Ch.41Temporary Parties Are Dangerous (4)

Click!

“Fatal blow.”

Whoosh.

“Radiance!”

Backed into a corner, Hong Yongtak and Henry simultaneously activated their skills, apparently thinking it was now or never.

First, Hong Yongtak charged in emitting flashing light, followed by the sound of Henry’s arrow being shot, wrapped in magical energy.

Ping!

Swish!

They must have thought they’d coordinated a perfect combination, but honestly, it was too predictable.

With a slight nod of my chin, one of the Phantom Wolves understood my command, leaped into the air, caught the arrow, and snapped it in half.

Leap.

Thud!

[Grrrr!]

Crack─!

“That’s impossible!”

“There’s no way a mere corpse could move with such precision…”

Such predictable repertoires, such predictable reactions. Feeling my excitement rapidly fading, I ordered my undead to charge.

“Capture them.”

The ensuing battle wasn’t particularly impressive.

In truth, they were never worthy opponents to begin with, so this was expected.

“L-let go of me. You’re going to regret this! If you accumulate this kind of karma, your descendants will…”

Seeing him spout such useless words even in this situation, it seems Hong Yongtak’s previous behavior wasn’t just an act.

I waved my hand dismissively.

Whoosh.

The Skeleton Masher restraining him promptly broke Hong Yongtak’s leg.

Crack!

Snap!

“Aaaaargh!”

“What about my descendants?”

“Kuh. Kuhk.”

Hong Yongtak, paralyzed with fear, couldn’t say anything more.

I glanced at the ring on my finger and spoke to the terrified Hong Yongtak and Henry.

“…Six minutes. This is annoying, so I’ll just end it.”

No further words were necessary. As I turned around and headed toward the boss room, two waiting Phantom Wolves tore out the throats of both men.

[Grrrr!]

[Kaaargh!]

Crunch!

Crack!

“Gak!”

“…Kuhk! Kak!”

After about five seconds, a familiar notification sound rang in my ears.

Ding.

【Level up!】

‘…So they count as monsters for this purpose.’

I’ve definitely read online that humans can also be sources of experience points.

Particularly, hunters are said to provide more experience points the higher their level.

Looking at my status window, which had gained a level without me noticing, I thought absently.

I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but human targets provide quite decent experience points too.

#

Boom.

After dispatching those two and entering the boss room, what I saw was a scene hard to believe even with my own eyes.

Tap.

Thud.

“Huk! Huhk! Huk!”

“……”

Strange, I thought she’d be dead by now.

Surprisingly, Kwak Minji, who had been left alone in the boss room, was still perfectly alive. It seemed she had been using all her skills to avoid the boss during those few minutes.

Kwak Minji, who had been running in a half-exhausted state, showed disbelief upon seeing me.

“Huhp. H-how…?”

“I took care of all of them.”

Honestly, from my perspective, this was more surprising. When escaping reaches this level, it’s a talent. I looked at her with a bemused expression.

Swoosh.

Thump.

“Huup. Hak!”

Kwak Minji, apparently unable to move anymore, came toward me and collapsed face-down on the floor.

Naturally, this caused the boss, the Lizard Wolf, to turn its attention toward me.

The Lizard Wolf, considered the most troublesome among C2-rank boss monsters.

But for something of that level, to be honest, I didn’t even need to use the Book of Death.

“Kill it.”

[Grrrk.]

[Grrrr!]

At my command, the undead following me charged at the Lizard Wolf, emitting a powerful aura.

[Kwaaak!]

The Lizard Wolf, true to its name, certainly had impressive physical specs.

Because of that, one Skeleton Masher and one Phantom Wolf were destroyed, unable to withstand its attack.

But that was as far as it went.

Individual performance might be slightly inferior, but the numbers were already overwhelming.

Eventually, the Lizard Wolf succumbed helplessly to the violence of the many.

[…Kwaaak.]

Boom!

Thud.

Tssss.

A return portal appeared immediately after defeating the boss.

When Kwak Minji, who had caught her breath by now, tried to run toward it, I had a Masher stop her.

“P-please spare me! I won’t tell anyone! Whatever it is, I absolutely won’t say a word!”

The reaction was more intense than I expected. Well, considering that a party member who was barely pulling her weight suddenly witnessed a human hunter kill everyone and even handle the boss, it was understandable to be afraid.

“P-please. I’ll do anything.”

I looked at Kwak Minji intently.

Come to think of it, while it was only Hong Yongtak’s group earlier, Kwak Minji had also harassed me several times.

And as I said before, I was the type who never forgot such actions.

Then suddenly, a good idea crossed my mind.

“Let’s make a contract.”

“…What?”

“I said let’s make a contract. With your soul as collateral.”

Whoosh.

I cast a spell and placed my right hand on Kwak Minji’s head.

“Swear in your heart that you’ll dedicate both body and mind to me.”

“What?”

“Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll do it! I swear!”

Fssst.

With that, a small symbol was engraved on Kwak Minji’s forehead, which soon disappeared from sight.

I grinned as I formulated a perfect plan in my head.

‘If I get four more like this, I could run a medium-sized dungeon.’

I should have made those two from earlier my subordinates instead of killing them.

Regretting not having this brilliant idea sooner, I started needlessly berating Kwak Minji.

“What are you doing?”

“W-what?”

“Already slacking off. There are magic stones and materials outside, go collect them all.”

“…By myself?”

“Still not fully awake, are you?”

“I’m going! I’ll go!”

As Kwak Minji turned away with a disgruntled look, I added one more thing.

“Tell them those guys were killed by the Lizard Wolf.”

“Why? Because of those bastards, I…!”

“It’s annoying to be dragged around giving testimonies. This is an order.”

Whoosh.

At those words, Kwak Minji nodded in confusion.

She must find it quite unfamiliar—that sensation of being unable to disobey an absolute command due to the contract’s effect.

After Kwak Minji struggled to gather all the resources, I finally said to her:

“Ah, from now on. Ugh. When I call you, quickly come running and…”

Damn, the side effect.

Feeling the ring’s effect completely wear off, I stepped back to create distance and pointed at the portal with one hand.

“…You go first. Stay ten meters away.”

At that sight, Kwak Minji entered the portal with an indescribable expression.

#

Kwak Minji was in despair.

She had survived the crisis by sheer luck, but in return, she had become enslaved by some unknown dark magic, with her soul as collateral.

‘Crazy psychopath bastard…’

While Hong Yongtak’s group was detestable, the truly dangerous one in Kwak Minji’s mind was Baek Eunha.

Possessing enough power to kill three hunters of the same rank alone, yet pretending to be a loser in the dungeon, deceiving everyone.

She couldn’t even begin to guess what his purpose might be.

‘He must be out of his mind.’

She wanted to escape somehow, but it was impossible while under this spell. Kwak Minji trembled in fear, imagining what would happen to her.

Following orders, she had returned to her studio apartment and continued living, but she didn’t feel like her life was in her own hands anymore.

On the third day, she finally received a message from Baek Eunha.

Ding.

[BasicGuide.txt]

[Read all of this, and from today, log in daily and complete these tasks.]

‘…What?’

The content was far from what she had imagined.

She examined the content carefully, wondering if it might be some metaphorical expression or code, but there was nothing unusual.

The first order Baek Eunha gave to Kwak Minji was to level up a mobile game account.

Ding.

[By the way, this is an order.]

‘What’s going on?’

Kwak Minji, though puzzled, followed the instructions, reading the guide and leveling up the account.

She couldn’t understand it at all, but her body moved automatically due to the command.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

【CLEAR!】

How many days had passed since then? As Kwak Minji mechanically repeated her daily routine in a daze, a new message arrived.

Ding.

[ETube: Desert Lord Pattern Analysis]

[Practice and run raids on schedule. After clearing, organize the rewards and report back.]

So Kwak Minji obediently watched the video and learned the patterns. And on designated days, she logged into the game and ran raids.

Throughout this process, she had only one thought:

‘…Is he insane?’

When she saw him in the dungeon, he was clearly a psychopath who would kill people without hesitation, but what was this behavior now?

The pointless order to level up a game account was strange enough, but what was particularly bizarre was how he provided guides while giving orders. It was so weird that it gave her goosebumps.

‘What exactly is his identity?’

Since he had an official status as a hunter, there might be some information available.

Although Kwak Minji wasn’t usually interested in hunter community forums, driven by unbearable curiosity, she desperately began searching for information about Baek Eunha.

Surprisingly, she found clues easily.

【Baek Eunha really has anthropophobia. We were in the same government-sponsored class, and he barely talked to anyone and always stayed apart from others in dungeons.】

┗ Really?

【I heard he gets nauseous when he’s too close to people.】

【When we went on a dungeon field trip, we traveled by bus together, but he brought a blanket from the lodging, took up two seats, and hid inside it. Everyone who saw it knows, right?】

┗ Is it really that bad?

┗ That’s kind of cute lol

【If it’s that severe, how does he run dungeons?】

┗ His skills make up for it. He just stays in the back and sends undead forward, and he’s already worth more than two people.

┗ He had that A-rank mental stabilization ring, which makes him normal for a while when he uses it.

┗ Huh? First time hearing about that.

┗ I was in the same party.

┗ Holy shit, really?

‘Conditional dungeon survivor? Song Hayeon’s disciple?’

After searching about Baek Eunha for a long time, Kwak Minji finally understood the truth.

‘Come to think of it, he did have some fancy ring…’

If it was indeed the same person, most of the situation made sense.

As a promising talent, he would certainly be capable of dealing with Hong Yongtak’s group.

‘But wait, damn it. Then why me?’

Using dark magic to turn someone into a slave for game account leveling wasn’t something a normal person would do.

As she gathered more information, the situation only became more confusing, and Kwak Minji eventually gave up trying to understand.