Chapter 179
Chapter 179
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Part 2 Episode 42
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People gathered in a cluster in front of the cleanly cleared exit, marveling at it.
[Kieeeek!]
The roar, presumed to be from the monster, grew louder. Suddenly, the regular monsters that hadn't been regenerating began crawling out from all directions.
"Everyone, please handle those regular monsters outside."
Woo Ji-yoon generated fire from her hand, floating it in the air to brightly illuminate the path ahead.
Just as the exit had collapsed in a cloud of dust, Woo Ji-yoon leaped straight into the boss room.
While running, she gripped the hilt of her sword from the hunter band. As she poured mana into the hilt, a blade extended from it, wrapped in fierce flames.
Woo Ji-yoon charged toward where the tongue lizard boss was, twirling her sword in a flashy display. The dark interior lit up brightly with the dancing light of the fiery blade.
[Kieeeek!]
The tongue lizard boss clinging to the wall screeched at the sudden intruder's arrival.
Crack!
Woo Ji-yoon lightly leaped toward the wall where the tongue lizard was, thrusting her sword into its lower back.
Placing both hands on the hilt of the embedded sword and using the recoil from her arms, the monster's body touching the blade tore apart with a splurt, igniting in flames.
"Looks like Sang-hoon wore down a lot of the boss's strength. That was easy."
Woo Ji-yoon landed lightly on the ground, retrieved her sword, and roughly wiped off the monster's blood.
"I let you have the finishing blow, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks."
Ignoring Moon Se-rim who was sauntering up from behind, Woo Ji-yoon looked for Pyo Sang-hoon.
Fire burst from her hand, lighting up the vast boss area.
"Seeing the door's closed, looks like the boss found us after all. Guess B-Class just can't help it."
Moon Se-rim dusted off the thick stone debris that had blocked the exit from her body and sneered.
"Not surprising from someone who's been demoted to B-Class before. You sound so pitiful."
Woo Ji-yoon sneered back, and Moon Se-rim scowled, muttering curses under her breath.
"Ah... Dawn turned Abyss into a punching bag. Even Woo Ji-yoon, ranked lower than me, beats me up without fear."
"Stop acting tough. We all know you're dragging down Abyss's average image."
Moon Se-rim's forehead vein bulged as she looked around the pitch-black surroundings. Whenever Abyss's image came up, everyone blamed her.
"Not surprising from an Insta clown. All you care about is your image. Attention-seekers can't help but get played."
"They say it's an intelligence issue since you can't understand it."
"What am I supposed to do with hashtags?"
Woo Ji-yoon and Moon Se-rim wandered the boss area searching for Pyo Sang-hoon.
All confirmed survivors from the dispatched close team had been transported to the hospital, so Pyo Sang-hoon was the only one left in the boss room.
"Isn't that Pyo Sang-hoon collapsed over there?"
When Moon Se-rim pointed to one side, Woo Ji-yoon created more flames and shone them over there.
Pyo Sang-hoon, a mess from critical injuries, was leaning against the wall, breathing raggedly.
"Ah..."
Pyo Sang-hoon, looking at Moon Se-rim and Woo Ji-yoon through half-closed eyes, covered his face in relief.
He hadn't had enough mana or stamina to fully kill the tongue lizard boss with its self-regeneration ability, so he'd been desperately holding out without finishing it.
He'd also been constantly supplying white light nets to Dawn, making it even harder to land a fatal blow on the boss.
When he couldn't see ahead and could only pray for a miracle, the A-Class kids had arrived.
"God... You held out so well, Sang-hoon. Really."
Woo Ji-yoon rushed over and jabbed several recovery syringes into Pyo Sang-hoon's arm.
"No, more than me... Dawn... sis..."
"What?"
"Over there... quick..."
Exhausted Pyo Sang-hoon painfully pointed with a finger.
The boss area was full of craters that looked like traces of attacks, and atop one of them, yellow and white light nets were piled thickly.
Sparks crackled around that area.
"Dawn sis... is in there..."
Woo Ji-yoon's face hardened. Moon Se-rim, leaning in to understand Pyo Sang-hoon's sporadic words, scowled.
"Dawn? What do you mean? Why would Dawn be in a B-Rank..."
Suddenly, she remembered this gate was originally F-Rank. Moon Se-rim and Woo Ji-yoon turned toward the pit piled with nets in surprise.
As they approached, Pyo Sang-hoon retrieved the nets.
As the fight dragged on, the tongue lizard boss had decided to kill Dawn first and attacked her.
So he'd left Dawn in the massive crater the tongue lizard boss had created and covered it with electric nets.
"Hey, Lee Dawn!!! What are you doing here!!!"
"Wha-what?! Crazy, Lee Dawn! Why are you in a B-Rank like this!"
Dawn was curled up lying in the pit. Moon Se-rim hurriedly dumped recovery-related meds into Woo Ji-yoon's arms.
Perhaps from hearing her name shouted so loudly, Dawn's eyelids fluttered.
When she fully opened her eyes, she saw familiar kids urgently calling her with worried faces.
"Dawn, you with us?"
Dawn nodded blankly.
"...What."
Rubbing her throbbing head, she sat up and coughed dryly several times from the dust in her throat.
She'd survived countless critical wounds before, but she hadn't thought she'd survive getting electrocuted in that state.
"...How'd you get here? Weren't you raiding a gate?"
Dawn asked in a raspy voice.
She remembered there were several fairly high-rank emission-type gates nearby, and figured they'd be stuck there.
"It closed sooner than expected, so we could come."
"Ah..."
Dawn nodded slowly as if understanding. Then she scowled tensely and spoke in a serious tone.
"Pyo Sang-hoon?"
"He's alive, thankfully."
"Tough bastard."
Dawn, having jabbed a recovery syringe into herself, stood and stretched.
Their arrival meant they hadn't managed to kill the boss and leave. Still, they'd held out well until more reinforcements came.
'...No shirt on my face?'
Dawn suddenly noticed how clearly she could see and tilted her head.
She'd covered her face in case the gruesome death shocked them.
Worried that electrocution death would make people freak out at Pyo Sang-hoon, she'd used his outer jacket for abdominal bleeding control.
'Ah, thought I tied it tight, but it came off.'
Dawn retrieved the bloody shirt nearby and casually draped it over her shoulders.
At least the feared situation hadn't happened. She was glad, but oddly a bit disappointed.
Still, surviving to see next week's new movie release was a relief.
Dawn yawned hugely, smacked her lips, and looked around. Far off, Pyo Sang-hoon was slumped asleep.
He was safe, good.
She'd brought along a school friend who threw a fit about becoming a hunter, and he'd stepped in such massive shit.
She didn't know how Pyo Sang-hoon got dragged into this, but he was pitiful too.
Anyway, everyone safe—happy ending.
She should report this weird gate to the Association.
Staggering toward the exit to finally go home, Moon Se-rim followed naturally, carrying Woo Ji-yoon and Pyo Sang-hoon on her back.
"Dawn, that hole in your stomach... you okay...?"
"Ah, this? Haven't taken a critical hit in a while, hurts a bit, dude."
"Don't get hurt in random places. Makes me upset."
"I'm fine, not dying~"
Dawn looked down at her healing abdominal wound.
She used to shrug this off before, but maybe she'd adapted to a comfy life— it felt burdensome now.
"Dawn, you're not a hunter anymore, so if you just behave, you won't get hurt."
Moon Se-rim looked at Dawn worriedly. Dawn, checking her wound, suddenly hardened her expression.
"I haven't quit the Association, so why am I not a hunter? Show some respect for what I've done, damn it."
"Ah, aa. Sorry... I didn't mean it badly!! I meant you don't have to push yourself, my mouth runs away..."
Moon Se-rim apologized in a fluster with wide eyes, and Dawn fell silent thoughtfully before speaking softly.
"...That's my berserk button, be careful. Blood pressure shoots up suddenly."
"Uh... yeah... sorry..."
Dawn relaxed her furrowed brows, reached out, and roughly ruffled Moon Se-rim's curly hair, who looked anxious.
Seeing Dawn's mood lighten, Moon Se-rim's face lit up with sudden joy and she spoke.
"Th-that, Dawn! Long time no see, wanna grab food? Ah, you hate food right now? Wanna play basketball? Ah, too tired? Movie then? Animated?"
"Tactless jerk, Dawn got tangled in a B-Rank and is exhausted—let her rest."
Woo Ji-yoon worriedly eyed the tired-looking Dawn and snapped at fidgety Moon Se-rim.
"How do you know how she feels? She might wanna play to relieve stress. The kid who spars with supervisors and always hits amusement parks is Dawn."
"You were whining about wanting fresh air without judging the situation, so she took you along."
Dawn quietly listened to their bickering, then laughed and stumbled, grabbing the wall.
"Ah, Dawn. Hard to walk?"
Woo Ji-yoon scooped up the struggling Dawn effortlessly. Maybe she still wasn't eating well— she felt super light.
"Dawn, how'd you end up in a place like this."
"Tried helping some kid out of boredom and got backstabbed by a B-Rank gate."
Woo Ji-yoon frowned at that. Not looking down on Dawn, but gates' monsters were getting stronger lately.
She'd been lucky rescued without major injury this time, but imagining Dawn dying unseen somewhere later made her dizzy.
Woo Ji-yoon hesitated, then spoke.
"Dawn, y'know... about raiding gates... it can be dangerous, so..."
"Got it, I'll hold back on closing gates. Gotta study for entrance exams anyway, no time for side gigs."
Before she finished, Dawn curtly cut her off.
The wrinkled nose from her profile laugh revealed Dawn's bruised pride.
"Dawn..."
She felt bad for hurting Dawn needlessly, but Dawn hooked her arm around Woo Ji-yoon's neck and hugged tight.
"More than that, you guys are loaded now—buy me food. Starving after nearly dying."
"Wha, what's this? Let's do it! Just say the word!"
Woo Ji-yoon beamed, relieved at Dawn's usual carefree return.
She always thought it, but Dawn hunching her shoulders for tight hugs was so lovable.
Lately, Dawn walled off everyone but normal school friends, making Woo Ji-yoon fear she wasn't needed anymore—but moments like this reassured her.
"See, that's why I said food first. Dawn, remember? I know you well, right?"
Moon Se-rim, wanting to brag she mentioned Dawn's desire first before Woo Ji-yoon, lightly tapped Dawn's foot.
"Expensive stuff okay?"
"Hey, of course!"
Moon Se-rim bounced excitedly that Dawn requested something.
From that, the sleeping Pyo Sang-hoon rolled off her back.
Panicked Moon Se-rim hoisted him back up before a scolding and cleared her throat.
Awakened Pyo Sang-hoon blinked. He had something to say to Dawn and cleared his throat, but something felt off.
"Hyung-nim, feels like my neck's twisted."
"I'll buy you food too."
"I'll recover on my own."
* * *
Less than two minutes after the Abyss rankers entered the boss area, the boss died, and less than ten minutes later, they emerged with the survivors.
As soon as they exited the gate, the blue rift closed neatly.
Hunters waiting outside swarmed the Abyss-origin hunters who'd handled a B-Rank boss so quickly and cleanly, eager to exchange even a few more words.
Curious about who the survivors were, too.
They'd heard two survivors held out, and for just two to endure a B-Rank boss, both had to be highly skilled.
The curious crowd eyed the two survivors being supported by Moon Se-rim and Woo Ji-yoon.
Surprisingly youthful faces.
"Please state your names, affiliations, and ranks."
An Association official came down to record survivor info and approached Dawn and Pyo Sang-hoon.
"Lee Dawn, Association affiliate, N1 Rank."
Pyo Sang-hoon eyed Dawn quietly while rubbing his neck, then spoke.
"Pyo Sang-hoon, Association affiliate, E3 Rank."
While the official recorded, other hunters overheard.
"E3 Rank and N1 Rank? Makes sense? N mana rank means unawakened, right?"
"Could you fake ranks before?"
"Heard it was possible before, but hard after GAL Rank implementation."
Then, seeing the survivors chat casually with Abyss rankers, it clicked.
"Ah! Abyss... got it."
"Their bottom ranks... aren't really bottom."
"Ah, but that's Lee Dawn. The only unawakened hunter from Abyss. Heard from an insider she was the top student prospect back then... Anyway, amazing."
People sorted their gear, pretended to be busy, but stole glances at the Abyss group.
Scary, intimidating hunters surrounded one kid, chattering loudly.
"Dawn, so what do you wanna eat? Sushi? Meat? Pizza?"
"Gotta eat all that then hit up shaved ice. Shaved ice is a must."
"Fish-shaped buns down there were good."
"Yeah, get those too."
"But feels like we're adding what we wanna eat, not what Dawn wants."
The hunter called Lee Dawn at the group's center quietly listened to the back-and-forth, then spoke.
"No preferences. Decide yourselves."
"Then let's hit that new bakery near Association HQ. Wanted to take you there."
"Tako balls too. Disagree and it's Fox Hee."
"Pigs, pick one. I'm going to just one spot."
"Dawn sis wants buffet."
"Oracle? Buffet then shaved ice, fish buns, bakery, tako balls. Disagree and it's Seol Do-yoon."
"Cough, cheat code."
As the menu piled up, Dawn's face paled.