Episode 61

A hero was regarded as a savior in this world.

Yet, unlike her glorious days now, Kang Su-jin’s previous life was not particularly remarkable.

Born into an ordinary family and raised in an ordinary neighborhood, she had decent friendships and grades at school…

Such a human nature was common everywhere, but ironically, the world deemed this ordinariness a sin and branded her a failure.

No matter how hard she tried, she lived a life that couldn’t reach the ‘average’ touted by society.

As much as she had been desperately thirsty for it, it was natural that the uniqueness she finally grasped felt increasingly special.

‘It’s still not enough. To climb higher from here, this much is insufficient.’

Perhaps she thought of the society that condemned mediocrity?

Feeling impatient, believing even her current achievements fell short of other heroes’ average, she knew she needed significant results to gain support from the residents of this world.

For Kang Su-jin, who even found that slow, the prospect of being with those possessing valuable equipment was a powerful temptation in itself…

‘Well, nothing strange about it, right? Precious equipment would benefit the world more in the hands of heroes like me than in those of mere adventurers.’

In a world where people died like trash, and everyone called her a hero, what was wrong with removing those who couldn’t even become heroes and moving forward?

Moreover, the place she would soon be heading to was a lawless area outside the empire.

As long as there were no witnesses, her actions wouldn’t be a problem since she wouldn’t break any laws.

‘If I get the chance, I’ll take everything. Not just from the fallen heroes, but from everyone I meet.’

Hiding these thoughts, she finally arrived at a VIP room inside a guild’s tavern.

There, the ones waiting were adventurers specially selected and recommended by the guild.

“Ah, the hero has arrived.”

“Hehe, yes. Has everyone gathered?”

Each one of them was high-ranked and a veteran with a mission success rate of over 80%.

Their presence alone, unlike the begging fallen heroes, would prove to the world the grandeur and high expectations she possessed.

“Nice to meet you all. Since we’ve met like this, let’s start with introductions.”

And since they know the status of a hero, they would surely understand her intentions and would not hesitate to cooperate.

With that confidence, Kang Su-jin soon boldly stood before them and spoke.

“My name is Kang Su-jin, the hero who will be working with you all. Let’s successfully complete the dungeon conquest by working together.”

An introduction as confident as the equipment she wore.

Then, the adventurers who would be accompanying her introduced themselves politely.

“I’m Conan.”

“My name is Kim Jeon-il.”

And the next day.

As I set out to explore the planned dungeon, I came across a group of corpses, presumed to be a green-haired woman and her party members.

Presumably, it was a body of a hero who came from the same world as me.

“Eek!!”

The party leader gasped and swallowed hard upon seeing the corpses.

Turning around, I saw a slender girl whose legs were trembling as if she might collapse at any moment.

“A… a person. Dead…”

“Turn your eyes away for a moment.”

Seeing her reaction, she might faint at any moment.

I gave a hint to the monk in our party, and he nodded, quickly shielding the girl, Ga-ram, from the view.

The other party members, seemingly accustomed to this, approached the corpses without hesitation.

To be cautious, I passed by the mage and vanguard guarding the area and approached the person who served as the scout and sniper to examine the bodies strewn on the ground.

“How’s the situation?”

“Ah, it’s the spear-wielder, brother.”

The sniper, with a nasty look, burst into laughter.

He pointed at the bodies on the floor, one by one, and spoke softly.

“Well, as you can see, they’re pretty intact for being dead in a dungeon.”

“If they’re intact… Does that mean they didn’t die from monsters or traps?”

“Right, you got it. Usually, if one dies in such situations, the body wouldn’t even be recognizable.”

The sniper examined the bodies, which showed signs of rigor mortis and early decomposition.

His ease in opening the eyes of the corpses indicated his familiarity with handling human bodies.

I was the same, examining the corpses alongside him.

“Speaking of which, you could have just watched the front. Are you also quite familiar with this kind of thing?”

“…Well, yes.”

I’ve seen hundreds of bodies with my own eyes in just over two years since coming to this world.

Among them, I had the role of retrieving items from the bodies or the bodies themselves, so I became quite accustomed to handling corpses.

“A fatal blow to the back of the head perhaps…”

There was hardly any visible trauma except for a sunken occipital region.

Just from that, I could infer that her cause of death was ‘instantaneous death due to a surprise attack from behind.’

“Tsk tsk, that lady seems to be a hero; she went quickly without much pain.”

The sniper noticed this, too, and smiled.

He must be mocking the fact that a hero died so meaninglessly, but I couldn’t help feeling there was something off in his words.

“No, rather, this is more like a hero’s death.”

“…This form, what do you mean?”

“Heroes usually don’t die in a tragic way.”

“Ah, yes, now that I think about it, that’s true.”

Indeed, every hero’s death I’ve encountered so far involved some ‘carelessness’.

Even with the power to dominate formidable monsters, they would overlook the fact that their own bodies were just ordinary humans.

The shallower their knowledge, the more arrogance they had, thinking they were something special, right?

Of course, they might have had the luxury to realize such foolishness in their previous lives, but this world was a dark fantasy facing humanity’s end.

It wasn’t a place merciful enough to give them the leeway to realize such mistakes.

“Excuse me, Hero. Are you okay…?”

“Yes? Eek!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I startle you by approaching so suddenly?”

Contrarily, the hero who was the leader of this party was a teenage girl, not even familiar with a single corpse.

She lacked the typical hero’s boldness, but conversely, her increased caution seemed to prevent a meaningless death like the hero before us.

However, the fact that such an attitude arose because of me was somewhat disconcerting.

“So, brother, you roughly know what this means, right?”

As I withdrew my gaze from Ga-ram, the sniper, who had just finished searching the bodies, turned his attention to me.

Recognizing the meaning of his gaze, I nodded quietly and replied.

“…There must be numerous ‘assassins’ in this dungeon.”

Assassins.

The word, meaning criminals or traitors, was used similarly as slang in this world.

Mostly found in areas beyond the empire’s reach, especially in dungeons like the one we entered, their goal wasn’t to conquer the dungeon but to kill parties attempting it, to steal their possessions or loot.

Naturally, in a world without CCTV or black boxes, finding evidence in lawless areas was nearly impossible, and selling the gathered items on the black market could practically establish a perfect crime.

In some ways, these were the kind of beings one should be more wary of than monsters or traps when conquering a dungeon…

No, rather, with their blatant malice and obsession, they were qualitatively worse.

“Certainly, in a somewhat explored dungeon, it might be different, but in an unexplored one like this, such types are more prevalent~”

Damn, this has become troublesome.

An ambush by an assassin capable of annihilating a party with a hero and no idea where they might come from.

“Everyone, come here! There’s a body over here!!”

Amidst this, there was the voice of a female mage.

Immediately heading there, I saw a body lying under a slope below a corner.

Was he part of the same party as the deceased hero?

“In black tights that cover his entire body… a bald person. It looks suspicious to anyone who sees it.”

“But what about the bloodstained bludgeon in his hand?”

“There are signs of a fight… Could this person be the culprit?”

Our party members gradually gathered around, showing interest.

Among them, I, along with the sniper, focused on examining the weapon held by the corpse.

Indeed, the form of the bludgeon and the fractured back of the skull seemed to match.

“This body has several arrows in it. Did he ambush a party, wipe them out, and then die stepping on a trap?”

“Oh dear, such bad luck~”

“Bad luck? More like a fool to let his guard down after looting a party in a trap-filled dungeon.”

I agreed.

Robbing adventurers wasn’t easy; one must watch out for dungeon traps and monsters, and there was also the risk of encountering other looters who might steal what you’ve barely managed to rob.

Blinded by momentary greed, it wasn’t easy to commit evil deeds comfortably in this world.

“Oh, treasure found~”

The sniper, rummaging through the looter’s body, exclaimed with joy.

At his words, the vanguard and mage, seeing what was in his hand, collectively expressed their admiration.

“Gems looted from that hero… or rather, a magical core?”

“It looks quite valuable. Is that all he had?”

“It can’t be helped~ There’s only so much one can carry alone, especially when stripping a corpse.”

Certainly, in an unsecured state, the amount one could carry was limited.

No matter how valuable the armor, one must limit looted items to small objects to stay light.

Yes, up to that point, nothing seemed too strange…

Creak, creak.

There was a faint noise from the armor when it faced that gem.

The subtle twisting of the armor’s joints meant it was reacting to the power of that magical core.

Why…? No, I understand now.

If that wasn’t an ordinary gem but a magical core, then it was likely the ‘magical core’ I joined this party to find.

It seemed like the guild processed it and gave it to that green-haired hero, who was then ambushed and killed by an assassin. She was unlucky, even if I didn’t know her name.

“But you’re not planning to keep that all to yourself, are you?”

“Haha, if I wanted to swindle it, I wouldn’t have said anything. Let’s entrust it to the hero for now and distribute it later, as per our agreement. Don’t worry too much~ Here, Hero, take this!”

“Me, me?”

The sniper nonchalantly handed over the gem. Ga-ram, still unsettled, looked around at the other party members with a bewildered expression.

Naturally, valuable items should be first entrusted to the party leader for verification, but Ga-ram, unaccustomed to such situations, was visibly tense as she looked around at her fellow party members.

In the gaze directed at me, the lingering fear of encountering the corpse was still faintly present.

“Um, but this belongs to someone else…….”

“There’s no need to feel guilty.”

I approached Ga-ram and spoke quietly.

“We’re merely picking up something from a corpse, not looting. If left alone, it would just decay, so it’s better for someone who can use it to take it for the sake of those who have passed.”

“Is… is that so?”

“Yes, so for now, you should keep it.”

I wanted to explain the situation and claim rightful ownership, but since it was perceived as something recovered during the dungeon exploration, not belonging to me, I decided not to point it out for now.

There was no need to rush, after all.

I didn’t know the method yet, but if it went according to Airi’s prophecy, the moment I could fully possess that item would surely come soon.