Rookie: Baek Jaesung 41
“Holy Missile.”
I launched a Holy Missile at the unidentified dinosaur monster charging straight at us without a hint of fear. The massive feathered dinosaur got hit dead-on by my orb of light. With a small explosion, its body tilted unsteadily. One shot was all it took to drop the bastard.
“Weaker than it looks.”
Sujin said, watching the scene. Just like she said, the dinosaur had seemed like it'd put up a real fight given its size and looks, but it went down easier than expected.
“But there sure are a lot of them.”
Yeonji pointed ahead as she spoke. One by one, huge dinosaurs started emerging around us.
They came in all shapes and sizes. Some had the classic reptilian skin we were familiar with, others looked like giant ostriches. Their appearances varied wildly, but one thing was the same: the hostility radiating toward us.
Honestly, that's what typical monsters looked like. That bat monster flying around us, staring with its big eyes—that was the weird one.
“Everyone, battle stations!”
Before I could even shout it, our party revved up their energy and got ready to fight. The dinosaurs had us surrounded from all sides, so we had to split up to handle them.
“Sujin, take left! Rina, right! I'll handle front! Sunwook's party, cover the rear!”
“Got it.”
Kim Sunwook replied, his aura boiling over. He was a dungeon hunter through and through—got dead serious in the heat of battle.
“Chain Prison!”
Rina activated her technique. Chains burst up from the ground in thick bundles, twisting and tangling into a massive prison big enough to enclose a giant dinosaur. But Rina's show wasn't over yet.
“Pain of Chain!”
More chains sprouted from the prison she'd made—like new branches budding from a tree. Then those bundles sprouted even more. It was like watching a 3D fractal animation unfold.
Pfsh! Pfsh! Pfsh!
“Kieeeek!”
The chains bloomed at Rina's command, turning into razor-sharp thorns that stabbed the trapped dinosaur from every angle. The dinosaurs wailed helplessly as they turned into shish kebabs. Soon, the chain prison was drenched in blood.
“Water Wall!”
At Sujin's shout, water gushed up from the ground like an upside-down waterfall. The high-pressure barrier slowed the dinosaurs' charge. But it couldn't stop them completely, and Sujin knew it.
“Icing!”
The waterfall's temperature plummeted. In an instant, it dropped to absolute zero, transforming the water into ice.
The dinosaurs trying to force their way through froze solid like fish in a river. They thrashed wildly to break free, but before they could, Sujin's Water Arrows sniped their heads one by one.
Front was my sector. I slipped on my Holy Gauntlets over both fists. I wanted to pummel these massive dinosaur freaks with my bare hands.
True Hwanwi.
My body left an afterimage as I dashed forward. Hwanwi was a technique for evasion and movement in one. Right now, I was using it purely to close the gap.
Five dinosaur monsters stood before me. Perfect number.
True Jeonggwon.
I threw a straight punch at the lead dinosaur. The fist carried the pure essence of my internal energy. Aiming for its right leg to account for the size difference, my tightly clenched fist smashed into the pillar-like limb of the four-legged beast.
Boom!
The jolt through my hand felt like pounding a water-filled leather sack. The moment my fist met its leg, a dynamite-like shock rippled through my body. The blast's recoil pushed me back, and I rolled into a proper landing.
“Hiiiing!”
The dinosaur's right leg shattered under my punch. Losing a supporting limb was fatal for a beast that size—it had no choice but to collapse.
I launched forward again without pause. Big as they were, dinosaurs weren't agile. I felt like a mosquito toying with humans, outpacing them with pure speed.
I kicked off the ground twice and leaped into the air. My landing spot: the head of the second charging triceratops-lookalike.
True Mutoe.
Floating midair, I gathered energy into my right leg. Mutoe was a brutally straightforward kick that condensed qi and mana into a single point. Its honesty translated to raw power.
My right foot hammered down like thunder splitting the heavens, smashing the dinosaur's skull.
Thud!
Its supposedly tough head crumpled like tofu. The energy-infused kick pierced skull and brain alike. The squishy sensation at my toe was utterly disgusting.
I yanked my foot free, flipped in the air, and landed off the monster's head. Three left.
“Kirruk!”
Maybe realizing I was way stronger than expected, the remaining three just eyed each other warily. The first two had dropped in under a minute. Their future was clear.
“Kihing!”
In the end, their best call was to run. Smarter than your average monster, which wouldn't even think of fleeing.
I wiped the brain gunk off my right leg and rejoined the group. Everyone else had wrapped up their fights too.
“Everyone okay?”
I checked just in case. No injuries—our party was fresh, and Kim Sunwook's group looked solid enough.
“Oppa! That monster's still following us.”
Jisu pointed into the air. The bat monster from earlier was circling us.
“Yeah. Guess it really likes us.”
Weird little thing. Like Jisu said, I could almost see keeping it as a pet.
The live chat was going absolutely ballistic. Not just Korean—languages from all over flooded in. Dungeon hunters were the pillars holding up modern society, yet distant and mysterious to civilians. That's why this stream was blowing up.
Dungeon hunter explorations were more vivid than any movie, more thrilling than games, more gripping than novels. Videos from Level House kept pouring in, and viewer numbers had skyrocketed naturally.
But knowing the raw reality wasn't always a good thing. This broadcast wasn't just highlighting dungeon hunters' glory—it shone a brutal light on the darkness even bigger than that.
The dungeon hunters trapped in Level House were living a nightmare. Scarce food, mounting fatigue, and hopeless escape routes were eating them alive. Out of 15 parties, 7 were already wiped. The rest looked grim.
Ring ring!
The phone rang.
“Dungeon Research Division Chief Kim Hoseok speaking. I've got the call.”
—It's me.
“Ah, Vice Chairman.”
The Hunter Association vice chairman's voice dripped with exhaustion. He was grinding hard over this mess too.
—Government finally made a statement. No plans to cut the broadcast for now.
“...Looks like they want us dungeon hunters to be the public's punching bag.”
—Stop it now and we'd have riots on our hands. Plus, opinions are split inside the Association. Gang executive director called me this morning. Suggested kicking off a new business off this.
Hoseok swallowed hard. He'd thought of it too. If they could beam dungeon footage to the outside world, it'd spawn a massive industry on its own.
“Talking broadcast rights sales?”
—Huh? You talk to Gang too?
“No. Just figured that's his style.”
Monopolizing the world's best entertainment? The profits would be insane. The Hunter Association was Korea's richest group, but who ever said rich folks hated money?
—And it's not just about cash. Could be even bigger.
“Bigger how?”
—Public opinion. You know how civilians see dungeon hunters. Tons admire us, but nobody truly gets it. More jealousy than anything.
“Obviously. Humans get gut-punched when their cousin buys land. Can't blame 'em for envying high-earners like us right next door.”
—This is our chance to show the risks and burdens we shoulder for this status. They think we're just factory drones churning out byproducts on a conveyor belt. But these streams will reveal it's a life-or-death struggle every second.
“Gonna rack up sympathy votes, huh.”
—Crude, but yeah.
“What about those hunters' privacy, though? Honestly, I feel bad for them. Korean Constitution guarantees privacy rights, doesn't it?”
—The bigwigs up top aren't just watching 'cause they don't know that. This country's got mob law above the constitution. We'll compensate 'em later with amounts they can't refuse. Assuming they make it out alive, of course.
The vice chairman spoke like their deaths were a done deal. Hoseok agreed. Precedents proved they probably wouldn't survive.
Turned into playthings right up to the end? Tsk tsk. Poor bastards.
He glanced back at the live chat. Most comments treated it like an action flick review. It was real life for those on-screen, but to viewers, just entertainment as intangible as a war on the other side of the planet.