Chapter 105

Meanwhile, there was someone everyone had forgotten.

"S-Suho..."

Im Dogyun was dying.

"Save me..."

Wrapped from head to toe in white bandages, Im Dogyun crawled across the floor. The sight of him desperately trying to escape this hellish place, his hands trembling, was utterly pitiful.

At the sight, Suho squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.

"I'm sorry, Dogyun."

THUD.

At last, Dogyun's trembling hand dropped limply to the floor.

But then...

[Get up.]

His body lurched upward as Ammut's enormous hand effortlessly lifted his battered frame.

[You still have three laps left.]

"Aaargh...!"

Caught in that grip, Dogyun struggled, flailing both arms like a broken doll. Regardless of his wishes, Ammut forced him upright on the floor and commanded him with stern solemnity.

[If you have time to flap your gums, run.]

"Please, Master Ammut...! I can't take any more!"

[Yes, you can.]

"No, seriously! My leg is broken...!"

[Trick your brain. Think your leg isn't broken, and you can run.]

"Like hell I can, you crazy crocodile!"

[...]

"No, sir. That was nonsense just now. I must have been dreaming for a moment."

[Heh heh. That's more like it. The life is back in your eyes. I can turn up the gravity some more. Double gravity.]

RUMBLE!

Ammut twitched a finger, and a heavy gravitational field bore down on Dogyun.

CRACK!

"Gaaaaargh...!"

His already broken leg bone cracked again.

Unfortunately, the Item: Mummy's Bandages wrapped tightly around his entire body forcibly held his broken frame together. Thanks to them, he could run all he liked even with a broken leg—not that he was remotely grateful.

"Ugh... No... Why is it moving again...?"

His eyes were glazed and drool dribbled from his mouth, but Dogyun felt both grateful and cursed to still be alive. When Ammut gently nudged his back with the gravitational field, he finally began trudging along at a run again.

During the past few days, while Suho was away in the Demon Realm, Dogyun had been staying in Ammut's pyramid. Things outside were too dangerous, so Suho had sent him here for temporary refuge.

But an even more terrible hell had awaited him here...

An enormous, muscular crocodile man stood right before him, smacking his lips. And Ammut wasn't doing that because he intended to eat him.

Ammut absolutely loved weak, useless specimens like Dogyun.

[Oh, this one, this one... Heh heh.]

His mouth watered. He felt like a chef who had just discovered some freshly caught ingredients.

Just thinking about how to train this pathetic weakling of a human into someone whose development would earn him acclaim filled Ammut with excitement.

As Suho himself had experienced, gravity inside this pyramid could grow stronger or weaker at Ammut's will. By making good use of that system, he could adjust for Dogyun's lack of strength, wring every last drop out of that scrawny, wretched body, and train him beyond his limits.

And...

No matter how much Dogyun protested, he had no right to refuse. No one who had set foot in this pyramid had ever escaped Ammut's clutches unscathed.

"Gaaaaaargh!"

Dogyun's desperate screams echoed through the pyramid, but even those only pleased Ammut.

[Heh heh. Good, good. Still full of energy.]

"N-no... Wait, don't tell me...?"

[One more lap.]

"...!"

Some figures stood motionless in the distance, watching Dogyun.

[Rotting Mummy]

[Rotting Mummy]

They were his countless predecessors, who had undergone Ammut's Iron Body Arts training to the death long ago—and had actually died. Even in death, they remained trapped in this pyramid forever, serving as Ammut's attendants.

"Urrrgh..."

The dead, of course, had nothing to say.

The mummies stared blankly at Dogyun with their hollow eyes, then bitterly turned away.

[Heh heh. Don't worry so much. I've finally learned how to train people just short of killing them.]

"I-I guess you have."

Feeling terribly guilty, Suho first bought a healing potion from the shop. When he poured it into the half-dead Dogyun's mouth, life slowly began returning to his unfocused eyes.

"Ah... Are you an angel...? My strength is coming back. Am I going to live?"

He didn't even have the presence of mind to wonder how Suho had such an ability.

"Suho... Thank y—"

[Oh? Your strength is back?]

"W-wait. No, no... It really isn't—"

As Ammut's eyes lit up as though he'd been waiting for those very words, Dogyun looked at Suho in despair. Meeting his gaze, Suho silently nodded.

"If you haven't finished your ten kilometers yet, you'd better run."

"Y-you traitor!"

Training resumed.

Suho did feel a little sorry for Dogyun, but Ammut's training would undoubtedly help him.

'Even if he can't level up like me, pushing his strength training to the limit is a good thing.'

In fact, this was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Dogyun.

Ordinary hunters couldn't grow stronger by leveling up as Suho did. But that only meant their awakened supernatural abilities couldn't grow. They all still did strength training and mock combat drills to practice using their skills in battle.

That was one of the reasons hunters wanted to join major guilds in the first place. Those guilds paid handsomely to recruit coaches who had trained national-level athletes, providing hunters with systematic training support.

In that sense, Ammut's Iron Body Arts training was actually an incredibly effective method, however brutal it might be. In particular, by combining healing potions with Mummy's Bandages, which forced the body to move even with broken bones and torn muscles, it was possible to reshape a human body to its absolute limits.

"Gaaaaaaaaaargh...!"

Of course, the person undergoing it had to endure all the accompanying pain.

[More importantly, my disciple. Did everything go well in the Demon Realm?]

Just then, Ammut turned to Suho and asked how things had gone. Naturally, he probably wasn't asking out of curiosity.

Suho instinctively knew what would come out of his mouth next.

[If you're all done, let's begin today's training.]

"... At least pretend to listen to my answer."

This gym really was too much.

Shaking his head, Suho went to stand beside Dogyun.

[Triple gravity.]

"...!"

The daily quest began.

* * *

Meanwhile, during Suho's trip to the Demon Realm, the outside world had been just as turbulent.

"What?! You're telling me Suho still hasn't come back from the dungeon?!"

Yoo Jinho, Suho's uncle and the CEO of Ahjin Soft, was understandably shocked to hear that Suho had been out of contact for days while raiding a dungeon.

The secretary delivering the news looked grave as well. There was still something more important to report.

"Yes. Hunters do often spend extended periods in dungeons, of course, but something is wrong this time. Apparently, hunters from the Hyunmoo Guild followed Hunter Sung Suho into the Pyeongtaek dungeon immediately after he entered."

"The Hyunmoo Guild?!"

That familiar name gave Jinho an ominous feeling.

"Don't tell me there's someone named Lee Youngho on the list of hunters who followed him in?"

"... There is, sir. Section Chief Lee Youngho of the Hyunmoo Guild—the man we recently had trouble with—apparently showed up unannounced at the Pyeongtaek Guild with his subordinates..."

"Goddammit!"

Unable to contain himself, Jinho sprang to his feet and picked up the phone.

"I'll hire mercenaries immediately and send them in to rescue Suho! Contact the Hyunmoo Guild too, and find out where Section Chief Lee Youngho is right now!"

"Yes, sir!"

The possibility that Suho might be in danger left Jinho furious.

'This is my fault! To think Lee Youngho would take his anger out on Suho because that deal fell through!'

His mistake had been never imagining they would cross the line this far, no matter how reckless hunters could be.

But when he thought about it, hunters had only existed as a profession for two years. However diligently the Hunters Association drafted hunter legislation to govern their conduct, it couldn't possibly rein in every thug who went berserk after suddenly gaining superpowers.

'I forgot for a moment just how fine the line between a hunter and a villain really is!'

Countless hunters, intoxicated by their superhuman strength, skirted the law to satisfy their own desires. Humans were greedy, selfish animals by nature.

Even before the Cataclysm, hadn't human nature always been to commit all manner of evil so long as one had enough money?

"Sir! I've reached the Hyunmoo Guild! But..."

Just then, the secretary brought Jinho more news.

"They say Section Chief Lee Youngho has also been out of contact for several days since entering the dungeon."

"What?"

Something about that struck Jinho as strange. According to his information, Pyeongtaek Dungeon Three, which Suho had entered, wasn't particularly difficult. Hadn't Suho planned to make a quick trip there simply to build up the experience required to establish a guild?

In a place like that, the Hyunmoo Guild hunters who had followed him in would have posed a far greater threat than the magic beasts. If Suho's raid party had clashed with them, there had been more than enough time for the outcome to be decided by now.

"Put me through to the Hyunmoo Guild immediately. I'll speak to them myself."

Jinho took the phone with a terrifying expression. Watching his fierce demeanor from beside him, the secretary felt a chill.

'It's been a long time since I've seen him this angry...'

Having served at his side for years, the secretary remembered exactly when he had last looked this way: a few years ago, when he'd received word that Sung Suho's parents had suddenly disappeared.

Jinho had been beside himself with rage then, too.

And when Jinho was like this...

'No one can stop him.'

CLICK.

Just then, the call to the Hyunmoo Guild connected.

"Hello. This is the Hyunmoo Guild's division director—"

"Put your guildmaster on. Now."

"P-pardon?"

The murderous intent in Jinho's voice drew a flustered response from the other end of the line. But Jinho had no intention of talking to a mere division director.

Growling fiercely like a beast that had lost its family, he demanded the Hyunmoo Guild's guildmaster. Knowing who Yoo Jinho was, the division director didn't dare refuse.

"I-I'll put you through to the guildmas—"

At the same time, Jinho turned to his secretary, who stood beside him at a loss.

"Have you recruited the mercenaries?"

"Yes. But the skilled ones already have bookings..."

"Tell them we'll pay double—no, triple. Every second counts right—"

It was at that very moment.

DING.

A text from Suho arrived on Jinho's cell phone.

-Uncle, what should I do? This dungeon took a little longer than expected, so I'm running a bit behind on the other dungeons I booked...