Chapter Text
"Oi oi! It's opening!"
"Open- what's opening?"
"Open your eyes, fool! The red gate- it's- it's-"
"It's returning to normal!"
"Park Heejin, Go Myungkwang, Yoo Kijoong!"
"Yes!"
"Aye."
"Here."
What we have here is the surviving hunters doing a roll call, everyone felt tired and relief in the end of the day, and it is weird doing roll call to only four people.
"Sung Jinwoo?"
"Here."
It has been quite a day, obtaining such knowledge about this hidden power she call 'System' and finally going to get her hard earned rest, Jinwoo already felt jiggly after going through the nauseous gate entrance anyhow.
But what's not helping was the orange haired man over the distance, yelling someone's name at the group of survivors.
"Kim Chul! Kim chul! Where is he?!" The man yelled, he looked qutie familiar to Jinwoo, but she decided it's not worth remembering. But she could sense his power is wider than anyone else around, so he must be some sort of high-ranked person on his guild, or a really strong Hunter.
'Funny, I don't feel threatened anymore, have I gotten so strong that even Woo Jinchul over there and this S-rank hunter over here felt smaller in terms of mana power?'
Heejin gulped and answered the yelling man. "I'm sorry, guildmaster, but Kim-Chul. . . didn't made it."
That stopped him in his tracks. "What? Just the low-ranks alive left?" He clenched his fist, Jinwoo could probably tell he's mad. After all, it's supposed to be an easy dungeon run, ended up losing a powerful squad and manpower, it is quite a disappointing result. Jinwoo did felt bad, probably because she is the one that killed Kim chul, but it is not her problem right now.
She just want to go home and sleep, and wash these blood out of her skirt.
But a hand stopped her on the shoulder, it seemed that this S-rank has noticed her. "Excuse me, but I need a moment of your time. We want answers on the situation inside the Red gate."
'Well, it's not like a day has passed yet.' Jinwoo thought, not knowing it is currently 3 am in the morning. 'Might as well humor him.'
"Sure, but please make it quick."
The man still looked grumpy, but he dimmed it down a little, but still left some to declare his authority over her. "I am Baek Yoohno, the White-Tiger guild master. We've lost nine members of the guild, while we do not lack B-ranked, losing an A-rank is a serious threat not to the guild, but to Korea's total manpower."
"The question is simple, can you please describe what happened the moment you entered the gate from your perspective? Be as detailed as you need, we want information."
Jinwoo gave Baek a bootleg version of the whole Red gate arc. Simply put it, Kim chul and others split into teams, that left her and the rest in the forest while Kim chul group went to take down the dungeon boss. She tweaked the story starting by then, telling him that there was Ice elves in the dungeon, they were lucky the ice Elf killed all the Ice bears so that they have free food and shelter to stay in.
She told him about Kim Chul outrage on her fellow hunters, attempting to kill them, but he unknowingly lured the hunting group of Ice Elf along, and that put everyone on a tough spot. But deciding to give Kim Chul a rest, she said that he calmed down after the escape, had food and rest for a while before they were found by the dungeon boss. That ended with Kim Chul sacrifice and took the Ice Elf with him off the cliff, while Jinwoo hidden everyone else in the cave for safety.
Believing that is sound, Jinwoo ended her explaination, Baek still looked skeptical but fortunately he believed that for now, and went to ask other Hunters their story.
'It's a good thing Heejin bought up a cover story, then I won't have to worry about fighting again after leaving the gate.' She rode home on her scooter motobike.
'Hahh- what a day, probably the longest I've been awake and fighting battles throughout my whole career.' She stopped under a red light, waiting for other vehicles to pass as the wind blowed her hair sideways. 'But I have new shadows and someone even stronger than Igris! Lucky!~'
"My Lady, people are staring."Said Baruka.
'Thanks, Baruka, probably because of my bloodied outfit and a hole on my stomach, but I'll manage.'
She continued driving when the right went green, passing some cars and feeling the breeze, not missing the cold air and shivering winter.
'Wait.'
'Did he just ta-'
Thankfully Jinah is still sleeping her brains off, Jinwoo took a shower and placed her clothes in the washing machine, settling down on her bed with a comfortable wear consist of blue sweater and long black pants.
She was prepared to sleep, but her mind cannot ignore the elephant in the room- wellin her mind.
"Get out here, Baruka." And a shadow manifested, the shadow Elf blue hair glowed in the dark room, his eyes and mouth also glow like a star, looking down at his summoner.
"What is it, My Lady?"
"Care to explain why you are capable of speech? I still noticed that you're speaking those monster language since your lip movement is still the same. But that doesn't really explained why you can but the rest of my shadows cannot."
Baruka looked like he was thinking, but he answered with quite a creepy smile."I'm afraid I do not know either, it could be that I'm stronger than your strongest shadow as you put it, or it could be that I am a dungeon boss that is gifted such capabilities."
Jinwoo looked annoyed, that doesn't answer anything. "Igris is also a dungeon boss, but he technically never talked except from making groans and whines."
Just as she said it, Igris manifested next to Baruka, the Shadow knight looked annoyed judging by his body language, but he seemed curious too. The Knight stared at the Elf, and it also stared back.
One is smiling and one is unable to express emotion, Jinwoo just watched as her strongest shadows had a stare down. "Whatever, it's not that important, return you too." With a wave, both of them dispersed into thin air, she huffed and pulled up her blanket to get comfortable for a very late nap.
'Jinho did say we're going to finish our last dungeon runs today for his qualifications for guild-master, but I hope he won't mind if I arrive late.'
And with that, she rested.
Mhmm. . . why is it so bright?
it better not be Baruka playing a prank, he already is given a low standard viewpoint from giving me such injuries, but it's not like Igris didn't do the same to me.
Jinwoo opened her eyes, and a goblin greeted her to the world.
Golbin.
Golbin
Goblin.
"Jinah, you're not scaring me."
The goblin yelled, taking it's skin off to reveal her trusted younger sister. "Rahh! It's so hard to scare Hunters these days, I swear you wake up in spider nets every day and act like it was normal!"
-yawn-"What time is it?" Jinwoo stood up, annoyedly fixing her bed hair that has been all over the place."
"Hmm? Oh it's 11 am, you must've been out pretty late, huh?"
'Only eight hours? I felt like I needed more.'Jinwoo rubbed her eyes, feeling a better sense on the world. "It's still weekend, why'd you wake me up?"
"Oh so you want to sleep for the whole day? Silly lazy big sister." Jinah joked. "But I woke you up because of your friend being here, and he request your appearance."
"And who's that?"
"The rich guy you hang out for the past few days."
"Oh, Jinho." Jinwoo did remembered the due date today. "Tell him to wait a little longer, I need to eat and change."
Jinwoo fixed her hair, put on a comfortable red shirt and a short blue jeans that hugged her bottom. Deciding she is content, Jinwoo head out for breakfast in the kitchen. The sight that greeted her was just Jinah watching TV, Jinho on his tracksuit and surprisingly Songyi who is on the opposite seat of Jinho.
Jinwoo smiled.'She's visiting more now that she knows I'm Jinah sister, maybe because I'm a strong hunter she looked up to, she felt comfortable with us around.'Jinwoo went on the kitchen to fry some fries for breakfast, and greeted Jinho.
"Morning madam! I hope I didn't interrupt your beauty sleep!"
'beauty sleep? nobody use that term anymore. . '
'He looked cute but he's acting creepy towards my big sis. . . I hope she put him in his place if he made a move on her.'
'Who's that guy that made both Jinah and her sister seemed irritated?'
"It's nothing big, I wouldn't want to miss a single day without seeing my girl." Jinwoo glanced at Jinah. "I did promise you we'd continue our last raids today, I hope my tiredness didn't bother our schedule."
"It's nothing, Madam! You're the one who is carrying me throughout these runs, not me! You have all say on how you do things." Jinho replied, sipping coffee he bought on a nearby Cafe.
While the younger ones chat, Jinwoo pulled out the hot fries, rolling it into a small square sandwich with some leaves and sauce. She quickly consumed the meal but neatly to not let the crumbs fell too much, washing the dishes and wiped her hands. She alerted Jinho as the chat ended, they all said their byes and went on to finish the final dungeon runs.
Jinho was excited, after these grind he is almost there to achieve guild master status, without the help of this strong woman he would still sitting in his parents room, signing paper work, he probably is still dead if she didn't show up at his first raid as well.
Jinho never expected a beautiful woman of all things to be his savior, his mother and the S-rank hunter'The Dancer' is a special occasion, but Jinwoo is all about mysterious if he ever thought of her.
That confirmed heavily when he saw shadows popping out of thin air, decimating the rock beasts and goblins with ease, Jinwoo acted like this is- THIS IS NOT NORMAL!
"WHAT IS THIS?!" Jinho yelled flabbergasted, the woman's reaction was just a laugh. "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT MADAM, I DIDN'T SEE YOU FOR TWO DAYS AND YOU ALREADY GOT AN UPGRADE."
"Let's just say these boys are perks of my build."
"I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF A RANGER CAPABLE OF SUMMONS."
Jinwoo ignored his outburst. "They're useful bunch, they made my hunts efficient." She and Jinho watched as Baruka danced through the crowd, he doesn't even looked like trying yet the beasts is already down with one swing. Igris isn't a pushover as well, he quickly made work of the beasts, it seemed as if the two is competing on something.
"They could even mine and grind for us, they're technically disposable but not at the same time." On the side, the rest of her Infantries mined on essence stones with pickaxes, she spotted some shadow ice bears plucking the stones off the walls, some of the shadow ice elf are commanding her infantry about formation and amongst other things.
"This is- too much-" Whined Jinho as he rested on a flat rock, the boy seemed very tired emotionally witnessing the wonders of shadow, that also drained all of his stamina he was preparing to collect the stones, but Jinwoo shadows beat him to it.
Jinwoo laughed, hard.
While the pair coped, on the other side of the planet, a very hairy man that should be named 'RADIZT' scared some american hunters, but that's not important as of now.
"Cheer up, we finally got you a spot to become guildmaster, don't look so down." Jinwoo smiled at Jinho, the boy looked at one glimpse of it and already went back to feeling sad.
"Since you're tired, you must be hungry." Jinwoo concluded. "So quit moping and let's get something to eat, how does Korean BBQ sound?"
That got Jinho mood lighten up a bit, and so the pair found themselves in a small BBQ restaurant, seating opposite from each other, with the only noise being the sizzling meats and Jinwoo's shadows staring at the meat and Jinho.
Jinho, now in a calmer mood and oblivious to the staring quietly munched meat. "I figured you'd want a more fancy and healthy place to eat at, but BBQ will do fine."
"Nothing can beat the smell of the grill, Madam." Jinho took another bite. "But I'm more surprised at you picking this sort of eatery, aren't you- y'know. . . trying to be healthy?"
"I'm not trying to stuff myself with only greens, heh." Jinwoo chuckled, dipping pork with the fish sauce. "You'd need both nutritious and fatty food to keep a healthy body, no food always have downsides."
"I guess, I do like eating veggies but I can't say eating them for the rest of my life is sound either." Jinho poured both him and Jinwoo a glass of alcohol.
"Well, now that we're done with the raids, what are your plans?" Jinwoo grabbed her own glass, both glass clashed and chinked in a satisfying noise, a little spilled over.
Jinho sipped on his drink. "I'd have to take the written exam and I'll get my guild master license. Afterwards it's all just family business." His cheeks red and fluffed, he seemed to be getting drunk from just 2 glass. "So-so what are your plans then? Madam-mdam?"
"You won't be seeing me for a while, that's all." Jinwoo replied with a straight face.
'Because I'm going back there.'She remembered, the S-rank gate, the S-rank key,cerberus.
"Maybe I'll get some answers if I go there." Jinwoo mumbled. Jinho is too drunk to care about what she spoke about as he gulped in more of the toxic drink.
"Let-let me know If I'm a nuisance and I'll-I'll leve you aloin-" x
"Jinho."
"Wh-whut?"
Jinho tried his best to regain some consciousness left, he looked straight to see a serious face on Jinwoo. Jinwoo crossed her hands as if she is judging him.
"What's your honest opinion on me?" Jinho didn't really like that tone. "Don't worry about me if I get mad, I'm sure it won't come to that." She smiled, only if she could stop Baruka from touching his dagger.
". . . well, how do I put this. . "
Jinho rubbed his face, feeling less drunkist now. "My brother and I were very distance, we barely talk and ate together, or spend time with. Whenever we do it it's all professionally, not platonically."
"You saved my life, gave me a chance to give my family some heritage, and you are very beautiful too." Jinho hicced. "It's not like I like you romantically or something, I'm too young for you and I don't see you that way."
"Is that a kind way to say I'm old?"
"Ba-back to the point! You're a good friend to me, and these past few weeks was fun, even if it was just the two of us." Jinho concluded. "We're probably closer if you were male, I still feel uncomfortable around you gender-wise, but I do not regret meeting you once in my life."
'Would you look at that, this boy did warmed by heart.'Jinwoo smiled as she raised her glass. "Then cheers, for a friendship blossomed." Jinho did the same.
"And, if you try really hard, I might give you blessing for my sister." Jinho spitted out his drink. "I didn't miss that look you give her, don't worry, I won't tell."
Jinho only felt embarrassed, Jinwoo laughed once more as she grabbed another chunk of meat.
"Another dungeon trip again?"
Jinwoo stopped, eyes lingered behind to see her sister standing near the doorframe. "You seem packed too, I assume you'll be gone yet another days or so?"
"You know me, sis. Adult life is a busy life." Jinwoo replied, she pulled out her wallet and threw it at Jinah who promptly caught it two handed. "That should be enough money to last a month if you party every 30 days, if it comes to that."
Jinah sighed. "I might as well invite Song yi to be my sister instead of you. . . Look at you so grown up and matured, I miss it when you were small and I could easily lift you."
"Well those weren't the best time for me."It never was."You should be glad that we're money comfortable for you to shop new things now."
"True. . ." Jinah thought for a moment. "What's your secret? You change so much in 5 months."
I really hate lying to her."One day I'll tell you, but for now it's best things stay peaceful the way it is."
". . . you're not doing drugs or worse. . selling your body to those guys aren't you?"
"What gives you that idea?"
"I dunno. . . you seem so pretty and busty now, maybe you're trying to impress people or changing because of some medicine, and that's bad!"
"I'd never stoop that low, Jinah, I thought you knew better."
"I just-sighgood trip, sis."
"Hmph, I'll be off."
Jinah watched as her sister disappeared behind closed door, maybe she has a right to be suspicious, maybe there's some things she isn't supposed to know.'But we're family right? No family is truly just if we live off lies the whole time. . .'
Someday Jinah, someday you will have an episode of your own, but for now we'll be stuck with this black haired for a while.
A tower stood tall within the city lights, life was everywhere, people always have things to do. Whenever it's going for a walk, meeting someone or a run to get groceries or enjoying fresh air, it counted as something.
Then a sudden, the buildings ignited into fire, chains erupted and grappled the buildings refraining them from moving, it also warped around streets and smaller buildings, the life that was around disappeared with only fire is civilization. Amongst the blaze was an adult female with long black hair, her blue eyes shined brightly as the only odd color from the orange hotness.
'Back before I went here, I was only level 20 and a little bit naive, I barely made it alive but I did so due to dumb luck.'The orange key disappeared in Jinwoo's hand after she used the key the second time.'Now I'm level 65, even a mere 5 level difference is a big jump in term of effectiveness. I should be struggle a lot less now.'
'Since this is 100 floors dungeon, I suspected that it will take a long time for me to reach the top, so it's best I pretend this as if it was hiking or camping.'Jinwoo bought a purple duffle bag with her, contained drinks and food, a size-shift tent inside and some entertainment items; comics and a phone.
As for clothing, Jinwoo still had her hair free some restriction, she wore an unzipped sports hoodie with a white t-shirt that exposed her stomach. Her below consisted of black skirt reaching above the knee, black socks and sport shoes.
Jinwoo walked inside the fire, with her aura becoming a lot stronger, it instinctively pushed out any harm from reaching her, allowing a clear path to reach the giant gate. The gate that supposed to be guarded by Cerberus was dead since it was killed, so she is free to open it without any hindrance.
She grabbed another key and pushed in the giant gate, the gate opened itself and flashed with cold air, clearing the blaze from the previous level. Jinwoo found herself excited when she received a new quest. She walked inside the door and found herself on a hallway, filled with demonic statues and complete darkness, but with her mana-filled eyesight, she could see as if it was night vision goggles.
[QUEST]
Collect Demon souls!
Souls Count: 1.
The Demon castle needed to be eradicated. Collect all of their souls by death to receive special rewards!
Requirement: Collect 10,000 souls.
Rewards:
1. Choose any 1 item from the shop, free of charge.
2. Bonus stat point 20+
3. Undisclosed reward
"Quest huh? It's been a while since I got one." Jinwoo examined the quest screen. "And this time they're asking me to genocide a race, typical system, always unpredictable."
"A free item from the shop?" Jinwoo pondered while she played with[Midas's Feel]."I'm comfortable with my set right now, but there is an item that worthed the most Gold, maybe I'll get that."
"Still, bigger the reward is bigger the risk." Jinwoo ventured deeper until she found a door, pushing it outwards and she found her frame returning back to the blazing city again.
"What the hell- this is a field-type dungeon-" She decided its best she place her duffle bag in her inventory in case of a big fight. "They're similar to Red Gates dungeons, outside and wide, could be infinitely spaced."
"And the fire, it's always fire in a city. They could've just thrown me in a mountain or a forest, but a city instead." She did recall some dangerous incident when she was a little girl, and her father was still around. "Could this be a replica of Seoul incident a long way back?"
What answered her was multiple red eyes within the fires, it revealed to be demons or demonic appearance beasts, they all got the red skins rocked, horns and skull heads. She did not looked worried at the murderous sights thrown at her. "I've seen enough art works of you guys in medieval time to tell that you guys aren't fond of peace. But I really don't plan on doing that anyway."
She rolled her sleeves, letting her hair and skirt blow in the air, it's not like anyone is going to peek underneath her skirt and those beasts probably cared more about how she taste than her body. But if they do,well. . .then those things will lose their eyes before they could even recognize the color.
"And no Baruka, you too Igris." Jinwoo said in a commanding voice, causing her shadows to dimmed smaller. "I've let you have your fun now, let me have my fun on a one versus many too." She smirked, spinning her revolver on it's handle. "A queen should showcase her worth too."
And chaos ensues, for the demons that is.
Over the distance, you see yellow lights rained down on red and meat puddles, it looked like it was raining, but raining bullets. Jinwoo ran across the battlefield kicking and slicing demons with her hands, anything else that isn't killed by her hands is reduced to cheese by the raining bullets above. It seemed that Jinwoo used[Dominator's Touch]and had her gun flying and shooting while she fought below, a marvelous display of multi-tasking.
Even if her shots missed once, it always flies back, some bullets even floated around her as a makeshift defence, shredding any hands from reaching, if demons survived her first hit, they always reduced to mush by[Fatal blow]that breaks through defence. Demons that shot fire from their mouth at her is blocked by her[Un-passable]skill that made a yellow shield and reflected the attacks. Her revolver fired like miniguns that equaled damage with a shotgun, her kicks became hard as diamond, her chops sliced through like a sword.
By other means, they never stood a chance.
Soul count: 309/10,000
"It's a good thing I got this gold bar with me." Jinwoo hidden a gold material in her skirt pocket, that allowed her to utilize her set to the fullest without restrictions. "I've still got a long way to go however."
She sat above the mountains of demon corpses and ate her nutrients bar. The first ten levels were a breeze to her, all of her enemies are D-rank and Low C-Rank at best. It's a good thing she can still level up, so this is technically free grind for the woman. But like video games, the higher her level is, the more experience she needed to pass another level, so it gets harder and harder the stronger she gets.
'Remembering back at Baek encounter, I realized that my power reached the zones of S-ranks now, that means I'm no longer the weakest.'Jinwoo crossed her legs, still munching the bar.'And that was when I was level 59, I'm not even above 70 and I can feel A-ranks are nothing to me. It's scary how level 100 can be.'
Every time Jinwoo finishes a level, she obtained a paper permit to pass to the next floor, it's always the same permit over and over.'I'm also getting tired of fighting the same strategy too, after all my enemy is currently time.'She finished her snack and stretched her legs before she stood up and activated the permit. Everytime she uses it, a circle appeared nearby as a teleportation to the next level.
'It's time I try and breeze through this.'To do that, she needed a ride, and it's a good thing she knows someone in mind. "Come out, Tank."
A giant shadow covered her frame, exposed itself out to reveal a giant black bear with a very fire blue mohawk. "We haven't been introduced properly, maybe since I was in a rush back to meet my fellow Hunters."
She hopped on his back, and her eyes became saucers.
"Woah- this is quite fluffy!" Jinwoo was very surprised when the flaming mohawk isn't very flaming, in fact it's not even burning, it's just floating like hair. And it's really soft too. "You're my ride from now on, onwards the giant circle over there we go!"
The bear happily complied as he ran to their destination with Jinwoo as rider, they encountered demons along the way but was bashed by Tank's blows or finished by Jinwoo's bullets.
While over on the other side of the planet, the hairy man that should be named as 'RADIZT' is being interrogated over humanitarian abuse.
Back to Jinwoo, she has reached the 27th floor now. With the more demon numbers noticeably increase and the size of each floors, Jinwoo had no choice but to begin using more and more of her shadows to assist.
'It's a good thing my fatigue and health are able to regenerate, unlike the job-change quest.'She watched as Baruka sniped a horde from the distance, she smiled and sipped a blue can.'It seemed there are buffs vending machines around too, but they rarely appeared in each levels, it turns out that my fight with Cerberus is indeed a fluke.'
Soul count: 3,000/10,000
It stayed the same, just demons and more killing, at least she leveled up more, that changed until she reached floor 50th.
It still is the same burning city, except she saw multiple giant demons with gears and armour. That's something none of the previous demons had before. Among the horde was a giant but fat demon. His largeness makes up 40% of the entire city, she could see him in full detail despite being hundreds of miles away.
Ruler of Levels below, the Avaricious [VULCAN]
The said Demon saw Jinwoo and smiled, his three red eyes glowed and his skull-helmet looked liked it was shaking. He sat on a boney throne and sporting his height with a giant club on the side.
'A boss! I expected to face one but not this late.'Jinwoo felt the power Vulcan possessed from afar.'Eeek, the way he looked at me gives me creeps, I don't know when they got this idea of women liking big and fat guys and their fat things from.'
"He is a dangerous one, my Lady. It seemed only he is a threat to you, fortunately."Baruka said behind her, Jinwoo nodded at a small ease from the Elf. "Is that so?"
It seemed that Vulcan's guards are approaching, Jinwoo alerted her mages and Shadow elves to create a magic barrier, making a line between Jinwoo's army and Vulcan.
The spell didn't last long, it took a while but Vulcan guards broke through the magic barrier, but the Shadow army is already in battle position, and both side clashed.
Vulcan looked like it was snickering, it rested on the boney throne and watched as the small fries fought.
"Open."
A voice broke Vulcan's restness, it glanced at Jinwoo, the Shadow Queen closed one eye and focus with only one left, activating[Tunnel Vision].
"Ancient bull, sovereign land of tears."
"With the water of life."
"Drain the waste and sever roots of morality."
The revolver shook, and unleashed a massive blue water beam firing straight pass the unfortunate Demons, right at Vulcan. The Archdemon raised its club and bashed the beam, the struggle went on until Vulcan successfully deflected the beam.
Vulcan was about to snicker again, until it realized its movement was slower. Looking down the Archdemon realized that the particles of water splashed on his body during the clash, the said puddles begun to turn into gold, slowing it down.
It saw Jinwoo smiled in the distance, she gave a sweet smirk and waved her hand, which is noticeably glowing yellow.
[The curses of Midas Touch]:If every single[Passive Skill]of both armour and weapon sets is applied, everything that comes out of your hand or your hand touches turns into gold that would last for 2 hours. Can be cancelled with overriding magical progress.
"Got ya, not so smug now?" Jinwoo said to the Vulcan, the Archdemon being told that it's angry is an understatement, it's furious.
'It's slow now, if it moves I could sense movement because of my gold magic, this'll be eas-'She felt her mana drop.
Before Jinwoo knew it, Vulcan moved so fast it left an after-image of its previous movement, it came from sitting to running, bashing and curving through her Shadow soldiers. Vulcan is noticeably slow, but is still fast enough to make Jinwoo lose sightings of him, before she knew it, a giant club is moving straight at her.
-SLAM-
She felt her body moving backwards, but she didn't feel the hit. Looking back she saw Iron shielding the hit for her, but the slam was so strong it disintegrated his shield and arms, but he regenerated it back to normal.
Vulcan swung again, this time Iron and Tank are both in front of her, tanking the hit for the Monarch. While Vulcan was distracted, Igris and Baruka is seen running on Vulcan's giant arms to its face, Igris grinded his sword against the arm of Vulcan for cuts and damage, while Baruka rained down magic arrows on Vulcan.
While the pair above fought, Tank and Iron used their strength as the strongest physical Shadow around, pushing Vulcan with enough force to throw the giant Archdemon on the ground, Jinwoo watched in awe.
'They've been leveling up with me, so they're a lot stronger than before. It also helped that the more INT stat I put in, the stronger, smarter and effective they become.'She noted while her Shadow mages gave her light heals from cuts.'But that's still not enough. Vulcan doesn't look very hurt just yet.'
"Looks like we'll have to team up again." Jinwoo noted her Shadows, they nodded eagerly. "On my count, you guys know what to do."
She sprinted off to join the battle while the Shadow Mages and Shadow Elves gathered round, with nods they raised their hand upwards, amplifying their magic together in the inner circle.
As Jinwoo ran, giant cracks formed around her and appeared to show that her Shadow Centipedes is also with her, she smiled and hanged into one of them as they dashed into the fight.
Over the distance, while the four Knight-Ranked Shadows gave it their all together, Vulcan is still stronger. Tank managed to knock the club off the boss's hand, but the boss proved he is still above them weaponless. With one Sumo palm slap, it eradicated a city block of Shadow Soldiers and Igris unfortunately got caught in it.
Baruka proved his worth as the fastest, he dagger barraged Vulcan face and fingers, dodged and weaved every move, Iron and Tank acted as Baruka's missile, each time Baruka dodged they always thrown themselves at Vulcan stomach to push the boss back, even if it killed them.
Vulcan had enough, with a purple aura he roared, his club returned back to him as his body glowed.
VULCAN HAS USED RAGE: 50% stats increased!
The Archdemon roar is enough to knock all four Shadows backwards, and in collective moments he both whacked all four with his club, killing them instantly.
But of course, they regenerated again.
Vulcan raised his club once more, but a sudden force knocked his hand backwards. His eyes widened when two giant Centipedes both grappled on his attacking arm, locking his attack.
Before he even knew what was next, Jinwoo appeared right above him, with one full-force punch, she rocked Vulcan pummelling straight downwards to the ground, cracking the floor.
Her Shadows cheered upon seen their Queen, Jinwoo landed gently down and looked at her four Shadows. "Alright boys, I have a strategy, so follow my lead."
Igris nodded and sharpens his sword. Baruka smiled gleefully and rolled his daggers. Iron slammed his chest and Tank roared in acknowledgement.
Jinwoo smiles at her Shadows enthusiasm and held her revolver tightly. "[Curse of Midas Touch]hasn't gone out yet, so this is the best chance we get."
Over the distance, Vulcan defeated the Shadow Centipedes and roared angrily as he stood up with his club back. He turned and saw Jinwoo advancing, the Vulcan looked around in disappointment to see that all of his guards is all defeated.
The giant Archdemon swung his club, the swing was so strong, it knocked buildings like paper and a huge sand debris flying at Jinwoo.
"IGRIS!"
The Knight swung in return, his blue slash cleared the sand debris and formed a straight path at Vulcan. Seeing his attack useless, Vulcan dashed towards Jinwoo in anticipation of a clash.
"IRON!"
The Shadow-Human roared as his body soared red, directing it at the advancing Vulcan.
Vulcan has been aggro'ed by Iron's [Shout of Provocation].
The beast turned its attention immediately at Iron, he palm slapped Iron as the poor Shadow turned into mush. But he never realized that was Jinwoo's intent all along.
While distracted, Jinwoo and the rest of the Shadows ran in his arm towards Vulcan's head, the boss tried to move, but found his body isn't listening to his intentions easily.
Jinwoo ran with her hand sliding on Vulcan's arm, it created a gold pathway and slowly corrupting Vulcan's arm with gold. However only one arm was restrictive, Vulcan moved his arm to try and squash Jinwoo, but she was faster.
"Tank!"
The Shadow bear, along with the Shadow Centipedes roared as they clashed on Vulcan's arm to stop it from going further, pushing the giant back with the headbutt of friendship.
While Vulcan is aggravated, Jinwoo used[DASH]and sped up the gold process, completely turning his left arm into gold. She and Baruka ran until they reached Vulcan's shoulder. Vulcan had no choice as he tried to roll away, but his feet was unmoving when he saw Iron and Tank, along with every Shadow army underneath holding Vulcans feet down.
Over the distance, Vulcan saw a group of shadow Mage and Shadow Elves creating a massive light ball, big enough to create a donut in a skyscraper, panicking as Vulcan tried to move away.
"BARUKA!"
The Shadow Elf showed up right next to Vulcan's left eye, with the last sighting being Baruka smiling sadistically at it before he shoved his dagger into Vulcan's eye, and his second dagger went into Vulcan's other eye.
The Archdemon is now unable to see, unable to move, but able to hear. He heard the noises coming mostly from below and he moved his right hand to grab what it is, but unknowingly to him he only grabbed the Infantries trying to climb up.
And then the light ball slammed in his face.
Vulcan fought back, trying to push the light magic with his face as the ball gets bigger and bigger, burning and hurting him more and more, the Shadows watched in fascination as they saw Jinwoo lining herself in front of the magic ball.
"Stop fighting back, it's like a balloon, waiting to be popped." She held out her gun. "And when it popped, it releases the content inside it."
"This will be like a needle to a balloon, or like a light tap to a nuclear bomb." With one last glance at Vulcan's eyes, she fired.
"Explode!"
The single gold bullet flew, hitting the magic ball as it gotten bigger. As intended the ball increased its size threeshold and then popped, resulting a huge flash of explosion, eradicating whatever nearby within 50 meters. The explosion roared loudly as if it reached space, soaring light across the city and then no more.
Vulcan is no more. . .
"Good work boys."
Jinwoo gave each of her four knight-rank Shadows a head pats and cheek kisses. Although they probably don't need it still seemed unfair not to give them something since they helped her so much.
Igris and surprisingly Baruka seemed neutral about the affection, she thought Baruka would feel something since when he was alive, he did indeed had sexual intentions towards her.
Iron and Tank seemed cheerful about their reward, that's good.
"And now for the rewards." She glanced at her prize for defeating a formidable foe, the hologram popped up.
You have obtained:
Demon Monarch's Earrings [ARMOUR]
Orb of Avarice [WEAPON]
Made from petrifiedblood of Vulcan, amplified Magic capabilities and inflict true damage.
2x Vulcan's Horns [ITEM]
Fragment of World Tree [ITEM]
Scrap wood from Vulcan's club, and a fragmentfrom a branch of World's Tree. Use to craft high-quality items.
"So I got this earring that gives me bonus stats, cool." Jinwoo played with her new red and orange earrings. "And an item from another world, neat."
"And this orb. . . I can tell it's made for mages, but since Rangers fend off magic themselves I guess I can use this." She held on the Orb of Avarice tightly.
-Thud-
Jinwoo turned to the mysterious noise, she looked and find Igris kneeling downwards, with the heads of the deceased Demons. She stared at Igris's offering to her.
She ticked.
"Can you stop doing that?" Jinwoo grumbled. "I don't even like to see these disgusting things even more disgusting." She turned back to get away from the scene, and stopped when she saw Iron bringing a giant head of Vulcan to her. "Not you too."
Jinwoo sighed and turned to Baruka. "You're the most mature here, surely you can tell them no, right?"
The elf doesn't answer nor speak, he smirked and walked back to present his own achievements: Heads of the Demons being held on a spike.
Jinwoo felt done for the day.
'Before we camp, maybe I should test something first.'Jinwoo glanced to the Mages being awed by Iron's strength. "Hey you guys, I need you to do something for me."
She handed a Shadow mage the Orb of Avarice and pointed to a building that is still standing. "Use your weakest attack spell on that."
The Shadow mage created a fireball, the ball that is supposed to be palm sized evolved into a city block attack, and disintegrated the building.
"Neat!" She patted the Shadow mage. "Thank you for your assistance."
While the Shadow Mage flexed about it being touched by its queen to other Shadows, Jinwoo smiled at her discover.'It seemed that they can use the items I get, and there's not a saying I couldn't use theirs as well.'
'Hmmm. . I wonder how this will affect my Element Bend skill.'Jinwoo held the orb tightly, she raised her revolver on an empty street and chanted.
"Open."
"Ancient bull, sovereign land of tear-"
It's safe to say that 60% of the city is now coal.
And now Jinwoo found herself sitting on a campfire, the fire heating up her meal and she rested near her tent. She happily ate her soup dinner while her Shadows fooled around out of boredom.Who allowed you guys to be out anyway? Well they're lucky I'm a nice leader.
Jinwoo reminisce the events of today, changed her clothes to her pajamas and slept soundly afterwards.
Meanwhile the man who should be named 'RADIZT' is having a friendly converstation with Hwang Dongsoo.
"Wai- wai- wait AUURURHGHGH!!!"
You have defeated the Soul Shepherd, Metus.
Sigh"Even this person isn't proven to be a challenge." Jinwoo glanced at the Orb of Avarice in her grasp. "This thing is just too strong, I could just use this once and the floor is already completed."
She glanced at the broken bones, a shattered frame of what used to belong to a tall skeleton with dark wardrobe. "He can summon undead too, I'd love to have him in my legion. But. . ."
Shadow Extraction is unable to contaminate this target
"It's like everyone else, none of these demons can be turned into a Shadow." Jinwoo walked off the mountain of bones, fixing her skirt in the mean time. "It's a little weird, everything I've killed thus far can be turned, but these guys can't."
"But I can't say no to rewards." She held on a necklace with skulls and teeth. "Demonic Necklace, it's a mini set bonus with the Demonic Earrings. It's good that I can have two different set bonus, makes this armoury thing opened with wide varieties."
Next, she received some sort of special water. "Spring water of Echoing forest? It says that it's an ingredient to craft something." She shrugged and decided not to ponder on it any longer.
Holding the entry permit item, she activated it to see the similar circle appeared nearby over the distance. "This is floor 80th now, yet it seemed like I can still keep going?"
"That's nice to see I can still get stronger, but. . "
Soul count: 10,001/10,000
"I've already finished the quest. . ."
You have completed [Collect Demon Souls!]
Rewards:
Rewards:
1. Choose any 1 item from the shop, free of charge.
2. Bonus stat point 20+
3. Undisclosed reward
"I can pick anything from the shop, but I'm really comfortable with my set currently." Looking back, the Midas Feel set didn't make her totally invincible, but it is very agile in variations of abilities not just from her gun, but her whole body and senses. Still it would be better if she get a new set that doesn't restrict her to this gold.
"The shops always update its items when I get stronger, right now the Gun section is still only with one weapon, but maybe more levels and something new will appear."Not to mention I get good things in Dungeons, for a while If i buy anything I'll end up selling it away, so I have to choose carefully.
What to do. . .
"Hey Baruka, mind giving me your voice on this?" Jinwoo turned to the Shadow Elf, he is now missing his iconic sadism smile and instead a face with judgement.
"If you don't mind, My Lady. I believe it is best you get something that isn't a weapon or an armour. You're saving your Gold for weapons, use this chance to buy something that can benefit you outside of combat, maybe potions or a loot?"
'Hmm. . . good point.'
"Something that doesn't have to benefit me combat wise. . . But it's mostly potions or- a loot?" She snapped her fingers in recognition. "I do know one thing that I wanted to get, but doesn't want to waste my saved money on."
"Purchase Cursed Random loot box."
A black and dark cubed present box appeared on her palm, Jinwoo did remember seeing these items back in her hidden quest. "If the blessed one gives me the key to the demon castle, then this is probably another key inside.
You have received ???
Use: ???
Rank: ???
"Come on system, don't sweep me under the rug now- they're just outright trying to prevent me to get something." Jinwoo's veins could be seen from her annoyance. "
Upon storing the key, Jinwoo accepted her second reward, getting her free 20 stat points. "I guess I'll put them all in INT."
Sung Jinwoo
Level: 70
Title: She who overcame Adversity.
The lower user HP is, the stronger and more effective their stats become. (Additional 46% damage reduction)
STR: 165
AGL: 180
INT: 200
PER: 100
HP: 90
"The final reward is. . undisclosed reward?" She scratched her head out of habit. "I guess I'll see what it is."
You have received recipe for: [Holy water of Life]
[Holy water of Life]: is a consumable potion that resets the consumer's body to their prime, removes all harm and missing limbs in the process.
"Woah- this is literally[Status Recovery]but in physical form." She never expected such item this useful to appear again. "It looks like some sort of cure, resets everything back to their prime?"
'Mom. . .'
Jinwoo held the recipe tight, but not too much force that could crumble the paper. She checked the recipe requirement and found that she only needed one last item to completely finish the set.
"I've got the tree branch from Vulcan, the water from Metus, and what I'm missing is this Purified blood of the Demong King." She looked away from the paper to the glowing building above, being the only building in a wasteland full of bones indicated it must be something special.
"That must be it, the final floor or something like that." She reminisce the good days were the women of the household is still happy and alive, those times were simple, until their mother fell ill to the intense exposure to mana and gave her yearly coma, it went downhill for the family until now.
"I'll go up there, beat whatever is waiting for me and finally save mom. . . have her drink the potion and then. . . what?"
Jinwoo found herself lost, for months she decided to keep this power hidden away, to keep herself and her sister safe. It is noticeable that more people is paying attention to her powers now, so it gets harder to hide it. If Jinwoo fed her mother the potion and she woke up, what's next?
There's no doubt questions will arrive, they will ask her how she did it, it can put her family in danger. After all how could a mere E-rank like her cured a sickness that ended lives before? She is positive she could fight off some S-ranks, but her family cannot, it will ended up in bloodshed and war.
"Then stop hiding, my Lady."Baruka spoke up and broke her out of her cloud, Jinwoo glanced to see not only the elf, but the rest of her Shadows are all around her, looking with faces of acceptance."It is time you allow these people to see a glimpse of your true power, let them know where you truly placed in the food chain."
"They'd still ask me if I reveal myself anyway. . . what's the point?"
"They may, but you can prepare them, let yourself become an S-rank like those cretins, they will question you less."
Looking at Igris for acknowledgement, the Knight simply nodded. "What about everyone else, do they agree?"
"Igris and I are in the same boat, my Elves always listen to me second to you, they place their pride in you."
"Iron and the rest doesn't care, they only care about what you choose, my Lady."
'i don't have a choice then, huh?'Sparing one last look at her Shadows before she gave in. "Fine, when we get back I'll have to evaluate my ranking then."
Her Shadows cheered, it is finally time for them to reveal themselves in the world, let the world tremble before their Queen's might. Jinwoo chuckled at the roar of excitement within her pack.
And that's how Jinwoo found herself in a situation with multiple people around just after when she excited the Demon castle, they all looked like they were expecting her.'Is coming to White Tiger guild a bad choice after all? I figured they were closest here but this is too much.'
She sat down on the waiting chairs, crossing her legs and fixed her black skirt before leaning back to relax.'Turns out to leave, I have to run the whole way back down, quite tiring to be honest, I expected teleportation, not more hard work!'
She glanced at the number of people becoming less in the waiting room, each person got up and head to re-evaluate their rankings, most of them looked nervous.
Jinwoo leaned back but found some people staring at her. She didn't mind the attention much, maybe because it's uncommon about women becoming adventurers, after all Hunters of 70% population are mainly males.
"Nervous?" She said to the man next to her, he is just your average 30's man, and nervous is an understatement, the man is downright sweaty.
"I- I- guess so?"
"Yeah, I can't blame you." Said another man across Jinwoo. "This is were people lives are turned, whenever it's the right way or bad way, this is like when your life is judged on how lucky you are."
Jinwoo nodded at his saying, even if she didn't need luck now, plenty of other people isn't her. "What happened here if you get low ranks?"
The man smiled at Jinwoo, he must think she is nervous too. "It's not world breaking as you think, sweet heart. D-ranks over there often got scouted by agents from other guilds, it's to expand their guild number. If they can't make up of fire power, man power is equally devastating."
He continued. "But it's mostly small guilds, after all the country has 7 S-ranks in total, and each of them belonged to different guilds, maybe except'The Dancer' but you get me. Guilds without S-ranks are doomed to fail after all."
'I guess they are desperate, this is why accidents happen often, more lives needlessly lost.'Jinwoo sighed, she felt glad that she no longer had to fend constant threats now and then.
The door opened to reveal a man walking out as if his wife cheated on him. "I can't believe I'm an E-rank. . ."
'Unlucky, but that means they don't have to die, unless they're stubborn like me. . .'Jinwoo smiled imagining her younger self, trying to make herself useful while other people stared with pity. Seeing another man getting bad luck, both men beside her got into a sweating bunch.
"I- I think I'm not ready-"
"Inner peace- I-"
"Well, they look like they've seen better days." A receptionist lady said beside Jinwoo, she nodded as both girls stared at the scene.
". . . Boys, right?"
"Yeah, boys."
"Honestly, I don't get why they want to get high rank so bad, getting low means you don't have to go die by those yucky goblins." The lady shrieked as she lead Jinwoo to the re-evaluation room. Inside the room has been amplified with technology, some desk and computers on the side and a giant ball in the middle of the room, being held up by a long pole.
"What's your name, miss?"
"Sung Jinwoo."
"It says you're a qualified Hunter already, but you want to re-evaluate again?" The lady asked with curiosity, she wonder why a beautiful woman like Jinwoo wanted to get her rank changed or something else.
Jinwoo had to make up a lie, maybe something more believable to avoid questions. "I always do this every year, think of it like an exercise or something like that."
"If you say so- Anyways walk up to the ball around the circle, put your hand on it and please have patience."
Jinwoo raised her hand, it seemed that it's already begun when the ball glowed some weird color, the purple lines underneath the ball glowed. The lady seemed confused however.
"Please hold on a moment, I think something is up with the calculations." The lady did some checks a couple of times, until she gave up and went away to ask assistance.
She returned with an older man seemed to be her manager, it looked like the pair is working on something while Jinwoo is still waving her hand near the bal-
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
"W-what- why are you yelling sir?"
"Get Changsiek, I don't care if he's in the rest room, get him now-"
"B-but I'm not a male, I'm not supposed to go in the male rest room-"
"Gahh! Whatever I'll go get him myself!"
Jinwoo just stared at the drama while the pair argued.'Must be a break up or something.'
"Bbut sir? Why do you need him so bad?"
"You've been here for six months, so it's not surprising." The manager said. "This Error label here isn't a broken machine, it means that our machine is not strong enough to meter his mana!"
"What?!" The lady covered her mouth with her palm. "Could she be Korea's 10th S-Rank?!"
"That's why I need him now, we have to detail this as much as we can!"
Jinwoo stared at the pair still talking angrily to each other.'That girl is stubborn, she can't even tell that her guy doesn't want her anymore.'She shrugged.
it went for a while until the manager approached her with a sheepish smile. "I-I'm sorry for the commotion, it's just that how machine isn't good enough to count your meter, miss- so if you can, we're going to need you back here in three days."
"Three days- is it that high?"
One sentence from her and everyone else felt their eyes glued at the woman, they heard it and also felt awe.
'Re-evaluate?!'
'Too high?!'
'Could it be- are we going to witness a birth of an S-rank?!'
Their shrieks did not went unnoticed by Jinwoo, she could feel their sweat from miles away.'I knew this would happen- but this soon made me felt unprepared.'
"They are right to act that way, my Lady."
"Sure sure, thank you for your input, Baruka." Deciding not wanting to be the attentioner, Jinwoo went to the exit to get out of this crowd, but something is blocking the door.
Surprise, it's Woo Jinchul and another man. He had a white and red striped suit, red hair and glasses, his entire appearance screamed modest and elegance.
"OH GOD! IT'S THE 'Ultimate Hunter' JOI CHONG IN!"
'Joi Chong in? Ultimate hunter?'Jinwoo stared at the approaching man, its funny they call him that, Vulcan would be laughing his belly off seeing a guy like this. She watched as Kim chul also looked at her in awe, while the newcomer man stood in front of her in an appropriate distance.
Chong in fixed his glasses with a friendly enough expression. "I can tell you're powerful, you must be Korea's 10th S-rank." Looking closer, Jinwoo could see Chong in has rings on all of his fingers. "I didn't know someone so strong is also so beautiful as well."
Jinwoo replied. "Why thank you, you flatter me."
"In that case, I'd like to offer you so-"
"I know you're going to ask me to join your guild. Sorry, but my answer is refusal." Jinwoo spoke before he finished. She could see that Chong In seemed irritated but chose to hide it. "I have my own plans as well, maybe I'll start my own guild if you don't mind."
Bystanders felt their mind blown, someone just outright turned down Chong In. His guid: The Hunters is the only guild in Korea with 2 S-ranks inside, with him and 'The Dancer' Chae Haein. The guild also had one of the most resource of all countries and rich, people would be swayed by his offers. Not to mention his good looks, he has swayed many women before. (Well aside from Chae Haein but that doesn't matter) And to see a woman outright refuse him before he even talk, spoke volumes.
Before Chong In turned back, Jinwoo has already disappeared, she flashed a quick use of [Stealth] while no one was looking.'Three days, It's best I try and finish the recipe for the potion soon as possible.'
With no need of attention, Jinwoo easily snuck through the nurses and found her mother's room, still sleeping soundly despite chaos going on outside.
"One day, you're going to open your eyes as if nothing happened." She spoke sadly. "That day will come soon enough."
"Hold on a little longer, mom..." She held on her mother's hand, it felt cold and almost lifeless, she woman would've considered dead if it wasn't for the life vitals next to her.'I have to fight on, just a little more. . . just a little more bloodshed and it will finally be over. . .'
Her only response was monitor signs and breathing.
She held on the cold limp of her mother a little bit longer, before finally gave it a rest and allowed her to nap in peace once more.
Sigh"You know, it's rude to stalk on girls."
A person walked out of the dark hallway, he leaned closer to the opened window and revealed to be Jinchul. "I apologise, but it is my job to keep tabs on Hunters, and I am doing my job right now."
"Mhmm."
Silence.
"Was it you who survived the Double Dungeon, survived the Snake incident, survived the red gate as well?" Jinchul asked, his black shades covered his eyes but she can tell he is watching her keenly.
"I have no business with the surveillance team, so I need you to keep my family out of this." She spoke calmly, but there is clear venom in her intent.
"Our job is to keep Hunters in check. . . make sure they obey the law." Jinchul stopped to look at the sleeping woman over the window. "But we're nothing when it comes to S-ranks, so you have no need of worry."
"Instead, I'd like you to meet someone." He extended his hand. "Please follow me to the lunch room."
Jinwoo reluctantly followed, it was night so only they are awake beside the staff. "This person, who is he?"
"He is the Chairman of Hunter association of Korea, the one with the most political power Hunter-wise, Go Gunhee." Over the distance, she saw a huge man in a suit, sipping his coffe. He was an old man with silver hair and beard, wrinkles and scars on his face.
"Greetings, Sung Jinwoo. Have a seat."
Upon closer inspection, Jinwoo awed at Gunhee not just about an appearance of a man who saw many battles, but a man with strength of another league.'I can tell he's the real deal, a body like a wrestler and also an S-rank.'They both shook their hands as a sign of peace.
Jinwoo felt like talking now, but Gunhee spoke first. "Congratulations on becoming our country's 10th S-ranker."
"You're too kind, I need to re-evaluate first before we get to that." She replied, ever since she no longer restricted her mana to others, it seemed they already caught on how strong she is now, it felt weird being seeing as equals for a change.
"That's fine, but re-evaluate for real won't mean anything." Gunhee sipped his coffee cup. "The advanced Mana meter merely broke down the required information and results. It cannot measure the accurate numbers, so we won't be able to tell which S-rank is stronger than any other S-rank, same goes for A's and B's and below."
"It's that simple?"
"Yes, your results would've showed as 'SSS-Rank' and you will still be qualified as merely S-rank." The wise man chuckled. "Like I said, it is not an accurate representation to one's power."
"That's quite something to think about."
"You're right to catch on, miss. You must be questioning why the process even exist, right?" Gunhee rubbed his chin cheerfully, before putting his index finger upwards. "It's something that serves as a Grace Period."
"Grace Period?"
"Yes, think of it like receiving a medal. Back in the old days, Magic and Mana never existed, it's all just policemen and soldiers protect their country. Protection by them is just them shaping the law, in modern days of today, we rarely have that." He stopped to allow Jinwoo to think. "Hunters are the backbone of society now, they carry us and allow civilization to evolve to newer technology and resources."
"However." He made sure to empathize that word. "Hunters are not to be bend by the law, they are free to do whatever they wish and how they do their job, soldiers and armies are nothing to them. But other Hunters stronger than them can place them back were they belong." Gunhee raised both arms upwards to empathize his wordings. "That's the point of Hunter Association, we are what shaped Hunter's laws."
He pointed at the black haired woman. "I can make you one of us, Miss Sung." Her eye widened a little but she compromised herself.'It's barely hours and I haven't fully reveal myself yet, and people are already asking me?'
"Why do you go such lengths to recruit me, Chairman Gunhee?"
The Chairman kept his face welcoming and accepting. "You know about the five top guilds this country has, right? Each guild have at least one S-rank with them creating an equal balance between them."
"Mhm, Hunters, Fame, White Tiger, Fiend and Knights, right?"
Gunhee nodded. "Correct, if someone like your caliber joined one of them, then the power-creep will shift, think of it like adding a chunk of water to an already full glass."
"We're here to stop those hunters if they act Un accordingly, they can be arrogant with their powers and government only has power on civilizations, city busters are too much for them."
He leaned back, indicating that he finished his reasons as he and Jinchul watched the woman thinking. "What is your decision, Sung Jinwoo?"
'Not a bad offer.'She could only watch her own feet at the moment.'I can see his influence, no wonder he had such impact on United Nations, the government and the press.'
'This association he spoke off is like a hawk watching the movements of other guilds. My recruiting would benefit them greatly. I will get handsome pays and with enough rank, they can provide protection for my family if I were to be away.'
'But. . . what will I be? Will I be like Jinchul? Or Kang Taeshik who manage criminals? They only fight if necessary. . . then I know my answer.'
"I'm sorry."
As expected, Gunhee looked disappointed. "I want to fight."
"What?"
"You said it yourself, you only fight and control Hunters, but I don't want that." Jinwoo continued. "I want to fight, fight beasts and beings that threaten our world, I want to be free and be able to grow as a Hunter. So being a law enforcer will only held me back."
"I. . . see." Gunhee saw her eyes, those eyes doesn't looked like it belonged to a woman, but eyes of a ruler, a leader. "Thank you for your time."
"I'll be off, my sister is probably up to no good again." And with that, she turned away home, leaving Jinchul and Gunhee, the man smiled heartedly and turned to his assistant for schedule cleaning.
Meanwhile, 'RADIZT' just beaten up Dongsoo with palm slaps.
That night, Jinwoo came home with Jinah knocked out underneath a couch and Song yi scratching her head. It seemed that leaving her sister a week alone is enough time for her to have a full-throttle water fighting indoors, she is definitely scolding them later.
After a while, Jinwoo decided to try something new; purchasing goods that isn't from her system's shop.
Hunters earn their money, aside from buying needs to survive, they can buy weapons and new armoury for better gears and sets. No normal hunter is sane enough to fight without any gear. Gears are usually amplified with magic to protect them from burns, poison and gasses.
Jinwoo could technically buy the most expensive item from her system shop now, but none of them interest her as of late, the sets are good, but she felt agile with her Midas Feel for now. "That said, why are these things so expensive?"
Looking at online shops, even a simple iron weapon cost about 100 thousand dollars. "I get that these items are hard to come by, but why this much?!"
Jinwoo considered selling[Orb of Avarice]but she shrugged it off. It's better that the orb really worked on her skills as a ranger, besides she could work up her wealth if she went S-rank afterwards, so she could only have patience.
"But I need some money now, and I don't like to just wait 3-days and maybe wait some more." It's also a problem that since she haven't re-evaluate, she is still registered E-rank, no high-rank raids will accept her, unless-
"You said it yourself, you only fight and control Hunters, but I don't want that."
She felt a light bulb imagination being lighten up. "Good job me! I totally need that reminder." She tabbed on her phone to login into a certain website. "I don't have to fight, but if I do something that can benefit my financial issue, then I'm good to go.
We're hiring miners on an A-rank dungeon to collect resources, fill out these forms to join!
Perfect, just what she needed. Jinwoo grinned as she begun typing. 'Just my luck, hopefully it went well so that I can finally get paid. I'm so sick of dungeons randomly becoming dangerous, every time that happened they always pay me the latest they could afford.'
Yes, hopefully.
But until that day arrived, certain people lives will never be the same again.
Log off?
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