Chapter 38 – The Bet

The first thing Min Do-jun did when he got home was take a shower.

He had been out for half a day, and the smell of Kang Cheol-gyu’s blood was unpleasant.

“Whew, that’s refreshing.”

But somehow his mind was filled with emptiness.

‘I’ve only killed 3 people so far. I still have to kill 12 more.’

Although it happened before the regression, Min Do-jun’s determination for revenge remained unshaken.

The memory of his last moments was still vivid.

‘Ye-rin…’

Especially the death of Cha Ye-rin, whom he had promised to spend his life with, was unforgettable.

‘These b*st*rds…!’

Every time he recalled her death, Min Do-jun’s heart burned with vengeance.

‘I don’t care about coups or anything. They deserve to die just for ruining my and Ye-rin’s lives.’

Preventing and eliminating future dangers before they happen.

That was Min Do-jun’s job and what he had to do.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t even check my inventory while escaping the scene.’

Min Do-jun belatedly examined the items looted from Kang Cheol-gyu.

His sword, hammer, and other equipment.

There were 11 pieces of equipment in total, but none had magical options.

‘I’ll have to sell the two C-grade magic stones I got from him, and the skill book too…’

The skill book was also a warrior skill that Min Do-jun didn’t need.

‘There was one collectible item…’

Min Do-jun’s eyes widened as he finally looked at the collectible.

[Ancient Tablet]

-Category: Collectible

-Grade: B

-Feature: Bound item

-Description: An old and worn-looking tablet. Archaeologists would love this.

‘This is better than expected!’

Min Do-jun’s face, which had been full of disappointment until now, brightened.

It was none other than the item he had been wanting.

‘I can’t believe I got the item I was planning to get like this.’

Min Do-jun was planning to raid a B-grade dungeon with red-beaked progenitor birds after killing Kang Cheol-gyu.

And he was going to massacre a large number of progenitor birds to obtain the ancient tablet that supposedly dropped at a low rate.

‘But since I got it like this, I won’t need to grind so hard.’

It was fortunate that Kang Cheol-gyu had it, otherwise he would have had to kill thousands of progenitor birds.

‘I can’t believe I can even take bound items…’

Min Do-jun was able to take Kang Cheol-gyu’s items thanks to his Hunter Hunter characteristic.

Without it, he would never have been able to take bound items.

‘The same goes for characteristics.’

Min Do-jun checked his newly acquired characteristic.

[Characteristic – Weakness Detection]

-Grade: S

-Description: Able to identify the opponent’s combat style and weaknesses.

‘Is this why Kang Cheol-gyu fought so well?’

Min Do-jun had unconsciously compared him to Seok Ho-cheol as he watched him block his attacks repeatedly.

‘Seok Ho-cheol’s level was also 550 when I killed him. Same as Kang Cheol-gyu.’

But killing Seok Ho-cheol had been relatively easy.

‘So there was a reason for all this.’

To think that Kang Cheol-gyu’s combat sense, which he thought was talent, was all due to his characteristic.

But Min Do-jun didn’t know.

That his own weaknesses were not visible to Kang Cheol-gyu’s eyes.

‘Weakness detection…’

It was certainly a good characteristic, but it seemed useless against monsters.

He already knew more about monsters than anyone else.

‘Still, it will be helpful when dealing with hunters.’

Unlike monsters, he didn’t have much information about hunters, so he could expect help from this characteristic.

‘Anyway, that’s good.’

The corner of Min Do-jun’s mouth curled up.

* * *

The government spared no expense in supporting hunters to stop the monsters threatening humanity.

They exempted taxes, built hunter management centers nationwide, and supported hunters with various curricula and benefits.

So that they could hunt monsters better.

So that hunters could protect the country well.

However, hunters didn’t always do good things.

“Damn, another murder case?”

Sometimes they caused incidents like this.

“Ah, chief, you’re here?”

“Briefly explain what happened in an easy-to-understand way.”

“There are three witnesses, and they heard banging sounds from the alley. When they went to check, they found him dead like this. Judging from the stab wounds, it’s presumed to be a murder case. The perpetrator had already fled and wasn’t seen.”

“What about the victim’s identity?”

“His name is Kang Cheol-gyu. He’s 21 years old and a hunter from the Wanted Guild. The guild was promoting him as a promising talent.”

“A hunter was killed? Then the perpetrator must be a hunter too.”

“That’s probably the case. An ordinary person couldn’t even scratch a hunter.”

“Have you contacted the Hunter Association?”

“Yes. They should be here soon.”

“What about canvassing the area?”

“We were doing that when we found an additional witness.”

“Additional witness?”

“Yes. It’s a couple who were assaulted by the deceased victim here.”

“Tell me in detail.”

The detective relayed to the chief everything he had heard, without adding or omitting anything.

From how the dead victim had picked a fight in front of the bathroom, to assaulting them and even threatening to rape the girlfriend.

The chief’s face turned red and blue as he listened.

“This guy was a complete piece of trash, huh?”

“Ch-chief. Others might hear you.”

“Anyway, so? How did they escape?”

“They say someone appeared and helped them when they were about to be choked to death. It was a man with a sword, but his face was covered with a hat and mask, so they couldn’t see it.”

“That guy must have killed him?”

“There’s a high possibility. The witnesses say they heard fighting sounds shortly after they escaped…”

That’s when it happened.

“Excuse me for interrupting.”

A man in a neat suit appeared, showing his ID.

“I’m Team Leader Kim Sang-yeop from the Crime Investigation Department of the Korean Hunter Association. Could I hear the details?”

The detective reported the incident to Kim Sang-yeop exactly as he had to the chief.

“A murder case… Can I see the body?”

Kim Sang-yeop examined Kang Cheol-gyu’s body with the detectives.

“These are sword wounds. As you said, it seems hunters fought each other. And this is confidential, but…”

Kim Sang-yeop pointed to the X mark on the chest.

“Judging by this mark, there’s a high possibility that this is part of the recent serial killings.”

“S-serial killings?”

“Yes. There’s a madman killing hunters and leaving this mark lately.”

“Leaving a mark… Why would they do such a thing…”

“It’s a signature that serial killers often leave. It’s to reveal their identity.”

“Couldn’t it just be a coincidence? What’s the evidence that it’s the same perpetrator?”

“This mark is the evidence. The position and size of the lines are identical to previous cases.”

“What about the possibility of a copycat?”

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s confidential. There’s no possibility of a copycat. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a copycat or not.”

Kim Sang-yeop smiled slyly.

“Whoever gets caught will be the culprit.”

* * *

[Promising Hunter of Wanted Guild Attacked by Unknown Assailant, Dies]

‘Hmm?’

Min Do-jun, who found an interesting article while looking at his smartphone, touched the title.

[Kang (21), a promising hunter of the Wanted Guild, was found dead in an alley in Bupyeong the day before yesterday evening. According to police authorities, based on wounds from a weapon and witness testimony, it is presumed that he was murdered by someone.

Meanwhile, according to A, who identified himself as a witness and victim, at the time, Kang was assaulting A for bumping shoulders and had knocked out B, A’s girlfriend, threatening to rape her when a masked man appeared and saved the two.

In light of this, the association views it as a revenge killing, and friends of Kang and members of the Wanted Guild who heard about the incident are still in shock…]

Min Do-jun’s eyes caught the comments as he scrolled down the article.

└Is that promising talent from Wanted Guild him? KCG?

└It’s Kang Cheol-gyu. I’m a hunter from another guild, and I asked my manager hyung, he said it’s him.

└Wanted Guild is a SSTC guild, what’s going on?

└I heard that guild is in chaos right now.

└SLG, just one person died.

└Still, we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, right?

└Didn’t you read the article? This b*st*rd Kang Cheol-gyu assaulted civilians and tried to sexually assault the girlfriend. And some man saved them.

└He was a complete SLG b*st*rd.

└So did that man who saved them kill Kang Cheol-gyu and run?

└Yeah.

└He’s a complete hero.

‘What hero.’

Min Do-jun took his eyes off the smartphone, feeling embarrassed.

‘I just killed him because the opportunity came.’

Anyway, it was a good thing.

‘I didn’t get caught.’

From the article, it seemed there were no significant clues about the suspect.

‘I’ll have to keep watching, but.’

He had covered his face, and he had changed and burned the clothes he wore yesterday on the way home.

Even if his movements were caught on CCTV, it would be difficult to identify him specifically.

‘I’ve twisted my route as much as possible and acted cautiously, so there’s no way I’ll get caught.’

If he gets caught, Min Do-jun’s revenge ends here.

Moreover, he won’t just be charged with Kang Cheol-gyu’s murder.

‘I’d probably be framed for the Black Sea Guild murders that have happened so far.’

Of course, Min Do-jun had no intention of letting that happen.

‘As long as I don’t get caught, it’s fine.’

At that moment, Park Dong-yun’s voice erased his thoughts.

“We’ve arrived!”

Currently, Min Do-jun was at the Red-beaked Progenitor Bird Dungeon with Park Dong-yun.

They came for hunting, but there was another reason.

‘Since I got the ancient tablet, I should use it.’

Min Do-jun waited in the car for a while without getting out.

It was because the dungeon was already in use.

“Hunter-nim. Did you rest well for two days?”

“Yes.”

“I thought it would take a few days since you said you’d rest for a while, but you contacted me so soon…”

“Did you want to rest a bit more too, manager-nim?”

“Haha, I’m human too…”

“Couldn’t you assign another temporary manager and rest for a few days?”

“Oh my, I can’t do that! I have to serve you, Hunter-nim. No one else can touch you. Hehe.”

“Oh, looks like they’ve come out now.”

Min Do-jun got out of the car as he saw four people coming out of the dungeon.

As he was putting on his equipment and preparing to enter, the hunters recognized Min Do-jun.

“Oh? Aren’t you the one who stopped the dungeon break in Gongju City?”

“I think it’s him? The face is exactly the same!”

It seems his face had become quite well-known from the video uploaded to YouTube.

Min Do-jun nodded, hiding his annoyed expression.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Wow, I thought so! Nice to meet you!”

“I heard you were level 150, what brings you here?”

“Idiot, that was two months ago.”

“Oh? Then did you already become B-rank in the meantime?”

B-rank is from level 750 to 1,500.

The entry level for the Progenitor Bird Dungeon is 500, but its rank is B.

Naturally, it was common to enter at level 750 or higher, hence the question.

“No. I’m level 500.”

“What? That’s all?”

“You’re still C-rank but the Progenitor Bird Dungeon…”

“No, more than that, level 500 in just two months. That’s incredibly fast, isn’t it?”

Regardless of their surprise, Min Do-jun prepared to enter, and the hunters looked around.

“Huh? Are there no other party members?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going in alone?”

“Yes.”

The hunters showed surprised expressions at that answer, but only for a moment.

“It’s your first time, right? Don’t go in. You’ll die.”

“That’s right. Even we barely cleared it with four people.”

“You said you’re level 500, right? Do you know what our levels are? Late 700s.”

“Go to the Tarantula Dungeon. This is not the place for you.”

They started subtly looking down on Min Do-jun while trying to dissuade him from entering.

“And you said your job is magic swordsman, right?”

“As far as I know, magic swordsman is trash…”

“Going into a 4-person dungeon alone is crazy from the start.”

“No, the more I hear, these people…”

As Park Dong-yun, who was listening from the side, tried to intervene, Min Do-jun raised his hand to stop him.

“Thank you all for your concern, but I’ll handle this myself.”

“You’re going to ruin your life…”

“Then would you like to make a bet with me?”

“A bet?”

“If I clear it and come out, please transfer 200 million won each.”

“And if you can’t?”

“I’ll give each of you 500 million won. Ah, if I die, I won’t be able to send money, so I’ll set up a scheduled transfer. Then there’s no problem, right?”

The hunters made dumbfounded expressions.

‘What’s this? This crazy b*st*rd?’

To confidently make a bet that he can only lose.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Since it came up, I’ll do it now. On the condition that you accept the bet, of course.”

“Just a moment. Let us discuss…”

The hunters gathered in one place and whispered.

“What should we do?”

“What do you mean? We should accept it right away!”

“What if that b*st*rd dies? Won’t we be responsible?”

“What responsibility? He brought this on himself.”

“Something seems suspicious about how confident he is…”

“Hey, honestly, do you think we’ll lose if we bet?”

The hunters all shook their heads.

“In my opinion, that b*st*rd is just trying to save face. He’s acting like this because we said a few words.”

“Now that you mention it, it does seem that way.”

“Anyway, I’m going to do it. It’s a chance to take 500 million from an idiot, right?”

At the mention of 500 million, the other hunters’ eyes started to turn.

“I’ll do it too.”

“Me too!”

Having reached a unanimous agreement, they approached Min Do-jun.

“Have you made your decision?”

“Before answering, let’s make this clear. We’re not responsible if you die, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then we accept.”

“Then please tell me your account numbers.”

Min Do-jun set up scheduled transfers in front of the hunters and had them confirm.

“Now even if I die, the money will be transferred without any problems. Of course, if I clear the dungeon, the reservation will be canceled and you’ll have to hand over the money.”

“Hehe, I don’t think that will happen.”

“Well, we’ll see. Then I’ll go in.”

As Min Do-jun who said so walked towards the dungeon entrance, the hunters giggled.

“Wow, I never thought we’d make money like this?”

“500 million! We hit the jackpot, hehe.”

“He’ll either die or come out with penalties. One of the two.”

“The time limit is 6 hours,