4. The Second Door

[You have acquired 10 Merit Points!]

[You have acquired 10 Merit Points!]

[You have acquired 10 Merit Points!]

Notification windows announcing the acquisition of Merit Points were frantically appearing and disappearing in rapid succession.

I swung my blade at a Human Bone Ghost charging from my flank.

A crack carved itself into bone along the path my sword had traced.

-Seogeok!

When the Human Bone Ghost’s shinbone was severed, its body pitched forward, and its skull came into full view.

I drove my blade into the crown of its head, and the Human Bone Ghost died without so much as a scream.

“Huu….”

I caught my breath and straightened up.

Human Bone Ghost corpses were piled high all around me.

I had already cleared the Room of the Mountain of Death, but I’d continued hunting there ever since.

It was about time to move on to the second Demon Realm, but there was someone I was waiting for.

Since I needed to head to the second Demon Realm with him, I’d decided to focus on hunting in the meantime.

I checked my stats while catching my breath.

═══════════════

[Strength] Level 9

[Stamina] Level 5

[Agility] Level 8

[Senses] Level 5

[Magic Power] Level 5

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After achieving the First Clear, my stats hadn’t risen as much as I’d expected, but there was nothing to be done about it.

As a Third Insect Grade, I needed to put in three or four times the effort just to keep pace with everyone else.

I’d accumulated a fair amount of Merit Points.

But I hadn’t been saving them to raise my grade.

After confirming I had enough, I invested them into growing my Special Ability.

[Investing Merit Points into the Special Ability ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’!]

[The Special Ability ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ has grown to Second Insect Grade.]

A Special Ability could be grown either through repeated use or by investing Merit Points.

‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ had temporarily evolved with Shin Sooa’s help in the building, only to revert back to Third Insect Grade afterward.

It struck me anew how important the right people were.

It took a considerable amount of Merit Points to raise a single grade, yet traveling with Shin Sooa had bumped it up two whole grades just like that.

Shin Sooa was, as they say, my Noble Person.

[You have arrived at the exit!]

While dispatching the Human Bone Ghosts, I’d somehow made my way to the exit of the Room of the Mountain of Death.

My clear times seemed to be getting shorter and shorter.

As I stepped into the lobby to catch my breath, people approached me.

“Ah, Mr. Seo Kangrim. Hello! Thanks to you, the Wi-Fi’s been working great!”

The people who struck up conversation with me all wore bright smiles.

Ever since I’d shared the Wi-Fi password, people seemed to have taken a liking to me.

Such goodwill was something I was quite unaccustomed to.

“To achieve a First Clear—you’re truly skilled. I’m still struggling through it.”

“What grade do you think you are, Mr. Seo Kangrim? You must be at least Ghost Grade, right?”

Even though I didn’t answer, they kept talking with smiles on their faces.

“Let’s go hunting together sometime. It’d be nice to tackle the second room as a group….”

Mid-sentence, the speaker flinched at something and cut himself off.

He glanced over his shoulder, and his expression changed.

They scurried away as if dodging something.

“W-well, let’s talk again next time. Mr. Seo Kangrim!”

They looked as though they were fleeing from a Demon Beast.

And after they left, Dokgo Jun approached with a welcoming expression.

“Seo Kangrim, working hard again today, I see!”

He was the very reason those people had fled in fear moments ago.

While I’d been talking with them, he’d been glaring at them as if ready to kill—no wonder they’d been terrified.

Though right now, he wore nothing but a smile.

“The extras sure are interested in you. Well, it can’t be helped. But for extras to want to tag along with you—they’ve got no shame.”

He said it with a rather murderous glint in his eyes.

Come to think of it, Dokgo Jun had been quite popular early on—decent looks and a bit of fame had drawn people to him.

But once his true personality came to light, everyone had given him a wide berth.

I glanced at him and asked.

“Anyway, Mr. Dokgo Jun, what brings you here? Do you have business with me?”

“Come on, do I need a reason to call you over between us?”

Ever since I’d achieved the First Clear of the first room.

Dokgo Jun had been showing me favor as if we’d known each other for years.

Of course, I couldn’t fully trust that goodwill.

Just then, Dokgo Jun flashed a broad grin and said:

“No business in particular, but it’d be nice to tackle the second room together while I’m at it!”

“I said it before, but I haven’t forgotten what happened at the building.”

“Aw, forgive me just this once. I want to get closer to you.”

Get closer, huh.

Had he ever genuinely considered anyone a comrade?

Judging by his actions in my past life, Dokgo Jun was unreliable in more ways than one.

When Dokgo Jun had founded his faction in my past life, it had surprisingly few members for one of the Five Great Factions.

The reason was precisely his personality.

When a faction member died in a Demon Realm and a funeral was held, he’d made a generous condolence donation and said:

[I thought he had protagonist vibes, but he’s already dead…. Must’ve been a supporting character at best. What a disappointment.]

In the end, he saw the people around him not as human beings, but merely as ‘characters.’

Right now, he treated me this way because he thought I was main character material, but there was no telling when or how his attitude might shift.

Even setting that aside, I had no desire to get too close to Dokgo Jun.

“You never told me about your childhood, did you? Tell me. And seriously, aren’t you a regressor or something?”

He’d taken an excessive interest in me.

A moderate level of mutual use was fine, but this degree of interest was problematic.

Especially his suspicion that I was a regressor.

“I was just an ordinary kid who occasionally saw ghosts. Possession? Reincarnation? What are you talking about? Do I look like a ghost to you?”

“Oh? Seo Kangrim. You don’t read web novels?”

“I don’t.”

“Then you probably haven’t read mine either.”

I only knew he was famous; I’d never actually read his work.

Even sensing my unfamiliarity, Dokgo Jun launched into an enthusiastic explanation.

“Reincarnation stories and return stories are great, and possession stories are fine too…. But I like regression stories the best. My debut work was a regression story, after all!”

“I see.”

“Yeah. For some reason, you seem like you’d be from that kind of genre.”

Having him follow me around wasn’t inherently bad, but I wanted to erase this ‘Seo Kangrim the Regressor’ theory from his head.

Besides, I had things to do separately in the second room, so traveling together was out of the question.

“Let’s go to the second room together, Seo Kangrim. It’s not a bad deal for you either, right?”

“I’m not so sure. I’d rather not go with you. I still don’t fully trust you, Mr. Dokgo Jun. Your skills included.”

When I questioned his abilities, Dokgo Jun’s eyes narrowed.

He stared at me with a meaningful look.

“Oh? You think I’m weak?”

“I achieved the First Clear before you, didn’t I?”

Dokgo Jun didn’t argue back, but he seemed slightly stung.

Then, after pondering something, he smiled.

“Fine. Let’s go separately for now. Let’s make a bet on who clears it first while we’re at it. If I get the First Clear, you’ll be able to trust my skills, right?”

His eyes gleamed as he said it.

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Seo Kangrim. To see what kind of results you produce.”

Dokgo Jun flashed a grin and took his leave.

For the time being, it seemed I’d be able to act independently from Dokgo Jun.

But he’d undoubtedly keep watching me.

If I achieved the First Clear, he’d obviously start clinging to me again, spouting regressor theories.

And if Dokgo Jun achieved the First Clear instead, he’d latch on claiming he’d proven his worth.

I needed to devise a countermeasure for Dokgo Jun.

First, though, I needed to deal with that guy.

I headed to the cafeteria to pick up some Recovery Potions.

As I stepped inside the cafeteria, I noticed the neatly organized interior.

Small Earthen Figures1 were scurrying about everywhere.

These Earthen Figures, created through Special Abilities, were responsible for meals, cleaning, laundry, and other tasks.

I approached the counter and addressed one of them.

“Give me some rations and a canteen.”

“Oot!”

The Earthen Figure let out an incomprehensible battle cry, then pulled out rations and a canteen from beneath the shelf.

“Thanks.”

“Oot? Oot-oot?”

The Earthen Figure tapped the menu board beside it and looked up at me.

It seemed to mean something like, ‘Are rations enough? You should eat more!’

These little things had always been obsessed with feeding people.

“That’s fine. This is enough for me.”

“Ooot….”

The Earthen Figure’s face grew deeply troubled.

Then, looking at me as if I were pitiful, it discreetly held out something.

“Oot-oot.”

A small piece of yokan and a cup of coffee were set down.

It looked like they were on the house.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“Oot-oot!”

The Earthen Figure flapped its stubby arms as if telling me to come again.

I found a seat and popped the yokan into my mouth.

While sipping my coffee and taking a brief rest, voices drifted in from the entrance.

“Thanks to you, I survived earlier. I really thought I was going to die.”

“Not at all. Mr. Gunam blocked that attack for us earlier.”

The voices were warm and friendly.

Soon, people filed into the cafeteria, and I could see their faces.

It seemed a party had already formed.

Two people stood out among them.

One was Shin Sooa.

She’d originally been in a party with me, but it seemed she was now cooperating with others.

But Shin Sooa wasn’t the important one right now.

One man in the center of the group particularly caught my eye.

A clean, handsome face atop a tall, well-built frame.

He had a gentle, approachable look that would naturally win people over.

“Have a seat, Mr. Gunam. You worked hard today.”

“I didn’t do much. Oh, let me grab some coffee.”

Cheon Gunam was chatting and laughing brightly with the others.

If you asked a passerby about their impression of Cheon Gunam, most would say he looked like a good person.

I’d been taken in by that face at first too.

Cheon Gunam had gone out of his way to talk to me even when I was a Third Insect Grade, and had treated me without any pretension.

But it was because of Cheon Gunam that my life had started unraveling.

I’d been grinding my way through the first door after entering this place.

At some point, people had started avoiding and ostracizing me.

At first, I’d assumed it was because of my low grade, but that was my misunderstanding.

People had known I possessed ‘Fortune Stealing.’

I’d been ostracized without understanding why, and it was only much later that I discovered the truth.

That Cheon Gunam—that man—had revealed to everyone what my Special Ability was.