-Is it for real, a fight between the Delivery Man and the Holy Knight? Just imagining it makes my heart swell with excitement!
-If the Holy Knight awakened a second time, wouldn’t he be twice as strong? A Porter can’t compare.
-Didn’t you see the dragon’s head get cut off? Honestly, even in the United States, the world’s strongest, there’s no Hunter who can pull that off.
-But wasn’t the Delivery Man all about his gear?
-Let’s be honest, Delivery Man’s a likable Hunter.
-Why do you keep saying “let’s be honest?”
News broke of a high-grade Dungeon opening. And the articles reported that top Guilds like Myth, Hanul, War God, and the House of Nobility were all teaming up to clear it.
When it was confirmed that Hanul’s Lee Hyunbin and War God’s Seol Jihoon would participate, the Community went wild.
-If Dungeons could be streamed in real-time, that’d be insane. Why hasn’t anyone developed that yet?
-Apparently, that’s being researched worldwide.
-Honestly, it’d be faster for me to awaken as a streamer.
There were a lot of people who wanted to know the results immediately.
But unfortunately, it’d take at least a week before the Dungeon raid could even start.
The Mana Core that crossed over from the Gate was transforming into a Dungeon Core, spreading the Dungeon Field across the surrounding area.
The Dungeon, glowing red and exuding a sinister atmosphere, was evolving in the most fitting way for a Monster’s ecosystem.
Since the Dungeon wasn’t fully formed yet, the raid hadn’t started.
No one knew what would happen if you recklessly stepped into such an unstable dimension.
There had been several incidents in the early days when entire raid teams disappeared after entering unstable Dungeons.
After that, entering unstable dimensions was strictly prohibited.
-I’m dying of curiosity. Who’s going to win?
Usually, it was rare for two S-rank Hunters to enter a Dungeon together.
Unless it was an extremely high-level, dangerous Dungeon.
The small number of S-ranks was one reason, but there was also no need for people who were basically walking weapons to compete in the same place.
But Hanul and War God, two Guilds with a poor relationship, drew their swords and squared off, becoming perfect gossip material that kept the Community boards blazing all night.
“Hey, mister. You’re gonna lose.”
Karin muttered as she tapped away on her smartphone, glancing my way.
Lose? Lose at what?
“Right now it’s a landslide, 76 to 24, everyone says War God will win.”
“This Dungeon raid?”
“Yeah.”
I snatched Karin’s phone and looked. Under the provocative headline ‘Who Will Win, War God vs. Hanul?’ there was a poll.
There was a rundown of each Guild’s members.
Seol Jihoon, War God’s star Hunter.
Silver-bleached hair. In his mid-twenties, he’d made headlines for his idol-level looks.
With a sick mother and a young sister, he’d barely scraped by—until by chance, he chose to be a Hunter’s Porter.
Back in the early Hunter days, there were no rules about Porters, no License requirements—anyone could do it if they wanted.
Naturally, there were tons of accidents and incidents.
He barely managed to get by, and then one day he awakened by chance and clawed his way up to S-rank.
He’s basically a comic book protagonist.
As a Healer, his abilities are Shield Energy Recovery and Defense Buffs.
As a Knight, he’s a Tanker who uses Light Shield and Dimensional Severance.
He’s the nation’s best Tank, and with healing on top, his nickname’s Holy Knight. Or sometimes Seong Kwi-Beol-Le.
Compared to him, my specs were humble to the point of pity.
In my thirties, I failed interviews at several Guilds, worked as a Trainer, and only awakened by luck—and, of all things, as a Porter.
I have the nation’s biggest Inventory, and I can even put living people in for transportation. Unexpectedly, I’m pretty strong in battle, too.
That was all the evaluation I got.
Even I thought, compared to these two S-rank Hunters, Seol Jihoon looked overwhelmingly stronger.
‘Let’s see.’
I figured War God would play the Seol Jihoon card. No, I’d provoked them first.
With my Hero’s Authority fully awakened now, I wanted to see just how strong a modern S-rank Hunter really was.
Of course, I can’t do everything by myself.
Whoever takes down more Monsters in the Dungeon—that depends on your teammates’ combat abilities.
The Team 3 that I trained is strong. Kim Taeyang, Kim Inho. Those two Kims are talented and persistent.
Seohyeonji is a bit lacking. If she’d given up on showbiz and gone all in here, she’d have developed even further.
Of course, compared to when she first came, she’s way stronger now.
But she’s still a long way from the standard I want.
Naturally, any gaps in the team’s firepower—I fill them all myself.
The War God Guild’s S-rank is a Tanker, so their team is going to be extremely solid and stable. That’s where I need to bring in my secret weapon.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Which Priest Skills have you unlocked right now?”
Healers here can, at best, restore physical condition and stop bleeding.
But at her peak, Karin’s divine power was strong enough to revive the recently dead.
I’d know—I’ve experienced it.
“Rapid Digestion Recovery, LV Max.”
Karin started counting off on her fingers.
“Delicious Food Detection, LV8. Food Change, LV3… Oh, mister, that hurts! Don’t grab my head like that—it hurts!”
Seriously? I mean, sure, I’ve been neglecting her, but what the hell kind of skills are these?
I also recover my power through Synchronization Rate just like her, so I know pretty well.
Depending on the Synchronization Rate, your Authority is randomly restored. But why are those useless food skills so highly leveled?
It’s hard as hell to max out a skill. How much did she use it to get it that high?
“Forget those useless skills.”
“How are they useless? You don’t eat food, mister? If you’re going to eat, isn’t it better to find delicious food? Wanting to eat more—is that a crime? Ow, that hurts! I said it hurts!”
It is a crime.
A crime that makes my wallet empty. Karin, seeing my fist grinding at my temple, answered honestly.
Karin’s current Noble level is 10, Priest level is 5.
That’s way too low.
Truthfully, I hadn’t planned to take her with me at first. I wanted her to just go to school, live happily, and return to her original world.
But Karin wanted to be a Hunter. She said it was for money, but I feel like there’s another reason. She never said, though.
-Activating Order of Knights Skill.
-Currently, there are no candidates available to recruit as Knights.
If I want her to level up quickly, recruiting her into the Order of Knights is best. But Karin can’t use the skill.
-Activating Insight Skill.
-Insight does not work on Lords.
This is frustrating. Is it because the skill level is still low?
No, from the message about Lords, that doesn’t seem to be the reason.
More than that, it feels weird seeing it spell out that Karin is a Lord in her world.
To me, she just looks like a little glutton. At best, maybe a healing vending machine?
“Hey, share your status window with me.”
Maybe knowing resistance is useless, she obediently shares her stats.
Katrinne L Elibelle
-Noble LV10 / Priest LV5
-Strength: 01 + 02
-Agility: 05 + 11
-Stamina: 08 + 13
-Magic: 15 + 95
-Luck: 31 + 99
…….
What am I even looking at?
Strength, whatever, but why is her Agility so low?
Back in the other world, she rode horses pretty well.
“Oh, that? It’s because of buffs.”
Come on, you’re so young and you’re relying on doping? You’ve been buffing yourself this whole time?
Her Stamina is terrible, too.
Where did all the food she’s eaten go?
It’s a total disaster.
I need to get her trained, at least a little.
“Can you take a break from school next week?”
“Why?”
She looks at me expectantly.
“I think I might need your power.”
“My power? Hehe.”
Something about that is irritating.
If Karin’s Priest abilities are unleashed, she can keep the party running stably.
Seeing her cross her arms and look smug just makes me want to snap at her.
“Well, if you really need me, I guess I have no choice.”
“I mean, if not, it’s fine.”
“I’ll do it for samgyeopsal.”
So after all that, she just wants grilled pork belly?
No, actually, samgyeopsal isn’t “just” anything.
If you eat juicy pork belly grilled with garlic, wrapped in lettuce and perilla leaves…!
Now that I think of it, I’m craving it too.
“Deal.”
“Yay!”
Karin immediately perked up, throwing on her jacket.
“Oh, right. I should call the others.”
“Who?”
“Your meat-grilling crew.”
There’s no doubt Karin will devour mountains of meat.
If I do all the grilling, I’ll end up losing muscle. Times like this, you call Kim Taeyang. Despite his flashy, tanned, blond thug looks, he’s good at housework—including grilling meat.
Seriously. He really doesn’t look the part, but he even cleans. He does all the cleaning at our office, too.
‘Anyway, I need to get them into the Order of Knights.’
It’s about time I got the two of them into the Order system for Training.
There are no talents in Hanul Guild like these two, and none I can trust as much.
As soon as I messaged about a dinner get-together, Kim Taeyang and Kim Inho were ecstatic.
Going to eat a lot, huh?
Even if you two eat together, you can’t out-eat Karin.
Seohyeonji can’t come because of her schedule. I’d prefer to have everyone together, but…
More importantly, she really needs to focus and make choices.
She’s got ability. She’s talented.
It’s not like she doesn’t work hard.
At the Guild Training Center she acts all aloof, arms folded and playing it cool, but at home, it’s obvious she’s been practicing a lot.
Still, juggling a busy idol schedule with Hunter work is definitely pushing it.
“Oh my, is this the girl?”
“Hello, I’m Lee Seoyeon.”
With some time left before the team dinner, I took Karin to the Center.
Karin’s Mana stat is impressive, but her Stamina, Strength, and Agility are all bottomed out. She needs some Training.
“You said she was a pig, but she’s really pretty?”
“Oh, a pig.”
Karin shoots me a glare.
Tch. I said something unnecessary.
“But you’re going to put her through basic Hunter Training? She’s still young.”
“It’s not like Monsters don’t attack the young.”
“True, but… I could keep Monsters from coming near at all, you know?”
That Barrier skill Karin uses—if she puts it up, lower-level mobs can’t even get close.
So? What if a mid- or high-grade Monster attacks instead?
“So, what kind of styling are you thinking?”
“…I was thinking Kim Tae-Yeon style.”
“Oh my.”
The Director listened and smiled with her eyes. I hesitated for a second because I knew this would come up.
“So you’re going with Hyunbin’s type?”
“My type?”
Karin looked curious at the Director’s words.
“There’s a Trainer Hyunbin just loves.”
“Mister does?”
Karin blinked, as if hearing this for the first time.
Ugh, the Director’s about to say something unnecessary.
“Director, that was ages ago.”
“Oh, it’s not that long ago.”
The Director looked thoroughly entertained.
Honestly, there is a woman I’m interested in.
Working the tough life of a Trainer, I once wondered if I’d ever get to meet her.
But since she’s performing on stages around the world, I might never get the chance.
Karin looked at my face and her pupils wavered.
Why? What?
“Is she pretty? Do you have a picture?”
Karin clung to the Director’s arm, asking urgently.
“Isn’t it a man?”
Karin stared at Kim Tae-Yeon Trainer’s poster and asked. There was deep bewilderment in her gaze.
Neatly tied back hair. An androgynous voice and a strong square jaw. And those vibrant, breathing muscles.
She’s still a stunning woman.
I can say with certainty, she’s the most perfect human being in this world.
“…My type.”
Karin silently stared at the muscle-bound woman in the poster, her pupils trembling like an earthquake.
She pinched her own chopstick-thin arms and waist, then her eyes seemed to go lifeless.
“What are you so worried about?”
“Mister….”
“You think I want you to have muscles like that? Of course not, that’d be impossible. I just want to improve your Stamina, so don’t worry.”
“……”
I tried to cheer up the dispirited Karin, when suddenly, I felt something out of place.
It was like making eye contact with a bug creeping up from the floor.
Karin must’ve sensed it, too. She turned to look at me.
“Mister.”
“Yeah, I know.”
It’s a Gate.
Something abnormal was happening in this building.