The Gate seen behind the waiting group seemed a bit too small for a C rank.
After Jin-Woo and Yoo Jin-Ho exited from the van, the waiting Hunters quickly gathered around them. For some reason, there was almost no 'normal' person in this group.
Most of them seemed to have some difficulty with their mobility, there was one person who looked to be suffering from an illness, while the other was clearly an alcoholic.
Not only that, there was an underage girl too, someone that neither the Association nor the Guild would admit to their ranks. From a casual glance, she looked to be a high-schooler.
"Is it okay to bring a child here?"
"I asked for a professional advice, and apparently, there is no problem according to the law, hyung-nim. Actually, the only reason why people don't hire underage Hunters is that there would be hell to pay if something went sideways."
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
'In that case, it should be fine.'
"By the way, hyung-nim, you brought your friend with you. He's the one who was seriously injured in the dungeon we meet for the first time, right?"
"Yes, the same person as that time." Jin-Woo touched the back of his head, feeling trouble about how is he going to present Belial.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Yoo Jin-Ho." He presented himself with a big smile.
Belial rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask, don't expect me to present myself to a peasant."
"So rude, did I do something to make you hate me?" Jin-Ho couldn't understand why Belial treated him so badly.
"He's not a sociable person, sorry about that." Jin-Woo forced a smile.
"You don't have to apologize in his behalf, hyung-nim didn't nothing wrong."
Belial clicked his tongue. "If we are going to clear the dungeon then stop wasting time chatting."
Really now, only Jin-Woo, Belial and Yoo Jin-Ho were going to enter the Gates anyway, so the odds of something going wrong were as good as 0%.
Indeed, these people were only here to make up the numbers. In order to get the permit to clear a C-rank Gate, one needed at least ten Hunters, after all.
That was why eight extra people had to be recruited.
And sure enough, these eight understood very well why they were here, too.
These people all possessed the Hunter licence, but couldn't act as one due to their circumstances. Most who answered the call to gather were suffering from the hardships of life in various ways.
Yoo Jin-Ho took a step forward.
"My name is Yoo Jin-Ho, and I'll be taking the lead in this operation. And this gentleman beside me is Sung Jin-Woo Hunter-nim and his friend who will accompany me to the dungeons. Everyone, your role is to wait outside the Gates until we return."
One of the Hunters cautiously raised his hand.
"Excuse me... If we really do that, we can get 3 million Won?"
No need to participate in any huntings.
No actual need to even enter the dungeon itself.
3 million Won per raid.
For a payment of simply lending one's name so they would be permitted to enter the Gates, it sounded just too good to be true.
This man named Yoo Jin-Ho didn't even look like that Seon-Dal character who sold the Taedong River, but the terms on offer were so good that the gathered Hunters couldn't help but be anxious.
"I guarantee you that the terms offered are for real."
Yoo Jin-Ho stood stiffly, looking rather serious now. Even his expression had become grave.
"However, you are not to discuss any facet of the events that'll take place here with anyone. Do not forget that the moment you break the vow of secrecy, you'll be forced to pay back ten times the money you were paid, as per the contract you all signed."
Chatter, chatter...
Hunters murmured to each other in hushed whispers. Just what were these three young Hunters planning to do inside the Gate that they offered up such enticing terms?
They were curious, but no one came out and asked.
That was also the part of the vow of secrecy clause within the contract.
– Absolutely no questioning what happens inside dungeons.
Jin-Woo didn't want anyone to know of his special constitution, and Jin-Ho wanted to become the Master of a Guild, so there was a serious need to make sure that none of their teammates blabbered their mouth to someone else.
Instead of asking questions, the Hunters began whispering to each other now.
"Still, can those three survive a rank C Dungeon all by themselves?"
"But, they don't look that strong, don't they?"
"If these three are capable enough to clear a rank C dungeon, wouldn't it be better to enter a large Guild and get access to higher ranked dungeons?"
"You're so right about that."
They all spoke in a suspicious tone of voice, but not one person said they were quitting.
That was par for the course, really – the terms were too good to give up from their perspective. Even Jin-Woo got hooked by the promise of the two million Won, after all.
The reason for the extra one million Won, compared to what Hwang Dong-Suk had offered, was because of the clause on the participants maintaining their secrecy.
While the explanations carried on, the time was being wasted somewhat.
Jin-Woo confirmed with his watch and spoke to Yoo Jin-Ho.
"We should get started." He glanced at Belial, noticing his irritated expression.
"Understood, hyung-nim."
Yoo Jin-Ho answered right away and clapped his hands in order to draw the attention to himself.
"Well, that will be all for the explanations. I won't force you to participate. So, is there anyone among you who'd like to quit now?"
"....."
"....."
Of course, no one raised their hands.
Just before the three tried to enter the Gate...
"Ah! Hyung-nim, hold on for a moment."
Recalling something he had completely forgotten about until now, Yoo Jin-Ho hurriedly ran back to the van.
"What's that idiot planning on doing now, I shouldn't have agreed to come with you." Belial complained.
"You are really in a bad mood today, did something happen?" Jin-Woo never saw the demon this irritated before.
"Losing precious time tend to bother me, you should be clearing the castle instead of being here." Belial crossed his arms.
"I need more levels, just be patient, okay?" The human touched the demon's shoulder.
"Whatever."
Jin-Ho put several things on the entirety of his body and walked back to the Gate in an unsteady and difficult fashion.
"What.. is that?" Jin-Woo asked raising a eyebrow.
"...Ridiculous." Belial almost laughed.
"It's a full-set of reinforced armour, crafted by a famous Guild of master craftsmen in Italy. Hyung-nim, don't you think we need at least this type of equipment if we were to clear a dungeon by ourselves?"
Jin-Woo slowly face palmed.
"..."
Simply staring at that hunk of steel covering the kid from the tip of his toes all the way up to the crown of his head, Jin-Woo felt like his own breathing was getting all choked up and the like.
"What's the matter, hyung-nim?"
Unable to watch on any longer, Jin-Woo reached out, yanked loose the longsword attached to Yoo Jin-Ho's waist, and dropped it on the ground.
"Uh, uh??"
Jin-Ho tried to bend down in order to pick up the sword only to lose his balance, and he toppled over ungainly.
Plop.
This time Belial laughed hard while Jin-Woo did his best to suppress the rising tides of anger and spoke with great difficulty.
"While I'm still being civil, take them off."
".....Yes."
However, after struggling for a bit to stand back up, Yoo Jin-Ho called out to Jin-Woo.
"H-hyung-nim...."
"What now?"
"Please help me. I can't stand up."
"You deserve it for being an idiot." Belial grinned.
Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh while looking at Jin-Ho reaching out to him.
...
"Will this be fine, hyung-nim?"
"Yeah."
In the end, they agreed on the kid wearing a helmet, and nothing else. With a satisfied face, Yoo Jin-Ho jumped inside the Gate. Jin-Woo and Belial followed in right after without saying anything else.
As soon as the three men walked into the dungeon one by one, the remaining Hunters all slowly shuffled towards the Gate.
One of them piped up with a worried voice.
"Judging from the way they acted, they looked like a couple of amateurs..."
Another agreed, while staring at the Gate's surface.
"You're right."
The two people's conversation opened the floodgate of words from the remaining Hunters. Everyone began speaking their minds now.
"What will happen if those two get killed inside the dungeon?"
"Well, we all got paid the contract signing fee already, so..."
"Yeah, well. That's true, too."
"Wait, what were the names of those three again?"
"Hold on. So, it was..."
A man whose leg was in a plaster quickly pulled his phone out and searched the three's names online.
"Yoo Jin-Ho, Sung Jin-Woo... I don't think the other one is a hunter."
Another Hunter helped the man in crutches to stand straight while peeking into the phone as well. Whether he felt the 'crutches' needed help, or was just too impatient to find out the result of the online search, no one could tell.
"What the hell? The raid leader is only a rank D and one of them isn't even a hunter??"
Hearing that, everyone else stiffened up from the shock. However, what shocked them even more was the following search result.
"The dude next to the rank D is only a measly E???"
"Isn't it way too dangerous for a rank E to enter a rank C Gate?"
"One D, an E and a normal person wants to clear a rank C dungeon?!"
"How can that even be possible??"
"Also, the raid team leader has no record of leading a team before!"
"What the heck...? Why would these three young men...?"
Wasn't this no different than committing suicide?
It was not for nothing that the Association had set a strict rule of one needing ten people, with five rank C Hunters, as the bare minimum if one wanted to enter a rank C Gate.
"Tsk, tsk..."
A male Hunter sporting a smattering of white hair pulled a cigarette out and lit it up.
"The arrogance of youth tends to catch many young people unaware."
The cigarette smoke slowly rose up.
"...."
"...."
The Hunters all fell silent. They couldn't help but feel awkward and bad, thinking that they were now a part of someone else's suicide attempt.
Even if they were total strangers, no one liked seeing another person getting killed right in front of their eyes, or in this case, inside the Gate right in front of them.
Was that all?
What about the rest of the money?
They may have received the contract fee upfront, but they would've made a lot more by following the three young men around for the next 18 raids.
Regrettably, though – the odds of three young people coming back alive were simply too low.
"This... Shouldn't we report this to the Association, even if it's now?"
"I wonder. Yeah, what if we get blamed for this?"
Then, this happened.
Buzz...
Jin-Woo, Belial and Jin-Ho hurriedly emerged from the Gate.
"Pant, pant, pant..."
Yoo Jin-Ho was panting laboriously. Steam slowly rose up from the bodies of two young men carrying tired expressions except for one individual.
"Oh, ohh..."
"They managed to escape unhurt!"
"What a relief."
Hunters welcomed the three with happy expressions.
They were all thinking that these three only roamed around the entrance of the dungeon like a pair of lost kids, because the time between them entering and leaving was fairly short.
However, what was going on here?
The expressions of the Hunters gradually changed.
Because, they all heard someone crying out in alarm, that was why.
"The, the Gate is closing!!"
What??
Everyone hurriedly shifted their gaze over to the Gate.
"Oh my gosh!"
"Look, look!!"
"They killed the b-boss??"
The Gate is turning blurry and illusory, just as it would when the boss of the dungeon was killed.
While the Hunters couldn't hide their shocked disbelief, Jin-Woo utterly disregarded their gazes and quietly asked Yoo Jin-Ho.
"Where is the next one?"
"It's about an hour's drive from here, hyung-nim."
"Okay, let's go."
Jin-Woo, Belial and Jin-Ho headed straight to the van.
Meanwhile, the eight Hunters stared at the young men's backs with completely dumbfounded faces.
Realising that they weren't following him, Yoo Jin-Ho turned his head and called out to them.
"Let's hurry up, everyone. We barely have enough time to go to two more Gates today."
The jaws of the Hunters all dropped to the floor from that declaration..
The middle-aged Hunter with the smattering of white hair, was so stunned that he failed to realise his cigarette slipping out from his lips and falling to the ground.
'Those three managed to clear a rank C dungeon, and they are going for another raid, too??'
It wasn't only him, though.
Everyone present was thinking the exact same thing.
'Just who are these people???'
...
The first day.
Grrroooar....
A group of zombies rushed at the three young men.
"Hyung-nim, they are coming!"
"Okay."
Jin-Woo smoothly glided among the rushing zombies. Whenever he brushed past one, the head of an undead creature fell and rolled on the ground.
The number of zombies decreased quite rapidly. Soon, only one remained. When Jin-Woo stabbed his dagger deep into the last monster's chest, a familiar mechanical beep rang inside his head.
Tti-ring!
[Level up!]
Yoo Jin-Ho, who had been standing at the far back, gasped in admiration and clapped his hands enthusiastically.
"Hyung-nim, you're so cool!!!"
Belial glared at him, and Jin-Woo noticed, so before a fight broke up between them, he said.
"Magic crystals."
"Ah. Okay."
Jin-Ho quickly pulled the bag out and began collecting the magic crystals.
It was around at this point.
The mechanical beeps didn't end with the level up message and continued on.
Tti-ring!
[You've acquired 'Skill: High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1']
Tti-ring!
[You've acquired 'Skill: Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1']
Tti-ring!
['Skill: Dash' has levelled up!]
Jin-Woo's expression brightened in an instant.
'I've got new skills?'
Been a long time too, hasn't it?
Feeling rather chuffed with himself, Jin-Woo quickly summoned his Skill Window.
[Skills]
Passive skills:
– (Unknown) Lv. Max
– Tenacity Lv. 1
– High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1
Active skills:
– Dash Lv. 2
– Intimidation Lv. 1
– Stealth Lv. 1
– Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1
The Dash skill had levelled up after he constantly used it. Also, in the passive and the active columns, High-Grade Dagger Technique and Vital Points Targeting had been added as well. Jin-Woo was a step closer to fulfill Belial's wish.