abcnovels
Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Chapter 21 – Dungeon Strategy (1)
Two people, a man and a woman, sat facing each other in a spacious office bathed in sunlight.
– Clatter
The woman with long, pitch-black hair set down her teacup.
“How was your experience as a teacher?”
“It wasn’t as easy as I thought.”
The man in a suit sitting across from her, Kim Yi-hyeon, answered.
“I heard there was a big incident.”
“Yes.”
“And there were some notable individuals.”
Kim Yi-hyeon’s expression became complex and subtle.
“There were two unusual men.”
As he spoke, Kim Yi-hyeon looked at the woman in front of him. She was beautiful enough to fit in seamlessly with celebrities on TV. However, her eyes were infinitely cold.
“Are they people who could be useful to us?”
Her identity was Han Se-yeon, known to the public as one of only two people in Korea who had graduated from the 8th stage of the tutorial.
“Neither of them was in their right mind. The kid named An Yu-seong was definitely crazy, and the man called Kang Hyeon didn’t seem normal either.”
Kim Yi-hyeon took a sip of tea to wet his throat and continued.
“But they’re definitely worth keeping an eye on. In my opinion… They’re the type who could rise to high places. One way or another.”
“If you say so, Mr. Kim Yi-hyeon, then it must be true.”
Han Se-yeon said with a smile.
“Do you have any information about the incident?”
“I’m looking into it. It seems they ignored the dungeon boss and removed the main core, but I can’t figure out who did it.”
When Han Se-yeon says she doesn’t know something, it’s best to give up cleanly. Kim Yi-hyeon simply nodded in understanding.
“The government and I are paying attention because it could escalate into organized terrorism. Let’s wait and see.”
“Yes, I understand.”
***
Ippotranslation
***
“30,000 won per person? Are you crazy?”
Kang A-hyun’s eyes widened as she checked the menu.
“Now, now, if your big brother is treating you, you should just say ‘thank you’ and eat.”
“You crazy bastard. Where did you get the money to come to a place like this? What did you do?”
Kang A-hyun asked with a serious expression, and Kang Hyeon wagged his index finger left and right.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, it’s too early to be surprised. Check your bank account.”
“Bank account…?”
Overwhelmed by Kang Hyeon’s arrogant demeanor, Kang A-hyun opened her smartphone app. There, she saw that 10 million won, half of what Kang Hyeon had earned, had been deposited.
“One, ten… Hundred… Thousand? Ten million won?!”
Kang A-hyun’s eyes bulged as she stared at her smartphone.
“Be quiet! People are looking. How embarrassing.”
“Hey! What’s this money? Tell me the truth. What did you do? Did you steal it?”
She looked ready to grab him by the collar if he didn’t answer immediately.
“Geez. I said be quiet. It’s money from the government, so don’t worry and just use it. I’m sorry for being a burden to you all this time… I’ll give you more in the future, so don’t worry about living expenses.”
Kang Hyeon said with a smile.
“Why is the government giving you money?”
“It’s for clearing dungeons, so stop asking questions and put some meat on the grill. It’s hot now.”
– Sizzle
Korean beef was placed on the hot grill, and the surface of the meat quickly turned golden brown. Kang Hyeon dipped a well-cooked piece of meat lightly in salt and brought it to Kang A-hyun’s mouth. Normally, this would have caused a fit, but for some reason, Kang A-hyun silently opened her mouth.
“Sob… Sniff…”
After eating the meat, Kang A-hyun suddenly started crying.
“Hey, what’s this? Why are you crying? Is the meat that delicious? How good is it to make you cry?!”
Kang Hyeon exaggeratedly brought his chopsticks to his mouth in a panic.
“Sniff, sob…”
“Chomp chomp, it’s worth crying over… It’s delicious.. Boo hoo.”
Kang Hyeon chewed the meat while pretending to cry exaggeratedly.
“That’s not why I’m crying!”
“Then why are you crying? Are you that happy about receiving money?”
“Yes! I’m happy! Do you know how worried I’ve been… Waaah!”
Finally, Kang A-hyun burst into tears, sobbing pitifully.
“What’s wrong with this girl?! Eating meat well while crying and making a fuss.”
“My salary is tiny, and my savings are almost gone! How could I not worry when my brother spends all day playing games at home?!”
Kang A-hyun spoke non-stop as if she was going to pour out all the resentment she had been holding in.
“Mom and Dad are struggling too, and there’s nowhere to ask for help. It’s been so hard!”
“Hey, I’m sorry… I’ll give you more pocket money from now on.”
“How much will you give…”
Kang Hyeon was exasperated by her asking about the amount of money even while sobbing.
“I’ll give you over 500,000 won a month!”
“Really…?”
“Yes. If I earn more, I might give you much more. So let’s eat the meat for now. You know beef doesn’t taste good if it’s overcooked, right?”
“Okay…”
Kang A-hyun stopped crying and calmed down after eating a few pieces of meat. After some time passed, the siblings ordered alcohol and started chatting.
“I’m telling you, he was a real lunatic compared to me. Next to him, I’m just an angel. An angel.”
“Pfft, you’re lying. There’s no 20-year-old like that.”
“No, he graduated high school, but he’s a young one, so he’s still nineteen. Anyway, that guy is for real. He’ll be big news soon.”
“Bullshit.”
“When a guy like that says, you’re just like me, Kang Hyeon, it gives me the creeps…”
Kang Hyeon told Kang A-hyun about the incident at the education school and about An Yu-seong, expressing his grievances.
“He’s right about you.”
“What?! You little…”
Kang A-hyun and Kang Hyeon shouted at each other, getting angry and irritated. But for that night at least, they were able to spend the day laughing and relaxing.
A few days later, Kang Hyeon’s ability registration card arrived.
***
Ippotranslation
***
“Now I can start earning money in earnest.”
With the registration card, one can legally enter dungeons.
Kang Hyeon wanted to rush in right away, but he held back.
“First, let’s check the Radar.”
‘Radar’
It was a community site used by almost all ability users.
It updates information on dungeons located across the country in real-time, and recruitment for conquest teams (parties) to tackle each dungeon takes place here.
Although it had been created less than two months ago, the number of users had grown rapidly, and now it had become a government-certified official site.
“Let’s see, an F-rank dungeon located nearby… Here it is.”
F-rank dungeon. Taranque Hatchery.
“Taranque… Taranque? Where have I seen this before? Ah!”
About two months ago. On the day when dungeons opened simultaneously and the monster wave occurred.
Kang Hyeon, who had rushed out to save Kang A- hyun, had encountered another monster besides goblins.
“Those spider bastards!”
Recalling the monsters with strong jaws, sharp legs, and spitting poison from their mouths, Kang Hyeon checked the detailed information of the dungeon.
Taranque Hatchery: A closed-type dungeon in a damp cave. Numerous baby Taranque and larvae appear.
Taranque are quite threatening when fully grown, but before that, even novice ability users can tackle them.
The dungeon’s boss is a mother Taranque. While its main abilities are weak, it’s guarded by several adult Taranque and an enormous number of baby Taranque, making it difficult to conquer.
From various aspects, it’s positioned at the top of F-rank dungeons.
As numerous tricky enemies that spit acidic liquid appear, it’s recommended to challenge with well-equipped and well-coordinated large parties.
“It’s explained in more detail than I thought.”
Below the dungeon description, there was a post recruiting for a conquest team.
[13th Taranque Hatchery Normal Core Conquest Team 18/20]
-We plan to conquer with a total of 20 people, prioritizing safety. The core settlement is only 500,000 won per person, but we expect additional income of about 500,000 won per person due to the large number of enemies.
As the location of the dungeon’s core is known, the expected conquest period is 4-5 days.
Please submit your participation application as a private comment and include your contact information.
“I guess it’s better to go together and learn rather than doing it alone from the start, right?”
After contemplating, Kang Hyeon posted a comment to apply.
-Ring, ring.
Shortly after. Kang Hyeon’s smartphone rang with an unfamiliar number.
“Hello.”
-Is this Kang Hyeon?
“Yes.”
A voice of a seemingly older man came through the phone.
-Nice to meet you. I’m Kim An-seong.
Kim An-seong, the leader of this conquest team, first asked Kang Hyeon if he had a recovery skill.
-Ah… So you can only heal yourself, right?
“Yes.”
His voice sounded somewhat disappointed.
-If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your level?
“I’m level 15.”
-Good. Then I’ll ask you to take the tanker position.
Since dungeons had only appeared recently, there were almost no people with recovery skills.
This conquest team was in desperate need of healers.
However, Kim An-seong decided to accept Kang Hyeon.
He judged that Kang Hyeon’s level was quite high, and if he had self-healing, it would be sufficiently helpful.
“Is there anything I need to bring separately?”
-I’ll send you a text message with the necessary items.
“Okay.”
-As you know, you can’t put anything other than items in your inventory, so you’ll need a large backpack.
“I understand.”
After ending the call, Kang Hyeon checked the necessary items while looking at the text message that arrived shortly after.
“A sleeping bag and a week’s worth of food. And…”
“Hey!”
Suddenly, the door opened and Kang A-yun burst in.
“What?”
“Is this you?”
Kang A-hyun thrust her smartphone at him.
-Recent news on Geonwoo-dong Goblin Slayer
It was a fairly familiar name.
“What’s this?”
“This is you, right? And there was news about the dungeon clear at the ability user education school being an incident. Why didn’t you tell me properly?”
Ignoring Kang A-hyun’s words, Kang Hyeon closely examined the photo. It was definitely him holding Bilgein’s longsword with a reddish-black light.
-The person who resolved the incident in Seongnam City this time, indeed, class doesn’t go anywhere.
“It is me, but… How can they tell from just a back view?”
Kang Hyeon was puzzled as he looked at the short text that came with the photo. He decided to check the comments first by scrolling down.
-How can you tell it’s him just from this?
-There are other photos too. Analysis and comparison posts are already up.
-Use your heads, guys. The Geonwoo-dong massacre happened two months ago, but this is where new recruits are trained.
-This guy’s proving he doesn’t know about abilities. There are over 100,000 people waiting for training now, so he could easily be training now.
-With that level of class, could he be an assistant or training instructor?
-Agreed. I heard they took down the boss with just three people.
-With just three people? Wow…
-What does Geonwoo-dong Goblin Slayer mean?
-Link http…
As Kang Hyeon continued to check the comments, a familiar name caught his eye.
-Still, he probably can’t compare to Han Se-yeon or Choi Dong Woo, right?
-No way. They’re in a league of their own. You’d need to be world-class to compete.
Veins popped on Kang Hyeon’s forehead as he read the comments.
“Don’t they have anything better to do?”
“Hey. Ability users are the hottest topic on the internet these days. This much is normal.”
Right now, the biggest interests on the internet were ‘What new ability users are emerging’ and ‘Who is the strongest ability user’.
Community sites and cafes related to this were already springing up, and there were even sites analyzing ability users’ combat capabilities and posting rankings.
“Look at this. You’re on the ranking too.”
-1st Choi Dong Woo
-2nd Han Se-yeon
?
27th Geonwoo-dong Goblin Slayer
The ranking Kang A-hyun showed went up to 100th place. Kang Hyeon was ranked 27th.
“Why are they making such unreliable data?”
“It’s just for fun. And to get views.”
Kang Hyeon, who had secretly thought he would be among the top five in Korea, was upset.
“Sigh, it’s pointless. I need to prepare.”
“Prepare? For what?”
“I’m entering a dungeon in three days.”
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