Early in the morning, Jinsoo Kang went outside.
After walking for a while, he turned his head and looked around.
After confirming that there was nothing, he entered a secluded alleyway.
“It’s been a while, Mr. Civil Servant.”
As Jinsoo Kang entered the alley, two men appeared before him. One was a burly man, and the other had a youthful face.
The burly man spoke first.
His face was full of scars.
The already fierce face, covered in scars, made him look even more ferocious.
“Ah, Taehun-nim. You’re early?”
Jinsoo Kang greeted the man before him with a slight smile. He also offered a brief greeting to the person accompanying the man.
The man full of scars was named Taehun Ji, a Hunter.
The person he brought with him was his beloved son.
The son was also a Hunter, just like his father, Taehun Ji.
“So, what’s the sudden business? Calling me here so urgently.”
After the greetings, Taehun Ji got straight to the point.
Jinsoo Kang had contacted him first, leading to this meeting.
“Looking at your expression, it seems like it’s not good news again, huh? Heh heh.”
Taehun Ji emphasized the word ‘again.’ He grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.
He was currently active as a C-Rank Hunter and belonged to a Guild.
Although he appeared to be a normal Hunter on the outside, the reality was different.
First of all, his Guild was not a normal one.
The Guild Taehun Ji belonged to was the Heukil Guild.
It was only called a Guild, but it was not officially licensed.
However, the Guild operated smoothly.
This was because many people wanted to join the Heukil Guild.
They were doing jobs that helped people.
Of course, these were not legal jobs.
It was a Guild that dealt with shady and unspeakable matters, like a fixer.
Taehun Ji had entrusted himself and his son to such a Guild.
He had lived a rough life even before the world changed like this.
His rough life was nothing more than doing similar jobs to what he did now, but those experiences had allowed him to achieve a certain position in the Heukil Guild today.
After all, the world had become this way, and it wasn’t the strong who ruled.
The one who survives is the strong one.
Taehun had lived by this motto until the great upheaval.
However, as time passed, he realized that mere survival was not everything.
It was his son.
His late-born son, he was guiding him and accumulating experience so that he could survive in the future world.
And now.
“I don’t know what this job is, but it’s probably something we’ve always done. However, this time, I want something else instead of money. Is that possible?”
He hadn’t heard the details of the request yet, but the fixer jobs were surprisingly predictable.
As Taehun spoke, he leaned closer to Jinsoo Kang and said in a low voice.
“My son is still stuck at F-Rank. I’d like you to raise his Rank to D-Rank. Jinsoo, someone like you can do that, right? Don’t you think so?”
It was a request to raise his son’s Hunter Rank.
Taehun Ji’s son, Seongmin Ji, was an F-Rank Hunter.
There was E-Rank above F-Rank, but Taehun mentioned D-Rank.
It was a request to raise it by two levels.
In fact, E-Rank didn’t have much meaning.
Newcomers who had just entered the Hunter Academy were immediately assigned E-Rank, so the difference between E and F was practically negligible.
However, his son’s weak mind seemed to be holding him back, as he repeatedly failed to be promoted to E-Rank.
He needed to become a D-Rank Hunter to be recognized as a Hunter, so Taehun was always worried about his son.
That’s why he was making a request that wasn’t really a request.
If he successfully completed this job, he wanted his son’s Rank raised to D-Rank.
It was a kind of transaction.
A D-Rank Hunter was the minimum qualification to apply for a civil servant Hunter position.
At the very least, he wanted to set up a safety net so that his son could survive on his own when he was no longer around.
So he asked.
No, rather than asking, it was closer to a mild threat.
Jinsoo Kang knew this as well.
“The jobs I always ask you for are obvious. Well, if this job goes well, I’ll do my best.”
And he received the desired answer from the other person.
From Jinsoo Kang’s position, it was difficult to increase someone else’s Hunter Rank easily. In fact, it was almost impossible.
However, this time, he had a reliable person behind him.
It was Suho Kim.
Who is Suho Kim?
Isn’t he the talent who will lead Divine Guild, the number one Guild in Korea in the future?
Such a great guy is his academy classmate.
And.
‘Suho also wants to step on Kanghyeon Lee after a long time.’
In short, Suho Kim was behind this job.
If it went well, adjusting the Rank would be easy.
“It’s always the same job. So, are you going to do it?”
As Jinsoo Kang spoke confidently, Taehun finally smiled.
Although he hadn’t heard the details yet, it was usually similar jobs.
“It’s good because it’s refreshing. Alright, let me hear the details.”
From now on, it was time for a conversation between the two.
***
Taehun headed to the Dungeon with his son.
To carry out the request Jinsoo Kang had mentioned.
“By the way, the opponent is just an F-Rank Hunter.”
Taehun Ji clicked his tongue.
The request to raise his son’s Rank was just a trial balloon.
He expected to get an answer that even he himself couldn’t do it.
But Jinsoo Kang replied that if he completed the job, he would even raise his son’s Rank.
He wondered how difficult the request was.
The thought crossed his mind.
But when he looked at the details of the request, the opponent was just an F-Rank Hunter.
And he wasn’t supposed to kill him.
It was okay to chop off his limbs, but he was supposed to bring him back alive, causing as much pain as possible.
Moreover, he said he would take care of the aftermath if he contacted him after the job was done.
‘Is it this easy?’
He double-checked if what he heard was correct.
Then, Jinsoo Kang responded by nodding and asking him to film the opponent’s suffering.
‘That bastard is crazy too.’
He couldn’t say that himself, having accepted such a request, but he wondered what grudge the opponent had to make such a request.
Or, was it even possible for an F-Rank Hunter to incur such a grudge?
Of course, it wasn’t a difficult task, and he accepted it.
If this one job went well, his son’s Rank would be raised, so who would refuse?
‘He said he was in the Orc Dungeon, right?’
Jinsoo Kang, who had given him the request, was a Hunter working at the Awakened Center.
Although he was a low-ranking civil servant, he had many advantages.
One of them was being able to find out where the target of the request was, like now.
“Entering the Dungeon at such an early hour. What a diligent fellow.”
He liked diligent people.
But this time, the opponent was the wrong one.
He couldn’t help it since he had received the request, but he prayed for the opponent’s soul in his heart.
Upon entering the Dungeon’s entrance, he checked his equipment again.
First, he checked his son’s equipment, and then all of his own.
Taehun made a final check and warned his son.
“Seongmin, you must stay behind Dad, okay?”
“Yeah… Ah, Dad….”
Seongmin Ji replied in a crawling voice from behind.
After finishing the checks, Taehun Ji entered the Dungeon.
From now on, it was the real deal.
As he walked inside, he continuously checked if his son was following well.
His son had a very kind heart.
However, he believed that if he kept bringing him along, he would eventually fulfill his role as a Hunter.
He continued to bring his son with him like this, waiting for that day.
A few minutes after walking with his son, he spotted another person in the distance.
He stopped at a slight distance and infused mana into his eyes.
By infusing mana, even distant targets appeared close.
‘…….’
The opponent’s name was Kanghyeon Lee.
He heard he was an F-Rank Hunter.
His trait was Necromancer.
According to Jinsoo Kang, he carried a Skeleton with him…
The person he was watching from afar also carried something that looked like a Familiar.
The Familiar was covered in a robe and a mask, so it was impossible to identify what it was.
But it didn’t matter.
‘It must be a Skeleton as I heard.’
Perhaps that man was also wearing such a thing on his Familiar to hide his skills.
Necromancy wasn’t a particularly 주목받는 (noteworthy) trait.
It was a trait that allowed summoning and controlling an Undead army.
Although it sounded really good, it was being disregarded in reality.
This was because no matter how talented a Necromancer was, there was a clear limit to the number of Undead they could control.
This was because as the Rank of Undead increased, there was a limit to the number they could manage.
Currently, the highest Rank of Undead that a Necromancer could stably wield was C-Rank.
Beyond that, it was difficult to maintain.
And there was a bigger problem.
Most importantly, the Necromancer themselves was left exposed to danger.
This was a common problem for all summoners; no matter how strong the Familiar was, it was meaningless if the summoner was eliminated.
Well, unless they had a lot of money and paid great attention to their own equipment, the person in front of him was a novice.
‘The equipment level is also low, so there shouldn’t be any significant problems.’
The opponent wasn’t very capable, and he was just an F-Rank Hunter who only carried an F-Rank Skeleton.
There seemed to be no major variables.
‘It was completely a walk in the park.’
His initial caution gradually faded.
He just needed to figure out how to toy with that guy.
However, he couldn’t understand why an F-Rank Hunter would come to a D-Rank Orc Dungeon, but it wasn’t a big problem.
There were occasional hunters like that.
Hunters who went to pick up byproducts from monsters hunted by others.
Perhaps that man was one of them.
‘By the way, why are there so many Orc corpses?’
Orc corpses were scattered throughout the Dungeon.
‘Hmm.’
The number of Orc corpses visible was enormous.
Someone must have come and hunted them first.
There was no way the F-Rank Hunter in front of him and his summoned Skeleton could hunt Orcs.
It was unimaginable.
It seemed like multiple parties had entered.
‘Let’s watch a little more.’
Even if it was a job that was as easy as taking candy from a baby, there was no harm in being careful.
Taehun continued to observe the opponent.
As he kept watching, there was no change.
He couldn’t see the opponent hunting.
‘Of course, he can’t hunt Orcs.’
Instead, he was checking his smartphone, showing an air of leisure.
‘What’s this?’
He had entered a Dungeon that didn’t match his Rank, yet he seemed so leisurely.
And after a short while, he moved.
He left the Dungeon.
Taehun also took his son and followed Kanghyeon Lee.
A moment later, Kanghyeon Lee entered a Dungeon.
‘Skeleton Dungeon?’
It was even an F-Rank Dungeon.
A Dungeon where only simple Skeletons appeared, without any dangerous entities.
Did he finally find a Dungeon that matched his Rank?
Taehun thought so, but he felt that an opportunity had arisen.
Since it was an F-Rank Dungeon, he didn’t need to worry about surrounding monsters and could just deal with the opponent.
Now it was time to proceed with the plan.
Taehun entered the Dungeon with his son, overtly.
He intended to subdue the opponent immediately.
And.
As soon as he entered the Dungeon, Taehun saw it.
The man before him, Kanghyeon Lee, was looking at him.
‘Huh?’
It was a moment of panic.
A sense of danger rang in his head.
Instantly, his body reacted, and he raised his weapon.
*Thump-*
He felt a pain in his side.
“Ah, Dad…?”
And his son’s surprised voice from behind.
Taehun endured the pain and turned his head to the side.
There, he saw a familiar presence.
The Familiar of the man he had seen earlier.
The black robe and mask matched bizarrely.
And he saw a sword gleaming black.
“Huh…”
That sword had pierced his side precisely.
At the same time, blood was flowing out.
It was overflowing as if the sword craved blood.
“Hey… listen to me.”
Taehun raised his hand to the opponent.
The Familiar the opponent controlled was definitely not a simple Skeleton.
From this appearance alone, he was definitely not an F-Rank Hunter.
He could only think that he had been tricked.
But he had to say something.
“Your intention… to harm… Me, Khck, was absolutely not….”
He struggled to continue speaking, enduring the pain.
“I simply received a request… really, it’s like this.”
And then he pleaded desperately.
“Please… let my son live….”
His son’s life.
He was bleeding too much.
He needed immediate treatment, but he thought the opponent wouldn’t let him go.
He thought he had no hope, so he wanted to save his son.
And at his words, the man, Kanghyeon Lee, laughed.
At the same time, the sword that had been piercing his side was pulled out.
“Khck.”
The pain increased.
It was strange.
The pain was so great that he felt like he was about to die.
He thought it would be fortunate if he could end it here.
And at the same time.
He heard the sound of a sword piercing something else.
“?”
He didn’t even have time to think about what that sound was.
“Kyaaak!”
His son, Seongmin Ji, started screaming.
The sword that had stabbed him was now stabbing his son.
Taehun trembled and turned around.
There, he saw only his son’s legs pierced by the sword.
