#29
“But since sitting this close might be dangerous, why don’t we sit in a circle?”
When Seo Yi-young first sat down on the floor with a thud, the other children began to find their places too. Even the child who had been standing a bit apart could naturally join the group. This was good enough.
He couldn’t ignore them, but getting more involved wouldn’t be good either.
“Hmm, what was the question? Ah, right. It was about dungeons? Honestly, it’s quite difficult to live in a dungeon for days. And the monsters all look different. Some look like animals, others like plants, so you have to observe carefully how to deal with them. Inside dungeons, there are forest-like dungeons, ghost town-like dungeons where nobody lives. If there was a golden palace, I’d like to bring back some of that gold. That would be really nice.”
Everyone laughed at Seo Yi-young’s words. They were genuinely friendly.
If they were adults, there would have been sarcastic remarks like “Aren’t there other valuable items besides gold?” but not with these children.
“Excuse me.”
At that moment, the child who had been standing apart raised his hand and spoke up.
“Go ahead.”
“Could you show us your ability, Hunter-nim?”
At this cautious question, the other children widened their eyes as if they hadn’t even thought of it. After a second, during which some realization seemed to dawn on the children:
“Oh…!”
“Me too!”
“I want to see it too!”
“I’m curious!”
“Can’t you show us?”
They were all like baby birds chirping excitedly. As Seo Yi-young was smiling at them, the director of the orphanage, who had been watching the situation, stepped in to restrain them.
“Children. You shouldn’t ask to see such things carelessly.”
“Why not?”
“Why, why?”
“A Hunter’s ability isn’t something you can just ask to see.”
“It’s fine.”
Seo Yi-young said with a gentle smile.
What harm could there be? It’s not like he was actually using his ability; just showing it briefly to the children was fine. Even if someone reported it to the association, he wouldn’t even face a suspension, just a verbal warning at most. Seo Yi-young’s ability was special to an irreplaceable degree.
When Seo Yi-young extended his hand, everyone focused on it.
Even the orphanage director.
Amid the silence, with only the distant sound of cars audible, everyone’s eyes were fixed on Seo Yi-young’s hand.
After a moment, as his hand began to glow golden, the children let out genuine exclamations of awe: “Woah!”
“This is how I heal injured Hunters.”
“Wow, amazing.”
“Incredible.”
“Woaah.”
Honestly acknowledging and admiring others’ good qualities is one of children’s virtues. It’s something many people lose as they grow older.
“I want to become a Hunter like you!”
“Idiot. That costs money.”
“Aish, you can save up. Work part-time!”
“Do you know how much it costs?”
Listening to them, there was definitely a financial barrier. Even for children with parents, covering the cost of awakening required saving carefully for a year. For those without support, it would take several years of saving, and many would have to give up due to lack of funds.
But in current South Korea, awakening is essentially equivalent to gaining competitiveness. Thanks to Jo Tae-su, the proportion of Awakened Ones in Korea is overwhelmingly higher than in other countries.
Although Seo Yi-young still hadn’t developed positive feelings toward Jo Tae-su, his ability was undeniably useful.
“Why? I heard you can get a scholarship from Hayan.”
“Hey, do you know how hard it is to get that?”
The children continued to bicker.
From what he heard, it seemed Hayan also operated a scholarship foundation. If Jo Tae-su could do such a thing, there was no reason Seo Yi-young couldn’t. He had more than enough money for himself, and he would earn a tremendous amount in the future.
“If you’re thinking about awakening, I’ll cover the costs.”
The commotion quieted at Seo Yi-young’s words.
The children clapped their hands with joy, but the orphanage director and supervisor, being adults, couldn’t look entirely pleased. There would certainly be various procedures to follow.
“You don’t need to worry about anything else here. I’ll take care of all the necessary expenses.”
Others might think these children were receiving special treatment. Just one orphanage. They hadn’t done anything particularly good, nor were they excellent students, so some might argue it was unfair to give this opportunity only to children here.
But he couldn’t let the fear of such perspectives prevent him from even starting.
Seo Yi-young was not a god.
He could only focus on what was within his sight. If he refused to extend help to some because he couldn’t help all children in difficult situations, then ultimately he wouldn’t be able to help a single person.
Even with awakening, success wasn’t guaranteed. What grade they would achieve and what ability they would awaken were all left to chance.
Seo Yi-young simply felt that if he could lower the threshold for even one person to navigate the world, that would be enough.
Realizing anew that he could give back in this way after all his hardships, Seo Yi-young’s feelings were difficult to describe. But one unchanging fact remained:
Good things are indeed good.
Seo Yi-young smiled as he watched the children begin a heated discussion about what abilities they wanted when they awakened.
*
After that, Seo Yi-young participated as a core member in several dungeon raids.
All of them were New-type dungeons. Except for one dungeon where tiny insect-like monsters appeared, the raids were generally smooth. At least there wasn’t the sensation of “what I’m facing is the same type of creature as me.”
Indeed, the worst was the second dungeon, the Original dungeon with humanoid monsters that he had cleared with Choi Do-jun.
Even now, he would sometimes unconsciously shudder when memories of that time surfaced. Some nights, they would appear in his dreams. On such nights, he would stay awake till dawn, unable to fall back asleep.
Entering a dungeon was almost like being in a state of war.
Sleeping rough and camping were basic, and even meals had to be managed inside.
But upon exiting the dungeon, one had to face an incredibly peaceful reality.
That gap was truly surreal.
While Hunters were raiding dungeons, others could maintain their peaceful daily lives, but the Hunters who maintained that peace couldn’t do the same. For Hunters, there was no “peaceful daily life.”
Inside dungeons, they had to eliminate all the monsters they encountered. The term used was “eliminate,” but in direct terms, they had to “kill” them.
Even if the monsters looked different, the fact that they were living and moving remained unchanged, and combat Hunters had to kill dozens or hundreds of these living things. There was no choice since they would die if they didn’t kill the monsters.
So they killed everything that appeared before them indiscriminately. They themselves often suffered severe injuries, like broken bones or torn flesh. It could be called a lawless zone, or a wartime situation. After being in such a state and then abruptly returning to a daily life where one had to follow traffic signals, many couldn’t adapt properly.
There was a sentiment shared only among Hunters who entered dungeons.
This was largely because ordinary people couldn’t understand what it felt like. Hunters didn’t expect to be understood by civilians who viewed entering dungeons as amazing, cool, and enviable.
Some Hunters couldn’t bear the gap between the extraordinary and the ordinary, saying they no longer wanted to participate in dungeon raids, but reality didn’t conform to a Hunter’s wishes. They couldn’t retire or abstain from raids solely by their own will. Being a Hunter was a profession from which one couldn’t retire unless they died. Because of this, it was known that many Hunters underwent psychological counseling or drug therapy.
Since realizing that he could use his ability for more than just healing injuries, Seo Yi-young had been using it excessively. There wasn’t a limit to the number of times he could use his ability, but his mana couldn’t keep up. So if there was a limitation, it was that mana gradually depleted.
Since the total amount of mana or the remaining mana wasn’t displayed in a status window, he could only gauge it by feel. Seo Yi-young, who had only recently discovered his ability, often realized his limits only after reaching them.
If he depleted all his mana, he would faint on the spot. Of course, that was something Seo Yi-young didn’t want to experience. So he always prepared mana charging potions and drank them to endure when necessary.
Among Hunters, there was talk about Seo Yi-young being too diligent. It seemed the original Seo Yi-young hadn’t been this dedicated. But he didn’t mind. In a situation where everyone was risking their lives to raid dungeons, his goal was to use his ability to the fullest to ensure that everyone returned alive, if he could be of even a little help.
Raid teams that included Seo Yi-young carried the title of “All Members Return Alive.”
It was natural, in a way. With “that” Seo Yi-young present, it would be a major issue if someone died.
For this reason, many Hunters wanted to be on the same team as Seo Yi-young for dungeon raids. Seo Yi-young also participated in almost all raids when possible.
Today, another dungeon raid was scheduled.
As he prepared for the dungeon, Seo Yi-young looked at the miscellaneous items he had collected in one corner of his drawer.
Pearl earrings. A red block. An electronic cigarette. Matches. A box cutter knife. A seal. A brush.
These were things he had found in New-type dungeons before defeating the boss and exiting. There were even more things he couldn’t bring back due to tight time constraints.
They were just common, everyday objects that one could see in daily life, but he had brought them out because they felt strange. These were odd items to find in New-type dungeons, which typically had fantasy-like or imaginative environments that lacked realism, unlike Original dungeons, which mainly consisted of environments that seemed like civilization had declined.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
