READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 3 - Unwanted Opportunity
Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: KYSOIWDI
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[ Chapter 3: Unwanted Opportunity (2) ]
The mana around a dungeon gate is distorted due to the dimensional passage, a refraction phenomenon caused by the gate. This instability increases as the dungeon break approaches.
To measure the danger, mana meters are installed around the gate. A danger level of 1 meant the dungeon was on the brink of collapse. If it reached level 2, a strategy team would be dispatched immediately to close the dungeon.
This is the modern way of managing dungeons.
However, dungeons remained mysterious entities with unknown origins. Occasionally, these dungeons would behave erratically, with their danger levels spiking unexpectedly.
Even with the best efforts of the Ability Management Bureau, there was nothing they could do when such events occurred.
“What the hell is this!”
“What’s going on?”
The mobile phones of everyone in the bar blared simultaneously with a piercing alarm.
A dungeon break alert was sent to the entire population regardless of location.
“A dungeon collapse?”
“A dungeon collapse? Where?”
Of course, I received the notification too.
If it’s the Bangi-dong 1 Dungeon, that’s the one Yoo Ji-eun mentioned. She’d be gloating about how she was right.
But that wasn’t the important part. Before I could make a call, one came in. I answered immediately.
― “B-big trouble!!”
An urgent voice hit my eardrum. I moved the receiver slightly away and spoke.
“I’ve been informed. It’s the Bangi-dong Dungeon, right? Since it’s a D-class dungeon, nothing too dangerous should come out. There will be some damage since it’s in a densely populated area… Request immediate cooperation from all guilds in Seoul.”
“It’s not at the level of a D-class dungeon!”
“What?”
“Something huge came out! Half of Songpa-gu has been obliterated!!!”
What?
“The director took the hunters who were on standby at the headquarters and headed out immediately, but honestly, we don’t know what to expect. We’ve never seen anything like this!”
The voice of the operations room staff was edging towards panic.
This wasn’t some rookie who had just been assigned, but an experienced staff member in panic? Unbelievable.
“Kyung-min, calm down. Take a deep breath. I’m on my way up now. Can you request a helicopter? Send it. I’ll be there right away.”
“Please come quickly. Please….”
Half of Songpa-gu gone? That’s absurd, even in this day and age.
Still, if the director had taken charge, it would be over soon. He was the strongest hunter after all.
By the time I arrived in Seoul, it would likely be over. But if it became known that the head of the office was enjoying a vacation while a dungeon broke out, there’d be another hearing. So much for my hard-earned vacation.
Grinding my teeth, I gulped down the half-finished drink and left the bar.
* * *
“Start immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”
He sighed as he boarded the police helicopter.
His phone buzzed again with another notification. It seemed there was no end to the alerts due to the dungeon break. Dungeon break zone. Hunter dispatch. Evacuation recommended for Songpa District.
However, this time the notification wasn’t just from his phone. His Magic Watch was ringing.
Why would the Magic Watch be going off like this…
“Um, Director?”
The police officer piloting the helicopter called out to him in a trembling voice.
“Th-that, over there, on the highway, th-that… isn’t that a monster?”
He opened the holographic window.
Dungeon Danger List.
!!Busan Hwamyeong-dong 1 Dungeon (E) – 00000000000
!!Gyeongnam Yangsan 13 Dungeon (C) – 00000000000
!!Seoul Gwanak Mountain 3 Dungeon (C) – 00000000000
!!Gangwon Taebaek 9 Dungeon (A) – 00000000000
!!…
!!…
!!…
“Shit. What the hell is this.”
Unless his Magic Watch had suddenly malfunctioned, it seemed that every dungeon in South Korea was bursting like fireworks.
* * *
Seoul was burning.
“Hey.”
I didn’t know how I had made it to Seoul. The screams of people continued to echo below the helicopter. I didn’t look down. There was no point; I couldn’t save them anyway.
I just considered it a miracle that they hadn’t encountered any flying monsters.
“There’s no way we’re making it back to Busan, and since we didn’t see any flying monsters on the way, try looking around for any survivors. If it seems hopeless, find a place that looks safe.”
I didn’t know if there was any place safe, but I said it anyway.
“Whatever you do, don’t go into the city center.”
In this situation, leaving a civilian on their own was the same as telling them to die. The police officer in front of him knew that.
But he couldn’t take him along either.
“Wh… What about you, sir?”
“I’m heading that way.”
I pointed towards the city center, where the Ability Management Bureau was located.
Starting with the Bangi-dong Dungeon, every dungeon in Korea had burst. My phone had gone silent on the way up to Seoul, and so had my Magic Watch. I had stopped checking them midway on purpose.
I didn’t know what had come out of the Bangi-dong Dungeon. Whatever it was, Seoul was done for. Seoul was burning, and the Han River had turned pitch black. The water reeked of decay, undiminished even by the flames. Even if they managed to resolve this situation, Seoul was no longer habitable.
“……”
The police officer looked at him with a complicated expression.
They were in the same position. There was no way to survive.
They both knew that.
“Good luck, then.”
“…You too, sir.”
Leaving the police helicopter behind, I walked towards the Ability Management Bureau.
As expected, there was no sign of life. What remained in Seoul were flames, the ruins of buildings, and monsters.
“Kieeek!”
“……”
I had obtained his hunter’s license in high school.
I renewed my license several times in college to raise my rank.
After graduating from university, I joined the Ability Management Bureau. Since then, I had worked in an office.
Even though my office job didn’t require it, the Director had dragged me to the mountains every weekend. He’d put me through training under the pretense of preparing for a potential rank renewal soon. The Director had been more excited about it than I had been.
What had that old man said back then?
“Hee-jae, a person needs to learn skills to survive.”
I don’t think this was the skill the Director had in mind….
But he had been right.
I picked up a sword lying at my feet. Not far away lay a charred corpse.
Tigers leave their skins when they die, and unknown hunters leave their weapons.
Cutting down the monsters I encountered, I continued to move forward.
There weren’t many monsters, perhaps killed by the hunters in Seoul or consumed by the fire.
I slowly advanced.
The last news I had seen in the helicopter reported that the same phenomenon was happening worldwide. Every dungeon across the globe was collapsing, not just in Korea.
“…What on earth is going on?”
Since I left the lab, the future I desired was simple.
I wanted to shove all the bothersome tasks onto others and enjoy the comfort that came from it. The Director had said that. Thanks to the Inspector lady, that vision became a bit more specific. In human society, the higher your position, the more you could enjoy.
I struggled to live for that. It was really almost within reach. The path had been smooth so far.
The future I wanted was worthless without people to support me. So, I had to check if there were any survivors.
…I had to confirm it.
“Damn, damn, damn…”
I checked my Magic Watch again.
Magic Watches could be linked with each other.
The only linked Magic Watch. The Director had bullied the reluctant researchers, saying it was no big deal since it was his own son. He wanted to make sure the boy was safe when he left home, like any parent would.
Did the old man confirm that I was safe? Did he die peacefully, knowing I was still breathing?
[Director]
No response. No signal at all.
The old man was dead. The strongest hunter in Korea was dead.
I walked from Songpa, crossing the Han River, following the pitch-black trail. It was in the same direction as the Ability Management Bureau. Along the way, I saw contaminated poison puddles. Traces of battles.
Near Namsan, I saw part of the creature. It looked like an insect leg. The leg alone was bigger than me.
The hacked-off edge was the old man’s handiwork. There were recognizable traces of other hunters. They were all dead, too.
A stench hit my nose. It came from the severed body. The fluid itself was poison. Despite the raging fire, it didn’t go away. The fire, filled with unpleasant magic, was not ordinary either.
What the hell happened here?
“Ugh!”
“…!”
Breathing sounds.
A survivor!
“…Parachute?”
She had been an annoying face right before I was about to take a vacation, but now, I was so relieved to see her.
There was only one person who called me that.
“Auntie!”
“Damn it, I told you not to call me that.”
“Hunter Yoo Ji-eun, I told you not to call me ‘parachute’.”
We exchanged sharp words as usual. In fact, it was a much kinder tone than usual.
I ran to Yoo Ji-eun and checked her injuries.
There wasn’t a single part of her body unscathed from head to toe. The most serious wound was on her abdomen. I didn’t know what had pierced her, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Every time Yoo Ji-eun spoke, blood gushed out.
“Cough… I told you, that thing was weird.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“If I knew, would I be lying here like this?”
The blood she spat out was black. Poison. The same poison that contaminated the Han River. Her wound reeked. I clenched my teeth.
Knowing it was futile, I still pulled out an emergency potion I carried. Yoo Ji-eun scoffed.
“Why? It’s expensive.”
“It’s something you’re carrying around, so it must be good. But you know it won’t work.”
“We won’t know until we try.”
I poured the potion on the wound. Bubbles rose and then subsided. The bleeding stopped briefly but then started again.
Yoo Ji-eun laughed, choking.
“I told you we needed to strategize.”
“Who would listen to someone just saying they had a bad feeling? Hunter Yoo Ji-eun, you weren’t even sure yourself.”
“Are you ignoring a hunter’s intuition?”
“What could be more unreliable?”
“That’s true.”
I emptied another high-grade potion. The wound remained the same. The bleeding didn’t stop.
Annoyed, I threw the potion bottle away.
“Hey, I’m done for anyway.”
“…So what?”
“Take this.”
Yoo Ji-eun extended her hand.
Clink.
The feel in my hand immediately told me what it was.
“The teacher’s… No, of course, you know.”
An old identification tag threaded with a leather strap.
The familiar three characters etched into the thin metal tag.
Hong Seok-young.
I clenched the tag tightly. An item that had lost its original purpose now only retained its appearance.
“I brought just that, in case. Lucky, huh.”
“What’s so lucky about it?”
“At least the teacher’s son has it.”
“He’s not even my biological father.”
“You’re still his son. Give him a proper funeral.”
Yoo Ji-eun said casually.
“Without a body?”
“Have you ever seen a hunter’s funeral with a body?”
I had no response to that.
Yoo Ji-eun then fell silent for a long time. With her eyes closed, she looked like a corpse.
Fear gripped me, so I spoke up.
“Don’t die, Hunter Yoo Ji-eun. I’m not giving you a funeral.”
“Damn it. You always…”
“I said don’t die.”
“Do you think I can control that? I’m lucky to be alive so far.”
Yoo Ji-eun coughed, spitting out a black lump along with blood.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Woo Hee-jae.”
“……”
“Hee-jae.”
“…What?”
“Let me see your face.”
Yoo Ji-eun, the cherished disciple of his foster father, the Director, smiled even as she was dying.
“Do you remember when you used to follow me around calling me ‘sister’?”
“That was ages ago…”
“You were so cute back then, but as you got older, you became so disrespectful…”
Yoo Ji-eun chuckled.
“Hee-jae.”
No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop the bleeding. There were no more potions left.
“Look over there.”
“Keep your mouth shut.”
“Look over there.”
“I said shut up.”
“My sword is over there.”
“I’ll call you sister again, just shut up….”
“I know you use a spear like the teacher, but take it. It’s a good one.”
I looked up at Yoo Ji-eun.
Yoo Ji-eun smiled brightly. Even after more than ten years, the face of the high school girl I first met still remained on Yoo Ji-eun’s face.
“Stay alive.”
Those were Yoo Ji-eun’s last words.