Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Rank: F
Strength - 20 Agility - 8
Vitality - 11 Mana - 8
Trait: Charge(F)
Loyalty - 100%
“······Pathetic.”
Was it because of the F rank?
The stat numbers were utterly miserable.
Nothing worth looking at besides strength.
It did have the Charge trait at least.
Charge
Rank: F
Effect: When rushing at an enemy, Strength and Agility increase by 10 each.
Unfortunately, the effect wasn’t impressive enough.
Of course, 10 was not a low number for a stat.
Even so.
“Ambiguous.”
Yes.
Ambiguous.
Strength would reach 30 with Charge, so it would be effective, but agility wouldn’t even surpass 20, making the change barely noticeable.
That made it even more ambiguous.
“No level or stat points either.”
In other words,
there was no way to increase stats.
Technically, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
There were trait evolution runes.
Such items occasionally appeared in dungeons.
Raising a trait’s rank would bring some kind of change to even a Skeleton Warrior.
However.
“Using an S-rank item on a C-rank trait?”
Lee Jeon-seok shook his head immediately.
These were rare treasures, things one might see only once in a lifetime.
And Lee Jeon-seok already knew the timing and location of the rune from his experience.
Still, using such a treasure on a mere C-rank trait was excessive.
Like putting a pearl necklace on a pig.
Phew.
He let out a small sigh.
King of the Dead.
A trait truly like a double-edged sword.
Not bad, but not good either.
A completely ambiguous ability.
Even if it allowed taming more monsters, it was meaningless if all were at this level.
With a C-rank trait, he couldn’t tame many monsters anyway.
Lee Jeon-seok stored the Skeleton Warrior back.
Or rather, he put it in pocket space.
It was enough to just think about it.
Whoosh.
It vanished as if sucked into the air.
Lee Jeon-seok remained alone, thinking.
King of the Dead.
Definitely an ambiguous ability.
But it wasn’t something to regret.
Because he had Cheonsalseong.
This wasn’t the end of traits.
The more villains and monsters he killed,
the more and better abilities he would gain.
It was just a stage, nothing more, nothing less.
“Still······.”
He imagined the Skeleton Warrior’s appearance.
“Enough to use as bait.”
Using tamed monsters.
No hunter had ever done that.
Unknown traits and abilities.
It would be enough to confuse enemies for a moment, and in that moment, Lee Jeon-seok could slaughter them easily.
And······
Owned Traits
Cheonsalseong(EX), Eternal Seal, Ignition(B), King of the Dead(C), Upshop
He checked his status window.
Upshop.
A trait that appeared when his good karma exceeded 10,000.
It didn’t have a rank like Eternal Seal.
Its effect was simple.
Upshop
Effect: Summons an Upshop merchant.
That was it.
An Upshop merchant?
A merchant related to karma.
Could he buy and sell things using karma?
“Well, I’ll know if I try it.”
Lee Jeon-seok immediately used Upshop.
Right after.
Crack.
The air tore like a gate.
Smaller than expected.
A rift only reaching his knees.
Through it,
“Hello.”
A rabbit appeared.
A rabbit wearing a suit, walking on two legs, speaking human language.
“Ugh···!”
A man in a gray cloak vomited blood and collapsed.
His body was covered in countless cuts and scars.
All caused by one person.
Kim Baek-dong,
Team Leader of the Villain Response Department at the Hunter Association of Korea.
An SS-rank hunter and the so-called strongest supervisor.
A villain hunter.
“Where is the Dawn Society headquarters?”
He asked while stepping on the fallen man.
The sword in his hand aimed at the man.
But the man didn’t answer.
Instead.
Crunch.
He bit something hidden in his mouth.
Blood gushed as his body convulsed.
Purple liquid mixed with red blood.
Apparently, he had poison hidden in his gums.
Kim Baek-dong examined him quickly.
“······Dead.”
He was already gone.
“Tch.”
Kim Baek-dong clicked his tongue and wiped blood off his sword.
“Team leader!”
An intern ran up late.
“Already finished?”
“Ended ambiguously.”
“Then······.”
“He committed suicide.”
Yes.
Suicide.
The Dawn Society always did this.
When cornered, they severed themselves like lizards without hesitation.
Even low-ranking members would commit suicide to prevent leaking information, which kept investigations on the Dawn Society slow.
Phew.
Kim Baek-dong sighed quietly.
Soon, the association would launch a large-scale operation to eliminate villain groups.
Not the Dawn Society.
Another villain group.
Once that operation began, the Dawn Society would be a secondary target, and they would retreat deeper into the shadows.
So he wanted to discover something before that.
But the results were as expected.
“Another dead end.”
Kim Baek-dong felt irritated.
Ding.
His phone alarm went off.
“You return to the association first.”
He sent the intern back.
Then, he checked a message on his phone.
From Anna Ivno.
She had found a promising candidate from the Hunter Exam.
Along with the applicant’s personal information.
“Lee Jeon-seok?”
A familiar name.
A few days ago.
An awakened individual encountered during the Bukhansan dungeon rampage.
“He must have taken the Hunter Exam.”
It was predictable he had talent, being able to stop a dungeon rampage alone.
Kim Baek-dong hadn’t expected strict Anna to recommend him, so he looked surprised.
“I should meet him later.”
More talented people were always better.
Of course, Kim Baek-dong had no way of knowing that this talent held the golden knowledge of the Dawn Society.
A white rabbit suddenly appeared in the air.
Thump!
It landed lightly on the ground.
The rabbit wore a black top hat, a small matching black suit, and a monocle.
The red tie and eyes stood out.
“Nice to meet you.”
The rabbit bowed deeply in a remarkably formal manner.
“I am Dream Rabbit, Toyoto.”
Toyoto.
That was his name.
“I travel through the Underworld, Celestial Realm, and the Mortal World, selling various goods in exchange for karma.”
“Huh.”
Lee Jeon-seok chuckled unconsciously.
Selling goods in exchange for karma?
He had never heard of such nonsense even from the grim reapers of hell.
“What do you sell?”
He asked, hiding his bewilderment.
“All that exists.”
Toyoto smiled charmingly.
(His voice was far from charming.)
“Unlike other merchants, I only accept good karma as currency. I sell gold, jewels, rare dungeon items, and other precious goods. Of course, some special items are unique to me.”
“But” Toyoto continued,
“You seem to have very little good karma.”
His monocle glinted.
“And an absurd amount of evil karma.”
Even Toyoto, usually sly, looked surprised.
“Interesting. I’ve never seen anyone accumulate so much evil karma. Even killing people usually yields only 10,000 evil karma. But your status window is overflowing······.”
Ha ha.
A faint laugh.
“You are surely destined for hell.”
······Does he say that to everyone?
Lee Jeon-seok was dumbfounded.
First, a rabbit appears claiming to be a karma merchant, and now it tells him he’s going to hell?
“But merchants must be fair to all.”
Toyoto lifted his monocle.
Immediately, numerous status windows appeared in the air.
Square windows rotated around Toyoto and then spread before Lee Jeon-seok.
“Feel free to choose.”
Toyoto smiled meaningfully.
“If you lack good karma, you can also take loans using traits, evil karma, or even your body as collateral. Ah, in your case, evil karma is too high to use as collateral.”
The more he heard, the more absurd it sounded.
Loans? Not a bank.
“What if I don’t repay?”
Lee Jeon-seok asked.
Toyoto’s smile turned chilling.
“The system will forcibly confiscate it.”
Forcible confiscation.
“So until the loan term ends, I still have the item even as collateral?”
Yes, Toyoto said, and traits could also be freely used.
He didn’t just take collateral.
Lee Jeon-seok asked more questions, satisfying his curiosity.
Can loaned karma be freely spent?
Can I sell, not just buy?
Toyoto answered easily.
“Loaned karma is handled separately from your existing karma. It cannot affect your status after death and can only be used to purchase items in my shop.”
So no exploiting traits and committing suicide for heaven.
“And I do not accept purchases from anyone else.”
“Indeed.”
Lee Jeon-seok nodded slightly.
He found it odd that the shop allowed buying but not selling, but that was the owner’s rule.
He examined the windows before him.
Drake’s Heart(C) - 30,000 karma
Rune of Trait Evolution(A+) - 220,000 karma
Twisted Virtue(B) - 90,000 karma
Excalibur(SS) - 2,200,000 karma
All outrageously priced.
Even the cheapest, Drake’s Heart, was 30,000.
All prices were based on good karma.
Lee Jeon-seok only had 10,000.
“How much can I get if I use a C-rank trait as collateral?”
He asked, just in case.
Toyoto chuckled.
“About 3,000 karma.”
3,000.
Not low.
Much higher than incrementally gaining 100 at a time.
But is sacrificing a C-rank trait worth it?
“Out of the question.”
This was different from his past life overflowing with traits.
Even the King of the Dead, once a worthless trait, was now crucial.
Using his body as collateral? That would be madness.
Collateral could be resolved once repaid, but Lee Jeon-seok didn’t want to risk the future on uncertainty.
Unless there was something he absolutely needed.
“Nothing worth 10,000 karma?”
“Hmm······not exactly nothing······.”
Toyoto waved his hand in the air.
The windows shifted, leaving only one in front of him.
Rotten Orc Blood - 5,000 karma
Skeleton Bone Fragment - 1,000 karma
Torn 5,000 Won Bill - 500 karma
Someone’s Chewed Gum - 10 karma
Lee Jeon-seok let out a laugh, not knowing which number this was by now.
“Who would sell chewed-up gum?”
“There’s a demand, you see?”
“I highly doubt it······.”
“Everyone has different tastes.”
Ha ha.
Toyoto laughed faintly.
Impossible to guess what he was thinking.
“One question.”
“Anything.”
Lee Jeon-seok scrolled down.
“Is there anyone else who can summon you besides me?”
Good karma, evil karma, and Upshop.
Was anyone else experiencing this?
If so, how did they gain karma stats?
Did they regress like him?
He had many questions.
He wanted to fully understand what was happening.
But.
“No. You are the first customer in 500 years.”
Toyoto shook his head.
Still, it wasn’t entirely fruitless.
“There were customers in the past.”
So it was possible.
Traits to see spirits.
Traits to summon the dead.
Traits to read past memories.
Using those, he might learn about the customer 500 years ago.
“Do you deal in information?”
“I do, but with your karma, you wouldn’t be able to buy even the lowest-level information.”
“I see.”
Nothing could be done.
Lee Jeon-seok scrolled.
“Trash-filled.”
Tissues used by idols.
Stones from the street.
Goblin saliva.
Even cat poop.
All sorts of questionable items appeared.
Eventually, the scroll stopped.
Lee Jeon-seok sighed and closed the window.
No.
He was about to do that.
“This······.”
Suddenly, an item caught his eye.
He usually saved karma.
Without it, he couldn’t reach heaven.
Checking the shop was purely curiosity.
He had no real intention to buy anything.
Excalibur, dragon’s heart······.
None of those moved him.
But.
Broken Red Short Sword - 1,000 karma
The moment he saw it.
“This will do.”
Lee Jeon-seok had no choice but to spend his precious karma.