-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Babel Comic Shop Opening
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Yeonsi."
"Could you tell me? Why you've changed like someone else, oppa. Suddenly starting to smoke, knowing we'd come to Babel today, acting like you've experienced everything already."
Yeonsi was asking Gonghyeok clearly in a soft, measured tone.
She wanted to know the identity behind his transformation.
"Yeah, I haven't explained enough. Where should I start."
Gonghyeok stroked his chin for a moment. He recalled the persuasion patterns he'd used before.
The Observer granting a strategy guide ability? Possession by a hunter from the future? A coin with mysterious powers?
He selected one from the countless patterns.
"Yeonsi. I saw a future where you die."
"Huh?"
"When we took down the Minotaur last time, the Observer's ultimate ability, True Sight, unlocked. Through True Sight, I glimpsed the next twenty years. And."
"In that future. I died?"
"Yeah. Three days ago, in the Minotaur Dungeon. You were fated to die."
It was a lie, in truth.
Yeonsi had never died in the Minotaur Dungeon up to now. Though the next day, she had been ravaged and killed by the Bronze Giant.
"It's not a continuous stream—just fragmented info pouring in, so it's hard for me to sort it all out in my head. And I don't know the exact reason, but one thing's for sure…"
Gonghyeok slipped into a bit of theatrics. He lowered his voice and locked eyes with Yeonsi, drawing his face right up to hers.
"Until I smash Babel's demon king to pieces, I'll protect you, Yeonsi. And with the knowledge inside me, we'll clear Babel and save humanity."
Gonghyeok took Yeonsi's hand and placed it over his chest.
"That much, I swear. I might seem like a different person, but for now, just follow me without a word."
"…Honestly, I'm not fully convinced. It sounds absurd. But I don't have the nerve to say that to oppa, who came all the way to Babel to guide me."
Ha Yeonsi glanced away from Gonghyeok's eyes. Shyly, she withdrew her hand from his chest and tucked it bashfully at her waist.
"You don't have to protect me like that. I'll push myself to keep up and not be a burden on you."
'She bought it. Should be fine for a while.'
With that thought, Gonghyeok averted his gaze from the fidgeting Yeonsi. He checked his acquired items.
'Fatally Enhanced Red Star Venom.' (16/20)
'Chipped and Rusty Miyagura Type 4 (Japanese Sword).'
'Hobgoblin's Red Star Butchering Sword.'
'Blue Sand Lizardman's Spear.'
'Kobold's Hand Axe,' 'Kobold's Mancatcher.'
'Saber Lion Fang Saber.'
'Giant Tiger Scimitar.'
'Azan Orc's Crude Battle Hammer.'
He lined up the seven weapons and appraised them.
'The Japanese sword's done for now. Two-handed sword, long spear, throwing axe, trap mancatcher, one-handed saber, one-handed scimitar, battle hammer.'
With Gonghyeok as the sole dealer, they lacked finishing blows and sustained damage. But the goblin venom's potent paralysis and damage could make up for it. A solid slash would render them combat-ineffective in seconds.
This sewer dungeon favored poison-users like ratmen, or poison-bug types like sewer maggot bigworms and giant flies, so they had resistance—but not immunity.
True to dungeon form, ratmen warriors and grand worms vastly outclassed field monsters in strength and stats. The polluted sewer spirits unleashed mana attacks, so he'd need to boost stats with his stockpiled purple coins.
Strength: 21 [F]
Endurance: 26 [F]
Agility: 25 [F]
Dexterity: 298 [D] (limit reached)
Mind: 161 [E] (flaw -50)
Will: 300 [D] (limit reached)
Mana: 18 [F]
Held Coins - Purple 1,526, Indigo 3.
1500 could raise F-rank stats by 150 points.
No immediate need for mind or mana skills, so exclude them. Priorities: strength, endurance, agility.
Agility had to break into E-rank, no question. It suited his hunting style perfectly, and all stats doubled or tripled at 100-point grade jumps. For example, strength F100 lifted 150kg; E101, despite being early E, handled 450kg.
Better to push one to E and distribute the rest than even them out at F80.
Strength: 21 [F] → [F] 70 (+49)
Endurance: 26 [F] → [F] 51 (+25)
Agility: 25 [F] → [E] 101 (+76)
Held Coins - Purple 6, Indigo 3.
Strategically, strength should hit E next. But massive gaps caused bodily rejection—like collapsing after 5 seconds of movement, or grip strength tearing his own hands. Physical stats needed balance.
"I'm done too, Gonghyeok oppa."
[Bari Princess Ha Yeonsi]
Strength: 25 [F] (+10) Endurance: 25 [F] (+5)
Agility: 35 [F] (+20) Dexterity: 101 [E] (+58)
Mind: 149 [E] Will: 71 [F]
Mana: 167 [E]
Stat Growth Advantages - Top-Tier Prodigy (A), Stat Growth Specialty (S+).
Yeonsi had raised dexterity a grade for better crossbow aim and invested in physical stats for mobility.
Even without investing her hoarded coins, her mind and mana had grown 10-15 points naturally.
Astonishing gains from the same experience. Innate talent and advantages Gonghyeok could never match.
Gonghyeok scanned Yeonsi's stats and stowed the weapons in his inventory.
"We're heading to sublevel 5 via sewer pipe 49. Goal's the hidden comic shop 'Cradle of Pezelon' on sublevel 5. Watch for insect monsters. Fear-immune, fast rear attacks—if I miss any up front, stay sharp."
[Title 「Merciless Butcher」 has been unequipped. Instant-kill chance against feared enemies returns to normal.]
[Title 「One Against Hundred」 has been equipped. All stats +10% against multiple enemies.]
Gonghyeok swapped titles while voicing it aloud. As mentioned, insects and spirits resisted fear. They swarmed in groups, so One Against Hundred fit better than Butcher.
"Got it. I'll try not to be a burden."
Yeonsi reloaded her crossbow and replied calmly.
"Good. Let's go."
- Sewer Dungeon 1F entered.
- Estimated enemy monsters: 1,326 bodies. Searching shortest route to 2F.
- Route 7 optimal. Will pass polluted ratmen packs and red bigworm habitats en route.
'Wanted first 100-kill achievement on 1F, but field took too long. Sweep achievements from 2F on.'
By now, gutsy hunters would be diving in to claim achievements first. While they hesitated on 1F identifying new monsters, he had to blaze to 5F without a trace.
---
Weeeeeeng!
Fourteen giant flies buzzed their wings deafeningly as they charged from ahead.
Chaotic 360-degree spins and freeform curves made the eyes reel.
But a single gently curved scimitar streaked through them like lightning.
Chicken God Method: Draw Sword—Thousand Man Severance.
One of the beastkin Twelve Zodiac Gods—the Chicken God's SSS-rank martial art unfolded in Gonghyeok's hands.
CRITICAL HIT!
Piiii….
The fourteen giant flies deflated with pitiful whines, shredded to ruin. Their corpses sank into the filthy sewage and drifted deep.
[An astonishing feat of movement! Agility +1.]
[You felled 14 foes with exactly 14 strikes.]
[Title 'Swordmaster of 14 Consecutive Kills' acquired. Next slash attack power +15% if one-striking a foe. Stacks up to 14 times.]
[Overexerted impossible technique: Strength, Agility, Endurance -5 for 6 hours.]
[Failed to acquire special skill 'Chicken God Method (Unique SSS)'.]
"Still too much for me. Not a clean cut."
Gonghyeok eyed the giant fly's upper torso at his feet.
It should've been bisected perfectly, but the cross-sections were ragged. Plenty sharp for a one-slash kill, but memories of the past left him unsatisfied.
He'd forced it on these frail, low-endurance flies. Against standard goblins or kobolds, he'd have scrapped the idea.
'If my physical stats hit E or D, it'd be viable.'
The martial art Gonghyeok learned was the SSS secret technique reserved for the twelve beastkin clan heads.
In his eighth regression, he'd infiltrated their ranks to master it—but it was for beastkin with innate C-ranks, not humans. The stat barriers were brutal.
"Oppa, that just now—was it like Goo Do Sword Isle from Bar X Sword Heart? All flashy and…"
"Something like that. Anyway, look ahead. Clear difference from the sewer walls, right?"
Gonghyeok pointed, ignoring the thirty-year-old manga reference.
The path he indicated wasn't the moss-covered sewer channel.
It was a clean rectangular tunnel of yellowed bricks, torches mounted along it—like a separate construction job bordered off.
"Yeah, really."
"Follow me. No monsters from here."
Gonghyeok strode in confidently. Yeonsi, intrigued, glanced around as she followed.
At the tunnel's end stood a half-ruined statue.
Faintly engraved on its pedestal: 'Old Father.'
A pristine passage in a sewer dungeon. A mystery statue in the room.
Suspicious as hell—like a hidden piece straight out of a novel.
Gonghyeok pulled out three indigo coins without hesitation. He slotted them into the holes over the O, d, and a in 'Old Father.'
[Consume 3 indigo coins to open the cradle?]
"Yes."
['Cradle of Pezelon 1F' recognizes first user. Cradle access frozen hereafter. No other users permitted.]
The statue screamed suspicious, sure. But not just anyone could open it.
Ju Gonghyeok was a freak who casually hoarded indigo coins from firsts, uniques, and transcendent achievements. A normal hunter with even one earned respect.
Owning three indigo coins, guessing to slot them into a name-puzzle, sacrificing all of them—and only for the first discoverer.
Noticing it was a hidden piece didn't make opening it any easier.
===
Chapter 8 [Hunter Ju Gonghyeok's Score] = 5690 points
[Hunter Ha Yeonsi's Score] = 210 points
────────────────────────────────────