Chapter 22
Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 21
The next day.
As soon as I reached the Baekoonsa dungeon entrance, I saw gla.s.ses girl. I had made a round of calls to all the people from Eum Hyunjoon’s party and gla.s.ses girl had said she would come. The other person who agreed too come was manager Kim Soongeun.
It made sense that gla.s.ses girl came since she’s a total beginner, but manager Kim’s reputation must be as terrible as I suspected for him to join us even though he was a mage.
"You’re early."
"Thank you for calling me."
Bow.
She bent 90 degrees at the waist and bowed. When my gaze naturally went to her breast area, Jung Sooah jabbed me in my side. Hard.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who was in my party the last time I went and cleared a dungeon. Say hi."
"I’m Bae Yeonkyoung. I’m a level 1 archer."
"I’m Jung Sooah."
So awkward. I asked Sooah.
"Come on. Make some conversation. We’re teammates now so be friendly."
"Is that a request?"
"Well. I guess."
"Ok then."
"Hm? You’ll do it?"
"Sure since it’s SunbehOppa’s request. You said your name was Bae Yeonkyoung?"
She smiled brightly as she asked gla.s.ses girl. After 10 minutes, the two were acting as if they were friends for 10 years and laughing together. Amazing. If there was a skill for interpersonal skills, she would have an automatic level 10.
As the appointed time approached, people started to arrive one after the other. Two new people from online who came were comprised of one archer and one warrior.
"I am warrior Cho Youngoo."
"I’m archer Han Joonseok."
Cho Youngoo, with his good physique, and the almost dwarflike Han Joonseok were 20 something friends. They had set up a chicken shop together but, wanting to fulfill a lifelong dream to become a hunter, they had sold the shop and used the money to buy hunter grade equipment. Unfortunately, this coincided with the appearance of the irregulars and they didn’t have a chance to really begin their dream…until now.
Cho Youngoo asked.
"Are all five of us here?"
"We’re still waiting for one more. Let’s wait for a minute."
10 minutes after the promised time, they could finally see manager Kim walking leisurely towards them.
"Ah ah. There was so much traffic on the way here. Did you wait long?"
"You’re not too late. Since everyone is here, we should get going."
"Ah..? Ah. Ok."
When I brushed it off as no big deal, manager Kim seemed to be taken aback. To be honest, I had told him the appointed time was 30 minutes earlier than it really was. Since he still managed to be late, I made a note to myself to tell him the appointed time is an hour earlier.
Clang!
Upon entering, the firsts monsters we met were 3 cave wolves. When manager Kim did his sleep spell, one fell asleep. Han Joonseok and gla.s.ses girl both let their arrow fly and, as I expected, they both missed their marks.
"Cho Youngoo! Stick to me!"
"Muh…mee?"
"I explained it to you earlier!"
"Ok!"
The plan was for the archers to attack first while Cho Youngoo would do a physical attack after since he had good protective gear. But even though the wolves were running at him, he remained rooted where he stood without taking a step.
He only started running after I yelled at him.
"Ahhhh!"
He
But no matter. That was enough. The only thing I needed was a brief moment.
Cho Youngoo had so many openings, it was almost embarra.s.sing. There was no way the wolf wouldn’t see what I could see. And I was not one to lose an opportunity to capitalize on a predictable route of attack.
One wolf saw the opening and rushed at Cho Youngoo’s side. And I matched its timing perfecting to stab it right in the neck with my sword.
Squelch!
My blade slid in and out quite easily before the blood began to gush out. I almost laughed when I saw the familiar green number appear. To think that I killed it in one blow even though the sword wasn’t in buff mode. Aren’t I too strong now?
"Huh?"
When the blood spilled out of the wolf, Cho Youngoo quickly stepped away in surprise. The problem was, he had stepped into the path of the other wolf.
I threw the b.l.o.o.d.ysword I was holding and, right before it could take a chunk out of Cho Youngoo’s neck, the sword slid right through the wolf’s eye – blade first.
Cho Youngoo collapsed right where he stood and stared blankly at the dying wolf. I walked up to the wolf and pulled out my sword.
Cho Youngoo flinched again at the noise.
For a big guy, he had a lot more fear in him than I expected. I expect Kim Youngchul might even be braver than this guy. No, he probably was. A lot braver.
"I’ll take care of the last one too."
"SunbehOppa! Nice! You were so amazing!"
I could hear Sooah yelling behind me.
"You don’t have to do that kind of thing here."
[TN: He’s referring to when he first met and Sooah’s job as a porter was to compliment Hansol.]
"But it was my honest opinion this time."
"I get it. I get it. You’re super into your job right now. Be quiet or you’ll wake the wolf."
And I stabbed into the last wolf’s neck. This time, now that the b.l.o.o.d.ysword had soaked up blood and was in full buff mode, it slid into the tough wolf’s hide like b.u.t.ter.
[+100]
I got 300 reward points in just one round. The fact that everyone on my party kind of sucked turned out to be a lot of help. With no one else to really attack, I’m pretty much ending up with all the reward points possible.
Jung Sooah walked over to me and started wiping the blood off my face. When I tried to take away the handkerchief, she shook her head.
"This is my job."
"I have hands too."
"Ah. Come on. If I do this extra service for you, just accept it gladly."
"Just do what you’re paid to do."
I have my pride. I had no intention of accepting something like this when I was only paying her 50 dollars.
"Miss porter lady, me too."
Manager Kim said to her while pointing to his shoulders.
"Why?"
"Using my skill has got me a bit tired. Ma.s.sage my shoulders a bit, why don’t you?"
What the h.e.l.l is this old man saying.
"Manager Kim…that’s a bit…"
"SunbehOppa."
When I tried to say something, Sooah shut me up. When I looked at her, she shook her head and smiled brightly as if to say it was fine.
"Manager Kim~ So your shoulders hurt a lot~ Then I’ll give you a special ma.s.sage~"
Sooah walked to manager Kim with the biggest smile on her face.
"I’ll do it very softly~"
Crunch.
"Euk..?"
"Oh no. Does that hurt? But I did it softly. It seems manager Kim is more sensitive than I expected."
"Wha, what! It doesn’t hurt at all! It feels refres.h.i.+ng! HAHAHAH!"
Crunch. Cruunch.
"Ahhhhh…"
"Isn’t it so very refres.h.i.+ng?"
"Yeh…yesssss."
"Then should I apply just a little bit more pressure?"
"This is quite enough…"
CRUNCH!
When Sooah dug right into the his spine, manager Kim’s body shook as if he’d been struck by lightning.
Looks like he wasn’t screaming because he couldn’t…not because he was holding it in.
"Oh looks like you’re knotted up here too."
"Kaaah!"
Cruunch, crunch. Crunch,
CRUNCH! CRUUUNCH!
Snap!
"Ha? Did something break?"
When Sooah let go, manager Kim pa.s.sed out..foaming at the mouth.