Latest Chapters
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409 Layer Upon Layer of Mountains (2) “Get a hold of yourself!” I understood how Robinson felt. My own mind was reeling. I’d suspected there might be monsters in the river at the bottom of the gorge, but that didn’t mean I actually wanted there to be one. A dungeon with three kinds of monsters? Sure. It’s not unheard of. Rare, but there are dungeons with multiple monster species. But as Hope once said, mindless beasts are just prey. If there are multiple types of monsters, there…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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410 Layer Upon Layer of Mountains (3) I’d thought Han Taekyung would just head straight out through the gate. Still, it wasn’t so strange. Han Taekyung hadn’t seen that eel monster. The attack from the pterosaur had taken him completely by surprise. Once he knew what he was up against, with his skills, breaking through wouldn’t be difficult. So maybe he was more worried about the rest of us, stuck with a cute hunter who’d never faced a flying monster before. Or maybe he had a reason to…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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411 Butterflies of Memory (1) ‘No!!!!’ A scream, sharp enough to tear the air. ‘No, no, no… Why? This is all my…’ A voice trembling with tears. ‘I’ll fix it, I’ll fix everything.’ A sobbing that didn’t know where to turn. ‘I’ll fix it all…’ A murmur, disturbingly resolute. ‘So just hold on a little longer.’ Darkness, so thick you couldn’t see your own hand. Even in pain, the grip that held my hand never let go. Warm, burning, and above…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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412 Butterflies of Memory (2) “If you die doing bad things, you’ll end up in a place like this.” Since this was a landscape I’d created with my own hands, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with Han Taekyung’s words. Regardless of agreement. I swung my sword in silence. The forest was, quite literally, turning to ashes. If this weren’t a dungeon but the real world, I’d be sued by environmental groups. Of course, I was only able to set fire to my heart’s content because it was a…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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413 Butterflies of Memory (3) The best-case scenario, of course, was for the gate to be clear. That was why we’d chosen such an extreme measure as burning down the forest. If you can avoid a fight, isn’t that always best? If the butterflies retreated from the fire, nothing could be better. It didn’t have to be completely clear. Just a small gap to slip through the gate—that was enough. Of course, we’d considered the worst-case scenario as well. Not that it was anything…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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414 Butterflies of Memory (4) My mind was in complete disarray. The time we spent facing off against the fairy at the gate was less than five minutes. But if someone told me it had been five hours, I would have believed it. Even among fairies, Tati had never felt this threatening. When we first entered the dungeon, it did attack us, but thinking back, that was… not entirely sincere. It was more like it was testing us. Trying to figure out why we’d come into the dungeon—whether we were there…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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415 Butterflies of Memory (5) Aside from his insistence on wearing sunglasses day and night, indoors or out, Han Taekyung was, for a hunter, a fairly reasonable person. Even twenty years later, when he sometimes got into disputes with civilians, Han Taekyung never did so without reason. Thanks to dungeon management laws, he usually won in court. It wasn’t because he was a public official with the Bureau—if anything, he got more flak and was even suspended from duty regardless of the…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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416 Preparation for the Raid (1) “Is it all right if I enter the dungeon?” It was around the time the luxurious Okinawan villa was bustling with hunters from France. I asked this question during a phone call with Hong Seokyoung. I’d called partly because I was reminded of my father, who’d always forbidden me from hunting humanoid monsters—especially fairies. And honestly, since Kim Chaemin had already come from Korea to Okinawa, I wondered if it was too late to be asking permission.…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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417 Preparation for the Raid (2) “Does it bother you?” “Hm?” “I asked if it bothers you.” Kim Chaemin’s gaze drifted toward Han Taekyung and Eva Robinson, playing on the beach. It was a stark contrast to the adults’ serious faces as they reviewed dungeon plans. Eva Robinson was one thing, but Han Taekyung… Well, I was the one who told him to just check the fairy’s words and not worry about the dungeon. Apparently bored of playing in the water, Han Taekyung had…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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418 Preparation for the Raid (3) “Man, this is exhausting!” “What’s so exhausting?” “The most basic things are always the hardest!” “The basics?” “Walking, of course!” Han Taekyung made an exaggerated show of rubbing his back. With that silly grin, he looked less like someone worn out and more like someone out for a stroll. He was only complaining lightly; the path wasn’t that tough. It was an untamed forest trail, but nothing like the heart of some remote…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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419 Preparation for the Raid (4) In modern society, a magician is indispensable for dungeon raids. This was true twenty years ago, and it will be true twenty years from now. Thanks to the development of runes and mana pens, the status of magicians isn’t what it used to be. Still, most hunters look for a magician when entering a dungeon—especially for the highest-level dungeons. Why? Because magicians work miracles. They can find the core’s location in a dungeon they’ve never…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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420 Preparation for the Raid (5) The meetings to prepare for the Okinawa Butterfly Dungeon raid continued even after that. I won’t claim the plan was perfect. Such a thing doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean you can just not do it, either. Having a plan and not having one are two very different things. Hunters know that better than anyone. “They say the Japanese government is providing supplies?” “All top-grade!” “They’d better, if they have any conscience. Who do you…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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421 Bugs in the Ashes (1) I never wanted to become a hunter. The reason was simple. I hated physical labor. Well, it’s hard to find a job that doesn’t involve some physical effort. Even my own major required me to grind myself down. All-nighter shoots were routine, and every shoot meant hauling a mountain of gear. Beautiful films aren’t made without a price…. But the work of a hunter felt fundamentally different. That’s not to belittle hunters—or any other profession. I…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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422 Ashes’ Vermin (2) Let’s imagine for a moment. One day, as I was living my life with diligence, a stranger came to see me. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t a complete stranger. There was something oddly familiar about his face, his voice. So, as I stared at him, wondering if he might be a long-lost sibling, he said this: “I am you, from the future.” How would I react to that? I’d call the police, obviously. Report that there’s some lunatic hanging around. Honestly, if…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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423 Ashes’ Vermin (3) Do not grow complacent. Words left by a certain human—perhaps once a guardian of humanity—for their past self. He was someone who, for all his legendary reputation, often spoke nonsense and played more than his share of pranks, but experience never lied. His advice—if it could be called advice—was universal. Well, it was the sort of thing anyone could easily say, and no one could deny its truth. Unfortunately, it applied just as well to those who were not…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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424 Ashes' Vermin (4) Would Kim Chaemin dislike it if I said something like this? But even so, I can’t just pretend I didn’t feel it. The petals, even after the dungeon core was shattered, drifted for a long while, caught in the storm of mana. The petals, already torn to pieces beyond recognition, now looked almost no different from dust. Dust? To be honest, they looked like gnats. Tiny flying insects, flitting about, drawn to the light. Maybe it was because a few butterflies that had…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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425 Field Trip (1) What is the most difficult part of conquering a dungeon? To answer that, I first need to explain what exactly counts as “conquering” a dungeon—where that definition begins. Well… unless you’re a Hunter, there’s no need to know its history. Actually, if you are a Hunter, you have even less reason to care. What matters to a Hunter is whether they can enter the dungeon, and whether they can clear it. Why bother learning knowledge that’s of no use in an actual…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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426 Field Trip (2) “Wow!” “Wow!” “Wow!” The children, dressed in their dirt-stained gym uniforms, spun around me in circles, covered in dust from head to toe, performing a bizarre dance. Oh Hyunwook stood behind them, arms crossed, pretending not to care, while Park Seohyun clapped along with the children’s shouts, smiling quietly. …… Strange. Had I really been away that long? Was it the heat that had gotten to them while I was gone? I glanced at Kim Chaemin, who…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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427 Field Trip (3) The moment the word “Mont Saint-Michel” was uttered, Funès’s demeanor changed. The European gentleman who looked as if he might enjoy coffee at a street café on a sunny day suddenly became as sharp as a well-forged blade. The reason… well, it wasn’t hard to guess. A dungeon of the highest difficulty, unconquered for decades—what better way to provoke a Hunter’s pride? When all that came of the attempts was a mounting death toll, the number of reckless…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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428 The Mist of Mont Saint-Michel (1) In Europe, there is a place known as the graveyard of Hunters. It refers to the region of the Alps that stretches across central Europe. No one has discovered exactly how dungeons come into being. Even Alex Hoff, who could be called our insider, admitted he didn’t know what criteria determined where dungeons appeared on Earth. All he could say was that dungeons were placed in environments similar to those inside, to make adaptation easier. Whether that was…
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647.7 K • Ongoing
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