Chapter 38
“Haa…”
How long had he been out?
Hyuk-min opened his eyes on Hyun-jung’s motel bed and scanned the room.
Empty.
And the moment he came to, the memory of what happened right before he passed out came rushing back.
“Ah… Mana Exhaustion.”
He’d thought it would be manageable.
In the end, it wasn’t.
“To drain myself completely even in Regression Mode…”
He’d been wrong to think he’d already beaten Mana Exhaustion.
“I slept like I was dead.”
He checked the time.
4:22 PM.
After leaving the Dungeon, they’d washed up, changed into clean clothes, then gone out to eat sundae soup at around 12:40 PM.
He remembered sitting down.
Then a sudden wave of fatigue hit him so hard he couldn’t fight it.
He’d barely made it back before collapsing.
“So… a little over three hours.”
He stretched and exhaled.
Only then did he realize Hyun-jung still wasn’t here.
Click. Creak.
“Oh!? Uncle, you’re awake?”
The door opened at that exact moment, and Hyun-jung walked in with a bright smile.
But she looked nothing like she did before he fell asleep.
“You…”
Blue blood caked across her clothes—monster blood—like she’d never showered at all.
A sharp smell rushed in with her, and Hyuk-min’s face tightened.
“Did you go shooting?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“As soon as you fell asleep.”
The smell of gunpowder.
The dried blood.
The way she carried herself like she’d been hunting nonstop.
Hyuk-min’s eyes narrowed.
“Party.”
He had to check.
== Status Window ==
[Name] : Choi Hyun-jung.
[Level] : 36.
[Class] : One Preparing a Legend with a Gun.
[Stats]
Strength – 78
Agility – 113
Intelligence – 95
Stamina – 71
Mana – 86
========
His eyebrow twitched.
‘Was she already Level 36…?’
No.
Before the Hermes Dungeon, Hyun-jung had been Level 34.
And now—after he’d been asleep for a few hours—she’d climbed two Levels.
‘What the hell did she do in three hours…?’
The answer was sitting in her Title window.
[Immersed Effort]
You have been immersed in a trance for a long time, running towards your goal.
This Title is given to those who have moved with only one goal in mind for more than 3 hours.
All Stats + 5
Hyuk-min stared at her.
“Why? Is something wrong? I haven’t checked my Status Window yet either.”
She hunted for three hours and didn’t check once?
Hyuk-min stopped her before she could open it.
“You didn’t go to the Tower, did you?”
“After what happened earlier… I was scared to go alone without you, Uncle.”
“Then where did you go?”
“I went to a Dungeon. I went outside, and a pretty Auntie told me about a Dungeon nearby.”
Hwang Ji-young.
“So how many runs?”
“I don’t know. I just kept going.”
Hyuk-min’s eyebrow twitched again.
“…Why.”
This time he looked at her Skill window.
“You got a new Skill.”
“Wow! Really!?”
How focused had she been?
System messages must’ve been piling up, but she hadn’t looked at any of them.
A genius who worked like this.
He finally understood why the top of the Tower wasn’t something anyone got “lucky” into.
[You have succeeded in a large number of assassinations before the target noticed.]
[Condition achieved.]
[You have acquired a new Skill.]
[A-Rank] Hide (Stealth).
Everything that touches the skin becomes transparent.
It will not be detected unless it is a search Skill with a higher rank than the rank of the Skill.
Consumes 10 Mana when using the Skill. After that, consumes 3 Mana per second.
“Really?”
Hyun-jung’s face lit up as she skimmed through the changes.
From the stacked System messages, to her Titles, to her Skills—
“My Gun Mastery is Level 14 now!”
“Congratulations.”
“Yay!”
She kept smiling, glancing around like everything in the world had suddenly become fun again.
Then Hyuk-min noticed the black bag in her hand.
“What’s that?”
“Ah~ this? On the way, the sundae soup Auntie said she’d just boiled it and sold it to me cheap.”
“That Auntie did?”
Hyuk-min’s first thought was that the greedy toad would never do something like that.
But that was only true with him.
With Hyun-jung’s face, he could believe it.
“You look tired.”
“I think I ran too hard since morning. Haaaahm.”
Her eyes were already going unfocused.
Hyuk-min smiled without meaning to.
He got up, headed for the door, and ruffled her hair on the way out.
“Thanks for letting me rest comfortably.”
“Are you leaving now?”
“I should. I’ve got a lot to do.”
“Haaaahm.”
“Stop yawning. Eat, wash up, and sleep. You’re exhausted.”
“What about you, Uncle? Aren’t you hungry?”
Hyuk-min waved it off with a smile and quietly stepped out of the room.
= = =
In the hallway, Hyuk-min stopped.
“…Right. Inventory.”
An old box appeared in empty air.
“The reward for the strain.”
The box he received after clearing the Hermes Dungeon.
Now it was time to collect.
Click.
The box opened with a clean, crisp sound.
And—
“Ha.”
There was nothing inside.
Only a black circle drawn at the bottom, like someone was mocking him.
“Should I thank Park Chung-ho?”
An old box.
Empty.
Just a scribble.
Yet Hyuk-min smiled brightly as he stared at the black circle.
“I’d have been in trouble if I didn’t know you.”
He set the box down in the hallway.
Then he rolled up both sleeves and slowly lowered his right hand inside.
Cold.
Empty.
Tak.
The moment his fingertip touched the bottom—
Black liquid crawled up his hand.
Anyone else would’ve panicked.
Hyuk-min’s face filled with excitement.
“This time it’s mine.”
Juuuuk.
A sensation like tiny ants climbing his skin.
The rising black liquid settled around his wrist, forming five bands.
This was Park Chung-ho’s last main weapon—used alongside the Death Knight’s Helmet.
“Dark Ring.”
==========
[S-Rank] Dark Ring.
A tattoo containing an unknown sorcery.
Apart from the crude drawing, the tattoo itself acts as a medium for containing mana.
Can be transformed into a new tattoo when combined with special objects.
All Stats increased by 8.
Stamina Stat increased by 8.
Mana Stat increased by 8.
Active Skill available.
(S-Rank) Body-Engraving.
You can transfer the Dark Ring to the desired target.
Cannot be removed and cannot be undone.
(S-Rank) Body-Transfer.
Move to the space where ‘Body-Engraving’ has been performed.
Can ignore all restrictions except for a few special ones.
《Passive Skill is activated due to condition achievement.》
(S-Rank Passive Skill) Body-Bestowal.
When using ‘Body-Engraving’ on a target with life and soul, a portion of the owner’s Stats is shared with the target who has ‘Body-Engraving’.
The amount of increased Stats is up to 20 percent of the owner’s Stats.
==========
Pasasak.
As the Dark Ring became Hyuk-min’s, the old box crumbled into dust.
He raised his right hand and stared at the bands circling his wrist.
The same Dark Ring that had been on Park Chung-ho’s wrist in his previous life.
Hyuk-min couldn’t stop smiling.
Now he had it.
And he knew exactly how to use it.
He turned back and knocked on Hyun-jung’s door.
“Hyun-jung, I’m coming in for a second.”
No answer.
He opened the door and stepped inside—
Hyun-jung was asleep on the floor without even washing.
Sundae soup stained the corner of her mouth, her cheeks puffed like she’d fallen asleep mid-chew.
“Poof.”
It was ridiculous.
He carefully lifted her and set her on a chair.
“Hmph. At least the motel owner won’t have a hard time.”
The monster blood had already dried, so it only flaked off as powder instead of smearing.
“Uuuung…”
Maybe because her sleeping position changed, Hyun-jung curled slightly, still chewing her puffed cheeks.
Hyuk-min held back his laughter and gently placed a hand on her wrist.
“Engrave.”
He raised his mana.
No light.
No dramatic effect.
One of the five Dark Rings on Hyuk-min’s wrist vanished—
And a Dark Ring settled on Hyun-jung’s wrist like a tattoo.
“It works.”
He checked her Status Window.
Body-Bestowal had already boosted her Stats sharply.
Satisfied, he nodded.
Then he cleared his throat, wiped the smile off his face, and flicked her forehead.
Tak!
Hyun-jung jolted awake, looking wronged.
“Uncle?”
Then she recognized him, and her face brightened immediately.
“Wash up and sleep. I’m really leaving now.”
“Yes. Ouch… why does it hurt?”
Before leaving, Hyuk-min pointed at her wrist.
“The thing on your wrist isn’t a tattoo, and it won’t come off. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yes? What… Eh?!”
“Sleep well. See you tomorrow.”
He walked out while Hyun-jung frantically rubbed it with spit on her palm.
“Pooh!”
In the end, Hyuk-min couldn’t hold back the laugh threatening to burst out.
= = =
He was just about to step out of the motel.
Then he froze.
He swept his eyes around.
‘Already?’
Sharp, deliberate murderous intent—cleanly focused on a single target.
An assassin.
And a good one.
It was around 4 PM. The streets were crowded.
Yet among all those people, Hyuk-min was the only one who could feel it.
Killing intent aimed at only the target.
There was only one place that produced assassins like that.
Black Label.
And if it was Black Label, and the assassin was this clean—
‘Could it be…?’
Hyuk-min’s gaze cut through the crowd.
Far ahead—
A person in a black beanie and a long black leather coat.
An unfamiliar emotion flickered in Hyuk-min’s eyes.
“You are…”
The moment their eyes met, the man in the black beanie vanished from the spot—like smoke dispersing into air.