Chapter 24: A Hunter’s Choice

[The World Tree feels the filthy gaze.]

[Saebak sends soil from his surroundings to protect the caretaker Baek Do-woon.]

No! Absolutely not!

The incident at Hong Yuryung Gate flashed through my mind.

A humiliating memory I desperately wanted to forget, back when I had to become a human water fountain.

I shook the smartphone in my right hand, desperately begging not to send it.

Could that have been the reason?

Saebak didn’t send the soil but instead conveyed a message.

[Saebak understands.]

But the one who truly wants to understand is me, not you.

The hunters watching me gave off a gloomy vibe.

Still, I wasn’t sure if it was worth feeling disgusted enough to send soil.

What kind of soil did Saebak send?

The World Tree’s mana-infused soil, powerful and sacred enough to purify hundreds of Undead Skeletons at once.

If such a thing were poured out here at the Hunter Association like water, what would happen?

People would surely ask where I got such a precious thing and probably suggest starting a big business.

They’d pester me in some way or another just thinking about it made my body shiver.

No, before that, I was definitely going to get scolded for just sprinkling the soil around.

[Saebak respects the caretaker’s intentions and sends the surrounding soil by mailbox.]

[Also, since the filthy gaze still lingers, it recommends using it generously when needed.]

Thank goodness.

Even while understanding, Saebak listened to me.

Instead of sending it straight through the screen, the soil was sent via mailbox.

The smartphone gave a short vibration, notifying me of the soil’s arrival.

It was probably because Saebak wanted to send the soil carefully, out of concern.

I smiled faintly and petted Saebak.

The sound of someone tapping the smartphone screen busily.

Saebak’s delicate wings fluttered, seemingly pleased by the warm touch.

By the way, does this mean I can now communicate with Saebak?

Stopping right after going up to the second floor and playing smartphone games looked strange.

The hunters looked at me as if they had seen something eccentric.

I quickly lost interest and avoided their gaze.

They each started to do their own work.

They buried their heads in computer monitors, searching for quests.

Like them, I sat in front of a computer, logged into the Hunter Association website, and searched for quests.

To open the quest tab, it had to be done through the Hunter Association.

I guess it was because identity had to be verified.

Some said, “Since it’s on the computer anyway, why not use home or smartphone?” but everyone remembered.

There were those who failed quests because they falsified their rank.

Honestly, thanks to these overly diligent people and their useless rules, others suffered a lot.

Having heard this explanation before, I immediately opened the warning window that popped up.

A list of various quests appeared.

<‘Rank ~6 Quest’ (Total 353)>

<‘Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon’ Clearance (Rank unknown) / (Current players 3/5)>

<‘Songpa Baekje Burial Mound Gate’ Skeleton Clearance (Rank 6) / (0/1)>

<‘Sanbangsan Gate’ Herb Gathering (Rank 6) / (0/1)>

<‘Chiaksan Gate’ White Thorn Lizard Poison Collection (Rank 6) / (0/2)>

[253]

Since these were Association quests, most were annoying tasks like gathering or clearing.

Because of that, even though many quests allowed only one person, no one was picking them immediately.

I understood.

Gathering was strictly limited to one’s specialty area.

If the requester quickly obtained the desired quality and quantity of materials, it could be finished in an hour, but if not, it required repeated hunting and dismantling for days.

The clearance quests were similar, not knowing when they would end.

You had to hunt from at least 100 units up to over 1,000 units to clear monsters inside the gate, to prevent R3 incidents.

It was tough, but you couldn’t just give up easily.

If you did, a negative mark labeled ‘Quest Abandonment’ would be attached to your hunter rating.

For this reason, hunters tried to pick easier quests whenever possible.

The reason their expressions were unpleasant when I arrived here was that they didn’t want competitors.

“Sanbangsan, no. Mujoo would be better, huh?”

Of course, I was worried for a different reason.

The whole purpose of doing quests was to enjoy freedom until the day the equipment was complete.

Since time was the issue, whatever I chose didn’t really matter.

My first concern in choosing a quest was whether I could be as far away from Seoul as possible.

I had to avoid Seoul, where Taecheon was, and the nearby easily accessible regions.

Geographically, Sanbangsan in Jeju-do was the most suitable, but there was an airplane, so it was easily reachable.

No thought needed—immediate rejection.

In that sense, Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon seemed okay.

It was far from Seoul, and there were no flights or trains, so it wasn’t easy to get there.

Judging from no failed hunters or victims, the difficulty probably wasn’t too high.

The problem was the nest was the breeding ground of giant ants, and the number of monsters to clear was huge; plus, it needed one more member besides me.

<‘Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon’ Clearance (Rank unknown) / (Current players 3/5)>

I pressed refresh, but the number of players remained the same.

Hmmm, should I just abandon Mujoo Ant Nest?

While pondering, I searched for any other good quests.

No.

No.

Nothing.

I quickly scrolled the mouse wheel because there was no quest that seemed just right.

Then, naturally, I started browsing quests purely out of curiosity.

I even started looking at the /+ rank quests I couldn’t even accept.

[29657]

“Oh, there’s Wudang Flower too.”

Seeing a familiar term, my hand immediately moved the mouse.

When I clicked, a warning popped up: ‘Warning! S+ rank quest. Cannot be accepted!’

I clicked again, but only the warning appeared; no detailed info was accessible.

I wanted at least some basic information, but that wasn’t even possible.

Sighing with regret, I was about to close it when four men approached and stood before me.

A man with snake-like eyes, whose upper eyelids sagged, spoke.

“Excuse us.”

“We’ve come to propose a party quest.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I can only accept up to Rank 6 quests.”

“That works perfectly. The quest we were going to propose is a Rank 6 quest.”

Oh?

Four men came to propose a party quest…

Could it be?

“Would you be interested in clearing the Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon quest together?”

What I suspected was confirmed.

The ant nest quest waiting with three people was theirs.

The young man standing slightly behind was probably the fourth member.

Judging by the distance, the three men seemed to be a group, while the young man looked like a stranger.

There was about a ten-year age gap between us.

“No need to worry much about the dungeon clearance.”

Then the snake-eyed man began boasting about themselves.

To summarize their lengthy speech:

They were all Rank 0 hunters with eight years of experience, veteran cleaners of Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon with no victims for two years.

The three of them could clear it easily, so if I joined, the quest would be completed for free.

I was already thinking the Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon looked good.

The problem of needing one more member was solved, and if they were Rank 0 hunters, clearing a Rank 6 dungeon should be easy.

“If you’re worried it’s too far, no need to fret.”

“Worry?”

I hesitated to accept, sensing a misunderstanding.

The farther, the better.

The longer it took Taecheon to find me.

But since they seemed intent on explaining, I decided to listen.

“There’s a warp gate connected right up to the front of Mujoo Ant Nest.”

“Hm? Warp gate? Why the heck would such a precious gate be at an ant nest?”

“It’s because ants multiply endlessly if left alone. If not constantly cleared, the dungeon’s area keeps expanding.”

A dungeon meant a place transformed like a gate by a gate break.

Gate mana spreads, making it impossible for ordinary people to survive, and monsters that lived in the gate now rule the land.

Even if you killed all the monsters, the land wouldn’t revert to its original state.

The land was taken by the gate.

That wasn’t all.

Mana gathering through gate breaks enlarged the territory.

To prevent this, monsters had to be periodically cleared.

In other words, Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon, with hundreds of queen ants, was a specially managed area with a cleaning cycle.

For this reason, the Association installed warp gates to accept requests nationwide.

“Since it’s a quest-exclusive warp gate, you can depart immediately.”

Quest-exclusive…?

That phrase struck me.

I could use the quest-exclusive warp gate to leave present-day Seoul and go straight to the ant nest, but Taecheon couldn’t.

Why?

Because he wouldn’t be able to use the warp gate.

Moreover, as a master of the Han School, he couldn’t leave his post for long.

There was no better quest for me.

“Sounds good. I’ll join.”

“Oh! Great choice!”

Nodding and conveying my decision, the three men smiled simultaneously.

The young man behind them bowed with a bright smile.

I searched for the Mujoo Ant Nest Dungeon clearance quest on the monitor and clicked it.

The four men’s faces popped up as party members.

The three men were indeed the 8-year veteran Rank 0 hunters they claimed, and the young man was a 1-year hunter who just recently reached Rank 6.

Probably the young man joined because he could complete the quest for free.

He probably also wanted to build connections with Rank 0 hunters.

After clicking the quest accept button, I clicked print.

A quest participation form printed from the machine next to the computer.

“Shall we depart immediately?”

“Yes, let’s.”

I picked up the printed form, and the snake-eyed man asked hurriedly what was so urgent.

Well, I wanted to leave Seoul as soon as possible, so I agreed.

But my right hand’s Saebak didn’t seem to want to go.

Through the blue hologram, Saebak conveyed its message.

[Saebak strongly dislikes the three human men’s gaze.]

[The caretaker wants to sprinkle the soil from the mailbox on those men.]

Because their gaze is unpleasant, and they want to sprinkle soil on them…

[Saebak strongly advises sprinkling soil.]

Saebak pleaded with me once again.

Sprinkling soil on people without reason will get me in trouble, Saebak.

But still, I’ll at least think about it.