It was already past 8 p.m. that evening.
Cheongwang, Jaesik, and Wolff—top students of Class A—were inside a dungeon known as the Spirit Forest.
After undergoing a rigorous training class that lasted until 7 p.m., they hadn’t even had dinner before heading straight out of school. Fatigue and hunger gnawed at them.
But not one of them dared show even a hint of displeasure.
If they did, they risked irritating the girl walking a good distance ahead of them.
“Ufufufu.”
Fortunately, the girl seed to be in a good mood, giggling as she walked.
Unlike the three boys, who wore combat uniforms issued by Gwangcheon and their own personal gear over them, Chen iling was wearing a sleek black dress, more suited to a party than a dungeon.
It was completely inappropriate for a place where they had to battle monsters—but it didn’t matter to her.
No sweat or dust ever dirtied her clothes anyway.
“Kyaaah!!”
“Guh, guhh!”
“Aaaaah...”
As iling walked forward, small fairy-like creatures with butterfly wings stiffened and scread in agony before collapsing where they stood.
A pitch-black domain, stretching 7 ters in every direction, had unfolded around her.
Every monster that dared enter that space to attack a human t the sa fate.
“Ahahaha! Look at them!”
iling laughed with delight as she stared down at a spirit-type monster kneeling before her.
Its hands clutched its throat in agony as though it couldn’t breathe, slowly dying. iling simply watched with a slight smile curling her lips.
"That psycho."
Jin Cheongwang couldn’t help but grimace.
Sure, the enemy was a monster.
There was no reason to feel pity.
But seeing iling genuinely enjoy watching sothing suffer and die like that—it stirred a primal revulsion in him.
After singlehandedly wiping out every monster on the first floor of the Spirit Forest, iling finally deactivated her power, Black Domain.
“I’m bored now. I’m heading back.”
Makes sense she’s bored, Jin Cheongwang muttered inwardly, lowering his head.
She had just killed nearly three hundred monsters by herself.
With her smile gone, iling briskly stepped into the return portal.
“We’re heading out too.”
As Jin Cheongwang gave the order, Ma Jaesik and Wolff looked back.
Items dropped by the monsters struck down by the Black Domain lay scattered across the ground.
“Cheongwang, can’t we just pick up a few before we leave?” Ma Jaesik asked, his face full of regret.
If they sold the demonic relics—armor, weapons, accessories, and materials—at the Hunter Market, they’d easily make over three million won.
“Shut up and move. If she finds out and reports it to Lord Kai, we’re finished.”
At Jin Cheongwang’s warning, both Jaesik and Wolff flinched.
They gave the loot one last glance, then gritted their teeth and sprinted toward the portal.
“Why are you so late?” iling asked coldly, raising an eyebrow as the boys arrived at the dungeon’s entrance, which rged with part of the forest.
“We’re sorry,” Cheongwang replied, bowing his head. The other two quickly followed suit.
Once they passed the security checkpoint, iling climbed into the waiting luxury car and left without another word.
“...Should we call a taxi too?” Wolff asked cautiously, checking Cheongwang’s reaction.
Cheongwang said nothing and just glared at the car speeding away.
Then—buzz! A vibration rang out. It was his smartwatch.
When he saw who was calling, his eyes widened.
He quickly put on his wireless earbuds and answered.
“Yes, this is Jin Cheongwang.”
[Has iling gone ho?]
A deep, composed voice of an adult man entered his ear.
“Yes, she just left from the Spirit Forest checkpoint.”
[There weren’t any problems, I assu?]
“No. Not a single monster could get near her.”
[Hmph.]
A snort, as if stating the obvious, ca through the line.
A crease ford between Cheongwang’s brows.
[You haven’t forgotten that Gwangcheon’s end-of-month assignnt is coming up, have you?]
“No. We’re all preparing for it. We’ll make sure Miss iling places first.”
[Good. Oh, and I heard sothing interesting today.]
“Sir?”
Cheongwang frowned in confusion.
Normally, this would be the part where the call ended with a curt “Good.”
[Apparently, in Class B, so students passed Jeong Jooil’s assignnts two weeks in a row.]
“!!!”
Cheongwang clenched his teeth.
Nam Yein’s face flashed through his mind.
[I heard that teacher designs those assignnts to be intentionally impossible. How did you fare against them?]
“...We failed to clear them.”
Cheongwang clenched his jaw, careful not to let any grinding of his teeth carry over the call.
[You should constantly remind yourselves why I placed you in Gwangcheon—and what allows you to even dream of becoming Hunters.]
“Yes, sir. I won’t forget.”
[Good. I’m counting on you to handle things properly.]
The call ended.
“Was that Lord Kai?” Jaesik asked quietly.
“...Ma Jaesik. Wolff.”
“Y-Yeah?”
“What is it, Cheongwang?”
Jaesik and Wolff stood stiffly, their bodies tense as they waited for Cheongwang to speak.
“In next week’s joint sparring session between Classes A and B, we’ll make sure Nam Yein and Lumina are eliminated.”
The two of them froze for a second—then broke into wide grins.
“Finally. It’s about ti we got to show our strength.”
“They need to pay for acting like they own the place.”
Cheongwang removed the earphones from his ears and stared straight ahead, his expression blank.
‘That didn’t take long…’
His clenched fists trembled slightly as he stared into the darkness of the sky.
“I—I think I’m going to die…”
Lumina, drenched in sweat, staggered beside .
She looked like she could collapse at any mont, but I couldn’t reach out to support her.
My own legs were trembling so much I could barely keep walking.
“I never thought I’d say this, but… I’d honestly prefer dungeon practice over this…”
Lumina leaned against the wall as she spoke.
“No kidding. I didn’t know Hunters could get this exhausted.”
The walk back to the classroom felt impossibly long.
And it wasn’t just and Lumina.
Everyone from Class B—and even the kids from Class A—were trudging along like zombies.
We had just finished the last period of Friday.
Since dungeon training had been pushed to next week, today’s afternoon classes were entirely replaced with training courses.
After enduring a full afternoon of stamina, ntal strength, and physical endurance training, we were completely drained—body and soul.
Specifically, the schedule included: two hours of practicing three basic skills, two hours of enduring elental attacks (fire, electric, and ice) to raise resistance, and finally, two hours of flipping a 300 kg tire around the track for physical training.
The only reason mine was 300 kg was because I had an F-grade for stamina. Lumina, with a D-grade, had to flip a 400 kg tire. Students with higher grades had tires ranging from 500 to 750 kg.
Learning that even a Hunter’s body had limits when it ca to pain and fatigue was… educational, in a twisted way—but just thinking about the next training session made want to die a little.
“Lumina. About tomorrow…”
“Huh? Y-Yes?”
Lumina, who had been completely drained just monts ago, whipped her head toward .
“Sa as last ti—want to et at ten?”
“Yeah! Sounds good!”
“Then I’ll see you at the school gate tomorrow.”
Lumina nodded, smiling brightly.
Lumina and I t at the school gate, just like before, and took the bus together to the Hunter Market.
“Let’s head straight to Crystal Hunter Mall. We need to sell the goods if we want money for the inventory.”
“Ah, right!”
One of the goals of today’s trip was to get Lumina her own inventory.
Of course, my main goal was to sell all the bone accessories I’d made and buy materials to level up my ability.
Now that I’d reached Craftsman Level 3, it made sense to invest in higher-priced materials to aim for more EXP.
But there was another important reason I wanted to visit the Crystal Hunter Mall today.
‘I wonder if the trap I set last week worked…’
With a mix of anticipation and anxiety, I headed to the mall.
Once we arrived, we made our way to a secluded corner of the third floor and spotted a sign that read [Ailes De Platine].
“Welco back. Thank you for visiting us again.”
A middle-aged man in a suit with a stylish beard greeted us warmly.
Lee Donghyuk.
He was the manager of the Hunter equipnt shop “Wings of Platinum.”
“The daggers you brought last ti were all sold out.”
Lee Donghyuk smiled as he said it.
“Did you bring more items this ti?”
“Yes. Would you mind taking a look?”
“Of course.”
After hearing his response, I placed one of each type of bone accessory on the counter.
They were crafted by combining various gemstones—exchanged using the 100 points I’d received from the principal—with bones of undead monsters I’d collected in the Catacombs.
“Then I’ll begin the appraisal.”
As before, Lee Donghyuk brought a golden magnifying glass to his eye and began examining the items.
“Ohh. These are excellent. Increased HP and MP, enhanced attack and defense, higher crit rate, and elental damage bonuses. Each accessory is imbued with its own effects.”
“That’s a relief.”
Even though I knew all that already, I pretended not to.
After all, I’d designed them that way on purpose.
“These will definitely sell for more than the daggers you brought last ti.”
“Wow!”
Lumina’s face lit up.
She would receive 30% of the profits from today’s sales.
That was the deal we made: I’d use all the materials myself, and in exchange, she’d get a portion of the profits.
Even with just 30%, it was still far more than what she would’ve gotten selling the raw materials.
She had agreed without hesitation when I suggested it.
Back then, she’d replied:
“Just do whatever you think is best, Yein. Whatever you co up with will be better than what I could.”
‘She really needs to be careful who she trusts…’
Honestly, if she t the wrong person, she’d be an easy target for scams.
“Then I’ll offer 1.4 million won per ring, 1.2 million per necklace, and 1 million per bracelet. How does that sound?”
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
I opened my inventory and took out all the pieces I had.
Four rings, six necklaces, eight bracelets.
“That cos to a total of 20.8 million won. I’ll transfer it to the sa account as last ti, shall I?”
“Twenty million…!!”
Lumina’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
I’d be taking ho around 14.5 million won.
That was nearly 12 million more than what I’d made selling the daggers last ti, which had earned 2.4 million.
I didn’t bother making any more bone daggers because, in the ga, accessories always sold for the highest prices.
“By the way, do you two have a mont?”
As I was confirming the deposit on my smartwatch, Lee Donghyuk spoke up.
“Ti?”
Lumina tilted her head curiously.
“Yes. Our shop’s owner saw the items you brought last ti and was very interested. She’d really like to et the two of you.”
Lumina blinked, looking slightly surprised.
‘Here it cos.’
I smiled inwardly.
“Lumina, would it be okay if we buy your inventory a little later?”
“Huh? Oh… sure.”
Lumina nodded, still unsure what was going on.
“Our boss is currently at a workshop nearby. If I call her, she’ll be here within ten minutes.”
Lee Donghyuk smiled reassuringly.
Exactly ten minutes later—
As we sipped on the drinks the manager had offered, the owner of Wings of Platinum finally appeared before us.
“Thanks for waiting! I’m Anne Eleanor, the owner of this shop!”
The cheerful greeting left Lumina with her mouth agape, stunned.
If I hadn’t already known the setup, I probably would’ve looked just as surprised.
Overalls, arm sleeves, a frayed newsboy cap over silver-gray hair.
Beaming brightly as she approached us—was a girl our age.
(End of Chapter)
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