Recruitment (2)
“When are they coming?”
Kim Jun checked the time in Thebes Plaza.
To clear the 16th floor, they needed a party of ten.
Right now, counting Kim Jun, his four original companions, and Choi Doheon, they had six. They were still four short.
In truth, Kim Jun had first intended to gather everyone himself.
I wanted to recruit the talent I remembered from my previous life ahead of time.
It had been a plan to get to the people who would surely become major forces later on, before anyone else did.
So for an entire day, he had scoured every known hunter-recruitment hotspot in central Thebes.
He combed through Bongnam Gym, the Central Plaza, and even the front of each class’s Sanctuary.
But the result had been disappointing.
“They’re all already tied to someone, or they’ve already gone out on a raid.”
Kim Jun muttered in disappointment.
In the end, the only one who had stood out was Choi Doheon, training silently in a corner.
Unlike the five basic classes, special classes such as martial artists had limits to their growth.
They shone in the early stages, but as the floors climbed, they generally fell behind the basic classes.
But Choi Doheon was different.
In Kim Jun’s previous life, he had been one of the few “special-case” hunters to break through that ceiling and climb all the way to the 50th floor.
He was clearly someone with exceptional potential, so Kim Jun had recruited him without hesitation.
I can’t do everything alone.
Kim Jun changed strategies.
“Let’s each bring one person.”
He ordered Park Minsu, Lee Seoyeon, Han Suin, and Ryu Jia to each go find a hunter they’d taken note of.
And now, while his companions were scattered and searching for talent, Kim Jun waited for them in the plaza.
*
About an hour later, the others began to return one by one.
Lee Seoyeon had brought back a B-class supporter, and Ryu Jia a C-class mage.
But when Kim Jun saw the person Han Suin had brought, he blinked in surprise.
“…”
“…”
Han Suin and the B-class assassin she had brought stood side by side, silently staring at Kim Jun.
“Suin, introduce her for me…”
“Kim Sara. B-class assassin.”
“…H-hello.”
Kim Sara, like Han Suin, hardly spoke at all.
How did you find someone exactly like you? Is there some kind of secret connection there?
Kim Jun thought, dumbfounded.
“But where’s Minsu?”
Kim Jun looked around. Park Minsu was nowhere to be seen.
“There he is! The muscle idiot!”
At that moment, Park Minsu came sprinting toward them from far away. But he was alone.
“Hyung! Sorry!”
He arrived panting and out of breath.
“Huh? Where’s the person?”
“Well… I saw a new piece of equipment at the gym and it looked so good that I… kind of forgot and just kept working out…”
“…”
Kim Jun stared at Park Minsu with his mouth hanging open.
“Heh, heh-heh.”
“You idiot! I knew it would be something like this! Muscle-brain fool!”
Park Minsu scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, while Ryu Jia frowned.
I was going to give Minsu the Book of Incomplete Job Change…
Kim Jun thought to himself.
Could he really entrust an SSS-rank item to this scatterbrain? A guy who forgot important tasks because of a workout?
He had planned to give it to him as thanks for helping clear the second basement floor together.
…I’ll give it to someone else.
Kim Jun decided that in his heart.
“For now… we’re still one short. What should we do?”
“Hmm….”
He lifted his head again to face the practical problem.
The 16th floor was a tower-defense type stage.
A ten-person team had to hold off fifty waves of monsters.
The first wave was a thousand F-class monsters.
After that, the ranks climbed steadily, all the way up to B-class and A-class.
When that kind of mass poured in, a defensive line could collapse in an instant.
In fact, there had been plenty of parties wiped out before they even survived the first wave.
Of course, they could strengthen their base by spending coins.
Attack towers, traps, support devices, everything.
The problem was that too many people hated parting with their coins.
It costs a ridiculous amount to upgrade…
Leaving the coin issue aside, the immediate problem was manpower.
Kim Jun organized his thoughts.
Monster kill: Lumina Worm × 2
Monster kill: Crystal Golem × 4
Notification windows kept chiming without pause.
The black flames Kim Jun had left behind were still blazing in the celestial realm.
As long as that fire didn’t go out, the monsters from floors 11 through 15 were basically wiped out.
In other words, that entire stretch was a complete free pass.
All they needed was one hunter who had cleared up to the 10th floor, and they could enter the 16th floor directly.
Kim Jun nodded and came to a conclusion.
“Let’s go to the 10th floor. We should be able to find one there.”
*
10th floor, Minotaur Labyrinth
It was a place they had broken through easily before, but now it was on a completely different level.
“Gwooooooh!”
A minotaur roared and charged in.
But—
Slash.
Before Kim Jun even had a chance to move, Han Suin cleanly severed the minotaur’s neck.
Her motion was so fast it was impossible to see even the instant she drew her sword.
“Whoa…”
Choi Doheon gasped in admiration. To his eyes, it looked as if Han Suin hadn’t moved at all.
“…”
Whoosh!
Han Suin abruptly turned her head away when she caught the wide, sparkling admiration in Choi Doheon’s eyes, as if he were saying, I respect you.
Before the awe over Han Suin had even faded—
“Hraaah!”
Boom—!
As Park Minsu swung his shield in a wide arc, a blast-like shockwave filled the labyrinth corridor.
Dozens of minotaurs caught in the aftermath toppled over with their bellies pierced clean through.
“I-is that guy really a tanker?”
“Can a tanker even be that strong?”
The newly joined members’ eyes went wide, and—
Grin.
Park Minsu winked and gave a big thumbs-up, as though bragging, I’m strong too.
With just Han Suin and Park Minsu, the labyrinth was being swept away in the truest sense of the word—utterly overwhelming.
Then what about Kim Jun and Ryu Jia?
Kim Jun, known as the strongest hunter in Korea.
And Ryu Jia, who had become the youngest S-class hunter and had been active as a hunter since middle school.
To see them with their own eyes now—
A shiver ran through them.
Then—
“We’re here.”
Lee Seoyeon spoke.
“A-already?”
“They really are on a different level…”
“Is it really okay for us to be here…?”
To get here normally would have taken at least a week, even at the fastest pace.
But they had spent only about three hours.
It was thanks to Lee Seoyeon’s Haste, which boosted their movement speed, and Kim Jun’s Thread of Ariadne, which guided them straight to the right path.
As they cut down monsters without hesitation and pushed through every fork without stopping, their speed had no choice but to explode upward.
“Hmm… there’s no one here.”
Kim Jun used Detection from the entrance all the way to the exit, searching for traces of other hunters.
But there was no one.
“Should we wait a little longer?”
Park Minsu muttered carelessly, and Ryu Jia shot him an immediate glare.
“Are you seriously an idiot?”
“Why?”
“We didn’t run into a single person on the way here. That means there’s no one else running the 10th floor, you moron.”
Park Minsu froze for a moment, then scratched his head.
“Ah… right?”
Kim Jun let out a short breath.
“Yeah. There’s no point waiting here any longer. Let’s go up.”
The nine of them, including Kim Jun, pushed open the door to the 11th floor and stepped into the celestial realm.
Tap, tap, tap—
“…”
“W-what is this…”
At the sight before them, the four hunters who had just joined froze in place.
This was supposed to be a place called heaven.
But what they faced was an endless spread of black flames, within which the shapes of monsters twisted and burned.
“Kiiieeeeee!”
“Krooooooh!”
The sky had been swallowed by gray ash clouds, and the temples that should have been radiating gold had lost all their light, turned to charcoal husks.
“That’s… the flame that never goes out…?”
Someone murmured, and another swallowed hard before speaking.
“They weren’t kidding…”
They had heard the explanation already, but they still couldn’t believe it.
I’m glad he’s not the villain.
Do I really belong in this party?
As expected… my hero!
…
Shock, awe, and an instinctive sense of caution mixed together.
But at the end of all those emotions, one conviction settled in.
He’s the bus driver.
It’s a bus.
Don’t let the bus overturn! Don’t be a burden to the hero!!
*
It took them less than ten minutes to get through the 11th floor.
They passed straight through burned corpses and collapsed buildings.
The 12th floor was no different.
Most of the enemies had already burned away, and the occasional monster that remained was dealt with before it even appeared.
When they passed the 13th floor and started up to the 14th—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
They heard rough footsteps pounding toward them.
A moment later, at the far end of the corridor, a man was staggering down toward them at a run.
“A-a person…!”
He looked utterly exhausted.
The armor emblazoned with the blue dragon crest of the Blue Dragon Guild was torn in several places, and his face had gone deathly pale from being unable to breathe properly.
“Please help me! Please!”
Jo Minjae fell to his knees in front of Kim Jun and begged.
“Calm down. What happened?”
Kim Jun asked evenly.
“The g-gauge… it’s almost full!”
Jo Minjae showed his status window with trembling hands.
Celestial Assimilation Progress: 95/100
5% until becoming a glorious member of heaven!
You will soon gain eternal peace!
Kim Jun’s expression hardened. Ninety-five percent. He had nearly become a statue.
“Seoyeon.”
“Yes!”
Lee Seoyeon immediately cast Purification.
Whoosh—
A warm light enveloped Jo Minjae, and the gauge began to drop slowly.
“Haah… haah… th-thank you.”
Jo Minjae barely managed to catch his breath before lifting his head.
Then, when he properly took in Kim Jun and the faces behind him, his eyes widened.
“K-Kim Jun Hunter?! The Han Guild…?”
“You’re with the Blue Dragon Guild, aren’t you?”
Ryu Jia cut in with a cold voice.
Her gaze was fixed on the blue dragon emblem stitched into Jo Minjae’s armor.
The Blue Dragon Guild. A place that was not on good terms with the Han Guild.
Jo Minjae seemed to realize that too, and he flinched before nodding.
“B-but I’m just a low-ranking member…”
He hunched his shoulders like a dog caught in the rain and muttered nervously.
“Hmm.”
“Hmmm.”
“Mm~.”
Park Minsu, Ryu Jia, and Lee Seoyeon exchanged glances.
The Blue Dragon Guild was suspicious, all right.
But what they needed right now was one person.
They didn’t want to waste any more time.
Kim Jun gave a short nod and said, “You’ll be my ‘temporary’ companion.”
Park Minsu said,
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