Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: This Life is Ruined
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“G-Goblins are charging in!”
“What are you doing? Block them now! Tanks up front! Hold the formation!”
“Y-Yes sir! Got it, party leader!”
“Hey? You’re not in position! Get your head in the game or do you wanna die to me before the monsters eat you?”
“U-Uh? No sir!”
Harsh shouts and monstrous roars echoed in my ears.
Up ahead, hunters in shabby gear were fumbling around clumsily.
A rundown dungeon and low-level hunters—the textbook picture of it all.
“Whew.”
A faint sigh escaped my lips as I watched them.
In my head, I kept repeating it to myself.
Boring. So damn boring it was driving me insane.
What the hell was I even doing here?
“Um, Mr. Necromancer?”
“Yeah?”
Someone called out to me.
I turned to see the party leader, the guy who’d been yelling his head off earlier.
“Time to lend us a hand like we agreed. Can you do it?”
“Of course. I’m here as a mercenary, aren’t I?”
It was no big deal.
This place might be a nightmare for these green rookies flailing around up front.
But it was just an E-grade dungeon.
Nothing but fireflies before a full moon, sheep before a lion, to a king god general necromancer like me.
‘Though I wouldn’t exactly call myself the real deal…’
More on that later.
For now, I raised the staff I’d been fiddling with.
‘Gotta earn my keep.’
A sharp tingle ran through me as my energy drained away.
[Skill: ‘Plain Skeleton Summon’ (E-Grade) activated.]
[10 Energy consumed.]
[‘Bonehead 1’ appears.]
>
[Skill: ‘Plain Skeleton Summon’ (E-Grade) activated.]
[10 Energy consumed.]
[‘Bonehead 2’ appears.]
>
[Skill: ‘Plain Skeleton Summon’ (E-Grade) activated.]
[10 Energy consumed.]
[‘Bonehead 3’ appears.]
Creak, clatter!
Amid swirling black mist came the gruesome sound of grinding joints.
Three terrifying skeletons clutching weapons materialized in the dungeon.
The savage aura made the charging goblins and the trembling hunters freeze in place.
Then their eyes went wide.
“O-Oh?”
“Whoa, a necromancer!”
“The ultimate power these days, right? The second you awaken, you’re a ranker, and top guilds line up like sausages…!”
“Man, party leader really knows what he’s doing. No wonder he was so chill… So that’s how you scored a gem like this?”
The hunters erupted in cheers, tension forgotten.
That was the prestige of the unique power—Necromancer.
A diamond spoon job that let you thrive stylishly in this godforsaken era.
Out of 7.9 billion people, fewer than a thousand had it. That rare.
‘But.’
I shook my head.
‘I’m just a freak necromancer.’
Keruk, keruk!
Ten green-skinned monsters twitched in front of me.
Their main weapons: daggers.
Short stature like dwarves.
Yeah, let’s take care of those first.
“Kill them, my lovely boneheads.”
Clatter!
At my simple command, the three sturdy skeletons charged.
Undead.
They didn’t die, so they had no fear of death.
That let them swing their weapons without hesitation.
[‘Green Goblin’ defeated.]
[‘Green Goblin’ defeated.]
[‘Green Goblin’ defeated.]
….
Slash! Hack!
The goblins were butchered in seconds by the merciless skeletons.
Spurt!
Crimson blood mixed with green skin, splattering across the floor.
The hunters marveled.
“Whoa, jealous.”
“That’s the basic summon for necromancers, right? Skeletons? But why only skeletons?”
“Pfft, why do you think? Means even skeletons are enough for an E-grade dungeon.”
“Yeah? Wow… So jealous. Makes me wanna puke how jealous I am. Jealous enough to die. That guy just snaps his fingers, summons undead, and they handle everything.”
For the record.
The reason they were jealous was simple.
Unique powers weren’t earned through effort—they were innate.
About a decade ago.
Every human gained a unique power upon turning twenty, reaching adulthood.
The powers were random.
Some got blacksmithing or sewing powers.
Others got scouting, healing, or buffing support powers.
And then.
Some got such garbage powers you couldn’t look without pity.
What was the all-time worst garbage power I’d seen?
‘Shit Eater, maybe?’
Something like getting stronger every time you shoveled down crap.
Gives me chills just thinking about it. Let’s stop there.
Anyway.
Knowing your abilities came down to luck? No wonder the relative deprivation hit hard.
‘Whoever that bastard is who set this up.’
Thanks to that transcendent being, humanity survived the monstrous invasions.
We were still surviving.
Or maybe the monsters were that being’s prank too.
Kiruk!
Soon, the ten goblins were reduced to chunks of meat.
“Whoa.”
“Damn, that’s badass… Cleared in under two minutes?”
“Man, if I’d gotten a ranged power like mage or summoner, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.”
“Right? Do they even know? That horrifying feeling of breathing down a monster’s neck up close?”
I let out a dry chuckle.
‘Give it a rest. Don’t be so envious.’
It might sound full of it to them now.
But if they knew my situation, they’d look at me with pity.
Why, you ask?
‘Status window.’
Flash!
Calling it up in my mind brought up a holographic display.
Visible only to me—info on my body.
[Hunter: Joo Dong-hoon]
[Title: None]
[Energy: 70/100]
[Unique Power: Cursed Necromancer]
[Grade: E]
[Effects]
-You are a Necromancer, wielder of the dead. Subjugate foes with terrifying evil spirits and deadly poisons. However, you are cursed.
-You can only summon skeletons.
[Skills]
-‘Plain Skeleton Summon’ (E-Grade)
‘Son of a bitch.’
No matter how I looked at it, it made me curse.
A proper necromancer?
You’d think lich, dullahan, death knight—big, sturdy guys.
But.
-You can only summon skeletons.
That’s all I could wield. Just skeletons.
Fine for E-grade dungeons.
But in D-grade or higher? They were less than stray dog bones scattered on the floor.
“…”
In a way, my life was worse than these rookies in front of me.
They had growth potential.
Me? Three years since getting my power, and I was still stuck at E-grade.
While my peers from back then climbed to D or C.
“…”
In short.
One word for this shitty situation?
Looks like this life’s a bust.
* * *
“Team leader. That’s today’s work done. Heading home.”
I said goodbye to Kim Jun-seo, dungeon request team leader of my small mercenary guild, and left.
Whoosh!
A chilly wind brushed my face.
“Whew…”
A sigh puffed out like bitter cigarette smoke.
Today’s pay would come at month’s end, after fees and taxes.
With my clearly limited power, all I could do was E-grade requests.
But a man’s gotta eat.
“Sigh… World, you suck.”
No matter how I thought about it, reality crashed down.
What did I do wrong?
Why’d that transcendent being curse me?
“Buddha, Jesus, God… No, whoever you mysterious god are. If you were gonna give me something, make it total garbage with no expectations. What is this? What?”
Damn, torturing me with false hope.
“Yeah, at least production jobs don’t suck this much.”
Specialized lifestyle powers beat vague combat ones.
You could support hunters and save up cash.
For reference, today’s dungeon pay…
After all deductions: a measly 40,000 won.
And yet I couldn’t quit this hunter life.
‘Cause nothing else I wanna do.’
Hunters.
Those who proved their strength in dungeons.
No matter how tough, no matter the reality checks.
I didn’t want to give this up.
Life’s short—gotta chase what you love!
-Good news today!
-What’s that?
-Dark Lord, who conquered ‘Moonlit Gorge’ last time, hit ranker status in just three years! Now South Korea officially has 37 rankers. Second in the world after the US! Impressive, right?
On the way home.
A billboard atop a building broadcast a hunter channel.
-Rankers are hunters in the top 1,000 on the global ranking board in the US, right? Updates monthly automatically?
-Yes. Dark Lord hit 950th this month. But! This ranker debut means something different.
-Oh? How so?
-He’s the only one to reach ranker in three years! Excluding the first-gen hunters, that is!
-Wow! Fastest ever!
-Yeah, shows how insane the necromancer job is!
-Right! What a blessing we’ve got one in our country!
Yeah.
That’s it.
That’s what amps up my irritation and crashes my reality harder.
Dark Lord.
Same necromancer as me!
Awakened on the same damn day!
One’s already a ranker.
One’s still E-grade.
He’s got a cool title like ‘Dark Lord.’
Mine? Just Joo Dong-hoon in the status window.
All because I’m cursed.
Someone might ask.
What do you know?
You don’t know how hard Dark Lord worked, so quit bitching.
Find something constructive instead of complaining.
Fair.
Honestly, it’s envy and jealousy.
Resentment at the transcendent who added ‘luck’ to powers.
‘But.’
Doesn’t mean I’m slacking.
If anything, I’m proud to say I work harder than anyone.
Just to become a ‘ranker.’
If they knew what I’ve been up to for that seat, they’d be shocked.
“…”
I left the blaring billboard behind.
And headed to a secluded forest path atop the nearby shantytown slums.
[Hunter: Joo Dong-hoon]
[Energy: 100/100]
“Good.”
Energy from earlier was full.
Now.
Time to show.
What efforts I’ve been making.
All this time.