You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

"Turtle! Turtle!"

Two off-road vehicles drove along the rugged path.

Perhaps they had hurriedly erased the visible traces, because while it wasn't directly on the road, there were clear signs of the vehicles passing, making it easy to follow.

Han Jae-young, Shin Ji-eum, and Jeong Da-on were in the lead vehicle. Meanwhile, Won Deok-cheol, who was furiously denying any involvement, and Lee Yun-ho, begging desperately to be excluded, were securely tied up and tossed into the trunk.

"To summarize... it seems likely that Bitnaelim is a company used as a decoy to lure people in," Han Jae-young said.

A simple, high-profit scheme that deceives people into getting involved in illegal activities. In a way, it's just another familiar form of fraud in modern society.

"They're clever," Han Jae-young added.

Just like the True Light Church, in modern society, to conceal inhumane experiments like human testing, it's best to recruit people with vulnerabilities to involve them.

And if that base is within a dungeon's laboratory, even better. It's essentially an isolated island beyond human jurisdiction.

"I honestly had my doubts. I mean, even if it's a cult, who would think there are illegal laboratories in modern society?" Shin Ji-eum shook her head.

"How did they even think of setting up a lab inside the dungeon? Aren't they afraid of the system's safety protocols? What if something happens to their bodies..." Shin Ji-eum trailed off, stopping mid-sentence, realizing she contradicted herself.

"Well, people who perform human experiments wouldn't care about such things," Han Jae-young remarked.

"And Guildmaster, if there really is an illegal facility inside the dungeon, why did they sell us the dungeon rights? They could've just refused the sale from the start."

"It's just a guess, but it seems like there was some mix-up between the field personnel and the higher-ups. It's a common issue when subcontracting gets passed down and down," Han Jae-young speculated.

"Ugh, subcontracting to subcontractors, and then middlemen pocketing the money. It's such a familiar sight in modern society," Shin Ji-eum clicked her tongue.

If anything goes wrong, cutting ties would be the easiest way out, but at this point, it was unlikely information would be shared.

In fact, Won Deok-cheol didn't even know what his company's CEO had tasked Lee Yun-ho with.

For now, the company holding the dungeon rights was just a subcontractor, "Bitnaelim," so it's quite likely the main party running the experimental facility either learned of this late or still hasn't found out.

‘The way they went about it was terribly sloppy.’

If a group capable of setting up an illegal lab knew that an S-rank hunter like Han Jae-young was entering the dungeon, they wouldn’t have resorted to such trivial interference.

"They might not have expected us to dig this deep," Han Jae-young added, his thoughts aligning with the situation.

Although they had briefly scattered and entered from another angle, it was indeed a vast dungeon.

Had they simply cast a spell and left as initially agreed, there wouldn't have been much to worry about.

Even if the existence of the alchemist were revealed, considering the strained relationship between the HP Guild and Bitnaelim, they could’ve just disposed of Lee Yun-ho and been done with it.

However, this time, there was the variable of Jeong Da-on.

"When did you see the snake shape on the bracelet?" Han Jae-young asked.

Jeong Da-on, who had been gazing out the window, responded casually.

"Must've had good visual tracking."

"That's not enough to explain it," Han Jae-young countered.

"Well, the person who provided the information was from the True Light Church, so I suspected there might be a connection. That's why I was keeping an eye on it."

"Hmm, I see," Han Jae-young murmured.

Da-on’s explanation didn’t seem unreasonable. If you just listened, everything made sense.

But at the same time, it was too perfectly fitting, leaving an uneasy feeling about how everything fell into place.

‘It almost seems like she’s matching her actions to information she already knew.’

It felt suspicious.

Thud, thud!

As the vehicle continued to drive, a persistent banging sound echoed from the trunk.

It seemed that Won Deok-cheol, trapped inside, was banging on the trunk.

"Are you really planning on taking them along?" Jeong Da-on asked.

"If they manage to escape, it'll be a headache. What do they know? Just leave them or deal with them however you want," Han Jae-young replied.

"Huh? Ahaha, what a joke..." Shin Ji-eum laughed, assuming he was kidding, but when she saw Jeong Da-on’s face, her expression stiffened.

"Y-you’re serious?"

"Wasn't it you who threatened to kill them earlier with a knife, Shin Ji-eum Hunter?"

"That was just a threat! Our guild isn't that barbaric. If we just leave them here, we can hand them over to the police!"

"Really? I thought you were too busy keeping an eye on me to kill anyone."

"...Da-on, I'm not that bad of a person."

Shin Ji-eum frantically defended herself, possibly thinking that her earlier beating of Lee Yun-ho had led to a misunderstanding.

‘She probably thinks I’m accusing her, but it’s likely aimed at me,’ Han Jae-young thought.

Their first encounter had been during the Gwanghwamun dungeon break, and because his abilities had been temporarily limited at that time, his neglect of the child rescue had left a deeply negative impression.

He didn't regret his decision back then, but if he'd known it would lead to this much animosity, he might have been more careful with his words.

How much longer would they drive? The guild member holding the wheel furrowed his brows.

"Guildmaster, something seems off."

"What's wrong?"

"The scenery hasn’t changed at all."

After hearing this, Han Jae-young looked around.

"You're right. We're not far from the starting point."

As the guild member had said, the scenery hadn’t changed much.

It was a vast wasteland, and they hadn’t realized until they could spot the horizon.

"The car seems to be going in circles. Looks like an anti-recognition spell is in effect."

It was a common occurrence inside dungeons, so Han Jae-young wasn’t too surprised. Even though the car appeared to be moving straight, the odds were high that they were simply going around in circles.

In this case, they had to either find and deactivate the central source of the spell or hit the whole range to disrupt it.

The former was currently impossible, and the latter would essentially announce their location to the enemy. Of course, since the guild members were highly skilled, fighting might be considered, but they still didn't know the enemy's numbers and had to proceed cautiously.

Moreover, the HP Guild’s current objective wasn’t to destroy the lab but to find and secure valuable items within it.

‘If Yoo Han-ul were here, he'd have already run out alone,’ Han Jae-young thought.

He would have thrown a scornful look, dismissed the idea of acquiring items, and rushed out to rescue those trapped in the lab.

In this respect, Jeong Da-on and Yoo Han-ul were definitely different.

The scornful look was something that could be expected from both, but Han Jae-young noted the distinction.

He turned to Jeong Da-on, who was quietly stroking her familiar.

"Jeong Da-on Hunter, how would you handle this?" Han Jae-young asked.

Jeong Da-on raised an eyebrow at his question.

"Why ask someone like me for advice?"

It was clear that she had a sharp tongue, with a biting edge to her words, which didn't escape Han Jae-young.

"Well, I’ll take care of it for now."

"Shouldn’t you? You're the guildmaster."

"...Are you calling me ‘you’ now?"

"You said to call you however I like, right?"

"Well, I guess so."

Han Jae-young shrugged. But before satisfying his curiosity, he had no qualms about indulging Da-on’s preferences.

"We should ditch the car here," he said.

If they had entered the range of the anti-recognition spell, it was highly likely the lab’s headquarters was nearby.

At Han Jae-young's command, the guild members swiftly got out of the vehicle.

He took out a pair of glasses from his inventory.

It was an item prepared specifically for dealing with anti-recognition spells.

When he handed one to Jeong Da-on, she stared at it incredulously.

"What's this? A money pouch?"

"With enough money, an inventory’s essentially the same as a bottomless pouch."

As expected, there were experimental models lying around due to the guild’s nature.

"What kind of chaebol nonsense is that... Then again, seeing how much of a contract deposit you gave me, you must be rich."

"If you sign an exclusive contract, I could give you even more."

"I don’t have any greed, so I’ll pass."

It was shameless, considering she’d used money most people would never touch for her house’s defense magic, and yet she made such comments.

Han Jae-young quickly put on the glasses and surveyed the surroundings.

A sense of magic dissipating and a shift in vision indicated that the enchantment had been activated.

"Ugh..."

Han Jae-young let out a soft groan. Shin Ji-eum immediately asked, "What’s wrong? Are there swarms of monsters?"

"It’s worse than that... Hmm, what is this?"

"Oh, I want to see too! Guildmaster, give me the item. What’s going on?"

Shin Ji-eum reached for the glasses, but Han Jae-young stopped her.

"I wouldn’t recommend it. The mana consumption is too high."

Jeong Da-on looked puzzled.

"Then why did you give it to me?"

"Maybe because you might have some hidden, massive mana? But it seems like now’s not the time for jokes."

Han Jae-young looked through the glasses at the scenery beyond.

The dungeon’s background was still barren wasteland.

But now... if all they’d seen was endless wasteland before, something different emerged.

"A village...?"

"A village? Hmm? Isn’t this supposed to be the lab?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be a lab..."

If a lab had been set up, they would have expected modern buildings. But what Han Jae-young saw was different.

"Medieval Europe? Why would they build such small structures? Doesn’t look like a lab."

The buildings had an architectural style rare in modern Korea, though blurry due to the lack of zoom function.

"With that company name, could it be that they believe in some strange religion like the True Light Church? Otherwise, it’s hard to understand."

"...Wait a minute."

Listening quietly to Han Jae-young’s words, Jeong Da-on frowned.

"What did you just say? Medieval Europe?"

"Yes, but they seem very old, almost like ruins... Are people even living there?"

Jeong Da-on held the item Han Jae-young had given her up to her eyes.

Shin Ji-eum seemed taken aback.

"Whoa, does it really seem alright despite the mana consumption?"

"Yeah."

For a newly awakened hunter, using the glasses would usually drain all their mana and cause them to faint, but Jeong Da-on stood firm, still wearing them.

"Guildmaster, is Jeong Da-on fainted, standing?" Shin Ji-eum asked, worried.

"Her mana’s moving," Han Jae-young confirmed.

A terrifying flow of mana was rushing into Jeong Da-on’s body at high speed.

"Wow...!"

"How can she control her mana so well... Can she really handle it?"

For a sorcerer sensitive to mana, it felt like a massive wave surging around Jeong Da-on, as if it recognized her as its master.

Eventually, Jeong Da-on took off the glasses.

"How...?"

Before Han Jae-young could ask more, he fell silent.

Because Jeong Da-on’s face was pale, like he’d never seen before. Her mouth opened.

"Now."

"What?"

"Get out of here, right now."

At that moment, a system message popped up.@@novelbin@@

System Guide: The synchronization within the dungeon is increasing, and the range is expanding. It is recommended to clear the dungeon as soon as possible.