A pitch-black, enormous humanoid shape.
It lunged at me, tearing into my body with its teeth.
All I could do was stare at it until the end.
"Cough—gasp!"
My eyes snapped open as water flooded my mouth.
An unfamiliar ceiling.
But I recognized it immediately and bolted upright.
"Urk—bleeegh!"
Black water gushed out of my mouth in a torrent.
"What happened—kyaa!"
The nurse rushed in late and screamed at the sight of me.
While she ran to fetch the doctor, I clung to the bed, trembling.
What—what the hell happened?
I was definitely standing in front of the monster's Mana Stone.
Did someone rescue me?
My vision spun wildly.
My stomach churned, probably from vomiting just moments ago.
I spat out the rising gas, and that's when the doctor arrived.
He peppered me with questions about my condition and ran a few tests.
Then came the verdict.
But it wasn't the doctor who delivered it.
"You'll be lucky to last a year."
"Pardon?"
A mage sat beside the doctor—an eccentric who loitered at the hospital for amusement, examining patients like it was a game.
Those words had come from his mouth, not the doctor's.
"You've contracted Mana Stone Hardening Disease."
What kind of insane nonsense was this?
"...Mage, sir, Mana Stone Hardening Disease? Is there even such a thing?"
"It crops up now and then. In freaks like you—born with mana despite not having a mage's bloodline. You lot can't process it properly."
He let out a mocking chuckle.
"It's always the same story with your kind. You can't overcome the disease, and your insides turn to mana stone."
My vision abruptly went dark.
I couldn't process what I was hearing.
Terminal?
Me?
Why?
I'd never had a speck of mana my whole life.
Sure, my body was frail from a childhood illness.
But mana suddenly manifesting? That made no sense.
Then a memory flashed through my mind.
My hand had been cut while touching the Mana Stone.
Could that be when the mana seeped in?
"...Is there a cure you could tell me about?"
"Simple enough."
The mage grinned wickedly—a blatant sneer.
"Become one of us."
One of us.
That meant becoming a mage.
Mages were a breed apart from birth.
Bestowed with talent from the heavens, they lorded over humanity.
Could an ordinary person even become one?
If it were possible, everyone would be a mage by now.
"Of course, even a half-baked mage wouldn't cut it. Looking at you, you've got a ton of mana built up already."
He pulled something from his pocket.
A business card with my name on it.
"When it's time to die, come find me. I'll buy your body at a premium price."
He meant sell my corpse once it turned to Mana Stone.
I took the card in a daze, and the mage stood to leave.
"Saw something interesting today."
The doctor gazed at me with pity.
Medicine couldn't touch this.
"...Doctor, what exactly happened to me?"
I'd woken up and been rushed here.
Someone must have brought me.
When I asked, his answer was completely unexpected.
"Someone found you collapsed in the village and brought you to the hospital."
"...Not from inside the monster corpse?"
"Pardon? There was no mention of any monster corpse."
None of it made sense.
"You can be discharged now. There's nothing more we can do."
And so, I left the hospital.
Overnight, I'd become a dead man walking.
Despair clouded my vision.
As I raised a hand to cover my face in bewilderment—
"Huh?"
Something clung to the skin of my arm.
It looked like a closed eye at first glance.
"Wh-what the..."
I touched it curiously, and pain shot through me.
Like pressing hard on an eyeball.
This thing was attached to my body.
I rushed back inside the hospital.
"N-nurse! There's an eye on my arm!"
"Huh?"
She stared at my arm like I'd lost my mind.
"There's nothing there."
And her expression turned to one reserved for lunatics.
Nothing.
She couldn't see it?
Not just her.
No one else agreed— they all looked at me like a freak.
...Come to think of it, I had all those checks earlier.
They would've spotted it then.
Especially with the mage right there.
If he'd sensed anything off, he'd have noticed.
Was the terminal diagnosis so shocking I'd gone mad, seeing hallucinations?
My head spun in confusion.
Was I really crazy?
In the end, I slunk out quietly, the odd one out.
...I should head to the monster hunter guild and ask about what happened.
They might know something.
I hurried through the village streets to the Laoren Monster Hunter Guild.
Panting, I shoved open the door, and eyes turned my way.
Some frowned; others looked stunned.
Why were they staring like that?
It was different from usual.
Normally, they just condescended to me at best.
They'd never ogled me so openly.
But I had no mind to react.
What mattered in a terminal life?
"Haren!"
Oble spotted me and jumped up from his seat.
"What the hell did you do?"
"...Do about what?"
I'd have to remember committing a crime first.
Oble looked exasperated.
"Rumor has it you stole the Mana Stone! It's a huge mess!"
"Stole the Mana Stone?"
What fresh bullshit was this?
"That's ridiculous. I just woke up in the hospital."
"Exactly."
"Then you can explain it to me directly."
A man's voice cut in.
I turned to see a neatly parted man in a suit.
I knew him.
Laorio, manager of the Laoren Monster Hunter Guild.
He spent most days in his office unless there was trouble.
His presence meant something big had blown up.
Oble shot me a worried glance.
At least my fellow hunter comrade cared.
"Let's go."
I hadn't stolen the stone anyway.
Nothing mattered now.
I'd face it head-on.
Laorio led me to the guild master's office.
Come to think of it, first time inside.
They summoned achievers for rewards, but I'd never piled up any.
I tensed a bit.
"First time meeting face-to-face, Haren."
"You know my name?"
"You've worked at our Laoren branch for years.
I remember everyone past their first year."
Even in this harsh border town, Laoren was sizable.
Real hunter work kicked in after year one.
He practically knew every guild hunter.
Truly the guild master—not your average guy.
Laorio adjusted his glasses and spoke.
"Here's what started it. You stayed behind alone for cleanup. When everyone left, you stole the Mana Stone."
"No, that's wrong from the start."
I interrupted, and his brow furrowed slightly.
"I'm just reading the report. Hear me out."
"Ah, yes."
"As stated, you stole the Mana Stone, hid it, and collapsed on-site. That's per the report. Does it match the facts?"
"Not at all."
"Then let's hear your side, Haren."
I recounted everything.
"If I'd stolen it, why collapse there instead of fleeing Laoren? I'm not an idiot."
"True."
Even Laorio conceded that.
If I'd planned theft, I'd have bolted from Laoren long ago.
Moreover—
"That monster was handled by a mage, right?"
No one touched a mage's property anywhere in the world.
Do it, and they'd be torn limb from limb.
"Yes, indeed. I acknowledge that."
"Being branded a thief is a problem. I'm the victim here."
I'd nearly died from touching it.
How much more wronged could I be?
"Plus, that Mana Stone was massive.
No place to hide it, and no witnesses saw me move it."
I vented my genuine grievance.
Laorio fell silent, then nodded.
"I understand your injustice, Haren."
"Then—!"
"But injustice means little to the mages.
They care about results—and the reality of their loss."
Clouds gathered at the window behind him, casting shadows.
In the growing gloom, Laorio's eyes gleamed ominously.
"Haren, this world has such things as responsibility. Even unfair ones thrust upon you, whether you did it or not."
"...What are you getting at?"
"The guild paid the mage for the Mana Stone."
My eyes widened slowly.
I finally grasped his point.
"And that cost is now on your tab."
"Why the hell me!"
"You were the last witness."
Laorio slid a debt notice across the desk.
10,000 gold.
An amount no one could earn in a lifetime.
A mage-only monster held astronomical value.
Nothing compared to a mere hunter's income.
"Why should I pay for the guild's arbitrary claim!"
"It's the price of your life.
Without this payment, not just you—the entire Laoren branch would be gone."
My lips quivered.
The guild must have searched for the stone.
But it was nowhere.
They had to report to the mage pronto.
This was their best—only—option.
My limbs shook.
Neither I nor the guild had power against a mage.
We just had to take the hit.
Laorio coldly proffered the debt paper.
"I heard you've developed Mana Stone Hardening Disease."
The guild was in touch with the hospital.
They knew where this debtor might flee.
"Post-mortem, we'll settle the debt with your body. No need to worry."
This debt was my life's ransom.
And naturally payable after death.
The guild just had to wait.
Once I died and turned to stone, they'd recover and sell it.
"Thanks in advance for your service to the Laoren branch."
Empty words.
Outside the office, stares converged again.
Whatever.
My life—afterlife too—was finished.
My body felt limp.
"Haren."
"Heh, debtor weakling."
Oble approached, but a familiar voice rang out as Trenba shoved him aside.
Why did this punk always have to pick a fight?
Why target me specifically?
I knew the reason.
He hounded the weakest among the weak—me.
I'd kept quiet because naming it would make him foam at the mouth.
"Heard you're screwed? Serves you right for greedily stealing the Mana Stone.
Weak trash like you gets punished for overreaching. Should've lived right."
Trenba's mockery spilled out.
I snapped.
My fist slammed into his face.
Trenba staggered but swung back wildly.
Crash!
His punch sent me tumbling wretchedly across the floor.
Our builds were worlds apart.
My punch was nothing to his.
"You little shit, getting cocky."
"Hey, Trenba, stop!"
As Trenba loomed to stomp me, Oble intervened.
But Trenba backhanded him without hesitation.
Crash!
Oble smashed through a table, rolling on the floor.
Trenba hadn't held back.
Oble couldn't withstand it.
"Scram, Oble. Don't butt in, you weak shit too."
The hunters snickered at Trenba's shout.
Not their fight—they treated guildmates like strangers.
Besides, Trenba was hot-tempered and strong.
No one wanted to rile him.
"...Trenba."
I wiped blood from my bitten lip.
"You know why Jane had no interest in you but took to me?"
I spat out what I'd endured all this time.
Jane, the flower shop girl Trenba pined for.
She'd brushed off his fervent confession coldly.
Then one day, she showed interest in me.
Sent a note inviting me to eat.
Trenba started bullying me from then on.
"'Cause you're uglier than an orc's head. Use your eyes— what girl would like you?"
"Pfft!"
The onlookers, turning the brawl into a drinking show, stifled laughs.
No hunter had known why Trenba obsessed over me.
But today, the truth was out.
Trenba's face twisted in an instant.
Killing intent blazed in his eyes.
He meant to murder me for real.
"You filthy roach."
He grabbed my collar.
Dragged me outside by force.
Soon, in a back alley, the kicks began.
"Die! You roach! Die! Die already!"
Vitriol poured with each brutal stomp.
Trenba's eyes were bloodshot.
He intended to kill.
Far off, a few hunters ran up belatedly.
Couldn't let a man die—they'd stop him.
Rotten bastards.
Stop him from the start then.
Consciousness faded.
Hospital again—or death for real.
One or the other.
Then, on my arm.
Something opened.
A new field of vision.
And with it, a flickering white flame deep inside Trenba's body.
Colorless, pure white.
I stared blankly, then unconsciously raised my hand.
Without thought, I grasped the flame.
"Gurk—glurk?!"
Trenba froze mid-kick.
His face drained white, foam bubbling from his mouth, body tilting.
Thud!
He collapsed, convulsing wildly.
Seeing it, my hand finally fell from the flame.
The white flame had shrunk.
"Wh-what?"
"Tr-Trenba's down."
"Haren—the weakling Haren—took down Trenba?"
Shocked voices rose among the late-arriving hunters.
But I heard none.
My gaze fixed on my arm.
A new eye on pitch-black sclera, etched with red lines.
Like a dragon's eye.
It had opened on my arm.