Chapter 3
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Malice
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'Is that Cheon Ye-jong?'
Sensing her presence, the muscular man looked up at Lee Ru-ri and asked.
"Ru-ri?"
"Oh, hi..."
"Nice to meet you!"
Cheon Ye-jong had a bright, smiling face. Her first impression of him wasn't bad.
"Me and my buddies are gonna apply to join your crew."
"Ah... so you're the ones tackling it with the Ghost Crew..."
"The Association's gotta be strict about it, right? Haha!"
"Yeah."
Cheon Ye-jong and the hunters who seemed to be his friends sent in their join requests to Lee Ru-ri's crew.
They filled the empty spots without overlapping positions and carefully submitted the gate raid permission request, but since the leader was an F-rank healer, it took a little time for the permit to arrive.
However, with all the other dealers being D-rank, they got the permit without much trouble.
"Just stay as far back from me as possible and follow."
Cheon Ye-jong shook his expensive-looking shield and grinned.
The two slowly entered the gate. Soon, a familiar sound echoed.
—Kikikik.
Cheon Ye-jong stepped in front of Lee Ru-ri and shouted.
"Goblins! Stay back!"
"O-okay! Be careful!"
He leaped straight into the center of the clustered goblins.
The goblins, gathered in small groups, hurled stones at him all at once.
He blocked the stones with his shield and swung his sword in flashy arcs.
Since the goblins' favorability was maxed out long ago, there was no risk of getting attacked or anything left to gain, so she kept her expression neutral and watched his fight for a bit.
A goblin hiding out of Cheon Ye-jong's sight suddenly lunged and bit his leg.
"Argh!"
Cheon Ye-jong cried out in pain. At his scream, Lee Ru-ri hurriedly cast a heal on him.
Her mana dipped slightly as a faint heal landed.
Regaining focus, Cheon Ye-jong smashed the goblin that bit his leg with his shield, splitting it in two right there.
"Thanks!"
"No problem! Be careful!"
Cheon Ye-jong flashed her a grin before quickly dispatching the rest of the goblins.
'It's been so long since I faked being scared... hope it didn't look awkward.'
Lee Ru-ri approached Cheon Ye-jong, who was shaking goblin blood off his shield, and asked.
"You okay?"
"This kind of scratch is routine. Don't worry. We all think they're low-level, but sometimes a smarter one sneaks in, so goblins aren't always pushovers."
"Glad you're fine. Sorry, I don't have any gear..."
"Nah, my fault for letting my guard down. Grab the loot on the way out. Let's keep going for now."
"Okay!"
"You've been soloing F-rank clears all this time. Doesn't it take forever? Aren't you exhausted?"
"Y-yeah... Healers have limits on usable skills."
"You must use some special weapon when you're solo, right?"
"Y-yeah! I use orbs that do a bit of damage to F-rank monsters. Didn't bring 'em today since it's E-rank. Ha, haha."
"Ah, those must cost a fortune. Gate raids really are all about gear. So, Ru-ri, how long have you been a hunter?"
"About seven years...?"
"That's a while. You've retested a ton but never ranked up, huh."
"Yeah... embarrassing..."
Her words trailed off as her nose suddenly itched.
"Achoo!"
"Cough, Ru-ri! Cover your nose and mouth!"
"Huh?"
Cheon Ye-jong covered his own nose and mouth, quickly erecting a barrier around them both.
"Feels like black moths. This powder blurs your vision if you inhale it. Hurry!"
He swung his sword to whip up wind.
Whoosh.
As the powder scattered in the breeze, moths clinging to the gate walls swarmed toward them fiercely.
"Fall back more!"
"O-okay!"
While Cheon Ye-jong took on the monsters ahead.
Lee Ru-ri cautiously reached out to check the info on this new monster.
[E — Black Moth: Current Favorability <0>]
While she checked the monster's name, Cheon Ye-jong groaned and collapsed to his knees.
His HP bar showed poison debuff flickering on and off, slowly draining his health bit by bit.
Seemed like he'd been poisoned by the moth powder.
'Hmm, he's hamming it up a little... but no need to jump in rashly. Doesn't look dangerous, so better raise favorability first.'
Lee Ru-ri pulled out several low-grade mana potions, chugged them, and relentlessly lobbed mana orbs at Cheon Ye-jong and the moths while healing him nonstop.
Feeling her heals, Cheon Ye-jong refocused and cleaved through the charging moths with his sword.
Below Lee Ru-ri's HP bar, alerts steadily rose showing the moths' favorability increasing.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 75]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 100]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 125]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 150]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 175]
Lost in boredom for a moment, she suddenly recalled the D-rank Ogre Chief from the F-rank gate.
'No matter how I think about it, it's weird. How could a D-rank monster spawn in an F-rank gate?'
Cheon Ye-jong shouted loudly at Lee Ru-ri, who was lost in thought.
"Ru-ri! You okay?"
Snapping to, Lee Ru-ri smiled brightly and lied smoothly.
"Ah! Yeah! Thanks to you, Ye-jong, the moths aren't coming this way!"
"Just a few left! I'll wrap it up soon!"
Cheon Ye-jong looked pleased, like trust me.
Ding, ding, ding.
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 1,000]
[Black Moth's favorability is now full.]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 1,025]
[Black Moth's favorability is now full.]
[Black Moth's favorability has increased by 25. Current favorability 1,025]
[Black Moth's favorability is now full.]
'E-rank monsters cap at 1,000, huh. Ten times F-rank...'
Cheon Ye-jong brushed off the powder caked on his body from a distance, then sidled up close to Lee Ru-ri again and asked.
"Wanna take a break?"
"Yeah, you sure you're okay? My heals are pretty weak..."
"Black moths are easy. One wind wizard and it's over quick. I'm tanky with good strength. You saw me make wind with my sword earlier, right? Whoosh!"
Cheon Ye-jong's eyes sparkled as he repeated the move.
It was mildly ridiculous, but she hid her expression and played along.
"Yeah! That was super cool!"
"Hahaha, you're making me blush."
He loves the praise, she thought.
After a short rest, the two moved on to check for the last monster.
Lee Ru-ri followed behind Cheon Ye-jong, pondering easy ways to farm favorability on E-rank monsters.
But the man leading suddenly halted.
"Ru-ri."
"Yes?"
"You can run back to the entrance without looking, right?"
"Huh? Suddenly?"
"It's pretty bad right now."
—Groooaaarrr!
"On three, run to the entrance."
She'd heard E-rank gates could rarely spawn quasi-boss monsters.
Quasi-boss meant a monster spawning at a higher rank than the gate's level.
She couldn't see Cheon Ye-jong's face as he stared ahead.
But his voice trembled faintly.
She was sure the monster he was blocking was a quasi-boss.
—Roooaaarrr! Grah! Roooaaarrr!
"Ugh, run now!"
For now, she bolted toward the entrance as he said, checking the monster on the way.
'Looks just like in the encyclopedia.'
Reaching out confidently, the info activated.
[D — Ogre: Current Favorability <0>]
An ogre easily three times Cheon Ye-jong's size.
A bit smaller than the Ogre Chief from the F-rank gate.
The ogre effortlessly hurled Cheon Ye-jong into the wall.
"Kuhk."
Cheon Ye-jong shuddered all over, barely propping himself up with his shield to stand.
He focused again and clashed fiercely with the ogre.
Watching his fight, something felt off.
'He said he needed me along because of quasi-bosses, but sending me out first? That's more than weird—it's super suspicious.'
That thought sparked a memory of a skill she'd gotten from a maxed-favorability monster but never really used.
'Stealth.'
The moment she recalled the skill name, her body was sucked into the wall.
An enormous explosion rocked the gate at the same time.
'Ugh, this skill is such a mess every time. Total nuisance.'
The ogre lumbered toward where she'd hidden at the explosion sound, looking around.
Cheon Ye-jong, gauging the ogre, followed slowly and yelled loudly.
"Ru-ri! Where are you?!"
At his shout, the ogre turned back to him.
But as he glanced at where Ru-ri had vanished, he smirked faintly and assumed a fighting stance.
'Wait, did he just smile?'
Ye-jong's smirk screamed bad intentions.
"What the hell. Too easy?"
She watched his words and actions silently. The ogre charged him again.
Thud.
Clang—clang!
Shing.
Stab.
Cheon Ye-jong's sharp sword sliced clean across the ogre's gut, protruding from its back.
He yanked the blade out violently, black blood gushing from the ogre's belly.
Splatter.
"Ugh, gross. Die already! You rotten hunk of meat!"
A totally different Cheon Ye-jong from before.
No more collapsing from moth and ogre hits.
Just a foul-mouthed, agile swordsman.
His blade swiftly severed the ogre's arms and legs.
The ogre collapsed limply. He irritably stabbed its head.
—Gurgh!
Cheon Ye-jong pulled his sword free, shook off the blood, and muttered.
"Tch, took way too long. That bitch must've gotten eaten by the ogre, right?"
Clearly, he hadn't approached her with good intentions.
"What a letdown. Well, my fault for bringing such a scrub."
Anger slowly bubbled up.
'He must've stuffed a rag in his mouth.'
Cheon Ye-jong leisurely headed to the entrance, pocketing loot thriftily.
Hidden in the wall, Lee Ru-ri matched his pace.
"Tired of killing weaklings, but this worked out. About 3,000 out of this. Can't split it. Her heals were total garbage anyway."
Cheon Ye-jong's goal was clear.
Target leaders of unprotected Ghost Crews, pretend to raid gates with them, murder them, then monopolize their gear and gate loot.
The Association summons the leader first if casualties occur during a raid.
But if the leader dies, it's ruled an accident, no crew investigations.
Cheon Ye-jong exploited this rotten loophole.
And he'd marked Lee Ru-ri as this time's victim.
No way he knew she'd hidden with Stealth from his suspicious behavior; he clearly thought the ogre ate her.
"Gotta call the Association punks to log the clear... annoying. Need another way."
Grumbling, Cheon Ye-jong exited the gate.
Lee Ru-ri stared at the entrance.
"But why hasn't the gate clear emergency alarm gone off?"
When all monsters in a gate are wiped, an immediate clear alarm sounds.
Cheon Ye-jong had definitely killed that huge quasi-boss ogre.
Yet no total annihilation alert.
'Means what he killed wasn't the quasi-boss. Let's check.'
While he dawdled, Lee Ru-ri quickly doubled back inside.
Passing the ogre corpse, a bit further in, she heard something rolling nearby.
Pricking her ears, she cautiously headed toward the sound.
Roll roll roll.
Crack!