Yeom Myo-il.
He was a man who had spent his entire life watching Hunters.
As a child, he had admired the Hunters he saw on television, rescuing people as spectacularly as superheroes.
Even after learning that he himself could never Awaken, he had not fallen into despair. Instead, he had turned that despair into motivation and risen all the way to a position where he recruited Hunters himself.
People around him whispered that he was a stiff, cold man—a born civil servant who knew nothing but work.
In truth, they were only half right.
At least as far as Yeom Myo-il himself was concerned, his job was—
“Deputy Director. I'm confident. The Masked Man. I believe this man is worth betting on.”
“You... know Hunters that well? You have an eye for them?”
“Yes. At the very least, I doubt there is anyone in the South Korean civil service more interested in Hunters than I am.”
—a job where he could see Hunters up close every single day.
It was the ultimate dream come true for a devoted fan.
“With the Masked Man's ability, he should at least be able to protect our stranded Hunters. Perhaps we could even go a step further and aim to clear the Dungeon itself.”
Yeom Myo-il's eyes gleamed.
Perhaps overwhelmed by his intensity, the Deputy Director merely opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish.
“Contact the stranded Hunters. Tell them to find this man—the Masked Man. Tell them that if they want to live, that is their only option.”
“The compensation...”
“Considering the circumstances, does that really matter?”
“Ugh. Yes, you're right. Fine, then. Myo-il. If this Masked Man really agrees to clean up this mess for us, as you say...”
As though he had been completely swept along by Yeom Myo-il's momentum, the Deputy Director nodded.
“I'll do everything I can to make sure the Hunter Association covers whatever compensation is required.”
“Thank you for trusting me, Deputy Director.”
The matter was settled in an instant.
Yeom Myo-il immediately sent a message through the internal communication line.
-To the stranded Hunters.
-Your savior is inside the Dungeon.
-Find the masked man. An unidentified Hunter who should be with a camper van.
-And...
* * *
CRACKLE, CRACKLE.
Inside the dark cavern, the only eerie sound was the burning of the torches mounted here and there.
Had you ever listened to the crackling of a fire inside a cave?
A cave was an enclosed space.
Sound traveled along the walls, echoing and spreading, and the crackling usually associated with warmth and comfort swelled until it sounded almost like the footsteps of a ghost.
CRRK, CRRKK.
Inside that Dungeon of death—
Hidden behind a large boulder, covering their mouths for fear that even the sound of their breathing might escape—
were several Hunters trembling like puppies drenched in a cold predawn rain.
“Sniff... Uwaaah...”
“Keep quiet, Su-a. Please. If the Goblins hear us...”
“Both of you, shut up.”
“Team Leader, don't just sit there. Do something. What are we supposed to do now? Huh?!”
“I said shut up. I'm thinking.”
They were government-employed Hunters affiliated with the Hunter Association, dispatched on an emergency basis to this Dungeon.
Less than ten minutes after entering, they had been attacked by Red Goblins.
Three of them had died almost instantly.
The survivors had escaped only by fighting desperately, and the remaining three had all suffered serious injuries.
That was why they had been reduced to this state.
They had managed to hide for the moment, but there was no telling when the Goblins might discover them again.
‘Damn it. Red Goblins? They said this was supposed to be an easy Dungeon! Those damned researchers threw us in here like laboratory rats...’
Kim Sang-jin, the Raid Team's leader, let out a deep sigh inwardly.
Of all the people who could have died immediately after they entered the Dungeon, it had been the Healer—the most crucial member of any Raid Team.
They were out of both Recovery Potions and Mana Potions.
Only three people remained alive.
Kim Sang-jin himself was a Warrior.
Oh Hyeong-tae was a Guardian who filled the Tank role.
And finally, there was Lee Su-a, the Mage who had suffered the worst injuries of them all.
‘Normally, in a situation this desperate, the most important position would be Su-a's. She's a Mage. Even some basic healing magic would help, or at the very least she could use ‘Silence’ to suppress our footsteps and help us hide. But...’
Lee Su-a's Mana was already completely depleted.
She had been forced to unleash one high-level spell after another to break through the Goblins' encirclement, and the strain had caused Mana Backflow.
She had been retching ever since, vomiting up even yellow bile.
Even in Sang-jin's eyes as the Team Leader, their situation was hopeless.
A suffocating atmosphere of despair began to settle over the three silent Hunters.
Then—
BEEP, BEEP-
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP--
The pager attached to Kim Sang-jin's waist began to sound softly.
His eyes narrowed as he hurriedly checked it.
“T-Team Leader. What does it say? Are they coming to rescue us from outside?!”
“Well... Um...”
Lee Su-a, who had been lying down from dizziness, asked in a trembling voice.
But Sang-jin could only repeat exactly what the message said.
“They say the rescue will take a while. So, if we want to live...”
“If we want to live?”
“They want us to find... a camper van.”
“...What?!”
What kind of insane nonsense was that?
They were inside a newly formed, completely unknown Dungeon crawling with Red Goblins, and they were being told to find a camper van?
But with death looming over them, this was the only thing they had left to believe in.
They had no other choice.
All they could do was accept it.
“Let's move.”
“But, Team Leader.”
“I know. It sounds insane to me too. But what else can we do? They're saying this is our only chance to survive.”
He did not want to die like this.
They had been thrown in here without proper preparation, and now they were supposed to die such miserable deaths that their bodies might never even be recovered?
He refused.
The instinctive desire to survive.
And a sliver of hope no brighter than the torches lining the cavern walls.
For bodies already reduced to rags, that was enough reason to squeeze out what little strength remained and gamble their lives.
* * *
At the same time.
Hae-jin, the savior upon whom both the Hunter Association's fate and the lives of the three surviving Hunters now depended, was sprawled across his living-room sofa, blankly watching the news.
“This Dungeon incident is more serious than I thought.”
A new Dungeon had appeared—an emergency of the highest order.
Every television channel had interrupted its regular programming and was broadcasting breaking news about the incident.
‘I already confirmed that my Skills work properly inside the Dungeon. And the Association is taking proper action too, aren't they?’
The fourth-ranked Hunter.
Breaking news reported that ‘Radiance’ had been urgently dispatched.
Even if the Dungeon was Mid-Level and packed with Red Goblins, once Radiance arrived, it would undoubtedly be dealt with before long.
‘That means the Boss should be killed and the Dungeon cleared within forty-eight hours at the latest. Hmm...’
Hae-jin had escaped from the Dungeon perfectly unharmed.
But one very large problem remained.
‘How am I supposed to get my camper van back?’
That camper van had cost him a fortune.
He had finally splurged on it and taken it out for its very first trip, only for it to end up trapped inside a Dungeon.
Of course, once the Dungeon was cleared, it would probably be expelled back outside.
But even then, Hae-jin, as its owner, would need to show up and insist, ‘That vehicle belongs to me!’ before he could reclaim Ownership.
‘Even if I said I survived in there perfectly fine as an F-rank Hunter, would anyone believe me?’
Still, he could not simply abandon the camper van.
The most realistic option seemed to be entering the Dungeon again, pretending he was merely a lucky stranded survivor, waiting until the Raid Team cleared it, then quietly driving his vehicle out afterward.
Besides, there was another reason he needed to return to the Dungeon.
‘Red Goblins. Those things are worth money too, aren't they?’
A monster's strength tended to be directly proportional to its price.
The stronger the monster, the greater the Mana and potency contained in its materials.
Naturally, that made them expensive.
At least ten million won per carcass!
‘They're practically extinct nowadays because they're worth so much, but if this Dungeon has them appearing in numbers like this... Isn't it basically a gold mine?’
Since this was a brand-new Dungeon, its monster population was still extremely dense.
If he could hunt a decent number of them while he had the chance, he could earn enough money to spend the next several months lounging around with Guard without a care in the world.
And if he earned enough to buy another building?
‘A super-rich landlord.’
He might finally be able to live entirely off rent.
‘Good. I'm not letting the Hunter Association gobble up this entire gold mine.’
Recover the camper van.
Hunt Red Goblins.
With those two objectives firmly in mind, Hae-jin quickly sprang into action.
VROOOM--!
He started the truck and stepped on the accelerator toward the Hunting City.
He went from store to store, buying up supplies like a madman.
Ammunition, Potions, and even expensive Mana Scrolls.
Money vanished from his hands at a terrifying rate, but he gritted his teeth and handed over bundle after bundle of cash.
‘It's all an investment. Seed money for making even more money. Still, it hurts like hell to spend this much. Ugh...’
The truck rapidly filled with neatly stacked supplies.
Afterward, he used ‘Go Home’ and returned once more to the camper van inside the Dungeon.
He quietly climbed out and looked around.
Nothing seemed to have changed.
‘Still quiet.’
The cavern stretched endlessly into the darkness, dim and eerie.
For now, however, the fact that no one was around was actually convenient.
‘About five hours until Radiance gets here, then.’
This was his only chance to hunt monsters while keeping his identity hidden.
Time was literally money.
Before the Dungeon was cleared, he needed to kill as many Goblins as possible.
To do that, he first needed to draw as many Red Goblins toward him as he could.
And when it came to drawing monster Aggro, Hae-jin was practically a master by now.
HOOONK-!
HONK! HOOOONK---!!!
Nothing announced one's presence quite like a vehicle horn.
Hae-jin began pounding the camper van's horn like the drummer of a hardcore rock band.
It did not take long.
“There it is!”
A Red Goblin appeared from beyond the cavern wall.
It growled with a guttural GRRK, looking visibly irritated even at a glance.
Unlike before, however, it did not immediately charge.
Instead, it kept its distance and observed him.
‘So that's what makes you a Mid-Level Monster, huh? You look pretty intelligent.’
It was probably the same Goblin that had attacked Hae-jin earlier.
It remembered that he had a gun, which was why it was being cautious now.
As expected of a monster known for being intelligent, powerful, and agile.
But, as always, Hae-jin had a plan.
“Guard, go!”
“Yip!”
When it came to herding monsters, nothing worked quite as well as a dog.
Guard left the Safe Zone and approached the Goblin, drawing its attention and gradually luring it forward.
‘Don't fight it. Safety comes first, Guard. I'm not telling you to kill it. Just draw it out.’
Like the loyal pet he was, Guard perfectly understood his Owner's command.
He skillfully maintained Aggro while irritating the Red Goblin more and more.
Before long, the impatient creature finally lost its temper and rushed forward with its dagger raised.
“Now!”
BANG---!
Hae-jin, who had been waiting with the muzzle concealed and his aim already fixed, pulled the trigger.
The Anti-Materiel Rifle that had brought down even a Basilisk erupted with destructive force.