CH 15

[The countdown has stopped.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ tilts their head, unable to understand your decision.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ says they are just helping you by giving you this award, seeing as you need to increase the amount of raw mana you have.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ advises you that human life force is a useful material to boost your total mana.]

‘This deity is up to their tricks again,’ Chang-Sun thought in annoyance.

Humans were indeed disposable tools for deities. However, great devils, who could be considered part of the Absolute Evil faction, had even more of a tendency to treat humans as objects. The unknown deity had probably been planning this from the start.

The deity had likely thought of offering Chang-Sun a large quantity of mana as a bonus reward if he successfully finished the Tutorial. Thus, they had made some changes in the Tutorial using Jeon Choong-Jae.

What if Chang-Sun had been unable to finish the Tutorial, however?

‘The deity would probably have yawned, saying that it was boring. Then they would have killed everyone, including Choong-Jae.’

Either way, Choong-Jae’s end had been decided from the very start.

In any event, Chang-Sun had finished the Tutorial so perfectly that the deity loved him now. That was why they were telling Chang-Sun to kill all the slaves and take their life force as a reward.

However, Chang-Sun had refused the deity’s generous offer. From the deity’s perspective, they really could not understand why Chang-Sun was rejecting the reward.

‘Maybe the deity thought we were cut from the same cloth.’

Since Chang-Sun wanted to become stronger at a rapid pace, in truth, he was intrigued by the deity’s bonus reward.

However, he had never crossed the ‘line.’ Even after he had ended up in Arcadia, and after he had become ‘Divine Twilight’, he had never once crossed it. It was both a restriction and a promise he had made to himself—to never lose his humanity, no matter how rough things became.

That was why Chang-Sun had helped Second Lieutenant Park Hae-Seong and Woo Hye-Bin. Even now, he had no intention of going back on his promise. He did not want to become powerful using such a method.

“I just don’t want to get stronger this way. If you really want to give me a reward, please give me something else.”

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ says that no matter how hard they think, there is no better gift than this for you right now.]

“I told you, I’m not interested. Besides…” Chang-Sun replied, remaining calm as he continued, “I can’t trust a being who continues to obscure their name.”

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ tilts their head, unable to understand what Chang-Sun is saying.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ chuckles lightly, belatedly noticing that their divine name was previously masked.]

[The Celestial ‘### ### ###’ reveals their hidden divine name!]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ looks at you with a sinister smile.]

‘Mephistopheles!’ Chang-Sun thought, his eyes widening in shock for a moment.

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[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ asks you if you know who he is.]

‘Crap, I slipped,’ Chang-Sun thought, biting his tongue.

However, he was bound to feel that way, because Mephistopheles was one of the most powerful great devils. Even Tiamat, Pabilsag’s mother, had to act politely around Mephistopheles because his divine class was so high.

Truthfully, he was considered an oddity even in the vast Absolute Evil faction. He liked being alone, so he rarely made an appearance in other worlds. Additionally, there were many people who doubted that Mephistopheles was the deity’s real name. No one could recall who had first spoken of his name, so they could not even verify whether it was his true name.

For those reasons, Mephistopheles was often described using one word—’Exception’. That was how hard it was to describe him.

As far as Chang-Sun knew, Mephistopheles had little interest in the Saha World. He wondered ‘So why would he keep an eye on me?’

Chang-Sun’s achievements were great enough to intrigue many deities, but he had a hard time imagining that they were sufficient to fascinate ‘the’ Mephistopheles, who was famous for spending all his time in his own little world. The events that had unfolded left him baffled.

Meanwhile, the civilians held their breath and silently watched Chang-Sun, including Kim Hyeong-Won and Yang Gwang-Jin.

They were not stupid; they were aware that it was a devil with a strange name who had fooled them, not ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl.’ Thus, they could not help but realize Chang-Sun was negotiating with the devil over their lives.

Depending on the person, their brands were either on their shoulders or their backs. The brands had begun to heat up, as if they would explode at any moment. The pain was so great that some people almost groaned. However, other people quickly stepped up and covered those people’s mouths.

As a suffocating tension filled the air…

“No, I was just surprised because… you had ‘Great Devil’ in your divine name,” Chang-Sun said as calmly as possible, making up an excuse.

He assumed that there was almost no one on Earth who knew Mephistopheles, so he concluded that it would be better for him to pretend not to know the deity.

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ says he will not pry any further, even though he feels as though that was not the only reason for your surprise.]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ urges you to tell him what you want.]

‘How should I answer this?’ Chang-Sun thought.

It was very dangerous to be associated with Mephistopheles, but for that exact reason, he would also be a great help to Chang-Sun in terms of leveling up. He pondered the question for a moment, but in the end, his problem was solved in an unexpected way.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ fiercely warns ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ not to covet what is hers!]

‘I couldn’t see her messages for a while, so I thought she was gone. And yet she suddenly appeared just to talk back to Mephistopheles?’

Chang-Sun chuckled dryly. Pabilsag was the epitome of the saying ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread’. Even her mother remained vigilant against Mephistopheles, and yet that was insufficient for Pabilsag to fear him.

* * *

“Shit, shit, shit!” Han Shin-Gu swore endlessly as he ran through the forest. He was out of breath, but he could not afford the luxury of taking a break. All he could think about was the fact that he had to escape as quickly as possible.

‘The Dungeon will be closing soon. No matter how crazy Lee Chang-Sun is, he won’t try to kill me outside… So I only have to hang on until then! This kid seems to be close to Chang-Sun, so it should work out.’

Looking at the unconscious Hye-Bin on his right shoulder, Shin-Gu gritted his teeth. There was a reason why he was still holding onto Hye-Bin even though he was frantically running away from Chang-Sun—she would be his ‘life insurance’ if things went south.

Choong-Jae had ordered Shin-Gu to capture Hye-Bin in order to use her as a hostage. However, he had literally lost his head before he could stage a hostage situation. After seeing that, Shin-Gu had decided to stay with her until the Dungeon closed completely.

It was possible that Hye-Bin would try to resist after she regained consciousness, but Shin-Gu was not too worried about that. Hye-Bin was a middle school student who could do nothing but cry. So, what could she do?

Suddenly, Shin-Gu heard the unconscious Hye-Bin quietly murmuring, “I thought he had more plans, but he has nothing. He’s just a wuss.”

‘Did she already regain consciousness? Do I have to knock her out again?’ Shin-Gu thought as he turned to look at the girl.

Slash―!

That was the last thought that went through Shin-Gu’s mind. For a moment, he thought that the world had turned upside down, but it turned out that his head was rolling across the ground.

[The cursed Player ‘Han Shin-Gu’ has died.]

[Due to the ‘Stigma Brand,’ the remaining life force now belongs to the host indefinitely!]

After performing a skillful and elegant backflip, Hye-Bin landed beside Shin-Gu’s corpse. She remained calm even though she had just killed a person in cold blood. Over the previous three days, her personality had become far colder, beginning to resemble Chang-Sun’s after she escaped several life-threatening situations.

Above all, Shin-Gu was the person who had made Choong-Jae abandon her and her friends. Still, she had swallowed her anger and pretended to be overpowered, thinking that Shin-Gu could have more cards up his sleeve.

However, it seemed that Shin-Gu’s cards had long since disappeared. Thus, Hye-Bin had killed him with a single strike, wanting to help Chang-Sun. In truth, she felt that Shin-Gu had gotten off too easily. As Chang-Sun had killed Choong-Jae on her behalf, she had gotten her revenge, but…

‘Why do I feel so empty?’

Hye-Bin felt only that her heart was empty. Perhaps it was because she could never see her friends again. Only a dull ache remained as she recalled that fact.

However, she did not cry.

‘No, I shouldn’t be like this now.’

Instead, she bit her lip and held herself together.

‘I haven’t finished returning Chang-Sun’s favor, so I want to help him. Whatever it takes.’

Those were the only thoughts that filled Hye-Bin’s mind.

‘First, time to head back to where Chang-Sun is. I have to help him wrap things up.’

[The Skill ‘Gale Dash’ has been activated!]

Hye-Bin began to run back to where Chang-Sun had been. Since all the quests had concluded, the Dungeon would soon close. Before that happened, she planned to ask Chang-Sun for his phone number or address.

If there was one silver lining about the whole situation, it was that her family was well off. In fact, they were quite wealthy. Thus, Hye-Bin planned to ask her parents to reward him. Of course, she thought that would be insufficient to repay Chang-Sun’s kindness… but she still wanted to do at least that much, for her own peace of mind.

[The process of closing the Dungeon has been resumed.]

[Everyone, please brace for impact.]

[10…]

[9…]

By the time Hye-Bin arrived, Chang-Sun was already cleaning up the area. However, the other survivors were a great distance away, as if they had run away from him. Chang-Sun was practically alone.

“Miste…!” Hye-Bin began to call out to Chang-Sun, but something suddenly flew in her direction.

Hye-Bin reflexively caught the object, and saw that it was a dagger made from a monster’s collarbone. Chang-Sun had used it to modify the brand on her shoulder, but why was he suddenly giving it to her? She also noticed that there was an address on the dagger’s blade. Wondering whether it was Chang-Sun’s home address, she looked at him expectantly, but the answer she received surprised her.

“If you go to that address with the dagger, they can remove your brand without leaving a scar. Seeing as you’re a student who has to resume your daily life, it would be best to leave no scars. I’m not that good,” Chang-Sun said with a shrug.

“…!” Hye-Bin’s eyes widened in shock. She had never thought about that factor.

Although he feigned indifference, it seemed that the intimidating-looking Chang-Sun had a surprisingly meticulous side. That only made Hye-Bin want to ask him several questions.

However, Chang-Sun calmly bid her farewell, saying, “Take care. Let’s meet again if we can.”

[2…]

[1.]

[The Dungeon is now completely closed.]

[Great work, everyone.]

Before Hye-Bin could say a word of protest, the whole world around her collapsed. A bright light filled her gaze.

Whoosh!

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, Hye-Bin saw a big crowd surrounding the Dungeon survivors, including herself.

“Survivors! There are survivors!”

“It’s not an Outbreak!”

“Does this mean they properly finished the Dungeon’s quests…? How could they when they only had one Player?”

“Contact headquarters! Quick! This will be headline news!”

“Miss? Do you hear me?”

Several soldiers, police officers, Players, and reporters all spoke loudly in the background. Multiple reporters in particular shoved microphones in Hye-Bin’s face. When she looked around, she could see cameras pointing in her direction—they were filming the survivors.

The area had erupted into a commotion, as if no one present had expected such a thing to happen. All Hye-Bin could see was chaos. Only after seeing her parents breaking through the crowd did her thoughts snap back to reality.

‘I… survived.’ 

Without realizing it, Hye-Bin collapsed, her limbs turning into jelly. As she had no energy remaining, she had no tears to shed.

‘Wait, what about Mister…?’

Hye-Bin belatedly remembered Chang-Sun, and redoubled her efforts to look around the area. Although she was able to see Second Lieutenant Park Hae-Seong and Kim Hyeong-Won, she could not find Chang-Sun. It was as if someone had erased only Chang-Sun from this world. She felt as if she had been dreaming the entire time.

Chang-Sun almost seemed to be a mirage, someone who existed only in illusions.