Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The Poison Gas
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Sitting at the dungeon entrance and watching the enemies scrambling around was a pretty novel kind of entertainment.
It hurt to see the household items getting smashed, but they were all things he could just buy again with money anyway.
If he thought of it as saving his life at the cost of the furniture, it was actually a bargain.
"Um... how long do I have to keep my eyes closed?"
"A bit longer. Just wait."
Kang Jin-hyuk, who didn't want the Titan guild finding out about the dungeon, refused to let Lee Hye-na open her eyes.
Lee Hye-na obediently followed his instructions, assuming it was because of the smoke from the smoke grenade.
"Where the hell did they go!"
"No signs of them leaving the house, so they might still be here! Search every inch!"
Titan's hunters desperately rummaged through every corner of the house but couldn't find Kang Jin-hyuk or his group.
Whenever they opened a door, all they saw was an ordinary attic.
The dungeon was a place only Kang Jin-hyuk could enter and exit.
"It's awfully quiet outside. Is something going on?"
At Lee Hye-na's question, Kang Jin-hyuk tilted his head.
"Quiet? Can't you hear those people making noise, Secretary?"
"I don't hear anything."
Outside, Titan's hunters were still yelling at the top of their lungs.
Unless she was deaf, it was strange not to hear those booming voices.
'No way... am I the only one who can see outside from here?'
Just as the monsters couldn't sense the outside world, this was probably another ability unique to him.
Kang Jin-hyuk had no idea why he alone had these powers.
Lucia had explained that the mage who sent the dungeon to this world had used Kang Jin-hyuk himself as the coordinates.
But somehow, that explanation didn't quite click for him.
Was that really the whole story?
'...No point overthinking it now.'
Kang Jin-hyuk knew nothing about Lucia's world or what that "magic" even was.
No matter how hard he racked his brain with that limited knowledge, he wouldn't arrive at any answers.
For now, the best policy was to simply enjoy the benefits he'd been given to the fullest.
While Kang Jin-hyuk was lost in thought, Titan's hunters resorted to extreme measures.
Since a thorough search turned up nothing, they gave up and started sealing off every possible gap leading outside.
"Don't let even a single ant slip out!"
"Cover the broken windows with steel plates too!"
Once they had taped up every window and door crack like they were wallpapering with duct tape, only one hunter remained inside the house.
Wearing a gas mask, the hunter held a scroll in one hand and an unidentified capsule in the other.
"Disperse!"
Shouting like a battle cry, the hunter smashed the capsule on the floor.
Then he immediately tore the scroll.
Since he vanished somewhere, it seemed to be a type similar to a return scroll.
"What was that thing he just threw?"
Kang Jin-hyuk focused on the item visible beyond the attic from his seat in the dungeon.
Green smoke began seeping out from the broken capsule, quickly filling the entire house.
Whatever it was, he could tell it wasn't harmless.
'No way it's poison gas, right?'
The fact that every single Titan hunter inside had evacuated without exception was suspicious enough.
The hunter who threw the capsule and vanished had been wearing a gas mask, making it 99% certain.
To confirm that last 1%, Kang Jin-hyuk asked Lee Hye-na.
"Hey, Secretary. Does Titan deal in poison gas by any chance?"
"No. Biochemical weapons can spread harm to civilians, so possession and production are strictly prohibited."
Hearing Lee Hye-na's explanation, Kang Jin-hyuk was dumbfounded.
'Then what the hell did they just spray in my house and run?'
It sure didn't look like air freshener.
To figure out what it was, Kang Jin-hyuk stood up.
"Stay put here for a moment."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"I've got a little experiment to run, so don't worry and just wait."
Kang Jin-hyuk entered deeper into the dungeon and glanced around.
Spotting a few goblins not far from the entrance, his eyes lit up like a ginseng hunter who'd struck gold.
"They say even dog shit is useful if you need medicine, but you guys are always so easy to spot no matter where you go."
Praising them for being so dutiful, Kang Jin-hyuk mercilessly beat the goblins to death.
Among the goblins with their heads bashed in, only one remained intact.
Having watched over four of its comrades die without resistance right in front of it, the goblin lost all will to fight.
It was a bit pitiful seeing it collapse and whimper, but there was no time for sympathy now.
"Sorry. Your lives come second to my safety, so I can't help it."
Just as a hunter feels no guilt for each animal, Kang Jin-hyuk grabbed the goblin by the scruff without a shred of pity.
"Kreeek! Kree!"
The goblin thrashed with all its might.
But Kang Jin-hyuk's grip didn't budge even if the goblin used every ounce of strength from its nursing days.
Lee Hye-na, who had been crouching at the dungeon entrance, jumped in surprise at the approaching footsteps and the goblin's screams.
"When did you catch a monster?"
"There were a few just ahead, so I grabbed one."
"You've got time for that right now? What if you get tracked..."
"It was necessary."
Kang Jin-hyuk held the goblin by the neck and approached the dungeon entrance closely.
'Lucia could go outside if I held her hand. This should work the same.'
If not, oh well.
With a whatever-happens attitude, Kang Jin-hyuk casually tossed the goblin out.
The goblin safely crossed the boundary between the dungeon and the attic, tumbling into Kang Jin-hyuk's house.
"Kree?"
Bewildered and confused, the goblin took a breath—and that's when the change hit.
"Kreeeeeeeeeeek!!"
With that inhale, the goblin felt as if its entire body was being torn apart in agony.
Screaming only made it breathe in more, amplifying the pain even further.
In just three seconds, the goblin collapsed, spewing blood from its eyes, nose, mouth, and every orifice.
By seven seconds, even its twitching had stopped.
Even accounting for its child-sized stature, killing a goblin in a mere seven seconds showed just how vicious the poison gas was.
"Looks like Titan developed some poison gas without you knowing, Secretary."
"What? No way!"
Lee Hye-na denied it vehemently, her eyes snapping wide open.
But all she saw was a solid wall.
Unlike Kang Jin-hyuk, she couldn't see outside.
"W-where are we? What's this wall?"
"I'll explain later. First, take a look at this."
Kang Jin-hyuk placed his hand on Lee Hye-na's shoulder.
At that touch, the view beyond the attic wall became visible to her as well.
"Oh?"
Startled by the phenomenon, Lee Hye-na soon spotted the green smoke filling the house and the goblin corpse on the floor, snapping to attention.
"Eeeeeek!"
The goblin's corpse, covered in blisters all over, was too gruesome a sight for an office woman's nerves.
Seeing how shaken she was, Kang Jin-hyuk removed his hand from her shoulder.
With the outside view blocked by the wall again, Lee Hye-na had time to compose herself.
"W-what was that just now? Isn't that Hunter Kang Jin-hyuk's house?"
"Everyone else left a bit ago, and one hunter stayed behind to throw a capsule. Then the house turned into that."
"N-no way..."
As the guild master's personal secretary in a major guild, Lee Hye-na was well-versed in the prohibited items hunters weren't allowed to carry.
What had been dispersed in Kang Jin-hyuk's house was among the top of that forbidden list.
"It's poison gas synthesized from basilisk venom, arachne venom, and other toxic substances. Definitely."
Even in that brief glimpse, Lee Hye-na hadn't missed the distinctive colored blotches on the goblin.
Those were danger signs she knew all too well.
"Looks like they didn't smuggle basilisk venom just to poison Mr. Seo Sang-ho after all."
"Then what else would they use something that dangerous for..."
"Why do you think people use poison gas?"
Its advantage was wiping out large numbers of enemies quickly and easily.
With guild tensions running high right now, the intent behind producing this was obvious.
"Crazy bastards."
Lee Hye-na didn't argue when Kang Jin-hyuk cursed her guild right to her face.
In her view, this crossed the line.
"Won't they get caught right away if they use poison gas like this?"
"No... The scary part about this poison is that it completely vanishes from the body after ten minutes."
"No poison like that exists."
"That's what we thought until monsters appeared."
As Lee Hye-na said, the world had changed dramatically since monsters emerged.
Even science had been upended by brand-new materials never seen before.
Just a few years ago, industries were in chaos over new energy resources.
"Fuck."
Kang Jin-hyuk watched with his own eyes as the blister-covered goblin corpse returned to normal.
Not only did the poison disappear from the body—it erased every trace.
No weapon was more perfect for a crime without evidence.
"This isn't something we can just complain to Titan about."
"...You're right. We're all in the same boat."
Lee Hye-na had no excuses.
Even if it wasn't an item that passed through her hands, she couldn't deny responsibility for her guild's wrongdoing.
She'd had the opportunity and power to uncover the information beforehand and stop it.
Failing that had led to this mess.
As the guild master's direct secretary, Lee Hye-na keenly realized she hadn't fulfilled her duties.
"Hunter Kang Jin-hyuk... no, Sir Kang Jin-hyuk."
"Yeah?"
Kang Jin-hyuk had a bad feeling when Lee Hye-na suddenly addressed him with a higher honorific.
This was the prelude to an unreasonable request.
Sure enough, Lee Hye-na bowed nearly 90 degrees and pleaded for help.
"Please, I beg you. Help us out."
"Hey, what can I even do alone..."
Just moments ago, he'd been no match for an S-rank hunter.
He'd landed a hit with his enchanted ability, but no guarantee it would work again.
Honestly, with his current power, he had no confidence in resolving Titan's crisis.
But in Kang Jin-hyuk's eyes, he saw Lee Hye-na trembling on both shoulders and Seo Sang-ho still passed out on the floor.
Betrayed by their own guildmates, how many people could these two trust right now?
Probably none.
'I'm such a pushover idiot.'
He knew it was a stupid choice, so a deep sigh escaped him.
Still, he didn't take back his decision.
"Alright. Fuck it, let's give it a shot."
He did have one card left to play.