Jung Soo-ho recalled a moment ago. He saw his status abnormality disappear upon entering Nari’s deep inner world.

“Since Olympus is staying quiet, you shouldn’t act out like this now…”

[The goddess of constellations, wisdom, and war is currently-]

Fizzt, at the mention of Olympus by the ruler of chaos, his constellation briefly displayed an indirect message before fading again.

It seemed like an attempt to refrain from speaking, but Jung Soo-ho, who had been with the constellation for a long time, knew.

They say each constellation has a different style of communicating with their incarnation, but his goddess never used indirect messages carelessly.

When he once asked her why, she had replied, ‘Since wars always break out over a single word, it’s best to speak as little as possible.’

His constellation, who was so prudent, would never send a message to the ruler of chaos in such a tense situation, so it was clear that message was meant for Jung Soo-ho, her sole incarnation.

‘Now.’

Jung Soo-ho assessed the situation with just his eyes.

The ruler of chaos was too busy fighting fiercely with Kang Ihyeon’s constellation to even glance this way.

Jung Soo-ho took out a knife from inside his cloak, making as little noise as possible. The cloak he had received as a gift upon contracting with his constellation.

He could hide any number of weapons inside it.

Whether it was a gatling gun, a pistol, or… the sharp knife his constellation had gifted him.

‘…It might work.’

Jung Soo-ho slowly began cutting his ropes with the jackknife he pulled out from his cloak.

A sticky, slimy substance clung to the blade, but it still seemed effective.

The moment Jung Soo-ho, holding his breath, tried to act as nonchalant as possible while slowly sawing with the knife, he felt a sharp pain in his fingers.

His brow furrowed in pain and he almost let out a sound, but-

[Status Abnormality :: ‘Vow of Silence’ activates! Sometimes, not speaking can be helpful. You cannot make a sound.]

‘Thank you…!’

Vow of Silence. One of the reasons Jung Soo-ho had to communicate through his device without being able to speak.

It wasn’t from the Minotaur’s roar, but a status abnormality he got right after joining Gunsin and getting on the guild leader’s bad side.

Usually it was annoying as hell, but fortunately it was helpful in this situation.

‘Now that I think about it, after getting Vow of Silence, I was forced to be careful with my words, so maybe it’s not all bad.’

In a way, hadn’t these status abnormalities helped him grow in some aspects?

As he was lost in idle thoughts, a status message appeared in front of Jung Soo-ho.

[The effect of Status Abnormality :: ‘Vow of Silence’ is weakening!]

“…?”

Blue status messages popped up repeatedly in front of him. The effect of ‘Vow of Silence’ kept weakening, and finally…

[Status Abnormality :: ‘Vow of Silence’ disappears!] [Trait :: ‘Prudent Speech’ acquired! There are times to speak and times to stay silent. You think twice before opening your mouth.]

“…!”

The status abnormality that he thought wouldn’t be lifted even after dealing with the Minotaur’s gate, the one he had half given up on, transformed.

The ‘status abnormality’ he had inflicted on himself. In that moment, Jung Soo-ho had a vague realization of what it was.

Bang! Jung Soo-ho stood atop the head of the Minotaur, who had collapsed with a hole blasted through its chest from the bombardment.

His blue eyes were shining with a sharp light.

“Listen.”

Thwack, the knife stabbed into the ground next to the Minotaur’s face. Jung Soo-ho took out a recovery potion from his inventory and dripped a single drop onto the Minotaur’s wound.

The Minotaur, barely recovered enough to speak, snorted.

【Ha! You think I’ll remove all your curses just because you do this? I won’t. Just die, haha, hahaha!!】

As the Minotaur continued speaking, ignoring Jung Soo-ho’s words, his eyebrows slightly rose. Jung Soo-ho spoke with a chilling expression.

“I don’t care.”

【What?】

“I don’t care if you don’t remove them. I figured out how to lift the status abnormalities ‘myself’. Even if it takes time, I can do it someday.”

The Minotaur’s eyes widened.

The biggest weakness of the ability to inflict status abnormalities was that the afflicted person could remove the status abnormality themselves if ‘certain conditions were met’.

Of course, hunters capable of that were nearly non-existent, so it wasn’t really a weakness.

But what could be done? Jung Soo-ho had already done it twice.

“My life has always been full of mistakes and improvisation.”

Jung Soo-ho spoke quietly. Since childhood, it was hard for him to sit still and quiet in one place.

He would fidget with an eraser or bounce his leg when nervous.

He absolutely could not do things he disliked. He couldn’t even tidy up or clean properly. But when it came to things he liked, he would get so immersed that he lost track of time.

As the things he couldn’t do outnumbered the things he could, he constantly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

When tested at Gunsin, they said he had issues with self-regulating his attention. Nari had said something like that.

‘That he never saw him properly finish one thing.’ When asked, the doctor said that had an effect too.

Jung Soo-ho thought his tendencies must have negatively impacted Nari.

But he was told it was okay. That he could stay by his side even without fixing it completely.

“Still, he said it was fine, that I had many strengths.”

That he had many strengths.

There were both bad and good parts to everything.

Realizing this, Jung Soo-ho now decided to use his tendencies in a positive way.

Then the status abnormality of hyperfocus rose as a trait. His sense of time and space disappeared.

The focus he couldn’t control himself, taken to an excessive degree, squeezed out every last drop of his mana.

Used in combination with a ranger’s skill of declaring a domain, allowing him to target only what needed to be eliminated in the moment, it created the effect of eliminating all obstacles between himself and the target.

And he finally got rid of the irritating thing before his eyes. Of course, it had now reverted to being a ‘status abnormality’.

“But now I know how to turn this back into a ‘trait’. I figured out the method.”

【…What do you want?】

The Minotaur muttered, staring at Jung Soo-ho. It was a complete defeat. He had even awakened a strange new trait.

The incredible trait of outright ‘deleting’ the obstacles to his set target.

The dynamic between the Minotaur and Jung Soo-ho was now reversed. Jung Soo-ho no longer had anything to fear from him.

The Minotaur narrowed his eyes.

He couldn’t understand why this man was doing this when there was nothing more for him to gain.

Soon, Jung Soo-ho opened his mouth.

“Hand over the resources, but not excessively. I’ll only take enough for you to maintain your gate and force. I won’t be greedier than that, I’ll overlook it to that extent.”

【What?】

“So… I have to work.”

It was an absurd yet reasonable explanation. The Minotaur only stared at the top of the cave.

Through several confrontations, he too had learned Jung Soo-ho’s rough background.

Gunsin, a public guild, and among them, an S-rank.

A man who was strangely incorruptible.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Alright, good work everyone! Wow, safely suppressing a grade 2 gate and removing all the status abnormalities, he’s a real savior. A savior.”

“Just let me go home. Don’t hold me back any longer. My partner is very tired from treating you all.”

The sound of a car starting quietly could be heard from the back. The day after they had dealt with the ‘Labyrinth of Crete Island’ gate.

Having finished all his scheduled tasks at Gunsin, they had come back down to the border with the South.

On the other side of the barbed wire fence where they first met Lee Ji-sung, a van directly sent by the Holy Palace was waiting.

Kang Ihyeon was already inside, and Rude was just about to get in.

“Ah, yeah yeah. Take this before you go.”

“What is this? Why glasses?”

Lee Ji-sung handed him a glasses case. Clicking it open on the spot, a pair of round frameless glasses with a obsidian-decorated strap shone.

“You said sunglasses don’t really suit you? I had these custom made to look good on you. They’re really expensive, so use them carefully.”

“Hmm.”

Click, Rude took out the glasses and put them on. The shining obsidian on the strap drew attention to his eyes.

But others would no longer be terrified just from making eye contact with him.

“Do they look good?”

“Oh, yes. They look great.”

Behind Lee Ji-sung, Jung Soo-ho clapped a couple times with a bright smile.

Lee Ji-sung made an unfamiliar expression as he looked at Jung Soo-ho.

After coming out of the Minotaur’s gate, Jung Soo-ho had been constantly smiling dazedly and following Rude around.

As Nari, that behavior from Jung Soo-ho was more familiar, but to his colleagues at Gunsin, Jung Soo-ho was known for his sharp actions and fiery temper, so they couldn’t help but find it quite awkward.

Moreover, when everyone at Gunsin asked Jung Soo-ho if he knew Rude or was close with him, he thought for a moment before saying ‘we’ll get close starting now’, bewildering them.

“Yeah, thanks. You were a big help too. I’m going. Next time… No, I won’t come back up again. You come down.”

“Okay, I… I’ll definitely come down. S-see you next time.”

“Yeah, keep in touch.”

“Okay!”

At Jung Soo-ho’s bright answer, Rude waved his hand a couple times and turned around. It was truly time to go back now.

Thud, as he got into the back seat of the black van, Kang Ihyeon in the seat next to him barely opened his narrowed eyes.

After confirming his seatbelt was on, the Holy Palace employee started driving.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes, just a bit tired. Don’t worry.”

Kang Ihyeon, with a pale complexion, smiled brightly as usual while holding his wrist.

Kang Ihyeon’s condition had been strange since facing the Minotaur.

While Jung Soo-ho was conversing with Nari, Kang Ihyeon had volunteered to draw the Minotaur’s attention up front.

He said he could do it despite being unable to use the holy sword for some reason.

So Nari trusted and left it to him. But as soon as Jung Soo-ho stepped forward, Kang Ihyeon’s condition rapidly worsened.

In that situation, even if he noticed the change, there was nothing Rude could do besides support his staggering body.

That was also the reason the Holy Palace’s car had come to meet them. Rude had immediately contacted the Holy Palace upon realizing Kang Ihyeon’s abnormality.

It felt strange. Kang Ihyeon’s abilities had changed drastically starting from his inner world.

When fighting the Minotaur too, he hadn’t used his usual white armor and holy sword, but unfamiliar means and a silver dagger.

He had even used mana, the opposite of holy power. A power that ordinary priests absolutely could not use.

‘Could he originally use both holy power and mana simultaneously?’

Such doubts naturally arose. As if responding to those doubts, boing, an indirect message popped up.

[The ruler of chaos explains that among all classes, only ‘excommunicated priests’ use mana.]

“…What?”

Rude’s eyes widened.

It was the first message he received in a long time after escaping the inner world.

The ruler of chaos continued.

[He further explains to you that if priests don’t meet certain conditions, they get excommunicated and their holy power turns into mana.]

‘…Ruler of Chaos, you’re shamelessly playing dumb, aren’t you? Not telling me what you did and where?’

The ruler of chaos was silent again. Rude glanced sideways at Kang Ihyeon.

Kang Ihyeon had a pale complexion and was turned away from him, looking out the window.

“Hey, you…”

Could it be, was he saying Kang Ihyeon had done something to get excommunicated? That incarnation of an archangel.

Rude, not thinking much of it, spoke while looking at Kang Ihyeon. He still didn’t respond.

“Kang Ihyeon? …Ihyeon?”

Suddenly feeling a chill, Rude grabbed his shoulder. Thud, Kang Ihyeon’s head dropped limply.

“…Huh?”

He had lost consciousness and blood was dripping from his nose. Rude noticed red blood had soaked through his abdomen at some point and urgently shouted.

“The hospital!! Quickly, to a hospital that treats Awakeners!”