1

THE TRUE REWARD

“Whew…”

Jinwoo breathed a small sigh of relief. This moment signaled the end of his long journey of clearing the hundred floors of the Demon’s Castle. As he closed his eyes to process the powerful wave of emotions that flooded over him, his mother’s face popped into his head.

……

When Jinwoo opened his eyes again, he saw the system messages still in front of him. Incredibly, there were four level-up notifications.

Four levels at once?

His face lit up. It was an unbelievable triumph, considering how his leveling speed had significantly slowed after reaching level 90. He checked the stat window right away.

He had indeed gone up four levels.

Nice!

Jinwoo pumped his fist. The feeling of relief over having cleared the dungeon was overlaid by a sense of achievement, but he decided to save the celebrating for later.

There was something more important.

Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch.

It was the last ingredient he needed to make the Elixir of Life. Jinwoo unwrapped the bandages from his hand and reached toward the light sparkling from the corpse of Balan, the Demon Monarch.

Jinwoo was more anxious than elated as the notifications for items other than the one he wanted popped up one after another. He shouted for joy when the notification for the Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch finally appeared.

There it is!

Jinwoo acquired all the items and then called the Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch to his hand.

The red liquid sloshed around as Jinwoo held the clear glass bottle containing it at an angle.

This is the blood of the Demon Monarch……

He already had the World Tree Fragment and Spring Water from Echo Forest, so why wait?

Jinwoo called up the Craft window.

Unlike the last time he’d checked, Elixir of Life was now flashing on the screen. As Jinwoo skimmed the contents, the word Craftable caught his eye.

In his impatience to see the result, Jinwoo didn’t hesitate.

“Craft.”

He held his breath.

Jinwoo stared, incredulous.

Does that really say the rate of success and item quantity depends on my intelligence level?

Did that mean he wouldn’t be able to craft this at all if he was stupid? Jinwoo found himself nodding as the logic behind it strangely made sense.

The countdown continued.

Why did the words rate of success bother Jinwoo so much? His only comfort was that he’d invested every single ability point in the intelligence stat after belatedly realizing its importance.

“Yes!” Jinwoo threw both arms in the air as soon as he saw that it had worked.

Huh?

But then he noticed something strange—the bottle with the Demon Monarch’s blood was still in his right hand.

The amount of blood did decrease a little bit, but…

He tried pulling the World Tree Fragment and Spring Water from Echo Forest out of his inventory. However, all that appeared on the ground before him was the World Tree Fragment, which seemed to have a chunk missing.

He opened and thoroughly scoured his inventory, but no Spring Water was to be found.

Hmm, maybe…?

Examining the craft window confirmed his suspicions.

Out of the three ingredients, only Spring Water from Echo Forest was down to zero.

So it uses only the amount necessary instead of the entire item?

It appeared as though crafting had stopped because Spring Water from Echo Forest had run out. It seemed that not much blood was required for the recipe, and the World Tree Fragment had always been quite a large hunk of wood. It made sense that the small jar of Spring Water from Echo Forest had run out first.

Jinwoo smiled.

This isn’t exactly bad news.

It meant he could craft more elixirs as long as he acquired more Spring Water from Echo Forest.

Now, the big question remained.

Jinwoo had to forcibly calm himself when he saw not one but six wooden bottles of the Elixir of Life appear on the ground in front of him.

Would this item actually cure his mother?

…I guess I’ll find out today.

Excited, Jinwoo carefully stored the six jars of Elixir of Life in his inventory, as well as the leftover ingredients.

But there was still plenty of other items left for him to inspect.

A ring, a sword, two daggers, and even two miscellaneous items.

An S-rank instance-dungeon boss really did drop a ton of loot, but as happy as Jinwoo was to see so many items, he didn’t have time to inspect them all. His priority was to get out of there and see his mother.

Jinwoo stowed all the items he’d acquired from the Demon Monarch, then looked around as he dusted off his hands. He didn’t want to miss anything just because he was in a hurry. After all, haste made waste.

Jinwoo glanced over his shoulder and saw his shadow soldiers, who had just destroyed an army ten times their number, all standing at attention in neat rows. Behind them, the corpses of demon soldiers were strewn all over.

But where’s the dragon?

Jinwoo’s eyes sought out the monster the Demon Monarch had ridden, but he could see only mounds of dead soldiers everywhere he looked.

Did it fly away during the battle?

His worry didn’t last long as Iron approached Jinwoo, dragging something huge. It was the dead body of Kaisellin, the winged dragon.

“Dang, that’s pretty impressive, Iron.”

Iron bashfully scratched the back of his head—or rather, the back of his helmet. It’d been a while since Jinwoo had last complimented him. Jinwoo patted Iron on the shoulder and stood in front of the body.

Just as I thought…

It was as he’d suspected based on the dragon’s full title and appearance. Black smoke rose up from the dragon’s corpse, signaling that Jinwoo could extract its shadow. Jinwoo held out his arm.

“Arise.”

The extraction was quick and easy, since his level had jumped so much.

Skreeee!

With a scream reminiscent of the cry of a beast on the brink of death, a shadowy mass surged out of the dragon’s shadow. It immediately recognized its master and approached Jinwoo with its head bowed.

Oh.

Jinwoo eyed the message in surprise. He’d thought the dragon would only be good for riding, as he hadn’t seen its abilities in combat, but it was a knight rank, so it must be relatively skilled. This was remarkable considering Igris, the star of the shadow army, had also been a knight rank until recently. If he thought about it, though, there was no way a demon monarch would choose an inferior monster to ride.

Satisfied with his new soldier’s rank, Jinwoo responded. “Kaiselli…no.” He decided right then that a nine-letter name was too long.

“Kaisel.”

The winged dragon reared his head and roared long and loud into the air at his new name.

Skraaaaaw!

“Good job, everyone.” He recalled the soldiers back into his shadow, including Kaisel.

It was about time to leave the Demon’s Castle now, but there was one thing left to do. Jinwoo opened the inbox to read the quest completion message.

Yes.

At his answer, the system showed him the list of rewards.

Ping!

Jinwoo selected the first reward, having been curious about the rune stone ever since he’d initially received the quest.

Let’s start with reward one.

Ping!

The weight of a small stone in his hand accompanied the message. He opened his hand to find a rune stone unlike any other he’d seen before. It seemed to emanate a strange black color that was incomparable to a regular shade of black.

Crsh!

Previously, he’d had to squeeze the stone in his hand to break it, but now he only had to think about crushing it, and it broke apart. Black energy from the rune stone swirled around Jinwoo’s body and was absorbed.

Jinwoo promptly checked the skill window.

Whoa!

Jinwoo’s eyes widened as he read the explanation. The cooldown period was a minor drawback, but it was such a handy skill, it made sense that it had some form of limitation.

So I can swap locations with any shadow soldier no matter the place?

In a nutshell, this skill enabled instant teleportation. Jinwoo considered summoning forth a soldier in order to test the skill but quickly changed his mind.

I might as well test this out with a soldier farther away.

He happened to have some soldiers he’d left behind, outside the Demon’s Castle. He’d assigned one group to dwell in his sister’s shadow and another to patrol the neighborhood.

It’s an easy choice.

He couldn’t exactly teleport to Jinah; not only would it shock her, but he also didn’t know if the skill had any residual effects. And so Jinwoo zeroed in on one of the five soldiers patrolling his neighborhood.

“Shadow Exchange.” As soon as he’d uttered those words… “O-oh?”

Jinwoo heard the chime of a notification just as his own shadow swallowed him whole.

The sensation of free-falling didn’t last long. The gravitational pull suddenly reversed, and Jinwoo shot up at the same speed he had fallen. His gaze, which could detect only darkness, went back to normal in the blink of an eye.

This is…?

Jinwoo took in his surroundings.

Zzt, zzt…

A flickering streetlight that was most likely defective, a pushcart that leaned precariously against a wall, an electrical pole with torn flyers on it—it was the empty alleyway he often passed on his way home.

This is our neighborhood, isn’t it?

Coincidentally, this was same place where he’d ordered his five soldiers to patrol the neighborhood.

I actually changed locations.

He couldn’t help feeling gobsmacked, but he was able to collect himself enough to check under his feet. He’d come from the same shadow out of which his shadow soldiers had risen. He cautiously tapped his shadow with his foot.

……

When the skill had been activated, his feet had sunk into the shadow as if he’d stepped into a pool of water. But the shadow was back to normal now.

Amazed, Jinwoo looked up the skill info again. The three-hour waiting period before he could reuse the skill had started as per the explanation.

Amazing…

Jinwoo’s heart raced at what he’d experienced for himself.

It all happened so fast……

He had maintained concentration from the moment he’d been sucked into the shadow. Considering how time had seemed to slow from his perspective while he was in that state, he really had teleported in an instant.

He swallowed hard.

Shadow Exchange. Depending on how he used it, the possibilities were endless.

Oh right, I don’t have time for this.

Jinwoo calmed himself and tamped down his mana. He finally had in his hands the medicine that could cure his mother, so there was no time to waste.

He anxiously turned on his phone to check the time.

It’s already……

He frowned as the numbers on the screen told him it was ten o’clock at night. Visiting hours were technically over, but Jinwoo didn’t hesitate to summon the shadow of the dragon.

Kaisel.

Kreeeee!

Kaisel excitedly pushed his head out of the ground with a cry at his master’s call. Huge wings made up for a lack of arms, and a lizard the size of a truck fully emerged. When Kaisel fully spread his wings, the already narrow alley seemed to get even tighter.

Thankfully, there was no one nearby.

Kaisel lowered his body for easy mounting as Jinwoo approached, and he carefully hopped on. Even though this was his first time riding Kaisel, Jinwoo felt at ease on top of the dragon. It didn’t seem like flying would be an issue, either.

I don’t care who tries to stop me.

Never mind the hospital staff—he now had the power to break through the police or even the army. Nothing could stop him.

Let’s go.

As Jinwoo relayed the command with grim determination, Kaisel began to flap his huge wings.

Skreeeeee!

He shot up into the sky and sped along in the direction Jinwoo had indicated.

A certain meeting at the Hunter’s Association continued late into the night. The Korea-Japan raid on Jeju Island was imminent, and the association was throwing everything it had into it in hopes of finally quelling the ant infestation.

“Here’s the intel from Japan.” An employee pressed a button on a remote control, and a video that had been filmed by a Japanese satellite using a mana-detecting camera played on a huge screen. The recordings were from the first, second, and third attacks.

President Go’s eyes narrowed.

All the ants except the queen and her guards are leaving the colony.

This was as expected. The ants were on the move as per Japan’s explanation. It was quite irritating that several guards remained, but it was also common for bosses of high-rank dungeons to have extra protection.

However, even with the majority of ants out of the way, it was impossible to say the plan was foolproof. President Go was in charge of the Korean side of the operation, so he had to consider every possibility. “How likely is it that the ants will return to the cave earlier than anticipated once they realize the queen is in danger?”

Japan already had a countermeasure in place.

“They said they’d use a disruptive electromagnetic pulse.”

“A disruptive electromagnetic pulse?”

“Unlike regular ants, magic-beast versions communicate with one another on their own unique frequency.”

That was how they could effectively mobilize and command an army of several thousand.

President Go nodded. “And Japan can interfere with this by using an electromagnetic pulse?”

“That’s what they say, Mr. President.”

“And all we’d have to deal with are the queen and her guards……”

The overall plan was simple, yet it had a higher probable rate of success than any other they’d ever come up with.

So what had President Go so on edge? He rested his chin on his hands.

Maybe the reason I feel uneasy is—

Just then…President Go’s head snapped toward the window. Everyone in the meeting room startled at the association president’s sudden movement.

Manager Jinchul Woo, who was acting as President Go’s personal bodyguard, quickly approached him. “What’s wrong, sir?”

“Just now……” President Go looked at Jinchul, but the other man’s expression hadn’t changed. “Didn’t you feel that?”

“Sir? I’m not sure what you mean…”

“……”

An immense wave of mana had swept in from far away. Though fleeting, President Go had definitely sensed it.

……

When the president’s eyes remained trained on the window, the employee who had been running the presentation cautiously spoke up. “Sir…?”

President Go cocked his head and tore away his gaze. Though he was concerned about the source of this sudden wave, his current priority had to be this meeting. He thought for a second, then turned to the person in charge.

“Are you still unable to reach Hunter Jinwoo Sung?”

Yoonho Baek stared in the direction of the wave of mana as he asked, “Did you feel that, too?”

Byunggu Min chirped back, “I may be retired, but my rank hasn’t changed.”

A heavy silence fell between the two men drinking together at a neighborhood food stall.

Yoonho turned back around. “What do you think that was?”

“Maybe Jongin and Haein are having a showdown over who gets the Hunters Guild.”

The younger man giggled and tossed back his shot.

Yoonho looked at him as if he was being ridiculous. “Were you trying to be funny?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“…No. Never mind.”

Then again, Byunggu was known for being rather odd, including his sense of humor.

He’s probably the first S-rank hunter in the world to retire with all his limbs intact.

He wasn’t just the first—he was also the only one to do so. Considering how much money an S rank could earn, one would be hard-pressed to find another human who’d suddenly quit being a hunter because they were no longer interested. It wasn’t like he came from a well-to-do family, either.

Byunggu sensed Yoonho’s stare and asked, “Are you really going to go?”

“Yeah.”

“You saw how Eunsuk died.”

“All the more reason to go back.”

Byunggu looked at Yoonho, caught off guard by his answer. Yoonho drained his glass before continuing.

“If we let the ants be, soon the whole of Korea will be infested.”

“Since when are you such a patriot…?”

“I’m making up a cool excuse, since I have to go anyway.”

Guilds weren’t in a position to defy the Hunter’s Association’s orders. Because the association was so beneficial to guilds, the guilds were obligated to respond to the association’s requests.

If Yoonho really wanted to avoid going, he could try fleeing the country. However, no developed country would welcome a high-rank hunter who ran away from a high-level raid, since there was no telling whether such a person wouldn’t betray their new nation as well.

It’s not like I want to run anyway.

Yoonho snorted.

Byunggu spoke bluntly. “I’m not going. I refuse. If you’re here to persuade me, you’re wast—”

“No, that’s not it.”

Yoonho put down money for their drinks and stood. They had just finished the bottle.

“I’m here to say good-bye just in case. I don’t know whether I’ll get to see you again.”

“Yoonho…”

Byunggu gave up dissuading Yoonho as he watched the older hunter wave, already some distance away. Yoonho must have been aware of how dangerous this operation was.

But he’s still going regardless.

Yoonho’s expression wasn’t one of a hunter trembling in fear as he was forcibly dragged along. Rather, he seemed resolved to smash the ant bastards to a pulp this time around. He actually looked somewhat excited.

While Byunggu shook his head in disbelief as he chewed some food, his chopsticks froze in midair.

Wait…come to think of it, there aren’t that many hunters who absolutely hate fighting magic beasts, right?

Some healers did, but they tended to be obsessed with healing others instead.

He stared blankly into his fish-cake soup and scratched his head, confused.

Could bloodlust be a requirement for becoming an awakened being?

No, that couldn’t be it. Byunggu snickered to himself and drained the rest of his soup.

Jinwoo quickly arrived at the hospital.

It was…room 305…

From the start, he’d had no intention of entering the hospital through the main entrance. Instead, Jinwoo directed Kaisel to the window of his mother’s room.

Ruler’s Hand.

The curtain covering the window moved to the side. His mother lay peacefully asleep on the bed, exactly like the last time he’d visited her. Jinwoo used Ruler’s Hand once again to open the window and quietly enter the room. Kaisel had already merged into his shadow by this time.

Jinwoo stood beside the bed. His heart was in his throat as he neared the moment of truth.

If anything went wrong, I wouldn’t be able to take it back.

His mother had been in a coma for quite some time. There was no telling if she would even be able to swallow the Elixir of Life, nor was there any guarantee she would be fine if she did.

But……

Up to now, Jinwoo had seen the system work countless miracles. Had he heard about them from someone else, he wouldn’t have believed them, but what better source of information was there than his own eyes?

I’ve come this far, despite having been an E rank.

That was all thanks to the power of the system.

Jinwoo, who’d been staring wordlessly down at his hands, now raised his head. His mother was right there in front of him, looking like she’d wake up as soon as he called out to her.

Jinwoo summoned for the Elixir of Life.

Vmmm…

A wooden bottle appeared in his hand. He read the item information over and over again several times just in case he’d missed anything. Only after reviewing the data enough to have it almost perfectly memorized was he able to work up the courage to pull out the cork.

Pop!

He’d had steady hands when he’d risked his life to fight the Demon Monarch, but now they wouldn’t stop shaking. He let out a long, steady breath to calm his nerves.

If I make a mistake, it’ll hurt my mother……

The moment he told himself there could be no mistake, his eyes regained their usual steely resolve, and his hands steadied.

……Okay.

Jinwoo used his left arm to carefully support the head of his mother, Kyunghye Park. He then placed the bottle against her lips. The Elixir of Life slowly dripped into her mouth as Jinwoo cautiously poured a little bit at a time, careful not to rush things.

This scar……

He suddenly noticed the burn marks across both sides of his mother’s neck that wrapped around to the back. They weren’t fully visible from this angle, but Jinwoo knew all too well that her whole nape and part of the back of her head had suffered burns.

Scars inflicted because of me……

He had merely wanted to wash her hair just as she had his, but at the time, young Jinwoo had been to a public bathhouse only a handful of times and hadn’t known anything about water temperature.

Glug, glug, glug…

Squeak…

The scoop had been filled with scalding hot water. He’d carefully approached his mother from behind, doing his best not to spill.

And then…

Splash!

He’d emptied the bucket onto her. Though she’d initially flinched, Kyunghye didn’t move, clutching Jinah tightly against her body so as to shield her daughter from the water. Even as her skin turned bright red, she didn’t make a sound.

The screams afterward came not from her but from the other ladies nearby.

“Oh! Oh dear!”

“Kyunghye!”

That was when Jinwoo had realized something was wrong, even though he’d simply been trying to help.

He’d dropped the scoop and was about to burst into tears when his mother grabbed his shoulders tightly and asked, “Jinwoo, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Jinwoo had thought he was in big trouble at the time, but to this day, he’d never forgotten what had happened at that bathhouse and her words.

And here I thought I never owed anyone anything…

After his father went missing, Kyunghye had taken care of him and Jinah as a single mother. As a general rule, Jinwoo disliked both owing and giving favors. However, he owed his mother a debt he could never repay.

At that moment…the last drop of the Elixir of Life passed through his mother’s lips.

Plip.

Jinwoo set down the bottle, laid his mother back on the bed, and quietly waited, praying for something to happen.

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!

His chest ached from the pounding of his heart. He had a lump in his throat.

……

Nothing happened…but just as a bead of blood fell from Jinwoo’s tightly clenched fist—

“Haah…!”

With her eyes shut tight, Kyunghye took in a deep breath like a person who’d narrowly avoided drowning.

……!

Jinwoo was astonished. A flush was returning to her pale face like color spreading across a black-and-white screen.

Each second felt like an hour. How much time had passed?

His mother slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze roamed around the room before landing on Jinwoo.

“Who…? Is that you, Jinwoo?”

Jinwoo’s heart pounded in his chest, but he managed to nod.

It was understandable that his mother took a moment recognizing him; it had been four years, and his physique had changed quite dramatically. He didn’t rush her and waited patiently.

Memories from four years back gradually filled Kyunghye’s head like water slowly filling an empty pitcher. It didn’t take too long for her to recall why she was lying in a hospital bed.

“How long have I been here?”

“Four years.”

Jinwoo could’ve told her the exact number of days if she asked. He spoke softly to keep his mother as calm as possible.

She was startled to hear how long it had been and asked, “What about Jinah? Is she okay?”

Jinwoo suppressed a sob. His mother had just returned from a limbo between life and death after four years, and her first concern was her daughter’s well-being.

He bit his lip to keep from crying.

Now’s not the time to worry about Jinah.

That was what he wanted to say, but he kept his emotions in check as much as he could and gave a slight smile.

“Yeah, she’s fine.”

Kyunghye exhaled, clearly relieved. Though Jinwoo wished his mother would take care of herself more, he found solace in the fact that she hadn’t changed.

Everything will go back to normal now.

As it started to sink in that his mother was actually cured, his heart skipped a beat.

Jinwoo suddenly jerked in surprise. The sensation of his mother grasping his hand brought him out of his thoughts.

“Mom?”

“Thank you, son. You kept your promise.”

Promise? Oh, right… It had slipped his mind, since it was such a given, he didn’t even consider it a promise.

The Eternal Sleep Disease was an illness that plunged a person into deeper and deeper slumber until they couldn’t awaken. When it became harder and harder for Kyunghye to function as the sleeping disease worsened, she had asked Jinwoo for a favor.

“If I don’t wake up one day, you’ll take care of your sister, right?”

She’d smiled lightly like she was asking him to run an errand.

That was why Jinwoo had carried on until now without an ounce of resentment. All he’d done was shoulder the burden she had been carrying.

His mother squeezed his hand tightly as if she knew everything.

“Jinwoo…it must’ve been hard for you, wasn’t it?”

Jinwoo wanted to reassure her by laughing and waving off her concerns…but he couldn’t. The tears he’d been holding back streamed down his cheeks as he answered reflexively.

“Yeah.”