Chapter 1070 - 34 - 40

Chapter 34: Chapter 34

A short while later.

"Euph, euph, euph!!"

Jin-Woo discovered a lone convict struggling on the ground not too far from him. His arms and legs were all tied up with a rope, and there was a gag placed in his mouth.

It was as Kahng Tae-Sik said, just before his final breath.

["I've tied up the rapist not too far from here. I was thinking of disposing of him last, after the victim's father asked me to make him suffer for a bit."]

Kahng Tae-Sik stopped breathing after those words.

The convict began to struggle even harder after seeing Jin-Woo. It was as if he was asking to be freed as soon as possible.

"Euph! Euph! Euph!"

Now that Jin-Woo took a closer look, it was none other than the same guy who threw a dirty wink at Ju-Hui earlier on.

As soon as Jin-Woo pulled the gag off the convict's mouth, he breathed in and out heavily and widened his eyes.

"Pant, pant, pant!! That, that crazy b*stard, Kahng Tae-Sik killed everyone! He killed everyone!! What the f*ck happened?? Did he leave? There's blood on your clothes?! Did you get done in by him, too??"

Jin-Woo didn't reply and simply raised his head to stare straight ahead.

….Towards where the boss was.

The convict's words poured out in great urgency.

"Untie me first. Hurry! We gotta escape before Kahng Tae-Sik shows up! God d*mn it!! There's some sort of magic energy flowing in the ropes and I can't tear them apart! You have some sort of a weapon with you, right? Why aren't you saying anything? Can't you hear me??"

When a bottom-feeder Hunter from the Association continued to ignore him, the convict forgot about the position he was in and began frowning in dissatisfaction.

Remaining expressionless until then, Jin-Woo finally opened his mouth.

"The boss should be just up ahead."

"What?"

A confused, questioning expression floated up on the face of the convict.

"Feels like it's a bit stronger than a regular rank D dungeon boss, too. I'm getting really curious about its attack patterns, you see."

The convict listened to those words and lost his cool, roaring out at the top of his voice.

"What the f*ck are you even talking about?!"

Jin-Woo calmly continued on with what he wanted to say.

"Before all that, though, I gotta ask you about something. You remember the girl you raped before?"

"What? Which one are you talking about? You a family member of the victim?"

Jin-Woo's brows quivered.

Just now, this man asked 'which one', rather than answering with yes or no. Meaning, he had hurt well more than one or two girls.

Hunters possessed extraordinary strength, so if they wanted to, they could become a horrifying monster at any time. And this b*stard used that strength to violate women until now.

With that, Jin-Woo's mind was made up.

He coldly stared down at the convict and spoke.

"Now I know, so there's that."

"What?! Euph? Euph!!"

Before the convict uttered out more rubbish, Jin-Woo swiftly gagged the b*stard again. Then, he began slowly dragging the convict by the ankles towards the boss room.

"Euph! Euph!! Eeuuuph!!!"

The convict struggled even more desperately as he got dragged along. Both of his wide-open eyes were now completely bloodshot.

Not even slightly fazed by the criminal's desperate struggle, Jin-Woo successfully dragged him into the boss room.

"Euph! Euphhh!!"

And inside the boss room, there was a large group of Hobgoblins waiting for their arrival. These monsters reputedly enjoyed snacking on human entrails. Apparently.

"Euph! Euph!! Euphhh!!"

The convict finally realised what Jin-Woo was planning to do here.

He cried out and shook his head around wildly after seeing the group of Hobgoblins. The blue convict's pants began dyeing in a yellow colour, as well.

"Fuu-woo."

Jin-Woo took a deep breath, and he chucked the convict among the waiting Hobgoblins.

"Eeuuuph-!!"

"Kiiiigiik."

"Kiihit."

"Kiiieekk!"

Picking up on the smell of a fresh, living prey, Hobgoblins pounced on the convict all at once and began tearing into his stomach.

"Eeeuupph!! Euph! Euphhh!!"

As the convict desperately struggled on and thrashed about, the vessels in his eyes burst open one by one, dyeing his eyes utterly crimson red.

"Eeeupphhh….. Euh, euh….."

Even though the convict gradually lost his consciousness, Hobgoblins greedily and restlessly tore into him.

Just what would it feel like to be devoured alive by the disgusting monsters?

Jin-Woo frowned deeply as he quickly scanned the interior of the room, searching for the boss.

'There it is.'

A huge Hobgoblin, definitely the boss of this dungeon, sat arrogantly over yonder on the other side of the boss room.

With its subordinates all too preoccupied with the fresh prey, there was not one guard around the boss itself, which meant that this was the perfect opportunity.

'Dash!'

Jin-Woo immediately dashed past the Hobgoblins in the blink of an eye and arrived before the boss.

"Kkieehk?!"

The surprised Hobgoblin boss quickly stood up, but before it could complete the action, its head fell and rolled on the ground.

Plop.

Tumble, tumble.

Tti-ring!

[You've killed the owner of this dungeon.]

[Level up!]

'Ah, hang on a sec.'

Only after he had sliced the boss's head off did Jin-Woo remember the existence of the Rune Stone.

'There was no need to lure them out with a bait, was there? I could've just learned the Stealth skill and sneaked closer, couldn't I?'

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to what little remained of the convict and clicked his tongue.

Of course, he wasn't feeling any sympathy for the b*stard there.

'Well, whatever…..'

In any case, his plan was a success.

Part 5. Cogwheel

It wasn't difficult to deal with the group of confused and leaderless Hobgoblins.

"Kiiieek!!"

"kiiieaahhk!!!"

"Kyahk!!"

The Hobgoblins ran around trying to escape from Jin-Woo, but were all hunted down soon afterwards.

"Kkyaaahkk!"

When he killed the very last one, another feel-good message popped into his view.

[Level up!]

'It rose up again?'

His expression brightened up after this rather unexpected reward of the day's labour fell into his lap.

Jin-Woo cleaned all the blood off the Poison Fang of Kasaka, and along with all the magic crystals extracted from the Hobgoblins, stored them inside his Inventory, before summoning his Status Window.

Tti-ring!

Name: Seong Jin-Woo

Level: 27

Class: None

Title: Slaughterer of Wolves

HP: 5,114

MP: 548

Tiredness: 0

[Stats]

Strength: 72

Stamina: 43

Agility: 82

Intelligence: 39

Perception: 69

(Available points to distribute: 5)

Physical damage reduction: 20%

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

– Intimidation Lv. 1

[Equipped items]

Gatekeeper's Necklace (A)

Before he knew it, his level was almost near the '30' mark.

Jin-Woo wasn't expecting much from this dungeon at the time of hunting down the weak Goblins by the entrance. But, well, he got a level up by killing the Hobgoblin boss, and then another one from hunting down every single one of the Hobgoblin underlings, as well. His level rose up by two in such a short time.

What a lucky day it was for him, every single strong monster being in the boss room and all.

'No, hang on a bit here. It's a bit too much to call this good luck, huh.'

Three diverging pathways, and the difficulty of the boss room….

If the low-ranked Hunters got too conceited after hunting down weak Goblins and arrogantly stepped into the boss room, then they might have met with a serious accident from the appearance of all these Hobgoblins.

Unlike the Goblins, Hobgoblins were pretty tough monsters to contend with.

'There are some instances of Hobgoblins appearing in dungeons full of Goblins, but….'

Well, it was still very rare to see such a big group of Hobgoblins in a single location as it was in the case of this dungeon.

Really now, it was utterly impossible to predict what might happen inside a dungeon. Someone's lucky day might turn into someone else's worst nightmare.

The only protection one had in this place was the one's own power.

That was why Jin-Woo wanted to get stronger. Surviving inside a dungeon was one thing, but what if there was a dungeon break near the hospital where his mother was staying?

What if, he got sneak-attacked by a monster while out walking on the street?

No, the monsters wouldn't be the only problems to worry about, either.

Hunters were also dangerous existences, just as much as the monsters themselves. Even if various organisations were trying to manage them, there would always be a limit.

Indeed, he needed to possess the necessary strength to protect himself.

'There are limits to how powerful a Hunter could become.'

However, there was no such thing for himself.

Theoretically, he could grow stronger indefinitely as long as his Stats increased and he found the right type of equipment to wear.

And today, one more method of getting stronger had been added to his arsenal. It was none other than the Rune Stones!

Jin-Woo pulled out the Rune Stone from his pocket.

Just like with other items, the information on the stone floated up like a hologram projection.

[Rune Stone: Stealth]

You can absorb the skill by breaking this Rune Stone.

To those who didn't know, this thing would've come across as a small pebble with weird letters carved on the surface, but if you were a Hunter, you'd be salivating like crazy regardless of what your rank was.

High-ranked Hunters would've used it for themselves, while the lower-ranked ones would've sold it to the higher ranked Hunters.

And a Rune Stone containing rare skills, such as this one with the 'Stealth' skill, would've especially fetched a large amount of money. When placed in an auction, this particular stone should fetch at least a few billion Won, and when sold through the black market, several times more than that.

There was only one reason why it would be more expensive in the black market. Because, there would be no official record of who bought what with how much money, that was why.

Having a hidden skill was the same thing as possessing one more powerful weapon.

'….Just like how Kahng Tae-Sik had been hiding his Stealth skill.'

If it weren't for his high Perception Stat, Jin-Woo would've been killed for sure. Thinking about that sent chills down his spine.

'Let's forget about selling this. I can always make money later on.'

He'd not fall for the monetary temptation right now. His current priority was to become stronger than ever before, after all.

There was no need to even mention just how useful this rare 'Stealth' skill would prove to be in the future.

"And to think, this little stone is worth several houses, no, several buildings, even."

Still, Jin-Woo quickly did something he'd never have dreamed of doing in the past.

When he squeezed his hand tightly, the Rune Stone shattered into pieces without much resistance.

Crack.

A reddish aura seeped out from the cracks of the Rune Stone and slowly wrapped around his body.

It was almost the same as when receiving the effects of the healing magic. Only the colour was wrong, being red and not blue.

In any case, it wasn't a bad sensation.

The reddish aura circling around him smoothly entered through his nose and was absorbed into his lungs. Right away, he could sense an unknown power well up inside of him.

A familiar mechanical beep went off shortly afterwards, too.

Tti-ring!

[You've learned 'Skill: Stealth'.]

[You can now use 'Skill: Stealth'.]

'Nice!'

He managed to successfully absorb the skill.

He was feeling rather nervous since this would be his first time using a Rune Stone to learn a skill, but the whole process turned out to be unexpectedly quick and simple.

'So, does this mean that I can use Stealth now?'

His heart began pounding harder from the sense of accomplishment after learning a rare skill.

Well, the wise elders, they said that seeing was believing, so….

Jin-Woo activated his new skill right away.

'Stealth.'

Just as he finished thinking about activating it, his body vanished from his own view. From the tips of his fingers right down to his toes, every part of him became transparent.

What a strange feeling it was, unable to see his own hands right in front of his eyes.

'What would happen if I do this?'

Since he thought about it, Jin-Woo quickly summoned his dagger from the Inventory to confirm.

Then, he sensed gripping something in his hand. Rather mystifyingly, though, he could sense it but couldn't see it.

'As expected….'

Just like the knife that Kahng Tae-Sik had been carrying around, the 'Stealth' skill was also applied to his Poison Fang of Kasaka.

As he thought, it wasn't that Kahng Tae-Sik's weapon was strange, it was simply the power of this skill, instead.

'I wonder, just how far does this skill cover?'

Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Jin-Woo picked a pebble up from the ground, and it too disappeared from the sight.

'Can I do that with this, too?'

He got even more curious, so he reached out and touched the shoulder of the dead Hobgoblin, but nothing happened next. It seemed that there definitely was a limit to this skill.

At least, he was now sure of the clothes he wore and the objects held in his hand being affected by the skill.

It happened right then.

[You've exhausted all of your Mana and 'Skill: Stealth' will be deactivated.]

"Eh?"

Suddenly, 'Stealth' came undone.

'But, it has been only a few seconds, though??'

Jin-Woo had been moving his body this way and that, trying to familiarise himself with the state of being cloaked, but after the skill came undone all by itself, he hurriedly summoned the skill list and confirmed the details with a flustered look on his face.

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 1

– Intimidation Lv. 1

– Stealth Lv. 1

What he sought was the information on the Stealth skill.

The relevant words quickly floated up before his eyes.

Tti-ring!

[Skill: Stealth Lv. 1]

Active skill.

Mana required to activate: 200

Simultaneously cloaks the body and hides all traces of the skill holder. During its activation, 10 Mana will be spent every second.

He needed 200 Mana to activate, and further 10 would be spent every bloody second?!

"Hah…."

No wonder his MP couldn't hold up.

[MP: 7/548]

His remaining Mana of 7 looked rather pitiful to his eyes.

'It's really all spent up, huh.'

Currently, the maximum amount of Mana he could store was around 550. If he were to activate the Stealth skill once, he'd be able to maintain the cloaked state for around 35 seconds.

But, if he were to use other skills, then he'd not even get the full 35 seconds, either.

'Now that I think about it, even Kahng Tae-Sik cancelled his Stealth pretty quickly, didn't he?'

He didn't do that accidentally, as it turned out.

If a high-ranking Hunter like Kahng Tae-Sik couldn't keep the skill going for long, then it meant that lower-ranked Hunters wouldn't even be able to use it.

"….My Mana is the issue here, huh."

Until now, he had invested all his Stat points on every Stat other than Intelligence, and not even once did his MP value rise up from doing that.

In other words, he now needed to raise the Intelligence Stat as well….

'I guess it's about time I did that.'

Still, it kind of felt like a waste investing his hard-earned Stat points on a non-combat related Stat just so he could use a skill for a few seconds longer.

'Compared to other Stats, Intelligence just has too low of an efficiency.'

Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Perception.

He had personally felt the effects of those four Stats increasing. As they increased in value, he became physically stronger and stronger.

The only Stat that he couldn't sense any tangible change taking place inside him was this Intelligence, although it had climbed up a bit now.

'I mean, it's now almost four times the value compared to when I was a level 1.'

If he were to really dig around and find the difference, then it'd be his increased MP value. That was all, really.

So, to invest his points on this Stat based only on a single result like that…..

'It's just too wasteful.'

Those points would become his flesh and blood if he were to invest them elsewhere. The only conclusion he could draw here was to continue on with his levelling up until he no longer had to worry about his MP.

Meanwhile, he'd spend his precious Stat points on other, better Stats….

'My Stat points….'

He abruptly recalled that he still had five extra points he got as the reward from the emergency quest.

He pondered for a second or two on whether he should invest that on 'Intelligence', but in the end, he spent 3 points on Strength and the other 2 on Stamina.

[Stats]

Strength: 75

Stamina: 45

Agility: 82

Intelligence: 39

Perception: 69

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in physical damage: 20%

'As I thought, numbers ending in 5s are the best.'

As a satisfied smile formed on Jin-Woo's face…

RUMBLE….

The earthquake inside the interior of the dungeon became too severe for him to ignore.

'Is it the one hour mark already?'

There was no more time to waste here.

Jin-Woo closed his Status Window. He had been deliberately wasting time, waiting for the Gate to nearly close, but if he stayed here for a second longer, he might get trapped inside, unable to leave forever.

Before leaving, Jin-Woo turned around and swept his gaze around the boss room one more time.

'I extracted all the magic crystals, and….'

Well, it looked like he hadn't missed a thing.

After confirming this fact, he rapidly disappeared down the exit.

RUMBLE…

As if to warn those still inside that the Gate was about to close, the dungeon began shaking even harder than before.

***

With excellent timing, agents from the Association's Investigation Department arrived in front of the Gate. Their eyes grew real round after spotting Jin-Woo leisurely exiting from the Gate as it gradually closed behind him.

"H-Hunter-nim!! Are there any other survivors besides you?"

"No. No one else."

"Euh!!"

The expressions of the agents hardened in an instant.

Nine people entered it, yet only three walked out alive. This undoubtedly qualified as a huge incident.

What with several similarly bad incidents occurring within a single district, it was little wonder why these Association agents felt like they had stepped on an almighty pile of dog poo at this very moment.

They wanted to make sure there were no other survivors, but the Gate closed on them so that was no longer possible, too.

This was precisely the reason why Jin-Woo waited around until the time limit was almost up, however.

'Well, I can't let them know that there indeed was a survivor, now can I?'

With this, the testimonies of the three survivors would have to suffice. One of the agents spoke with a complicated tone of voice.

"Just now, the Investigation Department has received a telephone call from the chairman of the Geumgang Industries, wishing to hand himself over."

It was here that Song Chi-Yeol entered into the conversation.

"The chairman of the Geumgang Industries, you say?"

"He's the father of the victim, and he allegedly has paid off the Hunter Kahng Tae-Sik from the Monitoring Division to murder the convicts."

"Oh…."

The chairman had confessed to everything after he heard that Kahng Tae-Sik was indeed successful in killing the rapist.

'Although, it wasn't Kahng Tae-Sik but me….'

Cops headed there, and the Association came here, it seemed.

Jin-Woo listened quietly before asking a question.

"If that's the case, there is no problem on this side, isn't that right?"

At Jin-Woo's question, the agents formed troubled expressions.

"Yes, basically."

There was a clear evidence of Kahng Tae-Sik's crimes, and these three people fought Kahng Tae-Sik in order to survive. Just as Jin-Woo asked, there was nothing here that could be seen as problematic.

….Except for one thing.

One of the agents asked the part that felt the most suspicious to him.

"Just who delivered the final killing blow to Mister Kahng Tae-Sik, who was a rank B Hunter?"

The agents had only arrived at the scene not too long ago, and they were not briefed on the minute details of the situation yet.

'Oh, well. The distance from here to the Association headquarters is really far, so it can't be helped, huh. It's already quite commendable that they had arrived here before the Gate actually closed.'

They surely had to leave the HQ and drive super fast to get here in time as soon as receiving the call.

Hints of fatigue were clearly visible on the faces of the agents.

Just before Jin-Woo was about to speak the truth, he recalled the face of Yu Jin-Ho.

'What a missed opportunity this is, but looks like I won't be helping that kid out with his raid quota after all.'

By making an excuse of him being a Re-Awakened Hunter, and going ahead with the re-assignment test, he'd not be able to humour Yu Jin-Ho's plan anymore.

What Yu Jin-Ho looked for was a low-ranked Hunter that possessed incredible skills. As soon as Jin-Woo's ranking was re-assigned and it dramatically rose up, everything would've been for nothing.

However, what was up here?

When Jin-Woo imagined the dejected, depressed face of Yu Jin-Ho, he found that sight rather humorous, instead of feeling apologetic.

Sure, Jin-Woo was kind of bummed out about the promised building, but, oh well.

'Well, naught I can do here now.'

Jin-Woo thought as such and was about to open his mouth, but then….

"It was me."

….His head naturally swivelled towards the source of that voice. And he saw Yi Ju-Hui, her wide-open eyes full of surprise, staring at Song Chi-Yeol.

"But, ahjussi….?"

Before Jin-Woo could ask what his intentions were, Song Chi-Yeol took the initiative and walked closer to the agents.

"I'm the one who killed Kahng Tae-Sik."

The questioning agent still didn't look convinced, however.

"Song Chi-Yeol Hunter-nim, are you saying that you brought down Kahng Tae-Sik Hunter-nim?"

His suspicions had merit; not only was Song Chi-Yeol a rank C Hunter, but he also had lost his left arm as well. On the other hand, wasn't Kahng Tae-Sik often referred to as a high-ranked Hunter, someone who was ranked B?

The power of high ranked Hunters easily exceeded one's imaginations. The accepted norm was that the difference in strength between a rank B and a rank C was far, far wider than that between a rank C and a rank D.

It was here that Song Chi-Yeol began chuckling amiably.

"Have you all forgotten just who is behind me?"

"….Ah!"

Just as the gazes of everyone focused on her, Yi Ju-Hui's face reddened and she quickly lowered her head.

Yi Ju-Hui was a B-ranked Hunter. She hadn't been mentioned until now because her class was not combat-related, but when looking only at her rank, then she was a high-ranked Hunter, just like Kahng Tae-Sik had been.

Why wouldn't a rank C Hunter be able to defeat a rank B Hunter, when a rank B Healer was lending her aid from the side?

The agents finally formed expressions of understanding.

Taking the opportunity born from the momentary confusion, Jin-Woo stood real close to Song Chi-Yeol and whispered to the older man.

"Why are you lying to them, ahjussi?"

Song Chi-Yeol replied back in a whisper as well.

"I thought that there must be a good reason why you were trying to conceal your abilities. Did I overstep my boundaries?"

Of course, he didn't. Thanks to him, Jin-Woo would get to avoid dealing with many inconvenient matters. This was the reason why one could never discount wisdom formed from years of experience.

"No, you didn't."

"I've received a lot of your help until now, so I'm glad to hear that I was able to help out you now, even if it's just a small thing,"

Meanwhile, one of the agents walked closer to the two men.

"Mister Song Chi-Yeol, why don't you come with us? Help us for a minute or two with writing up the report."

"Alright. Let's get going, then."

Song Chi-Yeol left for the Association along with the agents, and before anyone knew it, only Jin-Woo and Yi Ju-Hui remained on the scene.

The sun had set a long time ago.

Ju-Hui must've found Jin-Woo and the somewhat altered aura he emitted a bit foreign, because she hesitated greatly before cautiously approaching him.

"Would you like to walk with me for a little while?"

'Is she talking about that dinner date?'

He was starving after moving around for a bit today, so he found her suggestion to his liking.

Jin-Woo agreed with a welcoming expression.

"Okay, let's."

As if they had made a promise earlier, the two young people began quietly walking side by side under the soft lights of the street lamps.

"…."

Ju-Hui's eyes remained fixed to her toes.

Because, if she tried to raise her head, her gaze automatically drifted towards to her side. She tried very hard not to think about it, but it was of no use.

In the past, she found him comfortable to talk to, but now, the current Jin-Woo was overflowing with this certain sense of power. She found it much harder to talk to him now as a result.

'Just what happened….?'

He was strong enough to subdue a rank B Hunter without too much trouble. He had changed so drastically.

Since he requested her to keep it a secret, she wasn't planning to pry, but his amazing transformation kept tugging at the corner of her mind.

Chapter 36: Chapter 36

'I wish he'd at least talk to me.'

Ju-Hui kind of felt that Jin-Woo was being rather cold-hearted here, not saying a single word until now.

In the end, Ju-Hui stopped walking first and with some difficulty, broke the ice.

"Actually… I think it'll be impossible for me to eat anything today. Let me return this to you in the meantime."

Ju-Hui handed over a magic crystal to Jin-Woo. It was none other than the same crystal he entrusted to her back in the underground temple.

The tips of Ju-Hui's fingers were trembling as she handed over the crystal.

'That incident had been only a few days ago…. And she had to go through another one today.'

Ju-Hui was the type of person to get scared quite easily. He could easily figure out what she meant by being unable to eat anything.

"But, today isn't the only day, you know? There���s no need to return this to me now."

Ju-Hui shook her head slowly.

"I'm going back home next week."

He heard that she was quitting the life of a Hunter, but now, it seemed that she was leaving the city altogether. Jin-Woo formed a rueful expression.

"Is it because of… that incident back then?"

"Well, it's not simply because of that, but….."

Perhaps she ended up recalling the events of that day, Ju-Hui's complexion darkened. Jin-Woo quickly changed the topic of their conversation.

"Where is your family home, exactly?"

"It's in Busan. ….Actually, Mister Jin-Woo?"

Suddenly, Ju-Hui's expression became quite serious.

"Y-yes?"

Sensing that the mood had become sombre, Jin-Woo quickly wiped the smile off his face and formed a serious expression as well.

Ju-Hui slowly, carefully combed over Jin-Woo's face.

Back then, when everyone else was trembling from despair, only Jin-Woo's eyes burned fiercely with a strong resolve. Ju-Hui was nearest to him, so she got to see those eyes.

'It was like, they were shouting out to the rest of the world so they can hear his will to survive.'

And the faint traces of hope those eyes captured managed to save not only her, but many others as well, from that place multiple times.

No one could imitate what he pulled off back there.

Thump, thump….

When she recalled the events of that day, her heart began beating faster and faster.

'No, I can't….'

She had no regrets over quitting the life of a Hunter, since it didn't even suit her personality, to begin with.

However, she couldn't help but feel really bad after realising that it'd be tough to meet Jin-Woo ever again.

'Will he think of me as a weird person, if I ask him about meeting each other again….?'

It was rather unfortunate, but there were some things in this world that she couldn't really do anything about. Having any regrets over such matters would only end up tormenting her.

In the end, Ju-Hui simply formed a disarming smile and lightly shook her head.

"Nah, it's nothing, really. If you come down to Busan one day, please give me a call. I'll buy you really good sushi."

"Sounds good."

When Jin-Woo formed a smile, Ju-Hui smiled back at him.

And so, Ju-Hui didn't get to say the words she truly wanted to say. She simply performed a short goodbye and turned around to leave.

'.....'

The way back home never felt this long to her before.

***

After sending Ju-Hui home, Jin-Woo also returned to his place.

An old, decrepit apartment building, visible even from a distance – his place was on the eighth floor. (TL: Ninth floor for all of you North American readers)

As he walked past the parked cars to enter the building itself, the voice of an old man stopped him in his tracks.

"Young man from 902."

It was coming from the old security guard ahjussi. He'd been around this place for a very long time; Jin-Woo was familiar with the older man, so he greeted without hesitation.

"You haven't gone home yet, ahjussi?"

"I'm on the night watch duty today."

"Aha."

Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head.

The old security guard immediately brought out a parcel from the guard post.

"Jin-Woo, this came for you today."

"Ahh. Thank you so much."

The sender written on the slip was the Association.

'Oh, so it was today, eh?'

The day that his replacement phone from the Association was supposed to arrive, that was.

Jin-Woo took out his brand new phone from the box; it glittered softly under the light.

He remembered hearing not too long ago that, due to the continued extreme level of interest towards everything related to Hunters, the number of non-Awakened people trying to get their hands on one of these phones was on the explosive rise.

'Never mind those who wish to buy one, just what are those idiot Hunters thinking, trying to pilfer a few and selling them off?'

The old saying went that it's not the country that lacked money, but that there were way too many crooks, instead.

Whether it was inside the Association or in the military, or any place where people gathered in some numbers, corruption would always cause problems.

Because of corruption, money would leak out, and the promised financial support would decrease as much as the amount of leaked money, which would make the overall situation even worse.

This would eventually mean that those who were supposed to benefit from the system in a rightful manner got screwed royally in the a*s.

'That was why I got worried, but….'

Fortunately enough, there were seemingly no problems with his new phone.

While waiting for the elevator to arrive, he had nothing else to do so he switched the phone on.

And well, there was a mountain of unanswered messages and missed calls.

'Will I even be able to check all these out??'

Funnily enough, two numbers kept popping up as he took a look at the screen. Both of them seemed unfamiliar to him. One called him a lot, while the other sent a ton of text messages.

'But, I don't know anybody who might call me this many times, though?'

Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly, before deciding to check the text messages out first.

[Hello, I'm from that hospital….]

[If you have free time this week….]

[Was I bothering you? I just thought we could chat for a….]

He belatedly remembered a certain person's face. Indeed, it was the face of that pretty nurse from the hospital, the one asking for his number back then.

'Was her name Choi Yu-Rah?'

He couldn't say that she was bothering him, but he got this feeling that the moment he replied back to her, his life might get really and unnecessarily complicated in a heartbeat.

'Okay, so. I'll pass….'

Next up, the number that called him repeatedly.

Jin-Woo pressed the call button. A fairly new and catchy pop song noisily greeted him as the ringtone.

Hearing that, Jin-Woo could more or less guess who this number belonged to.

The call was connected pretty quickly.

– "Hello?"

Yup, indeed it was him.

Jin-Woo leaked a wry chuckle after his guess was proven correct.

"It's me. From today onwards, call me only on this number."

– "Ah! You finally got your phone, hyung-nim!"

Of course, it was none other than Yu Jin-Ho.

Jin-Woo did write down the boy's contact number somewhere but he had never called it before, so it was a little wonder why he failed to recognise it.

Yu Jin-Ho spoke with a rather excited tone of voice.

– "I was actually thinking of giving you a call just now, hyung-nim. I've finished recruiting the team members, so I'll be coming around tomorrow morning to fetch you!"

Just from hearing that voice, Jin-Woo could picture Yu Jin-Ho's happy face. Jin-Woo also chuckled lightly.

"Alright. See you tomorrow, then."

Click.

As Jin-Woo ended the call, the elevator arrived on the ground floor and its doors slid open.

Tting.

Finally, the raid would start for real from tomorrow onwards.

His heart beat faster just from thinking about it.

'Let's level up as quickly as I can.'

He'd raise his levels, enhance all his Stats, and become stronger than everyone out there.

Once he became a truly powerful Hunter, he'd be able to get his hands on money, fame, and influence.

And tomorrow would be his first step towards that goal.

***

The East of the United States.

Late at night.

Hwang Dong-Su was the main Hunter of the Guild, 'Scavenger', one of the top Guilds in the entire USA. Not only that, but he was also an S-rank as well. And just before he went to sleep, he received a phone call informing him of a shocking matter.

"…..My older brother is dead?? I want you to speak slowly, and tell me everything in detail. Got that?"

The name of his older brother was Hwang Dong-Seok. Apparently, he entered a C-ranked Gate and lost his life.

"….My older brother and his eight teammates all died, and only two others escaped unhurt?"

And the two who survived were only a rank D and a bloody E??

Something smelled fishy here.

The older brother Hwang Dong-Su knew would never sacrifice his own life for a far weaker teammate. Also, what if that said teammate happened to be a temp?

There was no need to even mention it.

However, only the ranks D and E walked away alive, while his older brother and other C-ranked Hunters all perished in that dungeon.

'There's something going here….'

Hwang Dong-Su's eyes became incredibly sharp.

Right now, he was in a far-off foreign nation after being scouted away by one of America's top Guilds, but back when he was still in Korea, his brother did everything possible to look after him and be a good brother.

He might not have been a good human being, but he was a great, precious brother…..

'I was planning to invite him here once I've secured my foothold, but now….'

To think, he'd meet an accident before that happened.

Hwang Dong-Su bit his lower lip.

"Fax me all the information on the two surviving members. My number is…." (TL: Yup, it said 'fax' in the raw. Uhm, so, no emails in this world, then?)

Hwang Dong-Su ended the phone call and then called his manager next. The call got through pretty quickly.

– "Mister Hwang. You're calling me quite late. What's going on?"

"Laura. What would happen if I were to kill some people in Korea?"

– "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes."

There was a bout of silence before the woman's voice continued on.

– "….The States have yet to sign an agreement to exchange Hunter criminals with South Korea. Mister Hwang, you are now an American citizen, so you'll get a hearing in a US court instead. If we have a chat with the relevant government officials, then your overall sentence should be pretty light."

"Good to hear that. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to Korea for a while. Something happened there. Can you clear up my schedule for a bit?"

– "However, Mister Hwang, if you leave so suddenly like this, the operations in the Guild will grind to a halt. Can you inform me of the nature of this 'something'?"

"It's a personal matter. Of course, I'm not going to harm the Guild in any shape or form. Tell me just how far my schedule's been booked for."

– "You're fully booked out for the next two months."

"Two months, is it… fine. After that, I will need some free time, so don't schedule anything. I don't need a long time, either. Just two weeks. I'll only need two weeks to pop in and out of Korea."

– "…..Understood. What should I tell the upper management?"

"Tell them, I'm going to my brother's funeral. Also, going on a trip to cheer myself up, as well."

– "Okay. Will do. By the way, Mister Hwang… If there is anything I can assist you with….."

Click!

Hwang Dong-Su abruptly ended the call.

Didn't matter whether it was some cheering up or an advice…. He was not in the mood to hear either of those at the moment.

Whirrrr-!!

It was then, the fax had arrived. Hwang Dong-Su took a look at the documents arriving one by one.

On the white pages, photos of two Hunters, their names, and their brief bio could be seen.

"The rank D Hunter, Yu Jin-Ho, and a rank E, Seong Jin-Woo."

Hwang Dong-Su alternated his gaze on the two men's photos and gritted his teeth in determination.

'I'm sure I'll get some answers from either one if I asked them personally.'

And, if he found anything even remotely suspicious, then….

"You will regret coming out of that place alive. I'll make sure of it."

The edges of Hwang Dong-Su's eyes reddened slightly.

Part 6. Strange raids

Next morning.

Jin-Woo went downstairs after receiving the phone call, only to find a huge van parked outside.

"…..??"

Even before he could say, "Who the hell do you think you are to block someone else's exit", the driver's window rolled down automatically. And the brightly smiling face peeking out from behind belonged to… Yu Jin-Ho.

"Hyung-nim, get in!"

Yu Jin-Ho stuck his hand out the open window and slapped the side of the van.

Since the kid was excitedly declaring his intentions to come and fetch him last night, Jin-Woo half-expected to see a Benz or something, but….

No matter how much he looked, it was a normal-looking passenger van.

Sure, it was on the biggish side, but still.

"Didn't you say you're the second born of a chaebol?"

"I thought it'd be too eye-catching if we used my car. I bought this guy not too long ago to use during our raids."

Only now did Jin-Woo understand the reason for all this shininess coming from the van itself.

'It's brand spanking new, that's why.'

From his sincerity, as seen from the boy arriving at Jin-Woo's place the first thing in the morning, to his cautiousness as seen from the kid purchasing a new van just to avoid being too conspicuous….

Yu Jin-Ho was doing his best to make sure that everything was going smoothly.

It also demonstrated that his hopes and expectations riding on these upcoming raids were absolutely huge.

Yu Jin-Ho misunderstood the reason why Jin-Woo was taking his time to check out the new van, and worriedly asked.

"By any chance, don't you like this type of vehicle, hyung-nim?"

"Not at all."

Jin-Woo declared as so and climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Okay, we're setting off now, hyung-nim."

Yu Jin-Ho must've been feeling really excited because he kept humming to himself while twirling the steering wheel this way and that.

They drove for a while, before coming to a stop in an empty lot.

Screech.

"Hyung-nim, we've arrived."

There were eight people waiting for the duo in this meeting place.

Chapter 37: Chapter 37

The Gate seen behind the waiting group seemed a bit too small for a C rank.

After Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho exited from the van, the waiting Hunters quickly gathered around them. For some reason, there was almost no 'normal' person in this group.

Most of them seemed to have some difficulty with their mobility, there was one person who looked to be suffering from an illness, while another was clearly an alcoholic.

Not only that, there was an underage girl too, someone that neither the Association nor the Guild would admit to their ranks. From a casual glance, she looked to be a high-schooler.

"Is it okay to bring a child here?"

"I asked for a professional advice, and apparently, there is no problem according to the law, hyung-nim. Actually, the only reason why people don't hire underage Hunters is that there would be hell to pay if something went sideways."

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

'In that case, it should be fine.'

Really now, only Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho were going to enter the Gates anyway, so the odds of something going wrong were as good as 0%.

Indeed, these people were only here to make up the numbers. In order to get the permit to clear a C-rank Gate, one needed at least ten Hunters, after all.

That was why eight extra people had to be recruited.

And sure enough, these eight understood very well why they were here, too.

These people all possessed the Hunter licence, but couldn't act as one due to their circumstances. Most who answered the call to gather were suffering from the hardships of life in various ways.

Yu Jin-Ho took a step forward.

"My name is Yu Jin-Ho, and I'll be taking the lead in this operation. And this gentleman beside me is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim who will accompany me to the dungeons. Everyone, your role is to wait outside the Gates until we return."

One of the Hunters cautiously raised his hand.

"Excuse me… If we really do that, we can get 3 million Won?"

No need to participate in any huntings.

No actual need to even enter the dungeon itself.

3 million Won per raid.

For a payment of simply lending one's name so they would be permitted to enter the Gates, it sounded just too good to be true.

This man named Yu Jin-Ho didn't even look like that Seon-Dal character who sold the Taedong River, but the terms on offer were so good that the gathered Hunters couldn't help but be anxious. (TL: Kim Seon-Dal is a main character of an ancient Korean novel; he is a pro swindler and manages to 'sell' a river to the wealthiest man in Korea.)

"I guarantee you that the terms offered are for real."

Yu Jin-Ho stood stiffly, looking rather serious now. Even his expression had become grave.

"However, you are not to discuss any facet of the events that'll take place here with anyone. Do not forget that the moment you break the vow of secrecy, you'll be forced to pay back ten times the money you were paid, as per the contract you all signed."

Chatter, chatter….

Hunters murmured to each other in hushed whispers.

Just what were these two young Hunters planning to do inside the Gate that they offered up such enticing terms?

They were curious, but no one came out and asked.

That was also the part of the vow of secrecy clause within the contract.

– Absolutely no questioning what happens inside dungeons.

Jin-Woo didn't want anyone to know of his special constitution, and Yu Jin-Ho wanted to become the Master of a Guild, so there was a serious need to make sure that none of their teammates blabbered their mouth to someone else.

'...'

Instead of asking questions, the Hunters began whispering to each other now.

"Still, can those two survive a rank C Dungeon all by themselves?"

"But, they don't look that strong, don't they?"

"If these two are capable enough to clear a rank C dungeon, wouldn't it be better to enter a large Guild and get access to higher ranked dungeons?"

"You're so right about that."

They all spoke in a suspicious tone of voice, but not one person said they were quitting.

That was par for the course, really – the terms were too good to give up from their perspective. Even Jin-Woo got hooked by the promise of the two million Won, after all.

The reason for the extra one million Won, compared to what Hwang Dong-Seok had offered, was because of the clause on the participants maintaining their secrecy.

While the explanations carried on, the time was being wasted somewhat.

Jin-Woo confirmed with his watch and spoke to Yu Jin-Ho.

"We should get started."

"Understood, hyung-nim."

Yu Jin-Ho answered right away and clapped his hands in order to draw the attention to himself.

"Well, that will be all for the explanations. I won't force you to participate. So, is there anyone among you who'd like to quit now?"

"….."

"….."

Of course, no one raised their hands.

Just before the duo tried to enter the Gate….

"Ah! Hyung-nim, hold on for a moment."

Recalling something he had completely forgotten about until now, Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly ran back to the van.

He then put several things on the entirety of his body and walked back to the Gate in an unsteady and difficult fashion.

"What…. is that?"

"It's a full-set of reinforced armour, crafted by a famous Guild of master craftsmen in Italy. Hyung-nim, don't you think we need at least this type of equipment if we were to clear a dungeon by ourselves?"

Jin-Woo slowly facepalmed.

"…"

Simply staring at that hunk of steel covering the kid from the tip of his toes all the way up to the crown of his head, Jin-Woo felt like his own breathing was getting all choked up and the like.

"What's the matter, hyung-nim?"

Unable to watch on any longer, Jin-Woo reached out, yanked loose the longsword attached to Yu Jin-Ho's waist, and dropped it on the ground.

"Uh, uh??"

Yu Jin-Ho tried to bend down in order to pick up the sword only to lose his balance, and he toppled over ungainly.

Plop.

Jin-Woo did his best to suppress the rising tides of anger and spoke with great difficulty.

"While I'm still being civil, take them off."

"…..Yes."

However, after struggling for a bit to stand back up, Yu Jin-Ho called out to Jin-Woo.

"H-hyung-nim…."

"What now?"

"Please help me. I can't stand up."

Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh while looking at Yu Jin-Ho reaching out to him.

*

"Will this be fine, hyung-nim?"

"Yeah."

In the end, they agreed on the kid wearing a helmet, and nothing else.

With a satisfied face, Yu Jin-Ho jumped inside the Gate. Jin-Woo followed in right after without saying anything else.

As soon as the two men walked into the dungeon one by one, the remaining Hunters all slowly shuffled towards the Gate.

One of them piped up with a worried voice.

"Judging from the way they acted, they looked like a couple of amateurs…."

Another agreed, while staring at the Gate's surface.

"You're right."

The two people's conversation opened the floodgate of words from the remaining Hunters. Everyone began speaking their minds now.

"What will happen if those two get killed inside the dungeon?"

"Well, we all got paid the contract signing fee already, so…."

"Yeah, well. That's true, too."

"Wait, what were the names of those two again?"

"Hold on. So, it was…."

A man whose leg was in a plaster quickly pulled his phone out and searched the two's names online.

"Yu Jin-Ho, Seong Jin-Woo…."

Another Hunter helped the man in crutches to stand straight while peeking into the phone as well. Whether he felt the 'crutches' needed help, or was just too impatient to find out the result of the online search, no one could tell.

"What the hell? The raid leader is only a rank D??"

Hearing that, everyone else stiffened up from the shock. However, what shocked them even more was the following search result.

"The dude next to the rank D is only a measly E???"

"Isn't it way too dangerous for a rank E to enter a rank C Gate?"

"One D and an E wants to clear a rank C dungeon?!"

"How can that even be possible??"

"Also, the raid team leader has no record of leading a team before!"

"What the heck….? Why would these two young men….?"

Wasn't this no different than committing suicide?

It was not for nothing that the Association had set a strict rule of one needing ten people, with five rank C Hunters, as the bare minimum if one wanted to enter a rank C Gate.

"Tsk, tsk…"

A male Hunter sporting a smattering of white hair pulled a cigarette out and lit it up.

"The arrogance of youth tends to catch many young people unawares."

The cigarette smoke slowly rose up.

"…."

"…."

The Hunters all fell silent. They couldn't help but feel awkward and bad, thinking that they were now a part of someone else's suicide attempt.

Even if they were total strangers, no one liked seeing another person getting killed right in front of their eyes, or in this case, inside the Gate right in front of them.

Was that all?

What about the rest of the money?

They may have received the contract fee upfront, but they would've made a lot more by following the two young men around for the next 18 raids.

Regrettably, though – the odds of two young people coming back alive were simply too low.

"This…. Shouldn't we report this to the Association, even if it's now?"

"I wonder. Yeah, what if we get blamed for this?"

Then, this happened.

Buzz….

Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly emerged from the Gate.

"Pant, pant, pant…."

Yu Jin-Ho was panting laboriously. Steam slowly rose up from the bodies of two young men carrying tired expressions.

"Oh, ohh…"

"They managed to escape unhurt!"

"What a relief."

Hunters welcomed the two with happy expressions.

They were all thinking that these two only roamed around the entrance of the dungeon like a pair of lost kids, because the time between them entering and leaving was fairly short.

However, what was going on here?

The expressions of the Hunters gradually changed.

Because, they all heard someone crying out in alarm, that was why.

"The, the Gate is closing!!"

What??

Everyone hurriedly shifted their gaze over to the Gate.

"Oh my gosh!"

"Look, look!!"

"They killed the b-boss??"

The Gate is turning blurry and illusory, just as it would when the boss of the dungeon was killed.

While the Hunters couldn't hide their shocked disbelief, Jin-Woo utterly disregarded their gazes and quietly asked Yu Jin-Ho.

"Where is the next one?"

"It's about an hour's drive from here, hyung-nim."

"Okay, let's go."

Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho headed straight to the van.

Meanwhile, the eight Hunters stared at the duo's backs with completely dumbfounded faces.

Realising that they weren't following him, Yu Jin-Ho turned his head and called out to them.

"Let's hurry up, everyone. We barely have enough time to go to two more Gates today."

The jaws of the Hunters all dropped to the floor from that declaration.

Drop.

The middle-aged Hunter with the smattering of white hair, Yun Gwi-Won, was so stunned that he failed to realise his cigarette slipping out from his lips and falling to the ground.

'Those two managed to clear a rank C dungeon, and they are going for another raid, too??'

It wasn't only Yun Gwi-Won, though.

Everyone present was thinking the exact same thing.

'Just who are these people???'

***

The first day.

Grrroooar….

A group of zombies rushed at the duo.

"Hyung-nim, they are coming!"

"Okay."

Jin-Woo smoothly glided among the rushing zombies. Whenever he brushed past one, the head of an undead creature fell and rolled on the ground.

The number of zombies decreased quite rapidly.

Soon, only one remained.

Stab!

"Kkkroooarr!!"

When Jin-Woo stabbed his dagger deep into the last monster's chest, a familiar mechanical beep rang inside his head.

Tti-ring!

[Level up!]

Yu Jin-Ho, who had been standing at the far back, gasped in admiration and clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"Hyung-nim, you're so cool!!!"

"Magic crystals."

"Ah. Okay."

Yu Jin-Ho quickly pulled the bag out and began collecting the magic crystals.

It was around at this point.

The mechanical beeps didn't end with the level up message and continued on.

Tti-ring!

[You've acquired 'Skill: High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1']

Tti-ring!

[You've acquired 'Skill: Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1']

Tti-ring!

['Skill: Dash' has levelled up!]

Jin-Woo's expression brightened in an instant.

'I've got new skills?'

Been a long time too, hasn't it?

Feeling rather chuffed with himself, Jin-Woo quickly summoned his Skill Window.

[Skills]

Passive skills:

– (Unknown) Lv. Max

– Tenacity Lv. 1

– High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1

Active skills:

– Dash Lv. 2

– Intimidation Lv. 1

– Stealth Lv. 1

��� Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1

The Dash skill had levelled up after he constantly used it.

Also, in the passive and the active columns, High-Grade Dagger Technique and Vital Points Targetting had been added as well.

Chapter 38: Chapter 38

[Skill: Dash Lv. 2]

Active skill.

Mana required to activate: 5

When this skill is activated, your movement speed will increase by 40%. During its activation, 1 Mana will be spent every minute.

'My movement speed has increased.'

The rate had climbed up from 30 to 40%.

The difference in 10% was huge. Well, the levelling up of the skill seemed appropriate, since he used the Dash skill quite often.

[Skill: High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1]

Passive skill.

Mana required to activate: None

Exclusive to daggers.

You used daggers for a long time. And now, you are able to wield daggers more proficiently.

33% additional damage will be applied when using daggers.

Additional damage effect when using daggers!!

A dagger-specific skill had been created as the result of him continuously sticking to daggers, it seemed.

'I guess wielding other types of weapons will be inefficient for me now, huh.'

Of course, it also meant that the effect when using only the daggers would be even greater.

Besides, he was already well used to using daggers. He also had grown fond of the Poison Fang of Kasaka and wasn't planning to switch to another weapon any time soon, so this was a huge boon for him.

'And finally….'

Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed in great anticipation as he checked out the details of the last new skill that appeared.

[Skill: Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1]

Active skill.

Mana required to activate: 70

Exclusive to daggers.

You've learned the most optimum way to attack with your daggers. This skill will search for the enemy's vital points and inflict fatal damage.

This skill was also exclusive to daggers.

'The most optimum way to attack….'

Now that he thought about it, the attack he used to land the final blow to Kahng Tae-Sik and on that last zombie felt roughly the similar to him.

Should he say he definitely felt it in his bones? The moment the dagger pierced through, he knew instinctively that the battle was over.

'Ah, so that was me aiming at the vital points, huh.'

To think, something he did as an accident would become an actual skill, and he'd get to use it whenever he felt like it!

His heart was now beating like crazy.

To Jin-Woo, who had no other method to attack other than to swing his dagger around this way and that, this attack skill 'Vital Points Targetting' was like the sweet, sweet rain falling at the end of a long drought.

'Very nice!'

He levelled up and got new skills.

It'd only been the first day, yet things were going really smoothly already.

***

The second day.

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

With the addition of an attack skill, the speed of hunting had increased rather noticeably.

[Level up!]

Yu Jin-Ho's eyes could only grow wider and wider as he watched countless monsters fall one after the other when Jin-Woo accurately attacked their weak points.

'Hyung-nim has been hiding such a mad skill until now?!'

Just how far did the set of hyung-nim's mysterious skills extend to?

He couldn't help but admire Jin-Woo even more.

'Seeing that he was able to easily defeat several rank C Hunters, he's definitely a rank B or higher…..'

He could only spectate from the sidelines, his jaw slack, since he couldn't guarantee his own fate if he unwisely tried to probe Jin-Woo for answers.

However, there was a distinct disadvantage associated with the increase in the hunting speed, as it turned out.

[You can't use your skills because of a lack of Mana.]

[You can't use your skills because of a lack of Mana.]

Jin-Woo frowned quite deeply.

'Again??'

In order to fill up his depleted MP, Jin-Woo summoned a vial of 'potion' he bought from the Store right away.

"What is that, hyung-nim?"

Yu Jin-Ho expressed a great interest.

Being next to Jin-Woo meant that Yu Jin-Ho would get to experience many unbelievable things, of course. And now, he became way too curious about the identity of the blue liquid Jin-Woo kept drinking every now and then.

"What, this?"

Jin-Woo delayed answering and read the information on the potion first.

[Item: MP Potion]

Rarity: E

Type: Consumable

A liquid medicine that will restore your Mana. Once consumed, it will restore 500 points of MP. Can be stored in your Inventory, but it can't be handed over to someone else.

The explanation said that the potion couldn't be handed over to another person.

'What will happen if I try to give it to someone else?'

It was now Jin-Woo's turn to become curious. So, he handed the vial of the MP potion over to Yu Jin-Ho.

But, the potion bottle quietly disappeared from the view when placed in Yu Jin-Ho's hand, just like when it appeared the first time.

"Is, is this magic, hyung-nim??"

'So, this is why it can't be handed over, huh.'

He learned something new today.

An item that could not be handed over would disappear when touched by someone else. If so, what would happen when no hands were involved?

Jin-Woo accessed the Store and purchased a new potion.

However, it was not the same MP potion that he bought all the time, but a vial of HP potion containing reddish liquid.

As soon as he completed the transaction, the potion automatically appeared in Jin-Woo's hand.

"H-hyung-nim!! That's amazing! The liquid's colour changed to red!"

Yu Jin-Ho was thinking that the MP potion disappearing and being replaced by an HP potion was some kind of a fancy magic trick.

Actually, there was a good reason why Jin-Woo changed the type of potion.

'Let's find out if these potions have an effect on other people.'

Jin-Woo told Yu Jin-Ho's to lower his posture.

"Open your mouth and look up."

"L-like this, hyung-nim?"

"Alright. Stay in that position and don't move."

Jin-Woo tilted the vial of HP potion. The reddish liquid slid down Yu Jin-Ho's mouth.

Gulp.

Suddenly, Yu Jin-Ho opened his eyes wider.

"Uh? What's going on, hyung-nim? Why do I feel reinvigorated again?"

After playing the role of the luggage carrier for a long time, Yu Jin-Ho had been looking rather fatigued, but now, his complexion improved in the blink of an eye.

Jin-Woo smiled in satisfaction.

'So, giving it away in this manner works.'

He got to learn something else just as good again.

He should be able to heal a nearby injured person, even if there were no Healers present. This would certainly help him out a good deal in the future, no doubt.

"Just tell me if you're feeling tired, okay? I can spare a ton of this drink, you see."

Of course, Jin-Woo wasn't doing this out of charity.

If the porter got too tired and his movement speed decreased, then that would mean the overall hunting speed would decrease as well, so basically, he'd be the one losing out in the end.

His actions were born out of such a chain of thoughts, but Yu Jin-Ho didn't know that.

"H-hyung-nim…."

"Let's go."

Yu Jin-Ho became very moved after being subjected to Jin-Woo caring about him. Not to mention, he was awed by Jin-Woo's amazing abilities too. Wiping away his tears, Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly chased after the departing back of Jin-Woo.

***

The third day.

"Oh, right. Take this, hyung-nim."

Yu Jin-Ho rummaged through the equipment bag and then, presented a bank balance book with a stamp sealed in together.

"What's this?"

"It's the money from selling the magic crystals we got during the last two days, hyung-nim."

Jin-Woo got slightly irritated by the fact that Yu Jin-Ho had forgotten this and only decided to give it to him inside a dungeon full of dangerous monsters, but that irritation disappeared almost right away.

'₩600,000,000?!' (TL: Around $535,500)

When he took a look at the amount written on the book, Jin-Woo found quite a substantial amount staring back at him.

"Are you giving me every cent from the sales of the magic crystals?"

Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head.

"Yes, hyung-nim. I'm not doing these raids because I need the money, and besides, you've killed all of the monsters anyways. So, how can I ask you for a share like a shameless fool here?"

Yu Jin-Ho's eyes were sparkling like a little kid waiting to be praised.

'Ohh, really… Would you look at this kid now?'

Jin-Woo sensed the change in Yu Jin-Ho's attitude after they spent the last couple of days together.

Not too long ago, the feeling of the kid forcing himself to come even though he was sh*t-scared was pretty strong, but now, he was acting more like a little brother who couldn't stop worshipping a cool older brother or something.

'He's got a pretty adorable side to him, no?'

Jin-Woo smirked.

"Can I really have it, then?"

"Do I, the one and only Yu Jin-Ho, look like someone who'd go back on his word, hyung-nim?"

Jin-Woo smiled brightly and patted the bank balance book.

"Okay, thanks. I'm really grateful for this."

"No, thank you instead, hyung-nim!!"

Yu Jin-Ho bent his back 90 degrees right away.

This was one confusing sight where it was pretty difficult to tell just who was giving who money here.

At the same time, outside the dungeon….

The waiting 'teammates' also had developed a routine of sorts to while away the time.

As soon as the raid leader Yu Jin-Ho and his assistant (?) Seong Jin-Woo entered the Gate, the remaining Hunters gathered around, placed a couple of picnic clothes on the ground, and proceeded to do their own things.

The most popular activity, of course, was gambling.

Five people were sitting around in one group, gambling and chatting away.

"How many raids did we 'participate' in so far?"

"Let's see… The day before, it was three. Yesterday, it was two, and this is the second dungeon today, so it's seven in total so far."

"Will it be fine for those two to keep clearing dungeons at this breakneck pace? I mean, it's normal to take a week off after clearing one dungeon, no?"

"Aigoo. Don't you worry about those two, now. Can't you see that they literally haven't even broken a sweat every time they come out of a Gate? Besides, we get 3 mil every raid, so it's simply an excellent bit of news for us. Oh, it's your turn, my man. Hurry up and deal."

"Ah, sure."

Indeed, both Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho displayed not one hint of getting fatigued from keeping up with this seemingly-exhausting schedule.

Of course, these people had no idea, but such a feat was only possible thanks to the miraculous effects of the potions.

The duo got to clear over one-third of the planned 19 raids in such a short amount of time precisely because of the potions.

A short while later, the Gate's black-ish surface wavered unsteadily and two people emerged from there.

"Oh, the raid leader is out."

"Okay, let's pack this up."

Hunters began getting ready to leave without being ordered to.

"Hey, there. Take care of that luggage over there."

"Wake that person up. Please make sure we aren't forgetting anything here."

Hunters moved in perfect sync. Even the sleeping Hunter woke up and quickly finished getting ready to move to the new location.

"Okay, let's get going!"

Everyone was getting more or less used to this rather insane manner of clearing dungeons.

***

Inside the offices of the White Tiger Guild, located in the same district.

The Chief of the 2nd Division, Ahn Sahng-Min, found himself shouting at the top of his voice early in the morning.

"Mister Hyun!! What are you trying to do here?! Tomorrow's the day for the new recruits to start training, yet how could you have failed to book a single Gate until now?! Answer me, Mister Vice Chief!!"

The Vice Chief Hyun Ki-Cheol lowered his head in embarrassment.

"M-My apologies, Chief. The thing is, there is a raid team that quickly bids for every Gate ranked C opening up in our jurisdiction."

"What?! Well then, why don't you just get them back with higher bids? Does our Guild lack funds or personnel? Just what's the problem here?"

"I tried to do as you said, but….."

"Uh-huh!! How dare you answer back as if you did something nice??"

From the thunderous roar of Ahn Sahng-Min, the entirety of the 2nd Division had fallen into silence.

It sure had been a long time since Ahn Sahng-Min blew his top to this extent.

Just what kind of a place was the White Tiger Guild?

It was called one of the top five Guilds in South Korea. For that reason alone, every single employee working within its halls was, without exception, excellent individuals.

The Vice Chief Hyun Ki-Cheol too was a talented, sharp individual who performed his role well and admirably, having never committed a single error ever since he was hired by the Guild.

But to think, he failed to book a single Gate when the new recruits were supposed to begin their training soon!

This no doubt qualified as a big error.

The 2nd Division that Ahn Sahng-Min was in charge of did the roles of recruiting new Hunters and training them, while the First Division took care of managing the schedules of the Guild's main Hunters.

"P-Please! Take a look at this first, Chief!"

The near-tearful Hyun Ki-Cheol pushed forward a notebook PC to his superior officer.

"What the hell?!"

Ahn Sahng-Min was about to explode once more, only for his jaw to drop to the floor after checking out a certain number appearing on the notebook's screen.

"T-Two hundred fifty million Won?!?! There is a crazy b*stard who spent 250 million Won on a single rank C Gate????"

Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Ahn Sahng-Min became utterly speechless.

The best anyone could hope for, in terms of financial return from a Gate ranked C, was only around 200 million Won.

Paying 250 million won was, simply put, being a hopeless moron who paid way too much.

"Originally, the bidding price of this Gate was only around 70 million. But, when I raised the bid to 100 million, these b*stards suddenly upped it all the way to 250 million, Chief."

The upper limit for a single C-rank Gate set by the White Tiger Guild was 100 million Won. One could now clearly see why Hyun Ki-Cheol was feeling rather aggrieved at the moment.

'Who are these b*stards?!'

Tap, tap, tap, tap….

Ahn Sahng-Min's hands typed on the keyboard quite rapidly. And soon, the search results filled up the computer screen.

Just as Hyun Ki-Cheol had said, one raid team was snapping up all the rank C Gates appearing in this district with nonsensical speed while paying an equally gobsmacking amount of money.

"What the hell, who are these crazy b*stards….?"

This area was the White Tiger's backyard, their jurisdiction.

At first, Ahn Sahng-Min thought of the possibility that other Guilds were possibly interfering with their work.

'No, hang on. That's not possible, is it?'

There was no large Guild stupid enough to start something with White Tiger openly in this fashion.

Even if it was one of the five top Guilds in South Korea, it would have to risk getting destroyed in return by clashing against the White Tiger.

'So, it's not a Guild, then…..'

In that case, who and why?

Ahn Sahng-Min swallowed his saliva and accessed the information on this strange raid team and its members.

The leader's name was apparently 'Yu Jin-Ho'.

"First time I hear that name."

It was Ahn Sahng-Min's job to scout new recruits for the Guild. That was why he had remembered the names of freelancer Hunters who had at least displayed a modicum of excellence in the past.

However, this 'Yu Jin-Ho' really was someone he didn't know.

'Okay, I'll come back to you later.'

He then proceeded to slowly scroll down the list of the team's members, hoping to spot any familiar names on it.

And then, there was one.

One name kind of stood out.

'Seong Jin-Woo? Seong Jin-Woo….. Where have I heard this name before?'

Ahn Sahng-Min did his best to dig through his memory, until he finally recalled the incident of the dual dungeon from two months ago that had been the topic of a rather lively discussion among those who went there.

Indeed, it was none other than the White Tiger Guild that went to assist the Association during that event.

"Hey, Ki-Cheol-ah, do you remember that dual dungeon incident two months ago? The one where our Hunters had to go and take a look?"

"Yes, Chief. I remember. When we got there, we couldn't find any monsters and there was only one survivor."

"What was the name of that survivor? You remember it?"

Hyun Ki-Cheol possessed a pretty solid brain.

No, it wasn't to the extent of other people praising him as a genius, but as far as his ability to remember things was concerned, he was really rather exceptional.

There wasn't even any real need to go through a search process here. Because Hyun Ki-Cheol replied right away.

"It's Seong Jin-Woo, a rank E Hunter."

'I knew it!'

He wasn't sure of it, but well, he was proven right once more.

Ahn Sahng-Min instinctively realised it; there was something fishy going on here.

Not once did his instincts that activated only in these sorts of situation let him down. Never.

Ahn Sahng-Min shouted out an order to the rest of the employees in the Second Division.

"Everyone, stop what you're doing, and get me every single data and information on the Hunters Yu Jin-Ho, ranked D, and Seong Jin-Woo, ranked E!! Right now!"

The responses from these excellent employees, when facing a dangerous situation regarding their own survival, simply exceeded one's imaginations.

It wasn't for nothing that they were called the elites of all elites!

Reports came in one after the other, fast.

As it turned out, Yu Jin-Ho didn't possess any particularly noteworthy background that required an immediate attention. Disregarding the fact that he was the second son of Yujin Constructions' owner, he could be described as ordinary, even.

However, Seong Jin-Woo was quite a different story altogether.

"Since that dual dungeon incident, he's been involved in three more incidents, and he walked away from all of them unscathed?"

When Ahn Sahng-Min spoke in a questioning tone of voice, Hyun Ki-Cheol quickly followed up.

"Not only that, he's a rank E Hunter too, Chief."

The first time Seong Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho met was when the latter went for his very first raid. Only the two of them walked away alive.

And now, these two had formed a raid team and were going around like a pair of madmen, clearing two, three dungeons in a single day.

"This definitely stinks…."

"What could they possibly be doing in the dungeons?"

"I wonder…. hold on. I remember now. There was a rumour about a really influential owner of a big company busy wooing S-ranked Hunters in private doing the rounds, wasn't there?"

"Yes, there was a rumour like that."

"And that Yu Jin-Ho is the son of a really influential owner of a company…."

Indeed, Yu Myung-Hwan, Yu Jin-Ho's father, showed some movements of wanting to create a Guild of his own.

It was one of the most tightly guarded secrets only a few in the world of Hunters were privileged enough to know.

If that was the case, then what Yu Jin-Ho was doing right now wouldn't be completely unrelated to that.

"….Could it be?!"

A single puzzle piece fell to its place inside Ahn Sahng-Min's head.

If his guess was right, then it made sense!

Seeing that rapid change in his superior officer's expression, Hyun Ki-Cheol nervously swallowed his saliva.

Ahn Sahng-Min spoke with more than enough confidence in his voice.

"This guy…. he's definitely a Re-Awakened Hunter!!"

"A Re-Awakened Hunter, you say??"

Hyun Ki-Cheol's eyes became round dots resembling a rabbit's eyes.

But, Ahn Sahng-Min was sure of it.

"That's right."

A rank E Hunter was no different from a regular person. If there was an incident, then such Hunters were as good as dead.

However, this Seong Jin-Woo kept surviving, totally unhurt to boot, from several large-scale incidents that killed most of the participating Hunters.

'Of course, he could be lucky. Sure. However….'

However, the third and last incident….

The situation with this particular incident caused by the agent of the Monitoring Division, Kahng Tae-Sik, was rather different from the rest.

The record said that a rank C Mage combined strength with a rank B Healer to defeat Kahng Tae-Sik. (TL: I've changed Sorcerer to Mage.)

'Bullsh*t. Hunters in the Monitoring Division all specialise in combat.'

If Kahng Tae-Sik wasn't a moron, he'd try to dispose of the highest ranked Hunter with the low combat potential, the rank B Healer first.

'You telling me that a rank C Mage-type Hunter managed to stop him by himself?'

The thing was, the Mage-type Hunters were weak against close-combat type Hunters, even more so against the 'Assassin' types.

Unless Kahng Tae-Sik underestimated his opponents and ignored the presence of the rank B Healer, it might be possible, but….. But, the Hunter with three years of experience in the Monitoring Division wouldn't make such a blunder, thought Ahn Sahng-Min.

'The one who stopped Kahng Tae-Sik wasn't this rank C Song Chi-Yeol, but someone else accompanying them.'

There was no physical evidence, but he was getting more and more sure of his guesses being right.

Seong Jin-Woo now possessed abilities matching that of a high-ranking Hunter after going through a Re-Awakening process.

Yu Jin-Ho coincidentally took part in the raid and saw the abilities of Seong Jin-Woo. And now, Yu Jin-Ho was testing out this and that in preparation to scout Seong Jin-Woo to his father's new Guild.

When he thought like that, everything seemed to click.

'This is a huge piece of news.'

If Seong Jin-Woo was indeed a Re-Awakened Hunter, then there would only be a few people, including Yu Jin-Ho, who knew his true worth.

Just who was Yu Myung-Hwan? He wouldn't want to accept any wannabes and idiots. Definitely not. Not only that, as one of the founding members of the Guild, too.

This could be an excellent chance to snatch away a wonderful individual marked by none other than Yu Myung-Hwan.

'If he fought and defeated rank B Kahng Tae-Sik, then his abilities should be at least B, no?'

The priority now was to snatch this talent before other Guilds, no, Yu Myung-Hwan, managed to scout him.

Well, after the inevitable re-assignment test, the competition would become really hectic, after all.

Besides all that – even if Seong Jin-Woo wasn't as strong as he suspected, it didn't really matter.

There were only a few Re-Awakened Hunters in the entire world, so the media's attention would no doubt be directed to this guy. And that would precisely be the kind of public exposure that no amount of money could buy.

Whatever the case may be, Ahn Sahng-Min couldn't afford to let this guy slip through his fingers.

'I wouldn't be able to do anything if he already signed a contract with Yu Myung-Hwan, though…'

However, the odds of that was low.

The proof was all those tests taking place in the C-ranked dungeons.

'There is a good chance that they haven't decided on anything yet.'

Which meant, the White Tiger Guild had a real shot here as well.

'I shouldn't be wasting time here.'

Ahn Sahng-Min picked up his coat hanging on the back of his chair and quickly put it on.

"Ki-Cheol-ah, let's go."

He also didn't forget to mobilise his right-hand man, of course.

Ahn Sahng-Min was strict with Hyun Ki-Cheol all the time simply because the former believed that no one was more suitable to take over from him than his current deputy.

Meanwhile, Hyun Ki-Cheol's eyes opened wider.

"Pardon me? Where are we going, Chief?"

"What do you mean, where? We're going to scout a new talent, that's what."

"And you have to personally go to scout this new guy??"

"Why not? Is there a law against doing that?"

Ahn Sahng-Min retorted and hurriedly left the office, causing Hyun Ki-Cheol to tilt his head this way and that, but still, he chased after the senior officer.

'Now this is so strange….'

It'd been over two years since he became the Vice Chief, yet it was his first time seeing Ahn Sahng-Min personally go out on a job.

Part 7. Premonition of a huge jackpot

The dungeons Yu Jin-Ho's team booked for the day were two. And the distance between the two Gates was fairly substantial.

In order to confirm their suspicions with their own eyes, Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun Ki-Cheol separated and went to different Gates each. They constantly called each other and waited for Yu Jin-Ho's team to show up.

'It's still pretty chilly out, isn't it?'

Ahn Sahng-Min bought a cup of instant coffee from a vending machine near the Gate's location.

It had already been one solid hour of waiting for Yu Jin-Ho's team to show up. For some reason, though, he was feeling more expectant than bored right now.

Been a long time, but his heart was beating fast in pure anticipation.

'If my guesses are right, then that man will be a huge scoop that has appeared in a really long time. Not only that, a very special scoop, too!'

Ahn Sahng-Min became a Division Chief at a really young age. All thanks to his instincts, actually. His instincts played a crucial role in the White Tiger becoming the large Guild of today.

And that instinct was telling him this right now.

That there was a real chance that this Seong Jin-Woo would lift the White Tiger Guild up even higher than ever before.

'Other people would say that I've lost my mind.'

Well, Seong Jin-Woo was still officially a rank E, after all.

However, things visible to one's eyes didn't tell the whole story. If that was the case, then he wouldn't even be here right now.

And so, as he glared at the Gate with hawk-like eyes from afar, when….

Ring… Ring….

Hyun Ki-Cheol gave him a call.

"Yes, Ki-Cheol-ah. Any news?"

– "Chief, Yu Jin-Ho and his team have arrived on sight."

"Alright. Don't get too excited and keep your eyes on them. And report back to me every single little thing that happens there."

– "Yes, Chief…. Uh? Eh? C-Chief!!"

The voice coming out of the phone's receiver sounded rather weird all of a sudden.

'Did this idiot get discovered or something?'

Ahn Sahng-Min became urgent too and hurriedly called out.

"What happened? Speak up, will ya?"

– "Chief, you were right!!"

"What?"

Ahn Sahng-Min's heart began beating faster and faster.

– "I can see that only Yu Jin-Ho and Seong Jin-Woo are entering the Gate, no one else."

"Of course. Seong Jin-Woo is being tested, after all!"

As he thought!

His guesses were correct. Not once did his gut feeling let him down in situations like this.

'Good!'

Ahn Sahng-Min clenched his fist real tightly.

'While you people remain unconvinced and unsure, we will make the move first. The White Tiger Guild will definitely take Seong Jin-Woo away from you.'

Why? Because the White Tiger had Ahn Sahng-Min, Chief of the Second Division, that's why.

As Ahn Sahng-Min bathed in the ecstasy of victory, Hyun Ki-Cheol's voice continued to travel through the airwaves and came out from the phone once more.

– "What should I do now? Should I go over to you, Chief?"

"No. Remain there and observe for a while longer."

– "Pardon? But, Isn't Chief's suspicions more or less confirmed with this?"

"I'm kind of curious just how long they will take to clear the dungeon, that's all. How many hours will they need to clear a rank C dungeon?"

– "A rank A Hunter would need at least two hours to solo a rank C dungeon, Chief."

"So what? You can't wait that long?"

– "How can that be, Chief? No, I'm just worried about you being all alone and lonely over there, that's why I'm asking you."

What a faster-than-light change in his attitude that was.

This was why Ahn Sahng-Min could never dislike Hyun Ki-Cheol.

"Stop worrying about me and make sure to keep your eyes wide open to see when they are coming out, okay?"

Chapter 40: Chapter 40

– "I'm sure nothing weird will happen here."

"I'll be right next to my phone, so if something does happen, give me a call right away."

– "Got it, Chief."

Ahn Sahng-Min ended the call only after making sure his right-hand man fully heard his 'request'. It was at this point that he felt his starvation kick in.

Rumble…

'I've been paying way too much attention on this matter….'

The lunch hour had flown by some time ago, but well, he'd been waiting with bated breaths for Seong Jin-Woo's arrival and completely forgot to fill up in the meantime.

The thing was, he didn't know when Yu Jin-Ho's team would show up here and so, couldn't leave his position to buy something to eat.

Now that he found himself some leeway, Ahn Sahng-Min looked around his vicinity to find a place to eat, before eventually settling on the local convenience store.

'I'm not trying to skimp on food expenses, though….'

No one was around here to make fun out of him, yet he couldn't help but think that it was a bit uncool to enter a restaurant or a diner all alone. So, after a lengthy deliberation, he chose the cup ramen from the convenience store, instead.

He poured the boiling water provided from the store in the cup and waited for three minutes before getting his wooden chopsticks ready, but then….

Ring….

"Eii! I'm trying to eat here, so who dares to call me now?!"

When he took a look at the phone's screen, a familiar name showed up.

[Right arm]

'Hyun Ki-Cheol, you dumba*s….'

Ahn Sahng-Min answered the call, full of irritation.

"Why are you calling me already?"

– "Chief, that's not it….."

"What do you mean, that's not it?? If you're calling me over nothing, you will be eating nothing but cup ramen as your lunch for the whole of next week!!"

– "That's not it, Chief!! Those two came out of the Gate already!!"

Just like a paused frame of a movie, Ahn Sahng-Min's hand froze in the mid-air, just before it could deliver chopsticks full of noodles to his mouth.

"What did you say??"

– "Just now, Yu Jin-Ho and Seong Jin-Woo came out from the Gate, Chief! And they are getting ready to leave along with the rest of the team!"

Indeed, he didn't hear that wrong.

Ahn Sahng-Min hurriedly checked his watch.

"But, it hasn't even been 30 minutes yet! Did they give up on the raid midway?"

– "No, Chief. The Gate is shaking right now."

What nonsense was this?!

Even if the difficulty between different C-ranked dungeons varied somewhat, there was simply no way that someone could solo one of those in less than 30 minutes!!

"Check again!! Is the Gate closing for real?"

– "Yes, Chief. Should I record some footage and send it to you?"

"…No, no need."

Ahn Sahng-Min ended the call and dazedly stared the empty air.

Clearing a C-ranked dungeon in 30 minutes when normally, a rank A Hunter would need two hours to do so?

What a funny notion that was, that man being only a rank B….

Using only the objective information available to make his educated guess, then at the bare minimum….

"He's above rank A…."

Now, this was an unimaginably huge jackpot.

***

Outside the Gate….

"Hyung-nim. Is there some other business you need to attend to later?"

"No, not really. Why do you ask?"

"I haven't seen you hurrying up this much with hunting before."

Yu Jin-Ho was feeling truly astonished today.

He already knew very well that Jin-Woo was strong, but today, he seemed to be on another dimension altogether.

But, that was par for the course, really.

Jin-Woo inwardly laughed out.

'Well, monsters in this dungeon were Werewolves, after all.'

[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%.

The buff given by the title 'Slaughterer of Wolves' of course came into effect against the Werewolves as well.

How could the monsters from a rank C dungeon contend with him, when his level was already so high to begin with, never mind the effect of that buff helping him out, too?

Thanks to that, Yu Jin-Ho had been kept real busy while trying to extract all those magic crystals from the dead monsters. He even had to drink five vials of the HP potion, too.

He shook his head several times, complaining that he wouldn't be able to eat lunch now, after the potions filled him up completely.

'That's that, but….'

Jin-Woo slowly raised his head.

He had been sensing someone's gaze coming from somewhere.

'I don't sense any magical energy, so he can't be a Hunter.'

He took a look around, but couldn't spot anyone suspicious.

If he got serious about discovering who it was, then he should be able to find the person; but then, as the target didn't emit any killing intent or hostile intentions, it'd take a really long time to track the culprit down.

'...'

It might be nothing, too.

Perhaps inevitably, the gaze disappeared before long.

"Hyung-nim, is everything alright?"

"….It's nothing. Let's get going."

There was no time to waste here.

Jin-Woo took one last look around and climbed into the van.

*

He couldn't sense anyone looking at him by the second Gate's location.

….Both the times when he entered, and also when exiting the Gate.

'Was I being overly cautious?'

What a relief it was, knowing that it wasn't something serious.

Meanwhile, Yu Jin-Ho walked over and apologetically lowered his head.

"Hyung-nim, I'm really sorry about this. This is the last Gate for the day. Other ones were just too far from here."

"Don't worry about it. That's not something you should apologise for, anyway."

The sun was still pretty high up in the sky, but thanks to the duo's antics, just about every Gate that appeared in the district had been taken care of, so their day had to come to an end here.

"Thank you all for working hard, everyone."

"What do you mean, working hard. It's you, the raid leader, who worked hardest."

"See you tomorrow."

"Take it easy now."

After sending everyone away, the remaining two men climbed aboard the driver's and the passenger's seats of the van.

"Let me take you home, hyung-nim."

Before anyone had noticed it, Yu Jin-Ho had become a trusty chauffeur. Him sitting behind the wheel looked perfectly normal now.

Jin-Woo looked Yu Jin-Ho with pitying eyes.

'Just because he wants a shot at the position of the Guild Master, a scion of a wealthy family now has to work as a chauffeur….'

Yu Jin-Ho had been smiling brightly while pressing on the accelerator, before realising that Jin-Woo was staring at him and asked with an equally bright voice.

"Eh? Is there something on my face, hyung-nim?"

"…..Nope. Never mind."

Jin-Woo pretended to know nothing, before suddenly recalling something else rather important, and he pulled out his phone to check the time.

'Right now, it's…. 16:46.'

Indeed, it was still too early to go home. How fortunate that he still had one thing he could do.

'I'm sure it was around here, right?'

According to his memories, at least.

Jin-Woo spoke up quickly.

"Hey, Jin-Ho."

"Yes, hyung-nim?"

Yu Jin-Ho replied while professionally turning the steering wheel. The van the two of them were riding on smoothly went around the curve on the road.

"Head to the Mirae department store."

"Mirae department store?"

Yu Jin-Ho formed a confused expression.

"Yeah. Let's go there."

"Well, yes. It's just around the corner from here, but…. I did notice it back during the hunting, so like, is there really nothing going on, hyung-nim?"

"….For some reason, you've been talking a lot more than necessary lately."

That prompted Yu Jin-Ho's head to rigidly stare forward and nowhere else.

"I shall get us there at the speed of light, hyung-nim. Please hold on tight."

Yu Jin-Ho quickly changed his attitude and drove the van like a stuntman, never once touching his brake pedal.

The distance to cover wasn't a lot, so they arrived at the destination pretty quickly.

The van came to a screeching halt in front of the building. The overall vibe given off by the Mirae department store located smack dab in the city of Seoul's CBD was quite something to behold.

When Jin-Woo climbed off the van, Yu Jin-Ho followed suit.

"Hyung-nim, our Guild's gotta use this kind of a building as our headquarters in the future. What do you think?"

Yu Jin-Ho stared up at the department store building and threw half a joke.

However, there was no reply. Sensing that something was weird here, Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly took a look next to him.

"Ehh?"

Jin-Woo was no longer standing there.

"Hyung-nim?"

No matter how hard he looked around, Jin-Woo was gone without a trace.

"H-hyung-nim??"

***

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

'I levelled up again twice in the department store instant dungeon.'

The steps taking Jin-Woo home were light and cheery.

It had been a while, but the key to the instant dungeon had finally come out of the random box recently. And that key was supposed to be 'used' at the Mirae department store.

He was wondering when to go, but decided to visit the place today since he found himself with enough free time.

["H-hyung-nim??"]

Jin-Woo recalled the dazed face of Yu Jin-Ho as the kid searched for him, and couldn��t help but chuckle.

His phone suddenly went off, then.

Before answering it, he checked the number on the phone's screen, but he couldn't recognise it.

'Who could it be?'

Back when he was still in high school, he was too busy trying to be a mother to his little sister, and after graduation, he started right away as a Hunter so one could say that Jin-Woo's circle of acquaintances was fairly small.

'I shouldn't be getting calls from unknown numbers….'

He tilted his head only for a second or two. For the time being, he decided to answer it.

"Hello."

– "Hello. Is this Mister Seong Jin-Woo speaking?"

It was an open and friendly-sounding voice of a man.

Jin-Woo hung up the moment he heard that.

Click!

'Well, from my experience, this kinda call is 99% someone trying to sell me stuff, or trying to entice me to get a loan, anyway.'

Just as he was about to put his phone back in the pocket, it rang again.

Buzz…

And it was the exact same number.

'What the? It wasn't someone selling stuff?'

Normally, these salespeople would call whoever just so they could meet their sales target, which meant that they would almost never call him back this quickly as soon as the connection was dropped.

Why? They were quick-witted enough to realise that this would be a waste of time, that's why.

'Which means, the guy on the other side really has some kind of business with me….'

So, he answered the call properly this time.

"Hello, this is Seong Jin-Woo."

– "Ahh, so it was the right number. I thought I called the wrong one because the call got cut off so quickly. Ahaha."

"…"

Jin-Woo deliberated for the whole of 2 seconds on whether to apologise or not with an excuse of him thinking that the call was about selling insurance or some such, because the man's voice sounded a bit…

But, in the end, he decided not to.

'It feels like me apologising now would only make it worse.'

A short bout of silence later, the salesman, no, the man with a salesman's voice, made his belated introduction.

– "Ah, where are my manners. My bad for the late introduction. My name is Ahn Sahng-Min, and I work for the White Tiger Guild."

Jin-Woo's steps came to an abrupt halt.

'Why is the White Tiger calling me?'

He couldn't think of a reason why such a big Guild as the White Tiger would call him out of the blue.

The only thing he could think of, though, was that this Guild assisted him back in that dual dungeon incident, but….

'But, I'm sure they aren't calling me to investigate that day's matters after so much time has passed by already.'

Well, he couldn't stand not knowing, so before Ahn Sahng-Min had the chance to continue, Jin-Woo asked first.

"Why is the White Tiger Guild giving me a call?"

– "The matter is a bit sensitive to discuss over the phone, so may I come to you and have a chat face to face?"

The man was saying that he'd come to see him, not asking Jin-Woo to show up, so there was no real reason to refuse here.

Besides, he had nothing much to do the day after tomorrow, anyway.

'Didn't Yu Jin-Ho say he had some kind of an event back home?'

Yu Jin-Ho 'begged' for his understanding while saying that there was a big family event happening on that day and everyone simply had to show up, meaning he couldn't go on any raids.

'A big family event, eh….'

Just from thinking about a chaebol's family event, Jin-Woo could only imagine luxurious, elaborate parties being held in a five-star hotel's reception hall. Should he blame TV dramas for that now?

In any case, it'd be easy to set a date for that day.

"I have some free time on Thursday."

– "Well, the thing is… Will it be fine if we meet right now?"

Right now?

Jin-Woo checked the time.

The time on the phone's screen indicated eight in the evening.

"But, it's already eight."

– "Don't worry. I'm waiting for you nearby. I just wish to speak to you for a little while only."

"Nearby, as in?"

– "I'm in a cafe near you."

Ahn Sahng-Min spoke the name of the cafe.

Jin-Woo was quite familiar with the place.

It was near his home so he went past it often, and not only that, but he also used it as the meeting place with Yu Jin-Ho as well.

Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed to a slit.

'This guy knows where I live.'