[You use a skill. Skill: Thorn of Sin]
[Activating Thorn of Sin.]
“Beom-ah!”
The moment I shouted, Baek Tae-beom lunged forward like he’d been flung. In a single fluid motion, he cut down the monster caught in the thorns. Blood gushed as the creature split apart and crumbled into dust. All that was left behind was a single item on the ground.
[Werewolf Hide E]
[A tough werewolf hide. Seems useful as crafting material.]
Baek Tae-beom was breathing raggedly. Just looking at him, I could tell how exhausted he was, and though I felt a pang of pity, it wasn’t the time to rest. I swung my staff at a monster charging in from the side, crushed its skull, and quickly pulled back.
A golden arrow shot past me and buried itself into the monster’s body.
Lee Myung-won extended his arm again and fired another arrow at the next monster. A sharp sonic boom rang out, a streak of light burst forward, and only a vivid scorch mark was left behind.
The monster took an arrow to the forehead and collapsed, disintegrating into dust.
“Isn’t your stamina way too low, Mr. Baek Tae-beom?”
Myung-won’s tone might’ve sounded sarcastic, but his expression was sincere.
Baek Tae-beom bowed his head, leaning on his sword to support himself.
“If you rely too much on your skills, your body won’t be able to keep up.”
[The Constellation, ‘One More Dazzling Than the Sun’, relays to me that his contractor is absolutely right.]
[CH. Private / One Who Knows of Destruction: Why do you have to say it in such a dickish way? Just type it in chat or something.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Did you just call me a dick?]
[CH. Private / One Who Knows of Destruction: Did you not hear it that way?]
I ignored their bickering in the chat and turned my gaze back to Baek Tae-beom.
What mattered most right now wasn’t scolding him—it was figuring out how to save his little brother. The story never specified exactly when or how the brother died.
In the original novel, Yoo Jin-woo’s group might’ve manipulated things to keep the kid bouncing between hospitals. So for now, the most urgent thing was getting him transferred to a better hospital. Most hospitals these days were charging extortionate prices, thanks to the monster outbreaks and dungeon overflows.
That meant I needed money. Which is why I contacted Lee Myung-won.
Without registering as an Awakened, the only legal way into dungeons was through him. He was reluctant at first, but after I kept explaining Baek Tae-beom’s situation and pushing him, he finally gave in and agreed to bring us along on a minor dungeon raid.
Even now, his secretary was waiting outside—just in case.
Still…
Why does he look so down?
Baek Tae-beom’s expression grew darker after Myung-won gave his advice. He didn’t say a word.
This was already our third dungeon run, and his expression hadn’t looked good once.
Is he sick or something?
[The Constellation, ‘One Who Knows of Destruction’, is worried about Baek Tae-beom.]
[The Constellation, ‘One Who Knows of Destruction’, tells Baek Tae-beom to go rest if he’s not feeling well.]
Baek Tae-beom brushed away the floating message windows like they were a nuisance, then adjusted his grip on his sword again.
After <Small Purgatory>, the two dungeons we tackled had yielded no decent items. They were both low-level scenario-type dungeons, and all we walked away with was 3,000 Coins total. No gear, no drops. But this time was different—it was a field-type dungeon.
All the monsters were werewolf-type, and the layout resembled a vast cave, with tangled, forking paths that made navigation a nightmare.
Fortunately, Myung-won seemed experienced with this kind of terrain and quickly found the right route, leading the way.
The problem was Baek Tae-beom. He was clearly wearing down fast.
I reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and turned to look at me slowly, but his expression started to soften when our eyes met.
“You okay?”
“Ah, yeah. I’m fine.”
“You look really worn out. Maybe you should hang back a bit?”
“Ah…”
He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then shook his head firmly.
“I’m really fine. I’ll stay by your side, hyung.”
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Stubborn little thing.]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: It’s obvious. He’s just trying to impress you.]
[CH. Private / One Who Knows of Destruction: What kind of bullshit are you spouting now?]
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: Don’t forget I’m the god of romance.]
[CH. Private / One Who Knows of Destruction: Pretty sure you’ve never been in a proper relationship. And spinning everything into romance? You sound like some crusty old man.]
I stopped pretending to be polite to Apollo. We both knew Constellations couldn’t fight each other anyway.
[CH. Private / One More Dazzling Than the Sun: You insolent brat….]
I scoffed quietly and pulled up Baek Tae-beom’s status window.
[Viewing Contractor’s Information.]
[Contractor – Baek Tae-beom, One Who Cleaved the Mist]
[Title: One Who Cleaved the Mist]
[Status: Unstable]
[Contracted Constellation: One Who Knows of Destruction]
[Owned Coins: 21,100]
[Owned Skills: [Sword Aura] [Hermit]]
[There are latent skills that have not manifested due to unmet conditions. Condition appears extremely poor; rest is highly recommended.]
My face instinctively tightened. No matter how much Tae-beom tried to hide it, the window laid bare the truth. As my expression twisted with concern, Baek Tae-beom started fidgeting like a guilty puppy.
“You need to rest. Seriously.”
“Hyung…”
“The same monsters keep showing up anyway. Myung-won and I can handle them. Okay? Just rest for a bit.”
I gave his shoulder a firm pat and stepped forward.
Lee Myung-won had just crushed a werewolf underfoot and looked up.
“You all right?”
“As you can see, perfectly fine.”
“That’s surprising. I expected the opposite.”
“Do I really look that frail?”
“You should probably eat more.”
I couldn’t admit I’d been living off instant ramen and triangle kimbap. I just gave him an awkward shrug. Myung-won chuckled and glanced back at Tae-beom.
“You two friends?”
“Uh… something like that?”
“Nice. There’s a kind of friendship you can only have when you’re young.”
Another surprise the original novel never showed—Myung-won could be surprisingly talkative. Maybe he was more like his Constellation than I thought.
“But if I may offer a bit of advice… I’d recommend Baek Tae-beom stop going into dungeons altogether.”
“Why?”
“As I said before, he’s far too reliant on his skills.”
Myung-won fired another arrow into a monster’s skull as he continued.
“At this rate, it’s like his movements are completely dictated by the skill. And that’s not something you fix just by trying harder. If he keeps going like this, he’ll burn out completely.”
“So you’re saying he should quit being a hunter?”
“If I had to put it bluntly, yeah. He’s grinding himself into the ground.”
“You tell him that too?”
“I already did… he didn’t take it well.”
That must’ve been their earlier conversation. No wonder Tae-beom didn’t look thrilled around him.
“What do you think caused it?”
“Who knows? Wouldn’t he know best?”
I sighed. Both Myung-won and his Constellation clearly didn’t think much of Baek Tae-beom. And honestly, I couldn’t blame them.
In the original story, Baek Tae-beom was the villain who ended the world. Maybe everyone in this world instinctively felt it. Like they subconsciously sensed how the story would end.
After all, Myung-won had been one of Kang Si-hoo’s allies—and Baek Tae-beom killed him.
Still… what did it mean to be “ruled by a skill”?
That might explain why even the Constellations abandoned him in the original. Thinking back, it never made much sense. Tae-beom was strong and intelligent. He should’ve been a top-tier Awakened.
Instead, he was discarded. Even after two years of hardship, he clung to vengeance with no clear goal. The only skills he had were [Hermit] and one from an item I’d given him.
Was that skill the root of it all?
“We need to focus now, Choi Ga-hyeon.”
Myung-won’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I looked ahead—and there it was. A massive door at the end of the dark cave, completely out of place. The boss room.
Baek Tae-beom limped up beside me. I glanced at him with concern, but he kept his eyes fixed forward.
“Think we’ll get another werewolf in there?”
“Probably. Let’s finish this and get out.”
Myung-won pushed the door open.
[The final room of the dungeon has been opened.]
[A new quest has been updated.]
[Dungeon: Wolf’s Howl]
[There is a massive werewolf living in this dangerous cave.
Eliminate the werewolf.
Reward: ???]
“So you’re the ones who killed my kin!”
A furious voice exploded the moment the door opened. We all instinctively looked up.
Red glowing eyes. A grotesquely twisted face. Shaggy fur, glinting teeth—
Myung-won muttered, sounding tired.
“Well, so much for getting home early.”
The monster was massive, its bulk nearly filling the room.
I tightened my grip on my staff.
