Chapter 92

The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Close ties to an S-Class Hunter, and an A-Class Hunter addressing him respectfully as “Hyung-nim”... At this point, nothing should have been surprising anymore.

‘W-what kind of incredible connections does that bastard have?’

“Ahem!”

While everyone was busy exchanging greetings, the association president slipped away, punctuating his retreat with a series of awkward coughs.

***

A few hours later.

‘Oh.’

Sparkle.

I held the ring up to the sunlight.

It was a slender band engraved with an unfamiliar constellation. Was this the new piece of equipment I would be using from now on?

‘An Earth enchantment!’

The ring I had entrusted to Gu Seohyeong was finally back in my hands. She had just delivered it to me, explaining that the enchantment was complete.

‘I can’t tell how much it’s improved just by looking at it.’

I turned the ring between my fingers.

‘Hmm.’

Come to think of it, something rather strange had happened. When Gu Seohyeong returned the ring earlier, I had casually made her another proposal.

—Couldn’t you pay me instead of enchanting it?

—What do you think? Wouldn’t that be more convenient for you as well?

For some reason, the suggestion that she repay the favor with money seemed to displease her. The moment I asked for cash, her expression grew so grave that she could no longer hide it.

‘Was that considered rude by Earth’s standards?’

Gu Seohyeong had answered in a deeply hesitant voice.

“If you truly insist, I can prepare the money for you. But wouldn’t it be better to let me repay the favor by enchanting it for free...?”

So I simply agreed. To be honest, as the one receiving the favor, it felt rather shameless to argue over the method.

‘Either way, it’s free!’

I decided to look on the bright side.

“Hyung-nim!”

Now that I had my ring back, it was time to focus on the day’s schedule.

“Please take a look at this! What do you think?”

“Oh.”

“I stabilized the skill exactly as you instructed, Hyung-nim!”

Ever since the Red Gate raid, I had been training this A-Class Hunter every Thursday.

“Yes. You’re doing well.”

Unfortunately, there was something bittersweet about it.

Before I knew it, our lessons had reached their final stage. The enhancement skill known as [Stone Skin] was the last piece of magic Ahn Yoonseung had left for me to teach him.

‘I’m running out of excuses.’

Even my ability to instruct him had reached its limit. Anything beyond this point belonged to a dangerous domain, one that could {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} not safely be taught to primitive magicians.

‘Ugh.’

His progress and growth should have made me happy, so why did I feel so conflicted?

I did not think that Earthling would truly behave that way, but...

What if he decided there was nothing more to learn from me and stopped contacting me altogether?

No. No, I should not entertain such dreadful thoughts.

‘Y-Yoonseung is a good Earthling. He wouldn’t be that cruel.’

I squeezed my eyes shut and released a heavy sigh.

—Wake up! It comes to mind every morning♩♪~

At that moment, a bright singing voice suddenly rang out from Yoonseung’s pocket.

It was his phone.

“Huh? Why is the chief calling at this hour?”

“Is it your guild?”

“Yes. I’ll take this for a moment.”

Ahn Yoonseung answered the call.

With Kim Kiryeo’s hearing, of course, there was no way I could eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Eek!”

Judging by his reaction, however, it was not good news.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“That’s...”

A short while later, Ahn Yoonseung ended the call and spoke in a trembling voice.

As expected, something urgent had happened at his company.

“There’s... there’s been an abnormal mutation!”

Today was the day a C-Class Hunter team from Neo Sisters was scheduled to raid a gate. But something had gone wrong during the operation.

The dungeon’s difficulty had abruptly changed, transforming what had been a C-Class Gate into a B-Class Gate.

“One person somehow managed to escape, but everyone else is still trapped inside...”

According to what he had been told, the gate’s internal structure had also changed drastically. Several guild members were now stranded somewhere inside a maze-like dungeon.

‘Oh dear.’

If nothing was done, the guild’s C-Class Hunters could be slaughtered.

Neo Sisters had therefore taken emergency measures, summoning every available A-Class Hunter and hurriedly assembling a rescue team.

“Yoonseung-ah, shall I call you a taxi?”

“P-please do!”

Ahn Yoonseung began preparing to leave in a rush.

But wait.

Why was I behaving so calmly in the middle of an emergency?

Well, the answer was obvious. An F-Class person like me would be useless in a situation like this. To exaggerate only slightly, a loose stone rolling along the roadside would contribute more to a raid than Kim Kiryeo ever could.

“All right. Take care, and come back safely.”

Naturally, I would be staying behind.

I had no intention of involving myself in their affairs.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Of course, this troublesome world never allowed anything to proceed as planned.

“Whew.”

Roughly forty minutes later, I arrived at the gate with a heavy sigh.

“K-Kiryeo Hyung!”

“Is that the person he called?”

“This way! Over here!”

I approached the Neo Sisters guild members gathered near the entrance and immediately issued a warning.

“I’m telling you in advance: I will only be using my actual appraisal ability.”

At this point, it should have been obvious why I had been summoned.

—Hyung-nim! Please help me!

Apparently, an appraiser was indispensable for clearing this mutated gate.

—Doesn’t Neo Sisters have any competent appraisers?

—N-no. Their appraisal skills themselves are excellent. The problem is their Awakening rank...

—What are their ranks?

—They’re all D-Class or lower. They refused because they didn’t want to enter a B-Class Gate.

There had been a minor argument along the way, but I ultimately accepted his request.

Whenever that A-Class Hunter incurred a debt, he always made sure to repay it.

‘Whew.’

I had been worried that I would no longer have a reason to make use of him, so in the end, this worked out rather well.

I was already planning to use this incident to demand another substantial favor from him in the future. Had I not harbored such sinister intentions, I would never have come all this way.

“Hmm.”

Now, to the matter at hand.

“Is that everything the rescue team needed to discuss?”

“Yes, Hyung-nim!”

“Has the association authorized our entry?”

“They said that, given the circumstances, we can proceed first and submit the report afterward!”

An analysis-type Awakened usually served one particular function inside a gate.

‘Detecting traps.’

An appraiser’s skill could provide a basic explanation of mechanisms and traps, even those the appraiser had never encountered before.

In a way, it was only natural that one would be necessary here.

This gate was filled with mechanisms, from deadly traps to switches that determined which route through the dungeon would open. Without an appraiser, advancing even a single step would be practically impossible.

“Yoonseung-ah.”

I understood why Ahn Yoonseung had contacted me.

Still, there was one matter I needed to make absolutely clear.

“You remember that I’m F-Class, don’t you?”

“Ah, yes.”

“So, if a monster happens to come after me... what do you suppose will happen?”

I left the rest unsaid, but my meaning should have been perfectly clear.

‘Remember. You’ll be the one cleaning up the mess.’

Ahn Yoonseung nodded, his face tense.

Besides, the rescue team included no fewer than two A-Class Hunters. There should have been little cause for concern.

“Of course. We’re entering with a valuable appraiser, so we’ll remain vigilant.”

I glanced toward the other A-Class Hunter who had spoken.

Two A-Class Hunters and one F-Class Hunter.

Even for a team assembled in haste, the balance was absurd.

“Very well. Let’s go in.”

“Let’s move!”

A short while later, we entered the gate under the team leader’s direction.

Oh, and since this operation required me to enter a Blue Gate, I had reported the matter to Kang Changho separately.

Unfortunately, Neo Sisters had refused to let him accompany us...

But once I explained that I would be travelling with two A-Class Hunters, persuading him to let me go was surprisingly easy.

Of course, the new communication device, Pyromancer Necris, had also played a considerable role in securing his reluctant approval.

***

Tap, tap, tap...

Thud.

“I’ve deactivated it.”

“Wow!”

And so, the dungeon raid began.

I swiftly analysed the dungeon’s external mana and opened a route forward. Meanwhile, the A-Class Hunters disposed of every monster we encountered with ease.

Naturally, things soon progressed to this point.

“Ah!”

“What is it?”

“There are Awakened people behind that wall. Three of them.”

“That matches the number of missing guild members!”

After making our way through the dungeon, we had finally located the stranded Hunters.

“Wait. There must be some kind of mechanism around here that opens the wall...”

Then we should rescue them at once.

Without hesitation, I activated the device. More precisely, I stepped on the animal symbols drawn across the cave floor in a particular sequence.

‘A dog, a lion, and finally a sheep?’

The puzzle was originally designed to be solved by stepping on four images in the correct order after testing the possible combinations.

But once it fell into my hands, it was hardly worth mentioning.

Thud!

The wall sank away as though opening had been the most natural thing in the world.

But the sight waiting on the other side was...

‘Huh?’

Rather disturbing.

“What is all this...?”

“Ugh.”

The A-Class Hunters charged into the newly opened chamber the moment they saw what was happening.

Their reaction was understandable. Their colleagues were being overwhelmed before our very eyes.

“Argh! Help us!”

“Ugh... Cough!”

“Hey! Everyone, move aside! I’m going to smash this thing!”

Several guild members were struggling inside a square barrier filled entirely with water.

This was not even an EX-Class dungeon. Why did it contain so many traps?

‘Hmm.’

Fortunately, the situation did not develop into a major disaster.

The female A-Class Hunter accompanying us possessed monstrous destructive power.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thwack!

Once she committed herself to the attack and unleashed a barrage of arrows, the barrier imprisoning the guild members rapidly lost its shape.

Within moments, the entire trap had been destroyed.

“Senior! Above you! Above!”

“Watch the ceiling!”

Contrary to the emotional reunion I had expected, the Hunters who escaped from the flooded prison immediately began pointing frantically overhead.

‘Above?’

Without thinking, I raised my head.

Drip. Drip.

Had I known I was about to make eye contact with such a hideous creature, I would never have looked.

‘Hiiik!’

Something ominous clung to the cavern’s high ceiling.

It did not have enough matching pairs of legs to be called a centipede, yet its body was far too thick and misshapen to be mistaken for a snake.

“W-we were being chased by that thing! That’s how we ended up falling into the trap!”

It was a monster.

Worse still, it appeared to be a boss-level creature.

The A-Class Hunters immediately assumed combat stances without waiting for anyone to give the order.

“Yoonseung-ah!”

“Yes!”

The ideal formation was obvious.

Ahn Yoonseung would take the front and hold the enemy in place, while the other A-Class Hunter kept it under pressure with her crossbow.