The Grind to 100 Percent

The weekend flew by.

It was a shame I didn't get to see anyone besides Jungmin, but I heard plenty of interesting stories—and I got to spend some relaxed, quality time with my family besides. All in all, a satisfying weekend.

"Man, who knew I'd live long enough to have my son treat me to dinner. Not bad at all."

"Tell me about it. I was starting to think I'd never even get a funeral meal out of you."

"...Mom, isn't that line a little too spicy, even for you?"

Strictly speaking, all we'd done was take my parents out for a meal (my sister was off studying, so she wasn't there)—but after being starved of it for so long, even that much was more than enough healing for me.

"Oh, by the way, son."

"Yes, Mom?"

"That company you're working at now. Is there any chance you could become a full-time employee?"

"Well... I'm not sure? That's kind of a..."

Even the nagging of the honorable Mrs. Kim Ju-yeon felt like healing. That's how starved I'd been.

"You know, the broadcasting station where Jungmin works as a PD."

"Y-yes?"

"Talk to him nicely and try to stick with it, okay? You have to hold onto that."

"The pay there is pretty lousy, though?"

"What does that matter? They're willing to hire you, of all people."

"Mother, what's that supposed to..."

"Anyway, a company that pays your salary on time, every month—that's the best kind, Geonyul. It's not like ten years ago when jobs were easy to come by."

For someone so objectively, brutally accurate about her own son, she was doing remarkably well.

But whatever. The point was that my mother seemed genuinely pleased with me simply because I was diligently doing something called work the moment I'd returned.

And thinking that far naturally led me back to the variety show Jungmin had offered to get me on.

If I actually appeared on it, everything would come out—the hunter work, all of it. But if I had to go public someday anyway... this timing might not be so bad.

Of course, that was all contingent on them actually confirming my appearance.

"Don't worry. You won't be getting laid off anytime soon."

And so, come Monday, I threw myself back into work with renewed energy.

Having family who worried about you and cheered you on turned out to be a far greater source of strength than I'd imagined.

And the deeper I got into this quest, the more certain I became that resting over the weekend had been the right call.

The Drakos were closing in on Level 100, and the difficulty of the grind had been climbing exponentially.

No, honestly—if I hadn't rested over the weekend, I was pretty sure this hellish grind would have derailed somewhere along the way.

Reaching 60% understanding—the minimum clear condition for this quest.

Getting just this far had taken me a solid day and change.

If you want to know how brutal this was—even the Constellations, who normally couldn't pass up a chance to mess with me, were starting to look at me with something like pity.

So, did I stop there?

Not a chance.

Like I mentioned before—SP is not the kind of currency you just walk away from.

That said, I obviously couldn't just come right out and say yes, I'll do it.

A little theatrical hesitation was essential, wasn't it?

A collection timing this absolutely perfect... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I couldn't let it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slip away, could I?

"Haven't I done enough at this point, gentlemen...?"

I let the whine out with the most half-dead face I could manage, and just as expected, the Constellations started snickering in delight.

So any moment now... donations, missions, something should be dropping.

It's about that time... right?

I'm disappointed in you too, hyung-nims?

Really, nothing for me? Hm?

"Phew."

Right as I was thinking that, the nibbling finally began.

Ahh, the 2nd Imperial Throne himself. There's no one like him.

"..."

The moment the mission came in, my hand moved toward the accept button all on its own.

Clear condition of 80% understanding, for 300 LP.

I was already drooling.

But with mission difficulty on the table, I wanted to squeeze out at least 1,000 LP...

My brain knew this, but holding back was easier said than done.

Hyung-nims... keep provoking me like that and I just might hold out on a mission for the first time in my hunter career?

Please don't let anything so tragic come to pass... please!

...and so on and so forth...

I stalled for a little while longer, more donations rolled in, and resisting the urge to hit accept started getting genuinely hard.

Right. But if I dragged this out and the hyung-nims actually canceled their mission...

Wouldn't something that catastrophic be a little too sad to bear?

So I was just about to give up on resisting and get things started when—

Along with the system message I'd been waiting for, an audible gasp of awe burst out of my mouth.

"Ahh—"

This is the one!

There truly is no one like you, hyung-nim.

Truth be told, the last two days had been the worst famine of my hunter career.

This was a quest zone with nothing to farm, and not much to entertain the Constellations with either—so I hadn't even been able to pull in an average of 100 LP a day.

It got so bad that I couldn't afford a single late-night snack on the way home all week!

So the 3,000 LP attached to that mission was manna in a drought, plain and simple.

"Thank you, hyung-nim! I will get this done, no matter what!"

At my suddenly revivified voice, the Constellations reacted with sheer incredulity.

But the Constellations who'd been watching my stream since the early days reacted a little differently.

A little situational awareness, gentlemen?

Whew. Some people are just no help at all.

Whatever the case, thoroughly motivated now, I threw my whole body back into clearing the quest.

The hellish grind toward mission clear stretched out even longer than I'd anticipated.

"Phew. Hyung-nims, let's call it a day here—I'll be right back at it the second I open my eyes tomorrow!"

And so one day passed, and then another...

Exactly three days later—

I could finally taste complete liberation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from this cursed quest.

So how on earth did this end up taking a full three extra days?

Because the point at which I actually finished the quest...

wasn't even when I hit 90%.

Like a madman, contorting every inch of my body, I had clawed my way to a full 100%.

The Drako I felled in that final moment was Level 162—a monster so powerful that hunting an ordinary mob like it required treating the fight like a full boss raid.

So why did I go this far when no such condition was ever required of me?

Because something told me this was exactly how it would go?