Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 04
Chapter Title: Awakening (2)
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“Seo has been discharged?”
Claire tilted her head upon hearing the news of Seo Dae-hyun's discharge.
'There should still be time left until his discharge date.'
The battalion commander and company commander fidgeted nervously, cautiously asking about his relationship with Seo Dae-hyun.
“Um, Miss Claire. What’s your connection to that soldier that you’re looking for him?”
The battalion commander knew Seo Dae-hyun had no parents.
The reason he’d awakened as an F-Rank yet risen to A-Rank in such a short time was precisely because he had no background.
With no family to protest even if he died, they’d pushed him hard—only for him to become A-Rank.
After that, the officers had treated him more carefully.
'No connections or ties, huh?!'
The battalion commander, company commander, and other officers swallowed dryly, tense with anxiety.
He’d devoted himself to his country, yet they’d cast him out the moment his rank dropped.
It must have been too embarrassing for them to admit to others.
Now that Seo Dae-hyun’s name had come from the mouth of someone of national importance, they couldn’t help but be on edge.
“That’s private.”
Claire brushed off any questions about her relationship with him.
“If it’s an honorary discharge, does that mean there’s something wrong with Mr. Seo’s body?”
At Claire’s question, the battalion commander waved it off casually.
“Yes, but it’s nothing serious. He said he wanted some rest, so we let him go.”
Not yet able to define their relationship clearly, he didn’t go into details.
In that instant, Claire’s demeanor shifted 180 degrees.
Like a tsunami rolling in from a calm beach, she unleashed an immense wave of mana.
“You sent him off without even knowing what was wrong?”
The battalion commander trembled at the overwhelming gap in mana he felt from Claire.
A female officer let out a scream.
“Kyaa!”
“B-Battalion Commander!”
The other officers couldn’t even stand.
Some fainted outright.
At the foremost front lines, soldiers fought while officers commanded from the rear, so their combat abilities lagged behind.
“Are you saying you’ll start a war with Korea over a single soldier?”
The battalion commander shouted at Claire.
He even brought up war.
In this era where dungeons spawned and monsters emerged to attack humans, humanity’s enemies were no longer other humans, but monsters.
Yet even now, nations still waged wars against each other.
Korea’s war with ‘North Korea’ had ended in a ceasefire.
But they were now fighting another war against magical beasts that didn’t understand words—a far bigger headache.
“Commander! Are you planning to wipe out the unit?!”
“The government told us not to cause any trouble!”
If her subordinates hadn’t stopped her immediately, the base might have been destroyed.
A single S-Rank hunter could level a city.
Claire half-forcibly coerced them into revealing the reason for his discharge.
Among the officers here, only Sergeant Choi Kyung-jun cooperated willingly.
Despite the sharp glares from the other officers, he wanted to expose Seo Dae-hyun’s injustice this way.
The more she read the documents, the tighter her brow furrowed.
“...To think he was discharged after treatment like this.”
She’d heard that perceptions of soldiers in Korea weren’t great, but it was far worse than she’d imagined.
Something unimaginable in America.
“What exactly is your relationship with him that you’d go this far?!”
Instead of answering, Claire swept her hand down her face.
The officers who saw the beautiful young man’s face had their pupils shake. They recognized him.
He looked just like the U.S. soldier who’d been dispatched here before.
“B-But it was definitely a woman.”
It had been 10 months since leaving Korea, but his striking features made him hard to forget.
Amid this, the company commander startled more than the others and stumbled back.
Claire touched her face again.
She reverted to the face of a pure, silver-blonde beauty.
Claire had hidden both her identity and gender, serving as a U.S. special forces soldier alongside Korean troops.
They’d thought he was a man, but it turned out to be a woman.
An S-Rank hunter at that, who’d returned.
The officers looked utterly shocked upon realizing this.
During joint U.S.-Korea hunter operations, she’d met Seo Dae-hyun, bonded through camaraderie, and even received a favor from him.
Seo Dae-hyun didn’t know her true appearance.
She’d hidden her identity back then.
She’d come secretly to surprise him, only to learn he’d been unfairly discharged.
Claire swallowed her deep fury upon hearing this.
“You lot don’t even deserve to have him.”
Confirming he wasn’t here, she turned on her heel.
To think she wouldn’t get to show him her true face.
She shouldn’t think this way, but part of her felt relieved.
*
Thud!
To save him, she’d sacrificed herself.
Krunch!
.
.
.
Drip!
Drip!
Seo Dae-hyun rolled across the dirt ground.
He snapped back to his senses as thick liquid rained down from above.
“...What’s this?”
Red blood trickled endlessly down his hair and under his eyes.
Seo Dae-hyun slowly looked up.
Wishing it wasn’t reality, that time would stop, he lifted his head very, very slowly.
The blood belonged to Kim Hyun-jun.
“T-Tongue... run...”
Krraaack!
The wolf mercilessly shook its head while biting Hyun-jun’s body.
Shhh—
His blood sprayed everywhere like a sprinkler.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Save me! Help—”
The screams of fleeing people echoed across the quiet cornfield.
There were more wolves.
The wolf that had mauled Kim Hyun-jun spat his body out in front of Seo Dae-hyun.
It was blatant mockery.
Seo Dae-hyun placed his hand on Kim Hyun-jun’s heart and channeled mana.
He knew there was no hope.
But he couldn’t give up.
Kim Hyun-jun’s body was pierced by dozens of wolf fangs, with severe bleeding.
“Heal!”
“Heal!”
“Heal!”
He howled in anguish.
No recovery skill activated; his precious mana simply scattered into the wind.
Before the curse, Seo Dae-hyun’s class had been Healer.
Once again, he’d failed to protect anyone.
It’s all my fault. My responsibility.
If only I had power...
At least I wouldn’t have let him die like this.
That was when it happened.
The curse message he’d received pulsed strongly.
The first new line since its creation.
'What conditions?'
100/100.
He understood.
The number of people lost in the war.
In truth, even more had died.
'I accept.'
He accepted without hesitation, whatever it was.
He had to do something.
He wanted to save him.
If he could get to a hospital now, maybe.
Probably.
He wanted to believe that.
Seo Dae-hyun wasn’t in his right mind.
Michael, Hayes, Kim Hyun-jun... all of them.
If he could save them, he’d even sell his soul to the devil.
『Soldiers.』
Seo Dae-hyun instinctively opened his mouth.
『Rise.』
*
The wolves drooled as they stared at Seo Dae-hyun.
They could pounce anytime but held back. It was deliberate—to instill fear.
Wolves were pack animals.
Killing Kim Hyun-jun cruelly was revenge for him slaying one of their own.
“Grrr.”
The alpha wolf nodded to its subordinate.
The order: don’t kill quickly—make it as brutal as possible.
One wolf approached him closely.
A bite to the head would end it fast.
But it planned to slowly crush his body with its paws first.
Chomp.
“Rise.”
Kim Hyun-jun, thought dead before Seo Dae-hyun, rose to his feet.
Kim Hyun-jun placed his hand on the wolf’s paw, blocking the attack.
Those who had died were gathering to protect Seo Dae-hyun.
Michael and Hayes, also dead, lunged at the wolves.
Kim Hyun-jun jabbed his pickaxe into the wolf’s eye like he was gouging it out, while the others piled on to subdue the thrashing beast.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Seo Dae-hyun watched the scene in bewilderment.
Was this reality?
'No, this is like a dream...'
He felt strongly connected to their souls.
His class had changed from Healer to Necromancer.
Necromancers wielded the souls of the dead!
The polar opposite of a Healer’s power.
And his locked stats had been unlocked too.
“Yelp...”
The Iron Wolf let out a dying whimper and breathed its last.
The dead rising, slaying magical beasts.
'They definitely died.'
He’d witnessed Kim Hyun-jun and Michael’s final moments with his own eyes.
To confirm his suspicions, Seo Dae-hyun placed his hand on the Iron Wolf’s corpse and murmured lowly.
“Rise.”
The motionless wolf sprang up as if it had never died.
Unlike humans, monsters could be named.
Kim Hyun-jun had lost one eye to it—only one eye left.
“One-Eyed.”
The lost eye didn’t return, and its body shrank to 50% size.
Seo Dae-hyun felt like he could heal the wolf’s wounds.
Nothing to lose.
[Heal]
Not just the Iron Wolf—all their wounds healed.
The missing eye didn’t return, but vanishing the bodily gashes was effect enough.
Far more impactful than his old [Class: Healer] Heal skill.
Wounds that would’ve drained all his mana to heal—gone in one shot!
The alpha wolf eyed the changed kin warily.
No trace of their pack’s scent on One-Eyed anymore.
The Bear Wolf locked onto the culprit of this chaos.
Dangerous human.
The others felt the same: kill the ‘human’ now, before more mutations.
The Bear Wolf ordered the other Iron Wolves to kill him.
The wolves circled, surrounding Seo Dae-hyun and his soldiers.
He could’ve fled alone, but abandoning comrades was worse than death.
No hiding behind his ‘soldiers.’
He’d fight his way out.
...Though they were already dead.
He couldn’t abandon the bodies.
No face to show Kim Hyun-jun’s parents.
Then.
Another unbelievable event.
“...Ab...do...men...”
Kim Hyun-jun had spoken.
Was he not dead?
“Hyun-jun! You okay?!”
......
But no reply followed.
'What was that just now?'
The wolves gave him no time to think.
They closed in and attacked.
The gap between the wolf pack and soldiers was clear.
Bones shattered, flesh torn.
But.
[Heal]
One Heal from Seo Dae-hyun restored the soldiers instantly.
'Not enough.'
He needed a big hit.
Only Kim Hyun-jun and One-Eyed landed meaningful blows.
At this rate...
[Passive: Corpse Explosion (E)]
- Explode body parts to attack enemies.
- Explodes on death.
Krunch!
Boom! Pop! Pop! Boomboomboom!!!
Seo Dae-hyun hadn’t commanded it.
The moment a wolf killed a soldier, the corpse auto-exploded.
Bodies exploded yet regenerated instantly.
Even without Heal, they restored on death.
Heal sped it up even more.
Seo Dae-hyun clenched his eyes shut and fist.
Like pressing a detonator button.
“[Corpse Explosion]”
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Soldier corpses exploded like popping candy in the wolves’ mouths.
This time, on his command.
Four down.
“Rise.”
Seo Dae-hyun invoked the incantation, summoning the slain wolves’ souls.
Numerical inferiority overcome.
*
Hunter Association Iowa branch.
Newbie agent May propped her chin, bored with routine.
She’d dreamed of being an association agent, but reality fell short.
She’d thought it’d be non-stop protecting citizens—instead, it was sitting around or patrolling.
Iowa was safer than most places.
'Seniors say peace is good.'
'But I want to use this power!'
Post-awakening checkups and a few gate runs—that was it.
- WEE-OOOOW!!!
[Code Black! Code Black!]
Warning sirens blared across the association.
Code Black: monsters escaping a dungeon gate!
“Emergency!”
A senior agent yelled at the stunned May.
“Hey! Newbie! Gear up and move!”
“Don’t just stand there, damn it!”
Clang!
This wasn’t the senior she knew.
They hadn’t become agents on a whim.
Areas without gates bred villains—but Iowa stayed clean for a reason.
May grabbed her sword and vest, chasing after her senior.
Another gap between dream and reality.
Situation room.
Monitor agent Henderson radioed combat agents immediately.
Less than 3 minutes later, geared-up agents arrived in perfect formation.
Combat leader Kyle asked,
“Coordinates and rank?!”
The large HD screen showed coords and location.
[41.0000, -90.0000]
Cornfield.
“Estimated D to C-Rank.”
“Good it’s in an empty farm area.”
Kyle relaxed at the coords—
“...There’s someone. Sending a distress signal.”
The device on the company car had alerted the nearest branch.
Hunter Association combat agents boarded rooftop helicopters and raced out.