Chapter 1: Lost Technology (1)
"Cough! Cough!"
Bright red blood continued to flow from my mouth and nose.
The continuous stream of blood made it difficult to breathe.
Instinctively, I pressed my hand against the hole in my stomach, but I knew it was a futile gesture.
The long, diagonal wound couldn't be stopped even with both hands.
The smell of blood was drawing the monsters closer.
The hunters who should have been fighting them had long since turned into dismembered corpses.
My vision was getting blurrier, and I felt chills as if I were inside a freezer.
This was really the end.
I was going to die here.
There was no way I could think of to escape this crisis.
For some reason, even though I knew it was useless, I habitually used my skill.
"Repair!"
I felt a cold sensation, like ice, on my hand.
A skill that repairs broken objects.
Because of this ability, I had been the object of ridicule for half my life.
I thought it would be useless this time as well, but then... a miracle happened.
[Super Quantum Nano Bio-computer restoration complete.]
[User search in progress due to emergency protocol.]
[Suitable intelligent life form detected within 1m.]
[Confirmed life ability below 10%. Proceeding with simplified contract due to emergency clause.]
.
.
.
[Download complete.]
* * *
I was lying on my bed, my eyes tracing the dirty stain on the ceiling of my small room.
Early in the morning, the phone rang.
My ominous premonition was correct.
"Oppa, let's break up."
It was the voice of my girlfriend, no, now ex-girlfriend, on the other end of the call.
My girlfriend of five years was breaking up with me over the phone, but I couldn't bring myself to hold onto her.
"Okay... I hope you meet a good person."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I understand your parents' feelings."
"I'm really sorry..."
I could hear her voice choking up over the phone.
She was probably having a harder time than I was.
I decided to let her go here.
I ended the call and lay back on the bed.
Even though I hadn't drunk any alcohol, I felt like my body was sinking into the ground.
"Damn it!"
For the first time in my life, I craved a cigarette.
Why had my life fallen into such a pit?
"Why? Because of my damn job."
Since the Great Cataclysm when monsters started invading Earth, every human around the age of 15 gained a special job.
Unique jobs.
Broadly categorized into warrior, mage, healer, supporter, and auxiliary...
Once you gained a job, it wouldn't change.
It was no exaggeration to say that a person's life was determined by the type and power of their job.
Even if you weren't a monster-hunting hunter, even in regular office jobs or manual labor, having an appropriate job was necessary.
I, too, naturally gained a job.
An EX-ranked job, one of the rarest in the world.
When I first gained my job, I thought I was lucky.
An EX rank. The entire sky over Seoul was filled with a beautiful aurora for everyone to see.
I remember how the startled administrators had all turned out.
Up to that point, it was great.
The problem was the type of job.
"A mere repairman."
◆Class
Arch Mechanic
(EX rank)
No matter how good the rank, what use was it if the abilities were trash?
Of course, because it was EX rank, the skills I gained were more powerful than those of other repairmen.
A repair skill at zero level.
The problem was that this world had far too many people with repair jobs.
It was one of the most common classes.
According to TV statistics, there were over a hundred thousand people with this job in Korea alone.
"What's the use of an EX rank if the job is so common?"
Wouldn't an EX-ranked auxiliary job be something different?
Of course, I had thought about that.
In fact, several countries had focused on leveling up auxiliary jobs like janitors, chefs, and repairmen.
But the results were all disappointing.
Even though they gained better skills than other auxiliary jobs, they were not helpful on a national level.
Unlike combat jobs, they needed protection, making hunting twice as hard.
Naturally, the Korean government didn't bother with repairmen.
Opening a repair shop would require money.
But where would an orphan get money from?
So, I chose to be a combat assistant, a porter.
Repairing hunters' equipment when it broke, carrying loads, butchering, and doing all sorts of odd jobs.
Even though I was an assistant, entering dungeons meant facing danger.
A job with a lot of work and the occasional encounter with monsters.
It paid well, but it was too dangerous.
"Of course her parents would oppose our marriage."
I would have opposed it too.
An orphan with a dangerous job and no bright future?
Porters hardly gained any experience points.
Hunters would never let them join their parties.
I am 27 years old.
For seven years, since I was 20, I have consistently entered dungeons, but my level remains at 0.
It's because my skills make hunting impossible.
Zero level.
Hunters of a similar age would be at least level 2 or 3.
But what can I do?
I can only make use of my job skills like this.
Habitually, I checked the schedule on my phone.
"Do I have another task later today?"
Currently, Hyeon Su-ho is a freelancer.
It sounds good to say freelancer, but in reality, it means being a disposable contractor to be used at will.
Still, by consistently working in this field, I've built up some experience.
Just not getting flustered during battles and staying quietly tucked away in a corner is enough to do my part.
I really don’t want to do anything today, but I have no choice.
Today is the day of a commission from the Jinryong Guild.
It's a guild directly operated by the Jinryong Guild, which is considered one of the top five in South Korea.
If I mess up this task, the trust I’ve built up so far could crumble in an instant.
"Ha!"
I hurriedly gathered my equipment and moved before it got any later.
* * *
A little later, on the outskirts of Seoul.
In front of the city gate, there were people bustling about, preparing to embark on an expedition to the Red Zone.
After the great upheaval, cities were protected by dome-shaped shields.
Beyond the walls, monsters swarmed in the Red Zone.
To travel to another city, one had to hire hunters for protection or use underground tunnels.
"Hyeon Su-ho! Is Hyeon Su-ho here?"
"I'm here!"
"I will check your hunter's license. Please present your device!"
When Hyeon Su-ho presented his device, the screen prominently displayed the letters FF.
No matter how high the EX rank, if you're a repairman, you're classified as FF rank.
More humiliating was the 0 level displayed next to it.
"Alright, next!"
The guild manager was meticulously calling and verifying people today.
Usually, they just casually check and move on when it comes to support staff.
The number of people was also two or three times more than usual.
Even for a task from the Jinryong Guild, this was a bit excessive.
Hyeon Su-ho discreetly asked the familiar older man next to him.
"Why is the atmosphere like this today?"
"It's Su-ho. I heard that the children of the Jinryong Guild are coming today."
"The third-generation heirs? They are going on the expedition with us?"
"It seems the gate dungeon discovered this time is quite large. So, they are leading the expedition."
"Ah~"
In a society where levels are specs.
Even the offspring of the wealthy compete to enter dungeons.
The more difficult the dungeon, the better the experience points and rewards, naturally.
Hyeon Su-ho asked anxiously.
"By the way, are we going to a gate dungeon today?"
"Yes, didn't you know?"
"I had some… things going on. It won’t be dangerous, right?"
"If you think about safety, you can't do this job. But it should be safe this time, right? If the third-generation heirs are personally involved, Jinryong would assign outstanding hunters, wouldn't they?"
"Will they?"
Even with 7 years of experience, it was Hyeon Su-ho's first time entering a gate.
Top guilds that enter gate dungeons take even support staff as regular employees.
So when I was chosen this time, I thought it was just because they were short-handed.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Even if he had a bad premonition, there was nothing Hyeon Su-ho could do now.
He could only hope that nothing major happened.
"We're departing!"
As someone shouted, the huge gate began to open.
Rumble!
Before the great upheaval, this place was full of spiderweb-like roads and skyscrapers that covered the sky.
But after hundreds of years without human intervention, a dense forest had formed.
Apart from the barely restored roads, the primeval ecosystem was perfectly restored.
Of course, not only the original flora and fauna but also monsters appeared.
I heard someone whispering.
"It's always a chilling sight."
The Red Zone is a place where dangerous monsters can appear at any time, anywhere.
The expedition was just beginning.
* * *
Contrary to worries, the expedition went very smoothly.
Whenever dangerous monsters appeared, the hunters moved quickly and took them down in an instant.
Thanks to the high-level hunters participating because the VIP was leading the expedition.
Among them were famous figures that everyone knew by name.
"That man… I definitely saw him on TV. Fireballer, Hong Chang-shik, right?"
"Yes. An S-rank fire ability user. It’s crazy. A ranker came along."
"If he's a ranker, he must be at least level 8, right?"
The World Hunter Association analyzes hunters' professions, levels, and achievements every year and assigns ranks.
Among them, the top 1,000 are called rankers.
The top 10 are top rankers, those up to 100 are high rankers, and those up to 1,000 are just rankers.
Our country has no top rankers, but we have high rankers and rankers.
Even just a ranker is a top-tier skilled person within the top thousand in the world.
Their individual skills are said to be enough to easily take on a group-level military force.
Just being a ranker gives them much higher recognition than celebrities.
So even the porters recognized Hong Chang-shik, the Fireballer.
"It seems the Jinryong Group really has a lot of money. They even hire rankers."
"Yeah. It must be expensive to call them for one expedition."
"No, idiots. Hong Chang-shik originally belongs to the Jinryong Group. But I heard he rarely participates in ordinary tasks…"
The whispering people shut up quickly when Hong Chang-shik glanced this way.
Fortunately, he was used to it and didn’t say much.
In the Red Zone, hunters are kings.
The support staff have to cater to whatever they want like servants.
It’s actually easier to pretend they don’t exist and just do your own work.
The problem is that no matter where you go, there are always people who seem to have eaten their humanity for breakfast.
"Repairman! Where is the repairman?!"
At someone's call, Hyeon Su-ho, who was butchering a dead monster, rushed out.
"I'm coming!"
Following the voice, I found a young man, who looked to be about twenty years old, scowling deeply.
"Geez! When I call you, you should come running immediately! How many times do I have to call you?!"
He looked significantly younger than me, like a younger brother.
We hadn't even exchanged names, and he was already spouting rude words, but everyone around us seemed to take it in stride.
After all, he was a hunter, and I was just a support worker.
Used to such situations, I just bowed my head and said, "I'm sorry."
"Annoying right from the start. Hey! Fix this."
He threw his sword at me irritably, kicking up a cloud of dust that covered my face.
The blade must have broken during the earlier battle and needed repair.
I picked up the sword without a word.
‘Endure, just endure.’
Getting into a fight here would do no good.
I might even be barred from this line of work entirely.
Support staff were always in surplus, and hunters were always in short supply.
"Restore."
When I used my skill, the broken blade gradually reverted to its original state, as if the video were rewinding.
Then, someone recognized me and spoke up.
"Isn't he that guy? The one with the EX-class job."
"What? EX-class? No way, then why would he be doing this menial work?"
"Why? Because he's a repairman."
"What?! Hahaha!!"
One of the hunters burst into laughter.
"Wow, but he must be really good at repairs."
"I thought so too, but it's not that different. Repairs are just repairs, after all."
"True."
They talked like this right in front of me.
Either they thought I couldn't hear them, or they didn't care if I did.
‘Probably the latter.’
Instinctively, I clenched my fist, but there was nothing I could do.
All I could do was finish the repair quickly and go back to butchering monsters.
Even after I left, their conversation continued.
* * *
After several more hours, we finally reached the gate.
The grand sight of a dimensional gate on the mountainside came into view.
A hole opened in mid-air, revealing a path to the fourth dimension.
Those who saw a dimensional gate for the first time couldn't help but be mesmerized by its mystical appearance.
"Everyone, let's go inside!"
A clear voice rang out, and people began to cautiously enter.
Whirr!!
In the blink of an eye, we arrived at a completely different place.
Just moments ago, we were outside under the blazing sun with a clear blue sky, but now we were inside a space covered with flat, white metal.
"Where are we? Inside a building? Or a train?"
There was a slight sensation of movement.
Someone who was looking around touched the wall and...
Whirr!
The wall became semi-transparent like glass, revealing the outside.
Beyond it, we could see a black background dotted with colorful stars.
"Space?"
"Could this be... inside a spaceship?"
At that moment, a semi-transparent message window appeared before everyone's eyes.
《Dimensional Quest Activated》
◆Quest
Lost Technology
(Difficulty ★★★☆)
▷Objective: Enter Self-Destruct Code
