Chapter 1 - Prologue

[Daily Quest is now available.]

An articulate voice of a man.

This was definitely not a game. Of course, it wasn’t a dream, either.

But, his voice definitely resounded within my head. Hell, I could even see the quest window floating in mid-air, too.

‘Could it be… Even today?”

While fervently praying in my head, I cautiously opened the information window.

ting….

[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]

Push-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)

※Warning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate punishments.

As soon as I got to confirm the contents of the Daily Quest, I began cussing out reflexively.

“Awww… Just how many days has it been already?!”

...Part 1: Rank E Hunter...

Rank E Hunter, Kim Soo-Jin.

No matter where he went, this title always followed him around.

Soo-Jin's overall strength was almost the same as a regular human being. With the exception of being a bit stronger and his wounds healing slightly faster, Soo-Jin was about the same as regular people in every other aspect.

It was par for the course then, that he’d always end up getting injured. He nearly died several times in the dungeon.

Of course, it wasn’t as if Kim Soo-Jin liked being a Hunter.

The work was dangerous, others made fun of him, and to confound the matters even further, the pay was pretty pathetic, as well.

If it weren’t for the medical aid paid out by the Hunter Association to the Hunters in their “payroll”, he will turned in his hunter licence and quit by now, and live his life like a regular person.

Unfortunately, someone like Kim Soo-Jin, in his mid-twenties and lacking in any tangible job skills, there was no other way but to remain as a Hunter if he wanted to pay for his mother’s hospital fee of millions of won every month.

Should one say that he had no choice in the matter?

That was why, even though he didn’t want to, he simply had to participate in the raid supervised by the Association.

**********

Hunters operating within the same area tended to know each other pretty well. In the event of a Dungeon opening up, all the Hunters in that district would be asked to come, that’s why.

The Hunters who had arrived early sipped on the cups of coffee handed out by the Association’s employee and shared cordial greetings with each other.

“Oh, hey. Mister Son, Over here. Here.”

“Oh? Mister H, what are you doing here? I thought you were giving up on being a Hunter?”

“Well, that… My wife is pregnant with our third child.”

“Hahahaha, is that so. Yeah, for a Hunter to earn big in one go, participating in a raid is the best, isn’t it.”

Mister Son jovially burst out in laughter. Mister Han followed suit with a sheepish chuckle, before asking Son.

“By the way, why do I feel like that the Association is calling on us less and less nowadays? Did the number of Dungeons decrease or something?”

“Eii, of course not. That’s only because the Guilds are getting all worked up over clearing the Dungeons; it’s got nothing to do with the Association. I heard that various Guilds are jumping in with both feet since there is big profit involved in this whole thing.”

“Well, in that case, since this raid is being supervised by the Association, it should be safe, no?”

Mister Han took a glance around as if he was getting nervous.

If a Guild was not involved today, that meant there wasn’t enough profit to be had, and if there wasn’t enough profit to be had, then that could only mean that this particular Dungeon’s difficulty would be low.

Of course, nothing in this world was 100% absolute.

It wasn’t just Mister Han; other Hunters were nervously glancing around as well.

“Hmm. I wonder….”

Mister Son finished the rest of his coffee while avoiding answering his friend, before spotting a certain someone and raised his hand in happiness.

“Uh! He’s here. Hey, Mister Kim!! Mister Kim!”

Other Hunters also displayed joy at discovering that young man.

“Ah, hello.”

It was none other than Kim Soo-Jin.

Soo-Jin performed a simple nod of the head at the joyous Mister Son and walked by.

After making sure Soo-Jin was well out of earshot, Mister Son began sniggering while confidently speaking up.

“So, Soo-Jin showed up. Then it’s going to be okay today, too.”

Mister Han’s eyes widened up and he hurriedly asked Son.

“What was that? Is that Hunter Kim Soo-Jin really that strong?”

“Ahh. Right, of course, you wouldn’t know who he is. He’s a Hunter who started working shortly after you left, you see. However, every Hunter here knows who that kid is by now.”

“He’s really that strong? Wait, why is he working for the Association, then? Why not for a Guild or as a freelancer?”

Son sniggered some more before narrowing his eyes.

“You know what that guy’s nickname is?”

“How should I know that? C’mon, man. Just tell me already.”

“Weakest Hunter Soo-Jin.”

….Weakest? Not something like, the Strongest Hunter?”

“Dude, that’s the nickname for the rank S Hunter Choi Yun. That kid is the ‘weakest hunter’. I’m pretty sure he’s the weakest Hunter in the Republic of Korea.”

“Really?”

Han began frowning deeply.

Why would other Hunters greet this Kim Soo-Jin if he was really that weak? After all, didn’t they need someone to trust their backs if things went south?

Han couldn’t really understand the reactions of other Hunters.

When Han’s head tilted this way and that, Son chuckled and poked the side of Han with his elbow.

“Eii! The raids Kim Soo-Jin participates in will only have low difficulty because he’s so weak. The Association would never entrust him with a tough job, don’t you get that? They don’t want to see him get killed, right?”

Only then did Han’s expression brightened up.

“R-right. Yeah.”

His wife was deeply worried about him since this would be his first raid in quite a while. Honestly, even he himself was worried, too. However, now that he listened to Som’s words, he felt like a weight was lifted off his mind.

Son continued on.

“That guy, there was a rumour not too long ago that said, he got injured participating in a raid of an E Rank Dungeon and spent a week in the hospital.”

“A Hunter got injured by an E Rank Dungeon?”

“That’s right. No one expected to see a Hunter getting injured during an E Rank Dungeon raid, so they didn’t even bring along a Healer, apparently!”

“That’s why he spent a week in a hospital?! Pu-wahahaha!”

When Han began guffawing too loudly, Son hurriedly hushed him.

“Stop it, man. Mister Kim might hear you.”

“Aigoo. I didn’t think of that.”

Ham cautiously checked Soo-Jin's reactions as he continued to giggle.

Thankfully, the distance was far enough and the youth didn’t seem to have heard them.

Of course, they were mistaken.

‘I can hear everything, you old geezers.’

A bitter smile formed on Soo-Jin as he tried hard to ignore them. At times like today, he couldn’t help but blame his unusually-acute sense of hearing.

It seemed that he arrived too early and the raid was yet to commence.

‘Did I arrive too early?’

Soo-Jin looked around while waiting time, spotted the Association employee handing out warm coffee, and walked closer.

“Can I get a cup of coffee as well?”

“Oh. Kim Soo-Jin Hunter-nim… I’m really sorry, but we ran out of coffee just now.”

“……”

The cold Winter breeze brushed past the tip of his nose.

Soo-Jin quietly wiped his nose with his index finger.

What a sad day it was, for the coffee to run out as soon as it was his turn to get one.

********

“Why do you persist on being a Hunter, Mister Kim Soo-Jin?”

“I’m sorry.”

Soo-Jin lowered his head and apologised.

The young, beautiful girl using healing magic in front of Soo-Jin, Yi Ju-Hui showed how unhappy she was with a pouting expression.

“I’m not trying to get you to apologise, you know? I’m only worried about you. If you continue fighting this way, sooner or later you’ll be faced with a truly dangerous situation.”

Soo-Jin glanced past Yi Ju-Hui’s shoulders and took a look at other Hunters fighting over yonder.

When one entered through the Portal, one would arrive at a place called ‘dungeon’. The rank of this particular dungeon should be around D.

A dozen-plus Hunters were taking care of the monsters inside this dungeon without so much as breaking a sweat.

Unfortunately, for a rank E, such a feat was nearly impossible.

Normally, the job of healing the injured Hunters from the back fell on the Healers. Since he always got injured during raids, Soo-Jin was rather well-known among the Healers.

Yi Ju-Hui cautiously asked him.

“Perhaps, is there a reason why you can’t give up being a Hunter?”

Soo-Jin resolutely shook his head.

He didn’t want to reveal anything personal to other people.

“I’m only doing this as a hobby. If I don’t do this, I’ll probably die of boredom, actually.”

Yi Ju-Hui pouted even more.

“If you continue on with this hobby of yours, soon you’d be raiding a dungeon in the netherworld, you know?”

Soo-Jin was taken off-guard from her remark and ended up chuckling out loudly.

Thanks to that, Yi Ju-Hui’s nagging intensified.

“Ah, ahh!! Don’t laugh! Don’t! Your injuries might get worse!!”

Soo-Jin giggled before asking her.

“Where did you even learn to say stuff like that?”

“What do you mean, where? It’s from Mister Son waaay over there.”

“Aigoo, that ahjussi really went and did it, didn’t he….”

As they chatted and laughed, his treatment was almost over.

It was already too late by then, though. It seemed that the raid was pretty much over now.

Soo-Jin's expression hardened.

‘I only killed a single monster today.’

A rank E creature, no less. Kim Soo-Jin began fidgeting with the rank E magic crystal in his hand.

The lowest grade magic crystal from a rank E monster fetched less than hundred thousand won. For something he bet his life to earn, it was a pathetically small amount. 'Just over $88'

‘A magic crystal from a rank C monster can sell for over ten million won, though….’ ($8830+)

Too bad, a E Rank Hunter such as himself couldn’t even attempt to kill a monster with a rank as high as C.

Out of the blue, someone shouted out.

“Uh? Hey, there’s another entrance over here.”

The nearby Hunters rushed over there.

“Huh, it’s true.”

“There really is another path?”

Just as that Hunter said, there was an entrance hidden within the dungeon itself.

“A Double dungeon, is it… So, such a thing actually exists for real….”

Mister Son, possessing over ten years’ experience as a Hunter, looked into the hidden entrance and displayed how surprised he was.

The interior of the hidden, cave-like passage was dark and nothing could be seen. Mister Son activated his speciality, flame magic, and tossed it further forward into the passage.

The flame flew forward and illuminated the interior. The passageway seemed to go on forever. Soon enough, the flame lost its forward momentum, fell to the ground and smouldered for a bit before flickering out of existence.

The passage was shrouded in darkness once more.

“Hmm….. Everyone, gather around. Let’s have a meeting.”

The unspoken leader of this raid, Mister Song, called for other Hunters to gather around. Soo-Jin’s treatment was over by then, so he and Yi Ju-Hui also joined in.

Song spoke up while sweeping his gaze over the gathered Hunters.

“As you know very well, a Gate will not close unless the dungeon’s boss is killed. Since the Gate itself is still intact even though we took care of all the monsters here, that can only mean that the boss is beyond that passageway.”

Song pointed towards the hidden entrance.

Hunters exchanged meaningful glances and nodded their heads. No one could disagree with that notion.

Song continued on.

“Now normally, we’re supposed to relay this information back to the Association and wait for their decision first, but…

But, if we do that, we might end up handing over the task of killing the boss to other Hunters, and our takings for today’s raid would decrease by a lot.”

The expressions of the Hunters crumpled.

Han’s face hardened more than anyone else since he needed a lot of cash for his wife’s pregnancy.

‘Postnatal care eats up so much cash nowadays, you know…’

At this rate, there’d be no meaning behind him risking his life to participate in this raid.

“That’s why I’d prefer if we took care of the boss before leaving this dungeon… So, what do you all think?”

Hunters fell into a deep contemplation.

“….”

“….”

The truth was, no one here could figure out the current situation and so, their safety could not be guaranteed. However, the difficulty of this particular dungeon proved to be very low.

So, the hidden dungeon within it couldn’t have been that difficult, either.

“Hmm, hmm.”

Song coughed to draw everyone’s attention to himself.

“Since we have seventeen people here, let’s put this to a vote, shall we? Once the decision has been made, no one complains. So? How about it?”

Others nodded their heads after hearing Song’s suggestion. No one was disagreeing with him.

“I vote for going ahead.”

Song raised his hand.

And then, other Hunters began raising their hands one by one.

“Me too.”

“Count me in as well.”

Han was the first to raise his hand, followed shortly after by Son and a few other Hunters.

Of course, those disagreeing were plentiful, too.

“Let’s go back.”

“I feel that it’d be better to wait for the Association’s decision.”

The two opposing camps were neck and neck and eventually, the final votes came down to Soo-Jin and Yi Ju-Hui.

“I’m sorry….”

Yi Ju-Hui bowed to Song and added her vote to ‘retreat’ camp.

And so, the vote count for ‘go ahead’ and ‘retreat’ was at 8:8.

A deadlock.

Song asked the hesitant Kim Soo-Jin next.

“And you, Mister Kim?”

...< Chapter 1 > Fin....

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