Teamwork
A month had already passed since his meeting with Gwang-ui. During that month, Kang Hyuk had focused entirely on hunting down villains. Having acquired a new skill, he wanted to rake in as much experience and money as possible. Yet even now, a month later, and despite having taken down eight more villains, Kang Hyuk's level remained completely stagnant. He had made a decent amount of money, but his level had been stuck ever since he obtained the Magic Ring Creation skill...!
Naturally, he was deeply frustrated. How could he break through this plateau? Was there really no way to level up much faster than this?
"...Ah, wait a minute." Around noon, while browsing the Public Security Bureau's database, a sudden thought struck him. He opened a browser and logged into Black Dot Com.
Black Dot Com was the premier online community for villains. Here, criminals bought and sold stolen goods, traded contracts, and recruited team members. Even for crimes too difficult to pull off alone, forming a crew made them entirely feasible. Consequently, recruitment threads on Black Dot Com were always highly active.
Tsk, look at these villains trying to play team sports...! But to me, they're just a delicious buffet.Kang Hyuk's eyes gleamed. The moment he logged onto the site, his mind was made up. From now on, he was going to "team-kill" the villains who posted recruitment threads.
Until now, Kang Hyuk had systematically hunted down individual targets listed by the Public Security Bureau. But doing it one by one made his leveling speed feel agonizingly slow. When factoring in travel and preparation time, a single target easily ate up three to four days.
But what if, instead of hunting solo targets, he wiped out entire villain parties all at once? Wouldn't that allow him to farm a massive amount of experience in a fraction of the time?
Of course, the risks were just as clear as the rewards. Facing multiple villains simultaneously meant putting his life on the line...! But Kang Hyuk wasn't particularly worried. Having slaughtered countless villains by now, he had quietly become a seasoned combat veteran.
At his current level, he could easily handle several D-Class villains attacking him at once. Moreover, he now possessed a magic ring that allowed him to cast Shield ten times a day. With that safety net, he would never be in true danger.
Still, five or more might be pushing it. I should look for a party of three or four D-Class villains.Kang Hyuk began scrolling through the forum. True to its nature as a criminal haven, the site's layout was incredibly bleak and dark. But Kang Hyuk couldn't care less. He was only here for one thing.
"...Perfect." Not long after, Kang Hyuk spotted a recruitment post that fit his criteria perfectly. The thread was titled [Kidnapping Party Recruitment], and the summary was simple: [Recruiting team members to kidnap a B-Class hero].
Recruiting three combat-ready D-Class villains... Payout of 20 million won per person upon successful capture...!Kang Hyuk stroked his chin. The terms were excellent. Three D-Class villains were well within his threshold of safety.
Great. Let's make contact immediately.Kang Hyuk began drafting a direct message. It was short and sweet—just a simple request to join the crew.
After sending the meeting time and location, the poster promptly deleted the recruitment thread. It seemed the other two slots had already been filled. Kang Hyuk had barely squeaked in—a stroke of excellent luck.
"Perfect. Once we're all in one place, I'll wipe them out in a single sweep." Kang Hyuk muttered, twisting the magic ring on his ring finger. He was genuinely looking forward to this.
Two days later, the day of the meeting finally arrived. Having completed all his preparations, Kang Hyuk took a taxi straight to the rendezvous point: an old, abandoned factory located on the outskirts of Gyeonggi...!
"...This must be it." Stepping out of the taxi, Kang Hyuk scanned his surroundings. He seemed to be the last to arrive, as he could already sense multiple presences inside the dilapidated building. Slipping on the mask he had prepared, Kang Hyuk pushed open the rusted iron doors.
Screeeech!
"...You're here." As Kang Hyuk stepped inside, three figures turned to greet him. One was a thin man wearing a red skull mask; another was a woman wearing a fox mask; and the last was a fierce-looking, unmasked middle-aged man.
"Chugoe. Correct?"
"And you?"
"The team leader, D-Class villain Red Skull."
The one who had messaged him was indeed Red Skull. Kang Hyuk nodded, then shifted his gaze to the woman and the middle-aged man, silently prompting them to introduce themselves.
"Just call me Fox."
"Rector."
"..."
However, neither of them seemed inclined to share their actual aliases beyond these codenames. This feels a bit like a raw deal,Kang Hyuk thought.
Well... not like it matters anyway.Kang Hyuk shrugged and took his place to Red Skull's left. After all, these people were nothing more than prey to him. None of them would live to see tomorrow's sun.