After the assessment results of the middle-schooler who took care of the instant gate one week ago came out yesterday, the public opinion exploded once again. Shin Jihoâs name constantly passed through the publicâs lips.
The atmosphere inside the guild was also a mess. Within the guild, the issue that caused as much of a stir as the guildmasterâs changes did was the many items delivered from Chungram Department Store.
A highly ranked item will make you stronger.
With good items1, a hunter can try going up against someone a rank higher than them.
Although it sounds easy, actually doing so is very hard. After all, not everyone has the money for that.
Amidst the excited atmosphere, Jiho only handed items out to a few select hunters. They were the hunters that were going to renew their contracts soon.
Thus, among the guildmembers who had once grouped together to curse Shin Jiho out, chaos erupted.
Who made who look bad, who started cursing first⌠It was a meaningless fight, as they had all cursed him out together.
A few of the members tried to discuss their contract conditions again. But Shin Jiho turned them away.
He wasnât kicking the guildmembers out just because they had cursed him.
In a fight with oneâs life on the line, mutual respect between guildmembers is absolutely necessary. Jiho doesnât want internal divisions when they have to trust and fight with each other in a life-and-death situation.
âIâll only hold onto them until their contract period ends.â
There wonât be many occasions where he will be going out with the guildmembers who arenât renewing their contracts. After all, in order to prepare for whatâs to come, he has to get familiar2Â with the guildmembers heâll continue to be with.
Coincidentally, a B-gate alert had fallen today.
The dungeon is an open dungeon; the number of gates is estimated to be within 10.
Once the gate appears and the dungeon connects to this world, the dungeon needs to be raided within a given amount of time.
A dungeon attack does not end with a single raid.
Every dungeon has its own lifespan. The minimum amount of time is one year. There are even a couple of dungeons active now that had started as far back as when fissures had started to appear.
There is a long band wrapped around the edges of gates. They call this âDungeonâs Clock.â
When a Dungeonâs Clock first appears, the band is full of a specially colored mana. As time passes, the mana slowly disappears.
Once a raid begins, the clock fills back up with mana. The clock stays full during its specific time range before the mana slowly begins to disappear again.
For a raid team, their most important job is to finish raiding the dungeon before time runs out.
If the dungeon is not fully taken care of by the time the mana in the clock runs out, the dungeon explodes.
Once the dungeon explodes, all of the monsters and items inside the dungeon spill out, and the surrounding area changes into that of the dungeon. In other words, the area becomes a wasteland unsuitable for normal humans to live in.
They call this process âerosion.â
Because thereâs no way to return an area from erosion yet, blocking a dungeon is humanityâs most important mission.
There are quite a few places around the world that have become a wasteland like this.
Of course, Korea has enough power to prevent erosion from happening.
Compared to their population, Korea has a large number of awakened ones and hunters, especially S-ranks.
Todayâs dungeon raid team was Team 1 of S-rank guild Divine Arrows3.
Since itâs a team led by Seo Min Jeong, one of the four S-rank hunters in Korea, the raid itself will probably not be dangerous.
As a B-rank guild, No Name helps defend the area around the dungeon.
Unlike closed or sunken dungeons, the gates of open dungeons donât close. The monsters in the dungeon continue to crawl out of the gates until the raid is finished.
Although this is a good way for raid teams to get additional reinforcements4, this is simply a disaster for citizens. In order to block this disaster, guilds that donât enter dungeons guard the outside.
Jiho was fired up. Todayâs event was the perfect stage to put his new skills to the test.
S-rank dungeon raid, F-rank hunterâs support.
And finally the defense of this gate.
If today goes well, he will be able to dispel all doubts. Video teams will definitely be sent out by broadcast channels to film the event, which will serve as evidence.
Jiho clenched his gloved hand into a fist.
âAre you ready?â
Lim Seung Jooâs voice was heard from beside him. Jiho raised his head in surprise.
âAh, yes.â
âLet us go.â
Different from before, Lim Seung Joo took the lead with a strangely obedient attitude. As the two left the guildmasterâs office, Shin Jiho caught a faint look of doubt in Lim Seung Jooâs eyes.
It was obvious that even though Lim Seung Joo was curious about the recent series of events, he couldnât ask because of his pride.
âThereâs no reason for me to bring it up first.â
Although he passed items out to Lim Seung Joo, Jiho didnât do that because Lim Seung Joo was particularly trustworthy. Had he cut ties off based on the personâs attitude towards him, Lim Seung Joo should have been the first to go.
The four people participating in No Nameâs Team 1 today are Shin Jiho, Lim Seung Joo, Heo Sori, and Yang Hojin.
In truth, Jiho spent more time debating on whether Lim Seung Joo should be included in the team than he did with C-rank Heo Sori or Yang Hojin.
Of course, Lim Seung Joo is strong. Itâs a waste to throw away an A-rank combat hunter. Plus his contract still has two years left on it anyway.
âI should make use of him a bit more.â
Jiho snorted. Half a month ago, Jiho wouldâve thought that he was being arrogant.
Well, if you exclude the fact that he doesnât listen, keeping Lim Seung Joo isnât a bad idea. After all, if the size of the guild increases, Jiho wonât be able to stick to everyone and use his skill on them.
âHeâs a little too good to give away to someone else.â
Because Lim Seung Joo is of a higher rank than him, Jiho canât check Seung Jooâs stats with his [Understand] skill right now. Still, considering how strong his skills are in combat, it wasnât worth throwing him out.
Jihoâs plan is to use Seung Joo a bit more and observe the situation before he decides whether to keep him in or kick him out.
After all, the whole reason Lim Seung Joo looked down on Shin Jiho in the first place was because he thought Jiho was too weak to be a guildmaster. If Jiho proves his ability to him, wouldnât his attitude naturally change as well?
It was natural that Heo Sori was included. For the past week, she had been cooped up in the practice room with Jiho to help test his skills. She helped him a lot before, and, even though she was lacking in combat ability, Jiho still wanted to push her as a core member of the guild.
As for Yang HojinâŚ
âAh, uh, hello.â
Jiho looked at the clumsy newcomer. Yang Hojin walked over, looking confused as to why he was in Team 1 with the guildmaster. Jiho greeted him lightly as he opened Yang Hojinâs status window.
Status
<table>Name Yang Hojin Occupation Guildmember of No Name Rank C Title â HP</tbody></table>
Even though Yang Hojin was a support hunter, his stats were fairly high.
From the C-ranks he had checked so far, their stats were usually between 50 to the low 100s. Yet Yang Hojinâs stats were close to those of a B-rank combat hunter.
Heâs strong enough to not be a burden during fights, heâs one of the new guildmembers staying in the guild, and heâs a valuable healer.
Even though Yang Hojin was a newcomer, Jiho included him because he planned to continue to take Yang Hojin around.
âHello! Am I last?â
Heo Sori, who was the last one to arrive at the guild lobby, greeted them brightly.
Heo Sori looked happy wearing the new armor that Shin Jiho lent out to her. She even smiled brightly at Lim Seung Joo, who she never really liked before.
âGuildmaster-nim, Vice-Guildmaster-nim, Hunter Yang Hojin, please take care of me today!â
âYes, work hard today. I will back you up as much as I can, so donât overexert yourself.â
Shin Jiho answered cordially. Lim Seung Joo, who was standing next to Jiho, simply nodded his head once arrogantly while Yang Hojin bowed up and down humbly.
Jiho thought it would be perfect if the two could blend their attitudes together.
While thinking about nonsense, Jiho stepped forward.
âLetâs go.â
As they were walking out of the office building, a strong scent of roses wafted into Jihoâs nose.
The roses that Joo Yiwon had given him ten days ago were still fresh. Jiho looked at the roses with suspicious eyes.
âDoesnât it seem like these grew a bit?â
âRight? They grow really well despite not having any roots!â
Heo Sori answered proudly as she went on about how the flowers made her feel a sense of accomplishment every time she gave them water.
Rootless roses with plump petals, continuously growing. Although it was very suspicious, the plant itself was probably not dangerous. After all, it was a gift from Joo Yiwon.
Jiho took his gaze off of the roses and left the building.
Because there are a lot of guilds and hunters in Seoul, it was rare for them to be called out somewhere far from the guild.
Todayâs location was a high school located not far off from the guild.
When they arrived at the scene, no one else was there besides the employee sent from the Hunter Association and other awakened ones who had also been called there.
Unlike last time with the F-rank gate, because there had been an alert about the appearance of a B-rank gate, most of the citizens were able to evacuate.
Heo Sori was amazed by the size of the high school.
âThis high school is very big.â
âThat is why two teams were sent to this area. The other team is probably by the schoolâs front entrance.â
âBut what happens if a gate opens up at a school? Isnât it dangerous if itâs an open dungeon?â
When the Dungeonâs Clock runs out of time, monsters begin to crawl out of open dungeons again, even after it has been raided.
Itâs not like students can evacuate every time monsters appear. For them, an open dungeon is both chaotic and dangerous.
âThey will probably switch over to online classes whenever the time gets near.â
âAh, must be nice.â
Sori laughed. Like she said, most students would probably rejoice in the fact that they can miss school every once in a while.
Jiho thought back to a few years ago.
1. I couldnât really think of a good way to translate this. í 뚨 (âtem-bbalâ) is usually used to describe a player who would be nothing without their items. The player buys a lot of good items (often with real money) and uses them to rank up. Item > skill.
2. ěë°ě ë§ěśë¤ is an idiom. It would literally translate to âMatch hands and feet.â This idiom means that a group has practiced with each other so many times that they are very familiar with each other and work smoothly together.
3. Iâm not quite sure about this. The guildâs name is ě˛ě íě´ but ě˛ě can mean a lot of different things (i.e. 1000, fabric, divine will). For now, Iâm going with âdivineâ because it makes the most sense (and sounds cooler (âšę´â )
4. I donât really know what reinforcements theyâre gaining from this. Monsters? Items? The defense team? Honor???