Chapter 151 – Na Dong-pal

As the noisy outside became quiet, Hyun Su-a poked her head out through the show window.

‘The monsters are gone?’

There were no signs of monsters in the chaotic Hongdae Street.

‘What’s going on? He couldn’t have defeated them all already……’

It had been only 5 minutes since Min Do-jun disappeared.

She didn’t think he could have defeated nearly 100 lizards in that time.

That’s when it happened.

“Su-a ssi.”

“Aah!”

Min Do-jun appeared out of thin air, and Hyun Su-a was genuinely startled.

“I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“Ahaha, it’s nothing. But seeing you back so soon, I guess my help wasn’t nee……”

“There’s something I wanted to ask. Did you happen to defeat one rock lizard before I arrived?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. But how did you know?”

“I counted how many I killed, and it was 99. I couldn’t find the last one, so I wondered if you might have killed it.”

“Ah……”

Hyun Su-a had a slightly dumbfounded expression.

‘He killed 99 of them in just 5 minutes?’

The man before her was far stronger than she had anticipated.

‘Just how strong has he become?’

In fact, just from the articles about him solo-killing an S-rank boss, she could have guessed how strong Min Do-jun was, but since she had been constantly entering dungeons, she hadn’t had time to read the news.

“Anyway, now that I’ve confirmed all 100 have been killed, I’ll be going now.”

“What? Bu-but how can you leave so soon?”

At those words, Min Do-jun looked at her with a strange gaze.

“My business is done, so I’m leaving. Is there a reason I shouldn’t go?”

“Ah, well, if that’s the case, you should go.”

She wanted to spend more time with Min Do-jun whom she hadn’t seen in a long time, but she had no justification to keep him there.

“It was nice seeing you after so long. Well then, goodbye.”

“Ah, I……”

Min Do-jun disappeared into the alley as if escaping.

It was a speed that even Hyun Su-a, a B-rank hunter, would find difficult to follow.

“I should have asked for his phone number……”

As she stared at the alley where he had disappeared with a sense of regret, she heard murmuring voices.

Three men, each holding weapons, were running toward her.

They seemed to be government hunters who had been urgently dispatched.

Seeing her hunter attire, the men approached Hyun Su-a.

“We’re government hunters from the Mapo branch. Were you at the scene?”

“Yes.”

“We received reports of monsters appearing, but where are……”

“They’re gone.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean gone?”

“They’ve all been dealt with already.”

At those words, the government hunters looked at Hyun Su-a with surprised eyes.

“Did you handle them yourself?”

“No. I only killed one. The rest were taken care of by another hunter.”

“Are you saying one person dealt with them all?”

When Hyun Su-a nodded, the hunters were surprised once again.

“Who was it?”

Hyun Su-a thought about Min Do-jun’s situation for a moment.

‘Judging by how he left as if escaping, he probably doesn’t want to be known.’

She looked at the alley where Min Do-jun had entered and said:

“I don’t know who it was.”

* * *

[Breaking News! A-rank Dungeon Break in Hongdae Street!]

[21 deaths. Experts say the number is lower than expected. Could have been hundreds of casualties……]

[Mapo branch. Arrived 10 minutes late despite reports. CCTV shows them calmly eating before departing.]

[Netizens criticize the delayed response……]

[Mapo Center Director says, “We take full responsibility.” Disciplinary action decided for 3 government hunters.]

[While the Mapo branch was eating, someone in Hongdae Street prevented the dungeon break!]

[Essentially, one person stopped the dungeon break.]

[Who is the hero who single-handedly stopped the monsters?]

[Breaking News! The hero who prevented the Hongdae dungeon break is Hunter Min Do-jun from the Guardian Guild.]

[A record-breaking hunter who recently solo-killed an S-rank dungeon boss. Also has experience preventing a dungeon break a year ago……]

[Video of Hongdae Street uploaded to YouTube. Link attached.]

Clicking the link showed a video uploaded by YouTuber Yuji.

-People are dying, one after another. The monsters are chasing and massacring indiscriminately, but…

Though the brutal scenes were censored with mosaics and couldn’t be seen, the screams of people revealed how horrific the situation was.

-The, the monsters are moving somewhere. Since I’ve taken on the role of broadcaster, I’ll continue to report where these creatures are going.

Following the monsters, the highlight of the video showed Min Do-jun’s massacre scene.

The scenes of him killing ten monsters at once with Magnum Burst and mercilessly cutting them down with his ghost sword were captured in the video.

The reactions of people who watched the video were explosive.

└This is insane.

└The lizards don’t stand a chance.

└He’s so strong. For real.

└Wow, he doesn’t even get hit once.

└The way he narrowly avoids attacks is art.

└Min Do-jun Hunter writing a legend alone ㄷㄷ

└So this is what they mean by “one man army.”

└I heard from a hunter friend that Min Do-jun Hunter is level 2,200. Is that true?

└Why are you asking us?

└That doesn’t look like level 2,200 movement.

└ㅋㅋㅋ Acting like you know how hunters fight when you’ve never seen it.

└But what skill is that, killing them all in one hit? Is it an ultimate move?

└That’s Magnum Burst, a Magic Swordsman area skill. It’s powerful if you have high weapon attack and magic power. If someone with low magic uses it, it’s weak.

└So how strong do you have to be for it to one-shot like that?

└Idk. Anyway, rock lizards are among the weakest of A-rank monsters.

└Still, it can’t be easy to one-shot them like that, right?

└Let’s stop debating and just conclude that he’s insanely strong.

└Yeah, it’s not that the skill is strong, it’s just that Hunter Min Do-jun is strong.

└Hunter Min Do-jun, I love you!

└Oppa, take me, waaah ㅠㅠ

“What a mess.”

A man watching the comments clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The face of the man who turned off the video and looked away from his phone was filled with dissatisfaction.

“What the hell was the old man doing while I was in the dungeon?”

The man’s name was Na Dong-pal.

An A-rank hunter at level 1,700, he was managing an unregistered dungeon with Pet Master Kim Byung-soo.

“I told him so clearly that he needed to reset the dungeon before 8 PM to prevent a dungeon break…!”

The entire country was in an uproar over the dungeon break that occurred in Hongdae Street last night.

Na Dong-pal only found out belatedly by watching TV.

That the dungeon break being discussed in various media was the unregistered dungeon he and the old man had been managing….

“Judging by the time and location of the dungeon break, it’s definitely our dungeon.”

A year ago, the Rock Lizard dungeon found by chance in a park near Hongdae Street presented an opportunity for Na Dong-pal.

An opportunity to level up rapidly.

An opportunity to get ahead of others.

The advantages of a personal dungeon are too numerous to list.

Only a fool would report it instead of using it personally.

After milking it dry, one could report it as if just discovered and even receive a reward for disposal.

It was truly a gold mine with no downsides.

However, Na Dong-pal, who didn’t meet the entry level requirement at the time of discovery, couldn’t do anything.

In other words, he was in a situation where he could lose the dungeon despite knowing about it.

So he decided.

To ask for help from Kim Byung-soo, with whom he had formed a party before.

‘If I hadn’t asked the old man for help then, I wouldn’t have been able to use the dungeon until now.’

They had maintained it well without causing a dungeon break until now, but…

“Why did it have to break now……”

He had thought it might accidentally break someday, but he never imagined that day would be yesterday.

“And where is the old man, not even answering calls?”

He had tried contacting his accomplice Kim Byung-soo, but there was no response.

“Causing a dungeon break without saying a word, really….. Just wait until I see him. I’ll destroy all his summons, Byung-hoon, Ye-seul, all of them……”

Na Dong-pal, who had been expressing his dissatisfaction, suddenly stopped speaking and looked around.

TV, sofa, dining table, etc.

The familiar scenery of his home somehow felt strange.

‘Why do I feel so… uneasy?’

The empty house.

The tightly locked front door.

The house that should feel safe only felt unsettling.

He had a bad feeling.

‘I need to escape.’

An alarm went off in his head.

From his past experiences and his characteristic, he knew.

That if he didn’t escape now, he would die.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Someone had breached the wall and invaded the house.

Na Dong-pal equipped his hunter gear before even confirming the intruder’s face.

Tseut- Tak!

But before he could grasp his weapon, the intruder grabbed his wrist.

Crunch-

“Aaaaargh!”

His wrist crumpled like paper and ceased to function.

“Na Dong-pal, right?”

“N-no. Y-you’ve got the wrong person!”

The intruder grabbed his other wrist and broke it too.

Crack-

“Khu-khuaaaa!”

“You’re too loud. The neighbors might come.”

The intruder, Min Do-jun, who had invaded the house riding the ghost wolf, grabbed Na Dong-pal’s Adam’s apple.

“Kuhuck!”

“I can see your name clearly. Level 1,700, Na Dong-pal. The one who exchanged texts with Kim Byung-soo.”

“Kuhuck, kuhuck!”

Na Dong-pal couldn’t respond.

Partly because the other person was gripping his Adam’s apple, but even without that, he couldn’t say anything due to fear.

‘I’m, I’m going to die.’

If the other person applied just a bit more force, his Adam’s apple would be torn out, and he would die in agony.

He could tell even without his characteristic.

“I’ll let go of your hand, so answer my questions calmly. Otherwise, I’ll kill you painfully.”

“……”

After releasing his grip on the Adam’s apple, Na Dong-pal remained obedient.

He had realized that resistance was futile given the difference in skill.

Trembling as he waited for questions, Na Dong-pal looked at the intruder’s face and was inwardly surprised.

‘Th-that’s the hunter I just saw in the video!’

Why would the one who prevented the dungeon break invade his home and threaten him?

There was no point in questioning it.

He could only wait for mercy.

“You know about the dungeon break in Hongdae yesterday, right?”

“Yes……”

“That was the unregistered dungeon you and Kim Byung-soo were using, correct?”

“Y-yes, it was.”

He didn’t know how the intruder had discovered his relationship with the old man, but that wasn’t important.

‘I need to answer honestly and appear as submissive as possible.’

That was the only way to survive in front of a stronger person.

“Were you two the only ones managing it?”

“Yes……”

“Are there any other dungeons?”

“No.”

“The dungeon break occurred because you and Kim Byung-soo were negligent in management. Do you admit that?”

“I-I admit it.”

“Because of you, citizens were endangered, and if things had gone wrong, there could have been hundreds of casualties. Do you admit that?”

“O-of course. I admit it.”

“Then you have nothing to say even if I kill you now. Do you admit that?”

“……”

Na Dong-pal couldn’t answer.

He feared that if he answered, the intruder would really kill him.

“I, I……”

“No need to answer.”

Shunk-

Min Do-jun’s sword, which he had drawn out of nowhere, pierced Na Dong-pal’s heart.

“I was going to kill you regardless of what you said.”