Chapter 16
‘Wanna hear about the opportunity?’
‘Then wait until I’m done fighting those guys!’
‘Don’t wanna?’
‘Then kill me!’
“……”
A brief silence followed my bold declaration.
Kang Jaeho’s group let out a scoff.
The A-rank assassin just stared at me with cold eyes.
“Um… w-what are you planning to do?”
The porter siblings tugged anxiously at my sleeve.
I gave them a faint smile and nodded.
Then I met the assassin’s gaze head-on.
“Please understand. I’ve got a kind of mental illness. No matter how close to death I am, I can’t stand swallowing my pride. Those bastards who stabbed me in the back—I need to deal with them myself…”
“Are you, by any chance…”
Tap.
That’s when the assassin finally spoke.
His face was still stiff.
“You’re not plotting something, are you?”
“Come on.”
I waved it off.
His eyes were sharp as frost, but I tried to stay confident.
“This is still a dungeon. There’s literally no scenario where I could run away from you right now.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes. Even if I had a dagger hidden or some clever trick up my sleeve, could I fool an A-rank Hunter’s senses and instincts?”
“…That’s true.”
The assassin nodded.
Then closed his eyes.
He was weighing the situation.
‘He’s just about convinced.’
These guys were criminals, part of a vicious group.
People like them had no sense of loyalty.
If they saw an opportunity to profit, they’d gladly stab their comrades in the back.
If someone like me throws a fit and says he’d rather die than spill the beans about an “opportunity”?
If I say I’ll die before revealing it?
Would he really choose to protect his underlings?
Or would he want to hear about the opportunity?
“To be honest.”
I opened my mouth again to drive the point home.
The assassin needed to see me as a guy with nothing left to lose.
“I know I’m as good as dead. I mean, come on. The Shadow Severance is standing right in front of me. Who’d think they had a chance to live?”
“……”
“But even if I die, I won’t let those backstabbers walk away happy. People who smile sweetly as they stab you in the back… If that’s hard to accept, just kill me. Or should I take care of it myself?”
“……Wait. Hold on a second.”
When I pressed Bone One’s sword to my neck, urgency flashed across the assassin’s face.
That earlier calm, when he first appeared and slashed at my neck, was long gone.
“H-Hyung? Are you really hesitating? You’re not actually falling for that lame trick, are you?”
Kang Jaeho was panicking.
“Well well, using the target’s greed against them. That’s quite the tactic. Is this the strategy of the weak? Hoho, I’ve learned something today.”
The old man with his hands behind his back watched with amusement.
“Hyung?”
“Shut it.”
At the assassin’s cold voice, Kang Jaeho’s eyes widened.
Ignoring him, the assassin turned back to me.
“What if they overpower you?”
The question was simple.
I’d be allowed to fight.
But if I lost?
“Then I’ll accept defeat, no complaints.”
“Accept?”
“Yes. Win or lose, I’ll tell you everything about the opportunity I got in that dungeon and how it can benefit you. No secrets.”
“Hmm, fine.”
The assassin nodded.
Then he tapped his wristwatch.
“I’ll give you 30 minutes. But if you’re caught pulling anything shady… you’ll spend the rest of your life unable to die, living in endless pain. I have the power to make that happen.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
I bowed my head.
Swish!
The assassin tucked away his dagger and stepped back.
A clean gesture of accepting my proposal.
“You…”
Kang Jaeho’s face twisted with rage.
“You really think that means you can beat me?”
“Who knows.”
I grinned.
And reorganized my skeletons.
“Won’t know until I try.”
Creak! Clack!
The armed skeletons rattled their bones.
They were ready to charge at my command.
Even the old man nodded.
“Very well. Since the stage is set, I suppose I should participate too. Let’s turn this training into a real-life coaching session. So, to face that assassin over there—what should you do?”
‘Conserve energy as much as possible.’
“Yes. Achieve the most with minimal strength. Let me teach you how to turn your enemy’s power against them.”
‘Thank you, Elder.’
I sharpened my gaze.
With the old man’s guidance, defeating Kang Jaeho’s group would be more than possible.
As I savored the nervous looks on their faces—
“Wipe them out.”
I gave the order to the skeletons.
And so the battle began.
—
‘Hmm…’
Inside the desert dungeon.
A man with a hood stood with his arms crossed.
He was Goh Jaeyoung, an A-rank assassin from the Shadow Severance.
‘Clean movements.’
He carefully watched the man fighting Kang Jaeho.
A necromancer controlling five skeletons as if they were his own limbs.
‘Not a rookie.’
That wasn’t all.
His fighting style was impressive too.
Each skeleton looked solid, yet moved with fluid grace.
Almost like they were using the enemy’s strength against them, swaying and flowing.
Despite being just a bunch of bones.
Goh Jaeyoung was convinced.
‘Kang Jaeho was right. He really did get something valuable.’
He didn’t know the form.
It could be an item, a skill book…
Maybe even an awakened unique ability.
‘Still…’
Kang Jaeho had told him straight up.
The dungeon’s reward was likely the teachings of that strange old man who had overpowered Ki Soyul.
All signs pointed that way.
‘I was shocked.’
Ki Soyul wasn’t just anyone!
To Hunters—
Especially those with assassination skills—she was a dream, a role model.
At first, he didn’t believe it.
That someone had toyed with her like a plaything.
That such a dungeon boss would take a disciple.
‘But then…’
After reading the Parang Guild’s “confidentiality agreement” Kang Jaeho submitted, he became certain.
The famously aloof Ki Soyul had gone to the trouble of protecting someone with a contract?
She even went as far as silencing the other survivors?
‘Maybe it’s true.’
Hope sparked inside him.
The hope of fulfilling a long-held dream.
‘If I could just take her head…!’
Shiver.
Goh Jaeyoung trembled with excitement.
To assassinate Ki Soyul—the one hailed as the queen of assassins—and claim the title of Shadow Empress for himself.
That was his ultimate goal.
And now…
The opportunity had arrived.
A man possessing the “opportunity” Ki Soyul had hidden.
He had to take it.
No matter the form, no matter the method.
He had to make it his.
Even if it meant abandoning his subordinate, Kang Jaeho.
So what?
Boom! Crash!
“Gah, you maggot!”
“Damn it! These skeletons are weird! Have they always been like this? They’re deflecting everything!”
“Party leader! Over here! We’ve got a breach! Help!”
The tide of battle turned quickly.
While Kang Jaeho’s group gasped and flailed—
The man controlling the skeletons looked increasingly relaxed.
‘Oh? He might actually win.’
Even as his subordinate struggled, Goh Jaeyoung didn’t move.
He wasn’t worried.
No matter how good that guy was, against an A-rank like himself, he’d be nothing more than prey.
‘He’ll keep his promise.’
Just as he stared coldly at the fight—
‘Hm?’
Goh Jaeyoung’s brows twitched.
He sensed a presence at the entrance of the desert dungeon.
Another A-rank Hunter from Shadow Severance who’d been keeping watch outside had entered.
‘Why did he come in?’
His eyes trembled slightly.
—
“Urgh!”
Exhausted, Kang Jaeho desperately raised his sword.
To finish him off, Bone One swung its blade with force.
Slaaash!
A sharp sound tore through the air.
Clang! His sword cracked under the pressure.
“Damn it!”
As he cursed and tried to flee, Bone One kicked him with all its strength.
“Gaaah!”
He toppled over, covered in sand.
He wasn’t the only one incapacitated.
[‘Bone Five’ uses skill, Fireball (Lv.1).]
Fwoooosh!
“S-Stop it!”
“Gyaaah! It’s hot!”
“That’s cheating! Skeletons aren’t supposed to use magic!”
Bone Five’s fiery assault.
[‘Bone Three’ uses skill, Rapid Shot (Lv.2).]
“More arrows?!”
“Deflect them! Shield!”
Bone Three’s rain of arrows.
“Don’t just block—counterattack! They’re just skeletons, their defense is—!”
[‘Bone Four’ uses skill, Low-Grade Block (Lv.1).]
“Goddamn it!”
One by one, the skeletons subdued the Hunters.
Their bodies were covered in wounds.
Their movements clearly showed fatigue.
“Hoho, excellent.”
The old man chuckled.
“These foes are too weak to count as real combat experience, but for a first attempt, you did well.”
‘The real experience will be with that assassin.’
“Tch! Don’t get cocky. Facing that guy at your level means putting everything on the line.”
‘I already have, Elder.’
As I spoke with the old man, I slowly walked toward Kang Jaeho.
“D-Don’t come any closer! Please! Spare me!”
Watching him crawl backward on his rear was pathetic.
Typical cowardly bully behavior.
Nothing like the way he acted toward the porters earlier.
‘Now that the fight is over…’
Time to finish it.
Shiiing.
On my signal, Bone One raised its sword high.
The sun glaring down on the desert flashed off the blade like lightning.
‘If you were ready to take someone’s life, you should’ve been ready to lose your own.’
Just as I steeled myself to bring the blade down—
“Hmm?”
A chilling energy tickled my senses.
Something powerful was approaching at great speed.
“Sigh… You idiot.”
The old man next to me sighed.
I asked,
‘What’s wrong?’
“What do you think? There’s another one of those assassin bastards incoming.”
‘…?!’
“I give up. You’re good at everything except planning ahead.”
“…Ah.”
I was dumbfounded.
Everything had been going so smoothly.
Now this?
‘As much as I hate to admit it…’
I had to face the truth.
What kind of confidence made me follow this dungeon alone?
I should’ve been more cautious.
I should’ve doubted more.
I’m still the “underdog.”
“Ke… kehahaha! Hahahaha!”
Kang Jaeho, realizing what was happening, burst out laughing.
“You thought there was only one of them? Heheh, look at you now.”
He grinned wickedly.
Swoosh.
Another A-rank Hunter appeared in the air.
Etched into his hood was the unmistakable spider emblem of Shadow Severance.
“…?”
But something was off about his expression.
Not calm—he looked frantic.
He shouted toward his comrade.
“Hey, run! Ki Soyul is here!”
“…?”
Ki Soyul?
Ranker Ki Soyul is in this dungeon?
I blinked.
The assassin cocked his head in confusion.
The A-rank Hunter thumped his chest in frustration.
“Don’t think! Just run! If she catches wind of us, we’re dead meat!”
“No matter how strong she is…”
“Shut up! You know what she is! Rankers are different! She’s one of the top S-ranks—you can’t fight a monster like that!”
“…That’s true. Fine. What about them?”
He pointed at Kang Jaeho’s group.
The A-rank Hunter scoffed.
“Since when did we care about trash like that?”
“H-Hyung?”
Kang Jaeho’s delighted face turned pale.
But reality was merciless.
Ssshh!
The Hunters from Shadow Severance vanished like shadows, leaving him behind.
“……”
The once noisy surroundings fell silent.
On the boss stage, only I, Kang Jaeho’s group, and the porters remained.
“…What the hell is this situation?”
I exhaled deeply, dumbfounded.
And felt it.
‘So this is the power of a Ranker.’
Those two terrifying Hunters—
Fled at just hearing Ki Soyul’s name.
She really was on another level.
“D-Damn it!”
Kang Jaeho cried out in despair.
He’d already lost to me.
Now Ki Soyul was here?
No wonder he’d given up.
‘Still, that aside—’
Step. Step.
I walked toward him.
Ki Soyul is Ki Soyul.
But this guy is mine.
“We’re not done talking yet, are we?”
My business wasn’t settled yet.
—
At that moment—
In front of a C-rank dungeon—
A woman stood with her chin resting on her hand, deep in thought.
‘Hmm, am I overdoing it?’
A golden badge hung from her belt—Ranker, Ki Soyul.
“Coming all the way here… feels like I’m stalking.”
She’d stayed up all night, curious about Joo Donghoon.
And with Parang Guild’s intel, she’d tracked down this dungeon.
For about 10 minutes—
She’d stood there, wondering whether to go in.
And finally—
“No, this isn’t right.”
He had said it himself.
That it wouldn’t be easy to answer right away.
That if she gave him a bit of time, he’d gather his thoughts and explain.
Since she accepted that, coming all the way here felt like bad manners.
Besides…
Didn’t it look like she was desperate?
‘I’ll just go find him later. After he comes out.’
After a moment of hesitation—
Ki Soyul turned her back.