S-Rank Corrosion Dungeon (1)

“Hyeonseong-ssi, what do you think?”

The mage, aiming five fiery spike-spears at the A-rank monster—a Giant Praying Mantis—asked Hyeonseong.

“Do you really need to ask me that? You’re already doing more than fine.”

Hyeonseong answered with a slightly awkward expression. And for good reason—this raid was going as smoothly as it possibly could.

This was an A-rank dungeon where insect-type monsters were the main threat. In line with that information, they had brought in multiple Awakened with the widely known insect-type weakness: the fire attribute.

No unexpected mutants with different elemental weaknesses showed up. Even the boss was nothing more than “big” and “smart.”

“Even if it’s an A-rank boss, how long can it last when people with the right matchup and higher ranks dogpile it?”

More importantly, the raid team Hyeonseong had joined consisted of combat-type Awakened who were considered pretty capable even within Hyeonyeong’s guild, Mangeomju.

Aside from Hyeonseong, everyone ranged from C-rank to A-rank—so how long could a single A-rank boss possibly endure?

“There’s no point in strategy. Just crush it with firepower and advantage.”

And yet the mage still asked Hyeonseong for her opinion. Hyeonseong had no idea what they were expecting from her.

“Still, something like an unexpected twist could happen out of nowhere. That mantis bastard might…”

“From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like anything special—and even if it is, there’s no way to know that in this situation. So just finish it.”

Hyeonseong rattled it off like a machine gun. She had zero intention of wasting time with pointless stalling.

At Hyeonseong’s words, the mage and the rest of the Mangeomju guild members attacked the Giant Praying Mantis all at once. Flames of various forms engulfed the monster.

—Kiiiiik—!

The clear messages appeared the moment the mantis monster was swallowed by fire. After confirming the messages, the guild members exchanged “good work” greetings.

“Everyone, great job again.”

“You too, Hyeonseong-ssi!”

“Your calls were efficient again today, weren’t they?”

They didn’t leave Hyeonseong out—if anything, the praise pouring in only made her feel embarrassed.

“It wasn’t even a big deal.”

Still, she couldn’t exactly ignore them. While returning the greetings, Hyeonseong collected the Giant Praying Mantis’s corpse.

“This thing’s completely cooked.”

She opened the charred-black corpse’s info.

Hyeonseong frowned. Monster meat did get used as ingredients sometimes, sure—but she had no desire to eat an insect-type corpse.

“…Either way, it’s poisonous. This probably goes to Hyeonju first.”

She checked whether there were any other byproducts worth taking. She spotted smaller parts like antennae and sharp forelimbs gathered together—likely collected by the other guild members.

She swept all those byproducts into Infinite Corridor as well. A message appeared again in front of her eyes.

It seemed a minute had passed while she was gathering loot. As the closure message appeared, Hyeonseong’s vision darkened. That familiar buoyant sensation—something she felt every time she exited a dungeon—washed over her whole body.

When her vision returned, she saw the guild members who had exited first. They were preparing to head back to the Mangeomju guild building. Hyeonseong naturally joined the group returning to the building.

The settlement message popped up the moment she boarded the bus owned by the Mangeomju guild.

Once again, her contribution ranking was fairly high compared to what she felt she’d actually done.

“So commanding really pulls a lot of contribution, huh.”

It was something she’d realized over the past few days while joining Mangeomju guild raids.

The person who handled command was usually one of two types: a powerhouse who could boost morale from the frontline, or a ranged/support type who could watch the battlefield broadly from the rear.

In other words, someone who could accumulate contribution in areas besides commanding as well.

“So even if the commander’s contribution was high, it wasn’t easy to tell how much of it came from command itself.”

It was already known that command earned a significant amount of contribution. People just didn’t have a precise sense of what “significant” meant.

“To measure it precisely, you’d need someone like a porter or gatherer—someone who can barely affect combat—to take command… but who’d ever let a porter do that?”

If a porter had to command, the raid was basically doomed anyway.

“Still… I’ve been collecting Ghost Coins nicely, but is this really okay?”

No matter how she looked at it, her directions weren’t anything special. They were calls anyone could make if they thought for a moment.

Earning big money for something so trivial made her feel less like she’d hit the jackpot and more like her conscience was pricking her.

“…For now, I’ll just say good is good.”

Hyeonseong came to a quick conclusion.

No matter what, she was in a desperate situation. If she wanted to pay this month’s Interstellar Network usage fee, she needed to keep earning.

“I can worry about conscience after the fee’s handled. More importantly—any dungeon worth running today?”

Sitting in the bus seat, Hyeonseong turned on her phone.

It was still afternoon, before sunset. If things went well, she might be able to run one more dungeon.

“It should be at least B-rank if possible.”

Ever since checking this month’s Interstellar Network usage fee, Hyeonseong had been combing the recruitment boards more obsessively than usual.

Higher-rank dungeons tended not to accept outsiders into raid teams, but if she kept checking whenever she had a moment, she could sometimes get lucky and land a B-rank or higher.

“I even landed a B-rank one yesterday.”

Of course, it wasn’t like she automatically ignored C-rank and below. If she couldn’t find any B-rank or higher, she’d pick a lower-rank dungeon and join a team anyway.

As long as she entered a dungeon, she could pocket porter pay and minor side income. With all the expenses bleeding her dry, even dungeons where she couldn’t get clear rewards were hard to dismiss.

“But right now it looks like there’s nothing…”

While staring at a board filled with E- and D-rank dungeons, she got a message. It was from Hyeonju.

Hyeonseong replied immediately.

So that was it—Hyeonyeong must have heard from the guild members and passed it along.

Hyeonseong frowned at Hyeonju’s message.

Hyeonseong thought for a moment. Now that she considered it, a few days ago Hyeonju had said she’d ordered items for her alchemy workshop.

Just like Hyeonju rarely gave potions away for free, Hyeonseong also demanded payment whenever Hyeonju sent her on errands.

Considering there were potions that ran from tens of thousands to even the 100,000-won range, it wasn’t a huge amount. Still, it was enough to stock basic mana potions or vitality potions.

Once Hyeonseong agreed, Hyeonju immediately sent the workshop names and addresses, along with what she needed to collect.

A special potion bottle set from a glass workshop, and various blades from the smithy.

“If I grab them on the way home… I’ll hit Baeksa Glassworks first, then Min.”

She even decided the route order based on the addresses Hyeonju sent, and replied that she’d confirmed everything.

After sending the reply and closing the message window, the recruitment board reappeared. She scanned it again just in case, but there still weren’t any B-rank or higher dungeons.

“…Then I’ll put dungeons on hold for now.”

Rather than grabbing some low-rank dungeon halfheartedly right now, it seemed better to just finish Hyeonju’s errand quickly.

Hyeonseong closed the recruitment app. She decided to rest until they arrived at Hyeonyeong’s guild building.

“Yes, we’ve confirmed your signature.”

A Baeksa Glassworks employee said while looking at a tablet screen. On the display was the goods-receipt confirmation form Hyeonseong had signed.

“Then there’s nothing else I need to do here, right?”

“Yes. You may go now.”

Hyeonseong left the glass workshop immediately. She had collected all the potion bottles Hyeonju mentioned, and she had verified all the paperwork the employee requested, including the receipt confirmation. She was done there.

Outside the workshop, Hyeonseong headed straight to the bus stop. She needed to take another bus to reach the smithy.

While waiting, she touched the cap she was wearing and pulled it down a little deeper so the brim covered her face better.

“This is such a pain every time.”

After adjusting the cap, the bus arrived. She boarded and sat in an empty seat.

Maybe because it was an in-between time, the bus was sparse. With fewer passengers, individual faces stood out more, and Hyeonseong’s hand unconsciously tugged the brim again.

The extra fidgeting paid off—no one recognized her before she reached her destination. As soon as she heard the destination name in the announcement, she got off.

“Min, right?”

After stepping off at the stop, Hyeonseong looked around.

This area was lined with smithies and handmade weapon shops—commonly called Yongsan Blacksmith Street.

Since most of the nearby signs were some variation of “workshop” or “armory,” the sign for the specific place she wanted didn’t stand out immediately.

After scanning for a moment, Hyeonseong found the sign reading “Metal Workshop Min.” This was the smithy where Hyeonju had placed the custom order. She headed inside.

Inside the building with the “Metal Workshop Min” sign, an employee greeted her and asked what she needed. Hyeonseong, as before, mentioned Hyeonju’s name and showed her face.

“Customer Ye Hyeonju… Ah, it says here the customer contacted us earlier. Please wait a moment.”

The employee searched on the computer, then typed for a moment—likely messaging the staff in charge of finished goods.

After a short wait, she was guided to an office that handled customers picking up completed items in person. Hyeonseong followed the employee into the office.

Inside were five boxes prepared. Hyeonseong opened them and checked the contents.

“Two kinds of knives, two kinds of scissors, and a cleaver, right?”

She compared the items in the boxes with the drawings on the order sheet Hyeonju had sent.

A small knife like a scalpel, a larger knife like a chef’s knife, small scissors, large scissors, and a cleaver—everything matched what Hyeonju had ordered.

After confirming the shapes, Hyeonseong put all items into Infinite Corridor. Opening the stored item list allowed her to verify quantities immediately.

“This side is accurate too.”

Just like at Baeksa Glassworks, she signed an electronic document confirming receipt. She greeted the employee taking the tablet and moved to leave the smithy.

At that exact timing, a system message appeared. Of all things, it was a reaction message from Hands Faster Than Eyes.

“…What is this bastard up to now?”

It was the kind of message that screamed bad omen.

“There’s no way it’s a scam item… and it can’t be that the goods are wrong… so what could it be?”

Hyeonseong checked the crafted items again in Infinite Corridor’s item list. The types and quantities matched exactly what Hyeonju had told her.

“Quality looks fine too, at least from the system description… But even if there is a problem, it’s not mine to argue—it’d be Hyeonju’s—wait.”

Something clicked in Hyeonseong’s mind while she was checking item info. A thought that felt deeply ominous.

“…Don’t tell me.”

And immediately after, that ominous thought became reality.