Chapter 3 …
“Are you sure this is really okay? I’m not going to die, right?”
A damp sewer lit by flickering lamps.
Aria clung uneasily to a cracked wall.
“You really think I’d trick you? I told you, you’ll be fine.”
The reason she was hanging from the wall again was because of her deal with Jang Sun-nam.
He had offered her a month-long contract: she would provide him a certain service in exchange for coins.
Since NPCs couldn’t earn coins without trading with hunters, his proposal was a temptation she couldn’t resist.
It meant she would be guaranteed income for a whole month.
Aria had accepted after much hesitation, but now… she couldn’t help regretting it.
Because his proposal had been—
“There, it appeared!”
—for her to act as bait.
Squeeeak!
As a slime respawned in the distance, Jang Sun-nam, who was leaning casually under Aria with arms crossed, smirked.
“Alright, just do what I taught you.”
“…Please save me.”
“A starving turtle could cry louder than that. Louder!”
“Ugh! Somebody help me! I don’t want to die like this!”
Aria, her face flushed with embarrassment, shouted as loud as she could. Her desperate cries echoed through the sewer tunnels.
Exactly like the first time Jang Sun-nam had seen her.
And the reason was simple—
Krrreeeek!!
Rumble—
Recreate the same conditions, and the same thing happened: slimes would gather just like before.
“Ahhh, they’re really swarming toward me!”
“That’s the point.”
Jang Sun-nam tapped his axe against his shoulder as he watched the slimes close in.
Monsters always acted according to a fixed purpose.
Ones that patrolled a path would do so endlessly in the same pattern each time they respawned.
Ones that attacked a certain spot would always return to attack that spot.
And the slimes that targeted NPC Aria? They would keep coming at her, over and over, as long as she lived.
Even if they respawned, they would always come back.
This is exactly what makes kiting farm-hunting possible!
Kreeee!
From every tunnel entrance, hundreds of slimes poured in at last.
Grinning, Jang Sun-nam charged forward.
Whish— Slash!
Skreee!
Each swing of his axe shattered another slime’s core.
The first time he had entered these sewers, he had suffered wounds from their attacks.
But after fighting hundreds, he had adapted. His movements were now sharp and efficient.
Amazing. Was he a warrior before?
Clinging to the wall, Aria once again admired his astounding battle sense.
His motions were fluid, relentless, like a dance.
Not a single wasted movement.
It reminded her of the top-tier knights from her kingdom.
Though—
Slip! Splash!
Every so often he tripped or missed an attack for no reason at all.
Not knowing about his “Poles Apart” skill, Aria could only guess there was some hidden reason.
But what struck her more was that despite such constant danger, he pressed on and never stopped fighting.
Death was the primal fear shared by all living beings across worlds.
To throw himself into danger again and again—it almost seemed insane.
He’s incredible…
All she could do was respect both his strength of will and his martial prowess.
One month later.
By the time Aria had grown accustomed to the stench of the sewers and the cracked wall felt as comfortable as home—
“That’s enough. We’re done with slime hunting.”
“Finally, it’s over!”
The profits had been substantial.
Jang Sun-nam had given her a full 20% cut of the hunting revenue.
And all she had to do was hang from the wall and cry for help. For the difficulty, it was an enormous payout.
They hunted more than ten hours a day, earning about 1,000 coins on average.
After a month, even after paying Aria her 20%, Jang Sun-nam had cleared a net profit of 24,000 coins.
Considering outside hunters risked their lives daily for just 2–3 coins, the number was unimaginable.
Earning this much in 30 days means I can take the next 70 days easy and still be ahead.
Of course, he had plenty of uses in mind for that money.
And after a month of trial and error, he had also come to understand his “Poles Apart” skill better.
Fortune and misfortune never came consecutively—they alternated. Misfortune was always followed by fortune, and fortune by misfortune.
But the timing was completely random, still impossible to predict.
A fruitful month. This is my strongest start yet.
Satisfied, Jang Sun-nam looked at Aria.
“Aria. I’m going to enhance my skills and gear. Open the system.”
He strengthened his map skill, his summoning skill, and his equipment by one level each.
Enhancement stones sold by NPCs made this possible.
He had hoped to use his luck during enhancements to gain extra stones, but the quantity stayed fixed. A minor letdown.
Still, no rush. This much is enough for now.
The upgraded Absolute Map skill now showed two options:
[Absolute Map +1]
Range: 100m radius
Displays monsters
Displays hunters
When he pulled up the enhanced map, he could see monsters moving around.
Currently, his only detection tool was the shabby [F-Rank Scanner] he had bought from Aria, so it could only mark F-rank and below.
Later, with stronger scanners, the map could even track gods themselves. For now, this would do.
Then—
Something flashed across the map labeled “???”
“???” meant it was one rank higher than he could detect. Any higher, and it wouldn’t appear at all.
Given his scanner’s limit, that meant an F+ existence had just moved beyond the sewer wall.
This map is invaluable for knowing danger in advance.
In a world without working electronics or communication, information was the rarest resource.
Having exclusive access to it made the map priceless.
Summoning, though… that’s another headache.
He grimaced at his summoning skill.
It was a high-risk, high-reward gamble.
He could summon anything he remembered, as long as it was equal to or lower than his summoning gear’s rank—monsters, people, robots, even objects.
The only condition: the same being had to be dead before he could summon it. Even Aria, if she died, could be summoned.
The cooldown? Just one minute.
On paper, it was an amazing ability.
But the success rate was 0.01%.
Failure spawned a monster of the same rank that attacked indiscriminately.
He had hoped his “Poles Apart” luck skill might apply, but since Summon Illusion was EX+ while his luck was only EX, it didn’t work.
There would be ways to improve it later, but for now it was out of reach.
If I ever beat the odds, though, this skill could be game-breaking. I can’t abandon it.
So after each day’s work, he used the skill on cooldown every minute.
Red light flared with each failure, spawning enemies he cut down instantly before trying again.
Again. And again. And again.
Even after 30 days of attempts, not a single success.
Still stuck with the 99.99% failure rate.
Shouldn’t there at least be some kind of pity system after thousands of tries? This is absurd…
He tried not to dwell on it, but being human, he couldn’t help sighing.
“…Are you alright?”
He turned to see Aria’s worried expression.
NPCs rarely showed such kindness—it surprised him.
If he had known she could be like this, maybe he wouldn’t have killed her in previous rounds.
And then—
…Wait a second.
An idea sparked.
If it’s her, maybe I can try that plan again.
Aria was an imperial princess, a highly recognized “named” NPC.
He had abandoned this plan before, but with her, it might actually succeed.
Let’s do it. I was going to skip the boss fight this run anyway. Nothing to lose.
Forming his new plan, Jang Sun-nam grinned.
“Let’s head to where the boss spawns.”
“To defeat it?”
“No. I won’t be the one to kill it. The boss hunter will be…”
He smiled slyly at Aria.
At the same time, in a back alley above ground.
A group of hunters sat happily grilling beef.
“Ahhh, beef at last! A whole month without it!”
“Good thing sealed goods don’t spoil. No expiry dates to worry about.”
Items purchased with coins came unsealed.
Until then, they didn’t rot or decay—so the meat was still fresh after a month.
“At least hunting paid off.”
“Paid off? We risk our lives for 2–3 coins a day.”
“Hey, as long as we’re not dead, that’s good enough!”
“They say magic and psychic abilities sell for insane prices…”
“Forget it. If you don’t want to die, just eat and keep quiet.”
At first, it had taken several of them to kill even a single slime, often at the cost of someone’s life.
Some hadn’t survived at all.
But now, with practice, they hunted more safely and could enjoy luxuries like a proper meal.
Then—
Squelch…
A strange sound rumbled as a vast shadow fell over them.
“Huh?”
Distracted by their beef, the hunters looked up too late.
And they saw it.
A massive slime twisting, reshaping itself.
“Hhhhhuh—”
It rose to stand on two legs, forming the hulking body of a bull-headed beast. A minotaur.
The transformed slime sneered wickedly and spoke to the stunned hunters.
“Is the beef tasty? I, too, am curious… how human flesh tastes.”
Thud.
Chunks of beef fell from hunters’ mouths.
They scrambled for their weapons—but it was too late.
The enormous minotaur was already upon them.
““Uwaaaaagh!!””
Slash!
A symphony of screams rang out, cruel and merciless, until the last breath left their bodies.
When the alley finally fell silent—
“Hunting humans really is the best.”
The blood-drenched minotaur shifted its form again and vanished into the darkness.
