Chapter 0—6. A Classic, Traditional Method (2)
Lee Jun studied the woman standing before him.
He couldn't sense mana directly, but years of accumulated experience had taught him to size people up all the same. Her weapon was new, though hardly high quality. Her gear, at least, wasn't bargain-bin junk — decent cost-effective pieces, the kind you'd recommend to a budget-conscious hunter. There was no real confidence in her expression or her voice, but she was clearly capable of approaching another hunter and offering a party invite unprompted. Low rank, solid fundamentals. The type who'd been brushed aside one too many times for their grade, no doubt — yet, in Lee Jun's experience, people like her were leagues better than the idiots who swaggered around waving their rank like a badge.
What should I do….
Three more people stood behind the woman. The tension between them was obvious — a hastily thrown-together party of low-rank hunters, probably less than half a year into the job. None of the three showed anywhere near her potential.
With his assessment done, Lee Jun found himself hesitating. Keep looking around, or run with this group for the day? After a moment's thought, he asked the woman her name.
"What's your name?"
"Ch-Choi Jeong-hyeon."
"Good to meet you, Jeong-hyeon. How long have you been hunting?"
"Five months, as a warrior. I'm D-rank, but… my stats are already at the threshold for a promotion request. I know Seoul Dungeon inside and out, so nothing dangerous will happen. I promise."
Hm. Somehow this had turned into a job interview.
He couldn't let the atmosphere get too stiff. For one thing, she'd never show her real skill under that kind of pressure — but more importantly, it could get dangerous inside the dungeon. With the officials from the big guilds swaggering around everywhere, there was no way to show their true colors openly, which made any dangerous situation that much harder to handle.
So Lee Jun answered as brightly as he could manage.
Voice modulator still on, of course.
"Nice to meet you. I'm a gunner, C-rank. I was actually looking for a party too — any chance I could join you?"
"O-of course!"
He'd guessed from the start that they had no gunner, and sure enough, Choi Jeong-hyeon's face lit up noticeably at the news.
Alright. Let's put some shoe leather in.
He hadn't expected to find a promising candidate on day one. At this rate, things were going far more smoothly than anticipated.
"He'll be back. Mark my words."
"I don't think so, sir."
"No — I'm certain. The other guilds aren't fools. Of course they'll reject his number. And then he'll have no choice but to hunt the districts himself, won't he?"
"Hm…."
"It's certain."
"Then I'll report to the Guildmaster."
"Keep it from the Madam. No reason to stir up unnecessary conflict. With everyone and their brother climbing the rankings these days, she has enough on her plate — let's not pile more weight on her shoulders."
"…Understood."
"For now, focus on anyone who seems suspicious. People dressed strangely, outfits we haven't seen before. Match height and build against the intel I sent you. Knowing that man, he'll absolutely try to stay under the radar."
Beeeep.
Beeeep.
Beeeep.
"I've spotted him. A suspicious individual who appeared out of nowhere. Body type matches."
"Good work. Keep tailing him."
"Yes, sir."
Lee Jun entered Seoul Dungeon with his newly assembled party. Inside, the place was, as always, crawling with people. Seoul was the most densely populated city in the country, and its dungeon lived up to it. The guilds had been pushed out to the provinces in an effort to stop hunters from clustering around the capital, but the measure had never actually solved the problem.
This place could use some attention too, one of these days.
Granted, the crowds only stretched from the entrance to the boss spawn site. Past that, some areas saw virtually no foot traffic at all. The Ant Nest, after all, had been hidden in exactly such a forgotten corner — proof enough of how badly the crowds bunched up even within Seoul Dungeon.
"Shall we get moving, then?"
"Sounds good."
The party leader was Choi Jeong-hyeon. She'd insisted the highest-ranked hunter should take the role, but Lee Jun had flatly refused. If he stepped to the front here, it would be impossible to gauge the others' capabilities. He'd claimed the gunner slot partly because it seemed necessary — but really, it was just an excuse to stay in the back and coast.
"Alright then… let's start by moving to this spot, about 390 meters southeast of the boss spawn site."
The location Choi Jeong-hyeon marked on the map was a kobold settlement. Kobolds were a species known primarily for their vicious ranged shooters. She was apparently planning to make the most of her highest-ranked member — Lee Jun himself.
A reasonable call.
"Actually, I think this spot over here would be better."
Except it clashed with his own intentions. He hadn't come to this dungeon to hunt efficiently — he'd come to see whether there was any decent talent here. Better, then, to pick monsters that would let the warriors shine.
But without knowing that, her confusion was only natural.
"Isn't that… the Ogre Encampment?"
"It is."
"Ah… hmm… wouldn't kobolds be better than ogres? You see, our composition is…."
Three warriors, one gunner, one rogue.
Of course, that was only the broad taxonomy handed down by the Dimension System. Looked at more closely, Choi Jeong-hyeon was a Vanguard wielding a greatsword, while the other two warriors were Knights with straight swords. Gunners were further subdivided by their choice of firearm, and mages split across five elemental schools.
And rogues were… just rogues.
Lee Jun had no status window anyway, so he'd never cared much for system classifications. He'd been that way from the very beginning — sorting and judging people purely by what his senses told him. Which was exactly why he was so confident in his ability to teach. Strip away everything peripheral, and all that remained was the person in front of you.
"The most troublesome kobolds are their archers, you see. To take them down you'd need a gunner with longer range than theirs — and…"
With that, Lee Jun drew a pistol from his hip. A Glock 17.
Standard Association issue, at that.
"My main armament is a sidearm. Kobolds outrange me."
"…Then kobolds are definitely out, aren't they."
Naturally, Lee Jun's Pocket held everything from anti-materiel rifles to ARs, SMGs, shotguns — a full arsenal in waiting. But right now he had to be as useless as possible, which was why he'd shown off the starter gear the Association handed out to rookie hunters.
"Hmm… in that case, I suppose ogres really are the best fit for this party."
In terms of raw physicality, ogres were among the strongest monsters in Seoul Dungeon — and, inversely, among the dumbest. Beasts that ignored the rear ranks and charged only at the enemy in front of their eyes. For a warrior-heavy party, standing toe-to-toe with these things was the soundest play by far.
"Plus, this area's close to the boss monster, so the odds of running into trouble are low."
The guild assigned to today's boss monster was Taesan. Taesan's members were level-grinding fanatics, so whenever they drew a boss assignment, the vice-guildmaster personally brought parties made up entirely of rookies. It was a strategy that weaponized, to its absolute limit, the rule that experience from a shared kill was split evenly.
Granted, Seoul Dungeon's boss monster would fall easily even to hunters below its tier. Rookies or not, they were Taesan's rookies. Bring them against mid-tier monsters instead, and they'd struggle — which was precisely why the vice-guildmaster tagged along: to save time and keep things safe. For the rookies themselves, apparently, it was a dream arrangement — nothing felt quite as good as being invested in.
Taesan's vice-guildmaster was a natural-born martial artist. No matter what mask Lee Jun wore, one look at him fighting and the man would see straight through it. Then again, the vice-guildmaster believed Lee Jun was a warrior-type among martial classes. Lee Jun's class had never been made public, so it was all speculation — but among the guesses, "warrior" held the majority, not least because he'd most often been seen swinging a sword.
Of course, Lee Jun, lacking any status window at all, didn't know his own class either. The martial-artist theory was only a guess; crack him open, and he might be something else entirely. And since no one had any way to peer into another person's status window, Lee Jun's class would remain a mystery forever.
Anyway — what mattered now was that he'd be within arm's reach of Taesan's vice-guildmaster.
No idea who's behind you, though….
That rogue. She'd been suspicious for a while now — secretly trading messages with someone, over and over.
My eyes might miss a lot of things, but not this.
He didn't know who she was or who'd sent her. But one thing was clear: she'd already caught on that "this man" was here. Why else would a spy like her bother infiltrating a party of low-rank hunters?
Her gear was bargain-basement and she hammed up the rookie act beautifully, but hunters who'd been in the business a long time carry habits worn into their very bodies. The way they walk, for instance. Or the way they maintain their equipment. If you're going to pass yourself off as a three-month D-rank rookie, maybe shed the veteran polish first?
Of course, spotting all this didn't mean Lee Jun could just grab her. He was wearing a disguise of his own, after all. That was exactly why he'd steer things toward Taesan.
The vice-guildmaster will recognize me. And with a little luck, maybe even figure out who she is. The man could recall every movement he'd ever seen once — that was the kind of hunter Taesan's vice-guildmaster was.
"……."
Look at that face going stiff. He didn't know which guild had sent her, but he intended to teach her a lesson she wouldn't forget.
Lee Jun and his party set out, targeting the Ogre Encampment. It was 12:30. Taesan's boss raid would kick off at two, so they'd need to be in position before then. Which was why Lee Jun was currently crouched down, studying the tracks the ogres had left on the ground.
Pathfinding was traditionally the gunner's job, so you could say he was dutifully filling his assigned role. He had none of the relevant skills, of course — but he had something far better: experience.
"So… roughly thirteen ogres headed up that way, and about eight down here."
The tracks tangled and crossed, then split apart, branching off in two directions. Two groups, it seemed, had met here and parted ways.
"Given our party size, let's take the eight."
"Isn't even eight pushing it?"
"Or maybe that way instead…."
The three warriors debated their route back and forth. Then the rogue, silent until now, stepped toward Lee Jun and lowered herself to study the tracks.
"The thirteen might actually be the better call."
Rogues did have pathfinding abilities of their own — quite a few of their skills lent themselves to the field. Their primary duties in dungeons, after all, were disarming traps and decoding maze mechanics, so many of them studied exactly this kind of thing. He didn't know why she was bothering while wearing a rookie costume, but fine. Let's see what you've got.
"What makes you say that?"
"Looking at the tracks, the upper group is about four female ogres and five juveniles. The only genuinely dangerous ones are adult males — and there are only four of those up top."
"…Hm."
Good reasoning. But she clearly didn't have much real-world mileage yet. Her knowledge felt like it was trapped on the page — as if she were plugging textbook lessons straight into reality without adjustment.
Well. Whatever guild she belonged to, hunters were hunters. Every hunter who got a little stronger made the country a little safer.
So Lee Jun walked her through a few things.
"Good thinking. But in this case, the right answer is to avoid the thirteen."
"…Why?"
"Down here, judging by the depth of the prints, all eight are male ogres. You had that part right, didn't you?"
"Yes. But why go this way on purpose?"
Knowing one thing and knowing two were entirely different matters.
"Look here — these two prints belong to a single animal."
"Go on?"
"But this one's deeper. Less weight on the opposite foot, or more force shifted onto this side. And the shallower print has a slight dragging mark behind it. What do you suppose that tells us?"
"An… injury?"
"Exactly. The two groups crossed paths right here, and it looks like they fought in the process."
"And the eight — the group that should have dominated a straight fight… lost?"
"There are no ogre carcasses here, are there? And I don't see any butchering marks, so other hunters didn't haul them off either. Four male ogres against eight — and the four won. You can imagine just how strong they must be, can't you?"
"…I see."
She stared at the ground with a grave expression, scrutinizing every inch of it. Then she gave a slow nod and looked back up at Lee Jun.
"Thank you. That was genuinely instructive."
"Oh. Sure."
Lee Jun nodded back. This was the kind of thing you only learned through repeated brushes with real combat. And "combat," here, meant situations where one wrong read could get you genuinely, catastrophically killed. When the stakes never cost you much, people get complacent. It was only when a man stared down a choice that truly meant life or death that his mind sharpened. Endure enough moments where each mistake left something broken or burst somewhere on your body, and you could build skills like Lee Jun's without a single stat to your name.
Rogues, in truth, were an awkward class to place. Frankly, they weren't needed at all in a dungeon like this one. That was obvious for a party thrown together just to run a single dungeon — if you weren't a guild raid team, that is. Everyone knew this dungeon inside and out, and with the big guilds swarming the place, who cared about traps or detection?
It said something that the running joke among healers was that spending mana on a rogue was a waste — rogues could wrap their own bandages.
"RogueWrap," huh…. "Rogue: shut up and bandage yourself." A phrase steeped in the nostalgia of the early days. Drop it on any rogue today and you'd reduce them to tears….
"Anyway. We've settled on a route — shall we?"
"Let's."
The party followed the lower trail of footprints, and before long they came face to face with the ogre pack. As Lee Jun had predicted, a good number of the eight were injured. At this rate, they'd wrap up the hunt without a hitch.
There was just one thing that nagged at him… the ogres were in even worse shape than he'd expected.
But… what could have beaten them down this badly?
A vague, nameless unease crept over him.
Still — for now.
He began the hunt, in service of his true purpose.