Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Kim Seo-hyun
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[Strength stat increases by 1.]
[Agility stat increases by 1.]
The changes hit before he could even check the messages that popped up after taking down the monster.
Kim Min-jun kept his eyes fixed on the portal, which was growing larger by the second.
Ssssh—
Night Walker reported that no demonic energy was emanating from it, but something was definitely crossing over toward them.
"No demonic energy, huh."
Not a monster, then.
So what was it? A person?
"No way... did they figure out Earth's coordinates from Isgard?"
Kim Min-jun shook his head.
That couldn't be possible.
Even he had only found them after leaping through hundreds—no, thousands—of insane jumps.
There was no way that information could have leaked.
Unless it was some lunatic like Yi Bong-gu, the odds of an Isgardian crossing over were practically zero.
Ssssh—
The portal, which had swollen from ping-pong ball size to something much larger, began shaking unsteadily.
It felt like watching a thread about to snap at any moment.
"...Huff, heok...."
Moments later, a woman stumbled out of the portal.
Kim Min-jun narrowed his eyes at the familiar face.
"...How the hell did you get here?"
Kim Seo-hyun.
Not one of the other followers, but her—the one who never stepped up for anything dangerous—pushing herself to cross over like this.
"Cough! Khek!"
"Yi Bong-gu! Lay her down and stop the bleeding right now!"
"Y-Yes! Got it!"
Her condition was obviously critical at a glance.
Her entire body was drenched in blood, likely from the pressure of dimensional travel.
If left like this, she'd die for sure.
'Whew. Yeah, this is what makes sense.'
Yi Bong-gu had just gotten insanely lucky, that was all.
"K-Kim Min-jun... nim...."
"Don't talk. Don't die. Just breathe."
With his current power, he couldn't save Kim Seo-hyun.
And of all people, it was her who'd pushed herself to come here.
There had to be a reason.
"Even without one, I'd save you anyway."
All the help he'd received from the followers back in Isgard.
He'd vowed to repay it several times over if the chance came.
Kim Min-jun immediately reached into his pocket, pulled out an energy stone, and swallowed it.
"Good thing I didn't lose this."
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
Messages popped up nonstop.
A sign that his temporarily locked skills were unlocking.
The one he needed right now was just a single skill.
"Oath of Sacrifice."
A powerful skill that could transfer all damage inflicted on a designated target to another.
"K-Kim Min-jun-nim! Even for you, injuries this bad—!"
"Stay still. I can handle it with room to spare."
Yi Bong-gu freaked out and tried to stop him, but Kim Min-jun activated the skill without hesitation.
'The energy stone's effect lasts 30 minutes. Gotta end this fast.'
Ssssh—
A magic circle formed over Kim Seo-hyun's body.
It slowly transferred over to Kim Min-jun.
"Talk about perfect timing."
Oath of Sacrifice could only be used on living beings.
If Kim Seo-hyun had popped out before the red goblin died, it would've been way easier.
"Why'd you push yourself so hard?"
Kim Seo-hyun, who had looked on the verge of death moments ago, regained her calm as if nothing had happened.
The blood that Yi Bong-gu had been frantically trying to staunch suddenly stopped flowing, like magic.
"K-Kim Min-jun-nim!"
Regaining consciousness, Kim Seo-hyun jolted in shock.
Her vision had been fading, but in an instant, her body felt perfectly fine.
"T-This! Oath of Sacrifice! Why use something like that on a wretch like me...?"
She turned her head and saw Kim Min-jun with his eyes gently closed.
He looked fine on the outside, but the backlash from the skill would be immense.
"Wait. I'm recovering right now."
Leaving the flustered Kim Seo-hyun alone, Kim Min-jun circulated the demonic energy inside his body.
Ssssh—
He could feel the demonic energy surging frantically through him.
Thanks to his steadily raised stats, his toughened body handled the skill's backlash with ease.
'Glad I leveled up my stats in the Hunter Corps. Should recover quick at this rate.'
Black mages could recover minor injuries using the demonic energy in their bodies.
But only minor ones.
Only Kim Min-jun could pull off something like this.
"Been a while since I felt a little sting. What're you doing? Get up."
He opened his eyes to see Kim Seo-hyun flat on the ground.
"Get up. I hate this kind of thing."
"I'm sorry...! My mistake... Kim Min-jun-nim. I... "
"It's over. Get up and explain the situation."
"Yes. Sorry for the disgrace."
Kim Seo-hyun stood right up and reported everything that had happened since she left.
The changes in the church after her departure.
The saintess's suspicious movements.
And so on.
"The church thing, well, that was my plan, so nothing to be done. Sounds like you were bummed and tried to hold onto the followers."
"Yes, exactly. So when that worm... no, Yi Bong-gu was doing dimensional travel with the other followers, I didn't stop him separately."
"W-Worm? How do you still have that filthy personality after all this time...."
Zing.
Faced with Kim Seo-hyun's murderous glare, Yi Bong-gu had no choice but to shut up.
"Everything else is fine. The saintess—tell me more about that bitch. And what you saw through your eye."
"Understood, Kim Min-jun-nim."
The reason Kim Seo-hyun had decided to dimension-hop to Earth was a prophecy shown by her eye.
The eye she possessed was the Capricious Demon Eye.
An item Kim Min-jun had specially obtained for her, who was originally blind.
"The saintess seemed to be searching for Earth's coordinates. From my investigation, it looks like she intends to bring you back and start the war again."
"Ha, that damn war. Moment she shows her face to me, I'll kill her."
He'd given her a clean pass when she gave up, and now she was crawling back?
"Anyway, they can't find the coordinates with their power. Dimensional travel's a non-issue. I had a rough guess about you coming."
A portal mixed with white and black light.
She must've siphoned holy relics to supplement the lacking demonic energy.
"I'm sorry...."
"Forget it. More importantly, tell me about the prophecy."
"Yes."
The Capricious Demon Eye's ability was prophecy.
However, whether that prophecy came true or not was impossible to know.
Because the Capricious Demon Eye often showed false prophecies.
A function too unreliable to call true precognition.
"What I saw through the eye... was Earth perishing."
"Earth perishing... from what?"
"I'm not sure about that far. The eye only showed Earth vanishing 300 years in the future."
This wasn't your average prophecy.
So this was why Kim Seo-hyun had pushed herself to come here.
"That eye's info can't be trusted. Two out of three are wrong, right?"
"That's... true... but if it were real, I couldn't ignore it...."
"Yeah. Low hit rate, but there's still a chance it hits."
Kim Min-jun fell into thought for a moment.
Earth perishing 300 years from now.
Considering it was the Capricious Demon Eye's prophecy, it could be 3 years or 30.
'Kim Seo-hyun came to tell me about this prophecy.'
He needed to regain his power faster.
Once his power was fully restored, something like Earth's destruction would be a walk in the park to stop.
"Thanks for coming to tell me the prophecy. From now on, we assume it's real and act accordingly. Every time the eye shows a prophecy, report it to me."
"Yes, understood, Kim Min-jun-nim."
One Yi Bong-gu was whatever, but now Kim Seo-hyun had crossed to Earth too.
"Guess we go with the plan I had in mind. First, back to the airport...."
"Freeze! Don't move!"
Before Kim Min-jun could finish, Japanese military and civilian hunters burst into the dungeon.
The Japanese soldiers aiming their guns at him flinched upon spotting the Korean Hunter Corps insignia.
Snap!
They quickly saluted crisply and ordered the civilian hunters to fall back.
"You're the Korean Hunter Corps. This is a restricted zone. Do you have special orders or... Hek!"
They spotted the monster slumped in one corner of the dungeon and their jaws dropped.
It was the largest and strongest-looking among the red goblins.
"No way... did this hunter take down that monster...?"
The Japanese soldiers' attitudes turned polite in an instant.
Kim Min-jun, not understanding Japanese, pointed at himself, then at the fallen monster behind.
"The red goblin... solo?"
"I-It can't be. Something that size would require tanks."
"How in the world?"
They were shocked enough that a massive monster lurked in this dungeon, but one Hunter Corps member taking it down was mind-blowing.
"Please tell us your name. Even as Korean Hunter Corps, we can't just let this slide. This is an international issue. Reason for unauthorized entry into a restricted zone, and doing something this dangerous with Mt. Fuji so close...."
'Damn, why are they yapping so much.'
Feeling the situation getting annoying, Kim Min-jun nodded vaguely and handed over a note.
The Japanese soldiers looked pretty serious.
"Kids. We're going!"
"Huh?"
Kim Min-jun scooped Yi Bong-gu and Kim Seo-hyun under his arms and leaped away.
Before the Japanese could react, he vanished like a ghost.
"W-What was that just now?"
"Do all Korean Hunter Corps guys are monsters like that? Anyway, he needs to take responsibility for this dangerous stunt...."
The Japanese soldier unfolded the note Kim Min-jun had handed him.
[Ddoong-i]
"How do you read this? Dduuung... i? Damn it! Chase that Hunter Corps guy now!"
"Y-Yes!"
"But we don't know where he went...."
"Airport first! Airport!"
The Japanese military and civilian hunters scrambled after him in a panic.
**
Inside a Japanese airport.
Yi Bong-gu and Kim Seo-hyun were wearing the Hunter Corps uniforms Kim Min-jun had on.
Yi Bong-gu had used his skill to copy the faces and appearances of actual serving Hunter Corps members.
This was possible now that his mimicry skill had leveled up.
"Looks perfect."
"Yeah. You two just follow me."
"They'll remember your face, Kim Min-jun-nim. Wouldn't it be better to deal with them?"
Kim Seo-hyun asked with a worried look.
"No evidence I did anything, so it's fine. If they complain, just deny it flat out. You got the info from Night Walker too, so you know."
Entering a place thick with demonic energy bare-handed didn't make sense from the start.
Even if the Japanese reported up the chain, no one would listen.
"That's... true."
She answered with a dazed expression.
Suspicion alone wasn't enough; they needed solid proof.
A far cry from Isgard's system, where suspicion was enough for punishment.
"First, we head to Korea, get your identities and places to stay sorted. Then I'll tell you how we'll move."
Yi Bong-gu could use skills to turn into various animals, but Kim Seo-hyun couldn't.
With her on Earth too, securing identities was essential.
'These guys are something else. Pulling off that insane dimensional jump.'
Ding.
"What the?"
They'd only just boarded the plane.
A never-before-seen message popped up in front of his eyes.