Chapter 20
“Gidan, are you teaching the kid something good?”
“No, it’s just… I’m worried. Aren’t you worried about Gru?”
“Worried?”
Jureum scanned Gru from head to toe as if to say “are you kidding me?”
Gru was literally covered in A-grade gear from head to toe.
It was thanks to Jureum, Nayeon, and Gidan arming him with all kinds of defensive items.
At this point, he could probably tank a C-rank dungeon.
Carrying equipment worth a combined 1.5 billion coins into an F-rank designated dungeon made it feel less like a raid and more like a casual outing.
Gru had no idea how valuable all the gear he was wearing was; he just accepted whatever he was given and equipped it obediently.
After checking meticulously that Gru hadn’t forgotten any items, Jureum asked,
“Can you follow anyone besides the party leader?”
“No!”
“What did I say to do if it’s dangerous or scary?”
“I’ll use the emergency escape!”
Gru rummaged through his bag and pulled out an emergency escape scroll, an item that allowed instant teleportation out of the dungeon.
“Good.”
Jureum nodded in satisfaction, while Gidan let out a laugh of disbelief.
“You said you weren’t worried. You don’t even see these in the auction house, do you?”
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Gidan, Jureum helped with the rest of the preparations.
“The suit?”
“Here!”
Gru picked up a shopping bag that had been by the sofa.
“Put it on now. We have to leave.”
“Yeees.”
Gru pulled a bear costume from the bag, slipping his arms and legs in.
As he zipped it up to his neck, a bear-shaped hood dangled behind, covering his face completely.
Jureum helped him put on his bag, inserted a branch to secure the zipper, and closed it.
When Gru became a bear doll wearing a fanny pack, Gidan snickered.
“Dummy Gru, what’s that?”
“A warm defense suit!”
“Hahaha.”
Gidan laughed while Jureum sighed slightly, but Gru stood firm.
In truth, Jureum didn’t want Gru to go to the dungeon. It was dangerous, yes, but he also didn’t like the idea of his identity being known to random people.
He had suggested sending the bear doll in his place, like they did in Onion Market, but Gru wouldn’t compromise.
First, he wanted to see if he could get a Hunter license without personally entering the dungeon.
Second, “After this trial, Gru will be a Hunter too.”
To become a proper Hunter, he couldn’t avoid going to the dungeon!
So they agreed: Gru would wear a suit to hide his face and defend his body.
Most Hunters wore suits made of special materials created by crafting Awakened, but there was a problem: no one made suits for toddlers.
Considering the demand for toddler suits, the lack of supply made sense.
Because of this, Gru had to modify the unfinished bear doll suit himself overnight.
“Why is it warm?”
“Because I added heat packs to make it warm.”
According to the dungeon compendium, Bukhan Mountain Dungeon was under the Frost Clan’s territory, so it was cold. Being F-rank, it wouldn’t be too harsh.
‘I hate cold!’
So they extracted “Durable and Tough (E)” from cowhide and “Warm (F)” from heat packs, combining them into the unfinished bear suit.
Gru even pulled out his only weapon, a prickly duck claw, from the bag. The unfinished bear doll suit held it high, pointing skyward.
“Warm and prickly combined!”
“Ahahaha!”
As Gidan doubled over laughing again, Jureum picked Gru up by the scruff and left the guild hall.
“But isn’t taking the bus illegal?”
After the law changed and some prospective Hunters paired with higher-rank Hunters to get licenses easily, there had been some controversy over the bus.
The Administration announced it wasn’t illegal but discouraged, and since there were no penalties, some Hunters even made a living running the bus.
Gidan, unaware of this, asked Jureum as they left,
“Did you get approval from the director?”
“Yeah, so it’s fine.”
Entrance to Bukhan Mountain F-Rank Designated Dungeon
Prospective Hunters gathered to receive their licenses.
D-Rank Hunter Lee Sang-hyeok waited for party members to board his bus, observing them with a hawk’s eye.
The anonymous call he received had been clear:
On a specific day and time, recruit a party to explore Bukhan Mountain F-Rank Dungeon and earn 10 million won.
‘10 million won for a single F-Rank dungeon run? I can’t pass that up.’
However, the identities of the party members were unclear, which made him slightly uneasy.
Then it happened.
Clickity-click, clickity-click, click-
The annoying sound of pedals turning approached.
A giant bear doll rode a toddler tricycle up and “parked” in front of them.
Curly, soft hot pink fur, endearing droopy eyebrows, and a mouth like the number 3 flipped upside down.
The party stared in stunned silence.
A strangely modulated mechanical voice came from the bear doll’s mouth:
“- Is this Lee Sang-hyeok’s party?”
Numbed, Sang-hyeok nodded slightly.
“- Nice to meet you. I’m Unfinished Bear mk.1, participating in this raid.”
For some reason, the infuriating droopy eyebrows stood straight up.
All party members thought the same:
‘It’s a fake Sso.’
‘It’s a fake Sso…’
They had heard stories about this lunatic concept character in anonymous communities.
The party swallowed nervously and whispered together.
“Is that real?”
“What is that? A real doll?”
“Are we going with fake Sso? For real?”
Sang-hyeok felt cold sweat.
He was dizzy too, but he had to do his job.
As he tried to calm everyone, the tricycle clicked forward.
Unfinished Bear mk.1, stepping with his right foot, stopped the tricycle with a chop sound and opened the zipper of the bag on his chest.
Ziiing-
Something flapped and flew out of the bag.
[Slime-type enemies’ damage increased by 10%.]
[Attack power increased by 10%.]
[Accuracy increased by 10.]
Three toy penguins spun above the party.
Sang-hyeok, dizzy from the flying penguins, checked his status panel in surprise.
The attack buffs stacked twice.
‘…Is this guy crazy? He even brought super expensive stuff just to fight slimes…’
He decided not to think too much.
Fine. Whether the bus passenger was a lunatic or a doll, he’d get the money.
“All right, now that everyone’s here, let’s go.”
The Ice Slime swelled up.
Tu-tu-tu-tu! Sharp shards of ice flew toward the party.
Sang-hyeok slashed them away with his twin swords.
This dungeon was easy and routine, so it wasn’t challenging, but today felt different.
‘Definitely lighter than usual.’
How did the buff stacking calculation work to make this effect?
Items made by highly skilled crafters really are different.
‘The strong get even stronger.’
Sang-hyeok thought of the rich getting richer and swung with extra force.
‘Ah!’
Due to the buffs, his strength control was off.
One shard bounced toward Unfinished Bear mk.1.
‘Of all people, at our VIP client!’
He gritted his teeth, trying to block it. The angle wouldn’t seriously hurt, but he couldn’t let his valuable client get a scratch.
But he soon realized he didn’t need to.
Ching!
Shhik!
Woong!
Before the shard even touched, three automatic shields deployed.
What just happened?
Unfinished Bear mk.1 had no idea and looked around.
Of course he wouldn’t notice—the shard hadn’t even come close.
Sang-hyeok, awkwardly holding his sword, felt his pupils shake.
‘Is this really fake Sso? How much did he put on that doll? Does fake Sso have that much money?’
Each automatic shield must cost hundreds of millions…
This is extreme concept lunacy. Sang-hyeok swallowed hard, realizing he couldn’t compete with this level of madness.
