Thump.
The bus went over a speed bump. It was going pretty fast, so my body lifted for a moment. Because of that, the hood I had pulled over my head came off.
“Ah, damn it. What the hell.”
A few of the passengers grumbled. The bus indifferently started moving again, and I turned my gaze back to the window. The name of the Glory Guild appeared on a billboard as big as a sports field.
The greatest Hunter Guild in all of South Korea. The new ruling class of a changed world. They protect their designated territories and are perhaps the only ones who could cure my terminal illness.
‘Hmph.’
I scoffed inwardly. They may be heroes, but at least to me, they weren't. There's something called the MMPT—Multi Monster Poison Test. It's a test to check if you've been poisoned by a Monster.
Once you're poisoned, not only ordinary people but even most Hunters can't last a year. And unfortunately, I recently tested positive on the MMPT.
“A month at most? Or maybe two weeks. It's hard to say for sure.”
Damn it.
Even a delivery estimate for a package would be more detailed than that. In that uncaring tone, the doctor delivered my death sentence. Well, since the Monsters appeared, death has become a common thing.
I just answered calmly.
“Yes.”
“Hmm... If, by any chance, you wanted to request a transfer to a Guild research lab...”
“No. It's fine.”
The doctor glanced at my clothes and, as if he expected it, closed the chart without another thought. The research labs of famous Guilds. Like the one for the ‘Glory Guild’ on that billboard over there.
The major Guild research labs possess medical technology that puts regular hospitals to shame. They're in charge of keeping Hunters alive, so of course they would. A place like that might be able to change or even cure my terminal illness.
But only a handful of civilians ever receive treatment at Guild research labs.
Why?
The reason is simple. The cost is so high it makes you sick. With money, you don't die.
Without money, you die. It's a new saying that appeared as the power of the Guild research labs grew. If you have money, you can avoid death.
If you don't have a damn thing, you can't even hope to live.
“Cough, cough.”
Ever since I was young, I've lived with frequent fevers, headaches, and body aches. Some called it a strange heat sickness, others said it was just my constitution.
‘Fuck, who cares?’
From the perspective of the one who's sick, it's all the same, isn't it? And it would be a relief if it was just the pain. What about the mottled spots covering my entire body?
Even I scowled whenever I saw my own body, which looked more monstrous than a Monster's. “Our Hae-seon is so handsome.” Looking at me, my older sister always said that. Even a hedgehog finds its own young pretty, I suppose.
Well, if it weren't for these spots reflected in the bus window, maybe my face would be decent enough to look at.
‘I don't know, what does any of that matter now?’
I'm going to die. Not from a monster from beyond a Gate, not in a traffic accident, but from a poison I've never even heard of.
‘So I'm dying.’
Maybe it's a relief that this damned pain will finally end. I'm not afraid of death. What I'm truly afraid of is thinking of my sister, who will be left all alone to grieve.
Thump.
“There are no seats.”
A couple stood in front of me. They both glanced at me. They were familiar glances, but they suffocated me every time.
I gently pulled my hood back on.
“Wow, what's with his face?”
“Hey, he can hear you.”
The woman spoke, and the man tried to shush his girlfriend.
‘I can hear everything, you jerks.’
I snorted inwardly and watched the scenery pass by. Anger without reason welled up inside me. No, the reason was clear.
Why was I born like this? Why am I sick? Why do I have to die at an age when I should be running around and playing with friends?
And on top of it all, the cause is Monster poison. Isn't that just laughable? My condition had taken a sharp turn for the worse recently.
I went from hospital to hospital, but they couldn't find any specific cause. Fuck, those quacks. Because of them, most of my sister's salary was wasted for nothing.
But the cause was somewhere completely unexpected. On the off chance, the doctor ran an MMPT—Multi Monster Poison Test, and a whopping seven different poisons were detected. There are seven known types of Monster poison.
That means I'm living with every existing Monster poison in my body. The doctor said he ran the test twice after seeing my results for the first time. A living mass of poison, but a non-contagious, terminally ill one.
That's what I am now.
‘What do I tell my sister?’
I'm worried about her. Along with the worry, my chest felt tight. Like someone was squeezing my heart.
It's not like being sick is anything new, but today, my mind hurts more. Anger at the world, anger at things I can't solve, anger at things beyond my control. And a longing for life.
Everything is tangled together. My head is starting to hurt.
“Ugh, what's that smell?” the woman in the couple muttered.
Their gazes landed on me at the same time. A blatant look, like they were staring at a sewer. But the smell had nothing to do with me.
My clothes were worn, but that didn't mean I was dirty. Normally, I would have pretended not to notice and ignored it. But for some reason, today, I didn't want to put up with it.
Fuck, what smell? You should worry about brushing your own teeth. I was about to say that and lifted my head.
Just then, something else caught my eye before the couple did. A pitch-black darkness outside the window. It was spreading, large enough to be seen with the naked eye.
“... Huh?”
Was this the smell the couple was talking about? A fishy smell entered my nostrils too. What was shocking was that it wasn't just the bus; people outside the window were also clutching their noses.
‘This isn't because of someone on the bus.’
Something ominous was taking over the entire area.
Screeeech!
The bus slammed on its brakes, leaving skid marks on the ground.
Crash!
“Ugh!!!”
The passengers stumbled, and some tumbled to the floor. I reflexively grabbed a handle and held on.
“Aaaah!”
“The door!! Open the door!! Hurry!!”
The bus driver hastily pressed a button and bolted from his seat. People clumped together in a single mass trying to get through the narrow bus door. I hurriedly got off the bus and looked up at the sky.
A deep darkness that looked like it would suck in not only the surrounding clouds but the very souls of the living. That darkness grew larger and larger, until finally, creatures big and small began to pour down.
“Oh my god...”
It had been twenty years since Monsters first appeared. Through countless reports, people knew all too well what that thing in the sky was.
“A Gate...!!!!”
“What's going on? Where are the Hunters? What were they doing while the Gate was opening?!”
“Which Guild is in charge of this area? Damn them!!”
The panicked people yelled and looked around wildly. Just as they said, Hunters are usually on standby before a Gate fully opens. It's possible to predict them because of the core energy that is generated before a Gate opens.
But for some reason, there was no sign of any Hunters by the time the Monsters touched the ground.
“R... Run!!”
I didn't know the reason, but one thing was certain. If we didn't get out of here now, we would die. People started to flee in a panic.
“Monsters...”
If anyone had seen my face then, they would have thought my expression was changing like a traffic light. At first, I was scared just like everyone else. But soon, I clenched my teeth in rising anger, and finally, my expression became resolute.
Monsters.
The disaster that descended upon this land. The cause of countless tragedies, and the source of the tragedy in my own life. The beings who gave me the shitty gift of a terminal illness.
“Motherfuckers!!”
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud- While everyone else was running away, I also started running with all my might in one direction. Because I wanted to live like the others? Not a chance.
I'm already terminally ill, how much longer could I live anyway? The direction I was running was the complete opposite of everyone else's. It was toward the Monsters. There were two reasons for this.
One, if I died trying to stop the Monsters, I could receive a medal of honor. That would be a great help to my sister, who would be left alone. The second reason was, fuck it, since I'm going to die anyway, I wanted to at least land one punch on one of those damn monsters' faces.
What kind of crazy thought is that for someone who isn't even a Hunter?
Yeah.
Maybe the boiling fever had already made me half-crazy. The thought that the Monsters that ruined my life were right in front of me made my blood boil. And so, I ran for a while in the direction of the toad-like Monster.
Thud.
But before I got very far, I was forced to my knees.
“Ugh...”
It was as if my body was resonating with the growing Gate, because my condition suddenly collapsed.
“Fuck. Why is this happening all of a sudden...”
I didn't have any particular symptoms even when I was at the hospital, but now a fever was raging through my whole body. My mind was drifting in and out of consciousness, and it was agonizing, as if a large needle was traveling through my entire bloodstream.
Damn it.
Just a little further and I could have landed a hit. My vision turned white and then quickly went black. And just like that, I lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
How much time had passed?
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!”
My eyes shot open at the sound of a desperate scream. The once quiet and peaceful Gaebang District intersection. It had turned into a living hell.
Kirurururuk.
“St... Stay away!!!”
The woman from the couple on the bus with me had collapsed to the ground and was shuffling backward. Opposite her was a strange green creature. A toad-shaped Monster, about 50cm long.
Its entire body was covered in bumpy skin, and something like greasy grime glistened on it, making it a nauseating sight. -Kiruruk. The toad-shaped Monster flicked its tongue out at the woman. The man who seemed to be her partner was already a cold corpse, sprawled on the street.
He wasn't the only dead person. At the bus stop, on the sidewalk, outside the buildings—bodies were strewn everywhere. All the vehicles, including the bus, were stopped on the road, and some were overturned.
Weeeeeeeeeeeee!
The loud sound of sirens hit my ears.
‘The Hunters still haven't come? While everyone was dying like this?’
My gaze fell upon the dead man's corpse. His eyes, nose, ears, mouth. Seeing the blood flowing from every orifice, my face hardened.
‘Poison-type...!!!’
A particularly notorious type of Monster. Vicious bastards that even decent-sized mid-tier guilds struggled to handle. Not just the man, but all the corpses littering the street were in a gruesome state.
What a coincidence. I'd heard that Poison-types were a rare breed that appeared maybe once a year. But on the very day I was sentenced to death by Monster poison, those damn things appeared right in front of me.
I thought, ‘This is great.’ Alright, I already had a lot of pent-up anger toward you bastards anyway. Even if I die today, I'm going to take it out on you first.
Just as I was forcing my boiling body to stand, the toad-shaped Monster spat saliva at the woman. -Ssshhk.
“KYAAAAAAAK!!”
The woman let out a piercing scream and fell over. The toad's saliva looked merely dirty on the surface. But once it touched the skin, it would penetrate and instantly poison the person.
The reason people were dying to toads less than a meter tall was precisely because of this deadly poison.
“Guh... ugh.”
She made a choking sound, and then, just like the fallen man, blood poured from her five orifices as she died. Just a little bit on her skin caused this. The lethality of a single Poison-type Monster was on par with a biochemical weapon.
“You son of a bitch...”
I clenched my teeth as I watched the toad. I already held more than enough of a grudge, but seeing people die so brutally in front of me made my eyes see red. -Kiruk? Had it thought I was already dead from my collapsed state?
The Monster looked in my direction and tilted its head strangely. And a moment later, -Ssshhk.
Shit.
The saliva the Monster spat was flying right toward me.