Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 48
After a day of deliberation, Hyeonjun decided not to contact the Management Bureau.
It was essentially handing over his life for 10 billion won, and he had no interest in taking that kind of risk.
‘Unless we could keep in touch in secret.’
Like using some special artifact, for example.
Unless he was the one reaching out first through some method like that, the best he could do for now was keep hunting as usual.
“I’m heading out.”
Having finished copying and absorbing the runes, Hyeonjun set off hunting again today.
He left the house with his younger sister seeing him off.
“Take care of yourself. Don’t get hurt, and don’t do anything that looks like it might get you hurt. You absolutely can’t push yourself too hard, okay?”
“Of course.”
Hyeona stood there, her face full of worry and anxiety.
Hyeonjun told her not to worry, answered with confidence, and turned around.
‘I should be used to this by now.’
Hunter life, which had become his everyday existence.
But Hyeona’s worry had grown even deeper than before.
‘If I told her I’d brought back a buff from the Tower, she’d probably faint on the spot, right?’
For now, he planned to keep everything related to the Tower a secret.
If she found out he was going into the Tower, her worry would multiply several times over.
‘I’ll tell her when the time comes.’
I wonder how she’d react.
Would she make a huge fuss?
Hyeonjun let a smile tug at his lips and took out his smartphone.
He double-checked the route to today’s destination on the map app.
Today’s destination was an E-Rank hunting ground.
He intended to go in there and make his way to the Tower.
‘With Hyeona at home, it’s hard to get into the Tower from there.’
He’d considered some secluded back alley, but that was ruled out too, since someone might spot him.
Renting a private space like a motel or hotel was also a waste of money.
So in the end, what he chose was an Anomaly Space.
Among them, an Open-Type Gate that anyone could come and go through freely.
‘If it’s there, nobody will think it’s strange if I come out late, and there are plenty of places to hide, so I don’t need to worry about anyone seeing me.’
The plan for today was to enter the Tower, clear the second floor, hunt for a bit, and then come back out.
At first he’d meant to hunt before going in, but he judged that entering the Tower while even slightly fatigued was dangerous.
‘The difficulty gap between the first and second floors probably won’t be big, but it’s still better to cut down on the risk.’
First, I’ll clear the second floor.
If I still have energy left, I’ll hunt some monsters.
‘Hm?’
Hyeonjun walked toward the bus stop, glancing at the map.
For some reason, the back of his head was prickling.
He turned around, but all he saw were people hurrying to work in the morning rush.
‘What is it?’
Hyeonjun tilted his head and kept walking.
He rode the bus for a long while until he reached the hunting ground, his destination.
“Zzzz.”
A staff member was dozing inside the guard booth.
Given how few people came here, it was understandable that he’d nap so openly.
Hyeonjun had deliberately chosen a place like this so he could get into the Tower.
“Excuse me.”
Hyeonjun woke the staff member, had his Hunter ID Card checked, and walked through the gate.

.

E-Rank hunting ground, Spore Jungle.
Between trees crowded together like a jungle, mushrooms as enormous as the trees themselves were growing.
“Hm.”
Once inside, Hyeonjun stopped where he stood and rubbed the back of his head.
The moment he stepped into the gate, the tingling that had been needling the back of his head vanished as if it had never been there.
“That’s strange.”
The timing of the tingling disappearing was almost too perfect.
Something his instincts had reacted to, though he couldn’t yet put a finger on what.
‘What on earth is it?’
Hyeonjun turned around.
He considered stepping back out through the gate to check whether it was just his imagination, then thought better of it and turned his body back around.
‘Let’s just head for the tower.’
Once we’re inside, it’ll be obvious soon enough.
Just as Hyeonjun was about to enter the tower—
Zap!
That strange prickle at the back of his head again.
Hyeonjun whipped around.
A man was standing there.
“…….”
Their eyes met in silence.
The man smiled awkwardly and held out his hand to Hyeonjun.
“Hello there. Looks like you’ve come to hunt too.”
“Hello.”
Hyeonjun glared at the offered hand for a moment, then clasped it, quickly sizing the man up as they shook.
The appearance of an ordinary Hunter, dressed in leather armor.
Yet the instant Hyeonjun laid eyes on him, he knew.
‘It’s this one.’
That unidentifiable sensation that had been needling the back of his head since he left home.
The man standing right in front of him was the culprit.
Otherwise, that prickling that had vanished after he entered the gate could not have returned the moment this man appeared.
“My name’s Lee Musong, and this is my first time here. What’s your trait, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I use daggers.”
“So you’re a close-combat type. I’m an archer. Want to hunt together?”
A man offering to form a party.
Hyeonjun aimed the Discernment skill at the man.
[Activating .]
[Hidden information will be revealed.]
[A gap exists between you and the target.]
[Completing Discernment will take time.]
[Information]
– Name: Jeong Yunchang
– Age: 31
– Trait:
– Circuit Rank: C
– Stats
Strength: 5
Agility: 11
Stamina: 6
Mana: 4
Mental Power: 3
[Skill: Discernment in progress……]
The man’s information unfolded before him.
Hyeonjun nodded as he read through the details.
“Sounds good to me. I’m E-Rank. What about you?”
“I’m E-Rank too.”
The name was a lie, the ranged claim was a lie, and the rank was a lie too.
Not a single word out of Lee Musong’s mouth, or rather Jeong Yunchang’s, had been true.
‘Given that trait of Unseen Blade, he looks like an assassin type.’
Hyeonjun focused on the word unseen.
That prickling at the back of his head, the one he’d felt all this time.
Maybe that was the man’s reaction to using a skill to conceal himself?
‘He’s been doing this since my place, but I never saw anyone like him back then.’
The man could hide his presence.
Hyeonjun was fairly certain of it.
‘Why did he follow me?’
It certainly wasn’t for any good reason.
And given that he was a stranger, he probably hadn’t been plotting something on his own and tailing me either.
Someone must have put him up to this, but…
‘Who, exactly? And why?’
Nothing came to mind right away.
I didn’t remember holding a grudge against anyone.
‘Catching him and asking directly is the quickest route.’
The problem was his strength.
One rank above, C-Rank.
His Stats weren’t high in themselves, but once there’s a Rank gap like that, low Stats don’t mean much.
‘Head-on, my odds of winning are close to zero.’
Unless his Agility is weak, which I can’t say for sure, the Trait name and his highest Stat suggest he’s the type who relies on Agility as his weapon.
Even using Analysis’s slow effect, it wouldn’t be easy.
When the odds are poor, the wisest move is to avoid the fight.
‘Better to go after him from a different angle than to meet him head-on.’
The only thing I had over Jeong Yunchang right now was information.
He’s probably convinced his lie has worked.
Couldn’t I turn that very belief against him and make him pay for it?
‘…Yes, that method will do.’
A flash ran through Hyeonjun’s mind, and an idea took shape.
A plan that could only be carried out here, in the Spore Jungle.
It required a few conditions, but if those were met, I could subdue him without much effort.
“Let’s go.”
Hyeonjun took the lead.
.
.
.
‘Whew, that scared me.’
Jeong Yunchang had used Invisibility to slip into the hunting ground.
The moment he dropped the Invisibility, the target turned around, and my heart nearly dropped through the floor.
I almost got caught in the act of him breaking the Invisibility.
‘Bastard. Scaring people like that.’
Luckily, he formed the Party without any suspicion, and I bluffed that I was an archer to secure the rear position.
‘Once he’s worn out, that’s when I’ll sucker-punch him.’
The target’s Rank was E.
I could take him easily right now, but since there’s always a chance of something going wrong, I had no intention of letting my guard down.
“Monster ahead.”
Before long, we came across our first monster.
It had small legs beneath its round mushroom body, and it waddled about like a penguin.
It stood about one meter and twenty to thirty centimeters tall.
Sharp spikes jutted from its cap.
“That’s a Spiked Mushroom.”
“I’ll draw its aggro.”
Jeong Yunchang pulled out an arrow and fired.
It wasn’t his usual weapon, so his stance looked awkward, but only Hyeonjun noticed. Jeong Yunchang himself didn’t realize it.
Having never used one before, he had no way of knowing anything was wrong.
Fwip!
“Kyeooot!”
The Spiked Mushroom reared up in fury and charged toward the two of them.
Hyeonjun deliberately didn’t back off. He waited, then ducked out of sight just as the creature was about to fire its spikes.
Pa-bak!
The launched spikes buried themselves in the trees.
Until its spikes regenerated, the creature had no means of attacking.
Shk!
Jeong Yunchang’s arrow and Hyeonjun’s dagger struck the Spiked Mushroom’s body one after another.
After repeating that sequence a few more times, the Spiked Mushroom collapsed.
“I’ll handle the loot harvesting.”
Hyeonjun harvested the mushroom’s loot with practiced ease.
Remarkably quick.
Jeong Yunchang watched the process without giving it much thought.
“You’re quick with your hands.”
“I’ve been on my own a lot, so I picked it up fast.”
The next one they ran into was a Stone Mushroom.
It had a shell as hard as stone.
“They’re avoidable, right? Our weapons won’t do much damage to them.”
“Hmm…”
Hyeonjun didn’t want to do that.
He had to pass through this zone to carry out his plan, and he also needed the Stone Mushroom’s loot.
“I’ll take care of it. You can rest over there.”
“Huh? No, wait, how exactly are you going to—”
Thwack!
Hyeonjun tucked his dagger away and, without a word of warning, launched straight into a flurry of punches.
In truth, a War Hammer was sitting in his bag, but Hyeonjun saw no need to show his opponent yet another weapon.
‘This way it’ll be easier to lure him into letting his guard down.’
A bloody brawl.
Jeong Yunchang watched the scene and unconsciously took a step back.
‘Is this guy missing a few screws?’
Otherwise, there was no way anyone would fight a monster bare-handed, weapon or not.
‘There are rocks lying all over the ground. Why not pick one up and smash it with that…?’
The fight ended before long.
Panting heavily, Hyeonjun harvested the loot.
When his eyes met Jeong Yunchang’s dazed gaze, he silently gave him a thumbs-up.
Jeong Yunchang asked, sounding worn out.
“Do you always hunt like this?”
“Yes.”
“Ah… I see.”
After that, the hunt went smoothly.
Jeong Yunchang fired arrows from behind, while Hyeonjun handled both damage and tanking at the front.
‘Not much left.’
Watching Hyeonjun grow sluggish, Jeong Yunchang smiled to himself.
‘If he suggests taking a break first, I’ll pretend to rest and strike while he’s off guard.’
But contrary to his expectations, Hyeonjun pressed onward without a single break.
If anything, it was Jeong Yunchang, the one who kept shooting arrows, who was nearing exhaustion.
Since he rarely used this weapon, fatigue piled up in no time.
‘Why is this so hard?’
Aiming was tough, and drawing the string took a surprising amount of strength.
On top of that, since he didn’t usually hunt much, the nonstop battles were wearing down his nerves considerably.
“Aren’t we going to rest?”
“There’s a decent spot to rest just ahead.”
Before long, the two of them came upon a long passageway.
Spore Jungle is divided into two major zones, and the dividing line is the Toxic Forest, which is packed with poisonous mushrooms.
This passage was the only route that cut across the Toxic Forest and allowed passage to the other side.
‘What’s this, then?’
Jeong Yunchang studied the passageway with curious eyes.
It was roughly three to four meters wide.
And about ten meters high.
The faint green glow inside made it look like a long plant stem had been cut and laid on its side.
“Are we going through here?”
“Yeah. There are monsters on the other side too. Let’s rest for a bit inside the passage before we go on.”
The two of them stepped into the passage.
The exit on the opposite end was quite a distance away.
After walking for a good while, Hyeonjun, who had been leading the way, stopped in his tracks.
They were not far from the exit on the other side.
“Let’s rest here for a bit.”
“Finally, a break.”
Jeong Yunchang welcomed the pause and sat down.
He had originally meant to stab Hyeonjun in the back right about now, but resting took priority over that.
“Want some?”
Hyeonjun pulled out food and drinks he’d packed in his bag.
Jeong Yunchang nodded eagerly.
“Thanks, I’ll gladly take some.”
The two of them shared the snacks.
Hyeonjun quickly finished his share and got to his feet.
Jeong Yunchang, who hadn’t even managed half of his, looked up in confusion.
“You’re leaving already?”
“Stay here. I’ll go ahead and check where the monsters are. As you know, there are some pretty dangerous ones beyond this point.”
If the early-to-mid stretch is Mushroom Hill, then the kinds of monsters that appear change drastically once you pass through the corridor.
Jeong Yunchang had followed Hyeonjun and ended up here by sheer accident, so of course he didn’t know that, but he pretended he did.
“Ah, yes, of course. Will you be all right?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Hyeonjun grabbed his bag and headed off.
Jeong Yunchang, thinking nothing of it, went on eating the leftover snacks.
Then, all of a sudden, a smell drifted in from somewhere.
“What’s that smell?”
It was a strange scent.
It wasn’t foul enough to call a stench, nor pleasant enough to call a fragrance.
“Is it coming from the wall?”
Judging by the look of it, it seemed like someone had sliced through the trunk of a plant.
It had to be the smell of that plant.
“Then it should’ve been smelling like this from the moment we entered the corridor.”
Jeong Yunchang tilted his head, but he didn’t give it much thought.
It was just a smell. There was nothing about it worth being suspicious of.
“Hope that guy doesn’t get himself killed while gawking at the monsters.”
He had decent skills.
The problem was his recklessness, the way he’d gone punching at a Stone Mushroom.
If that kind of recklessness kicked in somewhere I couldn’t reach him, it’d be a real headache.
“That’s it. I’d better follow him after all.”
Just as Jeong Yunchang was getting to his feet—
Kugugung.
A tremor rolled through the ground from somewhere.
Jeong Yunchang glanced around.
‘What is that?’
It wasn’t a particularly violent shake.
It was the kind of vibration you’d feel when a construction truck rumbles past on a nearby road.
Figuring it would die down soon, Jeong Yunchang moved toward the exit Hyeonjun had gone through.
Kugugugung.
But contrary to his expectations, the tremor didn’t fade. It grew even stronger.
What had started out at the level of a freight truck quickly climbed to the intensity of an earthquake.
‘Shit. What the hell is this?’
Losing all composure, Jeong Yunchang ran for the exit.
The moment he burst out of the corridor, he finally understood what was causing the tremors.
Kwaagwagwagwagwang!
From the far side, hundreds of monsters came charging through, crushing trees and mushrooms underfoot.
It was, quite literally, a Monster Tide.
And at the very front of them stood the target he had been hunting all along.
“W-what the hell, you lunatic!”
Hyeonjun had said he’d only go check where the monsters were.
Instead, he had dragged in the aggro of every single monster in the area.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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