Chapter 20

As Jun-sang realized Inia had vanished before his eyes and he was back at his front door, he slumped to the floor, then lay down completely.

“Phew…”

He had survived again, at least. When he closed his eyes, the image of the unnamed woman who had died before him flickered. Jun-sang opened his eyes. He first took off his military boots, covered in mud and zombie fluids, then his gloves, and put them into a cardboard box. He stared at the gloves and boots in the box for a moment, then took off the rest of his clothes, put them in, stored the box in his inventory, and began to bathe.

Jun-sang took a long shower, as if to wash away his gloomy mood. He then got dressed, and neatly packed his clothes, underwear, and socks from his closet into boxes. He took out the box he had put in his inventory earlier, replaced it with the newly organized clothes box, put the clothes he had been wearing into the washing machine, and cleaned his gloves and military boots. Only after all that work did he check his rewards.

“Party…”

The first thing that caught his eye was the special ability, ‘Party’.

Congratulations!

You have obtained the special card ‘Party’ as a quest reward.

: Obtaining a special card allows you to unlock sealed special abilities.

– Special ability ‘Party’ is now available.

– If you have like-minded comrades, form a party. When a quest activates, party members can participate together.

“…”

Jun-sang fell into deep thought. Depending on how it was used, it could be a very useful feature, but… for now, he had no one he particularly wanted to form a party with. He had only encountered four players so far. The boy named Sung-jin, who used ice magic, and the girl named Su-yeon, who practiced kendo, would clearly form a party with each other. A combination of ranged and melee skills would be compatible, and being similar in age and already acquainted, they wouldn’t have any particular objections. But for Jun-sang, even if he formed a party, he honestly couldn’t think of any significant merit. Of the other two, one was eliminated by death immediately upon meeting, and the woman who used the makeshift blackjack quickly retreated, so he hadn’t even seen her face properly, let alone her name.

“…”

Jun-sang put aside the thought of parties for now and opened the additional reward box.

Congratulations!

You have obtained the item card ‘Spirit of the Mighty Bear’ from the additional reward box (S-Rank).

: Item cards can be equipped in miscellaneous slots to use their abilities.

– Would you like to equip the item card into a card slot? (Y/n) _

[Click here for detailed card information.]

“…”

Thinking it might be an item related to the monstrous bear he had defeated in this quest, Jun-sang opened the detailed card information.

Card Information

Name: Spirit of the Mighty Bear

Level: 1Lv

Experience: 0

Grade: Uncommon+

Category: Item

Growth: Normal (Medium)

Attribute: None

Effect: When equipped, the spirit of a mighty bear possesses the user, increasing defense and endurance.

Cost: 20

Seed: 3 slots

“Oh…”

Even Jun-sang’s tightly sealed lips couldn’t help but let out a gasp of admiration this time. Although specific numerical values weren’t given, for Jun-sang, who couldn’t wear armor, this effect, no matter how much it increased, was truly a godsend. As soon as he equipped it into a slot, he somehow felt his body become more solid.

“Good.”

Jun-sang looked at the card slots, which were fully occupied save for one, and suddenly noticed the Two-Hit Combo card flickering and glowing. Wondering what it was, he opened the card, and a pop-up window appeared, stating that the card’s level had increased.

“…”

Remembering that he had used Two-Hit Combo quite a bit this time, Jun-sang checked the changes in the card’s details as its level increased.

Congratulations!

Skill card ‘Two-Hit Combo’ has leveled up.

: As a card’s level increases, various effects are added.

– When ‘Two-Hit Combo’ activates, cooldown is reduced by 1 percent.

– When ‘Two-Hit Combo’ activates, additional attack power is increased by 2 percent.

“…”

1 percent. Compared to the messages, it seemed insignificant, but this meant the cooldown of Two-Hit Combo had been reduced from 1.41 seconds to 1.38 seconds. Moreover, it was noteworthy that Two-Hit Combo, which originally had no additional effects besides delivering two quick blows, now had a small but noticeable additional damage. Assuming a consistent increase, leveling it up to level 10 would result in a 10 percent cooldown reduction and a 20 percent increase in additional damage, which, based on his experience so far, was by no means a negligible amount.

“Hmm…”

Jun-sang thought. Come to think of it, this mysterious game had no concept of classes, unlike other typical RPGs or online games. Jun-sang’s current level was 11. Even without classes, usually, by this point, a first job advancement or something similar would appear… but this game showed no such concepts of advancement or classes at all. Of course, it could be due to his insufficient level, but… Jun-sang thought it might be different. For example, combo cards might be taking the place of classes.

If he thought about it that way… the pros and cons of the two combo cards Jun-sang had obtained so far were as follows:

First, Berserker… This combo card consists of four cards: Rampage, Blood-Soaked, Blood-Soaked, Blood-Soaked. However, if cards are equipped in duplicate in this manner, there is a problem where only the card with the highest grade among the duplicates is actually applied. In other words, only Rampage and the single highest-grade Blood-Soaked card actually receive the level-up effect. This means that while combo cards can be easily completed and used in the early stages, the growth rate tends to slow down later on, as only two cards receive the level-up effect.

“Hmm…”

The same applies to Mad Dog. Even setting aside the bizarre nature of the Bite skill, since the Blood-Soaked card is duplicated, this combo card also limits the level-up effect to four cards, which means it has twice the growth rate of the Berserker card.

“It’s somewhat complicated.”

Jun-sang smacked his lips, then closed the card slots and checked the seed he had obtained from the boss this time.

Item Information

Name: Stun Seed

Level Restriction: 10

Type: Seed

Grade: Uncommon

Effect: 5 percent chance to induce stun for 2 seconds upon successful attack.

Description: This seed causes a stun state in the enemy upon successful attack.

Can be equipped to items or cards with Seed slots to enhance their abilities.

A special ability ‘Separate’ is required to detach an equipped seed.

[Click here to equip this seed to an item or card.]

“Not bad.”

The probability was quite low, but for Jun-sang, who had to fight in close quarters, it was better to have many such status effects, even with low probabilities. Just looking at the boss he fought this time, didn’t he easily win without much damage thanks to the fear inducement?

Jun-sang placed the seed on his phone and equipped it into the last remaining slot of the Blood-Soaked (R) card. The Blood-Soaked (R) card’s seed slots currently had five seeds equipped: Vampiric Seed, which absorbs health on hit; Speed-up Seed, which increases overall speed; Shell Seed, which reduces physical damage; Readiness Seed, which reduces physical skill cooldowns; and the newly acquired Stun Seed.

After checking and equipping the seeds, Jun-sang began to ponder what to do with the monstrous bear’s corpse in his inventory. He suspected there might be a seed in it because it was a beast, not a zombie-like monster, but it was undeniably incredibly strong. However, butchering such a large monster bear inside his house was rather awkward. Even if he could deal with the blood and flesh splattering, there simply wasn’t enough space to lay the enormous creature down. He regretted not having butchered it during the quest, but he couldn’t comfortably butcher it when he didn’t know when he might be attacked, so Jun-sang had made the best choice possible.

“This is tricky.”

Jun-sang eventually decided to only open the bear’s head in the mountains where he usually exercised. After quickly satisfying his hunger with some food at home, Jun-sang immediately went up the mountain near his house where he usually exercised. Fortunately, he had marked a secluded spot during his mountain runs, so finding a place to open the bear’s head was not difficult.

First, Jun-sang spread a poncho on the ground, then took the bear’s corpse out of his inventory. He then used a hammer and chisel to break the bear’s skull and rummaged inside. But unfortunately, nothing came out of the bear’s head.

“As expected… does it only come from monsters?”

He might not know for sure, but this monstrous bear was certainly one of the strongest beings among normal creatures. The fact that seeds, which even came from zombies, didn’t come from such a powerful beast was tantamount to saying that seeds didn’t come from beasts that weren’t monsters.

“No, it’s too early to conclude.”

It was disappointing, but he felt it was too early to make a definitive statement based on only one kill. Jun-sang first put the bear’s corpse and the blood-soaked poncho back into his inventory, then washed his hands with water he had saved for emergencies. And then, as usual, he began his mountain run and training.

A day passed like that… And about a week later.

Jun-sang, returning home after his training, stopped in front of his alleyway, seeing three or four well-dressed men blocking his path from both front and back. As Jun-sang stopped, one of them stepped forward and said, “Mr. Park Jun-sang, correct?”

“That’s right.”

As Jun-sang replied, the man nodded at the person next to him and then spoke again, “Excuse me, but we’d like you to come with us for a moment.”

The content was a suggestion, but the tone was clearly a command. Of course, Jun-sang had no intention of meekly complying with their words.

“I refuse.”

At Jun-sang’s quiet reply, the man spoke again. “I’ll say it one more time.”

“…”

“Cooperate nicely while I’m still asking politely.”

Now, at the man’s words, which had shifted from command to threat, Jun-sang chuckled.

“What if I don’t?”

“…”

Then the man smiled disdainfully and, without further ado, reached out to grab Jun-sang by the collar. However, to Jun-sang, who had been trained in life-or-death combat, that hand seemed slower than a zombie’s shambling hand.

“…”

Jun-sang lightly tilted his head to avoid the man’s hand and gently stroked the man’s side with his right hand.

“Gah!”

Even though he had adjusted his strength to avoid sending him to the afterlife, the man still collapsed as if falling, staggering and starting to vomit.