"This… is…”
Emotions overwhelmed him, making it hard for him to speak. All Lee Jun-Kyeong could do was blink with a stupefied expression. The reason he felt so emotional was that he now had a home.
“My home…”
They had arrived at the rental housing provided by the Hunter Association. While the apartment wasn’t large, it didn’t feel cramped. More importantly, compared to his previous shack, this was a palace. His previous shack had reeked of mildew and also had a strange odor rising from the pipes.
Unlike his former place, where it was routine to start his morning with cockroaches, this one was clean.
While it was a rental, it seemed to have been newly built, as there wasn’t much to clean. The walls were white, and though there was only one bedroom, the living room was quite spacious. Although it wasn’t fully furnished, it's amazing.
There was a bed in the living room. Lee Jun-Kyeong ran toward the bed and laid down, his body enveloped by its softness. For him, this all felt like a dream—from becoming a hunter to changing his appearance, and even his newfound passion for his future. Everything felt surreal.
“This really is real.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong reached out and clenched his fist as if he was trying to grab onto the light cast from the window onto the ceiling. Then, as he lay on the cushions, it all started to feel real. It was a sense of reality clearer than anything he had experienced until now.
At that moment, the question came up again.
‘What really happened to my body?’
He could tell that this body had been rebuilt using his original one as a base. At first glance, it looked as if there were many changes, but the basics were definitely the same.
In fact, it was a little embarrassing for him to admit this.
‘Even the blue spots on my butt are the same as before. This is definitely still my body.’[1]
It wasn’t as if his mind and soul had entered someone else’s body or anything. Instead, his body had simply transformed. Also, there was one more question on his mind.
‘Why am I a Player?’
The ability of the Demon King.
He had read the book dozens, if not hundreds of times. The forgotten, most powerful Hero, and the most unique Hunter: the Demon King.
Why did he have that man’s powers? And what happened to the Demon King? After all, he had heard that only one person could have this ability at one time.
The special ability of a Hunter was determined by the first Sponsor who selected them.
<The Sky of the Apocalypse>
<The Sky of the Apocalypse> only supported one person, and the ability it gifted was ‘Player.’
‘Furthermore, <The Sky of the Apocalypse> said it would fulfill the contract.’
It was the voice he had heard before he died. Yet, there was no way of finding the answers to these questions. There was no information he could use to verify anything.
Lee Jun-Kyeong went over everything he was sure about. He had returned to the past and had acquired the special ability that everyone coveted. He had been granted an opportunity. Finally, his ‘Hyung.’
Yeo Seong-Gu.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had been able to meet his Hyung again. He had initially noticed it when he first heard the name of the guild that had saved him. The League Guild was Heimdall’s Guild. Yeo “Heimdall” Seong-Gu was the name of a Hero who would close an uncountable number of gates and save innumerable people in the future. A forgotten Hero rumored to be dead.
‘He said he had found me while searching for the book.’
Whether as a boss or hyung, he had been a precious person to Lee Jun-Kyeong, but Yeo Seong-Gu had not approached Lee Jun-Kyeong with the cleanest intentions. He had initially found Lee Jun-Kyeong while searching for the book and had offered his friendship with a purpose in mind.
However, he had still died saving Lee Jun-Kyeong.
That alone was enough for Lee Jun-Kyeong to be grateful. Furthermore, there were more than enough reasons for him to be thankful. For a Hunter at the level of Heimdall, it would have been nothing for him to kill Lee Jun-Kyeong earlier and take the book.
Suddenly, there was silence. Only the sound of breathing could be heard within Lee Jun-Kyeong’s new home as he drifted off to sleep.
***
"It’s nice to meet you,” said the man wearing a pair of sports sunglasses.
"My name is Bae Sang-Su, and I will be in charge during your Tutorial."
Tutorial Guide. It was a job taken mostly by retired Hunters at the request of the Hunter Association and was considered a cushy job on a silver platter with easy pay and guaranteed safety. However, Bae Sang-Su was different.
‘Should we get started?’
Bae Sang-Su was the first Hunter who had wanted to become a guide. He was the type who preferred the joy of discovering the next talent rather than hunting. There had been several Hunters whose talents had been discovered by him. More often than not, these Hunters rose to significant positions within large guilds or the Hunter Association.
Gulp.
Many in the group had heard of Bae Sang-Su, and a rumor had circulated among those who had become new Hunters: if Bae Sang-Su gave you a good evaluation, then your road ahead was full of sunshine and rainbows.
However, Bae Sang-Su had no interest in most of them. He only had eyes for one particular Hunter among those who had come to participate in the Tutorial today. He had heard that, for the first time in a while, a Hunter had awakened as a D-Rank.
“A D-Rank, huh?”
The tutorial was designed to proceed without any information about the participants being given out. This was to avoid favors or requests for someone who was being sponsored by the large guilds. It was only due to his status as a senior guide that Bae Sang-Su heard about the D-Rank Hunter participating.
‘I guess I’ll have to suss them out.’
This was what Bae Sang-Su lived for—to find things out himself. However, there were quite a few who stood out. Most seemed to have either a strong body or a high initial magic power.
‘The Hunters this time seem to be pretty decent.’
In the end, he couldn’t find the special one. However, since he could see that the Hunters had quite a few prospects in this round, he had a lot to look forward to.
'There are quite a lot of gem-like prospects.'
Intending to slowly uncover the D-Rank Hunter, Bae Sang-Su began to speak.
“For today, we will have a brief overview of information about Hunters and the process of choosing a weapon. There is no need to be nervous, so please relax a little.”
The Hunters relaxed after hearing that, and like a pro, Bae Sang-Su announced the start of the Tutorial.
"Do you know how Hunters are born?"
Someone raised a hand at Bae Sang-Su's question.
"Isn't it by being chosen by a Transcendent Sponsor?"
"You are correct."
Bae Sang-Su shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate that this much was common knowledge and moved on to the next question.
“It is well known that a Hunter’s special abilities become fixed upon awakening. However, Hunters are still able to experience growth. Could anyone answer how? Ah, you don’t have to raise your hands.”
In response, a man who had held his hand up to show that he wanted to answer the question continued to keep his hand raised.
“But I’m holding my hand because I want to answer the question?”
“Ah…”
Bae Sang-Su thought, ‘He must have studied a lot in advance.’ At his nod, the man spoke.
“By closing gates and hunting monsters!” the man answered confidently.
“Correct.”
Bae Sang-Su nodded in affirmation. However, his questions didn’t end there.
“How can closing a gate and hunting monsters provide Hunters with growth?”
“By closing gates and hunting monsters, one can receive ‘attention’ from the Sponsors. In addition, one can acquire high-quality items or skills through additional support or sponsorship from other Sponsors.”
Clap, Clap.
It was a concise answer. The man blushed out of embarrassment and lowered his head at the sound of the applause from Bae Sang-Su.
“You’re all so talented,” Bae Sang-Su continued with a bit of playfulness. Recently, Hunting had emerged as a promising profession. Therefore, this amount of preparation was expected. Bae Sang-Su decided to move on to some challenging questions.
“What are the motives of the Sponsors?”
“...?”
“...”
“The motives of the Sponsors?” someone asked.
As expected, no one was able to answer. How would they? Not even Bae Sang-Su knew the answer himself. However, any experienced Hunter had this question in the back of their mind. Who were these Sponsors really?
‘Why do they select people and turn them into Hunters?’
It was an unanswerable query. In the first place, with the power they had, wouldn’t it have been possible for the Sponsors just to get rid of the gates themselves? While there were countless dubious parts, everyone skirted around the issue. It was the same now.
“Would the person over there resting his chin on his hand like to answer?”
Bae Sang-Su chose someone to answer. Everyone else was trying their best to give their answer, fighting for his attention. Only one person stood out—a man, sitting by the window, nonchalantly attending, seemingly disinterested, with his head in his hands.
“...”
“Please don’t get nervous about answering. It’s not a question with a set answer in the first place,” Bae Sang-Su replied, unphased by the man’s lack of reaction. “No matter your answer, there won’t be any negative points or additional actions. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
The man seemed to ponder for a moment before replying, “Wouldn’t it be for entertainment?”
“...!”
“What…”
The classroom was taken aback.
“That is… Could you explain what you mean by ‘entertainment’?” Bae Sang-Su asked with a trembling voice, as if he had heard something wrong.
“Choose your character… hunt monsters… have fun watching them get stronger.”
The man’s voice began quiet and low, and clear enough to be heard in everyone’s ears.
“As if it was a game.”
His words were something that Bae Sang-Su couldn’t shake off for a long while.
***
‘What could be the real purpose of the Sponsors?’
While he had answered this question earlier, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t know the exact truth. The Twelve Heroes had reached the apex of the Hunters and become known as ‘gods’, but the purpose behind their Sponsors was never revealed. Instead, the answer Lee Jun-Kyeong had offered was in fact the view of the Demon King that he had read in the book. It was an important issue to Lee Jun-Kyeong. Maybe the Sponsors really did think of this world as a game. He felt as if he was slowly grasping their intentions.
‘I have to find out the identities of the Sponsors.’
While Lee Jun-Kyeong was lost in his thoughts, he heard Bae Sang-Su’s voice.
“Now, this may not be all of them, but here are the types of weapons most Hunters use.”
The theoretical portion of the Tutorial had ended. Now, it was time to explain how choosing a weapon worked and for the Hunters to make their initial choices on the weapons they would use for the future. There were no set weapons that all Hunters had to use, so they were able to choose their weapons themselves.
‘Everyone should have their preferred weapons.’
In front of them were most of the weapons that the Sponsors preferred. A Hunter’s inherited abilities differed based on the Sponsor's propensity or ability, so weapons were easily adaptable based on the types of items the Sponsors gifted. Therefore, while a Hunter’s choice in what weapons they would first use was important, it wasn’t a crucial decision.
“Please take your time and go through them one by one.”
After Bae Sang-Su’s explanation ended, Lee Jun-Kyeong began to look through the options. As they were provided by the Hunter Association, most of the weapons were generally in good condition. However, the overall condition varied based on popularity.
The first thing Lee Jun-Kyeong picked up was a sword.
‘Hm…’
For whatever reason, the sword was the primary weapon of many Hunters.
The sword, the saber, the greatsword, the longsword.[2] While there were many different types, they were still essentially tributaries of the same river.
‘This isn’t it.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong put down the sword, not feeling a connection. When choosing a weapon, the feeling one had was extremely important. If the Sponsor would eventually select the weapon There was a high likelihood that the Sponsor would choose a weapon that fit the user.
‘I have to trust my senses.’
The next weapon Lee Jun-Kyeong picked up was an ax. Surprisingly, it was a popular weapon used by quite a few Hunters.
‘But this isn’t it either.’
Looking around, it seemed as though most of the people around him had made their choices. Only a few had not yet made a decision.
The next item he picked up was a shield.
“Hmm.”
He could feel a bit of a connection. Basically, he could either choose the shield or not, as he felt that his Sponsor would be fine either way. Lee Jun-Kyeong held onto the shield while looking through the remaining weapons. A halberd, a bow, a crossbow, a two-handed sword. As he perused them, nothing caught his attention.
Finally, there were some less popular weapons that hadn’t been chosen yet.
‘The spear.’
He picked up the spear with a hopeful feeling.
It rang out again.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> encourages your choice.]
It was the voice from before. He had never heard of a Sponsor getting this directly involved in choosing a weapon. All he remembered was that they could guide you with a feeling or through some kind of intuition. So how was it able to send him such a direct message? And that was not all, either.
‘It’s the weapon of the Demon King.’
The spear was the Demon King’s weapon of choice.
1. The original text says the Mongolian Spots, a type of birthmark that generally disappears a few years after birth. The term Mongolian is outdated, as it was originally thought to be prevalent to Mongolians, but alas, racism. ☜
2. There is a lot of contention about the different words for swords in Korean. Often used interchangeably until recently, there has been a big movement in historical fiction and fantasy novels (like the one you’re reading currently) to subdivide and categorize the terms. ☜
"This… is…”
Emotions overwhelmed him, making it hard for him to speak. All Lee Jun-Kyeong could do was blink with a stupefied expression. The reason he felt so emotional was that he now had a home.
“My home…”
They had arrived at the rental housing provided by the Hunter Association. While the apartment wasn’t large, it didn’t feel cramped. More importantly, compared to his previous shack, this was a palace. His previous shack had reeked of mildew and also had a strange odor rising from the pipes.
Unlike his former place, where it was routine to start his morning with cockroaches, this one was clean.
While it was a rental, it seemed to have been newly built, as there wasn’t much to clean. The walls were white, and though there was only one bedroom, the living room was quite spacious. Although it wasn’t fully furnished, it's amazing.
There was a bed in the living room. Lee Jun-Kyeong ran toward the bed and laid down, his body enveloped by its softness. For him, this all felt like a dream—from becoming a hunter to changing his appearance, and even his newfound passion for his future. Everything felt surreal.
“This really is real.”
Lee Jun-Kyeong reached out and clenched his fist as if he was trying to grab onto the light cast from the window onto the ceiling. Then, as he lay on the cushions, it all started to feel real. It was a sense of reality clearer than anything he had experienced until now.
At that moment, the question came up again.
‘What really happened to my body?’
He could tell that this body had been rebuilt using his original one as a base. At first glance, it looked as if there were many changes, but the basics were definitely the same.
In fact, it was a little embarrassing for him to admit this.
‘Even the blue spots on my butt are the same as before. This is definitely still my body.’[1]
It wasn’t as if his mind and soul had entered someone else’s body or anything. Instead, his body had simply transformed. Also, there was one more question on his mind.
‘Why am I a Player?’
The ability of the Demon King.
He had read the book dozens, if not hundreds of times. The forgotten, most powerful Hero, and the most unique Hunter: the Demon King.
Why did he have that man’s powers? And what happened to the Demon King? After all, he had heard that only one person could have this ability at one time.
The special ability of a Hunter was determined by the first Sponsor who selected them.
<The Sky of the Apocalypse>
<The Sky of the Apocalypse> only supported one person, and the ability it gifted was ‘Player.’
‘Furthermore, <The Sky of the Apocalypse> said it would fulfill the contract.’
It was the voice he had heard before he died. Yet, there was no way of finding the answers to these questions. There was no information he could use to verify anything.
Lee Jun-Kyeong went over everything he was sure about. He had returned to the past and had acquired the special ability that everyone coveted. He had been granted an opportunity. Finally, his ‘Hyung.’
Yeo Seong-Gu.
Lee Jun-Kyeong had been able to meet his Hyung again. He had initially noticed it when he first heard the name of the guild that had saved him. The League Guild was Heimdall’s Guild. Yeo “Heimdall” Seong-Gu was the name of a Hero who would close an uncountable number of gates and save innumerable people in the future. A forgotten Hero rumored to be dead.
‘He said he had found me while searching for the book.’
Whether as a boss or hyung, he had been a precious person to Lee Jun-Kyeong, but Yeo Seong-Gu had not approached Lee Jun-Kyeong with the cleanest intentions. He had initially found Lee Jun-Kyeong while searching for the book and had offered his friendship with a purpose in mind.
However, he had still died saving Lee Jun-Kyeong.
That alone was enough for Lee Jun-Kyeong to be grateful. Furthermore, there were more than enough reasons for him to be thankful. For a Hunter at the level of Heimdall, it would have been nothing for him to kill Lee Jun-Kyeong earlier and take the book.
Suddenly, there was silence. Only the sound of breathing could be heard within Lee Jun-Kyeong’s new home as he drifted off to sleep.
***
"It’s nice to meet you,” said the man wearing a pair of sports sunglasses.
"My name is Bae Sang-Su, and I will be in charge during your Tutorial."
Tutorial Guide. It was a job taken mostly by retired Hunters at the request of the Hunter Association and was considered a cushy job on a silver platter with easy pay and guaranteed safety. However, Bae Sang-Su was different.
‘Should we get started?’
Bae Sang-Su was the first Hunter who had wanted to become a guide. He was the type who preferred the joy of discovering the next talent rather than hunting. There had been several Hunters whose talents had been discovered by him. More often than not, these Hunters rose to significant positions within large guilds or the Hunter Association.
Gulp.
Many in the group had heard of Bae Sang-Su, and a rumor had circulated among those who had become new Hunters: if Bae Sang-Su gave you a good evaluation, then your road ahead was full of sunshine and rainbows.
However, Bae Sang-Su had no interest in most of them. He only had eyes for one particular Hunter among those who had come to participate in the Tutorial today. He had heard that, for the first time in a while, a Hunter had awakened as a D-Rank.
“A D-Rank, huh?”
The tutorial was designed to proceed without any information about the participants being given out. This was to avoid favors or requests for someone who was being sponsored by the large guilds. It was only due to his status as a senior guide that Bae Sang-Su heard about the D-Rank Hunter participating.
‘I guess I’ll have to suss them out.’
This was what Bae Sang-Su lived for—to find things out himself. However, there were quite a few who stood out. Most seemed to have either a strong body or a high initial magic power.
‘The Hunters this time seem to be pretty decent.’
In the end, he couldn’t find the special one. However, since he could see that the Hunters had quite a few prospects in this round, he had a lot to look forward to.
'There are quite a lot of gem-like prospects.'
Intending to slowly uncover the D-Rank Hunter, Bae Sang-Su began to speak.
“For today, we will have a brief overview of information about Hunters and the process of choosing a weapon. There is no need to be nervous, so please relax a little.”
The Hunters relaxed after hearing that, and like a pro, Bae Sang-Su announced the start of the Tutorial.
"Do you know how Hunters are born?"
Someone raised a hand at Bae Sang-Su's question.
"Isn't it by being chosen by a Transcendent Sponsor?"
"You are correct."
Bae Sang-Su shrugged his shoulders as if to indicate that this much was common knowledge and moved on to the next question.
“It is well known that a Hunter’s special abilities become fixed upon awakening. However, Hunters are still able to experience growth. Could anyone answer how? Ah, you don’t have to raise your hands.”
In response, a man who had held his hand up to show that he wanted to answer the question continued to keep his hand raised.
“But I’m holding my hand because I want to answer the question?”
“Ah…”
Bae Sang-Su thought, ‘He must have studied a lot in advance.’ At his nod, the man spoke.
“By closing gates and hunting monsters!” the man answered confidently.
“Correct.”
Bae Sang-Su nodded in affirmation. However, his questions didn’t end there.
“How can closing a gate and hunting monsters provide Hunters with growth?”
“By closing gates and hunting monsters, one can receive ‘attention’ from the Sponsors. In addition, one can acquire high-quality items or skills through additional support or sponsorship from other Sponsors.”
Clap, Clap.
It was a concise answer. The man blushed out of embarrassment and lowered his head at the sound of the applause from Bae Sang-Su.
“You’re all so talented,” Bae Sang-Su continued with a bit of playfulness. Recently, Hunting had emerged as a promising profession. Therefore, this amount of preparation was expected. Bae Sang-Su decided to move on to some challenging questions.
“What are the motives of the Sponsors?”
“...?”
“...”
“The motives of the Sponsors?” someone asked.
As expected, no one was able to answer. How would they? Not even Bae Sang-Su knew the answer himself. However, any experienced Hunter had this question in the back of their mind. Who were these Sponsors really?
‘Why do they select people and turn them into Hunters?’
It was an unanswerable query. In the first place, with the power they had, wouldn’t it have been possible for the Sponsors just to get rid of the gates themselves? While there were countless dubious parts, everyone skirted around the issue. It was the same now.
“Would the person over there resting his chin on his hand like to answer?”
Bae Sang-Su chose someone to answer. Everyone else was trying their best to give their answer, fighting for his attention. Only one person stood out—a man, sitting by the window, nonchalantly attending, seemingly disinterested, with his head in his hands.
“...”
“Please don’t get nervous about answering. It’s not a question with a set answer in the first place,” Bae Sang-Su replied, unphased by the man’s lack of reaction. “No matter your answer, there won’t be any negative points or additional actions. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
The man seemed to ponder for a moment before replying, “Wouldn’t it be for entertainment?”
“...!”
“What…”
The classroom was taken aback.
“That is… Could you explain what you mean by ‘entertainment’?” Bae Sang-Su asked with a trembling voice, as if he had heard something wrong.
“Choose your character… hunt monsters… have fun watching them get stronger.”
The man’s voice began quiet and low, and clear enough to be heard in everyone’s ears.
“As if it was a game.”
His words were something that Bae Sang-Su couldn’t shake off for a long while.
***
‘What could be the real purpose of the Sponsors?’
While he had answered this question earlier, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t know the exact truth. The Twelve Heroes had reached the apex of the Hunters and become known as ‘gods’, but the purpose behind their Sponsors was never revealed. Instead, the answer Lee Jun-Kyeong had offered was in fact the view of the Demon King that he had read in the book. It was an important issue to Lee Jun-Kyeong. Maybe the Sponsors really did think of this world as a game. He felt as if he was slowly grasping their intentions.
‘I have to find out the identities of the Sponsors.’
While Lee Jun-Kyeong was lost in his thoughts, he heard Bae Sang-Su’s voice.
“Now, this may not be all of them, but here are the types of weapons most Hunters use.”
The theoretical portion of the Tutorial had ended. Now, it was time to explain how choosing a weapon worked and for the Hunters to make their initial choices on the weapons they would use for the future. There were no set weapons that all Hunters had to use, so they were able to choose their weapons themselves.
‘Everyone should have their preferred weapons.’
In front of them were most of the weapons that the Sponsors preferred. A Hunter’s inherited abilities differed based on the Sponsor's propensity or ability, so weapons were easily adaptable based on the types of items the Sponsors gifted. Therefore, while a Hunter’s choice in what weapons they would first use was important, it wasn’t a crucial decision.
“Please take your time and go through them one by one.”
After Bae Sang-Su’s explanation ended, Lee Jun-Kyeong began to look through the options. As they were provided by the Hunter Association, most of the weapons were generally in good condition. However, the overall condition varied based on popularity.
The first thing Lee Jun-Kyeong picked up was a sword.
‘Hm…’
For whatever reason, the sword was the primary weapon of many Hunters.
The sword, the saber, the greatsword, the longsword.[2] While there were many different types, they were still essentially tributaries of the same river.
‘This isn’t it.’
Lee Jun-Kyeong put down the sword, not feeling a connection. When choosing a weapon, the feeling one had was extremely important. If the Sponsor would eventually select the weapon There was a high likelihood that the Sponsor would choose a weapon that fit the user.
‘I have to trust my senses.’
The next weapon Lee Jun-Kyeong picked up was an ax. Surprisingly, it was a popular weapon used by quite a few Hunters.
‘But this isn’t it either.’
Looking around, it seemed as though most of the people around him had made their choices. Only a few had not yet made a decision.
The next item he picked up was a shield.
“Hmm.”
He could feel a bit of a connection. Basically, he could either choose the shield or not, as he felt that his Sponsor would be fine either way. Lee Jun-Kyeong held onto the shield while looking through the remaining weapons. A halberd, a bow, a crossbow, a two-handed sword. As he perused them, nothing caught his attention.
Finally, there were some less popular weapons that hadn’t been chosen yet.
‘The spear.’
He picked up the spear with a hopeful feeling.
It rang out again.
[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> encourages your choice.]
It was the voice from before. He had never heard of a Sponsor getting this directly involved in choosing a weapon. All he remembered was that they could guide you with a feeling or through some kind of intuition. So how was it able to send him such a direct message? And that was not all, either.
‘It’s the weapon of the Demon King.’
The spear was the Demon King’s weapon of choice.
1. The original text says the Mongolian Spots, a type of birthmark that generally disappears a few years after birth. The term Mongolian is outdated, as it was originally thought to be prevalent to Mongolians, but alas, racism. ☜
2. There is a lot of contention about the different words for swords in Korean. Often used interchangeably until recently, there has been a big movement in historical fiction and fantasy novels (like the one you’re reading currently) to subdivide and categorize the terms. ☜
