Chapter 8

Arriving at the dungeon entrance, Jaeha organized his arrows and stepped straight inside. Once in, he let out a breath and checked his status window.

[Na Jaeha]

[Traits: Ranged Dealer]

[LV: 9]

[Total Ability: 100]

[Skills: MuTube Give Me Power, Half Recovery, Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s Secret Art, Bow Mastery, Mana Shot, Shooting, Breath Control, Shadow Walk, Stealth, Shadow Eye, Metallurgy, Barrage, Triple Shot, Rapid Fire]

“Rapid Fire.”

[Reload speed and attack speed have increased.]

“Good.”

Nodding, Jaeha began moving immediately. Dungeons that spawned Orcs were mostly D-Rank dungeons. Jaeha didn’t know his exact Total Ability, but it was probably D-Rank as well.

A Hunter’s Rank was divided proportionally to their Total Ability. Scores from 1 to 9 were the lowest rank, F-Rank. That was why those commonly called geniuses started at E-Rank from their very first Awakening, rather than the lowest F-Rank.

And 10 to 49 was E-Rank, while 50 to 99 was D-Rank. 100 to 200 was C-Rank, 201 to 300 was B-Rank, and 301 to 500 was A-Rank. Those exceeding 500 were S-Rank—the top-tier Hunters.

Jaeha’s rank was at least C-Rank, probably. Of course, Jaeha was an archer, a class looked down upon by everyone.

Dungeons where Orcs were the main enemies required a C-Rank Hunter as the core, with at least D-Rank Hunters filling out the party to clear. And Jaeha had entered such a dungeon alone.

‘Maybe this is arrogance. But I feel like I can do it.’

A small smile crossed Jaeha’s face as he pulled the bow from his back and gripped it. Then he began to move.

After traveling some distance, Jaeha spotted a large group of Orcs gathered ahead, doing something. Scanning the count, he let out a sigh—there were at least twenty of them.

‘One arrow, one kill. Clean and simple.’

With that thought, Jaeha moved immediately. Reaching a suitable spot, he nocked an arrow onto the bowstring.

Considering the possibility that one shot might not kill, Jaeha used Mana Shot to infuse the arrow with mana. As the arrow began to glow blue, he loosed it immediately. The moment the arrow flew, Jaeha didn’t even check the target—he pulled out three more arrows and nocked them.

‘Triple Shot.’

The three arrows flew at even greater speed.

‘The skills really are powerful.’

Most skills increased in power proportionally to Total Ability. So they were far stronger than just shooting arrows normally.

Swoosh—

Swoosh—

Swoosh—

The three arrows flew straight at the Orcs, piercing their skulls and ending their lives. Jaeha continued preparing and loosing arrows without pause.

‘Thanks to Rapid Fire and Barrage, my re-nocking and firing is definitely faster. As long as I keep my distance, I can whittle down their numbers easily now.’

With that, Jaeha wiped out the roughly twenty Orcs in an instant.

“I should practice close combat too.”

It wasn’t strictly necessary, but he had no way to fight at close range right now.

‘If I use Shadow Walk to move quickly while fighting, it’ll be doable. I have Rapid Fire and Barrage. And my reload and fire speed is faster too.’

With that thought, Jaeha approached the Orc corpses and began harvesting the byproducts. The bodies were mostly shredded, but what he needed was the bones anyway. It was his first time doing this kind of work, but Jaeha managed to extract the bones one way or another.

After collecting the bones, Jaeha nodded and set off to find more Orcs.

* * *

Having cleared out all the Orcs, Jaeha checked the pile of bones he’d gathered.

“Ugh. I need to get an Inventory or something. Carrying all this is no joke.”

There was a skill called Inventory among the available skills. It was extremely expensive. That was why most Hunters didn’t get one. It was also why most parties used porters.

In Jaeha’s case, once he’d decided to go solo, hiring a porter was difficult. These days, porters were divided into those affiliated with guilds and those who worked as Mercenary for a fixed fee.

‘Once all the Elixirs sell, I should have enough to buy an Inventory.’

An Inventory cost anywhere from one to two billion won, he’d heard. With the elixir money, he could manage to purchase one.

‘This should be enough Orc bones. Now I just need to collect the Goblin Shaman’s blood.’

With that, Jaeha checked his remaining arrows.

‘Haah, not enough.’

Realizing he’d have to stop by home because of the arrows, Jaeha let out a sigh and got up from his seat.

‘When I make a bow, I should try making some arrows too. Ah, it’d be nice if I could make a bow that doesn’t need arrows, like in games.’

Muttering to himself, Jaeha sighed and headed home.
Chapter 7

[Na Jaeha]

[Trait: Ranged Dealer]

[LV: 15]

[Total Ability: 160]

[Skills: MuTube, Grant Me Power, Half Recovery, Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s Secret Art, Bow Mastery, Mana Shot, Archery, Breath Control, Shadow Walk, Stealth, Shadow Eye, Metallurgy, Rapid Fire, Triple Shot, High-Speed Rapid Fire]

“Phew, that’s done.”

Wiping off his sweat, Jaeha checked the footage he’d recorded. A system window appeared before him, and a video of Jaeha fighting goblins began to play.

Slowly reviewing the footage, Jaeha smiled. Then, heading home, he called Seungho.

“Hey. It’s me.”

<What’s up? Got more work for me?>

“Yeah. Time to get to work. If I want to get paid.”

<Hmph, what kind of work?>

“I recorded some footage. I’ll send it over—take a look, and if you can’t edit it, just upload the full video with a thumbnail sorted out. I’ll text you the MuTube ID.”

<Got it.>

Hanging up, Jaeha immediately sent the video to Seungho’s email and headed home.

Arriving home, Jaeha organized his various items.

‘I should rest tomorrow. Watch the video, farm some skills, and go to the Hunter Shop to buy an Inventory.’

Just then, his cell phone rang. It was a call from Herb Gramps.

“Hello.”

<Can you talk?>

“Yes. What’s the matter?”

<Sent the herbs over.>

“Yes. I’m at home right now.”

<Good. And I called because there’s something I want to ask you.>

“Yes. What is it?”

<No one listening, right?>

“No. There isn’t.”

<Truth is, there’s a guy I’ve known since I was young.>

“Yes…….”

<He’s been bedridden since a while back.>

“Is that so?”

<Yeah. From what I hear, he came down with a disease of unknown cause and took to bed. They brought in every famous doctor there is to examine him, but no one can figure out the cause at all.>

“Hmm. If he’s someone you know, Elder, he must be a man of some standing—didn’t they try calling in famous healers for treatment?”

<They did. But he was fine while receiving heals, then within a few days the illness came right back.>

“Hmm. I see. Well, are there any symptoms or anything like that?”

<Nothing much to call symptoms. He just wastes away. Can’t keep his wits about him, and his complexion’s turned damn near the color of shit. Can’t take care of his own business, obviously, and can barely move his body enough to eat properly.>

“Hmm. Based on symptoms alone, nothing specific comes to mind. By any chance, is this person a celebrity or the chairman of a major corporation?”

<How’d you know? You know Blue Dragon, right? He’s the chairman of the Blue Dragon Group.>

“And his age?”

<Sixty-four this year.>

“I can’t be certain, but. From what I can tell…….”

<Yeah.>

“It doesn’t seem to be a disease.”

<Not a disease? Then what?>

“Hard to say. It could be a disease. A dungeon disease, perhaps. Or some rare illness I don’t know about. But it doesn’t seem like that. The kind of symptoms he’s experiencing are mostly caused by poison or some kind of creature.”

<Caused by a creature. What creature could do that to a person?>

“The things that were commonly called gu poison¹ in the past do exactly that.”

<Gu poison?>

“Yes. It’s too long to explain, so you’d be better off looking into it yourself.”

<Fine. Oh, and if it does turn out to be that, is there a way to cure it?>

“Hard to say. For an ordinary gu poison, acupuncture can treat it. But if the gu poison is high-level—and if it’s Eumyanggo—ordinary acupuncture won’t be possible.”

<……Just tell me whether it’s possible.>

“I already told you. I’m not even sure it’s gu poison. I can’t know without seeing him. However, assuming it is Eumyanggo, it’s possible if two conditions are met beforehand.”

<What are they?>

“One is having a rare elixir like Gongcheong Seokyu, and the other is knowing someone who possesses Yanggo.”

<What the hell is Yanggo?>

“Eumyanggo is fundamentally divided into Eumgo and Yanggo. A person who has consumed Yanggo can dominate someone who has consumed Eumgo.”

<Something like that actually exists in the world?>

“It’s said to have existed. These days, the method of making it has supposedly been lost, but who really knows. At any rate, to treat someone who has consumed Eumgo, you need to extract Yanggo from a person who possesses it. Only then will the Eumgo stop resisting, making it possible to remove it through acupuncture.”

<……Understood, for now. I’ll look into it further and get back to you.>

“Yes.”

After hanging up, Jaeha thought for a moment, then shrugged. And right then, his phone rang.

‘Who now……. It’s Seungho.’

Jaeha answered the call.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

<Hey…….>

“Huh?”

<This is insane.>

“What is?”

<They say people who are unwell somewhere are all geniuses. Seems like that saying’s right. This is seriously unbelievable.>

“So? What is?”

<That video you sent me—it’s crazy. No way. I’ve never seen a video like this. There were occasional solo-play videos, but I’ve never seen movements as flawless as yours. Honestly, we’re people who worked in hunter-related jobs too. We search up hunter videos for work, and a video like this…… I’ve never even seen anything close.>

At Seungho’s torrent of words, Jaeha smiled as he spoke.

“Right. The source material’s good, so even a rough edit should be fine to post.”

<Okay. Seeing a video like this, I’m suddenly fired up. Don’t worry. I’ll properly learn video editing and do it right.>

“Sure.”

After hanging up, Jaeha smiled. Then he stretched out on the bed.

* * *

After a good night’s sleep, Jaeha got up, washed up properly, and called Herb Gramps.

<What is it. First thing in the morning.>

“Could you send me some money?”

<Did you leave money with me? Calling first thing in the morning demanding money.>

“It’s true that you owe me money, isn’t it?”

<Ahem. How much?>

“If you’d sold all the stamina tonics, it’d be around 3 to 4 billion, so just send me about 2 billion. I want to buy an Inventory.”

<An Invent?>

“Yes. Since I’m doing solo runs, carrying around the byproducts from hunting has become a hassle.”

<Just hire a porter.>

“Would you send someone over just because I’m doing a solo run?”

<Well, if you pay them enough, they’d come.>

“Rather than calling people over and dealing with the hassle, it’s better to get an Inventory made. It’s not like it wears out after a single purchase.”

<Well, that’s true enough. Fine, understood. I’ll sort it out and deposit it right away. Send me your account via text.>

“Yes.”