She was clearly walking toward them, sensing the Haetae Team hiding on the stone mountain. Her pace wasn’t fast.
However, if asked if they could run away, the answer was “no.”
Kim Song-cheol had already witnessed her speed with his own eyes.
“Wait a moment,” Kim Song-cheol said, gently pushing aside Kim Jong-won, who was at a loss, and stepped forward.
He revealed himself at the top of the stone mountain. Before him was a steep, 15-meter downhill slope.
The woman stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw Kim Song-cheol appear.
The distance between them was about 50 meters. Due to the difference in height, Kim Song-cheol was in a position looking down at her.
“Do you have business with us?”
Kim Song-cheol asked.
It was clear they had been discovered. Rather than trying to hide the obvious, it was better to try and have a conversation.
She stared at Kim Song-cheol. Soon, her red lips parted.
“I sensed Pure Yang Energy and thought you were a Martial Artist, but you are a Mage? I don’t feel any sense of physical discipline from your movements at all.”
She examined Kim Song-cheol with interest.
“Precisely, I am a Mage,” Kim Song-cheol replied.
At his response, she laughed and briefly looked at her feet. She rubbed her foot against the ground as if packing it down.
It felt like she was ready to spring forward at any moment. She raised her head again and smiled at Kim Song-cheol.
“My neck hurts.”
The moment she bent her legs—
*Flash!*
A translucent, hemispherical Shield appeared in front of her, blocking her path.
“Speak from there. If you come up, I will consider it an attack,” Kim Song-cheol said firmly.
“Ho.”
She practically ignored his words and took a step toward the Shield blocking her path.
It was a hemispherical Shield with a diameter of about 2 meters. Her face was full of interest.
She even took her hand out of her pocket and tapped on the Shield.
*Clang!*
A clear resonance spread in all directions.
“The distribution of energy is uniform, and the structure is consistent. This is the first time I’ve seen a method of transforming a shape like this, and the activation is incredibly agile… This is the best I’ve seen. Mage.”
Her smile deepened.
“You are worth competing against,” she said while looking back up at Kim Song-cheol. Her voice was filled with a thirst for battle.
“Compete.”
It was a more moderate expression than threatening words like telling him to move or saying she would attack.
However, Kim Song-cheol had no reason to compete with her. What could he gain by fighting now?
Avoiding it was the best policy.
Kim Song-cheol looked down at her. A strangely clear light was flowing from her eyes.
‘A Martial Artist…?’
In countless worlds, there existed countless types of people. Among them, Martial Artists were encountered occasionally.
They weren’t common, but they weren’t too rare either. Kim Song-cheol had learned a little about them in his classes.
Martial Artists valued their “ways” significantly more than other people.
They were the type who would sacrifice their lives for that “way,” and to deal with them, one had to understand that method.
“Compete? That’s a bit difficult.”
Kim Song-cheol opened the conversation that way. Naturally, her expression hardened.
“Mages are weak-willed and crafty, so they rarely step forward. Since you revealed yourself, I had expectations, but…”
“I’m telling you this for your sake.”
“For my sake? You? Me?”
“This is my first time entering this D-Class Dungeon. In other words, I’m a total rookie. Would it be meaningful to defeat someone like me?”
Kim Song-cheol planned to exploit the psychology of Martial Artists.
Especially for a Martial Artist with a strong competitive spirit like that woman, defeating a powerful opponent was the driving force of life.
What was more important here wasn’t “winning,” but the “powerful opponent” part.
It had to be an opponent that provided enough satisfaction upon victory.
“Today is your first day?”
She scanned Kim Song-cheol with a suspicious gaze.
“To be precise, it’s my second day. Besides, I still have many spells to study. I think it would be a good match once I master them… What do you think?”
Kim Song-cheol couldn’t clearly define her skill level. He didn’t know if he could win right now.
However, if he completed his Circle and learned other spells to prepare, it would be a fight worth having.
At Kim Song-cheol’s proposal, she narrowed her eyes and smiled. It was difficult to discern the emotion behind that smile.
“The reason is valid, so I will indulge you.”
She accepted the proposal. Kim Song-cheol’s method had worked.
“I will give you time. How much do you need?”
“About a month?”
“A month…?”
She seemed surprised by the duration of 30 days.
‘Should I have asked for a bit more?’
Kim Song-cheol felt a slight regret, but there was no real need to ask for more.
“Thirty days.”
It was a short time, but it was also a long time for Kim Song-cheol. Thirty days was more than enough time to complete a Circle.
She soon recovered her composure and spoke.
“Hmph, I trust you won’t break your word.”
At that moment, a small, secret energy flowed from her hand inside her pocket.
That energy reached out to Kim Song-cheol in an instant and was absorbed into his wrist.
‘What is this? A marking?’
It was an extremely faint sensation, but Kim Song-cheol noticed it.
He realized that something had touched his wrist. When he focused his mind, he could clearly feel the foreign substance.
‘It feels like a recognition-disruption formula. It’s incredibly difficult to detect.’
Kim Song-cheol manipulated his Mana and immediately pushed the foreign substance out of his body.
This process happened while the two were facing each other.
She tilted her head.
Once more, the energy flew out. Kim Song-cheol pushed the foreign substance away again.
‘Even a Shadow Scent Mark…?’
This time, her expression changed to a serious one. A Shadow Scent Mark was a method of leaving a mark so the opponent wouldn’t notice.
Once a mark was left, it was possible to find the target from far away.
It was such a secretive technique that even for her, detecting a Shadow Scent Mark was not easy.
Yet, he had not only seen through the Shadow Scent Mark instantly but had also erased it as if it were nothing.
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s useless to keep trying,” Kim Song-cheol said.
There was no reply.
“…I am Cheon Hui-ryeong.”
Cheon Hui-ryeong suddenly revealed her name. The two men standing behind her exchanged glances.
It was because this was the first time Cheon Hui-ryeong had revealed her name.
“I’m Kim Song-cheol.”
“Do not think today is the end. Since there is a ‘reason’ I must compete with you… I will find you.”
Cheon Hui-ryeong turned around. Her long hair swayed with her movement.
She disappeared over another stone mountain with the two Martial Artists following behind her.
‘I have a feeling she really will find me…’
Kim Song-cheol thought that once he got through this moment, he might not see her again.
This was because the Dungeon was vast and Hunters were constantly moving.
However, seeing her just leave like that, it seemed she had a reliable means of searching.
Kim Song-cheol turned around with a bitter taste in his mouth. Behind him, the Haetae Team members were holding their breath.
“They’re gone,” Kim Song-cheol said.
“They’re gone?”
Park Joo-hyun almost crawled up the slope and looked down. As expected, Cheon Hui-ryeong was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s really gone.”
The rest of the team members also looked down the stone mountain and breathed a sigh of relief.
“You… sent her away just with words,” Park Joo-hyun said, looking back at Kim Song-cheol.
“Ah, I just didn’t know what would happen if we fought.”
“Still, it wouldn’t have been easy to respond so calmly…”
She clearly remembered the moment Kim Song-cheol stepped forward.
In a situation where even the leader, Kim Jong-won, couldn’t make a decision, Kim Song-cheol had stepped to the front without hesitation.
The sense of security she felt then was hard to explain with words.
“But do Hunters of that caliber appear often?”
Kim Song-cheol asked.
“I’ve seen three so far. One was some man. It wasn’t magic, but he used a strange ability and was incredibly strong. Another was that woman from earlier. The last one is Mr. Kim Song-cheol. That makes three people.”
“Ah… including me?”
Kim Song-cheol scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He thought it might be a stretch to place himself on the same level as Cheon Hui-ryeong.
“Yes.”
But Park Joo-hyun nodded. She looked certain.
“No, that man wasn’t at Mr. Kim Song-cheol’s level. I don’t know about that woman, though,” Song Young-jin cut in.
“I think so too,” Kim Su-jin added.
“Hmm, then I guess it’s two people.”
Park Joo-hyun shrugged and laughed.
“Do you think that woman will really find you? Finding someone in a Dungeon is usually difficult…”
Kim Jong-won asked.
However, Kim Song-cheol didn’t have an answer to that. This was because Kim Song-cheol didn’t know everything about Dungeons or other worlds either.
“Hmm… let’s wait and see. She seems like someone who can be reasoned with, at least,” Kim Song-cheol replied.
***
The Haetae Team successfully escaped the Dungeon. The total elapsed time was 52 hours.
It was a fairly smooth run. They didn’t enter the Dungeon within the Dungeon again, and they didn’t encounter any more Hunters like Cheon Hui-ryeong, so nothing held them back.
After taking a day of rest, Kim Song-cheol visited the Center Research Institute.
It was the place where the magic books were kept.
“Oh, hello.”
“The descendant of the Great Sage has arrived. Haha.”
When Kim Song-cheol entered the library, the researchers greeted him with smiles. Kim Song-cheol was always welcome.
After all, this research institute wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for him.
Kim Song-cheol walked toward the bookshelf where 4th Circle spells were kept.
There were many spells he needed to acquire. If he were only dealing with monsters, he could just focus on his Circle, but his thoughts had changed after meeting Cheon Hui-ryeong.
‘They’re too fast. If a person moves that fast, would they get hungry faster too…?’
While dealing with Swordsmen, he had never felt that his kinetic vision was lacking.
They always moved within his field of vision. It was a movement that made sense.
However, Cheon Hui-ryeong was outside Kim Song-cheol’s expected range.
If he allowed even a little distance, he felt like his life would flash before his eyes without even knowing how he was hit.
It was the feeling that his eyes couldn’t keep up with the person.
‘But my senior Mages weren’t fools; they’ve already prepared for everything.’
Kim Song-cheol pulled a magic book from the shelf. The name of the spell was Over Brain.
It was a spell that momentarily increased the speed of thought, giving the sensation that time was flowing slowly.
It was essentially like overloading the brain, so it couldn’t be used continuously. Generally, 2 or 3 seconds was the limit.
But even that was enough. This was because Kim Song-cheol could split that time and pour out magic.
Since his thought speed increased, the magic casting time would also be much faster.
‘Next…’
Kim Song-cheol pulled out another magic book. It was Haste.
Haste was a spell he had already bought in the Republic of Korea, but he took it to master it while comparing the two versions.
Usually, Mages didn’t cast Haste on themselves.
Since Swordsmen used Aura to strengthen not only their muscles but also their nervous systems, they adapted well to increased speeds.
However, if Mages used Haste, they often couldn’t control their own bodies properly.
But what if it was used with Over Brain?
With both the mind and body becoming faster, they would be able to produce great synergy.
In addition, Kim Song-cheol also took indirect attack spells like Hypnosis, which induced trances, and Blind, which took away vision, along with various attack spells for different situations.
Kim Song-cheol placed about ten magic books on the desk. Other Mages could only borrow one at a time, but it didn’t matter for Kim Song-cheol.
That was also one of Kim Song-cheol’s privileges.
“Excuse me, I’ll borrow these.”
“Just sign the loan ledger. Haha.”
“Yes, of course.”
Kim Song-cheol recorded the names of the magic books in the exclusive loan ledger.
The feeling of writing on paper with a ballpoint pen was quite nice.
It was a sort of analog style that was hard to find these days.
Kim Song-cheol filled his bag with magic books and stepped out of the research institute.
As he walked toward the waiting car, his phone rang.
“Hello?”
[Ah, do you have some time? If you’re free, let’s go look at houses.]
The person who called wasn’t a real estate agent using aggressive marketing, but Kim Myung-joo.
Since Kim Song-cheol didn’t have time to look for a house, he had requested the favor.
It was a call to say the candidates had been finalized and to decide after seeing them.
Of course, the cost of the house was covered by the state.
It was provided separately from his annual salary.