Chapter 285 – Part 2 – Team Crush

Choi Seong-min left home early in the morning.

Not to commute to the Hunter Management Center.

It was to hunt monsters.

‘Now I don’t have to work for a measly salary at the Center anymore.’

With the dungeon seals lifted, there was no need to sit in an office doing menial tasks.

Hunters should do work befitting hunters.

‘That’s dozens of times more profitable. Even with the ratio system taking a cut.’

Of course, he needed a team for that, but Choi Seong-min had nothing to worry about.

‘Is this the place?’

Team Crush.

Looking at the sign of the elite team that Yang Jo-young had personally created, Choi Seong-min smiled.

‘Although I had to hide my strength at the training center…’

Here he could hunt without worry.

He heard it was an E-rank team with everyone at the same level.

‘I might even be able to start as equals called teammates.’

Of course, seniority would be determined by when they joined the team.

“Excuse me.”

When he opened the office door and entered, four hunters focused their attention on Choi Seong-min.

“Is this the team office run by Hunter Yang Jo-young?”

“Ah, are you the person introduced by the Captain?”

“Captain?”

“We call Hunter Yang the Captain.”

“I see.”

“Please sit here first.”

Choi Seong-min sat on the sofa.

“Coffee? Green tea?”

“Ah, I’m fine.”

It was treatment he hadn’t experienced as a commoner, but it wasn’t the first time he’d received such treatment either.

He had already reached the pinnacle in another dimension.

“You’re Hunter Choi Seong-min, right?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Eom Jeong-sik. And this person is…”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Team Leader Kwon Ho-jun.”

When the person called team leader extended his hand, Choi Seong-min awkwardly shook it.

“Let’s get along well.”

While Kwon Ho-jun smiled warmly saying this, there was also a man frowning.

“You look really young? How old are you?”

“I’m 20 years old.”

“What? Why are you so young?”

“He’s an elite. Promoted to E-rank in just one week.”

“What? Is that possible?”

The man who had been surprised by Eom Jeong-sik’s words frowned again.

“Hey, newbie. What’s your combat power?”

“3,011.”

“Fucking hell. Is it an S-rank trait?”

“That’s…”

“The fact that you’re hesitating to answer shows you’re screwed. You have no team mindset at all.”

“Tae-man.”

“Don’t get cocky just because you had ultra-fast growth, newbie. I’ve seen plenty of bastards who die right at the dungeon entrance acting like that.”

“Tae-man, stop it.”

At the team leader’s restraint, the man called Tae-man glared at Choi Seong-min once before returning to his seat.

Then a man wearing glasses approached and spoke quietly.

“That senior is Bang Tae-man, and he has the most experience after the team leader. His combat power is second highest too. Since his trait is D-rank, he worked really hard. That’s probably why his personality is so fucking annoying.”

“I can hear everything, you bastard Sim Seong-jin!”

“Ah, I’m Sim Seong-jin. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Choi Seong-min.”

“Welcome to Team Crush.”

The overall atmosphere wasn’t bad.

There was no discrimination for being a former commoner either.

Except for that anger management-challenged man called Bang Tae-man.

‘Hmm. In order of hierarchy, it’s Team Leader Kwon Ho-jun, Bang Tae-man, Sim Seong-jin, Eom Jeong-sik?’

Having tactfully assessed the situation, Choi Seong-min asked a question to Eom Jeong-sik, who seemed the most approachable.

“I have something I’m curious about.”

“Yes, ask anything.”

“What are the team members’ combat powers? Everyone’s E-rank, right?”

“Yes. The team leader over there has the highest at 8,000, and next is 7,000…”

The combat powers were in the hierarchical order Choi Seong-min had guessed.

‘Even this person with the lowest rank has 5,000 combat power…’

They really had gathered only elites as claimed.

His own 3,000 was a level he couldn’t even brag about anywhere.

Of course, combat power and skill weren’t necessarily proportional.

“Um, Senior Eom.”

“Ah, are you already calling me senior?”

“Is that not okay?”

“I’m not mentally prepared yet…”

Seeing the shy Eom Jeong-sik, Choi Seong-min smiled bitterly and ignored it, continuing to speak.

“I’m curious – were the people here E-rank from 10 years ago?”

“That’s right. It’s only been just over a week since dungeons opened, so there’s no way we could already be E-rank… Ah, except you’re here?”

This time Eom Jeong-sik smiled bitterly looking at Choi Seong-min.

“We’ve been E-rank since 10 years ago. That’s why we’re all in our early thirties.”

“I see. Then you haven’t had much time to coordinate either? If the team was created a week ago…”

“That’s about right.”

“But with me included, five people is a bit many, isn’t it? If we include a supervisor when entering, that’s six people.”

Among hunter laws was a rule that a supervisor must always be brought when entering dungeons.

To directly confirm what items were obtained and take the ratio.

Therefore, team members couldn’t enter dungeons alone.

“Is there a dungeon where six people including a supervisor can enter among E-ranks? As far as I know, there isn’t…”

“You’re right. There isn’t. The place we can hunt is the Worwolf dungeon, but the capacity there is 4 people. Excluding the supervisor, that’s only 3 people. So we have no choice but to divide into Team A and Team B for hunting.”

“Ah, so you divide into teams.”

“Yes. That’s why the Captain recruited more people.”

“But to divide into teams of three, you’d need six people, right? We’re one short…”

“You probably didn’t see because they were making coffee in the break room. It’s a newbie who joined recently like Choi Seong-min… Ah, there they come.”

Looking where his gaze turned, a woman was placing personally brewed coffee at the team members’ seats.

“Eun-jeong, thanks! I’ll drink it well!”

“Yes! Please enjoy it, Team Leader!”

“Slurp, ahh. Is it more delicious because Eun-jeong made it?”

“Thank you, Senior!”

“How can Eun-jeong be so pretty in face and pretty in actions…”

“Where did such a pretty newbie come from? Our team is blessed.”

Everyone spared no praise for the female newbie.

“Senior Eom. Please have your coffee.”

“Thanks, Eun-jeong. Ah, introduce yourselves to each other. This is the newbie who joined today, and this is our team’s only woman, Eun-jeong.”

“I’m Do Eun-jeong. Nice to meet you.”

With a model-like height and celebrity-like appearance, it was hard to believe she was in her early thirties.

“Ah… I’m Choi Seong-min.”

Choi Seong-min stared quietly at Do Eun-jeong.

Staring so intently it was embarrassing.

Then Eom Jeong-sik smiled meaningfully.

“Haha, Junior Choi Seong-min, our Eun-jeong is pretty, right? Looking at your eyes, you seem completely smitten.”

“D-don’t tease me, Senior.”

“Why, Eun-jeong. It’s true. That reaction is natural for a man.”

But Choi Seong-min wasn’t dazed because he was smitten.

‘I’ve met this woman before.’

She was a woman in the memories of the original Choi Seong-min.

“Um… but you look familiar somehow?”

Perhaps because he was staring so intently, Do Eun-jeong recognized Choi Seong-min.

“Have we met before by any chance?”

“Eun-jeong. That’s a common pickup line men use…”

“Yes, we met at the Hunter Management Center.”

At the unexpected development, Eom Jeong-sik’s eyes widened.

“The Hunter Management Center?”

“Yes. You might not remember, but we briefly met 6 months ago. When I was a newbie struggling because I didn’t know how to use the multifunction printer, you helped me.”

“6 months ago was when I briefly worked at the Center… Ah!”

Do Eun-jeong remembered.

She definitely had helped someone then.

She didn’t remember the face well, but it seemed like the man in front of her might be right.

“What, you two knew each other? Did you exchange contacts too?”

When Eom Jeong-sik suddenly spoke seriously, Do Eun-jeong waved her hands.

“Ah, it’s not like that. I briefly worked at the Hunter Management Center before. I guess we saw each other then.”

“Then you’re not really close?”

“I-I suppose so.”

Eom Jeong-sik was relieved.

“Still, it’s nice to see someone I know. You said Choi Seong-min, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Let’s get along well.”

Do Eun-jeong suddenly extended her hand.

When he responded to the handshake, she smiled brightly.

“Eun-jeong. If you smile with your eyes like that, men will misunderstand…”

“Who’s smiling with their eyes?”

Bang Tae-man joined the conversation and looked back and forth between the newbies.

“What’s with you two? The atmosphere seems unusual.”

“They briefly worked at the same company.”

“Ah, really? A strong competitor has entered? At this rate, won’t they come to work holding hands someday?”

“Ey, Senior. Even as a joke…”

“Why? You’ve already met, you’re both newbies, so it could happen. Eun-jeong might like younger men.”

“Even so, a 10-year age gap is a bit…”

“Kek kek, did you hear that, newbie? Eun-jeong doesn’t see 10 years younger as a man. So if you had any dark thoughts, wake up from your dream.”

‘I wasn’t even thinking about it.’

Choi Seong-min snorted internally and looked at Bang Tae-man with contemptuous eyes for a moment before asking Eom Jeong-sik.

“Senior. Now that everyone’s gathered, when do we start hunting?”

“We called a supervisor, so we’ll hunt as soon as they arrive.”

After waiting about 30 minutes with such trivial conversation.

“Is this Team Crush?”

A man in his early thirties opened the door and entered.

He was a supervisor dispatched from the Association.

‘Younger than I thought.’

Being a supervisor didn’t necessarily mean being old.

This world was one where hierarchy was determined purely by combat power, not age.

“I’m D-rank Hunter Norikane Jigoro, here as Team Crush’s supervisor.”

“Ah, welcome, Supervisor! I’m team leader Kwon Ho-jun. Thank you for coming all this way.”

“It’s hardly a long way when it only took 20 minutes by car.”

“If you drove for 20 minutes, that’s definitely a long way! You must be tired, please sit down.”

When Jigoro sat on the sofa, Kwon Ho-jun smiled and asked.

“How about some cool green tea?”

“I’d rather have coffee than drink green tea.”

“Is that so? Please wait just a moment. I’ll bring it right away. Eun-jeong! Quickly make some iced coffee for the supervisor!”

“Ah, yes!”

While Do Eun-jeong went into the break room, Choi Seong-min searched for the supervisor’s name in the rankings.

440,069th – Norikane Jigoro (31 years old) – Combat Power 10,032 (D-rank)

‘Exactly at D-rank combat power.’

You become D-rank when combat power exceeds 10,000.

‘Looking at his age, it seems he reached D-rank 10 years ago and has been working as the Association’s dog ever since.’

Usually supervisors are dispatched one rank higher than the hunters they accompany.

Because there are cases where hunters dissatisfied with the ratio system attack supervisors.

“Did you make the coffee? Give it here.”

When the team leader tried to take the coffee Do Eun-jeong brought to hand it over personally, Jigoro said something.

“I’d rather drink coffee given by a woman.”

“Ah, sorry. I was being thoughtless…”

The team leader quickly signaled to Do Eun-jeong with his eyes.

To bring it directly.

“Here you are, Supervisor.”

When Do Eun-jeong brought the coffee, Jigoro looked at her figure with lecherous eyes.

“Hmm… Suddenly I’m craving something other than coffee.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. I’ll drink it well.”

The supervisor slowly drank his coffee.

Meanwhile, the team leader attended to him in every way.

‘Do they really have to go that far?’

Watching this, Choi Seong-min frowned, but it wasn’t incomprehensible.

The supervisor belonged to the Association that managed dungeons, and if he wanted, blacklisting them from using dungeons was nothing.

‘He could also arbitrarily slash prices when settling items.’

That’s why secretly receiving bribes was commonplace.

‘In short, it’s a dirty position.’

The team leader flattered the supervisor without showing any displeasure.

Thanks to such efforts, the supervisor seemed to be in quite a good mood.

“As expected of Hunter Yang Jo-young’s team, it seems like there are only elites. Worthy of receiving a 3:7 ratio.”

“Haha, you’re too kind. Would you like more coffee?”

“No, I’m done with coffee now.”

“If you need anything, please let us know anytime.”

“Something I need… there is something, but could we talk privately for a moment?”

“Ah, then please wait just a moment.”

The team leader shouted to the team members.

“Everyone go out for a bit! I have something to discuss privately with the supervisor.”

Seong-min and the other team members went outside the office without complaint.

‘What are they talking about?’

He was curious, but everyone vaguely guessed.

That they were probably discussing bribes.

But the team members couldn’t have guessed.

“Hey newbie, come in! Not Eun-jeong, just you, Choi Seong-min!”

“Me?”

That the team leader would call for Choi Seong-min.

‘Why are they calling me?’

When he entered at the call to come back in, the supervisor was standing.

“Then I’ll go to the dungeon first.”

“Understood. We’ll prepare and depart immediately.”

As Jigoro passed by, he glared at Choi Seong-min.

Choi Seong-min tactfully bowed his head.

After the supervisor left, team leader Kwon Ho-jun casually asked.

“You received an item from Hunter Yang Jo-young too, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then to meet the Hunter’s expectations, you’ll have to show your best, right? Without causing any trouble?”

‘What are they trying to say with this setup?’

Choi Seong-min waited quietly.

For the team leader to get to the point.

After a moment, the team leader spoke in a secretive voice.

“You. Can you endure seeing injustice?”