A Tempting Proposal
Seo Hwarang truly started having fun right around the time his proficiency hit 40.
Whoosh!
Casting skills had become as natural as breathing.
With nothing more than a raised hand, two enormous orbs of flame rose into the air.
Fwoom! Fwoom-fwoom!
They churned violently, like living creatures, and the heat they poured out was so fierce that the surrounding air warmed in an instant.
So this is how it works.
The flow of mana he had only ever traced in his imagination could now be felt vividly at his fingertips. Everything he'd known as mere theory seemed to be seeping into his body as instinct.
That said, controlling it was trickier than he'd expected.
My control's gotten a little shakier than before, huh?
Feeling a faint tremble in his fingertips, Seo Hwarang focused on steering the fireballs. The moment his fingers shifted—
Kwaaaah!
Both fireballs shot forward, aimed straight at a pack of goblins.
—Kiek?
A goblin rogue at the front reacted with startling agility.
Rogues were always quick on their feet. Back in the day, he'd sniped darting little pests like these with Light Arrow before they could even move.
But—
Could he actually steer them?
Swoosh.
In that instant, Seo Hwarang's fingertips twitched ever so slightly. At the same moment, one of the Firebolts bent its trajectory, tracking the goblin rogue with perfect precision.
—Ki, kieeek!
Fear flashed across the goblin's eyes, but it was already too late.
BOOM! BOOM!
The two fireballs erupted into a chain of explosions, and that was that.
Whoa.
Seo Hwarang stared down at his own hand in astonishment.
Just a little more.
A little more practice, and he felt certain he could command spells of this magnitude entirely at will.
And of course, it wasn't just Firebolt. Drawing on the knowledge carved into his mind, he applied and refined all ten of his skills, one after another. Like fitting together puzzle pieces, the process of making each skill truly his own was a joy in itself.
This is fun.
The thrill of reading a book and then watching the theory learned from its pages manifest as reality right before his eyes set his blood racing.
Now he thought he understood why Skill Book Collect had been sealed.
It's telling me to practice.
Everything had its stages. What he needed right now was more real combat experience. To leap from the 1st Circle to the 2nd, he'd have to go beyond simple study and sharpen his magic in the field.
Seo Hwarang found himself looking forward to it.
Mastering his skills completely, then comprehending his next skill book under better conditions—all of it was, to him, simply part of reading.
Thud, thoom!
Seo Hwarang pulled chunks of raw copper ore out of his inventory and lined them up on the counter.
"Whoa... you've brought in another haul, haven't you?"
Park Juhee, the owner of the Awakening Wholesale Shop, clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Thirty kilograms of copper ore and three low-grade mana stones... that's even more than last week."
"Yep."
Seo Hwarang had established a regular dealer near his home—a small neighborhood shop that bought up dungeon byproducts.
This one's the best of the bunch.
He'd tried a few other places, but they were all sly foxes—young sellers just waiting to lowball him over his low rank. But this shopkeeper was around his age, and they got along easily.
"I'm here again, so you'll knock a little extra off for me, right?"
"Oh, of course, of course! But seriously, how do you carry this much in on your own?"
Park Juhee had plenty of questions she wanted to ask.
Even for an F-rank dungeon... this much was impossible without running a team. Even if he did nothing but eat and clear dungeons, there had to be a limit to how fast he could go.
And besides—
His hauls kept growing. Which meant his dungeon-clearing speed was increasing by the day.
"You sure are curious about a lot, aren't you?"
"Ah—so sorry! Copper ore comes to 360,000 won, and I'll give you 1,000,000 won for the three lowest-grade mana stones."
"Sounds fair."
Seo Hwarang nodded. As long as she paid a bit above the industry average, he was satisfied. Getting taken for a sucker was the one thing he truly couldn't stand.
"Transfer's done! Please check!"
"Spot on."
1,360,000 won, sitting snugly in his account.
A weekly salary of 1.36 million won!
This made him far more money than his old library job, no contest.
"I'll be back in a week. Take care."
"Thank you always, valued customer!"
Bow.
As Park Juhee lowered her head, her eyes glinted in a peculiar way.
That man.
Something smelled promising. The kind of smell that said, lock this one down as a regular and you'll never lose.
Next time he comes, I should throw in some extra perks.
It was early in the morning.
Seo Hwarang had just washed up for another day in the dungeon and was looking at himself in the mirror when—
"Hm?"
What was this?
His once anchovy-thin body had put on a faint layer of muscle.
...My body's improved?
Come to think of it, it made sense. He raised his hand to cast skills constantly. Outside of mealtimes, he was walking dungeons nonstop. And on top of that, he'd been investing in his Stamina stat—of course his endurance and physique were going to improve.
Fat awakened hunters are rare for a reason, huh.
He'd been noticing it more and more lately. His stamina had climbed a lot. Used to be, ten laps through a dungeon left him drenched in sweat with his head spinning—but now? Nothing. Honestly, he barely broke a sweat at all.
"Heh."
And so the morning air felt crisp, and waking up had become a pleasure. He toweled his hair dry, roughly, and changed clothes.
"Son."
His mother appeared in the doorway.
"What is it you're off doing these days? You've quit going to the library, too."
Seo Hwarang's mother, Kang Sook-hee, narrowed her eyes.
"And lately... you've even been looking healthier?"
"Mom."
"Hmm?"
"Don't worry about me. I found a different job recently, and I'm doing well."
"Did you land some bookstore gig or something?"
A bookstore, huh. Close enough. Though the "store" in question was large enough to be called a continent...
"Yeah, something like that."
His parents were afraid of awakened people. There were plenty of criminals among them, and they shied away from dungeons and monsters in general. If they ever learned he was an awakened hunter diving into dungeons every single day, his mother would lie awake worrying all night.
"...Sigh, my poor son... and what are you planning to do about marriage?"
"Shouldn't you worry about me getting a girlfriend before worrying about marriage?"
"You rascal! How long are you going to live off this house like a kangaroo? A smart kid like you, throwing away a perfectly good job to work at a bookstore...!"
"Mom."
Swoosh.
Seo Hwarang held out the envelope he'd prepared.
"Huh? What's this...?"
"Rent."
"...R-rent?"
Kang Sook-hee's eyes went wide as she opened the envelope. Inside were plenty of green cabbages—a full 200 of them. Twenty years of running a neighborhood mart had taught her to know the amount from weight and thickness alone.
"The truth is, I got hired at a pretty respectable bookstore. And since I'm living under your roof... I figured I ought to pay my way."
"M-my son...!"
Kang Sook-hee was deeply moved.
My boy.
No matter how well this place rented, it couldn't possibly fetch more than a 3-million-won deposit with 300,000 a month—and he was handing over 2 million in rent?
My son has completely changed, hasn't he!
"All this time I thought you were just a freeloader, when you've been out there working yourself to the bone!"
"Freeloader? That's kind of hurtful... Do you want it back?"
"No!"
Swish!
With startlingly nimble hands, Kang Sook-hee hid the envelope behind her back.
"Thank you, son. Now hurry off to work. I've been nagging you a lot lately, haven't I?"
And she turned away, beaming from ear to ear. The fact that she was humming a tune on her way out said just how pleased she was.
Pfft.
Seo Hwarang chuckled. He didn't feel bad about it at all.
Right—since things had turned out this way, while he was at it, he might as well practice the one thing he'd never managed alongside his skill books: being a good son.
"Hey, Seo Hwarang!"
Hm?
He'd headed to an F-rank dungeon in the morning and was about to enter when someone's shout cut through the air. A voice he'd heard somewhere before.
Yoo Seon-ah?
He turned his head, and sure enough—there she was, stomping toward him.
"You brat, why have you been ignoring my calls?!"
"Ah."
Right, calls. He hadn't had a spare moment to glance at his phone lately. He'd been genuinely buried in proficiency training, and when he got home he'd collapse straight into bed from exhaustion. And on the days he wasn't running dungeons? He was cycling the cooldowns on his non-combat spells. His life had become a relentless loop with not a single minute of true rest.
That was how ferocious Seo Hwarang's passion for reading truly was.
"Sorry. I really was busy."
"Ha, I rushed over the second a new F-rank popped up around here, and of course you were..."
"So what brings you here? Something wrong?"
"Do I need a 'something wrong' to come see you?!"
She said that, but Yoo Seon-ah had nothing to actually say. They weren't neighborhood friends—they'd only been coworkers for a grand total of two months.
"..."
Why is she like this?
When Seo Hwarang tilted his head, she fidgeted.
"W-well... you're the one who saved my life, aren't you?"
"I am?"
"Yes! You pulled me out from those Horned Bats back then, dude. Did you already forget?"
"Oh, right."
"And then you brought me to that strange continent."
Yoo Seon-ah's honest feelings?
She wanted to go back to the Etherion Continent. She wanted to adventure there, stockpile opportunities and experience, and raise her strength. Hadn't she already received a magic guild plaque back then? The badge she'd gotten that day was still tucked safely against her chest.
"It's fine."
"Huh?"
"You don't have to think of it that seriously. If we're splitting hairs, you threw yourself in front of me to protect me too, noona."
"Th-that's right, dude!"
Perceptive as ever, Seo Hwarang knew exactly what she wanted.
Only—
I'd rather train in peace.
His ability was special. Naturally so—he was one of only ten S-ranks in all of South Korea. And not just any S-rank; a born one. Every other S-rank awakened hunter had climbed their way up from lower ranks. Not a single one had started at S. Not one, anywhere in the world.
I'm the only one.
There might be someone hiding their power somewhere, the way he was, but as far as public records went, that was the case.
Which was exactly why he wanted to raise his stats in total silence. He had no desire to poke at a boil and make it fester. All he wanted was to quietly build his proficiency, and then use it as a stepping stone to cross over to Etherion and read skill books.
"Anyway, you. Still clearing F-rank dungeons?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"...Sorry, what?"
"It's a waste. With your skill, E-ranks should be well within reach. With the right party, you could even challenge D-ranks."
Hmm. Was that so? Would that be better than practicing on goblins every single day?
"Oh, and—"
Yoo Seon-ah continued, choosing her words carefully.
"Honestly, there's no real need to bother with dungeons like that when you could just go back to that continent, right?"
"...?"
Oh. Good point?
What was sealed was Skill Book Collect, not Astra Gate. If he wanted to, he could certainly cross over—but...
No.
He snapped back to his senses. That would be reckless.
The condition for returning to reality from the dungeon was a complete, focused reading of a single skill book. But if he crossed over in his current state, he couldn't read skill books at all. To read them... he'd have to raise his average proficiency to 80 there in order to break the seal. And how was he supposed to know what kind of vicious monsters lurked in that world!
"Hey, listen."
That was when it happened.
Yoo Seon-ah abruptly clasped her hands together.
"Hm?"
"Just one favor. Just this once... take me back to that place one more time. Honestly, it shows up in my dreams every night."
"I'm sorry—what? Just like that?"
...Oh boy.
This was a little awkward. No—a little burdensome.
"In exchange—"
Swoosh.
She pulled something out from inside her jacket.
Hm?
Seo Hwarang's eyes gleamed.
That was... a skill book? A skill book—the kind where even the most vulgar combat skills fetched hundreds of millions of won?
"...I'll let you read this. It's not that expensive, don't worry. It's a life skill."
No.
Even so. Even the cheapest life skill books cost at least a few thousand won... Where did noona get the money for that?
Weren't you a bottom-feeder crying over a 3-million-won staff, noona?
Gulp!
Even as he thought it, his throat betrayed him and swallowed on its own.
What could he do? When a hardcore addict was dangling the goods right in front of your face, was there really an answer?
There wasn't!