Chapter 50 – Energy Recovery

There was a C-grade Little Snake dungeon in Okcheon-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun.

This was the dungeon where Kim Byung-chul planned to cause a dungeon break.

‘I should patrol around this area.’

Min Do-joon arrived early and was surveying the surroundings.

He was searching to see which direction Kim Byung-chul would appear from.

Of course, he wouldn’t get caught since he used invisibility in areas with CCTV.

‘He’ll probably try to go up the mountain since entering from the front would get caught on CCTV.’

From the conversation with Yang Seung-hyun, Kim Byung-chul seemed to be quite meticulous.

‘He was careful enough to check the mountain area for tails.’

Given that, Kim Byung-chul was likely to come through an area without CCTV.

The expected route was roughly drawn.

‘He’ll take the bus since a personal car would stand out. He’ll probably get off at the bus stop, walk a bit, then take a side road without CCTV.’

After that, he would cross the mountain to reach the dungeon.

That would be less conspicuous.

Min Do-joon hid in front of the mountain and waited for him.

[Distance to target: 812m]

…

[Distance to target: 211m]

…

[Distance to target: 58m]

Watching the distance gradually decrease, he was convinced.

His prediction was correct.

And when Kim Byung-chul appeared as expected, he inwardly rejoiced.

‘No people around, no CCTV… now’s the perfect time.’

Seeing his chance, Min Do-joon approached with a naive expression while touching his back hair.

“Excuse me… could I ask for directions?”

“Directions?”

From Kim Byung-chul’s expression, he didn’t seem suspicious.

“Yes. I heard there’s a bus stop around here…”

“Ah, the bus stop?”

The moment Kim Byung-chul turned his head.

*Swoosh-*

A dagger materialized in Min Do-joon’s hand that was touching his back hair.

*Slash-*

“Ah, it stings!”

Taking advantage of his guard being down, he slashed with the dagger.

[You have cursed the target with blindness.]

He could see Kim Byung-chul panicking as he lost his sight.

After that, it wasn’t difficult.

*Swoosh-*

Instantly changing his weapon to a one-handed sword.

*Stab-*

He pierced straight through the heart.

[You have killed Hunter Kim Byung-chul.]

[You have stolen the Energy Recovery characteristic.]

[You have stolen 9 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 12 magic stones.]

‘Invisibility.’

He used the invisibility skill right after killing Kim Byung-chul.

Having achieved his goal, he planned to leave immediately.

The corpse could be left as is.

However.

‘Huh?’

Wasn’t Kim Byung-chul’s corpse smoothly disappearing?

Like how monsters turn into smoke and vanish.

Min Do-joon was so surprised he couldn’t even think about running away.

‘What’s going on?’

Kim Byung-chul’s body was now completely untraceable.

Only the clothes he had been wearing and his possessions remained.

He waved his hand through where the body had been just to be sure, but there was nothing there.

‘I thought he might have gone into stealth but that’s not it either…’

He had this doubt because the body disappeared smoothly like someone going into stealth.

Then, a notification appeared that resolved his confusion.

[You have absorbed the target’s corpse.]

[Health is being restored.]

Seeing the notification, Min Do-joon wondered what this meant.

‘No way?’

Min Do-joon opened the information for the new characteristic he had obtained.

[Characteristic – Energy Recovery]

– Grade: S

– Description: When you kill a target, absorb their corpse to recover wounds and health. Recovery rate varies depending on the target’s health.

‘Absorb the corpse?’

This was why Kim Byung-chul’s body had disappeared like magic.

‘So this is why he was confident about not getting caught?’

They said Kim Byung-chul’s characteristic was specialized in this way…

Looking at the characteristic’s information, it made sense.

‘Indeed, if the body disappears like this, it would be hard to find evidence.’

There might be suspicion, but no physical evidence remains.

Just like killing in a dungeon.

‘Given that I stole and applied the characteristic, it seems to activate one beat later.’

Though clothes and possessions remained, it didn’t matter if they were found.

‘Let’s get out of here first.’

Though he was dumbfounded, there was nothing good about staying at the crime scene.

Min Do-joon moved away before his invisibility wore off.

* * *

While police usually handle crimes, hunter-related cases are investigated by the Hunter Association.

At the Korean Hunter Association located in Seoul.

Kim Sang-yeop, the Criminal Investigation Department team leader, was irritated by the recent increase in murder cases.

“What case is it this time?”

“A hunter was killed on Mount Mangwol.”

Kim Sang-yeop frowned at his subordinate’s report.

“Does it have an X mark on the chest again?”

“No sir. I checked personally, and there was nothing but a sword wound through the chest.”

“At least they died cleanly then.”

“Not exactly. Based on the severed legs, wrists, and fingers, we suspect they were tortured.”

Kim Sang-yeop rubbed his forehead with a sigh.

“Who the hell is doing this?”

Hunter deaths had increased significantly recently.

They thought it might all be the work of one person based on the clean sword wounds and X marks, but this time there was no mark.

“Who’s the victim?”

“A B-rank hunter named Yang Seung-hyun, a government hunter from the Yangpyeong branch.”

“They targeted a government hunter of all people?”

Government hunters had a righteous image like police or firefighters since they prevented dungeon breaks.

“Any leads on the perpetrator?”

“Actually, I wanted to discuss that – please look at this first.”

The subordinate handed over a USB.

“What’s on this?”

“Audio recordings found on the victim’s phone.”

There were several files inside, all consisting of brief answers.

However, each of these brief answers contained shocking content.

“Planning a dungeon break, are they insane?”

“They were planning to stage it for the reward money.”

“Have you verified if this information is accurate?”

“Yes. The dungeon location, timing, details of the assigned government hunter – everything matches.”

“But no dungeon break occurred?”

“No. From the conversation, the voice seems to belong to the informant, with a separate executor, but nothing happened on the planned day.”

“Who does the voice belong to?”

“Our investigation shows it’s the victim’s voice.”

“What?”

The subordinate added to the dumbfounded Kim Sang-yeop.

“It seems someone tortured him to confess and recorded it.”

“If this is true, you’re saying a government hunter conspired with someone to cause a dungeon break?”

“That’s correct.”

“Haa…”

A government hunter, who should protect citizens from dungeon breaks, conspired with someone for reward money?

“This is exactly the kind of story journalists would love…”

Just thinking about the public fallout was giving him a headache.

“Any suspects?”

“Well… while we think whoever recorded the conversation is the suspect, there are no clues anywhere.”

“Sigh, what about the co-conspirator who planned this with the victim?”

“Their identity is also unknown…”

Unknown suspect, unknown conspirator, victim killed after revealing the crime.

“What kind of case is this…”

Kim Sang-yeop would have to rack his brains over this case with only the recordings as evidence.

* * *

[Breaking News! Government Hunter Yang Found Murdered in Mountains]

[Voice Recordings Found on Phone Reveal Dungeon Break Plot…]

[Shocking! Current Government Hunter Leaked Information for Dungeon Break Reward]

[Association Strengthening Security to Prevent Dungeon Breaks…]

[Considering Doubling Government Hunter Recruitment and Implementing Two-Person System…]

Min Do-joon nodded while reading the successive articles.

‘Yang Seung-hyun’s crime has been revealed as planned.’

Curious about people’s reactions, Min Do-joon checked the article comments.

└Crazy. A government hunter planning dungeon break ㄷㄷ;;

└If you read carefully, he wasn’t alone. There was a conspirator. He just passed information.

└Even if he just passed information, he still enabled a dungeon break, right?

└Either way, they’re both bastards.

└Need to retrain all government hunters now. Strengthen security too.

└Another article says they’re implementing a two-person system.

└This is how vulnerable our country is.

└But articles say there was a conspirator planning the break, why didn’t it happen?

└Probably got cold feet after receiving the info and disappeared.

└I think the suspect killed them. They say the victim didn’t make the recording himself.

└So the suspect found out about the plan and killed them both?

└This seems like the most plausible theory.

└For real, what a hero.

└Whoever it is deserves an award.

└Good riddance to those bastards anyway.

Most comments were cursing Yang Seung-hyun and Kim Byung-chul.

‘That’s good. They didn’t remain innocent victims.’

Min Do-joon was satisfied that their crimes were exposed.

If he hadn’t made the recording, Yang Seung-hyun’s crimes might have remained hidden forever.

’11 more to go.’

There were still many hunters to take revenge on.

But it wouldn’t be easy.

They were all prominent B-rank or higher hunters.

‘They’re all somewhat famous, so killing them won’t be simple.’

While he had killed easily until now, he’d have to be more careful with more eyes watching.

However.

‘Energy Recovery…’

With the characteristic obtained from killing Kim Byung-chul, he could cleanly dispose of bodies.

‘There’s a huge difference between leaving a body and not.’

If he could make bodies disappear as missing persons, the risk of being traced would greatly decrease.

The effect of recovering wounds and health also seemed useful.

‘I was planning to refrain from killing outside, but that might not be necessary.’

With reduced risk, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill whether in dungeons or outside.

“We’ve arrived.”

“How much?”

“46,800 won.”

Min Do-joon handed over a 50,000 won bill.

“Keep the change.”

“Oh my. Thank you, sir!”

As he got out of the taxi, the driver quickly retrieved his carrier from the trunk.

“Have a pleasant trip!”

Min Do-joon’s destination was none other than Incheon Airport.

‘Can’t neglect growth while seeking revenge.’

Growth was necessary for revenge, and that’s why he came to the airport.

He lined up at the check-in counter for boarding procedures.

“Your destination is Tokyo Narita Airport, correct?”

“Yes.”

He checked his carrier and received his pre-booked ticket.

As time approached, he went through immigration and boarded the plane.

His reason for visiting Japan was tourism.

That was the surface reason, of course; his actual purpose was different.

‘Ghost Island. I’ll tackle Clark there.’

Taking down a named boss in a B-rank hidden dungeon.

That was the purpose of this trip.