Chapter 50

Im Haekyung studied my face, as if gauging my reaction, before speaking.

“Of course, I don’t think that’s all. You look like you have a purpose.”

My purpose? Right... a purpose. But honestly, it was way too distant right now. All I was doing was laying groundwork, carefully following the developments step by step. That wasn’t something I could tell Haekyung. I had cooked up some excuse I could trot out if necessary, but considering how much time I’d already wasted on useless thoughts, I doubted he’d believe me even if I said it now.

'And it was bullshit anyway, so I don’t miss it.'

Haekyung toyed with his wrist, then looked straight at me and asked:

“Then you’re not going to tell me first, Jehyun-ssi?”

“Me?”

“You never know. I might be able to help again....”

Im Haekyung, help me? Sorry, but no way in hell.

“Well. I did ask for your cooperation this time, Guildmaster, but I already have a guild, don’t I? You saw that for yourself.”

“Ah... the guild. You’re with SH Guild, right?”

“Yes.”

“So SH Guild agreed to cooperate with you? You don’t exactly look like you and their guildmaster get along.”

“You must know each other well.”

Yeah, he probably knew her very well. His expression was still vague, hard to read.

“Not sure....”

Because of the disparity from him burning through skills, I felt my throat tighten again. I loosened a couple buttons to relieve the pressure and answered.

“You and her don’t get along?”

“Not really, no.”

“Really? Well, doesn’t matter.”

I brushed it off casually, and his expression twisted oddly. Then he let out a short laugh.

“You give up quickly, don’t you? Jehyun-ssi.”

“Well, if you won’t answer, nothing I can do.”

“I thought you’d already figured it out. Actually, I still think you have....”

He trailed off, smiling lightly as he took a step closer. Instinctively, I stepped back a few paces to put distance between us. My condition wasn’t great, and facing an S-rank head-on? Felt like I was about to die.

“So isn’t it better for me to help you than SH Guild?”

“Why? Just because you’re S-rank?”

“That too. But don’t you think you and I are more compatible than you and SH’s guildmaster?”

“...What?”

What kind of delusion was this? The corner of his mouth lifted faintly.

“You’re overly focused on efficiency, aren’t you? Just look at earlier—you leaned toward Release instead of Recruitment. Because you thought it was safer, right? Even if it meant killing one person, you wanted to eliminate variables.”

He wasn’t wrong. But with him pushing like this, I had no reason to insist on Release.

I ran a hand through my hair, wiping the cold sweat off my forehead.

“You’re right. But since you said you didn’t like either option, Guildmaster, my hands are tied.”

“Me?”

“You said neither appealed to you.”

Release or Recruitment. I wanted the former, but if that wasn’t viable, there was always another route.

'Failure Penalty: One Designated Person Dies'

I twisted my lips into a smile and looked at Haekyung.

“Failure is the mother of success, isn’t it?”

“.......”

“Why not take the penalty once?”

One designated death. Who would it be? Obvious. The only person designated before this quest—the representative.

'Maybe taking the penalty once would make it easier to move on to the next step.'

Haekyung stared at me, then gave a short laugh.

“What are you so certain about...? Ah, Jehyun-ssi, you really are impossible.”

“What?”

“I think it’s time we had a more cooperative conversation.”

The instant I felt his gaze lock with mine, something foul stirred in my head, prying and crawling where it didn’t belong.

Mind Domination (S) is activated.

Ah, fuck.

Mental Strength (S) nullifies Mind Domination (S).

Mental Strength (S) is activated.

Penalty occurs due to rank disparity with the caster of Mind Domination (S).

Yeah. Im Haekyung was definitely a crazy bastard. And an overwhelmingly powerful mental-type.

The only saving grace was that thanks to Mental Strength, I still knew what was happening.

'Fine then, you son of a bitch. Let’s play.'

Calling this “conversation” while using Mind Domination? Disgusting. He spoke to me in the same calm tone as always.

“For a conversation to work, we need honesty first. Don’t you agree?”

“I do.”

The words slipped out without touching my brain. Like I’d been injected with truth serum. Though honestly, Mind Domination was probably more humane than an actual serum. Maybe. At least it wasn’t drugs.

“Then let’s start from the top. You really are F-rank?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re compensating with skills? What I saw before wasn’t an F-rank skill.”

“Yes.”

“Unusual. No matter how good the skills, there must be limits....”

He frowned, as if puzzling it out. Of course. If there weren’t limits, I wouldn’t be sitting here playing truth-or-dare with a guildmaster who could mindfuck me anytime he pleased.

“Why did you join SH Guild?”

“Because I’m F-rank. I figured I’d need protection.”

“...That’s it?”

“Yes.”

That really was it. With an F-rank body, I couldn’t move freely, so I joined SH hoping for protection. Raising my rank while running dungeons was the secondary goal.

His expression grew faintly dubious, like he didn’t quite buy it. But it was the truth. I didn’t join SH because I knew about any link to Haeseong—I just caught SH as easy prey, and Haeseong happened to cling on like mold.

“Then why did you come to me today?”

“Because I figured you’d need Mind Domination to force unanimous approval?”

“Hm. And that’s really all?”

“Yes.”

I answered proudly, and he tilted his head slightly, studying me.

“When you chose Release, do you know what the next option would’ve been?”

“Probably picking which team member to release.”

“Close enough. And the next quest? Do you know that?”

“No. But since they instilled the fear of death already, I figured the next would be something like a proposition. For example, ‘kill one random sacrifice’ or ‘apply penalties to everyone.’”

“Like a step beyond the trolley dilemma.... So that’s why you said you’d need my skill.”

He muttered to himself. If he could force people to confess and even manipulate their thoughts like this, it was no wonder his ability put people off.

Honestly, Haekyung had always been a bit underrated. Deliberately downplaying the limits of his skill, to lower people’s fear of him, was part of his strategy.

“When it came to choosing who to release, neither you, me, nor Yehyun were options, right?”

“Correct.”

“So you stuck the three of us in here from the start. To guarantee three chances.”

“Exactly.”

I would’ve answered that without mind control anyway. Then again, maybe even that thought was planted. I couldn’t trust a single flow of thought anymore.

“Why are you so good at this? Quest-type dungeons are rare.”

“I read records.”

“Records on quest-type dungeons? I don’t even have as much detail as you. Where’d you get them?”

“A friend gave them to me.”

“Your friend’s a hunter?”

I couldn’t help it—I laughed. Lim Sungyeon, a hunter? He was just a messenger, nothing more. A hunter? Not a chance.

“What did I say?”

“Nothing. I just laughed.”

Ah, right. I’d been thinking about Lim Sungyeon. About how he wasn’t a hunter. ...And something else, too, but what was it?

“You don’t want to tell me?”

Pressed again, I clamped my mouth shut. I wanted to answer badly, but my mind was blank, and I couldn’t form the words. Watching me, realization flickered in Haekyung’s eyes.

“Oh, you’ve forgotten.”

“What do you mean?”

“...I forgot there are other mental-types besides me. Then let me ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) ask something else.”

The fuck was he babbling about? He folded his arms and swept his gaze over me thoughtfully. When it finally landed, his eyes carried that subtly unpleasant weight.

“Is your personality innate? ASPD? Or... are you a psychopath?”

“What the fuck? You’re the psychopath here.”

That was supposed to stay in my head.

But thanks to Mind Domination, my words came out unfiltered. That was the whole point—Haekyung wanted to strip away my filters. With this trash body, even with Mental Strength, all I could do was barely stay conscious of it. Lying was impossible.

He tilted his head, puzzled.

“When have I ever acted like a psychopath?”

“Right now.”

“What did I do?”

“Kidnapped civilians and used Mind Domination on them?”

“Oh, I really didn’t use it on Yehyun-ssi.”

What the hell was this bullshit? Why bring up Do Yehyun all of a sudden? I couldn’t hide my disbelief.

“No, me.”

“...What?”

“I’m the civilian. You’re the psychopath.”

“...What?”

Isn’t that obvious? I hadn’t killed a single person. Meanwhile, Im Haekyung—whether in this timeline or another—had piled up a body count. And he was asking me this? Goddamn. The sheer shamelessness almost impressed me.