“Are you really okay?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Of course. I don’t know when we’ll meet like this again, and if I keep missing out, the times we’ll spend together like this will only go down. I’ll be busy once the recruits arrive, and since Mr. Hyun-Sung understands that too, he allowed me to join this dungeon expedition,” I explained to him.

“But…”

“I also want to get some fresh air. Let’s think of it as a long overdue trip since we haven’t had any free time recently. People need to have breaks, you know,” I added.

“Hyung-nim…” Park Deok-Gu muttered.

For some reason, Park Deok-Gu looked at me as if he was thankful. He was probably thinking that this dungeon expedition had been planned out just for him, so of course, he would react that way. Anyone could tell that going on an unexpected dungeon expedition at a time like this was just too random.

It had only been a few days since our argument, so he probably thought that this unexpected dungeon expedition was conducted as a way of apologizing to him for what had happened. Jung Ha-Yan was still acting uncomfortable around him, and before we started talking about this expedition, I didn’t talk to Park Deok-Gu even once. On the outside, this looked like an expedition of reconciliation to restore the relationship that had been temporarily broken.

‘That’s right.’

Anyone would think the same about this expedition. I was sure he had never imagined that this plan would be totally different from what he had expected.

The First Park Deok-Gu Awakening and Strengthening Plan. Director Lee Ki-Young, script Lee Ki-Young, and assistant Lee Ji-Hye.

This was the real present I had prepared for the guy who cried after he got destroyed by Kim Ye-Ri. Actually, it was a bit cruel to call it a present, but it was a solution to help him get what he wanted. He was lacking in many things, but his biggest issue right now was…

‘His fourth job.’

He was the only person in the party who hadn't gotten a fourth job, and he was still on his rare-ranked job. I assumed he had obtained a lot of experience during the monster wave, so I didn’t really know why he still hadn’t unlocked his fourth job. I had no choice but to think that there was a psychological barrier preventing him from unlocking it. He was actually experiencing a slight mental health problem, which made him unable to clearly see the solution. However, there was one thing I was curious about.

‘When he’s in danger…’

How would Park Deok-Gu react? It was probably a useless deduction, but it was worth thinking about. He had never experienced a crisis. Kim Hyun-Sung’s party was a special party composed of geniuses, so even if Park Deok-Gu didn’t do his part, a special being named Kim Hyun-Sung would always solve all the problems, and it wasn’t just Kim Hyun-Sung. Jung Ha-Yan’s protection magic protected the rearguards first before Park Deok-Gu could and whenever the members were in danger, the geniuses would pop out from somewhere and save him. Even at the Cursed Shrine where we fought Juliena, Kim Hyun-Sung was the one who took Juliena down, a monster above epic rank, all by himself, and during the monster wave, Park Deok-Gu didn’t really do anything outstanding. Basically, he was just blending in with the party.

‘Despite the fact that he managed to rack up so much experience points…’

What if the system itself wasn’t recognizing it? What if the system couldn’t determine what job to give him? These were just my assumptions, but I believed experimenting on them had merit. Too many things were bothering me that it was impossible to overlook.

It didn’t matter if he hadn’t unlocked a new job or an attribute. If Park Deok-Gu realized that he was lacking through this expedition, then it would be easier to convince him to accept the serum. If he couldn’t overcome this issue, then we could place him somewhere else other than the main party. However…

‘It’s less likely...’

It was less likely that he would give up on himself, and that was the reason why I came up with this plan. After organizing my thoughts, the corner of my lips went up slightly, and I spoke to Park Deok-Gu again.

“But you should still be on your toes. Even if it’s just a rare-ranked dungeon, we need to keep in mind that an accident can happen.”

“Yeah, Mr. Ki-Young is right,” Kim Ye-Ri agreed.

“I already know that. Since that dude Hyun-Sung won’t be with us, I’ll have to be on my toes even more,” he said.

“But I’m not telling you to go all out because we purposely got a dungeon with low difficulty. Be on your toes, but don’t move hastily,” I advised.

“Ugh… you really didn’t have to purchase a dungeon…” he muttered.

“The other guilds are busy making preparations for when the tutorial dungeon opens up. It was cheap, so there’s no need to feel burdened,” I told him.

“That’s a relief,” he remarked.

It had been a while since I saw him smile. Actually, he smiled pretty often in front of other people to hide his actual feelings, but he looked a bit relaxed right now. If I had to exaggerate, it was as if he wasn’t interested about going to the dungeon. Park Deok-Gu was pretty timid, so I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I was relieved that he wasn’t acting like when he had visited the nest.

‘Not bad.’

His condition wasn’t bad, but I thought that he really wanted to fix the relationship between Jung Ha-Yan and me. He was trying to read Jung Ha-Yan’s expression, and I was sure he was worried about her, as she kept thinking about the code of conduct I had explained to her before.

‘Tsk, that fool.’

It was actually Jung Ha-Yan who should feel bad and apologize for what happened last time. I wasn’t sure why Park Deok-Gu was looking for an opportunity to apologize, but seeing him act like that was kind of cute.

When I looked away, I saw the five party members who were going to join us for this expedition. It was me, Park Deok-Gu, Jung Ha-Yan, Kim Ye-Ri, and a priest who would help us during the expedition. I originally wanted to bring Sun Hee-Young, but the timing wasn’t right. Hwang Jung-Yeon, who was pretty close to Park Deok-Gu, also couldn’t join us because she was playing a huge role on the administration side of the guild.

I thought that Hwang Jung-Yeon could be at the center of this plan, but when thinking about her poor acting skills, it was probably best if she just stayed put. It was an obvious decision when I recalled the Juliena case. Even though Hwang Jung-Yeon loved watching soap operas, her acting was terrible, and aside from me, the other members were horrible actors. Jung Ha-Yan’s awkward hand and body gestures were making Park Deok-Gu feel anxious and Kim Ye-Ri, whose emotions I couldn’t read, had bad acting skills.

‘Bad acting.’

That was why a priest from the Red Mercenary Guild, Ahn Ki-Mo, had joined us. We needed someone who could get rid of the awkward situation that Kim Ye-Ri and Jung Ha-Yan had created.

Park Deok-Gu shattered the ice at the right time.

“Oh, now that I think about it, I don’t think you’ve introduced us to the priest… Introduce him to us if you don’t mind, hyung-nim,” Park Deok-Gu suggested.

“Is this your first time meeting him, Deok-Gu?” I asked.

“Yeah, it is,” he replied.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Deok-Gu. I’m Ahn Ki-Mo.”

“Ohh, so you’re Ki-Mo, bro,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Haha. That’s me. I managed to get in contact while being part of the Red Mercenary Guild, so I decided to join,” Ahn Ki-Mo mentioned.

“Miss Hee-Young’s busy recently, so we used her connections,” I told him.

“Ahh… so that’s what happened,” Ahn Ki-Mo remarked.

I guess Park Deok-Gu was happy that Ahn Ki-Mo had joined us. Surprisingly, he enjoyed meeting new people, and Ahn Ki-Mo had a likable face.

“Thank you for joining us, Mr. Ki-Mo,” I said.

“It’s nothing, Mr. Ki-Young. The Blue Guild and the Red Mercenary Guild are allies, and I was bored anyway. You have no idea how honored I am to be able to join the party that has been the talk of the town recently,” he complimented.

“We’re just lucky. The only dungeons we have cleared are an epic-ranked dungeon and a rare-ranked dungeon,” I informed him.

“The number of dungeons you’ve cleared isn’t important.” He pointed out.

“Hahaha…” I chuckled.

‘He’s a natural…’

From what I had heard, he majored in theater and even though he didn’t get famous, he was pretty known in Daehak-ro[1] . I could remember being told that he was originally a combatant instead of an ordinary priest, but no matter where I looked, I couldn’t see any traces of his experience in close combat. I wasn’t sure if he was trying harder than usual, but on the outside, he looked like an ordinary priest, which made him more than qualified to join our party.

The party members were heading toward the dungeon while chatting with each other. We could have moved faster by riding a carriage, but I thought it would be better to move while talking to each other, so I created a picnic-like atmosphere. It would be good if Jung Ha-Yan's poor acting skills didn't blow her cover, but it would be better if she just outright avoided Park Deok-Gu.

‘This is actually better.’

It was better if she maintained the status quo rather than awkwardly join in.

Kim Ye-Ri would stay quiet and make comments here and there, but thankfully, I didn’t think her friend had influenced her that much.

It didn’t take the friendly Park Deok-Gu long to become close to Ahn Ki-Mo. We took several breaks while walking toward the dungeon, and we spent a lot of time building a camp we were only going to spend a night in. Even though we didn’t drink a lot, we drank while eating and enjoying the atmosphere. I could say that almost everything was perfect up until now, and as someone that had a lot to worry about, taking the chance to relax like this wasn’t so bad. Having a nice scenery, atmosphere, and food was basically a blessing, and the amusing part was that Kim Ye-Ri was surprisingly good at cooking.

“Bridal course,” Kim Ye-Ri said.

She gave a short answer when I asked where she learned to cook, and I couldn’t help but think about that rumor regarding that trash, Kim Hyun-Sung.

Anyway, the party neared the dungeon as we shared different stories and when we got to the point where we couldn’t go back to the city anymore, I discreetly signaled Ahn Ki-Mo. This was the end of the peaceful break, so I thought this was a good time to say something, and Ahn Ki-Mo must have read my signal, as his voice broke the quiet atmosphere.

“I think we’re almost there.”

“You’re right, Mr. Ki-Mo. I think we can enter the dungeon tomorrow morning,” I added.

“You said it was a rare-ranked dungeon, right?” he asked.

“That’s right,” I replied.

“Looking at our party formation, I don’t think we’ll have that big of a problem. With your levels, I’m sure we’ll clear the dungeon easily,” he said.

“Of course. We have Ki-Young hyung-nim and Ha-Yan noonim…” Park Deok-Gu chimed in.

“However, once we approach the vicinity, we’ll have to be on our toes,” Ahn Ki-Mo suggested.

“Ahh… so you’re talking about that incident,” I said.

“So you know about it, Mr. Lee Ki-Young,” he replied.

Park Deok-Gu looked at us as if he was curious about our topic. He had no idea what we were talking about. When Ahn Ki-Mo saw his face, he turned his head and continued.

“Oh, I guess Mr. Deok-Gu doesn’t know about it.”

“What are you talking about?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“Actually, a few years ago, a clan was completely annihilated near this area. There hasn’t been any official announcement, but those from a large guild had probably heard the story at least once,” Ahn Ki-Mo replied.

It was a lie.

“Near here?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“That’s right. During that time, Lindel didn’t make an official announcement about the incident, but those who do know probably know,” he replied.

“About what?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“The Murder Brigade,” Ahn Ki-Mo replied.

The atmosphere became quiet and the slight change in the atmosphere caused Park Deok-Gu to gulp. Even Ahn Ki-Mo, who always had a smile on his face, maintained a slightly nervous expression as he talked.

‘This guy…’

I brought him after hearing that he had great acting skills, but he was obviously really skilled. Despite knowing that this was a lie, I started to feel nervous because of the atmosphere. Ahn Ki-Mo held his hands tightly as cold sweat rolled down his face, and it became clear that he feared the Murder Brigade. His slightly rough breathing and expression were near perfection. So, this was what people meant when they talked about soulful acting.

‘This guy… I actually want to recruit him.’

Ahn Ki-Mo continued as he put all his soul into his acting.

“The Murderer Clan was composed of psychopathic murderers who had moved to the Holy Empire.”

To be precise, it was the clan the deceased psychopathic murderer, Jung Jin-Ho, had created in the future.

‘I owe you today, Jung Jin-Ho!’

I couldn’t help but feel grateful for him.

1. Seoul’s theater and performing arts district ☜