Rating
Solo Leveling Novel Chapter 43 Average 5 / 5 out of 1
Rank
52nd, it has 1 monthly view
Summary
– “Will you take responsibility if I get fired?”
“Excuse me? What are you even talking about?”
– “You see, regarding the events of yesterday, the Association President issued a gag order. He even said that, if the identity of the Awakened in question gets leaked out, he will use whatever means necessary to find out who was responsible and harshly punish them.”
“President Goh Gun-Hui said that? But, he has never done anything like that before, so why now?”
– “You think I know what’s inside the Association President’s head?”
“….”
– “If that is all, I’m hanging up.”
“…..I’ll call you again at a later date.”
Click.
And that’s how the phone call ended.
The expression of Im Tae-Gyu, the Master of the Reapers Guild, wasn’t good at all.
‘What on earth is happening here….?’
When the leader of this large Guild heard the news that, after two long years, a super-powerful rookie had appeared, he immediately called his contact in the Association.
However, he didn’t expect to hear this type of answer at all.
Taking responsibility after getting fired?
Who would be stupid enough to hire an ex-Association employee that got personally fired by none other than the Association President Goh Gun-Hui himself?
There was no guarantee the recruitment of the mystery rookie would be successful just because his identity was discovered, too.
‘Finding out the guilty ones by any means necessary and punishing them, is it….’
Coming from Goh Gun-Hui’s mouth, that sounded plausible.
‘But then, why is the geezer doing something he has never done before? Maybe, he’s finally gone senile?’
What had gotten into him?
To forbid everyone from leaking the identity of the mystery Awakened like this….
This was unprecedented.
Thanks to that, the Guild Master of the Reapers had no choice but to suck on his thumb and wait for the official announcement.
That wasn’t the only thing he felt wronged about, though.
‘Then, how did Choi Jong-In and Baek Yun-Ho find out and go there yesterday?’
Was it the difference in their spy networks?
Was this the sign of the Reapers influence waning even further?
If that powerful rookie appearing yesterday signed up with either the Hunters or the White Tiger, the already-widening gap between them and the Reapers would become impossible to bridge.
That was the current situation, yet that inexplicable gag order was blocking the Reaper’s path.
‘Could that geezer have a grudge with me from a past life or something??’
When Baek Yun-Ho decided to quit the Reapers Guild and created his own, the White Tiger Guild, it was precisely that geezer who helped facilitate the whole process and made sure everything went smoothly. The ensuing aftermath forced the Reapers off the position of the top Guild in the country.
Both the Hunters and the White Tiger were already so far ahead, yet the Reapers Guild was circling around in the exact same spot.
‘I mean, isn’t that enough by now? Can’t you help out the Reapers at least once?!’
Suddenly, he began to resent Goh Gun-Hui.
Even then, he still found himself left with no tangible way forward.
Im Tae-Gyu could only anxiously stomp on the ground, feeling rather aggrieved over this development.
***
‘I finished the Daily Quest.’
Feeling light-hearted, Jin-Woo began searching the internet.
There were two more days to the reassignment test. He decided to gather more information on the artefact trade during this time period, so he switched on his computer.
‘Heok?!’
As he browsed through the available information on the auctioned goods, Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider and wider.
‘….The minimum starts in the hundreds of millions, huh.’
Was that all? Items that looked okay to his eyes commanded an average of several dozen billion.
‘Then again….’
To Hunters, good equipment was like their lifeline.
There was no need to even mention the obvious fact that using better, more expensive equipment made you safer.
Most Hunters made quite a bit of coin, and when given the chance to buy tools that would allow them to hunt faster and safer, was there a reason for them to hold back with their money?
Jin-Woo could understand it. Indeed, he could, but that didn’t change the fact that he was taken greatly by surprise.
Seeing the pricing of various artefacts, he was getting more nervous by the minute.
‘This… I don’t think it’ll be enough with what I have in the bank….’
He didn’t find a defensive artefact designed to defend against flame-type damage, but it looked increasingly likely that the amount he had would not be enough to buy high-grade defensive equipment at all.
‘And I thought that I had enough money now….’
That opinion was from the perspective of a normal person. As a Hunter, it fell far, far too short.
He had around 1.7 billion Won saved up in the bank. If he were to purchase artefacts he wanted, he definitely had to sell the ‘Bead of Avarice’.
Now that he was the seller, Jin-Woo’s expression rapidly changed.
‘Needing a lot of money to buy an artefact means that I can sell my own artefact at a sky-high price.’
Click.
He moved the mouse and continued to search, until the list of the magical tools currently on sale appeared on the monitor.
‘……..’
No matter how hard he searched, he could not find a single artefact that doubled the magic damage. The best ones he found had the enhancement of around 20~30 percent. And those artefacts boasted scarcely-believable asking prices.
‘Man, these prices for the magic tools are no laughing matter, aren’t they?’
When he thought about it, though, the boost of 20% was not small at all. Only the upper tier, no, the very best Hunters out there, would be able to afford such an expensive artefact.
However, with their already-excellent strengths being enhanced by 20%? The difference would be quite incredible to behold. The high-ranked Hunters knew this point as well, so no wonder they were prepared to shell out big bucks for them.
Actually, he could frequently spot the goods being on sale only a moment ago suddenly sporting a ‘Sold’ tag.
The ‘20%’ artefacts were selling out fast like this, so….
‘So, just how much should I sell this guy for?’
Gulp.
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.
Not too long ago, he didn’t even dare to dream about touching an artefact. Not too surprisingly, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how much money others were willing to pay for his artefact at the moment.
‘That’s why there’s the thing called auction, right?’
He prayed that, when he put the Bead of Avarice up for auction, a suitable bid would be called out in the end.
With a satisfied smile on his face, Jin-Woo exited the auction information page.
According to his research, there was two obvious way to sell an artefact.
One, selling it via the official route. Or, sell it in the black market.
However, he had no way of approaching this elusive black market at all. Well, there was a limit to the information one could find on the internet, after all.
‘I mean, if you can access it via a couple of mouse clicks, it shouldn’t even be called the black market anymore.’
Besides, the Bead of Avarice didn’t have any disreputable background anyway, so there was no need to go through the black market in the first place. The best available option was to let the artefact specialists handle the bead and sell it via auction.
Sure, there was the issue of taxes and commission fee, but this was still the best and quickest method that wouldn’t produce any unnecessary baggage in the long run.
‘So, the only remaining issue would be with me providing the information on where I’ve found this thing….’
A rank E Hunter showing up with a crazy artefact that shouldn’t even exist in the first place.
Would anyone quietly accept that?
The Korean Hunter Auction House was a huge corporation that oversaw all transactions between Hunters. They would surely try to confirm and investigate every single suspicious detail they find.
‘That is why I need my new licence.’
The new Hunter licence with ‘rank S’ nicely printed on it – he took the reassignment test solely for that licence.
And the result was a resounding success.
If he went by what the Association President Goh Gun-Hui had said, he’d be able to get his hands on that licence in two days’ time without an issue.
He did worry slightly there for a sec, thinking that he had complicated the matters by refusing to sign up with the Association, but…
‘What a relief it is since the Association President doesn’t look like that type of person.’
Even until they said their goodbyes, that deep smile never left the President’s mouth.
When one spent a long time always minding other people’s moods, one would become a master at reading the flow. Jin-Woo was one such example.
He spent four years as a rank E and always had to mind other Hunters. That was why he could more or less figure out what was what by simply looking at other people’s expressions.
Goh Gun-Hui’s expression was definitely not faked. At least, that’s how Jin-Woo saw it. So, he shouldn’t worry about anything and quietly wait for the reassignment test in two days’ time.
‘However…. what I am supposed to do in the meantime?’
Jin-Woo leaned against the back of the chair.
Two days. It was a bit too short to do anything substantial, and maybe a bit too long to do nothing but lounge around at home.
‘Should I just take a look anyway?’
Feeling half-interested, Jin-Woo moved the mouse cursor to the recruitment noticeboard in the Hunter forums.
Click.
One click later, and countless recruitment notices filled up his monitor. He quickly noticed a flood of requests from various freelancer raid teams searching for temps nearby this area.
‘…….’
The reason for this was simple. When he and Yu Jin-Ho monopolised every rank C Gate nearby for a little while, many raid teams temporarily lost their livelihood.
Perhaps as a rebound, the raid teams that had been sitting idle during that time suddenly went into an energetic overdrive in the last few days.
Jin-Woo smiled wryly and changed the page.
‘Well, I won’t level up anymore in rank C dungeons, anyway.’
It took him one full day to level up once in the very last rank C dungeon he entered. No, never mind one day, he actually needed nearly two days for that single level up. And his current level was higher than that time by 15.
If there was a gauge for the experience points, then the needle wouldn’t even budge.
‘Rank C Gates have no meaning to me anymore….’
Unfortunately, he couldn’t find a single recruitment offer for raiding higher ranked dungeons. Freelancer raid teams trying to clear high ranked dungeons was akin to them killing themselves. And the large Guilds wouldn’t really recruit temporary members like this, either.
Still, one would never know.
‘Should I change the search parameters?’
Jin-Woo changed the search condition and had it display only the results with ‘high-ranked dungeons’.
Click.
Even though he was hoping, he wasn’t expecting much at all.
However…
‘…..Huh?’
Something did pop up.
***
“You’re a rank E?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve never done anything like this before?”
“No, never.”
“Well, uh… your speciality is?”
“I’m a close-quarter combat type.”
‘Well, at least that’s a relief.’
The foreman wearing a hard hat swept his gaze up and down over Jin-Woo.
‘For a rank E, he’s got a pretty impressive physique, doesn’t he? His eyes look okay, too.’
Jin-Woo patiently waited for the answer from the foreman.
The foreman returned Jin-Woo’s Hunter licence and smiled jovially.
“Hahaha. There are quite a few people similar to you here, Mister Jin-Woo. Don’t be too nervous and let’s get along well.”
The foreman ahjussi was over forty years old, yet he was overflowing with energy. As an added bonus, he even sported a cool moustache, too.
“You can wait here until everyone shows up, Then, you can go inside. And don’t forget your equipment, too.”
“My equipment….?”
“You can pick up any one of those lying on the ground over there.”
“…..Okay, got it.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head while looking at the pile of pickaxes on the ground.
It was at this point that another ahjussi with a towel draped behind his neck hurriedly approached the two men.
“Mister Bae! Our team is also hurting for manpower, so how can you take people away willy-nilly like that??”
“Aigoo~. That many people’s fine for the retrieval team. Hey, will you take responsibility when a problem occurs during the operation and we miss the Gate closing down?”
“Even then!”
The moustached ahjussi spun the towel ahjussi around and grinned at Jin-Woo.
“Mister Seong? Why don’t you take five over there? This fella and me, we gonna have a bit of chat.”
“Hey, why don’t we just hash it out right over here? Where are you planning to take me now?”
“C’mon, my man. Come with me for a sec.”
The two ahjussis disappeared to somewhere while arguing with each other.
‘The other ahjussi is from the retrieval team, huh….’
The sizes of high-ranked dungeons were so great that a single raid team couldn’t do everything in one go. That was why the labour was divided.
The raid team that cleared the dungeons, the mining team that mined minerals from the dungeon’s interior, and finally, the retrieval team tasked with collecting the remains of the fallen monsters.
Both the mining and the retrieval team entered the dungeon once all the monsters inside except the boss were eliminated.
Jin-Woo applied to the mining team.
‘….Wait, is this all the so-called equipment there is?’
With a somewhat unconvinced expression, Jin-Woo picked up one of the pickaxes. Even though it was faint, he could sense the flow of magical energy in it.
‘Huh. It’s got magic energy inside.’
Modern technology that utilised electricity didn’t work inside dungeons. Because of that, the old fashioned tools like this pickaxe were used instead, with magic energy enhancing their performance.
‘…..’
Once he held the pickaxe tightly, he felt certain. It was not for nothing that Hunters in the mining team were roundly berated by others as dungeon miners.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Gate. A giant hole was silently floating in the air. A Gate with a humongous size that no rank C Gates could even hope to compare filled up Jin-Woo’s vision.
‘So, that’s the rank A Gate….’
That guy was his sole reason for showing up here today.
‘I want to see high-rank dungeons with my own eyes.’
Even though all the monsters inside – except the boss, of course – were dead, he still wanted to confirm the interior layout of the rank A dungeon with his own two eyes.
‘Well, I’ll be entering one sooner or later.’
Knowledge was indeed power. However, there would always be a limit to learning from books and internet articles. Didn’t the newbies of the White Tiger Guild meet with a huge misfortune simply because they had overlooked that crucial fact?
‘If I wasn’t there, none of them would have survived.’
Knowing something, and personally experiencing it, were two different things. When the opportunity arose, Jin-Woo readily applied to enter the mining team in order to get used to rank A dungeons.
He did feel a slight pang of regret when holding that deeply-uncool pickaxe, but when staring at that massive, fearsome Gate, such misgivings flew out of his mind.
‘Looks like I’ve made the right choice.’
He still had some time left to kill until the reassignment test, so what a good opportunity this was.
The ‘chat’ must’ve gone well, because the moustached ahjussi – no, the foreman Bae Yun-Sek, ran to where Jin-Woo was with a smile on his face.
“Let’s go inside. They say they are ready.”
While gripping the pickaxe, Jin-Woo smiled and nodded his head.
Knock, knock.
“Here are the requested files, sir.”
“Come in.”
Woo Jin-Cheol entered the Association President’s office.
As if he had been waiting a while, Goh Gun-Hui welcomed him as his expression brightened considerably. As soon as opening the file Woo Jin-Cheol handed over, a familiar youth’s face could be seen.
It was none other than Seong Jin-Woo.
The Jin-Woo in the identity photo looked immature and the atmosphere exuded seemed quite different compared to now, but it wasn’t enough to make it impossible to recognise him.
“H-mm…”
Reading the youth’s prior records, Goh Gun-Hui gradually became serious.
‘Four years of Hunter activity as a rank E? Not only that, the lowest grade there is?’
This was no different than him trying to kill himself.
Even if the Gates under the Association’s jurisdiction were of lower grades compared to what large Guilds or freelancers were in charge of, they should still be breathlessly difficult for a rank E!
And as expected….
Jin-Woo had spent as much time in the hospital as he was active as a Hunter.
“Even with all these frequent injuries, he still managed to tough it out.”
“Apparently, he couldn’t quit the Association because of his mother’s hospital fees.”
“….A rare type of youth in this age, indeed.”
An unreadable light flickered in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes.
‘In place of his missing father, he has been looking after his sick mother and a younger sister who is still a student, all by himself….’
After learning that Seong Jin-Woo was a Re-Awakened, Goh Gun-Hui decided to take a peek at the youth’s files half out of interest, but he sure didn’t expect this.
Goh Gun-Hui found the youth even more likeable after reading more about the kid.
‘It’ll be just too much of a waste to hand him over to large Guilds.’
The longer he took a look at the information, the greater Goh Gun-Hui’s regret grew for failing to recruit the youth to the Association’s folds.
“Tsk.”
He smacked his lips a little and flipped the page, and eventually, arrived at the last one. Feeling satisfied now, Goh Gun-Hui closed the file folder.
“Thank you. This was informative.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol took the files being handed back to him and turned around to leave, only to stop and open his mouth, apparently in some difficulty.
“Excuse me… President, sir.”
“Mm?”
Goh Gun-Hui raised his head.
The look of hesitation could clearly be seen on Woo Jin-Cheol’s face.
‘….Why would Chief Woo make that kind of face, when normally, he looks hard enough to chew on rocks for breakfast?’
Was there a difficult matter to discuss?
Goh Gun-Hui’s curiosity had been stoked for good now.
“What’s the matter?”
Woo Jin-Cheol hesitated for a while before he finally replied.
“There is something you should know, sir….. The truth is, I received word not too long ago that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has entered a raid team earlier today.”
“Already? Okay, so whose team are we talking about here?”
“It’s the raid team from the Hunters Guild.”
“Hmm… Hunters, is it?”
Seong Jin-Woo had chosen the Hunters. Not only that, in one day, too.
Goh Gun-Hui’s expression hardened.
‘Could he have been just all talk, and he got tempted by the massive contract signing fee of the Hunters…?’
If so, what a disappointing turn of events this was. Well, he was feeling genuinely moved for the first time in a long, long while after meeting a Hunter worthy of that job title.
However, when thinking back to the attitude the youth carried from yesterday’s meeting, as well as the information Goh Gun-Hui had read just now, Seong Jin-Woo definitely did not look like someone who’d change his mind with a flip of his hand.
There must be some other reason.
Such as…
“For sure, if he wished to combat truly powerful monsters, then the Hunters Guild should suit him the best.”
Goh Gun-Hui was ready to accept this explanation. Too bad, because Woo Jin-Cheol quickly tackled him off that thought process.
“It doesn’t sound like that’s the case, sir.”
“Have you heard of something?”
“It has been confirmed that he…. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo didn’t join with the main raid team, but actually with the mining team, instead. Sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui shot up from his chair.
“What did you say? A rank S Hunter applied to become a miner??”
His voice accurately conveyed his disbelief.
In all honesty, Woo Jin-Cheol reacted the same back then. That was why he confirmed it several times to make sure, but the result didn’t change no matter what.
‘That’s why I hesitated about telling him about this matter….’
Just what was Seong Jin-Woo thinking?
Cold sweat trickled down Woo Jin-Cheol’s face as he spoke.
“Yes, sir. He has indeed done so.”
Goh Gun-Hui plopped down on the chair and began chuckling in helplessness.
“What a hard to understand young man he is.”
***
After putting on the distributed hard hat and the miner’s overall, Jin-Woo followed after the foreman Bae Yun-Seok. He found a fairly large group of Hunters wearing hard hats like him near the Gate itself. Around twenty or so?
Their gazes focused on Foreman Bae. And the moustached man introduced Jin-Woo to everyone.
“This here is Mister Seong, and he’ll be working with us from today onwards.”
“Hello.”
Jin-Woo lightly bowed his head and tried to read the overall atmosphere of the mining team.
“…..”
Their reactions were indifferent. But, that was understandable.
‘Of course….’
On one hand, he was a temp who may or may not show up tomorrow. And on the other side, they were Hunters who had signed formal contracts with the Guild to become full-time members of the mining team.
From their perspective, there was no reason to get particularly friendly with Jin-Woo.
“Gee whiz…. These guys. He’s a colleague who’s going to work together with you, you know.”
Foreman Bae smiled awkwardly and pointed at a guy with pretty scary facial features standing far back.
“Mister Seong, please stick with Mister Mok over there, and if you’re curious about something, learn from him. Mister Mok might be a silent type, but he’s the most experienced out of everyone here.”
“…Understood.”
Jin-Woo didn’t say anything else and stood next to this Mister Mok. When their gazes briefly met, Mister Mok spoke in a voice small enough to miss it.
“It’s Mok Jin-Su.”
“I’m Seong Jin-Woo.”
The introduction ended with that. Before long, Mok Jin-Su’s gaze had shifted to the foreman.
‘….What a friendly guy.’
Jin-Woo also shifted his gaze.
The foreman was conversing with a regular person who must’ve been the Guild employee in a location a bit of a distance away, looking rather serious. When Jin-Woo concentrated a little harder, he could hear the contents of that conversation.
“…The raid team hasn’t come out yet? Didn’t you say they were finished already? How many minutes ago was that?”
“They said that they are almost finished for real, this time. Please be patient for a little while longer until all the monsters inside are taken care of. This is all for the safety of you and your team, you know.”
“I’ve heard the exact same thing three times already.”
“Eii~. Mister Foreman, you know as much as I do how complicated it’ll become when we don’t do a thorough job, and a hidden monster pops out during the mining operation.”
When the male employee who was young enough to be his son smiled and went on a charm offensive, Foreman Bae could no longer stay angry anymore. The moustached man turned around with a smirk on his lips.
“Okay, okay. I got it.”
“Oh? Mister Foreman, you’re not angry anymore?”
“I said I got it. So get going already.”
“Yes, sir. As soon as the raid team exits from the Gate, I’ll definitely run over to you right away without a moment’s hesitation. Oh, by the way. You still remember that we’re all having a drink after today’s operation, yes?”
“Aigoo. I know. I know! So get going, young man.”
Fortunately, the conversation came to an end without any potential problems developing. That employee’s responses were quite excellent, indeed.
‘Most folks would think that, once you start working for a large Guild, you become more arrogant than before no matter where you are, but….’
The truth was, most of the Guild’s administrative staff were regular people, while those operating out in the field were mostly Hunters – those who had Awakened.
There were many things requiring the touch of an Awakened, but there would always be a finite number of them.
In other words, it was impossible to hire and fire Awakened at will as if they were parts of a factory machine that could easily be replaced. That was why all Guild employees did their best to mind the Hunters and their moods.
From others’ perspective, they might seem like they had made it in life, but the employees of large Guilds all had to go through trials and tribulations that only they knew.
It was then.
‘…..Mm?’
Jin-Woo was focusing on the conversation between the foreman and the employee, but out of the blue, he could also hear the whisperings coming from his side.
“Did you hear that? The newbie joining us today is supposed to be a rank E.”
‘Are they talking about me again?’
Sometimes, Jin-Woo couldn’t help but resent his excellent sense of hearing.
‘Still, doesn’t mean I’m gonna cover up my ears or anything….’
While he bitterly smiled to himself, other Hunters were cautiously whispering to each other.
“What? A rank E?”
“A rank E has been selected?”
“That’s right.”
Jin-Woo could sense the sharp glares boring down on the back of his head.
“What the heck. What is the foreman thinking of, hiring a rank E and all?”
“Does a rank E even have enough strength, I wonder?”
“Yeah, I wonder about that, too.”
“Huh, can we even finish today’s operation on time?”
Worried voices could be heard coming from here and there.
Still, they kept their voices low, perhaps in consideration of the new guy. Too bad, such actions were meaningless in front of Jin-Woo, though.
Jin-Woo could only keep his chuckles down.
‘There was another reason for their reactions not being so welcoming, huh.’
As expected – a rank E would receive cold shoulders no matter where they went. He was already well used to this, so it didn’t faze him anymore.
‘Well, it’s not like I’ll be seeing them for long, anyway.”
But then, something else happened.
Noisy, noisy….
Suddenly, the front of the Gate became rather noisy.
“The raid team has come out.”
“Looks like they are finally finished.”
The tired expressions of the Hunters in the mining team, restless from all that waiting, brightened one by one. Foreman Bae had been observing the situation until then, and he gestured at his team.
“Okay, okay. Everyone, let’s get going.”
Hunters in the mining team checked their equipment and slowly shuffled towards their destination. Jin-Woo blended in and went along with them.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Thank you.”
“You all worked hard, everyone!”
The Hunters Guild employees stood in front of the Gate and welcomed the raid team members as they made their exit one by one.
The term raid team as used in the field seemed to refer to the members belonging to the Guild’s main assault force.
‘So, these people are…. the country’s best assault force.’
Studying the faces of each and every upper rank – no, the very highest ranked – Hunters walking by, Jin-Woo’s eyes sharpened considerably.
He spotted a familiar face among them.
‘….Choi Jong-In.’
The leader of the Hunters Guild, and a rank S mage-type Hunter.
Jin-Woo pulled the hard hat lower to hide his face, figuring that things might get complicated if Choi Jong-In recognised him here. Thankfully, there were many Hunters wearing a similar get-up as him nearby. So, Jin-Woo was able to blend in just fine.
And so, as he stood amidst the miners and silently studied the members of the country’s very best assault force, Jin-Woo began thinking that…
‘…..Are they really the true elites of the Hunters Guild?’
He was feeling quite incredulous inwardly.
Quite contrary to his initial expectations, it was hard to find a single Hunter with a really powerful aura.
As befitting of the nickname ‘Ultimate Weapon’, Jin-Woo could sense an enormous amount of magical energy from Choi Jong-In, but besides that guy, not one was worthy of mention.
‘Could they be the weak ones, instead?’
But, that simply made no sense.
Jin-Woo softly shook his head.
These were the members of the no.1 raid team selected from the cream of the crop found in the country’s top Guild.
‘I mean, the Guild Master himself has participated in the raid, so there’s just no way that some nobodies would be chosen as team members.’
The word most ill-suited to describe these people would be ‘Weak’. Then, there could be only one conclusion.
‘No, it’s me who has gotten stronger.’
A thin smile crept up on Jin-Woo’s lips. Strength was relative, wasn’t it?
The efforts of the last couple of months definitely did not betray his expectations. His Stats had increased by so much that he could think of the raid team that managed to conquer a rank A dungeon as weaklings.
By using the difference between himself and them, he could sense his own strength.
Thump, thump, thump….
His heart began beating faster from this realisation.
But, then….
No one told him to do so, and there was no sound attracting him, yet Jin-Woo’s head instinctively swivelled back towards the Gate. And then, he gasped out in surprise.
‘How can this be….?’
There was a woman with a short hairstyle relaxedly walking out from the Gate.
The very first things that caught his attention on her makeup-less face were a pair of large and clear eyes. Next up, her clean and pale skin, as well as her smoothly flowing neckline, also managed to attract his gaze.
If there were 100 men, 99 of them would unhesitatingly praise her looks and call it beautiful. However, besides all that, what attracted Jin-Woo’s attention the most was not her looks but what was inside her.
The power that was hidden inside her.
From that expressionless woman, an incredible amount of magic energy was leaking out non-stop.
‘At a bare minimum, she’s on the same level as Choi Jong-In.’
Or maybe, even more than that.
She possessed an aura that easily overwhelmed her surroundings.
By the time his shock wore off and cold reasoning succeeded in driving his emotions out of his head, Jin-Woo recalled this woman’s name.
‘She must be….’
The only female rank S, Cha Hae-In.
The top-ranked Hunter who formed, along with Choi Jong-In, one of the core pillars of the Hunters Guild.
‘I can’t think of anyone else.’
Just how many women possessing such an aura existed in South Korea?
Compared to her ‘rarity’ though, Cha Hae-In’s face wasn’t all that well known. It was because she didn’t enjoy being exposed to the cameras. And that was also why Jin-Woo saw Cha Hae-In’s face for the first time today as well.
‘Wait, her face doesn’t even look weird like in some rumours, so how come she hates being in front of a camera?’
Indeed, pretty much all ladies in their early twenties loved taking photos. Sure, all those happened to be selfies, but still.
Perhaps his stare was too direct, Cha Hae-in’s own gaze began shifting in Jin-Woo’s direction.
‘Stealth… shouldn’t be necessary here, right?’
Jin-Woo easily hid his presence. Cha Hae-In continued to scan the area Jin-Woo used to stand before tilting her head slightly.
‘What was that? I thought I felt a really strong presence just now.’
Was she mistaken?
Initially, she thought that the Association President Goh Gun-Hui had stopped by at the operations area. However, that powerful presence disappeared completely as if it was a lie.
‘Well, someone as busy as the Association President wouldn’t come unannounced, now would he?’
Too bad for her, the cost of her misunderstanding was rather great.
Because she was searching after the hint of that strong presence, she had to focus her senses, and that meant the heavy odour several times worse than normal assaulted her nose.
“Euk.”
As usual, Cha Hae-In pulled out a handkerchief to cover her nose, and while tottering around somewhat uneasily, escaped from the cordon of Hunters.
‘Her perception is better than I thought.’
Jin-Woo let out a sigh of relief while watching Cha Hae-In’s distancing back. With her exit, all the raid team members had come out of the Gate.
Having been waiting with bated breath for this moment, the foreman of the mining team Bae Yun-Seok turned around to face his boys. He clapped his hands loudly and spoke up with a bright voice.
“Well, it’s our turn now, so let’s all do our best!”
The unique nature of the job meant that the retrieval team would have to enter first, followed by the mining team.
Jin-Woo stood in front of the Gate.
‘…….’
As he stood there while silently admiring the splendour of the rank A Gate, something he hadn’t experienced before, Bae Yun-Seok approached him.
“Mister Seong, what are you doing? We should go inside.”
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo replied briefly and stepped through the Gate, just like other Hunters did before him.
And then, a familiar message popped up before his eyes.
[You have entered a dungeon.]
< Chapter 43 > Fin.
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