Chapter 14

—Ha-jun, arrived at the checkpoint with Park Cheol-ho.

However, as soon as the staff at the correspondence center saw Park Cheol-ho, they looked surprised at him and began to cautiously watch Ha-jun’s expression.

Then the staff member sneaked up on Ha-jun and quietly opened his mouth.

“Um I’m sorry, but I’d like to say something...”

“Yes?”

“That, anyway, Mercenary Park Cheol-ho is a 10-year veteran mercenary, so I’m sure he knows his way around, but the rumours aren’t very good.”

“What, rumours?”

“There are a few cases where employers who signed up with Mercenary Park Cheol-ho have died in accidents or gone missing in the dungeons...”

“...?”

Ha-jun stands there in a daze for a while, thinking.

Ha-jun’s gaze glanced towards Park Cheol-ho.

Park Cheol-ho then explained his situation to Ha-jung with a wry smile, as if he knew what the staff member and Ha-jun were talking about.

“Actually, I am from an organised gang. Now I’m open and overturned and I’m busy trying to earn my living while working hard to provide daily necessities for my family. Haha, of course there have been a few instances where employers who hired me have had unexpected accidents, but perhaps the rumours were misrepresented a bit badly because I am from an organised gang. Thanks to this, recently I have been struggling to make a living because there are no employers who really accept me, and I am just really grateful to Student Ha-jun for employing me in this way”.

It was a long comment that evoked sympathy.

Ha Jun wondered for a while whether those words were a lie, and then just stopped thinking about it.

When he thought about it again, it was because it was a concern that did not need to be raised in the first place.

Ha Jun looked back at the official and nodded.

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. As long as he knows the way, that’s all that’s needed.”

“Ah, yes. Then, please take care of yourself.”

While being greeted by the staff, Ha Jun entered the entrance to the dungeon.

* * *

The dungeon was a cave-type dungeon with damp, cool air.

Of course, it was not a cave, although it boasted a large area of communal level.

I followed Park Cheol-ho and began to look around the dungeon as if I was observing.

Soon Park Cheol-ho, who was leading the way, began to talk non-stop.

“Oh, when you say you’re a student, it reminds me of the past. At one time I wanted to join the Rokia Academy, so I volunteered for the entrance exam.”

The man, Park Cheol-ho, was a lot more talkative than I expected.

Of course I flushed it out with one ear and ignored it. But he was moving his mouth without a break while showing me the way in one way or another, so I doubted if it was the right way to guide me properly.

-Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Ah~!!!

So after 10 minutes of walking, three Monsters appeared.

Ha-jun immediately invoked a time stop.

For the time being, he lightly hit each 10 times on their heads with a maharaj and released the stoppage.

Bang! Crush~ Creek~

The heads of the Monsters bursting out in succession.

Park Cheol-ho, who had been watching the scene in a daze, started to marvel with applause.

“Wow, ......you are reliable, after all, because you are a student of the academy.”

With these words, Park Cheol-ho glanced at the Maharaz.

“Um, could it be... that Noble Phantasm grade is Legendary?”

“Yes, is it?”

“Oh, no, it’s.... It is not common to see these Legendry items? I was just curious and asked. Now please wait a moment. We will dismantle the Monsters immediately and depart.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Pak-Cheol-ho went to the corpse to dismantle the trout. But on the way there he kept glancing at the maharaj and as if licking with his tongue.

Ha-jun sat down nearby and rested for a while, and in this way, once Park Cheol-ho’s dismantling was finished, he repeated the same process, going back to the body again.

30 minutes passed in this way.

Ha-jun’s eyes gradually began to narrow.

(Why do I get the feeling that the further we go from here, the more Monsters there will be?)

Is it because of the contract to reward all the byproducts of the Monsters that appear in the dungeon?

Could it be that he intentionally goes around to places where there are more Monsters? A reasonable suspicion that this was the case began to grow.

And when an hour had passed, Ha Jun couldn’t help but ask in a slightly irritated voice.

“Are we there yet?”

“Oh, if we go a little further, we’ll get there.”

I sighed inwardly, convinced .

Park Cheol-ho was deliberately leading him in a direction where there would be a lot of Monsters.

Even so, I decided to understand him with a broad sense of elegance.

Why?

Because I decided that it would be easier to be guided by him than to search alone.

(And you can always walk around this big place...)

It was clear that if I were to search frankly alone, it would take about a day or so at the earliest.

Of course, if I stopped time, it would take less time to start with, but it would still be hard on my body.

Description: Get out of the dungeon.

Reward: 1000p.

***

[Main quest]

Questable Character: Kim Ha-Jun

Description: Destroy the bracelet.

Reward: 1000p.

***

The main quest window appears one after another.

The moment the bracelet appeared, the system reacted.

This means that the very bracelet is a Noble Phantasm that could threaten the system’s coercion.

“Ha ha ha!”

Me, at this very moment.

I reached out my hand towards the bracelet with a pain that filled my heart more than ever.

The system reacted.

That system that I thought would be omniscient reacted to this bracelet.

It was difficult to control the emotions that filled my chest, because I understood all too well what it meant.

I immediately reached out and took the golden bracelet .

Then I said.

“CARA -X.”

At that moment .

Come on aaaaahhhh!

An foreign energy flowed out of Ha-jun’s body and began to envelop his entire body.

Ominous air spread around and a sickening amount of pain, as if all the pain in the world had been gathered together.

Ha Jun, who received that kind of energy itself with his bare body, was indeed laughing.

“Ha ha ha!”

It was understood.

The coercion of a system, which I thought could not be prevented, had been blocked by a single Noble Phantasm.

Energy itself was raging as storms of energy enveloped Ha-jun’s body, but Ha-jun could afford it.

He didn’t feel the pain itself.

This was because all the pain that tried to permeate his body was prevented by one bracelet.

(I can do it!)

As Ha-Joon continued, his eyes wet with joy, he was truly moved.

This was because the system’s coercion gradually began to weaken.

And then disappeared.

“It’s done, it’s done!”

Success!

I had finally broken free of the system’s tyranny. I gained my freedom!

Have I ever felt such a catharsis in my 25 years of life?

Am I able to use the system window—?

“Hm? What’s wrong with this?”

Instantly, Ha-jun rubbed his eyes and looked again, wondering if he had seen it wrong.

The system window cracked here and there and began to turn red.

At that moment.

Yosyo yosyo!

The system window began to emit light with a strange squeal.

And then.

Pan—!

Soon, with the sound of something exploding, a very dangerous-looking red quest window floated up.

The quest was the main one.

There was no reward for it, which should be in the reward section, but a red quest with the word “Failure” written on it.

[Main quest].

Questable character: Kim Ha-jun

Description:Successfully graduate from the Rokia Academy with your friends.

● Han-Si-Young (Pending).

● Anna-Elizabeth Hartzell (Pending).

● Haruna-Ruel (Pending).

● Liam Martel (Pending)

Failure: Death.

At the moment of seeing it.

(...)

Ha-Jun had to acknowledge that he got fuc*ked.