Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

“Ugh…”

He groaned softly, beginning to process his current situation one step at a time.

The shattered door of the bar and the loud sirens blaring outside indicated that things had gone terribly wrong.

And the sight of the police checking on his collapsed comrades confirmed that the situation was far from ideal.

However, it wasn’t an absolute failure.

“You could’ve picked your opponents a bit more carefully.”

A detective with short sports hair and an old jacket approached the brown-haired man, letting out a sigh.

Instead of treating him like a suspect, the detective dusted off the man’s clothing as if he were an old friend.

“Damn it… Did you catch that guy, at least?”

The brown-haired man stood up, reluctantly following the detective’s lead.

No matter how much he scanned his surroundings, he couldn’t find the person he was desperately searching for.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Who else could it be? The one who turned this place into a hellhole!”

“You mean to say… there was only one guy responsible for this?”

The brown-haired man couldn’t answer the question and bit his lip, cursing under his breath.

The mere thought that they had suffered such a defeat at the hands of just one person was a blow to his pride.

He hoped he wouldn’t have to face any mockery because of this embarrassing defeat.

“Just tell me if you captured him or not.”

“He got away. All that’s left here is you guys.”

The detective’s response left the brown-haired man in shock.

“What did you say? You mean you couldn’t catch that one guy?”

“How could you say that when you all got ambushed by eight hunters?”

“Ugh.”

The detective’s remarks rendered the brown-haired man speechless.

Even though they were C-rank hunters, they were a well-equipped group armed with high-priced items supported by their organization.

In terms of numbers, even B-rank hunters would have easily been able to take them down.

“What made you guys lose your usual caution this time?”

“That’s because the detective didn’t see the woman that guy was with.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Was she such a beauty that you would act recklessly?”

The brown-haired man immediately replied with a simple “yes.”

“If I had just caught her, I could have quit this life altogether.”

Having captured and sold many women before, he was confident that she was an exceptional product not easily found elsewhere.

Seeing the brown-haired man speak so firmly about it made the detective swallow his disappointment.

“Well, you could’ve tried a little harder.”

“What can I do if I got caught up by some A-rank hunter?”

In his view, the opponent was at least a high-ranker, albeit unexpectedly strong.

Otherwise, it didn’t make sense that they had been thoroughly beaten without even landing a single blow.

The detective shared the same sentiment.

Handing over the prepared documents to the brown-haired man, the detective headed towards the broken door.

“I’ll check on the guys outside for a bit. You find out who hit you guys from those documents.”

“Do you really expect me to look through all this? My head’s still spinning from getting beaten up.”

“If you don’t like it, you can just stay quiet.”

“…Yeah, that’s not an option for me.”

The brown-haired man gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t let the guy who had caused all this chaos go unpunished.

“Take care.”

The detective moved to assist his subordinates in escorting the injured hunters.

On the surface, it was under the pretense of investigation, but most would be released by the next morning.

They had anticipated such events ahead of time.

Just a few members would align their stories, and the hunters who had originally targeted a woman would soon find themselves as the victims.

Meanwhile, the ones who retaliated would be twisted into the culprits who harmed innocent people.

“I might just end up getting some overtime pay from this mess.”

The detective felt no guilt despite knowing he was setting someone innocent up.

He was content if this incident would yield some income and allow him to treat himself to some beef for a change.

“Damn it… I will track you down.”

The brown-haired man flipped through the list of A-rank hunters handed to him by the detective.

However, no matter how much he searched, he wasn’t able to find Kang Jin-hyuk’s face.

“Where the hell is he?”

He believed he must have overlooked something and began to scrutinize the documents more meticulously.

The pathetic outfit would not suggest an A-rank hunter, but their skills were genuine.

Thus, the man was convinced that Kang Jin-hyuk must surely be on this list.

“What’s this? Why isn’t he here?!”

Contrary to his expectations, he couldn’t find a single person who resembled him within the documents provided.

“Could it be that he only recently leveled up to A-rank, making him unlisted?”

In a glimmer of hope, the brown-haired man checked the update date of the documentation.

To his dismay, it had been updated only two hours ago with the latest data.

“Damn it. Why’s that punk so diligent with his work despite being so frivolous?”

With each disappointing realization, frustration boiled over within the brown-haired man.

He felt anger surging as he pictured the genius opportunity lost because of Kang Jin-hyuk.

He was determined to find him and kill him without fail, as he powered on his phone.

Yet what he saw wasn’t the lit-up screen he expected.

It was his right hand impaled by a dagger along with the phone.

“…!”

Before he could scream, someone swiftly covered his mouth.

Even when he tried to resist, the sharp blade held firmly against his throat left him unable to move.

Though he didn’t know who his assailant was, he sensed the murderous intent behind the sudden attack.

Giving up the fight, the brown-haired man heard a whisper in his ear from the person behind him.

“Aren’t you with the ‘Tyrant’ guild?”

“?!”

The brown-haired man was taken aback.

Despite being a C-rank hunter and not formally affiliated with any guild, it was clear that they were the ones pulling the strings behind this mess.

“I never thought I would see anyone else from the guild competing for the first place with Altron in such a way… I didn’t believe it until I witnessed it myself.”

The brown-haired man sank into deep thought.

The attacker seemed to know a fact he should never find out.

If word got out that the ‘Tyrant’ guild was directly involved in human trafficking, all the C-rank hunters involved in this would be eliminated without hesitation.

Even those who had trusted and backed them would meet the same fate.

It was better to make a move now rather than confront the ‘Tyrant.’

“Somehow, I need to retrieve an item from my inventory…!”

The brown-haired man placed his hopes on a rare item left in his inventory.

With the power of chains that could bind even an orc in an instant, he thought he could escape this situation.

But the surprise attacker, Yun Song-ho, wasn’t so easy to deceive.

As soon as the brown-haired man made a slight movement with his left hand, he drove the dagger deeper into his throat.

“…!!”

Unable to scream, not even a whisper escaped through his blocked mouth.

Though he had exerted all his strength to scream, sadly, it reached no ears beyond the chaos swirling outside.

“Looks like my intel was accurate as you seem determined to fight me.”

Yun Song-ho had enough assurance from the hunter’s reaction and, as such, saw it fit to withdraw the dagger from the man’s throat.

Fresh blood gushed forth like a fountain as he cut through both the carotid artery and the neck.

“Ugh…! Ugh!”

With his hole-ridden hand, the brown-haired man tried to plug the flow of blood.

But it did nothing to stop the flood as blood continued pouring onto the floor.

Slowly fading, as the world around him was tinted in crimson, he could feel himself slipping away.

Yun Song-ho stepped back, adjusting his mask and observing as the brown-haired man succumbed to unconsciousness.

“I can’t believe someone beat me to it… Was it another force at play?”

Muttering to himself, Yun Song-ho shook his head.

His mission was to attack this bar and eliminate all hunters inside.

He was well aware that no other individuals had taken on this task instead of him.

“No one is left alive; those who remain could not have come from our side.”

If they had indeed engaged in a fight without killing anyone, there was no way those left could have appeared unscathed.

Yun Song-ho suspected there had been some engagement with another group and quickly escaped before the police arrived.

The assassin checked around to ensure the area was clear of witnesses and retrieved a prepaid mobile phone.

After exactly three rings, the call connected.

“There’s been an issue.”

[Did you fail?]

“Yes, it seems someone got to them before I could.”

[Have they been dealt with already?]

“That doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Yun Song-ho explained everything he had witnessed to the person on the other end of the line.

An elongated silence followed as the individual absorbed the details.

The muffled sound of tongue-clicking seeped through the receiver’s end, causing Yun Song-ho to feel uneasiness creeping in.

“What should I do?”

[Before anything, we need to figure out why that happened.]

At present, the only logical answer seemed to indicate the likelihood of a guild clash, but the caller showed no hope in that assumption.

It was only Altron that could effectively challenge the ‘Tyrant’ guild.

However, Altron was notorious for maintaining a hands-off approach, avoiding interactions with other guilds.

Their only aim was to rise to the top solely based on their strength.

[It’s concerning that one of our key figures, Park Min-jae, got killed too.]

The individual on the line finally confirmed the brown-haired man’s name was Park Min-jae, the same person he had just slain.

[What about Choi Seo-hoon’s whereabouts?]

While they were aware that Park Min-jae was dead, Choi Seo-hoon was a pivotal player in this scheme.

Although he disguised himself as a bartender, he was directly involved in human trafficking and had covert contact with guild members.

With such critical intelligence resting upon him, Yun Song-ho knew he must find Choi.

“I looked around the area, but Choi Seo-hoon was nowhere in sight.”

He hadn’t been captured by the police, nor had he escaped through previously scouted escape routes.

Finding a way to evade detection was impossible for a mere C-rank hunter in the current chaos.

[We can provide you with tracking items; follow the trail until you find him.]

“Understood.”

Yun Song-ho ended the call and smashed his prepaid phone in his hand.