Chapter 260 – The Year 2030

“When you get out into society, I hope you live diligently and we never see each other again.”

“Of course. Don’t worry.”

Han Tae-gyu let the warden’s words go in one ear and out the other as he walked out of the prison.

“Kaak~ Ptui!”

He spat out phlegm and spread both arms wide, breathing in the surrounding air to his heart’s content.

“Ahh, yes. This is exactly the taste. The air itself is different from prison.”

After spending five years confined only in a stuffy cell.

Han Tae-gyu, who had stepped foot into the outside world, burst into uncontrollable laughter from joy.

“Kuk kuk kuk! Hahahahaha!”

Though no one had come to greet him, Han Tae-gyu was happier than ever.

“Finally… finally I can get my revenge. Kuk kuk kuk!”

Rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend.

He had been sentenced to five years in prison, but he wasn’t showing even a trace of remorse.

Only revenge.

For the past five years in his cell, all he had thought about was revenge against the bereaved family who wouldn’t agree to a settlement.

“If they had agreed to a settlement back then, I wouldn’t have rotted for five whole years like this, damn it…”

The faces of his girlfriend’s parents, who had taken a hard stance saying there would be no settlement, still lingered before his eyes.

“Damn it. I once thought of them as my future father-in-law and mother-in-law, but they stab me in the back like this?”

Han Tae-gyu didn’t care about what he had done.

He only thought about the damage he had suffered and felt wronged.

“It was good when you wouldn’t settle and threw me in prison, wasn’t it? Damn it, now let’s see whose turn it is to suffer.”

He knew where the bereaved family lived since he had visited to pay his respects during his dating days.

“Even if they moved, it’s useless. I’ll use a detective agency to find them and kill them, then go back to prison.”

Giggling as he dreamed of the moment of revenge, Han Tae-gyu suddenly stopped walking.

Because a person had suddenly appeared before his eyes out of nowhere.

“Ah, damn it, you scared me!”

“Not even a fingernail’s worth of remorse can be seen.”

“What are you! Who… huh?”

Han Tae-gyu squinted his eyes and examined the man’s appearance.

“You’re… Hunter Min Do-jun?”

“Even a bastard who was in prison knows my name?”

“What? Bastard?”

At the insulting language, Han Tae-gyu frowned and approached.

“This young punk…”

And he threw a surprise punch.

However.

Thwack-

His devastating blow was blocked by just one finger.

“Getting violent just from being cursed at once… What an amazing bastard.”

“…”

Han Tae-gyu hesitated and stepped back.

He knew he was a hunter, but he never expected to be blocked by just one finger.

‘Damn it, I should have met a hunter before to know. Were these such ridiculous monsters?’

Toward the flustered man, Min Do-jun spoke with cold eyes.

“You didn’t even apologize to the bereaved family, did you?”

“Damn it, so what!”

“Apologize.”

Min Do-jun’s eyes turned purple.

“Go to the bereaved family and kneel down, shed tears, and apologize. If tears don’t come, stab your eyes to make them come.”

“I understand.”

“While asking for forgiveness, also hand over an envelope of money. I don’t know if it will be comforting, but give all your assets to the bereaved family.”

“I will do so.”

“After you’ve carried out all the orders, finally kill yourself. Trash like you would only cause more trouble if you existed in society, so it’s better if you don’t exist.”

“I will do as you command.”

Toward Han Tae-gyu who was turning around, Min Do-jun added.

“Oh right, when you kill yourself, do it quietly in a place where there are no people. It would be a nuisance to show your dirty appearance unnecessarily.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Han Tae-gyu nodded and walked away nonchalantly.

To carry out the orders Min Do-jun had given him.

“With this, I’ve cleaned up another piece of trash.”

Min Do-jun, who had been muttering, hid his body with invisibility before anyone could see.

He didn’t know how many times he had made criminals who were being released commit suicide like this.

‘The work I started as a hobby eight years ago has become a habit.’

2022.

After killing Adam, the mastermind behind the coup, and peace had arrived.

Min Do-jun thought.

How he could make good use of the newly acquired mind control ability.

‘That’s when I thought of killing criminals who were being released.’

Criminals who had committed murder had a high probability of committing crimes again even after being released.

‘In that case, it’s better to kill them.’

It was like volunteer work, cleaning up trash thrown on the streets, but he started with a joyful heart.

‘I have to clean up the trash so Ye-rin can live in a clean environment.’

There was no need to dirty his own hands. He just had to order them to commit suicide.

‘As long as they’ve committed murder, mind control is unavoidable.’

The same was true for the Black Sea Guild members.

‘The 14 Black Sea Guild members I’ve been using are now gone.’

He had mind-controlled them all and then killed them with his own hands.

‘It would be a waste to throw away 14 traits.’

With this, Min Do-jun’s traits reached 130.

That was already eight years ago.

‘The number of traits hasn’t increased from eight years ago until now.’

That meant he hadn’t killed a single hunter in eight years.

‘There’s no one left to kill. Not anymore.’

If he had to find someone to kill, there were the James and David brothers.

But it was too valuable to kill the twin brothers. They were the only subordinates who could use teleport.

So he kept them alive.

As a result, the twin brothers had been used as transportation under Min Do-jun’s mind control for eight years.

Just like right now.

“Min Do-jun-nim. Did you handle the matter well?”

David, who had been waiting at the designated location, approached while hidden.

Of course, he was clearly visible to Min Do-jun’s eyes, whose combat power was overwhelmingly higher.

“Yes. Was there any trouble while I was handling business?”

“No. Not even a mouse passed by.”

“I see. Let’s go now.”

“Yes.”

David, who placed his hand on his master’s shoulder, used teleport.

* * *

Swoosh-

In the blink of an eye, the location changed.

“Min Do-jun-nim, have you arrived?”

James bowed his head to his master.

“Were you guarding well?”

“Yes.”

“No suspicious people were lurking around?”

“Of course. Not even an ant came near Min Do-jun-nim’s house.”

He knew.

Whenever he had time, he had been watching the situation through Parasite placed on the twin brothers.

“Good, well done. Now both of you return to your positions.”

“Yes.”

Min Do-jun, who spoke indifferently as if dealing with guard dogs, opened the door of the country house.

Meanwhile, the twin brothers disappeared using stealth before anyone could see.

As always, they would be hiding nearby, monitoring whether any suspicious people approached.

Click-

Passing through the yard and opening the front door, a delicious smell came from the kitchen.

Thump thump thump thump thump-

Feeling relieved at the sound of chopping on a cutting board, Min Do-jun headed to the kitchen.

“Oppa, you’re home?”

Cha Ye-rin, wearing an apron, greeted Min Do-jun with a bright smile.

“Are you preparing dinner?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s on the menu today?”

“Soybean paste stew that oppa likes.”

Min Do-jun smiled and gave a thumbs up.

“Our Ye-rin is the best.”

“Hehe, while I’m preparing dinner, go wash up and rest quickly.”

Looking at Cha Ye-rin turning her head and chopping on the cutting board again, Min Do-jun felt irresistible loveliness.

Hug-

“Ah, what?”

“Just a moment… just stay like this for a moment.”

At the sudden back hug, Cha Ye-rin was flustered but then giggled.

“Oppa really…”

Cha Ye-rin didn’t move from Min Do-jun’s embrace for a while. She wanted to fully enjoy her oppa’s love.

Min Do-jun’s face was also full of smiles.

‘This is happiness.’

Eight years ago.

After Adam’s death, peaceful days had continued.

Even dungeon breaks that might happen once in a while were completely silent.

‘I thought there might be dungeon breaks due to history being twisted, but it was just worry.’

The personal dungeon that Shin Kyung-min discovered was reported to the government after consultation together.

The same was true for the personal dungeon that the Black Sea Guild had.

‘Rather than keeping it and having a dungeon break occur, it’s better to register it as an official dungeon.’

It wasn’t for the safety of citizens. Everything was for Cha Ye-rin’s safety.

‘Now there are no more elements that could threaten Ye-rin.’

Min Do-jun looked at Cha Ye-rin’s face with loving eyes.

‘She looks exactly the same as before regression.’

The two people, who had been in a manager and guild master relationship, somehow ended up dating.

As if by fate, they were drawn to each other and met again.

‘When I heard later, she said she already had feelings for me.’

Probably when he saved her life and revived Cha Seung-hoon, he scored points.

“Oppa, what are you looking at so intently? It’s embarrassing…”

“Just because I like you.”

“I have to prepare dinner now.”

“Okay. I won’t interfere.”

“Later… later when you have time, hug me again.”

Her shy appearance was so cute that Min Do-jun grinned.

“Okay.”

Even though they had been dating for six years, he felt the same excitement as in the early days of their relationship.

‘This is Ye-rin’s charm. She never gets boring.’

Even combining the period they dated before regression, it should be enough to get tired of, but in Min Do-jun’s eyes, he could only see Cha Ye-rin.

Other women didn’t catch his eye at all.

‘That’s why we’re even living together with marriage in mind.’

Thinking he should propose soon, he went upstairs to wash.

‘Come to think of it, today is exactly the 10th anniversary of my regression.’

In his previous life, around this time, their happiness had been shattered by the coup.

‘But not in this life.’

Eight years had passed since Adam’s death, and there hadn’t been any signs of a coup.

‘There are no more masterminds.’

He would know after today passed, but his intuition was telling him.

That he had perfectly prevented the coup.

That now he could draw a future with Cha Ye-rin that he couldn’t in his previous life.

Rustle rustle rustle-

After drying his hair and lying on the bed to rest for three hours.

“Oppa, dinner!”

At Cha Ye-rin’s call, he went down to the kitchen and smelled delicious aromas.

On the table, not only the soybean paste stew that Min Do-jun liked, but also galbi, japchae, rolled omelet, and a 12-dish spread was prepared.

“Why did you make so much food? It’s not even my birthday.”

“Oppa, today is the day you’re supposed to enter a dungeon with guild members. Eat and gain strength.”

Min Do-jun had been neglecting dungeon conquests lately.

It was partly because he had already reached world rank 1, but the biggest reason was that it was boring.

‘There should be dungeons that match my level for hunting to be fun.’

Having already hunted monsters to the point of boredom, he only entered dungeons once a week at most.

Still, he regularly formed parties with guild members once a year.

Today was that day.

“Thank you. I’ll eat and gain strength.”

“Yeah, hehe.”

After finishing a delicious meal with Cha Ye-rin, Min Do-jun spent time watching the news before preparing to go out.

To attend the guild member gathering scheduled for dawn.

“I’ll be back.”

Cha Ye-rin hugged Min Do-jun tightly from behind.

“You have to come back safely.”

“Don’t worry. For me, it’s as easy as taking a walk around the neighborhood.”

Feeling Cha Ye-rin’s warmth, Min Do-jun left the house.

“David, James.”

“Yes, Min Do-jun-nim.”

“Did you call for us?”

“Guard the house well.”

“Don’t worry.”

“We won’t let anyone get near Cha Ye-rin-nim.”

Min Do-jun nodded and headed to the gathering place, leaving the twin brothers behind.

‘They’ll guard well while I’m in the dungeon.’

If by any chance the mind control was lifted, Cha Ye-rin could be in danger instead, but that had never happened once in the past eight years.

‘If such a thing happens, I can just cause pain through Parasite. There’s nothing to worry about.’

Min Do-jun, who had erased his worries, rode the Ghost Wolf and flew through the night sky.

* * *

There are four S-rank dungeons in South Korea.

The first dungeon was created when Shin Kyung-min first reached S-rank, and its difficulty was low.

The second dungeon that was created was also a relatively weak dungeon called Shadow of the Desert.

But from the third one, it was different.

The third was the Castle of Absolute Darkness with a recommended level of 4,000.

Finally, the fourth dungeon was the [Dragon’s Nest], known to require over level 5,000 to conquer.

A dungeon rumored to have the highest difficulty among S-ranks!

However, among the four hunters gathered to enter that place now, all except one were below level 5,000.

“C-can I really join the party?”

Hwang Da-yeon, who had the lowest level among party members at 3,560, spoke cautiously.

“Even if it’s a guild member gathering, entering at my level seems like a burden…”

“Hey, if you say that, what does that make me?”

“Su-ah, you’re higher level than me.”

“That’s only a 300-level difference from you.”

“Still, you’re close to level 4,000. It feels completely different from me in the 3,500s.”

“At least you have a trait that helps party members. I don’t.”

“Why? You can tank for party members when they’re in danger with your shield.”

“Are you kidding? That’s only once, how can I tank?”

“Stop, stop.”

Jeong Hye-won, who couldn’t stand the bickering, said a word.

“Even I, who’s level 4,900, am staying quiet, so what are you all doing?”

“Unnie, you’re close to level 5,000.”

“Even so, being below level 5,000 means I don’t qualify to enter, just like you all. So everyone just quietly ride Shin Kyung-min’s bus.”

“My bus? Wasn’t this supposed to be the guild master’s bus?”

“The guild master said he’s just going to watch.”

“Ah…”

Shin Kyung-min grabbed the back of his neck as if he didn’t know.

“Why? Don’t you have confidence? Even though your level is higher than ours.”

At Jeong Hye-won’s words, Shin Kyung-min became serious.

“Me? Is level 6,200 high?”

“If you’re world rank 2, that’s high. Is that low?”

“Don’t even mention that in front of the guild master.”

That’s when it happened.

When Min Do-jun appeared.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah… Guild Master.”

Shin Kyung-min brightened up but then drooped weakly.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“It’s okay. What did you say? I’ll tolerate everything except curses.”

“It’s nothing much, but Hunter Jeong Hye-won is teasing me. Saying my level is high.”

“Shin Kyung-min’s level is certainly high enough.”

“Even so, in front of the Guild Master, it’s not even worth presenting a business card.”

It wasn’t flattery.

Min Do-jun’s level was none other than 9,998.