Chapter 293 – Senior at Work Who Hates Me (5)

「Class A Dungeon, Shadow Catacomb」

Quack!

Deep inside the catacombs, where dim lights danced dimly.

From somewhere in pitch-black darkness, an unidentified white hand jumped out toward a monster with a faint shape.

At first glance, it looked like it was a mummy’s hand, wrapped in bandages, but it was definitely a human hand.

The shadow specter’s core was still held in the grip of the owner of the hand, the fighter of the sky blue shield.

‘… ! … !’

Before he could do anything, the monster whose weakness was caught flapped his spirit body as if in pain, but Cheon Ji-hee didn’t care and swung his hand holding the angler in the air.

As it was, the shadow specter whose core was taken from the air could not maintain its shape in an instant and disappeared on the spot.

“…”

Cheon Ji-hee quickly puts the obtained monster core into her material pocket and looks around.

Most of the monsters on her path had already been annihilated by her hand or had fled into darkness.

Shadow Catacombs.

A ghost-type dungeon that Cheon Ji-hee has been using for training ever since she became an A-rank hunter.

Thanks to her having been in and out of her home for almost a year, this dungeon had already become a dungeon that she could enter and exit alone.

What exactly does being strong mean to a Hunter?

Perhaps if there were a hundred hunters, there would be at least thirty different types of answers, but for Cheon Ji-hee, the meaning of becoming stronger was ‘overcoming one’s weaknesses’.

One of the weaknesses of bare-handed fighters is that most of their attacks are limited to physical power.

Of course, an A-class hunter was strong enough to deal with 80% of existing monsters without the help of a magic hunter, so there was nothing to be disparaged for because her attack method was only physical.

In the first place, there was a high-ranking wind mage named Cha Yu-ri in the party called Azure Shield, to which she belonged, so she probably didn’t even have to worry about that part.

So, in this environment, a normal hunter would have developed and refined his strengths instead of training against monsters that he could not deal with physically, but Cheon Ji-hee had a slightly different way of thinking.

Since three years ago, she had been steadily training only in the direction of overcoming her weaknesses rather than developing her strengths.

At first, like normal hunters, she focused only on her own strengths, but at some point, she began to focus on her strengths, not offensive, but defensive.

By the time she was able to combine both offense and defense, she had trained herself to speed up and make efficient movements with restrained movements.

Cheon Ji-hee, who overcame her own weakness step by step, was finally conquering her weakness of all melee hunters, ‘physical attack resistance’.

An incident in her past played a major role in her becoming so engrossed in overcoming her weakness.

A story about three years ago, when Chun Ji-hee had just risen to the rank of B-class hunter.

At the age of 23, when she rose to the rank of B-Class Hunter and was proud of her skills, she still lacked the ability to tell the difference between enemies she could fight and those she didn’t.

As long as her attack power was not lacking, she had no doubt that she would be able to deal with any monster, so Chun Ji-hee has always focused on her strength, attack power, and continued training.

Even if other parts were lacking, she had no doubts that if there was overwhelming attack power, everything would be solved.

Until he faced a mutant giant scorpion in the B-class dungeon, the Barren Desert.

Since the giant scorpion is a B-class monster, she thought that she could deal with it alone, but at that time, Cheon Ji-hee was a hunter who was not familiar with the special object called mutant.

As she fought her battle with her back to the precipice as usual, the consequences that would come upon her were, in a way, natural.

After she evaded to a close distance, she was scheduled to decide the game by feeding the giant’s blow with the most powerful kick, but unfortunately, the decisive battle that day did not turn out as easily as Cheon Ji-hee imagined.

The outer shell of the mutant giant scorpion, which Cheon Ji-hee failed to consider, was much harder than she thought.

What followed was just a normal battle on the side of the mutant giant scorpion.

With his body gradually hardened by the paralysis poison, he rolled on the floor several times, and the number of torn and punctured wounds increased.

In the end, the moment she was about to give up her life and accept her end, it was Kang Hye-eun, her new hunter at the time, who saved her.

“Aaaaagh!”

A junior hunter who pushes her shield with a loud cry at the mutant giant scorpion that approaches to end her own life.

With her honest appearance and her pulpit, Cheon Ji-hee transcended her gender and fell in love with her at first sight.

Class B monster. Even against mutant monsters, he did not lose any momentum or spirit.

A cautious battle method that destroys the dangerous venom gland step by step and then breaks the outer shell little by little.

A restrained and cautious type of gait rather than flashy and loud attacks.

“… Are you okay, senior?”

“…”

… And, even the kindness of taking care of yourself floundering after collapsing unsightly.

Although it was only their first meeting, the existence of Kang Hye-eun came to Cheon Ji-hee more special than anyone else.

It didn’t take long for her junior C-class Hunter to occupy a large part of her heart.

And, it probably won’t change forever. At least Cheon Ji-hee thought so.

From that day on, Cheon Ji-hee began to learn a fighting style that focused on attacking, but instead of focusing on efficient defense and moving carefully while watching for opportunities.

Falling in love with Kang Hye-eun’s shield technique, she increased her training in defense techniques, which she had regarded as insignificant, to some extent, but there was another reason why she put more effort into her training than that.

Being able to live a hunter life for a long time without retiring from the seat next to Kang Hye-eun forever.

Because I was looking at only one thing, the direction of training also moved toward eliminating weaknesses instead of making use of strengths.

For long-term activities, the balanced abilities of the hexagon would be much more helpful than the extreme stats that push only one attack power.

Above all, it seemed that her presence would stand out to her colleague Kang Hye-eun only if she could use various powers in various fields.

If she had chosen to train in the way she used to, using her strength of strong attack and leaving her defense to other team members, Jihee Cheon would probably have risen to the status of her S-class hunter. It was

Cheon Ji-hee: She also thought about it sometimes, but for various reasons, she thought it would be better for her to remain in Class A.

If she became an S-class, there was a possibility that she would take over the leader of Azure Shield, to which Cheon Ji-hee belongs, and it was a great sin that could not be added to her.

For Cheon Ji-hee, her party leader always had to be Kang Hye-eun.

It has been so until now, and will continue to be so in the future.

In addition to that, the fact that she is in A-class like Kang Hye-eun was a small joy in itself.

“…”

Of course, she knew best that her feelings were unrequited love.

That the kind of feelings she feels for Kang Hye-eun and the kind of feelings she feels for herself are different.

The moment she reveals her own feelings even a little more, the result will not be good.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good situation. Emotions that can’t be connected will come back in the form of parting someday.

Either she herself first runs out of her energy and retires from her hunter, or she sends Hye-eun in her heart to marry her man someday.

However, if only her own existence could remain in Kang Hye-eun’s heart, even for a short amount of time.

She could do anything to live up to her expectations.

“… In the end, they didn’t follow.”

Looking towards the entrance of the unpopular dungeon, Cheon Ji-hee finished her evaluation of the new male party member.

She heard that the woman she fell in love with was the one she liked, so she thought that he might be a man with a lot of determination, but he was a mediocre man just as she thought.

If it was Kang Hye-eun, even if she was a B-class hunter, she would have been strong enough to enter the dungeon without hesitation.

Chun Ji-hee, who finished the evaluation of the halfway man, started a new thought in the middle of the dungeon.

Should I go deeper into the dungeon and increase the training intensity, or just go back the way I came and finish the dungeon raid?

The progress so far was already quite a lot for a normal A-class hunter. If it was originally, it would have to be at the level of a proper A-class party to proceed to where she is.

Since Cheon Ji-hee had been visiting the Shadow Catacomb by herself for almost a year, it was as if she had developed enough skills to be able to go this far alone.

Conversely, it also meant that she had become accustomed to her hunting and training methods.

At first, Cheon Ji-hee struggled enough to take half a day to deal with one, but now, even if she closed her eyes and swung her hand, she was able to pull out the core of the shadow specter at once.

Even though I entered the same distance as usual, my body was not as tired as before. Rather, it was lacking if the training intensity was insufficient.

Now that I was accustomed to running this far, it was time to consider increasing the intensity of training.

If you go a little deeper here, you will find the soul reaper’s habitat.

The Soul Reaper was a monster on a completely different level from her shadow specter, so it was necessary for her to think about her further entry.

“…”

It’s the same class A monster, but it’s much more dangerous and has a completely different attack method.

No matter how many years Cheon Ji-hee went through in the shadow catacombs, it would have to be a little later to go deeper here.

‘I’m really glad Taekyung is here. The distribution of manpower can be made easier, and the burden on each person is much reduced. … Ji-hee thinks so too, doesn’t it?’

“… Joy.”

Cheon Ji-hee, who recalled what Kang Hye-eun said at a party hunting a while ago, couldn’t overcome her jealousy and chose to move forward even more.

It wasn’t enough like this. Unless you put a little more effort into it.

To become stronger enough to be remembered by Hye-eun a little more.

… And to her one day not to be forgotten by her.

Cheon Ji-hee could barely stop at this level of effort.

Even if it’s a dangerous training method, like walking through a dangerous minefield.