The Test

Reading the description for Information Erasure, I felt a sudden urge to try it out.

I can buy this again from the random draw shop. Five thousand points is pretty cheap, all things considered… But what happens if I erase information about myself? Would people stop recognizing me? No — that wouldn't be information erasure…

I suppressed the impulse. Even if I used Information Erasure, it had to be inside a creative work, not in the real world. And five thousand points — thinking about it again, that wasn't exactly cheap either. The mere thought of grinding those points back made me suddenly exhausted.

I'll use it when the time comes.

The Right of Life and Death. The reward for completing this quest. No price listed meant it couldn't be purchased from the random draw shop — and if my hunch was right, it would never appear in the draws either.

Right of Life and Death… Every time I look at it, I fall a little more in love.

Chuckling, I checked my points.

I'd gained a level and roughly three thousand points. I was happily debating where to spend them when I shook my head.

No rush. Pass for now.

I stood up, figuring a cold shower might wash away the residual unease — when my phone buzzed. An incoming call. The caller: Ha Seung-hee.

She's been quiet lately. What's this about?

We'd been seeing each other less often — once or twice a week at most. The reason was on her end. HB-1, the replica of Hevil's Growth Accelerator, had reached its final stages of completion. I'd decided to respect that. Our relationship wasn't going to fall apart just because HB-1 was finished.

That's exactly why we're still meeting once or twice a week. With the replica nearly done, she doesn't need Hevil's Growth Accelerator anymore. And yet she still comes to see me, still sleeps with me… Heh.

Grinning, I answered the phone.

"…Yujin sunbae."

"Hey, Seung-hee. Want to meet up? You coming over?"

"That's not why I'm calling today."

"Then what's up?"

"I need your help."

"My help?"

"Yes. HB-1 is complete. But we can't start selling it like this."

"Why not? You said the money would just pour in the moment it hit the market."

"Completion isn't the end. We have to check for side effects. It needs to go through testing. This stage is critical. If anything fatal to humans turns up…"

"If it does?"

"…Then we'd have to refine it into HB-2. It can only go to market if there are no side effects. Otherwise the entire project collapses, my dreams get shattered, and my life becomes thoroughly boring."

"Do you really need me for this, though? I don't know anything about testing. Alchemy either, for that matter."

"I'll explain the testing in detail when we meet. Come to the lab."

"Right now?"

"The sooner the better. Do you have something else to do?"

"…No. I'll be there in a bit."

I hung up and checked the time. Ten in the morning. Not an inconvenient hour.

She was wearing a suit. With those long limbs of hers, it looked exceptionally good on her. That doll-like beauty was as striking as ever.

…Spending so long inside the 15 Days world for that quest must have thrown me off. She feels a little unfamiliar.

By real-world time, I'd last seen her three days ago. We sat across from each other in her office. I sipped the coffee she'd brought out.

"Instant coffee? Kind of unexpected."

"You think chaebols don't drink this stuff? We all do. My grandfather still has ramen once a week. His personal physician's anxiety grows by the day because of it."

"That old man could eat radiation and still not die. So what's this test that needs my power?"

"HB-1… the thing you call Hevil's Growth Accelerator. What's its effect?"

"Makes plants grow ridiculously fast?"

"Yes. So fast it borders on the absurd. Watching it with your own eyes, you almost feel a sense of awe. And the side effect?"

"The soil's vitality… no, its nutrients get drained dry."

"Correct. HB-1's side effects are worse than the original. Roughly three times as severe."

"Three times is a lot. Can't you improve that?"

"They say fixing the side effects would take at least three years. I have no intention of waiting that long. And the side effect has an upside — it prevents HB-1 from being overused. Agricultural prices won't crash. Not that anyone would use HB-1 on regular crops anyway."

"Hmm. So what do you need me for?"

"Dungeons. HB-1 will be used inside dungeons. It'll let us harvest rare herbs and crops that only grow there with almost no effort."

Dungeons weren't just full of monsters. Special plants grew exclusively inside them — and they weren't cheap. Dungeon herbs were the primary ingredients for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠potions.

The Hunter Association had once considered farming inside dungeons. Most dungeon plants simply wouldn't grow on Earth, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even when they did, their potency was less than half of the dungeon-grown versions. The idea had been to stabilize supply by farming open-type dungeons.

It failed, of course.

In open-type dungeons, monsters spawned endlessly. You'd have to hold them off the entire time the plants were growing — and plants needed months at minimum. On top of that, plants didn't just need soil, water, and sunlight. Each species had its own cultivation requirements.

That's why the project was scrapped. But with HB-1… the whole equation changes.

With HB-1, dungeon plants could be cultivated in minutes. The land dying as a side effect? Irrelevant. Dungeons appeared and vanished all over the world constantly.

HB-1 was a revolution. Everyone would want it — the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Europe, all of them. And Korea and the Sejin Group had the power to protect it. Through HB-1, they would climb even higher.

Did Ha Seung-hee understand the value of Hevil's Growth Accelerator from the very beginning?

She must have. That was why she'd traded her virginity for it.

I looked at her face. Her eyes, full of ambition, shone like stars.

"What I need from you, Yujin sunbae, is testing inside a dungeon."

"Anyone could do that. Just hire a hunter…"

"There are no hunters I can trust. If I hired someone and my older brother found out, he'd throw everything he has into sabotaging me and stealing my results."

"And you can trust me?"

"That's a boring question. We're already in the same boat. We even signed a contract. …Want me to show you?"

"Nah. Forget it. But you're not planning to work me for free, right?"

"……"

Ha Seung-hee narrowed her eyes.

"…What do you want?"

"……"

I stayed silent, lips sealed. She sighed, stood up, and walked toward me while unbuttoning her blouse. She climbed onto my lap. The distance closed. Through the open blouse, I could see her breasts wrapped in an elegant white bra — a beautiful shape. And she smelled good.

"It's obvious what you want, sunbae. You want this, don't you?"

She slipped off her suit pants and began undressing me piece by piece.

"This is the baseline."

I pulled down her panties and stroked her ass. Soft and smooth.

"…What else do you want?"

"Hunter achievements. I want to become an A-Class hunter, but my record's lacking."

"Then just do hunter work and build your record."

"At this rate, it'd take years. I want to be A-Class before I graduate."

"Join a major guild and you'd get support."

"You know I'm already in a guild. I don't want to switch."

Her slender fingers toyed with my cock — stroking the shaft, pressing her thumb against the tip. When we'd first started, she'd only been able to follow my lead… but now she had experience. Of course, I wasn't just sitting there taking it. I stripped off her panties and touched her pussy. It was neat and clean — carefully trimmed hair, pink lips closed in a straight line.

We caressed each other.

"…I can't bribe Association staff to fake your achievements. Even if I did, it'd get caught during the A-Rank evaluation."

"Have the Association send commissions my way. Hunter achievements scale with commission payouts."

"Do you have any idea how much the fees are?"

"I'll cover the difference. Once HB-1 is finished, the money coming my way will be enormous anyway."

"Haa. Fine. I'll look into it."

Ha Seung-hee lifted her hips and pressed close against me. Then she lowered herself. My cock slid into her pussy. Her inner walls fluttered, welcoming me in.

"Mmm… haaah…"

With a languid yet excited expression, she wrapped her arms gently around my body.

I entered a D-Rank dungeon — Valestang's Pond — together with Ha Seung-hee.

The reason we were in a D-Rank dungeon was her. Hunters couldn't enter dungeons more than two ranks above their own — Association law. As an E-Rank hunter, Ha Seung-hee was limited to D-Rank at best.

"Valestang's Pond is an open-type dungeon that appeared a week ago. With my grandfather's help, we bought the rights to it. For the next week, this dungeon is ours."

"Are we not allowed to clear it?"

"Doesn't matter. The Association confirmed we can do whatever we want with it. Obviously they'd step in if we did something truly bizarre… but since it's only D-Rank, they didn't seem particularly concerned."

"Don't they usually maintain low-rank open-type dungeons? There's a lot to gain from them. They're a lifeline for low-rank hunters."

"That was true last year… but lately so many dungeons have been appearing that even low-rank ones are being cleared quickly. Too many dungeons under management causes problems, and public opinion of the Association would sour."

"Civilians are terrified of dungeons regardless of rank."

"Even an F-Class monster is dangerous to a normal person. Ah — stop here, sunbae. Let's run the test from this spot."

I stopped walking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and surveyed the surroundings once.