Solo Leveling, Vol. 1, page 19
Scheduling would be a challenge, too. All in all, the cons outweighed the reward.
I can make money anytime.
Although he felt a little disappointed, he was about to refuse the proposal when…
Wait.
Jinwoo thought of an idea that would let him kill two birds with one stone.
If I do it this way……
Jinwoo looked up at Jinho, who was extremely tense. He spoke carefully.
“I have one condition.”
Jinho’s face lit up.
“Anything you want, boss!”
Would he still be smiling after hearing what Jinwoo had to say? Jinwoo had to stop himself from grinning.
“Only you and I go in.”
“Pardon?” Jinho was caught off guard. “B-boss, sorry, but…… Did I hear that right? You’re saying you and I will clear C-rank dungeons alone?”
“Exactly.”
Jinho’s face turned ashen.
Jinwoo had killed the spider boss by himself, so Jinho could leave the bosses to him. He had trouble breathing, though, when he imagined it being only the two of them near the entrance of the gate when the bugs had swarmed at them.
“……”
Jinho was at a loss for words. Jinwoo’s face made it clear that he’d expected this reaction.
Still, this is the best way.
He could kill two birds with one stone. It was very difficult joining a strike squad as an E-rank hunter. Jinwoo had painfully realized that on the first day he’d decided to make money. He would have to either give up freelancing or form his own strike squad. But thankfully, Jinho said he would assemble a team himself.
Wasn’t this an opportunity?
“B-but, boss! In order to raid a C-rank dungeon, you have to have a minimum of ten mem—”
“A line will form if you’re paying people just to reach a head count.”
They’d need to borrow a tactic from Dongsuk’s playbook. Hunters who didn’t want to risk their lives fighting but needed to make money would apply for the job with a fire in their eyes.
Jinho looked like he’d be sick from thinking about it. “You’re not saying……we’d have to kill everything from beasts to the boss by ourselves?”
To be precise, Jinwoo would be doing all the work, but…
“That’s exactly it.”
This way, Jinwoo didn’t have to lose out on any experience, and he also wouldn’t have to watch out for other people, since he and Jinho would be the only ones there.
Then maybe my level will explode.
Having an amazing building when all the raids were over would be the cherry on top.
Now he just had to persuade Jinho. Jinwoo figured, correctly, that the young man would be trepidatious.
“B-but wouldn’t that be too dangerous, boss?”
“You have to look at both sides of the coin.”
“What?”
Jinwoo waved at him to come closer, so Jinho leaned in.
“If we’re the only two hunting, then nobody will get hurt as long as neither of us gets hurt, right?”
“R-right.”
“You just tagged along for the first raid, so there was nothing you could do about the accident. But think about successfully finishing nineteen raids safely without anyone getting hurt.”
Jinho’s eyes widened.
That’s right……! If they could pull that off, it would be a lot easier to persuade his father. After “D-rank hunter” on his résumé, he could then add “strike squad leader who led nineteen raids in a row without any accidents.” He would be more than qualified to be a guild master. It would be the best PR he could have.
Jinwoo wore a self-satisfied smile as he witnessed Jinho’s expressions.
This guy…… He’s hooked.
Jinho was the desperate one out of the two, after all. Even without him, Jinwoo could use the association or rewards from mystery boxes to raid dungeons. Meanwhile, despite being a little scared, Jinho had a lot to gain if Jinwoo’s plan was successful.
He recalled Jinwoo’s combat abilities and figured they were more than good enough to dismiss any insecurities he had.
He finally made the call.
“Let’s do this, boss. I’ll recruit the members.”
“Good.” Jinwoo nodded.
They understood each other’s needs.
Jinho was still nervous in Jinwoo’s presence, but he was now able to display a big smile.
Boss has my back.
He wasn’t worried about future raids anymore. Jinwoo was a trustworthy comrade, and with him by Jinho’s side, it’d be easier to form the strike squad. Based on the conditions Jinwoo proposed, people would be lining up around the block to join the squad.
I’m one step closer to becoming a guild master.
Jinwoo also smiled.
I can wipe out C-rank dungeons by myself and level up quickly.
They both left the café with looks of satisfaction on their faces.
Jinwoo ran home after sending Jinho off, as he didn’t know when the association would call him. It had been more than ten days since he’d been discharged from the hospital, so it wouldn’t be strange for a gate to open nearby at any time.
Normally, the association summoned hunters two to three times a month to clear gates in their area. The reason he’d given Jinho only an hour was because he was expecting a phone call from the association at any moment.
I don’t even care if it’s an E-rank dungeon……
He wanted to defeat some beasts so he could level up faster.
Who knew not having a cell phone could be so inconvenient? At least he’d receive a new one in a few days.
He opened the door and went inside.
……
The apartment was quiet. It was a weekday, so his sister was at school.
As soon as he confirmed no one was home, he opened the daily quest screen.
Gotta get today’s rewards.
He had already finished the daily quest before meeting Jinho, but he’d put off accepting the rewards because there’d been too many people around. He didn’t want people to see the blue light wrapping around his body or gift boxes popping up on the street.
Ping!
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (100/100)]
[Sit-ups 100 times: Completed (100/100)]
[Squats 100 times: Completed (100/100)]
[Running 10 km: Completed (11/10)]
[You have completed Daily Quest: Strength Training.]
[Rewards have been delivered.]
[Would you like to check your rewards?] (Y/N)
“Ye—No, no.”
Jinwoo was about to accept the rewards out of habit, but he stopped abruptly when he noticed something.
His eyes focused on the running counter.
[Running 10 km: Completed (11/10)]
His first reaction had just been to think, Oh, I did an extra kilometer. But something about it felt strange.
Why did it record the amount even after I reached the goal?
Jinwoo narrowed his eyes. Was it just a coincidence?
He got on his stomach and started doing continuous push-ups. His eyes were fixed on the screen, though.
Ping!
[You have completed 1 push-up.]
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (111/100)]
Ping!
[You have completed 1 push-up.]
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (112/100)]
That’s what I figured……
It wasn’t just running where the counter kept increasing. The push-up counter was noting the extras as well. Suddenly, Jinwoo wondered how high the numbers could go.
Veins were popping out on his arms by now. He couldn’t even feel his weight because of his increased strength ability. His body felt as light as a feather.
The count went from a hundred-something to two hundred in a flash.
Ping!
[You have completed 1 push-up.]
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (200/100)]
Ping!
[You have completed 1 push-up.]
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (200/100)]
The count stopped at two hundred. It didn’t go up any higher even though he tried a few more times.
Two hundred was the limit for sit-ups and squats as well.
[Push-ups 100 times: Completed (200/100)]
[Sit-ups 100 times: Completed (200/100)]
[Squats 100 times: Completed (200/100)]
[Running 10 km: Completed (11/10)]
No more and no less but exactly two hundred. The count wouldn’t go up infinitely, nor would it stop at one hundred.
Something was going on. He had a hunch. Would there be different results waiting for him if he hit all the counter limits?
Let’s find out.
Jinwoo was out the door in a flash. He quickly finished running nine more kilometers, and when he returned to his apartment building, he received a message.
Ping!
[You have completed Hidden Quest: Strength Training.]
[Rewards have been delivered.]
[Would you like to check your rewards?] (Y/N)
The title of the quest hadn’t changed, but the type had.
His hunch had been correct.
He swallowed nervously.
……Check.
Ping!
[YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING REWARDS.]
Reward 1. Full Recovery
Reward 2. All abilities +3
Reward 3.
1) Blessed Mystery Box (Option)
2) Cursed Mystery Box (Option)
[Would you like to accept all?]
Three points for all abilities!
Jinwoo could only stare.
The rewards were very high, which was fitting for the completion of a hidden quest. Adding three points to every stat was the same as leveling up three times. In fact, it was even better to have the abilities increase while the level didn’t. After all, it would be easier to level up with increased abilities.
At the same time, Jinwoo was slightly disappointed. He had kind of been expecting to be able to change all the daily quests to hidden quests from now on, but…
If the rewards are this impressive……
There was a high possibility that this would be a onetime event. And if this hidden quest wasn’t going to come around again, he had to be even more cautious about reward three.
Reward 3.
1) Blessed Mystery Box (Option)
2) Cursed Mystery Box (Option)
It was his first time seeing an optional reward. If he chose one, he’d most likely lose the other.
If I choose one, will I never get to see the other one again?
Going by the names, the choice was obvious. But that could be a trick.
“Accept reward three.”
Ping!
[You must choose between two mystery boxes.]
[BLESSED MYSTERY BOX]
It will supply an item the Player wants.
[CURSED MYSTERY BOX]
It will supply an item the Player needs.
The explanations were simple. It made it even harder to choose. He would’ve chosen the blessed mystery box had there been no explanation, but now he would feel a little unsatisfied no matter which one he chose.
What I want or what I need……
Both sounded tempting.
But there has to be a trick.
“An item the Player wants” was probably something he wanted based on his current needs. But “an item the Player needs” probably wasn’t like that. He could end up with something he needed but wouldn’t necessarily want.
Like if he needed a weapon, a bomb popped out that eradicated the whole area, including him.
That’s probably why it’s called the cursed mystery box.
He’d go with the less risky one. If he had to choose between something where he didn’t know the outcome, it’d be better to choose the option where he wouldn’t regret whatever happened.
After thinking through it logically, Jinwoo came to a decision.
“Blessed Mystery Box.”
A small box appeared at his feet. He picked it up.
Could it be……?!
His heart started racing. The size of the box was familiar to him.
He ripped into it.
I was right!
His eyes widened.
Inside the box was a gold key. It was a key to an instance dungeon, which he’d been desperately hoping for.
Soon the information about the key popped up.
Ping!
[ITEM: THE DEMON CASTLE’S KEY]
Acquisition Difficulty: S
Category: Key
A key to enter Dungeon: The Demon’s Castle. It can be used at Daesung Tower at Songpa-gu.
“S rank?” Jinwoo’s voice squeaked.
There was no guarantee that the acquisition difficulty reflected the level of difficulty to clear the dungeon. But Jinwoo didn’t think they were unrelated, either.
The instance dungeon he’d accessed with the E-rank key had been as easy as an E-rank dungeon. What if the dungeon’s level really was S rank?
It was impossible to know if even a team of S-rank hunters could clear it. They’d have about a fifty-fifty chance.
The difficulty of gates increased exponentially with gates that were B rank or higher, and only a few S-rank gates had ever opened around the world.
And one of them opened on Jeju Island.
Humans could no longer live on Jeju Island after that incident, so it had become no-man’s-land.
Jinwoo stared at the key.
Is this what I want?
The good thing was that it said he could “enter” the gate with this key, unlike the other key that had said it would “take” him to the dungeon.
That meant he could retreat at any time. Even if the key disappeared, he had a teleportation stone in his inventory. He didn’t have to worry about being stuck in a place with invisible walls. He could decide whether to attack the dungeon after checking it out using his increased perception ability.
If this really is what I’ve been wanting, I’ll progress to new heights after this.
Jinwoo made up his mind.
He wanted to see with his own eyes if this key truly was what he wanted.
8
THE DEMON’S CASTLE
Jinwoo stood outside Daesung Tower. It was a giant building with more than one hundred floors that looked like it was going to poke the sky. Skyscraper was a very apt name for it. Jinwoo felt dizzy just looking up at it.
Since it was night, not many people were walking by. The empty streets had a creepy vibe to them.
Still, just in case……
Jinwoo looked around and then pulled his hood forward. A person disappearing and reappearing without the presence of a gate was sure to cause a disturbance. Plus, it wasn’t a bad idea to be cautious, since there were surveillance cameras everywhere.
In fact, someone was actually watching Jinwoo at that very moment.
Who the hell is that?
A person circling the building with their hood up at this time of night was definitely suspicious. The security guard watching Jinwoo from inside the building stood up to confront him.
As the guard headed for the door, he suddenly stopped, and his eyes bulged out.
“Wh-what?” Shocked, he ran out of the building.
The man who’d been walking in his direction had disappeared in the blink of an eye. There wasn’t a trace of him. The security guard searched everywhere but couldn’t find a single other living creature, not even an ant.
He turned around and shook his head. “Huh. How strange……”
He was about to head back inside the building, but seeing something out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head.
“A-aaaaaack!” The horrified security guard fell to the floor.
“Wh-what is that?!”
His face grew pale as he screamed.
A single human hand floated in midair in front of him before vanishing.
Jinwoo withdrew his hand.
It’s connected to the outside.
This place wasn’t blocked by the barrier like the last time. The key hadn’t disappeared and was still in his pocket. That meant he could leave anytime he wanted.
I have a way out of here……
He was more cautious than usual in case the acquisition difficulty of the key indicated the level of the dungeon.
He took off his hood and looked back.
“……”
What he saw almost made him groan aloud. When Jinwoo walked a few steps toward where Daesung Tower should have been, the world in front of him changed completely.
Could this be called a dungeon? He was in a totally different world now.
Where once had stood Daesung Tower was now an incredibly huge spire.
It looks more like a medieval tower than a castle.
The tower that stretched out endlessly toward the sky was covered in blackish-red fire. But it wasn’t on fire; it looked more like the flames were part of the structure.
“A towering tower of fire.”
That would be a more apt name than the Demon’s Castle.
Jinwoo started walking toward it.
FWOOSHHH!
As he got closer, the sound of the flickering flames grew louder.
Can I go inside?
Even if he could, there was a problem. If this dungeon was based on the layout of Daesung Tower just as the last dungeon had been based on the layout of the subway station, he would have to clear one hundred levels to complete it.
He couldn’t begin to guess how long that would take.
Huh?
Jinwoo stopped. He sensed a powerful presence near the door. He examined the area carefully and spotted a black animal as big as a cow curled up and sleeping in a corner near the door.
He quietly summoned Kasaka’s Venom Fang.
Ping!
