Chapter 12 (2/2)
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Half disappointed, half anticipating, Jinwoo opened the other box . .
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A pen was inside . .
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He turned it over in his hands, clicking one end and checking the tip . .
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It was an ordinary pen . .
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Pen.
An ordinary pen . Good for writing memos . .
You may keep this item in your inventory . .
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Fitting to their name, the Random Boxes truly produced random items . .
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“Hmm…”.
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But he was not completely disappointed . Although he had little uses for the two random items, he learned something valuable from observing the items . The first was that the information screen on items did not popup from observing other items around the room . As such, he surmised that this function was limited to items from the Random Boxes[2] . The second information was far more valuable:.
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The existence of an inventory . .
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“Inventory . ”.
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As he spoke the words, an information box showing dozens of item slots appeared before him . Fitting of a level 1, his inventory was almost completely empty, but Jinwoo was surprised to see a familiar item in the first slot . .
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‘Thats…?’.
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He took the item out . .
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ring~.
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Kim Sangshik’s Steel Sword.
Attack Power +10.
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It was Mr . Kim’s sword that he had picked up back in the temple . He had thought that it was left behind in the Gate . .
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“Good to see you again, you bastard . ”.
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He couldn’t help but laugh . Remembering his last moments in the temple, he felt like the two had shared a special bond . Seeing the sword back in his hand was a welcoming sight . Additionally, he felt a shame hiding away an item like this in his inventory . .
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‘Kim-ssi[3] ahjussi said he bought it for 3 million won?’.
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Although the Hunters’ weapons may appear ordinary, they were anything but . Magic beasts could not be harmed by weapons with no magic power . As such, weapons created for the purpose of facing such existences were very expensive . .
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‘Looks like I’ll have to use this for a while . ’.
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Up until now, he could not afford a Hunter’s weapon and fought with his bare hands . As such, even though it was a relatively cheap sword (compared to better weapons), Jinwoo was very grateful for it . .
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‘It’s mine now . ’.
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Kim-ssi will probably ask for it back, foaming at his mouth, if he saw it in Jinwoo’s hands . After all, he was a selfish person who could leave behind his life’s savior . To Jinwoo, both the sword and his newfound powers were things he had earned with his life . He had no plans to give them back easily . .
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His eyes became fierce . .
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In that temple, he had learned two things . .
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One . He had to become strong . .
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Due to his weakness, he faced death multiple times . Not only that, even knowing what would happen, he could not stop the choir Hunter from dying . Even when he knew Kim-ssi ahjussi was in the wrong, he could not help Song-ssi ahjussi . To survive, he was forced to turn a blind eye on what was right and wrong . .
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And two . .
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‘There is no need to be needlessly kind . ’.
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His kindness was rewarded with betrayal from his comrades . Three of his comrades left behind his incapacitated body and ran . His pleading shouts falling on their deaf ears . To think that they would forget who had saved their lives moments before . .
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‘Give and take . ’.
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From now on, he vowed to never put his life in danger for the sake of others, at least, not out some imagined goodness of his heart . After all, the most important thing in his life was… his life . .
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These were the two lessons he had learned while on the brink of death . .
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To become stronger . To become cold . .
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“I can do it . ”.
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He was a man who did not easily forget his lessons . .
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In some streetside food stall[4], nurse Choi Yura and and her friend conversed late into the night . .
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“Ah, right . ”.
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Yura suddenly realized that her friend was a Hunter Association employee . It was due to her friend that she was able to find employment at the hospital designated for Hunters . .
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“You know a lot about Hunters, right?”.
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“As much as anyone else, why?”.
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“Do you know of Hunters that can heal their injuries really fast?”.
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“Of course, the Healer-class Hunters . When they use their healing spells, any injuries just go woosh~!”.
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“No, no . Not with a spell . While unconscious . ”.
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“While unconscious?”.
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“For example if they were knocked out… or maybe even sleeping . ”.
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Her friend shook her head . .
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“Eh, there’s no way . That’s an amazing ability called regeneration . It’s a special power that only appears in A-rank or higher magic beasts . Even then, only in special ones . ”.
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“And no humans have this ability?”.
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“Yeah . I’ve never heard of a Hunter with such abilities . ”.
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“Is… is that so?”.
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Was she mistaken? Yura nodded along as she listened to her friend . Then her friend continued,.
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“Well… I’m not completely sure, but maybe it’s possible in S-rank Hunters . ”.
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Yura raised her head at her friend’s words,.
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“S-rank?”.
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“Well the S-rank Hunters are filled with monsters, and information regarding their powers are hard to come across . Let’s see, I’ve heard the Baekho Guild’s Hunter Baek Yunho could even transform into an actual monster . ”.
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But Sung Jinwoo was an E-rank Hunter . The information regarding a Hunter’s rank was publicly available through the Association’s website; anyone was able to easily look it up . Earlier that morning, out of curiosity, Yura had already read up on Sung Jinwoo through the Association’s website . .
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‘His rank is too low to have such an ability- ah!”.
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The Reawakening of Hunters!.
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She recalled overhearing something about a Reawakening when she had passed by his room yesterday . .
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‘Did that man Reawaken as a high level Hunter?’.
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Forget being friends, the ordinary person couldn’t even dream of meeting an S-rank Hunter . This was due to their low numbers and incredibly busy schedules . But to think that one of her patients had become such an existence . An E-rank becoming an S-rank….
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‘Hmm, if no one had noticed that man’s value…’.
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This was her only chance to earn some brownie points with Jinwoo . It was not everyday someone got a chance to befriend an S-rank Hunter . Their value was so high that it was even hard for others to meet them by spending money . Imagining all sorts of things here and there, a smile crept on Yura’s face . .
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“Oh my . Girl- did something good happen? Why’re you suddenly smiling?”.
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“Ah, no . It’s nothing . ”.
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Even as she shook her head, Yura could not ease up on the smile on her face . .
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-8 . Level-up!-.
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“Whoa, look at that body!”.
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“Was that patient’s body that good when he came in?”.
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The two young nurses who caught Jinwoo’s figure as they passed him whispered to each other . .
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Pretending not to hear, Jinwoo returned to his room . .
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It had been a week since he started doing the daily quests . Many changes had happened since then . .
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First was the change in his body . He went up to a mirror in his room . .
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“Hmm . Hmm . ”.
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He looked up and down his body in front of the mirror . Embarrassed at acting like a girl examining her outfit, he faked a cough, even though no one was watching . Still, there was a clear difference . His body was changing . .
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‘My muscles are bigger . ’.
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It was the first thing that he noticed . The fat had disappeared here and there, replaced by muscles . His shoulders had widened, and his height seemed to have increased as well . .
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‘I don’t look that frail any more . ’.
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Useful muscles had appeared all across his body . If he had to describe the feeling, it was “nimble” or “agile” . Even as a man, his body looked nice to him . It made sense that it would turn the nurses’ heads . .
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‘And all this is thanks to…’.
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He opened his status screen . .
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ring~.
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Name: Sung Jinwoo.
Level: 1.
Class: None.
Title: None.
HP: 100.
MP: 10.
Fatigue: 0.
Stats.
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Strength: 31.
Constitution: 10.
Agility: 10.
Intelligence: 10.
Sense: 10.
(Available stat points: 0).
Skills.
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Passive Skills.
-(Unknown) (Lv . Max).
-Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).
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Active Skills.
-Sprint (Lv . 1).
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In no time, he had raised his strength to 31 . As he was not yet sure about the effects of other stats, he had focused all his points toward strength for now . After all, the thing that was most helpful in fighting magic beasts was strength . .
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‘The body doesn’t just change like this after few days of exercise . ’.
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If he thought of it like that, there was only one possibility . His body was changing accordingly to the increases in his strength attribute; to grow muscles to maximize the usage of his rising strength . He could not think of another possibility . .
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However, he did worry at times that he was putting too much points into strength . But seeing his changed body, he became satisfied and forgot about his worries . .
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‘It really does catch the eyes . ’.
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Day by day, his name appeared more and more in the nurses’ conversations . As women who constantly worked around the human body, they were probably more sensitive to the changes in his body . With his keen hearing, he did not miss a single mention of his name around him . .
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‘Maybe it’s about time I got discharged . ’.
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Translator’s Notes:.
[1]: “to be unique” (유일무이; 唯一無二): “only” + “one” + “no” + “second” . I think it’s a phrase that basically translates to “being unique” . .
[2]: “this function was limited to items from random boxes . ” (방 안의 다른 물건들은 정보가 뜨지 않는 걸 봐선 랜덤 박스에 서 나온 물건들만의 특징인 듯했다) This part threw me off as it was blatantly wrong . The information screen literally pops up on the sword in the next section . Not sure if I’ve missed something in the translation or if the MC came to a conclusion too quick . .
[3]: “-ssi” (씨; “ssi”): I used “Mr . ” or “Ms . ” for this Korean honorific up until this point, but as I go deeper and deeper in the story, just using “Mr . ” started to not fit that well in certain situations . The honorific is used as basic courtesy when people talk or refer to each other, especially common in older ages . .
[4]: “streetside food stall” (포장마차; “po-jang-ma-cha”): This is a commonplace shop in Korea . A cross between food cart and an actual restaurant, vendors would set up a giant tarp to act as the inside of a shop and serve various food and drinks . .