Chapter 150: 150

Act 9

Su-hyeun looked at Gwon Jae-hoon’s back as he moved farther away . Soon, he was lost behind the crowd of reporters . From then, the awakeners from the Authority, including Bak Yun-gyu, started to move quickly .

“We’ll answer questions after the raid,” said Bak Yun-gyu . “The Authority will contact you guys first . So, please, leave for now . ”

“Hey . We heard that we were allowed to interview before and after the raid…”

“That was what the Hahoetal Guild said . If you want your interview, go and ask the Hahoetal Guild . They’re still over there . ”

“…”

There weren’t many reporters who wanted to cover the Hahoetal Guild at this point . The Hahoetal Guild had said they would attack the dungeons without any consultation with the Authority . And now, they had lost their right to the raid .

But even so, there were no reporters who fought strongly for the interview with Su-hyeun . A reporter had to be quick-witted . Especially when they dealt with a high-rank awakener like Su-hyeun, they had to study his face . If they pushed too hard, Su-hyeun might not allow them to cover him after the raid, either .

“Oh well . It is what it is . ”

“This is good enough for today . ”

“Yea . And we got a fantastic story . And there will be more to talk about after the raid anyway . ”

Above all, they hadn’t lost anything . They had come a long way, but it was evident that they got better news than they had expected in the first place . Kim Su-hyeun was the most famous person in the world these days . It was obvious that people would like to hear and read about him more than the Hahoetal Guild .

“Everyone is gone, finally . ”

Hak-joon, who had been sweating nervously, sighed as soon as all the reporters left . To him, the reporters’ interest was more difficult to deal with than the Ranking Wars or the dungeon raids .

“You’ll have to get used to it . You’ll attract public attention more and more,” Lee Ju-so said, tapping Hak-joon’s shoulder . “No matter what anyone says, you’re the youngest S-Rank awakener after Su-hyeun . To people, you’ll look like a hero, probably . ”

“A hero? Don’t say that!”

“But it’s true . ”

“Oh, Ju-ho!”

Hak-joon lowered his head and scratched it as if he was embarrassed . Lee Ju-ho smiled at that, but soon, he stopped smiling and said, “You have to get used to it . ”

As Lee Ju-ho’s voice changed suddenly, Hak-joon couldn’t answer with a joke, like before . Meanwhile, Lee Ju-ho’s words continued .

“Su-hyeun looks fine now… But you have to be okay with it, too . Don’t be shy . Don’t be discouraged . ”

“Ju-ho…”

“In the next ten years… No, maybe in five years, the world will be changed,” Lee Ju-ho said, as he looked at the giant blue-colored dungeon in front of his eyes . “As Su-hyeun said, those things might try to swallow our world . When that time comes, you and Su-hyeun have to be a support for the people . So…”

Lee Ju-ho tapped Hak-joon’s shoulder, who scratched the back of his neck bashfully .

“What I’m trying to say is… please, be a hero to people like me . ”

“…”

Lee Ju-ho, done speaking, left to stop Thomas, who was clinging to Su-hyeun . Lee Ju-ho spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Hak-joon knew why he had spoken like that . He was talking about a difference in talent .

Lee Ju-ho had been trying hard to catch up to Su-hyeun, to play a role as an awakener . For that reason, he took a risk and raised the difficulty of his trials, and was able to reach A-Rank .

But raising the level of difficulty from 4 to 5 was never enough to become an S-rank awakener . If Su-hyeun hadn’t advised him against it, Lee Ju-ho might try to challenge for level six .

“The difference between five and six is a way larger than the difference between four and five . I’m saying just in case…you must never raise the difficulty of trials at this stage . Okay?”

Lee Ju-ho had confessed his concern last time, when they had all drunk alcohol together . And that was the advice that Su-hyeun had given to Lee Ju-ho .

From that day, Lee Ju-ho seemed concerned . And, from that moment, he tried to take care of Su-hyeun and Hak-joon, rather than actually step forward for the work himself, as if that was the only thing he could do .

The night when they had drunk together Lee Ju-ho had said, “Well . I can’t help it . ” He poured very strong liquor into his mouth . “It’s a matter of talent . ”

Talent . Lee Ju-ho had said calmly, but everyone knew the hidden meaning of the word . Hak-joon thought Lee Ju-ho got better as time went on, but he now knew he still had that idea in mind . Hak-joon always thought of Lee Ju-ho as his big brother . But he seemed very small today . Hak-joon couldn’t say anything, he just followed Lee Ju-ho . When all the reporters left, Su-hyeun approached Bak Yun-gyu .

“What you said before, do you really mean it?” Bak Yun-gyu asked directly .

Su-hyeun had declared that he would attack the blue-colored dungeon by himself .

“Yes, I mean it . ”

“Then—”

“Please attack the other dungeon over there with your team from the Authority . And please take Hak-joon, Thomas, and Ju-ho with you . ”

“Are you sure?”

Bak Yun-gyu was glad that Hak-joon and Thomas would join his team . Although Hak-joon had become S-Rank only recently, he was a talented awakener who went up to the finals of the Ranking Wars . And Thomas…there was nothing more to say .

Su-hyeun was an excellent awakener . But Bak Yun-gyu still couldn’t help but think that attacking the blue-colored dungeon alone would be a very dangerous idea . Moreover, if something went wrong, losing Su-hyeun would be a blow to the whole country .

“How about we attack the two dungeons together, one by one?” Bak Yun-gyu suggested .

Su-hyeun shook his head without any hesitation . “We don’t know how big these dungeons will be . Since we can’t guess how long it will take to attack each one, we must attach both of them at the same time . ”

“But…”

“If I think it’s too dangerous, I’ll just come out . Don’t worry so much . ”

Su-hyeun’s answer was so firm that Bak Yun-gyu realized that his persuasion would never work .

“Okay, then . We’ll join you as soon as we finish our dungeon . ”

“If that makes you more comfortable . ”

Stomp, stomp—

Su-hyeun walked right up to the dungeon . Bak Yun-gyu was puzzled by his sudden movement .

“A-are you going right now?”

“Sure . Why not? I don’t have anything to prepare since I’m going by myself . ”

“But…still…”

“I’ll see you later . ”

Su-hyeun bowed his head toward Bak Yun-gyu . Then, he asked Thomas to take care of the other dungeon well .

A thought that came to Su-hyeun’s mind .

It was the first time that Su-hyeun went into a dungeon all by himself in this life .

Puff—

As he stepped into the blue-colored dungeon, Su-hyeun turned his head .

News spread quickly . The newspaper headlines had been filled with the appearance of the blue-colored dungeons and the Hahoetal Guild . But now, they were all talking about Kim Su-hyeun, Choi Hak-joon, and Thomas .

『Kim Su-hyeun goes to the blue-colored dungeons raid! It’s his second time!』

『”I can easily defeat the blue-colored dungeon alone . ” Kim Su-hyeun departs from his party and goes to dungeon alone…』

『What Hahoetal Guild said was a lie? Kim Su-hyeun insisted the Hahoetal Guild has no right to attack…』

『A cutting remark! The Hahoetal Guild is humiliated! Kim Su-hyeun said the Hahoetal Guild is inadequate! But “I can do it by myself . ”』

In just half an hour, the similar articles were exploding . People who weren’t even there wrote articles, too . They heard the news from someone else and wrote down the articles as if they had been there . Like that, right at the moment of the attack, the attention of the public was all focused on the appearance of the twin blue dungeons .

“Damn! Trash reporters!”

Crack—!

Gwon Jae-hoon, who was checking the articles, threw his smartphone to the floor . The broken screen of the smartphone shook for a moment and went black .

“Bastards . Let’s see if you guys still write the same articles in a few days . ”

“Are you really going to do it?” Yun Jae-ho asked nervously .

He had gathered the people as secretly as possible, but he still couldn’t help being uneasy . He wasn’t sure how strong Kim Su-hyeun would be . And even if they succeed in getting rid of him, that would cause a problem, too .

A dungeon’s outbreak was a disaster . It was the awakeners who were supposed to stop dungeon outbreaks from happening . But their sabotage might cause an outbreak intentionally . If it were a red or orange dungeon, Yun Jae-ho wouldn’t hesitate this much . That was also immoral and unethical, but the scale of the disaster was very different . The problem for him was that the dungeon in question was a blue-colored one .

“So what? You want us to give in?” Gwon Jae-hoon asked angrily .

Yun Jae-ho couldn’t say anything at that . He thought if he answered wrong, at the moment, his neck would be snapped .

“Just shut up and follow me . You guys all know what you’re going to do, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Of course . It’s not our first for this kind of work . ”

At Gwon Jae-hoon’s question, the guild members nodded . Sabotage was useful, at times . It was a technique that Hahoetal Guild had used several times . They disrupted other competitive guilds or when they needed to take revenge for something . And then, they pretended not to know about it .

Of course, after that, the Hahoetal Guild would take care of the dungeons, which the other guilds had failed to finish . Like that, the Hahoetal Guild was praised for preventing the outbreaks of an unstable dungeon . It had happened several times before .

“Then, let’s go . ”

Gwon Jae-hoon led the guild members and moved toward the dungeon . Of course, before going in, it was essential to make sure that there was nobody around . If anybody noticed them going in, it would cause trouble later .

Many guilds were surrounding the blue-colored dungeons for protection and surveillance reasons . It was for a minimum of safety to buy time in the case of a dungeon outbreak .

And among them, people from the Hahoetal Guild were there, too . Gwon Jae-hoon had already talked to his guild members about what he would do . So, he and the other members from the Hahoetal Guild could easily get in the dungeon, avoiding other people’s eyes .

Puff—

When they stepped into the blue-colored dungeon, their eyes were filled with blue fog . Instantly, their vision blurred, and soon a whole new world appeared in front of them . Black clouds filled the sky . The ground had sand all over the place . It seemed like a desert, and it was about to rain .

Gwon Jae-hoon thought the scenery in the dungeon was quite strange . It was so large . Except for the oasis, they were standing in and one tree next to it, it was just a never-ending sand desert .

“What took you so long?”

A voice came from the only tree inside the enormous dungeon . Gwon Jae-hoon and the members of his guild looked up and their eyes opened wide .

“W-what are you doing here…?”

“Don’t take my line . I should be the one asking that . ”

Su-hyeun, reclining on a branch of the tree, looked down at them and asked, “Why are you here?”