I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 88

Chapter 88

88 . Spoils of the Unknown Dungeon

Jong Ho continued the call while looking at me, who had just exited the dungeon .

Seems that he was quite worried .

His face was red, tears streaming down his face .

Holding back the tears, Jong Ho spoke .

“Yes . We’ll be there in an hour or two, missus . ”

-Hey . Min-Cheol would be disappointed .

“Haha . No, it was Min-Cheol who wants to return . ”

-Is that so? That boy… It’s a rare occasion for him to go on a vacation, so why isn’t he having fun before coming back… If that’s the case, come over and eat breakfast before you go . Mr . Ho Jin is with you as well, right?

“Yes . We’ll all come back together, missus . We’ll see you then . ”

-Please do . I’ll make lots of delicious food . Take care on the way home .

“Yes! Understood!”

Ho Jin’s face was filled with a smile .

Yelling aloud in a way unique to him, he spread his arms as he came towards me .

Normally, Ho Jin didn’t express his emotions much other than a hearty laughter .

This is probably best expression of happiness he could give .

Hugging me close, he patted my back .

“Thank you . Thanks . ”

“… . . ”

“You’ve been through a lot . ”

“No worries . But was that call with my mother?”

Jong Ho was speechless .

“……”

“But Mr . Min-Cheol, what happened? For 9 hours… . ”

“Ah . I’ll explain it all as we go . Sorry for worrying you all . ”

“Seeing that you’re okay is enough . Thank goodness . All we can do is apologize for being unable to do anything but worry for you . ”

Wiping away the tears, Jong Ho opened his mouth .

“You okay?”

“Of course! I’m fine . Did you worry that I might have died?”

“Not at all . I was just annoyed because I got hungry while waiting for you . ”

“Today the marks the day I learned that hyung-nim cries when he’s hungry . ”

“That’s because Ho Jin hyung-nim accidentally poked me in the eyes before… . . ”

“Sure, sure . Also, I have the be the one to bash on your fashion sense, so how could I go on dying?”

“Little runt… You’ve been through a lot . ”

“Sorry . And thank you, hyung . ”

“Ew . Gross… Let’s go quickly . Your mother is probably waiting . ”

“Let’s do that, Mr . Min-Cheol . You’re probably tired, so please get in quick . ”

“Then let’s talk as we go . ”

We went aboard Jong Ho’s car .

It would be easier to travel via Warp, but the car that Jong Ho brought would be left behind .

The real reason was to talk about what happened inside the dungeon with these two though .

The one to start up that conversation again was Ho Jin .

“So how were you able to stay in the dungeon for 9 hours?”

“Before the dungeon evaporated, I finished the fight with Ghost within an hour . ”

“Right . That’s obvious . So what happened during those other 8 hours?”

It was then .

Jong Ho, who was quietly driving responded in surprise .

“Hey! Min-Cheol, is it perhaps… perhaps that?”

“Yes, that’s right . The Unknown Dungeon opened . ”

“Ho… The Unknown Dungeon? So it’s true that you have to sacrifice lives in order to have it open?”

“Yes, I think so . After taking down all of Ghost’s subordinates, a gate formed next to the exit . ”

“By God… . ”

“So you’re telling me that you cleared the Unknown Dungeon and left it?”

“That’s right . ”

“In only 8 hours?”

“I already told you so . This is the proof . ”

I pointed at the duffle bag that was filled to the brim, as well as the loot that was filling up nearly half of the rear passenger seats .

Despite being in the middle of driving, Jong Ho quickly looked behind him to check .

Ho Jin, on the other hand, had turned his entire body around to stare .

That was right . The duffle bag had been filled by the avatars .

I thought they were just playing in the mud .

One of them who had ignored my command and left had returned with the duffle bag, filled to the brim .

Despite being shrunken to the size of a fist, its strength was still the same .

It was quite an endearing sight to see it carry the bag that was many times bigger in size than it .

On top of that, all the items in the bag were gems .

“Wow . You’re insane . Insane . ”

“Aren’t you curious as to know what is in here?”

“What is it? Explain it to us . ”

“Hey . That wouldn’t be fun then . ”

“Hey! But I can’t pull over in the middle of the road . ”

“That’s why you should hurry home . Move, move!”

“We probably wouldn’t die even if we did get into a crash, but if my favorite model, the White Fiancee, gets hurt… . ”

“That’s just way too much . ”

“It’s my first vroom . ”

“Garbage car . ”

Teasing Jong Ho didn’t last long .

Ho Jin, who was staring at me, spoke up .

“But Mr . Min-Cheol . ”

“Yes?”

“It feels as though you’ve changed in the last few hours . ”

“What has?”

“Maybe your presence… . . I feel as though you’ve grown or something . ”

“Huh? Really? I don’t feel anything . Hyung, do you think so too?”

“I’m not too sure? But if there is one thing I’m sure of… . ”

“What is it? What has changed from before?”

“You’ve become a little bit more uglier than before . ”

“… . Do you really have to make fun of me like that! Old man . Old man, leave the car . If you don’t want to die… . . ”

Almost as if the bloody fight hadn’t occurred, I was quoting the lines of a movie to joke about .

Perhaps he missed those jokes, because he was laughing more than usual .

“Pfft . Ahahahaha! Yeah . This is it . You absolutely cannot die before me, Min-Cheol . ”

****

It didn’t take long to arrive at my house .

Parking the car, we exited .

Out of the three, Jong Ho and Ho Jin were out of it .

They seemed to have lost half their minds .

Even as they walked, they continued to say the same words .

“30,000… . ”

“30,000 stats… . ”

“Hyung-nim . He said 30,000 stats . ”

“Yeah . 30,000 stats… Hoho . 30,000… . . ”

“Please wipe that drool on your face . ”

“Hoho . Drooling… 30,000 stats . ”

The reason was this .

When we almost arrived at the house, I told them about the stats that I had obtained through the Butcher’s Sword .

30,000 points of stats, which could be achieved through 6,000 level ups .

It was obvious why they were in a daze .

Only after entering the house and meeting my mother did they stop repeating themselves .

“We’re back . ”

“Hello, Min-Cheol’s mother . ”

“Hello missus . You’re beautiful as ever . ”

“Ohoho . Please come in . ”

“Oh . Smells good . What’s the menu?”

“Son!”

“Hm?”

“It’s rare for you to go on vacation, so why didn’t you play some more before coming back! You could’ve made some good memories . Mother wants you to start enjoying life . ”

“Memories? Haha… That’s right… Memories… Let’s all go together next time to have fun . ”

“Yes, alright . You’re all hungry, right?”

“Missus, I’m always a hungry kid inside . ”

“Hoho… . . ”

“Please wash your hands first . The stew is almost done boiling . ”

“Yep!”

****

The breakfast after all that suffering was delicious .

Finishing my meal with mother, she left the house due to to previous engagements she had to attend to .

I confirmed my mother leaving from the veranda and then headed towards Jong Ho’s car .

It was to bring in the duffle bag and all the loot .

Of course, mother wasn’t against me hunting . However, I did not wish her to see all these items that were soaked in blood .

Since the weapons and armors were fairly large in size, only three of them filled up my arms .

It just came to me now, but I wondered how I was able to bring all these items out with me .

I poured all the items down on the living room floor .

After that, I briefly entered my room to fetch something before coming back into the living room .

Jong Ho and Ho Jin were busily looking through the loot .

In front of them, I put down the Blood’s Craving .

Each their own weapon, that is .

I spoke to them, both of whom were staring at me .

“Presents . ”

“Huh?”

“Testing us the moment you return, huh . ”

“Just wear them for now . ”

Looking at one another, they stood up and put on the armor .

“What the . There are no stats on this?”

“It’s the same with mine . ”

“That’s normal . ”

The Blood’s Craving armor did not have any stats at the start .

However, after taking down 100 monsters, it would allow the user to raise a single stat .

Jong Ho, who was tapping on the armor, spoke .

“Is this a toy?”

“You said that you were hunting ghouls as of late?”

“Yes . That’s right . ”

“Yep . ”

“Roughly 500 or so come out, right?”

“Probably, I think?”

“From now on, put this on as you hunt . ”

“… Mr . Min-Cheol, there are no stats on this armor . ”

“You’re able to raise 1 stat point every 100 monsters . Any stat you want . ”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

“I’m saying that if you clear the level 23 ghoul dungeon once, it’s like you leveled up once . ”

“Wow… This must be very expensive . ”

Listening to what I had to say, Jong Ho and Ho Jin immediately took off the armor and then put them down in front of me .

‘Of course . There’s no way these stubborn guys would just take them so easily . ’

“Mister . ”

“Yes?”

“You apologized that you weren’t of any help, right?”

“Yes… . That’s right . ”

“Hyung-nim . ”

“Yeah?”

“You probably thought of that too . ”

“Well… . :”

“Are you two going to be like that even as we go further?”

“… . . ”

“… . . ”

“Are you two going to only worry and regret . If not, take these and become stronger, so you can be of help to me . We’re on the same team . That’s why if you two become stronger, it is good for me too . ”

“Yeah… During the confrontation with Ghost, I felt a lot . I felt despair in myself when I wasn’t of any use to you . While I waited for you to come back out alive… I wondered if time ever passed like this before . If something happens again, I’m not going to send you alone again . ”

“Same with me . ”

“Hu hu . It’s settled then . Now shall we open up the other presents?”

The next thing I was going to give them were swords .

These two have been sharing the Banwol Jincheon I gave them .

I had obtained two good one handed swords from the Unknown Dungeon .

If these were ownership bound weapons, they wouldn’t be able to use it . Thankfully though, they weren’t weapons that only the original owner could use .

However, their stats were a little bit less than what could’ve been if these were bound weapons .

Even if the stats are a bit less, these weapons are probably things that no other Awakened have .

Just like that, the loot distribution was complete, and they headed out to hunt .

Seeing them head out to hunt without any complaints despite having stayed up all night, I felt apologetic, but also happy .

The living room was empty once more .

I poured the gems inside the duffle bag .

These gems were in the shape of leaves .

Other than the green gem that I had obtained in the beginning, there were many colors .

All of them strengthened equipment, but depending on the color, the enhancement varied .

I put the Butcher’s Sword, Titan Boots, and the armor that I had obtained from Joker, Scales of the Black Dragon, on the ground .

The Butcher’s Sword had absorbed a ton of stats .

The Titan Boots ignored all status debuffs .

The Scales of the Black Dragon reduced damage taken by 40% .

These three artifacts boasted stats that were nearly impossible to beat .

There was no way I would waste these gems on items that I would use and toss quickly .

After all, these gems comes only from the Unknown Dungeon, which I wasn’t sure when I could enter again .

Checking the various stat upgrades that the gems showcased, I began to enhance my equipment .

“Shall I begin trying them out?”