Chapter 3
Thud.
The strength left Hyeon-jun’s legs, and he dropped to his knees.
“This isn’t a dream...”
Cold seeped into his knees from the ground.
The freezing winter air entered deep into his lungs.
A sharp wind scraped against his skin.
Every sensation made reality feel clearer.
“None of this is a dream...”
The past five years had been an enormous swamp for him.
Poverty dragged him deeper no matter how hard he struggled.
The debt never decreased no matter how much he worked.
His mother remained hospitalized with no end in sight.
Even the Awakening that had seemed like a miracle turned out to be nothing more than the laughable [Bird Hunter].
It had sometimes felt as though the entire world was mocking him, whispering for him to simply give up.
But today...
A tiny yet unmistakable crack had finally appeared in that wall of despair.
“Heh... Hehehe.”
At first, laughter came out.
Then his eyes grew hot.
Hyeon-jun tried to hold it in, but eventually a sob escaped through his lips.
On the deserted street, the strange sound of a twenty-five-year-old man’s sorrow and hope mixed together.
I can finally live like a normal person.
He had been given a chance to reclaim the ordinary life the world had taken from him.
Hyeon-jun slowly stood.
A powerful determination filled his reddened eyes.
“First, I need to finish copying the Rune.”
Hyeon-jun copied the Agility Rune again.
Eight new Agility Runes appeared.
He swallowed them one after another with water and absorbed them.
“Stats.”
Since he had already come this far, he checked his Stats too.
His eyes widened slightly.
Stats ▽
-Strength: 10/100
-Agility: 19/100
-Vitality: 10/100
-Mana: 10/100
-Willpower: 10/100
“My Stats completely changed?”
Soul Circuits and initial Stats differed depending on the awakened Trait.
Still, he hadn’t expected that rule to apply when a Trait itself changed.
“No wonder my body feels lighter.”
Normally, he should have been exhausted by now.
Yet his body still felt full of energy.
Part of that was probably adrenaline from his sudden reawakening, but the increased Stats must have played a role as well.
“Can I work as a Hunter at this level?”
A typical beginner setup aimed for around seventy to eighty Runes.
Hyeon-jun currently had a total of fifty-nine stat points.
Even worse, that total included Mana and Willpower, which wouldn’t directly help much in physical combat.
Actual hunting still seemed difficult.
“Still, I want to test it at least once.”
Hyeon-jun thought deeply.
Then he shook his head.
Getting injured because I rushed would be disastrous.
The moment he got hurt, his Hunter activities would be delayed.
Worse, he wouldn’t be able to work.
No manpower agency would hire an injured laborer.
“Just imagining it is terrifying.”
For now, he would focus on absorbing Runes and raising his Stats.
First, Agility.
Considering Hunter work, it would be better to balance his other Stats too.
But that would cost even more money.
There are monsters I can hunt with high Agility alone.
One monster immediately came to Hyeon-jun’s mind.
A rabbit-type monster.
It had almost no attack or defense, but its speed was exceptional.
It’ll probably still be hard to catch... but if I’m going to live as a Hunter, I should at least be able to handle that much.
And if he killed one, he could obtain Rune materials as well.
Rather than wasting money buying different Runes, he decided to focus on Agility first.
The problem is how much Agility I need.
The safest option was obviously to raise it all the way to 100.
His current Agility was nineteen.
Once midnight passed, he could raise it to twenty-nine.
Even then, he would still need to wait another week.
“Do I really have to wait that long?”
Hyeon-jun thought for a moment before making his decision.
“First, I’ll run a little and see how much my body has changed.”
Then he would decide how much Agility he needed before entering a hunting ground.
“If it feels like I absolutely need 100, then I’ll just wait one clean week.”
Hyeon-jun looked around.
There were barely any people nearby.
Even the two-lane road was empty.
It was perfect for a running track.
Hyeon-jun warmed himself up by jogging in place.
Then he kicked off the ground.
“Hup!”
He sprinted at full speed up the slightly inclined road.
Wind brushed past his ears.
The scenery moved backward around him.
Doesn’t feel that different.
Years of manual labor had already trained Hyeon-jun’s body.
A small increase in Stats wasn’t enough to create a dramatic difference.
“Whew.”
Hyeon-jun stopped running.
His heart pounded hard from suddenly sprinting.
“It’s... kind of hard to tell...”
He felt slightly better than before.
But not enough for the difference to be overwhelming.
It was like someone who could total 300 kilograms in the big three lifts suddenly increasing to 310.
“Still, at least the improvement is noticeable.”
His body definitely felt better than before.
Hyeon-jun seriously considered how far he should raise his Agility.
“If nineteen Runes make this much difference...”
At sixty or seventy, he could probably perform reasonably well inside a hunting ground.
But he wanted certainty.
“I’ll just fill it to 100.”
He couldn’t go into this half-prepared, either physically or mentally.
Entering a hunting ground meant testing whether he could truly work as a Hunter.
Even if it’s hard to wait, I’ll hold out for one week.
The morning of the eighth day after his reawakening.
The moment Hyeon-jun opened his eyes, he copied and absorbed more Runes.
Stats ▽
-Strength: 10/100
-Agility: 99/100
-Vitality: 10/100
-Mana: 10/100
-Willpower: 10/100
His other Stats remained unchanged.
Only Agility had climbed close to 100.
“Finally.”
The day he had waited and waited for had arrived.
It was time to enter a hunting ground.
“Before that, I should warm up.”
Hyeon-jun left home and headed toward the athletic field of a nearby school.
He had deliberately avoided testing his body during the past week.
Today, he planned to warm up and see just how fast he had become.
It was a weekend morning, so the field was empty.
Once he arrived, Hyeon-jun began warming himself up by hopping lightly on the dirt.
It already feels different.
It wasn’t his imagination.
The rebound from the ground beneath his toes felt far lighter than before.
Tap.
Hyeon-jun put strength into his legs and kicked off the ground.
His body shot forward like an arrow.
Whoosh!
The wind slicing past his ears sounded sharp.
Everything outside the center of his vision stretched backward like wet paint dragged across a canvas.
I-I’m this fast?
His feet barely seemed to touch the ground.
Every time he brushed against the earth and pushed off again, his body seemed to fly forward through the air.
His breathing grew rough.
But Hyeon-jun didn’t stop.
Instead, he drove even more strength into his thighs, testing the limits of his legs.
His violently pounding heart flooded his body with adrenaline.
And during that sprint...
For some reason, Hyeon-jun felt liberated.
It was as if all the burdens piled on his shoulders were unable to keep up with his speed and were being thrown away behind him.
“Haa... Haa...”
Hyeon-jun finally stopped.
He had to take several quick steps for a few meters just to reduce his momentum.
His lungs burned.
