Chapter 1

[Safe, Safe, and Safe Dungeon Raids]

Was it after the Awakener Association’s slogan changed?

[Hunter, Become One and Earn 100 Million a Year?!]

The image of a Hunter changed from a hero leaping into a dangerous battlefield to a cold, capitalistic professional.

Not that it’s a bad thing.

These days, if you become an Awakener, you’re treated better than someone who got into medical school.

“Choi Gi-woong. I heard you Awakened.”

“Congratulations.”

“You’re treating us to something expensive today, right?”

Thanks to that, I was flooded with countless requests for a handshake.

But not all professionals are created equal.

My case is a bit ambiguous.

“…Uh, yeah. Thanks.”

When I, the person in question, accepted the greetings with a grimace, my friends tilted their heads and asked.

“They say you can see a Status Window when you Awaken. What’s your Rank? I heard even an E-Rank doesn’t have to worry about making a living.”

“F-Rank.”

The friend who asked scratched his head with an awkward look.

Another friend next to him tried to lighten the mood.

“Hey, hey. Who cares about the initial Rank? As long as your Potential Rank is good, right?”

“…That’s also F-Rank.”

“Wh-what Skill did you get? Swordsmanship? Magic? Or Ranger?”

“…Past Life Lucid Dream.”

“What? What’s that?”

“When I dream, my past life comes to me.”

“Uh, what good is that?”

“Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I remember a time when I was an eagle, and it feels good to fly through the sky. I can even get a sense of what it would be like to have wings.”

As if he couldn’t think of anything else to say to console me, my friend patted my shoulder and said.

“…Hey. Hang in there.”

I was the one who got treated to an expensive meal.

Name: Choi Gi-woong.

Current Rank: F

Potential Rank: F

Skill: Past Life Lucid Dream

Past Life Lucid Dream: When you sleep, memories of a past life will randomly surface. The memories become clearer as the rank increases.

“What on earth am I supposed to do with this.”

There was a time when my ability, a Skill that brought up past lives in dreams, became a hot topic.

[An Awakener Who Claims to Have Past Lives?!]

[Here, a Man is Dreaming.]

Thanks to that, I even appeared on a few broadcast stations and YouTube channels.

“Should I try becoming a celebrity?”

At one point, the online communities were buzzing with this topic, so it’s true that I had some expectations.

-Don’t you have anything other than the Past Life Experience? That’s been milked dry.

But the entertainment industry was colder than I thought.

The Past Life Experience was an occult topic, and the occult is a niche genre.

That means it gets buried quickly in the torrent of tsunami-like trends.

Before long, no one was calling for me anymore, and I naturally gave up on my dream of becoming a celebrity.

In the end, I jumped into the job market like everyone else.

However, since I was an Awakener, after all, I focused more on Hunter corporations than regular companies.

Among them, I looked into special recruitment for civil servants or public corporations.

Civil servants and public corporation employees rarely enter Dungeons directly, so I figured even an F-Rank ability user like me would be useful.

“You see past lives? What was your most impressive past life?”

“I was once in charge of the portside helm of a turtle ship under Admiral Yi Sun-sin.”

The interviewer burst out laughing at my serious words.

Why is he laughing?

Just thinking about it still makes me feel like I’m going to die from exhaustion.

“This guy’s interesting. You’re hired.”

“Pardon?”

“From now on, your department is Business Support Division 2.”

The Awakener Association is a place every Awakener dreams of working at least once.

The pay is similar to a civil servant’s salary, but it’s stable, and if you’re lucky, you can even seize power.

So I went in with a light heart, thinking whatever happens, happens.

“I’ll work hard!”

I can’t believe I got hired.

And so, my professional life began.

They say time flies when you’re working, and they were right.

It feels like I just joined yesterday, but it’s already been three years.

“That’s all for the morning meeting.”

Han Seung-hoon, the Head of department who hired me because he found me interesting, ended the meeting.

As I stood up, feeling the heated atmosphere dissipate,

“Choi Gi-woong, you stay behind and talk with me for a bit.”

He singled me out and told me to sit down.

As the team members filed out, only Head of department Han Seung-hoon and I were left in the conference room.

“How have you been lately?”

When this man asks something like this, something bad is bound to happen.

I controlled my expression and answered.

“I’m doing well.”

“You should be. With a Head of department as good as me, you can’t not be doing well.”

“……”

“How long has it been since you joined the Business Support Division?”

“It’s been three years, sir.”

“Feels like just yesterday I was changing your diapers, and it’s already been that long. You made assistant manager?”

“I was promoted last year.”

“Aren’t you thirty now?”

“That’s correct.”

He’s asking things he already knows on purpose.

Just as I expected, Head of department Han Seung-hoon got to the point.

“You remember the Goseong S-Rank, right?”

All Dungeons in South Korea are managed by the Association, and among them, my division, Business Support Division 2, is in charge.

In other words, when a Dungeon appears, we have to assign it to a corporation for them to be able to Raid it.

The reason I was able to get into this division, which only the real power players can enter, was entirely thanks to Head of department Han Seung-hoon.

But wait a minute.

The Goseong S-Rank.

“Isn’t that the Dungeon that Ilseong Raided last year? I remember Hunter Im Seong-joon led the Raid.”

“Right, right. The one you were in charge of.”

Head of department Han Seung-hoon particularly emphasized the words ‘you were in charge of.’

“Our Choi Gi-woong even grabbed the Association President by the leg to appeal, didn’t you? To give it to Ilseong instead of Daehyeon.”

“……”

“Isn’t that when you made assistant manager?”

See? I knew he was asking things he already knew.

But the atmosphere is a bit strange.

He’s not praising me for a job well done, but rather like a fisherman waiting for the bait to be taken.

Three years of professional experience were telling me.

Don’t get caught up in this.

“What did I do? It was all thanks to you pushing for it so strongly, Head of department.”

At my words, Head of department Han Seung-hoon grinned.

It looked just like a devil’s smile, saying you can never escape.

Just when I was hoping all of this was just my delusion.

“Im Seong-joon died today.”

The bomb dropped.

“The embargo will be lifted in an hour, so check the articles.”

“……”

“He’d been ailing right after the Raid, and I guess he couldn’t hold on in the end. The Lizard’s poison must be pretty nasty if even an S-Rank Hunter couldn’t withstand it.”

I had heard the news.

That Im Seong-joon, who had taken a direct hit from the Boss Monster Lizard Queen’s Breath, was suffering from severe poisoning.

But to think he died.

Head of department Han Seung-hoon, who had been joking around, changed the mood.

“Still, an S-Rank died. Shouldn’t one of us take responsibility?”

I’ve never even met Im Seong-joon.

Head of department Han Seung-hoon ordered me to make sure the Goseong S-Rank Dungeon went to Ilseong, and I just did it by grabbing the Association President by the leg.

But right now, such trivial reasons don’t matter.

“…I’ll submit my resignation.”

I’m not particularly sad, nor do I resent Head of department Han Seung-hoon.

Thanks to him, I was able to work here, and with this much experience, I won’t starve even if I leave.

But contrary to my expectations, Head of department Han Seung-hoon shook his head.

“No. I’ll be the one to resign.”

“?”

The tense atmosphere was unexpectedly broken.

“Don’t try to act cool, you punk. What resignation, you’re just an assistant manager. You think just anyone can take responsibility?”

Head of department Han Seung-hoon clicked his tongue and relaxed his posture.

“I wanted to leave anyway, so this worked out well.”

Head of department Han Seung-hoon is a Non-Awakener and a high school graduate.

It’s a waste of breath to talk about how much he struggled to get to that position.

But he wanted to leave? Anyone could tell that was a lie.

That said, I wasn’t tactless enough to pry into it.

“Then what will happen to me?”

“You’ll be transferred to another department. You’re an Awakener, right?”

“Yes. That’s right, but.”

Why is he suddenly asking that?

“Business Support Division 1.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“Isn’t that the place that manages external Hunters?”

“That’s right.”

Awakener Association, Business Support Division 1.

In other words, the Hunter hunters.

It’s a name given to the place that captures Hunters who have caused problems or committed crimes and brings them to the Association.

Naturally, there’s a lot of fighting involved.

“That sounds like you’re telling me to quit.”

“Quit? Where would you go? How could I let go of a connection I worked so hard to save?”

“A connection?”

“Just hang in there for a year. I’ll come back and promote you again.”

“How do you plan on coming back?”

“That’s a secret.”

I let out a deep sigh. I felt drained.

“Head of department. I’m an F-Rank. My strength and stamina are only slightly better than a Civilian’s, and I only have one weird Skill.”

“I know, turtle ship helmsman.”

“So what do you want me to do there?”

“That’s why I’m telling you. Just endure it for a year.”

Head of department Han Seung-hoon looked at me with a dreadful gaze.

“And the you I know will endure well no matter where you’re put. No, not just endure, you’ll probably rack up achievements left and right.”

“On what grounds?”

“A guy who’s a high school graduate and a Non-Awakener needs to have good instincts to sit in this position. Those instincts are telling me. That you’re destined for success, and that I must make you an ally.”

“I’ll just quit.”

I always carried a letter of resignation in my left breast pocket.

As I took it out, the corners of Han Seung-hoon’s mouth curled up.

As if to counter, a few photos came out of his pocket.

“I heard you had a drink with Daehu’s Choi Jaegeun?”

“It wasn’t a private meeting. And I didn’t receive anything.”

“I know. But the problem is that a picture was taken. The next day, that bastard Choi Jaegeun landed an A-Rank Dungeon.”

“The Samcheok A-Rank Dungeon was already scheduled to be Raided by Hunter Choi Jaegeun from the beginning.”

“I know.”

Truth or not, he was telling me to get ready to rot in jail if I quit like this.

But I know Han Seung-hoon.

He’s not the kind of man to make such a petty threat.

He’s the type who would rather give me a generous severance package and tell me I did a good job.

“When you use the stick, you’re supposed to offer a carrot too.”

As expected, a check popped out from the other side of Han Seung-hoon’s chest.

For 100 million.

He delivered the final blow.

“You want a criminal record and a ruined life, or do you want to take the 100 million.”

Han Seung-hoon’s eyes wavered.

For a Head of department, he’s terrible at lying.

I hesitated for a moment.

Should I fall for this, or not?

Damn it, why now of all times do I remember him hiring me because he found me interesting?

And why am I also remembering him paying for my mother’s 30 million won surgery bill?

“Haa.”

I let out a deep sigh.

The deliberation wasn’t long.

“Fine. I’ll do it. I said I’ll do it.”

When I asked why he chose me, Han Seung-hoon’s answer was a masterpiece.

‘I looked into you, and there was nothing to find. You’re the first guy I’ve seen who goes Dutch even for a drink. In a place like this where it’s so easy to take bribes, you’re the only one like that.’

To think that living an honest life would come back as a weakness.

If I had known, I should have just accepted the money they offered me from the start.

I placed the 100 million, which he had shoved into my pocket despite my refusal, on the dining table and flopped onto the bed.

My head felt like it was about to explode, but my eyes kept closing.

Right, let’s just sleep on it.

It was then.

-Skill, Past Life Lucid Dream, is being Cast!

It seemed that damned Past Life Experience was about to start again.

That meant I was out of luck for a good night’s sleep.

Every time I experience a past life, their memories get stuck in my head, and the mental toll is no joke.

In any case, I couldn’t stop the Past Life Experience that had already begun.

Like this.

When I blinked, the world had changed.

My gaze turned to the side on its own.

I saw a shabby wooden house, and in the distance, a castle that looked like it belonged in Europe.

The Middle Ages this time?

Still, being a human is a good draw.

Much better than a butterfly being eaten alive by a spider, at any rate.

At that moment, memories flooded into my head.

The me in the dream was an ordinary farmer named Ian.

And right now, I was in a situation where I had latched onto a passing Mage out of curiosity.

Wait, a Mage?

What is this.

Did the System or Awakeners exist in this era too?

Well, in a world where a guy who experiences past lives exists, I guess I should just accept it.

In the meantime, my lips moved on their own.

“My Lord! Do I have a talent for magic?”

My expression was now filled with the same anticipation as any child, wondering if I too could become a Mage.

“I doubt it. You probably don’t.”

On the other hand, the young My Lord, the Mage, waved his hand dismissively with an annoyed look, as if he’d seen many like me.

“You never know!”

“If you can create a flame with just Mana, I’ll reconsider.”

“Huh? Is that really all it takes?”

As if this was great news, I closed my eyes.

Immediately after, the inside of my body tickled.

It was as if something was floating through my veins.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

When I opened my eyes again, a flame was perched on the tip of my finger.

“Is this how you do it?”

It was then that the expression on the stoic face of My Lord, the Mage, changed bizarrely.

“Wh-what are you.”

The last thing I saw was the expression of My Lord, the Mage, as he fumbled for his glasses.

Whoosh!

The scene changed.

From a medieval farming village, to my studio apartment.

Normally, I would have shaken my head once, muttered about having a weird dream, and chugged some cold water.

But I couldn’t do that now.

I exhaled the breath that had risen to my chin and stared at my finger.

“What is this.”

From the tip of my finger, a flame was flickering.