Doing Good Deeds Will Bring Blessings¿

Jeong Daon.

When news spread that a new potential S-rank had appeared in Korea, East Asia was thrown into considerable turmoil, but in the United States, especially at the headquarters of the Hunter Association, it wasn’t treated as such a big deal. If she was a talent they truly didn’t want to miss, they could always scout her into the Association later. That was how things stood…

…until a certain video was uploaded.

“The small fry probably couldn’t tell, but anyone could see that was real incantation magic.”

With that single video, the entire landscape was overturned. Even among S-rank mages, those who had created incantation magic could be counted on one hand. To twist the natural flow of mana using one’s own language—that was a realm unreachable through mere talent in handling mana or through bone-grinding effort alone.

In truth, no one had yet clearly identified how incantation magic could be used at all. Some claimed it required the accumulation of knowledge over a long period of time; others said a special moment of enlightenment was necessary. Even mages who wielded incantation magic themselves could not properly explain how they had succeeded in creating it.

And yet, before those very mages appeared a newborn magical prodigy who unleashed incantation magic the moment she awakened.

“So of course someone like James Chen would want to keep hold of you even more desperately.”

A high-ranking mage who, by sheer luck of birth, had grown up in an affluent family and walked a smooth, unbroken path through life. The Hunter Association was full of such people, and James Chen was one of them.

At the same time, he was also a mage who had failed to awaken incantation magic.

An outstanding mage, enough to sit among the leadership at Hunter Association headquarters. But in the end, that was merely how others saw him.

What high-ranking mage wouldn’t covet incantation magic?

“After all, incantation magic is every mage’s dream.”

Even as she said that, Leila’s heart was far from calm. An East Asian girl from a country she barely knew, using incantation magic as if it were nothing. James Chen wasn’t the only one shaken by that sight.

Even so…

“So you wanted incantation magic. That’s what it comes down to.”

Anyone would expect their heart to race at praise bordering on worship like that, yet that utterly indifferent expression. Rather than pleased, didn’t she look almost bored?

And indeed, the Demon Lord, who had been an archmage even in her previous life, felt exactly that way.

So tiresome. Truly.

Why did they think that just because she could do it, they naturally could too? That alone was a logical fallacy. If anything, it was far healthier to be curious about Jeong Daon herself like Han Jaeyeong. She had seen countless humans in her previous life desperately trying to steal even a fragment of this vast knowledge, so that line of thinking wasn’t surprising in the least. That was why the former Demon Lord was curious about something else entirely.

“Association President Estella can use incantation magic too, can’t she? Why me, of all people?”

“…You can’t exactly run experiments on the Association President.”

Moreover, no matter how many surrounding mages asked how she had created incantation magic, Estella would only ever say, “You must find the method yourself,” and give no real answer. And there was no one with the courage to push further against the Association President.

So naturally, the thirsty had no choice but to dig another well.

At that response, the corner of Jeong Daon’s mouth twitched. “So in the end… I was just an easier target than Estella.”

“Well, isn’t that obvious?”

"...Right."

The corner of Jeong Daon’s lips twisted as if something displeased her, but it was such an obvious truth that it was hard to understand why she was offended at all.

“And it just so happened there was a convenient item available.”

No matter how skilled a mage was at incantation magic, they were not invincible. If their mana circuits were neutralized, a mage could fall easily enough.

“Chen siphoned off a smoke-based item meant to subdue you and handed it over to someone in Korea… I don’t know the details. The person who confessed to me only said they failed.”

As she spoke, Leila subtly watched Jeong Daon’s expression. Even if it had “failed,” a Dungeon Break in the middle of Korea’s capital had been a widely known incident. If Jeong Daon realized that it had truly been aimed at her, wouldn’t even that ironclad face crack, just a little…?

Of course, it was a futile expectation.

“So?”

Jeong Daon merely tilted her head.

“They would’ve had to bypass the unique skill that scans inventories to siphon off the item. Doesn’t that mean you were practically complicit too? I’m having a hard time believing it was a setup.”

“…My unique skill is certainly useful, but it’s not like I can be glued to the place 365 days a year.”

Items from the Development Division were, naturally, subject to strict restrictions on removal. In principle, access to the item storage warehouse was only permitted after Leila Lopez herself used her unique skill to scan every researcher’s inventory. However, it was impossible for Leila alone to shoulder all of that security forever. That was why, long ago, she had begun analyzing her unique skill and working to turn it into an item. And six months earlier, she had finally succeeded in analyzing it.

Commonly known as the Inventory Scanner.

After three months of testing, it had already been put into actual use within the Development Division.

“They said the item was siphoned off during a brief pause, when the use of the Inventory Scanner was halted under the pretense of testing.”

And for James Chen, that timing had been a golden opportunity.

At those words, Jeong Daon, who until now hadn’t so much as let her expression falter, raised an eyebrow. “…Wait. You succeeded in making an Inventory Scanner? How, exactly?”

"Yes."

Given the circumstances, it was easy to overlook, but in truth it was an astonishing achievement; one worthy of being recorded in the history of magic.

Innate unique skills were usually brushed off as powers people were simply born with. But to not only elucidate the principle behind such a skill, and then apply that principle to an item, that was something else entirely.

Leila Lopez’s unique skill was the ability to detect other people’s inventories. Yet upon closer analysis, strictly speaking, Leila wasn’t detecting inventories themselves, but rather…

“Put simply, inventories actually originate from the power of the human soul. So you could say I further evolved the machines used for the Supernatural Test.”

If she wanted to talk shop, she could go on forever, but in this situation, what good would that do? Leila glossed over the explanation. It wasn’t the truly important part, anyway.

“The power of the soul,” Jeong Daon murmured in a contemplative tone. Her expression had grown strikingly serious. “Your unique skill… no, your innate constitution must be a type that’s extremely sensitive to other people’s souls.”

Leila doubted her own ears. “What did you just say?”

“A single human is a single world, and everyone naturally possesses their own unique inner realm, so…”

The moment she heard Jeong Daon’s words, a chill ran down her spine. It was that uncanny—Jeong Daon muttering to herself as if she’d forgotten Leila even existed right in front of her.

“Right. Then it also makes sense that only ‘loots’ can be stored in an inventory. Only matter imbued with mana can be placed into the soul’s world, which governs mana. Ha. So the human soul was reverting items back to the essence of mana and holding them that way? That’s a pretty interesting result. If we think about the principle of materializing them again, that could get even more interesting.”

…Leila couldn’t even form proper words. It felt like a shock greater than when she’d been ambushed by Jeong Daon—no, even greater than when she’d been shot.

She stared at Jeong Daon in a daze.

“…What on earth…is this…?”

What Jeong Daon had just said was something that could only be spoken by someone who perfectly understood Leila’s unique skill analysis and the results of her research.

“How… how is this even possible…?”

How could this be? The situation was so utterly nonsensical that despair began to creep in. She had forced herself to accept even the outlandish notion that this woman could use incantation magic.

But to comprehend, in a single remark, research results she had poured years into? That was impossible unless one already possessed an immense body of magical knowledge. No, mere vast knowledge wasn’t enough. Unless this woman was an authority in the field of magic itself, something like this could never happen.

Just who was this woman, really?!

“Just what kind of person are you—!”

“Well, it’s an interesting theory and all, but we can leave that for later.” As if Leila’s shock and despair were none of her concern, Jeong Daon tilted her chin slightly. “So?”

The cold presence of the gun still aimed at her head barely managed to anchor Leila’s drifting consciousness back to reality.

“From the sound of it, there was even an internal whistleblower. So why was it you who got framed, instead of James Chen being exposed?”

“I told you, it’s because I lost out in political infighting!” Leila snapped back, genuinely choked with emotion.

Given that she was, in fact, at the center of this entire mess, it was hardly surprising. And in truth, the political maneuvering among the Hunter Association’s leadership—those very people—was the root cause of everything that had happened.

“They tore apart everything I’ve done up until now, digging through it piece by piece, claimed I’d committed illegal acts, and even accused me of embezzling the items instead!”

Up until now, Leila Lopez had been an irreplaceable figure within the Hunter Association precisely because of her unique skill. But through her own efforts, Leila had succeeded in turning inventory scanning into an item that anyone could use. Which meant the once-irreplaceable Leila Lopez had now become replaceable. The other executives, who had long seen Leila Lopez as a thorn in their side, seized this opportunity to trip her up and drag her down.

“Of course, I’m human too. I haven’t lived a perfectly spotless life. If you deliberately investigate someone for nearly ten years, who wouldn’t have something come up? Even dust!”

They nitpicked about discrepancies in the number of expensive dungeon materials used as research supplies, insisted on auditing every single warehouse entry and exit over the past decade. They even questioned why the late-night meal she ate at ten p.m. had been so expensive.

It was humiliation, plain and simple; more than anyone could reasonably endure.

“I made that item in good faith, and I followed the rules of the Association faithfully!”

It wasn’t as if Leila had been happy to analyze her unique skill down to its smallest components and turn it into an item anyone could use. She had endured it only because she believed she was supporting the conviction of Association President Estella. That it was for the happiness of more people.

What she received in return was betrayal from those she had thought of as colleagues.

“They told me that if I had nothing to be ashamed of, I should cooperate fully with the police investigation. But that’s ridiculous.”

Proving that you didn’t do something was nearly impossible. They had to know that, and yet everyone told her to prove her innocence in court if she truly hadn’t done anything wrong. In the end, it was nothing more than them throwing the burden away because thinking for themselves was too much trouble.

Even the Association President she had trusted and followed so steadfastly!

Leila ground her teeth in frustration. “The prosecutor assigned to my case was actually a college classmate of James Chen, so no matter what I do, I’ll just get dragged deeper into the mire. That’s why I ran. So I could look for some kind of solution… Are you even listening?”

“Yeah. I’m listening.”

While Leila ranted in agitation, Jeong Daon, the one who had wanted to hear all of this in the first place, already looked as though she’d lost interest.

“It’s tiresome.”

“Wh-what?”

“Humans are all the same once you gather them together. The conclusion never really changes… Anyway, that answers most of what I was curious about. Now there’s just one last question.”

As she spoke, Jeong Daon extended her wrist. And wrapped around it—

“That’s…” Leila’s eyes widened.

A bracelet shaped like a snake coiled around her wrist, with peridot-like gemstones set into its eyes. A strange flow of mana could be felt from it. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary item.

“This bracelet. Was it made by the Hunter Association’s development division?”

"Hmm?" Leila frowned and leaned in to examine the bracelet more closely. “No. No, it wasn’t.”

“You’re sure?”

“At least during the ten years I headed the Development Division, we never made anything like this.”

For a moment, Jeong Daon stared intently at Leila’s face as she answered, as if gauging whether her words were true.

Without realizing it, Leila swallowed hard. She had no idea what Jeong Daon might do next. With the way she was staring, it wouldn’t even be strange if she suddenly smashed the gun she was holding straight into her head…

“…Alright. I’ve decided.”

After silently studying Leila for a while, Jeong Daon spoke again, a faint smile curling her lips. It was the kind of smile that felt ominous just to look at.

“Let’s make a deal, Leila Lopez.”