Damn Hunter Life 1

When I woke up in bed, everything was bewildering.

I was wearing what looked like a white jeogori that you’d only wear during the Joseon Dynasty and pants that seemed to be made of silk. I could see a wooden bed with antique patterns, a wooden mother-of-pearl chest that you’d find in old houses, and windows made of hanji paper.

“This is…”

My pale bare feet and wrists where bones were visible felt unfamiliar. I had a strong conviction that this wasn’t my body.

‘…Did I possess someone?’

It took a few minutes to accept the situation, but there was only one conclusion. I had possessed someone.

First, I urgently needed to figure out what novel this was.

When I sat up, I felt something with a familiar shape in my thigh. There was a flat object in my pocket.

‘This, if I’m thinking correctly, could it be…’

For some reason, inside these mourning clothes pants that had modern-style pockets, a phone came out just as I expected.

A work featuring modern people wearing hanbok.

‘I got it.’

Thanks to the unique setting, I immediately caught on.

Then next, I needed to figure out who I was.

I happened to see a small mirror on the desk. The desk wasn’t too far from the bed, so when I reached out, I could touch it.

The man in the mirror looked quite protagonist-like. His jet-black hair reaching his shoulders suited him quite well.

However, he was excessively gaunt. No wonder I could see his wrist bones – he was such a frail guy that I could feel his ribs under his jeogori.

I didn’t have high expectations, but it was an unfamiliar face. I couldn’t remember seeing it on the cover, let alone recalling any character descriptions from the work. Therefore, he was neither the protagonist nor a supporting character.

Who the hell is this really? Maybe if I search through the phone, I’ll find some information about this guy. Just as I was about to turn on the power.

Ping. A translucent window appeared before my eyes.

[Name] Gyeon Gang-hyeon

[Age] 22

[Affiliation] Twelve Zodiac ‘Sul’ / [Position] Successor

[Location] Hideout

[Status] Unawakened

How convenient, it’s spoon-feeding me information. Perfect.

Those three characters for the name shown there were familiar. And the core information visible in the affiliation ‘Twelve Zodiac.’

This was a novel I’d read recently.

<Hunters Who Achieve Harmony>.

A Korean hunter organization with twelve successors based on the twelve zodiac animals, and among them, the growth story of Ja Hyeong-woo, the mouse successor who becomes the second-generation leader.

And I also knew very well that I wasn’t that protagonist.

‘So I’m Gyeon Gang-hyeon.’

I’m pretty good at remembering the contents of books I’ve read. But even someone like me had no idea about Gang-hyeon’s appearance or distinctive features. And for good reason.

That guy was an extra who died in episode 1.

On the phone’s home screen was a message that had arrived early this morning.

—

××Month ××Day 03:04:28

<Emergency Alert>

STAGE 25 Open

Successors please prepare for conquest within 20 minutes.

—

STAGE 25. The monster wave that appears in episode 1, which becomes the beginning of the work.

“Then Ja Hyeong-woo is probably heading out to conquer that right now.”

It’s exactly following the flow of episode 1. Various other minor settings that appeared in the work came flooding back to my mind.

Of course, all of this has nothing to do with Gyeon Gang-hyeon.

Even though this bastard is technically a successor too.

/How unusual for you to mention another successor out loud?

“Huh?”

I unconsciously responded to the words that appeared in the status window.

Ah, right. In this world, the status window has its own consciousness.

Aside from occasionally picking fights, it doesn’t really contribute to the story, so I can just think of it as someone who adds commentary.

‘But the status window made a good point. I was forgetting.’

The character I possessed, Gyeon Gang-hyeon, isn’t someone who would casually mention other colleagues. But it wasn’t because Gang-hyeon had a serious personality.

This guy was jealous of the other successors.

Because he was the only one among the twelve zodiac successors who couldn’t awaken.

The STAGE messages that automatically went to successors were meaningless to only one person – Gyeon Gang-hyeon.

Gang-hyeon couldn’t join the party even once while the STAGE waves reached 25, and instead of self-reflection, he caused trouble, so his image was already rock bottom.

Always getting drunk and picking fights with passing regular hunters. Acting like he’s someone special because he’s a successor, abusing his power over the younger ones. Even though he’d immediately get knocked flat when fighting regular hunters.

Especially to the original protagonist, Ja Hyeong-woo, he poured out vicious words every time they met.

That’s why when Ja Hyeong-woo recalls ‘dead Gang-hyeon’ in the work, what he mainly remembers are just the harsh words that guy, consumed by his inferiority complex, used to spew.

‘Dead Gang-hyeon.’

Right. According to the original work, I’m destined to die exactly today.

At the time when Ja Hyeong-woo is busy conquering STAGE 25.

As for the cause of death—

—He died suddenly while drinking.

An extra who was a nuisance with an equally pathetic reason for death.

It meant I would die sometime today, but I didn’t feel that much of a crisis. Because, well, the method to avoid death was simple.

“I swear to heaven. From today, I’m going alcohol-free.”

/…?

That status window is already getting on my nerves. It wasn’t for nothing that there was an episode in the original where the kids researched ‘how to make the status window shut up.’

I got up from the bed. But as soon as I stood up, my body swayed dramatically and I collapsed again.

‘This piece of trash body.’

The extra from <Hunters Who Achieve Harmony>, Gyeon Gang-hyeon, was supposed to die of sudden death while lying at home drunk.

‘Acute heart failure… I think it was.’

It might seem somewhat absurd for a twenty-two-year-old young man to die of ‘heart failure,’ but there was actually some basis for it.

In this work, being a twelve zodiac successor meant you were born to be a hunter. So when such a person couldn’t awaken for some reason.

The body of an unawakened successor was extremely weak because their ki couldn’t circulate properly. Now I understand it firsthand. Just standing up made my legs tremble.

“Is this really the default body condition? I can’t even walk properly.”

There should be a function in the status window to briefly check body condition.

<Status Abnormality>

Current blood alcohol concentration is high.

Ah shit, so I was passed out drunk?

I thought I was feeling weak because the power of the twelve zodiac was tangled up in my body. But it turns out it was just a hangover.

I was speechless. And when I stood up, I felt nauseous. This is really something else.

‘I didn’t drink the alcohol myself, but I need to cure this hangover.’

The hangover aside, I felt like I was dying of hunger. I had to do something about my stomach making such loud noises. Let me eat something while thinking carefully about future countermeasures.

I could see a purple silk robe and belt hanging on the coat rack by the door. It’s strange, but that seems to be the outdoor clothing. Well, what I’m wearing now is mourning clothes too.

But could my current body handle that heavy, flowing outer garment?

“Anyway, even with these mourning clothes, I’m covered from top to bottom.”

/You are about to leave the house wearing only underwear.

Then the status window interjected. At the firm correction I could sense from the text, I momentarily thought I was naked.

“Underwear refers to just boxers. If the body is fully covered, this is clothing.”

I gave the status window a sharp rebuke to get it together.

<Location>

Hunter School – Northeast Street

According to the status window’s standards, wearing underwear, I crossed the garden outside the hanok. While heading to the communal dining hall, I had one thought.

Just how ridiculous Gyeon Gang-hyeon is.

“Gasp, Gang-hyeon…!”

“Come this way! Stay out of sight.”

It felt more like they were avoiding me out of disgust rather than fear. Students who appeared to be the same age as Gang-hyeon or younger fled in horror.

They were all dressed in hanbok too. I thought this was Gyeongbokgung Palace.

‘Surely they’re not cooking rice over a fire pit in the dining hall too?’

Fortunately, the inside of the building was modern. It’s just that the tables were low and the bowls were wooden.

There was a breakfast schedule posted in front of the dining hall door. Fortunately, I barely made it during breakfast time. I’d already gotten used to the sight of students I encountered recoiling in disgust and scattering in all directions as if they’d seen something they shouldn’t have.

The ‘Hunter School,’ a separate space for training hunters, operates all facilities through an unmanned system, or more precisely, through magic. When I sat at an empty table, a meal automatically appeared.

It was my first meal, but seeing food like clam soup and tteok-galbi made my appetite return immediately.

The meal was very satisfying, except for the inconvenience of the baggy mourning clothes sleeves touching the bowls.

‘Except for all the staring?’

The way students kept glancing over here or whispering among themselves was unusual. I guess you could call it a somewhat suspicious feeling.

It wasn’t like “that troublemaker came again,” but more like they were curious, wondering “why did that person come here?” So Gang-hyeon doesn’t even eat meals?

Since most people had finished eating, it should get better once some people leave.

“How unusual that he’s just quietly eating.”

“Don’t let your guard down. You never know when he’ll throw a bowl. Look at his face. He’s been drinking.”

“There’s a rumor that our tableware changed to wooden because Gang-hyeon kept throwing them around.”

They probably thought they were speaking quietly, but I could hear all the murmuring behind me. The food went down fine, but the back of my head felt itchy.

Do I have to live like this for the rest of my life…

Beep—

An ear-splitting alarm sound came from somewhere. It seemed like a text message came to my phone.

—

STAGE 25 has been conquered.

—

‘Oh, in just 6 hours.’

Seeing the conquest success notification that I’d only read in text was quite different. It really hit me that I’d fallen into the world of a novel.

“The conquest is over!”

Starting with one student shouting loudly, cheers spread throughout the dining hall.

To the regular hunters here, the successors were heroes, idols, and wannabes.

They were responsible for conquering the large-scale waves called ‘stages’ at the Hunter School, not the small regular gates that appeared randomly. Having protected Korea, they became Korea’s heroes and stars, combining chemistry and looks of peers aged 15-24.

The dining hall resonated with cheering sounds. It was natural since everyone here was either regular hunters or student hunter trainees. The surroundings were full of excitement, heat, and elated voices.

Of course, all of this was completely removed from Gyeon Gang-hyeon.

My chopsticks weren’t working well, so I kept dropping the tteok-galbi for no reason.

“…What? He’s coming here now?”

At that moment, someone’s words suddenly caught my attention.

“Who, who?”

“Successor Ja Hyeong-woo!”

Cough, I almost spat out the water I was drinking.

<Status>

The mouse successor is approaching.

The original protagonist who just finished the conquest is coming here?

‘He’s not coming because information leaked that I’m here, right? He’s probably just hungry, right? I’m being overly self-conscious.’

Soon, commotion spread from the dining hall entrance behind me. He’s here.

“Successor-nim! You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“No.”

A low voice that was polite but seemed to draw a line with the students.

“Thank you for your hard work on the conquest! Um, but! Please look over there…”

Following some student’s words, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

I could tell without looking back. The student who spoke was pointing at the back of my head, telling Ja Hyeong-woo to look at that guy, that there’s a troublemaker here.

I just pretended to slowly continue eating. I’d already lost my appetite anyway.

“…Yes. I know. It shows up in the status window. When there’s a successor nearby.”

“Ah! Ah…?”

I’d bet that among the students here, no one remembered that I was also a successor.

It was natural. Gang-hyeon was more famous for being a troublemaker than for being a successor.

While I was keeping my gaze fixed forward as much as possible and stabbing at my rice, Ja Hyeong-woo’s blue hwarang outfit briefly flashed in my peripheral vision.

‘Why did he have to sit at the table right next to mine?’

Suddenly my seat became like sitting on pins and needles.

* * *

Ja Hyeong-woo sat at any table without even looking at Gang-hyeon and ordered a meal.

The other colleagues who had conquered together scattered, saying they’d sleep first, but Ja Hyeong-woo’s stomach situation was more urgent. So as soon as the conquest ended, he headed straight to the communal dining hall.

Putting up with the annoyance of it being crowded with students.

And also putting up with that black head visible in the distance.

/Aren’t you going to give Gang-hyeon successor a lecture?

The status window prodded him familiarly. Ja Hyeong-woo answered curtly in his mind.

‘I don’t want to waste energy when I’m tired.’

As expected, it was noisy with people crowding around. The students who had been gathered only in the back so as not to disturb Ja Hyeong-woo’s meal gradually raised their voices.

The people who had gathered in a buzz all made a fuss about Ja Hyeong-woo’s performance.

“Breaking through in just 6 hours is amazing!”

“Damn… I mean, sorry for the slip. Anyway, isn’t this crazy?”

“You devoured those monsters!”

Why does everyone think what successors naturally should do is amazing? Ja Hyeong-woo couldn’t understand. So he didn’t respond to anything and just silently ate his rice.

“Hyeong-woo Hunter-nim! Can we play the conquest video here? Please?”

One large male student finally activated the big screen attached to the front of the dining hall.

Right now, here? Ja Hyeong-woo lowered his head a bit.

The male student, feeling the gaze of other students gathered around him, played the video himself. Then he glanced back at Gang-hyeon.

‘I’m a bit scared Gang-hyeon might flip out, but it’d actually be good if he caused a scene. He’s been quietly eating since earlier, so I was wondering why that troublemaker was acting like that.’

All the students had similar thoughts.

‘If Gang-hyeon gets jealous watching the performance video and throws a fit, Successor Ja Hyeong-woo will drive him out, right? Then we can kick him out of the dining hall with this!’

Stage waves are automatically recorded from the individual perspectives of all successors participating in the conquest through the gate system. It was a kind of special service that only stage waves had.

And if you wanted to see the overall conquest flow from a broad perspective, you could play Ja Hyeong-woo’s cam.

Ja Hyeong-woo was a healer, and healers don’t run off on their own but support everyone.

The one and only guardian deity of the successors, the sacred water healer Ja Hyeong-woo.

On the screen, hideous dark monsters drooled as they charged forward. Against them, the earth shook. It was the earth attribute successor’s performance.

The students watched the battle as if enchanted. Several kept glancing at the silent figure’s back.

‘Gang-hyeon will definitely have an outburst. Three, two, one…’

But there was no particular reaction.

He was watching the screen, but from behind, it looked like he was just calmly continuing to put spoonfuls of rice in his mouth.

Bang—! At that moment, the dragon successor’s summon heavily rammed into a large monster. The horse successor broke through that gap, swinging a greatsword. The monster’s black body was sliced away with a scraping sound.

“It seems like the successors have become complete veterans now! Your teamwork is so good.”

“Ah… really fucking cool.”

“It was wise to compose the team with one each of fire, water, earth, and wood attributes. Cap× Plan×t meta—”

Several students praised the successors, even using profanity. Everyone was in a cheerful mood, praising Ja Hyeong-woo to the skies. It was a festival among festivals.

But then, a voice with completely different emotions suddenly popped out.

“No way, they did that with that combination?”

At that one remark, the dining hall became impossibly quiet. Everyone’s attention focused on that back of the head.

“That’s why it took 6 hours. There’s a long way to go, but if you spend several hours on just stage 25…”

The troublemaker Gang-hyeon, who had been muttering while looking at the screen as if he were alone, deliberately trailed off and naturally turned around.

“Oh, did I say that out loud?”

However, that boldness didn’t last long either. Cold sweat trickled down Gang-hyeon’s back.

Because of the momentum of the original protagonist glaring at him with piercing eyes.