Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿

I thought Han Jaeyeong, who had practically gone wild over the item, would take me to the dungeon right away, but instead…

“Even if you’re contracted with our guild, if I suddenly drag Hunter Jeong Daon along on a real combat dungeon run, I’ll get torn apart for it.”

“You care about things like that?”

“And I don’t want to haul dead weight with me, either.”

Dead weight?! That wasn’t a word I was used to hearing, especially not applied to me.

So unfamiliar was the term that I froze with my eyes wide, and Han Jaeyeong clicked their tongue. “Of course, I admit you’re not like ordinary Hunters. You’ve got potential S-rank talent, and you can use incantation magic. But that’s all, isn’t it?”

“What did you just say…?”

“Do you know what kind of dungeon the one you brought me actually is? I don’t mean the info listed on Dungeon 24.”

As they spoke, Han Jaeyeong took out a tablet and showed me a map. At a glance, it looked vast and empty, only rough terrain sketched in, nothing more.

“What is this?”

“The map of that dungeon in Yeongjongdo. It’s shared by the company that holds the dungeon’s clearing rights. Even if they monopolize the rights, they still have to submit at least a map to the government. Guilds can view it. Just looking at it, it’s pretty huge, right?”

“…It is.”

I felt slightly deflated.

Fixed-type dungeons are usually connected to only a fragment of another dimension, so they tend to have limits on their size. I hadn’t expected it to be this large.

“There’s a reason it’s used as a landfill. Other than being huge, it’s got nothing worth seeing, but since it’s in Yeongjongdo, it’s perfect for dumping all the metropolitan area’s trash. But if we go in there relying on vague information and start searching… no matter what kind of transportation we bring, there’s no telling how long it’ll take. In the end, it’ll come down to stamina.”

They weren’t wrong. Hunters generally have better strength and endurance than ordinary people, but still…

“What are your stamina and strength stats, Daon?”

Right. I knew this was coming. For mages, physical stats are a universal weakness.

“…They’re not as low as you’re probably thinking.”

But I was a bit of a special case. Not by my own will, but because the system had forcibly made it so.

“Oh? So you didn’t make the classic beginner mage mistake of dumping all your stats into mana?”

What’s wrong with dumping everything into mana? …That was what I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. Granted, I was currently planning to dump all my stats into mana once the system delivered on its promise of a five-level increase, but still…

Realistically speaking, even for a mage, putting everything into mana was dangerous.

If this were a game, investing in stamina or strength as a mage would just get you labeled a useless hybrid build. But in reality, unless you planned to lock yourself away doing nothing but magical research, physical fitness mattered a great deal. The dungeon where I killed Lee Manbok was a perfect example. If we hadn’t been lucky enough to tame the desert whale, it would’ve taken more than a day and a half just to reach the oasis where Lee Manbok was. And that was through sand you sank into with every step. How long could I have held out while dragging injured people along?

It’s one thing if you can always stay safely behind a swordsman tanking everything while you fire off long-range attacks, but dungeon runs aren’t always that convenient. Especially not for someone like me, a potential S-rank. Someday, I’d have to tackle uncharted dungeons that no one had cleared before.

“Most mages in this country end up crying and forcibly dumping stats into stamina and strength after just one round of basic military training. That’s about their only saving grace. When’s your training?”

Basic military training.

Mid-February, just over a month away.

Suddenly, I felt irritated. I’d barely endured years of annoying group life through high school, and now I had to do the same thing again for six weeks? On top of physical training, no less.

Seeing my expression darken, Han Jaeyeong chuckled. “Hey, it’s easier these days. Back in my time, we couldn’t even use our phones. Now they let you use them in the evenings and everything~”

Hasn’t phone use in the military been allowed for years now? Just how long ago did this person serve? No matter how generously you estimate their age, they looked under thirty. Were they actually a hundred-year-old nine-tailed fox or something?

“We’re getting off track, but anyway. Even for me, taking a newly adult, low-tier mage into a dungeon like that is pushing it.”

“So you’re saying you’re not confident?”

“That’s not something you can provoke me over. What if you collapse from exhaustion in the dungeon? I’m too old to get beaten up by Yu Hanul, you know?”

Yu Hanul beating up Han Jaeyeong? That was…honestly something I’d kind of like to see.

“If we bring a few people who can cover for me—”

“And what if there are items like that in there?” Han Jaeyeong pointed to the bracelet on the table.

Right. Fighting over items inside a dungeon wasn’t exactly rare.

“Don’t you trust your guildmates that much?”

“No. With an item like that, I think anyone could lose their head. Even I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m an S-rank mage. That puts a hard limit on how many people we can bring.”

I let out a sigh. “…So, what do you actually want?”

If they really intended to refuse going together because of my stats or something like that, the conversation wouldn’t be going around in circles like this. It wasn’t as though there was some problem so severe that Han Jaeyeong truly couldn’t cover for it. This just meant they wanted something in return.

At that, Han Jaeyeong grinned. “Well, to be honest, I only took losses in the Truelight Sect incident.”

“Losses?”

“I wasted time just waiting around, and I failed at my real objective—observing you, Jeong Daon.”

At this point, they weren’t even trying to hide that the reason they’d taken me along during the Truelight Sect incident had been to observe me.

“So, for this dungeon run, my condition is that I don’t leave your side for even a moment, so I can observe you properly. What do you think?”

My own goal was also to observe what kind of person Han Jaeyeong really was, so I didn’t particularly mind. Still, there was something I had to say.

“…That makes me feel sick.”

“That’s harsh. Well, I’ll take that as agreement, then.” Han Jaeyeong stood up and motioned with their hand. “Let’s start with a basic physical fitness test. I need to see what level you’re at.”

Just looking at it was terrifying.

“Hyah!”

Someone was lifting a weight nearly the size of a mid-sized car.

“Huff, huff… th-this is nothing!”

Another, heat rising off their body as if they’d swung a sword tens of thousands of times…

The training hall was full of people I clearly had no business getting involved with. With a weary expression, I took about three steps back. “Isn’t your guild supposed to be made up of mages?”

“You can’t clear dungeons with only mages. And even among mages, there are all kinds.”

I shook my head. “I’m not doing that. I’m quitting everything.” Let my past-life sibling become an enemy, let the world end. Handle it yourselves. I’ll just tell Jeong Dajeong to try adapting to the other world.

The system encourages User “Jeong Daon”.

Encouragement, my ass. I became a mage precisely because I didn’t want to do stuff like that.

Seeing me recoil in disgust, Han Jaeyeong laughed. Were they enjoying this?

“Moderate exercise is good for your mental health.”

“No matter how bad my mental health is, research will still get done. Exercise has nothing to do with it.”

“Anyone listening would think you’re a great archmage who’s done nothing but magical research for a hundred years.”

Are you mocking me? Catching mice with your hind legs, are you?

“Come on, this is the kind of thing you’d do in military training anyway. Why are you dodging it so hard? Think of it as a preview. You said you don’t even drink potions because they weaken your natural healing, right? Let’s see just how amazing your body is.”

"…"

I sighed, no idea how many times that made today. Even if it was a beating I was destined to take someday, I’d rather not take it early…

The system requests assistance from User “Jeong Daon”.

The system offers “Level +5” as a reward.

The system agrees to stat allocation.

Ugh. If I’m going to suffer anyway, I might as well get it over with.

“…What do I start with?”

“Running first. Come on, let’s go.”

At some point, Han Jaeyeong had taken out a chart for recording results and was already giving instructions.

With another sigh, I started running.

After about an hour of physical testing like that, Han Jaeyeong looked down at the chart and tilted their head in confusion. “This isn’t even a stat issue. You fundamentally don’t know how to use your body at all. Endurance, flexibility, strength; everything’s at trash level.”

Collapsed on the spot, I protested weakly. “…Isn’t ‘trash’ a bit too harsh?”

But I was immediately shot down.

“Who’s asking Hunter Jeong Daon to kill monsters with a sword? Even so, you should at least be able to run away while dodging monsters.”

It reminded me of the time I’d hidden in the mud to avoid ants. Back then, too, I hadn’t had the stamina to run, and I’d somehow scraped together a plan instead.

“…Then I should just make sure that kind of situation never happens in the first place.”

“Drop the unrealistic talk.” Han Jaeyeong shook their head. “No matter how recently you awakened, this is way too weak. Forget being a Hunter, you’re like someone who’s never exercised once in their life.”

And if that’s true, what about it?

It wasn’t like I had nothing to say.

I planned to live as a completely ordinary person.

That was why I’d done nothing but study all the way through my third year of high school. PE class? When I was already nutritionally deficient, wouldn’t running around in PE just make me hungrier? And more fundamentally, mages themselves aren’t a race meant for combat in the first place. The profundity of magic has nothing to do with barbaric acts like fighting, and the destructive power produced by the study of magic is merely a byproduct discovered along the way. So really, wouldn’t it be far better to spend time researching faster ways to replenish depleted mana than exercising?

…Wait. Hold on.

“But you’re a mage too.”

Han Jaeyeong was also an S-rank Hunter, and above all, a mage. No matter how S-rank they were, as a mage it should be difficult to overcome chronic physical frailty. Hadn’t they said during the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break that solo clearing was impossible precisely because of being physically fragile?

In response, Han Jaeyeong looked at me like they were staring at someone truly pathetic. Even without words, it was painfully obvious what they meant: I’m not that bad.

“That’s something you’ll have to learn for yourself, Daon. This dungeon will be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other better.”

"Ugh."

Seeing my revulsion, Han Jaeyeong laughed. “I’ve got good news, too. We just heard back from Shining, the group that owns that dungeon. They’re willing to transfer next week’s clearance rights. They did add the condition that they’ll attach one of their guild members, though.”

“That negotiation finished that quickly?”

“That’s the HP Guild’s reputation for you. We paid quite a lot for a single-use clearance right, too.”

“And they didn’t find it suspicious?”

“We said we needed a place to test a wide-area magic device. It’s actually not that uncommon.” As they spoke, Han Jaeyeong snapped the chart they’d been flipping through shut. “Even so, I can’t send you into a dungeon in this condition. It’s not like I can bring along a swordsman just to babysit you, Jeong Daon.”

"...Hey."

“This really is the bare minimum. What’s a Hunter supposed to do if they can’t even run for ten minutes? Even for a mage, that’s unacceptable, unless you happen to have infinite mana that never runs out.”

"..."

It felt like something I might once have had, but now it sounded like a story from far away.

Han Jaeyeong’s nagging continued, “With stamina this bad, why did you rush out alone during the Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break? Even if shadow ghosts have low physical attack power, still. I thought it was strange that you didn’t dodge even once. Turns out you didn’t avoid them because you couldn’t, not because you chose not to.”

“No, that was all within my calculations—”

“That’s enough. You’ll complete all of our guild’s in-house practical combat training program for mages before next week’s dungeon run. This isn’t optional. It’s the minimum requirement.”

“…”

I looked up at the sky. How had things ended up like this?

Watching me fall into despair, Han Jaeyeong grinned. “Don’t worry. I take pride in the fact that we’ve designed training that lets mages survive dungeon raids in the most efficient way possible.”

...This one isn’t a former demon too, are they?