I’m Sorry, but It’s Because I’m an Ordinary Person - Chapter 38

“When is he leaving? Is it okay to leave a famous Hunter like that?”

An internet cafe full of worldly joys and screams. I didn’t know what the upper neighborhood was like now, but it was still peaceful in the lower neighborhood because the government had done an excellent job of completing the crackdown.

“Who cares? Anyway, don’t you have to go to school?”

“I don’t have to go to school when I go to the academy.”

“Since when did the academy turn into an internet cafe?”

Look at this kid skipping the academy because he has someone he can use as a shield. I don’t know who he resembles.

I clicked my tongue as I watched the high school student who’d played in the internet cafe for 12 hours with someone else’s money. I let it slide because his role was to be my alibi, and I’d been ignoring that Hunter, who’d been following me for two days.

“But Wreath is a celebrity among civil servant Hunters. He’s second only to Daylight Robbery.”

“I saw his life-size figure the other day when I went to a cosmetics store to buy skin lotion.”

“Why does such a famous Hunter come to see you, Sis? Is he your boyfriend?”

There are things you can and cannot say, you bastard. I swallowed the curse words about to get out of my mouth and used SMITE. I had to go around the jungle with a support character.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have cursed at someone I’m seeing for the first time.”

“It’s not about insulting people in the first meeting. Hurry up and apologize.”

“I’m sorry.”

After two days of silence, Wreath looked at the distant mountains with empty eyes. In the beginning, he’d been merely tailing, but now he was just openly sticking to me. Tch, tch. What a pitiful office worker, but that isn’t my business.

“Isn’t it about time the gate appears? It’s surprisingly quiet. This gate is supposed to have a huge impact,” I spoke to the tired office worker as I ate all the CS that the ranged carry should’ve eaten. The sound of his mechanical keyboard eagerly showed off his presence.

“Since it’s a gate with unpredictable scale, we’re working hard to ensure that the aftermath isn’t large. It’s a dungeon-type gate, but there’s a possibility it’ll turn into a wave, so we’ve also evacuated the residents.”

“The people of Yeodui province seem very confident. It could be a special gate or something, so how did they manage to be so complacent? Is this the famous K-safety insensitivity?”

Koreans still go to work even if the earth is destroyed tomorrow! The gate might appear in front of my house, but I will go to see the famous Hunters. Korean!

It was quite impressive. We used to hunt witches because we thought they’d endanger our lives, but now we felt insensitive to safety.

“No. So, the plan we made is-” Wreath, who was stammering, sighed suddenly. He must’ve felt like he was in a mess this time. What’s our team doing in the jungle?

“Our plan is based on the premise that you will participate in the initial suppression.”

“Aha. I see.”

Do you expect Finger Technique to show up like a hero and smash everything like the last special gate? I’m sorry for destroying your one-army mentality instead of the gate, then.

“Then, if I don’t go, things won’t go as planned. This is kind of funny.”

“What?”

I took my eyes off the screen and looked at the Sir Civil Servant’s face. A pale complexion came into view. It was twice as interesting because he looked like a hero carrying the country’s life and death on his shoulders.

So you’re saying you plan to let me do a one-man show alone? Are you guys crazy?

There was something that many people misunderstood. Everyone seemed to think that I, the Rank 1, would claim to be a hero. I’m sorry, but I’m not that righteous. I only move according to my interests and abandon them if I think it would be a loss. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be? What will you do if I go to a foreign country or just lay down on my belly?

Is the life of 『The.Strongest』 this difficult?

I posed like a self-conceited protagonist who had nothing to do.

“Wow. How self-conceited. But Sis, didn’t you die just now?”

“It’s because the ranged carry can’t play.”

“You’re blaming others, as expected.”

What’s the talentless supposed to do? They fail. Anyway, we’ll get by without warding.

“Ah, right! Hunters have greatly improved lately, so I don’t think I have to go.”

And this would work out as well, somehow.

Wreath’s expression, which I glanced at, was subtly crumbling. I think he was thinking something like, ‘What nonsense is that…?’ but I was sincere in my own way.

“Please reconsider…”

“What will change if I go alone? There are so many S-classes in this neighborhood, so what difference does it make if the others go?”

Hey, where did this ranged carry’s support go? What a good thing. Why aren’t they helping? I can’t lose. I play politics, too.

There was a lot of typing on the keyboard. Our team Jungler sitting next to us had already started a keyboard battle. I couldn’t lose. Why is this guy instigating when he’s not even ganking? It’s ridiculous.

“Are you only good at chatting?”

“The Jungler is innocent, Sis. Go watch the gates or something. If you had played for a few years, you could be making money by now.”

“I’m not unemployed.”

“I know you don’t come during holidays because you don’t want to be nagged because you’re unemployed.”

No, I’m not. You’re calling me unemployed when I’d saved the country? This doesn’t make sense at all.

However, in the eyes of others, I was truly, unemployed. I didn’t go to my relatives’ house during the holidays because I didn’t want to hear nagging.

Yeonhui, how old are you, and you’re still like that? Can’t you see that your mom is struggling? Your mother lived only to care for you. You’re so old now, do you have a boyfriend? Do you want me to find one for you?

“Now that I think about it, it’s making me sick.”

I’ll take care of my life. Why are you nagging me? Have you contributed to my life?

After all that nagging, they would probably throw a neighborhood party if their nephew or granddaughter became a new S-class Hunter or something. They’d probably forgotten about saying things like that a long time ago.

“Hey. Do you think Auntie will praise me instead of nagging me if I do something heroic this time?”

“Well, it seems like my mom is determined to spread rumors to even the distant relatives anyway.”

“Okay. Just wait.”

I left my team’s ranged carry, which was dying in real-time, and stood up. “Tell my mom that I stay up all night in the internet cafe.”

“My little aunt must believe it.”

“Then said that I went to see a friend.”

I didn’t forget to make up an alibi. I heard someone saying something like “How unreliable,” but decided to ignore it.

“Hey, you’re leaving like this?” The tone was subtly unnerving.

Huh, shouldn’t I? I rubbed my forehead and sat back in my seat. The jungler player next to me threw his hands in stupefaction and clapped. “Now you and I are dead.”

I lifted my middle finger and took the cash out of my wallet. My cousin, who received the new Lady Shin Saimdang, suddenly collapsed. “Bye, sis. I will finish the takeover.”

[T/N: Shin Saimdang is the picture on 50,000 won = USD 37.92]

“Okay. Make good excuses to my mom.”

“Just leave it to me.”

Wreath watched us filming a sitcom with a stunned face. He seemed to be ready to go on his own.

“Let’s go our way now. Oh, wait a minute.”

“Sure,” Wreath answered briefly. I immediately hit IRL’s contact with the terminal.

I’d heard a glimpse of it from Polar Night the other day, but I didn’t feel relieved. It didn’t matter if I entered the dungeon because I’d survive somehow. However, I didn’t want high-ranking Hunters to die and the world to be shaken. They were now blocking the gate to keep the peace. If they disappeared, the world would be in chaos again. I didn’t want that to happen.

[I Really Like] ▶ Ah

[I Really Like] ▶ I’m sorry, but we’re about to enter

[I Really Like] ▶ Is it possible for you to leave?

Was Paradise the first entry? The one asking if it was possible to leave must be Polar Night. I didn’t want to tell him I’d set foot in this dungeon.

“Is there any transport available?”

“I’ve got a car ready.”

“Then let’s go.”

I needed to stop calling IRL and go by car. I could make an action plan on the way from Busan to Osan. It was not so bad.

I got into the car prepared by Wreath. I realized something had gone terribly wrong when I arrived at the scene.

***

Black cracks shimmered blue. Choi Doona, a Hunter from the S1 Team put into the field, gritted her teeth at the constant screams.

‘Senior, are you not here yet?’

A vast ice field in pitch-black darkness. The severe cold wind pierced the arms.

[Until the liberation of the Pit Where the Stars Fell, 498:01:31]

It’d been about seven hours after entering the dungeon gate. From the start of the entry, unknown darkness and bitter cold hit the party.

The inside of the dungeon was literally hell. It was the bottom of the great pit. The size was also unimaginably enormous. Horrible screams continued to be heard, but no monsters had been encountered yet.

‘At this rate, I’ll freeze to death without doing anything.’

It was a land of only ice. No one knew what would happen to the Hunters of the five guilds who had entered first.

‘I can only hope that everyone is safe.’

Choi Doona gritted her teeth and moved forward. Everyone was reeling from the strong wind and cold, but the youngest, Choi Doona, was a little better because the most seasoned seniors stood before and behind her.

“Team Leader!” the team member who was following at the end suddenly called. Yoon Saryeo, passing through the road in the front, turned his head when he heard it.

“What’s the matter?”

“There seems to be something in this direction. The ice has been hollowed out in the shape of footprints!”

Yoon Saryeo approached the place where the voice was heard and looked at the ice where the team member pointed. The ice was cut into the shape of a giant footprint. Traces left at regular intervals announced the existence of a living creature.

“Shall we track it?”

Human footprints aren’t that big, so the owner of these footprints is probably a monster. However, among the Hunters affiliated with the guilds who had entered first, there was one who could brainwash monsters and command them. Yoon Saryeo pondered the footprints before him. No matter how good Awakened people’s bodies were compared to ordinary people, this harsh environment couldn’t be ignored. In addition, the party had already walked for about seven hours without stopping. Humans naturally need rest, even if they are Awakened.

“Track it down.”

That’s more the reason they needed to move forward. They’d subdue it if it were a monster; if it were a Hunter, they’d join him. If there were a problem, he’d use acceleration to get out of it. He hadn’t used the skill for fear of wasting mana, so he’d been saving it for fear of meeting a monster.

“Change direction! Everyone follow me!”

Monsters in reality were not data that repeatedly appeared and disappeared like monsters in games. The Dimension Society announced that they were creatures of the outer dimension and lived in an ecosystem, like creatures on Earth. Besides their monstrous appearance and terrifying abilities, they possessed what any creature should have.

‘Those monsters wouldn’t sleep on their stomachs in the middle of this block of ice.’

There must be a nest. At least a place to escape this cold.

Yoon Saryeo went through the road with his fists clenched. The wind was getting stronger. The space that seemed to be an endless ice sheet ended.

“It’s a cave.”

Had Amundsen felt like this when he reached the South Pole for the first time?

Yoon Saryeo felt joy welling up in his heart.

Krrrrrrrrng—

Ah. Exactly 3 seconds later…

“Everyone back down!”

A giant hand protruded from the depths of an unknown cave. He only had a small flashlight, but he could tell it was a hand.

“Argh!”

Because it snatched away one of the team members.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

Yoon Saryeo swore inwardly and pulled out a blade from his sleeve. The blade bounced off his hand and instantly dug into the monster’s hand. However, the size difference was so significant that there was no damage.

“P-please save me!!”

The weak light of the flashlight illuminated the monster’s new form. The monster’s head wriggled out of the cave.

‘I can’t do damage to that monster. I’m the strongest among them, so it’ll be the same with others.’

It wasn’t difficult to accelerate everyone’s departure. A wrong judgment caused the disaster, but it could quickly be corrected.

“Team Leader! What should we do?! Doona-!” another team member let out a scream. One life and everyone’s life. Everyone’s life has value, but the latter is better than the former.

‘Let’s retreat.’

It was something he had in mind. If he collapsed just because he lost one, everyone collapsed. Yoon Saryeo opened his mouth to order the retreat.

“Hey! Get out of my way!!”

No.

“Or you’ll get hit!”

He’d tried to open his mouth. Perhaps he would have opened his mouth had he not heard the voice.