Chapter 29
Most of what happened at school had followed what was written in the book.
But it hadn't matched perfectly.
I raised my head.
['Forgotten Quest' will help you grow from now on.]
The meaningful sentence sparkled brightly, as if demanding that I look at it.
I moved my finger and pushed the message out of sight.
Anyway, nothing related to this strange quest had appeared in the novel.
And Kim Taeyoon, who was supposed to die in the novel, was still perfectly alive.
Though it was really close.
Still, there was hope.
If nothing was absolute....
Then I could prevent my own death too.
Of course, according to the book, if I didn't die, Oppa and Han Siwoo wouldn't grow stronger.
I did feel a little sorry that they wouldn't be able to grow because I was alive.
But that didn't mean I could just die for them.
There was also something good about it.
If I stayed alive, Han Siwoo wouldn't become an enemy either.
We might lose a powerful ally, but at the same time, we would also avoid gaining a powerful enemy.
Besides, not everything had followed the novel exactly.
There might be another way for them to grow stronger without my death.
Right. Of course there is.
I nodded to myself and made a decision.
My goal is survival.
If the novel was correct, from now on we would be called Hunters and enter dungeons.
Just like we had defeated Arachne, we would have to fight other monsters inside them.
The world would soon be overflowing with monsters that made Arachne look like nothing in comparison.
...If I kept entering places like that, even ten lives wouldn't be enough.
Good. I'll quit when the situation allows it.
Because my life is precious!
As I picked up the book from the floor, a question suddenly came to mind.
Have other people seen this book too?
I looked over the outside of the book.
There was no title or price tag, the kind of things that would normally be printed on a published book.
It didn't seem to be an officially published novel.
Since things had come this far, I decided to ask the seatmate who had given me the book directly.
I picked up my phone.
Nothing.
For the next few days, I contacted friends from middle school.
I asked how they were doing, and while talking, I casually tried to bring up that old seatmate.
But I couldn't find any useful information.
How is that possible?
How could not a single person remember that seatmate?
Sure, the transfer student had moved away again after only a week, so I had been the only person who became close to them.
Still, it was strange that nobody remembered the transfer student at all.
The more I searched through my memories, the more uncomfortable I became.
Was that kid a girl or a boy?
I couldn't remember.
I was sure the memory had been vivid when I first woke up from the dream....
"Hey! Come eat!"
Oppa suddenly threw open my door and barged in.
I turned toward him with the same serious expression, and Oppa frowned back at me.
"What?"
Looking at him made my thoughts flow in a completely different direction.
This guy was crying and begging me to save Kim Taeyoon just a few days ago.
It hadn't even been that long, yet he was already completely back to normal.
It was a little unbelievable.
Though technically, I hadn't been the one who saved Kim Taeyoon.
"Oppa."
"What?"
"Read this."
"What is it, a book?"
Oppa looked suspicious as he opened the book I handed him.
Flip, flip, flip, flip.
He carelessly flipped through countless pages.
I knew from experience that if you flipped that fast, there was no way you could actually read anything.
Unable to keep watching, I grabbed Oppa's hand.
"No, don't read it like that! Look carefully at the beginning!"
"The beginning?"
"Yeah!"
Oppa seemed to turn back toward the first few pages like I told him.
Then he simply closed the book.
And,
Thump!
"Ow! Why did you hit me?!"
He smacked me on the forehead with the book.
It didn't really hurt, but I was completely caught off guard by the sudden attack.
As I blinked at him in disbelief, Oppa spoke calmly.
"Hey. If you're sick, don't protest in some weird way like this. Just go to the hospital."
"...What?"
"There's nothing written in this thing. What exactly am I supposed to look at? If you don't want to eat, then just don't eat!"
Oppa threw the book onto my bed and left the room while grumbling.
Bang!
The loud sound of the door slamming shut was an extra bonus.
I stared in disbelief at the book lying miserably on my bed.
Don't tell me....
Am I the only one who can see what's written in this book?
One year passed after that.
To summarize what happened during that time, the Black Dome phenomenon had not occurred only at Songpa University.
It had appeared all over the world at nearly the same time.
Countless people died.
And only some of those who survived Awakened abilities.
The public began calling people who had Awakened like this 'Hunters.'
In order to reduce casualties caused by the Black Dome phenomenon as much as possible, the government hired Hunters by giving them benefits similar to public officials.
Then it established the 'Hunter Management Center' to manage them.
They called us public officials, but because we were required to follow orders from the Center, it was somewhat similar to being soldiers.
However, as the number of Hunters increased and the world gradually stabilized, that forced control would eventually disappear.
And even if no one forced them, people wouldn't quit being Hunters.
Because being a Hunter guaranteed a certain level of social status.
Honor and wealth always followed Hunters.
Of course, that mostly applied to high-ranking Hunters.
But even lower-ranking Hunters were respected by ordinary people.
So what exactly did Hunters do?
It was simple.
Enter dungeons and kill monsters.
During the past year, the Black Dome phenomenon had appeared in countless places, and the government had worked desperately to discover what caused it.
Eventually, they found the answer.
Before an area became covered by a Black Dome, there was always a small black hole about the size of a fist somewhere nearby.
According to researchers, those black holes were connected to dungeons in another dimension.
If a dungeon wasn't cleared within a certain amount of time, cracks gradually formed around the black hole.
As the black hole expanded, it eventually became what people called a 'Black Dome.'
The public simply called this the 'Dome Phenomenon.'
A Hunter's job was to clear the dungeon before the Dome Phenomenon occurred.
The government set the minimum number of people required to clear a dungeon at four to five Hunters.
Hunters were ranked according to their abilities.
Then, based on those ranks, the Center formed balanced parties.
Officially, the Center claimed that party assignments were random.
But looking at the teams they created, I didn't really believe that.
If it were truly random, there was no way I would have ended up in the same party as Oppa and Han Siwoo.
"Is this the entrance that appeared this time?"
Oppa narrowed his eyes as he looked at the door giving off an ominous energy.
This gate appeared inside a company building this time.
I looked around once.
Access to this particular area had been blocked, but other than that, it looked like an ordinary office building.
Just imagining what would have happened if no one had discovered the gate before the Dome Phenomenon began was terrifying.
Beep, beep, beep.
"Yes. The Magic Wave Detector is definitely reacting."
"What's the rank?"
"We checked beforehand. It's E-rank."
"E-rank...?"
At the Center employee's answer, Oppa dragged out his words with an uneasy expression.
For more efficient dungeon clearing, the Center had divided both Hunter abilities and dungeon danger levels into ranks.
Hunter ranks went from F-rank to S-rank.
At the moment, the highest-ranked Hunter in Korea was only A-rank.
Of course, nobody in our party was anywhere near that high.
Our party consisted of two F-ranks, one E-rank, and one D-rank.
In other words, we were what people called a bottom-tier party.
According to the Center, the average dungeon rank our party could clear was between F and E.
But a dungeon was a place where nobody knew what could happen.
Because it was so dangerous, the Center usually assigned Hunters a dungeon one rank lower than the average they were expected to be capable of clearing.
The dungeons we usually handled were F-rank.
And yet this time, they were telling us to raid an E-rank dungeon, one level higher.
The meaning was obvious.
A party rank evaluation.
It was an opportunity offered to parties that had repeatedly cleared dungeons without major incidents.
They would be recommended for a raid slightly above their usual level.
If they performed well, their party rank would supposedly increase.
Of course, this was only something Hunters whose party ranks had increased said.
The Center had never officially confirmed it.
If our party rank increased, the government funding provided to us would also increase.
So it wasn't exactly a bad thing.
Still, the situation had come so suddenly that the rest of us were caught off guard.
Except for one person.
"You're scared over one little E-rank dungeon? Seriously, this is why I hate working with F-ranks."
The final member of our party, Lee Junhyuk, grumbled in annoyance.
"You're only E-rank yourself, so stop picking fights."
Oppa glared at him while grinding his teeth.
Lee Junhyuk snorted and mocked him.
"Ah, I was just talking to myself... sorry if you heard me, Hyung."
"You little bastard!"
"Calm down, Hyung."
Han Siwoo stopped Oppa, who had already raised his fist, as if this was something he had done countless times before.
Lee Junhyuk was twenty years old, while Oppa was twenty-four.
There was clearly a four-year age difference between them.
Yet somehow, their maturity level seemed about the same.
"Ahem. So, what would you like to do? Looking at the mana readings from the detector, if we delay much longer, it seems the dungeon may enter the Transition Phase...."
...That's a little dangerous.
The 'Transition Phase' was the process that occurred as the Dome Phenomenon began developing.
During the Transition Phase, monsters inside the dungeon became roughly 1.5 times stronger.
Of course, the Center should have calculated enough time for us to clear the dungeon before that happened.
So we probably wouldn't actually experience the Transition Phase.
"Since the Center considers Hunter safety our highest priority, you don't have to accept if you think this will be too difficult."
The Center employee said it with a smile.
But we could easily guess the words he had left unsaid.
If you don't want to do it, give up.
Once a party rejected a rank evaluation, the Center supposedly considered that party uninterested in improving its rank and wouldn't give them another chance.
"We'll do it!"
Oppa answered loudly and shot Lee Junhyuk another glare.
Of course, Lee Junhyuk didn't even bother looking at him.
I watched the two of them and let out a deep sigh.
We've known each other for almost a year already. Why do they still hate each other this much?
