144 – D Day
Around the time when all the starting teams were sent to the gate. Footsteps were heard from behind.
When Soo-cheol turns around, a man with slightly tanned skin and torn eyes approaches and greets him.
“My name is Lee Han-seok, the head of the management department of the association’s 2nd branch.”
If it was the association’s 2nd branch, it would be White Gate, Soo-cheol thought. The White Gate agents humble themselves to the association’s superiors as the 2nd branch, not the White Gate. That is a kind of courtesy concept.
‘What. Of course, White Gate also smells it this time, so he must have come to check it out.’
Soo-cheol did not show any antipathy or wonder at his appearance.
Soocheol received his greeting and asked.
“Looking at the roster this time around, there was also a pro gamer, Jang Se-joon, right?”
“You know him.”
When Lee Han-seok instead of Yoon Seong-hye answered him, Su-cheol shrugged his shoulders.
“I know it well. Aren’t you a famous pro gamer?”
“Even he is the leader of this advance party.”
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“… Leader? Did you entrust that friend with the leader?”
“Yes.”
“It’s unexpected.”
I was a bit puzzled.
‘I heard that the most talented among the F-class is the one who passed the Hunter test with a perfect score? What was his name?’
Flutter! He unfolded the list. All the while, Soo-cheol’s eyes stopped as he was making the list.
“Yes, Siwoon Lee. I heard that this guy has the best temperament, so why did you entrust the leader position to Sejun Jang?”
Soo-cheol’s raised eyes turned to Seong-hye.
“As a result of comprehensively examining the hunter’s performance and social experience, he was judged to be the right person.”
“Um….”
Soo-cheol nodded.
As a hunter, the leader of the advance party should not be judged only on whether or not he is strong. He must have a leader temperament. Jang Se-jun is a person who has peaked in one field, so it can be said that he has full social experience.
‘Lee Si-woon is 24 years old. He’s too young to be the leader in a life-and-death mission.’
I finally understood that judgment.
The responsibility of a leader is great. Depending on the qualities of the leader, the team can be wiped out or the crisis can be avoided by a single difference.
‘But….’
When Soo-cheol looked back, the black gate looked particularly ominous. It looked like a demon with an open mouth.
‘It’s obvious that they will all be wiped out anyway.’
In the first place, sending F-ranks to that gate where even magic power measurement is impossible is crazy. It was even crazier that the association approved that madness.
‘It’s probably because they deliberately caused casualties to make a justification.’
That may be the reason. At this point, after making the black hunters die, they spread the article to the world. That young people with bright futures were killed by that evil group,
In that case, citizens who are unfamiliar with the concept of Black Hunter will be interested in the organization, and the government will also move.
The association’s sponsors will also take this fact seriously.
In the end, the association will be able to expand the size of the association by collecting sponsorship funds after spreading the cause of eradicating the Black Hunter.
“… Isn’t it too obvious that no one will come back alive?”
“Assistant Kim….”
Sucheol clenched his teeth and called for Assistant Manager Kim. That’s true, but there’s a manager in charge of selection right now, so should I talk about it without notice?
“No, one of them will definitely return, still alive.”
At Hanseok’s words, everyone looked at him. Han Seok had a confident face.
“Hey? F-rankers without even real combat experience entered that place, huh?”
Assistant Kim pointed to the gate and asked. The gate he pointed to radiated a gloomy energy.
“Jang Se-joon will definitely come back alive. The rest, I don’t know.”
“… What is your basis for thinking so?”
At Soo-cheol’s question, Han-seok continued.
“Because he is on a different level from the average F-rank hunter. From the starting line to the environment and ability….”
“He is not the only Hunter who excels in this advance squad, right?”
When Yun Seong-hye gave Han-seok a strong word, Han-seok only laughed with a bug-biting expression.
* * *
In the unknown gate.
Nine hunters are walking through a long passage in the form of a cave. Silence followed without a single sound. There is a sense of tension about not knowing what might come out of nowhere.
It was then.
Flashing red eyes were captured from the front. Everyone put their weapons forward.
-Kreurreure….
“It’s Cerberus!”
Lin Ga-hye pointed in front of her and shouted, her Western-style mask with large eyes that grew unusually large.
‘As soon as you enter the dungeon, Cerberus….’
‘I heard that Cerberus has great offensive and defensive power.’
‘I’m a magician, so I won’t die if I step back and use ranged support.’
Their faces were pensive.
Beast Cerberus is a two-headed monster that even mid-rank hunters have a hard time with. Such a strong monster from the beginning of entering the dungeon. The tension was bound to rise.
-Kuaaa!
-Kwaah!
Cerberus, shaking his head, rushed in an instant. Eventually, the distance with the hunters is quickly shortened. Jang Se-joon hurriedly shouted at Jang Yoo-seok.
“Tank! Hurry forward!”
Yoo Seok stretched out his hand holding the gauntlet from side to side and dug into Cerberus’ arms. Afterwards, Sejun sent a hand signal to Taeshik, who was a close-dealer, to assist Yoo-seok.
“Lee Si-woon! Hurry up and catch up to Jang Yoo-seok’s left… “
Sejun’s words faded. Because Siwoon was already descending towards the Cerberus while holding a sword.
That was the moment.
Kwaaang!
“… W, smoke?”
“What?”
“Coke!”
The hunters were confused, blinded by the black smoke that obscured their vision at the same time as the sudden sound of an explosion. Then, when the smoke filled the cave cleared, the hunters’ eyes widened.
‘What is it?’
‘… Cerberus are all burning to death, aren’t they?’
‘What skill was that just now?’
In the eyes of the hunters, the black torch melted away the skin of the Cerberus group.
Thump!
Kooung!
The eyes that were focused on the Cerberus, who let out a weak groan, sticking out their tongues and pounding their heads on the ground one after another, moved to the sword of Siwoon.
‘It was a skill that came from that hunter’s sword!’
‘Strong. It’s different from me….’
‘To wipe out those Cerberus with just one skill. Is it true that he’s on the same rank as me?’
A few hunters looked at Siwoon with their mouths open. I heard that that man is a brain monster who passed the Hunter exam with a perfect score. Besides, he already knew that the speed at which he leveled up was a ghost because he was a winner of survival survival.
At that time, Jang Se-joon walked over to Lee Si-woon.
“Lee Si-woon. Don’t act your dick, follow my instructions. Don’t you know I’m the leader of this team?”
“Well, thanks to my move, it ended without wasting the energy of the team members.”
Siwoon struck back at Sejun. Through Sejun’s eyes, furrowed between his brows, the smell of cooking meat came in and the figures of Cerberus swarms stretched out.
Sejun looked straight at Lee Siwoon. What did I do wrong? I was annoyed by Ran’s cheeky eyes, but I couldn’t say anything because I roasted those Cerberus in one blow without wasting any energy.
Sejun Jang is the leader. The attention of the team members is now focused on me. We have to break that guy’s nose and show him the dignity of a leader.
Sejun said.
“Is it right to use wide-area skills recklessly in this narrow cave?”
“You’re in a party, right? Even if you overuse your skills, you won’t burn the skin of your teammates, right?”
Siwoon was right. For the party members with whom the party is signed, the judgment of skill damage is recognized as an ally and is safe. I’m getting the right words.
However, Sejun must now suppress Lee Siwoon’s inner strength. When a leader becomes funny, he will be constrained in his leadership of his team members. So he shot at Shi-Woon right away.
“Then you did the right thing when the terrain became this mess?”
Sejun pointed at each of the cave ceilings and walls that had been scorched and broken with his fingers. What would you have done if even the ceiling of the cave had collapsed due to your flamboyant skills? … Knowing what that meant, Siwoon roughly nodded.
“Yes, yes.”
“You answer sarcastically. You know that you will lose money if you do something that dislikes me right now, right?”
Sejun’s shoulders are unusually raised as he speaks.
If a team member does not follow the directions of the engineering chief, they will be interrogated by the Association’s Audit Department after clearing the dungeon, and may be punished with suspension of their hunter qualifications for a certain period of time.
At that time, Taesik tapped Sejun on the shoulder and said,
“Ah, what are we going to do by fighting among ourselves? From what I see, Siwoon seems to have done well.”
“… Aren’t your shoulders down?”
When Sejun shot at Taeshik, Taeshik withdrew his hand embarrassedly.
“Mr. Taeshik.”
“Tae, Mr. Taeshik?”
Taesik’s chin burned red. Sejun said he was the leader now, but hearing such a title from a son the age of his son made him angry. Even if you are the original engineering leader, it is the rule of this floor to respect the older team members.
“I am your boss concept now. So don’t put your hand on my shoulder and try to hit me.”
“… ….”
He patted his chin under Tae-shik’s closed mouth. Anyway, the air chief is the air chief. If you do it for nothing and later get punished by the association, you won’t be able to afford your children’s college tuition as a head of household.
“Engineer Captain. Doesn’t this seem like something the engineering chief would say?”
Lim Ga-hye said carefully. Then, Heeryeong joined in.
“Hey, don’t be sensitive, move quickly, right? If you run late and get a dungeon break, then the engineering chief will take responsibility, right?”
She is Hye-ryeong, who would have usually put her short hair on Jang Se-joon, but since she was the one who discerned her sense of self, she gave her a respectful attitude. Sejun’s face twisted.
‘Everyone is on his side.’
In order to safely play power and feed Lee Si-undo, I fed some money to the association’s connections and took the position of engineering chief.
Stitched. A rather disturbing picture is being drawn.
‘Lee Si-woon. Because of the attitude you showed me, you will shed all your tears and mucus. Wait and see.’
Sejun glared at Siwoon and made a promise to himself. And Sejun moved without firing further. Even if you are the engineering leader, if you ignore all the opinions of your teammates, you cannot avoid immunity in the future.
At the time I walked like that for 10 minutes.
The hunters’ eyes widened.
“… That one?”
“A crow?”
The heads of the hunters turned in the direction in which the crow that rose from Siwoon’s arms flew away. It was natural for everyone to be surprised since that was a skill they had never seen before. Because they have never seen the skill of the blind.
‘Isn’t that guy just using unfamiliar skills?’
‘… It’s kind of trustworthy.’
‘If I’m with that friend, I’m sure I’ll be able to get back alive.’
Some hunters already did not consider Siwoon as a hunter of the same level as themselves.
The crow that flew away soon returned to Siwoon and disappeared.
“There are three gates five hundred meters ahead.”
Taesik asked at Siwoon’s words.
“Oh! Just now, that crow was for scouting. But three gates?”
For a moment, the atmosphere became heavy. The fact that there is a gate in the dungeon means a subspace gate. It’s a gate that leads to another dimension, and it’s impossible to predict what will pop out of that gate. However, the gate cannot be ignored. The dungeon is cleared only when all the gates in the dungeon are cleared.
* * *
“I see the gate over there!”
“… It’s real.”
There are three gates in front of the hunters. A gate that emits a red aura and a gate that emits a blue aura. And in the center, the gate with those two colors was emitting an ominous energy.
“You must solve both the red and blue gates to open that gate.”
Siwoon said to Sejun. Sejun has lingering feelings for Shiwoon, but he needs to focus on him for now. Hearing it, he agreed with Siwoon’s words. The gate with red and blue colors seemed to have a barrier.
Chuck, Chuck. Chuck. Chuck.
“You take the red gate.”
Sejun Jang pointed to the four with his hand and said. You never know when a dungeon break will take place. It was decided that it would be quicker to deal with it by dividing it into two teams.
“You never know when the black hunters will attack. It would be advantageous to move with all our strength, right?”
Siwoon asked. The hunters nodded as if they were sympathetic to that question, but only Sejun shook his head.
“… If the dungeon breaks after a while, all the monsters will pour out and everyone will die. It’s a quick fix. If you violate my instructions now, there will be no way to avoid the association’s immunity. Would you like more?”