Sniffle—
The robe draped over Yeon-hee was shaking violently. After hastily blocking the man’s mouth, she probably figured out what he wanted to say.
Having heard about the Evolution Stones from Kang Yeon-su, I was already aware of how to create them.
If you starved the children who swallowed mana stones and runes for several weeks while only giving them water, the mana stones and runes would begin to merge with their bodies.
If that was the last desperate act to keep the children from dying, it was truly a sad situation.
The children who fully integrated would be melted down in a special solution and liquefied like potions. Then, consuming that for a few weeks would grant them power. But these fools seemed to have ground them up alive without even going through such a process.
That’s probably why such side effects occurred.
Of course, it was equally insane to turn it into a potion…
Bubbling—
As I watched the creature dissolving into the ground, I couldn’t help but wonder about the urgency behind such a choice. When I first saw it, I felt that there was nothing lacking in this creature’s talent…
There surely were those who envied this guy’s talent from a certain perspective. But did he get so caught up in looking up that he was completely unsatisfied with his life?
‘Who cares?’
To be honest, I couldn’t understand these kinds of guys at all, and I didn’t want to know. In the place where he completely vanished into the ground, only a pile of bones remained, leaving a mark that something had been there.
Bones of a High-Rank Mutant
– Attack Power +35
– When manufactured into a bomb, it has a poison effect.
“Haha, this bastard has become useful after dying. It’s contaminated bone, so it has a poison effect too.”
Woooo—
Wryly smiling, I spread out the waves of my senses again.
It wasn’t over yet. There were four more people involved in the production left. Among them, I was told there was definitely a B-grade, and I must avoid creating a situation where I run into one right now.
Rustle—
Yeon-hee leaned on me for a moment, then seemed to make a decision and straightened up to say.
“I don’t want to lose to guys like this…”
“……?”
“I’ll get stronger.”
“……”
‘Hmm… is she really getting that momentum at this point?’
It felt random to me, but she was someone who stood up against the Orc Legion Commander with her life on the line. Perhaps it only takes a small trigger for her to solidify her beliefs.
Having exhausted quite a bit of energy, we sat still in preparation for the next battle, but thankfully, no further enemies approached our area.
“Hah… I’m drained…”
After receiving the end-of-situation message, we arrived home at 3 AM.
That was about three hours spent depleting mental energy.
After some contemplation, Yeon-hee requested a day’s delay in entering the dungeon from the party members, and they agreed without hesitation.
“In the end, we let one slip through…”
It seemed like we missed the one with the highest grade and likely the main instigator.
‘What’s with this honesty?’
The management office or association I knew were always busy hiding their incompetence, but surprisingly, the messages contained quite detailed information.
The number of slain mutants exceeded thirty, and the remaining four who swallowed Evolution Stones were tracked down and killed on-site by other hunters.
Considering they succeeded in creating Evolution Stones, that meant there were forty to fifty casualties.
‘What a crazy world… It’s hard enough just to keep my own body safe…’
“Il-wol, my head…”
Rustle—
After showering, Yeon-hee rested her head on my thigh again. Supporting her back with slime, she gradually calmed her breathing while feeling my touch.
Squelch— Squelch—
‘She must be really tired… It’s like she’s run two dungeon trips in one day.’
Feeling a bit sympathetic, I gently brushed her bangs aside and noticed Lime’s jelly-like body peeking out, stuck under Yeon-hee.
(You’re having a tough time too.)
(……!!)
Lime, now a makeshift pillow for Yeon-hee, desperately signaled me for help, but I pretended not to hear and turned my gaze towards the ceiling.
Normally, Yeon-hee at least has Wang-wang summoned at home, but maybe she couldn’t even manage that this time. The only summoned creatures present were Lime and me.
I gently rubbed her cheeks, still round with baby fat.
‘So soft… squishy… like a baby.’
I lightly touched her slightly curled eyelashes facing the sky and her still-moist lips. Lips… moist lips…
‘… Crazy bastard. Are you out of your mind?’
Whipping myself back to reality, I briefly touched her cheek playfully before spotting my phone lying on the floor.
‘……’
Without hesitation, I reached for her phone.
‘The touch isn’t working well.’
Having changed jobs and donned Bone Armor, I attained a shape somewhat similar to a human hand, but it was still bone. There was no static electricity, so touching it wouldn’t work.
‘……’
My gaze naturally shifted to Yeon-hee’s finger.
I gently lifted her finger and shook it a few times.
Yeon-hee’s index finger limply swayed as I moved.
Usually, she fell into a deep sleep around this time. Especially today, having nearly fainted, she wouldn’t wake up just because I touched her finger.
‘1793’
Turning the pattern counterclockwise, the lock was released.
‘Let’s see…’
This was my first experience handling a phone after turning back to skeleton form. Of course, I was lending her finger, but for the time being, that finger was mine.
I poked her cheek with her finger. Cute posing! The chubby cheeks were indeed adorable.
‘Now that I want to use it, I can’t think of anything… Hmm… oh!’
One thing did come to mind.
I wondered what the original me might be doing.
‘Calling seems crossing the line, right?’
If nothing major had changed for me, I would probably be working diligently at car washes and wedding halls. I had to earn money for college tuition, but what was bitter was that I would awaken soon after reenrolling next year.
I could’ve just attended school after awakening, but would that have been possible? I would’ve taken a leave of absence immediately, and that’s when my hunter life began.
‘I want to call and tell him to quit his part-time job and travel instead… Ah, but I can’t talk anyway.’
Is my actual intelligence starting to catch up since becoming a skeleton?
Shaking my head, I typed “Hunter Lee Yeon-hee” into the green search bar.
To my surprise, there were far more articles and images than I expected.
“Who is the first-class summoner, Lee Yeon-hee?”
“The White Knight Guild high ranking official talks about Lee Yeon-hee’s recruitment story.”
“Is the class that controls monsters really safe?”
“Is the E-rank main contributor of the Gu Chang-ro Dungeon Break?”
“Who among the next-generation hunters is the strongest?”
“Lee Yeon-hee Hunter, character controversy exposed in the testing ground?”
“Top 5 summoners revealed directly by a companion of Lee Yeon-hee Hunter” and more.
‘Character controversy in the testing ground? There are overwhelmingly many recent articles about that. Ugh, I can’t say anything to that dead bastard.’
It seemed that the incident we just battled led to the spread of such meaningless articles. Please, just drop dead, you bastard.
As I continued reading through the articles, I realized that there were quite a few articles featuring Yeon-hee’s interviews. It felt strange to think she had been this active while I was in dark space.
It was refreshing to see Yeon-hee paying attention to this area too.
Of course, Kang Yeon-su’s push likely contributed, but reflecting on my past life, it was a notable achievement.
‘Rather than having appearances in the media too frequently, it would be better to misinterpret fewer things. With Yeon-hee’s skills and looks, there would be far more fans than haters.’
And the images of Yeon-hee on the site just kept coming, showing no signs of stopping.
Most were pictures of her with her robe pulled low, but there were also quite a few where her beauty shone through.
‘If you’re going to take pictures, at least share some decent ones. What’s with this resolution?’
Among the images, there were even a few with me mixed in. They were probably taken during the Gu Chang-ro Dungeon Break, but seeing them in photos felt quite awkward.
Is this really a country? It’s such a fierce Skeleton Soldier image… And I look too lacking. Should I add some signature decorations or something?
As I mindlessly flipped through the images, Yeon-hee twisted her body and stirred slightly.
“Ugh…”
Quickly, I moved my hand to her head and gave her a gentle stroke, and she fell back into a deep sleep.
‘… So easy?’
I picked up the phone again, using Yeon-hee’s finger to enter another page.
I navigated to the anonymous board of the site we always used when gathering our party.
The UI that matched exactly with my memory welcomed me first. The simple, retro-feeling board was rapidly adding new posts even at this hour.
Of course, I intended to search for Yeon-hee’s name first, but a post pinned to the best caught my attention.
[Dungeon Tales] What’s up with the Skeleton Soldier Yeon-hee is carrying?;;; (injulove, 6 hours ago)
What kind of Skeleton Soldier spits acidic fluid and hits the wolf’s vital points with a fireball and dagger?;;;
I almost got dragged into a wolf den watching that bastard fight, you stupid bastards, lol. It’s just ridiculous, lol.
[Total comments 738]
ㅇㅇㅇ Wow! So you’re the one who went in with me today? It was truly an epic boss battle, lol. I saw that skeleton too, and he looked freaking cool, lol.
└ Dolt Stop laying out crap. What fireball does a skeleton have? Are you having fun fooling around like this?
└ ㅇㅇ I’m serious, you idiot, lol.
└ Yojosookmo That skeleton soldier has been famous for a long time, ㅇㅇ I heard it has a skill that explodes like fireballs. Must’ve just been a fireball, right?
└ ㅇㅇ What’s up with the acidic fluid? Did he summon an alien? lol If you’re going to lie, at least do a better job, lol.
Abarah Oh, that skeleton. I didn’t see the fireball, but I saw it floating in the air. It was flying around, right?
└ injulove You’re lying.
└ 108th Awakening I’m laughing so hard, Inju is hilarious.
└ ㅇㅇㅇ lol What’s up with the author? You can’t even believe your own story, lol.
└ Gabukkiik lol, I’m having a great time.
└ ㅇㅇ In this time, a stupid guy like you should be thinking about hunting another orc, not this.
‘… But still, there’s no mention of stealth.’
Yet all the other abilities were fully open. I guess with so many people around, it wouldn’t take long for the news to spread.
Most comments didn’t believe in my abilities yet, but with time, they would eventually learn the truth.
‘The day I can’t catch the opponent off guard might come sooner than I thought.’
It would be much easier to suppress those who look down on me, but if they were overly cautious, I worried about what might happen when something goes wrong. That thought had already started to creep in.
It’s a sad thing to view other hunters as potential enemies, but it was animal instincts ingrained from my previous life.
After skimming through the comments and searching Yeon-hee’s name, I realized.
‘Since she spent time with me recently, I didn’t notice, but she’s already super popular, huh?’
For comparison, when I searched Noh Ha-yoon, the posts from the past week weren’t that different from Yeon-hee’s in terms of volume.
Noh Ha-yoon had already become a renowned star in the hunter world, so the fact that she and Yeon-hee were on a similar level meant Yeon-hee had reached celebrity status.
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