Episode 5
“Haeseon… … !!”
My older sister, who was treated by Kirill, regained consciousness.
She hugged me for a while and shed tears, then fell asleep a little later.
My sister repeated the words ‘I’m glad’ until the moment she fell asleep.
I can’t believe I almost said to someone like this, ‘I was given a life-limiting sentence.’
I felt dizzy just thinking about it.
My sister doesn’t remember anything after encountering the large toad.
So I was able to cover it appropriately.
I said, ‘I was lucky enough to get help from a nearby hunter,’ and as always, my sister completely believed me.
Well, there is no need to discuss this or that right now.
While my sister was fast asleep, I browsed articles on the Internet and then turned on the TV.
The old TV screen was showing breaking news about today’s gate.
[The gate incident that occurred today was an unprecedented and unique case… … .]
Once I quickly turned off the lights, the doubts I had at the gate popped out.
Why didn’t Hunter wait in advance?
Let alone exterminating monsters, no safe lines were even created to restrict the entry of civilians.
Even if the line had been properly established, my sister wouldn’t have entered the gate.
[The Glory Guild that governs the area is inevitably… … .]
As the announcer’s reports continue, the excitement grows.
Today, a ‘double gate’ was opened in Korea.
A unique situation where gates are opened in two areas at the same time.
Although it was a rare case, it was not something that never happened.
However, there was a good reason why the announcer made a fuss about it being an ‘unprecedented and unique case.’
Poison-type monsters appear only once a year, but the monsters that appeared in ‘Double Gate’ were both poison-type.
[Due to limited resources of hunters and equipment to solve poison-type monsters… … .]
The areas where the double gate occurred were Gupa-dong and Gajeong-dong.
Although both are located in the same district, they are areas that are often talked about due to the extreme gap between rich and poor.
Gupa-dong is known as the richest village in Korea.
And an open building where people who are busy surviving day by day gather, just like at home.
[Glory Guild expressed deep regret to the families of those who died due to this gate, and plans to increase equipment for poison-type monsters in the future… … .]
Who said that?
If your tongue is long, you will be scared.
Although the announcer is not from the Glory Guild, his face becomes more and more distorted as he explains every detail.
And soon, I came to the following conclusion.
‘Gaebangdong was abandoned.’
The comments on articles I checked on the Internet were not different from my thoughts.
└Wow, Shiva. This is unlucky. How did the poison type come out through a double gate?
└More than five hundred people died. Is this the highest number of deaths in recent years?
└Glory bastards, you have the money to film commercials on this stupid day, but you haven’t brought in the equipment to solve poison types?
└Nono. What kind of guild is Glory? The poison team was dispatched a long time ago. It’s just that the place where we were dispatched wasn’t an open building.
└Split the team into two, or definitely abandon one team. It was one of the two, but I gave up on the beggars in Gaejeong-dong.
└Honestly, isn’t this an obvious decision? When expanding the jurisdiction, the association took notice and had no choice but to take on poor areas as well. Since we also have one team, we should protect the rich areas first, haha.
└I’m glad it’s not my neighborhood. They say they will hurriedly recruit more personnel and expand equipment, but it’s a scene I’ve seen a lot of times.
└In the meantime, the Glory Guild swept up all A-level hunters for this quarter. They’re ready to conquer the Earth.
Although the Glory Guild is prestigiously a national public service enterprise, they are ultimately a group that pursues profit.
They may have made a reasonable choice for themselves.
But, is that what the residents of the abandoned area think?
‘You’re making a fuss… … .’
The more I think about it, the more nausea I get.
Whether it’s a double gate or a poison type.
I didn’t like the idea of weighing my life.
Nothing else, just because of money.
I would understand if you made a hundred concessions and resolved that side first and then came to our side.
According to a witness who was in Gupa-dong, the Glory Guild withdrew immediately after the situation was resolved.
At a time when mass killings were happening right next to us.
Even if there is some rational reason behind it, it is clear that the abandoned people were killed.
If I hadn’t met Kirill, I would have been turned into a corpse like them.
[Thanks to the Glory Guild’s quick dispatch, casualties were minimized… … .]
As a result, their choice to save a prestigious and wealthy region was the right one.
There were a flood of interviews from high-ranking people in all walks of life expressing their gratitude to the Glory Guild, and the news of the deaths of residents of Gaejeong-dong was being covered up as an ‘unfortunate incident that could not have been helped.’
* * *
Tap tap.
Sit on the floor with your knees together and lightly throw the black sphere with one hand.
At first glance, it looked like they were playing around with a baseball, but it was something that would surprise anyone who was familiar with monsters.
“information.”
As I muttered softly, the device Kirill gave me showed information about the sphere.
<Identification Information: Giant Toad Core>
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<Difficulty of acquisition: A class>
<Type: Black Core>
<Warning: Hunter Association highest level precautionary item. Contains strong toxicity, so requires special management.>
Monsters usually have a heart called a ‘core’.
The color of the core varies depending on the type of monster, but the cores of poison-type monsters are all black.
So the name given was ‘Black Core’.
Among hunters, black core is called ‘the rice cake of the picture’.
The energy it contains is several times stronger than that of other ordinary cores, but its toxicity makes it difficult to use as a weapon or to absorb into the body.
Rather than being absorbed, most people’s hands will melt as soon as they hold the black core due to its strong toxicity.
Tuk.
I threw and caught the black core as if it were a ball game.
Following the lens-type device, it was the second gift Kirill left behind.
“Although this guy’s toxicity is strong, compared to you, it’s like a child’s joke. Hold this and think about the feeling you had when using a reader. Something interesting will happen.”
‘like this… … ‘Is it okay to do it?’
Remembering Cyril’s words, I grabbed the black core.
Sussss… … .
The color of the black core resembles a gate that was open during the day.
A deep black color that seems to absorb everything around it.
I closed my eyes and remembered the feeling of the black ether that Kirill had given me.
Cyril’s energy gathered at his feet.
At first, there was no significant change, but as I persistently focused my mind, changes eventually began to appear.
Ugh.
“uh… … ?”
The hand holding the black core trembles.
It’s not because I get chills like before.
My core began to resonate with my body.
I concentrated a little more and tightened my grip on the black core.
Sharr.
I open my eyes to a strange feeling.
Oh my god.
The solid black core was melting, like melting ice cream.
<The state of the black core changes.>
<Converting to black ether, current status 31%… … 52%… … 74%>
The black core, which was once unpleasantly black, begins to develop a unique luster.
The same energy that Kirill gave me.
It was black ether.
There was no question about how to absorb it.
The moment I turned it into black ether, it felt like it was my limbs.
Slurp.
Now the black core has completely turned into a liquid state.
And the liquid slowly seeped into my body through my palms.
Is it because I have completed my awakening?
The black ether being absorbed felt like blood.
No, it’s a little more fundamental than blood.
I felt like ‘life force’ was being injected into my body.
In a short period of time, the black ether was completely absorbed into my body, and I felt more refreshed than ever.
<The user’s Black Ether index has risen sharply.>
<Black ether capacity: 1,000BA → 1,500BA>
<The newly injected black ether can be used to strengthen the body>
It appears that the black ether previously received from Kirill was 1,000BA.
After checking the information provided by the device, I was surprised by two things.
The first is Kirill’s abilities.
The black ether she delivered to me was only a small portion.
But that little bit is twice as much as a grade A black core.
I couldn’t even guess how great of a hunter Kirill was.
And the second.
“Strengthen your body… … .”
This was a story I had never heard even from Kirill.
A poisoner that uses poison to strengthen the body.
Just as Kirill showed his ‘poisonous ability’, Poisner thought it was natural to fight by bringing out the Black Ether.
“no… … perhaps… … .”
On the one hand, there were parts that made me nod my head when I thought about it.
The reason why I was able to easily learn to read from Kirill.
It was thanks to the black ether she planted in my feet.
The fact that I was able to move quickly and overcome the limitations of the human body was possible because black ether ‘strengthened’ my feet.
“… … .”
then.
Let’s think the opposite way.
If the result of strengthening the ‘feet’ with black ether is unique, what will happen when it is sprayed on the ‘whole body’?
I quickly asked the device.
“If I continue to create black ether like this and strengthen my entire body, what level can I rise to?”
<If the user’s black ether exceeds 10,000BA, they will gain physical abilities equivalent to an S-class knight.>
“wow!!”
An exclamation came out of my mouth.
An S-class knight.
This means that he can defeat most physical hunters with just his physical abilities without using any special poison.
A hunter who engages in hand-to-hand combat with the best knights and at the same time shows off his ‘poisonous’ skills.
What Kirill said about being ‘the strongest being in the world’ may not be a lie.
Just imagining it makes your heart beat faster.
A dream that I had no choice but to live with and bury in the back of my mind.
Those dreams were blooming again from the bottom of my heart.
I want to kill all the damn monsters.
I want to overcome the poverty that has made my family suffer.
More than anything, I want to become strong enough to not have to have my life judged by others.
* * *
Early morning the next day.
Sigh.
I brushed my sleeping sister’s hair once.
He is a strong-willed person despite his appearance, so I hope he will endure well.
After changing into comfortable training clothes, I left a note by her bedside.
According to Kirill, the deadline to obtain the antidote is one week.
There was no time to delay even a single day.
Get on it!
I run at full speed to the place where I learned reading skills from Kirill.
Although I feel a little short of breath, I don’t feel tired at all.
It’s different from before when you had to take a bus even for short distances.
Now that I have finished awakening, my body is no longer sick.
“Okay then… … .”
Early in the morning, before the sun even comes out.
I closed my eyes to control the black ether I had been carrying all night.
Slur.
Like a fish swimming in the sea, black ether was slowly floating around my body.
It’s as if they’re waiting for a decision to be made.
There will be no need to strengthen the legs for the time being, having already received the black ether from Kirill.
I took a deep breath and slowly began to spread it all over my body.
Jiing.
Just like when I etherized the black core, it and my body resonated.
After a short time has passed.
It took root in every corner of my body.
‘How effective is it?’
Although it was about half of the amount Kirill gave me, what I got was a core of A Class difficulty level.
Class A monsters are not a grade that can be caught by ‘one Class A hunter’.
It was said that it was a level that could be achieved only when a ‘team of 5 or more grade A hunters’ was formed.
Considering that even most medium-sized guilds in Korea do not have more than 10 A-level hunters, it is like a treasure to me.
Since it is such a difficult core to obtain, I wanted to test how helpful it would be in strengthening the body.
‘It seems completely crazy, but… … .’
Face the wall of the vacant lot and raise your right hand.
Looking at the concrete wall reminds me of the hard skin of a large toad.
Previously, my hand would have broken, let alone the wall, but now things have changed.
No, it must change.
I gritted my teeth and swung my fist at the wall.
bang!!
“Ugh… … !!”
f*ck.
It hurts so much that tears come out.
Was it not possible to strengthen the body with this amount of black ether?
Wow.
“?”
The discordant sound produced by the crack stimulates my ears.
As I was blowing my hands, I turned my gaze in the direction of the sound, and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
There was a large crack in the concrete wall.
A power that is impossible for an ordinary person has been revealed.
Since black ether was applied to the entire body, not only the fists were strengthened.
“Where is my body now?”
<This is equivalent to the lowest level knight.>
“… … “It was good.”
Before leaving on my short journey, I could feel a very satisfying change.
Even though it was the lowest level, a ‘knight’ was at a level that could easily handle several ordinary men.
After shaking off my hands once.
I gave a command to the device.
“Tell me Dr. Jin’s location.”
