You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

Choi Mi-yeon was startled when she saw the man.

"Wait, Dad! What happened to your face?"

"Ah, well... I just fell, that's all."

Fell, my foot.

Seeing the bruises on her dad’s face, Choi Mi-yeon frowned. She had no clue what kind of hell her father had been through in a place filled with 'good people.'

"Oh my god, you just left it like that? Wait, let me get you some potions."

"No, it's fine. This much isn’t a big deal. Ah, you must be Jung Da-on, the hunter! Hello, I’m Choi Seong-hoon, Mi-yeon’s father."

"...Hello."

It was the first time meeting him for him, but not for me.

Choi Seong-hoon quickly noticed the cat in Choi Mi-yeon’s arms.

"Wait, that’s a cat, right? I saw it in the garden earlier."

"Ah, you saw it too, Dad? Isn’t it cute?"

"But doesn’t it seem like its nose and paws are a bit too big for a cat? Looks strange even now."

"Meow!"

I’m not a cat!
Leo swatted away Choi Seong-hoon’s hand, which was reaching for his paw. Choi Mi-yeon held Leo tighter.

"Seems like a strange cat, huh? There are mixed-breed cats among stray cats."

At this point, I thought maybe Leo had some exceptional ability to brainwash himself.

In any case, things were getting interesting.

‘If only Choi Seong-hoon had a daughter who wasn’t a "suitable candidate"...’

And if his daughter was Choi Mi-yeon… did that mean the "suitable candidate" refers to hunters in the same condition as Choi Mi-yeon—those in a 'water balloon' state?

But when exactly, and how, would they plan to use humans in this state?

Mi-yeon might have been born into this cult, and her mind might be filled with flowers, but I was not.

In modern society, a guild is essentially a group formed to raid dungeons and profit from it.

The main goal is usually to earn money by selling items and materials obtained from monsters.

Even if the base of a group is a cult, would a guild really actively recruit useless hunters like Mi-yeon?

No matter how I thought about it, it felt wrong.

Then, it seemed more plausible that it wasn’t the True Light Guild that needed Mi-yeon, but rather the True Light Church, the parent organization of the guild.

‘This just feels... ominous.’

When I thought about what a fanatic group could be capable of, it made me even more uneasy.

After all, when dungeon breaks were artificially triggered, wasn’t it often done using living sacrifices?

There’s no evidence yet that the True Light Church is involved in that, but if they are the culprits... aren’t they collecting hunters like Mi-yeon to use as living sacrifices?

I glanced at the statue of the leader, located at the center of the garden.

If this hypothesis were true, the church would essentially be close to a demon-worshiping cult.

As I pondered all these possibilities, Mi-yeon was exchanging greetings with her father.

"Dad, we need to head to the doctrine class now."

"Ah, I see. Jung Da-on, it was nice meeting you."@@novelbin@@

"By the way, what’s that building over there?"

I pointed to a building I had walked past several times without even approaching.

That was the building Leo had tried to enter but was blocked by a barrier.

Choi Seong-hoon gave a warm smile and answered.

"Ah, that’s the prayer hall. It’s a place only our believers can enter."

"Is it possible to take a look inside…?"

"Oh, Sister Da-on. Are you asking because you sensed the barrier?"

This time, it was Mi-yeon who spoke, with a face remarkably similar to her father’s.

Choi Seong-hoon turned around in surprise at her words.

"Barrier... Mi-yeon, if you say that..."

"It’s fine. You were going to ask anyway, right?"

The daughter was faster at picking up on things than the father. I couldn’t help but nod.

"I can feel the flow of magic."

"Wow, amazing."

Choi Seong-hoon exclaimed in admiration.

"You can sense the flow of magic from this far away? That’s incredible."

"Yes, as you saw, we do have a barrier inside our guild. We’ve set up a barrier so that outsiders can’t disrupt our prayers. Only our believers are allowed to enter."

"Do you get disrupted?"

"Well, religious people are often persecuted."

If someone else had heard that, they might have thought they were talking about some great martyrdom. But I was sure it was just a case of police showing up after a report.

"Once you join the True Light Church, you can go inside."

"How do I join?"

"Oh, would you like to join? Our executives will be thrilled!"

Choi Seong-hoon looked incredibly pleased. I had no idea why he added that the executive, who had just been violent with him, would like it.

"It’s simple. We have a blood tablet in our church, and once you write your name on it, you’ll automatically be able to pass through the barrier. Of course, we don’t really cut your finger, just a little prick with a needle, haha!"

A blood tablet, huh.

No matter how nice someone may seem on the outside, this just reminded me that they were part of a group full of madness.

"Ah, Dad. Please, don’t say things like that... Can you please go?"

When Mi-yeon saw my expression, she waved her hands. It seemed like she was well aware that her father had no sense of the situation.

Asking someone who wasn’t even a member to write their name in blood was certainly not something a normal person would say.

"Ah? Ah, okay."

"Quickly go. Goodbye, Dad."

After quickly sending off her father, Mi-yeon turned to me with an awkward expression.

"Sorry. My dad’s just so kind-hearted..."

"It’s okay."

I said that, but I wasn’t feeling great.

It wasn’t just the increasingly visible reality of the True Light Church that bothered me, but more so...

‘I can feel it already.’

Even though I was standing at a distance, I could feel a thin thread of magic within the barrier that surrounded the building.

I hadn’t made direct contact yet, so I couldn’t inspect the formula, but I definitely felt something out of place in the overall magic flow.

It was like noticing a single wrong thread in a perfectly woven fabric.

It was... revolting.

"Shall we head to the doctrine class now?"

"Yes, let’s."

I turned my feet toward the building.

I had heard the doctrine class would continue until evening, so I planned to sneak out while everyone was asleep and try to make contact with the magic circle.

It had been over a day and a half since Jung Da-on stayed behind to attend the doctrine class at the True Light Church.

"Last night, I just got a text saying there were no problems, but... is this really okay?"

Han Jae-young frowned. Yoo Han-ul, sipping his coffee, agreed.

"Saying there are no problems isn’t the same as saying it’s okay."

"Yeah, you make a convincing point. So, what are we going to do? Just waste two more days like this?"

Han Jae-young and Yoo Han-ul were waiting in a car near the True Light Guild’s building.

Of course, it was a sports car that Han Jae-young had driven, so the seats were quite uncomfortable.

"The True Light Guild definitely seems suspicious, but we wouldn’t exactly call it a waste of time. You agreed with me too, right, Han Jae-young?"

"I didn’t think I’d be wasting time like this."

Han Jae-young grumbled.

Actually, this wasn’t what he had planned.

"To be honest, I was just curious about how Jung Da-on would react to joining an organization that might target her. You were curious about it too, which is why you agreed."

"I wasn’t at all curious like you were, just for the sake of curiosity."

Yoo Han-ul glanced into the air for a moment before his gaze returned.

‘Did the system message show up?’

"Well, I was curious. After all, we need to know what an S-rank wizard’s personality is like."

"Ah, is that so? What do you think it’s like?"

After thinking for a moment, Yoo Han-ul cautiously chose his words.

"Bold and calm. I think she would stay composed even in battle."

"Wow, it’s been a while since you’ve praised someone like that."

Since Yoo Han-ul was generally a very upright person, people often misunderstood him. Being righteous and being sharp at discerning objective facts are two different things. Because of this, even though Yoo Han-ul was praised, most hunters who worked with him often faced difficulties.

"But sometimes, she can be reckless, and I feel like she loses her rationality at times. I don’t think she and I would get along very well."

Just like that.

But this evaluation of Jung Da-on surprised Han Jae-young, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you think that? Knights and long-range attack mages usually have good synergy."

"Because she’ll do anything to protect the weak. If we work together, no one would be around to hold us back."

Yoo Han-ul might have said something that would make Da-on angry or even disgusted if she heard it.

"When we first met, she was a mess because she was saving an old lady who got caught up in the dungeon, and the second dungeon break, she used herself as bait to save some children."

"Ah, right. Well, I suppose when you put it that way..."

If Da-on had heard that, she would have surely been furious. But Han Jae-young agreed with the evaluation.

Looking at Da-on’s actions alone, it was true.

The way she spoke, you’d think a monster wearing a human shell was sitting there, but objectively, there was no saint like her.

Yoo Han-ul, with his abilities, would jump in to protect the weak, but Da-on risked injury or even death in the process.

"So, you think if we move together, we won’t be efficient because we’ll both be too busy protecting the weak?"

"Yes. I’d rather move with you, Han Jae-young. You’re cunning and calculative, aren’t you? If you had gone to Gwanghwamun and acted alone, things would have gotten out of hand."

"You know quite well."

Han Jae-young scoffed and then suddenly realized something.

"Wait, does that mean you’re calling me trash?"

"I didn’t say it quite like that."

"I see."

These kids were completely unpredictable.

Han Jae-young clicked his tongue.

"Da-on treats me like I’m trash, so you two would get along perfectly. Why don’t you two just date?"

"That’s probably why she treats you like trash."

"...I actually agree with your evaluation. The things she says may sound cynical, but when you look at her actions, I’d almost believe she’s some saint."

Plus, Han Jae-young had seen just how much Da-on cared for her younger brother, Jung Da-jeong. To the point where it seemed like Da-on was the older sibling.

It was a rare family bond, one seldom seen among mages.

"Mages are said to have green blood, huh?"

It was a well-known meme that mages don't understand human emotions.

It made sense, though, because studying magic circles is a task that consumes a lot of mental energy and demands extreme efficiency. So, mages who have reached a certain level tend to share similar traits.

Of course, Han Jae-young, the one saying this, was one of those mages.

"Anyway, let’s wait a bit longer and if nothing happens, we’ll visit again today..."

Just then, it happened.

Boom!

An explosion sounded from inside the True Light Church building.

Yoo Han-ul and Han Jae-young immediately jumped out of the car.