Transcension Academy - Chapter 34:

C34 – Dungeon Sweeping Contest (4)

Seo-joon was on his way back from disposing the bodies of the monsters with Man-cheol.

Of course, if he forced himself, he could have done one more dungeon, but it was literally if he forced himself.

“There’s nothing that doesn’t hurt.”

“Old man, you did a great job today.”

Man-cheol tapped his shoulder and waist a few times and said as if he was sick of it.

“You mean I have to do this for another week? I think I’m going to die at this rate.”

“There are times when you’re exaggerating, too.”

“Have you ever driven while dismantling monsters? It may look simple, but it’s quite a pain in the neck.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

Seo-joon couldn’t help but admit it.

The reason why they were able to do this was because Seo-joon’s raid speed was great, but Man-cheol’s virtue was also great.

“But if you think about the money you earned, you won’t say that.”

“How much did we earn?”

“Wait a minute. Let me calculate it.”

Seo Jun took out his smartphone from his arms and checked the price information he had registered at the auction house earlier.

Roughly calculated, the expected profit from one dungeon was about 300,000 won. The amount was far lower than the profit that Seo-joon could get from one kobold corpse.

On top of that, carrier fees, auction house fees, and taxes decreased the final earnings even more. However, it was not a bad profit for Seo-joon and Man-cheol, who only had to share it between the two.

“Excluding auction house fees and taxes… I think it’ll cost about 7.8 million won. If we divide it by 5 to 5, we each made about 3.9 million won.”

Seo-joon nodded in satisfaction.

3.9 million won was equivalent to most salaries, and it was about 27 million won in a week.

It is not just 27 million won, but 27 million won allowed by the cause and effect of the Transcension Academy.

Suddenly, Man-cheol shook his head and said,

“What do you mean 5 to 5? Make it 7 to 3. Of course you’re 7. You’ve done all the raids and transportation work, so how can I be so shameless as to eat 5?”

Seo-joon said as if he had no idea what that meant.

“You worked on the dismantling. That’s a very important task. You also drove the truck.”

“That’s why it’s three. I was going to do it 8 to 2. Just do as I say. Otherwise, I won’t do it tomorrow.”

Seo-joon closed his mouth at Man-cheol’s firm words.

He persuaded Man-cheol several times, but Man-cheol nevertheless showed no momentum to break his opinion.

“… All right. Then, if it’s 30% from 7.8 million won, it’s 2,340,000 won. The number is ambiguous, so I’ll just give you 250. This is okay, right?”

“What? Why are the numbers like that all of a sudden?”

“Just pretend you can’t win this kind of thing. It was a profit that I wouldn’t have gotten without you anyway. Think of it as the price for gas.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

Man-cheol nodded his head and Seo-joon smiled.

Then Seo-joon suddenly came up with a question and asked Man-cheol.

“By the way, old man.”

“What?”

And for some reason, Man-cheol answers with a not-so-good expression.

Seo-joon asked Man-cheol carefully.

“You’re not that surprised, are you?”

“Surprised? What should I be surprised about? Money? Plague, life is full of reality.”

Man-cheol muttered, “I don’t know if it’s good or bad to earn the money from working for a full month in a day.”

Seo-joon said with a smirk.

“No. No. Not the money, but the way I did the dungeon raids today.”

“The way you did the dungeon raids?”

“Yes.”

Seo-joon’s appearance today was quite different from Seo-joon’s in Man-cheol’s memory.

It’s only been a little over two months since Man-cheol saw him. No matter how much Man-cheol said he didn’t know much about hunters, he couldn’t imagine that he changed this much in two months.

Of course, there was a manticore at the scene at the time, but what he saw now was a different feeling.

“Oh, that.”

Man-cheol also nodded as if he understood Seo-joon’s words and said,

“I saw you fighting.”

“What? Me fighting?”

“The Academy competition.”

“Ah…”

Only then did Seo-joon understand why Man-cheol was not surprised.

At that time, he told Man-cheol that he was going out, but Seo-joon thought he didn’t come because he didn’t contact him.

“If you came, you should have at least contacted me…”

“What do you mean contact? It would be a burden for you.”

Seo-joon closed his mouth at Man-cheol’s indifferent words. Man-cheol was always like this, supporting him from the back.

Seo-joon, who knew Man-cheol’s personality well, was more grateful for Man-cheol today for some reason. Maybe that’s why Seo-joon told Man-cheol what he had in mind before.

“Old man, how about you set up a transportation company since this happened? I think it would be good to be my exclusive company.”

“Transportation Company? Me? With what money? No, are you already at the point where you can use your own company?”

“No, not yet.”

“Then go tell me then. Don’t be a plague already.”

Seo-joon smirked and burst into laughter.

“Think about it, though. With your experience, I don’t think it’ll be a problem to set up a company. I’ll guarantee your work.”

“In the end, you’re telling me to stick to you.”

“But you can make the commission cheaper since you’ll be able to touch a dragon and play soccer with a lich’s skull.”

“That’s true.”

The two burst into giggles.

<Day 2 of the dungeon sweep contest>

Seo-joon and Man-cheol booked the dungeon and proceeded with the raid.

Like yesterday, Man-cheol was in charge of driving and dismantling while Seo-joon was in charge of raids and transportation of the corpses.

And because of the speed of this thorough division of labor and efficiency,

“Oh, you two must be the rumored Dungeon Disbanders?”

It was only the second day of the contest, but some officials recognized them.

“The Dungeon Disbanders?”

“Plague, what kind of strange thing is that?”

The supervisor waved his hand slightly and said,

“You’re called like that because you don’t just raid the dungeons but also dismantle the monster corpses. Actually, there’s a little bit of talk going around about you two now. At first, I thought it wasn’t possible, but when I saw it with my own eyes……”

Seo-joon only smiled awkwardly because he had nothing to say to the supervisor.

“Anyway, I meant it was amazing to meet you. There is no other problem, so you can continue what you were doing.”

Seo-joon and Man-cheol continued their work.

It took about 15 minutes for the raid and dismantling and it was five minutes shorter than yesterday, when they took an average of 20 minutes.

As they continued, the know-how of the two accumulated, and the speed naturally increased.

As a result,

[1st place: Kim Seo-joon – 73 (+41)]

They were able to raid nine more dungeons than yesterday.

Seo-joon lowered his gaze slightly and checked the other participants.

[2nd place: Lee So-yeon – 36 (+20)]

[3rd place: Park Jungjoo – 21 (+7)]

[4th place: Lee Ha Yeon – 17 (+6)]

.

.

.

It was an overwhelming performance compared to the other participants

Lee So-yeon, the second-ranked player, was catching up. However, it was an overwhelming gap with Seo-joon by 37 points, and it seemed too much to close the gap as it was now.

“At this rate, there won’t be a problem to win.”

“If you don’t win, something it’s weird about this competition.”

Seo-joon was almost out of his mind because he had even reduced his sleeping time.

At least the money I earned was a lot and it was not strange to stop because of Seo-joon’s request. Seo-joon knew it well, but he couldn’t just let Man-cheol rest.

No matter how wide the gap was, it is still only the second day of the contest.

Seo-joon’s raid speed was the reason why Seo-joon was able to produce overwhelming results, but Man-cheol’s plan for their movements definitely played a role.

Without Man-cheol he would have less than 60% of his current achievements. Then, Seo-joon thought it would have been a pretty fierce battle with Lee So-yeon, who is now in second place.

‘I’m glad he suggested that.’

As expected, he had to keep an eye on the competition.

Seo-joon said with a smile.

“There are five days left. Cheer up, old man!”

“You won’t let me rest.”

“If we win I’ll treat you to a big feast. How about the 2 million won adult alcohol you mentioned last time?”

“Can you handle it? I’m going to eat something really expensive.”

“Of course. I’ll buy you everything. Bring Suyeon, so she can see my face after a long time.”

“She’s still a minor!”

Seo-joon and Man-cheol separated while giggling but things didn’t go that easy.

<Day 3 of the dungeon sweep contest>

Seo-joon and Man-cheol started dismantling raids again today.

“…”

When they were about to leave for the next dungeon while watching another supervisor ascend to heaven.

“Damn…”

Suddenly, Man-cheol’s expression was distorted.

Seo-joon asked Man-cheol, wondering why he was doing that.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Take a look at this.”

Man-cheol then showed Seo-joon the screen he was watching. Seo-joon, who received the screen, could understand why Man-cheol made such a face.

“There’s no dungeon close to me where I can make a reservation?”

There was no dungeon to choose from around the dungeon Seo-joon reserved.

The nearest dungeon was at least an hour away so Seo-joon looked at the list of dungeons in more detail because it could have been just a coincidence. However, to say that it was a coincidence was too much since the reservations were concentrated only near Seo-joon’s reservation.

“You can smell it, right?”

“I know.”

Seo-joon nodded.

“There are too many interferences.”

“I’m not sure yet. Let’s go to the dungeons where we can go first.”

Seo-joon returned his smartphone to Man-cheol and got on the truck but the same thing happens in the next dungeons so they had no choice but to lose most of their time on the road.

[1st place: Kim Seo-joon – 83 (+10)

[2nd place: Lee So-yeon – 61 (+25)]

[3rd place: Lee Ha-yeon – 31 (+14)]

[4th place: Park Jungjoo – 30 (+9)]

Because of that, he only did 10 raids on day three.

“It’s really weird.”

Seo-yoon, who heard the situation, also shook her head as the situation was strange but she wasn’t sure yet so she didn’t say much.

“It’s not strange, I’m sure it’s Lee So-yeon.”

Man-cheol, on the other hand, pointed to Lee So-yeon as if he were almost certain. Of course, there was no evidence, but he could see that it was Lee So-yeon’s trick considering the circumstances.

In fact Seo-yoon didn’t speak but her thoughts were the same as Man-cheol’s.

“I can tell who booked which dungeons through the application, but it’s hard to determine just by that. First, I’ll complain to the organizers.”

Seo-yoon said so, but she didn’t sound very excited.

“Plague.”

Seo-joon once again checked the ranking of participants on his smartphone.

[1st place: Kim Seo-joon – 83 (+10)

[2nd place: Lee So-yeon – 61 (+25)]

[3rd place: Lee Ha-yeon – 31 (+14)]

[4th place: Park Jungjoo – 30 (+9)]

Seo-joon with 83 and Lee So-yeon with 61, then the third and fourth places.

There were 4 days left from the contest and if the same thing happened again the gap would narrow in an instant.

If he did it wrong, he could miss the first place.

“I’m sorry, old man, but I think we’ll have to postpone the dismantling until we widen the gap.”

“Yes. Winning is important now, don’t mind me. But no matter how fast you raid, the distance can’t be helped. I’ll try to make the route as fast as I can, but if they get in the way like this…”

Seo-joon nodded to Man-cheol’s mixed worries because he could not even reduce the physical distance.

“That’s why I thought about it.”

Seo-joon continued with his eyes shining.

“Why don’t we do this?”

<Day 4 of the dungeon sweep contest>

People huddled in a park in Seoul. They were talking to each other with their smartphones in their hands.

“Hey, it’s good for everyone to talk, but pay attention. If a guy named Kim Seo-joon makes a reservation for dungeons you have to make a reservation for the dungeons around him.”

“Don’t worry. I’m watching him.”

“Don’t we just have to do it like yesterday?”

People began to talk again and again.

“But that guy named Kim Seo-joon. How did he do a dungeon raid like that?”

“He must have good skills.”

“Is this possible with only skill?”

“Or he’s been cheating too. It’s none of our business anyway, is it?”

“Well… thanks to him we’ll also receive some money.”

The alarm sounded.

“Focus, everyone! He booked the dungeon!”

At the same time as someone shouted, a man climbed onto the bench and shouted.

“Remember! Just like yesterday, we’re booking all dungeons that are an hour away from him. If you suddenly rush, they’ll be suspicious, so split it up for 10 minutes while he’s on the raid!”

“Okay, I’ll take care of it.”

“Just make sure you deposit the money.”

As they were watching their smartphones.

“What?”

“What’s this?”

Suddenly, a strange reaction broke out from one side.

The man on the bench asked, tilting his head.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“No, can I make a reservation like this?”

“What do you mean?”

The man who was asked showed his smartphone screen and said,

“The dungeon where he made a reservation is right next to the dungeon that Lee So-yeon reserved.”

“What?”

The man on the bench took out the man’s smartphone and on it the name Lee So-yeon was right next to the name Kim Seo-joon.

“Oh? Then if we reserve all the dungeons around us, Lee So-yeon can’t go on a raid, right?”

“Is that how it works? Isn’t it okay if we cancel the reservation at the end of Lee So-yeon’s raid?”

“Don’t you know that if you book a dungeon, you can’t cancel it for 10 hours unless you complete the raid?”

The people all shut their mouths. It was certainly because there were such restrictions on the regulations.

If there are no such restrictions, they could destroy the competition itself by repeating the cancellation and reservation.

“Oh, my God!”

The man on the bench made a hasty phone call.