Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Dungeon in the Attic
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Kang Jin-hyuk first closed the attic door and came out to the living room.
He sat down on a chair and pondered deeply.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out why or how the dungeon had appeared in the attic.
The top priority right now was deciding what to do with that labyrinth.
The most standard and safest option was to report it to the association.
However, Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t choose that path.
Strictly speaking by the manual, it would indeed be the best method.
But that only held true if following the association’s policies.
When considering his own personal gain, it was the worst possible choice.
“If the association finds out about this, I’ll be kicked out on the spot.”
Monsters existed in this world, but a place called a ‘dungeon’ had never been discovered even once.
If the association learned about the dungeon, they would immediately launch an investigation.
As a D-rank Hunter, Kang Jin-hyuk wouldn’t even be allowed near it, and only elite hunters dispatched by the association would conduct the probe.
In return, all he’d get was a paltry reward fee.
“You think I’m crazy enough to hand over a goldmine like that for pocket change?”
Even if it was a rented place, this was still Kang Jin-hyuk’s home, and he held ownership rights to that attic.
He couldn’t let them take this away too.
Kang Jin-hyuk recalled what had happened with Titan earlier that day.
The association was no different from those guys who wouldn’t let even a single monster slip by.
This mess had happened in the first place because the association turned a blind eye to the guilds’ tyranny.
Hand the dungeon over to those bastards?
Just imagining it made his blood boil.
Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to monopolize this dungeon for himself if possible.
But to do that, there was something he needed to confirm first.
“Those monsters…… they can’t come over here, right?”
The goblin hadn’t recognized the attic side at all.
However, not recognizing it didn’t guarantee they couldn’t cross over.
That’s why Kang Jin-hyuk planned to test it himself, with his own body.
He grabbed a baseball bat, opened the attic door again.
“If they can come over somehow, I’m in deep shit…….”
Kang Jin-hyuk’s hunter rank was a mere D-rank.
He could only take on two or three goblins in a straight fight.
If more monsters than that emerged from the attic, he’d be as good as dead.
“Please, please.”
Kang Jin-hyuk desperately prayed in his mind as he stepped into the dungeon inside the attic.
As Kang Jin-hyuk’s body fully entered the dungeon, a ding echoed in his head.
[You have entered the dungeon.]
[Current location: Floor 1 – Goblin Labyrinth]
The message floating before his eyes turned his guesses into certainties.
This place really was a dungeon.
“Keeek?”
While Kang Jin-hyuk was checking the message, a goblin wandering the labyrinth spotted him.
Kang Jin-hyuk realized it from the goblin’s cry.
“KeeEEK!”
As the goblin charged with a crudely made stone axe, Kang Jin-hyuk turned and ran.
He could handle one goblin easily, but right now, there was something he needed to confirm immediately.
When Kang Jin-hyuk exited the dungeon back to the attic, the goblin stopped in bewilderment.
Then, standing at the boundary between the dungeon and attic, it tapped the spot with its stone axe.
The place where the goblin struck made a thumping sound, as if hitting an invisible wall.
“The monsters can’t see this side at all, and they can’t come over either.”
A flush of excitement spread across Kang Jin-hyuk’s face.
With safety confirmed, he now had only one thing left to do.
Kang Jin-hyuk re-entered the dungeon and swung his bat at the goblin pacing near the boundary.
“Kieeeek!”
The goblin, struck in the face with the aluminum bat, screamed and collapsed.
Before it could stand, Kang Jin-hyuk relentlessly swung the bat, turning it into a pulp.
“Kiek! KeeEEK!”
The goblin shrieked with every hit but soon fell silent.
The moment the goblin’s breath stopped, Kang Jin-hyuk felt power surging through him.
[Level Up]
He had only gone from level 3 to 4, but this moment felt the most exhilarating ever.
It was his first time solo-hunting a monster since becoming a hunter.
Without sharing experience with anyone else.
All by himself.
Hunting a monster without worrying about someone else stealing the last hit.
“Uhuhu…….”
Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t hold back the laughter bubbling up.
It had been a full three years.
Catching just one goblin granted a level up like this, yet he’d been stuck at level 3 for three whole years.
Kang Jin-hyuk truly felt how outrageous the major guilds’ tyranny had been.
“Fucking dogs. They sold their souls completely.”
Just this one goblin corpse alone was worth at least 3 million won.
The major guilds monopolized monsters every time, so their profits must be astronomical.
“It’s because those guild bastards monopolize like this that monster corpses are so expensive, fuck.”
With monster corpses pricey, gear and items naturally sold for high prices too.
Low-capital C-rank and below hunters fell deeper into poverty in this vicious cycle.
Kang Jin-hyuk grew furious, blaming everything on the major guilds.
Just that morning, he could only vent his rage without doing anything, but now was different.
Kang Jin-hyuk had been handed a ‘dungeon’—a place of opportunity.
With this stroke of heaven-sent luck, there was no need to just stew in resentment.
If he had complaints, he could hunt monsters and grow stronger.
Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to level up enough that even the hunters he’d met that morning couldn’t ignore him.
But he couldn’t do that right now.
The phone in his pocket was already blaring an alarm, signaling it was time for his part-time job.
“Ah…….”
Deep down, Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to ditch the job and focus entirely on hunting.
However, quitting on the day without notice would be a huge inconvenience to others.
He couldn’t cause trouble for innocent people, so he decided to go to work today as the last time.
* * *
After finishing his final part-time shift, Kang Jin-hyuk headed to an exchange authorized by the Hunter Association.
Even though it was nearly nighttime, the exchange was bustling.
Hunters selling trophies, hunters shopping for supplies for their next hunt, and more.
With so many customers, there were plenty of staff handling them.
“Welcome. How may I help you?”
“I’m here to sell a monster corpse…….”
“Please take a number ticket and wait; we’ll appraise it in turn.”
Kang Jin-hyuk followed the guide’s instructions and pulled a ticket from the machine near the entrance.
Despite the crowd, the wait wasn’t long.
Only three people ahead of him.
After about ten minutes, it was his turn.
“What’re you here to sell?”
Greeting Kang Jin-hyuk was a middle-aged appraiser with a weathered look.
Instead of answering, Kang Jin-hyuk placed the monster corpse from his inventory on the table.
“Hmm, one goblin…….”
In a place frequented by countless hunters, it was far too common.
The appraiser glanced over the corpse without a hint of interest.
“Looks like you don’t have much hunting experience.”
“Huh? How could you tell…….”
“It’s obvious from how you pulverized all the bones.”
The goblin’s arm the appraiser picked up dangled like a soft-bodied creature.
“Catch ‘em like this, and the value drops big time. Next time, aim for vital spots.”
His tone was rough, with no courtesy for the customer, but the advice carried real experience.
The appraiser finished quickly—twice as fast as others—and set a price on the goblin.
“For a corpse like this, I can’t go above 3.2 million won.”
It was barely 200,000 won above the minimum.
But Kang Jin-hyuk accepted it without complaint.
Damaged organs, bones shattered beyond use from compound fractures—the appraiser’s points all made sense.
“I’ll sell at that price.”
“Good, then just tell me where you hunted this monster. We’ll verify and deposit the funds.”
“W-where? Do I have to say?”
“It’s the law, annoying as it is.”
Kang Jin-hyuk, unable to honestly say he’d caught it in the dungeon, fell into thought.
‘Say I got it in Olympic Park?’
It could pass as snagging a monster that slipped away while Titan was off-guard.
But that plan never came to fruition.
Kang Jin-hyuk sensed the shop suddenly growing rowdy.
Out of natural curiosity, he turned toward the commotion and saw a group of hunters entering.
“What’s going on?”
They wore outerwear in the same design as Titan, clearly guild-affiliated hunters.
Seeing them, the appraiser clutched his forehead and let out a low sigh.
“They’ve finally come.”
From the appraiser’s reaction and the hunters’ menacing glares, it didn’t seem like a friendly visit.
And that hunch proved spot-on.
The hunter leading the pack headed straight for Kang Jin-hyuk’s spot.
“Huh?”
Before he could ask what was happening, the hunter grabbed Kang Jin-hyuk’s collar.
“You?”
“W-what?”
“You the one who snatched our monster from our hunting ground?”
Kang Jin-hyuk panicked and couldn’t respond properly.
He’d been about to say he’d caught one Titan was hunting, so it felt like a direct hit.
Fortunately, the tight-lipped Kang Jin-hyuk was defended by the appraiser.
“That’s not the guy you’re looking for.”
“Then who is he?”
“The blond over there chattering in the corner.”
The appraiser nodded toward a man laughing obliviously amid the growing noise.
The hunter released Kang Jin-hyuk’s collar and marched toward the blond.
He seized the man’s shoulder and yanked his face around.
“Argh!”
The blond took a sudden punch to the face and crumpled.
He couldn’t even attempt to stand amid the following kicks.
“Guh! Ack!”
As the one-sided beating unfolded, the blond’s companion who’d been talking with him stepped up.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
“Shut your mouth if you don’t wanna die.”
“What’d you say?”
The blond’s companion scowled, ready to charge.
But the guild hunters closed in far faster.
“This guy hunted a monster without permission in our guild’s territory.”
“Unless you plan to compensate us instead, stay out of it.”
Faced with their sharp glares, the blond’s companion ground his teeth and backed off.
The violence in the shop ended only when the victim was barely breathing.
It wasn’t because they thought they’d kill him if they continued.
It was a calculated brutality to make an example.
The guild hunter grabbed the blond’s collar, forcing his face up.
“Hey, why were you creeping around our turf? You after our lives or something?”
“T-that’s not…….”
The blond tried to protest the absurd accusation, but the hunter slammed his head into the floor first.
“You might be that crazy murderer on the loose lately. Come with us for a quick investigation. That cool?”
The hunter sought one-sided approval from the semi-conscious blond.
Then he dragged the mumbling man out of the shop.
Only after the guild hunters fully left did relieved sighs break the deathly silence in the shop.
The appraiser, who’d watched with arms crossed, clicked his tongue.
“They could’ve just taken the money and left quietly. No need for bullshit excuses.”
Spotting Kang Jin-hyuk’s stunned expression, the appraiser gave him advice.
“Don’t go near guild-claimed spots if you don’t wanna end up like that.”
“…….”
Kang Jin-hyuk was speechless.
Not only did they monopolize spots—which was bad enough—but beating someone senseless just for hunting a monster there?
A chill ran down his spine.
If even an obscure guild acted this brazenly, what would a major one like Titan do upon hearing someone snatched their monster?
He probably wouldn’t walk out on two legs.
“How did that guild even know to come here?”
“How? Any guild with decent size is hooked into our server.”
“And that guy getting beaten knew that but still reported the origin honestly?”
“Lying about origin gets you caught, your hunter license revoked for life, and jail time. No choice.”
The more he heard, the more it sounded like policies favoring guilds, with nothing for regular hunters.
Dumbfounded, Kang Jin-hyuk stored the goblin corpse back in his inventory.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? Not selling and just leaving?”
“Yeah, changed my mind…….”
He couldn’t reveal the origin honestly or lie about it, so retreating was wisest.
While attention was elsewhere.
Kang Jin-hyuk slipped out of the shop like he was fleeing.
‘Damn, damn!’
On the way home, Kang Jin-hyuk vented his rage inwardly.
He was just hunting as a hunter, yet fleeing like a criminal.
Kang Jin-hyuk believed it all stemmed from lacking power.
To ignore guild tyranny and live freely, he needed strength.
“Let’s see about that, you filthy bastards.”
Kang Jin-hyuk had a dungeon.
With the dungeon, he could grow as strong as needed.
All he needed now was time.