Chapter 8

The next day, as soon as it became afternoon, Taewoon visited the Association center to personally collect his Hunter license.

Nowadays, everything is digitized, so it isn’t strictly necessary to carry a physical license, but isn’t this the best way to get into the mood?

‘There are still five days left until I get a ticket for the Theater of All Things.’

Thus, Taewoon intended to finally attempt a Dungeon Conquest, something he had been thinking about for a long time.

There were two ways to go about it.

‘Either join a Guild and form a Raid Party, or put together a Temporary Party.’

Joining a Hunter Guild had been one of Taewoon’s long-time dreams, but unfortunately, he didn’t feel like doing that right now.

He felt he needed time to further understand the Theater of All Things and grow on his own for the time being.

‘If I had stayed at Hongsim Hall, finding Temporary Party members would have been easy, but…’

Since things had turned out this way, he now had to put in the legwork and look for people himself.

Accordingly, Taewoon was heading toward the center’s recruitment office, a place where one could find party members on the spot and quickly test their chemistry.

“Hey, you piece of shit, why is the archive evaluation like this? Forget being a veteran, you’re a complete idiot!”

“I’m telling you, using two Vanguards is the absolute answer. Two people, just two!”

“Eh, why bother coordinating? It’s not like we lack experience; let’s just do it the way we always do.”

To describe the atmosphere in one word: it was a marketplace.

True to the nature of Hunters with strong opinions, those who had already formed parties were busy arguing heatedly over Dungeon Conquest methods, and occasionally, opportunists trying to hide poor track records to find a party were exposed.

Amidst a scene that made his head ache just by looking at it, Taewoon felt a brief moment of regret, wondering if he should have just used an online recruitment site.

‘…Still, it’s right to choose the people you enter a dungeon with by seeing their faces in person.’

In the case of Temporary Parties, all sorts of problems frequently occurred, so to prevent them as much as possible, one had to stick to this analog method.

Taewoon scanned the list of low-rank dungeons available for application as a Temporary Party member and began to carefully look for anyone whose goals aligned with his.

‘Most are Level 1 to Level 2 Hunters. As expected, not many people prefer beginners.’

Well, that was the case regardless of which class one chose, so Taewoon didn’t mind and put his name on the list.

After a while, he received his first contact and was finally able to meet a candidate for his party.

“Um… hello. Hehe.”

“Are you Ms. Cha Yerin?”

“Yes, that’s right. And you must be Mr. Seo Taewoon.”

She was a beauty with a fairly friendly impression, and the name of the Trait registered in her archive was Mystery Roulette.

‘Roulette?’

When he asked about the uncommon Trait, Yerin began to answer while breaking into a cold sweat.

“Ah, yes… I can spin a roulette once a day to manifest a random ability. For example, today is this.”

Yerin slightly raised her arm with her palm facing upward, and blue electricity crackled above it, brightly lighting up the surroundings.

“What is this?”

“A one-and-a-half star Lightning Spell. For today, this is essentially my Trait.”

“…Ah, I think I get the general idea.”

No wonder she was so quick to form a party with Taewoon, who had neither experience nor a track record; she was a woman with a very peculiar Trait.

Because there were too many variables and she couldn’t pull the necessary ability to match a scheduled conquest date, she was inevitably an undesirable talent for those trying to balance a party composition.

‘Still… I guess once wouldn’t hurt?’

In Taewoon’s case, since he used a variety of weapons without discrimination, he was less restricted in party composition, and if they chose a dungeon that wasn’t crowded, the date issue could be solved to some extent.

Furthermore, since Taewoon himself was in a position where he needed to build experience, he wasn’t in a situation to be picky about party members.

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

“Ah, thank you. Then, Mr. Taewoon’s Trait is…”

“The explanation is a bit complex, but you can just think of me as a Vanguard who mainly handles swords, spears, shields, or daggers.”

Just as they had reached an understanding and were about to officially form a Temporary Party, an unexpected interruption arrived.

“Is this a dream or reality? Am I seeing things right now?”

It was a face that felt familiar yet made one tilt their head for a moment. After thinking for a second, Taewoon realized it was Yongcheol, one of Mansik’s lackeys who had picked a fight with him to break the contract.

“What do you want?”

“You brat, your big brother is here and you’re saying such disappointing things. More importantly, I heard you unlocked your Trait?”

For a moment, Taewoon genuinely wondered where this arrogant punk’s confidence came from.

Even before blooming his Trait, Taewoon hadn’t been afraid of their leader, Mansik, or his gang.

He had simply ignored them thoroughly because there was nothing to gain from causing trouble.

‘Fine, let’s hear him out.’

Before he knew it, Taewoon found the situation somewhat amusing.

And to such a Taewoon, Yongcheol continued to speak with a consistently confident attitude.

“If such a celebratory event happened, you should have rushed over to greet me first. Why, I could talk to Brother Mansik and get you back into Hongsim Hall, you know? Of course, the contract terms would have to be appropriately adjusted.”

“I’m good. That’s already over.”

Yongcheol’s gaze, which had been poking at Taewoon, now shifted toward Yerin in front of him.

“Tsk, tsk. I wondered who you were trying to recruit as a party member, and you chose a guy like this instead of me? You probably don’t know because you’re a rookie, but it’s hard without the help of an experienced person. I wonder if you know what percentage of beginner parties end in accidents.”

Feeling a surge of secondhand embarrassment, Taewoon covered his face and lowered his head.

So, this guy had applied to be in a party with Cha Yerin, been rejected, and had been lurking for an opportunity because he couldn’t let it go?

And since he happened to see Taewoon, he rushed over to interfere?

‘There’s a limit to how pathetic one can be!’

He knew they were a group of light-headed Ruffians, but this was simply too clueless.

Putting an arm around the cold-faced Taewoon, Yongcheol began to calculate and demean Taewoon’s value once again.

“The lady might not know because she’s young, but this guy is famous. You know, the parasite of Hongsim Hall. The guy who couldn’t bloom a single Trait for five years after becoming a Trainee Hunter and spent every single day just beating up wooden dolls. If you’re going to hitch a ride, shouldn’t you pick a proper Knight?”

However, those words seemed to have the power to change perceptions; the onlookers, who had been looking at Yongcheol with distaste, began to cast unreliable glances at Taewoon.

‘Tsk, so it ends up like this.’

A half-baked Hunter who couldn’t bloom a Trait for five years.

In truth, now that he had succeeded, it wasn’t a major disqualification, but people’s perceptions are just like that.

Amidst the shifting gazes, Yongcheol, feeling that his remarks were working, began to wag his tongue excitedly.

“I know well because I had to clean up after this guy. He’s not at a level to lead a party yet. Just consider today a life lesson and let’s wrap up the party talk. I’m not usually the kind of person to be this generous, really.”

“…Why do you get to decide that, mister?”

At the sudden rebuttal, not only the people around them but even Taewoon looked at Yerin with slightly surprised eyes.

Regardless, Yerin simply rejected Yongcheol’s appeal once more with a somewhat awkward attitude.

“And I told you. I don’t want to just hitch a ride; I want to gain proper experience as a Hunter. And the flammable contaminated water ejection is a bit… given my Trait, an unforeseen accident might happen.”

At that blunt rejection, some of the onlookers let out a chuckle.

Contaminated water ejection—though they hadn’t seen it personally, it certainly wasn’t a Trait one would brag about.

“Ah, no, I didn’t mean to tease you. What was it… Waste Water Garden? Your name is cool. It’s just that we don’t fit together.”

It didn’t seem like Yerin had any particular malice, but Yongcheol’s pride took severe damage from that blatant disgust.

And the arrow of anger immediately began to point toward Taewoon.

“Phew, I don’t usually go this far. I don’t know why you can’t accept my concern. Hey. Let’s have one round of Sparring with your big brother here.”

“…Sparring?”

“The lady’s mind will change completely once she sees it. I’m telling you, this guy is just a fraud. It’ll only take a moment, so there’s no harm in checking, right?”

Since it didn’t sound entirely illogical on the surface, Yerin couldn’t react with a strong denial this time.

Nevertheless, just as she was about to utter words of defense, Taewoon stopped her with a gesture.

‘I didn’t want to get involved, but I’ve endured enough.’

He had left it alone because it was funny, but the situation had reached a point where he could no longer overlook it.

Considering that he would likely be subtly entangled like this every time they met, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to settle the ties of the past once and for all.

“Let’s do it. Sparring. Let’s move immediately so we don’t waste time.”

“…Hehe, this brat. He’s really excited just because he unlocked a Trait? Sure, sure. I’ll go easy on you, so let’s finish this quickly and wrap it up.”

As the old saying goes, the most enjoyable things are watching a fire and watching a fight.

The Hunters who had been frantically searching for parties also followed behind Taewoon and Yongcheol, with about half of them slipping away to watch.

Upon arriving at the training ground, Yongcheol, having set the stage, picked up a wooden staff and spoke.

“So, what do you want? I don’t mind if you use your own weapon if necessary.”

“What weapon? Just give me the same thing.”

“…You little…?”

Having come this far, Taewoon no longer felt the need to maintain courtesy.

In the first place, wasn’t this just too absurd?

“…Hey. Yongcheol. You come to pick fights every single day, but have you ever actually paid attention to me training?”

“What, what? This piece of shit is just going wild now?”

“What ‘big brother’ act is this when you’ve never bought me a single meal? Have some conscience; how does a thug like you try to stand on equal footing with me?”

Five years.

For five whole years, Taewoon had swung weapons 365 days a year, without rest, whether it snowed or rained.

He was a true tenacious monster who had completed almost all of Hongsim Hall’s rigorous training menu even without blooming a Trait.

“I’ll overlook the cursing and mocking, but I need to definitely fix that dramatic mindset of yours this time.”

“You brat!”

An enraged Yongcheol stepped forward and launched a fierce strike at Taewoon.

Was he a Hunter on the verge of ranking up to Level 2? He certainly had the experience from playing the errand boy at Hongsim Hall, as the attack wasn’t completely formless.

‘So, what of it?’

He could guarantee that anyone who seriously intended to live the life of a Hunter could do at least this much.

And Taewoon had put in several times more effort than others. He never gave up until he acknowledged the absolute limit.

“Whoa!”

With a simple upward swing, Taewoon’s wooden staff sent Yongcheol’s staff flying into the air in an instant.

And while everyone was focused on that sight, Taewoon had already closed the distance to the defenseless Yongcheol.

“Gah! Kegh…!”

Yongcheol’s body momentarily floated in the air after being hit in the abdomen by a powerful spinning back kick.

Then, a merciless barrage of clubbing followed, Taewoon’s staff painting the air toward the already distorted face of Yongcheol.

“Kuaagh! Kehek! Kuhek…!”

Screaming loudly, Yongcheol collapsed flat on the training ground floor, saliva leaking from the corners of his mouth.

Yongcheol struggled even to breathe, and seeing this, Taewoon sighed and withdrew the wooden staff from his hand.

“And if we’re talking about seniority, I’m the senior, so why are you the senior? If you’re not going to treat me like a brother, just live as a stranger for the rest of your life.”

Having no intention of waiting for Yongcheol to recover, Taewoon tidied up the staff that had fallen on the ground and left the training ground without hesitation.

Watching the shocking scene, the onlookers also let out honest sighs.

“What the… he was just a useless idiot.”

“No, more than that, wasn’t the other guy insane? I could barely see him swing.”

“He said he trained only the basics for five years. At that point, he’s practically a peerless master.”

“I guess so.”

No words were needed. In just those few exchanges, people could feel that Taewoon had repeated an enormous amount of effort.

No one paid attention to Yongcheol anymore. They only engraved the name of the man who had overwhelmed him as a rookie in their minds: Seo Taewoon.

And.

‘Crazy, this is amazing…’

Han Saebom, a member of Baran’s Guild—a mid-sized South Korean guild showing outstanding growth recently—was also captivated by the sight.

If she was going to target a rookie, shouldn’t she target a training monster with a will of steel like that, rather than some mediocre prospect without a mental core?

Thinking so, her hand gripping the smartphone began to move as if she were about to pierce through the screen.