Chapter 45 – Breaking an Important Promise

Min Do-jun, who had just finished conquering the Archaeopteryx dungeon as usual, got into Park Dong-yun’s car.

“Please take me to the next location.”

“Yes, sir!”

As he leaned back in his seat and checked his smartphone, he noticed a missed call and a text message.

[Seeing that you’re not answering, you must be busy. I called to meet up and chat after a long time.]

After reading the message, Min Do-jun hurriedly made a call.

“Teacher, it’s me, Do-jun. Yes, it’s been a while. Alright, I’ll see you there then.”

As soon as he hung up, Min Do-jun said, “Mr. Handler, please turn the car around. We’ll end today’s hunt here.”

“Do you have some urgent business…?”

“I have an important appointment.”

After saying that, Min Do-jun fell silent.

‘Does he have an appointment with a school teacher?’

Though curious, Park Dong-yun didn’t bother to ask. Min Do-jun’s face was unusually serious.

‘It’s better not to interfere too deeply in personal matters.’

The car headed towards Min Do-jun’s house.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, go on in!”

After entering his house, Min Do-jun took a shower and opened his closet.

‘I don’t have any suitable clothes to wear.’

He hadn’t paid attention to his appearance while focusing solely on hunting.

‘If only Ye-rin were here at times like this…’

Suddenly, he felt the absence of Cha Ye-rin. But it was still too early to meet her.

‘I wonder if Ye-rin is a high school student by now?’

He recalled her happy face, but at the same time, he remembered her face contorted in pain just before dying.

Creak-

Abruptly, Min Do-jun checked the ranking window.

872nd place – Yang Seung-hyun (born 1997) – Level 1,201 (B-rank)

‘Yang Seung-hyun.’

He was Min Do-jun’s next target.

‘His level is 1,201, but I might be able to take him down if I do it right…’

Currently, Min Do-jun’s level was 700, which was significantly lower compared to Yang Seung-hyun. However, having experienced killing Jo Gyu-chan, a level 1,002 assassin, he thought he might be able to win if he played his cards right.

‘No. I need to be cautious for now.’

Suppressing his anger, Min Do-jun went out dressed in casual everyday clothes. He was about to use the money in his bank account, which had accumulated to hundreds of millions, for the first time in a while.

* * *

“We’ve arrived.”

Min Do-jun got out of the taxi at a nearby large department store. He headed to the luxury goods section of the fashion accessories corner and looked around at wallets.

“Welcome, sir.”

“I’m looking for a wallet to give as a gift to a man in his 40s. Could you recommend something?”

The employee, seeing Min Do-jun’s shabby appearance, was secretly disappointed.

‘He must be trying to buy a wallet for his father with his saved allowance.’

Since he looked like a penniless college student to anyone, the employee recommended the cheapest wallet in the store.

“How about this? It’s on sale for 200,000 won…”

“200,000 won?”

Seeing Min Do-jun’s surprised expression, the employee inwardly sighed.

‘How can he be surprised at 200,000 won… Does he not even have that much money?’

But the reason for Min Do-jun’s surprise was the opposite.

“That’s too cheap. Don’t you have anything more expensive?”

“Pardon? Oh… Then how about this? It’s popular among middle-aged men and is specially priced at 400,000 won…”

“Not that, do you have anything over a million won?”

“A million won?”

The employee, eyes widened, quickly regained composure and brought out a wallet.

“This is alligator leather, popular among men. It would make a great gift.”

“That looks good. How much is it?”

“It’s 1.4 million won.”

“I’ll take it.”

Min Do-jun unhesitatingly held out his card.

“How many months for the installment…”

“Full payment, please.”

While waiting for the payment to process, Min Do-jun looked at the women’s wallet section and picked one up.

“Please add this to the bill as well.”

“That will be an additional 600,000 won…”

“Please process the payment.”

The employee could no longer look down on Min Do-jun. They could only bow at a 90-degree angle.

“Thank you! Please visit us again!”

The next place Min Do-jun visited was the men’s clothing department.

“Are you looking for something specific?”

“I’d like to look at suits. Not custom-made, but something I can wear right away.”

The clerk’s eyes quickly scanned Min Do-jun’s attire.

‘His clothes look shabby, so he probably doesn’t have much money. He looks to be in his early 20s, but he’s looking for a suit… Is he going for a job interview?’

After analyzing, the clerk put on a mechanical smile and recommended,

“How about this? It’s popular among young people these days, and the price is reasonable…”

What he recommended was one of the cheapest suits in the store.

‘He probably won’t think 300,000 won is expensive.’

He recommended it thinking it was just the right price for the customer’s level, but…

The customer’s gaze quickly moved elsewhere, seemingly uninterested.

“I like this one. I’d like to try it on.”

What Min Do-jun chose was the most expensive suit in the store.

“Ah… Alright.”

The clerk was reluctant to let him try on something he probably wouldn’t buy, but he had no choice since he was a customer.

A moment later, Min Do-jun came out of the fitting room wearing the suit and smiled satisfactorily while looking in the mirror.

“How does it look? Does it suit me?”

“Well… It does suit you, but it’s expensive…”

“How much is it?”

“It’s 1.3 million won.”

“That’s not much. I’ll take this one.”

“Ah… Are, are you sure?”

The clerk was flustered by how coolly Min Do-jun spoke, as if money was no object.

“Oh, and I’ll also buy a dress shirt, tie, shoes, and belt.”

Usually, one would have to go around to different stores, but lacking time, he bought everything in one place.

“The total comes to 2 million won, sir.”

It was pocket change compared to the money he had. After paying by card, the clerk bowed as Min Do-jun turned to leave.

“Thank you, sir! Have a wonderful day!”

Neatly dressed in his new suit, Min Do-jun headed to the meeting place.

“Please take me to Seocho-dong.”

After getting out of the taxi, he entered the café where they had agreed to meet, feeling slightly excited.

“Do-jun.”

A middle-aged man waved his hand, gesturing him to come over.

“Teacher…”

It was a reunion after almost 8 years. Min Do-jun, seemingly overwhelmed by emotions, stood still for a moment before approaching him.

“Have you been well?”

The man’s name was Hwang Eui-cheol. He was a government hunter who had saved 15-year-old Min Do-jun from a monster, becoming his lifesaver.

“It’s been a long time, teacher.”

“Yes. The last time I saw you was when you entered high school, right?”

“Yes. It’s been three years.”

For Min Do-jun, it had actually been 8 years since he last saw Hwang Eui-cheol. The last time he saw him before the regression was when he was 22 years old. After that, he hadn’t seen him until he died at 30 and regressed, so it had been over 8 years.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t visit you all this time, teacher.”

As Min Do-jun bowed his head respectfully, Hwang Eui-cheol was taken aback.

‘Is this really the Do-jun I knew?’

Hwang Eui-cheol first met Min Do-jun 5 years ago. As a government hunter with 5 years of experience, he had saved Min Do-jun, who was about to die from a monster while trying to stop a dungeon break.

He was just an ordinary middle school student, crying and clinging to him after his parents’ death.

‘I saw him enter high school, but after that…’

Since then, he had only kept in touch occasionally due to being busy, until they finally managed to set up this meeting after a long time.

‘He seemed ordinary back then, but…’

The current Min Do-jun seemed much more mature, and his aura was somehow different from when he was in high school. It was like a calm lake…

“If you hadn’t shown up in time 5 years ago, teacher, I would probably be next to my parents by now. Considering that debt of gratitude, I should have contacted you first and visited you…”

It wasn’t just empty words. Min Do-jun really had intended to meet Hwang Eui-cheol when the time came. He was his lifesaver and the only acquaintance he could trust. He just hadn’t been able to make time due to his busy schedule.

However, it seemed Min Do-jun wasn’t the only one who had been busy.

“I should be the one apologizing. I should have looked after you, who was left alone, but I’m only contacting you now.”

Hwang Eui-cheol apologized instead. Min Do-jun waved his hands in embarrassment.

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’m already so grateful just for having my life saved.”

After speaking, Min Do-jun swallowed his following words internally.

‘Now, I will protect you.’

Two years from now, Hwang Eui-cheol would be killed by the Black Sea Guild. The reason was unknown, but judging from the mark on his corpse, it was certain that the Black Sea Guild was responsible.

‘The Black Sea Guild was later annihilated by the government, but I couldn’t protect the teacher.’

The reason Min Do-jun hadn’t met Hwang Eui-cheol for 8 years was that he had died.

‘Now, I will save the teacher’s life.’

That’s why he was working behind the scenes to draw out the Black Sea Guild. The master of the Black Sea Guild was also someone he needed to take revenge on.

“By the way, Do-jun. I’m a bit disappointed in you.”

“Pardon?”

“You awakened but didn’t say a word to me. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”

“About that… I’m sorry.”

Focused solely on revenge, he hadn’t even sent a text message after regressing. Though it had only been four months since the regression.

Hwang Eui-cheol, being a government hunter, was also aware of this fact.

“I only heard about it recently. That there’s a hunter growing at an incredible speed. And what? 700 levels in four months? You know what I said to the hunter who told me that? I told him to stop talking nonsense.”

“Haha…”

It was natural not to believe it. Level 700 was something that would take 3 years at most, or 1 year at least, of hunting to achieve.

“But I never imagined it would be you, Do-jun. So I thought I’d give this guy a piece of my mind when I met him. For making me hear about his awakening through someone else’s mouth.”

“I’m sorry for not contacting you earlier, teacher.”

“Stop with that ‘teacher’ already… Shouldn’t you be calling me ‘senior’ now?”

“Is that so?”

As Min Do-jun smiled, Hwang Eui-cheol also broke into a wide grin.

“Anyway, I’m really glad. I don’t know how you were able to grow so fast, but it’s good that you’ve gained enough strength to fend for yourself.”

“Even so, I can’t hold a candle to you, an early-stage hunter, teacher.”

“Kid, where did you learn to flatter like that?”

Ten years ago, when monsters appeared, people over 20 years old were chosen as awakened ones. Of course, not everyone, but about 1 in 1,000. Men, women, young, old – anyone over 20 had the chance.

Those who awakened at that time were called early-stage hunters. Hwang Eui-cheol, in his late 40s, was one of them. In a way, he was an older hunter, but in another sense, he was a veteran hunter with 10 years of experience.

“I was 39 when I first awakened. I didn’t know anything back then.”

In those days when information was scarce, early-stage hunters had to endure many hardships.

“At first, I had to learn through trial and error, facing death multiple times. But I gradually adapted. And I’m still alive now, after 10 years. As an A-rank hunter.”

Hwang Eui-cheol was an A-rank hunter with over 2,000 levels.

“I admire you, teacher.”

“I’m not saying this to brag about myself.”

“Then…?”

“In the 10 years I’ve been watching countless hunters, I’ve never seen anyone grow as fast as you. And from my experience, hunters are very jealous creatures.”

“…”

“The higher your level, the more cautious and careful you need to be. I’m not talking about being careful of monsters. I’m talking about being careful of people. Do you understand what I mean, Do-jun?”

“I understand.”

Min Do-jun knew as well. The fact that the faster he grew, the more envy he would attract from those around him. After all, he too had lived as a hunter for 10 years.

‘Still, it feels good that the teacher is worried about me.’

Min Do-jun didn’t dislike the sincere advice filled with his senior’s experience.

“I’ll always be careful, teacher. Oh, and please accept this.”

Min Do-jun held out a shopping bag.

“What is it?”

“I bought something for you on my way here.”

“A wallet?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you buy such a thing? I didn’t prepare anything…”

“It’s fine. I’m giving it to you because of the favor I received.”

“Isn’t it expensive?”

“It’s not much. There’s also one for your daughter inside.”

“Even one for Da-yeon?”

Hwang Eui-cheol’s face lit up. Then, realizing he had shown too much joy, he composed his expression.

“Ahem, well, thank you anyway.”

Afterwards, the two exchanged casual conversation.

“How is Da-yeon doing?”

“Don’t even mention it. She became a college student and now she’s always drinking with her friends until late, not listening to me. Sigh.”

“That’s how everyone is at that age, isn’t it?”

“Listen to yourself. You’re talking like some 30 or 40-year-old uncle? You and Da-yeon are the same age.”

“Haha, is that so?”

“You’re the same age, but why are you acting so differently…”

While grumbling, Hwang Eui-cheol checked the time.

“Huh? It’s already this late?”

“Why? Do you need to go?”

“No, it’s not that. Someone else is supposed to come…”

“Who?”

“Just wait. They should be here soon… Ah, over here, over here!”

Min Do-jun turned his head following Hwang Eui-cheol’s gaze and his eyes widened. He saw a familiar face.