Prologue + 01
2025
Monsters appeared, and humanity fell.
To be precise, it had fallen.
But humans, as they always did, found an answer.
At the same time monsters appeared, the System came into being. Those chosen by that System began to Awaken, and they became able to stand against monsters.
They could not protect all of human civilization from the monsters, but by using the System, they created Shelters like natural fortresses, expanded them, and somehow managed to endure.
Like that, in order to make the brilliant civilization of the past bloom once more, humanity grew its power within those Shelters while fighting monsters.
About a hundred years passed that way.
Three more Shelters had appeared in South Korea as well, making four Shelters in total.
Now, after about a hundred years had passed like that,
Area 21 outside Hyeonmu Shelter, the place once called Seoul.
Across a place where fields, human waste, and all kinds of junk were piled like mountains, one creature was running madly.
***
Gwoooooooo!
This creature, which looked like half bull and half wild dog mixed together, was an F+ Grade monster with the easy-to-understand name Bullhound.
Ratatat. Ratatatat!
Machine-gun bullets grazed past the Bullhound’s back.
Most of them struck scrap-metal trash, but several of them hammered against the Bullhound’s hide, and several of those lodged deep, sharply tearing through its inner flesh every time it moved.
Vroooooom.
The pickup truck silently chased after the creature.
Until it chose battle instead of escape.
Eventually, when the creature stopped and turned around, two hunters jumped down from the pickup truck and surrounded the Bullhound.
A combination of one tank and one ranged damage dealer!
The tank silently received the creature’s attacks, and whenever a weak point was found, the ranged damage dealer’s gun barrel flashed.
Squelch!
In the end, the tip of the tank’s greatsword pierced the creature near its chest.
Feeling the sensation of the blade breaking through hide and lodging in flesh, the tank adjusted his grip on the embedded sword, pulled away the pommel section, and pressed the ejection button.
Fwoooooosh!
The ejected CO2 burst from the sword’s tip and shook the creature’s insides.
Blood poured like a fountain, and the texture of the corpse would be ruined, making dismantling it a great deal of trouble, but that was none of the tank’s concern.
Kreeeee...!
THUD.
With its death cry, the creature’s body collapsed sideways.
Click!
The CO2 capsule separated from the sword and blended naturally into the heap of trash.
“Damn it...why did it have to turn around here? It should’ve gone a little farther before turning!”
There were quite a few scratches from fighting in the trash heap.
The tank, Park Ji-tae, grumbled and jabbed a syringe needle into his thigh. With a hiss, the pain from the scratches all over him vanished at once, and smoke rose from the small wounds.
“Ah, come on! I told you to ask before using a regeneration pack, didn’t I? That’s shared equipment!”
“If you’re going to complain, why don’t you fight with me? Instead of just plinking away from far off.”
“That’s why you take more of the split, isn’t it?”
“One-tenth isn’t nearly enough. I’m charging the CO2 capsule too, so keep that in mind.”
“And a guy saying that makes the corpse look like that? Is it even going to be worth money?”
“I didn’t do it because I was lazy. I did it because it was dangerous. The battlefield was bad, wasn’t it?”
He was right.
If the battle had dragged on around sharp piles of trash, no one knew what kind of infection might occur.
“If you can’t stand pain that much, how about using an enhanced prosthetic body? At this rate, I think your painkiller costs will be higher.”
“Shut up if you’re not joining close combat. Contribute before you talk.”
“Ha. Seriously.”
The ranged damage dealer, Kim Se-a, could no longer grumble and closed her mouth.
Like that, the battle ended, and the two returned to the pickup truck.
As if switching places with them, someone passed them by. It was the odd-jobber, Ki Ja-hyeon.
“Please take care of it.”
“Of course. Just leave it to me!”
The hunters’ work was over,
but the odd-jobber’s work was only beginning.
***
‘Whew...it’s completely turned into a rag.’
Covered thickly in blood, the odd-jobber Ki Ja-hyeon grumbled only inwardly.
The hunters might be watching this place as spectators, and only amateurs showed that kind of thing on their faces.
When he was new, he had once vomited at the sight of himself like this, but now he had gone beyond getting used to it and had reached the point of enjoying it.
The ragged corpse was like a chunk of flesh put on display by a masochistic performance artist.
Finding and extracting the beautiful jewel within that corpse was Ki Ja-hyeon’s greatest duty as an odd-jobber.
‘This time, it’s here again?’
A monster’s magic stone was located somewhere inside its body. Most were in the heart or brain, but that was not always the case.
Even for this creature, the magic stone was not in the exact center of its heart, but glowing between its diaphragm.
A fist-sized stone glowing faintly red.
It was an F+ Grade magic stone, the most valuable part among the Bullhound’s byproducts.
When he grabbed it and tried to pull it out, the corpse twitched.
Good grief....
It was a situation that could only make him sigh.
“You were still alive?”
G-Grr...r....
“Tsk.”
The powerless whimper seemed to answer his words.
Their eyes met.
The large bull-like eyes looked at him and shone clearly.
Ja-hyeon gazed at those eyes with pity, then spoke.
“Farewell.”
The magic stone was pulled out, and the light went out of the once-clear eyes.
The weak being prey to the strong was the law of nature.
That law was the same whether in the Great Demon Realm, where lush greenery blocked out the sun, or in a concrete forest where monsters ran rampant.
Ki Ja-hyeon gave a brief bow, then began the dismantling work.
Fingernails, toenails. He also had to recover the bullets Kim Se-a had used in this battle. The gold plating coating the bullets was also worth money, and whether one could take care of such details carefully was one of the important qualities of an odd-jobber.
‘Is the magic stone the only “item” that came out this time?’
Not all monster byproducts were “items.” Aside from magic stones, almost every byproduct failed to be recognized by the System and could not be placed into the inventory.
That was why a pickup truck, and an odd-jobber like himself who drove it, were necessary.
Sure enough, when he took every byproduct without waste and loaded them onto the pickup truck, the sound of applause rang out.
It was a dismantling performance in a garbage dump with only two audience members, but that did not matter.
As long as the two customers were satisfied, that was enough.
***
After that, there were five more hours of battle.
The corpses of two adult Bullhounds and eight overgrown cockroaches were neatly divided into transparent packs and loaded onto the pickup truck.
The pickup truck driven by Ki Ja-hyeon smoothly circled Area 21, passed through the Shelter entrance, and headed for the manpower office located in Area 3. His driving was so smooth that even on the bumpy unpaved road, the two exhausted hunters fell fast asleep.
A small laugh.
Like that, they arrived at Jeongbyeong Manpower Office.
It was a manpower office opened by a retired hunter named In Jeong-byeong, and even in Area 3, it was a large and safe manpower office with a decent reputation.
“Hey, odd-jobber! You were pretty good.”
Park Ji-tae thumped Ki Ja-hyeon on the back as he passed by.
Ki Ja-hyeon, who had been struck on the back, smiled faintly.
From that hunter’s perspective, it was probably a sign of friendliness.
“Whew, that personality of his... Thanks to you, today’s hunt was really comfortable!”
“Thank you.”
A gentle smile bloomed on Ki Ja-hyeon’s lips.
Kim Se-a, who had been staring at it blankly, flinched, but soon shook her head and smiled back.
“I’d like to request you again for my next hunt. Could you give me a business card?”
“I don’t really have anything like a business card. Just contact the company and request me.”
“R-Really? Then I look forward to working with you then too!”
Like that, the two hunters left the manpower office.
Because their path happened to be the same, the two still had to walk together.
Park Ji-tae grinned and looked at Kim Se-a.
“You seemed to like him?”
“...That’s not it, okay?”
“Is that so?”
At Park Ji-tae’s words, Kim Se-a’s expression turned sulky.
Then she recalled the face of Ki Ja-hyeon, who was only an odd-jobber.
He was not exceptionally handsome, but there was nothing unpleasant about his face either. A body with nothing unpleasant about it. Pale skin. A clean body without even a basic implant.
“Hmm....”
How should she put it? The way he looked like someone who made you want to protect him, yet silently did his work, was certainly cool. But it was not as if she had really fallen for him romantically.
It was just....
“Didn’t it feel strangely comfortable while we were with him?”
“He didn’t have that inferiority complex odd-jobbers usually have.”
Who would like doing bloody, filthy work where one might be killed by monsters, while also having to take on every menial task?
Because of that, odd-jobbers were either people obsessed with money, people who believed the urban legend that long-term exposure to monsters’ mana would cause them to Awaken, or both.
People who wanted and resented the hunters’ position, while still having to bow and scrape to those hunters.
When that inner side showed, knowingly or unknowingly, in a real combat situation, Park Ji-tae was not the sort to leave such bug bastards alone.
Today, that temper had not come out.
Nothing had happened.
“It is definitely strange.”
Was his name Ki Ja-hyeon?
“I’ll have to request him next time too.”
“I’m going to request him, okay?”
“Then we can work together, like today.”
“...You think I’d work with a cheapskate like you again?”
“Didn’t you say that last year too?”
***
Beep!
His left bracelet lit up, and a notification appeared saying 600,000 credits had been deposited.
Considering that the usual monthly living expenses in Area 4 were 3,000,000 credits, 600,000 credits was an excellent day’s wage.
“The money came in~”
Smiling broadly, Ki Ja-hyeon walked through the streets. He had only passed a few stations, but the neat, organized streets had vanished without a trace.
The outskirts of Area 4.
There were many vagrants, and the streets continued with screams heard here and there. Crimes occurred almost every day, but the situation was still better than Area 5, which was a lawless zone.
As soon as he passed an alley, someone bumped shoulders with him.
“Ah! Sorry...!”
He deftly avoided a little boy who looked about seven years old.
Thud!
Ki Ja-hyeon quietly looked at the boy who had fallen on his backside.
The boy held a blade in his hand. It did not look capable of stabbing a person, but it seemed sharp enough to slice through a coat pocket and take out what was inside.
Ki Ja-hyeon’s gaze touched the blade.
The little boy’s eyes shook violently.
The boy, having failed to pickpocket him, prepared to be beaten, but no retaliation came.
“I’ve never seen your face before.”
“Ah....”
“This area is Scorpion Gang territory, so do it somewhere else. You’ll lose your wrist.”
“Ah! Yes......”
The boy stared blankly at Ki Ja-hyeon’s disappearing figure, then snapped back to his senses. Guilt, shame, and resignation flowed across his face in order, ending in envy.
How could the boy not know what kind of place this was?
He was simply going mad with envy at Ki Ja-hyeon, who disappeared into an alley managed by the Scorpion Gang.
***
Hahaha.
Heh heh heh!
Ah, that is fucking hilarious!
Living noises came through the thin partition wall, which was like a plank.
Still, because this was this alley, the color of those noises was not that dark.
A place that at least smelled like people lived there.
At least it was Area 4.
That was also why Ki Ja-hyeon had paid twice the monthly rent to move over from Area 5.
Although it was rental housing managed by the Scorpion Gang...perhaps because he was a faithful payer who paid his monthly rent well, he had never clashed with them.
Creeeeeak.
The iron door bearing four door locks had a considerable weight to it.
Only after opening even that heavy iron door would the exhausting schedule of an odd-jobber that had begun in the morning be completely over.
“Good grief...being an odd-jobber is so hard.”
A groan like an old man’s leaked from a man in his early twenties.
However, despite the hardship and despite the considerable risk of death, the reason he continued working as an odd-jobber was because it was the only legal, high-income job Ki Ja-hyeon, who had things to be responsible for, could do as a powerless person.
Especially in Ki Ja-hyeon’s case, this job suited his nature unexpectedly well.
Was it because of his unique atmosphere? In this barbaric world where humans were divided by Grade, Ki Ja-hyeon alone had never really suffered any abuse of power.
It was not because he was lucky.
It was because everyone tended to look at him comfortably and favorably.
And this was an innate quality.
No, to be precise....
“It must be a past-life benefit, right?”
That was right.
Ki Ja-hyeon was a reincarnator.
In fact, in his past life, he had even possessed powerful abilities.
Unfortunately, however, Ki Ja-hyeon in this world was not an Awakened.
Still, perhaps a little of his past-life talent applied, and he could earn a living this comfortably(?).
“And even make a vegetable garden in a house with a yard like this.”
Though calling it a yard meant only a small yard of a little over thirty-three square meters.
Ki Ja-hyeon had made a vegetable garden of about twenty-three square meters here and was harvesting crops.
The only things that seemed to grow well were cherry tomatoes, lemons, and green onions.
The green onions grew quickly, so he put them into dishes and ate them, but the cherry tomatoes and lemons were unexpectedly decent for sale or gifts.
In an era like these days, the status of fresh vegetables and fruits was surprisingly tremendous.
Drizzle~
A watering can full of clean water, the kind one could only get in Area 3, tilted and gave life to the plants.
“Grow big and strong, all right?”
Of course, because he was not Ki Ja-hyeon of his previous life, there was no dramatic effect.
However, the difference between talking to them and not talking to them was clear. After speaking to them like this, he had confirmed that long-term harvest yields increased greatly.
This was probably a past-life benefit too, right?
Now he opened the door to the house and went inside.
Woof, woof.
When the door opened, the creature slowly approached.
A Welsh corgi with a big head, short little legs...and especially a plump rump. However, over its closed left eye, there was a scar like thunder.
It had already been four years since Ki Ja-hyeon rescued the creature when it nearly got eaten in Area 5 and gave it the name Thunder.
Myaaaaaaaaaaow.
As if not wanting to lose, a cat came dashing over as well.
Because the creature stepped on Thunder’s rump, back, and forehead before leaping up, Ki Ja-hyeon had no choice but to spread both arms and catch him.
It had only been half a year since he had secretly brought the fist-sized creature, who had been on the verge of death in Area 5, home in his ration pocket.
If Ki Ja-hyeon had not been the ace of the manpower office, the moment the boss caught him, he probably would have had to have the creature put down.
The creature had curly fur in an odd mix of white and gray, so he had named him Cloud.
Thunder, the old dog estimated to be twelve years old. And Cloud, the boy cat just entering his prime.
A dog and a cat.
This combination, like water and oil, rolling along this harmoniously was also Ki Ja-hyeon’s past-life benefit.
Ki Ja-hyeon had been a druid in his previous life.
In fact, he had been a half-elf, mixed with elf blood.
Everything in nature had been his friend, and he had commanded spirits as easily as eating meals.
In his previous life, Ki Ja-hyeon had been the only druid who could befriend every living creature without a single exception.
Of course, in this life, he could not use spirit arts or nature magic.
He could not even communicate with plants and animals.
Why was that?
At first, he had comfortably thought it was because he had been born non-Awakened. In other words, a powerless person. But now, he thought differently.
Perhaps the harmony of lush forests, rivers, animals, and plants had been so terribly damaged that they could not produce enough natural mana to be caught by his senses.
That did not mean he could not use a druid’s abilities at all.
The fact that he inspired friendly feelings in hunters, and the fact that plants grew at least a little better, were probably due to the abilities of his previous life.
Among them, however, there was one part Ki Ja-hyeon truly liked.
Woof!
The timing was perfect!
Was it to hear praise?
Only when Ki Ja-hyeon came home did the creatures do their business.
Thunder lifted the toilet seat all the way and climbed up skillfully.
What was it doing?
The awkward crouched pose taught him what Thunder was doing. Soon, with a pssss sound, the business was finished, and the next player(?) lowered the toilet seat and adjusted it to fit his body before repeating the same thing.
Plop, plop.
A cute sound.
After finishing everything, Cloud fully closed the toilet lid and flushed.
Whoooooosh.
Toilet-trained, no less!
Like this,
training that truly made no sense
was possible for him...!
After watching that far, Ki Ja-hyeon smiled with satisfaction.
If it had been the “old days” recorded in history. In other words, the era before the Monster Break, when entertainment was lively in the variety-show direction, he felt he could have lived extremely well just with this.
Training dogs, training cats, and so on...when keeping companion animals was part of everyday life, he would probably have earned a great deal of money.
But now was an era when work related to monsters made the most money!
Unfortunately, Ki Ja-hyeon could not communicate with monsters at all.
He was a reincarnator, and yet his benefit was only being good at potty training?
Still, it was not as if he missed his previous life.
The bleak public safety here could not even be counted as bleak compared to his medieval-background previous life.
Most of all, air conditioning, heating systems, clean water that always came out...and various kinds of technology based on mechanical engineering had aspects that truly satisfied a reincarnator who had lived in a world that was the complete opposite.
Of course, it was regrettable that he had been born an orphan from Area 5 and started as one of the lowest people in the world...but now that he had become an adult and a member of Area 4’s middle class, he could say one thing for certain.
“This is quite a satisfying life, is it not?”
Happiness was always relative.
Because of that, the current Ki Ja-hyeon, who had a decent job and a dog and cat waiting at home, might be quite happy.
Myaoow.
Looking at Cloud purring in his arms, and Thunder silently wagging its tail as it looked at him, he thought that even more.
It was at the point when Ki Ja-hyeon’s twenty-third birthday, which even he did not remember, was coming to an end.
[You have Awakened as a druid.]
Ki Ja-hyeon stared blankly at the hologram window that had appeared before him.
Awakening?
“What, only now?”