Chapter 88 – Repenting

Min Do-jun, who had been glaring with murderous intent, finally averted his gaze.

‘I really shouldn’t kill him after all.’

Though he wanted to behead Lee Se-yun, the aftermath would be problematic.

‘I don’t have a suitable excuse.’

If he entered the dungeon with just the two of them and only Min Do-jun came out, he’d naturally be suspected.

The dungeon’s difficulty was too low to claim he died to a suddenly appearing boss.

‘It’s not impossible for an A-rank hunter to die to a B-rank dungeon boss, but…’

Still, it would be hard to believe a skilled level 2,200 like Lee Se-yun died by mistake.

‘They’d obviously suspect me.’

They’d think Min Do-jun killed him by surprise.

‘If no one had seen my face, I wouldn’t have to worry about this…’

Min Do-jun’s face was already exposed to the soldiers guarding the dungeon entrance and Lee Se-yun’s fans.

There were witnesses.

‘I can’t kill him.’

Considering the future, he couldn’t kill him now.

He shouldn’t leave any possibility of suspicion if possible.

“Shall we leave now?”

Min Do-jun silently turned his back at Lee Se-yun’s words after finishing his appreciation.

Unlike him with his obvious displeasure, Lee Se-yun had a highly excited expression upon exiting the cave.

That was natural since he achieved what he wanted.

‘I finally solved the tablet’s secret…!’

How much effort had he put into figuring out how to use the ancient tablet?

He’d tried combining it with other collectibles and entered the Progenitor Bird dungeon countless times.

He’d been scolded by his uncle several times too.

“Thanks to you, Do-jun, I got to use the ancient tablet and obtain the ancient armor. How did you find out this information?”

“I just happened to discover it while wandering around.”

“I had no idea the ancient tablet could be used like this. Thank you so much.”

Lee Se-yun extended his hand, unaware Min Do-jun had tried to kill him.

It was a handshake of reconciliation, but Min Do-jun didn’t accept it.

“Let’s just finish the raid and leave quickly.”

“Ah… yes.”

To leave the dungeon, they had to kill 200 Progenitor Birds and complete the raid.

“It’s inefficient to stay together, so let’s split up and hunt.”

Min Do-jun left after saying only that.

Having received the skill book, he didn’t want to linger in the dungeon a moment longer.

‘I just wasted time because of Lee Se-yun.’

He didn’t regret giving the tablet information.

The information would be released in a month anyway, and the Progenitor Bird dungeon would instantly become a hot spot.

Like the current Lynx-eyed Tiger dungeon.

‘I got a 50 million won skill book in exchange for the information, so it wasn’t a complete loss, but…’

What was truly regrettable was the time.

‘I’ll repay this debt with your life later.’

For now, he needed to quickly hunt Progenitor Birds.

Min Do-jun paused while searching for Progenitor Birds and checked his equipment window.

‘I don’t need the Solo Raider’s Necklace anymore.’

The necklace’s usage restriction was level 1,499 or below.

Min Do-jun, over level 1,500, wouldn’t get any effect from wearing it.

Min Do-jun removed the necklace from his equipment window.

‘I used it for so long.’

It was a necklace he’d obtained from a hidden achievement early on and used continuously until now.

‘Thanks to it, I leveled up tremendously.’

The 1.5x experience effect when soloing was an option that couldn’t be ignored.

‘Because of this, I focused on soloing rather than parties, but…’

Now he didn’t need to discriminate between parties and soloing.

The experience gained would be the same either way.

Min Do-jun took out the necklace he’d obtained from killing Kim Peter.

‘Skull Necklace…’

An item with 164 magic power and an additional 16 at night.

It wasn’t bad, giving a lot of magic power despite being ordinary.

‘I’ll have to be satisfied with this for now.’

Min Do-jun equipped the necklace and called up his status window.

-Name: Min Do-jun (born 2000)
-Level: 1,500
-Rank: A
-Combat Power: 450,133
-Domestic Ranking: 479th
-World Ranking: 25,256th
-Strength: 1,273 Health: 1,351
-Agility: 1,240 Magic Power: 2,301
-Unassigned Stats: 0
-Traits: Revenge(S), Hunter Killer(EX), Magic Swordsman(S), Indomitable Will(B), Rapid Growth(S), Weakness Analysis(S), Robust Health(D), Weapon Honing(D), Fire Resistance(D), Durable Equipment(C), First Strike(B), Weapon Mastery(S), Life Recovery(S), Strong Mind(A), Avatar of the Battlefield(S)
-Skills: Enchant Sword(A), Mana Sword(A), Fire Blast(A), Ghost Wolf Summon(A), Invisibility(A), Gust Blade(A), Magnum Burst(A)

‘My magic power already exceeds 2,300.’

This was a natural result since he’d been investing only in magic power except for the early stages, and had been matching equipment options accordingly.

‘Other hunters would have distributed stats evenly, but…’

Min Do-jun didn’t need to do that.

The magic swordsman trait automatically raised stats evenly.

‘Thanks to that, all other stats exceed 1,000 too.’

He had 15 traits and entered the top 500 domestic rankings.

It was remarkable growth for just 10 months.

‘Combat power over 450,000 matches my level when I was 2,500 before.’

To have combat power equal to level 2,500 while only at level 1,500.

He far surpassed his past self who had thrived with S-grade traits.

‘At this level, I could easily beat someone like Lee Se-yun…’

Min Do-jun looked back with regret.

Se-yun was already too far to see.

‘Just wait. I’ll kill you soon enough.’

Postponing his opportunity, Min Do-jun ran off searching for Progenitor Birds.

Screech!

Seeing three Progenitor Birds, he raised his ghost sword.

He summoned Fire Blast and applied buffs to his weapon.

As flames transferred to the blade, ready to cast.

‘Magnum Burst.’

He used his newly learned skill on the approaching Progenitor Birds.

BOOM!

Fan-shaped flames exploded forward where he thrust his sword.

[Experience +3,600] (100% contribution)
[Experience +3,600] (100% contribution)
[Experience +3,600] (100% contribution)

Min Do-jun was slightly surprised seeing the Progenitor Birds disappear into dust.

‘Stronger than I thought?’

He expected it to be weak as an area skill, but perhaps due to the First Strike effect, it was quite powerful.

His mood improved somewhat from the depression caused by Lee Se-yun.

‘I’ll feed you this skill soon enough.’

Min Do-jun went back to hunting while vowing revenge.

---

With two A-rank hunters hunting seriously, it didn’t take long to kill 200.

Finding them was more work than killing them.

“Good work, Hunter.”

They met Lee Se-yun again outside the dungeon after separating.

“Looking at the raid window, you were killing them incredibly fast?”

Though he wasn’t trying to compete, as the higher level hunter, Se-yun was somewhat bothered by Min Do-jun’s quick kills.

So he counted.

“While I killed 70, Do-jun killed 130.”

He could tell the hunting speed differed by about twice.

‘And I didn’t even use Howling just in case…’

Min Do-jun was secretly surprised at his own hunting speed.

He could cut the time much more if he used Howling for herding hunts.

“You’re really amazing. Is it thanks to the new skill?”

“…”

Min Do-jun turned away without responding.

He didn’t understand why Se-yun was suddenly acting friendly.

“Um, where are you going?”

“Home.”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

“No thanks. I’ll take a taxi.”

Min Do-jun added one more thing while glaring at Se-yun.

“Let’s never meet again.”

Swallowing the words that their next meeting would be Se-yun’s death anniversary, Min Do-jun walked away.

“Ah, this is…”

Se-yun sighed in frustration.

Though finding the tablet’s use was fortunate, he’d earned Min Do-jun’s hatred.

And quite thoroughly at that.

“I’d like to make up, but it’s not working…”

He too was regretting, not expecting things to escalate this far.

But what could he do about what had already happened?

Sighing again, Se-yun headed to the guild in his Ferrari.

To report to his uncle.

‘He should be at the guild at this hour?’

Of course, he had no intention of confessing everything.

His uncle would explode if he knew Se-yun gave up the skill books for personal curiosity.

‘I’ll just say he wouldn’t join even when offered the skill books.’

Hadn’t he firmly stated he would never join the guild no matter what?

Steeling himself as he arrived at Blue Dragon Guild, Guild Master Lee Han-seok came running out in his socks.

“Huh? How did you know I was coming?”

“Heard from the sales team. You entered the Progenitor Bird dungeon with Hunter Min Do-jun?”

“Ah, yes.”

Se-yun tried not to show his surprise.

“Why did you enter the dungeon?”

“Nothing special. Hunter Min Do-jun asked for a ride saying he had business there.”

“So the contract? Did you succeed?”

Se-yun shook his head.

“What? He won’t join our guild even with the skill books as leverage?”

“No.”

“Damn it! So we just wasted money?”

“We can resell the skill books we bought.”

“You can’t sell them at cost though, can you?”

‘How much loss could that little amount be…’

Unaware of his nephew’s internal sigh, Lee Han-seok continued fuming.

“Why give him a ride if he won’t join? Should’ve let him go alone!”

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

“Then what?”

“The problem is earning Hunter Min Do-jun’s anger.”

Lee Han-seok smiled.

“Hehe, so he got a bit angry?”

“Don’t even mention it. He was looking at me like he wanted to kill me.”

“What can that guy do? He’s only level 1,500.”

“Well, that’s true but…”

Se-yun still couldn’t forget.

That chilling feeling when he showed his back to Min Do-jun.

That’s why he couldn’t join in his uncle’s mockery.

“Uncle.”

“What?”

“This is just my feeling but… Hunter Min Do-jun seems stronger than we think. Strong enough that we shouldn’t make him an enemy…”

“So? What do you want to do? The water’s already spilled.”

“We need to make peace somehow.”

“What are you saying? Make peace now? Weren’t you the one who came up with the scheme to mess with him?”

“I misjudged then. I didn’t know making him an enemy would feel this uncomfortable.”

“Forget it! Why bother with someone who won’t join anyway? Don’t worry about it.”

Despite his uncle’s words, Se-yun couldn’t easily put his mind at ease.

‘I feel like something terrible will happen if we stay on bad terms with Hunter Min Do-jun…’

Se-yun had an inexplicable bad feeling.

---

Even after returning home by taxi, showering, and lying in bed, Min Do-jun was still contemplating.

How to kill Lee Se-yun.

‘Killing isn’t difficult. The aftermath is the problem.’

Including Se-yun, there were nine targets left for revenge.

To complete his revenge, he needed to quietly assassinate them without raising suspicion.

But assassinating a famous level 2,200 person wasn’t as easy as expected.

‘It would be good to catch him alone, but will there be such a chance…’

It’s not easy to assassinate someone who’s recognized everywhere and always drives an eye-catching sports car.

‘And I can’t suggest entering a dungeon together either…’

Coming out alone after entering together would raise suspicion no matter what excuse he made.

‘Should I tail him and wait for him to be alone?’

An opportunity would come eventually if he waited.

With such thoughts, he tried to sleep.

Or rather, tried to.

Ring ring

A late night call prevented him from falling asleep.

‘Who is it at this hour?’

Min Do-jun was surprised checking his phone.

‘Lee Se-yun?’

Though not saved, he remembered the number.

It was unexpected after firmly stating they should never meet again.

Min Do-jun answered coldly.

“What is it?”

-I’m sorry for the late hour, Do-jun. Though late, I felt I had to tell you this.

After catching his breath, Se-yun spoke seriously.

-I’m truly sorry about what happened at the guild.

“Now you say this?”

-After parting with you, I deeply reflected on my wrongs. And I regret a lot. No matter how much I wanted you to join, I shouldn’t have done such things… I’m repenting now. I’m sorry.

“…”

Though it seemed sincere at first glance, it felt completely fake to Min Do-jun.

-So, I’d like to invite you to my home. As a gesture of reconciliation.