Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon - Chapter 23

Although the Titans guild members and the others involved remained silent…

Rumors began to spread that it was a C-rank hunter who defeated the monster in the sky.

Even though a lot of people did not believe the absurd story, the rumor was quickly spread by word.

The news of the serial killer who only targets guild hunters became temporarily forgotten because of Jinhyuk’s performance.

The information-sensitive scouts of large guilds began their own investigations upon hearing those rumors.

Rumors are unreliable, but for them, it was worth betting on the possibility of ‘if’.

In this day and age where the guilds are competing with each other, the promising rising hunter was a valuable resource.

Guilds who wanted to strengthen their position were naturally interested in this matter.

Korea’s Number 1 Guild, Altron, was no exception.

“I heard the guild leader of Titans personally contacted him.”

“I heard that too. But I heard he refused?”

“If the S-rank hunter personally recruits this person, then it seems like that hunter is not just an ordinary talent.”

The Altron guild scouts were in agony as they launched their investigations.

Titans was one of the top five guilds in Korea.

Even though it was the guild leader himself who approached the hunter, it was clear that he didn’t give a good enough proposal given that the hunter refused to join.

‘Just how great is this hunter….?’

The new hunter stood out only recently, so there’s ridiculously insufficient information that the guilds can collect about him.

There are only two confirmed facts amid all kinds of rumors.

The fact that the hunter wields an aluminum bat, and he used that same bat to beat up the A-rank hunter who tried to hurt him.

“Did you get any information about the A-rank hunter who was hospitalized?”

“They’re saying it’s the Titans hunter, Ahn Doyoon.”

“What? That guy is really skilled though. I don’t think a mere C-rank hunter can do that to him.”

The reason why Ahn Doyoon was not kicked out of Titans even though he caused all kinds of trouble was because of his fighting power and performance.

“That’s what I think so too. He was once the guild’s deputy leader. I can’t believe he’s beaten by a C-rank hunter…”

The defeat of a famously talented person means that this new hunter’s skills were that good.

“I think he is part of a hidden class.”

“Isn’t it too early to determine that?”

“No, there’s plenty of potential in him.”

The Altron scout was confident in his intuition.

The hidden class was said to be about 0.1% of the hunter population.

It didn’t make sense for a C-rank hunter to beat Ahn Doyoon without being part of the hidden class.

“If he really is part of the hidden class, then…”

“We have to hurry up before we lose him to another guild.”

The Altron scouts began to get nervous.

Their guild was able to reach the top of the country thanks to hunters of the hidden class.

They have as many as three hidden class hunters.

The Altron was very keen on other guilds recruiting hunters from the hidden class.

But the best way to attract those hunters is to pose as their allies.

“I think he should at least be given the position as a deputy guild leader.”

“Really? You want to go that far to recruit him?”

“What do you mean? That hunter refused the offer of the guild leader of Titans. It’s obvious that he’ll do the same to us if we don’t give him a better offer.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

Just because the hunter was only of C-rank doesn’t mean that they should underestimate him.

They were already sure and confident that Kang Jinhyuk belongs to the hidden class.

Contrary to their expectations, however, Kang Jinhuyk was nothing like that.

The hunter in question was currently stretching his limbs. 

He excessively pushed himself and his stamina for the past week.

Kang Jinhyuk was in deep sleep for more than two days without knowing that rumors about him were being spread.

It was after he opened his eyes due to the tremendous hunger that he realized the issue that he caused.

* * *

Kang Jinhyuk picked up his phone and checked today’s date.

“What the?”

Jinhyuk was surprised that he fell asleep and woke up two days later.

And he was surprised again to see Lucia calmly going through his fridge. 

Lucia stopped taking out apples from the vegetable compartment and waved happily when she made eye contact with Jinhyuk.

“You’re finally awake. I thought you died because you collapsed as soon as you got home.”

Jinhyuk tried to rake his head and tried to remember what happened before this situation.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand what was going on at the moment.

“Why are you still here?”

“Pff, look at you… You’re not even grateful that I looked over you while you were passed out.”

“What nonsense. You didn’t take care of me. I’m wearing the same clothes from two days ago.”

Jinhyuk felt gross that he slept for two days in his dirty clothes.

Lucia laughed at Jinhyuk’s visible dissatisfaction.

“Try to put yourself in my shoes. Would you want to help me change my clothes if they were that dirty?”

“Put me in your shoes? Ah uhmm…”

Lucia just ignored Jinhyuk and harshly threw an apple at him.

“What are you imagining, you crazy punk?!”

Jinhyuk ducked in a hurry before the apple could hit his head.

“Don’t waste other people’s food. Go back to the dungeon.”

“I would’ve gone back if I could. Why would I even want to stay in this dirty place?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t go back even if I wanted to.”

“…?”

‘Just go back using the same method we used to get here…?’

It was an absurdly simple thing to do that Jinhyuk was in disbelief that Lucia didn’t know how to do it.

“You couldn’t go back to the dungeon even when you opened the door?”

“Yeah. I’m not kidding, I really couldn’t go back.”

Looking at Lucia’s face, it doesn’t seem like she’s joking.

Jinhyuk walked in front of the attic door with his heart pounding.

He slowly opened the door.

Contrary to his concerns, Jinhyuk smiled in vain when he found the dungeon still intact.

“It looks normal though?”

“What? No way.”

“Look for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

Lucia, who walked toward the attic, confirmed that the dungeon was intact.

Even though she saw it with her own eyes, she snooped her head and murmured in disbelief.

“It wasn’t here when I opened it though…”

Lucia pushed Jinhyuk slightly aside and closed the attic door.

When Lucia opened the door again, the dungeon disappeared just as she expected.

The only thing left was the ordinary attic.

“Look! I told you it’s not here!”

“W-what?”

Jinhyuk saw the inside of the attic and felt like he was at a magic show.

How could different results show when they’re opening and closing the same door?

“What the heck is happening?”

Since the appearance of a dungeon in the attic, he never had anyone else open this door. Jinhyuk had no idea that this would happen.

Lucia fell into deep thought with her arms folded.

In the meantime, Jinhyuk ordered some delivery food while Lucia was sorting out the most likely hypothesis.

“I think this is because of the coordinates carved by the crazy wizard.”

“…Can you explain that a bit better?”

“What I’m saying is that this dungeon’s destination is ‘you’.”

Lucia spoke with confidence as if she were more than half sure.

However, Jinyuk barely understood her explanation.

First of all, dimension shifting wasn’t a thing of common sense, and most of all, it was absurd that Kang Jinhyuk himself was the destination.

“Then why didn’t the dungeon fall over my head instead of the attic?”

“It’s because the magic failed.”

If the magic were successful, Jinhyuk would’ve been crushed by the dungeon.

Lucia jokingly explained.

“In short, I would’ve died for no reason if the magic went through.”

“You got that right.”

Jinhyuk was deeply grateful that that didn’t happen.

However, from this moment on, he would become anxious.

He might get crushed by a dungeon after all.

Jinhyuk clenched his fists.

Then, like a ghost, a loud sound came from his stomach.

His empty stomach began to protest as it couldn’t endure the hunger anymore.

“The food isn’t here yet?”

His stomach was almost stuck to his back as he didn’t eat for two days.

Fortunately, the delivery man came just in time.

<Excuse me, but can you tell me your home address again?>

“My home address? It’s what I set on the app…”

The delivery driver became confused when Jinhyuk gave his home address again.

<I’m at the address but I can’t find your house at all. Can you come outside, please?>

“A-ah, yes. Wait a second.”

The area wasn’t a complicated place. This was the first time this happened to Jinhyuk.

Even though it’s a little strange, he has no choice but to do it.

Jinhyuk opened the door himself and went out to search for the delivery man.

Jinhyuk found the delivery man after a few seconds.

“…What are you doing over here?”

The delivery man was wandering right in front of Kang Jinhyuk’s house.

It was only after Jinhyuk went out that the delivery rider seem to have noticed that there was a house there.

“O-oh? Are you the one who ordered delivery?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“This is odd… How did I not find the house when it’s right there?”

The delivery man was still confused after he left.

The same was true of Kang Jinhyuk.

It was strange no matter how much he thought about it.

Jinhyuk entered the house with a visibly confused face.

“Who was it?”

Jinhyuk answered Lucia’s question by taking out the food.

“I was hungry so I ordered some food.”

“Oh, well it’s a relief the guy found this place. It would’ve been hard to find it because of the ‘mask perception’ magic.”

Jinhyuk stopped moving the moment he heard Lucia.

Her remarks were not something to be overlooked.

“What did you say?”

“Mask perception magic. It’s simple but it works well.”

“Why is that on my house?”

“Strange people kept coming here while you were sleeping.”

“Strange people?”

“Yeah. They said they were from… Gideon? Altron? I don’t know, they were talking about something like guilds.”

Lucia mentioned the top two guilds in Korea.

It wasn’t normal for people from those large guilds to look for him.

Jinhyuk searched for the latest news on his smartphone to see if any incident broke out.

He found his name on the real-time search list in the community mainly used by hunters.

“O-oh? What is this?”

Among the posts with Kang Jinhyuk’s name on them were videos of him helping the Titans two days ago.

The video quality wasn’t so good because it was filmed amid the commotion, but it was enough to prove Jinhyuk’s skills.

The most controversial news was none other than the new monster

Jinhyuk watched the exchange between him and the Titans executives just before he went home.

Kang Jinhyuk didn’t want the rumors to spread because he had received help from Lucia.

Nevertheless, details were already circulating among the community.