Chapter 237 – Disappeared?

Min Do-jun had anticipated this.

If Justin Walker was planning something, now that all the hunters were gathered, this was the perfect time to act.

That’s why he kept his guard up, focusing on Presence Detection.

There was always the possibility that a third party might appear.

‘But someone really did show up.’

Presence Detection caught someone emerging from behind a tree.

No, the person probably didn’t think he had revealed himself.

He was still using stealth.

‘To show up cloaked in stealth right as the hunters are gathered?’

Anyone would find that suspicious.

“Hunter? What’s wrong? Is there something in the woods?”

“It’s nothing.”

At Jeong Hye-won’s question, Min Do-jun quickly averted his gaze from the man.

‘I can’t let him sense that I can see through his stealth.’

In truth, Min Do-jun could see the man approaching, but he pretended not to notice.

If he gave away that his combat power let him see through stealth, the man might run.

Fortunately, the man didn’t run.

On the contrary, he slowly approached, unaware that Min Do-jun was acting.

‘I don’t know what his purpose is. But…’

He’d know soon enough by watching what the man did.

‘Come a little closer. At least let me get your name.’

If the man took just a few more steps, he’d be within range of Weakness Detection.

Then Min Do-jun could at least get his personal information.

But then-

The man suddenly stopped, startled.

‘What? Why is he acting like that…?’

As Min Do-jun watched him out of the corner of his eye, he was soon surprised.

The man, who had been slowly backing away, suddenly turned and ran.

‘What? Did he see through my act?’

Watching the man sprint away in stealth, Min Do-jun hesitated.

Should he chase after him or not?

The hesitation didn’t last long.

“Wait here a moment. I’ll be right back.”

“Huh? Where are you-?”

Leaving the party members behind, Min Do-jun shot off after the man.

Right now, catching him was the top priority.

‘He might be someone hired by Justin Walker.’

Whether or not that was true, he had to catch and interrogate him.

Why had he shown up here?

‘He’s running at full speed-no way he came here with good intentions.’

He must have a guilty conscience if he’s fleeing like that.

‘I see him.’

Even though he started late, Min Do-jun soon spotted the man’s back.

That was only natural-Min Do-jun’s running speed was beyond imagination.

With the Fast Step trait (+15%), Hunting Dog trait (+20%), and Swift Mana Boots (+25%), his running speed was boosted by over 70%.

Add in his high strength, and there was no one in the world who could escape Min Do-jun’s pursuit.

Or so he thought-

‘What the…?’

The fleeing man suddenly grabbed the hand of someone waiting in the woods.

Swoosh-

They both vanished without a trace.

“What?”

Left standing dumbfounded, Min Do-jun felt like a dog staring up at a chicken on a roof.

“They disappeared?”

He couldn’t detect them by sight or Presence Detection.

In other words, they had vanished like ghosts.

‘Teleport?’

There was no other way to disappear so quickly.

‘If they used teleport after coming all the way here, the person waiting must have been a twin hunter.’

Teleport is exclusive to twin hunters, but if someone holds onto a twin, they can teleport together.

So, even if you’re not a twin, as long as you’re holding one, you can use teleport.

‘Damn. I missed him right in front of me.’

He never expected they’d have a twin hunter waiting to escape with teleport.

‘Who was he? I wish I’d at least gotten his name.’

He’d seen the man’s face as he approached in stealth earlier.

It was a face he’d never seen before.

‘A face I’d never seen in my previous or current life.’

With regret, Min Do-jun returned the way he came.

When he got back to the meeting point, one person was missing.

“Where’s Hye-won?”

“Huh? Now that you mention it…”

“Where did she go?”

The party members looked around, confused.

“Don’t joke around. Where did Jeong Hye-won go?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“She was just here a moment ago.”

“Yeah, but now she’s gone. I don’t know where she went.”

“That’s strange. When did she disappear?”

The party members weren’t lying.

Min Do-jun’s instincts told him so.

He asked again, but none of them knew where Jeong Hye-won had gone.

‘She disappeared the moment I took my eyes off her?’

Min Do-jun closed his eyes and sniffed the air.

With the Hunting Dog trait, he tried to track Jeong Hye-won’s scent.

‘The scent cuts off midway.’

Whether she shot up into the sky or sank into the ground, he couldn’t track her.

‘There’s only one explanation for this.’

She’d been moved by teleport.

There was no other possibility.

‘Did another twin hunter kidnap Jeong Hye-won?’

If someone approached in stealth and used teleport, it was possible to make someone vanish without anyone noticing.

‘It must have been a twin hunter with very high combat power.’

That’s the only way they could have spirited her away without any of the other hunters noticing.

‘Damn it, this happened while I was chasing that man…’

No doubt, the man he’d chased was involved.

‘Was I lured away on purpose? Just so they could kidnap Jeong Hye-won?’

She would never have disappeared without a word before a dungeon raid, so it was definitely a kidnapping.

‘But why only Jeong Hye-won? Why not the others?’

He didn’t know the details, but one thing was certain: someone had kidnapped her.

‘What now? I can’t even track her. This is driving me crazy.’

With teleport, there was nothing more he could do.

If only he’d memorized her scent, but who could have predicted this?

‘Even before my regression, I never heard of Jeong Hye-won being kidnapped…’

Maybe she just never told anyone.

Just like he’d never heard about Kang Hyuk-su’s advances before.

At that moment, someone appeared from the darkness.

It was an Association staff member.

“Sorry I’m late. I lost track of time… Is everyone here? Oh, one person is missing?”

“She was here just a moment ago, but now she’s gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean?”

The party explained that Jeong Hye-won had vanished.

“She didn’t say anything about leaving?”

“No. Maybe something urgent came up-she disappeared like a ghost.”

“She didn’t seem like the type to do that…”

“Let’s wait a bit longer.”

The party waited for Jeong Hye-won, but Min Do-jun already knew.

If she’d been kidnapped, waiting was pointless.

‘Still, I can’t let on that I know.’

They waited nearly an hour, but as expected, Jeong Hye-won didn’t return.

“She’s not answering her phone…”

“What could have happened…?”

Finally, the Association staff member spoke.

“This won’t do. We’ll have to mark Jeong Hye-won as absent and find another hunter.”

“Yeah, that’s probably best.”

“Please handle it quickly.”

“Yes, but who’s going to rush over for a raid at this hour…”

Min Do-jun cut in, sounding frustrated.

“Do we really need another person? We can just go in ourselves.”

“Huh? Just the three of you?”

The staff member and the lower-ranked hunters were surprised.

“Yes. I could clear this place alone, anyway.”

He wasn’t bragging.

Min Do-jun had already solo-cleared several level 4,000 dungeons.

“Check the records. I’ve soloed multiple 4,000-level dungeons.”

The staff checked on a tablet.

“Y-you’re right…”

There were records of him clearing several overseas dungeons, as well as recent solo runs in dungeons Park Dong-yun had found.

“Then we’ll proceed with just the three of you, without Jeong Hye-won.”

Min Do-jun nodded, though the other hunters still looked uneasy.

Jeong Hye-won had vouched for his strength, but now she was gone.

[Cheongnyangni Castle of Absolute Darkness Dungeon]

– Difficulty: S

– Party Limit: 4

– Entry Requirement: Level 3,000+

– Objective: Annihilate 3,000 Knights of Darkness

– Failure Penalty: 30% reduction to main stats (duration: 1 year)

– Time Limit: 72 hours

– Time until dungeon break: 438 hours 51 minutes 15 seconds

With no way to find Jeong Hye-won, Min Do-jun chose to focus on the dungeon raid.

‘There’s nothing I can do right now.’

He couldn’t use tracking skills, and there were no clues about who had taken her.

Not that he didn’t have a suspect in mind.

‘Justin Walker is the most likely. He’s the one who orchestrated this gathering.’

But right now, Justin Walker was inside the dungeon, and tracking him was impossible.

All Min Do-jun could do was hunt.

“Let’s go in.”

* * *

James, the famous S-rank twin hunter, was relaxing in his mansion.

Suddenly-

Swoosh-thud!

Two people appeared out of nowhere.

James didn’t look surprised.

In fact, he smiled as if he’d been waiting.

“You’re here, David?”

His twin brother David nodded, and James glanced at the man David was holding.

James bowed his head.

“Welcome, sir.”

But the man didn’t reply.

He just irritably shook off David’s hand.

“Let go.”

“Sorry.”

After David let go, the man walked away.

“I need to think. Don’t follow me.”

David hesitated, then stopped.

“Ah, understood.”

Once the man was gone, James looked puzzled.

“He doesn’t look happy, does he?”

“Yeah. It’s rare to see him like that…”

“Did something happen at the scene?”

David shook his head.

“I don’t know. I was just waiting in stealth to teleport. But there was one strange thing.”

“Strange?”

“Yeah. He came earlier than planned, running like he was being chased.”

“Was he really being chased?”

“I’m not sure. I was too busy teleporting to notice.”

“Hmm…”

They could have just asked the man, but now wasn’t the time.

“What about the Asian woman? Did you secure her?”

“I don’t know. The China team probably handled it.”

James nodded.

Those guys had even higher combat power than himself, so they’d probably succeeded.

It was an easy job anyway.

“But still…”

That wasn’t the real issue.

“I’ve never seen him in such a bad mood…”

The top American twin hunters watched the man warily.

* * *

‘Damn, I almost got caught.’

The man was both shaken and angry about what had just happened.

If not for teleport, he would have been caught by Min Do-jun.

‘If I hadn’t had David waiting, I would’ve been finished.’

He’d underestimated Min Do-jun.

‘How can anyone run that fast…’

But even more shocking was Min Do-jun’s combat power.

‘Over 8 million… for a human?’

He’d never seen a hunter that strong.

‘That’s several times stronger than Justin Walker, who’s at 3.25 million.’

His own combat power was 2.5 million, not low by any means, but compared to Min Do-jun, it was nothing.

‘That’s why he could sense my stealth and chase me down.’

He managed to secure the target, Jeong Hye-won, but the fact that his perfect plan nearly failed infuriated him.

‘I underestimated Min Do-jun. I thought he’d be below me, but he’s this strong…’

That mistake nearly ruined everything.

‘I’ll have to be careful with Min Do-jun from now on.’

For the first time, a sense of caution entered his eyes.

But at the same time, he felt a thrill.

If he could control a monster like that, a coup would be child’s play.