[ NOTICE! ]
[YOU DEFEATED THE GUARDIAN OF HELL: CERBERUS]
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
[ YOU'VE LEVELED UP! ]
This infernally difficult battle had paid off.
He did the right thing by leaving the reward of Status Recovery for this battle.
Without it, he might not have survived.
Jin-Woo leaned over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
Thanks to this fight, he realized that he would die if he crossed this gate.
If this guy was just a guard, then he didn't want to see what was behind the gate leading further.
He will come back here when he is stronger. Meanwhile, he approached the (fortunately motionless) body and took the items from it.
[ ITEM: GUARDIAN'S NECKLACE]
[ DIFFICULTY LEVEL: A ]
[ TYPE: NECKLACE ]
[ DEXTERITY +20 ]
[ SENSES +20 ]
Okay. This item was awesome.
Increasing your dexterity and senses stats by as much as 20 points was truly a worthy A-Rank item. It was probably the best item he had seen and obtained so far. Rasaka's venom was also A-ranked, but it was a drink.
However, upon closer inspection of the amulet, Jin-Woo hesitated. The round, golden collar with spikes protruding from it was unmistakably a dog's collar. Adorably.
Considering putting it on with his eyes closed, Jin-Woo relented and moved it towards his neck.
He felt the necklace disappear from his hands. He felt his neck and realized that the necklace was not physically there.
It seemed that equipping items that came from the System didn't necessarily involve physically wearing them. He was relieved he wouldn't have to walk around wearing a dog's collar on the street.
He opened the status window and looked at his stats.
[ STRENGTH: 60 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 80 ]
[ SENSES: 67 ]
[ VITALITY: 39 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 37 ]
Indeed, his Dexterity and Senses stats have been increased by 20.
Wonderful!
[ ITEM: CASTLE'S DOOR KEY ]
[ DIFFICULTY LEVEL: A ]
[ TYPE: KEY ]
[ A KEY THAT OPENS THE DOORS TO THE DEMON'S CASTLE.
OBTAINED BY KILLING THE GUARDIAN. ]
Okay. The guard had the key to the door. Well, that made sense.
However, this key will have to wait a while before it can be used.
Jin-Woo wasn't stupid or crazy, he wasn't going to go there.
[ ITEM: CERBERUS FANG ]
[ DIFFICULTY LEVEL: NONE ]
[ TYPE: JUNK ]
[ FANGS OBTAINED AFTER KILLING CERBERUS. ]
He obtained three of them.
He opened a shop.
Each of the fangs was sold for 150,000 gold pieces. After selling three molars, Jin-Woo collected 450,000 gold pieces.
It was madness how expensive these "junk" items were.
Not that he was complaining; a substantial sum had just found its way into his pocket.
Jin-Woo glanced at the top of the tower. Its peak was shrouded in a strange mist, making it impossible to see anything.
This place was still too dangerous for him.
Regretfully, Jin-Woo hid his newly acquired key in his inventory.
***
- Fax me information about these two.
Hwang Dong-Su ground his teeth, trying not to crush the phone he was holding in his hand, at least not until he used it for this call.
- Mr. Hwang, what are you doing at such a late hour?
Ending the conversation, Dong-Su walked to the device, waiting for the information he requested to appear.
- Lola, can I ask you something?
- Of course.
- What happens if I kill someone in Korea?
If the woman was surprised or concerned by his question, she didn't show it.
- Korea has not yet ratified the extradition treaty's annex concerning offenses committed by hunters. Since you are an American hunter, you would be tried in America. The government should turn a blind eye to this due to negotiations.
- All right. Some assholes killed my brother. I'm not going to let them get away with it.
Hwang's phone cracked and broke under the pressure of his squeezed hand.
His brother and his entire team were killed.
Only two breams survived. His brother wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself for weaklings.
Besides, they were only there to fulfill formalities. They didn't belong to his team.
They must have set some kind of trap.
Damn it!
He told his brother not to do anything stupid.
- I'll have to go to Korea for a while, can you cancel my meetings?
This time the woman looked a bit worried.
- Mr. Hwang, if you leave now, it will stop the entire guild's operations.
Hwang Dong-Su muttered under his breath in annoyance.
After a while, however, he sighed.
- Alright then, when will I have some free time?
When the papers were ready, Dong-Su took them in his hands and started reading information about these two clowns.
- In about two months.
- Two months... I won't even be able to properly bury him. But so be it. Cancel all my meetings scheduled for later.
- Are you sure this is a good idea? - The woman asked after a moment of silence.
- No worries. I hope these bastards don't die by the time I get there.
Hwang Dong-Su tore the papers he had just been reading and then crushed them in his hands.
***
The following days were relatively calm. Jin-Woo spent time with his sister, cooked meals, did the shopping, and completed his daily quests.
Every day, he received phone calls from Jin-Ho. The boy was supposed to report on the progress of recruiting a party for the raid and purchasing gates, but it often ended with Jin-Ho keeping him on the phone for up to an hour and a half, talking about random things.
However, Jin-Woo couldn't afford to sit idly by while Jin-Ho carried out his task. So, today, just like in the past few days, Jin-Woo logged into the Hunters' website. He still checked the bulletin board, but as expected, there were no private raids available for an E-ranked Hunter. His encounter with Hwang Dong-Suk was a stroke of luck. Even if the guy had ulterior motives, that raid had been fruitful.
Thanks to it, Jin-Woo had managed to earn some money, and theoretically, he wouldn't have to work for the next year or even longer.
Wait. Did he just feel gratitude toward Hwang?
No way.
As he was about to get up and make some tea, his phone in his pocket suddenly began to ring.
***
Jin-Woo didn't expect to see Song Chi-Yul next to him as he made his way to the Association.
- Sung? - The older man looked with wide eyes at the boy whom he last saw when he was on the verge of death.
Now, this amiable young man was... taller. And it seemed like his shoulders were broader. Had that not-so-long period of not seeing each other really blurred his memory that much?
- I barely recognized you... You look like you've changed. What happened this month?
Mr. Song's eyes opened wider as he looked at both of the boy's legs. Both were intact.
- This may be inappropriate, but... How did you get your leg back?
Jin-Woo, expecting this particular question, replied calmly.
- I don't really know. When I woke up in the hospital, it was already there. As if I'd never lost it.
- What a relief. I'm glad! The life of an invalid is hard. Someone as young as you shouldn't have to go through that.
Jin-Woo's eyes moved to the man's left shoulder. At first glance, the sleeve was empty. Song Chi-Yul laughed at his look and shrugged.
- It's nothing. Don't worry, I'm lucky to be alive at all. To be honest, I heard rumors that you were okay, but I had a hard time believing it. Even now I can't believe my eyes.
- Did you come at the request of the Association?
- Yes, you too?
Both men moved to the place where the gate was supposed to be.
Jin-Woo's steps were incredibly light. Even standing right next to him, Song Chi-Yul had difficulty detecting his presence.
How was this possible?
Despite being a veteran, he felt that if he and Sung were fighting right now, he wouldn't even be able to touch the young man.
Even if he was ranked C while Jin-Woo was ranked E.
As they finally approached the gate, Jin-Woo spotted three people standing nearby. Presumably, fellow Hunters.
After the incident in the Double Dungeon, the number of Hunters in this area had significantly decreased. According to what Mr. Song had told him as they walked here, two surviving Hunters even decided to retire due to the trauma.
As they got even closer, Jin-Woo felt his blood both boil and freeze simultaneously.
Even if it wasn't possible.
Jin-Woo knew the faces of the two hunters who were standing close to each other and their eyes widened when they saw Mr. Song and him.
They were the two men who had abandoned him in the underground temple, Kim Sang-Shik, and the man who had thrown Jin-Woo's injured body to the ground, even though he had been supporting him moments earlier. Seeing them, they both immediately looked away, clearly agitated. It made sense that they were avoiding him.
However, before he could react to the sight of them, he felt a body hitting him forcefully.
- Jin Woo!
He looked down and saw Ju-Hee's face and her eyes full of tears.
- It's really you. I'm so glad to see you. You've changed so much; I could hardly recognize you. And as your... what? Leg...
Ju-Hee kept looking between his face and the intact leg that shouldn't be there.
- What...? How is that possible?
- Well, it's...
- What a romantic atmosphere. Are you two having a love affair here?
His words were interrupted by an unknown man in a prison uniform who had just stepped out of a car.
As Jin-Woo looked bewildered, another man in a suit emerged from the passenger seat. The man in the suit gave the prisoner a stern warning.
- Shut up, you idiot.
The prisoner avoided eye contact and clearly made an effort not to grimace. While the man in the suit turned to the car, the prisoner winked at Ju-Hee. Jin-Woo furrowed his brow. Two more men stepped out of the car. They were all wearing prison uniforms and were shackled. The man in the suit escorted the three prisoners over to an Association employee waiting nearby and greeted her.
- You're finally here.
- Sorry. There was a small traffic jam on the way.
An employee of the Association handed the man several documents and he started signing them one by one. In the meantime, an employee of the Association called all the Hunters to his place.
- These are prisoners who will take part in the expedition.
- We have to work with criminals?! - Mr. Song asked in disbelief.
- Nevertheless, they are still Hunters. Hunters often serve part of their sentence in dungeons.
- Oh God. - Song ran his hand over his face, mumbling something under his breath.
- Please understand that there's a shortage of Hunters in the area, and we have to make use of all available means.
The woman meant that there were no hunters nearby who would like to deal with weak gates. Those with category D or E that no guild wanted to take.
- They'll be under Kang Tea-Shik's control, so you don't need to worry. He's a rank B Hunter, while the prisoners are only rank C. To defeat an average rank B Hunter, you'd need ten rank C Hunters. If the prisoners become dangerous, the agent will eliminate them immediately; those are his instructions.
Hearing that the criminals would be supervised by the agent, Mr. Song and all the other hunters relaxed a bit.
Almost all the Hunters.
Jin-Woo was still uneasy about the whole situation.
He felt a strange bloodlust as the agent and the prisoners approached, which might have been due to his heightened senses.
However, he wasn't sure whether that bloodlust came from the prisoners or the employee.