Chapter 8

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: A Lesson in Etiquette
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A heavy silence fell over the chapel.

After a long moment with his lips sealed, Kim Bong-gu finally spoke.

“No, I'm sure if we look hard enough, we can find a way for all of us to get out of here alive.”

But no one seemed particularly interested in his words.

They were all too busy darting their eyes left and right, gauging each other's reactions.

Just then, Lee Byeong-cheol cautiously spoke up.

“If someone really has to die, then it should be the one who's 'lived long enough.'”

He then immediately shifted his gaze, staring pointedly in the direction of the 'porters'.

No.

To be more precise, he was staring at Crabslie.

For a moment, everyone's eyes focused on Crabslie...

“My good sirs, why are you all staring at me?”

Unable to hide his bewilderment, Crabslie began to sort through the jumbled thoughts in his head.

*Wait, I don't think this is about me...?*

The man who had been so insolent from the start had clearly said, 'the one who's lived long enough should die.'

*I'm not even human in the first place, am I?*

Crabslie's gaze soon shifted to his lord.

*Huh, then...?*

While he couldn't know for sure, his lord's age had to be well over 'three hundred years'.

Considering the average lifespan of a normal human, his lord was the very definition of someone who had 'lived long enough'...

“You insolent bastards...!”

Crabslie, his voice brimming with rage, leaned in and whispered to his lord.

“My Lord. Forgive my presumption, but it seems you have become the target of those insolent fools...”

“It's you.”

“My Lord. Forgive my presumption, but with my limited insight, no matter how I think about it, the phrase 'lived long enough' seems to be aimed at you...”

Kang-jun looked at Crabslie with contempt, as if he were pathetic, then shook his head a few times and muttered under his breath.

“There's a saying on Earth.”

“Yes...?”

“If you stay quiet, you're halfway there.”

“Yes...”

“Please, just stay quiet.”

“Yessir.”

Just then, Lee Byeong-cheol shouted again, his voice like a growl.

“I'm not wrong, so why is everyone so quiet? We can't all just get trapped in here and die together like that F-rank loser said!”

“Wait, just a moment. Please, calm down. I'm sure if we think about it slowly, we can find a way for all of us to get out of here alive...”

“You damn fool! You want to play the saint until the very end? Can't you see what's happening? We're all trapped in here, about to starve to death!”

After speaking, Lee Byeong-cheol roughly slammed his fist against the innocent chapel wall—*Thump! Thump!*—and added.

“Damn it, I never should have come to this damn hidden dungeon! If you hadn't talked me into it in the first place...”

“Please, just calm down. There's no point in blaming each other now, is there? It won't change anything.”

“Enough. If you're so determined to be a hypocrite, then you can just die in their place.”

At those words, Kim Bong-gu asked back, unable to hide his bewilderment.

“Excuse me...?”

Lee Byeong-cheol let out a dry laugh before rebuking him again.

“What? I guess you don't like that idea, do you?”

Just then, the contracted hunter who had been silently watching the scene suddenly began to laugh as if he'd lost his mind. "Kh-kh-kh-khk!"

“What an amusing sight. It's always the same. Once people are cornered, they finally reveal their ugly true nature.”

“What, you bastard...?”

“Actually, there's no need for you to bicker amongst yourselves, so you can probably stop now.”

The contracted hunter finished, his voice as low and soft as a demon's whisper, yet chillingly cold.

“You see, I planned on killing all of you from the very beginning.”

Then he began to chant an unknown spell.

Dark magic gathered in both his hands, forming into spheres.

The dark magic condensed in his hands began to seep into the corpses scattered on the floor...

“Kieeeek—.”

“Kiiiik—.”

“Kieeeek—.”

The corpses that had been lying strewn across the floor moments ago began to rise, pushing themselves up like puppets on a string.

“A-a Necromancer...?”

Kim Bong-gu said, taking an involuntary step back.

Lee Byeong-cheol, his face pale, glared at the contracted hunter and demanded.

“F-F-rank! You bastard, don't tell me...?”

The F-rank hunter, now grinning, replied.

“You've finally caught on. Yes, I am a hunter-killer belonging to the 'Anti-Bureau Alliance'.”

“What...?”

“And to clarify, I'm not an F-rank, but an A-rank. A great being, fundamentally different from vermin like you.”

At his words, Lee Byeong-cheol's legs seemed to give out, and he collapsed to the floor.

The Anti-Bureau Alliance.

Unlike the Bureau, which insisted that powerful hunters should sacrifice themselves for world peace and the public good...

They were a group who believed that those with special powers should become the ruling class, monopolizing all wealth and power.

Among them, 'Murderers' were the worst of the worst, a term for those who committed heinous crimes like murder without hesitation, targeting not only civilians but other hunters as well.

“Damn it...”

Collapsed on the floor, Lee Byeong-cheol quickly estimated the number of 'undead monsters' surrounding them.

*Twenty? Thirty?*

In truth, even this number of undead monsters was far beyond what a mere C-rank hunter like himself and Kim Bong-gu could handle.

And yet...

On top of that, they had to face an A-rank hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance, powerful enough to command this many undead?

“There's no chance. It's all over...”

As Lee Byeong-cheol hung his head limply in resignation, Kim Bong-gu shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Mister, what are you doing!”

“All that's left is to die...”

“We have to at least try to fight!”

“We're already dead...”

The hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance nodded once, as if satisfied, and replied.

“A very commendable attitude. All of you, just accept your coming fate and become sacrifices for the great cause.”

Just then, Kang-jun, who had been silently watching the situation unfold with his arms crossed, chimed in.

“Hey, hold on a second.”

For a moment, everyone's attention focused on Kang-jun.

“Killing those guys right now is a bit of a problem.”

“Pardon?”

“As you know, they still owe me money.”

Kang-jun casually dropped his pack to the floor and asked softly.

“And didn't I warn you earlier?”

“A warning?”

“That it would be best for you to just keep up the act today.”

At that, the hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance asked back.

“Are you from the Bureau?”

“Nope.”

“Then where are you from?”

“Home.”

After his short reply, Kang-jun paused for a moment before kindly adding.

“Sillim-dong.”

The Anti-Bureau Alliance hunter furrowed his brow and asked again pointedly.

“It seems you have no intention of revealing your affiliation?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Fine, let me ask again. How exactly did you get here?”

“How did I get here?”

The question was intended to ask how he knew that the hunter was a Murderer from the Anti-Bureau Alliance.

However, Kang-jun seemed to have taken the question in a completely different way.

“By public transport, of course. There was a bus that came straight from Sillim Station... I think it was the '6012' bus...”

“Tsk, it's impossible to communicate with you.”

“What, what's your problem? I answered all of your questions sincerely.”

Kang-jun replied in an irritated tone, tilting his head slightly as he asked.

“By the way, what are you trying to do by summoning a demon?”

At his words, the Anti-Bureau hunter shifted his gaze, looking up at the giant demon statue for a moment.

“The demon I intend to summon is no ordinary demon, but one of the 72 demons who rule the demon world, the 'Great Demon Marbas'.”

“Marbas?”

“After pledging loyalty to Lord Marbas and forming a pact of servitude, I will borrow his immense power and, along with the members of the Anti-Bureau Alliance, reconstruct the world's order—”

The Anti-Bureau Alliance hunter was in the middle of speaking, his tone full of excitement.

“Ah, that explains it.”

Kang-jun cut him off abruptly, turning his head to stare up at the demon statue.

From the moment he first set foot in the chapel and saw the 'demon statue' until now.

There had been one question lingering in his mind.

Why does it look so familiar?

It seemed to be one of the 72 demons from the 'demon world' dimension he had once invaded with his army.

*I'm pretty sure I killed almost all of the 72 demons of the demon world with my own hands.*

Come to think of it, a few of them had been quick-witted enough to escape and save their own skins.

*Is this one of the ones who got away back then?*

Meanwhile, the hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance seemed to be still rambling on about something.

“In any case, you must now die for the great cause.”

The Anti-Bureau Alliance hunter finished speaking and gestured...

The undead monsters that had completely surrounded their party began to slowly close in.

“Kieeeek—!”

“Kieek!”

“Kieeeeeek—!”

Just then, Lee Byeong-cheol, who was sitting on the floor, muttered tearfully.

“Damn it, I can't believe I'm going to die so pointlessly...”

A hunter dying inside a Gate was a common occurrence, happening several times a day.

There was virtually no chance of an investigation, and it would be impossible to recover the body.

And so, Lee Byeong-cheol sat limply on the floor and began to sob, letting out sounds like, "Hic, sob."

Kim Bong-gu, who had been watching Lee Byeong-cheol with pity, let out a long sigh and spoke.

“Everyone, I'm truly sorry.”

He added, his head bowed low.

“It's because of my greed...”

Kang-jun let out a short, dry laugh and said.

“You'll die someday.”

“Huh?”

“But not today.”

After speaking, Kang-jun took a step forward and added.

“If you're going to die, do it after you pay me for the day.”

The moment those words, delivered in an ice-cold tone, were finished.

*Swoooooooosh—!*

A violent gale suddenly began to rage, with Kang-jun at its center.

“K-kuuuuugh...”

Everyone let out pained groans as if on cue.

This was because a 'dark magic' so dense it would have driven an ordinary person insane instantly was pouring out of Kang-jun's body.

The very axis of the earth trembled, and stone dust and fine particles of dirt rained down from the ceiling, scattering and swirling.

In that moment.

Lee Byeong-cheol had already failed to withstand the pressure of the dark magic and fainted, foaming at the mouth...

Kim Bong-gu, forget moving or speaking, could barely manage to stay conscious.

The hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance was in the same state.

The relentless, raging gale forced him to shield his face with one arm, just barely holding on.

“H-how can you wield dark magic—!”

Although there was an immense gap in quantity and quality...

He could tell at once because they wielded the same type of power.

*He's on a completely different level...!*

In that instant, his gaze met Kang-jun's in midair...

“Ah, aaaaah...”

A 'dreadful terror' washed over his face.

A terrible darkness, the kind one might only see at the edge of the abyss—or perhaps a darkness even deeper than that—was in full bloom.

It was the 'abyss'.

That hideous monster smiled at him before opening its massive maw wide—*Chomp!*...

“Ah, aaah, p-please...”

Terrified, he scrambled backward so hastily that he stumbled and fell on his backside.

Only then did the terrible illusion before his eyes vanish...

And the figure of the 'absolute being' standing in the distance came into view.

*I-I have to run.*

Instinct whispered relentlessly in his ear.

But he couldn't follow his instinct's command.

For some reason, his body refused to obey.

Just then, Kang-jun turned to Crabslie and spoke softly...

“Command them to show their respects.”

After replying, "Yes, my Lord," Crabslie bellowed in a voice that was nothing short of thunderous.

“The Cataclysm Beyond Measure—!”

The pressure of the dark magic filling the hall intensified.

Everyone felt as if they were being crushed by a giant boulder...

“King of the Dead, who governs and rules the living—!”

The earth trembled more violently, and the raging gale grew stronger.

“The Great Immortal—!”

The hunter from the Anti-Bureau Alliance, completely consumed by fear, went so far as to wet himself...

“Show your respects to His Majesty the Emperor—!”

The moment that solemn voice faded into the air.

*Kugung—!*

*Kung—!*

*Kuuung—!*

The dozens of monsters that had been surrounding the party...

Smashed their foreheads against the floor in a deep, reverent bow.