Chapter 193 Scout
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Scout
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After the small and medium clan meeting.
Two days later, in the morning.
"Kraaaaaah!!!"
Jeong Yoo-shin, who had been lying in bed, kicked off his blankets and screamed.
"Ah, fuck. Why did I stutter there!? You crazy bastard!!!"
Jeong Yoo-shin muttered to himself like a madman and slapped his own cheeks.
"Jik?"
Lin woke up with a start and licked the back of Jeong Yoo-shin's neck.
Jeong Yoo-shin gently stroked Lin's head, then let out a sigh.
"Hoo."
Fortunately, he hadn't completely uttered the phrase 'Swine Master'. Still, the fact that he had stuttered in front of so many people was still embarrassing.
Knock, knock.
"Skar, time to eat."
With a knock, Karin's voice was heard from behind the door.
"Alright."
Jeong Yoo-shin got out of bed and changed his clothes.
Before leaving the room, he looked out the window.
A thick fog filled the streets. The city was deserted and dark, despite it being morning.
When he came down the stairs, Ingrid was sitting at a table.
Jeong Yoo-shin staggered over and sat in front of her.
"Ingrid-nim, did you sleep well?"
"I slept comfortably. But are there any applicants?"
At Ingrid's question, Jeong Yoo-shin shook his head.
"Not yet."
After his spar with Gwyn, the small and medium clan meeting had ended anticlimactically. Since there were so many prominent clans in the training ground, it was burdensome to do anything more.
A few clans had agreed to Jeong Yoo-shin taking the representative position. But that was all. There were also quite a few who opposed it.
The reason was that it was difficult for them to trust someone who had only been in Labyrinth City for a short time.
Jeong Yoo-shin understood. Since people were always changing, it would be difficult for them to trust him. This was even more so in Labyrinth City, where personalities changed in a flash due to imprints.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Ingrid sat at the table in silence.
Jeong Yoo-shin sighed deeply and took out the sleeping Lin from his front pocket.
As expected…
When the future was bleak, you needed some healing.
He kneaded Lin's warm and soft body here and there.
Lin, who had been woken up, chirped and threw a fit, but she soon made a languid face and relaxed her whole body at Jeong Yoo-shin's skillful massage.
Ingrid looked down at Lin with wide eyes, then turned her head. To knead Lin's body so shamelessly in the morning… He was an incredibly lewd man.
The more Lin's expression melted, the more Ingrid's nipples began to rise. Fortunately, it was a chilly day, and she was wearing a long, thick cardigan, so it wasn't noticeable.
Karin approached them, placed a drink on the table, and asked.
"Mom, don't you have a meeting today?"
"No. I can rest quietly today."
"Hmm."
"There's no talent. No talent at all."
Jeong Yoo-shin lamented while persistently massaging Lin's body.
"They'll come if you wait a little. Eru!"
"Yes."
At Karin's call, the incubus kid in an apron came out of the kitchen while carrying plates of food one by one.
Breakfast was toast, grilled sausage, and mashed potatoes made by mashing boiled potatoes and mixing them with butter and cheese.
Jeong Yoo-shin, Ingrid, Eru, and Karin sat around the table and began to eat.
Jeong Yoo-shin, with his food in front of him, took some nuts out of his pocket.
He pushed a walnut into the mouth of the gasping Lin, who was still limp like a rice cake from the persistent massage.
"Lin, you have to eat too."
"Jik."
Lin barely managed to open her mouth and munched on the walnut.
"That's right. You're eating well."
Jeong Yoo-shin gently stroked Lin's head as she munched on the walnut.
Karin chuckled, then her eyes widened.
"Mom? You have a nosebleed."
"Eung?"
Ingrid, her face flushed, quickly put a hand to her nose.
"O-Oh my."
"Are you okay?"
"I-It's nothing. I must be tired from all of the meetings lately."
Karin looked at her mother with worried eyes.
So even her iron-willed mother had her weak moments. Come to think of it, faint moans would occasionally leak out from her room at night, as if she was having nightmares.
'As expected, I need to try a little harder.'
Whether she knew of Karin's resolve or not, Ingrid stood up while holding her nose with one hand, and held out her other hand.
"Lin, that's enough now. Come here."
"Jik jik."
Lin crawled out of Jeong Yoo-shin's hand and entrusted herself to Ingrid's.
"Ah."
Jeong Yoo-shin looked at Lin with a disappointed expression.
"T-To do it until she's a limp noodle..."
Ingrid muttered with a flushed face.
Jeong Yoo-shin scratched his head, embarrassed.
"Was it too much?"
"...No. It's alright. It can happen when you're too focused. I'm going to get some rest. There's no need to wake me up until dinner, so don't call me."
Ingrid bowed her head and spoke quietly, then she took Lin and went up to the second floor.
"Is she not feeling well?"
"Her schedule has been tight lately. But for her to show such a weak side. I'm worried."
Jeong Yoo-shin and Karin finished their meal while chatting.
After the meal, Jeong Yoo-shin helped Eru with the dishes in the kitchen.
He then sat on a counter stool and fell into deep thought.
Although he didn’t have enough party members yet, there were a lot of things he needed to prepare.
After the 10th floor, a swamp area would unfold from the 11th floor onwards.
'A swamp area.'
Just thinking about it made his head throb.
The problem of his mobility being slowed because his feet would sink into the mud was on his mind.
Not to mention the poisonous insects that would likely come out of the Forest area.
There were also monsters that cast debuffs on the mind, like the ones in the Corridor area.
He hadn't been there yet, but the complex paths of the Sewer area were also mixed in.
In short, it was a situation where the difficulty level skyrocketed.
On top of that, since he had to be in the labyrinth for a long time, he needed to get high-quality equipment, as well as long-lasting preserved food.
'I'll need to carry a lot of luggage.'
He racked his brain, but he wondered if all that junk would fit in a small backpack.
He felt like he understood why people hired porters.
"Ehyu."
'I have to prepare in advance.'
People coming and going was something he couldn't control, but he could at least prepare thoroughly.
Just as Jeong Yoo-shin, who had been admiring the fog through the window, finished organizing his thoughts and was about to stand up…
Creeak.
The inn door opened, and Mick and a cat beast-person entered.
It was a face that looked very familiar.
But Jeong Yoo-shin’s memory was hazy.
The cat beast-person recognized his face at a glance.
"Hey, Skar. You've been well?"
"Who are you?"
"We spent a night together on the 5th floor of the labyrinth, didn't we?!"
The cat beast-person said something that could be misunderstood by anyone who heard it.
Jeong Yoo-shin frowned and racked his brain.
"Ah."
Now he remembered.
It was the cat beast-person he had met when he first saw Mick.
Was her name Lumi?
He had heard that she was in the Huntsman clan.
"Lumi, right? What brings you here?"
The cat beast-person, Lumi, grinned.
"Before that, I have something to tell you."
?
"I heard that you had a match with Gwyn a few days ago?"
"Well, yeah?"
"I heard our clan members talking about it. Everyone at the Explorer's Headquarters is fired up about that story. They said that you fought incredibly well."
Jeong Yoo-shin half-listened to Lumi's words with his arms crossed.
"I just fought moderately. I didn't even use my imprint ability."
Lumi nodded as if satisfied with Jeong Yoo-shin's answer.
"Good. Our Huntsman clan is going to the 11th floor swamp area this time. We need two vanguards."
"What are you going there for?"
"It seems like a strange monster has appeared in the swamp area. Since a new prey has appeared, it's only right for us to take the lead."
A new monster hunt?
"So?"
"I'd like you to join us for this hunt. It's a bit risky for us to only have one vanguard."
"Really?"
'Isn't this an opportunity?'
He wondered what kind of windfall this was.
Jeong Yoo-shin wanted to jump up and dance.
Karin finished cleaning the kitchen and came out.
Lumi waved at Karin while wagging her cat tail.
"Karin! Hello!"
Karin's eyes widened as she looked at Lumi.
"Senior? What are you doing here?"
"I came to see my cute junior. But why haven't you been showing your face at the Guide's Guild lately? Is something wrong?"
"Ah, that's... I've been busy lately."
Karin trailed off.
Lumi nodded.
"Ah! Is it because of the Beast-person Alliance?"
"Yes."
"The atmosphere is very grim these days, isn't it? Good luck."
"Thank you, senior."
Lumi smiled and patted Karin on the shoulder, then turned and looked at Jeong Yoo-shin.
"So Skar, what are you going to do? Are you going to join our party?"
It was a good offer.
But there was one thing that was on his mind.
It was difficult for him to form a party with a woman because of his lustful energy.
"Are you going too?"
At Jeong Yoo-shin's question, Lumi shook her head.
"Me? No, I'm not going. I'm in another party."
Even better.
"I accept that offer."
Jeong Yoo-shin nodded.
"Alright! Mick will explain the rest. See you later!"
Lumi waved her hand and left the inn.
Jeong Yoo-shin and Mick sat at a table and talked about various things.
Jeong Yoo-shin was told that there would be a meeting with the Huntsman clan members in a few days.
As they were talking, a question suddenly came to his mind.
It seemed the most important thing was food.
Since they would be in the labyrinth for a long time, it was difficult to fill a backpack with jerky, nuts, dried fruit, or biscuits. He had thought about the special nutrition bar, but he had given up on it because its shelf life was short.
What should he do about this?
Had he known that this would happen, he would have watched some survival programs.
Was there any food that was nutritious and had a long shelf life?
"Mick, is there no way?"
At Jeong Yoo-shin's question, Mick sent him a sign language message.
'Pig.'
"Pig?"
'Lard.'
Lard. Did he mean lard?
'There's also butter. It lasts a long time and gives you energy. But it doesn't taste very good.'
He had to break through the middle levels while chewing on butter and lard?
It wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Mick sent another sign language message.
'You can resupply on the 10th floor. I heard it's become quite stable since no other monsters have appeared after the Lich Prince.'
"Is that so?"
'We can just collect magic stones by passing through the levels, finding treasure chests, or hunting monsters, and then exchange them for supplies from the merchants on the 10th floor.'
Did everyone have their own way?
"Good."
'And there's something else we need to prepare.'
Jeong Yoo-shin tilted his head.
'After the 10th floor, you need a bracelet called the 'Bond of Unity'. It's a magic tool made by the Mage Tower, and it helps you move together when you take a portal.'
What did he say?
Mick, who was looking at Jeong Yoo-shin's eyes, sent another sign language message.
'The portals become more unstable as you go down. From the 10th floor, there are often cases where even if 5 people enter a portal at the same time, they get scattered to various places.'
"No, that’s crazy."
A chill ran down his spine.
What if he fell alone into a monster's den?
He'd be so fucked, right?
Mick raised his arm. He was wearing a shiny silver bracelet.
'You can buy it at the Explorer's Guild headquarters. The price is cheap. It's about 30 silver coins.'
I have to buy one right away.
Jeong Yoo-shin nodded and stood up.
"Then let's end the conversation here. Is there anything else I need to prepare?"
Mick shook his head.
"Good. Then let's meet in 3 days."
Jeong Yoo-shin crossed his arms as he watched the departing Mick.
What kind of party members would he meet this time?
To go to the labyrinth with 3 ranged damage dealers and no priest…
In a normal situation, he would be reluctant, but this time, the other side were the Huntsman clan, who were famous for hunting.
The fact that such a clan had come to scout Jeong Yoo-shin made his heart pound with anticipation.