“That’s right, Shin-nim.”

As if she had been waiting for my question, Loretta nodded.

“The Gates are certainly marked according to Earth’s standard for ability users. An ‘A’ marked dungeon would mean A-rank ability users could take care of it.”

I looked at her curiously. “So it really is as I thought. I’m curious how you know about it, but I won’t ask for now.”

“Even if you do, I’m unable to give you an answer. But I can tell you this, Shin-nim. That place is a dungeon, yet not a dungeon. If something goes wrong…”

When I saw Loretta’s worried expression, I nodded with a bitter smile.

“I know it’s dangerous, but I have confidence. I have strong reinforcements as well. Thanks for worrying about me.”

Loretta shook her head. “Haa, I still have misgivings… but it’s not like I can go with you, huu.”

“More importantly, there’s something I want to buy. Do you sell masks? Something that can completely hide my appearance” I asked to change the subject.

“I do. A mask that prevents others from reading your information and even slightly changes your height, build, and hair. It’s called ‘Otus’ Secret’. Today, this amazing magical item is only 50,000 gold!” Loretta announced with a big smile.

“50,000!” I exclaimed. 

That’s over 100 million won! Well… it’s probably going to come in handy from now on. There was a huge merit to being able to act as an ability user while hiding my face. Whenever an Event Raid occurred, it would let me participate without revealing my identity. That way, I could act without reserve.

I bought the mask with tearful eyes and messaged my father while I was at it. We had naturally added each other to our friend lists as soon as we could.

“Father, buy Otus’ Secret from the Floor Shop.”

[Hm? What’s that?] my father asked.

I explained, “It’s a mask. Are you going to reveal your face?”

[Mm, I was going to tell you later, but I registered as an ability user today.]

“You act too quickly!” I shouted.

I remembered the talk my father had with Walker not long ago. Although I thought he was rather calm about it, it looked like he had fallen for Walker’s provocation. He was my father, but he really was simple.

[My ability has grown quite a bit too now. I can’t stay hidden forever, so I registered as an ability user and ignored the requests from Guardian and Freedom Wing. Huhu, I’m an A-rank ability user now!]

I sighed. “Congratulations on getting A-rank, but you could have registered with your identity hidden, Father.”

It was true. Many rogues who did not want to join Guardian or Freedom Wing disguised themselves when they registered as ability users. What was important for ability users were their abilities, not their faces.

That being said, compared to Guardian, who were officially recognized by the government, or the worldwide organization Freedom Wing, who had their own independent system, rogues were a lot less trustworthy. They were also unable to enjoy the benefits other ability users had such as tax cuts, memberships to government facilities, or free entrance to certain public and private facilities.

Simply put, they were things I didn’t care about.

[Eh? Really? Well, it’s too late for that.]

“Sigh. Well, I’m only going to be fighting barehanded tomorrow. Also, don’t make it obvious that we are father and son,” I reminded him.

[Shouldn’t you take this opportunity to register as well?] my father asked.

“I will. With my mask on. I’m still not confident in my ability, so I don’t plan on revealing myself so openly.”

My father said pompously, [A man shouldn’t be so spineless.]

“It’s being cautious,” I retorted.

[My stupid son has grown so much…] mumbled my father. 

I purchased Otus’ Secret while idly thinking about the fact that my father’s intelligence stat likely wasn’t very high.  It was a black, metallic mask that covered my forehead, eyes, and even my nasal bridge completely. However, I felt like it was missing something.

I complained, “Won’t I get discovered? It doesn’t hide my mouth or jaw line.”

“Like I said, it changes your build. Try wearing it first, Shin-nim, ” Loretta suggested.

When I equipped the mask and imagined myself getting slimmer, my body really did get slimmer. In addition, I reduced my height. I was now around 6’2’’ after taking all of those bone compressing elixirs, but with the mask I made myself two inches shorter.  I made my hair a little longer and dyed it gray. Loretta was right, I really could change my appearance according to my imagination.

Loretta, who was watching from the side, suddenly laughed. I didn’t like the way her eyes curved up as I sensed a weird feeling come off her.

“Shin-nim, is that Shin-nim’s ideal form?” Loretta guffawed.

I sputtered, “Agh!? N-No! I only dyed my hair gray so my identity wouldn’t get revealed!”

She stated in a deliberate voice, “Yes, I believe you. Wow, how cool. I might fall in love with you.”

“You’re talking in monotone!” I cried out. 

I had to admit Loretta got me there. Just as I vowed to get my revenge one day and was about to take my mask off, someone shot me a question.

“Are we not doing any more raids today?”

It was Ren, who had been quietly watching Loretta make fun of me. After two weeks of fighting the Lizard Knight three times every day, Ren no longer charged as frequently at the Lizard Knight’s tail as he did in the beginning. I had also collected the entire Lizard Knight set, and only needed a few more Muscle Strengthening Elixirs.

Through this process I found out that the Lizard Knight Set was a plate armor set with much better stats than leather armor. It raised an explorer’s strength and constitution by 10 points, and allowed me to use ‘Dragon Skin’, which was the Lizard Knight’s ultimate defense skill that reduced incoming physical and magical damage by 90 percent.

Of course, it was not completely effective against attacks from enemies that exceeded a certain level. In addition, it reduced my movement speed by 50 percent. Despite those flaws, it was still an amazing skill. Becoming tougher meant that my attacks became stronger as well. I stored this skill on the 4 o’clock position of the pocket watch.

I muttered to myself, “Mm, I like that the gauntlet is metal. I didn’t really like the leather glove.”

“Hey, Crown Prince. I asked if we were done for the day?” Ren asked again. 

I grinned. “Of course not, Ren. We still have one more raid to do.”

“Ugh, my back hurts though,” he whined.

I snorted. “Please, we both know you’re going to go wild once the raid begins.”

After making Ren shut up, I checked myself out one last time. The metal armor and mask were both firmly on my body. Although the combination kind of clashed visually, it didn’t matter. I was exploring the dungeon, not going on a fashion show.

“Loretta, wish me luck so that I can come back safe.”

“…If it’s Shin-nim, I believe you can crawl up from even the deepest depths of hell.”

I shook my head. “Heyyyy, can’t you just say ‘come back safely’? You don’t have to exaggerate so much.”

“Oof! Come back safely. I won’t forgive you if you come back hurt! There, happy!?” Loretta snapped back. 

If you say that in an angry tone, it doesn’t sound sincere!

The next day, I decided to leave early in the morning. I equipped Otus’ Secret and wore the most formal attire I owned, the Wraith Queen Set. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I had to admit that I looked great. Although I was thankful that I had grown slimmer by consuming Compressing Elixirs, I still wished that I could have become just a tad bit slimmer, similar to how I looked right now. Before I turned sixteen and ate those elixirs, I had enough muscles for orcs to call me big brother. As such, I always yearned to become slimmer.

When I went out to the living room, Yua, who was drinking milk, saw me and tilted her head.

“Oppa, why are you wearing a mask?” she asked curiously.

I explained, “Mm, oppa is going to register as an ability user today.”

“Really!?”

Yua’s eyes sparkled at my words.

“Then can I brag about oppa to my friends?”

I was surprised by her reaction. “Eh? Mm…As you can see from the mask I’m wearing, I’m registering under a fake name. Sorry, but can you wait a bit longer?”

“Ah…Okay. I wanted to brag about oppa,” Yua murmured and then sighed.

I patted her head as I knew she was a bit disappointed. She quickly cheered up and saw me off. If she knew that I was going to clear a dungeon that appeared on Earth, she would be crying and trying her best to prevent me from going. For that reason, I didn’t tell her anything about it.

As I walked on the sidewalk, I could feel the looks of people passing by. With the rather fancy Wraith Queen Set, the metallic mask that covered my eyes and nose, and gray hair, I couldn’t blame them for looking at me like I was crazy. Ugh, it was painful. Why did I sign up for this!? I had to hurry to the New Moon Agency. It was where people registered as ability users and received ability user-related jobs.

“Yeon Hwawoo-nim, you’re here to register as an ability user? With the mask?” the agent asked with a trace of suspicion.

I nodded. “Yes, just like this.”

“Follow me. You’ll have to show us your ability.”

The employee led me to a room with all sorts of random things. I saw a large boulder, thousands of bean-like things scattered on the ground, and weapons like swords and spears.

The employee gestured at the room. “If you need a tool to use your ability, do tell us.”

“No, it’s fine.”

I asked Peika to infuse herself into my glove.

When lightning began to flicker from the hand wearing the scale glove, the employee became startled and jumped back.

“I-Is it lightning? Nature-type abilities are rare…”

“Huu…Hap!”

Since there was a good target in front of me, I shot my fist flickering with sparks toward the large boulder. Although I wasn’t using Heroic Strike, I had grown familiar with focusing my strength into one point. It was easy for me to maximize my fist’s destructive power. As expected, the boulder turned to dust and collapsed.

The employee was flabbergasted. “This…I’ll have to measure the value in detail, but it seems to be at least B+. To get such a high rating on your first assessment, amazing!”

I smiled. “Haha, thank you.”

No, not B+! Father will make fun of me. Please, give me an A! Damn, if I knew this would happen, I would have used a spear!

Even though I happily replied to the employee, I was feeling grim on the inside as I walked out of the assessment room. The employee left for a while and then came back with the data extrapolating my mana and strength.

“The results are out. Just looking at the mana, Yeon Hwawoo-nim would be at B+ rank. However, taking into account the ability’s uniqueness, suitability to the user’s body, and control, it comes out to A rank. A-rank ability users are only about 12 percent of ability users worldwide. Yeon Hwawoo-nim is beginning from that starting line. The New Moon Agency is happy to have come across someone with such a strong potential. If you’d like to join the Guardian, under the government’s direct supervision, then—”

I interrupted him, “No, that’s fine. I’d like to get my license now.”

“Yes, follow me. After taking a picture, you just need to pay for the license application fee.”

I left the New Moon Agency with my new license that had a picture of my masked face on it in hand. When I looked at the time, it was nearing 1 P.M. In about an hour, I would enter the Event Dungeon…I felt my body tensing up from nervousness, but I somewhat enjoyed it. The dungeon was nice, but martial artists really shone when they trained themselves in a pit of danger!

At around 1:50, I was sitting in a café near the shopping mall, sipping on an iced coffee. I had changed into the Lizard Knight set. With that paired with Otus’ Secret, people were looking at me left and right.

“Who is that?”

“An ability user, right?”

“Why is there a fully armed ability user sitting here drinking coffee?”

“Ah, it’s that thing. The Gate.”

The entrances to the Event Dungeons were officially called Gates. I silently drank my coffee as I felt goosebumps rise as I eavesdropped on other people’s conversations. They had impressive deductive abilities.

Sitting across from me was my father, who was happily sipping on a caramel macchiato. He was attired in thick leather armor and had a thick silver spear sitting by his side. Every time his Adam’s Apple moved, his muscles bulged in an unsightly manner.

He looked at me. “Mm? What’s wrong, Yeon Hwawoo!?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

Why were the two of us the first two to arrive? Since we couldn’t act like father and son, the current situation felt incredibly awkward. I just wanted to quickly go into the dungeon. Why was this happening? Let me enter the Event Dungeon! I’ll go in alone if I have to! I just want to fight!

“Hm, so…I mean, young man, why did you make such a dangerous decision?”

Father could have texted me at any time, but he must have wanted to ask me face-to-face.

I explained, “My master and father told me that martial artists grow by fighting with their lives on the line.”

“Ho, what a splendid father you have. I’d love to meet him.”

Father praised himself shamelessly, but then retorted, “But when a real life or death situation arrives, it isn’t easy to move words into action. I’m curious as to how you so easily made up your mind to go to the dungeon.”

I glanced at him. “You’re saying I accepted Mastiford’s request without thinking much about it.”

“Exactly.”

Father’s eyes suddenly looked bottomless. Ah, they were the same eyes he had when he began to lead my 10 year old self onto the path of a dungeon explorer. In other words, I couldn’t trust him right now.

“I know the Event Dungeon’s difficulty level and have trustworthy comrades to help me. Furthermore, Yeongdeungpo is close to where I live, so not only would it have been unwise to back out in this situation, but it also would have not been honorable as a martial artist.”

“Rather than nice sounding excuses, I want to hear the real reason.”

He found me out in an instant. With a shrug, I replied.

“Even now, all ability users are fighting against monsters with their lives at risk. Although their goals are likely money, they are undoubtedly getting stronger in blood battles. I’m different. I’m getting stronger leisurely in the dungeon where my limbs would grow back when they are cut, and where I would not die even if I were killed. If I kept advancing in the same way, I would become stronger, but I would lack the ferocity required of a warrior.”

“Hm…” my father’s eyes turned contemplative.

“The fact that others were advancing while leaving me behind was unbearable. I also need ferocity. Otherwise, when the time comes where I need to put my life on the line, I might become a coward who would try to run to safety. I don’t mean to throw my life away, but I don’t want to miss a chance to get stronger just because it’s dangerous.”

He stared at me intently. “…Is that it?”

“Yes, of course.”

That was the truth. The dungeon was certainly exciting and thrilling. It was full of danger, and it hurt incredibly when enemies stabbed me with a knife. The pleasure I felt from breathing in a living monster’s breath, exchanging blows with our lives on the line, and finally plunging my spear into its heart was real.

At the same time, it was fake. I knew I would not lose my life even if I died in the dungeon, so I acted knowing that I would always have another chance. Of course, if monsters did not start appearing on Earth, continuing like this would have been fine.

But that wasn’t the case now. The moon had become two, and the world became a place where it wouldn’t be weird for a monster to pop out at any time. Event Dungeons had appeared as well. What if a situation arrived where I had to face monsters on Earth? If I fought with the same mindset as the one I had in the dungeon, if I fought without knowing the ferocity of my life being at risk, a knife could pierce my heart in a moment of carelessness and that would be it.

Could there be anything more foolish? I did not want to become such a pathetic warrior. I did not want to become a warrior from a game where losing my life was an acceptable outcome. Although it could become a way of getting stronger, I could not let it become a mindset for battle.

Life was not in easy mode where I could try again and again. It was always in hell mode.

I looked at my father with determination in my eyes, “Only in this way do I think I can truly become strong. Become…the strongest. Fath…Kang Yungoong-nim.”

Kang Yungoong was my father’s name[1], which was rather embarrassing to say out loud.

My father laughed in delight. “Haha, I like your honesty! Too bad, I’ll be the one to hold the title of strongest!”

“Haha, you kid. That will be me,” I boasted

He narrowed his eyes. “Haha, I’m not kidding. It’ll be me!”

“MMM!”

“MMMM!”

We began to glare at each other. At the same time my father grabbed his spear, lightning began to flicker from my hand. When a fight was about to break out to determine who was superior, we were interrupted.

“Wow, you guys get along pretty well.”

1. Yungoong means ‘hero’ ☜