The Mock Dungeon
For that reason, just a day after leaving Kang A-jin's house, I found myself heading back there.
A lot of time had passed in various ways, so I could have waited until the next day, but staying home alone didn't leave me with much to do anyway. For some reason, ever since becoming an S-rank hunter, watching TV or playing games to kill time had lost all its appeal.
The decisive factor was what Valentina had said.
Hohoho, darling, you haven't traveled abroad much, have you? Brazil and Korea have a time difference, you know~~
That realization hit me—I'd been mistaken about something—and I headed straight to Kang A-jin's house.
Of course, I couldn't find my way there on my own, so Kang A-jin came to pick me up.
"It's been a while."
Kang A-jin said it with a flushed face, as if we'd been apart for months.
"Haha. Yeah."
"How have you been?"
She must have missed me a lot. That made me think it wasn't good to spend too much time glued to the women like this. It would only make their obsession with me even stronger.
"I got my rank measured, and..."
I gave her a brief rundown of what I'd done that day. It wasn't anything complicated enough to warrant a long explanation, but it felt like I'd taken a huge step forward. Like I'd finally experienced life as an S-rank hunter? I hadn't used my abilities in a real dungeon, but I'd gotten a full sense of how society treated S-rank hunters.
"They only give you 10 billion?"
She tilted her head when I happily mentioned getting 10 billion for free.
"They used to give more, I think. The law must have changed. Yeah, there was some backlash when word got out last time. But honestly, whether it's 10 billion or 100 billion doesn't matter. An S-rank hunter can make that much in no time if they want."
Kang A-jin brushed it off casually. Thinking back, my plan to look for a 50-pyeong apartment suddenly seemed ridiculously modest. If I'd consulted someone instead of deciding alone, they might have pointed that out.
"You're going to Brazil?"
"Yeah, I need to go into a dungeon with Lisa."
I explained the reason.
"There's an easier way if that's the case."
"An easier way?"
"We make a mock dungeon."
"A mock dungeon...?"
The term was new to me. Why do I know so little? It hit me how inexperienced I really was. I'd never paid much attention to hunters' lives even before awakening, so it was inevitable.
"You know about hunter training simulations, right?"
"Ah, yeah..."
I'd heard of those. They were basically simulation programs where you practiced killing monsters before entering a real dungeon. With tech advancements, they were said to be almost indistinguishable from reality. Their realism supposedly blew away regular VR games for civilians. But they were made for hunters, so no ordinary person could just try them out of curiosity. Not that there was any need—there were plenty of games for the public. Plenty of games featured hunters as protagonists raiding dungeons. Some even incorporated real hunter data, though those were rare since licensing fees were sky-high.
By the end of the conversation, I was starting to get the picture.
"But that's virtual reality, right? Basically a game..."
"It changes when you add sorcery. If all you need is a dungeon environment, sorcery makes it easy to meet that condition. No need to go all the way to Brazil."
"Ah..."
The world of sorcery was truly vast and profound. Creating virtual dungeons, no less. According to Kang A-jin, combining the tech from hunter simulation programs with sorcery could produce an environment just like a real dungeon. Considering sorcery could open gates to other dimensions, it didn't seem impossible.
"Let's buy one on the way home."
Kang A-jin turned the car around. Naturally, she meant the simulation program. Even back when I was a regular awakener, I'd vaguely wanted to try one like it was a game. This worked out perfectly.
"So? You're not going to Brazil?"
Valentina asked with a pout.
"If there's no need, better not to. Letting a foreign hunter into their dungeons casually has to be illegal there."
"That's why I said I'd talk them into it!"
"No need to go to the trouble. It'd just be imposing on you, Valentina."
"Aww~ Are you saying you'd do that between us?"
I couldn't shake the unease that Valentina had ulterior motives for dragging me to Brazil. Maybe she'd lock me up or something once we got there. Now that I was S-rank, simple restraints wouldn't hold me, but still, better safe than sorry. You never knew what this woman might pull.
"This method might not work. If it doesn't, we'll go to Brazil together."
Kang A-jin said.
"You're going too?"
Valentina asked cautiously, and Kang A-jin shot back. She seemed to sense something off as well.
"Can't I?"
"Well, not exactly, but... Fine. Guess I hope this doesn't work then."
Valentina outright said she hoped the simulation we'd bought wouldn't work, making our efforts pointless. I was curious what was in Brazil too. She probably wasn't planning anything harmful, but still.
"Anyway."
Kang A-jin spoke to Lisa, who was beaming at seeing me again after just a day.
"Lisa, come downstairs with us."
We'd do the setup in the basement. The large room with the warp zone. It seemed designed to amplify sorcery. We all headed down. Valentina tagged along, saying she wanted to watch, even though she wasn't needed. I had a bad feeling she'd pray for it to fail—and her prayers might actually work—but I couldn't stop her.
"Shall we start?"
Kang A-jin said after spreading a large cloth on the floor. She had Lisa and me lie down and put on the simulation goggles. We also got gloves and shoes. It was just like playing a VR game. Once we were hooked up, Kang A-jin tossed a few talismans into the air. They glowed, and Valentina nodded in realization.
"As expected of my puppy. A fine disciple."
She probably hadn't thought of using sorcery this way herself. Not that she'd needed to research it.
"Tch, guess this one's unavoidable."
Valentina openly showed her disappointment, accepting that the sorcery would work despite her wishes. Seeing her face actually put me at ease. Going to Brazil wasn't a big deal, but passing through a warp zone was basically illegal entry. Smuggling an S-rank hunter would be an international incident. And more than that, I worried what she'd do on her home turf. Given her track record, it'd probably be something sexual.
The passionate land on the opposite side of the world. I'd thought about visiting someday. Maybe Valentina would make it happen eventually.
"All set. Activating the program now."
Kang A-jin ran it.
"I set it to the lowest level. It's not for monster hunting practice anyway."
I watched the scenery shift before my eyes. The realism was incredible. I doubted regular VR gear could match it. The stage was simple, though—a cave-like dungeon atmosphere, just like my first one.
"Oppa..."
A voice came from beside me. I turned to see Lisa standing there, looking exactly like herself, not an avatar. I wondered how that worked. Did she see me the same way? Was this standard for hunter sims, or Kang A-jin's sorcery? No monsters appeared at the lowest setting—no danger at all. Even if they did, with Lisa here, no worries.
I said to her,
"Show me your hunter abilities?"