Slowly, he began to feel his condition improving. His vision cleared, and his body started to feel better. In front of him, a few hunters and a healer could be seen tending to him. Yet, Song-ho still hadn't brought the antidote. Just moments ago, the dark purple poison that had been spreading through his body was now receding, gathering back to the wound where it had entered, and then disappearing.
"Are you alright?" asked Mr. Kim.
"I'm fine… what was that?"
"That was the venom of the spider we killed earlier. Normally, it secretes poison from its skin as a defense mechanism. Once it touches a human, it kills within five minutes. Luckily, the antidote was invented—it can completely neutralize the toxin."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kim. You had to use the antidote on me. How much does it cost? Could you deduct the price from my pay?"
Uhyon knew well that antidotes were extremely expensive, even against the weakest venom. And against medium or high-grade monster poisons, they were worth a fortune.
"Ugh, don't worry about it. We won't deduct it from your pay. What matters is that you're safe now—just be more careful."
Uhyon was suprised.
"Why? antidotes aren't something you just give away for free. I even thought you'd make me work off the cost two or three more times."
At that moment, Song-ho appeared, tongue hanging out from running non-stop. In his hands was a small special vial containing the antidote, some anti-allergy medicine, and two syringes. Song-ho knew that antidotes could cause allergic reactions in humans. But Uhyon's case was different.
When Uhyon's condition had been worsening, they couldn't risk using a smaller dose—only the standard amount for teenagers would have sufficed. But the situation had escalated so suddenly that Song-ho had panicked.
Now, upon seeing Uhyon, his mind nearly went blank.
"W… what happened to you? H…ugh (panting)… How did you recover?"
Uhyon was just as confused. If Song-ho had only now brought the antidote, then how had the poison already vanished?
"Song-ho, he's fine now. Calm down and catch your breath. Joon-ho used his ability to remove the poison, right?" said Mr. Kim, turning to Joon-ho to reassure Song-ho.
From this, Uhyon realized that within the Wrath Guild, there was only one healer—Joon-ho.
"Y-yes… it was very difficult, but I managed to heal him," Joon-ho lied.
With those words, Uhyon also understood why he wasn't being charged for the antidote.
"Damn it, do they really think I healed this stupid kid? I'm not such a fool as to waste my mana helping some sh*t. That's why, while everyone's attention was on him, I stayed in the back, hoping Mr. Kim wouldn't call me over."
In truth, Joon-ho knew well that even B-rank, or even A-rank hunters, could at best slow the spread of a medium-grade monster's poison—but they could never remove it completely.
"Well then, if Uhyon's fine, let's get back to work," said Mr. Kang, reaching out a hand to help the boy up.
Uhyon stood, though he felt slightly dizzy, attributing it to the aftereffects of magic on a non-magical body. He stepped aside, drank some water, and continued working.
From this experience, Uhyon came to understand that every job carried its own risks, and especially in hunter-related work, nothing should be taken lightly. After all, he had been just one step away from death.
Afterward, they encountered several groups of monsters. Yet the beginning was always the same: every goblin and spiders they faced would shudder in fear whenever they looked at Uhyon. Of course, nobody else noticed, and even if Uhyon had told them, no one would have believed it. The idea that two entire races of mid-grade monsters feared a boy who had almost died from a bit of poison was both bizarre and laughable.
No matter how fast the guild members were, they still had to wait. Since Uhyon was their gatherer, and this was his first job alone, the other members, who weren't particularly tired, gave him a hand whenever necessary.
Finally, after defeating all the monsters, only the boss room remained. They searched through the dungeon's other sections one by one but found nothing else. At last, they arrived before the boss room. The entrance was sealed with massive doors made of wood-like material. At that moment, Mr. Kim called Uhyon.
"Uhyon, we're going to break through that door. There won't be too many of them, but they'll likely be lying in ambush. That's why it's better if you don't go in."
"Got it."
"Good. Then stand a little farther back."
Uhyon stepped back about four or five meters as the guild members readied their weapons and stormed the boss chamber.
From inside came the shrieks of giant spiders and the clash of steel striking monster flesh. Uhyon wanted to see the fight, but he knew it was dangerous. Once a day was enough for him to brush with death. Besides, the door wasn't completely destroyed; the central part was unevenly broken, leaving a hole two to two and a half meters wide.
He didn't want to linger near the battle sounds, so he decided to count goblin fangs and mana stones instead. Feeling relatively safe, he began carefully sorting through them.
Suddenly, an ordinary goblin's scream rang out.
"Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"
Startled, Uhyon immediately turned toward the sound. The inside was too dark to see clearly. Thinking of his safety, he ducked behind a large rock in the cave and tried to catch a glimpse of the goblin.
Five or six seconds later, a green goblin, about 1.2–1.3 meters tall, appeared, holding a crude wooden-and-stone club just shorter than itself. Indeed, goblins were strong for their size, but against giant monsters they were weak. Uhyon felt relieved that it hadn't noticed him. But that relief was premature—he had left behind a sack of goblin fangs and two bags of mana stones.
He desperately hoped the goblin wouldn't notice, but given the distance, it was impossible. The goblin saw them. It froze for a few seconds, then as if realizing something, began moving toward the rock where Uhyon was hiding, following the scent of its race's blood.
Uhyon looked around in confusion. Unfortunately, his gloves were stained with goblin blood. He cursed under his breath. His first thought was to call Mr. Kang or someone else, or even run toward them—but it was too late for both of these. Either choice would expose his hiding place.
He didn't want to accept his fate, but there was no other option. He knew very well that no hero would miraculously appear to save him like in a fiction. He thought about fighting back, but the truth was, even if he had the goblin's club in his hands, he couldn't win.
As Uhyon stood frozen in shock, a 'cracking' sound echoed once more. The goblin quickened its pace. But Uhyon didn't notice—he was paralyzed, unable to move.
The goblin's face twisted into a wicked grin. True, it was only an E-rank monster, perhaps C-rank at worst. Yet even an E-rank creature had a 200% chance of killing an ordinary human. Uhyon could die of fright at any second. Another snapping sound rang out.
But then, the goblin's expression suddenly changed. The wicked smile was replaced by helpless terror, as though Death itself had placed its scythe at its throat. Uhyon was dumbfounded. He knew monsters had been acting strangely around him, but he had never truly believed it until now.
The two beings stared at each other, both frozen in fear. The slightest movement from either might have caused one to faint. Neither knew what to do. Then the goblin, trembling, dropped its weapon.
Moments later, it began to move again, shaking violently. Uhyon's heart was pounding so fast he thought it might give out at any moment, or that he'd die of a heart attack.
Slowly, the goblin bent its knees. Uhyon's heartbeat calmed just a little, though he still feared it might attack. But then his worry grew even greater, thinking it might be crouching to grab its weapon again. 'Cracking' sound echoed again.
But the goblin's intention was different. Bit by bit, still trembling, it bowed. Fear clouded Uhyon's mind so much that he couldn't comprehend what was happening.
His brain refused to process it. Only after five seconds did he realize the truth.
"W-what…?"
His mind felt like it would explode. The goblin was fall prostrate to him. This was the first time in the world, or maybe the first time all of history that a monster had ever prostrated itself before a human. Even if it was only an E-rank, even "Legendary" hunters had never been able to make one cower like this.