《I Returned as a God》 Chapter 1 - Prologue Chapter 1 ¨C Prologue Have you ever heard of the term ¡°isekai¡± before? It¡¯s the trope of a high school student from the present day traveling to another universe and running around causing chaos in that world. I¡¯ve seen a lot of fantasy stories like that around. What? You¡¯re saying that¡¯s old now? Well, I can¡¯t help it if that¡¯s the only thing I know. So, why am I bringing this up, then? That¡¯s simple. It¡¯s because I once took part in an isekai. What? I¡¯m lying? You rude bastard, do I look like the type of person to bluff like that? I do? Damn. Hey, don¡¯t be like that and listen to my story! It¡¯s not like it¡¯s costing you money or anything! Anyways, it was the evening before the entrance exam, and it was raining cats and dogs. I was basking in the feeling that the never-ending ¡°X Days Before¡± had finally gone down to ¡°1¡±. To get some fresh air, I went to the convenience store in the alley right across from my house. Thinking back on it now, that really was an insane choice. I bought an orange juice, and the second that I stepped out of the convenience store, I was struck by lightning. What happened next probably won¡¯t come as a surprise. Dimension shift. The dimension shifts these days usually involve getting thrown into another world without any explanation or getting transported to the world inside of a book or a video game. But that¡¯s not the level that I was on. I ended up personally meeting with a god or something, pleading with me to save their world. Usually, wouldn¡¯t you like that sort of thing? Right? Because then, you wouldn¡¯t have to take the entrance exam. Yes, with that one entrance exam your college is decided, and then, depending on what college you get into, the rest of your life is decided, so I recognized that to some extent. I¡¯m well aware of the absurdity that your 19 years of life, and the many more years of life yet ahead of you, hinge on that single fragile instant. I understand hating entrance exams and having to study. But that¡¯s not me! Even since I was little, I¡¯d given up the joys of my youth to the Daechi-dong private tutors in Gangnam¡¯s 8th school district, and when I transferred to a science high school, I never missed a single question on the mock tests right before the entrance exams. You think I¡¯m a genius? There are no real geniuses in Daechi-dong. That place is a factory made to churn out ordinary people trying to follow in the footsteps of geniuses. I¡¯m confident that I¡¯ve studied harder than anyone else in the world. My parents even gave me permission to do whatever I wanted with my life after I got into college. So, what are you talking about? Save the world? Fuck off. You think you know how I feel? You don¡¯t want to take the entrance exam? That¡¯s probably because you want to go off and have fun with everyone else. You think I studied while everyone else was having fun because I¡¯m someone who¡¯s in the right state of mind? Give me back my promised college life! * * * You might not believe it coming out of my mouth, but I¡¯m actually quite strong. If I wasn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to study like that. I¡¯m the kind of person who didn¡¯t play any of the games popular with other male students, read novels, or anything like that. Instead, I clenched my teeth and endured. The law of the jungle. Only the strongest survive, and the weak will always become prey to the strong in this world. Not like studying, it was an entirely different definition of the struggle for existence. For me, who did nothing but study, it was hard to accept it as anything but a cruel world. I had set one goal for myself: that I¡¯d return to my original world as soon as I could. The dream of going to university, at this point I¡¯d accept anything. I needed this goal in order to live and survive. If I didn¡¯t have any purpose whatsoever, I felt that I would go insane. And I did survive. After making many sacrifices, I stood here after having saved the world. * * * * * * A golden table and chair were placed by themselves right in the center of a huge temple. I heard footsteps and the clinking of armor that accompanied every step. I saw that a young man with golden hair and armor had approached me. His expression turned into a scowl when he saw me with my feet up on the table and my head raised. ¡°How arrogant of you.¡± ¡°Is that the kind of thing you say to someone you haven¡¯t seen in a long time? How long has it been, ten? No, twenty years, right?¡± I took my legs off the table and looked over at him. I knew that face. Luciel. The fact that I hadn¡¯t been able to save him had been one of my life¡¯s greatest regrets. Putting it another way, Luciel¡¯s death was the reason that I had been able to come this far at all. He was someone who had believed in me, an average high schooler, who had known nothing except how to study, until the very end. The Luciel in front of my eyes wasn¡¯t really him. Even though I knew that, I felt strange, gazing once again at the face that had become more and more hazy over time in my memories. This place is that bastard¡¯s temple. The one who threw me into another dimension under the pretext of bringing salvation to this world. Gods have no such thing as a physical form. Because of this, we needed something like an intermediary. The fact that they had shown up in Luciel¡¯s form just meant that I had unconsciously thought about him. It was nice that I could see Luciel¡¯s face one last time on my way out, but on the other hand, I was pissed off that the bastard who had called me here had shown up wearing a Luciel-shaped shell. The continent of Arbelicia. There, I was a hero, a warrior. Whatever the process, I had achieved my goal. ¡°Keep your promise, Lachesis.¡± I put my arm on the table and held out my hand. One of the three goddesses of fate, the Goddess of the Present. I¡¯d only found out about Lachesis¡¯ divine name relatively recently. It would¡¯ve been good if I¡¯d known it just a little earlier. ¡°Do you mean that old promise? At this point, you probably don¡¯t have any desire to return to that time, so is there any meaning to going back to then?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s important. Very important. It¡¯s true, I don¡¯t have the desire to go to college or anything, but there¡¯s the desire to fulfill the symbolic meaning of the promise.¡± I¡¯d laid out the condition that if I¡¯d saved the world that I¡¯d been summoned to, I would be returned to that day before the entrance exams. To me, twenty years might be a long time, but for her, it was so short that it could pass in the blink of an eye. So I couldn¡¯t figure out what the hell was taking so long. The moment that thoughts of doubt started crossing my mind, Lachesis finally opened her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it can¡¯t be done.¡± I took a deep breath and clenched the fist that was on the table tightly. There was no guarantee that she wouldn¡¯t lie just because she was a god, and there was no law to bind her either. To put it bluntly, I hadn¡¯t even bothered considering this possibility. I¡¯d set out to save this world with the goal of eventually returning to my original world, but as a human being, the possibility that I wouldn¡¯t be able to return at all would¡¯ve been too miserable for me to consider. I crossed my legs and arms, and looked up at Lachesis. If I thought about what I had looked like before I¡¯d been summoned here, I would see that I¡¯ve changed a lot since then. My voice had dropped, too. I spoke with a terrible calm. ¡°What¡¯s the reason? At the very least, I should get to know the reason.¡± ¡°It was my negligence. I shouldn¡¯t have summoned you to this world.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who chose me. It¡¯s useless to come here and say things like you made a mistake now.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you would ascend to a level above the gods.¡± ¡°And? So you¡¯re saying that you can¡¯t return me?¡± Lachesis closed her mouth and nodded. ¡°Do you know what they call this?¡± I kicked the chair back and got up. ¡°It¡¯s like asking the person who saved you from drowning to also give you the money in his wallet.¡± ¡°I truly do thank you from the bottom of my heart for having saved our dimension.¡± I didn¡¯t respond to Lachesis¡¯ words and just shrugged my shoulders. At the same time, the surrounding area splintered as if it were cracked glass. The floor collapsed under us, and in an instant it turned into an empty black space. ¡°What is this¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t move. I can¡¯t control my power very well.¡± Out of the empty black space came dozens of large spears that were heading towards Lachesis. ¡°Of course, you¡¯re truly someone that we can¡¯t leave alone!¡± ¡°You guys are the ones that made me like this! I told you not to move, you should know that this attack isn¡¯t just heading towards your physical form. I¡¯m sorry, but I have to get back to my original world, even if I have to take you hostage to do it!¡± ¡°Is going back to your life as a high school senior truly that important to you? You, who have lived a life stained with bloodshed for decades, should no longer have the desire to return to the life of your original world. So what is the actual reason for your obsession with going back?¡± ¡°Because that alone is the meaning of my existence.¡± If I didn¡¯t have the desire to go back, then I couldn¡¯t have made it this far. At that, Lachesis broke out in a laugh. ¡°Your skill in lying has certainly improved.¡± Feeling anxious, I quickly outstretched my hand towards Lachesis. The dozens of spears pierced right through her. Not hindered at all by the spears sticking out of her body, Lachesis didn¡¯t spill a single drop of blood. [Do you think that we¡¯d come to kill you without any countermeasures?] ¡°Now you¡¯re finally revealing your true nature.¡± The empty space began to crack, and hundreds¡­ no, thousands of enormous eyes appeared from nothing. Their closed eyelids lifted one by one and turned to face me. And still, more eyes were forming, so many that I couldn¡¯t hope to count them all. This was dangerous. I stretched out my hand again. Lachesis¡¯ body crumbled away into nothing. I could feel an ominous force, so I immediately focused my attention. [How dare you!] The voice rang through my head and paralyzed me. Chains came out from the eyes and wrapped around my arms and legs. I was slowly being sucked in by my legs into the dark space below. As the number of chains around me increased, it became difficult to control any part of my body. ¡®You think I¡¯ll just die like this?¡¯ Just to go back to my high school days, to that rainy day before the entrance exams, I had spent twenty years living in this hellish world. Even if I couldn¡¯t go back to that specific time, it would be alright. Whatever happened now, I absolutely refused to die at the hands of the gods who had just used me. I concentrated all of my energy in one place. In a single burst, I erased this mental world and drew another image in its stead. From the dark space, my surroundings changed to an entirely white one. In my head, I heard a rumbling sound and a ringing that couldn¡¯t be identified. Now, I saw a black dot. I knew instinctively that this was a route to another dimension. Using all of my remaining strength, I jumped into the black space. ¡°Just you wait! I¡¯ll definitely come back!¡± Chapter 2 - Kang Han-kyul (1) Chapter 2 ¨C Kang Han-kyul (1) I slowly opened my eyes. There was a white ceiling with a pattern divided by a grid above me. I slowly looked around at my surroundings. ¡°This is¡­¡± An ordinary hospital bed and the structure of a modern building greeted me. Had I returned to my original world? I couldn¡¯t check to be sure. ¡°A hospital?¡± Although my memories were faint, I knew that in the past, I had been struck by lightning before I was transported to the other world. Being admitted into the hospital was likely, very likely to have happened afterwards. Beyond the curtain, I heard the sound of a sliding door opening. The curtain was drawn back and someone who was neither a doctor or a nurse stepped inside. This person was dressed in a suit. The moment I saw the man¡¯s hand pull back the curtain, I was sure that this place was not a hospital. It was too crude to be a hospital ward, and it seemed more like a school infirmary. ¡®That¡¯s strange¡­ An infirmary?¡¯ Something wasn¡¯t adding up here. A man who looked to be a businessman in his early thirties approached me. ¡°This is why young Awakened aren¡¯t worth dealing with. They always uselessly fight back. How¡¯s your body?¡± He pulled up a chair and sat in front of me, slightly loosening his necktie as he did so. Noticing that his expression seemed considerably exhausted, I stared at him and spoke indifferently. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Why so impolite?¡± After undoing his necktie entirely and putting it in his pocket, he folded his shirtsleeves up and gave me a bright smile with his head tilted slightly. I felt a strangely threatening aura from the man. I didn¡¯t feel pressured by him or anything, but no matter how much I thought about it, I was sure that this aura was not one that should be coming out of a man wearing modern clothes. Hmmm¡­ Perhaps he was a soldier? Not an office worker? ¡°Excuse me, but who might you be?¡± ¡°You were being rude earlier, but aren¡¯t you being unnecessarily polite now?¡± I couldn¡¯t tell at all if he was joking or trying to sound me out with his response. Honestly, even I thought that his manner of speaking was too harsh. To my relief, he withdrew his threatening aura in response to my question. ¡°I don¡¯t think I was informed that you had a head injury.¡± At his words, I quickly reached up and touched my head. Thankfully, it felt fine. ¡°Do you not know who I am?¡± At his words, my mouth fell open in shock. How would I know who you are, sir? Are you some sort of celebrity? Thankfully, there was an ID card hung around his neck. I quickly read the name written on the ID. ¡®Hunter Education Manager Choi Soo-hyun¡¯ He didn¡¯t seem like a celebrity. Choi Soo-hyun got up from his seat and went searching through the refrigerator on the other side of the room. He shook a bottle of Bacchus that was in there and drank it. In that brief moment, I wracked my brain as much as I could. There was, of course, the first question that came to mind. ¡®What¡¯s a Hunter Education Manager?¡¯ He spoke Korean, and he had a Korean name, so this place must be Korea. But still, something felt very different. Choi Soo-hyun sat down in front of me again and half-heartedly complained. ¡°Honestly, kids these days don¡¯t know what they should know at all. Anyway, here¡¯s your bag and cell phone. Looks like the screen is cracked, so you better replace it.¡± He tossed a brown backpack along with a cell phone on the bed. There was a crack right down the middle of the phone, which was a smartphone that didn¡¯t look like the latest model. I was more welcome for the phone than my bag. If this was the modern day that I knew, then just having a smartphone meant that finding information wouldn¡¯t be that hard. ¡®The more I think about it, the more it seems like I¡¯ve ended up possessing someone else.¡¯ Instinctively, I felt that this body was not my body. On top of that, even the differences between this and the present day that I knew were too much. Even though a long time had passed, I didn¡¯t think things like Hunters, or Hunter Education Managers existed. I put the phone in my pocket and bowed my head respectfully. ¡°Thank you.¡± I could piece it together without much difficulty: combining the phrase ¡®Hunter Education Manager¡¯, Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s grumbling, and my current situation, it all pointed to an accident caused during some sort of education. In short, I was a student in training, and he was the manager. From here on, it would be better to just brush this off without any further trouble. ¡®Even saying futile things like ¡°What¡¯s my name? I think I have amnesia from being hit hard on the head,¡± might be better than just saying things that are total nonsense.¡¯ As if to encourage my pondering, Choi Soo-hyun just stood there watching me patiently with his hands in his trouser pockets. His gaze on me felt like he was watching a small animal left to fend for itself in the jungle, which was a touch off-putting. With great timing, the cell phone in Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s pocket started to vibrate. Compared to my old phone with its cracked screen, his phone seemed to be the newest model. It was eye-catching even down to the case that was on it. ¡°Hello? Yeah, he just woke up. Condition? I think he¡¯s alright. What? Hey! I told you to stay out of trouble! Damn, why does that guy live like that? I¡¯ll be there in 10 minutes, so sort it out as best as you can until then. I¡¯m heading there now.¡± Choi Soo-hyun hung up first. I could hear a voice calling out his name on the other end, but he acted like he hadn¡¯t even heard it. After he hung up, Choi Soo-hyun let out an unrestrained sigh. From the dark circles under his eyes and his hair that went from being neatly set in the morning to rumpled before it was even the evening, I could guess that his status was somewhere between upper and the middle ranks of his organization. In any organization, that stage was the one with the most work and the least rewards for it. Or maybe not? If not, then never mind. ¡°Sorry. I wanted to take care of you a little more because it was due to my negligent management. This is my business card. Oh, and don¡¯t go to class today, just turn in early. It¡¯s not an important lesson anyways, and even if it is, I don¡¯t think anything will get through your head in your current state, would it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that really sounds like something an educator should say.¡± ¡°What are you really going to do with something like the history of dungeons, anyway? We just teach this because we have orders from the higher-ups, but if you go search on the internet, it¡¯s all there. I did tell those troublesome guys as well, but if something happens, contact me. And you forgot to bring your ID last time, right? Don¡¯t forget to take that before you go. Good work.¡± Choi Soo-hyun rattled off what he wanted to say as if he was reciting a rap verse, then turned his back on me and started making a phone call with a scary expression. I could hear him on the call even as his voice receded down the hallway. ¡®What a strange person.¡¯ After neatly coming to that conclusion about the man, I got out of the bed with the bag in my hand. Among what Choi Soo-hyun had said, a few words rattled around my mind. ¡®A dungeon¡­ Are there things like dungeons here?¡¯ The continent of Arbelicia was different from the reality that I used to live in, in that it was a world where fantastic elements like monsters, magic, gods, mercenaries, and more existed, the kind of things that even people who had never read novels or encountered those popular genres before would know about. Of course, among them, those things called dungeons also existed. That is, if the dungeons that I knew and the dungeons that Choi Soo-hyun were talking about were the same thing. As I was on my way out, I noticed a mirror mounted to the inside of the wall. I walked over to it. ¡°I knew it.¡± When I was talking to Choi Soo-hyun, I had vaguely noticed that my voice was different, so I didn¡¯t feel too much of a shock. Inside the mirror was a man in a navy blue hoodie and sweatpants with a backpack slung over his shoulder. The oldest he could be was around his early 20s, and he had a baby face that made it believable that he could be a teenager. Maybe it was because of the shabby clothes, as he was pretty tall and he had a rather good looking face. Of course, not as good looking as my original face. ¡°First, my ID.¡± There was no more time to spend appreciating the face of the boy that I¡¯d possessed. Seeing as Choi Soo-hyun had told me to go get my ID, I felt relieved inside. Having an ID meant at the very least that this guy was a clearly identified human being. I went out into the hallway and quietly decided on some goals. Setting goals, even if they were small ones, and completing them. It was the method I used to study even before I was summoned to another world, and at the same time, it was the survival rule that I had used in Arbelicia in order to stay alive. ¡®Assess the situation.¡¯ My ultimate goal was to get revenge on those gods that had ruined my life. That would come way later on, so for now, as always, my aim was to survive. Excluding the dimension that I¡¯d lived in and the one that I¡¯d been summoned to, the existence of many other dimensions had already been confirmed for me with my own two eyes through the gods. Among those countless dimensions, it wasn¡¯t surprising that there would be at least one dimension where dungeons coexisted within the modern day. The hallway ended, and I stepped into a large lobby. I was supposed to get my ID or something, but I couldn¡¯t figure out where to go at all. ¡°Excuse me, where can I get my ID?¡± I caught the attention of someone who looked like an employee or a member of the staff and asked my question. The woman looked me up and down, then pointed to the end of a hallway. ¡°Turn left and go down, and you¡¯ll find it.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you.¡± I turned left like she told me, and I saw a counter that looked like a bank teller¡¯s window. ¡®What the hell do people do in this place?¡¯ I took a number from the ticket dispenser and sat down at the sofa prepared in the corner. In a few minutes, the number [073] showed up on the large monitor. ¡°What is the reason for your visit?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here for my ID.¡± ¡°Please complete the fingerprint verification in front of you.¡± Following the employee¡¯s words, I placed my palm on the screen of the PC in front of the desk. After I completed the fingerprint scan and the iris scan, the employee handed me my ID and a piece of paper. Because it was an ID, I had imagined something similar to the resident registration card, so I stared at the blue card I was given with some fascination. ¡°If possible, please make sure to carry it around with you. This paper is a QR code with your ID written on it. After you register, you can simply discard it.¡± ¡°ID QR code? What¡¯s the ID for?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an ID for the Hunter Association, of course.¡± The employee tilted her head sideways as if to question why I was asking something so obvious. When I went out after finishing being issued my ID, I checked my name. ¡¸Korean Hunter Association 20981124-49926658 Kang Han-kyul D-rank Unaffiliated Hunter¡¹ The name was written there along with a picture. Kang Han-kyul. The name was completely different from the name that I remembered from my past. Because I had already known that my face looked different from when I was leaving the place that looked like a nurse¡¯s office, the unfamiliar name didn¡¯t really shock me either. ¡°But what¡¯s this ¡®Unaffiliated¡¯?¡± I thought that when I got my ID I¡¯d be able to figure some things out, but contrary to my expectations, the things that I now had to find out seemed like they were piling up in front of me. After I exited the building, I took out my phone. ¡¸(Breaking News) Raon Guild has cleared its 10th ¡®SS-Grade¡¯ Dungeon.¡¹ ¡¸According to the association¡¯s report from the Dungeon Scholar Kim Eui-tae, it has been concluded that the global dungeon occurrence rate in the last 10 years has been ¡®increasing every year¡¯. In the next 10 years, it¡¯s expected that the number of dungeons will exceed the number of hunters.¡¹ ¡¸Choi Han Guild Affiliate S-rank Hunter Min Seok-jun has changed his affiliation to¡ºLuce¡».¡¹ ¡°What is this?¡± The news that I was seeing was so different from the news of the world that I had known before. ¡ª- Chapter 3 I Returned as a God Chapter 3 ¨C Kang Han-kyul (2) I looked around at my surroundings. The building that I emerged from, the Seoul branch of the Korea Hunter Association, was right in the middle of a forest of buildings in Jongno-gu. ¡°I think I need to get a better understanding of the situation.¡± It would¡¯ve been easier if I had even a few of the memories of the guy I was possessing, but unfortunately, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. There was no other choice except to figure out the things I wanted to know one by one. I took an old leather wallet out of my bag. Besides my Hunter ID, there was a resident registration card inside. The address that was written on the card was about an hour away by train. When I swiped the one-way ticket at the turnstile, it made a noise. Maybe it was because I hadn¡¯t been on a train in so long, but the sound felt both comforting and unfamiliar at the same time. Except for things like dungeons and Hunters, this world was very similar to my original world. I sat down on an empty seat and placed my bag on my lap before taking out my phone. Since the ride home would take a while, there would be plenty of time to search for information. ¡®This is definitely much better than the first time I got transported to a different dimension.¡¯ Back then, I¡¯d been abruptly thrown into a forest without any explanation at all. I only learned that the forest was a den of monsters, the so-called ¡®Devil¡¯s Forest¡¯, after I¡¯d lived there for three months. My survival there wasn¡¯t certain either, and I can¡¯t even begin to explain just how much trouble I had trying to establish a place for myself. If I hadn¡¯t met Luciel, then forget about saving the world, it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to assume that I would¡¯ve stayed in that forest for the rest of my life without ever knowing anything. [The next stop is Geumjeong Station.] At the voice of the announcer that rang out above me, I quickly grabbed my bag and left the subway. I walked about ten minutes from the station to a residential area. The address written on the resident registration card was this semi-basement apartment. Searching around in my bag, I fished out a worn key. I put it in the keyhole and turned the key. The door opened. ¡®Bingo.¡¯ I went inside and took off my shoes before turning on the light. There was mold growing on the wallpaper in the corners of the room. If I was the person I was before experiencing the continent of Arbelicia, I would¡¯ve probably bolted immediately. Studying isn¡¯t easy by any means, but in a world where money is everything, being given an environment where, from a young age, all you had to do was study, meant that you had some sort of monetary freedom. In fact, both of my parents were professors. Even though I say it now, it¡¯s a useless thing of the past. I took out a notepad and a ballpoint pen that was inside of the bag. It was a habit from the time that I was studying a lot, and also because Arbelicia didn¡¯t have anything like smartphones, I was much more used to writing things down using paper. I wrote down a rough outline of the information that I had. 24 years old, Kang Han-kyul. Living in a semi-basement apartment with a bank account balance of around 3 million won. D-rank Unaffiliated Hunter. This was basic information up to here. Next was what I had searched online on my way to the house. This world was similar, but different, from the world that I had lived in before I¡¯d been summoned to Arbelicia. The biggest differences were the existence of Hunters that they called ¡®Awakened¡¯ and the dungeon gates. These ¡®Gates¡¯ that led into dungeons randomly appeared all around the world. There were a variety of missions within the dungeon involving monsters, and clearing dungeons meant that you could receive rewards. Conversely, if the dungeon wasn¡¯t cleared within a fixed number of tries, or for some types of dungeons, a ¡®break¡¯ phenomenon would occur where the monsters could go outside the gate and appear here. The main goal was for those who had been endowed with special abilities through Awakening to become Hunters and prevent the invasion of these monsters by conquering dungeons. Those who were Awakened had a status window like in a video game where they could see their abilities and skills. ¡°Next, the Association and guilds.¡± The place where I¡¯d regained consciousness was the Association. To put it simply, the Association was like a public company, and the Guilds were like private corporations. ¡°Next up is affiliation.¡± What I¡¯d read on the internet was basically like this: [Question: Why do unaffiliated Awakened get so much hate?] ?Anonymous412: is it even possible to be unaffiliated lol ?Anonymous42758: the unaffiliated honestly have no right to be called hunters ?(OP): I mean I¡¯m asking because I¡¯m not Awakened, but what¡¯s so bad about being unaffiliated? One of my Awakened friends says the unaffiliated aren¡¯t even human¡­so if im a 0% fit rate civilian does that make me livestock then¡ª¨C ?Anonymous784: lol damn your friend is harsh ?Anonymous42758: i¡¯ll explain it simply for you. not all awakened are created equal, if you compare it to a game, awakening means you get the right to play the game, and affiliations are like classes in the game. unaffiliated is being jobless. since you don¡¯t have a class, of course you¡¯re weaker than everyone else. ?(OP): Then what about Choi Soo-hyun? Isn¡¯t he unaffiliated? ?Anonymous158: lmaoooo op, how is it even possible to not know this shit?? prev anon was just using a metaphor, real life can be different. choi soo-hyun wasnt jobless from the beginning, hes like a special case lol. usually other gods dont accept the unaffiliated. idk why, but guys like that are rare. i bet though if choi soo-hyun says he¡¯ll go somewhere, they¡¯d all follow him lmao MVPs aren¡¯t MVPs for nothing. * * * * * * ?Anonymous548: whoever said unaffiliated is like being unemployed is so genius lol choi soo-hyun is an s-rank jobless fr fr. All Awakened needed an affiliation, and there were differences in what abilities you could use based on your affiliation. The problem was that affiliation. ¡°What gods do you follow anyways?¡± If you capture monsters or obtain a new achievement that others haven¡¯t gotten, something called the ¡®Merit Points¡¯ will rise. Gods used Merit Points to compete, and it¡¯s structured so that if you¡¯re an Awakened, the higher your Merit Points are, the more power you can gain. The Awakened that lived in the modern day thought of Merit Points as something like experience points, and they didn¡¯t seem to have that much interest in how the gods used it to compete. However, there wasn¡¯t concrete evidence to suggest that they did. It was a conclusion that was closer to reasoning that this could be the case based on the gods that I knew. ¡°There¡¯s no rule saying that a god can only manage one dimension, but isn¡¯t something a little strange here? Hmmm¡­ I¡¯ll leave this alone for now, it¡¯ll be better to think about this some other time.¡± Hunters had a ranking system that went from D-rank to S-rank. You could get more information as well as enter more difficult dungeons the higher your rank was. To get up to B-rank, you only needed to meet a specific criteria. Above that, you would be evaluated in many different ways, including level and Merit Points. Of course, listening to the stories of what the gods were supposedly doing meant that it was definitely a shame that I¡¯d come to possess the body of a 20-something-year-old D-rank who lived in a semi-basement, but this wasn¡¯t a problem that could be solved immediately. ¡°Being unaffiliated seems kind of like a good thing, but kind of like a bad thing at the same time.¡± Affiliation wasn¡¯t really anything special. If I had to call it anything, it just seemed like religion. ¡°And there¡¯s aliases on top of that.¡± The name of the god ¡°Luce¡± that I¡¯d seen on the news wasn¡¯t their real name. It¡¯s not because I knew the names of every god or anything. It was just that this wasn¡¯t an issue with the name. Each name is unique. If a country didn¡¯t have a name, it wouldn¡¯t even have a reason to exist. In particular, humans were more sensitive to names than gods. The second a god¡¯s true name leaves your mouth, you would feel its power. Out of the many other gods that I searched for on the internet, there wasn¡¯t a single one where I could feel the god¡¯s power properly, including Luce. That¡¯s because the popular names of the gods were aliases. Even though the unaffiliated in this world had a harsh reputation and were looked down on, I was much more relieved to be one. Because I had run away from the gods, it didn¡¯t make any sense for me to want to be under any specific god now. After grasping this basic understanding of the whole situation, I finally opened my status window. [Kang Han-kyul] Strength: C (0%) Stamina: D (0%) Mana: D (0%) Healing: D (0%) Skills: Talents: Achievements: ¡°Are you serious? There¡¯s nothing?¡± This was much worse than I expected. I said that if I could escape the gods I¡¯d be able to do anything, but this was on the level of throwing away your main account to completely start over on an alt. I got up from the floor and swung my fists in the air a couple times. Afterwards, I kicked my feet out. Then eventually returned to swinging my fists. Even though I hadn¡¯t even moved around that much, I was already out of breath. Compared to his good-looking face, this guy¡¯s stamina was truly awful. I thought to myself: ¡®I should exercise soon.¡¯ I then sat back down on the floor. I brought up the search engine again and entered the name ¡®Choi Soo-hyun¡¯. Public Official Choi Soo-hyun Affiliated with the Korean Hunter Association Record Youngest Awakened ¨C Over 1000 dungeon clears ¨C 3 SS-grade dungeon clears ¡­¡­ ¨C Ç° (Former) Cheongwol Guild Premier Affiliate ¨C Ç° (Former) ¡ºSerbia¡»Affiliate ¨C Korea Hunter Association, Seoul Branch ¨C Hunter Education Manager ¡°So fancy.¡± Come to think of it, even on posts asking about unaffiliated Hunters, Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s story was bound to pop up. Even though I was just barely beginning to understand the situation, I could grasp that he was pretty elite. I took Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s business card out of my pocket. Printed on white paper with a red stripe, it was a personal business card that only listed his name and his phone number. The current Choi Soo-hyun was unaffiliated. Based on the rumors circling around the internet, after being the sole survivor of a specific dungeon, he suddenly resigned from his guild. After leaving¡ºSerbia¡», it was revealed that he chose the path of being a Hunter for the Association without any affiliation. Considering that I had no idea what happened to the previous owner of this wack-ass body before I arrived, it was now necessary to think a little bit more about why Choi Soo-hyun had gone so far as to take care of me and give me his personal business card. ¡°Maybe he felt sympathy for me for also being unaffiliated?¡± That was a stretch. This one was unaffiliated from the start, and the other had kicked off the affiliation voluntarily, so it was a different feeling entirely. It was highly likely that there was some deeper reason for the fact that an elite at that level had given me a business card. ¡°If it¡¯s Choi Soo-hyun, he must know something.¡± Information was life itself. I¡¯d felt that ever since I¡¯d lived in Arbelicia. Even if you could only make one decision, it was better to have 10 possible choices than 1. Although I didn¡¯t have any intention of calling him right away, or even any plausible reason to contact him, I felt a little relieved thanks to this. I lifted my pen and started writing a list of what I had to do. Out of the many things on list, the one that had the highest priority was: ¡°Exercise, of course.¡± * * * As per usual, I woke up early in the morning. While I was exercising, the phone that was in my pocket vibrated. [Hunter Trainee Kang Han-kyul, ¡®Basic Hunter Studies Lecture¡¯ 10/23 (Thursday) 7:00 AM, Seoul Jongno-gu Hunter Association Seoul Branch, 3F, Training Room 201.] A notification to attend class had arrived. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 4 I Returned as a God Chapter 4 ¨C Kang Han-kyul (3) If you become Awakened, it¡¯s standard to go to the Hunter Association and register as an Awakened as well as a Hunter. And it was essential for every Awakened to have 60 hours of educational training over 6 weeks, along with 2 in-field experiences. Hunters that don¡¯t register as Awakened with the Hunter Association are restricted from access to various Hunter infrastructure, from the basics to various others like guild membership and access to dungeons. After checking the amount of information I now had at my disposal when I entered my ID QR code and joined the ¡®Korea Hunter Association¡¯, I was able to conclude that it was much more beneficial to sign up than not to. It was more common to be Awakened around your early 20s, but, although it was rare, there were cases of people becoming Awakened in their 30s or their teenage years. Proportionally, this meant the majority of the Awakened were in their 20s. ¡°It looks like there¡¯s 1 more field experience I have to do in the remaining 10 hours.¡± Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t that much more time I needed to spend in class. * * * At the podium, a man in a suit was giving a lecture in front of a presentation screen. ¡°Dungeon break, also called ¡®cracks¡¯, will usually occur when the dungeon fails to be cleared. Generally, A-grade dungeons have a limit of four to five tries, and most cracks occur from D-grade dungeons. That is to say, in reality, there¡¯s almost no chance that cracks will occur in S-grade dungeons. Which means there¡¯s no need to worry too much.¡± The lecturer announced a short break and put his microphone down before leaving the lecture hall. I leaned on my elbows on the table and looked down at my notebook that was filled with notes. It was a class that I was only attending as a formality, but maybe because I hadn¡¯t been in a class for a long time, I was enjoying myself. ¡®I think I can also understand why that guy said that it wasn¡¯t an important class.¡¯ Because the Association¡¯s website was generally well-organized, I could find any of this out just by searching the internet. As I was sipping the last of my coffee, someone tapped my side. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t spill any of it because there wasn¡¯t that much left, but they had tapped me with a force that could only mean they¡¯d intended to hit me on purpose, so I lifted my head up to face them. ¡°Wow, who¡¯s this talentless loser glaring at?¡± ¡°Hey, do you really think you can do the remaining dungeon practices? It¡¯d be better if you just quit trying to be a hunter.¡± ¡°You still don¡¯t have an affiliation even though it¡¯s been over half a year since you¡¯ve Awakened, so doesn¡¯t that mean there¡¯s something wrong with you? Are you sure you¡¯re even Awakened in the first place? Seriously, the Association isn¡¯t in their right mind if they¡¯ve accepted people like you as Awakened.¡± ¡°Who the hell are you guys?¡± I drained the rest of the coffee and crushed the cup in one hand. There were three guys in total that had come towards me, one of them looked a little older but I got the sense that they were my peers. ¡°You trying to pretend you don¡¯t know us?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You damn talentless bastard, we got hit with a useless warning because of you. I can¡¯t believe that this guy who¡¯s been a loser the whole time we¡¯ve been students is an Awakened like the rest of us. Did you pull some strings or something? Huh?¡± I got up from my seat with my cup clenched in my hand. With what the fat one had just said, my general assessment of the situation was now complete. ¡®I was wondering why I woke up in a hospital bed.¡¯ And now that I thought about it, Choi Soo-hyun had also mentioned something about a fight. These three bastards who didn¡¯t like Kang Han-kyul had used training as an excuse to be violent towards him. Really. It sounded like something I¡¯d read about at least once in some novel. If I¡¯d had his memories of those events, I¡¯d at least be thinking about revenge, but since I didn¡¯t have those memories, these guys and I were actually strangers. And I didn¡¯t really have any reason to hate them. ¡°Get back here!¡± * * * * * * The fat guy reached out to grab my shoulder when I started walking towards the trash can to throw my coffee cup away. I roughly brushed away his hand. ¡°How dare you touch me with that hand? Thing looks like a fucking pig¡¯s foot.¡± ¡°Wh-What?¡± ¡°Am I wrong? Be relieved that I don¡¯t remember anything about that day.¡± I bumped his shoulder as I brushed past him and threw away my empty cup before returning and sitting down at my seat. ¡°Just you wait and see!¡± I didn¡¯t know if they¡¯d listened to what Choi Soo-hyun had said to them, but thankfully, the three backed off after that. The break ended, and right before the end of class, the topic of the upcoming dungeon practice came up. ¡°You all have probably heard about this, but there is a dungeon practice scheduled for next week. The group formation is as follows, and the expected dungeon is below.¡± The large presentation screen was filled with around 30 people divided into 6 groups. Among them, I was in Group 4. ¡®D-grade dungeon, the Goblin Village, huh.¡¯ I¡¯d searched up a bunch of things about dungeons so I had a general idea about them, but of course, I had no conception of what first-hand experience would be like. My one stroke of good luck was that the monsters that appeared in these dungeons seemed to have some overlap with the ones that I hunted in Arbelicia. Goblins and orcs were pretty basic monsters, but I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how much I suffered when I was first summoned to Arbelicia because of the goblin village that was nearby. But thanks to that, I could confidently say that there was no one who was as experienced at dealing with goblins than me. ¡°The open area comes up to here, and you can each gather at your own meeting spots.¡± The lecturer bowed his head and declared the end of the class. At the same time, the cell phone that I¡¯d placed on top of the desk vibrated. ¡¸HN(Notification) Kang Han-kyul, you have been invited to ¡®Ujangsan Dungeon Group Chat¡¯. Accept/Decline¡¹ HN was an abbreviation for the Hunter Network, a community as well as a system that supported group chats and announcement notifications. I pressed the [Accept] button. ¡¸Ujangsan Dungeon (5)¡¹ ¡®Kang Han-kyul¡¯ has entered the chatroom. Kang Han-kyul: Hello. It¡¯s nice to meet you. Kim Tae-woon(Admin): Yes, nice to meet you too. Nam Woon-ik: Welcome. Choi Min-hyuk: damn it we¡¯re fucked Kim Tae-woon(Admin): ??? Choi Min-hyuk: that bastard¡¯s an unaffiliated Nam Woon-ik: I heard that there was an unaffiliated Awakened in this class, is that him? Choi Min-hyuk: he¡¯s a fucking troll Lee Ye-eun: Excuse me, can you stop talking like that? Kim Tae-woon(Admin): First of all, let¡¯s just settle down. I packed up my bag and went out into the hallway, just reading the text messages that were popping up without responding. I was sure that this Choi Min-hyuk bastard was one of the three that had approached me during the break. Kim Tae-woon neatly organized the rest of the messages that came up. It was mostly topics that didn¡¯t mean much. ¡¸Ujangsan Dungeon (5)¡¹ Kim Tae-woon(Admin): Then let¡¯s meet this Friday afternoon at 2. Is everyone alright with that time? Nam Woon-ik: Yes Choi Min-hyuk: ok Lee Ye-eun: Got it. Kang Han-kyul: That¡¯s alright. After seeing everyone else reply, I also sent my response last. But there was a different notification that had popped up on my phone that I was scared to respond to. ¡¸Choi Soo-hyun: Kim¡¯s Seolleongtang. By 1 PM.¡¹ I searched up the place, and it was a restaurant in the building right across the street from the Association. Maybe it was because it was lunchtime, but the place was packed. Choi Soo-hyun slightly raised his hand in greeting. ¡°What do you want to eat?¡± ¡°Seolleongtang, please.¡± ¡°Can we get two seolleongtangs here?¡± After ordering quickly, Choi Soo-hyun took a small sip from his water cup and leaned back in his chair. ¡°You¡¯re more shameless than I thought you¡¯d be.¡± ¡°It¡¯s disappointing to hear you talk like that, considering it¡¯s been a week since I last saw you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a week ¡®since¡¯, it¡¯s ¡®been only¡¯ a week since you last saw me. You think I like you so much that it¡¯s been a week ¡®since¡¯ I¡¯ve seen your naive student face?¡± I smiled awkwardly at Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s sarcastic jabs. After receiving his business card, I spent a couple of days pondering about how best to contact him. I was definitely reacting like I didn¡¯t really think that Choi Soo-hyun would actually respond. ¡°I told you I¡¯d meet up with you in person and tell you what you wanted to know, but now that we¡¯re here, what did you want to say to me?¡± Choi Soo-hyun probed me while slurping up the noodles in the seolleongtang. ¡°I¡¯ll get right to the point. I would like it if you could be my sponsor.¡± ¡°Urk! Cough.¡± My words must have really shocked him, because he choked and started coughing. In the world of Hunters, not having an affiliation wasn¡¯t just a straightforward problem like not having a class in a game. For most Awakened, when they decide what ¡®god¡¯ they want to follow, their guild is also almost certainly decided for them. It was no different from forming a religious group from people who worship the same god. Hunters usually joined guilds that were also aligned with following their god. The Hunter Association could also provide support, but it wasn¡¯t the best situation because at the end of the day it was a public company, and all Hunters had to receive benefits. In other words, being an unaffiliated Hunter who hadn¡¯t been chosen by any god meant that there was nowhere to receive valuable support from. Choi Soo-hyun wiped the corners of his mouth with a wet tissue and resumed eating his seolleongtang. He didn¡¯t talk until he¡¯d finished eating his lunch. ¡°You shameless bastard.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that why you gave me your business card?¡± ¡°Do you really think so? You¡¯re a student, and I¡¯m an education manager. Sure, maybe I didn¡¯t train you personally, but I¡¯m going to pretend I didn¡¯t hear what you just said.¡± ¡°What I¡¯m hearing is that if I wasn¡¯t a student, then there would be a chance.¡± Choi Soo-hyun put down his spoon and chopsticks and stared at me. Even if it was just from information that was circulating around the internet, the more I searched about Choi Soo-hyun, the more I felt that it would be a good idea to catch that guy. It wasn¡¯t just that he¡¯d left his faction. Even though he¡¯d become unaffiliated, he¡¯d received love calls from guilds that were the cream of the crop at home and abroad, besides the original Cheongwol guild that he used to be in. Choi Soo-hyun had rejected all the offers and steadfastly remained a civil servant. It¡¯s not that being a civil servant Hunter was a bad thing, but it gave nowhere near the levels of money and fame that the front-line Hunters enjoyed. ¡®It¡¯s very likely that this guy is hiding the real story.¡¯ He must have realized something among the gods whose identities we couldn¡¯t figure out. And I was convinced that Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s secret was related to the reason why he gave me his business card. The Cheongwol guild, to which S-rank hunters and even Choi Soo-hyun had once belonged, was one of the top three major guilds in Korea. This world was the same as the world that I¡¯d lived in before. Strength was just a symbol of your wealth and honor. If he had previously managed to climb up to the level of the Cheongwol guild, then there was no doubt that he would¡¯ve also made a lot of money. From where Choi Soo-hyun was standing, there was a high probability that he would have enough financial freedom to support someone like me, who was just starting out. It didn¡¯t matter if you¡¯d call it selfish. There¡¯s nothing more foolish than looking at something you could use that was right in front of your eyes and turning away. Choi Soo-hyun got up from his seat first. ¡°Prove your worth first. Then I¡¯ll think about it.¡± He said that he had work to do and left the restaurant waving his receipt. I waited until Choi Soo-hyun disappeared from my view, then I also got up to leave. ¡°Um, sir. You still have to pay for your meal.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± If you¡¯re paying first, then why not pay for all of it¡­ So cheap. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 5 I Returned as a God Chapter 5 ¨C The Goblin Village (1) I heard the murmur of a crowd of people. It almost sounded like they were crying out in pain, but it also sounded like they were cheering or roaring with joy. The sky was wrapped in dark smoke. The stench of blood pricked my nose. Blood had collected instead of water in a flat, wide puddle on the ground. I was looking down on everything as if I¡¯d become a camera. A familiar flag flapped in the wind on one side of a ruined castle wall. When I turned my head, I also saw a familiar face in between the fallen people on the ground. The man was on the brink of death, severely injured to the point where it was surprising he was still alive. Lying with blood splattered all over his body, the man opened his mouth to speak. ¡°You¡­shouldn¡¯t¡­be doing the tower¡­Why¡­¡± Those were the man¡¯s last words. * * * The sound of water flowing out of the sink faucet felt refreshing. I stared blankly at the mirror as I held my toothbrush. A man in his early twenties brushing his teeth. I still wasn¡¯t used to my appearance reflected in the mirror. ¡°What kind of dream was that?¡± I spit out the toothpaste in my mouth and rinsed it with water. I then boiled water in my coffee pot and brewed a cup of coffee. It was the coffee that I¡¯d bought last night from a nearby market. Instead of sitting on a sofa, I settled down on a blanket on the floor and savored the taste and smell of my coffee. ¡°¡­What am I doing right now?¡± I was overcome with a sense of shame. No, I didn¡¯t think this was right. The sound of cars passing by could be heard through the window. The first thing I¡¯d do after I earned some money would definitely be moving out. I drank my coffee and thought about my dream. The memory was already getting hazier as time passed, and I felt that if I couldn¡¯t remember it now, it would be lost to me forever. ¡°That face was¡­¡± I was sure that it was Luciel. That battlefield, that was where he had died. I remembered everything that had happened up until Luciel¡¯s death. It wasn¡¯t something that I could forget. ¡®A tower?¡¯ But I had no memory of hearing anything like that. I put down my empty cup and muttered to myself. ¡°It¡¯s probably just a stupid dream.¡± * * * * * * The morning sunlight was coming in through the slits in the narrow window. Right now, I was overwhelmed by Kang Han-kyul¡¯s work, too. I took the subway for about 30 minutes before I arrived at Ujangsan Station. A girl wearing comfortable clothes and carrying a huge hiking backpack appeared in my field of vision. It was the sole woman Hunter in our chatroom group, Lee Ye-eun. ¡®Why does she have so much luggage?¡¯ It was a ridiculous amount to be carrying in any situation short of emigrating from the country. Ujangsan wasn¡¯t that tall of a mountain. There was no need to bring so much luggage to climb up that one mountain. I nodded my head at Lee Ye-eun, who was fiddling with her phone, and approached her. She slipped her phone into her pocket and slightly raised her head towards me. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Ah, I¡¯m Kang Han-kyul.¡± Instead of replying, Lee Ye-eun just made an ¡®ah¡¯ sound of understanding and nodded her head. There was no other response after that. Soon, Kim Tae-woon and Nam Woon-ik arrived. They arrived almost simultaneously. Nam Woon-ik got out of a taxi, and Kim Tae-woon showed up in his own car. It wasn¡¯t a supercar like Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s, but it was still a pretty expensive vehicle. ¡®Why do I feel like I¡¯m the only one who didn¡¯t pack enough?¡¯ The two of them had brought enough luggage each to rival Lee Ye-eun. Because it was just a goblin village, I had cheerfully dug up an old hiking backpack that I found stuffed in a forgotten corner and filled it lightly with some weapons, food, and clothes. It was so off the mark from how the others had prepared. I felt like an embarrassed elementary school kid who had misread the school newsletter and had been the only one to show up unprepared for a field trip. ¡®Really, I doubt anything will happen.¡¯ Anyways, I wasn¡¯t in a situation now where I could just say that I was going to go home to grab some more stuff. It had already happened, so it was a much better idea to act like it was a trivial matter. When we reached the mountainside, two men wearing suits beckoned us towards them with their hands. They were dungeon staff involved with the Association. ¡°You are the trainee students, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, we¡¯re Group 4.¡± Our team leader Kim Tae-woon answered in our stead. After they checked our IDs, we followed the men a little further into the mountain. A path that the general public never went down. Between the dense thicket of trees, we saw an unidentifiable flickering within a black space. We could verify it with our own two eyes: it was unmistakably the entrance to the dungeon. I¡¯d ventured into a couple dungeons when I was in Arbelicia, and the appearance of the entrance was the same as it was there. I¡¯d just never imagined that I¡¯d see this kind of gate in the 21st century modern day. Our prior preparations were complete, and all we had to do was enter the dungeon. I was standing in the back, waiting for the three in front of me to go inside. ¡®Why aren¡¯t they going in?¡¯ Before I could even tilt my head in confusion, Lee Ye-eun, who was standing in the very front, came towards me. She placed her backpack, which was as intimidating as a moving box, in front of me. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of fragile things inside, so please be careful.¡± ¡°Oh, my backpack too.¡± Nam Woon-ik, who¡¯d had an unfavorable opinion of me since the chatroom, freely shifted his bag towards me. Suddenly, I had to carry the weight of two people¡¯s luggage at once. Kim Tae-woon saw Lee Ye-eun and Nam Woon-ik enter the dungeon carrying only their weapons without even giving me a chance to speak up, and he came towards me with an awkward smile. Having half-given up, I reached out my hand towards him. ¡°Your stuff, please.¡± Hmph, could a Hunter without an affiliation live such a dejected life? Kim Tae-woon told me he was sorry, but he still diligently handed his bags over to me. The three of them had already gone in, and I, who had become one with the luggage, was the last one to finally set foot at the entrance to the dungeon. At that moment, an unidentifiable tingling sensation passed through my body. I instinctively took a step back as if I was shocked by electricity. ¡®Am I just imagining things?¡¯ It didn¡¯t seem to be just my imagination. There were words that I couldn¡¯t make out echoing in my ears. ¡®They definitely said that it was a low-level dungeon, are those bastards trying to scam us?¡¯ I called over the man standing nearby who was looking at his phone, and I pointed at the dungeon gate. He put his phone down and looked at me with a furrowed brow that seemed to ask me why I hadn¡¯t gone inside yet. ¡°Is this dungeon really alright?¡± ¡°Is there some kind of a problem?¡± He just repeated my own question back at me. I could feel the underlying implication to his words: ¡®The dungeon is perfectly fine, so just hurry up and go inside¡¯. I wanted to shorten the amount of time that I was holding onto these bags that were pressing down on my shoulders by even a minute, so I just let out a sigh and turned my body back towards the gate. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a problem.¡± I ignored the tingling sensation and pushed my body fully into the gate. The voice that I¡¯d heard only faintly before could now be heard quite clearly. ¡®An unauthorized person?¡¯ Was it talking about me? It couldn¡¯t be, right? I didn¡¯t have time to wonder about it for long. As soon as I opened my eyes, a status window with a staggering amount of information on the dungeon greeted me. [Goblin Village] Grade: D Terrain: Forest Party Limit: 5-7 people Goal: Destroy the goblin village and collect the Goblin Chief¡¯s necklace. Rewards: The gently blowing breeze and the smell of fresh grass tickled the tip of my nose. At the same time, I could see a green meadow and a forest thick with trees at the end of it. ¡°Oh, this is interesting.¡± Immediately after I had entered the dungeon, the dungeon¡¯s objectives and some brief information about the dungeon had appeared in my view. Kang Han-kyul may have already experienced a dungeon once before, but this was my first dungeon here. Dungeons had also existed in Arbelicia. However, the dungeons that I had experience with weren¡¯t the type where you went through a gate in this way, and they hadn¡¯t given me anything like missions or a status window. ¡®I think I get why people on the Internet kept comparing the current situation to a video game.¡¯ It really felt like I¡¯d stepped into a virtual reality game. The reason why it felt like an MMORPG wasn¡¯t just because of the dungeon¡¯s status window. When our team had met up on Friday like we¡¯d agreed to, we¡¯d decided what our respective positions would be. To say we¡¯d decided then was putting it generously; our positions were already decided the second that we¡¯d met each other. Kim Tae-woon, the one who¡¯d made the chatroom and had taken the role of the team leader, was a DPS. Choi Min-hyuk was the tank, Nam Woon-ik had the roles of supporting the rear and helping the others. The team¡¯s only woman, Lee Ye-eun, was an archer who took the role of the main DPS. And then there was me. ¡°Don¡¯t try to uselessly go off on your own. And if you lose our luggage, I¡¯ll kill you.¡± Choi Min-hyuk, who had a set of armor on as well as a huge greatsword strapped to his back, shot me a glare. As I was the talentless one, the same as being jobless in an RPG game, in this dungeon I was an extra. So that¡¯s why I ended up with the role of pack mule. With every possible piece of luggage I could carry strapped around me, I wordlessly sighed to myself. I wasn¡¯t the pack mule because I was a pushover. ¡®To others, it might look like I¡¯m a pushover, though.¡¯ Anyways, I wasn¡¯t a pushover. I just wanted to see what would happen. * * * As always, there¡¯s a difference between theory and practice. I fully understood that a dungeon is something that moves you to another space, that there existed objectives that needed to be completed within it, and that each of us had our own positions. ¡°What I want to see is ¡®practice¡¯.¡± Anyone can strike an intimidating pose and look cool. I was curious to see how this party who seemed like young people in their early 20s would fight. In that sense, even if I was making my own excuses in order to not hurt my pride, being a pack mule and a pushover was the most advantageous position. ¡°Let¡¯s explore, then mark our territory.¡± Lee Ye-eun¡¯s main weapon was a bow, and she was also acting in the role of an explorer. During the meeting with the other members, there was one truth that I¡¯d come to learn. Despite what it said on the Internet, one¡¯s affiliation didn¡¯t immediately specify one¡¯s class. I had no doubt that Kang Han-kyul had learned some basic common sense about ¡®affiliations¡¯. Unfortunately, when I possessed his body near the end of his position as a trainee, I had none of that relevant information. Nevertheless, one¡¯s affiliation was only that, an affiliation. It was irrelevant to a Hunter¡¯s class. For Hunters in today¡¯s reality, there were no restrictions that prevented a bow user from suddenly taking up a sword or picking up a staff and using magic. Even so, the reason why Hunters were still divided up into positions was simple. To put it simply, humans liked things that they were already used to, and they had a habit of continuing to do things the way that they¡¯d already been doing it. In the first place, weren¡¯t jobs in reality exactly like that? From the moment that humans are born, each of them has the potential to become a judge, a prosecutor, a lawyer, a doctor. No one is born marked as a judge since birth. Unless you were born in some far-off future somewhere. On the grounds that I knew that there existed countless dimensions, I couldn¡¯t declare with certainty that there was no such dimension where that could happen, but at least I knew that this wasn¡¯t the case here. Simply put, it was an incorrect assumption. The notion that if you didn¡¯t have an affiliation then you couldn¡¯t use any skills was also half correct, half incorrect. If you became affiliated with a specific god, your Merit Points and your abilities as a Hunter determined how you could use the power that you received from them, but that didn¡¯t mean you weren¡¯t fully able to use your own skills. It was similar to being a swordsman who was originally able to use the power of fire having that power taken away from him and being forced to use just his sword. ¡®That¡¯s why they called me talentless.¡¯ It seemed that the Internet was not a reliable place. Honestly, I didn¡¯t understand this part very well, but for now, I had no choice but to accept this explanation. Lee Ye-eun, who had taken charge of exploration, signaled with her hand at the entrance of the forest. ¡®It¡¯s so goddamn heavy.¡¯ What kind of camping trip was this? For the stamina of only a week¡¯s worth of exercise, handling this much luggage was beyond my abilities. When I left this dungeon, I resolved to exercise until I fell over and died. Lee Ye-eun, who had gone further inside of the forest, pointed her finger to somewhere beyond the thicket. ¡°She found it so quickly¡­¡± Within the forest was the goblin village. You could see a poorly-made fence made from pieces of wood tied together, as well as about 10 shacks. At the entrance, there were two goblins with green skin standing there holding stone axes. After I¡¯d snuck a peek at the goblins, I tilted my head in confusion. ¡®This is quite different from what I¡¯m familiar with¡­¡¯ ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 6 I Returned as a God Chapter 6 ¨C The Goblin Village (2) The Goblin Village was the dungeon with the lowest difficulty level, and therefore, it was also called the Practice Dungeon. The goblins that were standing guard had small builds, and more than anything, they were considerably thin. The goblins in my memories were, with the exceptions of hobgoblins,monsters with fairly thick muscles and were over 2 meters in height. They were also very comfortable handling their weapons. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t get in the way.¡± After he spotted me leaning forward to take a look, Choi Min-hyuk pushed me out of the way. I almost fell over, luggage and all, but I just barely managed to find my balance before that happened. ¡°There¡¯s an alright spot on the outskirts of the forest. I think we should mark out our territory around there.¡± The forest wasn¡¯t that large, and just as Lee Ye-eun had said, we found an empty open area in its outskirts. I put down the luggage and took in my surroundings. The goblin village was the only thing within the small forest, and there was an ideally placed empty area on the outskirts of it. ¡®This is almost too perfect.¡¯ No matter how you looked at it, this setup was structured with the Hunters entering the dungeon in mind. It was obvious who¡¯d done something like this. ¡®Those guys have such bad taste.¡¯ I tightly clenched my fist. At that moment, I sensed a presence. It was a goblin. It seemed that the others had caught on as well. ¡°I got it!¡± ¡°Wait¡­¡± Choi Min-hyuk grabbed his sword and lunged at the goblin without giving anyone a chance to respond. ¡®Elsion¡¯, the god that Choi Min-hyuk followed, was one of the gods that dealt with fire. When I¡¯d searched him up on the internet, I¡¯d found that he was a pretty famous god. Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s blade lit up with flickering flames as he ran towards the goblin. After seeing the flames, the goblin stepped slightly backwards. Right before the goblin decided that it was too dangerous to attack alone and turned to flee, Choi Min-hyuk ran in close and cut off the goblin¡¯s arm. The huge greatsword sliced cleanly through its arm. The goblin screamed and staggered backwards. The goblin had lost an incredible amount of blood, but it raised its weapon. It seemed to have realized that there was no possibility of escape. At the same time, an arrow flew out from the direction of the tent and hit the goblin squarely in the middle of its head. The arrow exploded the moment that it rammed into the goblin. As the goblin¡¯s head exploded, Choi Min-hyuk used his greatsword to block the spray of blood from hitting him. Choi Min-hyuk went to nag at Lee Ye-eun, who had shot the arrow. ¡°Hey, can¡¯t you kill them more cleanly? Blood splattered all over me!¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you didn¡¯t kill it fast enough.¡± ¡°Hah, let¡¯s not fight. There¡¯s nothing good that can come of fighting amongst ourselves.¡± ¡°Other goblins might come to attack if they smell the corpse or blood.¡± At Nam Woon-ik¡¯s words, Kim Tae-woon lightly shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the corpse.¡± ¡°Do it neatly and thoroughly, got that?¡± Choi Min-hyuk sheathed his greatsword and continued to fume. Even before we¡¯d entered the dungeon, I¡¯d heard countless insults from Choi Min-hyuk about how I was talentless and useless and unable to help, but he¡¯d barely spoken a word to me since we¡¯d set up the tent. I thought it was probably because he¡¯d realized that it was much easier to treat me like an invisible man instead of getting constantly angry at me. Kim Tae-woon put the goblin¡¯s corpse into a sack. I met Kim Tae-woon¡¯s eyes as he hoisted the sack with the corpse inside over his shoulder. ¡°Want to come with me?¡± ¡°Yeah, why not?¡± After hearing everyone else speak so informally, I naturally slipped into informal speech as well. Choi Min-hyuk clicked his tongue before disappearing inside of the tent, and the remaining two people didn¡¯t pay any real attention to me and Kim Tae-woon. To dispose of the goblin¡¯s corpse, we headed towards a small stream that was a bit further away from the open area. After throwing the body into the water at an appropriate place, we washed our hands in the stream. ¡°Before this, the others told me that you¡¯d been one-sidedly trashed in the mock battles, so I thought you really were useless. But it looks like you know how to fight after all.¡± Upon hearing Kim Tae-woon¡¯s words, I lightly scratched the back of my neck. The majority of Hunters registered with guilds immediately after they Awakened. Even if they weren¡¯t official Association Hunters, they were able to receive various benefits and support from the guild during their trainee period. There, instead of the basic education that was usually given by the Association, they could learn on-site practical skills that could really be used to full effect in the dungeons. ¡®A game that¡¯s unfair from the start.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t unfair, I was just an exception. Though I knew that, I had absolutely no intention of trying to worship a god, no matter what. Even now, after entering the dungeon, I still had doubts about the system, and at the same time my discomfort hadn¡¯t disappeared either. Whatever the case, it was clear that among the four other members of the team, Kim Tae-woon was the one that stood out as especially skilled. He¡¯d noticed that I was able to fight just by looking at the stance with which I¡¯d gripped my dagger. It wasn¡¯t polite to leave him waiting for a response like this. ¡°I¡¯ve learned a little bit.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just a little. I won¡¯t bother to pry too hard. Still, I¡¯d like it if you don¡¯t just poke around from the side like you did this time. I¡¯m just saying this because I think it¡¯s unconscionable to let yourself get carried by others if you also know how to fight.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think anyone would be paying attention.¡± In fact, excluding Choi Min-hyuk, the other two weren¡¯t even interested in whether or not I was raising a dagger. ¡°Even if you¡¯re the extra here, you¡¯re still included in the head count. If we clear the dungeon, we have to retake the test anyways if there¡¯s a death, so of course I¡¯m paying attention. On top of that, even if you¡¯re talentless, that doesn¡¯t make you not an Awakened like the rest of us, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think others usually tend to think that way.¡± I fully understood how much contempt the Awakened who didn¡¯t have an affiliation with the gods that were worshiped in this dimension received. Looking at it from their position, Kim Tae-woon¡¯s words would surely be received as heresy. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. But¡­ after seeing Choi Soo-hyun fight, I found myself changing my mind. Even though Choi Soo-hyun wasn¡¯t initially unaffiliated like you. Because the talentless are still Hunters in the end. And if you can use a weapon like a dagger, then you can kill plenty of low-tier monsters, like goblins, even without skills. Honestly, those who go as far as to use their skills to kill a goblin are the true idiots.¡± I got the sense I knew who Kim Tae-woon was talking about. If you looked at how powerless the goblin that had been killed was, Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s fire and Lee Ye-eun¡¯s exploding skills were an excessive use of force. I was relieved that there was at least one person who I was able to get through to. ¡°I¡¯m just curious, but is that guy really that strong?¡± I¡¯d tried to verify the rumors and various strange theories on the Internet that wrapped around Choi Soo-hyun. The problem was even if I found a source that said he did something some way or another, to someone like me, who had come here after living in an entirely different world, there was nothing that I felt accurately conveyed what he had done. If I had to summarize it, ¡°Ah, this guy is famous and strong,¡± was the extent of my review. Kim Tae-woon had definitely encountered Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s fighting form in some way before. I couldn¡¯t hold back my curiosity; I had to ask him. ¡°It seems like you¡¯ve seen that guy¡­I mean, Choi Soo-hyun fight before?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only ever seen him from a distance one time during a dungeon break, but I saw him destroy a twinhead ogre in seconds.¡± Twinhead ogres were A-grade monsters, and each one took at least three B-rank Hunters to take down. At the time, Choi Soo-hyun didn¡¯t even take out his weapons, let alone use his skills. When Kim Tae-woon saw Choi Soo-hyun afterwards scolding the guild Hunters that arrived late while casually sipping his coffee, he realized that affiliation and the individual strength of a Hunter were two separate things. Even if he didn¡¯t know why Choi Soo-hyun, who could become even stronger if he accepted an affiliation, had decided to stay unaffiliated and work as a civil servant for the Association. I listened as Kim Tae-woon told me his story, then opened my mouth to speak. ¡°A monster is a monster, huh.¡± I didn¡¯t know exactly how strong A-grade creatures were, but if the twinhead ogre that Kim Tae-woon was talking about was anything close to the twinhead ogres that I knew, then they really were monsters. Even if I adjusted for them to be slightly weaker based on what I¡¯d seen of how weak the goblins in this world were than how I¡¯d thought of them, my assessment wouldn¡¯t be that different. ¡®Those who could kill an ogre with their bare hands weren¡¯t common in Arbelicia either.¡¯ I got the general understanding now. Kim Tae-woon muttered to himself. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have said anything.¡± ¡°Oh, well it¡¯s fine.¡± Kim Tae-woon lightly patted me on the shoulder and turned towards the open area where the tent was. ¡®He¡¯ll be fine on his own, right?¡¯ None of them, including Kim Tae-woon, seemed to be ignorant of dungeons or anything, so I felt that nothing bad would occur. ¡®I¡¯d better start thinking about what to do after we leave this dungeon.¡¯ In my head I had already left the dungeon, and all I could think about was how to keep a tighter leash on Choi Soo-hyun. * * * * * * We¡¯d decided to keep a night watch going, but not for any particular reason. As I was letting out a yawn, Kim Tae-woon approached me. He¡¯d arrived for his shift at just the right time. The time inside the dungeon passed the same way that it did in reality. We¡¯d decided that the dark hour just before the morning sun fully rose would be the time for our surprise ambush. An arrow that Lee Ye-eun shot hit a clumsily made wooden house and exploded. While the goblins were trying to get their bearings, Kim Tae-woon and Choi Min-hyuk made short work of them. Unlike the precise sword of Kim Tae-woon, Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s blade was burning and flickering brightly. Instead of wielding a flaming sword, he gave off more of an impression of waving around a lit matchstick. How could I help it if that¡¯s how I saw it? I thought that because there weren¡¯t that many houses, that there wouldn¡¯t be many goblins, but contrary to my expectations, a surprisingly large amount of goblins came out of the village. Belatedly realizing that the village was on fire, the goblins that were hiding in the caves also came out to their aid. Even if that amount wasn¡¯t enough, there were still over 30 of them. Although each individual little goblin wasn¡¯t that strong, if we didn¡¯t clear all of the goblins that were in the village before the cave goblins arrived, then it was sure to be a pain. Instead of being arrogant about the apparent difference in power, we had understood the enemy¡¯s situation and waited until dawn before proceeding with our ambush. ¡®A flawless and perfect strategy.¡¯ Even if you accounted for someone like me having no information about the dungeon beforehand, this kind of progress made it very likely that someone had been given information in advance about the situation. For a beginner dungeon like this, it was clear that the amount of accumulated information on it in databases would be considerable. Because of Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s skill, the small village went up in an ocean of flames in an instant. The door that was in the middle of the village suddenly broke down, and a large goblin stepped out. Compared to the other skinny and emaciated goblins, and just from glancing at his convincing weapon and the necklace made of animal bones hanging around his neck, it was obvious that this was the boss, the Goblin Chief. The Goblin Chief, who saw that his fellow goblins had fallen dead at his feet in an instant, was filled with rage and rushed towards Kim Tae-woon. Choi Min-hyuk quickly ran out in front of him and blocked him. Nam Woon-ik, who was standing near the back like I was, used his magic. Three or four ice spears appeared above him. The ice itself looked like it could penetrate through skin, so it didn¡¯t look bad. The ice spears that Nam Woon-ik threw at the Goblin Chief stabbed his shoulder and thigh. Taking advantage of the Goblin Chief staggering backwards, Kim Tae-woon stabbed his sword right into his chest. [The Goblin Chief (Boss) has been killed.] [Upon taking care of the rest of the goblins, the exit gate will activate.] [Amount of remaining goblins: +18] Immediately after the Goblin Chief fell dead, the status window notification rang out. Not knowing what to do after their chief had died, the rest of the goblins scattered. As if they¡¯d planned it out beforehand, the remaining four who were standing strong diligently took care of the rest of the goblins. Nam Woon-ik¡¯s ice spear pierced through the last goblin¡¯s chest, and at the same time the number of remaining goblins dropped to 0. [Amount of remaining goblins: 0] [¡®The Goblin Village¡¯ Dungeon has been cleared.] [Error :: The exit gate has failed to load.] [Error :: The exit gate has failed to load.] [Error :: The exit gate has failed to load.] ¡­ Something had gone wrong. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 7 I Returned as a God Chapter 7 ¨C The Goblin Village (3) Even if they didn¡¯t say it out loud, there was no one who was so absent-minded that they didn¡¯t notice that something was wrong with this situation. ¡°This is crazy. What happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of something like this happening.¡± ¡°Are we trapped in this dungeon? No way!! I don¡¯t want to be trapped!¡± ¡°Wait! Everyone calm down!¡± Everyone started to fall into a panic. At the same time, the status windows indicating that the exit gate creation had failed continued to pop up. [Error :: The exit gate has failed to load.] [Error :: The exit gate has failed to load.] At this point, it was just about giving me goosebumps. ¡°Wait¡­ doesn¡¯t something feel off?¡± Lee Ye-eun, whose role was to do recon as the team¡¯s explorer, was the first to respond. ¡°Is it an earthquake?¡± Of course, I also felt the disturbance at almost the same time as Lee Ye-eun. I thought it was just an earthquake at first, but then I realized that wasn¡¯t it at all. It wasn¡¯t just the earth, but it was the whole space itself that was shaking. My eyes swam as if I¡¯d drank a lot of alcohol. It reached a point where I couldn¡¯t even control my body. * * * We all regained consciousness at pretty much the same time. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What happened? ¡°Hey, this isn¡¯t right.¡± Nam Woon-ik was the first to break the silence, and Choi Min-hyuk also opened his mouth after taking a look around. We were on top of a gigantic bridge made out of black bricks. Under it was an abyss so deep that you could hardly see an inch into it. The bridge fell off right behind the point where we had been teleported. It was structured so that we could only move forwards, no matter what. Lee Ye-eun, who had been quietly staring into space, suddenly opened her mouth with a grave expression. ¡°That¡¯s strange. My status window won¡¯t come up.¡± Usually, when one entered a dungeon, the first thing they would see was a window that displayed information about the dungeon. The only information available outside of dungeons were just the dungeon¡¯s name and its boss. Any other details were unknown until you entered it. In the present day, it had been 60 years since dungeons had first started to appear, and mankind had become used to things like dungeons and monsters. For any dungeon below A-grade, information about it was publicly available, and the only ones where the details were really relevant were the rare A or S-grade special dungeons. ¡°This is a strange place, doesn¡¯t it kind of make sense that it¡¯s not showing up?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not it! nothing is showing up at all! Not just the dungeon information window, but everything else! There¡¯s nothing!¡± Lee Ye-eun¡¯s anxiety won out, and her voice rose to a scream. Kim Tae-woon and Nam Woon-ik both tried at the same time to open their status window. Of course, I also tried to open my own status window after having quietly been listening. ¡°Is there anyone whose status window is working?¡± ¡°Mine¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Shit, me neither.¡± The eyes of four people turned towards me. Like I would be any different. Instead of responding, I just quietly shook my head. If all of these four people could leave this dungeon, they could officially start living as Hunters. To these four who were all thinking that they could clear the dungeon normally like everyone else, something like this was like a lightning bolt tearing apart the clear sky. The atmosphere was almost reminiscent of a funeral service. Kim Tae-woon tried to calm the other party members down. ¡°For now, let¡¯s try moving forward or taking a look at our surroundings.¡± ¡°Damn it. I really thought it was over.¡± ¡°No way that we die here, right?¡± ¡°Stop saying nerve-wracking shit like that! The four people started searching around the perimeter of the bridge. Of course, I also participated in the search. There was no railing on the bridge, and if even a little thing went wrong, the chance that you would fall off was frighteningly high. I got on my knees and looked down again under the bridge. I couldn¡¯t see anything besides pitch-black darkness below. It was clear that if you fell from here, there was no chance of coming back alive. Half of the bridge was made up of black bricks, but there were white bricks embedded in here and there that acted like little lights. ¡°You¡¯re pretty fearless.¡± Lee Ye-eun, who had been standing a few paces behind me with her arms crossed, started to speak to me. I looked back down below me. It was just that I couldn¡¯t estimate the depth, I hadn¡¯t particularly thought that there was something to be scared about what was below. It was probably because of all my countless experiences. ¡°By any chance, do you have anything I can throw?¡± * * * * * * I started to respond after slightly turning my body towards her. She quickly caught onto my intentions and started rummaging around in her pockets. What Lee Ye-eun pulled out from her pocket was a steel ball that was slightly bigger than the size of a coin. ¡°Something like this could work.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°A one-use smoke bomb, I got it from my guild. If it bumps into something, it¡¯ll explode and smoke will rise up.¡± ¡°That¡¯s perfect.¡± If there was a floor, then smoke would come up to us after the bomb hit it. I took the iron ball she called a smoke bomb down below. The other party members, who had looked around at their surroundings and hadn¡¯t found anything of note, came towards me and Lee Ye-eun as we were attempting to throw the smoke bomb. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°We threw a smoke bomb down there. But it didn¡¯t even make a sound, let alone smoke.¡± ¡°It¡¯s either stupidly deep, or something went wrong. Whichever it is, it just shows that if you fall, there¡¯s no chance of making it back up alive. Looks like the only thing that¡¯s left is that.¡± Choi Min-hyuk twisted his body towards the building at the end of the bridge. ¡°What kind of building is that?¡± ¡°Rather than a building, doesn¡¯t it look like some kind of tower?¡± Lee Ye-eun pointed towards the top of the structure. Looking at it closer, it had a similar appearance to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. However, the difference was that this tower was so tall I couldn¡¯t see the top. ¡°And then what? Are you saying we should climb this tower?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard about tower-type dungeons, but this looks like a lot more than a couple ten floors.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not about climbing the tower or not climbing the tower, right now our status windows aren¡¯t even showing up? What are we supposed to do in this situation?¡± ¡°Why the hell did something like this have to happen to us¡­¡± Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s hot gaze cut through the disorganized and confused party. He wasn¡¯t the only one that was doubting me. ¡®Even though they¡¯d find nothing even if they interrogated me a thousand times.¡¯ Despite this, it was fortunate that the two people who doubted me weren¡¯t just idiots that would get swept up by their emotions. After stepping off the bridge, we arrived at a small garden near the entrance of the tower. Even just peeking through the garden, we could see that there was an intimidatingly large iron gate. It wasn¡¯t just because it was large, either. The intimidating atmosphere and pressure that radiated from the door and pervaded through the entire building was no joke. Even though I considered myself to be someone with a fairly large amount of experiences under my belt, it was enough to make me almost shudder for a moment. That was how huge the tower felt, stretching out so high that we couldn¡¯t even estimate how tall it was. We couldn¡¯t just stay like this forever. We¡¯d tried and searched for everything we could do or find on the bridge. The only thing left was the tower. The problem now was who would open the door to this unidentifiable tower. Everybody could sense that it was out of the ordinary. ¡°Hey, you talentless bastard. You go.¡± Choi Min-hyuk grabbed my shoulder and pushed me forward. ¡°I don¡¯t know what these other guys are thinking, but I suspect that you¡¯ve got something to do with what happened here. Admit it, you¡¯re honestly the strangest person here.¡± ¡°Even so, this isn¡¯t right. Even if he doesn¡¯t have a god to follow, Kang Han-kyul is still a Hunter.¡± ¡°What isn¡¯t right? You¡¯re talking like this now, but you were the very first one to suspect him, Kim Tae-woon. Anyways. Even if we can¡¯t access our status windows, this guy¡¯s still the weakest link out of all of us. If a problem comes up that requires us to be cold and objective, then it¡¯s right that the guy with no power should die.¡± Choi Min-hyuk spoke up somewhat coldly and objectively. The situation being what it was, no one was in the state of mind to wrap their head around his remarks. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll go.¡± ¡°Relax. At the very least, if something happens we won¡¯t just throw you away to die. But if you die before we can help you¡­ Well, there¡¯s nothing we can do about that.¡± What uselessly thankful consideration. Ignoring Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s words, I went down the steps and stood in front of the huge door. ¡°Is this even a door?¡± More than a door, it just seemed like a giant slab of iron. I couldn¡¯t see any gaps, and there was nothing that indicated that there was a way to open it. I looked back at my party members behind me and let out a sigh before I reached out and touched my hand to the large iron slab in front of me. Nothing happened. As my mind swam with thoughts as I stood there with my hand to the door, a single hypothesis brushed through my mind. ¡®No way.¡¯ In the status window, Mana was included as one of the attributes. Magical power had existed when I was in Arbelicia. In the world of Hunters, Mana seemed to be regarded as simply another energy gauge through which skills could be used. But the truth was Mana was the spiritual power within all living beings. If Stamina was the power of the body, then the root of Mana was the power of the spirit that flowed through the body. Although I hadn¡¯t used any magical power so far because I didn¡¯t have any skills yet, if this was also true in this world, the use of Mana and the status window had nothing to do with each other. In the first place, something like a status window was only there for Hunters to easily look at and understand their current state; just because you couldn¡¯t see the status window didn¡¯t mean that your magical power had disappeared. After taking a deep breath, I released the magical power in my body through my hands. ¡°Huh?¡± A blue pattern slowly started to appear on the gigantic wall. ¡®Although, I don¡¯t know if it will be possible with this body.¡¯ I poured all the magical power I had within me into the door. Although I felt a little exhausted, thankfully the door didn¡¯t consume as much magical power as I thought it would. At the same time, the pattern of blue light was completed. [The Tower of Trials has identified the tower¡¯s owner.] [Error :: Unable to identify the number of stories.] [Destroy the Goblin Troops] [Number of goblins remaining: 50] [Error :: Unable to verify the reward.] Behind me there was a bright flash of light. From a gigantic magic circle, more than 50 goblins started to materialize. ¡®Out of the frying pan and into the fire.¡¯ At this point, it was too much to even try to figure out just what was going on. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 8 - The Goblin Village (4) Chapter 8 ¨C The Goblin Village (4) At the sight of the suddenly appearing monsters, the four people gathered together and raised their weapons. Kim Tae-woon, who was holding onto a greatsword, looked towards me and shouted out: ¡°You goddamn bastard! What did you do?!¡± ¡°Monsters in a situation like this¡­¡± The troop of 50 goblins that had been summoned onto the bridge were slowly advancing towards us. ¡°What¡¯s the Tower of Trials, and what the hell is a challenger?!¡± ¡°What? How should I know?¡± ¡°Ahhhh! What am I supposed to do without the status window?!¡± ¡°You said they were goblins, didn¡¯t you? What kind of goblins look like this?¡± The summoned goblins were completely different from the goblins that we¡¯d seen in the dungeon. If the goblins in the dungeon had been malnourished and starved half to death, armed with old weapons and leather armor, then these newly-summoned goblins were worlds apart from them. With tempered muscles, steel armor, and wickedly sharp weapons on their backs, these goblins looked like trained soldiers. ¡®That¡¯s more like it.¡¯ Even if the armor didn¡¯t match exactly, these newly-summoned goblins were much closer to the goblins that I knew. Although I didn¡¯t know if that was a good thing. I briefly looked back at the tower, then took out my dagger and made my way to join up with the rest of the party. The four people just gave me a sideways glance as I arrived holding my dagger, and didn¡¯t say much else. In the face of 50 well-trained goblins, the label of ¡°spare¡± became meaningless. It wasn¡¯t a question about whether you could fight or not, you simply had to fight no matter what. The goblin at the very back raised his spear. This goblin was much bigger than the others, different even from the Goblin Chief that we had seen in the dungeon. Goblin Lord. The King of the Goblins. At the same time as the King¡¯s cry, the other goblins also raised their weapons high and cheered. Compared to the happy faces of the goblin troops, this side looked like a funeral home. Under the command of the Goblin Lord, 10 of the goblins on the front lines started to attack. The sheer fact that they didn¡¯t all attack at once meant that they were looking down on us. Kim Tae-woon and Choi Min-hyuk, who were the closest, raised their weapons and clashed with the goblins. Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s greatsword was successful in stopping the goblin¡¯s attack, but that was all. ¡°Damn it! If only I could use my skills!¡± The summoned goblins were completely different from the goblins in the dungeon. It was difficult just to block their attacks, let alone to even try to counterattack. One of the goblin¡¯s grabbed onto Choi Min-hyuk, and at the same time, another goblin snuck up behind him. Sensing the imminent danger, Choi Min-hyuk screwed his eyes shut tightly. I quickly ran behind Choi Min-hyuk. My two daggers collided with the goblin¡¯s sword. The goblin just now started to push back with real strength, as if he had thought that there was no way that I would interfere. ¡®Damn. This is dangerous.¡¯ I started to scowl with exertion after having blocked the goblin¡¯s sword. ¡°You¡­¡± Choi Min-hyuk also frowned after seeing that he had received my help. But that expression didn¡¯t last on his face for long. Pride meant nothing in a situation where everyone was likely to die. With Choi Min-hyuk at my back, I kept blocking the goblin¡¯s sword with my dagger in a battle of strength. Honestly, I was overestimating myself. More accurately, I was overestimating the body of Kang Han-kyul that I was possessing. Because I didn¡¯t have his memories, I couldn¡¯t figure out what kind of a guy this ¡®Kang Han-kyul¡¯ had been in the past. But the important thing was that I still had my precious memories. The memories of surviving life-or-death situations in Arbelicia. The problem was elsewhere. I had hurriedly started exercising, but Kang Han-kyul¡¯s body was still weaker than I¡¯d thought. This body might¡¯ve been able to take on the goblins that we saw in the dungeon, but I felt that facing these well-trained gobins was definitely impossible. But the worst part was that this wasn¡¯t even the worst part. Even if three people could each block one goblin, there were still way too many more goblins after that. ¡°D-Don¡¯t come! Don¡¯t come any closer!¡± ¡°Hey! Do something!¡± ¡°I¡¯m a magician! What do you want me to do?! I can¡¯t use my skills!¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way I can kill those guys with these flimsy arrows!¡± Normally, it wouldn¡¯t make any sense for the frontline to split open and for monsters to start coming for two support players. But this was far from a normal situation, and it was hard for everyone to protect their own bodies. ¡®I don¡¯t have any skills to begin with, but¡­ those guys are different.¡¯ First of all, the very thought of not being able to use your skills had seemed to create considerable anxiety. Lee Ye-eun held up her emergency dagger and swung it towards the approaching goblins. ¡°Don¡¯t come closer. Don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Just visualize it!¡± ¡°What are you saying?!¡± ¡°Just because the status window has disappeared doesn¡¯t mean your skills have! Just shut up and use them like normal!¡± The four people flinched when I now raised my voice after having barely said anything throughout the whole dungeon expedition. From where he was squatting on the ground hiding behind Lee Ye-eun, Nam Woon-ik stretched his arms up to the sky. Several ice spears appeared above Nam Woon-ik¡¯s head. ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± When he stretched both arms out with the mind to go all out, the ice spears that had appeared above his head pierced through the goblins¡¯ armor. * * * It wasn¡¯t enough to kill the goblins in one strike, but it surprised the goblins enough to make them scatter and retreat. I felt hot fire behind my back. ¡°Duck! Now!¡± At Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s words, I quickly ducked down. His flaming greatsword swung around in a wide arc. Like before, the panicked goblins retreated. ¡°Hah¡­ Hah¡­¡± With the desperate thought that he had needed to beat back the goblins no matter what, Choi Min-hyuk had used magic excessively and was now trying to catch his breath. The bodies of two goblins with their heads cut off fell sideways. That was Kim Tae-woon¡¯s doing. After hearing me cry out, he had also immediately started to use his skills as before. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°How did you know that? You don¡¯t even have any skills.¡± ¡°It was just a logical deduction. I didn¡¯t know if it would work because I don¡¯t have any skills of my own.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a weird guy.¡± We heard an explosion from behind us. Lee Ye-eun had used a body strengthening skill to push back a goblin with a kick before firing an arrow towards its head. After seeing the display of several dead goblin corpses in front of them, the remaining goblins stepped back slightly. But the goblins right in front of us wasn¡¯t all of them. There was still a large amount of armed goblins behind them. Even though we¡¯d figured out that we could use our skills, there was still a long way to go before we were in the clear. Choi Min-hyuk gripped his greatsword tightly and held the goblins back. ¡°D¡¯you think we can do this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Hah, I never thought something like this could happen even before we debuted as Hunters.¡± ¡°Is that a death flag?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say stupid things like that. I¡¯m not planning to go down without a fight.¡± Nam Woon-ik and Lee Ye-eun came back to the party after having come back to their senses. ¡®I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s even possible for us to do this.¡¯ I tried not to have anxious thoughts whenever possible, but this situation was just too hopeless. Maybe it was because they¡¯d caught sight of the Goblin Lord, but the remaining goblins suddenly cried out and attacked all at once. ¡®Let¡¯s do the best that we can until the very end!¡¯ Like the other members of my party, I definitely also had no plans to go down quietly. I¡¯d survived like this so far, after all. After dodging a goblin¡¯s attack with minimal movement, I grabbed it by the back. ¡®I can¡¯t use any special skills, but the basics should still work.¡¯ Rather, it was more strange that there was a status window to begin with. I stabbed hard at the back of the goblin¡¯s neck with my dagger after having poured magic power into the hand that was holding it. With a blood-curdling scream, the goblin writhed and struggled. There hadn¡¯t been enough power in the dagger to kill him with one strike. It was almost like I was dangling from the goblin¡¯s back before I plunged the second dagger in right next to the first one. I pulled out the two daggers that were now stuck in the goblin¡¯s back at the same time. Blood splattered out through the gaping flesh, and both my body and the goblin¡¯s fell to the ground. There were still so many goblins left. The goblin¡¯s blood had come up to my wrist when I wrenched the dagger out. ¡°Kyaaa!¡± ¡°Ahhhh! Ack!¡± I heard screams. The troops in the back had started to shoot their arrows. Without thinking, I swatted away the oncoming arrows with my dagger. I narrowly blocked them, but my wrist felt like it was going to explode. ¡®Kang Han-kyul¡¯s body right now is at the level of an average adult man.¡¯ Compared to the limp-high-schooler body borne from studying that I¡¯d had when I first traveled to Arbelicia, I was thankful to now at least have the body of an average man in his 20s. The problem was that this situation was now very different from back then. To me, an average 20-something-year-old¡¯s body wasn¡¯t that different from my body as a high school senior. Lee Ye-eun had been hit with an arrow in her eye, and Nam Woon-ik had been hit in the leg, and the other goblins had sensed this weakness and attacked. ¡°Fuck¡ª¡± A huge ball of flame went flying at Choi Min-hyuk who had run over to help. He whirled around and lit his own sword on fire to block the fireball. It was none other than Kim Tae-woon who grabbed at Choi Min-hyuk as he ran away after he¡¯d barely blocked the fire. Five goblins swung their weapons at the two that had fallen. An incredible amount of blood splattered out from under the goblins¡¯ feet. One goblin holding an axe turned around. On the ground, I could see a severed hand. ¡°This is insane.¡± Choi Min-hyuk had decided that this was no joke, and he gripped his greatsword even more tightly. The second wave of arrows came flying towards us. There weren¡¯t any more words exchanged between us. The remaining goblins attacked, and I faced them in order to survive. Around when I had already killed two, and had barely managed to kill a third, it happened. A whirlwind of flames and sparks shot upwards. It was Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s attack. As the goblins retreated from the fireworks, Choi Min-hyuk held onto his sword and looked somewhere in the distance. Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s shoulder was covered in blood where a blade had sliced through it, and there was an arrow sticking out of his left thigh. ¡°Even if I die here, I¡¯ll cut the head off that boss first!¡± Deciding that there was no hope, Choi Min-hyuk ran towards the Goblin Lord in an all-or-nothing last-ditch effort. A spear that a goblin was holding pierced through Choi Min-hyuk¡¯s chest and stomach. Far from reaching the Goblin Lord, a nearby goblin had already stabbed him. When the goblin pulled out the spear, blood and guts came spilling out of the hole in his punctured stomach. Kim Tae-woon and I shared a glance with each other. The Goblin Lord raised his weapon and gave another cheer. A couple more goblins came out to the front. Kim Tae-Woon and I stood back to back, and he took a deep breath. He wasn¡¯t fatally injured like Choi Min-hyuk, but his body wasn¡¯t completely fine either. ¡®I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to use one arm either.¡¯ Because I¡¯d faced two more goblins after having sprained it while swatting an arrow, one of my arms was now completely broken. Judging by the degree of the swelling, it was definitely a broken bone. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I don¡¯t have that much mana left.¡± ¡°Damn. That¡¯s a huge confession.¡± Throwing away my dulled dagger, I picked up a goblin sword that had fallen on the ground. ¡ª- Chapter 9 - The Tower’s Master (1) Chapter 9 ¨C The Tower¡¯s Master (1) Kim Tae-woon gave me a sideways glance as I closed my hands around the hilt. ¡°Now that we¡¯re here, let me ask you one more question¡­ Where did you learn to wield a sword?¡± Kim Tae-woon had said that it¡¯d been one year since he¡¯d Awakened. Usually, after someone Awakens, they¡¯d be independently trained within a guild. There were differences between guilds, of course, but I¡¯d heard that the average training period was usually between 6 months to a year. Like the name implies, the Awakened were people who had been living ordinary lives until they were suddenly able to access their status window and gain the right to enter dungeons and become Hunters. Let¡¯s be realistic. If, on a random day, you were suddenly told to kill a person, would you be able to do it? With the exception of psychopaths or maniacs who fantasize about murder, most people given a knife would hesitate if they had to kill an animal, what more a human being. In this aspect, the people in this world were no different. After completing formal training, you could start officially engaging in Hunter activities. But being able to work as a Hunter and being able to help in a dungeon where you had to risk your life were two very different things. Reality isn¡¯t a game. That¡¯s what it means to risk your life. The four other members of my party followed textbook formation during the ¡®Goblin Village¡¯ raid. This meant that they had received sufficient preliminary knowledge and education from their guilds even before completing their education from the Association. Because they¡¯d practiced individually hundreds of times, there was no way that they wouldn¡¯t mesh well together. Kim Tae-woon was the same way. During the several months since he¡¯d entered his guild, he had definitely been trained in swordsmanship. If you observed his movements, you could clearly tell that he had been more rigorously trained than the others. Wary of the approaching goblins, I gave a lukewarm response. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I guess you could call it a survival skill? Anyways, is that really what you want to ask about at the end?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking because we¡¯re at the end.¡± ¡°To be clear, I have no intention of dying.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Then I guess we¡¯ll just have to stay alive.¡± The goblins rushed forward. With one hand, I delicately blocked a goblin¡¯s sword. After slightly twisting my body, I jumped to the side. A goblin that was swinging his axe tried to attack my back, but he lost his balance and ended up attacking the goblin in front of him. The axe-wielding goblin ignored the goblin holding the sword and smirked cruelly. It looked like the axe goblin was the superior one. ¡®A real piece of shit, huh.¡¯ After narrowly escaping the gods, I¡¯d ended up falling into this dimension that¡¯s similar to but different from the reality that I remembered. I¡¯d wanted to adapt a little, but this time I¡¯d fallen into an error-ridden Tower of Trials. ¡®Now, what should I do about this?¡¯ Giving up on the offensive, I decided to focus only on dodging attacks. I did my best to avoid their blows, but my body couldn¡¯t keep up, and my wounds were increasing little by little. Suddenly, the goblins started to retreat. Looking at the goblin troops, I quickly sprang backwards and retreated as well. Dozens of arrows shot out and started to fall above our heads. The tips of the arrows flying towards us glistened. ¡®Poison arrows.¡¯ Luckily, my body and my line of sight were two separate things. I gave up on flicking away the arrows with my sword, and the only thing left to do was to run away as far as I could. ¡°Khhk¨C!¡± Kim Tae-woon, who¡¯d stood firm and tried to block the arrows, fell to his knees. A couple of gobins started running towards him. I tried to go to help him, but the situation was equally as bad on my end. Kim Tae-woon specialized in body strengthening skills, so he used the rest of his magic to block the goblins¡¯ attack. A goblin with a comparatively slight build snuck up to Kim Tae-woon and stabbed him in the side with a dagger. When he pulled the dagger out, an incredible amount of blood began to flow out of his side. Not stopping here, the goblin thrust the dagger into Kim Tae-woon again. As soon as I saw the huge axe rise behind him, I quickly closed my eyes at the same time that I avoided an attack from another goblin. ¡°H¡­Hel¡­p¡­¡­¡­¡± The sight of him trying to somehow stay alive, with his sword tied to his hand by fabric ripped from his clothes, was extremely pitiful. The goblins continued to hack away at his corpse long after he had died. Kim Tae-woon and I had stayed alive the longest, and at the same time, we¡¯d been the ones to kill the most goblins. There was no way those goblins with eyes clouded by revenge would¡¯ve given him an elegant death. However, I didn¡¯t have time to feel pity, so I continued to swing my sword around. My entire body was screaming out in pain. Even though I knew it was hopeless, I kept moving without stopping. It had been a while since I¡¯d had this kind of fight. More than being afraid, it was enough to make me start laughing. One corpse, two corpses, the bodies around me started to pile up. The goblins circled me, watching me vigilantly. My surroundings were striped with blood and bits of flesh. Whether that blood was from humans or monsters, there was no way to differentiate. A goblin threw a crudely severed arm in front of me. It was the arm of the dead Kim Tae-woon. I guess that meant it was my turn to die, huh. No? Well then, never mind. The goblins started to surround me. Near the back, I saw a goblin pull a bowstring back. I¡¯d been lucky so far to avoid all the poison arrows, but there was no guarantee that I¡¯d be able to do it again. The goblin that had thrown the severed arm at me started to rush towards me first. As if the sword in my hands was a spear, I threw it straight at the goblin. The sword I threw hit the goblin¡¯s eye exactly. The goblin let out a scream, not having expected that I would throw my sword. Seeing that my weapon had now left my hands, the other goblins also started to attack. They must¡¯ve thought that it was a frantic, last-ditch effort. ¡°Fuck, this is insane!¡± I couldn¡¯t use that sword anymore. In the first place, it wasn¡¯t a very good sword, and it was on the verge of breaking anyway. Ignoring the goblins, I recklessly started running past them. My other party members were all dead. There was no point in even trying to find their bodies to confirm it. ¡®I¡¯ll run to the door!¡¯ I didn¡¯t even know if it was a door. Even so, I was certain that it was at least the entrance to the tower. There was a reason why I was desperately running towards the tower. It was because of the words that I¡¯d seen when the goblins had first started to appear. ¡®The tower¡¯s owner? Is that me?¡¯ At the time, I was too distracted to think about what that meant, but as the situation grew more tense, my head started to spin. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s obvious, but I had never owned something like a tower. So where did this mysterious tower and this unknown space come from? If the question was ¡°Choose the outlier between these four people that entered the dungeon¡±¡­ ¡®Anyone could tell you that it¡¯s me!! I just wanted to escape from those damn gods! What the hell is this!¡¯ Biting back the bitter laments of my misfortune, I managed to just barely dodge the goblins¡¯ attacks and reach the door. I put my hand on the door and infused it with magical power, the same way that I had when the goblins first appeared. Parts of the enormous door started to shine and light up. [The ¡®Tower of Trials¡¯ has recognized its owner.] [The dimension has been left neglected for too long and must be restored.] At the sudden light, the goblins had backed away. Meanwhile, notification windows started to pop-up nonstop. Among the frantic notifications, the most eye-catching pop-up was none other than the skill called [Advent]. ¡®What is this ¡°Advent¡±?¡¯ Who exactly would you be able to call down from the heavens? I wish I knew what exactly would happen, but no other methods were coming to me at the moment. It was much better to die trying it out than to just die like this. [Calling ???] [This body has recognized the master of this soul.] [You are * * * * *] ¡°Huh? What?¡± I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes as the text passed by. I glanced up at the never-ending tower. At the same time, dozens of arrows started to rain down over my head. ¡°What is this?!¡± First, I had to try and avoid them. [You are now in the ¡®Advent¡¯ state.] [You will temporarily be able to use the power of a god.] [The connection is unstable.] [Power will be limited.] The second the arrows came down on me, I jumped up high and avoided them. I got rid of the status windows blocking my view. ¡®No way¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m having my old godly self descend into¡­ myself.¡¯ My soul had once risen beyond the level of the gods. But since I wasn¡¯t in the same body I had ascended in, I wasn¡¯t able to use the full extent of my godly powers¡­ for now. The dust cleared, and one goblin raised his head towards where I¡¯d jumped, as if he¡¯d found me. I could see confusion appear on the faces of the goblins. After landing on one foot, I picked up a sword that had fallen to the ground. My body¡¯s condition felt so good now that it was scary. I felt good, but that didn¡¯t mean that the state of my body was normal. I could check out what was going on with that tower behind me later. ¡°First, I should do something about this.¡± My mind became clear, and my field of vision increased. As I got into position, the goblins snorted as if this was absurd. * * * I slit the throat of the last goblin and threw the sword on the ground. I couldn¡¯t go any further and collapsed onto the ground. It was really touch-and-go for a minute there. I laid down at the entrance among the piled-up goblin corpses and looked up at the sky. The tower rose endlessly into the dark sky. Staring into the dark sky, I suddenly remembered the dream that I had before I¡¯d even entered the dungeon. But before I could think further¡­ I fainted. I didn¡¯t even know how it was possible to lose consciousness in this situation, but I definitely felt that I¡¯d overdone it. The sky was so endlessly black. After I regained consciousness and woke up, I couldn¡¯t find a sign that any time had passed. It was like I¡¯d been thrown into the middle of space. I was glad that I hadn¡¯t died, but just because I had survived didn¡¯t mean that any of this was over. The large door was still shining bright. As soon as I placed my hand on the door, I saw words appearing in front of my eyes. ¡°Since when?¡± I shook my head with my arms crossed. I swear, I¡¯d never owned anything like a tower. I did have the vague feeling that I¡¯d forgotten something, but that was it. I couldn¡¯t remember it, so how could I figure out what I¡¯d forgotten? I felt that I needed to find out a little more about this tower. At that moment, another notification rang out. ¡°What is it now?¡± [Please secure more Merit Points until the day of the decisive battle.] [The ¡®dimension ruler¡¯ will be the master of all gods.] [Location: Dimension R-1354] Once I pressed the (View) button, I could see a part of the dimension as if watching CCTV Cameras. I could see familiar signboards written in Korean along with the inside of a pub in the downtown area. In the middle of the crowded pub, someone was drinking alcohol with a group. Between the many drunk faces, I could see Choi Soo-hyun. I didn¡¯t know what was going on, but it looked like a group dinner for the team. ¡°What¡¯s that bastard doing over there?¡± It was so ridiculous that I ended up mumbling it out loud. ¡ª- Chapter 10 - The Tower’s Master (2) Chapter 10 ¨C The Tower¡¯s Master (2) If you¡¯re going to show me something, why show me such a ridiculous scene? This guy was out here having dinner with his colleagues while, on my end, I had almost died. I took my finger off of the (View) button and started to think to myself. Dimension R-1354. If that Choi Soo-hyun was the Choi Soo-hyun that I knew, then the chance was high that the dimension that would be used as a stage for this battle would be Kang Han-kyul¡¯s dimension. ¡®There are gods that use aliases here, too.¡¯ There were Hunters that followed those gods. If they killed monsters or cleared dungeons, they¡¯d receive Merit Points. If you offered up your Merit Points to the god that you worshiped, you were able to use a proportional fraction of that god¡¯s power. This was what I¡¯d heard during my Hunter¡¯s education. ¡°The god who has the most Merit Points on the day of the decisive battle will become this dimension¡¯s ruler.¡± But this was something that I¡¯d never heard of when I was receiving my training. I now understood why there were so many gods that hid their identities in this world. I had no idea what happened here, but according to the system, it looked like I was also able to join the challenge to become the ¡®dimensional ruler¡¯. ¡°Haha.¡± I pushed back my bangs that were matted with blood and smiled ruefully. I¡¯d gone around and around only to end up all the way here. But if I did well here, there was a chance that I could bring down the gods that brought me to this point. Because they said I was qualified. It¡¯s not like I was entering this competition illegally or anything. And with that, I stopped worrying. ¡°Participate.¡± [Your registration has been completed.] [You have been recognized as a new challenger.] [Please enter your display name. You can only register your display name once. Your display name cannot be changed. Your choice of display name will not grant you any additional power.] ¡°Soter.¡± Those were all the notifications that I could see for now. I opened my status window. [Kang Han-kyul (Soter)] ¨C The master of the ¡®Tower of Trials¡¯ dimension. Job Title: Representative (5%) Strength: C (1%) Stamina: C (2%) Mana: D (10%) Healing: D (21%) Merit Points: 480 Skills: The status window was definitely different from before, probably because I¡¯d now gained an affiliation. Right as I was about to close the status window, I saw another status window next to it. When I moved my hand to the side, the second status window popped up. [Community (Soter)] Job Title: Administrator Notice Board: ¨C Empty Notice Board (0) It seemed to be a space for communication between Hunters belonging to the same affiliation. When I went in with my administrator privileges, I could set everything from the name of the notice board to the grade designation and the ranking of bulletin boards by grade. It¡¯d been less than an hour since I¡¯d made this, so of course there weren¡¯t any posts on it yet. ¡®The big-name gods must have huge communities.¡¯ That was kind of like having access to inside information. As a latecomer, this was definitely a disadvantage for me. [Soter] Divine Name: * * * * * Level: 1 Attribute: Darkness Ranking: 15487th Place Dimension: Tower of Trials Cumulative Merit Points: 0 Followers: 0 Traits As soon as I opened my status window, I quickly hid the divine name. ¡®So embarrassing!¡¯ Even though I was the only one who could access my status window, there were still things I myself didn¡¯t want to see. A divine name can immediately tell you a god¡¯s disposition. There¡¯s no other name that fits me as much as that divine name, but that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to see it. To me, that divine name was part of my black history. [Dimension Management] Name: Tower of Trials Description: A dimension that has been neglected for a long time. It seems the owner has returned at last, but it looks like he lacks any form of conscience. Dimension Conquest Rate: 0% No information on this dimension. ¡°Isn¡¯t this description a little too much?¡± It hurts my poor pitiful heart! After swiping through all the status windows, I could finally see my surroundings clearly again. * * * Translator: Igixri Proofreader: Imagine Discord Link: * * * I buried those four people in a small flower bed at the entrance to the tower. Even if I were in my prime, bringing the dead back to life wasn¡¯t something I could do. ¡°Something feels off.¡± The time we¡¯d spent together was only about a day in all, and I couldn¡¯t even say that these four dead people had been entirely friendly towards me. I¡¯m not such a soft person that I feel things like sympathy for my enemies, but I¡¯m not so cold-hearted that I¡¯d feel impassive towards the deaths of people that I¡¯d been on the same side as for a while. Please support our website and read on daonovel.com I cast my bitterness aside, and went to put my hand on the large door. [The ¡®Tower of Trials¡¯ has recognized its owner.] [Upon clearing a floor, you will become that floor¡¯s owner.] [Entering the 1st Floor.] [Goblin Village] Floor Number: 1st Floor Goal: Destroy the goblin village. Rewards: 1st Floor Administrative Privileges The dungeon information was a little different than before, but the layout was pretty much the same. After closing the status window, I took a look around at my surroundings. I was greeted with the familiar scenery of fields and forests. If I had to name a difference from last time, I could only say that this time, I was here alone, not in a group. Outside of the forest, a goblin came into view. ¡°It¡¯s pretty similar to what I saw in the dungeon.¡± I quietly unsheathed the two daggers that were hanging at my waist. * * * [You have cleared the 1st Floor of the Tower of Trials] [You have acquired administrative privileges to the 1st Floor as a reward.] Since it was similar to the other dungeon named ¡®Gobin Village¡¯, clearing it went without a hitch. ¡°This is miserable.¡± Even if the level of difficulty was low, of course it was still hard for one person to do what was supposed to be the work of four people. ¡®Honestly, that was close.¡¯ Now that the battle was over, I could tend to my body covered with wounds. After sheathing my daggers, my legs grew weak and I collapsed onto the ground. [1st Floor] When I went to check, there were various other settings including the difficulty setting. ¡°I can¡¯t be bothered with this right now.¡± It really felt like I had become the administrator of a game. After drinking a small recovery potion, I prepared to leave the 1st floor. It was right at that moment. ¡°Is someone there?¡± Sensing a strange presence, I looked around. After becoming the admin of the 1st Floor, I had gotten rid of all the goblin corpses. ¡®So there should be no one on this floor but me.¡¯ Even though I¡¯d sensed a presence, I hadn¡¯t gotten the feeling that they were nearby. ¡®At the outskirts of the forest maybe?¡¯ Even after opening the map, I couldn¡¯t find anything. ¡°Is it a ghost? Ah, I don¡¯t really like ghosts.¡± This wasn¡¯t a joke, I really felt uneasy about ghosts. After closing the map, I headed towards where I had felt the presence. When I found myself in an empty open space, I saw a stranger. ¡®They look young.¡¯ The boy was leaning against a tree, trembling while staring at the goblin corpse fallen in front of him. From the fact that he was covered with dirt and had cuts all over his body, you could tell how fiercely he had fought to kill just the one goblin. That terrified face was one of a boy who had killed a living thing for the first time in his life. As I got closer to him, I realized that what he was wearing was a school uniform. It was in a style that I¡¯d never seen before, but I thought that this was the kind of school uniform you¡¯d often see in Korea. And from his appearance, he looked like a Korean person as well. ¡®I should¡¯ve erased all the goblins here.¡¯ I had no idea what had happened. Covered in tears and snot, the boy mumbled as he spit out all kinds of curses. ¡°¡­Bastards, those fucking bastards. Piece of shit. Urk¡ª¡° While looking at the corpse, he turned and retched out everything that was in his body again. At the sight of him, I thought of what it was like when I first shifted dimensions. After killing my first goblin in the Devil¡¯s Forest, I spent over a week alternating between crying and throwing up. In retrospect, at the time, I didn¡¯t even have any survival skills, so it would¡¯ve been easy for me to have fallen prey to some monster. I was lucky to have survived. In his terrified panic, the boy didn¡¯t even notice that I¡¯d approached him. I started to talk to him. [Hello there, are you alright?] ¡°Ah, AHHHH!! Who¡¯s there! Ahhh!!¡± He screamed so loudly that I was almost scared to continue speaking. With his back still against the tree, he looked wildly around in all directions before running towards the goblin¡¯s corpse. When he got there, he frantically pulled out the dagger that was stuck in the goblin¡¯s chest. After falling on his behind when the blood sprayed out from the goblin¡¯s body, he grasped the dagger and ran back to the tree. ¡°Who, who are you? Where are you?! Where are you?! Come out!¡± Sitting with his back against the tree, he screamed aloud as he swung his dagger out in front of him. It was nowhere close to the right direction. Is he insane? I walked half a turn around the tree and approached him from the front. He was wearing a school uniform, so it¡¯d be fine to speak to him informally. [In front of you.] At my response, his face went white. He opened his mouth and spoke in a trembling voice. ¡°D-Don¡¯t lie!! Where are you?!¡± [I¡¯m really in front of you.] ¡°Don¡¯t play games with me!¡± He thrust out his dagger in my direction. I wasn¡¯t in the mood to just stand there and get stabbed, so I moved slightly out of the way and held out my hand in order to grab his arm after the attack had missed. At that moment, my hand brushed straight through his. [What?] ¡°M-My hand, just now¡­ Wh-What just happened?!¡± Startled by my muttering, the boy dropped his dagger to the ground. He quickly tried to pick up the fallen dagger, but his hands were shaking so much that he kept dropping it. I saw that even his hand had been injured, and I shook my head. ¡®No matter what I do, it doesn¡¯t seem like he can see me.¡¯ At first, I thought that this guy was just a memory that resided inside the tower. At the moment, this tower was broken. An entire dimension being in a state of disrepair was far from the level of a broken-down machine. Among other things, warping of time and space were possible errors that could occur. With that in mind, it wasn¡¯t impossible that someone who entered the tower in the past would be able to meet me in the present. ¡®What exactly happened here?¡¯ No matter how I looked at it, the boy in front of my eyes seemed like just a typical Korean high school student. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how a kid like him came to be trapped in this tower. While I kept my mouth shut, the boy spoke after looking around at his surroundings. ¡°Who the hell are you? Wh-Where are you?¡± As he spoke these words aloud while looking in the completely wrong direction, I became sure of it¡­ Right now, this guy couldn¡¯t see me at all. ¡ª- Chapter 11 - The Tower’s Master (3) Chapter 11 ¨C The Tower¡¯s Master (3) I had no idea how to explain to him that I was there, even if he couldn¡¯t see me. [First of all, I¡¯m standing in front of you¡­] ¡°¡­¡± [Stop it with that serious expression, it¡¯s just that you can¡¯t see me¡­ I think.] ¡°Then just show yourself to me.¡± [You think I¡¯d be acting like this if I could do that?] Even while we were talking, I¡¯d been diligently waving my hand in front of his face. But even though I was right in front of him, he kept staring blankly into space. I was wondering if I should try to touch his hand like I did earlier, but I decided against it. I didn¡¯t want to cause any misunderstandings over nothing, and it was obvious that it wouldn¡¯t work anyways. He¡¯d just begun to calm down a little bit, and I didn¡¯t have the patience to soothe him again if he freaked out due to a mysterious touch. ¡°You¡¯re not going to kill me or anything, are you?¡± [No. Even if I had a reason to, I don¡¯t think that I can lay a hand on you in this state anyways.] He sighed in relief, as if my words took a weight off of his chest. ¡°Are you a ghost?¡± [Well, dunno.] I was definitely a human, but I didn¡¯t think I needed to explain all that to him at the moment. Even if my soul was like that of a god¡¯s, the essence and memory that my soul was pursuing, as well as the body of Kang Han-kyul, were all 100% pure human. He rolled his eyes at my answer, as if to indicate that he had no idea how to respond to that. He then grimaced, as if the pain of his wounds was belatedly catching up to him. I didn¡¯t know about his other wounds, but the one on his shoulder where a goblin had bitten him looked pretty severe. ¡®It looks like it¡¯ll fester if left alone too.¡¯ Since a monster¡¯s immune system was obviously different from a human¡¯s, the chance of infection was also high. Of course, I¡¯d also been bitten by a goblin in the past. Fortunately, the berries that I¡¯d been chewing on without knowing anything about them had acted as a medicinal herb and saved my life. Maybe I was being meddlesome, but I didn¡¯t want to leave this guy to die¡­ He reminded me of what I¡¯d been like in the past. On top of that, though I¡¯d only spent a brief period of time with them, I felt guilty for losing those guys that I¡¯d called my teammates. While I was contemplating on how I could help this guy, as he was still gasping for air in front of me, I unexpectedly found a new function I could use. [Gift] You can send a gift to a certain target. However, every time you send a gift, the target¡¯s Merit Points will be consumed. You cannot send gifts that exceed the amount of Merit Points they have. Available gift targets: Yoo Ji-han Items that can be gifted: Small healing potion (12), Small magic power potion (30), Painkillers (5) [Is your name by chance Yoo Ji-han?] At my question, Ji-han¡¯s eyes went wide as if to ask how I knew that. ¡°Ghost¡­¡± [I told you, I¡¯m not a ghost.] I¡¯d suspected it because he was able to speak the language, but I was happy to find out that he really was Korean. I selected [Yoo Ji-han] as the gift target. [Yoo Ji-han] Merit Points: 20 I selected one small healing potion as well as a painkiller. [18 Merit Points will be consumed to gift a small healing potion and a painkiller to ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯.] [18 Merit Points have been acquired.] ¡°What¡­? What is this?¡± From his reaction, I assumed that the gift notification had arrived smoothly. Confused by the sudden notification because he still couldn¡¯t see me, Ji-han looked around in bewilderment. Man, I said I wasn¡¯t standing in that direction. ¡®Looks like he doesn¡¯t know how to check that it arrived.¡¯ It was easy enough to send him a gift, but of course I couldn¡¯t know what things looked like on his end of the system. [Listen, can you open something like a status window or an inventory screen?] ¡°What? Status window? Inventory? What kind of video game terminology¡­ Wait, I think those damn bastards that threw me in here said something like that¡­¡± [Whatever, just open it.] ¡°How do you open it?¡± [Focus your concentration in one place and visualize it like you¡¯re seeing it in front of you.] Yoo Ji-han closed his mouth tightly. He shot a look in my general direction as if to ask me what the hell I was talking about. As I kept up my silence, Yoo Ji-han reluctantly did as I told him. ¡°What is this¡­ Wait, there¡¯s something in my inventory¡­¡± As soon as Ji-han reached out and touched the inventory screen, the healing potion and painkiller appeared in his hand. ¡°Did you send me this gift?¡± [What does it look like? Don¡¯t worry about it, just hurry and eat it, you might really die at this rate.] More precisely, I couldn¡¯t say that it was entirely my doing because it was Yoo Ji-han¡¯s Merit Points that had been consumed, but I didn¡¯t feel like explaining all of that, so I just dodged the question. Even though I¡¯d given him the potion and painkiller, Yoo Ji-han stood still for a while just holding the medicine in his hand. Ji-han tilted his head then spoke out. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯d rather¡­ ugh! die like this¡­¡± I followed his line of sight to the dead goblin¡¯s corpse. He put on a brave face as he stared at it, but only a couple seconds later, he tightly screwed his eyes shut and shook his head. I sat down on the ground in between Yoo Ji-han and the goblin. ¡°Huh? I can¡¯t see the corpse anymore,¡± [What are you talking about, it¡¯s right behind me.] I slightly turned to look at the corpse while I responded, while Yoo Ji-han stared, bewildered. He picked up his injured body to walk around me, and returned, frowning, to his original position. No doubt because the corpse was really still there. ¡°If I sit here, I can¡¯t see it. What¡¯s going on?¡± [It¡¯s probably because I¡¯m sitting in between you and the corpse.] Although he couldn¡¯t see me, it looked like I wasn¡¯t completely see-through. This was just a guess, but I suspected that, through Yoo Ji-han¡¯s eyes, he could only see an ordinary landscape instead of the goblin corpse. [If you¡¯re not going to eat that, I¡¯ll take it back.] ¡°You can¡¯t just take back a gift!¡± [You said you were just going to die here. What does a dead person need medicine for?] ¡°I said it might be better to die here, not that I was going to!¡± [Are you in your teenage rebellious phase?] Yoo Ji-han was still just turning the potion and painkillers I gave him over and over in his hands. What was this obstinacy¡­ ¡®Well, I guess I used to be difficult too.¡¯ The first time I murdered a living thing. A world where nothing was familiar. It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t understand Yoo Ji-han¡¯s feelings. The feeling that even if there was the possibility that I could survive, it might just be better if I curled up and died. [It¡¯s shit, isn¡¯t it?] ¡°What?¡± [Not knowing why this kind of thing happened to me, thinking that I don¡¯t even know what I did wrong to be thrown into such a place. Not knowing if I¡¯ll be able to survive, even if I somehow manage to leave this place.] At my words, Yoo Ji-han nodded calmly. I swear, I told you I¡¯m not standing in that direction. [But live anyways. Isn¡¯t it a waste to die like this?] ¡°What¡¯s a waste?¡± [Anything, whatever ends up happening. At your age, there should be at least one thing you¡¯re proud of having worked hard to achieve. If you think about all you¡¯ve done up to now, it¡¯d be a waste to die here. Don¡¯t you have anything like that?] At my question, Yoo Ji-han thought for a long time before responding. ¡°I do¡­ have something.¡± [What is it?] ¡°I¡¯m really close to a LoL rank promotion.¡± I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be hearing about LoL today. As I kept my mouth shut, Yoo Ji-han kept muttering to himself. ¡°Yeah, well, what would you know.¡± Getting the feeling that he was disregarding my words, I thought maybe I could say something else to uplift him. But at the same time, he started to speak again. ¡°I guess I¡¯m not in the right state of mind either, considering I¡¯m talking to a guy who I can hear but I can¡¯t even see.¡± [I keep telling you, I¡¯m right in front of you.] ¡°What am I supposed to do if I still can¡¯t see you? But¡­ seeing as the goblin corpse is hidden, I guess I get the sense that there¡¯s at least something sitting in front of me. Urk¡­¡± Yoo Ji-han grabbed his trembling shoulders. Inside of Ji-han¡¯s head, he was probably thinking hard about whether or not he should drink the potion that he was clutching inside of his hand. [Drink it. Survive. Even if I didn¡¯t tell you to, you¡¯ll probably be forced to drink it in about 30 minutes. But nothing good is going to come out of being stubborn.] * * * Translator: Igixri Discord Link: * * * ¡°What should I do if I survive?¡± [You can do whatever you want. You can go back to your original world and rank up in your game, or if not, you can find the bastards that put you here and give them a good punch in the face.] Yoo Ji-han gripped the potion tightly. There were so many things that I wanted to ask him. Things like why a Korean person like Yoo Ji-han was in a place like this, or what the hell had happened in this tower. ¡°Hey, who even are y¡ª¡± [A dimensional rift has occurred.] Even before Ji-han could finish his sentence, the space around me started to warp. [You have acquired administrative privileges to the 1st Floor Lobby.] [Teleporting to the lobby.] ¡°Great timing.¡± It looked like I¡¯d spent too much time talking about useless things. I looked around at the place called the lobby. Inside of the large, circular space there was a small village. The place looked close to deserted, with every house looking like it¡¯d been quite a while since a person had lived inside of it. When I lightly touched a wooden building, the whole structure collapsed in a heap. ¡°Cough, cough¡­whew. What kind of lobby is this?¡± If you were going to give me administrative rights, you might as well give them all to me at once. In the center of the lobby, there was a portal with a huge magic circle drawn inside. It especially caught my eye as it was the only structure made of stone amidst all the wooden buildings. As soon as I touched it, information appeared in front of my eyes. [Portal] Enter this portal to challenge the Tower of Trials. ¡°I knew it.¡± My hypothesis was correct. After stepping down from the portal, I checked my status window again. [Dimension Management] Name: Tower of Trials Description: A master-less dimension that was dumped into the dimensional trash can. What kind of insane god would want to have a dimension like this? Dimension Conquest Rate: 1% History (+See more) 1st Floor: Goblin Village cleared. Met a Korean person who entered the tower in the past as a result of dimensional distortion. No matter what I did, it looked like I couldn¡¯t get him to see me. He looked like an ordinary high school student, but the injury he sustained from fighting the goblin looked pretty severe. For now, I gave him medicine as a gift, but I have no idea what will happen to him. The next time I meet him, I hope he¡¯s still alive. As if it was reflecting my thoughts, the history record was written in a casual and disorganized manner. Well, it¡¯s not like anything written here was wrong. There was one more thing that had changed. ¡®The Dimensional Conquest Rate has risen by 1%.¡¯ Simply put, I could conclude that each floor was 1% of exploration. I would get administrative privileges every time I ascended the tower, but that meant that I would have to clear each floor at least once. The road ahead of me really was long. [Do you wish to leave the Tower of Trials? You can return at any time after exiting the tower.] ¡°Yes.¡± [Leaving the Tower of Trials.] ¡®I¡¯ll have to check out what¡¯s happened in the world outside.¡¯ After pressing the confirm button on the status window, I closed my eyes, then opened them again. ¡°Goddamn it.¡± What greeted me was none other than an enormous gorge. It really was like I was standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon. If I¡¯d stepped forward without thinking, I would¡¯ve plummeted to my death. I looked slightly further upwards. From below, I could see the figures of Hunters. ¡°Hello!! There¡¯s someone down here!¡± ¡°What¡¯s that sound¡­Oh! I found them!¡± The Hunters that stuck their heads out to check that I was there soon got busy moving to come help me. Seoul Hunter Association. Two middle-aged men were investigating me. ¡°So you¡¯re saying you cleared the dungeon, and then suddenly you were transported to the next dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Your party should¡¯ve been there with you, did you see the other members of your party?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t my party members also come over with me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say, but the only one we found in the dungeon was you.¡± Ah, how unlucky. As I sat there with my mouth closed, the two of them stared at me with thinly-veiled suspicion. I started to put on my best pitiful act. ¡°Ah¡­But I-I really don¡¯t know anything about that! Ahh, I thought I could finally start acting like a real hunter¡­ What happened? Then does that mean the party members that went in with me are all dead? What the hell happened? How could something like this happen?¡± ¡ª- Chapter 12 - The Tower’s Master (4) Chapter 12 ¨C The Tower¡¯s Master (4) As I pretended to tremble, one of the men spoke out firmly. ¡°Stop, calm down. It¡¯s a shame what happened to your other party members, but forget about them now. If you want to make it in this line of work, there¡¯s nothing you can do about things like this.¡± I slid both my hands under my knees and bowed my head down like a withered plant. A younger man who was standing in the back whispered to the man who was interrogating me. ¡°Senior, he really doesn¡¯t seem to know anything. He didn¡¯t even know that it was a double dungeon.¡± The dungeon that I¡¯d appeared in after leaving the Tower of Trials was a different dungeon entirely. A double dungeon, also known as a fake dungeon. It was a special dungeon that appeared occasionally, created out of two dungeons overlapping with each other. If it was a regular dungeon, the exit gate should appear right after clearing it, but in the case of a double dungeon, instead of an exit gate, you would immediately be sent to the next dungeon. This is where the problem starts. The reason why double dungeons were called fake dungeons is simple: because the second dungeon¡¯s grade was much higher than the first dungeon¡¯s grade. They came to be called fake dungeons due to being dungeons that hid their true grade. It wouldn¡¯t matter if the Hunters that went inside the dungeon could also clear the fake dungeon safely and exit, but in a situation like this one, it could end in disaster. On top of this, double dungeons had one more problem. ¡®Stragglers.¡¯ Because you weren¡¯t entering the dungeon from a normal route, stragglers could appear. Stragglers referred to Hunters that didn¡¯t make it out of the dungeon and were either missing or dead. In the case of double dungeons, the proportion of stragglers was pretty high. ¡®I was lucky.¡¯ The dungeon we went in initially was a D-grade dungeon, and I came to my senses in the second dungeon after leaving the Tower of Trials. The C+ grade dungeon ¡®Harpy¡¯s Canyon¡¯ was effectively classified as a B grade dungeon because of the dangerous terrain and the flying monsters. Normally, once the max capacity of people was reached, or if 1 hour had passed since someone went in, regardless of the number of people, this dungeon would become impossible to enter from the outside and enter a closed state. However, there were Hunters called ¡®Keys¡¯ that could open dungeons in this closed state with the rare ¡®Dungeon Open¡¯ skill. Since this incident was one that happened to the Association¡¯s trainees and took place in a dungeon owned by the Association, there was a great need to resolve it quickly even while considering the potential aftermath. Apart from the double dungeon, the Association currently suspected that I, the sole survivor, had killed all of my fellow party members inside of the dungeon. Having quickly grasped the situation, I kept boldly insisting that I didn¡¯t know anything. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to throw in some somewhat exaggerated acting. The other official saw me shaking with my face as white as a sheet and continued to try and persuade his senior that I was innocent. The guy in front of me was the senior, and the guy behind him was the junior, but for some reason I got the feeling that the senior Hunter was taking note of the junior¡¯s responses. There seemed to be some kind of bigger story here. The junior official kept coming to my defense. ¡°Look, what could a talentless guy do to kill his teammates?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just concerned about the fact that he suddenly gained an affiliation after entering the dungeon.¡± ¡°You said the god was so minor that you¡¯d never even heard of it before. It¡¯s uncommon, but there have been cases of people gaining affiliations after entering a dungeon.¡± Wow, pretty harsh to call it so minor. The man who was interrogating me crossed his arms and let out a sigh. ¡°Whew, alright. Let¡¯s end the investigation here, then.¡± ¡°Um¡­does this mean I can resume Hunter activities as usual?¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about that. You shouldn¡¯t have any trouble going back to your regular Hunter activities, Kang Han-kyul-ssi. It wouldn¡¯t be right to restrict you from Hunter activities because of an unfair accident.¡± ¡°Thank you so much!¡± The official in charge of the investigation left first, then I was allowed to leave the interrogation room. No further investigations were conducted on me. After coming out of the Association building, I sat down on a bench near the entrance and turned on my phone. After spending the entire morning getting interrogated, it was already afternoon. I had my phone off for a long time, but there was no one in particular that would care about me enough to contact me¡­ Or at least that¡¯s what I thought. ¡°What?¡± A number I¡¯d never seen before had sent me a single text saying [Call me after you¡¯re done]. ¡®This texting style¡­it¡¯s gotta be Choi Soo-hyun.¡¯ Choi Soo-hyun was one of those Key Hunters that had the Dungeon Open skill. The one who had opened the second dungeon in the fake dungeon, Harpy¡¯s Canyon, was none other than Choi Soo-hyun. ¡®Can¡¯t believe Choi Soo-hyun is also a Key.¡¯ Hunters who had a skill to open dungeons were pretty rare. The youngest ever Awakened, an S-rank Hunter, and a Key on top of that. At this level, there was no doubt that this guy was a civil servant just as a hobby. After confirming that this strange number was actually Choi Soo-hyun, I called him. He picked up the phone before even the third ring. Hello¨C Haesung Building, underground parking lot, B3 21-2. Sorry? Come. * * * Translator: Igixri Discord Link: * * * After Choi Soo-hyun was done with this one-sided conversation, he hung up the phone. With my phone, I searched up the Haesung Building that he¡¯d mentioned. It was right across the street. Standing in front of the crosswalk, I muttered to myself while looking up at the building. ¡°This guy is a real headache¡­¡± Even when he wasn¡¯t Unaffiliated, he must have been called an eccentric on a regular basis. Cars were packed densely in the underground parking lot of a building that housed the headquarters of both a company and a guild. McLaren 920S Spider. It was the latest supercar that hadn¡¯t even been out for a year yet. I¡¯d read on the internet that the two industries that had profited the most during the advent of the Hunter era were supercars and luxury goods. It was a kind of compensation mentality that arose out of people who worked without knowing when they might suddenly die. Seeing Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s car, I muttered in an assertive tone. ¡°Look at this, I knew this guy was a civil servant just as a hobby.¡± ¡°Damn kid, I can hear everything.¡± Choi Soo-hyun glared at me through the rolled-down window. ¡°Just get in for now.¡± Choi Soo-hyun started driving off before I¡¯d even finished putting on my seatbelt. After driving up to ground level, Choi Soo-hyun fished out a homemade hard candy piece from a jar and rolled it around in his mouth. ¡°Heard you got an affiliation.¡± ¡°It ended up that way.¡± ¡°Congrats. Anywhere is good, it¡¯s better to have a place you can entrust yourself to when you¡¯ve just Awakened.¡± ¡°Yes, but where are we going?¡± Choi Soo-hyun had turned off the navigation and was speeding off in some direction. ¡°My place.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the type to go on dates with men, though.¡± ¡°Wanna die?¡± Choi Soo-hyun vigorously chewed the candy in his mouth with a straight face. ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to joke now? How are you going to make it through life if you take everything so seriously?¡± ¡°Ahh? People would think you¡¯re older than me or something by the way you talk.¡± Ignoring Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s words, I leaned back in the comfortable car seat and popped a piece of candy from the glass jar into my mouth. Fortunately, Choi Soo-hyun didn¡¯t seem all that concerned about what I did. ¡°So, why are we going to your house?¡± I waited for Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s response while swirling the grape-flavored candy inside of my mouth. ¡°For a reason.¡± Choi Soo-hyun refused to elaborate. But I didn¡¯t think that his behavior was all that significant. ¡®He¡¯ll tell me in due time.¡¯ There was no reason to rush it, really. Maybe it was because I¡¯d been interrogated since the morning, but I felt tired. The heater coming from the car was also warm, so I started to doze off. I only woke up again about 30 minutes later. It seemed like we had arrived, I could see a private garage in front of us through the windshield. Choi Soo-hyun, who had already gotten out of the car, knocked on the door of the passenger seat as if telling me to get out. I opened the door and got out, rubbing my eyes. ¡°It would¡¯ve been nicer if you¡¯d opened the door for me too.¡± ¡°You can open the door by yourself.¡± Choi Soo-hyun beckoned for me to follow him with a wave of his hand. Displayed in the private garage were the latest models of cars from every luxury brand I¡¯d ever heard of, from the McLaren that we¡¯d arrived in to Chevrolet, Porsche, Ferrari, Bugatti, and more. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s no joke.¡± I was awake enough at this point to mutter snarky comments like this under my breath. The door opened to an elevator that was connected to the garage. ¡°What are you doing? Get in.¡± I diligently followed Choi Soo-hyun into the elevator. I regretted falling asleep in the car and missing the front view of the house. ¡°This place really screams filthy rich, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°If you want to call me rich, call me that. Drop the ¡®filthy¡¯.¡± ¡°Should I say you¡¯re really damn rich, then?¡± ¡°Wanna die?¡± As soon as the elevator doors opened, I quickly ran out of his reach. I could feel Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s exasperated expression behind me. When I turned around, I saw him make a fist. A single nonchalant punch from an S-rank Hunter could probably break a couple of this body¡¯s ribs like it was nothing. Putting his hand into his suit pocket, Choi Soo-hyun exited the elevator. I was worried that he might actually hit me, but he didn¡¯t do anything like that. In front of us was a clear floor-to-ceiling glass wall with a nice view of the gardens below. For a moment, the image of my semi-basement apartment flashed inside of my head. This house¡¯s bathroom was probably bigger than my entire apartment. This damn guy. ¡°You said you¡¯d been under investigation all day today, so have you eaten yet?¡± ¡°Do you think I¡¯ve had the time?¡± ¡°What do you want? Pizza? Chicken? Burgers are fine too.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making me choose between fast food options while living in a house like this?¡± ¡°Then should we be eating pesticide-free organic produce?¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t say that. I¡¯m fine with either chicken or burgers.¡± ¡°Then pizza it is.¡± I had no idea why he went out of his way to ask me if he was just going to do what he wanted anyways. ¡°I¡¯ll order the delivery, so just sit here quietly for now.¡± Choi Soo-hyun waved his hand at me while going up to the second floor. I flopped down onto the gigantic U-shaped sofa that was nearby. My body sank so comfortably into the cushions that you could tell me this was a bed and I¡¯d believe you. Woof. ¡°Woof?¡± Woof woof. ¡°Ah, oh my god. It¡¯s a puppy.¡± A fluffy puppy was sitting next to me on top of the sofa. It seemed to be¡­a bichon? The bichon, who had been barking directly at me, turned around and coolly jumped off of the sofa. ¡°Shong-shong, dinner time.¡± Turning around, I stuck my head out above the sofa. Choi Soo-hyun, who¡¯d changed out of his suit into a comfortable pair of sweatpants, cuddled the puppy in his arms. ¡°What¡¯s with the name?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? He¡¯s a bichon, so Shong-shong. It¡¯s fitting.¡± Choi Soo-hyun stared at me as if to ask if there was a problem. ¡°Wow, damn. Never mind.¡± I sighed and closed my mouth. Well, it¡¯s not my dog. None of this was really that important. ¡°Why did you invite me to your house?¡± ¡°Before that, you know you owe me some thanks, right?¡± Shong-shong, who had quickly finished eating his dinner, scurried over on top of Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s feet. He bent down a little to pick Shong-shong up and hold him to his chest. That puppy had to weigh something no matter how small it was, but when Choi Soo-hyun picked him up, he curled up into his arms like a cotton puff. Chewing over Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s words, I got up from the sofa. I thought about today¡¯s events. All that had happened today was getting called to the Association early in the morning, being interrogated all day, then being kidnapped by Choi Soo-hyun to go to his house. I couldn¡¯t even call those things ¡®events¡¯. ¡®Something to thank him for¡­¡¯ I was the only survivor of an incident that happened in a dungeon practice organized by the Association. Yesterday wasn¡¯t the first time that I¡¯d been called by the Association, before this, I¡¯d probably gone there thousands of times. At some point, the people who¡¯d initially suspected that I might¡¯ve murdered the teammates that went in with me had started to change their tune. Instead of being labeled as a Hunter Killer from the start, it was much better for me to have it be chalked up to a simple accident. ¡°Was that your doing?¡± ¡ª- Chapter 13 - I’m Kind of a Big Deal (1) Chapter 13 ¨C I¡¯m Kind of a Big Deal (1) I did think the way I was being treated by the interrogators was a little strange. It looked like Choi Soo-hyun must have had a hand in it. ¡°I had a nice talk with the higher-ups. Fortunately, you being unaffiliated means that you could not have had a plausible reason to kill the other members of your team.¡± ¡°So, have there been cases where Hunters of different affiliations commit murder in dungeons?¡± ¡°Why do you think there wouldn¡¯t be?¡± This time, I kept my mouth shut. Just because there were dungeons and monsters in this world didn¡¯t mean that the selfishness of humans had disappeared. If I thought about it, it was truly a stupid question. A situation that might be a terrible nightmare for someone might be someone else¡¯s dream come true, a great opportunity. These opportunities weren¡¯t fair for everyone. If you have an enemy, then you just have to get rid of them. In that sense, a dungeon, where no evidence would remain, would be the ideal location. If there were no witnesses, then no one could tell whether someone had died at the hands of a monster or a human. As always, the enemy of man is himself. Nothing had changed. Choi Soo-hyun uncrossed his legs and spoke patronizingly to me. ¡°You owe me.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡ª¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the ¡®but¡¯?¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you unaffiliated as well?¡± As far as I knew, Choi Soo-hyun was currently an unaffiliated Hunter. ¡°I am unaffiliated.¡± I also knew that unaffiliated Hunters couldn¡¯t use skills. But despite that, he was a Key. ¡°How can you use your Key skill, then?¡± At my question, Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s mouth fell open in a small Oh. ¡°For now, the fact that I can use the Key skill is a secret. Got it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even have anyone I could tell that to.¡± ¡°Strangely, that skill just works.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I tilted my head in confusion, but Choi Soo-hyun just scratched at his cheek as if he had nothing more left to say. ¡°I got this skill from a different god than the one I was originally following. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s the reason why, but anyway, I can use that skill.¡± ¡°Are you lying about being unaffiliated?¡± ¡°You really wanna die?¡± Choi Soo-hyun raised a fist as if to tell me to stop saying useless things. I needed Choi Soo-hyun, but I had no intention of being blindly pulled along. Now, I really wanted to hear the reason why he¡¯d invited me to his house. ¡°So, what was the purpose of inviting me here?¡± Choi Soo-hyun suddenly raised his hand at my question. He stared at his vibrating cell phone with a serious expression. What an unsatisfying response. ¡°Hey, wait here a sec. The pizza¡¯s here.¡± Choi Soo-hyun turned around and went out to get the pizza. Feeling frustrated by his quick disappearing act, I rubbed at my temples with my thumbs. ¡°Shit, what a mood-killer.¡± This was why my way wouldn¡¯t work. A little bit later, I ate the pizza that Choi Soo-hyun brought in while perched on the couch. It wasn¡¯t the best setup for eating a meal, but since I hadn¡¯t had anything to eat since morning, I diligently ate my pizza. Choi Soo-hyun went to the fridge and took out a bottle of soju. What kind of combination was pizza and soju? After pouring a paper cup full with soju, he drank more than half of it in one go. Of course, you can¡¯t have a real conversation with Koreans without the help of alcohol. Choi Soo-hyun pointed at me as I gulped down some soda along with my pizza. ¡°My business with you is pretty simple. I called you over here because there¡¯s something I¡¯m curious about.¡± ¡°Something you¡¯re curious about?¡± I wondered what he could possibly be so curious about that he¡¯d have to invite me over to his house. Choi Soo-hyun nodded slightly. ¡°So, how are you alive?¡± This would¡¯ve been an insultingly simple question even if he hadn¡¯t invited me here. But since I couldn¡¯t fully grasp his intentions, I ended up tilting my head in genuine confusion. ¡°Sorry? I¡¯m alive because I¡¯m alive.¡± What did he mean by that? Where the hell did that come from? Choi Soo-hyun patted Shong-shong, who was sitting on top of his knee. ¡°Do you know how long those Hunters were in that dungeon?¡± ¡°I heard it was about 10 days.¡± ¡°Yeah, they found you exactly on that 10th day. Right before they went to defeat the boss.¡± ¡°I heard that story so much at the Association, I¡¯m tired of it. As I said, I was scared so I was hiding within a cave inside of the canyon.¡± The corner of Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s mouth lifted up. ¡°I¡¯m pretty good friends with one of the Hunters that went inside of the fake dungeon. I¡¯m a Key, so I couldn¡¯t go in myself. So I asked that guy, and he told me that the cave that you were found in was already fully investigated before he even entered the dungeon.¡± ¡°Wait, I haven¡¯t heard of this before?¡± I had heard that the cave was an unexplored area. Because of this, I could make the excuse that I¡¯d hid there for the entire 10 days. ¡®Damn, I knew it was too good to be true.¡¯ ¡°Goddamn it. Wow, wouldn¡¯t this be considered forgery of official documents?¡± ¡°The one who would¡¯ve been in trouble had the record been written down correctly is you.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s true.¡± I knew he was being nice to me, but I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d go so far as forgery. Forget having a ¡°nice talk¡± with the higher-ups, it looked like he had a lot of favors he could pull in order to settle this. ¡°So how did you survive the dimensional rift?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± All I could do was blink in response upon hearing that term for the first time in my life. PR/N: Just to avoid confusion, this is his first time hearing it, not seeing it. ¡®Is the dimensional rift you speak of the same as the Tower of Trials?¡¯ Unable to say that out loud, I scratched at my cheek awkwardly. Instead of taking a bite of my pizza, I took another sip of the soda in my paper cup. ¡®Not yet.¡¯ Because of his position as a Hunter, along with his skills and his flawless personality, there was no better mentor to advise the growth of new Hunter ¡®Kang Han-kyul¡¯ than Choi Soo-hyun. But in my opinion, this and that were two different matters. I wanted to keep the Tower of Trials a secret for now. The problem was, it might¡¯ve been the ¡®dimensional rift¡¯ Choi Soo-hyun was talking about. I responded with another question instead of an answer. ¡°Why do you think I fell into a dimensional rift?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯ve obviously fallen into one before. But in my case, it wasn¡¯t a double dungeon.¡± * * * Translator: Igixri Discord Link: * * * Choi Soo-hyun poured more soju into his glass. Despite his appearance, he was a man with a lot of rumors surrounding him. Stories and gossip about him were overflowing on the Internet. Whether they were true or not, I¡¯d searched for and read all of them. Among all the stories relating to Choi Soo-hyun, there was one that always came back up: the story about why he retired as a Hunter. To be precise, he had severed relations with the god that he had followed and decided to become Unaffiliated from that point on. ¡°I definitely remember reading on the wiki that you survived after some sort of accident in a dungeon.¡± ¡°Stop looking me up on wikis.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot of great stuff there.¡± ¡°More than half of it is bullshit.¡± ¡°So the remaining less than half is actually true?¡± ¡°Just tell me you learned this from seeing it on the news. Also, a wiki? Seriously? You¡¯re making me look classless.¡± Choi Soo-hyun scolded me for my sources, but it didn¡¯t seem all that sincere. Whether I saw it on a wiki or saw it on the news, it wasn¡¯t his business. He bent over slightly and tapped the glass table with a finger. 10 seconds later, he finally opened his mouth to talk. He told me he couldn¡¯t go into the details, but he explained that his story was roughly like this: During a dungeon expedition, he¡¯d fallen into a trap and had to escape into the depths of the dungeon. The enemies that were chasing after him couldn¡¯t follow any further, but since the dungeon had already been cleared, they were able to go out through the exit gate. Just like the dungeon entrance gate, once the first person leaves, the exit gate disappears after a set amount of time. There has never been a recorded case of regular Hunters who weren¡¯t Keys making it out alive from dungeons where the exit gate had disappeared. Once the exit gate was gone, the rest of the dungeon would also disappear, but there was a legend that if anyone was still inside at that time, they would fall into a place called a ¡®dimensional rift.¡¯ ¡®So that¡¯s what this is.¡¯ Although I¡¯d stood my ground, I couldn¡¯t verify if the dimensional rift Choi Soo-hyun was talking about was the same place as the Tower of Trials that I¡¯d arrived at, so I couldn¡¯t speak out recklessly. Choi Soo-hyun continued his story. At that time, Choi Soo-hyun wasn¡¯t even a Key yet, and he¡¯d been hurt so badly that he was fading in and out of consciousness. He thought that he was going to die there, but he found himself in an unfamiliar place when he finally came to his senses. I couldn¡¯t help but feel oddly sympathetic when he said that at first he suspected that he¡¯d been summoned to another world. Choi Soo-hyun said that he¡¯d met a strange man in that place. It turned out that it was a very fortunate thing for Choi Soo-hyun to have met him. ¡°That man said that he was certain that the god that he worshiped would be able to save the world.¡± While he¡¯d been telling this story, Choi Soo-hyun had almost finished off the entire bottle of soju. After drinking every last drop, he collected his breath before speaking again. ¡°Soter. That was the name of the god that guy worshiped. After finding my way out of that place, I tried my best to find this ¡®Soter¡¯, but I couldn¡¯t find any trace of him.¡± The reason why Choi Soo-hyun had decided to join the Association and become Unaffiliated was to find that god called ¡®Soter¡¯. As soon as the name Soter came out of Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s mouth, I had to quickly collect myself into a poker face. Because that was the name that I was currently using as a ¡®display name¡¯. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d ever hear that word coming out of anyone¡¯s mouth, let alone Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s. But something here was strange. Very, very strange. Before I could clear up this weird feeling, Choi Soo-hyun gave me his own opinion. Right after the fake dungeon had appeared, I¡¯d gained an Affiliation. For someone who had enough influence to make deals with the high-ranking members of the Association, he could not only solve the issue, but also edit the details of the story, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult at all for him to find out the name of the god a fledgling Hunter was affiliated with. The story that Choi Soo-hyun told me was surprising. Once someone is Awakened, their ¡®Affiliation¡¯ would be decided within a week to a month after the fact. No matter how obscure or unknown the god was, it was normal for an Awakened to get some love calls during that time. ¡°Do you know why the Unaffiliated are Unaffiliated? It¡¯s because even after Awakening, they won¡¯t be able to find a god to worship for the rest of their lives.¡± ¡°I was told at the school that you could be waiting for up to a year.¡± ¡°That¡¯s bullshit.¡± Choi Soo-hyun neatly rejected my words. Even if you were a talentless Unaffiliated, an Awakened was an Awakened. All Awakened had to be affiliated with the Association. The government was sensitive to the crimes of the Awakened. If a talentless Unaffiliated were to learn that they would never be able to worship a god, they would probably reject their affiliation with the Association and/or engage in disruptive behavior. As a result, there was a high possibility that they could become a huge problem. Because even if they had the title of ¡°talentless¡±, it didn¡¯t change the fact that they were Awakened. Unaffiliated Awakened were the black sheep of the Hunter Association. ¡°In a nutshell, it¡¯s false hope.¡± ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if, on a random day, an Unaffiliated Awakened were to suddenly say that they found a god to worship.¡± To an extent, the goal of the Hunter Association was to observe what happens to the Awakened that they place within certain limits. Outside of that, whatever went on wasn¡¯t their problem. This was because if one was affiliated with the Association, then that would create grounds by which they could be punished. ¡°You were thought to be dead. During the exploration and clearing phase of the dungeon, the hunters found no signs of human life¡­ But after 10 days, you suddenly appeared inside of a cave they had already cleared. On top of that, you now have a god you¡¯re affiliated with. Also, that god is one that no one has ever heard of. At this point, don¡¯t you think this is enough evidence to prove that you¡¯ve come back from a dimensional rift?¡± At Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s confident words, the inside of my mind became very complicated. ¡°Please give me some time to think.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°30 minutes.¡± ¡°Finish thinking within 10 minutes. Are you meditating or something? Who thinks for 30 minutes straight?¡± Ah, that man¡¯s goddamn personality. I leaned back on the sofa with my arms crossed and glared at Choi Soo-hyun. ¡°You don¡¯t have any friends, do you? That¡¯s why you give puppies names like Shong-shong and drink soju all by yourself. You probably even buy soju by the carton, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got 9 minutes and 10 seconds left.¡± Choi Soo-hyun held out his phone to show me the timer app screen that marked exactly 9 minutes remaining. I couldn¡¯t even remember seeing him set that timer. ¡ª- Chapter 14 I Returned as a God Chapter 14 ¨C I¡¯m Kind of a Big Deal (2) As promised, Choi Soo-hyun didn¡¯t disturb me for the entire 10 minutes. The spacious house was shrouded in silence. The alarm went off on his phone after the timer had finished. Choi Soo-hyun turned his phone over and touched the screen with his finger. Choi Soo-hyun was a Hunter that had experienced what it was like to travel to another dimension when he had fallen into the crack called the dimensional rift. In that dimension, there was a man that had worshiped a god called ¡®Soter¡¯. Due to this encounter, ever since Choi Soo-hyun had come back to this world he had been searching for that god. ¡®Something isn¡¯t adding up.¡¯ This was because it was only recently that I¡¯d coined the display name ¡®Soter¡¯. Choi Soo-hyun had almost died in a dungeon and left his guild only around two years ago. ¡®He knew about this name even before I¡¯d made it up¡­¡¯ It seemed unlikely that the system would allow an overlap between a display name and a god¡¯s name. ¡°There¡¯s something that I¡¯m curious about.¡± Choi Soo-hyun, who had cleared away the finished pizza, sat down holding Shong-shong and placed his soju on top of the table. For someone who looked so mild-mannered, seeing him drinking soju straight up like that was really something. Choi Soo-hyun didn¡¯t respond, but I pushed through and asked anyway. ¡°What was the name of the man you met? The one who said that he worshiped the god Soter.¡± ¡°Dunno.¡± ¡°Are you kidding?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not kidding? I really don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t remember.¡± Shong-shong, who was perched on top of Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s knee, looked at me and barked. While petting him to calm him down, Choi Soo-hyun poured more soju into a glass cup. ¡°That¡¯s a real mystery, y¡¯know, there¡¯s no way that I didn¡¯t hear his name. But that part is the only thing I can¡¯t remember at all.¡± ¡°What about his face? What did he look like?¡± ¡°Would you know even if I told you?¡± I laughed awkwardly at Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s rebuttal. He pointed his finger at me. ¡°He was just around your age. His skills were real, but he was young. Besides that, I can¡¯t remember. Now, I gave you all that time to think, so it¡¯s my turn to ask questions. So, what happened in that place?¡± I told Choi Soo-hyun what had happened. ¡®But not all of it.¡¯ The possibility was high that Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s story about falling into a dimensional rift was his secret. It was only polite to give a comparable response after having heard the other person¡¯s secret. In exchange for leaving out a lot of information about the Tower of Trials, including the fact that Soter was a display name that I had made up, I peppered in a lot of extra details. Choi Soo-hyun chewed on some dried squid that he¡¯d brought over as a snack. As if he¡¯d belatedly realized that he was the only one drinking, he held out the soju bottle in my direction. ¡°You want some?¡± ¡°You want me to drink straight from the bottle?¡± ¡°If you want a glass, go get it yourself. Who are you trying to order around? Oh, and bring back another bottle¡­ No, maybe three more bottles while you¡¯re there.¡± With less than half of the soju left in the bottle, I had no choice but to stand up and go get more. No matter how I looked at it, him telling me to go get a glass just seemed like an excuse. When I entered the kitchen, I was faced with an industrial-size fridge. As if he knew that I would hesitate, Choi Soo-hyun raised his voice from the sofa. ¡°Look down, it¡¯s the bottom door!¡± ¡°At this point, why don¡¯t you come get it yourself!¡± ¡°Watch your tone when you¡¯re talking to your senior. It¡¯s like you¡¯re trying to piss me off.¡± Ignoring Choi Soo-hyun. I opened the fridge door at the very bottom. ¡°That crazy¡ª¡± At the sight that greeted me when I opened the fridge, I couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud. In the fridge were cartons of soju. There was nothing but soju in a house you¡¯d easily expect to have bottles of wine with Chateau names. I couldn¡¯t understand where the hell this kind of character had come from. I scooped up three bottles of soju in my arms as well as a glass cup. Once I finished grabbing all of that, I returned to the sofa. ¡°Don¡¯t you have any soju shot glasses?¡± ¡°Who drinks soju from a shot glass? Are you a kid? Ah, wait, you are.¡± Choi Soo-hyun laughed at me with a snort. While I¡¯d gone to get the soju and glass cup, it looked like he¡¯d finished off the rest of what was in the bottle. ¡°Is your liver some kind of alcohol sponge?¡± Choi Soo-hyun poured just enough soju into my glass to make a shallow layer at the bottom of the cup. For a moment, I was worried that he might pour me a full glass, but thankfully it looked like he wouldn¡¯t push his own attitude towards drinking onto me. We lightly clinked our two glasses together, and I coughed immediately after taking a sip of the soju. After the burning feeling of alcohol in my throat had passed, I resumed telling my story. I omitted what I had to omit and included whatever I deemed okay to include. ¡°So to sum up what you¡¯re saying, you fell into this dimensional rift and found yourself at the entrance of a mysterious tower, and you were the only one that survived?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re telling me you met the god called Soter and you were granted administrative rights to the tower? What about the divine name?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What? What do you mean, ¡®what¡¯? C¡¯mon, Soter is just the display name. I¡¯m asking you what his divine name is.¡± * * * * * * After taking a break to have another drink of the soju, Choi Soo-hyun stared at me. ¡°Do I look like an idiot to you?¡± ¡°No, but¡­how did you know that he also had a divine name? I thought that people generally weren¡¯t aware of that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s only if you¡¯re a third-rate Hunter. If you have administrative powers by proxy, you should at least be at the Guardian rank, so it doesn¡¯t make any sense for you not to know the divine name of the god you¡¯re following.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you. Well, if you were to consider following the same god as me, then I¡¯d think it over.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°¡­Huh?¡± After Choi Soo-hyun had left his affiliation, he¡¯d received countless love calls from other gods. This was still the case even now, three years later. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t already have plans to bring Choi Soo-hyun over.¡¯ As soon as the name Soter had come up, I was certain that I¡¯d be able to bring Choi Soo-hyun onto my side. But I had no idea that the words I¡¯d thrown around lightly would be so easily accepted. If it were this easy to bring Choi Soo-hyun over, then there would¡¯ve been no reason for him to wander around as an unaffiliated for three years. Rather, it was too easy. ¡°Are you thinking that it¡¯s a trap because I agreed so easily?¡± ¡°Hrnk.¡± ¡®Was it that obvious?¡¯ As I cleared my throat, Choi Soo-hyun put his empty glass on the table and slightly leaned his body forward. ¡°I¡¯m not saying I¡¯ll just let you bring me in. As you know, I¡¯m kind of a big deal.¡± ¡°I hate myself for not being able to refute that.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just saying that right in front of me?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t win with my fists, so I might as well live with getting an edge in words.¡± ¡°Well, I just want to know two things.¡± Choi Soo-hyun continued speaking while holding up his fingers one by one. ¡°Like I asked before, I want the god¡¯s real name, not his display name. And I also want to know his motive.¡± ¡°His motive?¡± ¡°Yeah, what the god you¡¯re following actually wants.¡± ¡°Is there a reason why you need to know something like that?¡± ¡°Because this world is crazy.¡± He reached out and picked up another soju bottle and started drinking. It looked like he didn¡¯t care to hide anything anymore. I wasn¡¯t really concerned whether or not Choi Soo-hyun drank soju by the truckload. There was nothing more ridiculous than the thought of an S-class Hunter dying of alcohol poisoning. ¡°Gods want Merit Points, and Hunters gain more power based on the amount of Merit Points that they offer to their gods. You know at least that much, right?¡± What Choi Soo-hyun was talking about was the crux of the proxy war that was being fought in order to gain the authority of being the dimensional ruler. Most Hunters didn¡¯t know that truth. The truth that this was all just one gigantic ¡®game¡¯. ¡°In that other world that I went to, even ordinary citizens had Merit Points. Do you know what I¡¯m saying? These ordinary people had to offer up their Merit Points to the devotees of their gods, and if they couldn¡¯t, then they¡¯d be treated like nothing more than livestock.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°These people that called themselves devotees wouldn¡¯t shy away from trying any method to offer more and more Merit Points to the god that they worshiped. The reason why is kind of ridiculous. They said that if the god that they followed became number one, then they had promised that they would save everyone who followed them. But I¡¯ve seen this kind of scene many times before.¡± Choi Soo-hyun gulped down the soju as if he was drinking water. ¡®Did something similar happen in other dimensions?¡¯ I didn¡¯t quite understand what had happened. While I was thinking it over, Choi Soo-hyun continued to talk. ¡°Serbia. You probably know of him because you¡¯ve searched it on the internet, but that was the god that I was affiliated with. Forgive me for not being able to say his divine name.¡± Because the names of gods had great power, there was a high possibility that as soon as you mentioned their true name, you would get their attention in some way. So instead, I changed the topic. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°There wasn¡¯t anything specific that happened. The real conflict happened over there. The god that almost won first place was the very god that I worshiped. I found my answer after watching the gods play with their devotees until they were brutally killed. Do you really think a god should do such things like order a child to strangle his parents to death?¡± This was where two more questions arose in Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s mind. Was the god that he worshiped the only one who did this? And if that¡¯s true, then what was happening in the reality that he lived in? ¡°Actually, the number of dungeons that are appearing is increasing, and dungeon breaks are increasing proportionally as well.¡± ¡°I think I heard a little bit about the dungeons in the news.¡± ¡°On the other hand, the number of Hunters is decreasing. That doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that the number of Awakened is decreasing. It¡¯s the opposite, actually. The Awakened are increasing, but the number of Hunters that die early on is also increasing. And I¡¯d bet all the Merit Points I have that at least half of those deaths were done by humans.¡± Choi Soo-hyun let out a sigh. In addition to experiencing the above for himself, the claim of a Hunter that was currently working for the Association was very credible. After returning to his reality, Choi Soo-hyun met again with the god that he worshiped in order to confirm it. ¡°From the beginning, those bastards never cared about us at all. This is just one big game.¡± Choi Soo-hyun had accurately grasped the essence of the situation. Honestly, I didn¡¯t expect him to understand the situation so perfectly. Hunters didn¡¯t shy away from any method to earn more Merit Points. Cruelty was increasing in frequency rather than decreasing as time passed. Compared to other nations, South Korea¡¯s dungeon management was pretty well-organized. This also meant that there were plenty of databases and a good environment for which to conduct research. Choi Soo-hyun, who had become a civil servant, used his job as an excuse to investigate dungeons. An S-rank Hunter going into a D grade dungeon was suspicious, but there was nothing strange about a public official going into a D grade dungeon. ¡°Not all dungeons are like this, but some of them are really strange. It almost feels like someone has made artificial dungeons.¡± It was similar to the feeling that I¡¯d gotten in the Goblin Village. In retrospect, even the system of Merit Points as a whole was strange. ¡°Some people, no, most people compare this situation to that of an online video game. It¡¯s understandable that they think of Merit Points as the same as experience points. What I want to say is, all games have developers. Someone made those games. Even if there isn¡¯t a specific person, there has to be at least a game company.¡± Comparing it to a video game, the Earth was just one gigantic server. This wasn¡¯t a game full of hopes and dreams and adventure like an MMORPG. Not at all. ¡°We aren¡¯t the players of this game.¡± The NPCs that live in a game live their lives in peace without knowing that they¡¯re NPCs. Even though it¡¯s hard to accept, our situation was similar to this. My actions and my way of life were, in truth, being manipulated by someone else. The futility of my rage was indescribable. Choi Soo-hyun clenched his fist tightly. The NPCs in a game might live up until the very end as NPCs, but at the very least, Choi Soo-hyun was not an NPC. ¡°The god that I follow could end up being the same way.¡± ¡°The bastard that I met truly believed that the god he worshiped could save the world. Isn¡¯t that much better than the gods that demand joint suicide as proof of their faith? On top of that, that guy had asked me to find Soter.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t remember his name or his face, but you remember that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡± Choi Soo-hyun muttered while leaning over his bottle of soju, as if he also knew that it sounded ridiculous. But then, who was the guy who met Choi Soo-hyun and told him to find the god Soter? Anyways, I was convinced that if that guy had told Choi Soo-hyun to go find Soter, he must¡¯ve been someone who trusted me quite a bit. ¡®At this point, it¡¯d be weirder if I didn¡¯t take this opportunity.¡¯ Instead of coincidence, it felt closer to inevitability. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll tell you. Just, don¡¯t laugh.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t laugh?¡± ¡°Whatever. I¡¯ve said it, so just keep that in mind.¡± I was far behind Choi Soo-hyun, whose face was flushed red due to the alcohol, so I took another sip of my drink and slowly opened my mouth to speak. ¡°Dark¡­¡± ¡°Dark?¡± ¡°The God of Darkness and Destruction.¡± ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 15 I Returned as a God Chapter 15 ¨C I¡¯m Kind of a Big Deal (3) ¡°So, is the god you follow by any chance¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s not just an edgelord middle schooler, so please drop it.¡± Even though it was a name that I¡¯d made up, I couldn¡¯t deny that it sounded like something an edgy teen would come up with. Thinking about it now I felt embarrassed, but once a divine name is set, it cannot be changed. ¡®Besides, there¡¯s no other divine name that suits me better than this.¡¯ Shong-shong, who had been perched on top of Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s knees, jumped down onto the floor. As I watched him casually trot off to the back room, I began to think that a dog¡¯s destiny was much better than a human¡¯s. ¡°Anyways, it doesn¡¯t really matter what the name is, but¡­ If he¡¯s the god of darkness and destruction, what exactly is he trying to destroy?¡± A god¡¯s divine name usually reflected their disposition. Of course, Choi Soo-hyun was aware of that. ¡°Everything.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°As I said, he will literally destroy everything.¡± ¡°Hey, you crazy bastard. Don¡¯t say things like that with such a serious face.¡± Choi Soo-hyun shook his head as if he was tired of listening to me. Even I thought that it was a bit much, but the truth was the truth. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. He doesn¡¯t have any intention of destroying the world or anything like that.¡± ¡°Just from your words, it sounds like he¡¯s some kind of textbook villain? Now I get why that guy wouldn¡¯t tell me the divine name no matter what I did. So, what is he going to do then?¡± ¡°If I¡¯m being honest, I don¡¯t really know the motivations behind why the other gods decided to participate in this game. All I know is that for the god that I follow, his reason is revenge.¡± ¡°Revenge? Against who?¡± ¡°Against those damn gods, of course.¡± I shrugged my shoulders as if to ask why I even had to say such an obvious thing. I¡¯d laid out all the cards that I could play against Choi Soo-hyun. I would be extremely grateful if he chose to be on my side, but he wasn¡¯t a person I could recklessly try and force to my side. After a long while, Choi Soo-hyun finished thinking it over and opened his mouth to speak. ¡°How long is this offer valid for?¡± ¡°Until you feel like following a different god. No matter what I offer here, right now, you would still be joining at a loss. However, there¡¯s at least one thing I can tell you that is certain.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°The god that I worship is not some idiot who would order suicide as evidence of faith.¡± Choi Soo-hyun smiled bitterly at my response and drained the rest of his remaining soju. * * * * * * My fingertips were twitching. I couldn¡¯t feel any sensation. The entire world seemed blurry. Splashes of bright red stained the black-and-white photograph of my vision. My breaths came out in rasps as I gasped for air. My chest felt like it was burning, and I thought that I was going to go insane. I felt like time was moving slowly¡­ It was moving so slowly I¡¯d lost my sense of reality. ¡®Haah¡­ Haah¡­¡¯ As I lowered my head, the familiar face of a man appeared in my narrow field of vision. The man was alive, but his condition was so dire that he would¡¯ve been better off dead. At the sound of something gigantic collapsing, I suddenly woke up in a flash. ¡°Again¡­¡± It was a dream similar to last time. I rubbed at my sunken eyelids and opened my eyes. My chest hurt as if something was pressing down on it. Woof woof. Shong-shong, who had climbed up on top of me, looked down at me and barked. As I sat up, Shong-shong casually jumped off of me. The morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I¡¯d been having a lot of dreams lately. My head was throbbing in pain. My stomach didn¡¯t feel well either because of the hangover. I stumbled as I got up from the sofa. At some point after we finished talking, we decided to drink all of the remaining soju. It looked like I¡¯d blacked out after that because I couldn¡¯t remember what happened very well. Shong-shong, who¡¯d been scurrying around on the floor, suddenly ran towards the staircase. I heard footsteps and felt his presence. Choi Soo-hyun scooped up Shong-shong, who had rushed towards him as if begging to be picked up, and waved to me as he came down the stairs. ¡°You up?¡± ¡°Yes. Somewhat. But aren¡¯t you going to work today?¡± ¡°I¡¯m using a vacation day because of the hangover. Anyways, do you want to eat something?¡± ¡°Will you be cooking it for me?¡± ¡°Ask your lover to do things like that for you, I¡¯m going to get delivery.¡± Choi Soo-hyun sat down on the sofa and fiddled with his phone. ¡°Then, can I get haejangguk?¡± TL/N: haejangguk is a Korean hangover soup. It¡¯s usually composed of cabbage, vegetables, and meat in a beef broth. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ve gotta do something for a bit, so I¡¯ll be upstairs. Let me know when the delivery arrives.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Choi Soo-hyun went upstairs. I lingered around and took the soju bottles from yesterday to the trash can. I went into the bathroom and took a shower, and when I came out, the food delivery arrived. As soon as I put the takeout on top of the hardwood table that was in the living room, Choi Soo-hyun came back down from the 2nd floor. Leaving me alone to open up the plastic containers one by one, Choi Soo-hyun went to the fridge and took out another bottle of soju and placed it on top of the table. ¡°Wow, are you really about to drink again? Didn¡¯t you just say earlier that you had a hangover?¡± ¡°You¡¯re actually supposed to get rid of a hangover by drinking more alcohol.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re going to say that, you should just drink kaoliang wine. What¡¯s with you and drinking soju like it¡¯s water?¡± TL/N: Kaoliang wine is wine with extremely high alcohol content (38-58%) ¡°It¡¯s natural for Koreans to drink soju, you punk.¡± ¡°Do you even get drunk at this point?¡± Choi Soo-hyun didn¡¯t respond to my words and enjoyed his meal with his soju. As I was finishing up my food, I heard Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s voice from where he was standing in the kitchen. ¡°You want some coffee?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re offering.¡± Choi Soo-hyun appeared with some coffee soon after I¡¯d responded to him. ¡°Right. I have something I want to ask you.¡± ¡°Park Si-woo of the Aria Guild.¡± Choi Soo-hyun answered as if he¡¯d read my mind as he set down his coffee. This man¡­ Was he a psychic instead of a Hunter? Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem like he was capable of reading my thoughts. Did my face really reveal all of that? At my confusion, Choi Soo-hyun added: ¡°Don¡¯t you need to join a guild?¡± At Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s words, I nodded my head. For most Hunters, the god that they will follow is decided soon after they Awaken. Korea had a pretty good reputation despite its relatively small landmass and small number of Hunters, so quite a few famous gods had a few branch offices, if not a guild, stationed here. Hunters that followed gods without a representative guild in Korea often had nowhere to go. In this case, there were two options. One was to accept that you would be the odd one out and join the guild of a different god. The other was to affiliate yourself with a ¡°third camp¡±. If you resented being a minority, the solution was to join together with other minorities. Because of this, a third camp wouldn¡¯t discriminate based on what god you worshiped. Naturally, I had no desire to join a guild that was dedicated to worshiping a different god, so what I needed was a guild of that type. ¡°Park Si-woo¡­ I feel like I¡¯ve heard that name somewhere before¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s the representative guy. There¡¯s no one else who¡¯s as much of a stickler as he is, but even though he¡¯s the type who doesn¡¯t know how to have fun in life, he¡¯ll at least be able to accept someone like you.¡± Choi Soo-hyun set down his finished coffee. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was a compliment or not, but he said he would introduce me, so there was nothing to lose from my point of view. He said that he¡¯d gone into a dungeon, so it¡¯d be about a week before I could contact him. It wasn¡¯t an urgent matter or anything, so having to wait for that long didn¡¯t bother me. ¡°Right. Do you maybe have any leftover weapons? A sword-type weapon would be great.¡± ¡°Excuse me? You¡¯re really trying to bleed me dry, huh? When did I ever say that I¡¯d be your sponsor?¡± ¡°Well, right now my role is to represent our god, and you know you can¡¯t join us without my permission, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, get your threats out of the way.¡± Choi Soo-hyun snorted as if he couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. A man who could go wherever he wanted if he put his mind to it had no reason to fear the representative of a third-rate god at best. ¡°I¡¯ll put in a good word for you.¡± ¡°Obviously you will, don¡¯t even bother saying that.¡± I shut my mouth quickly at Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s retort. I tended to be able to read people pretty well. I wish he could keep his overinflated ego in check, but I knew that all his bragging was no bluff, so I couldn¡¯t say anything else. Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s eyes met mine. ¡°What is it now?¡± ¡°You could tell?¡± ¡°If you need anything else, just tell me all of it right now. I don¡¯t like having to do work twice.¡± ¡°Please recommend someone to me. A Hunter who has a lot of free time.¡± ¡°The only Hunters who have a lot of free time are guys like you. And you¡¯re a special case.¡± I didn¡¯t try hard to deny Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s words. Choi Soo-hyun might think I was making a bad joke if I said it, but I thought he and I hit it off pretty well. Even though he talked like that, there was no way he didn¡¯t know exactly what I wanted. Choi Soo-hyun held the position of managing trainees in the Association. Even though he didn¡¯t necessarily do any teaching himself, he had the right to access anything in the Association¡¯s database. ¡°Someone who¡¯s unaffiliated, but is also unable to give up their desire to be a Hunter. They should also be the type to move around from place to place and have no choice but to do work that undervalues their skills. Oh, and it would be even better if they had some sort of built-up grievances against society.¡± At my response, Choi Soo-hyun gave me a look to say he was tired of my shit. * * * The lobby was still no different from a pile of garbage. The buildings made of wood looked like they¡¯d been abandoned for at least a few decades. I remember at one point, I¡¯d been to a village where everyone who¡¯d lived there had died due to a deadly infectious disease. A village that stood still, as if time itself had stopped. The lobby that I was in right now felt exactly like that. Giving up on cleaning it up, I went up onto the portal. [Would you like to challenge the 2nd Floor? You cannot return to the lobby until after you have cleared the floor.] [Challenging the 2nd floor.] [Sanctuary] Floor Number: 2nd Floor Goal: Protect the magic core for 3 hours. Rewards: 2nd Floor Administrative Privileges Yet again, I regained consciousness in a forest. In the center of a vacant, open space, there was a blue crystal the size of an adult man floating in the air and emitting light. There was a golden band around the crystal. Anyone could tell that this was the thing you had to protect. I placed my hand on top of the large magic core. It was a gigantic magic rock made of condensed magical power. I¡¯d never seen anything like it. It was so big. If it was a core at this level of magical power, it could probably be used to cast large-scale AoE magical spells. It was something that anyone, not just monsters, would covet. [Power Remaining: 100%] [Time Remaining 2:59:30] As soon as I put my hand on the magic core, a timer suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. The leaves on the trees shook in the wind, and a couple crows took flight into the sky. The ground shook as if there was an earthquake. After some time, a huge tree fell forward, and a troop of goblins holding axes appeared. It wasn¡¯t just one or two goblins that had appeared to take the magic core. And unlike the goblins that I¡¯d seen on the 1st Floor, these goblins looked like they¡¯d been well-trained. If I had to describe them, these goblins were similar to the goblin troops I saw right after I¡¯d first appeared at the Tower of Trials. After taking over the Tower of Trials, I tried to summon the goblins that I saw at the tower¡¯s entrance, but unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to summon them. And even if the summoning was successful, there was no guarantee that the monsters that I would have summoned would be the same as the monsters I¡¯d seen at the tower¡¯s entrance. ¡°Even though it¡¯s regretful, I¡¯ll just have to make do.¡± I drew the sword that Choi Soo-hyun gave me to show his support. The goblins had burst out from the forest and were starting to show their faces one by one. At a glance, I could see more than ten of them. At the signal of a goblin wearing a necklace made out of bones, all of them rushed in at once. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 16 I Returned as a God Chapter 16 ¨C I¡¯m Kind of a Big Deal (4) I couldn¡¯t make the battle one-sided. That was just natural. Just because I¡¯d cleared the 1st Floor, it didn¡¯t mean that anything had changed dramatically. It was an unmistakable fact that I¡¯d almost died even holding a dagger. Fortunately, I¡¯d retrieved a useful weapon now, which was a relief. ¡®First of all, I¡¯ll beat up just one of them.¡¯ As soon as I ducked, a huge axe went flying over the top of my head. The goblin that had failed to hit me staggered forward while holding on to his axe. I couldn¡¯t miss this chance, so I lightly thrust my sword in the direction of the goblin¡¯s shoulder. The blade scratched his shoulder and left a mark. Another goblin swung his sword around. I dodged his attack and instead approached the goblin that I¡¯d already hit. The goblin holding an axe had small and large wounds all over his body. He must¡¯ve noticed that I was only aiming for him, because his eyes flashed with madness. Holding his axe with two hands, he jumped to attack me. The axe fell with enough force to easily cleave my entire body in half. I had only been blocking so far and continued to do so with my sword. Ignoring the confused goblin, I calmly dropped my sword. The axe that the goblin was holding fell to the ground. If I was lacking in strength, I could cover for it with my tricks. I swung my sword towards the goblin¡¯s green chest. I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d die in one hit. I plunged the sword deep into his chest and in the direction of his heart. An incredible amount of blood spilled out as I pulled the sword back out. [The god Soter has blessed you with his divine energy.] [Level 1 Protection has been activated.] [All stats have been greatly increased.] Ignoring the relentless notifications of the status window, I swung my sword again in the direction of the goblins that were approaching with weapons to break the magic core. Compared to the now dead goblin with the axe, I had no trouble dealing with the other goblins. My abilities were based on destruction, so things like murder and rage were naturally taken into account. The more beings I killed, and the more destruction I caused, the stronger I became. What I¡¯d previously only felt through my body was now being expressed through the system. ¡®Even so, that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m some sort of psychopath who likes to kill people.¡¯ It was purely a kind of tactic that I used in order to survive. And in a world where you had to kill a lot of monsters in dungeons, this ability wasn¡¯t bad at all. The corpses of the goblins started to pile up one by one around the magic core. The weeds underneath my feet were stained red, and blood was pooling in the grooves of the pitted soil. The goblins started to back away and retreat, wary after witnessing the ceaseless deaths of their comrades. At the sight of them reorganizing their approach, I also took advantage of the interlude to catch my breath. The remaining time had fallen to less than an hour. I needed to hold out for 3 hours, so it looked like I¡¯d made it about 2/3 of the way. The goblin troops started to appear again. Behind them, I could see sorcerer goblins holding staves. Following the signal of the Goblin Lord, the goblins holding weapons lunged forward while the sorcerer goblins readied their magic. ¡®So this is the big one, huh.¡¯ It was highly likely that the goblins rushing towards me now were disposable pieces. They seem to be planning to blow me up along with the magic core. ¡®Sorry, but I have no intention of being taken down like that.¡¯ I cut the throat of the first goblin that attacked me. [Level 2 Protection has been activated.] [You have activated Level 2 Protection for the first time.] [All stats have been permanently increased.] [All stats have been increased.] After countering a goblin¡¯s sword, I looked towards the back. A giant magic circle created by the sorcerer goblins was floating above their heads. After slightly pulling my sword backwards, I looked at the goblins that were approaching with the magic circle. Dozens of flame whips spilled out all at once out of the bright-red magic circle. I swung my sword in a diagonal slash with all of my strength. The bodies of the remaining goblins were cut in half in a single blow. Aiming to blow me up along with the magic core, the flame whips fell right over my head. ¡®Stay calm.¡¯ The moment that the flames whips fell, I swung my sword once again. The black energy that flowed from the tip of my sword engulfed the flames. The hand that was holding the sword trembled. The divine blessing grew stronger the more it was stacked, but at the same time, I couldn¡¯t do anything about the increasing side effects. Great power came at a price. It was an obvious principle that I didn¡¯t need to elaborate on. * * * * * * With the current body of Kang Han-kyul, I could only stack the effect about twice before I reached the limit. My body ached with pain, and I felt like I was going to collapse at any moment, but I could withstand this level of pain and exhaustion. I had to. A pillar of flame burst above the field. Of course, the sorcerer goblins that used magic were rear troops that had been strained with anticipation. As the smoke cleared, I saw the magic core reappear within my sight. ¡°Wow, that could¡¯ve been dangerous.¡± Straightening my staggering body, I placed my hand on top of the magic core. It looked like a gigantic crystal, and there were cracks etched across it here and there. If the attack had hit its mark properly, it could¡¯ve burst into pieces from just one shot. ¡°Goddamn it, I don¡¯t think this level is meant to be beat alone.¡± As I was muttering to myself, I swung my sword in the direction of the sorcerer goblins. I used a basic skill that used magic to launch an attack. In my case, rather than an attack, it was more akin to ¡®drawing a line¡¯. This was because if I swung my sword in the desired direction, I could cut through as if I were simply drawing a line. [The skill ¡®Line(¾€)¡¯ has been acquired.] [The skill ¡®Moonlight Slash¡¯ has been acquired.] ¡°So it happened again.¡± I was wondering how I could acquire skills, and it looked like this was the way to do it. As long as this body followed, there was a considerable amount of skills that I could obtain because of my knowledge. The remaining goblins scattered out into the field. I¡¯d seen around a hundred at the beginning, but I could tell right now that this was the last of them. ¡°Free-for-alls are my speciality.¡± At the call of the Goblin Lord, the remaining goblins attacked all at once. As the goblins jumped towards me with horrible screams, I slashed at their arms, heads, and bodies. I essentially cut anything I could reach. ¡°What?¡± A goblin¡¯s corpse went flying through the air next to me. Yes, it was flying. The Goblin Lord, who was at least twice the size of all the other goblins, had picked up a nearby corpse and hurled it in my direction as if throwing a baseball. He was so strong that the corpse¡¯s arm twisted grotesquely before breaking. Having almost gotten hit, I slightly twisted my body in the direction of the Goblin Lord. Holding onto my sword with one hand, I beckoned him with a flick of my fingers. A clear act of provocation. No matter how much of a monster he was, there was no way he could ignore a taunt like that. The Goblin Lord ran towards me, holding a gigantic greatsword. Despite his size, it didn¡¯t take more than 3 seconds until he was right in front of me. My sword collided with his greatsword. Compared to the Goblin Lord, who had only been giving out orders from the back, I had used up quite a bit of my strength. Not to mention, I had many injuries as well. It was almost too much for me just to block the greatsword. After spitting out the blood that had been welling up in my mouth, I put some distance between me and the Goblin Lord. ¡®Seriously, this can¡¯t be a one man job.¡¯ I decided I would check after I cleared the level and left. The battlefield was dripping with blood, and scattered all around it were disfigured lumps of flesh, twitching in their final spasms of life. Countless goblin corpses were piled up all around me. Even at a quick glance, you could tell that there were over a hundred corpses. This was the kind of world that I¡¯d experienced. ¡®Seems like I¡¯ll never be able to leave this kind of life behind.¡¯ [Level 3 Protection has been activated.] [You have activated Level 3 Protection for the first time.] [Level 1 Protection can now be activated constantly.] [All stats have been permanently increased.] [All stats have been increased.] ¡®30 seconds.¡¯ That was the amount of time I could keep Level 3 activated while I was in this body. I had to achieve victory within 30 seconds or else it¡¯d be game over. Just starting to become aware of the corpses littered on the ground around him, the eyes of the Goblin Lord became more and more tinged with madness. Beneath the plates of iron armor that he was wearing, I could see bulging muscles lined with thick, dark veins. I didn¡¯t turn away when the Goblin Lord lunged at me. After blocking the attack, I poured out all of the magic power I had left into my sword. It was to the point where I could see the flickering of the black aura with my naked eyes. ¡®Now!¡¯ At the second that I thought I¡¯d reached the limits of my magic, I swung my sword with all the strength I had inside of me. The dark aura of my magic attack grazed past his neck. The Goblin Lord¡¯s body fell to the ground. At the sight of their boss¡¯s death, the rest of the goblins withdrew from the battlefield. I didn¡¯t chase after the escaping goblins. ¡®After all, I just have to endure for the full 3 hours.¡¯ I wasn¡¯t so stupid that I¡¯d risk ruining what I¡¯d worked for just for the sake of being thorough. The amount of time remaining was a little over 5 minutes. ¡°Haa, hah¡­¡± At the same time that the effects of the blessing disappeared, I felt a surge of incredible pain. The buzzer to signal that 3 hours had passed rang out inside of my head. [You have cleared the 2nd Floor of the Tower of Trials.] [You have acquired administrative privileges to the 2nd Floor as a reward.] After verifying what I saw on the status window in front of my eyes, I immediately lost consciousness. * * * It was a long time after that before I opened my eyes again. Covered from head to toe in blood, caked in mud, and unconscious on the ground, my condition was unspeakably wretched. I stood up with trembling limbs and picked up my sword that had fallen on the ground and put it back in its sheath. ¡°I was lucky.¡± There was nothing more that I could say here except that my luck had been good. If the remaining goblins had decided to attack me instead of running away, then it would¡¯ve been really dicey. I opened my inventory and took out a small healing potion and drank it. It tasted like strawberry milk. Why did it taste like strawberry milk? Because the bottle was red? I¡¯d set this myself, but there wasn¡¯t any specific reason for it. ¡°Damn, wish I could bring potions into the dungeons too.¡± I muttered to myself while drinking the healing potion. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t access the items in my inventory while I was challenging the tower. The only reason I could take the potion out of my inventory now was because I¡¯d cleared the 2nd floor. After checking that all the wounds on my body had disappeared, I started to fiddle with the status window so that I could leave the 2nd floor. [Leaving the 2nd Floor.] [Teleporting in between the 2nd and 3rd Floor.] ¡°Wait, where am I going?¡± This wasn¡¯t right. ¡ª- ¡ª- Chapter 17 Chapter 17 ¨C Raison D¡¯¨ºtre (1) Before I could even protest, I was teleported to the space between the floors. ¡®Am I being teleported to yet another strange place?¡¯ I felt anxious about what awaited me, but I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw that I was standing in a normal gymnasium. It was really just an ordinary gymnasium. It was the kind that you could find at any school, with the usual hardwood floor, a stage at one end, basketball hoops on both sides, and a second floor balcony area. I couldn¡¯t figure out why I was brought to a gym. Maybe it was because it was so unexpected, but looking around the gym reminded me of the past. After looking around with a sentimental feeling, I turned around when I sensed a presence. [You again?] ¡°Aah! What is it?!¡± [It was understandable the first time, but how are you still surprised by this?] ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you be startled too if a voice suddenly started speaking to you when you¡¯re in an empty space?!¡± It was Yoo Ji-han. He definitely looked worse for wear than when I had last seen him. The school uniform that had looked practically brand-new had become worn out and tattered, and it looked like he hadn¡¯t been able to wash his hair, as it was soaked with blood. If he had said he was some kind of refugee, I would¡¯ve believed it. Did this guy even know what he looked like? Yoo Ji-han looked around at his surroundings. ¡°What is this place?¡± [Can¡¯t you tell just by looking? It¡¯s a gym.] ¡°Obviously, who wouldn¡¯t know this is a gym?¡± I shook my head at Yoo Ji-han¡¯s annoyance. I went over to the stage and gently perched on top of it. I had restored my strength with a potion, so I didn¡¯t have any injuries or anything, but I was still considerably exhausted. As far as I could tell, it looked like my voice would be transmitted to Yoo Ji-han no matter where I was in this gym. [First of all, just sit down and make yourself comfortable.] ¡°How can I get comfortable when I can¡¯t even see your face? Are we at a sanggyeonrye or something?¡± TL/N: A sanggyeonrye is a meeting between the families of the bride and groom. Usually at a restaurant or something where the families sit facing each other. [What does a kid like you know about a sanggyeonrye? You aren¡¯t even 20 yet. If you don¡¯t want to sit, you can just keep standing.] Yoo Ji-han, who was standing in the middle of the gym, was still trying to talk to me while facing the completely wrong direction. ¡®Gee, talk about being unable to adapt to the situation.¡¯ After looking around the gym, Yoo Ji-han suddenly stuck his hand out and started waving it around in the air. ¡®What is he doing? Is he trying to do some stretches or something?¡¯ I was watching him from afar, and I tilted my head in confusion right before Yoo Ji-han opened his mouth to speak again. ¡°Are you in front of me again today?¡± [Nope.] ¡°Where are you then?¡± [By the stage. You can¡¯t see me anyways, so why bother?] Even though I didn¡¯t think there was a point to knowing where I was located, at my response, Yoo Ji-han turned towards the stage then sat down. Although there was still a good amount of distance between us, it wasn¡¯t a huge impediment to our conversation. Yoo Ji-han sat on the floor with a dagger in his hand. He removed it from its sheath and started to watch his surroundings, keeping his guard up. [There are no monsters here.] ¡°How can you say that for sure?¡± Yoo Ji-han¡¯s voice had a sharp edge to it. Cautious. Anxious. On edge. Even though I wasn¡¯t that close to him, it wasn¡¯t hard to read Yoo Ji-han¡¯s mental state. [If you don¡¯t want to believe me, then don¡¯t.] No monsters would appear here. The reason why was very simple. It was because this wasn¡¯t the proper 2nd Floor. There was no reason to waste my breath arguing with Yoo Ji-han over such a definite fact. Everything was so unexpected on the 1st Floor, but the 2nd Floor felt like it had quite a bit of leeway. I felt that it was necessary to get an overview of the situation. [How was the 1st Floor?] ¡°I already finished it.¡± Judging from his behavior, it looked like some time had passed since he finished clearing the 1st Floor. [What the hell happened since then?] ¡°A lot.¡± Yoo Ji-han¡¯s expression was not encouraging. From his short response, I could tell he didn¡¯t want to just tell me everything right away. [Let¡¯s talk about what we couldn¡¯t say last time.] I was curious about Yoo Ji-han, and about the things that happened within this tower. I got the feeling that if I could find out what happened in the Tower of Trials, I could gain information that would help me in the fight to become the dimensional ruler. ¡°How can I trust you?¡± Yoo Ji-han raised his head up towards the platform. Even though it must have been by accident, for a split second, I felt like our eyes met. ¡®And he doubted me about the monsters too¡­ This guy.¡¯ When I first met Yoo Ji-han, he didn¡¯t have nearly this level of vigilance. This was a general distrust of all people. It was obvious to me that something had happened in the lobby. I checked Yoo Ji-han¡¯s Merit Points. [Yoo Ji-han] Merit Points: 722 Maybe it was just the reward for clearing the 1st Floor, but he had quite a lot of Merit Points piled up now, especially compared to when I first met him. I opened up the gift window. [Gift] ¨C Available gift targets: Yoo Ji-han ¨C Items that can be gifted: Small healing potion (12), Small magic power potion (33), Painkillers (6), Shower bomb (2) [2 Merit Points will be consumed to gift a shower bomb to ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯.] [2 Merit Points have been acquired.] It seemed like he¡¯d also gotten a notification since he opened up his inventory screen. [First of all, you should clean yourself up a little.] There was a blue ball shaped like a softball in Yoo Ji-han¡¯s hand. ¡°How do I use it?¡± [Pop i¡ª] Before I could even finish my sentence, Yoo Ji-han gripped the shower bomb tightly in his hand. The water and bubbles that came out of it covered Yoo Ji-han¡¯s whole body. After about 10 seconds, Yoo Ji-han emerged looking relatively normal, especially compared to before. [This is much better than that haggard look you had going on. If I had a mirror, I would¡¯ve handed it to you so you could take a look at yourself.] Yoo Ji-han touched his hair, which was completely dry as if he¡¯d blow-dried it. He must¡¯ve felt uncomfortable like that. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the one that knows your body best? Yoo Ji-han looked around the gymnasium once again. After doing this a couple of times, he put his dagger back into its sheath. He didn¡¯t tell me that he believed me when I said that monsters wouldn¡¯t appear here. It was a wise choice. As his tension finally dropped, I could see that his body¡¯s energy had also weakened. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know where to start¡­¡± With that, Yoo Ji-han started to carefully open up to me. Yoo Ji-han was a regular high schooler living in the city of Daejeon in South Korea. ¡°There was nothing out of the ordinary that day¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t just Yoo Ji-han. In the lobby, there had been more than a thousand people who had suddenly been transported there, just like Yoo Ji-han. At first there were a thousand people, but then there were five to ten newcomers at the end of each week. Yoo Ji-han had arrived late to the race, and the lobby was already taken over by the early comers who had made their own rules and regulations. When he was teleported to the lobby without even knowing the reason why he was there, the first thing Yoo Ji-han had seen was the mangled corpse of a peer who had been horribly murdered. ¡°They told me to choose. Either follow their rules, or enter the tower.¡± Luckily, he¡¯d managed to steal a dagger and escape into the tower. At this point, it wasn¡¯t difficult to realize that he met me in that place, wounded after just barely managing to kill one goblin. [How much time has passed since then?] ¡°About four days, I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s hard to keep track of dates while I¡¯m in the lobby.¡± Four days, huh. After I left the tower, I¡¯d spent some time being investigated by the association, and if I counted the day I¡¯d spent drinking with Choi Soo-hyun, then at least a week had passed. No matter how I looked at it, it seemed like the time scale between me and Yoo Ji-han was different. ¡®Does time even matter?¡¯ I¡¯d found something new to verify. [Have you cleared the 2nd Floor yet?] At my question, Yoo Ji-han shook his head. He¡¯d gone in to attempt the 2nd Floor, but he¡¯d been teleported to the gymnasium and had met me instead. On the flip side, I¡¯d just finished clearing the 2nd Floor. ¡®I¡¯ll still need more information.¡¯ It was still too early to be sure. [And? What happened after you cleared the 1st Floor?] Yoo Ji-han started to talk again as soon as I finished asking. When he¡¯d returned to the lobby, people were shocked. It looked like there had never been anyone like Yoo Ji-han who survived going to the 1st Floor with no armor and carrying nothing more than a single dagger. ¡®Well, that makes sense.¡¯ Yoo Ji-han was a latecomer. Viewed from the opposite angle, being one of the leading parties meant that they were the ones who knew the Tower¡¯s rules and had survived them. They were those who had the resolve to kill monsters, or even other people. And they knew better than anyone that those who¡¯d just arrived to the lobby wouldn¡¯t have that same resolve. Even if that were the case, they couldn¡¯t dream of the possibility that Yoo Ji-han would survive and manage to kill all the goblins on the 1st Floor. But he did survive. Ultimately, this meant that his desire to cling to life no matter what was strong, and also that he wasn¡¯t just a regular person. Yoo Ji-han told me that after he¡¯d cleared the 1st Floor and come out of the tower, there had been people that had come to find him. They were the thugs who had been the ones to throw Yoo Ji-han and the rest of his party into the 1st Floor. ¡°They asked me to join their guild, the Central Guild. The nerve of those bastards¡­¡± Yoo Ji-han¡¯s line of sight lined up directly with the platform where I was sitting. If he¡¯d accepted the support, Yoo Ji-han would have no reason to enter the 2nd Floor with his worn dagger and haggard appearance. This meant that he¡¯d rejected them. [Wouldn¡¯t you have been better off if you¡¯d accepted their proposal?] It wouldn¡¯t have been a bad proposal if they were one of the early parties. But when I said that, Yoo Ji-han furrowed his brow and scowled with an expression close to disgust. ¡°Are you crazy? I¡¯d rather die than join those sons of bitches. Those murderers. That¡¯s just¡­ Let¡¯s not even talk about it.¡± Yoo Ji-han seemed pretty frustrated since he curled his hand into a tight fist. At the sight of that, I got the sense of what those leading parties were really like. ¡®Right, he shouldn¡¯t behave like those bastards.¡¯ Honestly, I wanted to praise him for that part. The problem was what came after. Yoo Ji-han had rejected the proposal, and had escaped to the 2nd Floor the same way he¡¯d escaped into the 1st Floor. I was pretty sure I knew the reason why those guys hadn¡¯t tried to stop him. ¡®The 2nd Floor isn¡¯t something that can be cleared alone.¡¯ For the current Yoo Ji-han, it was definitely impossible. [If you go to the 2nd Floor now, you¡¯ll definitely die.] ¡°What? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?! Are you messing with me right now?¡± [It¡¯s still possible for you to leave.] It would be fine because he still hadn¡¯t entered the 2nd Floor yet. ¡°You¡¯re telling me to go back to the lobby?¡± [Yeah.] Yoo Ji-han frowned with his arms crossed. It looked like he would need a little bit of explanation. [If you do as I tell you, you can clear it, but you won¡¯t be able to do it right away.] ¡°And if I just go in anyways?¡± [You¡¯ll die. Forget about lasting 1 hour, you¡¯d barely last 30 minutes.] The goblins I met on the 2nd Floor were the same kind of goblin as the goblin troops I met at the entrance of the Tower of Trials. I knew better than anyone how those Hunters that had been thoroughly educated by their guilds had died at the hands of those goblins. A shadow fell over Yoo Ji-han¡¯s face. I didn¡¯t press him for a response. If someone who I could only hear the voice of had said this to me all of a sudden, I would also have a lot of worries to think about. Yoo Ji-han¡¯s worries and concerns were fair and realistic. ¡°So, I can clear the floor if I do what you tell me to do?¡± [It¡¯s up to you. Still, it¡¯s better than a 0% chance, right?] ¡°Alright. So what do I need to do?¡± [I¡¯m just warning you beforehand, but it¡¯ll be really difficult. Forget what happened on the 1st Floor, that was just a warm-up. Are you still going to do it?] ¡°You told me you¡¯d kick my ass if I just gave up. Of course I have to go back in.¡± The light in Yoo Ji-han¡¯s eyes had changed. To say that there was no anxiety or fear in those eyes would be a lie. But still, the fact that the light was there meant that he had already made up his mind. This place was by no means heaven, and the path one had to take would be a thorny road streaked with blood. In some ways, compared to when I had first arrived in Arbelicia, Yoo Ji-Han¡¯s situation was much better. [But do you even know how to use a sword?] Chapter 18 Chapter 18 ¨C Raison D¡¯¨ºtre (2) ¡°What kind of question is that? Of course I can¡¯t.¡± [You¡¯re really shameless, aren¡¯t you?] Yoo Ji-han put his hands in his pockets and lightly shrugged. Honestly, I hadn¡¯t been expecting much when I asked anyways, so I wasn¡¯t too bothered by this. ¡®Of course there¡¯s no Korean high schooler out there who would know things like how to kill monsters using a sword.¡¯ As soon as I thought that, Choi Soo-hyun weirdly came to mind. If it was the youngest Awakened Choi Soo-hyun, it wasn¡¯t that strange to imagine him slaying monsters in a dungeon wearing a school uniform. ¡®Anyways, that¡¯s just because that world is weird like that.¡¯ The correct and normal response to this situation was the same as Yoo Ji-han¡¯s. [Then do you have a god you worship?] ¡°A god I worship? Ah, is that what those guys were talking about?¡± Yoo Ji-han muttered that he¡¯d overheard some people talking about that for a moment. Because of his uncertain tone, I gathered that he didn¡¯t have an exact idea of what was going on. I could see Yoo Ji-han¡¯s Merit Points, and I could gift him items. From the amount of Merit Points he had, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could recruit him under me. ¡®It¡¯s probably fine, right?¡¯ No matter how deep we were in the distortions of spacetime, I wasn¡¯t convinced that something like this was even possible. ¡®Ah, whatever.¡¯ On top of this, even if I did make him my devotee, there was no guarantee that Yoo Ji-han would survive for a long time. I was just increasing his chances. After all, it¡¯d be better than leaving him here to die a pitiful death. ¡°Hey, so what are you asking me to do?¡± [Hold on. I¡¯m thinking.] Whatever. To hell with it. There¡¯s no way anything could possibly go that wrong by just recruiting Yoo Ji-han. [Inviting ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯ as a devotee.] As soon as I pressed the Confirm button, a status window appeared in front of Yoo Ji-han. Of course, I could also see what he saw on the status window. [The god Soter wishes for you to become his devotee. If you accept, you will become a follower of Soter.] ¡°This is¡­¡± [I won¡¯t force you.] This part I said point-blank. I wouldn¡¯t be disappointed either way, there was no need for me to forcefully drag Yoo Ji-han along if he didn¡¯t want to become my devotee. ¡®This is purely because I want to be meddlesome.¡¯ This was just returning the favor for what someone had done for me in the past. I thought that it would take him some time to come up with his answer, but Yoo Ji-han¡¯s decision was quick. [Yoo Ji-han has become your devotee.] [Congratulations! You have gained your first devotee!] [A Guardian is available to be appointed. 0/1] [Would you like to appoint Yoo Ji-han as a Guardian? They will be appointed as soon as they accept.] For now, I just pressed the ¡°Yes¡± button. I could see that a notification had also popped up on his end. [Yoo Ji-han has become your Guardian.] I quickly went to check Yoo Ji-han¡¯s status window. [Yoo Ji-han (Soter)] Job Title: Guardian Strength: A- (11%) Stamina: B- (30%) Mana: C+ (70%) Healing: B (5%) Merit Points: 720 Skills: Talents: It was basically what I¡¯d been expecting, but I was surprised to see his stats. They were all in great shape. While I was busy worrying over this and that, Yoo Ji-han spoke out. ¡°I¡¯ve accepted it. Now, back to the topic. You were talking about swords or something? Talk to me. It¡¯s stressing me out that I don¡¯t know where you are.¡± [You really won¡¯t regret it?] ¡°Regret what? Becoming your devotee? It looked like those other guys also all had gods that they followed anyways. Even before you offered, I was a little dejected that I didn¡¯t have anyone to follow. I don¡¯t know about other gods, but you¡¯re pretty human-like, so it already sounds better to me than the alternative.¡± Man, I didn¡¯t know whether I should be happy to hear this or not. I opened up Yoo Ji-han¡¯s status window. [Special Gift] You can gift items that you¡¯ve brought yourself. However, when gifting items, Merit Points will be consumed corresponding to the value of the item. ¨C Available gift targets: Yoo Ji-han ¨C Items that can be gifted: Sword (620) ¡®Ah, that¡¯s more than I thought.¡¯ But I¡¯d decided to give it to him, so I had no intention of canceling the gift now. ¡®That guy has a lot of swords anyways.¡¯ Before I¡¯d reentered the Tower of Trials, I¡¯d visited Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s personal vault. I decided that it wouldn¡¯t be a big issue if I said I¡¯d lost just one thing, so I gifted the sword to Yoo Ji-han. [620 Merit Points will be consumed to gift this sword to ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯.] The sword in my hands disappeared and was transferred over to Yoo Ji-han¡¯s inventory. After receiving it, Yoo Ji-han pulled the sword out of his inventory. ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± [Well, call it my first gift to you as a new devotee.] It was a bit much to call it a gift, considering it was a used item and Yoo Ji-han had to use his own Merit Points to get it. Even so, I was patronizing him a little bit to cover up for the parts that were lacking. The sword appeared in Yoo Ji-han¡¯s hands. ¡°It¡¯s pretty sharp.¡± Yoo Ji-han muttered hesitantly after lightly touching the blade. [Well, if you want to give up¡­] ¡°Stop talking about giving up. You were the one who told me not to give up, so don¡¯t try to act like you¡¯re being considerate.¡± Yoo Ji-han spoke firmly, as if to say that he understood my intentions. Ji-han already knew from experience in the lobby that strength made a difference. Why did the other guys that came into the lobby with Ji-han all die at the hands of the Central Guild? Why did those who were kicked out of the lobby die on the 1st Floor without being able to clear it? It¡¯s because they lacked strength. They lacked the resolve to kill those monsters. That was the only reason. [Don¡¯t think that you¡¯re going to be able to shake me off in the end just because you can¡¯t see me.] ¡°Yeah, yeah. I got it.¡± Ji-han gripped the sword tightly. The Korean Hunters Association, Jongno Headquarters Office. With his stuff spread out over two desks, Choi Soo-hyun was doing work with headphones on. A song by an idol group that was popular at the moment leaked through the wireless headset. On one side of the desk was a half-finished beer can and beef jerky, and on the other side was a double monitor setup on which a webtoon that had nothing to do with his work was pulled up. This looked more like a home office than a company work desk. Even though this was an Association, a company was a company. Who the hell shows up to their company¡¯s office to work while listening to music, reading webtoons, and drinking alcohol? It was well beyond the realm of common sense. However, no one rebuked, criticized, or even thought to be offended by Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s attitude. Everyone just accepted it as if it were normal. They probably wouldn¡¯t have paid any attention even if Choi Soo-hyun put on a headset and started yelling at teammates while playing an online game. For a Hunter at Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s level, simply coming into work every day and sitting in his office was amazing enough. A man in his early 20s approached Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s side. ¡°Manager, manager, sir?¡± ¡°Hm? What?¡± He came closer to where Choi Soo-hyun was sitting and pointed at the monitor opposite him. ¡°Please check your email.¡± ¡°Give me a sec.¡± Choi Soo-hyun quickly finished watching the episode he was on before he turned to check the email sent by one of his team members. ¡°Another dungeon break in Sindorim? Wasn¡¯t there one close there last week too?¡± ¡°Near Yeongdeungpo, sir. There was a fake dungeon issue last time, so the higher-ups said to avoid it if any more problems came up. We decided to move the scheduled dungeon practice from Boramae Park to near Maebongsan Mountain. We just need you to sign off on this, Manager.¡± ¡°Alright, alright.¡± Choi Soo-hyun picked up a tablet pen connected to his PC and signed on one side of the document on his monitor before sending it in an email. ¡°Thank you.¡± After the team member returned to his seat, Choi Soo-hyun turned to the second monitor that didn¡¯t have a webtoon on it. ¡®Number of dungeon breaks in the last 3 months. Aria Guild. Aria¡­ Aria¡­ What? Why are there so many of these?¡± A messenger notification rang out on Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s computer. ¡°Who¡¯s messaging¡­ Ah.¡± At the sight of the relatively short reply, Choi Soo-hyun picked up his cell phone and went into an empty conference room. ¨C Heyyy, friend. Did your dungeon expedition end safely? ¨C Your reason for calling me? ¨C I¡¯m just calling to say hi. We¡¯re not so distant that we can¡¯t even have a casual phone conversation, right? ¨C The reason. ¨C So cold. ¨C If you change the subject, I¡¯m hanging up. Another employee who was about to use the conference room entered and immediately jumped back at the sight of Choi Soo-hyun. As Choi Soo-hyun waved his hand dismissively, he had no choice but to move to a different conference room. Representative of the Aria Guild, Park Si-woo. As one of the three co-representatives, he was also Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s high school classmate. ¨C It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯ve just got a Hunter here that doesn¡¯t have anywhere to go that would fit him, so can you take him on? ¨C So it¡¯s something after all. ¨C It¡¯s just because I kind of like this guy. ¨C If you like him, then that Hunter must also not be someone in his right mind. What are you up to? While listening to the words of Park Si-woo, Choi Soo-hyun scratched at his cheek with one hand. The Aria Guild wasn¡¯t a guild that had a special main god. It was a guild made up of Hunters that worshiped various gods, and getting in the guild was pretty easy as long as you weren¡¯t Unaffiliated. He didn¡¯t know who this Hunter that Choi Soo-hyun wanted to introduce to him was, but there was no need to go through such a cumbersome process just for that. But the heaven-blessed honored one Choi Soo-hyun was coming to ask guild representative Park Si-woo a favor with his tail between his legs? He had no choice but to think that there was some ulterior motive to his request to take on this Hunter. ¨C I¡¯m not planning on asking you to watch over him like a hawk or anything like that. You obviously wouldn¡¯t do that even if I asked. Just let me know every so often what he¡¯s up to while he¡¯s in your guild. ¨C You¡¯re asking me, the guild representative, to spy on the Hunter that you recommended? You know that¡¯s highly unprofessional, right? ¨C You guys have had a lot of dungeon accidents lately, huh? I took a peek earlier and it wasn¡¯t just one or two things. You know we¡¯re especially sensitive right now because of the fake dungeon incident, right? ¨C Isn¡¯t it a plain fact that the deaths of those trainees were due to your side¡¯s unreliable management? I can¡¯t claim to say I know why you¡¯re going after a guild that¡¯s doing just fine. ¨C Call it a favor then. I¡¯ve been at this job for a while, and you know I¡¯ll help out if you do this for me. ¨C Just send me his profile. ¨C Okay. Choi Soo-hyun hung up and went back to his desk. He leaned back on his chair and polished off the rest of the beer before chewing on the jerky. He sent a quick text to Han-kyul. [Your guild is all set now.] [Oh, thank you.] He opened the messaging app on his computer, and he was about to ask if he wanted to grab dinner right when Han-kyul¡¯s next message popped up onto Soo-hyun¡¯s huge monitor screen. [Oh yeah, hyung.] [I lost my weapon.] Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s fingers paused in the middle of typing and hovered over the keyboard for a couple of seconds. After holding up one hand to shoo away another team member who approached him about signing off on some other thing, he sent a reply to Han-kyul. [Hey.] [Do you even know how much that cost?] ¡°Ahhh¡­ My blood pressure.¡± The sudden threatening mood that came down over the office made the atmosphere unnervingly chilly. Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s hands shook as he typed on the keyboard. After helping Ji-han as much as I could, I left the Tower of Trials. While I was waiting for a pot of ramen to boil, I muttered to myself as I looked at Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s reply. ¡°Geez, he¡¯s making such a big deal over 8 million won.¡± TL/N: About 6.5K USD It was my fault for losing a sword within two days, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to make 8 million won appear even if I sold everything that I owned. I¡¯d taken into account that I would get some light scolding, but I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d get this angry, so I just stared at my phone for a while, unsure as to how to respond. When I didn¡¯t reply after a while, I got a call from Choi Soo-hyun. The second that I touched the accept call button, I could hear his furious voice through the receiver. ¨C Hey. HEY! Kang Han-kyul! Are you fucking with me right now? Are you insane? ¨C I mean, I¡¯m sorry that I lost it. But I told you I would repay the 8 million won, so there¡¯s no need for you to get this angry, right? ¨C It¡¯s dollars. ¨C Huh? ¨C It¡¯s 8.5 million dollars. Not Korean won. Hmmm¡­ How much was 8.5 million dollars in won again? Chapter 19 Chapter 19 ¨C Raison D¡¯¨ºtre (3) I did a quick calculation in my head. 1 dollar was a little bit over a thousand won. That meant 80 thousand dollars was about 100 million won. He said it was a little bit over 8 million, so it was approximately a little over 10 billion won. After calculating up to that point, I was so stunned my mouth dropped open. 10 billion won? That sword? ¨C A-Are you insane? ¨C You¡¯re the one that¡¯s insane. Who the hell are you calling insane? ¨C N-No! I mean, you¡¯re telling me that sword was worth 10 billion won? What are you talking about?! I raised my voice in my shock. Choi Soo-hyun had shown me a list of the items inside of his personal vault, and he¡¯d promised me I could take whatever weapon I wanted, so I just picked out a fine-looking sword. There¡¯s no way I would¡¯ve taken it if I¡¯d known how much it cost. Because he¡¯d given it to me with no complaints, I¡¯d thought it was a weapon that he¡¯d be fine giving away with no pressure. Wh-Who the hell just gives away a 10 billion won weapon like that? What kind of showing off was this? If he¡¯d bragged about it to my face even a little bit, I would¡¯ve never handed it off to Yoo Ji-han without a second thought. ¡®Wow, and I can¡¯t ask him to give it back at this point either.¡¯ But it wasn¡¯t like I had nothing to say about this either. The sword Choi Soo-hyun had given me wasn¡¯t a bad sword, but my verdict was that it wasn¡¯t one that was worth 10 billion won. I¡¯d made two mistakes here. Even if I didn¡¯t know how much the item cost, I had been way too far off in estimating its price range, and I¡¯d also forgotten that I was someone who didn¡¯t have a good eye for judging these types of things. Over the phone, I could hear Choi Soo-hyun let out a deep sigh. ¨C So, how did you lose it? ¨C Something happened that I can¡¯t tell you about. Anyways, there¡¯s no way I can get it back. Besides the fact that I had no idea how to reobtain an item that I¡¯d already gifted, just the thought of asking for it back was absurd. ¨C Just shut up and get out of here for a minute. You damn kid. I dutifully attempted to pacify Choi Soo-hyun over the phone because he sounded like he was seriously angry. Once he got tired of it, he cut me off and said bluntly: ¨C We¡¯ll talk about the sword later. If you don¡¯t shape up now, I swear to god I won¡¯t let it go. With those words, Choi Soo-hyun stopped talking about the 8.5 million dollar sword that I¡¯d told him I¡¯d lost. That didn¡¯t mean that he¡¯d forgotten about it or that we were just cool now. ¡®He must be testing my worth.¡¯ It was that kind of a test. It also meant that what Choi Soo-hyun had said that day was still a work in progress. If that wasn¡¯t the case, he wouldn¡¯t be acting like this after telling me he¡¯d join my camp. ¡®Because I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to stab me in the back.¡¯ As long as I thought about it as a matter of building up trust, I didn¡¯t feel too bad about it. ¨C So, how did the guild turn out? ¨C They said they¡¯d take you. They¡¯ll contact you. Anything is fine, just don¡¯t cause trouble. ¨C I¡¯m not some kind of delinquent, there won¡¯t be any trouble. Well, I won¡¯t be the one causing the trouble. ¨C Sigh, whatever. Anyways, they said they¡¯d give you a call sometime next week. I told them to look after you as best as they could. ¨C Thank you. ¨C Alright, I¡¯m hanging up. Talk to you later. After he hung up, I lifted up my chopsticks to gently stir my ramen. ¡°¡­It¡¯s overcooked.¡± I should¡¯ve answered the call after eating. Gangnam Teheran-ro. The Gangnam of my memories was a bustling street filled with civil service academies, plastic surgery clinics, corporate headquarters, offices, and bars in the back. The Gangnam that I¡¯d arrived in was similar to that, but also somehow different. Instead of cram schools and hospitals, pawn shops and law offices of varying sizes lined the streets. The buildings that used to be owned by large corporations were now made up of the HQ¡¯s of large guilds. I¡¯d searched up the Aria Guild¡¯s headquarters on my phone, and now I stood looking up at a tall building right in the middle of Gangnam. ¡®This building¡­ I remember it as some corporate building.¡¯ I couldn¡¯t believe that the headquarters for a corporation famous for its bookstores was a Hunter guild¡¯s headquarters in this world. Every time I saw something like this, the feeling that this was an entirely different world after all would wash over me. After I walked into the lobby, I gave my name to the employee inside. ¡°Could I see your identification card please?¡± ¡°Ah, yes.¡± After handing over my issued Hunter ID, I was told to head to the 10th floor. The interior of the building was pretty plain. On the surface, I could believe that this was just a regular business. The only difference really was that while walking around inside the building, you¡¯d run into Hunters wearing distinctive outfits or holding weapons. The larger the size of the guild, the more layperson employees in charge of office work there tended to be. The competition rate for office jobs in large guilds wasn¡¯t that different from that of large corporations. ¡®It¡¯s pretty amazing.¡¯ Pushing past the people in the crowded elevator, I managed to get off on the 10th floor. ¡°You¡¯re the one who came here to get a consultation on joining the guild, correct? Please wait in the room in the back, the person in charge will come meet you shortly.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± After being guided by the person at the desk, I went into the small conference room in the back of the hallway. There were some refreshments and drinks laid out on top of a white table. I unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it into my mouth right as the door opened. A plain-looking man in a suit walked inside holding some files. ¡°Kang Han-kyul?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the Aria guild¡¯s contract administration officer, Kim Ji-hoon.¡± Kim Ji-hoon pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me. He held out a Sagwa tablet with a contract file loaded onto it and started to explain the process of entering into a guild. The Aria guild was one that didn¡¯t have a specific god that all the members worshiped. Unlike other guilds, entry was dependent on skill, and because of that, the guild was able to grow rapidly. That wasn¡¯t to say that there weren¡¯t any drawbacks to this. ¡®One thing is that this is a coalition guild made up from a collaboration of three different guilds. Another thing is that there¡¯s a lack of solidarity.¡¯ The flip side of accepting Hunters who worship a variety of different gods means that there¡¯s a high chance for conflicts in opinion. It¡¯s likely that this was the reason that, despite the fact that Aria guild was the No. 4 guild in South Korea, it didn¡¯t have that much public influence. Skimming through the contract, I didn¡¯t really see anything that would cause any huge problems. ¡°You just need to sign right there next to the check marks.¡± I quietly lifted up the pen and diligently went to work signing my name in the rectangle-shaped spaces. Before the signing in the final box, I suddenly stopped moving while holding on to the pen. ¡°There¡¯s just something that I¡¯m curious about.¡± I pushed back the tablet that contained the contract and started to spin the pen around with my fingers. Kim Ji-hoon gave me a strange look. After a beat, he finally responded. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing that important. But I happened to lose my weapon for personal reasons, and I was wondering if your guild had any kind of support in terms of weapons or items?¡± ¡°For D-rank Hunters, we do provide basic support. Of course, as stated in the contract, all items and other materials received from the guild will be provided at a cost, which will be incurred as an additional fee after completing a dungeon.¡± As expected of a contract administrator, he spoke very smoothly. Looking back, getting access to Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s safe had definitely been a boon. I¡¯d picked out a random sword, and it ended up being worth 8.5 million dollars. ¡®Tch, couldn¡¯t he let me borrow just one more sword?¡¯ I¡¯d belatedly asked if there was any way I could borrow another one, only to get cursed out to hell and back. Unfortunately, after all that, I couldn¡¯t make any other requests. I don¡¯t know how many times I¡¯ve kicked myself for giving Yoo Ji-han that sword ever since I found out it was worth over 10 billion won. It was basically like I¡¯d accidentally invested 10 billion won into a stock I wasn¡¯t wholly confident in. ¡®That bastard, he better not have died inside that tower, I swear to god.¡¯ But right now, I had my own fish to fry. ¡°Besides the basic support, what else is there?¡± ¡°First of all, you are a D-rank Hunter, correct? Sometimes, in the case of high-ranking Hunters, the guild does provide support, but besides support due to your ranking, there¡¯s nothing outside of individually purchasing your own items. If you would like, I could help you get in contact with a guild dealer.¡± After hearing Kim Ji-hoon¡¯s explanation, I again carefully studied the terms and conditions written in tiny font in the contract. There were two points that caught my eye. The down payment was 10 million won. TL/N: About 8,000 USD. It seemed like the guild and the Hunters split earnings in a 5:5 ratio. At least it seemed like that from my rough estimate. I opened a canned coffee that was on top of the table and took a sip. Kim Ji-hoon had clearly thought that I would sign the contract quickly, but he was now disconcerted by the way I was dragging this on. What did he know, anyways? ¡®The conditions for joining the Aria guild aren¡¯t very strict.¡¯ Without needing to get Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s introduction, if I¡¯d made up my mind to, I could¡¯ve probably gotten into this guild without much trouble. So the fact that he¡¯d gone through that cumbersome process of introducing me just meant that he wanted to put me in a place where he could keep an eye on me. I didn¡¯t really have any intentions of criticizing Choi Soo-hyun. As I said before, between us, we needed a lot of time to verify each other. Even if it was through somewhat disreputable methods. Anyways, I was someone who¡¯d come in through a representative¡¯s introduction. If I couldn¡¯t get a weapon from Choi Soo-hyun, I needed to get a weapon from here. ¡°About how much does a decent weapon usually cost?¡± ¡°When you say ¡®a decent weapon¡¯, what expectations do you have? In any case, Hunter weapons usually vary in price, and there are so many different varieties.¡± ¡°Ah, that does seem to be the case. Well then, how far does this down payment go? And isn¡¯t a 5:5 split just too much?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that our base rates are 10 million won and a 5:5 split. And you are a D-rank Hunter, after all.¡± ¡°Have you not heard?¡± ¡°Heard what?¡± ¡°That I¡¯m besties with the representative here.¡± ¡°The representative¡­ Which one are you talking about?¡± Ah, right, there were three different representatives here. I pretended to cough and started to speak carefully after I saw Kim Ji-hoon¡¯s wary expression. ¡°Park Si-woo.¡± ¡°Are you an acquaintance of Representative Park? I didn¡¯t receive any message of that nature¡­¡± Kim Ji-hoon took out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his sweaty forehead. Since he seemed genuinely surprised, it looked like he didn¡¯t receive any special notification from Park Si-woo. Since it just looked like an ordinary Hunter had shown up to join the guild, he was probably only told to get me to sign the contract. Now that things had turned out this way, I figured I might as well try to make an impression. I put the empty coffee can back down on the table and gave a bright smile. ¡°Is that truly the case?¡± ¡°Y-Yes?¡± This bastard. Don¡¯t ask me, go find out on your own. As I kept on smiling with my mouth closed, Kim Ji-hoon finally jumped to his feet. ¡°Excuse me a second, I¡¯ll go and make a phone call. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Of course, of course. That¡¯s how it should be. As soon as Kim Ji-hoon left, I tore off the wrappers on the remaining snacks and popped them in my mouth one by one. Around when I finished eating all the snacks that had been set out for me, Kim Ji-hoon came back after ending his phone call. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, sir. We¡¯ll draw up a new contract for you. I didn¡¯t know you were an acquaintance of Representative Park¡­ He informed me that you should be given the best possible treatment.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s be reasonable.¡± ¡°Reasonable?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go with a down payment of 1 billion won and a 7:3 split. That should be pretty conscientious.¡± Chapter 20 Chapter 20 ¨C Raison D¡¯¨ºtre (4) Kim Ji-hoon¡¯s mouth opened and he gaped like a fish. ¡°Please, wait just a second!¡± Kim Ji-hoon went back out into the hallway. Through the door, I could hear him talking on the phone as clearly as if he were standing right next to me. After ending the call, he came back in and sat down in his chair. ¡°We¡¯ll do as you wish.¡± Kim Ji-hoon asked to be excused and told me that he¡¯d bring a revised copy of the contract. I put my elbows on top of the desk and propped up my chin with one hand. ¡®That went way more smoothly than I thought it would.¡¯ Park Si-woo. One of the Aria Guild¡¯s joint representatives and the former representative of the Morning Star Guild. When I¡¯d said that I was Park Si-woo¡¯s friend, that was definitely a lie. And there was no way that Park Si-woo was unaware of that. I signed the new contract that Kim Ji-hoon wrote up for me. He seemed to really believe that I was truly an acquaintance of guild representative Park Si-woo, and his tone of voice was much more polite than it had been at the beginning. ¡°This here is our community address and I.D. All the activity information is explained on the bulletin board. The down payment will be deposited to your account within one week. Is there anything else that you need?¡± ¡°You told me earlier that you could put me in contact with a dealer if I needed, right?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Would you like me to do so?¡± ¡°Yes, put me in contact. There¡¯s no need for the down payment of 1 billion won, let¡¯s just jump straight to purchasing a 1 billion won sword. What I needed now wasn¡¯t a down payment, it was a weapon that I could use right away. Madu Station. I got off the subway after having boarded almost the first car. ¡°Damn, I should¡¯ve just bought a car with 1 billion won. Ah, I guess this guy doesn¡¯t even have a license anyways.¡± Once I have some money saved up, I should try to get a license. After talking to Kim Ji-hoon, I was able to meet right away with the guild¡¯s dealer through him. But once I¡¯d looked at the catalog that the dealer had brought over, I realized that you couldn¡¯t get a decent weapon with a billion won. For someone who had looked through Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s collection and grumbled that this should be good enough while picking out a 10 billion won weapon, of course I wouldn¡¯t be satisfied now with a weapon that was only 1 billion won. I didn¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to find a weapon that met up to my standards. Maybe it was because it was early morning, but the fog hung thickly in the air. When I arrived at the meeting place, there were already some Hunters and Association staff in suits who had arrived before me. I flashed my guild ID and casually walked over to where the other Hunters were. Guild-internal dungeon expeditions were usually carried out either by creating a small team with like-minded people or by forming a one-time team through the community. When a guild posted dungeon information obtained from the Association on the bulletin board along with the rank of the dungeon, available Hunters would leave comments and join up on a first come, first serve basis. Usually, Hunters would work together in teams after somewhat building up their careers, but there were not many cases of Hunters working in a set team early on. Because it really felt like I was playing a game, I found it a bit interesting. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Ah, you¡¯re the guy I saw last time.¡± A man in his 30s who seemed to recognize me reacted first. Since newcomer Hunters tended to work individually, there was a lot of overlap in the faces that you saw. That was how like-minded Hunters sometimes found each other and formed teams. I could understand how it was pretty convenient to join up with peers that entered a guild at the same time as you. This Hunter was someone who¡¯d entered the Aria guild at around the same time as me, and his name was Kang Hyun-seung. Another man who was standing next to Kang Hyun-seung looked at me and spoke. ¡°He looks young.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s definitely skilled. They said he¡¯ll be a C rank soon.¡± ¡°I think it might be next month.¡± Listening to their conversation, I lightly shrugged my shoulders. The man stuck out his hand. ¡°Min Seong-taek.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Kang Han-kyul.¡± I gently shook hands with Min Seong-taek. After those light introductions, I checked my status window. [Kang Han-kyul(Soter)] You are the master of the dimension ¡®Tower of Trials¡¯. Job Title: Representative (5%) Strength: C+ (71%) Stamina: C+ (21%) Mana: C (10%) Healing: D+ (5%) Merit Points: 13,250 Skills: Talents: Thankfully, my stats had increased overall since last time. After becoming the ruler of the 1st and 2nd Floors, I¡¯d challenged the 2nd Floor again a couple more times. And in order to get stronger, I had raised the level of difficulty as high as I possibly could. ¡®Honestly, it was kind of stressful.¡¯ I didn¡¯t think that I would pass out as soon as I cleared the 2nd Floor. When I admitted to myself that this was unreasonable, I realized it would be better to defer training in the tower for a while, even if it would end up taking more time. Inside the Tower, I couldn¡¯t earn the Merit Points that you would usually get after clearing a dungeon as well. ¡®But I guess I¡¯ll have to go try the 3rd Floor soon.¡¯ I was a bit worried about that guy too. If I gave him a 10 billion won weapon and he went and died anyways, then I guess it would¡¯ve been futile from the beginning. ¡°Is everyone here?¡± The Association staff came over towards us. ¡°No, there¡¯s still one more person who hasn¡¯t arrived yet.¡± Our scheduled meeting time was 7 o¡¯clock. Right now, it was 6:59. Exactly 1 minute later, a man came running towards us from the direction of the park entrance. ¡°There he is now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It looks like I¡¯m a bit late.¡± At the sight of him, my jaw dropped open along with the other Hunters. ¡°And what is your name, please?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Kim Yoo-han.¡± While we were busy gaping, the Association staff diligently did their job. Min Seong-taek, who¡¯d taken on the role of the tank for this mission, finally spoke out. ¡°Can this guy really hold onto our bags properly?¡± While Min Seong-taek and the other members were questioning Kim Yoo-han¡¯s qualifications, I had a completely different thought in my head upon seeing him. ¡®Wow, isn¡¯t he hot in that?¡¯ The weather was getting a little chilly these days, but his outfit was definitely not the norm. He had thick pants, a padded jacket, a strange earflap hat, and on top of that, he had round glasses with thick black frames and even a black mask so that his facial features were obscured. ¡®Where did he get that hat, anyways?¡¯ Kim Yoo-han¡¯s outfit was so strange that it wouldn¡¯t be out of place to see it at a ski resort. To put it bluntly, Kim Yoo-han was a fashion terrorist. I¡¯d be kind of impressed if he got on public transportation looking like that. If the rest of his face really was as pale as the strip of skin I could see through his hair at his neckline, I doubted whether this guy could actually fight. I understood why Min Seong-taek would say something like that. At Min Seong-taek¡¯s questioning, Kim Yoo-han looked around at his surroundings. He saw the large backpack that had been left at the entrance to the dungeon and picked it up with one hand and slung it onto his shoulder. ¡®He¡¯s pretty strong. Guess, we shouldn¡¯t judge people based on appearance alone.¡¯ After seeing Kim Yoo-han quickly pick up and carry two backpacks, the rest of the party didn¡¯t doubt him anymore. We each went around and introduced ourselves. Me, the front-line hunter, Kang Hyun-seung, the scout, Ahn Joo-hye, the support, and Min Seong-taek, the tank and the one who was put in charge this time as the leader of the expedition team. Including Kim Yoo-han, who was in charge of carrying luggage and backing up the rear guard, we were five people in total. ¡°We¡¯ll depart in 10 minutes. I¡¯ll go talk to the Association staff for a bit, so please make yourself comfortable while you wait.¡± Min Seong-taek approached an Association official who was standing by with a phone in his hands. Right then, Kim Yoo-han and I made eye contact. ¡°If you have something to say, say it. Stop staring at me.¡± I¡¯d seen him stealing glances at me while pretending to look at the ground. It was at the level where I¡¯d say he was pretty good at getting a sneak peek at people while pretending to look elsewhere. Ahn Joo-hye and Kang Hyun-seung were both taking care of their own business somewhere else. At my interrogation, Kim Yoo-han raised his head. ¡°It¡¯s just that you look like someone I know.¡± It was a response that I hadn¡¯t anticipated. ¡°A celebrity, maybe? No one¡¯s ever told me anything like that. I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about, but to be clear, it¡¯s gotta be that he looks like me, rather than me looking like him.¡± Kim Yoo-han frowned and furrowed his brow at my brazen remarks. Truthfully, when I¡¯d heard Kim Yoo-han¡¯s voice, I¡¯d felt that it wasn¡¯t really out of place. ¡°Never mind.¡± Kim Yoo-han gave up on whatever he was going to say and turned away from me. A few moments later, Min Seong-taek came back from talking to the Association staff member and waved his head towards the gate. ¡°It looks like we can start now.¡± We went inside of the dungeon. [Now entering the dungeon.] [Giant Ant Den] Grade: C- Terrain: Cave Party Limit: 5-6 people Goal: After killing the queen ant, retrieve one of the queen ant¡¯s eggs. Rewards: Upon all clearing (All) [Merit Points 400] Upon killing all ants (All) [Merit Points 100] For dealing the killing blow on the queen ant [Merit Points 600] For taking one of the queen ant¡¯s eggs [Merit Points 300] Upon destroying the queen ant¡¯s eggs (All) [Merit Points -1000] Starting at the C-grade level, the mission rewards included the possibility of getting points deducted. Once you got to S-grade dungeons, it¡¯s said that the rewards lists were long enough to fill three or four sheets of A4 paper. The inside of the cave was pretty plain. The only downside was that it was a little bit narrow. The five of us Hunters lined up and went into the cave. Shortly after entering the cave, Min Seong-taek, who¡¯d taken the lead, stopped walking. I could hear the sound of the ants crawling around inside of the cave. ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡± Min Seong-taek raised his shield and sword. Ahn Joo-hye took something out of her pocket. It was a disposable glow stick. Using it was simple. All you had to do was bend it slightly and throw it to the ground. In cave dungeons or in dark places, throwing glow sticks down like this served as guideposts. It was also possible to use it to temporarily blind any monsters. They wouldn¡¯t be much use when face-to-face with a boss monster, but they¡¯d be effective enough for the fire ant soldiers right in front of us. When the glow stick landed, the surrounding area lit up. At the sudden light, the ants that were over 1m in size froze for a moment and then ran towards us. The legs of a fire ant soldier were hot enough that they would cause second degree burns in an instant if you touched them with your bare skin. ¡°Get ready for battle!¡± At the words of the team leader, Min Seong-taek, everyone raised their weapons and started to fight with the soldier ants. I also drew my sword and cut off the legs of an approaching fire ant soldier. Fire ant soldiers are divided by their hot legs and abdomens, and a hard shell surrounded their entire body. Contrary to how it looked, the shell was actually pretty strong. Because of this, you usually had to stab them in the chest area where they weren¡¯t covered by the shell. That was the fire ant soldiers¡¯ weak point. The standard method was to cut off all the legs of the fire ant soldier, then stab them straight in the chest. The problem was that this was a time-consuming and annoying task, and the number of ants that were crawling towards us weren¡¯t just one or two. ¡®Even so, the tunnel is narrow.¡¯ A fire ant soldier came down from the ceiling. Its legs just barely grazed past my cheek as it fell. A scorching heat rose up as if a soldering iron had passed by me. I turned around and thrust out my sword in the direction of the fire ant soldier¡¯s body. A clear tone rang out as if I¡¯d struck my sword against a piece of steel, and there was now a scratch in the fire ant¡¯s shell. ¡°Hey! What the hell are you doing!¡± As if he thought that what I¡¯d just done was useless, Min Seong-taek spat out an annoyed remark as he stuck a knife into the chest of a crippled fire ant. But I didn¡¯t stop after that. After dodging another attack, this time I infused magical power into my sword. The sharp edge of the sword was dyed black. In that state, I swung my sword in an arc as I turned my body around in a complete rotation. The body along with the legs of the approaching fire ant soldier were cleanly cut off. As the body split into two, dark red blood spewed out in all directions. With a thunk, the dead soldier ant¡¯s leg fell lightly on top of my shoe. ¡°Ah, hot!¡± Startled, I kicked the leg away with my foot and took a step back. At the same time, the eyes of the Hunters behind me turned in my direction. I got back into position and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s just that I hate such inconvenient things.¡± Chapter 21 Chapter 21 ¨C Song Eun-young (1) My sword had cut cleanly through the body of the fire ant soldier. The cut-off limbs of the ant twitched while they were on the ground. ¡°What? How did you do that?¡± ¡°Is your strength really that high?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say that I have a knack for this.¡± I responded after hearing the comments of the Hunters behind me. And it really was true. To amputate the body of a fire ant soldier, you needed a strength stat of at least B+. It would be nice if you could be strong enough to walk around without a care for your surroundings, but in the case where that wasn¡¯t true, you had to learn to show off your know-how. ¡®Every living thing has a weakness.¡¯ Even the shell that surrounded the fire ant soldier was just another part of its body. All I¡¯d done was efficiently cut through its weakest part. ¡°Hey, come help me with this one too!¡± Min Seong-taek raised his voice as he was blocking some fire ants with his shield. As I ran towards him, he stepped back a little and struck at the body of one of the ants with his shield. After lightly jumping off the wall with one foot, I slashed at a fire ant in mid-air, bringing it down together with me as I cut through the weak point in the middle of its chest. Then, I joined Min Seong-taek in facing off with another fire ant soldier. ¡°This is the last one.¡± An ant with a severed leg was trying to crawl away on the ground. I thrust my sword into the fire ant soldier¡¯s chest. When I pulled the sword back out, I could hear the sound of wind hissing through the hole. It seemed like we¡¯d taken care of all the fire ants in this area. After making sure that there were no more monsters, we sheathed our weapons. As I was massaging my throbbing wrists, Kim Yoo-han¡¯s eyes met mine. He finished tidying up his things and slung a bag over his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯ll be night soon, so let¡¯s go! Double time!¡± ¡°Alright! Be right there!¡± After checking the way forward, Min Seong-taek and the rest of the party were calling out to me. Kim Yoo-han shouldered the bags as well as the rest of the luggage and made his way through the heaps of deceased soldier ants. I also walked along right behind Kim Yoo-han. The blood that was pooled on the floor splashed in Kim Yoo-han¡¯s direction. It was because I¡¯d taken a wrong step. Looking down at the blood splattered on his clothes, Kim Yoo-han let out a sigh inside of his mask. Anyways, I had to ask because I was just that curious. ¡°Aren¡¯t you hot in there?¡± Kim Yoo-han met my eyes again. He looked at me as if to ask if he was the one I was asking just now. ¡®Well, everyone else is up there and we¡¯re the only ones back here, so do you think I¡¯m asking the air or something?¡¯ It was so ridiculous that I couldn¡¯t speak for a second. Just as I was about to chastise him, Kim Yoo-han responded first. ¡°What concern is it of yours?¡± The response was certainly something. What concern of mine? Well, if I thought about it, it really wasn¡¯t my business. But still, what a prickly reaction. ¡°It¡¯s none of my concern, but can¡¯t I just ask anyways?¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t ¡®just ask¡¯.¡± He was talking politely earlier, but now he¡¯d dropped the act. But well, I¡¯d started talking impolitely first, so it didn¡¯t really matter. ¡°What are you so wound up for? You don¡¯t have any friends, do you? Huh? Damn, I saw on a wiki once that out of two Hunters, one would be a psychopath while the other would be a guy with something wrong with him. Guess they weren¡¯t kidding about that.¡± ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t say you look like a proper Hunter either.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Hunter, alright? Where¡¯s my ID¡­ Damn, right. I put it in my bag.¡± I didn¡¯t want to search through my bag just to take out my ID. Kim Yoo-han turned his head to stare at me while I scratched at my head. ¡®Strange bastard.¡¯ Come to think of it, Kim Yoo-han wasn¡¯t the only eccentric Hunter I¡¯d met over the past few months. From that bastard that showed up armed to the teeth like some sort of medieval knight, to the one who¡¯d appeared cosplaying some manhwa character, and the one who¡¯d brought along some unrecognizable drone. ¡®It¡¯s not like we¡¯re shooting some sort of superhero movie here.¡¯ Out of the so-called Awakened, there wasn¡¯t a single sane one among them! At this point, the Choi Soo-hyun that diligently clocked in and out of work every day for a regular paycheck seemed almost normal. ¡°Whew, whatever. Let¡¯s just drop it.¡± Min Seong-taek beckoned towards me with one hand. It looked like he¡¯d found something. I didn¡¯t see any monsters that were following us or anything, so I ran forward without worrying about it. The dungeon expedition was going smoothly. If we continued on like this, it looked like we¡¯d be leaving the dungeon way sooner than I¡¯d expected. I walked through the cave, munching on a nutritional calorie bar that I¡¯d taken out of my backpack. Kang Hyun-seung, who was walking next to me, looked at my calorie bar with disgust. ¡°Does it actually taste good? Really?¡± ¡°Well, I think it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not really eating it for the taste.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fair, but don¡¯t you get bored of it quickly?¡± ¡°Really?¡± I fiddled with the calorie bar wrapper in my hand, having finished the whole bar. As the number of long-term dungeon expeditions increased, naturally the emergency food industry had also grown alongside it. And the representative of that growth was the nutritional calorie bar. It was called a calorie bar, but it was more so a white-colored red-bean jelly bar. The biggest downside was that it didn¡¯t have much flavor because it was made up of so many different ingredients. Unless I was going into a high-ranked dungeon where I needed to travel light, I usually didn¡¯t pack these that often. ¡°It¡¯s because I don¡¯t really like to carry around a lot of luggage. And if you keep eating it, you get used to the taste.¡± ¡°You have some unique tastes too, huh?¡± ¡°That guy¡¯s eating them too, though?¡± I pointed at Kim Yoo-han, who was off in a corner by himself. Kim Yoo-han was eating the same kind of calorie bar as I was. Feeling Kang Hyun-seung¡¯s gaze on him, Kim Yoo-han turned around. After we finished eating, we then went to sleep. We took shifts keeping watch, but nothing really happened. The expedition of the ant burrow continued. The Giant Ant Den wasn¡¯t that wide of a dungeon. The paths weren¡¯t complicated, and the patterns were also generally similar. On the start of the second day, Kang Hyun-seung came back from a recon search. ¡°Did you find it?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the queen ant.¡± ¡°You guys already know, right? We have to get an egg. The only thing is, who¡¯s gonna go get it¡­¡± The five of us looked at each other in silence. The ¡®queen ant¡¯s egg¡¯ was a valuable reward. Fortunately, we didn¡¯t mindlessly start fighting with each other over who would get the egg. There was nothing more foolish than fighting amongst Hunters over an optional reward. ¡°I think Kang Hyun-seung should go get the egg.¡± Min Seong-taek took Kang Hyun-seung¡¯s side. Even though the pattern of the anthill wasn¡¯t that complicated, Kang Hyun-seung had done a good job as a scout to get us to this point. It was a reasonable choice. ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t really care who gets it.¡± I took a step back. I¡¯d be lying if I said I didn¡¯t want to get my hands on that egg, but I didn¡¯t want to get it at the cost of disrupting the camaraderie of the team. ¡®I¡¯ll go for the killing blow instead.¡¯ They said whoever got the last hit was just based on luck, but that was bullshit. I¡¯d killed monsters countless times, so this angle was much easier for me. It was looking like the general consensus was that Kang Hyun-seung would get the egg. ¡°Well then¡­ Let¡¯s put our bags down and prepare to attack right away.¡± The attack on the queen ant had begun. Min Seong-taek rushed in first and drew aggro towards him. Kim Yoo-han and Ahn Joo-hye ran to deal with the fire ants that rushed towards Min Seong-taek. While these three were drawing the attention of the ants, I went to deal with the queen ant. The queen ant, who was much larger than any of the soldier ants and had bright-red skin, was certainly eye-catching. I just barely dodged her attack, and felt heat rise right beside my cheek. I swung my sword and drew a line. The queen ant¡¯s leg flew off and fell to the ground. Losing her balance, the queen ant staggered. At the signal, Kang Hyun-seung started to move. He quickly darted forward and grabbed the large egg that was being nestled by the queen ant. The egg was about the size of a watermelon. ¡°Run!¡± At Min Seong-taek¡¯s words, I did a backflip and put some distance between me and the queen ant. Noticing that Kang Hyun-seung was holding her egg, the queen ant stamped her feet repeatedly. The outer walls of the cave shook and rocks and debris started to fall from the ceiling. The queen ant¡¯s eyes became more and more red with rage from getting her egg stolen from her. Influenced by the queen ant, the other fire ant soldiers started to become enraged. The queen ant spewed out a burst of fire. We jumped behind Min Seong-taek the moment the queen attacked, as if we¡¯d planned for this to happen. Min Seong-taek raised his shield. The shield glowed with bright light, protecting the people behind it. At the same time that it protected us, the light that came from the shield temporarily obscured the view of the ants in the cave. It was serving as some kind of flash bomb. Before the light faded, Ahn Joo-hye and I started to move. Ahn Joo-hye stuck a dagger coated with poison into the queen ant¡¯s shell. It didn¡¯t do enough damage to pierce through the skin, but that was enough. [The god Soter has blessed you with his divine energy.] [Level 2 Protection has been activated.] The shell around where the dagger had been embedded started to turn black and crack. As Ahn Joo-hye retreated, I swung my sword to the side. One of the soldier ants threw its body in front of the sword to protect the queen. Where the sword had passed through, the afterimage of a crescent moon remained. The divided halves of the soldier ant¡¯s body fell to the ground. The queen ant¡¯s feet brushed past its cheek as she walked past it. I swung my sword in an arc from high to low. A leg went flying off. ¡®It ends like this!¡¯ I thrust my sword in the direction of the queen ant¡¯s chest. The stabbed queen ant struggled desperately in her death throes, but it was no use. ¡®It¡¯s ov¡ª¡¯ The second that the queen ant met her end, I sensed that something was off. My intuition was usually pretty good. I instinctively drew back, pulling my sword out from where it had plunged into the queen ant¡¯s chest. The second that I did, the queen ant¡¯s body began to twist grotesquely. ¡°What is that? Wh-What¡¯s going on?¡± Ahn Joo-hye said nervously while still clutching her dagger. Instead of blood, an unidentifiable black sap began dripping slowly out of the gaping wound. Min Seong-taek, who had taken care of the rest of the fire ant soldiers, tilted his head. ¡°What is it? Why¡¯s it doing that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either, so please don¡¯t ask me!¡± Everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Kang Hyun-seung, who¡¯d had the most experience in dealing with giant anthill dungeons. Kang Hyun-seung shook his head while holding the egg to his chest. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯m seeing anything like this too.¡± Black mucus spewed from between the open wounds of the queen ant and came flying towards me and Ahn Joo-hye. It was as if we¡¯d cut open a giant jelly. The jelly bits I¡¯d cut away burst and splattered all over the floor. It looked like Ahn Joo-hye had managed to avoid it. I furrowed my brow while looking at the black slime coating the floor. I relaxed the hand that was holding my sword and took a deep breath. A thin layer of magic power spread out around me. ¡®Something¡¯s definitely off.¡¯ The black mucus that flowed from the wounds had now completely covered the body of the queen ant. Already, I couldn¡¯t say that what was happening with this monster was normal. The black slime started to clump together. It almost looked like a ball. To put it bluntly, it looked more like a living cocoon. After seeing that, I was sure. I knew what that thing was. Spiritual residue. Spiritual residues were beings that had violated a great taboo. Although small in size, that was just one part of the spiritual residue. More precisely, it was the eroded body of deep-seated grudges. An impure incident led to another impure incident. That was what the eroded body was. ¡®Why is something like this here?¡¯ Before I could even understand the current situation, another thought popped into my mind. Could I face something like this in the body I had now? I turned around and looked behind me. If I was alone, I might¡¯ve found a way to survive, but the problem was those guys behind me. ¡®How unlucky.¡¯ After experiencing that incident before with the goblin village, I didn¡¯t feel good about the thought of another complete massacre. As I was trying to think of a way for us to survive somehow, my eyes landed on the queen ant¡¯s egg that Kang Hyun-seung was still holding to his chest. ¡°Throw that away! Right now!¡± Chapter 22 [Translator ¨C Rainypup] Chapter 22 ¨C Song Eun-young (2) At my shout, Kang Hyun-seung looked at me in confusion. The egg was essential for Merit Points, so losing it would deduct a large number of points. But right now, that wasn¡¯t important. The egg Kang Hyun-seung was hugging shone with a black light. Kang Hyun-seung was standing the furthest away from the group. ¡®Too late!¡¯ The moment I thought we would either die or get hurt, Kim Yoo-han stole the egg from Kang Hyun-seung¡¯s arms. ¡°Hey, what do you think you¡¯re¡ª¡± Kim Yoo-han, who had taken the egg, was quite strong. He pushed Kang Hyun-seung, who was trying to get the egg back, away and threw the egg as hard as he could. Instead of spewing blood when it burst, black slime flowed. The slime then gathered itself together and shot towards the two people. Wind shot from the tip of a sword and scattered the black slime. Kim Yoo-han and Kang Hyun-seung retreated together. As the ground corroded wherever the slime fell, a mysterious mist covered their surroundings. Joining the group, I spoke. ¡°Let¡¯s take it down.¡± ¡°H-How can we take something like that down!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Ahn Joo-hye, who had taken a few steps back, agreed with Kang Hyun-seung. ¡°Then do you want to die here?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Ahn Joo-hye looked here and there, refusing to make eye contact. It would be one thing if it were a wide-field dungeon, but the topography of the Giant Ant Cave was limited. Even if they did run away, they didn¡¯t know when a rescue team would come for them. Ahn Joo-hye was not oblivious to this fact. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Min Seong-taek asked while warily eyeing the corrupted entity as he lifted his shield. ¡°Buy me some time.¡± Since I couldn¡¯t be bothered to speak politely to everyone, I decided to just speak casually. Min Seong-taek didn¡¯t pay much attention to my attitude. Instead, he asked about my plan. ¡°How much time do you need?¡± ¡°2 to 3 seconds is enough.¡± ¡°Do you think I can last 2 to 3 seconds against that thing?¡± ¡°If you do well.¡± The power of a corrupted entity depended on the resentment of its medium. ¡°You have a plan, right?¡± Instead of answering verbally, I nodded. Although it was small when compared to a corrupted entity that could destroy a continent, corrupted entities were, in general, still quite powerful. I didn¡¯t know why a normal monster suddenly changed into one, but figuring that out could wait until we got out of here. A dungeon was quite an uncomfortable place for many reasons. I wasn¡¯t sure about Kim Yoo-han, but if the three of us went up against it together, we could probably earn 10 seconds. Anything was fine as long as we stopped it from moving. ¡°Got it. Let¡¯s try.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll die either way.¡± Kang Hyun-seung also lifted his weapon. Ahn Joo-hye didn¡¯t look happy, but it still seemed like she was going to participate. ¡°Hey, you help, too.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Min Seong-taek forced Kim Yoo-han to join. Kim Yoo-han unclipped the sword he had sheathed at his side. Kim Yoo-han hadn¡¯t unsheathed his sword until now. Did he not do so because he thought he was the best and didn¡¯t need it? Was it a case of 8th-grade syndrome? Hmm¡­ Anyway, there were plenty of weird people in the world. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go!¡± At Min Seung-taek¡¯s signal, the four of them dashed toward the black corrupted entity. Kang Hyun-seung shot arrows. The arrows silently shot through the air and pierced the corrupted entity¡¯s body. Black slime rose from its body and swallowed the arrows. It didn¡¯t look like it had caused any damage. ¡°Ack, what the hell?¡± The skin from where the arrow had been swallowed split open and a sharp, spear-like object flew out. Kim Yoo-han swung his sheathed sword around and blocked the attack. Rather than being skilled, he seemed to just swing foolishly with a lot of strength. I was curious about just how strong one had to be to do something like that. ¡®Did that guy only invest in his Strength stat or something?¡¯ Were all his other stats D except his Strength? Though his Stamina and Agility were pretty good, too. Due to the assistance of Kim Yoo-han, Kang Hyun-seung started shooting again. ¡®But he seems pretty familiar.¡¯ Actually, I had felt that way since I first saw Kim Yoo-han. I couldn¡¯t tell for certain because of his very odd fashion sense, but something about him was familiar. Kang Hyun-seung seemed surprised that Kim Yoo-han, who was the porter, was good at fighting. He seemed to know that he wasn¡¯t in a position to discriminate as he quickly adapted. The corrupted entity acted weirdly. It stretched vertically and opened up like a Pokeball. White teeth could be seen in its open mouth. It couldn¡¯t be considered either a Queen Ant or an ordinary monster any longer. From within its mouth, black hands stretched out. Everyone frowned at the sight of its bizarre form. It swelled up as it was filled with air. Its skin was covered in hundreds of sharp spikes which shot out in every direction. When Kim Yoo-han swung his sword, wind blew and scattered the spikes away. ¡®That skill¡­¡¯ Since he didn¡¯t unsheathe his sword, I couldn¡¯t be certain, but what he just did was quite similar to Wind Fang, one of my skills. Unlike Kim Yoo-han, who had safely blocked all the spikes, Min Seung-taek struggled to do so. One of the spikes had pierced through his shield and made its way into his shoulder. He was bleeding a little, but fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem to be serious. ¡°Do you know how much this shield cost?!¡± Min Seung-taek lifted his shield up and dashed forward. The hands around the open mouth stretched toward Min Seung-taek. Chains of light appeared from the shield. Usually, Tankers were connected to gods related to protection. The chains that appeared from the shield bound the corrupted body of the Queen Ant. I realized that the moment Min Seung-taek moved was the moment I had to move as well. [Trying to enter the ¡®Advent¡¯ state.] Black lightning struck above my head. I couldn¡¯t even last a minute when using the 3rd stage. I was sure I wouldn¡¯t last a few seconds if I used ¡®Advent¡¯, which allowed me to temporarily make use of a god¡¯s power. Power filled me to the point I felt I was going to burst. The chains holding down the corrupted entity started to break. As Min Seong-taek flew away, I dashed forward. The corrupted entity seemed to have spotted me as it opened its mouth. I swung my sword at the mouth that was disgustingly wide open. The light that was concentrated on the sword pierced through the corrupted entity. [You are¡­] [Translator ¨C Rainypup] I had to stab my sword into the ground as I could barely stand. It seemed like Kang Hyun-seung and Min Seong-taek had lost consciousness due to the Spiritual Residue. Ahn Joo-hye, who was the least injured, approached me. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I nodded as I tried to get my breathing under control. I thought it was over, but the corrupted entity on the floor suddenly wiggled. The corrupted entity seemed to have possessed the Queen Ant¡¯s egg. The corrupted entity that was practically divided in two shot towards Ahn Joo-hye. Pushing Ahn Joo-hye aside, I grabbed my sword. I seemed to have used too much strength a while ago as my arm lost all strength all of a sudden. Just as I thought I was in danger, Kim Yoo-han kicked the corrupted entity. The corrupted entity which had been kicked far away split in half yet again and headed for Kim Yoo-han. Kim Yoo-han unsheathed his sword and swung it. The diagonal slash neatly cut through the two corrupted entites. The impact of the swing not only cut through the corrupted entities but also left a mark on the wall of the cave. ¡®That guy is really¡­¡¯ He really wasn¡¯t an ordinary D-rank hunter. Rankings were pretty loosely defined in many ways. It was a bit more strict when it came to A-ranks and S-ranks, but in the ranks below, one just had to meet the criteria set by the association. So it was quite possible that a hunter with S-rank talent could control their strength and get a rating of D. ¡®But people usually don¡¯t do that.¡¯ Newly Awakened folks were too busy showing off during the Rank Evaluation. Unless they had some unspeakable circumstances, no one was stupid enough to do such a thing. ¡®They¡¯re too similar.¡¯ I spit out the blood filling my mouth. A subtle atmosphere filled the air around me and Kim Yoo-han. I didn¡¯t know what Kim Yoo-han¡¯s circumstances were, but it was true that if he were not here, things would have gone very differently. ¡°Thanks for the he¡ª ¡° CLANG! ¡°What the hell are you doing?!¡± Kim Yoo-han suddenly ran over and swung his sword. I hurriedly blocked Kim Yoo-han¡¯s attack. ¡®Wow, I thought I was going to piss myself.¡¯ ¡°What the hell?!¡± I blocked Kim Yoo-han¡¯s attack with my sheathed sword. ¡®But why the hell is this guy so strong!¡¯ ¡°What?¡± ¡°What do you mean what! What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± ¡°God.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Who is the god you are worshiping?¡± I continued to fight against Kim Yoo-han. I thought I was going to die from the pain of my injuries, but the other guy didn¡¯t seem like he was going to let things go. The sign of the attack that had previously destroyed the corrupted entity in a single slash remained the same. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Wait, could I say this? I currently possessed the body of a human but also had the authority of a god. In addition, the god Soter had only just entered the field. In a situation where I wasn¡¯t sure if I was properly participating, I couldn¡¯t just same the name. ¡°Even if I tell you, you won¡¯t know who he is.¡± In the Aria Guild, there were many hunters who were affiliated with less common gods. In fact, A majority of the members were affiliated with gods one wouldn¡¯t have ever heard of before. Since people respected others¡¯ choices in who they were affiliated with, it was considered rude to ask about other people¡¯s gods. Of course, this only applied to those in the Aria Guild. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to tell you, alright?¡± ¡®Scram!¡¯ Ducking down, I parried the sword and took a few steps back. I thought it was over, but Kim Yoo-han dashed towards me again. Kim Yoo-han¡¯s fist headed for my stomach. He was strong, and I was already confused due to my internal injuries. ¡®Did he hit my abdomen?¡¯ Even though I looked like shit, I was pretty good at enduring pain. I held onto my consciousness, unsheathed my sword, and held it to Kim Yoo-han¡¯s neck. ¡°Oh, dear.¡± Kim Yoo-han parried my sword with a dagger. ¡®I forgot that bastard had a lot of weapons on him.¡¯ Glaring at me, Kim Yoo-han loosened his grip on the dagger. The dagger fell to the floor as my sword headed for Kim Yoo-han. In the next moment, I couldn¡¯t see Kim Yoo-han and my vision shook. ¡°Damn.¡± Having fallen to the floor, I opened my eyes. It seemed like I had lost consciousness for a couple of seconds. A drop of water fell from the ceiling. I was trying to sit up despite my body¡¯s vehement protests when suddenly, a sword appeared near me. It was my sword at that. ¡®When did he pick it up? He¡¯s pretty quick.¡¯ The blade fell to my chest. His gaze was quite cold. This guy was serious. ¡°I¡¯ll ask again. What is the name of the god you worship?¡± ¡°If I don¡¯t tell you?¡± ¡°Do you know about the 100 ways you can torture a human?¡± ¡°Vector.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you learn about evaporation and vector while in school? That vector, you bastard.¡± Leaving Kim Yoo-han confused, I tried to look for a chance to stand up. But there wasn¡¯t one. The guy was obscenely careful. ¡°There¡¯s no way that such a god¡­¡± ¡°There is. And what are you two doing?¡± The one who got between me and Kim Yoo-han was none other than Ahn Joo-hye. Unlike the two who were unconscious, Ahn Joo-hye had been watching this unbelievable situation. But was there really a god named Vector? I just said whatever came to mind. Chapter 23 [Translator ¨C Rainypup] Chapter 23 ¨C Song Eun-young (3) I didn¡¯t know who the god Vector was, but I should thank them. Ahn Joo-hye pushed Kim Yoo-han aside. No fear, that one. Fortunately, Kim Yoo-han didn¡¯t seem to have any plans to hurt Ahn Joo-hye as he threw my sword to the ground. I grabbed Ahn Joo-hye¡¯s hand and barely managed to stand. I looked around the messy interior of the cave. [The dungeon has been cleared.] [Calculating points.] The Giant Ant Cave dungeon expedition we had thought would be ordinary ended in the worst way possible. Besides me, who couldn¡¯t move, the remaining hunters moved to search for the exit gate. Once Min Seong-taek and Kang Hyun-seung woke up, Kim Yoo-han cooly acted as if nothing had happened. Maybe it was because Ahn Joo-hye had worked for a long time as a D-rank hunter, but she was fast on the uptake. It seemed like she was going to pretend as if nothing had happened. Though compared to her, I felt wronged no matter how I tried to twist it in my head since I was the one who got beaten up without even knowing why. In fact, whenever it seemed like I was going to say something, Kim Yoo-han glared daggers in my direction. ¡®I¡¯ll let you go since I¡¯m in so much pain, really.¡¯ ¡°Then, I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Kang Hyun-seung, who didn¡¯t know anything, said before going out to search for the exit. After my teammates left, I sat down and leaned against the wall, then started blankly staring at the other end of the wall. The signs of the battle remained in the cave. Corrupted entities referred to corrupt energy. Gods did not have any concept of a physical form. A form was merely a temporary vessel. One could call them an ego of agglomerated will and transcendental power. Most gods stuck to their territories since that was the reason for their existence. Corrupted entities were beings that deviated from the meaning of their existence. ¡®Technically, that queen ant can¡¯t really be called a Corrupted entity. It was more of an eroded entity..¡¯ It was clear I had to figure out why and how something like this occurred. Once I had regained some of my stamina, I looked around the cave. ¡°This is¡­¡± Something was shining from where the corrupted entity had disappeared. No one had found it yet because it was in a puddle of muddy water. Once I kicked away some of the water, I could clearly see what it was. It was a small piece of glass. I took a handkerchief from my pocket and used it to pick up the glass fragment. ¡°I knew it.¡± Someone had used the Queen Ant and created this mess. ¡® ¡­They¡¯re heading back here. They¡¯re close.¡¯ I wrapped the glass fragment with my handkerchief and put it in my pocket. Min Seong-taek and the others, who had found the exit, had returned. ¡°Phew, in the end, this was a bit of a loss.¡± ¡°At least we¡¯re alive.¡± ¡°It must be nice to be so calm.¡± ¡°What calm? I¡¯m trying to comfort myself somehow.¡± Kang Hyun-seung and Min Seong-taek said as they stood in front of the exit gate. The two walked through the gate while muttering about how sick and tired they were of caves. I glanced slightly at Ahn Joo-hye who was beside me. The Queen Ant raid had obviously gone smoothly. Although a suspicious existence had made a corrupted entity appear, taking on something at the level of the Queen Ant was easy. Just as I was about to talk to Ahn Joo-hye, I made eye contact with Kim Yoo-han who hadn¡¯t gone out yet. ¡°You go out first.¡± Kim Yoo-han sighed softly when he sensed my annoyance. I stopped myself from asking what he was sighing for. His reply was really something. ¡°You go first.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna.¡± It suddenly became a childish fight. Ahn Joo-hye, who was between me and Kim Yoo-han, went through the exit gate first. I wanted to talk to Ahn Joo-hye, but it was too late. No matter how I thought about it, the Queen Ant only started to act strange after Ahn Joo-hye threw her dagger. Even though I didn¡¯t have any proof, there was nothing wrong with asking. I had just lost the best timing to ask. I didn¡¯t want to start a fight for no reason, so I just quietly went through the exit gate. ¡°Ugh, my eyes.¡± The brightness of the area hurt my eyes since I had spent over two days trapped inside a dark cave. We were the only ones around the dungeon gate. Unless there was a special reason, the people from the Hunter Association only checked when hunters entered a dungeon. Hunters who came out of the dungeon simply had to leave a report on the Hunter Network and Guild Site. Of course, if there was no report within the expected timeframe, then that would be grounds for investigation. Anyway, we had come out of the dungeon within the expected period. The problem came from elsewhere. An ear-splittingly noisy siren rang from the apartment buildings nearby. ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon break.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve been happening more frequently recently.¡± Kang Hyun-seung and Ahn Joo-hye calmly talked to each other. ¡®A dungeon break means that monsters will rush out to reality, right?¡¯ Wasn¡¯t this a dangerous situation? All things considered, the three people¡¯s reactions were a little strange. They seemed a bit tense, but they seemed to be excited as well. Outside the dungeon, our things got piled up in one spot. Kim Yoo-han couldn¡¯t be seen anywhere. ¡°Huh? What about Kim Yoo-han?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see him.¡± ¡°Did he leave right after we cleared the dungeon?¡± ¡°There are guys like that. He¡¯s really a strange guy.¡± Did he really leave right after we cleared the dungeon? ¡®Well, he is really bad at social interactions.¡¯ The siren continued to ring noisily. An alarm rang on the four people¡¯s phones almost simultaneously. [Notice] Black Orc Temple ( C ) dungeon breakGyeonggi Province, Ilsandong-gu Madu-dong Mt. Jeongbal vicinityEstimated to be around 100 monsters When I looked up, the whole area near Mt. Jeongbal was engulfed in a huge circle. Since we were on top of a mountain, we could see everything that was happening. ¡®This must be the field expansion I ever heard about.¡¯ A field expansion was something that only happened once a dungeon broke and a monster zone appeared. [Translator ¨C Rainypup] [Catch the Black Orcs!] Rank: C Participants: 37 Reward/s 1) Slayer of Black Orcs [Merit Points: 1000]2) For every Orc killed [Merit Points: 30] As the monsters started to spread around the area, the field also got bigger. Whenever an Awakened person stepped into a field, they automatically became a participant. Since they didn¡¯t gain anything from the Giant Ant Cave, the dungeon break was an opportunity for the others to obtain more Merit Points. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m leaving first.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± Min Seong-taek and Ahn Joo-hye went down the mountain first. Kang Hyun-seung glanced around before waving goodbye and going down a different way. Finally, the annoying siren stopped. I trudged down Mt. Jeongbal. The street where the dungeon break had occurred was very silent since everyone had either gone home or had entered a nearby establishment when the dungeon break got announced. I managed to get down the mountain, but I was still not within the field. Someone from the association, wearing a black jumper, blew a whistle as he came approached me. ¡°This area is out of bounds.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a hunter.¡± ¡°May I see your ID?¡± I nodded at the employee¡¯s words and clicked on the app on my phone. I showed him the information that could be used instead of a physical ID. ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡± The employee bowed to me and let me pass. I scanned my surroundings and used Magic Detection. Although the orcs were spread out in several directions, there also seemed to be plenty of hunters around. Just as I was about to turn back due to my awkward position, I felt a strange energy. ¡®This energy is¡­¡¯ It was much weaker than the Queen Ant¡¯s, but it was nonetheless the energy of a corrupted entity. The fragment I had wrapped in my handkerchief vibrated slightly as if resonating with something. ¡°It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a fragment of the Shikon Jewel.¡± T/N: Pretty sure it¡¯s an Inuyasha reference. Anyway, I was certain there was something there. Even if it was just to figure out what was going on, looking into it wouldn¡¯t be a loss. I shouldered my bag and ran all the way to the small park nearby. ¡°Is it not here?¡± I thought it was around here, but I couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡®It seems like I need to look around.¡¯ As I started roaming around, I saw an orc at the end of an alley. Seeing a monster lurking around modern buildings was pretty novel. ¡°Aaargh! Someone help!¡± A man wearing a tracksuit was backing away from an orc holding an axe. ¡®He should have stayed put.¡¯ Just as I was about to help him, someone ran ahead of me. ¡°Huh?¡± A woman wearing a black suit sent a knee kick at the orc. Although she had dealt some damage, it wasn¡¯t enough to knock the orc unconscious. The orc swung its axe at the woman. Landing with her hands on the ground, the woman dodged the orc¡¯s attack and retreated. Since the orc was focused on the woman, I approached the man who had fallen to the floor. ¡°Can you stand? Run in that direction.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± The man stood with the wall¡¯s help. When I pointed to the main street, the man ran away quickly. The woman stood up while dusting off her hands and clothes. ¡®Is she off duty?¡¯ I guessed as much since hunters didn¡¯t typically bring their weapons everywhere with them. While there were those who liked to show off that they were hunters, most hunters went around in comfortable clothes when they weren¡¯t on duty. Noticing that the man had disappeared, the orc swung its axe down on the woman. The axe created a hole in the concrete floor. The woman jumped a bit higher than the orc¡¯s head and kicked it. The orc¡¯s neck turned almost 90¡ã. The orc¡¯s body hit the wall. The orc wiggled as it tried to get away somehow. Since its spine was broken, it could only flinch. The woman sighed. ¡°Argh.¡± It seemed like she hadn¡¯t been careful with her landing and had sprained her ankle. ¡®That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t kick like that when wearing normal shoes.¡¯ Though, it wasn¡¯t a big deal since the Awakened had a faster recovery rate than normal people. The orc was still alive. It would probably die if left alone, but it was better to kill it before then. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to kill it?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s still alive.¡± I asked the woman while pointing at the orc. The woman blinked as she looked back and forth between me and the orc. She seemed more surprised that I was here rather than the orc. ¡°Since when were you there?¡± ¡°From the beginning? It might be a bit bad if I said I was here from the beginning, but I¡¯ve been here since you knee-kicked the orc.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The woman seemed embarrassed as she looked away. ¡°I don¡¯t have any thoughts of stealing your kill considering you did everything, so finish it off.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t get any Merit Points even if I kill the orc anyway. You take it.¡± ¡°What does that me¡ª¡± ¡°Ah! And I need to get to work, so thank you for your hard work! Ugh!¡± Before I could finish my question, the woman ran in the direction of the subway station. Her ankle seemed to hurt since she was limping slightly. ¡®Work? Can¡¯t get any Merit Points? Wait¡­¡¯ ¡®Never mind the going-to-work part, but not being able to get Merit Points means only one thing¡­¡¯ She was not affiliated with any god. The woman who just left was an Unaffiliated hunter. As I was about to chase after the woman, I turned around in the opposite direction. The energy of the corrupted entity that I was running after had suddenly disappeared. At the same time, a huge explosion came from the park right below Mt. Jeongbal. A few of the trees in the park flew high into the air before falling back down. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped.¡± I could find the woman again at a later time. I ran towards the park where the explosion had occurred. The park was in a horrible state. I had never killed a black orc before, but I still wondered if a C-rank boss could cause such destruction. Including the black orc, there were a few orc corpses lying around. Someone had gotten here first. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t like no one came to mind. I wasn¡¯t sure if there was a hunter around here who could do something like this, but my instincts were telling me that Kim Yoo-han had done it. ¡®What the hell is up with that guy anyway?¡¯ ¡°Let¡¯s get away from here first.¡± I didn¡¯t want to stay here and have someone think I was the one who did this. Just as I was about to turn around and run, The field expansion disappeared and the status window came up. ¡®Fuu¡­ I¡¯m really unlucky.¡¯ Chapter 24 [Translator ¨C Rainypup] Chapter 23 ¨C Song Eun-young (4) [The field ¡®Catch the Black Orcs!¡¯ has been cleared.] [All orcs have been killed.] [Calculating the results.] [Total +0] Maybe it was because I hadn¡¯t done anything, but as expected, I didn¡¯t get any Merit Points. The association employees I had seen previously came running towards the park. It wasn¡¯t just the association employees. The hunters who remained after taking care of the orcs in the area came running to the park after feeling the disturbance. ¡°You are¡­¡± ¡°What? Did you kill it?¡± ¡°No, that¡­¡± Among the hunters that came running was Min Seong-taek. Around me, there were about 10 dead orcs, including the boss Black Orc. There were signs of a swordfight¡­ And then there was me, who had a sword and stood in the middle of everything. Looking at the disappearing corpses of the orcs, I scratched the back of my neck. Since no one could see how many Merit Points someone else had, it was easy for misunderstandings to occur. I gave up trying to explain. *** A few days later. Having finished the expedition, I went to the Aria Guild¡¯s headquarters. Hunters who were affiliated with a guild had to write a report within two weeks after the dungeon expedition. This was the law. Although it was called a report, there wasn¡¯t anything to it. I just had to follow the format of ¡®Something like this happened in the dungeon, so this happened, and I came back with all my limbs intact.¡¯ The guild organized the reports of team members and passed it on to the association. Then, they analyzed the information about the dungeon or other hunters and their relationship with one another. It was kind of like an evaluation form. If the reported events didn¡¯t match up or something seemed suspicious, they also called people in to investigate. In regards to expeditions to high-level dungeons, I heard that finishing the report takes as much time as the expedition itself. However, in the case of C-rank dungeons, which were already well-documented, it didn¡¯t really take that long. ¡°This is so annoying.¡± Even if it only took 2-3 hours, work was still work. Sitting in the cafeteria located in the middle of the Aria Guild headquarters, I diligently typed into the form to fill in the required word count. For some reason, a man suddenly approached me as I was enjoying the free Americano. He was a handsome guy who looked to be in his twenties. Putting the coffee cup down, I stared up at the man. ¡°I don¡¯t want to share my table so please go somewhere else.¡± At my words, the man blinked in surprise. ¡°Business.¡± #I don¡¯t think this works that well in English but wasn¡¯t sure what would. At that moment, I knew that what the man wanted wasn¡¯t to share my table or to take a chair, so I drank all the coffee that was still in my cup. ¡° I¡¯m Kim KangWoo from the Secretariat. Someone is looking for you.¡± ¡°Who?¡± If it was someone who could order a secretary around in the guild, I was certain it was someone who was pretty high up. I had a few guesses as to who it could be, but I landed on Park Si-woo, one of the three guildmasters. Currently, he was the only one who had a reason to call me over. But the timing was weird. There had been several opportunities for him to call me over before. ¡®Did he not do so because he was busy?¡¯ I thought about it for a moment, but that couldn¡¯t be the reason since I¡¯d been in the guild for three months. For him to call me over like this meant that something must be up. The only thing that came to mind was the dungeon expedition a few days ago. Though that couldn¡¯t be the reason since I hadn¡¯t submitted the report yet. Kim KangWoo didn¡¯t answer my question. It didn¡¯t seem like it was because he was looking down on me, but that he was worried about being overheard. I closed my laptop and stood up. ¡°Please follow me.¡± I followed Kim KangWoo out of the cafeteria. Opening the door to the emergency exit, I saw that there was a private elevator. Getting off on the 45th floor, I saw three large doors. Kim KangWoo opened the door in the middle. As I was about to enter, he asked. ¡°Would you like something to drink?¡± ¡°Coffee, please. A hot Americano. And if there¡¯s chocolate, that¡¯d be great.¡± At my order, Kim KangWoo nodded. I turned away from him and entered the office. Although the view from the cafeteria at the Aria Guild wasn¡¯t bad, the view from such a high floor was really something else. The office was pretty ordinary. A white floor, modern shelves, a hard iron desk, and a chair. It was a bit dreary for a guildmaster¡¯s office. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, who had been expecting a luxurious and antique design. ¡°You have pretty bad taste.¡± ¡°Sorry for my bad taste.¡± Park Si-woo stood up from his chair and approached me. With the looks and height of a celebrity, Park Si-woo, who was wearing jeans and a clean shirt, didn¡¯t look like the guildmaster of the Aria Guild, but more like the CEO of some startup company. ¡®He could be an actor or model. He¡¯s very photogenic.; His friend, Choi Soo-hyun, on the other hand, looked like a suffering office worker who had worked one too many overtimes. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to comment on it or anything. Preferences are all subjective, anyway.¡± ¡°Have a seat.¡± We sat on the sofa, facing each other. Right on time, Secretary Kim KangWoo came in with tea and coffee. Maybe it was because it was more expensive, but the taste of the coffee was completely different from the one in the cafeteria. I don¡¯t mean to say that the cafeteria coffee didn¡¯t taste good. We both focused on our drinks without a word. It wasn¡¯t awkward or uncomfortable. Rather, we sat there like really close friends. Park Si-woo knew me, and I also knew Park Si-woo very well. Park Si-woo was the guildmaster, so he probably knew what I had been up to. On the other hand, I had looked him up on the Internet. Unlike Choi Soo-hyun, there wasn¡¯t much information about his dungeon expeditions or skills, but Park Si-woo was still famous for other reasons. Why else would the lip balm he put on as he came out of the Association become famous on the Internet? I heard that although the lip balm wasn¡¯t anything expensive, it sold out within a day. ¡°I heard that you were on the Jeongbalsan field, is that correct?¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking about the dungeon break, right? It broke right after we got out of the dungeon.¡± Park Si-woo and I talked nonchalantly. You wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that we had just met for the first time. Park Si-woo also seemed used to dealing with people like me. ¡°We received a complaint from the Raon Guild.¡± ¡°A complaint? Against who?¡± Park Si-woo nodded his head slightly. His gaze seemed to say that there were only the two of us here, so who else would it be about. I didn¡¯t ask because I didn¡¯t realize this fact. It just came out reflexively since I was so surprised. Park Si-woo explained despite my dumbfoundedness. ¡°The Black Orc Temple was the dungeon being raided by the Raon Guild. Knowing that there was a dungeon break, they say that you stole their kill when they were going to take care of it themselves.¡± ¡°As far as I know, once an area turns into a field, any hunter in attendance can kill monsters?¡± That was the reason the others in my team had run in after all. Park Si-woo ate a piece of chocolate before replying. ¡°It seems you don¡¯t know what the word ¡®moderation¡¯ means?¡± Park Si-woo crossed his arms and glared at me. It seemed like he was talking about the park. ¡°I wasn¡¯t the one who did that.¡± I hadn¡¯t said anything because I was so confused, but it seemed like I should have made things clear. Park Si-woo tilted his head in confusion. ¡°The reports submitted by your teammates say that you are the hunter who took care of the Black Orc. Raon Guild also stated that you did it.¡± Park Si-woo said in a questioning tone that asked for a more detailed explanation. ¡°Are there no CCTVs in the park? Watch the CCTV footage. I didn¡¯t do it.¡± At my words, Park Si-woo clicked his tongue in annoyance. He seemed to ask if he really had to do something like that for a mere C-rank dungeon. Even though he looked like a serious guy, he seemed to get annoyed easily. It seemed like that guild, Leon or Ribbon or something, though I had stolen the monster they had been planning to kill. At the very least, I wouldn¡¯t feel so annoyed if I was receiving suspicion after killing the monster. ¡°How do they know whether I did it or not? Do they have proof? Ugh, whatever. But I didn¡¯t do it. Let them do whatever they want. This is so unfair! Really. Why is everyone saying I did something I didn¡¯t do?¡± I leaned back on the sofa while feeling very wronged. I didn¡¯t even do anything, and yet they were lodging a complaint against me. ¡°You¡¯re more interesting than I expected.¡± ¡°You think this is interesting? I¡¯m pretty annoyed, alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll look into the CCTV.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going to do it yourself.¡± As the master of a guild, Park Si-woo was merely responsible for giving commands to those under him. At my words, Park Si-woo remained quiet. I suddenly thought of something. ¡°You¡¯re not going to ask me to pay for the repairs of the park, right?¡± ¡°Do you have the money for it?¡± ¡°If I did, do you think I would be like this?¡± ¡°I heard that you have an 8 million dollar debt to Soo-hyun.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 8.5 million dollars. If you¡¯re not going to pay it for me, don¡¯t even mention it.¡± I thought he was going to leave it be, but he had asked me to pay it back as a debt. The cheap bastard. At my reply, Park Si-woo shook his head and changed the subject. ¡°When are you going to submit your report?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not due until 6 tonight. I was doing it before this. Don¡¯t act like a parent nagging their child to finish their homework.¡± The dungeon expedition this time wasn¡¯t ordinary. I didn¡¯t know how to explain the events that were related to the corrupted entity. ¡®Even though I want to write in broad terms, I can¡¯t since I don¡¯t know what the others are going to write.¡¯ Circumstances being what they were, I couldn¡¯t help but be more mindful of the report. ¡°Just so you know, all of your other teammates have already submitted their reports.¡± ¡°I thought so. What did they say?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just ask if you can read their reports?¡± [Translator ¨C Rainypup] Park Si-woo scoffed in disbelief at my question. Within the guild, there were plenty of reports related to the ant cave. It was only C-rank, and there were plenty of reports about it, so there was no reason a guildmaster like Park Si-woo would take care of it. A guildmaster didn¡¯t have that much free time. ¡°If I decided to write ¡®the dungeon expedition was normal, and nothing unexpected happened.¡¯ would you send me to the interrogation room in the guild basement to be questioned?¡± Park Si-woo tossed a business card in my direction. The card didn¡¯t even have a name and only had an email address embossed on the back. ¡°Time.¡± ¡°A week.¡± ¡°Two days. I froze your guild account, so don¡¯t even think about running away into a dungeon.¡± ¡°No matter how I think about it, this is an abuse of power.¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you been receiving special treatment?¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll send it to this email. And there was something I was curious about.¡± ¡°Say it.¡± ¡°How much do you know?¡± Park Si-woo and I had a short staring contest. Park Si-woo looked away first. Park Si-woo went to his desk and came back with something. Inside the glass bottle that seemed smaller than a finger, there were glass fragments. It seemed like there were at least 4 or 5 pieces. They looked similar to the ones I had. ¡°Recently, there has been an increase in cases where monsters act strange in the dungeons. Some of the hunters that returned alive said that they found fragments like this from the monsters¡¯ corpses.¡± Park Si-woo narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that he was suspicious of me. ¡°Fragments of the Shikon Jewel?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not serious, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m half-serious. If they¡¯re fused together, they might become something spherical.¡± ¡°Really talking nonsense.¡± All the pieces had their own unique shape, so fusing them together was almost impossible. Park Si-woo¡¯s cellphone vibrated. It seemed like someone was calling him. He answered the phone and put it back down after a short conversation. ¡°So?¡± ¡°So what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking if you found a fragment.¡± ¡°That¡¯s classified information.¡± Honestly, if Park Si-woo ordered me to give him the fragment with his authority as a guildmaster, there was nothing I could do. ¡°Cooperate.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not telling me to give you the fragment?¡± ¡°I already have a lot. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s something very useful.¡± Park Si-woo shook the bottle slightly. I was certain he had reached such a conclusion after experimenting and researching it since he had so many fragments. ¡°But what are you asking me to cooperate with?¡± ¡°My god is interested in you. Let¡¯s leave it at that. I¡¯ll contact you about the details at a later date.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if he was being careful, but Park Si-wo stopped talking. Seeing Park Si-woo put on his coat, I figured he was readying to leave, so I took out my laptop from my bag. ¡°I can finish my work here, right?¡± Looking at me, who had already taken out the laptop and comfortably put it on my lap, Park Si-woo didn¡¯t answer. 5-star hotel in Gangnam, Seoul. Choi Soo-hyun had rented a 10-people room in the buffet. With that money, it would have been cheaper to eat a full-course meal at a restaurant at the hotel. Putting down a plate, Choi Soo-hyun sat down in front of me. ¡°Let¡¯s just go to a restaurant. If we order a course menu, they would serve us the meal and pour us wine. Why pay a lot of money to rent a room at a buffet?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my business, brat. Are you the one paying? So many complaints when you¡¯re eating for free.¡± I stabbed one of the strawberries from the plateful that Choi Soo-hyun had brought over and put it in my mouth. Maybe it was because strawberries were in season, but there were several events related to the fruit everywhere. I told Choi Soo-hyun about my meeting with Park Si-woo. ¡°So you came out after writing your report there? Wow, there should be a limit to your shamelessness. Do you have a conscience?¡± ¡°Then should I have left such a quiet workspace and gone down to the noisy cafeteria?¡± ¡°A D-rank hunter like yourself should be thankful for a cafeteria! Back when I was younger, D-rank hunters weren¡¯t even considered hunters!¡± ¡°Wow. Damn, boomer. And I¡¯m already a C-rank, alright?¡± ¡°Already?¡± Choi Soo-hyun took out his phone. He searched for my info and was surprised when he found out I was telling the truth. ¡°So fast? Did you use a beginner¡¯s package by yourself or something?¡± ¡°It would be great if I had something like that. Oh, right. Could you look for someone for me?¡± ¡°You should go to the police if someone¡¯s gone missing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a woman.¡± ¡°Do you want to die? Do you know how many women there are in Korea?¡± The impatient Choi Soo-hyun cut me off with a grumble. ¡°Let me finish talking.¡± Seeing my empty water glass, Choi Soo-hyun waved his hand at the person on the other side of the glass partition. A waitress holding a water pitcher entered the room. ¡°At the very least, you should tell me what they look like, what they do for a living, and how you two met.¡± ¡°I was going to, okay? So, hmm¡­¡± I thought about how to explain everything for a moment. In the meantime, the waitress finished pouring Choi Soo-hyun a glass of water and approached me. Turning my head and making eye contact with the woman, I subconsciously said, ¡°Nevermind. Found her.¡± ¡°What?¡± The woman was surprised, and Choi Soo-hyun looked at me as if he were looking at a crazy person. Chapter 25 [Translator ¨C DualDark] Chapter 25 ¨C Personal Circumstances (1) An awkward atmosphere filled the room. Water lapped precariously against the edge of the glass cup. ¡°Do something.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± I lowered my head slightly and took a sip of water. The woman was pondering on whether she should leave or not. I was certain it was the woman I saw at the time of the dungeon break. Whether it was a coincidence or fate, I didn¡¯t know, but it was a welcome sight. I quickly spoke to the woman. ¡°Excuse me, what is your name? You¡¯re a hunter, right? But why are you working at a place like this? If you don¡¯t have any affiliation¡ª Agh!¡± Choi Soo-hyun, who was sitting in front of me, kicked my shin. The kick was so strong it sent aches throughout my bones. ¡°Enough.¡± Choi Soo-hyun gave the woman a signal to leave quickly as I was cradling my leg. ¡°Wait¡­¡± I was about to chase the woman who had just left the room but reluctantly sat down. Choi Soo-hyun rested her elbows on the table and showed distaste towards the appearance of me with my hand on my chin. ¡°Oh? Are you rebelling?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not rebelling, I¡¯m just genuinely dissatisfied.¡± ¡°Dissatisfaction my ass.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a female hunter.¡± ¡°I know.¡± It might have been slight, but I felt magic power coming from the woman. There was no way Choi Soo-hyun wouldn¡¯t have noticed something that even I had. Therefore this was an obvious obstruction of business. Choi Soo-hyun, who had been looking at the working woman through the glass window, turned her gaze towards the inside of the room. ¡°Unaffiliated, free, refusing to give up the desire to become a hunter and roaming back and forth, being underestimated¡­ What else was there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s good if they have some dissatisfaction built up against society.¡± But you said something about how I was the only person that was like that. I wiped Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s mouth with a napkin. A moment of silence passed. At that moment I finally realized why we were even at this buffet. ¡°It¡¯s that woman?¡± Choi Soo-hyun nodded her head as if saying ¡®have you finally realized?¡¯ I just said that without any rationale. I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d be looking for them. Choi Soo-hyun tapped on the table with her finger. ¡°Her name is Song Eun-young. Age twenty-seven, parents are both A-rank hunters.¡± ¡°She¡¯s from a hunter family?¡± Choi Soo-hyun made a subtle face as I asked my question. She told me she didn¡¯t know where to start and hesitantly started talking about her story. ¡°You know about the great disaster that happened seven years ago, right?¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking about the S-rank dungeon break in Seoul right?¡± ¡°Yeah. That.¡± I had a vague memory of reading about it on the internet. It was the most destructive dungeon break in the history of South Korea. Of all things, there were also multiple SS-rank dungeon raids going on here and there. The damages were even worse due to it happening at a time when the hunter forces were lower than normal. ¡°The hunters who fought at the forefront at the time were Song Eun-young¡¯s parents. They died.¡± ¡°Oh my.¡± ¡°Song Eun-young awakened a year after her parents passed away. She had the willingness to become a hunter. However, the results are, well¡­¡± Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s voice trailed off. She aimed to follow in her parents¡¯ footsteps and become a hunter, but the only thing the awakened Song Eun-young got in return was the stigma of being ¡°unaffiliated¡±. There secretly seems to be rumors that say she¡¯s a unique woman. ¡°But why do you think there are unaffiliated hunters?¡± Although awakened, those who didn¡¯t have god on their side were not able to properly use their abilities. It was impossible to know why these types of people existed, and why the gods avoided them. ¡°Why are you asking me that? How am I supposed to know?¡± I shut my mouth in response to Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s retort. ¡°There aren¡¯t many people who think like you and approach them.¡± Normally I think of an unaffiliated as just unaffiliated and move on. Even if I had a question, I¡¯d have no way to know, or even a reason to know. Because it¡¯s none of my business. I have no reason to dig deeper and question them about matters that don¡¯t bring any benefit. I had gotten unnecessarily embarrassed, so I changed the topic. ¡°Anyways you were keeping an eye on Song Eun-young right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, although I don¡¯t know if she has any dissatisfaction with society or not. But how did you find out about Song Eun-young?¡± Choi Soo-hyun was thinking of telling me about Song Eun-young after bringing me to this place. It was only natural for her to be surprised since I abruptly asked her to find the woman and acted like I knew Song Eun-young. I explained to her the events that happened at the recent dungeon expedition. It was a simple story about how after we left the dungeon, fieldification had begun due to a dungeon break, and how Son Eun-young had helped a civilian who was about to be killed by an orc. ¡°Her knee kick to the face was amazing. I got a feeling. ¡®Something like this would work¡¯ kind of feeling?¡± ¡°Are you insane?¡± ¡°What do you mean insane? I¡¯m perfectly normal.¡± I became elated at the thought that I could possibly bring in Song Eun-young. Choi Soo-hyun said she would join, but in reality, it was on indefinite hold. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s just having a taste or what, but it didn¡¯t seem reasonable to keep nagging her about when she¡¯s going to join. I was currently in a state where I didn¡¯t care enough. I felt that she would join on her own eventually. In my head, I was already thinking about how to bring in Song Eun-young. ¡°Would it be okay?¡± ¡°With what?¡± ¡°Song Eun-young is unaffiliated. Is your god okay with an unaffiliated like that?¡± I pondered for a moment about Choi Soo-hyun¡¯s question. Why are the unaffiliated, unaffiliated? Because there isn¡¯t a god willing to take them in. There¡¯s probably a good reason why other gods avoid unaffiliated awakened. Because to be fair, the best method is to fawn over people who just awakened like how other people do. Who wouldn¡¯t know that that method was comfortable? It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t do it because I don¡¯t know about it. It¡¯s because I don¡¯t know how, and can¡¯t. ¡®But I really wonder why?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t understand why the other gods didn¡¯t choose Song Eun-young. It was just for a short moment, but the Song Eun-young that I saw definitely had talent. And not only that, but since her parents were hunters, she was probably familiar with fighting monsters. [Translator ¨C DualDark] I soon came to the conclusion that it was all right. ¡°Of course.¡± Pretending to be a benevolent person, I spread my arms forth and gave out lines that fit the act. ¡°My god is impartial.¡± ¡°Bullshit.¡± Choi Soo-hyun gave me a pitiful look. I, who had become slightly embarrassed, pulled my hands back and sat down comfortably. ¡°Anyways I heard you almost died in a dungeon? Tell me about that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s as they say.¡± ¡°What? You almost died while fighting against a C-rank queen ant? Did you think I¡¯d believe that? If it were any other person, sure, but you? Choi Soo-hyun stared at me with a look of suspicion. Getting a compliment felt good, but I couldn¡¯t understand why the conversation was going in this direction. Choi Soo-hyun was currently affiliated with the Hunter¡¯s Association. The Hunter¡¯s Association, which was part of the government, did various jobs. Among those jobs, the most iconic was their surveillance over guilds. However, Choi Soo-hyun was not part of the dungeon or guild management departments. In fact, she was part of the hunter education department, so it could be said that information flowed to it relatively slowly compared to the other departments. I pondered on whether it was okay to talk about it or not. Choi Soo-hyun, who had noticed I was thinking about it, spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s good to spit it out while I¡¯m asking nicely. I finally understand why Park Si-woo called you to his office.¡± Choi Soo-hyun was already certain that I knew something. I raised my hands as I finished thinking. ¡°I just need to tell you then.¡± I decided there was no benefit in hiding it when we were close enough to share meals, so I started talking about what had happened at the dungeon while also making sure not to divulge too much. An alley shrouded in darkness. A girl wearing a hoodie looked around for a bit before making her way into an abandoned building. What used to be a building full of offices was now reduced to ruins, where cold air would linger. Room 412. Although there was a door lock, it had long since stopped working. At the entrance of the office, a sign for an already failed company barely held on. Ahn Joo-hye opened the door with her body and went inside. A man wearing a dark raincoat shone through the moonlight. ¡°So you failed.¡± ¡°Failed? I did as you ordered! What the hell was that?!¡± Ahn Joo-hye was an eternal D-rank. Normally hunters who started out at D-rank took around 3-4 years to get out. This was an average estimate. There were even cases of hunters with talent getting out of D-rank within a year. She started her hunter activities during high school. Unlike the 3-4 years they thought it would take for her to rank up, she was stuck as a D-rank for 6 years now. The god that accompanied her was not a named god. Although they believed it¡¯d be fine after a few years, nothing changed. Even when they tried to cover for her rank with equipment, there was a clear limit as the most she could handle were C-Rank Dungeons. While wandering in that situation, Ahn Joo-hye got a secret proposal. She was contacted by an anonymous party through her personal guild mail. They said that they would write her a recommendation letter to the Raon Guild if she did as they ordered. What kind of guild was the Raon guild? Although they were also situated in Gangnam, unlike the Aria Guild who had no real main god, the Raon guild was mainly composed of devotees to the god ¡®Lux¡¯. The man did not speak. Ahn Joo-hye, who was on edge, raised her voice. ¡°Damn it, you told me that I just had to put the glass pieces in the monsters.¡± They told her that all she needed to do was to make a cut in the queen ant and put the glass piece in through that injury. But that was all she was told. She wasn¡¯t aware of what would happen after. If Kang Han-kyul weren¡¯t there, she might¡¯ve really come out as a corpse. She had heard that the Aria Guild had an increase in dungeon accidents as of late, and thought it might have been connected to what had happened in the dungeon. ¡°How did you get out alive?¡± ¡°Why should I tell you that? It¡¯s whatever, so give me my rewa¡ª Cough!¡± The doll wearing the raincoat turned around and approached Ahn Joo-hye. The raincoat was covered in a black mist so thick she couldn¡¯t see who was wearing it. The mist coming out of the sleeve of the raincoat wrapped itself around Ahn Joo-hye¡¯s neck. ¡°What is this¡­¡± Ahn Joo-hye struggled as she was being choked. A sound that couldn¡¯t possibly have come from a human was let out. ¡° ¡­Them, curse them. The reason you are weak is because your god is weak. Curse your god¡­¡± The ceiling rattled. As soon as it stopped talking, the steel sheet from the ceiling fell down. It cut off the arm of the raincoat that had been choking Ahn Joo-hye. The black mist quickly retreated. The man dusted himself off and stood up. ¡° ¡­Who are you? What are you doing?¡± The black mist that was floating in midair was wary of the man. In the hands of the man wearing black was a sword that was completely wrapped in bandages. Ahn Joo-hye, who had barely recovered her senses, recognized the man. ¡°You are¡­ Kim Yoo-han?¡± ¡°I think you¡¯re seeing things.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I am though¡­¡­¡± As Ahn Joo-hye squinted her eyes in suspicion, Kim Yoo-han coughed and quickly put up the mask that was around his neck. At the same time the black mist flew towards Kim Yoo-han. Chapter 26 [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] Chapter 26 ¨C Personal Circumstances (2) Kim Yoo-han pulled back as he deflected the mist with his blade. The scattered mist spread out in all directions. As a portion of the mist still lingered, Kim Yoo-han realized it was aiming for Ahn Joo-hye. Kim Yoo-han ran and swung his sword at the mist that was heading towards Ahn Joo-hye. The remaining sleeve fell to the floor. The mist targeted Ahn Joo-hye several times, but Kim Yoo-han swiftly intercept it with his sword each time it tried. The man who saw Kim Yoo-han asked a question. ¡°I ask, who are you?¡± ¡°Do you know the god Soter?¡± The 2 men one-sidedly asked what they wanted. Kim Yoo-han¡¯s blade was pointed towards the mist. The mist hovered for a bit, then surrounded the worn out Kim Yoo-han and Ahn Joo-hye. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of them.¡± Kim Yoo-han sheathed his sword at the sound of the voice coming from beyond the mist. A light sigh could be heard coming from under the mask. He had heard rumors that there was a god who had been breaking the rules recently and started investigating, but it seems he had gotten the wrong person. Kim Yoo-han, who had been releasing killing intent until just now, muttered like he was disappointed. As soon as Kim Yoo-han turned his back, the mist shaped itself into a scythe and headed towards Ahn Joo-hye and Kim Yoo-han. Kim Yoo-han turned around and blocked the mist with his blade. ¡°I have no business with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one who decides that. I ask once more, who are you?¡± Kim Yoo-han, irritated, struck the scythe-shaped mist away. Kim Yoo-han, who noticed the mist back away, brushed the dust off his sleeves. ¡°How many people have you consumed?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Kim Yoo-han¡¯s figure disappeared. The mist pulled back and covered Kim Yoo-han all at once. ¡°Wait¡­!¡± The black mist swallowed Kim Yoo-han in an instant and clumped together. Ahn Joo-hye, who saw the sphere of mist, shakily stood up. It was, without a doubt, Kim Yoo-han. But that wasn¡¯t important right now. If Kim Yoo-han hadn¡¯t helped her, she wouldn¡¯t be alive right now. ¡°Just why¡­¡± The black mist had told Ahn Joo-hye that the reason she was weak was because her god was weak. But was that really the case? Was it the price for not getting picked by a named or famous god? The mist that surrounded Kim Yoo-han became thicker. Rather than a mist, it looked closer to a black sphere. It looked similar to the lump she had seen in the dungeon. Wielding her dagger, Ahn Joo-hye stabbed it with all her might. It seemed like the dagger was about to go in, but it soon bounced off. ¡°Damn it! What is this?!¡± Ahn Joo-hye swung her dagger relentlessly. A part of the mist formed into a sharp edge and flew towards Ahn Joo-hye¡¯s chest. ¡®I¡¯m going to die!¡¯ In the short moment that she blinked, something flashed before her eyes. Kim Yoo-han quickly dashed out of the black sphere, which had been cleanly cut in half, and swiftly protected Ahn Joo-hye. Kim Yoo-han pulled something out of his clothes and threw it. The ball-shaped flames detonated, causing a huge explosion. The firepower was similar to that of a grenade. The smoke from the explosion spread out in all directions. A siren could be heard from outside the broken window. Kim Yoo-han grabbed Ahn Joo-hye¡¯s hand and jumped out the window. The mist backed off as soon as it saw the incoming ambulances. Kim Yoo-han, who had come down, reached his hand towards the sitting Ahn Joo-hye. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± Ahn Joo-hye only had minor injuries. Avoiding all the ambulances and fire trucks, Kim Yoo-han ran into an alley. Ahn Joo-hye followed behind Kim Yoo-han. Keeping up with Kim Yoo-han¡¯s speed wasn¡¯t an easy task. Upon arriving at a place with fewer people, Ahn Joo-hye mustered up her courage and asked Kim Yoo-han a question. Kim Yoo-han didn¡¯t exactly stop for her, but that wasn¡¯t very important. ¡°What exactly are you?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re like this¡­ Kang Han-kyul is like this, what the hell are you guys?¡± Kim Yoo-han reacted at the mention of Kang Han-kyul. Kang Han-kyul. It was his first time hearing that name back then, but it sounded strangely familiar. Battling against a corrupted queen ant felt familiar too. ¡®And that attack and magic power.¡¯ It may have been faint, but he got the same feeling from Kang Han-kyul as he did from Soter. However, It was still too early to come to a conclusion¡­ But he did agree that he was a unique person. Kim Yoo-han crossed his arms and walked towards Ahn Joo-hye. Ahn Joo-hye felt an unidentifiable sense of intimidation. Kim Yoo-han¡¯s voice sank in the heavy atmosphere. ¡°That day. I saw you put something in the monster.¡± It seemed he had no intent to hide his identity anymore. Ahn Joo-hye bit her lip. ¡°Are you going to tell the guild?¡± ¡°Why would I do such a troublesome thing?¡± ¡°Then what are you going to do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to do anything. Nor do I have any intent to.¡± Ahn Joo-hye made a bewildered face. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with those things ever again.¡± Kim Yoo-han gave her a warning. For the past month, he had been investigating the Aria guild for personal reasons. He had heard the rumor about the god fairly recently. [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] All the hunters who had gotten their hands on corrupted fragments had all sorts of circumstances. Someone had intentionally reached out to these hunters. From getting large sums of money to being recruited to a big guild, there were all sorts of offers made in exchange for inserting those fragments into monsters. They mostly consisted of hunters who were stuck in the same rank for a long time like Ahn Joo-hye, or those who had extreme distrust towards their gods. It was not like he didn¡¯t understand how Ahn Joo-hye felt, but he felt that their way of going about things was wrong. ¡°Then what do you want me to do?¡± Ahn Joo-hye relaxed her body. ¡®Don¡¯t mess with that? As if any sane person wouldn¡¯t know that.¡¯ Choi Soo-hyun, who had awakened a year earlier than Ahn Joo-hye, had become an S-rank hunter. But not only that, Choi Soo-hyun had started off not as a D-rank, but a C-rank hunter. And it only took a year for Choi Soo-hyun to reach B-rank. And it had just been proven that even the most pathetic-looking hunter in their dungeon raid, Kim Yoo-han, was stronger than her. She wondered what the problem was with her. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m doing stuff like this because I want to?! Even though I started first, everyone is pushing ahead of me! Even the people who made light of me are above me, so what do you want from me?!¡± It was a rage-like rant. She didn¡¯t trust her god. There were even times when she cursed her god like the unknown black mist said. Of all the people, why choose her? There was never any reply. ¡°You¡¯re pathetic¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What does the god you¡¯re under exist for?¡± Ahn Joo-hye had no reply to Kim Yoo-han¡¯s words. She had not once properly thought about her god in all her years of being a hunter. She felt shocked, as if a hammer had just hit her head. What kind of god was Ahn Joo-hye¡¯s god? Ahn Joo-hye didn¡¯t know since she had never once tried to understand them. She had only ever cursed at them. Kim Yoo-han spoke to the now-silent Ahn Joo-hye. ¡°Have you talked to your god before?¡± ¡°What do you mean? A god is a god. There¡¯s no way someone could talk with a god. Something like that is impossible.¡± ¡°And have you tried?¡± Ahn Joo-hye had no reply to his words. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think anything will change from me doing that.¡± Kim Yoo-han did not reply for a while. ¡°Don¡¯t give up.¡± Kim Yoo-han felt that Ahn Joo-hye had potential. It¡¯s just that she didn¡¯t know she had it. If she had no potential, instead of trying to fight, she would¡¯ve chosen to run away while Kim Yoo-han was trapped. He at least wanted to give credit to her courage for running in without hesitation in that situation. Kim Yoo-han turned around. Seeing his back, she felt rushed. ¡°Who exactly are you? The name Kim Yoo-han, it¡¯s a pseudonym, right? At least tell me your real name.¡± ¡° ¡­¡± ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone. I promise.¡± Ahn Joo-hye wanted to know. Being a D-rank hunter for 1 year is good, 2 years wasn¡¯t bad either. She comforted herself like this. As the years passed, everyone forgot about the existence of the youngest awakener, Ahn Joo-hye. At some point, everyone just passed her off as a D-rank with slightly more experience. Kim Yoo-han put up his mask. A deep voice could be heard from beneath the mask. ¡°Yoo Ji-han.¡± Ji-han cleanly said his name. Kim Yoo-han was indeed a pseudonym. He could no longer use it as soon as it was revealed, but he felt that not telling her in this situation would be rude. Yoo Ji-han jumped over a wall and left the area. Instead of following him, Ahn Joo-hye quietly watched in silence. She felt a spark of hope. Hot sunlight poured through the window. The air conditioner was running in the classroom. It felt as though the inside and the outside of the window were different worlds. I was standing in front of the platform. Sitting on the desk was Yoo Ji-han. It was a single teacher and student in a classroom that could fit over 30 students. Even so, the student couldn¡¯t even see the teacher¡¯s face. [Hmm¡­ Where was I at again?] ¡°The story about the 3rd floor. You were saying something about a train.¡± [Before that.] After finishing the conversation with Choi Soo-hyun, upon arriving at my house, I immediately challenged the 3rd floor of the tower of trials. As it had been almost a month since I had last entered, I couldn¡¯t predict what the inside of the tower would be like. There was a one-week time difference with Yoo Ji-han. To be precise, it was a difference of one week plus 3 days, so about 10 days. After clearing the 3rd floor, I was once again moved to ¡®the area between floors¡¯. Last time it was a gym, but now it was a classroom. At first I thought it would be affected by my memories, but after listening to Yoo Ji-han¡¯s story for a bit, it seemed more probable that the layout for the in-between floors was based on Yoo Ji-han¡¯s memories. This classroom seemed to be similar to the classroom Yoo Ji-han used during his first year of middle school. There was a slight time difference between our meetings. For example, if Yoo Ji-han were to challenge the 3rd floor, I could meet Yoo Ji-han after clearing the 3rd floor. I had no idea how this structure worked, but thanks to it, I could give Yoo Ji-han information about the floor he was about to challenge ahead of time. Contrary to my worries that he might¡¯ve died, Yoo Ji-han had cleared the 2nd floor alone and returned alive. He still had the weapon I swiped from Choi Soo-hyun. Honestly, rather than Yoo Ji-han, I was more concerned about the sword on his hip. I looked at Yoo Ji-han¡¯s merit points. [Yoo Ji-han] Merit points: 40,390 Yoo Ji-han¡¯s merit points had skyrocketed, and it was probably due to clearing the party-exclusive 2nd floor alone. ¡® ¡­While a certain someone only gets administrator privileges for clearing the tower.¡¯ [You have quite a few merit points, huh?] Chapter 27 [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] Chapter 27 ¨C Personal Circumstances (3) Yoo Ji-han nodded his head. Before talking about the 3rd floor, I was able to hear from Yoo Ji-han about how he was able to clear the 2nd floor. During the mission to protect the magic core, unlike me, who had killed all the attacking monsters, Yoo Ji-han started by setting the forest on fire. As the forest went up in flames, the goblins started to despair. Yoo Ji-han used that opportunity to target the captains or the leaders, breaking down their formations. At this point, I looked like a fool for ignorantly clearing this floor. ¡°Even if I learned the sword from you, it was only for a short moment.¡± The objective of the mission was just to hold out until the timer ran out. Whether it be by killing all the goblins, or any other method. But even then, would any normal person think of setting the forest on fire? ¡°Since you gave me some information, you know.¡± Yoo Ji-han, who was pretty much a loner in the lobby, couldn¡¯t get any information about the floors. He had a look as if he were truly relieved that he had the information that I gave him. [You¡¯re not sane either, huh] The conversation about the 2nd floor ended like that. Yoo Ji-han hesitated, as if he had something to say. Although I was sitting on the platform, Yoo Ji-han had no way of knowing where I was. ¡®No matter how I look at it, that¡¯s¡­¡¯ He kept thinking of Kim Yoo-han. They were similar, almost too similar. The dimension Yoo Ji-han came from was similar to the dimension that I had previously been in. I could tell because there was no reaction from him when I asked him about hunters or awakeners. ¡°I heard about a god from the guys in the lobby¡± [I thought you were a loner in the lobby.] ¡°I said I was pretty much a loner, not that I was one.¡± Yoo Ji-han made a face of discomfort at the word loner. ¡®What the heck? Is someone who¡¯s pretty much a loner, not a loner?¡¯ [Don¡¯t do mental gymnastics. You are a loner] ¡°I said I¡¯m not!¡± [Yeah? Then do you have any friends?] Yoo Ji-han, who had been screaming, shut his mouth at the mention of friends. [See, you don¡¯t have any friends. What else would you be other than a loner?] ¡°You really piss me off. I have someone who¡¯s not a friend but similar to one. I saved him as he was about to be done in by some bastards from the Central Guild, but¡­ That guy said that this was something like a god¡¯s playground. What did he mean by that?¡± Yoo Ji-han showed discomfort. The lobby has a lot of lower-floor challengers mixed in one place. There¡¯s bound to be a difference in information. Information was power in an unknown place. It was a structure where the earlier runners had the advantage, while the later runners were at a disadvantage. There, of course, was a time difference between Yoo Ji-han and I, but there was also a spatial difference. The area between floors. It was an area where Yoo Ji-han and I coexisted. It was natural for someone to question whether something that happened outside the tower also happened in the past. I still had no answer as to why I had come into possession of this tower. [It¡¯s similar.] It was disappointing, but this was the most I could tell him. Yoo Ji-han¡¯s eyes shook at my reply. ¡°Why are they doing this? What meaning is there to something like this? Do they think they can do whatever they want because they¡¯re gods? Or do they look at us like we¡¯re their toys because we¡¯re humans? Hey, since you¡¯re also a god, say something!¡± Yoo Ji-han¡¯s voice rose, and his face turned red. Although Ji-han had come out alive, there were other people from the lobby that had died. And this was just the beginning. This was the same Ji-han who had been surprised by a corpse, but in just over a month, his personality had changed to the point where he could be mistaken for a different person entirely. [I don¡¯t know either.] ¡°What is that irresponsible bullshit! Are you really a god? Are you just a con artist?¡± [I think you¡¯re too worked up, so calm down a bit] I focused on trying to get Yoo Ji-han to calm down. I didn¡¯t know what he had heard or experienced in the lobby, however, in the state he was in, no matter what I said, he would get offended. ¡®Is it because he¡¯s young, or is it just his personality?¡¯ Seeing as how he lost his temper every once in a while, it seemed much more likely that it was his personality. As I stopped talking, the inside of the classroom became silent. Sure enough, Yoo Ji-han realized I had been avoiding the question. ¡°Hey, are you ignoring me? Say something¡­ What do you, no, all of you gods think you are? What do you think you guys are, huh?¡± As the silence went on, Yoo Ji-han sighed as he messed up his hair. He looked towards the ceiling and fumed for a bit, but soon let out a breath as though he had calmed down. ¡°Did you really run away?¡± [¡­¡­] ¡°I got it, I¡¯ve calmed down now, so talk.¡± [I don¡¯t know anything about the other gods.] Although I had met some gods during my time as a dimensional traveler, after becoming a god, there was no outsider on my level. I, of course, hadn¡¯t met any other god inside the tower, but I also haven¡¯t ever met any god outside the tower either, so there was nothing I could tell him. ¡°Well, I guess if you did, then you wouldn¡¯t have taken someone like me as your devotee. But can I ask one more thing?¡± [It¡¯s not as though you¡¯re not going to ask even if I tell you to. What is it?] ¡°What do they mean when they say that you¡¯ll get stronger the more merit points you offer to your god?¡± [It¡¯s exactly as they say.] From living outside the tower, I could be sure about it. Merit points were equal to the god¡¯s power. Hunters who were under a named god with a lot of merit points improved at a different speed than others. Though that didn¡¯t mean that a D-rank hunter could fight like an A-rank hunter just because they were under a named god. To paraphrase this, as Choi Soo-hyun said, It was closer to starting off with a beginner¡¯s package. Something like gaining a 100% XP bonus or getting better equipment. [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] That was all. ¡°Then I¡¯ll give you all my merit points, so make me stronger.¡± [It¡¯s not as simple as that.] ¡°Then what do you want me to do?¡± Yoo Ji-han made a face as though he couldn¡¯t understand while crossing his arms. ¡®He¡¯s a lot more childlike at times like these.¡¯ [First, give me all your merit points.] ¡°Don¡¯t talk like a scammer when you¡¯re a god.¡± [I said give it.] ¡°Alright.¡± Yoo Ji-han opened his status window while grumbling. It seemed much more natural compared to back when he couldn¡¯t open it and stuttered around. I took a peek at Yoo Ji-han¡¯s status window. [Yoo Ji-han(Soter)] Class: Guardian Strength : A- (31%) Constitution : B- (71%) Magic Power : C+ (90%) Healing Power : B (45%) Merit Points : 40,390 Skill Talent ¡®No matter how I look at it, those stats are off the charts.¡¯ From the beginning, his stats were on average almost B. It was to the point where if I were to fight him in the body of Kang Han-kyul, I wasn¡¯t certain that I could win. Although I probably would since I had more experience. Yoo Ji-han pressed the [Sponsor] button by the side of the status window. [You have received 30,000 merit points from Guardian ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯.] [Currently, Yoo Ji-han is sponsor ranking No. 1] I gained 30 thousand merit points in a single moment. I had gained less than 20 thousand merit points while working over the past month, yet I had gained over a month¡¯s worth of merit points in a single day. ¡®But why are you holding back on me?¡¯ [I said to give all of it.] Yoo Ji-han made a fuss as though he didn¡¯t want to hear me. He had already had a strong suspicion that I could see his merit points. ¡°Give me potions and items. Especially that shower bomb thing or whatever.¡± [What am I, a shop? You think if you ask for it, I¡¯ll just hand it over?] ¡°I sponsored 30 thousand points. I¡¯ll buy it with the remaining merit points.¡± Although I had felt it after hearing about how he had stalled for time by setting the forest on fire and killing all the goblin leaders, but this confirmed that Yoo Ji-han was a really clever brat. It was to the point where worrying about the sword I had given him seemed meaningless. Although it didn¡¯t matter since I was planning on giving him potions anyways. [What will you do with the shower bombs?] ¡°After the 3rd-floor ends, I¡¯m going to set up shop.¡± [Set up shop? What do you mean? Say it in a way I can understand.] I had no idea what went on in the lobby. Yoo Ji-han explained the situation in the lobby. According to his words, the challengers in the lobby showered using an item called a ¡®waterball¡¯. ¡®To think that waterballs exist here too.¡¯ To be honest, I was a bit surprised. As the name suggested, a waterball was a ball with water in it. Depending on the volume, It could hold almost 100L at once. You could also use a waterball as a source of drinking water, so it was a very useful item. The item was simple to use. You could put a straw into the rubber-like surface and drink, or poke a hole in it and use it as a makeshift shower. The waterballs available on the lower floors were the smallest ones that held around 1-5L. ¡°The problem is that the Central Guild bastards monopolize the devotees of the gods who actually give waterballs.¡± Showers weren¡¯t very necessary, but the fact that they held all the drinking water was a huge problem. He told me that although it wasn¡¯t a complete monopoly, thanks to them, waterballs had been selling for quite a large sum. [You can trade merit points?] Yoo Ji-han nodded his head. ¡®It seems like they use merit points almost like a currency.¡¯ [And there aren¡¯t any challengers who get shower bombs?] ¡°There aren¡¯t any for now.¡± The items I could give Yoo Ji-han were items like potions, painkillers, and shower bombs; Items that were needed for survival purposes. [How much are you going to give me?] Yoo Ji-han muttered about how I was unbelievable. ¡°Aren¡¯t you my god? And it¡¯s not as though there¡¯s a limit to how many you can get. This is daylight robbery.¡± [How much are you planning to sell them for?] Ji-han raised 2 fingers. [Double the price?] Upon hearing my question, Ji-han made a dumbfounded face. ¡°200 each.¡± [Do you know how much it is per shower bomb?] ¡®The one who should be dumbfounded is you, not me, you brat.¡¯ If it¡¯s 2 merit points for each, then they might as well just be free. Gaining 100 times profit. Yoo Ji-han looked down at the empty sports field. Unlike me, who was dumbfounded, Ji-han seemed shameless. ¡°I still set the price pretty reasonably.¡± [Seeing you, I finally understand how much of a mess things in the lobby probably are.] ¡°Just hurry up and give me the items. It¡¯s all going to come back to you anyways.¡± That was true. [Using 400 merit points, you gifted 100 x 2 sets of shower bombs to ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯.] [You have received 400 merit points.] The items I gifted went into Yoo Ji-han¡¯s item window. [Take some potions and painkillers too.] Yoo Ji-han scratched the back of his ear and seemed uncertain. ¡°They don¡¯t seem to take those often.¡± [It¡¯s probably still better to have them.] ¡®Yoo Ji-han¡¯s growing faster than I expected¡­¡¯ ¡°I guess it¡¯s better than not having them.¡± Yoo Ji-han additionally bought potions and painkillers. We went in circles for a while, but I think we were finally ready to talk about the 3rd floor. ¡°They said there was a train. I heard a bit about it in the lobby, but I don¡¯t know any of the details.¡± The 3rd floor¡¯s topic revolved around a train. It was a simple task where you had to assassinate someone on the train. Although the details were fairly simple, there was one thing that worried me. [Have you ever killed someone before?] ¡°If it¡¯s a person, do you mean murder?¡± [That¡¯s right.] After clearing the 3rd floor, as information got tossed around, there was one thing that I discovered. ¡®¡­And that information is regarding what happens if you fail the assassination.¡¯ In that situation, not only does the difficulty increase by a lot, but the clear method wasn¡¯t simple either. ¡®Murder every single person on the train¡¯ This was the hidden route if you failed the assassination. I personally wished that Ji-han wouldn¡¯t have to go through this route. Ji-han looked around in response to my question. Considering the situation in the lobby, he had probably at least witnessed one or two murders. But witnessing a murder and doing it with your own two hands was a completely different story. Ji-han replied after a long pause. ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Chapter 28 [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] Chapter 28 ¨C Personal Circumstances (4) [That¡¯s to be expected.] I didn¡¯t ask because I thought Yoo Ji-han had already done it at least once. Though, I suppose killing monsters and killing people were two completely different problems. Yoo Ji-han turned his eyes towards the outside of the window. I followed suit and looked towards the window. The weather on the other side of the glass was great. The sky with no clouds and the radiant beams of sunlight shining down on the sports field was beautiful. ¡®Now that I think about it¡­¡¯ I had no memory of ever taking a proper look outside the window while I was in school. There were only memories of me studying with a wooden desk as a background. That didn¡¯t mean I was a loner or anything. I had friends too, you know? Though, I don¡¯t remember their names. If I hadn¡¯t been summoned, I might¡¯ve had an enjoyable and happy college life. Who would study like that if they knew that things would end up like this? Whether it was due to Yoo Ji-han or not, I fell into a momentary flashback. Yoo Ji-han turned his head away from the window and towards the blackboard I was sitting by. ¡°What do I need to do?¡± [Killing monsters and killing people are completely different. You need to be prepared for that.] ¡°And is there a method to go up without committing murder?¡± [Probably none.] ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m already prepared.¡± Yoo Ji-han clenched his fist. You could read in his shaking eyes that the thing he had been dreading had finally arrived. [Are you really okay?] Hearing my voice, Yoo Ji-han, who had had his arms crossed on the desk, looked down and scrambled his hair. ¡°And what are you going to do if I¡¯m not okay?¡± [Why are you so irritated again?] ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m irritated¡­ Damn it, I¡¯m not okay. I¡¯m not okay, but just think that I am and move on.¡± He seemed to be uncertain about what he was saying. Yoo Ji-han clenched his fist and brought it down on the desk. ¡°I knew this was something that I would eventually need to do. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m panicking because it came earlier than I thought.¡± It seemed that Ji-han had realized that there was a good reason why everyone in the lobby was familiar with killing people. [Don¡¯t think too deeply about the people who died.] ¡°¡­¡­¡± [Just think about surviving. You said you want to live, right?] ¡°I said I got it. Enough with all the nagging, so hurry up and tell me about it.¡± Yoo Ji-han wrinkled his brows while saying he didn¡¯t want to hear any more from me. I took hold of the now-calm Ji-han and started talking about the 3rd floor. This is my, Yoo Ji-han¡¯s, story. [Moving to the 3rd floor.] [Assassination] Floor: 3rd floor You, who were planning to take a trip to the capital, received another request from the mercenary guild. The region master says you need to board the train and order a ¡®Blue Racoon¡¯ from the bar in the second compartment. While grumbling about not knowing how long you¡¯ve been getting requests like this, you drag yourself onto the train. Rewards: 5,000 merit points I read the entirety of the status window in front of my eyes. I could hear the murmurs of people from the darkness. I opened my eyes as I recovered my senses. Sunlight poured in through the circular ceiling. I stood in the middle of an outdoor train station. A train that looked close to a lump of iron made a loud whistling noise due to the steam coming out of it. ¡®You never told me that it was this type of train¡¯ I had heard about the 3rd floor from Soter. Since I was unable to get any information from the lobby, the fact I could at least get information like this was a blessing. Though, I couldn¡¯t say that the information that he gave and the actual contents of the floor were the exact same. Although I had heard about it, seeing it with my own two eyes felt completely different. Whether it was because he got lazy while talking, there were a few things he left out, saying that I would know when I saw it. I had no idea why the god I was under was like this. Maybe the gods that the other guys are under are also abnormal? At the words ¡®train¡¯, I thought of something like the Seoul Station and KTX, or something like an average passenger train. ¡®I feel like a time traveler.¡¯ Maybe I need to say it felt like being in a museum? Do steam trains like that even operate anymore? The train, and the station¡¯s design, gave off a 19th-century feel. Even the clothes I was wearing gave off a different mood from modern clothing. My clothes had been swapped. I was wearing a brown coat with a beret, and in my hand was a bag that wasn¡¯t mine. I didn¡¯t know whether these were clothes the popular style at the time, but thanks to them, I was able to blend into the middle of the station that was crowded with people. Then I noticed¡­ I had no weapon. ¡®Where did it go?¡¯ I quickly opened the item window. It seemed that all the equipment and belongings I had were automatically moved to the item window. There seemed to be something that looked like a bundle in the corner of the item window. [Clothing] It looked like the clothes I was originally wearing. To be honest, the clothes didn¡¯t matter at all. The important thing was the weapon. [????¡¯s Sword] Rank: Unknown ????¡¯s Sword didn¡¯t have the mandatory one-line description that other items did. It was a very unfriendly sword that even showed the rank as unknown. Though, the sword cut well, so I never bothered changing gear. I felt relieved after confirming that the sword was there. I put the sword in a slot where I could quickly retrieve it when in a pinch and closed my item window. I checked my surroundings to see if anyone was suspicious of my previous actions. Thankfully that didn¡¯t seem to be the case. I realized that something was in my hand other than the bag. It was a slip of paper that seemed to have been folded multiple times. It was full of letters I had never seen before. As soon as I blinked, the text on the paper changed to the oh-so-familiar Korean. Bardir line K808, on the 18th at 10 in the afternoon. Seat J17. [Speaking to all the passengers on the platform. Bardir line K808 train is about to depart. Passengers who have not boarded the train yet, please board right now.] It¡¯s this one! I quickly got on the train. The cabin attendant asked me a question. ¡°Sir, could you please show me your identification?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ Please wait one second.¡± I slightly panicked upon hearing the word ¡®identification¡¯, and quickly rummaged through the bag I had been holding. The bag contained clothing and personal belongings. A black notebook fell out of the front pocket and onto the floor. The attendant picked up the fallen notebook. ¡°Here it is.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Haha, yeah.¡± I awkwardly laughed while hugging the bag. The attendant signed one side of the notepad and returned it to me. ¡°You know your seat, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± She waved at the other employees, signaling to them that I was allowed to be on the train. The train shook scarily, making it hard to go towards my seat. As soon as I turned my head, I could see the train station slowly getting further away. ¡®There are a lot of people.¡¯ As I had only seen monsters inside the tower, I wasn¡¯t used to all the people inside the train. The people truly looked like normal passengers. Although there were many things I wanted to find out, I decided to focus on the task at hand. ¨C Don¡¯t get distracted. Don¡¯t try to dig deeper either. I momentarily thought of Soter¡¯s words. Although I didn¡¯t know what the other gods were like, I knew Soter was a bit unique. How should I put this? After talking to him for a while, he didn¡¯t feel like a god, but like a human instead. Kind of like having a phone call? Although it was a weird comparison, in general, it felt like that. [Translator ¨C DualDarkElu] Either way, I was thankful to him. If Soter hadn¡¯t been there, I really would¡¯ve ended up as a corpse on the 1st floor. The J row was in the third compartment. After walking through the long corridor, I finally found the J row. The third compartment was packed with people to the point where you couldn¡¯t even move your feet around. I barely managed to get to seat J17 and sat down. The train slowly gained speed. A large grassland appeared. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn¡¯t see the moment we left the city due to being so busy. Two men were sitting next to me. ¡®Something¡¯s¡­¡¯ My clothes, which seemed normal while passing through the second compartment, stuck out in the third compartment. The people¡¯s clothes in the third compartment were ragged to that extent. Let¡¯s focus. That¡¯s not what¡¯s important right now. As time passed, the atmosphere within the train calmed down. I quietly stood up from my seat while holding my bag. I slipped out of the cabin compartment while looking at my surroundings. After a while, I was able to find the restaurant compartment. At the entrance of the restaurant compartment stood a man with a slightly different aura from the attendants. There was a gun along with a suppression cudgel strapped to the man¡¯s waist. Anyone could tell that he was something like a guard or policeman. Looking at how he was standing, it seemed more likely that he was a soldier rather than a policeman. I took a peek at the gun strapped to the man¡¯s waist. There were even trains, so there was nothing saying that there couldn¡¯t also be guns. As a precaution, I kept the item window open and entered the restaurant compartment. The man didn¡¯t pay much attention to me. At that moment I heard a voice from behind me. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to go in.¡± I turned my head, thinking he was maybe talking about me. ¡°What? Why not? That man just went in.¡± ¡°The third compartment¡¯s distribution starts two hours from now. Please return to your seat.¡± ¡°Damn it.¡± The man reluctantly turned around. ¡°Tsk, this is why savages¡­¡± He clicked his tongue at the man who was returning to the third compartment. My eyes met with the man He waved his hand at me as if telling me not to pay any attention to what had happened and to move along. ¡®What was that?¡¯ I wondered whether it was because of the clothing, but there wasn¡¯t much of a difference between mine and the man¡¯s clothing. Rather, the man who had been sent back had much better clothes than I did. ¡®I don¡¯t get the criteria at all.¡¯ And what is a savage? I had no idea how the gears turned in this world. There were quite a few people in the restaurant compartment. It wasn¡¯t as crowded or uncomfortable as the third compartment. I sat down at the bar in the center. The bartender asked me a question. ¡°What would you like to have?¡± ¡°Blue Racoon.¡± As I replied, the bartender nodded and began mixing a cocktail. ¡°Here¡¯s your Blue Racoon.¡± The cocktail that he made was blue¡­ As the name of the drink implied. Its color looked similar to a carbonated drink I had tried in the past. At the edge of the champagne glass was an orange, lemon, and cherry impaled on a toothpick. Is toothpick maybe too vague? There¡¯s probably a name for it. I looked around while holding the cocktail in one hand. The restaurant was in full swing as it was lunchtime. I decided it might be too suspicious if I kept looking around the area. I carefully put the cocktail to my lips. There was a clear taste of alcohol. ¡°Isn¡¯t it tasty? Whenever I drink some, I always get that feeling as though I¡¯m at the beach. I feel like it¡¯s the best cocktail. Ah, can I have the same one here too?¡± I put down the glass and turned my head towards the direction the voice was coming from. It was a man who was sitting in the opposite corner. I had thought he was just an ordinary customer. A middle-aged man who was dressed nicely naturally walked towards where I was sitting. ¡°I¡¯m Major Dechant. You can comfortably call me Dead.¡± The name Dead. It was a name that seemed arrogant in many ways. Though I didn¡¯t know whether dead had a different definition here, so I didn¡¯t think too much about it. Dead laughed and drank his Blue Racoon. ¡°I heard you grumble at the master, I¡¯m sorry about this. It¡¯s something I couldn¡¯t tell you until I met you face to face.¡± The man checked my reaction and quieted down. I never really grumbled, but since he said I did, I just went with it. ¡°So what¡¯s the request?¡± I had no intention of happily sitting around drinking with a man whose name sounded like he was about to die at any moment. At my words, he passed me a slip of paper. I turned over the palm-sized slip of paper. On the thick slip of paper was a drawing of a young girl. Dead snapped his fingers under the table. As soon as he did that, not only the sound of the train, but the sound of the people around us disappeared. ¡®Skill?¡¯ While trying to keep a poker face and hide the fact that I was panicking, Dead spoke up. ¡°Her name is Ria Angelina. The person in the image is the person you need to kill.¡± No matter how I looked at it, the person in the image was just a little girl.