Chapter 101
Chapter 101
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Ji Su-jeong Joins the Party
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Hmm?"
Hae-jin was heading to the dungeon with his group.
A massive entrance on the desert floor.
It led underground.
But just as they were about to descend...
Hae-jin suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Kwon Na-ye asked him about it.
"What's wrong?"
"Hold on a sec."
Hae-jin turned around to check a silhouette.
Someone who had been following them from the staircase entrance when they headed underground.
Now that he knew who it was, Hae-jin spoke up.
"Ji Su-jeong?"
A player who had chased after Hae-jin's group into the dungeon.
Her identity: Ji Su-jeong, the high school player from the Vulbem Vanguard.
By sheer coincidence, she had spotted Lee Sang out exploring the dungeon.
According to what Hae-jin had told her, Lee Sang was one of the 'party members' Hae-jin had assembled.
So Ji Su-jeong thought to herself.
If I follow Lee Sang, I can join up with Hae-jin. But at the time, Ji Su-jeong had hesitated. 'Should I just ask to join?' It was true that Hae-jin had shared info about the eleventh Trials' Arena at a gathering of Vulbem Vanguard members. However, back then, he'd spoken as if it would be impossible for her to join him. It had to be that way. Hae-jin had explained that the condition for clearing the hidden trial in the eleventh Trials' Arena was to form a party of ten or fewer and clear the dungeons scattered across the desert. But Hae-jin already had four party members he needed to look after in the current zone. Kwon Na-ye, Lee Sang, Manager Kim, and Park Bo-young. There were also two foreign players, but they were in different zones anyway, so they didn't count... In any case, Hae-jin seemed reluctant to add other Vulbem Vanguard members to his party, probably because filling the remaining spots with specific ones from the group felt awkward. That's why Ji Su-jeong hadn't approached Lee Sang until he linked up with Hae-jin, even after spotting him. She needed to confirm first—if he'd already gathered ten members, there might be no room for her. But Hae-jin, now grouped with Lee Sang, showed no signs of recruiting anyone else. So Ji Su-jeong figured she could just follow along quietly instead of calling out right away. But Hae-jin had caught on. Even so, in that moment, Ji Su-jeong decided to play it bold. She greeted him.
"Heehee, hi! Mind if I join your party?"
"Hmm?"
"Since it's come to this, let me join too!"
"Join?"
"Yeah! You said the hidden trial just requires clearing the dungeon with a party of up to ten, right? And including you, Oppa Hae-jin, there are only five here now, so there's gotta be room for me!"
Ji Su-jeong had heard the hidden trial conditions straight from Hae-jin before. So she pointed out that there were still spots left in his party for it. Hae-jin responded to her question.
"Hmm, hold on a sec."
"Okay."
Hae-jin told Ji Su-jeong to wait, then asked the rest of the party since they'd be entering the dungeon together.
"There's this player named Ji Su-jeong—she recently joined the Vulbem Vanguard and's been beating down delinquents nationwide. Anyone uncomfortable going into the dungeon with her?"
Hae-jin figured if even one party member was uneasy about her joining, he could use that as an excuse to turn her down. But no one agreed or disagreed with Hae-jin. Manager Kim spoke up about why.
"Well, shouldn't that be up to you, Leader?"
"Exactly."
Everyone would follow whatever Hae-jin decided. From his perspective, there was no reason to block Ji Su-jeong's joining. Plus, Hae-jin didn't think her addition was a bad idea anyway. 'Makes sense—we could use a tank in the current lineup.' A tank would be handy right now. Others might scoff—what kind of thinking is that? A girl as tank? But to Hae-jin, it was obvious. Looking at the current party: Manager Kim was a melee physical DPS, not a tank; Kwon Na-ye was ranged physical DPS; Lee Sang and Park Bo-young were mages. Hae-jin himself could bruiser it up, but excluding him, there was hardly anyone who could hold the front line. Of course, with Hae-jin there, they didn't really need a tank for the mere eleventh Trials' Arena. Still, if they were adding Ji Su-jeong now, the only role she could fill was tank. Why? Ji Su-jeong had a slender build, but her boxing style was infighting. She had awakened as a player based on that style and even job-changed into a class that retained her sturdy frame and devastating punches from her original infighting boxer days. She could definitely handle the tank role. Having sorted his thoughts, Hae-jin looked back at Ji Su-jeong.
"Alright. Let's go together."
"Wow! Really?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you!"
And so Hae-jin added Ji Su-jeong to the party and entered the dungeon. Once inside, he positioned her up front and told her to show what she could do. Truth be told, Hae-jin had never seen Ji Su-jeong's true skills. So he figured he'd test her abilities while setting up a scenario where she fought solo. The desert dungeon was extremely straightforward. Just keep advancing, advancing. No complex mazes—just monsters that appeared in order of increasing strength, as they popped up in the desert. At the end, take down the newly matured Behemoth. Behemoth. The desert's mightiest colossal beast. But a newly matured one wasn't overwhelmingly monstrous. Of course, that was compared to a fully grown Behemoth—it was still a terrifying monster compared to other desert mobs once matured. Anyway, this dungeon required battling through gnolls (hyena-headed bipedal monsters), cockatrices, basilisks, sandworms, and so on before facing it. The first to appear: gnolls, the weakest but most numerous in the desert. It started with a single gnoll warrior. Hae-jin spotted it and called out to Ji Su-jeong.
"Ji Su-jeong."
"Yes?"
"You can handle one gnoll solo, right?"
"Of course. Want me to take it down?"
"Yeah."
"Got it!"
Ji Su-jeong told Hae-jin she'd handle the gnoll warrior alone, then charged. Pow! She clenched both fists tight, tucked her chin behind them, hunched her waist into a ball, and rushed the gnoll warrior. Normal boxers didn't start with fists clenched that hard, but since awakening as a player, Ji Su-jeong had never felt any risk from fighting full-force like that. So she always went all-out with her punches. Rushing the gnoll warrior, Ji Su-jeong thought. 'One straight should send it flying, right?' Even orc warriors' heads exploded from one of her punches. So a gnoll warrior should burst from a single straight too. With that in mind, she closed in and unleashed her fist. Straight. Thwack! Her right fist rocketed toward the gnoll warrior's head. Boom! As Ji Su-jeong predicted, the gnoll warrior's head exploded from one straight punch. Having downed the gnoll warrior, Ji Su-jeong turned back with a triumphant grin and looked at Hae-jin.
"That do it?"
"Hmm, looks good. On to the next area."
"Yes!"
Moving to the next area, they faced three gnolls this time. One gnoll warrior, one gnoll archer, and one gnoll mage.
"Ji Su-jeong."
"Yes?"
"How about three like that? Want me to lend a hand?"
"Nah, I can manage that solo."
"Yeah?"
"Yes!"
Ji Su-jeong thought. 'One punch each anyway. Dodge the archer's arrows and mage's spells, then drop 'em one by one.' Evasion was a strong suit for her, even as an infighter—not just for outboxers. So yeah, three gnolls seemed doable solo. Since she said she could handle it, Hae-jin didn't interfere.
"Alright, take 'em all down solo then. Call if it gets tough—I'll help."
"Yes!"
Truth be told, both Hae-jin—who offered help if needed—and Ji Su-jeong—facing three gnolls—thought the same. 'This is nothing.' Ji Su-jeong could one-punch a gnoll warrior. Even with a gnoll archer and mage added for ranged attacks, it didn't seem like a big deal for her. And sure enough. Ji Su-jeong took the same pose as before and charged the three gnolls. The three, who had been holding position, immediately reacted.
"Kieek?"
"Kiwook?"
"Kiak?"
Sensing Ji Su-jeong charging at them. But those three quickly became two. Boom! Just like in the previous area, Ji Su-jeong exploded the lead gnoll warrior's head with one punch to start. Right away, the gnoll archer and mage targeted her. The gnoll archer loosed an arrow and the gnoll mage hurled a fireball, not missing the timing from the warrior's head exploding. Shweeek-! Fwoosh-! Ji Su-jeong saw the two ranged attacks coming. But she just smirked. 'Way too slow.' Thinking that, she casually twisted her body to dodge the gnoll archer's arrow and gnoll mage's fireball aimed at her. Then she immediately targeted the nearby gnoll archer's head. Boom-! The gnoll archer's head burst from Ji Su-jeong's straight punch too. No surprise there. It was the same fist that had obliterated the sturdier gnoll warrior's head in one hit—the one with higher HP than ranged types. No way a puny gnoll archer could withstand it. With the archer down too, the gnoll mage desperately cast another spell. Fwoosh-! Flinging another fireball at Ji Su-jeong to keep her at bay. But she'd already dodged one with an arrow incoming. A lone fireball was even easier to evade. Ji Su-jeong sidestepped the second fireball effortlessly, then finished the mage off. Boom-! In a flash, she'd taken down all three gnolls and turned back around. Making a show of it for Hae-jin. She flashed a V-sign with her index and middle fingers and asked.
"How was that? Did I do good?"