Chapter 23

Alone Leveling: Ragnarok Chapter 22

"Shugo, you don't have a personal protective suit yet, right? Put this on."

In front of Seoul Station, Professor Im handed Shugo a thick piece of clothing.

Upon receiving it, he realized it was a one-piece work suit with connected top and bottom.

"Here, put on these gloves and work boots as well. They come as a set."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I called you suddenly, so it's natural that you couldn't prepare anything. Learn from this. Protective suits are essential for scavengers."

Following the previous explanation about miners, Season 2 began with Professor Im's lecture on scavengers.

"Being a scavenger is much more dangerous than being a miner."

Miners, except in special cases like the Korean University field, generally had a safe job. They only needed to mine in the safest part of the dungeon, far from the front lines where all the hunting had already been done.

"But scavengers are different."

Scavengers' positions were right between the attack team and the mining team. To collect the corpses of monsters hunted by the attack team, they had to closely follow behind them.

Naturally, this often led to frequent attacks by monsters that the attack team hadn't managed to catch.

"Of course, it's usually just one or two monsters, so as long as you're careful when they suddenly appear, the attack team will come to your rescue."

"So this protective suit is for that one moment, right?"

"Exactly. But it's actually more useful when collecting monster corpses. If the monsters have sharp spines or scales, regular clothes will get torn up during the work."

"Professor..."

"Don't be too moved. Compared to what you've done, it's nothing."

"No, this smells like a widower."

"......It's because I live alone."

* * *

A little while later.

The attack team hunters arrived at the site.

Shugo calmly observed their appearance.

There were a total of 10 members.

'Four D-rank magic hunters, five D-rank combat hunters, and one C-rank healer.'

The C-rank male healer seemed to be the leader of the attack team.

However, the attack team leader walked over to where Shugo was and glared at Professor Im.

"What's this? Why are there so few scavengers?"

At this, Professor Im bowed his head awkwardly.

"I'm sorry. The scavenger uncles all went missing for some reason. But in their place, this friend is here today..."

"What? Are you kidding me? After making a contract, how can you be so irresponsible? Do you know how much damage it will cause if the schedule is delayed?"

"No, no. There won't be any issues with the schedule. This friend is actually a summoner, so there won't be any problems with the work..."

"What? Are you joking? A summoner?"

The longer Professor Im spoke, the more the attack team leader's expression darkened.

He then turned to Shugo and scanned him from head to toe.

Shugo stood there, motionless.

Professor Im quickly stepped forward and tried to smooth things over.

"Oh, Leader! You really don't need to worry. This friend's summons will make up for the missing members. He's a specially hired expert at his job."

At this, the attack team leader sighed deeply.

"Are you kidding me? So you're saying you trusted this one person and didn't even try to make up the numbers, and you still took the pay?"

His voice grew louder, and the other attack team hunters gathered around.

"Leader, what's going on?"

"What is this? Why are there so few scavengers?"

"Can they even do the job properly like this?"

Surrounded by their cold gazes, the scavengers couldn't help but shrink back.

In fact, the attack team's anger was justified.

If there were too few scavengers, the work would slow down, and the attack team, which was hunting in front, would also have to slow down.

The purpose of hunting was to make money from the monsters' corpses, and it would be meaningless to hunt alone without the scavengers.

Especially in the Seoul Station field, where there were no magic stones, they had to make money solely from the monsters' corpses.

"Leader, it's fine, it's fine. We've seen irresponsible day laborers before. We can't change the schedule now, so we'll just have to make do."

"Right, Leader. Let's go in now."

Persuaded by the team members, the attack team leader finally glared at Professor Im.

"Anyway, if you fall behind today, I'll formally report you to the association. I'll make sure you never work as a scavenger again."

"Yes, yes. We'll do our best. Please trust us."

With the attack team of 10 members taking turns to speak, Professor Im, standing in the center, looked mentally drained as he bowed his head.

Since he had done something wrong, any words he said would just sound like excuses.

But he felt wronged too.

'I'm not even the scavenger team leader, so why...'

In fact, the real scavenger team leader was one of the missing scavengers.

So, as the nominal deputy leader, Professor Im had to take the blame and bow his head.

However, thanks to his usual skill of bowing to professors, the attack team leader's anger seemed to have cooled down a bit.

"Tsk. That's why lower-rank hunters are like this."

Just as the attack team leader turned around, muttering to himself,

"Rise."

Kee-hee-hee-

"What, what is this!"

Suddenly, the hunters were startled by the evil laughter echoing in the air and looked around.

[Ke-ke-ke!]

Suddenly, black monsters rose from the ground!

Evil goblins, with black steam swirling around their bodies, were giggling and staring at them.

But their size... was much larger than ordinary goblins.

"Goblin Captain? No, even a Major Captain!"

"Why are the monsters outside the field...!"

The attack team members hastily drew their weapons.

'Good heavens! To sneak up so quietly!'

"They don't seem to be ordinary ones!"

"Everyone, get ready for battle!"

"Leader! Fall back!"

The basic principle of the attack team was to protect the healer!

They quickly got into position and faced the goblins...

[Ke-ke-ke?]

Faced...

[Ke-ke-ke?]

"......Huh?"

But the goblins had no intention of fighting.

[Ke-ke-ke?]

"......Hmm?"

They tilted their heads, wondering why the humans were so angry.

The attack team members, seeing the goblins not attacking, stood awkwardly with their weapons raised.

"Ahem."

Professor Im cleared his throat and stepped between them.

"Um, Leader? These are the summons I mentioned earlier."

"......Oh."

Only then did the attack team members understand the situation.

Looking around, they saw that the scavengers were already standing there, staring at them.

It turned out that only the attack team had been startled.

"Y-Yes, that's right."

"The number... is quite large."

"There are seven of them."

"Yes, twice as many as the missing scavengers."

"Ahem."

The attack team members, embarrassed, averted their eyes.

Seeing their reaction, Professor Im subtly gave Shugo a thumbs-up.

Shugo smiled in response.

The seven shadow goblins had been extracted in advance during the daily quest, so there was no need to collect their corpses again.

"Let's go in, then."

As Shugo moved, the shadow goblins followed him.

Passing by the still awkwardly standing attack team, Shugo muttered,

"Don't fall behind."

"......"

* * *

Thus, they officially entered the Seoul Station field.

The interior of Seoul Station, already eroded, was dark due to the power outage, and the walls and floors were covered with unknown vines and moss.

"Be careful, it's slippery."

The attack team leader signaled to his teammates.

"Clear the area."

With a whoosh, fireballs rose from the hands of the magic hunters and floated around, illuminating the surroundings.

Thanks to this, a faint blue mist covering the area became visible.

At the same time, the identities of the monsters hiding in the darkness were revealed.

"Shaaak!"

Spiky lizards crawling on the walls and ceilings!

"Everyone, get ready for battle!"

At the attack team leader's command, the hunters rushed out and began using their skills.

The attack team leader, protected at the very back as a healer, turned to the scavengers.

The embarrassment from earlier still lingered on his face.

"Then, the scavenger team... please follow carefully and start your work. Collecting the spiky lizards' corpses can be quite profitable."

'Not demons.'

Shugo sighed in disappointment.

It seemed that the cursed random box had only provided a useful sword for him and had no other purpose.

Still, coming here with Professor Im was worth it.

'This is my first time seeing other hunters in battle.'

While moving the lizard corpses onto the cart, Shugo watched the attack team's battle closely.

The way multiple hunters used their different abilities and skills in coordination was definitely entertaining to watch.

'This is how the attack team fights. It's helpful.'

To efficiently use the seven shadow soldiers, he needed to learn group combat when opportunities arose.

So far, he had only extracted and used the same type of monsters, but he wanted to use various types of monsters strategically in the future.

For that, he needed to collect various types of monster corpses in advance and store them in the shadow dungeon.

'That's the purpose of the scavenger team.'

This was the reason Shugo had readily accepted Professor Im's offer.

Being a scavenger was the best job for collecting monster corpses.

Moreover, for Shugo, the job of a scavenger was not difficult at all.

"Collect."

[Ke-ke-ke!]

"Load onto the cart."

[Ke-ke-ke!]

The shadow goblins moved in unison at Shugo's command, collecting the dead lizards.

Shugo followed behind them, walking leisurely as if on a stroll.

Meanwhile, Ber was secretly moving a few dead lizards to the shadow dungeon.

There were so many lizards that a few missing wouldn't be noticed.

Crunch, crunch.

Of course, some lizards disappeared as Ber's snacks from time to time.

However, a problem arose.

Shugo was doing his job too well.

The basic job of a scavenger was to collect monster corpses and load them onto the cart.

If the monster was large, they had to cut it into pieces with a saw or knife, which was the most difficult and time-consuming part.

It was not easy for E-rank hunters to cut through the tough skin and bones of the monsters.

But for the shadow soldiers, composed of goblin captains and major captains, it was nothing.

[Ke-ke-ke!]

Thanks to their efforts, the scavenger team's work speed surpassed the attack team's hunting speed.

As a result, the scavengers had nothing to do and could only watch the hunting.

"Yawn."

"Ugh."

The attack team, seeing Professor Im yawning lazily from behind, blushed.

If only Shugo hadn't said not to fall behind, this embarrassing situation wouldn't have happened.

At that moment,

"Hold on. Stop the battle."

The attack team leader suddenly stopped hunting and walked over to the scavenger team with a serious expression.

He stopped right in front of Shugo.

'What is it?'

'Is he going to pick a fight again?'

The scavengers' expressions turned serious at his intimidating presence.

Thud.

The attack team leader finally reached Shugo.

"Hey, you."

He stared intently at Shugo and opened his tightly closed mouth.

"Would you consider contracting with our attack team?"

[Hehe.]

Ber nodded proudly behind Shugo.

[As expected, our young master's extraordinary talent shines through anywhere. This guy has good eyes...]

"Be our exclusive scavenger!"

[What, that trash?]

"We'll offer you the highest salary in the scavenging industry... You have a natural talent for scavenging..."

Ber, with a murderous look in his eyes, was barely restrained by Professor Im.