Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon - Chapter 3

Kang Jinhyuk went inside the dungeon and immediately started hunting.

Even though his level was low, goblins were not difficult monsters to deal with because they’re the messiest out of the messy mobs.

Kang Jinhyuk encountered five or six monsters when he recalled the appraiser’s advice.

This time, he aimed accurately for the goblin’s head and quickly finished him off.

[You have levelled up.]

Jinhyuk opened his inventory and kept the goblin’s corpse.

It’s amazing that a goblin can fit well inside the 110 cm pouch.

His cheap inventory was easily closed since it contained nothing but the monster and a few items.

“Anway, the slots are enough for now.”

Jinhyuk was delighted to discover this unexpected jackpot.

But no matter how excited he was, he had to be careful and if he cherished his life.

Just in case, he took two returning stones and left one of them back at the attic.

The other one was inside his pocket.

“It costs 500,000 won per piece, but when else am I supposed to use this?”

Now, no matter how far I go, I’d be able to return quickly to the attic by using this stone.

It was a 1 million won escape method, but it’s better than being buried dead in here.

With his insurance method all set, Jinhyuk took out a disk that looked like a handheld mirror.

“Who would’ve thought that the day when I can finally use this would come.”

It was a search radar, which can detect the location of monsters. He bought it for 398,000 Won, and he was clearly tricked by the company’s promotional techniques.

As a home-shopping guru, the reality was that the item was trash and can only detect within the range of 50 meters.

He couldn’t ask for a refund because the company where he bought it from fled after gaining lots of money. The nuisance of an item worked despite not being used in a long time.

A lot of spots appeared on the disk.

It was a sign that there were a lot of monsters around.

“Alright!”

Using the radar on this wide labyrinth was a big help.

Kang Jinhyuk grasped his baseball bat and ran to the nearest enemy spot.

“Screech?”

It was already too late when the flustered goblin noticed his presence.

Like a batter dealing with a fastball, the bat swung with immense power and crushed the goblin’s face.

After the resounding ‘thud!’ Kang Jinhyuk felt more and more excited.

“Home run!”

A notification window for Kang Jinhyuk appeared.

[You have levelled up.]

Because his level slowly rose up, Kang Jinhyuk opened his Status Window for the first time in a while.

[Kang Jinhyuk]

Level: 13

Species: Human

Class: None

Strength: D

Agility: D

Magic: F

Stamina: C

As expected, even though his level went up, his stats were still not that impressive.

Stats of a low-rank hunter with no special skills were usually at this level.

“Well, I can just improve it from now on.”

Until yesterday, seeing his stats would only make him sigh, but today is different.

Because Kang Jinhyuk can hunt monsters in his dungeon.

It’s now time to say goodbye to the times when he was worried if he could ever level up.

“Now, where’s the next one?”

After checking his radar, he confirmed a close location where three monsters were gathered.

Just as expected, the three monsters were all goblins.

Because the name of this floor is ‘Goblin Labyrinth’, of course all of the monsters would be goblins.

It was the best hunting ground for the low-level Kang Jinhyuk.

Thinking that nothing was as simple and exciting as breaking a goblin’s head, Jinhyuk followed his radar around the dungeon.

“Screech!”

“Screeeech!”

Goblin screams resonated around the dungeon for three hours.

Kang Jinhyuk, who ran around like a fish in the water, only stopped swinging his bat after checking his inventory limit.

“Hmm… Seems like all the slots are full.”

At best, only one more can fit inside.

He wanted to leave the corpses in the labyrinth and continue hunting.

But that wasn’t a very wise decision.

Goblins eat the corpses of their own kin, so the corpses that he’d leave behind would only end up in the stomachs of other goblins.

In order to keep hunting, he had to empty his inventory and come back again.

“I should catch a nice, huge one for my final hunt.”

A goblin taller than 130 cm would be worth more money.

The stouter and bigger the monster, the better the quality of its leather and bones. 

Just in time, a spot sparkled in his left.

The radar indicated that the monster was headed towards his direction.

“I’ll end him easily with an ambush.”

Jinhyuk held his bat tightly with both hands and pressed his back against the wall.

He patiently waited for the opponent to come around the corner.

As soon as the spot was right in front of him, he swung his bat reflexively.

He realized that it was not a goblin only after his bat already hit the other’s head.

After hearing the sound of iron bumping into each other, the opponent collapsed and wrapped his hand around his own head.

“…This is bad.”

He underestimated the opponent because its height was just about a goblin’s size.

The opponent, with a shaggy beard, took off his helmet and shouted.

Because the opponent spoke in a completely different language, Jinhyuk couldn’t understand him at all.

But he could roughly guess what he meant.

He should’ve called his parents first before going here.

“I apologize!”

As he couldn’t speak the opponent’s language, Jinhyuk bowed 90 degrees to the opponent and expressed his sorry feelings as much as possible.

He thought that if he lowered his head, the other would feel his sincere apology.

‘I didn’t know that there were other people in this dungeon.’

The other looked small and furry to be a human, but he didn’t look like a monster.

“I’m sorry! I apologize!”

The opponent’s cries were all Jinhyuk registered in his brain because they couldn’t communicate well.

And then, the opponent that was hit by a bat took out a necklace from his pocket and threw it to Jinhyuk.

Jinyuk nervously caught it, and the opponent moved his hand and motioned for him to wear the necklace.

“Are you telling me to use this?”

He didn’t know why the other gave him a present out of nowhere, so he just followed his command.

The moment Jinhyuk put on the necklace, the opponent’s words, which sounded like an alien language so far, were understood as clear as day.

“Can you understand me now, you f***ing b***h!”

Jinhyuk turned speechless had his eyes wide open from shock, so the other person shouted at him again.

“I asked if you can understand me! You f***ing bastard!

“I’m not a f***ing bastard but…”

“What, you jerk?”

“A-ah no never mind! I’m so sorry!”

Seeing Jinhyuk bow his head and apologize again, the opponent just clicked his tongue roughly.

“Ok, f**k! It’s my first time seeing a f***er like you in my 132 years of living as a dwarf.”

“D-dwarf?”

“That’s right you bastard! Is it your first time seeing a dwarf?!”

Instead of answering with words, Jinhyuk just quickly nodded his head.

The dwarf made an expression of disbelief.

“You’re telling me you’ve never seen or even heard of dwarves? From which world did you come from?”

“I-I’m from the world where my room was…”

“What the hell is that? Where is that neighborhood near?”

“Korea.”

“I’ve never heard of it either, so it must be a rural place.”

Jinhyuk realized that the Dwarf was from a completely different world.

Aside from being unable to understand Korean, the dwarf didn’t know where ‘Korea’ is at all.

Even a fat dude living in the North would know about Korea, but the dwarf had absolutely no idea.

Well, dwarves don’t exist on Earth in the first place.

“What’s your name?”

“W-what? You’re asking my name out of nowhere…?”

“I want to know the name of the bastard who hit my head! Got a problem with that?!”

“K-Kang Jinhyuk is my name.”

“Kang Jinhyuk? Whoever hears that name would think you’re a beggar.”

“I’ve made a mistake, but please don’t insult my parents.”

“Okay okay, f***er! I dropped all my stuffs ‘cause of you!”

The dwarf grumbled and began picking up his scattered equipment one by one.

Seeing Jinhyuk just standing there and watching him made the dwarf almost pop a vein in his neck.

“What’cha doin’ there just watching you bastard! This is y’er fault! Hurry and help!”

Kang Jinhyuk started to get a bit annoyed when he heard the dwarf’s words.

He knew that it was his fault, but he couldn’t help but get angry because of the continuous shouts and swear words from the dwarf.

When his baseball bat felt blood-hungry, Jinhyuk had to take a deep breath to calm himself down.

“Alright. I’ll help you.”

Jinhyuk put aside his bat and helped the dwarf collect his stuff.

The dwarf dropped a hammer, some tongs, and some soldier weapons.

[Rare item picked up.]

[Rare item picked up.]

“…”

Messages that he never thought that he would see in his career as a hunter appeared one after another.

Jinhyuk spaced out from the unbelievable occasion. 

“What are you doing? You seein’ ghosts?”

“Ah, no it’s nothing.”

He wanted to beg for just one item.

 However, he’s sure that he can’t do that because he was the one who tried to split open the dwarf’s head just a few moments ago.

‘Should I sneak off one?’

Kang Jinhyuk shook his head at the sudden selfish thought.

If he’s caught, he might die in the hands of this dwarf.

Given that the dwarf has a lot of rare items, he must be of a high level.

It’s obvious that a low-level hunter, who doesn’t even have class, like him would be beaten to a pulp if he tries to steal.

While Jinhyuk was fighting against his conscience, the dwarf tied his luggage back with a string and reached out to the bat that Jinhyuk put down.

“My head still aches. Just what item did this bastard use to hit me.”

Thinking that it was a weapon made of high-quality iron, the curious dwarf picked up the bat.

He investigated the item without Jinhyuk’s permission. 

Kang Jinhyuk belatedly discovered what the dwarf was doing.

“What are you doing with my bat?”

He asked a question but he didn’t get a response from the dwarf.

As he looked closer, he saw that the dwarf’s shoulders were shaking.

He thought that it was an effect of being hit on the head, but it wasn’t.

The dwarf had a pale complexion as he ran towards Jinhyuk.

“Where did you get this thing?!”

“W-why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?!”

Heaving as hard as he could, the dwarf’s breath sounds can be heard throughout the labyrinth.

“Isn’t this Oriharukon?!”

“…That’s aluminum though?”

“Is that what you call the Oriharukon from where you’re from?”

“It’s just aluminum so we just call it ‘aluminum’….”

Jinhyuk wanted to ask the dwarf why he gave such a grand name to aluminum…

Oriharukon, which is often encountered in games or novels, was regarded as a precious metal or something about it being ‘God’s Metal’.

But he can’t believe that he thinks that the aluminum bat was made of such a thing.

From Jinhyuk’s perspective, the dwarf’s behavior was similar to an eighth-grader, or even a crazy man.

“Be honest with me. You stole this didn’t you?”

“What kind of nonsense is that! I bought it with my own money!”

“You paid for this thing? Does that even make sense?”

Kang Jinhyuk became very annoyed.

The dwarf picked up his bat without permission and accused him of stealing it.

It frustrated him to death because the dwarf refused to believe that he bought it with his money.

“Why are you acting so crazy about this cheap bat?”

“You must be crazy. You’re talking cheaply about the great Oriharukon.”

“What the heck is an ‘Oriharukon’?”

“Are you an uneducated bastard….? Do I need to explain such a simple thing to you?”

Jinhyuk managed to stop his blood from boiling at the moment.

“I don’t know how amazing of an object an ‘Oriharukon’ is, but this bat is just an ordinary object.”

“Stop this nonsense. In what world is this thing ‘ordinary’?”

“You’re the one who’s spouting nonsense. If you don’t believe me, try hitting it with your own hammer!”

Of course, if the dwarf were to do that for real, Jinhyuk’s the one who would suffer the consequences.

The dwarf carried only rare items around.

However, the Dwarf did not take out his hammer.

Instead of confirming his suspicions, the dwarf settled with calling Jinhyuk an ‘ignorant brat’. 

“Don’t you know that the Oriharukon is a delicate metal when left unprocessed? If you hit it bluntly like this, it’s definitely going to break!”

Jinhyuk felt like he was badly mistaken while the dwarf continued shouting at him.

According to the dwarf, Oriharukon is a metal that becomes an impressive item when processed properly.

Aluminum was the delicate version of the metal, and it’s still supposed to be processed. 

‘If I do this properly, I’ll hit the jackpot.’

Jinhyuk decided to take advantage of the dwarf’s stubbornness and suggested something to him.

“Then, do you wanna make a bet with me?”

“Bet? What bet?”

“Whether my bat is made from Oriharukon or something.”

“So show me some evidence. Otherwise, I won’t believe it unless I see proof with my own eyes.”

“Aigoo! Listen to what this jerk is saying!”

The dwarf hit his chest with his own fist and expressed his frustration.

“Okay, I’ll prove it to you. Don’t speak a word until I say so!”

“If you discover that it is in fact cheap, be prepared to give me all of your equipment.”

“Sigh…. Look at this arrogant brat. Get ready for this.”

Jinhyuk laughed inside as he watched the huffing dwarf.

He had no doubt that there’s no way his aluminum bat was a great item, so Jinhyuk was sure that the dwarf’s rare equipment would soon be his.