4

DAILY QUEST

Ping!

Jinwoo’s eyes shot open.

The first thing he did after hoisting himself up was check the time. The clock read just past four thirty PM. There were still seven hours and thirty minutes before midnight.

Good.

He opened the inbox.

Ping!

“This again?” That was his reflexive response.

The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized this might be for the best. This was an improvement over an impossible or incomprehensible quest. He’d be physically tired, but as long as he took his time, it could definitely be accomplished.

Jinwoo hit the floor and started doing push-ups.

“One.”

He didn’t want to be dragged to a strange place to stare death in the face again.

“Two.”

He was fortunate to have survived last night, but there were no guarantees he would do so today.

“Three.”

He looked up to inspect the quest screen and noticed his push-ups being recorded.

Ping!

Ping!

Curious, Jinwoo tried lowering himself down only halfway before pushing back up, and as he expected, it didn’t count. He realized why his push-ups hadn’t been recorded yesterday.

If it wasn’t a proper push-up, it wouldn’t be counted.

Oh, come on……

Jinwoo was dumbfounded but kept going. He still had fifty push-ups left, and he had sit-ups, squats, and running waiting for him.

And like that, three hours passed.

“Huff, huff, huff, huff.”

Jinwoo was bent over, breathing heavily outside his room after running once around the hospital. He felt as if his heart were about to explode, but he couldn’t stop there.

After giving it my all……

He opened the door with difficulty and took a single step inside.

Ping!

Jinwoo had finally done it.

“Huff…… Huff……” He dropped to his knees. His breath came out in puffs. His forehead and back were drenched in perspiration.

“Huff…… Huff……”

A familiar message arrived as he caught his breath.

Ping!

Jinwoo had been considering going straight to bed like the night before, but he changed his mind. He wanted to check out these so-called “rewards.”

“Check.”

Ping!

Why are there so many?

That was his first thought upon seeing the full list. But the more he considered it, while a couple of the rewards sounded useful, there were some he wasn’t quite sure about.

First, he was in dire need of reward number one, a full recovery. He felt like he was about to pass out. Since the penalties for failing were real, chances were these rewards for completion also had to be real. Either way, he had nothing to lose.

What were the chances it would throw him into the penalty zone after saying that it’d reward him?

“Accept.”

As soon as he did, Jinwoo was enveloped by a pale-blue energy.

Hmm, this feels like……?

He immediately thought of Joohee. This felt similar to being treated with magic whenever he got hurt. If he had to describe the sensation, it was like a breath of fresh air cleaning out his lungs.

Whooshhh…

He sensed the blue energy fading.

He felt a bit sad about that.

He stood and jumped up and down, then did some stretches and moved his body every which way.

“Whoa!”

Both his racing heart and labored breathing had calmed. He didn’t feel tired at all. He had been about to collapse, but he now felt refreshed, as if he had just woken up from a good sleep. The recovery was extremely effective.

This is awesome.

Jinwoo’s eyes lit up. He wasn’t sure whether it was magic or not, but it left a strong impression.

So then, were those ability points for…?

As he looked back up, Jinwoo noticed a little box on the bed and the stat screen floating in front of him.

That must be the mystery box thing on the bed, but……

More important was the stat screen. It displayed a brief overview of his own stats.

[Name: Jinwoo Sung]
[Job: None]
[HP: 100]
[Fatigue: 0]

[Level: 1]
[Title: None]
[MP: 10]

[Stats]
Strength:	10
Stamina:	10
Agility:	10
Intelligence:	10
Perception:	10

(Available ability points: 3)

His stats were at a similar level to a newly created character in an online game he used to play way back in the day.

Are these my current stats?

He was presently at level 1. All his stats were pretty basic. It wasn’t surprising, since he was classified as the weakest even among E-rank hunters.

What got his attention were the skills.

Willpower was his passive skill, and Dash was his active skill. They sounded weirdly familiar.

“Oh, thinking back, yesterday……”

Yesterday, or more precisely earlier that morning, those words had been in some messages he’d received while being chased by centipedes in the penalty zone. They’d arrived about three hours in, when he’d been racing around with everything he had.

At the time, he’d been so focused on running that he didn’t have the presence of mind to think about what it meant, but he did now.

Jinwoo verified the details of the skills.

Was I able to learn Dash and Willpower because I kept running persistently?

It made sense when he put it like that. It meant that if he kept doing the same action and met a certain condition, he might be able to learn a new skill.

“That’s incredible!”

This was a huge advantage. Hunters could acquire skills only when they were first awakened or by learning them from a rune stone, which could sometimes be obtained from A-rank magic beasts. Rune stones could cost several 100,000,000 won to over several 1,000,000,000 won.

Recently, the most expensive rune stone was auctioned off for 7,000,000,000 won. That stone, which held the skill to fully cure many people at once, was purchased anonymously by an S-rank healer from a foreign country who emptied out all their life savings.

Jinwoo’s heart started racing.

Increased speed and decreased damage. They weren’t comparable to a skill costing several 1,000,000,000 won, but they were still great. And to receive them free of charge…

Jinwoo didn’t have a lot of magic, so it might be difficult to utilize them properly, but he was still excited to have them.

And it says Willpower doesn’t even need mana……

Mana probably meant magic. Meaning, even if he didn’t have a lot of magic, he could still use Willpower as much as he wanted.

This was huge.

“But……what does this ‘Unknown’ mean?”

Unknown was one of his passive skills. Passive skills should be activated automatically, but there was no other information.

There isn’t a single clue.

With so little information to go on, Jinwoo knew there wouldn’t be any point in contemplating it further. He decided to focus his attention on something else.

Ability points……

The three ability points he’d received hadn’t been distributed yet.

[Stats]
Strength:	10
Stamina:	10
Agility:	10
Intelligence:	10
Perception:	10

(Available ability points: 3)

I guess I can increase stats by three points?

There were five different attributes on the stat list. They were all low, most likely because he was level 1.

But if all of this was actually real, his decisions would have consequences. If his actual abilities changed according to his choices, how did they expect him to come to any kind of decision?

Jinwoo’s expression grew serious.

Strength probably means power……

He could guess what “strength,” “stamina,” and “agility” meant. They were common enough terms in video game stats.

The problems were “intelligence” and “perception,” and like before, the system wasn’t very user-friendly with its lack of explanations. If he raised his intelligence, would he get smarter? If he raised his perception, would he have keener senses? Whatever intelligence and perception were, they didn’t seem particularly useful to him.

Jinwoo was a combat hunter. What he needed was power, speed, or even stamina.

If I had to pick one of those three, it’d have to be power.

Becoming stronger would be quite convenient. He also wanted to see what changes occurred physically if his stats went up. Ultimately, he invested all his points in what he thought would result in the most obvious change, his strength.

“Three points to strength.”

Ping!

[Stats]
Strength:	13
Stamina:	10
Agility:	10
Intelligence:	10
Perception:	10

(Available ability points: 0)

Is……that it?

That was it. The only change was the number in the strength stat going from ten to thirteen in the hologram screen before him. He didn’t feel any hidden energy rising up from deep inside him like in an anime or a movie.

“Has anything changed?”

Jinwoo decided to test his strength. He positioned himself next to the bed and tried lifting it. He could feel its weight, but it was easier to lift than he expected. Still, he wasn’t sure if this was because he’d gotten stronger or if the bed simply wasn’t that heavy.

I should’ve tried lifting it before I added the points.

It was hard to make a before-and-after comparison now that he’d already used up his points.

If only I had more……

He was pursing his lips when he suddenly remembered something. “The rewards for the penalty quest!”

The daily quest wasn’t the only thing he’d completed today. He’d almost gotten killed, but he’d also completed the penalty quest and seen the notification saying that he’d received rewards.

Jinwoo hurriedly called up his inbox.

“I knew it!” He pumped his fist.

Of course he would!

Unlike the daily quest rewards, full recovery wasn’t an option, but Jinwoo was interested only in the ability points. He was worried there would be a difference in the amount awarded, as it was the reward for a penalty quest, but fortunately, he was given three points this time as well.

Jinwoo excitedly yelled, “Add three points to strength.”

Ping!

[Stats]
Strength:	16
Stamina:	10
Agility:	10
Intelligence:	10
Perception:	10

(Available ability points: 0)

His strength stat jumped from thirteen to sixteen.

He positioned himself next to the bed and flexed his arms. He found it easier to lift the bed than before. He had now verified there was an actual difference.

“It really works……!”

He’d actually gotten stronger. According to the stats, he’d increased his strength by 60 percent, so there was no way he wouldn’t feel a difference.

Exhilarated, Jinwoo started lifting various pieces of furniture in his hospital room, making a racket. He was forced to stop after he was chided by the head nurse, who happened to be passing by and poked her head in after hearing all the noise.

“I’m so sorry……”

Jinwoo breathed a relieved sigh after she left. “Whew…”

But he couldn’t calm down. His heart was racing.

Ba-dump, ba-dump…

It was beating so hard, it almost hurt.

There would be a quest every day with ability points as rewards! As long as the phenomenon didn’t suddenly disappear, he would be able to live a completely different life from before. This was an amazing opportunity.

To add to that, his stat screen also indicated his level.

How can I increase my level?

Jinwoo shook his head.

Nah……that’s probably not possible.

Despite everything, leveling up still seemed too far of a reach. He didn’t dare hope that it was possible. Quests and rewards were more than enough for him.

He would increase his attributes with ability points. He’d become stronger today than yesterday and stronger tomorrow than today. He’d strengthen himself more and more every single day.

Me, the weakest among E-rank hunters, the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, getting stronger?

Never mind S- or A-rank hunters, his C- and D-rank colleagues would laugh if they heard him. They’d probably fall over themselves making fun of him. Jinwoo Sung becoming stronger? Jinwoo Sung, the Weakest Hunter of all Mankind?

But Jinwoo didn’t care if people laughed at him. In fact, he was used to being mocked. He was just glad to have this opportunity.

But he did begin to wonder…

Is this how a reawakening goes?

It was rare, but there were cases in which a low-rank hunter became one of the best through reawakening. Did that mean all the hunters who got stronger via reawakening had experienced this phenomenon?

I need to do some research.

Curious, Jinwoo sat down in front of the computer situated in the corner of the room. There were quite a few amenities in these VIP accommodations provided by the association.

Takataka-tak.

His fingers moved quickly over the keyboard. He searched and searched and searched some more. He visited countless websites. This included a site that could be accessed only by those with hunter licenses. He even shelled out to access some promising documents that were locked behind a paywall.

Even so, there was not so much as a single case comparable, much less identical, to his.

It’s not the same……

What he was going through was totally different from a reawakening.

Reawakened hunters seemed to get their new powers in a manner similar to when they first awakened as hunters. No one had experienced anything like Jinwoo, whether it be hearing things at death’s door or being able to see their stats like in a video game or increasing their power with points.

Hmm, just in case……

He made an anonymous post on a hunters-only forum.

The comments section under the post exploded.

The tens of comments were all in a similar vein.

“Haaah.” Jinwoo sighed.

He’d wasted a lot of time online with nothing to show for it. All he’d gained was the ridicule of people on the forum. If he’d gone to all these lengths but turned up empty……

“I guess I’m the only one.”

The one and only, a one-of-a-kind hunter!

It would take time to realize the full potential of this phenomenon and how much help it’d be, but being the only one with this power didn’t sound that bad.

He looked around and realized it was already late at night.

“Where did the time go……?” Jinwoo frowned.

His eyes were tired from staring at the monitor for so long. He massaged his temples for a while and then got up to do some light stretching. He moved his body to-and-fro.

While doing some side stretches, he spotted two boxes that had fallen to the floor.

“Oh.”

The mystery boxes. The small boxes were covered in simple wrapping paper and tied with plain ribbons, again reminding him of something from a video game.

I guess they fell when I was making a mess.

He’d forgotten that he’d received the boxes as rewards. Jinwoo picked up the one closest to him and opened it.

“……A bandage?”

When he stared hard at the object that appeared to be a bandage, its information popped up in green letters.

“It’s an actual bandage.”

He thought it might have a special power like treasures found in dungeons, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

Though I guess I’ve never heard of bandages appearing in a dungeon……

He opened the other box, feeling half-disappointed and half-expectant.

Inside was a ballpoint pen. He looked at it from every angle and pressed the top to make the ballpoint appear, but it really was just a regular pen.

It looked like mystery boxes generated miscellaneous items at random.

“Hmm……”

It hadn’t been a complete loss, however. Although he wasn’t in need of a bandage or a pen, thanks to the items, he’d learned of the existence of an inventory.

Information screens for other items in the room didn’t appear in green letters, so it was safe to assume this was a feature that pertained to items from mystery boxes.

“Inventory.”

At his command, a screen consisting of a graphic with dozens of empty squares materialized in midair.

A level-1 user’s inventory should have been empty…but his wasn’t. There in the very first space was an item that was all too familiar.

“Is that……?” Jinwoo took it out.

Ping!

It was Kim’s sword that Jinwoo had grabbed in the underground temple. He thought he’d dropped it there.

“Good to see you again, bro.” Jinwoo couldn’t help smiling.

Maybe because it had survived the near-death experience with him, he was happy to see it again. Also, it was too high-quality to be left in that world.

Didn’t Mr. Kim say he paid 3,000,000 won for this?

Hunter-grade weapons look ordinary but aren’t. A magic beast can’t be hurt unless the weapon is imbued with mana. Because of this, weapons made for battling magic beasts are naturally expensive.

I should use this guy for now.

Jinwoo had fought against magic beasts with his bare hands until now because he couldn’t afford a weapon. Even if it was a used sword, he was grateful to have it.

This is mine now.

If Kim saw it in Jinwoo’s possession, he’d probably be frothing at the mouth trying to get it back. He was selfish to the point where he’d run away and abandoned the one who’d saved his life.

Jinwoo had both this sword and this new opportunity because he’d risked his life. He had no intention of giving up the weapon that easily.

His eyes narrowed.

He’d learned two things in that underground temple.

First, he needed to get stronger. He’d almost died a number of times simply because he was weak.

But that wasn’t the only thing.

He hadn’t stopped the young choir man even though he’d known what the result would be, and he hadn’t stood up for Song even though he knew Kim had been in the wrong. He’d turned a blind eye even though he’d known what needed to happen in order to survive.

If he didn’t want to feel ashamed, he had to become stronger.

And the other lesson—

No good deed goes unpunished.

Jinwoo’s good deeds had been met with betrayal. Three of his colleagues had abandoned him even though he’d needed their help just to stand. He’d begged them to come back, but none of them had. They couldn’t remember who had saved their lives.

Give-and-take.

From now on, he would never put his own life on the line for someone else out of the kindness of his heart. After all, wasn’t one’s own life the most important thing?

These were the lessons Jinwoo learned after being on the brink of death.

Be stronger and be tougher.

“I can do this.”

He was not one to make the same mistake twice.

Nurse Yura Choi was sitting at a food cart, having a good time with a friend she hadn’t seen in a while.

“Oh, that’s right.” Yura belatedly recalled the fact that her friend worked for the Hunter’s Association. Her current job at a big hospital for hunters was in large part thanks to this friend.

“You know a lot about hunters, right?”

“As much as the next person. Why?”

“Have you heard of a hunter with the ability to heal quickly?”

“Healers are like that. Just one recovery spell and bam!”

“No, no. Not by using magic—I mean unconsciously.”

“Unconsciously?”

“Like while they’re passed out……or while they’re sleeping.”

Her friend shook her head. “Nah, not possible. That’s called regeneration, and it’s a special ability only certain A-rank and above magic beasts have.”

“But not people?”

“Nope. I’ve never heard of a hunter with that ability.”

“R-right……” Had she been seeing things?

Yura was nodding when her friend added, “But……who knows—it may be possible for an S-rank hunter.”

Yura perked up. “S-rank?”

“S-rank hunters are absolute beasts, but there’s not a lot of public info about them. What was it again? There was some rumor going around that Yoonho Baek from the White Tiger Guild can turn into some kind of monster.”

But Jinwoo Sung was an E-rank hunter. Hunters’ ranks were public knowledge and on the association’s website for anyone to look up if they so desired.

After the incident from this morning, Yura had searched for Jinwoo online out of curiosity.

His rank is too low to have any special abili…… Oh!

A reawakening! She remembered hearing something about a reawakening when she’d passed by his hospital room yesterday or the day before.

Did he reawaken as a high-rank hunter?

Never mind being friends with an S-rank hunter, it wasn’t easy for the average person to even meet one. Not only were they rare, they were also incredibly busy. What were the chances she’d have such an outstanding person as her patient?

A hunter who’d just gone from E rank to S rank…

Since people don’t know how great he is yet……

If she could score some points with him now, it might benefit her down the road. Opportunities to befriend an S-rank hunter didn’t come easily. Some even tried paying fortunes just to meet S-rank hunters and failed.

Yura’s grin grew bigger as she daydreamed.

“Hey, girl. Did something good happen to you? Why’re you smiling like that?”

“No, no. It’s nothing.” Even as Yura shook her head, she found it hard to hide her smile.

“Wow, check him out.”

“Did that patient always look so yummy?”

Two young female nurses whispered to each other as they passed Jinwoo in the hallway. He pretended not to hear them and went back to his room.

It had been a week since he’d started doing the daily quests. A lot had begun to change, including his body. Jinwoo stood in front of the mirror placed in the corner of the room.

“Ahem…” Jinwoo looked himself over in the full-length mirror. Even though no one could see him, Jinwoo wasn’t used to checking himself out and could only bring himself to peek after hemming and hawing for a few moments.

Like he thought……he looked different. His body was transforming.

I’m bulking up.

The most obvious change was his muscles. He was leaner, and his muscles were more pronounced. Due to this, his shoulders were wider, and his whole body appeared bigger.

But I don’t look too stocky.

He had the right amount of muscle in all the right places. If someone had to describe him in a single word, they might call him ripped. Even he had to admit that he looked good, so no wonder the nurses agreed.

I guess it’s all because of these quests.

Jinwoo brought up the stat screen.

Ping!

[Name: Jinwoo Sung]
[Job: None]
[HP: 100]
[Fatigue: 0]

[Level: 1]
[Title: None]
[MP: 10]

[Stats]
Strength:	31
Stamina:	10
Agility:	10
Intelligence:	10
Perception:	10

(Available ability points: 0)

His strength attribute was already over thirty. He didn’t know how effective raising the other stats would be, so he’d concentrated all his ability points into raising his strength for the time being, since that would be the most helpful attribute when fighting magic beasts.

But this couldn’t have happened to my body after only a couple of days just by exercising.

There could be only one reason. As his strength increased, his muscles were changing in response for optimum effect. He couldn’t think of any other explanation.

He’d been slightly worried about investing his points solely in strength, but after seeing the results, he’d been very satisfied, and his worries had faded.

Still, I do think I’m attracting too much attention.

The nurses were talking about Jinwoo more and more. Since their job required knowledge of human anatomy, it was inevitable that they would quickly notice the change. Because of his keen hearing, Jinwoo was very aware of this.

Looks like it’s time to get out of here.

All this attention wasn’t good. He not only felt burdened by it, but he wanted to avoid anyone else finding out about the system. There was no point stirring something up for no reason. He wanted to upgrade his ability level in peace without anyone knowing.

Getting discharged shouldn’t be a problem.

Luckily, all the test results had come back normal. He could leave at any time.

Heck, the association and the hospital seemed to be hoping he’d leave soon. They probably didn’t want to spend too much money on an E-rank hunter. It was said that the government paid for S-rank hunters’ hospital bills as one of their many benefits, but Jinwoo lived in a completely different world from them.

He decided it’d be a good call to leave the hospital soon. He wanted to check on something anyway.

“Where did I put it……?” He riffled through his pockets and took something out.

It was a shiny gold key. It had a simplistic design and could easily be mistaken for a trinket.

He gazed at it for a long while before shoving it back into his pocket.

As he was going through discharge paperwork, a young nurse came flying up to him.

“Huff, huff! Are you leaving, Jinwoo?”

“What? Oh, yes.”

It was Yura Choi, the nurse in charge of Jinwoo. She looked disappointed that he was leaving.

He didn’t understand her reaction. He wondered if he had done something wrong, but nothing came to mind.

She hesitated a little before taking out a notepad. “May I have your number?”

“My number?”

“Yes……if that’s okay with you.”

Maybe they were planning to send him more test results? He took the notepad from her, but that’s all she had for him.

Yura’s face flushed as Jinwoo blinked at her. “Wh-what’s wrong?”

“Um…… I don’t have a pen.”

“Oh. J-just a minute, please.” In her haste, she hadn’t thought to bring a pen. She looked around, all flustered.

Oh, wait a minute. If it’s a pen……

The next second, he was holding a pen. It had instantly appeared in his hand as soon as he recalled the ballpoint pen in his inventory.

Anything he put in his inventory could be put back in or taken out with a mere thought. The inventory really was a convenient feature.

Once he confirmed that it really was the pen in his hand, he called to Yura.

“I realized I already had a pen.”

“Oh, really? Whew, I’m glad.” She placed her hand on her chest and gave a sigh of relief.

Jinwoo smiled as he wrote out his phone number.

It was always like this. An opportunity to use items from mystery boxes tended to come up shortly after obtaining them. It rained the day after he received a raincoat, and he’d gotten a glass cup the day before the water cooler ran out of paper cups. Sometimes he’d get worthless things like the bandage, but most of the items had their uses.

“Here.”

Yura happily took the notepad back from Jinwoo. She gave him a bow.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Oh, um… I’m looking forward to it, too.”

With that, Yura rushed off somewhere. He cocked his head as he watched her hurry away.

But……looking forward to what?

In any case, it was nice to see that she was as polite as she was cute.

With that in mind, Jinwoo left the hospital with a spring in his step, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Jinwoo’s first stop was the Hunter’s Association Headquarters in Guro-gu, Seoul. Hunter-issue smartphones used specialized technology, so Jinwoo had to put in a request directly with the association.

The employee checked their monitor and then informed him, “It’ll take two weeks to get your phone.”

“Excuse me? It takes that long?” Jinwoo’s eyes went wide.

His old phone had been totaled while he was being chased by the gigantic statue. To think it’d take two weeks for a new one…

“If you need a phone right away, you can rent one temporarily for fifty thousand won.”

Forget buying, simply renting a phone cost as much as 50,000 won. It was too expensive for him, considering his financial situation.

No one ever calls me anyway.

The association would contact his house directly if they couldn’t reach him by phone, so there was no reason to waste money on a rental.

Jinwoo shook his head. “I’ll just wait for the new one.”

“Understood. We’ll send your new phone to your house as soon as it is available.”

“Thank you.” Jinwoo got up.

He was now finished with his errands. He’d already diligently completed his daily quest, and signing up for a new phone had gone faster than he’d expected.

He fished the gold key from his pocket after exiting the association building.

I guess it’s time to figure this out.

The key’s info screen popped up in green writing.

The key had come from a mystery box he’d received after finishing a daily quest. At first, he’d dismissed it, but when he saw the display indicating the level of difficulty to acquire it, he figured it couldn’t be a regular key.

This had been the deciding factor for leaving the hospital.

A key to an instance dungeon……

Instance or not, a dungeon was a dungeon.

Jinwoo had many painful memories related to dungeons. Once, he’d participated in an E-rank raid and was hurt so badly that he’d ended up hospitalized for a week. At least he’d made it out alive thanks to his colleagues. If he used the key to go to a dungeon, he’d have to do it alone.

After much thought, he came to a decision.

It shouldn’t be a problem if I take a quick peek.

He could run away if it came to it. Since he was jogging ten kilometers daily these days, he was confident in his ability to get away, at least.

Jinwoo was mistaken.

Knock, knock!

“Where did this wall come from……?”

He knocked on the invisible wall and yelled at passersby, but that was all in vain. People kept going their own busy ways. Sometimes they approached exit three to enter Hapjeong Station, but they vanished from his view once they reached the invisible wall.

It was as if he were in a different dimension.

When Jinwoo tried to force his way out, he received another message.

Ping!

He’d been getting the same message for a while now.

The dungeon’s key had disappeared as soon as he stepped through exit three. Realizing something was wrong, he’d turned back only to find the entrance was already blocked. He had been expecting there to be a gate or a secret door somewhere near exit three, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

To make matters worse, unlike a typical dungeon, it was impossible to leave of his own accord.

“This isn’t a normal dungeon……”

Jinwoo sighed and turned to get his bearings.

The subway station had transformed into a jungle. Vines covered the walls, and the stench of a rotting corpse hung in the air. He could hear some animal howling in the distance every so often.

“……”

It wasn’t that there was a dungeon near exit three of Hapjeong Station. The station itself was the dungeon.

Jinwoo took the steel sword out of his inventory.

Ping!

The exit was blocked, and he had no way to contact the outside world. His only option was to go forward.

Jinwoo swallowed nervously and slowly descended the stairs. He quietly looked around but sensed nothing amiss. He held his breath as he assessed his surroundings, but he couldn’t sense anything.

Still, it would be unwise for him to let his guard down. Even among low-rank magic beasts, many of them had ways of masking their presence. Or rather, it’d probably be more accurate to say that, because their ranks were low, they had to mask their presence in order to pull off surprise attacks.

Past the washrooms and farther in the station were the subway shops. The old, run-down stores reminded Jinwoo of abandoned buildings. Under the dim fluorescent lighting, the abandoned stores and corridors with absolutely no sign of life gave him the creeps.

Zzzt-zzzt…

Some of the lights flickered as if they were about to go out.

As he walked down a corridor with weeds pushing out between the broken floor tiles, Jinwoo felt an uneasy chill.

“……”

Everything was deadly quiet, but he sensed he was being watched.

And then there was the smell. It was the intense stench of a rotting dead animal infested with flies. It was a scent familiar to Jinwoo, since he frequented dungeons.

This smell…… It’s an animal type!

Jinwoo couldn’t feel its presence anywhere. It was almost like a predator, hiding and lying in wait for its prey.

It’s waiting for an opening, huh?

Then Jinwoo had to give it one.

He purposefully turned around, exposing his back, and slowly started walking the way he’d come. Animals attack when an opponent shows their back. Animal-type magic beasts aren’t much different.

Jinwoo had taken three steps when…

Crrrshhh!

Something blasted through the display window of a clothing store at the end of the corridor. It landed on the floor and immediately jumped for Jinwoo’s neck.

Graaar!

Prepared for the attack, Jinwoo swung his sword around in a wide arc as soon as he heard the noise.

It was like a reflex!

Shhhk!

The sharp blade sliced through the creature’s jaw. The monster tumbled to the floor with a squeal.

Kiiiin, kiiin!

It was a huge wolf with bright-red fur. Its snout had been severed, and the monster was writhing on the floor in pain.

When Jinwoo inspected it, he noticed its name floated above its head like the centipede in the penalty zone.

Unlike last time, the writing was in white and not red.

No time to waste!

This was his chance—while the wounded monster couldn’t get up. Jinwoo leaped into action. He ran at the creature and swung his sword down, lopping off its head.

Gaaackkk!

The lycan gave a howl of pain as it died.

“Yes!”

But his celebration was cut short.

Two more lycans that had been hiding behind display windows now emerged. Looked like it had friends.

Jinwoo’s eyes went wide.

Grrrrr!

They bared their fangs and raced toward him.

Jinwoo grimaced. In his excitement, he’d struck his sword down with too much force, and it was now embedded deep in the floor. It must’ve gotten caught on something, as Jinwoo couldn’t pull it out.

It’s stuck.

One of the lycans leaped at his face.

“Oh no!”

He ducked. His attacker sailed over his head and smacked its head on the ground, unable to slow its momentum.

Kraaak!

The stone floor cracked as its fangs pierced it.

Those teeth aren’t just for show.

There was no time to be impressed, though. The other lycan was running straight at him.

It didn’t look like he’d be able to free the sword in time.

“Dammit!”

Jinwoo gave up on the sword and instead swung his fist at the lycan flying toward him.

Whoooosh!

The sound his fist made as it snapped forward wasn’t normal.

THWAK!

The lycan’s head exploded with one punch. The headless body skidded out from where it hit the ceiling and then fell to the ground hard.

Whump!

“……?”

Jinwoo stared at his fist, dumbfounded. That level of monstrous strength was completely unexpected.

Having witnessed this, the lycan he’d dodged earlier started backing away with its tail between its legs.

“Huh……?”

Was this from using all those points on his strength attribute? Even as the headless lycan’s leg stopped twitching, Jinwoo still could not pick his own jaw off the floor.

Then came that familiar notification bell.

Ping!

“I leveled up?”

Wondering if he’d misheard something, Jinwoo hurriedly brought up his stat screen.

[Name: Jinwoo Sung]
[Job: None]
[HP: 205]
[Fatigue: 0]

[Level: 2]
[Title: None]
[MP: 22]

[Stats]
Strength:	32
Stamina:	11
Agility:	11
Intelligence:	11
Perception:	11

(Available ability points: 0)

His level really had gone up! And it looked like leveling up meant one point was added to each of his stats. That meant rewards from quests weren’t the only way to upgrade his abilities. He could increase them by leveling up as well.

I can’t believe it!

The impossible had been confirmed to be possible right before his eyes. His heart started racing in excitement.

On top of that, I get more ability points by leveling up.

Completing a quest gave him three ability points. Leveling up gave him five. While he didn’t particularly care for not having the option to personally distribute the points, leveling up seemed to be a better way to increase his stats. Plus, quests were currently limited to one per day, but there was a higher chance that there was no limit for leveling up.

My level increased just by defeating two of these creatures.

This was how it worked in video games. People usually leveled up faster in earlier stages.

Jinwoo was currently level 2. It was safe to assume he was at the bottom.

But he wasn’t an ordinary low-level Player—his strength stat was already over thirty. If each level-up raised his stats by one, Jinwoo’s strength was equal to that of a level-20 person. What would happen if a user with a level-20 ability decided to go hunting in a level-1 hunting ground?

I’m overpowered……

The unexpected destructive power of his punch proved his theory.

Even though my strength stat is three times higher than what I started with……I’m more than three times stronger!

Jinwoo had started with a strength stat of ten. Strength at ten versus strength at thirty… The number had tripled, but the power he’d demonstrated was much more than three times his starting point.

Maybe……?

Maybe his power was increasing exponentially as his stats went up? That would explain this destructive power.

His movements had gotten faster as well. Before, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge the lycan that had come barreling at him so easily, nor would his punch have made that whistling sound.

“Then again, makes sense that my speed would go up when strength increases.”

Raising his strength stat developed his muscles, which in turn raised both his power and speed. The battle with the lycans had demonstrated this.

But then what would change if he raised his agility stat? He was dying to find out, but there was no way of doing so now. To accomplish it, he’d have to increase the stat.

But……

He felt it was a waste to use the ability points received from quests on agility. Why squander resources there when raising strength increased both his power and speed in one go?

That left only one other way.

I need to level up as quickly as possible.

He had to in order to increase agility. Every journey begins with the first step. He’d see a difference someday as long as he kept compounding it by one.

Jinwoo finally pulled the sword out of the ground.

Should I get going, then?

There was one more lycan left to kill.

“Hmm…… Where’d it go?”

The lycan that had been there not too long ago had disappeared. Jinwoo searched thoroughly nearby but couldn’t find a trace of it. It had probably escaped while Jinwoo was distracted by his stat screen. Thinking back, its tail had been down, and it’d been eyeing him for a chance to flee.

“Tsk.”

He pursed his lips in disappointment at the thought of losing a chance at gaining experience points. He was about to move on when it occurred to him.

Do these things not have essence stones?

He abruptly stopped.

Magic beasts found in gates had at least one essence stone in their body, if not several. If you were lucky, you might also get a rune stone from one. Both rune stones, which held hidden skills that hunters could learn, and essence stones, which had a variety of uses, could fetch a high price. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that hunters went on raids not just for the basic pay from the association but also to harvest essence stones.

Jinwoo was no different. He was disappointed to find no such items despite his success today.

Just in case, he cut open the dead lycan’s stomach, but it was a waste of time. These things were totally different from the magic beasts he knew. He’d been in many dungeons in his time but had never seen a magic beast that resembled a wolf.

Jinwoo shook his hand clean as he stood up.

“Hmm?”

Something shiny in the lycan’s mouth caught his attention. He forced its jaw open. One of its teeth was shining.

When Jinwoo extended his hand toward it, a message popped up.

“Acquire.”

Jinwoo blinked at the fang in his hand.

There’s a shop?

This system really wasn’t user-friendly! A user had to figure things out on their own as they experienced different scenarios. The worst offender had been the penalty quest, where he’d almost been killed with absolutely no explanation.

He angrily gnashed his teeth at the memory as he summoned the shop.

“Shop.”

He sort of expected a store with a large sign that said SHOP run by an NPC to appear out of thin air. All that popped up, though, was a hologram screen with green writing, similar to the other messages.

There were two words: Buy and Sell.

“……”

It was quite a simple setup.

Jinwoo chose to buy. He had no money, but he was curious about the shop’s inventory.

Alas, the system was very strict.

He was used to being treated like dirt when it came to establishments that required payment.

“Yeah, yeah.”

He turned his attention to selling.

“Sure.”

His inventory screen appeared with the sound of jingling coins. All the way at the bottom of the inventory, the space labeled gold had the number twenty written inside. It had been blank yesterday.

Twenty gold.

It wasn’t actual money he could use in real life, and he couldn’t buy anything in the shop yet, so he couldn’t really grasp how much twenty gold was worth.

I guess it’d be worth as much as something from an E-rank dungeon?

While an instance dungeon wasn’t the same as an actual dungeon, it had to be about the same level.

Jinwoo figured it’d be better to be safe than sorry and went to retrieve the other lycan’s fang but then face-palmed when he realized something.

“I crushed its head……”

His shoulders slumped as he changed direction. The lost twenty gold weighed heavily on Jinwoo’s mind even if he wasn’t sure how much they’d be worth, but he couldn’t justify wasting time looking for a fang that could be anywhere in this darkness.

His disappointment quickly dissipated when he turned around.

Grrraaar.

Grrr.

Grrrr!

Grar!

The lycan he thought had run away had come back with reinforcements! A delighted smile bloomed on Jinwoo’s face. There appeared to be at least twenty of them.

“Eureka!”

Was this the right time to use that word? Well, whatever. It was definitely used when expressing happiness.

He gripped his sword tightly. “I’ll beat every last one of you to a pulp and leave only your fangs.”

The lycans flinched in fear at the murderous glint in the eyes of this man who was hungry for cash. Then Jinwoo leaped toward them.

Jinwoo’s level shot up quickly, as he’d expected. He’d already reached level 7 after scouring the first floor and exterminating all the lycans. He’d jumped up five levels.

Whiiiine!

An odd message popped up after he killed the last lycan, which was trying to run away with its tail between its legs.

Ping!

“Title?”

When he opened his stat screen, his title had changed.

[Name: Jinwoo Sung]
[Job: None]
[HP: 766]
[Fatigue: 3]

[Level: 7]
[Title: Wolf Assassin]
[MP: 81]

[Stats]
Strength:	37
Stamina:	16
Agility:	16
Intelligence:	16
Perception:	16

(Available ability points: 0)

An ability boost when fighting against animal-type monsters. It was limited to only a certain type of target, but a 40 percent boost would still be a big help.

Will this apply to animal types in regular dungeons, too?

If that was true, he’d be able to defeat the magic beasts in a raid with just a snap of his fingers.

In any case, Jinwoo had managed to gather quite a haul.

Thirty-four lycan fangs, two dull daggers, a traveler’s cloak, and a transportation stone.

He’d discovered that items could occasionally be found in a dead lycan’s stomach. Unfortunately, none of them seemed very useful. The dull daggers didn’t have much attack power compared to his steel sword, and the traveler’s cloak was less a clothing item and more of a miscellaneous item to sell to the shop.

He ended up receiving more than 1,000 gold for selling everything.

But I’m not particularly happy about it……

No matter how much gold he saved, he had nowhere to spend it.

The only thing left was the teleportation stone. Back at exit three, when he’d made a fuss about leaving, he’d received a message that said he could leave once he found a teleportation stone. He could leave here if he wanted.

He had two options now. The stairs leading down to the second underground floor were right in front of him. And he had the teleportation stone in his hand.

Push forward or retreat…?

The old Jinwoo would’ve chosen to wait until his next opportunity without hesitation. That was how he’d survived so many raids despite his dismal abilities. People said it was a miracle, but it was actually due to smart decision-making.

However, things were different now. He didn’t want to go back. If he gave up now, he felt like he’d never be able to move forward.

“I’ve done a lifetime’s worth of retreating.”

Shouldn’t he try to clash with what was ahead for once in his life?

He put the teleportation stone back in his pocket. His footsteps as he headed down to the second floor were as light as air.

Unlike regular dungeons, monsters respawned in instance dungeons. Those on the first basement floor respawned while Jinwoo wiped out the ones on the second basement floor and vice versa.

Jinwoo went back and forth between the first and second underground floors, defeating monsters until his level no longer increased.

Since I don’t know when I’ll get this kind of opportunity again…

At a certain point, he’d even memorized where and how monsters would come out and attack him.

“A monkey falls from the ceiling.”

He swiftly avoided the long claws of the monkey-like monster dropping from overhead and stabbed it in the chest.

Eeeek!

“Cats on both the left and right side.”

He beheaded the two black leopards that attacked him from either side.

Rrraaagh!

Grah!

That was the end of the second underground floor. Jinwoo had cleared the floor once more, but it had been a while since his stats had frozen at level 15. It seemed like this was as far as he could progress on these floors.

“Stats.”

[Stats]
Strength:	45
Stamina:	24
Agility:	24
Intelligence:	24
Perception:	24

(Available ability points: 0)

By level 15, his stats had increased quite a bit.

His agility was almost at twenty-five. He’d clearly realized the difference between strength and agility once the latter had surpassed twenty.

Agility didn’t make Jinwoo faster but rather made it seem like his opponents were moving slower.

It’s like everything’s in slo-mo.

When a monkey fell from the ceiling or a leopard leaped toward him, they looked slowed down. It felt like he was seeing everything move frame by frame. This made it easy to avoid monsters as well as successfully pull off attacks. As advertised, he’d become more “agile.”

Speed was relative. As his agility stat went up, the gap between his and his opponents’ skills widened to the point where, to them, it looked like he was moving at superhuman speeds.

If my strength and agility keep increasing, that combo is going to be incredible.

That was the conclusion he reached regarding the agility stat.

“So…” Jinwoo turned his head. “…What should I do about that?”

He was looking at the stairs going down to the third underground floor. There was a reason he’d kept to the first and second basement floors even though there was a clear path to the third.

I’ve got chills…

As his perception stat increased, he detected more and more of a foreboding aura coming from the third underground floor.

Something powerful was down there. He didn’t need to see it to know that.

Jinwoo remembered the message he heard at the exit.

The big boss…

Jinwoo had kept going back and forth between the first and the second floors in order to level up as much as he could in preparation for taking out the boss. Even though he’d done that much preparation, he still felt nervous at the top of the stairs.

Jinwoo lightly slapped his cheeks.

Since I’m already here, I can’t go back without at least seeing its face, can I?

A healthy dose of stress was necessary to keep him on his toes. This was just the right amount.

Jinwoo gripped his sword with both hands and slowly descended the stairs.