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Chapter 13
A short while later.
With his accidental lucky find in hand, Jang Su-nam wasted no time descending the tower while his streak of extreme fortune still lingered.
And the moment he stepped through the tower’s great gates—
“Waited long enough, Crow.”
Blocking his path stood the 1st Security Team of Baekui Authority.
‘Ah. So it’s those guys I saw earlier on the staircase.’
The fact they called him by the nickname “Crow” meant their purpose was obvious. Clearly, the Baekui higher-ups had ordered them to recruit him—by any means necessary.
Or so he thought.
“You bastard. You think you’re hot shit?”
Instead of diplomacy, what greeted him was hostility.
The team leader’s face was twisted in fury. After all, in their reckless attempt to chase him, most of his men had fallen from the 25th floor.
“You know how many of my men suffered because of you?”
‘…What kind of bullshit is this?’
“Compensation. One hundred coins. Refuse, and you die.”
The leader leveled his sword at Su-nam’s throat.
Su-nam only shrugged and let his gaze shift to the space behind them.
“Pretty sure now’s not the time to worry about me. Isn’t your Commander Lee In-ja calling you from behind?”
“What?!”
The team leader reflexively turned to look—
And in that instant—
“You actually fell for it.”
Slash!
Su-nam’s axe cleaved clean through his neck.
“The first one to threaten death was you. No complaints, right?”
Thud.
The headless body collapsed. And there was no resurrection—his three lives had already been spent in their reckless climb.
‘Oh? Easier than expected.’
Hunters were usually trickier to deal with than monsters because of their extra lives. But once those were gone?
‘No different than hunting beasts.’
“Team Leader’s down!”
The survivors drew their weapons in shock.
“That idiot… picking fights when we could’ve just recruited him!”
The deputy cursed, rage sharpening his face. But now, with blood spilled, there was no way back.
“Crow. You reached the top, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Then hand over whatever you found. Do that, and we’ll call the team leader’s death an accident. You walk away clean. No need to make this worse.”
Su-nam chuckled.
‘As I thought. They were after the vaccine.’
Instead of answering, he tilted his axe—a gesture to come at him.
“You’ll regret that, Crow.”
At the deputy’s signal, his men spread out, surrounding Su-nam in a semicircle.
‘Five against one…’
The deputy was F+, same as Su-nam. The rest were plain F rank.
‘Time to add a little intimidation.’
Su-nam smirked and activated his summoning skill.
Flash!
A crimson glow burst from the magic circle—sign of a failed summon. Su-nam immediately leapt backward.
A hulking wolf emerged from the light.
“What the hell is that?!”
“Some kind of summoning magic?”
Clearly, they had never seen a summon before. They tightened their grips nervously.
‘Now… let’s see if the gamble pays off.’
Su-nam held his breath, concealing his presence.
The wolf sniffed the air, turned—
“Grrrrraaaaahh!!”
—and charged straight at the five hunters.
‘Success.’
His streak of fortune was still alive. What should’ve been a failed summon had turned hostile to them instead. Now it was five versus one versus one.
‘Good. Time to take down the strongest first.’
Su-nam lunged forward, enhanced by his Martial Discipline skill.
Thump!
All eyes were on the charging wolf. The deputy’s reaction came a fraction too late.
“Wha—?”
Clang!
He barely blocked the sudden axe strike.
‘Tch. Swordsmanship skill. First stage, most likely.’
Even so, Su-nam pressed on, swinging relentlessly.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Damn it!”
The deputy, though flustered, blocked every strike—his enhanced skill giving him the grace of a veteran swordsman.
That was the system’s power. Even a novice could wield mastery if granted a skill—and his was strengthened to +1.
Su-nam’s Martial Discipline was unenhanced. Breaking through Swordsmanship+1 head-on wasn’t going to be easy.
‘Should I push further?’
Memories from past regressions whispered of higher realms of martial skill, but his current body couldn’t handle that strain.
‘No. Too risky. Not yet.’
The deputy grinned.
“Is that all, Crow? You’re nothing special.”
Meanwhile, his men struggled against the wolf.
“It’s just F rank! Take it down already!”
“F rank my ass! This thing’s tougher than it looks!”
But the wolf wasn’t ordinary—it was a failed summon enhanced to +3. Even three-on-one, it would take time to bring down.
‘Then I’d better finish him before the wolf falls.’
Two of the henchmen started edging toward Su-nam, trying to tip the balance.
The wolf bled. Time was running out.
‘Hunters are always more troublesome than beasts.’
Su-nam feinted another frontal assault.
“Hah! Same trick won’t work twice!”
The deputy laughed, countering confidently.
But Su-nam slipped past, veering toward one of the incoming henchmen.
Slash!
“Gahhh!”
Unlike the deputy, this one had no defensive skill. His throat was split wide open.
“You bastard!!”
The deputy spun in rage.
But Su-nam had already grabbed something from his shoulder—
—and hurled it at him.
“Huh?”
The deputy instinctively halted his swing when he realized what it was.
“A child—?!”
He caught it instead of cutting.
“—Wait. Not a child… a doll?!”
It was the tiny Mini Hail, usually perched like an ornament on Su-nam’s shoulder.
“…Touch me without permission again, and you’ll regret it.”
From Mini Hail’s small hands, nanomachines gathered, forming a blade. In a flash, it stabbed into the deputy’s hand.
“Aaaghhh! What the—?!”
Shocked, he dropped it. The strike wasn’t lethal, but it bought the moment Su-nam needed.
“Oh, shit.”
He finally noticed the axe descending.
Slash!
Just like his subordinate, the deputy’s neck was split open, blood spraying.
“Khhhk…”
Feigning weakness to provoke an opening—an old, reliable trick.
“Graaaaaghh!!”
“Ughhh!”
The wolf dragged another hunter down with it, dying in a violent struggle.
Now only two remained.
“Hiiiii!!”
Correction—one fled screaming.
“Never turn your back on a battlefield.”
Su-nam hurled his axe with all his might.
Whirr—Thunk!
It buried itself in the back of the runner’s skull.
“Idiot. Lose your weapon, and what can you do barehanded?”
The last man charged at him, sword raised.
Su-nam smirked.
“Try finding out.”
He sidestepped the swing and drove a fist into the man’s gut.
Thud!
“Guuhhh!!”
Martial Discipline made his fists deadlier than steel. Without armor or defensive skills, the blow shattered him.
The hunter vomited violently.
“Disgusting.”
Su-nam grimaced, then spun into a savage roundhouse.
Crack!
The man’s neck snapped clean.
‘Hoo… that was close.’
Against one, it would’ve been simple. But fighting a group had eaten up precious time.
‘I’ll need to level Martial Discipline as much as Summoning.’
He checked the corpses.
‘Profit’s decent, though.’
The loot yielded 501 coins. Hunting hunters was far more profitable than killing monsters.
‘No decent gear… oh?’
From the corpse of the fleeing man, he pulled a glowing shard.
“Skill Enhancement Stone! Nice.”
He grinned, purchasing it at once—only 30 coins. Cheap compared to his first run. With this, Martial Discipline would rise in power, evening the odds against enhanced foes.
Just then—
“Master. I’ve detected unsecured communications. Shall I intercept?”
Mini Hail clung back onto his shoulder, eyes glowing faintly.
“Ahh, must be their radio chatter. Do it.”
Mini Hail nodded and relayed the feed.
『You idiots! Haven’t you found the vaccine yet?! Do you want to be discarded?!』
The furious roar of Lee In-ja, Baekui Authority’s second-in-command, blasted from the comms.
Su-nam smirked.
“Perfect. Mini Hail, mimic the dead team leader’s voice. Tell him…”
He leaned in, grinning wickedly.
“I’m on my way to meet you now.”
