Chapter 181 – Vampire’s Night

“Yaaawn.”

Hong Se-yeon stretched as she opened her eyes and looked around.

Her drowsy pupils suddenly dilated.

“Eek!”

Startled by the unfamiliar environment, she kicked off the blanket.

‘Wh-where am I?’

Why was she sleeping in a strange place?

As she got up from the sofa and looked around, Min Do-jun approached her.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Gasp! D-Do-jun?”

Seeing her flustered reaction, Min Do-jun’s brow naturally furrowed.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember?”

“Huh? What, what? And where is this? Could it be your home…?”

“Sigh, really.”

Min Do-jun pressed his temples to suppress his irritation before explaining what had happened the previous day.

“What? This is your guild?”

“Yes. When I told you to go home, Guild Master, you insisted on seeing the guild.”

“M-me?”

“…”

“I’m sorry. I remember drinking at the Japanese restaurant, but after that…”

“It seems the Guild Master shouldn’t drink alcohol. Especially not with men.”

Hong Se-yeon hung her head in shame.

Not only had she insisted on seeing the guild, but she had fallen asleep drunk.

And with a man she barely knew, no less.

‘I-I hope Do-jun didn’t do anything strange…’

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than Min Do-jun preemptively addressed it.

“Just to be clear, I only covered you with a blanket and didn’t touch even a hair on your head. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Ah, I see…”

While she felt relieved, somehow her pride was hurt.

‘Am I not attractive as a woman?’

As she was having this pointless thought, she suddenly came to her senses.

“Wh-what time is it now?”

“It’s 8 AM.”

“Oh no! I must be crazy. I introduced a dungeon to Do-jun but didn’t even book the ticket…”

“If you mean the destination in the file, I’ve already made the reservation. Moscow, 10 AM flight.”

“Ah… that’s a relief.”

Hong Se-yeon let out a sigh of relief and apologized again.

“I’m sorry for not taking care of things properly.”

“It’s fine. Just don’t go drinking anywhere else.”

“I-I won’t.”

With a reddened face, she followed Min Do-jun out of the office.

“Are you heading straight to the airport?”

“Yes.”

“Is that all your luggage?”

Min Do-jun was holding only a shopping bag with a change of clothes.

“I’ll just be running the dungeon and coming right back, so I only need a change of clothes.”

“That’s true.”

Hong Se-yeon nodded and spoke to Min Do-jun as he waited for a taxi.

“Would it be okay if I came with you? I’d like to guide you…”

“If you’re worried I’ll get lost, don’t be. I’ve been to Russia several times.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. I can speak Russian fairly well too.”

Even though he said “fairly well” when he was actually fluent, Hong Se-yeon still seemed impressed.

“Th-that’s amazing.”

“By the way, do you really not remember anything after the Japanese restaurant?”

“No. Why? Did something happen?”

“It’s nothing.”

Seeing her innocent eyes, it seemed she didn’t even remember the Overlord Guild’s visit.

‘She doesn’t need to know anyway.’

Soon after, a taxi arrived, and Hong Se-yeon waved with a worried expression.

“Take care. If anything happens, contact me.”

“I will. Don’t worry and go home. Oh, and make sure to get some hangover soup first.”

“Ah, yes…”

As Min Do-jun’s taxi disappeared, Hong Se-yeon let out a long sigh.

“What am I going to do about my image?”

She had made a fool of herself by drinking with Min Do-jun and then passing out.

“I couldn’t even book the ticket in advance. I just caused trouble…”

She felt more apologetic than embarrassed.

“This isn’t enough to repay him. Next time, I’ll introduce him to a proper dungeon.”

A subtle smile formed on her lips at the thought of seeing Min Do-jun again.

Min Do-jun boarded the first-class flight to Russia at 10 AM and settled into his seat.

‘Might as well get some more sleep.’

With a 9-hour flight ahead, he needed to sleep to avoid boredom.

During his nap, he woke up to enjoy a gourmet in-flight meal featuring foie gras before falling back asleep. After 9 long hours, he finally arrived at Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport, the largest in the city.

‘Enduring 9 hours isn’t easy.’

While physically he was fine, mentally it had been quite draining.

‘Maybe I should have ridden the ghost wolf instead?’

At a speed of 3,000 km/h, the ghost wolf could have taken him from Korea to Moscow in just 2 hours.

‘No, that wouldn’t work. I’m not sneaking in; I’m officially going to conquer a foreign dungeon, so I should leave a proper trail.’

Min Do-jun completed immigration and exited the airport.

‘After 9 hours of travel, it’s still daytime here.’

Due to the time difference, while it was 7 PM in Korea, it was only 1 PM in Moscow.

Min Do-jun hailed an airport taxi and spoke in fluent Russian.

“Please take me to Chekhov.”

“Yes, sir.”

The taxi driver, who had been planning to overcharge a tourist, changed his mind when he heard the near-native pronunciation.

‘He must have lived in this neighborhood for at least 3 years.’

Whether the driver misunderstood or not, Min Do-jun gazed out the window, enjoying the scenery during the hour-long ride to his destination.

‘Is this the gathering place?’

As Min Do-jun approached, nine hunters who had been waiting all turned to look at him.

The largest foreigner among them approached Min Do-jun with a pleased expression.

“Are you Hunter Min Do-jun?”

“Yes.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Antoni Gilbert, the leader of this raid.”

Though he was speaking English, Min Do-jun could tell he was British.

Not just from his accent, but because his weakness detection showed it.

‘Level 3,552. A tanker.’

“My level is 3,552, and though I’m in the middle range for this party, I’ve been assigned as leader because I’m a tanker.”

Typically, the highest-level hunter would lead, but if there was a tanker, they would usually take command.

After all, the front-line tanker was best suited for the leadership role.

“Oh, do you not speak English?”

“No, I can.”

“Oh, that’s a relief. It’s always a problem when we have Asian party members who can’t communicate. I’m glad we won’t have that issue. Hahaha!”

Min Do-jun glanced at the party members standing at a distance.

‘Am I the only Asian?’

Min Do-jun turned his attention back to Gilbert.

There was something he’d been curious about.

“Gilbert, you knew my level was low but still accepted me as a party member. Why?”

Hong Se-yeon had said it was because they couldn’t afford to be picky, but that didn’t seem sufficient.

“Haha, why? Would you believe me if I said I was your fan?”

“Pardon?”

“I saw your YouTube video. The one where you stopped the dungeon break in Hongdae Street. It was truly impressive.”

“Ah…”

Was he impressed by his combat prowess?

That’s what Min Do-jun thought, but he was wrong.

“Everyone else might have been amazed by your strength, but I was impressed by something else.”

“What…?”

“Nearly 100 monsters were all looking at you. Their eyes were red, as if under a wide-range provocation. It was incredible.”

He must be referring to the ghost wolf’s Howling.

“As a tanker, I couldn’t help but be envious. At best, I could only draw the attention of about 30 monsters.”

Gilbert asked directly.

“Do you have a wide-range provocation skill?”

Min Do-jun shook his head.

“I had it at the time, but I don’t have it anymore.”

This was a lie to avoid being asked to demonstrate.

‘If I say I have it, he might ask me to use it.’

And as he suspected:

Gilbert’s face showed disappointment.

“That’s too bad. I was hoping if I lost aggro, you could pick it up…”

‘This guy. He was planning to make me a sub-tanker.’

It was fortunate he had denied having the skill.

Otherwise, he might have had to reveal the ghost wolf.

‘Well, I would have refused with some excuse anyway.’

Still, Gilbert couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Just do your best as a damage dealer.”

“I will.”

“Now, let me introduce you to the other members.”

Min Do-jun followed Gilbert to where the party members were waiting.

“Let’s get acquainted. This is Hunter Min Do-jun, who’s joining us. And these are…”

Gilbert introduced each member one by one, but it wasn’t necessary.

Min Do-jun could see all the information he needed through weakness detection.

‘I can see the information of all 9 members, including the leader.’

The fact that he could see everyone’s information without exception meant that no one in the party was stronger than Min Do-jun.

‘America, Britain, France, India. Quite a diverse group.’

The funny thing was that among these 9 members, there wasn’t a single Russian.

‘Is this dungeon so dangerous that even Russian hunters have given up on it?’

It was a terrifying dungeon where one person always died when a full party of 10 entered, so it was understandable.

‘Judging by their expressions, they don’t seem too pleased with me.’

The reason became apparent quickly.

“Leader. Is this Japanese guy the hunter who’s replacing the healer?”

“He’s Korean, not Japanese.”

“Whatever. He’s not a healer, right?”

“No. He’s joining as a damage dealer.”

“A damage dealer? We won’t even have enough experience points left…”

Tankers and healers have a significant impact on a party.

Just having one greatly increases the survival rate, making them essential for dangerous high-level dungeons.

In such a situation, having a damage dealer take a spot that should have gone to a healer?

‘Of course they’d see me as an eyesore.’

“Hey, is your level really 2,600?”

When Min Do-jun nodded in response to someone’s question, exclamations erupted from all around.

“Good Lord… I never thought I’d be running a dungeon with an A-rank at this level.”

“Why does that S-rank dungeon entry ticket even exist…”

“If he were at least a healer, I could understand. But a damage dealer 1,000 levels lower than us?”

The party members looked at Min Do-jun with disapproving eyes.

They had been notified in advance that a new hunter with a level of 2,600 would be joining them using an entry ticket.

But when this seemingly absurd notice was confirmed as true, their complaints couldn’t be contained.

In this situation, it was the leader’s job to calm everyone down.

“Come on, everyone. Don’t make our hunter feel uncomfortable. Though Hunter Min Do-jun’s level is low, he’s a famous Magic Swordsman who has solo-killed an S-rank boss and stopped an A-rank dungeon break. His skills have been verified.”

“Solo-killed an S-rank boss? That must be a lie…”

“Stopping an A-rank dungeon break isn’t that hard, is it?”

“A Magic Swordsman? Even his profession is problematic.”

When the murmuring continued despite his defense, Gilbert looked flustered.

Meanwhile, Min Do-jun remained calm.

‘It seems my reputation hasn’t spread worldwide yet.’

If they knew he was ranked first in the Tower of Infinity, such complaints would probably diminish, but it seemed they weren’t aware of that yet.

‘Well, they’ll find out soon enough.’

In fact, Min Do-jun preferred to become famous later rather than sooner.

That way, people wouldn’t pay too much attention to his actions.

“Alright, everyone. Since we’re all party members now, let’s think positively and head in.”

Led by Gilbert, the hunters equipped their gear and stood before the dungeon.

[Chekhov Vampire’s Night Dungeon]

-Difficulty: S

-Player Limit: Minimum 3, Maximum 10

-Entry Requirement: Level 3,000 or higher

-Conquest Goal: Survive within the time limit

-Failure Penalty: None

-Time Limit: 48 hours

-Time remaining until dungeon break: 288 hours 31 minutes 21 seconds

“Let’s go.”

A moment later, nine S-rank hunters and one A-rank hunter disappeared into the portal.

In a dark forest.

Ten hunters appeared there.

“It’s always dark whenever we enter this place.”

One hunter with previous experience boasted as he looked at Min Do-jun.

“It’s your first time, right?”

“Yes.”

“Of course it is. It has to be your first time.”

Since he had used an S-rank dungeon entry ticket to enter, it had to be his first time.

But the reality was different.

‘Boasting to someone who’s conquered this place dozens of times before his regression… How amusing.’

Just as Min Do-jun was inwardly mocking him, unable to reveal his identity as a regressor:

‘…!’

He sensed killing intent.

It was directed at none other than himself.