The Alpha Male Becomes the Wolf King
I looked down once more at the beautiful woman standing before me, her presence radiating the force of a great warrior.
Dark brown hair. Brown eyes. A voluptuous chest that looked every bit an H-cup, a slender waist, and below that, an unusually full set of hips.
I took a moment to appreciate her figure before my gaze drifted to the sword hanging at her hip. The aura rolling off that blade was anything but ordinary. It felt like a legendary sword that had walked countless battlefields beside its master in a past life—quietly gathering its power, just like its owner.
That was when the surrounding hunters spotted her and erupted into murmurs.
"Huh? That's Han Yujin."
"Sword Blossom Han Yujin?"
"She's top-tier even among the nation's S-ranks, isn't she?!"
"I heard she's the main DPS for the Hard 42nd floor clear team?"
S-rank Hunter Han Yujin. Her moniker was Sword Blossom. I'd heard it came from the way crimson, petal-like sword energy scattered every time she swung her blade.
Despite drawing every eye in the plaza, she herself paid the crowd no mind at all. Her gaze was locked solely on me.
"So you're saying you're going into Nightmare difficulty with absolutely zero foundation?!"
"Correct."
Han Yujin's mouth hung open as if she couldn't quite process what she was hearing—like she was staring at some new species whose thought process defied all comprehension.
"…Are you insane?"
"I've already heard that one."
She pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a deep sigh. The hunters around us had moved past whispering; they were now openly gawking.
"Hey, was that rookie seriously about to hit Nightmare?"
"Guy just awakened today, right?"
"First time I've ever seen Sword Blossom personally try to stop someone."
I let their words slide in one ear and out the other. A warrior's path is not decided by other men's mouths. It is carved by one's own hand.
I reached for the panel again. That was the moment.
Tak!
Han Yujin's pale, slender hand seized my forearm. An ordinary woman's hand—except her palm was different. Callused from gripping a sword countless times. The hand of someone who had climbed this far through blood and sweat.
Looking down at that hand, I felt a quiet admiration. A warrior's hand. Not bad at all.
Still holding my arm, Han Yujin spoke.
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"What do you mean, why? I can't just stand by and let a rookie get himself killed."
"Dying in battle is a warrior's life."
"Is this really the time for word games?!"
"It isn't wordplay. It's the truth."
Han Yujin's eyes narrowed.
"You clearly don't understand what Nightmare difficulty actually is…"
"An uncleared stage, is it not?"
"Ha… Hearing it in words alone doesn't seem to be getting through to you, does it?"
She tightened her grip on my arm. My forearm didn't so much as twitch. If anything, she was the one who looked startled.
"…What is with this arm? Why is it so… hard?!"
In that instant, Han Yujin's heart rate spiked. Only then did she realize she was clamped onto the arm of a man she had met for the first time today. Her face went crimson in a heartbeat.
"Ah…!"
Ears burning scarlet, she yanked her hand free.
"I-I-I-I-I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine."
Offering a warm word to a flustered lady was only proper for an alpha male.
"You have good hands."
"…"
"Excuse me?!"
Han Yujin's face turned as red as a perfectly ripe tomato. Whistles and appreciative noises rose from the onlookers.
"Ooooh."
"First time I've ever seen Sword Blossom blush."
"Our Sword Blossom's supposed to be the ice princess type."
"What the hell is that rookie?"
A moment later, Han Yujin swept the crowd with a murderous glare. The hunters who had been chattering freely all fell silent at once. The gaze of a powerhouse, silencing a throng with a single look. The more I saw of her, the more I liked this woman.
Then those brown eyes returned to me. And she understood. The man before her—with a body like sculpted stone, this strange man she had never met—was the kind of human who would walk into the Nightmare Tower and die even if it meant splitting his own skull open. Well, more accurately, he wasn't going there to die. He was going there to fight. Either way, the grim ending waiting for him didn't change much.
Han Yujin drew a deep breath. Then she drew the sword at her hip.
Shrrring.
The moment the blade left its sheath, the air around us changed. Crimson sword energy flowed along the edge. It was the very image of a blade that held the sunset within its steel.
Information on the sword rose in the status window.
Legendary-Grade Equipment Detected
A legendary longsword forged from a red lightning heartstone. Converts the user's mana into sword blossoms and lightning.
A fine sword.
Han Yujin stood before me with the blade in hand and spoke.
"Fine. If you're going in, then as an S-rank Hunter and your senior, I suppose I'll have to protect you."
The surrounding hunters exploded.
"What?!"
"Sword Blossom is going into Nightmare?"
"She's lost it!"
"Are those two forming a party?"
"Turn on the stream! This is huge!"
Han Yujin ignored the uproar. Her eyes never left me.
"Rather than sending you alone… if I'm at your side, your odds of survival should go up at least a little."
I regarded her for a moment. A woman warrior stepping forward with firm resolve. Knowing full well that her one and only life was on the line, yet drawing her sword to save a rookie she had just met. I nearly fell for her on the spot.
But I am an alpha male. At the very least, I had to keep my expression under control. In the end, I managed to hold a blank face—aside from a faint flush of red.
"Then let us go together."
Han Yujin's eyes widened slightly, as if she hadn't expected that.
"…You're agreeing more easily than I thought?"
"You possess the hands of a great warrior. I have not the slightest intention of standing in such a warrior's path."
"…That's your reason?"
"I find it reason enough."
"You really are a strange man."
A faint curve touched her cold lips. But the smile didn't last. The panel at the tower entrance began to flash red.
Party Entry Request
Entrants: Kang Taegun, Han Yujin
Difficulty: NIGHTMARE
⚠ WARNING: Probability of death upon entry is extremely high.
Do you truly wish to enter?
Han Yujin adjusted her grip on her sword and looked back at me.
"I'll ask one last time. Are you really going in?"
"I am."
"…All right."
Transferring to Nightmare Difficulty — Floor 1.
Red warning lights blared across the entire plaza.
Wooooooooom!
Screams mixed into the noise. Association staff came running, but it was already too late.
"Hunter Han Yujin! Entering Nightmare without procedural approval is—"
Leaving their chaos behind, the tower doors opened and a black vortex swallowed us whole. My vision flipped as my body plunged into darkness.
When I came to, a status window was floating before me.
Motion sickness overcome by sheer will.
Alpha Male Points +1
A good start.
A moment later, I felt my feet touch solid ground.
Thud.
The status window rose again.
I nodded and spoke.
"So we just need to kill the boss."
Han Yujin yanked on my arm and shouted.
"You can't think of it that simply!"
That was the exact moment.
Grrrrrrrr.
From the darkness deeper in the alley, pairs of red eyes began to emerge. Easily a hundred black wolves. Each one looked three or four times larger than an ordinary wolf.
Han Yujin's expression hardened like stone.
"Black Bone Wolves…"
"Wolves, are they?"
"They're pack-type monsters that appear on Hard difficulty Floor 27. A single one can wipe out a C-rank Hunter party. But these ones are pouring out mana so strong they don't even compare."
"Excellent."
"What about that is excellent?!"
Han Yujin raised the Red Lotus Sword Astrape and shouted.
"Fall back behind me! I'll open a path!"
"Behind you?"
"Yes!"
"That won't do."
"Excuse me?"
"An alpha male does not hide behind a woman."
A vein twitched at Han Yujin's temple.
"Is this really the time to be picky about that?!"
In the next instant, the wolves charged as one. Han Yujin started to move—but I was faster.
Conditions Met
Frontal Confrontation · Protecting the Weak
Alpha Male effect activated.
All stats rising dramatically.
Han Yujin shouted from behind me.
"Hey, Kang Taegun!"
The first wolf sank its teeth into my shoulder.
Crunch!
Han Yujin's eyes went as wide as saucers.
"No!"
The wolf clamped down and clung stubbornly. Looking down at the beast, I let out a short laugh.
"Your bite is weak."
For a heartbeat, the wolf's eyes wavered. I seized its upper jaw with one hand and its lower jaw with the other—then wrenched them apart.
Crack!
The wolf's jaw shattered, black blood soaking the ground.
Pain crushed by sheer will.
Alpha Male Points +3
Han Yujin muttered blankly.
"…Insane."
Wolves poured in from every direction. A second one went for my leg. I drove my knee into its skull.
BOOM!
A third leapt onto my back. Han Yujin cried out.
"Behind you!"
Instead of turning, I simply swung my elbow back.
Crack!
The satisfying sound of a wolf's skull caving in rang in my ears.
"Coming at me from behind. Cowardly."
A cowardly enemy has been disciplined.
Alpha Male Points +5
A fourth… a fifth… a tenth… I tore and crushed the wolves with my bare hands, again and again.
Han Yujin leapt into the fight as well.
"You really are an impossible rookie!"
Her sword carved a crimson arc.
Shaaaa!
Petal-like red sword energy filled the air and severed the necks of three wolves at once.
That was when it happened. The wolves' eyes shifted in an instant, and a pack of more than a dozen charged me all at once. Fangs from every direction sank into my body. Feeling a warrior's blood boil, I dropped into a low stance and warned Han Yujin.
"Cover your ears."
The next moment, a spectacle so overwhelming it nearly knocked Han Yujin off her feet unfolded. Drawing a great breath, I unleashed a tremendous roar.
"RAAAAAAAAH!"
Active Skill: Alpha Male's Roar
KUUUUUNG!
A sound that seemed to mercilessly rip the surrounding air to shreds. The wolves clinging to me were blasted away as one and crashed to the ground. Black blood poured from their ears, eyes, and mouths. Fear bloomed in the eyes of every monster still standing.
Han Yujin froze with her sword raised.
"The monsters… are scared?"
Blood-soaked and smiling, I spoke.
"Wolves know how to recognize their king."
No sooner had the words left my mouth than the status window appeared.
In the next breath, I issued a command to the surviving pack.
"Follow me."
At once, the Black Bone Wolves that had been glaring with murderous light all lowered their bodies in submission.
Watching the scene, Han Yujin let out a shaky breath and muttered,
"So… so damn sexy…!"
