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Kill the Hero
Chapter 35
TL: Uncle Choi
'Lizard Warrior's Kukri and the Black Hyena leather armor set… it's a pretty good combination.'
Kim Woo-jin checked the options of Lizard Warrior's Kukri, an item he bought from Oh Se-chan, then immediately put the blade into his inventory.
To ordinary people, it appeared as if the item disappeared in mid-air.
The action was seen by Oh Se-chan's subordinate, Jin Soo-young, who nodded.
"If you've confirmed the items, please write on this receipt confirming that you've received it and sign it." Kim Woo-jin smiled as he saw Oh Se-chan's subordinate hand him a confirmation receipt.
'Does this mean anything?'
It was essentially illegal for players to trade items without going through the guild. It was a violation of the contracts that players had with their guild.
Therefore, brokers and players usually tried to hide traces of the transactions as much as possible.
But, he had to write a receipt?
"Is something like this effective?"
Writing a receipt that obviously has no use?
Oh Se-chan's subordinate laughed while answering his question.
"The boss wants me to get it. I have to get it if he tells me to, what else can I do?"
This answer, which was mixed with a hint of a smile, showed that this was not the first time she was asked such a question.
'He gets a signature for every trade?'
Upon noticing this detail, Kim Woo-jin looked at the receipt agreement in front of him.
Like a bank document, the confirmation receipt told him to sign next to a faint statement.
'Is he trying to get the player's handwriting?'
If the contract did not have a use, it was likely that he was after the player's handwriting from this document.
That may be useful in some ways. But frankly, Kim Woo-jin wondered just how useful it could be. Perhaps it was just that Oh Se-chan's personality was bit unusual. Perhaps everyone who have made several deals with him thought so as well.
Normally, Kim Woo-jin would think so, too.
'Who exactly are you?'
However, he, who realized that Oh Se-chan was not a normal person, knew that he could not simple approach this from his own perspective. Kim Woo-jin felt that Oh Se-chan was able to see something in a perspective of the world he could not see.
'I have to be careful.'
Therefore, Kim Woo-jin intentionally changed his handwriting and his signature.
The contemplation of this act stopped there.
It was because there were more important deals left to do.
"Here's the balance."
Kim Woo-jin handed over a shopping bag to Oh Se-chan's subordinate.
The bag was full of 50,000 won bills.
It was the cost for getting access to the A- rank dungeon.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was all of Kim Woo-jin's current funds.
'5 billion won…'
Kim Woo-jin, who still had loans to pay off, would actually be in the negative once he gave the money.
'It was cheap.'
But Kim Woo-jin did not regret it.
In reality, A- rank dungeons were not popular. The situation was totally different from the A+ rank dungeon.
A+ rank dungeons guaranteed a minimum of a unique item. If lucky, a legendary rank item would drop as well. Basically, it was assured that they would at least go even.
On the other hand, the probability of that happening dropped drastically in an A- rank dungeon. There were many cases where not even a unique rank item came out.
However, the difficulty of an A- rank dungeon was incomparable to the difficulty of a B+ rank dungeon.
The risk was high yet the payout was low. 5 billion won for such a dungeon was honestly not cheap.
'Time to find out what they were hiding.'
Only one person, the person who knew some the dungeon's secrets, Kim Woo-jin, would find it cheap.
"I have confirmed the amount. I'll give you the dungeon's details first."
Oh Se-chan's subordinate handed Kim Woo-jin a file.
On the first page of the file, there was information regarding the dungeon.
Below it was the number of times the players failed to clear the dungeon. And on the back was detailed information about the players who died after failing to clear the dungeon.
Even players of this level failed to clear the dungeon, that kind of warning.
It was an unnecessary warning for Kim Woo-jin.
'Many people died in this dungeon.'
He knew how difficult clearing this dungeon would be. Kim Woo-jin it knew better than anyone else.
"The transportation will be carried out in three stages."
In the meantime, the employee gave him the following instructions.
"Which date would you like?"
Upon hearing that question, Kim Woo-jin answered.
"I'll be going right now."
The subordinate looked at him with surprise.
"What?"
Despite her reaction, Kim Woo-jin spoke calmly.
"I will attempt to clear it right now."
"Kim Woo-jin is going to Daegu where the dungeon is located."
"Going?"
"It seems like he's going to attempt to clear it right away."
Ignoring his subordinate's answer, Oh Se-chan did not look away from the documents in his hands.
His subordinate threw him a question.
"Are you not surprised?"
"I expected it."
"You expected it?"
"If you've already resolved to do it, there's no need to waste time. As for the items, he will use what he bought from us. The food is not hard to prepare, and he doesn't need to worry about filling up his car with gas and dragging it all the way up there. No need to waste time, right?"
It was just as Oh Se-chan said.
Spending more time in real life did not increase the probability of clearing the dungeon significantly.
"If he were the type of person to give up, he wouldn't have requested it in the first place."
Alternatively, if one were to feel hesitant or unconfident, the answer was to give up the dungeon from the start.
"Is it really possible for him to clear it?"
On the other hand, the subordinate still seemed to be unable to accept the current situation. In fact, this reaction was normal.
"Did you know that Kim Woo-jin is at most only around level 20?"
Kim Woo-jin cleared a 1 floor dungeon a few days ago, and since the condition of the dungeon was to be less than level 20, Kim Woo-jin's level had to be 20 or 21 at the highest.
"Does it make sense for him to clear a 2 floor dungeon alone?"
Such a person was attempting to clear a 2 floor dungeon for the first time, and he was attempting to clear an A- rank dungeon by himself.
Oh Se-chan responded calmly to her question.
"Nothing's impossible. There have been precedents."
"There are players like that?"
"Players like Dragon Hunter, Tyrant, Master Swordsman, Trinity, and Lee Se Joon went into 2 floor dungeon as soon as they reached the 20th level. They also made it out alive. Now they are walking around smashing 5 and 6 floor dungeons.
The subordinate retorted as if she was flabbergasted.
Of course they did.
"But they are monsters!"
The founder of Messiah Guild Lee Se-joon, Dragon Hunter, Tyrant, Master Swordsman, and Trinity… whom Oh Se-chan talked about were a part of the first seven players that awakened on January 1, 2020.
And now, every one of them were viewed as the strongest players that could even move a nation. True monsters that exceeded the definition of a monster.
"Yeah, all of them are monsters. And if Kim Woo-jin manages to come back alive from the dungeon, he would be a monster as well."
"Ah!"
As soon as she heard that, the subordinate realized.
Oh Se-chan continued to speak to his subordinate while reading the documents.
"Whether Kim Woo-jin can break through the dungeon or not is a pointless question. If he dies in the dungeon, so be it. It's something we can't change, and we don't need to mind it." Oh Se-chan got up from his seat after organizing the documents.
"Anyway, Kim Woo-jin should know how dangerous a 2 floor dungeon is better than us."
After getting up, Oh Se-chan handed the documents over to his subordinate.
"So the only thing we have to worry about is figuring out what to do when he clears the dungeon." The subordinate who received the documents took the stamp out of his desk drawer as if it was the obvious thing to do.
It was a stamp with [Reusable Paper] written on it.
As soon as Kim Woo-jin entered the dungeon, he heard an announcement that couldn't be heard if he were in a 1 floor dungeon.
'It's definitely a 2 floor dungeon.'
The announcement made Kim Woo-jin realize that this really was a 2 floor dungeon.
At the same time, he reminisced about when he entered a 2 floor dungeon for the first time.
When he was level 20, Kim Woo-jin's skills were acknowledged and was given a chance to clear a 2 floor C- rank dungeon with level 30 players.
Kim Woo-jin showed great performance in the dungeon, clearly solidifying his name and worth.
Everyone was impressed by Kim Woo-jin's skill and talent.
'It was then that I realized how difficult this game was.'
But at that time, Kim Woo-jin felt that 2 floor dungeons, or rather, dungeons in general, were much more dangerous than he initially thought.
Ironically, his great performance was what lead to this realization.
In the beginning, Kim Woo-jin's idea of the best way to clear a dungeon was when nobody deviated from the plan.
Just like a watch, everyone performing their part to the point of boredom and having little to no impression of the dungeon until leaving the dungeon. That was Kim Woo-jin's thoughts on the best way to clear a dungeon.
However, the 2 floor dungeon did not allow for such a thing.
It wasn't that the monsters were so much stronger than the monsters from the 1st floor.
'Food is the most important thing.'
The only problem they faced was none other than a shortage of food.
Till then, 1 floor dungeons only lasted for 5 days at the longest. A shortage of food was not a real concern.
However, from 2 floor dungeons and onwards, they had to keep starvation in mind.
In fact, many players who were considered promising stars thanks their excellent skill when clearing 1 floor dungeons, died of starvation in 2 floor dungeons. And from 3 floor dungeons and onwards, players spent more time deciding whether to bring more water or food than deciding which items to bring.
'Since, no matter how much strong you are mentally, it's useless if you're starving.'
If players who were killed by monsters because they couldn't think straight due to hunger were counted as dying from starvation, then more than half of players who died in 2 floor dungeons died due to starvation.
In other words, the most important requirement was correctly consuming one's food supply.
And Kim Woo-jin chose one of the ways to do so.
'I will clear the first floor in two days.'
Sweeping down the first-floor monsters as soon as possible before his food supply is exhausted!
Black smoke rose from one of many tunnels.
Kiieeee!
And frantic screams of goblins could be faintly heard within the smoke.
A scene that could only be described as hell.
Kim Woo-jin's eyes were cold, staring at the hell he created with his own hands.
At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind.
'Not here either.'
That there was no lizardman in this cave.
Kim Woo-jin didn't get angry, didn't express regret, nor did he feel nervous.
Even the level 20 reward notifications could not change Kim Woo-jin's expression.
It only changed his behavior.
He checked his surroundings, and moved away only after making sure there was nothing near his vicinity.
"Inventory."
Only after getting to a safe location did Kim Woo-jin open his inventory. He took out what he had prepared, and tore it up.
It was the moment when he could finally use the gift he received from Park Yong-wan.
A notification was immediately sent to let him know that the effects of the plus ring had been applied.
Of course, Kim Woo-jin didn't show much of a reaction after hearing the news.
It was a waste of energy for Kim Woo-jin to show joy for he expected.
Like that, Kim Woo-jin opened the gift that his halo gave to commemorate his level 20 advancement.
"Catalogue."
A catalogue emitting a silver glow appeared in front of Kim Woo-jin's eyes.
'It's rare.'
Kim Woo-jin reacted slightly to the silver glow.
However, he did not react any more than that.
Kim Woo-jin rarely had luck before returning to the past, but that was the case when it came to items or skills that were unique or of a higher rank. As for those rare rank items and skills, it was too painful to count how often he was disappointed.
It would be strange for him to be interested.
Kim Woo-jin went to the page in the catalogue emitting a silver light with an indifferent look. 'Huh?'
At that moment, Kim Woo-jin's face unexpectedly revealed emotion.
'… My luck is good.'
It was the worst scenario that monsters facing Kim Woo-jin could encounter.