Solo Leveling Chapter 83:
I Alone Level-up: Chapter 83
Jinwoo felt his heart sinking to his stomach .
‘When did she come?’
Because he had been too focused on the boss, he had not realized someone else had arrived .
‘I’ve been found out . ’
Jinwoo clicked his tongue with disappointment .
tsk
Now that a witness was here, he snapped out of his greed towards the boss . Hunters Guild had bought the raiding rights of this Gate; in a sense, the boss was the property of Hunters Guild . On top of that, if he took down the boss right now, the Gate would close and the unfinished jobs of the collection and mining teams would result in a great loss for the Guild .
‘I almost did something terrible . ’
Blinded by the greed of leveling up, he almost laid hands on someone else’s property . Jinwoo came to his senses and breathed a sigh of relief . Meanwhile, the owner of the voice came closer,
“Excuse me, I asked you a question . ”
Jinwoo smiled awkwardly and turned around,
“Er, I got lost and ended up here . ”
“You got lost?”
The voice was flustered . Jinwoo realized who the owner of the voice was .
‘Huh? This woman is…?’
That face he saw before entering the Dungeon . It was the female S-rank Hunter, Cha Haein . She slowly closed the gap toward Jinwoo and looked at the man’s hands .
‘I swear I saw him holding weapons . ’
Was she mistaken? Whatever he was holding had disappeared as if it was never there . The woman looked up and down on Jinwoo .
‘Hard hat and work clothes… Is he a Hunter from our mining team?’
It seemed that the man’s excuse that he was lost was not a lie . Still, regardless of his reason, the boss room was a dangerous place . Cha Haein decided that sending him away from here was more important than finding out the truth .
“This is a place where the boss resides . ”
As she always would, Cha Haein pinched her nose with a handkerchief and stood before Jinwoo .
“Please get away from here . If you accidently grab aggro, everyone here could end up dying . ”
“Ah, I’m sorry . ”
Thankfully, it looked like his acting worked . Jinwoo walked past Cha Haein with a satisfied face .
As he passed by,
‘Huh?’
Cha Haein turned her head toward Jinwoo . Something impossible happened . With her eyes wide open, the S-rank Hunter stopped Jinwoo before she realized it,
“Hey, excuse me . ”
“Yes?”
“Hold on a minute . ”
What is this woman doing? Like a thief who had been caught, Jinwoo did not particularly feel good as Cha Haein approached him . The woman got uncomfortably close to him .
“Er… what is it?”
Jinwoo asked with an awkward face . However, Cha Haein did not reply . Instead, the woman boldly sniffed the man . She had already put her handkerchief away .
‘What the hell?’
Jinwoo had no idea what was happening .
‘Why is she smelling me?’
The man was flustered . However, the woman was even more so .
‘There’s no . . . foul stench . ’
This was the first time she had met a Hunter without that foul smell . Cha Haein looked at Jinwoo with wide open eyes . A question mark appeared on Jinwoo’s face .
“Is there something wrong?”
“Are you… really a Hunter?”
Was there a need to go into detail? Jinwoo removed the Hunter’s license around his neck and held it out to her . The woman took the license and looked back and forth between Jinwoo’s face and the picture on the license .
‘E-rank… Sung Jinwoo…’
Was it because his rank was too low? There was no bad smell coming from Jinwoo . In fact, she smelled a pleasant fragrance from him .
Jinwoo carefully took his license from Cha Haein’s hands .
“So… Can I go?”
“That’s…”
The woman realized she no longer had any reason to hold him here .
“ . . . Never mind . Please be careful on your way back . The Dungeon is large . ”
“Ah, okay . ”
Jinwoo bid his goodbye then walked back towards the direction of the work area . His back quickly disappeared in the distance of the cave . However, Cha Haein stood still looking at the direction the man walked off to for some time .
‘He smelled nice…’
After finishing lunch, the Hunters of the mining team returned to the work area . Walking in while picking his teeth, Team Leader Bae jumped after discovering Jinwoo coming back from deep into the Dungeon .
“Whoa, whoa . Sung-ssi, why are you coming from that way?”
“Ah, that’s…”
Jinwoo briefly turned his head back to the boss room’s direction .
‘I can’t exactly explain that I was curious about what the A-rank Dungeon’s boss looked like, right?’
He turned back to the team leader .
“I got lost while looking for the bathroom . ”
“Oh, no! You have to be careful! Lots of Dungeons are like mazes . If you get lost, you might never find your way back . In fact, how did you find your way back?”
“I ran into Hunter Cha Haein-nim on the way back…”
“Ah, Hunter Cha-nim? She went to keep watch just in case the boss came out of its room . Like you, she’s a rather worry-filled person . ”
Team Leader Bae laughed energetically . It seemed like Jinwoo’s questions earlier about the boss had given the man a wrong impression . Jinwoo smiled bitterly .
‘The team leader can laugh since he doesn’t know how scary the boss is . ’
This was the difference between the work team and the raiding party . Knowing the true terror of magic beasts, Cha Haein was keeping watch and preparing for the worst case scenario that these men did not give a second thought to .
‘Even with that expressionless face, she’s got a side like that to her . ’
If the boss left its room, the ones in danger were not the raiding party . It was the labor team working while the raiding party was absent . To protect their lives, the woman had forgone sweet resting time and went to keep watch at the boss room .
‘ . . . She’s an amazing woman . ’
This was Jinwoo’s honest opinion of Cha Haein . Suddenly, he recalled the woman’s strange habit .
‘Why does she block her nose with that handkerchief?’
Now that he thought about it, other than the time just now, she had constantly held that handkerchief to her nose .
“Team leader,”
“Hmm?”
Instead of being annoyed by the pestering, Team Leader Bae was rather friendly and accomodating whenever Jinwoo called to him .
‘He did seem to respond well to my work earlier . ’
It seemed that his prowess had earned some brownie points with the team leader . Thanks to that, Jinwoo was able to comfortably ask things here and there . If anything, Team Leader Bae was the one who pressed him,
“Why are you quiet after calling a man over, Sung-ssi?”
Jinwoo grinned and replied,
“No it’s nothing . . I was just curious on why Hunter Cha Haein carried that handkerchief around . ”
“Oh, that? She’s a little special . ”
“Special?”
What did that mean? The team leader explained patiently,
“From what I’ve heard, Hunter Cha is able to smell something from Hunters . It’s apparently not a good smell . ”
“A Hunter’s smell?”
“Something about a unique physiology . ”
A unique physiology . Jinwoo had something similar: his keen sense of hearing . Even before he had become an Awakened Being, the young man had good ears . And after he Awakened? Well, even as an E-rank Hunter, his hearing was a level above others .
‘Her sense of smell must’ve also been enhanced after Awakening . ’
He understood her to a degree .
“Peculiar, right?”
As if liking that Jinwoo was paying attention, Team Leader Bae continued,
“I heard that because of that smell, she has difficulty breathing around Hunters . ”
“ . . . ”
Was that the reason?
‘Why she asked me if I was really a Hunter . ’
Was it because he did not smell like a Hunter? Jinwoo recalled the words of the leader of the White Walkers back in the Red Gate,
[“In our head, there is a voice whispering to us without rest . It tells us to ‘kill all humans’ . But in front of you, the voice becomes silent . ”]
Was it related to what that thing told him?
Not having the smell associated with Hunters, not being told to be killed like humans .
‘Because I am a Player…’
The absolute singular existence that was chosen by the System .
Just what was a Player?
Briefly questioning his own identity, Jinwoo quickly shook his head,
‘Not like I can obtain the answer to that question right now . ’
He cleared his mind . Worrying about a riddle that he could not solve would only exhaust him mentally .
Crack! Crack!
Soon, the sound of his coworkers mining started . Jinwoo also grabbed his pickaxe .
‘An A-rank Boss… I really wanted to kill it . ’
What would’ve happened if Cha Haein didn’t arrive on time?
Jinwoo swung away while thinking about it .
Because of Jinwoo’s outstanding performance, the mining team managed to finish their work before dinner . According to the team leader, it was two hours earlier than usual . Because of that, the eyes of his teammates looking at him had changed .
“Good work today, Sung-ssi!”
“Not bad!”
“I thought someone brought in a mining machine, haha!”
The Hunters surrounded him and poured compliments all over him . The cold attitude they greeted him with before the Gate had all but disappeared . Jinwoo was also in a good mood . The experience of working as a miner was interesting, and he had succeeded in his objective of scouting an A-rank Dungeon .
“Let’s go!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let’s go go go!”
At Team Leader Bae’s order, the mining team moved as one towards the exit .
“One! Two!”
“Pull!”
They passed by the still working collection team . Soon, the mining team left the Dungeon and loitered while preparing to leave . Compared to the Guild’s official members, the temp worker Sung Jinwoo’s pay was provided on the spot .
“Sung-ssi, here you go, this is yours . ”
“Thank you . ”
While handing over the envelope, Team Leader Bae discretely asked him a question,
“We’re about to go for some food, would you like to join us?”
While the question was asked casually, the team leader’s eyes were serious .
‘It feels like he has something he wants to ask me…’
Jinwoo felt the man’s sincerity . However, he politely declined .
“I’m sorry . ”
“Hmm… That’s okay . ”
The team leader scratched his chin .
‘I wanted to ask him while we were in a good mood with alcohol…’
But the man had to change his plans a bit,
“You know, I’ve met a lot of people while working on this job . ”
“Mhmm . ”
“But I’ve never seen a man like you . You were born to be a miner . ”
It seemed that the team leader had taken a liking to him .
‘Haha… That’s a bit…’
Jinwoo could neither confirm nor deny the team leader’s words . Instead, he awkwardly laughed . Confusing that for a good sign, the team leader got to business,
“I don’t normally do this but… How would you like to come work under me? I guarantee you’ll be paid well . ”
The young man called Sung Jinwoo . On his first day as a miner, the man had completed several times more work than a veteran miner . If he could not obtain this genius, it would be his failure as the leader of the mining team . Even if he had to talk to the higher-ups to provide a special consideration for Jinwoo, the team leader wanted to hire the young man .
However, Jinwoo’s refusal was firm .
“I’m grateful for your words but… There’s something I’m preparing for . ”
At that sentence, the team leader’s cheerful mood fell .
“Is… is that so?”
Jinwoo swallowed a laughter .
‘What a fun person . ’
To think that his feelings would show this much on his face . It seemed that Team Leader Bae thought he had discovered some hidden talent in the E-ranker . After a moment of thought, the team leader carefully asked,
“How about tomorrow? Do you think you could come out again?”
“Tomorrow is a bit… Hmm…”
Well, he was still free tomorrow . The remeasurement was two days from now . But Jinwoo wondered if there was a reason for him to work as a miner again . He had already observed the raiding method of a large Guild and even took a look at an A-rank Dungeon’s boss .
Suddenly, Jinwoo realized something,
‘Hold on . ’
He was about to refuse when a question flashed across his mind,
“Does that mean Hunters Guild has another Raid tomorrow?”
“Yep . It’s another A-rank Gate . ”
“Is that even possible? They just finished a Raid today . ”
It was common practice for raiding parties to rest for a week after completing a Raid .
‘They said that today’s Raid started yesterday evening . ’
That meant the main raiding party of Hunters Guild had raided for two consecutive days . On top of that, by the time they went back to take down the boss after the collection team finished, it would be dawn . Jinwoo couldn’t imagine that they would raid again tomorrow .
When Jinwoo looked interested, the team leader continued,
“Instead of Attack Team A, Attack Team B will be up to the plate tomorrow . ”
Attack Team B? They were going to clear an A-rank Dungeon with the secondary raiding party?
“This is the power of Hunters Guild . We’re probably the only Guild in South Korea that can take down two A-rank Gates with two separate teams . ”
Team Leader Bae spoke with pride .
“Is this how Hunters Guild always raided?”
“No, no . Normally they wouldn’t divide up the teams like that . But seems like the jobs overlapped this time . ”
Because two A-rank Gates had simultaneously appeared in Hunters Guild’s territory, the team leader explained that Guildmaster Choi Jongin had to pull a lot of strings in order to obtain the raiding rights for both of them .
‘Oh, so that’s why Guildmaster Choi was at the Association yesterday…’
A busy man like Choi Jongin would not have frivolously visited the Association .
Jinwoo nodded,
“So does that mean this is the first time the secondary raiding party will be the sole attack team of the Raid?”
“Yep . But don’t let that fool you . Hunters Guild’s secondary team is not just any secondary team . They’re better than most large Guild’s primary team . ”
“Still, it should be much more dangerous than today, right?”
Team Leader Bae was at a loss for words . Jinwoo was right . Two S-rankers had participated in the Raid today . Compared to that, only A-rankers would be part of the offensive tomorrow . Even though they had heard that tomorrow’s Gate was smaller than today’s, the absence of the two S-rankers would be great . The team leader recalled how Sung-ssi was worried about the boss even though the S-rankers were nearby .
‘Still, I don’t want to lie to the man . ’
Team Leader Bae had hoped to work with Jinwoo tomorrow . Realizing that would not happen, the man answered him disappointedly,
“It’ll be much more dangerous . If things go wrong, the Raid itself might fail . ”
Jinwoo’s eyes lit up .