ICPBAG CH 04

I activated the raid system. Four on their side, three on ours.

Two teams were registered under a single raid, completing a total of seven members.

Before entering the gate dungeon, I applied buffs to my teammates.

My main skill was sniping targets with a bow, but I primarily took on a support position, granting buffs to allies and removing debuffs.

When I was a national Hunter, I had been trained as an AoE damage dealer, but now, as a guild Hunter, I worked as a supporter.

This was both my assigned role and one of my principles. Kang Lee Seo had two identities and two positions.

“You are, from this moment on, guild Hunter Kang Lee Seo. All prior records will be locked.”

“Please keep your promise. I look forward to working with you.”

“I look forward to it as well, Hunter Kang Lee Seo.”

I took Joo Inhyuk’s hand.

In the original story, Kang Lee Seo dies.

Kang Lee Seo lost her family in a gate accident at the age of seventeen.

Though it was a remarried family, she had a capable lawyer stepfather, a former pianist mother, and a younger half-brother born between them. Even so, Kang Lee Seo was lonely.

She had grown up in wealth, lacking nothing, yet she felt an unusual degree of loneliness.

Driven by a desire for attention and a wish not to disappoint her mother, she maintained top grades as a model student, but she had no particular dream.

Still, she admired guild Hunters. Kang Lee Seo was an obsessive fan of Cha Wooshin, the strongest among them.

She logged into Awakened fan communities every day, collecting every post and piece of information about him.

In the original story, Kang Lee Seo believed that feeling to be love. After awakening due to the gate accident, rather than grieving her family, she clung to the hope that she could stand on equal ground with Cha Wooshin.

She wanted to become a guild Hunter, but as a gate survivor, she was placed under special management and ended up affiliated with the Association.

Monsters carried a deadly virus for humans. Those infected would gradually lose their sanity and become “demons,” but Kang Lee Seo was a rare immune type.

Immune individuals were classified as special management subjects under national policy. There was no way the Association would overlook a minor who had lost her entire family.

Kang Lee Seo was used as a research subject in super-immune experiments conducted by the Association. After awakening as a high-ranking A-class, she was trained in the Association’s top-secret investigation division.

Profiles of top-secret investigation Hunters were not disclosed externally.

Kang Lee Seo was given a new identity as a guild Hunter and infiltrated Habaek. It was what she had wanted from the start. If she infiltrated Habaek, she would have the honor of meeting Cha Wooshin in person.

Unfortunately, she did not begin as one of Cha Wooshin’s direct subordinates. He did not easily keep people under him. For that reason, she was placed under Cha Minseung, the eldest son of Habaek.

Even while being worked to the bone under Cha Minseung, she was happy just being able to occasionally see Cha Wooshin.

Just being able to stay near him had once been enough to fill her heart.

At least, at first.

In the original story, Kang Lee Seo became so obsessed that she was willing to risk her life for Cha Wooshin.

Such twisted emotions were bound to lead to ruin.

The day Kang Lee Seo revealed that she was an undercover agent from a top-secret division in order to get closer to Cha Wooshin, the reader communities erupted again.

[ㅂㅊㄴ] Ugh, so frustrating (4)
[ㅂㅊㄴ] Today’s chapter is so boringㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ (11)
[ㅂㅊㄴ] Why is the board like this??? Did Kang Lee Seo troll again? (15)

Most reactions were filled with frustration and anger.

Joo Inhyuk, Cha Wooshin, and Kim Yuaan.

In Night Thousand Eyes, which revolved around those three, Kang Lee Seo was criticized in every scene she appeared in.

She broke the flow of the story, readers didn’t care about side character narratives, she was boring, and so on.

Her reputation was largely negative.

Having become Kang Lee Seo myself, I almost felt grateful for the life lesson.

The Kang Lee Seo who clung obsessively to Cha Wooshin ultimately exited through death.

When I realized that I had possessed Kang Lee Seo, I was shocked beyond words.

Fortunately, I was different from the original Kang Lee Seo. Being rescued by Joo Inhyuk was already a divergence, and more importantly, I truly did not like Cha Wooshin.

If I had to choose, I leaned toward disliking him.

In the past, I had even tried to escape the Association to break away from the original plot. But it seemed I couldn’t escape the overarching framework. As a super-immune individual, I was dragged back into the lab like a dog.

Thinking it might be easier to give up, I let things flow as they would, and eventually, I became part of the top-secret investigation division.

Another anomaly appeared here. My handler was Joo Inhyuk. Another deviation from the original.

Joo Inhyuk oversaw the top-secret investigation division and was trusted by the Association’s chairman.

He would soon rise to the position of next chairman. He even offered to transfer me if I didn’t want this assignment, but I said I didn’t mind. Instead, I made a deal.

“Form a bond with me. The condition is guaranteed survival until my retirement.”

“You. How do you know I have a Bond skill?”

“You’re S-rank, Director. Shouldn’t an S-rank have at least one Bond skill?”

“You’re just guessing?”

“I guessed, and I happened to be right. Let’s set the condition and form it now. Oh, and could you also guarantee severance pay and bonuses? This is an infiltration into Habaek, after all.”

“Even if we form a bond, I could terminate it unilaterally by accepting the penalty. You’re a lower-ranked Awakened than me. Why take that risk?”

“I’m smart. You trained me yourself, Director. As long as the bond holds, I won’t die a pointless death. And did you forget? You’re the one who saved me that day at the accident site. I had no attachment to this world anyway.”

I used a tactic that targeted a weakness Joo Inhyuk couldn’t refuse. It was possible because I knew the personalities of the protagonists in Night Thousand Eyes.

“You’ll have to take responsibility until the end, Director Joo Inhyuk.”

At least, I figured I’d live longer than in the original.

The dungeon level was higher than expected. It was level 7.

Levels 1 to 3 were low-tier, 4 to 6 mid-tier, and anything above that was high-tier.

We were unlucky. With proper coordination, our current raid composition should manage. Yes… if our coordination was good.

“Team Leader Song, please reinforce the buff skills. And the rookie Hunter should stay at the entrance.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than monsters began pouring out.

To monsters, all living beings were prey. Humans were especially nutritious.

Among them, awakened humans were the ultimate delicacy. Just sensing their presence was enough to make the monsters lunge forward with crazed hunger.

They crawled on all fours like beasts, their hunched backs covered in spikes.

The spikes resembled embedded blades.

At their tips was a toxic substance that caused infection. Of all things, we had encountered one of the most troublesome species.

“Spike-type! Team Leader, buffs!”

“Damn it! I know! Level 7, seriously—this is going to be annoying.”

Song Seokwoo cursed as he reinforced the buffs.

After confirming the buffs stacked on his team, I added another layer to ours.

In cooperative raids, proper coordination minimized damage.

On Song’s team, he was the highest at B-rank. On our side, both Choi Minseong and I were B-rank.

Three out of seven members were B-rank, so this difficulty should have been manageable.

The concern was the rookie.

Even at a glance, they looked young, their eyes reddened with anxiety.

They look like they’re about to cry.

A rookie Hunter was exactly that. Inexperienced in the field.

No matter how excellent their skills, applying them in real combat was often difficult. Especially when facing an unexpected level like this.

“Team Leader, we need to reposition the rookie first. Visibility is terrible.”

A thick fog made it hard to even grasp the dungeon’s structure.

We might have to rely on instinct alone.