Chapter 24

Yoo Jinho placed emphasis on the words, ‘fair price’ .

‘He’s not wrong…’

Jinho’s suggestion would be the best course of option for Jinwoo to safely obtain all the magic cores . Currently, the ownership of the magic cores was clear . No matter how greedy the man was, Hwang Dongseok could not take them with him to the afterlife . As such, Yoo Jinho had the legal rights to all the magic cores they carried . And now, the young man was offering it all to Jinwoo . This was different than taking them by force .

‘No reason to turn away good fortune like this…’

After all, if it wasn’t for him, Yoo Jinho would already be dead or taken as hostage . In that line of thinking, it indeed was the fair price for Jinwoo to obtain all the magic cores .

Watching Jinwoo’s expression soften, Yoo Jinho was sure that he had hit the right mark .

‘As I thought, the magic cores are the price of the blood he spilled taking down Hwang Dongseok’s party . That’s why he won’t refuse them . ’

The two men’s idea of the ‘fair price’ was completely different, but neither of them would realize this .

“Alright . ”

At Jinwoo’s agreement, Yoo Jinho’s face brightened . The young man felt a little awe at what he perceived to be the Jinwoo’s ironclad conviction . But then, Jinwoo’s face became cold again .

“But how would I be able to trust you?”

Jinwoo thought back on the initial goal of this conversation . He did not frighten the young man for a material gain; he just wanted to make sure the events of this Raid would not cause him troubles in the future .

“How could I betray the hyungnim that saved my life multiple times?”

“You could always ignore the promise and go around blabbing your mouth off . ”

Well, it wouldn’t really hurt him in the long run . Killing Hwang Dongseok’s party was 100% in self-defense . It was eight armed men versus just him, and they were the ones who attacked first . With the world’s laws having changed in the advent of Hunters, he would definitely be found not guilty in all of this . Still, he wanted to avoid all that if he could . For that, he needed Yoo Jinho’s cooperation .

“Well?”

Jinwoo pressed his question and stared . Yoo Jinho responded with a fierce look in his eyes .

“I wouldn’t dare do such a cowardly thing! Especially to the savior of my life!”

‘Hmm…’

He realized where he had seen that determined look in Yoo Jinho’s eyes before . It was the same eyes he defiantly stood up to Hwang Dongseok with .

‘Kid… you’re the real thing, aren’t you?’

Give and Take .

With his life on the line, Yoo Jinho chose to stand with Jinwoo . Putting his faith in him, the young man was ready to fight eight Hunters . And so, Jinwoo decided to return some of that faith .

Well… after putting in some final touches .

Jinwoo went over and picked up Hwang Dongseok’s shield .

“You know, I’m still pissed about Hwang Dongseok’s betrayal . ”

Casually turning the shield over in his hands, Jinwoo suddenly threw the shield at the wall .

Crack!

The shield became half embedded into the wall . Yoo Jinho gulped, and his body began to sweat .

“My dongsaeng[1] won’t betray me like that, would he?”

“Of-of course not, hyungnim . ”

The Dungeon shook again, more violently than before .

Shaaaaaake-!!

Alright . Jinwoo was done teasing the young man . From the start, he had no plans to hurt Yoo Jinho . He felt that he had done enough and made his final decision .

“Okay . Go grab their magic cores . We’re leaving the Dungeon . ”

“Thank you very much, hyungnim!”

Yoo Jinho stood up and bowed his entire upper body, making a 90-degree angle at the waist . The smile returned to his face .

While Yoo Jinho went around gathering Hwang Dongseok party’s bags with the magic cores, Jinwoo went and picked the pocket of Hwang Dongseok .

‘Gotta take what’s mine . ’

The contractual wage for today was 2 million . He was not going to let the man go to the afterlife without paying him . In Hwang Dongseok’s wallet, he found just a little over 2 million won . He recalled Hwang Dongseok saying he would be paid in cash, right after the Raid; it seemed the man was not lying . After all, you couldn’t cut off the tail every time . If nothing unusual like the appearance of mana crystals had occurred, they would’ve probably finished the Raid with no trouble .

“Thank you for today’s wages . ”

Jinwoo thanked no one in particular, then got up and left . Yoo Jinho, who had gone to place the Hunters’ magic cores in his bag, panicked when he saw Jinwoo missing after coming back .

“Hyungnim?”

Only the corpses of Jinwoo’s victims were scattered about .

“Aaaaahhhhhh!”

Turning blue, Yoo Jinho frantically chased after Jinwoo .

At the scene of the incident, the Association’s investigators and staff had arrived . The protocol in the case of a death during a Raid was simple . They would have to report the incident to the Association and undergo a brief investigation . The investigator this time was a strict-looking middle-aged woman .

“Your names?”

“Sung Jinwoo . ”

“I’m Yoo Jinho . ”

A Hunter’s death in a Dungeon was unfortunately a common occurrence, so the aftermath investigations were more or less routine . It was just a matter of keeping proper record of everything that had happened . It would all go smooth… as long as nothing suspicious was noted .

“…Hmm, you’re telling me all the C-rank Hunters died, but you two, a D-rank and an E-rank, got out safely?”

The investigator pushed her glasses up and asked, her eyes narrow .

‘In a normal Raid, the first to die are the weak ones…’

As she carefully looked over the survivors, something caught her eye, and she spoke with a raised voice,

“Oh my!”

She approached Yoo Jinho with sparkles in her eyes .

“Isn’t this one of Maya Company’s new products? The long sword, Kallion? And oh my, this is one of master artisan Gredos’ works, the Royal Series Shields!” [2]

Yoo Jinho put on a proud expression .

“You know your stuff!”

“Hohoho, oh no . I just love looking through new product catalogues . ”

The longsword’s price was 700 million, and the shield was 500 million . Produced from magic cores worth hundreds of million won and other expensive materials, these were powerful equipment that could raise the level of a D-rank Hunter to C-rank . A theory of what happened in the Dungeon was created in her head .

‘If it was with these gear…’

A D-ranker just might’ve been able to defeat the boss in a situation where all the C-rankers had died .

‘The E-ranker probably survived by hiding away in some corner . ’

Of course, the truth was completely opposite . Still, she had made her conclusion . Someone who could afford such gear would not have betrayed his comrades for few paltry pieces of magic cores . There was also no way that the E-ranker could do anything against the C-rankers . As such, Hwang Dongseok and co . ’s deaths would be ruled as an unfortunate accident .

“Well, I think that should do it . ”

With a satisfied expression, she finished the recording of the incident .

“The investigation is now over . You are both free to leave . I know today must’ve been hard . The Association thanks you for your cooperation in this matter . ”

“Thank you . ”

Jinwoo answered for the pair .

The investigator left as quickly as she had arrived .

“Thank you as well, hyungnim . ”

Yoo Jinho bowed again in a 90-degree angle . Even after coming out of the Gate, his at-attention-attitude did not change . The young man probably went through a lot of scary things back there, Jinwoo thought .

“You did well, too . ”

“Eh, I didn’t really do anything . It was all hyungnim . Here, your magic cores . ”

Yoo Jinho respectfully held out a bag with two hands . Jinwoo took the bag; it was filled to the brim with magic cores . The highest price for a magic core from a C-rank Gate was 10 million, even the lowest would be worth at least several million . Jinwoo tried to obtain a rough count of the magic cores he was holding and screamed inside in delight .

‘How much is all of this…?’

He had to hold back the laughter of joy . Suddenly, drops of water appeared on the bag .

drop .

drop .

Jinwoo raised his head . The sky that began to darken after noon was now beginning to rain .

‘Good thing I sent her with an umbrella . ’

He smiled at the sudden thought of his little sister .

Deep into the night .

The moment he arrived home, he opened his stat screen .

“Stat!”

Stats

Strength: 53

Constitution: 30

Agility: 38

Intelligence: 30

Sense: 32

(Available stat points: 10)

He still had the 10 stat points from the emergency quest . He was itching to use them up . It was an amount that normally required three days of daily quests (albeit missing a point) or two level-ups (but not freely distributable) .

‘First and foremost, agility . Then, sense . ’

He put 7 points into agility and the remaining 3 into sense .

Stats

Strength: 53

Constitution: 30

Agility: 45

Intelligence: 30

Sense: 35

(Available stat points: 0)

“Okay . ”

His attributes had risen quite a bit . Agility had almost caught up to his strength, and in no time, his sense had reached 35 points . Once agility and strength reached the same level, he planned on focusing on constitution . Leaving aside intelligence, which he still did not know the effect of, he wanted to raise his stats evenly .

“Let’s check today’s progress . ”

Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 21

Class: None

Title: Wolf Slayer

HP: 2600

MP: 390

Fatigue: 0

Stats

Strength: 53

Constitution: 30

Agility: 45

Intelligence: 30

Sense: 35

(Available stat points: 0)

Skills

Passive Skills

-(Unknown) (Lv . Max)

-Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)

Active Skills

-Sprint (Lv . 1)

-Bloodlust (Lv . 1)

What made him the happiest registered first: his level, which had jumped by 3 levels, and the newly earned “Bloodlust” skill . Thanks to the 10 stat points, his attributes looked great as well . Just all this would’ve made a very productive day, but this was not all that he had earned today .

‘On top of the wage of 2 million,’

He opened the bag full of magic cores and started counting .

’11 magic cores from the spider . 38 from Hwang Dongseok’s team . ’

All in all, he had 49 magic cores!

At an average price of 5 million each, he would be walking away with over 200 million . [3]

“200 million in one day…”

Having collected ten, no, nine people’s shares all to himself, Jinwoo had earned an incredible amount . It was an unthinkable stroke of luck .

‘All that’s left is to sell these . ’

It was not difficult to sell magic cores . The demand was so high that they would be snatched up the moment they were put up on the market . The question was where to sell them . He could sell them personally to another individual, to a Guild or through a business . Looking at the amount he was holding, Jinwoo concluded that instead of a personal sale or using an online market, he would go to an intermediary for brokerage .

‘Wonder if I can just sell these in the shop?’

It would be rather convenient if the shop took the magic cores at face value like the junk items . Thinking about the shop, Jinwoo put away the bag . He realized the one other progress he had made today .

‘It said I could use the buy function of the shop now, right?’

He quickly opened the shop . The gold that he had collected in the Instant Dungeon was sitting in his inventory, figuratively collecting dust .

“Buy . ”

ring~

With that familiar electronic tone, a seemingly endless list of purchasable items appeared before his eyes . They ranged from cheap potions and miscellaneous accessories to expensive armors and powerful weapons . Every one of them was being sold for gold . Obviously, the better the item was, more expensive the gold cost . Some of the most powerful items cost as much as 10 billion pieces of gold .

“Whoa… 10 billion…”

His current gold was at 112 thousand . It was far too low to purchase anything that appeared to be useful, but there was no need to rush . He had plenty of time .

‘So as long as I gather the gold, I can buy all of this, right?’

He hummed as he continued to browse through the list of items . He had obtained one more reason to enter an Instant Dungeon .

Jinwoo was already anticipating the reward from tomorrow’s Random Box .

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: “dongsaeng” (동생): Another super common Korean noun used to refer to someone makes an appearance . This one is used by older siblings to refer to their younger sibling (unlike oppa/hyung, it’s gender neutral) . Just like oppa/hyung, it’s used in general population between unrelated people as well (older person to a younger person of a relative close age) .

[2]: “Maya Company”, “Kallion”, “Gredos” (마야 사, 칼리온, 그레도스): What appears to be bunch of proper nouns .

[3]: No, not a mis translation . Technically 245 is above 200 . . .

Sponsored Content

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 24.

.

Yoo Jinho placed emphasis on the words, ‘fair price’ . .

.

‘He’s not wrong…’.

.

Jinho’s suggestion would be the best course of option for Jinwoo to safely obtain all the magic cores . Currently, the ownership of the magic cores was clear . No matter how greedy the man was, Hwang Dongseok could not take them with him to the afterlife . As such, Yoo Jinho had the legal rights to all the magic cores they carried . And now, the young man was offering it all to Jinwoo . This was different than taking them by force . .

.

‘No reason to turn away good fortune like this…’.

.

After all, if it wasn’t for him, Yoo Jinho would already be dead or taken as hostage . In that line of thinking, it indeed was the fair price for Jinwoo to obtain all the magic cores . .

.

Watching Jinwoo’s expression soften, Yoo Jinho was sure that he had hit the right mark . .

.

‘As I thought, the magic cores are the price of the blood he spilled taking down Hwang Dongseok’s party . That’s why he won’t refuse them . ’.

.

The two men’s idea of the ‘fair price’ was completely different, but neither of them would realize this . .

.

“Alright . ”.

.

At Jinwoo’s agreement, Yoo Jinho’s face brightened . The young man felt a little awe at what he perceived to be the Jinwoo’s ironclad conviction . But then, Jinwoo’s face became cold again . .

.

“But how would I be able to trust you?”.

.

Jinwoo thought back on the initial goal of this conversation . He did not frighten the young man for a material gain; he just wanted to make sure the events of this Raid would not cause him troubles in the future . .

.

“How could I betray the hyungnim that saved my life multiple times?”.

.

“You could always ignore the promise and go around blabbing your mouth off . ”.

.

Well, it wouldn’t really hurt him in the long run . Killing Hwang Dongseok’s party was 100% in self-defense . It was eight armed men versus just him, and they were the ones who attacked first . With the world’s laws having changed in the advent of Hunters, he would definitely be found not guilty in all of this . Still, he wanted to avoid all that if he could . For that, he needed Yoo Jinho’s cooperation . .

.

“Well?”.

.

Jinwoo pressed his question and stared . Yoo Jinho responded with a fierce look in his eyes . .

.

“I wouldn’t dare do such a cowardly thing! Especially to the savior of my life!”.

.

‘Hmm…’.

.

He realized where he had seen that determined look in Yoo Jinho’s eyes before . It was the same eyes he defiantly stood up to Hwang Dongseok with . .

.

‘Kid… you’re the real thing, aren’t you?’.

.

Give and Take . .

.

With his life on the line, Yoo Jinho chose to stand with Jinwoo . Putting his faith in him, the young man was ready to fight eight Hunters . And so, Jinwoo decided to return some of that faith . .

.

Well… after putting in some final touches . .

.

Jinwoo went over and picked up Hwang Dongseok’s shield . .

.

“You know, I’m still pissed about Hwang Dongseok’s betrayal . ”.

.

Casually turning the shield over in his hands, Jinwoo suddenly threw the shield at the wall . .

.

Crack!.

.

The shield became half embedded into the wall . Yoo Jinho gulped, and his body began to sweat . .

.

“My dongsaeng[1] won’t betray me like that, would he?”.

.

“Of-of course not, hyungnim . ”.

.

The Dungeon shook again, more violently than before . .

.

Shaaaaaake-!!.

.

Alright . Jinwoo was done teasing the young man . From the start, he had no plans to hurt Yoo Jinho . He felt that he had done enough and made his final decision . .

.

“Okay . Go grab their magic cores . We’re leaving the Dungeon . ”.

.

“Thank you very much, hyungnim!”.

.

Yoo Jinho stood up and bowed his entire upper body, making a 90-degree angle at the waist . The smile returned to his face . .

.

While Yoo Jinho went around gathering Hwang Dongseok party’s bags with the magic cores, Jinwoo went and picked the pocket of Hwang Dongseok . .

.

‘Gotta take what’s mine . ’.

.

The contractual wage for today was 2 million . He was not going to let the man go to the afterlife without paying him . In Hwang Dongseok’s wallet, he found just a little over 2 million won . He recalled Hwang Dongseok saying he would be paid in cash, right after the Raid; it seemed the man was not lying . After all, you couldn’t cut off the tail every time . If nothing unusual like the appearance of mana crystals had occurred, they would’ve probably finished the Raid with no trouble . .

.

“Thank you for today’s wages . ”.

.

Jinwoo thanked no one in particular, then got up and left . Yoo Jinho, who had gone to place the Hunters’ magic cores in his bag, panicked when he saw Jinwoo missing after coming back . .

.

“Hyungnim?”.

.

Only the corpses of Jinwoo’s victims were scattered about . .

.

“Aaaaahhhhhh!”.

.

Turning blue, Yoo Jinho frantically chased after Jinwoo . .

.

.

.

At the scene of the incident, the Association’s investigators and staff had arrived . The protocol in the case of a death during a Raid was simple . They would have to report the incident to the Association and undergo a brief investigation . The investigator this time was a strict-looking middle-aged woman . .

.

“Your names?”.

.

“Sung Jinwoo . ”.

.

“I’m Yoo Jinho . ”.

.

A Hunter’s death in a Dungeon was unfortunately a common occurrence, so the aftermath investigations were more or less routine . It was just a matter of keeping proper record of everything that had happened . It would all go smooth… as long as nothing suspicious was noted . .

.

“…Hmm, you’re telling me all the C-rank Hunters died, but you two, a D-rank and an E-rank, got out safely?”.

.

The investigator pushed her glasses up and asked, her eyes narrow . .

.

‘In a normal Raid, the first to die are the weak ones…’.

.

As she carefully looked over the survivors, something caught her eye, and she spoke with a raised voice,.

.

“Oh my!”.

.

She approached Yoo Jinho with sparkles in her eyes . .

.

“Isn’t this one of Maya Company’s new products? The long sword, Kallion? And oh my, this is one of master artisan Gredos’ works, the Royal Series Shields!” [2].

.

Yoo Jinho put on a proud expression . .

.

“You know your stuff!”.

.

“Hohoho, oh no . I just love looking through new product catalogues . ”.

.

The longsword’s price was 700 million, and the shield was 500 million . Produced from magic cores worth hundreds of million won and other expensive materials, these were powerful equipment that could raise the level of a D-rank Hunter to C-rank . A theory of what happened in the Dungeon was created in her head . .

.

‘If it was with these gear…’.

.

A D-ranker just might’ve been able to defeat the boss in a situation where all the C-rankers had died . .

.

‘The E-ranker probably survived by hiding away in some corner . ’.

.

Of course, the truth was completely opposite . Still, she had made her conclusion . Someone who could afford such gear would not have betrayed his comrades for few paltry pieces of magic cores . There was also no way that the E-ranker could do anything against the C-rankers . As such, Hwang Dongseok and co . ’s deaths would be ruled as an unfortunate accident . .

.

“Well, I think that should do it . ”.

.

With a satisfied expression, she finished the recording of the incident . .

.

“The investigation is now over . You are both free to leave . I know today must’ve been hard . The Association thanks you for your cooperation in this matter . ”.

.

“Thank you . ”.

.

Jinwoo answered for the pair . .

.

The investigator left as quickly as she had arrived . .

.

“Thank you as well, hyungnim . ”.

.

Yoo Jinho bowed again in a 90-degree angle . Even after coming out of the Gate, his at-attention-attitude did not change . The young man probably went through a lot of scary things back there, Jinwoo thought . .

.

“You did well, too . ”.

.

“Eh, I didn’t really do anything . It was all hyungnim . Here, your magic cores . ”.

.

Yoo Jinho respectfully held out a bag with two hands . Jinwoo took the bag; it was filled to the brim with magic cores . The highest price for a magic core from a C-rank Gate was 10 million, even the lowest would be worth at least several million . Jinwoo tried to obtain a rough count of the magic cores he was holding and screamed inside in delight . .

.

‘How much is all of this…?’.

.

He had to hold back the laughter of joy . Suddenly, drops of water appeared on the bag . .

.

drop . .

.

drop . .

.

Jinwoo raised his head . The sky that began to darken after noon was now beginning to rain . .

.

‘Good thing I sent her with an umbrella . ’.

.

He smiled at the sudden thought of his little sister . .

.

.

.

Deep into the night . .

.

The moment he arrived home, he opened his stat screen . .

.

“Stat!”.

.

Stats.

.

Strength: 53.

Constitution: 30.

Agility: 38.

Intelligence: 30.

Sense: 32.

(Available stat points: 10).

.

He still had the 10 stat points from the emergency quest . He was itching to use them up . It was an amount that normally required three days of daily quests (albeit missing a point) or two level-ups (but not freely distributable) . .

.

‘First and foremost, agility . Then, sense . ’.

.

He put 7 points into agility and the remaining 3 into sense . .

.

.

Stats.

.

Strength: 53.

Constitution: 30.

Agility: 45.

Intelligence: 30.

Sense: 35.

(Available stat points: 0).

.

“Okay . ”.

.

His attributes had risen quite a bit . Agility had almost caught up to his strength, and in no time, his sense had reached 35 points . Once agility and strength reached the same level, he planned on focusing on constitution . Leaving aside intelligence, which he still did not know the effect of, he wanted to raise his stats evenly . .

.

“Let’s check today’s progress . ”.

.

Name: Sung Jinwoo.

Level: 21.

Class: None.

Title: Wolf Slayer.

HP: 2600.

MP: 390.

Fatigue: 0.

Stats.

.

Strength: 53.

Constitution: 30.

Agility: 45.

Intelligence: 30.

Sense: 35.

(Available stat points: 0).

Skills.

.

Passive Skills.

-(Unknown) (Lv . Max).

-Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).

.

Active Skills.

-Sprint (Lv . 1).

-Bloodlust (Lv . 1) .

.

What made him the happiest registered first: his level, which had jumped by 3 levels, and the newly earned “Bloodlust” skill . Thanks to the 10 stat points, his attributes looked great as well . Just all this would’ve made a very productive day, but this was not all that he had earned today . .

.

‘On top of the wage of 2 million,’.

.

He opened the bag full of magic cores and started counting . .

.

’11 magic cores from the spider . 38 from Hwang Dongseok’s team . ’.

.

All in all, he had 49 magic cores!.

.

At an average price of 5 million each, he would be walking away with over 200 million . [3].

.

“200 million in one day…”.

.

Having collected ten, no, nine people’s shares all to himself, Jinwoo had earned an incredible amount . It was an unthinkable stroke of luck . .

.

‘All that’s left is to sell these . ’.

.

It was not difficult to sell magic cores . The demand was so high that they would be snatched up the moment they were put up on the market . The question was where to sell them . He could sell them personally to another individual, to a Guild or through a business . Looking at the amount he was holding, Jinwoo concluded that instead of a personal sale or using an online market, he would go to an intermediary for brokerage . .

.

‘Wonder if I can just sell these in the shop?’.

.

It would be rather convenient if the shop took the magic cores at face value like the junk items . Thinking about the shop, Jinwoo put away the bag . He realized the one other progress he had made today . .

.

‘It said I could use the buy function of the shop now, right?’.

.

He quickly opened the shop . The gold that he had collected in the Instant Dungeon was sitting in his inventory, figuratively collecting dust . .

.

“Buy . ”.

.

ring~.

.

With that familiar electronic tone, a seemingly endless list of purchasable items appeared before his eyes . They ranged from cheap potions and miscellaneous accessories to expensive armors and powerful weapons . Every one of them was being sold for gold . Obviously, the better the item was, more expensive the gold cost . Some of the most powerful items cost as much as 10 billion pieces of gold . .

.

“Whoa… 10 billion…”.

.

His current gold was at 112 thousand . It was far too low to purchase anything that appeared to be useful, but there was no need to rush . He had plenty of time . .

.

‘So as long as I gather the gold, I can buy all of this, right?’.

.

He hummed as he continued to browse through the list of items . He had obtained one more reason to enter an Instant Dungeon . .

.

Jinwoo was already anticipating the reward from tomorrow’s Random Box . .

.

.

.

Translator’s Notes:.

[1]: “dongsaeng” (동생): Another super common Korean noun used to refer to someone makes an appearance . This one is used by older siblings to refer to their younger sibling (unlike oppa/hyung, it’s gender neutral) . Just like oppa/hyung, it’s used in general population between unrelated people as well (older person to a younger person of a relative close age) . .

[2]: “Maya Company”, “Kallion”, “Gredos” (마야 사, 칼리온, 그레도스): What appears to be bunch of proper nouns . .

[3]: No, not a mis translation . Technically 245 is above 200 . .