Walkthrough for the Transcendental Hunter's Ruins - Chapter 40
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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 40
News that Jeon Jae-woo had conquered the Legendary-grade Dungeon “Bitter Cold” spread across the globe with unprecedented fanfare.
Ordinarily, such an achievement wouldn’t have drawn quite so much attention, but given the circumstances, all eyes turned toward him.
[Legendary Dungeon Untouched for 28 Years—Conquered in a Single Stroke!]
[Brazil’s President Expresses Infinite Gratitude to Jeon Jae-woo.]
[Brazil Breathes Easy—What of the Other South American Nations?]
┗As expected from Jae-woo. I knew we could count on him.
┗It’s not even our own dungeon though. Why are we celebrating?
┗Once you’re done, come back to Korea quickly, Jae-woo. It makes me uneasy without you here.
┗He’s been in Korea all along, you idiot.
┗Those Brazilians need to send him back soon. This doesn’t sit right with me.
Everyone marveled in unison—of course it was Jeon Jae-woo.
Brazilian public sentiment toward Jeon Jae-woo reached an all-time high, and discussions began about ways to bring him to Brazil permanently.
Indignant South Korean online communities responded with repeated sarcastic posts demanding that Jeon Jae-woo be placed under house arrest to keep him from going anywhere.
The ironic twist was that information about Jeon Jae-woo was under strict state control, so his face remained unknown to the general public—save for a select few.
‘Since no one recognizes me, it feels like some other hunter has become famous instead.’
Jeon Jae-woo himself didn’t mind that his face wasn’t known to those around him.
In any case, Brazil delivered the Additional Dungeon Clear Permit as promised.
With the Additional Dungeon Clear Permit received as a conquest reward, he now had two such permits in total.
Though all business between the two parties was settled, Brazil’s delegation lingered rather than departing.
“By the way, Hunter Jeon Jae-woo—if I may ask, what did you receive as a reward from the dungeon conquest?”
“Pardon? Why do you ask?”
“I thought you might be interested in selling the spoils. We would be happy to offer you the highest price you could ask for.”
The Hunter Association Vice-Chairman standing beside Jeon Jae-woo bristled and stepped forward.
“What are you talking about! The Republic of Korea’s Hunter Association has first priority in all dealings with Hunter Jeon Jae-woo!”
Brazil’s delegation did not back down, raising their voices in turn.
“It was our nation that was allocated the Legendary-grade Dungeon!”
“You failed to conquer it and passed it on to us—what right do you have to make such claims!”
The officials from both sides joined the argument one by one, and the quarrel intensified.
Before the confrontation could escalate to blows, Jeon Jae-woo stepped in hastily.
“Excuse me, but I’ll be keeping the dungeon reward for myself. I won’t be selling it to anyone.”
“?”
“Surprisingly, an Additional Dungeon Clear Permit came as the reward.”
Of course, Jeon Jae-woo already knew what the reward was thanks to Noboom’s power.
The others’ jaws dropped in astonishment.
Of all things, the reward from the Bitter Cold Dungeon turned out to be an Additional Dungeon Clear Permit.
The Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs felt a wave of deflation wash over him.
‘If I’d known this, there was no need to give him an Additional Dungeon Clear Permit at all…’
In any case, with the two Additional Dungeon Clear Permits in hand, Jeon Jae-woo’s total count of remaining dungeon conquests rose to thirteen.
The Brazilian delegation, however, did not leave immediately afterward, continuing to cling to Jeon Jae-woo.
But Yu Jung-tae, the Association Chairman, sensing something amiss, promptly ushered them out.
The Korean government, too, wasted no time in forcibly repatriating them once their business was concluded.
Thus, the Uncleared Dungeon allocated to Brazil was finally resolved.
However, the other South American nations, despite active international support, ultimately failed to conquer their assigned dungeons.
And so the countdown reached its end.
In the territories of the nations where the Dungeon Break occurred, hell unfolded as predicted.
***
Cheongwadae, the office of the President of the Republic of Korea.
President Lee Hoe-chan was presiding over a state council meeting in his capacity as head of the executive branch.
“So the Brazilian delegation has returned?”
“Yes, Mr. President. We sent them all back. They expressed considerable dissatisfaction right up until their departure, however.”
At the mention of their dissatisfaction, Lee Hoe-chan let out a hollow laugh.
“As if we’d allow it. If circumstances were any different, we wouldn’t have permitted them to meet with him in the first place.”
The President cleared his throat once, as though to change the mood, and continued.
“Very well. What’s the next item on the agenda?”
“An official report on the current situation in South America has come in.”
The President immediately viewed the brief video submitted for the briefing alongside his cabinet members.
It was footage documenting the hellish state of the South American nations in the aftermath of the Dungeon Break.
Before the eyes of the President, the Prime Minister, and the cabinet officials, vivid images played out of citizens being indiscriminately slaughtered.
When the video ended, the President, who had been silent for a moment, finally spoke.
“The devastation is as gruesome as what we’ve seen in Mexico or Canada.”
The Prime Minister spoke with grim resolve.
“Mr. President. I will take all necessary measures to ensure there is no Dungeon Break on the Korean Peninsula.”
“You mean the Legendary-grade Dungeons we haven’t been able to clear until now?”
……
The President’s question hung unanswered. Instead, Lee Chul-su, the Minister of Disaster Management, bowed his head in silence.
“My apologies, Mr. President. We will find a solution as soon as possible.”
But words were one thing; the reality was that no clear path forward existed.
North America, South America, and then the dungeon’s next target would likely be Oceania or Asia.
Or it could be Africa, which lies rather close by.
If Asia was the target, the question remained whether it meant only the conventionally understood boundaries of Asia or if Europe would be included as well.
In any case, the crucial fact was that the Republic of Korea would soon fall within the danger zone of a Dungeon Break.
And it wouldn’t end after passing through one crisis—the nightmare would repeat itself again and again until every last Uncleared Dungeon had vanished.
Of course, Korean territory was home to Jeon Jae-woo, a cheat-code-tier asset, which gave the nation some advantage over other countries. But the government’s inability to fully control Jeon Jae-woo remained a critical variable.
Even now, the government was actively courting him, offering benefits and asking him to work with them. Jeon Jae-woo hadn’t even pretended to listen.
“Minister Lee Chul-su. Is the hunter Jeon Jae-woo still uncooperative?”
“Since he’s simply not the type to cooperate with the state… we’re facing difficulties.”
In truth, it wasn’t just Jeon Jae-woo. Most Transcendent-tier hunters of that caliber were essentially never inclined to cooperate with their governments.
Without needing to be outright sociopaths or serial killers, many committed crimes serious enough to destabilize society, all simply because they were bored.
Others nominally followed the law but had amassed such tremendous power that they ruled their nations like kings.
Humanity had learned viscerally since the Great Upheaval that law and morality were not some absolute sanctuary or divine revelation—merely a set of rules agreed upon for common survival. That lesson was still unfolding.
Though, come to think of it, there were Transcendent-tier hunters who cooperated very willingly with their states.
In cases where a Transcendent-tier hunter had become that nation’s dictator.
In which case, since the country belonged to the hunter himself, cooperation went beyond mere assistance—he simply did as he pleased.
For a Transcendent-tier hunter, Jeon Jae-woo conducted himself with remarkable restraint.
Barring, of course, anything related to clearing dungeons.
From the government’s perspective, it was only natural to want to deploy such a powerful asset across diverse domains—politics, military, diplomacy, and more.
A single handshake between Jeon Jae-woo and the President would reverse approval ratings, and bringing him on foreign tours could secure far better trade negotiations.
But relying too heavily on a single hunter carried its own risks.
When first confronted with the Dungeon Break crisis, the President and his cabinet had boldly proclaimed they would overcome it through democracy and Korea’s superior hunter system alone.
Yet the truth was that without leveraging Jeon Jae-woo’s strength, Korea had virtually no other means to clear dungeons.
Even the United States, a hyperpower among hunter nations, had poured all its resources into barely clearing an Uncleared Legendary-grade Dungeon in this crisis.
The Republic of Korea, merely a regional power, would face a situation identical to that of several South American nations if it exhausted all its strength.
If they refused to rely on Jeon Jae-woo, they would have no choice but to seek foreign aid.
‘And that hardly counts as overcoming it on our own strength.’
Meanwhile, at that same moment, Jeon Jae-woo sat at home, cracking open a beer and watching the live news broadcast.
The story was about the on-the-ground conditions in the South American nations where the Dungeon Break had occurred.
Beside him were Myeol-gyeop, Rich King, Noboom, and Homunculus.
“Wow, it really does look like hell on earth, master.”
Speaking in such an unaffected tone while watching such carnage came across as remarkably cold.
To his surprise, Noboom showed little emotional reaction beyond mild astonishment.
He’d assumed a spirit would be sensitive to lives slipping away, but perhaps as a pure existence, such scenes left her unfazed?
In any case, the monsters that had emerged from the dungeons landed precisely in the urban centers of each nation.
Specifically, in the cities where each nation’s population was most densely concentrated.
Every single South American country that had failed to clear its dungeon experienced the same.
At this point, coincidence seemed impossible. The dungeon was deliberately selecting high-population areas to drop its monsters.
‘Whoever created these dungeons is a complete bastard.’
Whoever had created the dungeons was unknown to him, but until recently, that entity had been regarded as a savior bringing prosperity to the world. Now it had become the foremost villain on a global scale.
Still, Brazil’s superior national strength and abundance of capable hunters allowed it to provide massive aid to neighboring nations, gradually containing the damage.
In fact, the South American countries had coerced Brazil into helping by implying they would lure all the monsters into Brazilian territory if Brazil refused—leaving no real choice.
Now, if Jeon Jae-woo hadn’t cleared the Bitter Cold dungeon, what would have become of Brazil?
The Bitter Cold held nothing but extreme cold; there hadn’t been a single monster inside.
So perhaps instead of monsters descending, a catastrophic blizzard would have struck Brazil’s capital.
‘…If it had come to that, it would’ve been miserably cold, sure, but at least people wouldn’t be dying.’
Jeon Jae-woo switched the channel.
He wasn’t the selfless type, but watching so many people die wasn’t something he could brush off without a care.
‘But are they really allowed to broadcast footage like this on national television?’
Even as countless people were losing their lives, the international community’s attention was already beginning to drift away from South America.
A week had passed. Now the pressing question was: which nation would be chosen next?
And in the third week, Oceania became the dungeon’s target continent.
In other words, Australia was the only country assigned an Uncleared Dungeon for this week.
Dungeon Strategies for Transcendent-Tier Hunters
Author
: Autumn
Publication Date
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: ACES Media Inc.
Editor
: ACES Media Editorial Team
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: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
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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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