Chapter 24

14-18 minutes

Lucia saw how Jinhyuk’s expression hardened.

It was clear that there was something unusual going on given that the food was already in front of them and the hungry Jinhyuk still haven’t taken a single bite.

“What’s going on? Is there a problem?”

“I don’t know if I should call it a problem.”

Being a famous person wouldn’t necessarily constitute a problem.

But Jinhyuk is sure that the timing of the events was not good.

The community almost always praises only S-rank hunters, so Jinhyuk doesn’t feel very good about him being praised by them.

An unexpected burden was suddenly put on his shoulders.

The clueless Lucia became frustrated as Jinhyuk continued to stay silent.

“Stop looking so devastated on your own and just tell me what’s going on.”

“Well…”

Jinhyuk took a deep sigh before starting to explain.

“I think I did too well last time.”

“… Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m not kidding. It’s really complicated, you know?”

“Mhm, yeah I’m having a lot of trouble understanding what you mean.”

Lucia had to hit the back of Kang Jinhyuk’s head to release the disgust that rose from her chest.

Kang JInhyuk flinched and move backwards as Lucia kept swinging at him.

“Calm down and listen to me!”

“What nonsense are you gonna say now?”

“It’s about the monster that you shot with your arrow. I lied to them that it was me who defeated it, and now everyone’s talking about it!”

“So?”

“What?”

Kang Jinhyuk thought that he would be punished immediately because he took credit for what Lucia did.

Although the situation was really serious at this point, Lucia’s reaction was calmer than what he expected.

“It’s karma. Solve it on your own.”

Lucia was not interested in the new monster from the start.

Since it’s not her world anyway, it didn’t matter to her who became famous or not. 

“That’s right…”

Kang Jinhyuk couldn’t say much at Lucia’s heartless reaction.

As she said, the situation is just karma catching up to him.

He coveted the material of the new monster, so he claimed Lucia’s achievements as his own without thinking of the repercussions.

Of course, the benefits gained from it were great.

However, the sudden public interest was way too heavy of a burden for Kang Jinhyuk.

‘Pff, they’re calling me an S-rank candidate. What bullshxx.’

Kang Jinhyuk’s current level is 199. He only needs one more level to reach 200 and qualify as a B-rank hunter at best.

He was far from being an S-rank hunter.

No matter how much he learns how to use aura, the things that Kang Jinhyuk is capable to do are limited. He’s a close-combat hunter after all.

He’s sure that he won’t have ‘magician’ as his second specialty, or any specialty for hunters who use long-distance skills as their main weapon.

He’s also not sure if he can get ‘warrior’ as his second specialty.

Jinhyuk’s current class was ‘cleric’.

He has no skills to rapidly decrease his distance from his opponent, nor does he have the skills to respond to long-distance attacks.

‘Ha… I’m in trouble.’

Normally, the more recognized a hunter is, the stronger that hunter was.

Just look at Ahn Doyoon as an example.

But the guy just looked down on him and ignored him even though he offered his help.

“Fxxk, all this is happening because I wanted that monster corpse.”

Kang Jinhyuk scratched his head and clucked his tongue.

He realized now that he was overly greedy for the monster corpse.

And on top of that, he’s not even sure what can be done using the materials that can be obtained from the corpse.

It was a choice that resulted in high risk and low benefit.

But to be honest, the situation could still be resolved if Jinhyuk hands over the Leviathan corpse back to the Titans.

However, Jinhyuk has no plans of doing that.

He has pride. He won’t just fall on his back just because the situation got a bit difficult.

‘All of this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t bring Lucia out of the dungeon in the first place.’

Although it was Lucia who killed the Leviathan, it was Jinhyuk and his own strategizing skills that made it possible.

As long as Lucia has no intention of claiming her right to the Leviathan’s body, Jinhyuk had the justification to claim ownership.

Thinking of the situation like that made Jinhyuk’s guilt disappear.

He realized that it was now time to come up with countermeasures on how to deal with it in the future rather than looking back on what was said and done.

‘I need to get stronger.’

To cope with the expectations of the hunter community, he has to increase his current level and skills.

The first thing that he has to do was to raise his level.

As his next steps were now determined, Jinhyuk quickly ate the food that he had left unattended. 

“Hey, slow down a bit. You’re eating too fast. Are you a pig or what?”

“I have no time to do that right now.”

“What do you mean you have no time? Is someone chasing you?”

Jinhyuk ignored what Lucia said and kept eating his food.

After he finished his meal, Jinhyuk stood up immediately.

He told Lucia that he can’t afford to waste even one second.

“Let’s go to the dungeon.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Jinhyuk quickly walked to the attic and opened the door.

Lucia finds it absurd that Jinhyuk was just muttering and looking hopeless like five seconds ago, and now he’s acting like this.

“Again, is someone chasing you? Why are you suddenly in such a hurry?”

“I wasted too much time sleeping.”

Considering the upcoming situation, Jinhyuk knows that he won’t be able to catch up on much sleep after this.

Feeling anxious, Jinhyuk quickly finished preparations and entered the attic.

“What are you doing? You’re not coming?”

“Pff, I’m coming. You don’t need to tell me what to do.”

Lucia picked up the equipment that she left in the attic.

She entered the dungeon first before Jinhyuk.

* * *

The first stop was at the Dwarf’s place.

When Jinhyuk took out the Leviathan corpse, the Dwarf whistled quietly.

“A Leviathan. It’s been a while.”

“You’ve seen this kind of monster before?”

“Of course. Although they’re rare, they’re sometimes just floating up in the sky.

The Leviathan corpse covered a lot of ground at the workshop.

The Dwarf took a closer look at it.

Thanks to the inventory storage, the condition of the corpse is still quite good. It was still fresh.

“But how come only the head is left? Where’s the rest of its body?”

“I blew it away.”

The Dwarf shook his head upon hearing Lucia’s answer.

“You didn’t even know that you were wasting such precious material. Tsk tsk tsk, this is why young people aren’t to be trusted.”

“Oho, what are you talking about old guy?’

Lucia and Dwarf seem to know each other, but they didn’t look like they are on good terms.

“Don’t spread your disgusting scent in my house. Leave, you jerk.”

“If you give me the arrow that you were supposed to make for me, I’ll happily leave on my own.”

The Dwarf pointed to the corner of his workshop with an unpleasant look.

He was pointing to an arrow box, thrown randomly at the floor like trash.

“Pick it up on your own and leave.”

“…Shouldn’t you be a bit more courteous?”

“Just take it and be thankful.”

“You should be the one thanking me.”

Lucia stared at the Dwarf with a poignant look.

The Dwarf also opened his eyes fiercely, not wanting to lose.

The two seemed to want to take out their weapons and fight it out.

Jinhyuk couldn’t stand the two anymore, so he asked the Dwarf something to try to change the subject.

“Can you make something out of that corpse?”

“Hmm, let’s see. Wait here for a bit.”

The Dwarf stood in front of the Leviathan’s corpse with a hammer.

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And then, he hit the top of the corpse’s head with all his might.

He hit it so hard that the sound of the skull being smashed resonated loudly throughout the room.

The Dwarf split the Leviathan’s head and rummaged through it with his gloved hands.

“Alright! It’s a relief that this one is still here.”

After a rough search, the Dwarf found a small bead.

“What’s that?”

“This is the organ that allows this monster to use lightning.”

“A-an organ? That small bead?”

“That’s right.”

It’s a bit surprising that an internal organ allows the monster to produce lightning.

It was even more amazing that such powerful lightning bolts were produced by this small bead which was just about the size of a finger.

Jinhyuk had one expectation.

“Is there any way to use that bead’s power?”

“Do you mean using it to produce thunderstorms?”

“Yes.”

Lightning was the most burdensome thing for Jinhyuk and the other hunters when they were dealing with the Leviathan.

It would definitely be a great advantage if he could utilize that power. 

“It would be possible with enchantment.”

The dwarf’s answer made Jinhyuk excited.

“I-is that so…?!”

“Don’t get too excited. Give me your bat.”

Jinhyuk quickly took out his baseball bat out of his inventory and handed it over to Dwarf.

“How long will it take to finish enchantment on this?”

“This is quite difficult to enchant, so I guess I need about half a day.”

Half a day. He only has to wait for half a day to have his bat enchanted and enhanced once more.

Jinhyuk smiled to himself. This bat would be worth millions of won.

“What should I pay for this? Tell me anything, I’ll try to get it.”

“Pff, what do you mean payment? No need, you punk.”

The Dwarf gains a huge sense of accomplishment just by directly handling and strengthening the Oriharukon.

From him, a creature who was born with the natural temperament of a craftsman, that sense of accomplishment was more than enough.

“No, I feel sorry to have you do this without giving you compensation…”

“I told you I don’t need anything like that. Just know that if you try to sell this Oriharukon bat, you’ll get beaten up hard by me.”

It may be a common metal on Earth, but it’s a rare metal in the Dwarf’s world. It’s even called God’s Metal.

The Dwarf thought that there should be no distraction in his process of strengthening the bat.

He’s handling the God’s Metal after all. He needs to have much courtesy for it.

“If you want to help, kick that annoying punk out of here. I might lose my concentration if that woman stays here.”

The Dwarf smiled at Lucia before going into his room.

“…”

Kang Jinhyuk witnessed Lucia’s blood vessels pulse and rise one by one on her forehead. 

He panicked when Lucia pulled out an arrow and loaded it into her bow.

“A-ah, no! Hold it in! Calm down!”

“Calm down? Calm down?! Why should I?!”

Lucia was about to blow up the workshop right away.

“He’s a good old man even though he talks like that!”

“What bullshxx are you saying?!”

What would it take to stop Lucia?

Of course, Jinhyuk physically can’t block her strength.

Jinhyuk figured it out after a few seconds.

* * *

The bakery owner laughed heartily as Jinhyuk once again purchased a large amount of desserts.

“Are you hosting some kind of event?”

“Nope. I’m buying these to feed it to someone.”

Upon hearing Jinhyuk’s response, the bakery owner thought that he must be supplying it to a kid’s playground or a kindergarten or something.

The owner doesn’t think that there’s a person that would eat this large amount of sweets on their own.

Jinhyuk paid, handing over an envelope almost bulging to its limit.

He didn’t expect to experience such a heavy feeling just by buying desserts.

At this point, he felt like he was carrying livestock feed.

“If you’re going to eat like this, wouldn’t it be better to just buy pure sugar from the supermarket?”

Jinhyuk wasn’t sure about this too. 

How can a woman eat so much sugar alone?

At this point, her blood could just be full of sugar.

“If I hadn’t fed her that chocolate bar that time…”

Because of a single chocolate bar, Lucia discovered sweet and sugary food.

To exaggerate it a bit, her sugar obsession was almost like a drug addiction.

But thanks to that, Jinhyuk was able to learn aura and catch the Leviathan.

The more he thought about buying a huge pile of desserts, the more ridiculous and funnier it was for him.

Jinhyuk headed straight home while holding two bags in both hands.

He wanted to hurry back to the dungeon and level up.

However, the situation that Jinhyuk faced now didn’t allow for him to do that so easily.

Jinhyuk was met with great trouble as he entered an alley.

“Oh no… This is annoying.”

Ever since he learned how to use aura, Jinhuyk’s five senses have become extremely sensitive.

He gained similar abilities to his bat in sensing danger.

He could recognize something approaching him from the back.

‘Could it be a monster with invincibility abilities?’

It could be a monster like the Lizard Men who could disguise its appearance.

In movies and novels, there are sometimes scenes where the main character feels danger and attacks the invincible enemy first.

But Jinhyuk doesn’t have that ability yet.

He had no idea who or where the enemy was.

If he had his bat with him, he would’ve been able to pinpoint the enemy’s location.

He can only retaliate once the enemy is within his reach.

‘Great. Tough luck for me.’

If it were a faint sense of danger, he could’ve just left it for other hunters to deal with.

However, he could sense the enemy was moving along and following him to the alley.

He doesn’t know why, but he’s sure that he’s being targeted.

‘Ugh, why is this happening?’

Jinhyuk’s head was full of questions.

He’s never heard of monsters following and targeting a specific person.

‘Oh no, is it because of the Leviathan’s corpse?’

Although rare, monsters can sometimes be attracted to other monsters’ corpses.

Jinhyuk has first-hand experience with this. It happened during his first black market deal.

‘Since it’s the corpse of a new monster, it could’ve attracted attention from other monsters.’

Or maybe the bags of food in his hands were being targeted.

In any case, it’s clear to Jinhyuk that the enemy trailing him was attracted to something that he possessed.

Jinhyuk has no intention of handing any of those over.

The opponent hiding from Jinhyuk stopped moving for a while when Jinhyuk put down the bags that he was holding.

When he saw Jinhyuk looking around, he realized that his presence was detected.

‘Tsch.’

The opponent approached Jinhyuk’s left side silently.

‘He won’t be able to stop me even if he knows that I’m here.’

The opponent strongly believed that his attack could never fail.

In a blink of an eye, the opponent swung and attacked Jinhyuk.

However…

When he came within reach, Jinhyuk accurately grasped his location.

Thanks to his passive skills, his body’s reaction speed was enhanced by the Divine Power and were several times faster than that of ordinary people.

“O-oh?!”

Jinhyuk was shocked to see the opponent’s identity after he avoided the opponent’s attack.

He thought that it was a monster following him, but seeing the opponent now, he was certainly a human being.

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Jinhyuk did not understand at all why a person was aiming for him in broad daylight.

‘Ah, perhaps this guy is the serial killer?’

Jinhyuk immediately dismissed that thought.

‘No, it’s impossible. The serial killer only targets hunters who belong to a guild.’

Then who on earth is this person in front of him.