This leans 3.5 stars, but this volume was a bit boring in some ways. There are some good parts where Jinwoo demonstrates he cares about other people, particularly Jinah and Jinho, and even some of his fellow hunters. I also still love his return to the double dungeon even if my favorite part of that, Jinwoo collapsing from exhaustion(?), was added for the manhwa adaptation. It's also overall a kind of silly plot, which is true for a lot of the story, and even the manhwa change doesn't make a ton of sense: like why WOULD he call for the Hunter's Association to be warned about it? It makes a lot more sense here that he just goes to get it done and is surprised people come to his help, because he believes most people still won't help him, and he believes in his own ability to solve issues. Both narratives still place another burden on his shoulders for being at "fault" for all the deaths and injuries, but I'm not sure which exactly is better, narratively.

Although the school plot, at least when Jinwoo gets involved, is still decent, the build-up is quite boring, and you're left getting frustrated for why Jinwoo hasn't shown up yet. So the novel is a bit of mix of interesting people showing up and doing things, Jinwoo learning about his friends and allies, and kind of just waiting around for Jinwoo to do things that creates this boring atmosphere in the story.

I do appreciate the play with politics, and Go Gunhee's plea to Jinwoo to stay in Korea is quite poignant. There's some really neat plots here buried beneath the wasted time of side characters who aren't even named and boring antagonists.

All in all, it's an interesting continuation of the series. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. ( )