A Hardened Man

I spent several days training my stray dogs, binge-watching anime at a rate of thirty episodes a day for four days straight.

I'd marathoned everything up through season seven, but that wasn't simply time wasted — it was time spent forging myself.

The fruits of that labor now stood revealed before my eyes — in writing, and in the form of a wall planted squarely in the Growing Ogre's path.

"Whew."

My stats had certainly improved, but against a C-rank monster's powerful charge, they counted for nothing.

.

.

My HP had plunged in one massive chunk.

But thanks to the special ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠effects triggering, it recovered somewhat, and the shock was absorbed. Seizing the opening, I drew my sword from the storage and drove it straight into the Growing Ogre's belly.

Thunk—!!KUWOOOORGH!

An attack powerful enough to punch clean through even a C-rank monster's hide.

With Double Attack layered on top, the blade's point sank deeper and deeper — and it sent the Growing Ogre into a rage. Instead of fleeing, the beast clasped both of its hands together, raised them skyward, and brought them crashing straight down.

"You insane bastard."

KRAKOOM!!

I let ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go of the sword and raised my guard again. A crushing impact ran up my arms and rattled my skull, and my HP was carved away in another massive chunk.

Brute, mindless strength. And on top of that, the Growing Ogre's skills, too.

Gritting my teeth through the pain — the kind of agony that let me briefly experience, by proxy, what the monsters on the wrong end of my sword must feel — I held on.

"Dodge it!"

"You can't take that head-on!!"

"A contest of strength with an ogre…! The civilians have cleared out, so retreat!!"

The shouts reached my ears and went in one and out the other.

Maybe I could have dodged it if I'd wanted to. Fortunately, the Growing Ogre's agility didn't look all that impressive.

But I didn't.

I picked up the sword that had been knocked from my wound's grasp and slid it back into storage, then pulled out a potion instead.

"Killing it myself is a lost cause."

I figured I could hold out well enough with an S-rank tanking skill, but cracking open a C-rank monster like this ogre with a decent weapon, an underleveled B-rank attack skill, and my current stats just wasn't going to happen.

Quick judgment was everything. Try something half-baked and you'd end up accomplishing nothing at all.

So I changed my approach.

KRAKOOM!!

"Kgh."

Rather than dodging the enraged Growing Ogre's attack, I took it head-on and chugged an HP potion.

With one of Lee Arin's A-rank potions flowing into Hardening, aside from the momentary sting I felt with each block, I soon found my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠HP filled to the brim again.

"There it is."

In a sense, it was pure victory of the mind. The sword thrust I'd planted in the C-rank monster had long since healed, leaving only a scar behind, and my damage output was nonexistent — all I was doing was standing there and taking it.

But considering that I, at my current level, was facing a C-rank monster one-on-one, it was impossible to see that as anything but a tremendously hopeful sign.

"Hit me more!! Come on, hit me, you bastard!"

Dopamine flooding through me, my vision narrowed and my head grew dizzy. The pain went numb, and in my excited haze, I dropped my guard.

KRAKOOM!!

"Kugh!"

The impact landed with no first line of defense to filter it, and for a moment I felt the film of consciousness about to cut out.

"Ah, okay, that's a bit much…."

So guarding is, in fact, necessary.

Calmly once more, I blocked the Growing Ogre, making sure it couldn't slip away from me.

They were tedious yet tense moments, but the effort wasn't meaningless.

"Over here!! The ogre's over here!!"

How many minutes had passed? By my internal clock, it felt like I'd spent a good thirty minutes getting beaten to a pulp.

The ogre, attacking tirelessly, pounding away at the fool who dared block its path — and me, holding the line on HP potions.

THWACK!!KREEEAGH!WHUMP!!

The moment I saw the sound of a hit landing on me come instead from the ogre's own skull — the moment I saw the Growing Ogre crumple sideways — I let out a sigh of relief.

A red-haired woman stared down at the fallen Growing Ogre. The knuckles on her fist sagged toward the ground, and with her body still oriented toward the ogre, her gaze flicked briefly toward me.

Expressionless.

For about one second.

In that sliver of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an instant, in the gap between her eyes sweeping over me and turning back to the ogre — did I alone imagine that the corner of her mouth curled up, ever so slightly?

Before I could even chew on that thought, Ryu Hyeju shot forward like a bullet and began hammering the ogre as if she were tenderizing meat.

THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK!!

Her swinging fists drummed against the ogre. Part of me worried she was giving it a massage, but the agonized screams pouring from the Growing Ogre's mouth made it clear this was no simple kneading session.

WHUMP!

It took all of five minutes.

Such was the miserable end of the ogre — dead, and yet the parts that had been beaten still trembled and twitched in spasms.

"Whew."

No Server Points this time, as expected. I'd held on with the earnest hope that maybe I could snag a spoonful of the credit, but apparently a bus ride this lopsided earned no recognition.

Still, a smile crept onto my face.

"Thank you."

At my greeting, that expressionless gaze turned toward me once more. This time, the eye contact lasted quite a while.

And then, bowing her head in a courteous nod, Ryu Hyeju suddenly frowned — and walked straight over to the Taeseong Guild group, holding out her hand to Kim Hyeon-soo.

The situation was mostly wrapped up. There were hardly any monsters left in sight, and with the remaining hunters scattering in every direction, the Rift Dungeon looked to be nearly finished.

"Coming out here without a real plan could've been a disaster."

A Legendary sword. Double Attack. S-rank Hardening.

With all that, I'd figured I could take down a boss or two and sweetly pocket some Server Points.

If not for Ryu Hyeju, I wouldn't have stood a chance. I probably would've managed something in the end, but I'd never have been able to push for a quick PASS completion like this.

Which is why my eyes kept drifting back to the MVP of the Rift Dungeon — Ryu Hyeju, the one who had bussed my Growth PASS to victory.

I quietly closed the distance as she spoke with Kim Hyeon-soo.

"…If you want your medicine, then you'd better……"

"…You bastard."

"……It's good for you too, Hyeju, isn't it?……Or……I could do it. Go ahead and be stubborn — but the medicine's only with me……."

With the distance and the surrounding noise, I couldn't hear clearly, but from the fragments I caught and their expressions, I could piece together a fair amount.

"No way."

I wasn't even sure my inference was right, and it left me confused. A handful of scattered words. That lecherous look on Kim Hyeon-soo's face. The frozen expression of utter disgust on Ryu Hyeju's. And even then — her flicking a glance at the short, stubby hand that had landed on her shoulder, taking a step back to shake it off.

"Taeseong Pharmaceuticals. S-rank hunter. Demanding medicine… If it's a drug only Kim Hyeon-soo possesses…."

As a fantasy-novel maniac, a thoroughly archetypal storyline sprang to mind.

It felt like I'd stumbled onto quite the interesting scene, so I kept watching Ryu Hyeju as unobtrusively as I could.

She looked unwell somewhere, her expression poor. But perhaps this was simply business as usual in Taeseong Guild, because nobody paid her any particular attention.

"Hmm. Doesn't look like drug withdrawal, though."

With healers around, if she was still like this, there had to be some story behind it. Since I was watching anyway, I figured there might be a weakness of Kim Hyeon-soo's to be found — but through the rest of the dungeon cleanup, nothing special caught my eye.

Nothing, that is, except Kim Hyeon-soo periodically sidling up to Ryu Hyeju, grinning and prodding at her with one taunt after another.

Then, by chance, a few telling words drifted my way.

"Maybe you should take some Tyrenol. It won't do anything, but still. Remember this. Without my painkillers, you'll live your life in hell."

For a man supposedly whispering quietly, he sounded excited — his voice pitched high with delight at the sight of her suffering, loud enough to carry.

Perhaps I only heard it because the huddled clusters of civilians and hunters weren't so far away, in a spot where distance alone wasn't enough to screen the words.

"So he's got something even better than a sex tape."

What reason could an S-rank hunter have to look like that in front of an alchemist? No matter that he was the de facto master of a top-tier guild — any alchemist would welcome her into their ranks with open arms, wherever she went.

It all made sense now. A special painkiller made by an alchemist. Whatever the underlying problem was, I could see how even an S-rank hunter might react that way to it.

"Great work out there, everyone!!"

While I'd been engrossed in this fascinating spectator sport, the interior of the Rift Dungeon had been fully cleared. It wasn't all that difficult, honestly — once the rift boss monsters were dealt with, the rest had just been named monsters a step above the ordinary.

Even without any bonus points, the PASS rewards plus the quest rewards had netted me a sweet 8 points in total.

Hunters trickled out of the dungeon one by one. From the very back of the crowd, I quietly made my way toward Ryu Hyeju, who had been left behind, lagging.