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Solo Leveling Novel Chapter 36 Average 5 / 5 out of 1
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Summary
Park Hui-Jin had realised something back then.
And that would be the level of terror an upper-ranked dungeon could possess, and how powerless she was in front of such overwhelming odds.
‘It’s like, I’m the one who ended up learning what Mister Seong Jin-Woo wanted to teach Hahn Song-Yi….’
It was kind of embarrassing, but what could she do? Pretending that terrifying things weren’t terrifying was an exercise in foolhardiness and stupidity.
The experiences she had back in the Red Gate were enough to make her skin crawl. However…
However, just because of her fear, she couldn’t give up on all the sweet treatment and the status enjoyed by a rank B Hunter.
The sky-high annual salary!
The plentiful societal benefits!!
And finally, the public recognition!
If one disregarded the inherent danger, then being a Hunter was pretty much the perfect career. Precisely because of the high-risk factor, the return on ‘investment’ was equally huge.
But now, Park Hui-Jin had figured out a sure-fire way to decrease the risk associated with her job.
‘And that is to go on a raid together with the team leader Seong Jin-Woo.’
The one person Park Hui-Jin was utterly envious of back in the Red Gate dungeon was none other than Hahn Song-Yi. There was only one reason for that.
And that would be the promise Seong Jin-Woo made towards Hahn Song-Yi.
– I brought you here with me, so I will take full responsibility and protect you.
If you analyse those words in a different way, then he was trying to say that he had no reason whatsoever to protect other team members besides Hahn Song-Yi. No, they were just baggage.
So, she was constantly worried that those two folks would abandon the group and sneak away unnoticed.
But on the sixth day….
Seong Jin-Woo really did clear the upper-rank dungeon all by himself and took Hahn Song-Yi home, safe and sound.
He had kept his promise.
Seeing that, Park Hui-Jin became sure of one thing. And that would be…
As long as she was working for him during the raids, she’d never find herself in danger.
The moment she realised this, her heart began pounding uncontrollably. And the level of her excitement hadn’t cooled off even until now.
His calm and cold decision making.
His excellent abilities.
And not only that, his sense of responsibility, too.
She really wanted to go on a raid together with Seong Jin-Woo. That was why she came up with that term of hers.
‘They must put me in the team leader Seong Jin-Woo’s raid team, no questions asked.’
Baek Yun-Ho and Ahn Sahng-Min chatted to each other. And a little bit later….
“We accept your terms.”
Baek Yun-Ho smiled genially.
“In that case, Miss Park Hui-Jin, act together with Chief Ahn for the time being.”
“Thank you very much, sir.”
However, she was well aware that scouting that man wouldn’t be easy. Seong Jin-Woo was more than well aware of his own true worth, after all.
‘Even during the Red Gate, he was always so full of confidence.’
indeed, making him ‘move’ would be one hell of a challenge.
‘Still….’
She now had another chance to meet him again. An imperceptible smile formed on Park Hui-Jin’s lips.
Baek Yun-Ho was pondering something until then, before opening his lips in some difficulty.
“Chief Ahn.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’d like to know Mister Seong Jin-Woo’s contact details.”
“Guild Master, that is….”
Ahn Sahng-Min decided to tell everything regarding on why he had to conceal the matters regarding Jin-Woo until now.
Baek Yun-Ho wordlessly listened to it and gravely nodded his head.
“It’s understandable that he wishes to remain anonymous, what with him possessing such incredible abilities. After all, there are enough people in this world who wish to stay out of the limelight, too.”
But then, such a guy did reveal his powers in front of quite a few eyewitnesses. Sure, the situation back then might have been urgent, but it was also likely that he felt more or less okay about letting the world know of his powers.
“As long as the matter isn’t blown out of proportion, I’m sure Mister Seong Jin-Woo won’t blame you, Chief Ahn.”
Ahn Sahng-Min nodded his head.
Of course, no one present in this room wished to leak this story beyond these walls. Never mind for Seong Jin-Woo, it would not be a good thing for both the Association and the White Tiger, as well.
“That’s that, but….”
Ahn Sahng-Min was worried about something else, though.
And that would be his boss rushing things and ending up screwing everything up because he didn’t know of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s rather decisive character.
He dearly wanted to prevent that, at least.
“Sir. I think… you directly contacting him is a bit….”
Baek Yun-Ho quickly figured out what Ahn Sahng-Min was trying to say here.
“Ahh, don’t worry. I’m not trying to contact him in regards to the recruitment.”
“Pardon me? But then, why….?”
“It’s as Mister Seong Jin-Woo said last night.”
Baek Yun-Ho realised something after listening to Park Hui-Jin’s debriefing. Seong Jin-Woo was the White Tiger Guild’s benefactor.
He had saved three new recruits of the Guild. Not only that, but he also took care of the Red Gate, thereby ensuring that the honour of the White Tiger wasn’t tarnished.
Even though the Association’s people made the blunder, just how bad would the impact on the Guild’s public image have been if this news got out, and everyone learned of them losing almost all of their new recruits?
Just imagining it gave Baek Yun-Ho nightmares – enough to have a total freak out, almost, right here.
‘And there I was, trying to stop that person no matter what just to get to the bottom of the incident….’
He could now understand the reason why the youth was feeling quite grumpy at that time.
If he didn’t know the circumstances, fine, but now that he knew, he simply had to do a certain thing as a living, breathing human being.
“As the representative of the White Tiger Guild, I’d like to officially express my gratitude to Mister Seong Jin-Woo. And to properly apologise for yesterday’s incident, as well.”
‘Ahh, if that’s what he means, then….’
Ahn Sahng-Min could understand now.
With Beak Yun-Ho’s straight-forward, no-nonsense personality, he wouldn’t bother Seong Jin-Woo with the matters of recruitment under the pretext of thanking the youth.
And well, he also wanted to convey his gratitude as well.
“I understand.”
Ahn Sahng-Min pulled his phone out and found Seong Jin-Woo’s numbers rather quickly.
“What is his number?”
Baek Yun-Ho also pulled his own phone out to save the contact number.
It was then.
“His number is….”
Just as Ahn Sahng-Min was about to read the phone number, he felt something was off, and turned his head to his side.
“Uhm, excuse me. What are you doing, Park Hui-Jin Hunter-nim?”
“Ah, well, I….”
With an awkward smile on her face, Park Hui-Jin sneakily hid her phone away, its screen still displaying “Add new contacts”.
***
Inside the number one Guild in Korea, the Hunters.
A rather interesting piece of news found its way to the owner of the Hunters and the currently-active rank S Hunter, Choi Jong-In.
“This… has this been confirmed?”
Would anyone knock on their bosses’ doors with unconfirmed information?
Chief of the recruitment department, Joh Myoung-Ki, nodded his head.
“Yes, Sir. We received this info earlier today from the Association.”
Every major Guild had one or two informants inside the Association.
It might not be a kosher thing to do, but this was the only way to stay one step ahead of the competition, contacting an exciting new talent first if one were to emerge out of nowhere.
However, earlier today, the Hunters’ informant had leaked a pretty strange story. And after lengthy deliberation, Joh Myoung-Ki decided to come to his boss’s office with this news.
‘Why? Because, the White Tiger Guild is on a roll nowadays, and they are large enough to threaten us, the Hunters.’
So, he figured that this information was worth reporting to the boss man. Exactly as Joh Myoung-Ki had suspected, Choi Jong-In displayed great interest in the matter right away.
“From a Red Gate that killed one rank A and six rank Bs, two rank Cs returned alive? Not only that, they managed to clear the dungeon, too? That is pure nonsense.”
….Even if there was one rank B among them, there was no way that this was true.
Choi Jong-In shook his head as he continued to read the memo.
“Without a doubt, there was someone else helping them out. Someone not mentioned in here.”
Choi Jong-In was certain of this. His extensive experiences in raiding dungeons told him as so.
Joh Myoung-Ki replied.
“Looks like the Association also suspects that, Sir. However….”
“However?”
“It seems that the White Tiger isn’t saying anything.”
“So, is the Association planning to overlook it, then?”
“I heard that they don’t want to conflate the matters any further, since their fault in this incident is already too significant, Sir.”
“H-mm….”
Choi Jong-In rested his hand against his chin. It was a habit of his whenever he fell into deep thought.
It was understandable from the Association’s point of view, but why was the White Tiger keeping quiet on this matter? There could be only one reason.
“The White Tiger must’ve received help from someone they don’t want others to know about.”
“I also thought the same thing, sir.”
The opinions of the two people present matched.
Choi Jong-In’s brain rapidly kicked into gear.
‘A nameless helper who can rescue lower ranked Hunters from a dungeon that’s difficult enough to kill most of the higher ranked Hunters….’
He could barely hold himself back from the curiosity now.
‘A newbie who hasn’t gone through the rank assignment test? Or, maybe a convict whose identity can’t be revealed?’
Either case was okay with him.
If it was a newbie, then the Hunters must bring that person to their fold. If it was a convict, on the other hand, then he’d be able to throw some mud in the White Tiger’s direction.
Choi Jong-In’s eyes began sparkling.
“Looks like we need to find out who was there.”
“Have you thought of a good way, sir?”
“If you want to catch a hidden racoon, you have to set the racoon’s hole on fire first.”
Joh Myoung-Ki’s eyes grew extra round.
“Are you planning to set the White Tiger Guild on fire?!”
“You think I’m crazy?? Why should I set someone else’s perfectly fine organisation on fire??”
“Ahh, my apologies, Sir. Since you are such an excellent magic-type Hunter and all, I, uh…..”
His nickname wouldn’t be ‘the ultimate weapon’ for no reason, now would it? If Choi Jong-In got serious and used his powers in full, then blowing up a building would be as easy as pie.
In any case, Choi Jong-In continued on.
“Not that. We just have to create a hot mess.”
“So, it was fire…..”
When Choi Jong-In began glaring at his underling, Joh Myoung-Ki hurriedly shut his mouth.
“We leak this to the media.”
‘That is…!’
Joh Myoung-Ki’s eyes widened.
“The big mistake of the Hunters’ Association, a massacre of the large Guild’s members, and finally, the ensuing mystery that got buried underfoot. The media just loves that kind of stuff. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Joh Myoung-Ki’s head automatically went up and down in a nod.
Choi Jong-In chuckled slyly.
“Once they get bombarded by the non-stop barrage from the media, the White Tiger will grow too fed up and in the end, reveal the identity of this mystery helper.”
“So, there was a method like that!”
Joh Myoung-Ki also began smiling as well.
This was a great chance to sucker-punch the persistent White Tiger that dared to chase after the Hunters Guild.
The ends of Choi Jong-In’s lips arched up.
“Call the reporters right away.”
***
[You have entered a dungeon.]
As soon as he stepped foot inside the dungeon, Jin-Woo took in a deep breath.
‘Hmm.’
After being ‘confined’ to an open-field type dungeon for a few days, the air inside the cavern-type dungeon felt new and refreshing.
Yu Jin-Ho followed him into the dungeon soon afterwards.
“Hyung-nim, I wonder just what kind of monsters would come out in this dungeon.”
“Yeah, me too.”
‘I can sense their presence close by, though.’
Indeed, they were quite close, but they couldn’t spot any.
But, when Jin-Woo took one step forward…
The floor of the cave began rising up here, there, and everywhere.
Crumble…
Rumble….
Humanoid monsters with skins made out of rocks appeared. Yu Jin-Ho quickly recalled their name.
“Hyung-nim, it’s the Stonemen.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
These b*stards were known to possess the toughest exterior out of all the monsters that appeared within lower ranked dungeons. Common sense was to use magic when one was to hunt down a Stoneman, but….
“Hold this for me, will ya?”
Jin-Woo entrusted the cylindrical vinyl package to Yu Jin-Ho and walked towards the monsters.
‘Heok!!’
Yu Jin-Ho flinched grandly, thinking that the content was a weapon, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened.
‘It wasn’t a weapon?’
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo stood before the Stonemen and summoned both the ‘Baruka’s dagger’ and ‘Knight Killer’.
Slice!
In the blink of an eye, the head of the Stoneman in front of the pack rolled to the ground.
Jin-Woo looked at the ‘Baruka’s dagger’ and smiled in satisfaction.
‘It’s pretty good.’
Then, suddenly, the smiling Jin-Woo disappeared from the spot.
Tab.
Just as Jin-Woo reappeared past the group of the Stonemen, all ten-plus of them collapsed to the ground.
Rumble – crash!
‘My body has gotten a step lighter and faster after the Red Gate thing, hasn’t it?’
But, of course it would have.
His current level was 60. His level had risen up by nine from 51 after killing all those Ice Bears and White Phantoms. And now, the rank C monsters felt like those Goblins from the rank E dungeon to him.
‘At this rate, I don’t even need to use my weapons.’
Now that he had warmed up nicely….
‘Should I increase the hunting speed, then?’
Time to summon his shadow soldiers.
With an excellent timing, another group of Stonemen was slowly lumbering towards his position from the deeper part of the cave.
‘Summon.’
As soon as he issued an order, the soldiers confined to Jin-Woo’s shadow rapidly revealed themselves behind him.
And sure enough, there was a loud scream accompanying that, too.
“Uwaaaak!!”
Oopsie.
Jin-Woo facepalmed and turned around.
‘I forgot he was here with me.’
He got way too excited and completely forgot about Yu Jin-Ho for a moment there.
“H-hyu-hyung-nim!!”
While plopped on his a*s, Yu Jin-Ho pointed his trembling finger at the shadow soldiers standing right in front of him.
“W-w-what are these??”
“It’s a bit complicated to explain… well, it’s my skill.”
“You, you can summon these things as your, your s-skill?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Yu Jin-Ho’s jaw remained slack and didn’t want to close.
“Ahh…”
Him and hyung-nim had entered dungeons together eleven times already. He thought that he wouldn’t get shocked anymore, but he was proven wrong once more.
As expected, hyung-nim was an existence that easily exceeded one’s imagination.
Gulp.
Yu Jin-Ho laboriously swallowed his saliva as his eyes took on the black-armoured soldiers emitting a blood-chilling aura.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away. The lumbering Stonemen had already arrived near their vicinity.
Jin-Woo pointed at them with his chin.
“Go.”
As if they were waiting for that, the soldiers silently rushed forward.
Rumble!!
The floor of the cave shook hard as the forty-odd armoured soldiers all ran at the same time. For sure, with the addition of Iron and the beast soldiers, the overall weight of the group had increased by a lot.
‘It’s like I’m looking at a fleet of tanks, isn’t it?’
Jin-Woo formed a very satisfied expression.
What with the shadow soldiers sweeping through everything, the dungeon got cleared in the proverbial blink of an eye.
The only things remaining on the floor were the scattered and broken bits of Stonemen that resembled cookies made out of dirt.
A rank C dungeon was destroyed in no time at all, in other words.
“Hoh…”
Jin-Woo exclaimed in admiration.
‘At this rate, we might get to mop up the rest of the raids pretty quickly, no?’
It seemed that the remaining eight raids would not take that long to finish up.
As soon as the battle ended, the shadow soldiers retrieved the magic crystals and stood before Jin-Woo in orderly columns. Igrit and Iron stood in front of them.
The two knights stepped to the front and knelt down.
Once the soldiers stopped moving, Yu Jin-Ho finally sneaked in closer to Jin-Woo’s side.
“Hyung-nim, here….”
He then returned the mystery vinyl package back to Jin-Woo.
Jin-Woo wordlessly took out the tumbler contained with the vinyl pack and began sucking on the straw.
“Hyung-nim, what is that?”
“It’s veggie juice.”
“Oh….”
“I kinda like its taste, actually.”
Slurp, slurp….
After he almost completely drained the tumbler, Jin-Woo asked Yu Jin-Ho.
“Hey, Jin-Ho. How many Gates did you book today?”
Yu Jin-Ho was in the middle of cautiously reaching out to touch the fur of one of the beast soldiers, but he quickly pulled his hand back and turned back to Jin-Woo.
“Four Gates, hyung-nim.”
With four today, only five would remain. He didn’t see any reason to waste any more time on this.
“In that case, let’s finish up everything by tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if a Gate is a bit far away, anyway.”
“You mean, tomorrow?”
Inexplicably, Yu Jin-Ho took a look around him. Seeing all the broken wreckage of Stonemen littering the floor, he couldn’t help but slowly nod his head.
‘For sure, with this kind of speed….’
“Understood, hyung-nim. By the way….”
Yu Jin-Ho hesitated slightly, before opening his mouth with some difficulty.
“Can I be the one to retrieve the magic stones?”
“….Why?”
“I’m kinda upset because it feels like my role’s been stolen by these guys, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo burst out into a soft chuckle.
‘Yup, this kid really is a weird one.’
And a day later….
Jin-Woo finished the 19 raids he had promised Yu Jin-Ho.
“Hyung-nim! Now that the raids are over, how about we celebrate with a hearty meal?”
As they were driving back home, Yu Jin-Ho cautiously asked.
“Celebrate? But, there’s no one with us, though?”
The raid team was disbanded as soon as the last raid was completed. Even Hahn Song-Yi said that she had someplace she had to stop by, so there were only Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho in the van.
Yu Jin-Ho spoke as if he was embarrassed by something.
“I’ve been receiving your help all this time, hyung-nim, so like, I just wanted to treat you to a good meal, at least.”
Why was he having so much trouble saying the words “Let’s have a meal together”?
Jin-Woo chuckled wryly.
Since the kid was implying that he wanted to splurge on a grand feast, there was no reason for Jin-Woo to refuse the invitation, now was there?
“Alright.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression brightened considerably as soon as Jin-Woo said okay.
“Hyung-nim! Should I take you to this restaurant in a certain hotel that I know? They know how to make a mean steak, you see.”
“No, not something like that.”
Unless such dishes came out in public engagements he simply had to attend, Jin-Woo would rather prefer to eat a simpler meal in peace with Yu Jin-Ho in an easy-going, relaxed atmosphere.
What a good timing it was, since he spotted one such place that fit the criteria.
The tip of Jin-Woo’s pointing finger pressed on the van’s window.
“How about that place over there?”
“Ahh, you wanted to enjoy ‘han-wu’, hyung-nim?” (TL: han-wu – Korean beef. Much more expensive than imported beef.)
“No, the place next to that one.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
A restaurant next to that one…. He could only see a common diner there.
[Day of Flower Blooming on Pork Belly – thinly-sliced pork belly specialists]
“By any chance, are you talking about that pork belly place, hyung-nim?”
“What, you don’t like pork?”
Yu Jin-Ho grinned refreshingly.
“Not at all. I also love pork belly, hyung-nim.”
They parked the van in the nearby parking lot and went inside the diner, only to find the place was packed to the brim with patrons, as well as part-time workers busy moving around without a moment of rest.
Right now, it was seven in the evening. No wonder the diner was so full.
“Welcome. How may I help you?”
One of the part-time workers walked over with a smile and engaged the two men.
“How many customers will we be serving this evening?”
“Us two.”
“Please follow me.”
After hearing Yu Jin-Ho’s answer, the part-time worker guided the two men to a spot in a secluded corner.
However…
“Hold on for a second.”
Yu Jin-Ho took a look around, and pointed towards the empty table by the windows.
“Can’t we sit over there?”
“I’m sorry, sir. That table has been booked already….”
A large group must’ve made a booking, because several tables had been brought together. Currently, they were all empty.
Yu Jin-Ho stared at the empty tables with a rueful expression and shook his head. In the end, the two of them had to occupy the most secluded, out of the way spot in the diner.
Yu Jin-Ho lowered his head in shame.
“I’m sorry, hyung-nim.”
“There’s nothing for you to apologise for. I was the one who suggested that we come here, anyway.”
“Even still, I should’ve taken you to a bit better spot than this one.”
Jin-Woo smirked and lightly patted Yu Jin-Ho on the shoulder.
“Don’t sweat over such things and enjoy the food, okay?”
Actually, Jin-Woo was inwardly worried about a scion of a chaebol finding the taste of such cheap meat to his liking or not.
‘Also, even though I didn’t say anything, but well….’
Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings.
He could see people, and then, more people.
He spent quite a lot of his time in a silent apartment with no one in it, so he kind of enjoyed this hustle and bustle.
“Here are your orders of three portions of pork belly, and two bottles of soju.” (TL: Soju – Korean distilled spirit.)
Soon, the part-time worker brought out their orders.
Sizzle—
The thinly-sliced portions of pork sizzled enticingly on the heating plate. And sure enough, pieces of meat began disappearing real fast. Fortunately enough, Yu Jin-Ho seemed to like it.
“Well, the thing is, me and my friends frequent pork belly diners whenever we have the chance, hyung-nim.”
“Oh, really? Friends from the university?”
“Yes, hyung-nim. It’s just that, I seem to mix better with friends from my university rather than the classmates from the expensive private schools I went to.”
Jin-Woo smirked slightly and nodded his head. If it was Yu Jin-Ho, then that sounded about right.
“Here, let me pour you a glass, hyung-nim.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
They filled their glasses with soju, clinked them a little and one-shotted them.
“Kyaha.”
Unlike Yu Jin-Ho, who was immensely enjoying the bitter taste of soju, Jin-Woo could only frown deeply in unhappiness.
“Mm? Hyung-nim, is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing….”
Jin-Woo could only stare at the empty glass with a bitter expression on his face. He had forgotten one crucial fact about his body, what with him being so busy lately and all.
Tti-ring.
[Harmful substances have been detected.]
[Effects of ‘Buff: Detox’ will now commence.]
[3, 2, 1…. Detoxification has been completed.]
‘I forgot that I can’t get drunk anymore. D*mn….’
It was the same story regardless of how many glasses he knocked back.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring…..
As long as the buff ‘Good health and Long Life’ was in effect, soju would remain as only slightly bitter-tasting water and nothing more. Jin-Woo angrily spat out a cuss in his mind.
‘God d*mn it.’
Rather than drinking bitter water like an idiot, he decided that it’d be infinitely better to order a soda, instead.
“Excuse me.”
A part-time worker hurriedly came over to their table.
“I want to order two more portions of pork belly, as well as a bottle of Sprite, please.” (TL note at the end.)
“Okay, please wait for a moment.”
After the waiter left, Yu Jin-Ho began tilting his head.
“Hyung-nim? Why didn’t you order more alcohol?”
“I’m not that good with alcohol, you see.”
Jin-Woo replied, his expression not even changing slightly, but as usual, Yu Jin-Ho didn’t quite catch that. Instead, a loose smile crept up on his alcohol-tinged reddened face.
‘Hyung-nim still has a humane side, like this one….’
Yu Jin-Ho kept on giving him a strange but meaningful look, but Jin-Woo simply ignored him outright.
‘It’s not as if he started acting strange all of a sudden just today or anything….’
Actually, he was getting curious about something else here.
“What are you planning to do from now on?”
When Jin-Woo asked in a serious voice, Yu Jin-Ho sat upright like a job seeker waiting for his job interview to start.
“As soon as I complete a simple written test at the Hunter’s Association, they should issue my Guild Master licence right away, hyung-nim. I’m planning to negotiate with my father with that licence in hand.”
Determination flooded in Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes. He had invested a lot of his own moolah for this purpose, and there was no room to retreat now.
‘Besides, I also made a promise with hyung-nim, too.’
The Guild building he promised to Jin-Woo. That part of the bargain could be upheld only after Yu Jin-Ho successfully persuades his father, Yu Myung-Hwan, to install him as the new Guild Master.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was feeling rather liberated.
‘Sure, it’d be nice to get my hands on that 30 billion Won building.’
But well, that would only be an added bonus to him. His real purpose had always been levelling up. While entering all those rank C Gates, he had reached a far higher level than he initially bargained for.
In other words, he had achieved his goal.
And the results of his frantic levelling up spree?
One punch from him, and the rank A Hunter with a guaranteed annual salary of billions of Won, Kim Cheol, lost his consciousness. Just like that.
‘At the bare minimum, I can make more money than that guy now.’
If one possessed excellent abilities, wealth was sure to follow. There was no need to feel nervous at all. And his relaxed mindset could clearly be seen on his demeanor.
Jin-Woo began reminiscing about the last few days and smiled to himself. It was at this moment that Yu Jin-Ho asked him a question.
“What are your own plans now, hyung-nim?”
“Oh, me?”
Did I ask something that I shouldn’t?
Yu Jin-Ho thought like this and flinched slightly. But he breathed a sigh of relief after spotting Jin-Woo’s relaxed expression.
“I’ll be out of reach for a while, actually. There’s this place I have to go to, you see.”
That one sentence caused Yu Jin-Ho’s face to harden visibly. After forming an expression of an abandoned puppy, Yu Jin-Ho emptied the soju glass in one go.
Tap.
He then placed the empty glass on the table, filling it up back to the brim. After knocking back another glass, he began to open his mouth with some difficulty.
“Hyung-nim. Please tell me straight if I’ve been bothering you. If that’s been the case, I shall make sure never to bother you again in the future.”
‘This idiot….’
The moment Jin-Woo said that he’d be out of reach, this idiot must’ve misunderstood his words again.
Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head and asked a question instead of a proper reply.
“Hey, Jin-Ho.”
“Yes, hyung-nim?”
“What do you think of me as?”
“Well, I….”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes rolled around this way and that as if he couldn’t come up with a good enough answer, before he raised his head.
“Hyung-nim, I have a brother who’s over ten years older than me.”
Jin-Woo remembered hearing that from somewhere.
The firstborn son of Yu Myung-Hwan, Yu Jin-Seong.
“My brother doesn’t really like me, so I think, the time I spent with him is far shorter than what I’ve spent with you, hyung-nim. Compared to him, you have saved my life, helped me out with my dream, and….”
Yu Jin-Ho stared straight at Jin-Woo.
“To me, you’re more like my real brother than him, hyung-nim.”
He was still a bit scared of Jin-Woo, though.
Still, he’d never, ever forget these past few days following around Jin-Woo for the rest of his life. Indeed, his respect was far greater than fear of Jin-Woo at this point.
“If you see me as your brother, then….”
Jin-Woo smiled deeply.
“I’ll think of you as my younger brother as well.”
“Hyu….. Hyung-nim….”
The tip of Yu Jin-Ho’s nose reddened and he began to get teary-eyed all of a sudden. If that was all, it’d have been fine, but then, he tried to get closer to Jin-Woo out of nowhere.
“Hyung-nim! I want to give you a big hug! It’s fine, right?”
“Hey, hey!! You’re drunk, dude!! Stop it!”
“No, that’s not true! Hyung-nim, I’ve never been this clear-minded in my life before! Hyung-niiiiim!”
“Say that with your eyes open, will ya?!”
“Waaaail~~!”
Either he was far too moved by his emotions, or he just was a bad drunk, Yu Jin-Ho collapsed over the table and began crying his eyes out, prompting Jin-Woo to pat him on the shoulder.
Soon enough, Yu Jin-Ho fell asleep and the table had quietened down now.
“Hah-ah… what a helpless kid….”
Jin-Woo leaned back on his seat and lightly clicked his tongue.
Yu Jin-Ho.
He was a troublesome kid in many ways, but for some reason, Jin-Woo didn’t find him dislikeable at all.
- Next up on the bulletin.
Jin-Woo heard that voice and shifted his gaze over to its source.
A TV mounted on the wall of the diner was showing a news bulletin.
‘Is it nine in the evening already?’
He thought like that and stared the screen, only to spot someone rather familiar appearing there.
‘Huh?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
It was none other than Baek Yun-Ho, and he was being bombarded with an unending stream of questions from the reporters as he exited from the White Tiger’s headquarters.
“Is it true that there was a huge incident during the training of your new recruits?”
“Is it also true that only the lower ranked Hunters returned alive while all the higher ranked ones had perished?”
“What do you think about the rumour of a mystery person allegedly aiding the survivors during this incident?”
Baek Yun-Ho was doing his best to ignore the reporters, but in the end, he had no choice but to respond.
“This incident has been investigated by the Association already. It was true that there was an incident, but there was no mystery helper at the scene. No, the White Tiger Guild’s proud Hunters combined their powers and managed to clear the upper-rank dungeon. And many Hunters lost their lives or got injured during the process. That is all.”
Another reporter quickly fired in a follow-up question.
“If that’s the case, why are you forbidding us from interviewing the survivors?”
“Those folks managed to avoid death’s doorstep by a hair’s breadth. So, why do you wish to speak to those people regarding this deeply traumatic event? That’s as far as I’m prepared to answer you people.”
Baek Yun-Ho made a quick getaway from there after climbing into a car.
Jin-Woo’s eyes remained wide-open.
‘They were talking about me, right?’
A little while ago, somewhere in the Eastern United States of America.
A shrill scream exploded out inside a certain dungeon.
“Uwaaaahhhk?!”
A Hunter named ‘James’ plopped down on his butt.
His legs had lost all strength and he could only crawl on the floor to run away. But when he realised that he only managed to corner himself against a wall, despair quickly dyed his expression.
“Oh, dear god!”
The rank for this dungeon was estimated to be ‘A’. And in order to clear this Gate, suitable Hunters were recruited to form a raid team.
However, every single one of them was annihilated. Technically speaking, they weren’t dead, but unconscious on the floor, though.
‘I can’t believe this!’
James leaned against the wall and breathed heavily before roughly shaking his head around several times.
Today had been a series of truly unbelievable events.
When the raid team entered the dungeon, they could not find a single monster. Because there was seemingly no monster inside.
A dungeon without monsters?
Can such a thing even exist?
If that was the case, where did the magic power emission that the measuring equipment had picked up outside the Gate, come from?
The Hunters came up with all sorts of theories by themselves.
This was already a hard-to-believe phenomenon, yet something even more shocking was waiting for them by the boss room.
When they entered it, they did find a single ‘monster’.
And it looked exactly like a human being.
Indeed, there was only one, but….
From that monster’s single attack, every raid team member lost their consciousness. This creature proved to be far, far too powerful for them.
Only James had somehow escaped from the boss room.
‘Wait, could it be that all the magic energy emission detected on the outside of the dungeon is coming from that thing alone??’
The measurement took place far away, from outside the Gate itself, yet its magic power was already exceeding the level of a rank A?
James shook his head again.
‘That’s just f*cking impossible!’
But then….
“Hah…. This, really now.”
That lone ‘monster’ walked out from the darkness and stepped into the light.
James began screaming once more after he saw the approaching creature.
“U, uwaaaahk?!!”
“Uh-whew. That hurts my ears, you know.”
The monster – no, an Oriental man with long, unkempt hair and a bushy beard roughly scratched the top of his head.
“Ah, aaaah….”
James no longer screamed but began leaking out scared gasps instead.
The mystery Oriental man stood before James and placed his hands on his waist.
“What the hell?! So, who told you to attack first without warning?! I told you that I’m not a monster, but a human being. I’m a human!”
Unfortunately, James could not understand a single word of this strange language. Naturally, his complexion progressively worsened.
The Oriental man stared at the terrified American Hunter with a troubled expression on his face.
Eventually, he spat out a long, long sigh.
“Dang it. What a pain, trying to talk to these big-nosed foreigners….”
In any case, he tried to initiate another conversation one more time.
He squatted down low enough to match the American’s eye level and did his best to sound as friendly and non-threatening as possible.
“Hey, hey, man.”
He could recall a few English words. With such a poor grasp in that language, he couldn’t really tell if he was making any sense at all, grammar-wise.
“I, am, a, Korean.”
So, he tried to enunciate every word to the best of his ability.
“I, want, to, go, home.”
< Chapter 36 > Fin.
(TL: Originally, the raw said our MC ordered “cider”, but the thing is, in Korea, all non-alcoholic soda-like beverages with clear colouring, like Sprite, are colloquially referred to as ‘cider’. Not sure how that came about, though. So, if you hear/read about someone ordering cider in other forms of Korean media, such as Kdramas or other KR novels, don’t be surprised, as there is no alcohol involved.)
(TL: In case you haven’t noticed it yet, the mystery Korean man had been speaking in Korean, while “James” was speaking/thinking in English.)
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