Chapter 1
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Rebirth
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An S-rank Hunter, declared dead, builds a house and lives inside a Gate.
He raises monsters and grows plants from the Demon World.
This time, I'll live life my way.
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An S-Rank Hunter, Declared Dead
Chimera Hunter_No. 17.
He couldn't remember his own name. His brain had been damaged by years of experiments.
All he could vaguely recall was being kidnapped at the age of nine.
Whenever the spells carved into his body weren't active, he would simply sit in a daze.
“Hey, isn't that guy's arm rotting? Looks like a side effect from the experiments.”
“Leave it. He's about to be disposed of anyway. Let's just ignore it.”
Even when the researchers said such things right in front of him, No. 17 didn't react.
He could understand human speech, but he no longer had the capacity to comprehend situations or think for himself.
“No. 17 is a lost cause. His body is too damaged.”
“How much longer does he have?”
“A month at most.”
“Then deploy him in the upcoming Gate blockade operation. Have him cover the Hunters' retreat.”
And so, No. 17 was sent into the Gate.
The one man who stayed behind to hold off the monsters until the very end. With his broken body, he fended off over 1,800 monsters.
“Retreat! Everyone, get into the Gate!”
As the last Hunter passed through the Gate, No. 17 stopped fighting.
‘Escape route secured... Mission complete.’
That was No. 17's final thought. He didn't resist as his body melted away in the acid spewed by a monster.
The mission was over, so there was no reason to move anymore.
Decades had passed since he was first used as a mindless mercenary Hunter.
Thus, No. 17 was declared dead, and all his records were destroyed.
* * *
A rocky mountain in the Demon World, where No. 17 had died.
A shard of bone lying on the ground clattered.
From it, a body began to regenerate at a rapid pace.
Bones formed, and muscles attached. Nerves connected, and flesh grew.
Unblemished skin covered his entire body, and even every single strand of hair regenerated, forming a perfect human figure.
‘What is this...?’
He, the revived No. 17, looked around with a puzzled expression.
His vision was clear. His mind was clear, too. It was a freshness he hadn't felt since his brain had been damaged.
He looked down at his body.
The skin that had been festering from the experiments' side effects was now perfectly fine. The fur and scales that had covered his body were also gone.
Although it was the first time he'd experienced such a phenomenon, he instinctively knew the reason.
"The ability of an immortality-type monster."
A monster that revives three times as long as its core isn't destroyed.
Among the cells implanted in him were those of an immortality-type monster. Cells that had been deemed impossible to fuse with a human had awakened in his body.
"The people from the institute... did they retreat just like that?"
The researchers didn't know he had come back to life. They didn't even know that cells from an immortality-type monster had been implanted in him.
It had been seventy years since he was first used as a test subject. Countless researchers had come and gone in that time.
As a result, cells from hundreds of monster species had been implanted in his body.
The problem was that he had been in an illegal research facility.
Improperly managed research data was often lost, and what remained was passed down to younger researchers as if through generations.
By now, there were no researchers who properly understood the state of his body.
Realizing the situation, he felt his face.
“It's a human face.”
The face of his twenties. To be precise, it was his appearance before reckless implant experiments had turned his body into something monstrous.
‘My body has returned to its prime. Is this how immortality-type monsters normally regenerate?’
Or perhaps it was a unique phenomenon caused by the myriad of different cells mixed within his body.
Whatever the case, it wasn't a bad thing. His damaged brain had also been restored, and with it, his human-like cognitive abilities.
So, what should he do now? He was lost in thought.
The first thing that came to mind was revenge, but the thought faded within three seconds.
‘You need a target right in front of you for revenge.’
This was inside a Gate, a place where no humans lived. Shouting about revenge alone in a place like this was meaningless.
More importantly, he lacked the passion to burn with vengeance.
His actual age was seventy-nine.
His clear memories only went up to his mid-twenties.
After that, his brain had deteriorated, and his memories became hazy.
He could recall the things that happened, but the images were blurred, like looking through a thick fog.
It felt like trying to recall a memory that had faded with time.
"It feels like something that happened decades ago."
As a result, his emotional response was muted. That was why he wasn't consumed by rage.
‘There's no way to get back to the human world for now anyway. As for revenge... well, I'll probably run into them someday. Maybe I'll take care of it then.’
For now, he wanted to live the life he'd been given rather than think about things like revenge.
"No. 17 was just a number the institute gave me. What was my real name?"
Having lived for decades with a broken mind, his name didn't come to him immediately.
“Cheon... Cheon Doun. Right. That was my name.”
A name given to him by the orphanage director, meaning he should live to help a thousand people.
[Doun. You're a bit of a psycho... no. You have a rough personality. So try to make a conscious effort to help others. That's the meaning behind this name.]
He recalled the words the director had spoken when giving him his new name. Remembering that day, Cheon Doun smiled faintly.
“Bullshit.”
He was an orphan from the slums. He couldn't understand why the director would tell him to help others when he could barely take care of himself.
"Let's see. I want to live a little more like a human this time. First... right, I'll need some clothes."
Cheon Doun looked down at his body.
Even if no one was watching, he didn't like the idea of walking around naked; it made him feel like an animal.
"Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've worn clothes."
When his body was ravaged by the chimera experiments, he couldn't wear human clothes.
With fins growing from his back or his entire body covered in fur, he was in no condition to wear them.
"There's no way there are clothes in the Demon World. I guess I'll have to make them myself?"
What was there to it? It would work out somehow. Thinking it over simply, he grinned.
* * *
A world ruined after the Gates opened.
The cities were rebuilt, but civilization never fully recovered to what it once was. In this environment, it was the Hunters who evolved.
Natural Awakeners. Those who, as the name suggests, naturally awakened to their powers.
Chimera Hunters. Synthetic, creature-type Hunters created in laboratories.
Both were Hunters who subjugated monsters. But the latter were treated more like inanimate weapons.
They were artificial lifeforms created from things like death row inmates, animal carcasses, and minerals from within the Gates.
Of course, there were also cases like Cheon Doun, who was kidnapped by an illegal research institute and turned into a chimera while still alive.
So, this time, he would live like a human. That was Cheon Doun's resolve.
The problem was that this place was a dimension beyond the Gate.
In a world without civilization, everything had to be self-sufficient.
“Making clothes is harder than I thought.”
Currently, he was only covering his vitals with woven leaves and vines.
He'd boldly declared he would make clothes, but with no materials or tools, it was hardly going well.
How could he get some proper human clothes? As he walked, lost in thought, he came upon a river.
There, the corpse of a monster was lying about.
"Was there a territory dispute? I don't see any wounds... It must have died from poison."
The monster's body was covered in a sticky, poisonous fluid.
It must have struggled to wash it off in the river but failed and perished.
Cheon Doun examined the monster, then smiled.
“If I just wash off the poison, the hide should be usable.”
The monster was about two meters in size and round like a ball. Since its body shape wasn't complex, skinning it seemed easy enough.
Cheon Doun looked at the monster and stretched out his hand. His fingers fused together, transforming into a blade.
He sized it up from various angles before starting to skin the monster.
Slice. Slice.
The sticky poison got on him, but he paid it no mind.
It was a poison he also carried within his own body, so it couldn't harm him.
“All done. Not bad for my first time.”
He dipped the skinned hide into the river.
After scrubbing the poisonous fluid from the fur, he picked up a round stone and beat the back of the hide. It was his own version of tanning.
A truly primitive method.
After repeating the process dozens of times, the hide, once as hard as an iron plate, became soft enough to wear.
Some of the sticky poison also washed out, and the fur softened.
Now that he had the material for clothes, it was time to tailor it.
Of course, with no sewing tools, he couldn't make complex garments like shirts or pants.
‘The poison is a problem, too. It won't wash out. It's completely soaked into the hide.’
What to do? He pondered for a moment, but the conclusion came quickly.
"I'll just wear it."
It was a simple conclusion. Since the poison was harmless to him, he decided there was no problem wearing it as is.
Cheon Doun cut a hole in the center of the fur hide. He put his head through it, wearing it like a sack.
The hide came down to his knees, covering his front and back.
“If I use a belt, maybe it'll cover the sides too.”
Cheon Doun twisted some thin vines to make a cord. He gathered the hide and tied it at his waist, which also covered his flapping sides.
It was then that he felt a gaze on him.
Looking down at his feet, he met the eyes of the skinned monster. The monster blinked slowly, watching him.
"What? Weren't you dead?"
It had definitely been dead. While he was skinning it, the monster's body had been cold and stiff.
Cheon Doun looked at the monster, his expression turning to one of interest.
“So this one's an immortality-type monster, too.”
A monster that will always revive three times as long as its core is intact.
Cheon Doun examined the monster and smiled.
"You came back to life because I peeled off your poison-soaked hide."
If he had left it alone, the poison soaked into its hide would have spread throughout its body and damaged its core.
It would have truly died then, but Cheon Doun had appeared at just the right moment and skinned it. Thanks to him, it revived.
The monster stared silently at Cheon Doun, as if it knew this.