The two got on the elevator. The floor Kang Yujun pressed was the 25th floor.
Ding—. The high-speed elevator arrived at the 25th floor in an instant.
“Unit 2501. This is your place.”
Kang Yujun, who got off, stopped in front of one unit.
“I’m right on the floor above, Unit 2601. If you make noise between floors, I’ll come down right away, so live quietly.”
“I’m on the lower floor, how would I make noise between floors? You do well yourself.”
Lee Kanghyun was too anxious. There’s no way that crazy bastard won’t make noise between floors. He was the type of person who would jump around going “Kanghyun—” just to torment him whenever he was bored.
Lee Kanghyun sighed and looked at the door lock. Even the door lock was some kind of latest model.
Money-wasting comes in all forms.
“What’s the password?”
“I’m not telling you.”
What kind of bullshit is this now? Lee Kanghyun stared at him blankly.
“Are you joking? It’s my house.”
“You’re just going to stay inside the house anyway, so you don’t need to go out. Then you don’t need to know the password, right?”
“Are you crazy? How am I supposed to throw out the trash?”
“I’ll throw it out for you.”
“Fuck off! Tell me right now. Before I break it.”
At the prickly response, Kang Yujun’s eyes curved. The smile on his lips was extremely irritating.
“Curious?”
“Hurry up and tell me.”
“Guess.”
“One, two, three.”
When Lee Kanghyun started a countdown, he burst into loud laughter.
“0000 is too easy, so I changed it to something more meaningful. 0127.”
“What’s that?”
“My birthday.”
Lee Kanghyun’s expression cooled coldly.
“Do you really want to die?”
“Why? It’s easy to remember. January 27th. The birth date of Korea’s greatest hunter, Kang Yujun.”
At the shamelessness, Lee Kanghyun was at a loss for words. To call himself Korea’s greatest hunter with his own mouth. His self-love seemed quite remarkable. What do you call this again? Narcissism?
“Change it right now. To 0000.”
“No. 0127 has a higher security level.”
“Cut the crap. It’s all the same. How many people in Korea know your birthday? If your fans come and press it, it’ll just open.”
“Oh, really? That makes sense.”
Kang Yujun nodded.
“Then let’s do this. Mix your birthday with mine.”
Lee Kanghyun felt goosebumps all over his body. They’re not even newlyweds, what’s this about mixing birthdays to set a password?
“No! Absolutely not.”
“Then just keep it 0127. What business would my fans have coming to your place?”
Now I have to press that bastard’s birthday every time I enter the house. Every time he pressed those damn numbers, Kang Yujun’s irritating smile would come to mind.
That was really a hard pass. I’ll change the password when that bastard leaves. It was when Lee Kanghyun was quietly thinking.
“Oh, by the way, you need fingerprint recognition to change the password. I registered it with my fingerprint, so you can’t change the password.”
…Lee Kanghyun just wanted to die.
***
Contrary to his concern that Kang Yujun would visit his house all the time without notice to torment him, he surprisingly didn’t come around much.
There was a reason he could achieve over 1,500 clears. Kang Yujun went around clearing gates day and night without rest.
On the other hand, Lee Kanghyun still did nothing. He lounged around all day on the top-tier bed Kang Yujun bought him.
The alternative service conditions presented by the Ministry of Defense were clearing a gate once a week for three years.
Having to go out every week was quite difficult, but he could manage it somehow. Mainly, the routine repeated where Lee Kanghyun would hole up at home, then Kang Yujun would burst in after a week and drag him to clear a gate.
He strictly adhered to the ‘once a week’ standard presented by the Ministry of Defense. Posts calling Lee Kanghyun a shameless bastard often appeared on the internet, but he didn’t care.
About two months passed like that.
On a bright Wednesday afternoon, inside a B-rank gate.
“Ah, I’m tired.”
Lee Kanghyun sat perched on a wide rock and yawned.
Before his eyes, Kang Yujun was performing a flashy sword dance. Every time the blue waves cut through the air, orcs’ heads fell off in succession.
All Lee Kanghyun did was occasionally kick away one or two orcs that rushed at him without reading the room.
“Kang Yujun. Are we almost done?”
“All cleared. The boss is right ahead.”
Kang Yujun approached, shaking off the blood on his sword. His face was clean without a drop of sweat.
Today’s gate was unusually quiet compared to usual. Perhaps because it was B-rank, the monster level was low and the number of entities was small. For Lee Kanghyun, it was the best working environment.
“Let’s quickly kill the boss and get out. I want to sleep.”
“How many hours a day do you even sleep? You sleep that much and you’re still sleepy?”
Right. How many hours did I sleep? Lee Kanghyun, who was trying to remember, jumped down from the rock at the monster appearing in the distance.
The boss was an Orc Lord.
The giant Orc Lord came charging with an axe, snorting furiously, but it was no match for Kang Yujun. When his sword drew horizontally, the Orc Lord’s axe was cut in half.
After a few more sword swings, the massive body fell to the ground with a thud.
Lee Kanghyun didn’t even have a chance to step up. I got up for nothing. Should’ve just stayed sitting.
Kang Yujun sheathed his sword and looked back. Lee Kanghyun was already turning toward the exit.
“We should go together, Kanghyun. Just wait while I collect the Magic Stone.”
It was supposed to be a completely ordinary, very peaceful and boring commute home.
Should I get some chicken to-go on the way home? It was when Lee Kanghyun was having such leisurely thoughts.
Wooong— Woooong—.
The atmosphere began to ring unpleasantly.
At the sound that made his eardrums stuffy, Lee Kanghyun stopped with a frown. Kang Yujun, whose expression hardened instantly, gripped his sword again instead of collecting the Magic Stone.
The weight of the air had changed. The humidity rose sharply, and the mana concentration was becoming so thick it stung the skin.
The mana wavelength inside the gate was unstable. At the unpleasant sense of pressure, Lee Kanghyun wrinkled his face even more.
‘Gate Mutation’. A phenomenon where the gate rank rapidly increases right after clearing, or the internal structure becomes distorted. That irregular disaster had just erupted now of all times.
The ground shook as if turning over.
The corpse of the Orc Lord that had just died was engulfed in purple flames, and instead of melting, it began to grotesquely swell as the parts stuck together.
Then the blood and flesh of the dead monsters gathered in one place. The ceiling cracked and a pitch-black fissure swallowed the two.
“Ha….”
A deep sigh burst from Lee Kanghyun’s mouth. It wasn’t from fear.
“I want to go home….”
“Lee Kanghyun! Don’t space out and dodge!”
Kang Yujun urgently shouted and snatched Lee Kanghyun, throwing him backward.
KWAANG—!
A giant tentacle pierced the spot where Lee Kanghyun had been standing. A large rock was shattered and crushed.
A massive creature of unknown form, covered entirely in sticky liquid, wriggled as it approached. The mana it emitted was at minimum A-rank, no, close to S-rank.
Lee Kanghyun rolled on the ground and spat out curses. Without even time to be annoyed by the dirt on his clothes, he had to roll again to avoid another tentacle.
Kang Yujun deployed a barrier of water to block the monster’s attack. But as soon as the creature’s black slime touched it, with a hissing sound, the water surface bubbled and water droplets splattered everywhere.
“It’s acidic! Don’t let it touch you!”
Kang Yujun shouted.
It was a mess.
Lee Kanghyun looked down blankly at his dirt-covered tracksuit. Then he looked at the monster rampaging in the distance.
I want to go home. I violently want to go home.
But the exit was already blocked by a red barrier.
Lee Kanghyun nervously ruffled his hair.
Shiiiiik—!
The monster inflated its body massively. Dozens of pitch-black poison masses shot out in all directions like a shotgun. Kang Yujun reflexively swung his sword.
A thick wall made of water formed in the air. But this time was different from before. The moment the poison touched the water, the water droplets boiled fiercely and severed Kang Yujun’s mana connection.
Crack crack. Swoooosh.
The wall of water, which had been harder than steel, lost its strength and poured down to the ground like plain water.
Kang Yujun’s eyes widened. It’s not just acidic. The creature’s poison erased mana itself.
Taking advantage of the gap where the barrier disappeared, one giant tentacle extending from the monster’s body flew straight toward Kang Yujun.
It was too late to dodge. He gritted his teeth and twisted his body to at least avoid a fatal wound.
Squelch.
The sound of something tearing and slicing flesh rang out. The acrid smell of burning flesh rushed in.
But it was strange. He felt no pain.
Kang Yujun slowly opened his eyes. And he stared blankly at the presence blocking in front of him.
Lee Kanghyun was dripping blood in his place.
Hiss.
The creepy sound of the flesh of his pierced arm melting struck his ears. White smoke rose as the burning smell was sickeningly foul.
“Ugh.”
A short groan flowed from Lee Kanghyun’s mouth.
Kang Yujun’s gaze turned to Lee Kanghyun’s left arm.
The gray hoodie sleeve crumbled as soon as the poison touched it. The poison that touched bare skin began melting the flesh.
“Lee Kanghyun….”
Kang Yujun’s face turned deathly pale. The sword he was holding trembled.
His breathing stopped for a moment. His brain stopped thinking at the horrific scene unfolding before his eyes. The cool judgment of an S-rank Hunter evaporated in an instant.
“Your arm….”
Kang Yujun extended a finely trembling hand toward Lee Kanghyun. But it stopped in the air without reaching. What if touching makes it hurt more? What if it melts more?
It wasn’t a simple amputation—the pain of an arm melting from acid was horrific. Lee Kanghyun squeezed his eyes shut.
Meanwhile, several tentacles flew simultaneously all at once.
“Kang Yujun! Block that!”
“Lee Kanghyun….”
“I said block it!”
Lee Kanghyun clenched his right hand into a fist and struck Kang Yujun’s head hard.
