Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 53

EP.53 The End of The Trap

Jeong-hyeon stacked the people he had previously picked up from the auction house in one corner and fell into a brief moment of contemplation. While it wouldn’t be difficult to kill any ten of them, he wanted to avoid eliminating those who might be useful later. So, he felt the need to sort them.

‘You never know when or where they might come in handy.’

With that in mind, he decided to call Miria, who was waiting outside, to help with the sorting process. As he was about to go get her, a good idea suddenly came to him. He figured he could take out one person for interrogation purposes.

Jeong-hyeon then stepped out of the dungeon. Outside, he spotted Miria dodging the dust and flitting about nervously. He waved at her, and Miria, noticing him, approached with a look of surprise on her face.

“…Are you done already?”

He shook his head and motioned with his hand for her to come closer. Miria looked puzzled but approached him anyway.

“What’s wrong? Is something up?”

“I need your help sorting these people out.”

He grabbed her wrist to pull her along.

“Wait, hold on!”

Ignoring her startled reaction, he led Miria back to the place where the hostages were piled up.

***

“…Wow.”

Miria let out a gasp of astonishment at the sight of the human pile, then made a brief comment.

“Seeing all these people, the so-called elites of society, piled up like this… It’s quite a sight.”

Jeong-hyeon chuckled softly and explained his earlier thoughts. Miria nodded in agreement and spoke.

“If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be too hard. Give me a moment; I’ll sort them out right away.”

“Thanks.”

Miria nodded and began to circle the hostages, sorting them as she went. About thirty minutes passed. Miria, holding a small notebook she had pulled out from somewhere, jotted down their personal details, checked through the list, and spoke to him.

“Sorting’s done.”

“Already?”

It was impressive that she had finished so quickly, given there were over a hundred people. Miria, looking proud, explained.

“It’s not hard. I just wrote down what I already knew.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But honestly… the people piled up here are all trash. They make you lose faith in humanity.”

Jeong-hyeon smiled silently as Miria began listing their crimes one by one.

“Exploitation and extortion are just the basics. There’s assault, murder, rape…”

It seemed like they had committed every crime imaginable.

As Jeong-hyeon listened to her words, he silently stared at the people lying before him. Miria, who had been listing their crimes, sighed deeply and spoke to him.

“Honestly, I’d like to kill them myself.”

Upon hearing this, Jeong-hyeon offered her his sword.

“Want to do it, then?”

Miria recoiled, waving her hands frantically and shaking her head.

“No, I didn’t mean it literally… I just meant they’re that much of trash.”

“Yeah. Anyway, pick out ten who wouldn’t matter if they died.”

“Okay.”

Not wanting to leave the rest out in the open where they could die, he decided to put them back into the subspace. Following Miria’s categorization, he left out ten for the sacrifice and one for interrogation, then stored the rest in the subspace.

***

By the time Jeong-hyeon had sacrificed nine, the one he had set aside for interrogation began to regain consciousness. If Lucia had been here, she could have healed his wounds, but since she wasn’t, he used a low-grade potion Miria had given him to stop the bleeding.

“……”

His face was pale, mixed with an expression of anger. He seemed to realize quickly that Jeong-hyeon was behind all this and tried to shout something at him, but upon seeing the pile of corpses nearby, he fell silent.

“… Ugh.”

The man clutched his wound with one hand, glaring at Jeong-hyeon. Meeting his gaze, Jeong-hyeon calmly drove his sword into the chest of the last person he had set aside for sacrifice. As he did, he spoke quietly.

“I won’t waste words. Tell me everything you know.”

Seeing someone killed so nonchalantly must have been disturbing; the man let out a piercing scream like a slaughtered pig. Jeong-hyeon sighed and approached him.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“I-I hear you.”

“Then stop wasting my time and spill everything you know. Now.”

“S-so, they found gold in the Melis Mine recently—”

Before the man could finish, Jeong-hyeon plunged his sword into the man’s thigh and twisted it, sending waves of pain through his body. The man screamed in agony, tears streaming down his face.

“AAAAAHHH!”

Jeong-hyeon deliberately introduced this element of ‘injustice’ to heighten the man’s tension. Writhing in pain from the agony coursing through his thigh, the man pleaded with Jeong-hyeon.

“What—what do you want? I’ll tell you anything, just please!”

“All the kingdom’s secrets.”

The man’s eyes darted frantically as he pondered his options. He was probably weighing the risks and benefits of speaking versus staying quiet. Seeing that the man still had the luxury of thought, Jeong-hyeon thrust his sword into the man’s calf.

“Does it sound like a joke when I say it?”

“AAAAHH! Wait… just wait a moment!”

“Why do noble brats always seem to struggle with understanding simple things?”

Jeong-hyeon wondered aloud, preparing to thrust his sword into the man’s arm. Just then, the man, voice quivering with fear and tears, blurted out a piece of shocking information.

“T-the recent joint exam at the academy… it was actually a sacrificial ritual planned by the kingdom!”

A sacrificial ritual?

Jeong-hyeon tilted his head, signaling for the man to elaborate. Sensing the opportunity to save his own skin, the man continued speaking in a trembling voice.

“Ugh… It’s one thing to throw first-year students, who barely have any combat experience, into the Labyrinth Dungeon, but doesn’t it seem odd that no preventive or monitoring measures were properly put in place?”

It was indeed strange. The joint exam was a major event, drawing countless people to see their sons, daughters, or relatives in action. It was conducted under conditions that almost guaranteed an incident.

‘Thinking about it, the academy would have prioritized a safe and incident-free event above all else. Conducting it in a dangerous place without proper monitoring doesn’t make sense.’

At this point, it became clear to Jeong-hyeon that someone had intentionally manipulated the situation.

“… The whole thing was planned to cause an incident, but the kingdom didn’t expect the dungeon to go berserk, so they had to postpone their plans.”

Their plans? What could they have intended that required the sacrifice of first-year students? Jeong-hyeon pressed for more information.

“W-well, that…”

As the man was about to reveal the truth, a surge of powerful mana erupted, and his head exploded, cutting off his confession.

***

The area was splattered with blood. Although Jeong-hyeon had obtained some crucial information, the lingering sense of unease overshadowed any satisfaction. The main question still loomed: Why did the kingdom do this, and what were they trying to achieve?

‘I can’t figure it out.’

Unable to glean any more insights, he shook the blood off his sword with a sigh. Just then, a message appeared before his eyes.

[Congratulations! You have satisfied the Altar of Sacrifice.]

Jeong-hyeon watched as the massive stone door before him opened to the sides. Deciding to proceed, he entered, leaving Miria behind. He had to complete this dungeon to gain achievements and rewards.

As he descended the long passageway, he wondered what could be hidden so deep underground. The smell of blood grew stronger, far more intense than what he had encountered earlier.

‘…Blood?’

An ominous feeling spread through him. As he descended further, he encountered dozens of skeletons, far stronger than the ones he had seen above, blocking his path.

‘Interesting.’

He had heard that sacrificing just ten would grant him a reward, but upon entering, all that greeted him were skeletons. It confirmed his belief that rumors couldn’t always be trusted. Spreading his divine power, Jeong-hyeon crushed the skeletons into the ground and charged forward.

Though he encountered skeletons blocking his path about ten more times, they weren’t particularly powerful. With the aid of his Domain Declaration, he managed to clear them out with ease. The journey was long, but not particularly challenging, allowing him to reach the final area.

‘This better be worth it.’

Determined to make up for the hassle, he pushed open the door that blocked his way. The sight before him took him by surprise.

[Congratulations! You have discovered the hidden list: The End of the Trap!]

Instead of a reward, Jeong-hyeon was greeted by a mass of countless corpses piled high. A bitter laugh escaped his lips. He couldn’t believe he had come all this way to see something like this.

Sighing, he turned to leave when something caught his eye.

‘The bodies aren’t decomposed? And most of them are wearing school uniform or staff attire?’

Realizing this, he climbed the mountain of corpses to its peak and surveyed his surroundings. Far in the distance, among the bodies, he recognized a familiar face.

‘…Erie.’

This was the person whom he and Lucia had killed together, pushing into a trap to be disposed of. Seeing Erie’s body well-preserved instead of decomposing only made Jeong-hyeon laugh.

The fact that Erie’s corpse had been left here gave Jeong-hyeon significant leverage over Esich—or perhaps even the entire L’rusié family, one of the three major noble houses.