‘Even though I’m deliberately holding back my mana.’
Since he was here anyway, Gidan had planned to help Hanguru rack up a generous amount of experience points. But at this rate, there wouldn’t be much to gain.
‘Should I just take down the boss?’
If he soloed the boss, he’d get a decent chunk of experience. Taking down a B-rank dungeon boss wasn’t even difficult for him.
The only issue was [N O V E L I G H T] that another party had already found the boss room first.
Normally, the unspoken rule was that the first discoverers got priority for the raid.
Of course, even if that were the case, there wasn’t much those guys could do if Gidan snatched the boss right in front of them. What, were they going to whine about it on some online forum?
‘Still, that might be a bit much.’
Gidan wasn’t exactly known for his strong moral compass—he had contributed plenty to Hyeonak Guild’s infamous reputation—but even he wasn’t comfortable acting like a villain in front of Hanguru.
With an expression dripping with regret, Gidan watched the hunters move.
None of the faces looked familiar, which meant they were all B-rank or lower.
Gathered in front of a massive door, they seemed to be listening to someone’s instructions, preparing for a boss raid.
But the strange thing was...
‘Two parties?’
Hmm. Gidan smirked.
If two parties were working together, it was easy to guess what was going on.
Gidan reached into his inventory and pulled out a disguise item.
It was like a patch that stuck to his skin, disrupting facial recognition.
[Using ‘Self-Censorship Patch (C)’.]
[Effect lasts for one hour after application.]
Gidan scooped up Hanguru, who was fiddling with his magnifying glass and duckbill clip.
“Just be careful, and you should be fine.”
At the man’s words, B-rank healer Son Ah-young clenched her fists.
Baek Ho-seung, who had been giving her team instructions for a while, smirked.
“Well then, that concludes the briefing. Time to head inside.”
Head inside, my ass. That bastard was practically shoving them in to die, and he said it so casually, too.
“Alright, let’s go~ Move it!”
Baek Ho-seung waved his hand.
But when Son Ah-young’s team didn’t open the boss room door, the people standing behind Baek Ho-seung gripped their weapons tighter.
If they didn’t hurry up, they’d probably force them in with violence. What a load of bullshit.
The two teammates who had come with her hesitated, watching Son Ah-young nervously.
Baek Ho-seung’s team had dragged them here for one reason and one reason only.
To make them open the boss room door and use them as meat shields.
The boss of the White Eyebrow Yeti was a monster that always targeted the first three people who entered.
Son Ah-young might be able to hold out somehow, but the two with her were barely awakened—they were complete rookies.
They hadn’t come here as part of a proper raid team. They had just been looking to hunt a few monsters and gain experience. It was nothing more than a makeshift bus.
If she had known she’d run into scumbags like these, she never would have brought just two rookies with her.
“I’m remembering all your faces. I’m reporting every single one of you to the Bureau! Got it?!”
“Sure, go ahead. If you survive long enough to report us, that is.”
As Baek Ho-seung spoke, laughter erupted from behind him.
“Come on now, healer lady. Get inside already.”
Baek Ho-seung and his lackeys shoved Son Ah-young’s team toward the door.
Fucking bastards. Son Ah-young bit her lip hard.
“Hey, noona. Need a mercenary?”
At the sudden voice, everyone tensed and stepped back.
When they turned toward the source, they saw a shadowed boy standing nearby, idly spinning a baseball bat.
‘How did he get this close without making a sound?’
Most of them were B-rank.
That meant they were far beyond regular humans—superhumans. It was unheard of for them to be caught this off guard.
‘Is he skilled?’
The group stirred uneasily, wary of the strange intruder.
But while the air was thick with hostility, the boy remained calm, holding a teddy bear in one arm and tapping his bat against the snow.
“How about us? We’d make decent pinch hitters.”
Pinch hitter.
Son Ah-young repeated the words under her breath, her eyebrow twitching.
A savior appearing at a time like this? They should be bowing in gratitude.
‘That’s... technically true, but...’
The guy standing there was holding a teddy bear in one hand and a baseball bat in the other.
Under normal circumstances, she would have dismissed him as some lunatic trying too hard with his ridiculous persona.
But...
“Pinch hitter? What kind of dumbass roleplay is this?”
Right now, it didn’t matter whether he was a roleplayer or a demon.
“Fine! Mercenary, whatever—you're hired!”
Baek Ho-seung scowled and took a few steps forward.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?”
As if he’d been waiting for that response, the boy smirked.
“No take-backs, noona.”
[‘Gidan’ has sent a party request.]
“What?!”
The popup window that appeared in front of Son Ah-young made her screech involuntarily.
Baek Ho-seung’s brow furrowed at the sudden outburst.
“What the hell? What kind of scheme are you two cooking up right in front of me?”
Gidan ignored him entirely and walked forward with a bright smile.
“Let’s open the door, then. Oh, I can open it, right?”
“Y-yeah! Of course!”
“The hell you can! Stop right there!”
Baek Ho-seung tried to stop Gidan.
Like hell she was going to let this bastard lay a hand on him. Son Ah-young growled back at him.
“What do you care who I hire as a mercenary? You just need three people to pull aggro, right?”
“The aggro targets have to be exactly three—!”
And then—
Creeeeeeak—
Without warning, the boss room door began opening on its own.
“...W-what?”
“Why is the door opening?!”
Everyone paled and snapped their heads up.
Boom—
The heavy sound of giant footsteps crunching against the snowy ground filled the air.
A towering giant, its body covered in thick, snow-white fur, stepped through the doorway.
The White Eyebrow Yeti Clan’s Boss had left its domain.
“Uwoooohhh!”
‘The boss... left its territory?’
Gidan’s brows furrowed slightly.
Everyone stood frozen, unable to comprehend what they were seeing, as if their brains had crashed.
A boss existed to protect the dungeon’s core—it never left its designated area.
For hunters, that was the most basic common sense.
As the boss let out a long roar and lowered its gaze toward the hunters, Baek Ho-seung’s team reacted first.
“Move, now!”
“Get to the back! Hurry!”
The group scrambled between the giant’s legs, trying to get out of its line of sight. They wanted to avoid being the first target at all costs.
Before long, the boss’s gaze locked onto Gidan.
‘It recognized me?’
Son Ah-young and her team stood beside Gidan, shifting uneasily, unsure of what to do.
‘Something’s off.’
Keeping his eyes fixed on the boss, Gidan handed Hanguru over to them.
“Stay with these noonas for a bit.”
Caught off guard, Son Ah-young’s younger sister, Son So-young, instinctively took the teddy bear from him. Then, in a panic, she shouted,
“What? W-wait! We need to run—together—!”
So-young reached out, trying to grab Gidan.
At that moment, Gidan spun around and ripped off his disguise patch. The patch disintegrated into dust between his fingers.
And as the shadow concealing him disappeared, his strikingly handsome face was revealed.
Son So-young’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
No hunter would ever fail to recognize him.
Gidan flashed a grin.
“Noona, take good care of that teddy bear.”
He gripped a sleek black combat knife in his hand.
“I’ll be right back.”
For a split second, his figure distorted.
And in the blink of an eye—he was gone.

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