Translator: Seven
Editor: Ana_Banana
Before returning to the past, Kim Woo-jin had joined the Messiah Guild at level 55.
He had begun to gain fame through successive dungeon clears and had caught the eye of the Messiah Guild during the Horned Fox Hunt.
When he had reached level 55 the Messiah Guild once again made him an offer.
“‘Hunting Dog’ Kim Woo-jin, we need your help.”
Lee Se-jun, the leader of the Messiah Guild and savior of the world had personally made the offer to him and Kim Woo-jin had no reason to refuse.
After that, Kim Woo-jin became a hunting dog for the Messiah Guild.
Monsters upon monsters, players upon players, items upon items…whatever the Messiah Guild requested, he hunted.
Eventually, Kim Woo-jin became the Messiah Guild’s best hunting dog.
Of course, the name ‘Hunting Dog’ wasn’t created for Kim Woo-jin, he wasn’t the first and he wouldn’t be the last.
In fact there were more than one player with the title of ‘Hunting Dog’ in every guild. Hundreds to thousands of players worldwide were known as hunting dogs.
And there were people who were called hunting dogs within the Messiah Guild even before Kim Woo-jin joined it.
Suzuki Eiji!
He was the best hunting dog within the Messiah Guild.
Of course, it was only after a while that this information became known.
It was around the time he reached level 100 and attacked a 4 Floor Dungeon.
Simply put, when you reached level 100, you could retire from being a hound and move to being a regular player in the light.
That was the way of the hunting dogs.
If the hunting dog hunted openly, would people simply stare at them and let them do it? It was impossible.
Therefore most hunting dogs remained unidentified and usually retired the moment it became hard for them to hunt or they reached the expected level.
Naturally, the place they left after retiring was naturally filled by other hunting dogs eager for the position.
‘Looking back at it, he offered me a hand because he needed a pinch hitter1.’
Kim Woo-jin became the pinch hitter for Suzuki Eiji. This wasn’t just a vague guess.
When Suzuki Eiji was level 80, Kim Woo-jin had been level 55, the perfect level for a baton touch2.
From the Messiah Guild’s perspective, it would have been difficult to find someone to substitute Suzuki Eiji. So ‘The Savior’ Lee Se-jun personally brought a new hunting dog.
Of course, at that time the Messiah Guild had miscalculated.
‘After that, I quickly caught up.’
Kim Woo-jin had quickly caught up to Suzuki Eiji.
When Kim Woo-jin was first recruited, as he took over for Suzuki Eiji and his team, he constantly heard the legendary stories of what Suzuki Eiji had done.
So naturally, he knew him well.
‘His abilities were so amazing.’
Oh how great he was.
‘His team was on a different level.’
Additionally, he’d made use of teamwork rather than simply fighting on his own.
Kim Woo-jin knew better than anyone that hunting dogs were actually much stronger when they fought in groups rather than when they hunted alone.
‘If I let him grow more than this. He’d become a monster.’
So, if Kim Woo-jin let him be, he would become even more of a monster than he was now.
Because in fact, in the eyes of others, he was already a monster.
Even back then, even after being overtaken by Kim Woo-jin, Suzuki Eiji had still managed to make him a key player within the Messiah Guild.
‘Because the Messiah guild knows that he has Lancelot’s Ring.’
This was because it was in fact the Messiah Guild who had given him Lancelot’s Ring in his possession.
‘Lee Se-jun’s old item.’
Because it was Lee Se-jun who’d once owned Lancelot’s Ring.
So no matter how you looked at it, Kim Woo-jin definitely had to get rid of Suzuki Eiji before he could face the Messiah Guild.
However, up to a few days ago, Kim Woo-jin did not have any intentions of hunting down Suzuki Eiji.
‘I never thought we’d meet so soon.’
No. Rather, Kim Woo-jin had been thinking and preparing ways for him to avoid this monster when the Messiah Guild decided to make Suzuki Eiji hunt him.
The reason was simple.
‘I thought it would be after level 100.’
He wasn’t completely confident that he could win.
It was impossible for him to deal with Suzuki Eiji and his team with the abilities he currently had at his disposal.
Of course, that was a few days ago.
The fact that Kim Woo-jin was there meant that it was no longer an impossibility.
From then on, there was only one thing that Kim Woo-jin was considering.
‘The sprout should be cut when it can be cut.’
And that was how to hunt his new prey.
…
On a road that was too messy to truly be considered a road.
Toltoltol!
An old bus, so worn that it was truly surprising that it could still move, shambled it’s way along the road while emitting weird noises.
“Almost there.”
Kim Woo-jin was on that bus.
He had oily hair that suited his shirt and pants which were giving of a rather stinky smell, his dark eyes were surrounded by dark circles and his face was so pale that it looked like he was wearing powder. His frame gave off a very desolate aura as he sat in a corner of the slowly moving bus.
It was not the appearance of a player.
In fact, Kim Woo-jin didn’t come here as a player.
“Hey, you there.”
“Yes?”
“Is this your first time being a warehouse?”
A warehouse, that was Kim Woo-jin’s role today.
And it was the role of the other people on the bus.
Their role was something that could only be seen in places like the Kaesong Special District. In a nutshell they were there for inventory.
Due to the fact that players could only bring items to and from the dungeons with their inventory, more players were needed to bring more items. So players who intended to attack dungeons would hire other players and use them as substitute warehouses.
To put it simply, he was selling his body. He was being paid to lend his life.
Of course, ordinary players wouldn’t be able to understand. Because ordinary players were the players who were able to enjoy wealth and fame and couldn’t be compared to regular people.
“Is this your first time as a warehouse?”
“Ah, it’s not.”
“Oh, it’s my first time seeing you. So what did you do to come here? What are you wanted for? Murder, rape, assault, maybe fraud?”
It was a role that only could be found in places like the Kaesong Special District where people who could no longer live among regular players gather.
In other words, everyone there was of that sort.
“I think you’re too nervous. Want me to introduce you to the other bastards so you could relax? Hey, see that bald guy? He raped and killed 5 people. And you see the pig next to him right? He did it four times.”
Those who would rather live an ugly life than pay for their horrendous crimes.
“Oh, it’s seven times if you include murder. And that guy next to him…when I saw him for the first time, he looked like he’d been drugged and raped. But that’s just my guess.”
If it was the Kim Woo-jin of the past, he would’ve immediately killed all of them without a second thought or care.
However in front of them now, Kim Woo-jin didn’t reveal his intentions.
The first reason was that they weren’t his prey.
‘This is the actor that Suzuki Eiji hid here.’
The second was that this snake-like man was in fact an actor planted by Suzuki Eiji to monitor the warehouses in case there were any problems.
It wasn’t anything strange.
Unless Suzuki Eiji was a fool, he’d of course check if there were any traps or issues with any of the warehouses he used.
Furthermore, if it was the player’s first time as a warehouse then there was all the more reason to be wary against them.
“So what happened to you?”
Therefore, Kim Woo-jin acted in front of the actor.
“I was betrayed by someone I believed in…”
The moment he saw Kim Woo-jin’s expression, Jo Han-ho, who was the one speaking to him, nodded.
“So it’s a fugitive story then.”
It was thanks to his genuine expression that no further explanation was needed.
Just like that, Jo Han-ho nodded at Kim Woo-jin, fully believing him.
“Make your friend pay the price for betraying you, and force them to live a hard life in the future. Tell me if you ever need help.”
He raised his thumb in front of Kim Woo-jin who didn’t respond.
‘Yes, he has to pay for betraying the world.’
The reason Kim Woo-jin was there was in fact because his answer was more fitting than most would believe.
Creak!
They arrived at their destination.
“Get off!”
(Note:
1: For those of you who don’t know, ‘Pinch Hitter’ is a term in baseball. It refers to a batter used as a substitute for another batter. A pinch hitter only comes into the game when the batter whose turn he is taking is due to bat. At that time, he is “announced into the game”; the batter which he replaced is out of the game for good. It is usually done as a power play or in hope of a grand slam.
2. Baton touch is a bit of a Japanese term for when passing a baton on in a relay race from one runner to the next. However the meaning has been extended to mean the act of passing off a job or some type of responsibility to another person.