Gold Rush and the Shelter's Awakening
“Ha… damn it.”
I scrolled through Hunter Universe.
News, anonymous boards, blogs, YouTube.
The hunter world was on fire.
Because of me…
Who’s the unregistered guy? What’s he do? That ID is scary.
Thanks. Hero. There was some of that sentiment too, but anyway, it was heated.
And the peak of that heat was right here.
Gold = 100,000,000
It was an insane amount of gold, even at a glance, pouring in as sponsorship.
I haven’t even signed a contract.
Just a rough guess, and it was clear: a statement of intent to recruit me.
This was the Hunter Management Bureau, after all—no shady motives there.
“They’re this interested in me, huh.”
That wasn’t all.
Gold = 30,000,000
“???”
30 million gold from Korea’s number one assassin guild.
Gold = 10,000,000
“???”
10 million gold from Korea’s top tanker guild.
“What, they holding an auction for me or something?”
It was burdensome as hell.
Considering it was advance payment as sponsorship with no strings attached, this sponsorship barrage was downright absurd.
This feels… uneasy.
The energy focused on me felt a bit hotter than I’d imagined.
And that wasn’t all.
Beyond sponsorships, there were system rewards in the mail too.
[Attack #1 Reward] = 2,000,000G
[Boss #1 Reward] = 2,000,000G
[MVP Reward] = 5,000,000G
Ooh.
Decent rewards, probably because I was the gate MVP.
Reviewing all the mail, sponsorships, and contract offers took over two hours.
Gold = 169,870,000
Items (1/10)
- Practice Sniper Rifle
Total gold amassed: 169 million.
Mail’s just like letters, but sponsorships are where the gold flows.
The system rewards came via mail too, adding another 9 million.
“Hard to grasp how much this really is.”
I knew it was a lot from the hype, but still.
Bundled up in bed, I poked around Hunter Universe some more.
First off, I needed to gauge the value of this ‘gold’ currency,
and build some common knowledge about the hunter world.
Plus, keeping tabs real-time on what the world was saying about me could be useful.
In the process,
I checked out the [Auction House] in Hunter Universe.
It was a massively active market where hunters bought and sold stuff.
Like the ‘cash shop’ concept in games.
And then
Cost = 100,000G
Offer = 1,000,000 KRW (10 KRW per G)
(No negotiation / No in-person trades)
“???”
Stock = 1,100,000G
Offer = 11 KRW per G
(Negotiation possible / No in-person trades)
“???”
I quit my part-time job.
Gates started opening, and ‘hunters’ surged to prominence.
They replaced celebrities,
replaced wartime soldiers,
replaced national power itself.
The world began running on a binary logic of humans versus gates…
Which meant
Hunters make bank.
“I can’t come to work starting tomorrow… something came up.”
- This is why MZ kids are trash! Back in my day—
“M-MZ… generation… sorry, boss…”
Click.
I’d lined up a replacement (my friend) to smooth over the boss’s rage, so he’d calm down soon enough.
I couldn’t go out anyway because of my HP 1.
Anyway, no more need to work.
■ Gold = 169,870,000
“Kuh…!”
My chest swelled with pride.
I still lived in a grimy 200-square-foot one-room apartment,
with a shabby bed, musty blankets, and a moldy mini-fridge as my only possessions,
but my shoulders squared, my chest puffed out.
Gulping down bland Samdasoo felt like Evian.
From now on, every morning, I’d ask the mirror me:
“Who am I?”
A 1.69 billion won holder.
“Aaagh!”
Saying that, I pissed myself fully and stumbled out of the bathroom, only to face a life-or-death crisis.
Nearly stubbed my toe in the bathroom door gap.
“Almost died.”
Reality hit back.
Not the time for this.
Having gone momentarily insane from sudden mega-wealth, I reined in my mind and focused on survival strategies.
First, skills.
[Attack] [Penetration]
Bullets pierce 3 enemies for 1 minute.
(Cooldown: 3 minutes)
Unlocked at level 11: Penetration skill.
“Hmm…”
This skill lets bullets pierce enemies for a minute,
“Damn. Won’t help much with survival.”
Plus, unless enemies were densely packed or lined up single-file, it didn’t seem immediately useful.
Still, as my first skill, I’ll treat it as a good card.
Planning to test it next fight.
Gates were set to open again today.
News says another one predicted in Seoul in a few hours. Forecasts are always wrong, though…
Anyway, no real solutions from skills,
next up: spending gold.
True, selling for won would be massive cash, but what I needed now wasn’t money—it was life.
If it overcomes my HP 1 even a little, I’ll pay anything.
Gold seemed farmable anyway.
So I roamed Hunter Universe’s [Shop] and [Auction House].
Shop first.
“Whoa.”
This is basically Coupang — super fast and convenient.
Categories were super diverse and complex—every imaginable item.
No time to browse all, so I searched major categories:
[Defense] and [Support].
But no matter how I scanned, nothing solved HP 1.
Tons boosted defense raw, but meaningless for me.
No such thing as defense that prevents even 1 HP loss.
Plenty boosted HP, but meaningless for me.
Mine was fixed.
Ugh.
Shop seemed tough; quick search revealed why no sharp fixes:
1. [Shop] lacks overwhelmingly effective items.
* Like game NPCs not selling OP stuff.
2. But for potions, consumables, materials? [Shop] is unbeatable.
So, off to [Auction House] where hunters traded.
It had similar categories.
Set major to ‘Defense’ and ‘Support’.
Filtered out ‘HP Up’ and ‘Defense Up’ entirely.
Other useless filters too,
and ‘1M gold minimum.’
No cheap crap to patch my life.
Searched again.
Please, something…
Something to sustain my daily life.
Then,
(0)
Search under 1M gold. No, remove price limit.
(0)
“Heh…”
Drool trickled down.
My life has no answer?
What’s the point of money when one piss risks my neck.
Slumped on the bed, face in hands.
“What the hell do I do.”
Unlike the world’s attention and expectations(?), my life was depressingly bleak.
Can’t meet people. Can’t even eat hot ramen anymore…?
And that’s not all. Gates bring earthquakes, tsunamis, all sorts of disasters, plus dead pterodactyls smashing through windows.
Sudden death waiting to happen.
Tense, sweating bullets, I just fiddled with my status window,
when,
“Hm?”
【Sniper Shelter】
【Sniper Shop】
A purple-glowing menu in the corner of the status window.
Below it,
“Sniper Shelter and Shop?”
Oh yeah,
during the Minotaur kill, there was that tutorial, and the reward was…
[Sniper]
Kill 1 enemy using 'Practice Sniper Rifle'.
■ Rewards: Deploy Sniper Shelter, Open Sniper Shop, Unlock Skill Tree
Shelter and shop.
Skill tree was already open, got Penetration,
So this is where it was!
I’m rich anyway, so I eagerly tapped 【Sniper Shop】 first,
[Not linked to Shelter.]
[Not linked to Shelter.]
[Not linked to Shelter.]
“Ah.”
Shelter required first.
And my heart started pounding,
What’s a shelter?
Just the name screams ‘cozy’...
Definitely something to wrap my sweet home in safety...
“Hoo. Hoo.”
With desperate hope, I tapped 【Sniper Shelter】,
and instantly,
『Sniper Shelter Synchronizing… (Progress: 17%)』
『Current location analysis: [Suitable].』
“Uwaaak!”
A blinding light burst from the status window, seeping into my one-room walls, making everything flash.
That wasn’t all.
『Sniper Shelter Synchronizing… (Progress: 31%)』
『Area/Height/Structure analysis: [Suitable].』
Squinting ahead, a small status window floated, displaying messages like it was scanning my space.
『Sniper Shelter Synchronizing… (Progress: 100%)』
『Synchronization complete.』
『Deploying Shelter.』
The dazzling light zipped up and down the apartment, probing every nook,
and soon, completion messages appeared.
- Fwaaash!
The light sucked back into the status window instantly,
and
“Uh…”
A ‘Shelter’ status window opened before me.
“No way, no way, no way.”
This protects me?
The status window listed shelter-related functions:
[Shelter Upgrade] [Agent Hire] [Function Improve] [New Establishment]
Features to support my sniper lifestyle inside the shelter.