Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Favoritism
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“Mi-jeong, do you think he's really okay?”
“It hasn't even been 30 minutes. And you saw him earlier. Hyeon-ung is strong.”
“But...”
“Ha-young, this is the 9th floor. Hyeon-ung operates on at least the 50th floor and above. Don't worry.”
Mi-jeong said he was fine and not to worry, but I was still anxious about leaving him alone.
Of course, his companions were with him, but...
He said he'd follow right after us, and 30 minutes felt like a long time.
“This staff should be good for Ha-min.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeong-cheol, you can switch to these shoes. And this cloak has Stamina and Agility options, so Yoon-seo can use it.”
“Thank you.”
“Ha-young, you use these gloves. We'll sell the rest and distribute the profits. Any objections?”
“““No!”””
The distribution was almost finished, but Hyeon-ung still... Huh?
A blue light flared, and Hyeon-ung appeared.
“Oppa!”
I ran to him in a single bound. Thankfully, he didn't look much different from before.
He didn't seem to have any injuries.
It looked like he hadn't fought at all, so why did he take so long?
Besides, his expression seemed a bit darker than usual.
He looked a little angry, too...
“Oppa? What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere...?”
“I'm fine. But Ha-young.”
“Yes.”
“Can you boil some water?”
“Water?”
He sighed, grabbing the scruff of a golden dragon's neck with his right hand and shaking it.
“Kyuuing...”
“I'm going to boil this little guy.”
****
“Isn't Geum-yong your pet? Why are you suddenly... C-Calm down.”
Calm down? Yeah, right.
If I told her what this wicked creature did, Ha-young would gladly cooperate.
No, it doesn't matter if she cooperates or not.
“Never mind. I'll boil it myself.”
“Oppa?”
“Hyeon-ung, are you hurt... Why are you holding onto your pet?”
“Sir Hyeon-ung?”
Everyone looked puzzled, so I briefly explained the situation.
“Wow! There are pets that eat items?”
“That's fascinating.”
“Fascinating? Is this really something to be fascinated about?”
I only said it was a valuable item, not a Mythic one. That must be why.
“S-Sorry.”
“No, I was being sensitive. The root of all evil is this one right here.”
“Kyuuing...”
“Um, oppa, so does it only eat things?”
“If that were the case, I would've boiled it long ago. It brings me a reward once a month... though what it brings is random.”
“Then couldn't you think of it as an investment and just wait?”
It's not the first time, but the second.
A decent item... No, if it were a Mythic item I'd gotten from a hunt, I might have thought that way.
But this time is different.
I scraped together every last bit of my fortune and even pressured the Chaos Emperor Mimic for a 5,000 gold discount to buy it.
And this is on top of losing a large chunk of my old equipment...
“Kyuuing...”
“Right. Hyeon-ung, boiling it won't bring the item back. It might be better to wait for the reward instead of...”
Everyone was trying to stop me, just like my companions in the dungeon had.
That's why I came outside on purpose and didn't even summon my companions...
“He probably didn't do it on purpose.”
“No. It was intentional.”
The moment it saw the Mythic item, its eyes went crazy. It even bit Alpen's hand before flying off and gulping it down.
“Um, oppa? What did your other companions say?”
“They told me to hold it in.”
“Then, even if he's a little annoying, maybe you should let it slide...”
Haa... Right.
Ha-young's right.
Boiling it in scalding water might make me feel a little better, but it won't bring the Mythic item back. In the end, I'm the only one who loses.
“You little brat. You should know you're getting off easy thanks to Ha-young.”
*Flick—*
I gave the little rascal a flick on the forehead and let him go.
“Kyu!”
It glared at me, then flew over to Ha-young and snuggled into her arms.
“Thank goodness. You can't do that again, okay?”
“Kyu! Kyu!”
Watching it burrow into Ha-young's embrace made me want to hit it again, but I held back.
I wasn't alone, and I didn't want to seem petty in front of others.
“You did well to hold back, Hyeon-ung.”
“If I didn't, I'd be the only one losing out. Anyway, Mi-jeong, did you finish distributing the items?”
“Huh? Do you need something?”
“Ah, not for me. A friend gave me a lot of gifts since we hadn't seen each other in a while, so I wanted to give you all something.”
“Huh? You don't have to. You caught it all by yourself.”
Mi-jeong, Ha-young, and the other new guild members all shook their heads and waved their hands in refusal.
“No, it's fine. My friend gave me a bunch of stuff since it had been a while.”
“Friends with a monster?”
“Wait, a monster gave you items?”
“I spared its life once before.”
Of course, I was also the one who tried to kill it... I didn't bother mentioning that part and took out a piece of equipment I'd set aside from my inventory.
“This is for you, Ha-min. And Yoon-seo, these gloves are for you.”
I handed the items to the bewildered pair.
What I gave Ha-min was an orb that could be mounted on a staff.
“M-Magic Power +3 and Mana Recovery +30%?”
“Fire Resistance +30% and an additional 80% Fire damage on all attacks? Isn't this incredibly good?”
Both of them looked astonished.
The stats only gave +3 Magic Power, but the 30% increase in mana recovery would be very useful for a mage in the early stages.
The Salamander Gloves I gave Yoon-seo didn't have any extra stats, but they had a pretty high bonus to Fire damage.
It would allow her to break out of her current ambiguous role—neither a tank nor a damage dealer—and pull her weight as a proper DPS.
Yeong-cheol was staring with a look of intense envy.
“I have something for you too, Yeong-cheol.”
“Y-You have something for me?”
“Yes. Unless you don't want it.”
“N-No, that's not it.”
I took a pair of spaulders from my inventory.
“Yours should be quite useful as well.”
“Stamina and Agility +5 each, and the defense is really high! Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He kept bowing his head, but they were just Rare items.
I told them I didn't need them anyway and took out the item for Ha-young.
[Dark Venom Shot (Unique)
A special arrow imbued with the power of two spirits: darkness and earth.
Attack Power 15, Damage +10%, Stamina +10, Strength +10.
Infinite Arrows, Earth Resistance +10%, Dark Resistance +10%
Special Abilities.
50% chance to inflict Poison on target.
30% chance to inflict Bleed on target.
50% chance to inflict Curse on target]
To be honest, I was going to pass on it because the attack power was too low for a Unique item and the stats were a bit lacking.
But Milli said that since an archer's bow and arrow effects stack, options like these on an arrow were actually quite good, so I chose it.
“Ha-young, this one's yours.”
“O-Oppa, th-this is red... Isn't it a Unique item?”
“It's an arrow, so I can't use it anyway.”
Milli was also an archer, but she said the arrows she was currently using were better and willingly let me have it.
“I'll use it well.”
“You're so lucky, Ha-young.”
“I have something for you too, Mi-jeong.”
“For me? No, I...”
“You worked so hard looking after the new members and probably couldn't even level up. And most importantly, you trusted me and gave me the Mimic, right?”
“No, considering everything you've done for our guild... it was nothing... And it was my turn to take care of the new members anyway.”
Still, she wasn't saying no.
Finally, I took out Mi-jeong's item.
“A bracelet? Wait a minute, this is Unique too!”
“It's for tanks, but the options aren't that great.”
“What? It gives 5% Stamina and +1 Agility per 4 levels!”
But aside from those two stats, it had no other options, not even defense.
It was a typical item for an evasion tank, so I had no use for it, and it wouldn't sell for much.
Plus, I felt a little self-conscious about giving a Unique item only to Ha-young.
“I'll put it to good use, Hyeon-ung. Thanks.”
“Thank you, Sir Hyeon-ung.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, oppa.”
Seeing everyone so happy and thanking me was gratifying, but I still didn't feel completely good about it. And the reason was...
that little devil still nestled in Ha-young's arms.
“Kyu? Kyuuing...”
Geum-yong's eyes met mine, but it looked away, pretending not to see me.
The image of the brilliant purple Mythic item still shimmered in my mind.
*Sigh*, once this Labyrinth is over, I should head straight to the Golden Lion Guild and buy some soybean paste.
“Geum-yong.”
“Kyu... Kyuing?”
“Let's do well, okay?”
If your next reward isn't at least on par with the Orb of Wishes, or even better, I'm really going to marinate you in soybean paste.
****
Labyrinth, 34th Floor.
Two days had already passed since I spent the night with the new guild members and came here the next day.
On the 34th floor, you could only gain experience up to level 50, so neither Ha-young nor I could get any EXP.
However, Bio recommended it, saying the variety of monsters would be good for Ha-young, who had leveled up without gaining much experience.
The 34th floor was a floating island, somewhat similar to the 51st, but it was a single massive island instead of several smaller ones.
To the north was a vast forest, a huge lake in the center, a desert to the south, and to the east and west were cursed lands and prairies where Dark-attribute monsters appeared.
With so many different regions, there was certainly a wide variety of monsters, making it a good place to gain much-needed experience.
We had hunted in the desert region until this morning, and after Bio said that was enough, we moved to the western prairies.
“I feel like I can finally breathe here.”
“That's a relief.”
As soon as we arrived on the 34th floor, that guy Bio confiscated most of Ha-young's equipment, just as he had done to me—no, even more severely.
All she was left with were her shoes, a plain set of clothes with no options, her bow, and her arrows.
I had a robe with temperature control, and my companions weren't affected by the weather.
Thanks to that, Ha-young was the only one who suffered, sweating profusely for two straight days.
I had a spare robe I was going to give her, but Bio strongly objected.
‘As you descend the Labyrinth, you'll encounter environments far more extreme than this. There are even places where temperature control functions don't work. Let her be, so she can build her endurance.’
He was just as cold back when he took my sword.
I had asked him for help, but the one who actually looked after Ha-young the most wasn't Bio, but Milli, who was also an archer.
Anyway, Ha-young seemed to be struggling so much that I secretly lent her my robe at night and asked Timi to supply her with cool water.
Whether my efforts paid off or not, Ha-young silently endured the desert and even managed to take down the desert region's boss, the Giant Sandworm, at dawn today.
“Ha-young, are you hungry?”
“Are we eating?”
Honestly, I wasn't that hungry, but we had walked a lot while traveling, and I thought it would be good to recover some stamina while we ate.
“Bio, how about we grab some lunch?”
“We just arrived at a new place, and you want to eat before a single battle?”
Look at this inflexible guy.
“We do all this just to eat and live. There's shade here, so this looks like a good spot.”
“If you're that hungry, make do with hardtack and jerky.”
“No thanks. I'm going to make some soup. Ha-young, let's eat over there.”
I casually ignored him and spread out a mat under a leafy tree I'd spotted.
“Alpen, here's some firewood. Can you set up the campfire?”
“Yes!”
Alpen skillfully built a campfire and even a stand.
“Oppa, is there anything I can help with?”
“No, it's fine. Get some rest. Want a cola?”
“Yes!”
I opened the icebox and saw there were only two cans left.
I gave one to Ha-young, chugged one myself, and placed the pot over the fire.
I added a little oil, then threw in the prepared potatoes, vegetables, and bacon I'd kept in the icebox. After sautéing them for a bit, I added water.
Thanks to buying the icebox, I could eat fresh food, which was nice. But I'd thought I'd be alone, so I only packed a few ingredients. It looked like I'd have to survive on hardtack and jerky for the last day or two.
“Once it boils, just add this.”
All I had to do was add the special sauce I'd prepared, and it would be done.
“This is a secret from Aunt Seol-hwa, but this is even tastier than what she makes!”
“Haha, you learn to do this much when you live alone for a long time.”
As we waited for the water to boil in a cheerful atmosphere, Bio approached with a sullen look on his face.
“It will take some time to boil, won't it?”
“Huh? I guess so.”
“There are monsters nearby. I'll bring them.”
As he spoke, Bio blurred and vanished.
“Huh? Where did Sir Bio go?”
“He said he's going to bring some monsters.”
“Ah, I'll get ready right now.”
Ha-young slung her quiver over her shoulder, picked up her bow, and stood up.
About a minute later, the ground began to tremble violently as something kicked up a cloud of dust, charging from the west.
As it got closer, I could see it was a herd of huge black oxen.
Each one was about the size of a large truck, and there were five of them in total.
That seemed like a bit much for a pre-meal warm-up.
“Ha-young, need some help?”
“I'm fine!”
She answered without even looking at me, focusing on her aim.
*Fwoosh—*
Ha-young began to let her arrows fly.
*Boom— Boom— Boom— Boom— Boom—*
A series of explosions roared, sending flames and smoke billowing into the air.
[Party Leader Lee Ha-young has defeated a Giant Buffalo.]
[Party Leader Lee Ha-young has defeated a Giant Buffalo.]
[Party Leader Lee Ha-young has defeated a Giant Buffalo.]
Weren't there five monsters?
As the smoke cleared a little, two of them were charging furiously toward us.
Ha-young fired again, but her composure seemed to be shaken, and her arrows missed.
“Mister, should I help?”
“No, I'll do it.”
Rina and Hanna stood up.
“Sigh, I've told her so many times that's not how you shoot a bow.”
Milli, who had been focused on training Ha-young, shook her head and frowned. I thought she was being a bit too harsh.
“She hasn't been using a bow for that long. Isn't she doing pretty well?”
“I could shoot better than that with my feet...”
“Milli, why would you say something like that?”
“Why are you getting on Milli's case? Missing from this distance is a bit...”
They were all taking Milli's side. It seemed like they were a little jealous because I'd been taking care of Ha-young so much lately.
I had been looking after Ha-young a lot, but Milli's words were still too harsh.
I thought she had a quiet and gentle personality...
“I've told her so many times, it's just so frustrating. I'm sorry... I'll take care of the rest.”
With a slightly sullen expression, Milli suddenly did a handstand.
“Milli?”
I now saw that she was holding a nocked arrow with her feet.
She lowered one foot forward, aiming the bow at the buffaloes.
Then she drew the bowstring with her other foot. Was that even possible?
*Shwooo— Thud— Thud—*
Even the accuracy and power were on a completely different level.
Ha-young had fired well over ten shots, but with just a single arrow, Milli pierced through the first Giant Buffalo's head and then the forehead of the one following right behind it.
*Thud— Thud—*
[You have defeated a Giant Buffalo.]
[You cannot acquire experience from monsters of a significantly lower level.]
[You have defeated a Giant Buffalo.]
[You cannot acquire experience from monsters of a significantly lower level.]
“Oh, she hit both of them!”
“Wow, Milli, what was that?”
“It wasn't that difficult...”
I doubt even a professional gymnast could pull that off...
“Hey, Mister? At this point, isn't it true she can shoot better with her feet than Ha-young can with her hands?”
That Rina, she just had to twist the knife.
“I... guess so.”
I was speechless.
She had just proven it right before my eyes.
“I'll tell Ha-young to try harder...”