Chapter 48 – Yang Seung-hyun

Halfway up Mangwolsan Mountain.

Yang Seung-hyun was waiting for someone there.

“Ah, damn it, why isn’t he coming?”

He had waited for over 30 minutes, but the person he had promised to meet hadn’t shown up.

Just as he was getting tired of waiting and feeling irritated,

A scrawny man was seen walking out of the forest.

“Wasn’t the promised time 4 o’clock? You’re 30 minutes late.”

“Hehe, I apologize for making you wait. Actually, I arrived earlier, but I was looking around to see if there was anyone tailing me.”

“Tailing? Who would follow me at this hour?”

“You never know. You might have earned someone’s hatred.”

“Who would hate me? I attend social gatherings and get along well with the staff at the center.”

“Then you’re doing well. The better your reputation is, the less suspicion you’ll draw. Hehe.”

The man, laughing ominously, asked Yang Seung-hyun,

“So, did you bring it?”

“Of course.”

Yang Seung-hyun held out a USB as if he had been waiting.

“Is the information in here?”

“Yes. It contains information about dungeons that are about to break as well as the government hunters who will be deployed.”

“What about the date?”

“It’s today. The estimated time is 2 PM, and if someone clears it during that time, it will be ruined, so I’ll give you new information then.”

“The dungeon is C-grade as I requested, right?”

“Of course. It’s a C-grade Little Snake dungeon.”

“Hmm, Little Snakes are 8,000 each, so if we kill 200, that’s 16 billion. Perfect. Hehe.”

Yang Seung-hyun asked the man who was grinning.

“Can you really do all of this alone?”

“Don’t worry. My abilities are specialized in this area, so there’s no concern of getting caught.”

“Just so you know, the government hunter being deployed is B-grade. His level is 750, but he’s not easy to kill…”

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? I’m also B-grade, and I told you my level is over 1,000, didn’t I?”

“But since you won’t tell me your name, I can’t confirm…”

“It’s a trade secret, so I can’t tell you. Anyway, Yang Seung-hyun, you’re fine as long as you get the money, right?”

“That’s true.”

The scrawny man brought a prepared sack while he was at it.

“This is the advance payment. Check it.”

Inside were 21 B-grade magic stones.

“Wasn’t the promised amount 20?”

“1 is a bonus. If things go well, I’ll give you 10 more.”

31 pieces at 120 million each would be 3.72 billion.

Since Yang Seung-hyun’s annual salary at level 1,201 was 3.4 billion, he had earned a little more than that.

“I just sold some information, and I made a year’s salary. Hehe.”

Seeing Yang Seung-hyun staring at the magic stones with greedy eyes, the man could feel relieved.

‘He won’t go around blabbing about this.’

Judging by his greed for money, he didn’t think he would betray him.

That’s why he had approached him first.

“Then I’ll go first. Wait about 30 minutes before coming down. If we move together, we might draw suspicion.”

“Yes! Take care!”

As the man disappeared first, Yang Seung-hyun picked up the magic stones.

“Hehehe, what a windfall!”

He had tens of billions in his hands without much effort.

“If this job goes well, I should ask him if he wants to deal again next time.”

Humming, Yang Seung-hyun put the magic stones into his inventory.

Swoosh-

When he put his hand on them and said “acquire,” the magic stones disappeared without a trace.

“He said to come back in 30 minutes, right?”

Yang Seung-hyun sat on the ground and spent time looking at his smartphone.

As a result, he didn’t even notice someone approaching from behind.

Bam!

“Kuh-ugh!”

A tremendous impact struck the back of his head.

It felt like someone had punched him hard.

He jumped up and raised his head, but,

“Ugh, what the?”

There was no one around.

No, there was someone, but his combat power wasn’t high enough to detect the invisibility.

“What the hell… Hiiieek!”

Yang Seung-hyun, who was turning his head, was startled as if he had seen a ghost.

Because a man had suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

Bam!

“Ack!”

He took a direct punch to the face and rolled on the ground.

“Sh-shit!”

Yang Seung-hyun tried to get up quickly, but,

Slash!

A dagger grazed his forearm.

[You have inflicted the curse of petrification on the target.]

[The higher the target’s level, the shorter the duration.]

[Time remaining: 6 minutes 39 seconds]

Crackle-

Yang Seung-hyun turned into a stone statue in the posture he was trying to get up.

“He was nothing special.”

Min Do-jun, who had succeeded in the surprise attack, put the cursed dagger back into his inventory.

He had been worried because of Yang Seung-hyun’s high level, but he was actually very weak when confronted.

‘Weakness Detection is helpful at times like this.’

Unlike Lee Se-yoon, whose information was hidden, he could see Yang Seung-hyun’s weaknesses.

‘That means he’s either weaker than me or on par with me.’

He thought it was manageable.

Moreover, if the opponent was completely off guard like now, even more so.

So he had approached silently, struck the back of his head, and immediately used Invisibility.

And then he had petrified him with the dagger like this.

“Should I wait for 6 minutes?”

After waiting like that,

Yang Seung-hyun’s body regained its original skin color and returned from being a statue.

“Gasp!”

Before Yang Seung-hyun could even react, Min Do-jun swung his sword and cut off the guy’s legs.

Slice-

“Aaaargh!”

Yang Seung-hyun, who had fallen to the ground, wailed in pain.

“Does it hurt?”

“Ugh, y-you, what the hell!”

“What do you mean? I’m someone who has business with you.”

“Shit!”

Tzzzt-

Yang Seung-hyun tried to take out a weapon with his left hand, but,

Slice-!

“Aaaah!”

His wrist was cut off before that.

“Why did you try to take out a weapon then?”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Even seeing the guy bleeding profusely, Min Do-jun didn’t feel any pity.

The guy was trash who would ruin his life, and based on the circumstances, he was conspiring to commit a crime.

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Spare my life! Spare my life!”

“This guy is really annoying.”

Seeing the guy screaming with tenacity, one thought came to mind.

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to call that guy who was with you?”

“Help! There’s someone here!”

“It’s no use screaming. That guy has already gone down the mountain.”

“How do you know!”

“I have my ways.”

The reason Min Do-jun remained calm despite the loud screams was because of the tracking skill he had placed on the man.

[Distance from the target: 2.37 km]

At this distance, even if Yang Seung-hyun screamed, he wouldn’t be able to hear it.

Moreover, the distance was continuously increasing.

It meant he was leaving without knowing anything.

In other words, no matter how much Yang Seung-hyun shouted, there was no one to help him.

‘But just in case someone might hear.’

Min Do-jun took out the cursed dagger again.

Slash!

[You have inflicted the curse of pain on the target.]

[Time remaining: 6 minutes 39 seconds]

“Aaaargh!”

“Tsk, I was hoping for the curse of silence, but it became even noisier.”

Min Do-jun, shaking his head, changed back to a one-handed sword.

“Hey, hey.”

Poke poke-

“Aaah! Ah, it hurts! It hurts!”

Even though he had only stabbed very lightly, the guy was screaming and writhing.

“This effect is good.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Slice!

The moment he let his guard down, Min Do-jun cut off Yang Seung-hyun’s finger.

“Aaaaaaargh!!!”

“If someone saw this, they might think I cut off your arm.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

As Min Do-jun raised his one-handed sword again,

“Spare me, please spare me. Please…!”

“Are you ready to talk now?”

Nod nod.

Min Do-jun smirked at the sight of the guy vigorously nodding his head.

“Why did you resist so much if it was going to end up like this anyway?”

“Ugh…”

“Give me your phone. Unlock it.”

After receiving the phone, Min Do-jun manipulated something with his gloved hand and said,

“Spill everything. What were you planning with that scrawny bastard earlier?”

He had overheard their conversation, so he had a rough idea of the situation, but he wanted to hear it clearly from the guy’s mouth.

“T-then will you spare my life?”

Slice!

“Aaaaaah!”

Another finger was cut off.

“Is this a negotiation? You have no choice.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

“It’s better to talk quickly and end this. I still have plenty of time to torture you.”

“Ah, I understand…”

Yang Seung-hyun endured the pain and revealed the criminal plan.

“We were planning to cause a dungeon break…”

Min Do-jun nodded his head.

It was as expected.

“I would provide information about the dungeon and the government hunter, and that person would take care of it…”

“Who is that person?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know his name or level, but it was that person who made this proposal to me in the first place.”

“So what exact information did you pass on?”

“The location of the dungeon that’s about to break, the identity of the government hunter, the time of deployment, etc.”

“Tell me in detail.”

Yang Seung-hyun disclosed the location of the dungeon and the time of the crime to Min Do-jun.

“Then how does he plan to handle it?”

“That person was going to kill the soldier guarding the dungeon and the deployed government hunter alone. After that, he was going to leave the dungeon break to happen.”

“And you passed on the information to him knowing that?”

“Yes…”

Just passing on information doesn’t make the crime less serious.

It was equivalent to putting innocent soldiers and government hunters in danger.

‘They both deserve to die.’

Min Do-jun sighed and said,

“After causing the dungeon break like that, then what?”

“He said he would directly stop the dungeon break as if he had discovered it by chance.”

“So his goal is the dungeon break reward?”

“That’s right…”

The method of causing a dungeon break and stopping it as if by coincidence to obtain the reward.

However, if another hunter appeared as if waiting and stopped the dungeon break, there would be nothing more suspicious than that.

“That’s absurd. Wouldn’t that be perfect for drawing suspicion?”

“I thought the same and told him, but he said there would be no evidence, so I shouldn’t worry about his side. He said his abilities were specialized in that area…”

Min Do-jun tried to recall if there had been such incidents in the past.

‘Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen a few articles about stopping dungeon breaks.’

Although he didn’t know when, articles about someone stopping dungeon breaks with good timing would occasionally come up.

‘Are you saying all of those were staged by that man?’

But the strange thing was that he had never heard anything about government hunters being killed.

‘If a government hunter dies and someone conveniently appears with good timing, it would be highly suspicious…’

Anyway, he had obtained all the useful information from Yang Seung-hyun.

Min Do-jun manipulated Yang Seung-hyun’s phone and pressed a button.

[We were planning to cause a dungeon break…]

“The recording is done.”

“…”

As Min Do-jun got up from his seat, Yang Seung-hyun spoke as if he had been waiting.

“I-I’ll be spared now, r-right…”

Stab-

Min Do-jun thrust his sword into Yang Seung-hyun’s chest.

“Spare you?”

“Kuh-ugh…!”

“You deserve to die.”

Swoosh-

The sword that had pierced his heart was pulled out of Yang Seung-hyun’s body.

Thud-

[You have killed Hunter Yang Seung-hyun.]

[You have stolen the trait Weapon Mastery.]

[You have stolen 7 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 21 magic stones.]

As Yang Seung-hyun collapsed, Min Do-jun threw his phone beside his head.

‘With the recording file, his crime will be exposed to the whole world.’

If he had just killed him, Yang Seung-hyun would have probably remained an innocent victim.

That was something even Min Do-jun disliked.

‘I didn’t leave any fingerprints or voice, so there’s no way I’ll get caught.’

He had touched the phone while wearing gloves and only pressed the record button when Yang Seung-hyun was confessing.

‘Now there’s only one thing left to do.’

Track down that scrawny man.

‘I can’t let the dungeon break happen.’

Before the sun rose, Min Do-jun quickly left the scene.