Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 169

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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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Chapter 169

Just 10 minutes before we would enter the Labyrinth Dungeon in earnest.

We drove for about 3 hours and arrived in front of an abandoned house in some provincial countryside.

For reference, I borrowed my hyung’s car without him knowing and ‘personally’ drove here in the middle of the night.

“Humans are clever to entrust their bodies to such scrap metal lumps.”

“You don’t even know what a car is? Idiot!”

Actually, stopping those two from bickering was harder than the long-distance driving.

“Don’t fight.”

“We weren’t fighting.”

“Didn’t fight.”

There they go again.

After I scolded them a few times, now they’re pretending they weren’t fighting.

‘Well… at least they’re not hitting each other in the car.’

I sighed and got out of the car. The texture of pebbles felt strange under my feet.

‘I actually came here after all.’

The problem was eagerly answering Kang Ho-won’s phone call like he was some savior.

-“Oh my, there’s some black leg-like thing on an altar with jewels and all sorts of chaos, but I can’t even approach it because there’s a barrier, you know?”

I didn’t even put it on speaker, but she managed to hear it.

-“My… leg?”

Apart from snacks, the only thing Nabi obsesses over is her own body.

She’d probably want to go even if it were in hell.

-Is it really a black leg?

-“Huh? Oh, yes of course. It looks like a monster’s corpse, but well, if you carelessly touch it here, flesh will go flying…”

Kang Ho-won gave me the final confirmation to my question without any room for doubt.

-“My leg! My leg, let’s go find it! Right now! Immediately!”

-“Where are you going at this hour of the night?”

-“Grandfather? Then you sleep! I’m going to look for it with hyung.”

That wasn’t something that could be stopped with mere words.

Besides, it was uncertain whether I could take Nabi’s leg during the process of exchanging the wooden totem that Kang Ho-won needed.

‘In that case, it’s better to naturally join and secretly take it.’

I avoided Sang-jwa and gently pressed down on Nabi’s head as she nestled in my arms.

“Why?”

“I do all sorts of things because of you.”

“Good!”

“…Yeah, so good. I’m so happy I’m about to cry.”

I would have preferred to leave both of them behind and go alone quickly.

One was the owner of the leg, and the other was that stubborn Sang-jwa, so even this wasn’t easy.

“You could have stayed home.”

“Rather than staying alone in that mouse hole of a house, it’s better to at least get some fresh air.”

Such pretty words he uses.

After saying that, I watched the back of Sang-jwa’s head—no, Kim Yu-seong’s head—as he walked ahead.

‘Well, this worked out better anyway.’

From the moment I decided to bring Nabi, it was more advantageous to bring that guy too.

And this judgment of mine was accurate.

The area in front of the abandoned house was littered with only trash and dust, like a place swept clean by crowds.

Just then, Kang Ho-won came out through the main gate of the abandoned house, probably to smoke a cigarette.

He was picking up trash with a cigarette in his mouth when our eyes met.

“Ah~ People really have no manners, seriously… huh?”

Then he immediately ran toward me with surprised eyes.

“Teacher! You really… came all the way here? I could have gone to pick you up.”

I calmly greeted him and said.

“It’s fine. Oh, but about that dungeon with the bridge.”

“Ah, yes yes. We’re planning to go back in with just that totem item. Thank you so much for coming all this way-“

“I’d like to go in too.”

I briefly showed him the wooden totem Nabi had given me as a gift, then put it back in my pocket.

‘She said this was absolutely necessary to approach the altar.’

What on earth did that Nabi give me as a gift?

Then, Kang Ho-won, who had been nodding his head at my actions, suddenly stopped and said this.

“No, that… Obviously that’s not allowed.”

As expected, he can’t be too firm because of what he did to me.

“Yes, obviously it’s not allowed. I’m a civilian, a law-abiding citizen, and an ordinary kindergarten teacher.”

“…Teacher, you’re more vindictive than you look.”

“I think you’ve got the wrong impression of me.”

Anyway, so it’s not allowed.

I pretended to nod understandingly, then subtly signaled to Kim Yu-seong who was watching us from the side.

Following that signal, Kim Yu-seong closed the distance with Kang Ho-won.

“Uh, um… Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Then, just before the flustered man could use teleportation, Kim Yu-seong reached his hand toward Kang Ho-won’s forehead.

After that.

His dark brown eyes mixed with red energy slowly died… then slowly came back to life.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he said with a hearty smile.

“Ah, so you’re Teacher’s friend and younger sibling? Then, you can come in together! Of course you can, naturally…”

Good thing I asked Kim Yu-seong in advance on the way here.

After all, any sane human wouldn’t quietly let us into the dungeon.

What followed was the same.

We used the same method to brainwash Choi Un-seong from Field Team Na that I’d seen before, and two colleague hunters.

Thus, we were able to enter the dungeon smoothly without any interference.

“Wait, when did I give permission for me to go like this?”

Of course, true to his paranoid nature, Kang Ho-won’s exceptional reality awareness meant the brainwashing wore off intermittently…

“This guy’s brainwashing wears off unusually easily. Is he defective?”

Kim Yu-seong got annoyed and provided after-service, so we could overcome the crisis.

‘Wouldn’t he normally doubt his own ability?’

Anyway, thanks to Kim Yu-seong’s brainwashing, I was able to casually look around the dungeon interior with a much more relaxed mind.

Perhaps because it was surrounded by stone floors and stone walls on all sides, it was damp and musty.

A place reminiscent of the maze escape games I’d played around with at PC cafes in middle school.

However, the interior was more spacious vertically than expected and not very dark.

‘They said it was already cleared so it wasn’t dangerous.’

Maybe that’s why the personnel were all somewhat…

S-rank Eternal Hunter and D-rank elderly hunter Yu Ba-da, whom I’d met face-to-face before.

Apart from the strong impression I felt when introduced, their behavior was somehow strange.

“That… it’s really pretty.”

“Please, watch where you’re going.”

Yeong Won-ha kept eyeing the lucky totem in my hand.

“Your name is Nabi? How cute! But have you ever killed a skeleton?”

“No! Why?”

“They keep saying you’re scary, but I don’t understand why. You’re just cute.”

Yu Ba-da seemed completely uninterested in the dungeon, totally absorbed in Nabi’s cuteness.

He pulled out a star-shaped keyring from his bag and handed it to Nabi.

“Take this.”

“Is it food?”

“No, it’s the same as the puppy doll attached to your bag.”

“Aha! Thanks!”

Is it really okay to go with this combination?

At least it’s fortunate that Kang Ho-won and Choi Un-seong are acting like proper ‘Hunters’.

“Um, Teacher, this might be awkward timing given the situation, but if you don’t mind, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

Then suddenly, Kang Ho-won, who had somehow moved to walk alongside me, spoke up. I nodded lightly.

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Could you please check on our Team Leader just once?”

“….”

I immediately understood what he meant by those words.

I shifted my gaze to look at him.

Kang Ho-won was maintaining as expressionless a face as possible, but his eyes couldn’t do the same.

His pupils trembled slightly.

I forced myself to recall that day that made my teeth clench just thinking about it.

The day when a fight broke out during Kang Ho-won’s one-sided interrogation as we were returning after handing back Elumis.

During that argument, I had touched upon Kang Ho-won’s reverse scale while trying to find his weakness.

-“Is there a problem with your Team Leader?”

-“Is there something wrong with her head?”

Though unintentional, he was visibly shaken by my words.

Just like now.

-“Is there a way to fix it?”

The fact that he immediately asked about a way to fix it in that situation showed just how desperate Kang Ho-won was.

-“Why are you asking me that?”

‘I was angry back then, so I brushed it off like that.’

Seeing someone humble themselves to this extent makes me uncomfortable.

“Hah….”

I sighed and pressed my brow.

‘Team Leader Moon Chae-yeong really does seem to have physical head pain to begin with.’

If that’s the case, even if I check Moon Chae-yeong’s condition with my Status Window, it probably won’t be of much help.

“Please, I’m begging you.”

Still, ignoring someone who’s even bowing their head to ask for help wouldn’t be right.

Eventually, I waved my hand slightly and answered.

“I’ll just take a look for now. But I’m telling you in advance, it probably won’t be much help.”

I shouldn’t give him false hope.

“Of course. I’m grateful just for that.”

But why are you smiling again?

“In return, it’s not really a request but… there’s something I’m curious about.”

“Yes, please ask me anything.”

“That black bridge on the altar… is it absolutely necessary for you, Ho-won?”

We desperately need it, but what about your side?

Kang Ho-won scratched his eyebrow and answered in a reluctant tone.

“Uh, well… actually, it’s not something I personally need. It would be troublesome for the company if it disappeared. Of course, dungeon removal is the goal, but after deploying additional personnel, shouldn’t we get something more out of it? In that sense, I’m responsible too.”

I see.

So it’s not personally necessary, but it would be problematic if it disappeared.

I thought for a moment and then gave a simple answer.

“I see.”

“Was that really what you were curious about?”

“Yes, I thought it would be good to know.”

And soon I reached a simple conclusion that matched the simple answer.

‘Good.’

You’ll have to work hard again this time too.

‘We’re the ones who are more desperate.’

While I’m at it, I’ll clear all your past mistakes with this opportunity.

‘This is practically a losing deal.’

Since Kang Ho-won was giving me a questioning look, I brought up another conversation to change the subject.

“By the way, didn’t one of the branch office researchers go missing recently?”

“How did you know about that too?”

Yu Jin-chae told me.

“I have some connections in the Field Team. If I try to find out more, it gets complicated.”

“My jaw hurts too much to be surprised anymore…”

“It would hurt less if you kept your jaw shut. Anyway, you’re someone related to that missing researcher Lee Seo-hyeok’s case, right?”

I had been thinking about it carefully all this time.

Repeatedly recalling the researcher I met at the branch office and the words Kang Ho-won had mentioned in passing.

-Wait, but how did you know about moving the researchers to the BOND branch office? You knew when you asked, right?

His words and Yu Jin-chae’s statement that the woman I encountered at the branch office was a ‘researcher’ fit together like puzzle pieces at that moment.

So I can organize it like this.

The Korean researcher who was being investigated in connection with the Lee Seo-hyeok case was that woman I encountered at the branch office.

The information was all jumbled up, so it took some time to piece together.

I continued speaking while staring straight ahead at the Labyrinth.

“But from what I know, there wasn’t just one researcher.”

According to what Yu Jin-chae told me, that researcher I ‘encountered’ is indeed missing.

But I definitely remember being told there were more related researchers at BOND.

‘It would be good if I could get information about that woman from those people at least.’

However, what Kang Ho-won said after a brief silence was shocking.

“…The other researchers are dead. From the monster terror attack at the branch office.”

“!!!”

I barely avoided biting my tongue and stopped walking.

Come to think of it, the building where the monster terror attack occurred was where they had gathered the criminals, and although Yu Jin-chae said the employees were evacuated at that time… she never said the criminals were evacuated too.

“Don’t tell me, back then they all-“

That’s when it happened.

The ground began to tremble finely.

Stone fragments bounced up due to the shaking ground… Gradually, the vibrations continued along the walls.

Everyone stopped in their tracks at once.

And that was the beginning.

The Labyrinth began splitting into multiple paths.

“Go-God has descended!”

With Yu Ba-da’s piercing scream as the last thing we heard, we fell down into the Labyrinth like that.

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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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