Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Back to the Factory
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Inside Daikon's cave.
Kim Sang-cheol, Oh Myung-yoon, and Kim Gil-sang watched the arriving cleanup crew with faces mixed half in anticipation and half in worry.
Last night.
Two strokes of luck had come their way.
- It's... a dungeon!
The first dungeon they'd ever discovered since starting their hunter lives.
For three people who had only ever hunted monsters with extreme caution for safety's sake,
they'd constantly struggled with poverty day in and day out.
And then they'd stumbled upon a dungeon where they could make a fortune.
That was their first bit of luck.
- Would you like to enter the dungeon with me?
Even faced with this stroke of fortune, fear had left them frozen, unable to decide.
Then their second stroke of luck arrived.
If it had just been the three of them, they might have agonized over it endlessly and never gone in.
But they entered with Kang Hyuk, who dispatched even the dungeon boss Daikon in the blink of an eye.
And on top of that...
- I'll just take this horn and claw. You can have the rest. I don't need it.
They hadn't contributed at all to taking down the Daikon,
so even if Kang Hyuk took everything, they had no grounds to complain.
Yet Kang Hyuk said he wouldn't take the meat, teeth, or hide that could fetch a good price.
They felt guilty taking so much without doing anything, but at the same time, the three couldn't help but rejoice.
"The Daikon's hide is pretty damaged, but if we include the Dacons inside the dungeon, we should get a decent amount, right?"
Kim Sang-cheol beamed as Oh Myung-yoon nodded.
"At least 20 million won, minimum."
"Whoa... 20 million...? It's like a dream."
It was a dream-sum for three people who'd barely scraped by, just enough to put food on the table.
"But these cleanup guys are from Miru Guild. That okay?"
Cleanup crew from Miru Guild.
It was a worry that arose for the three, who had only been thrilled by their sudden fortunes.
If they'd known beforehand that the local cleanup crews were Miru Guild affiliates, they wouldn't have called them.
But now that they'd arrived and were appraising for settlement, it was too late to back out.
"It'll be fine. What could go wrong?"
Crunch.
One of the cleanup crew approached, apparently done with the appraisal.
"Excluding the Daikon, the rest of the monsters are in excellent condition."
Thanks to Kang Hyuk beating them down barehanded.
"How did you find the dungeon?"
Kim Sang-cheol stepped forward and recounted the journey to Daikon's cave.
"I see. This place must be a lucky dungeon for the three of you."
"Haha! You got that right! If luck hadn't been on our side, we never would've found it!"
The cleanup crew member laughed along, then cautiously eyed the three.
"But you three don't have a guild?"
"Ah, yeah. We've been friends for a long time, so we hunt together."
"No affiliation anywhere?"
"Yeah... just the three of us."
Having heard this much, the cleanup crew member stroked his chin and tilted his head.
Oh Myung-yoon, watching him, spoke up.
"Is there some kind of problem?"
"You didn't officially register the dungeon discovery either, right?"
The Kalderon system granted ownership to the discoverer for a week.
But dungeons were often vast and deep, making a week insufficient.
So guilds or individuals would register officially with the Dungeon Association if they needed more time.
It cost money, but the Association guaranteed the registrant's ownership.
"No... we discovered it and entered right away, no time for that."
"Got it."
The cleanup crew member nodded, then beckoned a subordinate.
"Call the Dungeon Association and register Daikon's Cave under Miru Guild."
"Yes, sir!"
Kim Sang-cheol, flustered by the incomprehensible order, spoke up.
"Wh-what the hell are you doing?!"
The cleanup crew member handed him a sheet of paper.
"Here's your settlement sheet. Now get lost."
Proudly written on the settlement sheet: 0.
"You bastard!!"
Furious at the zero, Kim Sang-cheol grabbed the man's collar.
"Oh-ho?"
The cleanup crew member's face turned icy in an instant.
"Filthy bugs."
He shook his head at the three, then called to his men.
"Boys."
"Yes!"
His subordinates gathered around.
He addressed them.
"Seal the entrance."
Damn, it's far.
I knew we'd traveled quite a distance hanging from the truck,
but not this far.
Even racing straight through the forest, it felt like hours.
Ahead lay Daikon's cave, where we'd set out that morning.
Vroom!
Several vehicles were leaving the cave entrance.
The cleanup crew, probably.
Familiar vehicles.
Ones I'd seen at Yullas's Garden and the factory a few hours ago.
Crunch.
I landed where we'd lit the bonfire earlier,
then scanned the surroundings.
...?
It was quiet.
The cleanup crew had just left, so the three should be nearby.
Why so silent?
"Mr. Sang-cheol?"
Calling their names, I approached the cave.
Beep...
A mechanical sound came from somewhere.
Beep... beep...
What was that?
Moving closer toward the sound,
!!
Beep---!
A flashing red light blared a danger warning.
Oh no...!
I hurled myself backward at the ominous noise.
BOOM!!
The flashing light exploded with a roar.
Thud!!
The blast hurled my body back into a tree.
"Ugh."
What the...!
"Cough!"
Smoke covered my face, making me cough.
What had happened?
The explosion was clearly a bomb someone had planted deliberately.
- Miru Guild has a bad reputation.
No way.
If those were the familiar vehicles, then like at Yullas's Garden, they were Miru Guild cleanup crew.
I didn't know exactly what dirty deeds Kim Sang-cheol meant, but it felt ominous.
Crunch.
Hoping otherwise, I slowly approached the dungeon entrance.
The entrance had completely collapsed from the explosion.
In that split second, nothing was near the entrance.
No one around.
Not even a hint of presence outside the dungeon.
I engraved it on my palm,
then swung at the collapsed rubble.
Bang!
The debris, which had only blocked the entrance, was swept aside.
I pushed through the smoke blocking the way and entered the cave depths.
The Dacon corpses hanging from the entrance were all gone.
The cleanup crew must have taken them just before leaving.
Crunch.
I continued deeper inside.
"Ugh... ugh...!"
!!
A groan from someone.
I quickened my pace toward the sound.
A deep natural crevice in the cave depths.
The sound came from within.
"Mr. Sang-cheol!"
It was barely wide enough for one person.
Calling out at the sound from within, Kim Sang-cheol slowly emerged from the crevice.
"Kang... Kang Hyuk..."
It was high up, so I couldn't see clearly,
but Kim Sang-cheol's condition was far from normal.
He was barely clinging to life.
Whoosh.
I leaped into the dug-out crevice.
Kim Sang-cheol had hidden in a groove below.
This was bad.
Up close, his condition was the worst.
Deep wounds everywhere, likely from before falling here,
blood pouring nonstop from them.
"What happened? Where are Mr. Myung-yoon and Mr. Gil-sang?"
Asking if he was okay might have been first,
but it was pointless now.
He'd lost too much blood already.
"They took 'em. The clean... cleanup crew."
Gasping for breath, Kim Sang-cheol briefly explained.
The Miru cleanup crew had turned hostile upon learning the three had no affiliation.
They tried to drive them out without settlement, and when the three protested, it sparked this mess.
"I... luckily fell here... and survived..."
The crew taking Oh Myung-yoon and Kim Gil-sang seemed to give up when Kim Sang-cheol dropped into this hard-to-retrieve crevice.
Already badly wounded, they figured he'd die naturally and just sealed the entrance.
Slide.
Kim Sang-cheol looked down at his massively torn abdomen.
"I'll die soon... cough!"
My brow furrowed involuntarily.
Deaths I'd seen countless times.
So familiar it was routine, not even worth a blink.
I didn't know why it furrowed now, but I focused on his mouth, as if he had something to say.
"Fact... tory. They said... some factory..."
The word "factory" brought to mind the place I'd just left.
Where they processed monster corpses—what did they want with the two there?
"Factory... fac... tory..."
Repeating "factory," Kim Sang-cheol's breathing grew faint.
"..."
Moments later, even that faint breath stopped.
....
I gazed at Kim Sang-cheol's still form a moment, then climbed out of the crevice.
To the end, he'd uttered "factory." What he wanted was one thing.
Save Oh Myung-yoon and Kim Gil-sang, taken there.
Even if they might already be dead.
Save them...
An unfamiliar word, one that didn't resonate.
I'd only met the three yesterday.
I had no obligation or duty to avenge them.
But.
I had business with Miru Guild.
Miru Guild, who held Yullas's magic stone.
Not for revenge.
Just to get what I needed.
Crunch... crunch... splash!
Yullas's Garden lay between Daikon's cave and the factory.
I raced toward Yullas's Garden.
Yullas's Garden, after Miru Guild's cleanup crew departed.
Affiliate hunter Yoon Tae-young, left to tidy up, watched the departing vehicles.
"Persistent money grubbers."
The vehicles weren't carrying corpses from Yullas's Garden.
From a bit farther away.
Corpses collected from Daikon's Cave, discovered by some no-name hunters.
"Two logs too—they'll love that at the factory."
Miru Guild's factory didn't just handle monster corpses.
Something worth even more: human corpses.
Specifically, ones whose organs were intact, blood still warm.
"Poor bastards. Call cleanup, and they pick our crew in the dead of night."
Yoon Tae-young chuckled and shook his head.
Fearless idiots.
No backing, no affiliation, summoning Miru cleanup at midnight.
Practically begging to be eaten.
"Alright, time for me to head out... Aaaagh!!"
No sound at all.
Not even footsteps or the ground shifting.
Shhh...
A man stood before Yoon Tae-young's eyes.
A man looking down at him with eyes that saw him as worthless vermin, one of countless bugs.
Swishhh...!
The man's hand reached toward Yoon Tae-young's face.