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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Thorn Plains (4)
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The day before.
After the party's launch ceremony, Shin Se-hee registered the party with the Hunter Administration and immediately called me.
"…Joo Taerim?"
"Yes, she probably holds a lot of ill will towards me. I'm sure she'll try something… Do you really have to go to Thorn Plains…?"
"There's no better place to test our current level, is there? And you said the other available reservations were for uninteresting places."
"That's true, but…"
I chuckled at Shin Se-hee's hesitant voice.
"Don't worry. I might not know Joo Taerim, but I know the Darkness Guild. And I have a rough idea of how they'll react."
The Darkness Guild.
While slightly smaller than the Shin family's guild, this place was also a considerably large trash guild.
They were villains who often interfered or disrupted user parties attempting to clear dungeons.
Back to the present.
I gazed with cold eyes at the woman with the ponytail in front of me and the horde of Black Hedgehogs that had swarmed behind her.
'Wow, they really brought a good number of those monsters.'
Should I at least hear what she has to say?
"What do you want? This route was originally reserved by us, and why are you dragging a bunch of monsters along?"
At my words, Joo Taerim, the ponytail woman who had been staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, twisted her lips into a sneer and shrugged.
"I heard it was a new party managed by Cheonhwa, so I came to see how impressive you all were."
"You must have been really curious about our party's skill, seeing as you've brought a whole crowd of spectators."
I gestured with my eyes towards the Black Hedgehogs standing like zombies behind her.
"Hmm… You're not so stupid as to not grasp the situation, are you? Or is it because you're the man Cheonhwa is pushing? You've got guts and quite the composure, don't you?"
Joo Taerim spoke with a voice full of mockery.
"Yeah, I'm all guts, otherwise I'm a goner. I'd probably be popular with organ traffickers too."
At that, the party members standing nearby raised their eyebrows and glanced at me. Their eyes were accusatory, as if asking how I could joke about such a thing.
Pfft!
However, my sense of humor seemed to perfectly align with Joo Taerim's taste, as she burst into laughter.
"You, your mask is decent, and I like your guts. It's a shame to end things here. How about joining us instead of Cheonhwa?"
She suddenly made an unexpected recruitment offer.
"Aren't I better than a black-hearted woman like Cheonhwa?"
A glint of ugly desire shimmered in Joo Taerim's eyes.
"If I switch over to your side, will you spare my other party members?"
"Ah, that's difficult. I have to screw over Cheonhwa today."
"Is that so? Then I'll decline."
When I flatly rejected her offer, Joo Taerim's expression went blank.
"…Are you truly stupid? Or is it some pathetic heroism? I'm giving you a last chance, and you choose suicide?"
"Well, whether it's suicide or whatever, we'll have to see…"
I stared at her and grinned.
"I prefer women with dark hearts over those who are just dark on the surface."
At my comparison between Shin Se-hee and her, Joo Taerim's face hardened, and the dealer standing next to her raised his weapon.
"This bastard, he really…"
"Stop."
"…But, Captain!"
"Have you forgotten why we brought these guys here?"
Joo Taerim snapped at her party members with a cold voice, then turned her head back to sneer.
"I truly wonder how long that pretty face of yours, so full of insolence, will last."
I looked at her and organized my thoughts.
'If this were a game, I could have just dealt with them right here, but…'
Today was Utopia Party's official first expedition.
I couldn't let anything unsavory taint it by getting involved with a trash guild like this.
That's why I chose the Unknown Route.
It was a route I'd experienced with Gukbap once before in Camellia Forest.
If the regular route was normal mode, the Unknown Route was hard mode.
And the Unknown Route connected to all other routes.
In other words, it was entirely possible to move to other routes through the Unknown Route.
But if I knew that so well, why did I fumble in Camellia Forest?
Well, it's common practice to skip hard modes in low-level dungeons.
The rewards aren't particularly good, and the experience bonus is minuscule, so it's much more profitable to run another dungeon in that time.
I might have run it once or twice as a newbie, but I never bothered to memorize E-grade Unknown Routes where only weak goblins appeared.
'But here, from B-grade Thorn Plains, it's a different story.'
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I had every route down pat, with all the shortcuts ingrained in my mind.
When your wallet's thin, you have to put in the honest grind.
"Gukbap. Begin."
Having finished my thoughts, I spoke to Lee Yu-ri.
She, who had been standing firmly with her shield ready from the start, nodded.
Lee Yu-ri pulled a dagger from her thigh holster and struck her shield.
*Clang—!!!*
A clear, resonant clang.
Waves of magic spread from her shield, causing the Black Hedgehogs, who had been standing like corpses with dazed expressions, to twitch.
"…Kuh?"
"…Grrrk!?"
As the light returned to the eyes of the monsters standing behind her due to Lee Yu-ri's Provoke skill, Joo Taerim turned around with a startled expression.
"…You, what, what is this!?"
At her flustered expression, I chuckled, feeling as if a heavy weight had lifted from my chest.
*Clang—!!!*
"Kuooooh—!!!"
"Keuooooh—!!!"
"Kyaaaak!!!"
Soon, the dazed monsters let out roars, their cries echoing across the plains.
"Ga-eul, senior, is party-wide Acceleration ready?"
"…Yes!"
*Whoosh—*
Im Ga-eul's skill, pulled forth with all her might, imbued the entire party.
"Alright, shall we run?"
I turned to push off, but twisted my head to sneer at Joo Taerim, who still wore a blank expression.
"You'll have to run like hell. Otherwise, you might get trampled to death by the guys you brought."
*CLAAANG—!!!!*
Using Lee Yu-ri's shield clang as a signal, we began to sprint.
*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump*
"Kieeeeeek!!!!!!"
And the mesmerized horde of Black Hedgehogs began to move with furious momentum, drawn by the sound of the shield.
And the Darkness Guild's party, caught between us and the monsters, too.
They had no choice but to desperately chase after us if they didn't want to be trampled by the creatures.
* * *
*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump—!!!*
"Kieeeeeek!!!!!!"
From behind, the cries of the Black Hedgehogs and the sound of their collective footsteps echoed.
The creatures, who had been docile under the influence of the dulling pheromone, now seemed as agitated as if they'd been given an aphrodisiac.
Joo Taerim and her party members' faces turned deathly pale.
"D-damn it!"
"Run!!!!"
"Shit!!! Run away!!!!"
'What, what happened…?'
Joo Taerim moved her feet, but was enveloped in confusion.
Originally, her plan was to confront Utopia Party, then have them attack the Black Hedgehogs they had brought.
The monsters, under the influence of the dulling pheromone, would awaken from their attack, but a lingering scent on her and her party members would ensure less aggro would be drawn to them.
It would have been an easy task to simply slip away in the meantime.
But the moment she saw the rumored party leader,
Greed welled up within her.
A new plan, born from that greed, came to mind, and she made him a recruitment offer.
While Cheonhwa's party might have failed, she aimed for the title of having rescued a party leader who barely escaped.
Then she could screw over Cheonhwa and also earn favor with the Shin family, killing two birds with one stone.
With such calculations in mind, she had never expected Jin Yuha to reject her so flatly.
There was nothing he could have done in that situation.
But this crazy bastard poured an entire drum of oil onto the already burning straw.
Even if she wanted to slip to the side here, she couldn't.
Agitated monsters were stamping all around them, and a rain of poisonous thorns was pouring down from above.
It was a frantic situation just to save herself.
There was no other option but to chase after Utopia Party's retreating forms, who were running ahead.
'Why are those bastards so fast!!!'
With Jin Yuha leading, the tank at the very back was beating her shield as she ran.
Even the woman in the middle, who seemed to be a supporter, looked strained, but her running speed was extraordinary.
So fast that the thorns raining down from above couldn't reach them.
"…Cough!!!"
Just then, a thorn pierced one of her party members running beside her.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit…!!!"
The party member cursed, clutching the impaled spot, and kept running.
And after running for a long time,
Jin Yuha's party stopped.
*Gasp—*
*Gasp—*
*Gasp—*
It seemed the thorns had been thoroughly shot, as no more rained down from above, but
Joo Taerim's party was already in shambles.
Her party members' bodies were all purplish-blue from the thorn punctures,
And while Joo Taerim's body wasn't impaled by thorns,
She couldn't avoid all of them, so scratches all over her body were oozing blood.
For now, the thorns had fallen, so the Black Hedgehogs weren't charging, but
That was only a momentary reprieve.
It was a self-evident fact that they would soon replenish their thorns and charge again.
"…Damn it."
In Joo Taerim's vision, she saw the man ahead, wiping sweat from his forehead as if he'd just had a light workout.
A thick vein throbbed on her forehead.
"This crazy bastard… How dare he pull such a stunt!!!!!"
Joo Taerim screamed at him with a voice full of malice.
At that, the man's cold gaze turned towards her.
"What are you talking about? Aren't those your invited guests? You dragged them here yourself and now you're making shameless, nonsensical remarks?"
"Do you think *you* will be safe!!! Do you think *you* will be safe from the Black Hedgehogs, I ask you!!!"
"Oh, um… Well, I think we will be?"
The man scratched his cheek and said in a nonchalant voice.
'He's crazier than I imagined…'
Joo Taerim bit her lip.
'If I provoke him further here… It'd be a pointless death…'
She had to somehow persuade this man right now.
Honestly, seeing his shameless face made indignation keep rising in her chest, but Joo Taerim swallowed it down and spoke to him.
"…We must combine our strength."
"Combine our strength? Why?"
Jin Yuha tilted his head as if he didn't understand.
"Because otherwise, you won't be safe either. And if you help us now… I'll offer ample compensation for it later."
Joo Taerim bowed her body with a servile expression, trying to look as submissive as possible.
Though, inwardly, she was thinking something entirely different.
'…First, just get past this immediate crisis, and on the way back, I'll find a chance to deal with him.'
However.
*Pfft—*
The man let out a laugh.
At his laugh, Joo Taerim raised her head and wore a puzzled expression.
"It seems you're mistaken about something."
"…?"
"Look around."
At his words, Joo Taerim looked around.
And her eyes widened.
'How…!? No, how…?'
A scene that was all too familiar.
They had somehow entered the route she had originally planned to clear today.
It felt as if she'd been possessed by a ghost.
"Don't you think you should clean up the mess you made?"
The man said that, then commanded his party members.
"Alright, everyone, take out the monster perfume from the emergency kit."
Monster perfume…?
For shedding aggro…?
That must be ridiculously expensive…?
'And, that… a Subspace tattoo…?'
Joo Taerim could only watch with a blank expression as they sprayed the perfume on their bodies.
*Pssst—*
*Pssst—*
The man furrowed his brow deeply, as if the scent of the perfume wasn't very pleasant.
"Ugh, this smell is awful. Anyway, we're leaving now. You guys work hard cleaning up the mess you made."
The man waved his hand cheerfully at Joo Taerim.
"After all, this is what you intended to do to us, isn't it? You don't have any complaints, do you?"
Deep despair clouded Joo Taerim's face as she stared at him.
From her hand, the used dulling pheromone fell.
*Plop.*