Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Revelations and the Spider Swarm
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After all three spiders lay silent on the cold stone floor.
The hunters, who should have been even happier than usual, were just as silent.
They all stared at Jeong-hyeon with dazed eyes.
What was an F-rank?
The lowest of the seven ranks.
A common class that made up about 20% of all hunters.
And yet, this presumed F-rank hunter, Jeong Lim-hyeon, had killed a rock spider by just throwing a single dagger?
How on earth could they explain this?
Even Jeong-hyeon, whose goal had only been to inflict a moderate wound when he threw the dagger, was quite flustered.
Who could have known that its tough forehead shell would pierce so easily?
“W-well, shall we dismantle them...?”
Jeong-hyeon tried to naturally diffuse the atmosphere,
“Hold it right there.”
But Jeonga’s sharp remark made him freeze in place.
“Yeah, Jeong-hyeon. This is a bit weird.”
Even Sunhyeong called out to him with suspicious eyes.
In truth, Jeong-hyeon had often shown skills unbecoming of an F-rank, but they’d let it slide.
It was half praise, and not at a level that was completely incomprehensible.
Plus, recently, the scrutiny toward unregistered hunters like Jeong-hyeon had intensified.
Ironically, it was because of Jeong-hyeon.
Sang-su shouted harshly.
“What are you? A villain?”
The incidents with Jucheol and Hee-soo, whom Jeong-hyeon had taken down, had caused quite a stir, appearing in the media almost daily.
As a result, the atmosphere had grown wary of including strangers in parties, especially unregistered ones.
Jucheol and Hee-soo had committed their crimes using forged hunter IDs and altered faces, so it wasn’t something that could be prevented that way, but what could you do about the social mood?
It wasn’t unreasonable for Sang-su to react so sharply.
“I don’t know yet. Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“What do you mean jump to conclusions? Haven’t you heard? They change their faces. Those villain bastards.”
“Still...”
The others who had hunted with Jeong-hyeon and benefited hadn’t jumped to conclusions hastily.
Doyun stopped Sang-su, who looked ready to cast a spell at any moment.
Sunhyeong nodded and stepped forward instead.
“I’m not suspicious either, but this needs a reasonable explanation. We’ve understood so far somehow, but even if your proficiency level rose...”
‘Ha, so it’s come to this.’
Jeong-hyeon let out a deep sigh.
His combat power now versus when he first awakened was like night and day, so he’d expected suspicion.
He just hadn’t anticipated getting caught so absurdly.
He’d planned to pass it off as diligent practice, but with the rock spider dropping in one hit, that was impossible.
‘Guess I have to go with Plan B.’
Thank goodness he’d prepared a plausible backstory just in case.
“I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but actually...”
As Jeong-hyeon trailed off, all eyes focused on him.
He needed to drop one shocking fact here.
“I’m an unregistered survivor of those ‘mask’ guys.”
“What?”
“What’d you say?”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
In the infamous ‘mask’ incident, the public knew only that an unregistered hunter and an E-rank healer had barely survived.
Of course, that alone had impact, but credibility might be lacking.
Sang-su immediately raised his voice.
“You expect us to believe that crap? There are tons of unregistered hunters. You can make up anything.”
“Sang-su.”
Doyun restrained Sang-su again.
Even so, the others looked a bit skeptical.
In this villain-plagued atmosphere, a suddenly strong hunter.
And a victim from that famous news incident?
But Jeong-hyeon’s Plan B wasn’t over yet.
“Among them, I luckily killed the mage. I was level 2 originally, but that bumped me to 3.”
If it was hard to believe, just add a fitting story.
And it wasn’t entirely a lie—just slightly downplayed.
Now for the finisher.
“I know it’s hard to believe. Here, this is the business card I got from surviving that gate.”
A single card emerged from Jeong-hyeon’s pocket.
It was Cha Ye-rin’s business card.
- Investigation Division 3 Chief Cha Ye-rin
It was surprisingly well-known that Investigation Division 3 handled villain crimes inside gates.
And no bold villain would carry a forged business card from an association chief.
“Oh, I know her. She’s on the news a lot? Cha Ye-rin. She’s A-rank!”
Jeonga happened to recognize Cha Ye-rin’s name.
Only then did Sunhyeong and Doyun’s expressions soften a bit.
“My god, you really went through that? We heard it was an unregistered, but I never imagined it was you, Jeong-hyeon...”
Once he pointed them in the right direction, they’d fill in the gaps themselves.
His actions so far were convincing enough to those who’d hunted with him before.
“I can’t go into details. It was too horrific...”
Silence fell over the party at Jeong-hyeon’s subdued voice.
Finally, Sunhyeong bowed his head.
“Sorry for suspecting you. I never imagined...”
“Hyung, you’re believing that? Just off one business card?”
As expected, Sang-su wasn’t easily convinced.
But this time, Sunhyeong didn’t let Sang-su’s words slide.
“Sang-su, enough with the rudeness. Don’t you know what happens if you’re accused of false villain claims on Hunter Net?”
False villain accusation.
Gates were beyond society’s eyes, so human greed could lead to anything.
Villain crimes were part of that, but falsely accusing innocents as villains was a huge issue.
If proven, Hunter Net operators would dox you, and even without legal punishment, no party would take you.
If Jeong-hyeon reported Sang-su for false accusation?
Everyone who’d hunted with him would take an image hit.
“It’s fine. It was a situation where suspicion was understandable.”
But Jeong-hyeon had no intention of going that far.
As he said, it looked suspicious even to him.
Sang-su was rude, but that was mild.
He hadn’t blasted him with lightning right away, after all.
Of course, they’d pay a price for it.
Sunhyeong matched Jeong-hyeon well in that regard.
“Sang-su, apologize to Jeong-hyeon properly. Use polite language.”
“......Sorry.”
After much deliberation, Sang-su mumbled an apology, head half-lowered.
That was enough.
No need to escalate, especially since they’d hunt together more.
“So, Jeong-hyeon, you’re level 3?”
With the mood settled, Jeonga approached cautiously.
Jeong-hyeon smiled first.
“Yes, sorry for lying. It wasn’t something to advertise.”
“No, I get it. So it wasn’t just about leveling up motivation.”
“You’ll surpass me someday anyway, Jeonga. And my dagger’s good quality. Didn’t expect it to sink in so deep.”
“No wonder, it’s pretty too. How much?”
“700.”
“Huh?”
Jeonga laughed lightly at the casual joke.
They really hadn’t seen through him.
They could’ve stayed wary until the end,
Or said they couldn’t hunt together anymore.
Jeong-hyeon wouldn’t have argued.
But they were trying not to ruin their relationship.
Compared to what he’d been through, it was encouraging.
‘There are people like this outside my life.’
Feeling a fresh emotion, Jeong-hyeon spoke more cheerfully than usual.
“Shall we dismantle now?”
While they temporarily patched things up, small holes dotted the walls of the main tunnel they passed.
From one gap, five pairs of glowing red eyes watched them intently.
Even Jeong-hyeon hadn’t sensed its presence.
***
“Heh-”
“Yes!”
[Acquired 1 coin.]
The awkward party mood had returned to normal, and coin notifications popped steadily.
Jeong-hyeon had already gotten 3 coins since entering the cave.
He now threw daggers without hesitation.
Each whooshing dagger felled a spider.
Not aiming for instant kills like before.
Just hitting the third leg or occasionally the head.
Even that reduced the spiders the party faced from three to two or three max.
If he went all out, four wouldn’t be an issue, but he still needed to control his senses.
‘A bit frustrating... but not bad with that guy.’
He realized Sang-su was a capable mage.
Fueled by anger at Jeong-hyeon perhaps, he kept vigilant while dealing proper damage.
Most of the damage to approaching spiders came from Sang-su’s magic.
Jeong-hyeon could feel he was on Hee-soo’s level.
The rare lightning affinity was a big plus.
“Tiring, but the money’s good.”
Sunhyeong wiped sweat from his brow.
The others nodded in agreement.
Jeong-hyeon hummed while focusing on dismantling.
Then Sang-su, pretending to talk to Sunhyeong, glared at Jeong-hyeon and spoke loudly enough to hear.
“Hyung, you really trust that guy?”
Whether trust or not, this was borderline oblivious.
“You apologized earlier and now...”
Sunhyeong glared.
Wasn’t that settled?
Jeong-hyeon had fought diligently and dismantled quickly without complaint.
No personal grudge explained this.
Normally, Jeong-hyeon would’ve ignored it, but this time he reacted.
“W-what!”
Turning from a spider leg, Jeong-hyeon shot Sang-su a glare.
Sang-su stuttered and stepped back at the fierce gaze.
He’d provoked half out of habit, not expecting a reaction.
Jeong-hyeon’s throwing skill felt threatening even to onlookers like him.
“Wait.”
But Jeong-hyeon didn’t stop.
As if certain of something, he stood abruptly, hand to his waist where daggers were sheathed.
“Hold on, Jeong-hyeon!”
Sunhyeong quickly raised his shield to block Sang-su, just in case.
But Jeong-hyeon ignored it, drew a dagger, and threw it like a shot.
“Eek!”
“Kyaa!”
Sang-su fell on his butt ungracefully; Jeonga screamed.
But Jeong-hyeon’s dagger flew over Sang-su’s head into the darkness.
“Kreek-”
The familiar death cry of a spider pierced by a dagger.
He hadn’t cared about Sang-su at all.
If he wanted to kill, he would’ve.
Sunhyeong’s shield?
It needed to be faster and calmer to block effectively.
No dodging with your back exposed like that.
Jeong-hyeon had only sensed the spider approaching from behind.
He’d thrown immediately, hitting the nearest one,
“But not just one.”
“W-what?”
His quiet words left everyone bewildered.
He’d thrown without warning, killed a spider, and now said not just one?
But his senses caught it clearly.
Spiders gathering from the path they’d passed.
Monsters rarely came from behind.
In rock spider caves, wall holes were for ambushes, not flanking.
‘Then?’
Jeong-hyeon recalled their pre-gate talk.
Boss hadn’t appeared despite cycle.
Unknown what it was, but the swarming spiders from behind could only be its doing.
‘Break through back? Or push forward?’
He decided instantly.
“Run forward first! If you don’t wanna die!”
He hauled Sang-su up and shoved the others.
“Why, what’s going on?”
“You can’t hear it... No, just run anyway!”
There was still time.
Stunned by his urgent voice, Sunhyeong, Jeonga, and Doyun hesitated then ran.
Sang-su,
“At least explain before running...! I’m going!”
Resisted a bit but bolted when Jeong-hyeon drew another dagger threateningly.
Jeong-hyeon dashed back briefly, retrieved the dagger from the spider, then turned.
Considering their speed, he could catch up easily.
If his hunch was right, every dagger would count soon.
He rejoined the party ahead and issued orders.
No time for awkwardness.
“Tank up front, archer support, healer and mage in middle! I’ll cover the rear!”
They shuffled into position as he said, haphazardly.
Forward might not open a path.
But better than the unknown swarm his senses detected behind.
Jeong-hyeon eyed the small holes pockmarking the cave like a bear’s face.
‘I don’t know what you’re planning, but I’ll play along for now.’
The coordinated spider movements screamed boss.
It was surely watching somewhere.
The spiders were faster than expected.
Whoosh-
Jeong-hyeon threw a dagger without hesitation, killing the closest one.
No time to retrieve now.
Had to conserve.
Fortunately, few attacked from front.
Sang-su’s firepower covered that.
Clearly a lure.
Jeong-hyeon threw another.
Second one already.
Feeling the ominous presence late, the party now moved without his prompting.
Well-practiced, they handled front spiders smoothly.
For now, they could only hope the remaining tunnel wasn’t too long.