Editors: Spade, Roki
Proofreader: Sapphire
The day for the fourth dungeon to emerge had finally arrived.
Dungeon raids usually started between 3:00 to 4:00 pm., but the signs of its occurrence on this day appeared later than usual. The gate usually opened around an hour after the first signs of a dungeon break were detected, and it wasn’t until nearly 9:00 pm that a call came from the Hunters’ Association that the precursor appeared, which meant a delayed entry compared to the usual.
Chord was to wait at the HN Guild building and only head to the dungeon location when contacted. The atmosphere was the same as usual. Only the departure time was delayed, but Yisun still felt extremely uncomfortable. Even though he didn’t want to look, his gaze betrayed him as it kept flitting between a certain someone and the clear sky. Not a single cloud could be seen on the horizon, yet it was all the more suffocating because of it. He wondered if this was how a small boat felt when encountering a raging storm in the dark sea.
He sighed while looking at the night sky and almost bumped into the Hunter in front of him, if not for a hand swooping up from behind and grabbing his arm. He turned his head, hoping it was anyone but him, but before he could see who it was, a voice spoke.
“You have to look straight ahead when walking.”
“Oh, that’s…”
Unable to make eye contact with those piercing black pupils, Yisun awkwardly shifted his gaze to the side. His thoughts were about to stray into a more dangerous territory. They didn’t go to the Guild together in the morning, and he’d managed to avoid him around the office, but to think that they’d end up talking like this… Even if it was unavoidable, he’d wanted to delay the encounter as much as possible. Yisun tried to explain that he was simply admiring the beautiful night sky, only to be met with Sa Hyeon’s light smile.
“Maybe it’s hard for you to come to your senses after all we’ve done yesterday. Well, it seems that at least you got a good night’s sleep,” Sa Hyeon said, sounding very casual, before scanning Yisun’s face as if checking his condition. Under the weight of his gaze, Yisun genuinely wanted to escape, but he knew that turning away here would only make a fool of himself. He’d even seen the broadcasters’ cameras waiting beyond the glass doors as they descended to the first floor of the Guild building, waiting to film them as they made their way to the dungeon.
In the end, Yisun only pursed his lips. To his horror, Sa Hyeon’s words were right. Last night, he’d been brought to the edge of his shattering point almost thrice, before he finally collapsed from exhaustion. His whole body was relaxed as he fell into a dreamless sleep. When he woke up, well-rested, he had to spend a few agonizing moments on the bed with his head buried in his hands.
His mind was undoubtedly tangled in knots, yet his body felt light. It seemed unfair that this was the best his physical condition had ever been in a year. Yisun started wondering just why he had to be so human, but the damage had been done, and unfortunately, he was far removed from the familiar depression that usually plagued him.
That was some effective shock therapy, for sure.
He had always entered the dungeons thinking that he had to free his friends, but it hadn’t crossed his mind even once today. It was more like he couldn’t think about it. The man in front of him laughed softly when Yisun averted his gaze to the side, lowered it to the ground, and then stared at the sky, looking anywhere but at Sa Hyeon.
“Let’s go.”
Sa Hyeon habitually patted him on the shoulder and started walking ahead, Yisun hesitantly following behind. He seriously wondered how the hell he could be so nonchalant before sighing. Internally, he filed Sa Hyeon into a category he could never hope to understand in the first place.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The Chord Hunters were simultaneously both relieved and frustrated. Sa Hyeon’s abilities were stronger the darker their environment was, but these conditions made it difficult for them to walk at all. Another strange thing was that, usually, dungeons had a clear path towards the entrance, but this one had them start in the middle of the woods.
“S-should I l-light a fire……?” Ki Joohyuk asked, shivering.
Eerie sounds emanated from the gloomy woods. Occasional gusts of winds and rustling could be heard in the distance. Sa Hyeon scanned the surroundings, making sure he could still see well even in the darkness, and nodded. He’d been wary of using fire in this dungeon, but since they had yet to enter the temple, light seemed necessary for the team to even walk.
“Do it, as weakly as possible.”
At Sa Hyeon’s words, Ki Joohyuk immediately nodded and raised his rod, and soon, five small fireballs appeared in the air. It was a faint light, but it illuminated their surroundings better than before. Somehow, that only seemed to unsettle the other Hunters even more.
“Whoa… Are we filming a horror movie or what…”
They were in the middle of a dreary forest. Trees grew densely around them, but their shapes were peculiar—the branches, bare of leaves, bent grotesquely. There were gaping holes puncturing the trees, and as they swayed in the wind, made howling and wailing sounds. Additionally, black liquid dripped from the trees, seeming less like sap and more like blood.
“C-c-can’t I just leave right now?” Ki Joohyuk cried, shivering. He really hated scary things, so much that he felt like he was going to faint, but Han Arin grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him along.
In the distance beyond the forest, they could faintly see the ruined temple. Usually they would’ve had to Restore the path upon entering the dungeon, but it seemed that they had to traverse the forest path to reach this temple. Additionally, unlike normal dungeons, where you had to reach a certain area before the lower-level monsters attacked, this time, the monsters started approaching them as soon as they took a few steps onto the forest path.
The monsters that emerged from the forest looked like demonic beasts. They had freakishly long arms and well over two eyes. Forget three—some even had six. Their reddish eyes glowed dangerously as they slowly approached.
“Ahhh! Waahhhh! Oh my god!!! Ahhhhh!!”
“Shut up.” Ki Joohyuk’s yell was cut off as Shin Jian blocked his mouth. Han Arin was beside him, warning him to quiet down, while Ki Joohyuk was on the verge of crying.
The monsters came closer as he shouted, emerging one by one, yet strangely enough, most of them only just croaked and whined from beyond the bushes. Had they attacked all at once, the Hunters could’ve concentrated on dealing with them in one shot, but since they were crouching low in the bushes, the Hunters were forced to be on guard. The tension was starting to take its toll.
“Haa, this is too much…….”
Na Gunwoo, who was standing near Yisun, nervously leaned closer. He patted him on the back and asked if he was okay, since Yisun’s expression couldn’t be seen due to not only the darkness, but also the hoodie tightly pulled over his face.
“Are you feeling alright, Restorer Yisun?”
“Ah…yes. So far, it’s alright…”
Yisun was usually calm and composed, and had never been particularly frightened in the past. Na Gunwoo smiled when he responded, glad to hear that. Then he approached Sa Hyeon and suggested, “I think it would be better If I cast a buff magic circle. It should be fine since it’s not a fire spell…”
“Wasting too much mana so early wouldn’t be the best idea, but…” Sa Hyeon trailed off and scanned the Hunters again. Although Ki Joohyuk was overreacting, the atmosphere in the dreary forest was quite unsettling. Even the more experienced Hunters were nervously glancing around, so Sa Hyeon eventually nodded.
“Cast a Haste buff. It would be better for us to leave the forest as quickly as possible.”
“Alright.”
At Sa Hyeon’s affirmation, Na Gunwoo moved into the center of the formation. Yisun watched on curiously as relief spread across the Hunters’ faces the moment Na Gunwoo picked up his staff. The wooden staff’s rounded tip was vibrating slightly.
A cyan glow emanated from the end of the staff, and as it struck the ground, a five-meter radius magic circle spread out. The light flowed into the ground, creating a glowing magic circle that looked like falling beams of sunlight. The fairy tale-like scene left Yisun slightly in awe.
Now that the space around them was much brighter, the Hunters started moving. The monsters that noticed the strange light from beyond the bushes and charged towards it were swiftly dealt with. The Hunters didn’t stay clustered together in one place anymore, but smoothly scattered to face the monsters.
Thanks to the Haste buff, Yisun was a little surprised as even his own steps had quickened as well. While he was staring down and marveling at his own feet, Sa Hyeon suddenly appeared beside him.
“Feeling good?” Sa Hyeon asked with a smile.
“……”
As soon as he heard the question, any previous expression on Yisun’s face was wiped off, overtaken by overwhelming shock and embarrassment. Suddenly, memories of last night came flooding back to him, leaving him speechless. Sa Hyeon chuckled and gently nudged his shoulder.
Soon enough, they were standing outside the forest and in front of the temple’s entrance. The tiles on the floor were all shattered, and muddy red meadows stretched on either side of it. There was also such a meadow in the third dungeon, where the grass would grow and bind their legs whenever they’d stepped in it.
Yisun started by Restoring the collapsed pillar in front of the temple first. He lowered himself, touching the ground and assessing the wreckage in front of him. He then raised all the tile fragments lying in the grass. In the dimly lit space, the golden dust, which appeared whenever he used his hidden ability, shimmered and sparkled like shards of light.
“Whoa…” Ki Joohyuk’s soul seemed to return to his body as he exclaimed from behind; the Hunters also followed, letting out amazed sighs of their own. Yisun’s full attention was solely on the situation in front of him. He was checking the debris in the air, until finally, his focus sharpened, and the pieces in the air began to fly down.
Since they were in an area where monsters were constantly attacking, the Restoration had to be done as quickly as possible. With a gust of wind, fragments of the temple came flying down and began to connect. Like a puzzle, each piece fit perfectly into place. Dozens, even hundreds of debris fragments flew through the air, following an orderly path without a single collision. And as if an artist drew it in a single, smooth watercolor smear, a pathway emerged.
His Restoration ability felt much smoother than before. Yisun quickly drew the path and proceeded to Restore the front part of the temple. There was quite the distance between where he stood and the temple, and Yisun’s brows furrowed slightly as he gazed into the distance. Then, in an instant, when his expression relaxed, the temple stairs were built. The steps in all four directions leading up to the central hall were filled in, and as his eyes narrowed, the pillar that had collapsed earlier floated up and stood in its original place.
Unlike last time, where he felt like he was pushing the tilted pillar sideways to get it to stand upright, this time, he effortlessly lifted it up and snapped it into place. Suddenly, a monster came rushing from the side with an unearthly roar. It eluded the distracted Hunters, too focused on the spectacle that was in front of them, and charged towards him.
But before it could get close to Yisun, it was swiftly struck by Sa Hyeon and sent flying. He had clearly only simply raised his jet-black dagger to block its attack, yet it flew so far off into the distance and landed with a loud thud as if it had been struck hard. Yisun stared at it in bewilderment for a moment before his eyes locked with Sa Hyeon’s and he looked forward again.
Despite the brief commotion, Yisun’s Restoration was completed smoothly. The Hunters applauded as if it were a matter of course, and Ki Joohyuk let out a “Wow!” and cheered, only to see the subtle expression on Yisun’s face. After the Restoration was completed, Yisun stood up and looked at the path and the front part of the temple, but his expression was a bit odd. Ki Joohyuk looked back and forth between him and the temple; it seemed like he was uncomfortable for some reason.
“Wow, Restorer-nim. You did a much better job than last time?”
Ki Joohyuk’s compliments only served to further darken Yisun’s complexion. Previously, no matter how hard he’d concentrated, he could only restore up to 70%, dropping to a 60% in the rain, and barely reached 30% to 40% when re-entering. Even if the re-entry could be considered an exception because it had happened during his penalty period, it being the last reference for comparison made it all the more troubling for Yisun.
This time, the Restoration nearly reached 80%.
“You did well.” A gentle voice reached Yisun as he stared at the scene.
Sa Hyeon came up behind him and patted his shoulder. Yisun knew that if he and Ki Joohyuk had noticed, then there was no way Sa Hyeon didn’t realize his Restoration abilities had improved.
Sa Hyeon smiled warmly at Yisun’s complicated expression.
“The effect is better than I thought.”
For a brief moment, Yisun felt like leaving the dungeon.
Min: The way the editing for this chapter ended up with everyone clowning poor Yisun… mainly Spade, and I quote: “Yeah this is embarrassing. For YOU. For me I’m laughing” they said, smh…
Good luck! Thanks for the update ❤️
Thank for reaading~!
Good luck with the job hunt! Thanks for the update 😊
Thank you for reading 🌸
Thanks for the update! With all Yisuns thoughts about something being off it’s making me worried…
Hmm hopefully nothing bad happens to him… :3
Thank you for reading ☺🌸💕
Yisun already worrying about restoring the 80% he did LMAO
He’s just embarassed lmfaooo
Thank you for reading ☺🌸💕
Ending was smooth
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
That it waaas,
Thank you for reading ☺🌸💕