You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

“Huh?”

Han Jae-young frowned and asked back at my words.

“No, does that make sense in this situation...?”

“Please help me!”

But before Han Jae-young could continue, the woman collapsed to the floor and grabbed my ankle.

“Jung Da-on Hunter!”

Her appearance was desperate. But unlike before, I didn’t feel any thrill from being in a position of power over her. A mother’s cry for her child? It only felt uncomfortable.

Even though I had been a demon in my past life, living for 19 years depending only on my brother had made me this way.

I shook off the woman’s hand clinging to me and stepped back.

“I’m not a full-fledged Hunter yet, so don’t sweep the dust off the floor and just sit down.”

“Thank you, thank you!”

Perhaps it was because she thought no one would help, and yet someone had volunteered, but the woman, who had been crying out without tears just a moment ago, now had tears streaming down her chin.

“Please, I beg you! Save my child, please! I’ve done everything wrong!”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, just let go of this...”

“Please hurry, please! Please go quickly!”

At this point, it was impossible to even call it a conversation. She was completely in a state of panic.

Was she telling me to go, or not? No matter how much I tried to stop her, she kept grabbing my ankle and hitting me, not planning to let go. I shot an irritated glance at the rookie Hunters who were just standing there staring blankly. If they couldn’t help, at least they should offer some support.

Because of that, one of the guys who had almost attacked me earlier, before Han Jae-young intervened and the dungeon break happened, met my eyes and flinched.

“W-what’s going on? You want me to go with you? I...”

“Am I crazy?”

I snorted immediately.

“You’re too small to even be used as cannon fodder. You’re not even big enough to hide behind. Know your place.”

If I threw him in front of the Shadow Ghost, he wouldn’t last a minute. He was useless.

I was just stating the obvious, but Lee Yun-seok, the guy, gaped at me like he had heard some harsh insult.

“...What?”

“And you, stop yelling, and follow Han Jae-young’s orders. You don’t want to die before rescuing the kid.”

When I said that, I thought I heard someone from the office mutter, “Her personality’s amazing,” but I didn’t pay it much attention.

After all, my identity had already been exposed nationwide, and reputation doesn’t really affect the “Do Good Deeds, Get Blessed?” quest.

Right now, the important thing to me is that quest.

That idiotic collective intelligence’s leash around my neck.@@novelbin@@

I casually loosened my wrist and ankle and asked Han Jae-young.

“Do you have anything that can be used as a weapon? Of course, considering my stamina and strength are trash, something like a light dagger would be great.”

“...You can handle a sword?”

“I’ve used it when peeling fruit.”

“Are you joking?”

“I’m not.”

In truth, I was joking. In the world I lived in during my past life, there’s an old saying that it’s much better to ask a great wizard why 1+1 isn’t 3 than to ask them how to wield a sword. Jung Da-jeong would always hand me a vegetable peeler when I showed him how I wielded a sword... If he knew I was saying this now, he’d probably foam at the mouth.

Han Jae-young crossed his arms and stared at me.

“Are you saying this because you’re confident? Do you really want to go?”

“I know well enough that if you lose your mana circuits, you'll be considered a has-been.”

“...Are you saying you declared you’d go as a form of self-reproach? And then explained the rational reason for the situation?”

“Overinflated sense of self.”

“But you’re disappointed, aren’t you? You look like a teenager who’s disgusted after seeing the hypocrisy of an S-rank Hunter?”

“That’s a misunderstanding.”

Disappointment, reproach—it would only make sense if there was an expectation of some kind.

I don’t expect anything from humans.

Naturally, my life comes first. It doesn’t matter if they abandon their own kind, or even slaughter them cruelly.

And right now, whether others look at me as someone going to die or as a newly born hero doesn’t matter either.

“I’m not going to rescue the child out of goodwill either.”

As a demon in my past life, I wouldn’t do such a thing.

The only reason I’m going to rescue those kids is for one reason:

-Quest “Do Good Deeds, Get Blessed?” is in progress.

-When the user performs actions that meet social standards, the user’s ability limits are gradually unlocked.

If I go rescue those kids here, how much of my stats can I get back?

That’s it.

Just by looking at how A-young’s mother is now looking at me like I’m a god, it’s clear rescuing the kids would be an act the majority of society would consider “heroic.”

For example, two days ago, when I protected the reporters and the boss inside the dungeon, I immediately recovered my level to 12.

That was even though the group was made up of mostly strong adult men and women. I gained stats simply for protecting ordinary civilians.

Normally, it would take at least months of training for an average Hunter to raise their total level to 12, so that was a really encouraging result.

‘If the rewards are this clear, I don’t have a reason to hesitate about doing good deeds.’

Stat recovery is quick, and the larger the gap, the better.

Right now, with the dungeon break clearly being the work of someone targeting me, I need to quickly recover my stats.

Right now, even though the danger to others doesn’t directly concern me, if the enemy is this persistent, it’s only a matter of time before they target Jung Da-jeong.

When I think of that, even if the good deed I’m committing as a demon isn’t something I’m thrilled about, it’s not the time to hesitate about methods.

“...Hmph, well. If you’re going to go, I won’t stop you. Han-ul would probably try to kill me if he found out, but I’m not dying right now. Besides, my curiosity is the most important thing.”

Rather than continuing to try to stop me, Han Jae-young unexpectedly handed me a dagger.

It was a well-balanced dagger with a sharp blade.

Light enough to wield with one hand.

In the end, Han Jae-young’s “rational reason” was probably just about that level.

“Well, good luck.”

With that remark filled with curiosity and zero enthusiasm, the gazes of the others in the office turned toward me.

Behind me, there were mixed feelings of anxiety, awe, fear, and disdain, but I ignored them and opened the office door.

Then, I ran down the dark hallway, standing in front of the emergency stairwell where Yoo Han-ul had disappeared.

-Quest “Do Good Deeds, Get Blessed?” is in progress.

Now, the only thing illuminating my head was this idiotic collective intelligence’s message.

Well, fine.

I smiled as I stared at the shadowy nightmare beyond the door.

Let’s see, I’m going to be a hero for the most selfish reason in this world.