by Elan Wang
Mind your own business.
There was never a point in time that I thought of myself as sympathetic or as a good person. I was as used to lying and pretending as a person could get due to my years as a porter. I didn’t have any issues with using people and I had no problem throwing someone under the bus. But only if the circumstances warranted it.
I didn’t want to take advantage of someone’s misfortune. That was all. I don’t know if it might have been deliberate or not but, at the end of the day, it was a fact that he had retired 3 people and robbed them of their distributions. These were people who probably were not level 2 for a long time. If you took into consideration their hospital bills…they were sure to be debt ridden for a long time.
Maybe that was his plan. To gather desperate people, retire them from the raid early on, and throw them away. Horrible.
Click.
I went to the wanted ad. That asshole party head had already put out an ad. Maybe it was because he had listed that he was open to all applicants that there were so many people applying. I was contemplating whether or not I should post something when I decided not to.
Ring-
While looking at all the replies for his ad, my phone rang. I checked to see if it was maybe Jung Sooah but it said Song Minhan. It was my broker.
Click.
“Yeh. What’s up?”
[Hey. Didn’t you say that you were now a hunter?]
“I can probably say that I told you that several times.”
[Is level 2 ok with you?]
“Now that you mention it, I actually just came back from one just this morning. It wasn’t that hard.”
[Really? You haven’t even been a hunter that long…anyway, that’s good news. You remember Eum Hyunjoon right?]
“Yep.”
[The team he joined creating a clearing party. Why don’t you try applying? Since the level 1 dungeons disappeared, applicants for level 2 dungeons increased like crazy. So it looks like they’re getting together a bunch of level 1 hunters to go into level 2 dungeons. Of course the contribution splits become way smaller because there will be so many people in a party, but it’s better than sitting around.]
“Isn’t it bad to try to move with such a big party? Just the admission alone is 1,000 per person.
[I don’t know the specifics but I hear that their procedure will be changing with this new crisis. From what I hear, they have some connections with the dungeon ops people so they supposedly only pay a max of 10,000 per team. So if they have a team of more than 10 people, the rest can enter a dungeon without paying admission.]
“But if there are so many people, it’ll only cause more problems than help…”
[Nah. They’re going to Baeksapyoung.]
“Ah…if it’s there then…”
Baeksapyoung dungeon wasn’t in the city but in a rural area. It was a 2 level dungeon known for its wide open space that could fit several dozen people with no problem.
[I’ll give you their number so call them and check it out.]
“It’s fine if I bring a couple more people with me right?”
[Sure. They’ll be recruiting based on tests anyway so it’s better to have more people apply.]
“Thanks for the tip. But what’s the referral fee…?”
[This is on the house so shut up.]
“Thank you.”
I held the phone to my ear and bowed. He couldn’t see me, but it was the thought that counts. After hanging up, I hurriedly called all my party members. Time to rock and roll.
“You must be alert in places like this because you never know where a monster will pop out from.”
I said as I got out the car and looked around. My body was aching all over from sitting crammed in a cramped car for over two hours.
“Even if there’s a dungeon caretaker nearby?”
Jung Sooah asked. I pointed at the surrounding reeds.
“There are monsters that hide in those. Even if there are caretakers, this is a lot of ground to cover. They can’t be at all places at all times. I hear that once in awhile they do put fire to the reeds but that only helps for a moment. Those damn reeds grow back in less than a month.”
“That is fast. Do reeds usually grow that fast?”
“Living organisms near dungeons grow much faster than anywhere else. You know that.”
“Ha. Then does that mean if you live near a dungeon, you’ll grow old faster?”
Jung Sooah said with wide surprised eyes as she took one step back away from the dungeon.
“There’s no effect on the human body. I’ve been doing this for a good and long time now and I’m fine.”
“I see…if things grow real fast then farms should do splendidly!”
I sighed at Jung Sooah’s words.
How is it that this girl knows absolutely nothing.
“The Chinese have already thought of that and are taking advantage of it like crazy. They’re now the driving force in agriculture.”
“Then why don’t any of the other countries use the same method?”
“Don’t belittle it just because it’s farming – it actually requires highly advanced technology. If crops are harvested again and again on the same land, the quality of the soil will deplete quite quickly. But in China, they were able to solve this issue in some secret way.”
“I see.”
“Do you really see?”
“Half of it. Anyway, college grads are pretty amazing. How do you know so much?”
“How does knowing this have anything to do with being a college grad? You can search it on the internet easily.”
“It looks like everyone is slowly starting to show up.”
Han Joonseok said.
The total number of people due to appear were 31. Eun Hyunjoon’s team ‘Mercenary’ had group 1, group 2, and group 3 – and there were 10 from group 3 here today. Amongst the new applicants were 6 from my team and 15 other potential recruits. I spotted a familiar full face helmet in the crowd.
This person acted as the overseer of those who appeared today. Seeing his equipment, I could tell he had acquired some serious upgrades from the last time I saw him.
Looks to be at least a million dollars?
“It’s been a while.”
“I did here that you would be here today.”
“It seems your equipment did some major improving.”
“Ah. You mean this? This came from joining the team. It’s kind of a rental – you could say. If I do well, then it’s possible to get even better ones.”
“It’s amazing that you are already acting as an overseer when it hasn’t been long since you joined the team.”
“It was all luck. I took a couple of tests and received some good marks. Truthfully this is a sort of test too. It’s not an easy thing to control and coordinate more than 30 people, you see.”
“That’s true. But how will this work?”
If we were to be headed by one overseer, it could very well we that we could only go in 10 people at a time. This was something I experienced when I was a part of the weasel’s party.
“I figured that I would group together teams who have good chemistry or fit well with one another. Since you said that you already have a team, you guys can be grouped as is.”
“Hm. So it won’t be based on positions?”
“Honestly, that would be the best option but I can’t assess a hunter’s true ability in a position just yet so…I feel things might run more smoothly with groups who are already familiar with one another’s ability.”
“Hm. That makes sense.”
It was true that though we could give our stats to them and have them arrange groups in that manner, stats weren’t everything. Think of manager Kim, for example. He was supposed to be a level 2 magician, but his ability was so unpredictable and volatile depending on his mood that most of the time his skill did not work. And then there’s me. The prime example. So it made sense he would group us this way. Better chemistry would bring out a
person’s best potential.
***
“Basically, all of the main attacks will be coming from us. You guys will be our support and will follow our instructions.”
We were all divided into 5 teams. The 10 group 3 mercenaries were one team. My members and I were one team. And the 15 leftover people were divided into 3 teams.
As soon as we entered Baeksapyoung dungeon, we were met with a vast terrain of grasslands. Unlike the surrounding areas of the dungeon that was covered in reeds, this area was overrun with weeds that covered over our feet. The flat terrain allowed us to see the hills and valleys up in the distance.
The first monster we met was a lizard man. It was weaker in strength compared to an ork, but it made up for it with its agility and hard as steel scaly skin that was very difficult to pierce. Its weapon of choice – hand held harpoon. One attack from this was usually fatal.
“Why did our first monster have to be a lizard man…”
Eum Hyunjoon’s face grew dark. In instances where the manpower was plenty but the skills were lower, it was much better to go up against an ork. Orks tended to use just their strength to overwhelm their opponents so big groups worked fairly well.
However, Lizardmen were a different story. They had high defensive power, and a botched attack will just simply bounce off its skin without inflicting any damage. Eum Hyunjoon looked to me and said.
“Currently, excluding the mercenary team, the only person who can inflict any damage on this guy would probably be you, Mr. Jeon Sangmin. Everyone else should spread out and try to distract him while Mr. Sangmin goes in for a strike. So, to conclude, you all will be support and distraction, my team and I will be going in head on, and Mr. Sangmin will deal the blow.
After going over the battle plan we split up and got into position. There were 5 lizardmen in view. The first to move were the only two magicians in the group who cast a spell. Manager Kim’s sleep spell was able to put one lizardman into slumber while the missionary team’s magician had cast another spell, ‘frenzy’, which made another lizardman go crazy.
I had heard that sometimes spells may rub off on just one portion of a monster but this was the first time I saw it with my own eyes. Three of the remaining lizardmen were rooted to the stop as their feet have fallen asleep.
Eum Hyunjoon wordlessly made finger gestures to signal the dealers to begin their attack. Five members of the mercenary team collectively shot out arrows and spells.
Pa pa pang!
I saw a magic missile among one of the spells. It seemed there was a member of that team who also used that type of spell.
“SSSSSsss!”
I could hear the angry slithering sound characteristic or lizardmen at the same time 3 magic missiles flew one after the other to hit that same monster. It went down in a heap. I guess it was a level 1 missile. Even with a low level spell, you are still able to bring down a higher level monster if you have weakened or pierced its skin beforehand.
I kept hearing the sound of level 1 arrows bouncing off the lizardmen’s armor. Of the five monsters, one was still asleep and the other was caught up in a craze and attacking one of the remaining three monsters. Of the three monsters unable to move about freely, one of them had been hit with the magic missiles and was out of commission.
Eum Hyunjoon ran toward the last lizardman that was still cognizant of what was going on and pushed it back with his shield.
Slam!
Though it was similar in size with Eum Hyunjoon, the lizardman grew significantly offbalance and teered. Immediately, the close range attackers of the missionary team rushed to its side.
“Mr. Jeon Sangmin! Get that other one!”
“Got it!”
I sprinted toward the monster Eum Hyunjoon was pointing at. The lizardman that had been hit by the missiles was back up and was running toward Eum Hyunjoon.
Two arrows whistled through the air toward that monster. It was Han Joonseok and Bae Yeongyoung. They couldn’t inflict any damage but they could distract it.
The lizardman turned to look my way. As I closed the distance, the harpoon came flying at me with frightening force and speed.
I barely dodged it as I drew my longsword and stabbed out.
Force is the product of mass times acceleration. This meant the mass of me and my armor times a speed of 55km/s.
The lizardman’s body flew backwards about 10 steps.
That monster was now still. I turned and went to the monster that Eum Hyunjoon was fighting. I held it from behind.
Right before it could go crazy to try and escape my hold, I stabbed it with my bloodysword in the back of its neck. A green tinted fluid started spouting out. The sword, indeed, started turning the same color.
Weird.
The green blood flowed freely when I twisted the bloodysword to widen the wound. As soon as I plucked out my weapon, Eum Hyunjoon cut off its head.
[+200]
Luckily it was already dead before he had done that so the points still came through.
The lizardman I had pushed away earlier started screaming out as it ran in our direction.
“Can you do it alone?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it!”
Eum Hyunjoon said as he left me to tend to the lizard that was now recovering from the frenzy spell. All the mercenary members and 3 other teams followed suit.
What? He was taking his entire mercenary team? I get it that he trusted me…but I wouldn’t mind if he trust me a wee bit less and left a couple of his team to back me up.
“Ahhh!”
Clash!
The lizardman’s harpoon and my longsword clashed violently. The monster’s harpoon had bounced off even though I was wielding my sword with one hand and he with both hands. In that moment, I swooped in and sliced its neck with my bloodysword.
Blood gushed out. I took one step back and stabbed it with the longsword, but it parried my second attack with its harpoon.
I want to emphasize that the lizardman was much weaker in physical strength than myself.
As soon as I saw an opening in his upper body, I stabbed again into the wound I had made earlier.
It grabbed at its neck and fell to its knees.
[+200]
Two down. Eum Hyunjoon’s team had also taken care of one lizard and was going up against the remaining two. I thought about going to help when I saw they could take care of themselves.
“How about our team rest for a bit?”
“Wow…SunbehOppa…wow…”
“What?”
“Were you always like that?”
Cho Youngoo, who was probably just watching at the sidelines, asked in awe.
“I guess the equipment is pretty good.”
“It seems like I’m not of any use to you.”
“Just think of it as you’re racking up experience and knowledge right now. Even watching will prove to be valuable later on.”
“Ok. I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
Cho Youngoo said with a nod of his head.
My team and I went and sat down at a small spot to rest while we watched Eum Hyunjoon’s party finish the hunt.
Three close range attackers had surrounded one lizardman and was pushing it forcefully all around with their shields. The men standing behind them were stabbing at the lizardman from behind the shields.
The monster was trying to defend itself by striking out with its harpoon but it was woefully struck down by the shields with no effect. Slowly, its scales were coming off with each attack until it finally began to sustain damage.
“Wow. There’s that way of hunting too. I never knew.”
“It’s not a beginner play. This was something that was probably practiced a number of times – because something like that could only work with good coordination.”
Right before the lizardman looked about ready to faint, Eum Hyunjoon and the mercenaries backed up to allow the other teams to finish it off.
The three teams surr
ounded the lizard just as Eum Hyunjoon’s team had done and followed suit.
The lizardman ultimately succumbed to the attacks. The only monster left was the one still asleep.
“Long range attackers, please come forward!”
As soon as Eum Hyunjoon said this, glasses girl and Han Joonseok hurriedly ran to him. Shortly, we were able to learn what he wanted to do. The level 1 long range attacks began to rain onto the sleeping lizardman.
Arrows and spells showered over the monster. The monster yelled out and woke up, but he was unable to find the cause of the attacks and started to cough up blood before collapsing. But the arrows didn’t stop wreaking havoc on the monster’s body.
“Since we were able to prove that level 1 attacks can still sustain damage on level 2 monsters if done in the right way, I hope you take this opportunity to have a bit more confidence in yourselves. You all have the ability to kill these monsters with the right knowledge and experience.”
“Oh! Oh!”
Everyone sat around talking to each other with excited faces as we waited for the monsters to evaporate. Everyone’s expression went from being full of fear and tension to being filled with confidence and enthusiasm. This was such a 180 from when we had first stepped into the dungeon. So this was the true effect of a good party head.
“Amazing, isn’t he?”
Manager Kim asked and I nodded in agreement. The more I got to know him, the more he amazed me. He was able to move everyone’s hearts with just a few simple words.
“Finally there is someone who can appreciate my skills. No, there is no other choice but to acknowledge my ability I guess. Honestly, if it wasn’t for me, this last fight could have become really dangerous.”
“…That was what you meat?”
“These people I mean. No matter how much they may be jealous of me, they should be able to at least compliment me now and again. Must I resort to complimenting myself?”
“Bravo. Bravo. You have really outdone yourself this time, Manager Kim.”
“I don’t need it anymore. I don’t want you to compliment me after I asked for it.”
“Manager Kim! You are the best!”
“Oh ho. I said I didn’t like that sort of this.”
When Jung Sooah started being silly and yelling out compliments, that was when Manager Kim finally started to smile a bit. Han Joonseok said.