Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Encounter with a Dwarf
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Kang Jin-hyuk immediately entered the dungeon and began hunting.
Even though his level was low, goblins were trash mobs among trash mobs, making them easy opponents.
When he ran into five or six at once, Kang Jin-hyuk recalled the shaman's advice.
This time, he targeted only their heads precisely, dispatching the goblin pack in an instant.
[You have leveled up.]
Kang Jin-hyuk opened his inventory and stuffed the goblin corpses inside.
It was amazing how goblins, each 110 cm tall, slipped right into a pouch-sized space.
The downside of this cheap inventory was that it could only hold monsters and items.
"Still, there's plenty of room left for now."
Kang Jin-hyuk was thrilled at discovering this unexpected goldmine.
But no matter how excited he got, he had to value his own life.
Just in case, he pulled two return stones from his inventory, leaving one outside the attic.
He tucked the other firmly into his pants pocket.
"They're 500,000 won each, but when else would I use them if not now?"
Now, if things went south, he could escape straight back outside the attic using the return stone.
It was a million-won escape plan, but better than dying here.
With insurance in place, Kang Jin-hyuk pulled out a disk that looked like a hand mirror.
"To think I'd actually use this thing one day."
It was a scouting radar he'd bought after falling for ads claiming it could detect monster positions anywhere (regular price: 398,000 won).
True to its home shopping origins, it was junk that only scanned a 50-meter radius ahead.
The manufacturer had pocketed the cash and vanished, so no refunds or exchanges for this white elephant—which was finally proving useful.
Countless dots appeared on the disk.
They indicated monsters nearby.
"Perfect!"
The radar's guidance was a huge help in the winding labyrinth.
Gripping his baseball bat, Kang Jin-hyuk dashed toward the nearest dot.
"Kreeek?"
By the time the goblin reacted to the sudden noise, it was too late.
Swinging with the force of a fastball pitch, the bat smashed the goblin's face.
The sharp crack echoed, stirring Kang Jin-hyuk's soul.
"Home run!"
As he cheered at the goblin flying backward, another alert appeared.
[You have leveled up.]
Feeling like he'd gained a decent amount of levels, Kang Jin-hyuk checked his status window for the first time in a while.
[Kang Jin-hyuk]
Level: 13
Race: Human
Class: None
Strength: D
Agility: D
Mana: F
Vitality: C
His level had risen nicely, but contrary to expectations, his stats were still dismal.
This was typical for low-class hunters without skills or a class.
"I'll raise them from here on out. No big deal."
Just yesterday, these stats would have made him sigh, but things were different now.
Kang Jin-hyuk had a dungeon overflowing with monsters.
No more fretting over when his next level-up would come.
"Alright, where to next?"
The radar showed three dots clustered closest from his current position.
As expected, they were goblins.
True to its name, 'Goblin Labyrinth,' all the monsters around here seemed to be goblins.
It was monotonous, but an ideal hunting ground for low-level Kang Jin-hyuk.
Realizing nothing beat the simple thrill of smashing goblin heads, he raced through the dungeon following the radar.
"Kreeeek!"
"Kieeeek!"
For a full three hours, goblin screams echoed nonstop through the labyrinth.
Kang Jin-hyuk rampaged like a fish in water until he hit his inventory limit and finally stopped swinging.
"Tch... Filled up already?"
At best, there was space for one more.
He wanted to leave the corpses and come back for them later.
But that wasn't wise.
Goblins devoured their own dead without hesitation, so leaving bodies would just fatten them up.
To hunt more, he'd have to empty his inventory first.
"If it's the last one, might as well make it a big guy."
Among goblins, those over 130 cm tall fetched more money.
The bigger and burlier, the better the hide and bones, or so they said.
Just then, a dot glowed to the left around a bend.
It was heading toward the corner on its own—no need for Kang Jin-hyuk to go to it.
"Wait here and ambush it, and it'll be easy."
Kang Jin-hyuk gripped the bat with both hands, pressed his back to the wall, and waited patiently for it to round the corner.
The moment the dot closed in and its shape came into view, he swung reflexively.
Only after the bat struck its head did he realize it wasn't a goblin.
The clash of metal rang out, and the figure clutched its head and crumpled.
"...I'm screwed."
Its height was just goblin-sized, so he'd mistaken it.
The bearded figure ripped off its helmet and bellowed.
“ᛋᚢᛞᛒᚢ! ᛏᚺᛖᛋᛒᚱ!”
Even as the red-faced figure ranted in what sounded like an alien tongue, Kang Jin-hyuk couldn't understand a word.
But he could guess the gist.
It had probably asked about his parents' well-being three times over.
"Sorry!"
With no common language, Kang Jin-hyuk bowed 90 degrees to convey his deepest apologies.
Bowing low enough to seem servile might get the sincerity across.
'Never thought I'd run into another person in a dungeon.'
Short and hairy for a human, but definitely not a monster.
“ᚢᚱᚨᛈᚫᚳᚢᚳ!”
"Sorry! Sorry!"
Unable to communicate, all Kang Jin-hyuk could do was bow repeatedly to the shouting figure.
The bat-struck one snorted, then pulled a necklace from his pocket and tossed it at Kang Jin-hyuk.
Catching it reflexively, Kang Jin-hyuk saw the figure mime putting it on.
"He wants me to wear this?"
No clue why the sudden gift, but he followed instructions.
The moment Kang Jin-hyuk donned the necklace, the alien speech became clear.
"Can you understand me now? You fucking bastard!"
Stunned, Kang Jin-hyuk just stared wide-eyed without replying, so the figure yelled again.
"I said, can you hear me? You little fuck!"
"You're the one who's little, not... er."
"What, you fuck?"
"N-No! Sorry!"
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk bow and apologize again, the figure tsked irritably.
"Fucking hell. First asshole like you in my 132 years as a dwarf."
"D-Dwarf?"
"Yeah, dumbass! First dwarf you've seen?"
Kang Jin-hyuk nodded vigorously in agreement.
The dwarf looked incredulous.
"Not content with spouting unheard-of nonsense, you've never even seen a dwarf? Where are you from, some backwater village?"
"From Bangi-dong..."
"The hell's that? Some podunk town on the edge of nowhere?"
"Korea."
"Never heard of it. Definitely backwater."
Kang Jin-hyuk figured the dwarf must be from some other world entirely.
Not understanding Korean was one thing, but not knowing Korea?
Even with the chubby guy up north, everyone had heard the name at least once. Total ignorance was weird.
And dwarves didn't exist on Earth to begin with.
"What's your name?"
"Huh? Why do you suddenly want my—"
"So I know whose skull to smash! Why else!?"
"K-Kang Jin-hyuk."
"Kang Jin-hyuk? Whoever named you did a shit job."
"I know I messed up, but ease up on the name-dissing."
"Who gives a fuck! You made me drop all my gear!"
Grumbling, the dwarf started picking up his scattered equipment.
Kang Jin-hyuk watched quietly, but the dwarf's neck veins bulged.
"What're you doing, asshole? This is your fault! Help already!"
Hearing the dwarf bark, Kang Jin-hyuk started getting annoyed.
He knew it was shameless, but the nonstop cursing and yelling were pushing his buttons.
As his bat seemed to thirst for blood, Kang Jin-hyuk took deep breaths.
"Got it. I'll help."
Kang Jin-hyuk set down the bat and helped sort the dwarf's gear.
It was hammers, tongs, and a bunch of weapons.
Each time Kang Jin-hyuk picked one up, a message popped up.
[Rare item acquired.]
[Rare item acquired.]
"..."
Messages hunters might see once in a lifetime were popping up nonstop.
It felt so unreal that Kang Jin-hyuk stared blankly.
"Hey, what're you doing? See a ghost?"
"Nah, nothing."
He wanted to beg for one, but his track record of trying to crack the dwarf's skull made that impossible.
'Maybe pocket one?'
Kang Jin-hyuk shook his head at the sudden greedy thought.
If caught, the dwarf might kill him.
With all those rare items, the dwarf was surely high-level.
A low-level classless hunter like him would just get legally pummeled.
While Kang Jin-hyuk agonized, the dwarf tied up his gear, then reached for the bat Kang Jin-hyuk had set down.
"Wonder what this fucker hit me with—my head's still ringing."
Thinking it might be decent iron, the dwarf eyed the baseball bat curiously.
Without asking, he snatched it up and inspected it.
Kang Jin-hyuk noticed late.
"What're you doing with my bat?"
No answer.
Watching, Kang Jin-hyuk saw the dwarf's shoulders tremble.
Head injury aftereffect? No.
Pale-faced, the dwarf rushed at him.
"Where'd you get this!?"
"W-Why?"
"Why?! 'Cause..."
Sucking in a huge breath, the dwarf bellowed loud enough to shake the labyrinth.
"This is orichalcum!"
"...It's just aluminum."
"You call orichalcum 'aluminum' in your village?!"
"We call it aluminum because it is aluminum..."
Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to ask why slap a fancy name like orichalcum on plain aluminum.
The orichalcum from games and novels was some divine, ultra-rare metal.
Yelling about it while holding an aluminum bat?
To Kang Jin-hyuk, it looked like a lunatic or someone with late-blooming chuunibyou.
"Be honest. You stole it, right?"
"What bullshit! I bought it with my own money!"
"Bought it? With money? That makes sense how?"
Irritation surged through Kang Jin-hyuk.
Making a fuss over a cheap aluminum bat, accusing him of theft, not believing he paid for it—infuriating.
"What's so special about this shitty bat that you're flipping out?"
"Are you insane? Calling orichalcum shitty."
"No, what the hell even is this orichalcum crap?"
"You grow up ignorant? Do I have to spell it out?"
Kang Jin-hyuk barely suppressed his rising blood pressure.
"I don't know how great your orichalcum is, but my bat's just a normal thing."
"Bullshit. How's this normal?"
"You're the one talking bullshit. Don't believe me? Hit it with that hammer of yours!"
Of course, if he did, Kang Jin-hyuk planned to get compensated somehow—ideally with those rare items.
But against expectations, the dwarf didn't draw his hammer.
Instead of testing, he ranted about how ignorant humans were.
"Don't you know orichalcum's soft unprocessed? Hit it like this, and it'd shatter!"
Kang Jin-hyuk sensed the dwarf was deeply mistaken as he lectured loudly.
Sure, per the dwarf, orichalcum became amazing after special processing.
But aluminum stayed soft no matter what.
'This could be my chance to shut him up.'
Deciding to exploit the dwarf's stubbornness, Kang Jin-hyuk proposed.
"Wanna bet?"
"Bet? On what?"
"Whether it's really orichalcum or whatever."
"I've been saying it is, you dense fuck."
"Then prove it. I won't believe without seeing."
"Listen to this guy!"
The dwarf pounded his chest in frustration.
"Fine, I'll prove it. No whining later!"
"You prepare to hand over your gear when it's revealed as junk."
"Hah... Look at this cocky prick. Get ready, punk."
Kang Jin-hyuk smirked inwardly at the fuming dwarf.
No way an aluminum bat was anything special—he was certain those rare gear pieces would soon be his.