Prologue
Prologue
"Ugh..."
I'm dying...
At this rate, I'm actually going to die...
Seeing me dragging myself around, the Store Manager-nim clicked his tongue and said.
"Yeah, Hyun-woo-ya. You worked hard this month too. I put a little extra in your paycheck, so check it later and get some good rest today."
What...!
"No, Store Manager-nim... if you give away this much, what's left for you...?!!"
"I have you."
Damn, what a legend of a manager.
"You've got a decent build, so I have to treat you well to attract female customers."
"Is that a compliment?"
"You think it's an insult?"
Is it?
"Then I'll get going! Oh, and you know I'm off tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah. Don't worry about it."
Nice, nice~!
I slipped out of the store and headed home.
"Another tough day..."
At my age, I had no choice but to work multiple part-time jobs at the same time to somehow survive.
Still...
'If I just go there tomorrow, I can rest for a while.'
Clinical drug trial.
Honestly, I usually try to avoid this kind of stuff, but they said they were certified by a government agency, and I could go back, hear the contract details, and quit whenever I wanted...
The conditions were so good that it was hard to just pass it up.
Lately, there's been that, what is it... Kanbadia? Comboria? I don't know where it is, but there are rumors that they kidnap Korean people and work them to death.
But since they said it was an institution certified by the country, I figured there was no need to worry about it being something like that.
Besides...
'What are they going to do with a guy like me?'
The world is already in the era of the great hunters...
It's a world where everyone is desperate to awaken.
Personally, I'd like to try awakening once, but it's not something I can do just because I want to, so I'm just living life as it comes.
If I keep working hard and making money like this, won't a reward come back to me someday?
"Home sweet home~"
Since I try to live diligently and treat the people around me as kindly as possible, I don't have any strained relationships, and most people treat me well.
I'm even close with the landlady halmeoni right now...
She thinks of me almost like her own grandson and sometimes gives me things to eat, which makes me a bit embarrassed, but it's not a bad feeling.
Being an orphan, I couldn't study much since I was young, and ever since I started working after leaving the orphanage, I was so busy that I had no interest in what was going on in the world.
Because of that, I don't know what's going on in the world and I'm not exactly the brightest, but I felt like this was a world where even someone like me could survive.
At least, for now.
"Ah... a can of beer after work is just perfect..."
But if I keep living like this, won't my health suddenly take a nosedive?
It would be a shame to work so hard and die without even being able to spend the money properly.
"...... Well, it's just one can."
It should be fine for now.
I'm still on the young side, after all.
"Time to sleep..."
After washing up, cleaning my room, and finishing everything else, it was finally time to sleep.
I have to wake up early tomorrow to go to the research lab, so it's better to just sleep.
'What kind of drug will it be?'
Side effects... honestly, I'm still scared.
I've done this kind of thing a few times before, but most of the time, nothing major happened.
I guess it'll be fine.
In the first place, if there were really any major problems, the country wouldn't have approved it, and they wouldn't have explained it so kindly...
With a nonchalant expression, I picked up the red pill sitting in front of me, put it in my mouth, drank the water to swallow it, and lay down on the bed.
"Oh..."
I'm really sleepy.
"...... Good night..."
Muttering that in my sleep, I closed my eyes.
"Is this the place?"
"Yes, they say this is it."
The two people looked up at the building in front of them, cold sweat dripping down.
Actually, when people think of hunters, they usually assume their role is to subdue monsters coming out of gates, but that's not the only thing hunters do.
Since awakening doesn't discriminate based on the person, some might use it for crime, others might start companies for private gain...
Naturally, hunters exist within government agencies as well.
Of course, her guild isn't a government agency, but it was plausible enough for them to handle tasks on behalf of government agencies through contracts or requests.
"Falsified approval and illegal experiments... quite the resume. How on earth did they not get caught until now?"
"How should I know? Let's just go in right away, shall we?"
"Yeah... let's finish this quickly and head back."
The guild leader of the Binghwa Guild, Han Seol, sighed and drew her favorite weapon.
Well, there might be hunters guarding the research lab here too, but it was hard to imagine they would have enough influence to stop her, someone who had reached the S-rank realm.
As an elite, small-scale guild, this was the perfect kind of job to handle, and she had accepted the request because this kind of thing was easy, but since she had accepted it, she had to do it thoroughly.
"We are from a government agency. Please cooperate."
As she muttered roughly and displayed her power, most of the researchers were startled and busy running away, and a few hunters who had lost their minds tried to attack, but she easily subdued them all.
"Eonni, your skills haven't rusted."
"It's only been a month..."
"That's why I told you to start increasing the number of guild members. Even an elite few have their limits."
"......"
It wasn't wrong.
Han Seol, who was talking while walking in one direction and dealing with things roughly, fell into deep thought as she listened to her subordinate and vice-guild leader, Ju-yeon.
Hadn't they almost gotten into big trouble just recently at a gate when they boldly stepped up to handle it themselves?
No matter how much of an S-rank she was, there are levels even among S-ranks.
Objectively speaking, she wasn't that strong... so she did think it was time to start increasing their numbers.
The problem was that she couldn't easily find people who met her standards.
To be precise, it was like finding a needle in a haystack to find someone who was capable enough to join her guild while also meeting her standards.
Although finding talent was never easy to begin with.
'Am I just not talented at this kind of thing...'
It was inevitable that such thoughts would cross her mind.
"But is the work all done?"
Thinking about the new guild members to bring in, she suddenly remembered the request they were supposed to handle and asked, and Ju-yeon, who was in the middle of processing the work, asked instead.
Although the answer came back that there was nothing...
'No matter how I think about it, it's strange.'
I don't think this is the end of it.
No matter how much I think about it, I don't think the country would have sent them for just this much.
Of course, they might not have the exact information either, but since they said there were illegal experiments being conducted inside, it would be right to look into that.
Thinking that, Han Seol had to interrogate the researchers again.
And...
"Wow... they were hiding a place like this."
They were able to discover the true reality.
It was an unpleasant sight, showing traces of countless illegal experiments being conducted.
Just by looking at it, it didn't seem like they were doing good experiments.
"Ugh... why on earth are they doing things like this..."
Since the government agency had already stepped in, the research lab was a rat in a trap.
There was no information to take out, and it would be difficult to take it out anyway.
What on earth did they research here?
Finding the answer to that didn't take long.
"What is this..."
A young child.
A girl, now only about 10 years old, was floating inside an experimental capsule.
"Now even a child...! Those bastards...!"
"Wait, Ju-yeon-ah."
First, they had to wake this child up.
Since something might happen to the child if they touched her wrong, she had a researcher take the child out of the capsule.
And...
"Mm..."
"...... Are you okay? Can you understand me?"
"F-first, we need to put something on her..."
The child woke up immediately.
"... Is this a dream?"
"Yes, it's a dream. Just go to sleep for a little while..."
It was much better than the child falling into a panic.
At her words, the girl fell back to sleep.
Confirming that she was asleep, Han Seol left the girl in Ju-yeon's care and stood up from her seat.
Swoosh...
Before she knew it, cold air began to swirl around her body.
"I'm going to kill them all."
That was the minimum amount of revenge she could offer this girl.