Chapter 1067 - 15 - 20

Chapter 15: Chapter 15

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

Unlike the dungeons of the Gates, there was a thing called 'respawn' within the instant dungeon. While he was sweeping away every single monster found on the second floor, all the monsters on the first respawned. While he went back upstairs to deal with them, monsters on the second floor respawned. So on and so forth.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

Jin-Woo hopped between the first and second floor and killed monsters until his level no longer rose up.

'Who knows when I'll ever run into another opportunity like this one?'

Along the way, he got so used to this place that he was able to predict from where and how the monsters would try to attack him.

"A monkey, falling from the ceiling…."

He lightly evaded the claws of the monkey-type monster falling from the ceiling and stabbed it in the chest with his sword. And then….

"Kkiiieeck!!"

"….One cat each from left and right."

…And then, he orderly sliced the necks of the black panther-like creatures jumping at him from his sides.

"Kyahk!"

"Kkahk!!"

[You've killed a 'Blade-Claw Briga'.]

[You've killed a 'Black-Shadow Razan'.]

[You've killed a 'Black-Shadow Razan'.]

And with these three, he had arrived at the end of the second floor.

He had cleared out the second floor once more. However, his level hadn't been moving from 15 for a long time now. It seemed that reaching that high was the limit for the first two floors.

"Stats."

[Stat]

Strength: 45

Stamina: 24

Agility: 24

Intelligence: 24

Perception: 24

(Available points to distribute: 0)

With him being level 15, his Stats had risen up by quite a lot. His Agility was now almost at 25. He finally got to feel the difference between the Agility and the Strength Stat when the former hit the value of 20.

The Agility did not increase his speed, but rather, it was as if the opponent's movement had become far slower in his perception, instead.

'Exactly like watching a slow-motion video.'

The scenes of the monkey falling from the ceiling and panthers pouncing on him played out in slow-motion.

Should he describe it as him being able to manipulate the time flow as he wished? It became easier to evade enemies' attacks, and it also became easier to hit them as well.

As the word implied, he had indeed become more 'agile'.

The so-called speed was wholly dependant on who was looking at it. The higher his Agility Stat, the bigger the difference between him and his enemies would become; from their perspective, he'd look as if he was moving at an unbelievably quick speed.

'If both the Strength and Agility increase concurrently, their synergy should be pretty incredible.'

That was his final assessment of the Agility Stat.

"Besides all that…"

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away.

"What should I do now….?"

He was looking at the stairs leading down to the third floor.

There was a reason why he continued to hunt in the first two floors even though there was a way to go even lower.

'It's giving me the creeps.'

With his Perception Stat so much higher, he could sense the aura of something ominous lurking down there far better than before. Without a doubt, something really strong was hiding somewhere down below.

He didn't have to see it to know.

Jin-Woo recalled the message he saw back by the entrance of this instant dungeon.

[You can not exit the dungeon. Please defeat the boss first or find the return crystal.]

The existence of the 'Boss'.

Jin-Woo had been roaming the first two floors in order to raise his levels until he couldn't anymore, all for the purpose of fighting this 'Boss'.

He had prepared himself as much as he could but, when the time to actually go down there came, he was getting all sweaty and nervous.

Jin-Woo lightly slapped both of his cheeks.

'I mean, I've entered a dungeon, so I can't just leave without taking a look at what this boss looks like, now can I?'

A certain amount of tension was a must in order to maintain the peak condition. And this amount was just about right for him.

Jin-Woo gripped the sword tightly with both of his hands slowly descended the steps. Could he have been mistaken when the steps felt unusually longer than before?

He swallowed dried saliva down.

The lighting was worse than the first two floors, but there was no problem with seeing where he was going.

'Is it because of my Perception Stat?'

He couldn't help but feel that his eyesight had improved greatly.

He cautiously climbed lower until eventually spotting the railway tunnel used by the subway trains.

No, he saw where the railway used to be.

The tunnel that should've been used by trains was now filled with jet-black liquid, instead.

'What is this?'

Rather than a subway tunnel, it was…. more like a lake or a river now.

Just as Jin-Woo took one more step forward to take a closer look….

A long log-like object shot out from the surface of the black 'water'.

Swish!!

'It's fast!'

The thing that arrived in front of his nose in the blink of an eye was not a log, but a snake with the thickness rivalling one, actually.

"Heop!!"

Taken by surprise, Jin-Woo could only swing the sword and strike the head of the snake away from him.

Clang!!

Jin-Woo's eyes opened wider.

"What the hell?!"

He did succeed in deviating that direction of the lunging snake, but his trusty steel longsword ended up breaking apart from the impact.

Jin-Woo looked back in surprise.

The snake must've been surprised by his counterattack as well because it didn't try to follow up right away, but instead chose to simply glare at him while coiling itself up a distance away.

'The ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.'

Jin-Woo could clearly see the orange-coloured name of the monster.

It was a creature incomparably faster and hardier than those with their names written in white.

'Even then, for a sword reinforced with magic energy to break like that….'

Jin-Woo swallowed nervously and cautiously studied the Boss monster called Kasaka.

Blue scales covering its entire body gleamed in an oily manner. As if it had draped itself with thick armour, those scales had no gaps to speak of.

Sword strikes wouldn't have worked in the first place. It'd be the same story for punches, too.

When Jin-Woo's thoughts arrived there, the Kasaka must've finished its own analysis on its prey, because it finally lunged at him once more.

No matter how one looked at it, it was a frightening turn of speed, that's for sure.

Swwwiiiish!!

Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'It's coming!'

When he concentrated hard, he could now clearly see the attack of the Kasaka, which was something he couldn't even properly decipher in the beginning. This was all due to the increased Agility Stat.

Just before the Kasaka opened its maws wide and tried to swallow him, Jin-Woo swiftly sidestepped and let the attack brush past him. At the same time, he wrapped his arms around the creature and caught it in a headlock. He then tightened his grip.

*SFX for bones breaking*

Jin-Woo's Strength Stat was almost at 50.

An unbelievably powerful pressure tightened around the snake's main artery. The snake could not escape from his grip and thrashed around as if it was in pain. Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and strengthened his arms even more.

Slam!! Boom!!

Jin-Woo's body slammed against the walls and on the floor, but he never released his arms.

'If I didn't raise my levels as high as I could before coming here….'

There was literally no end to wondering about 'what-ifs' and 'what could have beens'.

However, all kinds of thoughts still swirled in Jin-Woo's head.

If he didn't raise his level to the limit….

If his Strength Stat wasn't so illogically high….

Then, he'd have gone through incredible hell in order to kill the Kasaka.

No, he might even have died here.

So, his decision not to come down right away proved to be the smart one. His choice was indeed the right one.

Crack!!

Accompanied by a rather awful noise, the skull of Kasaka gave in and cracked apart.

[You have killed the ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

As expected of a boss mob.

His level rose up by 2 after killing the Kasaka.

Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fists.

The level that had been stagnating at 15 had jumped up to 17.

In just a single day, he crazily raised his level from 1 all the way up to 17.

'However!'

No one hunted boss mobs for experience points!

Indeed, if it was a boss mob, then it'd be all about the loot drops!

When he started checking out the dead snake, two spots of light began gleaming from somewhere within its limp body.

'Two items, because it was a boss?'

His expression one of elation, Jin-Woo reached out towards the spots of light.

Tti-ring.

[You have discovered 'Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka'. Take it?]

[You have discovered 'Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka'. Take it?]

"Take them all."

As soon as he said those words, a dagger made out of a bone and a small pouch with liquid in it appeared on his palms.

[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.

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

'A dagger made not out of bone, but from the fang, huh. It's not a bad item with those options, yeah?'

Next up was the pouch.

[Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka]

Rarity: A

Type: Medicine

A pouch containing the refined poison of the Kasaka. Can be found very rarely when hunting Kasakas. Drinking this poison will give you strong skin, but the toxicity will permanently damage your muscles.

Effect 'The Iron Scales of Kasaka': 20% reduction in physical damage.

Side effect 'Damaged Muscles': Strength -35

Jin-Woo's expression alternated between joy and anguish.

The Poison Fang of Kasaka was a good weapon to replace the broken longsword. Not only did it possess over twice the attack power, but he really liked the two status effects of Paralysis and Bleeding, too.

'However, this poison sac is a bit….'

Initially, he was really pleased to find an item with the 'A' Rarity rating, but when reading the description, he realised this was not something he could feel completely chuffed about.

Of course, that effect of reducing all physical damage taken by 20% was a great option befitting an A-rank item. However, it also carried a fatal penalty of decreasing his Strength Stat by 35.

It'd be a really painful loss for him especially when he invested all of his points on increasing his Strength stat.

Was this the famed double-edged sword, then?

No, the expression of 'chicken ribs' suited this item far better, instead. (TL: a Korean idiom. It means something like 'people not giving up on chicken ribs even though there isn't all that much meat around there'.)

Maybe, he might be able to use this thing only when his Strength Stat had risen so high that the loss of 35 points wouldn't affect him in the slightest, which should be in the distant future. It was impossible to drink it right now.

"…..For the time being, I should just hold onto it."

With a rueful expression, he stored both inside his Inventory.

Maybe, if an A rank dagger and a C rank medicine came out, then he might have felt not as bad as he did now. Well, he'd have just gotten rid of the C-rank medicine if it was useless, after all.

It was then, a new message popped up.

[With the death of the Boss, the interior of the dungeon will revert back to its original state.]

Suddenly, his sights blurred for a bit, and then, they were restored back to normal, along with a slight bit of dizziness assaulting his senses. When he took a look around, he found himself inside a normal subway station.

The lights overhead shone brightly, and the black liquid filling up the tunnel was all gone, too.

"….But, where is everyone?"

Not just people, but even trains were strangely absent.

He even checked the time while thinking that the trains had stopped running for the day because it was so late already, but the clock was indicating 10 PM.

He entered the Hapjeong station around the lunch hour, so he had spent over 9 hours inside that dungeon.

'I was in there for a long time, wasn't I?'

If it weren't for his Tiredness Stat being refreshed every time he levelled up, he'd have keeled over from the accumulated fatigue several times by now.

'Anyway. Isn't it still too early for the trains to stop running?'

Jin-Woo tilted his head as not one train showed up, no matter how long he stood there waiting. He decided to leave the station for the time being.

While he was trudging towards the exit, he couldn't spot a single person. But, as he climbed up the steps to get to the surface, someone shouted at Jin-Woo from above.

"Who goes there?"

Who knew that the voice of another person would sound this welcoming?

Jin-Woo quickly raised his head. He saw a soldier wielding a rifle.

"Who are you? Why are you coming out from there? Haven't you heard the broadcasts?"

The expression of the soldier was so serious that even Jin-Woo's own expression hardened in an instant.

"Did something happen?"

"What the? How can you even say that?"

The soldier approached closer, but then, he spotted the broken sword in Jin-Woo's hand.

After it broke, it could no longer be stored in the Inventory, and Jin-Woo didn't feel like leaving it behind, so he just carried it outside like this.

Seeing that, the light within the soldier's eyes changed rapidly. He then carefully studied Jin-Woo's current appearance.

Now that this soldier had taken a closer look, Jin-Woo's clothes displayed various hints of the youth participating in many fierce battles recently.

The crumpled expression of the soldier lightened up in an instant.

"Are you a Hunter by any chance?"

Chapter 16: Chapter 16

"Yes, I am one, but…."

"Ahh, please forgive me. This way, please. Let me guide you there."

"Ah…. Sure."

Sensing that his troubles might get more complicated if he said "There's been a misunderstanding here", Seong Jin-Woo decided to quietly follow the soldier's guidance for now.

Jin-Woo then swept his gaze around his vicinity.

'Now that I see, it's….'

The surrounding atmosphere felt rather suspicious.

The streets were totally deserted. The only people he could see were the soldiers and the members of the police.

Also, corpses belonging to monsters, destroyed cars, and buildings with cracks running up their walls….

Jin-Woo realised what had happened here.

'A Gate must've opened up nearby.'

Something like that almost never happened nowadays with the well-established Hunter system in place, but sometimes, a Gate would appear in a remote area, and it'd go unnoticed for a while. As a result, no one would come around to close it in time.

When such an event unfolded, soldiers from the nearby bases were dispatched in order to buy some time until Hunters could arrive on the scene.

Of course, the weapons of soldiers didn't work against the monsters. However, in order to facilitate the evacuation of civilians, someone had to be offered up as sacrifices. In other words, they were to become cannon fodder.

A role someone had no choice but to perform had been saddled on the shoulders of this nation's youths.

"Thank you."

The soldier walking up ahead thanked Jin-Woo out of the blue.

"Pardon me?"

"Well, because Hunters such as yourself fight hard, we are able to go home at the end of the day, you see."

"Oh, uh….."

He said 'thanks'.

That was something Jin-Woo wanted to say to the soldier, instead.

Soldiers to the Hunters, and Hunters to soldiers.

As befitting those fighting to protect someone, or even something, they were expressing their gratitude against each other.

Beep.

The soldier's expression brightened after he received the radio transmission.

"I've received a word that the monsters in the vicinity have been dealt with, and only the biggest one remains."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

He didn't need to hear the soldier's explanation to know.

He could actually sense the presence of a powerful 'lifeform' nearby. And he could even sense several auras of Hunters surrounding it, too. The enhanced Perception Stat was transmitting crucial information in the form of sensations and feelings.

And that's how Jin-Woo got to figure it out almost immediately.

'That thing is the boss.'

Soon enough, the creature could be seen in the distance. In the empty, open space not too far from him, a dozen or so Hunters were surrounding a giant made out of rock. It was as tall as a telephone pole.

It was a Golem-type monster.

"Heok…."

The soldier spat out a gasp of fear as he took a step backwards.

Perhaps it was his first time seeing one, since the moment he saw it, his entire body had stiffened noticeably. But then again, most people would react in a similar fashion. The difference between seeing a monster for real and seeing it on a TV or a computer monitor was like heaven and earth, after all.

Unlike him, Jin-Woo remained calm and observed the unfolding situation.

"Healers! Concentrate your healing on the Tanker!"

"We're also doing our best!!"

"Why isn't it dying already?!"

"What are the damage dealers doing!! It's not even remotely close enough to dying, is it?!��

"The monster's defences are too strong! And we just don't have enough magic-type Hunters in our group!"

Because they had been summoned out here in haste, none of them seemed to be high ranked Hunters. Both their defences and attacks didn't look that effective at all.

Because of that, Hunters couldn't avoid being embroiled in the protracted battle of attrition.

BOOM!!

When the Golem slammed its massive stone fist downward, the Hunter acting as the Tanker had no choice but to kneel down just for a brief second.

"Keo-heok!!"

The Tanker vomited out a mouthful of blood.

"N-no!!"

"The Tanker might die at this rate!!"

"What do you want me to do?! My magic energy reserve is completely empty, you know!!"

"Hasn't the support from high-ranked Hunters arrive yet?!"

These Hunters looked like they had reached their limit.

Jin-Woo's gaze, as he took all of these in, gleamed quite sharply.

'If it's only that much…. I can do this.'

Jin-Woo slowly took several steps back. This Golem-type boss might possess the high defence, but its rank was probably lower than its scary outer appearance might suggest.

Just from the aura it emitted, it was definitely weaker than the boss of the instant dungeon, the Poison-Fanged Blue whatever.

'So, if I could just render its high defences to nothing….'

What's needed right now was a powerful strike that could penetrate past that dumb rock giant's defences.

Jin-Woo got to enough distance away and took a position of throwing something.

The muscles in the arm holding the broken sword began swelling up quite violently out of the blue. Thick, pulsing veins even popped up on the back of his hand, too.

All of his physical strength was concentrated in his right arm.

A short while after that, the arm pulled back taut like the string of a bow was shot forward at the speed of sound.

"Go!"

***

The view of the rank D Hunter, Lee Hahn-Soo, was turning dark.

He couldn't continue on anymore. His prized shield had begun developing cracks as well. As if their magic energy had been depleted, the amount of healing magic hitting him from the Healers had decreased quite noticeably.

At this rate, every single one of them would die for sure.

Lee Hahn-Soo had to make a decision, now.

The only feasible plan here was for him to buy enough time so the other Hunters could safely escape from here. And at a later time, Hunters with higher ranks show up to kill this Golem.

'Or, we all die together here.'

Cold sweat drops formed on Lee Hahn-Soo's forehead.

He finally firmed up his resolve. Lee Hahn-Soo shouted out while looking back.

"Leave this to me and you all gotta…!"

It was at this moment that Lee Hahn-Soo saw it.

Something flew towards here as it gleamed coldly in the night air.

Actually, he could only 'sense' that he had seen something, but his eyes couldn't really pick up on anything tangible.

It was that fast.

KWAHANG!!

That 'something' slammed into the Golem's head and it grandly exploded.

"W-what the hell?!"

Lee-Hahn-Soo's eyes opened up super-wide.

The headless Golem began tottering dangerously. The Hunters began roaring out in elation only then. They focused their attacks once more.

"It's working!! Our attacks are working!!"

"It's falling!!"

"A little bit more!! Just a bit more and we'll win!!"

It seemed that none of them had noticed the object flying in from somewhere, because they were too focused on attacking the monster. With the sole exception of Lee Hahn-Soo standing right in front of the Golem, that was!

Roooaaaarrr…..

In the end, the Golem toppled over.

Thud!

The heavy body fell down to the ground and kicked up a mighty dust storm.

Waaahhh!!

Hunters all cried out in elation and celebrated their victory.

"We did it!!"

"We killed it!"

Only Lee Hahn-Soo had seen everything unfold, and he slowly shook his head.

'No, our attacks didn't even work on this guy.'

Lee Hahn-Soo hurriedly searched around the vicinity of the fallen Golem.

"Just what did destroy the head of this rock giant?"

Lee Hahn-Soo thought out aloud and searched around. Eventually, he discovered the remnants of a broken sword. Although there were some traces of magic energy within it, it was basically a cheap, plain steel sword.

'What? Someone threw something this worthless and destroyed a boss level Golem capable of brushing off the combined attacks of ten plus Hunters?'

Suddenly, he forgot what he wanted to say. Lee Hahn-Soo silently alternated his gaze between the corpse of the Golem and the broken sword, before he ran past the cheering Hunters and in the direction the sword flew in from.

"Excuse me!!"

He found a dazed soldier standing there.

"Pardon? You talking to me?"

"That's right, you!"

When a Hunter with a hulking physique hurriedly rushed towards him, the soldier couldn't help but swallow nervously with a stiff face. That was how great the pressure a Hunter gave off to regular people.

Lee Hahn-Soo displayed the broken sword and asked.

"Did you throw this?"

"Oh, that. It's actually…."

The soldier looked behind him, only for his eyes to go round in surprise.

"Huh? Uh? But, there was a Hunter standing right behind me, though?"

Of course, there was no one there now.

While the flustered soldier was looking around the vicinity, Lee Hahn-Soo scratched the back of his neck and stared at the broken sword.

'That power, that destructive power…. Could it have been a high rank Hunter?'

He'd never know, since the protagonist had disappeared already.

***

Around the same time, Jin-Woo was on his way home. He turned around to leave as soon as the Golem began teetering about.

Indeed, he was the one who brought down the Golem. He was well aware of this fact.

Now originally, the loot and the profit arising from a dead monster belonged solely to the Hunter who managed to kill it. If he wanted to, he could contest for the rights to the Golem.

'However, it'd become problematic when trying to prove that I am capable of bringing down a Golem like that.'

Who would believe the notion of a giant Golem crashing down because of an attack from a measly little rank E? He didn't even have a proper evidence to back him up, too.

Jin-Woo figured that neither the broken sword or the soldier standing beside him would be of a great help in that endeavour.

And that would not be all. More importantly, he'd have to reveal the reason how his abilities had increased by so much that he could fell a Golem like that.

The harder he thought about it, he had more to lose than to gain.

The one and only ability in the entire world to level up.

He couldn't afford to slip up and reveal the existence of this unprecedented ability just for the sake of claiming the remains of a single Golem.

'It's a bit of a waste, but can't be helped.'

Still, it wasn't as if he walked away completely empty-handed, anyway.

No, rather than that, he earned pretty big, actually.

The message he heard the moment that giant Golem fell down….

[Level up!]

His level rose up by one because he had killed the Golem.

'Indeed, my levels will rise if I hunt the monsters from the normal dungeons.'

He had learned some valuable information. That alone was worth it.

***

An old and decrepit apartment located on the outskirts of the city – Jin-Woo's home was on the eighth floor of this building. (TL: I use the Commonwealth way of counting floors, so for all those who don't, it'd be the ninth floor for you.)

He found the key and entered the premises. It was dark inside.

'Jin-Ah's still studying hard, huh.'

It was quite likely that his little sister was still in the library, studying.

He found a bowl of rice and some soup on the dining table. Mom was in the hospital for a number of years now, and these dishes were from his little sister.

The piece of paper, a memo from her, contained a bunch of cutely written words.

– Don't starve yourself. I'mma check later if you ate them all.

She must've prepared them even though she was busy as a bee, after he told her of his plans to leave the hospital earlier today.

Jin-Woo grinned softly and settled down to eat. However, there was something he wanted to confirm first before doing that.

"Status Window."

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 18

Class: None

Title: Slaughterer of Wolves

HP: 2220

MP: 350

Tiredness: 2

[Stat]

Strength: 48

Stamina: 27

Agility: 27

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 27

(Available points to distribute: 0)

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

He thought that today had been a long one.

And thanks to this long day, he was now level 18.

His Strength was approaching 50, and other Stats also had increased significantly as well. He even figured out what the Agility and Perception Stats did, too.

'On top of this, add to the fact that I found a very useful dagger with good options and all that Gold that I don't know how to use just yet, then…'

Even if he disregarded the 'special' medicine he got, his conquest of the instant dungeon was a resounding success.

Part 9. Geckos

A person stepping outside the house in the early hours of dawn would inevitably be cautious in their movements. Well, they might end up accidentally waking up their family members, after all.

That was why Seong Jin-Ah was silently closing the front door to her home, so that her brother wouldn't wake up from his sleep, as she was about to leave for school.

But, then….

"You going to school now?"

"Eh?"

She was taken by surprise when a voice came from near her, and she quickly turned around to look. And she saw Jin-Woo jogging towards her.

He was kitted out in tracksuit and sneakers. He had pulled the hood up high and looked as if he'd been on an early morning jog.

Jin-Ah's eyes opened up real wide in shock.

"What the heck? Oppa, you were up already?"

"Yup, been a while since I was up, you know. Hey, have fun today and be careful on the road."

"Uh…. Sure."

Jin-Ah watched her brother's back as he entered the apartment and tilted her head.

'Now that is so strange. Oppa actually woke up before I did….'

One would never call Jin-Woo a lazy type, but Jin-Ah was always the first one to start the day until now simply because she was unusually industrious, which was quite unfitting for her age group.

'Now that I think about it…'

Her older brother's back seemed broader than before, for some reason.

'Eii, no way that's true.'

A human's body wasn't made out of some rubber band, so how could it make any sense for him to expand and contract in a space of a few days?

'I've probably made a mistake.'

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Just as Jin-Ah shook her head, Jin-Woo suddenly pushed forward an umbrella to her.

"Why an umbrella?"

Jin-Ah received it and took a look at the sky. As it was still early dawn, the sky remained dark, but it seemed to be more or less clear and cloudless.

"But, it doesn't look like it's going to rain, though?"

"Take it anyway."

"But, it's heavy, you know?"

"Take it with you regardless. Besides, it's a folding type umbrella so it doesn't even weigh anything. Stop exaggerating, will ya?"

Slam.

Jin-Woo then closed the door.

"Che…. Acting as he feels like."

Jin-Ah lightly kicked the door a couple of times to express her disgruntlement, folded the umbrella and shoved it inside the empty space in her school bag, and turned around to leave.

'Hang on….'

Her steps came to an abrupt halt after she remembered the difference in the eye levels between her and her brother. Something was rather odd.

His eye level had definitely risen up higher compared to before.

"Do guys continue to grow taller even in their twenties?"

Eii, there was no way that could be true….

Jin-Ah shook her head again and hurriedly walked towards her school.

*

Click.

Jin-Woo locked the door and summoned his Inventory.

"Storage."

Storage, 'inven', Inventory.

He discovered it through various experimentation and learned that the word used didn't matter as long they meant the same thing.

It was the same story when accessing the mailbox.

As long as the word spoken meant 'open', the desired effect took place without fail. (TL: The author wrote 'open' three times in Korean and in English in this sentence. Thus I had to change it somewhat.)

Jin-Woo then shoved the umbrella he just got from the random box inside the 'digital' storage in front of his eyes. (TL: This is the direct translation from the raw. I didn't make a mistake. This is what it really said….)

"It's no good today again, huh."

Four days had passed by since he cleared that instant dungeon.

He always remained hopeful whenever he got to open up a random box, praying for another dungeon key to pop out, but unfortunately, he hadn't been lucky so far. It must've been a pretty rare item if it was this hard to get.

'Well, that's that, but now….'

Jin-Woo entered his room and sat on the edge of his bed. There was a matter he had resolve right away.

"Stats."

[Stat]

Strength: 48

Stamina: 27

Agility: 27

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 27

(Available points to distribute: 12)

He had been saving up the Stat points earned from the quests of the past four days. He made sure to complete the daily quest every day. Of course, he also didn't forget to always check his rewards, too.

However, he hadn't distributed the points until now.

The issue was….

"….This is tough."

Indeed, he found it rather difficult to come to a decision.

The 'Strength' Stat.

It was a wonderful Stat, that's for sure. He hadn't regretted it once, investing all of his points into this one back when he started this thing.

Agility.

This was also a pretty darn good Stat, too. Against weak enemies, it only helped a little, but as the levels of his opponents rose up in the future, no doubt he'd be relying on this Stat more and more.

Well, the 'speed' was a relative thing, after all.

And then, Stamina and Perception.

It'd be great if his Stamina was high, obviously. And this Perception turned out to be very useful as well.

Finally, 'Intelligence'.

…..This was the problem child.

He hadn't been able to figure out this Stat's uses yet.

His level had increased by quite a lot, but he didn't feel any smarter than before. His memories didn't seem to have improved, nor did his ability to calculate quickly, either.

'I think, it has to be related to magic….'

This Stat might be something he didn't really need for the time being. Which left Strength, Stamina, Agility and Perception.

"….Even then, this is really tough."

Although he now had one less Stat to choose from, he was still in a dilemma here.

He didn't feel too confident at all.

At least he understood that the synergy between 'Strength' and 'Agility' was very good. Even if he could deal big damage, it would be meaningless if he couldn't hit his target. On the flip side, even if he could hit accurately all the time, as long he could not deal enough damage, it'd be a waste of time, too.

In that regard, one could say that Strength and Agility formed a 'set'.

'Since my Strength Stat is so high, I should raise Agility up to match it.'

If he decided to raise his Agility Stat, then he had to delay raising Stamina, instead. Well, the synergy between Agility and Stamina wasn't so good, after all.

The thing was, when Agility was raised, the odds of getting struck by the enemy would decrease. But on the other hand, Stamina was a Stat that only displayed its true worth when the opponent actually damaged him.

'Of course, I do need at least the bare minimum of Stamina….'

But, raising both Agility and Stamina at the same time was a rather inefficient method, at least from his perspective.

After a lengthy deliberation, he decided on the order of priority.

The first one was Agility. The second, Perception. Finally, Stamina.

His Strength was plenty high enough so he'd defer it for now. And as he was planning to raise his Agility, Perception took priority over Stamina.

After deciding so, Jin-Woo spent 2 points on Strength.

Tti-ring.

[Stat]

Strength: 50

Stamina: 27

Agility: 27

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 27

(Available points to distribute: 10)

Well, he wanted to raise Strength to the round and even 50 for the time being. That was how normal human beings behaved, no?

Then, he spent 8 points on Agility.

[Stat]

Strength: 50

Stamina: 27

Agility: 35

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 27

(Available points to distribute: 2)

The reason for that was also not that special.

He just wanted the last number to be a '5'.

'It's far more preferable to see the numbers ending in increments of 5….'

Strength 50, and Agility 35.

Seeing them end in the multiples of 5, he suddenly felt rather pleased with himself for no reason whatsoever.

'And as for the last 2 points….'

Jin-Woo invested them on Perception next.

With this, the points distribution had come to an end.

[Stat]

Strength: 50

Stamina: 27

Agility: 35

Intelligence: 27

Perception: 29

(Available points to distribute: 0)

The only sticking point would be the fact that he couldn't quite bring Perception up to 30.

'Well, I don't have any more points left, so it can't be helped, I guess.'

Other than that, everything was okay. He figured that it'd be fine to raise Stamina and Agility through levelling up.

"So then, I guess that's it."

No matter who you were, you would be hard-pressed to feel 100% satisfied with everything. Since he had thought about his choices for a long while, he was more or less happy with them like this.

It was then, he could hear the telephone ringing from the living room.

Riiing, riiiing….

'Is the Association calling me?'

In the past, he didn't want to participate in the raids so he did his best to ignore the calls until the last possible moment, but right now, he was raring to go and test out his raised abilities against various monsters.

Jin-Woo quickly snatched up the receiver.

"This is the Hunter Seong Jin-Woo."

– "Aigoo, you finally picked up the phone."

Too bad, it wasn't a call from the Association.

A rueful sigh leaked out of his mouth.

– "Learner Jin-Woo, why is it so difficult to get in touch with you lately?"

The voice coming from the speaker was a familiar one.

It'd been four years already since he graduated from high school and therefore stopped being a 'learner', but the owner of the building always attached that prefix in front of Jin-Woo's name ever since taking in both the Seong siblings when they were still young kids.

"I'm really sorry about that. I was admitted to the hospital because of an incident a few days ago."

– "Tsk, tsk, so that's what happened. I should've known. Well, there's that and, learner Jin-Woo…. The rent for this month hadn't come in yet, so…. what should I do? If it's a bit too tough for you, should I delay it for a month or two?"

"Oh, no. It's fine. I'll send the money in a bit later."

– "Okay. But, don't force yourself, you hear? Trying to look after your mom and your younger sister, you're going through so much hardship there. I know money is important, but don't forget to take care of your body, too."

"Thank you. I won't forget that."

The call ended there.

Jin-Woo pulled out the bank balance book from one of the drawers. The remaining amount in the account was only around ₩800,000. (TL: Just over $700.)

"Fuu…."

A groan leaked out from his mouth.

After paying the rent of ₩500,000, he'd have ₩300,000 left for the month's living expenses.

And the rent could be that low only because the apartment building was located on the remote outskirts of the city, as well as it being old and decrepit, plus the owner of the building taking into consideration Jin-Woo's troubles and not raising the amount for the last couple of years.

There was no way anyone would be able to find an apartment to rent for 500 grand per month nowadays.

And trying to survive on 300 grand for the whole month was even tougher.

"I gotta make some money first."

Jin-Woo decided to take care of the urgent matters first.

He was no longer the same guy from a few days ago who couldn't even kill a single E-ranked monster and shiver in fear.

***

How did Hunters make money?

The best way was to kill monsters.

Hunters ranked S or A could get sponsorships, shoot commercials, make appearances in TV shows and the like to hoover up a lot of money, as much as some chaebols made, but their number was exceedingly few. (TL: Chaebols = owners of big corporations basically)

Indeed, there were too few of them.

Excluding those too few ones at the top, the majority of the Hunters had to go to a dungeon in order to make money.

The higher the rank…

The greater the experience….

The earnings would be decided by each individual's own capabilities.

For someone like Jin-Woo, who was ranked E, worked only for the Association, and had no experience in dungeons rated higher than C, such a condition was an incredibly tough one to overcome.

Jin-Woo's expression scrunched up into something unsightly.

'Disregarding the conditions, for now, if I could just enter an assault team, now that would be great….'

He took a look at the job postings on the Hunter websites' bulletin boards and called a few numbers, but all of them turned out to be a waste of time. No one wanted to work with a Hunter ranked E.

Those Hunters seeking outside help via job postings were freelancers almost all of the time, which meant that they were responsible for preserving their own necks, so understandably, they paid close attention when forming a raid team or letting someone into theirs.

These people didn't possess enough abilities to enter big Guilds, but their ranks were too high to work for the Association.

They were all kind of stuck in-between a rock and a hard place, but unable to go either way.

'Even then, these Hunters still earn more than ₩10,000,000 a month, as far as I know.' (TL: Around $8830)

It was the case of 'High Risk, High Reward'.

Since they put their lives on the line, the profit they earned was just as big at the end of the day. It wasn't for nothing that Hunters were the targets of envy from the general populace.

From Jin-Woo's perspective, he could only get impatient, though.

'Should I just take the rank reassignment test and increase my rank right away?'

Eventually, Jin-Woo shook his head.

He knew that was a stupid thing to do, no matter how hard he thought about it.

A Hunter ranked E suddenly became a high-ranked one!

Whether that was A or B, or maybe even C, it didn't matter.

The Re-Awakening would always become a hot topic of conversation.

The masses loved nothing more than a good gossip, and Hunters just so happened to be a good subject to chew on.

The old saying went that, if there were five mouths, then there would be ten eyes. Meaning, the more people talked about you, the more eyes would be focused on you. His Stats would continue to rise up in the future, so it'd be only a matter of time before his 'special' constitution was discovered by the others.

"A Hunter who can raise his abilities up higher?"

"He becomes stronger as time goes by?"

"Who is this Hunter?"

"How can he do something like that?"

"What should we do to become like him?"

Without a doubt, many people would express their interest. After all, there hadn't been a Hunter like him before. And among those expressing interest, there would be those who try to use him, or reveal their hostile intentions towards him as well.

'If just one of those possesses incredible power, then….'

Just imagining it gave him the chills.

He was far too weak as he was now. Until he possessed enough power to protect himself, he didn't want the world to know of his existence. Meaning, taking the test to reassign his ranks was out of the question.

'But, I still need to make money here….'

However, that didn't mean he could go out and get a part-time job, either. He didn't know when the Association would call him for a raid.

By raiding a dungeon, he'd get to earn both money and experience, so how could he blow that important chance just to scrounge up a few bucks by working in a local store?

While he was seriously deliberating on what he needed to do, he spotted something in the bulletin board that caught his attention.

– Emergency! Searching for a single Hunter, regardless of the rank! Needs to come right away!

Jin-Woo's eyes shot right open. This posting had popped up literally a second ago.

When he hurriedly checked the contents of the posting, it wasn't too far from his home, too.

Jin-Woo quickly picked the phone up. The other side must've been in a hurry as well because he answered the call even before the first ringtone.

– "Hello?"

Jin-Woo stated his reasons for calling as precisely as possible and calmly waited for the answer.

– "Oh, you are an E rank?"

The response from the other side was better than expected.

– "It's fine. We just need someone to show up and fill up the headcount, that is all. However, it's a Gate ranked C so it'd be hard for you to hunt there. So, we'll just spilt the profits among ourselves and we just give you ₩2,000,000 in cash. How about it? Can you come right away?"

₩2,000,000 for a day's work! (TL: Around $1765)

It was a lot of money for simply being there to make up the numbers.

A rather tempting offer this was.

It was regrettable that he couldn't get to share the dungeon's loot, but he might end up losing out on making 2 million just by trying to be too greedy.

'For now, let's put out the urgent fires first.'

Such an opportunity wouldn't come around every day, after all.

2 million was enough for him and his sister's monthly living expenses.

Jin-Woo said yes to the offer.

"I'll be there in less than 15 minutes."

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Jin-Woo only needed one minute to get ready, quickly grabbed himself a taxi, and headed off to the meeting point. Nine people were already there, waiting for his arrival.

The man who looked like the leader of the group waved his hand at Jin-Woo.

"Heyyy! Over here."

It was a bearded man with a fairly big physique. He smiled softly and walked closer while speaking to Jin-Woo.

"Are you Mister Seong Jin-Woo?"

"That's correct."

"Aigoo, it's a relief that you found the right place so quickly. I guess this is fate, so how about we greet each other before we get started?"

The bearded man briefly introduced the members of his team.

The eight of them including himself were regular teammates that worked together all the time, while the remaining guy was someone who also came here to make up the numbers, just like Jin-Woo.

Jin-Woo greeted other team members and studied their countenance carefully. Thanks to his enhanced Perception Stat, he was able to more or less sense everyone's capabilities.

'Five with a similar rank. Four with a slightly lower rank than them. Five rank Cs and around four with D or lower.'

There was a regulation when attempting to clear a Gate rated C. The minimum number of a party had to be ten Hunters, and more than half had to be at least ranked C or higher. Only then did the Association issued a permit.

It seemed that them claiming to do all the hunting and he only needed to be there to make up the numbers didn't sound like an empty boasting after all.

"Now we're done with introductions, let me briefly explain the important points to remember."

The bearded man introduced himself as Hwang Dong-Seok, a Tanker rated C. He displayed a relaxed atmosphere as if he possessed plenty of experience raiding dungeons.

As he began describing the situations one had to keep an eye out for in the middle of a raid, someone came closer to Jin-Woo.

"Excuse me. Looks like we're both pieces of fluff in this party, huh?"

He was none other than the other Hunter Hwang Dong-Seok had brought along in order to fill up the numbers. He was a young man with a bright expression. However, unlike Jin-Woo, he was actually going to participate in battles. He was ranked D, so he had the right to do so.

His name was Yu Jin-Ho, aged 22.

Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head as Yu Jin-Ho greeted him, before shifting his gaze away. Yu Jin-Ho seemingly wanted to carry on with the conversation, but ended up scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He soon returned to his spot.

"Hyung-nim, let's stop here and go in already." (TL: Hyung-nim = big brother, or a male addressing an older male. Used more as an honorific by gangsters to address someone higher up in the hierarchy. Most of the time, anyways.)

"We'll be the ones to kill them all, so what's the point of explaining it in detail like that?"

"Right, my ears might get blocked up with wax at this rate."

When the original team members all raised their voices, Hwang Dong-Seok laughed jovially and clapped his hands.

"Alright, then. Enough with the explanations, let's get going."

Everyone got ready to enter the Gate.

"Ah, before we enter, you two, take a look at these."

Hwang Dong-Seok pushed forward a page of a document to Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho each. It turned out to be a simple contract.

"Write your names on the bottom and sign it, and we're good to go."

The contents said, he'd not participate in any hunting, he'd not participate in sharing of the loot, and when the raid was over, he'd be paid 2 million won right away.

The terms were the same as what he heard over the phone. However, they were not the ones to catch his attention.

'I have to promise not to question them regardless of whatever incident happens inside the dungeon….?'

Unlike the raids organised by the Association, one would not be able to claim for compensation if something happened during a raid organised by the freelancers. One of the reasons why Hunters couldn't get a life insurance, either.

One had to look after one's own neck, in other words.

Only now did it feel real that Jin-Woo had entered an assault team.

While confirming the clauses, Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at Yu Jin-Ho's contract. As expected, his was different; besides the promised 2 million, he was also going to share in the loot, as well.

Before signing the document, Jin-Woo asked Hwang Dong-Seok.

"What am I supposed to do when we're inside?"

"Nothing too particular. Just follow us and help us carry the luggage, that's all."

"Your luggage….?"

Hwang Dong-Seok pointed at the huge backpack one of his 'dongsaengs' pulled out from the minivan. (TL: A "dongsaeng" is a gender-neutral term to denote a younger sibling. Can also be used as an honorific to denote a younger person.)

"You'll be carrying around lunch boxes to eat when inside, several sets of clothing and equipment, first-aid kits and some other stuff."

'Wait, first-aid kits when entering a dungeon?'

Jin-Woo couldn't help but question this.

"You are not entering with a Healer?"

"I'm sure you already know that it's not easy to hire a Healer if you're running your own assault party. Well, we've been doing things this way until now, so it'll be fine."

Hwang Dong-Seok smiled awkwardly.

To think, this team just barely met the required minimum number of Hunters, one of the additional members mistook a raid as a blind date or something, and the composition of the assault team only happened to feature a Tanker and damage dealers, and not one Healer…

Even after hearing that there was no Healer present, that oblivious additional member didn't seem too bothered by the revelation. It was the sure proof that he was a newbie.

Jin-Woo smirked inwardly.

'They are a bunch of wannabes.'

However, he still signed on the contract. Not because he needed that 2 million, but because he knew very well that he could protect himself now.

"Here it is."

"I'm done, too!"

Hwang Dong-Seok confirmed the signatures of both men and shouted out in a loud voice as if he was feeling really pleased today.

���Okay!! Let's get going, everyone!"

***

The party headed straight to the location of the Gate.

It was in the middle of the halted construction site for an apartment complex.

"The economy nowadays isn't so good, but still…."

Hwang Dong-Seok clicked his tongue.

Like large tombstones, unfinished apartment buildings stood still sporadically, imparting a certain sense of foreboding to all who looked at them. Could a cemetery of giants feel this way to observers?

"Did you know?"

Yu Jin-Ho had walked closer to Jin-Woo and whispered softly.

"…. That, while the employees and the investors are going through hell at the moment, the CEO of the project ran off to overseas two months ago along with ₩900,000,000,000?"

"…"

Jin-Woo gave the other guy plenty of hints, But it seemed like Yu Jin-Ho didn't want to leave his side at all.

Well, with the exception of Jin-Woo here, all eight of them originally belonged to one team so it'd be hard to get along with them that easily.

"Hyung, are you always this quiet?" (TL: "Hyung" here is slightly different from "Hyung-nim" from earlier on. Still means older brother, but without the tough-guy connotation.)

Before anyone had noticed it, the honorific had become 'hyung'. Jin-Woo couldn't ignore this kid anymore.

"…..Don't you know how to take the hint?"

"Well, I've never lived while worrying about taking hints, so… Ehehe."

Was this guy simply a good-natured, or just brainless? Jin-Woo wordlessly scratched the side of his head as he stared at Yu Jin-Ho and that bright smile of his.

'However, I….'

It was indeed true that Jin-Woo would get unusually nervous when he got nearer a Gate. But, it was par for the course, really.

To other Hunters, raids might come across as a legitimate source of income, but to Jin-Woo, each and every one he participated so far had been a desperate, bitter struggle to make ends meet.

He'd get tense because of all the painful memories stuck forever in his head.

"It's over here."

Hwang Dong-Seok's steps came to an end.

"Oh…."

The Hunters all let out a surprised gasp.

"Hwang hyung, is this really a Gate rated C? But, isn't it too big?"

"You think the Association was lying to us? They said that investigators came around here twice already."

A hole in the air, floating like a black hole. People took to calling it a Gate.

Its rank was assigned according to the waves of magical energy emission coming from inside. Folks from the Association would stop by first to assign a rank to each one.

After that, individuals or Guilds wanting to clear the Gate could follow the procedure and apply for a permit.

Gates ranked A or B were, most of the time, left to the big Guilds. Well, they were too difficult for freelancers to clear, after all.

So, assault parties formed by freelancers took care of the Gates ranked lower than that. Which meant that a Gate ranked C was effectively the hardest one for Hunters not affiliated with anyone to clear.

Hwang Dong-Seok stood in front of the Gate and looked back at his team.

"I'll be entering first. Do your best to keep up, everyone."

The Tanker entered first, and the other Hunters began entering one by one.

'You never know, so….'

Jin-Woo lightly stretched himself just in case.

Next to him, Yu Jin-Ho began pulling out his own equipment from his bag. The sword and the shield coming out from his bag gleamed attractively under the light.

Even a casual glance could tell that they were very expensive. They were definitely not something a newbie Hunter could organise on his own.

'Hang on, he said that he never had to take hints before, so does that mean he's from a well-to-do family?'

Jin-Woo formed a surprised expression.

Perhaps sensing Jin-Woo's gaze on him, Yu Jin-Woo confidently and bravely stood in front.

"Hyung, you said that you're ranked E, right? Don't worry, I'll protect you. Just stick close by me."

Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head.

Just who would protect who?

"…Okay. Thanks for the sentiment."

"Let's go in as well."

Regardless of how Jin-Woo felt, they still followed in afterwards and safely entered the Gate.

***

The interior of the dungeon was eerily quiet.

"….."

Not only that, but it was also completely dark, too.

Hwang Dong-Seok issued his first order.

"Hey, Gyu-Hwan? I need a light."

"Alright."

The magic-related Hunter Joh Gyu-Hwan created a ball of a light in mid-air. The surroundings became bright immediately.

Hwang Song-Seok lowered his shield and tilted his head slightly.

"What the hell? Where are all the monsters?"

"I wonder. There is no light in here, either."

Now normally, there should have been luminous stones found here and there inside cave-like dungeons and emitted some light to illuminate the way forward. However, this dungeon didn't have those.

Yu Jin-Ho whispered to Jin-Woo from the side.

"Hyung, could there be a dungeon without monsters in it?"

"Shush."

Jin-Woo gestured the younger man to keep quiet. Because, Jin-Woo's ears were twitching. He could hear lots of footsteps coming from the distance.

Jin-Woo spoke up.

"It's not that there aren't any, they just haven't arrived yet."

Yu Jin-Ho swallowed nervously after hearing that.

Rumble….

Soon, the party could hear what Jin-Woo had heard earlier on.

Only then did Hwang Dong-Seok realise something was amiss here.

A dungeon with no luminous stones could mean…..?

"What moves around in groups, lives in darkness, and rushes towards a source of light?"

"Oh, crap!!"

The complexions of Hwang Dong-Seok and his dongsaengs became ashen all at the same time.

"It's bugs!!"

"Bugs are coming!!"

"F*ck it, man!! Why the hell did it have to be god d*mn bugs!!"

Hwang Dong-Seok cried out.

"Get into your positions!! They are coming! In front!!"

From the other side of this lone passage, 'somethings' were madly rushing towards them in a large group.

"Wait, could this be an ant hill?"

"Don't say something that might jinx us, okay?"

Out of all the monster types, insects were the most troublesome to deal with. Their shells were quite hardy, they always moved around in large groups, and each individual possessed pretty high combat potential, as well.

And the worst of that lot just so happened to be the ant-types. Countless Hunters made a mistake and entered the 'ant hills' only to lose their lives very quickly.

Rumble, rumble!!

The sounds of the insect legs rustling on the ground noisily reverberated throughout the cave. It meant that they had come pretty close now.

Hwang Dong-Seok raised his shield right up below his chin. However, they couldn't see any insects even then. His dongsaengs began raising a fuss from behind him.

"What's going on here? Why can't I see them?"

"But, they are close by, though?���

"Dong-Seok hyung, can you see anything out in front?"

It was at this time that Jin-Woo shouted out.

"Above you!"

'What?!'

Hwang Dong-Seok reflexively looked up.

Rumble…..!

Huge insects were running towards them on the ceiling.

If they were discovered late even for a single second, those things would've jumped down on top of their heads.

When fighting against monsters such as these insect-types that formed large groups, the breaking down of the team's formation would mean death for everyone involved.

'If those were discovered too late, then….'

Hwang Dong-Seok felt a chill run down his spine.

The silver lining here was that he couldn't spot a single ant-like creature among the various insects.

He raised his voice and shouted out.

"Fire!! Fire and bring them down!! Once they are on the ground, I'll attract the aggro!"

Swish, pow!!

Boom!!

Kiiieeehhk!!

Kiieehh…

When a few monsters fell down after getting struck by the attacks of the Hunters, the rest of them followed suit and landed back on the ground. Without a doubt, they were planning to engage the Hunters.

From here onwards, the capability of the Tanker would prove to be crucial. Hwang Dong-Seok activated his provocation skill to attract the gazes of all the monsters to himself.

And as if they had a prior agreement, monsters all turned their heads to glare at Hwang Dong-Seok at the same time.

"I'm over here, you d*mn bugs!!"

Kiieeehhh!!

Dozens upon dozens of monsters rushed towards Hwang Dong-Seok's position.

Slam!! Clang!!

Clllannng!!

Cling!! Clang!

His shield managed to defend against the attacks of the bugs without fail. The strong jaws and claws couldn't tear the shield in half. The Tanker Hwang Dong-Seok defended commendably well from the front, all stable and unmoving.

"Standby, get in position, and get ready!!"

Hwang Dong-Seok waited for the right timing.

Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Even when the bugs chomped and bit at him with terrifying intensity, Hwang Dong-Seok remained steadfast and waited for the chance to counter-attack.

….To make sure that the aggro wouldn't deviate from him even if the damage dealers landed a crippling blow to the enemies.

'This should be enough!'

With that thought, the real hunt had finally begun. To hunt, the real reason why the Hunters were called Hunters in the first place!

Hwang Dong-Seok roared out.

"Attack!"

Along with that short but manly shout, all the accumulated firepower of the team poured out on the marauding insect horde.

Kiiieehhhk…

Kiieehhkk!!

The pained screams of the monsters rose up from here, there, and everywhere.

Jin-Woo stood at the back and observed this situation as it unfolded. That was the contractual obligation he had to adhere to for this raid.

He inwardly simulated how he'd fight alone as his eyes continued to take in the battle happening in front.

'How frustrating.'

Jin-Woo had to suppress his urges to rush out there several times already. He could see so many open gaps within the ranks of the monsters. And he also spotted the Hunters missing those gaps and continue to commit simple errors.

So, how could he not feel frustrated when he was not allowed to do anything and simply had to stand around?

Even then, the damage to Hwang Dong-Seok's team proved to be surprisingly non-existent. It was all because their teamwork was rather excellent.

It seemed that the relaxed demeanour of Hwang Dong-Seok before the raid began was not just for a show, after all.

"Jin-Seok-ah! 11 o'clock!"

"Hyung, they are coming from your right, too!"

"Joon-Tae, Seok-Min, Gyu-Hwan!! Take care of the right!"

"Okay!"

"Cheol-Jin, your wrist's swollen up. Retreat to the rear."

"Hwang hyung, this ain't much to fret about."

"You wanna go back only after sweeping clean the entrance? We don't know how long this raid will take, so stop being hasty from the get-go. Control your pace, got that?"

"Roger that."

Perhaps because they've been working together for so long, they were able to communicate quite smoothly. Being able to communicate quickly like this would inevitably result in an excellent teamwork as well.

It was a world apart from the ragtag bunch of Hunters brought together by the Association.

'What's more surprising is that this kid turns out to be pretty handy, too.'

Jin-Woo's gaze shifted over to Yu Jin-Ho next.

When a monster bit into his shield, he kicked it away and swung his sword quickly at it. The expensive sword easily separated the monster's head from its body.

For a newbie rank D Hunter, he was defending himself admirably well.

'His kick-a*s gear is filling up the hole left behind by his lack of skills and experience, huh.'

Indeed, it was not for nothing that pretty much all Hunters struggled hard to get themselves good equipment.

When their gazes briefly met, Yu Jin-Ho quickly raised his thumb up.

"…..���

Because of his expressions that looked as if he was desperately pleading for a positive response, Jin-Woo was left with no choice but to reciprocate the same gesture as well.

Looking rather satisfied now, Yu Jin-Woo turned around.

Kiiiehhhk….!

Whatever the case may have been, the end of the battle was drawing nearer. Once the coast was more or less clear, Hwang Dong-Seok issued another order to his dongsaengs.

"Don't forget the magic crystals! We split them exactly nine ways!"

"Yep."

"This is my favourite part of the raid."

"Me too."

Hwang Dong-Seok confirmed his giggling dongsaengs collecting the loot, and walked closer to Jin-Woo.

"Aigoo, we survived all thanks to you."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you were the first one to alert us about them monsters coming up from above, weren't you? How did you know, though?"

"It was…. a gut feeling."

Jin-Woo came up with a half-cooked story on the spot.

Quite obviously, he couldn't come out and say that his Perception Stat was high, now could he?

"Oh, really? A gut feeling, huh…. Well, we got lucky today. I don't even want to imagine what might have happened if we didn't discover them in time… whew-woo."

Hwang Dong-Seok patted his chest while speaking up.

It was then.

One of the Hunters rummaging through the carcass of the insect gestured at Hwang Dong-Seok to come closer.

"Hwang hyung, please come over here for a sec."

The dongsaengs had all gathered in one spot. So, Hwang Dong-Seok went there to join them as well.

"Mm?"

"Something's a bit off about these crawlies."

The Hunters parted ways when Hwang Dong-Seok arrived, allowing the bearded man to squat down and take a look at the surroundings. He couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary, though. No matter where he looked, all he could see was the dead insects.

"What's off about these?"

Hwang Dong-Seok tilted his head.

One of the dongsaengs pointed at the leg of the insect monster closest to him.

"I'm pretty sure that wound didn't come from us."

��….."

Hwang Dong-Seok's expression crumpled slightly. He took a closer look before raising his voice.

"Looks like…. something took a big bite out of it, doesn't it?"

"Right? That's not the only one with wounds like that, you see. Looky here. This one, that one over there, and over there, too. Looks like that one's missing a pair of wings as well. Could these creepy crawlies have been beaten down already before fighting us?"

Hwang Dong-Seok's expression hardened even more.

Now he realised why the battle went off so smoothly when compared to the number of the monsters they had to fight.

"Could it be that…. these things were fighting against something else?"

It was then.

Although it had been for the briefest of all brief moments, Jin-Woo still sensed the gazes of the several members of this team landing on him.

Their eyes shifted away as soon as Jin-Woo displayed a hint of sensing them. With this, he was certain now.

'As I thought….'

His initial suspicions proved to be correct.

Seeing that their teamwork was so good, they must've been fighting together for a long, long time already. And without anyone dying, too.

However, would such a thing be possible without a Healer backing them up?

No matter how good Hunters were, they were still humans at the end of the day. Inevitably, they would slip up sooner or later. Well, only a short while ago, didn't their formation nearly break apart from the attacks of the bugs?

A bigger picture finally formed inside Jin-Woo's head and a subtle smile formed on his lips.

'Maybe…. I can use them to my advantage.'

As long as they acted within his calculations, that was.

Hwang Dong-Seok smiled and stood back up.

"Well, now. Why don't we go in a little bit deeper? We might be able to clear this dungeon rather quickly if this keeps up."

Hwang Dong-Seok deliberately spoke up with a loud voice.

He didn't do that for the sake of his dongsaengs. Well, the original members of the team were already surrounding him, to begin with.

In the meantime, Yu Jin-Ho smiled brightly and approached closer to Jin-Woo.

"Hyung, did you see it? You saw it, right? With this, I kicked some serious monster a*s today, didn't I?"

Yu Jin-Ho swung the sword around in the air. Seeing this, Jin-Woo quietly asked him.

"Hey, that sword and the shield, they are really expensive, right?"

"Pardon? Ahh, when I told my dad that I'd be participating in my first raid, he got them for me."

"Well, in that case, I think you should keep your wits about you, too."

Jin-Woo lightly patted Yu Jin-Ho on his shoulder and followed after the other Hunters walking deeper inside the dungeon.

"What is he talking about now, out of the blue?"

Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion before chasing after the departing group.

*

The cave seemed to go on forever. However, bizarrely enough. they hadn't come across a single monster as of yet.

Since the dungeon was shaped like a long cavern, there was no way that they'd miss each other, too.

"Could it be that the crawlies at the entrance were everything?"

"Eii, no way."

"Now that would be really strange."

"Still, there should be a boss at the end, right?"

"Without one, why would a Gate remain open, then?"

The opinions of the Hunters were shared among themselves as they roam the expansive but empty interior of this big dungeon.

"Hold it."

Hwang Dong-Seok in the lead suddenly stopped walking. He stopped so abruptly that people behind him ran into his back.

The Hunter whose nose had slammed into the head of the guy in front asked with a sullen expression.

"Ouch, what the heck…. Hwang hyung, what is it?"

"Gyu-Hwan-ah. I need a light over there."

Joh Gyu-Hwan controlled the ball of light floating up in the air and redirected it further up ahead, exactly where Hwang Dong-Seok had been pointing at.

"Holy sh*t."

"All these….?"

All the Hunters spat out low groans.

The torn wings, legs, torsos, and even heads of the bugs – remains of the various dead bugs were strewn about everywhere as far as the light shone. The further into the cave the light got to, the greater the amount of the remains they could see. And also, a huge chamber located at the end of it all.

"That's the boss's room."

Someone muttered out softly. Hwang Dong-Seok nodded his head.

"Everyone, get your equipment ready."

The Hunters quickly armed themselves. Nervousness was evident on the expressions of everyone present.

With Hwang Dong-Seok leading them in, the rest of the Hunters cautiously and silently entered the boss's 'room'. However, their silence only lasted for a few seconds afterwards.

"J-Jackpot!!"

The Hunter with a red nose cried out. He was none other than the guy whose nose slammed into someone's back of the head.

Originally, it was forbidden to shout out too loudly inside a dungeon. Because there was a possibility that a monster they didn't have to fight might hear the noise and run towards where the Hunters were.

However, none of the others scolded the red-nose for his mistake.

"Wowsers."

"How much could all of these be?"

"It is a real jackpot, innit?"

Everyone was way too busy gasping out in admiration and happiness, that was why.

"Wait a second."

When Joh Gyu-Hwan fixed the beam of light high up in the middle of the air, the situation within the room became clear for all to see – as well as the jewel-like stones jutting out from one of the walls of the cave.

"They are mana stones!"

"The entire wall is made up of them!"

These mana stones reflected the light attractively and caused the eyes of the Hunters to sparkle brightly in greed as well.

Mana stones!

They were one of the treasures that could be found inside dungeons.

Although each stone possessed a lower amount of magic energy compared to a magic crystal extracted from a monster, they almost always were found in large quantity, so if one were able to mine them, one could earn a substantial profit.

Besides, the mana stone deposit they had discovered was incredibly large. The entire wall of the huge cave was actually filled up with these stones.

"Let's do a quick calculation."

A Hunter with a mathematical brain began moving his fingers in a hurry.

"If we can mine them all, we could be earning as much as ₩1,000,000,000. Even if we split nine ways, we're looking at a payout of over ₩100,000,000 per head."

"Ohh, ohh!"

Smiles formed on the faces of the Hunters.

Yu Jin-Ho had been staying at the back until then, and when he heard those words, he began poking Jin-Woo's side with his elbow.

"Hyung, show me your copy of the contract."

"Why?"

"Just trust me on this one. I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to law, you see."

Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders once and handed over the contract as requested. Yu Jin-Ho walked over to Hwang Dong-Seok while carrying that.

"Excuse me, seniors? I wanna ask you about something."

The eyes of the celebrating Hunters immediately focused on Yu Jin-Ho next. Yu Jin-Ho flapped open Jin-Woo's contract and showed it to them.

"Mister leader, this is Jin-Woo hyung's contract. As you can see, there is no clause about splitting the treasure beside the magic crystals earned from the hunting itself."

Everyone there caught on to what Yu Jin-Ho was trying to say.

– It's customary to share the treasures or other rare items found in a dungeon equally among all the participants of the raid. The splitting of the profit, in this case, is different from monopolising the magic crystals of the monsters one hunted themselves.

In other words, the mana stones had to be split ten ways, not nine.

The light within the Hunters' eyes changed greatly, but Hwang Dong-Seok simply smiled and took a step forward.

"Of course, we'll be sharing them equally. I know the rules well. We still have some things to take care of before that, though."

Hwang Dong-Seok raised his index finger and pointed to his front.

Yu Jin-Ho grandly flinched from that. He thought that he was the one being pointed at, actually.

He shuddered slightly and turned his head around to take a look, and finally spotted a spider as huge as a house quietly squatting way over there.

"Heok….!"

Yu Jin-Ho began taking hurried steps backwards and covered his mouth after seeing the spider's appearance. As if it was fast asleep, the huge spider didn't even budge an inch from the spot.

Around the creature, there were empty shells of the dead insects piled up as high as a mountain.

A fair few of them were 'half-eaten', and there were bodily fluids mixed in among them as well, basically resembling a trash pit full of food waste.

"That's the boss, huh."

"Did that thing eat the bugs inside the dungeon?"

"Well, it sure did eat a lot, didn't it?"

Hunters glared at the spider and passed their opinions one at the time.

Hwang Dong-Seok called the others to gather around. Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho, too, stood in front of Hwang Dong-Seok as well.

"As you all know very well, as soon as the boss is killed, the Gate will start closing up. So, before we kill the spider, let's mine the mana stones first."

Everyone nodded their heads.

"Cheol-Jin-ah, did you bring along the equipment for the job?"

The man named Lee Cheol-Jin shook his head.

"No. Who knew we'd find mana stones inside a C-ranked dungeon? All the mining equipment is back in the van."

"Oh, come on now, dude…. Didn't this hyung always tell you to keep it around just in case?"

"My bad, my bad. I'm really sorry about this."

Lee Cheol-Jin grinned brightly and began apologising to Hwang Dong-Seok, the rest of his teammates, and even to Jin-Woo.

Hwang Dong-Seok spoke up while scratching the back of his head.

"Aigoo. What a bother this has become. In that case, why don't you two stay here and wait? We'll go outside and fetch the equipment in the meantime."

Chapter 20: Chapter 20

When the Hunters tried to leave all at the same time, Yu Jin-Ho formed a confused expression and quickly asked them.

"Are you telling me and Jin-Woo hyung to remain in the boss room?"

Hwang Dong-Seok smiled with his eyes and replied.

"The b*stard is yet to wake up even though we've been talking loudly for a while now. So, I'm sure nothing's going to happen here. Well, there are some things I wanna speak to my boys, too, so we'll take a short smoke break as well. But, don't worry, it won't take long."

Jin-Woo listened to Hwang Dong-Seok's rather detailed explanations and smirked inwardly.

'You've finally revealed your true colours, huh. But all of you are leaving at the same time? Aren't you fools taking us way too lightly?'

They were looking down on him because of his low rank, of course.

As Jin-Woo expected him to, Hwang Dong-Seok finally began to move. It was slightly different from the youth's expectation, though.

It had been four years since he became a Hunter. During that time, he had met many Hunters. One of them was an ahjussi named Mister Oh.

He had retired from the life of a freelancer, but still showed up now and then to help out with the Association's work.

"Be careful of geckos."

Mister Oh used to say that rather often.

When one participated in raids, one would inevitably encounter a dangerous situation.

When such an event happened, some crooked, immoral Hunters would try to sacrifice someone who had been fighting alongside them until then, with some flimsy pretext of them not being in the same team, to begin with, or that the other party was simply weaker than they were.

All just to buy themselves some time for their safe escape.

It was exactly like a gecko cutting off its own tail and running away.

'Cutting its tail off….'

Mister Oh took to calling those types of Hunters 'geckos', and such actions as cutting off one's tail.

The regulation stated that in order to enter a Gate ranked C, the minimum number of participants had to be ten. Yet, Hwang Dong-Seok's team only had eight members.

"I'm sure you already know that it's not easy to hire a Healer if you���re running your own assault party. Well, we've been doing things this way until now, so it'll be fine."

Indeed, he stuck to only eight members, even though his team had entered countless Gates ranked C – so much so that he could say 'this way until now'.

'They obviously have no reason to fill the last two spots.'

They needed a tail that they could cut off at any given moment, after all. There was a reason why they were willing to accept anyone whether it was a Hunter ranked E or a newbie.

And now….

Hwang Dong-Seok had decided to abandon both Seong Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho for a slightly different reason than usual.

'But, it's a good thing for me.'

Jin-Woo had figured out Hwang Dong-Seok's intentions pretty early on, but chose to say nothing. This was what he wanted, actually.

However, unlike Jin-Woo who was full of confidence, Yu Jin-Ho was quite different as he only started his work as a Hunter today.

Yu Jin-Ho spoke with a voice full of worries.

"No, wait a minute. That is just…. Why don't we leave together?"

It was then, Jin-Woo spotted one of the Hunters at the back raise his hand towards his hips. So, he placed his hand on Yu Jin-Ho's shoulder and spoke.

"It'll be fine. We'll guard this place."

The Hunter's hand heading towards his waist stopped.

"Hyung….?"

Yu Jin-Ho was quite surprised and confused, but Jin-Woo simply kept his mouth shut and lightly shook his head. Sure, the kid was noisy and got on his nerves just a tad, but Jin-Woo wasn't planning to let him die here.

After all, didn't he try to get the fair share for Jin-Woo just now, although that would have ultimately put him in a disadvantageous position?

Hwang Dong-Seok formed a smile as he looked at the two youths.

"Our van isn't parked too far, so it shouldn't take long. Well, then."

Hwang Dong-Seok and his lackeys quickly escaped from the boss room. And their footsteps rapidly got further and further away.

Yu Jin-Ho turned around and demanded answers from Jin-Woo.

"How could you say those things, hyung? What if that thing wakes up?"

Without a doubt, he was quite scared of that spider.

'Looks like this kid hasn't grasped the situation quite yet.'

Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue. It was too much of a bother to explain everything, too. Instead of an answer, he began loosening his body once more.

***

Around the same time, Hwang Dong-Seok turned around towards the boss room. The Hunters following him also came to a stop. They had arrived at a far-enough spot from the boss room now. At this sort of distance, there was no danger of being overheard.

Hwang Dong-Seok smiled deeply and signalled to Joh Gyu-Hwan next to him with his chin.

"Hey, Gyu-Hwan-ah? Block up the entrance to the boss room."

"Should I blow it up?"

"That's right. But, don't block it up completely, okay? We gotta go in there a bit later, too.

Lee Cheol-Jin then asked him.

"Hwang hyung, is there a reason to beat around the bush like this? Why don't we just kill them now and get started right away?"

Hwang Dong-Seok's expression crumpled and glared at the other guy. There was no need for him to maintain the fake smile now. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

"M-my bad."

Lee Cheol-Jin averted his gaze in fear. Hwang Dong-Seok tsk, tsked.

"What if we start fighting there and the spider wakes up? How will you mine those mana stones and carry them out then?"

"I'm sorry."

Joh Gyu-Hwan butted in.

"Hwang hyung, since we are on that subject…. Wouldn't that thing wake up while we try to mine the mana stones? If so, we might end up losing big, you know."

That creature was strong enough to prey on those already-scary insect-type monsters. If the team got sneak attacked in the middle of the mining operation, the losses they incur would be enormous.

"That is why…."

Hwang Dong-Seok smirked deeply.

"We're trying to offer those two up as food, aren't we?"

"Ahh….."

Joh Gyu-Hwan nodded his head as if he had finally understood the plan.

Right now, no one knew just when the spider would wake up. It could be 10 hours from now, maybe one hour, or it could be a minute later. That was why they had to wake the spider up now and feed it.

No matter how dull that monster happened to be, it'd still wake up from the impact strong enough to cause the entrance to cave in.

Hwang Dong-Seok continued on.

"We mine the mana stones when the spider goes back to sleep with a full belly."

The permit they got from the Association would last for five days. They still had over four and a half days of leeway, in other words.

They would wait and if the spider didn't go back to sleep, they would simply dispose of it and mine as much as they could before the Gate closed shut.

They wouldn't be able to mine everything within the hour, but with Seong Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho no longer in the picture, they should be able to avoid losing out too much.

Wouldn't that be far more preferable than working under the constant fear? Their safety was the number one priority, after all.

'Of course, that's the worst possible scenario….'

If they were lucky, the profit would be divided eight ways, they mine all the mana stones, and even monopolise the spider, too. As an added bonus, those expensive-looking equipment on Yu Jin-Ho's body would become theirs, too!

'That sword and the shield, they have to be worth at least a few hundred million Won.'

They had nothing to lose from this transaction at all.

The corners of Hwang Dong-Seok's lips arched up.

"Block up the entrance, so we can go and take a smoke break. Quick."

"Yes, hyung."

Joh Gyu-Hwan replied as a blinding light began to gather on the tip of his fingers.

***

"….."

Yu Jin-Ho's gaze was fixed on the sleeping spider. Even his breathing was cautious. He then asked, his expression rigid with fear.

"That spider b*stard, it's not gonna suddenly wake up on us, right?"

"Who knows."

Jin-Woo remained economical with his words. He had more or less figured out what would happen next, but if he said out aloud his thoughts in full, then Yu Jin-Ho might faint from fear.

'Now that I think about it….'

Those words were the first to come out from Yu Jin-Ho's mouth in the past five minutes or so. It seemed that he was really scared right now. And he used to be so talkative, too.

Then, 'it' happened.

Kabooom!!!

With a loud explosion, the entrance of the boss room suddenly caved in.

"Uh, uh?! Huh!! Ahhh!!"

Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly ran towards the entrance.

Unfortunately for him, the entrance was completely blocked up by the fallen rocks. He pushed on with all his might, but not a single stone budged.

Jin-Woo slowly walked over there in the meantime.

"Groan~! Hyung, help me push this!"

Yu Jin-Ho was still giving his all to push the blockade of stones away.

'He said his name was Joh Gyu-Hwan, huh.'

Before the explosion, there was a flash of light. A Sorcerer ranked C that controlled 'light'. This was no doubt that b*stard's handiwork.

Jin-Woo placed his hand on the fallen rocks.

'If I want to, I can get out of here at any time.'

He could sense the weight of the stones through his hands. They weren't as heavy as they looked. When he very slightly pushed, he felt the wall tremble gently. Of course, he wasn't thinking of leaving at all, anyways.

"Ah!"

Yu Jin-Ho stopped pushing at the stones and cried out as if he had finally figured out the truth. His face now reddened in fury, Yu Jin-Ho shifted his gaze over to Jin-Woo.

"Those sons of b*tches are trying to kill us!! They don't want to share the mana stones, so they blocked the exit and let the spider devour us!"

'Wow, you figured that out so quickly, Sherlock.'

Jin-Woo was rolling his eyes in his head, but still played along for the time being.

"Looks that way. This is troublesome."

"Heok!"

Suddenly, Yu Jin-Ho's reddened complexion paled in an instant. Would that be the look of someone whose blood had gone cold?

No need to ask him what happened, there – the silhouette of the giant monster was oh-so-clearly reflected in Yu Jin-Ho's eyes.

Jin-Woo turned around.

"Keurruuuk. Keururuk."

The spider's sleep had been interrupted by that loud explosion and it was slowly raising its massive body up.

The body the size of a house.

Dozens upon dozens of eyes.

That horrifying mouth.

Eight long, long legs.

Now that it had begun moving for real, it looked far more terrifying than when it was actually in a deep slumber.

"Euh…."

Yu Jin-Ho leaked out a fearful gasp. His body had frozen stiff like a statue.

On the other hand, Jin-Woo kept his sight firmly locked on the spider as he calmly summoned the 'Poison Fang of Kasaka' from his Inventory.

'You're mine.'

This was the perfect opportunity to test out his enhanced stats.

The Poison Fang of Kasaka appeared in his right hand….

Swiish.

….As if it had always been there.

Jin-Woo gripped the dagger's hilt tightly. The reason why a Hunter was called a Hunter! From this moment on was when the true hunt would begin.

"H-hang on a second, hyung!!"

However, Yu Jin-Ho swiftly snatched up Jin-Woo's sleeve just as the latter took a couple of steps towards the spider.

"Wha, what are you trying to do?!"

Yu Jin-Ho's hands were shaking pretty bad. Jin-Woo used his left thumb to point over his shoulder.

"Obviously, I'm going to hunt that."

Jin-Woo had been following around Hwang Dong-Seok's group until now for that purpose.

….In order to monopolise the remaining monsters in the dungeon as soon as Hwang Dong-Seok cut the tail and ran away. This was a splendid opportunity to swallow whole all the experience points and magic crystals.

'Well, only if the boss hadn't devoured every monster in this dungeon, that is.'

If that hadn't been the case, then he would've profited a lot more, though. What a missed opportunity that was.

However, Yu Jin-Ho's facial expression clearly displayed his disbelief, as he had no idea about Jin-Woo's special constitution.

'What is this hyung rambling on about?!'

There was something he'd heard from someone somewhere before.

A person would stop thinking rationally the moment he or she received a mental shock beyond their capability to deal with.

The Hunter ranked E standing right in front said that he'd hunt the boss of a C-rank dungeon. If this was not an act of irrationality, that what else could it be?

Yu Jin-Ho asked again, this time looking rather dumbfounded.

"Hyung, you want to hunt that thing? For real?"

Jin-Woo scratched the top of his head, looking somewhat troubled, before replying back with a question of his own.

"What, you want to hunt it, then?"

Part 10. 'Give and Take'

Jin-Woo turned around even before Yu Jin-Ho had the chance to respond. There was no need to listen to his reply, anyway.

Even now, Yu Jin-Ho was barely managing to stand up straight as his legs continued to shudder.

From the get-go, he didn't expect anything from Yu Jin-Ho. Rather, he was relieved that the kid didn't follow after him while saying he'd lend his aid or some such.

'He'll just get in my way, anyway.'

Jin-Woo slowly approached the spider.

The spider must've discovered the humans' presence as well, as it was changing its direction towards them while shuffling on its eight legs.

It was coming closer.

As if it found the never-before-seen prey rather strange, the spider didn't immediately rush out. Using its thick and long legs to push down on the ground, it inched closer and closer.

"Fuu-woo."

As that giant monster slowly filled up his entire view, Jin-Woo's breathing became heavy. His heart began thumping faster and faster, too.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Jin-Woo controlled his wayward breathing and did his absolute best to calm himself down. He had to remain focused and steady here.

He recalled the exact feelings he felt when he stood at the end of the second floor of the Hapjeong station's instant dungeon.

He then recalled seeing the Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka for the first time.

However, this giant spider in front of him didn't emit as much pressure as that snake did. Meaning, he could definitely do this.

From the get-go, if he thought that this boss was impossible to clear alone, he wouldn't even have stayed here.

"Keurururuk."

They had gotten close enough that his face was now reflecting rather clearly on those smooth, jet-black eyes of the spider.

Jin-Woo's own eyes narrowed to a slit.