Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Seated in a chair, he pondered deeply.

There was no way to figure out why or how the dungeon had appeared in his attic.

What he needed to focus on right now was, “How do I deal with that labyrinth?”

The most conventional and safest method would be to report it to the Association.

However, Kang Jin-hyuk chose not to do that.

Surely, if he followed the manual, that would be the best option.

But that was only true from the perspective of the Association’s policies.

When considering his personal gain, it was the worst possible choice.

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

While monsters existed in this world, there had never been a single documented case of a ‘dungeon’ being discovered before this.

If the Association became aware of it, they would launch an immediate investigation.

As a D-rank Hunter, Jin-hyuk would be barred from any approach, and only elite Hunters dispatched by the Association would conduct the investigation.

The compensation he could receive for this would barely amount to a few coins.

“Am I crazy to let go of a labor site like this for pocket change?”

Even if he lived in a rented house, this was still very much Jin-hyuk’s home, and the attic belonged to him.

So, he certainly couldn’t afford to lose this as well.

Kang Jin-hyuk recalled the incident with the Titan he had faced earlier.

Those who would not give up even a single monster were the same kind as the Association.

The reason this had come to such a situation was due to the Association’s negligence regarding the guilds’ tyranny.

Handing the dungeon over to those people?

Just imagining it made him furious.

He wanted to monopolize this dungeon as much as possible.

But first, there was something he needed to confirm.

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

The goblins didn’t seem to recognize the attic at all.

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

Therefore, Kang Jin-hyuk planned to confirm that with his own body.

He pulled out a baseball bat and opened the attic door again.

“If they end up getting through here, it’ll be a serious problem…”

His Hunter rank was just D, after all.

He could only handle about two or three goblins head-on.

The moment more than that came out of the attic, Jin-hyuk would be as good as dead.

“Please, please.”

Praying frantically in his heart, he stepped into the dungeon.

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

[You have entered the dungeon.]

[Current Location: 1st Floor – Goblin’s Labyrinth]

The message that appeared before him turned Jin-hyuk’s earlier assumptions into certainty.

As expected, this place was a dungeon.

“Kiiik?”

While Jin-hyuk was confirming the message, a goblin wanders into the maze spotted him.

Upon hearing the goblin’s shriek, Jin-hyuk realized it saw him.

“Kiiik!”

As the goblin brandished a clumsily made stone axe and charged at him, Kang Jin-hyuk ran away without hesitation.

One goblin was nothing he couldn’t handle, but right now he had something more critical to check.

Stepping out of the dungeon back into the attic, the goblin stood there with a bewildered expression.

It then approached the boundary between the dungeon and the attic, striking the spot with its stone axe.

The place the goblin struck produced a sound as if there were a transparent wall there.

“They can’t even see this side or come over.”

A smile spread across Jin-hyuk’s face.

Having confirmed the safety, there was now only one thing left for him to do.

As Kang Jin-hyuk stepped back into the dungeon, he swung the bat at the goblin lingering near the boundary.

“Kiieek!”

The goblin, struck in the face by the aluminum bat, screamed and toppled over.

Before the goblin could get back up, Jin-hyuk relentlessly swung the bat and turned it into a pulpy mess.

“Kiiek! Kkiiyik!”

Each time it was struck, the goblin screamed until eventually falling silent.

As the goblin took its last breath, Kang Jin-hyuk sensed his strength surging.

[Level Up]

Though he had only risen from level 3 to 4, this moment filled Kang Jin-hyuk with unmatched joy.

It was the first time since becoming a Hunter that he had solo-hunted a monster.

He hadn’t shared any experience with others.

Just by himself.

Unworried about others stealing the finishing blow, he had hunted a monster.

“Uheh heh heh…”

Jin-hyuk couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Three whole years had passed.

Just catching a single goblin had allowed him to level up like this, yet he had remained stagnant at level 3 for three years.

He was painfully aware of how absurd the large guilds’ tyranny had been.

“Those bastards. They’ve sold their conscience completely.”

Just from this one goblin’s corpse, he could have received at least 3 million won.

The large guilds monopolized monster corpses, so the profits they earned would be staggering.

“If the guilds keep monopolizing like this, that’s why monster corpses are so expensive. Damn it.”

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

This led to an ongoing cycle of capital-strapped C-rank and lower Hunters sinking deeper into poverty.

Anger surged within Kang Jin-hyuk as he blamed everything on the large guilds.

Just that morning, he had expressed his bitterness without being able to act, but now everything was different.

He had been handed the opportunity of a ‘dungeon.’

Considering such heavenly fortune had come his way, there was no need to languish in complaints.

If he had grievances, then he could simply hunt monsters and grow stronger.

Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to level up enough to not overlook even the Hunter he encountered in the morning.

But that wasn’t possible at the moment.

The phone he kept in his pocket was already buzzing with the alarm, reminding him that it was time to head to his part-time job.

“Ah…”

Jin-hyuk wanted to drop everything and dive into hunting.

Yet quitting a part-time job on the same day without prior notice would be highly inconsiderate.

He couldn’t inconvenience others, so he thought of today as the last day and resolved to go to his part-time job.

* * *

After finishing his last part-time shift, Kang Jin-hyuk headed to the certified exchange of the Hunter Association.

Even though it was late in the evening, the exchange inside was bustling.

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

Due to the many customers using the service, there was a considerable number of staff attending.

“Welcome! How can I assist you today?”

“I’ve come to sell a monster corpse…”

“Please take a number and wait, and we’ll appraise your item in order.”

Following the guide’s instructions, Jin-hyuk pulled a number from the machine near the entrance.

Considering how crowded it was, the waiting number wasn’t too many.

There were three people ahead of him.

After waiting about ten minutes, it was soon his turn.

“What do you want to sell?”

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

Instead of responding, Jin-hyuk placed the monster’s corpse he retrieved from his inventory on the table.

“Hmm, just one goblin, huh…”

Here, where numerous Hunters gathered, this was an all-too-common material.

The appraiser lacked any enthusiasm and casually glanced over the corpse Jin-hyuk had presented.

“Looks like you don’t have much hunting experience.”

“Excuse me? How can you tell…?”

“It’s clear just by seeing that you turned all the bones to powder.”

The goblin’s arm lifted by the appraiser flopped around like a jellyfish.

“If you catch them this way, you decrease the sale value drastically. Next time, aim for the vital spots.”

The rough tone of the appraiser showed no courtesy toward the customer, yet the content was advice steeped in experience.

The appraiser worked quickly, finishing the evaluation at double the speed of others, then priced the goblin’s corpse.

“For this kind of corpse, I can’t offer more than 3.2 million won.”

That was a low price, just 200,000 won above the minimum.

But Kang Jin-hyuk accepted the result without any objection.

The damaged innards, the complex fractures in the bones, and so on.

Everything the appraiser pointed out was completely understandable.

“I’ll sell at that price.”

“Alright, then please let me know where you caught this monster. I will verify and deposit the amount.”

“Do I have to tell the source?”

“It’s a legal requirement, and unfortunately, no choice.”

Kang Jin-hyuk was troubled as he couldn’t honestly say he had caught it in a dungeon.

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

It felt like a fitting lie, saying he caught a monster that slipped away during Titan’s careless moments.

But he didn’t get to put that idea into action.

Suddenly, Jin-hyuk felt an escalating commotion inside the shop.

Curious onlookers turned to see a group of Hunters entering the store.

“What’s going on?”

Seeing them wearing the same design of outer garments as Titan, it was clear they belonged to a guild.

Upon seeing them, the appraiser held his forehead and sighed softly.

“They finally showed up.”

Judging by the appraiser’s reaction and the Hunters’ threatening expressions, it didn’t appear they had come for good reasons.

And that intuition was spot on.

The leading Hunter approached right away towards Jin-hyuk.

“Hey?”

Before Jin-hyuk had a chance to ask what was wrong, the Hunter seized him by the collar.

“Is it you?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Did you steal a monster from our hunting grounds?”

Jin-hyuk was at a loss for words, too flustered to respond.

He had been about to claim that he caught it while Titan was hunting, so he felt as though he had hit the nail on the head.

Fortunately, the appraiser stepped in to defend Jin-hyuk instead of him freezing up.

“That’s not the guy you’re looking for.”

“Then who is?”

“Over there in the corner, chatting away with that blonde guy.”

The blonde person the appraiser pointed at was smiling and laughing without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the commotion in the store.

The Hunter who had grabbed Jin-hyuk’s collar quickly went over to the blonde.

Then he grabbed the other’s shoulder and turned his face toward him.

“Ugh!”

The blonde was knocked over from a punch that landed unexpectedly on his face.

He couldn’t even attempt to get up due to the subsequent kicks.

“Guh! Cough!”

As the one-sided assault unfolded before them, the blonde’s companion rushed in to intervene.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“Shut your mouth unless you wanna die.”

“What did you just say?”

The blonde’s companion grimaced, ready to spring into action at any moment.

However, the Guild Hunters were much quicker in approaching.

“This guy’s been hunting monsters without permission in our territory.”

“If you don’t plan on compensating for it, we suggest you keep quiet.”

The Guild Hunters glared intimidatingly, causing the blonde’s companion to grind his teeth and take a step back.

The violent scene unfolded in the shop until the target of the beatdown was left barely breathing.

It wasn’t because the aggressors felt they would kill him if they kept going.

They had cruel motives, seeing this as an example to be set for others.

A guild Hunter gripped the blonde’s collar, forcing his head up.

“Hey, why were you wandering around our territory? Do you mean to endanger our lives?”

“W-What the…”

The blonde wanted to argue that it was an outrageous accusation, but the Hunter slammed his head back down to the floor before he could speak.

“Because you might be the deranged murderer who’s been rampaging lately, we need to take you in for questioning. Is that alright?”

The Hunter asked for the blonde’s consent, although it was one-sided and the victim was still dazed.

The Guild Hunters led the barely conscious blonde out of the shop.

Only after they all left did a relieved sigh escape from the once-common space, now silent as a mouse.

The appraiser, with arms crossed watching the spectacle, clicked his tongue.

“Instead of just extorting money, they’re making ridiculous accusations now.”

Noticing Jin-hyuk’s dazed expression, the appraiser offered some advice.

“If you don’t want to end up like that, don’t tread into territories claimed by Guilds.”

“…”

Jin-hyuk was at a loss for words.

It was absurd enough to monopolize a place, but to attack someone for hunting monsters there like that?

A chill ran down his spine, and the hairs on his neck stood on end.

If such an obscure Guild acted so violently, what would happen if Titan, a major guild, got the news of his hunting?

There was a good chance he wouldn’t be able to walk out with both legs intact.

“How could that Guild have known to find them?”

“How would they know? Larger guilds are connected to this server.”

“Did that person know that would happen and still spoke the truth about his source?”

“If the source is revealed as a lie, they’ll have their Hunter’s license revoked for life and could even end up in prison, so it’s no surprise.”

The deeper Jin-hyuk listened, the clearer it became that the rules heavily favored Guilds and left ordinary Hunters with little recourse.

Feeling a mix of disbelief and anger, Jin-hyuk claimed the goblin corpse back into his inventory.

“I’ll take my leave now.”

“Oh? You’re not selling and just leaving?”

“Yeah, I’ve changed my mind…”

There was no way he could reveal the true source nor fabricate a lie, so retreating was the wisest decision.

While the Hunters’ attention shifted elsewhere, Jin-hyuk quickly slipped out of the shop.

“Damn, damn!”

On the way home, Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t stop the anger boiling within him.

Simply wanting to hunt as a Hunter, yet ended up feeling like a criminal fleeing.

He believed this was all due to his lack of power.

To ignore the tyranny of the guilds and live as he wanted, he needed strength.

“Just you wait. Damn bastards.”

He now had a dungeon.

As long as he had that dungeon, he could grow as strong as he wanted.

All he needed now was time.