Cheon Gunam’s intuition was telling him as much.

He absolutely had to uncover Seo Kangrim’s secret, but those damn bandages were proving to be a problem.

Cheon Gunam’s eyes gleamed with malice as he glared at Seo Kangrim.

‘Should I just beat him half to death and check?’

Just then, Seo Kangrim whipped around.

Their eyes met, and Cheon Gunam flashed an awkward smile.

“Did you need something?”

“Oh, well… Why do you prefer traveling alone, Mr. Seo Kangrim?”

He had tried to brush it off, but the question he’d been holding back slipped out before he knew it.

Seo Kangrim stared at him for a moment before speaking as if spitting the words out.

“I’ve been backstabbed one too many times.”

“Backstabbed?”

“Yes. Some bastard stumbled upon my secret and spread it around, causing me quite a bit of trouble.”

Hearing this, Cheon Gunam felt a prick of conscience.

It was a strange sensation.

Seo Kangrim was clearly talking about someone else, yet he felt an inexplicable sense of guilt.

To hide his reaction, Cheon Gunam forced a hearty laugh.

“I see. But shouldn’t you just forgive and forget? Keeping to yourself will only hurt you in the long run.”

“If I forget, I’ll just fall for the same trick again.”

Seo Kangrim casually kicked the corpse of a nearby Fire Frog into the boiling pool.

The frog’s body sank with a *bugeureureu*.

Seo Kangrim turned to Cheon Gunam.

“Shouldn’t you pay back what you’ve suffered?”

Cheon Gunam stiffened slightly at those words.

He felt as if his intention to beat Seo Kangrim half to death and check his Fortune Window had been exposed.

‘Is he threatening me right now?’

However, hearing the threatening tone only fueled Cheon Gunam’s stubbornness.

The man seemed stronger than him, but not overwhelmingly so.

If that were the case, why bring him along in the first place?

He must have realized he couldn’t clear this room alone, which was why he’d added him to the party.

‘He’ll get tired and let his guard down eventually. I’ll just wait for that moment…’

Even if he couldn’t check his palm lines, he wanted to teach him a lesson at least once.

Seo Kangrim wiped the sweat trickling down his cheek with the back of his hand and spoke.

“It’ll be difficult to explore this entire area in one go today. Let’s check up to that hill over there and head back.”

When Seo Kangrim pointed to a hill a short distance away, Cheon Gunam nodded without a word.

He wanted to turn back immediately, but complaining felt like admitting defeat.

As they approached the hill, the heat intensified.

A boiling pool of water, about the size of a small lake, bubbled furiously.

“Isn’t that something over there?”

Cheon Gunam said, pointing toward the center of the pool.

A small rock-like formation rose from the center, and something atop it glittered and gleamed.

“…Could that be Crystal Ice?”

Cheon Gunam couldn’t help but smile.

Seo Kangrim had entered this place several times without finding it, yet he had spotted it instantly.

The only problem was figuring out how to reach the center.

“Let’s head over there first.”

“And do what? How are you planning to cross that?”

Instead of answering, Seo Kangrim walked forward.

Cheon Gunam watched him with contempt.

‘Is he stupidly trying to just wade through?’

As they neared the massive pool, demon beasts immediately began to approach.

The Fire Frogs were nowhere to be seen, but Fire Stone Ghosts were present.

Seo Kangrim drove his blade into a Fire Stone Ghost lunging at his feet.

‘Huh? Why is he hunting a Fire Stone Ghost?’

Until recently, Seo Kangrim had been running away from them.

Cheon Gunam had fought them too, but his attacks hadn’t dealt any real damage.

While Cheon Gunam stood by watching without any intention to fight, Seo Kangrim twisted the sword he had plunged into the ground and pried it upward.

Like a lever, the blade flipped the Fire Stone Ghost over.

-*Geureukgeureuk*…!

As the Fire Stone Ghost flailed helplessly, Seo Kangrim drove his sword into its underbelly.

The thrashing stopped instantly.

Seo Kangrim systematically dispatched the surrounding Fire Stone Ghosts one by one.

Once the number of demon beasts thinned out, Cheon Gunam finally approached Seo Kangrim.

“These Fire Stone Ghosts… I thought you couldn’t hunt them?”

“I can. It’s just a bit tedious.”

Flipped over, the Fire Stone Ghost looked like a cross between a crab and a turtle.

Unlike its hard outer shell, its inner flesh looked soft and vulnerable.

‘How did he figure that out?’

Cheon Gunam was impressed by Seo Kangrim’s discernment, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

Meanwhile, Seo Kangrim approached the boiling pool and plunged his sword into it.

“Mr. Seo Kangrim, what are you doing?”

“Measuring the depth.”

When he pulled the blade out, moisture clung to half of the sword.

Seo Kangrim dragged a Fire Stone Ghost corpse over and tossed it into the pool.

The Fire Stone Ghost hit the surface with a heavy thud and submerged, but didn’t sink completely.

“The pool is shallower than I expected. Help me out here, Mr. Cheon Gunam.”

Only after hearing that did Cheon Gunam scramble to start hunting Fire Stone Ghosts.

After working for a while, a stepping stone bridge of corpses began to take shape.

Seo Kangrim sat on a nearby rock to rest, looking exhausted.

‘Looks like he got hurt quite a bit fighting alone earlier.’

The more exhausted Seo Kangrim became, the better it was for him.

Meanwhile, the stepping stone bridge was halfway complete.

Since the Fire Stone Ghosts were quite heavy, building the bridge any further seemed like hard work.

“Mr. Cheon Gunam.”

Just then, Seo Kangrim sprang to his feet, seemingly noticing something.

“The Fire Frogs are coming.”

He said, looking past the hill.

True to his words, a horde of Fire Frogs was swarming toward them.

Cheon Gunam gripped his sword and glanced back at the stepping stone bridge.

-*Kkekgureureuk!*

As the Fire Frogs charged, Seo Kangrim dashed forward to meet them.

Meanwhile, Cheon Gunam sprinted in the opposite direction.

Seo Kangrim tried to shout something, but he was already surrounded by Fire Frogs and had no time to spare.

‘Stupid bastard.’

Leaving Seo Kangrim as bait, Cheon Gunam sprinted toward the center of the pool.

He stomped across the Fire Stone Ghost corpses, closing the distance to the center in an instant.

‘I need to secure the Crystal Ice first!’

After Seo Kangrim became the first to clear the Room of the Mountain of Death…

People had begun looking at Seo Kangrim with genuine respect.

Cheon Gunam coveted that admiration more than anything.

What if he achieved the First Clear of the Room of Fire Bath?

‘If I just take this first…!’

The stepping stone bridge had come to an end, but he couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer.

The center wasn’t far now.

Cheon Gunam stepped into the boiling pool.

“…!”

It instantly felt like his leg had caught fire.

However, it wasn’t completely unbearable.

Gritting his teeth, Cheon Gunam waded through the pool and climbed onto the rock at the center.

“Hah, hah…”

Most of his pants had melted away, and his skin burned painfully, but none of that mattered.

Wearing a pained smile, he picked up the glowing object resting in the middle of the rock.

It felt squishy.

“…What?”

For ice, the texture was distinctly off.

Looking closer, it resembled a marble gleaming with brilliant light, yet it was soft and squishy to the touch.

No matter how he looked at it, it wasn’t ice or crystal.

It was a Fire Frog egg.

-*Kkirireureuk!*

The moment Cheon Gunam disturbed the Fire Frog nest, the frogs attacking Seo Kangrim froze in unison.

Then, they all turned their bodies toward the center of the pool.

With their eggs in danger, Cheon Gunam had just become their primary target.

As the Fire Frogs swarmed toward him, Cheon Gunam panicked and screamed.

“M-Mr. Seo Kangrim! Help me!”

This was no time for pride or weighing the consequences.

However, Seo Kangrim ignored his cries and started walking in the opposite direction.

“Mr. Seo Kangrim! Seo Kangrim! Hey, you bastard!”

No matter how much Cheon Gunam called out, Seo Kangrim didn’t stop, acting as if he couldn’t hear a thing.

In an instant, the Fire Frogs swarmed around Cheon Gunam.

* * *

From afar, the faint sound of Cheon Gunam’s screams seemed to echo.

‘Phase one is a success.’

Seo Kangrim brushed the mud off his body and moved to a nearby safe zone.

‘I was just planning to make him struggle a bit, but he crawled right into the boiling pool on his own.’

Picturing Cheon Gunam throwing a tantrum, he placed a Fire Frog corpse onto a rock.

‘Now, on to phase two.’

Seo Kangrim decapitated the Fire Frog and began skinning it.

There were several ways to clear this Room of Fire Bath.

Crystal Ice had an extremely low temperature, which attracted Fire Frogs like moths to a flame.

Because of this, before one could reach the exit, the Fire Frogs would latch onto their ankles, causing the ice to melt or be stolen away.

That didn’t mean there was no way to clear it.

Those with high agility could find the Crystal Ice and escape by routing through safe zones.

If one was confident in their attack power, they could slaughter all the Fire Frogs before claiming the Crystal Ice.

‘And there are other methods, too.’

Slicing open the Fire Frog’s belly released a foul stench alongside a wave of heat.

Furrowing his brow, Seo Kangrim scooped out its internal organs.

Within the mess, he found the oil sac.

═══════════════

[Item] Frog Oil (合䗫油)

[Rank] Third Insect Grade (蟲三品)

[Description] Oil obtained from Fire Frogs. It is a versatile healing agent. It can also be used as general oil.

═══════════════

Seo Kangrim squeezed the Frog Oil and applied it to the burns scattered across his body.

It stung slightly, but the red scars soon began to fade.

‘It smells a bit, but it works wonders for burns.’

After applying the Frog Oil all over his body, he dismantled the remaining Fire Frogs to gather the necessary amount.

He skinned the remaining corpses and stored the hides separately.

Fire Frog leather had excellent heat resistance, meaning ice stored inside would barely melt.

Seo Kangrim packed the Frog Oil and frog leather into his bag and stepped outside.

‘Now I just need to get to where the Crystal Ice is.’

However, fighting through the horde of demon beasts to get there was out of the question.

Therefore, Seo Kangrim planned to slip past the Fire Frogs entirely.

[The Special Ability ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ is activating!]

In an instant, a small fireball materialized in his hand.

Within this Demon Realm, fire-attribute abilities weren’t much help in combat, but they had uses outside of attacking.

-*Hwareureuk!*

When Seo Kangrim set himself ablaze, small flames spread across his entire body, fueled by the Frog Oil.

‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ only provided Seo Kangrim with a comfortable warmth, dealing no damage to him.

After turning himself into a human torch, he approached the boiling pool, and the Fire Frogs revealed themselves.

-*Gaegul?*

The Fire Frogs, which would have normally charged at him in a frenzy, showed no reaction whatsoever.

As if Seo Kangrim were completely invisible.