WHOFA 28
by soapa“Looks like we’ll get experience points just by standing still.”
“Still, we need to fight aggressively to get a good evaluation. Let’s not just watch!”
The mercenaries who had been watching each picked up their weapons.
[‘Seonjangshin’ uses the skill ❮A Teacher’s Heart❯.]
[It is quite effective. The monster screams in agony!]
[‘Ingwonjeong’ uses the skill ❮A Buddhist’s Will❯.]
[Energy and power surge throughout ‘Ingwonjeong’s’ entire body!]
Watching them fight fearlessly against the monsters, Seo Hwa realized something new. The hunters of this era were certainly the most upwardly standardized across all timelines. He had known this, but it seemed the skills of lower-rank hunters had improved even more during his three years in hiding. It seemed that a C-rank hunter of this regression would be at the level of a B-rank hunter from the first regression.
At this rate, even if a Grade 6 dungeon were to appear again, it would not be frightening at all. There would be no need to gather 50 elite hunters like last time; it would be more than enough to clear it with 5 S-ranks, 10 A-ranks, and the rest filled with B-ranks.
‘Will the day come when we raid a Grade 6 dungeon like it’s a party dungeon?’
While he was lost in such novel sentiments, a sharp gaze flew to the back of his head. It was a gaze that seemed to say, ‘Why isn’t that mercenary using any skills? Suspicious….’ Seo Hwa raised the crude, C-rank wand that looked like a child’s toy high into the air. Wands, or magic wands, were difficult equipment to craft, but at C-rank or below, you could get one anytime as long as you had the money.
He channeled magical power into the wand and pointed it at a monster. Poof! A hole was punched through the monster’s leg. He had used it at a moderately weak level, so the hole was only the size of a 500ml water bottle. Kuaaak! The enraged monster charged. He was willing to be hit, but that monster was killed by an attack from Kim Biyul, who was watching.
“What was that skill just now? I didn’t get a message.”
“It’s not a skill, it’s piercing magic. Because I’m a mage.”
It was very common for mages to use magic instead of skills, so Kim Biyul nodded without suspicion.
*
[You have successfully cleared the dungeon.
Congratulations.
Time Limit: 110 hours 39 seconds
Time Taken: 40 minutes 40 seconds
Dungeon Grade: Grade 2
Number of Entrants: 8 ←View Details
The gate is opening.]
“My goodness. To clear a dungeon in 40 minutes…. I’ve never even imagined such a thing.”
“Ipsilon is truly on another level. At this point, you can’t even say we’re the same species.”
The mercenaries murmured with faces full of admiration. Cho Wookwon, who heard their murmurs with his incredible hearing, pouted his lips.
“You’re calling this post-human? I was totally taking it easy. If I’d known you guys would be surprised by this, I would have fought a bit more seriously.”
“You mean you were holding back?”
“Yeah. If I put my mind to it, it’s a 20-minute clear.”
“Truly amazing…. If it were just us, it would have taken at least three hours, no matter how fast we were.”
“You guys should know you get to go home early thanks to me.”
Cho Wookwon puffed out his chest and bragged. Seo Hwa laughed inwardly. He’s twenty-two now, but he’s still the same as before.
“Enough with the chatter. We’ll gather the byproducts first so we can leave early. Let’s meet in an hour.”
“Yeees, Leader-nim.”
The F-rank guild members who had come for their homework exited, and the rest of the party members scattered to secure the byproducts.
Expedition dungeons have a separate team for collecting byproducts, but in herb dungeons like this, the party members usually collect them one by one.
Seo Hwa also checked the byproduct data he was assigned. When he saw the picture of a mushroom on the tablet, an idea came to him.
‘Wait a minute… I could just eat a poisonous mushroom, right? Accidents where people confuse poisonous mushrooms with edible ones happen often….’
It was an accident that a C-rank hunter could plausibly have. It was the moment Seo Hwa, not yet ready to give up hope, took a step and lifted his head.
“……”
His eyes met directly with Cho Wookwon’s.
A strange light shone in the dark blue eyes.
Cho Wookwon, with a look of interest, approached with quick steps and leaned his face in close.
“But this mercenary hyung-nim… your facial features are so plain, aren’t they?”
His heart pounded. He wanted to summon ❮The Magician’s Door❯ right away and run. But contrary to his feelings, Seo Hwa let out a playful sigh.
“Yes. That’s right. That’s why I have a complex about my looks.”
“Black hair and black eyes. It’s not easy for a C-rank awakened being to have such a plain and simple face.”
“You’re really too much! There are plain and simple awakened beings like this in the world, you know.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen such a plain C-rank. Even F-ranks have either a unique hair color or eye color.”
“Plain, plain. How many times are you going to say that? Well, how would Hunter Cho Wookwon, with a cute appearance that would have gotten him kidnapped immediately if Aphrodite had laid eyes on him, with his sky-blue curly hair like cumulus clouds, the very incarnation of a baby angel, with a lovely face like Cupid and the body of a war god like Ares, know the sorrow and grief of an ugly person? You probably don’t even know what a complex about one’s appearance feels like. You’ve probably never worried about getting plastic surgery every time you look in the mirror!”
“Ah….”
“Are you going to pay for my surgery? If not, then stop provoking my complex. It’s not like I’m plain because I want to be.”
“Sorry. I don’t really know how ugly people live. Keep your chin up.”
Cho Wookwon gave him a ‘fighting’ pose and then trotted away.
What a relief. Seo Hwa quickly moved away before Cho Wookwon could throw his attention back at him. The canyon had many geographical features like trees, bushes, and rocks to hide behind. He slipped behind a rock and concealed his presence. So faintly that even the S-rank Cho Wookwon could not detect him, as if he had never existed in the first place.
“Cho Wookwon. First time seeing a plain face? Why are you picking a fight?”
“When did I pick a fight? I just asked if he was using a transformation item.”
“The very act of an S-rank hunter pointing something out can sound like picking a fight to a C-rank mercenary. Be careful in the future.”
“Hmph. Kim Biyul always scolds only me.”
Cho Wookwon pouted his lips and draped his arm over the shoulder of Kim Biyul, who was slightly shorter than him.
“Perfect for an armrest. You can’t get any taller than this. Don’t go up from B-rank. Got it?”
“Now you’re picking a fight with me.”
“You call everything I say picking a fight.”
Their bickering conversation was very natural. At first, they had awkwardly used formal language despite being the same age, but it seemed they had gotten much closer over the past three years.
“Stop it and just tell me your purpose for being here. Why did you suddenly join in?”
“Umm.”
“There must be a reason why you came to a Grade 2 dungeon like this.”
Cho Wookwon straightened his posture and spread out his senses with a serious expression. It was to check if anyone was around. His senses scattered without discovering Seo Hwa’s presence.
“A precognition trait user said there’s a hidden mission in this dungeon, and the reward for that mission is Yutenka. I have to get it.”
“Yutenka? An herb?”
“Yup.”
“……Is it for the Vice Guild Master-nim.”
For a moment, it felt as if his heart had dropped and tumbled down a cliff.
“That’s right. It’s been almost two months since the Vice Guild Master hyung-nim fell into a coma. He won’t wake up no matter what we do, not with medicine, not with potions, not with mental-type skills. At this point, we thought he might be under an abnormal status, so we’ve been making and feeding him every abnormal status nullification potion we could get our hands on. But anything below A-rank didn’t work at all… an S-rank alchemist said that Yutenka is absolutely necessary to craft a potion that nullifies all abnormal statuses.”
“An S-rank alchemist, you mean Hunter Anise?”
“Yeah. Noona is still waiting anxiously at the hospital even now. I have to get it quickly. ‘D-Day’ is not far off either.”
D-Day. This was the second time he had heard it.
“Honestly, as a healer, I can feel it instinctively. I don’t think the Yutenka potion will work either. The Vice Guild Master hyung-nim is lying down because of a psychological issue. Hunter Seo Hwa’s voice would be more effective than hundreds of S-rank abnormal status nullification potions. He would probably get up right away if you just whispered his three-syllable name in his ear.”
“That is the Vice Guild Master-nim’s goal, after all.”
“Yeah.”
“To draw out Hunter Seo Hwa by overdosing on potions and falling into a coma was, in many ways, a reckless move.”
……Gam Yigeon, that idiot, moron, bastard, bad guy, crazy person!
Although Seo Hwa had suspected that Gam Yigeon was feigning illness to draw him out, hearing it confirmed like this made his anger surge even more.
And it wasn’t even a feigned illness, but a real one.
An overdose of potions!
Is he really insane?
He had committed a foolish act that could leave him with lifelong side effects. He could not understand.
‘If it’s proven that even one person genuinely likes me, I might just break my seclusion and show up.’
No matter how much I might have said that.
If I don’t come out after this much, you should have given up.
To risk your life just to find one person…….
What on earth is love. Yigeon, this is not love, it is almost an obsession….
‘Ah.’
A frightening hypothesis occurred to Seo Hwa.
‘……Could there be another reason?’