You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

The internet community is always flooded with all kinds of posts.

As a result, most posts get swept away by the countless waves and disappear without much attention.

This was the case for a post that appeared one late night.

Title: I Got the News of My Older Sister’s Passing (Warning: Depression)

Content: My older sister is a D-rank Hunter, and at first, I was happy because she was making a lot of money.

At first, our family was all worried about the danger, but my sister said that now she had good equipment and strategy manuals, so she was fine.

But I think it’s because our family situation was so bad that my sister kept working to make money.

For about 2 or 3 years, she was with a solid guild and didn’t really say anything, so I thought things were okay. But one day, we received a letter at home.

It was a document from the court for bankruptcy.

When our parents asked what happened... it turned out that she had been casually gambling with other Hunters in the dungeon. She won a few times and kept going. Then once she started losing, she couldn’t stop.

After that, our parents had to pay off her debts... She tried to get help with gambling addiction therapy, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t quit gambling.

Since she was a Hunter, loans were easy to get, so her debts kept increasing.

Then one day, she left the house and we lost contact for about 2 years...

Today, I received a call from the police.

My sister left in a bad state... I had a bad feeling, but hearing the news left me numb.

Our parents always said they would treat her as their child, even without their own, but now they are crying.

It turns out she got caught by a disgusting illegal gambling operation.

She was trafficked. She was found dead inside a dungeon.

They didn’t recover her body, but fortunately, a Hunter who found her took a photo for us.

At least I got to see my sister’s final moments.

It really feels like the world is too cruel.

Of course, my sister was wrong to get involved with gambling, but according to the police, those were organized scam artists.

When the police raided the place, they had already fled, leaving no trace, so they couldn’t catch them.

They said they would continue the investigation, but don’t expect much.

The police said even if they caught them, it would be hard to get them to pay for their crimes.

Internet gambling servers are overseas, so it’s hard to trace, and since the company used identity theft, it’s almost impossible to prove who the real perpetrators are.

In the end, it was just that my sister died.

I want to investigate more, but my parents and I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been too busy surviving, and I regret not learning more about the Hunter industry.

Why is the world like this?@@novelbin@@

My sister worked so hard, but now we can’t even give her a proper funeral.

I really hope those criminals get what’s coming to them.

• ...Rest in peace, the deceased.

• Yeah, that’s a sad story, but sounds like a fake post.

• It's not fake. The article was released. Link to the article: [Tragedy of Low-Rank Hunters: The Dark Shadows Targeting Them]

• Oh, sorry for doubting you.

• Yeah, I heard there’s a lot of scam gambling and crimes targeting low-rank Hunters nowadays.

• Yeah, they’ve set it up so that gambling ads pop up when you visit Hunter item-buying sites.

• Human trafficking? That’s insane, right?

• But what’s the point of those scammers pulling such scams?

• They didn’t explain the crime’s motive. Maybe they were worried about copycat crimes.

• My sister died inside a dungeon... that’s so tragic. Rest in peace.

• We’re all low-rank Hunters, but even C or D-rank Hunters earn far more than regular people, so I guess they’re more likely targets for these scams.

• Once you turn 20 and start hunting, you’re easy prey for scams.

• Why even gamble? It’s so hard to quit. I’m sorry, but it’s her own fault. She should’ve invested that money in crypto.

• There’s always one crypto enthusiast here.

• This is all just viral nonsense, ignore it.

• Honestly, it’s the truth. Gambling is something you shouldn’t even start.

• Gambling is something you shouldn’t touch in the first place, so we need to punish the perpetrators, not blame the victim.

• But isn’t it ridiculous that they can’t catch those scammers? They could totally catch them, right?

• They don’t have the manpower... realistically, it’s difficult to catch them. The servers are all overseas, and the identities are stolen.

• So are we just supposed to keep getting scammed?

• Just don’t gamble.

• This isn’t just an individual problem, it’s a societal issue. Hunters are forced into life-threatening battles, but there’s no care for them, and we can’t even catch the criminals. What’s the point of having a government?

• Who told you to be a Hunter? You could live like a normal person.

• The comments here are crazy. I hope the original poster isn’t hurt by this.

• If you don’t have money or connections, how can you even survive? If it were me, I’d kill the bastard who killed my family, and they’d go straight to hell.

• The comments are a mess. It’s like I’m living in hell, God help me.

• If there’s a god, those assholes will be going to hell.

"...Huh."

Choi Mi-yeon, who had read the entire post, let out a sigh.

This world is full of tragedies.

For those without power or money, life is essentially a continuous series of tragedies.

And especially in this world, behind the thick wall of anonymity, such tragedies often seem diluted.

Everyone is so tired of their own lives that they have no time to mourn the misfortunes of others.

Because they’re tired.

So, to most people in this world, this tragedy is just another fleeting, everyday tragedy.

And the author of this post probably didn’t expect much comfort or help from it.

No, they would have hoped for something, but deep down, they knew nothing would come of it.

They just wanted someone to listen.

If there is a god, I hope this prayer is heard.

At one time, Choi Mi-yeon also believed that there was a god who would solve all her problems.

Do good deeds, and you’ll be rewarded; do bad things, and you’ll be punished.

That desperate, futile belief.

But reality doesn’t work like that. There is no savior to solve all problems.

In reality, there’s no such thing as a happy ending.

"Is that your wish?"

However, in that harsh reality, a girl who calls herself a devil briefly stayed by her side.

She despises humans, doesn’t believe in the laws humans have made, and looks at others with a cold gaze.

Yet, it was through her hand that the villain in this story received the punishment they deserved.

Though she called it just venting, Choi Mi-yeon could sense a form of sympathy beyond Jeong Da-on's contempt.

Or perhaps it could be called anger.

It became a clear comfort to Choi Mi-yeon’s weary heart.

"Don’t worry. Those criminals are in hell."

And hoping that this comfort would reach the unfamiliar victims as well, Choi Mi-yeon left a comment.

Five weeks of basic military training passed by in a flash.

...It would’ve been nice if it could be summed up in one sentence.

The time I had been hoping would never come arrived.

"Ha..."

Jeong Da-jeong, who was supposed to drive me to the military training grounds, sighed when she saw me sighing.

"Are you laughing right now?"

"Sorry. Is it that bad?"

"Of course."

Having been forced into group living until high school was already disgusting enough, but now I had to go through military training as well.

"At least Hunters are exempt from the hair regulation, right? Isn’t that a relief?"

"Yeah. For Hunters, if their mana circuits are working properly, their hair can be infused with mana, and they often use their own hair as material when creating items."

In a way, it’s as if part of a Hunter’s body is being used as material for items, so the government considers it valuable.

Thinking about it that way, it’s a bit nauseating, but I didn’t want to bring it up in front of Jeong Da-jeong, so I held back.

"Meow."

-What do I do?

Leo, who was sitting on my lap, looked up at me while licking his paws.

His body had grown a little since recovering mana in the last dungeon, so my lap felt slightly heavier, but it was still small, about the size of two fists.

I turned to look at Jeong Da-jeong.

"Take good care of Leo while I’m gone."

"Yeah, sure. I don’t know if he’ll last five weeks, though, since he hates me so much... Is he going to get stressed out?"

It wasn’t until then that Leo realized he’d be staying with Jeong Da-jeong for five weeks. His fur stood up in alarm.

"Why meow! Why meow!"

-I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I don’t want to!

The crying was almost as loud as a siren, so I covered my ears.

Jeong Da-jeong sighed.

"See? Maybe you should just take him with you. I looked it up, and it seems like mages are allowed to bring their summoned creatures if they get permission."

"Sometimes, you just have to do things you don’t want to do."

But I shook my head.

I wasn’t planning on taking Leo with me.

No matter how much security there was or how many protective spells were on the house, I couldn’t relax.

‘His obsession is getting out of hand.’

After everything that had happened since my awakening and the dungeon with the Tight Giant... The landscape of my past life and even the letter I wrote showed that the enemy was clearly insane.

I couldn’t afford to leave Jeong Da-jeong unguarded while I was gone.

Six weeks wasn’t a short period of time.

I couldn’t afford to take any chances. Even if I left Leo with her, at least he would give me time in the worst-case scenario.

‘He doesn’t seem to have targeted Jeong Da-jeong yet, but... that’s strange.’

Why hadn’t he done anything to my family yet, even though he would stop at nothing to kill me?

‘Hmm, maybe he thinks I treat Jeong Da-jeong the same way I treated my family in my past life.’

Considering the broken relationship with my blood relatives from my past life, this seemed to make the most sense.

Even if he killed my family in my past life, I wouldn’t bat an eye.

As for my current siblings, I didn’t have a great relationship with them either, and maybe he thought it would be pointless to kill them.

"Almost there."

"Thanks."

The car arrived at the training grounds soon.

The place I would be training was a newly built Hunter training facility in Paju.

In the parking lot, there were mostly young people around twenty and their parents lingering about.

Jeong Da-jeong, now somewhat accustomed to parking, unloaded my stuff from the trunk.

"Good luck. You can use your phone on the weekends, so contact me."

For regular soldiers, basic training leads directly to assignment, so the parting would be a bit more difficult, but I had already hinted that I’d probably be serving as a civil servant for HP Guild after training, so Jeong Da-jeong didn’t seem too shocked. If I worked for the Guild, I could still commute from home.

"And if you get too mad, you can just quit and come back."

"...How low do you think my social skills are?"

Though I hated it, it was something I had to go through once as a Hunter.

I had to make sure not to mess up and have to repeat basic training again.

Jeong Da-jeong raised the corner of her mouth.

"By the way, have you made any friends in HP Guild lately?"

"...Han Jae-young?"

"You’re really bad at hiding when you’re lying."

"You’re the only one who says that."

"Of course, I’m your older brother."

She’d never caught me lying before. She always fell for it.

"Go quickly. Eat well while I’m gone. Don’t stay out too late, don’t do anything dangerous, and go home right after. If your company sucks, just quit."

"Okay, okay. I’ll listen to my little sister. I’m not quitting though. You can quit anytime. I’ll take care of Leo too."

"Meow!"

Leo, sitting in the passenger seat, glared at me with an annoyed face, but as his creator, he couldn’t disobey my orders.

I gave Leo one more piece of advice.

"Take good care of him."

"Meow."

It was a relief to see Leo in good health, despite him vomiting hairballs all over the seat.

"Then I’ll come to pick you up for graduation. Take care!"

Having taken a half day off, Jeong Da-jeong quickly disappeared with Leo.

I still didn’t understand why her company was always so busy.

I grabbed my backpack with the bare essentials and walked into the training facility.

"Sorry, are you Jeong Da-on?"

No, I was about to enter when someone spoke to me.

A hand suddenly reached out in front of me. With skin tanned from the sun and a height that made me have to look up for a while.

"That’s you, right? You look better in person than in the pictures?"

A girl with a short haircut, about my age, grinned.

"Nice to meet you. I’m..."

"I know."

Her name wasn’t as famous as Yoo Han-ul’s, but in South Korea, it was pretty well-known.

She was a representative of the youth Olympic fencing team and had swept up awards at various tournaments.

"I’m Lee Pyeong-hwa."

Many had said that when Lee Pyeong-hwa awakened, her potential was an S-rank, though she was actually rated A-rank in reality.

That was still impressive, but she didn’t quite meet expectations.

Lee Pyeong-hwa blinked in surprise at my words, then shyly laughed.

At least, that’s what it looked like.

"Wow, an S-rank Hunter knows my name, that’s amazing."

"What are you talking about? You must be really famous."

"Yeah, I’m famous, but I’m only an A-rank now. It doesn’t compare to what it used to be."

"......"

I stared at the outstretched hand.

‘This is exactly why I hate group life.’

Already, irritation was rising. Even though I’d been the topic of conversation for the past few months, there was no way my fame compared to Lee Pyeong-hwa’s.

I hated this atmosphere.

When you meet for the first time, both of you start evaluating each other carefully, awkwardly trying to compliment each other to lower your own status. It felt like high school all over again.

This wasn’t high school.

If I were to respond to Lee Pyeong-hwa, the correct answer would be something like, "No, the current rating is just based on potential, and we never know what the future holds," or "I’m nothing special, you’re way more amazing."

I knew that getting along with the people in my cohort wouldn’t hurt.

We’d see each other often as Hunters.

"Wow, it’s Lee Pyeong-hwa."

"Isn’t that Jeong Da-on? This training ground is famous."

"Two of the most famous people are here. Is this a setup?"

"Why would the government set this up? They probably did it on purpose."

And seeing other kids in awe of Lee Pyeong-hwa made it clear what was going on. To everyone else, it probably looked like the two most famous Hunters of the next generation were getting close.

Lee Pyeong-hwa probably came to me with that thought in mind.

But...

"If you think that way, then sure."

I didn’t have to choose that answer.

If I had cared about my peers, I wouldn’t have made a scene at my high school graduation.

Lee Pyeong-hwa’s face froze with surprise as I refused her handshake.

"Uh, huh? Oh..."

I wasn’t about to pretend to like people or compliment them just to fit in.

And I was too great to compare myself to a 20-year-old.

‘There’s no need to get friendly with an investigator.’

Since I already had Yoo Han-ul, there was no need to form close ties with other investigators.

Besides, there was nothing in it for either of us if we got close.

"Well, I’m leaving now."

I said curtly and turned my back, heading into the training facility.

"Is this really socializing?"

I heard muttered words behind me, but I didn’t care.

And so, the dreadful basic military training began.