Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 26

When Detective Jo Kyung-yeon arrived at the scene after receiving a call from the Association, the firefighters had just finished extinguishing the fire.

Seeing most of the first floor burned black, Jo Kyung-yeon understood why he had been called.

“So, this is the work of a Hunter, is it?”

His junior, who followed him, quickly took out his notebook and checked the reported details.

“Yes, yes. According to the report, a masked Hunter used a skill inside the department store around 11:34.”

“What skill?”

“‘Flame Storm’.”

“Is he crazy? He used that indoors?”

Jo Kyung-yeon belonged to a special department that mainly handled Hunter-related cases.

Therefore, he was well-versed in the skills that Hunters commonly used.

Just by hearing the name, he could immediately recall its effects and power.

“What’s the damage situation?”

“As you can see, the site is almost completely burned down, with 25 injured and 7 dead.”

“Damn. He took quite a few with him.”

Jo Kyung-yeon took out an electronic cigarette from his front pocket and took a long drag.

Seeing this, his junior showed an expression full of interest as if he had seen something amazing.

“Senior, when did you switch to electronic cigarettes?”

“I’m getting old. I need to take care of my health.”

“Why don’t you just quit smoking? I heard electronic cigarettes are just as harmful.”

“Damn. You want me to keep doing this without even a cigarette?”

Due to the nature of the department, the scenes Jo Kyung-yeon arrived at were always disastrous.

He had to face human corpses almost every day, and he might go crazy from stress if he didn’t rely on the power of nicotine.

“Stop talking nonsense. Where’s the person who reported this?”

“They said he’s behind the fire truck.”

“Which fire truck?”

“Uh… that… that is…”

His junior, who hadn’t listened that closely, started hurriedly scanning the fire trucks scattered around the scene.

His junior, who was rolling his eyes diligently, managed to find someone who matched the description of the reporter.

“There, there he is. Behind that fire truck on the left.”

“I’ve never seen him before… Did that guy catch the one who caused this madness?”

“Yes. He beat him to a pulp. Want to see?”

When his junior showed him the picture he had saved on his smartphone, Jo Kyung-yeon frowned.

It was a natural reaction since he had to see a corpse with its head blown open in broad daylight.

“Why do you save such things and carry them around? It’s disgusting.”

“Is that wrong?”

“Well, it’s not wrong as long as you don’t leak it outside…”

Normally, people wouldn’t save such gruesome pictures on their personal phones.

But this bold junior boasted that he had saved all the photos from the scenes he had experienced so far, without missing a single one.

Considering that he had been following him around since the first day of his assignment without throwing up or showing any fear, it seemed like this job was his calling.

“Flame Storm is a high-level skill, so it’s difficult to deal with unless you’re quite skilled.”

It meant the opponent was at least a B-rank or higher Magician.

Considerable stats were needed to crush the head of such a Hunter with a single blow.

It was a difficult task for a lesser-known Hunter below C-rank.

“There are witnesses, so it won’t be a lie.”

“That’s right. No one in their right mind would lie about killing someone.”

He had met many people who weren’t in their right mind while working in this field.

However, he didn’t sense that peculiar craziness from the Hunter who reported the incident.

Except for his slightly pale complexion, he was an ordinary young man you could see anywhere.

“What was that friend’s name again?”

“Sir? You don’t remember that either?”

“Hey, you! Don’t you know I just finished handling another case? I might not remember. Do you have to say it like that?”

When Jo Kyung-il flicked his junior’s forehead half-jokingly, his junior clutched his head with a tearful face.

“Ouch! That hurts!”

“Don’t talk back to your senior.”

“How is that talking back…”

His junior, thinking he might get hit again, shut his mouth and rummaged through his notebook.

“The reporter’s name is Kang Jin-hyuk. He recently rose to C-rank.”

“Kang Jin-hyuk?”

It was a name he had heard somewhere before.

Jo Kyung-il, racking his brain, recalled a recent internet article he had read.

“He’s the one who caught that new type of monster.”

“Are you talking about the one that appeared during the large-scale invasion that Titan handled?”

“Yes, that one.”

It was the most threatening monster that had appeared recently, so there had been a lot of talk about it until recently.

“I heard it was actually not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? More than 10 A-rank Hunters were seriously injured because of it?”

“Still, they say that if S-rank Hunter Seo Sang-ho wasn’t an extreme close-range type, he could have easily caught it…”

“There you go again, listening to the baseless speculations of keyboard warriors.”

If it were truly an insignificant monster, the proud Titan wouldn’t have asked other guilds for help.

Those who downplayed Kang Jin-hyuk’s achievements were just narrow-minded people who were jealous of a C-rank Hunter getting attention.

Experts predicted that Kang Jin-hyuk might have hidden abilities; they didn’t dismiss it by saying the monster was weak.

Jo Kyung-il was also one of those people.

It felt strange to encounter the person he had been interested in after seeing the internet article in this way.

“Let’s go talk to him.”

Kang Jin-hyuk, who was staring blankly at the scene, turned his head when he noticed the two detectives approaching him.

As their eyes met, Jo Kyung-il showed his detective ID, which he had taken out beforehand.

“Are you Mr. Kang Jin-hyuk?”

“Yes, I am.”

Kang Jin-hyuk’s expression and tone naturally stiffened when he faced the detective.

He couldn’t be confident because he felt somewhat responsible for this incident.

Jo Kyung-yeon mistook Kang Jin-hyuk’s attitude for being scared because he had killed someone.

So he opened his mouth to reassure him.

“What you did was self-defense, so you don’t have to be so scared.”

“Self-defense…? Can killing someone be overlooked so easily?”

Kang Jin-hyuk’s question was natural.

Even if the man was a villain, it was no different from vigilante justice for him, who wasn’t a police officer, to kill him.

In principle, self-defense had to be acknowledged through a trial.

But cases like this were an exception.

“If you keep one fact to yourself, you can end this without going to trial.”

“Is that true?”

“Of course. We have clear evidence for Hunters.”

“Clear evidence?”

Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t guess what the detective was talking about.

What could be such clear evidence that he wouldn’t even need to go to trial?

Jo Kyung-il threw a question to resolve Kang Jin-hyuk’s question.

“You didn’t get the ‘Villain’ title even though you killed someone, right?”

“H-How did you…?”

“It’s an open secret among us that the Villain title isn’t given for self-defense cases.”

Kang Jin-hyuk seemed surprised.

The fact that he thought only he knew was widely known among detectives.

“Then, is this the fact you want me to keep to myself?”

“That’s right. Things get really complicated if this fact becomes widely known.”

When you kill someone, you automatically get the Villain title.

This acted as a shackle that bound the Hunters.

If some Hunters, knowing that it’s not given for self-defense, started acting like righteous heroes…

That’s when vigilante justice would truly begin to run rampant.

The government and the Association wanted Hunters to only hunt monsters.

They didn’t want heroes that only appeared in movies.

“I see…”

Kang Jin-hyuk, having heard the detailed explanation, nodded in understanding.

The Association’s goal was stability.

When monsters first appeared and Hunters emerged, how much effort did the Association put in to control the Hunters who were trying to run wild?

The Association wouldn’t want to experience that chaos again.

Even if it was an act of goodwill, an increase in those who deviated from the rules would ultimately only lead to chaos.

“I’ll keep it in mind. I won’t tell anyone.”

“…I’d like to believe your words, but this is a very important matter.”

Nothing was as fragile as a promise made only in words.

Jo Kyung-il handed Kang Jin-hyuk a small brooch-shaped device, following procedure.

“Please carry this with you from now on.”

“What is this?”

“To be blunt, it’s a monitoring device. If you utter three forbidden words, a signal will be sent to us.”

“Forbidden words?”

“Yes. ‘Murder’, ‘Villain’, ‘Self-defense’, these three. If you don’t remember them well, we’ll be visiting you often.”

Kang Jin-hyuk received the device, but he couldn’t understand this policy.

Even if they filtered words, he could still inform others through writing.

No matter how he thought about it, it was too sloppy for something the government was doing.

“Can I go home if I just take this?”

He asked in case there were other devices, but the answer was positive.

“Of course. We recommend you rest comfortably for a while, as you must be in shock.”

Jo Kyung-yeon didn’t bother mentioning that the device had a function to filter written words.

Hunters usually didn’t think such a function was technically possible, so they became complacent.

If Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t let his guard down here and kept the secret, he would be considered trustworthy and the device would be retrieved within a year.

If he tried to reveal this fact through writing, the monitoring level would increase, and his life would become restricted.

Even though Jo Kyung-yeon intentionally hid these facts, Kang Jin-hyuk vaguely sensed them.

‘There’s no way the government and the Association would be this careless.’

They only became careless when dealing with someone rich or with connections.

When dealing with ordinary people like him, they were more thorough and cautious than anyone else, so it was clear that it wouldn’t end with just this.

‘I should ask the Dwarf Ajusshi to take a look at it later.’

He didn’t know if the Dwarf could tamper with things made by humans, but it was worth a try.

“Can I ask you one thing before I go?”

“Of course. What are you curious about?”

“…Besides the Villain title not being given when a Hunter commits murder in self-defense, are there any other phenomena?”

“Why do you ask?”

“This is my first time experiencing something like this, so I’m just curious.”

Jo Kyung-yeon instinctively realized that Kang Jin-hyuk was hiding something.

But he didn’t pry.

Hunters usually had a secret or two.

Jo Kyung-yeon decided to overlook it since Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t seem like someone who would commit a crime.

“As far as I know, there are no other phenomena besides that.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you for letting me know.”

Kang Jin-hyuk bowed and hurriedly left the scene.

Jo Kyung-il’s junior looked at him with suspicion as he seemed to be running away.

“I think there’s something going on with him.”

“If even you think so, it must be nothing.”

“…Isn’t that a bit harsh, senior?”

“If you’re upset, go build up your track record. Stop chasing after false leads.”

Jo Kyung-il moved to examine the scene himself since the investigation on Kang Jin-hyuk was over.

During the subsequent investigation, his junior kept saying nonsense like, ‘I smell a crime,’ or ‘Isn’t this all a setup by him?’

Although Jo Kyung-il felt something from Kang Jin-hyuk like his junior did, it was definitely not the smell of a crime.

Based on his experience, the reason for Hunters reacting like that was usually one thing.

‘He must have obtained a Hidden Class or a Hidden Skill.’

If he hinted at this to his loudmouthed junior, he would surely blabber about it, so Jo Kyung-il kept it to himself.

And as expected.

The first thing Kang Jin-hyuk did when he returned home was to check the Hidden Class and Skill he had obtained.