Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 2

Kang Jin-hyuk first closed the attic door and came out to the living room.

Sitting on a chair, he pondered deeply.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out how or why a dungeon had appeared in his attic.

The first thing he had to think about was, ‘How do I deal with this labyrinth?’

The most standard and safest method was to report it to the Association.

However, Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t choose that option.

Surely, according to the manual, that would be the best course of action.

But that was only when considering the Association’s guidelines.

When it came to Kang Jin-hyuk’s personal gain, it was the worst possible method.

“If the Association finds out about this, I’ll be kicked out immediately.”

In this world, monsters existed, but a place called a ‘dungeon’ had never been discovered before.

If the Association learned about the dungeon, they would immediately start an investigation.

Kang Jin-hyuk, a D-rank Hunter, would be blocked from accessing it, and the investigation would be conducted solely by elite Hunters dispatched by the Association.

All Kang Jin-hyuk would receive in return was a meager reward.

“Am I crazy to hand over such a grinding spot for a pittance?”

Even though it was a rented house, it was still Kang Jin-hyuk’s house, and he owned the attic.

So he couldn’t let this be taken away from him.

Kang Jin-hyuk recalled the incident with Titan that happened earlier today.

Those guys who wouldn’t even let go of a single monster were the same kind as the Association.

In the first place, it was the Association’s fault for neglecting the guilds’ tyranny that led to this situation.

Handing the dungeon over to them?

The mere thought of it made his blood boil.

Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to monopolize this dungeon if possible.

But there was something he had to check first.

“Those monsters…… can’t they come over here?”

The goblins were completely oblivious to the attic.

However, just because they didn’t recognize it didn’t mean they couldn’t move.

That’s why Kang Jin-hyuk was going to confirm it himself.

He took out his baseball bat and opened the attic door again.

“It would be a big problem if they could come over…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk’s Hunter rank was a mere D-rank.

He could only handle 2 or 3 goblins at most in a head-on fight.

The moment more monsters emerged from the attic, Kang Jin-hyuk would be as good as dead.

“Please, please.”

Kang Jin-hyuk desperately prayed in his heart as he stepped into the dungeon inside the attic.

As soon as Kang Jin-hyuk’s body fully entered the dungeon, a *ding* notification sound rang in his head.

『You have entered the dungeon.』

『Current location: 1st Floor – Goblin’s Labyrinth』

The message that appeared before his eyes turned Kang Jin-hyuk’s assumptions into certainty.

As expected, this was a dungeon.

“Kieeek?”

While Kang Jin-hyuk was checking the message, a goblin wandering inside the labyrinth spotted him.

Kang Jin-hyuk realized it when he heard the goblin’s cry.

“Kiiiieeek!”

As the goblin charged at him with a crudely made stone axe, Kang Jin-hyuk ran away.

He could have easily dealt with just one goblin, but there was something he had to check right now.

As Kang Jin-hyuk escaped from the dungeon back into the attic, the goblin stopped, looking bewildered.

Then, standing in front of the boundary between the dungeon and the attic, it struck the spot with its stone axe.

The spot where the goblin struck made a *thump thump* sound, as if there was an invisible wall there.

“The monsters can’t see this side, and they can’t come over.”

Kang Jin-hyuk’s face brightened.

Now that safety was confirmed, there was only one thing left for him to do.

Kang Jin-hyuk re-entered the dungeon and swung his bat at the goblin that was lingering near the boundary.

“Kieeek!”

The goblin, hit in the face with the aluminum bat, screamed and collapsed.

Before the goblin could get up, Kang Jin-hyuk swung his bat repeatedly, literally turning it into mush.

“Kiek! Kiiiiiik!”

The goblin, which had been screaming with every hit, eventually fell silent.

As soon as the goblin’s breath ceased, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a surge of power.

『Level Up』

It was only an increase from level 3 to level 4, but Kang Jin-hyuk felt the most thrilled at this moment.

For the first time since becoming a Hunter, he had hunted a monster alone.

Without sharing experience points with others.

All by himself.

He had hunted a monster without worrying about someone else stealing the last hit.

“Ehehehe…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t help the laughter that burst out.

It had been three years.

He had been stuck at level 3 for three years, even though he could level up just by killing a single goblin.

Kang Jin-hyuk keenly realized how absurd the large guilds’ tyranny had been.

“Those damn bastards. They have no conscience.”

This single goblin corpse alone could fetch at least 3 million won.

Since the large guilds were always monopolizing monsters, the profits they earned must be truly enormous.

“In the first place, the price of monster corpses is so high because those guild bastards are monopolizing them like this, damn it.”

Since monster corpses were expensive, naturally, equipment and items were also sold at high prices.

It was a vicious cycle where Hunters below C-rank, who lacked capital, became even poorer.

Kang Jin-hyuk was furious when he thought that everything was the fault of the large guilds.

This morning, he could only express his anger and do nothing, but now it was different.

Kang Jin-hyuk had been given a place of opportunity called a ‘dungeon’.

With such a stroke of luck, there was no need to just stew in resentment.

If he had complaints, he could just hunt monsters and become stronger.

Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to level up to the point where even the Hunter he met this morning couldn’t ignore him.

But he couldn’t do that right now.

The phone in his pocket was already ringing, reminding him that it was time to go to his part-time job.

“Ah…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to quit his part-time job and focus on hunting.

However, quitting his part-time job on the same day without any prior notice would be a huge inconvenience.

Since he couldn’t cause trouble for innocent people, Kang Jin-hyuk decided to go to his part-time job, thinking of it as his last day.

◈◈◈◈◈◈

After finishing his last part-time job, Kang Jin-hyuk visited an exchange officially recognized by the Hunter Association.

Even though it was close to nighttime, the exchange was quite crowded.

Hunters selling their spoils, Hunters looking for items for their next hunt, and so on.

Since there were so many customers, there were also quite a few employees to handle them.

“Welcome. What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to sell a monster corpse…….”

“Please take a number and wait, and we’ll appraise it for you when your turn comes.”

Kang Jin-hyuk followed the receptionist’s instructions and took a number from a machine near the entrance.

Despite the crowd, there weren’t many people ahead of him.

There were only three people ahead of Kang Jin-hyuk.

After waiting for about 10 minutes, his turn came.

“What are you here to sell?”

The appraiser who greeted Kang Jin-hyuk was a middle-aged man who looked experienced.

Instead of answering, Kang Jin-hyuk took out the monster corpse from his inventory and placed it on the table.

“Hmm, a single goblin…….”

It was a very common item in this place where countless Hunters gathered.

The appraiser glanced at the corpse Kang Jin-hyuk had brought out without any excitement.

“You don’t seem to have much hunting experience.”

“Huh? How did you…….”

“It’s obvious when you see that you’ve turned all the bones to dust.”

The goblin’s arm that the appraiser picked up was limp like a mollusk.

“Catching it like this drastically reduces its market value. Next time, it’s better to aim for the vital points.”

His tone was rough, with no courtesy towards the customer, but the content itself was advice that came from experience.

The appraiser finished his work twice as fast as others and assessed the price of the goblin.

“For a corpse like this, I can’t give you more than 3.2 million won.”

It was a low price, only 200,000 won more than the minimum.

But Kang Jin-hyuk accepted the result without a word.

Damaged internal organs, bones rendered useless by compound fractures, and so on.

The points the appraiser had pointed out one by one were all convincing.

“I’ll sell it at that price.”

“Alright, then just tell me where you caught this monster. I’ll confirm it and deposit the money for you.”

“The, the source? Do I have to tell you that?”

“It’s the law, so you have no choice, even if it’s a hassle.”

Kang Jin-hyuk, unable to honestly say that he caught the goblin in the dungeon, fell into thought.

‘Should I say I caught it in Olympic Park?’

If he said he caught a monster that escaped while Titan was off guard, it would be a plausible excuse.

However, he didn’t put that thought into action.

Kang Jin-hyuk noticed that the inside of the store was becoming increasingly noisy.

Out of natural curiosity, he turned his head in the direction of the commotion and saw a group of Hunters entering the store.

“What’s going on?”

Judging from the fact that they were wearing the same design of outerwear like Titan, it was clear that they were also Hunters belonging to a guild.

Seeing them, the appraiser grabbed his forehead and let out a low sigh.

“They’ve finally come.”

Judging from the appraiser’s reaction and the Hunters’ grim expressions, it didn’t seem like they had come for a good reason.

And that premonition turned out to be exactly right.

The Hunter who was leading the way walked straight towards Kang Jin-hyuk.

“Huh?”

Before he could even ask what was going on, the Hunter grabbed Kang Jin-hyuk by the collar.

“Was it you?”

“Wh, what?”

“I’m asking if it was you who stole the monster from our hunting grounds.”

Kang Jin-hyuk was so flustered that he couldn’t give a proper answer.

Since he was about to say that he caught it while Titan was hunting, it felt like he had been hit right where it hurt.

Fortunately, the appraiser stepped in to defend Kang Jin-hyuk, whose mouth was glued shut.

“The guy you’re looking for isn’t him.”

“Then who is it?”

“That blond guy chatting in the corner over there.”

In the direction the appraiser indicated with a nod, there was a man with blond hair who was laughing and talking, oblivious to the commotion in the store.

The Hunter who had released Kang Jin-hyuk’s collar immediately approached the blond man.

He grabbed the man’s shoulder and turned his face towards him.

“Gah!”

The blond man was punched in the face by the sudden fist and fell over.

He couldn’t even try to get up because of the following kicks.

“Ugh! Gah!”

As the one-sided assault unfolded before his eyes, the blond man’s companion, who had been talking with him until just now, stepped forward.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“Shut your mouth if you don’t want to die.”

“What did you say?”

The blond man’s companion frowned and looked as if he was about to rush in at any moment.

However, the guild Hunters approached faster than he could move.

“This man illegally hunted monsters in our guild’s territory.”

“If you’re not going to compensate us, don’t interfere.”

As the guild Hunters spoke with sharp gazes, the blond man’s companion gritted his teeth and backed down.

The scene of the assault in the store only ended when the man being beaten was barely clinging to life.

It wasn’t because they stopped because they thought he would die if they hit him anymore.

It was because of the malicious reason that this much would be enough to set an example.

The guild Hunter grabbed the blond man’s collar with his hand and forced him to lift his face.

“Hey, why were you snooping around our territory? Were you after our lives or something?”

“Th, that’s not…….”

The blond man tried to say that it was a ridiculous accusation, but the Hunter slammed his head back down on the floor before he could finish.

“You could be that crazy murderer who’s been on a rampage lately, so let’s just go and get you investigated for a bit. Alright?”

The Hunter unilaterally asked for the consent of the blond man, who was unconscious and couldn’t speak.

Then he dragged the blond man, who couldn’t even speak properly, out of the store.

Only after all the guild Hunters had left did sighs of relief escape from the store that had been as quiet as a mouse.

The appraiser, who had been watching the scene with his arms crossed, clicked his tongue.

“They could have just taken the money and left quietly. They’re even making ridiculous accusations.”

The appraiser spotted Kang Jin-hyuk, who was looking dumbfounded, and gave him some advice.

“If you don’t want to end up like that, don’t even go near the places claimed by guilds.”

“…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk was speechless.

It was absurd that they were monopolizing the place, and on top of that, they were brutally beating people up for hunting monsters there.

Kang Jin-hyuk felt a chill run down his spine.

Even a guild that wasn’t that famous was acting so extreme.

What would a large guild like Titan do if they heard that he had stolen a monster?

He probably wouldn’t be able to walk away with both legs intact.

“How did that guild even know and come here?”

“How did they know? All guilds of a certain size are connected to this server.”

“Did that guy who’s getting beaten know that and still honestly reveal the source?”

“If you get caught lying about the source, your Hunter license will be confiscated for life, and you’ll go to jail, so you have no choice.”

The more he heard, the more it seemed like a policy that only benefited guilds and had no advantages for ordinary Hunters.

Kang Jin-hyuk, dumbfounded, put the goblin corpse back into his inventory.

“I’ll excuse myself.”

“Huh? You’re leaving without selling it?”

“Yes, I’ve changed my mind…….”

Since he couldn’t honestly reveal the source and couldn’t lie either, it was wise to retreat here.

While the Hunters’ attention was focused elsewhere,

Kang Jin-hyuk slipped out of the store as if running away.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

On his way home, Kang Jin-hyuk vented his frustration inwardly.

Just because he was hunting as a Hunter, he had to run away like a criminal.

Kang Jin-hyuk thought that all of this was because he lacked power.

He needed power to ignore the guilds’ tyranny and live as he pleased.

“Just you wait and see, you filthy bastards.”

Kang Jin-hyuk had a dungeon.

As long as he had the dungeon, he could become stronger.

All he needed now was time.