Good timing . He was thirsty after the fight . Still, Jinwoo took the cup with a confused look .

    gulp gulp gulp

    The cold water went down refreshingly down his throat .

    “How is it, hyungnim?”

    Now that he thought about, Jinho’s title for him had gone from “hyung” to “hyungnim” .

    “Mm, it’s refreshing . ”

    He returned the cup to Jinho .

    “So what you just saw here-”

    Jinho interrupted before Jinwoo could finish his sentence, almost as if to tell him not to worry .

    “Of course! I’ll carry this secret with me to the grave . ”

    “No, you don’t have to go that far…”

    “How can I not? It’s my promise with hyungnim . ”

    “Well… Okay . If you feel that way . ”

    “Don’t worry about me, hyungnim . ”

    Besides, there was no way someone would believe that an E-rank Hunter took down a C-rank Gate’s boss on his own . Still, Jinwoo was thankful that Jinho promised his silence on his own .

    ‘Thought he was bad at taking a hint . He sure doesn’t seem like it now . ’

    “Is there anything else, hyungnim?”

    “ . . . No . ”

    It was strange . Jinwoo looked up and down on Jinho’s figure that was standing at attention .

    ‘Well, I guess I did save his life . ’

    After all, it was normal for someone to be respectful towards the person who saved their life . It was understandable if that was the case . Of course, the truth was a little different .

    shaaake~

    The Dungeon lightly shook again, then stopped . The shaking was the signal that the Gate would be closing soon . The tremors would increase as time passed, until right before the Gate’s closing, when it would feel like an earthquake .

    “Let’s go . ”

    “Yes, hyungnim . ”

    Jinwoo started walking towards the blockage . Suddenly, the collapsed rocks blew apart with a flash .

    Bang!

    Hwang Dongseok and co . entered the boss room . Seeing the collapsed spider behind Jinwoo, their looks were incredulous .

    “What the, it’s dead?”

    “Those two took it down?”

    “Was the only thing scary its size?”

    “Well, if it got taken down by an E-rank and a D-rank . . . ”

    “Hwang hyung, what do we do now?”

    Hwang Dongseok looked at Jinwoo and Yoo Jinho and scratched his chin . With the spider dead, the Gate would close soon . It was too late to start mining the mana crystals now . They weren’t prepared for it, and the time remaining was less than an hour . He had to change the plan .

    He shouted toward Yoo Jinho,

    “Yoo Jinho!”

    Yoo Jinho flinched and took a step backwards, face was full of nervousness .

    Hwang Dongseok smirked,

    “Your equipment really caught our eye, so we did a little investigation . Your daddy turned out to be someone crazy! Yoojin Construction’s chairman, Yoo Myunghan . ”

    “So- so what?”

    “Well, we’re giving you a chance . We have some things we want to talk over with your daddy . But if what happened here got out, our situation would become a little uncomfortable . So if you want to live, become our accomplice . ”

    “An accomplice?”

    Hwang Dongseok raised his chin towards Jinwoo . At his unpleasant gaze, Jinwoo grimaced .

    “Kill Sung Jinwoo . ”

    “What?”

    Yoo Jinho panicked, but Hwang Dongseok looked at his face and laughed . Their original plan was to kill Jinho as well . But they had discovered that Yoo Jinho’s father was the chairman of one of the top construction companies of the country . With that in mind, a devious thought came to him . What if they filmed Yoo Jinho killing Sung Jinwoo, and used that to blackmail Yoo Myunghan?

    ‘Yoo Myunghan’s known net worth is about 10 trillion . ’

    If everything went right, they could earn several times more than what they would’ve gotten from the mana crystals .

    “That is your way out of here . We’ll let you live if you kill Sung Jinwoo with your own hands . Otherwise, we’ll kill you both . ”

    Hwang Dongseok’s eyes became murderous .

    “What are you waiting for? No one’s going to know what happened in a Dungeon anyways . Is a D-rank cowering before an E-rank?”

    Yoo Jinho looked to his side . Jinwoo just shrugged in response . “Do what you want” was what he was telling him . Yoo Jinho took out his sword with a determined face .

    ‘Looks like he made his decision . ’

    Hwang Dongseok smiled .

    But the results were not what he expected .

    Yoo Jinho took his sword and stood at Jinwoo’s side .

    “Oh? Going to team up against us?”

    Hwang Dongseok spoke to himself . The young master sure got gutsy after luckily taking down a C-rank boss .

    Jo Gyuhwan whispered to him from his side,

    “Hyung, what should we do?”

    Hwang Dongseok whispered back,

    “For now, take care of Sung Jinwoo . We’ll hold on to Mr . Moneybags for now . Our loss was too big today . ”

    “Got it . ”

    A bright light appeared in Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed .

    ‘So we’re doing it this way, after all . ’

    This would be his first time fighting a Hunter . However, he had no plans on being merciful to those who had threatened his life multiple times .

    Suddenly!

    ring~

    The electronic sound rang in his head .

    An emergency quest has been created .

    ‘Emergency quest?’

    He raised his head . He did not give the command to open it, but the quest screen had opened up on its own . This was the first time this had happened .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

    Those with murderous intent towards the ‘Player’ have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

    Enemies to deal with: 8

    Enemies dealt with: 0

    Non-compliance will result in a penalty .

    Jinwoo’s eyes were open wide .

    ‘The quest requires me to kill Hwang Dongseok’s entire party?’

    Something behind the screen flashed . It was the arrow of light released from Jo Gyuhwan’s hands .

    Bang!

    Jinwoo’s body was thrown from the explosion and crashed into the wall with great speed .

    Slam!

    The wall broke apart on impact and the pieces landed on Jinwoo .

    “Hyungnim!”

    Yoo Jinho tried to run to Jinwoo in panic, but Hwang Dongseok stopped him,

    “Yoo Jinho!”

    Yoo Jinho flinched and stopped .

    “You better not pay any mind to a dead person and come here . ”

    Hwang Dongseok gestured him to come over . Yoo Jinho turned and looked at where Jinwoo was . Like Hwang Dongseok said, Jinwoo was buried in rocks and did not appear to be moving .

    “You… you murderers…”

    Tears gathered at the corner of Yoo Jinho’s eyes . Hwang Dongseok and his party laughed at his words .

    It was the truth, after all . They lost count of the number of people they had killed in Dungeons .

    As they laughed at Yoo Jinho, Jinwoo was questioning his eyes below the rubble . This was because the quest’s contents were changing before his eyes .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

    Those with murderous intent towards %*@## have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

    Enemies to deal with: 8

    Enemies dealt with: 0

    Non-compliance will result in #$%^%@$#$%#^ ! ^&#$%^$ .

    Several of the letters broke apart and reformed into new words .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!

    Those with murderous intent towards you have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies .

    Enemies to deal with: 8

    Enemies dealt with: 0

    Non-compliance will result your heart stopping .

    It was a very clear threat, “I’ll kill you if you don’t do the quest . ”

    ‘Kill if I don’t want to be killed?’

    It was a shocking message, but his confusion did not last long . The confusion quickly turned to comfort . He could not believe it, but it was true . From the day the quests and stat screens appeared, a single thought had plagued Jinwoo’s mind .

    “What if this strange occurrence ends?”

    If all this happened out of coincidence, could it end just as suddenly?

    Such worrisome thought always followed him .

    But now, with the appearance of this quest, he obtained a certainty .

    This was neither coincidence or kindness .

    If the System came to him out of some kindness, it would’ve given him the option to avoid the danger . It would not use a penalty to force him to kill .

    The System had a goal .

    Not “to make Sung Jinwoo become strong”, but “need Sung Jinwoo to become strong” .

    ‘Depending on the situation, even kill fellow Hunters…’

    That was what he gathered from the appearance of the quest .

    Still, Jinwoo found comfort in the thought .

    ‘Thank god . ’

    Because it was not a coincidence .

    There was a clear purpose .

    Every time he faced danger, he wanted to become stronger . He wanted the opportunity to rise above his life that felt like holding onto the edge of a cliff . And on that day, in the most dangerous moment of his life, the opportunity came to him .

    The System’s goals were perfectly aligned with Jinwoo’s desires .

    ‘The System uses me, and I’ll use the System . ’

    That’s all he had to do . As long as it had a goal, he would be able to hold on to this phenomenon .

    Jinwoo rose from the rubble .

    Health: 1360 / 2600

    He really did get hit by a C-rank Hunter’s magic . A single hit took half of his life down . There was no room for error going forward . A coldness crept into Jinwoo’s eyes . He began to walk towards Hwang Dongseok .

    “What?”

    Having surrounded the cowering Yoo Jinho, Hwang Dongseok’s party noticed Jinwoo .

    “What the, he’s alive?”

    “Gyuhwan hyung, looks like you’ve lost your touch . ”

    “How embarrassing, against an E-ranker, too . ”

    Hwang Dongseok scratched his chin,

    “Gyuhwan, do it right next time . ”

    Jo Gyuhwan’s face reddened with embarrassment,

    “I-I got it . ”

    No . He definitely used his most powerful spell . It was an attack that used up a third of his magic power, how could he get up? Did he miss? No, if he missed, it wouldn’t have made such a loud sound . He had many questions but did not get the chance to ask .

    Because Jinwoo was the first to speak,

    “You’ve played with people’s lives . ”

    Hwang Dongseok’s group’s eyes were fixed on Jinwoo . Jinwoo stopped before them . Yoo Jinho was surprised, but the other Hunters were nonchalant . Few of them even had a mocking expression .

    Jinwoo continued dryly,

    “You’re ready to pay the price, right?”

    At that phrase, Hwang Dongseok snorted .

    “The hell is this fucker saying?”

    “Hyungnim, I got this . ”

    A Hunter with narrow eyes went over and draped an arm around Jinwoo’s neck .

    “It looks like you’re not really understanding the situation here,”

    The narrow-eye’s expression became strange as he put strength on his arm .

    ‘ . . . What? Why is he not bending?’

    He used all of his strength to try and put Jinwoo in a headlock, but no matter how much he flexed, Jinwoo’s body did not bend .

    Wasn’t this fucker an E-rank?

    The narrow-eye’s brows moistened with cold sweat .

    ‘What’s with this pow-’

    slash .

    The narrow-eye’s head fell onto the ground .

    thud

    “J-Joontae!”

    Hwang Dongseok’s eyes shook .

    “Wait, what?”

    “When did that fucker get a dagger?!”

    “Where did it come from?!”

    Hwang Dongseok’s party quickly drew their weapons and took a step back . In Jinwoo’s hand was Casaka’s Poisoned Fang he had summoned from his inventory .

    The dagger dripped with blood .

    ring~

    Enemies to deal with: 7

    Enemies dealt with: 1

    ‘7 left . ’

    Sponsored Content

    I Alone Level-up: Chapter 22.

    .

    Good timing . He was thirsty after the fight . Still, Jinwoo took the cup with a confused look . .

    .

    gulp gulp gulp.

    .

    The cold water went down refreshingly down his throat . .

    .

    “How is it, hyungnim?”.

    .

    Now that he thought about, Jinho’s title for him had gone from “hyung” to “hyungnim” . .

    .

    “Mm, it’s refreshing . ”.

    .

    He returned the cup to Jinho . .

    .

    “So what you just saw here-”.

    .

    Jinho interrupted before Jinwoo could finish his sentence, almost as if to tell him not to worry . .

    .

    “Of course! I’ll carry this secret with me to the grave . ”.

    .

    “No, you don’t have to go that far…”.

    .

    “How can I not? It’s my promise with hyungnim . ”.

    .

    “Well… Okay . If you feel that way . ”.

    .

    “Don’t worry about me, hyungnim . ”.

    .

    Besides, there was no way someone would believe that an E-rank Hunter took down a C-rank Gate’s boss on his own . Still, Jinwoo was thankful that Jinho promised his silence on his own . .

    .

    ‘Thought he was bad at taking a hint . He sure doesn’t seem like it now . ’.

    .

    “Is there anything else, hyungnim?”.

    .

    “ . No . ”.

    .

    It was strange . Jinwoo looked up and down on Jinho’s figure that was standing at attention . .

    .

    ‘Well, I guess I did save his life . ’.

    .

    After all, it was normal for someone to be respectful towards the person who saved their life . It was understandable if that was the case . Of course, the truth was a little different . .

    .

    shaaake~.

    .

    The Dungeon lightly shook again, then stopped . The shaking was the signal that the Gate would be closing soon . The tremors would increase as time passed, until right before the Gate’s closing, when it would feel like an earthquake . .

    .

    “Let’s go . ”.

    .

    “Yes, hyungnim . ”.

    .

    Jinwoo started walking towards the blockage . Suddenly, the collapsed rocks blew apart with a flash . .

    .

    Bang!.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok and co . entered the boss room . Seeing the collapsed spider behind Jinwoo, their looks were incredulous . .

    .

    “What the, it’s dead?”.

    “Those two took it down?”.

    “Was the only thing scary its size?”.

    “Well, if it got taken down by an E-rank and a D-rank . ”.

    “Hwang hyung, what do we do now?”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok looked at Jinwoo and Yoo Jinho and scratched his chin . With the spider dead, the Gate would close soon . It was too late to start mining the mana crystals now . They weren’t prepared for it, and the time remaining was less than an hour . He had to change the plan . .

    .

    He shouted toward Yoo Jinho,.

    .

    “Yoo Jinho!”.

    .

    Yoo Jinho flinched and took a step backwards, face was full of nervousness . .

    .

    Hwang Dongseok smirked,.

    .

    “Your equipment really caught our eye, so we did a little investigation . Your daddy turned out to be someone crazy! Yoojin Construction’s chairman, Yoo Myunghan . ”.

    .

    “So- so what?”.

    .

    “Well, we’re giving you a chance . We have some things we want to talk over with your daddy . But if what happened here got out, our situation would become a little uncomfortable . So if you want to live, become our accomplice . ”.

    .

    “An accomplice?”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok raised his chin towards Jinwoo . At his unpleasant gaze, Jinwoo grimaced . .

    .

    “Kill Sung Jinwoo . ”.

    .

    “What?”.

    .

    Yoo Jinho panicked, but Hwang Dongseok looked at his face and laughed . Their original plan was to kill Jinho as well . But they had discovered that Yoo Jinho’s father was the chairman of one of the top construction companies of the country . With that in mind, a devious thought came to him . What if they filmed Yoo Jinho killing Sung Jinwoo, and used that to blackmail Yoo Myunghan?.

    .

    ‘Yoo Myunghan’s known net worth is about 10 trillion . ’.

    .

    If everything went right, they could earn several times more than what they would’ve gotten from the mana crystals . .

    .

    “That is your way out of here . We’ll let you live if you kill Sung Jinwoo with your own hands . Otherwise, we’ll kill you both . ”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok’s eyes became murderous . .

    .

    “What are you waiting for? No one’s going to know what happened in a Dungeon anyways . Is a D-rank cowering before an E-rank?”.

    .

    Yoo Jinho looked to his side . Jinwoo just shrugged in response . “Do what you want” was what he was telling him . Yoo Jinho took out his sword with a determined face . .

    .

    ‘Looks like he made his decision . ’.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok smiled . .

    .

    But the results were not what he expected . .

    .

    Yoo Jinho took his sword and stood at Jinwoo’s side . .

    .

    “Oh? Going to team up against us?”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok spoke to himself . The young master sure got gutsy after luckily taking down a C-rank boss . .

    .

    Jo Gyuhwan whispered to him from his side,.

    .

    “Hyung, what should we do?”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok whispered back,.

    .

    “For now, take care of Sung Jinwoo . We’ll hold on to Mr . Moneybags for now . Our loss was too big today . ”.

    .

    “Got it . ”.

    .

    A bright light appeared in Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed . .

    .

    ‘So we’re doing it this way, after all . ’.

    .

    This would be his first time fighting a Hunter . However, he had no plans on being merciful to those who had threatened his life multiple times . .

    .

    Suddenly!.

    .

    ring~.

    .

    The electronic sound rang in his head . .

    .

    An emergency quest has been created . .

    .

    ‘Emergency quest?’.

    .

    He raised his head . He did not give the command to open it, but the quest screen had opened up on its own . This was the first time this had happened . .

    .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

    Those with murderous intent towards the ‘Player’ have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

    Enemies to deal with: 8.

    Enemies dealt with: 0.

    Non-compliance will result in a penalty . .

    .

    Jinwoo’s eyes were open wide . .

    .

    ‘The quest requires me to kill Hwang Dongseok’s entire party?’.

    .

    Something behind the screen flashed . It was the arrow of light released from Jo Gyuhwan’s hands . .

    .

    Bang!.

    .

    Jinwoo’s body was thrown from the explosion and crashed into the wall with great speed . .

    .

    Slam!.

    .

    The wall broke apart on impact and the pieces landed on Jinwoo . .

    .

    “Hyungnim!”.

    .

    Yoo Jinho tried to run to Jinwoo in panic, but Hwang Dongseok stopped him,.

    .

    “Yoo Jinho!”.

    .

    Yoo Jinho flinched and stopped . .

    .

    “You better not pay any mind to a dead person and come here . ”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok gestured him to come over . Yoo Jinho turned and looked at where Jinwoo was . Like Hwang Dongseok said, Jinwoo was buried in rocks and did not appear to be moving . .

    .

    “You… you murderers…”.

    .

    Tears gathered at the corner of Yoo Jinho’s eyes . Hwang Dongseok and his party laughed at his words . .

    .

    It was the truth, after all . They lost count of the number of people they had killed in Dungeons . .

    .

    As they laughed at Yoo Jinho, Jinwoo was questioning his eyes below the rubble . This was because the quest’s contents were changing before his eyes . .

    .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

    Those with murderous intent towards %*@## have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

    Enemies to deal with: 8.

    Enemies dealt with: 0.

    Non-compliance will result in #$%^%@$#$%#^ ! ^&#$%^$ . .

    .

    Several of the letters broke apart and reformed into new words . .

    .

    Emergency Quest: Deal With The Enemies!.

    Those with murderous intent towards you have been detected . Ensure your safety by dealing with these enemies . .

    Enemies to deal with: 8.

    Enemies dealt with: 0.

    Non-compliance will result your heart stopping . .

    .

    It was a very clear threat, “I’ll kill you if you don’t do the quest . ”.

    .

    ‘Kill if I don’t want to be killed?’.

    .

    It was a shocking message, but his confusion did not last long . The confusion quickly turned to comfort . He could not believe it, but it was true . From the day the quests and stat screens appeared, a single thought had plagued Jinwoo’s mind . .

    .

    “What if this strange occurrence ends?”.

    .

    If all this happened out of coincidence, could it end just as suddenly?.

    .

    Such worrisome thought always followed him . .

    .

    But now, with the appearance of this quest, he obtained a certainty . .

    .

    This was neither coincidence or kindness . .

    .

    If the System came to him out of some kindness, it would’ve given him the option to avoid the danger . It would not use a penalty to force him to kill . .

    .

    The System had a goal . .

    .

    Not “to make Sung Jinwoo become strong”, but “need Sung Jinwoo to become strong” . .

    .

    ‘Depending on the situation, even kill fellow Hunters…’.

    .

    That was what he gathered from the appearance of the quest . .

    .

    Still, Jinwoo found comfort in the thought . .

    .

    ‘Thank god . ’.

    .

    Because it was not a coincidence . .

    .

    There was a clear purpose . .

    .

    Every time he faced danger, he wanted to become stronger . He wanted the opportunity to rise above his life that felt like holding onto the edge of a cliff . And on that day, in the most dangerous moment of his life, the opportunity came to him . .

    .

    The System’s goals were perfectly aligned with Jinwoo’s desires . .

    .

    ‘The System uses me, and I’ll use the System . ’.

    .

    That’s all he had to do . As long as it had a goal, he would be able to hold on to this phenomenon . .

    .

    Jinwoo rose from the rubble . .

    .

    Health: 1360 / 2600.

    .

    He really did get hit by a C-rank Hunter’s magic . A single hit took half of his life down . There was no room for error going forward . A coldness crept into Jinwoo’s eyes . He began to walk towards Hwang Dongseok . .

    .

    “What?”.

    .

    Having surrounded the cowering Yoo Jinho, Hwang Dongseok’s party noticed Jinwoo . .

    .

    “What the, he’s alive?”.

    “Gyuhwan hyung, looks like you’ve lost your touch . ”.

    “How embarrassing, against an E-ranker, too . ”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok scratched his chin,.

    .

    “Gyuhwan, do it right next time . ”.

    .

    Jo Gyuhwan’s face reddened with embarrassment,.

    .

    “I-I got it . ”.

    .

    No . He definitely used his most powerful spell . It was an attack that used up a third of his magic power, how could he get up? Did he miss? No, if he missed, it wouldn’t have made such a loud sound . He had many questions but did not get the chance to ask . .

    .

    Because Jinwoo was the first to speak,.

    .

    “You’ve played with people’s lives . ”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok’s group’s eyes were fixed on Jinwoo . Jinwoo stopped before them . Yoo Jinho was surprised, but the other Hunters were nonchalant . Few of them even had a mocking expression . .

    .

    Jinwoo continued dryly,.

    .

    “You’re ready to pay the price, right?”.

    .

    At that phrase, Hwang Dongseok snorted . .

    .

    “The hell is this fucker saying?”.

    “Hyungnim, I got this . ”.

    .

    A Hunter with narrow eyes went over and draped an arm around Jinwoo’s neck . .

    .

    “It looks like you’re not really understanding the situation here,”.

    .

    The narrow-eye’s expression became strange as he put strength on his arm . .

    .

    ‘ . What? Why is he not bending?’.

    .

    He used all of his strength to try and put Jinwoo in a headlock, but no matter how much he flexed, Jinwoo’s body did not bend . .

    .

    Wasn’t this fucker an E-rank?.

    .

    The narrow-eye’s brows moistened with cold sweat . .

    .

    ‘What’s with this pow-’.

    .

    slash . .

    .

    The narrow-eye’s head fell onto the ground . .

    .

    thud.

    .

    “J-Joontae!”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok’s eyes shook . .

    .

    “Wait, what?”.

    “When did that fucker get a dagger?!”.

    “Where did it come from?!”.

    .

    Hwang Dongseok’s party quickly drew their weapons and took a step back . In Jinwoo’s hand was Casaka’s Poisoned Fang he had summoned from his inventory . .

    .

    The dagger dripped with blood . .

    .

    ring~.

    .

    Enemies to deal with: 7.

    Enemies dealt with: 1.

    .

    ‘7 left . ’.