You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

I was taken aback by the sight before me.

“No, you….”

The being before me was definitely one of my familiars, a piece of my soul that I had created by searching through the rift. But it was far from what I expected.

“Is this... a baby leopard?!”

Just like the child who shouted with missing front teeth, it was the size of a cat.

• Krrrrng?

The small leopard, no bigger than a fist, tilted its head in confusion. It seemed puzzled by the sudden change in its surroundings.

It looked more like a cat who had been napping in a back alley and had suddenly woken up, rather than a familiar of the former Demon King.

“No, you stupid thing...!”

Meow!

The little leopard, surprised by my slap, jumped up from its spot. It must have jumped nearly a meter into the air.

Krrrng...?

The little leopard, now ready to bare its teeth, paused in its tracks upon seeing me. Despite its beastly form, this was still my familiar made from a piece of my soul. While it couldn’t speak, I could easily read its intentions.

In short, it looked like, "...Is this a dream?"

The leopard sniffed the air, its nose twitching. It must have realized I was its master due to the resonance of our souls, but its body seemed uncertain because of the change.

I couldn't help but think it probably thought I had died and it had been playing by itself all this time.

It was kind of infuriating.

“Pull yourself together, you…”

“Uh, uh-oh!”

“You hit the cat!”

“You can’t do that!”

Just as I was about to smack it again, I heard the desperate voices of the children, and I lowered my hand.

Even the teachers were staring at me with sharp glares.

“No, Jung Da-on Hunter... I didn’t expect this from you…”

“Why hit the poor cat...?”

"...It’s not a cat. It’s one of my creations... a magical byproduct."

“A byproduct?”

“Like trash?”

“Did you just call the cat trash?”

“That’s too much!”

“......”

To anyone watching, I was definitely the villain.

I didn’t mind being the villain, but when you had to gauge whether your actions would be socially condemned or not, those stares felt suffocating...

But sure, summoning the familiar was fine, but why did it have to be so small?

The familiar, noticing my dissatisfaction, opened its mouth wide and expressed its grievance.

• How should I know?

I was momentarily taken aback, but then I understood the reason.

‘It’s because of my stats.’

It was fine that I summoned the familiar through the rift, but as the system message stated, this was technically a summoning spell.

So, since the familiar had been summoned through the system’s restrictions, its power had been nerfed according to my limited abilities.

‘Of course, since my stats are being restricted by the system, there’s no way the familiar’s power would be unleashed fully.’

If it had retained its original strength, it would be stronger than an S-rank monster, and considering that S-rank monsters are treated as catastrophic-level threats in modern Korea, it made sense.

• The system warns ‘Jung Da-on.’

The system was being wary again, after just labeling me as righteous not long ago.

But, well, the fact remained that I had successfully summoned my familiar. No matter how limited my stats were, it was still a piece of my soul. Just summoning it was an undeniable gain.

Simply put, if I had my familiar with me, like earlier in the emergency stairwell, I wouldn’t need to act as bait, and even though it was nerfed, its physical strength and durability were likely better than mine, with only a level 20 body.

I gave the familiar a command.

“Take care of those monsters.”

Monsters that had just come through the rift began appearing again, and the time I had spent slaying them earlier seemed almost wasted.

The familiar, looking at me and the monsters lurking outside the window, tilted its head.

• A joke?

Right, it was probably confused—once, I had made it fight a hero capable of splitting worlds with a sword, and now I was asking it to take care of low-level monsters.

“You can't handle that? Look at yourself first.”

Hmph?!

The familiar finally realized how small it had become, no longer the giant leopard from before, but a kitten-sized creature. It leapt several meters into the air.

Meow!

• What’s going on?

“Is the cat mad? Is it hurt?”

“Did you hit it, sister?”

“Should we give it a hug?”

"......"

Upon hearing the innocent remarks from the children, the familiar gave a disgusted expression.

Of course, despite how adorable it looked, it was a familiar made of a piece of my soul, and it wouldn’t enjoy being treated like a pet.

But contrary to its wishes, the children were completely smitten with the adorable kitten.

“What's its name, sister?”

“Huh? A name...?”

I had never really given it a name.

A name is something you assign when you can distinguish yourself from others, right?

But my familiar, a piece of my soul, was more like an extension of myself—there was no need to give it a name.

...But saying that outright would make me sound awful, so I quickly made up a name.

“…Leo.”

Meow!

The leopard, with its mouth wide open, looked at me.

I guess that expression meant, "Are you crazy?"

It snarled, clearly displeased with the hasty name, but now that I thought about it, it was a decent choice for an impromptu name. At least it was more intuitive. Better than Jung Da-on, right?

It seemed the teacher, noticing my discomfort, quickly calmed the kids.@@novelbin@@

“Wow, Leo! What a great name, right?”

“That’s weird.”

“I saw an animation where Leo was a lion!”

“Is it a lion, then? It’s not a cat?”

The leopard, upset with its hastily chosen name, tried to protest, but after receiving a quick smack where the children couldn’t see, it left the room.

“Can that cat really fight a monster?”

“It’s more like a monster itself.”

The teacher didn’t answer directly, but it seemed she thought I was being a little harsh.

Humans are so visually sensitive, aren’t they?

The leopard, having left the daycare, stood proudly in front of the door, raising its head high.

While it might have seemed pitiful compared to its former imposing stature, the aura emanating from its body was still full of confidence.

• Kyiik!

The monsters approaching, sensing life, halted abruptly as they detected the familiar’s aura.

Though they were weak to visual cues, the monsters sensed the familiar’s rank.

At the moment the shadow ghosts were about to swarm...

Boom!

The leopard gathered its feet, coiled, and leapt into the group of shadow ghosts, landing with precision. Without giving them any time to scatter, it swung its heavy paw at them.

Crack!

The shadow ghost shattered under the force of the leopard’s paw.

This was no surprise.

Even though my magic was restricted, Leo was a familiar made of my soul, and its physical body was something I had personally created. If it couldn’t handle this, it would be embarrassing for me.

Leo, sensing the admiration from the children, turned its head proudly.

The children, now excited by the brave sight of the familiar, began clapping.

“Such a brave cat!”

“What a strong cat!”

“......”

The leopard, now referred to as a cat by the children, looked at me with a disheartened expression.

Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about that.

In the end, thanks to successfully summoning my familiar, I decided to leave the protection of the children to it and head out to find the core myself.

• Mya?

After being left behind for a while, the leopard protested, seemingly upset about being abandoned once again. But it couldn’t be helped.

Earlier, the kids had been calling me a hero, but now they were so absorbed in the little cat that they didn’t even spare me a glance.

It was impressive.

But at least the leopard had drawn the kids’ attention, which was fortunate, as they had been nearly exhausted.

“Be careful!”

“You’re still young, so take care of yourself. Thank you, really. Please be cautious.”

In the meantime, the teachers thanked me, but honestly, it didn’t make me feel much better...

As I walked up the emergency stairs again, I sighed deeply.

What on earth were the other hunters doing? Not even a trace of them.

I signaled toward the cameras set up in the daycare, but there was no change.

Something must have happened with Han Jae-young’s team.

‘How did I end up in this situation?’

The Demon King used to wait on the throne for the hero, but now I had to go find the enemy myself.

Shouldn’t this be something Yoo Han-ul would handle?

‘Come to think of it, I wonder if Yoo Han-ul is okay. He probably didn’t die, right? No, why am I worrying about an S-rank hunter?’

It wasn’t that I was truly worried due to our past connection, but it still weighed on my mind.

And based on Han Jae-young’s words, it seemed like he had been worried about my safety and got dragged into this.

‘Maybe I should head to the place where Yoo Han-ul disappeared earlier…’

The one who moved Yoo Han-ul without anyone noticing was likely the one who triggered this Dungeon Break. Following their trail might lead me straight to the core.

With that thought, I made my way toward the emergency stairwell where Yoo Han-ul had disappeared earlier, and soon, I realized something.

The place where Yoo Han-ul had vanished was around the 7th floor emergency stairwell, but from there, the space above was completely disconnected.

It felt as if a transparent wall was blocking the way, preventing me from going any further.

‘Is this... a barrier magic?’

I furrowed my brows.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the situation.

‘When did they even set this up?’

By the time I ran through the emergency stairs to the daycare, this barrier hadn’t been there. If it had been, I wouldn’t have been able to get to the daycare in the first place.

So, after I reached the daycare, someone must have intentionally set up the barrier to isolate me...

The problem was, I hadn’t felt the barrier’s presence at all.

If it was a barrier this strong, I should have felt its flow of mana.

At this point, I couldn’t help but feel pure curiosity about the identity of this enemy.

Could there really be a mage of this caliber on Earth?

“Hah, if I find out who it is, I’ll make sure to remember their face very well.”

This person was surely one of the top mages, but no matter how skilled they were, magic always leaves traces.

It wasn’t about the mage’s skill—it was because a human will defies the laws of the world, naturally leaving a scar behind.

Of course, this scar would eventually fade in the face of time, but considering the magic Yoo Han-ul experienced, it was certain that traces would remain.

I crouched down, searching for traces of the magic circle hidden somewhere.

“There it is.”

I carefully drew over the traces of the vanished magic circle with mana.

I was planning to restore the circle and trace the culprit.

For a normal person, this would be impossible, but they were unlucky to face me—one of the most formidable mages across dimensions.

‘The spatial coordinates... It’s not far. Within this building.’

After all, since the entire building had been turned into a dungeon, the culprit had to be nearby.

Whoosh!

As I infused mana into the restored magic circle, I felt a shift in space as the spell activated.

A blink.

In the blink of an eye, the surroundings completely changed.

‘...Did I just teleport to the rooftop?’

Was it because of the distorted scenery caused by the Dungeon Break?

Normally, the sky in Seoul would be hidden by fine dust, but now it felt incredibly close.

But there was no time to admire the view.

“Yoo Han-ul!”

I found Yoo Han-ul collapsed in the middle of the rooftop.