Jinwoo lay still for a few seconds on his apartment floor, letting his rapid breathing settle into a calm, steady rhythm.
"…Status."
The familiar blue light unfolded instantly before his eyes, illuminating the dim room.
[ STATUS ]
Name: Sung Jinwoo
Level: 20
Class: None
Titles: Player of the System, Wolf Slayer, Womanizer
[ HP: ] 6,200 / 6,200
[ MP: ] 3,600 / 3,600
[ STATS ]
Strength: 72
Agility: 68
Stamina: 70
Intelligence: 24
Sense: 46
[ Unspent Stat Points: 30 ]
Jinwoo stared at the numbers floating in the air.
"…This much," he whispered, a thrill of disbelief washing over him.
Compared to the fragile body who had first awakened in the hospital, the difference was completely overwhelming. His HP had nearly doubled. His stamina was high enough that even after three straight hours of grueling, nonstop combat in the desert, his body was already recovering at an accelerated rate.
He slowly clenched his fist. The air around his knuckles seemed to shift slightly, heavy with latent energy. Power answered his silent call immediately.
A new set of windows cascaded beneath the status panel.
[ GROWTH SUMMARY – PENALTY ZONE ]
Levels Gained: +8
Monsters Defeated: 300+
Elite Monsters: 6
Continuous Combat Bonus: Applied
[ REWARDS ]
Bonus Stat Points: +10
Hidden Growth Modifier: Unlocked
Ping!
[ SKILL GROWTH DETECTED ]
Dagger Mastery: Lv. 3 → Lv. 6
(Effect: Increased critical damage and attack precision.)
Sense Enhancement: Improved
(Effect: Extended duration, significantly reduced MP cost.)
Jinwoo exhaled a long, slow breath. "So this is how much I can gain just from a penalty."
He rolled his shoulders, standing up fully now. His gaze drifted to the flashing number at the bottom of his status screen.
Thirty unspent points.
Strength to kill faster. Agility to never be touched. Stamina to endure any prolonged fight. And Sense... his gaze lingered there. If he could detect danger sooner, Jinah would never have to worry about a monster slipping past him.
"This is just the start," he said quietly to the empty room. As a solo hunter, he couldn't afford a single weakness. He needed to strike first, strike cleanly, and survive absolutely anything that got in his way.
"Allocate stats," he commanded.
The System responded instantly, projecting an allocation interface.
[ STAT ALLOCATION ]
Strength: +10
Agility: +10
Stamina: +6
Sense: +4
[ Confirm Allocation? (Y/N) ]
"Yes."
[ Stat Allocation Complete. ]
[ UPDATED STATUS ]
Name: Sung Jinwoo
Level: 20
HP: 6,800 / 6,800
MP: 3,600 / 3,600
Strength: 82
Agility: 78
Stamina: 76
Intelligence: 24
Sense: 50
Jinwoo clenched his fist again. The change was instantaneous and intoxicating.
Strength surged through his muscles. His entire body felt denser, heavier, as if his very bones had been reinforced with steel. When he took a single step forward, his body responded without a microsecond of delay, his newly upgraded Agility smoothing every movement into a blur of predatory grace.
He inhaled deeply.
He could hear the faint, buzzing hum of electricity in the apartment walls. He could hear the distant, muffled footsteps of his neighbors from the floor below. His Sense Enhancement skill wasn't even actively running, yet his passive awareness had expanded dramatically.
"…Perfect."
He checked the time on his phone. It was still early enough in the day. He needed to test this new power properly.
...
An hour later, Jinwoo stood before the massive, digital job board inside the Hunter Association Guildhall, scanning the postings with a calm, calculating gaze.
Escort missions. Low-rank goblin subjugations. Supply transport for large guilds.
Nothing special. Nothing that would push him.
Then—his eyes stopped on a specific listing.
[ RECRUITMENT NOTICE ]
Dungeon Rank: C
Role Needed: Porter (No combat required)
Location: Industrial District, Site 4
Pay: Standard Association Rate + Bonus
Jinwoo's pupils narrowed slightly.
"…This one."
The fragmented, foreign memories of his past timeline immediately flared in his mind. He remembered it clearly. The cramped, glowing corridors of the C-rank bug dungeon.
This was where he would meet Yoo Jinho.
And Hwang Dongsuk.
A man who had smiled warmly, patted him on the back, and then callously planned to murder him and a teenager just to monopolize the dungeon's mana crystals. In the memories of that past life, Hwang Dongsuk had tried to trap him, but Jinwoo had ended him easily.
Later, he would learn the truth: Hwang Dongsuk was the older brother of Hwang Dongsoo, an infamous, violently cruel S-Rank hunter from America. Dongsoo was a man who would one day hunt Jinwoo down across the globe seeking revenge.
Jinwoo exhaled softly, a dark, freezing aura briefly leaking from his body.
"So it starts here again," he murmured.
But this time was different. If Hwang Dongsuk tried to pull the same murderous betrayal again...
Jinwoo's eyes hardened into chips of black ice.
"I'll kill him."
Every enemy was now just a stepping stone for his experience points. And his brother, the arrogant S-rank Hwang Dongsoo? Jinwoo actually welcomed the conflict. An S-rank hunter's shadow would make a magnificent addition to the main force he planned to build in the future.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tapped the digital prompt.
[ Job Accepted. ]
A moment later, his phone chimed softly with the assembly details. Jinwoo turned away from the board, casually slipping his hands into his pockets as he walked out into the city toward the industrial district.
When Jinwoo approached the portal site an hour later, the massive, swirling blue C-rank gate was already cordoned off by Association tape.
Just outside the perimeter, he spotted them.
A group of rough-looking hunters, heavily armed and laughing loudly amongst themselves. Standing at their center was a large, heavily scarred man with a deceitful grin—Hwang Dongsuk.
And standing awkwardly off to the side, wearing impossibly expensive, practically glowing designer Hunter gear, was a young man with wide, uncertain eyes.
Yoo Jinho.
Jinwoo stopped a short distance away, his imposing presence immediately shifting the air around the group.
Jinho glanced up at him. For a brief moment, their eyes locked. Jinho blinked, a deep frown creasing his forehead as he tilted his head, studying Jinwoo's sharp features.
"…Excuse me, have we met before?" Jinho asked, his tone surprisingly polite.
Jinwoo looked down at the flashy teenager, his expression perfectly calm and unreadable.
"No," Jinwoo replied smoothly. "We haven't."
Hwang Dongsuk stepped forward, clapping his heavy hands together. "Alright! Looks like our porter is here. Let's get moving, boys. The crystals aren't going to mine themselves!"
The dungeon gate shimmered a few yards away, pulsing with a thick, heavy C-rank mana.
Jinwoo stepped forward, slipping into the back of the group as their disposable porter once more. Only this time—as the liquid blue portal washed over him—he wasn't walking blindly into a trap.
He was walking into his own hunting ground.