Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Even Just Summoning Skeletons Makes Me Too Strong
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Park Il-su.
No. Now Oh Ha-young, she shouted with an urgent expression.
"Lee Han! When is that Sun Guild guy coming?!"
Why was she acting like that?
The most they'd do was some local thugs hitting on Oh Ha-young because of her looks, right?
Ah? Could it be?
I lowered my gaze.
Oh Ha-young's hands were trembling.
She was definitely scared.
'So that's how it is.'
I knew who they were.
'They even put a tail on her.'
Being that pretty must really be exhausting sometimes.
For now, I needed to calm Oh Ha-young down.
"He'll come sometime today."
"What kind of stupid answer is that! Call him again quick!"
Far from calming her, I'd only made her more agitated?
Oh Ha-young glared at me with shaking eyes.
Even so, was there really any need to be this scared? I was right here.
"You've seen my level, right? Why are you so scared? They're just local thugs anyway."
I pretended to have no idea who they really were.
It was her hidden past, her personal hell.
I had no desire to dig it up.
"Those bastards have killed people before! Have you ever killed anyone? Levels mean nothing!"
Have I killed people?
Too many times, that's the problem. Half my experience points probably came from humans.
I felt no particular thrill from killing. I'd seen too much death for that.
That said, I could understand Oh Ha-young's attitude. In her memory, high schooler Lee Han was the last one.
Bang! Bang!
When neither Oh Ha-young nor I made any move to open the door,
"Open the damn door, you punk!"
One of the men pounded on the window and shoved his ugly face inside.
These punks sure had short fuses.
"What are you doing?!"
As I reached for the locked door, Oh Ha-young urgently grabbed my shoulder.
"What do you mean? They're picking a fight, so I have to answer, right?"
"Hey! You think this is some high school brawl? I told you, those guys kill people...!"
"They're gonna smash the door if we don't go out anyway?"
The car was shaking as the guys yanked on the door handle.
Seeing it with her own eyes, Oh Ha-young furrowed her brow and asked me,
"Lee Han. That Sun Guild guy is really on his way, right?"
"Unless he suddenly has a heart attack or goes crazy, yeah?"
"What kind of answer is that? So he's coming, right?"
"You stay put here."
"I'll hold them off until he gets here."
Without giving me a chance to stop her, Oh Ha-young kicked the door open and stormed out.
The men's gazes shifted from me to Oh Ha-young.
Unlike how they'd treated me, they bowed politely to her.
They definitely knew her. Conversations started flying between Oh Ha-young and the men.
"What do you think you're doing! Interfering with my work!"
Oh Ha-young's sharp voice.
"It's not work, is it, miss?"
One man responded in a stiff tone.
"24 years old. Name's Lee Han. Your boyfriend for 8 months back in high school. Isn't that right? You were trying to catch up with an old flame?"
They'd investigated me in that short time?
No way.
It's not like our relationship was posted on some wiki.
'These bastards were watching her even back in high school.'
That was the most likely scenario.
"And besides, the old man sent us to bring you."
As Oh Ha-young questioned them, the man's eyes roamed up and down her body.
"The reason's obvious, isn't it? Whenever the old man comes looking for you."
The old man.
The one behind all this.
The greedy geezer who wanted to claim Oh Ha-young's life, her personal hell...
The first time I heard the story from a drunk Oh Ha-young, I couldn't believe my ears. I thought she was just lost in some delusion, writing her own novel.
Her parents selling their barely middle-school-aged daughter to a rich old man.
And that old man satisfying his filthy lusts with unspeakable acts on her.
'Hard to believe this happened in 21st-century Korea.'
Well, Oh Ha-young hadn't just taken it lying down. Logically, such a deal couldn't hold up legally.
But in reality, money trumped the law.
No matter how hard she tried, the world never took her side.
Reporting to the police or telling the school did nothing.
It only isolated her more.
So the path she chose was to make her own money and succeed.
A life ruined by money. Overcome it with money.
'Now that Sun Guild's backing her, she'll be fine.'
But for today, looks like I had to step in.
Two men approaching Oh Ha-young.
If I let this go on, she wouldn't stall them—she'd get dragged off.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A heavy voice rang out as a man appeared behind them.
Jin Woo-young.
Jin Woo-young from Sun Guild had arrived.
"Mister, mind your own business and get lost?"
One of the three men approached Jin Woo-young aggressively, trying to intimidate him.
Jin Woo-young glanced at me inside the car.
His eyes asking what was going on.
I rolled down the window and explained politely.
"Woo-young, these guys are trying to kidnap a Sun Guild member right now. Stop them, will ya?"
The moment I finished, all three men's gazes turned to me.
One asked,
"Sun Guild member? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Is your head just for show? The girl you call 'miss'—she's a Sun Guild member."
"The miss is in Sun Guild...?"
The three men looked stunned, speechless.
"How should I handle this, Lee Han? Master said to check with you if there's trouble."
Jin Woo-young's voice reached me from behind them.
Even with Cha Jin-hyuk's orders, asking me about this?
"Just give them a business card and it'll be done."
Jin Woo-young was the loyal, by-the-book type who followed orders to the letter.
A bit frustrating to micromanage, but low-risk because of it.
Jin Woo-young promptly pulled a business card from his pocket.
"Here. Take it. I'm Jin Woo-young, team leader of Sun Guild's 1st Team."
He handed it to one of them.
The man took it and immediately looked grave.
"It's real Sun Guild."
Sun Guild's reputation carried real weight. The guy furrowed his brow and glared at Oh Ha-young.
"What kind of trick did you pull to join Sun Guild, miss?"
He didn't know her traits, so it was a natural question.
"Seduce one of the executives or something?"
Even so, that was a bold way to put it.
"Are you saying Sun Guild accepts people through that kind of corruption?"
It was the kind of statement that would piss off any Sun Guild member.
Jin Woo-young's voice sank low, and the man took a step back.
"N-no, that's not what I meant. As you can see, our miss is exceptionally beautiful, so..."
He then warned Oh Ha-young,
"I don't know how you joined Sun Guild, but you won't gain anything by upsetting the old man. Miss."
Some money-grubbing old fart thinking he could tangle with Sun Group.
"Hmph! Do whatever you want. Tell that damn old man clearly—if you touch me, Sun Guild moves!"
Fox borrowing the tiger's might, or whatever.
The moment the momentum shifted her way, Oh Ha-young yelled, backed by Sun Guild.
The man watched her with a hardened expression.
"I'll relay exactly what you said. And miss, you still don't know what kind of man the old one is. Let's go!"
He left those final words and they departed.
With Jin Woo-young's arrival, it resolved quietly.
"Phew..."
As they left, Oh Ha-young let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks. If you'd been even a little later, it would've been bad."
She spoke to Jin Woo-young.
"The parking lot on the right had plenty of spots, so I got delayed."
I must've explained too curtly. Anyway, everything was settled now.
I opened the car door and got out.
"As long as you showed, it's fine. Woo-young, take good care of this friend."
Just like with Jeong Sia.
Hand her over to Cha Jin-hyuk, and he'd handle it.
"Hey!"
As I turned to leave, Oh Ha-young grabbed me.
"You knew everything, didn't you?"
"About those bastards just now. Why didn't you ask who they were?"
She seemed to have caught on.
"Too annoying."
Some things are better left unasked.
Her story was humiliating enough as a woman.
"Besides, Sun Guild will handle it."
I was just here to comfort and cheer her on.
"Suspicious, but okay."
"What's suspicious about it."
"I'll buy you a meal sometime."
"Sure."
As our conversation ended, Jin Woo-young spoke up as if waiting.
"Lee Han. A gift from Master."
He held out a small box.
It wasn't a ring or anything, was it?
"Yes, a watch. He said you go to Utopia often without one, and it bothered him."
Opening it revealed an analog wristwatch.
In Utopia, phones didn't work, so it was practically essential.
Of course, I didn't carry one.
I mostly went alone, no need for set times, and I wasn't bound by schedules.
"Tell him thanks."
No reason to refuse a gift.
I didn't need it, but having it wasn't inconvenient.
"See you later then. Woo-young. Bye, Il-su."
They both reacted to my farewell.
"Yes, see you later."
"It's not Il-su, it's Oh Ha-young!"
Anyway, my goal was achieved.
Now for the remaining task: level up.
Time to finally raise my level.
'Head home, grab my sword, and straight to Utopia.'
Social norms hadn't reached the point of carrying weapons openly unless going to Utopia, so I'd only brought a dagger.
I took a taxi home, grabbed my sword.
This hunt plan was simple.
Mob hunting.
To level up fast, I'd head to a spot suitable for mob hunting.
The familiar sensation of crossing dimensions was brief.
I crossed the portal and arrived in Utopia.
'As expected, I fit better here than on Earth.'
It hadn't even been a few days, but I missed Utopia's unique air.
Something raw about it?
Maybe because it's a world you breathe alongside monsters.
I stopped by a shop right away to buy a backpack and rations.
'Wish I had sub-space.'
Buying a backpack every time and lugging it around was seriously inconvenient.
'No skills or items for sub-space in the dungeons I know...'
If one shows up at auction, I should bid.
The price would be astronomical, but I had Lee Eun-joo and Cha Jin-hyuk.
'Level 25 should be about right there.'
Mob hunting was straightforward.
Herd weaker monsters than yourself and kill them all at once.
Usually done by teams with AoE skills.
I didn't have AoE skills, but I had [Lava Shield].
A shield with insane attack power that melts anything it touches.
Confirmed it works up to level 30 monsters in the hidden dungeon, so lower levels should be fine in bulk.
Honestly, risky though.
12-second duration, 5-minute cooldown.
If I can't wipe the herded monsters in 12 seconds, I'm stuck in pure melee for 5 minutes.
'A summoner who has to hunt personally to level summons.'
But I had no choice but to take the risk.
Sia and As's disastrously low stamina stats. They could shatter from a random orc rock.
The only way to quickly level those two on my own was mob hunting.
'Once they're leveled enough to pull their weight, set them on auto-hunt, build overall power, then aim for dungeons.'
And my top priority: claim all the dungeon rewards from my memories.
That was faster than just grinding levels.
By the way, when do I get the third skeleton slot?
'Around level 50? If the system makes sense.'
No detailed explanation, so that's my guess.
"This spot looks good."
I'd arrived at the hunting ground.
A narrow canyon.
The cliffs on both sides weren't particularly high.
About 5 meters?
And where I stood was wide enough for maybe 10 adult men in a line.
First things first.
"As. Sia. Come out."
I summoned the two.
"Finally time to level up?"
As, shrouded in black haze, spoke the moment he appeared.
"Yeah. Time for me to do the grunt work."
"Sorry about that. But I'll make it up to you soon enough."
"Just stay as far back as possible. You too, Sia."
As and Sia quickly put distance between us and took positions at the rear.
This was one of Utopia's infamous top three worst hunting grounds.
People avoided the monsters here, and even in my past life, I'd never hunted here.
Better spots were everywhere for me back then.
"Let's get started."
I dumped my 16 saved stat points into stamina, bringing it to 106.
Then I pulled out a sharp dagger and pressed it to my palm.
Time to herd some monsters.
I gripped the cold dagger tight and dragged it across, letting red blood drip to the ground.