Chapter 379 – Part 2 – 10 Million

Kwak Min-cheol was a person who acted faster than expected.

“Due to external threats, we’ve decided to temporarily suspend operations.”

As soon as he decided to halt operations, he gathered the workers and spoke.

“Hunters should return to the dormitory, and the remaining workers should stay at the base and refrain from external contact. Also pay attention to management so the goods don’t starve to death.”

Management was nothing more than providing one meal a day.

“I hope there won’t be any incidents of taking out goods to satisfy sexual desires. If there’s anyone like that, report it to me quietly. I’ll investigate the truth and if it’s confirmed as fact, I’ll give a reward. Of course, you saw today what happens to those who use the goods, right?”

At Kwak Min-cheol’s threat, the workers nodded vigorously.

Reading their thoughts, it seemed like no one would do anything foolish for the time being.

Kwak Min-cheol turned to look at Choi Seong-min.

“Thank you for pointing out an aspect I hadn’t considered. Rather than acting recklessly, it seems right to stop as you suggested. Otherwise, we might get annihilated again like last time.”

“I’m glad my opinion was helpful.”

Seeing that the persuasion had worked properly, Kwak Min-cheol genuinely thought it was good to stop the business.

“It must be disappointing. You just learned about operations but the opportunity flew away.”

“It’s fine. We just need to endure for two weeks. You’ll give me another opportunity next month, won’t you?”

“Of course. It puts my mind at ease to entrust it to you. There’s no other suitable candidate anyway.”

With this advice, Choi Seong-min gained Kwak Min-cheol’s trust.

From Kwak Min-cheol’s perspective, he thought he had given advice for the future of the organization, but…

‘Actually, it was simply advice to buy time until the combat power update day.’

Since it was ultimately successful, Choi Seong-min was satisfied.

“What should I do now? I can’t operate the business for the time being… Should I study more about the business?”

“What’s there to study? You just need to memorize what I taught you. In the meantime, focus on growth by going through dungeons. You need to reach S-rank, don’t you?”

As far as Kwak Min-cheol knew, Choi Seong-min’s combat power was 800,000.

He thought if he did well, he could hit 1 million and cross the threshold to S-rank.

Not knowing he was already S-rank.

“I need to raise my combat power by 200,000 in two weeks… Is that possible?”

“At your current growth rate, it’s definitely possible. I’ll support you so you can do solo runs as you want, so don’t worry and just focus on hunting.”

“Thank you, Great Hero.”

* * *

Choi Seong-min’s daily routine was simple.

Eat breakfast and go to work at dungeons, not the association.

Hunt all day until evening, then return to the dormitory.

Eat a late dinner and sleep.

Go to work at dungeons again the next day.

Repeat the simple daily life of going back and forth between dungeons and the dormitory.

It was truly manual labor focused only on growth, but there were no complaints.

Choi Seong-min himself wanted to grow more than anyone.

‘If there’s a complaint, it’s that the only dungeon I can enter is the Swamp of Chaos.’

Though it was among the highest-tier A-rank dungeons, for Choi Seong-min with 8 million combat power, it was a trivial level.

He had graduated from it long ago.

‘But what can I do? Since they think I’m A-rank, I have no choice but to go through A-rank dungeons.’

He could pretend to be A-rank and play along, then say he was promoted to S-rank at an appropriate time, but…

‘The problem is that Kwak Min-cheol won’t leave me alone once I become S-rank.’

Kwak Min-cheol hoped Choi Seong-min would quickly become S-rank, but the reason was none other than for stat absorption.

‘That guy plans to kill me once I become S-rank.’

From reading his thoughts, he didn’t seem to have any intention of waiting longer.

‘He finds a subordinate with 1 million combat power burdensome.’

Kwak Min-cheol was considering potential situations.

The possibility that a well-raised dog might bite its master.

‘That means trust hasn’t built up enough yet…’

Certainly, an S-rank subordinate would inevitably be burdensome.

This was why Choi Seong-min hadn’t said he was S-rank even after two weeks had passed.

‘I’ve been going through only A-rank dungeons for two weeks.’

Since he was already S-rank, it wasn’t suitable for his level, but his combat power did rise.

‘My combat power has already hit 10 million.’

A figure that would shock anyone who saw it.

‘The world will be turned upside down soon.’

In just 2 hours, it would be midnight and combat power would be updated.

The insane combat power of 10 million would be revealed to the world.

‘Kwak Min-cheol will be surprised when midnight comes. He’ll feel betrayed too.’

But regardless of whether he did or not, it didn’t matter.

‘Kwak Min-cheol, you’ll die by my hand in 2 hours.’

He had waited patiently for two weeks to kill him after the update.

Now it was time to move.

‘I won’t even need to use poison.’

Choi Seong-min left his room while using stealth.

* * *

11:50 PM.

While most ordinary people would be asleep at this hour, most hunters were awake.

This was because combat power would be updated in just 10 minutes.

Having one’s results announced to the world was certainly something exciting enough to wait for.

But most were waiting because they were curious about others’ combat power.

Kwak Min-cheol was no exception.

But what he wanted to know wasn’t others’ combat power but their life and death.

The missing Great Heroes, that is.

‘What the hell is that bastard Kogo doing that he still hasn’t contacted me?’

Kogo, who had gone to subdue Song Chi-hyeon, had been out of contact for nearly three weeks.

At this point, it was right to consider him missing.

‘Isn’t he dead?’

If there was no contact to this extent, he was either dead or deliberately hiding.

It had to be one of the two.

‘What’s certain is that something happened between Kogo and Song Chi-hyeon. That’s why neither of their news can be heard anywhere.’

There was another person whose news had been cut off.

The butler planted in Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion, Hwang Seok-gyu.

‘Did he run away as soon as he learned Song Chi-hyeon was missing?’

Just in case, he had visited the mansion, but it was completely empty.

The other servants in the mansion seemed to have all fled in the night along with the butler.

‘That dog-like butler bastard. I fed him and housed him, yet he dares try to escape from my grasp?’

Given Kwak Min-cheol’s personality, he couldn’t tolerate traitors.

‘Just get caught. I’ll burn you alive.’

Anyway, for now he was curious about Kogo and Song Chi-hyeon’s life and death.

‘It’ll be updated soon.’

The time remaining until combat power update was 1 minute.

Kwak Min-cheol waited with a pounding heart.

Soon after midnight passed, he quickly opened the ranking window and called out the name of the person he wanted to search for.

‘Search. Song Chi-hyeon.’

If he was alive, his name and combat power should appear in the rankings.

But it showed that there was no matching name.

‘He’s dead. Song Chi-hyeon is definitely dead.’

It was probably Kogo’s doing, though he didn’t know for sure.

Originally they had planned to kidnap him, but they had agreed to kill him if circumstances didn’t allow it.

‘I wanted to kill him with my own hands, but it can’t be helped.’

Anyway, since he had hoped for his death, it was a good thing.

‘What about Kogo?’

Kwak Min-cheol’s eyes widened as he searched for Katsuramoto Kogo’s name.

‘It’s not searchable?’

What that meant was death.

Kwak Min-cheol held his forehead with a dejected expression.

‘Bad premonitions are never wrong.’

He had hoped against hope, but it was as expected.

Both were dead, which was why there had been no contact until now.

‘How did they die? Did they fight desperately and die simultaneously?’

That was probably what happened.

Mutual destruction was the most plausible hypothesis.

There was no possibility of third-party intervention.

‘Well, how many people could kill a Great Hero with 1.5 million combat power?’

Song Chi-hyeon, who was about to be assassinated by Kogo, must have luckily inflicted a fatal wound.

Then they both bled out and died.

A fight with neither winner nor loser.

‘No, there is a winner. Me.’

Since the obstacle called Song Chi-hyeon had been removed, it was beneficial for Kwak Min-cheol.

Losing Kogo was regrettable, but…

‘That bastard was originally an unhelpful guy who only wandered around outside anyway.’

It didn’t matter whether he was there or not.

‘So that’s how it was.’

Kwak Min-cheol smiled as if feeling refreshed.

He had been anxious not knowing their life and death, but his curiosity was finally resolved.

“Are you watching? Secretary Yang Baek-du? Song Chi-hyeon is dead. That damn rebel bastard who killed you has finally died.”

But it wasn’t something he could just be happy about.

Two Great Heroes had died.

The name “8 Heroes” had now become “6 Heroes.”

It was definitely not something to take lightly.

‘The other heroes will ask. What happened?’

It would be fortunate if they just asked.

In the worst case, Woo Seong-jae might move personally to investigate the truth.

He needed to prepare a plausible excuse.

‘I’ll say the two had bad relations usually. Then they mutually destroyed each other…’

It was half true, so it wasn’t a complete lie.

If he could just get through with that, there would be no sparks flying toward Kwak Min-cheol.

‘That aside…’

Kwak Min-cheol opened the ranking window.

There was another person whose ranking he needed to check.

His recently accepted direct subordinate, Choi Seong-min.

‘I was curious about this guy’s combat power.’

Two weeks ago, he had claimed it was 800,000 and had finished testing for that.

‘But that was just his claim after all.’

Whether it was really 800,000 or not, he wouldn’t know until he saw it with his own eyes.

‘I haven’t heard that he became S-rank, so he probably didn’t exceed 1 million.’

With that thought, he searched for Choi Seong-min’s name.

2nd Place – Choi Seong-min (Age 20) – Combat Power 10,001,201 (S-rank)

“Huh?”

Kwak Min-cheol unconsciously made a dumbfounded sound.

“What? Are my eyes wrong?”

At first, he doubted his own eyes.

But no matter how much he rubbed and blinked his eyes, Choi Seong-min’s combat power didn’t change.

“What? Why is this like this? Is it broken?”

Next, he suspected the system.

He thought the system had malfunctioned.

He had no choice but to think so.

“This doesn’t make sense. Choi Seong-min’s combat power being 10 million.”

A guy who was B-rank last month achieved S-rank in one month?

And not just 1 million, but 10 million?

“It’s impossible.”

It was impossible.

He wanted to believe so.

If this was true, it meant what he had been raising wasn’t a snake but a dragon.

“Not just any dragon… One comparable to Woo Seong-jae…”

Kwak Min-cheol, who had been muttering to himself, shook his head.

It was nonsense.

Such assumptions were meaningless in themselves.

It must be an error.

But had the system ever malfunctioned before?

In over 120 years of hunter history, hadn’t such a thing never happened?

“Could it really be… 10 million?”

Kwak Min-cheol felt a chill down his spine.

If it was real, it meant that guy had been pretending to have 800,000 combat power.

While possessing tremendous combat power more than five times his own.

‘Did he mock me?’

For a moment, anger surged, but it was literally just a moment.

If the combat power listed in the rankings was true, he was no match at all.

Anger is an emotion felt toward the weak.

Being angry at Choi Seong-min was as meaningless as being angry at Woo Seong-jae.

‘Why did that guy hide his combat power and come under me?’

Rather, while possessing combat power more than enough to reign from above, why?

‘Could he be targeting my position…?’

Kwak Min-cheol jumped up from his seat.

Whether it was true or not, he had to get rid of Choi Seong-min.

‘No wait. How could I get rid of him?’

If the combat power was real, suppression by force was impossible.

‘I should rather run away.’

He must have some scheme since he came under him.

‘He might even be after my life.’

To escape from that guy’s grasp, the wise choice would be to flee in the night immediately.

Even if it looked bad as a Great Hero.

‘Appearance or whatever, surviving is important.’

However, Kwak Min-cheol, who was about to leave the room immediately, stopped his body as if brakes had been applied.

“Where are you trying to go?”

A voice suddenly heard from behind.

And the cold sensation of a blade touching his throat.

That prevented Kwak Min-cheol from moving rashly.

“Ch-Choi Seong-min?”

“Yeah. You can tell from the voice. Stay still. Don’t bother turning around.”

Kwak Min-cheol’s head, which had been moving, returned to its original position.

The person holding a dagger to his throat.

Obviously it was Choi Seong-min.

As he said, there was no need to confirm it.

But it was hard to believe until he saw it directly.

“You, you dare betray me…”

“Dare? Isn’t that something the strong say to the weak?”

Choi Seong-min’s voice was relaxed.

Not even a tremor could be felt.

Truly the composure of the strong.

“Is it really true that your combat power is 10 million?”

“Of course. Would the system lie?”

“It doesn’t make sense. How could you go from 250,000 to 10 million in one month…”

“Whether you believe it or not, the system proves it, right? In reality, you couldn’t even detect my stealth.”

“How did you get into my room?”

“I entered while you opened the door to go to the bathroom.”

“That was 2 hours ago… You mean you’ve been infiltrating and hiding with stealth since then? Stealth time can’t be that long.”

“Mine is long. I can maintain it for about 4 hours maximum. No cooldown either.”

“Un-unbelievable.”

“Whether you believe it or not is none of my business…”

An intimidating presence flowed from Choi Seong-min’s body.

“Just stay still like this.”

“Huk…!”

Even though it wasn’t a cold environment, Kwak Min-cheol’s body trembled.

Having relatively low combat power, he was affected by the Intimidation trait.

Plus the fundamental fear from the Demonic Aura.

Finally, his legs gave out.

Thud-

Kwak Min-cheol collapsed to the floor and stared into space.

He had gone beyond fear to a state of panic.

“Yeah, stay like that. I need to read your memories.”

Choi Seong-min’s hand touched Kwak Min-cheol’s head.