“An Awakened?”
“Yes.”
“Then why aren't you a Hunter?”
“I don't have the money.”
“Can't you get a loan?”
At the staffing manager's question, Hyun-jun hesitated before answering.
“My family has a lot of debt.”
“Why? Did a business go under or something?”
A business.
It would have been better if that were the case, no matter how many times it went under.
Hyun-jun smiled bitterly.
“Because of my mother's hospital bills.”
“......She must be very sick.”
Feeling awkward, the staffing manager got an instant coffee mix from the vending machine and handed it to Hyun-jun.
“Drink. It's cold out.”
“Thank you.”
“What's your Trait? It wasn't written on your résumé.”
Hyun-jun gauged the manager's reaction and spoke in a small voice.
“It's Bird...... Hunter.......”
“What's that? You good at catching chickens or something?”
“S-Something like that.”
“I figured it'd be something weird, but.......”
The manager's lukewarm reaction.
Hyun-jun quickly added, “Still, I have a Rune of Strength and a Rune of Stamina! Just one of each, though.......”
“Well, that's something at least.”
“Give me anything! I can really work hard!”
Hyun-jun was desperate.
His mother's hospital bills, his younger sister's school expenses, and even the loan interest.
Even setting aside his own living expenses, there were countless holes for money to drain out of.
He was in a situation where he sustained his life on each day's wages.
Even a single day's gap was fatal.
“Hmm.......”
The staffing manager checked the schedule.
Holding the paper cup in his hand, Hyun-jun looked at the manager with anxious eyes.
‘Please.......’
This was already the fourth office.
Before he knew it, dawn was breaking outside the window.
If he couldn't find work here either, he would lose the whole day.
‘If I'd known this would happen, I should've gotten to know more staffing agencies here and there sooner.’
This situation had come about because the staffing agency near his home had suddenly closed down.
He had worked there as recently as yesterday, and it had shut down overnight.
“Um, any job is fine, so please, I'm begging you.”
“Got it. Wait a bit.”
To Hyun-jun, every minute and second felt like an eternity.
The longer the wait dragged on, the more it felt like his blood was running cold.
How much time had passed?
Having finished a phone call, the manager spoke.
“There happens to be a porter position. But since you've only got one Rune of each, they say they can't pay you the Awakened allowance.”
“That's fine! I've never received the Awakened allowance to begin with!”
In game terms, he was a character with Stamina and Strength stats of 1.
He was merely wearing the shell of an Awakened, so he never even dreamed of being treated as one.
“Head over right away.”
“Thank you!”
Hyun-jun gulped down the hot coffee and sprang up from his seat.
***
The year 2000.
With the start of the new century, an anomaly occurred in the world.
Towers that rose above the ground.
Labyrinths that burrowed deep underground.
Gates that appeared anywhere a person could set foot.
And even Awakened, who possessed bodies that transcended ordinary people and used magic-like abilities.
The world was engulfed in great chaos, but now, 30 years later, it had all become part of everyday life.
-Naturalized Hunter Michelle Hong succeeds in climbing to the top floor of the American Tower; America obtains the No. 1 buff again.
-Still no news of a new floor in the Daejeon Underground Labyrinth. Will the City of Bread collapse like this?
-Seongsam Aegis announces first-half open recruitment.
-Republic of Korea records the lowest number of Awakened among OECD countries for 30 consecutive years.
-Mr. Kim, author of the 100-Day Awakening Method, booked on fraud charges.
In such a world, many people wanted to become Hunters.
Hunters were the protagonists leading the world and, at the same time, a symbol of high income.
But only a chosen few could become Hunters.
The world called those few the ‘Awakened.’
“Of course, not every Awakened becomes a Hunter. Like that guy over there.”
Inside the dungeon.
Hunters were gathered and resting.
A middle-aged Hunter pointed behind him.
Sitting there was Hyun-jun, the porter who had joined today.
“Huh? Really? Why?”
“There are two main reasons, and the biggest one is a lack of talent.”
Not all Traits specialized in combat; some people awakened non-combat Traits.
That too depended on how one used it, but either way, they couldn't become Hunters.
Taking a calculator to the battlefield would only add one more number to the death statistics.
“Wow, so that can happen. I thought all Awakened were specialized in combat like me.”
“Becoming a Hunter is only allowed for the chosen among the chosen.”
“What's the second reason?”
At the young rookie Hunter's question, the man made a circle with his fingers.
“No money.”
“Money?”
“If you've got money, you can make up for a lack of talent to some extent.”
“How?”
“Wow, this kid really knows nothing. How did you even pass the written exam for your Hunter license?”
“I just guessed? Well, all I have to do is fight well.”
“If you want to live long, study a little, kid.”
“Ehehe, you teach me, mister.”
When the boyish young man grinned cheekily, the man continued explaining as if he couldn't help it.
“This thing called Awakening is about the Trait, sure, but it's also about gaining a kind of ‘qualification.’”
“What qualification?”
“The qualification to become stronger. You know that once you Awaken, you can absorb items called ‘Runes,’ right?”
“Of course I know that much.”
“If you've got a lot of money, you can just buy Runes and absorb them. There's a limit set by the Grade of the Trait you Awakened, but even F-Grade is enough to work as a Hunter.”
The young man's eyebrows twisted subtly.
It was the expression of someone with a thought on the tip of his tongue.
“Ah! Isn't the basic setup for working as a Hunter called the Beginner Setup?”
“So you're not completely clueless. Do you know how much it costs?”
“Was it ten million won?”
“Double that.”
The young man clicked his tongue in astonishment.
“That's expensive.”
“That's how much it is when you set it up cheap. The more care you put in, the more expensive it gets. And listen here, you punk. Twenty million won to change your life is a bargain, you know?”
Twenty million won.
Even by the standards of ordinary people, it was cheap considering it was the cost of completely changing the direction of one's life.
And considering the opportunity cost of becoming a Hunter, it was even cheaper.
But it wasn't so for the 24-year-old Go Hyun-jun.
‘For me, that's so much money I can't even dream of it.’
His accumulated debt alone was in the hundreds of millions.
Far from decreasing, it only kept growing.
He cut back on sleep and worked himself to the bone every day without a day off, but once he paid fixed costs like the hospital bills, his bank account was empty.
To him, twenty million won was as large a sum as two billion.
“If everyone's done resting, let's move out again!”
Break time was over.
The Hunters moved, and Hyun-jun shouldered his heavy backpack once more.
***
Porter allowance: 250,000 won.
It was more than the daily wage of typical manual labor. Considering the danger level of an E-Grade closed dungeon, it was a reasonable amount.
“Thank you.”
Hyun-jun left the staffing office holding five 50,000-won bills.
“Glad it didn't end too late.”
Hyun-jun took a bus to his next destination.
His workplace wasn't just one place.
“Hello.”
“Oh, Hyun-jun, you're here?”
The ‘Exchange,’ which dealt in the various items that came out of Anomalous Spaces.
A facility under the national agency, the Awakening Management Bureau, it had branches nationwide like a franchise.
Hyun-jun had been working part-time at the Exchange's Gwanak Branch for four years now.
The Exchange operated 24 hours a day, so it was the perfect job for Hyun-jun, who had no work in the evenings.
“You look a little tired. Are you okay?”
A middle-aged woman spoke to him in a friendly manner.
She was the Branch Manager of the Gwanak Exchange.
“I went out as a dungeon porter today.”
“You're working so hard. I wonder when my kids will ever grow up.”
The Branch Manager had children around Hyun-jun's age.
That was also why she had always shown particular interest in Hyun-jun.
“Let's put in a bit more effort for the rest of the evening.”
“Yes, ma'am! Don't worry!”
Hyun-jun began work.
He dealt with the Hunters who flocked in like office workers heading home, and went in and out of the warehouse constantly.
Working without a moment to breathe, before he knew it, it was time to clock out.
The staff in charge of the night shift came in one by one.
“Hyun-jun, you can head home now. I'll finish tidying up over there.”
“Thank you, Branch Manager.”
“Get some good rest and see you tomorrow~”
Hyun-jun left the Exchange and headed home.
He walked all the way.
To save on transportation costs, and for the apps that paid money for filling a step count.
After walking about 10,000 steps, he arrived home.
Just then, a text message came from his younger sister.
-Make sure you open the fridge when you get home!
Hyun-jun chuckled.
“She should just study instead of leaving stuff all the time. It's not like she lives close.”
His younger sister lived in a dormitory.
Occasionally she would come all the way to the house like this and leave something behind.
“Who does she think she is, Santa?”
Hyun-jun redeemed the points he'd accumulated from his step count as he went down the stairs to the semi-basement.
“Whew, it's cold.”
He unlocked the door lock and entered the semi-basement room.
It was colder than outside.
He put on the fuzzy slippers he'd gotten for free and turned on the light.
Click.
Under the dim lighting, the cramped room revealed itself.
Hyun-jun quickly washed only his hands and opened the small refrigerator in the corner.
Among a few side dishes his sister had brought earlier, a single slice of cake sold at a franchise café sat all alone.
“A cake?”
There was a note on top of the plastic case. Hyun-jun checked it.
-Big brother! Happy 25th birthday!
“Birthday?”
Come to think of it, tomorrow was his birthday.
He'd forgotten in the hectic rush of living.
“Hyun-ah took care of it last year too.”
Hyun-jun smiled contentedly and took out the cake.
Though it was just a single slice, his heart felt full.
“Good timing, since I haven't had dinner either.”
Hyun-jun stuck number candles into the chocolate cake.
25.
He was already twenty-five.
“Twenty-five already.......”
Suddenly, past events came to mind.
A life that had been ordinary, except for not having a father.
That ordinariness vanished on the day of his high school graduation ceremony.
His mother had been caught up in a terrorist attack by ability abusers, commonly called villains, who appeared from time to time.
She underwent several major surgeries and barely survived, but she never regained consciousness.
It wasn't simply a coma; they said that a special substance from an Anomalous Space used in the attack at the time had affected her body and mutated into a disease never before reported to the world.
They spent their entire fortune trying every possible treatment, but there was no improvement.
“It's already been five years since then.......”
Five years had truly flown by in an instant.
He couldn't even remember well what he'd done.
The only things that came to mind were the birthdays his sister had celebrated for him and the day he Awakened.
“Was it my second year that I Awakened?”
When he Awakened, he thought he had the whole world.
As it turned out, it was a dud.
“I was really in despair back then.”
The rope that had come down from heaven turned out to be a rotten rope.
His disappointment was as great as his expectations had soared.
So much so that he had wanted to let go of everything.
But he didn't give up.
Just as his mother hadn't given up on him and his sister, he couldn't give up on his sister and mother either.
“I really went through a lot.”
Days spent working hard, putting off even the military, let alone college.
He didn't know how long these bitter days would continue.
But just as the saying goes, after the bitter comes the sweet, he believed sweetness would come someday.
“A day will surely come when we can all smile together.”
Hyun-jun lit the candles and clapped his hands alone.
He sang along to the beat as well.
“Dear Go Hyun-jun. Happy birthday to you.”
At the same moment he blew out the candles, the time displayed on his smartphone screen changed.
It was midnight.
At that moment.
[The <Covenant> engraved in your soul activates.]
[In accordance with the <Covenant>, your Trait and Soul Circuit will change.]
“......?”
Hyun-jun froze with his eyes wide open.
[Trait <Bird Hunter> has been changed to <Primordial Eye>.]
[<Bird Hunter's Soul Circuit> has been changed to <Primordial Soul Circuit>.]
Messages appeared one after another.
Blinking blankly, Hyun-jun parted his lips as if possessed.
“S-Status window.”
[Name: Go Hyun-jun]
[Level: 1]
[Trait: Primordial Eye]
[Primordial Soul Circuit<F>]
Stats▷
Skills▷
Hyun-jun slowly looked over the status window.
Bird Hunter, a Trait that was nearly useless in modern times, had disappeared, and ‘Primordial Eye’ had taken its place.
“What is this?”
It was a Trait he couldn't gauge just from its name.
Hyun-jun opened the folded Skills tab.
Skills▽
<Trait Skill>
-Duplicate
“Duplicate?”
[Duplicate]
-Can duplicate a designated object. Duplicated items are automatically removed after 24 hours and can be removed early if necessary.
-Duplicable Grade: F-Grade or below
-Daily duplications: 10/10