novel
| ← Ch.015 | Ch.017 → |
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Bait
In a forest that was so densely packed with trees that one couldn't even see a single ray of light pass through.
Keururu...
In such a forest, there was a single orc.
It was a head taller than a normal orc, and it was also a lot bigger as well.
It was a terrifying monster that seemed as if only the face was that of an orc.
Most of all, unlike orcs, the scleras in his eyes were completely blood red.
That monster right now had saliva all over his mouth, drooling.
It was a sign of hunger so strong that it would even be happy to devour rotten meat.
Keururu!
In fact, the orc was looking for rotten meat.
He was wandering around the forest looking for bones and bits of a mysterious animal that he threw away after he finished a meal in the past.
Keuru?
When he arrived at the location, he saw a creature holding the bones of the animal he ate in the past.
Keuaa!
The orc viewed it as an opportunity sent from heaven.
At that moment, the orc only had a single goal.
To kill the surprised beast, tear the skin off his belly, and then savoring its fresh guts first!
Keuaa!
In the midst of such fantasies, the orc charged toward the prey that had its back to him, igniting his strength to the fullest.
It wanted to instantly crush its prey's spine, preventing it from running away. He wanted to eat the helpless prey while it was still alive.
Keururu!
Obviously, the orc didn't notice the two skeleton soldiers that were waiting stealthily.
Swiig!
He also didn't see one of the two skeleton soldiers swing its sword to slash the left side of his neck while the other one was going for the right.
Keuru?
By the time the orc realized something was wrong and stopped in its track, the orc's neck already had a deep gash.
The wound was very deep due to the tremendous force of the orc's charge.
Puhwat!
Blood began to gush out from both sides of the orc's nape.
Keuru? Keururu!
Surprised by the outcome, the orc hurriedly covered both sides of his neck with his hands.
Puk!
Naturally, there was no way for the orc to block an arrow that was flying toward his back while both of his hands were blocking the wounds on his neck.
[The Orc is Poisoned By Blood Poisoning]
Moreover, he couldn't do anything to stop Kim Woo-jin's blood poison, which was smeared all over the arrowhead, from penetrating the orc's body in an instant.
Keuaa!
Massive blood loss and poisoning. Suffering from these two disasters, the orc's body wavered like a candlelight brushing against the wind.
Tteolgeuleok tteolgeuleok!
Seeing an opening lit up the skeleton soldiers' eyes and they slowly narrowed the distance between themselves and the orc.
Instead of being reckless after seeing the weakened prey, they began to show more elaborate, cautious movements.
Kim Woo-jin laughed in his heart.
'To think that they would use their owner as bait. '
He laughed at the skeleton soldiers, who used him as a bait and waited for the orc to be caught, and then giving it a fatal blow.
In his heart, Kim Woo-jin did not blame the skeleton soldiers.
'They are so much like me~. '
Kim Woo-jin didn't have the right to blame the skeleton soldiers that acted so selfishly.
'Huh?'
Then, Kim Woo-jin saw the orc's eyes.
'Red?'
As soon as Kim Woo-jin saw the orc's red eyes, he noticed that it was unlike other orcs.
'He has eaten his own kind. '
Some orcs can't overcome and handle their hunger and eat their own people.
As you may expect, orcs that eat their own kind won't survive too long.
Orcs that eat their own kin would be alienated and kicked out from their tribe, and would be hunted by them.
However, those who were stronger than the average orcs would hunt those who chased after them instead.
'Orc hunter!'
They would become an orc hunter.
In other words, the monster in front of him was the boss monster of the dungeon.
"Stop!"
Kim Woo-jin yelled toward his skeleton soldiers.
Hearing the shout, the skeleton soldiers who were repeatedly slashing their scimitars widened the distance between themselves and the orc.
'Ah. '
However, the orc hunter was already in a critical state.
The skeleton soldiers' scimitars had already utterly destroyed the orc hunter's body.
When Kim Woo-jin saw the resulting scene, he clicked his tongue.
Kim Woo-jin still had work he wanted to do in the dungeon.
He wanted to pick up more items and gather more information from the dead players.
'I was going to catch the boss monster when the time was right...'
That's why he planned to keep the boss monster alive as long as possible.
'I never thought catching monsters too well could become a problem. '
Unfortunately, it was all over.
[You Have Leveled Up. ] [You Have Hunted the Orc Hunter. ] [You Have Cleared the Dungeon. ]
At this time, he heard the level-up notification, followed by a notification saying that the dungeon was cleared.
It was just as Kim Woo-jin predicted.
'There is nothing else I can do. '
After thinking it over, Kim Woo-jin was no longer worried.
The deed was already done and he already achieved the minimum requirements for his desired goal.
There was no reason to tremble in anger or irritation.
[The Emissary of the Underworld Admires Your Ability]
'Hmm?'
Moreover, there was a gift.
[The Emissary of the Underworld Delivers a Part of its Power] [The Rank of the Skeleton Soldier Skill Increases By One Level]
Kim Woo-jin's halo sent Kim Woo-jin a gift.
"Uh-ooo....."
Inside a camping trailer with a small bed built inside, Cho Min-gi, a member of the Phoenix Guild dungeon support team, stood up and stretched.
The first thing he looked for when he woke up was his smartphone.
When he turned on his smartphone, he saw a pile of negative news announcing the appearance of a monster.
However, Cho Min-gi did not really care.
'I haven't had a good night's sleep in a long time. '
On the contrary, he smacked his lips over the lingering feeling of restfulness that he had not experienced in a long while.
'It's thanks to Kim Woo-jin. '
The reason for his good night's sleep was none other than Kim Woo-jin.
While players are clearing the dungeon, monsters will not come out from the dungeon gate.
This meant that until Kim Woo-jin died after entering the dungeon, Cho Min-gi was freed from the fear of a monster jumping out of his dungeon gate.
That was a good reason to sleep well.
Of course, that did not mean that Cho Min-gi would improve his assessment of Kim Woo-jin.
'What a strange bastard he is. '
There were still bad rumors concerning Kim Woo-jin spreading in the Phoenix Guild.
No, the rumors about Kim Woo-jin were now spreading to other guilds as well. 'That's it. '
Already, his career as a player was virtually over.
'One can only solo dungeons up to Lv 10 and that's it. '
The limit for one floor dungeons below level 10 were 10 people, but the case for dungeon below level 20 was as many as 20 people. As for dungeons with two floors, a 20 people limit was the standard.
Despite that, there were times when dungeons wouldn't be cleared.
This meant that there were monsters far stronger than what 20 players could handle.
There was definitely a limit to holding out by oneself in such a place.
'No, nevermind the limits, the players might even try to kill him. '
Players should be careful of the other players on top of the monsters inside a dungeon.
Especially, if a player with a bad reputation had a good item, it would be a nightmare.
'Well, he'll survive somehow. '
In the end, it wasn't something Cho Min-gi needed to worry about.
'Anyway I have to check out the dungeon gate. I wonder if he already died?'
All he had to do was to request for help until the dungeon was cleared.
Like that, Cho Min-gi came out of the camping trailer to do his job.
Only then could he see.
"Huck!"
A man was sitting on the plastic chair in front of his camping trailer and oiling his scimitars
"Ki, Mr. Kim Woo-jin?"
The identity of the man was none other than Kim Woo-jin.
"Ah, did you sleep well?"
"Ho, How did you?"
When questioned by the surprised Cho Min-gi, Kim Woo-jin replied while putting away his scimitar inside of his item window like magic.
"I returned from the dungeon a little while ago. I didn't want to wake you up when you looked like you were having such a nice sleep."
"Uh, uh....."
Cho Min-gi, who received an unexpected answer to his question, did not ask further.
He just kept blinking.
Eventually, Kim Woo-jin continued the conversation.
"My luck was good. Since the preceding parties left a fatal wound on the orc hunter, it was fairly easy to kill. I have recorded the details on the notepad. Please refer to it when you write up your report."
After speaking, Kim Woo-jin handed over a note.
Cho Min-gi nodded silently.
'And this. '
Then Kim Woo-jin handed over a plastic bag containing a piece of cloth and a longsword to Cho Min-gi.
What is this? Cho Min-gi asked with a look.
Kim Woo-jin answered the question with a sad expression.
"I don't know whose it is, but I think it is the item left behind by the player who had died inside. I think it's a will. It looks like he used his own blood to write on the cloth... Please send it to his or her family or acquaintances.
"Ah, I understand."
Finally, Cho Min-gi replied.
Kim Woo-jin emphasized once again.
"I want you to find out who it is and then deliver it to them."
That repeated emphasis got Cho Min-gi to change his mind about Kim Woo-jin for the first time. 'Maybe he's actually a really good person unlike the rumors. '
That Kim Woo-jin may be a totally different person from what people say about him.
"Oh, but I got this longsword from the dungeon, so I can keep it according to the rules, right? Please send it to me after you've checked the owner."
Of course, the idea didn't last long.
"Also, did you fill up my car with gas?"
'As expected, he is a freak. ' This was the conclusion Cho Min-gi made about Kim Woo-jin.
If a player dies in a dungeon, all the items previously owned by the player are handed over to the players that cleared the dungeon.
Therefore, other players were sometimes interested when a player brought something out of the dungeon. Although, it was usually only when items of at least the unique grade were brought out.
'Damn it. '
It was such a case for Park Je-soon.
When he heard that the dungeon in Chuncheon was cleared, the words that came out of his mouth were, 'Why the fuck did you tell me something like that?'
'Jeon Yong-kyu, that son of a bitch!'
Nevertheless, when an item belonging to a man named Jeon Yong-kyu came out of the dungeon, as well as his will, things changed.
Then after checking the contents of the will, Park Je-soon's mind melted away.
'If you are going to die, just die cleanly. Why the fuck are you leaving that stuff behind?'
As a matter of fact, it was impossible to check the contents of the will properly because it was already damaged.
Only five letters were legible.
Park, Wan, In, Sa, and Nyang.
It was an indeterminable will; one had to be a cryptologist decipher its meaning.
However, Park Je Soon was able to interpret it as soon as he saw it.
Park Yong-wan, human hunt.
Before he died, Jeon Yong-kyu left a note in his will about a very ugly project called human hunting.
He was not interested as to why he left it at the moment of his death.
It was not important either.
'If Park Yong-wan hears about this, I'm finished. '
The important detail was that if Park Je-soon didn't handle this properly and things got out of control, he was likely to meet Jeon Yong-kyu in hell.
'I have already taken care of the will. '
Fortunately, the will came to Park Je-soon.
It wasn't unexpected.
Park Je-soon was the one who introduced and recruited Jeon Yong-kyu to the Phoenix Guild.
Considering that Jeon Yong-kyu had no family, it was only natural for the Phoenix Guild to deliver the will to Park Je-soon, an acquaintance of Jeon Yong-kyu.
Naturally, Park Je-soon decided to incinerate the will.
'Now the only thing that's left is...'
That was only one thing left.
'I just have to take care of that person. Kim Woo-jin. '
He had to deal with Kim Woo-jin, who brought out the will.
'It's better this way."
At this point, Park Je-soon could feel his heart feeling a little relieved.
'It's nothing much to deal with someone like him. '
If the player involved in the incident was too strong or was a part of a big faction, it would have been troublesome. However, Kim Woo-jin was a player who had nothing to do with any of that.
'No one would complain if a stray dog dies. '
To Park Je-soon, Kim Woo-jin was a stray dog with no talent, no background, and no faction. He already thought of a scenario to deal with a stray dog like him.
'My level is 19. If I invite him to my party as a token of appreciation for bringing Jeon Yong-kyu's will, he will wag his tail like a dog. '
Park Je-soon wanted to take care of him inside a dungeon by inviting him to his party as if he were showing favor to Kim Woo-jin.
'I need to choose a dungeon. Okay, let's do this thoroughly. I will take care of him inside an illegal dungeon that the guild does not bid on. '
Park Je-soon once again examined his scenario and stole a look at Jeon Yong-kyu's longsword on the table.
Knock, knock!
At that moment, someone knocked on his door.
"I'm here to pick up an item. May I come in?"
Park Je-soon spoke with rejoice.
"Come in, come in!"
A man put his head forward after opening a door.
"My name is Kim Woo-jin."
"I'm Park Je-soon."
It was the moment the beggar bit the bait.
| ← Ch. 015 | Ch. 017 → |