Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 38

Delaying even a day could mean more sacrifices.

Perhaps they would hasten their retreat, having lost their pawns in the bar raid.

Therefore, Kang Jin-hyuk thought they had to raid the Tyrant Guild branch producing Alraune’s Elixir by today.

Fortunately, his opinion aligned with Titan’s.

Soon, a car arrived at his house to pick up Kang Jin-hyuk.

Having received prior notice, Kang Jin-hyuk grabbed his inventory and got into the car with Lucia.

Then, the Titan Hunter acting as the driver asked suspiciously.

“Who is this person?”

The driver’s gaze was directed at Lucia.

She had covered her face with a mask to avoid trouble, giving her a suspicious appearance at first glance.

Since the matter involved Alraune’s Elixir and the Tyrant Guild, it was natural to be suspicious of outsiders for the sake of confidentiality.

Kang Jin-hyuk answered in as calm a voice as possible to alleviate the driver’s suspicion.

“She’s a friend who investigated this case with me. Don’t worry about it.”

“Then I’d like to see her face.”

“She’s covering her face because she has a scar. It’s a bit uncomfortable to show it…….”

As Kang Jin-hyuk and Lucia acted with melancholic eyes, the driver clicked his tongue and turned his head.

“I believe she won’t betray us since she’s the one who reported the incident.”

The driver’s words were exactly what Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to throw back at Titan.

However, he didn’t want to start a fight and argue with them already, so he swallowed his words.

Once the conversation ended, the driver quickly drove the car out of the city.

Lucia, fascinated by the car she was riding for the first time, sparkled her eyes and tugged at Kang Jin-hyuk’s sleeve.

When he turned his head, Lucia whispered in a small voice.

“This horseless carriage is quite fast. Does it also move with skills?”

“No, it runs on oil.”

“Oil? Like pig oil?”

Kang Jin-hyuk, shaking his head in denial, became troubled about how to explain this.

He was worried if he should explain about petroleum in detail, whether this half-elf knew about dinosaurs and fossils.

He wondered if he would have to go back to the moment of Earth’s creation if he started explaining.

Thinking that way, Kang Jin-hyuk decided it was better to just gloss over it.

“Not that kind of oil, it’s something different. I don’t know the details either.”

“Tsk tsk, you don’t even know about this amazing carriage. You should study more.”

Kang Jin-hyuk felt a surge of emotion at Lucia’s words.

Of course, it was true that he had distanced himself from studying since high school.

It was also true that he couldn’t go to a decent university because of that.

Anyway, he felt a surge of emotion.

Since he couldn’t vent this feeling to Lucia, who didn’t even speak the same language properly.

Kang Jin-hyuk decided to target the driver to find out what he was curious about.

“By the way, you believed my words easily.”

“You mean about human trafficking?”

“Yes, usually people would think it’s just a rumor, but you’re even here to support us.”

“I’m just following the Guild Leader’s orders.”

Honestly, the driver didn’t want to get involved with Kang Jin-hyuk personally.

He couldn’t overlook the fact that Kang Jin-hyuk had tarnished the guild’s honor and sent an A-rank Hunter to the hospital.

He was just keeping quiet because he knew Titan had started the fight first.

“I don’t think that’s the only reason.”

As Kang Jin-hyuk pressed on, the driver’s eyebrows twitched.

“Why do you think that?”

“I heard that the people who participated in this support volunteered.”

If they truly disliked Kang Jin-hyuk and considered the information unreliable, they wouldn’t have volunteered.

Kang Jin-hyuk was convinced there must be another reason why they came this far.

The driver, having his true feelings exposed, shrugged in surrender.

“Actually…… I’ve always thought Tyrant would do something like human trafficking.”

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Since Tyrant had always been walking a tightrope, pushing the boundaries, it wouldn’t be surprising if something happened.

There were even rumors that the serial killer who had recently been targeting Hunters from large guilds was actually a Hunter from Tyrant.

“I’ve always wanted to teach those bastards a lesson.”

“You mean you wanted to beat them up legally.”

“That’s right.”

It was natural for them to be hated by other forces since they were a guild that relied only on their size and strength.

From Titan’s perspective, they had wanted to teach them a lesson sooner rather than later.

“If we reveal the human trafficking site on a large scale, they won’t be able to say anything even if they get beaten up.”

The driver said with a laugh, thinking that Tyrant would be defeated unilaterally.

But Kang Jin-hyuk’s thoughts were a little different.

If those guys who acted without thinking ahead were cornered, what would they do?

‘It’s bound to be a head-on war.’

Kang Jin-hyuk was still keeping that possibility in mind, which he had considered before.

“What if Tyrant tries to retaliate?”

“We have to fight, what else can we do?”

“Are you confident you can win?”

“Honestly, it’s a bit difficult with our current forces. But we have something we’re relying on.”

Kang Jin-hyuk became curious at the driver’s confident attitude.

“What is it?”

The driver smirked at the question he asked just in case.

“One of the executives is in contact with one of the S-rank Hunters.”

“Really? Who is it?”

“I can’t tell you that. It’s a huge service that I even told you this much.”

Even though they were working towards the same goal, Kang Jin-hyuk was an outsider.

There was no reason to openly tell a Hunter who might go to another guild about Titan’s news.

Kang Jin-hyuk smacked his lips in disappointment.

They might even recruit an additional S-rank Hunter.

If a reporter heard this, they would be shocked and ecstatic, as it was a huge scoop.

Perhaps Titan would join the power struggle between Altron and Tyrant head-on, and the Three Kingdoms of the Hunter world would begin.

‘By the way, it seems Seo Sang-ho didn’t tell his guild members about Alraune.’

It was clear from the fact that the driver, who even told him the important fact that they were in contact with an S-rank Hunter, didn’t mention Alraune.

‘Why did he hide it even from his own guild members?’

He heard from Seo Sang-ho that the Association had designated Alraune as classified information.

But that wasn’t a reason to hide it from his guild members.

The place they were about to raid was the very place where Alraune was being cultivated.

Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t understand why they were keeping it a secret when it would be revealed soon anyway.

However, he didn’t think it was necessary to reveal what Seo Sang-ho had hidden.

They might have their own reasons, and there was no need for him to meddle and cause trouble.

“We’ve arrived.”

While Kang Jin-hyuk was lost in thought, the car had reached its destination.

Looking around, he saw dirt roads without even asphalt and plenty of trees.

It seemed they had chosen a forest some distance away from the Tyrant Guild branch as a gathering point so that the enemy wouldn’t notice.

Before getting out of the car, the driver advised Kang Jin-hyuk.

“There are many people who don’t welcome you. It would be best if you stayed quiet as much as possible.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Even without being told, Kang Jin-hyuk was aware that Titan didn’t welcome him with open arms.

Of course, he wasn’t disappointed or anything.

They were people he had no intention of getting close to in the first place, so what did it matter if they disliked him?

If it weren’t for Seo Sang-ho, Kang Jin-hyuk wouldn’t have worked with a large guild like Titan.

“…….”

As he opened the car door and got out, just as the driver had said, hostile gazes swept over Kang Jin-hyuk’s entire body.

Openly grimacing, glaring at him like an enemy, and so on.

It wasn’t a welcoming atmosphere at all.

Lucia, who got out of the car after him, scoffed after confirming the atmosphere.

“What kind of trouble have you been causing? Why is the public sentiment like this?”

“What did I do? I just retaliated after they attacked me first.”

Among the Titan Hunters, there was one person who was particularly enraged after hearing Kang Jin-hyuk and Lucia’s conversation.

The one who stepped forward with a fierce expression, as if he was about to draw his weapon and swing it at any moment, was an A-rank Hunter who was close to Ahn Do-yoon.

It was Baek Jin-woong, famous for wielding a giant axe about 2 meters long.

“Are you saying that it’s only our fault? Is that what you mean?”

Baek Jin-woong walked towards him, cracking his knuckles, implying that he should choose his words carefully.

Kang Jin-hyuk wasn’t intimidated in the slightest by the blatant threat that he should watch his mouth.

“Usually, the one who starts the fight is at fault.”

“What are you talking about?!”

Baek Jin-woong didn’t like the attitude of a C-rank Hunter holding his head high and talking back to him.

Thinking that he needed to put him in his place this time, Baek Jin-woong clenched his fist tightly.

But before he could attack, someone appeared in front of him.

The Hunter who stopped Baek Jin-woong’s actions with his hand was a familiar face to Kang Jin-hyuk.

“We shouldn’t be fighting when we’ve agreed to cooperate.”

“Yes……. I’m sorry.”

Baek Jin-woong, who had been like a wild beast, bowed down like a meek lamb and retreated.

No matter how much of an A-rank Hunter he was, he couldn’t act recklessly in front of Han Young-seok, an executive of Titan.

Han Young-seok gave Kang Jin-hyuk a polite smile and offered a handshake.

“I’m Han Young-seok, in charge of this operation. We met during the last raid, I wonder if you remember me.”

“I do remember, but……. your impression has changed a lot.”

“Hahaha. Last time, I made a mistake trying to protect the guild’s interests.”

Han Young-seok was an executive of the Titan Guild and the person who had led the opposition to handing over the new monster material to Kang Jin-hyuk.

Kang Jin-hyuk found it hard to adapt to the fact that the person who had looked down on him and didn’t hesitate to use informal speech and insults was now acting so politely.

“I was actually hoping to apologize to you, and I’m glad I got this opportunity.”

Han Young-seok even bowed his head, apologizing for the past.

He didn’t know how much sincerity was in that action.

It could have been an act to hide his ulterior motives.

But if he didn’t accept this uncomfortable apology, he would have to spend the entire operation feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Kang Jin-hyuk had no choice but to open his mouth.

“You don’t have to apologize. I would have done the same if I were in your shoes.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

Kang Jin-hyuk shook Han Young-seok’s outstretched hand with an awkward smile.

“Could I ask what you did with the new monster material?”

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“I’m just curious. You don’t have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable.”

Kang Jin-hyuk sighed inwardly at Han Young-seok’s words.

‘Of course.’

If he was going to act, he should do it properly.

It was too obvious to ask about the new monster material right away without even trying to hide his intentions.

The slightest hope he had that it might be sincere was shattered.

Kang Jin-hyuk, realizing Han Young-seok’s true intentions, said curtly.

“I just used it.”

“Yes? You used it? How?”

“I could use it for weapon enhancement, so I used it to enhance this bat.”

When Kang Jin-hyuk took out the baseball bat from his inventory and showed it to him, Han Young-seok looked dazed, as if his soul had left his body.

Then, his face turned red in an instant, and he yelled.

“You used that precious thing as a material to enhance this bat!?”

Han Young-seok, forgetting his original purpose, started rambling on, saying that he was crazy.