You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿ - Chapter 82

The next morning.
Han Jae-young quietly approached and whispered.
âAre the two of you okay?â

The "two people" Han Jae-young referred to were me and Lee Pyeong-hwa, who were silently following behind.
I shrugged my shoulders.
âDoes that really matter in a situation like this?â

âTeamwork is important.â
âThatâs not it. Isnât it wrong to ask a 20-year-old kid for teamwork in a situation like this? We should solve this ourselves.â
âBy the way, Jeong Da-on, youâre also 20, right?â

Han Jae-young replied, as if he couldnât believe what I was saying, but he probably didnât mean to equate me and Lee Pyeong-hwa in terms of experience.
It would be hard to compare a magician who can use incantation magic to a rookie Hunter.
âAnyway, donât do things that would stress out the kid in this situation.â

âIt was a situation that needed stress.â
Neither Han Jae-young nor I were pointing fingers at Lee Pyeong-hwa as the one who caused this messâmeaning, the one who gave Lee Seung-hee the illegal drugs. However, it was clear we had to address Lee Pyeong-hwa, who had become part of the team.
The appearance of the monster that fed on emotions was fortunate.

âYou stayed silent too.â
Since Lee Pyeong-hwa woke up last night, weâd been talking fairly loudly, so even if Han Jae-young had been asleep, there was no way he hadnât heard.
Which meant he had overheard our conversation but hadnât intervened.

Now, he was pretending to be all nice.
Han Jae-young smiled.
âAh, youâre hitting a sore spot. Well, we have no choice but to work together. But still, a little kindness wouldnât hurtâ¦â
âBullshit.â

If I hadnât done it, Han Jae-young would have.
If we were going to keep traveling together, it was necessary to figure out what kind of person Lee Pyeong-hwa really was. And thanks to the "anxiety moth" last night, Iâd already gotten a good sense of her internal state.
I had discovered the eggs of these monsters during basic training when I had gone out of the barracks alone to sleep in the forest. I had gathered them as items.

âIf she were properly trained, those bugs wouldnât even be a threat...â
But Lee Pyeong-hwa was clearly still a beginner.
In both the bad and good sense.

So, before continuing with her, it was essential to check whether she harbored any ill intentions toward me or not.
Of course, it wouldnât be pleasant for her to admit her true feelings after being forced to confess due to the monsters.
I glanced at Lee Pyeong-hwa.

Even now, she was quietly trailing far behind us.
While her physical stamina was an issue, it was obvious she just wanted to distance herself from me.
Being disliked was only natural.

For Lee Pyeong-hwa, this situation was as if I had let the monsters attack her to force her to spill the truth.
It was something I had to endure.
Though the word "endure" felt a bit too grand for the situation.

Han Jae-young clicked his tongue.
âIf itâs an interrogation, I can do it. Why stir things up and hurt feelings between people of the same age?â
âThen why didnât you move first?â

âYou say that, but didnât you handle it yourself instead of letting me? If I did the interrogation, it wouldnât just end with someone feeling uncomfortableâ¦â
âThatâs a weird assumption. Do I look like that kind of saint to you?â
âMaybe a little?â

Is he out of his mind?
I glared at Han Jae-young in disbelief, but he wasnât the type to care about my glares.
Han Jae-young chuckled and shrugged.

âYouâre kind of cute, Jeong Da-on.â
âDo you want to die here?â
âSo, are we seriously going to keep exploring this dimension blindly?â

It seemed like he was changing the topic, but since I didnât really want to continue this conversation either, I decided to join in.
It was an important topic anyway.
â...Didnât we agree to move as close as possible so the system could detect us? The system is surely desperately trying to find us.â

It was obvious that the system was searching for us, stranded as we were.
âIâm sure, whether itâs me or Han Jae-young, weâre too valuable for the system to just let go of.â
Normally, someone like me, a powerful being, wouldnât be able to be controlled with just a contract.

But even though I might be considered expendable, Han Jae-young, with his fairy heritage, S-rank Hunter status, and ties to the hero, was a vital asset in the eyes of humanityâs enemies.
And now, with humanityâs enemies wreaking havoc, finding new talents was difficult, so the system was probably desperately trying to locate Han Jae-young.
âThe timeline⦠Iâll probably have to endure it for about a month.â

But that wasnât such a big deal.
âWithout the systemâs constraints, it would be easier.â
The systemâs restrictions that tied my soul to ridiculous quests like âGood deeds bring blessingsâ had disappeared. Now, if I wanted, I could draw power as long as my body could handle it.

In most situations, I could handle things just fine.
Of course, Iâd need to stay within the bounds of not raising Han Jae-youngâs suspicions.
âI should probably consider improving my physical body to handle magic now that the system is gone...â

But if I did that, the system might grow more cautious of me when I return to Earth. It would be difficult to tamper with my body too much.
âThatâs true, but if we keep wandering around and encounter people from this world, that would be a problem, right? We donât know what kind of creatures we might meet.â
âHumans.â

Han Jae-young didnât clarify if he meant Earth humans, though.
There were countless dimensions in the universe, and intelligent lifeforms came in many forms.
In fact, monsters could communicate among themselves.

The issue was whether the lifeforms of this dimension would be friendly toward us. That was the real problem.
Even humans, as a species, are afraid of highly intelligent alien beings.
There was no reason to assume that other-dimensional âhumansâ would be any different.

âIt doesnât seem like this is a fairy dimension, right?â
âIf this were a fairy dimension, those two would have been nutrients for the World Tree by now. Stop with the creepy talk.â
Given that Han Jae-young revealed he was part fairy, it was strange how much disdain he seemed to have for fairies.

When discussing dimension-stranded people, he had once mentioned someone who came back after six years holding a childâs hand, which was quite telling.
â...Not that Iâm curious about it.â
And it wasnât all that important now either.

âThen, if you have a better idea, speak up. You want us to just set up a base camp and stay put?â
âThatâs not it.â
âBe clear. Why are you being so vague, when youâre supposed to be the guild leader?â

âIâm not a detective, but ever since we arrived in this dimension, Iâve had a strange feeling.â
Han Jae-young looked around.
Since there were fish in the lake, it was clear this dimension supported life, but it wasnât exactly a lively scene.

All that could be seen were the quiet winds of the plains and thick grasses.
Weâd been traveling for nearly half a day, but no matter how much we walked, the same landscape kept repeating itself.
âItâs been a long time since I missed the system.â

If the system were here, we would at least have some information about this dimension, so I felt the loss.
âI do feel uneasy too, but... I still think moving is the right thing to do.â
Staying in one place with no information would only breed more anxiety as time passed.

Though Han Jae-young and I could handle it, Lee Pyeong-hwa might start mentally deteriorating.
âHm... If thatâs what you think, letâs go. Just... no more like last time...â
Han Jae-young trailed off, probably aware of Lee Pyeong-hwa following behind.

But even if he didnât finish his sentence, I knew what he meant.
âItâs about the Monster Man.â
The S-rank monster we encountered in the last dungeon on Yeongjong Island, the âMonster Man.â

I remembered how it absorbed all the surrounding magic.
âNow that I think about it... this dimension feels eerily similar.â
This dimension had a very faint concentration of magic in the air.

It was possible this was just the natural state of the dimension, but...
âThe distribution of magic feels odd.â
Had I not encountered the Monster Man earlier, I might not have realized this.

But after seeing how the Monster Man drained magic, I now noticed an uncanny similarity in the magical distribution of this dimension.
Of course, that didnât mean the Monster Man was here.
In fact, logically speaking, it was unlikely.

This wasnât the same dimension as the Yeongjong Island dungeon, after all.
And the Monster Man was an artificial monster created by humanityâs enemies.
Still, there was an uneasy feeling growing within me.

âGetting stranded in a dimension... itâs too coincidental.â
It was still too early to jump to conclusions, but...
I glanced at Lee Pyeong-hwa.

When Han Jae-young had come to find our group, he had said:
âIâve shared the information about the Monster Man we found in the last dungeon with both the Central Administrative Office and the Hunter Association. Now, we should expect some kind of response from either side.â
Han Jae-young suspected that the Monster Man had been created by humans.

And the organizations with the capital and power to pull off such a scheme were the Central Administrative Office or the Hunter Association.
âIt makes sense.â
Money could be made by any businessman, but creating artificial monsters required technology and skilled Hunters.

The Hunter Association or the Central Administrative Officeâthose were the only organizations capable of pulling this off.
This theory had become more solid with the current incident.
Lee Seung-hee had died from an overdose of illegal drugs during basic military training.

On the surface, it seemed like the actions of a clumsy rookie, but the real issue was that the militaryâa closed organizationâhad been infiltrated.
At the very least, someone had smuggled the illegal drugs into the military and handed them to Lee Seung-hee at just the right moment.

âThe government or Hunter Association must be involved, and it seems like theyâre at a high level.â

I had hoped to trace the clues back to the organization behind the Yeongjong Island trash dump dungeon, but in the end, a high-ranking government official had been dismissed for personal misconduct.
We hadnât gotten any concrete leads.
How many times had this happened?

Honestly, I was frustrated.
I kept getting caught up in whatever these people were scheming.
No matter how much potential I had, I was still a newly awakened rookie Hunter, tied to the government. I couldnât do much about it, but it was still irritating.

âOnce basic training is over, Iâll think of a way.â
I just wanted time to pass quickly.
Once I became a social service agent, Iâd have more freedom to act.

Anyway, I had to catch the tail of whoever was behind this and stop them from dragging me into more dungeons.
Wherever I went, trouble followed.
âIf Iâm with Da-on, I really get caught up in all kinds of accidents.â

Han Jae-young, who had been cutting through the grass to clear the path, said this.
It seemed like he felt the same way I did.
âLetâs see. Starting with the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break, then the True Light Church human experimentation incident, and now a dimensional stranding... It feels like Iâve known you for a hundred years after all the stuff weâve been through in such a short time.â

âDonât worry, weâre not that close.â
âCome on, just spending a long time together doesnât make you close. The intensity of the time spent matters. At this point, weâre close, donât you think?â
âDo you want to get closer to me?â

âBetter friends than enemies, right? After all, bad memories get lighter when shared.â
His words were as smooth as ever. I wondered if the fairy who gave Cinderella a dress, shoes, and a carriage spoke so fluently.
As we engaged in an occasionally unpleasant chat, we moved forward.

âWeâre getting close to where we detected the life signs, so letâs be cautious.â
The detection magic had shown life signs nearby.
Of course, it was likely to be just animals, like the fish in the lake, but...

Flap!
âThereâs a bird.â
As expected.

Small birds, about the size of a fist, flew off with a flutter. Han Jae-young frowned upon seeing them.
âAre those the lifeforms detected by the magic? They werenât moving that fast before.â
âStill, it looks like thereâs some sort of ecosystem here.â

The fish in the lake, and now the birds.
It seemed that even if we were stranded here for over a month, we wouldnât have to worry about food.
âDo we eat the birds?â

Of course, Lee Pyeong-hwa looked appalled at the suggestion.
âThe fish didnât mind.â
âWell... thatâs true. I used to have a parrot at home...â

âWait a minute.â
Han Jae-young stopped and probably enhanced his sight with magic to observe the surroundings.
âThereâs something... it looks like a village.â

As he said that, Han Jae-young looked back at me.
I enhanced my vision as well and looked in the direction he indicated.
â...Itâs true.â

Han Jae-young was right.
In a corner of the vast plain, there was a slightly dilapidated fence.
The presence of a fence meant that something valuable was being guarded inside.

It was highly likely that the âpeopleâ inside were intelligent enough to have accumulated property.
âShould we be on alert?â
Lee Pyeong-hwa, noticing the tension between Han Jae-young and me, asked cautiously.

Han Jae-young shook his head.
âNo... even from a distance, the fence is rusted and doesnât look like anyone is maintaining it.â
âThen...â

âLetâs approach and check it out.â
We cautiously moved toward the possible village.
And as we got closer, it became clear that Han Jae-young was right.

It wasnât a large village.
It looked like a small settlement of about 20 households.
There were wooden animal sheds, large rusted cauldrons hanging on big stoves, and broken walls made of stone and mud with wooden roofs that were half-collapsed.

It was a scene of clear decay, obviously worn down by time.
âJeong Da-on Hunter.â
After observing the village for a while, Han Jae-young turned to me.

And I knew what that look meant.
I nodded.
âYeah, I know.â

It was too similar.
It was just like the scene we had seen in the Yeongjong Island trash dump dungeon.