Chapter 31
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Bait
There were three main types of services that brokers offered.
They introduced illegal dungeons, traded stolen goods, or helped with money laundering.
Among these, the most common transaction was fencing goods from illegal dungeons.
Trading stolen goods and money laundering weren’t easy to do for an average person but it was possible for anybody to find a dungeon.
Furthermore, finding a dungeon wasn’t difficult to do. Unlike searching for pine mushrooms or truffles, you did not need skilled professionals to identify them. Finding a dungeon that could be traded for money like the ones with trolls all depended on luck.
The problem laid in defending the dungeon after it was found.
Let’s just say that a newbie broker who entered the dungeon business managed to find a good dungeon.
Then, in order to sell that dungeon, let’s say the broker disclosed the existence of the dungeon to potential buyers.
Would they fiercely compete with one and another to get the dungeon?
Or would they go to the broker who doesn’t have much of a background and use an inexpensive tool like a punch to rob them?
Nevertheless, dungeons were never a simple treasure chest.
It was more like a bomb that monsters could break out from at any time.
‘He is not an ordinary broker.’
The moment Kim Woo-jin checked the types of dungeon Oh Se-chan possessed, Kim Woo-jin realized Oh Se-chan was not a normal person.
It was Oh Se-chan’s 2 floor A-rank dungeon that caught Kim Woo-jin’s attention more than the others.
[Albino Lizard’s Egg]
- Number of Floors: 2 Floors
- Dungeon Difficulty: A-
- Dungeon Capacity: 8 People
- Entry Condition: Must be below level 30
- Clear Condition: Obtain the Albino Lizard’s egg
- Clear Reward: A catalogue will be given to the one who hunts the Albino Lizard.
Kim Woo-jin already had knowledge and information about the dungeon.
‘I’m positive that this dungeon was cleared in the year 2025.’
It was none other than the Messiah Guild who cleared this dungeon.
Year 2025, it was when the world was in turmoil and Kim Woo-jin was now a renowned member of the Messiah Guild. The Messiah Guild was lucky enough to acquire this dungeon. After securing this dungeon, it took them four tries to obtain the Albino Lizard’s egg.
Since it was so difficult to clear it back then, Kim Woo-jin helped come up with strategies and personally trained the players involved in order to clear the dungeon.
‘Albino Lizard’s egg… it was a legendary item that the Messiah Guild kept strictly confidential.’
Furthermore, not even the guild members were told the attributes of the Albino Lizard’s egg. All they knew was that it was an amazing item that needed to be kept confidential.
Even Kim Woo-jin only knew that it was a legendary rank item, he did not know the item descriptions.
This wasn’t bizarre.
Because a countermeasure to the item could be developed if an item’s attributes were exposed, it was usually better to hide it.
Moreover, the year 2025 was a time rife with betrayal. It had become very difficult to maintain security.
Ultimately, it wasn’t safe to share the item information, even to someone who was greatly trusted.
It was because such a secret couldn’t be kept in front of skills like the Eyes of Anubis.
‘To think this dungeon appeared at this time?’
Anyway, a dungeon that the Messiah Guild cleared after a huge sacrifice was in Oh Se-chan’s hands.
‘It’s possible that Oh Se-chan sold this dungeon to the Messiah Guild… But if that were so, I would’ve known Oh Se-chan’s name.’
In other words, before Kim Woo-jin returned to the past, there was a process in which Oh Se-chan’s belongings were moved to the hands of the Messiah Guild.
‘They must have stolen it after killing him.’
It was very likely that the Messiah Guild killed Oh Se-chan and claimed the dungeon.
‘Assumptions are a taboo.’
Needless to say, it was dangerous to be certain about that.
It was dangerous to assume a prey’s whereabouts with confidence during a hunt. And that wasn’t what Kim Woo-jin needed to worry about right now.
‘I have to find a way to clear this dungeon.’
He knew that he couldn’t miss this golden opportunity.
‘But I can’t go in recklessly.’
In order to do this, Kim Woo-jin needed to be more secretive and meticulous.
‘This is a dungeon that even the Messiah Guild failed to clear four times. I have to be confident before proceeding.’
Above all, he needed enough strength to be sure he could clear this dungeon.
‘Before that, I have to get to level 20.’
Year 2023, April 22nd.
Beginning of warm weather, a perfect time for going out.
“Wake up Phoenix Guild!”
“Wake up! Wake up!”
As expected, because it was such an amazing day to go out, there were far more protesters than usual in front of the Phoenix Guild’s headquarters.
Kim Woo-jin walked into the building with the shouting behind him.
He was headed to the office of Jeong Woo-suk, the team leader of the dungeon support staff. “Oh, you are here?”
When Kim Woo-jin appeared, Jeong Woo-suk stood up and welcomed him with a smile.
“Good to see you.”
He said, pointing at the guest table where the coffee and cake were already prepared.
“Let’s sit down.”
The coffee looked to be bought from the specialty coffee shop outside, and the cake looked quite expensive as well.
It was an unusually excessive treatment.
‘It looks like someone must have schemed something.’
It was evident that Jeong Woo-suk had a problem he wanted solved.
“Yes.”
As soon as Kim Woo-jin sat down, the head of the support team Jeong Woo-suk let out a long sigh.
“I have to say I’m sorry before we begin.”
“Yes?”
Kim Woo-jin had a slightly surprised look on his face.
The head of the support team Jeong Woo-suk said with a frown on his face.
“The dungeon you requested, the application didn’t go through.”
Why?
Jeong Woo-suk continued to explain before the question was asked.
“They say it’s too dangerous. It’s nothing else, it’s dangerous for you to enter the dungeon alone, which people have already failed once.”
The reason itself was appropriate.
“No matter how much people say that guilds do not care about their players, we can’t just watch them walk into the jaws of death, can we?”
Guilds were not stupid.
Although they couldn’t prevent players from dying in the dungeons due to their lack of skill, they would prevent players from entering a dungeon if they thought there was a very high likelihood of resulting in their deaths.
In that sense, Kim Woo-jin’s behavior was very dangerous, as Jeong Woo-suk said.
“And you aren’t a regular player now, right?”
Most of all, Kim Woo-jin was no longer an ordinary player in the Phoenix Guild.
Foremost, Kim Woo-jin showed impressive results several times.
His level now reached two digits, and soon neared level 20.
In the world of players, reaching level 20 gave the person right to clear a 2 floor dungeon. “You’re a player who came back alive from that A+ rank dungeon where as many as 31 people died.”
Ultimately, he had an experience of clearing an A+ rank dungeon as well.
From the perspective of the Phoenix Guild, it was natural to be worried about Kim Woo-jin’s well-being.
They couldn’t just allow him to enter the jaws of death alone.
“Establish a party.”
In other words, he needed more people to join the dungeon with him.
“Or you need to find someone to go in with you.”
It didn’t even have to be a party, he needed someone who would at least prevent him from carrying all the risks alone.
“But aren’t you aware of my circumstances?”
The problem was that Kim Woo-jin’s reputation was not very good within the Phoenix Guild. “Who would go into the dungeon with me?”
If Kim Woo-jin were to look for parties, most of the players would refuse.
Not everyone would refuse.
However, not many players would gather and it would be hard to find talented players whom Kim Woo-jin would be pleased with.
“So therefore…”
Jeong Woo-suk, the head of the support team, told him his alternative plan.
“Do you mind hunting with people from other guilds?”
At such a suggestion, Kim Woo-jin couldn’t help but ridicule within.
“He bit the bait.”
When attempting to clear a dungeon, most players would attempt to do so with players in their guild.
However, that wasn’t always the case.
Under certain circumstances, there were cases where a player would try to clear it with players from other guilds.
The problem was that most instances of it had pretty bad results.
It was because talented players with good character did not have trouble finding colleagues in a guild to clear dungeons with.
In other words, most of the players who looked for teammates from other guilds were either below average in skill, had personality issues, or repeatedly had abysmal results.
That was the case with this dungeon.
[Hobgoblin Cave Cleaning]
- Number of Dungeon Floor: 1 Floor
- Dungeon Difficulty: B- Rank
- Dungeon Capacity: 19 People
- Entry Condition: Must be below level 20
- Clear Condition: Kill 444 hobgoblins hiding within their cave!
- Clear Reward: The person who kills the most hobgoblins will be given a catalogue along with an achievement.
Hobgoblin Cave dungeon.
After failing to clear the same dungeon twice in a row, the Phoenix Guild opened up the dungeon to players from the other guilds.
And now, 19 people were gathered.
Players who have never met each other were gathered at one spot.
Of course, self-introductions began.
“I will warn you guys beforehand, if you interfere with our hunt, I’ll just kill you so crawl around on your own.”
“Spouting bullshit.”
“What? What’s your level, you son of a bitch?”
“Why? Are you going to look away like nothing happened if I’m higher level than you? Huh?” “Both of you shut up. My fucking head already hurts cause I drank too much.”
Self-introduction that couldn’t be more perfect.
“Hey! Let’s have a fight once we are in the dungeon!”
“Instead, why don’t we turn on the private broadcast here and fight right now? How about it?”
They even looked impatient to show off each other’s skills.
Of course, Kim Woo-jin didn’t pay much attention to this scene.
His eyes were focused on the profiles of each player he received from the dungeon support team. Frankly, none of their profiles were great.
No special dungeons cleared, no experience clearing dungeons alone, nor experience clearing high rank dungeons.
‘They’re a bunch of nuisances.’
Instead, they often had criminal records.
Drunk driving was a norm, speeding was an everyday occurrence, and there were even players who were suspended for attempted rape.
If not for the fact that they were players, they wouldn’t even be here; they would have been in prison.
‘They are the types of people that guilds won’t really care about even if they died.’
Needless to say, if these players died in the middle of a dungeon, their guilds wouldn’t put much effort into investigating the reason for their deaths.
When he came to such a conclusion, Kim Woo-jin’s eyes turned to 3 players in a corner.
‘Skull Guild.’
There were 3 players from the Skull Guild.
They also had no special record.
‘They’ve often done this kind of dungeon.’
If the fact that they usually cleared the dungeons that were opened in this way was special, their record would be very special.
That was all.
After all, the really important information, such as the legendary items owned by a player or the fact that a player returned to the past from the future with a vast amount of experience and knowledge intact, would never be recorded.
‘They’re player hunters.’
The number of players who died to player hunters in a cleared dungeon would never be recorded.
Still, Kim Woo-jin was certain.
‘I’m sure their target is me.’
That those three players were after him.
There was no need to think into it too deeply.
The Skull Guild must have been overturned by the Orc Champion dungeon.
After that, they would have felt the need to investigate what happened and deal with the unknown variables.
During that time, if they had a chance to take part in a dungeon with Kim Woo-jin, who had participated in the dungeon, it was only natural for them to take the opportunity.
‘It must have been Park Yong-wan who handed out the rice cake.’
Furthermore, he was certain Park Yong-wan was the one who had set this up.
Jeong Woo-sik, the head of the support team, must have been pressured by Park Yong-wan to put Kim Woo-jin in such a dungeon.
To lure the Skull Guild, he used Kim Woo-jin as bait to create the stage.
‘That traitor must have gotten some evidence.’
In other words, Park Yong-wan has begun to question the Skull Guild in earnest.
That was why Kim Woo-jin was here.
“We will be entering the dungeon!”
And it was also why Kim Woo-jin went into the dungeon without any hesitation.
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