46 chapter - Vampire (1)
A forest thick with towering trees.
Our party was carefully moving through the woods, shrouded in deep darkness.
Then Im Jin-sol said,
“Enemy spotted up ahead.”
We immediately froze and scanned our surroundings.
But there wasn’t a single monster in sight.
Of course not.
“Take aim.”
The monster Jin-sol had spotted was a few hundred meters away from our current position.
In this moonless, pitch-black forest, her ability to detect prey was thanks to her Trait.
With a deadly serious expression, Jin-sol took aim with her rifle.
I asked,
“You think you can hit it?”
“Boss, shut it. You’re throwing off my focus.”
“…Right. Sorry.”
Ignoring me completely, Jin-sol slowed her breathing and squeezed the trigger.
Bang—!
A sharp gunshot rang through the woods, sending birds scattering and stirring the stillness.
Jin-sol pulled her eye away from the scope and said,
“Got it.”
“Good. Nice shot. Yuna, light.”
“Yes!”
As soon as Lee Yuna activated her ability, I bolted in the direction of Jin-sol’s shot.
Even without using Monsterization, in my awakened state I was already beyond human limits.
At full sprint, I could cover a few hundred meters in an instant.
Here. It’s around here.
I saw a tree soaked in blood.
Jin-sol had landed a clean hit.
But the thing itself had already vanished without a trace.
Found it.
Blood-smeared footprints stretched out along the forest path.
I followed them—until they suddenly disappeared, as if they had evaporated.
Here!
Without hesitation, I slashed at the air in that direction.
Shhk!
—Screeeee!
A scream burst out from nowhere, and the monster finally revealed itself.
A reptilian beast, slightly larger than a tiger.
Invisible Chameleon.
True to the name, a chameleon with the ability to turn invisible.
Among D-Rank or higher monsters, it was rare in that it didn’t come with a boss monster.
Still, each one is a pain to hunt.
Each Gate had about four or five of them, and each one was far stronger than your average D-Rank monster.
—Kreeek!
It lashed its tongue at me.
A final desperate strike from a fading life.
I deflected it without hesitation and lopped off its head.
Shhk!
As I waited for the rest of the party, I began cleanup. I slit its belly open to retrieve the Mana Stone, and took the severed tongue.
The Invisible Chameleon’s greatest weapon was the venomous stinger at the tip of its tongue—its poison could kill an elephant instantly.
And it’s laced with mana.
Which meant: the poison could be brought into a Gate.
Thanks to that, tongues containing the venom sac were traded at high prices.
Not that it even covers a third of the bullets we used today.
I let out a small sigh.
There was a reason I pushed ahead with the operation, even knowing it would be a loss.
If only these things were just a bit more aggressive.
Unlike monsters that go berserk the moment they see humans, these ones prefer to hide.
They lie in wait while invisible, creeping close before lashing out with their tongues in a surprise attack.
Because of that, we had to move through the forest with extreme caution.
We lost way too much time clearing this Gate.
Today’s plan was to clear three D-Rank Gates in one go.
But we ended up spending over 12 hours on this one alone.
How the hell was I supposed to know we’d get Invisible Chameleons?
Thanks to their habit of going invisible as soon as someone approaches, it usually took days just to hunt five of them.
Since actively tracking them down was dangerous, the standard strategy was to set traps and wait.
But that took too long.
With three Gates booked back-to-back, we needed to finish fast.
So I resorted to using firearms.
Still, the guild’s covering half the cost, so at least we’re not totally in the red.
I decided to just be satisfied with confirming Jin-sol’s sniping skills.
“Party leader, we’re here!”
“Good, Yohan. Help with the cleanup.”
“Understood.”
Seong Yohan, ever efficient, started packing up.
The perfect example of a pack mule.
Since I handled all the combat in D-Rank Gates, the rest of the party had to find other roles.
In Yohan’s case—strong and durable—he’d naturally taken on the role of porter.
Mana Stone extraction and such weren’t done by one person either. We all shared the work fairly.
That way, we could finish the raid much faster.
“Yohan oppa, anything I can help with?”
“Yeah, could you hold the tail here?”
“Like this?”
“Yep, just like that.”
The Invisible Chameleon’s tail was considered a delicacy—high demand, low supply.
Because they were hard to hunt and took forever, the meat was incredibly rare.
Most of the time it got eaten inside the Gate, so almost none made it to the market.
“If we’ve got everything, let’s head out.”
“Okay!”
When we exited the Gate, Manager Yoon Sang-ho was waiting.
“Great work, everyone.”
He handed out bottled water and electrolyte drinks from a cooler.
While we sipped and rested, he quietly sorted the loot and organized everything we’d gathered.
Noticing the tail meat, he said,
“So it was Invisible Chameleons. No wonder it took longer than usual.”
“Sorry for keeping you waiting so long.”
“Not at all. If you cleared a Gate with those in just one day, that’s pretty incredible.”
He asked,
“It’s gotten pretty late. How about ending things here for today and handling the rest tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we were thinking that too. Oh—please hold onto the tail meat.”
“Understood.”
After calling the pickup crew for the rest of the materials, we returned to HQ.
Even after arriving, Manager Yoon’s work was flawless.
“I’ve handed the tail meat to the kitchen. They say it’ll be ready at the restaurant by 9 p.m. I’ve booked rooms 1203 and 1204. I’ll see you tomorrow at 10 a.m.”
“Thanks for everything, Manager.”
“Alright, I’ll be heading out then.”
Once he left, I turned to the party.
“Good work today, everyone. Get cleaned up and meet at the restaurant by 9.”
“Yessir~”
After a quick shower and a short rest, it was time. I headed down to the restaurant on the 10th floor.
An employee led me to a private room.
One entire wall was made of glass, offering a full mountain view.
“Oppa! Look at this view! It’s insane!”
Yuna had plastered herself against the window, snapping photos.
“Where’s Soo-ah?”
“She said she’s drying her hair. She’ll be down soon.”
I stood next to Yuna and looked out.
The lights along the path created a dreamy, almost surreal atmosphere.
“Pretty.”
“Right?”
Her hair was still damp, like she’d just showered.
“You didn’t dry your hair?”
“Just the bangs. It’s a bob cut, so it dries fast if I leave it. And I thought I’d be late if I did.”
“Smart.”
While we stood by the window, Yuna spoke up hesitantly.
“Um, Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have time tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Just Gate clearing. Why?”
“Then, um… could you come to the hospital with me?”
“The hospital?”
My expression turned serious. I looked at her.
“You sick? Did you get hurt?”
“N-No, it’s nothing like that…”
“Then why the hospital all of a sudden?”
She hesitated before answering.
“Actually… my sister’s curious about you.”
“Your sister?”
“Yeah. She works at a hospital. But she’s super busy, so the only way to see her is to visit in person. She wants to grab a meal together…”
I asked,
“You got caught?”
“…Yeah.”
Yuna had told me her sister was her only family.
She’d been hiding her Hunter work to keep her from worrying—but I guess that kind of secret doesn’t last forever.
“She said she’ll decide whether to approve or not after meeting you…”
Hunter work was literally life-or-death.
Yuna had nearly died already.
It was a relief her sister wasn’t outright forbidding it.
“Then of course I’ll go.”
“Really?”
“You’re an essential part of our party.”
She smiled softly.
“Thanks, Oppa.”
“If you weren’t around, we’d be in real trouble.”
She made a pouty face.
“Even if my sister says no, I’m still going to be a Hunter.”
“You sure that’s okay?”
“Of course. I’m an adult. I’m not a kid anymore.”
A bit later, Soo-ah arrived. Jin-sol and Yohan came just as the food was being served.
The tail meat was so good, calling it “melt-in-your-mouth” didn’t even cut it.
Yohan was in awe.
“Wow. Totally worth the price. This is amazing.”
“Really? I think it’s kinda like Korean beef.”
“Sis? What are you talking about? This stuff’s worth way more than that!”
“Exactly! That’s why it’s bad value for money. If it’s several times more expensive, it should taste several times better. But it doesn’t. I’d rather just stuff myself with Korean beef.”
“Come on. We got this for free, remember?”
“Free?! You know how much those bullets cost?!”
Regardless, it tasted divine.
Each bite of that juicy meat filled me with happiness.
Even Jin-sol, who’d been grumbling nonstop, looked blissful while chewing.
That’s when it happened.
Yuna suddenly went pale.
“Um… did you guys check your email?”
We all went serious in an instant.
“Something wrong?”
“Well, the payout notice came in…”
“And?”
“It says we’re getting 17 million won.”
“…What?”
“Next month’s payout is 17 million won!”
I checked my phone.
There was an email from Mountain Guild.
[Hunter Choi Changshik Payment Notification]
—₩33,545,328
The number of digits in mine wasn’t even in the same league.
Holy shit.
The money I was making now was on a completely different scale.
Wait. Even if I do this for a whole year, I still couldn’t afford an apartment in Seoul, could I?
Reality hit me for a moment.
…Still, at least I won’t have to worry about money anymore.
After joining Mountain Guild, I’d been consistently running two to three raids a week.
Each time, we cleared two D-Rank Gates, so it came out to four to six a week.
And in Gangwon-do, government support was doubled.
My income was bound to spike.
Jin-sol checked her payout and grumbled.
“Why’s mine just under ten million?!”
“Well, we didn’t exactly break our backs out there.”
“True.”
She let out a hearty laugh.
“Boss! Let’s pop some champagne!”
“Go ahead.”
“You’re buying, right? You made the most!”
“Sure. Go nuts.”
That night, I got hit square in the face with a champagne cork from Jin-sol.
**
After dinner, I soaked in the hotel tub, watching YouTube.
A man with his face wrapped up appeared on-screen.
[Hey everyone, this is Issue Hunter.]
Ever since that news broadcast where I clapped back at those serial killers, I’d been digging into Gate-related topics on my own.
[There’s this viral post stirring up controversy online. This one.]
The post showed gruesome photos.
A corpse that ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) looked like a homeless man—pale, shriveled skin, like a drained mummy.
And on his neck: two distinct fang marks.
[At first, people were fighting over whether it was fake, but now… the post’s mysteriously been deleted. Which makes it even more suspicious. So I decided to look into it. Traced the poster’s old uploads and found they lived in Bucheon. And then—]
The video zoomed in on several photos.
[See this graffiti on the wall? I used that to search every alley in Bucheon—and finally found it.]
The video quality dropped a bit, and the camera clattered as it moved.
Then the exact alley from the photos appeared on screen.
The same graffiti was visible on the wall as the host said:
[Yep. This is it.]
[Everyone, take a look here.]
He snapped pictures all around, then pointed his camera at the ground.
[Huh?]
There were dark, dried stains—possibly blood.
The masked man reappeared, his tone grave.
[I can’t say for sure that it’s blood, but it definitely makes the original post more believable.]
[If it really is blood, and someone really died like the post claimed—why’s the news so quiet? Why’s no one reporting it?]
[The fang marks on the neck. The drained blood… Everyone, there might be a vampire prowling around Bucheon ri—static]
That’s when it happened.
“Huh? What the hell?”
The video abruptly cut off, replaced by a message saying it had been deleted.
The video was gone, but the comments underneath were still visible.
Pinned at the top was one comment:
—Issue Hunter: Everyone, I will never delete this video or commit suicide.
“……”
A bad feeling settled in my gut.