Chapter 65: Special Dungeon—1

Three days had passed since Kim Hyeon-jun obtained the Willpower trait.

"Hmm… It's harder to use than I thought."

After various experiments during that time, Willpower turned out to be more finicky than expected.

Starting with the activation conditions.

Willpower only started to accumulate when the combat reached a level similar to real battle.

Light sparring at a practice level didn't budge the Willpower gauge at all.

'And even if you accumulate some, it disappears quickly if you don't keep fighting.'

The Willpower value appeared as a hologram, like in a game, once combat began.

It was displayed as a percentage, and if you stopped fighting midway, the gauge would plummet.

In other words.

It was impossible to store it up in advance and use it later.

That wasn't all.

The Willpower gauge didn't accumulate even with low-level monsters either.

It seemed to only build up when fighting monsters of a similar level.

So, for the past few days, Kim Hyeon-jun hadn't been able to trigger the Willpower trait.

Most of the dungeons he tackled were C-rank.

And sparring with regular soldiers didn't raise the Willpower gauge either.

Still, there were some gains.

He had learned quite a bit about Willpower, which had no prior information.

Of course, he had no intention of making this information public.

Why would he share what he'd worked hard to figure out with his own body?

"Hey, Cheol-su. You're a Corporal, how can you be gasping for air after just a little sparring?"

When Kim Hyeon-jun turned his head, he saw Corporal Kang Cheol-su sprawled on the floor, panting.

He had called him over for sparring to pay back what he'd suffered before the regression, but as expected, it was no help at all.

Any more sparring would just be torture, so he put away his spear.

'Come to think of it, I've improved a lot myself.'

Before the regression, he had just been tossed around and beaten by Corporal Kang Cheol-su's brute strength.

But now?

Not only could he casually parry attacks, but he could also defeat the guy even without a weapon.

"You can go now."

"Corporal Kang Cheol-su… Yes, sir…"

Corporal Kang Cheol-su slumped his shoulders and shuffled out of the training facility.

'Damn it. This is really fucking annoying….'

Lately, his mental state had developed many cracks.

It was partly because his squadmate Kim Hyeon-jun was climbing the ranks so rapidly….

But what was most agonizing was the fact that he himself was stuck in place.

The Privates First Class who were once his juniors were starting to get promoted to Corporal one by one.

And himself?

He had failed the Sergeant promotion exam again recently and was still stuck as a Corporal.

It wasn't like his stats or skills were developing either.

In the past, he would have taken it out on the juniors below him.

At least that way, some of the built-up stress would have been released.

But now, he couldn't even dream of doing such things.

Because Kim Hyeon-jun was watching.

— Hey, Cheol-su. You've still got a long way until discharge, right? Let's stick it out together until the end?

Corporal Kang Cheol-su recalled Kim Hyeon-jun's words and scowled fiercely.

He desperately wanted to transfer to another unit.

Because every single day felt like hell.

Of course, Kim Hyeon-jun had no way of knowing Corporal Kang Cheol-su's feelings.

To be precise, he had zero interest.

'Maybe I should go do some personal training soon.'

Just as he was tidying up,

Ping! Ping! Ping!

A barrage of messenger notifications suddenly poured in.

[Park Ye-rin: Hyeon-jun. It's Ye-rin… remember me?]

[Park Ye-rin: It's nothing major, I just tried contacting you since you said to reach out anytime.]

[Park Ye-rin: Oh, and I heard you made Sergeant? You even wiped out a villain organization with a special unit not long ago. You're really amazing. (Rabbit clapping emoji)]

[Park Ye-rin: And I also made Corporal not long ago. (Shy rabbit emoji)]

He thought it might be Private First Class Jeong Ye-na, but it wasn't.

It was Private First Class Park Ye-rin, whom he had taken the villain response training with before….

"What? She made Corporal?"

She had become a Corporal in the meantime.

When he asked what happened, she said she single-handedly stopped a dungeon break.

It happened during her leave, apparently.

There were several civilians nearby, and it almost turned into a major incident, she said.

"Come to think of it, before the regression, she was a Captain when I was a Sergeant."

For an ice-specialized mage, freezing monsters' feet probably wasn't that difficult.

A mage of Corporal Park Ye-rin's caliber could probably wipe out lower-tier monsters entirely.

Thinking about it, she must have also received several special promotions.

That would be the only way she could have made Captain by that timeline.

Indeed.

That's what a true elite looks like.

"Anyway, the naturally gifted ones have it even better. They're skilled and lucky enough to get special promotions."

When Corporal Park Ye-rin asked if he had any leave plans, Kim Hyeon-jun firmly stated he had none for the foreseeable future.

She then seemed flustered and followed up, asking to let her repay the favor she owed him from before.

"Hmm… Nothing comes to mind right now."

It wasn't like there was a dungeon where a mage would be particularly useful.

There was an item he wanted right now, but it was too expensive.

Kim Hyeon-jun gave a noncommittal answer, saying they could meet up during his next leave or the one after.

"Something will probably come to mind by then."

*

At the same time.

A meeting was in full swing in the Biryong Unit Battalion Commander's office.

It was late at night, well past quitting time, but overtime was a routine part of life in the Hunter Army.

There was always too much work and never enough personnel.

"These are the dungeons that have occurred over the past week."

The officer who pulled up a PPT screen on the monitor began the briefing.

On the screen depicting a map of South Korea, icons of swirling black vortexes were attached here and there—each one representing a dungeon.

"Hss… Do dungeons really occur that frequently these days? They're not weeds."

Battalion Commander Woo Hyeon-seok of the 3rd Battalion frowned as he looked at the screen.

The dungeon occurrence rate was quite high compared to last year.

Roughly estimated, it had increased by about thirty percent.

In contrast, the number of soldiers in the Hunter Army had increased by at most five percent compared to last year.

He had been relieved that recruitment numbers hadn't dropped, but now the dungeons were causing trouble again.

"Company Commander. Sort them starting with the ones with high dungeon break risk."

"Yes, sir! Understood."

Captain Do Min-gyu switched to the pre-prepared data screen.

Risk levels were displayed next to the dungeon icons, with colors shading them differently based on break risk.

Green for safe.

Red for dangerous.

"Hmm."

Battalion Commander Woo Hyeon-seok compared the data received from the division with what Captain Do Min-gyu had prepared.

Then he decided how to deploy personnel to the dungeons.

Normally, the company commander would form the raid teams and the battalion commander would approve them.

However, for dungeons with high break risk or special dungeons, the battalion commander sometimes directly organized the troops himself.

After pondering for a while, Battalion Commander Woo Hyeon-seok spoke.

"It would be best for the 3rd Platoon of the 3rd Company to conduct a joint raid with the 2nd Platoon of the 2nd Company from the Black Horse Unit. We actually received a request from them recently."

The dungeon he pointed to was not a regular dungeon, but a special dungeon.

A dungeon that required at least three days to clear, with a break risk level just shy of reaching red.

Special dungeons have a higher raid priority than regular dungeons.

Because if a break occurs, the damage is much greater.

Also, for special dungeons like this, joint raids with other units are common.

Since you might have to stay in the dungeon for up to a week, it's to minimize personnel losses for any single unit.

"Make it happen."

"Yes, sir. Understood. Loyalty!"

"Loyalty. It's getting late, you can head out."

After the meeting ended, the officers left one by one.

Left alone, Battalion Commander Woo Hyeon-seok unfolded a Hunter newspaper and chuckled.

A large photo on the front page.

It showed Kim Hyeon-jun receiving a commendation from the Special Task Force.

It was for his major contribution in wiping out a villain organization previously.

Not only did he help take down a Level 6 villain alongside an officer, but he also subdued a villain using demonic energy.

Because of that, the frequency of contact from the special forces side had increased.

But even so, Battalion Commander Woo Hyeon-seok remained relaxed.

Why?

Because he had heard that Kim Hyeon-jun had consistently and firmly rejected the successive offers from the special forces side.

"Good kid."

How could he not be fond of him?

He effortlessly racks up various achievements and handles training flawlessly.

And he's a soldier who knows how to keep his loyalty to his battalion commander, too.

"My intuition never dies, I tell you."

He felt it was a good thing he had kept an eye on Kim Hyeon-jun from the start.

If he had let such an excellent soldier slip away… he would have truly pounded the ground in regret.

"First, put him in this dungeon… If he does well, it might be worth recommending him for that operation too."

Purposely pinpointing the 3rd Platoon was also done with Kim Hyeon-jun in mind.

Special dungeons aren't common, you see.

Not only that.

They're also tricky to clear.

Often, you have to engage in consecutive battles with monsters over several days.

So why put the 3rd Platoon in?

Because there's that much to gain from it.

The amount of experience points you can get compared to other dungeons is overwhelming, for one.

And it was also to gauge Kim Hyeon-jun's capabilities.

The 'that operation' scheduled for a few months later was quite dangerous and tricky.

"Battalion Commander believes you'll do well this time too."

*

The next day.

The 3rd Platoon members were listening to the platoon leader's announcements before the day's duties began.

Second Lieutenant Kim Dong-woo announced the raid team for the dungeon they would enter two days later.

"No way!"

"Uwaaah! Why our platoon!"

The soldiers whose names were called sighed or grimaced.

It wasn't a regular dungeon, but a special dungeon that took a long time to clear.

"Stop whining. If you do well, you'll gain just as much, so everyone, do your best."

"Yes, sir…"

The 3rd Platoon members answered with sullen faces.

About twenty-five members of the 3rd Platoon were selected for the raid team.

The other half would be selected from the allied Black Horse Unit for the joint raid, he said.

One unexpected point was… Corporals were excluded from this dungeon raid, and a Private was included.

"See, Cheol-su. This is what happens when you don't work hard."

Kim Hyeon-jun openly mocked Corporal Kang Cheol-su.

That's right.

Due to his recent consecutive poor performances, Corporal Kang Cheol-su was excluded from the raid team.

On the other hand, the included Private was Private Yoo Dong-ha, who was also Kim Hyeon-jun's direct junior.

He was included because he's a shield soldier and for the utility of his trait, they said.

"What? Cheol-su is excluded?"

"They usually take the senior Corporals unless there's a reason…"

"I heard he's been causing a lot of trouble lately. And that he slacks off during dungeon raids."

Corporal Kang Cheol-su grimaced at the other platoon members' words, but he couldn't show his feelings outwardly.

Because Kim Hyeon-jun was watching with both eyes wide open.

In the end, Corporal Kang Cheol-su prepared for the day's duties without saying a word.

"Special dungeon… Can I do well…?"

Shifting his gaze, Private Yoo Dong-ha was muttering to himself, looking extremely nervous.

He had entered dungeons a few times so far, but they were mostly D-rank.

And regular dungeons at that.

But suddenly being thrown into a special dungeon was enough to make anyone nervous.

"Dong-ha. I'm going too, so don't worry and just do as you've been doing."

Kim Hyeon-jun calmed his junior down.

"The more important the dungeon, the more meticulously the officers select the raid team. You're included because you're needed."

"Private Yoo Dong-ha, yes, sir! I'll do my best!"

"Don't be too nervous. I'll keep a good eye on you."

"Yes, sir!"

Not that his tension would completely disappear, but his expression did seem to relax a bit.

"Sergeant Kim Hyeon-jun. I'm a little nervous too… Aren't you going to comfort me separately?"

Corporal Jeong Ye-na, who had sidled up next to him at some point, spoke with an expectant look in her eyes.

"Nope."

"Tch. That's too harsh."

"Are you the same as Dong-ha? You're a Corporal now."

Of course, he didn't give her the words she wanted.