Chapter 26: Turning Misfortune into Blessing (1)

This item cannot be analyzed by the analyzer.

An unidentifiable item?

“Manager Mi, what’s going on here?”

“You ‘wonder’?”

Isn’t the Status Manager being awfully irresponsible?

Manager Mi, noticing my gaze, quickly replied, “O-Occasionally, items not registered in our database are discovered.”

“So, it’s an incredibly rare item?”

“Mostly! Such items cannot be analyzed using the Status Window’s functions alone.”

Understood.

There’s no reason to dwell on this any longer.

After all, eliminating the Lich had taken longer than expected.

I immediately opened the Parsley Market through my Status Window.

Writing a temporary sale post.

Even if I’m not a seller, I can still draft temporary posts like this.

I push the Lich’s hand bones, heart, and staff into a small crack that appeared beneath the Status Window.

After neatly tucking in the jet-black crystal as the final item,

I saved the temporary sale post.

“Don’t start spouting third-rate villain lines just because you think it’s the right moment.”

With a snort, I check the navigation again to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

The dungeon map shows no further points of interest.

Still, it’s a more than satisfactory haul.

Except for one thing.

I stare at the neatly piled remains of Sacred Relics, a regretful expression on my face as I lick my lips.

“Ah, it’s such a shame I couldn’t get essence stones because it’s a summoned beast.”

“Hyung, Taejun!”

Thud!

“Ugh.”

As I entered the boss room, the first thing that greeted me was a pair of bulging, meaty arms enveloping me in a suffocating hug.

“Hyung, I was so worried! You went into that hole and didn’t come out for ages… Did you finally defeat the Lich?!”

“Y-yeah… Could you loosen your grip? I can’t breathe.”

“Ah, my apologies, Hyung! I was just so relieved you made it back safely…”

Junhyun awkwardly released me, a sheepish look on his face.

Only then could I escape the suffocating embrace of his fleshy prison.

Beside me, Kang Gun’s pale face dipped into a bow, and Choi Jinho, supporting him, asked in a daze, “Lee Taejun, you defeated the Lich by yourself?”

“Not exactly. I found the Lich’s hidden Sacred Relic chamber and destroyed it. It was a close call.”

“But how did you even manage to find…”

However, he must have realized it wasn’t the time for such talk. Choi Jinho cleared his throat and said, “You were lucky.”

Oh, still being an asshole to the end.

But surprisingly, he didn’t stop there.

“It’s fortunate you returned unharmed, anyway.”

”?”

“Because if you had ended up crippled or something, it would have been a hassle for me too. That’s why I said it was fortunate. No other meaning.”

He rushed to mumble the words and awkwardly averted his gaze.

Still an asshole to the end, I knew it.

And suddenly…

Tap-tap.

Someone tapped me on the back.

“Ah, um…”

It was Yoo Se-rin.

Her face was pale from draining her mana to its limits, and her silver hair was disheveled, resembling a tangled mess.

But she seemed far more composed than when the Lich had first appeared.

She looked at me and quickly lowered her head.

“Thank you. If it hadn’t been for Taejun oppa…”

“You’ve done a great job, Yoo Se-rin, Hunter.”

“I, and I’m truly sorry for acting rudely before the evaluation.”

“It’s fine. More importantly…”

He patted Serine’s shoulder and moved to leave, continuing, “It was admirable to see you regain your composure and give your all until the end. Cheongyeon was right to place their expectations on you.”

“Ah, that was all thanks to Taejun oppa.”

Yoo Se-rin seemed eager to say more.

Rumble!

Just then, the entrance to the boss room swung open.

“Let’s move out first.”

Confirming the open entrance, Choi Jinho supported Kang Gun and led the way.

I followed behind them.

But as soon as we stepped out of the boss room,

we had to halt immediately.

“Huh… Hyung, there are people here.”

The starting point of the dungeon, which split into twelve branching paths,

was filled with a dozen or so figures.

“Hunters?”

My gaze swept over the dozen or so people filling the cave, excluding Choi Jinho and the 4 trillion won.

Most of them were hunters.

The phosphorescent rock cast a harsh light on their hunter suits, illuminating them with a stark, dry glow.

So, they’re the emergency standby team dispatched from the Hunter Union headquarters.

Every hunter’s eyes were fixed on us.

Among them, I recognized a familiar face: Joo Minsuk, his expression a mix of relief and awkwardness.

But my gaze moved past him, focusing on two particularly conspicuous figures.

“Hmph.”

The tall, muscular man radiated an aura reminiscent of a tiger. Towering two heads above the other hunters, he glared down at me with imposing menace.

”…”

The woman in a suit exuded a languid, almost sleepy air, as if she might drift into a sweet slumber at any moment. Catching my eye, she lazily waved a hand in greeting.

I knew these two well.

Matthew, the leader of Hwarang, one of the three great hunter guilds.

Seo Yeon-hwa, the representative of Cheongyeon, a uniquely support-focused guild ranked fourth in the hierarchy.

The most renowned S-rank hunters in Korea were staring down at me.

“Master…”

Kang Gun spoke first.

But before he could finish, Matthew interrupted, his voice like thunder.

“Kang Gun.”

Kang Gun’s face registered momentary incomprehension.

But as he saw Matthew’s tiger-like eyes fixed on me, he hurriedly opened his mouth to speak.

“Master, Hunter Taejun—!”

“KANG GUN—!”

A lion’s roar filled the cavern.

My entire body jolted as if struck by lightning.

Overwhelmed by the terrifying pressure, everyone froze in fear except for Seo Yeon-hwa, who stood calmly, her expression unchanged.

“I told you to get away from him immediately!”

“Serine.”

Before Matthew could finish speaking, a gentle voice followed.

“Come here too.”

Seo Yeon-hwa.

Unlike the others, who were overwhelmed by Matthew’s presence, she beckoned Yoo Se-rin with a serene expression.

“Yeonha Unni, this person is…!”

“Come here.”

“Unni…”

Yoo Se-rin stared at Seo Yeon-hwa with pleading eyes, but soon, with an expression of resignation, she slowly walked toward her.

“I apologize, Taejun Hunter. If I persist here, it will only provoke Master.” Kang Gun spoke through clenched teeth.

“It’s alright. Go and get treated first,” I replied quietly, nodding my head.

I had already fully grasped the situation.

Besides this, ever since our confrontation, I had one more thing to worry about—something that could be the crucial key to reversing this situation.

”…I’m sorry.”

With that, Kang Gun stepped forward toward Matthew and the allied headquarters members.

Thud!

Matthew, who had been staring fixedly at me, took a step forward.

His presence is overwhelming.

He hadn’t even enveloped himself in Mana or used any skills, yet with each step he took toward me, an oppressive force crashed over me like a descending mountain.

But when Matthew was only about five steps away from me—

Tap.

Someone blocked his path.

“What’s gotten into you, Commander Matthew?”

”…Who are you?”

To his surprise, it was Choi Jinho.

His face, pale and haggard, was clearly overwhelmed by Matthew’s oppressive presence. But Choi Jinho managed to stand his ground and answer.

“I’m Choi Jinho of the Bicheon Guild. I’m serving as the mentor for Group 4 in this B-rank assessment.”

“Ah, so you were the mentor. The idiot who couldn’t figure out the dungeon was rigged and just stood there like a fool, letting Goonie get half-crippled before finally acting.”

Honestly, Choi Jinho felt wronged. The Federation headquarters, fearing information leaks, rarely shared assessment details with the mentors beforehand. He was merely caught up in the situation.

”…I apologize.”

But he bit his lip and lowered his head. “This is all my fault for failing to anticipate the circumstances.”

“Then get lost. I have business with the bastard who caused this mess.”

Matthew glared at me again.

Choi Jinho spoke, his voice flustered. “Leader of Hwarang, Hunter Lee Taejun is not the one who manipulated the Demon Sealing Cave.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Why would you even suspect such a thing?”

“Oh, right. You said you belong to Bicheon too, didn’t you?”

“T-that’s correct.”

Matthew’s gaze swept across Choi Jinho, Kim Junhyun (paralyzed by Matthew’s murderous aura), and then me.

“Heh, I see. The mentor belongs to the current Bicheon Guild, and these two are former members. Got it.”

Matthew grinned, baring his fangs. “I don’t know where Bicheon ranks among these vermin guilds, but their leader sure has some nerve.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’m talking about how you tried to sabotage the rank-up exam by targeting the rookies from Cheongyeon and Hwarang.”

“Are you suggesting… that all of this was orchestrated by our guild?”

“Frankly, I can’t think of any other explanation.”

Seo Yeon-hwa spoke next.

“If we combine the streaming broadcasts from the start of the exam until the boss room key was acquired, and the circumstances we’ve gathered through AGMS after the stream cut out…”

She continued in a soft voice, “The Demon Sealing Cave boss has been replaced with a Lich, and the Thousand-Year White Snakes have become far stronger, subservient to the Lich. So it’s understandable that Goonie and Serine struggled. In fact, that’s the normal outcome.”

Seo Yeon-hwa’s gaze shifted to me and Junhyun.

Then, continuing with a prosecutorial tone, she said,

“But you didn’t struggle, did you? On the contrary, you cleared the dungeon with astonishing ease, hunting monsters without breaking a sweat. Even though the dungeon had been restored to be far more complex than before, you never lost your way once.”

Though publicly kept secret, Matthew and Seo Yeon-hwa must surely know…

…that I was just a porter until a month ago.

…that I’m still only a D-rank Hunter.

Yet here I am, clearing dungeons with such ludicrous ease.

“Because of that, we couldn’t simply barge in and protest during the assessment.”

Rushing in blindly to halt the exam outright was equally impractical.

“We couldn’t be certain if some catastrophic anomaly had occurred within the dungeon, or if the Assessment Management Bureau had merely raised the difficulty for discernment purposes. What if our children were struggling due to their poor condition?”

Seo Yeon-hwa continued quietly.

“But when the broadcast was cut off and the Lich’s Mana was detected inside the dungeon, it became clear the evaluation had been manipulated.”

“And according to the last reading on the AGMS, it seems you took down that Lich all by yourself, without any assistance.”

Matthew glared directly at me, his voice a guttural growl.

“A mere porter just a month ago, soaring through a rigged dungeon—and you even took down a boss monster that had been replaced? All on your own?”

“Chief, that’s—!”

“Shut your mouth, you piece of trash who can’t even fulfill your mentoring role properly. Anyway, if I could, I’d rip out your action cam right now to see exactly how you annihilated that Lich.”

Matthew’s piercing gaze landed on my shattered action cam.

“Seeing the state you’re in, it’s impossible to tell if you truly defeated the Lich, or if you’re just pretending to have dispelled and destroyed it.”

”…”

“Now that you’re in this predicament, do you still think you can deny it?”

Their suspicion of me was justified.

If I were in their shoes, I might not have confronted me so crudely as Matthew had, but I would undoubtedly have considered me a suspect.

Yet I remained silent.

Not yet. The timing wasn’t right.

“Right. You’re cornered now, too ashamed to even try to deny it.”

Matthew, baring his fangs, roughly shoved Choi Jinho aside.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Choi Jinho staggered sideways with a groan and collapsed.

As Matthew turned to approach me again…

Crunch!

”?!”

This time, ice crystals sprouted from beneath his feet, gripping his ankles.

Matthew stared down in disbelief, then slowly turned around.

“What is this nonsense now, Seo Yeon-hwa?”

“It wasn’t my doing.”

Yoo Se-rin.

She was extending her ice-crystal-covered hand toward Matthew, her lips pale and trembling from mana exhaustion as she bit down on them.

“What do you think you’re doing, kid?”

“Hwarang Captain, please reconsider.”

“Hah.”

“Hunter Taejun isn’t capable of such a thing. You’re misunderstanding him.”

“Seo Yeon-hwa, get that brat out of here now.”

Seo Yeon-hwa shrugged in reply. “I don’t roughhouse with my children. If she won’t listen to words, there’s nothing I can do.”

“The two of you are a real pain in the neck.”

Matthew scoffed derisively.

Crack.

The sound of ice cracking.

His foot broke free from its icy prison with surprising ease.

But in that instant—

Crack!

The ice crystals surged upward with renewed ferocity, clamping onto his ankle once more.

“Captain, please, I beg you! He fought the Lich harder than anyone else! Check our action cams—you’ll see it recorded everything, even after the broadcast cut off!”

“Did you see it, kid?”

“Huh?”

“Did you witness him personally annihilating the Lich?”

”…W-well, about that…”

Yoo Se-rin’s face turned pale once more.

Despite her lips remaining tightly sealed, she refused to release the ice crystals that gripped her ankle.

Drip.

Blood trickled from her nose.

Her face, long past pale, now possessed an ashen, bloodless quality.

A side effect of mana exhaustion.

To be honest, I never expected that idiot or Choi Jinho to go to such lengths to protect me.

But thanks to them…

“Ha, what a mess this has become.”

Just as Matthew let out a dry laugh and was about to shatter the ice crystals with brute force,

I seized the perfect moment.

The perfect moment to turn this entire situation around.