo Seolhyun thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep. 'I want him.'

She didn't want to miss out on a brilliant talent like Lee Jinhyuk.

After all, Yoo Seolhyun had a strong desire for talented individuals.

And ever since she was young, she had to have what she wanted to feel satisﬁed. For the ﬁrst time in a while, she felt her ambitions stirring again.

***

In the silent night of a city shrouded in darkness,

A woman trembled in terror in a dim back alley, untouched by the glamorous city lights.

No matter how hard she tried to ﬂee, it was in vain.

After all, the man chasing her was a superpower user, a villain.

"Please, spare me… please!"

"Hehehe."

In his mid-thirties, the villain Daeseokgang sneered menacingly as he advanced step by step toward the woman.

"What made you think wandering around here alone at night was a good idea? That's why you end up meeting bad people like me."

"Ah, ah."

Having been conﬁned, Daeseokgang hadn't felt such a sense of freedom in a while and wanted to indulge in his hobby once more.

Luckily, he had stumbled upon her, a decently attractive prey.

Of course, from the woman's standpoint, it was unfortunate luck.

Daeseokgang ﬁnally reached right in front of the woman, reaching out with his crude hand to gently grip her neck.

"Blame the society for releasing someone like me…"

"That's the question. Why did they release someone like you?"

Just then, a young man's voice pierced Daeseokgang's ears.

Involuntarily, Daeseokgang turned to see the source of the voice—a man looking straight at him, his face half-masked and hood pulled low, not appearing to be just anyone.

The voice seemed quite young, possibly late teens to early twenties, but the covered face made him look suspicious.

Was he a villain like Daeseokgang?

Or…

"Daeseokgang. Age 36. Convicted for illegal superpower use, burglary, robbery, traﬃc law violation, robbery with injury, etc., with 17 prior offenses. Correct?"

The man quietly regarded Daeseokgang.

"Releasing a superpower user with 17 prior offenses. It seems like a criminal-friendly country, doesn't it? Did they really think prison would rehabilitate you?"

"What are you doing?" "Me? Well…"

The man nonchalantly shrugged. "A Union Academy dropout?" "Ha."

Daeseokgang scoffed. Ridiculous. A dropout from Union Academy, that's all?

"Hehe, what about you? Playing hero even after dropping out?"

"Something like that."

The man nodded easily. Technically, without an oﬃcial license, it was akin to playing hero.

Thinking it absurd to stumble upon a wannabe hero, Daeseokgang clenched his ﬁsts. He had assumed it was a full-ﬂedged hero, but it was just an aspiring one.

"You think you're so high and mighty because you attended Union Academy…"

Suddenly, Daeseokgang's right arm swelled up like a balloon, then grew massively, reminiscent of a giant's forearm.

Intimidating with his physically dominant arm, Daeseokgang inwardly mocked the man.

A Union Academy dropout? Laughable, truly laughable.

Daeseokgang himself was from Union Academy.

Though he was expelled without graduating, he had been a promising ﬁgure, skillful in superpower use and combat.

It wasn't for lack of ability that he was expelled but for habitual violence and drunkenness.

"…You could get knocked out in one hit, kiddo."

Daeseokgang's superpower was enlargement; he could make his body parts become massively large and strong.

Simple but powerful, capable of crushing a monster's skull. "Hm."

The man, seemingly unfazed, casually lifted the sheath hanging on his hip.

…an empty sheath.

"What the hell are you doing? Playing around?" "Oh, I have my reasons."

The man smirked faintly.

"Back in the day, a friend ran off with my sword. It was an artifact."

To be exact, the sword itself wasn't an artifact but was considered a famous sword, a part of a set with this sheath.

"He didn't even know how to use it. Wonder why he took it. Well, he probably thought it was an artifact, so it was tempting."

"Artifact my ass! Die!"

Daeseokgang swung his ﬁst at the man, but the man easily tilted the sheath, deﬂecting the trajectory of the punch.

The sequence of movements was so natural that Daeseokgang couldn't react in time, and the man swiftly lifted the sheath, striking Daeseokgang's temple, collarbone, chin, and throat in a ﬂuid motion.

"Uh, uh, huh?" Daeseokgang collapsed.

His head buzzed, vision spun, and he couldn't help but vomit whatever was in his stomach.

Trying to stand, his legs wobbled uncontrollably.

"Dizzy? That's because your brain and semicircular canals are shaken."

"You, you, y-you?"

"Your body seems sturdy but…"

After focusing mana into the sheath, the man powerfully struck Daeseokgang's philtrum.

"Kuh, ugh, uck?!"

Two of his front teeth ﬂoated into the air. His nosebone seemed shattered, and blood trickled down.

"Not much of a challenge." "Wa-wait just a minute!" "What is it?"

The man continued to assault the now-defeated Daeseokgang relentlessly.

"You, damn! A hero, doing this…!"

"I'm not a hero, told you I dropped out. What 'hero'?"

Daeseokgang spluttered blood, shouting, but the man simply shrugged and swung the sheath again.

Each hit with the mana-infused sheath turned Daeseokgang's body into a ragdoll.

He was toying with him. He could end it anytime but deliberately tormented him just enough not to knock him out, as Daeseokgang clenched his teeth in realization.

'This damn guy!'

Even using his enlargement ability to resist was futile.

No matter the force capable of crushing boulders and bending steel, if it didn't hit, it was pointless.

So, Daeseokgang could only be beaten. Da, damn dropout? How is he so strong? "Ah, you're from Union Academy too?" "Ugh, ugh, ugh!"

"Reminds me of old times. Used to beat up the show-off seniors like this."

"Ugh, guh, guugh!"

Academy debates of reverse hierarchy were rife back then. Lost in nostalgia, the man shook his head.

"Stop, please stop…!"

Blows rendered him beyond recognition; he couldn't even speak properly with several teeth missing. His nose broken, cheeks sunken, every joint ached, feeling close to death, Daeseokgang pleaded with urgency.

"I'll turn myself in…!"

"What's the use? You'll just be out in a few years anyway, right?"

"Ugh…"

The man spoke indifferently.

"What's with these human rights activists? Complaining about criminals' rights."

In Europe, some rights organizations claim sentencing over ten years constitutes human rights abuse, pressuring governments for parole.

Confronted with the practical limitations of overcapacity in correctional facilities, governments have released criminals under the guise of human rights.

South Korea faced a similar predicament; unless a crime was grotesquely violent, extreme sentences were rare.

Originally… South Korea does provide drunk-driving reductions, no?

"Were you mitigated for 'impaired mental state'?"

In the past, a heinous villain brutally murdered and assaulted a child while drunk, yet claims of mental impairment granted him merely around ten years.

Even with speciﬁc laws for punishing superpower crimes, claims of mental impairment often lead to mitigation.

Petitions for the abolition of drunk-driving reductions crossed hundreds of thousands, yet silence remains.

Of course, South Korea isn't all lenient with laws.

Truly dangerous individuals were mostly given life sentences, kept in prison.

Yet, the masses, the victims, couldn't comprehend. Why spare such villains?

"Has the law failed to keep up with the times? Ah, really. If you're going to release them, why not implant a chip in their brains? Ah, but maybe that's also a human rights issue?"

With monsters emerging and humans awakening superpowers, despite the considerable passage of time, South Korea remained in such a state.

Back in the day, even self-defense laws were so lax that beating a home invader with a laundry pole led to charges of weaponized assault.

Even if the thief ended up brain dead, how could a civilian ﬁght back thoughtfully in such a scenario?

To the man, the law seemed particularly absurd. "So, no need to turn yourself in."

Therefore, the man decided to take care of things himself. To deal with villains not afraid of the law.

"Wh, what? You can't possibly…"

A memory suddenly crossed Daeseokgang's mind.

There had been rumors for years of a vigilante wandering South Korea, thoroughly ravaging villains inadequately punished or released back to society, rendering them incapable of enjoying a normal life again.

Not a hero who jails them but someone who self-administers punishment, making him as monstrous as the villains themselves in another name.

Yet, people were ecstatic.

Inexorably damaging villains enjoying lenient sentences, those infamous unreprimanded criminals, leaving them crippled and in pain for life, victims had no choice but to support him.

They gave him a nickname. Vigilante.

"You, that vigilante guy? You?"

"Although I don't know why they call me that, well, somewhat?"

Terriﬁed by how brutal Vigilante's hands were rumored to be, Daeseokgang trembled.

Glancing at a woman watching in bewilderment, Vigilante advised her.

"Maybe you should leave now? It's going to get rather unpleasant here."

"Th-thank you for saving me!" "No worries."

With shaking gratitude, the woman quickly got up and ran away.

Watching her leave, Vigilante turned back to Daeseokgang….

Shiver, shiver.

The sheath trembled softly. Could it be?

"Did it detect the stolen sword's location?" The sword and the sheath were a set.

The sheath had the ability to locate the sword.

Normally, it could detect its location immediately unless it was trapped in a peculiar place like a dungeon, where detection fails.

'I thought that guy went into a dungeon and died, but he's alive? Or did he sell the sword?'

Regardless of the reason, it didn't matter.

Now that the sword's location could be determined, he had no choice but to go check it out.

'Will it be diﬃcult to pinpoint the exact location? Seems like I can only tell the rough direction.'

But what does it matter?

If he's in the right direction, he will eventually reach it. Smiling faintly, Vigilante resumed beating Daeseokgang.

It seemed there wasn't much time left to recover the lost sword and artifact.

Chapter 5 - Ch 25-31