Solo Leveling - Chapter 83

Chapter 83

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 83

Jinwoo felt his heart sinking to his stomach .

‘When did she come?’

Because he had been too focused on the boss, he had not realized someone else had arrived .

‘I’ve been found out . ’

Jinwoo clicked his tongue with disappointment .

tsk

Now that a witness was here, he snapped out of his greed towards the boss .  Hunters Guild had bought the raiding rights of this Gate; in a sense, the boss was the property of Hunters Guild .  On top of that, if he took down the boss right now, the Gate would close and the unfinished jobs of the collection and mining teams would result in a great loss for the Guild .

‘I almost did something terrible . ’

Blinded by the greed of leveling up, he almost laid hands on someone else’s property .  Jinwoo came to his senses and breathed a sigh of relief . Meanwhile, the owner of the voice came closer,

“Excuse me, I asked you a question . ”

Jinwoo smiled awkwardly and turned around,

“Er, I got lost and ended up here . ”

“You got lost?”

The voice was flustered .  Jinwoo realized who the owner of the voice was .

‘Huh? This woman is…?’

That face he saw before entering the Dungeon .  It was the female S-rank Hunter, Cha Haein . She slowly closed the gap toward Jinwoo and looked at the man’s hands .

‘I swear I saw him holding weapons . ’

Was she mistaken? Whatever he was holding had disappeared as if it was never there .  The woman looked up and down on Jinwoo .

‘Hard hat and work clothes… Is he a Hunter from our mining team?’

It seemed that the man’s excuse that he was lost was not a lie .  Still, regardless of his reason, the boss room was a dangerous place .  Cha Haein decided that sending him away from here was more important than finding out the truth .

“This is a place where the boss resides . ”

As she always would, Cha Haein pinched her nose with a handkerchief and stood before Jinwoo .

“Please get away from here . If you accidently grab aggro, everyone here could end up dying . ”

“Ah, I’m sorry . ”

Thankfully, it looked like his acting worked .  Jinwoo walked past Cha Haein with a satisfied face .

As he passed by,

‘Huh?’

Cha Haein turned her head toward Jinwoo .  Something impossible happened . With her eyes wide open, the S-rank Hunter stopped Jinwoo before she realized it,

“Hey, excuse me . ”

“Yes?”

“Hold on a minute . ”

What is this woman doing? Like a thief who had been caught, Jinwoo did not particularly feel good as Cha Haein approached him .  The woman got uncomfortably close to him .

“Er… what is it?”

Jinwoo asked with an awkward face .  However, Cha Haein did not reply . Instead, the woman boldly sniffed the man .  She had already put her handkerchief away .

‘What the hell?’

Jinwoo had no idea what was happening .

‘Why is she smelling me?’

The man was flustered .  However, the woman was even more so .

‘There’s no . . . foul stench . ’

This was the first time she had met a Hunter without that foul smell .  Cha Haein looked at Jinwoo with wide open eyes . A question mark appeared on Jinwoo’s face .

“Is there something wrong?”

“Are you… really a Hunter?”

Was there a need to go into detail? Jinwoo removed the Hunter’s license around his neck and held it out to her .  The woman took the license and looked back and forth between Jinwoo’s face and the picture on the license .

‘E-rank… Sung Jinwoo…’

Was it because his rank was too low? There was no bad smell coming from Jinwoo .  In fact, she smelled a pleasant fragrance from him .

Jinwoo carefully took his license from Cha Haein’s hands .

“So… Can I go?”

“That’s…”

The woman realized she no longer had any reason to hold him here .

“ . . . Never mind . Please be careful on your way back . The Dungeon is large . ”

“Ah, okay . ”

Jinwoo bid his goodbye then walked back towards the direction of the work area .  His back quickly disappeared in the distance of the cave . However, Cha Haein stood still looking at the direction the man walked off to for some time .

‘He smelled nice…’

After finishing lunch, the Hunters of the mining team returned to the work area .  Walking in while picking his teeth, Team Leader Bae jumped after discovering Jinwoo coming back from deep into the Dungeon .

“Whoa, whoa . Sung-ssi, why are you coming from that way?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Jinwoo briefly turned his head back to the boss room’s direction .

‘I can’t exactly explain that I was curious about what the A-rank Dungeon’s boss looked like, right?’

He turned back to the team leader .

“I got lost while looking for the bathroom . ”

“Oh, no! You have to be careful! Lots of Dungeons are like mazes . If you get lost, you might never find your way back . In fact, how did you find your way back?”

“I ran into Hunter Cha Haein-nim on the way back…”

“Ah, Hunter Cha-nim? She went to keep watch just in case the boss came out of its room . Like you, she’s a rather worry-filled person . ”

Team Leader Bae laughed energetically .  It seemed like Jinwoo’s questions earlier about the boss had given the man a wrong impression .  Jinwoo smiled bitterly .

‘The team leader can laugh since he doesn’t know how scary the boss is . ’

This was the difference between the work team and the raiding party .  Knowing the true terror of magic beasts, Cha Haein was keeping watch and preparing for the worst case scenario that these men did not give a second thought to .

‘Even with that expressionless face, she’s got a side like that to her . ’

If the boss left its room, the ones in danger were not the raiding party .  It was the labor team working while the raiding party was absent . To protect their lives, the woman had forgone sweet resting time and went to keep watch at the boss room .

‘ . . . She’s an amazing woman . ’

This was Jinwoo’s honest opinion of Cha Haein .  Suddenly, he recalled the woman’s strange habit .

‘Why does she block her nose with that handkerchief?’

Now that he thought about it, other than the time just now, she had constantly held that handkerchief to her nose .

“Team leader,”

“Hmm?”

Instead of being annoyed by the pestering, Team Leader Bae was rather friendly and accomodating whenever Jinwoo called to him .

‘He did seem to respond well to my work earlier . ’

It seemed that his prowess had earned some brownie points with the team leader .  Thanks to that, Jinwoo was able to comfortably ask things here and there . If anything, Team Leader Bae was the one who pressed him,

“Why are you quiet after calling a man over, Sung-ssi?”

Jinwoo grinned and replied,

“No it’s nothing . . I was just curious on why Hunter Cha Haein carried that handkerchief around . ”

“Oh, that? She’s a little special . ”

“Special?”

What did that mean? The team leader explained patiently,

“From what I’ve heard, Hunter Cha is able to smell something from Hunters . It’s apparently not a good smell . ”

“A Hunter’s smell?”

“Something about a unique physiology . ”

A unique physiology .  Jinwoo had something similar: his keen sense of hearing .  Even before he had become an Awakened Being, the young man had good ears .  And after he Awakened? Well, even as an E-rank Hunter, his hearing was a level above others .

‘Her sense of smell must’ve also been enhanced after Awakening . ’

He understood her to a degree .

“Peculiar, right?”

As if liking that Jinwoo was paying attention, Team Leader Bae continued,

“I heard that because of that smell, she has difficulty breathing around Hunters . ”

“ . . . ”

Was that the reason?

‘Why she asked me if I was really a Hunter . ’

Was it because he did not smell like a Hunter? Jinwoo recalled the words of the leader of the White Walkers back in the Red Gate,

[“In our head, there is a voice whispering to us without rest . It tells us to ‘kill all humans’ . But in front of you, the voice becomes silent . ”]

Was it related to what that thing told him?

Not having the smell associated with Hunters, not being told to be killed like humans .

‘Because I am a Player…’

The absolute singular existence that was chosen by the System .

Just what was a Player?

Briefly questioning his own identity, Jinwoo quickly shook his head,

‘Not like I can obtain the answer to that question right now . ’

He cleared his mind .  Worrying about a riddle that he could not solve would only exhaust him mentally .

Crack! Crack!

Soon, the sound of his coworkers mining started .  Jinwoo also grabbed his pickaxe .

‘An A-rank Boss… I really wanted to kill it . ’

What would’ve happened if Cha Haein didn’t arrive on time?

Jinwoo swung away while thinking about it .

Because of Jinwoo’s outstanding performance, the mining team managed to finish their work before dinner .  According to the team leader, it was two hours earlier than usual . Because of that, the eyes of his teammates looking at him had changed .

“Good work today, Sung-ssi!”

“Not bad!”

“I thought someone brought in a mining machine, haha!”

The Hunters surrounded him and poured compliments all over him .  The cold attitude they greeted him with before the Gate had all but disappeared .  Jinwoo was also in a good mood . The experience of working as a miner was interesting, and he had succeeded in his objective of scouting an A-rank Dungeon .

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s go go go!”

At Team Leader Bae’s order, the mining team moved as one towards the exit .

“One! Two!”

“Pull!”

They passed by the still working collection team .  Soon, the mining team left the Dungeon and loitered while preparing to leave .  Compared to the Guild’s official members, the temp worker Sung Jinwoo’s pay was provided on the spot .

“Sung-ssi, here you go, this is yours . ”

“Thank you . ”

While handing over the envelope, Team Leader Bae discretely asked him a question,

“We’re about to go for some food, would you like to join us?”

While the question was asked casually, the team leader’s eyes were serious .

‘It feels like he has something he wants to ask me…’

Jinwoo felt the man’s sincerity .  However, he politely declined .

“I’m sorry . ”

“Hmm… That’s okay . ”

The team leader scratched his chin .

‘I wanted to ask him while we were in a good mood with alcohol…’

But the man had to change his plans a bit,

“You know, I’ve met a lot of people while working on this job . ”

“Mhmm . ”

“But I’ve never seen a man like you . You were born to be a miner . ”

It seemed that the team leader had taken a liking to him .

‘Haha… That’s a bit…’

Jinwoo could neither confirm nor deny the team leader’s words .  Instead, he awkwardly laughed . Confusing that for a good sign, the team leader got to business,

“I don’t normally do this but… How would you like to come work under me? I guarantee you’ll be paid well . ”

The young man called Sung Jinwoo .  On his first day as a miner, the man had completed several times more work than a veteran miner .  If he could not obtain this genius, it would be his failure as the leader of the mining team . Even if he had to talk to the higher-ups to provide a special consideration for Jinwoo, the team leader wanted to hire the young man .

However, Jinwoo’s refusal was firm .

“I’m grateful for your words but… There’s something I’m preparing for . ”

At that sentence, the team leader’s cheerful mood fell .

“Is… is that so?”

Jinwoo swallowed a laughter .

‘What a fun person . ’

To think that his feelings would show this much on his face .  It seemed that Team Leader Bae thought he had discovered some hidden talent in the E-ranker .  After a moment of thought, the team leader carefully asked,

“How about tomorrow? Do you think you could come out again?”

“Tomorrow is a bit… Hmm…”

Well, he was still free tomorrow .  The remeasurement was two days from now .  But Jinwoo wondered if there was a reason for him to work as a miner again .  He had already observed the raiding method of a large Guild and even took a look at an A-rank Dungeon’s boss .

Suddenly, Jinwoo realized something,

‘Hold on . ’

He was about to refuse when a question flashed across his mind,

“Does that mean Hunters Guild has another Raid tomorrow?”

“Yep . It’s another A-rank Gate . ”

“Is that even possible? They just finished a Raid today . ”

It was common practice for raiding parties to rest for a week after completing a Raid .

‘They said that today’s Raid started yesterday evening . ’

That meant the main raiding party of Hunters Guild had raided for two consecutive days .  On top of that, by the time they went back to take down the boss after the collection team finished, it would be dawn .  Jinwoo couldn’t imagine that they would raid again tomorrow .

When Jinwoo looked interested, the team leader continued,

“Instead of Attack Team A, Attack Team B will be up to the plate tomorrow . ”

Attack Team B? They were going to clear an A-rank Dungeon with the secondary raiding party?

“This is the power of Hunters Guild . We’re probably the only Guild in South Korea that can take down two A-rank Gates with two separate teams . ”

Team Leader Bae spoke with pride .

“Is this how Hunters Guild always raided?”

“No, no . Normally they wouldn’t divide up the teams like that . But seems like the jobs overlapped this time . ”

Because two A-rank Gates had simultaneously appeared in Hunters Guild’s territory, the team leader explained that Guildmaster Choi Jongin had to pull a lot of strings in order to obtain the raiding rights for both of them .

‘Oh, so that’s why Guildmaster Choi was at the Association yesterday…’

A busy man like Choi Jongin would not have frivolously visited the Association .

Jinwoo nodded,

“So does that mean this is the first time the secondary raiding party will be the sole attack team of the Raid?”

“Yep . But don’t let that fool you . Hunters Guild’s secondary team is not just any secondary team . They’re better than most large Guild’s primary team . ”

“Still, it should be much more dangerous than today, right?”

Team Leader Bae was at a loss for words .  Jinwoo was right . Two S-rankers had participated in the Raid today .  Compared to that, only A-rankers would be part of the offensive tomorrow .  Even though they had heard that tomorrow’s Gate was smaller than today’s, the absence of the two S-rankers would be great .  The team leader recalled how Sung-ssi was worried about the boss even though the S-rankers were nearby .

‘Still, I don’t want to lie to the man . ’

Team Leader Bae had hoped to work with Jinwoo tomorrow .  Realizing that would not happen, the man answered him disappointedly,

“It’ll be much more dangerous . If things go wrong, the Raid itself might fail . ”

Jinwoo’s eyes lit up .

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