The Catastrophe-Level Hidden Quest
Kwaaang!
“Hey, do you think Kalid is acting that way for some reason?”
No one knew the reason.
“He was only coughing at first, but today he started hitting the floor with his chest too... Sorry, can you wait here for just five minutes? Or maybe three? We’re not fully ready to greet the guests yet.”
I responded politely to them.
Even if they were uninvited, they were people who had come because they liked me, weren’t they?
“Cough. Cough. Yeah. You came without contacting me, so I shouldn’t be sorry.”
“Then excuse me... I’ll go ahead and get them.”
I quickly ushered them into Breath of Steel. But then—
“Huh? Hyun-do!”
There was Hyun-do, wrapped in a blanket and shivering in front of the furnace. His complexion looked bad.
“Hyung, I think I caught a cold...”
I ran over and put my hand on his forehead. His fever was burning hot.
His heartbeat was as steady as iron.
“Ugh... What should I do? Should we go to the hospital?”
“I already took antipyretics. I think I’ll feel better after resting... I pushed myself too hard lately...”
Hodu kept licking the sweat beading on Hyun-do’s forehead. But the boss of Huntred, Jang Ja-wook, and Mir Guild Leader Choi Kang, waiting outside, didn’t look well either.
Everyone I met was sick.
Even Kalid himself.
“Wait a second, there are guests outside right now. Let’s go to the hospital together later. Can you hold on just a little longer?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just tired from overdoing my training...”
“Sigh... Why did guests have to come right now?”
The inside of the workshop was a mess. Rusty, broken junk was piled everywhere, and new items sparkled around the forging board.
I was curious, but that could wait for later.
“Skeletons, stop what you’re doing and move all these things to the backyard right now. Geunsik, bring the throne here to the courtyard, and Minsik, set up chairs for the guests. Then wait in the backyard.”
Hansik, the sturdy screen I had planned to put behind me, was missing, but what could I do? Life rarely went exactly as planned. The skeletons moved quickly.
“Hyun-do, cover him with this and rest. It’s made of thermos steel, so it’s good for temperature maintenance. You won’t get cold.”
Speaking of which, the foreman of the steel mill had been coughing too.
“Thank you, hyung.”
“Hodu, take care of Hyun-do.”
“Lick!”
Hyun-do wrapped himself in the starry sky cloak and staggered to the sofa, collapsing face-down. Hodu kept licking his forehead nonstop.
The Night Sky Guardian set effect was canceled, but what could I do? Sick people came first.
A rough guest welcome was set up around the furnace.
Considering it was done in an instant, it looked decent.
“Ugh... Too bad, but there’s nothing I can do.”
I checked my outfit and went out to greet the guests. When I opened the door of Breath of Steel, I found Mir Guild Leader Choi Kang and Huntred boss Jang Ja-wook leaning against the wall, chatting.
Their faces were also pale. Their conditions had deteriorated in an instant.
Hyun-do too... Was it a contagious disease?
The situation had been strange since this morning.
“Welcome. Please come in. You should get some warmth by the furnace.”
“Yes. Ah... Embarrassing to show a weak side. My condition hasn’t been good today. Hic!”
“Cough. Cough. The atmosphere at Oryukdo Gate feels weird... I have a bad feeling.”
Even Jang Ja-wook had a line to say before entering the workshop.
My butler, Hansik, greeted the guests.
He looked very elegant and gentlemanly.
I sat on the throne and placed the guests on either side. They sat down without any resistance.
Hansik served them tea.
‘But they’re not acting nervous at all? They’re big shots...’
At first Tess-hyung worried I would be intimidated and babble nonsense when facing Choi Kang, but he didn’t feel difficult at all. Maybe because my body was in bad shape?
They gulped down the warm tea and warmed themselves in front of the furnace.
I got to the main point.
“Why did you come to see me from Babylon and the Mir Guild...”
I already knew from Tess-hyung that Choi Kang had come to recruit me. But Babylon?
“Hunter Lee Doosik, please join us at Babylon. We will hire you as a special recruit.”
“Puhat. Wait a minute. Boss Jang, I claimed the skeleton first, right? That violates the guild rules.”
Babylon also wanted to recruit me?
“Chairman Noh personally instructed us. If Hunter Lee Doosik joins Babylon, we promise you excellent treatment.”
“Yeah. I figured as much. I spread the information about the skeleton because Babylon wanted it in the first place. But in Huntred, can members freely check and use others’ personal info like that?”
From what I heard about the backstories, Choi Kang didn’t have the info power to find me, and Babylon had the power to know Choi Kang was looking for me.
Moreover, Babylon had tracked my location using Huntred with only the clue “skeleton.” I was a bit annoyed, but...
“To join Huntred, you must agree to the terms of sharing information with Babylon. It’s been agreed upon by everyone. Hic!”
“If you don’t agree, you can’t join Huntred, right? Anyway, I don’t like Babylon. Babylon is completely out of favor. Right? Skeleton? Hic! Sorry.”
Mir Guild Leader Choi Kang used a distraction tactic while asking for my agreement.
His appearance was bear-like, but his mind was a complete fox.
“By the way, both of you don’t look too well. My younger brother is the same right now. I feel like we should go to the hospital together.”
“Eh? Hospitals are embarrassing for hunters!”
“I’m fine too. Hic. More importantly, let’s hear the recruitment conditions first. We at Babylon will treat you, Hunter Lee Doosik, as a hunter on par with B-class.”
Stubborn as he was...
B-class treatment?! Epic.
“Starting salary starts at 3 billion, and the performance bonus will be much higher.”
But hearing about the annual salary made me feel a bit deflated.
In the past I would have drooled and signed the contract with “Ooh, 3 billion! Plus performance bonus? Big win!” but...
Right now, if I wanted, I could earn 3 billion a day easily from my sweat gland.
In the backyard now, there were 300 billion worth of items, not 30 billion.
“Puhat!”
At that moment, Choi Kang laughed mockingly.
“I hope you join the Mir Guild’s main party as the skeleton! That way, the party I lead will be it! Hic! Guild master’s party gets the best treatment in Mir Guild! And if you come with me, I’ll give you this!”
Then he pulled something from his pocket.
A claw-equipped gauntlet.
“You’ll see. It’s an item you absolutely need. Go ahead and appraise it.”
It looked quite powerful.
‘Is the material a dragon scale or something?’
The material was unusual.
The moment I appraised it, I took a sharp breath.
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[(Mythic) Gauntlet of Cataclysmic Dimensions]
(Equip location: Gloves)
Inherited from the ancient Black Dragon Kroaldura, it is the key linking Kroaldura’s rare and reality... Enjoy immense luck... (More info)
▶ [Cataclysm]: Max HP -90%, Spirit +90%
▶ [Dragon Rare]: Use large-capacity spatial inventory.
▶ [Plunder]: All loot looted by the gauntlet and subordinates is obtained as rare.
▶ [Dragon’s Legacy]: +100% item acquisition rate, +5% synthesis and enhancement success rate.
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“M-Mythic?!”
Insane. Mythic.
It was the perfect item for me.
With this, I could say goodbye to Tigrial’s Bundle.
‘Perfect upper-compatible of Tigrial’s Bundle... Plus, with Cataclysm, HP drops -90% with just one effect...’
The Immortal King’s Throne might not even be needed. But that wasn’t all. In exchange for HP -90%, spirit, directly linked to MP, rose by 90%, and a large-capacity spatial inventory from Dragon Rare... plus item acquisition rate doubled and synthesis/enhancement success +5%. Ugh...
“The game seems over, doesn’t it, Boss Jang?”
“Ah, no. Isn’t this an item with a debuff option attached? Of course, even after considering it, it’s an extremely large-capacity spatial inventory, so the auction price would be over 100 billion, or even 200 billion, but is it really worth that much?”
“Look. Babylon didn’t even know your value and came. What do you think? Hunter Lee Doosik, isn’t this the perfect item for you? Come to the Mir Guild. Then I’ll give you this.”
But there was one thing that bothered me.
‘It’s not an item that becomes bound upon equipping.’
That meant if taken away, ownership would transfer fully. Rather, that point greatly increased the item’s value, but...
‘You’re giving me something that can be taken away at any time and asking me to join the guild...’
It was more like entrusting it rather than giving it.
‘Yeah... I couldn’t just give this amazing thing to anyone.’
“Guild Leader, isn’t this something you yourself have been fond of all along?”
“You know me well, kuhuhu. Hic. That’s what it means that I will treat you as such. Become my hand.”
Jang Ja-wook jumped in.
“It’s valuable enough, right? We at Babylon will also give you one mythic item! Unlike this, I promise a proper mythic item without any debuff!”
“Heh, Babylon really has no guild ethics!”
“It’s an order from our chairman. We must recruit you.”
Babylon also promised me a mythic item.
My head was spinning.
That gauntlet was worth over 1,000 billion, right?
With that money, I could build a building.
“May I ask what about me makes you want to invest so much?”
Choi Kang answered my question meaningfully.
“Fortitude. Isn’t that right?”
As expected, he knew my [Fortitude] trait.
“Maybe Guild Leader too...?”
“Yes. I also have Fortitude. I’ve been looking for it for a long time.”
“What is that...?”
Jang Ja-wook looked puzzled, but we continued our conversation that only we could understand. I asked Choi Kang.
“Is that hard to obtain?”
It was a trait I had forced myself beyond my limits by collecting butterflies desperately. I was aiming for +1 to all stats, but I got it by chance.
Choi Kang gestured and whispered to me. Jang Ja-wook, who was eavesdropping in front of me, even moved a bit farther away. He was maintaining manners.
“You see, constellations can only bestow traits they themselves ‘have’ to their apostles. How could they bestow a trait they don’t have? What I’m looking for is a hunter who has a constellation that can bestow such a trait.”
It was completely unexpected.
It wasn’t that [Fortitude] was a cheat and they were looking for me, but that they were looking for a hunter who had a constellation capable of bestowing [Fortitude] as the behind-the-scenes...
“Since I also have it, we can be allies. Hic!”
“No matter what, let’s go. First, the two of you should go to the hospital. You look terrible.”
Choi Kang and Jang Ja-wook had shrunk even more than before, trembling and sweating. Their conditions were worsening by the second.
But the same was true for Hyun-do, who suddenly stood up from the sofa.
“Excuse me, you two, wait a second. Hyun-do!”
“Hyung... the butterfly...”
It was that damn butterfly again.
“It’s not the butterfly, it’s you who’s the problem right now!”
“Hyung... the butterfly... it’s weird...”
Hyun-do staggered like a zombie toward somewhere.
At that moment, a status window message popped up.
[Catastrophe-level hidden quest has occurred.]
I widened my eyes.
Looking around, Jang Ja-wook and Choi Kang also reacted the same way.
Hyun-do was the same.
“Hidden quest?!”
“Catastrophe-level...”
“Then this... this is...”
It wasn’t just me.
It seemed the entire Oryukdo had received it.
[『Skeleton Star』 is looking forward to you greatly.]
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[(Catastrophe-level hidden quest) Ancient Catastrophe Plague]
(...More info)
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“Plague...”
But why was I healthy?