Chapter 21

“You bastard!” As their comrade fell, the men took aggressive stances, creating a hostile atmosphere. Jun-sang was initially a bit tense facing multiple opponents, but clashing with them directly, he found them weaker than expected. No. To be precise, it wasn’t that his opponents were weak, but that Jun-sang himself was strong.

Jun-sang observed the stances of the men surrounding him. The one in front seemed to be a judo or wrestling type. Behind him, there were two others: one had unfolded a collapsible baton, and the other was in a boxing stance. He couldn’t quite tell, but he got the impression that they were properly trained martial artists.

“Hup!” The man with the baton moved first. His form, swinging the baton rapidly horizontally from a forward-reaching stance, was unusual. The collapsible baton, resembling a telescopic antenna, might look insignificant, but it becomes a fearsome weapon when backed by strong muscles.

However, by that logic, Jun-sang’s fists and feet were already excellent killing machines.

Jun-sang, with his elbows tucked to his waist, leaned far back to avoid the baton’s attack aimed at him, then shot forward as if a spring had recoiled.

“Hah!” The man swinging the baton was flustered by the rapid offense-to-defense transition, which most people couldn’t even imitate. He tried to defend with empty hands, but Jun-sang’s attack began not with his hands, but with his foot.

Thwack! The low kick struck the opponent’s shin, causing the man swinging the baton to stumble and lose his balance. But the really important thing wasn’t that. At that very moment, Fear Inducement, one of Jun-sang’s abilities, activated.

“…” The man suddenly felt a strange chill down his spine from the peculiar fear that seemed to constrict his body. Simultaneously, he forgot his next move and his body stiffened. That brief moment of rigidity became a great opportunity for Jun-sang.

Thump! Jun-sang’s two-hit combo, extending like lightning from both hands, struck both of the man’s sides like lightning. The man received a breathtaking impact and collapsed where he stood.

“How dare you!” After swiftly incapacitating the man with the baton and retreating, the man standing in front lowered his stance and began to charge like a bull. But Jun-sang ignored him and quietly murmured, looking at the man in the boxing stance approaching from the front, similarly, “Open Shoulder Charge.”

And as the command was executed and the Shoulder Charge card was equipped in the card slot, he immediately lowered his body and performed a Shoulder Charge. Not only the man in the boxing stance who intended to face him, but even the man charging like a bull, were greatly flustered by Jun-sang’s sudden arrow-like charge, seemingly without any run-up, as if he was just extending his right shoulder.

The man in the boxing stance, seeing Jun-sang charge so rapidly, adopted a defensive posture, covering the front of his body with both arms. Unfortunately, such a defensive posture was insufficient to block Jun-sang’s Shoulder Charge.

Thump! With a heavy impact, as if hit by a truck, the man in the boxing stance felt his internal organs churning and was sent flying.

Jun-sang slowly stood up and looked back at the last remaining person. The man, seeing Jun-sang’s dignified appearance, charged like an enraged bull again, but Jun-sang flexibly dodged his charge by stepping to the side, then delivered a heavy hook to his temple, like swinging a hammer.

“Thi—” The man hastily reached out to grab Jun-sang, but for some reason, his body tilted, and he simply sprawled on the floor.

“Huh? Huh?” The man tried to get up, but contrary to his intentions, his legs had already given out, and he couldn’t stand. This was due to a concussion caused by Jun-sang’s powerful hook hitting his head hard.

“…” As Jun-sang relaxed his stance and looked at them, he suddenly heard clapping from one side. He turned his head to look… It was the guy named Sung-jin, whom he had encountered in a previous quest.

“You…” As Jun-sang frowned and stared, Sung-jin gave an awkward laugh and replied, “I’m sorry. This wasn’t what I originally intended, but these gentlemen insisted on testing you, Jun-sang hyung.”

Jun-sang quietly looked at Sung-jin and asked, “What on earth are you?” No matter how he looked, Sung-jin seemed to be just a high school student. Yet, bringing along such burly men clearly meant he had an unusual background.

Sung-jin smiled bitterly and replied, “Well… my father is a bit of a high-ranking person.”

“So?” “As you know, I got my shoulder injured this time. And… it seems my mother was with me when I was called.”

“…” He roughly understood the situation. A child from a noble family, who had been missing for a month, returned, only for the one taken from the hospital to disappear before their eyes and return with a shoulder injury after a considerable amount of time. It would be enough to make any parent faint.

Jun-sang quietly asked Sung-jin, “What does that have to do with this situation?”

Sung-jin carefully replied, “A new feature came out this time.” “You mean Party?” “Yes. The reason I came looking for you, hyung, is because I want to form a party.”

“…” Only then did the four men who had been hit by Jun-sang stagger and slowly get back on their feet one by one. Jun-sang ignored them and asked Sung-jin again, “How did you find this place?”

Sung-jin gave a bitter smile at the question. “You’ve probably already guessed. It’s the power of authority.” “…” “Fortunately, it was easy to find you. You were the first person to return in our country, so there were many records and such.” “I see.” As Jun-sang nodded, Sung-jin waved his hand, dismissing the men, then continued, “I trust you understand, but my parents are incredibly worried because I unintentionally got caught being teleported. Thanks to that, my abilities were also exposed.”

“So, you recommended me as a bodyguard?” Sung-jin immediately nodded at Jun-sang’s question. “Something like that. For one, I don’t know many people… and I don’t think it would be easy to find someone as strong as you, hyung.” “…” “You solved this quest, didn’t you, hyung?” Jun-sang didn’t reply, but Sung-jin showed an expression of admiration. “That’s amazing. I had no idea where to even start.” “…” “How surprised I was when the sunlight suddenly poured down from the sky, the zombies melted, and the quest showed as completed…” Sung-jin continued to speak excitedly, but Jun-sang raised a hand to stop him.

“That’s enough.” “…” “I refuse the party.” At Jun-sang’s cold words, Sung-jin’s expression was briefly flustered, then he cried out loudly, as if in disbelief, “What? Why?” “…” “As long as you’ve shown your skill, we’ll treat you well. You’re already taking a break from school because of the quests and can’t work properly anyway, so if you form a party with me, those financial aspects, or…” Sung-jin began to persuade him in an enthusiastic tone, but Jun-sang raised his hand again to stop him.

“I refuse.” “W-why…” Sung-jin’s expression was disbelieving at the cutting remark. But Jun-sang silently walked past him and headed for his house. Then, one of the men clutching his side angrily said, “How dare that bastard…”

But Sung-jin raised his hand to stop the man. “Quiet.” “…” And then, looking at Jun-sang’s retreating back, he gave a bitter smile. “This is driving me crazy.” “…” “I finally managed to convince my father and mother to come here, only to be rejected by him personally. Phew…” Muttering to himself, Sung-jin retreated from the spot with the men as Jun-sang disappeared from sight.

Meanwhile, Jun-sang returned home, took a quick shower, then lay down and fell into thought.

“…” Strictly speaking, Sung-jin’s offer wasn’t bad. No matter what, if he kept spending without earning, his funds would quickly deplete, and since he was already bound by quests, receiving protection from a powerful figure and a salary would be killing two birds with one stone. However, he felt it wasn’t right to be informed of something as if it were already decided, regardless of his own wishes. Moreover… the fact that Sung-jin’s parents had discovered his abilities was also not something to be taken lightly.

“Phew…” He sighed, lost in various thoughts… when he suddenly heard a sound indicating a message had arrived on his phone.

“Damn it!” Jun-sang quickly got up and rushed to the front door, grabbing his military boots. But no matter how quickly he moved, putting on his boots within 10 seconds was impossible, and the moment he pulled the shoelaces tight, light had already enveloped his body, and he had begun to move somewhere.

And when the transfer was complete, Jun-sang realized he was sitting in pitch blackness.

“…” He calmly looked around, but it was perfect darkness, with not even the faintest glimmer of light. Jun-sang cautiously sensed his surroundings for a moment, and finding no reaction, he finally murmured quietly, “Open Will-o’-the-Wisp.”

Suddenly, the area in front of him brightened instantly as the Will-o’-the-Wisp appeared.

“Here…” Only then did Jun-sang realize where he was. It was inside the tunnel of an unknown mine. Jun-sang first fully tied his unlaced military boots. Then, a sound announcing a new message echoed through the tunnel.

“…” Jun-sang changed his phone’s notification settings to vibrate, then checked the message. First, there was a message announcing the arrival of a new quest, and then the quest details were written.

Clear the Monsters in the Mine. : The mine has been occupied by silently gathered monsters. Clear out the monsters hidden in the mine (Remaining monsters: 56) [This quest is a solo quest.]

“Hmm…” Monster subjugation. Seeing that it wasn’t a quest for multiple people, it likely wouldn’t feature very powerful monsters… but the fact that a solo quest appeared immediately after the Party feature opened felt somewhat suspicious. Could it be that his level was too high, causing this situation? Jun-sang thought about that and quietly murmured, “Open Crimson Wolf.”

As the command activated, a red-furred wolf appeared before Jun-sang’s eyes. Jun-sang stroked the wolf’s head once, then took out his multi-tool and carved the number 1 into the mine prop next to him. It wasn’t originally built as a maze, but without light and a sense of location, it was effectively one. No, in some ways, given the downward-burrowing structure of a mine, it could even be more tricky than a maze.