Chapter 4
Hyeon-jun closed in right behind the Rune Rabbit.
He wanted to use the kitchen knife, but if he swung it while running, he might miss.
I need to grab it.
Hyeon-jun stretched out his hand.
The distance was agonizingly close.
Almost within reach.
Please!
He kicked the ground even harder.
The gap instantly disappeared.
Hyeon-jun reached out and caught the creature.
Immediately afterward, he lost his balance and fell.
Because of how fast he had been running, he rolled across the ground several times.
“Ugh!”
He nearly lost the Rune Rabbit, but somehow tightened his grip in time.
I-I caught it.
He had really caught it.
And far more easily than expected.
I caught it.
His first successful hunt.
Hyeon-jun’s heart began pounding for an entirely different reason.
“I really did it!”
Hyeon-jun burst out laughing.
Even after seeing the objective proof provided by his Runes, a lingering doubt had remained in his heart.
Now that doubt had completely disappeared.
I can work as a Hunter too.
The past five years flashed through his mind.
The nights he couldn’t sleep because of hospital bills.
The days when he felt too guilty to even look his younger sister in the eye.
All of that bitterness seemed to wash away with the simple fact that he had successfully caught a monster.
“Heh... Hahaha!”
At last, he had grasped the hope that had always hovered just beyond his reach.
Something surged up from deep within his chest.
His eyes grew hot.
But this wasn’t the time to cry pathetically.
“Squeak! Squeeeak!”
The Rune Rabbit struggled violently in his grasp.
Hyeon-jun pushed aside his emotions and pulled out his weapon.
“How dare you interrupt such an emotional moment.”
“Squeeeak!”
“Die!”
Hyeon-jun tried to attack the Rune Rabbit enthusiastically.
Then he froze in an awkward position.
“SQUEEEEEAK!”
The Rune Rabbit was struggling far more fiercely than expected.
If he wasn’t careful, he might injure himself while trying to kill it.
I need to finish it in one strike.
He had to stab the neck.
If he failed to kill it immediately, the Rune Rabbit would struggle even more violently.
What do I do?
There was no good answer in his current position.
Hyeon-jun carefully searched through his memories.
How to hunt a Rune Rabbit.
He distinctly remembered seeing it in beginner Hunter guide videos.
Rune Rabbits are difficult to kill in one strike. That’s why beginners are told to capture them first with traps or by driving them into an enclosed area.
He had already captured it.
What came next?
Knock it unconscious.
The recommended method differed depending on the size of the hunting party, but if hunting alone, it was best to knock the rabbit unconscious before finishing it off.
Hyeon-jun grabbed the Rune Rabbit’s long ears in one hand.
Then he violently slammed it against the ground.
“Squee-!”
Its scream stopped.
So did its struggling.
Hyeon-jun lifted the Rune Rabbit to eye level.
“Properly unconscious.”
Its body hung limp.
Using his kitchen knife, Hyeon-jun carefully finished it off.
“Whew. Finally quiet.”
Hyeon-jun collapsed onto the grass.
Now that the thing he had worried about most was successfully finished, the tension left his body.
A foolish smile kept escaping his lips.
“I’m a Hunter too.”
He was no longer a useless Awakener.
Now, wherever he went, he could proudly introduce himself as a Hunter.
“F-rank Hunter Go Hyeon-jun.”
It was the lowest rank.
But he didn’t care.
Not because of his Copy skill.
Simply being able to call himself a Hunter was enough to make him happy.
“Hehehe.”
For a while, Hyeon-jun soaked in the feeling like someone enjoying the afterglow of a wonderful dream.
Then he abruptly sat up.
“Time to process it.”
It was time to calculate his earnings.
Hyeon-jun began collecting his spoils.
First, he removed the Rune Fragment embedded in the Rune Rabbit’s forehead.
Then he skinned the creature.
He knew the theory, and he had worked as a dungeon porter several times, so his hands didn’t hesitate much while using the knife.
“Rune Rabbit hide sells for a decent amount too.”
The unusual color made it fairly popular.
Finally, he removed the F-rank Mana Stone near its heart.
“I’ll leave the meat.”
He could sell it if he wanted.
But compared to the trouble of carrying it around, it wasn’t worth much.
So he skipped it.
“This alone is plenty.”
Mana Stones were major energy resources.
Even F-rank ones sold for a reasonable amount.
Rune Rabbit hides also fetched a good price because of their unique dark color.
The highlight was the Rune Fragment.
Collect ten Rune Fragments, and they could be crafted into one Rune.
“How much would all this be?”
Hyeon-jun calculated using the prices he remembered.
Thanks to his years of working at the Exchange, he quickly arrived at an estimate.
“Maybe around thirty-five thousand won?”
Hide prices depended on quality.
A hide in this condition could probably fetch around ten thousand won.
“Good thing I captured it first.”
If he had started swinging the knife while chasing it, the hide would have been badly damaged.
It hadn’t been a deliberate strategic choice, but the result was excellent.
“Next are the Mana Stone and Rune Fragment. An F-rank Mana Stone is ten thousand won, and an F-rank Rune Fragment is fifteen thousand.”
F-rank Rune Fragments weren’t especially expensive when considering their rarity and how much effort it took to obtain them.
There were dozens of Rune types.
And when Rune Fragments were used to craft a Rune, the resulting Rune was random.
“It’s basically gambling, so this price actually makes sense.”
That was why some Hunters considered hunting Rune Monsters a waste of time.
Rune Monsters were already harder to catch than ordinary monsters.
