Chapter 1073 - 54 - 59

Chapter 54: Chapter 54

< Chapter 54 >

[Skill: Shadow Storage Lv. 1]

Class-specific skill.

Mana required to activate: None.

Stores the shadow soldiers inside the summoner's shadow.

The stored soldiers can be summoned back into the open or absorbed back at any time the summoner chooses to.

Number of stored shadow soldiers: 0/20

'I knew it.'

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

Since the skill's name had the word 'storage' in it, he expected it to have something to do with storing away the soldiers. Unfortunately, there was a part that proved to be completely out of his expectations.

'How come the number is….'

The number of soldiers he could store was noticeably lower than those he could create.

Indeed, he could create 30, yet he could only store 20. Meaning, he had to unsummon 10 more.

'Now this sucks.'

Just which finger out of the ten in your hands wouldn't hurt when you bite them? Just discarding one made his heart bleed, but now, he had to discard ten??

'Hmm….'

Jin-Woo stared at the soldiers with a rather lonely expression on his face.

Obviously, the knight-grade Igrit was excluded.

Three 'magic soldiers' were also excluded, since they would be harder to replace and also fewer in numbers.

At the end of the day, the most disposable remained the infantrymen. Last time, he chose the one closest to him, so this time, he chose the ten that were furthest away from him and cancelled their summoning.

'Sorry.'

He prayed for their happiness in the afterlife, and then….

Poof…

In the blink, those ten soldiers turned into dust and disappeared from this world.

Thankfully, his heart didn't ache as badly as the first time. Did the wise old 'they' mean this by saying that the first time was always the hardest?

In any case…

Jin-Woo took one last look at the soldiers and activated the Shadow Storage.

When he did that, all the shadow soldiers, including Igrit, all returned to being shadows, as if they were melting like an ice cube caught in extremely high temperatures. Those shadows all gathered beneath his feet next.

'So, this is that absorbing into my shadow thing….!'

It was as the label said; the shadows were absorbed into Jin-Woo's shadow. It happened so quickly, too.

All of his soldiers disappeared without a trace in less than a blink of an eye.

'….I'm the one who did it, yet I can hardly believe it myself.'

Utterly amazed now, Jin-Woo continued to stare at his own shadow.

It was then.

As if it was waiting for this, the mechanical beeps resounded out one after the other.

Tti-ring.

[You have experimented with all the class-specific skills.]

[Class Change has been now concluded.]

[Exit Gate will now be generated.]

'So, it's finally over, huh….'

What a long and difficult road this was.

Jin-Woo scanned the interior of the boss room, his eyes full of reminiscence. The evidence of fierce battle could be seen everywhere.

Broken-down knights; walls with cracks on them; a shattered stone pillar. And the Iron Golem responsible for shattering that very pillar, now nothing more than a scrap heap.

However, as the compensation for his struggles, he was now walking away with so much profit.

A new Class and skills, several other important things besides those, as well as powerful new allies.

A wide grin naturally floated up on his lips.

Without hesitation, Jin-Woo turned around. The Gate connecting to the outside world was quietly waiting for him as if to congratulate him on his successful adventure.

When he took a step outside, the surroundings changed in an instant. And he was back in the empty lot of the local mountainside. It was none other than the very spot where he initiated his Class Change Quest.

The time indicated was five in the morning. It was already time for the sunrise.

'Oops.'

Jin-Woo clicked his tongue while confirming the time.

'If I knew the quest would end up taking this long to complete, I should've left a message for Jin-Ah earlier.'

What a relief then, that he'd often come home late from raids taking longer than expected, back when he was working for the Association.

Jin-Woo took one last look behind him. But the Gate he exited from just now was already gone without a trace.

'Huh….'

When looking at the spot where the Gate used to be, it kind of felt like he had woken up from a long dream.

Was it a dream?

No, that wasn't possible.

Jin-Woo scanned his immediate vicinity.

The soldiers decked out in pitch-black armours – as soon as he thought about them, they rapidly emerged from his shadow.

'.....'

At first, he simply thought of them as nothing more than monsters.

The shadow soldiers…

The monsters that stepped out from the shadows of the dead after they were summoned by him.

However, if these things were monsters, then just what should the guy who could freely control them be called now?

Jin-Woo smirked softly.

'Well, it doesn't matter one way or the other….'

Jin-Woo stored the soldiers back into his shadow.

He noticed that his steps going down the mountain were rather light and cheery.

Jin-Woo slept until late in the day. But, that couldn't be helped. By the time he got back home, the sun had risen up pretty high already.

Ring~ ring~

Jin-Woo's sweet slumber was eventually disrupted by the ringtone from his smartphone. His hand fumbled around near his head and with some difficulty, located his phone.

"H-Hello?"

His voice cracked up from his dry throat.

"Hul…. Oppa, you were still asleep?? You know what time it is?"

Jin-Ah's shocked voice came out from the speaker. So, he asked her back.

"Okay, what time is it now?"

"It's two in the afternoon!"

"Eh? What?"

He glanced at the time on the phone's screen with half-open eyes. She was telling the truth.

"…..Oppa, you haven't forgotten that you're supposed to come to my school today, have you?"

Her voice sounded anxious.

Jin-Woo finally raised his upper body, albeit very slowly.

"What time should I get there at the latest?"

"Before five!"

"I won't be late, so don't worry."

"As expected of my orabeo-nim! When you're near the school, gimme a call first, okay?" (TL: orabeo-nim = a higher form of honorific than 'oppa'.)

Jin-Ah switched on her charm attack and ended the call soon afterwards.

Scratch, scratch….

Jin-Woo scratched his unkempt hair for a bit before slowly getting up from the bed. He didn't have a lot of time left if he were to get ready.

'Well, I'm going to meet my sister's homeroom teacher after all.'

Not only that, this teacher would be in charge of her third year in high school, one of the most important periods in a person's life.

'So, I can't just wear whatever now, right?'

He opened the closet and rummaged through the clothes in there. However, he was greeted by a rather dusty, mouldy odour.

Of course, it was not something pleasant to smell at all.

Jin-Woo's frown deepened.

He continued to dig around, but all he could find was an old business suit he wore once during his own high school graduation.

'Will it even fit me now?'

He was hoping against hoping but well, as expected – the clothes were too snug and he couldn't even move his arms.

'Yup, my body has grown much bigger lately.'

Putting on the old clothes painted a stark picture of his current reality. The suit was nearly bursting at the seams, literally.

….What should he do now?

Jin-Woo was pondering what to do, but then he spotted the bank book that Yu Jin-Ho gave him a day before. It was for the account filled with the proceeds from selling off all those magic crystals.

He alternated his gaze between his nearly-torn clothes and the bank book with its new stamp still sealed together, before a smile formed on his lips.

'Been a while, but should I go on a shopping spree, then?'

Before that, though, there was this small thing he had to confirm first.

Actually, it was a bit bigger than that, but still.

Jin-Woo took off the old business suit and while sitting on the edge of the bed, summoned his Status Window.

'Stats.'

With that, a long board full of letters and numbers appeared before his eyes.

Tti-ring.

[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]

[Level: 51]

[Class: Shadow Sovereign]

[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves (extra 1)]

[HP: 11035]

[MP: 1022]

[Tiredness: 0]

[Stats]

Strength: 132

Stamina: 91

Agility: 111

Intelligence: 70

Perception: 93

(Available points to distribute: 10)

Reduction in physical damage: 46%

[Skills]

Passive skills:

(Unknown) Lv. Max

Tenacity Lv. 1

High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1

Active skills:

Dash Lv. 2

Intimidation Lv. 1

Vital Points Targetting Lv. 2

Dagger Throw Lv. 1

Stealth Lv. 1

[Class-specific skills]

Active skills:

Shadow Extraction Lv. 1

Shadow Storage Lv. 1

[Equipped items]

Red Knight's Helm (S)

Gatekeeper's Necklace (A)

Superior Knight's Breastplate (B)

Superior Knight's Gauntlet (B)

Superior Mage's Ring (B)

Intermediate Assassin's Shoes (C)

(TL note: the author forgot to put 'Ruler's Reach' in the Skills column. I left it as is.)

"Huh…"

Jin-Woo could only chuckle wryly as his Status Window seemed to go on forever and ever.

'It was only a short while ago that there was nothing on this section over here.'

Indeed, there had been a time like that once. But now, just from looking at his skills and equipped items, his head grew fuzzy.

Even then, his Class still managed to snag his attention for sure.

[Class: Shadow Sovereign]

This column used to be 'None' only yesterday.

To be honest, he was kind of bothered by that word whenever he had to look at his Status Window. The reason for that was, naturally, the word that came before that 'None' being his 'Class'.

If a Hunter was not participating in a raid, he'd be no different than a jobless bum. That's what most others would think, anyway.

But then, he had to keep looking at the 'No job' in the Status Window where his Stat values were recorded, so how could he not feel bothered by it? (TL note at the end)

They said that once you got shocked by a turtle, you'd keep getting frightened by the pot lids; whenever he took a look at his Class column in the past, he couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated.

He knew that it didn't really mean his job status, but he still felt quite bothered by it. However, from today onwards, he didn't have to mind such things anymore.

"Hahaha!"

Jin-Woo chuckled out uncontrollably.

'Yup, this must be what they call an inferiority complex, isn't it?'

If he made lots of money like other Hunters, he wouldn't have really cared about what others thought of his life outside of raiding dungeons.

But he couldn't do that.

He couldn't confidently reveal his status as a Hunter to anyone. Because, he was a measly rank E who could barely protect his own life, that was why.

'I'm a rank E Hunter.'

Whenever he said those words….

Anyone with some knowledge of Hunters would always say that he was doing something very difficult for everyone's sakes, but they would start mocking him when his back was turned.

That was why he ended up minding it even more than necessary.

But now, he was the possessor of a really cool job – no, a really special trait. His job still remained as a Hunter, of course.

If he were to describe it, then…. well, it'd be more correct to say that he now possessed a special trait of 'Shadow Sovereign'.

'Although this wasn't the career path I was looking for….'

But, he had no regrets. No, rather than regrets, he was completely and utterly satisfied by how things had turned out.

If this wasn't his room, he'd have summoned Igrit and the other soldiers right away. He really wanted to confirm the combat capabilities of his summons with his own eyes.

What if these guys were able to display 100% of their combat prowess while they were still alive?

'I'm sure that won't be the case, though.'

Still, just imagining it made his heart race.

Thump, thump…

Jin-Woo felt his heart beating roughly as he ran several simulations of future raids in his head.

Suddenly, he became really curious about how Yu Jin-Ho would react.

Smirk.

When Jin-Woo imagined seeing Yu Jin-Ho's round, stunned eyes and his slack jaw falling to the floor, a chuckle automatically leaked out of his mouth.

'Wait, now that I think about it….'

If he could transform any dead lifeforms into his soldiers, and if the targets weren't restricted to only monsters, then….

'Does that mean I can extract shadows from the dead Hunters, too?'

It was quite obvious, but he didn't want to picture such a situation since he was talking about another human being here.

An undead soldier, emerging from the shadow of a dead person after hearing his call….

Just thinking about it gave him chills.

Even then… even still….

'What if I extract the shadow of an A or an S rank Hunter?'

The combat potential of the resulting shadow soldier would simply be out of this world.

Even if a shadow soldier could only exhibit 50% of its original strength, it'd be eminently possible to solo high-ranked dungeons, as long as he had his shadows to back him up.

His beating heart picked up its pace really quick.

Thump, thump, thump!!

Still, Jin-Woo shook his head.

'Even if that's the case, turning a person into an undead is a bit…'

….Now that was something only a villain would do.

His combat potential might improve that way, but he didn't want to go that far. Unless a really evil b*stard showed up that was worthy of such a treatment, he'd definitely not go down that route.

'However, it's not like opportunities to fight other dirty Hunters would come around every day, right?'

And, even if he did find that elusive opportunity, there would be many hurdles to overcome first. Well, a human wasn't a monster, to begin with, after all.

Indeed.

For the time being, he had to be satisfied with the current soldiers.

'Besides, I have Igrit and he used to be a boss, so that's something.'

The level 7 knight-grade shadow soldier.

Just how good would its abilities be?

Jin-Woo couldn't wait for the next raid.

Chapter 55: Chapter 55

Jin-Woo lowered his gaze slightly while feeling rather pleased with himself, then he spotted something else in the Status Window.

[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves (extra 1)]

'…..There was another one?'

….Oh.

Now that he thought about it, he did earn a new 'Title' as well during the Class Change Quest, didn't he?

Jin-Woo checked out the hidden title's description.

[Title: The One Who Overcame the Adversity]

A Title only given to those who have splendidly overcome their adversity. Your Stat values will rise as your HP decreases. (1% of lost HP = 1% gain in Stats)

'Hell yeah!'

It was a truly wonderful buff where his Stats would rise up as his HP was decreased.

The Title 'Slaughterer of Wolves' was a wonderful Title as well that would give him a 40% Stats increase against any and all beast-type monsters. However, because there was a strict activation condition attached to it, he often had to do without receiving the Stat buff.

'It's the same thing as not having a Title if I'm not fighting against beast-type monsters.'

But now, he had gotten a new Title with a wonderful effect. After reading the description, he thought that this Title's effect would match up quite nicely with his passive, 'Tenacity'.

Without wasting any more time, Jin-Woo changed his Title.

[Title: The one who overcame the adversity (extra 1)]

The Title he didn't set would be hidden, and if he needed it, he could swap them at any time, too.

'Next up, it's my Stats.'

The rewards he got for exceeding the point limits of his Class yesterday were three.

One, his Class changed to a higher-grade version; two, a new Title; finally, bonus Stat points.

[Stats]

Strength: 132

Stamina: 91

Agility: 111

Intelligence: 70

Perception: 93

(Available points to distribute: 10)

Reduction in physical damage: 46%

He still had ten points yet to be allocated. If it was in the past, he'd have spent them all in Agility or Perception, but things were different now.

Jin-Woo dumped all ten points in Intelligence, instead.

Even then, his Intelligence value only reached 80.

Tti-ring.

[Stats]

Strength: 132

Stamina: 91

Agility: 111

Intelligence: 80

Perception: 93

(Available points to distribute: 0)

Reduction in physical damage: 46%

Compared to Strength or Agility, it simply fell way, way behind. As a matter of fact, it even fell behind Stamina, the Stat he decided to put on the back burner while raising his Agility first.

It was clear proof that he had been looking down on the Intelligence Stat until now.

'Well, I never guessed that I'd somehow end up using magic, so it's understandable.'

For the time being, he decided to invest every single bonus Stat point he earned into Intelligence. He wasn't planning to change how he fought in the meantime, though.

'I mean, the new skills I got are assassination type skills, after all.'

A new skill he acquired during the fierce battle – the dagger throw. He didn't even have to take a gander at the skill description to know that it was a dagger-exclusive skill.

[Skill: Dagger Throw Lv. 1]

Active skill.

Required Mana to activate: 30

Exclusive to daggers.

Causes damage by throwing your dagger. The higher the level, the greater the damage inflicted, as well as the accuracy.

'Yup. I knew it.'

He had been fighting his battles as a close-quarter melee fighter. He wouldn't change his current fighting style, just because he got himself a new Class and a couple of new skills related to that.

So, he was planning to use the shadow skills as his back-up, while the dagger would remain as his primary means of attack.

'Well, at least until I manage to raise my Intelligence Stat to a somewhat more useful level, that is.'

Excellent combat abilities. And soldiers able to support him from behind.

The plan he formed in his head as he got his new Class hadn't changed.

'But, if there is one difference from my initial expectations, then that would be….'

That would be his soldiers potentially being a lot more useful than he thought. Who could've guessed that he was able to turn boss-level monsters into his underlings?

'….Still.'

He felt that it'd be a bit of waste not to utilise his proficiency with daggers and the skills related to that if he were to rely solely on his shadows to fight.

Also, he bought the Knight Killer only a few hours ago, too.

'If I knew I'd end up as a mage-type, maybe I should've bought a magic staff or something.'

Of course, if he did that, he wouldn't have cleared the quest and ended up being buried under the knights, instead.

Jin-Woo closed the Status Window. With that done, he pretty much had confirmed every change that occurred to him.

'Wait a sec. What's the time now?'

While he was doing his thing, 20 minutes had flown by. Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head.

'I guess I should hurry up, huh.'

The corners of Jin-Woo's lips arched up.

The power of his enhanced Stats didn't prove to be effective only when fighting against monsters.

When he concentrated, time slowed down. To be more precise, it was Jin-Woo who had gotten quicker, however.

He opened the door and left his room.

He entered the bathroom and took a quick shower.

He swiftly wiped the water off of him.

He put on whatever clothing he could find and stood before the mirror.

All this, and he only needed three minutes.

He could've moved faster, but he figured that this old, decrepit apartment would fall apart if he did.

'My hair hasn't completely dried out yet, but….'

The end result was him saving over 20 minutes, so there was no need to rush now.

Time to leave, then.

Jin-Woo was about to step out of his room, but discovered something and stopped in his tracks. He found the key for the apartment. It was sitting on top of his desk.

In the past, he'd have felt a bit lazy and unwilling, but still turned back to grab the key; however, he simply extended his hand instead of walking over there.

'I mean, if I don't use it in times like this, just when will I ever get to use this skill?'

The Ruler's Reach!

The key crept forward bit by bit, before flying into his open palm as if a strong magnet was reeling it in.

Grab!

Jin-Woo snatched the key and grinned refreshingly.

Having gotten ready to leave in the proverbial blink of an eye, Jin-Woo closed the door to his room, a whistle escaping from his lips.

Jin-Woo's first stop was at the bank.

He was wondering just how much cash from the sales of the magic crystals had accumulated in his new bank account.

'I couldn't come earlier because I've been so busy until now.'

As the raid team leader, Yu Jin-Ho was in charge of managing the magic crystals.

From what he told Jin-Woo, that kid had been selling all the magic crystals at the end of each day and deposited every single cent into this account.

He didn't mention in detail how much the money would be, though.

'That Jin-Ho. He reports to me every little thing that happens, but he doesn't really mention much about money issues.'

Was it because he wasn't really interested all that much? Perhaps because he grew up lacking nothing, Yu Jin-Ho's interests were quite far removed from the matters involving money.

No, they tended to be along the lines of celebrity gossip, stories of raids, songs or movies he liked – those kinds of things.

Even if it was nominally a conversation, it'd be Yu Jin-Ho who yapped on and on all by himself, though. And Jin-Woo would simply listen quietly on the side and provide appropriate responses every now and then.

'Ah, now that I think about it…'

A chatterbox guy like him also didn't say anything about his family situation until now.

Now that was pretty strange. Jin-Woo combed through his memories starting from when they met for the first time, but he couldn't remember a single instance of him mentioning his family.

While thinking that it was pretty bizarre, he had arrived at the bank.

'Well now, that's some crappy timing, isn't it?'

All of the ATMs were currently under maintenance.

He was left with little choice, so Jin-Woo walked inside the bank branch. He got his number in the queue, waited for his turn, before eventually sitting down in front of a bank teller.

"Hello there."

A female teller with a bob-cut hair reaching just below her ears and a refreshing smile asked him politely.

"How may I be of service today?"

"I��d like to see the amount currently in the bank account, please."

"I understand."

With a smile, the female teller took the bank book Jin-Woo presented to her.

While waiting for her to do her thing, Jin-Woo scanned the inside of the bank. It was a normal Thursday afternoon, yet there were quite a large number of people inside.

As he continued to look at the crowd, the female teller got to confirm the amount resting in Jin-Woo's account and her eyes shot open super-wide.

'Heok!!"

[Remaining amount: ₩1,482,920,000] (TL: Just over $1.315 mil)

She checked the number of digits again, but without a doubt, it started from a billion.

Not only that, he hadn't even accumulated this amount over a long period of time.

For the past week or so, the records showed that over 100 million Won had been deposited every single day.

'He looks so young, so how could he?'

The female teller initially took Jin-Woo as a university student who came to the local bank to get the bank book newly printed on because his mother asked him to. But, her expression had changed quite a bit now.

The female teller asked him, her voice containing just a sliver of ulterior motive.

"Oh, my goodness. May I ask, what you do for a living?"

Perhaps she herself was embarrassed by her own ulterior motive, the female bank teller's cheeks blushed softly as she cautiously studied Jin-Woo's reactions.

He replied as if it was nothing.

"I'm a Hunter."

"Ah….."

The female teller slowly nodded her head almost instinctively.

The popular rumour she heard was indeed true.

'I heard that Hunters made lots of money, but….'

But to think, it'd be on this level….

All of a sudden, her life as a normal working-class employee came across as rather pathetic.

Only until a minute ago, this man was a regular customer, just like everyone else. But now, Jin-Woo looked like a person from another galaxy altogether.

'He must be a pretty high ranked Hunter, right?'

This amount wasn't something an average Hunter with average skills could ever hope to touch.

This would be her first time meeting a truly high-ranked Hunter, then.

The unexpectedness of this situation caused her heart to palpitate just a bit faster.

Thump, thump….

Her heart was indeed beating a bit quicker now.

A young customer possessing well over a billion Won in cash would certainly be a VIP in the eyes of the bank. And well, that customer was a Hunter, so he should be treated as a VVIP, instead.

And so, in order to ensure that this VVIP wouldn't slip through the bank's fingers, the female employee began advertising several of the bank's financial products.

"Our bank has launched brand new products and services especially catered for VIP customers such as yourself."

Her smile was no longer the business one, but a real one, too. The female bank teller's gaze was now firmly fixed on Jin-Woo.

'Oh, my. He's….'

Seeing his current appearance, the one where he must have thrown on some clothes lying around, and that slightly dishevelled hair, her heart began beating faster than ever before. She realised that he must've been a very busy man who managed to find some free time to stop by the bank today.

"This product has proven really popular with our customers lately, so how about taking a closer look at the benefits it offers, sir?"

Too bad for her, Jin-Woo refused right away.

"No, thank you. I'm fine."

"Ah…. is that so?"

The female bank teller's voice was thickly laden with regrets over missed chances.

Sensing that this chat might get drawn out if he said something wrong here, Jin-Woo quickly took the bank book and stood up from the seat.

"Thank you for your help. Have a nice day."

He made his quick getaway from the bank as the hot stares from the female bank teller continued to bear down on his back.

As soon as the bank's door closed behind him…

"Fuu…."

Jin-Woo spat out a sigh of relief.

He picked up on the change in the bank teller's expression the moment he revealed his job as a Hunter.

Attentions of strangers, and their interests.

It would probably be something normal for other Hunters, but it was still something new to Jin-Woo.

'Well, I better get used to it now.'

The attention on him would get even worse than this, once he's gone through with the re-assignment test and gets a super-high rank.

He heard that there were quite a few reporters and fans following around particular Hunters as well.

He raised his head slightly and saw a large electronic billboard displaying a cold drink advert featuring a famous Hunter, attached to the side of a skyscraper.

Before Gates appeared in the world, one would've found top sports stars or popular idols occupying that position.

That's right.

This was the age where a Hunter would be at the receiving end of more attention and adulation than a celebrity. Even Jin-Woo wouldn't be an exception now.

The only person who didn't like Hunters nowadays were probably employees of various insurance companies.

'Besides all that.'

Only after he made his escape from the bank did he get to confirm the amount in the account. And his eyes grew real wide afterwards.

'1.48 billion….?!'

The total amount of money he earned after participating in nine raids was almost 1.5 billion Won. Meaning, each rank C dungeon netted him almost 160 million Won.

He got around 180 million from the dungeon he raided with Hwang Dong-Seok and Co. So, the average amount per rank C Gate he got was somewhere between 150 and 200 million each raid.

'Yup, that's why that bank teller was so shocked, wasn't it….'

Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Now that he was done confirming his financial status….

Jin-Woo splurged on a nice-looking business suit at a department store. He still found himself with more than enough free time, so he stopped by a hair salon nearby and got a much-needed haircut as well.

"Hmm."

He had transformed into someone completely different compared to when leaving the apartment.

'This is why having money is way better than not having any.'

And they said that good clothes would become one's wings, too

Jin-Woo stopped by the front of a shop's window on the street and checked out his reflection for a bit, before shrugging his shoulders.

His preparation was as perfect as it could get.

'I'm sure I won't leave behind a bad first impression.'

He adjusted his clothes for a bit, before confirming the time through his phone. It said 16:20.

'I'm supposed to get there before five, right?'

If he got going now, he should arrive on time.

"Taxi!"

Jin-Woo grabbed a taxi and arrived in front of Jin-Ah's school, with enough time to spare. And as luck would have it, he spotted Jin-Ah standing by the school's front gate.

"Seong Jin-Ah-!"

Discovering her older brother belatedly, she gasped out in pure shock.

"Oppa??"

Jin-Ah's eyes became extra round like a rabbit's as she asked cautiously.

"Are…. are you really Mister Seong Jin-Woo?"

"Can't you recognise your own brother?!"

Jin-Ah swept her gaze all over Jin-Woo with a stunned expression still etched on her face, her voice naturally rising higher.

"It's because you've changed so much, you know!"

"What, so you wanted me to show up in my tracksuit and slippers when meeting your new homeroom teacher?"

"Wow…."

Jin-Ah still couldn't close her slack jaw.

"Hey, your chin might fall off at this rate. Anyways, I'm going ahead. Okay?"

Since his sister didn't show any sign of guiding the way, Jin-Woo simply took the lead. Five years ago, Jin-Woo too was a student in this very school. He already knew its layout like the back of his hand.

Now normally, if teachers wanted to speak to the parents, then the meeting place would either be the staff room or at the counselling office. But today's matter involved Jin-Ah's future career path, so he should head to the counselling office.

And so, Jin-Woo's steps quickened.

"O-Oppa! Wait for me!"

Jin-Ah hurriedly ran after her older brother.

"Hello there, teacher-nim."

"Yes? Oh, uh, hello to you too."

While on his way, Jin-Woo greeted several teachers he ran into. All of them stopped in their tracks without exception, and took a look behind them, at the departing back of Jin-Woo.

'Who was that?'

'Is he a graduate from this school? But, there's no way I'd have forgotten about such an eye-catching student like that.'

'Is he a new teacher?'

It wasn't only the teachers who were looking at him, though.

"Wow, he's good-looking, isn't he?"

"Who is he?"

"Wait, isn't that Jin-Ah next to him?"

"He must be Jin-Ah's oppa. Wow, he's pretty cool."

A well-built frame and a stylish business suit – although his facial features were on the plain side, the synergy between those two points were powerful enough to attract the attention of the female students.

Too bad, the guy in question wasn't interested at all, though.

'....'

Jin-Woo simply let the girls' whisperings slip in one ear and slide right out the other. The one to get really psyched up was Jin-Ah, actually.

She perked her ears up and listened to the assessment of her brother coming from the surroundings in a fit of happy giggles. She then sneaked closer to Jin-Woo's side and lightly poked him on his waist with her elbow.

"Hiya~, oppa, you're proving to be really popular today, wouldn't you agree?"

He ignored this.

"Wait, now that I think about it, oppa, you still haven't found a girlfriend yet, right?"

He also ignored this one.

"Should I, your trusty little sister, introduce you to a cute high school girl?"

And with that, Jin-Woo began pinching her cheeks with an emotionless face.

"Stop being cute, okay?"

"I'm… I'm sowwy…."

Jin-Woo eventually released her cheeks. Jin-Ah rubbed her reddened cheeks and pouted unhappily.

"Che. I know you also like the attention, though…."

Walking while lightly bickering amongst each other, they had arrived at the destination already. Jin-Ah ran past Jin-Woo and spun around in front of the counselling office.

"Oppa, we're here."

Just before entering the office, Jin-Woo looked at his sister. She wasn't budging from her spot.

"What about you?"

"Today's the teacher and parents only. I'm going back to my class as soon as you go inside."

"Oh."

Listening to Jin-Ah, he remembered something similar happening back when he was still a high-school senior. Back then, no one came, though.

'It was around the time when it got harder and harder for mom to move around, right?'

His mother began to frequent the hospital right around then.

He feared that she might push herself too hard, so he didn't tell her about the teacher-parent meeting. And he got to suffer from his homeroom teacher's lectures for quite a while because of that.

When recalling those moments, he could understand the reason for Jin-Ah being so anxious today. Jin-Woo smiled gently and asked her.

"You having the night class today as well?"

"Ng. Oppa, don't wait for me and go home first."

"Okay."

Jin-Woo sneak attacked her and rubbed her hair all out of shape.

"Study hard, okay? I'll see you later."

"Ah! Stop it!"

"See you later at home."

Jin-Woo grinned and disappeared into the counselling office.

Jin-Ah's cheeks puffed up as she smoothed her hair.

"Still treating me like a little kid…."

Of course, she didn't display any hint of disliking that.

Maybe someone saw the whole thing? Jin-Ah quickly scanned her surroundings and confirmed that there was no one around her. She sighed in relief and trotted away to her class.

If he were to put into words the first impression he got from Jin-Ah's homeroom teacher?

'Mm….'

She kind of looked 'generous'.

"You must be Jin-Ah's oppa."

She was a middle-aged teacher with a wizened look about her. The overall impression she gave off was someone who could make other people feel better with a gentle and warm smile on her face.

She perhaps knew his story, because she wasn't surprised in the slightest to see Jin-Woo being here as Jin-Ah's guardian.

"How do you do? I'm Jin-Ah's homeroom teacher. I didn't quite expect Jin-Ah to be hiding someone this cool as her brother, to be honest. Ohoho."

Having received her outgoing and welcoming words, Jin-Woo bowed his head politely as well.

'I haven't seen her before.'

She must've started teaching after he graduated from this school.

Didn't someone say that a person's impression would be decided upon the first meeting? After sharing their greetings, he did feel a bit more relaxed.

'Well, she's using polite speech to someone who's many years her junior, too.'

It seemed that his little sister's third year in high school wouldn't be that traumatic after all, since she was lucky enough to run into a pretty nice homeroom teacher.

"Please, take a seat over here."

She showed him to a chair. Jin-Woo settled down on the opposite side to Jin-Ah's homeroom teacher across a large desk.

"We can rest easy about Jin-Ah now."

They conversed for a while with typical topics that a homeroom teacher and parents would normally share, the atmosphere remaining cordial and rather cheery throughout the chat.

Since Jin-Ah was a model student, there was no reason for either Jin-Woo or the teacher to raise their voices at each other.

"Are you aware that Jin-Ah has set her sights on entering a medical school?"

"Yes, I am."

The lady teacher began reading the prepared information.

"Her scores in the mock test are excellent. And her regular grades are very good as well, so she should get in without too much problem. Still, please make sure that you don't pressure her too much at home."

Jin-Woo silently nodded his head.

From the teacher's excited face, one could easily spy her high expectations of Jin-Ah's future.

The thing was, the homeroom teachers tasked with looking after high school seniors were also under a tremendous level of stress as well. Since it involved the rest of these third-year students' lives, how could they not get stressed out?

'That's why I heard that most try to avoid being a senior class's homeroom teacher, though.'

Jin-Woo also heard that there were plenty of cases where male teachers simply dumped the responsibilities to their female counterparts. When considering that, then he could say that Jin-Ah's homeroom teacher was full of drive and passion for her students.

As Jin-Ah's guardian, Jin-Woo could only be grateful for that. Because drive and passion would mean she'd hold great 'interest' in the future of her students.

Maybe 15 minutes had passed by? The meeting was coming to a smooth end.

"Well then, if that's all…."

Jin-Woo studied the mood and was getting ready to leave, but then, the teacher cautiously spoke to him.

"I heard that you are a Hunter."

Suddenly, the teacher became quite serious.

There was something going on here. Jin-Woo immediately sensed it.

"Yes, I am."

"If….. If Jin-Ah is adjudged to be an Awakened, will you let her do Hunter's work as well?"

"Never."

He'd never allow her.

Jin-Woo decisively stated his position. There was no need to even reconsider this.

Exactly as he had suspected, there was something here and as proof, the teacher's expression became heavier still.

"As I thought…."

When Jin-Woo looked at her with a puzzled expression, the teacher spoke in a determined tone of voice.

"If it's not too much trouble, may I ask you for a favour?"

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

"As long as it's within my powers…."

He decided to hear her out first.

Well, she was his little sister's homeroom teacher, so if he refused her outright without even listening to her once, he might leave behind a bad impression here.

Worried that Jin-Woo might change his mind, the teacher quickly opened her mouth.

"One of my students is thinking of quitting school to become a Hunter full time after she went through the Awakening process. She's not even coming to school anymore, as a matter of fact."

'Aha.'

Such things were fairly common.

There would be cases where a few newly Awakened, having never experienced what real Hunters did, thought of themselves as someone special, a chosen, a cut above the rest, etc., without having the faintest idea how cruel reality could be.

….Even though there weren't that many Awakened who went on to become famous Hunters and made lots of money in the world, though.

The teacher let off a long sigh.

"If she continues to miss school this way, then the management won't have any choice but to act, you see? Even if she wishes to become a Hunter, wouldn't it be better if she at least graduated from a high school first?"

Jin-Woo nodded his head in agreement. At his positive response, the teacher's complexion brightened just a bit.

"Can you help me persuade that child so she gets to graduate safe and sound?"

The teacher did her best to smile.

Jin-Woo was curious about one thing here.

"That student… what was her Awakened rank?"

"From what I hear… it's the lowest rank…."

In other words, a rank E.

'….She won't get to live long, then.'

Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue.

That was the rank where one had to be especially careful about entering a dungeon.

If one entered with an overly-hyped mindset and without much preparation to boot, then one would become a cripple or dead almost without an exception.

Such a thing happening to a kid around the same age as his little sister was a sad thing. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, that choice was that girl's to make. No one could say otherwise.

It was a rather lamentable thing indeed, but he didn't feel like taking time out of his busy schedule to interfere in someone's else life choices.

'Besides, I'm not confident about persuading her, too.'

Surely, most of what he would say wouldn't come across as nice things to hear, after all.

Jin-Woo was thinking of refusing the teacher and leaving.

However….

"Jin-Ah would recognise the child, because her name is…"

When the girl's name came out from the teacher's mouth, Jin-Woo realised that he couldn't easily get up from his spot now.

Jin-Woo confirmed the girl's name one more time.

"Teacher-nim. What was the name of the student again?"

"It's… By any chance, you know who she is?" (TL: the girl's name is omitted in the raw.)

"….."

Yup, the Republic of Korea was indeed a tiny place.

'Huh.'

Jin-Woo became rather speechless.

At the same time.

The private residence of Yu Myung-Hwan, the owner of Yujin Construction.

From early in the morning, countless expensive luxury vehicles continued to stream in.

There was only one reason for that.

It was for the ancestral rites ceremony for the first president of the Yujin Group, Yu Byung-Cheol, to be held later in the evening.

Yu Myung-Hwan was the number one in Korea's financial sector. And Yu Byung-Cheol was his father.

The eldest son, Yu Myung-Hwan made sure to perform the ceremony every single year, no matter how busy he was. And what with his influence being so great, every single relative found in the Yu family register had to gather in this place, without fail.

CEO of XX Investment.

Chairman of XX Pharmaceuticals.

CEO of XX department store.

Every single guest happened to be a heavy hitter. And their children all happened to be the elites of the elite, too. With the sole exception of one.

And that exception had excused himself to the quiet and far removed corner of the proceedings, even though no one asked him to.

And he was none other than Yu Jin-Ho.

'I'm bored.'

He wished that time would move faster.

Going around raiding dungeons with his 'hyung-nim' was a hundred times, a thousand times more enjoyable than this.

What would hyung-nim be doing right about now?

Now that he thought about it for a second, he couldn't even begin to imagine just what hyung-nim would do during his off days.

And so… while thinking about useless stuff in a corner, out of everyone's gazes and throwing back blameless refreshments all the time….

….He heard a voice he didn't particularly want to hear today.

"Oii."

Well, sure enough.

A perfect model of how an upper-class elite of society should behave was standing behind Yu Jin-Ho. Anyone could see that he was utterly capable of pretty much anything, too.

A pair of expensive glasses; a tall, manly physique. He was none other than Yu Jin-Ho's biological older brother, Yu Jin-Seong.

The heir apparent who'd inherit Yujin Construction after Yu Myung-Hwan decides to step down in the future.

Yu Jin-Seong walked real close to Yu Jin-Ho and looked down on his younger brother.

"Relatives have come, so you should be out there greeting them. How long are you planning to act like a little kid?"

"….Whatever."

"Do remember that your childish actions only paint our father's reputation with dishonour."

Yu Jin-Seong's tone of voice did not contain a single trace of brotherly affection. No, it was rather openly dismissive.

Of course, Yu Jin-Ho didn't like his older brother, but still, he lacked any courage to retort back here.

"…."

It couldn't be helped, really.

Yu Jin-Seong was a genius among geniuses who managed to stand on the top of every subject he took on back in school. And it wasn't just his excellent grades, either.

After graduating from school, he helped Yu Myung-Hwan in various business ventures and achieved incredible success in everything he touched.

Compared to him, Yu Jin-Ho didn't have anything to show for. He barely managed to enter the university, for instance.

Whenever his older brother stood next to him, Yu Jin-Ho naturally grew small and insignificant.

"…"

"Still as pathetic as you can get. Tsk, tsk."

Yu Jin-Seong frowned deeply while staring at Yu Jin-Ho's lowered head, before changing his expression and walking away in hurried steps.

"Uncle!"

"Oh, Jin-Seong, is that you?"

Only after Yu Jin-Seong had gone away did Yu Jin-Ho raise his head back up. This was one of the reasons why he didn't want to come home.

Only if there was no stupid ancestral rites ceremony thing….

Yu Jin-Ho spat out a lengthy groan, and that was when he heard a sexy but also rather sharp voice coming from right behind him.

"Wowsers. What a jerk. Sucks the fun out of this place, that guy."

Yu Jin-Ho looked behind him.

And he found his cousin/older sister by one year, Yu Soo-Hyun, standing there.

Chapter 57: Chapter 57

"Did you hear what he just said? What a total jerk-face."

Yu Soo-Hyun approached closer, before Yu Jin-Ho could react, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

Yu Soo-Hyun's forehead creased up rather prettily.

"Look at you. C'mon now. Seriously? Tsk, tsk. Still so pathetic. Tsk, tsk."

Yu Jin-Ho couldn't suppress his laughter after seeing her imitate his older brother.

"Fuhup. Keuk. Stop that. I don't feel like cracking jokes with you right now, you know."

"Still so~~ pathetic. Tsk, tsk."

"Keuh, hehehe…. Keuk! Argh, I'm telling you, stop it!"

Their ages were almost the same, so their relationship was more like that of really close friends.

Yu Soo-Hyun stood right in front of Yu Jin-Ho.

"Why do you keep acting like this, though?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, c'mon. You're an Awakened now, right? Don't tell me, you still can't win against a regular person?"

"So what if I am? You think I'm gonna start throwing punches at my older brother or something?"

"Well, not really, no. But…."

Yu Soo-Hyun bit on her rather shapely lower lip.

Imagining the kind of punishment the patriarch of the family might saddle the poor Yu Jin-Ho with, if the latter did throw a knuckle sandwich to his much more successful older brother….

The prospect of that alone was quite terrifying, to say the least.

It wasn't as if she didn't understand Yu Jin-Ho's inner thoughts while he had to remain on the receiving end of the ridicule. Yu Soo-Hyun narrowed her eyes and glared in the direction that Yu Jin-Seong had disappeared to.

"Whatever. He's still a stuck-up, no fun jerkoff, that guy."

She too disliked Yu Jin-Seong as much as Yu Jin-Ho did. She just so happened to be one of the few people who knew what Yu Jin-Seong's real personality was like, hidden beneath that fakey, smiley facade.

However, Yu Jin-Ho didn't agree with her. It wasn't because that guy was his older brother, no.

No, he simply wanted to win against his older brother in an upfront manner, not badmouth him from behind like this.

When Yu Jin-Ho kept his mouth shut, Yu Soo-Hyun cautiously asked him.

"Hey, so… that plan, is it still ongoing?"

"Mm?"

"You know, you said you'd become a Guild Master. At that guy's expense."

Instead of a reply, Yu Jin-Ho simply smiled.

Who'd believe him even if he said that out loud? It'd be a relief if no one mocked him or something. Him and his brother battling like that?

However, now that he held the huge ace called 'hyung-nim', the odds of his victory had risen up by quite a lot.

'If I manage to get the Master licence….'

It'd be possible to duke it out with his older brother, then.

He might even win.

Yu Soo-Hyun saw the determination burning in Yu Jin-Ho's eyes and spoke in no uncertain terms while placing her hands on her hips.

"I'd rather kill myself instead of working for that man. So, you do everything you can, okay? Cuz I don't wanna fight your old man over this."

"….Thanks."

This was how Yu Soo-Hyun would usually cheer him on.

She was actually a rank A Hunter who started her career as a famous child actor.

Even with her background of being a lady or a chaebol was not taken into account, many Guilds still tried their darnedest to scout her because of her rank and fame.

For some reason, though, she had refused all of their offers and continued to act as a model every now and then.

However, a new offer that she couldn't really refuse had arrived at her doorstep recently.

And that was to become one of the founding members of the soon-to-launch Yujin Guild. It was a direct order from the chairman himself, Yu Myung-Hwan.

She couldn't outright ignore the orders of the family patriarch, but she also didn't want to work for Yu Jin-Seong, either.

Yu Soo-Hyun herself had a lot to worry about now.

Although the kid was not all that trustworthy, she had little choice but to place her faith in Yu Jin-Ho.

Brrrr…. Brrr….

Hearing the sound of a phone vibrating coming from Yu Jin-Ho's pocket, Yu Soo-Hyun asked him.

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"…Oh."

He was daydreaming about something else just then; he hurriedly pulled his phone out after it had been ringing for a while. The number appearing on the phone's screen was a familiar one.

[Hyung-nim]

Yu Jin-Ho's expression brightened up immediately after realising who it was.

"Hello, hyung-nim!"

He answered the call with an energetic voice.

"Yes? Yes, hyung-nim. No, I can be there, no problem. Yes. I'll be there shortly, hyung-nim."

Yu Jin-Ho ended the call there.

Yu Soo-Hyun displayed her interest after sensing Yu Jin-Ho's moods doing a 180.

"What the heck? Who was that?"

Too bad for her, this was absolutely not the time for him to stand around leisurely explaining the situation to her. After all, didn't hyung-nim ask him for a favour just now?

And with the desire to escape from this place added on top, his mind could only think about leaving as soon as possible, even if it was only a second faster.

"Let's talk later!"

Watching Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly run away, Yu Soo-Hyun's head tilted from side to side.

"And why is he so pumped up like that now?"

Every time he participated in a family meeting of some sort, Yu Jin-Ho always walked around with slumped shoulders, but it was a different story today.

"….How odd."

Yu Soo-Hyun told herself to definitely interrogate the kid later.

While that was happening, Yu Jin-Ho was searching for his father.

It'd soon be dinner time. And Yu Jin-Ho couldn't be excused from the family gathering without his father's approval, especially when every single family member and relatives were present.

Yu Jin-Ho scanned his surroundings. And eventually, spotted his father over in the distance, conversing with some people.

He had a countenance of a tiger. His personality was just as strict, him never cracking a smile with matters he thought were insignificant.

For someone like Yu Jin-Ho, his father was a very difficult person to talk to.

'And I haven't even started yet….'

Yet, he was already getting nervous. But, he needed to be courageous here.

'Yeah, well. I made a promise.'

Yu Jin-Ho took a couple of deep breaths and slowly walked to where his father was.

He almost turned around several times on his way, though. However, he held the urges back.

And finally, Yu Jin-Ho managed to arrive before his father, Yu Myung-Hwan.

"Father….?"

Their distance was a bit too far for a relationship between a father and a son, though.

Yu Myung-Hwan shifted his gaze over to Yu Jin-Ho.

"What do you want?"

Sensing the uncertain air, the people around Yu Myung-Hwan distanced themselves all at the same time as if they had a prior agreement.

"Father, will it be okay if I went out for a little while?"

Yu Jin-Ho's voice lacked any discernible energy as he spoke to his father.

"I, I will return before dinner."

"….."

Yu Myung-Hwan stood there with an expression of someone getting ready to scold his disappointing son, but then, he let off a sigh and gave his permission, albeit quite unwillingly so.

"…..Fine. Go, but return on time."

Yu Jin-Ho's expression brightened and bowed his head.

"Thank you, father."

He then ran out of there like a streak of lightning.

Yu Myung-Hwan stood there and looked at the back of Yu Jin-Ho with a stiff face. Meanwhile, his wife walked closer to him.

"Dear? I just got a call from Vienna."

That was one of the messages he'd been eagerly waiting for. Yu Myung-Hwan immediately shifted his attention over to his wife.

"And the results of the concours are?"

"She won, of course. She's our daughter, so it's expected, really."

A subtle smile formed on Yu Myung-Hwan's face. But it disappeared without a trace before anyone had the chance to see it.

"Hmm. When will she be returning to Korea, then?"

"She says that she's far too busy during the semester, but will come around once it ends."

Yu Myung-Hwan frowned deeply.

"I told her to attend her grandfather's ancestral ceremony regardless of how busy she was."

"Dear. Children nowadays don't place much importance on such matters anymore."

"Tsk, tsk."

The madam of the Yu family carefully fixed Yu Myung-Hwan's slightly out of shape tie and spoke to him intimately.

"Also, dear…. how about paying more attention to Jin-Ho?"

"You're speaking about that again… A tiger is supposed to rear tiger cubs, not kittens."

"Whether he's a tiger or a kitten, he's still my child. And your child, too."

"Hmm….."

"Did you notice? After his graduation from middle school, it was Jin-Ho's first time smiling in front of you."

Did he do that?

Yu Myung-Hwan fixed his gaze in the direction Yu Jin-Ho had disappeared to, his expression showing just the slightest hint of puzzlement.

But, that lasted only for a brief second.

Yu Myung-Hwan spoke dismissively.

"Maybe he found himself a girlfriend. Anyway, others must be waiting for us now. Let us go back inside."

Inside the Hunter Association's HQ, located in Seoul's Guro-gu.

One of the Association's employees was checking various equipment located within the building and came to a sudden stop in front of a miniature magic energy measuring equipment.

"What the hell? What's wrong with this guy?"

The number on the display panel should've stayed '0', yet the value was climbing up and down continuously. It was as if it had lost its mind.

However, this employee didn't think too much about it. As these measuring equipments were very sensitive, they broke down more often than not.

"Hey, Kim Gun-Ah."

"Yes, sir?"

A subordinate quickly jogged closer.

"How many Gates has this guy measured recently?"

"What is its serial number, sir?"

"It's N-1744B."

The subordinate scanned through the log, and nodded his head.

"Seven Gates, a couple of days ago."

"A couple of days ago? Let me see."

Indeed, it was the truth. Two days ago, this equipment measured the ranks of seven Gates, and out of them, four had been closed by the Hunters already.

"Were there any problems with the Gates this guy measured?"

"No, sir. I didn't hear anything."

"Oh, really?"

The senior employee slowly scratched the stubble on his chin.

Now normally, when magic measuring equipment like this one was found to be malfunctioning, the raid permits issued for all the Gates the faulty device had measured would be rescinded immediately.

It was an obvious thing if one thought about it; what would happen to Hunters who entered a Gate thinking that it was only a rank C, but it turned out to be A or B?

None of them would return alive and in one piece.

High ranked dungeons were such places.

Just as the boundary between lower ranked Hunters and higher ranked ones were crystal-clear and impossible to bridge, the differences between the higher ranked dungeons and lower ranked ones were also quite humongous.

It was not for nothing that high ranked dungeons were all dealt with exclusively by the large Guilds until now.

'Should I send out notices now?'

Letting others know wasn't all that difficult.

However, never mind the discontent voices of anger coming from the teams that paid for the permits, taking more time to measure the Gates again could mean that a dungeon break might occur in the meantime. And if that happened, the Association wouldn't be able to dodge the pointed criticism flying in their way.

Hell, if things went wrong somewhere, he might even lose his job.

'I worked so hard to get to this position, too.'

The Hunter Association received similar levels of treatment to state-run public enterprises. If one wanted to enter this organisation, one had to put in as much effort as passing the bar exam, for instance. Just thinking about losing this job, he almost blacked out right there and then.

'No freaking way. Nope.'

He shook his head.

The subordinate also more or less knew what the superior's dilemma was. That was why he asked rather cautiously.

"This…. What should we do now?"

"Hmm."

It'd been two days already.

If there were problems, shouldn't he have heard about it by now?

"…..Let it be."

"W-will it be fine that way?"

"Well, I'm sure nothing much will happen. It's been two days already, right?"

"Well, that is true."

The subordinate nodded his head.

"On the report, write that N-1744B was working fine until yesterday, but developed a fault earlier today. Okay?"

"Okay, sir."

The private residence of the Chief of the White Tiger Guild's Second Division, Ahn Sahng-Min.

He stopped cutting the spring onion and straightened his back, and his bones issued a loud complaint.

Crackle….

"Aigoo…."

Today dinner: doenjang stew.

As befitting a bachelor going on eight years strong, he had mastered the art of cooking a fair number of dishes already.

It all happened five years ago.

Back then, he filled himself up all the time with instant foods, until he realised that his health was rapidly deteriorating, and reflected on his stupidity. He made up his mind to learn cooking, and now, he was at the level of almost replicating a dish that appeared on the TV in passing.

However…

Didn't they say that end of tuning is pure love? (TL: not sure what this line is supposed to mean, but I TLed it as it appears in the raw.)

As his skill grew, the types of dishes that he prepared for himself became simple side dishes.

Such as today's doenjang stew.

"Kyah, now this is what I'm talking about!"

Ahn Sahng-Min tasted his own creation and nodded his head as if he was truly amazed by his own skills.

Too bad, only one person could taste this wonderful stew, though. He really felt sorry about that.

'Should I invite someone over for a meal?'

He immediately thought of a certain subordinate, but soon, shook his head.

He was already sick and tired of being called an old bachelor, yet just what kind of a misunderstanding would he arouse if he invited a fellow male employee?

'I wonder if he's properly doing the job I gave him.'

That guy was quite attentive and smart most of the time, yet there was this part of him that was undeniably sloppy, too.

'Eii, why am I worried about work even though I'm at home, relaxing?'

Time to eat his dinner, then.

Ahn Sahng-Min placed the doenjang stew on the coffee table by the living room while humming to himself.

It was now a normal thing for him to watch TV in the living room while eating dinner alone. The dining table in the kitchen was far too big and lonesome for a bachelor to have a meal alone there.

Click.

He switched the TV on with the remote and settled down on the couch.

A news broadcast came on.

[Today's breaking news.]

One of the main advantages of being a bachelor was that he'd never have to fight someone else for the TV remote.

When he turned that boobtube on, it'd always be on the channel he preferred.

Ahn Sahng-Min watched the large flat screen TV mounted on the wall with the corner of his eyes while he scooped up a spoonful of rice.

[….The entirety of the United States of America is in deep shock after an unexplainable explosion took place in the American Hunter's Association headquarters in Washington D.C. A rumour is rising among some experts, that the explosion was due to a new rising talent causing irreparable friction among S-ranked Hunters….]

"Uh-huh…. What is this world coming to, huh. Really now."

Ahn Sahng-Min clicked his tongue with a rueful expression, but still didn't forget to carefully choose the side dish that would signal the beginning of his dinner.

Well, there weren't that many side dishes to choose from, anyway.

'Well, it just has to be kimchi, no?'

[….This is the CCTV footage recorded near the American Monitoring Division's building. Cracks suddenly formed on the walls of the building, and….]

Not really caring what the news bulletin was saying, the steamy rice resting on top of his spoon now acted as a home for a cold piece of kimchi he took out from the separate kimchi refrigerator.

And just as Ahn Sahng-Min was bringing the pair to his mouth, his phone suddenly issued a loud ring.

'Argh! Who the heck is it this time??'

Ahn Sahng-Min inwardly complained and picked up the smartphone. But he hurriedly answered the phone after discovering who was calling him.

"Hello, this is Ahn Sahng-Min speaking."

The one calling him was, of course, Seong Jin-Woo.

Ahn Sahng-Min's expression was bright as he answered the call.

However…

While listening to Jin-Woo's story, Ahn Sahng-Min's expression progressively became puzzled.

"Pardon me? You were wondering if you could tag along during the training of our new recruits?"

Chapter 58: Chapter 58

'It's done.'

Jin-Woo ended the call.

Initially, Chief Ahn Sahng-Min was confused by the sudden request, but once he heard Jin-Woo's reasons, he gave his okay rather easily. And now, Jin-Woo would be able to check out White Tiger's method of training their new recruits.

'And I also managed to borrow the van, too.'

Even though the kid was busy, Yu Jin-Ho still showed up.

Jin-Woo couldn't help but think that the kid should be praised wholeheartedly; Yu Jin-Ho came running even though he was tied up with something, and didn't even forget to greet him properly, too.

And so, the preparations were complete.

Right now, Jin-Woo was standing in front of the apartment building that the problematic female student lived in.

'It's really close to my own place, isn't it?'

It only took two minutes of walking to get here. It was the proverbial stone's throw away.

He took a look around his vicinity. And he was still in the familiar district, too tiny and cramped, with lots of old apartment buildings standing close to one another.

Meaning, this girl's family circumstances weren't that good, just how his used to be not too long ago.

He could understand where she was coming from, now that she was nominally a Hunter. Well, Jin-Woo was also like that once upon a time.

'Too bad, those people die the quickest.'

Didn't he get injured every single time?

Just how many times did he come close to getting killed? If it weren't for his mom suffering from the d*mn rare illness, he'd have quit this crap a long time ago.

For a rank E Hunter, a dungeon was a horrible place to be in.

If left alone, this girl would definitely grow to regret ever being a Hunter. No, it'd be more likely that she'd die long before she had the chance to regret making that decision.

'Of course, that happens all the time, unfortunately.'

The incidents of Hunters dying or getting gravely injured happened dozens of times in a single day, after all.

It was impossible to talk all these people out of going on a raid, nor was there any reason to do so. Well, they made their choices so they had to bear the responsibilities of their decisions accordingly.

'However….'

If he didn't know the girl in question, he wouldn't have cared. But now that he knew who she was, he couldn't just ignore this one.

Indeed, Jin-Woo was rather familiar with this girl.

He sensed the presence of a person and raised his head, and spotted the problem child walking towards him.

Her hair rolled up into a bun above her head; slightly rough and tired eyes – she was definitely someone he knew.

"Uh?"

The female student discovered Jin-Woo there and tilted her head.

"What are you doing here, ahjussi?"

Just as Jin-Woo did, the female student also recognised him right away.

'Yup, this world is indeed too dang small.'

Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head.

The female student who declared that she'd become a Hunter; she was none other than the underage kid, the lone female in the 'raiding team' Yu Jin-Ho had assembled. The one that briefly caused Jin-Woo to worry slightly since she was still so young and all.

"Is it okay to bring a child here?"

"I asked for 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."

'….Hahn Song-Yi.'

When he heard that name from Jin-Ah's homeroom teacher, a flood of emotions briefly inundated him. So, he just had to confirm it for himself.

And sure enough, the date Hahn Song-Yi began missing school coincided with the day Yu Jin-Ho's team began its raiding 'missions'.

With that, it kinda became a bit harder to think of this matter as someone else's mess.

In a way, he felt responsible for it.

As a matter of fact, he couldn't help but wonder if he was the cause of this mess, to begin with, after letting a kid who didn't know how the world really operated taste some easy cash, and give her false impressions that she was capable of doing anything now.

'At least, one thing's for sure.'

No matter when it might be, he'd feel really bad if he heard of Hahn Song-Yi perishing inside a dungeon. He had done nothing wrong, so he shouldn't suffer through a couple of nights' sleep, lost through guilty consciousness, no?

And so, he decided to make time for this evening and sort this mess out. It wasn't that difficult, to begin with, anyway.

"What's going on?"

Hahn Song-Yi's eyes opened wider as she stared up at Jin-Woo. And then, her expression became rather unimpressed.

"Wait, could it be that the Hunter my teacher wanted to introduce me to was you, ahjussi??"

Her continuously calling him ahjussi got on his nerves a bit, but Jin-Woo maintained his smile and nodded his head.

But then….

"I don't know what my teacher told you, but I'm not interested in going back to school anymore. And I'm definitely not gonna give up being a Hunter."

Hahn Song-Yi curtly stated her position.

She seemed to be a quiet kid when she was with the raid team, but, her attitude definitely changed when the story involved her.

She was definitely one of those headstrong modern kids who thought they knew how to draw the line on where their opinions and viewpoints lied.

'Well, the thing is, there's a girl back in my house who's exactly like you, you know?'

Jin-Woo grinned slightly.

Hahn Song-Yi thought that she had managed to come across tough and intimidating, but seeing that Jin-Woo's response was completely out of her expectations, she began to get flustered somewhat.

Jin-Woo spoke to her in an even tone of voice.

"I wasn't planning to tell you to quit being a Hunter."

Hahn Song-Yi's eyes widened further.

"I'm sorry?"

Kids like her would always act completely opposite to what you tell them to do. So, he wasn't even planning to talk her out of it. No, all he had to was to show her what the reality was like, just once.

'That's what happened to me, anyway.'

He realised the truth after participating in his first raid.

And that was… reality was far crueller and heartless than his imagination had been.

Hahn Song-Yi did her very best to hide her fluster and asked him.

"T-then, what brings you here?"

Jin-Woo took a step closer.

Hahn Song-Yi flinched noticeably and was about to retreat a step back, but upon realising that such an action would make her look weak, she forcibly stopped her body from moving.

Jin-Woo now stood before Hahn Song-Yi.

Although he didn't mean to, and no one would understand the meaning behind it, an ominous smile still found its way to Jin-Woo's lips.

"I'm here to mould you into a better Hunter."

There was no need to persuade her to accompany him to a dungeon.

She said "Okay, I'm coming!" as soon as he told her that she now had an indelible opportunity to witness how the White Tiger Guild conducted its new recruit training exercise.

She didn't even suspect that Jin-Woo had any ulterior motives.

As they walked to the van, Hahn Song-Yi asked him how he knew her teacher, and he simply showed her the photo of him and Jin-Ah stored on the phone.

"Ahjussi, you were Jin-Ah's oppa??"

"…."

For a while now, a certain word was really getting on his nerves, but since everything was going according to his plan, he endured it and let it slide.

"Get in."

"Thanks!"

Jin-Woo drove Hahn Song-Yi to the location where the White Tiger Guild was holding its evening training. Since he was told that the training exercise would only commence at 9 PM, there were still plenty of time left.

Vrroom….

The van that was clearly too big for only two people glided across the road.

Was this because both his Agility and Perception had been enhanced a great deal? He had never driven a car after getting his driver's licence some time ago, yet the actual driving proved to be rather easy.

When he concentrated a bit harder, all the other cars on the road looked as slow as worms to him.

'Yup, Stats really come in handy in all sorts of things, don't they?'

Meanwhile, Hahn Song-Yi asked him from the passenger seat.

"Does Jin-Ah really study the whole day even back home? I mean, I heard rumours that she actually plastered pages of a dictionary on her walls so she can memorise them even when she falls asleep."

There was a such a rumour about Jin-Ah?

But, she was such a fried chicken-loving sleepyhead when she was at home….

"Jin-Ah's just like you, you know. When she's home, all she does is play games, eat, and sleep."

Well, it was mostly sleeping, but still.

"Eii…. That must be a lie. How come her grades are so amazing, then?"

"I can hardly believe it myself. She used to frequent arcades with me back when she was still in middle school, you know?"

They chatted about this and that, and eventually arrived near the vicinity of the Gate. Jin-Woo stopped the van.

Screech…

The area they were in was designated as a location where Gates frequently appeared. Almost no human beings dared to live around here anymore, so it was quite convenient to park the van.

From what he heard, almost 80% of houses here were deserted. The story went that, once the remaining populace moved out, the whole district would be shut down.

Jin-Woo and Hahn Song-Yi exited from the van.

He scanned the surroundings, and immediately picked up on the overflowing amount of eerie, creepy chill in the air.

Vrrrr…..

For some reason, he thought that he could hear loud cheering coming from the shadow beneath his feet. He was probably imagining it, though.

Hahn Song-Yi got a bit scared by the eerie atmosphere of the place, but after spotting the group of Hunters in the distance, regained most of her self confidence back.

The way her eyes sparkled, it was as if she had just ran into a super celebrity or something.

'Oh well. They are Hunters from the super Guild, White Tiger, so it can't be helped.'

To a high schooler who yearned to become a real Hunter, those people would be no different than actual celebrities, no?

Also, such a thought process wasn't so strange, to begin with, when considering how mass media packaged these Hunters on the TV and such.

"Oh, so you really came."

Hyun Ki-Cheol quickly ran over to Jin-Woo after discovering him.

"Do you still remember me?"

Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head.

Sensing that Hyun Ki-Cheol's smile wasn't the fakey business one but the real thing, a smile also formed naturally on Jin-Woo's face as well.

They haven't met too many times before, but this Hyun Ki-Cheol character seemed to be someone good-natured and easy to talk to.

"I heard it from the Chief. Ah, so this young woman is her?"

"Hello there."

Hahn Song-Yi lowered her head in greeting.

While they were saying hellos in this fashion, a big muscular guy sauntered over and spoke in an irked tone of voice.

"Let's stop with useless chatter and get started already. We didn't come here for a picnic, and it's almost 9 PM."

The muscular guy didn't even wait for the response and walked back towards the Gate. Something didn't feel quite right with that guy, so Jin-Woo asked Hyun Ki-Cheol.

"Who was that?"

"Oh. He's one of our new recruit. He's ranked A, actually. He must be feeling a bit unhappy after I asked him for his understanding earlier. He even asked me if I thought that going to a dungeon was a fun pastime or some such."

"He's a rank A?"

Hyun Ki-Cheol nodded his head, thinking that such a reaction was reasonable, coming from a proud rank A Hunter like that guy.

Jin-Woo asked again.

"What are the ranks of today's raid team members?"

"One rank A, seven rank Bs, and four rank Cs, for the total of 12 members."

"A rank A and several Bs, just for a rank C dungeon….?"

"Well, their ranks might be high, sure, but they are still newbies, you see. We're trying to help them earn first-hand experience inside an easier dungeon."

Hyun Ki-Cheol spoke with some pride in his voice.

He then added quickly that after today, these guys would immediately be inserted into high ranked dungeons. Meaning, they could definitely be counted as a proper combat force.

'Still, one A and seven Bs, huh…'

Jin-Woo's expression subtly changed.

Actually, this was the reason why Chief Ahn Sahng-Min gave his permission. He was thinking of convincing Jin-Woo with the mighty display from the White Tiger Guild's new, talented recruits.

However, quite contrary to Ahn Sahng-Min's and Hyun Ki-Cheol's expectations, Jin-Woo could only look on at the Gate with a disappointed expression.

The Gate was rated at C.

Compared to that, the members of the raiding team were simply too brilliant to the point that they were even blinding the onlookers with their auras.

'If the raid is too easy, the shock factor will lessen, though…'

That was what his main worry was about.

But, he slowly shook his head.

'No, wait. If she sees it with her own eyes, she should still be able to feel it.'

….Feel how weak and powerless a rank E would become inside a dungeon, that was. That alone would be sufficient.

"When can we enter?"

Still utterly oblivious to Jin-Woo's real intentions, Hahn Song-Yi began whining already. When Jin-Woo took a look at her, her expression showed how pumped up she was.

'Let's see how long you can keep that up.'

Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his laughter and spoke to Hyun Ki-Cheol.

"We'll be on our way now."

"Ah, yes. Wait, hold up for a second, please."

Hyun Ki-Cheol sneaked a glance around him, and then whispered something to Jin-Woo's ears.

"Uhm, excuse me, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. If you decide to step in, today's raid will become too easy, so please, refrain from doing anything in there. Please?"

Since Jin-Woo's purpose today was to simply observe, obviously he wouldn't enter the fray.

"I won't step in."

He'd be going around other rank C dungeons with Yu Jin-Ho from tomorrow onwards, so what point was there for him to disrupt the White Tiger's training exercise?

Of course, he'd use his shadow soldiers to conquer those dungeons. For that reason alone, he had to bring Hahn Song-Yi over here.

'Besides, I don't feel like revealing my shadow soldiers with a matter this simple, either.'

If he showed how easy it was to clear a dungeon with his shadows busy beating monsters to bloody messes, there was a real danger that Hahn Song-Yi's delusions of grandeur might get inflated, instead.

And so, Jin-Woo and Hahn Song-Yi approached the Gate. Unlike that rank A Hunter, there were some people who welcomed the duo rather happily.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

Since they weren't here to make money, the higher the headcount, the better it would be for everyone. As it was customary, they introduced each other.

But when it was the turn of the rank A Hunter….

"I don't care."

He simply walked inside the Gate.

"Well, let us get going as well."

The new recruits of the White Tiger also began entering the Gate one by one.

Before Hahn Song-Yi entered, she turned her head to look at Jin-Woo.

"What about you, ahjussi?"

Jin-Woo crossed his arms and replied to her.

"After I see you enter first."

Hahn Song-Yi's face was stiff with nervousness, but she still resolutely nodded her head and jumped into the Gate.

'Hmm….'

Jin-Woo took a quick breath and stood before the Gate.

He sensed someone looking at him, so turned around to confirm, only to spot Hyun Ki-Cheol over yonder, waving at him and cheering him on.

'...…'

He reverted his gaze back to the Gate.

However…..

'…??'

The surface of the Gate continued to ripple softly non-stop.

'But, shouldn't the surface return to being a solid black barrier once a person goes through it?'

Right now, it was continuously rippling about like the surface of water.

Something was off here.

Jin-Woo placed the tip of his hand against the surface.

And it reacted like a sticky liquid, clinging to his fingers and following him as he lifted his hand away.

'Could this be….??'

Jin-Woo quickly spun his head around and met Hyun Ki-Cheol's gaze.

At this point, even Hyun Ki-Cheol had sensed something was very wrong.

Jin-Woo loudly shouted at him.

"Call your main raid team!! Hurry!"

As soon as he finished shouting, Jin-Woo was automatically sucked into the Gate.

"W-what the hell was that?!"

"V-Vice Chief Hyun?!"

Hyun Ki-Cheol hurriedly ran towards the Gate.

The three remaining employees of White Tiger Guild also hurriedly followed after him.

Once he got to the Gate, though, Hyun Ki-Cheol began freaking out.

"This… this can't be!!"

Hunters weren't the only newbies today; the new employees were also brought along in order to train them as well. So, none of the newbies had experienced anything remotely like this.

The trio of new employees looked at Hyun Ki-Cheol with completely stunned expressions.

"V-Vice Chief!! The Gate's surface!! It's changing to a red colour!!"

As if a drop of blood had fallen in it, the surface of the once-black Gate was now slowly changing to the crimson-red colour.

Hyun Ki-Cheol ignored the confused employees and hurriedly called someone.

Click.

"Uh? Ki-Cheol-ah?"

"Chief!! It's the Red Gate!! The Gate our people just walked into changed to a Red Gate!!"

"What??"

Ahn Sahng-Min's voice became urgent, shocked.

"What are you talking about?! How can a rank C change to a f*cking Red Gate?!"

Hyun Ki-Cheol raised his head and stared at the Gate, now dyed completely in the colour of blood.

The ripples on the surface had stopped now, too.

Hyun Ki-Chole nervously swallowed his dried saliva.

"I don't know how… but it's definitely a Red Gate, Chief."

"WHAT?!"

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

"A Red Gate?! Just what on earth is going on here!!"

The CEO of the White Tiger Guild, Baek Yun-Ho, ran straight to the Gate's location as soon as he received the urgent call.

The complexion of Hyun Ki-Cheol could only be described as ashen.

"Well, sir….."

"I'm going to see for myself first."

Baek Yun-Ho walked past the Guild employees who looked like they were in the middle of a funeral.

'It really is a Red Gate!!'

Baek Yun-Ho's own complexion hardened instantly after checking out the Gate's colour.

What was a Red Gate?

It was a terrifying phenomenon where the dungeon beyond it would actually connect to a whole new world, not some underground cavern. And in order to escape from it, either you had to kill the boss of the area, or wait for the dungeon break to occur.

In other words, once you stepped inside, it'd be the end.

Once the Gate changed its colour to red, all external influences would be completely cut off. Escaping from it, and trying to enter it – both of these activities were now impossible.

Baek Yun-Ho pressed his hand against the Gate's surface. As he thought, it was hard, impossible to enter.

'God d*mn it.'

From here onwards, there was no way to lend aid to those trapped inside.

Baek Yun-Ho asked Hyun Ki-Cheol.

"I thought this was supposed to be a rank C Gate?"

"Sir, it was a rank C."

"Did you call the Association to confirm it?"

"Yes, sir. However….. The Association is insisting that it's still a rank C Gate…."

"Those god dmn sons of btches!!"

Baek Yun-Ho angrily cussed out.

A Red Gate would only occur when the dungeon itself was ranked very high, to begin with.

There was a whole new world on the other side of the Gate, yet the leaking magical energy only equalled that of a rank C dungeon? That crap wouldn't fly anywhere.

Even from a casual glance, he could tell this thing should've been ranked B, at the bare minimum. If unlucky, rank A. Or worse, something even higher than that.

However, the only reason why the Association still had the audacity to insist they were not wrong?

"Sir, should we use our own equipment to measure the magic energy?"

When Hyun Ki-Cheol asked him, Baek Yun-Ho shook his head.

"No magic energy leaks out from a Red Gate, so it's impossible to measure it now."

….Because, it would be almost impossible to take another measurement, that was why.

There was no concrete way to find out what the problematic Gate's actual rank was at this point in time.

And besides, the rank of this d*mn Gate wasn't important anymore.

"How many of our people went in there?"

"Total of 12, sir."

"How many are high ranked Hunters?"

"As the leader, rank A Kim Cheol Hunter-nim, and there are also seven rank B Hunters, as well."

"One rank A and seven rank Bs…."

"The new recruits…. Will they be alright?"

Baek Yun-Ho slowly shook his head.

"We don't have a choice but to think of them as all KIA. If lucky, the rank A, and two, three rank Bs might make out alive."

….Only if those trapped inside enjoy lady luck's blessing, that was.

That was how lacking these numbers were. With the current composition of the raid team, they should only be enough to barely conquer the weakest of rank B dungeons.

Anything tougher than that, and you'd be asking for way too much.

Without some kind of a miracle, the odds of their new recruits returning alive was as good as none.

Baek Yun-Ho's complexion darkened even further.

Hyun Ki-Cheol studied the mood of his boss and cautiously opened his mouth.

"Sir, actually… there was someone else who also entered the Gate along with our recruits."

Baek Yun-Ho shifted his gaze to his subordinate, his expression changing slightly.

Could it be that a high-ranking Hunter was in the vicinity and entered along with the team after getting curious about the training process?

What else could qualify as a miracle?

This would certainly be it!

Baek Yun-Ho's voice rose up.

"Who was that person?"

"He's the Hunter I've been trying to scout for the last few days, sir."

The reply came from behind, instead.

When Baek Yun-Ho and Hyun Ki-Cheol looked over to confirm who it was, they spotted Ahn Sahng-Min, soaked in his own sweat and breathing roughly.

"Apologies for being late, sir. The traffic was unexpectedly heavy."

Ahn Sahng-Min's home was furthest from everyone here so he ended up arriving last.

Ahn Sahng-Min shifted his gaze over to the Gate. The Red Gate reminded him of the entrance to an impregnable fortress. Just looking at it made it harder to breathe.

'However, if it's Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, then…..'

A man who overcame several 'incidents' already unscathed could potentially create a new miracle all by himself.

That's what he thought.

Baek Yun-Ho hurriedly approached Ahn Sahng-Min.

"Are you saying that the Hunter you've been keeping an eye on is in there, too? Is that it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah!"

Baek Yun-Ho suddenly recalled something.

'Now that I think about it….'

Chief Ahn had been rather busy lately. And as it so happened, there was a Hunter he had been trying to scout to the Guild.

Chief Ahn's instincts were almost always never wrong.

'What if….'

A spark of hope was lit in Baek Yun-Ho's heart.

"What is his rank? Is it A? Or maybe, a B?"

If this Hunter was ranked S, then Baek Yun-Ho would've known the identity of this mystery Hunter. There were less than 10 rank S Hunters in the whole of South Korea, after all.

However, Ahn Sahng-Min was shaking his head!

'Oh my god!'

Baek Yun-Ho's hardened face finally brightened up considerably.

"Are you saying that a rank S Hunter also went in there?!"

Ahn Sahng-Min calmly replied.

"No, sir. He's a rank E."

Almost right away, Baek Yun-Ho's expression crumpled to a man who accidentally chewed on bugs.

Jin-Woo couldn't help but get flustered here.

'Could this be the Gate that supposedly takes you to another world?'

It'd be his first time experiencing one, but he had read all about it online, from the testimonies of those who managed to survive it. And they all said the same thing – that it felt like they were being sucked in.

Jin-Woo had to agree with that assessment, too.

As soon as the Gate sucked him in, a deep darkness swallowed him, and a little while later, he felt like he was being slid across something slick and smooth.

'Heok!'

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a wintery forest, completely covered in white snow.

"What is this place?!"

"This doesn't look like the interior of a dungeon, does it?!"

"Hey, look! The Gate's disappeared, too!"

Other Hunters were looking around in confusion, unable to hide their panic as well.

While they were getting more and more flustered, Jin-Woo calmed himself down, narrowed his eyes, and scanned the surrounding area.

'I don't sense anything suspicious.'

Thanks to the System repeatedly sending him to weird places, Jin-Woo had gotten used to being in an unexpected foreign environment, which also meant that he could gain his calmness quickly.

The first thing that entered his view was a huge tree.

Not just one, but countless coniferous trees, the kind never seen before on Korean soil, were shooting up straight to the sky with nary a visible gap in between them.

As he scanned his surroundings, his eyes ran into someone else's. And it was the rank A Hunter Kim Cheol, who was also cautiously scanning the vicinity like him.

'....'

'....'

The two of them glared at each other for a little while, before looking away.

Hahn Song-Yi had approached him and began tugging at his clothes in the meantime.

"Uhm, excuse me… something bad happened just now, right?"

She looked really scared. Her previous self-confidence was nowhere to be found.

But then… Jin-Woo's hand suddenly shot out towards Hahn Song-Yi's face.

'...?!'

Hahn Song-Yi's eyes opened super wide.

Grab!

The arrow caught in Jin-Woo's hand trembled continuously as if it lamented missing its target. And that would be the middle of Hahn Song-Yi's forehead.

"Ahh?! Ah…!"

Finally realising what just happened, her face paled in an instant. However, the expected scream came from somewhere else.

"Kyaaaahhk!!"

"Uwa, uwaaahk!!"

Plop.

A male Hunter fell to the snowy ground with blood bubbling out of his mouth, an arrow lodged deep in his temple.

The snowy ground was soon dyed in his blood.

"Euh, euh…."

Hunters began gasping out in shock.

Two arrows flew in at the same time, one aimed at Hahn Song-Yi, while the other one hit its mark. Because of that, though – no one saw Jin-Woo catching the other arrow.

"Over there!"

"It's those b*stards!!"

One of the rank B Hunters pointed towards the top of a tree located far away.

But, even before he had begun pointing his finger, both the gazes of Jin-Woo and Kim Cheol were fixed there.

They could see two lifeforms standing over there, on the snow-covered branches.

'Two people? No, I should say two creatures, huh.'

Long white hair, icy-white skin, and silver eyes.

And the race-specific trait of pointy ears.

These 'monsters' were famed for their particularly beautiful countenances, as well as for their rarity, as they could only be encountered in high ranked dungeons.

'Ice Elves.'

….Also known as 'White Phantoms'. (TL: The author used pun here. The Korean letter for 'phantom' can also mean 'ear'.)

Those who had never encountered one referred to them as Ice Elves, but the Hunters who did encounter them and fought with them, all took to calling them White Phantoms, instead. While also adding that a pretty name like 'Elf' shouldn't be mixed together with these abominable creatures.

Jin-Woo could immediately guess why the Hunters before him all gnashed their teeth at the mere mention of the White Phantoms.

'….They are laughing at us, huh.'

The two archers had lowered their bows and disgusting smiles were clearly visible on their faces. It was as if they were staring at a table full of delicacies and couldn't decide which one to start eating.

'And you decided on this, huh?'

Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed to a slit.

One arrow to the far left. And another one to the far right. That was no coincidence.

The Hunter with an arrow stuck in his head was a thirty-something who had gone through the Awakening process only recently. With the exception of Hahn Song-Yi, he'd be the weakest of the group.

As for the other arrow….

'It was aimed at Hahn Song-Yi.'

Indeed, the arrows were meant for the two weakest members of the team.

'If it weren't for the System, I'd be the one with an arrow stuck in my head, instead.'

The cheap tactic of the White Phantoms certainly managed to bring out Jin-Woo's ire. He raised the caught arrow so the creatures could see, and broke it in half.

Crack!

Perhaps taking that as a challenge, the White Phantom who shot that arrow pointed at Jin-Woo and drew a line under his chin.

Seeing that, Jin-Woo simply smirked. However, his eyes were definitely not laughing.

'….I'll kill you with my own hands.'

Receiving the trivial provocation of the monster, Jin-Woo simply glared coldly as his reply.

Soon, the pair of White Phantoms disappeared below the tree.

"Looks like this is their way of welcoming us."

Finally, Kim Cheol opened his mouth.

The lone rank A of the group opened his mouth, prompting everyone to focus their gazes on him as if they had made an agreement prior to coming here.

Actually, he was the leader of this raid team, so that might have been it, though.

"I'm sure some of you have realised it by now. This is inside the Red Gate."

Kim Cheol spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. Of course, no one complained about that.

"Which means, no one will be able to enter here after us, until either we all die, or there is a dungeon break."

The group all gasped out softly.

"M-mm…."

"Euh…."

The fact that they could no longer hope for a rescue came across as a big mental shock.

Meanwhile, Kim Cheol continued on.

"If we remain here, we'll all die from this freezing cold, or from those b*stards ambushing us. However, I'm going to clear this place and get out of here, by myself if necessary. Are there any of you who wish to join me?"

Kim Cheol's powerful, confident stare and his broad shoulders imparted a certain sense of trust.

Hunters glanced at each other for a bit, before unanimously voicing their desire to travel together with him.

"Let us move together."

"I'd like to join you."

"Let's go back together, alive."

"I want to help, too!"

However, Kim Cheol shoved away the chest of the male Hunter who said he wanted to help.

"Keok!"

Even though he controlled his physical strength, at the end of the day, he was still a rank A. The male Hunter retreated several steps back, a deep frown etched on his face from the immense pain coming from his chest.

"Excluding you."

"Excuse me?"

"And also, you, you, you, and you."

Kim Cheol pointed to a few more others, not just that male Hunter. Of course, both Jin-Woo and Hahn Song-Yi were included in that.

It was here that Jin-Woo's own forehead creased up ever so slightly.

All in all, five people in total. They were all either rank C, or lower.

"It's unfortunate, but I won't be taking you along."

"What did you say?!"

"Do you know anything about Red Gates?"

The male Hunter shook his head at Kim Cheol's question.

"In here, one day equates to one hour outside. The worst case scenario, it'll take several months for the dungeon break to occur, or I kill the boss. Under that kind of situation, I can't walk around with baggage like you."

"We're baggage to you?!"

The Hunters who were pointed out by Kim Cheol got all riled up, but once the rank A Hunter glared at them, they all shut their mouths close.

Kim Cheol continued on, now sounding as if he was being considerate and all.

"Don't feel too bad, however. If all of you manage to survive until we kill the boss, then all of you will go back home alive, too."

"Even still…."

The singled-out Hunters sent out desperate, pleading stares to the Hunters near Kim Cheol, but not a single one stepped forward.

No, they were far too busy avoiding meeting the gazes.

It was then….

"Excuse me."

A rank B female Hunter from Kim Cheol's group raised her hand. Kim Cheol turned to look at her, and she pointed at Jin-Woo.

"It's fine to go over there from here, right?"

"….Do what you want."

She didn't even look back once and walked straight to Jin-Woo's side.

Kim Cheol alternated his gaze between the woman and Jin-Woo, and smirked derisively, before declaring out loudly.

"We've got an opening this side, so I'll accept one more person!"

"Me, me!!"

The male Hunter who got shoved away by Kim Cheol just now hurriedly ran over, fearing that the lone rank A in the group, and the leader, might change his mind.

Well, that was how it should be. Jin-Woo thought as much.

'Yup, this woman is the strange one here.'

Jin-Woo stared at the woman now standing next to him with a puzzled expression on his face. Her gaze met with Jin-Woo's, and she whispered in a low voice so no one else could hear.

"That man Kim Cheol? Well, he couldn't see the arrow flying in, you see."

Even if one was a high ranked Hunter, there was no way every Stat of his would be developed equally. For instance, he might be a rank A, but his Agility could be low. Jin-Woo knew how Stats worked, so he didn't think too much about that.

"So, what are you saying?"

Then, the woman smiled refreshingly.

"I'm guessing you're not a rank E. Am I right?"