The next day.
As soon as Hae-jin woke up, he returned to the lodge.
This time, however, he had not come empty-handed like before.
“Heave-ho!”
The owner of the lodge had fled in a hurry because of the monsters appearing in the area.
Thanks to that, plenty of abandoned materials and items were lying around, and Hae-jin had managed to salvage several useful things.
One of them was the barbecue grill in front of him.
‘This is still a pretty large one. Buying something like this would easily cost more than 100,000 won. Saved myself some money. Nice!’
He dumped a heap of charcoal inside and set it alight.
WHOOSH—!
Crimson flames surged fiercely upward.
Once the grill had heated up enough, he dumped the chunks of meat he had brought onto it and began diligently cooking them.
Warm sunlight, the chirping of mountain birds, and a peaceful lodge surrounded by nature.
Naturally, this was not some solitary barbecue party.
For one thing, the meat itself was far too poor in quality for a person to want to eat it.
He had visited a butcher shop that morning and cheaply bought the scraps left over after the meat had been trimmed.
They were full of fat, dripping with blood, and gave off an overpowering gamey stench.
It hardly looked like anything that belonged at a barbecue party.
Yet Hae-jin continued grilling the meat as diligently as possible despite grimacing at the smell.
‘There’s no reason not to use that effortless hunting method I discovered last time when this skill is so ridiculously overpowered, right?’
That was right.
This meat was not for Hae-jin.
It was bait to lure in monsters.
To a human, it might merely smell like bloody, gamey meat, but to monsters, would it not smell absolutely delicious?
‘The moment I leave the property, I lose my invincibility. If I want to stay completely safe, luring them here while remaining inside is obviously the best method. Damn, I can’t believe I came up with something this brilliant. Well done, Lee Hae-jin. You’re a genius.’
Sure enough, it did not take long for the plan to show results.
The peaceful chirping of the birds suddenly faded, and the bushes began rustling.
When Hae-jin pricked up his ears, he heard low growling.
Garbage Dogs.
The same monsters that had nearly killed him before.
Two of those valuable creatures, worth 500,000 won each, appeared at once.
“They’re here!”
Hae-jin’s eyes widened.
He had been waiting eagerly for this.
He immediately grabbed a nicely cooked piece of meat and tossed it right in front of the lodge entrance.
“How about it? You want this, don’t you? Your mouths are watering, aren’t they?”
“BARK BARK! GRRRR—!!”
“But you can’t eat it, can you? You can’t even come inside, can you? So what exactly are you going to do about it? What can you do besides barking loud enough to wake the dead?!”
“BARK BARK BARK!!!”
Even beasts could tell when someone was deliberately taunting them.
The Garbage Dogs were no exception.
Watching Hae-jin wave chunks of meat around while mocking them from an entrance they could not cross because of his skill, their eyes went wild with hunger and rage.
They repeatedly hurled themselves against the lodge entrance despite being unable to pass through, barking like mad.
Hae-jin watched them with satisfaction before picking up the long spear he had prepared beforehand.
‘This is my first time using a proper weapon since becoming a hunter.’
It was a hunter weapon he had purchased in the Hunting City.
The spear was a full 1.2 meters long, and although it had been somewhat expensive, as expected of equipment made for hunters, its blade had been honed to a chilling sharpness.
Hae-jin was extremely safety-conscious.
Even though he knew his skill made him invincible, he had chosen a long spear to keep himself as safe as possible.
If the Garbage Dog somehow dragged him outside the property, it would be a disaster.
Fortunately, the weapon was certainly worth the money.
-YELP!!
He aimed for the head and thrust with all his strength.
The Garbage Dog immediately suffered a critical wound and collapsed to the ground.
The sensation was completely different from striking something with the rusty iron pipe he had used before.
“This is good!”
He especially liked how the spear was made from a lightweight material, requiring much less strength than he had expected.
STAB! STAB, STAB—!
He repeatedly raised the spear and drove the blade forward without stopping.
In no time at all, both Garbage Dogs stopped breathing.
Other hunters might have had to risk their lives to kill such monsters, but Hae-jin merely needed to stand in front of the lodge and stab them a few times.
“Kah... Two already. That’s one million won earned!”
But he was not finished yet.
Now that he had tasted the joy of making money, this much alone was no longer enough to satisfy him.
He briefly considered dragging the dead Garbage Dogs inside the lodge, then decided to leave them lying in front of the entrance instead.
The smell of their blood and flesh could lure in even more monsters.
He went back to grilling the meat.
Before long, more Garbage Dogs began appearing one after another, drawn by the smell.
STAB—! STAB—!
[Garbage Dog defeated!]
[Level Up!]
Perhaps because they were monsters mutated from dogs.
As the corpses piled up and the smell grew stronger, Garbage Dogs kept appearing without pause.
If anything, their numbers seemed to be increasing.
“This is insane... Now this is what you call perpetual motion.”
The method worked far better than he had expected.
Hae-jin even threw off his jacket as sweat poured down his body, stabbing his spear forward like a madman.
He had no special offensive skill, so all he could do was burn through his physical stamina.
However, as he continued, he gradually developed a knack for it.
Before long, he could kill a Garbage Dog with only three or four thrusts.
[Garbage Dog defeated!]
[Garbage Dog defeated!]
[Garbage Dog defeated!]
[Level Up!]
“Huff, huff... Haa... I seriously can’t do any more. Ugh, I’m dying.”
How much time had passed?
Hae-jin had become so absorbed in hunting that he no longer even noticed the constant kill notifications appearing before him.
Eventually, his stamina ran out completely, and he collapsed onto the grass.
The fire he had lit in the grill was also nearly extinguished.
Deciding to stop for the day, Hae-jin began moving the mountain of Garbage Dog corpses that had accumulated.
He grabbed them by the legs and dragged them one after another into the lodge’s front yard.
When he slowly counted them, his jaw dropped at the number.
“Ten, eleven, twelve... Holy shit. Twelve? Then that’s six million won?!”
Garbage Dogs were not weak low-level monsters like Slimes.
Although their endurance was relatively low, their sharp teeth and extreme speed made them mid-level monsters normally hunted by experienced hunters.
That was why their corpses fetched a high price.
More importantly, they also granted plenty of experience.
Thanks to that, Hae-jin had now reached Level 4.
He had gained two entire Levels in a single day.
‘Whoa, but doesn’t leveling up improve your physical abilities too? I’m Level 4, so why does this still feel like I’m dying...? I really was in terrible shape.’
By the time he had roughly finished arranging the corpses, sweat was pouring off his body like rain, and his trembling shoulders were practically screaming.
Apparently, an ordinary Level 4 hunter usually possessed basic physical stamina comparable to that of an elite ordinary person.
Hae-jin was now seriously wondering whether he should start going to a gym.
Then again, he had spent his days lying around at home whenever possible.
Perhaps this was only natural.
‘I really should exercise. Leveling up makes you stronger, but I heard your original stamina and muscle strength also affect how strong you become.’
He had lived his entire life avoiding exercise whenever possible, but now he could no longer put it off.
And so, Hae-jin began desperately rationalizing it to himself.
If he exercised, his stamina would improve.
If his stamina improved, he could kill more Garbage Dogs.
And if he killed more Garbage Dogs...
“I can make more money. Okay. I’ll exercise.”
In the end, it was money.
Was there any stronger motivation in the world for getting a person to move?
As Hae-jin packed the Garbage Dog corpses into suitcases, he imagined his rosy future.
‘Right. This is already amazing enough. First, I’ll make money as quickly as possible and get something better than that studio residence. Yeah, I should just rent an actual house with a yard. Then maybe I can decorate it luxuriously too. Hehehe!’
With a large detached house, he could move several monsters at once and do far more than he could now.
Just imagining such a happy future seemed to restore Hae-jin’s strength.
As expected of the money-obsessed bastard Lee Hae-jin.
Money truly was the greatest thing in the world.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Hae-jin repeated the same Garbage Dog hunt every single day.
He spread the smell of meat to lure them in, safely stabbed them to death with his spear, collected the corpses, and sold them at the Monster Exchange.
Since he earned at least five million won every day, his wallet grew fat at an astonishing pace.
As a result, Hae-jin’s routine changed slightly.
“After marinating it with salt and pepper, once the juices start rising slightly to the surface... now!”
The grill that had once held meat scraps unfit for human consumption now had a massive piece of Korean beef tenderloin sitting on it.
And not just any tenderloin.
It was Chateaubriand, said to be the most expensive and delicious cut of the tenderloin!
After using the grill so many times, Hae-jin had grown quite skilled with it.
In no time at all, he cooked himself a beautiful steak.
After letting it rest for a while, he sliced it in half.
“Kraaaaaah! This is it!!”
A perfect medium rare.
The sight of the beautifully cooked tenderloin steak automatically brought a grin to his face.
-BARK BARK!
-BARK BARK BARK! GRRRRR!!
“You guys want some too? What a shame, though. I’ve only got one piece. Oh dear, what am I supposed to do? Wahahaha!”
He had now reached the point where the barking of Garbage Dogs sounded like classical music in a restaurant.
After leisurely finishing his steak, he comfortably began hunting the Garbage Dogs that had gathered outside.
Then—
DING!
[Garbage Dog defeated!]
[Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 5.]
[The ability user’s standing has risen.]
[You may acquire one new Trait and one new Skill.]
“Ooh, finally!”
The instant he reached Level 5, a status window different from the previous ones appeared before him.
This was the famous Trait system.
Whenever a hunter’s Level reached a multiple of five, they could randomly acquire a Trait and a Skill.
Of course, they could not choose them directly. The results were determined at random.
Still, gaining any new ability at all was an enormous benefit.
‘Please give me something good. Please! God, please! Let me coast through life even more easily!!’
Hae-jin’s heart pounded as his expectations soared.
He was so excited that he was practically trembling.
Pure white cards flashed before his eyes.
Then two of them were automatically selected.
His new Trait and Skill were revealed.
-DING!
-You have acquired the new Trait, ‘My Comfortable Home’!
-You have acquired the new Skill, ‘A Landlord’s Gravitas’!
“What... the hell is this?!”
As Hae-jin checked what they did, his mouth slowly fell open without him even realizing it.