What's Your Name?
There were four bridges in Seonhwa-dong that crossed the Daejeoncheon River.
Hyeonam Bridge, Samseon Bridge, Seonhwa Bridge, Mokcheok Bridge, and the rest. The largest among them was Mokcheok Bridge, which led to Daejeon Station, while the smallest was Seonhwa Bridge, with only two lanes to its name.
The bridge with the least traffic, however, was Samseon Bridge, sitting between Hyeonam Bridge and Seonhwa Bridge.
Traffic only picked up a little when the congestion on the other bridges got truly dire, and the reason was the D-class dungeon lurking beneath it.
It was safe enough so long as there was no dungeon break—but if one ever did erupt, the bridge collapsing was a foregone conclusion.
Drivers using the other bridges to brace for the unthinkable was only natural.
And so, at the dungeon management office of the quiet Samseon Bridge, Choi Yeon sat alone tapping away at his smartphone screen.
"Hmm…"
It wasn't that he had finally succeeded in slacking off under Chief Kim Jaesang's nose. He was properly on the job.
The Samseon Bridge dungeon was one of the three sites under special management by Seonhwa Dongdae, along with the Yangji dungeon, and he was out on field duty.
Of course, without Chief Kim Jaesang watching him like a hawk with fire in both eyes, he was free.
Tap tap, slurp, tap-tap-tap…!
"Yeon, you playin' games again?"
A middle-aged man's voice drifted over to Choi Yeon, who was savoring his freedom while nursing a health juice.
The middle-aged man who had just emerged from the Samseon Bridge dungeon was a D-class hunter who came here often and occasionally struck up conversation with Choi Yeon.
It was closer to half-needling than anything friendly, so they weren't particularly close.
Even so, Choi Yeon treated the middle-aged hunter with proper courtesy—because he was the only hunter who ever bothered visiting the thoroughly unpopular Samseon Bridge dungeon.
Without him, Choi Yeon wouldn't be enjoying this freedom right now. He'd be grinding himself down thinning out the monster numbers instead.
Slurp. Choi Yeon finished his health juice and offered a greeting.
"Hello."
"That one where you grow the World Tree?"
"No. I deleted that the same day. No matter how much I tapped the screen, nothing changed, so I started wondering why I was even playing it."
"Right. Games are originally—"
"So today I was playing a game where you raise a scarecrow."
"Raise what?"
"A scarecrow."
"…Hell's bells. What good does raisin' something like that do?"
"What do you play games for? To have fun, right?"
"And you find that fun?"
"……"
Choi Yeon answered with a faint smile instead of words.
Honestly, it was terribly boring.
No matter how hard you raised the thing, all that changed was the space around the scarecrow gradually getting bigger. He'd already gotten sick of it and was about to delete it anyway.
If he told the middle-aged hunter that, he'd just get a tongue-clicking I knew it, so he simply didn't answer.
"Ridiculous. This is dereliction of duty. Should I go tell Jae-sang hyung right now?"
"Cut me some slack. Do you know how busy I've been lately?"
"You, busy? You ain't Heeseok."
"I'm serious. Some punk from Seoul came down and caused a scene, then a guy dealing monsters on the black market showed up, then civilians got dragged into an instant dungeon…"
"Ah…"
The middle-aged hunter let out a sound of recognition.
He hadn't heard about the monster black market, but the other two stories he'd heard before.
Tales shared over clinking glasses with Manager Park Choong-jae of the Yangji Dungeon Deconstruction Center—he'd snickered at the part about tricking and chasing off that punk from Seoul.
And that wasn't all.
When he'd heard about rescuing the civilians swept up when the instant dungeon appeared, taking roughly an hour, he'd been genuinely impressed.
And on top of that he'd stopped a monster black-market deal? It didn't sound like he was casually claiming to have been busy.
"I even worked last weekend."
"On the weekend? You?"
"It was a pretty ridiculous incident, but… want to hear it?"
Of course he wanted to hear it.
He'd grown tired of only ever hearing things secondhand from Manager Park Choong-jae. Today his own mouth would do the work.
That was how he truly felt—but instead of saying so honestly, the middle-aged hunter grumbled.
"Hmph… If I say I don't wanna hear it, you won't tell me?"
"…So what happened was…"
Not knowing the middle-aged hunter's true feelings, Choi Yeon didn't care for his reaction.
If he hadn't simply been trying to kill some boring time, he never would have started the story.
Tapping a screen over and over was labor—how was that a game? There was no way any lunatic in the world would enjoy something like that.
Choi Yeon stepped into an alley in Yongdu-dong and felt a wave of heat.
Black scorch marks were left here and there on the buildings, as if announcing that something had been present. Nothing was currently on fire and burning.
Following the scorch marks with his eyes, he walked toward the spot where the neighborhood residents' gazes had gathered.
There was the source of the heat. A person.
"Was there a fire-ignition user around…?"
Choi Yeon muttered, tilting his head.
Ignition skills easily escalated into major disasters because of the nature of fire.
Naturally, the Dongdae kept track of anyone who possessed related skills, and Choi Yeon remembered all their faces.
As far as he recalled, there were no newly registered fire-ignition users.
That left two possibilities.
Someone had newly awakened the skill, or a fire-ignition user from another neighborhood had come visiting and caused an accident.
"……"
Choi Yeon looked down at the man with his head bowed.
His upper clothes had burned completely away, leaving bare skin exposed, and a tattoo ran from his shoulder to the upper part of his chest. Coincidentally, it was a flame pattern.
If it was a man with those features, there was no way Choi Yeon wouldn't remember him. He couldn't be a hunter.
Moreover, if he were a hunter, even newly awakened, he would have managed to keep it under control. It was only proper to treat him as a civilian.
"Ugh…"
A groan of pain spilled from the man's mouth.
From the way he was clutching himself as if wrapping his body, Choi Yeon realized the man wasn't deliberately producing the flames.
He's about to collapse.
Choi Yeon assessed the man's condition.
When someone first awakened a skill and couldn't control it, burning through all their mana and collapsing from exhaustion was common.
If left alone, he would fall over before long.
But—
"I'm Choi Yeon, a hunter with Seonhwa Dongdae."
Choi Yeon introduced himself as he took a step forward.
It wasn't because of the residents watching from the surroundings. Chief Kim Jaesang would have nagged him for that reason, but… Choi Yeon stepped forward for a different one.
"Eek—stay away…!"
Sensing his presence, the man jerked his head up in fright.
Choi Yeon paid no heed to the man's words. He advanced one step at a time and offered a greeting.
"Hello."
"……?"
"May I ask your name?"
"…W-what?"
"Your name. As I said a moment ago, I'm Choi Yeon. A hunter with Seonhwa Dongdae."
"……"
The man was dumbfounded.
Can't he see the flames floating around? Someone's dying over here because of flames that suddenly burst out! What the hell is with that leisurely attitude?
Negative thoughts flooded in, and anger surged up after them.
Then the man's anger found its direction and turned toward Choi Yeon.
Huk!
Screams burst from the residents' mouths. The only reason they didn't run was that every last flame was flying toward Choi Yeon.
"Huh…?"
"Wh-what is that?"
"Why are they bursting on their own?"
The flames never reached Choi Yeon.
Pop, pop-pop! Pop…!
They all burst before they could touch him.
The residents who had been startled, not knowing what was happening, soon figured it out.
When they widened their eyes and looked carefully, Choi Yeon was throwing daggers and striking the flames.
"Is something like that even possible?"
"No—why would a flame burst just because a dagger hit it? It should ignore it and keep flying!"
"Must be an incredibly good dagger…?"
"If it were, it would've pierced straight through the flame and kept going!"
The residents each exclaimed in surprise at the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.
The man who had sent the flames also gaped in disbelief.
"……"
Unlike them, Choi Yeon had known it would turn out this way.
They were flames that hadn't been properly controlled to begin with.
It was only natural that unstable flames would focus on burning themselves out rather than advancing any farther.
The residents simply hadn't realized that fact because they were civilians.
Then—
"Ah!"
"One of them hit him…!"
"Oh no—huh…?"
A flame touched Choi Yeon's chest.
It wasn't that he'd run out of throwing daggers and failed to hit it.
Nor was it that he'd gotten too close and failed to react in time.
He'd planned to take about one hit from the start.
"It's warm. Would be nice in winter."
Tap, tap.
Choi Yeon said as he slapped the fire out with his hand.
Only the outer surface of the clothes he was wearing was lightly scorched; his body was completely unharmed.
Seeing that, the residents burst into noisy chatter.
"…What, nothing wrong with him?"
"Doesn't look as strong as it seemed?"
"Right! The buildings just got scorched and that was it."
"Ahh…!"
"Man, we got scared for nothing!"
Such words were exchanged, but the reality was different.
Even if they were unstable flames, they were still flames produced by a skill all the same.
If they'd hit a civilian's body, they would have caused severe burns.
He was unharmed because he had the body of a C-class hunter, and Choi Yeon had seen that at a glance.
Because even after burning themselves out, the flames had only managed to lightly scorch the buildings.
"What's your name?"
Choi Yeon asked again.
Still as leisurely as if saying it was no big deal.
But why was it?
The man wasn't angry.
He simply felt relieved.
Like waking from a nightmare and realizing it was just another ordinary day.
"…Seongjun. Lee Seongjun."
"I see. Mr. Lee Seongjun. There was an incident, but first of all—congratulations on newly awakening a skill. What rank is it?"
"Well, I… I don't really know…"
"Pardon? Ah. If you'd rather not reveal the rank—"
"No! It's not that—the skill genuinely isn't coming up in my head! It's like I don't have a skill like that at all…!"
What kind of bullshit is this?
Choi Yeon held back the words he wanted to spit out.
Flames had come from his own body, and he'd even controlled them somewhat, yet he was denying having a skill—what kind of case was this?
It was absurd, but Choi Yeon asked a question to confirm what Lee Seongjun had said.
"Are you saying you don't know whether you currently have a skill or not?"
"Y-yes! That's exactly it…!"
"How is that possible?"
Choi Yeon asked in surprise.
He felt a stir of emotion that hadn't been there even when the flames were flying toward him.
Was that why?
"I'm sorry…"
Lee Seongjun apologized without meaning to.
"He didn't know he'd awakened a skill?"
The middle-aged hunter listening to Choi Yeon's story furrowed his brows.
"No. He didn't even know if he had one or not?"
"Yes. Ridiculous, right?"
"What an idiot."
It was a scathing criticism.
The reason Choi Yeon didn't particularly stop him was that he was thinking something similar.
Even now, he couldn't understand it.
The skill name, rank, and description all clearly appeared in your head—how could you not know?
"Well, enough about that idiot. Yeon."
"Yes?"
"Instead of spendin' time on games like that, study. That's how you become a fine person."
"…What's so good about becoming a fine person?"
"You won't have to listen to crap like this from a hunter like me."
"Oh."
That was a bit appealing.
Choi Yeon honestly admired it.
The middle-aged hunter snickered and went on.
"So stop that and study. English or Japanese."
"Foreign languages… I don't think I'll ever have a use for them in my life."
Choi Yeon could count on one hand the times he'd left Daejeon.
He'd even first ridden an airplane when going to Jeju Island on a school trip. He'd never dreamed that would be the last time.
"You never know. Who knows? Maybe you'll face an American hunter or get sent on a business trip to Japan?"
"That's ridiculous. Even Heeseok hyung, who's been a hunter for twenty-seven years, has never been on a business trip to another country."
"Is that so? But Heeseok's been to Seoul, hasn't he?"
"Is Seoul a foreign country?"
"Ahem, ahem…"
Choi Heeseok was one of the most successful hunters among his peers from the same hometown.
Hearing that even a hunter like that had never gone abroad left him with nothing to say.
There was one peer hunter from the same hometown who came to mind, but that one was the master of Chungcheong-do's top guild, so he hesitated to bring it up.
No need to crush the spirits of a young hunter he usually thought well of for working hard, right?
"…Anyway."
The middle-aged hunter decided to change the subject. He'd originally spoken to Choi Yeon to deliver information.
"There was a mutant in the dungeon."
"What?"
"Unlike the others, it had red patterns on its carapace. Extra teeth and tentacles too. Looked dang dangerous at a glance."
"And you just left something that looked dangerous and came out?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Why? I said it looked dangerous. If I get hurt, you gonna take responsibility? Then I'll give it a shot."
"……"
Choi Yeon closed his mouth.
Responsibility? He had absolutely no intention of taking responsibility for a middle-aged man whose conversations left him feeling uncomfortable.
If it were Choi Heeseok, whom he normally trusted and followed, that might be different.
Easily reading what Choi Yeon was thinking, the middle-aged hunter narrowed his eyes. Then he grumbled,
"You're here to catch things like that, ain't you? So why do I gotta catch it?"
"…Because you're a fine person?"
"Hehehe! That was a bit funny. You're good at sayin' things you don't mean."
"Haa…"
"Good luck. I'm headin' off to go fishin' with Manager Park now."
"Fishing? All of a sudden?"
"There's Seocheon Reservoir over in Dong-gu, right? I heard they caught an insanely big sea bass there."
"An insanely big… sea bass?"
"That's what I said. Biggest anyone's ever seen! So what else? Gotta go."
Like a mountain climber who climbs because there's a mountain?
Choi Yeon stared in disbelief. Then something suddenly occurred to him and he urgently asked,
"Wait a minute—even if you're going, you have to tell me where the mutant is before you leave!"
"Northwest big rock!"
After shouting that, the middle-aged hunter strode off.
It was to tell Manager Park Choong-jae the fresh story he'd just heard while fishing—but to Choi Yeon it looked like he was fleeing for fear of being grabbed and asked for help.
Choi Yeon, of course, had no such intention whatsoever. Why would he, when going in together would just mean suffering through pointless nagging?
"What a pain-in-the-ass old man, seriously."
Muttering, he left the management office and headed for the dungeon.
The Samseon Bridge dungeon was only D-class in terms of danger level alone.
But from a different perspective, it could rise to A-class—and that was precisely why Seonhwa Dongdae kept it under special management.
And what was that perspective?
"I hate those centipede bastards. They're disgusting…"
The visual perspective.
In the Samseon Bridge dungeon, two-meter-long cloak centipedes appeared. Centipedes with twenty-one pairs of legs skittering about.
And they even shot venom bombs.
"Haa…"
There was a reason Choi Yeon always treated that pain-in-the-ass old man with proper courtesy.