Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Dungeon Survival
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My daily life in reality isn't anything special.
I wake up in the morning, wash up roughly, and grab some food. Lately, I don't cook myself anymore. Instead, I go into the Baekhwan world, bring back Yuria's food to reality, and eat that.
The food doesn't have any special powers, so the taste doesn't degrade or anything.
Then I head to school. If it's a day I really don't want to go, or if I get bored or annoyed during a lecture, I just dip out immediately.
After classes end, I go to the Yeongcheon Sword Hall. I train hard with Jin Se-young.
I'm steadily building up my body. The problem is that the results aren't as impressive as the effort. In the beginning, intense workouts would boost my strength, stamina, and agility stats, but now, even if I train like crazy all day, they don't budge.
Maybe because of that, my motivation for physical training has waned a bit. These days, I only spend about two hours at the Yeongcheon Sword Hall.
The rest of the time, I hunt monsters in dungeons. Believe it or not, I'm an E-rank hunter. And I have a desire to climb to a higher rank.
To become a high-rank hunter, the most important thing is skill, followed by track record, so I'm steadily commuting to the dungeons.
There are no days off.
If I feel like resting, I can just go to the Vampire Detective world or the Baekhwan world. I can rest there.
Physical fatigue in reality? I use Complete Recovery, and it vanishes in one go. I can use it once every twelve hours anyway, so I'm making active use of it like this.
No word from Na A-young at all...
Na A-young, the actress I blackmailed with videos and photos and slept with last time—it's been about a month, and there's still no contact. I'd been hoping she'd reach out because she couldn't forget the taste of my dick, but she seems to have more self-control than I thought.
Whatever, it doesn't matter.
I have no intention of contacting Na A-young first. She's an actress, but she's not so stunningly beautiful that I'd force a relationship just for that. Objectively speaking, her looks fall a bit short of Jin Se-young's.
And above all, I can sleep with Na A-young in the Vampire Detective world.
Reika and Na A-young in Vampire Detective are the same person. Same pussy flavor. If I want to hold Na A-young, I can just hold Reika. Sure, reality is a bit more thrilling, but there's no huge difference.
Right now, a lecture was underway.
Oh Jun-hyuk and I were sitting in the corner of the classroom, not paying attention to the lesson at all, lost in our own worlds. I was sitting there blankly, lost in thought, while Oh Jun-hyuk was glued to his smartphone.
The professor saw us but didn't say anything. He knew. We were already active hunters, so getting expelled wouldn't matter to us. And we're not the only ones not focusing. It's a common sight in the Hunter Department.
"Hey. Hey. Check this out. This is the girl I'm kinda seeing right now. She's a year younger than me, but damn, her face game is no joke, right?"
"Lemme see."
I craned my neck to look at the photo Oh Jun-hyuk was showing me. There was a short-haired girl taking a selfie with him. It looked like it was taken at some restaurant, and her face was average.
"She's average."
"What? Dude, how is this average? This is top-tier for me!"
Oh Jun-hyuk was right. Objectively, her looks were above average. But it wasn't my type at all.
"Oh, yeah, I guess so. I've been watching too much TV lately. Staring at celebrities all day has raised my standards."
Thanks to the Playful Life app, my eye for women has gotten pretty high. These days, I barely think "pretty" about girls who are just above average.
"You stay cooped up at home so much, you've lost touch with reality. Which is why—wanna hit up a club with me today?"
I let out a snort.
"You should cut back on the clubs. Aren't you in the talking stage with her? Does she know you're a club rat?"
"I met her at a club. And we're just talking right now. Once we start dating for real, I'll quit the clubs."
"Yeah, right."
I could guarantee it. Oh Jun-hyuk wouldn't quit clubs. He broke up with his last girlfriend over clubs.
I glanced at his smartphone and said,
"Still, her tits look pretty big. At least C-cup."
"Right? She's petite, but those boobs are huge. And her face is top-tier for me... Lately, I've been thinking about marrying her."
"You're insane."
Marriage, my ass.
We're barely in our early twenties. Way too young for marriage. Plus, hunters get better treatment the higher their rank. Even at C-rank, you can date and marry hotter women.
There's a saying hunters should marry after retiring.
Hunters make bank, but it's proportionally dangerous. The mortality rate is way higher than other high-income jobs. Even veteran hunters die if they let their guard down.
Two of my classmates died too.
Killed by monsters in a dungeon. One at least had a body recovered, but the other was eaten alive by monsters, and they never even found the corpse.
We weren't that close, so I didn't feel sad. All I knew about them were their names.
I can't die. It'd be such a waste with the Playful Life app and all.
That's why I'm careful in dungeons. I never push myself.
I can make as much money as I want, so no need to overdo it.
"Sung Yu-jin. Come see me for a sec."
Someone called me.
I turned from the window, and Professor Park was standing next to me.
Park Cheon-woo. The youngest professor in the Hunter Department. Nicknamed Professor Park. Maybe because he's young, he shows more interest in students than the others. Despite his gruff speech and expression, he's a nosy guy.
"Me?"
"Yeah. Come to my office."
"Now?"
"You gotta piss or something? Be there in ten minutes."
Professor Park left after saying that.
Tap tap. Oh Jun-hyuk poked my shoulder, grinning annoyingly.
"Looks like our Yu-jin's in deep shit. What'd you do? Huh?"
He was enjoying it more than worrying. I clicked my tongue briefly.
"In deep shit... I haven't done anything."
My grades were trashed, but I wasn't the only one. Oh Jun-hyuk next to me had similar grades. Plenty of other students were worse off.
"No guesses? For real? Professor Park doesn't call people for nothing."
True. He might nag about tardiness or skipping, but he doesn't summon you for a scolding.
"No clue. I'll find out when I go. Be right back."
I got up vaguely.
???
I entered Professor Park's office for the first time. It was neatly organized. The bookshelf was full of monster-related textbooks.
The history of hunters is pretty long.
Hunters only became mainstream recently. Superpowered people and monsters surged in the modern era. Before the Hunter Association was founded and supers, mages, and martial artists went public, ordinary people had no idea.
Monsters were disguised as yokai or whatever. The monsters in folklore actually existed—the usual story.
Monster byproducts too.
I didn't know what kind. And I didn't care what monsters Professor Park researched.
"Sung Yu-jin. Over here."
A voice called from the room on the right. I headed there.
Professor Park wasn't alone. Han Ha-rin was sitting on the sofa, legs crossed. She always looked so haughty.
Why is Han Ha-rin here...? No way, with Professor Park?!
Didn't seem like it. Han Ha-rin's cold expression and vibe didn't change even for a professor.
I sat next to Han Ha-rin. Because Professor Park was opposite.
"The reason I called you two today... is to recommend this."
Professor Park placed a few sheets of paper on the table. Han Ha-rin and I looked at them. There was a flashy flyer mixed in.
"Dungeon Survival Reboot?"
"Yeah. Sung Yu-jin, do you know about Dungeon Survival?"
"That program from a few years ago, right? It was a big deal at the time, but I remember it tanked hard."
Dungeon Survival.
About five years ago, terrestrial broadcaster SOX ambitiously launched it.
The concept was hunters living in a dungeon for days, competing against each other. True to the survival name, they had to survive the dungeon.
"They're doing this again...?"
"Yeah. Looks like they prepared thoroughly this time. The Hunter Association is backing it too, and they sent this to us."
Made sense for the Hunter Association. Lots of civilians fear hunters. The Association wants to improve their image, so they cooperate actively with broadcasts.
"...Won't it flop like last time anyway?"
"Read the details. The broadcaster put some thought into it. It won't end like before."
The previous Dungeon Survival ended after one episode. Simple reason: Too many A-rank hunters joined.
The broadcaster underestimated A-rank power. They cleared the dungeon in a day and fought each other. No story or anything—just flashy combat scenes.
Even those weren't filmed properly. Civilians couldn't follow the fights from an A-rank perspective.
In the end, Dungeon Survival bombed spectacularly. Probably the most epic flop in broadcasting history.
"Hunters 24 and under?"
"The biggest reason it failed was imbalance between hunters and dungeon. This time, they excluded strong, experienced hunters entirely, so it won't flop like that."
Conditions: 24 or under, teams of three.
Early twenties. Mostly F to D-rank hunters. With the age limit, C-rank and above would be rare. Unlikely they'd join.
The prize was just 1 billion won. Not big money for hunters.
"Winning prize is just 1 billion? For surviving a week in a dungeon? That's peanuts."
"The prize is a bit low."
"I'm not participating. It's not mandatory, right?"
Professor Park nodded at my question.
"If that's your stance, can't force you."
"But why recommend this from the university? Not public recruitment."
"Would hunters join if it was public?"
No, unless they're attention whores.
"Plus, the Hunter Association requested cooperation. Not just our school—all universities with Hunter Departments nationwide. It's a national broadcast, so they can't let just anyone join. That's why they approached us first, with verified identities."
"Hunter Association's got their work cut out."
I said indifferently.
"Han Ha-rin. What about you?"
"...I'll participate."
"Good. With you, that's two... Now we need one more..."
"Wait. Senior. Why are you joining?"
I was genuinely curious.
Han Ha-rin was a D-rank hunter and chaebol heir. 1 billion prize? Nothing to her. I figured she'd refuse. She's not an attention whore.
She glanced at me, then answered casually.
"With the Hunter Association involved, it'll be safe. And real fights against other hunters? Opportunities like this don't come often."
"...Ah."
In short, combat experience was the goal.
I could get life-or-death real fights in other worlds via the Playful Life app, but others couldn't.
"Now that I think about it, yeah. I'll join too."
I changed my tune and declared participation. Not for combat experience. For Han Ha-rin. Good chance to get close to her.
I'll show you. The new me!
I'm not the mere hunter-aspirant Sung Yu-jin anymore. I'll show my first love, Han Ha-rin, exactly how I've changed.
"Suddenly joining?"
"Professor, please. Hearing Senior Han Ha-rin, it sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Where else do you get experience like this?"
"...Glad you're in. Here's the application form. Fill it out. The program starts in two weeks, in a dungeon prepared by the Hunter Association."
Professor Park recommended us because we're among the strongest in the department. My rank is low, but I can use mana. Han Ha-rin can't, but she's top-tier in the department.