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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“Thank you so much.”
At Yoo Soon-tae’s thanks, Kim Myung-jin waved his hand.
“Not at all! It was probably just fated to live.”
“Ah! Right! You must be hungry, and I haven’t even taken your order yet. What would you like to eat?”
“I’ll have jjampong.”
Baek Eun-ho followed him and said,
“I’ll have jajangmyeon. I like jjampong, but I can’t handle spicy food…”
“Then I’ll give you a side of jjampong broth.”
“Ah! I’d really appreciate that.”
Yoo Soon-tae took their orders and asked Gang-so to go upstairs with Ha-young.
“Alright.”
Gang-so carefully took the dungeon rat in his hand and went upstairs with Ha-young.
Just then, Kim Ji-eun said,
“It likes places with less sunlight, so put it in a place like under a desk, covered with a towel.”
“Is there no risk of suffocation?”
“It won’t die from that.”
“Okay.”
As he went upstairs with Ha-young, Gang-so’s eyes had a meaningful glint.
‘I knew she was strong when I saw her before, but to have this ability!’
Gang-so could see the aura around Kim Myung-jin moving as he used his ability.
Among the surrounding auras, a specific aura was absorbed into Kim Myung-jin’s body, and through his body, an energy with healing power was released.
‘Is that how those beings called awakened individuals in this world use their powers?’
He turned his head again to look at Kim Ji-eun, who was serving customers. He was also puzzled by her.
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Ha-young had her head under the desk.
Yoo Soon-tae, who had finished his work at the shop and come home, burst out laughing at the sight of Ha-young, whose behind was sticking out.
He knew exactly what Ha-young was doing, but he still asked, just in case,
“Ha-young, what are you doing?”
“I’m observing the pet. But is it really all better?”
It was Gang-so who answered that question.
“It’s all better. It’s just sleeping from exhaustion.”
Just then.
Wiggle.
The towel moved, and Ha-young shouted,
“Daddy! Daddy! It moved!”
“Moved?”
“Yeah! Look!”
Ha-young dragged the towel to the front of the desk. The towel was indeed moving.
“Are you awake? Are you hungry? I have milk, do you want some?”
Ha-young brought a plate with milk and slightly lifted the towel.
The dungeon rat blinked its eyes, startled by the sight of the people in front of it.
It had escaped from that place to seek help and had run as hard as it could… and after that, it couldn’t remember anything.
“Kkikyu?”
At the whiff of the savory scent of milk wafting from somewhere, it unconsciously sniffed.
“Kki!”
The dungeon rat found the plate of milk and, without hesitation, stuck its nose and mouth into the milk and began to lap it up.
Slurp slurp slurp.
“Daddy! It’s drinking milk! It must have been hungry!”
“I guess so. Oh, we should eat dinner, too. And Ha-young, let’s take a bath before eating.”
“Okay!”
Only Gang-so and the dungeon rat remained in the room as it diligently drank its milk.
‘Hmm, it is cute.’
After drinking the milk for a while, the dungeon rat raised its head. Because it had remembered something it had forgotten.
“Kkikyu!”
It had escaped to seek help, and yet it had forgotten that and was just drinking milk!
The dungeon rat scolded itself.
“Kkikyu… Kkikyu…”
Hoping it wasn’t too late, the dungeon rat looked at the human in front of it.
Tap tap tap.
The dungeon rat approached the human and tapped the human’s foot several times with its tiny forepaw.
Then it lay down on its back, pretending to be dead.
It got back up, tapped the human’s foot several times again, and then pretended to be dead again.
Seeing this behavior, Gang-so called for Yoo Soon-tae.
“It seems like this guy… has something to say.”
“That guy does?”
At those words, Yoo Soon-tae came over and watched the dungeon rat’s actions.
“This behavior… it must be…’
“It must mean someone is in mortal danger, right?”
“I knew dungeon rats were smart, but… I don’t know what to do…”
Gang-so said,
“We should call the police. I was told that if there’s a problem, I should call the police during the training. Or not?”
“Yes, that’s right, but… I don’t think the police will come if I call them just for this.”
“Then what…”
Gang-so pointed to himself.
“Are you saying that I should go?”
Yoo Soon-tae nodded.
“If someone is in trouble, you have to help them.”
“I know, but… what if my actions cause something bad to happen to your family?”
Yoo Soon-tae didn’t know Gang-so’s exact abilities, but he was sure he was very strong.
‘The martial arts he showed me before were also extraordinary.’
That’s why he could say with confidence,
“Are you someone who does things haphazardly?”
“Of course not.”
“Then don’t worry and go.”
“…Why?”
Gang-so asked.
“People usually hesitate in this situation, but why are you telling me to help?”
“That’s…”
Yoo Soon-tae scratched his cheek.
“An old man I used to work with said that if you have the power, you should do what you’re meant to do. If you turn away from that, you’ll surely regret it someday.”
“…”
“I’m sure that old man just memorized that line from an old movie, but I think so too. Of course, I know you don’t want to show yourself to the world… but I don’t want you to have any regrets.”
“You really are a soft-hearted person!”
At Gang-so’s words, Yoo Soon-tae said,
“It’s not like I have a savior complex or anything. What can I do? It’s just that I can’t help but help people in trouble. It’s my personality!”
Yoo Soon-tae continued,
“The fact that that dungeon rat met us and is asking for help must be fate.”
“I have the same feeling.”
“Right? Actually, I’ve always had a good sense for things. That’s how I was able to work as a porter for 10 years… and I’m just a little worried about it for some reason.”
“If you say that much. Alright.”
Gang-so got up from his seat, holding the dungeon rat.
“I’ll be off.”
He left Yang Chun Gak.
In fact, Gang-so was inwardly happy.
It was because of the familiar yet foreign, heterogeneous demonic energy that was lingering on the dungeon rat.
Gang-so looked at the dungeon rat.
“So, where is it?”
“Kki! Kkikyu!”
The dungeon rat raised its tiny right forepaw and pointed to the left.
It definitely understood human language.
“I’m fast. So your guidance has to be fast too.”
At Gang-so’s words, the dungeon rat nodded as if saying not to worry.
“Kkikyu!”
Gang-so’s body shot forward, and at that speed, the dungeon rat was startled and fell backward from his hand.
“Kkikyuuuu-!”
“Oops, be careful!”
Gang-so put the dungeon rat inside his shirt.
“It seems safer this way.”
The dungeon rat poked its head out from Gang-so’s shirt and dangled there.
“Kkikyu!”
The dungeon rat focused its senses and guided Gang-so.
After running like that for 10 minutes, Gang-so arrived at the place the dungeon rat was pointing to and frowned.
“This place is…”
It was the gate entrance.
“Is this it?”
The dungeon rat nodded.
Now, he understood why he had sensed that heterogeneous demonic energy on the dungeon rat. It was the energy he was sensing from the gate in front of him.
“Kki! Kkikyu!”
About a dozen people were coming and going in front of the gate.
“It’s a C-rank gate! But how can a Dullahan that should only appear in a B-rank gate show up? Isn’t that an error?”
“But the gate’s energy is clearly C-rank!”
“Damn it! We’re all going to die!”
Listening to their conversation, it seemed like the hunters who had gone inside the gate were in trouble.
‘Then… could it be?’
Gang-so asked the dungeon rat,
“Is your owner a hunter?”
The dungeon rat nodded.
“Kkikyu!”
And it looked at Gang-so with teary eyes.
“Kko…”
It was telling him to hurry and save its owner.
‘But they didn’t know that this thing had come out of there? It must have sensed danger and came out before people started to gather.’
According to Kim Ji-eun’s explanation, dungeon rats were quite intelligent and had an excellent ability to sense danger.
‘That also means that this thing has no restrictions on entering and exiting the gate.’
As he had heard during training, minor creatures like dungeon rats were not affected by the specific energy that appeared at gate entrances and could enter and exit freely.
However, higher-order creatures like humans could only enter within four days after the gate formation was complete.
After that, they had to wait for a gate backflow or have an S-rank or higher hunter be deployed.
That was why S-ranks and higher were important.
Because they could enter the gates at any time.
Gang-so looked at the gate. Since he had already decided to help, he thought he should go inside.
Whoosh-!
In an instant, Gang-so’s presence disappeared.
It was impossible for those who were near the gate to see or sense Gang-so, who was using the Grand Void Shadowless Movement Technique.
Swish, whoosh-!
Gang-so entered the gate, and the gate didn’t stop him.
And no one in front of the gate noticed that Gang-so had entered.
* * *
Blue Team of the Legend Guild, one of the three major hunter guilds in Korea.
They were a team that mainly handled C-rank and below gates, and the team members were an eight-man group made of a B-rank hunter as their leader and C and D-rank hunters.
Blue Team’s leader, Jin Yong-pal, let out a desperate sigh.
“Sigh…”
When they had entered the C-rank gate, they had expected they could easily handle it and return safely.
Because only slimes, ghouls, and zombies had appeared in the beginning.
But as they went further in, something felt wrong.
Even considering the fact that the monsters in underground tomb terrains tended to come in hordes…
There were a lot of them.
Too many.
In the end, two D-rank hunters had lost their lives in the process.
Needless to say, the porters that came with them were gone.
When they finally arrived at the boss room in the underground tomb after all that hardship, they couldn’t help but be horrified.
Because the boss in the boss room was none other than a Dullahan.
In the end, they retreated, but the gate wouldn’t let them retreat so easily.
“Team Leader, are we going to die?”
At the question of the C-rank female healer, Jin Yong-pal replied,
“We’ll live if Hunter Shin comes to support us, if not…”
“We’ll die.”
The hunter who was in charge of communication and belonged to the Awakened Association had already died while retreating after facing the Dullahan.
The Dullahan’s massive blade had sliced through both the hunter and the communication equipment at once.
Special equipment was needed for communication between the gate and the outside, and currently, only the Awakened Association possessed that equipment.
“So now there’s only four of us left.”
At the healer’s words, the team leader nodded.
“That’s right.”
There was only Jin Yong-pal, the healer, a ranged-position hunter who had awakened D-rank archery, and a C-rank magic-type awakened hunter left.
The mage sighed.
“If I had known this was going to happen, I should have brought some holy water.”
“It’s a good thing you’re a light-type mage, at least.”
The mage had now created a light ball with magic. It was because monsters that liked the dark would not get close to areas with light.
But now, the mage was slowly reaching his limit.
The healer was pushing herself to the limit to provide recovery magic, but the mage’s face was growing paler by the minute.
Seeing that, the archer said,
“It looks like the break is slowly coming to an end.”
Jin Yong-pal said,
“Now, try to survive on your own. And thank you for being on the same team.”
“We’re the ones who should be thanking you.”
“You’ve suffered a lot because of us.”
“If we meet again, great, if not… let’s meet in the underworld. Now then, I’ll release the light ball…”
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