Chapter 23: The Hero Guild and the Two Sinners

Now that the respawn field has been disabled, Kim Gi-tae will no longer be able to revive.

And with that, Kim Gi-tae has been utterly destroyed, leaving only this labyrinth-like urban dungeon behind.

“What about the dungeon core?”

“We need to retrieve it.”

I had considered leaving what I now called “Kim Gi-tae’s Dungeon” as is, but I had to think about the possibility of Kim Gi-tae rejecting salvation and turning into a malevolent spirit.

Imagine if, in the future, this redeveloped area became known as “Kim Gi-tae’s Labyrinth,” attracting exorcists, shrine maidens, and shamans from all over the world.

“That sounds fun!”

“Well, the problem is, it’s in the city.”

If it were outside Seoul, that would be different, but Kim Gi-tae’s dungeon was located right in the heart of the city.

This isn’t exactly ideal for someone like me, still considered a Korean citizen.

Besides…

“What if the Wraith mentions my name? That would be a real nuisance.”

More importantly, I’m not evil.

If I leave the dungeon core here, the people in charge of redevelopment would probably be devastated.

All I needed to do was take care of Kim Gi-tae.

-But what about the bald guy and the old maid? They died way more times than Kim Gi-tae, but they didn’t suffer as much psychological damage.

“That’s because fear is a powerful thing. With them, it was just repetitive beatings after each respawn, but with him, I meticulously crafted an atmosphere of terror.”

I made sure he felt the fear of death slowly.

Now that I think about it, the bald guy and the old maid were actually lucky.

They just got their heads bashed in every time they revived, disoriented by the repeated blows.

-Humans are fascinating.

“Not as fascinating as that absurd goddess.”

-As a devotee, you must protes….

“Stop with the lecturing, please.”

Once I retrieved the dungeon core, Kim Gi-tae’s labyrinth reverted to a redevelopment area.

His body, too, was completely erased in the purification process.

After all, I’m a tidy saintess—gotta provide that extra service.

As I watched Kim Gi-tae’s body disappear through purification, something crossed my mind.

“Suddenly, I’m craving watermelon. Maybe I’ll buy some.”

The urge for watermelon hit me hard.

Yeah, let’s get some.

-How can you think about watermelon after watching someone’s head get smashed?

That’s life, goddess. Life is like that.

*

Hero Guild.

Yoo Ji-ho, the master of the Hero Guild, was pacing in his office.

It had been a week since that fool Kim Gi-tae had disappeared.

Honestly, he didn’t care if Kim Gi-tae lived or died.

The real issue was the guild.

It was certain that Kim Gi-tae would be dead, having crossed paths with that saintess.

The problem was whether or not Kim Gi-tae would drag the guild down with him as he died.

‘Please, just die quietly on your own.’

Even in death, that useless man might still cause trouble.

Yoo Ji-ho just hoped he didn’t involve the guild.

Just as he was deep in thought, someone called out.

“Guild Master.”

“What is it?”

“Kim Gi-tae hasn’t shown up. He hasn’t been to work at all.”

It was one of the staff from the reception desk, in charge of keeping track of the guild members’ attendance. Kim Gi-tae hasn’t shown up?

Well, that’s to be expected.

The saintess is involved—there’s no way he’d survive.

He’s probably already dead somewhere.

“How many days?”

“It’s been about a week now.”

If word was getting around the guild, it was time to take action.

They could strike him off the roster.

That would take care of it.

If that’s the case, the saintess probably won’t go after the guild.

“It’s over. Just expel him.”

“What?”

“We need to cut ties.”

Anything remotely connected to the saintess needed to be severed immediately.

That was the only way to avoid further trouble.

“He’s already tarnished the guild’s reputation. He’s been nothing but a liability, constantly causing issues. The community’s been talking about how he’s been abusing his status as a Hunter in our guild.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“And now, he hasn’t shown up for seven days? We’re better off cutting him loose.”

There was enough reason to expel him.

Even though he was likely dead, there was no reason to keep a corpse associated with the guild.

Now, it was time to withdraw from the Tower of Destruction as well.
It was time to reassess the saintess.

She had wiped out the Wraith floor and even held the master key to the 4th floor.

She was strong enough to quickly eliminate the Silver Thunder Brigade, a formidable figure capable of erasing someone without a trace.

Whoever—or whatever—she was, she was not to be crossed.

That wasn’t a saintess; that was something far more dangerous wrapped in a woman’s form.

Something that lacked any shred of humanity.

“Understood.”

“And…”

“Yes?”

“We’re abandoning the Tower of Destruction.”

“What? But wouldn’t that be a huge loss?”

“Better to leave them fighting over the Tower while we farm other dungeons for profit. If we keep competing with them, it’ll just become a hassle.”

When you think about it, there wasn’t much to gain from continuing up the tower.

The guild alliance would split the rewards, but after all the effort, the best items would just go to the smaller guilds.

That didn’t sit right with him.

They’d be better off grinding other dungeons for resources and selling them.

With everyone preoccupied with the Tower of Destruction, they could enjoy some peace for a while.

“Understood.”

After the staff left, Yoo Ji-ho let out a deep sigh.

If word got out that they were avoiding the saintess, the Hunters in his guild would probably criticize him.

But what choice did he have?

He couldn’t afford to let his carefully cultivated guild members become the saintess’s next victims.

It had only been a short time ago that he received a call from the Seolhwa Guild.

-Hello, Hero Guild Master? I’m Kim Deok-sul, the master of Seolhwa Guild.

“What is it?”

With all this stress from the saintess situation, receiving a call from a minor guild’s master was a bother.

He was sure it was about the Tower of Destruction.

But it wasn’t.

-Actually, you may not believe this, but we had a run-in with that saintess too.

“Tell me more.”

Kim Deok-sul then proceeded to recount how they had encountered the saintess, asking him to keep it confidential.

She had cast a resurrection spell within a certain radius, repeatedly reviving the dead and smashing their heads in with a mace.

There were likely conditions to the spell, but one thing was clear, the saintess was no ordinary being.

The more Yoo Ji-ho thought about it, the more he pitied Kim Gi-tae.

Getting caught up with someone like that, there was no way Kim Gi-tae had survived intact.

And with that kind of power, she probably had the ability to erase corpses too.

“She’s a real danger as an enemy.”

There would be no pressuring the saintess, no jumping on the Tower of Destruction bandwagon.

Every instinct told him it was too risky.

Even if they tried to fight her, could they win?

Probably not, especially since he specialized in close combat.

‘I’ve been a guild master for years. Of course, I know that. You can never be too cautious. This time, it’s better to step back.’

The Hero Guild currently knows nothing about the returnees.

It would be better to strike and retreat like this.

‘Yeah. How hard did I work to build this guild? I can’t risk it.’

Yoo Ji-ho decided that rather than destroying the guild by fighting against the mysterious saintess, it was better to protect it.

*

Park Yoo-jung, on the other hand, was troubled by thoughts about her brother, Park Si-woo.

She couldn’t count how much she cried after losing him at such a young age.

In those immature days, her only pillar of support was her brother, Park Si-woo.

But she didn’t know that back then and often cursed at him and acted coldly towards him.

She thought it was normal for her brother to be bullied.

They say people only realize what they’ve lost after it’s gone.

Through her investigations, Park Yoo-jung became convinced that Karina was the reincarnation and returnee of Park Si-woo.

After the Great Cataclysm, Park Yoo-jung often kept in contact with Park Si-woo’s ex-girlfriend, Lee Si-yeon.

At first, they fought bitterly.

Yoo-jung called her a trashy woman who betrayed her brother, and Si-yeon, in return, called her a foolish sister who despised her brother, who worked so hard for their family.

If they were already tied together before, they were now just blaming each other until eventually, they made up.

Fighting wouldn’t change anything.

To Park Yoo-jung, Lee Si-yeon also seemed to regret her actions, so there was no point in fighting further.

One day, Park Yoo-jung met Si-yeon at a café, after Si-yeon had returned from a mission at an overseas gate for the Cheonghwa Guild.

“What? The returnee is Si-woo?”

“Yeah. It’s my brother.”

“I saw something about it in the community. You’re saying that blonde nun is Si-woo?”

“That’s right.”

Lee Si-yeon found it hard to believe.

That woman was Park Si-woo?

Just by looking at her eyes, you could tell.

They were eyes filled with madness.

It was astonishing that this woman could be Park Si-woo.

“From the news I’ve read online, their personality seems completely different. Couldn’t the authorities be wrong?”

“The staff in charge can distinguish if someone is a returnee or not.”

“Then why haven’t they contacted you, his family? Or me?”

“Unnie, there’s no reason Si-woo would want to see us.”

That made sense.

But still, even if they were enemies, most returnees would try to contact their families.

Could it be that the previous Si-woo was not really him?

“Well, I guess…”

“If he’s become a completely different person, or even if he’s just pretending, we’ll have to accept it.”

As much as Yoo-jung felt guilty, Si-yeon was in a similar position.

Si-woo and Si-yeon had been childhood friends.

Their parents were close too, but Si-woo’s parents died in a car accident not long after.

As a result, Si-woo had to take care of his younger sister, Yoo-jung, by himself.

Si-yeon, having fallen for Si-woo, started dating him.

But since Si-woo had to work all the time, they couldn’t go on many dates.

Eventually, Si-yeon started feeling frustrated about their relationship, and that’s when the most handsome and top student in school, Kim Hyung-jin, confessed to her.

“Let’s date. Break up with that guy who’s always too busy working to care about you.”

Si-yeon knew Si-woo was living in poverty.

She knew he had to work, but Hyung-jin’s words swayed her.

Most importantly, he promised to always be there for her.

After that, Si-yeon broke up with Si-woo and started dating Hyung-jin.

Hyung-jin, however, soon turned into a school bully, and Si-yeon became the girlfriend of a delinquent.

For some reason, Hyung-jin started bullying Si-woo, and Si-yeon stood by, watching as her ex-boyfriend was tormented.

She hated Si-woo for not being able to take care of her.

“I can’t believe I dated a loser like you.”

She had said the cruelest things to Si-woo, laughing as Hyung-jin bullied him.

She could never forget the look in Si-woo’s eyes when he stared at her, his face bruised.

They were eyes devoid of emotion, and that only made her angrier.

He didn’t even call her names, like ‘trash’ or ‘traitor.’

He just ignored her completely.

While Si-yeon denied their entire relationship, Si-woo acted like she didn’t exist.

By the time she realized her mistake and regretted it, it was too late.

She had already broken up with Hyung-jin, but by then, Si-woo had cut ties with his sister and left home.

She never saw him again after that.

She had been so busy dealing with the chaos of the Great Cataclysm that she couldn’t even search for him.

Now, it made sense that he wouldn’t want to find her, not after everything.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s a man or a woman. Since the day we broke up, I’ve regretted everything. If I ever meet Si-woo again, I’d be willing to do anything, no matter what he’s become.”

Realizing her mistakes, she was filled with regret.

She thought that no matter what Si-woo had become, even if he didn’t forgive her, as long as she could be by his side, she would do anything.

“There might be a way.”

“What is it?”

“Si-woo holds the master key to the Tower of Destruction right now, but the Hunter Alliance is trying to block access to the 4th floor so he can’t use it.”

“So, what are you suggesting?”

“We could offer to unlock the tower for him.”

Even if it wasn’t a perfect solution, perhaps this could allow them to reconnect, even if not as family or lovers, at least as friends or acquaintances.

The two guilty women thought so.