You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

The demon does not have nightmares.

However, since I was born as Jung Da-on, I have always had nightmares.

The content was always the same.

There were corpses everywhere, and on the desolate land, I was filled with rage. I couldn’t remember why I was angry.

The only thing I could remember clearly was someone’s crying voice, lingering in my memory for a long time.

Finally, until the hero’s hand severed my neck.

With Yoo Han-ul’s help, I exited the dungeon, followed the necessary procedures at the hospital, and then returned home in the early morning and collapsed into bed.

When I woke up, the sun had already risen.

In fact, no matter what I imagined, I knew something far worse could happen in a country like South Korea, with such advanced social media.

I didn’t expect my personal information to remain hidden.

I didn’t expect much, considering my difficult family background, excellent academic performance, good looks, and being a victim of school violence.

If the elements that made up me were like that, people would have only sympathized with me.

But the video of me using violence against someone provided a perfect excuse for people to gossip.

The fact that I had defeated a boss monster in front of reporters meant these two videos would quickly spread, not just nationwide, but globally.

Just this morning, my story was already being discussed on a morning broadcast.

A professor, well-known in child education, was saying this on the morning program.

• "I’m just an ordinary person, so I don’t understand the genius of hunters, but there seems to be some violence displayed towards a schoolmate? Some people might think it’s refreshing, but this is not something that should be taken lightly. An S-rank hunter is classified as someone with power in our society, right?"

• "So, Professor, you're saying an S-rank hunter should have higher moral standards than ordinary people?"

• "Yes, and I hesitate to bring this up, but their upbringing does raise some concerns..."

It seemed the video of me threatening a student in the auditorium was becoming quite a hot topic.

Well, these kinds of opinions were to be expected. It didn’t cause any significant damage.

The quest itself had already been completed, after all.

At this point, whether a portion of society was voicing their opinions due to biased perspectives or personal motives, it wouldn’t change anything. My stats were already out, and nothing could alter that.

But one thought did cross my mind.

‘Selling your soul for money...’

I had no idea what the parents or people behind such opinions were trying to sell, but I had already lost any hope for humanity.

They had no qualms evaluating me as abnormal based on their standards of a "normal" family structure. With their sharp tongues, they would tear apart Jung Da-on.

‘Tsk, tsk. When I return as the Demon King, I’ll make sure to slice that sharp tongue off first.’

What’s the difference between cutting someone with a blade and hurting someone with words?

While I was engrossed in my thoughts, I suddenly heard a sound.

Click!

The front door opened, and someone collapsed inside the house.

“Da-on...”

It was a dying voice.

The family member who had vowed to bring meat last night had just now returned home.

I quietly turned off the broadcast and poked the back of my family member, who had slumped over. The smart jacket they had bought with their first paycheck was wrinkled beyond recognition. They had worked hard to get the job, but seeing them in this state made me question if this was really living.

“Are you alive?”

“I’m dead... it feels like I’m dying... It’s so dark...”

“It’s morning. You can rest today, okay?”

“If I kept making you work like this, I’d have no conscience...”

“Did you sleep at all?”

“No.”

“Did you eat?”

“No…”

“Want to eat and sleep?”

“No…”

And then, no more answers came. It seemed like they had passed out... or... died.

I poked my family member's cheek a few more times before I decided they were really asleep, and then snapped my fingers.

Whoooom!

Mana wrapped itself around my family member’s body like chains and lifted them up.

Back then, without magic, I would have had to struggle to carry them. But now, there was no need for that.

Carefully, I placed them on the cheap sofa bed that had been turned into a makeshift bed.

I stared at my family member’s face as they lay on the bed.

Their name was Jung Da-jeong, 25 years old.

This is my brother.

After losing both parents before I was 13, he had received military exemption and recently found a job. He had been so busy lately that it was rare to see him.

I, being a demon, had very strict standards of beauty. But even I could acknowledge that, despite his tiredness, his face wasn’t too bad.

‘But, if he’s this busy... didn’t he see the news?’

My story must have been all over the news yesterday. If my brother had seen my name on the news, with his personality, he would have immediately talked about it, no matter how late he stayed up.

Honestly, I had expected him to scream as soon as he walked in. But he just collapsed at the door, so it took the air out of me.

‘Sigh, I wonder if you even know the hardships I’ve gone through because of you.’

If it weren’t for him, I’d have discarded this money-driven Earth and moved on from being "Jung Da-on" a long time ago.

This family member of mine, with only a 6-year age difference, had taken me out of the orphanage with him.

He worked multiple part-time jobs, bled from his nose, but never gave up on taking care of me. Even when we were kids, Jung Da-jeong didn’t see me as a burden but as something like a lifeline. In truth, if he had given up on me, his life would have been much easier, but he didn’t.

The reason I couldn’t abandon ‘Jung Da-on’ was because of these trivial emotions.

These trivial feelings were the weight that still kept me human.

I poked my family member’s back again and then checked my phone.

• Did you wake up and rest?

• Are you ignoring me? lol ㅠㅠ

I hadn’t replied for a while, so there was a second message.

It was from Yoo Han-ul.

I had checked my phone right after I woke up, though.

I had exchanged numbers with Yoo Han-ul after we exited the dungeon and before I was sent to the hospital.

‘It’s annoying to reply.’

I had a feeling that getting too involved with Yoo Han-ul would just bring me more trouble. Honestly, as a demon, the farther I stay from heroes, the better.

I wanted to ignore it, but because of the human manners I had been taught for 19 years, I slowly began to type a reply.

• Yeah.

• A few hours of ignoring me, then a short reply... Are you really that tired? ^^;;

• Yeah.

• You must be really tired... should I contact you again later?

Usually, when someone answers like that, it means they either aren’t interested or, out of pride, will ignore you back.

Or maybe he actually had something important to say?

I felt uneasy, but I decided to respond anyway.

• No. What’s the matter?

• The Hunter Management Agency will contact you today. I just wanted to ask if there’s a specific time that’s good for you. If you tell me your preferred time, I’ll make sure they contact you then.

To my surprise, it was a legitimate reason.

Though I still didn’t understand why someone like Yoo Han-ul would be the one to deliver this message.

• Thanks, but do you really need to worry about such trivial things? Aren’t you busy?

There was a slight delay before I got a response.

Thinking back, I realized it was probably because I had called him "you" out of nowhere, which might have come across as rude.

But since I couldn’t think of a better way to address him, I didn’t correct myself.

Well, if it caused him to stop contacting me, that would be fine by me.

• You're still a minor, Da-on. Someone has to take care of you.

I was surprised by the polite response, or perhaps a bit suspicious of his wording.@@novelbin@@

Since I was still a minor, he was taking care of me.

‘Does that mean he won’t care once I turn 18?’

If I were him, that’s how I would think. But since he’s a hero, maybe he’s different.

Well, the year would end soon.

I left a message telling him to contact me later in the afternoon, turned off my phone, and closed my eyes.

It was a cheap basement apartment, but the silence was comforting, as no one was around.

Whoooom!

Then I heard the faint sound of mana stirring the air.

It was a sign that the magic circles I had set up earlier were activating.

The man who triggered the dungeon break yesterday.

As soon as I left the dungeon, I found out where he was.

But what I heard was unexpected.

• Ah, the supermarket where the dungeon entrance appeared? It’s better not to go there for now. We don’t know what happened, but when we arrived, the bodies were horrible. It looked like there had been an explosion... and everything inside was ruined.

• Hey, what are you saying to a student?

• What’s the problem? He’s a hunter now too.

The person who died was probably the man who triggered the dungeon break.

‘He triggered the dungeon break intentionally, so I figured he would have to pay some price...’

But I didn’t expect him to tear his own life apart like that.

He wasn’t likely the mastermind behind the plot, and there was probably someone else who gave him the orders...

Someone who could push another person to kill themselves and trigger a dungeon break, and who had the skills to do so...

What was the goal of this mysterious enemy?

The most logical guess was that someone didn’t like the appearance of the new S-rank hunter and orchestrated the incident.

S-rank hunters were essentially weapons that a country held, so competition with other countries was fierce. There might also be competition within the domestic hunters.

But if I thought like that, I still wondered how they managed to neutralize my unique magic.

If I considered the possibility that someone from my past life knew about me in this world and targeted me...

Seeing Yoo Han-ul here didn’t make such a guess impossible.

But how many times could such coincidences happen?

‘...This is giving me a headache.’

For now, I decided to watch how things played out.

I closed my eyes.

One of my arms still ached.

I had forced myself to cover the wound, afraid Jung Da-jeong would freak out, but pain doesn’t go away easily once it sets in.

Once my family member woke up, we’d go eat, and until then, I planned to enjoy some quiet rest.

• Well, see you tomorrow, Da-on!

Thanks to that, I didn’t check the painful text messages until much later.

In a way, it was lucky I could delay replying.