Bloodlust's Burden

Lee Seung browsed about available houses and he was able to rent one immediately.

'I will move in next tomorrow,' he mumbled as he went to bed. Mr. Choi's car stopped infront of his apartment the next day, and Seung and the clone were waiting already.

Lee Seung greeted, "Good morning, Mr. Choi."

"Good morning," the man replied, rolling down the window. He then said, "I feel sorry that I won't be able to drop you at the next dungeon myself. But I have sent the location to your phone already."

"Oh, it's okay. I will call you when the hunting is done," Seung said. When the car drove away from the house, he checked the location the man sent. He was curious of the kind of dungeon mentioned. He thought, 'What's a multi-hunting dungeon? I will have to figure that out later?'

At the moment, his phone vibrated for a call; upon answering it, it was the voice of his teacher he heard. It was then he remembered it had been long since he went to school.

"I am sorry, Miss Kim. I promise to show up today. Yes..."he ended the call. Seung screamed, "Argh! It's so annoying to realise that I have skipped school for a week."

"Don't you think the same, clone?"he asked.

"No, master."

"Oh, I forgot," Seung mumbled. He thought, 'I have a feeling that the strength I gained yesterday is unstable, so I must test it out today. If I can't go to school, then....my clone will! This is one of the reasons why I wanted a duplicate!'

Consequently, he took his clone back inside and gave him his uniform to wear. Then, he instructed him to attend the class without talking to anyone unless spoken to.

"I will do just that, master," the clone replied instantly.

"Wear your mask and follow me. I am rich enough to buy you a smartphone now," Seung said as he swagged out of the apartment with a wide grin drawn on his face.

Inside an accessory store...

"Here, that's my number saved. I will call you through this everyday," he said.

His contact was saved as 'Summoner'.

Later on, he got a taxi for his clone and took a bus to the dungeon. This time, it was a storey building with a large compound.

'So monsters take over real buildings too? What a hack.'

Upon getting to the front of the dungeon, two military officers demanded authorization; he showed them his bracelet and was allowed inside.

Each step Seung took inside the building echoed loudly. The path was made clear by headlamps placed by the walkway. He felt the same temptation as the other day, but he didn't allow that to press hard on him since the dungeon was still F-rank.

At the moment, he stepped on a monster corpse.

"Oh...."he whispered to himself, stepping backwards. Looking at the front, he saw more corpses lying around. Seung said to himself, rubbing his chin, "My observation tells me these monsters have been dead for more than ten minutes. If it's that a team has already killed all the monsters here, the maintenance team would have cleared the traces immediately. In a nutshell, there are still Hunters in this dungeon. I am hunting together with others."

"That must be why Mr. Choi called this a multi-hunting dungeon."

Anyways, he was here to test his strength in order to know its source. He crossed over the corpses till he got to the front of a gold-coated gate.

The gate was about nine feet tall. Without hesitation, Seung pushed it opened, walking inside.

The air grew thicker inside. And the smell of decayed materials became more concentrated in the entire area.

Lee Seung gripped his weapon, and glanced at his surroundings. He thought, 'I can tell from the air that monsters are near.'

The place was a large hall. From the look of things, Lee Seung knew the dungeon was a company before being invaded by monsters; there was still a large table in the hall.

Monsters snarled!

'Here they come!'

Two berserkers charged at him; taking two fast steps forward, he thrust the dagger in their abdomens one after the other.

Lee Seung glanced at the weapon as the monsters collapsed, "Just now, the dagger was lighter in my hand unlike when I first entered this hall. What-"

He dodged an attack made by another berserker. Instantly, he flew over the monster, landed at its back and stabbed it hardly.

Stab!

"Finally, I can fly!"

* * *

In the W.H.A headquarters, a man entered an office which contained trophies and medals on one side, and swords on the other side.

"Good morning, Hunter Kim Seijin," the man bowed on reaching the Hunter's table.

"Yes," Kim Seijin replied, smiling slightly. "Have you looked into what I asked you?"

"Of course, sir," the man said. "I found out that the aliens were on their way to deliver a tech to W.H.A before their spaceship crashed."

Kim Seijin's brows furrowed. He asked frankly, "What kind of a tech?"

A few moments later, someone knocked on the President's door.

"Come in," said the thick masculine voice. Kim Seijin then entered, an aura of emergency apparent on him. The President asked, "You won't ever had entered immediately I told you to, unless there's an emergency."

"Yes, President," Kim Seijin responded, lowering his head a little. He said, "Sir, the aliens were in no way trying to betray us. Their aim was to deliver a tech to our headquarters."

"What's that tech?"

"It's called Power System. As a matter of fact, it surpasses the one used to create metahumans," said Kim Seijin, a little bit fastly.

At the dungeon, Lee Seung's pants echoed loudly. He sat before the monsters he eliminated. Seeing what he had done, he realised that he lacked many things because he didn't believe in himself.

He pant hardly. "Nice work today. I killed all...of them."

Seung then called Mr. Choi, asking him to tell the maintenance team to meet him at the front of the gate.

The screen shimmered to life.

[Subject's stats have increased by 0.6]

"Connecting the dots, I know I am very close to levelling up by now," Seung said as he rose from the ground. He picked up his dagger and headed towards the door.

He was convinced then that his strength had become stable, so he could use it anytime.

'Please don't kill us!' a masculine voice cried from a distant direction, making Lee Seung halt. His brows furrowed.

'Screw that, just give me the cores you harvested. I and my team will give you guys allow you to die a gentle death that way,' said the other, which belonged to a feminine.

"What...the hell is that all about?" Seung mumbled. He then saw an entrance at a corner of the hall; quickly, he walked there.

Upon seeing the Hunters, his eyes widened in shock, and his mouth gaped as well.

'Kang Jinhu is a Hunter?!'he imagined, seeing the bully always on his neck at school. How come he was a Hunter too?

Kang Jinhu was kneeling down infront of six set of Hunters, beside another guy, who appeared to be Seung's classmate as well.

"Who's this crybaby we have got now?" One of the Hunters scoffed, later smirking.

Seung's brows furrowed in anger. He yelled, "Why are these two the ones you are attacking instead of monsters?"

Another one, who's the only female in the team, responded, "If they give the monster cores they harvested to us, we'll let them die painlessly. Otherwise..."

Seung swallowed hard. His heart raced and sweat cobwebbed his hands immediately. He couldn't believe a human could be that despicable.

'Damn, what's with this sensation? I can't even move my legs.'

The female Hunter laughed, drawing out a dagger, "Haha, looks like these guys have got a company. The crybaby is a F-rank Hunter."

The others laughed mockingly.

Kang Jinhu's eyes widened on seeing Seung walk closer to the Hunters. He had prayed for a strong person to save his life, but he had gotten one even weaker than him.

Lee Seung stopped few metres away from the lady and said, "You want to kill them? Then, you will have to kill me first!"

Just then, he glimpsed at the lady's bracelet and it appeared she was a E-rank Hunter. Although he had little experience in this field, he knew that kind of a person shouldn't be allowed into a F-rank dungeon.

"And why's that?"the lady asked, sarcastically.

"They are my friends," Seung replied boldly.

"Screw this, punk! This is nothing like what we do at school! You can't even beat me!" Kang Jinhu shouted.

Lee Seung ignored him. Nevertheless, he knew what the guy said was true. But he had a slight belief that he would become stronger in the blink of an eye just like the other day. That's when he's in danger.

'Clone, come save me!' he thought, trying to summon his clone. He also planned to waste time for Mr. Choi and his clone to get to the hall.

At the moment, a male Hunter, wearing blue gears like the others, walked closer to Seung. He said, "Rascal, let me tell you this. Our team goes from one dungeon to another and take other's harvested treasures to get money. Since the past five years we have been into it, not even a D-rank Hunter has defeated us...."

"That's enough, Jaeho! You have told him too much information!"roared another man, who appeared to be in his 30's and also the team leader.

The Hunter, Jaeho, smiled at the man, "Sorry, boss. Allow me to kill him then." He drew out his dagger.

'Kill who?! Are you insa-?!'

Stab!

The Hunter held the dagger tightly, squeezing it. Blood sprouted on his face; strangely, his lips curled into a pleased smile.

"You...uhh..."a faint voice swore.

"Lee Seung! You should have listened to me, foolish jerk!" Kang Jinhu screamed, gritting his teeth.

Consequently, the Hunter forced the dagger out of Seung's abdomen. Seung, having lost balance, crashed in the ground.

Blood oozed on the spot he crashed in, almost becoming a pool.

Lee Seung moaned loudly in pain, shaking profusely. His entire body ached, and it was as if he was thrown in fire.

"How fragile! Let's just take the other ones treasures and leave," the male Hunter said, walking towards the exit.

"And why are we leaving them alive?" the lady asked, not acting as if someone was suffering behind her.

The Hunter stopped and replied, "I get excited when I see blood. I may end up killing the military men we bribed, if my excitement gets to a higher degree."

The team took Jinhu team's treasures and began to walk towards the exit, which was about twenty metres away.

Seung was in despair and struggled for breath, but he was losing it. In the midst of his pain, he knew he was just a step close to passing away.

His vision became blurry. At that moment, his thoughts turned to his last wish. 'My... my last wish... is... for my sister to regain consciousness and live a happy life. That's what the other members of the family lacked. Father... mother... I am... dy-'

Suddenly, the screen opened widely before his eyes.

[Subject has reached the requirements to unlock the next quest.]

[Quest unlocked.]

[Bloodlust's Burden has been unlocked.]

...

[Status: Not completed.]

[Target is for Subject to kill the Hunters.]

Just at the moment, Seung's body illuminated with a yellow light. And then, his stabbed abdomen healed - the wound vanished.

'Ehh...Lee Seung is standing on his feet!' Kang Jinhu shouted in his mind.

"Jinhu, how can he stand when he's been stabbed?"the other student asked Jinhu, completely dumbfounded. His mouth was widely opened as he stared at the figure few metres away.

Unbelievably, Lee Seung found himself healed in an instant. He thought, 'What in the world is inside me? I mean, the artificial intelligence.'

[You have unlocked a skill: Light Speed.]

The screen then vanished.

"Is this how your peers stab?! Don't tell me this is the best way you can do it!" Lee Seung shouted, picking his dagger up.

The six Hunters stared backward, startled by how the guy was still alive.

Milky blue lights illuminated on Seung's body, not going off anymore. His eyes danced with an aura of determination.

Kang Jinhu imagined, "How....is it possible...for the Seung I know to be able to activate mana?!"