Chapter 110: Thanks for the Meal (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: Thanks for the Meal (1)
Midterm exams had begun.
They would last for five days.
The first day was all written theory exams, so it went by easily.
“How’d the test go?” asked Im Na-eun, who had finished around the same time as me.
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
I knew all the material and had filled in the answers meticulously, but I couldn’t be sure of the result.
When you’ve been a Hunter for a long time, you get used to your own tricks and shortcuts, which are often different from the textbook methods.
Many of those habits had become so ingrained that even though I was supposed to write down what I’d learned, I kept adding my own personal methods.
In the end, my score would depend on how the grading professor interpreted my answers.
“You did well… I see.”
“Huh? Hehe.”
I didn’t even need to ask; I could tell just by looking at her face.
When everyone else looked miserable but one person was beaming, it was one of two things.
Either they didn’t care about the test in the first place, or they did so well they didn’t have a single thing to worry about.
Knowing Na-eun’s personality, the former was impossible, so it had to be the latter.
“Let’s go get lunch. My treat!”
She was so happy she even offered to pay.
Normally, I would have gladly joined her, but…
“Sorry. I have something urgent to take care of today, so I have to go.”
“Oh… really? Well, I guess it can’t be helped…”
Im Na-eun’s face fell.
I patted her on the shoulder and replied in an apologetic tone.
“Sorry. I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow instead.”
“Okay, it’s a promise?”
“Yeah.”
Only after we linked our pinkies did Im Na-eun’s expression brighten.
I parted ways with her and got into one of the taxis lined up in front of the school gate.
“Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, please.”
“You got it.”
The reason for heading to the terminal was obvious.
My business today wasn’t in Seoul, but outside of it.
I took the taxi straight to the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal and bought a bus ticket.
My destination: Taebaek, Gangwon Province.
My purpose: to find something I had hidden there.
I grabbed three rolls of gimbap for a quick meal and boarded the bus on time.
The trip to the Taebaek Intercity Bus Terminal took two hours.
It really hit me how much the times have changed.
“Two hours to Taebaek. The world’s gotten so much better.”
It was because the express buses, powered by mana stones, were significantly faster than regular ones.
I hailed a waiting taxi and headed off somewhere else again.
The place I finally arrived at was the entrance to Mount Taebaek.
The reason I’d come all this way was hidden right here.
“Sigh, this is going to be a pain.”
I could tell it was going to be a rough day.
I only remembered the general location, so there was a high chance I’d have to wander around a bit.
I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but I might have to spend the night on the mountain, so I had packed some simple provisions.
Some beef jerky and water.
After finishing my preparations, I stepped onto the mountain trail.
The occasional hikers I passed glanced at me sideways as they went by.
Probably because my outfit, from head to toe, was completely unsuitable for hiking.
I followed the trail for a while, and once I confirmed there was no one around, I immediately changed direction.
I left the designated path and entered a wilder, untamed trail.
“Where was it… this way?”
Using my faint old memories as a guide, I headed further up, stepping on the rustling fallen leaves.
With every step, I ran into difficulties.
“Hmph… this isn’t it.”
A good amount of time had passed, and the season was different too, making it incredibly hard to get my bearings.
“I don’t think I’m in a completely wrong place, though…”
A very faint, lingering sense told me my direction wasn’t too far off.
But that was it. From here on, I’d have to look around and put my body through some trouble.
I marked the spot I vaguely remembered with mana, then used it as a central point to search the surrounding area.
If a place felt completely wrong, I’d return. If it seemed vaguely familiar, I’d leave another mark.
Before I knew it, evening had arrived.
“Hmph… this is getting tight.”
If I was delayed any longer, I might not be able to return to Seoul today…
“Was I too hasty?”
I wondered if I had acted too rashly.
Thinking about it calmly, I could have done this after midterms…
“Ah, but that would be too late.”
Midterms wouldn’t be over for at least five days, and by then, it would be too late.
It would have already fallen into someone else’s hands.
“First, let’s get something to eat…”
I filled my stomach with the beef jerky and water I’d brought from the base of the mountain.
It was ridiculously expensive but tasted like cheap crap.
After a short rest, I resumed my search.
Because of the early darkness and cold, I used Light magic to see and Warming magic to keep my body heat up.
I wandered like that for about another hour.
Finally, I found a clue.
A clue that only I in this world could find.
“Huh.”
At a certain point, the flow of mana changed drastically.
The mana, which should have been flowing randomly in all directions, was now all streaming in the same direction.
I followed it.
As I got closer, the flow of mana gradually quickened.
After walking for about five more minutes, I arrived in the middle of an ordinary-looking mountain.
The mana was steadily seeping into the ground beneath a large tree.
“…Finally found it.”
The tree, which looked no different from the others around it, had a small mark.
A small, square mark near the base of the trunk.
I used magic on the ground where the mana was flowing.
「Dig.」
A basic earth-attribute spell that digs a hole in a set area.
The ground, covered in fallen leaves, caved in.
What was revealed was a large rock.
Old memories came flooding back.
I remember scouring the area for a huge rock and throwing it in there to make sure no one would find it.
“That thing… hmm.”
I wondered how to break it.
In the old days, a single punch would have shattered it to pieces.
“…No choice.”
I’d have to do some manual labor.
Using the earth’s mana, I quickly fashioned a tool.
「Earth Hammer.」
A crude hammer made of rock formed in my hand.
Maybe because I made it for myself, but the handle fit my hand perfectly.
“Ptui!”
I spread my mana wide to block as much sound as possible from escaping, then spat on my palms for a better grip.
Then, using my whole body, I swung down with all my might…!
CRACK!
Powered by muscles as taut as springs, the hammer in my hand bit into the rock.
Crack!
A long fissure spread out from the dented spot.
A few more hits like this should do it.
I swung the hammer again.
CRACK!
CRUNCH!
After swinging the hammer frantically about ten times, the rock finally shattered into pieces.
I tossed the large fragments out of the pit to clear a path.
At last, a small tunnel, just big enough to crawl through, appeared.
I hunched over as low as I could and crawled to the end, where…
“Found it.”
There was a small rift.
The rift that led to a dungeon.
Dungeons could appear anywhere, anytime.
Most were discovered when the preliminary signs were detected by mana concentration monitors installed in the area, but sometimes, dungeons with low mana levels went undetected.
This was one of those places.
A so-called ‘Unconfirmed Dungeon’ that had never been reported because the rift was too small to reach the threshold that would trigger the monitors’ alarms.
Normally, the rule was to report unconfirmed dungeons to the Association immediately upon discovery, but…
“Who’s going to care about some trivial law when there’s a huge profit to be made?”
Every large guild secretly owned three or four unconfirmed dungeons.
The reason was obvious… they were beneficial to the guild in many ways.
They could support the growth of their affiliated Hunters by having them clear the dungeons, and the byproducts from them were traded on the Black Market, so they didn’t have to pay taxes.
My guild, of course, also had a few of these unconfirmed dungeons.
To be honest, moving around secretly behind the scenes isn’t my style, so I suggested we just report them several times, but it never went anywhere.
A guild isn’t run by the sole decision of its leader.
This place was one of the unconfirmed dungeons owned by my guild.
Moreover, it was a top-secret location, known only to a few executives, including myself.
Its name was the ‘Moon-viewing Cave.’
The monsters that appeared here were enhanced individuals like ‘Moonlight-consumed’ Orcs or Goblins.
Creatures with that kind of prefix were about 1.5 times stronger than normal monsters.
Truthfully, it wasn’t a very profitable place.
The monsters were 1.5 times stronger, but the byproducts you got from them were no different from those of regular monsters.
In other words, it was a place that was more trouble than it was worth—you had to put in more effort, but the rewards were the same.
Despite that, there was a reason this dungeon was kept as an unconfirmed one instead of being reported.
And that reason was why I had come all this way.
I immediately reached for the rift and moved into the dungeon.
[You have entered the Moon-viewing Cave.]
I dismissed the message that appeared before my eyes, got up, and took in the scenery.
A soft light was seeping out from the dark walls.
This was one of the reasons it was called the Moon-viewing Cave.
That’s because the moonlight shining down into the boss room permeates the entire cave, causing it to emit a soft glow.
“No monsters… huh.”
A dungeon is reset a certain amount of time after the boss monster in the boss room is killed.
The fact that there wasn’t a single monster in the cave meant that all the regular monsters had been cleared out, leaving only the boss.
This was perfect for me.
It meant all I had to do was walk in and take the boss’s head.
I followed the winding path.
Even though I was walking at a fairly brisk pace, it took a full 30 minutes to reach the door to the boss room.
“So long…”
If there had been monsters scattered about, it might have taken two or three times as long.
Before opening the door, I briefly recalled the boss monster from this place.
“What came out of here again…?”
It was already ten years ago, so I couldn’t remember clearly, but I thought it was a rather grotesque creature.
“…Well, I’ll know when I go in.”
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I remembered one thing for sure.
It wasn’t a very high-rank creature.
So I didn’t need to worry too much.
With a light heart, I pushed open the massive door with all my strength.
Creeeeak…
The door opened with a loud groan, revealing an interior filled with soft moonlight.
“Huh?”
A huge cavern.
The boss that was supposed to be there was nowhere to be seen.
“…What the.”
A sudden ominous thought flashed through my mind.
Could it be that they had already cleared the dungeon and taken it?
“Please, please, please.”
I repeated the word ‘please’ over and over as I crossed the cavern.
At the very end of the cavern was a small area where silvery, mana-infused moonlight poured down endlessly.
And there… was a single flower.
A pale yellow flower on the verge of blooming, having absorbed moonlight as its nourishment for ninety-nine years and three hundred and sixty days.
“Phew!”
The moment I confirmed the flower’s existence, a sigh of relief escaped me.
Thankfully, it seemed they hadn’t gotten to it first.
Wait.
Isn’t that even weirder, then?
“The flower is here, so why is the boss missing…”
Just then.
I felt an intense presence from above.
Kiiieee!
An ominous sound.
I twisted my body and snapped my head up.
Something was plummeting in a straight line from the ceiling right toward me.
“Ah, I remember now.”
Seeing its face, I finally remembered.
“The Moonlight Spider.”
A giant spider that, just like the beautifully blooming pale yellow flower, had grown by endlessly feeding on the moonlight here.
Its sharp legs shot toward me.