Chapter 48: Sincere Kim Jong-chol (2)

Kim Song-cheol appeared in front of Suho Hall.

Lee Yong-chan and Park Ha-su, who were drinking sodas in front of it, waved their hands.

“Brother, how was Guam?”

Park Ha-su asked immediately.

They had only heard that Kim Jong-chol was ‘going to Guam’ and didn’t know the full details.

“It was good. I even went on a yacht.”

“A yacht?”

“Yeah, a yacht.”

“As expected, you’re the best, Brother.”

“But was it just a trip sent by the state? Trainees aren’t allowed to go abroad, are they?”

Lee Yong-chan asked.

“It was just… felt like a workshop.”

“I’m jealous, Brother. By the way, have you ever been abroad?”

“Abroad? I couldn’t even go on a school field trip. You?”

“Me neither. My school didn’t even go on local field trips.”

It had been nearly ten years since Gates and Hunters first appeared.

The current generation in their twenties had lived through this situation since they were in elementary or middle school.

“Brother, did you go on school field trips?”

“I went to Japan.”

“Pardon?”

“A field trip… overseas?”

Their eyes widened.

They looked like people who had encountered something impossible.

“Yeah, there were no Gates when I was in high school.”

“Wow, I’m jealous.”

“I wish I had been born ten years earlier.”

“…It’s not something to be that jealous of. Anyway, where’s Hye-seong?”

“Ah, he’s coming over there.”

Park Ha-su pointed behind them. Kang Hye-seong was walking toward them.

He spotted his teammates, pulled out his earphones, and tucked them into his pocket.

“Brother! Did you have a good trip?”

Kang Hye-seong ran over and bowed to Kim Jong-chol.

“I did.”

“But it looks like you’ve lost some weight?”

He said, looking Kim Jong-chol up and down.

He hadn’t lost weight because of Guam.

He had rested and eaten well there.

Instead, he hadn’t slept properly for the past two days because he was studying the 2nd-Tier Circle Theory.

He had been so absorbed that he forgot to sleep or eat.

If he hadn’t entered a dungeon today, he would have stayed up quite late last night as well.

“Really? Did I lose some? Ah, right. Take these, everyone.”

Kim Jong-chol rummaged through his bag and pulled out a few souvenirs.

They were things like keychains and t-shirts.

He hadn’t had time to give them out because he had been studying Circle Theory as soon as he returned.

“Thank you, Brother!”

The teammates were all smiles.

It seemed like it was their first time receiving souvenirs from someone who had traveled abroad.

“Shall we get going then?”

Team 24C entered Suho Hall.

When they came out after changing in the locker room, Park Ha-su was already waiting.

He was always fast at changing.

“Brother, look at this.”

Park Ha-su slightly opened his combat uniform jacket.

Inside, a t-shirt with a printed palm tree was visible.

It was the t-shirt Kim Jong-chol had bought as a souvenir.

“Why are you wearing that? You should just wear a functional short-sleeved shirt.”

Kim Jong-chol spoke as if he didn’t care, though he felt good inside.

“I have to wear what I received.”

“What, you’re wearing the shirt? I’ll have to at least hang the keychain.”

Kang Hye-seong’s voice came from inside the locker room stall.

Soon, Lee Yong-chan and Kang Hye-seong came out as well.

Keychains were hanging from their waists.

“How do we look, Brother?”

“What do you mean how? You look great. Let’s go.”

Kim Jong-chol let out a small chuckle and headed out.

His teammates followed behind him.

Team 24C stepped onto the Portal Tablet.

Kim Jong-chol adjusted the settings with practiced ease.

Soon, he pressed the transmission button, and the four of them were transported into the dungeon.

“Flash!”

“…It’s night?”

Lee Yong-chan said.

It was dark everywhere.

Kim Jong-chol looked up at the sky.

In a pitch-black sky without even a single star, a Red Moon shone.

Small trees took on a strange hue under that crimson light.

The moon was incredibly large.

The moonlight alone was enough to distinguish surrounding objects without much difficulty.

“Was there ever a case where it wasn’t daytime…?”

Kang Hye-seong muttered.

E-rank and F-rank dungeons were fixed to daytime.

That was a fact anyone would know as long as they hadn’t dozed off in class.

The Swordsmen’s eyes took on a blue glow.

They were enhancing their night vision through Aura.

Kim Jong-chol was currently granted a field of vision of twenty to thirty meters.

The Swordsmen would probably be able to see up to fifty to seventy meters.

“Let’s move.”

High cliffs blocked the left, right, and rear.

The only open path was an uphill road ahead.

Kim Jong-chol walked in that direction.

Large pebbles ground and crashed against each other under his feet, making noise.

It was a complete stone field. Pebbles as large as a fist and as small as a fingernail covered the ground.

At the end of the uphill climb, a gentle downhill slope appeared.

Below the slope, the terrain widened like a funnel and opened up.

Since he couldn’t see far, only pitch-black darkness lurked beyond thirty meters.

“It looks like a wave-type.”

Kim Jong-chol said.

A wave-type dungeon is a dungeon where you defeat groups of monsters that swarm in sequence.

The Portal is created once the final wave is cleared.

Usually, wave-type dungeons had this kind of terrain.

However, it couldn’t be called an ordinary wave-type dungeon.

In the first place, wave-types were structured for multiple teams to cooperate.

Cooperation was so important that it was said even enemies would save each other’s lives if put in a wave-type.

Yet, Team 24C was the only team sent here.

‘What is this?’

Kim Jong-chol tilted his head.

But there was no time to think for long.

“Patter-patter!”

Several footsteps were heard from the front.

They were clearly not human.

They were the footsteps of four-legged creatures.

“Prepare for battle.”

Kim Jong-chol said.

The two Swordsmen stepped forward slightly.

In a wave-type dungeon, the role of the Swordsmen focused more on defense than offense.

Instead of going forward to fight, their role was to block the incoming monsters so they couldn’t reach the Mage.

“Patter-patter!”

Soon, bright red eyes appeared in the darkness.

The red eyeballs reflecting the moonlight shone eerily.

A magic circle rose in front of Kim Jong-chol.

From its center, a sphere wreathed in flames appeared and shot forward.

The Fireball, which flew while illuminating the surroundings, collided with the monster running at the very front and exploded.

“Boom!”

Simultaneously with the explosion, flames spread in all directions, lighting up the area.

Monsters similar to wolves were revealed.

The monster directly hit by the fireball simply burst apart, and the monsters nearby were caught in the explosion and sent flying.

Some had lost their legs, and others had their upper bodies shredded.

“This is just the first stage. Save your mana.”

As Kim Jong-chol spoke, Kang Hye-seong canceled the Fireball he was casting.

Instead, he cast Light magic, which had low mana consumption.

“Light.”

A large orb of light flew toward the front.

It illuminated the monsters running fifty meters ahead.

“Fireball, Fireball.”

Kim Jong-chol’s Fireballs tore through the battlefield.

“Boom!”

The crimson flames shone brighter than the moon and emitted a thunderous roar.

The monsters fell like frogs hit by stones.

They were falling like autumn leaves.

“Brother might clear this all by himself.”

“They can’t even make it up the hill.”

The Swordsmen stood firmly at the top of the hill, looking down.

Monster corpses were strewn everywhere.

The Light floating above them arrogantly illuminated the bodies.

“You never know what might happen. Stay ready.”

Kim Jong-chol said while watching the battlefield.

The first wave was completed.

The monster corpses vanished into thin air.

Now it was time for the second wave to appear.

“Screech!”

Monsters slightly larger than wolves appeared.

This time too, the monsters could not get past Kim Jong-chol’s magic.

They all burst apart before even reaching the uphill slope.

It was when the fourth wave started after the third wave ended.

A large fellow appeared among the small monsters.

Actually, it only looked relatively small; the other monsters weren’t that small either.

They were almost the size of a calf.

The large one was a humanoid monster that walked on two legs, and it looked about three meters tall.

The creature ran while letting out a bizarre scream.

Its footsteps even crushed other monsters.

“Mana Blade.”

Kim Jong-chol clenched his fist.

A four-meter blade was generated in front of him, and then it plummeted toward the monster.

It was a casting done with full power.

“Slice!”

The creature hurriedly raised its arms to block, but the blade, which still had power left even after cutting through the arms, slammed into the creature’s head.

It split the head more than halfway.

The creature fell with a loud thud, and Kim Jong-chol handled the remaining monsters as well.

After the fourth wave ended, the fifth wave began.

The number of large monsters gradually increased.

There were even more small monsters as well.

Because of that, the monsters began to push in little by little.

The large monsters were draining a lot of Kim Jong-chol’s firepower.

This dungeon was clearly designed with Kim Jong-chol’s combat power in mind.

Eventually, the miscellaneous monsters climbed the hill and reached the Swordsmen.

“Chah!”

Park Ha-su let out a loud shout for no reason as he cut down a monster that had approached right in front of him.

Afterward, when the sixth wave started, Kang Hye-seong also joined the battle, and from the seventh wave onward, everyone had to face the monsters in earnest.

The eighth wave became even more difficult.

During the ninth wave, there were moments when they were almost breached.

Amidst the tension, the tenth wave began.

Kim Jong-chol’s magic tore through the battlefield.

Magic was fired with a focus on the large monsters.

Kang Hye-seong didn’t rest either.

Lightning fell from the sky.

Magical blades sliced through space.

Fireballs devastated the surroundings.

In the meantime, the Swordsmen cut down the monsters that approached.

Kang Hye-seong used Barrier magic to block the movement of the monsters.

So many monsters were climbing the hill that it was actually more effective.

It was definitely a struggle.

Not only Kim Jong-chol but everyone was drenched in sweat.

Not a single person was idling, yet they were short-handed.

That was something everyone was feeling.

Team 24C barely managed to hold off the tenth wave.

The teammates’ eyes were wavering.

What was most terrifying right now wasn’t the swarming monsters, but not knowing when these waves would end.

“…When does this end?”

Park Ha-su said.

A bit of fear was tinged in his voice.

The certainty was disappearing—the certainty that they could hold out until the waves ended.

This was a difficulty level that couldn’t possibly appear in an E-rank setting.

Something was clearly wrong.

Usually, when something went wrong inside a dungeon, it meant death.

Kim Jong-chol looked at Park Ha-su.

Inside his neck collar, the t-shirt he had bought as a souvenir was slightly visible.

“What are you worried about?”

Kim Jong-chol asked.

Lee Yong-chan, who was gasping for breath, and Kang Hye-seong, who was gauging his remaining mana, both looked back at him.

“Just trust me. I’ll definitely send you back.”

As Kim Jong-chol showed his usual smile, his teammates’ expressions relaxed one by one.

It wasn’t just something he said to set the team’s atmosphere.

Kim Jong-chol was sincere.

And so, the eleventh wave began.

His teammates’ eyes were full of life again.

It was because their leader was holding his ground.

Monsters swarmed like a flock of clouds.

The glowing red eyeballs of the monsters in the darkness were too many to count.

“However.”

‘Wait, is it the same…?’

Kim Jong-chol, who was striking down lightning toward the monsters, noticed something.

He noticed that the number of large monsters mixed in between hadn’t changed.

‘Thirty-one, thirty-two…’

It was definitely the same.

Kim Jong-chol knew because he had been counting from the beginning.

The number, which had been continuously increasing, was maintained.

That meant the difficulty level hadn’t increased after the tenth wave.

It was strange.

Kim Jong-chol seized a momentary gap to cast Light magic and fire it forward.

This was because he hadn’t yet checked the darkness lurking far in the distance.