I Gave Up Being Stronger

Han Sae-Rin, whose Job was called Secret Pioneer, felt a strange energy.

‘What is this place…?’

It felt very different from other Dungeons. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what was different, but the aura emanating from the Dungeon itself was very weird.

‘I should check what is different.’

So, Sae-Rin had been exploring the Dungeon for several days. She also noticed that there was a Hidden Field in this place.

‘There are traces leading to the second floor!’

She immediately searched the internet for information about the Dungeon, but nothing came up.

‘What’s going on?’

This was like a blow to Sae-Rin’s pride. Someone had already opened the Hidden Field of the Dungeon, and she could not even find the way to the second floor. After a few days, she finally found the path to the second floor.

‘Of course.’

Even though she found the Hidden Field, her questions were still unanswered.

‘Something is still different.’

It felt different from other Dungeons. She likened exploring the Dungeons to writing a serialized novel. Dungeons were like a new world where anything could happen, a chaotic world where only the author knew the ending. She had always been a bookworm, so she enjoyed exploring the Dungeons and finding hidden paths.

For her, exploring Dungeons was like reading a novel, page by page, conquering it.

‘But this place…’

It felt like this novel’s ending was completely blocked, a novel with a lock on the cover, preventing her from seeing the ending. It drove her mad, not being able to see the clear ending that she believed existed.

[...#Who the hell did this? #I know it’s not that guy. #Please share the ending.]

When Cha Jin-Hyeok found Sae-Rin, he smiled. It was like he had found another person with a similar personality.

‘She seems a bit insane right now.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

If there was someone who wielded a sword better than Jin-Hyeok, he would go crazy. He had to become stronger than that person to be satisfied. In fact, everyone around him felt the same way, including Sae-Rin. In the world of Navigators, there were two leading figures in Korea; one was Han Sae-Rin, and the other was Ha Seung-Jo.

‘Right now, Seung-Jo is ranked first.’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

Therefore, Sae-Rin seemed eager to surpass Seong-Jo. Moreover, she instinctively felt that this place had been fully cleared. The fact that someone else had fully cleared the Dungeon, but she couldn’t…

‘...It must be hurting her pride.’

Jin-Hyeok knew exactly how she felt.

He approached her.

“Pathfinder?”

In response, several poison darts shot toward his eyes.

‘Activate Broadcaster’s Barrier.’

Jin-Hyeok blocked the darts with his Broadcaster’s Barrier. Navigators always resorted to this kind of response when someone threatened them because their physical power was relatively weak compared to other Players.

‘A straw shows which way the wind blows.’

Even though no one taught Sae-Rin, she already seemed to be throwing poison darts without hesitation. It kind of made Jin-Hyeok proud.

“Hey, I am not a suspicious person.”

“Well, the bastards who say that are usually the most suspicious.”

‘Wow, It’s been a while since I saw her swearing right off the bat. This takes me back.’

Jin-Hyeok fully understood why she was acting like this. Navigators were only noble Jobs before the Dungeons were cleared. It was because their physical power was weak compared to other Players. After a Dungeon was cleared, they often end up being ignored or used for various reasons.

Han Sae-Rin had to have already experienced that many times and her trust in Players had to have been at rock bottom. Plus, Players who would approach other Players this recklessly were most likely dangerous.

“Can we talk for a moment?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Sure. Fine.”

Sae-Rin smiled, as she approached Jin-Hyeok. The fact that she was coming so willingly meant she intended to attack him.

[You have applied the Achievement 「All-Clear (Sareoga Mart Dungeon)」.]

The mark of All-Clear appeared on his right wrist and the additional Defensive Attributes were added to the Broadcaster’s Barrier. Within Sareoga Mart Dungeon, all of his abilities increased dramatically.

‘Is she going to use a bomb?’

At this point, Jin-Hyeok was curious if she could use mana bombs. Navigators were weak in terms of their own abilities, but skilled in creating traps, bombs, and other things.

Jin-Hyeok’s heart was beating faster.

‘I wonder how powerful it would be?’

Boom!

An explosion occurred.

‘Wow, she actually used a bomb!’

Its power was enough to kill Players below Level 30.

‘Not bad. Should I try it without using the Broadcaster’s Barrier?’

Jin-Hyeok thought about it, but then he realized that he was currently livestreaming. He needed to focus on his main job during the weekdays.

“I am really not a suspicious person. I am actually a Streamer.”

The bomb, sometimes also used like a smoke bomb, obscured Jin-Hyeok’s vision. Meanwhile, Sae-Rin seemed to be trying to escape from this place.

[LV49/Pathfinder/Skills/Twelve Secret Passages]

Regardless of the smoke, his Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance accurately pinpointed her location. He took a few steps to the side and accurately grabbed Sae-Rin’s wrist. She immediately tried to attack him.

‘Ah, I’m so proud of her. This is the proper way to handle a suspicious person who suddenly approaches. She’s following the basics.’

Jin-Hyeok felt good to see her executing this move that she seemed to have learned in her early stages of Play. However, apart from that, Jin-Hyeok needed her right now.

“No wonder you are not ranked first,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“...What did you say to me?”

This always made the rankers angry.

“I saw that you were surpassed by Mole Man.”

For reference, Mole Man was Ha Seung-Jo’s Player name. Sae-Rin stared at him in silence.

[...#I’m going to kill him. #I’m already annoyed enough. #How should I kill him?]

If she had just stopped at being annoyed, Jin-Hyeok would have been disappointed. It was only when the thought of “How should I kill him?” followed that he could consider it the normal thought process of a ranker. This was a special situation inside the Dungeon, and external factors that created such variables were usually eliminated.

“You see this? Do you see the mark on my right wrist? This is the mark of All-Clear.”

Jin-Hyeok assumed Sae-Rin did not know about All-Clear. However, with the innate intuition of a Navigator, she should have some understanding that it was something remarkable. In fact, Sae-Rin had mentioned it like this in Jin-Hyeok’s previous life.

“The moment I saw the mark of All-Clear, it felt like my heart had stopped. It was as if I was encountering a beauty that did not exist in this world and my eyes were blinded by it.”

A Navigator of her caliber would instinctively sense the mark of All-Clear. And sure enough, she just stood still as if turned into a stone.

[...#What is incredible beauty? #I feel like my eyes are blinded.]

Jin-Hyeok quickly spoke, “This is the Achievement given when you perfectly conquer everything in the Dungeon. It is the mark of All-Clear, symbolizing that I have cleared everything in this Dungeon.”

“How can I obtain it?”

Jin-Hyeok could clearly see the madness forming in Sae-Rin’s eyes. The true potential to rise to become the top ranker.

“There is a hidden third floor here,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“You’re lying! A third floor?”

“If you want, I can show you.”

“...”

Sae-Rin pondered deeply.

[...#I want to see it. #I want to know. #I want to explore. #But at what cost? #Fool me twice…]

Jin-Hyeok did not know the details, but it seemed she recently fell into big trouble by being deceived by some Players. However, it was not a big deal for Navigators since such incidents happened to them frequently.

“The second floor has the boss monster and the third floor has the hidden boss monster.”

“...”

“And it’s actually a Named.”

“N-Named?”

Jin-Hyeok knew very well that she was going to follow him in the end.

As expected, she followed him and Jin-Hyeok showed her the third floor.

“Wow! There actually is a Field on the third floor!”

It was a place he had visited before. It was a Field adorned with photographs of the mighty King Fist Monkeys. As soon as they arrived here, Sae-Rin began various preparations.

“What are you doing?” Jin-Hyeok asked

“Setting up a shelter.”

She was creating some kind of safe zone. However, Jin-Hyeok knew there were no traps on the third floor.

‘Ah, this is a bit disappointing.’

If she were the Han Sae-Rin from before his regression, she would have concluded that this was a safe place at a glance.

Jin-Hyeok took a moment to observe what she was doing. She had created various safe zones all around and even generated hiding places where a Navigator could take cover. It seemed like she had already planned escape routes.

Watching her excessively cling to safety, Jin-Hyeok could recall something she had said in his past life.

“In the past, I was obsessed with safety to an extreme degree. It brought me a high success rate in missions, but it wasn’t very efficient.”

“I thought that was the right path. I, as a Navigator, believed that was what it took to go up the ranks.”

“But watching you, Jin-Hyeok, I feel like I have learned a lot. That in order to reach the highest rank, sometimes you have to take on even greater risks.”

Players could safely climb to a moderately high rank. However, to reach truly great heights, they could not rely on safe methods. Ultimately, it required gambling and taking on numerous risks.

“What didn’t kill me ultimately made me stronger.”

That was something Sae-Rin had said to Jin-Hyeok about a year after joining his party before regression. Since then, she had shown rapid growth, so Jin-Hyeok had good memories of it coming to mind.

Feeling a sense of pity, he offered some advice, “If you’re so obsessed with safety, you will never reach the top rank.”

“...What?”

“If it was the Mole Man, he would have gone straight to that door right there. Why are you acting so excessively cautious as if there is some great danger here?”

“What the hell are you talking about? You can say that because you’ve been here before, but this is my first time. I need to be prepared for any danger…”

Jin-Hyeok pointed at his own eyes.

“Do you see that my eyes are red?”

“Yes, I can see that.”

“I am a Streamer, and I use the skill called Broadcaster’s Truesight.”

Jin-Hyeok said Broadcaster\'s Truesight because he wanted to hide the fact that he had Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance, as it seemed he was the only Player with the Skill.

“This is a famous Skill, so I am assuming you have a rough idea of what it does,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“What are you trying to say?”

“When I look at this place, I see no danger here. With my Streamer Skill, I can assess everything at once. Why can’t you do the same? Aren’t you a Navigator?”

“...”

Jin-Hyeok sincerely gave her advice, “If you focus too much on safety, you won’t reach where you want to be.”

She would eventually realize it on her own, but it wouldn’t hurt to tell her beforehand. Whether she immediately agreed with him or not was not that important.

“...”

In the end, Jin-Hyteok showed her the hidden boss monster, King Fist Alexander, and gained a certain level of trust.

“So doing all this and that, you get this mark of All-Cle—Hey! Get off of me!”

Every time Jin-Hyeok showed her the mark of the All-Clear when he explained to her how to obtain it, Sae-Rin’s eyes became hazy looking at it. At one point, she even tried to rush at him and bite his wrist.

Jin-Hyeok was delighted by her craziness.

‘This is the Han Sae-Rin that I know!’

Her determination and obsession with All-Clear were her identity and the driving force behind her growth.

“I won’t ask you to join our party. We need a capable Navigator for now, so let’s form a temporary partnership,” Jin-Hyeok said.

He knew her personality well. She was the kind of person who would not do something that she didn’t like even if it meant her own death.

However, this method always worked on her.

“If you refuse, I am going to ask Mole Man,” Jin-Hyeok said.

He subtly showed her the mark of All-Clear. It carried a lot of meaning. It showed that Jin-Hyeok acquired this without a Navigator and that he could achieve a lot more with a capable Navigator.

It meant that he could acquire another mark of All-Clear, which would widen the gap between Sae-Rin and Mole Man.

[...#Let’s not get fooled. #What kind of trick does he have up his sleeve? #This is not my first rodeo. #There are no police inside Dungeons.]

It was strange how these rational thoughts of hers felt so familiar and comforting. It was clear that she was on the brink of partnering up with Jin-Hyeok’s party.

“Well… Being second is still a great feat…”

There was nothing more humiliating than telling someone who desired to be first in the rankings that being second was good enough. He knew this too well from his own experience.

[...#I don’t care anymore. #Give me the mark of All-Clear.]

“Let’s do it. When, where, and what do I need to do?” Sae-Rin said.

It worked.

“We are going to defeat a mobile boss monster.”

“A mobile boss monster? I had no idea such a thing existed.”

Sae-Rin’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Jin-Hyeok could not help but feel excited by her vivid reaction.

“Yes. This is a boss monster that moves around, focusing on explored Dungeons. Its name is Arachne. My party is going to kill it. It seems like we will need a good Navigator.”

“Well… It’s somewhat intriguing.”

Her tone and expression were quite different from what she was saying. The widening of her nostrils showed that she was already thrilled.

[...I’m in. #Please, take me with you. #I will do my best.]

‘...Should I have just suggested going together to defeat the mobile boss monster from the beginning?’