Chương 27: Chapter 26
[ SKILL: BLOODLUST HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ]
Kang Tae-Shik looked into Jin-Woo's eyes and shuddered, suddenly feeling a creeping fear that froze his body in place.
Jin-Woo was sure of victory. On the other hand, Kang Tae-Shik felt as if something had grabbed him with invisible ticks.
What was happening to him?!
After meeting Jin-Woo's eyes, he suddenly felt like he was dipped in deep water. His body felt heavy and didn't want to listen to him. It didn't want to work properly. The speed he was so proud of was drastically reduced.
Jin-Woo intended to end this as soon as possible. He was honestly fed up with this fight.
He was fed up with this disgusting man.
He felt angry at the comparison between them.
Jin-Woo killed, it's true. He felt no remorse after that.
But he didn't feel joy either.
He killed because he was forced to!
Rasaka's Poisoned Fang pierced deep into Kang Tae-Shik's chest.
The agent's eyes widened in pain and a moan escaped his lips. At that moment both men knew it was over, the winner had been determined.
Blood was seeping from the corner of Kang Tae-Shik's mouth.
He smiled, revealing teeth stained red with blood. Of all the days, he had to encounter the Reawakened Hunter in a D-rank dungeon today.
The knife in his hand fell to the ground.
It would no longer be needed.
Not now, not ever.
Jin-Woo pulled the dagger out of the man's chest. His body shuddered one last weak time, and then the light in his bloodshot eyes faded, and his head dropped, chin resting on his chest.
He had taken a life again.
Murder left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Some unnoticed, tiny part of his mind took pleasure in that bitterness he felt.
Lack of joy in killing – that was what set him apart from Hwang Dong-Suk or Kang Tae-Shik.
It made him human.
[ QUEST COMPLETED ]
[ URGENT QUEST: KILL ENEMIES]
[ QUEST REWARD ]
[ LIST OF AVAILABLE REWARD: ]
[ REWARD 1#: STAT POINTS +5 ]
Jin-Woo grimaced at the reward.
It was worse than the previous reward from this type of quest.
Apparently what mattered was the number of people killed, not whether they were easy opponents or not.
Compared to the fight that took place a moment ago with Hwang Dong-Suk's group, it was child's play.
He had heard rumors that the gap between rank B and C was much greater than that between E and D or D and C.
But he was only now experiencing it firsthand.
Or it wasn't true and this guy was just one of the strongest B-rank hunters.
Either way, looking at the reward, he felt somewhat cheated.
Suddenly, something outside the system's semi-transparent window caught Jin-Woo's attention.
Something in Kang Tae-Shik's body.
Swiftly accepting the reward, Jin-Woo closed the window and approached the lifeless body. He couldn't believe it, but it was the same light emanating from monster bodies, both those from the system and those that had cores within them.
[ NOTICE! ]
[ YOU HAVE RECEIVED RUNE STONE: CAMOUFLAGE ].
The skill that Kang Tae-Shik used was left as a runestone on his corpse?!
This was wonderful news.
"Camouflage" was such a rare skill that only a handful of people in Korea probably had it.
He broke the rune before he could check the status window, but he heard the raised voices of the other two hunters behind him.
- Jin-Woo?!
- Everything's all right?!
Standing up and turning to face his companions, Jin-Woo let out a long sigh.
- I'm fine.
Song Chi-Yul and Lee Ju-Hee stared at him in disbelief. To think that an E-rank hunter like Jin-Woo, who had trembled in fear in E-rank dungeons, had defeated a B-rank hunter as formidable as Kang Tae-Shik. Lee Ju-Hee, as a healer, might not fully grasp the situation, but Song Chi-Yul, with his C-rank status, understood the incredible feat.
- Thank you, if it weren't for you, we would be dead. - Mr. Song looked at the boy gratefully.
- But what now? Should we go out and report this to the Association?
- First, we should finish cleaning up the dungeon. - Jin-Woo noticed.
He came here for experience and didn't want to leave empty-handed, in that sense.
The goblins were too weak and didn't grant him any points. And, he didn't gain experience from humans.
That would be too macabre and strange.
- Don't tell me you want to take on the rest by yourself... Ah. Never mind, I just saw what you can do. I'm not going to stop you.
- Could you wait for me in the dungeon by the gate? - Jin-Woo asked after a moment of thought. - It would be strange for us to leave separately. And the mess itself will be hard enough to explain.
- Of course. Good luck.
Once they were both gone, Jin-Woo sighed, moaning miserably and leaning his head back in resignation.
He wanted to hide his skills as long as possible.
But now that there were two additional witnesses, there was no chance of that happening anymore.
He didn't want to threaten Mr. Song or Ju-Hee. He had no intention of doing so, as they had been through too much, and they were the only people who had ever shown him respect from his past.
Killing a B-rank Hunter would be considered an act of self-defense. Since he had two witnesses, there would be no problem. The problem was explaining how an E-rank Hunter defeated a B-rank Hunter.
The only excuse available was the Second Awakening.
No one would believe the truth about the System or the promotions, and he didn't want to reveal those details.
Disappointment bit him very hard.
He wanted to keep his secret as long as possible. And now when he is forced to reveal his new rank, he probably won't get higher than a B.
He had wanted to wait until he had an S-rank. If it came out now, he really didn't know what he would do next.
Even if he got a B-rank now, someone might later notice that he was stronger than a typical B-rank Hunter, and that would lead to more trouble.
He would worry about that after leaving the underground. For now, he still had the boss to deal with.
Jin-Woo directed his gaze toward one of the prisoners lying on the ground, covered in blood.
- I know you're alive. Get up. Why are you playing dead? Have you tried to run away when the opportunity arises?
This was the prisoner who had winked at Ju-Hee.
That fact only made him more eager to get rid of him.
The Hunter raised himself slightly and groaned.
Jin-Woo noticed blood seeping from the convict's neck. The agent had sliced his throat enough to damage his vocal cords but not enough to kill him.
A sloppily done job for such a strong B-rank assassin.
- You can't talk... What a sloppy job. He would probably kill you in the most painful way he knew if he realized you were alive. I have to hurry, because you're about to bleed out... I mean, in about... five minutes. You're a tough bastard.
Jin-Woo grabbed the back of the collar of his prison clothes and in a not-so-gentle way began to drag the man along the ground to where Jin-Woo already knew the boss was.
At the end of the corridor, he followed with Mr. Song and Ju-Hee before this whole nightmare started.
The man tried to struggle, but he had lost too much blood, was too bruised and Jin-Woo was stronger than him, which he showed by killing his would-be torturer.
Entering the boss room, which was occupied by a large, purple hobgoblin accompanied by a dozen ordinary goblins, Jin-Woo leaned against the primitive wooden door separating the boss's chamber from the rest of the underground. He watched as the boss, accompanied by the goblins, approached the terrified prisoner.
- You're an even bigger piece of trash than Kang Tae-Shik.
***
After killing the hobgoblin, he gained two levels. Quite nice, but even that couldn't bring him much joy when he thought that he might soon be discovered.
[ STATUS ]
[ NAME: SUNG JIN-WOO ]
[ LEVEL: 27 ]
[ JON: NONE ]
[ TITLE: WOLF SLAYER ]
[ HP: 5114 ]
[ MP: 548 ]
[ FATIGUE: 2 ]
[ STRENGTH: 72 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 82 ]
[ SENSES: 69 ]
[ VITALITY: 43 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 39 ]
[ AVAILABLE STATISTICS POINTS: 5 ]
[ PHYSICAL DAMAGE REDUCTION: 20% ]
After leaving the dungeon, the employees who were waiting in front of the gate immediately alerted the Association about everything.
***
Stepping out of the car, Woo Jin-Chul wondered if this particular area was cursed. First, there was the double dungeon, then Hwang Dong-Suk, and now this.
How unlucky could someone be to have three incidents happen in the span of a month?
No, this was definitely not bad luck.
It was more likely one person.
One person connecting these three events.
Sung Jin-Woo.
He had been informed of the names of the survivors by phone.
Lee Ju-Hee, a B-rank medic.
Song Chi-Yul, a C-rank mage.
Sung Jin-Woo, an E-rank warrior.
He remembered all three of them.
Each of them had survived the double dungeon.
And now all three were in danger once again.
Because of the Association's agent.
However, two of them had nothing to do with Hwang Dong-Suk's death.
And the Hunter, Sung...
It was hard for him to believe that he had a hand in it and that he was innocent.
- How much time has passed since they cleared the dungeon? - Jin-Chul asked, looking at the Association employee who handled this region of Seoul.
She was a young woman with short black hair and round glasses.
- About 40 minutes.
- So we have 20... That's not enough. Try to get the bodies of the victims. If you can't do it in 8 minutes, retreat.
- Did the survivors defeat the boss themselves? - Jin-Chul asked, already anticipating the answer.
- Yes. According to their accounts, the boss was a hobgoblin.
Jin-Chul nodded.
Killing a hobgoblin with three people was not impossible, but he remembered what ranks and specializations these people had.
A healer, a mage, and a warrior.
Could they manage it?
From what he knew, Ms. Lee Ju-Hee had a severe trauma, and Song Chi-Yul had lost his arm, which was problematic even for a mage.
Somehow, he found it hard to believe that the three of them, with barely any assistance from a very weak E-rank Hunter, could have succeeded.
However the bigger problem here was Kang Tae-Shik, not the boss.
The idiot had tried to kill witnesses after completing a contract for assassination...
To be honest, he'd rather no one get to the bodies.
It was easier to hide something that way.
The 40-minute delay worked in his favor. Nobody would blame him for protecting his agents and not wanting to expose them to the risk of being trapped inside the dungeon.
When he finally stood before the three hunters, the first thing that struck him was the undamaged state of Lee Ju-Hee and Song Chi-Yul, both in terms of their bodies and clothing.
A quick body scan of Sung showed him traces of blood and cuts on his chest and leg, clearly already healed. But he was the only one among the three with any wounds.
If the mage and healer had fought Kang Tae-Shik and somehow miraculously won, they would probably look like they'd been dragged out of hell.
It was clear that Sung Jin-Woo had sustained injuries.
Now, he was sure he had been mistaken in the hospital.
But how had the young man managed to deceive such a precise and sensitive device that had conducted his measurements?
False Ranker?
NO.
He immediately dismissed that idea.
The history of his previous raids indicated that he was very weak. He often ended up in the hospital, always injured in some way, and he collected very few cores, barely managing in combat.
Before the incident in the double dungeon, he certainly had an E-rank.
But when he entered his hospital room, the young man was conscious for only a few minutes.
His posture was one of shock, confusion, and exhaustion. Then he wouldn't have thought of simply deceiving them.
And why would he do it?
Was it really him who destroyed the double underground?
He definitely killed Hwang and his team.
An untrained D-rank hunter of 22 years would never be able to handle a group of eight.
Even if he had equipment worthy of an S-rank hunter, he would have astronomical problems fighting eight people.
A healer and a mage couldn't kill a hunter as strong and cunning as Kang.
Sung Jin-Woo was no longer an E-Rank.
Woo Jin-Chul would bet his own hand on that.
The only question was, what rank did he have now?
He had defeated a group composed of D and C-rank Hunters, and now, an assassin of B-rank, who was close to the top of his rank.
At least B-rank.
Jin-Chul tried to detect any aura emanating from the young man, but he couldn't sense anything, just as during their first encounter.
Strange.
Either he still had so pitifully little mana that he could fit it in a thimble, or he was hiding it now.
His appearance also indicated that changes had taken place in him.
On the hospital bed, Jin-Chul saw a rather small, thin boy with delicate facial features.
If Woo Jin-Chul wasn't a professional, he would probably describe him as "cute".
The twenty-something before him no longer resembled the boy he had seen in the hospital.
He was still slightly shorter than Jin-Chul, but the difference was only a few centimeters, at most five.
Previously, he hadn't seen him standing but sitting on the bed, and judging from the length of his limbs, the young man was at least fifteen centimeters shorter than him.
His arms were noticeably broader, and the thin undershirt and hoodie couldn't hide the hard muscles even if they tried.
His facial features were sharper and more defined, and his entire face appeared much more mature.
The only question was whether Sung would be willing to admit it, or would he pretend to be an E-rank Hunter?
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