Chapter 79

I woke with a dull headache and looked around. I was in an unfamiliar place—a spacious, clean hotel room.

Only then did the memories of last night gradually come back to me.

Right. We went to a hotel for the second round and had a champagne party.

Good God, a champagne party at a hotel.

Put that way, it made me feel like I had become the third-generation heir to some chaebol family. Though, come to think of it, Team Leader Choi might actually be one.

“Khrrr-heeeurk. Khrrp!”

“……”

That man really was a bandit.

What kind of snore sounded like someone shouting? Hyung Jinho snored pretty loudly too, but next to this guy, it was practically on mute.

If I were the hotel manager, I would’ve kicked him out long ago—

Knock, knock.

“Who is it?”

For a moment, I thought it was a hotel employee coming to inform us of our forced eviction. But it wasn’t. A clear, refreshing voice came from the other side of the door.

“It’s me. Song Song.”

Wait. Who?

“J-just a moment!”

I dashed to the door at the speed of light. Before opening it, I didn’t forget to spray on some of the perfume provided in the room and check my clothes.

Click.

My heart pounded when I looked into Miss Song’s limpid, lake-like eyes. I somehow managed to squeeze out a trembling voice.

“G-good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“No. I kept waking up because of the snoring.”

“Oh.”

Not a good start. I blamed Im Kkeokjeong, who was still snoring ferociously, and quickly changed the subject.

“But what brings you here?”

“It’s time for breakfast.”

“……Breakfast?”

Miss Song looked at me as if something were wrong.

“Yes. Why?”

Why? Because I’m happy.

Who would’ve thought I’d live to see the day I had breakfast alone with a woman? And not just any woman—she was exactly my type. I felt as if my eyes were growing moist.

At last, an oasis has appeared in my desert of a life.

I wouldn’t have minded eating combat rations for breakfast if I could eat them with her. I answered with determination.

“I’ll get ready right now.”

“Then could you wake Uncle Kkeokjeong first?”

“……Why Kkeokjeong Hyung-nim?”

“Didn’t you check the chat?”

Miss Song held out her smartphone.

The group chat we had created for the Guild last night was open on the screen.

Peace Guild

Team Leader Choi
Is everyone awake?

Butler Kim
I’m up.

Song Song
I’m up too.

Team Leader Choi
What about the other two?

Song Song
They’re snoring.

Team Leader Choi
……Wake them up and come to the restaurant on the first floor.

“……”

Damn it. And just when I was getting excited. That was my life for you.

Miss Song turned away, leaving me looking dejected.

“Then I’ll go down first.”

I stared longingly at her retreating back as she walked away on light, graceful steps.

“Even her back is pretty.”

“Khrrp, khrrr-heeeurk!”

“……”

Is this guy really not a former bandit?

I barely managed to wake Im Kkeokjeong before heading down to the first floor.

Team Leader Choi, who was sitting by the window, waved when he saw us.

“I ordered ahead. Eat before it gets cold.”

Since it was a hotel breakfast, I had expected something like an absurdly tiny serving of pasta. But what arrived on the table was a steaming bowl of haejangguk.¹

“Ah, now that’s Team Leader Choi!”

“You really know what you’re doing, Team Leader.”

I still had some of last night’s hangover left, but one bowl of haejangguk seemed like it would make circulating my qi unnecessary.

Team Leader Choi shook his head at our reactions.

“Miss Song ordered it. I wanted pasta.”

“Miss Song did?”

“Yes.”

His dark expression suggested that he had really wanted it.

Still, I never would’ve expected Miss Song to order hangover soup. Judging by her appearance, she looked like a pampered young lady from a wealthy family. But after what she had shown us yesterday, and now this, she had a surprisingly down-to-earth side.

Slurp.

“Ah, this is good. What are you all doing? You should eat while the broth’s still hot.”

Watching Miss Song eat her haejangguk with such gusto warmed a corner of my heart. She had such a healthy appetite.

So this is what it means when simply looking at someone fills you up.

In a state where I could no longer tell whether the food was going into my nose or my mouth, the meal finally came to an end. While everyone except me sagged back in their seats, bloated with food, Team Leader Choi spoke.

“Now that we’ve eaten, shall we move somewhere else?”

What? Wasn’t this supposed to be the part where we went home and rested?

“Move where?”

Im Kkeokjeong cut in while patting his stuffed belly.

“Where else? We’ve got to keep the party going from yesterday. How about makgeolli today?² I know a good place.”

“Oh, I really like makgeolli too.”

Butler Kim, who had been quietly listening to us, smiled and continued.

“Unfortunately, it would be better to go there for our next Guild dinner. We have something more important to take care of today.”

The Guild Master was Butler Kim, but he wasn’t the one who made the decisions.

With everyone’s eyes on him, Team Leader Choi opened his mouth.

“We’ve eaten, drunk, and rested. Now it’s time to work.”

It was the Peace Guild’s first raid.

Humanity was thrown into shock by the Great Cataclysm.

Gates began appearing without warning one day, and unidentified creatures poured out of them.

“W-what is that?”

“A monster! It’s a monster!”

If aliens with thin limbs and oversized heads had invaded, people might have been less surprised. But these creatures hadn’t come in spaceships, and they didn’t shoot guns.

“Skreeee!”

“Karuk! Krrruuuk!”

With their terrible stench and eyes gleaming with killing intent, the monsters tore humans apart like sheets of paper as they swept through cities and set them ablaze.

They were monsters that seemed as if they belonged in novels, movies, or myths.

The Minotaur was one of them……or so I had learned in history class.

“You know what a Minotaur is, right?”

Im Kkeokjeong answered proudly.

“Of course. I saw them in a Greek and Roman mythology comic when I was in elementary school. They were pretty cool—huge muscles and everything.”

“……What about you, Taekyung?”

“I’ve never even seen one.”

A Minotaur was among the stronger monsters in the B-rank category. It had been roughly five hundred light-years away from me, an eternal F-rank Hunter.

“That’s all right. You can see one now.”

“……”

Is a Gate a zoo? Are we going there just to sightsee?

Team Leader Choi handed me a tablet, answering as breezily as if this had nothing to do with him.

“Here.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a next-generation tablet powered by a C-rank Magic Gem. With its elegant design and outstanding performance, it’s sold exclusively to a select number of VIPs……”

“Just give me the conclusion.”

“I put some raid footage on it. Watch.”

He could’ve just said that from the start. Im Kkeokjeong and I put our heads together and watched the video stored on the tablet.

“All right, stay calm. Stay calm. Especially the tanks! Keep those shields up. If they break through, everyone here is dead. Of course, I’ll kill you before that happens.”

“Yes, sir!”

Around fifteen Hunters formed an orderly formation at the raid leader’s command. Every one of them was visibly tense.

Tanks, melee and ranged damage dealers. There’s a mage and even a healer.

Their teamwork seemed decent, and so did the team composition.

And then……

So that’s a Minotaur.

A B-rank monster, something I had only ever seen in monster encyclopedias, appeared on the screen.

“Moooooo!”

A cow’s head on a human body. Seven half-human, half-beast Minotaurs advanced toward the intruders.

No—they charged.

“Mooooooo!”

Their bellowing echoed through the cave. Rock dust shook loose and fell in little showers as the battle began.

“Ranged! Fire!”

The raid leader screamed himself hoarse. At the same time, around twenty arrows infused with mana struck the head of the lead Minotaur.

Fwish-fwish-fwish!

Focusing fire on one target instead of using a wide-area attack had been a good choice. Aiming precisely for its head had been especially effective.

No matter how strong a B-rank monster was, it couldn’t reinforce its eyeballs.

The Minotaur clawed at its own face in agony. The finishing blow came from the companions following behind it.

Crunch!

A dark iron club smashed the cow’s head apart.

And then—

Thud, thud, thud!

Huh.

They used the dead Minotaur’s corpse as a shield and charged straight ahead. Arrows and magic rained down, but they only shredded the corpse. The Minotaurs hiding behind it were unharmed.

These bastards……

They knew how to use their heads. They were at least as intelligent as goblins, while being dozens of times stronger.

Which made them even more dangerous.

“Hold!”

“Urrrgh!”

At the team leader’s shout, the veins stood out on the tanks’ arms and necks. Their shields, covered in hazy mana, blocked the iron clubs carrying tremendous force.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

A small shadow suddenly dropped from the air between them. A Hunter from the stealth category drove a blackened dagger into another Minotaur’s eye before disappearing.

“Moooo……”

B-rank monsters weren’t invincible. With the support of the other melee damage dealers, archers, and mage, two more Minotaurs fell in the blink of an eye.

But the crisis came quickly.

They’re breaking through!

No sooner had the thought occurred to me than the wavering tank line collapsed.

Kra-koom!

“Graaagh!”

“Healer! Healer!”

Screams and roars filled the cave. Through the clouds of dust, I could see the cow-headed monsters tearing through the formation and swinging their iron clubs.

“Moooooo!”

“Tanks, damage dealers! Ranged, don’t hold back your mana—pour it all in! Ranged, open up some distance!”

Wham-wham-wham!

“Mooooooo!”

“Healeeeer!”

The video continued for about ten minutes before cutting off. The battle hadn’t ended yet. The camera had simply been smashed by an iron club.

“Mooooooo!”

Bzzzt.

As the Minotaur’s roar rang out, the screen filled with static and faded to black and white. Im Kkeokjeong swallowed hard.

“……This is no joke.”

Of course it isn’t, old man.

I handed the tablet back to Team Leader Choi and asked,

“What Guild was that?”

“It was footage of the Bucheon Terminal Guild’s raid last week.”

“……”

Whoever named that Guild had some incredible naming sense.

Not that I had any room to talk, considering I belonged to the Peace Guild, but at least our name was better than Bucheon Terminal Guild.

“What was the result?”

“The Minotaurs were wiped out. Two Hunters died.”

People dying during raids wasn’t particularly rare. Being a Hunter meant repeatedly drawing close to death, then running away from it.

Even so, I couldn’t help feeling heavy-hearted. It was a burden the survivors would have to carry for the rest of their lives.

Just as I did now.

“I see.”

That was all I could say. I pulled out my smartphone and searched for it. Several related articles appeared.

A Bucheon Guild: The Sacrifice Brought on by a Reckless Raid

On the sixteenth, C-rank Hunters identified as Mr. Lee and Mr. Park died in the B-rank Gate The Minotaur’s Labyrinth. The Hunter Association authorities……

So the people who died had been C-rank Hunters. That made sense. A small-to-medium Guild like that couldn’t possibly have a talent pool large enough to fill a raid team of fifteen B-rank Hunters.

Then……

I quickly looked over the Guild members. The Qi Sense I had activated a moment earlier had already brought up their Level windows.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

System

Level 75 — Choi Minwoo

Level 80 — Kim Hwajong

Level 64 — Song Song

The next moment, my eyes met Im Kkeokjeong’s.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

I answered as casually as I could and turned away, but my thoughts were anything but casual.

System

Level 24 — Im Hyeokjun

This raid is dangerous.