GM Ch20

Minjun was assuming it would be different inside, but he was wrong. The house was built higher than the road with a high fence for privacy and security, and the atmosphere was as clean as a hotel.

“Huh?”

Minjun’s eyes scanned the living room, wondering where high-tech equipment like supercomputers and radar detectors might be hiding. Then, his eyes stopped at one side of the living room.

A framed black-and-white portrait sat on a wooden shelf, and Minjun was dumbfounded when he realized it was a photo of himself from the past.

“What?”

He couldn’t figure out why a picture of himself, face slightly turned and smiling, was in the living room of Soohyuk’s house. It was a big picture, too. It was almost the size of a 40-inch TV. Suddenly, he remembered Soohyuk saying that the person he most admired was hunter Kim Minjun.

“Is that why?”

Minjun rubbed his cheeks, feeling a little embarrassed. He’d never thought he’d hear someone say they admired him. He figured it might be because he died a hero, but he was still embarrassed to see the large picture of his own face, so he looked away.

Minjun deliberately explored the safe house. He had a wind spirit search the basement and attic, but was a little disappointed when he didn’t find anything special or strange.

“Well, if it’s like that, you can’t invite outsiders.”

After roughly understanding, Minjun sat down on the couch and then lay down. He had been working a part-time job at night until recently, so sleeping during the day had become a habit. Ever since he decided to join the June Guild, he’d been sleeping at night for the past few days. He wasn’t sleepy, but it was nice to lie down.

“What should I have for dinner?”

Minjun lay on his back and thought about his dinner menu. After stopping by the June Guild and meeting with the lawyer, it was almost time for dinner.

“Can chicken be delivered?”

It looked like Soohyuk would arrive only around midnight, so he figured he should eat dinner in the meantime. He turned on the delivery app and a fried chicken restaurant popped up. However, Minjun remembered the dictionary meaning of safe house and decided to go out and eat instead. He searched for the nearest chicken restaurant and found it was a 15-minute walk away.

He quickly put on his coat and headed out to find a place to eat inside the store, where he ordered two fried chicken, a Coke, and a bunch of sides. The waitress who took his order asked if there was anyone else coming. When Minjun replied that he was alone, he paid up front and said he’d take away any leftovers later. At that moment,

Bzzzzz.

Ring ring.

Beep beep.

He was smiling at the aromatic chicken when his phone vibrated and popped up on the table. It was a disaster text alerting him to a dungeon break in the neighborhood.

It was early evening, so there were only a few customers in the chicken restaurant. Commercial buildings were required to have defense shields, but the fact that a B-class dungeon break occurred not far away caused a stir in the store.

As soon as Minjun saw the disaster text, he googled the location of Yeonam Monument Park in Hyogang-dong. It turned out to be in a residential neighborhood on the other side of the street from the safe house where Minjun had been earlier.

“It’s quite dangerous.”

Despite clicking his tongue, Minjun pulled on his padded jacket and prepared to run. As a licensed hunter, it was his duty to respond to an emergency call. While he searched for articles on what was going on, the chicken was served.

The table was filled with fried chicken, half spicy sauce, half soy sauce, and side dishes of potato chips, cheese balls, and fried dumplings. He poured himself a Coke in an ice-filled cup. The disaster text came again, and this time, it was not just one.

The summoning order was for B-class hunters and above, but Minjun jumped out of his seat as soon as he saw the text that a bomb spider had appeared in the dungeon break.

“I’ll be back in a bit, don’t put this away, no, actually, pack it up, I’m sorry.”

Minjun asked a passing employee to pack the chicken for him. He was craving hot, freshly cooked chicken, but this wasn’t the time, and he was glad he’d paid up front.

“Sir? Where are you going?”

“Outside.”

“But a dungeon break is happening outside right now?”

“Yes. So, I’ll be right back.”

“Ah?!”

“Thank you.”

Minjun hurried out of the chicken shop.

***

“Goodness…”

After jumping over buildings and roads to reach Yeonam Monument Park, Minjun didn’t immediately jump into the fray, but instead surveyed the situation from the rooftop of a nearby house.

It was winter, and the sun had already set by 6pm. Streetlights and emergency lighting illuminated the park where the dungeon break occurred. Yeonam Monument Park was in chaos. Stretched monsters were bursting out of the blackened gates, and the hunters surrounding the gates were struggling.

The movement of the dozens of hunters was skillful. The problem was that most of the monsters that burst out of the gate were bomb spiders. Bomb spiders, the size of a large dog, were known for self-destructing if they took more than a certain amount of damage or were hit by a fire-based attack. Being a B-class, it had quite a bit of explosive power.

The basic strategy was to use a ranged attack in preparation for an explosion. However, the location was in a residential neighborhood, the park was not large, and the bomb spiders moved quickly, making it difficult to outmaneuver them.

Following the dungeon break’s preparedness manual, the hunters formed a circle of defense with the gate in the middle. However, with the bomb spiders and other monsters to deal with, everyone seemed a little overwhelmed. It was only a matter of time before the bomb spiders broke out of the defense.

Quickly assessing the situation, Minjun called upon the water spirit. The Bomb Spider, which self-destructed when attacked by fire, was vulnerable to ice attacks. To be precise, it was stunned and immobilized, and in turn, its self-destruct power was drastically reduced.

Unfortunately, offensive skills with the water and ice element were very rare, with the most common being the powerful fire element. This is why Minjun, a C-class hunter, jumped out leaving his chicken meal behind when he saw the text about the bomb spider.

Minjun used spirits to pour water on every bomb spider in sight. His best bet, using spirits that couldn’t attack directly, worked well. The bomb spiders, covered in water, froze like a still image.

The hunters were dumbfounded, but took advantage of the opportunity to attack. The bomb Spider self-destructed, but with very little power.

“You have an interesting talent.”

Minjun was pouring water on the bomb spider that was leaping out of the gate when he was startled by the sudden voice and looked to the side. There stood a man with a familiar face.

Minjun recognized the man. Choi Euiseong.

He was one of only six S-class hunters in South Korea, and he and Minjun used to fight monsters together.

Although he was one year younger and had a fussy personality, he called Minjun hyung and followed him closely. It was a little strange to see him grow into a full-fledged adult after eight years.

“Eui-”

Meeting someone from his past for the first time since returning to Earth from the other world, he almost called out Euiseong’s name reflexively. Luckily, he came to his senses and caught himself before he finished.

“I came because they said it was a bomb spider, but it will be over soon. How did you do it?”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. Keep going, I’ll help you.”

“Yes.”

Minjun splashed water over the bomb spiders at Euiseong’s command. As the hunters closed the distance between them and the halted spiders, a blue-black spear was inserted and an explosion occurred.

He was still the same as before.

Minjun was impressed. The “Black Baptism”, Euiseong’s skill that could attack over twenty monsters at once, was effective when dealing with large numbers of enemies.

The bomb spiders exploded with a loud bang, and an equal number of bomb spiders continued to emerge from the gate, but the hunters were unharmed.

Minjun stopped the bomb spider, and Euiseong attacked, and the pattern repeated. After about 20 attacks, the giant spider’s legs popped out of the gate.

The dungeon boss was a giant bomb spider. True to its name, the spider’s body was nearly the size of a one-ton truck. The fluorescent yellow stripes on its black body looked intimidating. The strategy was the same as the regular bomb spider. However, Minjun’s elemental spirits were relatively too weak to deal with a B-class dungeon boss.

“It won’t work with the boss.”

“I know.”

In the bright light, the hideous giant bomb spider came into full view. At that moment, dozens of black spikes pierced its legs. The giant bomb spider screamed and wriggled to escape the spears.

“Put up a shield!”

At Euiseong’s shout, three layers of defense formed around the giant bomb spider.