< Pretended to Forget (2) >
‘The skills were triple A, right?’
It was a waste to leave him alone, but I hadn’t thought about using the optimized Awakening skill that I could only use once each month. And I didn’t want to apply the keyword either. But now that it was possible to optimally Awaken people three times per month…
‘It’s not like A-Rank special skills are common either.’
Should I foster a sense of closeness for now?
-Hello. Yes, it is a new kid I have acquired^^
As soon as I sent the message, a reply came back.
-Ahh you repliedㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Thank you! Iii was really impressed by the broadcast! Peace is so cute and Chirpie is reallycompletely love!!!
-Ah, yes. Thank you.
-Ireally my dream is to awaken and enter haeyeon guild! I want to go and be peace’s feet washing cloth!!!
I was going to leave Haeyeon soon though. Before that, why feet washing cloth?
‘How should I reply?’
I couldn’t be like ‘be his feet washing cloth you say, yes, please do so’.
-It is not easy to Awaken^^
Not yet, that is. When the Awakening Centers form soon, even dogs or cows[1] could Awaken and put themselves forward saying they would become Hunters, and because of that, there was a commotion again. Anyways, it was a mess.
-That is trueㅠㅠㅠㅠ I tried all sorts of things but they would not work ㅠㅠ So I asked an Awakening broker!!
What?
-ah i cant talk about itㅠㅠ It is a secret:)
Cutting off your nose to spite your face[2], this idiot.
‘So he got into an accident in a dungeon.’
No wonder I didn’t have any memory of seeing his face. Getting an injury serious enough that he couldn’t be active, or possibly dying. It probably was one of those two.
Ah this, what do I do with this guy.
-Awakening brokers, those are scams.
-Scams?
-Yes. So please do not meet with a broker.
The chat that was like in real time momentarily didn’t give a reply.
-I already came here though…
Damn. Which brokers were they? Most of them were guys who would nicely let you go if you said you wouldn’t take back the money, but a minority were evil people who pulled people over to kill them from the start. If they bought exclusive entrance passes and then after entering the dungeon, swipe, neither the corpse or evidence would remain.
Of course, if they did that several times, they probably would get caught, but it wasn’t treated as murder to drag ordinary people to dungeons yet. It was just an unfortunate accident.
Even if they were caught, at the most, it would be done with their Hunter licenses being suspended. Brokers were usually low rank Hunters, so it wasn’t considered a huge blow.
-Where are you? Who are the brokers?
-At a D-Rank dungeon near the Yeouido Wonhyo Bridge. I don’t know their names, but there are C-Rank Hunters and D-Rank Hunters. The leader is apparently a C-Rank Hunter
Shoot. If it was a team including C-Ranks, they would shut his mouth as thoroughly as how very much they had to lose if they were caught doing broker work. He wouldn’t come back out at all.
-Should I just say I won’t do it?
-No, please wait. When will you go inside?
-Not all the people have come yet. Just a while ago there was contact that the team leader would be about 30 minutes late.
30 minutes. If it was Wonhyo Bridge, it was close to here. Should I contact Haeyeon Guild and send people? Or.
‘Should I just go and get him out?’
Without making a big deal out of it, I could just use Thorn Trap slightly, hide by sharing the Hidden Puzzle skill, and just come out.
-Are you inside a building?
-I am inside a van outside.
As expected, the leader must have gotten a successful bid. You needed a password as well as a Hunter license chip, so they couldn’t go inside yet.
-i was managing my fans but they said to turn off my phone nowㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Please listen to them well, and stay there quietly.
It wasn’t difficult and while I was at it, let’s add some debt. He would probably come over easily if I confessed something like ‘for safety, I can’t go out secretly but I was so worried, I came here directly’ and such. He wanted to be a Hunter that bad, so I should bring him over and use him as the face[3] of my group.
It was a time when people entering was at its height so going out was quick. When I got near the Wonhyo Bridge D-Rank dungeon building, even with a glance, I could see a suspicious looking van parked by the roadside. The car was black and the windows were black.
‘Did that leader guy not come yet?’
The dungeon building was inside an alley. I could use Thorn Trap while passing between that alley and pull Bak Hayool out.
‘No, rather than that, should I save him right before he goes into the dungeon?’
While I was at it, it would be better to make a little more dramatic situation. Right after he went in would be okay too. A dungeon gate was open for one hour, and inside the dungeon, I could use the attack skills as much as I wanted. The earrings’ shielding skill could be applied to others too. So Bak Hayool wouldn’t get hurt.
The most effective time would be right after those guys showed their evil intentions. Since Bak Hayool should also be unsure whether my words were right or wrong.
Let’s decide after seeing the situation.
‘I also have to try out the Hidden skill to see how far it goes.’
Should I use it with Yoohyun as the opponent? I should tell him about the Can’t Be Found title. How should I say I earned it? Because that little brother tried so much to hide me? There would be no other stat F-Ranks that got this much protection from S, A-Ranks, other than saints.
-Screech
Just then, one car quickly came in and stopped at the roadside. So they finally came.
I pushed off from where I was leaning my back against the wall and stood up. The car door opened and a large man stepped out.
Seeing that face, I unconsciously laughed without a sound.
‘…Wow, this is really.’
Things just happened so that I would even meet a guy I had killed. It was really thrilling. If it were up to me, I would’ve gone up to greet him or something. While smiling brightly.
Hi, we met 4 years ago, possibly 1 year later. You about halfway killed me, and I stabbed your neck. It’s quite a fun recollection. Don’t you think so?
All the faces coming out of the van were familiar. The guy I killed second, the guy I killed third, fourth, fifth, sixth. They would have killed Bak Hayool-ssi before then.
‘Rather than I couldn’t think of it, it was that I didn’t think of it.’
Of course they were alive. The dead people. The killed people.
An F-Rank Hunter’s initial probability of survival was low. So for the first year where you didn’t have experience and proper equipment, half ran away and half of the remaining half died or were wounded irreversibly.
Simply speaking, of the people who resolutely stepped into dungeons, half were carried out. On top of that, I had become an Hunter when the Awakening Centers had just formed so it was a situation of utter chaos where the number of newbies had piled up and there were even a lot of problems socially.
‘It was enough to make that Yoohyun shiver.’
If it was then, it would have been hard for that guy to look after me. The public opinion wasn’t good in various ways, and there were too many scrutinizing eyes for him to secretly look after me.
If I thought about it now, I wondered if there wasn’t something like a kind of operation that went on targeted on me. The response was too excessive to simply be the work of a couple of trash journalists. It was a matter that could be packaged up excitingly, and I was an F-Rank so I was easy to use, and at that time, in the point of view of the public opinion, you could also drag Haeyeon Guild down.
Whether it was the government or the Association or rival guilds, not using me was being stupid.
Anyways it was that kind of chaotic situation, but I didn’t die. Even without a proper team, I got through the 1st year and passed 2 years somehow stably settled into my position.
Last Repayment. The skill where I received all the skills and abilities of the target with twice the effect for one hour upon the death of a keyword-applied target.
The keyword of the ‘Caregiver’ title was quite easy to apply. It was done with amiably buying and passing around something like coffee, having some idle chats, and smiling while saying ‘do your best’[4] several times. By being diligent, around the time I had to go into a dungeon, it was possible for around two people to have the keyword applied.
“Let’s quickly go in. While our client covers his face well.”
Bak Hayool followed the instructions and pulled his hood far down over his head. He was also wearing sunglasses.
…I swear I didn’t apply the keyword aiming for the Last Repayment skill. Besides when I was killing those guys. It was a tiny 10% growth buff, but I had applied it since it was better than nothing. Since, among them, there were people I wanted to continue working with.
And most of them died. I survived.
A spearman with buff skills. It was a position of dying late. Around the time I was in danger, Last Repayment was applied, and thanks to that, I survived.
So, that was why, well… It was like that, but now they were things that didn’t exist……
Me killing those guys, those guys torturing me, also became things that didn’t exist.
I quietly walked, following those guys. They were C~D-Rank. Even if I stuck close right next to them, they wouldn’t notice me. Not when we went inside the building, and not even when we were standing in front of the dungeon gate.
“Are the preparations ready?”
“Put on the equipment properly.”
Maybe because it was a high grade dungeon even among D-Rank dungeons, the preparation was thorough. The size of a high grade D-Rank dungeon was smaller than a low grade C-Rank, but the income came out as much as 50%, so compared to the amount of labor, the efficiency was good. The amount of time going around was a quarter, and it was safe. It was considered that if you were aiming for jackpot in one blow, it was a C-Rank, but a stable average, it was D-Rank.
“So this is a dungeon!”
As soon as I passed through the gate, Bak Hayool shouted with an excited voice. Geez, this guy.
Puk!
“Ugh!”
One Hunter kicked Bak Hayool’s shin. Then they warned him in a low voice.
“You think just because you’re a celebrity, you can go around advertising to monsters? Don’t pull aggro and shut up.”
“……Yes.”
Bak Hayool really didn’t have a sense of crisis. Though Unawakened People were usually like that. Not having been Awakened was similar to being a peaceful modern person who hadn’t properly suffered through even a dungeon break. Whether it was a dungeon or a monster, it was obvious that it would be hard to feel a sense of reality.
That was why right after the Awakening Centers appeared, quite a lot of newbie Hunters died. One part was probably also because the amount of Awakened People had increased so much that novice training quality had fallen.
“We’re going in in a 3 o’clock direction. Mark it on the entrance.”
The team’s leader said. This dungeon was a rock environment where the valley was divided into various sections. It wasn’t as difficult as a labyrinth, but if you wanted to decrease the amount of fruitless attempts, it was better to mark along as you went.
I stuck close behind the dispirited Bak Hayool and slowly followed them.
-Shiiik!
Pajik!
A monster that seemed like a mix of a snake and a caterpillar burst out of the rock wall.
Tung!
The monsters lunging as if pouring out were bounced off shields, and,
Kwajik!
The spearman behind the shield accurately pierced the monster’s head with the end of their spear. Blood splattered into the air and the long body that was wiggling like a reeled fish soon sagged. Then another one again, a second one. A hunt close to repetitive work continued.
The C-Rank leader at the very front, shields and spears on both sides, the C-Rank defense type Hunter at the very back, and finally the one acting as assistance and porter.
It was a team with a total of seven and a good[5] balance.
‘From now on, they’re probably going to continue to hunt for an hour.’
They probably wouldn’t show their true colors until the gate was deactivated.
C-Rank Hunter team, Gosan[6]. They were an established central team with 2 and half years of work experience when I had met them, and now with 1 and half years. With two C-Ranks, it was enough combat power to even make a guild, but they stayed as a D-Rank dungeon specialty attack team, and in their own way, their name was known.
Their image was okay too. Since nobody knew what those guys did as a side job.
“Magic stones are coming out pretty well today.”
The assistance plus porter moved the item with a magic stone detection function here and there. Every time the snake caterpillars’ bellies were cut open, Bak Hayool’s eyes also moved here and there. Still, even for an Unawakened Person, he was enduring it pretty well.
The Gosan Team aimed at Unawakened People and low rank Hunters they thought would make some money through their side job. They showed off a good image, and chose and reeled in, not just anybody and everybody, but prey with comfortable bank balances or who could be used well.
Even just talking about Bak Hayool, he was a celebrity who only needed to get famous. Glancing over his social media, it hadn’t been long since he debuted, he had already paid for fame with his face, and his movie role was one with high importance. It meant that if you only grasped him well, he was prey who would sufficiently provide money.
Thought it seemed like they had killed him as a mistake or because there was a problem, but originally, they should’ve planned to keep him alive and use him well.
After brainwashing him with that C-Rank leader’s skill.
[Awakened Person – Kim Yongjin
Current stat rank C
Possible Awakening stat rank C
Optimized Initial Skills
Chopping Down❨C❩ Acquired
Puppet’s Strings(D) Acquired
Kicking(D) Acquisition failure]
Puppet’s Strings. D-Rank special skill. Exactly what was he doing before Awakening that a brainwashing skill was an optimized initial skill?
Mind-related skills mostly had low effects compared to the ranks. If it was about D-Rank, it didn’t work well on even F-Ranks. That is, if the F-Rank’s state was normal.
So those guys lured F-Ranks and Unawakened People into dungeons and put them into states where they couldn’t be normal. Once the Puppet skill was applied, they didn’t have to worry about anything and just be relaxed.
It wasn’t that the Gosan Team pointlessly didn’t make a guild and only attacked safe D-Rank and lower dungeons. They could comfortably trick out money, so why would they risk their lives and unnecessarily suffer? They just needed to do attacks enough to maintain their image.
The long continuing valley ended and a wide open space appeared. It wasn’t that it ended, but that it should have been around the middle point. The time was also around passing one hour.
“Alright, let’s rest here and then go.”
The leader, Kim Yongjin, said. As soon as his words fell the defense Hunter and the shields inspected the surroundings. They really were a good team. They meshed well.
“You said you were Bak Hayool, right?”
Kim Yongjin took off his studded gloves as he went toward Bak Hayool, who was hovering awkwardly. Bak Hayool nodded his head.
“…Yes.”
“You really are pretty good looking. How could a person look this way? Once the movie releases, a ton of things like commercials would probably come in.”
“I do not know yet if it will be successful. And I am going to be a Hun-.”
“Anyways a bastard with everything wants more[7]!”
Bam!
Kim Yongjin’s fist slammed into Bak Hayool’s face. By his estimation, it was a lightly thrown fist without much power behind it, but the thin[8] body couldn’t handle it and swayed like a reed.
“If you were born with that kind of face, you should be thankful and work hard selling it!”
“Ah, hyung-nim. You shouldn’t touch the face.”
“Don’t worry. If it’s that much, there won’t be a trace if you apply a potion.”
Amidst the snickering, Bak Hayool was frozen with a stupid expression. Blood was spilling from one side of his nose. Even with a nosebleed and that expression, he was still good looking.
“E-e-excuse me……”
“How long do you think will this bastard hold out?”
“A million won on 30 minutes.”
“I heard celebrities are actually pretty tough; I’m one hour. I’m putting in five million.”
For me, I was an Awakened Person and had a little bit of work experience, so the guy who put in the least called five hours. I was remembering the memories I had forgotten.
“Please wait, that’s……”
Bak Hayool furtively stepped backwards. Those guys were laughing as they watched him. The gate had already closed. Even if it was open, it was close to impossible for an Unawakened Person to reach the gate alone safely. And those guys waiting for the gate to close, would have been in case someone came to save him, not because they were worrying that Bak Hayool would get away. Since he was a famous person in his own way.
“Should we start by breaking one of his legs?”
“There can’t be a hindrance to the actor-nim’s activity. Carefully, do it carefully. To a point we can fix with potions.”
The atmosphere was so gentle; how did they even go so far as to think of him not being able to move?
“S-spare…ugh!”
A D-Rank Hunter kicked Bak Hayool’s stomach. The guy staggering and falling backwards,
Tuk
I grabbed him.
“W-What?!”
The Hunter who kicked Bak Hayool hurriedly stepped back. The other Hunters simultaneously got ready for combat.
“What do you mean what?”
I didn’t come wearing my hat, and I took off my sunglasses and released Wall Lizard as I smiled. Bak Hayool’s eyes became round.
“Oh, oh-!”
“Please wait here nicely. For good measure, while closing your eyes.”
It was going to be a bit of a stimulating scene for Unawakened People to watch.
[1] a commonly used phrase to mean ‘anybody/everybody’, but it’s easy to understand as is, so I left the lit. tl
[2] lit. ‘lying down and spitting’
[3] lit. ‘face madame’ where ‘madame’ is the french word transliterated into krn. He doesn’t say ‘of my group’ but in eng you have to say ‘face of sth’ in order to have that meaning, and a ‘face madame’ is (besides the female owner of an alcohol house, etc.) ‘sb who is typical and characteristic of a group or field enough to represent it’, according to the krn dict. The krn-eng dict gives ‘madame’ (the usage in krn) as ‘figurehead’ but that didn’t seem completely in line w the krn dict so I went w the krn def.
[4] lit. ‘have/give strength’ which is slightly different from ‘do your best’ but they’re both standard cheering phrases in their respective languages
[5] the word is closer to ‘okay’ or ‘fine’ than ‘good’, but usually in eng if you use ‘okay’ as an adj in front of a noun like this, it has the negative connotation of ‘just okay’ or ‘mediocre’ so I changed it to ‘good’. Same for a bit down the ch.
[6] normally means ‘high mountain’, or if as a modifier noun/adj ‘alpine’, but it seems like a name and so it might mean sth else. If it’s relevant, the hanja would be in parenthesis after it (as with Haeyeon), which it isn’t here, so it’s not that important I guess.
[7] it’s more like ‘bastard who has [it] does more’ but that kind of sounds weird in eng, so while the tl isn’t quiet right, I think it gets the gist across
[8] author uses a word that isn’t in the dict, but I’m p sure it’s supposed to mean sth like this, like maybe it’s 마른 듯한 (seem skinny) shortened into 마릇한 (the word used)