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Chapter 8
“Kkeupp?”
A question mark was plastered all over the Mad Bear’s expression after swallowing Kang Shin-hwa’s saliva.
Perhaps it was because he had roared too courageously.
The moment he swallowed the saliva, his tongue began to go numb, and as it passed through his esophagus, he felt his entire body stiffen like ice.
Just as Kang Shin-hwa had guessed, this Mad Bear was indeed the gatekeeper guarding Magos’s residence.
The only command filling his mind was to execute any intruder.
Both Magos and Mad Bear were creatures who had been entangled in an unknown force from the Nass continent and brought to this place.
Though they didn’t know the circumstances, they had been thrown into a new world and were quietly recovering their strength.
But then an intruder appeared.
The uninvited guest who had appeared two years ago had already been torn apart and killed by Mad Bear.
However, this time was different.
The moment he swallowed the intruder’s saliva, Mad Bear felt something was wrong.
“Heut…”
With a deflating sound, the arms that were about to roughly grab Kang Shin-hwa’s head drooped.
Strength drained from head to toe.
Except for blinking, he was in a state where nothing could move.
Swish. Swish.
Kang Shin-hwa, who had approached in front of Mad Bear, stroked its head. Just like handling a pet.
“You were quite resilient. No matter how hard I punched you, you never thought of dying.”
Reminiscing about old memories, Kang Shin-hwa quickly extended his right arm.
And he released an intense heat that seemed like the entire arm would melt, turning it bright red.
The heat was as significant as a metal just pulled out of a furnace, but the person’s expression remained calm.
Blink. Blink-blink.
The massive Mad Bear kept only blinking. Its paralyzed body was helpless.
“At a glance, you seem to be around C-rank. In ten years, you would become an SSS-rank monster, right?”
The memories were vivid.
The scene of awakened individuals being crushed like mosquitoes with every clap.
Among those victims was a colleague with whom Kang Shin-hwa had shared a deep bond.
‘Father Choi.’
A colleague more often called ‘Father Choi’ instead of his real name, Ji-hyeok Choi.
A debuffer skilled in curse and necromancy who was incredibly compatible with Kang Shin-hwa.
Yet, he lost Father Choi right before his eyes in a moment of carelessness, to this very creature in his previous life.
“Because I saw you again, I remembered someone I desperately wanted to save. I’ll kill you and save that person.”
Kang Shin-hwa still gripped the fur on the Mad Bear’s head, which continued blinking without understanding.
A C-rank monster.
To instantly eliminate this creature requires B-rank or higher firepower.
And Kang Shin-hwa had an instantaneous firepower that could make this possible.
The next moment.
“Haaa!”
With a battle cry, Kang Shin-hwa roughly scraped the Mad Bear’s neck with his heated right arm.
Though the Mad Bear’s neck was as thick as a utility pole…
Swaaak!
Kang Shin-hwa’s arm heated with high temperature sliced through the Mad Bear’s neck, instantly melting flesh and bone before cutting through by sheer force.
Thud. Thud-thud. Thud.
The Mad Bear’s head flew off in an arc.
Its gaze, unable to even close its eyes, remained fixed on Kang Shin-hwa.
A futile end that was a far cry from its reputation as the ‘Mountain King’ and ferocious hunter in the Nass continent.
“Ow, it’s hot!”
Simultaneously, Kang Shin-hwa shook off his right arm due to the intense pain and stopped the modification.
Because he hadn’t yet modified his entire arm and hand, the talent’s duration wasn’t very long.
If it had lasted just five more seconds, he would have been contemplating how to live as a left-handed person.
“Shall I have a quick meal before entering?”
He was conveniently hungry.
He needed time to cook the heart extracted from Mad Bear’s corpse. He also needed to recover the magical power he had consumed.
He had cooked extensively in his previous life.
His Nine Lord colleagues had even praised his cooking skills as being at max level.
Kang Shin-hwa, a gourmet, had always enjoyed cooking monster meat.
If prepared well, the meat could be more delicious than expensive beef.
“The heart will definitely be tough, so I’ll use the secretion collected from the saw blade mantis’s internal organs. That should do it.”
Kang Shin-hwa immediately started preparing to light a fire, having instantly conceived a recipe.
A wild meal.
For Kang Shin-hwa, who had experienced everything, this was just one of his very ordinary meal patterns.
* * *
30 minutes later.
At the dungeon entrance, So Jung-hyun, who had been having a drinking party with porters, met a personnel who arrived at the scene.
A person fully armed in an enhanced suit – essentially in combat gear.
All-black coordination.
Short black hair.
An impressive woman with cold, brownish gleaming eyes.
“Are you Team Leader So Jung-hyun?”
She asked after verifying So Jung-hyun’s identity through prior investigation.
So Jung-hyun nodded and checked the nameplate on her left chest.
<Korean Awakened Association
Seoul Branch, 7th Team
Dungeon Management Department Team Leader Yun Byeol-i>
“Ah, you’re from Team 7 in charge of Guro, Sindorim, and Yeongdeungpo area. What a beauty! Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Unlike the gentle So Jung-hyun, Yun Byeol-i’s expression was icy cold.
“I want to take over the dungeon raid license for tomorrow…”
“Just a moment. Let me first check the remaining personnel.”
Before So Jung-hyun could finish speaking, Yun Byeol-i moved among the awakened individuals to check personnel.
While veteran management office employees often casually swap procedural steps…
Yun Byeol-i, who had been appointed as team leader not long ago, processed everything strictly by the book.
Finally, after completing the personnel check, she saw the only unchecked name.
[Judgment Rank: F-rank]
[Registered Occupation: Porter]
[Kang Shin-hwa]
Seeing Yun Byeol-i tilt her head, So Jung-hyun immediately added,
“He said he want to explore the dungeon. He was curious about a place that would make KSA recommend stopping the attack.”
“So you told him to go in?”
“He’s an Awakener with free will, what could we do? I mentioned the prior notice and responsibility.”
“No matter what, this is basically just going to die, right? How long was he in there?”
“It must have been over an hour. Everyone gathered at 9 o’clock.”
“KSA upgraded the K-848 dungeon from D-rank to C-rank today. Even as a C-rank myself, I can’t guarantee survival, so how could you just send in an F-rank porter?”
“I told you, it was Kang Shin-hwa’s own free will.”
“Good grief…”
Yun Byeol-i blushed
In fact, Awakener dying in dungeons was a frequent occurrence. Nothing special, nothing unusual.
But it wasn’t particularly pleasant to have a death occur in a place that had recommended stopping the attack.
Because during the internal investigation of the dungeon, they would also need to find traces of the deceased.
And collecting a body torn to pieces by monsters was a task that never became easier, no matter how many times one did it.
“A C-rank dungeon would require at least five D-rank Awakened just to smoothly clear the entrance…”
Her expression darkened.
Death seemed a foregone conclusion.
If he had tried to escape, he would have fled long ago. He wouldn’t have been delayed for an hour.
“What do you know! Why are you so concerned about someone who went in and died because of his own curiosity?”
“That’s right! KSA, who usually doesn’t care about porters’ welfare, suddenly cares?”
The Seoul branch director had said that previous leaders had handled things poorly.
Looking at the porters’ reactions now, it seemed exactly so.
The basic premise that porters and attack teams were all Awakener seemed to have been ignored by the seniors.
“I will apologize for that. If there was anything unpleasant, I sincerely apologize.”
“Hmph…”
With no sharp retort and immediately becoming submissive, the porters could no longer continue speaking and just emptied their soju glasses.
They needed to start the investigation.
She came here alone because she was a C-rank Awakener with excellent concealment abilities.
Her calculation was that she could investigate alone without the need for multiple people to complicate things.
“I’ll find out whether Kang Shin-hwa is dead, missing, or still alive. Good work.”
“The license?”
“Here. The license for the K-4885 dungeon in Cheorwon. I had to search far to find the most similar conditions.”
“It’s not just a bit far, this is…”
So Jung-hyun made a troubled expression, but looking at the documents enclosed with the license, it seemed okay.
In fact, KSA might have been considerate, as the attack difficulty was relatively low.
Swish. Swish.
Eventually, Yun Byeol-i picked up two daggers from her chest.
Her dagger artifacts, each priced at over 10 billion won, were B-rank artifacts.
“Wow!”
Exclamations burst from all around.
It was as if she was holding an entire building in each hand.
But just then.
Boom! Crash! Roooar!
“…?”
A sudden explosion erupted from the dungeon entrance.
Simultaneously, the ground shook, and black smoke rose from the point of the explosion.
“What, what’s going on?”
Confused porters hurriedly stepped back.
They wondered if a dimensional gate had suddenly opened and monsters were pouring out, but that wasn’t the case.
“This is an exit dimensional gate?”
The one who quickly recognized the nature of the dimensional gate was none other than Yun Byeol-i.
It was an exit dimensional gate right next to the entrance of the K-848 dungeon.
Which meant.
The boss monster or key monster at the core of this dungeon had been conquered.
“No way…”
Yun Byeol-i walked toward the dimensional gate with a faint hope.
They had said only one person entered this dungeon.
The F-rank porter, Kang Shin-hwa.
Aside from his porter activity history, there was nothing else written about him – just an ordinary Awakener.
The next moment,
A man burst through the dimensional gate.
“Phew! Whew! Ow, it’s hot! Magos, you bastard! How much did you struggle before dying? I almost had my hair burned off. Phew!”
It was Kang Shin-hwa, wearing clothes reduced to rags, completely burned by Magos’s fierce flames.
“This is… Impossible…”
Everyone’s gaze, which had been fixed on the dimensional gate, was soon filled with shock and bewilderment.
The dungeon that a four-person Awakener attack team of average D-rank had considered impossible and given up on.
This F-rank Awakened had single-handedly cleared it and returned!
“Ah, th-this, this can’t be…”
Yun Byeol-i, known as the ‘Ice Princess’ who rarely gets flustered, stammered four times.
The impossible.
It’s absolutely unbelievable.
Happening right before their eyes!
The protagonist of this miracle was none other than the F-rank porter, Kang Shin-hwa.
Hi guys, please check out the second novel I am translating “Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad“
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