The Hero Returns - Chapter 335

『Kim Su-hyeun heads to ‘Chungnam’ dungeon as soon as returning. Are his actions related to his connection to Lee Ju-ho, the new…』

It had been quite a while since a dungeon generated in Cheonan, Chungnam (South Chungcheong) Province. On top of that, it was blue in color. Excluding the indigo color, this type of dungeon carried the highest degree of danger.

Its location was in the middle of the city, not some isolated mountain valley. Since it was right bang in a place where people could easily see it, there should be no reason to not notice this dungeon.

Rather obviously, the citizens expected either the association or the Awakener Authority to step up quickly and raid this dungeon.

But then…

“Hey, isn’t this getting a bit too dangerous?”

“Feels like it’s been a month already…”

Once a dungeon showed up, it was normal to prohibit civilians from entering the one-kilometer range of the portal until the raid was successfully concluded.

However, for some strange reason, the entry prohibition signboard remained in the same spot although the one-month mark was approaching. Meaning, the raid hadn’t finished yet.

Unsurprisingly, the civilians walking past grew increasingly concerned. If something went wrong somewhere and the dungeon became a full-on outbreak, then the city of Cheonan would be leveled flat in no time at all.

“Shouldn’t someone report this to the Authority?”

“I actually called them yesterday. They said not to worry at all.”

“Hey, dude. Why did you call the Authority? You should’ve called the association.”

“I called the association, too.”

“Really? Wait, did they forget about this dungeon, then?”

“How should I know?”

Crowds gathered in one spot and began murmuring to themselves. While that was happening, someone shouted out loudly among them.

“They are here! Awakeners from the Authority have come!”

“Really?”

“Whew! That’s a relief.”

Numerous awakeners, already geared up, had gathered near the dungeon’s vicinity. These awakeners, with the Awakener Authority emblem clearly visible on their attires, began to set up a defensive cordon around the dungeon in a professional and orderly manner.

Restrictions on movements for civilians also got underway. While saying that they needed to widen the prohibited area, they proceeded to evacuate the civilians to an even further-off location.

In the middle of all that, a lone figure stepped forward and headed toward the prohibited area around the dungeon.

“Uh? Excuse me! If you go that way…?”

The man who was trudging toward the dungeon suddenly vanished from view.

The civilian who was urgently moving according to the guidance provided by the Authority-affiliated awakeners could only make a puzzled expression.

“Did I see a ghost or something?”

* * *

Kim Jae-ho was one of the two top awakeners affiliated with the Authority.

He was known as the other S-Rank awakener working for the Authority along with Bak Yun-gyu, and as he managed to reach this rank at a young age, many evaluated him to have a bright future ahead of him.

And he had one role to perform today.

“They want me to stop an outbreak, huh?”

Kim Jae-ho scanned his vicinity and observed that quite a large number of awakeners were present—about two hundred of them, as a matter of fact. Every single one was a B-Rank awakener or higher and also happened to be affiliated with the Authority.

Gathering these many awakeners would have taken the Authority a considerable amount of time and effort, not to mention coordination to match everyone’s schedule. With that alone, Kim Jae-ho was certain of this whole thing not being cooked up in one day.

“Bak Yun-gyu is scheduled to join us a little later…” he thought.

Their role was not to raid but to defend. They must stop the monsters from pouring out from the dungeon and work with Bak Yun-gyu or any other available awakeners from the various guilds to minimize the losses that would arise from the outbreak as much as possible.

“I guess it’s about time they show up.” Kim Jae-ho checked the time with his wristwatch. It said, three o’clock.

If what he had been told was correct, then the people from the association should be arriving right about now.

Sure enough, a man with a familiar face walked up to Kim Jae-ho and asked, “Ah, you guys must be from the Authority?”

Kim Jae-ho’s eyes gleamed brightly at that. He had instantly recognized the man that arrived in a sedan.

“Jung Yoon-ho,” Kim Jae-ho inwardly said.

Indeed, it was none other than Jung Yoon-ho, the retired association chairman and an S-Rank awakener affiliated with the association.

“Ah, hello. Yes, we came to face off against the upcoming dungeon outbreak. We’ve already instructed the evacuation of the civilians, and we are currently on standby until enough personnel arrived to safely pull off the defensive battle.”

“Thank you for responding so quickly.”

“You’re too kind. By the way…” Kim Jae-ho paused and glanced at the other awakeners disembarking from several cars that came along with Jung Yoon-ho. “It seems that no one in the association knew that a dungeon was here?”

“…”

Jung Yoon-ho couldn’t immediately reply. It was an obvious question, after all.

If they knew, they would have never neglected such a dungeon. A blue-colored dungeon would have been set as a priority if they knew of its existence, yet it was still left unattended until now, and that clearly indicated the association’s mistake.

After all, the Awakener Authority was an organization meant to manage the awakeners, not raid dungeons.

Kim Jae-ho continued, “Well, I don’t think there will be a major problem, anyway. Most of the civilians have been evacuated by now, and the Authority has mobilized enough manpower to prepare for the worst.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“I have to say, I do feel that much more confident now that you’re here with us, Mister Jung Yoon-ho. Another S-Rank from our own side is scheduled to arrive pretty soon, so I think the assault will be easier than—”

Giii-iiiing—

The heads of both Kim Jae-ho and Jung Yoon-ho spun toward a certain direction—the dungeon in the distance.

Energy began whipping up into a storm from within the dungeon. Kim Jae-ho nervously swallowed back his saliva and clenched his fists. “So, it’s finally begun.”

“No,” Jung Yoon-ho shook his head after hearing Kim Jae-ho’s voice filled with determination. “It’s the exact opposite.”

“Sorry?”

“It’s not the beginning, but the dungeon’s disappearing instead.”

Tap—

Jung Yoon-ho kicked the ground and leaped up. Seeing how Jung Yoon-ho’s figure rapidly darted toward the dungeon, Kim Jae-ho began chasing after him even before he could think.

The dungeon in question was about one kilometer away from the signs denoting the beginning of the restricted area. It wasn’t that far away, in other words.

Although several buildings obscured it, the dungeon became visible soon enough after they dashed forward quickly for a dozen or so seconds.

“The dungeon, it’s…”

Kim Jae-ho’s eyes opened wider.

A building that was previously dyed in the distinctive blue color had almost fully reverted to its original coloring. The blue light hadn’t fully disappeared yet; it lingered on in a faint and blurry state.

Every single awakener in the world should know what this phenomenon signified.

“The raid…it’s over?”

That was the most common phenomenon a dungeon would display after a raid had been completed. It indicated that even though the entrance to the dungeon remained, just about every monster existing inside was gone.

Both Kim Jae-ho and Jung Yoon-ho stopped dashing and stared at the raided dungeon with puzzled expressions on their faces. They glanced at each other, their eyes expressing questions about what to make of this situation. Neither of them was responsible for this, so it was only natural that they began suspecting the other party, but it didn’t take long for them to realize the truth after looking into each other’s eyes.

“It wasn’t you?” Kim Jae-ho asked first.

“No. And it wasn’t your side either?” Jung Yoon-ho replied. The former nodded when the latter asked back and reverted his gaze to the dungeon.

Not too long afterward, a figure of a person emerged from inside the blurry dungeon entrance while riding on a red dragon, no less.

Gya-ong—!

“Is that Kim Su-hyeun?” Kim Jae-ho asked, stunned.

“Huh? Why is Kim Su-hyeun coming out of there?” Rather obviously, Jung Yoon-ho didn’t have any answers to give.

Su-hyeun spotted the two men and lightly rubbed Miru before dismounting from the dragon’s back. After landing on the ground, he recognized Jung Yoon-ho and walked up to the latter. “Hello. You came as well?”

“What is going on here?”

“As you can see.” Su-hyeun shrugged his shoulders and glanced back to the dungeon.

A detailed explanation wasn’t necessary.

Kim Su-hyeun was the world’s top awakener who was strong enough to raid a blue-colored dungeon all by himself, and it had been like that for a long time now. Therefore, even a dummy could tell that he raided this blue dungeon by himself as well.

The issue here was…

“Is the raid really over?” Jung Yoon-ho asked.

“Yes, it’s over. By the way, who is this?”

“Oh, I’m Kim Jae-ho, an awakener affiliated with the Authority.”

“Kim Jae-ho? The one who entered the S-Rank not too long ago?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“It seems like quite many awakeners have gathered over there. Could it be that the association requested help from the Authority?”

“No, the Authority’s people were already here by the time we arrived.”

At Jung Yoon-ho’s reply, Su-hyeun formed a puzzled expression. “They were already here?”

Kim Jae-ho’s own expression twitched a little at Su-hyeun’s probing gaze, and he quickly changed the topic. “S—since the raid is over, we shall return to base for now. Thank you for your hard work.”

He bowed a little toward Su-hyeun and Jung Yoon-ho and hurriedly turned around to head back to the rest of his group. The two remaining people stood around in silence for a little while, staring in the direction Kim Jae-ho had disappeared to.

As the Authority-affiliated awakeners began to professionally withdraw from there, Jung Yoon-ho finally spoke, “Isn’t that a little odd?”

“Yes, it is, but…” Su-hyeun’s lips curled up into a grin. “It might be a good thing, actually.”

* * *

SHATTER—!

Tumble, drop—

A bookshelf toppled over, and a glass on the table fell to the ground to shatter into pieces.

The coffee contained in the glass stained the floor, and various documents scattered chaotically throughout the office.

“What kind of bullsh*t is this?!”

The director shot up from his chair and roared out like he was freaking out, his face flushing in anger.

Section Chief Han Myeong-gyun could only sweat nervously while cautiously studying his boss’s moods after witnessing such a violent reaction. He realized that no matter what he said now, nothing would work to calm the director’s rage.

“Why the hell did Kim Su-hyeun show up there?!”

“Kim Su-hyeun heads to ‘Chungnam’ dungeon as soon as returning. Are his actions related to his connection to Lee Ju-ho, the new association chairman?”

That was the headline of the article Section Chief Han Myeong-gyun showed him.

The article talked about Kim Su-hyeun making a move to raid the dungeon in question. The director, well versed in the antics of political machinations, could easily tell just how those articles that began showing up only a few minutes ago had come about.

“Lee Ju-ho. That son of a b*tch has spread around these articles,” he inwardly cursed. The director panted like an enraged bull, the glare in his eyes sharpening even further.

Obviously, these articles weren’t fake. Kim Su-hyeun making a move would no doubt be for real, but the person tipping off the reporters into writing these articles had to be none other than Lee Ju-ho.

From the perspectives of the reporters, they would be losing nothing here.

Kim Su-hyeun had returned, and he personally made a move to raid the blue-colored dungeon. Something like that should be a scoop that all reporters waited for with bated breaths, especially more so when the dungeon was about to reach the outbreak stage.

The world thirsted for a hero, and Kim Su-hyeun was the most ideal hero that the world wanted to see.

Knock, knock—

“Sir, I’m coming in.”

Creak—

Someone opened the door and stepped inside the office. The director quickly smoothed out his crumpled expression and turned his head.

The man visiting the director’s office, Bak Yun-gyu, momentarily froze after discovering the chaotic state of the office itself.

“Do come in, even though it’s a little messy in here.”

“Sir, please excuse me.”

Clack—

Bak Yun-gyu closed the door behind him, and instead of sitting down somewhere, he chose to remain standing with his hands on his back.

Meanwhile, the director sat back down on the couch and poured some water on a paper cup instead of his glass, which had broken earlier.

He didn’t tell Bak Yun-gyu to sit down. He knew that the man wouldn’t even if he asked him to.

“What happened to the matter when you got there?”

“Didn’t you hear the news, sir?”

“Did we lose our timing to Kim Su-hyeun, then?”

“No, sir. We didn’t lose our timing, but Kim Su-hyeun stopped a dungeon that we failed to raid in the first place.”

“Still an inflexible fella, aren’t you?” The director furrowed his brows greatly to indicate that he didn’t like this at all.

Bak Yun-gyu was different from Section Chief Han Myeong-gyun. He wasn’t exactly riding on the same boat as the two of them. To put it in another way, he was someone riding on a “similar” type of a boat as they were.

It would be smarter not to get too agitated in front of such a man.

“Fine. I’ll acknowledge Kim Su-hyeun’s contribution. It is true that he urgently stopped a dungeon his association missed somehow, after all.”

The director decided to find the good among the bad. The ideal outcome he wanted to see was as good as ruined by now. However, other than the event not working out as intended, the process of getting there and the end result hadn’t changed a great deal.

“Did you confirm that we had more agents on location compared to the association?” the director asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you hear that, Section Chief Han?” The director had finally calmed down by then and continued to speak as his eyes narrowed into slits like a snake’s, “Call for a press conference. Right now.”