3

THE FINAL TEST

The divination circle inscribed on the floor in the middle of the temple rose to a height of about two stairs and then ground to a halt.

“An altar……” Jinwoo was muttering to himself, but the other hunters were listening intently.

Altar?

He definitely just said “altar”……

The one who’d saved their lives twice earlier wasn’t some high-rank, spiritually awakened being but Jinwoo, an E-rank hunter whom they usually looked down on.

If it wasn’t for Sung, we would be…… Everyone felt the same way.

Jinwoo’s words were their sole lifeline. Without realizing this, Jinwoo had let slip the word altar.

Kim caught on quickly. “I see, I see.”

He unsheathed a sword from his waist. It was originally made for dealing with magic beasts but was now absolutely essential for a completely different reason.

“I may not be the smartest, but even I get what’s going on here.”

Others shifted uneasily when they saw the sharp blade of the weapon in Kim’s grip.

“Hey, Kim! Why’d you draw your weapon?”

“Let’s talk it out, okay?”

Now that the highest-rank member of the party, the C-rank Song, was wounded, there was nobody who could rein in Kim, who was regarded as fairly strong among the D-rank hunters.

He pointed at the altar with his sword. “The last commandment is ‘thou shall prove thy faith,’ and an altar appeared in the middle of the room.”

He looked at Jinwoo. “Doesn’t this mean we have to sacrifice someone, Sung?”

Jinwoo nodded. He’d had the same thought. One of the six survivors was to become an offering.

That’s probably what the last commandment means……

That was the conclusion Jinwoo had reached.

Sensing someone approaching, he looked up and noticed an unnerving look in Kim’s eyes as the older man neared him. A bead of sweat slid down Jinwoo’s face.

“Mr. Kim…… What—?”

“Shut up and stay still!” Kim yelled, pointing his sword at Song, who had crouched beside Jinwoo to inspect his injuries.

“Who dragged us in here? It was Song, right? Then shouldn’t he take responsibility for this damn raid and see it through to the end?”

“Mr. Kim!” Enraged, Jinwoo tried to stand, but he was stopped by Song’s calloused hand.

He looked at Song.

“……” Song wordlessly shook his head. His eyes were pleading with Jinwoo to keep quiet.

Jinwoo had a lot he wanted to say, but he forced himself to swallow his words.

Song heaved himself to his feet. “Kim is right. I need to take care of this.”

“Looks like we’re talking the same language now, old man.” Kim gestured at the altar with the tip of his sword. “If you understand, let’s get this over with. More than ten people are already dead because of you.”

Kim’s close friend, Park, had also lost his life. With his mind clouded by grief and rage, Kim had effectively forgotten that they’d all taken a vote before entering the double dungeon.

Song spoke to Kim. “I’ll do this myself, so could you sheathe your weapon?”

Kim immediately refused. “Why should I trust you? Stop talking and keep walking.”

Song sighed and started walking toward the altar. Kim followed him, keeping his weapon leveled at Song’s back.

Jinwoo bit his lower lip as he watched them.

This isn’t Mr. Song’s fault.

It had been a course of action agreed on by everyone. Song didn’t deserve the blame just because things had gone south.

But……

Jinwoo didn’t have the strength to stop Kim. Kim was one of the strongest D rankers, and Jinwoo was the weakest among E rankers. The difference in their power levels was clear. To make things worse, Jinwoo was also now missing a leg. If he went against Kim, he’d endanger himself as well as Joohee, who was still committed to treating him.

“Dammit.” Jinwoo squeezed his eyes shut. He’d never resented his own lack of power more than now.

Song had already reached the altar.

Fwoosh!

A single red flame flared up on its side. Everyone watched nervously for what would come next.

However, nothing happened. The appearance of the flame was all that occurred.

“……?”

When nothing more transpired no matter how long they waited, Kim, who’d forced Song onto the altar, and the others were bewildered.

Kim looked back at Jinwoo. “Hey, Sung. Were we wrong?”

Jinwoo shook his head. “I’m not sure, either……”

They’d thought the third commandment would be fulfilled if they sacrificed someone on the altar.

Maybe it’s not about offering a sacrifice?

This wasn’t exactly bad news for them. If this wasn’t about a sacrifice, that meant Song didn’t have to die.

Jinwoo’s face brightened. He tried to stand while sweating profusely from the effort, so two hunters rushed to help him up.

“I’d like to take a look at the altar, so could you help me get up there?”

“Jinwoo, your wound is still……”

Joohee stood with him. She was deathly pale from using too much of her magic. Thanks to her efforts, she’d managed to keep his bleeding and pain to a minimum.

I need to hurry.

Between Joohee’s condition, Kim’s temper, Song’s injury, and the other hunters’ fear, Jinwoo was running out of time.

He reached the altar with the help of the two hunters.

“Let’s get on.”

The two hunters hesitated momentarily, but they put their faith in Jinwoo and helped him up onto the altar. As they did, three more flames came to life.

Fwoosh!

Fwoosh!

Fwoosh!

Jinwoo’s eyes flashed.

The number of flames and the number of people are the same.

Song, Jinwoo, and two supporting him. Four flames for four people. The flames encircled the circumference of the altar.

Judging by the distance between these fires, the circle just needs two more.

It was looking like their remaining companions would have to join them on the altar in order for anything to happen.

Jinwoo asked Song, “Will other hunters come to rescue us if we wait here?”

Song shook his head. “It’s been a week since the gate first opened. Those things will act before any rescuers can get here.”

“I guess the association ignored the gate for too long, since it’s D rank.”

“You know how it is with the association.”

A gate would completely open after seven days. The main purpose of raids was to defeat the boss of the dungeon in order to close the gate before a week was up. Failure to do so meant the magic beasts imprisoned within could freely exit to the outside world.

Jinwoo looked behind him. The giant was still sitting on the throne, looking down at them with arrogant eyes.

If that thing gets out……

The damage it would cause was unimaginable. Of course, if that happened, the people in this chamber would be the first slaughtered by either the colossus or the smaller statues.

The only certainty was that they couldn’t afford to wait while doing nothing.

Jinwoo called for Joohee and Kim. “I need you both to come up as well.”

Joohee climbed onto the altar first. Kim reluctantly followed suit.

Two more flames lit up, and the circle was complete.

Fwoosh!

The hunters jumped in surprise.

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

Something was happening, just as Jinwoo had predicted.

It’s starting.

Tiny blue flames ignited along the very edge of the altar, forming a circle. There were easily more than thirty of them, tightly arranged.

…Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six. Jinwoo quickly counted a total of thirty-six small blue fires.

Six red flames match the number of people, but thirty-six blue flames… What do they mean?

Just then…

THUD!

Without warning, the doors suddenly swung open. The hunters reflexively twitched.

“Hngh……!”

Every part of them screamed to run toward the exit, but having witnessed what had happened to the young hunter from the choir, they couldn’t bring themselves to take even one step forward. There was no telling how they might be killed by trying to take the initiative.

Everyone looked at Jinwoo for a solution. However, he pressed his lips into a line.

“……” He didn’t have any answers right now. He couldn’t tell whether the open doors were a trap or if the third commandment had been fulfilled and they could get out of here.

While everyone’s eyes were fixed on Jinwoo, a jarring noise resounded throughout the room.

Creeeeeeeak.

Creeeeeeeak.

The hunters urgently scanned the area.

“What now?!”

“Th-they’re closing in!”

“Those bastards just moved!”

Their breathing quickened. The party had thought the stone statues moved only when someone approached, but they were now several steps closer.

In an instant, Jinwoo assessed the situation.

No, it’s not the stone statues! It’s the platforms under them that’re moving.

The harsh sound that had hurt their ears was most likely from the platforms scratching the floor as they advanced.

“……Did they stop?” Kim wiped the sweat from his forehead.

While everyone was distracted by the statues, Jinwoo looked down to inspect the blue flames. They were extinguishing one by one. Three were already gone.

Creeeeeeeak.

Someone yelled, “Wh-what? Where’s that coming from?”

Jinwoo glanced up. The noise had come from the direction he was facing. He realized the statues in front of him seemed to be a little closer than the others.

Why is it only the ones in front of me……?

Was it because he’d stopped paying attention to them?

Jinwoo closed his eyes to confirm. As soon as he did, the noise came again.

Creeeeeeeak.

The noise stopped when he opened his eyes. The figures had definitely gotten closer.

“What the fuck?!”

“Wh-what do we have to do?”

Jinwoo yelled, “Don’t take your eyes off the statues!”

Come to think of it, the sentries had first started moving when everyone had turned to him.

Those things approach when we’re not looking at them.

Jinwoo spotted another blue flame going out. Nothing had happened to his group, though; neither were there any changes in the stone statues.

Maybe……?

Jinwoo started counting carefully in his head while he kept an eye on the statues.

Like I thought.

One of the little fires went out every minute.

The blue flames are a timer.

The way to fulfill the third commandment was to endure on the altar until all thirty-six blue flames went out. This meant they were safe as long as they kept an eye on the stone statues. It was very likely they would all survive this final round.

Jinwoo looked down to inspect how many of the blue flames remained in order to calculate how long they had to last.

There are thirty left……

They just had to last thirty minutes!

But that was Jinwoo’s fatal mistake. The statues near Jinwoo had approached the altar while he was counting the flames.

Creeeeeeeak.

“Hnnngh…… Aaaaargh!”

The hunter standing with his back to Jinwoo shrieked and bolted toward the doors. The constant grating noise coming from behind him had spooked him.

A red flame went out as soon as he jumped off the altar.

“No!” Jinwoo cried.

Defying all expectations, though, the hunter who had run away screaming his head off safely passed through the open doors.

“H-huh? What just happened, Sung? He got out!”

Jinwoo was faced away from the doors, so he hadn’t been able to observe what had happened.

“Did anything change?”

“The……the doors closed a little.”

“Are they still closing?”

“No, no. They closed a fraction when that guy left the altar, and then they stopped.”

Jinwoo remembered that one of the red flames had gone out when the hunter left the altar.

Shit!

His heart sank. He’d finally figured out the answer to the question that had been bothering him the whole time he’d been standing on the altar.

How was this a way to prove their faith?

He had his answer. It was the absolute worst test for Jinwoo, since he needed someone else’s help just to stay upright due to his leg injury.

The open doors were actually a trap. It was false hope they could actually see! If everyone on the altar had run to the open doors all at once, the red flames would have been extinguished, and the doors would’ve immediately slammed shut.

All that would’ve remained was a festival of blood and screams.

On the other hand, the altar was the promised land. It was an area that guaranteed everyone’s safety as long as they stayed in their respective places and did their respective jobs.

It was a choice between visible hope and an invisible promise. The third commandment, to “prove thy faith,” was a test to see if they could resist sweet temptations while under the pressure of impending doom.

In their case, there were two variables.

The first was Jinwoo himself. People who would’ve ordinarily run toward the open doors instead had stopped to listen to what he had to say. Because of this, they had thankfully avoided the disaster of the doors closing completely.

We got lucky.

There was no other way to put it. It had been possible only because he’d earned people’s trust by figuring out the meaning of the first two commandments by himself.

The second variable had arisen rather unexpectedly.

Someone had left the altar. How would people react now that they could see that hope was within their grasp?

It was obvious.

The man who’d been supporting Jinwoo flung him aside to run out of the room. Song rushed to steady Jinwoo with a hand on his back.

Whoosh…

When the man stepped down from the altar, another red flame went out, and the doors closed even more.

Creeeak.

“Hey, hey!”

Kim yelled after the second escapee, but he’d also managed to flee from the room unscathed.

Jinwoo counted the red flames and shouted, “Nobody move! We can’t lose any more people!”

Front, back, left, and right. They needed at least four people in order to monitor all sides. Jinwoo, Joohee, Song, and Kim remained. If they lost a single person, there would inevitably be a blind spot.

Kim wiped his forehead again. “Sung, what’s going on? Explain it to us.”

“We just have to stay here like this until all the blue flames go out!” Jinwoo shared everything he had figured out so far.

Kim nodded and listened intently. After his quick explanation, Jinwoo added one more statement at the end.

“We can get out of here alive.”

Each commandment indicated a way to survive the room. The last couldn’t be any different.

“All we have to do is stay where we are!” Jinwoo was absolutely sure they could survive without any more injuries if they trusted one another.

Kim, however, had a different perspective. He asked hesitantly, “Um, Sung…… You may be right, but……the doors might also completely shut when the time is up, right?”

“……” Jinwoo couldn’t answer. He’d come to this conclusion after considering all the options, but he couldn’t give them any guarantees until everything played out.

But Kim needed certitude. Ensuring his own survival was more urgent than the mere possibility of everyone making it through.

“Sorry, but……but I can’t do this.”

“Mr. Kim!”

“Sorry!”

Kim slipped down from the altar. He ignored Jinwoo’s calls and sprinted toward the doors. He took one last look at the others once he reached the exit, but he didn’t return.

Grrrnd.

Jinwoo gritted his teeth. “Dammit!”

Despite saving their lives, what had been returned to Jinwoo wasn’t kindness or gratitude. All that was left was betrayal.

As he’d calculated, it was a problem keeping an eye on the statues without Kim. It had been impossible from the start for two heavily injured people and someone frightened out of her wits to monitor the entire area.

The statues they couldn’t keep in their field of vision started moving.

Creeeeeeeak.

Creeeeeeeak.

The sentinels were tightening their ring around them.

Song, who’d been surveying the situation, told Jinwoo and Joohee, “You two should leave.”

He sounded like he had given up.

“Mr. Song……?”

“Like Kim said, I was the one who brought you all here. If someone has to stay, it should be me.”

“But—!”

“You have a few more days to live than I do anyway, so you should go.”

Song chuckled. This was Song’s small kindness to help them feel better for having to leave without him.

“……” Jinwoo helplessly nodded. Although he felt awful, there was no time to argue about who would remain.

Song intended to ask Joohee to help Jinwoo walk. “Joohee, could you help Sung?”

“Yes, of course.”

However, when Joohee made to stand, she collapsed to the ground.

“Ahhh……” She tried her hardest to get up, but soon tears welled in her eyes.

“I…… I can’t move my legs.”

Jinwoo’s and Song’s faces grew grim. It was easy to see that Joohee wasn’t in good shape. Her lips were blue, and her body kept convulsing minutely. This was the aftereffect of using too much of her magic when she was already mentally and physically exhausted.

It’s because she tried to fix my leg……

Jinwoo was rendered speechless by how sorry he felt.

But there was no time for this.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak.

The statues were drawing ever closer toward the altar.

Jinwoo shook off Song’s hand and flopped down on the floor.

Song’s eyes widened. “You……?”

Jinwoo spoke with determination. “Please take Joohee and get out of here, Mr. Song.”

“I told you that I’d stay!”

“Then who’s going to help Joohee?”

Jinwoo couldn’t even stand on his own, much less get Joohee to the door before time was up.

Of course……

They could abandon her here. But Joohee had saved Jinwoo’s life multiple times over the years, and even her current awful state was because she’d tried to treat him with everything she had. He didn’t want to abandon someone like her, survive, and carry that guilt for the rest of his life.

“There’s no time. Please go.”

“……” With a stern expression, Song pulled Joohee up.

Joohee shook her head as tears streamed down her face.

“No…… Jinwoo can leave instead. I can……”

“Remember I promised to take you to dinner?” Jinwoo took out the E-rank essence stone from his pocket and pushed it into Joohee’s hands.

“You go get dinner ahead of me. I’ll collect my change from you if I make it out of here.”

She frowned at him when he smiled at her. “How can you joke at a time like this?!”

He nodded at Song, who in turn lightly struck Joohee on the back of her neck.

Thwack!

Joohee fainted. Song hoisted her prone body onto his shoulder.

“……I’m sorry.”

“It was my call anyway.”

Song bowed to Jinwoo. With this last gesture of farewell, he quickly leaped off the altar.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak.

While they were talking, the stone statues had come within striking distance.

Jinwoo knelt and took a deep breath. “Whewww…”

He noticed the sword that Kim had abandoned next to him. He stretched out his hand and grabbed it.

If I’m going down, I’m taking at least one of them with me.

He looked back in time to see Song escaping safely with Joohee. That was a relief.

Glad I’m the only one dying……

He didn’t consider it some great sacrifice. It was what he thought would be the best choice, all things considered.

He’d have had to live the rest of his life without a leg. Not only would it have been impossible to continue working as a hunter, but he wasn’t even sure he could live a normal life. He was a high school graduate with no special skills, so making ends meet wouldn’t be easy.

My mother’s hospital bills and my sister’s tuition……

He figured it’d be better for his family to claim the life insurance.

Was it 300,000,000 won or 400,000,000 won in insurance money for the family of a hunter who dies in a raid organized by the association?

The money was more than enough compensation for the life of a worthless E-rank hunter.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak.

Creeeeeeeeeeeak.

THUD.

The bastards had finally arrived. The first stone statue to reach the altar took its initial step up. Jinwoo leveled the sword at it as he watched.

“Come at me.”

But the attack came from behind him.

Shuuuk.

A long spear pierced through Jinwoo’s body from behind.

“Gak!” He coughed out blood. Pain shot through his entire body.

“Just a little higher, and the beast would’ve punctured your heart!”

Joohee’s scolding from a few hours earlier echoed in his mind.

“Aaaaaargh!”

His assailant raised the spear until it was vertically positioned. Jinwoo hung in the air, impaled on the tip. He briefly struggled from the pain, but before long, the statue threw him to the ground.

CRASH!

“Ughhh!”

He could hear bones breaking everywhere in his body. The pain caused him to curl into a fetal position.

“Ahhh…… Ahhhh……”

The stone statues gathered around the trembling Jinwoo. They completely surrounded him. He shuddered as he looked up at them.

I…… I don’t want to die like this…

As the fact that he was about to die finally sank in, tears pricked his eyes. He recalled the faces of his family. He thought of Joohee and Song, the ones who had been concerned for him until the very end.

I don’t want to die……

This was not the way he wanted to end his short life of twenty-four years.

Stomp.

A stone-faced statue with a sword stepped closer to him. It raised the weapon high.

Despite the violent tremors racking his body, Jinwoo defiantly held its gaze.

At last, the sword came straight down.

SHHHUKKK.

If I could get one more, just one more chance!

Jinwoo refused to close his eyes. That was when…

Screeeeak!

The sword suddenly stopped on its way down as if someone had hit the Pause button on a video.

No, it hadn’t stopped. It was moving so slowly that it looked like it had. It was descending at a rate of maybe one millimeter per minute. The blow was slow, but it was definitely still coming down.

Wh-what…?

Jinwoo couldn’t hide his confusion. Just then…

Ping!

An electronic chime and a woman’s voice he’d never heard before echoed inside his head.

“Secret quest”? “Fulfilled all the requirements”?

Jinwoo had no idea what was going on.

And where is this voice coming from?

The commentary plowed on despite Jinwoo’s confusion.

“Acquired”? He had to accept something?

Sounds like they’re giving me something……

Having grown up in a poor family, Jinwoo had never refused when offered something for free. But that was when he was alive; once he died, what use would free things be to him?

……

As Jinwoo hesitated, the voice in his head repeated itself, as if it was feeling urgent.

Jinwoo wasn’t sure if the voice was a hallucination of some kind, but he knew for a fact that he was close to death. Not only was there a sword aimed at his head, but countless other weapons were now also targeting him.

If he was attacked by all those, would there be anything left of his body? He didn’t care what happened at this point.

If you’re giving it to me, I might as well……

He didn’t even have to say it aloud. All he did was think it, but the voice in his head responded right away.

Flash—

A bright light engulfed Jinwoo’s body as he lost consciousness.

Jinwoo opened his eyes.

A white ceiling and the distinct smell of disinfectant greeted him. He was lying on a hard mattress. He knew immediately where he was.

The hospital?

His visits to the hospital had decreased significantly since he’d met Joohee, a B-rank healer, but even so, hospitals were as familiar to him as his neighborhood convenience store. There was even a rumor that Jinwoo Sung had a designated room at the hospital affiliated with the Hunter’s Association.

He sat up, then put his hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat.

His heart was beating normally.

I’m alive?

Something else also seemed off.

His body felt weirdly light. Usually, whenever he woke up in a hospital, Jinwoo was often dazed and had difficulty moving around.

But it was different this time. He felt refreshed, like after a good night’s sleep at home.

What happened……?

Considering the situation right before he’d lost consciousness, this didn’t make any sense.

The sword had been coming down at him. Even if by chance it had missed him, he’d been completely surrounded by some fearsome foes.

An A-rank or even an S-rank strike squad arriving on the scene would’ve been no match for them.

And I survived?

It was like it had all been a dream.

As luck would have it, there was one surefire way to verify everything.

Jinwoo lifted the blanket covering his body. If it was real, he would be missing a leg, and if it had been a dream……

“Are you awake?”

Jinwoo jumped and turned toward the deep voice that had addressed him from a corner of the room.

“Apologies if I scared you.”

“We couldn’t wait any longer, you see.”

Two men in black suits approached the bed.

Jinwoo blinked at them.

“Who…are you…?” He didn’t recognize them at all.

The one with a short military haircut handed Jinwoo a business card. “This is what we do.”

Jinwoo took the card.

Jinchul Woo, Korean Hunter’s Association Surveillance Team?

Surveillance was the only team within the Hunter’s Association composed solely of strong hunters. Their role was to supervise all the hunters in the association, so it made sense that such an elite corps would have the cream of the crop.

Jinwoo was still confused, though. “But what brings you here?”

Jinchul Woo pulled up a chair next to Jinwoo’s bed and sat down. The other suit, who Jinwoo assumed was his subordinate, stood behind him. The threatening presence of these two well-built men so close to Jinwoo was intense.

What they told Jinwoo shocked him.

“I was asleep for three days?”

“Do you remember what happened before you passed out?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell us everything you remember.”

“Before I do…… What about those two? Mr. Song and Joohee, are they safe?”

Jinchul met Jinwoo’s earnest gaze and nodded. “Yes. They’re completely safe. Both were in severe condition, but they are thankfully alive and well.”

“Phew……”

As Jinwoo let out a relieved sigh, Jinchul quietly asked, “Now, could you please tell us what you remember?”

He told them everything that had happened until he’d lost consciousness except for the strange hallucinations he couldn’t understand.

“And then you lost consciousness…… Is that correct?”

“Yes, the next time I opened my eyes, I was here.”

Jinchul and his subordinate exchanged glances. They seemed a bit troubled that their only potential witness didn’t know anything. The truth was, Jinwoo was the one who most wanted to know what had really happened.

“If I may, how did I get here? Did a big guild get rid of them?”

“The thing is……”

The troubled Jinchul took his time answering. “Taking survivors’ reports into account, the Surveillance Team brought along members of the White Tiger Guild, but when they arrived at the room, everything…”

The White Tiger Guild was a huge guild that ranked as one of the top five in Korea. Bringing White Tiger on board meant the association had recognized just how dangerous the situation was.

What exactly had happened over there?

Jinwoo gulped. “Everything……?”

“Everything was gone. There was absolutely no trace of the giant statue or the other stone sentries. There was nothing except you lying there unconscious.”

“Excuse me?” Jinwoo stared at him, incredulous.

“We couldn’t believe it, either. If the survivors’ stories weren’t perfectly consistent or we hadn’t found the remains of the other hunters, we would’ve thought different.”

Jinchul rubbed his chin. This was his sixth year working in the Surveillance Team after awakening as an A-rank hunter. He was confident he had experienced all sorts of adversity and enemies, so this was a first. He’d even sought the advice of guilds as well as associations of other countries, but they’d all been dead ends.

And so…

“Here’s what we think……,” Jinchul said cautiously. “There was definitely something powerful in that room. And those things were defeated by someone or several someones. That’s what we concluded, since nothing escaped into our world before the gate closed.”

They had to be open to all kinds of possibilities. They had to consider all the scenarios, however unlikely or impossible. The association had contemplated the situation again and again and had ultimately come up with one theory.

Jinchul watched for Jinwoo’s reaction as he continued. “We believe……that you had a second awakening, Hunter Jinwoo Sung.”

A second awakening!

Jinwoo’s eyes widened.

It was rare, but a person who had already awakened as a hunter could have a second awakening. This was also known as a “reawakening.” Most of the hunters who experienced this process came out much stronger than they’d been previously.

Once a hunter’s rank was set, there usually was no way to change it. A hunter’s ability was established when they awoke as a hunter.

But reawakened hunters were different. They surpassed their limits, and a C-rank hunter could level up to an A rank, and a B-rank hunter could even level up to an S rank.

Jinchul swallowed nervously.

Jinwoo Sung…… If he reawakened as an S ranker, or maybe even more powerful than that, it would’ve been possible for him to defeat all those beasts.

The survivors had specifically pointed out that the giant statue had vaporized C-rank hunters using only its eyes. How powerful would an individual have to be to defeat that kind of magic beast while unconscious?

The association had classified this case as top secret and made sure everyone involved kept it absolutely confidential. Those who’d come to visit Jinwoo in the hospital had been given only minimal information about his current state. For the same reason, Jinwoo had been assigned a private room and the best doctors in the hospital.

Jinchul’s heart sped up.

To think that we might finally have a national-rank hunter in Korea……

There were fewer than ten national-rank hunters in the entire world. They were said to hold more power than a nuclear weapon, and if Korea could have one, too…!

Fortunately, it wouldn’t be difficult to verify whether he’d had a second awakening. One must strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

Jinchul gave an order to his subordinate. “Bring it here.”

The subordinate took something from a bag in a corner of the room and brought it over.

“Is that……?”

Jinchul began explaining before Jinwoo could finish asking. “This is a mana meter.”

He explained that the device was a smaller, though no less effective, version of the one found at the Hunter’s Association Headquarters.

“All you have to do is place your hand on this essence stone.”

A fist-size essence stone sat embedded in the middle of a round board. It was an ebony stone that looked like a black hole one could get sucked into. It was the highest-rank essence stone in existence, harvested from an A-rank or higher magic beast. An essence stone in good condition could go for more than 1,000,000,000 won.

Jinchul spoke up in a serious tone when Jinwoo continued to wordlessly stare at the essence stone.

“This is a necessary procedure for our investigation, so your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.”

Jinwoo nodded.

If this really was the reawakening he’d often dreamed of, his life would take a complete one-eighty. They were offering to verify it at no cost, so he had no reason to refuse.

He placed his hand on the essence stone, and it started to emit a faint glow. Both Jinchul and his subordinate were sweating in anticipation.

Fshhhhh…

The light surrounding the stone faded. Jinchul hurriedly took off his sunglasses and checked the result.

He blinked in disbelief. “That can’t be!”

He double-checked the number, but it remained the same.

What……?

How could someone with a hunter’s license have only 10 mana? When one took into consideration that E-rank hunters averaged between 70 and 100 mana, Jinwoo’s mana level was closer to a regular civilian’s.

However…

“So is it a reawakening? What’s my new rank looking like?”

Jinwoo’s palms were sweating. The result must have been extraordinary if the two surveillance agents were reacting this way.

Jinchul nodded after comparing Jinwoo’s current result with his previous data.

The result from his initial test was 12. Now, four years later, the result is 10. Even though it went down by 2, that’s within the margin of error.

The mana meter wasn’t broken. Jinwoo’s mana was simply unbelievably low. Frankly, it was a miracle he’d survived until now.

“There must have been a misunderstanding. I apologize.” Jinchul decided staying any longer would be a waste of time and quickly stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Yessir.”

They quickly packed their bags.

“Uhhh, could you please tell me……?”

Jinchul turned slightly and merely responded, “Thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything else, please contact us.”

The two men in black rushed out of the room like they had somewhere else they urgently needed to be. The space felt empty without them.

“……” Jinwoo rubbed the back of his neck.

Guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

If he really thought about it, he didn’t feel any different, other than that strange sense of refreshment. Plus, it would’ve been impossible to defeat all those things by himself even if he had experienced a second awakening.

Maybe if it was the S-rank hunter Jongin Choi or Gunhee Go, who’s considered an S rank among S ranks, they could’ve taken them on by themselves?

Since he’d never seen either of them fight against magic beasts, his speculation was pointless.

Not much was known about S-rank hunters. They were like gods among men.

Lost in thought, he shifted his gaze up to the ceiling.

Huh?

As soon as he did, he saw letters floating in the air.

……?

Jinwoo tried closing and then opening his eyes again.

The letters were still floating in midair, unchanged.

Jinwoo shook his head hard to clear it and tried rubbing his eyes, but still nothing changed. He placed his hand on his pounding forehead and craned his neck down.

A few days ago, I was hearing things, and now I’m hallucinating……

Maybe there really was something wrong with his brain?

There’s a thing called post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. It’s a disorder prevalent in people who endured severe traumas or major accidents. Hearing things and having hallucinations after losing most of your colleagues and surviving a near-death experience wasn’t so strange.

But……

Some things couldn’t be so easily explained. His gaze went to his leg.

My leg is fine.

His leg, which had definitely been severed by a stone statue’s shield, was there.

The underground temple of the double dungeon, the voice he’d suddenly heard, his completely healed leg, and now the message floating in front of him… So many unexplainable things were happening at once.

Maybe……

It was possible all those things weren’t separate incidents but were, instead, connected. Having reached a possible conclusion, he felt his headache abate slightly.

Fine.

Jinwoo raised his eyes. He was curious about the contents of those messages now that he was calmer and his head wasn’t throbbing quite so much. The messages might contain hints that explained some of the mysterious happenings.

Jinwoo extended his hand to the letters. His fingers passed through them.

It’s not touch activated?

It seemed Jinwoo was a little too used to smartphones; he couldn’t think of any way to open messages other than via a touch screen.

As he pondered how to check the messages, he recalled what had happened right before he lost consciousness.

“Oh, right.”

The communication between himself and the strange voice had been conversational.

Will it work if I think it in my head, or do I have to say it out loud?

Jinwoo ended up deciding to try speaking every possible command word.

“Check.”

“Message.”

“Check message.”

“Read message.”

“Look.”

“I want to look.”

“Let’s take a look.”

“Show me!”

Just then…

“……What is it you want to look at so badly?”

Feeling like he was being watched, Jinwoo turned to find his sister, clad in her high school uniform, peeking back at him from behind the half-ajar door.

“Ummm……”

Jinwoo didn’t know what to say. He’d been caught begging someone to show him something while staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t really have any explanation for his behavior.

“You sure you didn’t hit your head?”

Jinwoo shook his head at his sister’s question, posed from a distance. “No.”

Jinah Sung continued regarding him suspiciously, even after his response.

“Are you really okay?”

“I said I’m fine.”

She looked him up and down as if to assess his condition before charging toward him like a raging bull. Jinwoo quickly raised his hands to defend himself as she started smacking him.

“I told you to stop getting hurt! Do you know how worried I was?!”

“……I’m sorry.”

“Other hunters are always fine, so why do you always get hurt?!”

“……Sorry.”

Jinah’s blows weakened, and she eventually bowed her head and started crying.

Jinwoo gently stroked his sniffling sister’s back. His heart felt heavy.

How could I even think about dying and leaving her behind?

He was glad to be alive.

The giant’s eye lasers, the shield that had severed his leg, the spear that had impaled him… Thinking back, there had been more than a few times when he’d felt his life was in danger. It was almost like he’d woken up from a horrific nightmare.

Jinwoo’s gaze drifted to the letters hovering in the air.

It’s like I still haven’t woken up from that dream……

There was so much that was unexplainable. But none of that mattered.

The important thing was that Jinwoo was still alive and could see his family again.

“Sniff.”

Luckily, his brave sister soon stopped crying, though she continued nagging him for another hour afterward.

“Got that? If you get hurt one more time, I’m going to drop out and get a job and make you quit being a hunter.”

Jinah’s sharp eyes, which didn’t suit her lovely face, were very much like Jinwoo’s.

“Okay, okay.” He nodded with an expression that indicated he was sick of this lecture.

She made him promise several more times before she was satisfied, then stood to leave.

“Where’re you going?”

“School. I only got permission to check on you briefly. I have to go back.”

He nodded in understanding. “Your university entrance exam is next year.”

Jinah had never once had a private tutor or taken any extra classes after school, but she was always at the top of her grade. Jinwoo was fiercely proud of her.

Jinah’s dream was to become a doctor. A few years back, she’d only liked hanging with her friends and playing video games. After their mother fell ill, though, she’d made up her mind to become a doctor and become glued to her desk.

Jinwoo wanted to make sure her dream came true.

Wait a minute…… A video game?

Jinwoo’s eyes flashed.

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

He quickly called to her before she could leave the room. “Jinah.”

“What?”

“When you play a game……”

She grinned. “I don’t really play these days. I’ll be a senior soon.”

“I know, I know—but I have a question.”

“Really? About what? Have you starting playing?”

Perhaps because this used to be her area of expertise, Jinah seemed eager to help.

Jinwoo quickly glanced at the words still floating in the air.

“What do you do if you have an unread message that you want to check in a game?”

“Well, first, you’d open your inbox.”

“Open your inbox?”

Ping!

As soon as he said “open,” the hidden messages were revealed with some kind of alert sound effect.

Jinwoo’s face lit up.

Yes!

Her brother’s sudden giddiness made Jinah uneasy.

“What? Which game is it? Should I help you?”

Jinwoo shook his head firmly. “No. I want to try it by myself.”

How would his sister react if he told her what he was currently experiencing?

I don’t want her to think I’m crazy.

Jinwoo swallowed the words he desperately wished he could say.

Jinwoo made sure Jinah got in the elevator under the pretense of seeing her off, then hurried back to his hospital room.

Can’t make the same mistake again.

Click.

He even locked the door to make sure there would be no witnesses. Preparations complete, Jinwoo sat on the edge of his bed and started reading through the messages.

He felt like he’d seen the title of the first message somewhere.

Where have I heard that before? It sounds familiar…

Jinwoo decided to start with the first message.

Check.

Ping!

“Ahhh.”

He belatedly remembered where he’d heard those words. That had been the last thing the voice had said to him before he’d passed out.

It mentioned a Player or something back then, too.

He hadn’t understood what that meant then, and he didn’t fully understand it now.

System, development, penalty, rewards… They were just a bunch of vague terms to him.

How the heck is it going to help me develop, and what kinds of rewards are they planning to give me?

Because it was using video game terminology with no good explanation of what it all meant, Jinwoo couldn’t help but be confused. He decided to move on and opened the next message.

Gulp.

Jinwoo involuntarily reacted to the noteworthy subject line. His heart started racing.

Check.

Ping!

After reading the message, Jinwoo laughed in spite of himself.

“Ha-ha…… Seriously?”

It was a big letdown, to say the least.

Despite having such a grandiose subject line like “Strength Training,” the daily quest message had merely been an endurance training exercise regimen. Jinwoo couldn’t argue that he’d definitely be in slightly better shape if he completed it. Were those the “development” and “rewards” mentioned?

Now that I think about it……

He’d once read in a book that “those going through an inner conflict should lend an ear to their inner voices.”

Guess I’m just seeing what I want to see.

How badly did he want to get stronger that his mind was conjuring these unbelievable delusions?

He let out a bitter laugh. “……If I could’ve become a stronger hunter with this kind of thing, why would I have endured all those hardships?”

He shook his head. He thought himself pathetic for trying to search for answers to his doubts in a message that might be a hallucination.

Whatever.

Jinwoo sprawled out on his bed and wordlessly stared at the ceiling.

“……”

Time flew even though he wasn’t doing anything. He started feeling the weight of the silence filling the hospital room.

He abruptly sat up.

What if……?

What if something really would happen? Half full of anticipation and half doubtful, Jinwoo’s mind filled with the thought of trying it out.

I have nothing to lose anyway.

If he considered it some light exercise, there was no reason not to do it, right?

He finally made a call. He’d do it. Jinwoo got out of bed and, after a light warm-up, gripped the bed frame and started slowly doing push-ups.

“One, two, three……”

His count increased quickly. “……Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.”

He finished one hundred push-ups, but to his disappointment, nothing changed. Nothing except that his arms were now a little bit sore.

“What did I just do……?”

He snorted and straightened up.

The status of the messages had changed from unread to read. There were no more unread messages, and he wasn’t in the mood to play along with the delusions any longer.

That was enough of that. Jinwoo closed the message screen without hesitation.

“Haaaah…”

He yawned hard and climbed back into bed. Perhaps it was because this was the most active he’d been in a while, but he was getting drowsy. The sky outside the window was being painted in the colors of a sunset.

It’s already this late?

The two agents from the Surveillance Team had told him the association was going to foot his hospital bills. Jinwoo planned to use the opportunity to get a full checkup and leave only after receiving a clean bill of health from the doctors.

These were Jinwoo’s thoughts as he lay in bed.

The hallucinations and visions should go away in due time…

His eyes gradually slid shut.

Jinwoo fell into a deep sleep.

Ticktock, ticktock.

The clock on the wall diligently moved its hands as Jinwoo slept. They went round and round and round, and eventually, the clock read 11:59:57.

Tick, tick, tick.

Fifty-eight seconds, fifty-nine seconds, sixty seconds.

The hands of the clock stopped at exactly twelve o’clock.

Ping!

RRRRRUMBLE!

Jinwoo woke from the strong vibrations rocking his whole body.

“E-earthquake?”

He bolted upright and grabbed on to the end of the bed. The earthquake was so powerful, it was hard to keep his balance.

RRRRRUMBLE…

The tremors grew stronger as time passed. And then…

Fwssshhh…

The metal bed frame he was clinging to suddenly broke. No, it didn’t break—it disappeared. Jinwoo hastily inspected what was in his hands. Instead of the metal of the bed frame, all that remained in his fist was sand.

Sand?

Fwssshhh…

The other half of the bed frame crumbled into sand as well.

The earthquake got even stronger.

RRRRRRRRUMBLE!

“Argh!”

Jinwoo eventually tumbled off the bed. He screamed as he was flung around the hospital room. One by one, all the furniture transformed into sand.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Wham.

Jinwoo was thrown in a random direction and ended up buried. He felt something smooth. It turned out to be very fine sand.

Meanwhile, the earthquake stopped.

“Blech! Ugh!”

He lifted his head urgently while spitting sediment out of his mouth.

“……?”

Before him was an endless landscape of sand.

Jinwoo frowned as he got to his feet, grains trickling off him out of the crevices of his clothes. He regarded his surroundings while brushing off his chest.

All he could see was sand.

“A desert……?”

It didn’t make sense. He could’ve sworn that, just a few moments ago, he’d been sleeping on a bed in a large hospital located in the middle of Seoul.

But he’d opened his eyes to a horizon of desert?

Jinwoo took a fistful of sand and let it trickle out of his hand. It fell straight down.

No wind at all.

The wind wasn’t all that was missing. Jinwoo also noted that there was no sun, moon, or stars in the sky. The emptiness made it look like the sky was covered in black ink. Despite this, he could view his surroundings without any problem.

“Where the heck am I?”

And then…

Hssssssss…

Suddenly, his footing started giving way, sliding down a slope.

“Wh-whoa!”

Jinwoo scrambled away to avoid getting sucked down. As the hole grew bigger, he barely managed to claw his way to the top, using his hands and feet to scramble up.

“Huff, huff, huff.” He stared down at the hole as he sat trying to catch his breath.

Strangely, the bottom of the pit looked like it was bubbling. He got chills just thinking about how he would’ve slid all the way down if he’d lost his footing even once.

“No……”

Wait.

Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s not boiling.”

When he looked closer, he could tell something huge was squirming under the surface. He instinctively rose to his feet. He had a bad feeling about what would happen next.

Just as he began carefully backing away, the sand in front of him exploded.

Bwoooosh!

It sounded like he was at the bottom of a raging waterfall.

Jinwoo’s eyes went wide. “An……insect?!”

A gigantic centipede was emerging from the epicenter of the detonation.

GRRRAAAHHH!

The monster was as tall as a five-story building.

Jinwoo gulped. Oh, hell no……

It was impossibly huge. He’d never heard of a centipede this big, but the size of it wasn’t the only thing that shocked him.

“Is that……the monster’s name floating above its head?”

Was he dreaming? He blinked hard, but nothing changed. Red writing still hung above the creature’s head.

It was like a monster in a video game.

The aversion Jinwoo felt to its name rivaled the creature’s creepy and grotesque appearance. Jinwoo was especially concerned about the word poison-toothed. He noticed two child-size fangs attached to the bottom of its mandible. It was easy to infer what would happen if it bit him.

The centipede’s huge teeth and jaws continuously opened and closed as if……

“Looks like it’s licking its chops…”

Right at that moment, he heard a chime in his head again.

Ping!

This is a joke, right……?

The centipede rushed straight at him through the sand as soon as the timer changed to 03:59:59, as if it had just been waiting.

Fshfshfshfshfshfsh!

“Wh-what?”

Jinwoo spun around and quickly started running.

There was no time to think. If he wanted to live, he had to run!

That was the only thought in his head.

However, after a few steps, a pillar of sand shot up right in front of him out of nowhere.

Fssshhhh!

“Ugh!”

The force of the eruption knocked him down. He tumbled to the ground but sprang back up and was quickly brushing grains off his face when he saw it.

Not one, not two, but…

Fssshhhhhh!

Fssshhhhhh!

Seven centipedes had emerged and were glaring down at Jinwoo.

Skreeee!

Skreeee!

Jinwoo paled as he stood dwarfed by the screeching monsters.

“Shit……”

Exactly four hours later, Jinwoo reappeared in his hospital room.

Whump.

He coughed painfully as he lay on the floor.

“Cough! Cough! Blech! Gak!”

The inside of his mouth felt gritty. His eyes still burned from the sand that had gotten in. He moaned in pain for a while before eventually sprawling out on the floor. He had no energy to even lift a finger.

“Huff……huff…… What……was that……?”

Another message appeared as he was catching his breath.

Ping!

Jinwoo scowled.

“Penalty quest”? What had he done to deserve a penalty?

He racked his brain and recalled the daily quest he’d abandoned the day before.

Was that……?

Thinking back on it, it had warned him that if he didn’t complete the daily quest, there would be an appropriate penalty.

“Huff, huff, so that……that wasn’t a hallucination?”

It hadn’t been a hallucination. It hadn’t been a dream. He didn’t even have to pinch himself to know that. His lungs had burned when he’d been running around, and the pain when a centipede had scratched his leg was still fresh in his mind.

It was all real. He’d actually almost died.

“That’s not fair…… Huff……huff……”

The penalty had thrown him into the jaws of death.

Jinwoo was suddenly filled with an ominous feeling. If this really had been a result of the daily quest, this wouldn’t be the last time. Right on cue, there came another notification.

Ping!

He jumped, but thankfully, it wasn’t another quest.

“‘Rewards’……?”

The word rewards caught Jinwoo’s eye. The problem was that he didn’t have the energy to check. The situation just didn’t allow for it.

Forget about rewards…… Let’s get some rest first……

His vision slowly blurred. Soon, he fell into a deep sleep.

“Oh dear! What happened here?”

The following morning, the nurse who entered Jinwoo’s room was shocked at the sight.

The patient was collapsed on the floor and surrounded by sand. His body and clothes were also covered in it.

She threw the patient’s chart on the bed and urgently pressed the Call button.

“Please send some more help!”

Soon, the physician in charge rushed into the room. “What? What happened to Mr. Sung?”

“I’m not sure. He was fine last night, but this is how I found him this morning.”

“Well, let’s move him to the bed. One, two!”

They hoisted Jinwoo onto the bed. As they did, no one noticed he’d gotten a paper cut from the chart that had been tossed there.

“I’ll take a look.” The doctor examined Jinwoo thoroughly but found nothing wrong.

“Hmm…… He’s just asleep.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. The Hunter’s Association had requested that Jinwoo receive the best care. He’d been anxious that something might’ve happened to the young man.

“Let him sleep. He looks exhausted.”

The doctor made to leave but then looked around the room and scratched his head.

“By the way, this room……needs to be cleaned. I’ll leave it to you, Nurse Yura.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

After the doctor left, Nurse Yura Choi pressed a hand to her beating heart. She was glad it hadn’t been anything serious.

Though their feelings might not be as strong as those of the patients themselves or their families, no doctor or nurse would ever want to see their charges harmed. Hospitals for hunters tended to have many serious cases. They didn’t want any additional injuries befalling those entrusted to their care.

“Phew…”

After calming down, Yura pondered where to start cleaning and, by chance, spotted drops of blood on the floor.

“Oh?”

It dripped from Jinwoo’s hand, which happened to be stretched out over the side of the bed. Startled, she rushed to examine his hand and turned it over.

“What……?”

Though there were clear blood trails, there were no wounds from which they could have originated. Even after she wiped his hand clean, she couldn’t see any injuries.

Has his wound already closed……?

Yura nervously inspected her patient’s face.

Jinwoo was still sleeping like a baby.