Chapter 8
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Delivery Into the Dungeon
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Nyam. Mimi scooped up the last hearty spoonful and said,
"It's all good! As you grow stronger, Master, more helpers will come to aid in your endeavors. This humble Mimi is nothing but grateful to join you on that glorious path!"
'Glorious path, huh... Not sure about that.'
Still, Chae-ryeon didn't mind the current setup one bit. She could cook to her heart's content and sell her dishes to anyone who wanted them.
No, she felt downright great about it.
"Alright then. Let's do our best going forward!"
"Fighting! As you command!"
Bond with your summoned beast has risen another level!
Bond +10
Meanwhile, Min Hae-yul, having successfully cleared the A+-Rank Dungeon without a hitch, headed straight for the guild master's office.
"Guild Master, may I come in?"
"Enter."
As the door swung open, a young man with deep cobalt-black hair lounged lazily in his chair.
This youthful figure, who looked to be in his early to mid-twenties, was none other than Shin Ha-rang, the guild master of Wing Guild.
A terrifying powerhouse always mentioned among the top five attack-type hunter rankers.
He had also been the one overseeing this dungeon raid.
In a voice drained of fatigue, flat and emotionless, Shin Ha-rang asked Min Hae-yul,
"What brings you here to see me?"
"Ah... Th-there's something I need to report!"
'Gotta tell him now.'
Thanks to Chae-ryeon's delivery, Hae-yul had safely navigated the crisis. After much deliberation, he'd decided to come clean to the guild master about his skill penalty.
'Keeping it hidden forever isn't right.'
Now that he knew the dungeon rules banned all outside food, it was his duty to report it to the guild master of the guild he'd contracted with.
That was why he'd come to the office... but Shin Ha-rang's overwhelming presence had Min Hae-yul breaking out in cold sweat.
'He's S-Rank, alright.'
As Min Hae-yul marveled at the sheer aura and opened his mouth to speak—
"Um..."
"I know why you're here."
His icy tone cut the words off like a knife.
"You're here about that outsider who infiltrated the dungeon we were raiding, right?"
Shin Ha-rang had already pieced together the existence of the delivery hunter Min Hae-yul had summoned, without a word from him.
"Y-Yes, that's right."
"Who is this person? Who could tear through the dungeon's space itself, bypassing the designated pathway?"
Suspicion laced his sharp question.
"Did you, Min Hae-yul, open a gate into the dungeon for them?"
Only one team was allowed entry into a dungeon at a time.
It was the guild master's job to split and optimize that team for the raid.
With only one team permitted at once, guilds competing for first clears bid fiercely against each other.
Once a party entered, no other outsiders could slip in.
'But this outsider tore through the dungeon space itself, ignoring the gate?'
As the team leader who orchestrated every strategy and monitored the entire dungeon's movements via skill to protect his guildmates, Shin Ha-rang found it unbelievable.
'Impossible... How did that even happen?'
But the innocent Min Hae-yul denied it vehemently.
"Absolutely not!"
"Can you swear it on your contract and your own mana, Min Hae-yul?"
The pressure from Shin Ha-rang's chilling gaze was immense.
An S-Rank attack hunter's raw presence unleashed a killing intent that even without skills could make a normal person faint.
Min Hae-yul gritted his teeth and replied,
"I swear it!"
"Hmph. Then explain. How did an outsider infiltrate while Wing Guild members were already inside raiding?"
He added, almost as an afterthought, You seem to know, don't you, Min Hae-yul?
His cobalt-blue eyes gleamed sharply under the light. Ever since awakening, those deep blue irises had become his signature.
Feeling the threat in those piercing blue eyes, Min Hae-yul fought to steady his trembling body from the tension.
'No lying to the guild master.'
Shin Ha-rang had a skill to detect lies. One false word here, and he'd be exposed and possibly expelled from the guild.
'Should be fine to spill everything about that delivery hunter, right?'
He reviewed his encounter with Chae-ryeon—she'd never asked him to keep her identity secret.
'It's still hard to believe even now, but since she's a delivery hunter, getting her name out there might bring her more orders. She might even like it!'
Maybe he could play the grateful messenger in return for her help. Hae-yul perked up at the thought.
"I'll tell you everything, just as it happened."
"Go on. What is it?"
Shin Ha-rang crossed his legs and leaned forward slightly toward Min Hae-yul.
Min Hae-yul, who had been standing before the guild master's desk the whole time, said,
"Guild Master."
"Yes."
"Have you... heard of the Delivery Hunter?"
"...Pardon?"
"That Delivery Hunter flew in by tearing through the dungeon space to deliver the food I ordered. On a red motorbike—probably a bound item! I was so shocked; it was my first time seeing anything like it."
'What nonsense is this?'
Shin Ha-rang stared at Min Hae-yul with utter disbelief.
"Min Hae-yul, if you're joking around right now..."
"I'm not! Guild Master! I'm dead serious and telling the absolute truth! If you doubt me, use your Truth Discernment skill!"
"...Fine."
With evident skepticism, Shin Ha-rang activated his skill [Lie Detector].
'...Huh?'
"See? I'm telling the truth!"
Shin Ha-rang couldn't refute the beaming Min Hae-yul.
'...No way.'
[Lie Detector]
-Is Min Hae-yul's statement true?
-Answer: YES
"...It's true, then."
Shin Ha-rang's [Lie Detector] had never once failed. Min Hae-yul's words were all facts.
Unable to hide his astonishment, he listened as Min Hae-yul, shoulders puffed with a bit of pride, chattered on about the day's events.
"Here's the thing, Guild Master. What happened was..."
Min Hae-yul explained the penalty on his skill, [Lord of Hellfire!].
All food he ate became raw materials for the skill, so he absolutely couldn't skip meals... but dungeon rules banned outside food imports, leaving him in a real bind.
He'd tried eating dungeon monster meat and fruits, but they made him puke on contact, so he gave up.
"I was terrified that without using my skill, I'd drag the team down... That's when the Delivery Hunter appeared!"
Chae-ryeon's delivery order contact had been a ray of light, a miracle for Hae-yul.
"I wondered how she'd get here, but she burst through the space enveloping the dungeon on a motorbike! I swear, I'd never seen anything like it. And the food? Delicious beyond words! I asked the menu name, and she said, 'Just a basic bento set.' I'd order it again in a heartbeat."
"...Uh-huh. Right."
His fervor bordered on fanaticism, narrowing Shin Ha-rang's eyes as he listened.
Sensing the guild master's mood souring, Hae-yul cleared his throat and summarized.
"So, in short, that Delivery Hunter seems to have a skill letting her enter and exit dungeons freely, even mid-raid by an existing team."
"Looks that way. And... even more astonishing, she can bring outside food inside."
"Huh? Oh, yeah?"
At Shin Ha-rang's point, Min Hae-yul's eyes widened like saucers. He'd only thought of it as a lucky break.
"The no-outside-food rule has stumped every hunter no matter how hard they tried, right?"
"They call it the 'Fermat's Last Theorem' of the hunter world for a reason. That's why everyone still carries hunter-specific digestives and barf bags."
Dungeon raids were always followed by guild after-parties that were all the same.
Head to some appetite-reviving, mouthwateringly delicious spot for a feast.
"Yes! This is the stuff!"
"Ugh, those filthy dungeon foods... no, garbage. Nearly drove me insane."
"Sigh. How much longer do we have to do this?"
Using the guild card for the feast to soothe their battered taste buds while lamenting dungeons—that was post-raid routine.
'But now there's someone who can ignore that unbreakable rule?'
Dungeon rules and their unknown unlock conditions flashed through Shin Ha-rang's mind.
'What if that hunter holds the key to unlocking the rules?'