After saying that, Princess glanced at his wristwatch.

It was almost time for a meeting, so he jumped up from his seat.

“Damn it, I have to see Team Leader Seomun’s face again. I’ll be back after the meeting.”

“Yes, take care, Team Leader.”

Princess strode out of the break room with a reluctant expression.

The remaining death messengers waited for him to leave before letting out sighs of relief.

“Phew, I almost suffocated.”

“Tell me about it. Sigh, the team leaders fight each other and we’re the ones who suffer.”

“Teams 3 and 4 have it easy.”

They grumbled, but didn’t look particularly worried.

Only Ahn Nabi appeared troubled.

She took a sip of her cold cocoa.

It wasn’t sweet at all—just bitter.

That was when Joo Sungtae nudged Ahn Nabi.

“Ahn Nabi, what’s wrong? What’s worrying you?”

“Well, it’s the missing people… and there’s a dangerous person in another zone…”

“Don’t worry too much, like the team leader said. Dangerous elements exist everywhere anyway.”

Even at those words, Ahn Nabi’s expression didn’t brighten.

She was the first to rise from her seat.

“There’s something I’d like to check, so please excuse me first.”

Ahn Nabi bowed to the other death messengers and left the break room.

Once alone, Ahn Nabi carefully pulled up the roster for Zone 4 and began checking it.

Then she stared intently at one person’s file.

The special remarks section contained the following note:

[Special Remarks: Awakened while serving a prison sentence.]

And at the words written below that, Ahn Nabi bit her lip hard.

[Serial murder. Life imprisonment.]

* * *

I looked back and forth between the collapsed Yoon Gyeoul and the woman standing beside him.

When I drew my knife and aimed it at her, the woman looked thoroughly startled.

At the same time, the people nearby each drew their weapons and aimed them at me.

【Whoa, they’re fighting already?】

【How exciting.】

【Want to bet on who wins? I’ll put 10 spirit jade on Seo Kangrim losing.】

【I’ll bet 10 too.】

【Me too.】

【Then there’s no bet!】

I used Fate Detection and found that most of them were Human Grade.

The highest-ranked among them was Second Ghost Grade—Joo Hyeryung.

The woman standing beside Yoon Gyeoul.

Joo Hyeryung, flustered, held the people back.

“Are you from Zone 2 too? Calm down. He’s not dead. He was being treated. Everyone, please lower your weapons.”

From the way she spoke, she seemed to be the leader of this party.

At her words, the people lowered their weapons one by one.

I caught a glimpse of Yoon Gyeoul’s chest rising and falling slowly.

His complexion had grown somewhat pale, but he didn’t appear to be in critical condition.

“Explain the situation.”

“Well, you see… Oh! Ms. Shin Sooa, Bom! Are you with them?”

Joo Hyeryung called out toward my rear.

Shin Sooa and Yoon Bom hurried over and stood beside me.

“Mr. Kangrim, these people aren’t enemies.”

Shin Sooa tried to dissuade me, but I couldn’t easily relax my guard.

Just then, a man with a gentle demeanor approached and spoke up.

“Why don’t we start with introductions? Hello. I’m Nam Yoojun, a Zone 4 trainee.”

“I’m Joo Hyeryung. Nice to meet you.”

Joo Hyeryung also introduced herself and offered a greeting.

In my previous life, I had entered this place later than everyone else, so there were many unfamiliar faces.

“I’d like to hear what’s going on first.”

“Ah, right. We were setting traps to hunt demon beasts, and someone got caught in one…”

Joo Hyeryung scratched the back of her head in embarrassment and continued.

“We’d brought him here and were treating him. We didn’t expect anyone from another zone to be around. I’m sorry.”

It seemed Joo Hyeryung was the one who had set the traps.

I checked her Fortune Window.

═══════════════

[Name] Joo Hyeryung

[Rank] Second Ghost Grade

[Five Elements] Metal

[Deity Name] Guardian of the Joo Clan

═══════════════

It was a deity name I’d never seen before.

Given the deity name “Guardian of the Joo Clan,” it was likely an ancestor god.

Among the gods, there were powerful beings from mythology and legend, but there were also cases where humans became gods.

Sometimes a deceased ancestor became a guardian god as in Joo Hyeryung’s case, and some Manshin had even received divine descent from General MacArthur.

Ancestor gods might lack the divine power of deities like Mamane or Agni, but they made up for it with fierce devotion born of blood ties.

When a god bestowed divine descent upon many people, they tended to become more neglectful.

Ancestor gods had a strong tendency to help and protect their descendants by any means necessary.

From a quick glance, the “Guardian of the Joo Clan” appeared to have been a hunter in life.

═══════════════

[Ability] Trap Maker

[Rank] First Human Grade

[Description] The number of traps the user can set increases according to their grade. Prey is drawn in even without bait.

▼

[Ability] Hunter’s Sense

[Rank] Third Human Grade

[Description] When active in locations classified as mountains, all stats increase by 20%.

═══════════════

She might struggle in other demon realms, but in the Beast Sword Demonic Realm, those abilities would be exceptionally effective.

Judging by her Fortune Window alone, there was nothing particularly remarkable.

But I couldn’t simply trust her.

I knew there was a killer here.

The killer hid his identity, murdering people and extorting spirit jade and items.

And one of the killer’s targets was me.

Weak, easy prey, and usually traveling alone—there couldn’t have been a better target.

To cut to the chase, the killer fled and I survived.

Thanks to Shin Sooa.

The problem was that she had lost an eye to the killer while trying to protect me.

I looked at Shin Sooa’s eyes, both still intact.

If the flow of fate held true, she would lose an eye again because of me.

This time, I had to catch the killer before he could go on a rampage.

But because the killer wore a mask, no one knew his face.

One thing was certain—the killer was among these people.

When I kept my weapon raised without lowering it, Yoon Bom spoke cautiously.

“She’s telling the truth, Kangrim. Yoon Gyeoul got caught in a trap, and I got hit by an arrow, but they treated us.”

I glanced at Shin Sooa.

She gave a slight nod, as if to say they were trustworthy.

When I lowered my knife, Joo Hyeryung’s expression relaxed with relief.

“Would you like to talk at least until he wakes up? It’s my first time seeing someone from another zone, so I have a lot of questions.”

Could Joo Hyeryung be the killer?

I kept my guard up around her and surveyed the atmosphere of the group.

For now, I needed information too.

I plopped down near the exit, looked around, and asked Joo Hyeryung:

“You’ve been in the fourth room for quite a while, it seems.”

“Yeah. About three days?”

The area where the people had gathered was crudely organized into a rest area.

They had set up camp near a spring and cleared away all the blade-leafed plants to create an open space.

On the way here, I had also noticed a few alarm traps set up in the vicinity.

I feigned ignorance and asked:

“Did you build this rest area yourselves?”

“Yeah. Sometimes you can’t make it back to the lobby, depending on the situation.”

Given the size of the demon realm, it was a wise decision.

While Joo Hyeryung and I talked, someone knelt beside Yoon Gyeoul.

[Ability ‘Regeneration’ is activating!]

As the ability activated, color began returning to Yoon Gyeoul’s face.

The person let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

“I’ve detoxified him and restored his stamina, so he should be fine soon.”

It seemed the traps had been coated with poison.

The medicine pills we currently had only healed injuries—they didn’t neutralize poison.

It seemed wise to purchase antidotes from the shop going forward.

“Ugh…”

Then Yoon Gyeoul struggled to open his eyes.

It seemed he had passed the critical point.

I stood up and approached Yoon Gyeoul.

“It looks like treatment is finished, so I’ll take him now.”

“Huh? But it might be better for him to rest a bit more…”

“He’d be better off lying in a bed than in a place like this. I’ll carry him on my back.”

Not knowing who the killer was among them, it was better to get to a safe place as soon as possible.

Joo Hyeryung nodded as if she had no choice.

“He should be fine since he’s been treated. Let’s meet again later, then.”

I gave a brief nod and signaled the three others.

The freshly recovered Yoon Gyeoul looked around with bleary eyes before eventually climbing onto my back.

Just then, Yoon Bom, who had been trailing behind jjulle-jjulle, spoke up.

“I’m sad we’re parting so soon. I didn’t expect to run into anyone else besides us…”

Yoon Bom seemed disappointed to be leaving so early.

It was slightly hard to believe that this personality would eventually grow into Korea’s finest sniper.

“Don’t trust people too much. We need to hunt hundreds of demon beasts, so a hunting competition is inevitable. First clear rewards are on the line too.”

The five of us who had entered the Room of Sword Tree were me, Yoon Bom, Yoon Gyeoul, Shin Sooa, and Dokgo Jun.

Even if each of us caught 300, we’d still need to take down 1,500.

We’d be busy enough hunting among ourselves—what if we ran into another zone?

The battle between humans and demon beasts would become a battle between humans and humans.

I glanced back at Shin Sooa.

“Anyway, please explain exactly what happened.”

“While we were hunting, Gyeoul and Bom got caught in traps. I gave them medicine pills, but they didn’t neutralize the poison.”

Yoon Gyeoul, on my back, let out a small groan.

Shin Sooa continued her explanation.

“Then the Zone 4 people came and said they had a detoxification ability. So we accepted treatment.”

“What if that had been a trap?”

“I considered that possibility. But I judged that moving while poisoned would be even more dangerous. If it had been a trap… I planned to resolve it with force.”

I glanced at the sword Shin Sooa was carrying.

With her skills, she could have easily subdued the number of people back there.

Even so, I was somewhat worried about them.

I had changed Yoon Gyeoul’s fate of death, but what if he died by sheer bad luck?

Just then, Yoon Gyeoul mumbled from behind.

“Kangrim, hold on a second… I think I’m going to throw up.”

He was gasping for breath and looked quite miserable.

The recovery time must have been too short.

I set Yoon Gyeoul down on the ground.

Judging by his condition, Yoon Gyeoul needed to rest.

“Let’s rest a bit. We should camp here for the night and continue tomorrow.”

“Camping? There’s no need for that…”

“The sun is starting to set, and I don’t know exactly when it’ll go down. Better to prepare camp while we still have time.”

Shin Sooa nodded in agreement.

Yoon Gyeoul tried to say something but ended up scratching the back of his head vigorously.

He looked apologetic.

“Let’s set up a place to rest first.”

Looking around the area, I found a river flowing nearby and set up camp along its banks.

After clearing the surrounding brush, I looked up at the sky.

The sun was beginning to set beyond the western mountains.

【Aw, I thought they were gonna fight those guys earlier. What a letdown.】

【At least they’re not going back right away, so that’s nice.】

【Everyone goes back at night and it gets boring, so this is great!】

“Night falls quickly here too.”

Shin Sooa said as she sat down.

The fire I had lit burned quietly among us.

“This is my first time sleeping outdoors like this.”

Saying that, Yoon Bom scooted close to Shin Sooa and sat beside her.

She seemed quite frightened by the prospect of camping.

Yoon Gyeoul stared at her for a moment before blurting out:

“Coward.”

“Aren’t you scared? This place is crawling with demon beasts. What if they swarm us while we’re sleeping…”

“Hmm, well…”

Both of them wore troubled expressions.

I tossed the Ten Thousand Beast Incense I’d bought from the shop into the flames.

As a peculiar fragrance spread in all directions, Shin Sooa asked with curiosity:

“What is this?”

“It’s called Ten Thousand Beast Incense. It supposedly emits a scent that repels demon beasts. I bought it from the shop.”

It wouldn’t work on stronger demon beasts, but there were only Insect Grade ones in this area, so it would be fine.

Meanwhile, Yoon Bom and Yoon Gyeoul looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“You really know a lot, Kangrim.”

“That’s right. You’re strong and you know so much… Kangrim, I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

Yoon Bom asked with bright, eager eyes.

“Can I be your disciple, Kangrim?”