Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿

Leila’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you recognize me?”

“You’d have to be an idiot not to.”

Come to think of it, since she was listening through a translator anyway, I decided to drop the polite speech altogether.

It wasn’t hard to figure out who this woman who had barged in was. The cleaner’s uniform she was wearing looked stolen, the shoulders and hem were all wrong, and more importantly, the bomb in Leila’s hand bore the Hunter Association’s emblem.

The mana compression is unstable. Looks like a prototype, but the materials used are way too high-grade.

There was no way an ordinary cleaner could get their hands on an explosive like that, which meant there was only one possible answer.

“So the rumors were true. You really are a super rookie. But…!”

Whirrrk! Something like a rope flew through the air from Leila’s hand, writhing like a living creature before instantly binding both my arms.

A triumphant smile spread across her face. “You shouldn’t underestimate me. At your level, you won’t be able to break free.”

I stared down at my bound hands. It seemed to be a restraint-type item, and this, too, was stamped with the Hunter Association’s mark. They really had all kinds of things.

“So why come here just to threaten me? What do you gain by staging a standoff at the Korean Embassy?”

My interest quickly faded. What I really wanted to know was Leila’s objective. Given Leila Lopez’s current situation, shouldn’t she be negotiating with the World Hunter Association or the U.S. government? I wasn’t an American citizen, nor was I a Hunter affiliated with the Association. Holding me hostage wouldn’t give her any leverage with the people she actually needed to deal with.

Leila let out a hollow laugh. “Even after being restrained, you’re this calm… Don’t tell me you can’t see the bomb in my hand?”

“I can see it. That’s why I’m staying put.”

“And you’re still this composed? You don’t think it’s a fake, do you?”

I shrugged.

To be honest, I couldn’t help being calm. I just happened to have the bracelet in my hand.

So her unique ability is inventory scanning… but she can’t identify this item.

Of course, identifying an item solely by its mana structure wasn’t easy unless you were a high-tier mage like me. Still, Leila Lopez was said to be part of the upper leadership; she should be a fairly advanced mage. And her unique skill was inventory scanning. If that were the case, she should’ve been extremely adept at detecting items. So why wasn’t she wary of this bracelet?

Either her ability isn’t as impressive as the rumors say… or…

As I turned the bracelet over in my fingers, considering various possibilities, a system message appeared again.

If Jeong Daon engages in behavior that does not meet social standards, stat restrictions will be intensified.

Excessive force may cause widespread anxiety among members of society.

Damn it. Come to think of it, the bracelet I was wearing might actually be more lethal than the bomb Leila was holding.

Even so, the system message felt excessively strict.

This isn’t payback for my past behavior, is it?

I’d been slipping through the system’s restrictions like an eel using loopholes over and over. Maybe that stupid hive-mind intelligence had learned something at last.

And honestly, this message was extremely effective.

If my stat restrictions get strengthened now, everything I’ve done up to this point will be for nothing.

I’d gone through all the trouble of absorbing massive amounts of mana to raise my level, then stabilizing it, even if only temporarily, to actually use it. Losing that mana to system restrictions would be an unbearable waste.

As I was weighing my options, Leila snapped sharply at me, “Posturing won’t help you. Don’t even think about using items or shouting for help. You know it takes over a second to summon an item once you open your inventory, right? In that time, I can detonate the bomb and it’s all over.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

Honestly, part of me wouldn’t have minded if she just set the bomb off, but that wasn’t something I could say out loud.

What a pain. I’ve really gotten myself tangled up in something annoying.

For now, I decided to try persuading her in my own way.

“If you’re planning to make a stand, why not choose somewhere else? There are two S-rank Hunters here. They’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, you’re counting on those two? I know Mr. Yu and Jaeyeong are here.”

“…You knew they were at the Korean Embassy and came anyway?”

Was she hoping to die or something?

At my incredulous reaction, Leila sneered despite her haggard face. “Yeah. I came knowing full well. When people are desperate, they’ll do anything.”

“So you’ve got something you’re counting on? You know those two well?”

“Well. I’ve worked with Jaeyeong a few times.”

“And yet they didn’t seem to believe in your innocence.”

Leila let out a short, hollow laugh. “Jaeyeong is really good at reading people.”

“…So you really are guilty? You’re not on the run because you’re innocent and wronged?”

She admitted it far too readily.

I glanced up at the system window. Wasn’t private punishment of criminals at least somewhat tolerated?

Excessive force may cause widespread anxiety among members of society.

The system message still wouldn’t budge. This definitely felt like my past track record was affecting things. Was killing every criminal I came across the problem? It had been the most efficient way to prevent repeat offenses, but apparently the system didn’t approve.

“That’s none of your business.”

As she said that, Leila pulled something out of her back pocket. It was a pendant: a large red gemstone crudely wrapped in silver wire. Her sense of aesthetics was questionable, but judging by the mana coiled around it, it was clearly some kind of item.

“First, you’re coming with me.”

“Huh?”

Kidnapping? That was unexpected enough to genuinely catch me off guard.

“You’re kidnapping me? How exactly—”

Before I could finish, she threw the gemstone she was holding onto the floor. Clang! The gem shattered with a sound like breaking glass. And the moment it broke—

A magic circle!

A massive magic circle rose from the floor, unfolding along with the mana contained in the gem. I read the circle instantly, and then grew even more shocked.

She compressed a teleportation circle this much?

Stabilizing a magic circle that normally required enormous amounts of mana, shrinking it to this scale, and sealing it inside a single gem, was no easy feat. It seemed she really did have the skill befitting someone from the upper leadership of the Hunter Association.

Crackle! The mana from the teleportation circle wrapped around my body in an instant.

As impressive as Leila Lopez’s items were, I couldn’t help frowning. Being dragged along exactly the way my opponent wants leaves a really bad taste. Normally, I’d either force mana up and shatter the circle itself, or twist its coordinates to resist, but there was a problem.

If I use mana right now, the body I barely managed to stabilize will break down.

I’d gone to great lengths to stabilize myself with potions, and even drawing up a tiny amount of mana could throw the balance between body and mana completely out of sync. I ran through my options in my head as fast as I could, but no good solution came to mind.

I let out a deep sigh. No choice. I’ll go along with it for now.

It wounded my pride, but there was nothing else I could do. If it weren’t for this damned system leash, I’d bury this whole building along with her. I’d get my revenge later, no matter what.

Whine!

At that moment, Lobo, who had been hiding behind the sofa ever since Leila entered, let out a small sound. He was asking what he should do.

I shot it a warning look. Don’t follow me.

Lobo understood immediately, curling himself up even tighter and slipping out of the magic circle’s range.

And just as I felt the teleportation magic begin to tear my body apart— Bang!

“Excuse me for a moment— Daon!”

The last thing I saw was Yu Hanul’s shocked face as he opened the waiting room door. And even though I knew full well that he had no obligation to save me, a surge of anger still welled up inside me.

You’re way too late, you bastard!

Of course it was. To look away for just a moment and have Jeong Daon abducted by a fugitive criminal, this was an unprecedented incident.

“What were the security staff even doing?!”

“It seems the cleaner was attacked on their way to work and had their clothes stolen. The outfit looked familiar, so—”

“You should have checked their face! There are security procedures for a reason!”

“B-but they had an ID card, and we clearly verified the face as well—”

Meanwhile, Han Jaeyeong, who had rushed over after finally grasping the situation due to their interview, stepped in to calm the flustered embassy staff. “Don’t push them too hard. If it was Leila Lopez, casting a simple illusion spell would’ve been effortless.”

The staff had made mistakes, but most of them were civilians. There was no way they’d ever dealt with a Hunter, let alone an exceptionally powerful high-tier mage. Basic security magic had been set up at the embassy entrance, but for someone on Leila Lopez’s level, breaking through it would have been trivial. Rather than assigning blame, containing the situation came first.

And in this situation, there was someone else who bore responsibility.

“Say something in your defense.”

“…I have no excuse.” Yu Hanul let out a heavy sigh, his face dark.

Watching him like that, Han Jaeyeong felt so frustrated they wanted to grab him by the head and shake him. They’d thought Yu Hanul had just been mentally shaken during the last dungeon run, but had his soul been taken instead? How could he leave Jeong Daon alone in the waiting room?! Given Yu Hanul’s usual personality, it was unthinkable.

“I know you’ve got some complicated feelings toward Daon, but this isn’t the way to handle it.”

“What? No, that’s a misunderstanding,” Yu Hanul denied it with genuine surprise written all over his face. “Why would you think that? I really did leave because something urgent came up.”

“Hah. That’s hilarious. What kind of urgent business?” Han Jaeyeong snorted.

It wasn’t funny at all. Who was it that hadn’t even been asked, yet still went out of their way to visit the HP Guild to watch over Jeong Daon’s sword training? And now he couldn’t even meet her eyes and was busy running away?

This wasn’t a shy teenager. How ridiculous.

“Yu Hanul, be honest. You got embarrassed after calling Daon ‘Princess’ and ‘Your Highness’ in the dungeon, didn’t you—”

“I told you, that’s not it. I’m really not embarrassed about that. It’s not that, it’s just—” Yu Hanul glanced around briefly, then lowered his voice as he spoke to Han Jaeyeong. “While waiting, I received news that the heart of a Golden Drake I’d previously put a request out for was listed at auction.”

“Hm?” Caught off guard, Han Jaeyeong tilted their head.

A Golden Drake, a monster nearly dragon-like in form, capable of using magic, and ranking among the highest-risk A-rank monsters. Its heart was an extremely rare material, containing immense mana and possessing the durability to withstand it.

“If I didn’t bid immediately, it would be sold out right away. So the moment an embassy staff member passed along the information, I left to place a bid.”

“It’s rare, sure, but why would you need a Golden Drake’s heart—ah.”

Han Jaeyeong stopped mid-question, then quietly asked, mirroring Yu Hanul’s lowered tone. The embassy waiting area was currently crawling with investigators and Hunters from the World Hunter Association, so discretion was necessary.

“The method you told them about in the dungeon… this is it?”

“Yes. I was planning to use the drake’s heart to create a kind of portable mana battery. That way, they’d be able to leave the barrier.”

The lifeless idols they had encountered in the previous dungeon. Yu Hanul had promised them he would find a way for them to live normal lives.

To be honest, Han Jaeyeong couldn’t understand why he cared so deeply about beings from another dimension, entities that were, for all intents and purposes, no different from monsters. But Yu Hanul was the kind of man who always kept his word once he gave it. With that personality, it made sense that he would rush off the moment he heard the drake’s heart was up for auction. The problem was—

Han Jaeyeong frowned. “Am I the only one who finds the timing of this rare material’s auction suspicious?”

"No, I agree." Yu Hanul nodded, his expression grim. “If it’s Leila Lopez, she’d have connections with those who sell item materials at Hunter auctions.”

In other words, Leila Lopez had targeted Jeong Daon from the very beginning and planned the abduction accordingly.