Chapter 206 - Chapter 206 (1/2)

After Jin-Woo left, the elite members of the Hunters Guild fought against each other to become the first one to enter the dungeon.

"H-hey! Stop pushing me!"

"This dungeon ain't gonna run away, so there's no need for all this craziness!"

Rumble, tumble-!

Just what did the one and only Hunter Seong Jin-Woo want to test out that he even resorted to borrowing a rank A Gate someone else had already booked? Not only that, a Gate with a difficulty that had clearly gone up drastically?

Hunters quickly stepped on the dungeon's floor and scanned every corner with their curious eyes. But soon, their expressions turned into ones of pure shock and astonishment.

Literally, they were facing a river of blood!

The corpses of monsters, ripped to almost unrecognisable shreds, formed a road of blood. And this 'road' seemed to continue on forever into the darkness on the far side.

The Hunters were all rendered speechless and couldn't even dare to go in any deeper.

"Look…. Look over there."

One of the Hunters ribbed the person next to him with his elbow.

The victim of the elbowing attempt shifted his dazed gaze towards the location being pointed out and gradually, his jaw almost hit the floor at the unbelievable sight waiting for him there.

Just what kind of force could make a monster get embedded in the ceiling of the dungeon in such a grotesque fashion?

Considering that the walls of these dungeons were made up of materials incomparably harder than any regular caves, that was one seriously shocking sight to behold, indeed.

"That's all for my dinner plan tonight, I guess...."

Hunters with weaker stomachs saw this scene of utter slaughter and their complexions turned paler than a sheet of paper. What surprised them even more, was the fact that monsters of the dungeon measured to be at the top end of rank A had been killed off in such a state in less than ten minutes.

A female Hunter muttered to herself, her expression still one of pure shock.

"Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…. He didn't even look like the type, but this is just...."

The deeper the group entered, the clearer and clearer for them to spot the signs of the overwhelming violence; she had been a Hunter for almost five years now, but never once did she witness the walls of a dungeon destroyed to such an extent before.

Another male Hunter scanning the interior of the dungeon responded to her muttering.

"What do other people call this? Unleashing the inner beast? Or something like that?"

Cha Hae-In slowly shook her head after hearing that. None of this was the handiwork of Hunter Seong. She had witnessed his fights from up close several times already, so she was pretty certain of this.

The Jin-Woo she knew was a Hunter who preferred to end his enemies as cleanly as possible. It was artistic, even.

She was enthralled by the beauty in the way he controlled his skills the first time she saw him fight.

If that was the case….

'….The one capable of doing this among Hunter Seong's summons is...'

It was right then – she recalled the head of the ant monster screeching at her with its mandibles wide open, causing a chill to run down her spine.

That creature was the peak existence of vicious cruelty!

Didn't Jin-Woo say it? That one of his summons had gone through a change. Just what kind of a change did that ant monster go through, then?

Cha Hae-In left behind her colleagues still being shocked by the remaining traces of Beru's activity found throughout the dungeon, and quickly exited from the Gate. However, Jin-Woo was nowhere to be seen by then, even though he left only a few minutes ago.

"Why does he have to be so fast...."

Cha Hae-In scanned her surroundings and murmured with a cheeky pout. And she had so many things to ask him, too….

'I'm sure there will be another chance.'

She sighed so softly that it wouldn't even frighten a butterfly settling down in front of her. A subtle smile formed on her face as she slowly turned around to re-enter the Gate.

***

Jin-Ah killed her footsteps and sneaked like a crafty little cat to close in her mom busying washing dishes.

Clink, clink....

Either mom didn't hear her daughter's footsteps, or maybe she did hear them but decided to pretend that she didn't, she didn't react to Jin-Ah closing the distance. And then, in the end...

Jin-Ah got close enough to hear her mom's breathing before hugging her tightly.

"Mom!"

Too bad for all of her efforts, though, her mother didn't seem to be surprised at all. She simply responded with a gentle voice.

"Are you feeling bored?"

"Ng, I am. Oppa doesn't want to come home, and Mom doesn't want to play with me~."

While mom was sleeping in the hospital, Jin-Woo performed the role of the substitute mother to his sister. To help Jin-Ah focus on her studies, he did his best to act as the sole breadwinner and took care of all the chores around the family home.

To her, he was her sibling, her parent, and at the same time, her friend.

That was why Jin-Ah often missed her oppa's presence around the family home as he grew busier and busier every day.

Every single one of her fellow countrymen knew her oppa's face and his name by now, but what was the point if she couldn't really get to see him anymore?

And so, here she was, trying to fill the hole Jin-Woo had left behind with her mom and her warm words of encouragements.

"Still, it's great to have you around, Mom."

Jin-Ah buried her face in her mom's back and formed a happy smile. Although she couldn't see her back, the mother carried a similar expression as the daughter and continued cleaning the dishes.

Jin-Ah clung to her mom's back like a cicada holding onto a tree for a while before opening her mouth.

"Mom? Let's move house."

Flinch.

Mom's hands momentarily stopped moving before resuming their actions. A smile formed on her lips again.

"Do you want to move to somewhere else?"

"Yeah."

"But, what will we do? Mom really likes this place, you know."

"Why do you like such an old apartment?"

Jin-Ah lightly rebuked her, but mom simply smiled back and her hands continued to move briskly.

Actually, Jin-Ah knew why her mom didn't want to leave this old apartment. She knew the reason why her mom still persisted in staying here while paying the monthly rent, when her oppa was making the kind of money that regular people would never get to touch in their lifetime.

She was still waiting for her missing husband, her children's father. She was hoping that, maybe one day, he'd stumble back here.

Jin-Ah couldn't remember much about her father now and felt that waiting for him was a waste of time. But, her brother hadn't mentioned moving house again after he heard mom's reasoning.

"Still, I like this apartment."

Mom gently persuaded her daughter again, prompting Jin-Ah to spin on her heels to leave, her cheeks puffing up unhappily.

"Che."

"Don't be like…. Ah!"

Mom quickly turned around and looked at Jin-Ah with a face that said, 'I forgot!'; she had just remembered that the weather forecast warned of rainfall later in the evenings.

"Sweetie, can you take the washing from the veranda and bring them in?"

"Mom, you only call me sweetie when you need me to do stuff."

Still, she didn't mind being called that, as evidenced by her happy humming as she made her way to the veranda.

As befitting of Jin-Ah, who was more or less an expert at performing chores like this, she quickly took down the washings and placed them in the basket.

But then….

Her rapid hands suddenly stuttered to a halt. She realised that the sky above had darkened even before she noticed it.

"...Uh?"

Did the rain clouds arrive already?

Naturally, she raised her head up to look above. And her eyes opened incredibly wide next.

The basket filled with washed clothes fell out of her hands.

"M-Moooom!!"

***

His hands were soaked with sweat.

The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol looked down on his wet palms before hurriedly rubbing them against his blameless pants.

How long had it been since he felt this nervous? He'd actually prefer to enter a Gate on the brink of a dungeon break. That would be easier on his stress level.

"You don't have to be that tense, Association President Woo Jin-Cheol."

A certain high-ranking official who had invited Woo Jin-Cheol to the Korean Presidential residence – the Blue House – formed a rather slimy grin.

How could a proper conversation be held when the guy supposed to meet the holder of the highest office in the country was this nervous?