Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Lee Yoo-hyun Reinforcement: VER.P.NULL
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Dun, who had formed a contract with Lee Yoo-hyun, led him to a secluded spot.
It was a hunting ground on the outskirts where people rarely ventured.
As Dun headed to a place devoid of human presence, Lee Yoo-hyun wore a slightly puzzled expression.
"So, what's the secret?"
Dun plopped down on the gravel, and Lee Yoo-hyun took off his jacket, spreading it out for him to sit on. It was an otherworldly display of courtesy, driven by his intense curiosity about the secret.
"There are several secrets."
"You laid the bait saying there are several, so spill them all."
Lee Yoo-hyun squatted in front of Dun, narrowing his eyes. What a hasty personality.
Dun let out a low chuckle and clenched his fist.
"For starters, I'm ridiculously strong."
BOOOOM!!!!
A massive explosion echoed through the deserted hunting ground. Amid a backdrop of countless felled trees, Dun dusted off his grimy fist.
* * *
Dun shared with Lee Yoo-hyun all the information he needed to know to stick with him.
That Dun was incredibly powerful, that he was more acutely aware of this world's system than other NPCs, that the first being he had soul-contracted with was a heteromorph called Tiaryn, and so on.
Starting off by demonstrating his immense power made Lee Yoo-hyun absorb the new information at an astonishing speed.
"You know the players' intentions, you know about the world we're living in, you know about the 'Hunter' profession, and you even know I came here to become a 'Hunter.'"
Lee Yoo-hyun's expression turned subtly complex as he summarized what Dun had said. It looked a bit frightened. Maybe the NPC, a game character, felt more real than expected, and that was scary.
"By the way, how do you know all that?"
"I hang out with players a lot, so I just pick up all sorts of info."
"I see."
"Aren't you accepting that 'I see' a bit too easily?"
It was a slave contract, plain and simple.
He kept recalling past images, so Dun had thought he'd be more cautious than others, but maybe he misjudged. Was it because he saw it as a game? Or was he that desperate right now?
Honestly, Dun expected a bit more deliberation.
"You said you wouldn't contract if it wasn't then. You could've forced it anyway."
"I wasn't planning to force it. If you threw a fit later, I figured I'd pretend to mull it over and go along."
Though he'd make a huge fuss about it and drop plenty of hints. In any case, Dun was being pretty lenient with Lee Yoo-hyun.
"Actually, I have a secret of my own."
"What is it?"
"I already suspected Dun was ridiculously strong."
There was that forum post saying anyone who messed with Rihaowel's general store would die instantly, plus all those overflowing unique and epic-grade items. It was impossible not to suspect.
"Plus, you use a lot of words from outside this world that no one here knows... so I figured you knew a ton about our world."
"So."
Waiting for the next words, Lee Yoo-hyun started hemming and hawing.
"The truth is, I don't know when I'll die."
"What?"
"Not just in this world, but in my original one too."
Lee Yoo-hyun finished with a bitter smile.
"You'll actively help me keep living, right? The contract condition is protecting my account—my life."
The association said that for efficient storage and data management, when a player's breath stopped, their account vanished too.
Honestly, Dun didn't think a game character like him could save his life out there, but this mysterious NPC who seemed to know everything oddly inspired trust.
Lee Yoo-hyun wanted to give it his all as long as he could.
"You..."
Dun swallowed his response for a moment.
Rather than finding the "I don't know when I'll die" irritating, it just struck him as odd.
"Lee Yoo-hyun. How long has this game been open?"
"Uh, kinda out of left field?"
He thought the uncertain lifespan would be a big topic, but the focus shifted elsewhere. Flustered, Lee Yoo-hyun scratched his cheek.
"Roughly 3-4 years. When it first launched, connections were a mess, so user numbers were low, but the last 1-2 years of updates really boosted activity."
"Yeah? What year is it in your world right now?"
"2XXX."
Dun raised a finger, scribbling numbers on the ground and doing some quick math.
Lee Yoo-hyun frowned slightly, not getting Dun's actions.
"Ah, whatever. You're definitely the Lee Yoo-hyun I know. You saying you'd die scared me for a sec."
"Huh?"
"Nah. Don't worry. I'll help, I promised."
Dun brushed the dirt off his finger and placed his hand on the head of the squatting Lee Yoo-hyun, ruffling his hair.
A chance for some insubordination.
When he first saw Lee Yoo-hyun, the name felt so familiar that he'd wondered if they knew each other in a past life.
Then recently, he remembered who Lee Yoo-hyun was.
A few facts he'd misunderstood about the past clicked into place, and it hit him.
"It's wild, huh."
"?"
Lee Yoo-hyun was alive and well, going on to become association president in the future.
The source of the constant unease he'd felt in the game was the time difference.
Truth be told, he'd suspected it a little all along.
From chatting with frequent players about current raid progress, there were many discrepancies from what he knew.
He might've even heard decisive clues he could've latched onto, but he'd shut his ears and ignored them.
He didn't want to accept that he'd returned to the past. Especially in a game, of all places.
In the past, Lee Sae-byeok and those around her had fought tooth and nail in reality, achieving much.
The association president leading the Abyss Project ultimately died at the hands of the test subjects he'd raised, and the Hunter Association truly became an organization focused on saving lives.
They'd each found their places and some form of happiness, and Dun wanted to believe they were still thriving.
But the past.
Thinking about reliving that hellish ordeal with past connections made him uneasy.
Reincarnation, game character possession, maybe dimension shift, and now regression.
What next? Honestly, he still wasn't fully convinced.
But Lee Yoo-hyun's existence right in front of him screamed, "You regressed!"
The time between when Lee Sae-byeok died and Lee Yoo-hyun's current world was roughly 10 years apart.
His memories were fuzzy, but in this Lee Yoo-hyun's world, the Hunter Association was still unofficial, and Hunter capsules weren't properly developed yet.
Dungeon gates opened very rarely back then. Only F-rank ones, breakable even by decently tough civilians.
Lee Sae-byeok, around 12 then, was probably still in the association's early education in that world, without a Hunter game account.
'But do I exist in that world?'
There was no guarantee the original world's Lee Sae-byeok was fine. Since he existed here.
If he met those past connections logging in later, he'd grab them and ask.
Lee Yoo-hyun... pass. Not much info to gain.
Lee Yoo-hyun had been somewhat distant from Lee Sae-byeok in life. He called her "Association President" or "sir" so much that her name didn't ring a bell right away.
Part of it was his youthful looks and slight appearance tweaks changing his hair color.
Association President Lee Yoo-hyun.
In the era when Lee Sae-byeok lived, Korea's top Hunter and one of Nina Pinta's upper rankers.
He'd risen to Hunter Association President at a relatively young age, properly establishing the profession's foundations.
Korea had fewer dungeon gates than abroad, officially accepting Hunters later. Yet Korean Hunters kept pace with foreign ones largely thanks to Lee Yoo-hyun.
The future he knew was very healthy.
'...Wait a sec. Could my involvement be what makes the future him healthy?'
He suddenly recalled the association president's job was in game development.
Was this coincidence?
* * *
After sharing secrets in a brief chat with Lee Yoo-hyun, they headed to clear Rihaowel's quest from last time.
Arriving at a deep hunting ground in Genesis Village to hunt leeches and Ellics, Lee Yoo-hyun set traps instead of using his sword to loot the leeches' items. For the flying monster Ellics, he used leech corpses as bait to lure them, then beheaded them all at once with his sword.
"But Lee Yoo-hyun, are you sick or something? Why don't you know when you'll die?"
Lee Yoo-hyun, dropping monsters more cleanly than before, wiped sweat with his sleeve and answered.
"There's this thing called a game capsule. Normally, you enter this world through it."
"But."
"There's a different one: the Hunter game capsule. It strengthens your real body along with your in-game power. Still in development, so lots of risks—it's not public yet."
Dun, dangling from a tree branch watching him fight, rested his chin on his hand.
"I needed money, so I volunteered for the Hunter game capsule clinical trials. I'm the sole survivor among applicants. Everyone else died."
"..."
He'd wondered how someone broke could afford a capsule, but a test subject? Never guessed.
"But how exactly are you gonna save my life out there?"
"Who knows. Hm, make me rich! Won't happiness make me live longer?"
Lee Yoo-hyun, diligently inventorying Ellic tears items, grinned.
"Sorry, but you're the 'eul' here, mister? I'll work you to death from overwork."
"Gasp, that's harsh."
Dun snorted.