**Episode 3: A Lucky Day (3)**

“Kyaaaaaaaak!”

“What on earth is that sound? Did a bomb just go off?”

“Shit! Don’t you know bombs are forbidden in dungeons? Which bastard did this?”

The formation quickly disintegrated into chaos, and the air filled with clamorous voices.

‘What’s happening?’

Jaehyun scanned the dungeon interior with dizzy eyes.

But there were no signs of an explosion anywhere.

‘It definitely sounded like an explosion…’

Then.

Strange black smoke began to rise from the ground.

Hssssss…

The smoke quickly spread, completely obscuring their vision.

“Cough! Ack!”

“Hack! What the heck is this?!”

Jaehyun quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve while squinting his eyes.

The black mist that enveloped them wasn’t just a simple fog.

‘Is this… poison gas?’

Poison gas.

A special kind of mist that, when inhaled, has a poisonous effect.

‘If I breathe this in for too long, I’ll die. I need to get out of here fast.’

“Mr. Jaehyun, we need to get out of here quickly. This gas… it’s definitely dangerous.”

Myungho Lee, who had come alongside him, said while covering his mouth with his sleeve.

Jaehyun nodded and shouted.

“Everyone! We need to get out of here fas—”

Before he could finish, he clamped his mouth shut.

“Kuhuk!”

“Myungho hyung!”

A sharp blade had pierced through the chest of Myungho Lee, standing beside Jaehyun.

Jaehyun bit his lip.

‘This isn’t a dungeon trap.’

Not just Myungho; cries of others being attacked could be heard all around.

The dungeon was abruptly hit by a storm of blood.

‘I need to get away.’

Tap, tap, tap.

Jaehyun swiftly moved out of his spot, continuously adjusting his thoughts.

The sudden explosion sound, the dungeon filled with poisonous mist, and the murders.

Chills ran down his entire body in an instant.

‘This isn’t the work of monsters.’

* * *

“Huff… hah…”

Having narrowly escaped the poison gas and the assassins’ attacks, Jaehyun burrowed deeper into the dungeon.

He thought simultaneously.

If the assassins aimed to wipe out the entire Meteor Guild?

Heading for the exit could be deadly.

They would likely be slain by the assassination squad waiting at the entrance.

In times like this, making a rescue call from within the dungeon would be much safer.

‘Dammit! What’s happening? …No, now’s not the time to think about that.’

Jaehyun took out the smartphone from his coat pocket and turned it on.

If he makes a rescue request now, there was still enough chance to survive.

“How could I die here so obediently with a mythical item I’ve worked so hard to obtain?”

Just as Jaehyun was about to access the emergency dungeon summoning app on his smartphone.

Rumble! Bang!

A fierce lightning bolt grazed Jaehyun’s shoulder and struck the wall behind him.

“Gah!”

Jaehyun kicked off the ground. He tumbled and narrowly avoided the incoming lightning.

‘What? Who is…?’

“As expected, if it was you, hyung, I knew you would survive.”

Hearing the voice, Jaehyun’s face contorted fiercely.

With a trembling voice, Jaehyun addressed the person standing before him.

“…Jeong Woomin.”

* * *

“I told you. I’d come to see you today.”

Jeong Woomin walked toward Jaehyun with a smile, his presence exuding a completely different aura from yesterday. The black hood he wore and the angular horn-rimmed glasses gave off an indescribable sense of unease.

Jaehyun, without taking his eyes off Jeong Woomin, asked with a sharp voice.

“Did you do all of this? Are you responsible for the poison gas and the attack on the Meteor Guild?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Jeong Woomin admitted it without hesitation. His expression showed no trace of guilt. Instead of his usual benign smile, a mischievous and alien face was in its place.

Jaehyun was taken aback, but he kept his composure and calmly inquired.

“Why?”

“Well, simply because my client asked me to. Moreover… there are so many who dislike the Meteor Guild.

How could you not gain enmity after so blatantly dismissing the other guilds as nothing?”

Jaehyun bit his lip.

Of course, he had heard stories about the Meteor Guild expanding and disregarding other guilds, especially those made up of martial combatants.

But to attack from behind like this…

‘I thought it was just a little rivalry between guilds… My miscalculation. Damn it.’

“Huh…”

Jaehyun steadied his breathing.

Regrettably, the guild business had to be set aside. What mattered was to assess the situation at hand.

‘The chances of a murder happening in a dungeon being exposed to the outside world are practically nil. Even when a crime occurs, most cases are closed on the testimony of a witness.’

Dungeon assassination contractors.

In recent times, they labeled those exploiting the privacy of dungeons to commit murders. This attack on the Meteor Guild was likely a crime using legal loopholes.

‘Dammit.’

Jaehyun gritted his teeth as he gazed at Jeong Woomin standing before him.

The vivid blue mana surging throughout his body.

‘He’s not someone I can beat with my current abilities.’

Jeong Woomin was an A-rank mage, one of the top 2 percent of geniuses across the entire nation.

On the other hand, Jaehyun was just D-rank, neither strong nor weak, just mid to lower-tier.

Moreover, Jaehyun couldn’t use the power of the Aesir System at this moment.

‘I just need to keep my mouth shut. Then he won’t kill me. After all, I’m not their target. It may be cowardly… but there’s no other way.’

Of course, Jaehyun would have loved to avenge the dead Meteor Guild members, and those who had fought on the front lines, especially Myungho Lee.

However, realistically speaking, there was nothing Jaehyun could do.

After the Yggdrasil had manifested and Awakeners had appeared, the world had become miserably petty toward the weak.

And Jaehyun was a resident of the lowest tier of that pyramid.

‘Sigh.’

His pride was wounded, but he had no choice but to bow his head in this situation.

After collecting his thoughts, Jaehyun finally spoke with difficulty.

“Jeong Woomin, I’ll pretend that today’s events never happened. So…”

At that moment.

Jeong Woomin interrupted him and took another step forward.

“Hyung, did you know?”

RUMBLE!!

The yellow lightning from Jeong Woomin’s hand closed the distance to Jaehyun in an instant.

CRASH!

Jaehyun rolled away just in time to avoid the sharp attack. Blood was oozing from his grazed forearm and cheek.

‘If I had reacted even slightly later… I’d have been dead for sure.’

Jeong Woomin’s attack was instantaneous, a clearly hostile strike. It was much too powerful to be dismissed as a mere joke.

Jeong Woomin looked at Jaehyun’s rigid face and smiled chillingly.

“The target for this dungeon isn’t just the Meteor Guild.”

* * *

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The relentless assault of “Chains of Lightning”.

Mages ranked B and above like Jeong Woomin could invoke magic simply by mental casting.

Rune language.

Their understanding of the language, which is the basis of magic, is far higher than others.

Of course, vocalizing the spells would create a stronger effect, but dealing with Jaehyun, who was only D-rank, even that level of power was sufficient.

Jaehyun, his body drenched in blood, bit his lip.

‘I need to figure a way out. I have to escape this.’

Jeong Woomin’s attacks continued relentlessly. While Jaehyun dodged the lightning, he contemplated who could have hired someone to kill him.

And finally.

A figure flashed through Jaehyun’s mind.

His body shook, and his expression twisted violently.

Jeong Woomin, noticing Jaehyun’s face, stopped his attack and watched with a look of interest.

A fierce light filled Jaehyun’s eyes.

“…Was it my father’s doing?”

Seeing Jaehyun’s contorted face like never before, Jeong Woomin seemed even more elated, laughing in response.

“See? I like you, hyung. You’re smart.”

Jaehyun clenched his fist. Blood trailed from his tightly closed lips, his body trembling with clear fury.

His own blood relation, his father, had contracted his murder?

Certainly, his father had never considered him a son and had treated him like worthless trash.

But still. Wasn’t this beyond crossing the line? Having a murder contractor kill his son?

Then, an unsettling thought flashed through Jaehyun’s mind.

‘If that’s the case… could it be!’

Overwhelmed with a sense of betrayal, Jaehyun spoke with difficulty.

“Just one question.”

Jeong Woomin shrugged his shoulders in response to Jaehyun’s serious face. It was a sort of permission.

“Has that man ever requested such a thing before? I mean, about 5 years ago…”

“You guessed that right, too? Impressive.”

Thud.

Jaehyun’s brow furrowed fiercely; it felt as if his breath had caught in his throat.

His heartbeat echoed loudly, and soon, hot tears welled up in his eyes.

Five years ago, Jaehyun’s mother had died to a burglary homicide during a cold winter. His mother, who had cherished him terribly, turned into a cold corpse transported to the morgue.

The autopsy concluded it was a homicide by a third party. For Jaehyun, who was only twenty-two at the time, it was an unbelievably harsh reality.

Tears kept flowing.

Having promised to repay his mother’s youth bit by bit, he was just a son who only received without giving anything in return.

But by that time, his mother had already left his side.

After the incident, Jaehyun frequented the police station, working hard to find the culprit. However, the criminal was more meticulous than anticipated. Leaving no trace anywhere, the case remained unsolved.

Although five years had passed, hate for the murderer of his mother still lingered in Jaehyun’s heart. A hatred so deep he wished to kill the culprit on the spot.

Now, he knew where to direct that hatred.

Jeong Woomin. And his father.

The entire truth had come to light.

His mother, Lee Sunhwa, was killed by his father and the very Jeong Woomin before him.

His stomach churned. Secretly, Jaehyun had some suspicions. After all, his parents never got along well.

However.

It was too brutal to think of his father as a murderer of his mother.

The only remaining family.

The fear of losing someone to rely on was intimidating. So, he chose to trust. Despite a few questionable details.

But now.

‘Is this what my faith has come to?’

Bitter laughter burst forth with the hot tears.

Anger seethed.

His father who killed his only wife and now was trying to kill his child.

Jeong Woomin, who had always kindly looked after even low-ranking raiders like himself.

‘From now on… I trust no one.’

Jeong Woomin started raising his mana again, leaving the deep in thought Jaehyun behind, creating more lightning. The “Chains of Lightning” he handled so well.

Zap, zap, zap…

The lightning, shaped like sharp chains, roared ferociously as if to tear Jaehyun apart at any moment.

“Well, that’s how it is.”

Jeong Woomin’s eyes curled up.

“Goodbye, hyung.”