F-Rank Secretly Becomes Stronger - Chapter 50

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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50

After Jia disappeared.

Juhyeok set out to find an A-rank Gate right after his mandatory rest period ended, as usual.

This time, there wasn’t much difficulty in finding an A-rank Gate.

The incident that occurred at the Gate he had entered with Hyeonsu had already spread as rumors, and as more people directly witnessed his skills with their own eyes, an atmosphere gradually formed where they acknowledged him.

Of course, since A-rank Gates themselves aren’t generated that frequently, there was some difficulty in finding one…

Fortunately, he managed to squeeze into one remaining vacant spot and joined the party.

“Well then, let’s all go in.”

The gazes gathering on him as always.

If it were before, he would have felt burdened, but now it doesn’t bother him at all.

Even during his Academy days, he had received this kind of attention quite often.

‘I just need to make sure the artifact isn’t discovered.’

Even the bandages secretly tied under his armor in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.

Juhyeok had thoroughly hidden his artifact.

“Vanguards, let’s go in while slightly slowing the tempo!”

This Gate’s strategy was also proceeding smoothly.

Since it was a Gate that had been cleared several times before, there wouldn’t be any problems.

As they advanced with the party, a good atmosphere formed and he thought a peaceful strategy might finally end after a long time.

Woof—!

Until a three-headed mutt appeared before us.

“Ce, Cerberus?”

“Why is that thing here!”

Cerberus appeared from the cave.

All party members couldn’t help but be shocked by the Cerberus that suddenly appeared while they were only hunting undead and slime types.

‘This guy appears in an A-rank Gate, not even in a boss room but in a place where only mobs come out?’

No matter how he thought about it, the situation didn’t make sense.

It was too much of a stretch to consider it a mutation like during Juhyeok’s first Gate.

“What do we, what do we do…?”

“What do you mean what do we do, we have to kill it first.”

The party members who fell into panic but quickly pulled themselves together and entered combat stance.

One S-rank monster and four A-rank Hunters.

If they all attacked together, there might be a chance of winning, but it would be the kind of fight where they’d barely win after fighting to near death.

While everyone was barely swallowing the fear rising from below their legs.

Juhyeok, who was calmly observing the situation, spotted a familiar accessory near Cerberus’s neck.

‘That collar… the Cerberus from that time?’

He had encountered Cerberus exactly twice in his life so far.

Now, and previously when he entered Hell and met Mephisto’s mutt.

Since it was a memory where he almost died, the characteristics were deeply etched in his mind.

Among them, the collar with unique studs was definitely memorable.

‘It seems to be that bastard.’

What business could Mephisto’s mutt possibly have coming all the way here.

In fact, the answer to that question didn’t take very long.

Juhyeok raised his arm to stop the party members who were about to enter combat and said.

“Fighting now would be suicide.”

“What?”

The party members expressed their confusion.

Juhyeok pointed with his finger at the collar he had just been looking at.

“Seeing that it has a collar, this guy has a master.”

The collar that everyone had failed to notice while focusing only on Cerberus itself.

When it came into view, they seemed to realize what it meant and frowned with a start.

“You’re saying a guy even stronger than that one might appear.”

“That may be so, but… since we’ve encountered it, we have no choice but to fight.”

“Yes, we have no choice but to fight.”

Juhyeok said quietly while drawing his sword.

“But that doesn’t mean all of us need to.”

“….”

Juhyeok drew his sword while saying they didn’t all need to fight together.

None of the party members could fail to understand what those words meant.

“I’ll handle this, so evacuate quickly.”

“But we can’t leave Hunter Juhyeok behind….”

“Then are you saying we should all die together?”

A question thrown back in a voice that was both solemn and matter-of-fact.

Before they could argue back, Juhyeok slowly approached Cerberus and said.

“Go back and call for people before I change my mind.”

“….”

The hesitating party members.

They seemed troubled about leaving the rookie hunter behind, but soon the leader seemed to make a decision and put away her weapon.

“We’ll be back soon.”

“Please come before I die.”

The leader left without being able to give a response.

Her heart was probably burning with anxiety.

She must be feeling guilty about the current situation that demanded sacrifice from a rookie hunter.

The sound of footsteps gradually grew distant.

The party members fled at full speed.

Cerberus didn’t spare a glance at the party members who turned their backs and ran, quietly waiting in place.

“….”

“….”

A situation where they were just facing off against each other.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t settled things with this guy yet….’

The fight that couldn’t be finished that day due to Mephisto’s appearance.

In fact, if Mephisto hadn’t appeared at that moment, he would have surely died, but now it was clearly different.

Now, after eating the Dream Herb and even visiting the Contaminated Training Room.

[That wasn’t a finger flick that you, who struggled against Jinky, could easily dodge.]

He could win.

That mutt’s magic stone would be a great help for the funds needed to establish a guild.

Just as Juhyeok was slowly approaching with his sword drawn, salivating at the appetizing prey.

Woof―!

Cerberus barked lightly and stepped back slightly.

Soon, the left head that had been keeping its mouth tightly shut spat something out.

“…A magic stone?”

No, it was a jewel that emitted too much light to be called a magic stone.

Before he could figure out what it was, Cerberus crushed the jewel with its front paw.

Crack―!

The jewel shattered with a quite heavy sound.

As the front paw that had crushed the jewel was revealed, smoke began to rise and gradually formed a familiar shape.

‘A Gate.’

A Gate created when the jewel was crushed.

Not long after the Gate appeared, a familiar face emerged from it and smiled playfully.

“Hello~ Long time no see.”

Mephisto appeared from the Gate with a welcoming expression.

He had expected her to appear naturally, but since she had shown up, settling things with Cerberus would have to be postponed, which was a bit disappointing.

“Why did you suddenly appear in an A-rank Gate?”

“There’s no other way to meet you… so I had no choice but to make an appearance.”

“What if the party members hadn’t run away?”

“Hey, if I had appeared anyway, they all would have fled in a hurry, right?”

She had a point.

If a dangerous demon like her suddenly appeared in an A-rank Gate, anyone would only think of running away.

“So what’s your business here.”

“Something interesting came up, so I came to find you.”

She leaned against Cerberus and asked softly.

“You met a human who made a contract with me recently, didn’t you?”

“…Made a contract with you?”

“Why~ you’ve been meeting them every day lately.”

Someone he had met every day for a week.

As soon as Juhyeok heard those words, he almost fell into shock thinking of Hyeonsu, but fortunately Mephisto brought up different distinguishing features.

“A girl who smokes a lot and has severe dark circles.”

A woman who reeked heavily of cigarette smoke and had severe dark circles.

Among the people he had met recently, there was only one person with such characteristics.

“Seong Jia.”

“That’s right, Seong Jia.”

Jia, who had told him to stay put because she would destroy the Association.

To think that she was the human who had made a contract with Mephisto.

His eyes narrowed at this unexpected connection.

“That person made a contract with you?”

“A little over 10 years ago?”

Is it 10 years?

She muttered to herself and slowly began to extend her fingers, but since he didn’t particularly want to continue the conversation with Jia as the topic, he answered indifferently.

“What does that have to do with me.”

“Right, it seems to have nothing to do with you, so I came to make it relevant.”

Saying so with exaggerated hand gestures.

Like a musical actor, she began to recite her lines with deep appeal.

“Do you know how pitiful her past is? How desperate must she have been to even make a contract with a demon…”

Mephisto glanced at Juhyeok while saying this.

Soon she put away her exaggerated gestures and said with a snicker.

“You don’t seem particularly curious.”

“There are probably far more villains with stories than villains without stories in this world.”

He already knew well enough from the first person who came to Hyeonho Candy that they had purposes other than money.

What he knew stopped right there.

“Learning more would only make me uncomfortable.”

When the day came that he had to stop them, if he remembered those stories, hesitation would probably seep into his sword.

Juhyeok knew he wasn’t cold-blooded enough to cut them down without being affected even after hearing their pasts, so he deliberately didn’t satisfy his curiosity.

“Right, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.”

Mephisto had caught on to all of Juhyeok’s intentions.

“I want you to know.”

“I said I don’t want to know.”

“I know, I expected that from the beginning, and I just heard it clearly from your own mouth.”

“Then isn’t our conversation over?”

He had a rough idea of what she wanted.

The sight of a conflicted human.

For her, there would be no more enjoyable entertainment than that.

‘There’s no need to get more involved in such games.’

It didn’t matter whether he heard it or not, so why should he bother listening to the pathetic stories of villains and feel uncomfortable?

The cost-benefit analysis didn’t match at all.

Juhyeok wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed listening to such stories.

“I obtained information about Garisto, wouldn’t you need it?”

Mephisto knew that too.

She had roughly expected it.

That he wasn’t the foolish type of human who would seek out such stories.

“This isn’t a bet, it’s a trade.”

Yet she had deliberately come to bring up that story for a good reason.

A condition she had brought along with terms that Juhyeok absolutely couldn’t refuse.

“In exchange for giving you information about Garisto, you will listen intently to that guy’s past.”

Mephisto grinned from ear to ear.

Her face, which looked no different from a human’s except for her skin color and eyes, reminded him at moments like this that she was truly a pure demon.

“What will you do?”

“….”

A moment of anguish followed.

Honestly, just getting information about Garisto by listening to Seong Jia’s past story seemed like a deal with sufficient merit.

Good enough conditions that anyone would naturally step forward to make the deal.

However, for a demon like Mephisto to come all this way and propose it, the conditions seemed too favorable to only one side.

That part bothered him considerably.

“That information might be useless to me, so should I really take the risk to hear it?”

“Hmm~ It’s absolutely necessary information for entering Garisto Mansion. I’ll guarantee it on my name.”

After saying that, she turned her head somewhere else.

Then she sighed as if disappointed and said.

“Oh my, they’ve already entered inside the Gate.”

With those words, Mephisto moved toward the Gate along with Cerberus.

She disappeared while adding final words with her farewell.

“You remember the place we met before, right? I’ll open it tomorrow at the same time, so see you then~”

“….”

Her figure disappeared like that.

The Gate closed shortly after, and Juhyeok was left alone with his choices.

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