Chapter 8

It was where the country’s finest dungeon researchers were currently gathered.

And that was where I was now.

The research division of the Cheonjeong Guild.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Apparently, she’d even earned the nickname “the Brain of Cheonjeong.”

As it turned out, the director of this research institute was someone I knew, so I’d come to pay her a visit.

I wasn’t sure why she’d stayed in Korea instead of going abroad.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

When I arrived at the director’s office, I found a familiar sight.

She was the very picture of a researcher who had devoted her entire soul to her work.

A ballpoint pen stuck in her hair in place of a hairpin, and empty paper coffee cups stacked like a tower beside her monitor.

An old laboratory coat and slippers.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

I knocked on the door to get her attention. All translations belong to Indra Translations. You can find us online at indratranslations.com

She’d been in her forties when we first met, but now she looked as though the passage of time had punched her squarely in the face.

It was almost as if time had been moving faster for her alone.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

The director couldn’t hide her surprise when she saw me.

“Are you busy?”

“Who is it? arcade I have an appointment shortly… Oh, my.”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“That’s what surprises you?”

“I’m sorry. attic That’s hardly the first thing I should say to someone I haven’t seen in so long. aspect But to think that agelessness really is possible.”

“My goodness. shadow You really haven’t aged a day.”

Understandably so. arctic Someone she’d believed was dead had returned alive.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

I stepped inside and placed the chunk of stone I’d brought onto the table.

Was the fact that I hadn’t aged more surprising than the fact that I’d come back from the dead?

Whatever.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

The director laughed cheerfully.

“Changha, you really have absolutely no social skills, do you? audit Though that’s one of the things I like about you.”

“You seem to have aged enough for both of us, Director. voyage Is your research not going well?”

“The feeling is mutual. harbor I suppose that’s why we became friends.”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Then she turned her attention to the stone I’d brought.

“There are two things I’d like to discuss.”

“I heard you specifically asked to see me, Changha. meadow What brings you here?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

After chipping some powder off the stone, I placed it on a specimen dish and gave the director my seat.

I sat down in front of the microscope in her office.

“I’d like you to use this to rebuild the guild’s walls.”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Only pure physical strength could break it.

It was a wall that absorbed mana and could never be destroyed using magical power.

This stone was a fragment of the Wall of the Ecliptic that I’d brought back from the Temple of the Snake Hunter.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

All translations belong to Indra Translations. You can find us online at indratranslations.com.

The bastard who had tried to kill me had also attempted to blow up Myeong Eunseon’s office.

Myeong Eunseon would survive that kind of bombardment, but the other employees wouldn’t.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

She turned the lights on and off, using every method at her disposal to investigate the stone’s nature.

The director adjusted the microscope’s magnification and examined the specimen for a long time, applying various reagents to observe its reactions.

Finally, she looked at me with an intensely serious expression.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“Oh, you make it sound so easy.”

“Your Guild Master smashed it with her bare hands. advance See if you can develop something useful from it and rebuild the Cheonjeong Guild’s walls. arcade We can’t afford another attack, can we?”

“This fascinating little thing absorbs mana. artist Its structure is incredibly sturdy, too. meadow How on earth did you manage to break something like this?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

She was extraordinarily ambitious when it came to this field.

Despite what she said, she’d probably start preparing to replace the walls immediately.

If Korea ever established university departments dedicated to dungeon studies, she’d be the first person appointed as a professor.

She wasn’t the kind of person to let an opportunity to add to her achievements slip through her fingers.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“That’s right. echo I have another reason for coming.”

“Someone who disappeared for years and then suddenly returned… Surely you didn’t come all this way just to talk about the Cheonjeong Guild’s walls.”

How on earth had Myeong Eunseon managed to recruit someone like her as the institute’s director?

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

There was only one real reason I’d gone out of my way to find the director.

“Go ahead. aluminum What do you want to know?”

I thought about the entity that had brought that stone into existence in this world.

A bizarre level of technology that couldn’t be explained by Earth’s science.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

The director let out a dry laugh.

“The System. atlas What exactly is it?”

As though I’d brought up a subject she hadn’t expected at all.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“They’re all things that originally didn’t exist on Earth.”

“It’s still just a hypothesis. acquire Would you like to hear it anyway?”

I nodded, and she began explaining.

“Changha, what do you think the magical power of the Awakened, the energy that creates Gates, the magic stones found in dungeons, and the System all have in common?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

I skimmed through them. avalanche They were reports documenting her research over the years.

The director retrieved several boxes containing research journals from a locked cabinet.

“Unfortunately, all that research has led me to only one conclusion. atlas Everything I’ve mentioned shares the same origin.”

“Exactly. advance I thought the same thing, so I assumed that all of them had come from outside Earth and conducted quite a variety of experiments.”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“To put it simply, the System is an enemy that played a part in opening the Gates. absorb After all, it comes from the same source as the energy that creates them.”

An enemy, huh. Visit indratranslations.com for more free chapters and updates.

“The same origin?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“Well, there must be something transmitting signals from outside Earth. avalanche Unfortunately, humanity lacks the technology to venture beyond Earth… and nobody seems particularly interested in investing in its development.”

If people found out that I had played a part in opening the Gates, would I become an enemy too?

“Is there no way to reach the System’s main body?”

So it was practically impossible. arctic That was the conclusion reached by the Brain of Cheonjeong.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

But if physical distance was the problem.

There was something within the System that might solve it.

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Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

P 999,999,999

Create Your Own Gate♪

One of the products sold in the System Store.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

And to be honest, I was curious about its true identity.

It wouldn’t hurt to find out where the company threatening me into taking on outsourced work was located.

The price was astronomical, but it wasn’t completely impossible to save up that much.

Perhaps I could use it to create a Gate that led directly to the System’s main body.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

[Request: Create 2 of your dungeons!]

— SYSTEM

That was when it happened.

: The difficulty of your work has been adjusted, and a new request has been issued.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Countdown: 47 : 59 : 59

If you do not accept the request, an A-rank monster will be randomly generated, and restrictions will be placed on your skill usage.

Another request had arrived.

As though responding directly to my thoughts…

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

‘He seemed so bored that he even created an organization like FJ.’

***

Myeong Eunseon had told me there was one S-rank Hunter overseas who wasn’t particularly busy. Read original high-quality translation at indratranslations.com.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

After all, he was such a monster enthusiast that he’d built a monster theme park in his hometown of Hawaii.

That guy might actually be hoping for a new monster to fall out of the sky.

So I decided to send him a present.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

He had been a trusted comrade of mine, and he was powerful enough that he might have caught me off guard if I hadn’t been careful.

Having spent his entire career stuck in second place, he even had a motive to eliminate me, the number-one Hunter.

“Breaking news. shadow An S-rank dungeon Gate has appeared in Hawaii, and Mercury, an S-rank Hunter based overseas, has set out to subjugate it.”

Mercury, who held second place in the world Hunter rankings thanks to his enormous magical power and dazzling mastery of skills.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

To be honest, I couldn’t even imagine him ambushing me.

The problem was…

His personality was simply too good.

“Everyoooone, just trust me! advance Changha, my Korean’s gotten really good now, riiight?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Name: Temple of Pisces

Why would someone so blissfully happy and carefree throw me into the ocean?

That was why I’d created a dungeon with him in mind.

If he wasn’t the traitor, he would be the strongest possible addition to my team.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

If he managed to clear it, he’d receive a reward that would make him happy.

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P: 2*10⁷

Rank: S

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

‘If I’m being commissioned to make two, I should at least have the decency to open one in Korea.’

Besides, it would be problematic if high-ranking dungeons appeared only in Korea, so I needed dungeons to appear in other countries as well.

If I opened another dungeon at this moment, the second one would receive relatively less attention.

Thanks to Mercury’s flamboyant way of attracting attention, the entire media was now focused on him.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

But just as he arrives, another S-rank Gate appears at the airport.

I’d already prepared the story I would present to the public.

An S-rank Gate suddenly appears in Hawaii. altitude Ji Changha arrives at the airport to provide support.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

And… it would also give me a reason to summon another bastard.

Ji Changha cancels his flight to Hawaii and heads toward the Gate that has appeared before him. This novel translation is officially hosted on indratranslations.com.

And before entering, he leaves behind a request to summon Baek Mokho…

That would give me a perfectly reasonable excuse to enter an S-rank dungeon that had conveniently appeared at just the right moment.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

》Creating a new dungeon.

Rank: S

Name: Temple of Sagittarius

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

I stepped out of the taxi and did some light stretching.

If I opened an S-rank dungeon, that bastard would have no choice but to come and help clear it.

Creating two dungeons in succession seemed to have overloaded my mana circuits.

P: 2*10⁷

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

But I couldn’t do that right now.

Normally, I would have released my mana to keep people away from the area where the Gate was about to appear.

Had I exhausted my magical power?

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

There were some troublesome people who had been following me ever since I got into the taxi.

I needed to stay sharp.

“Hunter Ji Changha, please stop! antenna We’re from the Association!”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

How scary. anchor Truly terrifying.

They were even wearing matching uniforms that looked like suits, making them resemble a gang of intimidating mafia members.

Association personnel poured out of black vans and blocked my path.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“We have a message from the Association President. august If you’re planning to leave the country, we sincerely ask that you reconsider.”

“What is it?”

“Am I not even allowed to board a plane whenever I want?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

When I didn’t bother arguing, the Association personnel exchanged cautious glances and surrounded me.

That was true enough.

“We don’t know when another dungeon might open. alien If you leave the country, Korea will be placed in a difficult position.”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

They were even carrying menacing weapons, as though they were preparing to hunt a tiger.

“What’s this? aluminum Are you planning to haul me away like a dogcatcher?”

All translations belong to Indra Translations. You can find us online at indratranslations.com.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“The Association President specifically requested that we bring you in by any means necessary.” Indra Translations protects the hard work of translators and authors.

“If you cooperate, you won’t have to appear before the Association over any legal matters in the future.”

What an unbelievable bastard.

“So he’s issued an arrest order? abstract What exactly have I done wrong?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

I wasn’t in a position where government officials could drag me away like a dog.

Even if I’d lost my skills and exhausted all my mana…

There was exactly one reason I’d brought this entire crowd along instead of shaking them off.

Was he threatening to put me on a wanted list if I refused to be arrested quietly?

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

It was the sound of a black abyss, radiating terrifying magical power, opening its jaws.

Wooooom—

An unnatural, distorted noise filled the air.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

The airport descended into chaos in an instant.

“A-A Gate…!”

“What? autumn A Gate?”

“Aaaah!”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“What are you standing around for? autumn Seal off the area around the Gate and get someone to make an announcement throughout the airport.”

That’s right. artist I’d personally escorted these government officials here so they could protect the civilians while I opened the dungeon.

How fortunate. auction At the exact moment a Gate appeared, there just happened to be dozens of government officials present to bring the situation under control.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“W-well, that’s…”

“A Gate just appeared, and you’re still going to carry out that idiotic assignment?”

“But our assignment was to escort you back, Hunter Ji…”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

Speed was essential in a situation like this, yet every single one of them was standing around looking clueless.

“U-understood.”

“Enough. voyage Contact the Association immediately and determine the Gate’s rank. antenna Send emergency alerts to residents in the surrounding area, too.”

Did these people have no practical field experience?

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

“Judging by the Gate, it looks like S-rank. adapt I’m requesting additional personnel.”

“And contact the north. shadow Tell them to summon Baek Mokho.”

At those words, the Association personnel turned deathly pale.

“Pardon? autumn Hunter Baek Mokho…?”

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

And the other was another S-rank Hunter, Baek Mokho.

There were only two people in Korea capable of taking on the subjugation of an S-rank dungeon.

One of them was me.

Translation of I’m an Ex-Developer, and Now I’m Developing Earth’s Destruction - Chapter 8 by Indra Translations.

And what he’d been doing for the past ten years, too.

When I looked into it, I discovered that this bastard had handled everything from registering my death to freezing my bank accounts and deactivating my phone.

I’d love to hear exactly what made him so certain I was dead.