Chapter 5 - Bukhansan (3)
Bukhansan (3)
At the end of the prison, tangled like a maze—
An old, rusted iron door came into view.
[Boss Area]
As he approached, the system appeared.
It seemed this was the boss room.
Lee Jeon-seok turned back and spoke.
“Everyone, please wait here.”
At the end of his gaze—
About twenty people were gathered.
They were hikers who had been caught in the dungeon outbreak.
“W-what if a monster appears…?”
Someone spoke anxiously, but Lee Jeon-seok replied in a flat tone.
“You’ll have to endure it.”
“…What?”
“H-how are we supposed to…?”
“Or what—would you like to come into the boss room with me?”
Lee Jeon-seok pointed at the rusted iron door.
The people fell silent.
It was a natural reaction.
Entering the boss room—
That was no different from saying they wanted to die.
Leaving the now-quiet group behind, Lee Jeon-seok moved forward.
His current level was 23.
His stats had risen to Agility 25 and Vitality 17.
At that point, his body felt noticeably lighter.
Changes were clearly beginning to occur.
His good karma had also risen to 6,250, but there was no particular physical change.
‘Feels like there should be something…’
Good karma and bad karma.
Those two stats wouldn’t have been added for no reason.
They couldn’t be just for display.
Of course, it was only speculation. Whether there would be changes or not—he would naturally find out as he accumulated more good karma.
Creeeak—.
Lee Jeon-seok opened the iron door to the boss room.
A chilling wind and eerie sound rushed out.
[You have entered the Boss Area.]
A blue system window followed.
The interior was fairly spacious.
A circular space shaped like a dome.
Iron bars surrounded it on all sides.
And at the center—
‘A throne?’
There was a single throne, crudely stitched together from bones and scraps of flesh.
“Grrr….”
And then, a ghoul descended from the throne and suddenly knelt, bowing its head.
“…What?”
Lee Jeon-seok couldn’t help but be startled.
He had been preparing to enter combat—
Yet the boss had suddenly knelt down.
[Ghoul King Lv. 42]
Bright red letters hovered above its head.
‘A fake?’
No—there were no signs of that.
The creature was unquestionably the boss.
Then why?
Lee Jeon-seok slowly approached the boss.
It was a strange situation.
Step. Step.
The closer Lee Jeon-seok got—
“Grrr….”
The boss trembled as if terrified.
Even when Lee Jeon-seok stood right before it, the creature didn’t lift its head.
It wasn’t a fake.
It wasn’t a gimmick.
It didn’t look like an ambush.
‘What in the world…?’
This was something he had never experienced before.
He had seen hunters fall into despair before bosses—but never a boss afraid of an Awakened.
Because of that, Lee Jeon-seok was forced to consider one possibility.
Just like how his Flames of Incineration had turned dark crimson—could this also be an effect of his experiences in hell?
Ghouls were corpses that walked.
Creatures that were extremely sensitive to death.
More than anything—
‘Experience engraved into the soul… was it “rank”? They did say that sometimes it affects the outside world.’
Something he had heard in hell.
When grim reapers came all the way to Avīci to relieve stress.
While being tortured, Lee Jeon-seok had vaguely overheard their idle chatter.
Was this the influence of that “rank”?
“P-please… merc…y….”
The boss spoke.
A succession of incomprehensible situations.
But that aside—this was this.
Thud—!
Lee Jeon-seok kicked the boss in the head.
“Gah…!”
The boss collapsed backward, coughing up dried blood.
A ghoul lay sprawled before the throne.
Lee Jeon-seok stepped on its solar plexus.
“Sorry, but I need to kill you to get out of here.”
Who was the boss here, and who was the human?
The supposed boss ghoul was trembling in fear.
“Merc…y… please….”
If its face hadn’t already been rotted beyond recognition, even Lee Jeon-seok might have felt a sliver of guilt.
But what stood before him was nothing more than a grotesque monster.
Stab—.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lee Jeon-seok pierced the boss’s neck.
And then—
Fwoosh—.
Dark crimson flames erupted from his hand, forming into a dagger.
“Graaah…!”
A monstrous scream followed.
The boss couldn’t resist at all.
It was completely helpless.
Soon, even the decayed flesh was burned away, reduced to ash.
[You have defeated the Boss Monster ‘Ghoul King’.]
[Dungeon Cleared.]
[Congratulations!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[You have taken a life.]
[You have acquired one random trait.]
[You have acquired ‘King of the Dead (C)’!]
System messages poured down like scrolling text on a monitor.
Two levels gained, and a trait as well.
King of the Dead.
Grade C.
[A Gate has opened!]
Rip—!
A gate formed beyond the system window.
A blue crack in space, as if reality itself had been torn apart.
‘That was a rather hollow boss fight.’
Lee Jeon-seok loosened his shoulders and put the dagger away.
The boss fight had ended more easily than expected.
Still, judging by the results, it wasn’t bad.
Level 25.
Stats, a trait, and—
Not to mention the good karma.
The trait’s effect would have to be tested, but…
All things considered, it was a decent reward.
“You can exit through here.”
Lee Jeon-seok guided the people who had been waiting outside toward the gate.
“Thank you…”
“Thank you so much.”
People bowed and exited through the gate.
Then—
“Um…!”
A woman spoke to him.
The same woman he had saved earlier.
“Thank you for saving us!”
She bowed deeply, then—
“This is my phone number.”
She suddenly handed him a piece of paper.
Looking closely, it was a business card.
—
Choi Eun-ha
Manager, Hwasan Guild
—
‘Hwasan Guild…’
Hwasan.
A fairly famous guild.
Ranked 7th domestically.
They had three S-rank Hunters and were known even overseas.
As far as Lee Jeon-seok knew, Hwasan’s upper management consisted entirely of the guild leader’s direct bloodline.
That bloodline shared the surname Choi.
Could this woman—Choi Eun-ha—be one of them?
‘Well, it could just be the same surname.’
Choi wasn’t exactly a rare last name.
“Please let me treat you to a meal sometime.”
Choi Eun-ha said before stepping through the gate.
“Ah… sure.”
Lee Jeon-seok replied awkwardly.
He hadn’t saved them expecting anything in return, but it wasn’t right to reject goodwill outright.
As he finally accepted the business card—
“Well then…”
Choi Eun-ha bowed once more and exited through the gate.
“Hm.”
Now alone, Lee Jeon-seok stared at the card.
Then—
Fwoosh—.
He burned it with Flames of Incineration.
You shouldn’t reject goodwill.
That was true.
But he had no intention of dealing with something as annoying as a meal that felt like a blind date.
If she was grateful, keeping that feeling was enough.
She had probably said it out of courtesy anyway.
[The dungeon will soon collapse.]
The system urged him on, and only then did Lee Jeon-seok leave the dungeon.
[You have changed the fate of many people!]
[Good Karma has increased by ‘3000’!]
[Bad Karma has slightly decreased!] ※ ※ ※ People had gathered at Baegundae.
Not just hikers.
Men in black suits were stationed all around Baegundae.
Police—no, association staff?
It seemed they had responded to a report.
“Are you the one who cleared the dungeon?”
One of them approached Lee Jeon-seok.
He must have already heard from the survivors who exited earlier.
“Yes.”
When Lee Jeon-seok nodded, the association employee made a not-quite-a-request.
“May we have a brief conversation?”
It was practically a threat.
Refusing would probably get him suspected as a villain.
Besides, there was no reason to refuse.
“I don’t mind.”
Lee Jeon-seok accepted.
He followed the staff member down Bukhansan.
At the trail entrance—
A pitch-black sedan was parked.
The conversation—called an investigation—took place inside.
Why he was at Baegundae.
Whether he had a Hunter license.
If not, when he had awakened.
Lee Jeon-seok explained that he had gone up Bukhansan to see the sunrise and had coincidentally been caught in the dungeon outbreak.
Awakening?
“I got lucky and awakened just in time… haha.”
He smiled awkwardly and demonstrated his Flames of Incineration.
Dark crimson flames rose along his hand.
That should have been enough explanation.
A B-rank skill.
Ghouls as monsters.
Even if he had just awakened, with talent, it was plausible that he could clear such a dungeon.
And since his flames were clearly different from ordinary ones, it would be hard to link him to the Dawn Society incident at the department store.
“I see.”
The association staff member scribbled something on a tablet.
After about twenty more minutes—
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Lee Jeon-seok stepped out of the car, receiving the staff member’s thanks.
What was there to ask so much about…?
It was enough to make him sigh.
More importantly—
‘Looks like it’ll still be a while before the bus arrives…’
Lee Jeon-seok checked the bus schedule for his return.
Then he opened his status window.
‘Let’s check the new trait.’
King of the Dead.
It was time to see its effect. ※ ※ ※ Inside the sedan.
“Team Leader, was it really okay to just let him go?”
The man in the driver’s seat asked as he pressed the accelerator.
The car slowly began to move.
The man called Team Leader—Kim Baek-dong—asked back,
“What about it?”
“Didn’t he seem suspicious? Those eyes.”
The intern’s words.
Kim Baek-dong partially agreed.
“Well, they were pretty creepy…”
But—
“You don’t judge people by appearances.”
Kim Baek-dong said as he put a cigarette to his lips.
“Depending on their traits, appearances change all the time. Horns, fangs, skin color…”
Then he added,
“If we were going to suspect someone over that, we’d have to suspect our own Association President first.”
“…Ah, that was careless of me.”
“Careless, my ass.”
Puff—.
Kim Baek-dong exhaled gray smoke out the window.
“Still, talk about bad luck.”
The driver—the intern who had recently joined the department—muttered with a sigh.
“Getting a dispatch request right nearby while we’re on a business trip…”
“That’s just how working life is.”
“I guess so.”
Sigh.
The intern let out yet another deep sigh and pressed the accelerator harder. ※ ※ ※ —
King of the Dead
Grade: C
Effect: Gains reverence from the dead.
Proficiency – 0%
—
“…?”
Lee Jeon-seok frowned as he read the effect of his newly acquired trait.
‘What does this even mean?’
Gains reverence from the dead.
It was absurdly abstract.
The dead.
In other words, the deceased.
Did this mean he could command them?
Or simply that they revered him?
“Hm…”
Ambiguous.
Even more so because it wasn’t a trait he could test immediately.
Was this good or bad…?
‘Well, I’ll find out once I enter a dungeon.’
Coincidentally, the Hunter Exam was coming up soon.
During the exam, candidates would clear an F-rank dungeon under the supervision of proctors.
The dungeon type was selectable, and among them would surely be undead-type dungeons.
‘F-rank usually has skeletons, right?’
Skeletons.
Unlike ghouls, they boasted fairly solid defense.
Wouldn’t they be perfect for experimentation?
Screech—.
Just then, the bus stopped at the station.
Looking forward to the upcoming Hunter Exam, Lee Jeon-seok boarded the bus home.