Yesterday, we celebrated Oh Jun-hyuk becoming an E-rank hunter by drinking and partying all night.
First round was at a barbecue place, second at a karaoke bar, and third at a club. The club, which I hadn't been to in a while, was worse than I expected.
I did get hit on by some girls. After all, I'm a hunter now. Plus, I've become more handsome since before I officially became a hunter.
Oh Jun-hyuk went to a motel with a girl he hooked up with, and I went home alone.
'She just wasn't my type.'
She was pretty. She had her charms, all dressed up. But her chest was small.
'If her face had been at celebrity level or her butt was nice, maybe…'
I can enter the world of Vampire Detective. There, I can have relationships with women who are beyond beautiful. I don't need to chase after some girl I met at a club. I'm not that desperate.
Whenever I have time, I enter Vampire Detective and have sex, so I'm never really starved for women.
'And the vibe just wasn't right.'
Buzz!
My phone vibrated. It was a message from Oh Jun-hyuk.
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Hey, did you get home okay?]
[Seong Eugene: Yeah. Just woke up.]
[Seong Eugene: How was the girl you went to the motel with?]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Don't even ask, man.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: When I took out a condom from her handbag, I saw some yellow powder.]
"Yellow powder? Flash powder? …Haha!"
I let out a hollow laugh.
Flash powder is a drug.
To be precise, it's a powder made from grinding the petals of a C-rank plant-type monster called Pheralflessia.
You can eat it as is, mix it with water, or even concentrate it and inject it. Flash powder works no matter how it enters your body.
The concentrated form is called Heaven Flash.
The side effect is that it gradually destroys your mind. Flash powder is banned in all countries. Not only is it highly addictive, but at some point, it makes you so mentally unstable that you can't even recognize your own parents.
[Seong Eugene: So, did you do it?]
Even though Oh Jun-hyuk loves women, I didn't think he'd sleep with a girl who does drugs. But I was wrong.
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Yeah.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: I just pretended not to notice and went for it.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: She drank water while we were doing it.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Surprisingly, it was good. When I thrust, her juices kept flowing.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Drinking water made her tighter. But I didn't kiss her lol.]
I paused.
He slept with a girl on drugs and said it was good?
Oh Jun-hyuk isn't the type to lie about something like this. If he says it was good, it must have been good.
'The girl who hit on me yesterday came to the club with Oh Jun-hyuk. That means she probably had Flash powder too…. Damn it! What does it feel like? Why did I come home right away last night?!'
I clenched my fist and banged my head. I avoided the girl who approached me, and now I'm left with this burning curiosity I can't satisfy.
[Seong Eugene: What are you doing now?]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Eating hangover soup.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: I'm dying from this hangover lol.]
[Seong Eugene: What about the girl? Did you just send her away?]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Of course, it's a one-night stand with a girl who does drugs.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: I ran as soon as she fell asleep.]
Oh Jun-hyuk will be fine going forward. Honestly, as a club regular, he's been through this kind of thing a few times.
[Seong Eugene: Now that you're an E-rank, are girls flocking to you?]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Yeah lol. I was surprised yesterday too.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: I've been slacking off as a hunter because it was annoying.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: I regret not becoming an E-rank sooner.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: You should work hard as a hunter. Don't regret it like I did.]
[Seong Eugene: Yeah.]
[Seong Eugene: That's the plan. I awakened a bit late, after all.]
[Seong Eugene: My goal is to become an E-rank hunter by the end of this month.]
With my current skills, becoming an E-rank is no problem.
Jin Se-young said that if you only consider my Yeongcheon-style skills, excluding my physical abilities, I'm at D-rank.
'But there's a huge wall between D-rank and C-rank.'
Currently, my physical abilities are at the upper level of F-rank. I'm not far behind E-rank.
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Nice.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: With your skills, E-rank is a given.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: But what about your achievement points?]
[Seong Eugene: 730 points.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: You've been a hunter for about three months, right?]
[Seong Eugene: Yeah.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: That's about average. You're keeping it steady, huh?]
[Seong Eugene: Yeah. I've been joining public parties and going into dungeons.]
I've been forming public parties once or twice a week and entering dungeons. The profits weren't huge, but I did it to build up my achievements. I've also been building connections through public parties. Well, I don't really keep in touch with anyone.
[Oh Jun-hyuk: But becoming E-rank in a month is impossible.]
[Seong Eugene: Nah, it's possible.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: Are you going to dungeons every day? Quit it. Rest is important for hunters.]
[Seong Eugene: I'm planning to go to E-rank dungeons.]
[Oh Jun-hyuk: With your skills, it's possible. But E-rank hunters won't want to take you.]
[Seong Eugene: Haha... There are ways.]
After chatting with Oh Jun-hyuk a bit more, I started preparing to go out. Starting today, I'll be entering E-rank dungeons.
***
"Mr. Seong Eugene?"
I looked up from my phone at the sound of someone calling my name.
A young man who didn't seem much older than me approached and greeted me. He was big and wearing armor.
"Yes, I'm Seong Eugene."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ki Bu-seon, the leader of the 'From Today' party."
He extended his hand. I put my phone in my pocket and shook his hand briefly.
"Please take care of me today."
"Haha. Don't worry. We'll make sure it's safe and efficient!"
Ki Bu-seon said cheerfully.
I followed him to the dungeon entrance.
The 'From Today' party had two other members. And one of them was someone I knew.
"Is that person today's passenger?"
It was a man with short, sporty hair. He was holding a spear.
"Let's get into the dungeon… Oh, Senior Seong Eugene?"
A red-haired girl recognized me. She was wearing leather clothes and had a sword at her waist.
I was slightly surprised to see her. She was a junior from the same hunter department.
"Im So-yeon? Aren't you F-rank? Oh, are you a passenger like me?"
"No. I'm a member of this party. I never thought I'd see you here, Senior Eugene!"
Im So-yeon said cheerfully.
She's a first-year at Gukcheon University. In other words, my junior.
We weren't particularly close. We just exchanged greetings.
"Oh? What a coincidence! This is Mr. Seong Eugene, today's passenger."
"I'm Seong Eugene. Please take care of me."
I greeted them. Im So-yeon, the man with the spear, and I were meeting for the first time.
"And that quiet guy over there is Im Seong-ui. So-yeon's older brother."
Ki Bu-seon explained the man's identity to me.
"I'm Im Seong-ui. You're my sister's senior, right? Please take care of my sister. She's a bit clumsy."
He bowed his head, dropping his guarded expression.
"No need to bow. So-yeon and I aren't particularly close. And So-yeon is doing well as a rising star in our hunter department."
I gave a polite response, and Im So-yeon smiled awkwardly. A little lip service wasn't a big deal. It didn't cost me anything.
And it wasn't entirely untrue.
Im So-yeon is a pyrokinetic, someone who can control fire at will. Her red hair isn't dyed—it naturally turned red when she awakened.
'Awakening and having your hair or eye color change… That's a sign of talent.'
I had a brief conversation with them.
I had no ulterior motives toward Im So-yeon.
Im So-yeon has a cat-like face with upturned eyes. She's of average height with a B-cup chest. Her red hair reaches her collarbone, what you'd call a medium-length cut. And she has a mole near the left side of her lips.
'If her body was amazing, maybe… but she's not my type.'
I had no intention of messing around in real life. That could just lead to unnecessary trouble.
After finishing the conversation, we entered the E-rank dungeon, 'The Ruins of the Wild Dogs.' It's a dungeon where E-rank monsters, the tainted wild dogs, appear.
"Let's enter the dungeon! Of course, Mr. Seong Eugene, you don't have to do anything!"
Ki Bu-seon said cheerfully. Ki Bu-seon was a D-rank hunter.
"As an F-rank, I'd just get in the way if I tried to do anything. I'll trust you all."
In hunter parties, there's something called an achievement taxi. It's when a party takes on one passenger in exchange for money. In gaming terms, it's similar to a high-level player leveling up a beginner for money.
'I paid 3 million won to use this achievement taxi. It's not a huge amount for me.'
I'm a member of this party, but I don't have ownership of any monster byproducts. I only get dungeon entry, hunting time, and achievement points. In exchange, I don't have to do anything. I just quietly follow them around.
'If I can get 400 achievement points from 6 hours of hunting, I'll come out ahead.'
F-rank dungeons give around 50-70 points per day, while E-rank dungeons give 300-400 points.
Tainted wild dogs are E-rank monsters with poison, so they give higher achievement points, and I can expect over 400 points.
'I have 700 achievement points now… so I need 2,800 more. Roughly 7 more achievement taxi runs.'
Honestly, I didn't plan to use achievement taxis from the start.
I applied to E-rank dungeon public parties to gain experience. Theoretically, hunters can enter dungeons one rank higher than their own.
But E-rank hunters are a dime a dozen. From the perspective of public parties, there's no need to take on an F-rank hunter and risk danger.
Even if I tried to form a party to enter E-rank dungeons, no one applied. F-rank hunters don't feel the need to take risks in E-rank dungeons like I do.
'This is so convenient.'
I followed them while reading a novel on my phone. I should use these spare moments to consume creative works. My Play Life app is limited to the creative works I've already seen.
'Oh! This character illustration… I like it. Her chest is huge!'
I glanced at the 'From Today' party's combat situation.
Ki Bu-seon was both the tank and the DPS. The tainted wild dogs were dying to his sword and shield. He's wearing steel armor, so he's not afraid of the wild dogs' claws or teeth.
'…His shield skills are impressive. He would beat me easily if we fought.'
At that level, he's quite skilled even among D-rank hunters.
'Is he doing achievement taxi gigs because of his schedule?'
From D-rank onward, public parties don't form easily. Most have fixed parties, and from D-rank, the riffraff gets filtered out.
Fixed parties have set schedules, and when their schedules are free, some D-rank hunters run achievement taxis for extra cash.
'Im Seong-ui. That guy isn't ordinary either. He's supposed to be E-rank, but he's almost D-rank.'
Even if you're D-rank, if you let your guard down in an E-rank dungeon, you'll become monster food. But Im Seong-ui is there to assist Ki Bu-seon when he's in danger. If Ki Bu-seon misses a monster or gets surrounded, Im Seong-ui quickly moves to help him.
Im So-yeon was in charge of collecting monster byproducts.
They've clearly worked together before.
'…They don't even need to talk to know what to do. That's the advantage of a fixed party.'
Public parties are noisy.
The party leader keeps telling people to do this, do that. They give a lot of orders to the party members. When I draw my sword and hunt monsters to show my skills, they either get wary of me or try to flatter me to build connections.
'Should I join a fixed party?'
Forming public parties every time I enter a dungeon is annoying.
"Senior Eugene. What are you looking at?"
"A novel."
"A novel? Is it interesting?"
"No."
I answered honestly.
This novel wasn't interesting. The author is Korean, and the novel is written in Korean, but it reeks of Japanese influence.
"…Then why are you reading it?"
"The female characters are pretty."
I answered honestly.
Most of the heroines and supporting female characters in this novel are busty.
"Senior, were you always like this?"
"Yeah."
I answered vaguely. I had no interest in Im So-yeon.
"...."
"...."
Silence fell.
A while later, I approached Ki Bu-seon, who was taking a break.
"Mr. Ki Bu-seon. I'd like to fight a tainted wild dog one-on-one. Is that possible?"
"Ah! You're itching for a fight, huh? Sure, it's possible."
Ki Bu-seon smiled kindly and nodded.
"We have antidotes, so feel free to go all out."
In the end, I didn't get to fight to my heart's content.
The tainted wild dog couldn't dodge my Yeongcheon Style techniques and died in a single strike.
'…At the very least, I don't think I'd lose in a one-on-one fight.'
I lost interest in the tainted wild dogs.
After that, Ki Bu-seon's eyes sparkled as he asked me various questions. He seemed interested in my skills. I gave him vague answers and picked up my phone.
'Hmm. Is the pink-haired character's pubic hair pink too?'
This was a very important observation.
'If her hair is rainbow-colored, is her pubic hair rainbow too?'
***
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