Episode 18
Jonghyeon began contemplating how to make use of the stealth he had learned.
The sensation of merging his body with a shadow felt quite unfamiliar, but he adapted quickly.
‘But it’s still not enough.’
Even going all out, it was only at the level of barely binding a Sphinx’s tail with a shadow.
With the
Because he had to keep his body completely submerged within the shadow.
But those ten minutes were short if one considered them short, and long if one considered them long.
For now, the fact that no one else could use a skill like this meant Jonghyeon’s advantage was considerable.
He wondered if he should visit the women’s bath out of curiosity but shook his head.
Jonghyeon was the type who refused to do unnecessary things.
While eating, Jonghyeon watched the news, thinking of attempting the 5th Stage.
「Have you heard of S-Rank Hunters? It has been revealed that global evaluations for them are actually being conducted, and while the members have not been specifically disclosed, they consist of approximately ten world-class experts…」
Judging from the news content, it seemed they were announcing the new rank because maintaining secrecy was no longer possible.
Since even he and his handler knew about it, a considerable number of rankers had to already be aware as well.
Jonghyeon’s goal was already set.
Strength approaching S-Rank.
He had no intention of stopping there.
So that no one could ever lay a hand on what he cherished and held dear, including himself.
‘Whether the country falls or the dungeons collapse, none of that has anything to do with me. Just so that I alone can eat well and live well. So that I can protect what’s mine. That’s enough.’
Jonghyeon’s philosophy was changing bit by bit.
The eyes to see the world that his handler had mentioned?
He thought that might be it.
Suddenly, Jonghyeon remembered when he first obtained this watch.
The determination to clear the dungeon and escape as quickly as possible.
What had been in the item room back then?
He had such a thought but soon stopped thinking about it.
Because information about the Red Rose Guild had appeared on the news.
「Ms. Berry, Guild Leader of the Red Rose Guild, held an official press conference today and expressed the guild’s position. That they would maintain a close relationship with Korea…」
To Jonghyeon, it sounded like they were saying they would completely monopolize the outsourcing market in Korea, so he turned off the news in disgust.
The stronger he became, the more his opponents grew as well.
Taking that into account, he had to grow even faster.
Having finished his thoughts, Jonghyeon quickly finished his meal and returned to training.
Now, he felt that if he just pushed a little further, he could manifest sword ki, even if only by 1cm.
★ ★ ★
“Dad, why are you always so negative about what I think?”
Chairman Lee was troubled by his daughter’s question.
But think about it. What father would approve when his daughter says she wants to wield a sword, join a party, and even become a Hunter who clears dungeons?
Chairman Lee could only force an awkward smile and look at Bori.
He had raised her quite willfully and preciously, so he often felt she was immature.
Still, he couldn’t get angry at his only daughter.
“Bori. Dungeons are very dangerous places. Kids who graduate from Hunter departments—in the end, only the top ten percent among them succeed. The rest are numerous people who lose their lives even in E-Rank dungeons if they make a mistake. How could I send my daughter into a party full of such people?”
“But look at this! I’m in that top ten percent! Even most of the guys at school can’t beat me!”
Bori pressed Chairman Lee as if frustrated.
Chairman Lee felt like finding the professor who gave her those grades and delivering a thrashing.
Of course, Bori’s grades were likely not a lie.
If even the disciple of his bodyguard, Yu Jinseong, had said she had a talent for the sword, then she wasn’t without talent.
It might even be a rare talent in Korea.
But as with every father’s heart, he simply couldn’t agree to sending his daughter to her death.
“Give your father a little more time to think. Bori, it’s not a matter of whether you are weak or strong. Danger always exists in dungeons, and my heart doesn’t want to push my daughter into such danger—probably every father in this world feels the same. Do you understand my heart, Bori?”
But Bori shot back at Chairman Lee with a sulky expression.
“I don’t care. If Father doesn’t agree within a month, I’ll join a party even if I have to leave home! Keep that in mind!”
With those final words, Bori slammed the door and left.
Chairman Lee stroked his chest and muttered.
“Why does that child want to kick away the chance to openly enjoy wealth and honor, rushing about in such a hurry? I’m worried, so worried.”
But Chairman Lee himself had grown up from nothing.
In his growth story—short if short, long if long—he had surely started with the same hot-blooded spirit as Bori.
So even if their directions differed, he couldn’t say he completely failed to understand her.
Even if she became a high-ranking ranker, it would be difficult to obtain wealth and honor equal to his own.
But it was also certain that wealth and honor beyond what ordinary people could enjoy would follow.
Chairman Lee had deliberately not sent Bori to a school for the wealthy so that she could live no differently from an ordinary person.
But at this very moment, regretting that was an unavoidable father’s position.
‘Yes. No matter what, if something happens to that child while I am her father, I will never be able to face my wife even in death.’
Whether she knew Chairman Lee was sighing or not, to vent her frustration, Bori went back to the training hall and practiced with the sword.
Bori’s training hall.
This training hall was a room Bori had made by clearing away the piano she had loved when she was seventeen.
As befitting a room for playing piano, the soundproofing was among the best in the mansion.
Everything she had taken an interest in, as well as joy and sorrow, she had shared in this room.
In this room, there was no worry of the sounds of Bori’s training, her crying, or her loud laughter leaking outside.
Thwack—thwack—
Innocent pieces of wood were being mercilessly beaten by Bori’s wooden sword.
Pieces of wood she had brought by cutting down trees in the garden like firewood, without her father knowing.
Bori’s hands were too rough to be called a woman’s hands.
They were pretty hands that any ordinary college student would have gotten nail art or beauty treatments for.
But on Bori’s hands, which had repeated practice after practice, band-aids were stuck instead of nail art.
Among her classmates, there wasn’t a single person, male or female, who looked down on her.
“Dad always!”
Thwack!
“Always!”
Thwack!
“ acts like that!!!”
Thwack—!
Having struck too hard, the wooden sword Bori was holding broke.
The sound of the broken wooden sword bouncing and rolling across the floor rang out, and Bori threw her halved wooden sword and sank down.
Bori wished she hadn’t been born a woman.
If she were a man, he would surely allow it.
She could no longer count how many times she had swung the wooden sword until her hands bled in order to be acknowledged.
Even so, she hated her father for not granting even the smallest permission.
With that thought, a few teardrops began to fall onto those rough hands of Bori’s.
“Sniff, sniff.”
Tears she had never once shed since her mother passed away.
Bori was more mature and stronger than her peers, but she was still just a child.
★ ★ ★
After practicing for about a week, Jonghyeon could finally pour ki into his sword.
But there were two problems.
First.
Jonghyeon’s ki was black.
This gave Jonghyeon tremendous curiosity.
‘Surely Black Dave’s sword ki was sky-blue as well.’
He couldn’t understand at first why the color of the ki differed despite learning the same type of martial art.
But after pondering for quite a long time, Jonghyeon could vaguely guess the reason.
His attribute.
‘My absurd attribute is Darkness.’
So he thought that was why his ki manifested as black.
But it was merely speculation—he couldn’t know the exact reason, and though he wondered if this would have a negative effect, Jonghyeon couldn’t find the answer.
Second.
Using sword ki was definitely possible.
However, the duration was very short.
‘Only about thirty seconds, huh.’
But this was a problem Jonghyeon was making without knowing.
If an ordinary person manifested sword ki in about three weeks, no murim martial artist would believe it.
In the martial world’s hierarchy, there were ranks like Third-Rate, Second-Rate, First-Rate, and Peak—levels for each martial art. One had to be at least First-Rate to even manifest sword ki like Jonghyeon.
Though he could only maintain it for thirty seconds, that sword ki completely covered the blade of the small sword Jonghyeon possessed.
The power of the sword ki could not be underestimated either.
He had entered Stage 5 dungeons twice during his training.
The results were from experiments on the hordes of Orcs that came out of there.
He couldn’t help but think that Stage 5 was a stage he could not yet clear.
Approximately one hundred Orcs assaulted an ‘Orb’ that Jonghyeon had to protect.
Moreover, he had to endure the assault for three days.
The Orc hordes were fearsome.
For one, each of them possessed bodies and minds specialized for combat.
‘Just taking down about a hundred already exhausted all the ki in my body.’
Of those, Jonghyeon’s thirty-second burst of sword ki had slaughtered about twenty.
But the Orc hordes did not fear death.
Meaning they felt no fear.
Even if they died, if their comrades could so much as scratch Jonghyeon, they gladly chose death.
On the first day, the number of corpses seen by Jonghyeon’s eyes was over a hundred.
He didn’t know what would happen by the third day.
‘To face a hundred, I need to be at least twice as strong as I am now.’
This wasn’t about using sword ki for one minute numerically.
The ki accumulating in his dantian.
Doubling that was one thing, but he also had to practice handling sword ki skillfully and efficiently.
‘From now on, the watch’s dungeon should be seen as a long-term project.’
Jonghyeon didn’t think he had risen to the level of B-Rank rankers yet.
His physical abilities might be close, but the B-Rank rankers in Jonghyeon’s mind were not judged by simple standards.
At minimum, when he could clear a dungeon entered by a B-Rank guild or party alone.
Only then would Jonghyeon consider himself B-Rank.
Depending on how one looked at it, it might sound ridiculous, but he had always measured himself by that standard.
‘Actually, back when Black Dave and I fought, a C-Rank and a B-Rank combined nearly died.’
Still, even if through unorthodox means rather than orthodox ones, Jonghyeon had thought of a way to obtain talismans.
He might not be able to sweep through and plunder B-Rank dungeons, but he had gained the ability to sneak in, hunt some talismans, and get out.
Having thought that far, Jonghyeon contacted Chairman Lee.
“Are you busy, Chairman?”
“Ah, yes. What is it?”
Chairman Lee’s tone had changed subtly, but Jonghyeon didn’t care.
No, he rather thought it was better if he was treated poorly.
“I wanted to know the location of the Ifrit Dungeon.”
“Oh. Have you already found a way? Remarkable. As for that information, I’ll send it to you by mail or through someone. I’m a bit busy right now.”
The voice carried expectation, and Chairman Lee’s words about being quite busy seemed to be true.
Noise could be heard around him.
Jonghyeon hadn’t planned to talk long anyway.
“Yes, understood. I’ll wait then.”
But Chairman Lee hesitated with a somewhat troubled voice.
Without pressing him, Jonghyeon waited quietly.
“Ah, right. And about you—”
It was a bit odd that he hesitated even after starting to speak.
Chairman Lee wasn’t originally the type to hesitate so often.
“Yes?”
“Ah. Never mind. Then keep up the good work.”
After the call ended, Jonghyeon fell into thought for a moment.
To make Chairman Lee so flustered. Did he have a request for me?
Jonghyeon couldn’t fathom what it could be.
‘Surely it’s not another matter regarding his daughter.’
But if he was going under Chairman Lee anyway, he would have to do it even if he didn’t want to.
Jonghyeon immersed himself in training again.
---------= Author's Afterword ---------+
I want stealth too...