The Reincarnated Hunter Sweeps Up All Fortunes - Chapter 18

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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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Episode 18
18
The negotiation had reached a dramatic conclusion, and one grim fact had come to light: once inside the cave, there was no way out.
They’d discovered this when trying to send out a ronin afflicted with paralysis poison.
Without so much as a cheap salve, it amounted to nothing but a slow death by bleeding for the man.
“……Why are there so many paths branching off?”
“Since there are five routes…… what if we split up and search each one?”
“And if we all trigger traps?”
“Does anyone here have tomb-raiding experience?”
The ronin who had been moving cautiously came to a halt.
Im Gang, who had been advancing while using his Map Skill and Trap Detection, turned his head at the strange murmuring of the ronin—as if they’d collectively ingested something.
‘Multiple paths? And why are they suddenly looking for someone with tomb-raiding experience?’
He sniffed the air quietly.
One might think that no one would be insane enough to use substances while executing a contract, but common sense didn’t apply in the ronin world.
Least of all in the ronin circles of Hangju, the city of indulgence.
He tilted his head.
The ronin were acting as if they’d used something, yet he caught no scent of any substance whatsoever.
Wondering if perhaps he’d misread the situation, he checked his map again—but there was still only one path.
“That passage over there is the widest. Let’s try going that way first.”
“No, I feel wind coming from the left passage. The exit might be close.”
“Exit? We’re supposed to be searching, not looking for a way out.”
“What does it matter—entrance or exit?”
“We’d cover more ground if we split the group up and search.”
Im Gang finally exhaled and scratched his head, then approached the ronin.
“Listen. How many paths do you see?”
“Five.”
“Where? Point them out for me.”
He watched as the ronin gestured in various directions.
A wall.
The next direction: a wall.
And the next: a wall.
All of them were pointing at walls.
The only actual passage was the one directly ahead—the one none of them had indicated.
‘……Could this be a Formation Technique?’
He searched his memory.
The dungeon was named “Hunmyeong Mido Formation.”
If he didn’t know what Hunmyeong and Mido meant, but the final character meant Formation Technique…?
‘That would make…… sense!’
Actually.
He was almost certain.
The Formation Technique was deceiving the ronin’s five senses. So was he unaffected because of his Awakening? Or for some other reason? He couldn’t say.
He set aside unknowable thoughts.
‘Then was there a Formation Technique laid over the third-rank Secret Dungeon of Cheonri Shin-tu as well?’
The hideout beneath the bridge that his master had taught him about—it had also triggered a dungeon entry notification.
Perhaps it wasn’t registered as a dungeon because it was a secret location, but because a Formation Technique was treated as a dungeon.
He mentally filed away a note to verify this later.
As he contemplated how to handle the current situation, a dull ache bloomed in his chest.
‘How am I supposed to explain this?’
In a village of the one-eyed, the two-eyed man is the freak. If he said he could see the real path, to them he’d just be another addict.
His deliberation didn’t last long.
The ronin were already beginning to split up and move in different directions.
They were desperate to die.
“Everyone, stop for a moment.”
“Now what?”
Discontent flickered across their faces. They tolerated his words only because Damun was present; ordinarily, ronin didn’t take orders from other ronin.
Especially not if they considered themselves equals.
Their dispositions were uniformly vile to avoid being looked down upon. Without Damun here, curses would’ve already started flying.
Still, what could he do? If they didn’t like it, they could fight.
“There might be more traps ahead. There’s no need to split up like this. What if someone gets hurt again by bad luck? We all know it’ll only be a loss for us.”
“Hrm. That’s…… not wrong.”
“But if we just sit around, Damun’s going to start getting suspicious.”
“True. I managed to squeeze out extra compensation.”
The last Wanderer to speak thrust out his chest. His training had clearly been abandoned to the dogs—his physique was genuinely pitiful.
Im Gang nodded. The Wanderers had a point.
If the search dragged on after the negotiation was settled smoothly, the other side could raise objections.
But as the only man with two eyes in a town of the one-eyed—a lonely pathfinder—he couldn’t turn his back on these foolish ones marching toward their deaths.
‘I shall be your guide.’
Ah, the burden of solitude…….
“So shouldn’t we move together more carefully?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Listen. Back then, I learned from a Wanderer who used to be a grave robber—how to scout traps and dismantle them. I’ll take point, move ahead clearing the traps, while you search the surrounding area…….”
“You’re serious?!”
The Damun leader, Im Dae-ju, who had been watching the Wanderers huddle together like a lump of clay, lit up at Im Gang’s words and drew near.
Grave robbers were particularly in demand among the Evil Sects.
They desecrated others’ tombs, snuck in and stole, and true to form for those scoundrels, they’d do anything if there was money in it.
The Wanderers served as meat shields, and if they all fell, Damun would be next in line.
So his eagerness was hardly strange.
“……I’ll mention it just in case, but I’m no Formation Specialist.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be.”
Im Dae-ju nodded as though it were obvious. A Formation Specialist skilled in mechanism traps would hardly be working as a Wanderer.
He could manage simple traps at best. Even that much was lucky—especially in a situation like this.
After a brief pause, he spoke with a meaningful glance.
“Come over here for a moment. We need a more candid conversation.”
Im Gang glanced at the Wanderers carefully. They likely knew ‘conversation’ meant renegotiating additional pay, yet they all seemed indifferent.
They could think what they liked; they had no leverage to act on it now anyway.
Im Dae-ju spoke in a low voice.
“Tell me if there’s anything you want. Within my means, I’ll provide it. I can even give you a share of the treasure we find here. And if the Wanderers are a concern, we can pay them in silver after returning to Damun.”
‘Look at this bastard.’
Im Gang pretended to think, stroking his chin. On the surface, it was a seductive offer. But Damun was Orthodox in name only. They were no different from the Evil Sects, merely too restrained to commit overt atrocities.
‘As the saying goes—close to ink becomes black.’
Stand near ink and you’re stained dark.
In Hangju, the so-called Orthodox were Evil Sects wearing a righteous mask.
Sweet offers from such men tasted like poisoned fruit.
He couldn’t accept their words at face value.
‘If they were straightforward Evil Sects, they’d have a blade at my throat demanding I dismantle the traps. But if they’re Evil Sects in Orthodox clothing, what would they do? Offering to hand over a share of the treasure to Wanderers they brought as meat shields—isn’t that a bit much?’
Im Gang came to his conclusion: no.
Offering to pay the other meat shields in silver back in Damun meant either they hadn’t yet decided to drop the Orthodox pretense, or they had a different agenda altogether.
A fragment of old gossip surfaced in his memory.
A few years back.
Damun had accepted a commission from an Evil Sect faction to transport goods.
They’d hired fifteen Wanderers as escorts.
In the end, only three returned.
Twelve of them, they said, were killed by bandits.
The curious part was that not a single Damun martial artist died.
While twelve Wanderers perished, the Damun men emerged without a scratch.
Rumors spread that it wasn’t bandits but Damun who killed them—though no proof ever surfaced.
The three survivors never spoke a word. Days later, they died on another commission.
‘Damn. How did I forget this?’
As Im Dae-ju stared at him, waiting for an answer, Im Gang tilted his head as if still deliberating.
It was too neat a fit to dismiss as mere rumor.
They were trapped in a dungeon with no way out. Once the treasure was secured, the Wanderers became expendable. So what’s the conclusion?
‘……These bastards planned to kill us all from the start.’
And he had to share a surname with them, of all things.
Though he didn’t know if they were truly related, the irritation gnawed at him.
Part of him wanted to kill this one first and wipe out the rest on the spot.
But Damun’s martial artists were positioned around Im Gang.
……Damn dogs.
* * *
When Im Gang returned from the negotiation, the Wanderers pestered him relentlessly about what he’d secured.
The moment he answered that they’d received a Second-Rank Manual, their eyes erupted with sordid jealousy and base desire.
“Ha. So you’ve leveled up. Does that make you a Second-Rank Wanderer now?”
“If I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve learned a trade instead. Specialization really is the way to go—the elders weren’t wrong about anything.”
‘These fools don’t understand. A Second-Rank Manual isn’t what matters right now.’
Im Gang clicked his tongue inwardly. At this rate, they’d all die. He’d asked for the Second-Rank Manual only to lower the guard of the Damun leader.
Damun wouldn’t be ignorant of how wanderers behaved.
A share of the treasure?
The odds of getting stabbed after the job ended: one hundred percent.
Going back to Damun for the reward?
The odds of getting stabbed on the way home: one hundred percent.
‘Right. I’m getting stabbed no matter what.’
A blade-through-the-back ending was inevitable.
That is, assuming any of them made it out of this place alive.
Anyway.
There was another reason for asking for the Second-Rank Manual.
“Everyone, calm down. You think I’d ask for a Second-Rank Manual just for myself? Of course I want us to share it. Think about it—if I flew away on my own and came back, would you stand a chance against their numbers?”
“……You’re going to share the manual with us?”
“That’s right. You heard correctly. But not the others—only those of us on this job share it. What do you say?”
The wanderers perked up at his sweet words, ears practically twitching with interest.
Soon the search resumed.
Im Gang led from the front, disarming traps as he moved.
Not too fast, not too slow.
And then.
‘……Now!’
The moment the weight of their stares scattered, he bolted forward.
Close to ink becomes black.
It applied to Im Gang as well.
“Seize him!”
The Damun leader roared. But no one understood. Seize what? Whom? The wanderers froze in confusion at the sudden outburst. The Damun martial artists looked bewildered.
The Damun leader shouted again.
“That one running! Get him!”
The Damun martial artists gave chase too late.
Thwip!
“Gaaaahhh!”
One man stepped on a trap and fell, pierced by an arrow that came flying down.
Clang!
“Guh……!”
Another was struck by a spear that shot up from beneath his feet and collapsed.
So the traps hadn’t been disarmed after all.
“You contemptible bastard……!”
“Thanks.”
At this unexpected courtesy,
Im Gang left his parting words and vanished into the cave wall.

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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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