Chapter 52

Waking up from a nightmare was never pleasant. Whether the potion’s effect had worn off, or Im Haekyung’s mental domination had caught me, or maybe it was just the resistance penalty kicking in—my consciousness had been completely shut down, only to snap back again.

“Haaahk....”

It felt like forcing air into shriveled lungs. Between the haze of my dulled awareness, the dream I’d just had lingered vividly. A dream as if I’d been watching Kwon Taehan’s first life from my own perspective. No way it was just a dream. I was damn good at telling dream from reality, and that one... that one blurred the line.

Only after my mind came back did my vision clear. I blinked, focused—and saw a familiar face.

...Do Yehyun?

Hadn’t he collapsed just before? Wait—how much time had even passed?

That dream had been so absurdly vivid it made me forget the crisis I was in. The last scene I remembered wasn’t exactly cheerful: an S-rank disaster of a hunter flattening five people with mind control.

'Focus first.'

Yehyun’s face was a mess. Not injured—crying. As I narrowed my eyes, about to ask him why, I had to process three things at once.

First: my body felt too refreshed.

And second—

“Ha... Yehyun. You just...”

Blessing of the Moonlight (S) is activated.

A penalty occurs due to the rank difference between caster and target.

He awakened?

“...No fucking way.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I’d been planning on awakening that skill through a quest-type dungeon reward, and here it bloomed all on its own. Even though Yehyun was only D-rank right now, meaning the S-rank skill couldn’t unleash its full potential, it was still beyond impressive. Not only had it erased every scratch, but even the throbbing pain in my organs was gone.

'So what happens when his rank goes up later?'

No wonder I called him a lottery ticket. Yehyun, still crying, stammered out words.

“I-I thought you were dead...”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you, are you really okay?”

“Yeah. Totally fine.”

“I used my skill and you still wouldn’t wake up, I didn’t know what to do...”

Ah. That explained it.

It wasn’t my body that was the problem—just that I’d lost consciousness. His skill couldn’t bring me around. The dream definitely had something to do with it, but I couldn’t focus on that now.

After finishing my assessment, I reached out and wiped Yehyun’s tear-stained cheek with my hand. He clenched his teeth, trying to hold back, but it wasn’t working. His sniffling wouldn’t stop. He wasn’t going to manage it.

“Fine. Cry some more.”

While he cried, I turned to the last of the three things I had to acknowledge.

Fourth Quest.

Recruit or expel an additional companion.

All opinions must align. If even one differs, the quest fails.

Failure Penalty: One random death.

Time limit: 30 minutes.

Almost the same as before.

But some things had changed. Not the third, but the fourth quest now. Time cut in half. And the failure penalty had gone back to random.

'Shit, so time’s already up?'

But the fact that I was alive... I raised my eyes and met Im Haekyung’s gaze. He smirked slightly.

“I tried to wake you, but it didn’t work. Since not everyone agreed, we had no choice but to take the penalty...”

He glanced toward the corpse, the second quest’s “representative,” lying cold on the ground.

And that thing—why was it still just sitting there?

Mental Domination (S) is activated.

I looked at the two Infinite Guild lackeys sitting dazed beside the body. Before I could ask, Im Haekyung explained first.

“Not long after you collapsed, Yehyun woke up. We tried to rouse the others to ask their opinions on recruitment and expulsion, and they chose to recruit me. I usually side with the majority, so I agreed.”

“And since I didn’t wake up, total consensus failed.”

“Exactly.”

He finished, pulled out a handkerchief, and draped it over the corpse’s face.

“...The penalty triggered the moment time ran out. Looks like the designated one was the representative.”

“A shame.”

“Maybe it’s because we failed the quest, but the next one started without a viewing phase... and that’s when you woke up.”

“......”

“And Yehyun—he was a healer? I assumed he was an attacker.”

So he’d seen Yehyun awaken and use his skill too. At least he didn’t seem to know exactly how much I’d been healed, meaning he hadn’t gauged the true level of the skill. Good.

I stood up as he gave his “helpful” rundown.

“You okay, hyung?” Yehyun asked.

“Yeah.”

Aside from the ravenous hunger tearing at me, I felt great. I must’ve been out for quite a while—Yehyun still looked miserable even though I was moving fine. Ah, right, I’d had a nosebleed.

I rubbed under my nose with my hand, checking for blood. It had long since stopped, but the dried trail remained. Nothing to do about it. There had been a water-attribute hunter among us, but he was dead. So I just scrubbed my face clean with my sleeve and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) got to the point.

“Then why are those guys still out cold?”

“Ah.”

I gestured at the Infinite Guild members sitting blankly beside the body, and Haekyung answered smoothly.

“I used my skill. With only 30 minutes left, things were about to get too chaotic. When someone you know dies, it’s usually a shock. Well... maybe not for you, Jehyun-ssi.”

“Truly a tragedy. But you said they chose recruitment over expulsion?”

He looked me over in silence, then nodded.

“Do you still want expulsion?”

“Yes.”

My answer was curt. I turned my eyes back to the corpse. If it were before the penalty, there might have been room to weigh the options. But now, expulsion was the best choice.

“I figured the body would still count as a companion.”

“......”

I meant it. In Kwon Taehan’s runs, a similar quest had shown up—where the system counted corpses as companions.

Hell, there are maniacs who’d lug their teammate’s corpse along.

Haekyung stayed quiet for a moment, then asked again.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

And this time, my judgment was right.

When we selected expulsion, the quest updated to choosing which companion to expel. The ones freed from domination didn’t want to die, so they pointed at the corpse while sobbing. With unanimous agreement, the dungeon floor accepted the decision, swallowing the body into the ground.

The floor looked more artificial than natural, so the way it absorbed the body looked uncanny. But no one reacted. More like—no one could.

But the real quest came next.

Would you like to view the Fifth Quest?

Once viewed, the quest is automatically accepted.

One acceptance registered. Quest revealed.

The moment the fifth quest appeared—

—I was warped into an empty space, all alone.

“...Fuck. This is bad.”

Communication with the others was impossible. But I assumed the conditions were the same for everyone. No voices, no groupthink.

Fifth Quest.

To live or to die, that is the question.

You may designate companions—including yourself—for death or survival.

Any with more death designations than survival designations will die.

Don’t forget! The rewards are always limited.

Failure Penalty: One designated death.

Time limit: 60 minutes.

The “death or survival designation” quest.

What a work of art for timing.

They always dropped it right after someone died—when trust was shattered, when revenge simmered. Purposefully making people lose their damn judgment.

Just a moment ago, an Infinite Guild bastard had died. The rest probably already hated my guts. Hell, I’d practically egged them into picking a representative. No doubt about how they’d vote.

The optimal clear method was obvious: vote both death and survival on yourself. That way, every player ended up neutral—plus and minus canceling out—no deaths, clean clear. But—

'No guarantee they’d do that.'

And that was the problem.

The Infinite Guild guys were predictable. They’d give me two death votes, then assign survival to themselves. That was the “best” they could think of. They’d assume I’d point at one of them.

So what about Im Haekyung? He didn’t seem like he cared much about others’ lives. Odds were, he’d vote both death and survival for himself, canceling it out. Probably.

'Then the best move for me is to give myself survival, and toss death at one of those Infinite Guild bastards?'

But there was no need to rack my brain further.

Mental Domination (S) is activated.

Looked like Im Haekyung finally felt like clearing this properly.