The First Confession
The first time I died was during my high school years. It happened at the crosswalk in front of the school during the usual morning rush, back when I had never died before. The last memory I retained on the threshold of death was the sight of a dump truck blaring its horn as it barreled straight toward me. Maybe the driver was drunk, or maybe he was simply speeding. Either way, the truck tore my body apart. It was instant death.
The victim of a tragedy that unfolded right in front of the high school gate. That victim was Lee Ji-ah.
In the natural course of things, my life should have ended there. But for some reason, I was sent back. To a morning a few days before the accident.
I don’t remember much about waking up drenched in sweat on my bed, recalling my own death. All I remember is the pain. There wasn’t a single wound on my body, yet the sudden arrival of death had been too enormous for a child like me to accept. The phantom agony clung to me like a curse and refused to let go.
I curled my trembling body into a tight ball and buried myself under the blankets. It hurt. It was cold. And I was angry. I didn’t know why this had to happen to me, or who to hate, so I simply cursed the heavens.
If that traffic accident was truly Lee Ji-ah’s fate—if it was an unchangeable, predetermined future—then I couldn’t endure it any longer.
I stayed locked in my room all day, refusing to come out. My parents, sensing something was wrong with their daughter, asked me what was going on with worried voices. I forced my unwilling lips into a smile and told them I was fine. It was just a cold, nothing to worry about.
They took me to the hospital. The doctor probably didn’t know what to do either. There was nothing physically wrong with me, yet the sudden chills and uncontrollable shaking wouldn’t stop. All he could do was prescribe some medicine and tell me to rest well.
Mom kept saying I should tell her if I needed anything, then reluctantly left the room. But Dad… Dad was different.
I had always admired my father. He was cheerful, loving, and never once let his expression harden in front of the family. But that day, he was different. It was the first time I had ever seen him look so serious. His lips were pressed into a tight line.
When Mom went downstairs to make porridge, Dad sat down in front of me and spoke.
Looking back now, I think he instinctively knew something had happened to his daughter. The moment he said those words, the forced smile I’d been wearing shattered. All the emotions I had desperately bottled up inside came pouring out like a waterfall— the death I had experienced, the terror, the anxiety, the distrust of fate.
Dad listened to my incoherent ramblings in silence, then finally spoke again.
With my emotions finally released, I nodded as if possessed by his words.
Dad confidently told me that fate could be changed and led me forward. If Lee Ji-ah was supposed to die on that morning a few days later, then all I had to do was make sure I didn’t die that morning.
Following his advice, I skipped school for a few days. I told my homeroom teacher I was suffering from a severe cold. Since there were hospital records to back it up, it wasn’t difficult to get approval.
Dad stayed by my side until the day my scheduled death was supposed to occur. Like a sturdy old tree, he simply remained there, standing guard.
And just like that, the day I was supposed to die passed without incident.
I felt dazed. I couldn’t believe I had so easily slipped past that enormous death, that pain, that fate.
Dad said to me,
…….
It felt strange. The way he spoke made it sound like he had experienced this before. Dad simply nodded silently and left the room.
And so, my second life began.
After that, my days were so busy I barely had time to breathe. My father, a veteran Hunter, began training me in earnest. Survival knowledge, how to move my body, how to run, how to fight, how to talk—everything. It was an exhausting daily routine, as if he were trying to pass down every last bit of knowledge he possessed.
During that time, I awakened several special abilities. And by the time his lessons were over, I had obtained my Hunter license and officially become a Hunter.
By the time I had grown accustomed to the life of a Hunter and become somewhat well-known as a mid-rank Hunter, I met him.
…….
The first time I saw him, I thought he was a strange man.
He was so weak that people mocked him as a permanent newbie, yet he went around helping others. After finishing his daily work, he would head to the pub near the Gate, throw his arms around the shoulders of rookie Hunters, and drink beer with them. I heard he was surviving on nothing but his Rigid Body ability.
Passing the Hunter license exam with only Rigid Body must have been incredibly difficult. It wasn’t unheard of, but people like that usually failed to adapt to the Hunter lifestyle and dropped out quickly. I figured he would be the same.
I dismissed him and turned my attention elsewhere. A few days later, I ran into him again.
It was during the raid on a newly appeared mid-rank Gate that had suddenly opened in the Seocho District of Seoul. Even after the Great Awakening, the frequency of Gate appearances had been slowly decreasing, but they were still far from rare. There was always demand for Hunters to enter them.
The Hunter Association had called for volunteers, and quite a few had responded. After all, no one knew what kind of materials could be obtained from a completely new Gate. It was an opportunity to strike it rich if things went well. There was no way the money-hungry Hunters would miss such a chance.
When I spotted him among that swarm of greedy vultures, I remember feeling strangely disappointed. No matter how much of a saint he acted like by helping others, in the end, it was all about money.
I decided to stop paying attention to him and focused on checking my gear.
Not long after we entered the Gate, disaster struck.
A thick fog suddenly filled the area, scattering the Hunters in every direction. I was alone. It was dangerous. No one knew what might happen inside a brand-new Gate.
Just as I tried to lower my stance, I heard the sound of something slicing through the wind near my ear. I reflexively swung the longsword in my hand to block it, and the surroundings filled with eerie giggling.
Then, small humanoid monsters emerged from the fog. Their skin looked like it contained chlorophyll—short, grotesque creatures with green skin. Before I knew it, a huge number of them had surrounded me.
They giggled in some incomprehensible language, armed with crude clubs. It was the monster known as Goblin.
They were exhausting to fight and didn’t even drop worthwhile loot. But I wasn’t afraid. I had killed plenty of them before. Newbies might hesitate the first time they killed a humanoid monster, but they adapted quickly. I had been the same.
The battle began as they charged at me. It wasn’t difficult. I had slain countless Goblins by now.
That must have been why I failed to notice the surprise attack.
As I was retreating after roasting a group of them with lightning, the ground beneath my foot felt strange. Before I could even question it, a Goblin’s hand shot up from the dirt and grabbed my ankle. It was a pattern I had never encountered before.
I could have shaken it off easily, but that brief opening was all they needed. I felt a sharp sting at the back of my neck. When I pulled out the object embedded there, it was a primitive needle.
I threw it away and tried to regain my stance, but my body collapsed.
Poison…
A single moment of carelessness had led to a fatal result. I needed to escape this place somehow, but my body refused to obey my will.
The Goblins realized I had been incapacitated by the poisoned needle and began slowly closing in. Even after I blasted lightning into the head of the one in front, they kept coming.
Through my fading consciousness, I realized they were swelling grotesquely between their legs. Goblins had no females. They were creatures that reproduced by mating with any living being they could find.
I could guess exactly what they were thinking. They intended to rape me.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I tried to drive the blade of my longsword into my own throat. If I was going to become their breeding sow, I would rather die and start over.
But my body wouldn’t listen. I couldn’t even grip the sword. All I could do was roll across the dirt and glare at them with venomous hatred.
Just as my mind was about to be swallowed by helplessness and despair, someone appeared and kicked the approaching Goblins away. The one that was sent flying landed with its spine broken, tongue lolling out.
The moment I heard that low, calm voice, a wave of relief washed over me.
A man dressed in black lightweight armor, holding two axes in both hands, his eyes shining with fierce determination. The permanent newbie, Ha Hyun-do.
Mid-rank Hunter, Lee Ji-ah.
That was how we first met.