EP3. An S-Rank Hunter's Outing

The moment Choi Jae-jun stepped out of the department store, he spotted his sister.

She had been staring longingly into the building the whole time.

Whenever a body covered in white cloth emerged, she flinched in shock and checked if it was Jae-jun.

'She didn't even go home.'

During the six hours Jae-jun had been trapped inside, it seemed Hye-seon had waited right there.

Jae-jun walked casually toward her as if nothing had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠happened.

"What're you doing?"

"O-Oppa?"

Was it because Jae-jun's expression was so nonchalant?

Or maybe because he looked like a beggar after such a short time?

Hye-seon hesitated for a moment before rushing into his arms.

Clinging tightly to him, she burst into childlike sobs.

"D-Do you know how scared I was? I thought you were dead! Waaah!"

He tried to peel her off, but his body felt utterly drained of strength.

Instead, he patted her shoulder to soothe her.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Don't ever go into a dungeon alone again! Waaah!"

"Yeah, yeah."

It was embarrassing to have Hye-seon bawling and clinging to him like this, but it wasn't a bad feeling to know someone cared that much.

"Let's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go home. I'm starving."

"Sniff... Okay."

Jae-jun was about to hail a taxi when he suddenly remembered his wallet—and everything else—was gone.

With no choice, he used Hye-seon's card to take a cab home.

―

The moment Jae-jun got home, he showered and scarfed down some food.

He'd moved so intensely that he was half-dead from exhaustion.

'Looking at my fatigue, it's no wonder.'

It was the kind of fatigue level that meant he should forget dungeons tomorrow and just rest.

He felt like he could collapse and fall asleep right then and there.

But Jae-jun had a few things to take care of before bed.

First, he summoned the Red Dragon Hestia.

A subspace opened, and she popped out.

Miyuu―

The moment she was summoned, Hestia burrowed straight into Jae-jun's arms.

She wagged her tail like an affectionate puppy, nuzzling up to him.

Her behavior was just like a spoiled dog's.

But thinking back to that breath attack today, she was undeniably a dragon.

'Come to think of it, what does Hestia eat?'

As if answering his question, a system window appeared.

'Yeah.'

Unfortunately, it would take a full week for the breath's cooldown to reset.

Of course, if you could spam that flame breath without cooldown, that would be broken.

'Inventory.'

Jae-jun opened his inventory.

He still had items left to check.

Three random boxes from the "Rescue Those in Peril" quest, the cursed key, Mammon's ring, and the leech poison he'd almost forgotten about.

'Let's open the random boxes first.'

Since the last one had given him a summon egg, Jae-jun had high hopes.

But the random boxes he pulled from his inventory looked different from before.

The previous one was like a jewel box; these were more like wooden crates.

'The last random box was upgraded as an achievement reward.'

Jae-jun reached out toward the random boxes.

He planned to open all three at once.

'Yeah.'

Wuuung―

The random boxes trembled finely before clicking open.

There was no explosive light effect like last time.

From the three boxes came two D-grade mana stones each and a Wound Recovery Potion.

"Tch."

Maybe because he'd been hoping for another summon egg, the disappointment hit hard.

'Well, they'll come in handy eventually.'

Jae-jun stowed the Wound Recovery Potion in his inventory.

Miyuu―

The moment she saw the mana stones, Hestia perked up excitedly, prancing around.

It was obvious she wanted them.

"You want to eat?"

Jae-jun held out one mana stone to Hestia.

Kwaduk!

Kwaduduk!

Hestia chomped down on the mana stone like it was ice, crunching it whole.

Miyuu!

She eyed the remaining one, fluttering toward his hand.

'...A money-eating monster.'

Jae-jun gave her the last one too.

Kwaduduk!

D-grade mana stones were worth 3 million won each, and in under a minute, 6 million won had vanished as food.

'Sigh. Gotta grind dungeons hard to cover food costs.'

With her belly full of mana stones, Hestia let out a fiery burp.

Next up was the cursed key.

He'd gotten the usage condition for it as a reward from that sudden quest.

'Wonder if I can use it now.'

Jae-jun pulled the cursed key from his inventory.

It was a palm-sized golden key.

Last time, the item description had just been question marks, but now it was different.

'Cursed Dungeon?'

Jae-jun frowned.

It only said it opened a cursed dungeon—no location or details.

A surge of annoyance hit him.

He shoved the cursed key back into his inventory and pulled out Mammon's ring.

This was the item from his loot that he had the highest expectations for.

Especially since he'd gotten it from slaying that insanely powerful vampire.

Calming his pounding heart, Jae-jun reached for Mammon's ring.

"S-grade!"

Jae-jun shouted in delight.

His first S-grade item.

True to its rank, it boosted stamina by a whopping 77.

And not only that—this was his first item with special abilities, and it had two of them.

Blood Shield—he could guess what it did from the name alone.

It was the skill that had given him the most trouble fighting the vampire.

"What?"

Jae-jun's expression turned subtle.

He knew firsthand how powerful this ability was.

But the follow-up explanation was the problem.

'The blood used doesn't go back into the body?'

For a human like Jae-jun, using blood every time he activated the skill was a huge limitation.

It felt iffy to risk fatal blood loss for a special ability.

Next was Shadow Hand.

'Gotta test this one out myself.'

Jae-jun closed the room door and turned off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the lights.

'Shadow Hand!'

His shadow writhed and stretched like dough.

It felt like a new limb sprouting from his body.

The shadow moved wherever he willed it.

'Can it pick things up?'

The shadow hand lifted a book from the desk.

There was no sense of weight.

Jiiik―

When he gripped hard, the book's corner tore off.

Jae-jun's eyes lit up.

He felt like he'd recovered the excitement lost from Blood Shield with this.

He knew better than anyone how huge an advantage an extra hand was in battle.

'Perfect.'

As he swung the shadow hand around, a smile kept creeping onto his face.

'Status window.'

His level had shot past 100 to 137.

Killing the vampire had skyrocketed his levels.

Even without the "One Who Transcends Rank" title, his average stats exceeded C-grade.

Jae-jun dumped all his available stat points into endurance.

'Fatigue keeps running low—probably 'cause endurance is lacking.'

Looking at his agility stat, a smile tugged at Jae-jun's lips unbidden.

All in all, today's battle was a massive win.

Even if it wasn't the fight he'd expected.

Unable to hold back any longer, Jae-jun closed his eyes.

He soon drifted into sweet sleep.

―Author's Note―

Thank you.