I Never Run Out of Mana - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

64 . Enemy? Ally?

Hot air blew, matching the desert like theme of the dungeon .

Meteor Call and Iceberg no longer had cooldowns .

The floor of the dungeon was covered in flames .

If there was one thing, I was kind of disappointed with what happens when I used both skills together .

When both skills met, they cancelled each other out entirely .

It dealt no damage .

But that didn’t really matter .

As long as I continued to cast one of the two skills repeatedly, all monsters would be completely wiped out without any traces left .

The clear time of my hunting was fast enough as it was, but now it became incomparably faster .

I could pretty much clear the dungeon in the time it takes me to run to the end of it .

This clear speed could not be reached even with a 10 man party .

I loved this growth speed, but it worried me that the association would catch on again .

Without any time between each run, they would become suspicious of this party .

The solution I came up with was to purchase a ton of IDs .

I categorized each ID by class and level, dividing it into 4 different groups .

Each time I ran the dungeon, I swapped these four groups around .

With this, they would not become suspicious from just the data alone .

‘Guess I studied hard to come up with great schemes like this . ’

Two days ago .

I went to the level 13 succubus dungeon to meet up with Jong Ho .

This was where I met him in the first place .

The level 13 portal that exploded then had become a dungeon, a treasure trove that filled the bellies of the Awakened .

Back then, it took 30 minutes borrowing Jong Ho’s car to get here from the restaurant .

It was an unlit hiking trail before .

However, now the area had restaurants and stores .

Parking lots were a given, and they even had a specific zone for the warp gates .

“Wow . It used to be just a hiking trail with nothing of note… but it developed like this . ”

The surrounding area had changed to the point where I couldn’t even recognize it anymore .

Jong Ho and his party group were walking out after clearing the dungeon .

Including Jong Ho, the party consisted of 6 members .

Out of them all, it couldn’t be helped that Jong Ho’s weapons and armor were sticking out like a sore thumb .

In each hand was a Banwol Jincheon, as well as an emerald Lizardman’s Gauntlet that covered his wrist .

Ah . The gauntlet was a gift to him in repayment for all the gauntlets he helped me sell each weekend .

I already had obtained a gauntlet that gave me 20% magic resistance .

That’s why I gave him the one I was wearing before, which gave 18% .

True to his character, he did not put it on until I said I was ‘lending’ him the gauntlet .

Looking from the outside, he looked like a tanker that was running the dungeon to help the other members level up .

I called Jong Ho, who was busy selling the loot after the hunt .

“Hyung!”

“Yo! Bro . ”

“Armor suits you a lot better than your regular clothes . ”

“Do you have to laugh while saying that?”

“I can’t cry though . Do you go on dinner dates while dressed like this?”

“Can’t help but laugh thanks to you . ”

I went towards Jong Ho, greeting all of his party members that hunted with him .

“Hello . I’m Jong Ho hyung’s dongsaeng . ” 1

“Nice to meet you . ”

“I heard many things about you . My name is Hee Park . ”

While I was greeting everyone, a man I was familiar with came into view .

A man in his mid 40s .

He was looking at me, with the faintest of smiles on his face .

A man who seemed too old to be running a level 13 dungeon .

Most people become Awakened before they hit their 20s .

Most people gathered here were in their early to mid 20s .

‘Did he Awaken late?’

Well, there are cases like hyung who was doing managerial work until Awakening late .

This wasn’t about when he was Awakened, or what his appearance was like .

It was because I felt like I saw him somewhere before .

‘Where did I see him before… . ?’

Jong Ho finished dividing up the loot, and was ready to leave .

Saying farewells to the party members, we distanced ourselves from the group .

‘Silent’

I wasn’t sure what was happening, so I casted a spell that prevented us from behind overheard .

“Hyung . Who is that man in his 40s?”

“Ah, someone I’ve been hunting with for a week . Why?”

“I have a feeling that I’ve seen him somewhere before…”

“He said he used to work for the association . You sure you’re not confusing him with someone who looks similar?”

“No . It’s definitely someone I know . I’m sure of it . ”

“No way . It doesn’t look like he knows you . ”

“… . . ”

Wait, Ho Jin?

That was when I remembered his name and face .

Department head of the Awakened special control unit, Kim Ho Jin .

I was sure of it .

He was the one who brought all the association hunters, as well the as cleric ranker to wait for me .

No . He was trying to catch me .

‘What is this . Are they hiding around here?’

My head was filled with possibilities .

A member of the association was clearing a dungeon .

And since he was able to go in and out of the dungeon as he wished, it meant he was an Awakened .

‘An Awakened that works at the association? That’s something mothers would be bragging about to others about her son . ’

It was someone I could not understand .

“You said he used to work at the association?”

“Yes . He didn’t go into detail about it, but he said he quit due to a quarrel with his boss . ”

“Hyung . Remember how I told you that I wasn’t able to hunt for some time thanks to all those hunters from the association showing up?”

“Yeah, that’s when your fake ID got suspended, right?”

“Yes . The man who is responsible for that is Kim Ho Jin . ”

“What?”

“I’m not sure either on why he’s here right now . It could be that he approached you on purpose because you have a connection with me, or it was a coincidence while he was trying to live the life of an Awakened after quitting the association . ”

“What, seriously . Just what is happening?”

“I think he also recognized my face . ”

“Of course . Just by looking up your ID, your face would come up . ”

“Yes . But back then, I was stealthed, so there is no way he can recognize me . I think I’m just paranoid, thinking that he recognized me . ”

“What should we do? Should we change the party members?”

“No . If he left the association completely, he should have nothing to do with me, but if he didn’t, then doing so would only make him more suspicious . Just hunt with him like you usually do . ”

“After that?”

“Just hunt as much as you can . ”

“What?”

“Until I find out his identity and what’s really going on, please act normally as you usually do . ”

“How will you find out? How can you reveal his agenda?”

“I can stealth . Even if it slows down my hunting, I need to find out . ”

“Alright . For now, I get it . Fate really is fickle . ”

“If he really did leave the association… . . ”

****

Leaving the conference room, Kim Ho Jin was cursing and swearing all sorts of profanities while heading to his office .

This act of corruption by his superior happened right before his eyes .

He couldn’t just stand there and watch the president lead the country down a path of ruin .

Those who worked with him gazed at Ho Jin .

However, he was quietly packing up his belongings in silence .

“Greedily taking tax money from the country . But if you are too busy only caring about your life, how can this country run properly!”

27 years ago . He had Awakened at the age of 18, just like Min-cheol did .

However, instead of wanting to live a cozy life, he decided to become a member of the association .

This was before the radical faction showed, and a time of recovery after the attacks of the portal explosions occurring all over the place .

You could say that mankind was finally stabilizing towards peace after the attacks from the monsters paused .

On the other side of the coin though, the Awakened began causing trouble all over the place, to the point where they could not be handled .

It was because there was no laws clearly set for Awakened, as well as a way to enforce those rules .

This was why he thought he needed to join the association .

It didn’t take him long for him to pack, almost as if confirming that those 20 years were worth nothing .

Half of his entire life was spent dedicated to the association .

But he let go of his title without any hesitation .

The only thing he could do now was to grow stronger .

It was late, far too late for him to trying growing strong enough to fight against the radical faction .

But he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing .

He couldn’t just watch his country and humanity as whole be slowly destroyed from the inside out any further .

Before going out on his first day of hunting, an idea that had come to him hundreds of times over came again .

Telling this juicy story to those crocodiles in the swamp, the reporters of the press .

He wanted to tell the truth .

To the entire world .

But, for someone who has been in the association for 20 years, there was no way they weren’t aware of all the dirty work they do behind the scenes .

He knew that whoever they put on him for surveillance would get rid of him the moment he did anything rash .

If he was the only one who’d suffer, it wouldn’t matter .

If that was the case, he could accept the consequences of doing so .

However, thinking about his wife and daughter, he couldn’t bring himself to do so .

“I’m just the same as them, looking out for my life… How pathetic of me… . . ”

And so a week had passed hunting .

In between his association work, he leveled whenever he could, reaching level 85 .

Well, for someone who has been Awakened for 27 years, he was a very low level .

He was hunting at the level 13 dungeon that was appropriate for his level, forming up a party .

His hunting for the day was nearly finished, and that’s when it happened .

“Hyung!”

“Yo . Bro . ”

He couldn’t believe his eyes .

It was Kim Min-cheol .

The person who, within two months of being Awakened, clearing dungeons of great difficulty and level by himself, had appeared before him just like that .

It appeared as though he was friendly with Jong Ho, who had first approached him to form a party together .

He couldn’t help but smile .

‘A man of that caliber… . . He might be able to change the world . ’

Of course, he didn’t know much about him .

He could be part of the radical faction .

But it felt as though he was the only hope left he could bet on .

‘Who are you, Kim Min-cheol . ’

****

‘Mass Stealth Jutsu’

Pausing my regular hunting routine, I began to spy on Kim Ho Jin .

I already had learned of his address by following him back on the day we met at the level 13 dungeon .

If I used Silent and Mass Stealth Jutsu, I should be able to get the information I need without being exposed by anyone .

“Where is the entrance to the girls’ onsen… just kidding . I think it was the 3rd floor of this apartment . ”

-click

I finally caught him, just as he was about to leave for work .

I was going to watch him for a while, but if he headed for the association right now, that would mean that he approached Jong Ho and me on purpose .

As Ho Jin was putting on his shoes, his spouse spoke .

“Whew . You are old now . You should just rest at home . ”

“I’m a little restless, you know . ”

“Even after marriage, I don’t see you staying at home even once . Well, do take care . Keep your promise to stay here at least on the weekends! Jeong-yeon, you should go say bye to papa, right?”

“Daddy . Bye . ”

“Haha . Alright . I’ll be heading out now, honey . ”

‘Hmm… . Did he really leave the association?’

The reason why I was interested in him was for the information he possessed .

Jong Ho was very knowledgeable in monsters, hunting, dungeons, and the loot dropped .

Unlike him, Kim Ho Jin had stayed in the association for a long period of time .

If I was able to obtain information regarding the radical faction and the government, it would be like obtaining a thousand units for reinforcement .

That was a good reason to keep him under surveillance for a bit longer .

‘Kim Ho Jin, who are you?’