The sun over Seoul had long since faded into a dull disc, stripped of warmth. The wind carried dust and the scent of burning, as if mourning something lost forever.
Amidst the dying city, buried beneath rot and decay, he walked — no longer merely human.
Kim Yeon Woo.
A name that still sounded pitiful... But soon, it would become a scream of terror on the lips of the mighty.
After clearing Raid Zone C-12 and leaving behind only corpses and frightened rumors, Yeon Woo didn't return home.
He wasn't looking for rest. He didn't seek shelter.
No. He was hunting again.
His fingers slid across the cheap interface of his old communicator. A list of nearby beginner raids popped up.
Most were marked as "low risk."
Useless to him.
Down at the bottom, it blazed — exactly what he was looking for:
Raid Zone B-17. Threat Level: High for beginners. Objective: Distorted Ogre.
"Perfect," Yeon Woo muttered, clenching his fist.
Even seasoned D-rank hunters would call this suicide.
An ogre wasn't a rat. Not a mutated boar.
It was a monster. Raw, unrestrained fury, capable of tearing a novice in half with a single blow.
Exactly the kind of enemy he needed.
Only through the death of a true monster could he take the next step.
The night in the abandoned industrial zone greeted him with silence — hollow and sticky, like black tar.
The skeletal frames of factories towered around him, corroded metal husks rotting under the sky.
Four figures stood at the gate.
Two girls and two guys — naïve rookies, just like those who had rotted away in Zone C-12.
They shot skeptical glances at Yeon Woo.
"Hey kid, you lost or something?" chuckled one of the men, tall, muscular, a chain around his neck.
Yeon Woo didn't respond. He simply walked past them as if they didn't exist. The air grew tense.
A girl with short silver hair snorted mockingly.
"Came to die for a petty reward too?"
This time, Yeon Woo turned. His eyes — bottomless, cold, like starless winter nights — met her mocking gaze.
And for a brief moment, she froze, feeling something strange… something dark crawling down her spine.
Yeon Woo spoke quietly:
"I didn't come for a reward. I came for power."
Boom.
The enormous doors of the warehouse creaked open.
A dark corridor led inward. The stench of rot and blood was so thick it felt like one could drown in it.
A system message appeared:
You have entered Raid Zone: B-17. Objective: Eliminate the Distorted Ogre.
Warning: Newcomer mortality exceeds 90%.
A faint smile curved Yeon Woo's lips.
Perfect.
They entered, weapons drawn.
The first thing that greeted them — corpses.
Many corpses.
Some were fresh, torn apart so savagely that bones jutted out and faces twisted in silent agony.
Others were older, already decomposing, like a warning to all who dared step inside.
The rookies paled.
Yeon Woo only quickened his pace.
There, deep within the hall, he felt it.
The monster.
A massive figure moved in the darkness, each step shaking the ground.
The Distorted Ogre.
Its skin was covered in tumors and scars. One eye was crudely stitched shut; the other glowed with a dull red light. Shards of bone and metal jutted from beneath its flesh.
It was a creature born of pain.
And it roared.
The ogre's roar struck like a hammer, splitting the air.
"Ahhh!" one of the girls screamed and bolted.
"No! Don't run!" the guy with the chain shouted, but it was too late.
The ogre lunged forward, demolishing everything in its path.
A massive hand, larger than a human head, grabbed the fleeing girl and crushed her with a sickening crunch — like a ragdoll.
Blood sprayed like a fountain.
Panic consumed the others.
They fired, slashed, stabbed — but it was like trying to stop a landslide with a spoon.
And Yeon Woo...
He stepped forward.
Calmly.
Confidently.
This was the moment he lived for.
This was the reason he was reborn.
He ran a hand across his chest, activating a newly acquired skill:
"Pinpoint Strike: Activated."
The world slowed around him.
Yeon Woo saw it all: the joints of the ogre's massive body, the veins pulsing beneath the flesh, the weak spots in its armor.
He lunged forward.
First strike — behind the knee tendon. Blood spurted.
Second — the elbow, making the ogre shriek in pain.
Third — the neck, striking a vulnerable patch of unguarded flesh.
The ogre roared, bringing down its massive fist.
Yeon Woo dodged, barely evading the blow, and lunged again like a snake.
"Not enough," flashed through his mind. "It's not enough to kill him."
Passive skill "Greed" activated.
Absorbing partial data: +100 EXP.
Yeon Woo felt his body lighten, his movements sharpen, his mind clear.
He was on the edge. One wrong step — and death. But it was on this edge that he truly felt alive.
He stepped back, waiting for the ogre to charge again.
And when the beast lunged, Yeon Woo seized a broken steel beam from the ground.
Leaping up, he soared toward the ogre's face and drove his knife into its remaining eye.
The ogre howled, spraying blood everywhere.
And in that moment, when the blinded, frenzied beast opened its maw, Yeon Woo hurled his second knife — aiming for the throat.
Click.
System Notification: Critical Hit!
The ogre began to choke, drowning in its own blood.
It staggered.
And fell.
Silence.
Only Yeon Woo's ragged breathing broke it.
The three remaining rookies stared at him in horror, unable to believe that this scrawny boy had felled a monster that made whole parties retreat in terror.
Yeon Woo turned to them.
His gaze was as emotionless as a blade.
And then they understood.
Rats fear wolves.
But wolves… fear the one who devours wolves.
System Message.
Congratulations! You have slain an elite monster without party assistance.
Bonus: +500 EXP. Obtained: "Distorted Flesh Core (Unique)". New ability unlocked: "Flesh Absorption (Beginner)".
Achievement Unlocked: "Monster Hunter I."
Yeon Woo stood over the monster's body, staring at the pulsing mass of dark energy in his hand.
"Flesh Absorption..."
A new power.
A new step forward.
He clenched the core. Pulsation spread through his veins, setting his flesh ablaze with energy.
For the first time in a long while, he felt something close to… satisfaction.
But it lasted only a moment.
Greed whispered again in his heart.
"More… I need more…"
And he walk—