GM Ch12

In the case of the Poison Jar dungeon, due to its location and internal environment, it was directly managed by the National Security Agency. The dungeon was C-class, but the special effects of stacking poisons made it a A-class difficulty. Hunters without poison resistance and poison immunity would not even last an hour. Detoxification potions were available, but they were expensive and in short supply. For that reason, the National Security Agency had been searching for hunters of the right skills to survive the Poison Jar dungeon for the past five years.

Very few hunters could withstand poison. Poison immunity was an ability that only S-class hunters had, and while there were some who were resistant or tolerant to it, they were still poisoned if they were wounded. There had never been a hunter with a detoxification skill.

Park Jungwoon knew this, but he just asked the question in accordance with standard regulations.

Soohyuk stared at the back of Minjun’s head without expectation and clicked his tongue. So he has poison resistance.

The National Security Agency was a government agency, and with a shoestring budget, it hired hunters at low prices. It was at this moment that Soohyuk realized he needed to give Minjun some advice, as he hadn’t yet experienced the salty taste of the National Security Agency.

Minjun raised his hand, and supervisor Park Jungwoon’s eyes widened.

“No way, can you detoxify someone else?”

“Yes.”

Soohyuk swallowed hard as he watched, but whether he realized it or not, Supervisor Park Jungwoon was excited. So were his other colleagues.

“How many people can you detoxify?!”

“Um… I guess that’s something you’d have to try to figure out?”

“Right! That’s true. Let’s try it.”

“Yes.”

Unaware of the Poison Jar dungeon, Minjun was baffled by the test proctor’s fierce reaction, wondering if there was anything issue with being able to detoxify. He felt a sense of foreboding, but he couldn’t say no to doing it now.

Minjun didn’t actually have a detoxification skill. However, he could use the water spirit to dispose of poisons of the same grade.

Invisible to anyone else, the water spirit told Minjun that there were 78 people poisoned in total. That was 79 test takers minus Minjun, and the water spirit said it could detoxify them all.

Well, it was going to be weird if he detoxified them all, so he planned to just do half of them. Out of 78 people, Minjun decided to detoxify only the 35 people standing closest to him.

“There will be a small droplet in front of you, drink it and you will be detoxified!”

Shouting loudly, Minjun commanded the water spirit. A clear, candy-cane-sized droplet of water appeared in front of the 35 examinees.

Everyone was skeptical, but someone bravely drank the water and shouted that they were detoxified, and then everyone else started drinking the water.

Looking at the insight skill, those who were detoxified developed poison resistance thanks to the spirit’s protection. The duration was about 100 minutes.

“I’m done.”

Thinking that was enough, Minjun sent the water spirit back and turned to Supervisor Park Jungwoon, who gave him a puzzled look.

“So it’s true.”

“Yes.”

“How many people have you detoxified?”

“About 30 people.”

Once again, Supervisor Park Jungwoon made a face of disbelief. He replied that he understood, and asked the people standing in the swamp of poisonous herbs to check their status and raise their hands if they were detoxified. There were well over 30 people with their hands in the air. In addition, someone said that he had gained resistance to poison, which made everyone excited.

“Oh my God. What the heck is that skill?”

With an exclamation of admiration, Supervisor Park Jungwoon looked back at Minjun, his face lit up as if he had just discovered a treasure chest.

Minjun realized that there were more than 35 people there. He had just wanted to get his license quietly, but he seemed to have caught unwanted attention in the wrong place.

“Oh… um.”

“Supervisor Park. We need to get the examinees out of the swamp first.”

Before Minjun could answer, Soohyuk, who had just arrived, interrupted, and Supervisor Park Jungwoon came to his senses. He looked around at the examinees and shouted out loudly.

“Everyone! Now let’s get out of the swamp. Just head towards the supervisor standing over there. The monsters are mostly defeated, so there’s no danger. If you have flying skills, use it. Once you’re out of the swamp, your poisoning will disappear in one minute. If it doesn’t go away, talk to the proctor and get a detox potion.”

At the proctor’s command, people began to move. The swamp where the poisonous weed grew was quite large, but the nearest bare ground was only about 50 meters from where the test takers were standing.

Most ran, and a couple took to the skies with their flying skills.

“Shall we go?”

Supervisor Park looked back at Minjun and smiled. The wrinkles around his eyes were filled with joy. But at that moment, Soohyuk stepped in front of him.

“Supervisor Park. Cutting in line is not allowed.”

“What are you talking about, Guild Leader Yoon?”

“I’ve got our hunter Kim Minjun marked, now we just need to sign the contract.”

“No way-”

Minjun was dumbfounded when he noticed that Supervisor Park was looking at him as if he had been betrayed. He couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Before he could ask, Soohyuk wrapped his arm around Minjun’s waist.

“Hold on tight.”

“Yes?”

“Here we go.”

“…?!”

Soohyuk jumped up without any hesitation. Instead of plummeting downward, they flew through the air and out of the swamp.

Soohyuk grinned as he lowered Minjun to the ground.

“Surprised?”

“I also have a flying skill.”

“Star Flight?”

“Yes.”

Minjun wasn’t surprised that Soohyuk knew the name of the flying skill; if he was low-ranked, his personal information would be stolen in one fell swoop with the insight skill.

“I didn’t know you had a detoxification skill. That’s the second time I’ve asked you that today. How did you do it?”

“I borrowed the power of a spirit, a water spirit.”

“Water spirit? Can water spirits detoxify? I don’t think so.”

“Uh…”

Minjun looked at Soohyuk at his unexpected words.

Water spirits couldn’t detoxify?

It couldn’t be. Detoxification was the water spirit’s most prominent ability. Although it could not eliminate high-grade poisons, it could even weaken them.

“There are hunters who summon water spirits, but I’ve never heard of them being able to detoxify. All they can do is produce clean water, is what I heard. If they’re wind spirits, they make the wind blow; if they’re fire spirits, they make the flames burn.”

“Is that so?”

After feigning ignorance, Minjun realized that he hadn’t really looked into spirits on earth. He was too busy thinking about retirement to feel any sense of urgency.

Minjun’s spirits couldn’t directly attack monsters, but they were otherwise versatile. They weren’t just capable of creating water and blowing wind. Wind spirits could scout long distances and, depending on the skill of the user, even hear their opponents’ conversations.

It was so commonplace in the other world, but apparently not on Earth. Since he couldn’t pick up the water that had already been spilled, Minjun decided to be brazen.

“It seems like other people don’t know how to use spirits.”

“Hmm. Elementalists are rare.”

“But why did you do that a moment ago?”

Unable to come up with a plausible explanation, Minjun quickly changed the subject. Luckily, Soohyuk didn’t ask any more questions about the spirits.

“You said you’re going to think about it positively? So I should make a move forward?”

“I don’t mean that. I don’t know why the supervisor was so pleased.”

“Oh, you don’t know that the National Security Agency is looking for people with detoxification skills?”

Soohyuk briefly explained the Poison Jar dungeon and why the National Security Agency was looking for someone who could detoxify. Minjun suddenly realized how different the other world was from Earth. There were many priests, alchemists, wizards, and elementalists who could detoxify poisons. As long as you organized your party well, poison wasn’t a problem.

“If the National Security Agency ever tries to get you to go to the Poison Jar dungeon with them, call me. They are desperate to hire hunters for free. They make a lot of demands, and if they do, tell them to pay you a lot of money. They’re always telling people it is to serve the country and the people.”

“It’s not like it’s hard to detoxify, it’s a C-class dungeon.”

Minjun sincerely thought so. In the past, Minjun, who founded a one-person guild, was more liberal than other S-class hunters in many ways, which is why he was often called upon by the National Security Agency. There were many times when he didn’t get paid, but he didn’t mind. He could make money elsewhere. It was more important to keep the dungeon breaks from exploding.

The Poison Jar dungeon was a C-class, so it wouldn’t be too dangerous. Detoxifying the hunters through the water spirit wouldn’t be too difficult.

When Minjun looked at Soohyuk to see what was the problem, Soohyuk laughed brutally.

“You must have a weakness for this sort of thing. I’ll say it again, never meet those guys from the National Security Agency alone in the future. Call me, or if not, call Seongwon, the vice guild leader. That hyung doesn’t go into the dungeon. Do you understand? Say you understand.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to have you sign the contract as soon as we’re done here.”

Soohyuk felt like an adult sternly warning a child not to follow strangers.

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