After checking the loot and rewards, Seong-jun’s party decided to open only the cheapest artifact from each chest and store the rest in their sub-spatial storage before leaving.
Naturally, the Ring of Lightning that Yu-seon had obtained was also tucked away in the subspace.
Once everything was organized, they immediately exited the dungeon.
Flash!
“Whoa! We’re finally out!”
“Haha, it really was tough. I didn’t think spending a few days in a dungeon would be much of a big deal, but it was more intense than I expected. Still, I’m glad we have the results to show for it.”
Having stepped out of the dungeon, Gwang-taek and Yu-seon took deep breaths, savoring the outside air.
The Director of the Dungeon Management Bureau approached them.
“Greetings. I am Jeong Jin-bae, Director of the Dungeon Management Bureau. Are you the three who cleared the closed dungeon?”
When Director Jeong Jin-bae approached and asked, Seong-jun stepped forward to answer.
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Kim Seong-jun, an F-rank Buffer. We happened to clear the dungeon through a bit of good luck. We’ve brought out all the loot and rewards from the elites and the boss, so please verify them. Also, we’d like to request a settlement for the monster carcasses and mana stones.”
At Seong-jun’s words, Jeong Jin-bae looked at him with interest.
“Good luck? I’m not sure if this is something possible through luck alone. One B-rank and two F-ranks. Well, I suppose with a B-rank Tanker, you could handle normal monsters well enough, but the elites and even the boss? No matter how I think about it, the math doesn’t add up.”
Jeong Jin-bae’s point was valid.
To anyone watching, it would seem impossible for this combination to clear an entire D-rank dungeon.
“But it was possible, and that’s why we’re standing here, isn’t it?”
“That is true. The question is how you managed a boss raid with only a B-rank Tanker. As F-ranks, the two of you wouldn’t have been of much help against a D-rank boss. That leads me to ask, Mr. Kim Seong-jun… have you perhaps re-awakened?”
When Jeong Jin-bae asked point-blank, Seong-jun nodded and replied.
“Yes, I have re-awakened.”
Since he had already reached A-rank and planned to take a re-awakening test soon anyway, there was no reason to hide it.
Not that he had particularly intended to keep it a secret in the first place.
“I thought so. May I ask why you haven’t taken a re-awakening test until now?”
“It’s nothing special. Even though I re-awakened, my primary hunting grounds were F-rank and E-rank, so I didn’t feel a particular need for it. I was actually planning to take the test soon since I’m thinking of moving up to D-rank dungeons.”
Not taking a re-awakening test wasn’t a legal issue; as long as one didn’t feel the immediate need, it wasn’t mandatory.
“Ah, I see. From the Association’s perspective, we need to be aware of the accurate ranks and classes of Awakened individuals. I recommend you take the re-awakening test as soon as possible.”
Since the Association needed accurate data on Awakened people, they recommended taking the test quickly, even if it wasn’t legally required.
“Rolling around in a dungeon for a few days is incredibly exhausting. We haven’t even slept properly. We’ll take the test after resting for a few days.”
They had cleared an entire dungeon, discovered ruins, and obtained massive rewards.
Seong-jun intended to clear his accumulated fatigue by resting for a while.
“I understand. Please take the test as soon as you can. Also, are there any unusual details regarding the dungeon that we should be aware of?”
At Jeong Jin-bae’s words, Seong-jun discreetly activated Deep Analysis.
‘Deep Analysis.’
[Analysis Results]
Jeong Jin-bae: [Ordinary Person]
Trust: 35
Psychological State: [Even if he re-awakened, he is suspicious of how just three people cleared an entire D-rank dungeon. He is wondering if they discovered ruins or something that influenced the clearance.]
Confirming Jeong Jin-bae’s state of mind, Seong-jun smirked.
‘His intuition is good. Well, even if we hadn’t found the ruins, I reached A-rank right before the boss, so clearing it wouldn’t have been an issue. Anyway, it’s a relief that I restored the ruin entrance to its original state and wiped away any traces of us entering the cave.’
While it was true that finding the ruins and the resulting artifacts and skill books had a major impact on their hunt, they could have defeated the boss even without them.
Because Seong-jun had reached A-rank after killing the elites right before the boss fight, that alone was enough to tackle it.
“No, there were no particular abnormalities. The monsters that appeared were wind-attribute ranged monsters that were very fast and agile, which made things a bit difficult, but other than that, it was like any normal dungeon. Well, since closed dungeons have a high probability of containing ruins, I was somewhat hopeful, but unfortunately, we didn’t find any. The investigation team will be entering anyway, so you’ll see when you check.”
Once a dungeon is cleared, it stays open for 12 hours before disappearing.
During that time, an investigation team enters to conduct research.
Therefore, before leaving, Seong-jun’s party had restored the ruin entrance, erased all signs of the cave being used as a base camp, and crucially, concealed the cave entrance.
Considering it was a field-type dungeon with a very wide area, he doubted they would even find the cave within 12 hours, and even if they did, he judged they wouldn’t have enough time to inspect it properly.
“Ahem, I see. Regardless, you’ve worked hard. May we handle the monster carcasses and mana stones on our end?”
“Yes, we’ll sell them to the Association as usual. Oh! And once the artifact market price check is finished, please deduct the taxes from the settlement amount. For the record, we don’t plan on selling the spirit stones; we’ll handle those ourselves.”
Since they had only left behind the lowest-quality and cheapest artifacts, even though they were B-rank items, the settlement money would be more than enough to cover the taxes.
However, since Yu-seon’s new “Wind Spirit Archer” class could manipulate spirits, she needed a large quantity of spirit stones for the spirit’s growth.
Thus, Seong-jun planned to hand the spirit stones over to Yu-seon rather than selling them.
***
The settlement for the monster carcasses and mana stones was processed quickly.
Even after deducting artifact taxes, they received billions of won in settlement funds.
Seong-jun took the remaining 70 percent after Gwang-taek’s 30 percent share was set aside.
And now.
Sizzle!
Seong-jun’s party was at a meat restaurant, grilling beef.
“Ooh! Look at this color! After eating nothing but Hunter-style combat rations for days, my throat felt like sandpaper. Now I can finally grease it up.”
Yu-seon swallowed hard as she watched the meat cook.
Seong-jun smiled and handed something to her.
“Do you like it that much? You really are a meat killer. Oh! And take this.”
“Huh? Ah! The Ring of Lightning!”
What Seong-jun handed over was the Ring of Lightning he had pulled from the subspace.
Since they had already split the other loot based on similar values, the Ring of Lightning was an item not included in the general distribution.
“Now that you’ve re-awakened into a B-rank Hidden Class and have the Ring of Lightning, you won’t have to worry about your damage output. Also, after Yu-seon and I take our re-awakening tests, I think it might be good to skip D-rank entirely and move straight to C-rank. What does everyone think?”
In the past, even if Seong-jun had reached A-rank, he would have stayed in D-rank for a while.
But now that Yu-seon had also re-awakened into a B-rank Hidden Class, he judged there was no need to linger in D-rank.
With this much power, he felt they were fully capable of moving straight to C-rank.
“Yu-seon was sweeping through D-rank dungeons even when she was F-rank. Now that she’s a B-rank Hidden Class, C-rank should be more than possible. But Seong-jun… what on earth are you? You said you’d explain slowly after catching the boss. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand. Didn’t you say you were D-rank when you first re-awakened? But the performance you showed was definitely not something a D-rank could display. Plus, you said yourself that you weren’t D-rank.”
After re-awakening as a B-rank Tanker, Gwang-taek knew the party’s center wouldn’t shift from Seong-jun to himself, but he had expected their dependency on Seong-jun to decrease significantly.
Instead of decreasing, their dependency had actually grown.
Since Seong-jun showed an unbelievable surge in power every time he leveled up, Gwang-taek was confused about how to even process it.
“When I first re-awakened, I was D-rank. But not anymore. I’ve told you many times, haven’t I? I’m a special kind of Healer. It’s hard to give full details, but my rank rises when certain conditions are met. And currently, my rank is A-rank.”
Since he intended to be open with them, Seong-jun only explained the rough details about his rank increase.
But even that was enough to shock Gwang-taek and Yu-seon.
“Ack! A-rank?”
“Whoa! Your rank increases? Is that even possible?”
At their reactions, Seong-jun put a finger to his lips.
“Shh! This is a secret. I’m only telling you two because it’s you. If it were anyone else, I’d keep my mouth shut. So don’t go around talking about it. You too, Yu-seon.”
At Seong-jun’s words, Gwang-taek and Yu-seon hurriedly covered their mouths with their palms.
“Hmph! A-ah, I got it. Don’t worry. I might not know much else, but I can keep a secret.”
“I’ll take it to my grave. Anyway, you’re A-rank right now? Wow! I felt a bit bad because only Gwang-taek and I re-awakened as B-ranks, but turns out you’re even higher than us.”
Actually, she had vaguely figured he wouldn’t be D-rank.
To put it bluntly, had any of the feats Seong-jun shown so far looked like something a D-rank would do?
However, since a rank is usually fixed once determined, she had been confused about how to accept it.
Who would ever imagine that a rank could increase?
“Once I get my A-rank through the re-awakening test and Yu-seon gets her B-rank, we’ll be a party of one A-rank and two B-ranks. At this level, we’ll have a free pass up to C-rank dungeons without needing additional members.”
Depending on the situation, he thought B-rank dungeons might even be possible, but for now, he planned to focus on C-rank dungeons to test their potential.
“I suppose so. By the way, Seong-jun, your attack skills are no joke. What kind of Healer is stronger than a Dealer? Honestly, it looked like the damage you dealt was higher than the damage from Yu-seon’s Lightning Arrows.”
It was true that in terms of total damage dealt to the Corrupted Ariel, the damage Seong-jun dealt was much higher.
In the case of Holy Arrow Volley, each individual arrow might be weaker than a Lightning Arrow, but since five were fired at once, the combined total surpassed Lightning Arrow.
“That’s only because I reached A-rank at the right time. Now that Yu-seon has re-awakened as a B-rank Hidden Class, things will be different than before. Of course, even so, I plan to chip in with some damage while also attacking whenever I can, rather than just focusing on support like I used to.”
In truth, even if Yu-seon had re-awakened as the B-rank Hidden Class “Wind Spirit Archer,” Seong-jun didn’t think his damage would fall behind hers.
Therefore, Seong-jun intended to actively participate in combat to help increase their hunting speed.
“Haha, if you participate in the attack actively, the hunting speed will definitely be faster. And that means our profits will increase accordingly. Still, I’m jealous. Healers can have such powerful attacks, but why don’t Tankers have any decent offensive skills? Tsk, maybe I should look for a usable Tanker-type offensive skill on HunterNet.”
“After we settle the Mithril Ingots, your share will be about 13 billion won. If we combine that with the settlement money we got this time and the B-rank artifacts we obtained, you should be able to buy at least one decent skill book… but personally, I wonder if that’s necessary. I know that for Tanker-type offensive skills, the price-to-performance ratio is quite low.”
Similarly to Healers, offensive skills obtainable through skill books for Tankers weren’t particularly outstanding in performance.
Therefore, in Seong-jun’s view, spending that much money on an offensive skill book was inefficient.
After all, both Yu-seon and Seong-jun could deal massive amounts of damage.
“Tsk, is that so? Anyway, Seong-jun.”
Nodding as if in agreement with Seong-jun’s words, Gwang-taek then looked at Seong-jun with a serious expression.
“Yes?”
“I mean… how long are you going to keep using formal speech? I get that we were in a business relationship back when we were doing fixed mercenary work, but now we’re practically family. Speak comfortably. Look at Yu-seon. She’s so relaxed people would think we’re just friends.”
When they were working together as fixed mercenaries, they were just meeting for work, so he had let it go.
But now, their relationship was practically that of a family.
No, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say their bond was stronger than blood relatives; their connection was that tight.
That’s why he told Seong-jun to start speaking informally.
“Haha, then should I?”
“Of course. And what’s with ‘Older Brother’? It makes me sound way too old. It creates a distance. From now on, just call me Brother.”
At Gwang-taek’s words, Seong-jun smiled and said,
“Got it, Brother.”
As soon as he spoke informally, Gwang-taek looked satisfied.
“Oh! That’s better. Anyway, this closed dungeon was a real jackpot.”
“What should we do with the Mithril Ingots? It feels a bit odd to put them up for sale right after clearing the closed dungeon, don’t you think? I’d like to take our time and post them slowly. What do you think, Brother?”
Since Yu-seon had decided to give all of her share to Seong-jun in exchange for the Awakening Stone he gave her, they only needed to settle Gwang-taek’s share.
“I think you’re right. It’s not like we’re desperate for cash right now, and if we rush, the Association might notice something.”
They already had the settlement from the carcasses and mana stones, and selling the artifacts alone would easily bring in 10 billion won.
There was no need to hurriedly dispose of the Mithril Ingots.
“Then let’s do that. Let’s eat. Oh! And I’m going to rest for about a week before we resume hunting. In the meantime, Yu-seon, you go ahead and take the re-awakening test.”
Seong-jun had been running without rest to achieve his first goal of reaching A-rank.
And now that he had finally achieved it, he intended to take a week off to rest and reorganize.
***
After parting with Gwang-taek and Yu-seon, Seong-jun returned home.
After taking a shower, he looked around his cramped studio apartment.
“I should look for a house while I’m resting. I have the money now; I should live in a proper home.”
What was the point of letting money pile up in his bank account?
Once he officially reached A-rank through the re-awakening test, he would join the ranks of high-ranking Awakened, so he needed to establish a living environment befitting that status.
“Ah! Before that, should I get a car first? I can’t keep living as a pedestrian forever.”
He decided a car came before the house.
He had lived as a pedestrian using public transportation until now, but wasn’t it time to graduate from that lifestyle?
“To think that only a short while ago I was wandering around doing mercenary work as an F-rank Buffer… my life has changed so much. Human Kim Seong-jun, you’ve really made it.”
He had thought he’d spend his life doing mercenary work as an F-rank Buffer, frequenting F-rank dungeons.
That same Seong-jun was now an A-rank Healer.
If he hadn’t gone to the convenience store to buy beer that day, or if he had just reported it to the Association without entering the dungeon, he’d probably still be living as an F-rank Buffer.
As he was lost in thought for a moment, an expression of realization crossed his face.
“Oh right! Since I’ve decided to rest for a week, I should take my uncle and aunt somewhere.”
Immediately pulling out his phone, Seong-jun called his uncle.
Ring, ring—
The dial tone rang for a moment before Lee Seon-jae’s voice came through.
-Yeah, Seong-jun.
“Haha, Uncle, everything okay?”
-Is there anything that wouldn’t be okay?
Oh!
By the way, you’re coming over this weekend, right?
Your aunt’s planning to make japchae and galbi since you’re coming.
I’m thinking of frying up a chicken to match your arrival, so make sure you come.
At his uncle Lee Seon-jae’s words, Seong-jun asked carefully.
“Actually, about that… Uncle, can you perhaps clear your schedule for Monday?”
-Huh?
Monday?
There aren’t many customers on Mondays anyway, so I can if I need to, but why?
Saturdays were busy, making it hard to take off, but Mondays were different; he could easily step away if needed.
“I’m taking a few days off this time. If you have time, I was thinking it might be nice to go somewhere nearby for an overnight trip. What do you think?”
When Seong-jun suggested an overnight trip, Lee Seon-jae said enthusiastically,
-Oh!
An overnight trip?
That sounds great!
I was just thinking it’s been a while since we all went on a trip together.
Hold on a second.
I’ll ask your aunt.
After telling him to wait, Lee Seon-jae asked his wife, Yoo Mi-ran, and a moment later spoke into the phone again.
-Haha, your aunt says she loves the idea!
So where are we going?
“I was thinking we could book a pension somewhere nearby to get some fresh air and grill some meat in the evening. I’ll look for a suitable place.”
-What does the place matter as long as we can all go together?
Anywhere is fine, so just let us know once the location is decided.
Your aunt is already excited and making a fuss about what to pack.
Haha.
Seong-jun reproached himself for not doing this sooner, seeing how happy they were just at the prospect of a simple overnight trip for some fresh air.
Even if life had been rough and difficult, he felt he had been too indifferent to his uncle and aunt, who were essentially his parents.
He vowed to be more attentive to those around him in the future.
***
I Became an EX-Class All-Rounder Priest Chapter 32
E-book Release Date | 2025.11.14
Author | Kim Hyeon-jun
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Gun-won
Published by | Poten
Address | 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul [04783]
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585
ISBN | 9791175302167
Price | 100 won
© Kim Hyeon-jun 2025
This e-book is a work protected by copyright law. Since this e-book was published by contract with the author, unauthorized transcription, reproduction, distribution, or sharing without written consent from both parties is prohibited.