Chapter 22

Good timing . He was thirsty after the fight . Still, Jinwoo took the cup with a confused look .

gulp gulp gulp

The cold water went down refreshingly down his throat .

“How is it, hyungnim?”

Now that he thought about, Jinho’s title for him had gone from “hyung” to “hyungnim” .

“Mm, it’s refreshing . ”

He returned the cup to Jinho .

“So what you just saw here-”

Jinho interrupted before Jinwoo could finish his sentence, almost as if to tell him not to worry .

“Of course! I’ll carry this secret with me to the grave . ”

“No, you don’t have to go that far…”

“How can I not? It’s my promise with hyungnim . ”

“Well… Okay . If you feel that way . ”

“Don’t worry about me, hyungnim . ”

Besides, there was no way someone would believe that an E-rank Hunter took down a C-rank Gate’s boss on his own . Still, Jinwoo was thankful that Jinho promised his silence on his own .

‘Thought he was bad at taking a hint . He sure doesn’t seem like it now . ’

“Is there anything else, hyungnim?”

“ . . . No . ”

It was strange . Jinwoo looked up and down on Jinho’s figure that was standing at attention .

‘Well, I guess I did save his life . ’

After all, it was normal for someone to be respectful towards the person who saved their life . It was understandable if that was the case . Of course, the truth was a little different .

shaaake~

The Dungeon lightly shook again, then stopped . The shaking was the signal that the Gate would be closing soon . The tremors would increase as time passed, until right before the Gate’s closing, when it would feel like an earthquake .

“Let’s go . ”

“Yes, hyungnim . ”

Jinwoo started walking towards the blockage . Suddenly, the collapsed rocks blew apart with a flash .

Bang!

Hwang Dongseok and co . entered the boss room . Seeing the collapsed spider behind Jinwoo, their looks were incredulous .

“What the, it’s dead?”

“Those two took it down?”

“Was the only thing scary its size?”

“Well, if it got taken down by an E-rank and a D-rank . . . ”

“Hwang hyung, what do we do now?”

Hwang Dongseok looked at Jinwoo and Yoo Jinho and scratched his chin . With the spider dead, the Gate would close soon . It was too late to start mining the mana crystals now . They weren’t prepared for it, and the time remaining was less than an hour . He had to change the plan .

He shouted toward Yoo Jinho,

“Yoo Jinho!”

Yoo Jinho flinched and took a step backwards, face was full of nervousness .

Hwang Dongseok smirked,

“Your equipment really caught our eye, so we did a little investigation . Your daddy turned out to be someone crazy! Yoojin Construction’s chairman, Yoo Myunghan . ”

“So- so what?”

“Well, we’re giving you a chance . We have some things we want to talk over with your daddy . But if what happened here got out, our situation would become a little uncomfortable . So if you want to live, become our accomplice . ”

“An accomplice?”

Hwang Dongseok raised his chin towards Jinwoo . At his unpleasant gaze, Jinwoo grimaced .

“Kill Sung Jinwoo . ”

“What?”

Yoo Jinho panicked, but Hwang Dongseok looked at his face and laughed . Their original plan was to kill Jinho as well . But they had discovered that Yoo Jinho’s father was the chairman of one of the top construction companies of the country . With that in mind, a devious thought came to him . What if they filmed Yoo Jinho killing Sung Jinwoo, and used that to blackmail Yoo Myunghan?

‘Yoo Myunghan’s known net worth is about 10 trillion . ’

If everything went right, they could earn several times more than what they would’ve gotten from the mana crystals .

“That is your way out of here . We’ll let you live if you kill Sung Jinwoo with your own hands . Otherwise, we’ll kill you both . ”

Hwang Dongseok’s eyes became murderous .

“What are you waiting for? No one’s going to know what happened in a Dungeon anyways . Is a D-rank cowering before an E-rank?”

Yoo Jinho looked to his side . Jinwoo just shrugged in response . “Do what you want” was what he was telling him . Yoo Jinho took out his sword with a determined face .

‘Looks like he made his decision . ’

Hwang Dongseok smiled .

But the results were not what he expected .

Yoo Jinho took his sword and stood at Jinwoo’s side .

“Oh? Going to team up against us?”

Hwang Dongseok spoke to himself . The young master sure got gutsy after luckily taking down a C-rank boss .

Jo Gyuhwan whispered to him from his side,

“Hyung, what should we do?”

Hwang Dongseok whispered back,

“For now, take care of Sung Jinwoo . We’ll hold on to Mr . Moneybags for now . Our loss was too big today . ”

“Got it . ”

A bright light appeared in Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed .

‘So we’re doing it this way, after all . ’

This would be his first time fighting a Hunter . However, he had no plans on being merciful to those who had threatened his life multiple times .

Suddenly!

ring~

The electronic sound rang in his head .

An emergency quest has been created .

‘Emergency quest?’

He raised his head . He did not give the command to open it, but the quest screen had opened up on its own . This was the first time this had happened .

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

Those with murderous intent towards the ‘Player’ have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

Enemies to deal with: 8

Enemies dealt with: 0

Non-compliance will result in a penalty .

Jinwoo’s eyes were open wide .

‘The quest requires me to kill Hwang Dongseok’s entire party?’

Something behind the screen flashed . It was the arrow of light released from Jo Gyuhwan’s hands .

Bang!

Jinwoo’s body was thrown from the explosion and crashed into the wall with great speed .

Slam!

The wall broke apart on impact and the pieces landed on Jinwoo .

“Hyungnim!”

Yoo Jinho tried to run to Jinwoo in panic, but Hwang Dongseok stopped him,

“Yoo Jinho!”

Yoo Jinho flinched and stopped .

“You better not pay any mind to a dead person and come here . ”

Hwang Dongseok gestured him to come over . Yoo Jinho turned and looked at where Jinwoo was . Like Hwang Dongseok said, Jinwoo was buried in rocks and did not appear to be moving .

“You… you murderers…”

Tears gathered at the corner of Yoo Jinho’s eyes . Hwang Dongseok and his party laughed at his words .

It was the truth, after all . They lost count of the number of people they had killed in Dungeons .

As they laughed at Yoo Jinho, Jinwoo was questioning his eyes below the rubble . This was because the quest’s contents were changing before his eyes .

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

Those with murderous intent towards %*@## have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

Enemies to deal with: 8

Enemies dealt with: 0

Non-compliance will result in #$%^%@$#$%#^ ! ^&#$%^$ .

Several of the letters broke apart and reformed into new words .

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

Those with murderous intent towards you have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

Enemies to deal with: 8

Enemies dealt with: 0

Non-compliance will result your heart stopping .

It was a very clear threat, “I’ll kill you if you don’t do the quest . ”

‘Kill if I don’t want to be killed?’

It was a shocking message, but his confusion did not last long . The confusion quickly turned to comfort . He could not believe it, but it was true . From the day the quests and stat screens appeared, a single thought had plagued Jinwoo’s mind .

“What if this strange occurrence ends?”

If all this happened out of coincidence, could it end just as suddenly?

Such worrisome thought always followed him .

But now, with the appearance of this quest, he obtained a certainty .

This was neither coincidence or kindness .

If the System came to him out of some kindness, it would’ve given him the option to avoid the danger . It would not use a penalty to force him to kill .

The System had a goal .

Not “to make Sung Jinwoo become strong”, but “need Sung Jinwoo to become strong” .

‘Depending on the situation, even kill fellow Hunters…’

That was what he gathered from the appearance of the quest .

Still, Jinwoo found comfort in the thought .

‘Thank god . ’

Because it was not a coincidence .

There was a clear purpose .

Every time he faced danger, he wanted to become stronger . He wanted the opportunity to rise above his life that felt like holding onto the edge of a cliff . And on that day, in the most dangerous moment of his life, the opportunity came to him .

The System’s goals were perfectly aligned with Jinwoo’s desires .

‘The System uses me, and I’ll use the System . ’

That’s all he had to do . As long as it had a goal, he would be able to hold on to this phenomenon .

Jinwoo rose from the rubble .

Health: 1360 / 2600

He really did get hit by a C-rank Hunter’s magic . A single hit took half of his life down . There was no room for error going forward . A coldness crept into Jinwoo’s eyes . He began to walk towards Hwang Dongseok .

“What?”

Having surrounded the cowering Yoo Jinho, Hwang Dongseok’s party noticed Jinwoo .

“What the, he’s alive?”

“Gyuhwan hyung, looks like you’ve lost your touch . ”

“How embarrassing, against an E-ranker, too . ”

Hwang Dongseok scratched his chin,

“Gyuhwan, do it right next time . ”

Jo Gyuhwan’s face reddened with embarrassment,

“I-I got it . ”

No . He definitely used his most powerful spell . It was an attack that used up a third of his magic power, how could he get up? Did he miss? No, if he missed, it wouldn’t have made such a loud sound . He had many questions but did not get the chance to ask .

Because Jinwoo was the first to speak,

“You’ve played with people’s lives . ”

Hwang Dongseok’s group’s eyes were fixed on Jinwoo . Jinwoo stopped before them . Yoo Jinho was surprised, but the other Hunters were nonchalant . Few of them even had a mocking expression .

Jinwoo continued dryly,

“You’re ready to pay the price, right?”

At that phrase, Hwang Dongseok snorted .

“The hell is this fucker saying?”

“Hyungnim, I got this . ”

A Hunter with narrow eyes went over and draped an arm around Jinwoo’s neck .

“It looks like you’re not really understanding the situation here,”

The narrow-eye’s expression became strange as he put strength on his arm .

‘ . . . What? Why is he not bending?’

He used all of his strength to try and put Jinwoo in a headlock, but no matter how much he flexed, Jinwoo’s body did not bend .

Wasn’t this fucker an E-rank?

The narrow-eye’s brows moistened with cold sweat .

‘What’s with this pow-’

slash .

The narrow-eye’s head fell onto the ground .

thud

“J-Joontae!”

Hwang Dongseok’s eyes shook .

“Wait, what?”

“When did that fucker get a dagger?!”

“Where did it come from?!”

Hwang Dongseok’s party quickly drew their weapons and took a step back . In Jinwoo’s hand was Casaka’s Poisoned Fang he had summoned from his inventory .

The dagger dripped with blood .

ring~

Enemies to deal with: 7

Enemies dealt with: 1

‘7 left . ’

Sponsored Content

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 22.

.

Good timing . He was thirsty after the fight . Still, Jinwoo took the cup with a confused look . .

.

gulp gulp gulp.

.

The cold water went down refreshingly down his throat . .

.

“How is it, hyungnim?”.

.

Now that he thought about, Jinho’s title for him had gone from “hyung” to “hyungnim” . .

.

“Mm, it’s refreshing . ”.

.

He returned the cup to Jinho . .

.

“So what you just saw here-”.

.

Jinho interrupted before Jinwoo could finish his sentence, almost as if to tell him not to worry . .

.

“Of course! I’ll carry this secret with me to the grave . ”.

.

“No, you don’t have to go that far…”.

.

“How can I not? It’s my promise with hyungnim . ”.

.

“Well… Okay . If you feel that way . ”.

.

“Don’t worry about me, hyungnim . ”.

.

Besides, there was no way someone would believe that an E-rank Hunter took down a C-rank Gate’s boss on his own . Still, Jinwoo was thankful that Jinho promised his silence on his own . .

.

‘Thought he was bad at taking a hint . He sure doesn’t seem like it now . ’.

.

“Is there anything else, hyungnim?”.

.

“ . No . ”.

.

It was strange . Jinwoo looked up and down on Jinho’s figure that was standing at attention . .

.

‘Well, I guess I did save his life . ’.

.

After all, it was normal for someone to be respectful towards the person who saved their life . It was understandable if that was the case . Of course, the truth was a little different . .

.

shaaake~.

.

The Dungeon lightly shook again, then stopped . The shaking was the signal that the Gate would be closing soon . The tremors would increase as time passed, until right before the Gate’s closing, when it would feel like an earthquake . .

.

“Let’s go . ”.

.

“Yes, hyungnim . ”.

.

Jinwoo started walking towards the blockage . Suddenly, the collapsed rocks blew apart with a flash . .

.

Bang!.

.

Hwang Dongseok and co . entered the boss room . Seeing the collapsed spider behind Jinwoo, their looks were incredulous . .

.

“What the, it’s dead?”.

“Those two took it down?”.

“Was the only thing scary its size?”.

“Well, if it got taken down by an E-rank and a D-rank . ”.

“Hwang hyung, what do we do now?”.

.

Hwang Dongseok looked at Jinwoo and Yoo Jinho and scratched his chin . With the spider dead, the Gate would close soon . It was too late to start mining the mana crystals now . They weren’t prepared for it, and the time remaining was less than an hour . He had to change the plan . .

.

He shouted toward Yoo Jinho,.

.

“Yoo Jinho!”.

.

Yoo Jinho flinched and took a step backwards, face was full of nervousness . .

.

Hwang Dongseok smirked,.

.

“Your equipment really caught our eye, so we did a little investigation . Your daddy turned out to be someone crazy! Yoojin Construction’s chairman, Yoo Myunghan . ”.

.

“So- so what?”.

.

“Well, we’re giving you a chance . We have some things we want to talk over with your daddy . But if what happened here got out, our situation would become a little uncomfortable . So if you want to live, become our accomplice . ”.

.

“An accomplice?”.

.

Hwang Dongseok raised his chin towards Jinwoo . At his unpleasant gaze, Jinwoo grimaced . .

.

“Kill Sung Jinwoo . ”.

.

“What?”.

.

Yoo Jinho panicked, but Hwang Dongseok looked at his face and laughed . Their original plan was to kill Jinho as well . But they had discovered that Yoo Jinho’s father was the chairman of one of the top construction companies of the country . With that in mind, a devious thought came to him . What if they filmed Yoo Jinho killing Sung Jinwoo, and used that to blackmail Yoo Myunghan?.

.

‘Yoo Myunghan’s known net worth is about 10 trillion . ’.

.

If everything went right, they could earn several times more than what they would’ve gotten from the mana crystals . .

.

“That is your way out of here . We’ll let you live if you kill Sung Jinwoo with your own hands . Otherwise, we’ll kill you both . ”.

.

Hwang Dongseok’s eyes became murderous . .

.

“What are you waiting for? No one’s going to know what happened in a Dungeon anyways . Is a D-rank cowering before an E-rank?”.

.

Yoo Jinho looked to his side . Jinwoo just shrugged in response . “Do what you want” was what he was telling him . Yoo Jinho took out his sword with a determined face . .

.

‘Looks like he made his decision . ’.

.

Hwang Dongseok smiled . .

.

But the results were not what he expected . .

.

Yoo Jinho took his sword and stood at Jinwoo’s side . .

.

“Oh? Going to team up against us?”.

.

Hwang Dongseok spoke to himself . The young master sure got gutsy after luckily taking down a C-rank boss . .

.

Jo Gyuhwan whispered to him from his side,.

.

“Hyung, what should we do?”.

.

Hwang Dongseok whispered back,.

.

“For now, take care of Sung Jinwoo . We’ll hold on to Mr . Moneybags for now . Our loss was too big today . ”.

.

“Got it . ”.

.

A bright light appeared in Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed . .

.

‘So we’re doing it this way, after all . ’.

.

This would be his first time fighting a Hunter . However, he had no plans on being merciful to those who had threatened his life multiple times . .

.

Suddenly!.

.

ring~.

.

The electronic sound rang in his head . .

.

An emergency quest has been created . .

.

‘Emergency quest?’.

.

He raised his head . He did not give the command to open it, but the quest screen had opened up on its own . This was the first time this had happened . .

.

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

Those with murderous intent towards the ‘Player’ have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

Enemies to deal with: 8.

Enemies dealt with: 0.

Non-compliance will result in a penalty . .

.

Jinwoo’s eyes were open wide . .

.

‘The quest requires me to kill Hwang Dongseok’s entire party?’.

.

Something behind the screen flashed . It was the arrow of light released from Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . .

.

Bang!.

.

Jinwoo’s body was thrown from the explosion and crashed into the wall with great speed . .

.

Slam!.

.

The wall broke apart on impact and the pieces landed on Jinwoo . .

.

“Hyungnim!”.

.

Yoo Jinho tried to run to Jinwoo in panic, but Hwang Dongseok stopped him,.

.

“Yoo Jinho!”.

.

Yoo Jinho flinched and stopped . .

.

“You better not pay any mind to a dead person and come here . ”.

.

Hwang Dongseok gestured him to come over . Yoo Jinho turned and looked at where Jinwoo was . Like Hwang Dongseok said, Jinwoo was buried in rocks and did not appear to be moving . .

.

“You… you murderers…”.

.

Tears gathered at the corner of Yoo Jinho’s eyes . Hwang Dongseok and his party laughed at his words . .

.

It was the truth, after all . They lost count of the number of people they had killed in Dungeons . .

.

As they laughed at Yoo Jinho, Jinwoo was questioning his eyes below the rubble . This was because the quest’s contents were changing before his eyes . .

.

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

Those with murderous intent towards %*@## have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

Enemies to deal with: 8.

Enemies dealt with: 0.

Non-compliance will result in #$%^%@$#$%#^ ! ^&#$%^$ . .

.

Several of the letters broke apart and reformed into new words . .

.

Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

Those with murderous intent towards you have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

Enemies to deal with: 8.

Enemies dealt with: 0.

Non-compliance will result your heart stopping . .

.

It was a very clear threat, “I’ll kill you if you don’t do the quest . ”.

.

‘Kill if I don’t want to be killed?’.

.

It was a shocking message, but his confusion did not last long . The confusion quickly turned to comfort . He could not believe it, but it was true . From the day the quests and stat screens appeared, a single thought had plagued Jinwoo’s mind . .

.

“What if this strange occurrence ends?”.

.

If all this happened out of coincidence, could it end just as suddenly?.

.

Such worrisome thought always followed him . .

.

But now, with the appearance of this quest, he obtained a certainty . .

.

This was neither coincidence or kindness . .

.

If the System came to him out of some kindness, it would’ve given him the option to avoid the danger . It would not use a penalty to force him to kill . .

.

The System had a goal . .

.

Not “to make Sung Jinwoo become strong”, but “need Sung Jinwoo to become strong” . .

.

‘Depending on the situation, even kill fellow Hunters…’.

.

That was what he gathered from the appearance of the quest . .

.

Still, Jinwoo found comfort in the thought . .

.

‘Thank god . ’.

.

Because it was not a coincidence . .

.

There was a clear purpose . .

.

Every time he faced danger, he wanted to become stronger . He wanted the opportunity to rise above his life that felt like holding onto the edge of a cliff . And on that day, in the most dangerous moment of his life, the opportunity came to him . .

.

The System’s goals were perfectly aligned with Jinwoo’s desires . .

.

‘The System uses me, and I’ll use the System . ’.

.

That’s all he had to do . As long as it had a goal, he would be able to hold on to this phenomenon . .

.

Jinwoo rose from the rubble . .

.

Health: 1360 / 2600.

.

He really did get hit by a C-rank Hunter’s magic . A single hit took half of his life down . There was no room for error going forward . A coldness crept into Jinwoo’s eyes . He began to walk towards Hwang Dongseok . .

.

“What?”.

.

Having surrounded the cowering Yoo Jinho, Hwang Dongseok’s party noticed Jinwoo . .

.

“What the, he’s alive?”.

“Gyuhwan hyung, looks like you’ve lost your touch . ”.

“How embarrassing, against an E-ranker, too . ”.

.

Hwang Dongseok scratched his chin,.

.

“Gyuhwan, do it right next time . ”.

.

Jo Gyuhwan’s face reddened with embarrassment,.

.

“I-I got it . ”.

.

No . He definitely used his most powerful spell . It was an attack that used up a third of his magic power, how could he get up? Did he miss? No, if he missed, it wouldn’t have made such a loud sound . He had many questions but did not get the chance to ask . .

.

Because Jinwoo was the first to speak,.

.

“You’ve played with people’s lives . ”.

.

Hwang Dongseok’s group’s eyes were fixed on Jinwoo . Jinwoo stopped before them . Yoo Jinho was surprised, but the other Hunters were nonchalant . Few of them even had a mocking expression . .

.

Jinwoo continued dryly,.

.

“You’re ready to pay the price, right?”.

.

At that phrase, Hwang Dongseok snorted . .

.

“The hell is this fucker saying?”.

“Hyungnim, I got this . ”.

.

A Hunter with narrow eyes went over and draped an arm around Jinwoo’s neck . .

.

“It looks like you’re not really understanding the situation here,”.

.

The narrow-eye’s expression became strange as he put strength on his arm . .

.

‘ . What? Why is he not bending?’.

.

He used all of his strength to try and put Jinwoo in a headlock, but no matter how much he flexed, Jinwoo’s body did not bend . .

.

Wasn’t this fucker an E-rank?.

.

The narrow-eye’s brows moistened with cold sweat . .

.

‘What’s with this pow-’.

.

slash . .

.

The narrow-eye’s head fell onto the ground . .

.

thud.

.

“J-Joontae!”.

.

Hwang Dongseok’s eyes shook . .

.

“Wait, what?”.

“When did that fucker get a dagger?!”.

“Where did it come from?!”.

.

Hwang Dongseok’s party quickly drew their weapons and took a step back . In Jinwoo’s hand was Casaka’s Poisoned Fang he had summoned from his inventory . .

.

The dagger dripped with blood . .

.

ring~.

.

Enemies to deal with: 7.

Enemies dealt with: 1.

.

‘7 left . ’.