27 - 33

Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Sure, Jin-Woo was able to defeat the spider boss all by himself, so he'd be able to do something similar to other bosses as well.

But, when imagining only the two of them against the horde of monsters, just like back in that dungeon's entrance with those insects, Yu Jin-Woo suddenly found himself unable to breathe.

"….."

Yu Jin-Ho became completely speechless, while Jin-Woo formed an expression that said, "I knew it."

'However, this is the best way.'

….The best, in order to catch both birds.

It'd be very hard to enter any freelancer-run raid teams as a Hunter ranked E. From the very first day he made up his mind to start making money in this profession, he was constantly reminded of this harsh reality.

Either he had to give up entering dungeons with his qualifications, or he had to create his own raid team. However, this kid was volunteering to form one for him. Wasn't this a great opportunity, in other words?

"B-b-but, hyung-nim! You need at least ten people if we want to enter a C-ra….."

"I'm pretty sure you'd find plenty of willing people when you say you'd pay them just for showing up to fill up the head count."

Time to put to good use what he had learned from Hwang Dong-Seok, then.

If there were Hunters who didn't want to fight with their lives on the line, but were in urgent need of cash, they would surely jump in with both feet at this golden opportunity.

Yu Jin-Ho's expression became one of a scared cat, though.

"Wait…. Surely, you are not suggesting that us two will kill every single monster inside a dungeon, all the way up to the boss, are you?"

….In truth, it'd be only one person doing that, though.

"You got it."

With this arrangement, Jin-Woo would be able to prevent the potential worst-case scenario of someone stealing his experience points, and the only person next to him would be Yu Jin-Ho, so he wouldn't even need to worry about other people watching him all the time as well.

'If it's like that, then I'll get to enjoy some serious power levelling, won't I?'

On top of that, after all the raids were done and dusted, he'd get a nice little bonus of a wonderful building rolling right onto his lap. The only thing remaining now was him persuading Yu Jin-Ho.

And as expected, Yu Jin-Ho was very, very scared at the moment.

"Is-isn't that way too dangerous, hyung-nim?!"

"You're only looking at it from one way and not the other."

"Eh?"

Jin-Woo beckoned the kid to come closer, so Yi Jin-Ho leaned forward.

"If no one else participates in hunting besides us, doesn't that also mean no one will get hurt, as long as we're okay?"

"O-of course."

"For the first raid, you were like a third wheel being dragged along, so you couldn't do anything about the incident that had happened, but think about for the moment the ramifications of your own raid team finishing up all 19 raids without a single casualty.��

Yu Jin-Ho's eyes shot open right up.

If that's the case….!!

If that was the case, then persuading his father would become one level easier.

Not only he'd be a D-rank Hunter, but the record of being the leader of a team that successfully performed 19 raids without a single incident would be added on top as well.

It'd be the definite proof of him being qualified to become the Guild Master. Nothing would be a better advertisement for himself than this, wouldn't it?

Jin-Woo studied Yu Jin-Ho's expression and smiled in satisfaction.

'This kid…. He's convinced now.'

From the word go, the person in need was Yu Jin-Ho.

As for Jin-Woo, he didn't really need to go on a raid with Yu Jin-Ho, but still could enter dungeons via the Association giving him a call, or through the random boxes.

Yu Jin-Ho's was thinking now.

Although it was a bit scary, if he succeeded in pulling this off, then just as Jin-Woo had implied, there would be so much he'd get in return.

When recalling the sight of Jin-Woo displaying his absolutely overwhelming might in battles from last time, Yu Jin-Woo realised that maybe, there wasn't much to fret over at all.

Yu Jin-Ho finally made his mind up, albeit after some serious internal struggle.

"We'll do it your way, hyung-nim. In that case, I'll search for suitable teammates."

"Very good."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

They had come to an understanding.

Since he was still in front of Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho stopped feeling nervous and tight-chested, and displayed a bright smile.

'I've managed to finally get hyung-nim on my side.'

For some reason, he was not feeling too scared of the upcoming raids.

A trustworthy comrade named Jin-Woo had joined him, and it'd be a bit easier to form a raid team now, too. As Jin-Woo had said, with the terms on offer, many would queue up in line just for a chance to participate.

'With this, I'm one step closer to becoming the Master.'

Jin-Woo also smiled brightly as well.

'Clean up as many C ranked dungeons by myself, and level up as quickly as possible.'

The two men exited the cafe with satisfied expressions.

***

After going their separate ways, Jin-Woo ran back home.

Well, he didn't know when the Association would give him a call, after all. It had been over ten days since he was discharged from the hospital, so it'd not be so strange to hear about a Gate opening up in the vicinity.

The Association normally summoned Hunters two, three times a month to clear dungeons that appeared within this area.

One of the main reason why he only gave one hour to Yu Jin-Ho was that the call from the Association could come at any time.

'For the time being, I can't afford to miss even a rank E dungeon….'

He wanted to kill lots of monsters and raise his levels quickly.

How inconvenient it was not to have his smartphone around. What a relief that the new one should arrive in a few days' time….

Jin-Woo pushed open the front door and entered.

'....'

The apartment was quiet.

It was in the middle of the week, so his little sister was still at school.

After confirming that there was no one at home, Jin-Woo opened the window displaying the Daily Quest.

'I should get today's rewards.'

Before he went out to meet up with Yu Jin-Ho, he had finished the day's Daily Quest already. But there were too many eyes watching, so he had no choice but to delay receiving his rewards.

Well, he couldn't really show off the sight of a blue light wrapping around his body as well as a box suddenly popping out from nowhere in the middle of the street, now could he?

Tti-ring!

[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]

Press-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)

Sit-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)

Squat, 100 times: complete (100/100)

Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)

[You've completed 'Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong'.]

[Completion rewards have arrived.]

[Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)

"Yeah…. Oh, hold up. Wait."

Just like usual, Jin-Woo was about to receive his rewards, only to spot something strange and hurriedly stopped himself. His gaze stopped dead and remained fixed to the column of 'Running'.

Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)

At first, he thought that he ran one kilometre more than necessary. However, the longer he thought about it, the stranger it seemed to him.

'I've filled up my quota, so why did it keep recording the extra distance?'

Jin-Woo's gaze became sharper.

Was this really nothing more than coincidence?

Jin-Woo got down to the floor and supported his weight on his arms. And then, his body rose up and down without a break.

However, his sight was fixed to the seemingly-empty air in front.

Tti-ring!

[You've completed one press-up.]

[Press-up 100 times: complete (111/100)]

Tti-ring!

[You've completed one press-up.]

[Press-up 100 times: complete (112/100)]

'As I thought….'

'Running��� wasn't the only category that reflected the extra number of exercises performed. The count for 'Press-up' also kept climbing up.

Suddenly, he became rather curious just how much higher the numbers would count to.

Veins bulged on Jin-Woo's arms.

Thanks to his enhanced Stats. He couldn't feel his weight. Actually, his body felt as light as fuzzy hair.

Before long, the number hovering near the hundred mark climbed to 200.

Tti-ring!

[You've completed one press-up.]

[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]

Tti-ring!

[You've completed one press-up.]

[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]

The count stopped for sure at the 200 mark. He performed a few more press-ups just in case, but it didn't want to go up any higher.

Both the sit-up and the squat also stopped counting at the 200 mark.

Press-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)

Sit-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)

Squat, 100 times: complete (200/100)

Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)

200, no more and no less.

It wasn't just climbing up without an end, and no, it wasn't as if the 100 mark was the end. There definitely was something here. His gut feeling was declaring as such.

What if there was another result waiting for him once he completed all the 'over-counting'?

'Let's make sure.'

With much faster steps than usual, Jin-Woo exited the apartment.

The next 9 kilometres for the 'Running' column were filled up really quickly. When Jin-Woo arrived before his home once more, a new message popped up in his view.

Tti-ring!

[You've completed 'Hidden Quest: Preparations to become strong'.]

[Completion rewards have arrived.]

[Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)

The title of the quest hadn't changed, but the type of the quest had changed to 'Hidden Quest' now.

His suspicion was proved to be correct.

Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.

'...Confirm.'

Tti-ring!

[The following rewards are available.]

Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition

Reward 2. All Stats +3

Reward 3.

1) Blessed random box

Or

2) Cursed random box

[Would you like to collect them all?]

'All Stats raised by 3!!'

His eyes shot open wide.

The rewards from the hidden quest proved to be really exceptional.

With all the Stats getting a three point boost, it was the same thing as his level rising up by three.

No, wait – his Stats might have risen, but since his level stayed the same, he had gained even more. Because, with higher Stats, raising his level would become that much easier.

But at the same time, he felt a bit fearful as well.

On one hand, he couldn't help but hold a vague hope that, from today onwards, all the Daily Quest coming his way could be converted to Hidden Quests, instead.

'However, if the rewards are this big….'

Then, the odds of the Daily Quests coming to an end were incredibly high as well.

Also, if the Hidden Quest was something only available for just this once, then that meant he had to be extra careful when choosing the third reward.

Reward 3.

1) Blessed random box

Or

2) Cursed random box

This would be his first time having to choose his reward.

If he chose one, then he'd lose the other one.

'So, I wouldn't be able to see one of the two forever, is that about right?'

Just taking a single look at their names, it was rather obvious which one he needed to select, but…

But, this also could be a trap, as well.

"Collect the third reward."

Tti-ring!

[You must choose between one of the two available random boxes.]

[Blessed random box]

Presents the player with the item he wants.

[Cursed random box]

Presents the player with the item he needs.

[Which one will you choose?]

Their explanations were exceedingly simple. And that made choosing even harder.

If there were no explanations to begin with, he'd have chosen the 'blessed' random box in a heartbeat. But now that he had read the dang explanations, it felt like he'd still end up missing out regardless of which one he chose.

'A thing that I want and a thing that I need….'

Just from those explanations, both of them sounded like a good deal.

'But, there's definitely a trap here.'

The thing he 'wanted' would be something he wanted because he recognised its usefulness to his current situation.

However, the thing he 'needed' might not necessarily be like that. Something that he may need but didn't want could come out, instead.

For instance, when needing a powerful weapon, he might end up getting a horrifying bomb that could completely blow himself and all his teammates into smithereens in one go.

'That's why it's called the cursed random box, right?'

So, he'd go with the lower risk selection.

In situations where the end results of a choice weren't known, this would be the wisest way to minimise the amount of regret felt later on.

Jin-Woo finally made his decision after a cool-headed weighing of pros and cons.

"Blessed random box."

A small box slowly materialised in front of his feet.

Jin-Woo picked it up.

'Could it be….?'

Chapter 28: Chapter 28

His heart began beating faster and faster. Because, the size of the box was rather familiar to him. His hands ripping open the box became far more urgent.

'As I thought!'

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider. There was a golden key inside the box.

Indeed, it was the key to an instant dungeon, the one he'd been anxiously waiting for.

The information on the key appeared soon afterwards.

Tti-ring!

[Item: Key of the Demon's Castle]

Rarity: S

Category: Key

A key that will let you enter the 'Dungeon: Demon's Castle'. Can be used at the Daesung Tower located in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

"It's an S?"

Jin-Woo raised his voice in surprise.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the rarity ranking had any bearings on the difficulty of the dungeon. But, he couldn't think of it any other way.

The rarity ���E' key opened a dungeon that was on par with a Gate ranked E, after all.

What would he do if the difficulty of the instant dungeon turned out to be 'S', then?

Even with a raid team consisting solely of S-ranked Hunters, there was no definite guarantee that such a dungeon would be cleared.

The odds were around 50:50?

The difficulty of a Gate exploded upwards past the rank B, and even when looking through the entire world, there had been too few cases of S-rank Gates opening up in the world.

'One of them appeared on Jeju Island, though.'

Afterwards, the island of Jeju became an abandoned hellhole where no humans could exist.

Jin-Woo stared at the key in his hand for a long while.

'This is what I really wanted?'

If there was one silver lining to be found here, then that would be the explanation saying he'd be able to 'enter' the dungeon with this key, unlike the previous one which said he'd be 'transferred' instead.

The implication being that he could escape at any time if he felt like it.

Even if the key suddenly vanished from him, he still had the return stone from the last dungeon waiting to be used inside his Inventory as well. He was no longer worried about getting trapped behind an invisible wall like the last time.

'I've worked hard to earn this chance, so I can't throw it away like that now, can I?'

He simply had to confirm right away with his own two eyes whether this was what he really wanted or not.

Part 2. Demon's Castle

In front of the Daesung Tower.

A super-tall skyscraper over a hundred floors tall was standing straight as if to pierce the heavens above. Indeed, this was what the modern skyscraper should look like. Just looking up at it made him feel extremely dizzy.

There were only a few people walking around as it was already late evening now. The streets with not one soul on it gave off an eerie vibe.

'Still, I can't be sure, so….'

Jin-Woo took a good look around him, before pulling up the hood attached to his top to hide his face.

If someone saw a person disappearing and appearing again in thin air without a Gate around, that might cause a bit of ruckus. Not only that, there were several CCTV cameras installed here and there in the near vicinity, so it wasn't such a bad idea to avoid being too conspicuous.

….Actually, there was someone busy eyeing Jin-Woo right at that moment.

'Who could that kid be?'

To think, there would be a straggler wearing a hoodie busy loitering around the building at this time of the night….

The security guard watching on from inside the building found Jin-Woo's behaviour rather suspicious and stood up from his chair.

However, as this guard walked towards the door, he couldn't help but come to an abrupt stop and his eyes opened up real wider.

"Wha-what the heck?!"

The security guard gasped out in a surprise and hurriedly ran outside.

The man was definitely walking towards here, yet he had vanished from the view, just like that. Utterly without a trace.

The security guard searched around his vicinity, but he couldn't even spot an ant here.

He tilted his head this way and that, before turning around.

"Well, I'll be…. What a baffling thing that was."

The security guard was about to go back inside the building, but then, caught something in the corner of his eyes, and turned his head to see what it could be without thinking.

"U-uwaaahhk?!"

He cried out in shock as he fell hard on his butt.

"What, what, what the heck is going on here?!"

The security guard cried out with a pale face.

A person's disembodied hand floating in the air then vanished once more.

*

Jin-Woo retracted his hand.

'It's connected to the outside world.'

Unlike the last time, there was no invisible wall blocking his exit. The key also didn't disappear and remained tucked inside his pocket. If he wanted to, he could get out of here at any time, in other words.

'Now that I'm finished with confirming the escape route…'

Since he didn't know whether the rarity of the key equated to the difficulty of the dungeon, he was far more cautious than usual.

Jin-Woo pulled the hood back and took a look behind him.

"…"

It was a sight shocking enough to make him groan. Just now, when he was taking a few steps towards the Daesung Tower, the world in front of his eyes transformed in an instant.

Could this place even be called a dungeon anymore?

A completely different world was waiting for him.

Instead of the vanished Daesung Tower, a massive tower-like structure stood there.

'Wait, is that really a tower, or should I call it a castle, instead?'

A tower rising up high into the air without an end, wrapped in reddish black flames. It was as if the tower wasn't burning, but it was spewing out billowing flames, instead.

"A burning tower, huh."

Rather than the name of 'Demon's Castle', maybe that nickname suited it better. Jin-Woo slowly walked towards this burning tower.

Crackle! Pop!

The closer he got, the louder the noises of flames rampaging around grew.

'Can I even enter this thing in the first place?'

However, even if he did, there was yet another problem to consider.

Just like the last instant dungeon that was based off on the subway station, there was a good chance that, since this dungeon was based off on the Daesung Tower, he'd have to climb up 100 floors to clear it completely.

He couldn't even begin to imagine just how long that would take.

'Mm?'

Jin-Woo's steps came to a halt. He sensed a strong aura near the entrance.

He slowly surveyed the surroundings and spotted a black lifeform the size of a bull huddled in slumber right in front of the doorway.

Jin-Woo carefully summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka.

Tti-ring.

[Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka]

Rarity: C

Type: Dagger

Attack +25

A dagger fashioned from the poison fang of the Kasaka. There are traces of the Kasaka's poison on it, so when attacking, it will cause Paralysis and Bleeding status effects. Can be stored in the Inventory, or can be sold at the Store.

Status effect 'Paralysis': the target will be unable to move. Success rate is fixed.

Status effect 'Bleeding': the target's stamina will be reduced by 1% per second.

Its attack power wasn't all that high, but the greatness of its added effects was proven in real battles time and time again.

'It'd be nice if the Paralysis works and I get to kill it easily.'

Jin-Woo walked as quietly as possible while approaching that creature. However, it was impossible to fool the olfactory senses of a monster. Soon enough, the creature sniffed the air and raised its body up.

'Che.'

Jin-Woo clicked his tongue.

The creature stood up completely and all three of its heads turned in Jin-Woo's direction.

[Hell's Gatekeeper, Cerberus]

It was a huge dog possessing three heads. The name written in red letters floating on top of its heads immediately drew his attention. It was proof that the monster's 'level' was very high.

'Since it's red, does that mean it's around the same level as those centipedes from the penalty zone?'

Back then, he managed to barely run away from the centipedes. Well, he was only a level 1 back then, so it couldn't be helped.

'But, it's different this time.'

He had grown stronger quite quickly during the short space of time.

Without a doubt, that black creature was strong, but still, it didn't come across as truly overwhelming. His enhanced, alert Perception was telling him that he could do this.

It wasn't for nothing that he raised his Perception Stat. He kept on investing points to this Stat so he could easily tell whether he should fight or take flight in cases like this.

"Growl!"

The Cerberus sensed the enemy and bared its fangs to threaten him.'

Jin-Woo's gaze then wandered off to the creature's tail. It kind of resembled a whip, and its end was enveloped in flames as well.

Jin-Woo's eyes sharpened in an instant.

'Fangs and a tail. At the bare minimum, two methods of attack, huh.'

Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.

The Cerberus slowly closed the distance before stopping right in front of him and began studying him for some reason.

'Is it… looking for an opening?'

Just as he thought that….

The monster attacked him.

"Rowr!!"

Jin-Woo's eyes opened much, much wider.

'Too fast!!'

Jin-Woo barely evaded the Cerberus's fangs by sliding underneath the leaping monster.

The Cerberus landed back on the ground and spun around, before began biting at him with its three heads.

"Woof!! Bark!! Rowr!!"

The sharp fangs gleamed coldly in between the biting snouts.

Tti-ring!

['Title: Slaughterer of Wolves' buff effect has activated.]

[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves]

A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%. (TL: Again, the 'hunter' is a lower case here, because it literally means someone who hunts, while the 'Hunters' up until now had been written in English and is a specific job title of those who hunt monsters from dungeons.)

He sensed his body getting lighter.

'Nice!'

Jin-Woo quickly retreated and wielded his dagger at the Cerberus as it continued to stick close to him.

Swish!! Swish, swish, swish!!

Clang!! Cling, clang!! Claaang!!

The dagger collided with the fangs and issued loud noises.

The blade moved at a blinding pace, yet all he could do at the moment was to deflect the Cerberus's attacks and nothing else.

'Even after I buffed up, it's still this strong?!'

The Cerberus's Agility had easily exceeded his imaginations.

In order to overturn this situation, Jin-Woo activated his 'Intimidation' skill.

['Skill: Intimidation' has been activated.]

[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]

Jin-Woo's eyes widened.

'It didn't work?!'

It was at that moment that the long tail of Cerberus flew in like a whip.

Whoooosh-!!

Jin-Woo reflexively ducked his head lower and evaded the tail. But that caused his legs to stop moving for a second. And the monster didn't miss this opportunity.

One of its heads powerfully bit into Jin-Woo's left shoulder.

"Uwaaahck!!"

Jin-Woo summoned all of his strength and stabbed the dagger into the middle of the biting head.

STAB!!

['Effect: Paralysis' has been activated.]

[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]

['Effect: Bleeding' has been activated.]

[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]

"Whimper!!"

The Cerberus cried out and let go of him.

Thankfully, he was able to minimise the damage done before other heads had the chance to join in on the attack, but his left shoulder was now in tatters.

What a scary biting power that was.

He tried to move his left arm, but it didn't want to budge. Jin-Woo's expression crumpled unsightly.

He managed to wound the Cerberus, but when comparing the severity of their injuries, then it was clear that he came off far worse in that exchange.

'If either of Paralysis or Bleeding worked, the situation would've been different by now….'

Jin-Woo glared at the Cerberus and clicked his tongue.

Then, something else happened.

'Huh?'

The eyes of the Cerberus were being dyed in a crimson colour all of a sudden.

"Grooowwl."

Inexplicably, Jin-Woo sensed something ominous was about to happen.

'What could it be?'

[Hell's Gatekeeper Cerberus is using 'Skill: Rage'.]

[Its state of rage will persist for the next three minutes.]

[All of Cerberus's Stats will be increased by 100%.]

[Cerberus will no longer feel pain.]

Jin-Woo cried out.

"What did you just say?!"

A monster just used a skill!!

In that instant, the Cerberus leaped off the ground.

'F*ck!!'

Even before he could react, the Cerberus appeared right before his eyes. He hurriedly swung his dagger, but it only managed to graze the side of one of its heads.

And all three heads bit into Jin-Woo simultaneously.

Kwajeek!!

"Euheuheuhk!!"

Jin-Woo gritted his teeth. His neck, waist and thigh all got bitten.

The Cerberus ran at its top speed and slammed Jin-Woo against the castle's gate.

SLAM!!

Jin-Woo's HP hit the rock bottom in an instant.

"Keo-heok!!"

[HP: 411/3,602]

Tti-ring!

[Your HP has decreased below 30% and 'Skill: Tenacity' has been activated.]

[All damage received will be reduced by 50%.]

Thanks to the damage reduction and the Tenacity passive, he was able to avoid getting killed in one hit.

"Keuh…."

Jin-Woo's eyebrows shot up in anger.

Chapter 29: Chapter 29

It'd be easy to go mad from pain and wildly thrash about, but he'd lose this great opportunity, which would most likely never happen again. Losing his consciousness now would mean his end.

'….178, 179, 180!'

Jin-Woo had been bitterly waiting for the end of the three-minute duration and finally, revealed his hidden trump card.

'The first reward, give it to me now!'

He immediately collected the first reward from the Daily Quest he had saved up until now.

['Reward 1: Full recovery of the current physical condition' has been applied.]

Suwhhooosh!

A blue light enveloped him and all depleted health reverted back to full.

[HP: 3,602/3,602]

Even his tattered left arm was healed as good as new in the blink of an eye.

���This is my chance!'

Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed coldly. In such close proximity, no matter how agile this monster was, it'd not be able to dodge his attacks.

Jin-Woo rapidly caught one of Cerberus's necks with his left arm, and stabbed the 'Poison Fang of Kasaka' in the middle of that neck.

Stab! Stab! Stab!!

The rage state had ended by now, and the Cerberus began to violently thrash about trying to escape from Jin-Woo's embrace.

"Whimper!!Whine!"

However, Jin-Woo did not let go and held on with his powerful arms. The harder the Cerberus struggled, the stronger he gripped the neck of the monster.

In the meantime, his dagger continued to stab into the creature's neck.

Stab, stab, stab!!

"Whimper-!!"

The Cerberus bit into Jin-Woo as it struggled to the bitter end, but the battle had already been decided by then.

Stab! Stab!!

"Whimper…! Whine…"

The Poison Fang of Kasaka now travelled lower down from the neck and stabbed the Cerberus's chest.

Stab! Stab! Stab!!

Soon enough, the monster's resistance became noticeably weaker and weaker.

"Whimper…."

In the end, the heads of the Cerberus fell to the side, lifeless.

Tti-ring!

[You have defeated 'Hell's Gatekeeper, Cerberus'.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

In one breath, his level rose up by 4. That was how difficult this battle was.

Jin-Woo only let go of the Cerberus's neck after confirming its body going limp with his own eyes. The heavy body sprawled to the floor without any resistance whatsoever.

Plop.

Jin-Woo rested his hands on his knees.

"Ha-ah…."

Only now could he breathe a sigh of relief.

A monster that could use a skill – if he didn't prepare a hidden trump card, then he'd have been killed for sure. A chill crawled down his spine just from thinking about it.

'Oh, I almost forgot…. Items.'

Would there be as many rewards befitting his life-or-death struggle to bring down this monster?

After calming himself down, Jin-Woo reached out towards the Cerberus.

Tti-ring!

[You have discovered 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Key to the Castle's Gate'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Cerberus's Molar, x3'. Take it?]

'Take them all.'

A steel necklace originally found around one of the Cerberus's necks, a grey key, and three molars of a monster appeared in his hand.

[Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace]

Rarity: A

Type: Necklace

Agility +20, Perception +20

[Item: Key to the Castle's Gate]

Rarity: A

Type: Key

The key to unlock the gates of the Demon's Castle. Can only be acquired after killing the Gatekeeper.

[Item: Cerberus's Molar]

Rarity: None

Type: Miscellaneous

"Ohh."

Jin-Woo's eyes went round.

'This necklace can boost both my Agility and Perception by 20 points?'

A necklace with eye-spinningly good options came out. Its rarity was also ranked A. Out of all the items he'd seen so far, this one featured the highest rarity ranking yet.

'Well, I had to go through so much to kill it, so….'

Indeed, there was no way that its rarity would be low.

However, when it came to actually putting the necklace on, he couldn't help but to hesitate big time.

The thing was, it was shaped like a roundish metallic choker with spikes spouting out in regular intervals, so no matter what it said on the cover, it was undoubtedly… a dog collar.

"Mm…"

Jin-Woo closed his eyes and deliberated on his choices for a long time, before deciding to try it on at least once, and brought the necklace closer to his neck.

Then, a message popped up.

Tti-ring!

[Will you wear 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace?]

Jin-Woo fell into yet another bout of dilemma for a second, before helplessly muttering out his answer.

"…..Sure thing."

It was then, the necklace slowly disappeared from his view.

[You're now wearing 'Item: Gatekeeper's Necklace.]

"Huh?"

Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned his Status Window.

[Stats]

Strength: 60

Stamina: 39

Agility: 80

Intelligence: 37

Perception: 67

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in physical damage: 20%

"Holy sh*t!"

Both his Agility and Perception were increased by 20 for real. The option was now in effect, in other words.

It seemed like that he didn't have to worry about walking around displaying the 'items' he wore. The fact that he didn't have to be seen with a dog collar on his neck brought him a huge sense of relief.

'Next up are the molars.'

Jin-Woo summoned the Store next.

He sold the japtem 'Cerberus's Molar' and got 150 thousand Gold for each. He sold all three off right away.

Soon, 450 thousand Gold entered his hands.

[Current Gold: 562,362]

'What kind of japtem is this expensive??'

It was a rather nice baseline to judge the overall difficulty of this dungeon. In other words, the difficulty of clearing the Demon's Castle would be incredibly high.

However, it wasn't all necessarily bad news.

He only hunted a single monster, yet he got to earn over four times the amount of Gold compared to the whole day spent inside the Hapjeong station's instant dungeon.

If he saved up Gold in this fashion, it wouldn't be too far from now when he'd get to purchase all those items that cost millions upon millions in the Store.

'That is, as long as I get to clear this dungeon….'

Jin-Woo stared up at the burning tower.

Crackle! Pop!

The very top of the structure was completely shrouded in some kind of blurry fog. He had to actually enter the tower if he wanted to see what was going on inside.

But, Jin-Woo shook his head.

'Now's not the time.'

He only barely managed to hunt down a single sentry standing guard by the door, even with his Title buffing him up and resorting to using up the quest reward, too.

He couldn't even guess just what kind of danger would be waiting for him beyond that gate. So, now was the time for him to back off.

Still, he was certain of one thing.

Just as the explanation said, this key to the Demon's Castle was indeed something he wanted. The name 'Blessed random box' wasn't wrong.

Levelling up quickly, valuable items, and plenty of Gold, too. This place had it all.

And one day, he'd get to claim them all as his.

Only that, today wasn't that day.

Although he was slightly unwilling, he stored the grey key inside his Inventory.

'I'll return.'

Definitely, very soon.

Jin-Woo smiled as he turned around to leave.

Part 3. Coincidence

A few days went by without any incident.

Yu Jin-Ho called Jin-Woo almost daily and reported on the progress. From the day after their meeting, he had called Jin-Woo precisely three times.

– "Hyung-nim!! It's me, Yu Jin-Ho."

"Details only."

– "Yes, hyung-nim."

It seemed that the job of finding other teammates was going rather smoothly. Yu Jin-Ho repeatedly emphasized that the formation of the raid team would end soon, and that Jin-Woo should wait just a little while longer.

'Looks like he's really scared of me dropping out, huh.'

However, Jin-Woo couldn't just wait and do nothing while waiting for the team to form. So, he accessed the website for Hunters today as well.

He asked around all the time for the past few days, but no freelancer-run raid teams wanted to work together with an E-rank Hunter.

He simply had gotten lucky on that day. Sure, Hwang Dong-Seok had been scheming some nefarious things, but in any case, Jin-Woo still ended up being a part of a raid team, didn't he?

'Thanks to that, I made lots of money, my levels went up, and even got me a new skill, too.'

Should he feel grateful to Hwang Dong-Seok, in that case?

Jin-Woo let off a smirk.

Well, as he was now, he wouldn't mind meeting up with other selfish Hunters acting like geckos at the moment.

No raid teams wanted him, the Association wasn't calling him, and keys to instant dungeons didn't want to show up, too.

Basically, he was doing nothing but suck on his fingers for the past couple of days.

*SFX for an empty stomach rumbling*

'Is it time to eat already?'

Jin-Woo felt hungry as he spent hours roaming the online job postings, so he headed to the kitchen.

But, when he opened the fridge's door, it was completely empty inside.

'.....'

This was the inevitable result of not going shopping for the past few days. His excuse being that his mind had been preoccupied with several urgent matters until now.

'Should I go shopping, then?'

Jin-Woo yawned out slightly and closed the fridge's door.

*

One of the few advantages the apartment he was living in had, was its close proximity to a large supermarket.

Wearing simple, easy-to-move clothes, Jin-Woo left his home. A ten-minute walk later, he had arrived at his destination already.

As soon as he stepped in through the door, the wide-open expense of the supermarket's interior entered his view. Maybe because there wasn't some sort of promotion going on, it was quieter than usual in the aisles.

Jin-Woo picked up a basket and slowly walked around.

Ever since his mother was confined to the hospital, Jin-Woo had been acting as the head of the family, and now, he grew to be more or less familiar with chores of the household, such as shopping for groceries.

'There isn't anything catching my eyes today, though…'

While he was deeply staring at the displayed produce, trying to think about what to prepare for dinner….

"Pardon me, young man. I see that you're feeling much better now."

A rather friendly voice came from behind him and Jin-Woo turned around to look who it was.

'Who is he?'

Because of his high Perception Stat, he knew that there was a Hunter nearby. But, this was a supermarket where lots of people came and went, and Hunters also had to go shopping too, so he didn't dwell on the matter for long.

However, he didn't expect that Hunter to engage him in conversation.

Not only that, a Hunter he actually knew, too.

"Mister Song ahjussi??"

Jin-Woo's expression brightened in an instant.

Mister Song – Song Chi-Yeol looked at Seong Jin-Woo with an expression half in disbelief and the other half in delight.

"I did hear the news that you were fine, but I still can't believe it, even after running into you like this."

Song Chi-Yeol formed a deeply moved expression next. Jin-Woo felt kinda embarrassed by the emotional eyes of Song Chi-Yeol and sheepishly scratched the side of his temple.

Meanwhile, Song Chi-Yeol continued on.

"I should've gone to visit you at the hospital, but for some reason, the folks at the Association all tightly shut their mouths and I couldn't hear any concrete information on you until now. Did you know that Miss Ju-Hui is also anxiously waiting for your news?"

"Miss Ju-Hui? Really?"

"That's right. She said that she'd give up being a Hunter, but still, she stopped by at last week's raid location just to look for you."

"Last week….?"

After listening to Mister Song's story, it turned out that, rather coincidentally, there was a raid organised by the Association on the very same day he entered Hwang Dong-Seok's team.

'That was why there hadn't been any word from the Association until now.'

It was not that there hadn't been any calls from the Association, but more like he missed it when it did come. A small mystery got resolved pretty easily, just like that.

Song Chi-Yeol studied Seong Jin-Woo's appearance here and there, still mystified by what he was seeing.

'By the way, was Mister Seong this tall before? And, with his bad leg and all, too….'

Song Chi-Yeol's gaze naturally headed lower.

And then, his eyes grew extra wide in shock.

"Your…. Your leg?!"

Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Jin-Woo calmly made his reply.

"When I came to, my leg had been all healed up. Even I'm not sure what happened to me."

Song Chi-Yeol nodded his head.

Ever since Gates appeared for the first time ten years ago, many illogical things continued to transpire to this day. The people called Hunters who had 'Awakened' their abilities were a prime example of this.

A healer ranked S could reputedly heal a person who was ripped to shreds back to normal, as long as the victim was still alive.

What if, a high-ranking healer healed Jin-Woo's injuries while he was unconscious? If that was the case, then his severed leg being reattached didn't even qualify as a miracle.

"It'd do no good to see a young man such as yourself become disabled like that. What a relief this is. What a relief."

Song Chi-Yeol lightly patted his chest as if a big weight of his had been lifted off his shoulders now.

It was then, Jin-Woo's gaze drifted towards Song Chi-Yeol's left arm. The older man's sleeve was empty.

Song Chi-Yeol chuckled and massaged his left shoulder.

"Don't you worry about it. A Hunter getting injured during a raid is a normal occurrence, after all. No, I've been lucky for not running into an accident until then."

Song Chi-Yeol spoke as if it wasn't much to fret over, but the gazes of other people walking by weren't like that.

"Oh, my gosh, he's….."

"What a regrettable thing, that….. Did a monster do that?"

Aunties out shopping and students walking by whispered to each other after spotting Song Chi-Yeol's empty sleeve. Hell, there was even this one guy who quite openly stared on as well while looking rather mystified and all.

Jin-Woo quickly spoke up.

"Should we go somewhere else?"

There were far too many people walking by here, right by the butchery aisle. Song Chi-Yeol had been feeling uncomfortable by all the stares, so he nodded his head quickly. He still had few more things to say to Jin-Woo, too.

"That would be a good idea."

The two of them hurriedly walked away in order to find a quiet spot to chat.

But, as they walked, Song Chi-Yeol sensed that something was rather odd here.

'The sounds of Mister Seong's steps are….'

Jin-Woo's steps were just too soft. The youth was walking right beside Song Chi-Yeol, yet it was hard to detect his presence.

Why was that?

The older man even felt that, were they to start fighting here, he'd be unable to even touch a hair on Jin-Woo's body.

Even though he was rank C, and Jin-Woo was ranked E.

'Just what am I even thinking about….'

Song Chi-Yeol shook his head. That wasn't the important thing right now.

There was something he badly wanted to say to Mister Seong. No, he simply had to say it.

Song Chi-Yeol came to a stop where it was quiet and isolated. Jin-Woo also stopped there.

Song Chi-Yeol turned to look at Jin-Woo and before the youth could stop him, bowed his head 90 degrees.

"Mister Seong. Thank you."

When a man who was old enough to be his dad lowered his head like that, Jin-Woo couldn't help but feel solemn as well.

Jin-Woo, of course, tried to dissuade Song Chi-Yeol, but the older man didn't listen and instead, carried on with what he wanted to say.

"If you say 11 people died because of me, then you are responsible for saving six lives that day. My share of the blame in that matter is the biggest, so on the behalf of all the Hunters who were there, let me say thank you."

Song Chi-Yeol meant every word he spoke. And Jin-Woo could feel the older man's sincerity as well.

The situation had become somewhat awkward, but it didn't feel so bad. How should he go about describing it? He was feeling proud?

Of course, that didn't mean he should let an elder remain in that bowing position.

"Ahjussi, thanks, so please stand back up. Please."

Just as Jin-Woo tried to persuade Song Chi-Yeol to stand up straight, the latter's phone went off.

Song Chi-Yeol asked for Jin-Woo's understanding and pulled out the smartphone tucked inside his inner pocket.

"Hello?"

Song Chi-Yeol's face gradually hardened as he answered the call.

"I understand. I'll be there soon."

Song Chi-Yeol ended the call and spoke to Jin-Woo next.

���Looks like I need to get going."

He was implying that there was a private matter he had to attend to.

However, Jin-Woo was able to listen in on the contents of the conversation. His hearing had been improved by a great deal after his Perception Stat rose up dramatically.

That call just now was from the Association, asking for a cooperation in clearing a Gate nearby.

Song Chi-Yeol was actually hiding the truth, because he was worried that Jin-Woo would want to tag along, that Jin-Woo might want to participate in the raid even though it hadn't been long since his discharge from the hospital.

Jin-Woo asked the older man.

"That was from the Association, yes?"

Song Chi-Yeol hesitated slightly, before making his reply.

"That… Did you hear everything?"

When an Association formed a raid team, it'd summon every Hunter affiliated with the organisation who lived in the vicinity. If Song Chi-Yeol received the call, that meant Jin-Woo's house had been called as well.

It was the order to mobilise, the one Jin-Woo had been waiting for.

Jin-Woo cut to the chase.

"I'll go with you."

"But you, Mister Seong…."

A look of uncertainty floated up on Song Chi-Yeol's face as he stared at Jin-Woo.

***

The two men arrived at the meeting place.

The Gate had formed in the middle of the road pretty close to residential areas, so the police officers called in to control the access to the location.

However, there were almost no onlookers present here, to begin with.

The majority of Gates the Association took on were those dangerous ones that had been left alone for too long after their initial discovery; besides, even if one were to stick around a Gate, one would still not get to see how Hunters fought, anyway.

It was only a couple of curious, naughty kids loitering around who got chased away by the officers every now and then.

With a thud, the door to the taxi was closed shut.

Jin-Woo and Song Chi-Yeol had exited from the taxi and made their way towards the location where the other Hunters had been gathered, only for the cops to stop them.

"Please show me your IDs."

Song Chi-Yeol pulled out his wallet and displayed his licence.

"I'm Song Chi-Yeol, a rank C Hunter. This is my colleague, Seong Jin-Woo."

The cops compared the photo on the licence to Song Chi-Yeol's face before returning it and parted ways.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Hunters."

"Keep up the good work."

Song Chi-Yeol performed a slight nod to the policemen and continued on. Jin-Woo followed right behind him.

The employee from the Association was waiting in front of the Gate. It was a young woman wearing a round-rimmed pair of glasses.

She approached the two men after spotting them from a distance.

"Song Chi-Yeol Hunter-nim! Uh? How did you get here, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim? You weren't answering your phone until now."

Song Chi-Yeol replied instead.

"We were in the same location, and came here together after you guys called me."

"Ahh, is that so? I thought that Seong Hin-Woo Hunter-nim was avoiding answering our calls again."

The Association employee chuckled and cracked a joke.

Well, that indeed had been true in the past.

A long time ago, Jin-Woo got injured badly during a raid, and he grew fearful of going to dungeons, which led to him switching off his phone for a while.

In the end, he had to return to raiding dungeons, since not answering the call three times in a row meant he'd be chased out from the Association.

Recalling his past, Jin-Woo could only smile in bitterness.

"Oh, right. Other Hunters are waiting for you. Why don't you two head over there and greet them?"

There were other Hunters who had arrived earlier where the Association employee was pointing at.

Well, there were only two other Hunters there, however. The number of those willing to come had decreased sharply after that 'huge incident'. Jin-Woo heard from Song Chi-Yeol on their way here that, besides those who died, many other Hunters decided to quit this life from the shock of that underground temple incident.

'One of them happens to be Miss Ju-Hui….'

Jin-Woo took a look around, but he couldn't see her.

When Jin-Woo and Song Chi-Yeol approached closer, the two Hunters awkwardly averted their gazes.

Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'But, of course.'

These two happened to be Kim Sang-Sik, who ran off trying to save only himself, and the other male Hunter who had discarded the injured Jin-Woo.

Of course, they would find it rather awkward to face him.

"Uhm, excuse me, Mister Seong…."

Kim Sang-Sik was thinking of at least greeting the youth, but when he was subjected to Jin-Woo's cold glare, he eventually shifted his gaze away.

"…."

Kim Sang-Sik shut his mouth, studied the mood for a bit, before shuffling further away from there. He stopped at a bit of distance away and sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo, before he tilted his head in confusion.

'Is he really the Seong Jin-Woo that I know? I mean, his eyes are as fierce as a monster, man. Like a real monster….'

Kim Sang-Sik shuddered deeply. As he thought, his arm was covered in goosebumps.

Jin-Woo withdrew his glare filled with hostilities.

Thankfully, quite unlike Yu Jin-Ho, Kim Sang-Sik was quick on the uptake. After locking eyes once, he didn't even try to come near Jin-Woo's vicinity.

He sincerely hoped that this arrangement would remain for the rest of the raid.

"Mister Seong."

Song Chi-Yeol, standing next to Jin-Woo, shifted his gaze in a direction and smiled gently.

"There she is."

Jin-Woo also turned his head in the direction Song Chi-Yeol was looking at. But, before he had the chance to completely turn around to look….

"Mister Jin-Woo!!"

Something rather soft suddenly hugged him tightly.

"Miss Ju-Hui??"

While Jin-Woo was getting flustered, Ju-Hui was too busy making sure he was fine with a tearful face.

"Are you alright? You are not hurt anywhere, right? Uh, your leg?! Mister Jin-Woo, how come your leg is….?"

Ju-Hui's eyes went extra round as she alternated her gaze between his face and his leg.

There was a bit of difference in how extreme it was, but nevertheless, her reaction was more or less the same with Song Chi-Yeol's.

"Oh, that…."

Just as Jin-Woo was about to reply….

"How steamy, eh! It's steamy, I say!!"

Both the gazes of Jin-Woo and Ju-Hui shifted over in the direction of that voice.

From afar, an unknown man was whistling loudly at them.

More importantly, though, he was wearing the blue-coloured prison overall.

'Is there a film shoot going on around nearby or something?'

While Jin-Woo was tilting his head in confusion, a man wearing a business suit climbed down from the front seat of a certain minivan.

He then threw out a measured warning at the prison overall guy.

"Shut your mouth."

The prison overall guy pretended to not know anything by staring at the distance. However, he quickly threw an oily wink at Ju-Hui when the business suit looked back inside the van.

Immediately, Jin-Woo's expression crumpled.

Two more people climbed out of the van right away.

Both of them were men. And particularly worthy of note was the fact that they all wore prison overalls and had been cuffed as well.

The business suit led the three prison overalls towards the Association's employee. And she welcomed him with a bright expression.

"You've finally arrived."

"Please forgive us for our tardiness. There was traffic on the road."

The business suit then proceeded to sign on each of the documents the Association employee presented to him.

In the meantime, the employee called for the Hunters to gather around.

"These folks are the 'replacement' convicts who will participate in the raid alongside you, Hunters."

And so, the expressions of the Hunters hardened considerably.

Kim Sang-Sik was the first to step forward.

"What? 'Replacement�� convicts?! Are you telling us to go on a raid along with a bunch of criminals?!"

Hunters who had committed crimes had two choices.

Either spend their allotted time behind the bars, or cooperate with the Association and reduce their sentences.

Most chose the latter option, and they were referred to as the 'replacement' convicts.

The Association employee repeatedly lowered her head.

"I'm really sorry about this. It's only because the number of Hunters active in our district has declined so much that the Association has no choice but to do this. However, they will be accompanied by a Hunter from the Monitoring Division, so you don't have to worry too much."

Kim Sang-Sik asked, still full of suspicion.

"A Hunter from the Monitoring Division, you say?"

Chapter 31: Chapter 31

"Yes. All the convicts are rank Cs, but the Hunter from the Monitoring Division is actually a rank B, so there is nothing for you to worry about."

Kim Sang-Sik nodded his head.

The popular opinion stated that you'd need around ten C-rank Hunters in order to contend against a single Hunter ranked B.

Well, a B-rank was personally coming to monitor the troublemakers, not to mention participating in the raid itself, so there was no reason to say no here.

'One rank B and three rank Cs, huh…..'

Jin-Woo quietly studied the faces of the Monitoring Division's agent as well as the three replacement convicts, before tilting his head slightly.

'Something's off here.'

He could sense a minute trace of murderous intent flowing between those four.

Was this also one of the facets of the enhanced Perception Stat? Or was he simply being overly cautious?

In any case, he was overcome with this unexplainable anxiety all of a sudden.

So, Jin-Woo whispered in Ju-Hui's ear.

"Miss Ju-Hui, please don't participate in this raid."

Ju-Hui looked up at Jin-Woo's eyes and asked back.

"What about you, Mister Jin-Woo?"

Rather than answering her, he too asked back.

"If I say I'll be going?"

"Well, in that case, I'm going too."

She looked like she'd follow him, no matter what.

'I'm sure she's only doing this because she's concerned about me. And….'

And, he learned through prior experience that, whenever Ju-Hui's face was forming that expression, she'd suddenly become a very stubborn young lady and she'd never change her mind, no matter what.

'There shouldn't be a problem with me around, right?'

After all, he had experienced dealing with Hwang Dong-Seok's gang, which contained five rank Cs in their midst.

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

"In that case, okay."

The agent from the Monitoring Division finished signing on all of the documents, and then came to speak to the gathered Hunters.

"My name is Kahng Tae-Sik from the Monitoring Division. I believe you've been informed of the situation. I'll keep a very close eye on those three, so you can rest easy."

Kahng Tae-Sik then beckoned the three convicts to come closer. They all trudged towards him and presented their hands. With a practised hand of his own, Kahng Tae-Sik swiftly undid their cuffs.

"Wowsers. I thought I was gonna die from the stuffiness just now."

"We ain't even slaves, so isn't it against our rights for you to drag us around here and there like this?"

The convicts massaged their freed wrists and continued to pile on their complaints.

Kahng Tae-Sik roundly ignored them and returned his gaze back to the Hunters.

"Who will be taking the lead today?"

Song Chi-Yeol, having led raids before, raised his hand about half way up. Kahng Tae-Sik nodded his head.

"Understood."

With Song Chi-Yeol in the lead, Hunters entered the Gate one by one.

"Let's get going as well."

Jin-Woo and Ju-Hui also entered the Gate, albeit at the same time.

Perhaps the trauma from the last incident remained with her, because she ever so slightly held onto Jin-Woo's sleeve.

***

Goblins were the main enemies for this dungeon. They were the weakest of all man-type monsters out there. So, clearing the dungeon itself wasn't hard at all.

"Kiiieeehhk!!"

"Kiiehhk!!"

These strange-looking creatures were weak enough for Jin-Woo to fight evenly one on one even before he got his power boost. Still, Jin-Woo did his utmost best to carefully hunt Goblins with his bare hands.

"Kiiehhck!!"

"Kahk!!"

When Jin-Woo displayed the combat prowess that easily exceeded their imaginations, both Ju-Hui and Song Chi-Yeol's eyes became extra round in surprise.

"Wow."

He was hiding most of his true power, yet the result of each fight was still remarkably different compared to the past. Ju-Hui approached him and carefully asked him.

"Have you been working out lately?"

"Well… I, uh, I've been jogging every day."

"Jogging??"

Ju-Hui tilted her head, but well, he wasn't technically lying here, so….

'But besides all that… I'm not earning any experience points here.'

"Kiiieeehhck!!"

[The enemy's level is too low, and your experience points did not rise.]

"Kah-gahk!!"

[The enemy's level is too low, and your experience points did not rise.]

Jin-Woo formed a disappointed expression.

The message of Goblins being too weak and him not getting any experience points kept repeating itself.

'This isn't going to work….'

On top of this, the magic crystals from the Goblins were also the worst grade there could be.

Jin-Woo took a look around him.

The C-ranked convicts must've been really excited by the taste of freedom because they were wildly swinging their weapons and energetically ripped Goblins to shreds.

"Kkkiiiieehhhkk!!"

"Kehk! Kehhk!!"

From that scene alone, it was difficult to tell apart just who were the monsters and who were the humans there.

'I guess there's no reason for me to break a sweat today.'

Well, he wasn't earning any experience points, nor was he making lots of money today, either. A certain thought popped up in his head next.

'If it's going to be like this from now on, wouldn't it be better to quit the Association?'

Pretty much the majority of jobs coming to the Association's way were clearing the Gates ranked D and E. However, if his level wasn't going to increase from entering those types of Gates, then there was no need to participate in Association's raids anymore.

'I can easily earn mom's hospital fees by myself now, too.'

He could quit the Association at any time he felt like it.

This was why having money was always for the better. As soon as he had some, his selection had widened. While thinking of this and that, the raid team entered deeper into the dungeon.

"Uh?"

"Mm….."

And soon, a forked road with three paths appeared before them.

Kahng Tae-Sik made a suggestion to Song Chi-Yeol.

"Since the difficulty of the dungeon is low, how about splitting up from here onwards?"

"Yes, let's do that."

Song Chi-Yeol readily agreed to that idea.

Jin-Woo closed his eyes and extended his Perception to the max.

'Now, which path leads to the boss?'

He was hoping that maybe the boss would give him a few experience points, at the very least.

Soon enough, he could pick up on the auras of all living creatures inside the dungeon.

Jin-Woo opened his eyes and spoke to Song Chi-Yeol.

"Ahjussi, let's go left."

"Okay."

Jin-Woo, Song Chi-Yeol, and Ju-Hui chose the left pathway, Kahng Tae-Sik and the three convicts the right one, and the remaining two went down the middle one.

Jin-Woo's heart began beating a little bit faster.

'The boss is at the end of this passage.'

Although it couldn't be described as strong, a unique and different aura from that of a Goblin was leaking out from the end of this cavern-like passageway.

He wanted to quickly kill the boss.

However, groups of Goblins kept jumping out at him every couple of steps he took, and this hindered their progress.

"Kek, kek, kek,"

"Keeriiick."

"Keeiick."

And this time, there were around ten of them or so.

One carried a wooden club. One held a wooden sword, one even held a long wooden shaft with a stone shard crudely tied around the tip….

They had armed themselves to the best of their abilities, but…. None of them managed to threaten him.

'Haven't you guys had enough yet?'

Jin-Woo frowned really deeply. It proved to be a such a bother, these b*stards that were worth nothing yet moved around in large groups like this.

"There are ten of them this time…."

"What should we do, ahjussi? Should we come back after finding the others?"

However, Jin-Woo's two companions were getting rather sombre about the current predicament they were in.

"Still, there are only Goblins here, so maybe we should try fighting them first."

"Okay."

Flames formed on the tip of Song Chi-Yeol's fingers, while Ju-Hui got ready to cast her healing magic as well.

Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was scratching the back of his head.

'Now that I think about it, I'm not feeling nervous at all even though I'm inside a dungeon.'

Was it because he had become incomparably stronger than before? Only now did he grow a little bit more conscious of the changes that had taken place inside him.

Song Chi-Yeol asked Jin-Woo.

"Mister Seong, are you ready?"

"Oh, uh, yes. I am."

Jin-Woo matched the timing with the rest of his teammates and slowly hunted each Goblin down.

And so, as they steadily cleared the dungeon….

Out of the blue, screams reverberated throughout the dungeon from somewhere, one after the other.

"Uwwaahhhk!!"

"Uwahhkk!!"

Those weren't from the Goblins. No, they definitely belonged to humans.

Jin-Woo, Song Chi-Yeol, and Yi Ju-Hui exchanged glances.

They thought the things had calmed down, only for yet another desperate scream to enter their ears.

"Uwaahhhh!!"

Song Chi-Yeol's expression hardened.

"Let's go take a look."

The three of them quickly ran to where the screams came from.

Jin-Woo could've run faster than his two companions, but for the sake of their safety, matched their speeds.

….Just how long did they have to run?

Ju-Hui cried out in alarm after finding a person.

"There's a person there….!"

And it just so happened to be the Hunter from the Monitoring Division, Kahng Tae-Sik. He was kneeling on the ground, covered completely in blood.

Kahng Tae-Sik shouted out at them.

"Be, be careful! I don't know where they could be right now!"

Kahng Tae-Sik spat those words out with great difficulty before collapsing on the ground in pain.

"Euh-heuk…."

Ju-Hui couldn't watch on anymore and hurriedly ran towards Kahng Tae-Sik.

"Hold on, I'll heal you right now!"

Ju-Hui was thinking like this; regardless of where the enemies were hiding, she was still a Healer ranked B. Meaning, the speed of her healing magic was very fast.

So, she thought that before enemies attacked them, it'd be more advantageous for her to quickly heal Kahng Tae-Sik.

"Please hold on for a little while longer."

Ju-Hui stood in front of Kahng Tae-Sik and reached out with both of her hands.

Gentle rays of light gathered near the ends of her hands.

It happened then.

Kahng Tae-Sik rapidly raised his upper body up and took aim at the centre of Ju-Hui's neck with his hand full of magical energy.

Swish!!

Just before his fingertip could touch Ju-Hui's Adam's apple, someone managed to grab Kahng Tae-Sik's wrist just in time.

Snap!

"Ahh…!!"

The stunned Ju-Hui stumbled backwards before falling on her rear.

Plop.

Kahng Tae-Sik's expression became one of shocked amazement.

'He stopped my attack in that short space of time?'

It was not a hard job for a high-ranked Hunter to deal with a handful of lower-ranked Hunters.

The only thorn in his side today happened to a female Hunter ranked B, the same rank as he was. The silver lining about this thorn was that she was not a combat-related Hunter. She didn't possess any abilities to protect herself, so as long as he succeeded in sneak attacking her, everything would end quite easily.

However…. to think, his sneak attack would end up missing.

With things like this, there was no reward for all that great acting he had put on.

Kahng Tae-Sik's gaze followed the hand grabbing his wrist and to its owner. And Jin-Woo's face was at the end.

Jin-Woo's eyes were emitting a very strong light of murderous intent.

Kahng Tae-Sik frowned deeply.

"How dare you, a f*cking Association bottom-feeder!!"

Swish!

Kahng Tae-Sik's other fist flew towards Jin-Woo's face. However, Jin-Woo simply tilted his head out of the way and let the fist fly by.

'What?!'

Kahng Tae-Sik hurriedly yanked his arm loose from Jin-Woo's grasp.

"Huh?"

Jin-Woo displayed his shock next. As expected from a high-ranked Hunter and his power.

Now that both of his hands were freed, Kahng Tae-Sik began pouring out attacks without a rest.

However, Jin-Woo also moved at the speed that didn't lose out to Kahng Tae-Sik's and went on the offensive of his own, too.

Pow-pow-pabababahat!!

Fists and arms belonging two men endlessly collided and traded countless blows.

None of them showed any signs of backing off.

Seizing this opportunity, Song Chi-Yeol quickly dragged Ju-Hui away from the area.

"Ah-ahjussi…."

Ju-Hui couldn't finish what she wanted to say because of the sheer shock from seeing what was happening right now.

However, there was one person here who was even more shocked than Ju-Hui, and that was none other than Song Chi-Yeol.

'Just how on earth is this possible…..?'

This fierce battle unfolding at a scarcely believable speed – he was having a hard time trying to follow with his eyes.

Something like that was expected of a high-ranked Hunter, so that was fine, but then, the Seong Jin-Woo fighting that man couldn't have been the same person from Song Chi-Yeol's memories. The youth was definitely not losing out against a rank-B Hunter at all.

'I'm a C-rank, and even I can't follow his movements with my eyes!'

Indeed, his gut feeling proved to be right.

The Jin-Woo in front of his eyes right now was not the same youth from his memories, an E-rank who was weak but possessing a good head on his shoulders.

In the blink of an eye, the two traded hundreds of blows and they quickly stepped back while trying to catch their breaths.

Jin-Woo glared at Kahng Tae-Sik and frowned.

"The blood on your clothes… I'm guessing it's not yours."

Kahng Tae-Sik loosened his wrist and answered back.

"That's right, it belongs to those b*stards. Besides all that, I never expected to run into a Hunter of your calibre in this sh*tty place."

Honestly speaking, Kahng Tae-Sik was really impressed.

He hadn't heard of any information regarding a high-ranking Hunter slumming it out along with those bottom-feeders working for the Association.

'This is going to cost me big time.'

He thought that today would be the best time to act, so he did his deeds, but quite unexpectedly, he ran into a pretty steep hurdle here.

Kahng Tae-Sik couldn't control his curiosity and asked out aloud.

"Who the hell are you? What rank are you?"

Jin-Woo summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka, and while grasping it tightly in his hand, replied rather curtly.

"Seong Jin-Woo. I'm rank E."

Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Part 4. Rank B Kahng Tae-Sik

Kahng Tae-Sik felt like someone had hit him in the back of his head.

A b*stard that displayed the movement equal to his own speed, which was unmatched within the rank B, introduced himself as a measly rank E just now.

'Is he trying to make fun of me?'

Kahng Tae-Sik gnashed his teeth.

'No, hang on….'

Indeed, there was something odd here.

'If he's really a high-rank Hunter, there is no reason for him to be here, isn't it?'

The jobs these bottom-feeder Association Hunters did were quite obvious. Their main role was to clear those Gates that Guilds and freelancers gave up on because of their low monetary values.

Their earnings were pathetically small compared to other Hunters, and they were not widely acknowledged by other Hunters, either. In other words, there was a very good chance that this b*stard really was an E-rank.

Only that, his abilities were anything but.

'Still, a fake registrant wouldn't brazenly work under the Association like this, so…'

Kahng Tae-Sik eventually arrived at the only logical conclusion.

'….He's a Re-Awakened.'

When he thought about it, he remembered the upper echelons of the Association getting a bit noisier with a rumour of someone going through a Re-Awakening somewhere nearby this location.

'And, that person was supposedly a Hunter affiliated with the Association….'

He should've memorised that name back then.

As that matter happened only a couple of weeks ago, if this b*stard had been delaying getting a re-assignment test for some reason until now, it was very much possible for him to remain as an E-rank and assist the Association with their work.

Who could've guessed that such a guy would show up today?

Kahng Tae-Sik had made sure to perform thorough background checks on the Hunters participating in today's raid, but he had missed the existence of this one.

'I really have terrible luck, don't I?'

That's the only conclusion he could arrive at.

'I should've asked for more money, if things turned out this way….'

Kahng Tae-Sik recalled the events of a few days ago while licking his dried lips.

***

A few days ago….

A cafe near the headquarters of the Association.

Kahng Tae-Sik asked the moment he settled down in his seat.

"What business do you have with me?"

The middle-aged man sitting his opposite side seemed rather haggard for some reason.

'He said that he's an owner of some company, didn't he?'

Kahng Tae-Sik definitely did not know who this man was. However, he still decided to free up some time after this man continued to call him on the phone, sounding quite desperate and all.

The middle-aged man muttered as if he was speaking to himself.

"I've heard that no one knows what happens exactly inside dungeons."

The man's voice was so soft that Kahng Tae-Sik had to ask again.

"What did you say?"

"This is every cent I have in my name.'

The man suddenly presented his bank account book.

Kahng Tae-Sik alternated his gaze between the book and the man's face, before confirming the bank balance printed on the book's pages.

There was a substantial amount of ₩2,000,000,000 printed there.

"And why are you showing me this?"

When Kahng Tae-Sik formed a questioning expression, the middle-aged man's head dropped lower.

"Among the criminals you're in charge of, there is one who had hurt my little girl. Because of that, she took her own life, and my wife is still in the hospital from the shock."

The middle-aged man's voice became tearful.

"Yet, such a b*stard will be able to roam the streets again in a few years' time…. You think I'll be able to rest easy knowing that?"

The man raised his sorrow and rage-filled face.

"I'm sure you can already tell what I'm implying here."

The man lowered his head again.

"I beg of you, Hunter-nim!!"

A deafening silence descended between these two men.

Kahng Tae-Sik leaned against the back of his chair and fell into a deep contemplation.

Only after a long while passed by did he open his mouth again.

"Can you guess why I chose to work for the Association's Monitoring Division?"

"Pardon me?"

The middle-aged man raised his head.

Kahng Tae-Sik explained himself.

"As a B-rank Hunter, I'm considered as one of the higher ranked Hunters. Large Guilds continue to send their scouting offers in my direction all the time. Yet, can you guess why I persist in doing this job while getting a pittance in return?"

"I… I don't know."

The corners of Kahng Tae-Sik's lips arched up.

"You see, I… I find it more enjoyable to fight against people rather than monsters."

In that sense, the Monitoring Division was like the heaven-sent job for Kahng Tae-Sik.

Well, he could beat up other Hunters in the name of the law, after all. And he'd end up killing one or two due to unavoidable circumstances, too.

'Due to unavoidable circumstances….. Eh.'

Kahng Tae-Sik inwardly smiled and spoke.

"Stepping on that insect you told me about isn't going to be difficult at all. However, there will be other Hunters inside the dungeon besides the insect, as well. I might view that b*stard as an insect, but will other Hunters think that way, I wonder?"

The middle-aged man formed a disappointed expression after hearing Kahng Tae-Sik's rather pessimistic-sounding words.

And here he was, thinking that he'd finally get to avenge the death of his little girl. It felt like the heavens were crashing down on top of him.

However, Kahng Tae-Sik formed a sinister smile as if to mock the other man.

"This money, plus one billion Won on top of that, to deal with the other Hunters as well. Can you do it?"

***

However, if a Re-Awakened Hunter was among those 'other Hunters', then the amount of 3 billion Won was not quite enough. Well, his own life was on the line, after all.

The self-proclaimed rank E Hunter was still emitting a sharp, observant air even now. He looked as if he'd seize any slight opening there was.

Kahng Tae-Sik swallowed his saliva.

'I can't take him lightly.'

Kahng Tae-Sik was confident of winning here. He had never lost a single one-on-one fight even before he underwent the Awakening process.

However, even though he could win, it would not be an easy victory at all.

Right now, he had to revise his plans ever so slightly.

With a nice timing, the rank E Hunters asked a question.

"Those convicts… Why did you kill them?"

"The father of a girl who was raped by those b*stards came to ask me for the favour. Those b*stards were animals worthy of getting killed. And I simply took care of animals that hurt other people, that was all."

The rank E Hunter was listening without saying anything. It seemed quite likely that talking might work here. Kahng Tae-Sik went straight to persuading the other man.

"Although the matter had come down to this, I don't wish to hurt you. How about ignoring today's matter altogether? As long as we make this deal here, I promise I won't try anything to you and your group."

Of course, he couldn't let a potential source of trouble fester.

That was why Kahng Tae-Sik was thinking. There was a chance that a head-on fight would result in him getting badly injured, so he'd get out of here first, wait for an opportune moment, and dispose of all the witnesses one at the time.

However, the rank E Hunter snorted derisively.

"You should've said those things before you tried your little tricks. You want us to ignore everything just because you failed your sneak attack?"

That man didn't say anything wrong there.

Kahng Tae-Sik smirked in dumbfoundedness.

'In the end, you want to have a go, is that it?'

Well, in that case, he'd have to go all out, then.

The light shimmering in Kahng Tae-Sik's eyes became colder. His sharp glare quickly swept across the rank E Hunter top to bottom. And his forehead creased up for a second.

'Where did he get his dagger from?'

Since before he had noticed it, the E-rank Hunter was holding a dagger.

'Well… It shouldn't be too important, is it?'

It didn't matter where that weapon came from, indeed. What's important here, though, was the type of the weapon.

Kahng Tae-Sik's quickly concluded his assessment.

The class that used daggers and utilised quick movements; his opponent was a super-close type damage dealer.

Most likely, his speciality was 'assassination'.

What a coincidence that their specialities happened to be the same.

However, this guy only underwent his Re-Awakening not too long ago. The difference in experience should be absolutely massive. He might not even be able to properly utilise the skills at his disposal.

"Let me teach you a thing or two as your senior."

Kahng Tae-Sik extracted a knife from his hips and smirked derisively at the rank E Hunter.

"Can you do something like this?"

And then, Kahng Tae-Sik activated his 'Stealth' skill, thereby disappearing from the spot.

That caused the rank E Hunter to get flustered and he hurriedly looked around his vicinity. Kahng Tae-Sik could see his naked panic and confusion quite clearly.

'But, that's so obvious.'

The 'Stealth' skill didn't only make one's body go transparent.

The body, the sound, and even the smell!

The skill that cloaked everything about the person activating it!

That was the 'Stealth' skill in a nutshell.

There were only a handful of assassin-type Hunters who could use this skill in the entire world.

Utterly unrelated to one's ranks, you just had to be a lucky few who unlocked this skill when going through the Awakening process.

'Let's end this in one hit!��

Kahng Tae-Sik swiftly moved to the rear of the E-rank Hunter. His back was wide open, unguarded.

'This is the end.'

He was expecting to engage in a bitter battle, but it turned out to be a rather simple fight in the end. If the opponent was getting ready to counter the Stealth skill, then it'd not be this easy at all.

As expected, the difference in experience decided the victor today.

'Die!'

Kang Tae-Sik's knife aimed at the spot just below the E-rank Hunter's ribs and powerfully stabbed forward.

However!!

Clang!!

Two daggers collided in the air and sparks flew off.

With his Stealth skill deactivated, one could now see Kahng Tae-Sik's wide open eyes.

"What?! But how!!"

The E-rank Hunter's dagger had accurately blocked off his own dagger.

Unable to hide his shock, Kahng Tae-Sik raised his eyes and looked up at the E-rank Hunter's face.

And that Hunter opened his mouth with a totally unimpressed face.

"Oh, so now you decide to pop up."

"Wha-what did you say?"

Unable to understand the words of this rank E Hunter, Kahng Tae-Sik suddenly felt this inexplicable fear in his heart.

***

Tti-ring!

[Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies!]

There are lifeforms holding murderous intentions towards the 'Player'. Kill them all in order to secure your own safety. If you do not follow this instruction, a corresponding penalty will be given.

The number of enemies left to kill: 1

The number of killed enemies: 0

Jin-Woo confirmed the Emergency Quest message and breathed a sigh of relief.

'It wasn't a waste of time.'

He was kinda worried, that if Kahng Tae-Sik didn't take the initiative, Jin-Woo wouldn't receive the Emergency Quest notification. It was quite unlike how it was with Hwang Dong-Seok and his gang back then.

That was why he tested the System out, and it was as he expected.

The moment Kahng Tae-Sik revealed his murderous intent, the message popped up.

He wasn't just mindlessly chatting with the guy, or revealing his 'panic', or showing off openings for nothing until now.

'I really didn't know he could use Stealth, though….'

Actually, when Kahng Tae-Sik did disappear in front of his eyes, Jin-Woo was slightly taken aback.

Well, 'Stealth' was a pretty rare skill, after all.

But, when he concentrated a bit harder, he easily and accurately sensed Kahng Tae-Sik's every movement. So much so that he could close his eyes and still find his target with no problem.

This was the effect of his enhanced Perception Stat.

He continued to invest on this Stat just so he could tell whether he should fight or flight, but today, he learned of a new use for it.

'I got lucky.'

Thanks to that, Kahng Tae-Sik was getting shocked out of his mind as if he had seen the ghosts of his ancestors.

"But, how?!"

And now, when Jin-Woo takes care of this murdering b*stard, he'd be able to enjoy the quest's delicious rewards.

'If I'm going to fight anyway, then I might as well get everything I'm supposed to, no?'

It was his turn now.

From now on, he'd start attacking for real.

The two daggers locked in a deadly embrace continued to push against each other.

It seemed that their strength was about the same.

It was here when Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed dangerously.

'In that case, should I find an opening somewhere else?'

Jin-Woo's leg moved in an instant, and he stomped on Kahng Tae-Sik's foot.

STOMP!!

"Uwaahk?!"

Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Kahng Tae-Sik had been paying attention only to the daggers, so he got really stunned by the pain shooting up from his foot, causing him to hurriedly step back.

Jin-Woo didn't miss this opportunity.

'Dash!'

['Skill: Dash' has been activated.]

[Your movement speed has increased by 30%. One Mana will be spent every minute during its activation.]

Jin-Woo rapidly got closer to his target.

Kahng Tae-Sik's eyes grew wider still.

'He got faster?!'

Jin-Woo had been displaying an already high level of agile movements, but now that he had gotten even faster, Kahng Tae-Sik found it quite disorientating.

Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of an eye and sank his Poison Fang of Kasaka down on Kahng Tae-Sik's thigh.

"Kuwahhhk!!"

He aimed there precisely because Kahng Tae-Sik was focused on defending his upper body only.

['Effect: Paralysis' has been activated.]

[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]

['Effect: Bleeding' has been activated.]

[The target's stamina will decrease by 1% per second.]

'Nice!'

The added effects of the Kasaka dagger kicked in as well. It was a bit regretful that the 'Paralysis' didn't work, but still, this fight had become just a tad easier now.

However, Kahng Tae-Sik was a high-ranked Hunter himself! So, his resistance was nothing to scoff about. His dagger aimed at Jin-Woo's vitals and continued to fly in.

Swish, swish!

Jin-Woo evaded the blade with only a hair's breadth and also attacked Kahng Tae-Sik's vital spots.

Even though his thigh was badly damaged, Kahng Tae-Sik calmly defended against Jin-Woo's attacks, as befitting an experienced Hunter.

Clang! Cling!

Cold sweat drops formed on the foreheads of both men.

'Our speeds are about the same!'

'We're moving at the same speed!'

Two men were inwardly admiring each other's agile movements and continued to clash in a dazzling display of super-close proximity knife fighting.

Several powerful attacks, each one capable of ending this fight if hit, were exchanged without rest.

Swish, swish, swiiish, swish, swish, swish!!

It was a truly scary and gripping battle that caused the onlooker's blood to go cold.

'I gotta break this stalemate somehow.'

Jin-Woo gathered strength in his eyes.

['Skill: Intimidation' has been activated.]

The moment his eyes met Jin-Woo's, Kahng Tae-Sik flinched slightly for some reason.

'What was that?'

['Effect: Fear' has been activated.]

[The target's (All) Stats will decrease by 50% for one minute.]

'It worked!'

Jin-Woo knew that he had won now.

On the other hand, a small earthquake erupted in Kahng Tae-Sik's eyes.

'How come my body is…..?'

After he had met Jin-Woo's gaze, his body felt as heavy as if he was floundering in deep water or some such. His trusty speed began decreasing as well.

Swish! Swiiish!!

Wounds on Kahng Tae-Sik's body increased quickly one by one.

'This, this isn't possible!'

Kahng Tae-Sik's thoughts became confused and messy.

This was, without a doubt, a debuffing effect. But, he had never, ever heard of a case where an assassin class was able to use a debuff magic.

'Assassination was not his speciality, then?'

If that was the case, then what was up with his crazy speed?

However, Kahng Tae-Sik had stopped his train of thoughts there. His confusion had rapidly morphed into panic, instead. Because… he had spotted Jin-Woo abruptly rushing in closer.

Kahng Tae-Sik hurriedly took aim at Jin-Woo's eyes.

Swish!!

Jin-Woo quickly tilted his head out of the way, but the dagger still managed to graze his cheek.

Of course, he knew he'd get hurt, at least by this much, or even worse. In order to get that decisive strike in, he decided to take the risk.

Kahng Tae-Sik's expression crumpled.

'F*ck.'

Jin-Woo succeeded in getting close to Kahng Tae-Sik's chest and stabbed down on the latter with the Poison Fang of Kasaka.

Stab.

"Keo-heok!!"

Kahng Tae-Sik's eyes shot open wider.

Both men knew right away at that moment. The victor had been truly decided with that one move.

Crimson-red blood pooled in Kahng Tae-Sik's mouth. It was gushing up from his chest. As blood leaked out from the side of his lips, Kahng Tae-Sik formed a smirk.

To actually run into a Re-Awakened Hunter inside a lowly rank D dungeon….

'Me and my seriously rotten…..'

The dagger in Kahng Tae-Sik's hand fell to the floor.

He continued to pant heavily as he leaned his head closer and whispered something in Jin-Woo's ear.

"….."

Jin-Woo silently listened to those last words, before pulling the dagger out from Kahng Tae-Sik's chest.

Just like a dress slipping off a clothes hanger, Kahng Tae-Sik crumpled to the floor, lifeless.

Plop.

Tti-ring!

[You have completed 'Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies'.]

The expected messages did pop up, but Jin-Woo's expression wasn't so good. Just like the last time, the aftertaste of killing someone remained bitter and nothing to feel too happy about. Even though the other guy attacked first and initiated this fight….

[Completion rewards are now available.]

[Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)

If there were no rewards, then this would be one hell of a loss-loss situation, that.

Jin-Woo consoled himself with that line of thought and confirmed the rewards.

Tti-ring!

[The following rewards are available.]

Reward 1. Five additional Stat points

'Huh?'

Jin-Woo formed a confused expression.

The reward on offer was far, far less than when compared to fighting Hwang Dong-Seok and his goons.

'But, it was a far harder opponent this time, though?'

Did this mean the number of enemies was more important than the skills of the opponent? Or, was there something else he hadn't figured out yet?

Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly.

It was here that Jin-Woo lowered his gaze and ended up spotting something rather odd. There was a spot of flickering light about as big as a coin gleaming on the corpse of Kahng Tae-Sik.

Jin-Woo's eyes grew wider and wider.

'No way, could it be….?'

Although he could hardly believe it, that light seemed far too similar to the one emitted by the loot found on the dead monsters from the instant dungeons.

That light also indicated the position of the magic crystal inside a monster from the Gates. But now, the dead Kahng Tae-Sik was emitting this light.

'What does this mean?'

Jin-Woo calmed his trembling heart and quietly reached out towards the chest area of Kahng Tae-Sik where that flickering light was coming from.

Tti-ring.

Indeed, he wasn't seeing things just now.

[You've discovered 'Rune Stone: Stealth'. Take it?]

'A Rune Stone?! Are you talking about THAT Rune Stone….??'

His heart began pounding even harder than before.

The skill Kahng Tae-Sik used had now become a Rune Stone and was waiting to be discovered on his body.

'Stealth' was a rare skill that only a select few Hunters could use. If this message was indeed talking about the Rune Stones he knew, then….

'Acquire it.'

Suddenly, a small rock with mysterious runic letters carved on the surface appeared in his hand.

[Rune Stone: Stealth]

You can absorb the skill by breaking this Rune Stone.

….Absorbing skills by breaking the stone.

As the description said, this rock was definitely a Rune Stone.

By breaking it, he'd be able to use Stealth from now on.

He had not heard of a Rune Stone that taught one to use Stealth being put up for sale until now. So, it was impossible to estimate just how much this little Rune Stone would go for in the marketplace.

It was then, he heard the voices of two people coming from his rear.

"Mister Seong, are you alright?!"

"Mister Jin-Woo!!"

Jin-Woo hid the Rune Stone inside his pocket and turned around.

And he found Song Chi-Yeol and Yi Ju-Hui busy gawking at him with eyes filled with disbelief.

The rank E Hunter Jin-Woo, who used to struggle like there's no tomorrow in a rank D dungeon, just defeated a rank B Hunter Kahng Tae-Sik.

As a non-combatant class, Yi Ju-Hui didn't know this, but the rank C Song Chi-Yeol knew very well how incredibly crazy that notion was.

Jin-Woo checked out his own appearance.

"Well, yeah, I'm okay."

From a casual glance, he was totally fine. He wasn't feeling any pain, either. But, when he turned his head a bit, the blood pooling around his chin dribbled down. He reflexively touched his cheek and found that the cut he got earlier was bleeding now.

"Oh."

"Let me heal that for you."

For a second or two, a blue light danced around Ju-Hui's fingertips, before that little cut disappeared from the view.

That was the confirmation; a rank E had successfully defeated a rank B without a single injury.

For the two people here that knew Jin-Woo, rather than the fact of a rank B Hunter trying to kill them, it was the fact of the youth before them defeating said Hunter that shocked them the most.

"How can you be able to….."

Song Chi-Yeol couldn't finish his sentence.

Jin-Woo, of course, knew what Song Chi-Yeol and Ju-Hui wanted to say here. That was why he opened his mouth first.

"I'm really sorry. When the right time comes, I'll tell you both everything, so please, don't ask me anything for the time being."

When Jin-Woo made a request in a grave voice, Ju-Hui nodded her head first. Eventually, Song Chi-Yeol nodded, as well.

"If you're saying that, then you must have your reasons. I understand, young man."

Jin-Woo then turned his head in the direction where the boss was. Although the situation had become complicated somewhat, his plan of killing the boss hadn't changed.

He wanted to kill the boss by himself if possible. Also, there was another thing he had to, meaning these two couldn't be here.

Jin-Woo looked back at Song Chi-Yeol.

"With what has happened here, I think it's impossible to continue on with this raid anymore. For the time being, you two should leave the dungeon and contact the Association. I'll remain here and search for other survivors."

Song Chi-Yeol instantly realised what Jin-Woo was trying to do.

'He's going to close the Gate all by himself.'

Even from the older man's perspective, doing that would ensure the least amount of suspicion.

"That would be a good idea. Miss Ju-Hui, let's go ahead first."

Ju-Hui hesitated after hearing Song Chi-Yeol's recommendation, but then, she quickly ran at Jin-Woo.

"You haven't forgotten about our dinner date, right?"

Jin-Woo smiled gently.

"I haven't. I still need to ask you for my change, remember?"

"In that case, you honour that promise, okay? I'll be waiting on the outside."

Jin-Woo nodded his head, and that must have relaxed her a lot since she took a step back without saying anything else.

Even as she was escaping from the dungeon, she continued to look behind her several times.

Jin-Woo only let out a sigh once the shadows of the two people were gone for good.

"Fuu-woo."

And he really wanted to hide for as long as possible, but….

In the end, he got discovered.

There were two eyewitnesses, so it was impossible to talk his way out of this one now.

'It's not like I can threaten Ju-Hui or Mister Song ahjussi, either.'

Killing the rank B should be seen as self-defence. He had two eyewitnesses, so no worries there. The real issue would be with how a rank E managed to kill a rank B.

'I guess being a Re-Awakened is the most plausible excuse there is, huh.'

He decided to go with that one, then.

He'd reveal himself to be a Re-Awakened Hunter and get himself a re-assignment test.

No one would believe him even if he told them about the System or levelling up and all the other stuff. There was also no reason for him to reveal that information voluntarily, anyway.

After he decided to go through with the re-assignment test, he kind of felt relieved on one hand, and a bit wistful on the other.

'And here I was, hoping to do the test only after I got even stronger….'

But, since when did the world move as one wished?

There was nothing he could do about it now.

'I wonder, how high will my new rank be?'

Since he fought on equal footing with Kahng Tae-Sik, was he slightly stronger than a rank B Hunter at this moment?

He thought that he had gotten really strong now, but as it turned out, those high ranking Hunters, starting from B all the way up to S, were indeed all freakish existences far surpassing his imaginations.

'Oh well, let's think about the future once I get out of here.'

For the time being, he had to get rid of the boss first.

The dungeon that emitted magical energy waves equalling a rank D only had a bunch of rank E Goblins inside. In that case, there was a good chance that the magical energy wave was actually coming solely from the boss.

A boss like that should give him enough experience points for a level up.

'But before I do that….'

There was something else he had better confirm first.

Jin-Woo pushed his Perception to the limit and carefully combed over all auras present within the dungeon.

"Found you."

Jin-Woo began waking to his new destination.

On the way, he discovered the cold corpses of Kim Sang-Sik and the other Hunter.

This was the power of a high ranked Hunter; if such a Hunter really wanted to, then killing a few lower ranked Hunters could be done in the blink of an eye.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened as he walked past them.