Chapter 86

A few days later.

“How does this make any sense?”

Suho was dumbfounded.

“How can I have gained only three levels after ten dungeon raids?”

[The magic beasts were far too weak to begin with.]

“I really need to get that guild established soon.”

He would level up faster than this in dungeons that only guilds could enter.

Fortunately, his workouts—no, daily quests—with Ammut had at least been steadily raising his stats every day.

But a daily quest was still limited to once a day. Ammut had said that repeating the Iron Body Arts training any more than that would only harm his body. Besides, without the daily quest reward, “Status Ailment Recovery,” Suho had neither the confidence nor the stamina to do it twice.

‘How does Iron Body Arts training seem to get harder every single day?’

The powerful gravitational field Ammut created was now so painful that one slip felt as though it would crush his body until it burst. And its intensity kept increasing as Suho grew stronger.

Still, pushing his body that hard had clearly paid off.

[Iron Body Arts Lv.4]

His own level had barely risen, but his skill level had gone up. His Iron Body Arts had already reached level four, allowing him to coat both hands in black energy like armor.

“Hoo...”

Ammut nodded with a ferocious smile at the sight of Suho holding twin swords wreathed in black energy.

[Not bad. To think you would adapt the Iron Body Arts to produce sword aura. But you still have a long way to go before reaching Tarnak’s level. We shall stop here for today.]

Ammut could pretend he was doing him a favor all he liked. Suho had no intention of doing any more anyway.

He sprang up and fled the Shadow Dungeon.

[You have exited the Shadow Dungeon.]

“Suho.”

Esil spoke as soon as he emerged from the Shadow Dungeon after training, as though she had been waiting for him.

“Where did you say our next dungeon was?”

She held the latest-model phone she had recently acquired.

While Suho had improved his Iron Body Arts skill, Esil had mastered her phone skills. She had now fully adapted to society, to the point that she could confidently go out and use its smart features to buy grilled pork belly just like any respectable human.

Suho answered her question.

“Dungeon Three in Pyeongtaek. Why?”

“I have a feeling we won’t be getting in there.”

“What? Why?”

“The Hyunmoo Guild is camped out in front of it right now.”

Suho looked puzzled.

“The Hyunmoo Guild? How do you know that?”

“I follow other guilds on social media.”

Esil held her phone screen up in front of him. Sure enough, the Hyunmoo Guild’s account was right there on it.

And its most recent post...

“You’re right.”

Suho tilted his head. Just as Esil had said, the location tagged in the Hyunmoo Guild’s photo was the very dungeon they had bid to enter next.

“Why are these people here? Actually, before that, are they even allowed to post this stuff so freely? Isn’t bidding information confidential?”

“What’s a secret these days? People post whatever they want. They use all this to promote their guilds anyway.”

Esil shrugged as though it were obvious. When had she become so familiar with “these days”?

“How did you learn all this, anyway?”

It suddenly struck Suho that Esil was a demon. He had bought her the phone only a few days ago. Even if her innate demonic abilities eliminated the language barrier, the speed at which she had adapted was still a little surprising.

“What’s so hard about it?”

Esil deftly swiped through her phone’s screens to show him. She had all the latest popular apps installed.

Suho didn’t recognize a single one.

“What’s this one?”

“Apparently, it uses AI to predict the likelihood of a dungeon appearing.”

“Then this one?”

“A secondhand marketplace exclusively for hunters.”

“...”

Suho did a little soul-searching. Perhaps Esil was more of a modern-day hunter than he was.

In any case, bewildering as it was, the information helped. His expression hardened as he stared intently at the photo Esil had shown him.

“It’s Section Chief Lee Youngho.”

A familiar face appeared in the corner of the photo.

* * *

Pyeongtaek Dungeon Three.

Once the site of a military base, it had become a field dungeon after a dungeon break. Fortunately, the resulting damage had been minimal, thanks to the appropriate response of the soldiers stationed there when the break occurred.

That, however, had also pushed it down the Hunters Association’s list of priorities. There was no helping it when so many dungeons were causing severe damage and urgently needed to be cleared.

The problem was that ordinary hunters weren’t interested in it either. With so many other profitable dungeons available, its poor accessibility made that inevitable.

That was precisely why Suho had bid on this dungeon. Less competition made winning the bid easier, allowing them to go straight in, clear it, and leave without all sorts of complications.

“But why would a major guild like Hyunmoo take an interest in a place like this?”

After hearing what had happened, Im Dogyun looked genuinely baffled.

“Suho. No, Guildmaster. Let’s hurry over there. They call it bidding, but with this dungeon, there’s really nothing we can do if someone cuts in ahead of us.”

The dungeon bidding system had only recently been introduced. Although it had taken hold, Pyeongtaek wanted hunters to come and clear the dungeon as soon as possible. The city was quite likely to brush aside such a system.

“Let’s head over first.”

“I’ll drive... sir. Guildmaster.”

Dogyun hurried behind the wheel and hastily turned his eyes forward. With Beru constantly glaring daggers at him from behind Suho, polite speech was gradually becoming second nature.

When Suho’s party arrived at the Pyeongtaek dungeon, they found heavily armed Hyunmoo Guild hunters stationed there, exactly as in Esil’s photo.

In front of them, an official from Pyeongtaek City Hall was arguing with them, looking thoroughly uncomfortable.

“We truly appreciate your volunteering, but it’s rather difficult for us to disregard procedure...”

“Oh, come on! There’s a dangerous dungeon right in front of us. Shouldn’t we clear it as quickly as possible?”

“B-but there haven’t been any casualties in this area, and another hunter has already placed a bid...”

“So who exactly are these people? Are they better than the Hyunmoo Guild? Huh?”

“Well, no, of course not, but...”

The official was at a complete loss in the face of Section Chief Lee Youngho, who had shown up out of nowhere and refused to listen to reason.

After browbeating him for some time, Youngho draped a burly arm around the official’s neck and began coaxing him in a soothing voice.

“Of course, as a public official, you might consider procedure important. But ultimately, wouldn’t our stepping in benefit Pyeongtaek? It’s dangerous here, so why don’t you just sign the permit and head home?”

“Your arm seems like the dangerous part here, mister.”

Youngho froze.

At the familiar voice that suddenly rang out, he turned with a menacing expression, as though he had been waiting for this very moment.

“Well, well, look who it is! What brings our rookie hunter with the oh-so-impressive uncle here?”

“...”

The unmistakable hostility in his eyes confirmed Suho’s suspicions.

‘Payback for last time? How childish.’

Then again, with a lucrative business deal having fallen through, perhaps calling it merely childish wasn’t quite fair.

[Kieeeek! Who do you dare glare at with those snake eyes? I shall have you drawn and quar—!]

GRAB!

Suho caught Beru by the scruff as he lunged forward, then stomped him back into his shadow with a crunch.

[Squeak... Just you wai... I’ll remember your fac...]

Ignoring Beru for the moment, Suho looked up at Youngho as he strode toward him. He stood a good handspan taller than Suho.

Though Youngho spent more time dealing with people, he was still an active B-rank hunter. As he deliberately unleashed his intimidating presence on Suho, even the nearby official turned deathly pale.

Naturally, Dogyun, who had been standing behind Suho, had long since fled to a safe distance and was busily reviewing their bidding documents.

“Hmm. What was your name again? Hmm. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I just can’t quite remember.”

Youngho studied Suho’s face, his mocking tone a deliberate provocation. Unfazed, Suho merely gave a small laugh and replied.

“Section Chief Lee Youngho, we placed the bid on this dungeon. What brings the Hyunmoo Guild here?”

“Ah, Sung Suho! Now I remember.”

“Surely you aren’t doing this because of what happened last time?”

“Last time? What are you talking about? We simply heard there was a dangerous dungeon here and came out of the goodness of our hearts.”

The conversation kept going in circles. At Youngho’s deliberate, blatant mockery, Suho briefly turned his gaze toward the dungeon.

It was a field dungeon where a dungeon break had already occurred. There had been no casualties, and its danger rating was only D. Deploying a major guild like Hyunmoo here would be a loss for them in several respects.

‘No. It looks like he only brought the second string.’

The presence of the hunters standing behind Youngho was far too weak for a major guild. Clearly, he had come to interfere with Suho but selected only weaker hunters to minimize the opportunity cost.

But...

‘Did he round up only the mean-looking ones?’

Suho let out a snort. Their looks were far too impressive compared to their mana. Judging by appearances alone, every hunter there looked capable of beating Quay with one hand.

“... You’re laughing?”

Whatever Youngho had read into Suho’s laughter, his expression grew even more menacing. At the same time, the Hyunmoo hunters surrounding the dungeon entrance all glared at Suho, exuding a murderous air.

A show of force in front of a dungeon whose bidding had already concluded. Its meaning was obvious.

“Sung Suho, you’re still a rookie hunter, so you don’t seem to know how things work in this business. Let me explain.”

Youngho jabbed a finger repeatedly into Suho’s chest, glaring at him.

“Dungeons are terribly dangerous. Truly lawless places. Once you set foot inside, any sort of accident can happen. Especially to rookie hunters.”

Then he drew his thumb across his throat and gave a pointed smile.

“Let your guard down for even a moment, and you’ll become food for the magic beasts, without so much as a body left behind.”

It was an utterly blatant, unmistakable threat.

The Hyunmoo hunters chimed in, snickering at one another.

“Heh heh. That’s right.”

“Being a hunter is a dangerous job.”

“Just the sort of job where you can meet a grisly end anytime, anywhere.”

“Especially dangerous for a pampered young master.”

Youngho’s lips twitched upward as his subordinates played along perfectly, even without prior instructions. Giving these off-duty hunters a little spending money to bring them along had certainly been worthwhile.

The possibility of murder inside a dungeon was one of the things rookie hunters feared most. Making that threat so overt would leave them too frightened to enter, even if they had won the bid themselves. They would be terrified of what might be done to them inside.

“So... Huh? Where’d he go?”

Turning back toward Suho with a meaningful look, Youngho suddenly appeared bewildered. Suho, who had been standing right in front of him, was nowhere to be seen.

As Youngho looked around, the official spoke up with an awkward expression.

“He went into the dungeon a moment ago.”