Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Quest
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"Do-jae!"
Eun-hee approached with a bright expression.
Do-jae's own scowl softened as he greeted her warmly.
"Hello, Ms. Jeong!"
"Fancy seeing you here. What brings you by?"
Do-jae gave an awkward laugh at Eun-hee's question.
He showed her the bundle of papers in his hand.
"Because of this."
"Oh? Congratulations!"
Eun-hee offered her sincere congratulations after reading the text on the paper.
She was also a little surprised.
"Thank you."
A somewhat blunt reply.
Eun-hee studied Do-jae's face and asked cautiously.
"You don't seem very happy."
It was a promotion from F-rank to E-rank.
While it wouldn't bring a massive change in treatment, his quality of life as a hunter would be significantly different.
She glanced at his expression again.
A thought occurred to her, and she asked.
"Could it be… that your initial evaluation was wrong? And it’s only now that…."
If that were true, things would get quite complicated.
If Do-jae chose to press the issue, it could turn into a major legal battle.
"No. That's not it."
"Then why…? Did something bad happen?"
"No. It's just… for some reason, I feel like my rank came out lower than it should have."
"Pardon?"
Do-jae was saying his E-rank was too low.
Just moving up a single rank was a huge accomplishment.
But he was claiming he could have received an even higher rank?
That was something that could never happen without a re-awakening.
Eun-hee didn't even consider a re-awakening, assuming Do-jae was simply mistaken.
"I thought I'd get at least C-rank."
"Haha. I… is that so? Oh, by the way, how is your brother doing?"
Eun-hee changed the subject.
She figured Do-jae must have been seeing things, or perhaps this was just his brand of humor.
"My brother is doing well. He recently started mana therapy, so his condition is steadily improving."
"That's a relief. I was a little worried after seeing him last time. I'll pray for his speedy recovery."
Eun-hee looked at Do-jae with admiration.
Mana therapy was expensive.
Especially for a cancer patient like Do-jae's brother, it cost even more, as it had little effect unless administered by a high-level healer.
He had scrimped and saved, working relentlessly, and had finally managed to start the treatment.
"Thank you. I can't wait to bring my brother to the new house I'm moving into."
"Wow! You moved, too? That's amazing! Housewarm…."
Eun-hee caught herself and shut her mouth.
She had been about to say she'd visit for the housewarming party.
"Yes? Housewarm?"
"Ah, I mean, you have to look at houses carefully before moving. I think I saw somewhere that there's a lot of rental fraud these days…."
"Ah, it's a house with no problems."
"Right…. Well, I'll be going then."
Eun-hee hurried away.
Her face flushed, feeling as though she'd been caught.
"Ms. Jeong!"
Do-jae called out to Eun-hee as she scurried off.
"Ye-yes?"
She answered, her voice trembling slightly.
"The raid party recruitment that was posted today. Are there still spots?"
"Ah, yes. You mean for the E-rank dungeon scheduled for next week? Should I sign you up?"
"Please."
Eun-hee nodded at Do-jae.
*What was I expecting?*
Eun-hee started to exit the administration building again.
Do-jae's voice reached her ears.
"And I'm having a housewarming party after I finish moving. Would you like to come?"
***
Crumple, crumple—.
*Whoosh-.*
The wadded-up ball of paper flew a considerable distance and landed perfectly inside the trash can.
*Should I have told them about the Mana Stone?*
I was going to mention the Mana Stone after the scan was finished, but I left without saying a word.
I never imagined they would actually classify the Mana Stone as an item and give me an E-rank evaluation.
Since the Mana Stone was part of my body and all my stats had increased, I expected to get C-rank at the very least.
"Subspace."
A list of the items in my subspace appeared before my eyes.
I thought of what I wanted, reached my hand in, and pulled out a clear plastic bottle.
*Gulp-.*
"Phew."
As the cool water flowed down my throat, some of my frustration washed away with it.
*I don't want to join Manseong, though.*
Deok-hoon's business card was still in Do-jae's wallet.
But he had little desire to contact him.
*Still, I need to stay by my brother's side.*
Compared to other guilds, Manseong had an overwhelmingly high number of overseas raids.
It was fair to say that was all they did.
Because of this, their hunters went abroad as soon as they joined the guild.
Once they left, it wasn't easy to come back. The joke was that if you joined Manseong, your kid would be in middle school the next time you came to Korea, and high school the time after that.
He'd heard that even the Guild Master spent most of his time overseas, only returning a few times a year.
*Should I just buy a dungeon instead?*
He had some spare cash on hand.
Persephone's Ruby had sold for 1.6 billion won, and after paying for the house and hospital bills and other expenses, he had about 500 million won left.
It was enough capital to run a small guild if he put his mind to it.
*Right, who cares about the hunter rank? I've done fine as an F-rank. Nothing's going to change.*
There was no need to get hung up on his rank.
If no one would take him, he could just form his own raid party.
Do-jae put the half-empty water bottle back into his subspace.
Then he hailed a taxi and said.
"Driver, to the Hunter Association's Seoul branch, please."
***
Hwigyeong-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul.
Near Hoegi Station.
"My goodness. It's been a while."
"Hey, hey, it's only been a week. What do you mean, a while?"
"We used to see each other every day, so a week apart feels like forever."
Kim Jeong-shim and Park Hoo-sik exchanged greetings.
The two had worked as freelance hunters for a long time and had become close friends.
"I guess so. It's good to see you. What'd you do for the past week?"
"What else? I just lazed around. Need a raid to get some work. What about you, man?"
"You think I had anything going on? Just sitting at home, getting antsy. After today's raid, I'm thinking of heading out to the provinces for an expedition."
"Let's go together. If you know a place, let's go."
"Tsk. Trying to get a free ride?"
"Come on. I'll buy you a drink after this. I'm so antsy I can't stand it."
Park Hoo-sik stretched, rolling his shoulders.
Kim Jeong-shim also loosened up, watching as people gathered.
"By the way, who do you think bought up all those dungeons?"
Kim Jeong-shim asked while rotating his knees.
"If I knew, would I be here? I would've gone to find that person already."
"It's just so strange. Picking out and buying up only the E and D-rank dungeons. Dungeons like these don't even make much profit."
"I don't know either. Maybe some guild with money to burn is trying to train new recruits."
"In any case, we're the ones who suffer, only us."
"If you're all warmed up, let's go."
The two moved on, their questions left unanswered.
The dungeon raid was about to begin.
"I'll take attendance. Mr. Jang Dong-min."
"Here!"
"Mr. Jang Dong-min is the Raid Captain. We're counting on you again for this raid."
"Right."
"Mr. Kim Jeong-shim."
"Yep."
"Mr. Park Hoo-sik."
…….
As names were called one by one, the members of the raid party confirmed each other's presence.
Most of them were familiar faces.
"And lastly, Mr. Lee Do-jae."
"Here!"
At the mention of Do-jae's name, the expressions of the others brightened.
*Now that he's here, this should be a bit easier.*
*I should just give him my bag now. He's going to collect everything anyway.*
*With Do-jae here, there's nothing for me to do, right?*
Their thoughts varied slightly, but they all commonly thought of Do-jae as a porter.
Do-jae, on the other hand, was thinking something completely different.
*I don't need to go to D-rank dungeons anymore.*
He had bought up all the E and D-rank dungeons and lived in them, even cutting into his sleeping hours.
Sometimes, he'd set up his golems and take a nap right there in the dungeon.
Doing so, he had raised his level to 30.
Looking at his information window:
[Information]
Name: Lee Do-jae
Level: 30
Title: Golemancer
Health: 5500 / 860
[Stats]
Strength: 40 / Stamina: 40 / Agility: 70 / Spirit: 10 / Resistance: 40
(Points: 0)
[Skills]
Passive: Heart of the Golem Lv. Max / Subspace Lv. Max
Active: Golem Summon Lv. 2 / Golem Armor Lv. 3
He had invested points into all stats except Spirit, and he had put nearly twice as much into Agility.
At this point, a single punch from Do-jae could take down most D-rank monsters.
*If it weren't for this quest.*
The reason he had to participate in this raid despite all that.
It was because of a quest that had appeared while he was clearing a dungeon yesterday.
[Quest]
Classification: Sub
Content: An unrecognized being covets that which it should not possess. Defeat this being and restore things to their original state. (Location: 30m southeast of 196 Hoegi-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea)
Restriction: Before the dungeon is cleared
Reward: 1 Mana Stone
Failure: Dungeon Break
It was a terrifying quest where failure would result in a Dungeon Break.
Moreover, since it was in a downtown area near a station, the resulting damage would be immense.
Setting aside the reward, the failure penalty made it a quest he couldn't ignore.
*To think I'm the only one who knows about this.*
He had considered revealing everything and evacuating people in case he failed the quest.
But he gave up on the idea, thinking no one would believe him.
After all, a Dungeon Break occurring because a mere D-rank dungeon couldn't be cleared was unheard of in this day and age.
However, as long as the quest had a failure condition, there was a chance a Dungeon Break could happen one way or another.
*It's a good thing I signed up with Ms. Jeong in advance.*
Do-jae glanced over at Eun-hee.
Eun-hee was busy chatting among the hunters.
As the hunters in front filed into the dungeon, Do-jae followed, stepping inside.
***
*What in the world is an 'unrecognized being'?*
I was wandering inside the dungeon.
I was searching for the "unrecognized being" mentioned in the quest and whatever it was that being had taken.
"Kyaaargh!"
*Thwack-!*
"Gkeck."
A goblin popped out from somewhere.
The creature was knocked out by my fist before it could even swing its stone axe properly.
*Trying to scare me.*
In the past, a fierce battle would have ensued, and I'd be clutching my chest in relief afterward, but not anymore.
Even without Golem Armor, my fists packed more than enough power to make a goblin's stomach meet its spine.
*For a goblin, you've got something nice.*
I picked up the dropped stone axe.
I removed the wooden handle, separated the stone part, and placed it into my subspace.
Seeing a new mineral added to my subspace list was satisfying.
Then I started roaming the dungeon again.
This wasn't a goblin dungeon, but a 'Greydon Dungeon'.
Goblins were just a secondary monster, like a bonus service; hunting Greydons was the main objective.
*Slice-.*
*This one's in good condition!*
Do-jae put the Greydon's hide into his subspace.
The tough and durable hide of a Greydon was often used for armor, so it was always in short supply and fetched a good price.
*Still, I've circled this place twice and can't find anything.*
For nearly three hours, I had scoured the dungeon, my eyes peeled for anything unusual, but it seemed no different from any other dungeon.
In the meantime, the raid party had reached the boss room, and I had no choice but to return.
"Good wor… huh?"
Jang Dong-min paused as he was about to hand me a towel.
It was probably because the person who should have been drenched in sweat and looking exhausted appeared completely calm.
"Thank you. I've gathered all the loot near the dungeon entrance."
"Really? Already? Was there not much loot?"
"It was a bit sparse."
"Sigh. A bust! A total bust."
I told a little lie.
In reality, there had been a lot more loot.
But since I had transported it instantly using my subspace, I said that to avoid suspicion.
"Did you all hear that? This dungeon's a bust!"
At Jang Dong-min's shout, sighs erupted from all around.
"Let's just kill the boss quickly and go for a drink."
One by one, the hunters got to their feet.
None of them looked pleased.
Jang Dong-min, at the very front, grabbed the handle of the boss room door.
And then.
*Creeak-.*
*Squelch-!*
"Keuk."
Jang Dong-min collapsed.
A large hole torn through his stomach.