Dungeon Defense- Magically Upgrade

by Elan Wang

  The high school students smirked for a second before heading this way as a group. There were 10 of them.

  “You stay behind me.”

  I pushed Jung Sooah behind me.

  “Why? Those no-mannered pieces of shit need to get beaten up into a pulp so they can learn how to speak to their elders.”

  “Don’t try to show off your athletic skills and stay out of it. I’ll take of it.”

  She made a huffing sound before stepping behind me. Yellow hair threw out a punch.

  Woosh.

  “Why are you dodging?”

  “Before you throw out a punch, isn’t it good manners to at least try and talk it out first?”

  “Go to hell!”

  Woosh! Woosh!

  He kept throwing punch after punch. Looking at his name tag, I saw his name was Lee Hansol. Am I doomed to meet Hansols forever?

  Trip.

  I hooked my foot over his leg as he was busy trying to connect a punch. He fell flat on his face before jumping right back up with a red face yelling, “Shit! Kill this asshole!”

  Every one of those kids in the group ran forward to surround me in a circle. Though they were just high school kids, they were big enough to be called adults. I guess kids are eating well these days. Back in my days, I never had enough to eat so I didn’t grow too tall.

  Woosh!

  A punch flew at me from behind. I lowered my shoulder a bit and dodged it. Though there were ten of them, only four of them could attack me at one time. And they weren’t even trained hunters so they weren’t fighting as one in any sort of coordination either.

  I just evaded all the attacks coming at me from all around. I didn’t really fight back but when one of them came at me to try to hold me, I unwittingly made a knee kick.

  Pa!

  “Ahhk! My nose!”

  When he went down and started rolling around on the ground grabbing his nose, the rest of them ran at me with a renewed fire in their eyes. Though I was bigger than any of them, they probably thought they would win just from their sheer number. Even if they were only high schoolers, going up against 10 of them at once is not an easy thing. And it was almost impossible to keep from getting hurt without really fighting back.

  If I really thought about it, this was a golden opportunity.

  A great way to test out my new power ups.

  If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have had to pay that girl $100 dollars to train me.

  I bent my upper body back just as a kick barely grazed my nose. Not bad…but it had no force behind it. Even if I got hit with it, it wouldn’t faze me a bit.

  Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

  “Shit!”

  Yellow hair got down to pick up a rock the size of a fist and threw it. What an idiot. It would have probably been better if he just picked it up and hit me with it.

  “Ah!”

  The boy behind me yelled out before collapsing to the ground.

  Hm. Guess that rock hit him when I dodged it. Well that sucks.

  “Hey maybe you should calm down a bit. You might get hurt.”

  “Shut your damn mouth!”

  Lee Hansol opened his arms and grabbed me.

  Chop!

  “Keuk!”

  I made a small chop to his adam’s apple. He started backing up while coughing up a storm. What I wanted…no…what I needed were attacks I could practice dodging. If someone decided to lay hands on me, I had no choice but to fight back to keep them back at bay.

  Woosh!

  A branch flew at my head. Yeah. Something like this. This was good.

  But. Where did they get this?

  After dodging the branch, I grabbed a foot that was flying towards me and flung it (and the boy attached to the other end) away. He seemed to float in the air for a few seconds before crashing to the ground.

  “Did he just throw Jongpal?”

  “Shit. Is he a hunter?”

  After seeing me toss a grown person into the air with just one hand, the kids started to get a little nervous.

  “Like hell he is! He doesn’t even have any equipment on him so what does it matter?”

  Lee hansol yelled out. Maybe it was because of the coughing but his voice sounded hoarse and scratchy.

  “Just kick all their asses!”

  Jung Sooah was shaking her fist as she yelled out to me. I ignored her and took a step closer to the group of kids.

  They all took a step back.

  “I’m a bit disappointed. I thought you guys would be able to put up more of a fight than this.”

  I said this in Lee Hansol’s direction. I even made a snorting noise to goad him. Since he had a nasty temper and seemed like the leader of the pack, I figured if I egged him on just right …everyone else would follow his lead.

  I guess my acting wasn’t too shabby because boy did he turn red.

  “You bastard. You’re so dead. Shit.”

  He pulled out a knife from an inside pocket. It was a folding knife with a serrated blade. Maybe I should have worn a protective best.

  “Everyone attack!”

  “Shit. But what if..”

  “Just do what I say!”

  Pop!

  Smash!

  After he yelled out, Lee Hansol pulled out a beer bottle from his backpack and broke it on a nearby boulder. Looks like these punks were here to drink out in the middle of the day.

  “Aren’t you guys underage?”

  “Old lady. If you’re going to keep being loud and annoying you should just get lost.”

  Smack!

  The boy who just said that got a tennisball right in the face and fell back. He probably broke his nose.

  “Who’s an old lady?”

  She yelled out as she rolled another tennis ball in her hand. I could hear Lee Hansol grinding his teeth in anger. It wasn’t going the way he planned at all.

  “Kill them both!”

  “Ahhhh!”

  The knife, broken beer bottle, and branch all came at me. Now this was a different attack from simple flurries of fists. These attacks were aiming for any part of my body that was most vulnerable.

  “SunbehOppa!”

  Smack!

  The one brandishing the broken beer bottle at the very front collapsed after being smacked right on the forehead with a tennis ball. The same happened to the second guy. And behind him was Lee Hansol with his knife.

  Whoosh!

  I shrugged so the blade would miss me. I grabbed him by the back of his neck and threw him.

  The branch hit me in the back. Alright. I’ll give you guys that one.

  But when another broken bottle came right where my face was, I grabbed the offending arm and twisted it.

  Crack!

  “Ahh! Shit!”

  “This bastard!”

  I then stepped on one foot with my left, brought my right knee up, took his face in both hands and smashed it into my knee. He spun like a top a few times before falling over.

  Smack!

  Still another one dropped to the floor from Jung Sooah’s tennis balls.

  There were two more left to go. Lee Hansol, who had gotten back up after being tossed, and the one holding the branch.

  As I rubbed my neck and walked towards them,, the branch boy dropped what he was holding and ran away.

  “Dont. Don’t come any closer!”

  Lee Hansol yelled out as he tried to stab at me with his knife.. It seemed he was trying to attack me but the hand holding the knife was shaking so hard it wasn’t even funny.

  “Hey you. If you’re a student, shouldn’t you be studying instead of running around doing this shit? Where did you pick up all these bad habits from?”

  “What? Shit. What the hell are you talking about right now when we’re in the middle of a fight?”

  “Ok fine. So then what’ll it be? Do you want to keep holding onto that and get the crap beaten out of you? Or do you want to drop it and get the crap beaten out of you?”

  “Stop talking and com
e at me! You bastard! Shit shit! You stupid bastard! I’m going to kill you!”

  “You should read some books. Do you even have more than 100 words in your vocabulary?”

  “Ahhhh!”

  I guess he finally snapped.

  I just kicked at his leg as he ran at me.

  Snap!

  There was a huge sound before he twirled in the air. Oops. Looks like I used way more force than I intended to. I could see his leg was twisted in a weird angle (probably broken) and his head would probably hit the ground first.

  The ground was concrete. If he falls at that speed headfirst, his neck would probably snap. Best case scenario he would be paralyzed…worst case scenario he would be dead.

  I wanted to keep it from happening, but my leg was still in the air from the momentum of the kick and I wouldn’t make it in time. I wouldn’t be able to grab him safely.

  Right before his head slammed into the ground.

  The whole world seemed to slow down.

  Pop!

  The same time I heard a pop sound, Lee Hansol’s body flew back.

  I saw him tumbling a few times before he finally stopped after rolling into a vending machine.

  “..Hoo.”

  I raised my chin and made a sigh of relief. Right before his head met with the unforgiving concrete, I completed my kick full-circle and used the same leg to kick back into his stomach.

  It would probably hurt like hell but. I guess a stomach rupture is better than being dead.

  ***

  The ambulance came with the police and took away all the injured kids. It was broad daylight so there were quite a few witnesses who could vouch for us. The police had, at first, aimed their guns at me but later apologized after finding out what had happened.

  This is why witnesses are so important.

  “Even though they were students, since there were 10 of them and were using weapons, this will be filed as self defense. But since there were quite a few injured, we will still need you to come with us. We need to take a statement from you.”

  “That’s fine.”

  I made a deep sigh and followed them to the station. This was my first time in a cop car but it was quite comfortable.

  As soon as we stepped into the station, everyone looked our way.

  “Oh. Is he the one who fought 10 to 1?”

  A middle aged man in civilian clothes said as if amused. It looks like the news had already spread. As they were taking my statement down, Jung Sooah remained quiet next to me the entire time. I thought she would be loud and make a fuss so I was thankful for that.

  The police asked.

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Is that what it looks like?”

  Before I could say anything, Jung Sooah poked her head forward and asked. The police made an uncomfortable cough before looking back at me.

  “She’s someone helping me to train.”

  “It looks like your occupation is a porter. So what do you mean by training? You had a bunch of tennis balls with you.”

  “Reflex training. Throwing and dodging.”

  When I made a throwing motion, he nodded his head as if he understood and continued going through his documents. Then he slit his eyes and asked.

  “Hm. It looks like there’s a record of you having gone to a dungeon? Did you go there as a hunter?”

  “Yes. I luckily came by some hunter grade equipment…”

  “Wait a second. Mr. Kyeongwee! Can you come here for a minute!”

  The officer called for someone and continued looking through my documents again. It was a general rule that hunters received additional punishment if they injured a civilian.

  Of course, since it was already agreed that I fought in self defense, I wasn’t too worried.

  “Did you by any chance have any weapon of any kind on you?”

  Mr. Kyeongwee asked.

  “No. I was bare handed. The only thing that could have been a weapon are those tennis balls.”

  “Hm…I guess it just concerns me that the injuries are so severe.”

  “Wasn’t this self defense?”

  Sooah asked. It was then.

  “Who the hell is it! What bastard beat the shit out of my son!”

  Someone had started barking at the top of his lungs the moment he stepped into the station. It was a forty something looking man dressed in a suit, and he was acting as if he owned the place. He finally spied me and slowly walked toward me.

  “Was it you! You shit! You dare cripple my son?”

  And he finished it off with a slap aimed at my face.

  Woosh.

  “You shit. How dare you dodge it!”

  “Please calm down Hansol’s father. At least take a seat…”

  The cops who had followed quickly behind tried to placate the man. It looks like this man is Hansol’s dad. I wondered where he got his bad temper from. Now I know.

  “You little bastard! Do you know who I am? I’m a detective! Detective! I’ll make sure I put you away! You bastard! Know you’ll be rotting in jail for at least 100 years!”

  “Please calm down and take a seat. Causing a scene like this will not change anything.”

  “The same goes for all you guys! If you guys are the police, shouldn’t you be policing gangsters like this and locking them away! Huh! I remember all your names! You know I ate with your boss! And even went to a sauna with him! I did it all! You bastards!!!”

  The middle aged man held onto the collar of the young officer trying to calm him down and yelled into his ear. In an instant, this one man show had caught the attention of every officer in the station. Lieutenant Lee, who had been patiently watching all this unfold, couldn’t take it anymore and put the man in handcuffs.

  Clack!

  “What, what are you doing! I demand you uncuff me this instant!”

  “It is against the law to cause a commotion within a police station. If you do not wish to be locked up…then shut your mouth and sit down.”

  The last phrase was barely audible to anyone else. Hansol’s father’s face immediately became bright red.

  “How dare this shit talk to me like that!”

  Temper tempter. No matter how powerless our Korean officers may be, attacking them so obviously was a bit too much. Shouldn’t he know better than that if he was a detective?

  In the end, Lieutenant Lee and some other officers took him into a holding cell.

  “Ha…there is always one person like that no matter where you go.”

  Sooah said.

  “It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve see this. So.”

  “Are you mad, SunbehOppa? You almost got hit. He even cursed at you and called you a gangster.”

  “Does it make you mad?”

  “A little.”

  “With more experience, that’ll change.”

  “I guess.”

  She nodded her head. When you live a porter’s life, you hear all sorts of things. It’s almost so bad at first that you can’t sleep. But soon it becomes an everyday thing and you get used to it..and then you eventually forget how to even get mad at some point.

  I looked at Lieutenant Lee and said.

  “But are you ok? If he’s a real detective, it’ll be a big headache.”

  “He’s not a detective so don’t worry. And it isn’t even the first time Lee Hansol got into trouble with the law.”

  “Is he a well known troublemaker?”

  When Sooah asked, Lieutenant Lee let out a short sigh.

  “In the neighborhood, yes. There were a few incidences of attacks on other people but it seems his dad has some money so the cases always got squashed or he silenced them somehow. He supposedly owns a three story commercial building. Oh yes. You said you were a hunter?”

  “Yes.”

  “So there isn’t any proof of you having used or being armed with a weapon at the scene, I don’t see one on you so I can say you probably didn’t have any hunter grade equipment on you at the time either…did you use a
skill by any chance? If proof comes out that a hunter had used a skill against a civilian, it could get really ugly.”

  “No. I don’t have a skill.”

  There was no point in trying to lie to an officer about not having a skill. This is because in every station, there is at least one person who is able to check a person’s skill.

  But there was a reason why I risked telling this lie.

  “We’ll know after we check. Wait here just a moment.”

  Lieutenant Lee said this and left his seat.

  A few moments later, Lieutenant Lee returned with a woman wearing a blue police jacket. Long hair in uniform. Isn’t that a violation of uniform regulations?

  “This is Lieutenant Sohn Aram. Say hello.”

  “I am Jeon Sangmin.”

  “Mapo Police Department Special Response Team Inspector Analyst Lieutenant Sohn Aram. I would like your cooperation in checking for any skills.”

  “But do we have to do this?”

  When Sooah asked, Inspector Sohn Aram responded.

  “In serious cases such as this, we must be thorough in establishing his self-defense claim. We must be able to conclude that Mr. Jeon could not resolve the situation without defending himself – and to that end, we need to confirm that the amount of force used was also justifiable. It has helped your case because of the fact that they had used weapons and outnumbered you by so many. And because the power level of a civilian and hunter is so disparate, whether or not you used hunter grade equipment or skills becomes a very important point as well.

  “But…”

  Sooah looked at the officers for a moment before whispering into my ear.

  “What are you going to do if they find out about your skill?”

  Instead of answering her, I just shrugged my shoulders. Lieutenant Sohn Aram cleared her throat twice before saying.

  “Remain still just like that.”

  She grabbed my hand and closed her right eye. The skill for finding out another person’s skill is called ‘harmonizing’, and if you held onto a person’s hand like this then you were able to check for their skill as if it were your own.

  The problem was, my skill only shows up in the left eye.

  “Hmm..”

  A moment later, she let go of my hands and turned to Lieutenant Lee and said, “He does not have a skill.”

  “So it is true.”

  “Yes.”

  Of course I definitely had my level 0 skill. They just didn’t know it.