Even though Woo Yeon-Hee had fainted, she was in better shape than she had been in the Hwasung dungeon. Her reason for fainting was the insufficient supply of blood to the brain, not severe injuries. The abdomen wound she had taken from me had already stopped bleeding. She had lost consciousness as she had used Mary’s Hand to clean up the mess. 

The next day, her pale face returned to its original state.

“You must be disappointed, right? You should’ve gotten items…” she said.

Woo Yeon-Hee was about to mention me handing over the captured boss monster to her, but she couldn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she frowned and covered her ears. There were side effects after a person’s Sense was upgraded by one class: light would be too bright, someone breathing lightly sounded like screams, the vision would sharpen to a painful degree, and faint scents would smell like a horrible stench. She looked at me in agony, but there was nothing I could do. 

“I told you that the side effects of upgraded Sense might last from a week to over a month. It varies from person to person,” I said.

I had no reason to sit around any longer as she had woken up.

“You’re going?” she asked in a rush.

I replied, “It’ll only get worse if I stay here. You need to be alone now.”

“Stay with me.”

She didn’t know yet how much my presence would aggravate her pain.

“I put the leftover food in the fridge. Don’t open the curtains and don’t turn on the lights,” I said.

“You’re really leaving?”

Woo Yeon-Hee grimaced multiple times as she spoke since her own voice would be painfully loud in her ears on top of mine. Even my body odor would be disgustingly awful to her. I tried to console her, “See? It’s better when I’m not around you. Call me when you feel better.”

“But, Seon-Hu…”

“Hang in there, Woo Yeon-Hee.”

You’re going to become a much better hunter than you think.

I quietly stepped out of the hospital room. She upgraded her Sense by gaining points from two gold boxes she had received for completing the boss battle and all the dungeon quests. That alone was a great accomplishment, but the real jackpot was the boxes she got from the final kill of the boss monster that I yielded to her. She received a challenger and a master box for exterminating the boss monster and being second place in destroying the dungeon.

As she mentioned, I was disappointed as I wanted items and insignias that she could hand over to me. What she got was a skill called ‘Valder’s Silence’ from the master box, and it was the super-high version of her skill ‘Joy.’ Then, she got the Second Evil’s main skill ‘Isis’s Gaze’ from the challenger box which was considered the best among psychic attack skills. It enabled the user to control the target’s will which was God’s realm, and that was why hunters avoided the Second Evil. If Woo Yeon-Hee managed to upgrade Isis’s Gaze to S-class, that absolute notoriety would become hers. 

While she wasn’t like the Second Evil, no one knew how she would change after experiencing humanity’s hideous side during the Trial Tests. Therefore, I had another thing to do if I wanted to raise her as a comrade in the same team. I had to maintain higher stats to overwhelm her without using Deva King’s Protective Gloves. It would have been great if every relationship was romantic, but this world was full of betrayals and fights. As long as the Trial Tests existed, such a future was inevitable. 

***

We had conquered the dungeon more quickly than I expected, so we had time to spare. I had come to the conclusion that I could manage an F-class dungeon on my own as I still had the Escape Insignia. However, the construction of the building for the Gangneung dungeon still had a long way to go. I decided to fly back to America and focus on setting up human barriers to secure dungeons. Since I had not purchased land there, I had to do so on the way. I usually didn’t rush things like this, but Woo Yeon-Hee’s growth motivated me to hurry.

<Seon-Hu: I’ll pay at the counter with my credit card, so just book the ticket, please.>

<Airline employee: Okay, sir. Thank you for always using Korean Airlines.>

I entered the office after hanging up the call. When I checked the bankbook in the safe, my precious talisman was still there. I took out my passport and placed the Clown’s Dagger and Protective Gloves in the safe. The dagger would be held up in customs at the airport, and the Protective Gloves became useless as I had acquired Deva King’s Protective Gloves. The Badge of the Sensitives had become useless as well since my Sense has become E-class, and I couldn’t use the F-class item with my current stat class. I tried to use it just in case, but the result was as I thought. 

[You cannot use the Badge of the Sensitives.]

[The class of the item is low compared to the user’s class.]

The outside had become dark, and it was the perfect time to use the Reinforcement Insignia. However, I hesitated because it held a different meaning from Clown’s Dagger for me. It had been considered one of the best items for a beginner since it increased Sense class merely by wearing it. It was valuable enough to try the insignia recklessly, and such items had a higher failure rate than others. I wondered if I had to leave it for Woo Yeon-Hee as she would need it to bring others into her party in the future. 

I pondered for a while, but I would have not thought for a second in my previous life. I would have sold the badge to the market or exchanged it with an insignia. The badge seemed to lure me to reinforce it.

Okay, let’s do it!

I could increase my Sense class to D if this succeeded, or even to C if I activated the Man Who Overcomes Adversity. Also, it would become much easier to conquer dungeons.

[You have used the insignia ‘Reinforcement.’]

[Would you like to reinforce?]

[Target: The Badge of the Sensitives.]

“Yes.”

[The insignia ‘Reinforcement’ has been removed.]

The copper light from the F-class insignia shone and my heart thumped. All I could do was stare at the badge, and I couldn’t reset anything.

[You have failed to reinforce the item.]

Shit…I unconsciously grasped the badge tightly. The System would maliciously take away the item, but I seized it instinctively. However, I could still feel the metal in my hand, and the badge didn’t fade away. Instead, a message popped up.

[You have activated the trait ‘Collector.’]

Yes, this is it!

It was the perfect timing. The trait didn’t eliminate all the risk of failure, but it had some impact.

“Sigh.”

The breath I held for a while came out at once. The item was too valuable to lose, so I couldn’t imagine how miserable the First Evil was when he lost it in the past. I placed the badge in the safe and moved to the computer. My mailbox was full of financial reports from Jonathan, Gillian, Jessica and Jamie, and emails from the tax agency, security training and armed authorized companies. Also, John had sent me two weekly reports about the First Evil, and he stated he was in Texas now. I couldn’t reply to all of them within a few minutes. Although those seemed to be simple tasks to just tell them to proceed or stop the progress, there were stacks of data I had to look into before making decisions. 

I moved the materials into my laptop and phoned John on the way to the airport. 

<Seon-Hu: I’m heading to New York right now.>

<John: …Is it time to hunt the cat?>

<Seon-Hu: Not yet. Just focus on the cat, and prepare some first-class combat personnel at the airport. I’ll tell you the arrival time later.>

<John: Okay. Is there anything I should be careful about?>

<Seon-Hu: No, but have the personnel prepare a backpack with a survival kit for two weeks with a combat knife.>

<John: Do you need guns?>

<Seon-Hu: No. Also, let me tell you this again. If you see the cat and can’t reach me, just do what you have to do.>

<John: Okay.>

<Seon-Hu: And…>

I suddenly thought that I should pay attention to the other Virtues and Evils as John’s organization was now working. Except for one of them, all the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues had appeared on the Day of Advent. The Second Virtue had gained fame and wealth in this time, and, unlike the others, I could easily confirm his identity. I could just take out my laptop, access his company’s website with just a few clicks, and find him there. 

<Seon-Hu: There’s one more who needs to be watched. That is…>

John responded naturally as if he had done this ahead of the time even though it was for money. He might have been immersed in this job as he had dealt with supernatural phenomena and had a proper organization. Anyway, the important thing was that he had never crossed the line or betrayed me to this day.