Dark Fantasy Genius Demon Hunter - Chapter 3

Disorganized Worries

The battle is over.

“Ugh!”

Gaon loosened the tense posture he had held and vomited.

Now that the life-threatening danger had passed, only then did the surrounding scenery come into focus.

A body with its limbs torn off.

A body with its head completely crushed.

A body that had been chewed alive, with bite marks still visible.

It was a scene of unimaginable horror.

If one were to see such a sight in modern times, they would immediately be diagnosed with PTSD, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they were haunted by trauma for the rest of their lives.

“Ugh.”

Tears flowed, and his hands and feet started trembling.

At the moment when he had been struggling to survive, these things didn’t seem so significant, but now that everything was over, they had the power to completely white out his mind.

Clear images flashed before his eyes.

The beggar’s face, tears streaming down as he was swallowed by that large mouth, knowing his death was imminent.

The beggar’s desperate cry, “Why me?” as he became the target, tragically dying.

The knife that crushed its way through his own skull without him realizing it while his left shoulder was torn apart in excruciating pain.

Each of these memories became vivid, pushing him to the edge of losing his mind.

But,

“Ugh.”

Gaon clenched his teeth and endured.

He had just barely survived the threat of death; he couldn’t succumb to mental struggles now.

Survival.

Gaon had made a vow to survive, and overcoming these mental difficulties was also part of that vow.

“Why… I fought so desperately even in the company.”

Gaon was well aware of the way others called him a workaholic, a person obsessed with his job.

Why wouldn’t he know?

He had been acting that way on purpose.

While competition was a chance to make himself stand out, it also brought about immense mental strain.

Gaon understood all of this, yet he had endured.

There was a reason for that.

“Mom…”

Gaon could never collapse, especially for his mother, who had spent her entire life supporting him and was now suffering in the hospital with an illness.

Though he was earning a lot of money, he was reluctant to spend excessively on games.

That’s because he needed a lot of money to cure his sick mother.

His mother, who had sacrificed everything for her child, and Gaon lived with the same resolve.

So…,

He had to survive.

He had to survive and return to his original world.

He firmed his resolve.

Once he steadied himself, the shaking of his heart calmed down, as if an earthquake had struck.

This was possible because of Gaon’s firm will, but without the “mental strength” stat he had set to the maximum when he first shaped his character, this would have been impossible.

Of course, his current stats were still weak. Potential, after all, was just a feature that maximized the possibility of growth.

For now, it could only prevent him from endlessly shaking on the edge.

But for Gaon, that was enough.

The very reason he had survived and been recognized in the fiercely competitive world of the Yuseong Group, a giant corporation, was because of his unshakable mental fortitude.

With the “mental strength” stat laying the foundation and his own strong mind backing it up,

“Haah.”

He was able to steady his breath and calm his mind.

“…….”

In reality, Gaon had been trying not to waver, but the situation was so hopeless that he felt completely at a loss as to what to do first.

“…Ah!”

Suddenly, Gaon let out an exclamation.

Something had come to him in an instant.

[Please, save my world.]

The faint voice of a woman, likely the owner of the voice, had passed through his mind, and although it was fleeting, it was also clear.

“Her… world? Is she talking about her own world?”

A goddess?

A goddess!

A strange, but strong conviction settled within him.

He was certain that the owner of the voice was the deity of this world.

He had to meet the goddess.

Gaon felt his heart, which had been trying to calm down, now racing with urgency.

He needed to talk.

He needed to ask why he had been brought here.

What the purpose of bringing him here was.

…No, perhaps he didn’t even need to ask that.

She had already asked him to save her world.

But that was too one-sided, with no communication.

How could a regular office worker be expected to save the world? Gaon wanted to express that frustration.

He just wanted to be sent back to his original world.

But…

He was stuck on the “how.”

He had no idea where to go to meet the goddess.

Should he look for a temple?

Normally, to communicate with gods, one needed to receive a prophecy, right? Could he ask for a prophecy?

…It sounded absurd.

A beggar’s words couldn’t possibly be taken seriously.

The status of a manager in a large corporation meant nothing in this world.

Moreover, it wasn’t like he could just call or reach out to a priest and expect the god to answer.

“Ugh.”

The more he thought, the deeper his confusion became, and nothing seemed to resolve.

Gaon furrowed his brow, feeling a throbbing headache.

So, he decided to put off the decision and check on something else first.

He opened the hand that had been gripping the dagger.

The thoughts of the goddess had momentarily delayed his attention, but when he had tried to stab the enemy, he had felt the blade slip slightly in his hand, and the edge pressed against his fingers.

“Mm?”

But when he looked at his hand, there was no wound that should have been there.

Only dried blood, which had already clotted, remained due to the heat radiating from his hand.

“Ah…!”

An explanation soon came to him.

He hadn’t escaped injury.

He had definitely been hurt.

However, there was no sign of the wound because it had already healed and disappeared.

[Regeneration → Infinite Recovery]

He clearly remembered.

There had been one stat that shone brightly and was named differently from the others with “(max)” attached when he was creating his character.

“Infinite… Recovery.”

It was definitely the effect at play here.

It was a nearly certain deduction.

He checked the area where the wound should have been again.

Now, under the dried blood, he could clearly see a faint red line where the injury had been.

“Just as I thought! Yeah, this is it!”

Gaon exclaimed in amazement, then picked up the dagger again and lightly scratched his opposite forearm.

He wanted to see for himself how the wound healed.

With a stinging sensation, blood started to pool along the line where the dagger had passed, forming a thin, red line.

He quickly wiped the blood from the wound.

The bleeding stopped almost immediately.

Then, the color of the scratch gradually faded and soon disappeared completely.

It had fully healed.

With a suppressed groan, Gaon decisively drew the dagger again.

The skin split open.

If this had been in his original world, he would have had to rush to the emergency room to get stitches for the deep wound.

However, there was no need to worry at all.

Although the healing was very slow, it was as though the injury was being reversed in real-time, like rewinding a video.

The blood, which had been gushing out, slowly ceased.

Then, as he held the torn skin together, the tissues naturally adhered, and the wound began to close up.

The deep redness of the scar slowly subsided, and although it took quite a bit of time, it eventually vanished completely.

Only the bright red droplets of blood remained, indicating that there had been a wound.

Although the whole process took quite a while to finish, it was so miraculous that its value couldn’t be diminished.

Indeed, it truly deserved the modifier “infinite.”

“Just as I thought.”

Gaon nodded in satisfaction.

Of course, the term “infinite” probably wouldn’t apply if it could only heal minor scratches.

Perhaps even if his arms and legs were severed, they might eventually be restored.

However, he wasn’t planning to test that just yet.

Making a small cut on his forearm was one thing, but severing limbs was an entirely different matter.

He believed it would heal, but it wasn’t something to test here.

“The only flaw is that the healing speed isn’t very fast… but it’s probably fine.”

Gaon wasn’t overly concerned about this.

Just like how his character grew over time, his recovery speed would likely increase as well.

With that, he had put his concerns about regeneration to rest.

Even without that, there were still many issues he needed to think about.

He turned his gaze back to the beggars’ corpses.

He reflexively furrowed his brow, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as difficult to face them as it had been at first.

He sifted through the corpses, following the memories of the bones.

He couldn’t find anything useful.

Everything of value had already been handed over before the beast attacked, and it seemed that the beggars in the middle tier, those who stored offerings, had managed to survive and escape.

His gaze shifted to the knife.

Fortunately, he found a small amount of coin, though it was only a few copper pieces.

“Heh.”

A wry laugh escaped him.

It was absurd to see how the coins had been wrapped in cloth, trying to make them quieter.

According to the memories of the bones, the beggar had been someone who would bow down to those stronger than him, but would pull a knife on his own kind at any time, then laugh with superiority while watching them flinch in fear.

He was the type to have two faces.

Gaon quickly moved forward before the descending darkness made the road even more treacherous.

He had no intention of returning to the beggar’s den.

Going back would only lead to endless questioning, and he had no good answers.

He couldn’t exactly tell the truth about killing the beast.

There had been several beggars who had witnessed the leader, the Knife, being killed by the beast without a fight.

Even if he told the truth, they wouldn’t believe him.

How could he possibly say, “I am someone completely different from the skeleton-like beggar who was once called ‘Bone’—today’s me is a game character,” and expect them to believe that?

Besides, proving the changes in his physical abilities would only make him seem crazy.

There was no reason to ask for that kind of trouble.

What he needed was a peaceful space to gather his scattered thoughts.

In that sense, the beggar’s den was not suitable.

***

Gaon stood in front of an inn that looked so worn-down, with cracked trees and faded white walls, it seemed unlikely that any guests would come through the door.

Thud thud.

He knocked on the door.

With the money Knife had been keeping, there weren’t really many other options available.

Creek.

The rusty hinges screamed as the door opened.

“Do you have a room?”

“Do you have the money for it?”

The owner, eyeing Gaon’s appearance, asked with a suspicious gaze.

Gaon pulled out some money and showed it.

“It’s not enough.”

He put his hand back in his pocket and pulled out more money.

The owner’s eyes widened in surprise.

“…Alright. But with this amount, I can’t offer you a nice room.”

“That’s fine. It’s enough.”

“Follow me.”

The owner took the money from his palm and led Gaon to a room.

“This is it.”

It was a room with a small nightstand at the end, a bed made of straw covered with a cloth.

As soon as the door opened, a pungent smell, as if it had been trapped inside for a long time, rushed in.

The room didn’t have windows, and the sunken straw bed didn’t seem to have been changed for some time.

A mixture of horror and satisfaction.

It was the confusion born from the coexistence of his memories as a regular office worker and his memories as a beggar.

Hoo.

Gaon collapsed onto the bed.

A flood of thoughts rushed through his mind.

The disordered worries from the place where the battle had taken place, which had been briefly dealt with, surfaced once again.

It felt as though a travel suitcase that had been hastily stuffed and zipped up had suddenly burst open.

Gaon lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Although, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily.

How much time had passed?

He didn’t know the exact time, but one thing was clear: it wasn’t a time when people would be active.

In fact, it might not be particularly unusual.

Someone else might be awake like Gaon, or it could be a new guest who arrived at dawn.

Though the chances were slim.

However, even setting that aside, there was something strange.

The presence he felt wasn’t just from one person, but from two.

The footsteps weren’t quick or careless; they were overly cautious and slow.

And most importantly, the most unusual thing was that the two presences were heading directly toward the room where Gaon was.

The two people stopped in front of the room.

You’ll know when you go in, right?

What, you don’t get it? It’s not like we’ve been working together for days or anything.

Why does it feel like my worst predictions are always spot on?

Gaon couldn’t help but bitterly smile.

A dark fantasy’s genius monster hunter.