Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Lee Jeon-seok made a bewildered expression.
There was no other way to react.
Right after entering the dungeon.
The King of the Dead subjugates the skeletons.
Monsters that should have rushed toward him and attacked.
Instead, they all knelt down at once.
The skeletons fear you.
A monster made entirely of bones trembled.
It did not even raise its head.
It simply bowed and stayed still.
“Huh.”
Lee Jeon-seok looked dumbfounded.
The King of the Dead.
An effect that made the dead revere him.
He had suspected something like this.
But he had not expected it to work this way.
Monsters with neither intelligence nor reason feeling reverence and kneeling before a human of their own accord.
Crunch.
Lee Jeon-seok stomped down on the skull of a nearby skeleton, crushing it.
You have defeated a skeleton.
Congratulations.
Your level has increased.
His level rose immediately.
When he checked the status window, he was now level 26.
He also had stat points.
Stat points are used.
Vitality increases to 20.
Lee Jeon-seok immediately raised his vitality from 19 to 20.
Now both agility and vitality had exceeded 20.
Just like when agility crossed 20, he felt a clear change.
It felt like his body itself was strengthening.
“No matter how many times I experience this, I can’t get used to it.”
More importantly.
Lee Jeon-seok looked forward.
He had killed one skeleton.
But the others still remained kneeling, showing no sign of moving.
As if they were begging to be killed, they simply bowed their heads.
“Examinee Lee Jeon-seok. Is this… your trait?”
Perhaps because the scene was so bizarre.
Anya spoke to him through the monitor.
“…Yes.”
Lee Jeon-seok answered quietly.
“Understood. Please continue the exam.”
After that.
You have defeated a skeleton.
You have defeated a skeleton.
You have defeated a skeleton.
Lee Jeon-seok slowly stepped forward, crushing the skeletons that stood frozen like statues.
This time, his level did not increase even once.
Low-level monsters from an F-rank dungeon.
The experience they gave was extremely small.
Almost negligible.
The reason his level had risen earlier was probably because his experience from Bukhansan had already been nearly full.
As he continued forward, defeating skeletons one by one.
Boss Area.
Eventually, he reached the boss room.
There was no door.
Just the end of a straight cave passage.
There was a slightly larger chamber.
In the center stood a particularly large skeleton.
Skeleton Warrior Level 12.
Level 12.
Much higher than the other skeletons that had only single-digit levels.
True to the name warrior, it held a long curved blade.
What was strange was…
“It’s trembling.”
Its white bones were shaking slightly.
The Skeleton Warrior is wary of you.
Wary.
A different reaction from the other skeletons.
It did not kneel.
Was it because it was a boss monster?
But that only lasted a moment.
Clatter.
“King…”
Its jaw moved.
A faint voice leaked out.
“My… King…”
A dry voice that seemed devoid of life.
Thud.
The curved blade fell to the ground.
Thump.
The Skeleton Warrior dropped to its knees.
Both hands touched the ground as it bowed its head.
The Skeleton Warrior submits to you.
A system message appeared.
“Can F-rank monsters speak?”
Lee Jeon-seok looked surprised.
C-rank.
At that level, monsters began to gain intelligence and could use language.
The King of Ghouls was a well-known example.
But F-rank monsters had neither power nor intelligence.
Using language was supposed to be impossible.
At least, that was the commonly known fact.
But look at the Skeleton Warrior before him.
It clearly possessed reason and formed words.
King.
It seemed to understand that word.
Was this monster special?
No.
Rather.
“The special one… is my trait.”
The King of the Dead.
That was what had created this situation.
But the surprise did not end there.
The Skeleton Warrior reveres you.
The Skeleton Warrior seeks loyalty.
Do you wish to subjugate the Skeleton Warrior?
Just like the Karma Shop he had suddenly obtained.
Everything happening was beyond understanding.
“Congratulations, examinee Lee Jeon-seok. Please wait in the first-floor waiting room. Your hunter license will be issued shortly.”
Anya Ivanov spoke.
Lee Jeon-seok bowed his head and left the test site.
His hunter license would soon be issued.
But he did not look particularly moved.
Unlike the other examinees, he did not show any joy.
That made him appear even more strange.
Soon, all the examinees left and the test site became quiet.
“I don’t know what kind of trait it is, but it seems he holds absolute superiority over undead.”
Yoon Jin spoke while looking at the now-dark screen.
The scene they had just witnessed.
Monsters kneeling on their own.
Even for Yoon Jin, and for Anya who had ten years of experience as a hunter, it was the first time seeing such a phenomenon.
“And the boss disappeared without leaving a single trace.”
Perhaps because the Skeleton Warrior’s voice had been too faint.
It seemed they had not heard what it said.
They had only seen the boss vanish.
Without leaving any trace.
“What do you think?”
Yoon Jin glanced at Anya.
Anya said nothing.
Instead, Yoon Jin continued.
“A cold personality, calm judgment, excellent analysis, and a trait with unusual characteristics. And though it was brief, the combat talent he showed when subduing Kim Man-jin.”
Listing Lee Jeon-seok’s qualities.
Yoon Jin turned to Anya.
“Wouldn’t he be perfect as your partner?”
A partner.
The meaning was literal.
Association examiners usually operated in pairs.
A senior and a partner.
Considering the department they belonged to, it was natural.
The Villain Response Department.
The highest authority organization within the Association dedicated solely to villains.
Because villains were so dangerous.
Examiners usually worked in teams of at least two.
For example, Kim Baek-dong and the intern who had investigated Lee Jeon-seok earlier.
But two years ago.
Anya had lost her partner.
It had been a surprise attack by villains.
After that.
For some reason, Anya never chose another partner.
Without meeting the basic requirement, she could not participate in operations.
So she often ended up supervising exams like an intern.
“Does it make sense that a ten-year veteran is rotting in a place like this?”
“….”
Anya remained silent.
Yoon Jin sighed deeply.
“The intern is out there hanging around with the team leader…”
“This is still an important job, Assistant Yoon.”
Anya finally cut him off.
Important work.
That was true.
Villains occasionally infiltrated exams.
And there was no one more suitable to deal with them than an examiner.
But.
“That’s something an intern could handle.”
Even interns were still examiners.
Capable A-rank hunters.
Meanwhile, Anya was a high S-rank hunter.
Based on experience alone, she could easily have another S added to her title.
Yet someone of that level was wasting away here.
Yoon Jin found it impossible to accept.
“Still, please consider it at least once. I think he’d be a good partner, Manager.”
Manager.
Yoon Jin deliberately emphasized her rank before leaving the exam hall.
Soon only Anya Ivanov remained.
“….”
She still said nothing.
“He certainly is…”
She repeated Yoon Jin’s words in her mind.
He was right.
Lee Jeon-seok was an exceptional talent.
That aura.
It was not something you saw from common trash.
It was the spirit of a fighter who had crossed countless battlefields.
And there was no suspicious past either.
“At that rate, he’ll probably reach A-rank in less than a year.”
A talent truly worthy of becoming an examiner.
Anya acknowledged that much.
Someone who absolutely had to be recruited.
But whether he was suitable as her partner…
“I don’t know.”
She could not be certain.
To begin with, it was unclear whether he would even join the Association.
People had different goals.
No matter how good the offer, countless hunters chose to join guilds or private offices instead.
Still.
“I should at least inform the team leader.”
Anya took out her phone.
She quickly began typing a message.
The recipient was Kim Baek-dong.
The team leader of the Villain Response Department.
Regardless of personal opinions.
If there was talent, it had to be secured.
F-rank Hunter Lee Jeon-seok.
Lee Jeon-seok looked at his hunter license.
A single card with his ID photo.
At a glance, it looked similar to a national ID card.
“At least I got what I needed.”
Ideally, he would have liked to receive an A or S rank immediately.
But ranks had to be raised through achievements according to Association rules.
It would rise naturally as he worked anyway.
“More importantly…”
Lee Jeon-seok looked at his status window.
More precisely, The King of the Dead.
Something new had appeared there.
King of the Dead
Rank C
Effect
Earns reverence from the dead.
Owned Undead
Skeleton Warrior F
Below the effect.
A new section had appeared.
Owned Undead.
Only then did Lee Jeon-seok understand what kind of trait King of the Dead was.
“A taming-type trait.”
He had heard of them before.
Hunters who tamed spirits or divine beasts inside dungeons and fought alongside them.
But.
“Taming monsters… and undead at that.”
It was absurd.
And taming was not the only thing possible.
Storage and summoning.
The tamed monster could be placed inside a subspace and summoned whenever he wanted.
“Summon.”
An empty alley.
A skeleton suddenly appeared in the air.
It was the same Skeleton Warrior from the dungeon.
Its red burning pupils stared at Lee Jeon-seok.
Then.
Clack.
It suddenly knelt down.
This posture was clearly different from before.
Back then it had prostrated itself with its head on the ground.
Now it looked like a knight kneeling before a king.
Skeleton Warrior Rank F.
Even its level had changed from a number to a rank.
“My King. Give your command.”
It spoke in a stiff tone.
After several tests.
Lee Jeon-seok discovered the Skeleton Warrior could only use three words.
King.
Command.
Understood.
But its intelligence was higher than expected.
It understood far more than it could speak.
“Stay where you are and spin three circles like a dog.”
“Understood…”
The moment Lee Jeon-seok gave the order, the Skeleton Warrior dropped its curved blade and got down on all fours, spinning in place.
It had intelligence.
But it did not feel emotions.
That was why it could follow such humiliating commands without hesitation.
Of course, it was not entirely without feelings.
Loyalty.
The moment he formed the contract.
Lee Jeon-seok felt absolute loyalty flowing from the Skeleton Warrior.
“Stand.”
After the command.
Clack.
The Skeleton Warrior rose.
Then it stood straight again, waiting.
While staring at it.
Lee Jeon-seok suddenly wondered.
“Can I see its status window too?”
Hunters who tamed spirits were able to.
Then perhaps the Skeleton Warrior could as well.
The principle of taming and controlling was the same.
Only the type was different.
“Status window.”
Lee Jeon-seok muttered quietly.