Chapter 11

She felt that even if she said things like not dying or coming back to life, they wouldn’t believe her, and it was better not to say anything. The Old Woman took her hand and patted it, as if apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I can’t appraise this for you. I won’t charge you anything.”

Then Dongju Kim said,

“You didn’t do anything, so of course you can’t get money. What were you trying to get? You can’t shake off your swindler tendencies even here.”

“Hey. Why are you bringing up old news?”

“The Old Woman keeps calling me a thug too.”

“Oh, you punk. No matter how good a place you get into, you’ll always be a thug. Just look at the way you’re talking now.”

While the two were bickering, Cho-i was examining the items inside. This place felt more like a pawn shop than an appraisal specialist. So, she picked out something she liked. It was earrings.

“What’s this?”

“Ah. This is an item that prevents others from seeing your stat window, but it’s useless. It can only prevent people up to two ranks below your own from seeing it.”

The people who came here were, at best, D-Ranks. So it was bound to be useless. But Cho-i slowly blinked her eyes.

“I’ll take this.”

“Really? If you buy it, it’s easier for me.”

“No, how much is it?”

“Let’s see, I’m sorry I couldn’t appraise it, so I’ll give you a discount. It’s two million eight hundred twenty thousand won.”

“Old Woman, don’t try to scam me, two hundred.”

“Hey, two hundred? Two hundred seventy.”

“Two hundred twenty.”

“Two hundred fifty.”

“Two hundred twenty.”

“You’re tough. Two hundred thirty.”

“Alright.”

As their haggling ended, Cho-i pulled out her card.

“Can I pay by card?”

Dongju Kim frowned with annoyance, pulling out her smartphone. After a few taps, she said,

“I transferred the money.”

“Oh, thank you, customer.”

Cho-i picked up the earrings. Then she examined the item through the Inspect window.

[Shadow Earrings (C-Rank-)] [Hides the wearer’s stats. However, this is only possible for people two ranks or less below the wearer.]

It was a very sufficient item. However, it was strange that the rank of such an item was so low.

“But if high-ranking people wear this, isn’t it really good? Why is its rank so low?”

“Tsk tsk, high-ranking Hunters don’t need to wear such things.”

“Is that so?”

“Even an A-Rank can live lavishly, so why would they hide it?”

Cho-i just tilted her head and giggled. There was someone here who wanted to hide it. Cho-i wanted to live freely for once. In that case, the guild was nothing but a restriction to her. She wanted to play. She had worked hard to raise her younger sibling, went to college, met Hyeonchan An there. The period she had lived under Hyeonchan An’s control was too long. Her younger sibling was now grown up and had cut ties in the name of independence, and Hyeonchan An was now dead. She could finally live her own life. She put the earrings on her ears and shook her head. The earrings, shaped like long silver rods, had a design that might sell for fifteen thousand won on the street, but they weren’t bad at all.

“I’ll pay you back when I leave later.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s pocket change.”

“Wow, you must earn a lot of money. Where do you earn so much money?”

He grinned and leaned down slightly to look at her.

“The guild. How about it, interested?”

“Ah~ there’s something else strange over there. Shall we go see it?”

Cho-i cleverly changed the subject and walked to another place. Dongju leisurely followed her. In fact, Cho-i, who had no more business at the black market, rubbed her lower abdomen and slowly pretended to look around.

‘Parasitic Ring, parasite. Inside my belly?’

She couldn’t be sure. What effect this would have on her. But even if it could have a bad effect on her, there was no way to get it off for now. Cho-i opened the system window once again.

[Parasitic Ring (EX Rank)] [Interferes with the wearer’s life. Interferes with the wearer’s regeneration. Cannot die until it hatches.]

What does ‘hatch’ mean here? Is something going to pop out of her belly like an alien? If so, she needed to find a way to get rid of it quickly. But how? ‘If I can find that hidden dungeon again, can I find a way?’

However, hidden dungeons were not something you could find at will. So far, there have been a total of 32 hidden dungeons discovered worldwide, with only 3 of them appearing more than once.

‘Will I be able to find it?’

She didn’t know. If you were to look for someone who had entered the same hidden dungeon twice, the answer would probably be zero. She stopped pretending to browse and looked at Dongju Kim, who was following her.

“That’s enough. Let’s go out.”

“You’re quite capricious.”

“I’m going to hear that a lot from now on.”

He raised one eyebrow.

“Not that you’ve heard it a lot already?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve lived a very quiet life until now.”

“Then why are you like this now?”

“It’s like a backlash.”

Cho-i and Dongju exited through the streetwear store again. Then Cho-i held out her smartphone to Dongju.

“Give me your number.”

“It’s good that you’re asking first.”

Dongju easily entered his number. Cho-i Hyeon grinned, saved the number, and then spoke without even calling.

“I’ll contact you again next time.”

“Still capricious, I see.”

“That’s what I mean, that’s the goal, to hear that.”

“Alright. Why would you contact me again later?”

“Please introduce me to some illegal dungeons too.”

“For your rank, regular dungeons are the best for making money.”

“Well, money is money, but I have other objectives too. I won’t tell you what they are, though.”

“Go ahead.”

Dongju scratched the back of his head and left the store. Cho-i followed him out and waved.

“Are you going in now?”

“Yeah, kid. I spent my precious holiday showing tourists around.”

“Oh dear. God will be watching.”

“Do you believe in religion?”

“No. I just said it. That way, you won’t feel so unfairly treated.”

“Oh, you’re good with words.”

“Hahaha.”

Cho-i laughed like that, then turned and walked away first. Dongju watched her retreating figure for a moment, then turned the other way and disappeared. Cho-i thought as she walked.

‘Since all illegal dungeons are lower-rank dungeons, wouldn’t I find something if I keep going through them?’

“First, I need to go through as many dungeons as possible. If that doesn’t work, I might have to rejoin the guild. I really don’t want to do that.”

Cho-i didn’t want to be restricted. Now, the thought of restrictions made her sick to her stomach. She walked briskly down the main street and looked up at the sky.

“Hyeonchan, are you watching?”

She called out her dead boyfriend’s name once, then wiped her eyes and looked at the ground.

“Sorry, I’m here. Did that bastard fall well into hell? I’m going to eat well and live well. Live like shit forever in hell.”

Muttering to herself, she walked with light steps, bought a large order of pig’s trotters, and headed to Nara Shim’s house. She had to comfort her friend, who had lost money today.

* * *

“Hey, where have you been?”

“The black market.”

“Why there? I thought you quit.”

“I didn’t go because I wanted to.”

As soon as Dongju Kim arrived home, he collapsed onto the sofa. A woman who looked just like him sat heavily on his calf and asked,

“You’re not planning to do anything weird again, are you?”

“No, no. Why do that Old Woman and my sister keep treating me like a complete delinquent from back then?”

“Because you’re still a complete delinquent.”

Dongju Kim’s sister, Yeonhan Kim, burst out laughing. She then hit his stomach and asked,

“So, why did you go there?”

“Ugh! Just say it! Say it!”

“Because you don’t listen when I just say it!”

Dongju Kim pulled one leg free, kicked his sister in the side, and sat up. Yeonhan Kim tumbled over, laughing. That crazy sister of his just laughed at everything. Of course, she threw a punch at him as soon as she got up.

“Ah! It’s because I think we can solve the tank problem this time!”

“What did you say?”

Yeonhan shot up, grabbed him by the collar, and asked,

“Really? How are you going to get an A-Rank tank?”

“Cough, let go!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

Yeonhan finally let go of his collar and slumped back down. Dongju Kim frowned deeply, glared at his sister, and then spoke.

“So, this time, I went to watch the dogfights since it was a holiday—”

“Why are you going there again, you crazy bastard?”

“Ah, just let me finish.”

“You make it so I can’t just let it go, you complete delinquent bastard.”

“Just listen first. So…”

Dongju Kim told her everything that had happened with Cho-i. And also the fact that she was an A-Rank disguised as a C-Rank. Yeonhan Kim’s eyes sparkled at his words, and she asked,

“So, other people and guilds don’t know at all?”

“Exactly.”

“Hey! You should’ve kidnapped her!”

“Is that even possible? You’re crazier than I am.”

“What are you talking about? I’m in such a hurry.”

Yeonhan Kim and Dongju Kim had recently been desperate to form a party. This was because they hadn’t been able to enter dungeons for a while after their previous party members broke up. But there was a problem. There were no tanks within the guild who wanted to party with them.

“Though it’s all our fault, you know.”

They were excellent dealers. And they were so excellent that when they got excited, they sometimes wouldn’t follow the tank’s instructions. Like going ahead first and making it difficult to get aggro, or their damage being so high that aggro would bounce. Anyway, there were too many problems. Because of this, the A-Rank tanks in the guild were reluctant to party with them. The risk of injury was too great.

“If we can’t find party members again this time, the Guild Master will say something.”

“Even so, they can’t just make us sit idle, so won’t they just force someone on us?”

“There’s nothing worse than party members who don’t work well together. We just have to lay low for a while.”

“Ugh, that sounds good. The Guild Master is terrifying when he gets angry.”

And the Guild Master they were talking about here was…

“If Guild Master Taehyeok gets angry, only we lose.”

Taehyeok Sa, one of the existing SS-Rank hunters. He was the Guild Master of the hunter guild Paehyeok and a being who could easily be called a one-man nation. Dongju Kim and Yeonhan Kim belonged to Korea’s number one guild.