#16. Cobalt Mine? No, Cobalt Dungeon! (2)
#16. Cobalt Mine? No, Cobalt Dungeon! (2)
How to describe Gu Sang-seop?
A bat-like figure? A man who lurked for opportunity? He wasn't an outright villain. He was simply a man swollen with ambition, constantly watching for a chance to climb higher — someone who would do anything for his own ends. In the original story, he would ally with the organization that aided the Rat Man — the Heretic Prodigals — and become a cornerstone of the grand scheme to topple Gwangmyeonghoe. The Sewer Calamity, for context, was only one piece of that larger plan.
The one silver lining: in the novel, he belonged to Gwangmyeonghoe, but here and now he still appeared to be with a different clan.
Could it be a different person with the same name?
That was my first thought. But what were the odds — among the already small population of Hunters — that the rare name Gu Sang-seop would appear twice in the Gyeongsang region?
Low.
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, this was the Gu Sang-seop from the original work. And Gu Sang-seop needed to die now.
If he doesn't, Gwangmyeonghoe falls.
The collapse of Gwangmyeonghoe, the clan that propped up Busan, meant plunging the city into chaos.
This is the perfect chance. A clean kill window.
Knowing he'd later join Gwangmyeonghoe, I had to eliminate him now. Once inside, reaching him would become far more difficult.
He's not exactly a top-tier Hunter.
Serviceable, but nothing special. I recalled him being a C-Class Hunter two years from now. Honestly, he was a minor pawn easily used and discarded — the details were hazy.
C-Class means he could solo an Orc.
So it was reasonable to assume he was around D-Class now. The other two were similar. The real question was whether I could take all three of them.
Impossible.
I couldn't even guarantee a win against one Orc. Taking on three people who had handled an Orc with ease? Simultaneously?
I could run, at least.
Running was the best I could manage. Hit once, flee, regenerate with Weak Regeneration, then hit again? I entertained the thought, but it was pure gambling. One grab and I was dead. And that approach would never kill Gu Sang-seop anyway.
He'd escape before it got that far.
Hunters in the novel carried consumables for survival. Not instant full-heal game items, but potions that steadily mended wounds and fatigue — and for the well-prepared, Short-Range Teleportation Scrolls. Even if I knocked him down with a hit-and-run, he'd burn an item and vanish.
...What to do?
If I was being honest, I didn't want to kill the other Hunters. My target was Gu Sang-seop alone, no one else.
If only I could separate him from the other two.
Could I split a team that moved with such seamless coordination?
Hard. But fighting all three at once is impossible.
So. Think.
A way to scatter them. Something effective.
***
"Another bust today, huh."
"I had hopes with the Vice-Team Leader around..."
After a full day of searching, not only had they failed to locate Alpha (Jirisan Warg), they hadn't even found the second Warg they'd expected to be present. The advance Team 2 might have had different results, but Search Team 3 came up empty. Right up until disbandment, they'd found not a single trace.
"Gu Jin-ha. Got a second?"
Hong Yuri tapped the team leader on the arm.
"What?"
"I didn't say this in front of the team. But there's nothing here."
Nothing. Nothing what? The team leader parsed her meaning instantly and frowned.
"You're telling me Alpha (Jirisan Warg) is already gone from Jirisan."
"Slipped out a long time ago."
"...You've got to be kidding."
Her words left no room for doubt. Hong Yuri's B-rank Tracking Magic Eye could track even the faintest traces.
"Think about it. They said it evolved, right? So it didn't exactly shrink. Something that size doesn't hide easily. Have you seen a corpse that might be connected to a Warg? A bloodstain? Anything?"
"...."
"At the very least, we should have found footprints. I wasn't slacking off out there."
"I know. I had the possibility in the back of my mind, but..."
Alpha (Jirisan Warg) wasn't a creature confined to Jirisan. It wasn't like the Purple Black Tiger that refused to descend of its own will. The fact that days of searching had yielded zero traces was deeply strange.
"...Even so, it's odd. Where would it even go? Something that big would've been spotted. Unless it just vanished into thin air."
"Beats me. But what I'm sure of is it's not on this mountain anymore. Unless it's hiding somewhere in hibernation."
"Hibernation in April? A monster?"
"Then that's the only other possibility, isn't it? If you've got a problem with it, go climb the mountain and check again yourself."
The team leader winced at the finger she jabbed toward the mountain.
"...That's asking a lot. We didn't search the entire mountain today, did we?"
"You dumb shit. I don't need to search the whole thing to know."
Hong Yuri folded her arms, scowled, and let out a long sigh.
"Been about a week, right? The last confirmed sighting of Alpha was at Beopgyesa?"
"Right. Beopgyesa is where Eun-ha was attacked and nearly killed."
"Then let's hit Beopgyesa tomorrow. Should still be within my range by then."
"What about right now?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake! I just got up the mountain. Give me a break. A break! You're insufferable. You know what you are? A workaholic. You know that?"
At Hong Yuri's entirely valid protest, the team leader shrugged.
"Honestly. Jeon Woo-taek, this bastard, every last goddamn Hunter — why are you all completely deranged?"
You're really not the one to be saying that.
In a different way, sure. But hearing that from Hong Yuri was nearly impossible to endure.
"Fine. Anyway, let's head down. We'll come back tomorrow."
The team leader pulled out the car keys. Hong Yuri snorted.
"Change your car already. How many years have you been driving that thing? You had it back when I was in Team 2."
"I did change it."
"What kind of moron buys the exact same car? What is so great about the XT16?"
"It's the 2069 model. Brand new this year. And you — you've got a license rotting in a drawer. What does a pedestrian who's never driven know about it?"
"Ohhh, still an XT16~"
"...Hooooooo."
***
"Time's up."
A tap-tap gesture at the wrist. His watch had already reached seven.
"...What. Already?"
"Yeah. Let's start heading out. Search ends here for today. We're lucky we got to go in first at all."
How much money had they poured into the area's representative clan for early dungeon access? A full billion won. Every cent they'd scraped together bought them just three days of exclusive rights. Even that would've been impossible without clan backing.
"—Hold on. Something's coming."
"What do you mean, coming?"
"You moron. What else would come in here? A monster."
"...Fuck. This one's big. Looks like an Orc. Shouldn't we bail?"
The warrior shook his head at the archer's suggestion.
"Hey. If it's coming anyway, we take it down first. One Orc doesn't take long — ten minutes tops. Other clans are coming in two days. Tomorrow's our last day. Our last day eating this place alone."
"Still, the timing's a little..."
The archer seemed reluctant, but Sang-seop nodded.
"Let's do it. How long can one Orc take? One's fine. We just need to be out by eight."
"...Fine. Just this one, you hear?"
"Ha. Scared?"
The grumbling archer pointed toward the source. The warrior strode forward and planted himself firmly across the passage.
"—Here it comes."
Ten seconds later, the Orc's silhouette emerged. It charged in a frenzy, like it was hunting for something. Hungry, probably. Or was he imagining things? For a split second, the Orc's expression seemed almost... confused.
"Battle Axe? Careful."
"Scary if it connects. Something that big is easy to dodge."
"...Alright. Ready!"
The Orc hoisted its massive axe and brought it crashing down in one motion. Stone shards sprayed from the impact and pelted the warrior.
"Kuoooooooh!"
The warrior ducked the Orc's roaring charge and pivoted behind it in one fluid motion. Quick, crisp footwork. He thought he'd found an opening — then his balance lurched, as if something had hooked his ankle.
Did my leg give out?!
The Orc's fist smashed into the warrior's head. He flew backward hard but survived. His VIT, hovering over two hundred, barely held him together. The steel helmet, though — that was a crumpled ruin. Without it, his skull would have shattered. The thought sent a cold jolt through his chest.
Hoo. Can't take another one of those.
He tore off the crushed helmet and wiped the sweat from his face with one hand. The Orc didn't hesitate — it moved to finish him. But the archer's arrow found the gap in the Orc's hide armor, sinking true. The Orc's expression twisted with irritation as it changed targets. The archer kited with nimble footwork, and Sang-seop tossed his bow aside, drawing the shortsword he carried as a backup.
"...The hell are you doing? Focus! You're the one who said we take the Orc!"
"Shit!"
The warrior put distance between himself and the Orc, yanked the cork from a potion, and downed it.
"Pfuh!"
Not instant, but the recovery would kick in soon. He counted to ten, steadying his breath.
"Good! Switch!"
The warrior's shout drew a nod from Sang-seop. He could manage a clumsy tanking role, but he wasn't nearly as seasoned as a dedicated frontliner. A few seconds of engagement and his shoulder was already aching — he'd failed to properly deflect the impact. The warrior, now potion-backed, re-engaged with relentless aggression. Sang-seop immediately disengaged to retrieve his bow. But the bow he'd thrown was nowhere in sight.
"...What the?"
"Sang-seop! What are you doing?!"
"My bow's gone! Damn it. Where the hell did it go?"
"Are you messing around? Get back in the fight!"
The archer's roar made Sang-seop flinch, but he had no choice — he gripped his shortsword again. No time to hunt for a lost weapon. He had to at least play support for the warrior. But then.
"Kururuk?!"
Three Kobolds blocked his path, making strange noises. They looked somehow terrified. But they charged at Sang-seop all the same. And one of them was carrying...
"Is that my bow? You sons of bitches!"
His eyes blazed. A Kobold had taken his weapon? Any other time, he'd slaughter them in seconds. But the situation was spiraling. An Orc, and now three Kobolds?
"Adds?! Gu Sang-seop, you useless bastard!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"Shut up! Moron!"
Adds. Extra opponents appearing mid-fight — unexpected, unplanned. In nearly any add situation, the correct answer was retreat.
"Run! It's over! Run! Run, damn it!"
"Fucking hell!"
The warrior broke away from the Orc, reached into his coat, and tore a scroll. The Orc gave chase, and the warrior deflected its massive battle axe with his shield at an angle. The shield still crumpled under the force.
"Damn shitting—!"
Had to evade. He threw himself into a roll, the axe whistling bare inches above his skull. As the Orc's follow-up strike descended, light enveloped the warrior and he vanished. With the warrior gone, the Orc's gaze snapped to the nearest target — the archer.
"Aggro's on me—!"
The archer had already torn his scroll, and he too slipped out of the battlefield by a hair. Two men had disappeared right before its eyes, and the Orc let out a thunderous, rage-filled roar.
"Kuoooooooooh!"
Sang-seop, delayed by shaking off the Kobolds, finally pulled out his own scroll to tear it — and in that instant, something unknown snatched it from his hand.
Something unknown — a four-legged beast. A black-furred Wolf. Not a high-threat monster, but famous even among civilians for its appearance, for the dread it stirred. Sang-seop knew the name, of course.
"Fuck! What's a Warg doing here?!"
***
Moron.
Scattering them myself was impossible — so I'd enlist the help of other monsters. That thought hit me, and I acted on it immediately. I provoked an Orc I'd located via Detection.
"Kuoooooooh!"
Honestly, feeling that bulk thundering after me nearly made me lose my nerve — but catching me with sub-200 AGI was never going to happen. That's assuming I had my skills, of course. I rounded the corner past the straight corridor where the warrior had set up, activated Stealth, and vanished from the Orc's line of sight the moment I broke visual contact. The enraged Orc barreled down the passage, and the result —
"Battle Axe? Careful."
"Scary if it connects. Something that big is easier to dodge."
They'd already sensed the Orc coming. No attempt to avoid the fight.
As expected.
A satisfied smile crossed my mind as the warrior circled behind the Orc. I extended my Tentacle Bundle and hooked his foot. I'd meant to floor him, but his STR was stronger than I'd accounted for — all I managed was breaking his balance.
A shame, but...
It was enough to let the Orc press harder. The moment the warrior staggered, the archer's hurried arrow struck the Orc. Enraged, the Orc turned on the archer — and Gu Sang-seop drew his shortsword.
He dropped his bow?
Right into my hands. I snatched the discarded bow in my jaws and set out after another presence.
The Orc's a little much on its own.
I needed something weaker. Bingo. Not Detection — my Weak Sense of Smell picked up a scent. Three of them. A smell I'd encountered before.
Kobolds?
The same pack I'd met when I first entered the dungeon. Originally four, but I'd killed one — the numbers matched. I closed in fast.
"Hiiiiiiik!"
They tried to bolt, but I hit them with Intimidation from straight ahead. Frozen in place, too terrified to run, one Kobold found Gu Sang-seop's bow shoved into its hands.
I thought about just snapping it, honestly...
But this would make him angrier. The bewildered Kobolds looked up at me with something like hope — 'Are you letting us live?'
"Grrrrrr — KRAWAHK!"
One roar and they fled with tears streaming down their faces. I actually felt a twinge of guilt for the one that tripped over a rock on the way. Keeping a measured distance behind them, I herded them toward the chamber where Gu Sang-seop's party was fighting. They scouted for another escape route, but I was already there — Stealthed, blocking the way. Canine noses are sharp. Even if they couldn't see me, they'd catch my scent.
Kobold-blood scent, more precisely.
Just as I'd calculated, their eyes darted frantically until they finally charged at Gu Sang-seop.
Perfect.
No exits, no choices. Three Kobolds hurled themselves at Gu Sang-seop. One lost its head to his shortsword and dropped, but the others didn't stop. To them, at least, I was a far more terrifying presence than a Hunter like Gu Sang-seop.
...Two got away.
While that played out, the archer and the warrior had torn their scrolls and fled. Then Gu Sang-seop, having skillfully shaken off the Kobolds, pulled out his own scroll — and I didn't miss my moment.
Now!
The instant his scroll emerged, I layered my skills and snatched it away. Gu Sang-seop's face filled with alarm, but he wasn't stupid enough to lose his only escape and still not notice me. I dropped Stealth and revealed myself.
A brief silence. Then.
"Fuck! What's a Warg doing here?!"
"Kuruk! Kururuk!"
"Wooooooah!"
Flanking sides: two Kobolds. Bows and spears.
Rear: an enraged Orc.
Straight ahead, blocking the passage: a Warg.
A worst-case scenario if ever there was one. From his perspective, at least.
—Gu Sang-seop. Apologies, but you're exiting the stage early.
"Grrrrr."
The Wolf's low growl echoed through the cavern.