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“Finally…!”
It was said that you’re on the right track when a new quest appears. Anyhow, it seemed like he was on the right path.
To live as he was meant to live, he wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but anyway it seemed to mean that he could live. Lee Juwon only had one goal now. To somehow survive this dungeon and change the shitty future he was destined for.
The snakes poked their heads out of the boiling water and flicked their yellow tongues. Black eyes glistened like vinyl, and the snakes tangled up with each other.
“Ha…”
Taking a deep breath, Lee Juwon reached into the snake soup. Jumping up, the snakes tried to bite his hand.
“Gasp…!”
He instinctively pulled his hand back and the water went quiet again. However, he couldn’t keep acting like this as if they were playing tag.
“Sigh… Even if I get bitten, I can’t do that… Since I’m going to eat you too…”
Lee Juwon stuck his hand into the pot again. The snakes opened their mouths in a diamond shape. Lee Juwon gritted his teeth and reached in more. It was a quest where he had to eat it, so it couldn’t be poisonous.
The three snakes clamped down on his hand here and there. Only then did Lee Juwon pull his hand out. The snakes that had clamped down on his hand flailed frantically in the air. His bit hand hurt terribly, but the thought of having to eat them was even worse.
No matter how hungry he was, he didn’t want to eat live snakes. Even if he was criticized for still not being hungry, it was a problem he couldn’t help. But Lee Juwon’s feelings didn’t matter. There was nothing he could do but do what he was told.
“Ugh…”
Lee Juwon tightly grabbed the snake’s tail as it wriggled in midair. He squeezed his eyes shut and bit down.
Hoooooonk-!
Hooonk!
The multiple and simultaneous honking of horns made Lee Juwon open his eyes.
In front of him were a black road and a flashing left turn signal. Lee Juwon was momentarily stunned by the sudden and normal change of scenery outside the car window.
“Gasp…”
Whether because he lost the strength in his body or because he loosely stepped on the brakes, the car slowly stopped. Lee Juwon regained his composure and slammed on the brakes to stop the car. It was fortunate that the car in front of him had already taken the left turn signal and was gone.
Hoooooonk-! Hoooooonk-!
The honking behind him blared nonstop. He didn’t move an inch from the left turn lane so it was deserved, but it made his soul leave his body even more while already being out of his mind. The radio even played a cheerful Christmas carol.
<Joy to all, the Lord is come~♪ To light up the world~♬>
Lee Juwon looked around again. No matter how much he looked, he was in his car, waiting to turn left at the three-way intersection at Hannam Station on his way home. It wasn’t a white snake he was clutching, but a black steering wheel.
A blaring horn and swear words made Lee Juwon turn his head to the next lane over. A middle-aged man rolled down his window and shook his finger at him. “Hey, you asshole! Do you know how to drive?”
<Everyone, have you all heard the breaking news? Our Saviour, Kang Inhunter, has performed another cool event this Christmas.>
On the radio, a DJ was broadcasting in a cheerful voice. The time on the dashboard read 00:03 on December 25th. But Lee Juwon had no idea where he was, and he wasn’t sure if he was even alive.
“You didn’t even budge after two signals had passed! Were you fucking drinking, you son of a bitch?”
Lee Juwon rolled down the passenger window, hoping the taxi driver, who was still swearing, wouldn’t shut up in shock at the sight of an empty driver’s seat. It was a little too early for automatic driving, and there had to be a human behind the wheel.
When Lee Juwon and the taxi driver made eye contact through the window, the driver’s eyes widened in surprise. The taxi driver’s horrified face, as if he had seen a ghost, made Lee Juwon despair, but soon the middle-aged driver stammered out, “Huh…? L-Lee Juwon?”
Lee Juwon had to resist the urge to say, “Excuse me, can you see me?” He was already trash and Scrooge, he couldn’t become a lunatic next.
“Lee Juwon—December’s Lee Juwon, right?”
Even the back window of the taxi rolled down. He made eye contact with the couple who appeared to be taxi passengers too. The woman in the back seat yelled, “Gasp!” and pointed her phone’s camera at him.
“Wow… he’s even drunk driving?”
“As expected of his personality…”
They seemed to be whispering amongst themselves, but he could hear it all. He had always been reluctant to have people recognize him, but it was different now.
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.
They’re seeing me, right? They can see me right now? Lee Juwon’s heart raced with joy.
Flash!
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Pa kjr glvlmeiber ab offi gfilfnfv yfmjerf rbwfbcf firf mbeiv rff tlw. Off Aekbc gbiifv eq tlr klcvbk. Qtfc atf cfza ifoa aegc rlucji mjwf, tf vlvc’a vfijs jcv wjvf la ab atf jqjgawfca mjg qjgx klatbea lcmlvfca.
“Am I really home…?”
It wasn’t until he’d parked in his designated spot that he leaned back in his car seat. It was a narrow seat for a man of his height, but compared to the cave, it was comfortable.
“…Was I dreaming?”
Before hitting the Gareum with his car, his stomach hurt like it was being twisted and he even felt delirious hearing the breaking news that Kang Inheon had gone to Gangjin. Did he lose consciousness for a moment while waiting for the left turn signal?
He couldn’t tell if he was dreaming that he was trapped in a dungeon while driving, or if he was dreaming about returning to reality again while being inside the dungeon. Hoping it was the former, Lee Juwon reached out to the car window.
Instead of passing through the glass, his hand was stopped by a cold sensation with a clanking sound. Be grateful for your life, he’d once thought of those words as a joke, but now the obvious seemed overwhelming.
“…I’m alive?”
With a sigh of what might’ve been relief, Lee Juwon adjusted the angle of his car mirror to reflect his face. His tired, piercing eyes made a temperamental impression, and his complexion was hollow and deathly pale.
He was paler than usual, which made the scar near his eyebrow stand out. Feeling like he was looking at the corpse he’d seen at the funeral hall, Lee Juwon quickly turned the car mirror around.
Anyhow, it seemed like he was visible in other people’s eyes, his hand didn’t pass through the glass either, and his face was reflected in the mirror. But one minute he was chewing on a snake’s tail in front of a snake pot, and the next he was in a fluorescently lit underground car park. It didn’t feel real.
“Is this a dream?”
There was a saying that went I think, therefore I am, yet Lee Juwon was full of thoughts but did not exist. He remembered so clearly the denial of a proposition he had taken for granted that even now he felt like he didn’t exist in this world.
Riiiiing, riiiiing-.
His phone vibrated as he switched off the car. A familiar name appeared on the screen.
“Kang Inheon…”
When he saw Kang Inheon’s name, the moments of not knowing whether it was the future, a dream, or an illusion came vividly rushing back.
“A shitty future…”
In the dungeon, he didn’t have the time or leisure to think about it deeply, but looking back now, he wasn’t sure if what he saw was really the future. The other situations were plausible, but Kang Inheon… He couldn’t understand him.
If it was just guarding Lee Juwon’s funeral hall all by himself, it could possibly be Kang Inheon. But when it came to collecting Lee Juwon’s business cards for a long time, scrapping articles, and even…
“Ugh…”
Lee Juwon shook his head as if trembling, not wanting to think about Kang Inheon’s appearance sinking underwater. Just thinking about it made him retch.
“A dream, it was a dream. It was a silly dream.”
It was easy to accept a situation that didn’t make sense while you were dreaming, but when you woke up, you would naturally realize just how unreasonable it was. Only now did Lee Juwon realize how illogical the situation was.
Kang Inheon may be a philanthropist, but it was like…
“…That’s impossible.”
Like he was in unrequited love for a long time…
“I must be crazy.”
Bang, bang, Lee Juwon hit the steering wheel. There was no mistaking it, he lost his mind. Now that he thought about it, it was serious that he dreamed about that.
“But Kang Inheon is a man…?”
No, forget about Kang Inheon’s sexual orientation, there was no reason for him to like him. In fact, it felt like he hated him…?
And not just for a moment, but for that long? That made even less sense. Even Lee Juwon knew that no one, regardless of gender, held affection towards him for long.
After his school days, Lee Juwon was only popular with strangers. He’d heard confessions of love at first sight to the point he was tired of them, but they’d soon run away without looking back. No wonder, since he didn’t give a single drop of his time, money, or heart to anyone.
But he couldn’t figure out what damned subconscious manifestations made him have such an overly self-conscious and detailed dream. While Lee Juwon was pondering whether or not The Super Strong S-Class Hunter Feels Unrequited Love for Me, the Villain was really a sentiment that everyone dreamt about at least once in their lives, the phone rang.
Riiiiing, riiiiing-.
For a moment, the phone vibrated again. After a moment’s hesitation when he saw Kang Inheon’s name on his phone, Lee Juwon pressed accept and heard a familiar voice.
-Mr. CEO?
It felt like he hadn’t heard Kang Inheon’s voice in a very long time. He felt a lump in his throat when he heard his everyday voice.
Maybe that’s why his voice wouldn’t come out. Kang Inheon’s voice filled the silence instead.
-Why weren’t you answering my calls?
It turned out that he had dozens of missed calls from Kang Inheon. In his frenzy, he hadn’t heard the vibration drowned out by the sound of the honking and the radio.
He opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. It wasn’t like he was choked up or that his throat was hoarse, but no sound came out at all.
It wasn’t like he was a mermaid who lost their voice to gain legs, was he unable to speak because he was revived? When Lee Juwon croaked trying to speak, Kang Inheon spoke again.
-Mr. CEO?
“…Ha.”
His voice barely came out. Lee Juwon cleared his throat and replied, “…Finally.”
-……
“You’ve finally returned?”
-I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance, but…
“Isn’t it better not to do something you’d be sorry about?”
-It had to be done.
“What Hunter Kang had to do was go to BH.”
-…Let’s talk after I move up.
“Please speak with Attorney Park. I’m tired of listening to Hunter Kang’s noble words.”
Kang Inheon tried to say something in reply, but Lee Juwon pressed the end call button.
Then, he looked down at his phone in disbelief. What is going on here?
Until just now, Lee Juwon had no intention of blaming Kang Inheon for the Gangjin event. It wasn’t the time to nitpick him about that when he was still confused about whether he was alive or dead.
Nevertheless, Lee Juwon couldn’t stop himself from saying what had come out of his mouth earlier.
Normally, of course, that would have been the conversation he had with Kang Inheon, who had gone to Gangjin instead of BH. But right now, he just…
Just what? Even Lee Juwon didn’t know what he wanted to talk about with Kang Inheon.
He slapped his cheek, thinking it was a dream, but he only felt pain. His hands were also fine and not abnormally white.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, someone knocked lightly on the driver’s side window. Lee Juwon turned his head towards where the sound came from. At some point, a police car pulled up in the car park and two officers stood in front of Lee Juwon’s car.
Lee Juwon rolled down his window and an officer saluted lightly, “Hello, sir.” The officer pushed out a breathalyzer and continued, “We received a report suspecting you of drunk driving. We’d appreciate your co-operation.”
“…What?”
Lee Juwon remembered that the taxi driver and passengers had mistaken him for a drunk driver. But to report him?
It was ridiculous, but he hadn’t been drinking, so he didn’t mind. He blew into the machine and, naturally, it gave him a normal reading.
“Thank you for your co-operation.”
The officers seemed to recognize Lee Juwon but didn’t exactly act like they did.
When Lee Juwon got out of the car, a security guard bowed toward him. Many lights were hanging from the ceiling of the car park, and his shadow was cast in many ways on the smooth floor.
Despite all the evidence that he was alive, Lee Juwon was uneasy.
It was hard to affirm whether this was a dream or reality. His surroundings were too real for him to be dreaming, and his dream of being trapped in the dungeon was too vivid for this to be reality.
He wasn’t even sure if he was alive. He was glad that he was home and not in a dungeon, but although he wanted to move past everything and think of it as a dream, he couldn’t let go of his feelings.
“…Did I die without realizing it?”
Sitting at the dining table and rubbing his face dry with his hands, Lee Juwon typed his name into the portal site on his phone.
Businessman Lee Juwon
Date of birth 19xx. 11. 21
Affiliation December (CEO)
Education Bachelor’s degree in business management, Korea University
Awards 202x 100 Next Generation Leaders
202x Good Leader of the Year Award
His profile had a birth date, but no death date. Worried that it hadn’t been updated yet, he searched for “December Lee Juwon accident,” “CEO Lee Juwon death,” “Lee Juwon Hannam Station Three-Way Intersection,” and more. As usual, only useless search results filled the screen.
‘Lee Juwon controversy for buying and selling low-priced items at high prices –News Hunter’
‘Lee Juwon has a strange way of thinking… –funfun’
‘I saw Lee Juwon at Hannam station’s three-way intersection just now and as expected he drives like shit –treasure dream’
“What is this?”
‘December CEO Lee Juwon, may he be careful of sudden death..(78) –palm reading gallery’
Lee Juwon clicked on the post that caught his eye. It analyzed his palmistry by cropping a photo of him blocking the reporters’ flash baptism with his palm.
The wealth line drawn vertically on the ring finger is deep, indicating success and the emotional line extends to the index finger, indicating that he will be singleheartedly devoted to his spouse and have good marriage luck. The brain line meets the wealth line and extends all the way across the palm of his hand, meaning he has an extraordinary head and good acting power.
However, the life line is faint and even ended in the middle. Being cut short is fine, but the gaps are long, and the ends are bent into a chain-like shape, suggesting unlucky and evil energy. This palm reading says that he might die a painful death, so may he always take care of his body..
78 comments
Thank you for giving us hope
┕May you refrain yourself from making these kinds of comments..
I stopped reading when I saw ‘singlehearted devotion’ lololol conmen have so many things to say lmao
┕I just see things as what they are..
ackㅠㅠ please, may nothing happenㅠㅠ
┕palm reading is just palm reading.. however, there’s nothing bad about being careful..
Oooh I wanna marry Lee Juwon, he’s the best husband, isn’t he one that dies early and leaves behind a lot of inheritance?
┕He’s a sensitive man with high standards, so marriage is not easily achieved..
My heart is fluttering badump badump hurry and die♥♥♥
┕What we called evil of mouth in the old days are comments nowadays.. may you not rashly collect karma by posting useless comments..
“All sorts of weird things…”
Lee Juwon felt a strange feeling and quickly pressed back. When he searched again, he found many posts praying for him to die, but no articles actually reporting his death.
But that didn’t reassure him. Looking at his reputation, he felt reality hit as he realized that if he were to die in an accident, the situation he saw in his dream or whatever it was would repeat.
…Except for Kang Inheon.
Thinking about him made his head throb and hurt. Even if he tried to pass it off by saying the attempt to understand the pipe dream itself was wrong, it was not so easily forgotten.
The main page of the portal was covered with articles and videos of Kang Inheon. They were articles and videos about Kang Inheon’s success in subjugating the dungeon in Gangjin.
In case of public requests, a short, edited video of the dungeon-clearing process was provided. As it was handled by the on-site team, the video was already uploaded.
The image of Kang Inheon in the thumbnail felt unfamiliar. Up until now, he thought he knew Kang Inheon well, but…
“Now I don’t know…”
orcinus comments:
lee juwon, king of staying in denial
THANK YOU for the chapter! ❤️
I have stayed up all night just to read this hnggggg. Thanm you for the chapter~
I just want him to get out of the car its giving me anxiety ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
Ikr ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
Thank u for the chapter
THANK YOU FOR THE CHAPTER TRANSLATOR
Stoopid bebe
Damn ppl really praying he dies😅😭 what my boi did to deserve this??
Even I am in disbelief if we’re back to reality or the dungeon showing another dream of the ‘present’ lolol
Denial stage, Denial actions 😆😅
DENIAL IS A RIVER IN EGYPT!!!!
He’s on the way to correct his shortcomings and I’m loving it <3
Scrooge, trash, and in denial LMAO
Damn, everyone in the internet is wishing him dead , man sure is having a bad day