“Gidan, are you teaching the kid something useful?”
“No, this is all because I’m worried. Hyung, aren’t you even a little concerned about Guru?”
“Concerned?”
With an exasperated look, Jurim glanced up and down at Guru.
Right now, from head to toe, Guru was practically dripping with A-rank items.
Jurim, Nayun, and Gidan had all gone overboard outfitting the kid with every possible defensive item.
At this point, he was equipped well enough to tank in a C-rank dungeon.
The total value of the gear Guru was wearing? About 1.5 billion won.
Sending him into an F-rank designated dungeon loaded with that much equipment wasn’t a raid—it was a sightseeing trip.
Completely unaware of the combined worth of his gear, Guru had simply accepted everything handed to him and worn it without question.
After carefully checking to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything, Jurim asked,
“What did I tell you? Can you follow anyone other than the party leader?”
“No, I can’t!”
“And what do you do if things get dangerous or scary?”
“Use the Emergency Escape!”
Guru fumbled around in his bag and pulled out an Emergency Escape Scroll. It was an item that allowed instant teleportation out of a dungeon.
“Good.”
Satisfied, Jurim nodded, while Gidan let out a dumbfounded laugh.
“You say you’re not worried, but isn’t that thing rare even in the auction house?”
“Shut up.”
Ignoring him, Jurim continued helping with the preparations.
“Got your suit?”
“Right here!”
Guru lifted the shopping bag he had left beside the sofa, shaking it lightly.
“Put it on now. It’s time to go.”
“Okayy!”
Guru pulled out the teddy bear suit from the bag and eagerly slipped his arms and legs into it.
When he zipped it all the way up to his neck, a bear-shaped hood dangled behind his head, capable of covering his entire face.
Jurim secured Guru’s backpack, tucked a tree branch inside, and zipped it shut.
Now, with his hip pouch strapped on, Guru looked exactly like a teddy bear plushie.
Gidan snickered and asked, “Dummy Guru, what’s that?”
“A warm and toasty defense suit!”
“Pfft.”
Gidan burst out laughing while Jurim sighed slightly, but Guru stood firm.
In truth, Jurim didn’t want Guru going into a dungeon at all. Not only was it dangerous, but he also didn’t like the idea of random people finding out Guru’s identity.
He had even suggested sending a teddy bear in Guru’s place, just like how he operated on Onion Market.
But Guru wouldn’t compromise.
First, he doubted he could get an official hunter license without entering a dungeon himself.
And second, "After this trial, I’ll be a real hunter too!"
Avoiding dungeons wasn’t an option if he wanted to be acknowledged as a proper hunter.
So they reached a compromise: Guru would wear a suit that hid his face and provided extra protection.
Most hunters wore special combat suits crafted by awakened production specialists.
The problem? Nobody made suits for toddlers.
It wasn’t surprising—there was zero demand for toddler-sized battle suits.
Because of that, Guru had stayed up all night modifying a half-finished teddy bear plushie into a wearable suit.
“Why is it warm and toasty?”
“Because I put heat packs inside, so it’s warm and toasty!”
According to the dungeon guidebook, the Bukhansan Dungeon was an area controlled by the Frost Clan, meaning it had a cold environment.
It was only F-rank, so it wouldn’t be that extreme, but—
‘I hate the cold!’
So, Guru extracted the "Tough and Durable (E)" property from cowhide and the "Warm and Toasty (F)" property from heat packs, then synthesized them into the half-finished teddy bear suit.
Finally, he pulled out his only weapon from the shopping bag: a sharp duck-shaped clip.
Raising it high, the half-finished teddy bear suit held the duck clip to the sky like a weapon.
“Together, it’s warm and prickly!”
“Ahahahahahaha!”
Gidan collapsed into laughter again. Meanwhile, Jurim grabbed Guru by the scruff of his suit and carried him out of the guild master’s office.
“Hey, isn’t taking a bus illegal?”
A while back, when some rookie hunters teamed up with high-rank hunters to easily obtain licenses, the bus system became controversial.
The Management Bureau eventually declared that while not illegal, bus rides were discouraged.
But since there were no real restrictions, some hunters even started running dungeon buses as a full-time business.
Gidan, unaware of this, followed Jurim outside and asked,
“You got permission from the Bureau Chief?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, then, no problem.”
Bukhansan F-Rank Designated Dungeon Entrance
Aspiring hunters gathered at the entrance, preparing to obtain their licenses.
D-rank hunter Lee Sanghyuk observed them with hawk-like focus, waiting for his party members to arrive.
A few days ago, he had received an anonymous call.
The offer was simple:
If he assembled a party at a specific time and date and guided them through the Bukhansan F-rank designated dungeon, he would receive a payment of 10 million won.
“Ten million for an F-rank dungeon run? No way I’m passing that up.”
The only catch? The caller didn’t specify who would be taking the bus ride. That part made him a little uneasy.
And then—
Creak, creak, creak—
A loud, grating sound interrupted his thoughts.
Creak, screeeech—
A large teddy bear riding a toddler-sized tricycle came rolling up to the entrance.
Its fur was a curly, soft, hot-pink color.
Its eyebrows were arched in a ridiculously sorrowful shape.
Its mouth looked like an upside-down "3".
The entire party stared at it in stunned silence.
Then, in a completely unfitting, robotic, voice-modulated tone, the teddy bear spoke.
– Is this Lee Sanghyuk’s party?
Still dazed, Sanghyuk gave a hesitant nod.
– Nice to meet you. I am Half-Finished Bear mk.1, here to participate in this raid.
The bear’s thick, furrowed eyebrows shot up in an inexplicably infuriating manner.
At that moment, every single member of the party had the same thought.
‘Fake Saw.’
‘This is Fake Saw...’
A lunatic concept freak often talked about in anonymous communities, with firsthand encounter reviews floating around from time to time.
The moment the party members confirmed the presence of Fake Saw, they gulped. Then, they all huddled together, whispering frantically.
“Is that real?”
“What even is that? Is it an actual doll?”
“We’re really going in with Fake Saw? Seriously?”
A flurry of confused questions burst out at once.
Lee Sanghyuk felt cold sweat trickling down his back.
He was just as bewildered as they were, but regardless, a job was a job.
Just as he was about to calm everyone down and get things moving, the tricycle let out another series of loud creaks as it rolled closer.
With a thud, Half-Finished Bear mk.1 stomped down with its right foot and brought the tricycle to a stop.
Then, it unzipped the backpack strapped across its chest.
Ziiiiiip—
The moment the zipper opened, something flapped violently and shot up into the air.
[ Attack power against slime-type targets increases by 10%. ]
[ Attack power increases by 10%. ]
[ Accuracy +10. ]
Three toy penguins fluttered above the party, circling around them in a dizzying loop.
Watching the airborne penguins in confusion, Lee Sanghyuk instinctively checked his status window—
His attack power buffs were stacking.
‘...Is this guy insane? He brought stupidly expensive gear just to hunt slimes...?’
Lee Sanghyuk decided not to think too hard about it.
Whatever. Whether the bus passenger was a lunatic or a stuffed toy, all that mattered was getting paid.
“Since everyone’s here, let’s get started.”
Inside the Dungeon
The Ice Slime swelled, its body expanding.
Tutututututu!
Sharp ice shards shot toward the party members.
Lee Sanghyuk casually deflected the flying ice with his dual swords.
This dungeon was a joke in terms of difficulty—he ran it every day, so there was nothing to worry about.
But today felt different.
‘My body feels... way lighter.’
Just what kind of calculation was going on with these buff stacks?
Items made by high-tier Awakened production specialists were definitely on another level.
‘The strong just keep getting stronger, huh.’
As he absentmindedly thought about wealth disparity, he swung his sword with extra force, shattering the ice shards.
But—
‘Shit!’
The buffs must have thrown off his control.
A stray shard of ice rebounded and flew straight toward Half-Finished Bear mk.1.
‘Of all people, it had to be our VIP customer!’
Gritting his teeth, he moved to intercept it.
It wasn’t angled to cause ➤ NоvеIight ➤ (Read more on our source) serious injury, but there was no way he could let a shard even scratch such a precious client.
Then he realized—
He didn’t need to.
Ching—
Swiik—
Woom—
Before the ice shard could even come close, three layers of automatic shields materialized in succession.
– What just happened?.
Half-Finished Bear mk.1 tilted its head, looking around in confusion.
Of course, it had no idea.
The ice shard hadn’t even gotten close enough for it to notice.
Thanks to that, Lee Sanghyuk stood there awkwardly, gripping his swords, his pupils trembling.
‘Is this guy really Fake Saw? Just how much money did they pour into that stuffed toy? Does Fake Saw actually have that much cash?’
Automatic shields like that had to cost at least a few billion won...
Was this the ultimate level of concept roleplay?
Lee Sanghyuk swallowed hard, unable to keep up with the sheer madness.

Comments

Loading...