The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

Chapter 300

J was dead, but his body had not disappeared.

There was only one possible conclusion: his soul had returned to his original world, leaving only his corpse behind. It had to be that way.

Lee Sa-young had carefully cleaned and arranged J’s body, moving it to his own home and surrounding it with preservation stones—to prevent decay, to halt the passage of time. And then, in that house, he continued his daily life as if nothing had changed.

Gaeul absentmindedly toyed with the cold key in her hand.

“Um, but… do we really need to manage it together? Wouldn’t Lee Sa-young Hunter take good care of it himself?”

Honeybee’s face twisted into a grimace. She leaned in and whispered sharply.

“You trust that freak?”

“F-Freak…?”

“What else do you call a guy who keeps a corpse in his house?”

Gaeul was at a loss for words.

A languid voice interrupted.

“I can hear you.”

“Oh, really? Good. I meant for you to.”

“You didn’t bury your guildmate either, did you? Same thing, isn’t it?”

“……”

Their gazes clashed like sparks flying.

Gaeul held her breath. A shiver ran down her spine. If she weren’t S-rank, she might have collapsed under the sheer pressure between them.

Eventually, Honeybee was the first to break.

“…Yeah. You’re right. I misspoke.”

“As long as you know.”

“Still, we’re all managing it together. Got it? We’re all going to be busy from now on.”

“…Whatever.”

Gaeul sneaked a glance at Sa-young. He was leaning against the wall, his hair unkempt, his face expressionless.

Ever since J’s death, his face had become void of emotion.

At least, he wasn’t shutting himself in a dark room, not like in her memories… but—

‘…He looks unstable.’

Honeybee had noticed it too. That was why she made such an extreme move—using the excuse of managing J’s corpse together to regularly check on Sa-young.

Living with a corpse could never be good for one’s mental state.

He was a bomb, ready to go off at any moment.

Gaeul gripped the key tightly and closed her eyes.

She hoped this all ended quickly.

Because if it didn’t…

Someone was going to break first.

***

After J’s return, Director Ham Seok-jeong gathered a small group of individuals directly related to the Corrosion Dungeon—essentially, a meeting of Rankers.

J, Matthew, Jeong Bin, Gyugyu, Shield Guy, Director Ham, a marionette proxy for Nam Woo-jin, Rift Management Bureau Representative Yang Hye-jin, and Minggijeok, who had self-proclaimed himself as J’s chauffeur.

The meeting was meant for status updates and information sharing.

Yang Hye-jin flipped through the papers in her hands and reported:

“…Corrosion is spreading rapidly. The Jongno 3-ga underground dungeon is buried, so the effects aren’t visible outside. But for dungeons with external entrances, the surrounding areas have already turned completely white.”

“The Corrosion phenomenon has surfaced, then.”

“Yes. We’ve designated all dungeon-adjacent areas as restricted zones and set up barriers, but… even dungeons that weren’t Corrosion-type are now being affected. At this rate, it’ll become a resource supply crisis.”

Humanity had adapted quickly to life with monsters.

Many market goods were produced using monster materials, and ALL Hunter-related equipment was crafted from dungeon resources—weapons, armor, even the low-grade potions sold in starter gift kits on messaging apps.

Ham Seok-jeong’s gaze flickered toward Gyugyu.

“Same for overseas?”

“Yup~ Looks like a global phenomenon. If this keeps up, not just weapons, but even potions will become rare.”

Gyugyu tossed a die into the air and caught it.

A heavy silence followed.

Where Corrosion spread, everything turned into a barren white wasteland.

Nothing was left except ashes, which were useless. The land was swallowed, the remnants scattered by the wind.

Uijae realized something.

‘So that’s why Nam Woo-jin’s been overworking himself even more…’

A world where resources were scarce. Wounds that could have been treated with potions were now something he had to heal himself.

He recalled the Memorial Dungeon—Hunters covered in untreated injuries, big and small.

Ham Seok-jeong continued.

“What about Mutation rates?”

“They’re increasing rapidly. Residents near Corrosion dungeons have shown a higher frequency of Mutation. The connection between Whitening and Mutation is clear. As J Hunter mentioned, it seems that our world’s Corrosion phenomenon is identical to the destroyed world’s Whitening phenomenon—only the terminology is different.”

Matthew asked,

“What about closing the dungeons? If we can’t gather resources from Corrosion dungeons anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just erase them to prevent further damage?”

Jeong Bin sighed and shook his head.

“We considered that. But all Corrosion dungeons have lost their entrances. We can’t close them because we can’t even get inside. It seems that no one can enter while the Memorial Dungeon is in progress.”

“So we just wait?”

“Correct. But the flow of time inside the dungeon is different from reality. We don’t know how long we’ll have to wait.”

Time flowed differently inside and outside a dungeon.

When Cha Uijae spent a week inside the Memorial Dungeon, two weeks passed in reality.

If they waited, Sa-young would eventually return—but there was also a chance the world could end first.

‘Sa-young will have to stay inside much longer than I did.’

Even after the world was destroyed, he would still be trapped in that dead world.

Uijae recalled the three months Sa-young had spent asleep.

That hellish waiting.

At this rate, the apocalypse would arrive before Sa-young returned.

Uijae bit his lip hard.

There had to be a way to get him out faster.

‘Come find me first. Just like you did back then.’

A voice drifted through his mind, lost like a ship without a port.

The meeting ended without any solutions.

Shield Guy stayed behind at the Awakener Bureau to investigate further, while Minggijeok and Uijae left together.

As Uijae climbed into the passenger seat of Minggijeok’s old truck, he noticed that the rearview mirror charm had been replaced with a gray cat figurine wearing sunglasses.

Minggijeok, adjusting the mirror, casually asked,

“If we could enter a closed dungeon or Rift, that’d be ideal, right? Client.”

“Yes, but that’s not happening. You can’t open doors leading inside a dungeon, can you?”

“Unfortunately, no. But I do have a proposal.”

Through the mirror, Uijae caught a glimpse of pitch-black eyes beneath the sunglasses.

“Contact the Wave Guild’s research team. They’ve been depressed lately because of all their failed expeditions. Apparently, they feel like a mismatched chopstick.”

“…The research team?”

“Oh, didn’t you meet them in Incheon? The ones who were researching how to open closed Rifts under the Guildmaster’s orders. Now they’re studying Corrosion.”

A name popped into Uijae’s mind.

He remembered that guy.

A bandit-looking researcher who had handed over an access card without hesitation—and had stammered with a bright red face.

‘I-I-I’m a fan…! A huge fan! O-Our team is full of fans, and so is our professor—’

Uijae rubbed his chin. A J fan? If he played his cards right, he might be able to get some real help.

“What about research results? Did they manage to open it?”

“Well, since they haven’t opened anything, I guess you could say they have no results. However, their dungeon knowledge is the most advanced in the world. They’re also currently studying Corrosion Dungeons.”

Rumble—

The old truck let out a thunderous roar as it started moving.

Uijae asked, unimpressed,

“Why didn’t you mention this during the meeting? This is critical information.”

“This is highly classified intelligence, you know. Ever heard of security protocols?”

“The world’s on the verge of ending, and you’re worried about security?”

“That’s why I’m telling you, client. If we told the Awakener Bureau, they’d just waste time debating regulations. But you? You just barrel through everything.”

“So we’re keeping this from the Bureau?”

“There are secrets you don’t even tell your parents, aren’t there, client?”

Maybe it was because they’d spent so much time together, but Minggijeok knew Uijae too well.

Behind the mask, the corners of Uijae’s lips twitched into a smirk. Under his sunglasses, Minggijeok’s mouth curved the same way.

Uijae nodded.

“Let’s go immediately.”

At the same time, Minggijeok jerked the wheel sharply.

***

The pride of the Wave Guild, the Dungeon Research Lab, had extreme security measures.

Multiple security checkpoints, a maze-like spiral path, and an entrance so deep underground that there weren’t even windows.

To prevent total mental breakdowns, the ceiling was lined with artificial sky panels, and the hallway walls displayed endless nature scenes on large screens.

'No wonder people here get depressed.’

Uijae walked through the ridiculously long corridors, already sick of it.

Finally, Minggijeok scanned his access card at the final security panel.

"WELCOME!!"

Bang!

Fireworks exploded.

Uijae instantly recoiled, blinking rapidly.

A red carpet stretched out before him.

On both sides, researchers stood in perfect formation, bowing at a full 90-degree angle.

They looked like a bunch of gangsters welcoming their boss.

Especially with that bandit-faced researcher in the mix.

Uijae turned to Minggijeok and spoke through gritted teeth like a ventriloquist.

“…What the hell did you tell them?”

“I simply informed them that J was coming.”

“…That’s it?”

“Yes. This time, I swear.”

The red carpet stretched absurdly far.

The researchers, their eyes sparkling, gazed at Uijae with uncontained excitement.

They were clearly waiting for him to step onto their perfectly arranged carpet.

Uijae clenched his fists.

His hands trembled slightly.

‘Shit. I hate this.’

This kind of attention was absolute hell.