Chapter 7: System (4)

Tae Woong stared at Jiho like he was crazy.
However, Jiho calmly continued.

“If you’re going to give up here and commit suicide, however, please give me all of your items and potions before dying.
If I’m going to die anyways, I want to try fighting instead of running away with my tail tucked between my legs.”

While talking, Jiho opened his inventory pocket and checked on the items he had.

Thankfully, because he had prepared for a fight beforehand, he had quite a lot of items.
It was a good thing he prepared much more than the standard set-up recommended by the Hunter Association. 

Although he doesn’t have a lot of food, if the requirement for this sunken dungeon is only two people, the dungeon shouldn’t be too big.
Since they will probably be ripped apart by the monsters before they starve to death, they won’t have to worry about that.

Tae Woong watched Jiho check his supplies as if everything was normal in a daze.
His face contorted.

“Who said I was going to give up and die….”

“Weren’t you going on about how you were going to die? Am I wrong?”

“When did I….”

“What do you mean when? You were doing it constantly.”

Tae Woong’s face turned red.
Although Jiho’s words weren’t wrong, he didn’t want to agree with him. 

“Are you going to try to fight?”

“Sh*t.
Sure.
I just have to try, don’t I?!”

“Yes, it’s good that you at least have the intention of fighting.”

Even though Jiho spoke sarcastically to him, he was glad that Tae Woong agreed.

To be honest, the probability of Jiho escaping this dungeon by himself was zero.
Even if he somehow managed to take care of the monsters roaming around the dungeon, the boss monster was too much for a B-rank hunter like Jiho to handle.

The only one who has a chance of killing an S-rank boss monster is Seon Tae Woong.

The prideful and simple Tae Woong can be worked up with the slightest bit of stimulation to his pride.
Since he was a skilled hunter, he would be enough as the main combative force. 

When the two emptied out their inventories, a good amount of items came out.
The problem was that Seon Tae Woong didn’t have many single-use items like potions.

Although the inventory pocket was invented by a genius awakened one to be able to store items inside like how game inventories work, there is a limit to how many things can be stored inside.
It seems that Seon Tae Woong isn’t someone who restocks his items often.
Well, it’s not like he doesn’t look like that.

Jiho gave Tae Woong two-thirds of the single-use items he had.
Tae Woong took the items dazedly.

“What will you do if you give me almost all of your items?”

“It’s because Seon Tae Woong-ssi is the main force, not me.
Just take it.
And…”

Jiho briefly touched the gloves that he had never taken off after Joo Yiwon gave them to him before handing them over to Tae Woong.

“Take these too.”

“What’s this?”

“Use them.
It’s good.
It will drastically increase your body’s physical abilities.
It will also increase the power of your skills.”

Still in a daze, Tae Woong accepted the gloves and put them on before trying out a skill. 

Whoosh!

A flame as big as a person flared up in front of their eyes before waning.
It was a little too extreme for a simple test.
Tae Woong’s eyes sparkled with interest in an instant.

“Hey.
These…”

“I’m only lending them to you, not giving.”

Jiho snorted at Tae Woong’s eyes sparkling with greed.
Tae Woong smirked.

“Do you think I’ll give these back?”

“I’m trusting that you will.”

Tae Woong’s expression turned strange when he heard Jiho’s immediate reply.

An item this highly ranked is usually only handed over after a binding contract.
It was common for items that weren’t binded to be stolen. 

Jiho didn’t lend them to Seon Tae Woong because he trusted him.
Although he only lent them to him because there was no better way, saying nice words never hurt. 

Plus, those gloves were a gift from Joo Yiwon. 

If that guy found out that Seon Tae Woong stole a present that he gave, that guy would get it back, even if he had to turn Apollon Guild upside down, so there was no loss.

Tae Woong, who didn’t know that Jiho had already thought of a backup plan, looked touched by Jiho, who gave him the item.

“Hey.
If I die using these, do I still have to give them back?”

“If you die with them on, no.
I’ll bury them with you so you can pass over with them.”

“I guess I’ll have to return them then.
It’s worth a shot with these.”

Seon Tae Woong led the way with a confident grin.
However, his back still looked somewhat stiffer than normal.

‘Acting tough.’

Of course, acting tough was better than doing nothing and acting miserable like earlier.

He understands Seon Tae Woong’s feelings.
Jiho knows too.
The chance of them surviving is very low.
Still, it’s better to bet on the small chance of survival than to commit suicide.
If the probability isn’t zero, then that means there’s still a chance.

When the two walked out of the chamber they first fell into, the dungeon revealed itself as a cave full of stones. 

Since the gems in between the gray stones shined faintly, it wasn’t hard to study their surroundings.

On the walls and ceiling that had looked untouched, there were unrecognizable words or symbols that indicated the presence of life.

A characteristic of dungeons with no exits is that there is no wind.
There was only the sound of the two people’s footsteps and the mysterious faraway cries of monsters.

The atmosphere inside each dungeon is different.
This was the first time Jiho had ever seen a dungeon in real-life, as he had only seen them through videos.  

Jiho wanted to look around curiously, but he pressed it down and carefully followed Tae Woong. 

After walking on a windy path that was wide enough to fit three or four people, they reached a fork in the road.

Seon Tae Woong marked the first forked road and opened his mouth.

“It seems that this dungeon doesn’t have a lot of monsters.
If there were, we would’ve seen two or three of them already.”

That was a good sign.
Because there’s only two people, if there were a lot of monsters, it would have been disadvantageous.
The narrow tunnel was another advantage for the two.

After walking a little, Seon Tae Woong stopped.
Jiho, who stopped one step later, felt it after concentrating.

On the road to the right, there is a monster in hiding, waiting for the two to approach.

Instead of going towards it, Tae Woong quickly used his skill.

[Ignite.]1

Although it was a simple command, the effect was strong.
The strong flames spread quickly as if oil had been spilled over the walls.

[SQUEEEEEEEAK!]2

A monster that looked like a mouse staggered out of the tunnel, screaming as his body was covered by flames.

Seon Tae Woong used [Ignite] again on the burning monster that was running towards him as a last-ditch effort.

While Seon Tae Woong was using his skill on the burning monster, another monster jumped out from behind.

Although it was similar to the burning monster, its tail was shorter and its body was much leaner, moving faster than the other.

Tae Woong used [Ignite] again, but the monster was faster, avoiding the skill and running towards them.
Tae Woong clenched his teeth and prepared to get hit when…

THUNK!

With a heavy sound3, Jiho’s fist landed on the approaching monster.

Although it wasn’t fatal, the monster was pushed back a few meters.
That was enough for Tae Woong to make the final blow. 

[Ignite.]

BANG!

It was a little stronger than the first one.
The monster went up in flames at once, and it collapsed. 

Soon, two monsters had been completely burned to a crisp.

Although it was good to sweep the monsters with one hit… if they used too much mana here, they will have a hard time later when it’s exhausted.

Jiho spoke up out of worry.

“Wouldn’t it be better if you saved your mana?”

“No.
The first hit was a test so I didn’t use a lot of power.”

Tae Woong looked down at his hands in shock as he answered.

“These monsters, they seem like they have no resistance to flames? No, it’s more than that.
It’s as though fire is their greatest weakness…”

Dungeons usually have a unique trait.
If two monsters weak to fire came out, there was a high probability that all of the monsters in this dungeon were weak to fire. 

Seon Tae Woong’s skill attribute is fire.

A smile gradually appeared on Seon Tae Woong’s face.

“Hey.
This…”

“If we’re careful, it may work.”

Seon Tae Woong nodded.

With an advantageous attribute, it’s possible ignore one or two ranks and go up against them.

At that moment, their hopeless raid gained a spark of hope.

The dungeon raid went smoothly.

As the two had hoped, most of the monsters in this dungeon were either weak to flames or had no resistance at all to flames.

Because his attribute was advantageous, Tae Woong was usually the one to attack while Jiho kept guard to prevent monsters from sneaking up to Tae Woong.

Despite the fact that they usually fought whenever their eyes met, they worked shockingly well together.

Since their guilds were close to each other, they had watched each other closely.

They were worried that they would get lost, but the roads were, thankfully, comparatively simple.
Because they marked each fork and Jiho memorized the paths, they didn’t wander around.

As predicted, because the dungeon’s requirement was only two people, the dungeon wasn’t very big. 

The two men easily reached the door to the boss monster in a quarter of a day.

Unlike the tunnels, which had retained a natural state, the door to the last room was completely smooth, as though someone had made it.
The tightly shut door looked like it wouldn’t open until someone from this side tried to open it.

‘Behind this, the dungeon boss…’

Even though he didn’t know what was behind the door, Jiho could still feel great danger surging up.
Despite the thick door in between them, a strong aura could be felt, causing goosebumps to appear.

The opponent inside will be many times stronger than those before.

“Hey.”

Tae Woong lightly hit Jiho, who was nervously steeling himself, on the shoulder.

“Let’s rest here for a bit before going in.”

Jiho relaxed his stiff shoulders.

It was a good call.

No matter how many potions are used to replenish mana, they cannot get rid of physical exhaustion.
Jiho nodded without complaint.

“I will keep watch, so Hunter Seon Tae Woong-nim should rest.”

“It’s fine, if you’re tired, you should just sleep too.
You keeping watch and me sleeping will be able to perceive the same thing.”

Although they weren’t as sharp as before, his words were still annoying.
Tae Woong closed his eyes.
Surprisingly, he started snoring within 30 seconds.

After making sure that Tae Woong was asleep, Jiho took out a handkerchief.
Jiho covered his mouth with a handkerchief and quietly let out the cough he had been holding back for a while.

“Cough, cough…”

A familiar fishy taste went up his throat and the handkerchief was made with blood. 

‘This cursed weak body.’

Although it was a familiar situation, he felt more annoyed than usual today. 

Footnotes

(Click on the numbers to return)

1. Commands that are spoken out loud will be in bold.

2. This is how sounds made by monsters will look like.

3. The author specifically compares the sound to the sound of a 북 (“buk”) which is a traditional Korean percussion instrument.
It’s similar to a drum, as a hollow wooden barrel covered by a thin layer of hide.
Nowadays, they use faux leather.