The damp smell of moss and acrid clouds of dirt filled the narrow cave.
With a sweat-stained towel draped around his neck, Yoo Woo-min silently bent at the waist and swung his pickaxe.
Clang! Clank!
A corner of the solid rock face shattered, sending a pile of rubble spilling across the ground. Woo-min quickly put down his pickaxe, crouched, and sifted through the debris with his hands.
The blunt tip of his glove caught on a small, dull-colored stone covered in dust.
It was a low-grade mana stone.
“Phew.”
Woo-min let out a short breath and slipped the mana stone into the worn pouch hanging from his waist. Similar-sized stones clinked together inside it.
They weren’t worth much, but in this line of work, every little bit of income mattered.
“Ah, my back. Don’t you ever get tired, Mr. Woo-min?”
A short distance away, a man who had been wrapping a blood-drained goblin corpse in plastic approached while rubbing his lower back.
“I still haven’t met today’s quota.”
“You’re way too inflexible. What more do you expect to find in an abandoned dungeon after an official raid team has already swept the place clean?”
The man was right.
This was an F-rank dungeon that an official Hunter raid team had finished clearing several days ago. The boss monster’s core, intact mana stones, and valuable monster materials had long since been collected.
There was only one reason low-ranking Hunters like Woo-min had been sent inside.
To clear the debris and collect the scraps.
It was strictly subcontracted labor: picking up any low-grade mana stones the raid team might have overlooked and disposing of monster corpses left rotting in the corners of the cave.
It was the sort of routine porter work assigned to low-ranking Hunters who couldn’t even afford proper equipment.
“How long do you plan to keep doing porter work and clearing rubble before you save any real money? Didn’t you say it’s already been three years since you awakened?”
“I only need to earn enough to keep food on the table.”
Woo-min answered impassively and picked up his pickaxe again. The man clicked his tongue in frustration.
“You’re young, but you’ve got no ambition. That’s why you’re always wearing that same shabby set of armor and crawling around places like this. Take out a loan through the brokerage agency. Get yourself a decent, higher-ranked weapon and join an official party clearing E- or D-rank dungeons. That’s when your life will finally turn around.”
“I’ve seen plenty of people who couldn’t even pay the interest on their loans before dying in a dungeon. I know exactly how much my life is worth.”
“Hey, don’t say something so unlucky. I’m doing this porter work for one more month, tops. After that, I’m moving up. Just wait and see.”
The man shook his head and returned to his assigned work area.
Woo-min ignored his boast and silently continued inspecting the ground.
Three years.
That was how long it had been since Woo-min was officially recognized as an Awakened and received his Hunter license.
Yet in all that time, the only ability he had manifested was a basic form of physical enhancement that made him slightly stronger and tougher than an ordinary person. He had never received any spectacular abilities that allowed him to cast spells or breathe fire.
Woo-min had seen countless reckless Hunters who failed to understand their own limitations. They took out enormous loans to buy equipment, only to be torn apart by monsters inside a dungeon or flee in the middle of the night after being buried under a mountain of debt.
He was thoroughly practical and rational.
A guaranteed daily wage was more important to him than risking his life on the slim chance of striking it rich.
After all, his parents’ hospital bills and living expenses were waiting to be paid this month.
He had never once forgotten that if he collapsed, his family’s livelihood would collapse with him.
“Everyone, listen up!”
The shrill voice of the field supervisor from the Hunter brokerage agency echoed from the dungeon entrance.
“That’s enough work for today. There’s nothing left to find, and it’s almost time for the dungeon to close. Check your porter bags and assemble outside. If you leave anything behind, that’s your responsibility!”
“Yes! Time to go home!”
The workers cheered as if they had been waiting for those exact words. They began gathering the tools scattered across the floor.
Despite the heavy bags on their backs, their faces showed more relief than exhaustion.
Woo-min pulled forward the enormous bag he had left leaning against the cave wall.
“Aren’t you coming with us, Mr. Woo-min?”
The man from earlier looked back and called to him while preparing to leave.
“Go on ahead. I’ll leave after checking that collapsed section over there.”
“You’re one stubborn bastard. Even if you search it, you’ll be lucky to find a single dusty pebble. Just don’t come out so late that you miss the truck.”
“Understood. Good work today.”
Once the men filed out, the abandoned F-rank dungeon quickly fell into a cold silence.
Relying on the small lantern attached to his waist, Woo-min walked toward the deepest part of the cave.
Perhaps due to the aftermath of the official raid team’s battle with the boss monster, the innermost wall had collapsed heavily. A precarious mound of boulders, each as tall as a person, blocked the way.
‘There could be a monster corpse or a dropped mana stone buried underneath.’
Woo-min steadied his breathing and activated his basic physical enhancement.
A faint heat coursed through his muscles as strength welled within him. He wedged his hands into a gap beneath one of the heavy boulders and slowly pushed.
Rrrumble—thud!
The rocks rolled aside, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Woo-min carefully cleared away the rubble and peered inside. His gaze stopped on something protruding from between the dust-covered rocks.
Something pitch-black.
“This is…”
With his gloved hands, Woo-min completely removed the smaller stones surrounding it.
What emerged was a sword.
However, it was in such terrible condition that no one would have questioned finding it at the bottom of a scrapyard dumpster. The blade was severely chipped in countless places, giving it the appearance of a saw, and its original silver surface was buried beneath a thick layer of reddish rust.
The leather that had once wrapped the handle had rotted away after years of neglect, leaving behind little more than a skeletal frame.
‘Did someone from the official raid team use up all its durability and throw it away?’
It happened occasionally.
Weapons pushed beyond their limits during battle could become so badly damaged that repairing them cost more than buying replacements. Some Hunters simply discarded such broken weapons in the corners of dungeons to lighten their loads.
‘I should at least get enough for a meal if I sell it to a scrapyard.’
Without expecting much, Woo-min bent down and reached for it.
Just as he tightly gripped the hilt and began lifting the decrepit sword—
Flash!
His vision blurred for an instant, and translucent blue letters appeared in the air.
***
[Unnamed Sword]
[Grade: F]
[Growth Requirement: Absorb Mana Stones]
[Current Growth: 0%]
***
“…”
Woo-min froze.
For a moment, even his breathing stopped.
He had spent three years working as a low-ranking Hunter, traveling through countless work sites and dungeons, but he had never seen an information window like this.
According to everything he knew about the Hunter world, a weapon’s condition and information did not simply appear in midair as a hologram. Such information could only be obtained by paying to have the item examined with the specialized appraisal equipment maintained by the Hunter Association.
‘What is this?’
Woo-min released the sword and rubbed his eyes hard with his empty hand.
He hadn’t imagined it.
The window still floated clearly in the center of his vision.
Woo-min slowly opened his right hand, releasing the rusty hilt.
As if it had never existed, the information window scattered into motes of light and vanished.
When he reached out and gripped the hilt again, the same window appeared before him. Touching the blade produced no reaction. It responded only when he properly grasped the hilt.
Woo-min instinctively turned his head and surveyed his surroundings.
There wasn’t so much as a damn ant anywhere in the empty dungeon. Naturally, there were no external devices that could have projected the strange window, nor anyone secretly watching him.
‘Does that mean only I can see it?’
Woo-min swallowed dryly.
His heart gradually began beating faster than usual.
Had he belatedly awakened some new appraisal ability?
Or did this horrifically rusted piece of scrap possess a special power of its own?
Either way, there was no question that this was far from ordinary.
A sword that grew by absorbing mana stones.
Woo-min had never heard of such an absurd item—not even among the wild rumors circulating on Hunter forums or the exaggerated tales spread by back-alley merchants.
An ordinary low-ranking Hunter might have shouted for joy and raced outside. They might have swung the sword around excitedly, convinced that a miracle had finally occurred.
But Woo-min did neither.
He wasn’t foolish enough to lose himself in heroic excitement or premature expectations and forget the reality before him.
Unknown powers and abnormal objects always came with equally unpredictable dangers and costs. He understood that instinctively.
Woo-min calmly steadied his breathing and listened for any sounds around him. No one outside was calling for him yet.
He quickly opened the large porter bag resting on the ground and dug out a space beneath the pouch containing the monster materials and mana-stone fragments he had collected throughout the day.
Woo-min carefully slid the rusty sword into the deepest part of the bag. He wrapped it in a thick work cloth so its shape wouldn’t be visible from outside, then firmly closed the zipper.
Once the sword was hidden deep inside the bag, the information window obstructing his vision disappeared completely.
“…”
Woo-min rose with an impassive expression.
After lightly brushing the dust from his work clothes, he slung the now-heavier bag over his shoulder and quietly headed toward the dungeon entrance.