Chapter 517
Chapter 517
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 517
Chapter Title: New Skill
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I glanced at Miryeong sitting in the passenger seat while driving the car. Dressed in short pants and a hoodie, she was staring blankly out the window.
High-rise buildings and countless cars speeding down the roads. It was a familiar sight to me, but to her, it must have been a strange and fascinating urban landscape.
"Hey, wait! Hold on a sec! Isn't that a hot dog they're selling over there? I want a hot dog! Pull over for a bit."
To be precise, it was a corn dog.
I parked the car as Miryeong wanted. She hopped out and dashed toward the corn dog stand. With her tail and ears hidden, she looked like any ordinary person at a glance.
"I've always wanted to try one of these."
She bought a total of five. Each one seemed to be a different flavor.
"Give me one too."
"...".
Miryyeong pondered deeply before handing me the corn dog packed tight with potatoes. The big eater polished off four of them in five minutes flat.
"Is there anywhere you want to go? I can take you pretty much anywhere."
"Huh? For real?"
"No reason to lie about something like this."
"There are tons of places I want to see. The movies, amusement park, zoo, the tower... Oh, I'd love to go abroad too. Especially Europe!"
"Europe's a bit... It takes too much time. Just the round trip would take days."
"Yeah, you're right. I've got games to play at home and dramas to watch."
"I can take you to the movies or an amusement park. Want to go tomorrow?"
"...".
Miryyeong stared at me blankly.
"What's your angle?"
"Angle? I just felt bad seeing you holed up at home, so I suggested it. Since I summoned you to this world, the least I can do is let you enjoy it. You've only got about twenty days left here anyway."
"...".
Her face clouded over with complicated emotions as she turned to look out the window.
The car arrived in front of the dungeon.
C-rank dungeon, Spring Courtyard.
It was an open-type dungeon teeming with plant-based monsters.
The association had the entrance under control, and luxury foreign cars were parked everywhere. Those imported rides probably belonged to the hunters.
As I grabbed my gear and stepped out of the car, I felt my body tense up instinctively. This wasn't my first time entering a C-rank dungeon. I'd hunted in a few with temporary parties of C-rank hunters I'd found online.
'Alone... no, with two people, this is the first time. If we're careful, it shouldn't be dangerous. This dungeon is one of the safer C-rank ones, and my skills are above average for a C-rank hunter.'
Miryyeong looked around curiously without a hint of tension. The cars and buildings around her seemed more intriguing than the dungeon itself.
"Miryeong, you sure you're okay with no gear?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. All I'm doing is supporting you with spells anyway. Charging in to fight like a martial artist isn't my specialty."
I had no intention of asking her to rush into the fray either. I checked over my equipment once more and made sure to grab the most important item—my smartphone.
"Miryeong, you're a D-rank hunter. If the association staff asks your name, say Shin Miryeong. Got it?"
"Got it. Stop nagging already. I know the basics of how this world works now."
Of course, it was a fake ID.
With the broker's help, I'd secured a D-rank hunter identity. The association was lax about anything below C-rank—negligent, you could say—so it wasn't hard to obtain.
'Normal people get caught impersonating hunters right away, but Miryeong actually has abilities, so as long as we're careful, we won't get busted.'
That was when we were leaving the parking lot. Five men approached us.
"Hey there. You two here alone?"
The man at the center had short black hair and skin so pale it was almost ghostly. He greeted us with a smirk that openly mocked people.
His gaze, and those of the other men, was fixed on Miryeong. I got it—she was stunningly beautiful, effortlessly alluring in a way that stirred base desires.
"Yeah. Just here for a quick hunt."
I placed a hand on Miryeong's shoulder as I spoke. A signal that she was mine and to back off. Her eyes twitched for a moment, but she didn't slap my arm away. She had some street smarts.
"Just the two of you? It's an open-type dungeon, sure, but still C-rank. Pretty risky, isn't it? Why not party up with us?"
"Our leader's right. It'll be faster and safer hunting with us."
"This isn't our first time clearing this dungeon."
They pressed. I shook my head.
"We're good. I can handle a dungeon like this solo."
"...Quite the confidence. Ah, now that I look closer, you're Sung Yu-jin, the famous one lately. And the lady next to you... girlfriend?"
"Haha, yeah, Sung Yu-jin here. She's not my girlfriend, though. And who might you be?"
"Sorry for the late intro. I'm Kim Ji-oh, leader of the Cool Raider Party."
Hunters below C-rank usually backed off when they heard my name. I was called Korea's top genius, after all. But Kim Ji-oh didn't budge even after recognizing me. If anything, he looked down on me.
Instinct told me trouble was brewing today.
'Sigh, trouble always follows when you're with a beauty.'
I couldn't just stand there with him eyeing me like that.
"Never heard of you. Part of a guild?"
"...Not yet. You're not in one either, are you, Sung Yu-jin?"
"I'm considering my options. Suwol Guild made an offer, Jauun Guild seems decent too... Other guilds keep sending good proposals. Tough choice."
"...Impressive."
The air grew frigid.
I'd name-dropped guilds to make a point. The top ten guilds wanted me. We weren't even in the same league.
Anyone with a brain would get it.
"...Sung Yu-jin, you really won't team up with us? Even for you, going in with just two people must be a burden, right?"
Kim Ji-oh clung like glue, barely hiding his anger. Not literally, of course.
'He wants to enter the dungeon with me and betray me at the right moment.'
Obvious without looking.
And they kept sneaking glances at Miryeong. Her beautiful face, ample chest, and perfect hips. That was probably why they weren't backing off easily too.
Miryyeong, meanwhile, ignored the situation entirely, engrossed in a webtoon on her smartphone.
"Like I said, I can handle this dungeon solo."
"Understood. We're all busy, no need to hold you up. We'll head in. Good luck."
The Cool Raider Party entered the dungeon a step ahead of us.
"Bet they're setting up an ambush inside. This world has laws protecting you outside, but not in dungeons, right?"
Miryyeong said boredly. The [Light Ascendant Sword] world was far more cutthroat. Back there, you'd smash the back of someone's head at the first opportunity or abandon family if it got dicey. Compared to that, this world was paradise.
"Agreed. Jerks like that exist everywhere."
I was a C-rank hunter. Short career, but I'd seen it all. I'd soloed low-rank dungeons a few times too.
Hunters like Kim Ji-oh—jealous, pulling petty stunts—were a dime a dozen.
But I avoided trouble when I could. This was reality. No need to take the hit myself.
Unless they were after my woman. Then it was different.
'Perfect, a dungeon. Easy spot for the perfect crime.'
And I wasn't alone.
"They're setting a trap. Can you help me out?"
"I agreed to cooperate with you. And I don't like those guys either. Staring with those creepy eyes without knowing their place... If this were my world, I'd chop off their limbs and drain their essence until their bodies withered."
Miryyeong flashed a colder smile than ever.
"By the way, how long are you planning to keep your hand on my shoulder?"
"Oh, sorry. You don't like it."
I pulled my hand away, bracing for her rebuke. But it didn't come even after a beat.
She glanced at me cautiously before speaking.
"Just not used to it. Doesn't mean I hate it."
"...".
The corners of my mouth lifted. Things were going smoothly.
???
We entered the dungeon. Warm spring weather greeted us, surrounded by grass, trees, and flowers everywhere. Depending on your view, it could be a forest or a garden.
To me, it looked like a forest.
"Nice garden. I can feel the vitality of nature. Mom would've loved it."
Miryyeong saw it as a garden. I felt a spark of curiosity about her mother but held back.
She'd be my woman eventually, so I'd meet her mom someday.
"Can you find them? They won't jump us at the entrance, so they're probably setting a trap somewhere."
"Hold on."
White fox ears popped up on Miryeong's head, perking alertly, and two fox tails sprouted from her tailbone.
She closed her eyes and murmured something softly. I couldn't understand a word, but I knew she was casting a spell.
I felt her energy spread through the ground in all directions.
"Found them. Northeast from here, a bit of a ways. They're fighting a giant plant right now. Doesn't seem like they're digging a trap for us at the moment."
"...".
That was unexpected. I'd figured one of the Cool Raider members was watching us to spring a prepared trap. Basic hunter bandit tactic.
'Was I overthinking? Maybe they're legit.'
"What now? Chase and kill them?"
She asked.
They pissed me off, but that alone wasn't reason enough to hunt them down.
'This is reality. They eyed my woman wrong, but nothing actually happened.'
In the [Hundred Ghosts] world, that'd be enough to kill for.
"Can you keep tabs on them?"
"Yeah. But not for long—maybe three hours max? And if they get too far, the spell breaks."
"Monitor them. If they do nothing, we do nothing."
"Hmph. If that's what you want."
She didn't argue and followed my lead.
Miryyeong used five leaves to conjure birds with her spell. The leaf sparrows flew northeast.
"Done."
"Good. Let's hunt. You know where the monsters are?"
"Yeah, mapped them out. Three minutes left, and you'll run into one."
True to her word, we encountered a monster after three minutes.
Mana-Absorbing Bamboo.
Rooted firmly in the ground, it was a plant monster that drained people's mana and blood. A round eye opened in the center of the bamboo stalk, fixing on me and Miryeong. It curved like a smile.
Suddenly, surrounding plants surged toward us. One of the Mana-Absorbing Bamboo's abilities: controlling nearby flora and siphoning energy from anyone in sight.
"Crimson Gale!"
Miryyeong cast her spell. A red wind blew, slicing and scattering the plants. A path to the monster cleared. I seized the chance, raising my sword and charging.
The Mana-Absorbing Bamboo uprooted itself and floated into the air, trying to escape with telekinesis.
"Think you'll get away by going airborne?"
I kicked off nearby trees, pursued it, and swung my blade rippling with sword energy. The bisected corpse plummeted. I harvested the magic stone from inside and its eye.