《Solo leveling copy》


 2 Chapter I

    Class E Hunter Class E Hunter Sung Jin Woo.


    Regardless of what Jinwoo was, it was a follower of the tag.


    Jin-woo''s stats are almost the same as ordinary people.


    Except for those who are a little stronger and a bit faster than others, they were not much different from ordinary people.


    So I always lived with injuries.


    There were many times that I died and survived.


    Of course, I''m not doing Hunter because I like Jinwoo.


    Work is dangerous, always neglected, not even punitive.


    If there was no medical subsidy to the Hunter who belonged to the Hunter Association, I would have returned the Hunter right now and lived a normal life.


    But now, in the mid-twenties, Jin-woo, who does not have any special skills, has become a hunter for the hospital expenses of her mother who hurts hundreds of hits each month.


    Do not you think there was no choice?


    So that day, Jinwoo was crying and participating in the raid organized by the association without a number of mustard to eat.


    *** Hunters working in the same area usually know each other well.


    When the gate is opened, the hunters in the area are gathered together.


    First, the hunters greeted each other by sipping warm coffees handed by association staff.


    "Hey, Mr. Kim. Here. here."


    "Oh, what is Mr. Park doing? Do you think Hunter is quitting now? "


    "that¡­ My wife is pregnant with her second duck. "


    "Ha ha ha hot. Yes. The Hunters have not done anything to rave. "


    Mr. Kim smiled with excitement and Mr. Park smiled and laughed.


    "But nowadays, the association call is missing. Did the number of gates decrease a little? "


    "Oh, what. Nowadays the guilds are more enthusiastic than the associations. As the big money moves, the guilds turn on their eyes very lightly, and they only bother. "


    "So this raid is going to be conducted by the association Is it safe to see?"


    Park was worried about his surroundings.


    The fact that the guild does not move is not big money, and the gate that does not make big money usually has a very low level of difficulty.


    But there is no 100 percent of anything. Park, as well as other hunters, was looking around with an uneasy eye.


    "Well¡­"


    Kim, who had just left the remaining coffee and refused to answer, found a person approaching from afar and shook his arms gladly.


    "Uh, there it comes. Sex! Sex! "


    The other hunters saw him and he had a nice smile.


    "Hi."


    The main character of the voice was Sung Jin Woo.


    Jinwoo passed lightly to Kim, who welcomed us with grace.


    Kim confirmed that Jinwoo had passed and laughed and gave a rant.


    "You are here. Then it''s safe here. "


    Mr. Park, who has a rounded eye, stuck to Mr. Kim.


    "what? Hunter named Sungjin is so strong? "


    "Oh, I do not know Mr. Park. Mr. Park, Hunter who started coming soon after leaving. There''s no one here who hits the Hunters and does not know Sung-jin. "


    "You''re so old? Why did he work for the association? I do not have a large guild or a freelance. "


    Kim, who laughed and laughed, saw his eyes.


    "You know that nickname is far?"


    "How do I know that? Do not be stupid, but let''s talk quickly. "


    "Mankind best armor."


    "¡­The ultimate weapon? Not the final weapon? "


    "This man. That''s the S-class finalist Hunter nickname. That man is an armory of healing. Probably the weakest of the Korean hunters. "


    "What?"


    Mr. Park frowned.


    If Hunter is so weak, why did everyone reject him?


    He is the one who should leave his back behind in case of need.


    I could not understand the reaction of the other hunters.


    Park smiled at his head, and Mr. Kim smiled and stabbed Mr. Park ''s side with his elbow.


    "a! So the raid that Seong Jin-woo comes to is that the difficulty must be low. For him, the association does not do any hard work. So who is going to die? "


    Then Park ''s face brightened as well.


    "Is that so?"


    I had a lot of worries about my wife Ray Draham for a long time.


    In fact, I was anxious myself.


    By the way, Mr. Kim, I feel much more relaxed.


    Mr. Kim said.


    "There''s a rumor that I was hospitalized for a week with that E-class gate," he said.


    "Hunter hurt at the E-level gate?"


    "Yes. I did not expect anyone to be injured at the E-level gate, so I did not bring a healing hunter. "


    "So the hospital for a week? Fu hahaha hot! "


    Mr. Park noticed Mr. Kim when he laughed too loudly.


    "Eh, this man. The castles. "


    "Oh, I did not think of it."


    Park giggled carefully as he watched Jinwoo''s eyes.


    Fortunately, the streets were so far away that I did not seem to hear this story.


    But that was a misjudgment.


    ''I can hear you, you dudes.''


    Jinwoo pretended not to care for their eyes and laughed.


    At this time, his exceptionally bright ears were resentful.


    It''s still early in the raid.


    ''Did you arrive too early?''


    Jin Woo, who was looking for a time to go for a while, found an associate employee to distribute the coffee and went there.


    "May I ask you for a cup of coffee?"


    "Oh, Sung Jin Hunter ¡­ What am I supposed to do about this? The coffee has just run out. "


    "¡­"The winter wind rubbed past the tip of the nose.


    Jinwoo steals his nose with his index finger.


    It was a hard day for coffee that was frozen in his own turn.


    *** "Why is Jin-ju insisting on the job of Hunter?"


    "Sorry."


    Jinu bowed his head.


    The beauty, Lee Joo-hee, who is casting a healing magic in front of Jin-woo, complained with a silky face.


    "I am not trying to apologize to Mr. Jin. I am worried about Jinwoo. Every time I fight like this, someday it will be really dangerous. "


    Jin looked at his fellow hunters fighting over Zhu Xi''s shoulder.


    When you enter the gate, you will see a dungeon.


    The rank of this dungeon is D class.


    A dozen hunters were dealing with the monsters in the dungeon without much effort.


    But even for Jeun-woo, an E-class hunter.


    Normally injured Hunter''s treatment is the healing hunters waiting in the rear. Jin-woo, who was injured every raid, was a celebrity among healing hunters.


    Zhuhei asked carefully.


    "Is there any reason you can not quit Hunter?"


    Jinwu decisively shook his head.


    I did not want to reveal to others a very personal affair.


    "Hunter is a hobby. If you do not do this, you''ll probably die bored. "


    Then Zhuhei pierced his mouth.


    "I''ll be raiding in the last two hobbies."


    Jinwoo, who was worried, burst into laughter.


    Thanks to Zhu Xi ''s nagging.


    "Alas! Do not laugh, do not laugh! It hurts! "


    I asked Jinwoo.


    "No, where did you learn that?"


    "Where to learn. It''s from Mr. Kim ¨C Mr. Kim. "


    "Oh, I do not really care about that ¡­"


    The treatment was ending while laughing and talking.


    But I was already late.


    The raid was a sort of atmosphere.


    Jin-woo''s expression settled.


    ''I have only one catch today.''


    It is also E grade.


    Jinwoo touched one of the E grade marbles in his hand.


    The lowest level of marine stones from E-class marsh will not cost 100,000 won. It was a terrible pay for the cost of his life.


    ''It is said that only Myeongseok which comes out from class C classmaster is over ten million won ¡­''


    However, Jin-woo, who was only an E-class hunter, was a class-mate.


    Then, someone shouted.


    "uh? Is there another entrance here? "


    The nearby hunters rushed forward.


    "Uh, are you?"


    "Is there another real entrance?"


    The entrance of another dungeon was hidden in the dungeon as the first discoverer said.


    "Double Dungeon ¡­ There''s actually something like this. "


    Song, a 10-year-old hunter, was amazed at the entrance of the dungeon.


    The inside of the cave was dark and did not look well.


    Song threw his organs, the flame magic, and threw them inside.


    The flame swirled and flashed.


    The runway was endlessly stretched.


    Within a few minutes, the flames that fell to the floor lost a momentum.


    The cave was back in the dark.


    "Hmm¡­ Everybody look at me for a moment. "


    A real leader, Song, called all of the Hunters.


    Jin-woo and Zhuhei, who finished treatment, gathered there.


    Song looked around the Hunters and said.


    "As you all know, all the gates do not close unless you take the boss of the dungeon. Even though I have arranged this place, I can see that the gate is fine and the boss is in there. "


    Song pointed to the hidden dungeon entrance.


    The hunters exchanged their eyes and nodded.


    There was no controversy.


    Song was speaking.


    "Originally, in this case you have to report to the association and wait for the decision ¡­ Then, if we take the boss to other hunters, our income can be significantly reduced. "


    The hunters'' faces were wrinkled.


    Mr. Park''s face, which was especially needed for his wife''s pregnancy, got harder.


    ''Nowadays, I can only make money for postpartum cooking ¡­''


    There is no sense in raiding for life.


    "So I want to get rid of our bosses and go out ¡­ What do other people think? "


    The hunters were thoughtful.


    "¡­""¡­"Of course, it is not a situation that you can easily see, and it is true that you can not guarantee safety.


    However, this dungeon was very difficult.


    So it seems that the other dungeons hidden in the dungeon were not too difficult.


    "Hmmm."


    Song made a break.


    "We have 17 people, so let''s vote. If it is decided, do not say it. What sense? "


    Everyone nodded at Song''s proposal.


    No one objected.


    "I go."


    Song raised his hand.


    Then the people who had noticed their hands took their hands in turn.


    "Me too."


    "I go to the table."


    Mr. Park first raised his hand, and Kim and other hunters raised their hands.


    Of course, there were many negative votes.


    "Do not go."


    "Would not it be nice to wait for the association''s decision once?"


    While Gaza and Malaja confronted each other, the vote turned and came to the last remaining two people, Jin-woo and Ju-hee.


    "I''m sorry¡­"


    Zhuhei added a mark to Mr. Song ''s head.


    As a result, Gaza and Mali are 8th to 8th.


    It became a tie.


    Song asked the Jinwu who was hesitant to make a decision.


    "What is your name?"

 3 Chapter II

    The double dungeon path was endless.


    The lead, including Song, led the strongest hunters.


    Song, walking at the front, made his way with a small flame summoned on the palm of his hand.


    Mr. Kim asked by the side.


    "Is not it going too deep? I have to consider the time to get out of it. "


    "How long have we been walking?"


    Mr. Kim looked at the clock on his wrist.


    "about¡­ I walked about 40 minutes. "


    "After grabbing the boss, the gate is completely closed in an hour, so I can afford 20 minutes."


    "If you can not see the boss in 20 minutes, I''ll pull you out."


    "That should be."


    Song nodded his head and pointed his thumb over his back.


    "Mr. Kim, the front is dark, so come back behind me."


    Mr. Kim looked at Mr. Song ''s flame and pulled out his cell phone and turned on the light.


    Then the front was very clear.


    "¡­"Song began to turn his back on his pocket and his cell phone light.


    *** In the back of the party, Jin-woo, who suffered severe injuries, and Ji-hee, who had no combat skills, stood.


    Jinwu scratched the back of his head.


    "there¡­ Sorry."


    "What?"


    "I dragged him."


    "I''m fine, so you do not have to worry."


    Jinwoo looked at Zhu Xi ''s expression.


    It was not a good face at all.


    Jin-woo, who had a headache, looked carefully and asked again carefully.


    "Are you really okay?"


    Then Zhuhei looked around this way.


    "Of course not. Are you out of your mind now? If the place where Jin-woo was stabbed was a little more upward, there would have been a hole in his heart. What about the wounds on the wrists and thighs? I just barely cured it, and now I''m going to another dungeon? You do not even know what it is? "


    When I heard that it was so fast, I felt like my mind was dull.


    But there was no wrong word.


    It was hard for him to do everyday life for a while, not to mention the Hunter thing.


    ''I see that every time I have to take care of Zhuhei.''


    Ju-hee is a precious healing hunter.


    It is also B-class talent.


    The association naturally asked her to treat the hunters every time a gate occurred, and she had to sit in front of her almost every time she attended the raid.


    "Are you sick? Be patient. "


    "It''s familiar ¡­ Have you ever been that last time? "


    "Did you get hurt again?"


    "We look pretty often."


    "You said Mr. Jinwoo? There he ¡­ Are you okay? "


    "Maybe Hunter''s job does not fit his aptitude ¡­"


    "¡­You are here again. "


    "Hold your arm, no, you can put a bandage at home, it''s broken."


    Now I am sorry to go beyond my gratitude.


    "¡­"Jin-woo''s prosecution is in trouble, and I feel sorry for Ji-hee.


    "I''m so sorry?"


    "Yeah."


    Junhee, who was thinking about something, looked up at Jinwoo and raised his mouth.


    "If you are so sorry ¡­ How about buying a meal? "


    It was an invitation that I did not really think about.


    Looking at her in amazement, Zhuhei was making a playful smile like an adolescent girl.


    ''Girl ¡­''


    Now, Junhee is a virgin who is now in his twenties.


    Did he say that he will be 21 next year?


    Instead of a long straight hair, I wear a uniform instead of the clothes I am wearing now.


    The face of the school uniform reminds me of Zhu Xi.


    When Jin ¨C woo ''s answer was delayed, Zhu ¨C hee inflated her cheeks like a balloon.


    "what¡­ Do not you want to eat with me? "


    It was then.


    Suddenly, the front was loud.


    "It came out!"


    "It''s the boss room!"


    The gaze of Jinwoo and Zhuhei moved forward.


    A huge gate was blocking the way.


    The hunters surrounded the door.


    "No, the gate at the end of the cave?"


    "Have you ever had a room with a door?"


    "This is the first time ¡­"


    "this¡­ Is not it dangerous? "


    Male breeding.


    The hunters showed anxiety.


    It was a life ¨C threatening thing and I had to be cautious.


    But if you are overly cautious, you may not be able to do what you need to do. Song decided that this was the case.


    "Is it true that I will come back here empty-handed?"


    Song put his hand on the door.


    "To say that. I''m going to go alone. "


    Song was a C-class hunter with 10 years of experience.


    Even if I was not older than 60, I was able to work in a large guild.


    As Hunter said confidently, everyone felt a little less relaxed.


    "Come to think of it."


    Some of the hunters have come up with rumors about double dungeons.


    "I have a tremendous treasure in a double dungeon."


    "I heard that a small guild has discovered a double dungeon and has grown to a large guild at one time."


    "The hunters in the dungeons are not difficult to hunt because they are all at the same level wherever they are ¡­"


    What if, like rumors, the real treasure hides in a double dungeon, and the masters in the dungeon are only dealing with class D and E as before?


    ''That inspiration alone can not keep the treasure alone.''


    ''What?''


    ''In nursing home care, big school expenses, we should raise charter soon ¡­''


    The understanding of the Hunters was consistent.


    Jinwoo was also determined.


    ''You can not go back to one E-class stones. At least I need to get one more grade D, no E grade. "


    It''s okay if you do not have to.


    ''If the treasure comes out ¡­''


    It was customary to divide the treasures and rare items from the dungeon evenly.


    It was different from the hunting, which only had to take care of the marjoram of his hand.


    ''If you take a share here, you can be a little easier.''


    Jinwu swallowed the gulp.


    Zhuhei asked Jinu''s spirited face.


    "Is that the hunter''s hobby?"


    Jinwu shrugged his shoulders.


    "Who loses his life these days? I do not know if it is a hobby. "


    "¡­Yes?"


    When Joo ¨C hee was face to face, the door of the dungeon where Song started pushing was opened.


    Grgggg -!


    The massive door was easily pushed by the force of the old man in 60s.


    Kuwoong -!


    When the door opened wide, the wide interior was revealed.


    The hunters came in front of me.


    "We''ll go."


    I wonder if I''ll be left behind, Jinwoo grabbed Zhuhei''s wrists.


    "Ah¡­"


    Zhuhei followed her with her face blinking slightly.


    *** As soon as the hunters stepped in, the flames rose at once from the torches filling the wall.


    Disgusting!


    Thanks to that, the inside has turned bright.


    "what? Is the light on? "


    "This is the first dungeon."


    "Something¡­ different."


    The hunters looked around.


    The inside was like an ancient shrine.


    An old, graceful temple that seems to be hidden underground.


    There were mosses in the floor, wall, ceiling.


    Some hunters shrugged and shivered.


    "Why is it sulky?"


    "Does not it look like who''s watching?"


    Behind the frightened hunters, the strong hunters struggled to get inside.


    ""?¡è! Do not be silly. "


    "Let''s finish quickly and let''s go."


    The inside was too wide.


    Large dome-shaped room. It seemed to be bigger than the sum of a few Olympic stadiums in Seoul combined with a few.


    However, it seemed somewhat narrow.


    The reason was clear.


    "that¡­ that¡­"


    "Do not you think that''s not a boss?"


    Something gigantic in the innermost sense of common sense was sitting on a huge chair as big as he was.


    It is indeed a magnificent figure!


    "Oh My God."


    "Wow."


    The elasticity has flowed out.


    The first image that emerged in Jinwoo ''s mind at that moment was the Statue of Liberty.


    Would not it be that size if the Statue of Liberty sits on a chair?


    The Statue of Liberty is a woman''s figure, and the figure in a chair was a male figure.


    ''Maybe it''s bigger than that ¡­''


    The hunters swallowed their saliva from the backs of the gigantic statues.


    Everyone thought that if it was a boss, it was nervous.


    ''¡­''But the statue did not move.


    It was a good thing.


    "Hoo -" Song shed a relief.


    "Let''s go, let''s disperse."


    The hunters who had room to spare were scattered and began to look around.


    "I do not see anything like this here?"


    "right?"


    "I do not see a worm in my mind."


    The room with the statue was simple compared to its vast extent.


    On the wall there were a number of torches used for lighting, and in front of it were rows of stones slightly larger than the height of the people.


    "Beautiful."


    "It looks like an artwork?"


    The stone statues were different from each other.


    Some were carrying weapons, some carrying books, some carrying instruments and torches.


    "Like¡­"


    "It''s like a piece of a temple."


    Song replied to what Mr. Kim was going to say.


    "Well?"


    Song found something in his foot.


    "This¡­ Is it a magic circle? "


    At the center of the temple was a circle of shapes that were first seen.


    then.


    "Hey, Mr. Song, what''s it say here? Can you take a look at this? "


    One Hunter found a unique stone statue in the corner and called Song.


    Song, who looked at the magic circle, stood up from his seat.


    All the other hunters also poured into the stone statue of Mr. Song.


    He also had a poisonous stone statue with wings and holding a slab.


    What the Hunters paid attention to was the letters engraved on the slabs.


    Song, who looked over the slab, muttered.


    "Runic characters."


    rune.


    Only characters found in the dungeon, not visible anywhere on the planet, could only be interpreted by hunters who woke up with magic lines.


    "The discipline of the shrine of Cartelon."


    Mr. Song read the first sentence.


    Jinwoo was nervous and listened to Song ''s reading of the slab.


    But someone pulled his arm.


    I turned around and saw Zhu Xi, whose face was blue.


    I was surprised to see Ji ¨C hee ''s complexion too bad.


    "why? Are you sick?"


    "that¡­ there."


    Jin-hee''s fingertips followed Jin-woo''s gaze.


    A giant statue.


    Zhuhei was pointing to the face of the person.


    It was the same as when I first saw it, so Jin woke up.


    "¡­?"Zhuhei stuttered.


    "Nu, the eyes ¡­ The pupil''s eyes just moved toward us. "


    "Yes?"


    It was the same again a few times.


    The statue was intact.


    "a¡­ It will be mistaken. "


    But Ji-hee''s ear had already heard the voice of Jin-woo, and she bowed to Jin-woo''s arm and shook her head.


    ''awhile.''


    Suddenly, Jinwoo sensed an ominous aura.


    The surrounding was bizarrely calm.


    ''Sound ¡­?''


    I could not hear the sound of the torch that I had tacked on.


    "first."


    In the meantime, Mr. Song''s voice, reading down the slab, continued.


    "Worship God. Second, praise God. Third, prove your faith. He who does not keep this discipline will not be able to return to life. "


    It was then.


    Kuwoong!


    Everyone was amazed at the sudden burst of noise.


    "What, what?"


    "What do you mean suddenly?"


    The first person to notice this was Jinwoo.


    Since I was feeling my senses, I was able to know immediately which sound was coming from.


    "door! The door is closed! "


    As Jinwoo shouted, everyone looked at the door.


    The door that I had opened was firmly closed.


    "Eli! I can not take it anymore! "


    The man who was the first to go into the dungeon spit out his disgust and walked toward the door.


    "I will go back to Boss and treasure, and you can just show off."


    A man who would have blindfolded his protest against Song.


    He swung his head and grabbed the door knob.


    That moment.


    Song''s eyes grew bigger.


    "No!"


    Fuck it!


    The top of the neck of the man who held the knocker disappeared.


    The body that lost its head went back without power.


    It is folly!


    "Aw, awake!"


    "Uh, oh!"


    The hunters screamed.


    The stone statue, which smashed a man''s head with a mallet, went back to its original position, as if nothing had happened while the blood was overturned.


    "Well, that''s moving!"


    "what? So you can move all the statues here? "


    "Fight those things?"


    "I did not see you wielding a mule!"


    But Jinwoo knew.


    The fact that the disaster will not end with this.


    I just said Zhu Xi.


    "Nu, the eyes ¡­ The pupil''s eyes just moved toward us. "


    ''If that is true ¡­''


    The back of the back was creepy.


    Jinwoo forced his throat stiff neck and turned around.


    "Ah¡­"


    The statue was looking down on himself.

 4 Chapter III

    At the moment of the attack that started, the gigantic eyes of the gods turned red.


    Hunter''s sense?


    No, instinct as a creature warned of danger.


    Something is coming.


    Something you can not afford!


    Jinu exclaimed with all his heart, turning around the hunters behind him.


    "Get down!"


    Almost at the same time, red rays emanated from both eyes of the image.


    Jin-woo grabbed Zhu Xi and threw herself.


    Guy Ying -!


    The ray went over the place where Jinwu stood.


    One tenth of a second.


    No, a hundredth of a second.


    It was a breathtaking moment.


    But other hunters were not as lucky as Jin-u.


    "Ah, ah!"


    "Ah, ah!"


    The hunters that hit the rays literally evaporated.


    At the spot where the ray had passed, only the remnants of the Hunters remained.


    The screams came not from them but from the mouths of other hunters who witnessed their last.


    "What is this?"


    "Uh-huh."


    "Why does this happen ¡­"


    The Hunters were astonished.


    Of the 16 people, only 11 survived.


    I have never experienced such an edgy attack.


    ''I barely avoided it because of the sound of Sook.''


    ''If Mr. Seong just did not shout ¡­''


    The Hunters swallowed their saliva while gazing at Jinwoo.


    Jinwoo was a life saver.


    If it was not for Jinwoo, what would have happened just now, the chat was cool.


    "¡­"Jinwoo stared at the statue while lying down.


    The eyes of the gods were still shining red, but no more attacks.


    ''The attack ¡­ Is it over? ''


    Jin looked down.


    Frightened Zhu Xi trembled in his arms.


    That''s why she is a B-class super hunter, but instead of a large guild, she works for the Association and only participates in simple raids.


    Zhu Xi ''s breath was getting more and more rough.


    I could not leave her alone.


    Jin-woo is trying to raise his mind to think that he should do something, but someone pushes his shoulder with a strong force.


    "Do not stand up."


    Song was approaching soon.


    Jinwoo was embarrassed, but he listened to him quietly. Song also shouted to other hunters.


    "Do not move everyone! Stay in that position! "


    Song looked around and turned his head back to Jinwoo.


    "Only those who moved were hit. Those who listened to you and drowned lived. "


    "i See."


    Song looked up at his head.


    "You know everything, did not you yell?"


    "I just thought something was dangerous ¡­"


    Song''s eyes widened.


    ''A good friend. Did you say it''s E grade? Even if the stats were a little higher ¡­ ''


    While Mr. Song looked at Jin-woo with his unhappy eyes, Jin-woo got a chance to look at Mr. Song''s condition.


    Jinwoo discovered something and circled his eyes.


    "Oh, man ¡­ Your arm? "


    "It''s okay. I can not bear it. "


    "still¡­"


    Jinwu swallowed his saliva.


    The opposite side of the arm holding Jinwoo''s shoulder, so Song''s left arm had disappeared.


    "¡­"Song, who looked down on Zhu Xi without any words, was tired but touched his left arm.


    "Are you tied up at the end? It is difficult with one hand. "


    Jinwoo nodded his head.


    Simple hemostasis is over.


    Song took a long sigh instead of screaming or moaning.


    It was a sigh with a long age of ten years of life in Hunter.


    "after-."


    After the first aid, Song looked around with a keen eye.


    Although the statue stopped the attack, the situation did not improve.


    So time went by.


    "Oh, huh, huh ¡­"


    "Why do we look like this ¡­"


    Some hunters began to shed tears.


    "You can not stay this way until!"


    The Hunters'' patience was revealing the bottom.


    Jinwoo also agreed.


    ''I can not be here forever.''


    But how do you do it?


    If Mr. Song''s guess is correct, he will be attacked at the moment he moves.


    There is a gatekeeper next to each side of the door, even if it luckily escapes to the door to avoid it.


    They are the problem.


    The movement of the gatekeeper was fast enough to be invisible.


    Can they open the door before they attack?


    It seemed impossible.


    In other words, the annihilation of the Hunters was a matter of time.


    ''awhile¡­ It''s a matter of time? "


    I felt a strong sense of incongruity when I got there.


    It could not happen but what happened. But no one has not noticed yet. ''Something¡­ I missed something. ''


    Perhaps the answer is in it.


    It was then.


    "Do not move!"


    Song screamed at Mr.


    But Mr. Ju revealed this.


    "Noisy! You do not know when he''s going to attack again, but you keep waiting here? "


    Zhu was a battleground hunter.


    The battle system is a body fighting hunters, and the physical ability is superior to that of the general public.


    In addition, Ju was recognized for his skills and was in the process of signing a contract with a large guild.


    "I can not die like this."


    She lowered her body and gave strength to both legs.


    The direction is on the door. His leg muscles were bulging up.


    "Well ¡­"


    Song muttered.


    Momentum jumped out of the ground.


    Dada Dash!


    Jin turned his head toward the statue.


    It was different, but the eyes of the gods were pointing at Mr. Ju.


    Within a couple of eyes, an eerie ray of light came out.


    Guying!


    The ray was behind Mr. Ju''s back.


    "Aaah!"


    A woman hunter screamed like she was sleeping.


    There was yellow water splashing in the place where she was sitting whether she was incontinent.


    The faces of the male hunters also stiffened.


    "Oh My God¡­"


    There was no Mr.


    Only the two legs that were cut were left.


    A man with a weak stomach relieved what was inside.


    "Woo-woo-woo!"


    Jinwoo also beat Migan.


    These guys, too, were able to annihilate the hunters at any time.


    It seemed to be an easier task than stepping on a worm.


    ''But why ¡­ Does not it? "


    Even if it can kill, it does not kill.


    The Hunters have a very different pattern from those of the witches.


    These guys only work if they have certain conditions.


    A gatekeeper that attacks when you approach the door. Like a game with rules.


    ''surely¡­ Is there room in this room? ''


    At the moment, a puzzle was set in the head of Jinwoo.


    It is because the contents of the slab that Mr. Song had read came up.


    ''The discipline of the shrines of Cartenon.''


    Rules are rules, rules are rules.


    If there is a way to survive in their grasp, the warning on the slab was the only key.


    "¡­Worship God. "


    That was the first rule.


    "Well? What did you say? "


    Song looked around Jinwoo.


    Jinwoo puts index finger on his mouth instead of the answer.


    It was a gesture to ask for time to think.


    ''If I think right ¡­''


    Jinwoo slowly raised his body.


    Song tried to catch Jinwu in a hurry, but Jinwu shook his head with a spirited expression.


    ''¡­It is not the eyes that gave up living. ''


    Song nodded his head.


    Jinwoo carefully woke up from his position without taking a glance at his image.


    Then, the pupil of the statue immediately turned to Jinwoo.


    Guying -!


    The rays were shot.


    If the speed of hesitation was a little bit late, my face would melt instead of a few strands of hair!


    Jinwo, lying flat on the floor, took a rough breath.


    "Huck, huck, huck, huck."


    I almost died.


    When I saw my face with the statue, I thought I was dying.


    I tried to avoid the car, but my legs still shook.


    ''still¡­''


    Income was.


    ''I''m not attacking a moving target.''


    If you are bowing, your pupils will not move even if you change your posture.


    But if you just try to get up, it starts to spread its rays.


    ''He attacks at a height above a certain level.''


    Jinwoo just took his life to check it.


    And I got conviction.


    The meaning of the first discipline!

 5 Chapter IV

    Three Disciplines Jeunu shouted at the Hunters.


    "everyone!"


    The Hunters'' gaze gathers to Jinwoo.


    Jin looked around them and said.


    "Please bow to the statue!"


    The hunters glared at me.


    "section¡­?"


    "Do you want to bow to the priest?"


    The Hunters, who had noticed each other, immediately poured out their words to Jinwoo.


    "Fuck ¡­ What are you talking about now ?!


    "No, is that what you say in this situation?"


    "Are you already crazy, Sung-jin?"


    Kim poured a snot into his earned face.


    "I''ve seen Sung very wrong! If I could move now, I would have kicked my ass! "


    Jin woke his lower lip.


    Six colleagues were killed by that statue.


    It was natural for me to swear that I was supposed to bow to such a man.


    I could fully understand the feelings of the Hunters.


    ''And the most important thing ¡­''


    There was no logical basis for him.


    Just feel. I could only express it with the word persimmon.


    By the way.


    "I will."


    The voice came from the back of Jinwoo.


    Everyone looked and moved.


    It was Mr. Song who could be called a leader.


    "Uncle Song ¡­?"


    "Do you bow to that fucking god?"


    While other Hunters were embarrassed, Song looked into Jinwoo''s eyes.


    "Did you find something?"


    Jinwoo nodded his head.


    "Is that a sensation?"


    "¡­Yes. for now."


    "Draw."


    Eleven people lived because of the feeling of Jinu.


    Right now, Mr.


    If you have such a sense of honor, can you believe it?


    Song thought so.


    Mr. Song fell down to the statue, and the atmosphere became lax.


    "Are you real?"


    Jinwoo pushed the momentum and gave strength to the voice.


    "Please! Everybody, get down to the statue. Maybe we can survive! "


    You can buy.


    I can survive.


    The power of the word was great.


    ''Can you live?''


    ''Can you get out of here?''


    ''How about once?''


    The hesitant Hunters began to fall down one by one.


    In the form of a temple.


    The number one and two increased.


    Kim, who grumbled, eventually bowed to the priest.


    But there was no change in the image.


    The two eyes of the gods were still glowing with a creepy red light.


    Jinwoo was feeling the heart sank.


    ''Was not it?''


    Suddenly, the gaze of Jinwoo turned to Junhee.


    Zhuhei, who is leaning against his body and shaking his head with both hands and shaking his head, was not able to see him as if he were bowing even if he looked good.


    ''perhaps¡­''


    Jinwoo grabbed Ju ¨C hee ''s wrist.


    Then Zhuhei lifted her head like a frightened cat.


    Jinwoo nodded silently.


    Then Zhuhei solved the strength that was given to her hands.


    Jinwoo slowly changed his position.


    ''done.''


    Now the last one is left.


    Just yourself.


    Jin-woo also kneeled toward the statue, pointed at the floor of the sheep, and slowly bowed his head.


    Then the change began.


    "Uh, huh?"


    The hunters who recognized the change screamed.


    "The Statue? Look at everyone! "


    "The eyes of the priest!"


    The red light glowing from the eyes of the gods was gradually diminishing.


    "what? Is this really going to happen? "


    Soon the red light disappeared completely.


    Oh oh-!


    The Hunters cheered.


    "The flame is gone!"


    "I lived!"


    The excited hunters woke up and screamed.


    Still, the eyes of the gods no longer emit rays.


    Jin-woo, who was late, also sighed a relief.


    "Huh."


    It was as expected.


    This room was moving like a game with strict rules.


    ''if so.''


    The game is not over yet.


    Two more disciplines remained.


    Second, praise God.


    Third, prove your faith.


    Right then.


    Kugugugugu Palace ¨C The whole room began to shake with terrible noise. Jinwoo''s face got hardened.


    ''Also¡­''


    Hope was good.


    It was not the end.


    The statue was slowly raising its huge body.


    "Oh, huh?"


    The hunters, who held each other in tears and cried, realized this and settled like a stone.


    "What¡­ what? Was not it over? "


    "Do not say that!"


    Everyone was freezing and unable to speak.


    There was despair over their faces.


    "Ah¡­ Alas¡­"


    Finally, the statue got up completely.


    He glanced around once, and then he stepped toward the Hunters.


    *** Boom!


    Every time the statue stepped on the ground, the earthquake shook.


    thud!


    The head of the head seemed to reach the ceiling, which seemed to be so big and big.


    thud!


    Even at this moment the size of the man is overwhelmed, the distance from him has been decreasing.


    "Hey, Sung! Seong Jin-woo! "


    "What''s wrong?"


    Until just before, the Hunters who had been rubbing Jinwoo rushed around Jinwoo.


    "Is not there a way?"


    "Say something!"


    The bigger adults were making facial expressions that would burst into tears at the very least.


    Jin Woo was the only hope at present.


    Jinwu raised the frozen Ju-hee and talked about the second rule.


    "Praise the Lord. It''s open. "


    "Oh, that!"


    Kim pretended to know.


    "What was written on the slab?"


    "Right. Worship God, praise God, prove faith. We have to satisfy all three rules. "


    Jin-woo''s words got faster.


    The statue had already approached the nose.


    thud!


    The huge shadow of the guy was on the hunters.


    The hunter''s complexion was pale.


    "I''ll try it."


    One young young man hunter, who had almost no words at all, stepped forward.


    "Hey! What are you going to do? "


    "I am from church choir. I am proud of it. "


    The young man walked slowly in front of the statue despite Kim ''s briskness.


    The last time he looked up at his image and breathed his breath, he breathed a big breath.


    "Go to the Lord."


    In the room a pure voice rang.


    "Make me renewed ¨C pour out Your grace."


    The statue stopped in front of him.


    Oh ¨C the Hunters gave out their elasticity.


    The priest did not move as if he were singing.


    All the noise in the room disappeared.


    Only the voice of the young man trembled inside.


    The young man who gained courage further strengthened his voice.


    "All my weaknesses I have found in me ¨C will be taken away by Your love."


    Only one of them, Jin Woo, was tired of an ominous feeling.


    ''no¡­ no.''


    Jinwu repeatedly swallowed words.


    Inside this room is the rule of this room.


    Now the young man is not the rule of this room, but the rule of his religion called Christianity was praising.


    Fortunately, the statue did not move, but could it be said that it kept discipline?


    Jinwu shook his head.


    Yet the only reason I did not let the youth go was because there was no other way to stop it.


    Right then!


    thud!


    A heavy noise rang inside.


    "Aaaaaaa!"


    She screamed like a torn girl.


    As the priest lifted his foot, the naked young hunter appeared naked between his soles and the floor.


    Other hunters screamed.


    "Aaaa -!"


    "Uh, ah, ah!"


    The face of the image which had never been expressionless was disturbed with anger.


    "I''m angry!"


    "Do not run away!"


    The hunters quickly ran away from the statue.


    "Aaaah!"


    But Hunter, who witnessed the young hunter stepping on his deathbed, immediately screamed as if he had already lost his mind.


    "Aaah!"


    ''Damn it¡­''


    Jin-woo, who was holding her back and ran away, turned to save her.


    However, Song stood up.


    "Mister¡­?"


    "It''s already late."


    The priest hit the woman with Hunter in the palm of her hand, beating the fly.


    Kwang!


    "''?_ ¡­"


    Jin turned his head.


    It was a disastrous sight that both eyes could not see.


    "There is no time for this. Are you going to let that girl die? "


    At the end of Song, Jinwoo was spirited.


    It was literally.


    thud!


    "Ah, ah!"


    thud!


    thud!


    "help me!"


    Now the statue did not walk.


    I ran around and crashed people at random.


    Every time he ran his foot, the whole room shook.


    thud!


    thud!


    Jinwoo started to run with his hands.


    Zhuhei closed his eyes tightly and held on to Jinwu.


    "Fall off!"


    "Yes!"


    Jinwoo and Song were scattered in the thought that it was dangerous if attached.


    Jinwoo went to the corner as far as possible avoiding the raging image.


    But there was a Hunter who ran faster than Chinu.


    It was Park.


    Park ran to the power of sucking.


    The tears poured into the family thoughts.


    "Cry -."


    In the house, my son, who is very like himself, and his second wife, van waited.


    I could not die here like this.


    It was the earliest of the hunters to be away from the image because of the evil.


    "haha."


    Mr. Kim, who was close to him, shouted to Park, who was barely breathing in the corner.


    "Mr. Park!"


    Park looked back at his familiar voice.


    "Huh?"


    Kim shouted over Park ''s back.


    "rear! Look back! "


    At the time, there was something sharp in the back of Mr. Park.


    "uh¡­?"


    Spit!


    Park sliced straight from his head to his groin.


    The body of the torn Mr. Park fell on both sides.


    "Mr. Park!"


    The statue, which hit Mr. Park with his sword, returned to its original position as if the gatekeeper had done nothing.


    Mr. Kim looked at him and screamed.


    "These cobwebs ¡­!"


    thud!


    thud!


    thud!


    Behind him was a huge stone statue stepping on people one by one, and when they ran to the corner to avoid him, a stone statue placed there attacked the people.


    "Ah, ah!"


    "My arm! My arm! "


    The inside turned into a crucible of fear and confusion.


    "Huck, huck ¡­"


    Jinwoo''s forehead was filled with sweaty bones.


    My legs were getting heavy.


    The more you breath, the worse it gets.


    But Jin-woo''s mind was filled with only one idea.


    Praise God, Praise God, Praise God.


    A second discipline that revolves around your head.


    The key to pulling that mystery is obviously in this room.


    Inside this is something we can use!


    But when the Hunters came into the room for the first time, they searched around but could not find anything like a device or tool to use.


    ''Only stone statues are moving now and then.''


    awhile.


    Something rubbed through the mind of Jinwoo.


    ''Moving is only stone statue?''


    Oh.


    Jinwoo''s eyes grew bigger.


    "Why did not I think that!"


    If you can move only stone statue, you can use stone statue only.


    The stone statue should only be used when a person comes nearer.


    ''perhaps¡­!''


    Jinu panting harshly, but shouted whale whisper enough to leave the room.


    "Everyone goes to the gargoyle with the instrument!"

 6 Chapter V

    All the Hunters heard the voice of Jinwoo.


    "-!""instrument?"


    There was hope in the eyes of the Hunters.


    Unlike when you were told to bow down, the Hunters moved quickly.


    Of course, if Jinu is wrong, he will die right after approaching the statue with the instrument.


    But at this moment no one doubted the truth.


    Song first arrived at the stone statue with the instrument.


    "¡­"Song lifted his breath and lifted his head.


    Then the stone statue with the harp started to move his fingers like a lie.


    It was a beautiful sounding.


    "Really!"


    "Everyone with a musical instrument!"


    The hunters ran to the statue near the hamlet.


    The stone statue with the trumpet blows the trumpet, the stone statue with the flute plays the flute, and the stone statue with the lira straps the line.


    "Huck, huck, huck."


    Kim, who was on the verge of exhaustion, kneeled down in front of a stone statue of Joo Chul.


    Ding ¨C Ding ¨C When the stone statue started to play, the god who came after Kim stopped the pace.


    Kim shed a thick tear while sitting down on his emotions.


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ¡­"


    The statue turned sharply.


    He looked around and immediately found the next prey.


    "Damn it."


    Jin, who confronted with the gods, spit out his nausea.


    I started to run as if my heart had burst.


    The back was already soaked with cold sweat.


    ''Why! Why only here! ''


    Jinwoo looked up at the stone statue in front of her with grim eyes.


    The stone statue with the drum had no sign of moving.


    Boom, Boom, Boom!


    The statue has narrowed the distance at an alarming rate.


    The gap between the almost end and the end was gradually getting closer to zero.


    She swallowed her spit.


    ''Do not you and Mr. Zhuhei both play under the same stone and play?''


    I had to think so.


    Because the stone statues where the others stood were playing without problems.


    ''I do not have time to think.''


    Jinwoo put Zhu Xi down and was ready to play elsewhere.


    "Mr. Jinwoo ¡­"


    Frightened Zhu Xi held Jin ''s sleeve.


    Jinwoo calmly whispered into Zhu Xi''s ear.


    "If we are together, we both die."


    Tears began to form in Zhu Xi''s eyes.


    His fingertips were shaking as he caught his sleeves.


    But I did not have time to explain to her.


    Jinwoo carefully separated Junhee''s hand and ran to the other side.


    A round.


    Looking back, the stone statue behind Zhu Xi began to hit the drum slowly.


    ''thank God.''


    The remaining task was one.


    Running to another statue safely!


    Jinwoo was the only one who was not yet protected by the stone statue.


    Of course, all the rage of the image has been concentrated on one person.


    Jinwoo desperately walked across the room avoiding the foot of the house.


    thud!


    thud!


    While falling and rolling, Jinwoo was not stepped on by the foot of the image.


    "Huck, huck."


    Even though it was E class, the battle system hunter''s body was very helpful in this case.


    ''Just a little, just a little more!''


    Jin watched the movement of the image and gave strength to the bridge.


    The speed got faster.


    The distance to the stone statue was only a few steps away.


    "It is not you!"


    Song screamed.


    Jin-woo, who was nervous about the movements of the priesthood, was surprised and looked ahead.


    "Ah!"


    Is not it a statue with a musical instrument?


    I realized that what looked like a musical instrument from a distance was actually a shield.


    The stone statue slammed down the shield without any reason.


    "Ugh!"


    Jinwu flew sideways.


    "Aw, awake!"


    Zhuhei screamed.


    Jinwoo, who was on the floor, lifted his head and a picture was in front of him.


    "Mountains beyond the mountains ¡­"


    As I rolled, the forehead was torn, and the blood flowed in my eyes.


    The field of view narrowed, and the distance did not look right.


    Jinwoo''s head moved quickly to the left and right.


    ''Instruments, instruments ¡­''


    However, no matter how I look around, I did not see a stone statue with an instrument.


    The priest lifted his foot toward Jinwoo.


    "Ugh!"


    thud!


    Jinwoo blew again and barely escaped the foot of the image.


    But now it was really a limit.


    It was extremely dizzy and strangely hard to balance.


    ''please¡­''


    If there was a god, it was a desire to give a prayer.


    At that time, a statue holding a weapon, not a musical instrument, came in the sight of Jinwoo.


    "That?"


    Jinwoo put his last hope there.


    I moved to the bottom of the stone as I moved the floor.


    And barely turned over, he turned to the side where the statue ran.


    There was no way to move anymore.


    "haha-."


    Jinwoo confronted the approaching stone statue and took a rough breath.


    Jin-sang was wrinkled more seriously than Jin-woo, who was a nuisance to me.


    The statue stood straight in front of Jinwoo.


    A man with a skyscraper blocked his breath, and his breath was blocked.


    "haha."


    Do you think it is a catching mouse?


    The priest just looked down.


    ''It''s over ¡­''


    Jinwoo preached the inevitable death in the two eyes of the goddess facing himself.


    But then.


    Uh-uh ¨C A beautiful voice came out of the back of this world.


    Jin turned his head and looked back.


    Ow, owl ¨C Whenever a stone statue holding a book moves its lips, a holy singing sound echoes inside.


    The face of Uh-uh-woo-sang gradually regained its previous look.


    The terrible wrinkled facial muscles were spread out neatly.


    Shin Sang turned around when the songs and performances of the statues were over.


    And as the other statues did, I sat back to my original place as if nothing had happened.


    thud!


    The sound of the priest sits inside the temple.


    "Ha, ha, barely, safe?"


    Jin made a pale smile.


    Zhuhei, who was on the other side, rushed to Jinwoo.


    "Mr. Jinwoo!"


    Junhei, who ran at full speed, shed tears and sat down beside Jinwoo.


    "Oh my gosh¡­ What should I do ¡­ "


    Zhu Xi spent all of his magic powers and cast a healing spell.


    But nothing changed.


    The scattered Hunters flocked around one or two of them.


    Their faces were as dark as one.


    "what can I do¡­ Jin Woo ¡­ "


    In the meantime Zhuhei was feeling sick.


    Why do not you all do it?


    Jin-woo was sweating his mouth.


    I tried to ask why, but my voice did not come out properly.


    Jin-woo caused a squeaky upper body.


    "¡­?"The bottom was bloody.


    Jinwoo noticed the change that happened to his body late.


    "Ah¡­"


    The lower right knee had disappeared.


    Jinu''s gaze moved to a statue with a shield.


    I found a blood stain on the end of his shield.


    The missing bridge was underneath.


    Bottom-bell-blood droplets came out of Zhuhai''s nose.


    It is evidence that Zhu Xi''s body has already reached its limit.


    It was impossible to recover the body that was cut by the magic of B Rank Hunter.


    Pour water on the underlying poison.


    Juhee ''s physical strength was rapidly depleting.


    "That''s Okay¡­ Zhuhi. now stop¡­"


    "I''ll treat you! I''ll make you better! "


    The hunters looked at the two and made a terrible look.


    Only six of the 17 people who stayed here were left.


    Of those six, two suffered terrible serious injuries. Song lost his arm and Jinwoo lost his leg.


    My life was saved, but no one could laugh.


    Then a roar sounded again.


    The old town -!


    The central part of the temple where the magic circle was drawn up suddenly.


    Jinwoo thought that it was coming.


    ''Prove your faith ¡­''


    It was a faint guess what it meant.


    5. The last test The round circle carved on the bottom of the temple sprang up to the height of two stairs and stopped moving.


    "altar¡­"


    The hunters responded sensitively to Jin-woo''s private speech.


    ''altar?''


    ''It''s just an altar ¡­''


    The person who saved their lives in the previous two crises was not a grade-awakening person but rather a jeong who ignored it as an E-class.


    ''If it was not for you, now we are ¡­''


    The Hunters were all the same idea.


    In the present situation, Jin-woo''s words were like lifelines.


    The word ''altar'' that Jin-woo took out unintentionally.


    Kim, who was quick to notice, caught up with the point.


    "I see, I see."


    Kim pulled out the sword that was in her waist dancing.


    Originally, it was used as a tool to cut the water.


    But now, in a different sense, I really needed this guy.


    "No matter how ignorant the country is, I''m getting a sense of what it means."


    The hunters swallowed the dried spit by looking at the sword of Mr.


    "Hey, Mr. Kim, why are you taking out the equipment all of a sudden?"


    "Let''s talk."


    There is no one who can overcome Mr. Kim who is quite strong in the D class now that the highest ranked C class Hunter Song of the members is seriously injured.


    Mr. Kim pointed to the altar with his goggles.


    "Prove the last discipline, faith. And suddenly it was the center altar. "


    Mr. Kim''s gaze moved to Jinwoo.


    "In short, we must offer sacrifices, is not it, Sung?"


    Jinwoo nodded his head.


    So did his idea.


    One of the six survivors must be sacrificed.


    ''Maybe that''s the last rule ¡­''


    Jinwoo was the conclusion.


    When I looked up at the crowd, Kim''s eyes were approaching.


    One long sweat flowed to the side of his forehead.


    "Mister¡­ what?"


    "You have to stay silent!"


    Mr. Kim, who was buzzing, sat next to Jin ¨C woo and turned to Mr. Song, who was watching the state of Jin ¨C woo.


    "Who brought us here? Is not this Mr. Song here? So, Mr. Song will be responsible for the last time? "


    "Mister!"


    When Jin-woo tried to get up and walked, Song''s bark-like hands blocked him.


    Jin looked around Song.


    "¡­"Song shook his head silently.


    His eyes were asking not to say anything.


    Jinwoo had many words to say but had to swallow it.


    Song raised his body slowly.


    "Kim is right. I have to take responsibility. "


    "Now that makes sense, inspiration."


    Kim stroked his sword toward the altar.


    "If you know, let''s go. Because of the inspiration, there are already over 10 people dead. "

 7 Chapter VI

    One of the dead Hunters today happened to be Mister Park, a personal friend to Mister Kim.


    Exploring the dual dungeon was decided with the vote involving everyone, but Kim had already erased that memory off his head after losing much of his reasoning.


    Mister Song spoke to Kim.


    "I''d like to walk on my own volition, so can you put the sword away?"


    Of course, Kim refused right away.


    "How can I trust you, old man? Stop wasting time and start moving already."


    Song sighed softly under his breath and walked towards the altar. Kim pointed his sword at the older man''s back and followed on afterwards.


    Jin-Woo bit his lower lip while watching the two men walk away.


    ''This isn''t the fault of Mister Song.''


    More than half of the group agreed to do it together. Just because things had gone south, blaming Song for everything was simply too cowardly, he thought.


    ''But, I¡­.''


    Jin-Woo unfortunately did not possess enough strength to stop Kim here.


    Kim, thought to be one of the best among the rank D, and Sung Jin-Woo, easily the worst of the rank E. The difference in their strengths was all too clear for him to see. Not only that, Jin-Woo had even lost a leg.


    If he tried to confront Kim as he was now, there was a chance that him and even Ju-Hui, who had been focusing solely on healing him, could meet with disaster.


    "D*mn it."


    Jin-Woo squeezed his eyes shut. He never hated his own powerlessness as much as he did today.


    In the meantime, Song had stepped up on the raised altar.


    Suddenly, a red flame lit up near the outer perimeter of the altar as soon as he did. Everyone nervously swallowed their saliva and observed the unfolding situation carefully.


    However, nothing else happened. Just a single flame came to life, and that was it.


    "¡­?"


    They waited for a while but there was no visible change at all. Not only Kim, but everyone else got flustered by this situation.


    Kim quickly turned his head and spoke to Jin-Woo.


    "Look here, Mister Sung. This wasn''t it?"


    Jin-Woo also shook his head.


    "Even I¡­."


    He too thought that once a person chosen as the sacrifice stepped up on the altar, the third law of ''prove one''s piety'' would be completed.


    ''It''s not about offering up a sacrifice?''


    If so, then it was not necessarily bad news. If the law was not about sacrifices, then it meant Mister Song could still saved.


    Jin-Woo''s expression brightened somewhat.


    He sweated bucket-loads as he tried to stand up, and two Hunters nearby quickly lent their assistance.


    "Please take me closer to the altar so I can study it."


    "Mister Jin-Woo, your injuries are¡­."


    Ju-Hui also got up from her spot to follow after Jin-Woo. Her complexion was rather pale after expending too much of her magical energy.


    But because she had worked so hard, Jin-Woo''s blood loss had been temporarily halted and the pain he felt was reduced to a barely noticeable degree.


    ''I gotta hurry up.''


    The current condition of Ju-Hui, Kim''s boiling rage, Song''s injuries, and the frightened Hunters ¨C he didn''t have a lot of time here.


    Jin-Woo eventually arrived at the altar with the help from other Hunters.


    "Let''s climb up on the altar."


    The two Hunters flinched from his statement, but they trusted Jin-Woo and stepped up. Then, three more flames lit up. Right away, Jin-Woo''s eyes gleamed brightly.


    ''It''s the same number as the people on the altar.''


    Mister Song and Jin-Woo, plus two others who helped the youth ¨C indeed, the flames lit up to match the number of people standing on the altar.


    And it kind of looked like that these four flames were drawing a circle outside the altar.


    ''If I take into consideration the space between the flames, two more will complete the circle.''


    It seemed that all the remaining people had to climb up on the altar for something, anything, to get started. Jin-Woo turned his head to ask Song.


    "If we wait here, do you think other Hunters will come to rescue us?"


    Song shook his head.


    "Today is the seventh day since the Gate showed up. These things will start moving first before the help arrives."


    "Because it''s a Gate ranked D, I see that it''s been left alone for far too long."


    "Well, that''s how the Association operates, isn''t it."


    A Gate would open up fully after the seventh day. The real meaning of a raid was to kill the dungeon''s boss monster and therefore close the Gate before that happened. When failing to do so, the monsters trapped in the dungeons would be set free from the dungeon and they would be able to roam the outside world.


    Jin-Woo looked behind him.


    The giant god statue was still looking down on them with an overbearing, arrogant expression from its throne.


    ''If that thing manages to go outside, then¡­.''


    The ensuing chaos would be unimaginable. Of course, before that happened, Hunters coming to this chamber to rescue them would all be killed by the statues first.


    He was now sure of the fact that they could not wait here forever. Jin-Woo called out to Ju-Hui and Kim.


    "Both of you, climb up."


    Ju-Hui stepped up on the altar first. The hesitant Kim also followed suit soon afterwards. Two more flames lit up and the circle was now complete.


    And then¡­.


    Hunters were grandly stunned by what happened next.


    "What the hell?!"


    "What''s going on here?"


    As Jin-Woo had suspected, yet another change took place.


    ''It''s coming.''


    From the outer most edge of the altar, small blue flames floated upwards and began drawing a circle of their own as well. There looked to be at least thirty of these blue flames, placed real tightly next to each other.


    ''34. 35. 36¡­.''


    Jin-Woo quickly counted them all as the blue flames completed the circle and he realised that there were 36 of them.


    ''The six red flames that lit up to match the number of people. And the 36 blue flames that appeared outside them. What could be the significance behind that number?''


    It was then.


    CLANG!


    Without a warning, the resolutely-shut door suddenly opened up wide. Hunters reflexively flinched.


    "Euk¡­!"


    They all wanted so bad to run towards the wide-open doorway, but having seen the final moments of the choirboy Hunter, they found it hard to take the first step. If one tried to be the first, just who knew what might happen to them?


    Everyone''s gaze fixed on Jin-Woo as if to demand an answer from him. However, Jin-Woo''s lips remained tightly shut.


    "¡­"


    He couldn''t come up with a guess at the moment. He didn''t know whether the open door was a trap, or they were now allowed to go out after they upheld the final law successfully.


    Too bad for him, just as everyone was looking at Jin-Woo, a horrifying noise filled up the entire chamber.


    Creak¡­.


    Creeeaaaak¡­.


    The heads of all six Hunters quickly snapped around to look.


    "What was that?!"


    "It, it''s coming closer!!"


    "Those d*mn things are all moving now!!"


    Hunters'' breathing quickened in an instant.


    The stone statues that had only moved when a person got near were now several steps closer to the group. Jin-Woo only needed a short moment to figure out what happened, of course.


    ''No, the statues didn''t move. It''s the plinths below them that moved.''


    That horrifying screech from earlier on most likely came from the plinths beneath the statues grating against the stone floor.


    "¡­.They are not moving anymore?"


    Kim wiped the droplets of sweat on his forehead as he spoke.


    While everyone was still staring at the statues, Jin-Woo''s focus was on the blue flames. They had been going out one by one, and three of them had flickered out of existence already.


    Creaaakkkk¡­


    Hearing that screech, someone cried out.


    "Wha-what was that?! Where did it come from?"


    Jin-Woo quickly raised his head. The noise had come from his general direction. The stone statues facing him had moved a little bit closer.


    ''Why only my side¡­.?''


    Was it because he looked at somewhere else briefly?


    In order to confirm, Jin-Woo closed his eyes.


    The noise resounded out again.


    Creaaaakkk¡­


    As soon as he opened his eyes, the noise stopped.


    "What the f*ck is going on here?!"


    "What, what are we supposed to do about this?!"


    Jin-Woo quickly shouted at others.


    "Don''t take your eyes off the statues, no matter what!"


    When he thought about it, he realised that the statues first began moving closer to the group when others were busy looking at him.


    ''They creep closer when we are not looking at them.''


    It was right then, another blue flame disappeared. However, there was still no discernible change to either the group or the statues.


    ''Could it be¡­?''


    Cautiously raising his arm, Jin-Woo did his best not to take his eyes off the statues while checking the time with his wristwatch.


    ''As I thought.''


    At an interval of one minute, a blue flame was being extinguished.


    ''The blue flames are the timer.''


    It was quite likely that one of the main points of the third law was to stay within the altar until all 36 blue flames died out.


    In other words, as long as everyone was keeping close watch on the statues, they''d be safe. It was quite possible that no one had to die at this final huddle.


    Wanting to be more accurate about the remaining time, Jin-Woo began recounting the number of blue flames once more.


    ''There are thirty remaining¡­.''


    They only needed to endure thirty more minutes!


    Unfortunately, Jin-Woo made a huge mistake, just then.


    While he was counting the number of blue flames, his eyes wandered away for a brief moment, and that resulted in the statues creeping closer¡­


    Creeeakkkk¡­.


    "Euuuh, uwaaaahhh!!"


    The man standing on the opposite side screamed and ran towards the door. He simply couldn''t hold on any longer as the horrifying screeching noise coming from his back frightened him so much.


    As soon as he left the altar, one of the red flames disappeared.


    "No!!"


    Jin-Woo cried out urgently.


    However, the man running as if he had gone crazy escaped through the open doorway without meeting a grizzly fate, which took everyone by surprise.


    "What, what the hell?! Mister Sung! What''s going on? That guy made it out alive!"


    Kim shouted out, flustered.


    Jin-Woo was standing with his back to the doorway so he couldn''t really tell what was going on.


    "Did something change?"


    "The door¡­. The door has closed just a little."


    "The door''s closing?"


    "No, no. After that guy left, the door moved a little bit, but then stopped."


    Jin-Woo then recalled one of the red flames disappearing as soon as that man left the altar.


    ''God d*mn it!!''


    He immediately felt his heart go cold.


    One of the questions that he couldn''t quite figure out until now as he stood on top of this altar finally had an answer.


    How could standing on an altar be a proof of one''s piety?


    Indeed, he now had the answer to this quandary.


    And that answer was probably the worst one for Jin-Woo, who had only one leg now and needed other''s help just to keep his balance.


    *****


    That ''open'' doorway was a trap.


    A false hope right in front of one''s eyes!


    If people saw the open door and climbed off the altar at the same time, the red flames would''ve gone out and the doorway would be closed shut again. And then, the banquet of raining blood and screams would inevitably follow next.


    On the other hand, the ''altar'' was the proverbial promised land.


    If each one did what they had to do in their positions until the timer ran out, then their survival would be guaranteed.


    So, it was between the false hope right in front of one''s eyes, or the unseen promise of salvation.


    The third law was a test to see if one could defend one''s position without falling into the sweet temptation over yonder while constantly being under the encroaching threat of death.


    However, two flies in the ointment happened in this situation.


    The first one was Jin-Woo.


    Originally, the remaining group of people would''ve ran straight for the open door, but they stopped first to listen to what Jin-Woo had to say and that helped them avoid the trap being sprung in the first place.


    ''We got lucky there.''


    Indeed, that had to be the only explanation.


    Such a thing was only possible because Jin-Woo managed to figure out the first two laws all by himself and earned the trust of others.


    Unfortunately for him, the second fly also happened ¨C something he didn''t foresee: a deserter had appeared among their midst.


    How would human beings react when there was a hope of survival right in front of their eyes? It was way too obvious.


    The man helping Jin-Woo up abandoned the youth and bolted as well. Song hurriedly reached out and propped Jin-Woo up from his back.


    Poof.


    When that man left the altar, yet another red flame disappeared and as expected, the door closed a little bit more.


    Creeeaaakkk¡­


    "Huh?!Uh!!"


    Kim dazedly pointed at the second deserter, but just like the first person to abandon them, he too safely escaped past the doorway.


    Jin-Woo confirmed the number of remaining red flames and shouted out.


    "We must not move! Any more than this, then it''ll be the end!"

 8 Chapter VII

    Front, back, left, and right.


    In order to secure all four directions, four people were the bare minimum required.


    Jin-Woo himself, Ju-Hui, Mister Song and finally, Mister Kim. A single person leaving now would result in a gap within the field of vision.


    Kim wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked urgently.


    "Mister Sung, just what is going on here? Explain it to me properly."


    "We''ll make it as long as we wait here! Only until all the blue flames are extinguished!"


    Jin-Woo spat out everything he had deduced so far. Kim nodded his head as his ears perked up.


    Jin-Woo quickly ended his explanation and added one more thing at the end.


    "Remember, everyone here can get out of here alive."


    The laws of this chamber always left open a path for one''s survival. The final law would not deviate from that. Jin-Woo was certain of no one else needing to die as long as the remaining people trusted each other.


    "¡­.."


    Too bad, Kim''s thoughts were quite different from the youth''s. The older Hunter asked hesitantly.


    "Look here, Mister Sung¡­ you could be right on this one, but¡­ could the door close shut instead when the timer runs out?"


    "¡­"


    Jin-Woo couldn''t answer that one.


    He came to his conclusion after considering several variables, but until the result was in, he couldn''t be 100% certain of anything.


    However, what Kim wanted was a definite assurance. Rather than an uncertain promise of everyone''s survival, the definite survival of his own self had proved to be far more alluring in the end.


    "I''m sorry about this, but¡­ I don''t think I can stay here anymore."


    "Ahjussi!"


    "Sorry."


    With that parting word, Kim stepped down from the altar. He then ignored Jin-Woo''s urgent calling and ran towards the door. He stopped and looked for a brief moment just outside the door, but Kim did not step back inside the chamber again.


    Grit.


    Jin-Woo gritted his teeth.


    "God d*mn it!!"


    He had saved the lives of others, but what he got in return was definitely not something like gratefulness or friendship.


    His entire body shuddered from the pain of betrayal.


    Just as he suspected, as soon as Kim had abandoned them, a gap within the surveillance had been created. It was impossible for three people to guard all four directions.


    And so, the statues positioned in the blindspots began creeping closer to the altar.


    Creeeaaakkkk¡­


    Creeaakkk¡­


    The encirclement of the stone statue was gradually tightening. Song took a look around and then, spoke to Jin-Woo and Ju-Hui.


    "Both of you, you should leave now."


    His voice was full of resignation. Jin-Woo looked at the old man.


    "But, ahjussi¡­.?"


    "Just as Kim had said, I was the one who dragged us all in here. If someone has to remain behind, then it''d be only right that I''m the one."


    "But, still!!"


    "You two with a better future ahead of you should be the ones to survive today."


    Song began smiling, then. He was thinking of these two young people''s hearts as they would have to abandon him here.


    "¡­"


    Jin-Woo helplessly nodded his head. He was uncomfortable about this whole thing, but there was no time left to argue back and forth who should remain in here.


    Song then tried to ask Ju-Hui to take care of Jin-Woo.


    "Miss Ju-Hui, can you help out Mister Sung here for a bit?"


    "Y-yes."


    However, just as she was about to prop him up, Ju-Hui plopped down to the floor.


    "Ah¡­.."


    Ju-Hui tried to get up, but then, tears began forming around the edges of her eyes.


    "My legs¡­ I, I can''t move my legs¡­."


    Both the expressions of Jin-Woo and Mister Song hardened in an instant.


    Ju-Hui''s current physical condition did look terrible even from a casual glance. Her lips were in the shade of pale blue, while her entire body continued to tremble ever so imperceptibly.


    She was suffering from the side-effects of overusing her magic energy when she was already at her physical limit.


    ''Because she tried to heal my leg¡­.''


    Jin-Woo felt his chest tighten and couldn''t say anything. However, they really didn''t have any time left now.


    Creeeeaaaakkkk¡­..


    The stone statues were relentlessly approaching them without a moment of rest even now.


    Jin-Woo shoved Song''s hand away and plopped down to the ground himself. Seeing this, Song''s eyes grew wider.


    "Y-young man¡­..?"


    Jin-Woo spoke up with a determined expression on his face.


    "Ahjussi, please take Ju-Hui and get out of this place."


    "I told you, I''ll be the one staying behind."


    "In that case, who''s going to help Ju-Hui?"


    It was pretty much impossible for him to take Ju-Hui, who couldn''t even stand properly, and leave through the door within the time limit.


    ''Of course¡­.''


    There was the other choice of abandoning Ju-Hui behind, as well. However, Ju-Hui had saved his life several times already, and the only reason why she was in this state was because she tried to help him with all her might.


    He definitely did not want to suffer the guilty conscience of abandoning such a person behind in this godforsaken place.


    "There is no time left. Please leave now."


    "¡­"


    Song''s expression remained hardened as he helped Ju-Hui up. She shook her head desperately while tears streamed down on her face.


    "No, you can''t¡­ Mister Jin-Woo can still survive, you know? Let me¡­."


    "I promised to buy you a dinner, didn''t I?"


    Jin-Woo pulled out the rank E magic crystal from his pocket and placed it in her hand.


    "Please, use this and enjoy one on me. When I get out of here, I''ll be coming around to collect the change, you see."


    A smile formed on Jin-Woo''s face, prompting Ju-Hui to cry out in anger.


    "How can you crack a joke in this situation, Mister Jin-Woo?!"


    It was at this moment that Jin-Woo signalled to Mister Song with a nod. The older man then lightly chopped on the back of Ju-Hui''s neck.


    "Ah¡­."


    With that, Ju-Hui lost her consciousness. Song picked up the unconscious girl and placed her over his shoulder.


    "¡­.I''m really sorry about this."


    "This is my choice, so it''s fine."


    Mister Song bowed his head to Jin-Woo.


    With that goodbye, Song quickly left the altar.


    Creeaakkk¡­.


    Creeeeeaaaaakkkk¡­..


    During the time the three of them were chatting, the statues had arrived at the proverbial stone''s throw away.


    Jin-Woo got on his knees and took several deep breaths.


    "Fuu-woo. Fuu-woo¡­."


    He spotted the sword Kim had left behind next to him. So, he reached out and picked it up.


    ''Now that it had come down to this, I''ll take at least one down with me.''


    When he looked behind him, Jin-Woo saw Mister Song safely leaving through the doorway with unconscious Ju-Hui still perched upon his shoulder.


    What a relief that was.


    ''Only I''ll die here now¡­.''


    He wasn''t doing this because of some noble determination to sacrifice himself or anything like that. No, there certainly was an element of him calculating the best possible outcome in his decision.


    Even if he survived and got out of here today, he would have to live as a cripple for the rest of his life.


    Obviously, carrying on as a Hunter would be impossible, then. And it was also questionable whether he''d be able to live normally as well. He was only a high-school graduate, and since he didn''t have any discernible job skills, he simply didn''t have too many options left to put food on the table.


    ''Mom''s hospital fees¡­ and my sister''s school fees, too.''


    If that were the case, then he might as well make sure his family would receive a better compensation from the Association, even if it was just a single cent more.


    ''Was the compensation paid out to the family members 300 million Won or 400, when one dies during a raid?'' (TL: Between $267,000 and $356,000)


    That was a huge amount for a worthless life of a rank E Hunter.


    Creeaakkk¡­.


    Creeakk¡­


    Clang.


    Finally, the statues arrived.


    The first one to arrive climbed up on the altar. Jin-Woo glared at it and lifted the sword up.


    "Come."


    Unfortunately, the expected attack didn''t come from the front, but his back.


    Stab!


    A long spear penetrated into Jin-Woo''s back and exited out of his chest.


    "Keok!"


    Jin-Woo spat out a mouthful of blood.


    An unimaginable amount of pain rushed in like a tsunami wave.


    "If you were stabbed a couple of inches higher, you''d have a hole in your heart by now!"


    Ju-Hui''s nagging he heard only a few hours ago slipped past his mind like a scene from a revolving lantern.


    "U, uwaaaahck!!"


    The stone statue lifted up the spear. Jin-Woo was lifted up along into the air, still pierced through by that spear. He only got to struggle for a brief moment, though ¨C because the statue slammed him down on the altar.


    SLAM!!


    "Keok!"


    Sounds of bones breaking could be heard from all corners of his body.


    He shrunk away from the intense pain.


    "Euh¡­.. Euh, euh¡­.."


    As he began trembling, the stone statues slowly surrounded him. They formed a encirclement around him. Jin-Woo raised his head and glared at them, his entire being shuddering non-stop.


    ''I¡­ I don''t want to die like this.''


    Now that he was facing his final moments, tears pooled on his eyes.


    He recalled the faces of his family. He even recalled the face of Ju-Hui, her face full of anxiety and worry for his safety¡­


    ''I don''t want to die¡­''


    He didn''t want to end his short twenty-four years of life in this place.


    Step.


    The stone statue wielding a sword took a step closer without a hint of emotion. Then, it raised its sword up high.


    Even though he was shaking hard, Jin-Woo did not avert his gaze away from this b*stard.


    Finally, the statue''s sword slashed down.


    Swiiiishhh¡­.


    ''Only if, only if I had one more chance!''


    Jin-Woo''s eyes shot open wider.


    It happened then.


    *SFX for the statue''s movements suddenly stopping*


    As if someone had pressed the ''pause'' button, the scarily-fast moving sword suddenly stopped in mid-air.


    No, that wasn''t actually correct; it hadn''t stopped at all. It simply had slowed down so much that he ended up thinking that way.


    One millimetre in one minute?


    It was very slow, but the sword was still definitely coming down.


    ''Wha-what''s going on here?''


    Jin-Woo couldn''t hide his astonishment.


    It was then, a voice of a female he had never heard of before resounded within his head.


    [Completion requirements for the ''Secret Quest: the Courage of the Powerless'' has been met.]


    Secret quest? Completion requirements were met?


    Jin-Woo couldn''t understand any of that.


    ''No, hang on a minute. Besides all that, where did that voice come from?''


    Too bad for him, the voice ignored Jin-Woo''s questions and continued on regardless.


    [You have acquired the rights to become a ''Player''. Will you accept?]


    He had acquired a right? Accept what, exactly?


    ''Sounds like I''ll be given something¡­.''


    He grew up dirt poor since his childhood, so he had never refused freebies until now. However, that was a story for when he was still alive. What use was there for free stuff when he was dead?


    ''....''


    When Jin-Woo hesitated and didn''t answer, the voice in his head asked again as if to urge him on.


    [There is not enough time left for you to make your decision. Your heart will cease functioning precisely 0.02 seconds after you refuse to accept. Will you accept?]


    He couldn''t tell whether he was hallucinating or not, but he still got to figure out that he was only a moment away from dying for good. He finally spotted countless other weapons headed in his direction, beside that d*mn sword, that was how.


    Now that the things had devolved to such a degree, he might as well.


    ''¡­.If you''re giving it to me, then just give it to me already.''


    There was no need to utter anything out at all. He simply thought about it in his head. Even then, the voice of the female replied to him immediately.


    [Congratulations on becoming a ''Player''.]


    FLASH!!


    A blinding light suddenly wrapped around Jin-Woo''s body ¨C and at the same time, he lost his consciousness.


    Part 6: Penalty


    He opened his eyes.


    He saw a white ceiling, and his nose stung from the odour of disinfectants. He also felt the sensation of a hard mattress against his back.


    Jin-Woo immediately recognised where he was.


    ''A hospital?''


    Ever since he met the rank B Healer, Ju-Hui, the frequency of him staying in one had decreased somewhat, but still, hospitals were familiar places for Jin-Woo, just as he''d be with a local convenience store.


    So much so that, he even heard a rumour of there being a special seat reserved for himself at the Hunter''s hospital, too.


    Jin-Woo raised his upper torso up. He then placed his hand on his chest and felt the vibrations coming from there. His heart was beating without a problem.


    ''I¡­. survived?''


    It wasn''t only that, though. Unlike before, his entire being felt light and airy. He''d be feeling heavy-headed and fatigued whenever he woke up from a hospital bed.


    But, it was a different story now. No, it was as if he had woken up in his own bed after a night of a good rest.


    ''What''s going on¡­.?''


    This shouldn''t have been possible when he thought back to the moments before he lost his consciousness.


    A sword was falling on his head right before his eyes.


    Even if he got lucky and the sword missed, he was still surrounded by countless scary enemies. Those d*mn things were strong enough to give the assault team formed solely from the rank A ¨C no, rank S Hunters a genuinely hard time.


    ''But, I came out of that situation alive?''


    Was he dreaming things, then?


    Fortunately, there was a good way of confirming it for himself.


    Jin-Woo pulled away the blanket covering him.


    If that situation had been real, then his leg would still be gone, and if he had been dreaming, then his leg would be¡­


    "You''ve finally woken up."

 9 Chapter VIII

    Jin-Woo was surprised by the weighty voice coming from the corner of the hospital room, and hurriedly turned his head to look.


    "I apologise if we took you by surprise."


    "Unfortunately, we are unable to wait any longer."


    Two men kitted out in black business suits approached Jin-Woo''s bed. The youth tilted his head and asked them.


    "Who¡­. are you?"


    He had never seen these two''s faces before.


    One of them with the close-cropped hair like a soldier and wearing a pair of sunglasses presented him with a business card.


    "This is who we are."


    Jin-Woo received the business card and read what was written on it.


    ''Woo Jin-Cheol, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, the Korean Hunter''s Association?''


    The Monitoring Division was the only department in the Hunter''s Association with many strong Hunters in their payroll. Well, since this department was tasked with managing the country''s Hunters so, quite obviously, they would employ many high-class Hunters to facilitate that purpose.


    "What does the Monitoring Division want from me?"


    Woo Jin-Cheol dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down. The other man, who must''ve been his subordinate, stood behind him.


    The unspoken pressure emanating from the two buff guys staring down in close vicinity was quite heavy. The story they conveyed was rather surprising, though.


    "I was unconscious for four days?!"


    "By any chance, do you remember what happened before you blacked out?"


    "Yes, I do."


    "Please tell us everything you can remember."


    Jin-Woo told them everything truthfully, minus the strange hallucinatory words he heard before he lost his consciousness.


    "And that''s when you lost your consciousness¡­ Is that all?"


    "Yes. I open my eyes next, and I''m in a hospital."


    Woo Jin-Cheol and his lackey exchanged meaningful glances. For some reason, they seemed to be troubled by Jin-Woo''s lack of knowledge.


    Actually, Jin-Woo was the one who wanted to find out what happened the most in this room.


    "Just how did I get to this hospital? Did a large Guild participate and kill those d*mn things?"


    "Well, actually¡­."


    Woo Jin-Cheol awkwardly opened his mouth.


    "By the time the agents of the Monitoring Division and the White Tiger Guild arrived at the scene after being briefed by the survivors¡­."


    The White Tiger Guild was a super-massive Guild and also one of the top five in the country. The Association had recognised the danger, hence they requested the aid of such a huge Guild as the White Tiger Guild in the first place.


    Just what did happen back there?


    Jin-Woo nervously swallowed a dry spit.


    "By the time¡­.?"


    "¡­.Everything was ''gone''. The only thing to be found within that open space was you, Mister Sung Jin-Woo. There was not one trace of the god statue nor the stone statues."


    "Come again?!"


    Jin-Woo displayed a shocked, disbelieving face.


    "It''s hard for us to believe it as well. If there had been any inconsistencies in the testimonies of the survivors, or if we had failed to find the remains of the victims in the chamber, we might have suspected something fishy was going on."


    Woo Jin-Cheol scratched his chin.


    It''d been six years since he got ranked as an ''A'' and started working for the Monitoring Division. He could confidently say that he had witnessed and experienced pretty much everything during his tenure. However, this kind of situation was a first even for him.


    He had asked other Guilds as well as the Associations in other countries, but the end result was nothing worthy to speak about.


    That was why¡­


    "So, this is what we''ve been thinking¡­."


    Woo Jin-Cheol carefully opened his mouth.


    "There were powerful creatures in that chamber, without a doubt. But, they were taken care of by an unknown group, or an unknown person. Because, no otherworldly beings escaped from the Gate before it was closed, you see."


    They had to consider all the possibilities. Even if the odds were low, they had to confirm them all. The head honchos of the Association deliberated, and then deliberated for some more, and finally came up with a theory.


    Woo Jin-Cheol carefully studied Jin-Woo''s reactions as he continued on.


    "We¡­ suspect that Hunter Sung Jin-Woo-nim might have gone through another Awakening."


    Another Awakening!


    Jin-Woo''s eyes shot open wide.


    Although extremely rare, there had been instances of a human who had awakened his or her abilities as a Hunter going through yet another Awakening.


    Often referred to as ''Re-Awakening'', those who undergo this process would normally become extremely powerful compared to before.


    Originally, once a Hunter''s rank was assigned at the beginning, it rarely changed. A Hunter''s abilities were determined the moment one went through an Awakening, that was why.


    However, it was a different story for those going through the Re-Awakening process.


    Jumping past their own limitations to rise up from, say, rank C to A, or even from B to S, such things had happened before.


    Woo Jin-Cheol nervously swallowed his saliva.


    ''Sung Jin-Woo¡­. If he went through a Re-Awakening and became a rank S, no, maybe even exceeding that, then it''s possible for him to kill those monsters all by himself.''


    The god statue was said to have melted rank C Hunters with nothing but its eyes, according to the survivors.


    If one were able to kill such a creature even while unconscious, just how powerful one could possibly be?


    To prepare for this unlikeliest possibility, Woo Jin-Cheol labelled this incident as ''top secret'' and made sure everyone involved would keep their mouths shut.


    This was also the reason why Sung Jin-Woo found himself in a hospital room all alone, as well as being looked after by some of the finest medical practitioners in the nation.


    Woo Jin-Cheol''s chest began beating real fast.


    ''Could Korea finally have a Hunter on the level of an international powerhouse¡­.?''


    There were less than ten people in the entire world that could truly be described as a global powerhouse. But, what if Korea were to possess a powerhouse that were said to rival a nuclear warhead in terms of pure firepower?


    Of course, confirming the truth of the Re-Awakening wasn''t difficult at all. Didn''t the wise elders once say to make hay while the sun still shines?


    Woo Jin-Cheol signalled to his lackey.


    "Bring it here."


    Then, the lackey went to the corner of the room and began rummaging through a briefcase placed there.


    "That is¡­?"


    Before Jin-Woo could finish his question, Woo Jin-Cheol explained first.


    "It''s the device to measure your magic energy."


    He added that, although this device had been miniaturised, its efficiency or accuracy did not fall short of the actual full-size measuring device located in the Hunter''s Association.


    "All you have to do is to place your hand on this magic crystal over here."


    On top of a circular plate, there was a fist-sized magic crystal embedded in the middle. Its colour was pitch-black, as if it was a black hole that wanted to suck him in!


    It was one of the highest quality magic crystals that cost as much as a billion won, not to mention that could only be found in monsters ranked A or higher. (TL: Almost $900,000)


    When Jin-Woo stared at the magic crystal without saying anything, Woo Jin-Cheol formed a dignified, serious expression and spoke up.


    "This is a necessary step during our investigation, so please, cooperate with us."


    Jin-Woo nodded his head.


    If he indeed had undergone a Re-Awakening, then his life would do a 180 in an instant. And they were going to test it out for him for free, so who was he to refuse?


    Jin-Woo placed his hand on top of the black crystal and soon enough, warm rays of light oozed out from it.


    Cold sweat drops formed on the foreheads of Woo Jin-Cheol and his lackey.


    *SFX for a beam of light dissipating*


    Not too long after then, the light surrounding the crystal dissipated.


    Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly took off his sunglasses and confirmed the numbers.


    Right away, a small earthquake rocked Woo Jin-Cheol''s eyes.


    "How can this be?!"


    He rechecked the numbers, but it remained the same.


    ''How can¡­.''


    How could a person holding a Hunter licence possess the magic energy value of only 10?!


    When considering the fact that the lowest average value for rank E ¨C the bottom rank ¨C was around 70 to 100, Sung Jin-Woo was no different from a regular person.


    "Is it really a Re-Awakening? If it is, what could be my new rank now?"


    Jin-Woo''s hands were soaked in the sweat of anticipation.


    Seeing the suspicious reactions of the two Monitoring Division agents, the result must''ve been somewhat beyond their expectations.


    Meanwhile, Woo Jin-Cheol was comparing the existing data on Jin-Woo with the new measurement.


    ''His first measurement returned the value of 12. Four years later, it''s 10. It has decreased by 2, but it is within the margin of error.''


    In other words, the magic energy measuring device was working fine. Instead, it was Sung Jin-Woo''s magic energy that happened to be just illogically, nonsensically low.


    It was a miracle that he had survived until now.


    Woo Jin-Cheol rapidly realised that being here was a waste of time, so he got up from his seat.


    "Let''s go."


    "Yes, sir."


    Woo Jin-Cheol and his lackey quickly packed up to leave.


    "Uhm, excuse me. Can you tell me what is¡­."


    Just as Jin-Woo was about to ask, Woo Jin-Cheol bowed his head slightly.


    "Thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything else, please give us a call anytime."


    As if their rear ends were on fire, two men-in-black rapidly left the room as soon as they put away the device.


    The hospital room that felt rather small suddenly became quiet and lonely.


    "¡­"


    Jin-Woo scratched the back of his neck.


    ''I guess that was a no, then.''


    Well, if he thought about it, besides him feeling refreshed, there didn''t seem to be any change to him at all. Even if he did go through a Re-Awakening, it''d still be difficult for him to kill all those statue b*stards, anyways.


    ''Maybe, you might have a chance against them if you were either the ultimate weapon, Hunter Choi Jong-In, or the rank SS Hunter Goh Gun-Hui.''


    Of course, him speculating like this was meaningless, since he had never seen them in action before. There was always a thick veil of secrecy draped over the Hunters ranked S.


    They were more like clouds in the sky to him, actually.


    He thought up to here and inadvertently raised his head up. And that''s when he saw ''it''.


    ''Huh?!''


    He looked up without thinking, and then, saw ''words'' floating in the air.


    [You have several unread messages.]


    *****


    "¡­..?"


    He closed his eyes and opened them again.


    [You have several unread messages.]


    The words remained floating up there without a single change. He shook his head hard a few times and even rubbed his eyes, but they were still there.


    Jin-Woo massaged his aching forehead and lowered his head.


    ''It hadn''t been a long time since I started hearing weird things, but now, I''m even seeing them, too¡­.''


    Could something in his head really be broken?


    There was a condition called PTSD, after all. People who experienced a huge accident or a traumatic event usually suffered from this condition.


    It was only a few days ago since he witnessed the deaths of many of his comrades, not to mention he himself nearly died as well, so it would not be so strange to hear or see weird things as a possible side effect.


    ''However¡­.''


    However, there were a couple of things that prevented him from dismissing this out of hand.


    Jin-Woo''s sight lowered to his leg ¨C the leg that got cut in half by the shield of the stone statue was now all fine and dandy.


    The voice he heard out of the blue inside the underground temple hidden within the depths of the dual dungeon; his completely-cured leg; and now, those words floating in front of his eyes.


    Too many weird things were happening all at once.


    ''What if¡­.?''


    There was a chance that all these things were not isolated events but linked to one another. When his thoughts arrived here, his aching head felt just a bit clearer.


    ''Okay, fine.''


    Jin-Woo slowly raised his head.


    Once the confusion in his heart died down and he felt calmer, he became quite curious about the contents of those so-called unread messages. There might be answers to his questions found within those messages, after all.


    In order to confirm the messages, he reached out towards the words.


    And his hand simply went past them.


    ''It''s not touch-operated?''


    It seemed that he got way too used to how a smartphone worked. He couldn''t think of any other way to access the messages other than tapping on the ''icon'', though.


    While he was deliberating on the means to access the messages, he recalled the memories from the moments before he blacked out.


    "Right. That happened."


    Back then, he could only get his intentions across to that unknown voice by ''talking'' to it.


    ''Just like back then, I should either form the words in my head or speak it out loud.''


    Thinking that this must be the case, Jin-Woo then began to mutter the potential combination of words one by one.


    "Confirm."


    "Messages."


    "Confirm messages."


    "Check messages."


    "Reading."


    "I want to read."


    "I want to look."


    "Hey, show me already, will ya?!"


    It was then.


    "¡­..Just what is it that you wish to see that bad?"


    He felt a cold, probing stare coming from the side, so he turned his head to look. And, spotted his little sister in her school uniform looking at him from the gap of the half-open door.


    "Uhm¡­.."


    Jin-Woo became speechless.


    Her oppa, busy glaring at the ceiling while demanding someone to show something to him ¨C he simply didn''t know how to explain this one to her.

 10 Chapter IX

    "Maybe, you hurt your head really bad?"


    The younger sister stood at a distance away and asked Jin-Woo, prompting him to shake his head vigorously.


    "No, that''s not it."


    Even though he denied it, Jin-Woo''s younger sibling, Sung Jin-Ah''s eyes remained suspicious.


    "Are you really okay?"


    "Yes, I''m telling you the truth."


    Jin-Ah blankly swept her gaze all over Jin-Woo, before she came closer while her breathing became uneven, angry. And then, as soon as Jin-Woo assumed a defensive posture, she began punching him in all the unguarded parts.


    "I told you to stop getting hurt!! You have any idea how worried I was?!"


    "¡­..I''m sorry."


    "Other people walk away fine, but how come it''s only you who gets hurt all the time?!"


    "¡­.Sorry."


    The strength behind Jin-Ah''s punches gradually seeped away. She soon stopped, and as her head fell, began crying. Jin-Woo slowly patted the back of his sobbing sister.


    His own nostrils stung quite a bit then.


    ''I was thinking of leaving behind this kid alone and dying, wasn''t I¡­.''


    What a relief that he made it out alive.


    When he looked back, there had been way too many brushes with death for comfort back then.


    It was as if he had experienced one hell of a terrifying nightmare.


    Jin-Woo''s gaze shifted ever so slightly towards the words floating in the air.


    [You have several unread messages.]


    ''It still feels like I haven''t completely woken up from that nightmare just yet, doesn''t it?''


    There were so many things he couldn''t understand.


    But, so what?


    The most important thing was that he came back alive, and he got to see his little sister again.


    "Sniff."


    Thankfully, his strong-willed sister stopped crying after a short while. Unfortunately for him, though, her nagging continued on for over one hour afterwards.


    "Do you hear me? If you get hurt one more time, I''m going to give up on studying, find a job, and make sure you don''t work as a Hunter ever again."


    Jin-Ah''s sharp glare didn''t really suit her pretty face, but that was a biological trait she had shared with her older brother.


    "Okay, okay. I hear you."


    Jin-Woo nodded his head as if he''d given up.


    Only after she was able to extract his assurance several times more did she display a hint of satisfaction, and stood up from the seat.


    "You going somewhere?"


    "Yeah. To school. I got permission to leave so I could check up on you. So I gotta go back."


    Jin-Woo nodded his head.


    "Right, the university entrance exams are next year."


    She might never have received a private tutoring nor did she ever attend extra classes, but she always got ranked within the top ten in her school until now.


    Jin-Ah dreamed of becoming a doctor.


    Only until a few years ago, she just loved to waste time on video games and stuff like that, but then, after their mother fell ill, she swore to become a doctor and never stopped studying since.


    Jin-Woo dearly wished to make her dream come true, no matter what.


    Hang on a minute¡­. playing video games?


    Suddenly, Jin-Woo''s eyes gleamed a bit dangerously.


    "Okay, I''m going now."


    Just as Jin-Ah was leaving his room, Jin-Woo urgently called out to her.


    "Hey, Jin-Ah?"


    "Yeah?"


    "When you are playing video games¡­."


    Jin-Ah smirked softly.


    "I don''t play games anymore. The third year of high school is only a few days away, you know."


    "I know, I know. There''s something I want to ask you, though."


    "Oh, really? Like? I didn''t know Oppa played video games, though?"


    Jin-Ah suddenly displayed an intense interest as a subject she was deeply intimate with once upon a time was brought up.


    Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the still-floating ''message'' in the air and asked her.


    "When there are unread messages in a game, what should I do access them?"


    "You gotta open the mailbox first."


    "I gotta ''open'' the mailbox?"


    Tti-ring!


    As soon as Jin-Woo said the word ''open'', a clear beep entered his head and the hidden messages revealed themselves.


    [There are two unread messages.]


    ¨C Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (unread)


    ¨C [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (unread)


    Jin-Woo smiled brightly.


    ''Finally!''


    Seeing her older brother''s complexion suddenly brighten like that, Jin-Ah felt something was wrong and quickly asked him.


    "What''s up? What game is it? You need my help?"


    Jin-Woo firmly shook his head.


    "Nope, no need. I''ll do it alone."


    How would his younger sibling react if he told her what had been happening to him right now?


    ''I really don''t want to be labelled as a loon by her.''


    Jin-Woo swallowed back the things he wanted to say for the time being.


    *****


    While pretending to see her out, Jin-Woo confirmed her getting on the elevator, and quickly returned to his room.


    ''I can''t repeat the same mistake again.''


    Click.


    To prevent eyewitnesses intruding on him, he even locked the door. Finishing with his preparations, Jin-Woo sat on the bed and read the titles of the messages available to read.


    ¨C Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (unread)


    ¨C [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (unread)


    He thought that the first message sounded familiar, as if he heard it before from somewhere.


    ''Where have I heard it from? I know I have.''


    So, the first message, then.


    ¨C Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (unread)


    ''Confirm.''


    Tti-ring!


    [This System will support the growth of the ''Player''.]


    [Failing to comply with the System''s instructions will result in potential penalties.]


    [Your rewards have been delivered.]


    "Ahh."


    He belatedly remembered this.


    He heard those words just before he lost his consciousness.


    ''Back then, it was talking about a Player this and that, no?''


    Of course, back then or even now, he still couldn''t really understand what on earth was going here.


    The ''System'', ''growth'', ''penalties'', and finally, ''rewards''.


    The words with unknown meanings fell on his lap one after the other.


    ''Just what will it help grow, and what will it reward me with?''


    Seeing the words that could only be found in a video game appearing before his eyes without any prior explanations, only served to confound him even further.


    He decided to worry about the confusing words later and calmly opened the next message.


    ¨C [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (unread)


    Gulp.


    Jin-Woo unconsciously swallowed his saliva after reading that rather suggestive title. His heart began to beat faster in anticipation.


    ''Confirm.''


    Tti-ring.


    [Daily Quest: Preparations to become stronger]


    Press-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)


    ¡ùWarning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of punishment.


    Jin-Woo reflexively spat out a dumbfounded chuckle after confirming the contents of the message.


    "Ha, haha¡­.. Seriously, man."


    Should this be the feelings of disappointment?


    To think, what the grand-sounding Daily Quest, the one titled ''Preparations to become strong'', was nothing more than a list of physical exercises to train his body¡­.


    Well, for sure, if he did as the quest said, then his body might get a bit tougher.


    Was this what that growth and reward thing the System was talking about?


    ''Now that I think about it¡­.''


    He recalled reading a quote of ''a person with an inner problem should pay attention to the inner voice'' from some book in the past.


    ''In other words, one would see what they wanted to see, eventually¡­.''


    Just how desperately did he want to become stronger that he ended up seeing this stupid hallucination?


    Although it was funny, he also felt a bit lonely inside.


    "If anyone could become stronger by doing these exercises, who would be willing to go through that much hardship, then¡­?"


    Jin-Woo shook his head.


    He suddenly thought that he was a fool for searching for answers to his many questions from a d*mn hallucination.


    ''Urgh. I don''t care anymore.''


    Jin-Woo lied down spread-eagled on the bed. He wordlessly stared at the ceiling.


    "¡­.."


    He wasn''t doing anything important, yet the time continued to tick by.


    Just as he began to feel the weight of the stillness filling up his hospital room¡­.


    Jin-Woo abruptly raised his torso off the bed.


    ''But, what if¡­.''


    What if something could change?


    As his thoughts were filled half with the uncertain expectation and the other half by unconvinced curiosity, he began wondering whether he should at least give ''it'' a shot.


    ''Well, I''ve got nothing to lose, anyways.''


    There would be no reason not to try it out, if he treated as a light workout to stretch his muscles or something, no?


    He made up his mind.


    ''Fine. Let???s try it.''


    Jin-Woo climbed off the bed and stretched himself for a bit, before leaning against the corner of the bed and slowly performed the ''press-up''.


    "One, two, three¡­.."


    The count started from ''one'' and quickly climbed upwards.


    "¡­..97, 98, 99, 100."


    Since he started this thing, he decided to do all 100, but quite different from his expectation, nothing happened when he was finished.


    ¡­.Other than his arms aching just a little, that was.


    "Just what the hell am I doing¡­."


    Jin-Woo smirked helplessly and stood straight up.


    ¨C Congratulations on becoming a [Player] (read)


    ¨C [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong] is now available. (read)


    The messages were now marked as ''read''.


    There were no more words of ''unread messages'' popping up in his view, and he also didn''t feel like humouring this hallucination anymore, either


    He had enough of this, in other words.


    Jin-Woo closed the mailbox without regret.


    "Yawn¡­."


    Jin-Woo yawned out at length and climbed back up on the bed. He felt sleepy as if he had pushed himself too hard.


    The sky outside the window was already dyed in the colours of the sunset.


    ''It''s already this late, huh.''


    The Monitoring Division agents said earlier that his hospital fees would be taken care of by the Association.


    He figured that it wouldn''t be too late to leave after receiving a thorough examination of his body and get the all-clear from the doctors first. Jin-Woo laid down comfortably while thinking as such.


    ''I''m sure these hallucinations and weird things I hear will eventually go away with time¡­.''


    His eyelids slowly closed shut. And Jin-Woo drifted away into a deep slumber.


    Tick, tock.


    Even when Jin-Woo was softly snoring to himself, the needles of the clock hanging by the wall continued to tick away.


    The needles spun and spun around until they indicated 11:59:57 PM.


    Tick, tock, tick.


    58, 59, 60¡­.


    The needles stopped moving precisely as they touched 12:00:00.


    Tti-ring.


    [You''ve failed to complete the Daily Quest. You''ll be transferred to the ''Penalty Zone'' for a set period of time.]


    *****


    RUMBLE!!!


    Jin-Woo''s eyes shot right open from the violent tremor that shook his entire body.


    "An earthquake?!"


    Jin-Woo sat right up and grabbed the edges of the bed. The shaking was so bad that he couldn''t maintain his balance.


    RUMBLE!!


    The shaking got progressively worse as the seconds ticked by. It happened then.


    *SFX for things turning into powder and falling to the floor*


    One of the steel bars on the bed he held on for dear life suddenly broke. No, it didn''t break per se, but simply ''disappeared''. Jin-Woo hurriedly looked at his palm. No steel bar there, just grains of sand.


    ''Sand?!''


    *SFX for things turning into powder and falling to the floor*


    The other steel bar also transformed into sand as well.


    Meanwhile, the ''earthquake'' became even more violent.


    RUUUUMBLE!!!


    "Uwaaahk!!"


    In the end, Jin-Woo was thrown off from the bed. He bounced around all over the hospital room and screamed out. Even when that was happening, items within the room was turning into sand one at the time.


    "Uwaaaahhhh!!"


    ¡­.Plop.


    Jin-Woo was flung away and got deposited rather unceremoniously.


    He felt something soft against his fingertips. They happened to be ultra-fine grains of sand.


    And the accursed earthquake had stopped.


    "Ptooi! Ptooi!!"


    Jin-Woo spat out the sand in his mouth and hurriedly raised his head up.


    "¡­.?!"


    His eyes caught the sight on an endless plain of nothing but sand.


    Jin-Woo frowned heavily and got up. All the sand that found its way inside his clothes poured out. He dusted the sand caked on his chest while taking a look around him.


    Indeed, all he could see was sand. And more sand.


    "A desert¡­.?!"


    This couldn''t be real.


    Until a few moments ago, he was sleeping on a bed inside a hospital located in the middle of Seoul. But now, as soon as he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of a massive desert?


    Jin-Woo scooped up a handful of sand, and let it slip through his fingers. The fine grains fell straight down to the ground.


    ''There is not a single breeze here.''


    It wasn''t just the breeze, though ¨C when he raised his head up to look, the sky didn''t have a sun, a moon, or any stars for that matter.


    It was an empty sky, as if it was filled up with black ink and nothing else.


    However, for some reason, he had no trouble seeing at all.


    "Just where is this place?"

 11 Chapter X

    It happened then.


    Shururururu¡­..


    Suddenly, the sandy ground next to him caved in and a deep pit formed there.


    "Huh? Uh, uh!"


    Jin-Woo desperately ran away so he could avoid getting sucked in down there. The sandy pit grew wider and wider, and eventually, Jin-Woo had to crawl on all fours just to pull himself out.


    "Pant, pant, pant¡­."


    He plopped down on his butt, panted heavily and stared at the bottom of the pit. Quite bizarrely, he could see that the sand at the bottom was ''boiling''.


    Realising that just one misstep would have resulted in him falling in there sent shivers down his spine.


    "Hang on a minute¡­."


    Jin-Woo''s eyes narrowed in suspicion.


    "¡­.It''s not actually boiling, is it?"


    When he took a closer look, he spotted ''something'' pretty big wiggling down there.


    Jin-Woo instinctively forced himself up. He was getting a really bad premonition right about now.


    Sure enough, just as Jin-Woo took a step back, the sand within the pit suddenly exploded upwards.


    Phushu-!!


    The falling sand emitted the roar of a waterfall.


    Jin-Woo''s eyes went extra round in the meantime.


    "An¡­ an insect?"


    The identity of the thing that exploded out from the sand was a giant centipede.


    Kiiiieeehhhk!!


    When fully revealed, the d*mn thing''s head almost reached the height equaling that of a five-story building.


    Jin-Woo anxiously swallowed his saliva.


    ''This is unreal¡­.''


    For sure, the b*stard was unrealistically huge. He had never heard of a centipede this big existing in the world before. But the size of the centipede wasn''t the only thing that shocked Jin-Woo.


    "Why is there a¡­ name floating on top of that monster?"


    Was he dreaming again?


    Jin-Woo closed and opened his eyes again, yet nothing had changed. Even now, there were five red words floating on top of the monster''s head.


    ¡­.Just like a monster from a video game might have.


    ''The Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede.''


    Just like its horrendous and bizarre appearance, its name too was something he''d like to avoid at all cost. What drew his attention the most was the two letters "poison" and "fanged".


    He spotted a pair of fangs as large as a child jutting out just below the b*stard''s jaw. It didn''t take a genius to figure out what might happen if he got stabbed by those fangs simply from its name alone.


    Seeing those large fangs and its jaw constantly opening and closing, it was as if¡­.


    "It''s busy licking its lips, right?"


    It was then, the sound went off in his head again.


    Tti-ring.


    [Penalty Quest: Survival]


    Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.


    Time limit: 4 hours


    Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds


    ''Are you kidding me¡­.?''


    However, as soon as the ''remaining time'' changed to 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds, the centipede parted sand and rushed towards him as if it couldn''t wait any longer.


    *SFX for sand parting ways*


    "Wha-what the hell?!"


    Jin-Woo hurriedly spun around and ran for his life.


    There was no time to deliberate on things.


    If he wanted to live, then he had to run!


    That was the only thought racing in his head.


    However, even before he had taken several steps, another pillar of sand exploded upwards not too far from his position.


    Boom!!


    "Euh-ahhck?!"


    Jin-Woo fell on his rear from the powerful shockwave. He rolled on the sandy ground before urgently getting back up. He swiped the sand off his face before his eyes shot open even wider.


    This time, it wasn''t just one or two of them.


    Boom!!


    Booooom!!


    Before he had even noticed it, there were seven sand centipedes jutting out from the sand and they were all glaring at him.


    Kiiieeechhk!!


    Kiieeek!!


    As the centipedes issued shrill cries, Jin-Woo''s complexion changed for the worse. A lot worse.


    "God d*mn it¡­."


    *****


    Jin-Woo reappeared in the hospital room exactly four hours later.


    Plop.


    Jin-Woo keeled over on the floor and painfully wheezed out.


    "Cough, cough!! Ptooi, ptooi!!"


    His mouth felt full with this coarse, grainy taste. His eyes stung badly too, seemingly like sand particles got in there.


    Jin-Woo whimpered and groaned for a long time, before powerlessly falling flat on his back. He didn''t have any energy left to lift even a finger.


    "Pant¡­. Pant¡­. Just¡­. What was that¡­.?"


    Jin-Woo continued to pant heavily when a new message appeared before him.


    Tti-ring.


    [You''ve completed the ''Penalty Quest''.]


    Jin-Woo''s expression crumpled into something unsightly.


    A ''Penalty Quest''?


    Did he do something worthy of being punished?


    Jin-Woo carefully retreaded his memories until he recalled the [Daily Quest] he abandoned mid-way yesterday.


    ''Could it be¡­?''


    Now that he thought about it, it definitely said that if the quest was not completed, he''d be hit with a corresponding penalty.


    "Pant, pant, that¡­. That was not a hallucination?!"


    Indeed, it was not a hallucination nor was it a dream.


    There was no need to pinch his cheeks to confirm whether this was a dream or reality.


    When he was running around, the shortness of breath felt so suffocatingly harsh, and the pain he felt when he got grazed by the centipede''s leg still felt fresh in his mind.


    Everything happened for real.


    He nearly died back there.


    "This is way too much¡­. Pant¡­ pant¡­."


    The so-called penalty turned out to be him being throwing into a d*mn execution ground!


    At the same time, another ominous premonition rushed into his mind. If this event was indeed caused by the ''Daily Quest'' thing, then without a doubt, this would not be the last time.


    Sure enough, he got to hear yet another mechanical beep going off in his head.


    Tti-ring.


    He flinched in surprise, but thankfully, it was not about another quest or anything like that.


    [Rewards for completing the Penalty Quest is now available.]


    [Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)


    ''Rewards¡­.?''


    The word ''rewards'' jumped right out. Too bad, the problem was, he currently didn''t have any energy left whatsoever to confirm this and that.


    His situation simply didn''t allow that.


    ''Never mind giving me rewards or not¡­. Let me take a break first¡­.''


    His sights gradually blurred.


    Soon, Jin-Woo fell into a deep slumber akin to a blackout.


    *****


    "Oh my gosh?! What happened in here?"


    Next morning.


    A nurse entered Jin-Woo''s room, only for her eyes to open up wide in surprise.


    The patient was lying sprawled on the floor, while sand was everywhere as far as she could see. Not only that, the patient too was full of sand as well.


    She threw the medical chart on the bed and urgently pressed the emergency buzzer.


    "Please, someone get over here right away!"


    Soon, the doctor in charge rushed into the room.


    "What happened? What''s the matter with Mister Sung Jin-Woo?"


    "I don''t know. Everything was fine until last night, yet this morning¡­.??


    "For now, let''s relocate him back on the bed. One, two!"


    Two people lifted Jin-Woo off the floor and placed him back on the bed. During the process, the back of Jin-Woo''s hand got scratched by the edge of the medical chart left on the bed and his skin tore just a little, but no one noticed that.


    "Let''s take a look."


    The doctor then carefully examined Jin-Woo''s condition. However, he couldn''t find anything wrong with the youth.


    "What the heck¡­. Isn''t he just in a deep sleep?"


    The doctor spat out a sigh of relief.


    The Hunter''s Association had requested the hospital to pay a special attention to this particular patient. Understandably, the doctor was scared almost out of his wits while thinking that something bad had happened here.


    "For now, let''s let him be. Looks like he''s in a really deep slumber at the moment."


    The doctor in charge spoke to the nurse and was about to leave, but then, he took a look around the room and scratched the side of his head.


    "By the way, this room¡­ might need a thorough cleaning. Miss Yu-Rah, please take care of tidying this place up."


    "Yes. I shall, doctor."


    The doctor left the room and the nurse, Choi Yu-Rah, patted her chest down.


    What a relief that it turned out to be nothing to worry about.


    Sure, they might not be the patient or the relatives of one themselves, but you wouldn''t find a doctor or a nurse who wished ill on those they were in charge of.


    The Hunter''s hospital especially saw many heavily-injured patients every day. At the bare minimum, she''d like to never see another one of patients she was looking after get worse under her care.


    "Whew¡­"


    She had calmed down a little now, and began worrying about where should she start tidying this room up, but then, her eyes spotted drops of blood on the floor.


    "Oh my?"


    The blood droplets were coming from the tip of patient''s hand that fell outside the bed.


    She got stunned by this and hurriedly searched for the wound on Jin-Woo''s hand, before flipping it around.


    "What''s going on here¡­.?"


    There definitely was a trace of flowing blood, but she could not find a single wound. She wiped the blood clean, yet the expected wound was not there.


    ''Wait¡­. Could his injury heal in that short time?''


    Yu-Rah''s heart began beating faster as she cautiously studied Jin-Woo''s complexion.


    He was still submerged in a deep, deep sleep even now.


    Part 7: Daily Quest


    Tti-ring.


    [Daily Quest is now available.]


    Jin-Woo''s eyes shot right open.


    He quickly raised himself up and the first thing he did was to check the time. The needles of the clock just went past 16:30.


    Meaning, there was the leeway of seven hours and thirty minutes before midnight.


    ''Good.''


    Jin-Woo opened the mailbox.


    Tti-ring.


    [Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]


    Press-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)


    Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)


    ¡ùWarning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of punishment.


    "It''s the same thing, again?!"


    He groaned out almost reflexively.


    No, perhaps this was for the better. Rather than a quest with impossible or hard-to-understand goals, this was far more preferable, instead.


    Well, as long as he had enough time, he''d be able to complete this quest after all, although his body might suffer for a bit. Jin-Woo got down to the floor this time and began the press-up.


    "One."


    Obviously, he was not planning on being dragged to yet another suspicious place and get almost killed there.


    "Two."


    He got lucky the previous night and survived, but there was no guarantee that would happen tonight as well.


    "Three."


    He raised his head a little and confirmed the contents of the quest, and noticed that every time he performed a press-up, it was being recorded in real time as well.


    Tti-ring.


    [You''ve completed one press-up.]


    [Press-up 100 times: Incomplete (7/100)]


    Tti-ring.


    [You''ve completed one press-up.]


    [Press-up 100 times: Incomplete (8/100)]


    He wanted to make sure, so he only went down half-way and got back up, but as expected, that didn''t count. Now he finally realised why the so-called press-ups of yesterday didn''t count. He had to perform the proper press-ups or it wouldn''t be counted at all.


    ''Huh¡­. Gimme a break.''


    Jin-Woo was dumbfounded, but didn''t stop the exercise.


    He still had 50 more press-ups to go.


    After that, sit-ups, squats and running were waiting for him.


    ¡­.And, three hours later.


    Press-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)


    Sit-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)


    Squat, 100 times: Complete (100/100)


    Running, 10 km: Incomplete (9/10)


    "Pant, pant, pant, pant¡­"


    Jin-Woo lapped the outer perimeter of the hospital once and arrived back in front of his room. He was currently bent over and panting out heavily. His heart felt like it might explode at any second, but he couldn''t give up yet.


    ''I worked so crazy hard until now, so no way I would¡­.''


    He somehow managed to open the door and took a step forward.


    When he did that¡­.


    Tti-ring.


    [Total distance ran: 10 km.]


    [You''ve completed Running, 10 km.]


    It was finally over.


    "Pant¡­. Pant¡­"


    Jin-Woo fell down to his knees. His breath reeked of something sweet and bitter. His face and back were soaked in sweat.


    "Pant¡­. Pant¡­."


    As Jin-Woo tried to regulate his heavy, rough breathing while thick sweat drops continuously dripped down, a familiar message popped up in front of his eyes.


    Tti-ring.


    [You''ve completed ''Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong''.]


    [Completion rewards have arrived.]


    [Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)


    Jin-Woo momentarily thought about forgetting about everything and simply laying down in defeat, but quickly changed his mind. At least for now, he wanted to confirm what these reward things could actually be with his own eyes first.


    "Confirm."


    Tti-ring.


    [The following rewards are available.]


    Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition


    Reward 2. Three additional Stat points


    Reward 3. One random box


    [Would you like to collect them all?]


    ''Why are there so many of them?''


    That was the first thought to enter his dazed mind after he took a gander at the contents of his rewards.


    But, when he thought about it a little deeper, one of those rewards seemed rather useful right now, and there was also one that made him curious about what it could actually mean.


    For now, he urgently needed the first reward available. He was on the brink of collapsing here.


    Since there really was a penalty for failure, the odds of completion rewards being real were pretty d*mn high as well.


    Well, trying wouldn''t hurt anyways, right?


    Seriously, this ''thing'' wouldn''t throw him back into the penalty zone again after it said it''d give him the rewards, now would it?

 12 Chapter XI

    As soon as he muttered that out, a gentle blue aura enveloped him.


    ''Uh¡­ isn''t this sensation¡­. that?''


    Right away, he recalled Yi Ju-Hui''s face. When he was getting healed by her, he felt the sensation similar to what he was feeling right now.


    If he were to put this feeling into words, then it''d be like a refreshing blast of air entering his lungs before leaving again ¨C something like that?


    Shu¡­.


    He felt the blue aura slowly dissipating. For some reason, he kinda felt a bit rueful.


    Jin-Woo got up from the floor and lightly jumped up and down on the spot and stretched his body this way and that.


    "How can this be?!"


    His heart that felt like it might explode was beating calmly now, and his rough breathing had stabilised as well. He didn''t even feel a speck of fatigue. His body that was on the brink of collapsing, felt refreshed as if he just got up from a night of good rest.


    The effect, in other words, was top-notch.


    ''Isn''t this really amazing?''


    Jin-Woo''s eyes now resembled circles. He wasn''t sure whether this was some kind of magic or not, but this phenomenon could change him in the most astonishing way, without a doubt.


    In that case, would those ''Stat points'' be the same?


    When Jin-Woo shifted his gaze around, he spotted a small box resting on top of the bed as well as his own Stat Window floating in the air.


    ''I guess that thing over there is the random box¡­.''


    The important thing was his Stat Window, though. This window displayed simple information about himself.


    Name: Sung Jin-Woo


    Level: 1


    Class: None


    Title: None


    HP: 100


    MP: 10


    Tiredness: 0


    [Stat]


    Strength: 10


    Stamina: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 10


    Perception: 10


    (Available points to distribute: 3)


    [Skills]


    Passive skills:


    ¨C (Unknown) Lv. Max


    ¨C Tenacity Lv. 1


    Active skills:


    ¨C Dash Lv. 1


    The stat he saw was quite similar to a starting character from an online game he used to play many moons ago.


    ???Is this my current Stat value?''


    His current level was 1. All of his stats were also at the bottom of the heap, too.


    If he thought about the current reality of what he was like, the one where he was ranked as the weakest even among the rank E Hunters, then there was nothing to be surprised about there.


    What he paid attention to was the ''Skills'' column.


    A passive skill called ''Tenacity'' and an active one called ''Dash''.


    For some reason, he felt rather familiar with them.


    "Ah. I remember now. Yesterday¡­."


    Yesterday, or to be more precise, back in the early dawn of this morning, he remembered hearing those words while being chased around by the centipedes in the penalty zone.


    It happened probably after three hours of him constantly running for his dear life. He was suddenly greeted by a couple of new messages.


    [''Skill: Dash Lv. 1'' has been learned.]


    [''Skill: Tenacity Lv. 1'' has been learned.]


    Back then, he was far too busy running to think about what they could mean, but it was a different story now. Jin-Woo confirmed the explanations available for the skills.


    [Skill: Dash Lv. 1]


    Active skill.


    Mana required to activate: 5


    The constant running fortified your legs. When this skill is activated, your movement speed will increase by 30%. During its activation, 1 Mana will be spent every minute.


    [Skill: Tenacity Lv. 1]


    Passive skill.


    Mana required to activate: None.


    You possess untiring tenacity. When your stamina drops below 30%, this skill will automatically activate and reduce all damage received by 50%.


    ''Did I learn ''Dash'' and ''Tenacity'' because I stubbornly ran around like there''s no tomorrow?''


    That seemed to be about right.


    In other words, if he kept on repeating a certain action over and over again, and happen to meet the requirement conditions, he would be able to learn new skills.


    "Holy cow!"


    Wasn''t this an incredible advantage?


    The thing was, the skills individual Hunters used were acquired when they went through the Awakening process, or learnt through the items called ''Rune'' Stones that dropped very rarely from monsters ranked A and above.


    Understandably, the prices of these Rune Stones would start from the lowest of several hundred thousand Won to dozens of billion Wons at the top end.


    At the last auction, the most expensive Rune Stone was sold for around ?70,000,000,000. (TL: over $62 million)


    Apparently, this Rune Stone contained a skill that could revert many injured people back to their original conditions in one go, and it was snapped up by an anonymous overseas rank S Healer who had reputedly emptied out his entire life savings.


    Jin-Woo''s heart began beating faster.


    A skill that increased his movement speed, as well as another that decreased the amount of damage received.


    Sure, they weren''t as good as those skills that sold for billions of Won, but they were still amazing to him regardless. And he got to learn those for free, too!


    His overall magic energy value was too low, so it''d be hard to use them properly, but still, it was better than not knowing them, wasn''t it?


    ''Besides, the Tenacity skill doesn''t even need Mana to activate, too¡­..''


    It seemed that this Mana thing was his magic energy. If that was the case, then even though he didn''t have a lot of magic energy, he''d be able to freely use the Tenacity skill. That alone was a huge gain.


    "By the way¡­ what could this ''unknown'' thing be?"


    [Skills]


    Passive skills:


    ¨C (Unknown) Lv. Max


    The ''Unknown'' that occupied one whole slot of the passive skills column.


    Since it was located in the passive column, that meant it activated automatically, but there was not one explanation or any information on it.


    ''Not even a single clue, huh.''


    The amount of information he could learn was just too limited. Even if he burst his brain trying to figure it out, he knew there wouldn''t be any answers. So, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to elsewhere.


    ''Stat points, is it¡­.?''


    Three additional Stat points he got as a reward remained there, still to be distributed.


    [Stat]


    Strength: 10


    Stamina: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 10


    Perception: 10


    (Available points to distribute: 3)


    ''I''m sure this means I can increase any one of my Stats by three points, right?''


    There were five categories in the list of Stats. Maybe because he was a mere level 1, the values of each stat were ''simple'', to say the least. However, if he considered how reality operated, he couldn''t take these stats lightly at all.


    If his abilities changed for real with a moment''s decision, then who in this world would be able to casually make such choices?


    Jin-Woo''s expression became serious.


    ''Strength is no doubt talking about my physical power¡­.''


    He could more or less figure out what ''Strength'', ''Stamina'' and ''Agility'' could mean. After all, those were the kind of ''Stats'' one would often encounter in video games.


    The question was with the last two Stats, ''Intelligence'' and ''Perception'', then. And just like before, the unfriendly System didn''t provide any answers whatsoever.


    If he increased ''Intelligence'' would he get actually smarter, for instance? And, if he increased ''Perception'', then would he become more sensitive?


    Whatever the case may have been, he felt that those two Stats didn''t really seem all that useful to him right now.


    He was a melee-type Hunter, to begin with. What he needed was power, speed, or even stamina.


    ''If you were to ask me to choose between the three, I''d inevitably go with Strength.''


    If he got physically stronger, many things would become that much easier for him.


    Also, he wanted to find out what kind of change would take place with his body once the Stat values had been increased. Since he thought that this change would be much more prominent with the increase in the Strength stat, he ended up investing all three points on it.


    "All three points to the Strength stat."


    Tti-ring.


    [Stat]


    Strength: 13


    Stamina: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 10


    Perception: 10


    (Available points to distribute: 0)


    ''Is that¡­. all?''


    Indeed, it looked like it.


    The only change he could tell was the Strength stat value floating in front of his eyes like hologram projection changing from 10 to 13. Unlike how it was in cartoons or movies, his body didn''t feel like it was overflowing with uncontrollable power or anything like that.


    "Did anything actually change or not?"


    He decided to use his muscles to find out. Jin-Woo stood next to the bed and lifted it. He felt a bit of weight, but he was able to pick it up easier than he thought. However, he found it impossible to tell whether this was because of the bed being light, or his Strength having been improved.


    ''I should''ve lifted the bed first before spending the d*mn points¡­.''


    Since he had already spent all the points before confirming, it was hard to tell the difference between ''before??? and ''after''.


    ''Only if I had some more points to spend¡­.''


    Jin-Woo licked his lips in regret only for a certain memory to jump out at him.


    "The rewards from the Penalty Quest!"


    Today wasn''t the only time he got to ''complete'' the Daily Quests. He might have nearly died, but he sure as hell did complete the Penalty Quest, and he remembered seeing the message about the rewards being available as well.


    Jin-Woo hurriedly opened the mailbox.


    [Rewards for completing the Penalty Quest is now available.]


    [Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)


    "I knew it!"


    Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly.


    Of course, it''s a resounding "Yes!"


    [The following rewards are available.]


    Reward 1. Three additional Stat points


    Reward 2. One random box


    [Would you like to collect them all?]


    Unlike the Daily Quest rewards, the option of the full status recovery was absent, but well, what he needed right now was the additional Stat points anyways.


    He was momentarily worried about there being a huge difference in rewards since they were from a Penalty Quest and all, but he was relieved to find three points waiting for him.


    Jin-Woo hummed joyously to himself.


    "Add all three points to the Strength stat."


    Tti-ring.


    [Stat]


    Strength: 16


    Stamina: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 10


    Perception: 10


    (Available points to distribute: 0)


    His Strength jumped up from 13 to 16.


    Jin-Woo stood next to the bed again and put some strength in his arms. And he was able to lift up the bed a lot easier than before. He could definitely tell the difference now.


    "It''s for real¡­.!!"


    His physical strength had really improved.


    If he were to consider the change purely through the Stats alone, then the starting value of 10 had increased by 60% so how could he fail to notice the improvement?


    Now feeling completely elated, he went around the room and began picking up not just the bed, but everything he could lay his hands on, and generally made a mess of things inside.


    Only after the chief nurse passing by heard the commotion and scolded him did he stop his tomfoolery.


    "¡­.I''m very sorry."


    As soon as the chief nurse left his room, Jin-Woo spat out a sigh of relief.


    "Whew."


    However, he couldn''t calm down at all. His heart was beating like crazy.


    Thud, thud. Thud, thud!


    As a matter of fact, his chest actually hurt.


    The Daily Quest that would continue to show up every day, and the Stat points as the reward!


    As long as this unexplainable phenomenon didn''t come to a sudden end, he''d be able to live a completely different life to the one he''d been leading until now.


    This was an unbelievable opportunity for him.


    Besides that, the Stat Window also showed his ''level''.


    ''Does this mean I can also increase my level, too?''


    Eventually, though ¨C Jin-Woo shook his head.


    ''Eiii, there''s no way.''


    Now that would be too good to be true. He wasn''t hoping that far, anyway. The rewards from the quests alone were plenty enough for him.


    He''d use the Stat points to increase his abilities. Every day he''d grow to be stronger ¨C compared to yesterday, he''d be stronger today; compared to today, he''d be stronger tomorrow.


    ''Me, getting stronger? The rank E Hunter, and also, always mocked as the weakest weapon?''


    He didn''t even think about climbing up as far as the rank S or A. Even the notion of getting to rank C or D, like those Hunters he''d been working with, would surely be seen as a laughable one.


    Indeed, they''d disparagingly point their fingers at him and guffaw their heads off.


    Sung Jin-Woo was getting stronger? That Sung Jin-Woo, the one and only on this planet?


    However, he didn''t care if they laughed at him. No, he was already used to being the butt of many jokes. He was just happy that an opportunity had fallen on his lap, that was all.


    Suddenly, a question mark floated over his head.


    ''Could this be the process of my Re-Awakening?''


    Although extremely rare, the cases of bottom-tier Hunters climbing up to the top through Re-Awakening had happened before, for sure.


    If so, then could those Hunters who got stronger through Re-Awakening experience a similar sort of situation as he was in?


    ''Let''s find out.''


    Feeling genuinely curious now, Jin-Woo settled down in front of a computer located at the corner of the hospital room.


    Since he was staying in a VIP room provided free of charge by the Hunter''s Association, this computer wasn''t the only item of convenience found here.


    Taptaptaptap¡­.


    Jin-Woo''s fingers typed rapidly on the keyboard.


    Searching, searching, and then, more searching¡­..


    He visited countless websites.


    He even entered those websites that one couldn''t even get anywhere near without a Hunter''s licence. He even resorted to paying for information and continued to rummage through every document and article he found.


    However, rather than finding similar events as his, he couldn''t even find a single mention of a precedence, either.


    ''It''s different¡­.''


    His Re-Awakening was completely different from the normal ones, as it turned out.


    Most other Hunters who underwent Re-Awakening process gained their new found strength through roughly the similar process as their first Awakening as a Hunter.


    Not one of them had experienced hearing weird voices at the brink of death, nor did they get to increase their strength through Stat values and such.

 13 Chapter XII

    ''Still, I can''t be certain, so¡­.''


    To be 100% sure, Sung Jin-Woo anonymously opened a thread on the internet forum exclusive to licenced Hunters.


    [Title: Something weird has happened to me.]


    [Description: I can suddenly see my Stats in numbers like in a video game, and I can even increase their values, too. Is there anyone who has experienced something similar to me?]


    Below that OG post, comments figuratively exploded forth.


    ©¸Anonym8514: LOL Why dontcha stop f*cking around, dude.


    ©¸Anonym3644: Isn''t he just a loon?


    ©¸Anonym9437: Lost his d*mn mind.


    ©¸Anonym1579: Maybe you''ve played too many games¡­..


    ©¸Anonym3148: By any chance, are you a cartoonist?


    ©¸Anonym7412: Go visit the nearest hospital, ''k?


    ©¸Anonym6491: I''d like to hear the details first.


    ©¸Anonym4124: Stop accepting all sorts of trash just because they hold the Hunter licence; this forum needs to go through a cleansing, seriously now¡­


    Dozens of comments all with roughly the similar contents flooded in.


    "Eh-whew¡­."


    Jin-Woo spat out a groan.


    He had spent a long time looking around but he had nothing to show for his troubles. He got called a loon in the forum and people disparaged him. He did all this, yet seeing that there was no information to gather¡­.


    "I guess that my case is really a unique one."


    He was the only one under the heavens.


    The most unique Hunter in the whole world!


    He still needed some time to figure out how much of a help this strange phenomenon would provide, and just how far he could actually grow through it, but at least, he got a good feeling about this whole thing.


    When he took a look outside, the night had deepened quite considerably.


    "When did the time get so late¡­.?"


    Jin-Woo frowned deeply.


    His eyes ached a bit after staring into a computer monitor for so long.


    Jin-Woo massaged his forehead and stood up from the chair to loosen his body with a bout of light stretching. He moved his body this way and that for a while. He bent his body 90 degrees and that''s when he discovered two small boxes lying forgotten on the floor.


    "¡­.Ah."


    The ''random boxes''.


    Two boxes wrapped in the monotone gift wrappers and topped off with a ribbon ¨C exactly like the ones in video games.


    ''They must''ve fallen off from the bed when I was making a mess of the room earlier.''


    He had completely forgotten about them after receiving those as his rewards. Jin-Woo picked up the closest box and opened its lid.


    "¡­.A band-aid?!"


    He dumbfoundedly stared at the ''thing'' that looked exactly like the regular band-aid for a while, only for the information about it to float up above in green letters.


    [Item: Band-Aid]


    A regular band-aid. Useful in patching up small wounds. Can be stored inside your Inventory.


    "It IS a band-aid¡­."


    He was hopeful that this thing might possess some kind of a special attribute like the treasures found within the dungeons, but he wasn''t so lucky today.


    ???Of course, I haven''t heard of someone finding band-aids inside a dungeon, to begin with¡­.''


    With his mind half in disappointment and the other half in anticipation, he opened the remaining box.


    And he got himself a brand new ball-point pen.


    He studied it from all sorts of angles and even clicked on the tip so the ball-point would come out, but it was still your average pen.


    [Item: Ball-point pen]


    An average ball-point pen. Can be stored inside your Inventory.


    It was quite likely that, as its name implied, all sorts of random junk would come out from the random boxes.


    "Hmm¡­.."


    Well, it wasn''t as if he was left empty-handed anyway.


    Sure, he didn''t really have any needs for either the band-aid or the pen right now, but thanks to them, he got to learn about the existence of the thing called the ''Inventory''.


    Also, seeing that the information on other objects found in the room did not show up, he figured that only the info on the items from the random box could be read.


    "Inventory."


    As soon as he called out for his Inventory, a graphical representation of a storage unit with dozens of slots appeared in the air.


    As fitting the storage unit of a level 1 user, it was¡­. not as empty as he thought. He thought there would be nothing in there, but inside the first slot, he found a rather familiar object.


    "Isn''t that¡­.?"


    Jin-Woo took that out immediately.


    Tti-ring.


    [Item: Kim Sang-Sik''s steel longsword]


    Attack +10


    It was precisely Mister Kim''s sword that Jin-Woo picked up back in the underground temple. He assumed that it was left behind inside the Gate, though.


    "Hey, nice to see you, too."


    A smile formed on Jin-Woo''s face.


    He felt happy seeing this thing again, what with both of them having survived that hellish death trap. Besides, it was too wasteful to just be abandoned in a different dimension, wasn''t it?


    ''Didn''t Mister Kim ahjussi say he bought this for around ?3,000,000?'' (TL: over $2,600)


    The weapons of Hunters outwardly looked rather plain, but the truth was anything but.


    Monsters couldn''t be damaged with weapons that did not carry the wielder''s magic energy. So, weapons crafted especially for the purpose of dealing with those b*stards would always be quite pricey.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to rely on this guy for a while.''


    He had been fighting with his bare hands until now because he couldn''t afford to buy a proper weapon.


    Although it was a cheap sword, he was still rather grateful for it.


    ''You''re mine now.''


    If Mister Kim saw this sword in his hands in the future, he might start foaming at the mouth and angrily demand its return. Well, he was a selfish man who readily discarded the saviour of his life, so it was rather a good possibility.


    However, both this sword and this ''opportunity'' were given to him in return for sacrificing his life. So, he wasn''t planning to give it back that easily.


    Jin-Woo''s eyes sharpened considerably.


    He had learned two things about reality back in that temple.


    Firstly, he needed to become far, far stronger.


    He was weak and almost died several times as a result.


    That wasn''t all.


    He knew what the results would be, yet he couldn''t stop that choirboy Hunter from stepping forward, and also, he knew Mister Kim was in the wrong, but he could not help Mister Song at all.


    Because he wanted to survive, he turned his gaze away even though he knew what was right. If he didn''t want to be ashamed of himself again, then he simply had to become stronger.


    And finally¡­.


    ''There is no room for unnecessary kindness.''


    What he got after his acts of kindness was the betrayal of his comrades.


    Three of them abandoned him, who couldn''t even move properly, and ran away. He desperately called out to them but none returned to help him.


    None of them could remember just who had saved their lives only a few moments ago.


    ''¡­.Give and take.''


    He swore not to take on any unnecessary risk out of some unconditional act of kindness. The most important thing at the end of the day was his own life, after all.


    Those were two important life lessons Jin-Woo got to engrave in his heart after experiencing a near-death event.


    To become stronger than before, and to become more selfish than before.


    "I can do this."


    Jin-Woo was one of those types of people who would never forget what he had been taught.


    *****


    Inside a certain ''pojangmacha''. (TL: the Korean-style covered street stall)


    The nurse Choi Yu-Rah was busy chatting to a friend she hadn''t seen in a long time as the night wore on.


    "Ahh, I almost forgot."


    Yu-Rah belatedly recalled that her friend was an employee of the Hunter''s Association. The reason for her finding work in the Hunter''s hospital was in no small part due to this friend.


    "You know a lot about Hunters, right?"


    "Well, more than most people, sure. What''s up?"


    "Is there a Hunter with an ability to heal their own wounds really quickly?"


    ??Aren''t those Healer-type Hunters? One healing spell later, every wound goes bye-bye~!!"


    "No, no, not like magic and stuff. I mean, like, unconsciously."


    "Like, unconsciously?"


    "For example, when the person has lost consciousness, or when¡­ he''s in the middle of sleep."


    Yu-Rah''s friend shook her head.


    "Eii~. There''s no way. That''d be something like regeneration, and that''s an incredible ability, you know? That''s a unique trait only the rarest of all top-tier monsters exceeding the ranks of ''A'' possess."


    "There''s no human who possesses it, though?"


    "Ng. I''ve never heard of a Hunter who has such an ability."


    "R-really?"


    Could she have made a mistake, then?


    Yu-Rah slowly nodded her head.


    It was at this point that her friend spoke again.


    "But, then again¡­ I don''t know. Maybe it''s possible if you''re talking about S-ranked Hunters."


    Hearing her friend''s words, Yu-Rah raised her head.


    "S ranks?"


    "There are plenty of freakish monsters within the S-ranked Hunters, and also, not much is known about them, right? What were they saying? Right, the Hunter Baek Yun-Ho from the White Tiger Guild can apparently morph into a real monster."


    However, Sung Jin-Woo was supposedly a Hunter ranked E.


    The ranks of the Hunters were publicly viewable on the Association''s website, so if anyone were interested, they could take a look. Yu-Rah became curious from the morning''s incident and she searched for Sung Jin-Woo''s information.


    ''His rank is too low for him to possess such a unique abi¡­. Ah!''


    The Re-Awakening of a Hunter!


    She then remembered hearing hushed whispers of ''Re-Awakening'' coming from Jin-Woo''s room when she was walking past it yesterday.


    ''Could it be that he had gone through a Re-Awakening?''


    For most regular people, it was truly impossible to befriend an S-ranked Hunter, never mind encountering one. Not only were there too few of them, but they also happened to be crazy busy most of the time as well.


    So, just what kind of a situation was this? Someone as amazing as that was a patient she was looking after. A guy who just entered the S rank having moved up from the lowly E.


    ''If there are only a few people who realise his true value, then¡­.''


    If she scored some points with him now, wouldn''t it be more likely that she''d be awarded more opportunities later down the line?


    A chance to become acquaintances with a rank S Hunter didn''t happen every day, after all. They were an existence that people couldn''t easily meet even if they were prepared to shell out lots of money.


    As her imagination took flight, a bright smile slowly bloomed on Yu-Rah''s face.


    "Oh my gosh?! You girl, did something nice happen? Why are you suddenly grinning like that out of the blue?"


    "Oh, uh, it''s nothing, you know. Nothing much."


    Yu-Rah continued to shake her head, but the smile on her lips didn''t want to go away that easily.


    Part 8: Level up!


    "Oh my goodness. Look at that guy''s physique."


    "Was that patient''s body that good before?"


    Two young female nurses walking in the corridor whispered to each other as soon as they spotted Sung Jin-Woo.


    He pretended to have not heard them and quietly returned to his room.


    It had been a week since he started taking on the Daily Quests. Several changes took place during this time. One of them happened to be the transformation of his body.


    Jin-Woo stood before the mirror mounted on the hospital room''s wall by the corner.


    "Hmm. Hmm."


    He checked out his entire body in front of this full-length mirror.


    He got a bit embarrassed by doing something that a female university student would more likely end up doing, and only after clearing his throat twice was he able to stare straight at the mirror.


    The thing was, though¡­. He had definitely changed.


    His body was in the middle of a transformation.


    ''I''ve got muscles now.''


    The most eye-catching change was the drastic increase of his muscles. The normal-looking flabby flesh was gradually disappearing, only to be replaced by hard muscles. Thanks to that, his shoulders had widened more and his overall frame had grown bigger as well.


    ''Even then, doesn''t seem heavy and slow.''


    Only the necessary amount of muscles in the necessary places. If he were to describe the overall impression his body gave off, then would it be kinda like ''looking swift and athletic''?


    He was a guy and even he found this rather appealing, so it wasn''t such a strange thing for young nurses to whisper about him.


    ''And it''s all due to this guy over here.''


    Jin-Woo summoned his Stat Window.


    Tti-ring.


    Name: Sung Jin-Woo


    Level: 1


    Class: None


    Title: None


    HP: 100


    MP: 10


    Tiredness: 0


    [Stat]


    Strength: 31


    Stamina: 10


    Agility: 10


    Intelligence: 10


    Perception: 10


    (Available points to distribute: 0)


    [Skills]


    Passive skills:


    ¨C (Unknown) Lv. Max


    ¨C Tenacity Lv. 1


    Active skills:


    ¨C Dash Lv. 1


    His Strength stat had gone past 30 already.


    Since he thought that it''d be hard to tell the kind of effects the increases in other Stats would bring, he ended up investing all the points he earned on the Strength Stat, which seemed to be the easiest way to feel the change taking place within.


    Besides, Strength played a key role when fighting monsters, so that was like killing two birds with one stone.


    ''My body wouldn''t have transformed by this much just because I exercised for a few days.''


    In that case, there could be only one explanation.


    With his Strength value continuously rising up, the muscles were changing their shapes in order to display the maximum amount of effect, too.


    He couldn''t think of any other reason besides that one.


    He was inwardly worried about investing too many points to the Strength Stat, but after seeing his transformed body, he became rather happy and all the worries in his mind were forgotten for now.


    ''However, it is way too eye-catching, isn''t it?''


    The number of times he was mentioned by the nurses was constantly on the rise. It was quite likely that, since their job involved looking after human bodies, their levels of discernment could have been higher than most.


    Jin-Woo possessed quite a keen sense of hearing, so whenever his name was mentioned in the vicinity, he took note of it.


    ''I guess it''s time for me to leave this hospital, no?''