Capitalist Monster Hunter - Chapter 17

17. The First Dungeon Exploration of the Unique F-Rank Hunter (2)

[The War God has donated 1,000 points.]
[The War God: I’m here to watch you shoot guns, so why the hell are you swinging a sword? It’s not like you’re good at it either. Pretty sure everyone else agrees. Right? Yeah, right.]

The War God dropped another donation along with a snarky message.

“Everyone else thinks that too?”

Yuseong checked the chat window.

[The Goddess of Mischief: Honestly, he’s got a point.]
[Fairy King: I mean, it’s your first time using a sword, so of course you’re awkward with it.]
[666: Bro, this is fire. But yeah, stick to shooting. Nobody wants to see you clowning around with a sword.]
[Dragon Slayer: I get it, you’re a rookie hunter, so it’s normal to fumble weapons. But still, your gun is kinda cool. Guess it’s ‘cause it’s something we’ve never seen before. LOL.]
[Anonymous God: Agreed.]
[Anonymous Spirit: Hunter, just pick up the gun already.]

“…”

Reading the chat, Yuseong was completely dumbfounded.

“There’s no ammo. I don’t have any ammo, okay?”

Why wasn’t he using the gun? Because he didn’t have any bullets!
You need bullets to shoot, don’t you?

Yuseong had used up almost all his ammo while dealing with the Crotch monsters. He only had about 30 rounds left, barely enough for a fight.

He wanted to shoot, but it wasn’t like he could magically create bullets out of thin air. And these damn gods had no idea what they were talking about, their constant nagging only making him more irritated.

[The Black Star has donated 1,000 points.]
[The Black Star: Dumbass. Why don’t you just buy some from the shop?]

That was it. Yuseong, who had been trying to keep his cool, finally snapped.

“You clueless idiots! Do they even sell bullets in the shop? No, they don’t! All they’ve got are arrows and crossbow bolts! So what do you expect me to do? Do you think bullets are lying around waiting to be picked up? This is South Korea, not the damn U.S.! We don’t have gun shops on every corner!

“And even if I could get bullets, the ones that work with my gun only exist in that other world! What do you want me to do, huh? You think I can just walk in and ask, ‘Hey, give me 100 rounds,’ and they’ll hand it over like it’s a convenience store? It doesn’t work that way!

“If you don’t know anything, just shut up! Why the hell are you trying to tell me how to do my job? You’re not the ones hunting, are you? You’re not the ones fighting! If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you come down here and do it yourselves? Stop bothering me!”

Yuseong’s rant poured out, and the chat exploded with rapid messages.

[The Goddess of Mischief: Whoa, he just let it all out.]
[The Great Archangel: Wow.]
[The War God: How was I supposed to know? You should’ve said something earlier.]
[The Black Star: Oh, they don’t sell bullets? My bad, LOL.]
[The Great Archangel: Lmao, the demons pushed the hunter too far. Smh.]
[The Black Star: Okay, chill, Mr. Pigeon.]
[Mr. Boris: Calm down, my friend. You’re letting your anger consume you. Breathe.]
[The God of Martial Arts: Why didn’t you all just keep quiet? You got him riled up for no reason.]

“Just leave it to me, okay? If I mess up, then fine, criticize me all you want. But let me do my thing without your random comments, all right? Gods or not, why do you all have so much to say?”

[The War God has donated 20,000 points.]
[The War God: My bad. Let’s call it even, Hunter.]

The War God followed up with an apology and a massive donation. Unlike before, his tone was conciliatory, and the sheer size of the donation was enough to cool Yuseong’s anger. His irritation evaporated in an instant, replaced by a sly smile.

“Ah, thank you so much for the generous 20,000 points, War God. You really didn’t have to.”

Yuseong’s irritation had completely melted away, forgotten the moment he saw the points.

“Yuseong, was it really okay to talk to the gods like that?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? People have always cursed gods when things didn’t go their way. It’s been happening since before anyone even knew gods existed. So what’s changed now that we know they’re real? Nothing.

“Back in the day, we’d only worry about curses, but if gods really curse people just for complaining, doesn’t that make them petty? Gods or not, they’d just be proving they’re small-minded losers.”

“Still, don’t you think you were a little too harsh…?”

“Titania, humans are emotional creatures. We cry when we’re sad, laugh when we’re happy, and yell when we’re angry. Sure, there are times to hold it in, but not always. We’re not robots. I just say what I feel.”

“You’re very… opinionated.”

“Yeah, and that’s why I’ve gotten into so many fights. But you know what? Doing what I want, saying what I want—it makes me feel free. I’ve only got one life, and I’m living it my way.”

At that moment, Eve interrupted.
[Lifeforms detected approaching. 25 targets closing in.]

“Twenty-five?”

Even if the goblins were weak, numbers made a difference. No matter how tough you were, getting ganged up on was a death sentence.

“We should move. Once they’re spread out, we’ll take them out one by one.”

“That sounds wise. The skills you’ve learned, like the Samjae Swordsmanship and Samjae Breathing Technique, aren’t reliable yet, even against goblins.”

Titiana’s casual sass didn’t even faze Yuseong. He quickly turned to leave, but just then, a system window popped up.

[The God of Martial Arts has issued a donation mission!]
[Mission Objective: Eliminate the Weak Goblin Scout Party.]

“Why the hell is their scout party 25 strong? Ugh, I’m not doing it.”

[The God of Martial Arts: LOL, 5,000 points if you do.]

“Ah, esteemed God of Martial Arts! I’ll gladly take on your mission!”

“Yuseong, are you serious? Are those points important to you?”

“Titania, don’t exaggerate. Important? Sure, but not that much.”

“More than your life?”

“Come on, I’m not gonna die fighting goblins. I know my limits.”

“And if you do?”

“Look at their weapons.”

Yuseong pointed at the goblins, who were armed with rusty daggers and hand axes.

“They could hack away at me all day, and they wouldn’t even leave a scratch. I’m more likely to die from tetanus than their blades. Besides, my suit’s pretty sturdy.”

“Then why did you try to avoid them in the first place?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“…?”

Titiana was confused by his contradictory logic but decided not to argue. It didn’t seem worth it.

“All right, I’m going in.”

Yuseong began moving toward the goblins.

The goblins, meanwhile, were searching their surroundings, clutching their crude weapons tightly.

“Gek! Kerrek!”

One goblin, wearing a feathered headdress, spotted the body of a dead goblin Yuseong had previously killed. It let out a guttural cry, and the others quickly gathered around it.

“Kek! Kerrrrrk!”
“Kerrek! Krek!”
“Keruk! Keruluk!”

The goblins exchanged guttural noises, seemingly communicating.

Are they… talking?

Monsters were terrifying because they had their own languages. It meant they could plan and strategize, just like humans.

Many hunters underestimated this, trusting only their strength, and ended up dead. But Yuseong wasn’t like them. He didn’t overestimate himself or let his guard down. In fact, he didn’t even have the strength to overestimate.

“What the hell? Is someone talking about me?”

Yuseong scratched his ear as it started to itch.

He crouched behind a rock, peering at the goblins.

“Kerrrk!”

The feathered goblin began gesturing, giving orders to the others. It was clearly the leader.

“So that’s the boss, huh”

If he hit the leader, the goblins underneath would naturally scatter. Yuseong thought that, so he decided to take out the feathered goblin first.

The opportunity soon came. Following the feathered goblin’s orders, the other goblins began to scatter.

Yuseong carefully approached the feathered goblin.

“Kerrek? Keek!”

“Shit! I got spotted.”

Yuseong thought he was being careful, but the feathered goblin noticed his movements. The goblin search party leader wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.

Whoosh!

The feathered goblin quickly drew a dart from its belt and threw it at Yuseong.

Ting!

But the poisoned dart couldn’t pierce Yuseong’s tough combat armor. It hit the armor and fell to the ground, useless.

“Keck?”

Seeing the poison dart fail, the feathered goblin was surprised.

“Did you really think that weak poison dart would work?”

Swoosh!

Yuseong closed the gap and swung his Weaponator at the feathered goblin with a powerful strike.

The feathered goblin didn’t even have time to scream before its head was cleanly severed in one hit.

After taking out the feathered goblin, everything went smoothly. The other goblins, seeing their leader fall, scattered in panic, and Yuseong chased them down, eliminating them one by one.

“They’re just numbers. Nothing special. I was worried for nothing.”

Thud!

The body of the last goblin search party member collapsed lifelessly to the ground. The final red dot that had been blinking in front of Yuseong disappeared.

“Mission complete. Thank you, Mu-shin.”

Yuseong had successfully completed Mu-shin’s sponsor mission.