Prologue
"Sis, stay with me. Keep your eyes open."
A boy pleaded, holding a blood-soaked woman in his arms. The woman, spitting blood, struggled to speak.
"Chaeyoon... I have a wish..."
"A wish?"
"I wanted to fulfill it when we got out of here, but it seems impossible now. Will you fulfill it for me...?"
"..."
The boy, called Chaeyoon, visibly furrowed his brow. From the moment the word 'wish' left the woman's lips, the boy's anguish had slightly diminished.
"Cough, cough! Chae, Chaeyoon... My wish..."
"I'll call Uncle Sangtae."
"No, don't. Chaeyoon. It has to be you..."
"I clearly said I'd kill myself when I get out of here. Why is everyone doing this? Uncle Sangtae is right there, and Alex hyung and Gangjin hyung are here too. There are plenty of people, so why is everyone asking me?"
"You said you'd grant the wishes of the living, can't you grant one wish of the dying?"
"That seems to have changed somehow."
"Cough, cough. Ugh!"
The boy's expression grew increasingly sour. The woman's grip on the boy's arm gradually weakened. The boy cursed under his breath, "Damn it."
"Fine. What's your wish? If it's something I can do, I'll do it."
The woman spoke as if she had been waiting for this moment.
"3,000,000 squats, 5,000 laps. That's all you need to do..."
The boy was at a loss for words. The woman, seemingly having used up all her strength, closed her eyes with satisfaction and breathed her last. The surrounding comrades cried out the woman's name. For the boy, this marked the 218th ridiculous last wish he would have to fulfill once he got out of here, and he was seething with frustration.
1. The Hunter Who Hid His Identity
The world had changed drastically.
One day, strange phenomena began occurring all over the world, and simultaneously, translucent windows appeared before the eyes of some people. At first, everyone was perplexed. What was this situation, what were these translucent windows, why could some see them while others couldn't...? Before people could properly grasp the situation, monsters poured into the world, and civilization quickly crumbled.
During the initial dark period known as the Apocalypse, some thought the Earth had perished, but others didn't give up hope. In the desolate world, people gradually began to understand the situation and gather information on how to fight the monsters.
Those who could see the translucent windows, the so-called 'Awakened', gained special abilities. Dungeons began appearing all over the Earth, and if these dungeons weren't cleared within a time limit, the monsters inside would overflow, or the dungeon itself would explode, turning the surrounding area into a land of death. This information was gained at the cost of many lives.
Based on this information, some capable individuals took the lead in rebuilding humanity. Nations that had been at odds now joined forces, and all of humanity, regardless of race or religion, united to fight against the monsters.
As people were beginning to foster hope for a new era, a dungeon appeared in the Arctic. It was the most dangerous grade of all dungeons that had existed so far, and the scale of explosion if not cleared was estimated to be comparable to the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
Faced with an unprecedented catastrophe, humanity began to gather its strength without even time to grieve. The Awakened volunteered to enter the grand dungeon, and each nation provided military equipment, including nuclear weapons, without reservation.
1,203 people, the maximum number allowed, entered the grand dungeon. People called these 1,203 'Revengers'. Leading the charge was a multinational team composed of the six strongest Awakened. Behind them followed eighty-two teams of Awakened, and the rear was taken by brave non-Awakened volunteers.
After the 1,203 heroes, the Revengers, set out on their mission, the people of the world who knew nothing of what was happening inside the dungeon could only wait and pray.
In the end, the dungeon was cleared a day before the expected explosion, and the world escaped the brink of extinction.
However, the sacrifice was great.
Out of the 1,203, only four made it out of the grand dungeon alive. One of them was Seo Chaeyoon, hailed as the ace of the Revengers.
Seo Chaeyoon, who was nineteen at the time, emerged from the dungeon unconscious and carried by another, and from that day on, disappeared from the world.
Rumors abounded - that she had died, lost her abilities, or developed mental illness - but no one knew the truth. The only ones who knew anything about Seo Chaeyoon kept their mouths shut, and among the people, Seo Chaeyoon became spoken of like a legend.
And ten years later...
***
The sun was particularly scorching today, without a single breeze. Standing for two hours under the blazing sun on the rooftop of a residential-commercial complex building in the middle of July summer, with not a shade in sight, was beginning to wear down even Yoon Seo, whose stamina was above average. He wondered if he should have finished earlier. Fanning himself with his hand, Yoon Seo exhaled hot breath. His neck, face, and all areas exposed to the sun were heating up.
"Hunter!"
The building owner, who had come to check on the progress, hurriedly brought a handheld fan.
"Hunter, please use this. It's very hot, isn't it?"
"It's almost done, so it's fine. Please step back."
"Yes, yes."
The building owner retreated respectfully to the inside of the rooftop door. Even though he belonged to an unnamed guild, as an Awakened, Yoon Seo was always treated with great respect by non-Awakened civilians wherever he went.
Yoon Seo finished the basic work and direction calculations, entered the numbers into his U-pad, and linked the address from the contract history. Finally, he placed his hand on the trap and injected a small amount of mana. With a 'pop', a blue sphere appeared in mid-air. Yoon Seo quickly sent the sphere upwards. As it rose to 3 meters in the air, the sphere gradually became transparent until it disappeared, and instead, a blue boundary line appeared on the old four-story building. A shield had been generated.
"Oh, it's complete!"
The building owner marveled, touching the blue boundary line. While Yoon Seo took authentication photos and videos, the boundary line gradually faded until it completely disappeared. It would remain in a deactivated state until there was an impact.
Yoon Seo pulled out a translucent display from the U-pad he usually wore on his wrist, brought up the contract, and approached the civilian who was still in awe.
"This is a B-grade shield. Please check and sign here."
"Ah, yes."
The building owner grasped the pen and scribbled his signature.
"It finished earlier than I expected. I heard it took six hours for that building over there."
"The time varies depending on the building size and grade. First, let me explain the contract details."
"Ah, I already know all that."
"Explaining the content is mandatory."
Yoon Seo put the display back and reattached the U-pad to his wrist. The building owner's gaze followed the U-pad. This Awakened-only device, which looked like an ordinary smartwatch but could pull out a translucent display from its band and project holograms, always attracted the attention of non-Awakened.
"A B-grade shield is safe from dungeon explosions of B-grade and below, and equivalent impacts. As per the special clause you requested, the shield will be maintained for three hours after the first impact, so please keep that in mind. The contract period is one year and is automatically renewed annually. Our guild will send someone for shield trap maintenance quarterly."
"Will you be coming then too, Hunter?"
"Of course, a hunter will come."
"No, I mean... will you be coming?"
"Ah... There's a high probability that I will come."
In large guilds, installation teams and maintenance teams for shield traps are separate, but in small guilds like Yoon Seo's 'Fallen Leaf', they're usually lumped together under the name of civilian support team. Yoon Seo, who had been working in this civilian support team for 10 years, was in charge of the western Seoul area, so he would likely be assigned here as well.
"I see."
The building owner nodded several times as if reassured. Yoon Seo finally escaped the scorching rooftop and entered the building. The shaded stairwell was still hot, but better than the rooftop. As they descended the stairs, the building owner rambled on with useless small talk.
"You know, this is actually my first shield contract, so I was quite worried. I heard rumors that it takes a long time, and that hunters act high and mighty, so you have to humor them for hours. But it seems those were just rumors. It finished quickly, and you're so kind, Hunter. I feel bad for having prejudices, haha."
"The members of our Fallen Leaf Guild are different from those hunters. Please continue to use Fallen Leaf Guild's services in the future."
"Yes, yes. I'll recommend you to others."
Even in this small South Korea, 30 to 100 dungeons appear daily. Korea has a well-established hunter system, so the chances of failing to conquer a dungeon are not high, but the problem is that the failure rate is not 0%.
No matter how good the dungeon detection methods are, it's impossible to monitor the entire country. Sometimes dungeons are discovered with ridiculously short time limits, making clearing impossible, or the portal itself is too small to enter without size reduction skills or items. As a result, monster overflows occurred almost daily, and small-scale explosions happened two or three times a week.
To reduce the damage from this, ten years ago, a hunter created a shield storage device called a shield trap that blocks explosion impacts and monster attacks. This person distributed the blueprint for free on the internet, and people started installing shield traps through guilds, just like getting building insurance. With the creation of explosion traps and movement traps, modified from shield traps, the trap business has now become one of the main businesses of each guild.
For non-Awakened, shield traps were practically the only lifeline protecting them from unpredictable disasters. Some unscrupulous hunters took advantage of this, mistreating civilians. These mistreatments included lowering the shield's defense power below the contract standard or reducing the amount of stored mana to wear out the durability early.
The building owner seemed greatly satisfied that Yoon Seo wasn't one of those abusive hunters.
Exited ~