GM Ch62

He instinctively knew that this skeleton knight was nothing like the weak skeletons they had faced earlier.

At that moment,

“Fuck!”

Joo Myunghwan shouted and charged at the skeleton knight.

“No!”

Minjun, who knew the monster’s true nature, tried to stop him, but it was too late. As Minjun shouted, the other man’s sword smashed into the skeleton knight’s torso.

Boom!

With the sound of an explosion, a terrifying shockwave engulfed Minjun. That was the last thing Minjun remembered.

***

《The Secret Garden of Six Months》

[Chat] PJ Dungeon is closed

No joke

└Didn’t 6S go there?

└Really?

└How?

└No way

└tru

└No detailed info yet

[Chat] The PR team is collectively fainting

Since it’s managed by the NSA, they have to release the results within 48 hours

I’m so nervous about what 6S didㅜㅜ My heart is poundingㅠㅠ

└OMG

└Wat happened?

└There’s a rumor of some strange phenomenon

└Isn’t it rare for a repeating dungeon to close?

└mmmm

└It’s only happened three times in our country

└Will 6S make it to the 9 o’clock news?

└But it wasn’t 6S who closed it, right?

└Who knows^^

└^^

└^^

└It could have been 6S

└mhmm

[Chat] PJ Dungeon is notorious

It’s a vested interest business, so it’s full of old-timers

Acquaintance freaks out just hearing J MH’s name because of it

It’s really good that it closed

So satisfying

lolllllll

└I’ve heard about it too

└The military facilities are tightly controlled by YSH

└Isn’t the stock market going crazy?

└It already isㅠ0ㅠ

***

The closing of the C-class dungeon, commonly known as the Poison Jar Dungeon, drew a lot of attention for several reasons.

The primary reason was its unique location within the Capital Defense Command. The second reason was that most of the hunters who were ejected from the dungeon were in critical condition.

That day, nine hunters participated in the Poison Jar Dungeon raid. Except for the S-class Yoon Soohyuk, the rest of the hunters emerged from the dungeon covered in blood and unconscious. Strangely, while nine went in, ten came out. The National Security Agency was thrown into chaos by this unprecedented event. It was the first major incident of this scale in recent years.

The details of the incident were also unusual. Apparently, a contract assassin had infiltrated the dungeon. One of the subdued intruders suddenly exploded, and from the resulting tear, a skeleton emerged. Black smoke from the other side of the tear transformed into a skeleton riding a bone horse, which self-destructed when attacked. While the specifics of the testimonies varied, the overall narrative was consistent.

The full details of the incident couldn’t be disclosed to the public. The biggest issue was that a foreign hunter had used a stealth skill to sneak into the Poison Jar Dungeon. The National Security Agency staff and the Ace Guild hunters guarding the dungeon entrance had to take responsibility for this.

In the end, the National Security Agency only announced that the dungeon had closed due to the explosion caused by the newly emerged skeleton monster. They did not reveal that a foreign hunter had secretly infiltrated the dungeon.

People didn’t take the National Security Agency’s announcement at face value. There had been instances in the past where repeating dungeons had closed. However, during those times, no new monsters had appeared, and there were no explosions. Hunters hadn’t been ejected from the dungeon in critical condition. They had simply finished their raids as usual and exited through the escape gate, only to find the dungeon permanently closed.

The internet was rife with conspiracy theories. The media was also abuzz, but it didn’t last long. Two days after the incident, news of a famous movie star awakening as a hunter overshadowed all other issues.

Five days after the incident, when no related articles were appearing on portal sites, Soohyuk called a meeting of the S-rank hunters.

***

Today’s meeting place was a small café on the outskirts of Seoul. The first hunter to arrive was Choi Euiseong.

The S-rank hunters had their own connections within the National Security Agency. However, due to the agency’s strict confidentiality, they couldn’t get detailed information about what had happened in the Poison Jar Dungeon.

When Yoon Soohyuk called the S-rank hunters together, saying he had information about the Poison Jar Dungeon incident, Choi Euiseong had no choice but to cancel his prior engagements and rush over.

The six S-rank hunters in Korea were both rivals and competitors. They coveted skilled hunters and high-grade items. However, they did not try to monopolize information. They also agreed that they had to unite when a common enemy appeared.

Especially among the S-rank hunters, the youngest, Yoon Soohyuk, had always shared all information about monsters and dungeons without exception. The fact that he had called a meeting suggested that the new monster was extremely dangerous.

As Choi Euiseong entered the café, he noticed a few things. The café, which Soohyuk had rented for the day, was completely empty. Although the heating was on, there was no food inside. Only bottled water was neatly arranged on one side of a table. This reflected the host’s intention to have a quick conversation and then leave.

Clicking his tongue, Choi Euiseong looked at the man who had organized today’s meeting. The man, facing the terrace, was on the phone with someone.

“Discharge?”

— Yes. The doctor says I need the guild leader’s permission to be discharged.”

As an S-rank hunter, Choi Euiseong had good hearing. He quickly realized that Soohyuk’s conversation partner was Kim Minjun.

In the Poison Jar Dungeon incident, all the hunters except Yoon Soohyuk had sustained various injuries. In particular, Kim Minjun had suffered a head injury and had been unconscious for several days. It was fortunate that he seemed to have regained consciousness now.

“Discharge? You need to get another check-up and rest properly.”

— I want to rest at home. It’s more comfortable.”

“You were unconscious for five days.”

— I’m fine now.”

“That’s for the doctor to decide.”

— I know my body better than anyone.”

Unintentionally eavesdropping on their conversation, Choi Euiseong recalled the saying, “Even a broken shoe finds its match.”

S-rank hunters each had strong personalities. Especially Yoon Soohyuk, who was often called a lunatic. He was usually polite in his speech and respectful to elders. But his tongue was as sharp as a blade. Once might be overlooked, but from the second time on, he would smile while delivering biting remarks, crushing his opponent until they couldn’t recover. Truly a nasty personality, you could say.

Each S-rank hunter had a distinct character. Seo Wooju was a stickler for rules to the point of frustration, and Kwak Jonghoon charged ahead recklessly without considering the consequences.

But the strangest of them all was Yoon Soohyuk. He became an S-rank hunter at twenty and moved without hesitation from the start. He aggressively recruited hunters, established a guild, and worked with great enthusiasm. He didn’t just focus on expanding his guild’s power. He also worked to enhance hunters’ rights through his influence.

He was the strongest supporter of Seo Wooju’s belief that S-rank hunters needed to unite. He didn’t just take sides; he lobbied both the political and business worlds. Through this process, it became clear that Soohyuk would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

Yoon Soohyuk wasn’t feared just because he was an S-rank hunter. He had the guts and the power to stab his enemy in the heart with a smile on his face.

Seeing Kim Minjun respond to Soohyuk without backing down, it seemed the two really were in a relationship.

“Darling. It’s so sad that you don’t take care of yourself. Do you know how worried I was? At times like this, you should get a health check-up with the guild’s money and rest well. The doctor said your head is swollen and you need absolute rest. Okay?”

— Why are you again… Yes, I’ll be discharged tomorrow.”

“Darling, I’ll come by later. Let’s talk then. I have an appointment now. You know how much I want to run to you, right?”

— Seriously…

“See you later, honey.”

— Okay.

Choi Euiseong felt an itch to scratch his arm. It was creepy to hear Yoon Soohyuk, known as a lunatic, calling his lover “darling” in such a sweet voice.

“You’re here?”

Yoon Soohyuk, having finished his call, acknowledged Choi Euiseong.

“Has hunter Kim Minjun woken up?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief. Make sure he gets a health check-up even if he refuses. Young hunters think potions can solve everything.”

“That’s what I said.”

Yoon Soohyuk agreed with Choi Euiseong’s meddling. As Choi Euiseong pointed out, Minjun had a tendency not to take care of his health. He thought everything would be fine as long as he drank a potion.

“By the way, what appeared in the Poison Jar Dungeon? Why did the dungeon close?”

“I’ll explain once everyone is here. More importantly, how’s the search for hunter Kim Minjun going?”

It had been a week since Soohyuk handed over Kim Minjun’s blood and hair to Choi Euiseong. Even though the success rate of the tracking artifact was low, enough time had passed for some results.

The accident in the Poison Jar Dungeon had left Choi Euiseong with no time to contact anyone separately. Since they had met, he decided to ask, and Choi Euiseong frowned.

“I couldn’t find him. It keeps failing.”

“Isn’t there something wrong with the artifact?”

“No. I even tried it with other people just in case. It succeeded at least once out of five tries. It’s only Minjun that’s strange.”

The success rate was below 20%. It wasn’t very high, but if they kept failing to find hunter Kim Minjun, it wasn’t just a matter of probability. There was another issue at play.

Good news often comes with bad news. Soohyuk, who was relieved that Minjun had woken up safely without any issues, didn’t press Choi Euiseong further. Instead, he made Choi Euiseong promise to inform him immediately if he found out anything about hunter Kim Minjun’s whereabouts.

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