Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 78

78. If That’s the Case (1)

‘What kind of book doesn’t even have a title?’

It must be valuable, considering Yanok clung to it until the very end.

Hyeon-woo remembered that Hyeonmu was chanting while looking at this book while Yanok was summoning that unknown monster.

Recalling that scene gave him chills, but his curiosity was greater.

Hyeon-woo turned the page. The table of contents appeared on the first page. Before he could even check if he could read it, tears suddenly welled up. Hyeon-woo quickly closed the book and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

[This book is beyond your current comprehension level.]

‘How touching must it be to make me cry before I even read it?’

But Hyeon-woo changed his mind as he looked at the back of his hand.

The back of his hand was stained bright red.

It wasn’t tears, but blood. As soon as he saw the table of contents, blood tears gushed out.

A cold sweat broke out.

“No, what kind of book makes you do this just by looking at the table of contents…”

He didn’t feel like being brave and looking further. He had a strong feeling that something he couldn’t handle would happen if he read more.

He thought about throwing it away, but if someone who could read it appeared, it might cause problems again. But he didn’t want to burn such an ominous object either.

Hyeon-woo hesitated and put it in his inventory for now.

It wasn’t because he was confident. He was planning to make someone he didn’t like read this book.

‘Oh, now that I think about it, did I clear the quest?’

He thought he heard it in his sleep, but he wasn’t sure. Hyeon-woo checked his inventory.

His eyes widened. He saw a platinum box he had never seen before.

He had only received a platinum box once before, when he cleared Yogulem’s trial and received it in the form of a ‘gift box.’

It was the first time the box itself had been upgraded as a quest reward.

Hyeon-woo could tell from the existence of this box that he had succeeded in the quest.

‘Is there significance in ruining the summoning ritual itself?’

In the end, something was summoned, but it’s clear that it didn’t go as the Fallen Empire intended.

In any case, it was definitely a quest where many unusual things happened. Hyeon-woo opened the platinum box without hesitation.

[The reward is increased due to the effect of the ‘SSS-Grade Luck’ title.]

This time, 10 cards were opened. There were no silver cards, only gold cards.

And 3 cards were shining with brilliant platinum light.

‘At least legendary.’

Anything would be a jackpot for Hyeon-woo, but he didn’t think he ever wanted a gold card to not appear as much as he did now.

No, surely a gold card wouldn’t appear here, missing the mood. According to what has been unfolding so far, it’s definitely a platinum card.

There’s no probability, but that’s how it should be.

Soon, the cards began to burn one by one. In the scattering ashes, Hyeon-woo only focused on the platinum cards.

The gold cards burned, and one, two platinum cards also began to burn. The last remaining cards were one platinum card and one gold card.

The moment Hyeon-woo tried to grab the platinum card.

Whoosh, the platinum card turned to ashes and disappeared.

***

“Ugh.”

Hyeon-woo’s legs gave way for a moment, and he almost collapsed.

Seeing the platinum card burn was more damaging than pouring acid potion on him or cutting his whole body to pieces.

Hyeon-woo wondered if he had seen it wrong, but only the gold card was floating forlornly in the air. It was just one card, but he felt a sense of deprivation.

In fact, considering that he had been continuously winning with a 30% chance until now, it was a natural result.

“No… well, it’s a logically correct probability, but.”

But does he have to be dragged into this living hell and play a ‘logically correct’ probability game?

Especially at the point when he obtained the platinum box for the first time.

Hyeon-woo grumbled and grabbed the gold card. The gold card soon emitted light and turned into something long.

What appeared in his hand was a silver chain.

Hyeon-woo immediately took out Ren, the Governor’s monocle.

[Oath of Binding (Legendary)]

[Special Ability: Can completely subdue a subordinate with a level up to twice the owner’s level. The bound target absolutely obeys orders, and death is not allowed until the owner dies.]

[Note: When the dragon Morcphenon decided to make a contract with the girl, he must have been lighthearted. But when the girl decided to become an empress, the contract became as heavy as half of the continent’s creatures. The girl became an empress, but she had no intention of keeping the monster by her side. Morcphenon remained loyal to the girl until the end and fought against the monster king Augustro Luca, and soon met his end.]

“…Huh?”

Hyeon-woo read the explanation again. He read it in detail.

He didn’t care about the heartbreaking story in the note, so he ignored it.

“This… it feels like exactly what I needed came out?”

The platinum card had completely disappeared from his mind.

The most annoying and frustrating thing for Hyeon-woo was that he had the subordinate skill, but he couldn’t use it properly.

This hell is full of terribly strong and creepy guys. If he could bring even one of those guys to reality properly, level would no longer be an issue.

Even if he took the Ratman Honor Guard as a subordinate, even though he killed them after cutting them down for a few minutes in a cowardly and despicable manner.

The Ratman Honor Guard alone is already at the top level of a 4-star hunter.

He’ll have to actually fight to know for sure, though.

But if Hyeon-woo drags them with his current subordinate ability, it’s just like releasing a crazy monster into reality.

It had no meaning other than simply causing panic.

But things change with this item.

‘I can control a monster of the Honor Guard level like my own limbs.’

Honestly, if he had to compare the subtle platinum-grade reward with this at the same time, he would have struggled quite a bit. Hyeon-woo felt relieved instead.

It might be mental victory, but it was definitely quite useful.

“…But how do I use this?”

The dangling chain is about 2m long in total. It seems like he could use it as a weapon, but honestly, it’s subtle.

And he didn’t know how to use this on a subordinate. Hyeon-woo was perplexed and pulled the chain to the side. At that moment, a notification window popped up.

[Oath of Binding begins combination with the Overqueen Spider’s web.]

The Oath of Binding naturally melted into Oshet’s Six-Hand Grip. Hyeon-woo watched the scene and pulled out a spider web.

As always, an almost invisible spider web flowed out naturally. The strength seemed to vary depending on the amount of mana invested.

‘Then what about the Oath of Binding?’

As soon as he thought that, with a clanging sound, the spider web instantly transformed into a chain.

Hyeon-woo stared in disbelief. This time, it was a silver chain with a clear sense of physical weight and substance. The length and durability seemed to have increased much more than when it was a spider web.

“…Is this real?”

Hyeon-woo checked with his monocle to see if the chain in this state was the same as the Oath of Binding.

[Oath of Binding (Legendary)]

[Special Ability: Can completely subdue a subordinate with a level up to twice the owner’s level. The target captured by Oshet’s Six-Hand Grip effect will never be released until the user wants it or the chain is destroyed.]

Hyeon-woo was gradually losing his words.

“No, there’s a limit to how much you can give away…”

Despite Hyeon-woo’s dumbfounded muttering, the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards.

He didn’t know what was on the platinum card, but as a result, he had strengthened three items and skills with one legendary item. And with what Hyeon-woo desperately wanted.

Considering that there are limited ways to enhance items unlike skills, it might be more beneficial than a higher-grade item.

Hyeon-woo decided to cleanly forget about the platinum card.

He had been terribly lucky so far, so he considered it a jinx. With the Oath of Binding alone, Hyeon-woo had received more than enough compensation.

“Oops, the dungeon.”

Hyeon-woo quickly checked the time.

[Time remaining until the next quest: 27 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes, 3 seconds.]

Considering that the quest was cleared at the point when that monster was summoned, he had been unconscious for almost six hours.

Hyeon-woo hurriedly decided to return to the dungeon. He had taken out insurance for the worst-case scenario, but he hoped that the expedition team wouldn’t be wiped out.

‘At least Johan has to be alive.’

Hyeon-woo used the return stone to return to reality.

Because of that, he lost the timing to check in more detail what he had gained and lost.

He didn’t know that he had achieved an impossible feat, and that with that one title, all kinds of understanding had risen by one level, and that he had hit an unexpected jackpot.

***

“That was a great strategy!”

“Not a single person died… it’s all thanks to Ms. Red Butterfly.”

The hunters looked down at the finally fallen werewolf warrior and spoke with difficulty.

It was a miraculous victory. Everyone was exhausted and tired, but there were no deaths or critical injuries. Red Butterfly was also smiling with a rewarding expression.

But they couldn’t stop the werewolf warrior’s howling.

The battle situation seemed to become chaotic again due to the sudden addition of three werewolves, but at that moment, something unbelievable appeared.

The commotion of the battle didn’t just attract monsters.

The Obsidian team, who had been wandering around, appeared and joined them. Moreover, their condition was surprisingly good.

They were able to somehow endure thanks to the joining of new forces and Johan’s blessing and healing. It was a long fight lasting five hours.

“Um, honestly, I don’t understand the current situation.”

An Obsidian hunter asked as if he couldn’t believe the situation. He was one of the younger hunters.

“What?”

“To be honest, I didn’t hear Ms. Red Butterfly’s plan well, and I was just punching and fighting, so I don’t even remember how I fought. I feel like a lot has been omitted…”

“What? You bastard, you were dozing off while Ms. Red Butterfly was talking about the strategy? You even dozed off while fighting? Then you don’t even know how Ms. Red Butterfly prevented the shamans from blowing their horns?”

“But the werewolf warrior howled, so the werewolves appeared…”

“If the scattered Obsidian team hadn’t appeared at that exact timing, we would have been surrounded and completely ruined.”

“Wait, then this guy didn’t even see Ms. Red Butterfly cutting down three ratmen at once?”

“Didn’t Team Leader Yoo Seong-yeon give us a chance to rescue the injured hunter while fighting the werewolf warrior alone?”

“If I hadn’t entered at that subtle timing, ugh!”

“We won thanks to Red Butterfly, but the reason we survived without dying is all thanks to Priest Johan.”

The hunters’ words of gratitude continued. The young hunter looked at the scene and wondered if he was crazy, but someone came and patted him on the shoulder.

It was Yoo Seong-yeon, the team leader of the Obsidian team.

“It’s okay, man. When I was young, my consciousness would go blank when I was in a moment of crisis. After the situation was over, I wouldn’t even know what I did. Check your level first. Didn’t your level go up? Your level usually goes up quickly in these dramatic moments.”

As he said, his level had gone up. The young hunter smiled proudly and was satisfied. He was proud of himself for fighting and surviving in an unconscious state.

While they were celebrating, one hunter looked around and said.

“But even though we defeated the boss, there’s no change in the dungeon?”

“Well… it’s our first time breaking through Plude. I don’t know. Maybe the dungeon entrance is already changing.”

“Then all that’s left is to return… I have to return, but even though I found all the other hunters, I couldn’t find Kang Hyeon-woo. I hope he’s alive, but is he seriously directionally challenged?”

“It was an expedition where the first 5-star participated, but I never thought he would be absent from the boss fight.”

Laughter flowed among the hunters. They couldn’t imagine that Kang Hyeon-woo would be defeated by a ratman, and they had the leisure to joke because they thought everything was over.

Red Butterfly was disappointed that she couldn’t find Kang Hyeon-woo, but the team’s burden was too great to stay any longer.

As if asking for Red Butterfly’s permission, Team Leader Yoo Seong-yeon gestured towards the return stone. Red Butterfly smiled and nodded.

Yoo Seong-yeon put his hand on the return stone, and the other hunters waited.

At that moment, Johan slapped Yoo Seong-yeon’s hand away.

Confusion flowed among the hunters.

Johan said something, but no one could understand him.

Johan looked frustrated, pointed to the return stone and made an X mark, and then pointed to the werewolf warrior and made another X mark.

“What is he saying?”

While everyone was puzzled, someone with good sense snapped his fingers as if he understood.

“Ah! Is he saying that this wasn’t the boss monster?”