Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Please Pick Up the Phone
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This dungeon raid had, by any measure, more twists and turns than any I'd faced before.
But even so, it was the most valuable experience of my life.
For starters, it was the first time I'd ever returned from a dungeon exploration without passing out.
We emerged through the first floor's exit portal onto the underground first floor of the Korean Hunter Association.
"Hyunjun!"
"I figured as much... You're with Princess Miran, just as I thought! Are you hurt?"
"Ah, yeah. Not exactly in one piece, as you can see, but I'm a long way from dead."
As if they'd been waiting just for me, Kim Deokja and Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon were standing in front of the portal, surrounded by a swarm of medical staff.
They rushed straight to my ragged form, frantically checking me over from head to toe.
Even though I kept insisting I was fine, they forced me onto a stretcher and wheeled me off to a hospital room.
"Hurry, get the high-grade potions! Bring ones worth billions, just to be safe!"
"Y-yes, right away!"
"Don't worry, Hyunjun. I'll save you right now!"
Hey, I wasn't dying in the first place?
This was the best shape I'd ever come back in from any dungeon raid so far.
Paying no mind to my protests, they acted like I needed to lie still and let them work.
"We'll put you under anesthesia, so just rest easy for now, Hyunjun."
A burst of sleep gas hit me out of nowhere, and I blacked out.
Maybe it was because I'm a male hunter.
I got top-tier medical treatment for free, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
And on top of that, those words I'd heard right before the end of this dungeon raid.
"Hyunjun, I love you."
An unexpected love confession.
It was the first one I'd ever gotten, past lives included.
Now that I had time to relax and think back on it, my face was burning bright red with joy and embarrassment.
"Princess Miran herself, saying she likes a guy like me...!"
Seolgi felt more like a 'girlfriend' in the platonic sense—no real romantic feelings there.
Lee Gok was like a close friend's big sister, so I'd never seen her that way either.
And her mother, Clan Head Lee Yul... I'd never even considered it.
So Princess Miran's confession was still vividly etched in my heart, even after escaping the dungeon and falling asleep.
'Her looks are risky in all sorts of ways... but she'll probably figure that out and fix it eventually.'
She was a brilliant genius hunter, after all.
I trusted that Princess Miran would shake off her one major complex—that childish figure—before long.
And if she needed any help, well, now that I was her lover, I could step in.
I'd never been in love before, but I wasn't so clueless that I'd just toss aside a girl who liked me.
"Hmm... Does that mean I have to do special stuff for anniversaries and all that?"
I didn't even have any female friends beyond my childhood buddy.
So there I was, pondering what to do first in the pitch-black void, when...
"Huh?"
It was right then.
+ Levels risen x5
+ Bonus Points +50
"Wha—what?!"
Like a clogged drain suddenly bursting open, my levels shot up by five all at once, flooding in like a torrent.
That netted me a whopping 50 points.
I'd jumped straight to level 14.
"No immediate need for them, so I'll hold onto the points for now."
Maybe I should even out all my stats to the 5s? The thought crossed my mind.
But points were precious.
No quest had popped even for taking down that Wang Sunja clan head, so it felt wiser not to spend them recklessly.
Meanwhile.
"You... What the hell are you, exactly?"
"Don't give me question marks. I'm talking to you."
This space that always appeared whenever I lost consciousness.
Just like always, in the endless darkness where nothing was visible, I addressed the status window that rewarded me—them?—demanding to know its true nature.
And then.
"Huh?"
Two digits—that meant 10 or higher, right?
It took 50 points to go from the 5s to 10.
Which meant uncovering the system's true nature would cost at least 250 points.
'That's way too expensive...'
The least it could do was cough up another one of those sweet 100-point quests like last time.
...Not that the quest for Lee Gok hadn't been hellishly tough.
So.
'...Nah, maybe steady leveling is the safer bet.'
Better not push my luck and risk some penalty like getting assaulted. For now, I'd play along.
As I nodded to myself with that resolve, a bright light washed over me, accompanied by the usual poking and prodding sensation, and my consciousness returned.
My bachelor pad, after a week away.
Had Seolgi cleaned before leaving?
It had been a mess of scattered liquor bottles when I left, but now the place sparkled, lifting my spirits.
"That girl... I told her just to grab some beef soup, and she left money instead."
Since I'd made it back from the dungeon in one piece.
Fat chance of resting today and raiding again tomorrow—no way.
After getting lost in that dungeon for a full week, Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon herself had ordered me to take at least a week off.
So for the next seven days, no matter how badly I wanted to, I had to rest.
'Eh, I planned to take that long anyway.'
If it were just me, I'd have cut it down to three days and dived back in somehow.
But right now, I had my familiar monster—now back in human form, sprawled out on the bed looking exhausted from the raid.
Lime had been the 'joker' who took down Clan Head Wang Sunja this time around.
"Master... Lemme sleep for a week..."
"Ah, yeah. Sure thing!"
What could an adult do when the kid was sick?
Just nurse her gently by her side.
To prepare for any emergencies, I'd called the most trustworthy person in all of Korea—the one who'd help even if something happened to me.
Our orphanage Director. I'd told her all about Lime over the phone.
"Oh, sure! I'll swing by your place next time I have a moment!"
The Director had cheerfully accepted everything: me becoming a hunter in the Reverse World, acquiring a familiar monster, even befriending the heir of a hunter clan.
Only after hearing her straightforward reply this time did I finally relax completely.
"Even if it's a monster, Lime looks like a kid on the outside... They'll get along fine, right?"
The worry flickered briefly, but I'd just trust the Director on that.
She had a knack for winning people over, after all.
Though that same charm got her labeled a traitor back in the Joseon era, shipping her off to China and Japan—not the best history.
Still, she was the only adult I could rely on right now.
"More importantly, Seolgi... She must've been worried sick with me vanishing for a week. Hope she's okay."
First things first.
Maybe she was cutting me slack again this time.
No calls from Lee Seolgi during the week I was trapped in the dungeon.
I thought of my childhood friend—the one we'd shared drinks with until the film broke, nearly leading to drunken makeup sex—and immediately dialed her phone.
Ring... Ring...
"...Huh?"
Something was off.
It was a first.
Had Seolgi ever not picked up my calls before?
"Weird."
Twice, three times...
Figured she was busy, so I called every hour steadily.
The next day, after about 50 missed calls piled up.
"Oh! My boy...?!"
"Director, I'm heading to Seolgi's place for a bit!"
"Wha—hey?"
A vague unease gnawed at me, and I bolted out the door straight for Seolgi's mansion.
The outdoor training ground in the Supreme Lee Clan's territory.
This place had been open to all direct and branch descendants of the Lee Clan for a thousand long years of history.
Which was why it saw heavy use not just for testing skills against each other, but occasionally for 'succession bloodbaths'—duels over the clan head's seat or heir positions.
"M-match over!"
"......"
"Seolgi...!"
"Hoo!"
"...Ha, haha!"
Right now, at this very moment.
For the first time in 200 years, a direct-line princess had lost her heir position to a branch family member.
In the center of the training ground.
There lay the clan's youngest late-born child, but also the red-eyed princess hailed as having fully inherited the family's vampire hunter talents.
Lee Seolgi was sprawled out pathetically, completely knocked down.
And.
"I-I'm the princess now! I'm the real princess!"
Standing before her was a branch-line princess with eyes of pale orange rather than deep red.
Seolgi's cousin sister, Lee Hanul, was grinning ear-to-ear in utter delight as she loomed over her bloodied little sister.
"Seolgi!"
Meanwhile, Lee Gok—who'd been watching the absurdly one-sided match—tried to call an end to this succession bloodbath.
"...Hold."
"Mother?!"
"Have you forgotten the rules of the succession bloodbath?"
The clan head of the Supreme Lee Clan.
The leader of this one supreme group had a duty to uphold 'discipline.'
"Once the bloodbath begins, whether the opponent lives or dies is for those two in the arena alone to decide."
"...!"
Her orange-eyed niece gazed down at her own youngest daughter with a hideous smile.
Even as she poised to crush the throat of her already-unconscious cousin sister and snuff out her last breath, all her mother could do was...
Crunch!
...tightly shut her eyes to avoid the gruesome sight.