Chapter 2 the hidden dungeon

Inside the gate

"Why do you persist on being a Hunter, Mister Seong Jin-Woo?"

"I'm sorry."

Jin-Woo lowered his head and apologized. He already went through this, he doesn't want this to happen again.

The young, beautiful girl using healing magic in front of Jin-Woo, Yi Ju-Hui showed how unhappy she was with a pouting expression.

"I'm not trying to get you to apologize, you know? I'm only worried about you. If you continue fighting this way, sooner or later you'll be faced with a truly dangerous situation."

Jin-Woo glanced past Yi Ju-Hui's shoulders and took a look at other Hunters fighting over yonder.

He thought he could do it, but the reality was disappointing. He couldn't kill a single beast, hell! He couldn't kill a lower goblin.

Michael just stayed silent.

When one entered through the Gate, one would arrive at a place called 'dungeon'. The rank of this particular dungeon should be around D.

A dozen-plus Hunters were taking care of the monsters inside this dungeon without so much as breaking a sweat.

Unfortunately, for a rank E, such a feat was nearly impossible.

Normally, the job of healing the injured Hunters from the back fell on the Healers. Since he always got injured during raids, Jin-Woo was rather well-known among the Healers.

Yi Ju-Hui cautiously asked him.

How do you find me I wonder now "Perchance, is there a reason why you can't give up being a Hunter?"

Jin-Woo resolutely shook his head.

He didn't want to reveal anything personal to other people.

"I'm only doing this as a hobby. If I don't do this, I'll probably die of boredom."

Yi Ju-Hui pouted even more.

"If you continue with this hobby of yours, soon you'll be raiding a dungeon in the netherworld, you know?"

Jin-Woo was taken off-guard by her remark and ended up chuckling loudly.

Thanks to that, Yi Ju-Hui's nagging intensified.

"Ah, ahh!! Don't laugh! Don't! Your injuries might get worse!!"

Jin-Woo giggled before asking her.

"Where did you even learn to say stuff like that?"

"What do you mean, where? It's from Mister Kim way over there."

"Aigoo, that ahjussi went and did it, didn't he…."

" wait a second, where is Michael ?"

As they chatted and laughed, his treatment was almost over.

It was already too late by then, though. It seemed that the raid was pretty much over now.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened.

'I only killed a single monster today.'

Michael "I'm here for you now."

Yi Ju-Hui " Where have you been!"

Michael " Scouting "

Yi Ju-Hui " By yourself?"

Michael nods his head three times.

Yi Ju-Hui was also confused about why would he do that.

It's common sense to stick together, why would he risk his life to go alone?

Jin-Woo looks at his hand with a single core.

A rank E creature, no less. Seong Jin-Woo began fidgeting with the rank E magic crystal in his hand.

The lowest-grade magic crystal from a rank E monster fetched less than a hundred thousand won. For something he bet his life to earn, it was a pathetically small amount. (TL: Just over $88.)

'A magic crystal from a rank C monster can sell for over ten million won, though….' (TL: $8830+)

Too bad, a rank E Hunter such as himself couldn't even attempt to kill a monster with a rank as high as C.

Out of the blue, someone shouted out.

"Uh? Hey, there's another entrance over here."

The nearby Hunters rushed over there.

Jin-Woo stares and the entrance with excitement and fear.

Michael " Jin-Wo, are you ready for this."

Jin-Woo didn't wanna answer that.

He still remembers the time when he was in that dungeon. When everyone got killed, and left me to die, he could still feel the pain in his chest when he got stabbed.

"Okay everyone gathers around, we are going to have a discussion."

"A dual dungeon, is it… So, such a thing exists for real…."

Mister Song, possessing over ten years of experience as a Hunter, looked into the hidden entrance and displayed how surprised he was.

The interior of the hidden, cave-like passage was dark and nothing could be seen. Mister Song activated his specialty, flame magic, and tossed it further forward into the passage.

The flame flew forward and illuminated the interior. The passageway seemed to go on forever. Soon enough, the flame lost its forward momentum, fell to the ground, and smoldered for a bit before flickering out of existence.

The passage was shrouded in darkness once more.

"Hmm….. Everyone gathers around. Let's have a meeting."

The unspoken leader of this raid, Mister Song, called for other Hunters to gather around. Jin-Woo's treatment was over by then, so he and Yi Ju-Hui also joined in.

Song spoke up while sweeping his gaze over the gathered Hunters.

"Please come again."

"As you know very well, a Gate will not close unless the dungeon's boss is killed. Since the Gate itself is still intact even though we took care of all the monsters here, that can only mean that the boss is beyond that passageway."

Song pointed towards the hidden entrance.

Hunters exchanged meaningful glances and nodded their heads. No one could disagree with that notion.

Song continued.

"Now normally, we're supposed to relay this information back to the Association and wait for their decision first, but… But, if we do that, we might end up handing over the task of killing the boss to other Hunters, and our takings for today's raid would decrease by a lot."

The expressions of the Hunters crumpled.

Park's face hardened more than anyone else since he needed a lot of cash for his wife's pregnancy.

'Postnatal care eats up so much cash nowadays, you know…'

At this rate, there'd be no meaning behind him risking his life to participate in this raid.

"That's why I'd prefer if we took care of the boss before leaving this dungeon… So, what do you all think?"

Hunters fell into a deep contemplation.

" Let's go on with it"

" I vote to go in"

" I'm out"

" Let's go"

" Everyone settled down "

Song coughed to draw everyone's attention to himself.

"Since we have 20 people here, let's put this to a vote, shall we? Once the decision has been made, no one complains. So? How about it?"

"Hey, you heard me right."

Others nodded their heads after hearing Song's suggestion. No one was disagreeing with him.

"I vote for going ahead."

Song raised his hand.

And then, other Hunters began raising their hands one by one.

"Me too."

Michael "Count me in as well."

Park was the first to raise his hand, followed shortly after by Kim and a few other Hunters.

Of course, those disagreeing were plentiful, too.

"Let's go back."

"I feel that it'd be better to wait for the Association's decision."

The two opposing camps were neck and neck and eventually, the final votes came down to Jin-Woo and Yi Ju-Hui.

"I'm sorry…."

Yi Ju-Hui bowed to Song and added her vote to the 'retreat' camp.

Jin-Woo already knows his answer.

****************

Further in the hidden dungeon.

The passageway went on and on forever.

Michael was still looking around. While everyone is complaining about walking further in the passageway.

In front, Mister Song and other strong Hunters had taken the lead. Song had summoned a small flame on top of his palm to illuminate the way forward.

Mister Kim asked him as he walked alongside Song.

"We've walked far, haven't we? Shouldn't we consider the time we need to escape from here as well?"

"How long have we been walking?"

Kim looked at his wristwatch.

"Around…. 1 hour and 30 minutes."

"A Gate shuts down completely 3 hours after the boss is killed."

"If we can't see the boss in the next twenty minutes, I suggest that we should just give up."

"I guess so."

Song nodded his head for a while, before pointing to his back with his thumb.

"Mister Kim? It's dark out in front, so why don't you position yourself behind me?"

Kim stared at Song's flames for a second or two, before he wordlessly pulled out his smartphone and switched on the screen.

And then, the passageway got illuminated rather brightly.

Suddenly, it became quite hectic out in front.

"We found it!!"

"It's the boss chamber!"

Jin-Woo and Michael's gazes automatically shifted to the front.

And they saw a huge stone door blocking the passage.

Hunters immediately surrounded this door.

"What is this? Why is there a door at the end of the cavern?"

"Have we ever encountered a boss chamber with a door before?"

"This is the first time, I'm sure of it."

"This… Doesn't this feel strangely dangerous?"

Jin-Woo "!!!!"

Jin-Woo stops and looks at the gate closely. He hundred percent sure that this door is not the same one as back then. This one has a deadly scent of blood behind this door, I can feel something was off about this one.

Michael could tell that Jin-Woo was worried and a little bit scared. He knows that he went through this before but, something about this door was odd.

Michael " Hey, let's be careful from now on."

Michael went ahead and opened the door. Everyone followed behind him since he went in first.

" This place is huge."

" That's weird everything in this place is empty."

" Yeah, this was a waste of time."

"Fuck, man!"

Everyone was disappointed when they came inside. They thought they could finally find a boss filled with treasure and items.

Jin-Woo was showing a serious face.

Jin-Woo " What's going on here, why is it not here? Where are the statues and the lord."

Jin-Woo knows what will happen, but it's not here.

Michael " Something is not right here."

Michael knows that this place should have a knight guarding the lord. When he looked around again, he spotted an angel statue.

Michael " Jin, look over there."

Jin-Woo looked where Michael pointed at. His eyes widened, and he started to walk and see what would happen.

When the two of them got there. They read what is on the stone slate.

" Welcome back home Jin, and I'm sorry for what happened to you, Mike. I was just bored, I thought bringing random people from your world in solo leveling would be a good idea but, sadly I didn't feel like writing another lame half-ass story. So I did what had to be done, I stopped writing and dropped the idea of new stories about solo leveling."

Jin-Woo was confused about the message. However Michael was furious about reading it, and Jin-Woo grabbed his shoulder lightly.

Jin-Woo " Hey man are you okay "

Michael was holding his anger.

Michael " Yes"

Jin-Woo looked at the second one, but he couldn't understand it. Michael, however, could understand it, since it's his other language back in the real world.

" I decided to lock Jin-Woo system, the only way to unlock it is if you say unlock and it will automatically be unlocked. I also gave you a system as well, it will automatically show right after you leave this place, it's my gift as an apology for dragging you into this world."

Michael felt relieved.

Michael " At least you give me something "

" Fuck! I don't see the boss anywhere."

Park " I guess we have to go back then."

Kim " I guess all that walking was for nothing"

Park notices Michael and Jin-Woo next to that angel statue. He went to check it out.

Park " What have we here guys"

Park read the message on the stone. He was confused by the first message and the second one he couldn't understand, but he could tell that this second language he had seen it before.

Jin-Woo " Let's go back it's already, it's getting late."

Michael " Yeah"

Park was still trying to figure out the second message but, he doesn't have time.

Park " Your right, let's move forward "

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