You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿ - Chapter 34

As expected from a country with well-developed delivery services, the jajangmyeon arrived quickly.
Even Jung Da-jeong, in the mood, poured herself some soju.
âArenât you bad with alcohol?â

I still vividly remembered how she got incredibly drunk at the welcome party for new employees, stumbling home without even remembering how she got there. It wasnât that long ago.
âAh, itâs a special occasion, I moved into a new house on my day off! Even if I want to drink with you, just hold back a little. Youâre still a minor, so just a few days of restraint, and we can drink together later.â
âI wouldnât drink it even if you gave it to me.â

Alcohol, huh. Even if she offered it, Iâd refuse. I just couldnât understand why someone would make the choice to destroy their own brain.
âDo you know how much alcohol destroys brain cells? Just because the alcohol wears off doesnât mean your body recovers. Once youâre drunk, it takes at least a few days to recover...â
âCome on, just let it slide for today. Itâs a celebration for moving out of that house.â

â...â
At that, I fell silent.
The only sounds in the house now were the clink of the soju pouring from Jung Da-jeongâs bottle and Leo excitedly burying his nose in the jajangmyeon bowl, slurping away.

âWell⦠Jung Da-jeong has had it rough.â
She had gotten such a cheap place in an old neighborhood on a high hillâone of those areas that would make anyone in modern Seoul stop and ask if such places still existed.
In the summer, it was so hot you didnât need a sauna, and in the winter, hot water didnât even come out properly most of the time.

But for someone like Jung Da-jeong, who had to keep her life going after leaving the orphanage, it was a financially burdensome home.
And then there was me, the younger sibling she had to take care of, making things even harder.
Honestly, it might have been easier for me to just leave her at the orphanage and live on my own, but Jung Da-jeong insisted on being with me.

âFamily shouldnât live apart, right?â
As the Demon King who remembered my past life, I could objectively see that Jung Da-jeongâs family devotion surpassed the norm.
No matter how blood-related we are, thereâs no such thing as a perfect family. How many siblings quarrel over inheritance and donât even show up at each otherâs funerals?
Even my enemies across two lifetimes were blood relatives in my past life, trying to kill me.

Maybe Jung Da-jeong was stubborn because the only family she ever had was me.
Jung Da-jeong smiled softly as she lifted her glass of soju.
âMy number one goal was to save up money as quickly as possible and move to a better place, and you, Da-on, made my dream come true. You did it so fast.â

âWhat are you trying to say?â
âI donât know, just⦠it reminds me of when I was younger⦠Ugh, itâs bitter.â
Jung Da-jeong downed her glass of soju in one go and made a face.

Her childhood memories, huh.
âWhat memories?â
âHmm, do you remember when you were crying, telling me not to go to my elementary school entrance ceremony? And in the end, I missed it.â

âThat couldnât be.â
Even if something had happened, thereâs no way I would have been the one crying and begging. If anyone cried, it would have been Jung Da-jeong.
Jung Da-jeong, frustrated, patted her chest.

âNo, Iâm telling you the truth! You donât believe me? Ah, I wish I had a camera, I could have proofâ¦â
âYouâre just saying nonsense because youâre drunk.â
âIâm not drunk yet⦠I canât believe how big youâve gotten. Youâre about to be an adult.â

With that, Jung Da-jeong poured herself another glass of soju.
She was drinking too fast. I frowned.
âArenât you drinking too quickly?â

âYeah, but to me, youâre still a kid. Soâ¦.â
She hesitated for a moment, but eventually spoke.
âHonestly, I really hate that you became a Hunter.â

Is this the real reason?
No wonder she was drinking despite not being able to handle alcohol.
It wasnât the first time Jung Da-jeong had said something like this. From the moment I got my S-rank in the Awakened Ability Test, she had been looking into ways to avoid mandatory service or wondering if I could get reassessed.

âWell, Iâm human too. Itâs fun to move into a house like this with a few billion worth of security, making money that normal people canât even touch⦠there are good things too.â
âYeah, there are plenty of good things.â
âBut I hate it. Iâm so worried. Youâre putting your life on the line.â

Watching her lament while holding the soju bottle, she seemed drunk, but that didnât mean her concerns werenât real.
It was the first time I had seen her like this.
âBut itâs only been a month, and youâve already been caught up in two dungeon breaks, so I canât even say I want you to go back to being a normal person.â

âYeah, I know.â
âI havenât been able to help you, and now Iâm just moving into a house you got with your life on the line...â
âIâm not dead yet.â

âI wanted to move out, but now that I have, Iâm scared. It feels like something is happening that I canât control. I almost want to go back.â
Anyone would prefer living in a house that looked like something from a drama over one with mold and leaking pipes, but Jung Da-jeong was saying the opposite.
Maybe the fact that she was benefiting from me made her feel guilty. I could vaguely understand that. But still, I shook my head.

âIâm sorry you feel that way, but itâs something we canât help.â
Jung Da-jeongâs feelings were admirable, but coming here was something we had no choice in.
If I hadnât taken the Awakened Ability Test, none of this would have happenedâ¦

âItâs already happened. Wishing it hadnât isnât going to change anything.â
Even a Demon King canât change the past.
âFear is an emotion you can control. Donât carry the weight of things that havenât even happened yet.â

Hearing my words, Jung Da-jeong lowered her head.
ââ¦I knew youâd say something like that, Da-on. Did you take that MBTI test I asked you to take? What did it say?â
âYeah, it said Iâm normal.â

âThatâs not what that test is about.â
A long sigh escaped from Jung Da-jeong.
After hearing her words, I realized something unexpected.

She was speaking weakly, something she usually avoided when talking to me as an older sibling.
Maybe it was because my becoming a Hunter was such a shock, or maybe it was because I made all the decisions on my own, and she felt a sense of loss, like a parent watching their child become independent.
Honestly, I didnât care either way.

I do care about Jung Da-jeong as my family, but still, it was annoying.
I finally stood up from my seat.
âAre we done talking? Iâm tired, Iâm going to sleep.â

âDa-on.â
âAh, what now?â
âThat video of you saving the supermarket owner⦠when I got to the office, everyone was talking about it.â

ââ¦â
âEveryoneâs saying youâre amazing, that a great mage has appeared.â
If you have eyes, thatâs what everyone would say.

But not Jung Da-jeong.
âBut I saw that video, and I was so mad at you. Youâre putting yourself in danger, and what are you doing?â
âYeah, youâre right.â

I could still hear her voice in my ears.
Jung Da-jeong sighed heavily before speaking, as if making an important confession.
âBut⦠honestly, I thought you were really admirable.â

ââ¦â
That was the first time Iâd ever heard her say that.
Before, she would have told me to run away without looking back if I ever found myself in that situation again.

âOur Da-on, of all people, rushing out to save someone else.â
ââ¦â
Jung Da-jeong wasnât just saying that for nothing.

I had always been a strange child.
The reason I stopped Jung Da-jeong from going to her entrance ceremony was because the fortune I received that day was bad.
I couldnât use magic, but I could perform some minor tricks.

And on that day, there had been a major traffic accident near the elementary school.
ââ¦Iâm sorry, teacher, but I canât come to work anymore.â
It wasnât uncommon for the teachers taking care of me to quit.

âThis isnât right, but itâs just so creepy.â
âItâs not that I think youâre weird or anything, but⦠Da-on, youâre just⦠too strange.â
âYouâre nothing like the other kids.â

Adults canât be unaware of these things, even if they try to avoid it.
I had only ever been with my family, and in the end, they must have felt something strange about me.
Jung Da-jeong didnât abandon me.

Her smile, as a blood relative, was rare.
âIt was really cool, Da-on.â
And that smile felt a bit different from the usual pitying comments.

Until now, the internet had praised my overwhelming magical ability, analyzed the influence I would bring, and evaluated my actions.
There were definitely compliments among them.
But⦠hearing those words from Jung Da-jeong, of all people, felt like it hit closer to home.

Why?
Not knowing how to respond, I stared at Jung Da-jeong for a moment.
What was this feeling?

âWhat theâ!â
Crash!
Just then, Leo, who had been eating jajangmyeon with his face buried in the bowl, coughed and knocked it over.

âMeow!â
My throat! My throat!
 
âUgh, look at Leo! Isnât he choking on the noodles?â

âCough!â
Thanks to Leoâs foolish antics, the awkward atmosphere was broken.

Itâs been a long time since a family member acted like a family memberâ¦

I chuckled to myself as Leo, after I slapped him on the back, quickly spat out the noodles and knocked the bowl over.
Enemy!
 
âEnemy? What are you talking aboutâ¦â

Is his intelligence really tied to his size?
Why are all these silly things around me?
Leo looked shocked.

Too much!
 
âUgh, Iâm so tired. Da-on, youâre probably tired too. Go to bed quickly. Can you rest tomorrow?â
âProbably.â

I left Jung Da-jeong to clean up and entered my room.
The huge, soft bed welcomed me. It was luxury bedding I had never seen since coming to Korea. Han Jae-young had really put a lot of thought into it.
Plop!

Before me, Leo leaped onto the bed. The mattress swayed as the little leopard landed on it.
âMove.â
âMeow!â

I grabbed Leo by the scruff and tossed him off the bed, then laid down in the center.
Too much! Too much!
 
Even though Leo was thrown to the floor, he quickly climbed back up and stuck to me.

It had been a busy day.
I closed my eyes to sleep.
â¦But sleep didnât come.

âAdmirable, huh?â
I thought long and hard.
Why did I feel stirred by those words?

As I reflected on my own feelings, I soon found the answer.
Youâve grown well, my dear. Just as I hoped.
 
I had heard similar words before.

My righteous little sibling.
 
Crunch!
The plastic cup I was holding crumpled.

Leo, who had been clinging to me, jumped in surprise.
Enemy? Enemy?
 
ââ¦I was thinking about enemies.â

I bit my lip.
âI donât like it.â
The word "admirable" was starting to bother me.

Jung Da-jeong said I was admirable because she thought it was the right thing.
Just like everyone else, just like the System, which made its judgement.
It was that same ârighteousnessâ that had killed me once before.

I became the Destroyer of Worlds because I threatened the survival of the majority of humanity, and I died by the hand of the hero, under the kingâs orders.
And now, in this world, my blood relatives from my past life had become âenemies of humanity,â and the system wanted the hero to kill the new Demon King.
And the system wanted me to join this new righteousness.

But what is righteousness, really?
If morality is sacrificing yourself to save others.
If itâs righteous to sacrifice one for the sake of saving ten.

If to save ten lives, one must be killedâ¦
The "Do Good Deeds, Receive Blessings" quest is ongoing.
The System requests user Jung Da-onâs support for Yoo Han-ul.

 
Is that murder also righteous?
Suddenly, the image of the hero standing alone after slaying the Demon King came to mind.

And then I became curious.
How would the hero who killed me answer this question?
â...Leo.â

I wiped the noodles off Leoâs chin with a tissue and asked.
âWhat do you think I should do?â
Leo yawned.

Youâll just do whatever you want anyway.
 
...Whoever made this little guy was really something smart.