## Chapter 483 – 483. 1,000 Km
483. 1,000 Km
[1,000 Km.
Run 1,000 Km. You’ll feel very refreshed!
Quest Reward: Strength +3, Stamina +3, Agility +3, Vigor +3]
This was the quest I chose this time. There were quests to enter other worlds, but the rewards weren’t great, and the game worlds didn’t seem very fun, so I chose the 1,000 Km run quest, which I could complete easily and quickly.
[Sung Yu-jin
Level: 62
Strength: 62 Stamina: 62 Agility: 61 Intelligence: 50 Vigor: 65 Mana: 63]
These were my current stats.
‘If I get it as a running reward, it’ll go up even more. If I combine the rewards into points… 600 points! That’s not a small amount.’
1,000 Km.
It might be an enormous distance for an ordinary person, but for me, a C-Class Hunter, it wasn’t that far. If I set my mind to it and started running, I was confident I could finish 1,000 Km in two days.
‘But just running is a bit… Is there a marathon or something? It’s boring to run alone, so I should run with Park Su-ho too. Park Su-ho is my junior, so he should suffer with me.’
My only friend, Oh Jun-hyuk, had decided to become an association employee and was busy moving around. Looking at his text messages, it seemed he was still going to clubs when he had time.
I searched the internet for useful marathon information.
‘There’s a marathon being held in a week… but that’s for ordinary people. And I have to run 1,000 Km, not 42 Km.’
A marathon for hunters? It didn’t exist. And hunters couldn’t participate in marathons for ordinary people. Unless they were on the side managing the marathon.
‘If there’s nothing, I guess I’ll have to run around the neighborhood track.’
I contacted Park Su-ho. I wanted to ask his opinion and see how his relationship with Ha Seung-hee was developing.
-Yes, Yu-jin hyung. What’s up?
“It’s nothing much. I was thinking of running along the national highways of Korea. It’s also called a walking tour… Are you very busy?”
-Well, I’m always the same. A walking tour… sounds good. Is it just the two of us?
“If you don’t do it, I’ll do it alone.”
Jin Se-young and Han Ah-young were busy, and Han Ha-rin definitely wouldn’t be suited for this kind of thing. Gong Ji-young, who recently became my sex friend, was also part of the Suwol Guild, so she couldn’t easily take more than three days off.
-Alone? Isn’t it dangerous?
“Dangerous? I’m a C-Class Hunter.”
Sometimes, monsters suddenly appear in sparsely populated rural areas or gloomy roads. Most of them are E-Class or lower, so I don’t need to worry.
-If it’s Yu-jin hyung’s skills, it’ll be safe. You said a walking tour, but how far are you planning to go from Seoul? Busan?
“No. From Seoul to Seoul. I’m thinking of going around the country once.”
That should be about 1,000 Km.
Park Su-ho didn’t answer. He was definitely thinking about something quietly. Park Su-ho was short on money, but he was a steadily growing hunter, so he could take a few days off. And Park Su-ho would also be concerned about his friendship with me.
-…Okay. I’ll go with you, hyung.
It was the expected reaction.
-How about finding people online to join the walking tour for money? Just having a hunter with you could earn you hundreds of thousands of won.
Park Su-ho seemed to have immediately thought about money.
“We can’t bring in ordinary people. We’re going to keep running, not walking. Ordinary people can’t keep up. Ah, you’re physically fit, so you’re okay, right?”
-I’m confident in my stamina, so I’m fine. Then, how about clearing dungeons in between?
“Dungeon clearing?”
-Yes. It’s hard to find dungeons in Seoul except for open-type ones… but it’s a bit different in other provinces. You can easily find D-Class or lower dungeons.
“Easily find them? The hunters leave them alone?”
-Most C-Class or higher hunters think that D-Class or lower dungeons aren’t profitable. In fact, the money earned from C-Class open-type dungeons is much greater, and it’s often more profitable to go abroad, so D-Class or lower dungeons in the provinces are often left unattended.
“And D-Class hunters don’t move?”
-They deliberately leave them alone. If dungeons are left unattended, the association puts a bounty on them. They don’t move tacitly, aiming for that bounty.
I knew that the association put bounties on abandoned dungeons, but I didn’t know that they were being left unattended on purpose for that reason.
“What, really? The association leaves it unattended?”
-The association can’t say anything about it. It’s been going on for quite a while.
“I didn’t know that.”
-……Only hunters who have given up on going higher or hunters who are short on money know about it.
“Ah. I see.”
-What do you think about clearing dungeons while doing the walking tour? I’ll follow your opinion, hyung.
“Sounds good. But I’m not going to try to clear every dungeon we see.”
-Okay. But when are you planning to start?
“I want to do it tomorrow if possible. Is that okay?”
-It’s possible. Shall we start around noon tomorrow?
“Okay. See you tomorrow.”
-Um. This is my first time doing something like this… what should I prepare?
“Just pack your gear since we’ll have to go into dungeons.”
***
I started running with Park Su-ho. The course was roughly going to Gyeongsangnam-do, then Jeollanam-do, and then back to Seoul.
Park Su-ho and I had a hearty bowl of gukbap for lunch.
“Hyung. Gukbap is the best food, after all. It tastes good, fills you up, and it’s cheap. Wow, it’s really cost-effective.”
“I like beef gukbap.”
After lunch, Park Su-ho and I started running towards Busan. We quickly covered 5 Km, running on a quiet unpaved road, but neither of us showed any signs of fatigue.
“Su-ho. You’re already aiming to be a D-Class Hunter… that’s incredibly fast. You might be faster than me.”
“I haven’t become a D-Class Hunter yet. And I don’t have the confidence to become a C-Class Hunter in a year like you, hyung. I’m growing fast because of my good ability rather than having talent.”
I let out a hollow laugh. I felt a strong urge to smack Park Su-ho on the back of his head.
No talent and growing fast because of his ability? That was what applied to me. Park Su-ho was a talented guy. He was above average in appearance and good at studying. He had great combat sense and was diligent. If there was an all-rounder, it would be someone like him.
‘…The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. Should I pretend to fall and hit him on the head?’
I was already getting annoyed with the whole thing.
‘If it were normal, I would be having sex with Han Ha-rin!’
On the other hand, Park Su-ho seemed to be in a pretty good mood.
“It feels good to run like this after a long time. The weather is also very clear.”
“The weather is good, but the problem is that it’s a bit too hot.”
“Yu-jin hyung. There’s a rumor going around in the department that you’re joining the Suwol Guild. Is it true?”
“The rumor is already spreading that much? Rumors are just rumors, so don’t believe them too much. I just acted with the Suwol Guild for a while. I have no intention of joining the Suwol Guild.”
“With your skills, can’t you join the Suwol Guild? If it were me, I would have joined the Suwol Guild right away.”
“The Suwol Guild doesn’t suit me.”
I thought I needed to go to university once to calm the rumors down.
“By the way, how are you doing with Ha Seung-hee these days?”
Ha Seung-hee.
A second-generation chaebol who entered the Hunter Department this time. She was my junior, but my relationship with her was not very good right now.
“I’m trying to get along with Seung-hee as you said, hyung. I contact her… about once every two days, but it’s a bit burdensome.”
“In the hunter world, connections are important. It’s good to get along.”
Ha Seung-hee was approaching Park Su-ho because she knew his abilities, but it seemed like there was a bit of emotion involved as well.
We ran for two hours straight and covered 60 Km. We ran at a speed of 30 Km per hour without stopping.
“Haa… Yu-jin hyung. Let’s take a break.”
Park Su-ho said, sweating profusely. In contrast, I was relaxed. I was physically superior.
“Okay.”
We sat in the shade under a tree to rest. Park Su-ho gulped down the water he had prepared. His smartphone vibrated.
“I got a message from Seung-hee.”
“What does it say?”
“It’s nothing much, just asking what I’m doing. Since we suddenly started the walking tour today… I haven’t told anyone yet.”
After replying to Ha Seung-hee, Park Su-ho fiddled with his smartphone. It was an app that showed the locations of dungeons that had appeared in Korea.
“Hyung. There’s an E-Class dungeon with a bounty on it that’s a bit far from here. Do you want to clear it? It’s a closed-type dungeon, but… with your skills, you can do it easily.”
“I’ve never experienced a closed-type dungeon… well, if it’s E-Class, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“…Oh, is it really your first time with a closed-type dungeon?”
“It’s my first time. There’s no need to do it.”
I had avoided anything dangerous in reality. Even when I went into dungeons, I only went into open-type ones. I had heard that once you enter a closed-type dungeon, you can’t get out unless you meet special conditions.
‘They say that if you’re stuck in a closed-type dungeon for too long, the association will help you… but I can’t trust the association that much.’
Closed-type dungeons were profitable, but in the worst case, you could be trapped for more than a week.
“I’ve done it a few times with a public party, and it wasn’t a big deal? Hunting the boss monster was a bit difficult, but you can handle it easily, hyung.”
“Hmm. Then shall we try clearing it once?”
“Yes. It’s not far from here, and the bounty was just placed on it. I’ll apply right now. Success!”
Park Su-ho got up from his seat.
“Why don’t you rest a bit more?”
“No, hyung. We have to go quickly. If we don’t upload an authentication photo within 3 hours, the application will be automatically canceled and given to the next applicant.”
Urged by Park Su-ho, we started running again.
***
The place Park Su-ho led me to was part of a mountain. Park Su-ho took a picture with me in front of the portal leading to the dungeon and uploaded it to the app.
“Can we go in now?”
“No. We need the association’s approval. It’s impossible for me alone, but since you’re a C-Class Hunter, hyung, we’ll get approval quickly.”
“Wow. That’s convenient. There was no such app when I was around.”
“It’s an app that came out about 4 months ago. It’s convenient, but it’s limited to Korea, and C-Class or higher dungeons don’t even appear on the app. Ah, it’s approved. The association will send someone, but we can just start the attack.”
Since it was a closed-type dungeon, we didn’t know what the environment inside was like or what kind of monsters would appear.
I was a little nervous as I entered the dungeon with Park Su-ho.
The inside of the dungeon was a rainforest.
I felt a much higher temperature and humidity than in the Korean summer. I frowned as I looked around. There were stone pagodas everywhere in the rainforest. Their shapes were a bit strange. It looked like three stone pagodas were intertwined.
It was definitely not created naturally, and someone must have made it.
“……”
Park Su-ho’s reaction was strange. He was staring blankly at the stone pagodas. He was very surprised, as if he already knew about the stone pagodas.
“No way… why is that…”
“Hey, Park Su-ho. Snap out of it. What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“…Yu-jin hyung.”
“Do you know something about those stone pagodas?”
Park Su-ho’s expression as he looked at me was not good. He seemed to be in great mental shock, but also terrified. He hesitated for a moment and then said,
“…Hyung. You know about my ability, right?”
“It’s the tattoo world ability. The ability to connect to other worlds through tattoos. The more the tattoo world develops, the stronger your power becomes. Ah, it’s been a few months since then, has it developed a bit?”
“…Yes. The tattoo world… the city of Veroprin connected to me has developed more than 30% compared to before. The area I can explore has also expanded… and those stone pagodas were there.”
“……There are stone pagodas like that in the tattoo world?”
It didn’t seem like Park Su-ho was lying to me.
“You don’t mean that this dungeon is inside your tattoo world, do you?”
“……I don’t know.”
“Then do you know what kind of monsters will appear here?”
“Those stone pagodas are a symbol of the Hopel tribe. If it’s the same as the tattoo world, there will be Hopel people. …But since this is a dungeon, I can’t be sure.”
“Hopel tribe? Tell me more about it.”
