Chapter 27: The Abandoned Village

Having fully tasted the effects of the artifact known as the mysterious mask, the next morning naturally continued with a day of going to work, mask and all.

Yesterday, even after finishing the hunt, I had remained at the guild until quite late – to achieve my ‘second objective’ for visiting the guild.

Because of that incident last time, it was a situation where I couldn’t earn points with Hye-eun. Of course, if she wanted it, I would gladly give her my cock for free, but even though this world has strong female libido, Hye-eun didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so.

As for Cha Yuri, she had said she’d wait for me to contact her, so I had no intention of rushing to ask her first. Hye-eun is my childhood friend, so I had deliberately approached her proactively and acted shamelessly, while Cha Yuri and I, though we had shared a night together, were still only acquaintances of three days.

However, yesterday, from morning until evening, despite looking around the Union Guild’s vicinity, it was more difficult than I had expected to find a satisfactory partner from whom I could earn Awakening Points.

Either the estimated points were too low, their appearance was too unacceptable by my standards, or they looked obviously popular and seemed like they’d be involved with multiple people.

There were about two women who almost met all the preceding conditions, but those two already had partners. One of them even had a child, and seeing that she was still living the life of a Hunter, I could infer that her relationship with her husband was quite good.

As I mentioned before, what I wanted was a mutually beneficial relationship where we exchanged each other’s libido and points, not a messy relationship that interferes with a stable couple or family and causes their ruin.

Since I had achieved no results all day yesterday, today, at least, I needed to somehow create a new source of points.

‘I guess the first two times were with Hye-eun and Cha Yuri. Without realizing it, my standards might have gotten too high.’

I know that too.

The fastest way for me to gather Awakening Points and level up my skills is to grab any female Hunter I see and get my dick hard, an extremely simple yet certain method.

However, if I continued having sex thoughtlessly like that, my existence would vaguely spread among Hunters and the Guild, and if things went wrong, regardless of my Awakening abilities or anything else, I could end up being used like an official cum dumpster for strong Hunters.

As someone who had already experienced something similar in high school, I was aware that I had to avoid that at all costs, so every time I brought in a new point-earning partner, I couldn’t help but be cautious.

You might say it wouldn’t matter if I wore the mysterious mask, but unfortunately, the function of the artifact I possessed wasn’t that versatile.

At the very least, I realized just a moment ago that it was difficult to use it for the purpose of mindlessly increasing my number of female relationships.

This morning, the day after I obtained this mask. Hye-eun, whose commute coincided with mine, recognized me in front of my house, which was a strange phenomenon.

“Ah, Taekyung. Are you going out?”

“…Huh?”

“Why the surprised look? I was just asking where you were going.”

“…Ah, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Going for a walk? Or something else?”

“…Just going for a little walk. Hye-eun, you are heading to work now?”

“Ah, yes. My schedule is set to work at this time. The party members I often go with also say mornings are convenient.”

“Alright, work hard.”

“Yeah, I have to work hard. …Since Taekyung is here.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, I’m going to be late. I’ll get going first! Sorry!”

“……”

As soon as Kang Hye-eun left, thinking ‘what if’, I brought my hand to my face, but the mysterious mask was definitely still attached to my face.

It seemed to be working perfectly fine yesterday, did it break overnight?

As I had the same thought, a one-sentence system message appeared before my eyes.

『The effect of the ‘Mysterious Mask’ only works on people who do not remember the user’s actual face, and it has almost no effect on someone who knows the face behind the mask.』

If there were such restrictions, shouldn’t they have written them down properly on the shop screen from the start?

Considering my purpose at the time of purchase, it wasn’t a major issue, but it ultimately meant that a restriction had been added, however small.

Therefore, instead of relying solely on this mask’s function to find partners for one-night stands, it would be much more efficient to pursue targets with whom I could maintain a continuous relationship. That would surely be much more efficient. Either way, it was safer to avoid rumors.

Thus, as I planned to increase my point-earning targets going forward, after reaffirming my own policy in my mind, and confirming once more that I was properly wearing the mask, I headed towards the Union Guild.

With the thought that today, I would definitely find a proper point-earning partner.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“A promotion?”

Like last time, through the sixth counter, the moment I was about to enter the Grave of the Ancient Tree, I heard these words from the employee who received and read my identification tag.

“Yes, it’s a promotion. Kim Sungchul-nim. Considering the achievements Kim Sungchul-nim has recently accomplished, the Union Guild has decided to promote Kim Sungchul-nim to a C-rank Hunter.”

Perhaps it was because I heard the word ‘promotion’ on a day I came to work without any particular thoughts, but I couldn’t say anything. I felt a slight sense of bewilderment.

Looking at the guide’s expression, it didn’t seem like she was lying, but the statement itself made by the guide was difficult to believe easily.

“Are you sure about skipping D-rank and going straight to C-rank?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Please go to counter number 1 and exchange your trainee Hunter identification tag for a C-rank Hunter identification tag.”

“…Understood.”

It seemed the Black-headed Eagle cores I hunted yesterday in the Peregrine Plains had quite an impact. Even though they were C-rank monsters, killing fifteen in a single day and submitting the materials must have been judged sufficient grounds for promotion to C-rank.

It wasn’t an impossible feat; in fact, it was quite a common occurrence. Among women visiting the Hunter Guild for the first time right after awakening, there were indeed some who were born with exceptional abilities. Making such individuals clear only D-rank dungeons indefinitely was a loss for the Guild as well, so the promotion process to C-rank was often skipped like this.

Of course, this only applied to female Hunters. Male Hunters without any Awakening abilities still had to undergo an additional promotion test at the final stage, but fortunately, the fact that my gender wasn’t publicly known within the Guild was a relief.

As I mentioned before, the Union was lax in managing its affiliated Hunters. Especially the sheer number of trainees, like the ones tripping over your feet, from the Union Guild’s perspective weren’t even considered ‘affiliated Hunters’. They were Hunters who might become Hunters someday, but until then, the Guild didn’t really care what they did or where they did it. It wouldn’t be strange at all if information about my gender wasn’t recorded.

‘It wasn’t the same guide who was in charge of entry to the Peregrine Plains yesterday.’

If it had been the same guide, there was a possibility she might have recognized me, just like Kang Hye-eun, but that wasn’t the case. It seemed they didn’t particularly suspect a Hunter named Kim Sungchul, even if he was wearing a mask. Well, for starters, submitting 15 Black-headed Eagle cores automatically led them to rule out the possibility of me being a male Hunter. Moreover, the profession of Hunter itself is largely considered the domain of women, so the identification tags didn’t include gender information.

「Kim Sungchul, C-rank」

“Haha…”

With my physical abilities before awakening, I would have barely managed as a D-rank Hunter, yet after having sex with Kang Hye-eun, I’m C-rank in less than a week. I couldn’t help but wonder what my ten years of effort had been for.

…No, it’s better not to think like that if possible. Frankly, my awakening condition might have been something like ‘try for 10 years’, so regretting the past wouldn’t achieve anything. And above all, the knowledge I learned back then is still fully applicable now.

Now that I had obtained the mark of a C-rank Hunter, there was only one thing left to do.

It was, in a way, my first goal and the motivation for becoming a Hunter. It was also the driving force that made me endure all sorts of sexual harassment and attend Hunter training high school, all to become a male Awakened Hunter against near-impossible odds. It was an opportunity to defeat that damn monster, the Treralodon, the monster that orphaned me overnight.

‘I had been holding back because I couldn’t enter B-rank dungeons as a trainee Hunter, but it’s different now.’

Of course, even if I entered a B-rank dungeon that had become a dungeon now and killed the Treralodon, it wouldn’t be revenge. The Treralodon that devoured my parents back then was actually defeated by Hye-eun’s mother, who happened to be nearby, and she took it down.

What I intended to do was merely a ‘confirmation’. A simple confirmation, like whether the current me, having grown this much, could have protected my parents back then.

Ever since I was young, defeating the monster that killed my parents had always been at the very top of my bucket list after becoming a Hunter. Although more than ten years had passed, the lingering attachment to that past still remained in my heart.

Swordsmanship comparable to a B-rank swordsman, 2nd Circle level fire magic, and healing abilities similar to a trainee priest. This should be sufficient growth to defeat a B-rank monster.

“I’ll go to the Abandoned Village, Sector C.”

“The Abandoned Village Sector C is a B-rank dungeon. Are you sure that’s alright?”

“Yes, it’s fine.”

“Understood. For entry into a B-rank dungeon, the Union Maintenance Fund fee is 200,000 won.”

After handing over part of the funds obtained from selling the Black-headed Eagle cores yesterday to the guide, I boarded the mobile warp and was immediately transported to the dungeon.

To confirm how much I had grown from the helpless child I was 12 years ago.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

「B-Rank Dungeon. Abandoned Village Sector C」

After paying the Union Maintenance Fund fee, which was practically daylight robbery, I arrived at a place that looked much like a village in ruins. Technically, it was the very place that had once been a village before becoming ruins.

“It feels strange coming back here after so long.”

This place, originally a village inhabited by people before it became a dungeon, was located in the area corresponding to ‘Chuncheon City’ in South Korea. Due to a monster wave that suddenly erupted from a nearby factory, this surrounding village was instantly dungeonized. Although some monsters were suppressed by Hunters who arrived late, it was a major incident that had already become too late to prevent the dungeonization. In the end, through the holy barrier magic of Recovery-type Awakened individuals, monster entry and exit were blocked. Access was gained through mobile warp gates installed by each Guild, and it became a dungeon where monsters were continuously dealt with. This was precisely the dungeon known as the ‘Abandoned Village’.

‘Keeeeeek!’

From my right side, with a muffled cry, a gray mass rushed towards me. It was an opponent not worth drawing my greatsword for, so I reached out my right hand and incinerated it with a Fireball. The infected sewer rat, leaving behind the core of a C-rank monster, turned to ash and disappeared.

Ignoring the other monsters fleeing at the sight of the flames, I took only one C-rank monster core and headed straight for the children’s park, the place where I lost my parents, without hesitation.

…The reason I specifically came here today wasn’t just to hunt lowly monsters like these.