Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 51

EP.51 A Mysterious Seedling

Jeong-hyeon tossed Lea onto the ground like a fish caught from the sea. Lucia, who had been watching from the front, jumped up in surprise. He thought it was amusing that she still reacted this way, even though she should have gotten used to it by now.

He then briefly conveyed his request.

“Please heal her.”

“Huh…? Yes!”

Lucia stammered, her expression uneasy as she began to channel her divine power. He watched as Lea’s wounds slowly began to close, his mind drifting into thought.

‘So, what should I do with this one?’

Having caught her, he had so many things he wanted to do that he didn’t know where to start. As he contemplated his options, he realized that having too many choices could sometimes be a disadvantage. Deciding to start with what needed to be done, he drew his sword.

‘I should begin by improving my stats, then move on to the revenge part.’

Decided to approach this matter rationally, he drove the sword into Lea’s thigh to jolt her awake.

“Get up.”

“Ugh…?!”

Lea jolted upright from the sudden surge of pain, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and confusion as she stared at him. Jeong-hyeon gave her a bright smile, a thought that had occasionally crossed his mind surfacing now.

“I’ve always wondered just how strong a bishop’s resistance to divine power would be. Care to help me find out?”

At his question, Lea’s body trembled violently. She screamed in desperation, as if trying to cling to something.

“Hero… Hero! You’re being deceived by that wicked saintess! All of this is a curse made through brainwashing!”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of her words. The reason for his revenge was rooted in what these people had done to him, yet here was Lea, unable to remember any of that and instead blaming the innocent Lucia. It was utterly laughable.

‘It’s comforting how consistent she is.’

If Lea had sought forgiveness and repented, Jeong-hyeon might have shown some mercy. He wouldn’t have forgiven her, of course, but at least he might have offered a more peaceful death. Her blatant shamelessness only made him feel thankful. Grateful for the confirmation that Lea was indeed trash, Jeong-hyeon spoke.

“When you say ‘hero,’ are you referring to me?”

Lea frantically nodded at his question. Jeong-hyeon let out a dry chuckle and replied curtly.

“Why would I be your hero? You’re spouting nonsense.”

“B-but you have the same divine power and even the same appearance!”

“My appearance? You think I look like the hero? You keep spewing nonsense. Are you just lying to avoid torture?”

Feigning genuine confusion, Jeong-hyeon watched as Lea, lacking any concrete evidence to support her suspicions, began to question herself. A conflicted expression crossed her face before she cried out in desperation again.

“The wretched saintess must have erased your memories, causing you to forget your true identity as the Hero. Please, don’t trust that vile saintess. Trust me, your former comrade!”

At those words, he felt a sense of awe. Did this bastard really not remember what she had done? He laughed in amazement at the sight of the perpetrator crying out as if she were the victim.

‘Incredible, in so many ways.’

Judging by her expression, it didn’t seem like she was saying that to deceive him. It felt more like she genuinely believed what she was saying. He laughed for a while before silently stabbing her in the lower abdomen with his sword.

“I don’t care.”

“Aaah! Ugh… I’m telling the truth… ugh!”

“I said, I don’t care.”

Her screams echoed through the dormitory room. He smiled in satisfaction as he watched, but Lucia, who had been observing from the side, slowly spoke to him.

“Um… Jeong-hyeon.”

“What is it?”

Lucia fidgeted nervously, struggling to get the words out. It seemed like she found it difficult to say what was on her mind. Considering the hesitation, Jeong-hyeon assumed she was going to ask him to stop the torture because of Lea’s status as a ‘Bishop.’ He prepared to refuse when she finally spoke.

“Well… didn’t you say that it hurts more if you heal someone with the sword still in them? Should I do that?”

Her completely unexpected response left Jeong-hyeon momentarily stunned.

“…What?”

“If you’re going to torture her, I think it’s better to do it properly… Oh, but if you don’t want me to, just ignore what I said!”

“No, it’s a really good idea, but…”

Even so, having a saintess recommend a method of torture felt a bit off. Looking at Lucia’s eager expression, for the first time, Jeong-hyeon could sense the weight of his own karma growing. Lucia, filled with enthusiasm, began to taunt Lea.

“… Bishop Lea! Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t die!”

“…Saintess… I swear I will kill you!”

“You shouldn’t say such bad things!”

Although her tone sounded kind, the content of her words was nothing short of brutal. Jeong-hyeon, left speechless by Lucia’s twisted spirit, silently raised his sword and plunged it into Lea’s thigh.

***

[Congratulations! Your stats have increased!]

Seeing the message that his stats had gone up, Jeong-hyeon provided Lea with some basic healing before tossing her back into the subspace. After all, since Lea was a tool he’d need to use for a long time, it wouldn’t be wise to overuse her now.

‘It’s going to be much easier to grind my stats from now on.’

Perhaps because it was the first round of torture, Lea’s ‘self-healing’ hadn’t worked as effectively. Still, Jeong-hyeon believed that with proper training, it could be improved. Satisfied with this, he turned his gaze elsewhere, only to see Lucia standing by with a disappointed expression on her face.

‘……’

Jeong-hyeon wondered if this was how Miria felt when she looked at him. He tried to ignore Lucia’s disappointment and began to think about his next steps.

‘For now, it’s best to use Lea’s name for a while.’

If he went around beating up people from the kingdom using Lea’s name, all the responsibility and consequences would fall on Lea. By continuously piling up these misdeeds and consequences, there would come a point when everything would explode, forcing the kingdom and the church to cross a line of no return.

‘Right now, the kingdom has no choice but to endure, so they won’t be able to say anything.’

But if the damage became too severe, it would inevitably explode. Therefore, he decided to use Lea’s name to drive a wedge between the two factions, and he began to plan the groundwork for this.

“Miria?”

“Huh?”

Miria looked at him with a somewhat reluctant expression, probably because she had witnessed the torture scene earlier. He gave her instructions on what needed to be done.

“Can you spread a rumor that Lea is conspiring with Marpe?”

“It’s not hard to spread rumors, but… what kind of conspiracy should I spread?”

At her question, Jeong-hyeon smiled and whispered the kind of rumor that would cause the most chaos for them. As soon as Miria heard it, her eyes widened in shock, and she gasped.

***

At this point, Jeong-hyeon considered himself relatively strong. However, he wasn’t yet powerful enough to reveal his identity and act recklessly without consequence. He needed to grow stronger for the upcoming ‘kingdom award ceremony.’

‘The ideal scenario would be to level up before going to the kingdom.’

With that in mind, Jeong-hyeon decided to prioritize accumulating the few remaining achievement points he needed for a level up. He wondered if there were any ways to quickly gain achievements, so he asked Miria about it.

“Miria, do you know any ways to earn achievements?”

Still reeling from what she had just heard, Miria spaced out for a moment before finally snapping back to reality.

“Huh… what?”

She looked a bit out of it. Jeong-hyeon shook his head slightly to snap her out of it. Miria gave an awkward smile and apologized.

“Sorry… what you just told me was pretty shocking… Anyway, you were asking about achievements, right?”

Jeong-hyeon nodded slightly, and Miria paused to think before responding.

“Well, it varies depending on the historical context, the group or faction you’re part of, and your specific circumstances, so it’s hard to give a clear answer… But maybe you could earn achievements by conquering a dungeon that no one has been able to conquer, or by defeating a monster that’s only known in legends?”

“… A monster?”

Jeong-hyeon showed a hint of surprise at the mention of monsters. Typically, in RPGs, people focus on slaying more monsters, but he realized he had killed far more humans than monsters.

‘……’

Not sure how to express this realization, Jeong-hyeon hesitated. Miria, noticing his puzzled expression, tilted her head in curiosity.

“Well, should I look into any dungeons or monsters for you?”

As expected from the perceptive Miria, she suggested exactly what Jeong-hyeon needed. He accepted her proposal and nodded.

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“Then I’ll gather information about undiscovered dungeons and wanted monsters and let you know.”

While Miria prepared, he decided it would be a good time to use Marpe for enhancing his stats. He called over Lucia, who was idly playing nearby, and asked her to heal again. He then took Marpe out from the subspace.

***

While he was deeply focused on training, Lucia suddenly called him urgently, tugging at his sleeve. Curious, he looked over to see Lucia holding the seedling.

“The seedling is growing!”

Not that it had grown, but that it was growing. He looked at it with a puzzled expression and saw that, as Lucia said, the seedling was visibly growing. He spoke to Lucia in a bewildered voice.

“I think it needs to change the pot.”

“Y-Yes! It seems like I need to change it as soon as possible!”

Wondering what kind of seedling it was to grow so quickly, he told Lucia to put it in a nearby container for now. He was thinking about going out to buy a proper pot when a message appeared before his eyes.

[The mysterious seedling has grown into a sapling!]

*-*

[Mysterious Sapling]

– A sapling never seen before. The ■■ are desperately searching for this seed.

– Placing the lost holy sword nearby may trigger an interaction.

*-*

The description had changed. Curious, Jeong-hyeon retrieved the holy sword he had acquired from the auction house and carefully placed it in the container with the sapling. The two began to resonate, glowing and emitting a buzzing sound.

[The holy sword is merging with the sapling!]

The message about the holy sword merging with the sapling puzzled him. Watching in disbelief, the holy sword literally melted away and disappeared into the soil. Unable to hide his confusion at the disappearance, another message soon appeared.

[Holy Sword Restoration in Progress – 0%]