Chapter 190 – Gaining Recognition

Slash!

Seoguk!

Min Do-jun mercilessly slaughtered his prey.

Whether werewolves or vampire hounds, none could withstand even five seconds before Min Do-jun.

‘This level of skill should be convincing enough.’

There was no need to tediously explain how he had defeated the boss.

He could simply persuade the party members by demonstrating his abilities.

Fortunately, the effect was remarkable.

‘Were werewolves always this weak?’

‘He’s completely toying with them…’

‘Never thought I’d live to see the day when I felt sorry for monsters…’

Just ten minutes ago, these party members had been looking at him with suspicious eyes, but now none of them questioned Min Do-jun’s abilities.

‘With that level of skill, he could easily solo a named boss and have power to spare.’

‘So the rumors about him solo-killing a boss weren’t false after all.’

‘It seems the claim that even the entire party together couldn’t defeat him was true…’

Even to the S-rank party members, Min Do-jun’s strength and speed were jaw-dropping.

And for good reason—Min Do-jun’s strength and agility under the Battle Avatar buff exceeded 4,700 and 6,400 respectively.

These were figures the party members, whose highest stats barely reached 3,000, couldn’t even imagine.

“M-Min Do-jun Hunter.”

“Yes?”

“I think that’s enough now.”

“Do you believe me now?”

“Of course.”

Gilbert and the other party members nodded.

“So now, could we also hunt a bit…”

Min Do-jun smiled at the party members who were looking at him with pleading eyes.

‘Well, they haven’t gained any significant experience points despite half a day passing.’

The party members, who had already wasted time transformed into beast-like creatures, naturally craved some hunting.

“Alright. You didn’t come here just to watch, after all.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“In that spirit, I’ll step aside.”

“What? What do you mean by stepping aside?”

“I mean I’ll go solo hunting. That would be better for all of you.”

However, the party members’ expressions weren’t pleased.

They were worried that Min Do-jun might sweep up all the monsters in the dungeon by himself.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go in the opposite direction from all of you.”

“Ah, well in that case…”

The party members breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived.

“Oh, by the way. Don’t enter the castle.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because I already cleared it out when I defeated the boss and left. Even if you go in, there won’t be anything left.”

“…”

It wasn’t an exaggeration.

The enhanced Howling of the ghost wolf had been enough to gather all the monsters in the castle.

* * *

[Conquest successful!]

[Dungeon break time has been reset to 480 hours!]

[You will return to the original world shortly.]

With these messages, the party members exited the dungeon and finally met Min Do-jun again.

“Min Do-jun Hunter, did your hunting go well?”

“Yes.”

By hunting in different directions, everyone had been able to kill a satisfactory number of monsters.

‘They’re happy because I didn’t steal their monsters, and I’m happy because I could solo hunt.’

It was a win-win situation for everyone.

The party members, who had exited the dungeon after two days, stretched as they breathed in the outside air.

Then they suddenly realized something important and looked at each other.

“No one from our team died, right?”

“N-now that you mention it…”

“No one… no one died.”

In a dungeon where one out of ten people was said to die, everyone had survived.

Just as Min Do-jun had said, the curse of the Russian dungeon had been lifted.

All eyes turned to Min Do-jun.

No matter what anyone said, the primary credit for lifting the curse went to Min Do-jun, who had defeated the boss.

“Min Do-jun Hunter.”

Gilbert approached and extended his hand.

As they shook hands, Gilbert gave him a warm smile.

“Thanks to you, we were able to conquer the dungeon without a single casualty. Thank you so much.”

Gilbert’s words of gratitude were sincere.

As a tanker, he had hoped that no one would die.

“It was nothing.”

“If there’s ever an opportunity, I’d like to meet you again. It’s reassuring to party with someone as strong as you.”

“Yes. I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.”

As Gilbert stepped back with a smile, someone else abruptly extended their hand.

It was Theodore.

“Thank you again for saving me when I was possessed.”

“I only did what needed to be done, that’s all.”

“I’ll make sure to tell our guild master about your skills.”

“Just tell him what you witnessed.”

Theodore grinned, then waved goodbye, saying he’d see him next time.

As Min Do-jun waved back and was about to leave, the other party members approached one by one.

“Hunter Min Do-jun, I apologize for doubting your abilities. And thank you. Thanks to you, I can see my family again.”

“Thank you for saving us. I might have lived as a beast forever.”

“I apologize for criticizing you for being Asian. I was mistaken.”

“You’re the strongest hunter I’ve ever met. It was an honor to meet you.”

A parade of handshakes followed.

Each expressed gratitude and apologized for their previous thoughtless behavior.

Min Do-jun, who hadn’t taken any of it to heart, smiled and accepted their apologies.

Having finished their business, the party members dispersed.

Min Do-jun also packed his belongings and prepared to head to the airport.

“Are you going to Domodedovo Airport?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride.”

Thanks to a party member who had brought a car, there was no need to call a taxi.

Before getting in the car, Min Do-jun glanced at the dungeon entrance.

‘There won’t be any more deaths in Russia now.’

Well, there might be, but at least none caused by Bathory.

Min Do-jun got into the car with a satisfied expression.

It had been a productive two days in many ways.

* * *

The first person to hear the news about the Russian dungeon was Adam Bishop, the Overlord Guild master.

Theodore had called him as soon as the party disbanded.

“So the reason one person died out of ten was because of a named boss?”

-That’s right, Guild Master. According to Hunter Min Do-jun, it was the work of a named boss trying to capture and eat humans.

“Hunter Min Do-jun told you this?”

-Yes. Since he was the one who defeated the named boss and resolved the situation.

“Wait a minute. He defeated a named boss? Hunter Min Do-jun?”

-Yes. And he did it alone.

Adam couldn’t help but be surprised.

Named bosses were even harder to defeat than regular bosses, and he had done it without anyone’s help.

“So, how was Hunter Min Do-jun’s skill that you witnessed firsthand? Is he worth the 400 billion we offered?”

-No.

Adam looked surprised at Theodore’s denial.

Despite defeating a named boss, he wasn’t worth 400 billion?

But his words weren’t finished.

-400 billion isn’t enough.

“Not enough?”

-I’m not in a position to dictate terms, but… if it were up to me, I would have offered 600 billion. He’s a hunter worth that much, even if you increase the amount.

600 billion?

That was three times what Justin Walker was worth.

“Aren’t you overvaluing him just because he defeated a named boss?”

-That might be the case, but in my opinion, Hunter Min Do-jun’s abilities seem to go beyond what we’ve seen. Of course, this is just my personal view, so you don’t have to take it seriously.

After saying all that, he tells him not to take it seriously?

“Hmm… I understand. Good work.”

After hanging up, Adam rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.

‘600 billion…’

In truth, Adam had been underestimating Hunter Min Do-jun’s abilities.

He had offered 400 billion, but after saying it out loud, he thought it might be too high.

‘I thought I could at least break even with his Tower of Infinity title, but…’

To think he should add another 200 billion to bring him in?

‘Is he really that strong? Strong enough to be worth three times what Justin Walker is?’

The skill verification had originally been ordered with the intention of lowering the 400 billion offer.

But Hunter Min Do-jun’s value turned out to be even higher.

‘Even so, 600 billion is too much.’

He had no intention of raising the contract fee.

But he didn’t plan to lower it either.

‘I’ll stick with the originally offered 400 billion.’

After hearing the figure of 600 billion, somehow 400 billion seemed reasonable.

‘Since they said they’d put it on hold first, I’ll wait for now.’

Saying “on hold” rather than “reject” meant they weren’t entirely opposed to joining.

‘They’ll contact us when the time is right.’

Other competing guilds might try to poach Hunter Min Do-jun, but Adam wasn’t worried.

After all, only the Overlord Guild could offer a sum of 400 billion.

‘Hunter Min Do-jun… let’s see what happens.’

This was the moment Adam firmly imprinted Min Do-jun’s existence in his mind.

* * *

Right after Min Do-jun conquered the Russian dungeon, all of Russia was abuzz.

His team had been the first to break the curse of Vampire’s Night and achieve a full survival outcome.

“The curse has finally been lifted!”

“The Russian dungeon is safe now!”

While people happily accepted this news…

“It’s just a coincidence! The curse couldn’t have been lifted!”

There were also dissenting opinions.

Of course, such reactions disappeared as time passed.

This was because the next team sent in also had no casualties.

Nor did the one after that. Or the one after that.

[Three teams attempt conquest over ten days, all survive!]

[The curse is over! Russia’s Vampire’s Night is now safe!]

[The team that contributed to breaking the curse was Gilbert’s team, the first to survive.]

[Gilbert says, “Our team didn’t do anything special. The full survival was thanks to Korea’s Hunter Min Do-jun.”]

[The curse was lifted because Hunter Min Do-jun defeated the named boss.]

[Who is Hunter Min Do-jun, who contributed to resolving the incident?]

Through the flood of articles, the Russian people learned the truth.

The deaths weren’t due to a curse but because a named boss had been residing there, and the person who noticed and resolved this was a Korean hunter named Min Do-jun.

* * *

‘Magnum Burst.’

Kwakwakwakwang!

The wind that spread from the tip of his sword swept away the tree elementals.

[Experience +165,000]

[Experience +165,000]

[Experience +165,000]

……

…

It had been over ten days since Min Do-jun conquered Vampire’s Night.

During that time, he had been continuously conquering Shin Kyung-min’s personal dungeon, resulting in his level reaching 2,950.

‘Not much left until level 3,000.’

After conquering this Spirit Forest and about four more conquests, he would reach the ranks of S-grade.

‘I’ve really come to the brink.’

He was already strong, but becoming S-grade would make him unimaginably powerful.

‘Being able to equip three Legendary items, and having all skills and items upgraded to S-grade.’

Min Do-jun’s current combat power was 1.5 million.

He had long surpassed the strength he had in his past life when he was ranked first.

And now he was about to become even stronger by reaching S-grade?

He couldn’t even imagine how much his combat power would increase.

‘I might even surpass Justin Walker.’

With dozens of characteristics, it would be a lie to say he lacked confidence.

He was certain that once he reached S-grade, he would have the power to defeat even the world’s number one ranked hunter.

‘Awoo, let’s herd them one more time.’

[Woof woof!]

Min Do-jun, intensifying his hunting, continued to eliminate the bizarre tree elementals.

In the midst of this, he received some good news.