Chapter 83 - Chapter 83 (1/2)

Right then, Jin-Woo felt his heart crash down to the pit of his stomach.

'When did she....?'

He was paying too much attention to the boss and failed to notice that someone had come closer.

'I'm busted....'

Jin-Woo could only smack his lips in regret.

Tsk.

However, with an eyewitness around, it was no longer possible to stare avariciously at the boss.

The Hunters Guild had purchased the raid permit for his particular dungeon, so naturally, the boss of this place was also a part of their investment.

And, if the boss was killed off, the Gate would close down. The potential losses the Hunters Guild might incur would be a lot, then.

'I nearly messed up.'

He got blinded by the desire to level up and nearly put his hands on someone else's property. Jin-Woo regained his bearings and spat out a sigh of relief; meanwhile, the owner of the voice had walked closer.

"I asked you what you were doing."

Jin-Woo formed an embarrassed smile and turned around to face her.

"I got lost and ended up here."

"You got lost?!"

She sounded flabbergasted. Only then did Jin-Woo confirm who the owner of the voice was.

'Huh? Isn't she....?'

He saw that face just before entering the dungeon, didn't he?

It was none other than the rank S Hunter Cha Hae-In. As Cha Hae-In slowly closed the distance, she carefully scanned both of Jin-Woo's hands.

'I definitely saw him holding weapons just now, though?'

Was she mistaken?

Whatever the case might have been, they had disappeared without a trace.

Cha Hae-In's gaze scanned the entirety of Jin-Woo, up and down.

'A hard hat and a worker's overall..... Is he from our mining team?'

She honestly believed him about getting lost here. She didn't know how he got this far, but well, the boss room was a very dangerous place to hang around.

Discovering the 'reason' was secondary. For now, Cha Hae-In figured that the priority should be on helping this man to leave this place.

"That chamber is where the boss is."

Cha Hae-In covered her nose with her handkerchief as usual and stood before Jin-Woo.

"Please exit from the dungeon as soon as possible. If you manage to attract its aggro, people inside this dungeon could all die."

"Ah. I'm sorry."

It seemed that his acting worked. Jin-Woo formed a satisfied expression and walked past Cha Hae-In. It was then.

'….Uh?'

Cha Hae-In's head snapped towards Jin-Woo.

Something impossible just happened.

Cha Hae-In's eyes opened wide and even before she realised it, she was calling out to him.

"Excuse me. Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Can you take a look at me for a sec?"

What's gotten into her?

And they said that thieves knew what they did wrong; Jin-Woo was not looking forward to Cha Hae-In coming in close to him. Too bad, she was already standing right in front of his nose.

"What.... what's the matter?"

He asked with a troubled look on his face, but she didn't answer and simply proceeded to lightly breathe in the air near him. She had already put away the handkerchief covering her nose.

'What's going on here?'

Jin-Woo failed to understand why she was doing this.

'Wait, why is she suddenly smelling me?'

Jin-Woo began panicking inwardly. However, the state of confusion Cha Hae-In was going through at the moment was several times greater than his.

'There is no.... stink coming from him.'

This would be her first time meeting another Hunter that didn't stink.

Cha Hae-In's surprised eyes stared at Jin-Woo. And a question mark floated above Jin-Woo's head as his reply.

"Is there some kind of a problem?"

"You... Are you a Hunter for real?"

Was there a need for words here? Jin-Woo pushed forward the Hunter licence hanging on his neck. Cha Hae-In took the licence and her gaze quickly alternated between Jin-Woo's face and the ID photo.

'Rank E.... Seong Jin-Woo....'

Was this because his rank was too low?

She could not pick up any type of smell coming from this man named Jin-Woo. No, wait. Actually, a pleasant odour was gently wafting out of him, instead.

Jin-Woo sneakily extracted his licence out of Cha Hae-In's hand.

"Can I go now?"

"Uhm, well, I...."

Cha Hae-In did call out to Jin-Woo, but then, realised that she had nothing else to say nor had a reason to keep him here.

".....It's nothing. Please be careful on your way out. This dungeon is rather large, you see."

"Ah, of course."

Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head and turned towards the location of the mining operation. His back soon disappeared around the corner of the cavern.

However, Cha Hae-In's lingering gaze didn't shift away from the path Jin-Woo had walked down on.

'He smelled really nice.'

***

Hunters of the mining team were returning to the mining operations area one by one after finishing their lunch.

Foreman Bae was walking with a toothpick stuck in between his teeth. Once he saw Jin-Woo appearing from the deeper parts of the dungeon, though, he flinched greatly in shock.

"Uh? Huh?? Mister Seong, why are you coming from there??"

"Oh, that...."

Jin-Woo sneakily shifted his gaze over in the direction of the boss.

'….I can't tell him about me stopping by the boss to see what it looks like out of curiosity, right?'

Jin-Woo's gaze returned to Foreman Bae.

"I got lost while searching for the bathroom, actually."

"Aigoo! You need to be more careful, young man. Interiors of these dungeons all look the same, so if you get lost inside, it won't be easy finding your way around! But still, how did you find your way back to here?"

"Oh, I ran into Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim on my way back, so...."

"Ahh, Cha Hunter-nim, was it? She's probably gone to stand guard by the boss room just in case the boss decides to take a stroll. That lady also worries a lot, maybe as much as you, Mister Seong."

Foreman Bae guffawed vigorously. It seemed that Jin-Woo being worried about the boss not too long ago had left a deep impression in his mind.

Jin-Woo could only smile wryly.

'The foreman can laugh like this only because he has no idea how terrifying the boss actually is.'

This was the difference between the Hunters doing these sorts of jobs, and the Hunters working in the assault team.

Cha Hae-In understood very well how dangerous and scary an existence the monsters could be, so she was just being meticulous in those areas that no one else was paying much attention to.

'I didn't know there was such a side to her, what with that expressionless face of hers and all.'

If the boss decided to come out of the boss room, the assault team wouldn't be the ones in danger. No, it would be the workers doing their job, as the raid team would be taking a break outside the dungeon.

And she was sacrificing the allure of sweet rest to stand guard in front of the boss room, just for the sake of total strangers.

'…..She's an amazing woman.'

That was Jin-Woo's honest impression of Cha Hae-In. It was at this point that he suddenly recalled her odd habit.

'Why was she covering her nose with a handkerchief?'

Thinking back, she never let go of the handkerchief not even once, except for their meeting a few moments ago.

"Foreman?"

"Yeah?"

Foreman Bae remained very friendly whenever Jin-Woo asked him a question, even though it'd be quite reasonable for him to get a bit annoyed by now.

'Right, the responses were pretty good back when I was doing my job, wasn't it?'

Indeed, one should strive to do their best in their jobs.

Thanks to his efforts, Jin-Woo could ask about this and that without holding back now. Heck, it was Foreman Bae who urged Jin-Woo to speak, instead.

"Mister Seong? You called for me, so how come you ain't saying a thing?"

"Oh, well, it's nothing important, but.... By any chance, do you know why Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim walks around with a handkerchief?"

"Oh, that? Well, it's cuz Hunter Cha is a bit peculiar, you see."

"A bit peculiar?"

What did he mean by that?

Jin-Woo didn't have to ask, because Foreman Bae helpfully explained himself first.

"Hunter Cha can supposedly smell a kind of body odour coming from other Hunters. And I hear she finds them pretty horrible."

"She can smell other Hunters?!"

"I heard something or other about her special constitutions and stuff."

Her special constitutions, he said.

Jin-Woo also possessed something similar to that – his excellent sense of hearing.

Even from his early years, his hearing could be considered better than average, but once he Awakened, it developed even further.

'Probably, Cha Hae-In's sense of smell also got enhanced like mine.'

So, he could more or less understand where she was coming from.