Chapter 5

‘Should I stop Kwon Hae-joo and talk to him a bit more?’

After a brief moment of thought, Nam Shin-hoo gave a small shake of his head. Not yet. After spending years speaking sharply and living like mortal enemies, changing overnight would only make Hae-joo more suspicious. It was best to part ways for today.

“Never mind. You must be tired from today, so go on ahead. We’ll be seeing each other often once we implement the EHN anyway.”

“…”

The glare directed at him from the doorway intensified. Having finished his fruitless analysis, Hae-joo clicked his tongue softly and left the meeting room.

A thick, unmistakable hostility lingered in the room. Even while sharing opinions and holding a meeting, Hae-joo’s distrust and wariness toward Shin-hoo had not softened in the slightest.

“Man… we have a long way to go.”

Left alone, Shin-hoo rested his forehead against the cold desk, feeling all the energy drain from his body.

It felt like trying to soothe a deeply guarded stray cat—get a little too close, and it would immediately bare its claws. Fighting to the death seemed like it would be much easier.

Even so, he couldn’t give up.

‘To make sure Hae-joo survives until the end, I need to get closer to him.’

In his past life, Hae-joo had died abroad, living in seclusion in a remote place after leaving Korea. To prevent his death, Shin-hoo needed to be close enough to stay by his side overseas, or at least be on terms friendly enough to convince him not to go.

‘This won’t be easy.’

The cold surface of the desk against his skin helped calm his exhausted mind.

“Here is the data you requested earlier.”

Shin-hoo took the file from Choi Kang-hyun. A familiar name was written on the first page. It was information on Han Woo-yeon, a future S-Rank Hunter known by the moniker “God’s Younger Brother,” who had not yet made his public debut.

He was the person who had prophesied about the savior in Shin-hoo’s past life. The fact that his prophecy matched the system’s quest meant he was the only person who could provide a clue in this situation.

The moment Shin-hoo realized he had regressed, he had immediately ordered Kang-hyun to track down Woo-yeon’s current whereabouts.

‘Assuming Hae-joo is the savior in the quest is just my guess, after all.’

All the clues pointed toward Hae-joo, but nothing was certain. That uncertainty made Shin-hoo anxious. He wanted to meet Woo-yeon as soon as possible to confirm if the hunter in the prophecy was indeed Hae-joo, and whether saving him alone would save humanity.

Kang-hyun rubbed his chin, looking unsatisfied with the file he had brought.

“I found him for now, but I’m not sure if he’s the person you’re looking for. I can’t even tell if he’s an awakened hunter. Either way, he’s an odd one. People around him say so, and there are even rumors that he’s crazy.”

“You found the right person.”

Smiling faintly as he skimmed the papers, Shin-hoo checked Woo-yeon’s current location.

‘Gyeongju, huh…’

Even though they had been close in his past life, Woo-yeon rarely talked about his personal life, so this was the first time Shin-hoo learned where he lived. Back then, he only knew it wasn’t in the capital area.

‘I’ll have to head down there for a bit.’

Shin-hoo stroked his chin slowly.

He could go down to Gyeongju to meet Woo-yeon right away, but there was one problem. As the leader of a massive guild, Shin-hoo was always in the public eye. Any move he made would inevitably draw public attention, and that attention would naturally spill over onto Woo-yeon.

People would become curious about who Woo-yeon was and what abilities he possessed to warrant a sudden visit from the Saint Guild Master. That was not an outcome Shin-hoo wanted.

In his past life, Woo-yeon had suffered greatly because of his ability and fame. Whenever a prophesied disaster struck, people blamed him for not preparing for it despite knowing. He was criticized for failing to stop events even after foreseeing them, and condemned for not seeing the future in greater detail.

In the end, driven to despair by an unchangeable future, he took his own life. In this life, Shin-hoo wanted Woo-yeon to live quietly without revealing his identity to the world.

‘It’s awkwardly far to visit in secret.’

It would be troublesome if people recognized him on the way. Moving quietly at dawn might work, but that kind of approach would make Woo-yeon wary. To Woo-yeon, Shin-hoo was just a complete stranger.

As Shin-hoo pondered, Kang-hyun asked from beside him, “Are you interested in dungeons, by any chance?”

“A dungeon? Why ask about dungeons all of a sudden?”

Seeing Shin-hoo’s confusion, Kang-hyun scratched his forehead.

“A new dungeon appeared near Gyeongju recently. Since you were looking for someone living in Gyeongju around the same time, I thought you were interested in the new dungeon. Guess I was wrong.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, various new dungeons had started appearing around this time. Dungeons that used to be discovered once or twice a year began popping up once a month. Back then, he thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Only later did the world realize that it was a warning sign of the massive monster wave to come.

First, the frequency of dungeon appearances increased, followed by a surge in cracks. When it reached the point where escaping monsters could no longer be contained, dungeons erupted simultaneously worldwide, summoning the final calamity, the Nuckelavee.

A new dungeon in Gyeongju.

It was the perfect excuse to travel down there openly.

“That works out great. It’ll be good to inspect the dungeon while I’m there. Which guild is scheduled to raid it? Contact them, tell them we’ll take it, and ask them to yield it to us. We’ll pay a fair price to buy the rights.”

“That probably won’t be easy. It’s a fairly high-ranked new dungeon.”

New dungeons were always popular. While dangerous, no one knew what rewards they might yield. If rare materials dropped, it meant a massive jackpot, so no guild would give it up easily, even if the Saint Guild asked.

“Name a price they can’t refuse. I have a reason I must go there.”

“Well, um…”

Hesitating uncharacteristically, Kang-hyun let out a sigh.

“The guild raiding the Gyeongju dungeon is Epic.”

“Ah.”

Shin-hoo realized why Kang-hyun had hesitated. He didn’t know whether to consider this good luck or bad luck: the two people he desperately needed to get close to were both in Gyeongju, the very place he had to go.

Shin-hoo brushed his lips with a bitter expression. Of all guilds, it had to be Hae-joo’s Epic Guild.

“Epic won’t yield the dungeon no matter how much money we offer. They’ll be even less willing if they hear Saint wants it.”

“I suppose so.”

The moment Hae-joo heard the Saint Guild wanted it, he would pour all his focus into clearing the dungeon himself. Suspecting Shin-hoo of having hidden motives, he would almost certainly block any approach from the Saint Guild.

Kang-hyun asked, “Do you have some undisclosed information about Gyeongju?”

“No. I’m more interested in a person in Gyeongju than the dungeon itself. Hmm…”

Shin-hoo raised a hand and roughly swept his hair back. He smoothed his messy hair back into place and gathered his thoughts.

Things seemed to be resolving easily, yet became tangled in complications. Even so, he couldn’t give up. He had to find another way to join the Gyeongju dungeon raid and contact Woo-yeon without causing any gossip.

Another way, huh…

“When is the Epic Guild’s raid?”

“In two weeks.”

“I see.”

Rubbing his chin in thought, the corners of Shin-hoo’s mouth curled into a gentle smile.

Tension always hung in the air before entering a dungeon. No matter how much of a veteran someone was, walking into a deadly environment was never taken lightly.

That was no different for Mr. Kang, a gatherer with three years of experience. Having lived as a professional wild-ginseng digger, he awakened as a hunter past the age of fifty. Perhaps influenced by his original profession, he awakened as a Rank-D hunter with gathering-specialized skills. Back then, he thought his life was set, but reality wasn’t so kind.

“Oh, my back… I just hope I make it back alive this time too.”

“There you go again with the useless worrying. You always say that and end up harvesting the most.”

“What’s the point? No matter how hard I dig, the combat hunters take all the expensive items anyway.”

Life was unfair. Not all hunters were treated equally. Even after crouching all day to gather herbs and hauling heavy loads, he didn’t make a fifth of what combat hunters earned. On top of that, he could barely defend himself against strong monsters.

“If I was going to awaken, I should’ve awakened as a strong hunter. I spent my whole life digging up plants, so why did I have to get gathering skills again?”

“Listen to you complain. You should be glad you became a hunter at all. These days, dungeon materials are so effective that unawakened herbalists are practically being thrown out onto the streets.”

Mr. Kim, who was just as experienced as Mr. Kang, laughed heartily.

“Besides, the guild running this raid is Epic. They have the highest survival rate for gathering-type hunters. Stop worrying and just focus on making a good haul. You know how competitive it is to get into a new dungeon, so stop making a fuss.”

“Well, that’s true. Hahaha.”

Just as Mr. Kim said, it was a lucky day. The place they were entering was a Rank-B dungeon, and a brand-new one at that. Discovering a new type of herb could change a person’s life. A fee would be deducted, of course, but the remaining money would still be enough to live in luxury.