【You have been afflicted with the curse ‘Death Sentence’ by the Judgment Dragon.】
【You will die in 6 months.】
【Time Remaining: 183 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes】
Siul stared blankly at the holographic screen floating before him.
Beyond the screen, an SSS-rank Judgment Dragon waited, its brilliant turquoise scales gleaming.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Today, two things had happened to Siul that were less likely than being struck by lightning.
On his very first day working as a hunter, he had been caught in a Black Gate.
A Black Gate referred to a bizarre phenomenon in which the dungeon inside a gate was replaced by one from another dimension.
The odds of it occurring were a mere 0.00001%.
And that jackpot just had to hit today.
‘Why couldn’t I win the lottery instead…….’
Siul was a D-rank hunter.
The dungeon he had joined a raid for was also D-rank.
But then a Black Gate suddenly occurred, transforming the dungeon he was in into an SSS-rank dungeon.
‘Has an SSS-rank gate ever even appeared in this country before…?’
In fact, not even an SS-rank gate had ever appeared, much less an SSS-rank one.
His fellow party members had been brutally devoured by higher-ranked monsters.
And Siul, who had somehow ended up as the sole survivor, found himself cornered at a dead end by an enemy even more hopeless than the rest.
“GROOOOAR―!!”
The boss of the SSS-rank dungeon, the Judgment Dragon itself, had personally appeared.
Who could have imagined that the day of his first raid as a hunter would also be the day he came face-to-face with a dungeon boss of the highest rank on Earth…….
‘Not even my worst nightmare would be this shitty, f***!’
Then came the second rare occurrence.
This one, at least, was somewhat positive.
He had been struck by curse magic said to be usable only by creatures of the Demon Realm.
At first glance, one might wonder what was positive about that, but it was certainly not the worst possible outcome.
『 The gate’s exit is opening. 』
The moment Siul received the Death Sentence curse from the Judgment Dragon, a blue warp portal appeared.
『 The cursed individual is permitted to leave the dungeon. 』
“…!”
Siul immediately hurled himself into the warp portal.
‘Curse or no curse, I need to survive first!’
With that single thought in mind, he ran without looking back.
How many D-rank hunters could say they had returned home alive from an SSS-rank dungeon?
Siul could not afford to let such a priceless opportunity slip away.
* * *
When he came to his senses, he was standing in the middle of the Hongdae intersection.
Spring sunlight blanketed the ground.
The streets were peaceful.
That only made everything feel even more surreal to Siul.
‘Was I… dreaming just now?’
He desperately hoped so, but the holographic screen was still floating at the edge of his vision.
【You have been afflicted with the curse ‘Death Sentence’ by the Judgment Dragon.】
【You will die in 6 months.】
【Time Remaining: 183 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes】
Everything that had just happened was real.
The notice of his death made that truth painfully clear.
‘Then am I really going to die in six months?’
His heart sank.
Kim Siul. Twenty-nine years old. Unmarried.
Today’s date: May 25.
The date six months from now: November 25.
Scheduled to die before he could even see the first snow.
And on top of that…….
‘I’M GOING TO DIE BEFORE I EVEN TURN THIRTY!!’
It was a truly despair-inducing curse.
He was only in his late twenties, far too young to die.
Until yesterday, he had been so healthy that he hardly ever even caught a cold.
‘This is insane!’
Siul clutched his hair with both hands and ruffled it in despair.
But then, as his gaze lowered, the holographic screen scrolled down, revealing one final sentence that had been hidden at the bottom.
.
.
.
【The curse will automatically disappear if you kill the Judgment Dragon.】
There was a way to survive.
It was unquestionably a hopeful message.
And yet, Siul’s expression did not brighten in the slightest.
‘How am I supposed to do that…….’
The gate connected to the dungeon had vanished the moment Siul returned to the real world.
That meant he had lost any means of reaching the Judgment Dragon in the first place.
And even if he somehow managed to find the gate again, how could Siul, a mere D-rank hunter, possibly defeat the boss of an SSS-rank dungeon?
‘A commission…! I can hire an S-rank hunter!’
Siul suddenly raised his head.
Nothing in the explanation of the curse said that Siul had to kill the Judgment Dragon with his own power.
In that case, he should be able to break the curse by hiring a powerful hunter to kill the Judgment Dragon on his behalf.
[Great Tiger Guild Customer Service: 1577―XXXX]
The Great Tiger Guild was the strongest private hunter guild in South Korea.
If it meant breaking the curse, Siul was prepared to scrape together every bit of his savings and even take out loans to hire an S-rank hunter.
― This is Lee Min-jung from the Great Tiger Guild inquiry desk. How may I help you?
“Hello! I have an urgent commission I need to request!”
― Yes, please go ahead.
“I was caught in a Black Gate…….”
Siul stopped speaking.
A warning message had appeared in front of him.
【※Warning※ If you disclose any information related to the Judgment Dragon, the date of your death will be brought forward significantly.】
― Hello? Sir?
The voice on the other end urged him to respond, but Siul could not say anything.
Beep… beep….
Eventually, the call disconnected.
Only then did Siul’s constricted throat loosen.
“What kind of shitty bullshit is this…!”
The warning was written in red, as though ordering him to keep his mouth shut.
Only then did Siul realize.
The curse was not merely a death sentence.
The real torment lay elsewhere.
The true curse was that he could not tell anyone about his situation.
“…….”
The light gradually faded from Siul’s eyes.
He was going to die in six months.
He wanted to break the curse, but he could not ask anyone for help.
Solving the problem alone was effectively impossible.
Trapped in this damned dilemma, Siul began living days that hardly felt like living at all.
* * *
A week had passed since he was cursed.
During that time, Siul had lived like a wreck.
After checking, he discovered that the D-rank gate from before it transformed into a Black Gate had already disappeared.
Naturally, the official record read as follows.
Hunters dying inside dungeons was common enough that Siul was able to comply with the prohibition against revealing information without making any special effort.
Still, weighed down by guilt over being unable to reveal the truth, he visited the funeral of every party member one by one.
And today, the last of the funerals had finally ended.
CLICK—.
The moment Siul stepped out of the convenience store, he twisted the cap off a bottle of soju.
The liquor he gulped down without restraint did not taste bitter at all.
“Guess my alcohol tolerance goes up when I’m about to die.”
As if on cue, rain began pouring down.
It was only three in the afternoon, yet the entire world was shrouded in darkness.
Perfect weather for drinking straight from the bottle.
“F***! Isn’t this seriously too much?!”
Now drunk, Siul staggered down the street, shouting at the top of his lungs.
He did not care whether people stared. He delivered his monologue as though he were the lead actor on a grand stage.
“If this had happened after I’d at least made some money as a hunter, I wouldn’t feel this cheated!”
He had every right to be furious.
Twenty years ago, gates connecting the world to other dimensions had opened, unleashing monsters upon humanity.
At the same time, certain people awakened and gained the ability to become hunters who fought those monsters.
Because hunters protected the world, they received enormous compensation from the government.
They could earn even greater wealth by selling items such as mana stones acquired inside gates.
“I thought my life was finally going to turn around….”
Siul had dreamed of becoming a hunter ever since he was young.
Growing up as an orphan, he had begun life far behind everyone else at the starting line.
He had always wished for a chance to close that gap, and three months ago, a holographic message had suddenly appeared before him.
【You have awakened!】
From that moment onward, mana began flowing through Siul’s body.
He had become an Awakened and gained the opportunity to work as a hunter.
Siul had gone straight to the Hunter Association that very day.
After completing the awakening rank assessment, he proceeded with his hunter registration and training.
Among the ranks ranging from F to S, Siul had been assessed as D-rank.
It was one of the lower ranks, but Siul had still been overjoyed.
“They said even a D-rank hunter makes more than someone at a major corporation…….”
He had thought his life was finally going to change.
At least, until he confidently set out on his first raid and got caught up in all this.
“AAAAARGH!! I’M SO F***ING PISSED!!!”
Siul vented his rage as he wildly swung the hand holding the soju bottle through the air.
BOOOOM!!
Even the thunder joined in his shouting.
“Ah.”
Just then, a man in a suit passing beside Siul let out a short exclamation and stopped walking.
He was clearly holding an umbrella, yet liquid had splashed onto his cheek.
Alcohol from Siul’s wildly swinging soju bottle had struck him.
“Hey. You. Come here.”
The man spoke toward the back of Siul’s head.
Siul turned around, his eyes bloodshot.
“What?”
Was it the alcohol?
Or the reckless courage of a man who knew he was going to die soon?
Either way, Siul was giving off the presence of an S-rank hunter.
“What? What did you say? Ha, you little bastard.”
The man lowered his umbrella.
At that moment, a red, flower-shaped badge became visible on the left side of his suit jacket.
FLINCH!
Siul’s shoulders jerked in shock.
‘Ah… I’m f***ed….’
A red, flower-shaped badge.
It was the insignia of an A-rank hunter.
The government awarded such decorations to high-ranking A- and S-rank hunters.
“You little bastard. Do you know who I am?”
Jang Jin-young. Thirty-one years old. An A-rank hunter with seven years of experience.
A notorious lunatic infamous for having one of the foulest tempers among all hunters in South Korea.
“I said come here. Are you ignoring me?”
“No. It’s just….”
Jang Jin-young strode toward him aggressively, while Siul cautiously backed away.
But just as the distance between them began to close, a tremendous roar suddenly erupted nearby.
RUMBLE―!!
The ground shook beneath them as violent winds swept through the area.
Siul and Jang Jin-young turned their heads in surprise, and far beyond the buildings, an enormous silhouette rose into view.
“SKREEEECH!!”
The piercing cry of a monster spread throughout the city.
Green skin, enormous wings reminiscent of a bat’s, and viciously protruding fangs.
“……A Wyvern Goblin?”
Jang Jin-young identified the monster and recoiled in horror.
This was no ordinary goblin, the sort of weak monster people imagined crawling around on the ground.
It was an A-rank monster born when a goblin mutated into a superior species and claimed the skies.
It stood nearly ten times taller than an ordinary goblin.
That was a Wyvern Goblin.
“Did a gate burst?! How is that thing out on the street…!”
In the modern era, monsters rarely emerged from gates.
However, if a dungeon remained uncleared for too long, the gate’s barrier could deteriorate, resulting in an incident exactly like this one.
“SKREEEECH!!”
The Wyvern Goblin did not even bother surveying its surroundings.
It had already chosen its target.
WHOOSH―!
The Wyvern Goblin’s beating wings tore through the city streets.
Cracks spread across the windows of nearby buildings, sending dust and debris raining down.
A moment later, the Wyvern Goblin landed on the road.
The concrete caved beneath its weight as a shock wave erupted outward.
Standing atop the shattered road, it looked down at Siul with bloodshot eyes.
It had chosen Siul as its prey.
“Get back!”
The instant Jang Jin-young shouted, the Wyvern Goblin spread its wings wide once more.
Its massive body shot forward like a bullet.
It moved at such an insane speed that Siul’s eyes could not even hope to follow it.
Baring its fangs, the Wyvern Goblin charged viciously toward Siul.
“Ah.”
That brief exclamation was all Siul could manage.
The moment when he might have dodged had already passed.
The Wyvern Goblin was already right in front of him, its jaws stretched WIDE― open.
……And then.
【Trait ‘Cannot Die Until Death’ has activated.】
An interface window suddenly appeared in Siul’s vision, blocking the Wyvern Goblin from view.
‘……?’
It lasted only an instant, yet to Siul, it felt as though time itself had stopped.
‘What is this?’
As though responding to Siul’s question, an explanation appeared on the screen.
【You absolutely cannot die until the date specified in your death notice.】