Chapter 356

‘What is this?’

It wasn’t even a particularly difficult Gate, so I had no idea why there was friction between them.

‘Did they leave someone behind?’

Director Choi, who kept trying to persuade the owner of the agitated voice, gradually began raising his own voice as well.

“Come on, Sua. Think this through properly. Are you really saying that to me because you want to save Euntae? Or, huh? Are you trying to blame me right now because saying something like that will make you feel better?”

“Then are you going to leave Hunter Lee behind here, Director?”

“You’re so flustered right now that you can’t see straight. When did I ever say we should abandon Lee Euntae? I brought you people here, so I have an obligation to keep you alive. To save him, huh? There’s no need for all three of us to die too. Are you going to die embarrassingly in a D-rank Gate?”

He talks fucking fast. Even if he weren’t a Hunter, he was at a level where he could probably make a perfectly good living doing something like rap.

‘But he’s right, isn’t he?’

I didn’t know exactly what kind of situation this was, but just like the conversation I had heard, if one person had dealt with the Dungeon Boss and then fallen behind, and it was difficult to go back and rescue them, then naturally they should abandon that one person and leave.

It was unfortunate for the dead person, but well, it wasn’t me who died. Of course, if they had abandoned me and left, I would’ve been pretty fucking pissed.

“And, huh? You want to go back there? Are you out of your mind? The Dungeon Boss isn’t the problem. Every rock there was a lump of poison, and you want to....”

“That’s....”

“Right, think about it later.... I don’t want to stay here any longer, so let’s hurry up and get out.”

After Director Choi’s final words, silence settled over the area.

‘Hm, by the way... is he pretending not to know?’

If the Dungeon Boss had been dealt with, the exit Gate should have opened by now. Instead of making them retrace a path like this.

Do Yehyun seemed to have thought the same thing, because he lowered his voice and whispered quietly near my ear.

“I don’t think the Dungeon Boss is dead yet.”

I nodded and revised the plan. Since four people had entered, I wasn’t planning to kill everyone here.

My original plan was to quietly wait until they cleared the Dungeon, then pull only Director Choi away, isolate him, and kill him.

Of course, if the Dungeon Boss wasn’t dead, I had also planned to lure Director Choi toward it and kill him easily that way.

‘But now that the situation has turned out like this.’

At that moment, the mine suddenly shook with a heavy thud.

“Agh!”

“Ah!”

Afterward, debris came raining down onto the floor. I quickly covered Do Yehyun’s head with my hand and lowered my body as much as possible.

“I don’t think the Dungeon Boss is dead!”

“...Fuck, even when that bastard does his job!”

Listening to [N O V E L I G H T] the dissatisfied voice, I crooked up one corner of my mouth.

“Yehyun, I’ll give you a plan.”

“...A plan?”

“Yeah, first... I’m going to impersonate the Dungeon Boss.”

“......?”

The back of his head beneath my hand moved this way and that. Apparently, it was frustrating that he couldn’t see my expression because of the stealth item.

“It’s dark anyway, and it looks like they’re recognizing the Boss by the vibrations.”

“Yes.”

“Then Director Choi and that justice-filled Hunter over there will split up. Well, even if their opinions miraculously come together, it doesn’t matter. I can separate them physically. I’ll isolate only Hunter Choi.”

Even though it was already pitch-dark, and because of the stealth item it was to the point where I could hardly see anything at all, I could still feel Do Yehyun’s gaze.

I moved the hand that had been touching the back of his head and pressed Do Yehyun’s cheek firmly as I continued explaining.

“Then you stick with the other side.”

“Why?”

“Because the remaining Hunters need to clear the Dungeon Boss. Nobody knows that we came in here, so if we want the Dungeon to be cleared without anyone getting suspicious, they have to do it. But they said the minerals are poisonous.”

“Ah, so I hide myself behind them and support them while healing...?”

“Right.”

Do Yehyun nodded and cautiously asked.

“What if they can’t clear it?”

“This Dungeon is piss-easy, so that won’t happen. Still, if something like that does happen....”

“.......”

“You’re the only one who needs to stay alive.”

“Yes. Do you have a plan?”

“You’re asking something obvious.”

Of course I had a plan. 1. Meet him. 2. Kill him. It was a specific and reliable plan of about that level.

I answered calmly, then, with a feeling of being pleased with him, tapped his cheek a few times with my fingers and said,

“Then get ready.”

I put the Stealth Orb back into my mouth. Immediately afterward, I shielded Do Yehyun and fired ice straight toward the wall.

CRACK!

The fragile wall was struck by the ice and collapsed straight toward the floor.

CRRRRUMBLE— THUD!

Large pieces of debris crashed to the floor, and in an instant the ground beneath our feet collapsed. I wrapped an arm around Do Yehyun’s stomach once to slow his falling speed, then released him and rolled down as I fell.

“Aaaaaagh!”

“Move! Move!”

It seemed the sound of us falling had been buried under the noise of the debris crashing down. Even though we were using stealth items, I had been a little worried that we might be discovered if the inside was too bright, but fortunately, the place where they were was still dark, with only a very faint light visible.

Maybe because it had collapsed so heavily once already, another fragment dropped from the ceiling.

BANG!

One of the Hunters must have been hit by the broken debris, because they cried out and rolled across the floor.

I used that opening to quickly bring up the Status Window.

Name: Choi Seunghee

Age: 36

Rank: B

Title: -

Primary Skills: Sharp Blade(A), Tamed(A)

Growth Limit: A

Found him.

It went without saying, but his Status Window was quite good. Gripping tightly the arm that burned a little less because of the mana-regulation artifact, I fired ice once more toward the ceiling where Director Choi was standing.

THUD!

RATTLE.

Director Choi clenched his teeth and, in an instant, swung the longsword hanging at his waist and cut through the debris. Even though it had happened in a fairly brief instant, his reaction was fast.

‘He’s only been going into piss-easy Dungeons lately, so I underestimated him a little, but I guess experience really is experience.’

Well, it still didn’t matter. After all, because of Director Choi’s attack just now, a huge wall had formed between Director Choi and the other two Hunters.

“Haa, ah.... Fuck....”

Director Choi let out a sigh of relief and a short curse, then stood up and shouted toward the other side of the wall.

“You okay?!”

“...Yes!”

“...Yes, we’re fine.”

“Good, I’m fine too.”

Director Choi knocked on the wall made of debris and muttered as though to himself.

“This won’t work. ...If I hit it wrong, the wall might collapse even more.”

“We’ll go!”

“You’ll be okay?”

“Yes, while we’re at it... we’ll bring Euntae back too.”

“.......”

At those words, Director Choi sighed and shouted.

“Be careful!”

Hm, this was a little unexpected.

They had been arguing earlier about whether to abandon someone or not, so I thought their relationship was completely fucked, but surprisingly, in this kind of situation they seemed to get along fine....

‘Interesting?’

Well, either way, it wasn’t any of my business.

By the time the sound of footsteps on the other side had grown faint, Director Choi began looking around the wall as though searching for an exit.

“To end up like this in some pathetic Gate.... If it weren’t for those minerals, we would’ve cleared it ages ago. No, how the hell was I supposed to know that.... And now I don’t even have any potions left.”

I quietly moved my feet, following Director Choi’s route.

Around the time a stone clattered noisily after being kicked by my foot, Director Choi suddenly turned around.

‘Did he notice me?’

I had been trying to keep my footsteps quiet.

Director Choi slowly scanned the mine with a suspicious expression, then started walking forward again. The soft crunching sound of him stepping over debris echoed through the silent mine.

At that moment.

CRUNCH.

The sound of a stone being crushed and breaking beneath my foot rang out loudly.

‘Fuck.’

Director Choi immediately turned around and, without hesitation, swung his sword precisely toward me.

I lowered my body, rolled once, rose with the momentum, and fired ice into his hand.

“Ugh!”

He nearly dropped his sword, then asked while breathing hard.

“Who are you?!”

I quickly finished judging the situation, spat the orb out of my mouth, then raised both hands to show him that there was nothing in them.

“Hello, Director.”

“What....”

“I’m Hunter Seo Jehyun from Haeseong. Do you happen to know me?”

“...Why is a Haeseong Hunter here? We didn’t request support.”

“You looked obviously in danger, so I came to help.”

I deliberately smiled kindly as I adjusted my item, and Director Choi slowly sheathed his sword.

“Support came from Haeseong?”

“Strictly speaking, it’s from somewhere a little closer than that.”

“Where?”

“The Chairman told me directly. Ah, and of course I mean the Hunter Association.”

“...The Chairman personally asked a Haeseong Hunter for support?”

“We became close recently.”

At that, Director Choi nodded, slowly approached me, and held out his hand.

“I never imagined we’d receive support like this.... Ah, let’s at least shake hands.”

“Sure.”

The moment we clasped hands like that, Director Choi suddenly yanked me toward him and brought a dagger I hadn’t even noticed him draw up against my throat.

Beyond the pressure of my skin being pressed, I felt a sharp pain as though something keen had cut into me.

‘Ah.... Fuck, he is smart.’

I tilted my neck to the side, moving it slightly away from the blade, and said,

“You’re a Hunter who handles weapons well, and you’re sneaky on top of that.”

“There’s no way you secretly came all the way in here just to rescue me, so I have to assume you have another motive. You were trying to kill me, weren’t you? Was Haeseong trying to keep the Hunter Association in check?”

Unfortunately, this was entirely something I had done on my own. I frowned and said,

“I just periodically go around killing people, that’s all.”

“Periodically...?”

Taking advantage of the moment he was thrown off, I leaned my body backward and kicked him in the abdomen.

“Ghk!”

With a THUD, he flew backward, and I heard the wall behind him break. Director Choi immediately prepared to rush at me again, adjusted his grip on the dagger, and swung it at me.

I heard a WHOOSH as the air was cut directly above my head. I ducked my upper body to avoid the blade, then turned my body as it was and used the force of the rotation to kick him in the side. Along with the heavy sound of bone striking bone, his breathing stopped for a moment.

Taking advantage of that, I kicked his wrist hard with my foot, knocked the dagger from his hand, and snatched it immediately.

“Ghk!”

“They said you were so good with weapons... but you’re not that good?”

At the words I blurted out without thinking, Director Choi’s eyes flashed. In an instant, Director Choi drew his longsword again and swung it toward my waist.

Sharp Blade(A) activates.

“......!”

Oh, fuck. I dodged in a hurry, and even though the blade itself hadn’t touched me, a sharp, stinging pain spread through me. When I felt my abdomen, blood was faintly seeping from a thread-thin wound.

It seemed to be a Skill that could compress even the surrounding air and use it as a blade.

Director Choi openly sneered at me and spoke.

“You’re nothing but an appraiser with one or two support-type Skills at best.”

“I’ll apologize. I sometimes misspeak.”

“Misspeak? No, coming here in the first place was your mistake. Did the Haeseong Guild Master send you...!”

“What fucking Haeseong Guild Master? The Chairman told me to kill you, dumbass. You’ve been cut loose.”

Of course, it was complete bullshit... but what did I care?

I drove the dagger I had taken from him straight toward Director Choi while he was momentarily thrown off. Director Choi dodged a beat too late, and a chunk of flesh was torn away from his arm.

As though he couldn’t even feel the pain, he struck me with his forearm. There was weight behind it, and a fairly heavy pain spread through me. My body was pushed backward, and my feet slid across the floor.

WHOOSH, the blade cut through empty air once. Because Director Choi, fully intending to kill me, aimed for my neck, I half fell backward and collided with the wall.

“You....”

Immediately afterward, I created ice in midair and poured it down on him.

CRASH!

Director Choi hunched his body to block the debris falling together with the ice and charged straight at me. I used the rebound of my body to rise and swung the dagger at him.

THUD!

I heard the sound of bone striking bone. When I dropped sharply honed ice toward his back, Director Choi turned his body and cut through the blade of ice.

‘Fuck, it’s really been a long time.’

I indiscriminately poured ice toward him while resetting my Skill.

Mimic(S) activates.

Sharp Blade(A) activates.

Without hesitation, I thrust the dagger toward him. Along with the peculiar sensation of the air being pushed forward, I heard the sound of flesh being sliced.

SLASH.

“......!”

A thin vertical line appeared from his cheek to his forehead even though the blade itself hadn’t touched him. Then blood streamed down.

“I only play support when I’m with our Guild Master, fucker. If I came in here alone, do you think I’d be at the point where I’m playing support?”

“You....”

Covering his face with one hand, Director Choi glared viciously at me and charged straight toward me.