Chapter 78 – A Familiar Face

“We’ve received word that all four portal explosions in Yangpyeong have been suppressed. Here we have the vice head researcher of Korea’s Awakened association, Mr. Hwang Inung. Vice department head, if you will.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you. I am Hwang Inung.”

“Four portals exploded at the same time.”

“Yes.”

“But you say that the portals were suppressed faster than before? Even though there were four different places the portals exploded in.”

“Yes. We were able to stop them before any damage could be done with swift and accurate deployments, just like we prepared and practiced beforehand.”

“Yes. Thank you for all your hard work. But the continuous explosions occurring in Korea. What do you think is the reason behind them all?”

“We are still searching for the reason behind it. The global Awakened association is assisting us as well.”

“It’s been nearly one month since the first level 29 portal has exploded, but you’re telling us that the reason still hasn’t been discovered yet?”

“There are rumors going around that the portal explosions are artificial. What do you think about these accusations?”

“Yes. I have talked about that possibility through discussions. But I can say for sure that the chance of that being true is 0%.”

“Is that so. Is there any guesses as to why this is only occurring in Korea?”

“We’ll let the public know once the investigation is thoroughly completed.”

Jong Ho, Ho Jin, and I were focusing on the TV.

We felt anger rise in us after listening to such nonsense being said over the TV.

Ho Jin, who knew Hwang Inung, spoke up.

“Look at him, turning a blind eye till the very end. He’s probably doing exactly as the association president Choi Man Seo is telling him to do. Dirty rat…”

“Out of the 4, I suppressed 2 of them. And I guess they’re going to avoid the topic of the radical faction until the very end.”

“They were always like this. They take all the credit for themselves, and if anything goes wrong, they’re too busy pushing the blame elsewhere.”

“Glad that the level 34 dungeon and I weren’t discovered at least.”

“Hey. Min-Cheol. Don’t you think that it would be better to go to the level 34 dungeon in Yangpyeong for awhile? Even though they’re giving false reports like that, the Awakened who were deployed then would know the truth of how the two level 29 portals were taken care of in less than half an hour.”

“Of course. That’s why I asked you to find any other level 34 dungeons.”

“Ho Jin hyung-nim. About the other portal location I asked about. How did it go?”

“Hoho. I found one ahead of time. But the one downside is that it’s quite far away…”

“It’s okay. I’ll be using Warp anyways.”

“Ah. Of course. It’s around Paju DMZ.”

“Wow…. It’s quite far away. Please let me know of the exact location later.”

“Yes. Will do.”

“Where does hyung and mister hunt nowadays?”

“Where? The level 18 dungeon.”

“Yep.”

“Then should I put Healing Denial and Lower Resist in the ring as well?”

“Why? I don’t think we’ll need it? They melt with just one Meteor.”

“Ah… I guess… I did learn those two skills to clear that dungeon.”

“Ho ho. Thanks to Mr. Min-Cheol, we’re able to level up at an insane rate.”

“We’re only using our mana for defensive skills while swapping the ring between us. Since our mana recovers to full each time we level up, we’re able to continue hunting nonstop.”

“Good to hear. If you’re lucky, you can get the Louver set and Banwol Jincheon as well.”

“That’s right. I’m already level 150. Ho Jin hyung-nim is 147 or 148, I think.”

“It’s 148. I have to guard the house during weekends…”

“At the rate we’re going, it won’t be long before the three of us go out to beat up the radical faction.”

“Ho ho. That’s for another time. What happened to the man you met at the level 25 dungeon?”

“I haven’t been able to see him since.”

“Hm… There’s a high chance that the man you spoke of is Ghost.”

“I think so too. But you said that there’s no information regarding Ghost.”

“Yes. There’s no information at all, not even about his class or abilities.”

“If it comes down to it, it could be a tough fight.”

“Yes. I’ll try to find out more about it regarding that matter, so it would be wise to avoid him for now.”

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

“That was a good dinner. I’ll say my farewells to your mother and get going.”

“You’re going already?”

“Yes. Looks like I’ll have to go as well.”

****

[In the hunter break room located in the association headquarters…]

General Yoon Jong-sun and Lee Sang-Ho, even Shingeon who had participated in the portal explosion suppression were gathered.

The topic of the conversation was about who had stopped the level 29 portal explosion.

Lee Sang-Ho spoke first.

“Gramps. I think that a single person did this.”

“You’re saying that a single person stopped two level 29 portals? Sang-Ho…”

“Yep. There’s no evidence, and he or she left nothing that indicates any motives. If many people were involved, it would be difficult to accomplish that. Unless it’s an organization with perfect teamwork, of course.”

“Hm…”

“My intuition says that it’s a single person for sure. We’re call him A for convenience. Hye-won and Geon, go find out about this A.”

To Sang-Ho’s words, Shingeon’s brows furrowed as he spoke.

“Hey. Where are you telling us to go find out? There’s no evidence or any leads. We need at least a motive before we could move, you know? Are you telling us to grab random strangers to question?”

General Yoon Jong-sun became engrossed in deep thought.

Almost to the point where he could no longer hear the conversation between Lee Sang-Ho and Shingeon.

Then he spoke to himself.

“A single person who could have enough combat capabilities to defend against two portal explosions…”

The existence of Min-Cheol instantly came to mind.

Unlike his young looks, he was clearing a dungeon by himself with incredible strength.

But he was clearing the level 18 dungeon back then.

It was hard to believe that he was able to obtain such power in that short amount of time, enough to clear two level 29 portals so quickly.

“Hm.. There’s a limit to things….”

“What are you saying to yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s keep up surveillance for now. If we didn’t have the help of A during this explosion crisis, it could’ve been a very difficult fight. Thus, A is currently a double-sided blade.”

“….”

“If A joins our side, it would be an incredible gain. But if A joins the radical faction…”

“No matter what, we have to get him first. Unless it’s a serious mission or duty, everyone focus on A.”

****

It’s been a week since I had headed for the level 34 dungeon in Paju that Ho Jin spoke of.

The location was the only thing different, as the monsters inside were the same.

The defective essences haven’t dropped yet.

It was the same with the artifacts as well.

“Unlike my expectations, they aren’t dropping at all.”

-CRASH!

The shock wave of Meteor they were returning back to me filled the entire dungeon.

While I was obtaining the drops after taking care of all the monsters, the exit that should have appeared in the center of the dungeon did not appear.

“Did a hidden boss appear?”

No.

If a hidden boss had appeared, an incredible Howling skill should have covered the field.

Turning on Eye of Insight, I looked around the dungeon to no avail.

“Oh yes! A mimic!”

I threw down the duffel bag and moved to the center of the dungeon.

Mimics could not be detected, not even by the Eye of Insight, and would only appeared after an attack hits him.

Almost as if painting the white dungeon floor, a sea of flames were formed with Meteors.

From one spot to the furthest range of the skill, a third of the dungeon was covered in flames.

Just as I was about to change my position.

-clatter

“Bingo!”

In my sights, a red dot appeared where the mimic was.

I was sure it was the mimic.

I immediately ran towards it and cast Bind.

A stone golem’s hand broke through the ground and grabbed it tightly.

It couldn’t move anywhere.

Pulling up my sleeves, I began to punch at it.

The mimic was different from the previous mimic I caught with Jong Ho though.

There was nothing different on the outside, but despite punching twice the amount as before, it still wasn’t opening.

Since it was from a level 34 dungeon, it was a lot stronger?

Just like that, the punching continued for awhile.

-rattle rattle

-click

“Whew… It’s very tenacious.”

The chest that was shut tight finally opened.

Almost as if exploding, it began to spew out items everywhere.

In comparison with the previous one, there were a lot more items.

Since there was a lot of time left before the end of the dungeon, I decided to check the drops from here.

I didn’t even look at the countless A ranking bloodstones.

The only thing I was looking at was the defective essences and the artifacts.

First, I moved the giant armor and the weapon to one corner.

Then I began to sort out the defective essences.

The Eye of Insight revealed to me that its real name was Essence of Transcendence.

Looking at the description, it allowed skills that were maxed level to transcend beyond.

I had obtained a total of three of them, as well as 3 Awakened Essences.

“Mana Shield? Meteor? Or perhaps Iceberg? Or should I choose Formless Sword Aura?”

Just by holding onto them, I was getting excited.

These skills already were displaying incredible amounts of attack power.

I couldn’t even guess how powerful they would become if they transcended.

My thoughts didn’t stay on that for long though.

I turned towards the sword and armor.

It didn’t feel like it would be better than what I obtained after killing Joker.

It was an armor that would reduce damage taken by 40%, as well as raising 300 points of every stat.

If something that was stronger than that existed, that would be akin to cheating.

The first thing I checked was the armor.

Unfortunately, it was an embarrassing color of red.

On the chest, there was a symbol that I did not understand.

I used Eye of Insight to check the armor.

-Thirst of Blood-

Strength +0

Mana +0

Dexterity +0

Stamina +0

*Stats can be distributed by defeating monsters.

*1 stat point for every 100 monsters.

“It sounds like something good, even though it’s weak right now…”

It wasn’t good enough to swap out with the armor I had currently.

However, I thought it would be a good fit for Jong Ho or Ho Jin, since they’re focusing on hunting right now.

In dungeons where tons of monsters appeared, it would become their stats.

They both were becoming a powerful force to reckon with now.

It was only right to get them equipment befitting of their strength.

The next thing I checked was the sword.

It was very inconvenient to have Banwol Jincheon returned to me every time something went down.

Holding the sword in my hand, all I could tell that it was a simple clean sword.

On top of that, it was incredibly small compared to Banwol Jinceon.

Frankly, it looked similar to Heugdo that I obtained from the blacksmith beforehand.

Checking the ability of the sword, I couldn’t help but swear.

“Holy shit! Is this possible?”