Chapter 25

Chapter 25

There was a proverb like that.

You save a drowning man, and he demands his bundle.

It was a common occurrence.

After all, a dungeon was a place where countless unreasonable things happened.

“You bastards must be desperate to die, are you not?”

Before I could even answer, Choi Yura smiled with murderous intent.

“Hunter Choi.”

Startled, Captain Im hurriedly stopped Choi Yura.

“Please hold back for now.”

“Let go.”

“You have to hold back.”

“I said I understand, so let go.”

Choi Yura seemed truly furious.

If Captain Im had not stepped in, she would probably have torn the Boramae Clan members to pieces.

“Do you not think…… that you have no conscience?”

“Not at all.”

The Boramae Clan member answered my question.

“We were the ones fighting the boss first, and our Clan suffered the greatest sacrifices. So why should we feel any prick of conscience?”

“You were on the verge of being wiped out.”

“Get your facts straight. We were just about to finish it off. You people barged in however you pleased and landed the last hit.”

“Oh.”

At such shamelessness, I was genuinely impressed.

Yes, that was how it should be.

Everyone had to live with a steel plate over their faces.

As expected, this was an era of the law of the jungle.

It was an era where the wicked, selfish, shameless, petty, and tenacious lived well.

Not that it had ever been otherwise.

“So that Rune belongs to you?”

“Of course. Our Clan suffered the greatest sacrifices, so naturally, we should take it.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then you will die.”

The Boramae Clan member who had been talking to me placed his finger on the trigger.

“Do you not think you might die instead?”

“Then you will die too. Do you think our Clan will just sit still?”

Well, would you look at that. Now they were even relying on the Clan’s authority.

It was not particularly surprising.

A 5-Star Rune was worth this much.

Even a perfectly sane Hunter could have his eyes turn and lose all reason over it.

In truth, this much was very polite.

Usually, cases where people attacked first without asking or arguing were more common.

‘Should I kill them?’

I hesitated.

The injured Boramae Clan members had already left the dungeon.

If I killed these bastards here, word would reach the Boramae Clan’s ears, and then it would be war.

On the other hand, it did not matter if they killed us and left.

We did not have any comrades we had sent out first.

“Let us just settle this peacefully.”

The Boramae Clan member hinted.

“It does not seem like you are strong enough to stop bullets either, so if you get greedy for no reason and end up dying, would that not be a loss?”

Captain Im, who could not hold back any longer, stepped forward.

“Stop this and lower your muzzles. You are currently threatening soldiers of the Defense Strategy Department.”

“Even if you are the Defense Strategy Department, it is troublesome if you land the last hit on a boss our Clan was hunting and try to snatch the Rune.”

“When did we land the last hit on the boss? We only saved you when you were about to be wiped out.”

“We are grateful for the help, but it was a boss we had almost killed.”

“Do you have no conscience?”

“It seems to me that you are the ones without a conscience.”

“Fuck, seriously.”

At last, profanity burst from Captain Im’s mouth.

‘Hmm. Since I have even signed a contract with the Defense Strategy Department, I do not think I need to be afraid of the Boramae Clan.’

Even so, I could not move rashly.

This was still a time when bullets were frightening.

But I could not let the Rune be taken like this.

Do they even know how precious that thing is?

‘I will put a bullet in the head of the bastard at the very front first.’

Just as I was about to move slightly with a surprise attack in mind, I heard a strange sound near my ear.

Roll, roll, roll…….

It sounded like something was rolling. What was it?

The dice rolled 11!

Luck increases by 110%!

Huh?

• It seems you can entrust everything to luck right now.

The Goddess of Luck whispered to me.

The one who had slipped out of the [Luck] card and given me a kiss of luck…….

‘Good.’

Trusting the Goddess of Luck, I quickly raised my muzzle.

“……!”

The startled Boramae Clan members pulled their triggers, but…….

Click!

Due to a malfunction or a failure to fire, the bullets did not discharge.

Bang, bang, bang!

My muzzle spat fire.

***

“Argh!”

The bastards screamed and were knocked away.

Since I had shot their chests, where they were wearing Plate Carriers, and not their heads, they probably would not die.

Of course, that was only if there were ballistic plates inside the Plate Carriers.

If they had removed the ballistic plates and inserted dummy plates made of sponge because they were heavy and cumbersome, then they would die helplessly.

“Subdue them!”

“Yes, sir!”

Captain Im’s group swiftly pounced on the fallen bastards.

“Let go! I said let go!”

“Fuuuck!”

The bastards tried to resist, but they were subdued by Captain Im’s group in the blink of an eye.

“Seungcheol! Seungcheol!”

“Fuck! They really killed him!”

The bastards growled over their comrade’s death.

Among the three Boramae Clan members who had pointed their muzzles at me, one had collapsed while bleeding. Seeing how he was not moving, his eyes wide open, it was clear that his heart had been pierced and he had died instantly.

“Idiot.”

I clicked my tongue while looking down at the corpse of the dead Boramae Clan member.

I did not feel the slightest sympathy.

He was someone who deserved to die.

If only he had a ballistic plate inside his Plate Carrier, he would have ended it with nothing more than some bruising on his chest.

“And he called himself a Hunter.”

After glaring at the dead man’s corpse for a moment, I turned my gaze toward the 5-Star Rune.

The subdued bastards were not even in my mind.

I had merely shown mercy because I expected that relations with the Boramae Clan would become troublesome if I killed them.

I could have killed all three of them, but I had spared two, so they could not say much.

The subdued bastards would be dragged off to the Defense Strategy Department and punished.

First, I decided to check the Rune.

[Mutation]

Rune

★★★

Mimicry and transformation.

As expected, it was a Rune I was seeing for the first time.

I had never even heard that a Rune like this existed.

“What is it?”

“Do you want to see?”

“Hmm.”

Choi Yura hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

“No. I will just not look.”

“Why?”

“Because I think I will get greedy if I see it.”

“What do you mean, greedy?”

“I only need to receive what you promised. You take it.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Choi Yura turned her head away as if she had completely given up on it.

‘It is mine, then.’

Since Choi Yura had given up her rights, the Rune belonged to me.

I did not plan to show the Rune to Captain Im’s group either.

That was how my contract worked.

I did not have to divide loot with the Defense Strategy Department.

The reason I had shared Etherium was as a gesture of thanks for Captain Im’s group’s hard work, not because it was an obligation.

“Then…….”

Without hesitation, I reached out toward the Rune.

A card slipped out of the Deck and stored the [Mutation] Rune.

[Mutation]

Magic Card

★★★

Mimicry and transformation.

‘Is it an egg ghost?’

Inside the card was a faceless man.

‘I will check it later.’

I was eager to try using the [Mutation] card, but I stopped because I did not want to reveal my combat power.

“Let us wrap this up and leave.”

“Ah, yes.”

Captain Im seemed slightly disappointed that he had not been able to confirm what Rune I had taken, but he did not insist unnecessarily.

***

“Huh.”

I stepped out of the dungeon without thinking and was startled.

Murmur, murmur!

The front of the dungeon was in utter chaos.

“Move them quickly!”

“Start CPR here!”

Injured people were scattered everywhere, and the medical staff and paramedics seemed so busy running here and there to save them that they had no time to breathe.

On one side, the bodies of the dead, covered in white cloth, were neatly laid out.

At a rough estimate, there seemed to be around fifty bodies, so it appeared that many casualties had occurred among the Hunters trapped on other floors as well.

And it was not only them.

Clan members belonging to various Clans were also in front of the dungeon.

“Mingi! Chungnyeol!”

A middle-aged man in unusual attire ran toward the Hunters being dragged out by Captain Im’s group.

He wore a helmet, a Plate Carrier, and even a tactical belt around his waist, but his outfit was extremely strange.

Instead of the tactical uniform Hunters commonly wore, he was dressed in tight-fitting tights that looked like something a cyclist would wear.

On top of that, he even had an electric bicycle equipped with an Etherium Battery beside him, so at a glance, he looked more like a cyclist than a Hunter.

“B-Brother!”

“Brother Yeongnam!”

Mingi and Chungnyeol shouted when they spotted the man.

Yeongnam…… Ah.

I knew who he was.

Kim Yeongnam.

The Clan Master of the Boramae Clan.

I had heard he was such a famous bicycle enthusiast that he had served as the president of a cycling club even before awakening, and it seemed his hobby had remained the same even after becoming a Hunter.

“Please step back. These people have been arrested in the act.”

“Arrested in the act? What is that supposed to mean? Why are my little brothers criminals caught in the act?”

Kim Yeongnam raised his voice angrily.

Whoooosh!

The Ether emitted from Kim Yeongnam pressured Captain Im.

At a glance, he might look like a middle-aged man in a ridiculous outfit, but Kim Yeongnam was not some nobody.

He was a notable Hunter whose name was mentioned often, and I had heard that his skill was considerable as well.

Around this period, he should probably have been about 5-Star, and he was an expert whom even Choi Yura, who was fairly well-known herself, would have to concede a step to.

“It seems there has been some misunderstanding, soldier. What did this Kim Yeongnam’s little brothers do wrong for them to be criminals caught in the act?”

As if they had been waiting for it, Mingi and Chungnyeol pointed at me and shouted.

“Brother Yeongnam! That bastard killed Chanho and even stole our Rune!”

“That is right! That bastard killed Chanho! These sons of bitches coveted the Rune and are framing us!”

Kim Yeongnam snapped his head around and glared at me.

“You son of a bitch…… Did you kill my little brother?”

Kim Yeongnam strode toward me with the force of someone who might kill me on the spot.

I did not run.

There was no reason to run, and I had no desire to do so.

And there was no need.

“Wait a moment.”

Someone quietly stepped forward and stopped Kim Yeongnam.

“Huh!”

Kim Yeongnam’s startled footsteps came to a halt.

It was because Minister Ahn Gukseon, dressed not in a neat suit but in a black tactical uniform and armed with a Plate Carrier, had blocked the space between Kim Yeongnam and me.

Though I did not know why this man had come here.

“Oh my, Minister. It has been a long time. Have you been well?”

Kim Yeongnam bowed his head to Ahn Gukseon.

“I have been well, thanks to you. And you?”

“I am the same as always. Ha ha.”

“That is a relief.”

“But what brings you here, Minister……?”

“I received a report while passing by and stopped in. What about you?”

“As you can see, I came running after hearing that my people were trapped in the dungeon.”

“I see. You have been through a great deal.”

“Ah, not at all.”

“But listen. I understand how you feel, but is it right to get angry immediately after hearing only your little brothers’ side of the story?”

“…….”

“You should hear the whole story first and then get angry. I ask this of you. And if you are a Master who leads a Clan, no matter how angry you are, you should be able to make at least that much judgment.”

“I-I have no excuse.”

Kim Yeongnam obediently stepped back, as if he had never been angry at all.