Sorry, but I’ll be the first to get stronger, Father. I’ll pay you back for letting me become a dungeon explorer later! I knew that if I said any of this out loud, my father would continue the fight we couldn’t finish before. I decided to call it even by ‘forgetting’ about how shamefully he acted when Arachne first appeared.

As I finished up the negotiation with my father in my head and gleefully looked at the spear in my inventory, Mastiford flinched slightly. She must have gotten 2nd in contribution.

“Ah, I’m 2nd. Good, It would have been too shameful otherwise. Let’s see…eek.”

Mastiford clicked her tongue as if she didn’t like what she saw. Mm, I couldn’t fault her. There were really two items she could choose from. The Silk Dress was obviously the better one, but she already had an excellent battle dress. There was also no guarantee that the reward from the A-rank dungeon, Spider Den, would be better. After all, her current battle dress was made from a named monster drop from the 45th floor.

If she ended up choosing the earrings, then Minami would end up with the dress. Even if Minami’s contribution was higher than my father’s, she would not choose the bracelet over the dress. However, the dress wasn't a piece of suitable equipment for a tank like her.

Although my father would gladly take the dress if that was what was left since he’d give it to my mother, no one else knew how much he loved his wife. Hence, Minami would undoubtedly take the dress to be considerate of him. Mastiford likely knew all this, and thus could not easily pick the earring. She was thinking of Minami.

Mastiford mumbled to herself and asked Minami. It looked like she wanted Minami to make the decision.

“Sumire, between an earring, bracelet, and a dress, what do you want?”

The younger girl shook her head. “U-Unni can choose what you want. You don’t have to be considerate of me. My contribution is probably the lowest anyways.”

Mastiford exclaimed, “How can I!? I could freely use skills because you were protecting me! I’ll get angry if you keep saying that.”

I expected as much, but she was too good a person! How could she act so compassionately and biased toward girls!? I idly wondered if she was bipolar. No, maybe it was a scheme to draw Minami into her organization!

If so, she had terrifying acting skills…Of course, I could only sense sincerity from Mastiford. It was unlikely that it was all an act for her. Minami must have felt it too as she looked deeply touched.

“Unni…!”

Mastiford looked away a bit uncomfortably. “D-Don’t look at me like that. I only said what was on my mind.”

“Unni!”

When I saw the two girls embracing each other, I looked away as I mentally complained. Stop showing off and pick your items, so we can check whether a raid boss appeared or not!

In the end, Mastiford chose the dress which would have been useless for Minami. With this, Minami had the chance to get the earring. Mastiford looked quite content with the black web-patterned silk dress, as she was smiling.

It was my father’s turn next, and he unexpectedly took his time.

“What are you thinking about!?”

I wondered if I needed to treat my father like a pervert from now on. Of course, my father quickly dispelled my worry.

“No, I was just thinking how beautiful my wife would look with the earrings.”

I grumbled, “You can stop with the devoted husband act… just buy her some other pretty earrings. Minami-ssi would prefer the earrings over the bracelet, too.”

“Ajusshi’s wife is quite fortunate. She has a husband who thinks of her before his own reward.”

My father coughed. “Ahem, right…Yeon Hwawoo is right. Earrings would be better than a bracelet for a young lady.”

In the end, my father took Minami into consideration and chose the bracelet. There was only one other reward left. Before Minami picked it, we gathered in one place as we had previously agreed upon.

Mastiford advised, “Make sure your health and mana has recovered. If a raid boss appears, I’ll tie him down with a huge skill, so use your strongest skills before it causes any casualties. Got it?”

I complained, “Couldn’t we have just warned the other ability users? If people end up getting hurt, it’s on you, Mastiford-ssi.”

“Raid bosses automatically focus on the party that cleared the Event Dungeon. Other people won’t get hurt unless they try to get in our way. Don’t look down on an SS-rank ability user!” explained Mastiford.

“Mm, well, okay.”

“Ugaaaah!”

I was kidding of course. Once Mastiford’s mana had completely recovered, I believed she could restrain the raid boss just like she said. Now that I had experienced clearing a dungeon with her, I fully understood where her confidence came from.

If only she was a bit more serious about her fights, she could become much stronger… Perhaps her clumsiness was a side-effect of obtaining such a strong ability so suddenly. I had a feeling that I didn’t need to worry. I believed she would realize it by herself one day, but I just hoped it wouldn’t happen in a life or death situation.

After we all had a good rest, Minami took the earrings and finished the reward distribution. Everyone tensed up and prepared for the raid boss to appear. However, a notification fanfare rang out once again.

[You have completely cleared an A-rank Event Dungeon! All party members have gained 1 bonus stat!]

[You will now return.]

“Eh? What about the raid boss?” I looked around.

“There is none! When a raid boss appears, the ‘all clear’ reward is given out, then it pops out after the ground collapses. In any case, hurry up and gather! I’m going to cast anti-recognition magic!” Mastiford explained.

After quickly shunting aside our odd feeling of emptiness, we quickly gathered around Mastiford. She mumbled something to herself then opened her hands. At the same time, a black whirlpool appeared below us, and I once again lost consciousness.

By the time I woke up again, we were at the shopping mall where the Gate was. When the Gate suddenly disappeared and revealed the normal shopping mall, the Guardians protecting the area became startled and started looking around. We did our best to hide any trace of us ever being there as we made our way out. Just like that, we took care of a source of trouble without having to face a raid boss.

Since I had to deal with the giant spider’s corpse, Arachne’s corpse and the two Bluestones were also left for me to take care of.

Ability users could create an ability user-specific account at the bank, meaning the account could be under an assumed name. Although there was a catch that the ability user needed some way to prove his or her identity to use the account, it was more than made up for by the fact that it could be used anywhere in the world.

I wrote down everyone’s bank account information to evenly distribute the gains from Arachne and to give each of them 10 percent of the gains from the giant spider. As we had partied together, there was at least that much trust between us.

After we had planned everything out, we were done with our day.

Mastiford let out a sigh of relief. “Huu, thanks for listening to my request. Sumire, Yeon Hwawoo, Yungoong Ajusshi. With this, I’ll forgive the two of you for refusing to enter my organization.”

“You were still holding that against us?” I asked out of surprise.

She glared at me. “Shush!”

I remembered she mentioned that she was bad at close combat, but her elbows certainly could cause some pain. After silencing me, Mastiford offered my father a handshake.

“I liked how you charged in without fear, Ajusshi. You were pretty strong.”

My father guffawed, “Hahaha, you were cool too, young lady. I’d be happy to be in a team with you in the future.”

“You’re more honest now! If it’s Ajusshi, just contact me at any time. You’ll always be welcome!”

Since we had partied together and beat the event dungeon successfully, we were able to lower our guards a bit. Moreover, by fighting together, we confirmed that we were all virtuous, trustworthy people. After shaking hands with my father, Mastiford hugged Minami again.

“Sumire! Thanks for coming all the way from Japan for me. I love you!” she squealed.

Minami happily laughed. “Me too, unni!”

I only found this out later, but after their first conversation in the communication channel they had met each other in person. That was why Minami had flown over from Japan so wholeheartedly. Perhaps it was because they were both actively working as ability users, but they were certainly quick to act.

“You can sleep over at my place today. Mom said she’d prepare something delicious.”

“Wow, thanks, unni!”

I turned around. “Well, I’m off.”

Because the two of them looked like they’d continue for a while, I wanted to quickly get away. When I tried to leave after waving my hand, Mastiford hurriedly grabbed my wrist.

“Whoa!” I looked at her.

“Y-Yeon Hwawoo.”

“What?”

Mastiford glanced at me briefly. “Th…Thanks for coming. Although you’re not as strong as me, y-you at least had the strength to back up your confidence.”

She was still embracing Minami, not showing me her face. However, I knew she was being sincere. I could feel my impression of her becoming better and better, so I answered, “Yeah, it’s good that you know. I’m off then.”

She asked tentatively, “D-Do you…want to come too? To my place.”

“No, I’m fine. Who knows what’ll happen if I go?” I refused her offer immediately.

She exclaimed indignantly, “My house is a normal home!”

I found it funny that an SS-rank ability user who could build a mansion out of gold was living in a normal home. Well, she did mention that she was staying at her mom’s place. With a smile, I lightly shook her hand and let go.

“Then see you later. Same for you Minami-ssi. You really were tough. I’ll see you later.”

“Y-Yes. Take good care of me, Yeon Hwawoo-nim!”

“…Nim?”

“Yeon Hwawoo, I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, Kang Yungoong Ajusshi.”

After exchanging a strange goodbye with Minami and an awkward goodbye with my father, I turned around. Lizard Knight’s Scale Armor was making a pleasant clicking sound as I walked off.

A lot had happened. It was a good opportunity to see the other dungeon explorers’ strengths, and a good opportunity to explore a dungeon that had appeared on Earth.

I felt good. The bone-chilling danger I felt for an instant while fighting Arachne. The Divine Speed that I activated at the perfect moment without saying anything. Plus, the Thunder Beast I obtained.

Everything was satisfactory.

How fun. I might become addicted.

If I were to give it a review, I would rate it all 5 stars. I felt an exhilarating surge of strength that went beyond what could be described with numbers. It wasn’t from the heightened tension I had while fighting with my life on the line, but from something more fundamental. I couldn’t hide the smile blooming from my mouth.

The world was a beautiful place.

Dungeons! Monsters! I didn’t know who set these dangerous things loose in this world. But I knew one thing for certain: They were making me stronger!

I clenched my fist and vowed, “I will become the strongest.”

The strongest that no one could dare to go against! As I made another promise to myself, I began to head toward the trade center. It was then that I received a call from Yua.

[Oppa, where are you? Did you register as an ability user yet?]

I grinned. “Yua! Yeah, oppa hit a jackpot in his first hunt too!”

[Really? So cool! …How much did you make?]

“Hundreds of millions! I’ll bring some fried chicken on my way back. If there’s anything else you want, just tell me.”

[Fried chicken! I love you, oppa!]

“Yeah yeah, oppa loves Yua too. Just wait a little longer!”

Ah, it was truly a perfect day. There was nothing better than eating chicken with my younger sister!