Level Up - Chapter 9

The following days were rather peaceful. Hyun Seok didn’t do anything new and continued his current lifestyle.

Naturally, Choi Chang Soo and his party were sticking on to Hyun Seok, wishing to continue this peaceful life.

However, there’s a threat to their peace…
Choi Chang Soo raised an eyebrow as he entered the dungeon area.

“Doesn’t she get tired? She’s here again. What’s she aiming for?”

Hyun Seok just laughed at Choi Chang Soo’s grumbling. After all, her purpose was too obvious.
And he already had a rough idea of who might be behind Ryu Ji Hye.

“Hi!”

Ryu Ji Hye, who had already approached them, stood in front of Hyun Seok with a big smile and greeted them with a wave of welcoming hands. This was already the 10th day of her attempt.
Although she was twenty-six years old, when she was with Hyun Seok, who was five years younger than her, she didn’t feel like he was any younger than her.

“How strange.”

Usually, he was like an older brother, but sometimes, he was like an old man. She felt that was strange.

“She should be giving up by now… she’s so persistent.”

Choi Chang Soo frowned and stood in between them.

The distribution they received increased recently, and he doesn’t want it to get lower.

Unlike before, Hyun Seok had given them cores with a little more mana. They are all less than 1,000 mana, so they cannot be sold at a very high price, but if they find the right buyer, they could get a lot more.

And if they sold the cores at the black markets instead of selling them legally, they could gain even more.

He didn’t want to lose the chance to earn money for a girl with a pretty face.
Before he knew it, Choi Chang Soo had already forgotten everything he had gone through because of Hyun Seok.

In other words, he’s now greatly satisfied with his current life.

Choi Chang Soo warily eyed Ryu Ji Hye.

However, thinking about Hyun Seok’s indifferent attitude during these past 10 days, he doesn’t think that she’ll be able to change anything.

Ryu Ji Hye was so beautiful that men couldn’t help but to keep their gaze on her whenever she passed by.

Age didn’t really mean much if one was beautiful, anyway.

To be honest, even Choi Chang Soo’s heart skipped a beat when Ryu Ji Hye gave him a bright smile.

At first, Chang Soo thought that if even he had felt that way, wouldn’t it be the same for Hyun Seok, who was in the middle of puberty, and had a dominating instinct? Hyun Seok probably wanted to leap on her by now.

However, through the past 10 days, Hyun Seok acted as if he had no interest in women at all. Chang Soo had realized that there really were many different kinds of people in the world.
In fact, there were two women in Choi Chang Soo’s group and their appearances were enough to stand out. Yet, Hyun Seok never even gave them a glance.

Those two women were human too, so they also tried to seduce Hyun Seok, a potential sugar daddy. But they failed to succeed.

Still, Ryu Ji Hye was completely different from them. That’s why Choi Chang Soo was quite nervous at the beginning.

No matter how indifferent Hyun Seok was, he thought that Ryu Ji Hye was beautiful enough to shake him.

But of course, he rarely worries about that now.

Though Hyun Seok may look like a hot-blooded young man, he doesn’t act like one, and no one
could guess what was going on in that head of his.

“You’re not greeting me again? It’s been ten days already.”

At this, Hyun Seok smiled back and waved his hand slightly.
Seeing such a sight, Choi Chang Soo’s mouth had opened wide.

“This is exactly what I’m worried about!”

He believed that such a thing would never happen. To be precise, he was hoping that it wouldn’t, but it actually happened just now!

“He has opened his heart! He’ll be swept away in no time.”

At that moment, when Hyun Seok smiled and waved his hand, the same thought crossed Ryu Ji Hye’s mind at the same time.

“Did the sun rise from the west? You’ve actually greeted me.”

“I’ve seen you long enough. I thought we could at least exchange greetings, but if you don’t like
it, I’ll stop.”

Ryu Ji Hye waved fiercely at Hyun Seok’s words.

“Of course I won’t! Let’s be on friendly terms from now on.”

She smiled beautifully and reached out her hand. She honestly thought that he’d shake her hand, but Hyun Seok just smiled and passed by her.

“I don’t think we’ve gotten that close yet.”

Hyun Seok said, and stood in front of the dungeon that he had prepared in advance, without anyone knowing, of course.

Finally, it would end soon.

“Ten more days…”

It’s been almost 50 days since he started hunting for mutant Thunder Dragonflies, and making power-up kits.

He cleared an average of five dungeons a day, and each time, he collected more than ten magical cores.

If he could extract the core out well, he would be able to make three power-up kits from each magical core.

The number of power-up kits that he had created in such a way was over 5,000.
Arithmetically, there should be 7,500, but in some cases when he failed to extract the core out well, only one or two were produced.

Besides, not all magical cores were used to make power-up kits, and Hyun Seok used the kit every time he hunted too, so only about 5000 were gathered in total.

As soon as Hyun Seok was about to enter the dungeon, Ryu Ji Hye rushed up to him in a hurry.

“Wait a minute.”

At her words, Hyun Seok stopped walking and turned to her.

“Can I join you in the dungeon today? I’ll be very helpful. I’m pretty good at fighting.”

Hyun Seok then stared at her quietly.

Standing behind her were Choi Chang Soo and his comrades, anxiously waiting for his reply.

“Another time.”

After rejecting her again, Hyun Seok turned his back and entered the dungeon, leaving her behind.

And so, Choi Chang Soo and his party followed Hyun Seok with a sigh of relief.

However, this time, Chang Soo couldn’t give Ryu Ji Hye a provocative look because he was really nervous.

Ryu Ji Hye smiled at Hyun Seok’s group who disappeared into the dungeon.

“It sure took me a long time. I’ve almost got him.” She muttered.

Thinking about what happened this morning, she got irritated.

“He’s pressuring me without thinking how difficult this is. If he’s in a hurry, he should have come
himself.”

And as soon as she finished her sentence, a sudden voice replied to her.

“That’s why I came.”

“Ahhh!” Ryu Ji Hye was startled and yelped.

Behind her was a man smiling insidiously.

“Long time no see. Have you made up your mind?”

Ryu Ji Hye shivered at the man’s words.

“It’ll never happen, so don’t even bring it up.”

Hearing her answer, the man laughed softly.

But the sound of his laughter and his expression was so wicked and dark that it made Ryu Ji
Hye tremble.

“I never miss a target I put my eyes on. You know that, don’t you? Not everyone can get targeted by me, so you can think of it as an honor.”

Instead of replying, she just decided to change the topic.

“What brings you here?”

“I told you earlier. It’s because he was frustrated, so a new order was given. There were many eyes, so he couldn’t come in person. That’s why he sent someone as competent as me.”

Ryu Ji Hye closed her mouth and quietly stared at the man.

He was definitely competent. However, this man was way too cruel and cunning.
There were also rumors that the number of female players that got tainted by him had already surpassed two digits.

The man smiled at Ryu Ji Hye. She stood as firm as she could, before turning her gaze at the dungeon where Hyun Seok’s party was in.

As she realized something, Ryu Ji Hye’s eyes widened.

“Are you going to go in there?”

“Why not? Is there a problem?” The man said mockingly. “Your methods are too soft, so you
couldn’t report anything in ten days.”

Hearing his remark, Ryu Ji Hye made a stiff expression. In retrospect, he’s actually right.
Choo Kyung Hoon was behind this anyway. It was an order from the manager of the Gyeonggi branch of the Dungeon Headquarters. He could suppress any rumors or news if he wanted to.

“They had measured their levels yesterday and they were all level 27. It’s pretty good for a
Bronze.”

Even though that was true, it’s not a big deal.

The most important criterion was whether one’s level is above 30, or below.

Because Level 30 and level 29 exhibits a sky-to-ground difference due to the explosive
increases in mana and rapid improvement in mana control.

Furthermore, the level of this man is 43. If he decides to sneak in, Hyun Seok and his party will not notice anything.

They might be able to notice the man’s presence when the dungeon core breaks, but if he got out of the dungeon before that, he could fool them with ease.

“Should I have done the same?” Ryu Ji Hye thought about it for a moment but shook her head soon after.

The reason why she didn’t do it was because of Hyun Seok.

“I’m certain that there’s something. He wouldn’t move like that without checking properly.”

The man smiled at Ryu Ji Hye once again. It was an obvious sneer. It was a smile mixed with ridicule and crookedness.

“You’ll be on duty with me when this is over.”

“What?”

“That was the condition I requested. He permitted it real quick.”

Ryu Ji Hye’s expression hardened.

“You don’t have to make that face. It was going to happen someday, you know. You’re only going through it a little earlier.” The man grinned while approaching the dungeon.

Then, he turned his head and looked at Ryu Ji Hye, noticing that she was planning something.

“You’d better not think of playing any tricks. Just stand there and wait until I get back.” The man told her as he raised his finger and pointed at the cameras hanging from the countless pillars nearby.

Then, he warned her in advance not to follow in and help Hyun Seok’s party.

He entered the dungeon with a joyful smile as he watched Ryu Ji Hye’s expression becoming more serious.

Ryu Ji Hye couldn’t take her eyes off the dungeon entrance after that.

“I’m really curious about what’s going to happen there.”

She judged that Hyun Seok must’ve had something special. She doesn’t know what it is though, but she hoped for that man to pay dearly for overlooking that.

“Ahh…, I wish I could just disappear somewhere.”

* * *

Hyun Seok’s eyes subtly widened just after he had slaughtered his third Thunder Dragonfly.
He sat down in a suitable place nearby, trying to manage his facial expressions and behave as usual.

“You’re resting pretty early today.”

Instead of answering Choi Chang Soo’s comment with just a few nods, Hyun Seok just naturally looked around.

“Somebody came in.”

Hyun Seok didn’t know who came, but it was clear that it wasn’t Ryu Ji Hye.

There’s not a lot of people who know yet, but the moment a player enters a dungeon, a mana wave with that person’s unique mana pattern spreads out.

It was difficult to notice because the wave itself was weak, but for Hyun Seok, who was more sensitive than anyone else when it comes to mana, it was as obvious as being attacked by someone with a knife.

Dungeon intrusions were a frequent occurrence. And the results were mostly bad.

So when he entered the dungeon, he always had to keep that part in mind.

Hyun Seok was always careful about that while he was clearing countless dungeons so there was no way that he wouldn’t notice someone barging into the dungeon.

Choi Chang Soo, who felt that Hyun Seok’s attitude had changed, approached.
“What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”

Hyun Seok looked at him. He tried to hide it as much as he could, but he was found out. In these matters, Choi Chang Soo was very quick-witted.

“I think I’m going to have to greet a customer.”

“Customer?”

Chang Soo tilted his head with a puzzled face as he looked at Hyun Seok’s meaningful expression.

Translator and Editor Notes:

Chang Soo the real “female” lead??

BTW, as for Ryu Ji Hye’s story, I don’t know what “duty”, this guy was talking about.
They introduced that this guy had tainted a hundred or more women, so I thought he was hinting something sexual, and her response was literally what was written above. It’ll never happen. It = Sex??

Spoiler Alert, 1 Chapter ahead.
The guy said that she was delaying sth, he also mentioned that she should do a mission within her abilities. So the “Did you make up your mind” might be referring to the delayal of some mission that required something of her? Then I don’t understand why did the author even mention this guy being a sexual beast?
So it’s up to your imagination, whether it is forced sex or it is him sticking up to her because she’s pretty or some deeper plot that we have yet to see.

ED: I vote Chang Soo for best waifu… or in-law? Lmao