Chapter 95: There's No Such Thing as a Bad Trait (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 95: There's No Such Thing as a Bad Trait (4)
“Hehe… Heheheh…!”
A smile was plastered on Elena’s face as she picked up the carapaces from the ground, and it wasn’t fading.
Actually, forget fading—her laughter seemed to be getting creepier by the second.
Not that I didn’t understand.
Since the carapaces she was gathering would all be turned into cash, it must have felt like she was picking up money that was just lying on the ground.
“Hmm…”
Our progress was smooth.
No, rather than smooth, ‘swift’ might be a better word.
That’s how fast our battles were.
While the two tankers in front kept the ants tied down, we blasted them with the spells we’d prepared.
It was all thanks to a simple yet effective strategy.
“A bit of a shame, though.”
But if you were to ask if everything was perfect, the answer would be no.
“Hm? What is?”
Im Na-eun, who was next to me, tilted her head when she heard me mutter.
“Ah… the condition of the carapaces is a bit disappointing.”
There was no problem with the dungeon clear itself.
It was just a waste to see the quality—and value—of the carapaces drop because of our method.
The explosions from Fireball were effective at killing the ants, but they also caused a lot of damage.
The ones caught in the center of the blast had their carapaces shattered into pieces, rendering them useless.
After seeing this for herself, Im Na-eun also spoke in a regretful tone.
“Yeah… it is a bit of a waste.”
Like I said, that was all money.
Clearing a dungeon isn’t some noble endeavor.
It’s just a place where Hunters come to make money in a slightly more dangerous way.
And right now, that money was slipping through our fingers.
“Hmm.”
I thought for a moment.
Was there a way to hunt them while minimizing the loss?
We could just slow down, but that would increase the burden on the tankers.
“If I can earn more, it is fine! My body is very strong!”
She flexed, showing me her bicep.
It seemed she wanted to appeal to me with how durable she was, but that was the wrong move.
“Elena, there’s nothing more foolish than harming your body just to earn a little more money.”
She pouted.
“Do-jin, you do not know. My family’s hunger is more painful to me.”
So she was saying she’d be satisfied if her family could eat well, even if it meant she had to suffer a little more.
“That’s too short-sighted.”
“Short… sighted? What is that word?”
Ah, maybe that was too difficult.
“What I mean is, let’s not stop at just solving the immediate hunger.”
“Then what more do we do?”
“A very nice house, delicious food, pretty clothes. Don’t you want to give them all of that?”
“…I want to!”
“To do all that, you can’t get hurt now, Elena.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Good.
I was glad she understood.
For a Hunter, their body is their greatest asset.
I realized that too late.
If I had known a little earlier, Son Si-woo’s body would be in much better shape than it is now. No, he might have even broken through another one of the walls holding him back.
“Thank you, Do-jin.”
“Hm?”
Why the sudden thanks?
“You are the first. The first person to worry about my health.”
“Ah…”
She had a way of pulling at your heartstrings when you least expected it.
My resolve hardened.
I had to help Elena earn even a single penny more.
And hey, if we earned more in the process, all the better.
“Let’s change our strategy, starting now.”
The answer came to me easily.
Ultimately, we just needed a method other than explosions, one that would keep the carapaces safe, right?
I immediately proposed the new plan to the team.
“That would definitely keep the carapaces safe.”
“…And we’d get less of that damn green fluid on us.”
The reactions were quite positive.
“Then let’s test it out right away.”
After finishing our discussion, we immediately headed deeper into the dungeon.
Soon, pairs of eyes glinted in the darkness.
Our formation didn’t change.
The two tankers moved as one, holding off the ants’ attacks.
Normally, this was when we would start charging Fireball, but this time, we prepared something different.
I started.
Gathering white mana, I spread it wide over the area where the ants were swarming.
It felt like spraying a can of aerosol.
Simultaneously, a thick fog began to form at their feet.
It wasn't a natural fog, but a frost fog, saturated with the mana of chilling cold.
「Ice Fog.」
The ants’ movements, already slowed once by Elena’s trait, became even more sluggish.
As the cold seeped into them, their bodies tensed up, and the frequency of their attacks decreased.
At this point, they were just targets.
Sitting ducks waiting to be hit by our magic.
“Should I shoot now?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
We had also prepared a separate spell to finish off the slowed creatures.
To kill them with minimal damage to their carapaces, the best way was to separate their heads from their torsos.
What was needed for this was sharp energy.
Sharply honed blades of wind should be more than enough to sever the joints between their hard carapaces.
「Wind Cutter.」
Sharp gales of wind shot toward the sluggish ants.
We aimed for each of their joints.
Heads flew off, and legs were sliced away.
The tankers and Seo-yeon handled the cleanup.
All they had to do was stab their blades into the necks of the dying, legless ants.
“Ah!”
After the battle, Elena’s body trembled as she checked the ant corpses.
“There is more money…!”
Her face was filled with emotion.
Unlike before, when we could only salvage ten carapaces after killing twenty ants, we could now recover eighteen or nineteen.
“In terms of profit, this is the right way to do it.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“The only problem is that it consumes a bit more mana.”
Unlike using a single Fireball to take out three or four ants at once, Wind Cutter could, at best, hit two.
On top of that, we had to cast Ice Fog, so the higher mana consumption was unavoidable.
Fortunately, we were nearing the end of the dungeon, so we didn't have to worry about running out of mana.
“The boss room should be appearing soon…”
“Ah, I see it over there.”
Speak of the devil.
About three hours into our Ant Nest clear, we reached the boss room.
“Isn’t the average clear time for this place five hours?”
“Yeah, we’re incredibly fast.”
“Heeh.”
A pleased smile spread across Shin Yu-jeong’s face.
We had cleared a dungeon in three hours that took active Hunters five. She must have realized the extraordinary potential of this party.
“Hah… I was worried before we came in, but now that we’re here, it’s better than I thought.”
Im Na-eun let out a sigh of relief, her hand on her chest.
Her expression showed that she was much more at ease than when we had first entered.
In contrast, Elena, who had entered the dungeon full of vigor and had been laughing freely just moments ago, now wore a sullen expression.
“Elena, what’s with the long face? Is something wrong?”
Her reply was a masterpiece.
“I am sad to leave, Do-jin…. Why are good moments always so short?”
“……”
So she was disappointed she couldn't earn more.
“Don’t worry. This isn’t a one-time thing.”
“We will come again?”
“We’ll be clearing dungeons often. For the money, of course, but also to train our teamwork.”
Teamwork is something your body only truly learns through real combat.
How your teammates move in an actual situation, how you should support them, and so on.
There are countless things you can’t learn in standardized training.
Earning money, building a bond with Elena, and strengthening our teamwork all at once.
It was truly a plan that killed two birds with one stone.
“Alright, shall we take care of the boss quickly and go get some rest?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Yes!”
The team members stood up, their faces full of motivation, and headed for the boss room.
I smiled and followed behind them.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A thrilling, dynamic boss battle… never happened.
The boss of the Ant Nest was a queen ant that appeared with dozens of soldier ants. She wasn't powerful on her own; rather, her ability was to cast beneficial buffs on her soldiers. As long as you could deal with the mobs easily, she wasn't a difficult opponent.
And our team excelled at clearing mobs.
We held the swarming soldier ants in place and wiped them all out cleanly.
The remaining queen ant, of course, couldn't block all the magic flying at her and collapsed.
The whole thing took exactly 30 minutes.
In the end, we had completed the dungeon clear in 3 hours and 30 minutes.
The guards stationed in front of the dungeon were shocked to see us emerge so quickly.
Anyway.
Our next destination was what people commonly called the Exchange Office.
Its official name was the ‘Monster Byproduct Exchange,’ but everyone just called it the Exchange Office because it was a hassle to say the full name.
There, we sold off all the carapaces from the Ant Nest and the mana stone we got from the safety room after defeating the boss.
Our total earnings for the day came out to about 15 million won.
After a 20% tax…
“That’s roughly 12 million won.”
Divided among the members, that meant a profit of about 2.4 million won per person.
It was a considerable amount for a C-rank dungeon.
I immediately divided the money equally and transferred it to the four of them.
“T-Two million, four hundred thousand won…!”
Elena’s body trembled as she stared at the transfer amount on her smartphone screen.
Barely tearing her eyes away from the screen, she ran over and grabbed my hands tightly.
“Do-jin, thank you so much! If not for you, I would never have earned this kind of money…!”
“You don’t need to thank me. You worked hard for it, Elena.”
She shook her head.
“You were the only one, Do-jin. The only one who utilized me properly.”
It seemed she was grateful not just for the money, but for the fact that I had made use of her abilities.
Well… having experienced it once before just made things a little easier.
I had learned something back then.
That there’s no such thing as a bad trait.
And honestly, Elena is a piece of cake.
Compared to that chunibyo kid I first struggled with… she’s not just a piece of cake, she’s an absolute angel.
In any case, my plan to change her perception was a success.
I could tell just by looking into her eyes.
Her gaze, which had been as sharp as thorns, had softened considerably.
The eyes are the window to the soul, they say.
I could see her heart slowly opening up to us.
“But, umm…”
“Yes?”
She asked me a question tentatively, a hesitant look on her face.
“Will we be going again next time…?”
So that was it.
“I told you, didn’t I? As long as we’re a team, we’ll be clearing dungeons regularly.”
“Is that so…”
Hearing my words, Elena nodded as if she had made up her mind.
“Then I will do my best. I will study Korean harder, and train my trait harder, and harder!”
It felt like her motivation, which had been half-extinguished, had been reignited.
In many ways, this was a gain for me.
“Great. I’m counting on you.”
“I understand! I am counting on you too, Do-jin.”
Ahh, nice.
After that heartwarming conversation, I looked around to check on the others.
Most of them felt similarly.
They weren’t as deeply moved as Elena, but they were happy with the substantial earnings.
Among them, the one who caught my eye was none other than Seo-yeon.
The girl who had maintained a blunt expression the whole time was now quietly smiling to herself.
That was a little unexpected.
I thought that since she grew up in wealth, this amount of money wouldn't faze her.
“Ah.”
Perhaps she felt my steady gaze.
She lifted her head, and our eyes met.
The smile vanished from her lips.
Her mouth opened slightly.
“You worked hard.”
A dry tone.
It felt strange.
Those were words I had desperately wanted to hear when I was in Son Si-woo’s body.
Whenever I bothered her a little, she would retreat to her room, tossing those words at me.
It was the same back then as it was now.
Dry, but not completely barren—a phrase that held a faint, lingering warmth.
That quiet warmth made me even more curious.
Just why did she hate facing her father so much?
Forcing down my frustration, I managed to utter a single phrase.
“…You too, Sunbae.”
That was all I could do right now.