The Dying Hunter

Ji Hae-geon was slowly dying.

It was a rainy day.

The streetlights placed at irregular intervals seemed poorly maintained, with more than half of them burned out.

A man walked down the dark, damp street.

Every old shop lined along one side had papers reading For Lease pasted on their windows.

Puddles formed all over the muddy ground, resembling a minefield.

The man carefully avoided them as he walked, then suddenly stopped.

Deep inside a narrow alley between two shops, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through, stood a brightly lit store.

[Potionshop Poshonia]

Jingle.

The interior was dim, as though the ceiling lights were nearing the end of their lifespan.

At least it was not humid, thanks to the air conditioner rattling noisily in the background.

The moment the man casually shook the rainwater from his umbrella—

“Welcome to Poshonia.”

An unexpectedly cheerful voice rang through the shop.

Hae-geon’s gaze briefly moved toward the sound.

A figure stood behind the previously empty counter without making a sound.

The person who had greeted him felt distinctly out of place in the worn-down shop.

“The owner?”

“Yes.”

After receiving the answer, Hae-geon turned to look at the display shelves.

Various types of potions were packed tightly from floor to ceiling.

The shop could not have been more than four pyeong in size.

His indifferent gaze passed over everything from cheap pain-relief potions on the bottom shelf to mid-grade recovery potions placed at eye level.

But those were not the kind of potions he was looking for.

His gaze moved from left to right, then from top to bottom.

A container resembling an umbrella stand held long rolled-up scrolls.

The larger the scroll, the lower its grade.

There were no more potions.

Step.

Step.

It took exactly five steps for his rain-soaked shoes to cross the narrow shop.

“What item are you looking for, sir?”

The shop owner smiled smoothly at the approaching figure.

This time, instead of looking at the potions, Hae-geon examined the other person.

The brightly bleached hair was an unusual color.

It looked white, yet also platinum blond.

Below it, various piercings dangling from their ears reflected the light brilliantly.

The accessories could have looked excessive, but a face brighter than any decoration completely offset them.

Even after encountering a beauty rare in an outer district filled with addicts and outlaws, Hae-geon’s expression did not change.

“…I have picked up an item from here before.”

Instead, the owner’s expression subtly shifted after recognizing the man who had stepped closer.

A small shop in such a remote area only had a limited type of customer.

Its main customers were poor hunters who could not afford the polished potion stores in busy districts.

People who endured their pain with low-efficiency potions.

In contrast, the man standing before them was not someone who looked like he would buy anything from a place like this.

“Hunter Ji Hae-geon…?”

When Si-young showed signs of recognizing him, the man slightly raised his chin.

“If you know who I am, this will be easier.”

Was there anyone in South Korea who did not know Ji Hae-geon, the vice guild master of Cheonghae?

Despite the bright greeting, the owner had been wary of the unfamiliar customer and now awkwardly lowered the hunter-grade electric shock device they had been holding beneath the counter.

Ji Hae-geon was a re-awakened hunter.

A man who had returned alone after losing every companion in a linked dungeon.

Or a man who had used his companions as shields and escaped death.

No one knew which rumor was true.

The conflicting labels always followed him because neither story had ever been proven.

Separate from the criticism, however, his reawakening had turned him into a Cinderella story overnight.

A hundred years had passed since dungeons and hunters first appeared, yet there had only been four re-awakened individuals.

With the arrival of the fifth, the world focused on him.

Everyone dreamed of becoming a re-awakened hunter like Ji Hae-geon.

Regardless of the rumors, he became an S-rank hunter and quickly rose to vice guild master of Cheonghae with the support of his family.

In other words, he was not someone who should have appeared at a crumbling store in the outskirts.

“Yes. What kind of item did you pick up here?”

The tall man nearly brushed the ceiling of the low shop, his face remaining cold the entire time.

Facing the intimidation of his appearance, the shop owner tilted their head but smiled first.

When running a shop in the outskirts, one inevitably met all kinds of customers.

They did not know why someone so important had come to such a shabby place, but he was the first customer of the day.

And unless something unusual happened, he would likely be the last.

As if unwilling to lose a visitor, a business smile naturally accompanied every polite word.

“This.”

Hae-geon took out a potion from inside his coat and placed it on the counter.

Of the three bottles, two were empty.

The third was still filled with an orange-colored potion.

“Ah.”

Only then did Si-young, the owner of Poshonia, understand why this man had come.

The fresh smile blooming on their face faded in an instant.

“It’s P’s potion.”

The potion he had presented was a special potion with a creator premium attached to it.

Each bottle cost more than 250 times the price of an ordinary potion.

It was so outrageously expensive that there was no way Si-young could fail to recognize it.

Moreover, potions with a creator premium were not something one could simply buy whenever they wanted.

They had to participate in an auction and win the bid.

‘So people actually drink potions that look like they were made by melting gold…’

It seemed people from the heavenly ranks, like Ji Hae-geon, were the ones who did.

Si-young stared quietly at the potion before speaking.

“As you know, P’s potions are auction items, so we currently have no stock in the store.”

P, the legendary potion maker who had suddenly appeared over a decade ago and began selling potions, was another famous figure entirely separate from Hae-geon.

A hundred years had passed since awakened people first appeared alongside dungeons.

Combat-type awakened individuals were called hunters and entered dungeons to directly hunt monsters.

Others were non-combat awakened individuals who did not enter dungeons.

Some possessed abilities unrelated to dungeons, such as culinary powers that enhanced the flavor of food.

Others could make potions, an essential item for hunters.

Outside of hunters, those most highly valued were naturally ability users connected to dungeons, such as potion makers and weapon smiths.

Alchemists, also called potion makers, were treated almost like nobles in the present day.

And among them, P was especially exceptional.

His potions were auctioned only through Nara Hunter.

Successful bidders could collect them only from designated potion stores.

Poshonia was one of those pickup locations.

“We do not take separate reservations, but if you participate in the next auction and win the bid—”

“No.”

Ji Hae-geon interrupted Si-young.

“They were defective.”

“Excuse me? Defective… you mean?”

For a moment, Si-young questioned their own ears.

A defect in P’s potion?

If an ordinary person had said it, it would have sounded so absurd that they would have laughed.

That was how formidable P’s reputation was in the potion industry.

But it was Ji Hae-geon speaking about a defect.

That changed things.

If P was an authority in the potion industry, then this man stood at the very top of the combat-hunter pyramid.

“Yes. Defective.”

There was not the slightest change in Hae-geon’s face as he spoke of a product defect.

Si-young hurriedly turned over the potion bottles and ran a finger along the bottom.

After confirming the engraved mark known only to designated shop owners, the color slowly drained from their face.

It was indeed a product that had been distributed through Poshonia last time.

“Two A-rank hunters who drank the potion complained of abdominal pain and collapsed.

They are currently hospitalized, and I can provide evidence if needed.”

“They… collapsed?”

“I would like to discuss compensation for the defective product and the hunters harmed after drinking it.”

What kind of people were A-rank hunters?

The appearance of dungeons had changed many things in the world.

Hunters were no exception.

Some called them awakened.

Others called them evolved.

They were people who cleared dungeons—passages said to lead to another world—or fought the beings that emerged from them.

Their bodies were specialized for combat, and their physical abilities far exceeded those of ordinary people.

Their resistance to poison and recovery abilities were the same.

The higher their rank, the greater those abilities tended to be.

And yet A-ranks had stomach pain?

They had collapsed?

If the customer’s words were true, this was not merely a matter of refunding a defective potion.

There would be hospital bills, at minimum, and an enormous amount of compensation.

“In that case… you should contact Nara Hunter, the auction site—”

“That would be faster.”

Before Si-young could finish speaking, Hae-geon, who had been looking down at them, cut in.

“They said compensation should be received from the pickup location, or from the manufacturer.”

The dry sentence, carrying no emotion whatsoever, ended in informal speech.

His tone was so calm that Si-young nearly answered, “Yes,” on instinct.

Before any sound could leave their open mouth, they barely stopped themselves and thought—

Was he insane?

Poshonia was merely a designated pickup shop.

Since it was difficult to contact the unknown P, Nara Hunter had pushed responsibility onto the pickup shop.

The realization made Si-young dizzy.

Even if they complained to customer service, it was obvious they would receive the same response.

In truth, even if it were possible, they could not properly protest.

The commission earned from serving as a pickup location was practically all of Poshonia’s income, located as it was in a remote corner of the outskirts.

P was not someone who could be contacted just because one wanted to.

His potions were remarkably superior to others, which was one reason he was called a legendary maker.

But another reason was that no one knew his identity.

A potion maker no one had ever seen.

How could anyone demand compensation from an ability user who appeared like a phantom, handed over potions, and collected the sales money?

Hospital bills and astronomical compensation costs flashed through Si-young’s mind.

They had sincerely attended to their first customer of the day, only to receive something this heavy in return.

The situation was more serious than expected, and Si-young’s face turned pale.

Covering their mouth, they stepped back from the counter.

“P… P is…”

Perhaps even their tongue had twisted from the shock, because Si-young stammered.

Ji Hae-geon silently waited for the awkward sentence to continue.

The store filled only with the sound of rain relentlessly striking outside.

But when no further words followed, he spoke.

“I would like to meet the manufacturer directly and confirm this.”

Rumble.

The rain outside grew heavier.

The faint sound of raindrops striking the roof became louder, like drums beating overhead.

In the gap between those sounds, the owner spoke in a small voice, barely audible.

“As you already know… I have no way to contact that person either.”

Hae-geon quietly looked down at Si-young.

The face that had been smiling brightly only minutes earlier had turned so pale that it was nearly indistinguishable from a sheet of paper.

It was what he had expected, so he was not surprised.

He had never assumed that the owner of a shop in such an outer district would know how to contact P.

Hae-geon’s eyes, which had been looking at the empty space beyond Si-young, briefly gleamed.

“I see.

Then I will have to impose on you for a while.”

It was not a request.

It was a notice.