"Is it because I went from starving to fully charged? I feel power surging through me."
My mind was spinning wildly.
Along with the methods.
Option one was resolved.
'Biological time follows external time.'
The brief moment of satiety from leveling up lingered far longer than expected. The time differential between reality and the gate was working in my favor. And even amid it all, experience was still pouring in.
'At this rate, holding out for 50 minutes won't be an issue.'
Lying there doing nothing would guarantee an A-rank.
But that wasn't my plan.
I wanted a truly remarkable grade.
'One no one can ever surpass.'
Even in the lowest Chaos Gate, an eye-catching new record that would draw guilds' attention.
That would be my first step.
With my body healthy, my mind sharpened.
Time to make my move.
Smoothly.
I readjusted my grip on the knife.
Then swung it in a wide arc.
Slash!
The slime split cleanly in half.
Cell division seemed an apt description.
I kept slicing the unresisting inorganic mass, over and over.
"Hoo..."
I'd been at it for two straight days and nights without sleep.
The slime was chopped into several hundred pieces by now.
The slime didn't look hideous despite being ravaged by a human. If anything, it looked cuter, having reverted entirely to droplet shapes.
Wondering how much time had passed outside, I checked my Hunter Pad.
"51 minutes."
Theoretically, A-rank was locked in.
'No point sticking around longer; nothing changes.'
The value of the final item would shine here.
I sat in the lotus position.
"Now that it's time, I'm hesitating."
Having endured that pain before, tension gripped me.
'Gotta tough it out...'
Holding my breath, I picked up a piece of slime and shoved it in my mouth.
Chew chew.
The texture wasn't bad.
The taste was decent too, like bubblegum.
But the agony was the problem.
"Kuhuk!!"
It hit immediately.
A fireball rolling and tumbling in my stomach.
My organs screamed in chorus.
'Gotta digest it!'
No puking.
I gripped the hilt of the Blood Shadow knife planted in the ground and endured.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Mutual 'Blood Exchange' is occurring.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Mutual 'Blood Exchange Volume' is insufficient.
I shoved in more.
Vomiting blood, I scooped and devoured frantically.
Endure!!
The payoff came right after.
⚡ ETERNAL PACT ACTIVATED ⚡
Seo Wonseok (A) forms an eternal contract with Slime (B).
"Kuhuk!"
My cerebral blood vessels throbbed and swelled.
The slime's fluids raced through my veins, gnawing at my entire body.
Unmistakable injury.
⚠ CONTRACT VIOLATION ⚠
(B) has violated the eternal contract.
⚠ PUNISHMENT ISSUED ⚠
Thus, 'Entity: Slime' (373 units) receives substitute 'Punishment: Execution'.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Punishment activation condition: Verbal command.
I clenched my jaw, teeth grinding together.
...Pop!
The moment I opened my mouth, the slimes burst like foam.
All at once.
Not even residue remained; every last one evaporated.
Haa, haa.
Expending every ounce of strength, I turned on the Hunter Pad.
🏆 RANKING BOARD 🏆 STANDNAMETIME NEW! 1ST / Seo** / 60'00" SSS
→ For your first and miraculous achievement, a 'Hidden Reward' is bestowed!
Exhaustion washed over me.
"Even for the lowest gate, SSS grade feels damn good."
I sprawled out flat.
A blinding sky in a gate.
* * *
Hunter Association first-floor lobby.
Team Leader Yoo didn't show it, but inwardly he scoffed at Hunter Seo's words.
Equating a desk jockey's patience with a hunter's?
'Aigoo.'
Pitiful, so pitiful.
Even a bent arm has limits; this was punch-to-the-chin territory.
His resume as a Korea University Medical School student was impressive, sure.
But right after healer-type awakeners appeared, medical schools faced existential crises.
They were eventually weeded out. Even the entrenched power of the Korean Medical Association bowed to the superhuman era's tide.
'If even those famously patient doctors' association got booted, what chance does a mid-quitter have?'
E-grade was an awakener in name only—treated as a slightly exceptional civilian.
The initial cheers lasted days at most.
Most crashed against the wall of reality: you're nothing special.
Seo Wonseok, was it?
No sympathy.
That cocky attitude was typical of fresh awakeners. Nothing new.
'Get a grip, kid.'
There were other ladders to climb.
Reality was like that.
Some barriers couldn't be overcome by effort alone.
'Hmm.'
Still, one curiosity.
A chance to witness Korea's noblest hunter, Seo Boseok, show disappointment firsthand.
'A hundred percent it'll happen.'
Exhibit A: the Chaos Gate his acquaintance entered.
had drawn even top hunters' interest.
Chaos Gates used random assignment within specific tables, so entry wasn't guaranteed.
Yet high-rankers invested time and effort.
Why challenge that Chaos Gate so badly?
Curiosity, partly.
But more ambition and resonance.
Claiming first to conquer a Chaos Gate no one had A-ranked.
'Even on the second floor, it'd boost market value.'
First achievements always allure.
An impregnable Chaos Gate.
An E-grade acquaintance standing out? Probability near zero.
'Teenage glory? Bury it with the Hero Association.'
Team Leader Yoo's lip twitched faintly.
"Aigoo, hello, Hunter Seo."
Then footsteps intruded between Hunter Seo and Team Leader Yoo.
Team Leader Yoo recognized him instantly.
R&Y Guild hunters' faces were policy to memorize.
"Hunter Jeong!"
Jeong Hamin Hunter.
One of the promising prospects.
Wide network, solid skills.
Some bad rumors, but who didn't have a few? Trivial.
"Nice to see you, Team Leader."
Hunter Jeong gave Team Leader Yoo a perfunctory nod.
"Anyway."
But to Seo Boseok, he lit up with a sleazy grin.
"What brings you to the Association, senior?"
"Hm?"
Hunter Seo Boseok looked blank, as if he didn't know the man.
"Who?"
"Haha! Joke's on me, senior! We took down ghouls together in that B-rank Abyss Gate recently!"
"Right. Faces I see once slip my mind fast."
"...Haha."
Hunter Jeong paled and grumbled.
"Last was ghouls, but we've met over ten times."
Team Leader Yoo nearly burst out laughing.
Even cheeky Jeong couldn't melt Seo Boseok's ice wall.
Embarrassed, Hunter Jeong glanced at the leaderboard.
"Hm?"
The censored "Seo**" caught his eye.
'Aha.'
That's why one senior rushed upstairs.
'The guy that senior called an instant-death bluffer.'
Hence the reclusive Seo Boseok gracing the main building.
Context clear, he spotted the Chaos Gate code for Seo**.
He'd challenged it himself.
A total shitshow.
It materialized a fight against oneself.
"How long since that Seo nobody entered?"
Hunter Jeong asked.
Team Leader Yoo checked his flashy wristwatch.
"About 20 minutes now."
"Half a day inside by now."
"Ah! Right, you've been in that gate too, Hunter Jeong! That second record's yours!"
"Not worth bragging about. No desire to retry."
"Special gate?"
Hunter Seo Boseok reacted.
Hunter Jeong beamed.
"You might've heard the quest: 'Survive as Long as Possible.' Fine up to here, yeah? Hunters level up from EXP, feel vitality surge."
Hunters lacked status windows.
They inferred level-ups from mid-hunt recovery.
"Or eat monsters to endure, stomach-turning as it is. But the monsters are the issue."
"Tricky ones?"
"Slimes."
"...The slimes I know?"
Hunter Jeong nodded smugly.
"Your standard trash mob slimes. But enormous!"
"Hmm."
"As you know, slimes aren't edible. Barely any individual EXP either. So that Chaos Gate? Pure grit, no choice."
But Hunter Jeong omitted the quest's fine print.
📜 HIDDEN QUEST HINT 📜
· To earn extra rewards, try continuous monster kills in minimal time! Greatly affects clear grade! (Noted as optional in advance.)
Bluffing. Fishing, in vulgar terms.
Rule-based gates sometimes dangled hidden rewards to lure entrants.
'One slime; how continuous kills?'
Split into multiples via division, then AoE magic?
Good idea, impractical. Wastes stamina in an endurance gate, conditions too restrictive.
Entrant must be a mage.
Chaos Gates emphasized balance; prerequisites violated that.
"Can't endure by eating slime?"
Team Leader Yoo asked.
Hunter Jeong's eyes flashed with chosen-one contempt.
"Team Leader, maybe hit the field more."
"...Pardon?"
"Slimes cause gastric bleeding."
Hunter Seo Boseok interjected.
"Ah..."
"Hard to last eating slime without stomach resistance."
"Even healers struggle. It's gastric bleeding."
Hunter Jeong chimed in eagerly.
"Fancy healers can't heal blood."
"...Blood..."
Hunter Seo Boseok muttered the word like crunching sand.
'Anemic, he said.'
Seo Wonseok was a stubborn one.
Motive for becoming a hunter unknown, but he seized goals relentlessly. Within effort's reach, guaranteed.
And wrecked his body in the process.
"Worried, senior?"
"..."
"Nah, don't overdo it. Second-floor Chaos Gate spits you out before death. Face in ten minutes."
"Understood."
Hunter Seo Boseok decided to wait longer.
But.
27 minutes.
"O! Not bad!"
35 minutes.
"Uh, umm?"
40 minutes...
"!"
And 55 minutes.
"...Something's off here?!!"
Elapsed time already shattered records, yet Seo Wonseok hadn't emerged!