Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: How the Rank 1 Hero Protects the World
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How the hell did I survive the last ten years without a smartphone? Even in the mountains, GPS works fine, so there’s no issue navigating unfamiliar paths.
A sudden surge of affection for Korea bubbled up inside me. Long live the Republic of Korea.
“Anyway, I’m telling you, you have to pay to get in!”
Well, jerks like this exist everywhere, so it’s not really a Korean problem.
Woo Seong-yeon’s face was flushed red as he argued heatedly with a burly man blocking the dungeon entrance.
The moment we arrived at the dungeon, Woo Seong-yeon had been so flustered that he hadn’t even glanced my way.
“The club cafe said it hasn’t been registered with the government yet, so anyone can enter!”
“Anyone can enter, sure. If they pay a little.”
The man formed a circle with his thumb and index finger.
It was more or less what I’d expected, so I wasn’t surprised.
Following Woo Seong-yeon’s directions, we’d reached the dungeon entrance—a diamond-shaped glowing pattern hovering over a sawn-off tree stump.
Woo Seong-yeon had approached it excitedly upon spotting it, only for this hulking brute of a man to pop up out of nowhere and start spouting nonsense.
“At this price, it’s a steal for awakening. You two look young, so I’ll give you a special deal: 300,000 won.”
In short, if we wanted to enter the dungeon, we had to pay him.
Again, expected.
F-rank dungeons like this posed no real danger even for beginners, making them perfect for awakening.
So the hunter who found it first hadn’t registered it with the government. Instead, he was quietly letting in newbies for cash, spreading the word on internet club cafes.
Of course, if the government caught on, he’d be punished for private use of a dungeon. That’s why Woo Seong-yeon had fallen for the naive promo.
It’d only been three days since I woke up, but even I had seen plenty of these scam stories online. I’d heard they were common in Tartarus too.
Humans are the same everywhere. Report it after you go in and out.
I mulled this over casually, but Woo Seong-yeon trembled with rage at being scammed.
“This is illegal! Fine. The dungeon isn’t going anywhere, so I’ll call the cops right now…”
“Hey now, that’d ruin the fun. You knew it was unregistered and came anyway, right? Go ahead and report it. You’ll get nabbed as accomplices.”
“That’s ridiculous…!”
“What, got a problem?”
The man cracked his knuckles menacingly.
Woo Seong-yeon’s face drained of color. The guy was clearly well-built, and his hands were clad in gloves embedded with three black beast claws.
A martial artist, huh. Maybe assuming he’d only deal with newbies, he hadn’t bothered with proper armor. His chest was completely exposed.
Woo Seong-yeon flinched at the sight of the weapon but pressed on one last time.
“Honestly, I don’t even need to pay to enter a dungeon like this. I could just go to a registered one.”
“Yeah, wait about a year. F-rank dungeons are completely booked out. Or hop into a registered C-rank or higher and awaken right away. Those you can enter immediately. You’ll just die.”
The government limited the number of hunters per entry based on difficulty to prevent in-dungeon clashes.
Low-level dungeons safe for newbies? At most two or three slots. I’d read that online too.
Woo Seong-yeon finally shut up.
Naturally. No other options, which is why this racket worked.
I fiddled with the jackknife I’d bought at the mart earlier and asked,
“300,000 won, right? Can I do a bank transfer?”
“Hey, what are you doing!”
“They said they’ll let us in for 300,000 won. So let’s pay.”
“This lady gets it. Bank transfer’s fine. All good things come to those who pay, right?”
“Exactly.”
I shrugged and opened my banking app.
Yeah, good things to good people. I hear murder’s still a serious crime in Korea. And if money solves it, no need to take a life.
That said, giving out his account number so freely? Probably a dummy account. Might be hard to trace later.
‘Should I just kill him now?’
The thought crossed my mind after sending the transfer.
Sure, I hadn’t awakened yet, but I wasn’t so weak that I couldn’t handle one guy openly threatening newbies with that vicious weapon.
My base strength was low right now, so a prolonged fight might be tough, but killing him would be over in an instant.
Dungeons emerging must have been a massive tragedy for this world too.
Yet even in a world where people die unjustly, there are still those exploiting the disaster for personal gain.
Then again, this Woo Seong-yeon guy wants to awaken just to make easy money and buy a foreign luxury car, so maybe he’s no different.
Finally, Woo Seong-yeon grumbled but sent the transfer too, and the man stepped aside from the entrance.
“Alright, alright. You can go in now.”
“It’s definitely safe, right?”
“Of course. There were reviews on the cafe. Didn’t you see?”
The man flashed a salesman’s grin. Total scam artist.
But Woo Seong-yeon, still salty about the money, seemed cheered up now that he could enter the dungeon.
He finally turned to me.
“Let’s go!”
“…Hey, Woo Seong-yeon.”
“Yeah?”
“How about we just give up?”
“What?”
His face hardened. I met his eyes squarely.
This was consideration on my part.
“Awakening as a hunter, entering a dungeon—it’s not that easy. He said it’s F-rank, but who knows. You won’t know until you go in, right?”
“No, mister. You lied?”
“Who’re you calling mister? And miss, don’t throw around accusations like that. It’s really F-rank. Catch a few slimes and it’s cleared.”
“Whatever, I won’t stop you if you wanna go in.”
I pointed at the scammer who’d taken our 300,000 won. He scowled, annoyed at being singled out.
“Remember this: right now, you’re staking your life on that guy’s word.”
With that, I turned and headed to the entrance.
I felt Woo Seong-yeon’s gaze on my back.
I didn’t bother looking back. No more advice to give. I’d been plenty kind for a stranger; time he wised up.
“Feisty girl. Hope you come back alive.”
I ignored the man’s voice as I entered.
Once, then we’ll see.
Touching the diamond-shaped pattern brought up a familiar, disgustingly familiar message in the air.
- Would you like to enter the dungeon?
This damn system message.
I stepped forward.
The next instant, light pulled me in.
No matter how much time passes, I never get used to the sensation of being sucked into a dungeon.
* * *
Soon, I opened my eyes. The scenery had completely transformed from moments ago.
Unlike the dense, wooded mountain path in Wonju, Gangwon-do, the dungeon interior was a brown-tinged meadow.
A vast plain stretched to the horizon.
The breeze felt refreshing.
Feeling it made my heart race.
My long hair whipped in the wind, so I tied it up high with the rubber band from the mart. Should’ve cut it short—five years bedridden had let it grow out.
Damn, it was hot too. I’d bought winter clothes for December, but inside it felt like autumn.
First time entering a dungeon in regular clothes, so I hadn’t considered it.
My leather armor from Tartarus counted as an item with temperature regulation, handling most dungeon weather changes.
“Don’t leave me behind!”
As I scanned the surroundings, Woo Seong-yeon popped out of thin air. Loudmouth.
I stared at him blankly. His ears were bright red.
“Y-you thought saying that would stop me? I’m prepared for that much.”
“Prepared to lose your life?”
“So don’t scare me like that! Yeah, the guy ripped us off, but he didn’t seem like a liar. No way it’s that bad…”
“‘No way’ is what gets people killed.”
He started to say more, but I cut him off with a gesture. Once inside, we couldn’t leave until the clear condition was met.
Woo Seong-yeon scratched his head, cut off mid-sentence, but he’d achieved his goal of entering the dungeon.
“Uh, so… status window. Like this? Whoa, it really appeared!”
He whooped, eyes glued to the air.
Calm under pressure, entering a dungeon and all. I sighed.
Anyway, I needed to check my status window too. Didn’t want to, but let’s get it over with.
“Status window.”
But.
- Failed to load.
Huh?
The unexpected message left me stunned. Failed to load? What am I, data? No, wait—
What does “failed” even mean?
Adding to my confusion, system messages popped up haphazardly.
- The world is confused by your existence.
- The world is beginning to collect your information.
- Time required to link information.
What the hell?
I narrowed my eyes at the messages. I’d seen plenty over the years, but these were new.
While I spaced out, excited Woo Seong-yeon scanned the air intently.
Must be a lot to read.
That was unexpected.
Given how he treated strangers and trusted that scammer, I figured he’d have something like ‘Naive Dreamer’ or ‘Ignorant Explorer.’
He didn’t look particularly fit, so no high physical stats either.
For reference, those two traits scream “easy mark.”
Anyway, when’s my status window coming?
I waited anxiously.
Meanwhile, Woo Seong-yeon double-checked his several times, then turned to me beaming.
“You look thrilled—must’ve gotten something good?”
“Y-yeah! What about you?”
“Mine’s…”
Not up yet, but I couldn’t say that.
“We didn’t get scammed for real, right?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
I shook my head casually. His face lit up with a mix of triumph and relief.
“B-but don’t worry. I think I can clear this dungeon! My research said my trait matches combat well.”
“Good for you. Status window done? Now pull up the clear condition.”
“Huh? Can’t you do it?”
Status window not up, so no clear condition either. The system was still unresponsive—loading?
I sighed and urged him to just do it.
He summoned it hesitantly.
His face instantly paled. I asked calmly,
“What’s the clear condition?”
“N-no way.”
“It won’t be something impossible.”
“Hunt 3 or more C-rank or higher monsters… This was supposed to be a slime dungeon!”
The confidence from moments ago vanished. Despair washed over his face.
“If C-rank monsters times three is the clear, this dungeon’s at least B-rank.”
That scumbag’s charges just got heavier.
“What do we do! How’s a newbie supposed to hunt monsters! C-rank or higher, and we don’t even have proper gear!”
True that. 300,000 won to shove people into danger? Total psycho. When we get out, I’ll hunt him down like a rat and toss him in here.
Leaving Woo Seong-yeon—now ghostly white—I stared at the still-silent air.
“Cut it out.”
He glared, thinking I meant him, but I ignored it.
It wasn’t for him—it was for the system.
Over ten years in Tartarus, I’d grown used to system messages, but I still didn’t know what this ‘system’ really was.
Tartarus had priests who healed via faith in gods, claiming the system was a divine map.
They called the message to eradicate the ‘Optatio’ a prophecy.
So no one questioned the system there. Believers don’t probe their god’s nature.
Me? The system was mysterious, but definitely not a god.
Think about it.
If God made this world, why would He plunge it into slaughter?
Then the world’s mere survival was pointless prolongation.
I didn’t want to just scrape by, so I saw the system as my imposed mission.
If not, it’d be utterly pointless.
The system was just a tool to overcome this world’s trials.
“Helping the user is your job. Do it properly if you’re the ‘system.’”
Then, familiar white translucent text appeared.
Player Name: Wandering Pilgrim(求道者)
Finally. I glanced down.
But…
Trait: - ?
LV. ??
Stamina ??
Strength ??
Agility ??
Mana ??
Skills ??
- Loading data... Time until download complete: 00 seconds... Estimated time unavailable
“…”
This system bastard—are you screwing with me right now?