Chapter 148

Cho-i Hyeon headed straight for Paehyeok. The people chasing her from behind seemed to have been stopped by Gihyeon Park and Jihan Kim. Although Suui Kim, who was also a Paehyeok Guild member, would probably suffer a bit, since she had been treated, Cho-i Hyeon continued on her way without much worry. After arriving at Paehyeok, she immediately went up to the Guild Master’s Office. And as soon as she came face to face with Taehyeok Sa, she shouted.

“I caused trouble!”

“…Suui Kim?”

“Injured!”

“I see.”

Taehyeok Sa already knew that the dungeons in Chonghyeon had all been upgraded at once. It was highly likely that it was even in the news. Cho-i had also seen the reporters and the crowd when she came out, so she assumed he was already aware and just said she was injured without further explanation.

“The highest difficulty was S-grade+, and you two went in there alone?”

“No, with an S-Rank student named Honggyeong Kang.”

“A student?”

As Taehyeok Sa raised an eyebrow, Cho-i Hyeon nodded.

“She volunteered to go.”

“…You weren’t hurt?”

“Look at this. You didn’t even flinch when I said your guild member was hurt, but you’re worried about a private school student.”

Cho-i Hyeon pointed a finger at him. Taehyeok Sa shook his head as if to say, “Enough,” then stood up and approached Cho-i Hyeon. As Cho-i Hyeon watched him approach, something suddenly came to mind, and she pulled something out of her inventory.

“First, from Paehyeok’s side… what is this?”

“A Red Magic Stone.”

“I know that much. I don’t know where you got it, but what are you going to use it for now?”

“I’m going to feed it to you.”

“What?”

Taehyeok Sa looked down at her with a bewildered expression. She confidently brought the Red Magic Stone to Taehyeok Sa’s mouth, and Taehyeok Sa tilted his head, looking at it.

“You know there’s no difference between feeding this to me and throwing it on the floor, right?”

“It’s not like the stats don’t go up at all, is it?”

“That’s true. The problem is that they go up very minimally.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as they go up. There’s something I want to check.”

“So that’s it…”

Taehyeok Sa opened his mouth and ate the magic stone that Cho-i Hyeon was still holding to his lips. Crunch, crunch. Nara Shim simply swallowed the magic stone, but this guy, perhaps because of his nasty personality, chewed it mercilessly. Cho-i Hyeon watched him, waiting for a window to pop up. And soon. Ding!

[supporter registration] [Nara Shim] [Suui Kim] [empty slot] [empty slot]

Cho-i Hyeon smiled brightly with a look that said, “It worked.” Taehyeok Sa, who knew nothing, must have seen Cho-i suddenly smile broadly in his face after he swallowed the magic stone. Seeing him narrow his eyebrows, Cho-i Hyeon thought, “Yes, yes. That’s right,” and casually patted his head and moved on. Taehyeok Sa’s expression became even stranger.

‘Taehyeok Sa, Taehyeok Sa.’

[supporter registration] [Nara Shim] [Suui Kim] [Taehyeok Sa] NEW! [empty slot]

Cho-i Hyeon confirmed that Taehyeok Sa had been added, then walked lightly and plumped down on the sofa. Taehyeok Sa followed with a bewildered expression, sat opposite her, and opened his mouth.

“Anyway, Paehyeok will remain silent about this incident. The story of two S-Ranks and one A+ Rank clearing an S-grade+ dungeon without a healer is, in fact, almost impossible.”

“Hmm, I actually agree with that.”

Cho-i Hyeon said, blinking her eyes innocently.

“That’s not the accident I caused, though?”

“Then what is it?”

“Ah, the Entity story hasn’t spread yet, has it?”

Cho-i Hyeon cupped her face in her hands and said prettily.

“I annihilated a dungeon.”

“…What?”

Taehyeok Sa’s brow furrowed. Cho-i Hyeon chuckled and leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs as if she had nothing more to say. Taehyeok Sa remained silent, a thoughtful expression on his face, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Oh, come to think of it, the dungeon I went to with Taeyang Kang last time also disappeared. I forgot to ask about it…”

“Hahaha, how could you forget that!”

Taehyeok Sa wasn’t just playing around, messing with Taeyang Kang. He first pressed his forehead and continued to ask.

“More importantly, how did you do it?”

“When a dungeon closes and the world is reconfigured, the core, which is the center of the dungeon, is exposed. Not just anyone can see it, but if you break it, the dungeon disappears.”

“…Who knows about this?”

“The only ones who accurately know about the core are Jihan Kim, the Guild Master I went to Japan with last time, and Taeyang Kang. The others don’t really know. Besides that, the people who saw the dungeon disappear were the teachers and students of Chonghyeon and…”

“Okay, okay. I get it. Just a moment.”

Taehyeok Sa pressed his temples for a moment, as if his head hurt. Cho-i Hyeon giggled and happily watched Taehyeok Sa’s face.

“Did something like this happen in Japan too?”

“It did, didn’t it? But we kept it strictly under wraps.”

“So no word leaked out…”

“How do you plan to respond to this?”

“In this case…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just release the information on a large scale?”

“That’s right. Dungeons are becoming saturated anyway, so there’s no harm in letting people know.”

“Alright, then you go ahead and inform them. I’m going home.”

“Reporters are probably starting to flock here soon.”

“If I run, how are they going to catch up?”

“The Entity too, huh.”

Cho-i Hyeon sprang up from her seat and headed for the elevator. Taehyeok Sa watched her back and said in a low voice.

“Dungeons suddenly upgrading all at once is not something to overlook.”

“I know.”

“Something more is definitely coming. So be careful.”

“Got it.”

Despite her nonchalant attitude, Taehyeok Sa readily let her go. Cho-i Hyeon yawned widely, took the elevator down, and got off on the 5th floor. Looking down from the 5th-floor window, she saw reporters already swarming. Cho-i Hyeon grinned and jumped out the 5th-floor window without hesitation.

“Oh! Look!”

Thud, Cho-i jumped from the 5th floor and landed behind the reporters. Seeing that the reporters had spotted her, she immediately kicked off the ground and ran. She heard shouts of “Hey, catch her! Catch her!” from behind, but she didn’t hesitate, jumping onto the adjacent 6-story building and looking back.

“How do they expect to catch an S-Rank hunter? It’s laughable.”

Cho-i Hyeon scoffed at the reporters scrambling to follow her and began leaping between buildings. A refreshing breeze brushed past her, making her feel good. Just then, a text message pinged on her smartphone. It was Nara Shim.

[Hey, when are you coming home? I want to order something to eat.]

Cho-i Hyeon stood on the rooftop of a building for a moment to reply to Nara Shim’s text. But then, she suddenly felt an intense sensation and dropped her smartphone.

“Oh, oh, oh?”

She suddenly felt a massive wave. An indescribable sensation, like a wave crashing over her. Something enormous that she couldn’t control. Cho-i Hyeon instinctively turned her head somewhere. And there, for the first time, Cho-i Hyeon saw how a dungeon is created. A giant volcano-like structure broke through the ground and rose up. The sound of concrete breaking could be heard from afar. The Entity pushed aside the buildings standing on it and rose higher and higher. Crunch, bang! Squeal! Screams! Countless sounds reached S-Rank Cho-i’s ears. Rumble. Along with the sound of the building collapsing, the screams of the people inside could be heard. Cho-i Hyeon wanted to cover her ears for a moment, but contrary to that, her body was running towards where the dungeon was forming.

“No!”

Suddenly, that thought came to her. That is a dungeon that should not be created. She ran like crazy. Buildings were collapsing, and that huge volcano-like thing was rising even higher. As the area of the Entity expanded, the surrounding buildings collapsed all at once with a rumbling sound.

“That shouldn’t exist!”

Suddenly, a scream echoed in her mind. The Entity, sensing something, was screaming madly. Her head ached as if it would split. The screams of other people also pierced her ears. She wanted to grab her head and collapse right then, but she kept running, looking at the dungeon that was growing bigger and bigger.

“Aaah!”

Cho-i Hyeon, who had finally reached the vicinity, snatched a person about to be crushed by the debris of a collapsing building, pulling them out of the danger zone. After putting the person down, she started running again. The thought that she could save at least one more person if she ran now made her muscles feel like they were swelling. It was the first time Cho-i Hyeon had run until her lungs ached since becoming an S-Rank. She was gasping for air. As the building tilted, she snatched people who were flying out of windows, set them down on the ground, and moved those who seemed about to be crushed by the building to safety. She looked with bewildered eyes at the massive, volcano-like dungeon still rising.

“That thing.” ‘This can’t be happening! It can’t!’

The Entity’s screams grew louder and louder. She briefly covered her ears, which felt like they were ringing. This would not be good for her either. The Entity was embedded in her mind like an oracle. But all she could do was save the people caught in the dungeon generation. And soon, with a rumble, the generation of the massive dungeon stopped. And in the air directly in front of the dungeon, an entrance larger than anything seen before began to form. The deep blue Entity was like the sea and also like a sky with nothing floating in it. No, that painfully blue color didn’t seem to be from Earth. Screams were still heard everywhere. Buildings had all collapsed, and people were dying. Cho-i Hyeon felt her mind growing hazy. Beep-beep-beep-, after a short while, loud siren sounds began to be heard. Hearing that sound, Cho-i Hyeon thought, “Ah, something that shouldn’t have appeared has appeared.”