Only I level up Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Chapter 83

Right then, Jin-Woo felt his heart crash down to the pit of his stomach.

‘When did she….?’

He was paying too much attention to the boss and failed to notice that soone had co closer.

‘I’m busted….’

Jin-Woo could only smack his lips in regret.

Tsk.

However, with an eyewitness around, it was no longer possible to stare avariciously at the boss.

The Hunters Guild had purchased the raid permit for his particular dungeon, so naturally, the boss of this place was also a part of their investnt.

And, if the boss was killed off, the Gate would close down. The potential losses the Hunters Guild might incur would be a lot, then.

‘I nearly ssed up.’

He got blinded by the desire to level up and nearly put his hands on soone else’s property. Jin-Woo regained his bearings and spat out a sigh of relief; anwhile, the owner of the voice had walked closer.

“I asked you what you were doing.”

Jin-Woo ford an embarrassed smile and turned around to face her.

“I got lost and ended up here.”

“You got lost?!”

She sounded flabbergasted. Only then did Jin-Woo confirm who the owner of the voice was.

‘Huh? Isn’t she….?’

He saw that face just before entering the dungeon, didn’t he?

It was none other than the rank S Hunter Cha Hae-In. As Cha Hae-In slowly closed the distance, she carefully scanned both of Jin-Woo’s hands.

‘I definitely saw him holding weapons just now, though?’

Was she mistaken?

Whatever the case might have been, they had disappeared without a trace.

Cha Hae-In’s gaze scanned the entirety of Jin-Woo, up and down.

‘A hard hat and a worker’s overall….. Is he from our mining team?’

She honestly believed him about getting lost here. She didn’t know how he got this far, but well, the boss room was a very dangerous place to hang around.

Discovering the ‘reason’ was secondary. For now, Cha Hae-In figured that the priority should be on helping this man to leave this place.

“That chamber is where the boss is.”

Cha Hae-In covered her nose with her handkerchief as usual and stood before Jin-Woo.

“Please exit from the dungeon as soon as possible. If you manage to attract its aggro, people inside this dungeon could all die.”

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

It seed that his acting worked. Jin-Woo ford a satisfied expression and walked past Cha Hae-In. It was then.

‘….Uh?’

Cha Hae-In’s head snapped towards Jin-Woo.

Sothing impossible just happened.

Cha Hae-In’s eyes opened wide and even before she realised it, she was calling out to him.

“Excuse . Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Can you take a look at for a sec?”

What’s gotten into her?

And they said that thieves knew what they did wrong; Jin-Woo was not looking forward to Cha Hae-In coming in close to him. Too bad, she was already standing right in front of his nose.

“What…. what’s the matter?”

He asked with a troubled look on his face, but she didn’t answer and simply proceeded to lightly breathe in the air near him. She had already put away the handkerchief covering her nose.

‘What’s going on here?’

Jin-Woo failed to understand why she was doing this.

‘Wait, why is she suddenly slling ?’

Jin-Woo began panicking inwardly. However, the state of confusion Cha Hae-In was going through at the mont was several tis greater than his.

‘There is no…. stink coming from him.’

This would be her first ti eting another Hunter that didn’t stink.

Cha Hae-In’s surprised eyes stared at Jin-Woo. And a question mark floated above Jin-Woo’s head as his reply.

“Is there so kind of a problem?”

“You… Are you a Hunter for real?”

Was there a need for words here? Jin-Woo pushed forward the Hunter licence hanging on his neck. Cha Hae-In took the licence and her gaze quickly alternated between Jin-Woo’s face and the ID photo.

‘Rank E…. Seong Jin-Woo….’

Was this because his rank was too low?

She could not pick up any type of sll coming from this man nad Jin-Woo. No, wait. Actually, a pleasant odour was gently wafting out of him, instead.

Jin-Woo sneakily extracted his licence out of Cha Hae-In’s hand.

“Can I go now?”

“Uhm, well, I….”

Cha Hae-In did call out to Jin-Woo, but then, realised that she had nothing else to say nor had a reason to keep him here.

“…..It’s nothing. Please be careful on your way out. This dungeon is rather large, you see.”

“Ah, of course.”

Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head and turned towards the location of the mining operation. His back soon disappeared around the corner of the cavern.

However, Cha Hae-In’s lingering gaze didn’t shift away from the path Jin-Woo had walked down on.

‘He slled really nice.’

***

Hunters of the mining team were returning to the mining operations area one by one after finishing their lunch.

Foreman Bae was walking with a toothpick stuck in between his teeth. Once he saw Jin-Woo appearing from the deeper parts of the dungeon, though, he flinched greatly in shock.

“Uh? Huh?? Mister Seong, why are you coming from there??”

“Oh, that….”

Jin-Woo sneakily shifted his gaze over in the direction of the boss.

‘….I can’t tell him about stopping by the boss to see what it looks like out of curiosity, right?’

Jin-Woo’s gaze returned to Foreman Bae.

“I got lost while searching for the bathroom, actually.”

“Aigoo! You need to be more careful, young man. Interiors of these dungeons all look the sa, so if you get lost inside, it won’t be easy finding your way around! But still, how did you find your way back to here?”

“Oh, I ran into Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim on my way back, so….”

“Ahh, Cha Hunter-nim, was it? She’s probably gone to stand guard by the boss room just in case the boss decides to take a stroll. That lady also worries a lot, maybe as much as you, Mister Seong.”

Foreman Bae guffawed vigorously. It seed that Jin-Woo being worried about the boss not too long ago had left a deep impression in his mind.

Jin-Woo could only smile wryly.

‘The foreman can laugh like this only because he has no idea how terrifying the boss actually is.’

This was the difference between the Hunters doing these sorts of jobs, and the Hunters working in the assault team.

Cha Hae-In understood very well how dangerous and scary an existence the monsters could be, so she was just being ticulous in those areas that no one else was paying much attention to.

‘I didn’t know there was such a side to her, what with that expressionless face of hers and all.’

If the boss decided to co out of the boss room, the assault team wouldn’t be the ones in danger. No, it would be the workers doing their job, as the raid team would be taking a break outside the dungeon.

And she was sacrificing the allure of sweet rest to stand guard in front of the boss room, just for the sake of total strangers.

‘…..She’s an amazing woman.’

That was Jin-Woo’s honest impression of Cha Hae-In. It was at this point that he suddenly recalled her odd habit.

‘Why was she covering her nose with a handkerchief?’

Thinking back, she never let go of the handkerchief not even once, except for their eting a few monts ago.

“Foreman?”

“Yeah?”

Foreman Bae remained very friendly whenever Jin-Woo asked him a question, even though it’d be quite reasonable for him to get a bit annoyed by now.

‘Right, the responses were pretty good back when I was doing my job, wasn’t it?’

Indeed, one should strive to do their best in their jobs.

Thanks to his efforts, Jin-Woo could ask about this and that without holding back now. Heck, it was Foreman Bae who urged Jin-Woo to speak, instead.

“Mister Seong? You called for , so how co you ain’t saying a thing?”

“Oh, well, it’s nothing important, but…. By any chance, do you know why Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim walks around with a handkerchief?”

“Oh, that? Well, it’s cuz Hunter Cha is a bit peculiar, you see.”

“A bit peculiar?”

What did he an by that?

Jin-Woo didn’t have to ask, because Foreman Bae helpfully explained himself first.

“Hunter Cha can supposedly sll a kind of body odour coming from other Hunters. And I hear she finds them pretty horrible.”

“She can sll other Hunters?!”

“I heard sothing or other about her special constitutions and stuff.”

Her special constitutions, he said.

Jin-Woo also possessed sothing similar to that – his excellent sense of hearing.

Even from his early years, his hearing could be considered better than average, but once he Awakened, it developed even further.

‘Probably, Cha Hae-In’s sense of sll also got enhanced like mine.’

So, he could more or less understand where she was coming from.

“Well, wouldn’t you agree that she is peculiar?”

Perhaps he enjoyed the sight of Jin-Woo focusing on his words more than he should, because Foreman Bae continued on with his explanations without any prompt from the youth.

“I heard that she finds it really hard to breathe near other Hunters because of the stink.”

“…”

Was that why?

‘….Asking if I was a Hunter.’

Was it because, unlike other Hunters, he didn’t sll at all?

Back in the Red Gate, the leader of the White Phantoms said sothing similar.

– Every one of us can hear a certain voice repeating itself in our heads. It tells us to kill humans. However, I can’t hear that voice when I’m looking at you.

Wasn’t this a bit similar in context with what that creature told him? He didn’t have the Hunter-specific stink, and they couldn’t hear the voice telling them to kill him.

‘Because, I’m a Player…..’

A unique existence who had received the advantages of the System.

Just what was this ‘Player’?

The question of his own identity rose up in Jin-Woo’s head, but he shook his head eventually.

‘This isn’t a problem I can figure out now, anyway.’

Jin-Woo emptied his mind. Problems that couldn’t be solved by thinking too hard would only tire him out if he continued to dwell on it.

Crack! Kwack!

It was then, he heard his colleagues getting back to work. So, Jin-Woo also lifted the pickaxe.

‘The rank A boss… I wish I could hunt it down.’

What would he have done if Cha Hae-In didn’t show up in ti?

He couldn’t help but wonder.

***

Thanks to Jin-Woo’s brilliant efforts, the mining team was able to finish their operation well before the dinner ti. According to the foreman, they had finished two hours faster than planned.

With that, the looks the fellow miners were giving him had gone through substantial changes.

“Nice work, Mister Seong!”

“You were really good, you know?”

“After seeing all those Mana stones tumbling down, I thought we sohow got ourselves on an excavator or sothing.”

Hunters surrounding Jin-Woo began praising him one by one. The cold, indifferent eyes before entering the Gate were nowhere to be seen now.

Jin-Woo was also feeling rather pleased with himself. This experience of being a dungeon miner proved to be surprisingly educational, and he also got to achieve the purpose of coming to this rank A dungeon as well.

“Well, let’s get out of here, everyone!”

“Roger that!”

“Let’s go!”

At Foreman Bae’s order, the miners all began moving at the sa ti.

“One, two!”

“Yu-cha!”

They left behind the retrieval team still suffering through their operation and, after changing out of their overalls, the miners re-gathered in one spot.

Unlike the other miners, who were all full-ti employees of the Guild, Jin-Woo’s daily wage was handed to him imdiately.

“Here. This is your share, Mister Seong.”

“Ah, thank you.”

While handing over the envelope containing the day’s wage, Foreman Bae sneakily threw in a question as well.

“We’re planning to go and enjoy a drink together, so how about it? Would you like to join us?”

He sounded light and cheery, but his eyes were gleaming in a serious light.

‘Looks like he has sothing important to say to , but….’

Jin-Woo could sense the man’s desperation, even. Unfortunately, Jin-Woo declined the invite as tactfully as possible.

“I’m sorry.”

“Mm…. Is that so.”

Foreman Bae scratched his chin.

‘Well, this is a story best told after knocking back a few cold ones, but…’

He hurriedly changed his tactic.

“I’ve t quite a few people while doing this job for many years now.”

“Okay.”

“But, it’s my first ti eting soone like you. You have a natural-born talent to beco a miner.”

It seed that Foreman Bae really liked Jin-Woo here.

‘Haha…. Well, this is….’

All Jin-Woo could do here was to chuckle awkwardly, unable to neither agree or refute that notion. Deciding that the young man’s smile was a good on, Foreman Bae confidently moved on to the main topic at hand.

“I’d normally not say sothing like this, but…. Don’t you want to co and work for full-ti? I will definitely not treat you poorly, you see.”

This young man nad Seong Jin-Woo.

Even though today was his first day as a miner, he managed to outperform the veterans by three, four tis the amount.

If he couldn’t hold on to such outstanding talent, wouldn’t he be a failure of a foreman?

He was even thinking of discussing the matter with the person in charge and have Jin-Woo’s wages paid separately from others. That was how badly he wanted to reel in this young man.

Too bad, Jin-Woo remained resolute.

“Thank you for your kind words, but…. Actually, I’m getting ready for sothing else at the mont.”

Just a few words from Jin-Woo, and Foreman Bae’s face was forming a dejected expression of a man who had lost his country.

“….R-really?”

Jin-Woo chuckled to himself.

‘What an interesting guy.’

To display his raw emotions so openly like this. More than likely, Foreman Bae must’ve thought that he had discovered an unpolished rough within the E rank.

Foreman Bae pondered sothing for a bit, before cautiously asking the youth.

“What about tomorrow, then? Can you co to work tomorrow as well?”

“Tomorrow? Hmm…..”

Actually, he didn’t have anything else planned for tomorrow. The re-evaluation was scheduled for the day after, too.

Still, was there a reason for him to take another mining job now? He already got to learn the process of the dungeon conquest, and he even got to witness the rank A boss, too.

However….

‘Wait a minute.’

Just as he was opening his mouth to voice his refusal, a new question quickly entered Jin-Woo’s mind.

“Does that an Hunters Guild will go on another raid tomorrow?”

“That’s right. And that one’s also a rank A.”

“But, is that even possible? They finished the raid today.”

Normally, a raid team would take about a week off after finishing up a raid.

‘And this raid only started from yesterday afternoon.’

Which ant the elites of the Hunters Guild were raiding this dungeon for two days in a row – yesterday and today.

And by the ti they kill the boss after the retrieval operations finally end, it’d be the early dawn. Naturally, Jin-Woo couldn’t understand how there would be another raid tomorrow.

When Jin-Woo displayed a hint of interest, Foreman Bae also got more enthusiastic.

“You see, assault team B will be stepping forward tomorrow, not team A.”

Assault team B?

Could it be that they were thinking of clearing a rank A dungeon with a backup team?

“And this is precisely the power of the Hunters Guild, you see. I an, we are probably the only Guild in entire South Korea who can conquer rank A dungeons with two different teams.”

Foreman Bae sounded quite proud, then.

“Does Hunters raid dungeons like this all the ti?”

“No, no. Now normally, we wouldn’t have to split up the teams like that. But it looks like the schedule got overlapped this ti.”

Because two rank A Gates appeared around the sa ti in the district the Hunters Guild operated in, Chairman Choi Jong-In had to sweat a lot in order to get the permits for both of them, apparently.

‘Ah. So, the reason for running into Chairman Choi in the Association yesterday was this….’

Soone as busy as Choi Jong-In wouldn’t just randomly show up in the Association for no reason whatsoever.

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

“Okay, so does that an it’ll be your first ti trying to raid the dungeon with the B team?”

“That’s right. However, the B team of the Hunters isn’t your regular backup team, okay? They are even better than the A team of so of the other large Guilds, I’ll have you know.”

“Still, it should be far more dangerous than today, yes?”

Foreman Bae beca speechless, then.

Because, that would be quite obvious.

In today’s raid, two rank S Hunters participated. On the other hand, only the rank As and below would try to raid the dungeon tomorrow.

Sure, he heard that the size of tomorrow’s Gate was smaller than the one today, but still, losing two rank S Hunters was a big blow, indeed.

After all, Mister Seong was worried about the boss monster, even when the assault team featuring two rank S Hunters were nearby.

‘Doesn’t an I can lie to the kid, now is it?’

Foreman Bae was thinking of changing the youth’s mind tomorrow while working beside him, but realising that he had failed, he expressed so regret.

“Yes, it’ll get more dangerous, for sure. If sothing goes wrong, then the raid itself might fail, too.”

It was here that the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes changed.

< Chapter 83 > Fin.