Chapter 7 …
‘First, I should secure a food supply.’
Jang Sunam opened his Regressor’s Journal skill.
‘Money is important, and I can gain titles too… a big supermarket will be the best choice.’
As soon as he thought that, related information began lining up before his eyes.
‘Yep, the journal really is the best. It makes up for my terrible memory.’
Even after 100 days had passed, he filtered out supermarkets that might still have untouched food supplies.
‘Not that many left, huh.’
The farther into higher zones, where stronger aberrations appeared, the more untouched supermarkets there were. But since most people still couldn’t venture beyond the lower zones, the markets there were swarmed.
The same applied to Sunam. Even with his experience from six regressions, venturing into higher zones with only F-rank gear was suicide.
It was like a skilled boxer trying to fight someone with a shotgun—no contest.
‘Still, there must be at least one… Ah, found it!’
On the first day of God’s Trial, all remnants of the old civilization were sealed. Sealed items couldn’t even be moved, effectively turning into walls.
Take, for instance, the warehouse-style supermarket he just found.
Someone had left an oversized display TV in front of the entrance just before God’s Trial began.
The sealed TV blocked the entrance, making the door unusable.
Buying the TV to unseal and move it was out of the question—it was far too expensive in the early game.
‘But a building doesn’t only have one entrance.’
If you knew the location of the vents, there was always a way in.
‘Alright, it’s been a while. Let’s go there.’
Sunam set out toward a large supermarket along the route to the Holy Heart Sect.
A little later.
Arriving at the supermarket, Sunam slipped inside through a vent in the parking lot.
‘Without the Regressor’s Journal, I’d have been lost.’
The vent system had also turned into an anomalous zone, becoming a ridiculously huge labyrinth.
Clank!
He passed by a few corpses that had starved to death after getting lost in there, and after thirty minutes, finally emerged into the supermarket.
“Good, I made i—”
Screeech!!
Whoosh!
A club swung out of nowhere.
“Whoa, damn!”
A hundred days ago, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge such a surprise attack. But now, with his Body and Mind Training skill, things were different.
An attack like this—he could avoid it with the barest movement…
Thwack!
“Argh!”
…or so he thought. A club came from his blind spot, smacking him hard across the rear.
‘Damn, that hurts!’
[The Extreme Misfortune effect has been triggered.]
As always, the system message arrived too late.
‘At least it hit my butt. If it had been my limbs, I’d have broken bones.’
Screech!
Rubbing his backside, Sunam spotted a familiar green dwarf.
< Goblin > (F)
‘Good, just F-rank.’
The grade shown next to a name usually reflected the creature’s highest-grade equipment.
But some aberrations had an innate rank regardless of equipment—like slimes.
‘For “misfortune,” this isn’t too bad.’
Sunam surged forward, swinging his axe at the nearest goblin.
Squeal?!
Slash!
The goblin toppled from the knees down, unable to even react.
A clean, single strike.
Thanks to his Body and Mind Training skill, Sunam’s movements were now on a completely different level than they had been a hundred days ago.
‘One more.’
He turned around.
And then—
Groooar.
A new enemy appeared.
A towering, muscular goblin nearly 2 meters tall, wielding a massive axe.
‘…So this is Misfortune at work again, huh?’
Whoosh!
“Whoa!”
The axe swung with terrifying speed. He dodged by a hair’s breadth.
But—
Screech!
A small goblin jumped in from the side, club raised.
Whack!
“Gah!”
The blow landed squarely on his ribs. He could feel the crack—likely fractured.
‘Damn it, Misfortune!’
Slash!
Sunam retaliated instantly, cleaving the smaller goblin’s head clean off.
Roooaaar!!
The giant goblin howled with fury.
[Elite Goblin (F+)]
‘Of course it had to be a tutorial boss-tier monster.’
The slime had been easy thanks to its fatal weakness—salt.
But goblins had no such weakness.
They had to be taken down purely with skill. And this one’s raw stats were a whole rank above his own.
Even after multiple upgrades, crossing a rank gap was nearly impossible. It usually took full enhancement to +10 just to match the next rank.
The only reason Sunam could stand a chance was thanks to his Body and Mind Training.
Roar!!
The Elite Goblin swung its axe again.
The motion was clumsy, but the sheer power behind its massive body made it deadly.
Whoosh! Wham!
‘A single hit means instant death.’
Sunam dodged narrowly again. Without his training skill, he couldn’t have reacted at all.
‘And my ribs are killing me already.’
He endured the pain, waiting for his chance.
Rooaar!!
Frustrated at his constant dodging, the Elite Goblin raised its axe high for a crushing strike.
‘…Now!’
Seizing the opening, Sunam lunged.
Screeech!!
But the goblin was even faster in response.
As if anticipating his attack, it brought its axe crashing down.
Wham!
The weapon hurtled toward him at blinding speed.
‘Knew you’d do that.’
Sunam had planned for this counter.
Whoosh.
He twisted his body, dodging just enough. The axe grazed his left shoulder.
‘Tch!’
He’d wanted a perfect dodge, but Misfortune interfered—the graze still tore his flesh.
Wincing, he pushed forward without hesitation.
‘If I fail, I die!’
Boom!
The goblin’s axe smashed into the ground.
At the same moment, Sunam’s axe slashed across the goblin’s exposed neck.
…!!
Its pupils widened in shock.
Too late.
Slash!
His axe ripped deep into the side of its neck.
Ssshhh!!
Blood gushed in torrents from the severed artery.
Gurgle! Gahh!
The goblin staggered, clutching its throat with one hand while swinging its axe wildly with the other.
But pressure alone couldn’t stop an arterial bleed.
Cough, grrgh…
Soon its body trembled, eyes rolling back.
Thud.
It dropped to its knees, then collapsed lifelessly.
“Phew…”
Sunam exhaled, keeping himself tense a moment longer.
The battle had been brief, but extremely dangerous.
If his attack had failed, he would’ve been killed instantly by the goblin’s counter.
[You have slain an Elite Aberration.]
[♥ restored by 1.]
[♥ already at maximum.]
[You have acquired 5 Coins.]
The reward for defeating an Elite Aberration: life restoration.
That was why hunters desperately sought them out.
Because it restored every party member’s life count, most people formed groups to overwhelm elites.
But many hunters died permanently in the process.
Even so, the temptation of restored lives was irresistible.
‘That’s why guilds and gangs fight over respawn sites.’
They monopolized them for profit, selling life restorations for fortunes. Wars between factions often broke out over the rights.
‘For “Misfortune Time,” stumbling onto this place was lucky.’
There were countless powerful foes out there.
Even Sunam, who had reached six endings, had faced enemies so strong he had to burn through all three lives in a single fight just to win.
Until this respawn location shifted, it would remain his secret life-restoration spot.
‘Let’s mark it at the vent.’
He summoned a Mini Tsunami and tossed it at the vent entrance.
From now on, he could easily return here using it.
‘Still… things are different this run.’
The Journal hadn’t mentioned goblins in this warehouse.
It was because he came at a different time.
Spawn points sometimes changed. This had just been an unlucky accident.
‘Or maybe just Misfortune at work again…’
He looted the Elite Goblin’s axe.
Dropped items from aberrations belonged to whoever picked them up first.
‘So Misfortune doesn’t block loot, huh.’
It just prevented good drops, but basic items still came through.
“I’ll put this axe to good use.”
He stowed away his old weapon and equipped the new one.
[You have equipped <Goblin’s Axe> (F+).]
[Your representative gear rank has been updated.]
Now, anyone who checked his info would see: <Hunter> (F+).
“Hm?”
As he swung the axe experimentally, something caught his eye in the corner.
Human and NPC skeletons, long abandoned and covered in dust.
‘What’s this?’
The signs of battle were everywhere. Sunam studied the scene.
‘Did the NPC ambush the hunter?’
It seemed they’d taken each other out, but the NPC had been the aggressor.
‘It happens sometimes…’
Feeling uneasy, Sunam searched their belongings.
Hunters, NPCs, and aberrations couldn’t have their equipment stolen while alive—the system locked it to them.
But after death, it was different.
Monsters dropped loot freely.
Hunters and NPCs left their items sealed, available for “repurchase.”
‘Only one useful thing—a healing potion.’
He bought a 2-coin potion from the NPC’s drops and drank it immediately.
“Ahh…”
His shoulder and ribs quickly healed, the pain fading.
Clink.
He also collected two pouches of coins from the floor.
[You have acquired 17 Coins.]
[You have acquired 21 Coins.]
Unlike items, dropped coins were automatically his.
Which was why robberies for coins were so common.
‘Huh?’
Under the hunter’s bones lay a note.
‘A will?’
Judging from the bloodstains, it must have been written knowing death was inevitable—caught between the NPC ambush and the goblins.
Or perhaps the NPC had been stronger than expected, draining all three of the hunter’s lives.
『To hunters…. Beware the group called “Seed of the Evil God.”
It is a wicked cult that NPCs have brought into our world.
Their symbol is a cog-shaped seed, and in chaos they—』
The words ended there. The hunter had died before writing more.
‘Seed of the Evil God?’
Sunam glanced at the NPC’s skeleton.
Pinned to its clothing was a brooch shaped like a cog-seed.
‘That emblem…’
It was the same symbol engraved on the hoods of NPCs who’d been preaching in the tutorial zone.
‘So it was a cult after all.’
He bought the NPC’s brooch for 1 coin and pocketed it.
Who knew what use it might have later?
‘Never heard of them in my past six regressions…’
But for now, something else mattered more.
Sunam grinned at the warehouse packed with food supplies.
“Time to clean this place out.”
He began shopping, focusing on bulk packages.
He spent 12,000 coins—equivalent to 1.2 billion won.
Nearly half his total funds, boldly poured into hoarding food. For this run, food shortages would be the least of his worries.
‘Yep, infinite inventory is the best.’
Finished with shopping, he headed back to the vent.
‘Got everything I needed…’
Tapping his new axe against his shoulder, Sunam grinned.
“Now then… time to make some pocket money.”
