Jin-Woo headed to Daeseong Tower the moment dawn broke.
'Still just as big.'
A hundred-story skyscraper. Craning his neck to look up at the peak from close range was enough to make it ache.
'But there are way too many people.'
Unlike the last time he came, there were far too many people coming and going around Daeseong Tower. The difference between night and day was stark. Not only at the entrance, but people were constantly streaming along the streets as well.
'If I suddenly vanish somewhere this crowded, it's going to cause another stir.'
As if he wasn't already in the spotlight as some kind of mysterious helper, did he really need to go out of his way to draw more attention?
'Of course not.'
Jin-Woo wasn't the type who enjoyed standing out. First, he moved to a quiet spot and pulled the Demon Castle key from his Inventory. A long, golden-hued key. At a glance, it almost looked like a decorative piece.
'Nobody's around, right?'
He looked around, then nodded.
'Let's go from here.'
Jin-Woo cast his Stealth skill.
Whoosh. His form vanishing, Jin-Woo stepped onto the main road and slipped through the crowds, walking closer to the building.
Tap. Tap. Walking along the midday downtown road, he bumped shoulders with the crowd several times over what was only a short distance. But no one noticed.
'You could abuse the Stealth skill to do all sorts of things.'
That's why high-ranking Hunters who possessed the Stealth skill were put under close surveillance. That was what he realized.
The idle thought lasted only a moment.
Fwoooosh. As he stepped across the invisible barrier just like the first time, his surroundings completely changed.
'You can hear the sound of flames burning from this far away. How hot could it possibly be?'
A giant tower engulfed in flames. The Demon Castle, which had taken the place where Daeseong Tower once stood, filled his entire field of vision.
They say humans are animals of adaptation, right?
'Still less intense than the first time.'
The tension was certainly much less than when he first saw the Demon Castle.
No, perhaps...
'Maybe it's because I've grown that much.'
Jin-Woo sent the Demon Castle key back to Storage and this time pulled out an ash-colored key.
[Item: Gate Key] Acquisition Difficulty: A Type: Key A key that can open the gate of the Demon Castle. You must kill the Gatekeeper to obtain it.
It was the Gate Key he'd obtained by killing Cerberus, the Gatekeeper dog. Last time, Cerberus had handed him such a brutal beating that he couldn't bring himself to go inside, but now he could finally put it to use.
Whoosh. Next, he summoned his weapon. Jin-Woo held the Gate Key in his left hand and Baruka's Dagger in his right, then carefully approached the gate. Cerberus was nowhere to be seen.
'Do monsters not respawn in the Demon Castle Dungeon?'
He couldn't be sure, but like Cerberus, that was probably the case.
'If that's so...'
It could mean the structure was different from the existing Instance Dungeons where monsters respawned. Jin-Woo kept his senses razor-sharp.
Thump, thump, thump! Pushing his senses outward with his stats well past 100, even the sound of his own heartbeat came through like thunder.
'But I'm not scared.'
Unlike before, he now had the confidence that came from overwhelming strength. Staying on edge and trembling in fear were two different things.
Ding. Standing before the gate, a message appeared.
[Use the Gate Key to enter?] Y / N
'What, turn back after coming all this way?'
The thought was absurd, so Jin-Woo smirked and selected Yes.
Creeeak— Without even being touched, the hinges groaned as the two massive doors began to move.
Ka-chunk!
'Huh...?'
Jin-Woo was flustered. Even with his senses on full alert, he couldn't detect any sign of monsters from inside the gate.
'No monsters?'
In fact, Jin-Woo had been worried about the opposite scenario. He'd even considered going to the penalty zone and killing Sandworms as special training, worried that monsters might all burst out at once.
'But...'
But what was this? His efforts were for nothing. It was so empty it was almost desolate.
'Huh... would you look at that.'
With a hollow feeling, Jin-Woo returned Baruka's Dagger to Storage and stepped inside the Demon Castle. At that moment. Ding. The electronic chime made Jin-Woo lightning-quick in summoning both daggers, but it was just a notification sound.
'Huh?'
[A quest has arrived.]
'A quest has arrived?'
Not a Daily Quest? Actually, it would have been strange if it was a Daily Quest notification, since he'd already finished his Daily Quest and collected the reward before coming here. So that meant it was a regular quest... This was a first.
'All I've ever gotten before were Hidden Quests or Emergency Quests.'
That was if you excluded the Daily Quests that came whether you liked it or not.
Jin-Woo tilted his head but still checked the message contents.
'Confirm.'
Detailed information about the quest appeared. Ding.
[Regular Quest: Collect the Demons' Souls! 1] The Demon Castle is swarming with demons. Slay demons and collect their souls to earn special rewards. You can obtain one soul per demon slain, though some on the upper floors carry multiple souls.
Quest Conditions: -Enter the Demon Castle
Completion Conditions: -10,000 demon souls
Rewards: -1. Choose any 1 item -2. Bonus Stats +20 -3. An unrevealed reward
Twenty bonus stats! More than anything, the bonus stats were what caught Jin-Woo's eye first.
'I can raise my Intelligence by 20 points!'
A smile spread across his face involuntarily. He'd been painfully aware of his lack of mana.
'Because regenerating Shadow soldiers takes a ton of mana.'
As if that were the only problem. He'd also confirmed that the higher his Intelligence went, the more shadows he could extract and the more soldiers he could store. He desperately needed Intelligence stats.
'I've been limited to raising it through Level Ups and Daily Quests, but...'
If he could get 20 bonus stat points as quest rewards, all his problems would be neatly solved.
Gulp. His mouth watered.
'And on top of that.'
Jin-Woo's gaze moved upward.
[Rewards] -1. Choose any 1 item -2. Bonus Stats +20
The bonus stats alone would have been more than enough, but he could also choose one item from everything available.
'Can I really pick anything at all?'
Jin-Woo recalled the expensive equipment he'd seen in the shop listings before.
'That time for sure...'
Among the items with S-rank acquisition difficulty, there were some worth billions, even up to 10 billion gold. Granted, that 10 billion wasn't real cash but a currency that only existed within the System. Still, that was something. Even the Night Killer he was using right now was a 3 million gold item, and it had proven incredibly useful.
'If a 3 million gold B-rank item performs this well, then what about an item worth hundreds of millions, no, billions—an S-rank item?'
His curiosity was piqued. Looking at the two rewards, this was a quest he couldn't afford to miss, setting aside the unrevealed reward entirely.
'Compared to rewards like these, killing a monster or two is a piece of cake.'
Excited at the thought of quickly clearing the quest and claiming his reward, Jin-Woo's eyes went wide when he checked the completion conditions.
"Ten thousand?"
He blurted out the words in disbelief. It had gone way beyond a few monsters he could laugh off.
'This is no ordinary grind.'
He didn't know what kind of monsters demons were, but ten thousand was a staggering number.
But Jin-Woo grinned.
'If I were alone.'
He currently had fifty Shadow soldiers. Each one just needed to kill 200 for him to complete the quest. If he squeezed the soldiers dry, this little quest was nothing.
[Regular Quest: Accept 'Collect the Demons' Souls! 1'?]
'Of course.'
There was no reason to refuse.
[Quest accepted.]
The failure penalty amounted to nothing more than a little wasted time.
'When you think about the other quests... whew...'
Compared to the Class Change Quests or Emergency Quests where he'd literally had to put his life on the line first, this was a truly merciful quest.
Jin-Woo raised his head.
'Are those all going to be displayed up there?'
The moment he accepted the quest, a counter he hadn't seen before appeared above.
[Demon souls collected: 0 / 10,000]
'Ten thousand... that's a daunting number.'
Seeing the abstract target amount with his own eyes for the first time, all he could do was let out a hollow laugh. Then he noticed another counter floating in the air to the left.
'Huh?'
[Experience until next Level Up: 60,000]
The number 60,000 was displayed clearly as a hologram. It said he'd Level Up once he filled that bar.
'Now it even shows experience?'
But this was a figure he'd never seen before entering the Demon Castle.
'Let's see...'
Jin-Woo stepped back and walked outside the Demon Castle. The soul count and the experience points both vanished. When he went back in, both reappeared as if they'd never left.
'They only activate inside the Demon Castle.'
It was unfortunate they couldn't be seen from outside, but they'd be really convenient while he was inside. On the other hand...
'Could it mean that conquering this place is going to take a lot of time?'
That kind of speculation was also possible. Jin-Woo carefully reviewed the quest details one more time, then closed the message window.
'That's enough about the quest.'
He'd finally have some room to look around inside the Demon Castle.
'Whoa!'
Jin-Woo's eyes went wide.
Woooon— Inside was a city that had turned to ruins. It was an unexpected field-type Dungeon.
'What is this? Seoul?'
Would this be the vibe if everyone living in Seoul died and a hundred years passed? In a city drained of life and turned gray, streetlights flickered as if blinking.
'I can't believe it's a field-type Dungeon...'
And one based on the major metropolis of Seoul, no less. It was on a scale incomparable to the Instance Dungeons where transformations had been limited to specific locations like subway stations or department stores. Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.
'Where should I go?'
Where was the destination? Jin-Woo's gaze darted this way and that. Fortunately, his dilemma didn't last long. Far in the distance, in the direction where Namsan Tower should have been, an enormous pillar of light stretched up to the sky.
'Let's head that way.'
Jin-Woo made his way in that direction, making sure to memorize the area around the gate first, just in case he got lost.
But. He had to stop walking after only a short distance.
"Heehee." "Heeheehee."
From between the buildings, small-bodied monsters crept out one or two at a time.
[Lesser Demon]
Seeing their names written in dark crimson above their heads, Jin-Woo could identify what they were.
'They look just like...'
They looked like what you'd get if you removed the wings from the magical beast known as a Gargoyle. There were eight of them in total. Jin-Woo's lips curved upward.
'Eight souls secured.'
In an instant. Thwack! Baruka's Dagger embedded itself between one of their brows.
[Lesser Demon slain.] [100 experience gained.] [1 demon soul acquired.]
"Keeyah?" "Keeuk?"
While their attention was split on the one struck by the dagger, Jin-Woo approached another and separated its head from its neck.
Shhk!
[Lesser Demon slain.] [100 experience gained.] [1 demon soul acquired.]
This one also gave 100 experience.
'It said I need 60,000 experience, but...'
He'd only need to kill 600 Lesser Demons to Level Up. The rest were eliminated in a flash.
"Keeyaeek!" "Keuk!"
Current soul count: eight. Experience gained: 800.
'This is pretty good.'
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Jin-Woo's eyes gleamed as he searched for his next prey.
***
White Tiger Guild's CEO office. Baek Yoon-Ho was skimming through the paperwork he'd been too busy to touch for the past few days.
At the beep of the intercom, he picked up the receiver.
-Sir, Hunter Min Byung-Gu would like a call. What should I do?
"Put him through."
-Yes.
A moment later, a familiar voice came through the receiver.
-Brother Baek, why'd you turn your phone off?
Baek Yoon-Ho let out a heavy sigh.
"Because of the reporters. I'm laying low until things calm down."
-Ah, that! The Red Gate! I saw the news from Japan too. You looked pretty good on camera, brother.
"Don't push my buttons. I'm not in the mood for jokes. If I find out who leaked it to the press, I swear..."
-Brother, don't worry about that too much. It'll die down soon. There's big news coming.
"Big news? From Japan?"
-Yeah, the problem seems more serious than expected. It'll reach Korean airwaves soon too.
"Why? What happened?"
A week ago, Japan had secretly reached out to the Hunter's Association and Korea's major guilds. They needed the advice of Korean Hunters. Two days later, several of Korea's representative Hunters crossed over to Japan. Min Byung-Gu was among them. He'd been meaning to ask about it anyway.
"Stop beating around the bush and just tell me. This is the first time those Japanese have ever asked us for advice. What's all the fuss about? Those arrogant bastards."
-Brother Baek... You remember the ants from Jeju Island, right?
The S-rank Gate that opened in Jeju Island four years ago. The ants that came out of it. Three extermination operations all ended in failure. In the end, the Korean government abandoned Jeju Island, and it became a land of magical beasts.
"How could I forget that? I barely made it back alive myself."
-Apparently, they've produced a mutation.
"A mutation? It doesn't affect us anyway. Let them fight among themselves on their own island."
-Well, you see...
The voice on the other end continued, sounding troubled.
-The corpse of a winged ant was found off the coast of Japan.