Chapter 69

Name:Solo Leveling Author:Jang Sung-Lak
Next morning, Jinwoo went straight to Daesung Tower .

‘Man, it’s still so tall . ’

A skyscraper with a hundred floors . Standing near it, you’d have to strain your neck to look up to the top .

‘There are a lot of people here today . ’

Compared to the last time he had come here, there were a lot more people around . Guess that was the literal difference between night and day . Whether it was the lobby, entrance or the sidewalk, people came and went nonstop .

‘Man, if I just disappeared into thin air like last time, it’ll cause quite a commotion . ’

There were already many eyes looking for him because of this so-called “unknown helper” incident . Was there a need for him to reveal himself and purposely attract attention?

‘Of course not . ’

Jinwoo did not enjoy having attention focused on him . He walked over to a hidden corner and took out the Demon Castle Key . It was a slender, golden key . At a casual glance, it was clearly nonfunctional .

‘No one’s looking, right?’

Jinwoo looked around and nodded .

‘Time to go . ’

The Hunter used the ‘Stealth’ skill .

shooo-

The invisible man came out of his hiding spot then made his way through the crowd to the building . Because of how packed the streets were, he couldn’t avoid bumping into few people here and there, but none of them paid any mind .

‘Man, this skill can be used for some really bad things . ’

No wonder high-rankers with ‘Stealth’ were under a lot of surveillance .

flaaaare!

In the meantime, he passed through the invisible threshold into a completely different world .

‘If I can hear the flames from here, just how hot is it?’

Jinwoo looked up at the massive tower on fire . It stood where Daesung Tower was moments ago . The Demon Castle nearly filled his entire vision . Still, they say humans can get used to anything .

‘Feels less oppressive than last time . ’

Indeed, Jinwoo’s anxiousness was practically nonexistent this time .

Or perhaps,

‘It’s because I’ve grown that much . ’

Jinwoo returned the golden Demon Castle Key to the inventory then took out a gray key .

Castle Gate Key

Rarity: A-rank

Type: Key

It is the key to the Demon Castle’s gates .

Obtained after killing the Gatekeeper .

It was what he obtained after killing the watchdog, Cerberus . He was unable to use it in the past, having just barely defeated Cerberus . Now, he would finally enter the castle . Next, he took out his weapon . Baruka’s Tanto in his right hand, the gate key in his left, Jinwoo carefully walked towards the castle gate . Curiously, he did not see Cerberus .

‘Do monsters not respawn in the Demon Castle Dungeon?’

Might be just limited to the dog, but there was a strong possibility that it was a special rule of this place .

‘If that’s the case…’

The interiors might be a little different than the Instant Dungeons where monsters respawned . Jinwoo sharply focused his senses .

BA DUM BA DUM BA DUM!

Because of the sense stat that had reached over a hundred, focusing his senses made his own heartbeat sound like thunder .

‘But I am not afraid . ’

Compared to the past, what he felt now was not fear but an overwhelming confidence resulting from his power . Maintaining a sharpness and being afraid were two completely different things .

ring~

A message appeared in front of the castle door .

Would you like to use the Castle Gate Key and enter? (Y/N)

‘No, miss System, I’ll just turn back and go home . ’

Jinwoo laughed at the stupid question and selected “Yes” .

creaaaak-

He had not touched the door, but the giant gates swung open on their own .

Clunk!

‘Huh…?’

Jinwoo was taken back . Even though his senses were focused, he did not sense any monsters past the doors .

‘No monsters?’

He had prepared for the exact opposite . His worst case scenario visioned a scene where a ton of monsters jumped him the moment he opened the door . It was this pessimistic thought that had carried him to the penalty zone for training .

‘But…’

Just what was this? It seemed like his efforts were in vain . The inside of the castle was almost pathetically devoid of any monsters’ presence .

‘Huh… What now?’

With a disappointed feeling, Jinwoo returned Baruka’s Tanto to the inventory and stepped into the Demon Castle . As these things usually go, that first step into the area triggered the response .

ring~

Jinwoo reflexively called his two daggers to his hands in a flash .

‘What! What is it?!’

A quest has arrived .

‘A quest?’

And it’s not the daily quest? Well that would’ve been weird; he had already made sure to complete the daily quest before coming here . Then this must be… just a quest .

This was the first time he had received “just” a quest .

‘Every other quest up until now was hidden, emergency or something . ’

Jinwoo checked the quest with a tilted head .

Ordinary Quest: Collect the Demon Souls! Part 1

The Demon Castle is full of demons . Please hunt them and collect their souls to earn a special reward . Normal demons contain only one soul, but the upper floors will have demons with multiple souls .

Quest Requirement: Enter the Demon Castle

Quest Goal: Demon Souls 0 / 10,000

Rewards:

Pick one item from every item possible

Stat points +20

Unknown Reward

20 Stat points! As always, the first thing that grabbed Jinwoo’s attention was the stat point reward .

‘I can raise my intelligence by 20!’

He could not help but smile . The disadvantages of low mana could not be understated .

‘I need a ton of mana to keep my soldiers regenerating . ’

And mana wasn’t the only benefit of the intelligence stat . Jinwoo was finally able to learn that as his intelligence increased, the number of shadows he could extract and store increased as well[1] . Because of all this, increasing his intelligence was urgent .

‘There’s a limit with just level-ups and daily quests…’

If he could earn 20 bonus stats through the quest, it would take care of a large problem .

gulp

‘And…’

Jinwoo looked up from the stat reward .

“Pick one item from every item possible”

Just the bonus stats were an insane reward, then there was this .

‘Really? Every item possible?’

Jinwoo remembered the absolute highest-class equipments from the shop .

‘There were even…’

S-rank equipment that cost billions, some even tens of billions, of gold . Jinwoo looked at Knight Killer in his left hand . This powerful dagger cost nearly three million gold, and he was still using it .

‘If a B-rank dagger costing nearly three million is this good, just how good are the S-rank daggers costing tens of billions?’

He became curious . Looking at just the first and second rewards, even ignoring the unknown third reward, this was an incredible quest .

‘Considering the rewards, taking down few monsters will be as easy as eating-’

Because Jinwoo’s eyes fell on the quest rewards first, he had not taken a closer look at the quest goal . The man finally looked at the number of zeros and was shocked .

“Ten… thousand?”

Jinwoo could not help but exclaim loudly . This was not just “taking down few monsters” .

‘It’s really, really not an ordinary quest . ’

No matter what kind of monsters these demons were, killing ten thousand of them would be an ordeal . However, the Hunter smiled widely .

‘That is… if I was alone . ’

The current number of soldiers was 50 . They each just had to take down 200 demons . Yes, with those soldiers, this quest would be doable .

Would you like to accept the quest?

‘Of course . ’

There was no way he would refuse .

You’ve accepted the quest .

If he failed, the “penalty” would be just the wasted time .

‘Compared the penalty of those other quests… bleh…’

His life was on the line for the Class Advancement Quest and the Emergency Quests . Compared to those, this was truly a blessed quest . Jinwoo raised his head,

‘So that’s going to keep track of my progress?’

The moment he accepted the quest, a counter appeared in the air .

Collected Demon Souls: 0 / 10,000

‘10,000… This’ll be a long road . ’

With the numbers he imagined in his head actually visualized, Jinwoo chuckled in disbelief . Suddenly, he discovered another counter to the left to the souls counter .

‘Huh?’

Exp . to Next Level: 60,000

The holographic letters clearly displayed a number, and it was telling him that he would level up once he filled that number .

‘Am I finally able to see my experience?’

But he was Level 61 . 61 didn’t particularly seem like a milestone level for something like this to happen . Not only that, Jinwoo didn’t see such a counter before heading into the Demon Castle .

‘Let’s see…’

Jinwoo took a step back and exited the Demon Castle . With that, both the soul counter and the experience counter disappeared . When he went back in, the two counters returned as if they were always there .

‘Looks like it’s only for the Demon Castle . ’

It was a shame he wouldn’t be able to see the experience counter on the outside, but it would surely be convenient while he was in here . On the other hand,

‘Does that mean it’ll take that long to conquer this place?’

That was certainly a possibility . Jinwoo pored over the details of the quest once more, then closed the message box .

‘Think I got the details down . ’

Finally, it would be time to explore the interiors of the Demon Castle .

‘Whoa!’

wooooooooo-

A ruined city lay before his eyes . Unexpectedly, it was another field-type Dungeon .

‘Where is this? Is this Seoul?’

Perhaps if everyone in Seoul died and a hundred years passed, it might look like this . A lifeless city faded to gray . Few street lights flickered on and off here and there .

‘To think that it’d be another field-type Dungeon…’

On top of that, it was using the great city of Seoul as its base . Next to the Instant Dungeons that used a subway station or a mall as their base, this was incomparable . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed .

‘Where do I go first?’

Where was the goal? Jinwoo looked over here and there . Thankfully, he did not have to wonder for too long . From a distance, where Namsan Tower should’ve been, a giant pillar of light stood in its place .

‘Let’s try over there . ’

Jinwoo started heading towards the direction . In case he got lost, he carefully remembered the area where the castle gate was . However, he did not go too far when he was interrupted,

“Kik kik . ”

“Kikikik . ”

Small monsters crawled out from between the buildings here and there .

‘Low-level Demon’

Jinwoo read the dark red names above their heads and understood what they were .

‘They look like…’

If the gargoyle magic beasts had wings, it would look just like them . There were eight of them . Jinwoo smiled .

‘Got eight souls . ’

Pierce!

One of the demons sported Baruka’s Tanto out of its forehead .

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon .

You’ve earned 100 experience points .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul .

“Kiak?”

“Kiek?”

While they were distracted by their fallen comrade, Jinwoo quickly ran over and removed another’s head .

slash!

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon .

You’ve earned 100 experience points .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul .

These things gave a hundred experience points each .

‘And I need 60,000 experience points to level-up…’

Defeating 600 of these low-level demons should level him up . The remaining demons fell quickly .

“Kiiiiiiek!”

“Kek!”

Current souls at 8 . Experienced gained was 800 .

‘Not a bad start . ’

A marathon starts with just a few steps . Jinwoo’s eyes sparkled, looking for the next prey .

Baekho Guild . Guildmaster’s Office .

After being busy for the past few days, Baek Yoonho was going through the documents and reports that he had been neglecting .

Beep-

He picked up the phone .

- “Guildmaster, Hunter Min Byunggu-nim is calling . Would you like me to connect?”

“Yes, please . ”

- “Alright . ”

A moment later, a familiar voice came from the receiver .

- “Baek hyung, why is your cellphone off?”

Baek Yoonho sighed deeply,

“Because of those damn reporters . I’m going dark until this damn story dies down . ”

- “Oh, yeah, that! Red Gate! I saw the news from Japan . Hyung, you look pretty good on the TV . ”

“Don’t test me . I’m not in the mood to joke around . Once I find who leaked that story, I’m going to just…”

- “Don’t worry about that too much, hyung . That story’s going to get pushed over by a big news soon . ”

“A big news? From Japan?”

- “Yeah . The problem is worse than we thought . It’s going to make waves in Korea soon . ”

“Why? What happened?”

A week ago, Japan secretly contacted the Korean Hunter Association and the large Guilds of South Korea . They were informed that Japan needed a consultation with Korea’s Hunters . And so, several Hunters representing Korea headed over to Japan for a meeting . Min Byunggu was one of those Hunters . Baek Yoonho had been curious about the matter,

“Stop messing around and spill it . This is the first time those Japanese bastards asked for our advice on something . Just what’s going on over there that could rattle those arrogant fucks?” [2]

- “Baek hyung, you remember the ants of Jeju Island, right?”

An S-rank Gate underwent a Dungeon Break four years ago on Jeju Island . The Dungeon was populated by ant type magic beasts . South Korea had attempted to reclaim the island three times . They failed three times . Eventually, the government gave up on the jewel of Korea, and Jeju Island became the land of the magic beasts .

“How could I forget? I almost died during one of the reclamation efforts . ”

- “There’s been a development in that area . ”

“Development? Who the hell cares . Let them kill and eat each other on that island . ”

- “That’s…”

The voice on the phone became filled with worry and continued,

- “They discovered a corpse of a winged ant on the coast of Japan . ” [3]

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: Oh, here it is . The actual confirmation that intelligence increased his maximum shadows .

[2]: Err, in case anyone’s uncomfortable with the rather blatant racism, the relationship between Korean and Japan, especially for older folks, is not that good .

[3]: In the next arc of SoloxLeveling, we’ll be visiting the Chimera Ant Island :P

Sponsored Content

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 69.

.

Next morning, Jinwoo went straight to Daesung Tower . .

.

‘Man, it’s still so tall . ’.

.

A skyscraper with a hundred floors . Standing near it, you’d have to strain your neck to look up to the top . .

.

‘There are a lot of people here today . ’.

.

Compared to the last time he had come here, there were a lot more people around . Guess that was the literal difference between night and day . Whether it was the lobby, entrance or the sidewalk, people came and went nonstop . .

.

‘Man, if I just disappeared into thin air like last time, it’ll cause quite a commotion . ’.

.

There were already many eyes looking for him because of this so-called “unknown helper” incident . Was there a need for him to reveal himself and purposely attract attention?.

.

‘Of course not . ’.

.

Jinwoo did not enjoy having attention focused on him . He walked over to a hidden corner and took out the Demon Castle Key . It was a slender, golden key . At a casual glance, it was clearly nonfunctional . .

.

‘No one’s looking, right?’.

.

Jinwoo looked around and nodded . .

.

‘Time to go . ’.

.

The Hunter used the ‘Stealth’ skill . .

.

shooo-.

.

The invisible man came out of his hiding spot then made his way through the crowd to the building . Because of how packed the streets were, he couldn’t avoid bumping into few people here and there, but none of them paid any mind . .

.

‘Man, this skill can be used for some really bad things . ’.

.

No wonder high-rankers with ‘Stealth’ were under a lot of surveillance . .

.

flaaaare!.

.

In the meantime, he passed through the invisible threshold into a completely different world . .

.

‘If I can hear the flames from here, just how hot is it?’.

.

Jinwoo looked up at the massive tower on fire . It stood where Daesung Tower was moments ago . The Demon Castle nearly filled his entire vision . Still, they say humans can get used to anything . .

.

‘Feels less oppressive than last time . ’.

.

Indeed, Jinwoo’s anxiousness was practically nonexistent this time . .

.

Or perhaps,.

.

‘It’s because I’ve grown that much . ’.

.

Jinwoo returned the golden Demon Castle Key to the inventory then took out a gray key . .

.

Castle Gate Key.

Rarity: A-rank.

Type: Key.

It is the key to the Demon Castle’s gates . .

Obtained after killing the Gatekeeper . .

.

It was what he obtained after killing the watchdog, Cerberus . He was unable to use it in the past, having just barely defeated Cerberus . Now, he would finally enter the castle . Next, he took out his weapon . Baruka’s Tanto in his right hand, the gate key in his left, Jinwoo carefully walked towards the castle gate . Curiously, he did not see Cerberus . .

.

‘Do monsters not respawn in the Demon Castle Dungeon?’.

.

Might be just limited to the dog, but there was a strong possibility that it was a special rule of this place . .

.

‘If that’s the case…’.

.

The interiors might be a little different than the Instant Dungeons where monsters respawned . Jinwoo sharply focused his senses . .

.

BA DUM BA DUM BA DUM!.

.

Because of the sense stat that had reached over a hundred, focusing his senses made his own heartbeat sound like thunder . .

.

‘But I am not afraid . ’.

.

Compared to the past, what he felt now was not fear but an overwhelming confidence resulting from his power . Maintaining a sharpness and being afraid were two completely different things . .

.

ring~.

.

A message appeared in front of the castle door . .

.

Would you like to use the Castle Gate Key and enter? (Y/N).

.

‘No, miss System, I’ll just turn back and go home . ’.

.

Jinwoo laughed at the stupid question and selected “Yes” . .

.

creaaaak-.

.

He had not touched the door, but the giant gates swung open on their own . .

.

Clunk!.

.

‘Huh…?’.

.

Jinwoo was taken back . Even though his senses were focused, he did not sense any monsters past the doors . .

.

‘No monsters?’.

.

He had prepared for the exact opposite . His worst case scenario visioned a scene where a ton of monsters jumped him the moment he opened the door . It was this pessimistic thought that had carried him to the penalty zone for training . .

.

‘But…’.

.

Just what was this? It seemed like his efforts were in vain . The inside of the castle was almost pathetically devoid of any monsters’ presence . .

.

‘Huh… What now?’.

.

With a disappointed feeling, Jinwoo returned Baruka’s Tanto to the inventory and stepped into the Demon Castle . As these things usually go, that first step into the area triggered the response . .

.

ring~.

.

Jinwoo reflexively called his two daggers to his hands in a flash . .

.

‘What! What is it?!’.

.

A quest has arrived . .

.

‘A quest?’.

.

And it’s not the daily quest? Well that would’ve been weird; he had already made sure to complete the daily quest before coming here . Then this must be… just a quest . .

.

This was the first time he had received “just” a quest . .

.

‘Every other quest up until now was hidden, emergency or something . ’.

.

Jinwoo checked the quest with a tilted head . .

Ordinary Quest: Collect the Demon Souls! Part 1.

The Demon Castle is full of demons . Please hunt them and collect their souls to earn a special reward . Normal demons contain only one soul, but the upper floors will have demons with multiple souls . .

Quest Requirement: Enter the Demon Castle.

Quest Goal: Demon Souls 0 / 10,000.

Rewards:.

Pick one item from every item possible.

Stat points +20.

Unknown Reward.

.

20 Stat points! As always, the first thing that grabbed Jinwoo’s attention was the stat point reward . .

.

‘I can raise my intelligence by 20!’.

.

He could not help but smile . The disadvantages of low mana could not be understated . .

.

‘I need a ton of mana to keep my soldiers regenerating . ’.

.

And mana wasn’t the only benefit of the intelligence stat . Jinwoo was finally able to learn that as his intelligence increased, the number of shadows he could extract and store increased as well[1] . Because of all this, increasing his intelligence was urgent . .

.

‘There’s a limit with just level-ups and daily quests…’.

.

If he could earn 20 bonus stats through the quest, it would take care of a large problem . .

.

gulp.

.

‘And…’.

.

Jinwoo looked up from the stat reward . .

.

“Pick one item from every item possible”.

.

Just the bonus stats were an insane reward, then there was this . .

.

‘Really? Every item possible?’.

.

Jinwoo remembered the absolute highest-class equipments from the shop . .

.

‘There were even…’.

.

S-rank equipment that cost billions, some even tens of billions, of gold . Jinwoo looked at Knight Killer in his left hand . This powerful dagger cost nearly three million gold, and he was still using it . .

.

‘If a B-rank dagger costing nearly three million is this good, just how good are the S-rank daggers costing tens of billions?’.

.

He became curious . Looking at just the first and second rewards, even ignoring the unknown third reward, this was an incredible quest . .

.

‘Considering the rewards, taking down few monsters will be as easy as eating-’.

.

Because Jinwoo’s eyes fell on the quest rewards first, he had not taken a closer look at the quest goal . The man finally looked at the number of zeros and was shocked . .

.

“Ten… thousand?”.

.

Jinwoo could not help but exclaim loudly . This was not just “taking down few monsters” . .

.

‘It’s really, really not an ordinary quest . ’.

.

No matter what kind of monsters these demons were, killing ten thousand of them would be an ordeal . However, the Hunter smiled widely . .

.

‘That is… if I was alone . ’.

.

The current number of soldiers was 50 . They each just had to take down 200 demons . Yes, with those soldiers, this quest would be doable . .

.

Would you like to accept the quest?.

.

‘Of course . ’.

.

There was no way he would refuse . .

.

You’ve accepted the quest . .

.

If he failed, the “penalty” would be just the wasted time . .

.

‘Compared the penalty of those other quests… bleh…’.

.

His life was on the line for the Class Advancement Quest and the Emergency Quests . Compared to those, this was truly a blessed quest . Jinwoo raised his head,.

.

‘So that’s going to keep track of my progress?’.

.

The moment he accepted the quest, a counter appeared in the air . .

.

Collected Demon Souls: 0 / 10,000.

.

‘10,000… This’ll be a long road . ’.

.

With the numbers he imagined in his head actually visualized, Jinwoo chuckled in disbelief . Suddenly, he discovered another counter to the left to the souls counter . .

.

‘Huh?’.

.

Exp . to Next Level: 60,000.

.

The holographic letters clearly displayed a number, and it was telling him that he would level up once he filled that number . .

.

‘Am I finally able to see my experience?’.

.

But he was Level 61 . 61 didn’t particularly seem like a milestone level for something like this to happen . Not only that, Jinwoo didn’t see such a counter before heading into the Demon Castle . .

.

‘Let’s see…’.

.

Jinwoo took a step back and exited the Demon Castle . With that, both the soul counter and the experience counter disappeared . When he went back in, the two counters returned as if they were always there . .

.

‘Looks like it’s only for the Demon Castle . ’.

.

It was a shame he wouldn’t be able to see the experience counter on the outside, but it would surely be convenient while he was in here . On the other hand,.

.

‘Does that mean it’ll take that long to conquer this place?’.

.

That was certainly a possibility . Jinwoo pored over the details of the quest once more, then closed the message box . .

.

‘Think I got the details down . ’.

.

Finally, it would be time to explore the interiors of the Demon Castle . .

.

‘Whoa!’.

.

wooooooooo-.

.

A ruined city lay before his eyes . Unexpectedly, it was another field-type Dungeon . .

.

‘Where is this? Is this Seoul?’.

.

Perhaps if everyone in Seoul died and a hundred years passed, it might look like this . A lifeless city faded to gray . Few street lights flickered on and off here and there . .

.

‘To think that it’d be another field-type Dungeon…’.

.

On top of that, it was using the great city of Seoul as its base . Next to the Instant Dungeons that used a subway station or a mall as their base, this was incomparable . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed . .

.

‘Where do I go first?’.

.

Where was the goal? Jinwoo looked over here and there . Thankfully, he did not have to wonder for too long . From a distance, where Namsan Tower should’ve been, a giant pillar of light stood in its place . .

.

‘Let’s try over there . ’.

.

Jinwoo started heading towards the direction . In case he got lost, he carefully remembered the area where the castle gate was . However, he did not go too far when he was interrupted,.

.

“Kik kik . ”.

“Kikikik . ”.

.

Small monsters crawled out from between the buildings here and there . .

.

‘Low-level Demon’.

.

Jinwoo read the dark red names above their heads and understood what they were . .

.

‘They look like…’.

.

If the gargoyle magic beasts had wings, it would look just like them . There were eight of them . Jinwoo smiled . .

.

‘Got eight souls . ’.

.

Pierce!.

.

One of the demons sported Baruka’s Tanto out of its forehead . .

. .

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon . .

You’ve earned 100 experience points . .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul . .

.

“Kiak?”.

“Kiek?”.

.

While they were distracted by their fallen comrade, Jinwoo quickly ran over and removed another’s head . .

.

slash!.

.

You’ve defeated a Low-level Demon . .

You’ve earned 100 experience points . .

You’ve earned 1 Demon Soul . .

.

These things gave a hundred experience points each . .

.

‘And I need 60,000 experience points to level-up…’.

.

Defeating 600 of these low-level demons should level him up . The remaining demons fell quickly . .

.

“Kiiiiiiek!”.

“Kek!”.

.

Current souls at 8 . Experienced gained was 800 . .

.

‘Not a bad start . ’.

.

A marathon starts with just a few steps . Jinwoo’s eyes sparkled, looking for the next prey . .

.

.

.

Baekho Guild . Guildmaster’s Office . .

.

After being busy for the past few days, Baek Yoonho was going through the documents and reports that he had been neglecting . .

.

Beep-.

.

He picked up the phone . .

.

- “Guildmaster, Hunter Min Byunggu-nim is calling . Would you like me to connect?”.

.

“Yes, please . ”.

.

- “Alright . ”.

.

A moment later, a familiar voice came from the receiver . .

.

- “Baek hyung, why is your cellphone off?”.

.

Baek Yoonho sighed deeply,.

.

“Because of those damn reporters . I’m going dark until this damn story dies down . ”.

.

- “Oh, yeah, that! Red Gate! I saw the news from Japan . Hyung, you look pretty good on the TV . ”.

.

“Don’t test me . I’m not in the mood to joke around . Once I find who leaked that story, I’m going to just…”.

.

- “Don’t worry about that too much, hyung . That story’s going to get pushed over by a big news soon . ”.

.

“A big news? From Japan?”.

.

- “Yeah . The problem is worse than we thought . It’s going to make waves in Korea soon . ”.

.

“Why? What happened?”.

.

A week ago, Japan secretly contacted the Korean Hunter Association and the large Guilds of South Korea . They were informed that Japan needed a consultation with Korea’s Hunters . And so, several Hunters representing Korea headed over to Japan for a meeting . Min Byunggu was one of those Hunters . Baek Yoonho had been curious about the matter,.

.

“Stop messing around and spill it . This is the first time those Japanese bastards asked for our advice on something . Just what’s going on over there that could rattle those arrogant fucks?” [2].

.

- “Baek hyung, you remember the ants of Jeju Island, right?”.

.

An S-rank Gate underwent a Dungeon Break four years ago on Jeju Island . The Dungeon was populated by ant type magic beasts . South Korea had attempted to reclaim the island three times . They failed three times . Eventually, the government gave up on the jewel of Korea, and Jeju Island became the land of the magic beasts . .

.

“How could I forget? I almost died during one of the reclamation efforts . ”.

.

- “There’s been a development in that area . ”.

.

“Development? Who the hell cares . Let them kill and eat each other on that island . ”.

.

- “That’s…”.

.

The voice on the phone became filled with worry and continued,.

.

- “They discovered a corpse of a winged ant on the coast of Japan . ” [3].

.

Translator’s Notes:.

[1]: Oh, here it is . The actual confirmation that intelligence increased his maximum shadows . .

[2]: Err, in case anyone’s uncomfortable with the rather blatant racism, the relationship between Korean and Japan, especially for older folks, is not that good . .

[3]: In the next arc of SoloxLeveling, we’ll be visiting the Chimera Ant Island :P.