Guru tapped into her instincts as a seasoned scam victim.
If dere’s a suspiciouws pewson...
The ugly teddy bear mascot slowed her waddling steps and glanced around.
Her gaze quickly locked onto a man walking past her.
Dat guy?
A skinny man with wide, rolling eyes.
He was the only A-Rank in this raid party—though supposedly in a support role.
Maybe that’s why he was keeping to the back, scanning the others with a vacant expression.
The only thing that stood out was how he constantly pulled his sleeves down over the backs of his hands.
Hmm.
Someding’s fishy.
Guru scooted up beside him and peeked sharply from below.
A swowd?
On the back of his hand was a flashy tattoo, shaped like the tip of a sword.
Totawwy suspiciouws ahjussi!
Time for a shadow mark!
It’s time to take it out...
Hmm, just as a grim-faced Guru stuck close to him—
Gidan had an arm slung around An Sanghoe’s shoulders, lost in thought.
So dis is da guy.
He was the leader of the party Serhi had been carefully observing.
Part-time job, my ass.
Gidan gave An Sanghoe a sidelong scan.
He had introduced himself as a B-Rank, but his sloppy, half-hearted movements didn’t match that rank.
The fact that he was trying to give advice to Serhi and Gidan of all people just showed how little he really knew.
And yet, he was playing leader. Clearly someone who wanted the biggest share.
Sigh... what a naïve gamer bro.
With a quiet breath, Gidan stepped in close beside An Sanghoe.
He didn’t know what had been said to rope Serhi into this, but if even he was wearing a dumb mascot suit, he’d clearly been conned hard.
Jurim probably had no clue what kind of situation Serhi was in and just approved it half-heartedly.
Hyung, seriously...
Gidan assumed that Jurim just didn’t realize how stupid that guy really was and let him do what he wanted.
Gidan had hung around guerrilla dungeons enough to know they were full of crime.
Even if Serhi was strong, it didn’t mean he was safe.
How do I snap him outta dis...
While Gidan was racking his brain on how to subtly hint “You’re being scammed,”—
Serhi was fuming to the point of mental chaos.
— ...With Gidan glued to his side, An Sanghoe probably can’t move freely.
Was it a solo operation, or were all the party members in on it? How were they poaching the bosses?
Nothing was known, so he had to be cautious in how he moved.
If only Jin Siwon, with his leadership skill, had come with him, it would’ve been easier. But with too many suspects, they had to split up.
— Um... is there any way to secretly ask Hunter Gidan for help?
— Help?
From him? Just hearing the word made Serhi cringe. Right on cue, Gidan’s cheerful voice chimed in.
“Oh, I’m just here as a guardian. Can’t leave the kids unsupervised, ya know.”
“...?”
Gidan threw a glance at Serhi, clearly making it obvious who he was talking about.
“Haah...!”
Serhi let out a weary sigh from between his lips.
What kinda bullshit is he spouting now?
He scowled hard—only for Gidan to raise his voice even more on purpose.
“Can you believe this guy? He’s not even four years old, and he’s out here gettin’ scammed!”
“...?”
What?
Gidan met Serhi’s eyes with a firm stare.
“Such a gullible kid.”
...And that was the final spark.
Snap. The last thread of reason broke.
Serhi’s jaw clenched tight with fury.
— Help? I don’t need that bullshit.
— Eh?
— I’ll just handle this with brute force.
Serhi flipped his dagger into reverse grip.
— No need to play games. Just grab An Sanghoe and every other suspicious bastard and drag ‘em to Jin Siwon. Problem solved, yeah?
That’s what he should’ve done from the start.
Should’ve realized it before putting on this stupid costume.
— W-Wait, what?! No, you can’t just use force on civilians like that... Hang on! Serhi!
But Serhi was already too heated, boiling in a mix of shame and rage to hear her.
With a flick of his wrist, shnk—the dagger flew.
Gidan simply tilted his head to the side, letting the blade pass harmlessly by. Then he whistled and turned to face Serhi.
Serhi readied his stance and growled,
“Move, unless you wanna die.”
“Damn, you’ve gone totally off the rails.”
“You want me to show you what crazy really looks like?”
“Oh? Now I’m curious.”
Gidan grinned, and An Sanghoe, stuck between the two, blinked in confusion.
Meanwhile, Jo Jinman, a member of the “Shin Corps,” clicked his tongue.
Did infighting break out?
Something about the mood between the deranged cat and Bat-Man felt tense.
This is bad.
He pulled out a small black device from inside his sleeve.
[Jump Gate (A)]
Opens a portal for 5 seconds to a preset location.
The [Jump Gate] was an item that created a portal to a designated place when activated.
The Shin Corps was a criminal group of mercenaries. Jo Jinman’s current ➤ NоvеIight ➤ (Read more on our source) mission was to scout guerrilla dungeons.
He was to confirm: whether there were few enough participants, whether they looked easy to subdue, and whether no unusual phenomena were occurring in the dungeon.
If all those conditions were met, he would open a gate to the outside using [Jump Gate] and let the other members in.
The prepared squad would then subdue the boss swiftly and capture it using a specialized net.
The captured boss would be sold on the black market.
In the past, they mainly trafficked regular monsters, but as demand grew for rare high-grade specimens, they began poaching bosses too.
Hmph.
Those lunatics were now throwing knives at each other.
Something’s definitely off here.
From the way the knife had been thrown and how easily it was dodged.
They weren’t just crazy attention-seekers wearing costumes—they clearly had confidence in their skills.
The other members were probably waiting, but Jo Jinman judged it would be too risky to proceed under these conditions.
Especially with that ugly teddy bear Bat-Man had brought along—she kept staring at him.
...What the hell was that thing? And why was it holding a fork?
Chucky?
No matter how diverse Hunter weapons had become, someone waving a fork around in an A-Rank dungeon was a madness he couldn’t get behind.
Better retreat for now...
Jo Jinman was about to return the item to his inventory when—
dodododo! came the pounding footsteps, followed by a loud battle cry.
— Hwwat-cha!
“...?”
A few moments earlier, Guru had made up her mind.
Scammeh!
That weird guy holding a device and acting all awkward?
Just like with Iromi—he might be using a phone-like tool to control Serhi.
A glance at her oppaws told her the fight was about to explode.
—Hik!
She even saw Serhi recklessly throw his dagger, and her chest tightened with urgency.
Guru gripped her fork tight.
Gwuu gonna defeat da scammeh—
dododododo!
—and save Oppaw Serhi!
— Hwwat-cha!
Zap!
Her fork struck the device with magical force, sending up a burst of sparks.
Jo Jinman, caught off guard, shouted.
“What the hell are you—!”
Clang!
That familiar sound of shattering—space cracking open.
No! It activated!
Jo Jinman frantically worked to shut the device down, but it was too late.
zzt—zzt—zrak!
Shatter!
With a noise like a mirror breaking, a portal tore open in midair.
“Um?”
The unfinished teddy bear mascot’s eyebrows shot up to the top of her head.
From the cracked rift, armed people began stepping through into the dungeon.
“Yo, Jo Jinman.”
“What’s with the face?”
Snide voices followed one after another.
Jo Jinman bit his lip.
“Huh, this ain’t the boss room, is it? Jinman, what happened here?”
A man with a gaudy tattoo on the back of his hand stroked his chin.
“Sorry. Something disrupted the plan...”
“Who are those people?”
“What the hell is going on?”
The guerrilla party broke into a commotion at the sudden appearance of so many armed strangers.
Gidan tilted his head.
An Sanghoe furrowed his brow.
“What the hell is this?”
“Hey, even if it’s a guerrilla dungeon, barging in like this is seriously bad manners.”
Only Serhi realized who they were.
“Found you, poachers.”

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