Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day.

At the entrance of an intermediate-to-high-level dungeon located in Chungmuro.

If things had gone according to the plan I had until yesterday, I would have already thrown away my identity as a hunter.

Whether it was selling bungeoppang or garaetteok here, I had planned to start over from the very bottom.

But...

“Yahoo! It’s pretty cold today, isn’t it? Winter really is winterrr!”

Thanks to this guy named Poming, I decided to try selling ramen first.

“Hey, can you seriously cook every dish in the world?”

“The basic trait granted to me doesn’t tell lieees.”

Fine.

I’ll trust you.

Several B-rank and A-rank hunters were wandering around the entrance of the intermediate-to-high-level dungeon.

They were waiting for their turn after the hunters who had entered before them came back out.

“Man, would they hurry up and come out already...?”

“Who went in?”

“You know that guy. The bastard who talks like he’s got no manners whatsoever.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“You know, that annoying bastard called Sama Cheon or whatever.”

“Ah! That obnoxious guy?”

From what they were saying, it seemed B-rank hunter Sama Cheon had gathered another party and was running the dungeon again.

Man, he sure works hard.

Well, I guess you had to be that desperate to climb all the way from D-rank to B-rank.

His social skills were at least worth learning from.

Anyway, I spread out a mat near the dungeon entrance and prepared to start my business.

All I needed were a few packs of ramen and the leftover ingredients I had brought from the refrigerator.

There was only one dish I could make.

The Sweet Spicy Cream Ramen I had eaten yesterday.

Like those middle-aged men who read fortunes and tell people’s futures on the streets of Jongno, I spread out a single mat, placed a burner and several packs of ramen on top of it, then put up a sign.

Sweet Spicy Cream Ramen — 5,000 won

A few of the hunters who had been waiting nearby seemed curious and approached me.

“What’s this?”

“Huh? That thing’s a summoned beast. Did you get lucky and find one?”

They seemed to find Poming—who looked like a tiny, mischievous Maltese puppy—adorable, because they kept petting him.

“What rank is this little guy?”

“F... F-rank... Apparently, that’s only for his combat ability....”

“Ah, so you basically got yourself a stray cat. Summoned beasts are usually like that. But are you selling food here?”

“Ah, yes. I thought I’d start selling ramen from today.”

“You’re not going into the dungeon? You’re a hunter, aren’t you?”

“Ah, well... This is just a side job.”

“Figures. You look like an F-rank hunter. Must be hard making a living. Good luck.”

None of the hunters seemed particularly interested in the Sweet Spicy Cream Ramen.

Well, now that I thought about it, selling something like this right next to a battlefield where people could live or die did feel a little out of place....

While I was thinking about that, Poming had no idea what was going through my mind.

He stayed beside me the entire time, acting cute and staring up at me.

Come to think of it, does he just stay summoned like this forever?

It was my first time having a summoned beast, so I knew practically nothing about them.

There was something like “continue” on the status window yesterday. Maybe if I press that, I’ll get a more detailed explanation....

Just as I was about to open the status window again—

Someone walked up to my mat.

“Hey, F-rank. What the hell are you doing here?”

I looked up.

It was Sama Cheon.

“Excuse me? I’m selling food. Are you done with your raid? But...”

It was definitely Sama Cheon.

But something was strange.

No.

To be precise, he looked horrifying.

“A-Are you okay?”

Maybe he had taken a serious hit from a monster.

A chunk of his shoulder was missing, the armor he was wearing looked scorched as if it had been burned, and his shoes were completely torn apart.

His face was gaunt and pale.

“I don’t even know whether I’m okay or not. I was fighting that bastard boss, and then I lost my memory....”

I instinctively looked toward the dungeon entrance.

What the hell? Something’s wrong here.

That was when—

“Bring him out! Hurry! We’ve got an injured person!”

“Where’s the healer?! Get the healer!”

“B-rank or higher! Hurry up!”

Someone was being carried out of the dungeon.

“Huh?”

It was Sama Cheon.

Judging from the way his arm hung completely limp, he looked dead....

Then what the hell is this guy in front of me?

The Sama Cheon standing before me also turned toward the dungeon entrance.

After seeing himself being carried out, he spoke in a hollow voice.

“Hey, F-rank. I think I’m dead, don’t you?”

Yeah.

No matter how I looked at it, he was dead.

Unless he had an identical twin, he had to be dead.

Which meant the thing standing in front of me was his soul.

And his physical body was the one being carried away over there.

“Gasp!”

But if he was dead...

How the hell could I see his soul?

Does this even make sense?

Poming, who had no clue what was happening, continued acting cute beside me.

I asked Sama Cheon in a trembling voice.

“But... how am I able to see you?”

“How the hell would I know? No idea. Hey, give me some of that.”

“Ramen?”

“You’re selling it, aren’t you? I don’t have any money. Where would a dead guy get money?”

Sama Cheon’s face was filled with complicated emotions.

Dead or alive, his personality is still just as shitty.

I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen him and ignore him altogether.

But the guy was apparently on his way to the afterlife.

Even if I couldn’t give him travel money for the journey, cooking him a bowl of ramen didn’t seem too bad.

“Poming, let’s start.”

“Yessir!”

Excited, Poming immediately started cooking just like yesterday.

Before long, a pot of Sweet Spicy Cream Ramen was ready.

Poming proudly presented the ramen.

“Ta-da!”

“No need to ‘ta-da’ for me.”

I slid the bowl toward Sama Cheon.

He had been staring silently at the ground the entire time.

Without saying anything, he picked up his chopsticks.

Hooo—

Slurp—

I was just as confused as he was.

What the hell is going on? I can see the souls of dead hunters? Should I go to the Hunter Association and ask them about this? Has something like this ever happened before? Did I somehow get forcibly transferred into a different class...?

That was when—

“Ugh... H-Huuuugh... Sob!”

Sama Cheon suddenly burst into tears.

What the hell? Sama Cheon, the sociopath, is crying?

With noodles still hanging from his mouth, Sama Cheon spoke through his tears.

“I-It’s so good! It’s so... so damn good!”

Then he lowered his head.

His tears began falling onto the mat.

“You know... I was really poor. I hated being poor more than anything.”

He suddenly began revealing what was buried deep inside his heart.

I had no idea where this was coming from.

“Wh-What do you mean, what’s buried inside your heart?”

“Just... listen to me for a little while. Please....”

“P-Please is a bit much.... Fine. Go ahead.”

I listened.

“Mom, ramen again?”

“Cheon-ah, I’m sorry. Just eat it for today.”

“How can it be ramen every single day? Don’t we have any money?”

When he was young, Sama Cheon had been truly poor.

His father died early, and his mother worked so much that she barely had time to straighten her back.

Their meals were always leftover food his mother brought home from work or cheap ramen.

Sama Cheon liked ramen.

Because it was something he could eat together with his mother.

But as he grew older, he became ashamed of it.

His friends ate whatever they wanted, wore whatever they wanted, and carried around whatever they wanted, all thanks to their wealthy parents.

Meanwhile, he always sat in the same shabby house, swallowing broth that tasted exactly the same every day.

At some point, he began hating the smell of ramen.

To him, it smelled like poverty itself.

That was why he accepted the life of a hunter.

It was his only chance to become successful through his own strength.

He started at D-rank when he first awakened.

Then climbed all the way to B-rank.

He made money like a madman.

He begged and fought his way upward.

He tore others down when he had to.

Some people called him a psychopath.

Others called him a lunatic.

Others called him selfish.

But—

He had to become stronger.

Because he never wanted to live a life that smelled like that again.

He pushed himself harder and harder.

Eventually, he naturally became the cold-blooded man everyone knew him as.

“...Fuck.”

A tear dropped onto the ground.

Still clutching his chopsticks, Sama Cheon began to cry.

“Why am I only ashamed of myself now that I’m dead?”

His foolish past.

He had lived his life wrong.

He regretted it.

Truthfully... this was my dream.

My wish.

Someday, I wanted to go back to the innocent, soft-hearted kid I used to be.

After eating this ramen... all my regrets are disappearing.

Strangely enough.

His vision grew blurry.

Maybe the ramen was getting cold.

“Hunter Hong Mangi. I mean this sincerely.”

“I’m truly sorry for what I did to you.”

“Can you accept my apology?”

I slowly nodded.

Sama Cheon silently lifted another bite of ramen to his mouth.

And quietly murmured,

“It tastes incredible.... Absolutely incredible....”

Whoooooosh—

After leaving behind his heartfelt apology, Sama Cheon’s soul vanished.

“What the hell was that?”

Everything had happened in an instant.

And then—

[You have absorbed B-rank Hunter Sama Cheon’s Main Skill.]

[Shadow Storm — Concentrates surrounding shadows and unleashes them like a storm, continuously damaging enemies within the area for a set duration while granting the user Stealth.]

[You have obtained B-rank Hunter Sama Cheon’s items.]

[Shadow Dagger (Condition: 99%): Attack Speed +30%, Evasion Rate -15%, Enemy Reaction Speed -20%, Invincibility for 3 seconds after Shadow Movement.]

[Ninja Armor (Condition: 90%): Defense +30, 10% chance to evade ranged attacks.]

“Huh?! What the hell is this?!”

I opened my hunter-exclusive inventory.

The Shadow Dagger and Ninja Armor had really appeared inside it.

The same was true for my skills.

My pathetic skill window, which had practically nothing in it, now contained Shadow Storm, the main offensive skill of a B-rank hunter.

“How?”

That was when Poming, who had been rolling around beside me like a soft ball the whole time, smiled brightly.

“It seems the chef’s cooking was extremely wonderful! He left you a present before departing, didn’t he?”

“My cooking? You were the one who made it.”

“Aren’t you my summoner? Since Summoner-nim is my master, everything I do is Summoner-nim’s oupuuut!”

“You mean output.”

“Is there anything else you’re curious about regarding me? It’s almost time for me to rest.”

Time to rest?

Oh, right.

I was supposed to check the rest of the status window.

I opened the summoned beast status window again and switched to the second page I had seen earlier.

【Those who possess a summoned beast are able to see souls.】

【Soul Absorption — If you fulfill the wish of a deceased hunter’s soul before they pass into the afterlife, or remove the regrets holding them back, you can absorb the skills and items they possessed.】

【Summoned Beast Limit — A maximum of 10 summoned beasts can be possessed simultaneously.】

【Summoned Beast Usage Time — A summoned beast can be used for a maximum of 12 hours.】

【Using materials obtained through dungeons will increase the summoner’s abilities.】

“Ah...! So that’s what happened? That’s why I could see his soul... and why I received his abilities too...?”

Some of my questions were finally answered.

Poming gave me a tiny smile.

Then, as his body slowly began to disappear, he said,

“Call me again anytimeee!”

“Y-You’re going to rest?”

“Hasn’t my usage time almost run out? Well, the choice is yours, Master!”

“Ah, okay. Then go rest!”

The moment I said that, Poming disappeared.

Left alone on the empty mat, I couldn’t help but fall into thought.

I think I more or less understand what this is now.

But the important thing is....

Doesn’t this smell like a ridiculously huge jackpot?

Just then, I heard voices coming from some hunters in the distance.

“Hey, start calling people! Hurry! At this rate, we’ll lose our turn!”

“Where the hell are we supposed to suddenly find someone B-rank or higher with decent combat power?!”

“Damn it, even a C-rank is fine! We just need enough people to fill the party! Isn’t there anyone?”

Apparently, one of the hunters who had promised to join them had bailed.

Considering there were all kinds of strange people among hunters, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

Wait a second....

Didn’t it say that using materials obtained from dungeons could increase the summoner’s abilities?

Should I try raising them?

I slowly got up and walked toward the hunters.

Then I asked,

“Excuse me... don’t you need one more hunter?”

They looked me up and down.

“Aren’t you the guy who was selling ramen over there?”

“You’re F-rank. No matter how desperate we are, F-rank is a little....”

“Yeah. Sorry, but an F-rank would just be a burden on us too.”

Without saying much, I pulled out the Shadow Dagger I had received from Sama Cheon and showed it to them.

“Would this be enough?”

“I don’t think I’d be that much of a burden with this.”

All of them stared at me with eyes as wide as startled rabbits.

“How the hell do you have something like that?”