Unauthorized Intrusion
“Does it make any sense that you took a wrong turn?! How long has it been since you got discharged……”
Tok!
Choi Hyun-seong gave Choi Hyun-ji's forehead a very light flick. He'd gotten a rough handle on controlling his strength from the earlier incident, which made it possible.
“Ow……”
She clutched her forehead anyway, as if it still hurt.
“Didn't you see that just now? The party leader guy or whatever. I sent him flying?”
“Oh, yeah. You did.”
Only then did Hyun-ji assess the situation and look around. All eyes were on them, making things extremely awkward.
“Everyone, it's gonna be hard to just pretend you didn't see that, right?”
Hyun-ji tried saying it, but there was no response. And understandably so—Hyun-seong had essentially trespassed into the dungeon without permission. Dungeon trespassing was a clear-cut crime. If word got out, he'd be summoned by the Hunter Association, face legal action, and get slapped with a fine. A hefty one, at that.
Hyun-ji was racking her brain over how to handle this when…
“H-Hyun-ji, your oppa… he's family, right?”
It was the D-rank hunter who'd stopped the party leader earlier in the tense standoff.
“Yeah.”
“So, you were working as a porter because you have a high-rank hunter in the family?”
“Huh? Not really……”
“I get it—I have a little sister too. She's still a student, but if she awakened as a hunter, I'd definitely try to stop her.”
The guy was nosy as hell. But in this situation, his words were actually helpful.
“Ah, yeah.”
In the end, Hyun-ji just waited for the situation to resolve itself. Of course, one person wasn't about to wait.
“Choi Hyun-ji!!!”
Staggering out from the inner cave, covered in blood, came the party leader Hyun-seong had punched flying earlier.
“Oh, you're still alive.”
Hyun-seong muttered that impression and stepped forward to greet him. At his appearance, the porters and hunters froze up again.
“You bastard. Feeling cocky 'cause your sneak attack landed? I'm Eun Seong-jin of White Magnolia Guild!!”
The guy made a flashy self-introduction, a red aura now enveloping him.
Hyun-seong knew exactly what that was.
I thought he was a shield warrior or knight because of the shield, but he's a barbarian warrior, huh.
It was the effect of Berserk, one of the Barbarian Warrior class skills. A skill that boosted strength and agility the lower your health got, characterized by that red aura wrapping the body. He'd remembered it well.
Doesn't matter.
Even if the guy was on the brink of death, barely able to survive a graze, he couldn't compare to Hyun-seong's stats. The earlier blow that sent him flying hadn't even used a skill—just pure stats in motion.
The gap between them was like heaven and earth. Even wider.
Ignoring all that, the rage-filled guy glared at Hyun-seong, poised to charge at any moment.
“O-Oppa……”
From behind, Hyun-ji and the others voiced their worry for Hyun-seong, but…
“Hey, just one question.”
Hyun-seong approached him leisurely, curiosity piqued. Once close, he whispered softly.
“You were deliberately letting goblins slip by earlier, right? Why?”
Hyun-seong had watched the whole thing from behind. And he'd sensed something blatantly obvious in the guy's movements and intent.
Confirms he's a barbarian warrior.
Among the skills for that class, Hyun-seong knew of Warcry, which taunted monsters over a wide area.
And Seong-jin's face was a sight to behold. He'd never imagined Hyun-seong would notice.
“You crazy bastard!!”
Whoosh!
The guy swung his sword, but Hyun-seong was already out of range. No skill used—just stats again.
Too slow.
This was practically Hyun-seong's first real combat on Earth, and he felt disappointed. The hunter world's level was lower than expected.
“Uwaaaak!!”
That was when it happened. The guy's skill activated.
The red aura around him spread out, and Hyun-seong saw a system window.
Exposed to skill Warcry.
Resisting due to Intelligence stat influence.
He hadn't expected that, but he learned one thing.
Stats are worth studying too.
Hyun-seong felt intrigued by this new revelation.
That aside.
Step by step, Hyun-seong closed in on the guy. He had no intention of killing him anyway. The guy had blatantly aimed to put Hyun-ji in a tough spot, and Hyun-seong had some questions for him.
As the guy trembled with excitement, Hyun-seong spread his palm and activated a skill.
Puppetry.
Puppetry
Shwick!
Threads of mana shot from Hyun-seong's hand, piercing the guy's entire body. Puppetry worked on inanimate objects, monsters, and even people. There was a chance of failure, but with their overwhelming stat gap, it was negligible. No—impossible.
Soon enough, the guy calmed down, growing docile.
Hyun-seong turned back and said,
“Anyone here a healer or priest? This guy's on the verge of death.”
Now in puppet state, he could access precise info and was shocked by the guy's condition.
Didn't expect him to be that fragile.
One wrong twitch in strength control, and the first hit would've killed him.
One hunter raised her hand.
“M-Me, I have a recovery skill.”
It was the timid female hunter from earlier. Her outfit screamed it, and she'd been terrified even casting from the rear or fighting.
Hyun-seong gestured for her to come over. She rushed up and used her skill. Placing hands on the guy, a shimmering blue light enveloped him, slowly restoring his health.
Figures—it's the Sorcerer's Vitality Recovery.
A skill from the sorcerer class—similar to mage but with a different mechanism—that restored both health and mana. Whatever it was, recovery was recovery.
He could've swapped to a support subclass and done it himself, but…
Too much hassle, and showing off insane abilities would just invite misunderstandings.
Hunters' abilities usually had consistency. No one even knew if he had support subclasses yet. Fighting hand-to-hand, casting magic-like stuff, and healing solo?
One loose lip, and it'd be a headache.
With all these eyes on him, he held back.
Pat pat!
Hyun-seong dusted his hands and slowly walked back to Hyun-ji.
But the truth had to come out. Especially to the one who needed to know it most—Hyun-ji.
The situation wrapped up, and with Hyun-seong's intervention, the dungeon clear went off without a hitch. But before exiting, he made a request.
“Anyway, I barged into your clear uninvited, so I'll head out first and report to the Association. Just hand that guy over to the staff up front and don't worry.”
“Sure, you're a high-rank hunter—we'll trust you with it. But you don't need to take him yourself?”
It was the chatty hunter.
“Nah, if I tag along, your raid rewards get cut, and I don't need him anyway. Taking him won't change his punishment.”
Money was what he needed most, but he lied to smooth things over. He was playing A-rank hunter right now. Even if it came out later, no big deal.
A-rank soon enough.
Hell, assigning him top rank now wouldn't be weird. No ID yet, but he was high-rank material. His only real offense was the trespass.
That's what he was covering for with this.
“Got it?”
“Yes, understood.”
Everyone nodded. Only Hyun-ji eyed Hyun-seong suspiciously. A hint of sulkiness, her gaze sharpening.
“Alright, I'll head out.”
Hyun-seong exited the dungeon first. And right away…
Absolute Stealth.
Whoosh.
He vanished the moment he emerged, evading the Association staff's notice. Hyun-seong waited invisibly as the others came out.
Swoosh!
A few seconds later, they started exiting the dungeon. Leading were the archer hunter and the chatty one, with Seong-jin bound.
“Good work…… Huh? What's this?”
The Association staff blinked at the bizarre scene.
“Didn't the A-rank hunter who left first say anything?”
“Pardon? No one like that.”
“Oh, he must've gone straight to HQ. See……”
The chatty hunter spilled every unsavory detail from inside. The staff took custody per procedure.
The downside? The guy really told everything as-is.
“Who was this A-rank hunter? We didn't see anyone enter or exit.”
“Ah, well, he seemed like Hyun-ji's family.”
“I'll explain. Good work out there.”
In the end, Hyun-ji had to step up and deal with the staff.
“Here's what happened.”
She explained that Hyun-seong was an A-rank hunter who'd rushed in out of worry for her, skipping the report. But the Association wasn't swayed by sob stories, so they settled on a fine as the lesser punishment. For unauthorized entry: a whopping 20 million won.
The silver lining? Administrative processing took weeks before the fine hit.
I can earn it by then.
Hyun-seong was confident. Finally, after Hyun-ji's tearful ass-kissing ordeal, she escaped the dungeon front. It was around 3 p.m.
On her way to a nearby bathhouse with private lockers to change and shower, Hyun-seong followed and dropped stealth.
“Hey.”
“Gah! You scared me!”
As she jumped, Hyun-seong walked beside her.
“Now what? We got no money at home.”
“They said it takes a few weeks—hustle and make it by then. Sigh~ Debt repayment's coming up too.”
“Debt? We'll pay the debt. Hunters make bank, right? You said so.”
“Yeah. But to make that much……”
“Figured it out now? I awakened too. After watching all that.”
At Hyun-seong's exasperated words, Hyun-ji stared in shock. Not at the awakening itself.
“You're gonna hunter?!”
“What, study up and join a company now? I'm thirty. Might be forty by the time I settle in.”
“It's dangerous. Mom'll never allow it.”
“I know. That's why we'll keep it secret. For now.”
Hyun-seong had it all planned. Looking at him, Hyun-ji eventually bowed her head and murmured softly.
“But you're so calm about it.”
“About what.”
“I lied, y'know. About the company. Some management whatever.”
Her voice grew smaller.
“Oh, that? You think you could fool me? Takes a thousand years too early. Mumbling excuses yesterday and all. Mom knows too.”
“Really?”
“What d'you mean 'really.' If you're gonna do it, commit properly. Don't half-ass it and nearly die. What would've happened without me today?”
“Sorry.”
She seemed startled by the sudden scolding. Her shoulders shook.
“You crying? Hey, why?”
Hyun-seong couldn't comprehend. Yeah, that's what siblings were. Fighting and cursing daily, tearing each other down, but ultimately the most essential person to one another.
Hyun-seong patted her back.
“N-No, I'm not crying. It's annoying. Get off.”
“Not crying, huh. Go wash up quietly and clean. One whiff from Mom, and we're both done.”
Nod.
Like that, they slowly became each other's pillars.
The next day, Hyun-seong arrived somewhere with Hyun-ji.
“Here—Hunter Association HQ.”
“Whoa, how much cash does it take to make a building this shiny?”
“Too early to gawk. The real deal's inside.”
Escorted by Hyun-ji, Hyun-seong visited the Association for hunter registration.
The moment they entered the building…
“Huh? Choi Hyun-seong?!”
Someone recognized him and called out.