You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

Lee Yoon-ho screamed.

The composure he had shown when mentioning the poison was completely gone.

"Wh-where did you learn the formula?! I told you, I made it myself!"

"Stop lying."

Jeong Da-on let out a bitter laugh. Han Jae-young asked her.

"Jeong Da-on Hunter, what’s that supposed to mean? How can you be so sure that the poison wasn’t made by someone else?"

If she didn’t already know about the existence of this poison, this wouldn’t be possible.

It wasn’t surprising that Jeong Da-on had some strange sides, but this was truly unexpected.

‘According to the information, she hasn’t lived a particularly unusual life.’

When would she have had the chance to learn about poisons used by alchemists?

Jeong Da-on smiled slyly as she looked at Lee Yoon-ho.

"You should be asking that guy, not me."

"So, you’re saying this poison wasn’t for killing you magic users... Ah!"

With that, Jeong Da-on grabbed Lee Yoon-ho’s wrist and yanked his sleeve back.

A small bracelet with a bead attached to it was visible on his wrist.

The moment she saw the bracelet, Han Jae-young frowned.

"Snake... huh?"

On the bead of the bracelet, there was an engraving of a snake. While snakes were commonly used as symbols, this alone didn’t point to anything specific...

Unconsciously, Han Jae-young’s gaze shifted to the bracelet that Jeong Da-on was wearing.

Although Lee Yoon-ho’s bracelet was a little more crude, it clearly resembled hers.

"You can’t deny it. I saw you pull the poisoned vial from the bracelet when you used the poison."

With those words, Jeong Da-on swiftly yanked the bracelet off Lee Yoon-ho’s wrist.

The thin silver chain snapped easily.

"So you just put the poison in the bracelet?"

"That’s what I said!"

"Then tell me, how did you keep the vial from melting when you put the poison inside? You made it, so you should know."

"Well…!"

"Did you carve the crystal yourself? You really thought it through."

"Y-yeah! I carved it myself..."

Jeong Da-on smirked as she handed the bracelet to Han Jae-young.

Han Jae-young took the bracelet, inspected the shattered bead, and sighed.

"Crystal, huh? This is just synthetic opal."

"That’s what I’m saying."

Jeong Da-on laughed mockingly.

"With this, it’s clear that this alchemist doesn’t know anything about poison. No need to panic for an antidote."

Lee Yoon-ho’s mouth hung open.

"Wh-what...?!"

"And, Yoo Min-ji Hunter."

"Y-yes? Me?"

Yoo Min-ji, who had been clutching her throat and coughing, blinked as she looked at Jeong Da-on.

"Don’t think you’ve been cured yet."

"Eh?!"

"I just made you vomit by pretending to use a healing magic circle. The real antidote still needs to be done."

Realizing what Jeong Da-on meant, Han Jae-young’s eyebrows twitched.

This situation... so, in other words...

"...So you just lured him?"

"Yeah. There was no need to get dragged along by someone who didn’t know anything."

That was true. If Lee Yoon-ho had used the poison to threaten, then they would have had no choice but to act in order to save Yoo Min-ji.

But in that case, not only would the antidote have been impossible, but it would have just wasted time. So Jeong Da-on quickly pressured Lee Yoon-ho, forcing him to admit that he knew nothing, thus avoiding wasting any more time.

"What would you have done if he was a real alchemist?"

"Good thing the outcome worked out."

Han Jae-young chuckled at her audacity. Of course, Han Jae-young would have done something similar. It was unfortunate that someone got poisoned, but it was already done, and he couldn’t just get dragged along by Lee Yoon-ho.

However, that was something a veteran like Han Jae-young could manage, but for someone like Jeong Da-on, who had just awakened, this was unexpected.

Especially her firm voice and confident attitude when she claimed to have used the antidote. In that instant, everyone believed her unbelievable story.

‘What is this person?’

"So, we need to use an actual antidote, right?"

"Guild Leader, what should we do about Yoo Min-ji Hunter’s poison?"

Even though Lee Yoon-ho had no idea about the poison, a decision still had to be made.

The best choice was to quickly clear the dungeon and then get Yoo Min-ji out, but leaving now would cost a lot of time. Even if they left the dungeon, it would still take a while to fulfill the clearing conditions.

Han Jae-young made his decision quickly.

"Let’s just use a standard antidote magic circle. The alchemist probably just acted like he knew something. If he could put poison in synthetic opal like that, it’s probably not anything that impressive."

"Got it."

"Min-ji Hunter, hang in there a little longer."

"I’ll analyze the remaining poison in the bead quickly."

And unlike the nervous mages, whose eyes were darting around, looking for the source of the poison...

"Who paid for this little stunt? Speak up now!"

Shin Ji-eum, furious, kicked Lee Yoon-ho.

Thud!

Lee Yoon-ho, who had been kicked in the stomach, screamed.

"Ahhh! H-Hunters are going to kill me! They’re killing me!"

"Kill you? What are you talking about? You’re the one poisoning random people! And you don’t even know what poison it is?"

Thud, thud, thud.

Han Jae-young admired how Shin Ji-eum targeted only the painful spots to hit him.

"This guy. With how loudly he’s screaming, he’s definitely got a recorder. Didn’t we check with a metal detector earlier?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Exactly, it was a mistake to leave the search to the magicians... Huh, it’s really here."

Shin Ji-eum, who had quietly searched Lee Yoon-ho’s body, found a small recorder hidden on his ankle and smashed it.

She grimaced as she laughed.

"Guild Leader, what do we do now? Should we just kill him and leave him in the dungeon?"

The longsword in Shin Ji-eum’s hand gleamed sharply.

And more than that, there was a killing intent rising.

As the sword got closer to his neck, Lee Yoon-ho’s face turned ashen.

"Y-You’re really going to kill me...!"

"You thought you could use poison and still live? You’ve been trying to kill us, so now you should die."

The blade lightly grazed his skin.

After everything that had happened, the sword now at his neck...

"Alright, I’m sorry!"

Lee Yoon-ho, now a mess of tears, begged. The confident stance he had earlier when boasting about the poison was nowhere to be seen.

"I’m sorry! I’ll tell you everything! I really will!"

"Lie, and you die. Tell me now. Who ordered this? Who taught you the formula?"

"...I just took an online part-time job. Please, save me!"

"Part-time job?"

The truth behind everything Lee Yoon-ho had done was revealed:

As a relatively unskilled alchemist who had been unemployed, Lee Yoon-ho came across a job posting on an employment site while looking for work.

The ad said that anyone with a little knowledge of alchemy could do it, so he applied and received a reply right away.

"They said they'd send me the materials and the recipe by courier, and I was supposed to make it and send it to the designated address."

It sounded like something as harmless as gluing eyes onto dolls.

But the pay was really good.

Han Jae-young was taken aback.

"Of course, they’d pay well. It’s illegal for an alchemist to make reagents without government approval. And you made something without even knowing what the reagents were? That's bold."

Nevertheless, because the pay was good, he continued the job. However, the amount of reagents the other side wanted increased over time.

Then, the problem began when Lee Yoon-ho was caught smuggling the materials.

Shin Ji-eum scoffed.

"Why’d you smuggle the materials?"

"Well... I didn’t have money for living expenses. I couldn’t even pay for the water bill... I was desperate!"

"You said the pay was good."

"Well... I blew it all on gambling..."

"..."

Everyone stared at him with disdain, and Lee Yoon-ho desperately pleaded.

"The other side knew, and they said they’d sue me! They wanted me to pay back 50 times the material cost... I don’t have that kind of money!"

"Then why not just not steal the materials in the first place?"

"Yeah, that’s true."

In the end, he begged for forgiveness, and the company asked him to come to their office. He went, intending to plead his case, and to his surprise, the boss was nice enough to buy him a bowl of soup and, after listening to his story, hired him.

"Was it Light Descendants?"

"Yeah..."

"Wait! We’re just a subcontractor!"

Watching the situation unfold quietly, Won Deok-cheol trembled and spoke.

"We don’t make enough money with just a garbage heap, so we do whatever we can. We’re just subcontractors for the reagent manufacturing."

"That’s not something you can cover up..."

"Really, really! We’re just like Yoon-ho, we took a job from a middleman. They were short on hands, so we had to find part-time workers. We don’t know anything!"

After seeing Lee Yoon-ho get beaten mercilessly, Won Deok-cheol’s face was filled with fear.

"Yoon-ho was hired because the boss wanted to save him after he was planning to sue. He’s just trying to make sure he doesn’t run off."

"That’s a joke."

Shin Ji-eum sneered.

"On the contrary, Yoon-ho was probably hired to keep him from exposing the illegal part-time job to the police."

It sounded like a seemingly good-natured story, but both the guy who smuggled materials and blew his money on gambling, and the one who subcontracted illegally to cover it up, were equally to blame.

"So, where’s the client? Which guild is using unlicensed reagents?"

"We just collect the reagents made by part-timers and deliver them. I don’t know exactly where they’re being used..."

"You think I’ll let this slide?"

"I’m not making excuses! This is the truth!"

Won Deok-cheol babbled on with excuses.

"Big guilds like HP Guild only use certified reagents... and small guilds use these informally because of costs. It happens a lot."

"Yeah, that’s pretty common."

Han Jae-young was aware of this reality.

Alchemy-made reagents are much cheaper than those made by mages. In the market, the price difference is at least 1/10.

And when these reagents are circulated illegally, the price drops even further.

Though their stability and effectiveness are also much lower, because of the significant price difference, small guilds tend to use illegal reagents. Since it’s difficult to regulate illegal reagent manufacturing, it continues to thrive.

"So, why did you suddenly use poison to stop us? Who ordered you to kill us?"

"No, I wasn’t trying to kill you..."

"What?"@@novelbin@@

At Shin Ji-eum’s question, Lee Yoon-ho spoke with an indignant tone.

"Well, even if I used some poison, we’re all hunters, so it should’ve been fine. Like you said, I was just showing off. It wasn’t anything special."

"What?"

"Well, it’s true, right? We’re all strong, from HP Guild, making lots of money..."

Han Jae-young sighed.

It was typical of someone who had lost money to gambling and had deep insecurities about being part of a big guild.

He was so familiar with the type of person Lee Yoon-ho was that it didn’t even make him curious anymore.

Lee Yoon-ho, who had been nervously biting his lip while trembling in fear, was interrupted by Shin Ji-eum.

"Do you want me to keep hitting you?"

"...Yeah."

Thud!

This time, Lee Yoon-ho couldn’t even scream as he clutched his stomach and collapsed.

"No one cares about your feelings. So, did the boss of Light Descendants order this?"

Gasping, Lee Yoon-ho choked on his words.