Park Hayeon opened her eyes.
Looking around, she found herself inside some kind of warehouse.
Girls dressed in school uniforms were touching a stone statue.
Her last memory was encountering a ghost in the restroom.
She tilted her head in confusion at the sudden change in location.
In front of Park Hayeon, a semi-transparent window appeared.
————<Game>—————-
[You are the bystander.
Follow the orders of Hwang Harin and kill Jang Seo-yoon, then cover it up.]
————————————
Park Hayeon had arrived at the moment Hwang Harin had just finished petrifying Jang Seo-yoon completely.
She had no idea that the stone statue the group was handling was originally a person.
Hwang Harin’s best friend, Lee Yeonhwa, entered the warehouse with a large sledgehammer.
“Hey, this should be enough, right?”
“Yeah! Good job finding it, Yeonhwa.”
Lee Yeonhwa’s skill was ‘Monstrous Strength.’
It allowed her to temporarily pump up her strength attribute.
She lifted the hammer above her head and brought it down with force.
Bang.
The statue split in half.
Hwang Harin’s group felt an odd thrill from doing something they should not have been doing.
They also felt the fear of getting caught, but because they were doing it together, that fear transformed into excitement.
Park Hayeon had figured out that she had entered a dungeon from the semi-transparent window that appeared earlier, but she didn’t know what to do.
Puzzle-type dungeons were common in movies, but due to her impoverished life in a rural area, she had never come into contact with such media.
So she didn’t even realize that the people in front of her were monsters.
Bang. Bang.
Before long, the stone statue was completely shattered, reduced to rubble.
“Haa. Haa. This should be enough, right? Should we bury it somewhere in the mountains?”
“What about flushing it down the toilet? That seems fitting for a trashy woman who steals other people’s boyfriends.”
“Mihee seems to know a thing or two.”
They laughed as they placed the stone powder into a bag.
Park Hayeon felt a sense of discomfort from the group’s words.
‘Trashy woman? What are these people doing by pulverizing the statue? Are they casting some kind of curse?’
Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked.
“What are you guys talking about? What’s so special about this statue?”
“You. What are you talking about? You were with us, weren’t you? Are you trying to distance yourself from all this?”
“Huh? Distance myself?”
“Jang Seo-yoon. Once I turned her into stone with my ‘Petrification’ skill, she’s as good as dead. There’s no reversing it.”
Park Hayeon was shocked.
The thing they had just pulverized wasn’t a statue; it was a petrified person.
She was filled with the thought that she could have saved them if she had intervened at the right moment.
Swish.
Park Hayeon drew her sword.
She silently thanked Shinnoda.
Because of him, she was able to have a sword now.
At that moment, Park Hayeon cared about nothing but taking down the villain in front of her, whether it was a dungeon or anything else.
Hwang Harin smirked at Park Hayeon when she drew her sword.
“What are you doing? Are you seriously trying to attack me with that?”
Without warning, Park Hayeon suddenly lunged at Hwang Harin.
Zzzt.
A golden lightning strike covered Hwang Harin.
It was a surprise attack with no prelude.
Hwang Harin’s body shook violently as she was electrocuted.
The full power of Park Hayeon’s lightning strike, fueled by all her mana, had hit her.
Park Hayeon had completely drained her mana, meaning she wouldn’t be able to use ‘Electrokinesis’ for a while, but she judged that sealing Hwang Harin’s ‘Petrification’ skill was worth it.
“Harin!”
Lee Yeonhwa stepped forward and ordered her gang.
“I’ll stall them. You go help Harin.”
The rest of the group supported Hwang Harin and exited the gym storage room.
What remained were Park Hayeon and the girl wielding the sledgehammer.
Park Hayeon took the initiative, rapidly closing the distance as she unleashed a barrage of attacks.
Lee Yeonhwa backed off, panicked.
Given the long reach of her sledgehammer, getting into close combat made it difficult to attack.
“Gyaa!”
Lee Yeonhwa had trouble defending against Park Hayeon’s relentless attacks.
What Park Hayeon didn’t realize, however, was Lee Yeonhwa’s ‘Monstrous Strength’ skill.
With it, she could swing the large sledgehammer like a twig.
The opening that came from Park Hayeon’s aggressive offense was seized by Lee Yeonhwa, who swung the hammer utilizing ‘Monstrous Strength.’
Faster than expected, the hammer struck Park Hayoen in the side.
“Guh.”
Lee Yeonhwa, being a dungeon monster and not a normal human, activated ‘Guardian of the Species,’ reducing the damage dealt.
Despite avoiding a fatal blow thanks to the damage reduction, the hammer’s power was still immense.
Park Hayeon was thrown and smashed against the corner of the warehouse.
“Khaa.”
Spitting out blood, Park Hayeon struggled to stand up.
Lee Yeonhwa felt fear at this sight.
To withstand a direct hit from the sledgehammer and still stand – it wasn’t normal.
‘She could be a higher-tier than me…!’
As the warehouse door opened and Hwang Harin’s gang started to appear, this time armed with knuckles and knives, Lee Yeonhwa smirked confidently.
“Why are you suddenly doing this? Do you want to end up like Jang Seo-yoon?”
“Damn cocky bastard, striking from behind like that.”
Park Hayeon’s vision went dark.
The enemy’s numbers were overwhelming.
‘Even if I were to give up on subduing them, it seems I can’t win anyway.’
There were several moments earlier when Park Hayeon could’ve killed Lee Yeonhwa.
But her belief in non-lethal combat held her back.
The cost of that pride soon became clear.
She was now in a situation where she might die immediately.
They closed in from all sides, tightening their ring around her.
There was no winning a fight against so many.
Park Hayeon, cornered, could only try her best to defend herself.
She managed to dodge or block most of the attempts to stab her, but couldn’t stop the small slashes, and soon her body was covered with minor wounds.
“Haa… haa…”
Breathing heavily, Park Hayeon glared at her enemies.
She was so exhausted that even standing was becoming difficult.
‘This is the end, huh. I wanted to become a hero and meet that person…’
The hero who had saved both her and her younger brother in an accident when she was a child.
She wanted to become like him.
Not like the heroes on TV who are recognized by everyone, but a quiet, steadfast hero who saves people in their own way.
‘Even if I die doing the right thing, I won’t regret it.’
Just as she was about to give up, the doors of the storage room opened.
Shinnoda and Ji Soyeon entered.
*
As we opened the door, the sharp smell of blood and mold greeted us.
Sure enough, Park Hayeon was in a fight with a group of delinquents.
Park Hayeon appeared to have been pushed to the brink of collapse.
I pointed my sword at them.
These were the delinquents who had killed Jang Seo-yoon and were judged as C-rank monsters, with their leader, Hwang Harin, at B-rank level.
Honestly, aside from Hwang Harin, they weren’t much.
Looking further, Hwang Harin wasn’t among the group of delinquents.
Did Park Hayoen already take her out?
‘So she really is the protagonist.’
I was slightly impressed and charged forward like a raging fire.
In fights with humanoid monsters, especially human forms, momentum is key.
No matter how strong a human is, if they fear, they can’t even unleash half their power.
The delinquents who had surrounded Park Hayeon retreated from me, scattering in all directions.
This allowed me to reach Park Hayoen.
I pulled out a potion from my pocket and handed it to her.
“Heal yourself.”
The delinquents scowled and reformed their circle.
‘Hmph. If I use my decapitation skill, they would be wiped out instantly.’
The fight would be easily resolved with ‘Mist Shadow Martial Arts.’
But to avoid exposing my identity as the ‘Dark Knight,’ I was enduring and engaging in grueling physical combat.
It was already the umpteenth fight of the day, and the accumulated fatigue weighed heavily on my body.
Breathless, I tried my best to hide it, keeping a calm demeanor to convey, “You guys aren’t even worth my attention.”
Because of this, the delinquents hesitated to attack me rashly.
Eventually, I was the first to make a move.
Out of those forming the circle, there were three.
On the far right, a brown-haired girl wielding a sledgehammer.
She was both breathing heavily and clearly distracted.
I didn’t waste time and charged at her like lightning, striking her neck.
A fountain of red blood sprayed out.
“Yeonhwa!”
The head of the girl named Yeonhwa rolled to the floor.
Somewhere, the sound of someone vomiting could be heard.
It was probably Ji Soyeon.
I didn’t stop there.
The others were at their most vulnerable state—shaken by the loss of a comrade.
The middle delinquent, armed with a knife.
With my sword, I lunged for her neck.
“Urgh!”
But contrary to my expectations, the blade couldn’t puncture any further.
At the same time, I felt an excruciating pain in my wrist.
“Why…!”
A blue barrier encircling her neck.
It was a defensive skill.
The semi-transparent barrier stopped my blade from advancing further.
I had never factored in her abilities.
That’s why I had Laura!
“Lord Laura….”
I muttered quietly.
“……. I do not know. Some unknown force is interfering with my intervention. Since entering this dungeon, I’ve been unable to do anything.”
Laura’s weak response.
So it seemed we wouldn’t be benefiting from Dispelling here in this dungeon.
Still, impressive that she managed to block a physical attack with A-rank strength.
She was definitely a C-rank monster prioritizing intelligence.
Even with F-rank strength and agility but A-rank intelligence, her overall rank was still C.
The issue wasn’t that my attack was blocked.
It was that the force I had used in my attack rebounded, affecting my own wrist.
I lost my grip on the sword as my wrist bent unnaturally.
It was either cracked or broken, judging by how powerless my hand now felt.
“Damn!”
I didn’t panic and immediately shifted to my next move.
I couldn’t give them any time.
Faking a punch with my left hand, my real force was in a low kick.
She used her defensive barrier to block the fake punch, and thus my low kick hit her squarely.
“Khaa!”
She lost her balance and kneeled down on one knee.
Not missing the opportunity, I grabbed her head with both hands and slammed it into my knee.
She dropped her knife and collapsed.
I wasn’t unscathed either.
My already weakened right wrist took the brunt of the struggle.
“Khraa…”
Excruciating pain spread throughout my body.
At that moment, I felt a tremendous impact on my face.
It was likely another delinquent’s full-force punch aimed at me.
I didn’t even think about dodging the punch that came from my blind spot.
I turned my head and saw a gloved fist heading toward me again.
It was a follow-up attack.
Once you start getting hit, your brain gets shaken, and normal thinking becomes nearly impossible.
I lost my focus and my vision began to narrow.
“Khheug…”
The punches just kept coming.
‘This fucking hurts. Knuckle boxing is a dirty trick.’
If there was no outside help, I would’ve kept getting pummeled.
Luckily, I had backup.
“Haaaargh!”
The delinquent’s punches stopped.
Park Hayeon had struck the delinquent’s head with the flat side of her sword.
Shaking off the dizziness, I said weakly:
“L-l-let’s… kill her. Quickly.”
“Kill? Even villains deserve a fair legal judgment. What you did earlier was justified as self-defense.”
I almost choked.
How could she say that while looking at my battered face?
‘Park Hayeon!’
Who am I protecting all this for?
Even so, I maintained a calm tone.
“These aren’t humans. They are monsters.”
I staggered toward the fallen delinquent, raised my sword with my left hand, and plunged it into their back.
The delinquent convulsed briefly before dying.
As I bent down to show Park Hayeon the orb of growth from the corpse, the warehouse door opened.
Hwang Harin walked in, her eyes gleaming with malice.
Immediately, Park Hayeon extended her hand, but her arm began turning gray.
“Park Hayeon!”
I grabbed my sword with my left hand, sprang up like a coiled spring, and charged at Hwang Harin.
A single devastating stab.
I wasn’t sure if it would connect.
The tip of my blade, extended forward, was beginning to petrify.
There was a possibility I’d turn completely to stone before reaching Hwang Harin.
In that fleeting moment, I hesitated.
‘Should I use Mist Shadow Martial Arts?’
Using the skill would highly likely expose my identity in the long run.
Considering Park Hayeon would also become a hero, eventually she would meet ‘Dark Knight,’ and thus I would have to deal with it when the time came.
