The man adjusting his black horn-rimmed glasses had an incredibly gentle appearance.
Drip. Drip.
But the blood dripping from his briefcase gave off a completely different impression.
“What’s going on, sir?”
Kang Seonsu spoke up.
He was a strange guy. Didn’t look like a Hunter at all. Who comes into a dungeon wearing a suit?
Even if he was a sales representative for some Guild, he’d at least be wearing a protective vest on the outside. That was the minimum safety rule for dungeons.
‘No way.’
Kang Seonsu recalled the recent notice that had gone out to all the Guilds.
Some people working as Hunters undergo Awakening after entering a dungeon, and some awaken due to the influence of the Gate itself.
When people first awaken, many panic, unsure of what to do.
Most of them register as Awakened. Their previous qualifications are replaced by a new evaluation of their awakened abilities.
But among them, there are unregistered Awakened.
The reason was simple.
When registering as an Awakened, they conduct an identity check. If the person is a criminal, no matter how powerful they are, they are subject to the law’s judgment.
They know very well what disaster could occur if a lawless person wields power stronger than a firearm.
Naturally, criminals do not register with the Gate Management Bureau.
Unregistered Awakened thus become criminals, and the government holds a Special Awakener Reporting Period.
During this period, those who committed crimes are given leniency or pardons, then recruited as state assets.
Of course, there was opposition, but not all criminals registered as Awakened.
Recently, a notorious unregistered Awakened had begun to surface.
A criminal with a neat suit and an intellectual air — a villain known simply as the Office Worker.
“You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”
The man smiled gently, stretching his lips into a calm grin.
“From now on, I will kill you.”
Kang Seonsu pulled out his baton from his inventory — an electric baton charged with magic to deliver a stunning shock.
As a Melee Hunter, Kang Seonsu gripped his weapon, ready for the man walking towards him.
But suddenly, his hands would not move.
‘What the—’
He tried to move his body again, but failed. His entire body was now bound by something black.
“Huh? Ugh! Ughhhh!”
Kang Seonsu screamed, struggling against the bindings. Shadow Vines had crawled up from the shadows beneath his feet, twisting around him like chains.
The Office Worker had strolled over leisurely, while Kang Seonsu instinctively trembled, like a fly caught in a spider’s web.
“All Hunters are evil.”
The Office Worker said that as he passed by Kang Seonsu, as if there was no need to lift a finger.
Soon, dreadful screams followed.
The screams were so loud that even Hunters who were hunting or resting nearby noticed the disturbance.
“What was that scream just now?”
“Wha-? Huuh! Th-there’s a p-person!”
Just moments ago, the man was mercilessly slaughtering goblins that resembled dwarves, yet the death of a fellow human caused such an uproar.
Even though dozens, no—hundreds of lives were mercilessly trampled.
The Office Worker smiled faintly. No one here could threaten him.
No matter how many, there was no fear. Just like before, and just like it would be in the future.
“Hunters, let me show you how your prey feels.”
Indeed.
“Healer, healer, where are you?”
“Call the authorities now! Senior Healer, no, first, call an ambulance!”
The dungeon entrance had become a complete battlefield.
Earlier, it was a place I passed through without incident, but now I saw the Guarders protecting the entrance.
They used to tease me about when I would awaken, but when I finally did, they celebrated with me.
I had been coming and going here for half a year, training for Awakening. Naturally, I’d grown close to these people.
It would be a lie if my heart wasn’t affected seeing people crying as their limbs were hacked off like toy building blocks.
“Everyone’s dead… just me left…! Ugh, gag!”
“Don’t say that! Stop the bleeding quickly!”
“It’s already too late…”
The Guarders manning the checkpoint had been wiped out. Just now, a person barely clinging to life succumbed.
“We have confirmation that an S-rank Hunter from the agency will arrive within 30 minutes!”
“Damn it! Flying through the sky takes that long? There’s a murderer rampaging inside right now!”
The villain currently in the dungeon was the Office Worker.
An Awakened who never registered, committing crimes at will.
His ability was shadow manipulation. The darkest, most efficient power in a place like a dungeon.
A Hunter who hates Hunters and hunts them down.
I don’t even know what happened to Kim Taeyang’s life.
Though short, I had grown attached to him.
The reason I pushed him so hard was to prevent him from dying meaninglessly in the dungeon.
Because the dungeon was a place where overconfidence in weak power could cost you your life in an instant.
“We can’t just sit here until the top Hunter arrives! Call for backup immediately!”
The Fighting God Guild representative, who had tried to recruit me earlier, was on the phone nonstop somewhere.
As if reporting. He glanced at me once or twice, surely not just my imagination.
I stood at a crossroads.
The murderer was inside, fully skilled with his powers.
I had awakened too, but only just, and couldn’t fully utilize my abilities. In other words, I had no idea if I could win against him.
The blonde-haired one I’d only known for two weeks. The people I’d never properly greeted but knew by face — superiors at our training center.
“The Anyang Amusement Park Dungeon will be sealed off soon.”
What?
A strange message popped up. The dungeon would be sealed?
It appeared in my System window.
The people around me were ordinary civilians and probably couldn’t see the System message.
I stared at the dungeon entrance. Now connected to the System, I had a small amount of magic power.
Meaning I could see the magic energy.
Something ominous was stirring at the entrance.
-Then, Master?
One day, the blonde had suddenly said that to me.
I kindly asked what nonsense he was talking about, but he laughed and said it felt like a master-disciple relationship straight out of a martial arts movie.
So I fired back, asking if I really looked that old.
Why did that memory suddenly come to mind?
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“You can’t go in there! Stop him!”
Before I knew it, I had entered the dungeon.
And within three seconds of entering — I swear on my life, just three seconds — I heard something collapse.
Kwahhh! Thud-thud!
The dungeon entrance exploded and was sealed off with a black curtain. My escape route was blocked.
“He’s a rookie Hunter under my care. If I get separated and something happens, it’ll be a headache.”
I muttered to myself, scratching the back of my head.
-Condition Unlocked.
-Synchronization Rate 1%.
What now?
Suddenly, a blue Status Window glowed on my right. Inside, it was filled with badly corrupted text, distorted and unreadable.
What the hell was the condition?
At least I knew that another Status Window had activated.
And presumably, when the synchronization rate hits 100%, I would gain something.
Even a three-year-old would get that. The problem was what the condition was.
Entering the dungeon? Or going into a dangerous place?
‘Screw it, I’ll just beat the hell out of the murderer first.’
I muttered as I stepped further inside.
Blood was splattered everywhere. What I saw could easily be censored for being too graphic.
A madman. Completely insane.
This was the Republic of Korea, not some fantasy world.
No matter the Hunters’ world, committing such inhuman crimes was beyond belief.
I recalled the suited man I met earlier. No wonder he felt ominous. His outfit didn’t belong in the dungeon at all.
-You’re really lucky. You should buy a lotto ticket today.
I hadn’t understood that phrase at the time, but now I did.
If I hadn’t left the dungeon, I’d be dead by his hands. I was lucky to have escaped.
Hah.
What if I had met that guy in the other world?
Honestly, I wouldn’t have even been able to look him in the eye.
That kind of person told me as if doing me a favor, that since he was in a good mood, he’d spare me.
That really pissed me off.
This wasn’t the Awakening I wanted, but at least I had some power and magic.
Even if I was level one, I wasn’t about to lose to some deranged murderer.
The deeper I went inside, the more victims I saw. The only consolation was…
“Ugh, please… save me…”
“My kids… now that I’ve awakened as a Hunter… I’ll make them happy…”
There were two Hunters and a Trainer. One seemed dead from excessive bleeding, but the other three were alive.
Trash. Like a child bored of Lego, tearing people’s limbs apart. Just looking at it made my teeth grit.
“I’m sorry.”
The survivors gasped for breath, their eyes full of despair.
They were struggling to stay conscious, but it must have been devastating to realize the person who came wasn’t able to heal them.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any Recovery Potions. Those were too expensive.
Recovery Potions contained Magic Essence Stones — extremely pure ones.
How expensive? One hundred million won.
Not a joke. One hundred million won.
A potion capable of saving someone on the brink of death, yet priced that high. Did you think it would be cheap?
I examined the wounds of the critically injured, letting out a low groan and muttering a quick apology.
Cut clean.
The amputations were so clean it felt like they could be glued back together.
-Store in Inventory?
-Yes / No
What?
I withdrew my hand from the injured. The message disappeared. When I touched again, the prompt reappeared, asking if I wanted to store the person in my inventory.
Did it mean the clothes they were wearing? To be safe, I touched bare skin instead of over their clothing.
The message kept appearing.
“Store.”
I muttered the command.
The System converted my voice into text and generated the necessary pattern algorithm.
Ah, so this meant using a skill.
The person I was touching vanished, entering my inventory.
This was possible?
I’d done all sorts of things with Systems in other worlds, but never seen a person stored in the inventory before.
- Tank Lee Chang-uk LV3
- Strength: 09
- Agility: 06
- Stamina: 13
- Magic Power: 05
- Luck: 05
- HP: 0/25
- MP: 1/1
- Current Status: Bleeding
The stats of the person in my inventory appeared.
I tested it on others as well. Whether or not the person I touched disappeared, the others couldn’t see it.
They were dying anyway.
I stored the three people in my inventory and kept watch.
- HP: 0/25
They had lost a lot of blood.
Their HP was at zero.
Three minutes passed. Just in case, I opened my inventory and spoke to them. Of course, they didn’t respond.
If they could hear me, I wanted them to know I wasn’t kidnapping but saving them. No funny business later.
- Temporary Skill Slot Created.
- Tank Lee Chang-uk’s ‘Provocation LV2’
- Melee Kim Ji-hoon’s ‘Dash LV1’
- Melee Shin Woo-jun’s ‘Double Slash LV3’
The three names matched those inside my inventory.
Apparently, synchronization with those stored allowed me to use their abilities.
That was better than having no skills at all.
I was nearing the Respawn Point when suddenly the dungeon began to shake.
I crouched and leaned against the wall.
An earthquake? No, it felt artificial.
It shook for about 30 seconds before stopping.
Then the dungeon’s atmosphere changed.
It turned thick, sticky, and unpleasant.