Solo Leveling Chapter 40

Im sure nothing weird will happen here.

Ill be right next to my phone, so if sothing does happen, give a call right away.

Got it, Chief.

Ahn Sahng-Min ended the call only after making sure his right-hand man fully heard his request. It was at this point that he felt his starvation kick in.

Rumble

Ive been paying way too much attention on this matter.

The lunch hour had flown by so ti ago, but well, hed been waiting with bated breaths for Seong Jin-Woos arrival and completely forgot to fill up in the anti.

The thing was, he didnt know when Yu Jin-Hos team would show up here and so, couldnt leave his position to buy sothing to eat.

Now that he found himself so leeway, Ahn Sahng-Min looked around his vicinity to find a place to eat, before eventually settling on the local convenience store.

Im not trying to skimp on food expenses, though.

No one was around here to make fun out of him, yet he couldnt help but think that it was a bit uncool to enter a restaurant or a diner all alone. So, after a lengthy deliberation, he chose the cup ran from the convenience store, instead.

He poured the boiling water provided from the store in the cup and waited for three minutes before getting his wooden chopsticks ready, but then.

Ring.

Eii! Im trying to eat here, so who dares to call now?!

When he took a look at the phones screen, a familiar na showed up.

[Right arm]

Hyun Ki-Cheol, you dumba*s.

Ahn Sahng-Min answered the call, full of irritation.

Why are you calling already?

Chief, thats not it..

What do you an, thats not it?? If youre calling over nothing, you will be eating nothing but cup ran as your lunch for the whole of next week!!

Thats not it, Chief!! Those two ca out of the Gate already!!

Just like a paused fra of a movie, Ahn Sahng-Mins hand froze in the mid-air, just before it could deliver chopsticks full of noodles to his mouth.

What did you say??

Just now, Yu Jin-Ho and Seong Jin-Woo ca out from the Gate, Chief! And they are getting ready to leave along with the rest of the team!

Indeed, he didnt hear that wrong.

Ahn Sahng-Min hurriedly checked his watch.

But, it hasnt even been 30 minutes yet! Did they give up on the raid midway?

No, Chief. The Gate is shaking right now.

What nonsense was this?!

Even if the difficulty between different C-ranked dungeons varied sowhat, there was simply no way that soone could solo one of those in less than 30 minutes!!

Check again!! Is the Gate closing for real?

Yes, Chief. Should I record so footage and send it to you?

No, no need.

Ahn Sahng-Min ended the call and dazedly stared the empty air.

Clearing a C-ranked dungeon in 30 minutes when normally, a rank A Hunter would need two hours to do so?

What a funny notion that was, that man being only a rank B.

Using only the objective information available to make his educated guess, then at the bare minimum.

Hes above rank A.

Now, this was an unimaginably huge jackpot.

***

Outside the Gate.

Hyung-nim. Is there so other business you need to attend to later?

No, not really. Why do you ask?

I havent seen you hurrying up this much with hunting before.

Yu Jin-Ho was feeling truly astonished today.

He already knew very well that Jin-Woo was strong, but today, he seed to be on another dinsion altogether.

But, that was par for the course, really.

Jin-Woo inwardly laughed out.

Well, monsters in this dungeon were Werewolves, after all.

[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves]

A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%.

The buff given by the title Slaughterer of Wolves of course ca into effect against the Werewolves as well.

How could the monsters from a rank C dungeon contend with him, when his level was already so high to begin with, never mind the effect of that buff helping him out, too?

Thanks to that, Yu Jin-Ho had been kept real busy while trying to extract all those magic crystals from the dead monsters. He even had to drink five vials of the HP potion, too.

He shook his head several tis, complaining that he wouldnt be able to eat lunch now, after the potions filled him up completely.

Thats that, but.

Jin-Woo slowly raised his head.

He had been sensing soones gaze coming from sowhere.

I dont sense any magical energy, so he cant be a Hunter.

He took a look around, but couldnt spot anyone suspicious.

If he got serious about discovering who it was, then he should be able to find the person; but then, as the target didnt emit any killing intent or hostile intentions, itd take a really long ti to track the culprit down.

It might be nothing, too.

Perhaps inevitably, the gaze disappeared before long.

Hyung-nim, is everything alright?

.Its nothing. Lets get going.

There was no ti to waste here.

Jin-Woo took one last look around and climbed into the van.

*

He couldnt sense anyone looking at him by the second Gates location.

.Both the tis when he entered, and also when exiting the Gate.

Was I being overly cautious?

What a relief it was, knowing that it wasnt sothing serious.

anwhile, Yu Jin-Ho walked over and apologetically lowered his head.

Hyung-nim, Im really sorry about this. This is the last Gate for the day. Other ones were just too far from here.

Dont worry about it. Thats not sothing you should apologise for, anyway.

The sun was still pretty high up in the sky, but thanks to the duos antics, just about every Gate that appeared in the district had been taken care of, so their day had to co to an end here.

Thank you all for working hard, everyone.

What do you an, working hard. Its you, the raid leader, who worked hardest.

See you tomorrow.

Take it easy now.

After sending everyone away, the remaining two n climbed aboard the drivers and the passengers seats of the van.

Let take you ho, hyung-nim.

Before anyone had noticed it, Yu Jin-Ho had beco a trusty chauffeur. Him sitting behind the wheel looked perfectly normal now.

Jin-Woo looked Yu Jin-Ho with pitying eyes.

Just because he wants a shot at the position of the Guild Master, a scion of a wealthy family now has to work as a chauffeur.

Yu Jin-Ho had been smiling brightly while pressing on the accelerator, before realising that Jin-Woo was staring at him and asked with an equally bright voice.

Eh? Is there sothing on my face, hyung-nim?

..Nope. Never mind.

Jin-Woo pretended to know nothing, before suddenly recalling sothing else rather important, and he pulled out his phone to check the ti.

Right now, its. 16:46.

Indeed, it was still too early to go ho. How fortunate that he still had one thing he could do.

Im sure it was around here, right?

According to his mories, at least.

Jin-Woo spoke up quickly.

Hey, Jin-Ho.

Yes, hyung-nim?

Yu Jin-Ho replied while professionally turning the steering wheel. The van the two of them were riding on smoothly went around the curve on the road.

Head to the Mirae departnt store.

Mirae departnt store?

Yu Jin-Ho ford a confused expression.

Yeah. Lets go there.

Well, yes. Its just around the corner from here, but. I did notice it back during the hunting, so like, is there really nothing going on, hyung-nim?

.For so reason, youve been talking a lot more than necessary lately.

That prompted Yu Jin-Hos head to rigidly stare forward and nowhere else.

I shall get us there at the speed of light, hyung-nim. Please hold on tight.

Yu Jin-Ho quickly changed his attitude and drove the van like a stuntman, never once touching his brake pedal.

The distance to cover wasnt a lot, so they arrived at the destination pretty quickly.

The van ca to a screeching halt in front of the building. The overall vibe given off by the Mirae departnt store located smack dab in the city of Seouls CBD was quite sothing to behold.

When Jin-Woo climbed off the van, Yu Jin-Ho followed suit.

Hyung-nim, our Guilds gotta use this kind of a building as our headquarters in the future. What do you think?

Yu Jin-Ho stared up at the departnt store building and threw half a joke.

However, there was no reply. Sensing that sothing was weird here, Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly took a look next to him.

Ehh?

Jin-Woo was no longer standing there.

Hyung-nim?

No matter how hard he looked around, Jin-Woo was gone without a trace.

H-hyung-nim??

[With the death of the Boss, the interior of the dungeon will revert back to its original state.]

I levelled up again twice in the departnt store instant dungeon.

The steps taking Jin-Woo ho were light and cheery.

It had been a while, but the key to the instant dungeon had finally co out of the random box recently. And that key was supposed to be used at the Mirae departnt store.

He was wondering when to go, but decided to visit the place today since he found himself with enough free ti.

[H-hyung-nim??]

Jin-Woo recalled the dazed face of Yu Jin-Ho as the kid searched for him, and couldnt help but chuckle.

His phone suddenly went off, then.

Before answering it, he checked the number on the phones screen, but he couldnt recognise it.

Who could it be?

Back when he was still in high school, he was too busy trying to be a mother to his little sister, and after graduation, he started right away as a Hunter so one could say that Jin-Woos circle of acquaintances was fairly small.

I shouldnt be getting calls from unknown numbers.

He tilted his head only for a second or two. For the ti being, he decided to answer it.

Hello.

Hello. Is this Mister Seong Jin-Woo speaking?

It was an open and friendly-sounding voice of a man.

Jin-Woo hung up the mont he heard that.

Click!

Well, from my experience, this kinda call is 99% soone trying to sell stuff, or trying to entice to get a loan, anyway.

Just as he was about to put his phone back in the pocket, it rang again.

Buzz

And it was the exact sa number.

What the? It wasnt soone selling stuff?

Normally, these salespeople would call whoever just so they could et their sales target, which ant that they would almost never call him back this quickly as soon as the connection was dropped.

Why? They were quick-witted enough to realise that this would be a waste of ti, thats why.

Which ans, the guy on the other side really has so kind of business with .

So, he answered the call properly this ti.

Hello, this is Seong Jin-Woo.

Ahh, so it was the right number. I thought I called the wrong one because the call got cut off so quickly. Ahaha.

Jin-Woo deliberated for the whole of 2 seconds on whether to apologise or not with an excuse of him thinking that the call was about selling insurance or so such, because the mans voice sounded a bit

But, in the end, he decided not to.

It feels like apologising now would only make it worse.

A short bout of silence later, the salesman, no, the man with a salesmans voice, made his belated introduction.

Ah, where are my manners. My bad for the late introduction. My na is Ahn Sahng-Min, and I work for the White Tiger Guild.

Jin-Woos steps ca to an abrupt halt.

Why is the White Tiger calling ?

He couldnt think of a reason why such a big Guild as the White Tiger would call him out of the blue.

The only thing he could think of, though, was that this Guild assisted him back in that dual dungeon incident, but.

But, Im sure they arent calling to investigate that days matters after so much ti has passed by already.

Well, he couldnt stand not knowing, so before Ahn Sahng-Min had the chance to continue, Jin-Woo asked first.

Why is the White Tiger Guild giving a call?

The matter is a bit sensitive to discuss over the phone, so may I co to you and have a chat face to face?

The man was saying that hed co to see him, not asking Jin-Woo to show up, so there was no real reason to refuse here.

Besides, he had nothing much to do the day after tomorrow, anyway.

Didnt Yu Jin-Ho say he had so kind of an event back ho?

Yu Jin-Ho begged for his understanding while saying that there was a big family event happening on that day and everyone simply had to show up, aning he couldnt go on any raids.

A big family event, eh.V/\\IssT n0(v)eL/b(i)(n)./ for the b/est novel reading experi/en/ce

Just from thinking about a chaebols family event, Jin-Woo could only imagine luxurious, elaborate parties being held in a five-star hotels reception hall. Should he bla TV dramas for that now?

In any case, itd be easy to set a date for that day.

I have so free ti on Thursday.

Well, the thing is Will it be fine if we et right now?

Right now?

Jin-Woo checked the ti.

The ti on the phones screen indicated eight in the evening.

But, its already eight.

Dont worry. Im waiting for you nearby. I just wish to speak to you for a little while only.

Nearby, as in?

Im in a cafe near you.

Ahn Sahng-Min spoke the na of the cafe.

Jin-Woo was quite familiar with the place.

It was near his ho so he went past it often, and not only that, but he also used it as the eting place with Yu Jin-Ho as well.

Jin-Woos eyes narrowed to a slit.

This guy knows where I live.

< Chapter 40 > Fin.