“Haa……”

[The Ruler of Chaos giggles, saying “You got caught again. You got caught again.”]

“You deliberately didn’t tell me, didn’t you? You actually enjoy this sort of thing, don’t you?”

[The Ruler of Chaos feigns innocence, as if asking what on earth they’re talking about.] [The Ruler of Chaos makes an expression as if to say that raising a younger sibling is pointless if they’re just going to be suspicious of their elder brother.]

Anyway, that bastard….. Nari, who had been glaring at the indirect message window with an irritated look, let out a deep sigh and turned towards Kang Ihyeon.

“Alright then… You… How much did you see?”

Whoosh, spirit energy gathered in Nari’s right hand. Kang Ihyeon flinched as Nari stared at him with fierce eyes.

“…I-I won’t say anything. Absolutely…! So please, just spare my life…!”

“No, I’m not planning to kill you, I’m just asking how much you saw.”

An immense aura flowed from the small figure. Sensing that lying would only make things worse, Kang Ihyeon started to speak honestly.

“…Right after quickly finishing Stage 3… A notification popped up saying the gate difficulty had increased, so I came to help… And then.”

“And then?”

“Rude was lying injured all around… Y-you were examining him here and there, then blasting him away with black spirit energy… A-and then you said you had to stitch up Rude’s avatar…”

“Ah~ Shit, you heard it all……”

Nari sighed deeply, pressing a hand to her forehead. In truth, it wasn’t like hunters had never discovered Rude’s avatar before, so she was used to handling the aftermath.

She could use mental domination to manipulate memories and completely erase the memory of seeing her, but the problem was that directly tampering with memories caused psychological damage to the target.

“This is the first time I’m trying this on an S-rank… I don’t know if it’ll work well?”

“W-wait a moment! W-what are you trying to do!”

Whoosh, Nari approached Kang Ihyeon with black spirit energy swirling around her hand. Kang Ihyeon took a couple steps back at her chilling demeanor. Nari grinned wickedly as she drew near him.

“Hah! You can’t escape, Kang Ihyeon! You’ve been, as they say, ‘checkmated’!”

“Gasp!!”

Nari’s black spirit energy was already clinging thickly to Kang Ihyeon’s ankles. Having come within arm’s reach, Nari brought her spirit energy-wrapped hand close to his forehead and smiled maliciously.

“Don’t think too badly of me, you’re S-rank so the side effects shouldn’t last long… I think.”

“…What?”

As Kang Ihyeon’s voice trembled, Nari placed her hand on his forehead and muttered.

“Sorry. It would be troublesome for me in many ways if this got out.”

Then she used an avatar-exclusive trait.

[Avatar-exclusive trait :: Fragment of the Primordial Dream] [Using the authority of Constellation ◼◼◼◼.] [Borrowing the Herald’s skill.] [Herald ◼◼◼◼ exclusive skill :: Chaos Always Arises from the Human Unconscious.]

Ting-!

[Skill use has been nullified.]

“Huh?”

She stared at her own hand with a dumbfounded expression. Kang Ihyeon was also looking at her with a bewildered face.

It bounced off. The skill. Like a computer program crashing. The flustered Nari placed her hand on Kang Ihyeon’s forehead a few more times.

[Skill use has been nullified.] [Skill use has been nullified.] [Skill use…]

“…Huh?!”

Tap, tap, tap tap tap tap tap. No matter how many times she tapped his forehead, the same indirect message kept appearing. The Ruler of Chaos was laughing hysterically in the indirect message window. Nari’s expression gradually twisted.

“Why isn’t this working!! Why isn’t it working?! Hey! This is cheating, isn’t it?! What are you?!”

“I-I’m sorry, but first… Could you please stop hitting me……”

“Why can’t I brainwash you! Why can’t I control your mind!! This is cheating!!”

Gone was the Nari who had been exuding a wicked aura just moments ago. Now she was tapping Kang Ihyeon’s forehead with a sulky face. With his forehead turning red in an instant, Kang Ihyeon apologized awkwardly.

“Um… B-because of my Constellation… I’m completely immune to evil-aligned mental attacks… I’m sorry……”

“Ah! Ah! Aaargh! How is this possible!”

Nari grabbed her own head in shock at Kang Ihyeon’s words. The Ruler of Chaos sent a flurry of laughing emoticons in the black indirect message window.

[The Ruler of Chaos laughs uproariously, saying that of course an avatar of an Archangel would be different somehow.]

“Shut up! I’m the strongest! The strongest isn’t affected by things like nullification!! Uwaaaah!”

“U-um. These things happen, right? There are 7 billion humans on Earth alone… R-right? These things happen, don’t they? So don’t worry too much about it……”

“No… No…! It can’t end like this…!”

Now the situation was reversed. Because Nari was so tremendously flustered, Kang Ihyeon was relatively maintaining his composure.

“It’s okay! I can really swear. I won’t tell anyone……”

“Shut up!! How can I believe that!! Come here. If you disappear in a dungeon, not even a corpse will remain! Rather than this, I’d rather just kill……”

“Young master!!”

Just as Nari was about to draw her black half-scissors, saying this won’t do, someone’s voice rang out loudly.

Gasp! Kang Ihyeon and Nari’s eyes widened as they looked towards the outside of the boss monster room. The color drained from Kang Ihyeon’s face.

“Young master! Where are you?! I know you’re here! I heard you rushed here, missing mass and way past quitting time, so how could you leave your partner behind!”

It seemed other hunters and rescue team members were entering one by one now that the dungeon had been cleared. Kang Ihyeon looked at Nari and spoke in a fearful voice.

“Th-that’s my partner.”

“Huh?!”

“Q-quickly, run somewhere else. Hurry! My partner is incredibly persistent! What excuse are you going to make if you get caught?!”

“Eh?! Uh, o-okay……”

Kang Ihyeon spoke while trying his best to cover Nari’s form with his own body. His face was so calm that at this point, it was hard to tell who the real victim was. Caught up in the situation, Nari immediately opened a dimensional rift.

“L-let’s go quickly!”

“Hey, somehow it feels like our roles have reversed?!”

Clearly in this situation, it should be the troubled Nari grabbing Kang Ihyeon by the collar and dragging him in… But Ihyeon tucked Nari under one arm and immediately leapt into the dimensional rift.

“Young master-!”

The voice calling for him echoed until they entered the dimensional rift. Nari looked up at Kang Ihyeon and spoke.

“By the way, your title really is… ‘Young master’……”

“Huh?”

“No… I was just thinking people’s thoughts are all quite similar……”

* * *

And so, they thought they had crossed the portal rather amicably… They really thought so…

Kang Ihyeon, his entire body bound with black rope, looked around.

A small studio apartment in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The neon lights shone through the gaps in the curtains hanging on the small window. The sounds of daily life from next door could be heard clearly through the walls, while the noise of cars and drunks filtered in from beyond the window.

Rude, or rather Nari, was muttering something in the adjacent room visible through the doorway, seemingly conversing with her Constellation.

[Constellation, the Staff of Purification marvels that it never imagined Rude would be such an ordinary person.]

‘Um… Me neither.’

To ordinary people, Rude might be a popular hunter, but within the hunter community, Rude’s reputation was the worst. Arrogant, greedy, lying to the Awakened Association, monopolizing all the items in dungeons…

Someone who brazenly broke the unspoken rules of the hunter world… a mudfish that muddied all the waters, that kind of image.

Just looking at the Holy Sword guild, there were many guild members who cursed Rude, saying he thought he was the protagonist of a web novel. Rather, Kang Ihyeon, who actually liked Rude, was treated as the oddball.

There were many wild rumors about Rude too. That he bought DiXneyland with his wealth, that he owned 50 penthouse apartments, that he lived in luxury hotel suites without a home, that he was the hidden illegitimate child of a chaebol family…

‘But he’s really just an ordinary… person.’

It was truly an ordinary college student’s room, if a bit desolate. Honestly, if asked whether it was shocking, it wasn’t, but…

‘Still, I feel like I understand Rude a bit better now. I want to know his real name too.’

He liked Rude. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that was why he became a hunter.

‘I really… really wanted to meet him just once, so I’m glad I could meet him like this… I wish I knew his real name… I want to know even more than that…’

Even though he was tied up, Ihyeon grinned at such thoughts. Perhaps he looked too happy, as his Constellation chimed in with a jab.

[Constellation, the Staff of Purification makes a disgusted expression looking at you.]

“What, you’re smiling?”

Nari, having finished talking with the Ruler of Chaos, opened the door and approached. Seeing Kang Ihyeon smiling despite being tied up, she made an incredulous expression and sat down in front of him.

“You know, I’ve been thinking, and unfortunately……”

Nari shook her head regretfully, as if truly disappointed. Then, swoosh, she pulled out the black half-scissors from her inventory. Kang Ihyeon’s eyes widened as he watched Nari.

“I’ve decided to kill you.”

“Mmph-!”

Kang Ihyeon wriggled his body and shook his head vigorously. His Constellation sent a dejected indirect message, asking wasn’t he just saying how glad he was to understand Rude better?

“It’s my first time killing someone, so I’m nervous… Sorry. This is all because you’re completely immune to evil-aligned mental attacks……”

“Mmph mmph!! Mmph!!”

Nari raised the half-scissors as if bestowing mercy. Those eyes are serious. They’re serious! Kang Ihyeon startled and immediately fled in a flurry. Thwack, Nari’s scissors struck the spot where he had been.

“Don’t worry, I’ll end it quickly… It won’t hurt……”

Those eyes, that’s not normal. She’s not in her right mind right now! He had never felt such madness from any monster he’d encountered until now!

Kang Ihyeon used his skill in panic. Whoosh, golden holy fire burned away the gag and ropes. With his hands and mouth freed, Kang Ihyeon spoke urgently.

“W-w-wait a moment, time, time out!!! Pl-please spare me!!”

“No, you saw my true form! If anyone finds out about that, I’ll…!”

“I absolutely won’t tell anyone. I promise! Really!”

“I can’t trust you!”

Swish swish, Nari wildly swung the half-scissors.

The panicked Nari ran around the house, swinging the black scissors wildly while shouting, while Kang Ihyeon desperately tried to dodge, household items getting smashed… Crash, a chair fell over…

The Constellations were popping popcorn… How long did this go on?

“Excuse me. I’m from the apartment below. You seem to be making a lot of noise in the middle of the night, could you please be more considerate?”

At the scolding of the downstairs neighbor heard through the front door, the two finally came to their senses. Right, noise between floors is important… We shouldn’t cause trouble for others…

Nari and Kang Ihyeon sitting at the table again. Nari glared at Kang Ihyeon while panting. She looked a bit deflated.

“…I’m sorry. I got too excited.”

“N-no, it’s okay. It’s understandable to panic if someone else finds out……”

“You, don’t tell anyone else. If you tell… If you tell, I’ll really kill you!”

“I-I absolutely won’t tell. I promise!”

“How can I believe that!”

The conversation returning to where it started. Kang Ihyeon sighed and requested something from his Constellation. Flutter flutter, soon a single sheet of paper floated down from above. It was a ‘Holy Fire Oath’.

“Let’s do a Holy Fire Oath. It’s my skill. If I break this, I’ll fall straight to hell on the spot. Is this okay?”

Nari received the still blank contract and pondered hard. Seeing her much more docile than before, Kang Ihyeon unconsciously smiled in relief.

As Kang Ihyeon watched Nari thinking hard, an indirect message came down from his Constellation.

[Constellation, the Staff of Purification asks if you want to suggest what you’ve been wanting to do while you’re at it.]

…W-would that be okay?