Thud.
His legs gave out, and Hyun-jun dropped to his knees right there.
“It's not a dream.......”
The chill flowing into his knees.
The cold winter air that entered deep into his lungs. Even the sharp wind that seemed to scrape his skin.
All of it made things feel more real to Hyun-jun.
“None of it is a dream.......”
The past five years had been an enormous swamp for him.
Poverty that dragged him deeper the more he struggled.
Debt that never decreased no matter how much he worked, and his mother's battle with illness with no end in sight.
Even the Awakening that came like a miracle was nothing more than a laughingstock called [Bird Hunter].
It felt as though the world was mocking him and whispering for him to give up everything.
But today, of all days.
A very small but clear crack had formed in that wall of despair.
“Heh, heh-heh.”
At first, laughter came out.
But soon, his eyes grew hot.
Hyun-jun tried to hold it in, but in the end, sobs squeezed out between his lips.
A strange sound, a mix of a twenty-five-year-old young man's sorrow and hope, echoed through the deserted street.
‘Now I can live like a human being.’
The chance had come to reclaim the ordinary life the world had stolen from him.
Hyun-jun slowly got up.
His reddened eyes held a firm will.
“First, let's finish duplicating the Runes.”
Hyun-jun duplicated the rest of the Runes of Agility.
That made 8 new Runes of Agility.
He swallowed them with water and absorbed them.
“Stats.”
While he was at it, he checked his stats too.
His eyes widened slightly.
Stats▽
-Strength: 10/100
-Agility: 19/100
-Stamina: 10/100
-Mana: 10/100
-Willpower: 10/100
“My stats completely changed?”
The Soul Circuit and initial stats were said to differ depending on the Trait one Awakened, but who knew that would apply even when the Trait changed?
“No wonder my body felt light.”
Normally he would be tired by now, but his body was full of energy.
The adrenaline released from the sudden re-Awakening(?) had an effect too, but the influence of the stats couldn't be ignored either.
“Is this enough to work as a Hunter?”
The Beginner Setup usually aimed for 70 to 80 Runes.
He had 59.
Even that number included Mana and Willpower, stats that wouldn't help much in immediate combat, so hunting seemed difficult.
“Still, I want to check it out once.”
Hyun-jun thought deeply, then shook his head.
‘If I rush and get hurt, it'll be a disaster.’
The moment he got hurt, not only would his Hunter work be postponed, but he wouldn't be able to work either.
There would be no staffing agency anywhere that would hire an injured person.
“Just thinking about it is horrible.”
For the time being, he would focus on absorbing Runes and raising his stats.
Agility first, for now.
Considering Hunter work, it would be better to raise other stats to balance things out, but that would cost money in its own way.
‘Even with just high Agility, there's a monster I can catch.’
One monster immediately came to Hyun-jun's mind.
A ‘rabbit’ monster that had no attack power or defense at all, but was outstanding in speed alone.
‘It seems like it'd be hard to catch...... but if I'm going to live as a Hunter, I should be able to catch at least that.’
What's more, if he caught that thing, he could also get Runes.
So rather than spending money buying other Runes, he would raise Agility.
‘The problem is how much Agility I need.’
The best would obviously be to hit 100.
Even taking into account that his Agility was currently 19 and that he could raise it to 29 once midnight passed soon, he'd have to wait another week.
“Should I hold out until then?”
Hyun-jun deliberated, then made up his mind.
“First, let me do a light run and check how much my body has changed.”
And then decide how far to raise Agility before entering a dungeon.
“If I decide it's got to be 100, I'll just cleanly wait a week.”
Hyun-jun looked around.
It was a quiet street with almost no people.
The two-lane road was empty too.
It was perfect to use as a track.
Hyun-jun warmed up by jogging in place, then immediately kicked off the ground.
“Hup!”
He sprinted at full speed up a gently sloping uphill road.
The sound of wind brushing past his ears.
The surrounding scenery was pushed backward.
‘It doesn't seem that different.’
Hyun-jun's body had been toughened by his life of manual labor.
He couldn't feel a big difference from his stats rising a little.
“Whew.”
Hyun-jun stopped running.
His heart pounded violently from the sudden run.
“It's kind of...... ambiguous.......”
There was a feeling that he'd improved.
But it wasn't enough to feel it significantly.
It felt like someone with a big-three total of 300 going up to 310.
“Still, I'm glad it's not so small I can't feel it.”
His body was in better condition than before.
Hyun-jun seriously considered how far to raise his Agility.
“If 19 Runes gets me this much.......”
60 or 70 would work to some extent inside a dungeon.
But he wanted to make it more certain.
“I'll just fill it to 100.”
He couldn't go in half-baked, in body or in mindset.
Going into a dungeon meant going to confirm whether he could really work as a Hunter.
‘Even if it's hard to hold out, let's wait just one week.’
***
The morning of the 8th day since his re-Awakening.
As soon as Hyun-jun opened his eyes, he duplicated Runes and absorbed them.
Stats▽
-Strength: 10/100
-Agility: 99/100
-Stamina: 10/100
-Mana: 10/100
-Willpower: 10/100
The other stats remained the same, but Agility alone was close to 100.
“The day has finally come.”
The day he had waited and waited for.
It was time to enter a dungeon.
“Let me warm up before going in.”
Hyun-jun left the house and headed to the field of a nearby school.
For today's sake, he hadn't checked his body's growth at all over the past week.
He planned to test how much faster he'd become while warming up.
Since it was a weekend morning, the field was empty.
Arriving at the field, Hyun-jun warmed up by jogging in place on the dirt.
‘It already feels different?’
It wasn't just his imagination.
The rebound of his toes kicking off the ground was much lighter than usual.
Tap.
Hyun-jun put strength into it and kicked off the ground.
His body shot forward like an arrow.
Whoosh-!
The sound of the wind brushing past his ears was sharp.
Except for the center of his vision, the surrounding scenery stretched long as if smeared by a brush and was pushed backward.
‘I-It's this fast?’
The time his soles touched the ground became extremely short.
Each time he kicked off, skimming the ground, his body moved forward as if flying through the air.
His breathing grew rough, but Hyun-jun didn't stop.
Rather, as if testing the limits of his legs, he put even more strength into his thighs.
His heart, pounding as if it would burst, sprayed adrenaline throughout his whole body.
In that sprint, Hyun-jun felt a sense of liberation for some reason.
It felt as if the countless burdens resting on his shoulders couldn't withstand this speed and were falling away.
“Huff, huff.”
Hyun-jun stopped his sprint.
He had to take small, quick steps for several meters to slow down.
His lungs were hot as if burning.
As he caught his breath, he felt an emptiness under the soles of his feet.
“This is beyond what I imagined......?”
The dust from the field that had risen as he ran still hadn't settled and was floating around.
“So this is the power of Runes.”
Hyun-jun couldn't hold back the laughter leaking out.
Who knew getting stronger felt this good?
And this wasn't even the end.
“If it's this much with just Runes of Agility, what if I absorb Runes of Strength too?”
Stats pulled each other along like interlocking gears.
Raising Strength affected the lower body as well, so he could become even faster.
His current Strength was 10.
The potential for growth was limitless.
“If it's this much even at F-Grade.......”
Thinking about the future, Hyun-jun slapped both his cheeks.
“Get it together. I'm not even sure yet that I can properly work as a Hunter.”
Hyun-jun had already tried to become a Hunter once and failed.
Because of that, even though he'd become several times stronger than before, he couldn't let his guard down.
“I should pack my things and head out.”
Hyun-jun returned home and took out the supplies he'd prepared in advance.
The stars of the show were a bag he'd gotten for free on Carrot Market and a Damascus steel kitchen knife he'd bought for 20,000 won.
“Good, I've got everything.”
Hyun-jun stood in front of the door.
“Why am I this nervous over something like this?”
Thinking about it, it wasn't strange.
He was on his way to test his potential as a Hunter.
His family's future would be decided by the result.
At the same time, it was a chance to achieve the dream he had given up on.
“Let's catch just one.”
The goal was a successful hunt.
Even one was fine.
He wanted to slay a monster with his own hands and take a step forward as a Hunter.
“I can do it.”
Hyun-jun left the house in light clothes.
The place he arrived at on foot was the lawn plaza of a park not far from his house.
In the middle of the lawn where people came and went, there was a Gate surrounded by a barrier and a Bureau guard post.
On top of the post, the words <Hunting Ground: F-Grade Grassland Field> were written in large letters.
‘Hunting Ground.’
There were two types of Gates.
Open-type Gates that stayed open without closing. They were commonly called Hunting Grounds.
Since one could get out at any time, they were rated as relatively low in difficulty.
‘The other is a Gate that closes a set amount of time after you enter.’
They were called closed-type Gates, and when people said dungeon, they usually meant these.
‘Closed-type Gates are premature for my level.’
Even at the same Grade, closed-type Gates were rated as harder.
There was no telling what unexpected situations might arise, and even if a crisis occurred, one couldn't get out from inside.
‘The rewards are that much greater too, but I should avoid going in as much as possible.’
They were far too dangerous.
It was the space with the most deaths, even among Anomalous Spaces.
‘Hmm. Still, considering the future, I can't avoid them entirely.......’
After pondering for a while, Hyun-jun shook his head to shake off his thoughts.
Right now, it wasn't even certain whether he could catch a monster.
He was in no position to worry about whether to enter closed-type dungeons.
“Hello.”
Hyun-jun approached the Bureau guard post connected to the barrier blocking access to the Gate.
“Welcome. Please take out your registration card.”
Hyun-jun handed the staff member at the post the Hunter registration card he'd brought.
The staff member scanned the card's code to look up his information.
“Your last dungeon entry was three years ago?”
“My Awakened ability wasn't great, so I went in back then just to try it out and took a break ever since.”
“It's a grassland field, but it can be dangerous, so never let your guard down.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Hyun-jun got his registration card back from the staff member and stood in front of the controlled turnstile.
“Whew.......”
As he took calm, deep breaths, the turnstile's red light turned green.
Hyun-jun passed through the turnstile and entered the Gate.
.
.
.
Whooosh.
The wind swept across the grassland.
It carried warmth.
“It's been a while.”
Under the blue sky, a vast grassland stretched out endlessly.
Hyun-jun deeply breathed in the scent of the grassland.
“The smell of grass.......”
Outside it was winter, but here it felt like full spring.
There was a reason people went to dungeons to have fun.
‘I hope someday I can come here with a light heart too.’
Hyun-jun looked around.
The monster he was targeting was one of the rabbit monsters that appeared in the grassland, the Rune Rabbit.
‘Since it's a Rune Monster, it's the hardest to hunt among the rabbit monsters.’
Runes could be obtained in completed form, but they could also be made by combining items called Rune Fragments.
The Rune Rabbit belonged to the Rune Monsters, monsters from which such Rune Fragments could be obtained, and Rune Monsters were characteristically trickier to deal with than ordinary monsters.
‘The one monster I catch doesn't have to be a Rune Rabbit.......’
The goal was to definitely catch one monster.
That one didn't necessarily have to be a Rune Rabbit. The thing was the hardest creature to catch in the grassland.
‘But I feel like I need to catch at least that to be convinced that I can work as a Hunter.’
Zip-zip-zip!
Just then, something shot past Hyun-jun's side like an arrow.
Hyun-jun flinched and stepped aside.
“You punk! Stop right there!!”
“Catch it!”
Hunters chased after it.
Hyun-jun narrowed his eyes and checked what they were chasing.
Unlike the ordinary rabbit monsters of the grassland, it had pitch-black fur. A stone glittered on its forehead.
‘A Rune Rabbit.’
The thing ran like a shot.
Literally lightning-fast.
The Hunters chased after it frantically, but they didn't look like they stood a chance.
‘It really is fast.’
Rune Rabbits had low defense and didn't attack.
Instead, they were fast.
As if they'd invested all their stats in Agility.
‘Can I catch it?’
Doubt suddenly welled up.
Hyun-jun shook his head vigorously.
‘I'm catching it, no matter what.’
That was the mindset a Hunter should have.
Hyun-jun opened his eyes wide and set out in search of a Rune Rabbit.
“Found one.”
There was a Rune Rabbit not far away.
Black fur.
A Rune Fragment glittering on its forehead.
It was nibbling on grass, unaware of anything.
“Whew.”
Hyun-jun took a deep breath.
This wasn't a simple hunt.
It was a rite of passage of sorts.
He had no choice but to become more serious and careful.
‘As carefully as possible.’
He crept closer so the thing wouldn't notice.
Once he'd closed the distance enough, the next step was to get into position-
Tap!
Hyun-jun kicked off the ground with all his might.
His body shot out like a cannonball.
The Rune Rabbit didn't even flinch; it simply bolted.
Zip-zip-zip!
The Rune Rabbit quickly grew distant.
Hyun-jun increased his speed even more.
Strong wind slapped his face.
A sense of speed that chilled his lungs.
A strange sense of floating followed, as if his body were lifted up.
Exhilaration filled him to the top of his head.
‘Huh?’
For a moment, Hyun-jun doubted his eyes.
The outline of the Rune Rabbit, which he thought had grown distant, drew close in an instant.
‘No way.’
He was catching up this easily?