chapter 27

If Jung Sooah’s friendship skill had really raised everyone’s ability, then it was only right to acknowledge this in the contribution rankings. The only thing was, there was no way for us to really measure how much it helped..and the skill wasn’t discussed with everyone at the start so I would have to do the rankings normally this one time.

“Anyway, do you know how the skill activates?”

“Hm. I’m not sure. But I think I might know. It’s a weird feeling. Is a skill supposed to feel like that?”

“Just because you learn a skill doesn’t mean you discover everything about it instantly. Think about someone who gains a boxing skill. If you asked them to explain exactly how to punch and step in words, would they be able to explain it? No. Because they just acquired the skill instantly without physically doing the work and uncovering it themselves.”

“That makes sense.”

“So they would need to do some tests. To learn how to punch, they need to test some punches..to learn how to dodge, they need to test evading a punch.”

“Then everyone else learns their skills by testing it like this too?”

“No. Usually there is a known way to use the skill. It’s been already 50 years since the first skillbook appeared. Most skillbooks have alot more of the same kind out there, so people usually already know how to activate or use it.”

“So you’re saying there isn’t really a guideline for mine.”

“There isn’t one for mine either.”

“Oh. Feels like we hit some kind of jackpot or something.”

“Let’s get going.”

Han Joonseok said as he got up. It seemed our break ran a little too long. We had finished clearing about half the dungeon and the left trail – we only have the right trail left to clear.

We had packed everything up and were getting ready to continue when we heard a voice coming down from the entrance.

“Over there! Stop what you’re doing and everyone come on out!”

Everyone looked in the direction the voice was coming from. We could now see someone in military uniform yelling and waving his arms about at us.

“I said come out! You can’t hear me?”

“What…?”

“Why is someone not in our party in the dungeon?”

Half of the party looked at me, confused, while the other half frowned. This was the difference between the experienced and novices.

“Let’s listen to what that man is saying.”

“What? Why? We still have time left.”

Glasses girl said. I could see why she was annoyed. Dungeons operate where each session is reserved at 4 hours. Since we were here, we could lay claim to remaining here until our time ran out.

By normal procedure this was true. By normal procedure.

I waved my arms to let the military man know we understood. I saw him nod his head and disappear again.

I faced the party members and tried explaining it to them after seeing their bafflement.

“There are a lot of instances where things like this happen in a dungeon. This is called a booking change and…”

“Booking change my butt. It’s a rip off – jumping the queue, is what it is.”

Jung Sooah said.

“Jumping the queue?”

“Eh…so. What it is is. There are people who are um…higher than us…waiting to come in.”

At Han Joonseok’s answer, manager Kim responded.

“So we have to leave then? Didn’t we pay the normal admission fee?”

“They do give us some of that back. But we can’t expect anything more than that.”

Han Joonseok’s face turned red in an instant.

“Wait. Do they realize how much of a pain it is to get ready and come out altogether for a raid? It’s not as if we can come back any time soon if we leave right now!”

“So?”

Manager Kim said with a snort.

“..I’m sorry?”

“So what are you saying you’re going to do about it? Are you going to go and tell them you won’t leave?

“Of course.”

“This is why amateurs are amateurs. Chet.”

“Aren’t you being a bit rude?”

“Rude! Am I saying anything wrong!”

“Dungeons are operated by the government.”

I interrupted them just as they were about to go at eachother.

“There are about 50 groups who can put pressure on the team that operates a dungeon, of which include: entrepreneurs, lawmakers, and other senior officials of the ministry. Very rarely, sometimes a raid team could also have that kind of power.”

“So. If someone with power wants to do a hunt, we just have to bow out like that?”

Han Joonseok still couldn’t accept it. But I liked these kinds of people. People who rage against the unfair and unjust. If we wanted anything to change for the better, we needed more people like this.

“Yes. If we cause any problems over something like this, we could get blacklisted. That list is…”

“Put up in their database and distributed to all dungeons.”

Sooah finished.

“Then…”

“At the very least, it would be hard for you to find any hunting jobs in all of South Korea.”

“So they’re saying, ‘You people with no connections can just shut up as do as we say.’ Got it?”

“Why do you keep taking their sides since the beginning? You think you’re anything special?”

Han Joonseok asked.

“This bastard. Who said I’ve been taking their side…!”

“Let’s get going.”

I tried to break it up and get everyone back on task. Any fighting can be continued outside. Since it came to it, it was better to leave earlier than later. Though it wasn’t much, we were able to get some ores so it wasn’t a complete waste and we could always come back next time.

We couldn’t say we were losing out on too much because the dungeon operators would usually get us a earlier reservation slot for our troubles.

As soon as we left the dungeon, we spied a couple youngsters standing by. They were probably mid twenties at the most. Surprisingly, I knew one of them.

“That person…”

Sooah pulled on my arm cuffs. One of them was pretty big. He was one of the guys that had tried to violate Sooah at the Ansan dungeon. He recognized me as soon as I recognized him.

I think his name was Park Jungbeh.

He made a great big smile as he sauntered over to me.

“Perfect timing. Let’s go have a talk. Ha? The girl from last time is here too?”

“Ah…yes.”

“Are the two of you going out?”

Park Jungbeh asked coyly. I started to wonder if there was something wrong with my memory. Then I wondered just how stupid these guys were.

He wouldn’t be smiling like that unless he were stupid or retarded.

When I shrugged it off, he continued.

“The porter that was supposed to meet us here bailed on us. So why don’t you porter for us a bit. If that girl over there comes, it would be even better.”

“We’re on our way from doing a round in the dungeon so it would be difficult for us.”

“Heyy. Don’t be so stiff. Aren’t we pals? If it’s because of the incident from last time, I’ll apologize. Honestly, we only did it because of Hansol so don’t take it so personally. I’m not a bad guy, really. And if we were to really be truthful, it’s not like you were all perfect either. Don’t you know that I almost died because of you. So let’s just let bygones be bygones. What do you think?”

I thought it was just Song Hansol who was the crazy bastard, but it seems this guy had a few screws loose himself. How is it that he can be so self-absorbed? I almost got goosebumps when he complimented himself saying how he’s not a bad guy.

“I’m truly sorry. Maybe next time.”

“Are you really going to be like this?”

“More than that, aren’t leisure parties against the law at this time…”

“Ah. That? Don’t worry. I got a memo saying it’s fine.”

He was talking about a waiver that said that the country would not be liable if the signer died in the dungeon.

“We’ll wait for you to finish with your other group. We only have 4 in our party so if both you and the girl came, it would be just perfect. So we’ll assume you’ll be joining us and wait. We’ll give you thirty minutes.”

This bastard was not going to let it go. If we keep insisting on not joining, it could really end up becoming more troublesome for me.

“Ok.”

Plus I had something I wanted to try out. It could be really dangerous so it might be better to try it out with these guys than my own party. We’ll see.