Chapter 158 – Business Partner and Accomplice

“Shin Kyung-min has a personal dungeon?”

Min Do-jun was momentarily stunned by this unexpected information.

After all, personal dungeons weren’t exactly legal.

‘It’s called a personal dungeon, but it’s essentially an unregistered dungeon. Secretly owning an unregistered dungeon is punishable by law.’

Yet Shin Kyung-min casually revealed his illegal activity as if it were a mere secret.

‘Does this mean he trusts me that much?’

To think he would expose his carefully hidden flaw just because Min Do-jun saved his sister’s life.

“Kyung-min…”

“I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why I’m telling you about an illegal personal dungeon, right?”

“Yes.”

“I have no ulterior motives. I simply thought about what might be helpful to you, Hunter, and this came to mind. I’m telling you purely out of goodwill.”

“You want to share your personal dungeon?”

“That’s right. For someone of your caliber, Hunter, wouldn’t it be more comfortable and profitable to run solo rather than in a party?”

“That’s true, but…”

“If you feel uneasy about using an illegal dungeon, that’s understandable. But if you’re worried about being reported, you don’t need to be concerned about that. Currently, I’m the only one who knows about the dungeon, and it’s in a location only I know. Even if you were implicated as an accomplice, since I discovered the dungeon, you wouldn’t be harmed.”

“……”

Min Do-jun intuitively felt that Shin Kyung-min wasn’t proposing this with impure intentions.

‘It seems he genuinely wants to help rather than trying to drag me in as an accomplice.’

He probably offered the dungeon readily as a way to repay Min Do-jun for saving his sister.

‘Should I accept it or not?’

Originally, Min Do-jun had no intention of receiving any compensation from Shin Kyung-min.

He thought it would be enough if he could make Shin Kyung-min feel indebted and gain his trust.

‘A personal dungeon… It’s certainly better than money.’

For Min Do-jun, whose priority was getting stronger, there could be no better gift than a dungeon.

‘The question is, what kind of dungeon is it?’

Curious, Min Do-jun couldn’t help but ask.

“What kind of dungeon is it?”

“Haha. Now you’re showing some interest. It’s an A-rank dungeon, just what you need, Hunter. However, you can only enter from level 2,500, so you’ll need to level up a bit more.”

‘An A-rank dungeon for level 2,500 and above?’

Suddenly, an incident from before his regression came to mind.

An event known as the worst dungeon break in history.

‘Could it be that dungeon…?’

Min Do-jun asked to confirm.

“When you say an A-rank dungeon for level 2,500, do you mean the Forest of Spirits?”

“Oh, how did you know?”

“I just guessed. There aren’t many A-rank dungeons for level 2,500, right?”

The claim that he guessed was true.

‘I didn’t know it would be the dungeon that breaks in two years, though.’

In two years, the worst dungeon break in history would occur in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do.

It was a dungeon called the Forest of Spirits, accessible from level 2,500, but he didn’t know how it had broken.

He had only thought it was an unfortunate break of an undiscovered unregistered dungeon.

‘It wasn’t a coincidence that it broke. The dungeon that broke then was the personal dungeon Shin Kyung-min was managing.’

Thinking about it, it roughly matched the time when Shin Kyung-min had suddenly disappeared.

‘He had been using it as a personal dungeon, then suddenly went off the grid, and that led to the dungeon break.’

The dungeon break that day resulted in about 800 deaths.

This was despite the quick response of government hunters.

That’s how significant the impact of a level 2,500 A-rank dungeon breaking is.

‘If circumstances arose where you couldn’t run the dungeon, you should have reported it to the government or something, but instead you left it unattended, causing such a disaster.’

Due to his irresponsible attitude of not caring whether people died or not, 800 lives were sacrificed.

‘I’ve found another reason to kill you.’

If he could confirm that the dungeon’s location was in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, it would also confirm Shin Kyung-min as the culprit.

‘I’ll have to prevent it myself.’

As he was thinking this, Shin Kyung-min asked.

“What do you think? Isn’t this enough as repayment?”

“What if I refuse and report you to the Association for illegal possession?”

“Come on, you reporting me? I don’t think you would.”

“You don’t know me.”

“That’s true, but I know you’re a kind and righteous person. Otherwise, my sister wouldn’t be alive right now.”

“……”

“And above all, the Hunter I’ve seen is someone with a great desire for hunting. I can tell by how quickly your level is rising. Am I wrong?”

Min Do-jun couldn’t deny it.

“You’re right.”

“So, what will you do now?”

After pretending to deliberate for a moment, Min Do-jun finally nodded.

“If you’re willing to share the dungeon, I’ll gratefully accept.”

“Hehe, you’ve made a good decision. It feels like I’ve gained a business partner.”

They were business partners in a good sense, and accomplices in a bad sense.

“I’ll personally guide you to the dungeon’s location when you reach level 2,500. How long do you think it will take you to reach that level?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

Though he said he wasn’t sure, it was merely a pretense.

‘At most a month. I’ll hit level 2,500 within that time.’

Gaining nearly 300 levels in a month?

Anyone who heard this would think it absurd, but Min Do-jun was confident.

‘It’s definitely possible if I enter the Tower of Infinity.’

For that, he first needed to reach level 2,250.

“Are we done talking? I don’t have time to waste.”

“Ahaha, that’s right. You’ll be busy leveling up from now on. I understand. We’ll leave first, so please contact me when you reach level 2,500.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you again for saving my sister. Well then.”

Shin Kyung-min left the office.

“Oppa, are you done talking?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

“Huh? We’re just leaving? We should repay him somehow…”

“He said he doesn’t want anything. He’s busy, so let’s go.”

“But still…”

With Shin Hye-ri’s reluctant voice, silence fell in the office.

Min Do-jun watched Shin Kyung-min leave through the Parasite.

‘Shin Kyung-min. I’ll make good use of the dungeon you’ve given me.’

He would use the personal dungeon given by Shin Kyung-min as a stepping stone to grow and grow further.

And someday, he would stab Shin Kyung-min in the back.

Looking forward to that day, Min Do-jun turned around.

It was time to go hunting.

* * *

In China, there is a massive criminal organization called the Triad.

However, in the current era of hunters, it goes by a different name.

The White Snake Guild… a new name adopted when awakened members of the Triad staged a coup.

Among them, the leader of the White Snake Guild, Xu Zhiping, was known for his cruelty towards his subordinates.

“Urgh, pl-please spare me. I’ll do anything you… Gaaack!”

The man’s throat was pierced by Xu Zhiping’s spear.

The man, who had been merely a tenant farmer in a rural village, ended his life like that.

“Next.”

“Pl-please spare… Guheck!”

Following the tenant farmer, captured villagers lost their lives one by one to Xu Zhiping’s spear.

“Boring.”

“Boss.”

Subordinates brought in villagers who had been hiding.

“Is this all?”

“Yes. As you ordered, we’ve searched every house.”

The captured villagers trembled as Xu Zhiping’s gaze passed over them.

“Kill everyone except the young women. Children included, all of them.”

“Understood.”

“Please spare us!”

“Please spa… Urk!”

The subordinates swung their swords without hesitation.

More than ten people collapsed like puppets with cut strings.

The young women were able to keep their lives for now, but that too was only temporary.

They would eventually die after being used as playthings by the organization members.

“……”

Looking at the village scene that had turned into a sea of blood, Xu Zhiping left a brief comment.

“Tedious.”

The reason he massacred the entire village was simply for entertainment.

But even killing had become boring after repeated occurrences.

“I’ll go ahead. Clean up and follow.”

“Boss.”

At that moment, Gao Zhihong, Xu Zhiping’s right-hand man, approached.

“We have a problem.”

“A problem?”

“Today was the day for our regular transaction with the Black Sea Guild, but they didn’t show up at the port.”

The Black Sea Guild was an assassin guild in Korea and one of the White Snake Guild’s trading partners that regularly purchased various drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine, and zolpidem.

“They didn’t show up?”

It was strange that such a reliable trading partner wouldn’t appear at the agreed location.

But that wasn’t the important issue.

“They dare to stand up China’s White Snake Guild?”

For Xu Zhiping, who was strict about time commitments, this was unacceptable.

“Contact them immediately.”

“They’re not answering.”

“Keep calling until they answer, whether it takes a day or two.”

“And if they don’t answer?”

“Then…”

A murderous intent flashed in Xu Zhiping’s eyes.

“We’ll have to cut off our business relationship.”

* * *

[Your level has increased!]

For Min Do-jun, who was at level 2,200, reaching level 2,250 wasn’t a difficult task.

‘I can gain this much in a week.’

Now he had qualified to enter the hidden dungeon, the Tower of Infinity.

‘Was the Tower of Infinity located at Dongmak Station?’

There’s a ghost platform at Dongmak Station on the Incheon subway that’s no longer in use.

As Min Do-jun remembered, the hidden dungeon was there.

‘I need to ride the ghost wolf to get there, but should I enhance it this time?’

He immediately enhanced the riding skill with the Pet Master characteristic.

Then a warning message appeared.

[Only 1 skill can be enhanced at a time.]

[Do you want to revert the currently enhanced tracking skill to its normal state to enhance a different skill?]

[Remembered scents will not be deleted.]

Hearing that the scents wouldn’t be erased, Min Do-jun said ‘Yes’ without hesitation.

[The ghost wolf’s riding skill has been changed to ‘Enhanced Riding’ skill.]

The riding skill was enhanced instead of the tracking skill.

As he examined the changes, Min Do-jun was greatly surprised.

‘The movement speed increases by 50 times?’

According to the skill description, that was the case.

‘Other than the movement speed, there are no changes, but…’

50 times.

Doesn’t this mean he could cover a distance that would normally take an hour in just a minute?

‘I’ll know once I try it.’

After using the enhanced riding, he mounted the ghost wolf.

‘Awoo, let’s go.’

[Growl!]

As the ghost wolf ran, the background passed by rapidly.

Like paint of various colors mixed together.

It was so fast that he couldn’t properly distinguish anything until he told it to stop.

Only then could Min Do-jun truly feel the power of the 50-fold increase.

‘If the original speed was 60 km/h, then now it’s 3,000 km/h?’

In other words, faster than a bullet.

‘We’ve already arrived.’

In less than a minute, they had entered the ghost platform in Incheon.

Telling Awoo to slow down a bit, he scanned the platform.

Then, seeing an information window pop up, Min Do-jun’s face brightened.

‘Found it.’

[Dongmak Station Tower of Infinity Dungeon (Hidden)]

-Difficulty: A

-Player Limit: 1 person

-Entry Requirement: Level 2,250 or higher

-Conquest Goal: None

-Failure Penalty: None

-Time Limit: None

-Dungeon Break Possibility: None

-Remaining Entries: 10 times

The unique point of the Tower of Infinity was that there was no time limit.

‘There’s no time limit, but you’re immediately ejected if you fall from a stage.’

If you can’t block the waves of monsters that come at each level, you’re immediately kicked out of the dungeon.

‘I can test my limits here.’

Here, he could exert all of his capabilities.

Dismounting from the ghost wolf, Min Do-jun entered the portal with anticipation.

[You have entered the Tower of Infinity.]

[Please select the difficulty.]

[Easy][Normal][Hard]

Min Do-jun spoke without hesitation.

“Hard.”