Chapter 8
Luck was on his side.
Even for Hyuk-min, who had regressed using Regression Mode, demons weren’t the kind of beings you could easily catch.
Just in case, he gave it his all, and to deceive the demon’s eyes, he used Regression Mode at the opportune moment.
As a result.
[Legendary] First Demon Slayer.
He managed to acquire a Legendary Title, of which there were only two in the entire world.
“I’m starting to feel sorry for All-Master.”
Like the Immortal Demon Sword and Immortal Demon Art, the Title ‘First Demon Slayer’ originally belonged to All-Master Nicholas.
His only mistake was obtaining the Hidden Class and revealing how he did it.
It was hard to call it a mistake, because even if he knew the method in his past life, it had now become All-Master’s, so there was no way to re-learn it, making it irrelevant. But in this life, it became poison.
Of course, it was honey to Hyuk-min.
“I should help him if he needs it later.”
Naturally, he wasn’t worried about All-Master.
Both in his past and present lives, All-Master was undoubtedly acquiring many Hidden Achievement from somewhere, he didn’t know how.
Thud, thud, thud.
With perfect timing, the massive stone wall collapsed, and the Dungeon completely disappeared.
Judging by the Dungeon’s tremors when the demon NPC transformed, the Dungeon’s boss was likely the demon NPC.
“Well, even if I’ve gotten stronger, soloing a Class B Dungeon is still too much.”
Hyuk-min shrugged and quietly grabbed a suitable glass bottle from the stall.
Then, he filled the bottle with the jet-black blood spilled by the demon NPC and put it in his Inventory.
“Since there’s no owner, it’s okay to take it, right?”
With that, Hyuk-min put all the useful items from the stall into his Inventory and, leaving the collapsing Dungeon behind, began to climb the rocky cliff face.
= = =
‘As expected, Legendary is Legendary.’
He hadn’t read the effects of the Legendary Title yet, but as he climbed the rocky cliff, he felt lighter, and even climbing the cliff with his bare hands didn’t feel too difficult.
He could definitely feel that he had become stronger.
Confirming his changed physical condition, he returned to the guardrail where he had first descended.
He was about to happily step onto the asphalt when.
“Excuse me!”
“Whoa, you scared me.”
A girl popped out of nowhere.
“Are you by any chance Bang Hyuk-min?”
Looking at her question and sparkling eyes, he knew why she had called him.
“No.”
“I definitely heard the Dungeon collapsing.”
If a Dungeon collapses, can you get a Legendary Title?
At the absurd speculation, Hyuk-min replied.
“The Dungeon I cleared was a Class B Dungeon. And I received a message too, you know?”
He opened his Status Window and showed her the message he had received earlier.
[Congratulations!]
[‘Bang Hyuk-min’ has become the owner of the second Legendary Title.]
“Oh…? It’s real?”
“I wish it were me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Taxi!”
He grabbed a passing taxi and headed to the Rogue Guild in Wolgok-dong.
He watched the girl getting smaller in the rearview mirror.
He chuckled.
‘She’ll be surprised later.’
It was just speculation, but the person who happened to talk to her was actually the one who obtained the real Legendary Title.
= = =
“I heard that Bang Hyuk-min is a Rogue, could it be…”
The Rogue Guild employee who had traded information asked with a hopeful expression.
The girl who had suspected him earlier, and now the Rogue Guild employee, it was amazing how similar people’s thoughts were.
‘I was like that too.’
In his past life, Hyuk-min was the same.
When All-Master acquired the Legendary Title ‘First Demon Slayer,’ the same message popped up.
At that time, Hyuk-min remembered approaching any white person he saw, asking if they were Nicholas.
Of course, he never met All-Master, but it seemed inevitable that people would be curious about who someone was when they achieved such an incredible feat worldwide.
“I wish it were me too. But what can I do? It’s just the same name.”
Still, the Rogue Guild employee was even more suspicious because of the name ‘Bang Hyuk-min’ written on the Rogue License.
“If I had obtained it, wouldn’t this message have appeared for me too?”
To completely dispel the suspicion, he showed the employee the Status Window message that had been broadcast to everyone, just like he had done with the girl earlier.
“Haa.”
With a final sigh added for good measure, the employee bowed deeply, looking very apologetic.
“I’m sorry. I mistook you because of the same name.”
“It’s okay. Just give me the information I requested.”
“Here it is!”
Showing a hint of sulkiness, the employee handed Hyuk-min the final piece of information with a truly apologetic expression.
Holding the rolled-up paper, he left the Rogue Guild with slumped shoulders.
On the way out, he couldn’t help but smile wryly.
Who would know that the same congratulatory message would be sent to others as well as the person who obtained the Legendary Title?
The only person who could explain this method was probably Jeonsin, the world’s number one ranked player, whom he might never see in his lifetime.
= = =
3:30 PM.
The information he thought would arrive in the evening had already arrived.
Before checking the rolled-up information, he filled his stomach at a sundae soup restaurant in front of the Rogue Guild.
“Status Window.”
Demons were definitely something else.
== Status Window ==
[Name]: Bang Hyuk-min.
[Level]: 27
[Class]: Immortal Warrior.
[Stats]
Strength – 61
Agility – 73
Intelligence – 37
Stamina – 41
Mana – 24
=======
He had only killed one, but his Level had instantly risen by 3.
That alone proved that demons were monsters that were difficult to deal with even in Regression Mode, and they were strong enough to grant a Legendary Title.
It might seem easy because he caught it so easily, right?
But that was only possible because he knew the demon well and had planned everything for the hunt.
Later on, the true strength of demons would be revealed, but in his current state, there might only be about 300 people in the entire world who could catch one.
It wasn’t for nothing that he had spent a day building up his foundation and obtained the Hidden Class of Immortal Warrior before going.
If he hadn’t induced the demon’s carelessness.
Even with Regression Mode, it might have been impossible to hunt the demon in the short time of 2 minutes.
“Alright, let’s see.”
As planned, he had finally won and obtained the Legendary Title.
Anyway, aside from that, the Stats that had slightly increased even after leveling up made Hyuk-min curious about the effects of the Legendary Title.
‘Isn’t it increasing too little for a Legendary Title?’
Now it was time to check the Title’s abilities.
==========
[Legendary] First Demon Slayer.
– The first person to discover and kill a demon.
– Passive Effect: All Stats increased by 10%.
– Equipped Effect: All Stats increased by 20% and 30% damage reduction from beings without a Title of the same or higher rank.
==========
“What!?”
The sundae soup he was about to eat almost came out of his mouth because of the insane effect.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He bowed his head, apologizing to those around him as gazes poured in.
He checked the effects of the Legendary Title again.
Then, he nodded silently.
His surprise quickly subsided.
‘It’s good, but not for me yet.’
The Stats increase was a percentage, not a fixed value.
Of course, a percentage was better in terms of effect, but that was only for people with high Stats like Hyuk-min in his past life.
For someone with low Stats like Hyuk-min now, the Pioneer Title’s All Stats +10 was more effective than a 10% increase.
‘Even aside from that, it’s still a scam.’
The effects granted when equipped.
He couldn’t equip it now because it could attract attention, but aside from that, the equipped effect was definitely a scam.
‘All Stats increased by 20% and 30% damage reduction from beings without a Title of the same or higher rank.’
What Title could be the same or higher than the current Legendary Title?
There was nothing but the same Legendary Title.
In other words, the only being that could nullify that effect was one person.
Jeonsin, the world’s number one ranked player with the first Legendary Title.
To put it another way, damage from all people, no, all beings except Jeonsin would be reduced by 30% for Hyuk-min!
“Nice.”
It couldn’t be anything but a scam effect.
A laugh naturally escaped his lips.
“This isn’t the time for this.”
His joy at obtaining the Legendary Title was fleeting.
As he realized he was holding the paper in his hand, he snapped back to reality.
What was the reason for monopolizing all these Hidden Achievements and effects?
Wasn’t it to protect his family from the impending danger, no, the danger that had already begun?
‘Get a grip, Bang Hyuk-min. You can’t make the wrong choice again.’
He had changed his dark past, where he neglected his family’s danger and only cared about himself.
To change the wrong choice.
He reminded himself that was the reason Hyuk-min had returned from death to the present.
“Check, please.”
He wiped the smile off his face, put down the spoon he was eating with, and got up from his seat.
Then, holding the scroll with the important information tightly, he walked out of the sundae soup restaurant.
= = =
Because of the nature of the content, he untied the paper’s string in an empty alleyway.
Swish.
The contents of the unfolded paper were simple.
[The department store being built in the Shrine is a building being built by Jisu Construction, and the client for the building is Jang Han-bit, the CEO of Hanbit Real Estate.]
A frown appeared on his face.
He tore the paper and threw it into a nearby trash can.
“Hanbit Capital originally started as a real estate company, huh? Jang Han-bit.”
The place that had provided all the money for the Azure Lake Guild to become the number one ranked guild in Korea in his past life, and the mastermind who used the Azure Lake Guild to have Hyuk-min killed by his comrades in his past life.
Grind.
As he repeated Jang Han-bit’s name, his teeth naturally ground together.
“Still not enough.”
He had obtained what he wanted, but that was it.
The story of why Jang Han-bit was building the department store, which was the information he really wanted, was not written anywhere.
It seemed that the Rogue Guild was not an information guild, so the information did not reach that far.
‘I’ll revise the plan.’
He stopped all the plans he had to get stronger.
The most important thing now was to know what the danger was and prepare for it.
To do that, the most necessary thing for Hyuk-min was information.
“I have to meet those guys.”
As soon as he thought of an information guild, one guild immediately came to mind.
It was an information guild that he had often used in his past life and boasted the number one ranking in Seoul, but it was a guild that had been annihilated by ‘Land Cleaning,’ an information guild created by Jang Han-bit, who had the Azure Lake Guild behind him.
‘Black Label.’
With a serious expression, Hyuk-min came out of the alleyway, hailed a taxi, and muttered.
“I have to make you my allies first.”
One more thing to do had been added.
= = =
Hyuk-min arrived at the lamb skewer street near Konkuk University Station.
As it was getting closer to dinner time, the number of people on the street was gradually increasing.
Passing through the noisy crowd of people having a drink, Hyuk-min stopped at nothing other than the public parking lot booth.
Knock, knock.
Hyuk-min didn’t even have a car, but he confidently knocked on the public parking lot booth.
Click.
“What’s the matter?”
The booth window opened, and an elderly man inside looked at Hyuk-min.
It was a familiar face, but the hair color was slightly different.
But this was the past.
With a hopeful heart, he looked above the elderly man’s head.
[NPC]
He had come to the right place.
‘Could it be that they used this NPC from this time?’
He was earlier than when he first contacted Black Label, so he was a little worried, but it was the same.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
It was a sudden remark, but if it was a keyword that only the NPC knew, a corresponding quest would be generated.
“I am a little hungry.”
Ding.
“Buy me something to eat, something simple. Like bread or milk.”
[Quest Generated.]
[Buy bread and milk for the public parking lot NPC.]
[This quest is a repeatable quest and can be repeated 3 times a day.]
[Reward: 20,000 won.]
“I’ll be right back.”
It was a very stingy repeatable quest that only gave a reward of 20,000 won, but that was not what Hyuk-min was aiming for.
Hyuk-min went to a nearby convenience store and bought rice cakes and wine instead of bread and milk, then knocked on the public parking lot booth.
“Hey! What is this! I asked you to buy bread and milk! Who told you to buy rice cakes and wine! Get out of here! Geez!”
Hyuk-min smiled at the NPC’s outburst.
As the NPC slammed the booth window shut, a man walking down the street approached.
“What’s going on?”
Including his past life, he couldn’t help but be amazed every time he contacted Black Label.
‘Crazy.’
A man in office worker attire was just standing there.
He had never encountered the same person or anything like that while contacting Black Label.
How could different people talk to him every time?
It wasn’t like they were deliberately loitering around here or waiting nearby to come out.
It was as if everyone passing by on this street was a Black Label person, which was a crazy thought.
To that extent, every time he delivered the contact phrase, all kinds of people, young and old, male and female, approached and spoke to him at that exact timing.
Sometimes it was a young man, a middle-aged woman, a young male student, a female student, even a preschooler.
If not all the people walking on this street were Black Label people, it was a statistically impossible situation.
“I gave flesh and blood.”
With a hopeful heart, he delivered the contact phrase.
“Follow me.”
And that hope caught someone.
The man who looked like an office worker was also a Black Label person, and with a briefcase in hand, he began to guide Hyuk-min to Black Label’s residence.