Got an Instant Kill Skill, But Still Gotta Go to Work? (1)
Even with an instant kill skill, I guess I still have to go to work, right? It was the next day after staying up late gaming as usual, waking up in a hazy daze. There was this indescribable sense of wrongness about my body. How should I put it? It felt strangely light and soft, more than usual.
To figure out what was causing that unease, I half-rose from bed with eyes still barely open. Then, against my will, my center of gravity pitched forward, nearly throwing me off balance. I barely caught myself and immediately looked down at my body.
And for a while, I couldn't say a word.
My feet were out of sight. Two massive, balloon-like mounds of flesh were blocking everything below my chest. They were enormous, swallowing up more than half my field of vision.
I rushed to the mirror in the corner of the room to check myself out. There stood a stranger—a beautiful girl mimicking my every move. Shoulder-length hair swayed with each tilt of my head, framing a small face with a sharp nose and long lashes that sharpened her striking features.
The reflection staring back was a woman. A stunningly beautiful one.
I watched her silently for a moment, then stroked my chin and muttered softly.
"Is this that awakening thing?"
I had no memory of getting gender reassignment surgery, so the only possible cause I could think of was that. Awakening.
Gates had been popping up all over the world, spewing monsters from within. A select few were chosen, gaining special powers through awakening. And among those, very rarely, physical changes came with it. A short, scrawny guy suddenly turning into an 188cm, 109kg muscle machine overnight. Or a brilliant male scientist morphing into a grumpy green monster. Stuff like that. I'd seen similar cases online.
"Of course, I've never seen gender swap like this..."
There was one sure way to confirm if this was awakening-related. I raised my hand and shouted.
"Status Window!"
My eyes went straight to the unique skills at the bottom. They're random abilities you get upon awakening, and they can determine a hunter's value.
In my case, I'd scored two basic ones.
Rune of Infallible Aim (Left Hand): Applies perfect accuracy to all attacks, guaranteeing they hit the enemy.
Rune of Certain Kill (Right Hand): Applies instant death to all attacks, guaranteeing the enemy dies.
I checked my palms right away. Sure enough, glowing blue runes marked each one: Infallible Aim on the left, Certain Kill on the right.
A power that never misses. A power that always kills. Combined? An unavoidable, unblockable perfect instant kill.
"What kind of bullshit overpowered ability is this?"
It completely ignored balance. Pure potential alone put it leagues above even S-rank hunters. If word got out, the whole country—no, the world—might explode.
I grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV in the corner.
The news was live-streaming hunters scrambling to handle gates popping up nationwide. No trace of leisure on their frantic faces—you could feel the headaches through the screen.
Korea had plenty of hunters relative to population, but one fatal flaw: no S-rank hunters.
An S-rank's power defies imagination. They dictate gate stabilization speed, whether massive bosses can be taken down, even national-scale damage. In this world, a country's strength equals its S-rank count.
Korea had zero.
"...Not quite."
Truth was, Korea had one once. The world's first S-rank. A man of immense power and unyielding duty, always leading the charge into gates. In one year, he cleared 78 alone—practically shouldering every gate in the country.
Adoration poured in; he became the nation's hero. But the glory didn't last.
He died mid-gate raid. Not to some absurdly strong monster, not in a collapse crisis. Overwork.
Running himself ragged to handle every gate nationwide was his downfall. Fatigue piled up beyond limits, and his body gave out in that final fight. Korea's first—and last—S-rank.
Remembering him, I bit my lip hard.
"I'm never living like you..."
Crack! Plastic shattering filled the room. Looking down, the remote in my hand was in pieces. I'd just gripped it a bit in frustration.
Probably my physical stats boosted with awakening.
"...Gotta be more careful."
I swept up the plastic bits, sat back on the bed. The status window had vanished.
Rune of Infallible Aim. Rune of Certain Kill. If this got out, chaos. Koreans had been desperately awaiting a new S-rank since his death.
And that promising S-rank (maybe) was right here.
If it leaked? Endless national emergencies dragging me out, first into high-risk gates. Basically, the whole country's bullet sponge.
No thanks. I'd sworn as a kid: even if I awakened, never become a hunter.
So, one path forward: hide it.
Status windows are personal. Awakening isn't detectable without precise inspection. Keep my mouth shut, and no one knows.
"Wait, then how do I explain this look?"
Everything else aside, this body was a problem. ID issues, no explanation for friends and family...
Then I spotted my employee ID hanging on the rack.
Name and position unchanged, but the photo? Now my current female self.
"No way..."
I pulled my wallet ID. Same deal—female now.
Closet? Overflowing with women's underwear and clothes.
Everything changed. Maybe not just my body—my past too.
A bit disorienting, but for hiding awakening? Perfect. Just live normally.
Yeah, just like always.
"Ah!"
Then it hit me. Work started hours ago.
To live as a normal person hiding hunter talent, keep the routine. Time to clock in.
Instant kill skill or awakening? If it doesn't pay bills, keep the job.
Gotta eat somehow.
I threw on the suit from the rack, hung the ID around my neck. First day as awakened hunter with instant kill? Prepping for work like always.