[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 569: The Black Zone (1)

‘Huh? What the hell is this?’

Hypocrite and Pretender of Evil.

Even for Yeongwoo, those were choices he had never imagined would appear. He hadn’t even known such a compendium existed in the first place.

“Hypocrite…?”

When Yeongwoo murmured while looking at the message in front of him, Lady Kanaph noticed something odd and tilted her head.

—What’s all this about all of a sudden?

So Yeongwoo decided to consult someone “educated.”

“As I expected, the Catalog reward has appeared. But its condition is… well.”

—What about it?

“It says to choose between the Catalog of the Hypocrite and the Catalog of the Pretender of Evil.”

[Catalog of the Hypocrite]

– Strengthens when performing good deeds while your evil-karma ratio is higher.

[Catalog of the Wicked]

– Strengthens when performing evil deeds while your good-karma ratio is higher.

Lady Kanaph burst out laughing.

—“Pretender of Evil”? Aren’t you just plain evil?

“If I wanted to hear that kind of talk, I wouldn’t have brought it up. If you were me, which would you choose?”

—You must be really torn about this.

Kanaph folded her arms, thinking for a moment.

—But still…

“But still?”

—I can’t understand what there is to think about. You might be able to fake goodness, but pretending to be evil? That’s impossible for you, isn’t it?

“…That’s…”

She had a point.

To pretend to be good—that is, to be a hypocrite—was something even villains could do. But pretending to be evil was different.

To fake evil, the actor must not actually be evil. That’s the whole premise.

Therefore, for a man who was a certified villain through and through, pretending to be evil simply didn’t make sense.

“So you’re saying the Catalog of the Hypocrite is my only real option.”

—Of course. You knew that already, didn’t you?

“Yeah, but still.”

Yeongwoo frowned, deep in thought.

After all, the very business model of the Renaissance—robbing people under the pretense of “charity fundraising”—was already hypocritical by nature.

And the tooltip even stated clearly: ‘Strengthens when performing good deeds while evil karma is higher.’

‘Right now, my evil karma ratio is way higher anyway… and I even have that quest to reduce it.’

[Burning Ice]

| Ensure your total evil karma does not exceed twice your total good karma.

So, as Lady Kanaph said, the Hypocrite Catalog was the one he could make immediate use of.

Regardless of whether he was evil or not, using the Pretender of Evil Catalog would first require him to have a higher good ratio.

‘But long-term… isn’t the Pretender better?’

The reason Yeongwoo was hesitating over what seemed the obvious choice was the potential scalability of good karma.

‘In this universe, it’s ridiculously hard to live righteously.’

The reason was simple.

The universe was full of villains, and most of the powerful derived their strength from evil karma.

But what if a powerful being decided to act virtuously?

‘In a world drowning in evil, even pretending to be nice counts as good karma.’

That was exactly why Yeongwoo, despite chopping off other people’s limbs in the dungeon, could still be rated a “Hypocrite.”

In this universe, the threshold for good was absurdly low.

‘Then what if I go all-in on doing good? What happens then?’

The answer, he suspected, was right in front of him,

[Catalog of the Pretender of Evil]

| Strengthens when performing evil deeds while your good karma ratio is higher.

A Pretender of Evil—one who acts evil.

In other words, once you become truly good, even committing sins would count as merely pretending to be bad.

‘It’s basically a license to sin…!’

Of course, that meant he would first have to become a true paragon of virtue—one whose good karma outweighed his evil.

‘In the end, I’ll need both. The Hypocrite Catalog to become a Pretender later.’

Would he ever get another chance to choose between them again?

‘Hey, system—make sure my future includes the Pretender of Evil Catalog too.’

He couldn’t have both, so for now he had to pick just one—

the Hypocrite Catalog, a guarantee of growth for the next three or four… no, three or four billion years.

Tap.

As Yeongwoo finally reached toward the Hypocrite Catalog, the system message appeared:

「You have selected the Catalog of the Hypocrite.」

A brilliant light engulfed the extraction chamber, followed by one final notice:

「All rewards have been settled. Closing the dungeon.」

At that moment, Lady Kanaph hastily pulled a golden staff from her abdomen and shouted in panic,

—Wait! You have to take me with you!

“Oh.”

Right.

If the dungeon closed now, Yeongwoo would return to his planetary ship alone, leaving Lady Kanaph behind where she’d been abandoned.

Fwoosh!

Her body glowed and was drawn back into the staff—the same divine relic she had hidden in before.

Seeing that, Yeongwoo swiftly reached out and grabbed the relic.

Then he, too, was swallowed by light and vanished.

* * *

Shooaaah!

After a tremendous sense of falling, Yeongwoo opened his eyes to find himself not inside the escape chamber, but somewhere completely different.

“…Oh.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

It was none other than Gwangjin-gu, in the middle of the night.

“I’m back.”

Even after completing the dungeon, it didn’t quite feel real.

But the golden staff in his hand was proof enough.

“Lady Kanaph, you’re in there, right?”

No response.

“Uh… we’ve arrived. Maybe you can come out now?”

Still silence.

“What, am I supposed to let you out manually?”

Thinking she wouldn’t stay inside on purpose, Yeongwoo inspected the staff and spotted a tiny button on its end.

“Guess I just press this?”

He didn’t wait for an answer.

The moment he pressed it, a white beam shot from the tip and formed Lady Kanaph’s image.

Fwaaah!

“You humans sure love the theatrics.”

As Yeongwoo stepped back, she fully emerged—only to immediately collapse onto the ground.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

“…Are you okay? Why’d you fall over by yourself?”

But Kanaph ignored him, clutching the relic and scanning her surroundings.

—Wh… where are we?

“Where else? The place I promised to take you.”

He gestured around.

Gwangjin-gu was dark overall, but the neighboring districts gleamed bright as day.

After all, every region and every building now had full, constant power supply.

To Kanaph, though, this sight was utterly alien.

—You said we were going back to your ship…

“I said planetary ship. The entire planet is the ship.”

—What…?

Her eyes widened as she slowly turned in place.

—You mean… I’m inside the ship right now?

The planetary ship—one of the wonders of the cosmos.

Having spent her whole life confined within noble walls, she had only ever read about such things.

“It’s easier to think of it as a planet that moves on its own than as being inside a ship.”

Of course, once they reached the control room—where the stars hung like ornaments—her sense of reality would probably shatter completely.

“For now, let’s get to our quarters. I don’t want you dying of shock from seeing too much at once.”

As Yeongwoo summoned Negwig, Kanaph flinched and stepped back.

—And what in the world is that?

“Our ride to the quarters. Relax—this is my territory. No enemies here.”

Clank!

Even after Yeongwoo mounted the beast alongside his golden goblin, Kanaph’s anxiety didn’t subside.

“What’s with that face? We survived the dungeon just fine.”

—But… will I really be able to go home? Will you really send me back?

“Not today, but once I’ve wrapped up my business, I’ll make sure you meet Duke Dalqui.”

The planetary ship was already near the Black Zone, so turning back wasn’t an option.

“You know I’m a hypocrite, right? And now that I have the Catalog itself, I’m obliged to do good.”

—R-Right…

And besides, he still had to collect her ransom from the duke.

“Come on up. I’ll introduce you to some proper humans—you’ll feel safer. There are plenty at the quarters.”

—Humans? There are more of you?

Her eyes went wide again.

The only human she’d ever met was Yeongwoo, and that alone hadn’t left her with the best impression.

“Among the humans on this planet, I’m the best of the bunch. The rest are… subpar. You’ll be fine.”

Yeongwoo extended his hand from atop Negwig.

Kanaph hesitated, then reluctantly grasped it.

Clack!

In one motion, Yeongwoo pulled her up as if kidnapping her.

“Welcome to Earth, Lady Kanaph.”

With that, Negwig galloped off toward Gangnam at high speed—

just as a sharp system alert rang in Yeongwoo’s ear.

Beeeep!

‘Now what?’

Why would the system be triggering at this hour?

As he frowned, the message appeared—and it all made sense.

「Hypocrisy detected!」

‘What?’

[Rescue of Kanaph Izori]

| Evaluation Grade: C

You rescued Kanaph Izori, motivated by the promise of a hefty reward.

Even if Duke Dalqui feels sorrow during the ransom negotiations, that’s still better than mourning his sister’s death.

Then, another message followed.

「‘Kanaph Izori’ has been added to the Catalog of the Hypocrite.」

「You now take 5% less damage from all ‘Izoris’.」

“Uh… what?”

Yeongwoo blinked at the notification.

But that wasn’t the main reward.

The true value of the Hypocrite Catalog lay in its collection progress.

[Catalog of the Hypocrite]

(1)

And then, as if to make sure he didn’t forget, the system gave one more reminder:

「Four more acts of hypocrisy remain until the first collection reward is unlocked.」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]