Chapter 45: Boredom

With her awakening, Yu Ga-eun’s life changed 180 degrees.

The awakening she had vaguely hoped for finally came to her.

<Engraving Name: Fragment of the Hollow Dragon>

<Rank: SS>

<Motif: ????>

Her body transforms to one similar to a dragon.

She adopts the mindset of a dragon.

Inherits the traits of the Hollow Dragon.

Physical abilities and mana sensitivity increase.

An SS-rank engraving that was classified as out of standard.

Though the exact motif was unclear, she had awakened an engraving made from the fragment of a dragon.

Unlike Baek Eun-seol, she didn’t suffer from any side effects.

Instead, each day, she felt herself growing stronger, as though her body was proving that she was becoming more and more like the dragon her engraving symbolized.

After entering the Academy as the top-ranked student, Yu Ga-eun was set to establish herself as a renowned Hunter.

Together with Baek Eun-seol, who had also awakened an SS-rank engraving, she skipped two grades and graduated from the Academy in just two years.

Upon acquiring her C-rank Hunter license, Yu Ga-eun didn’t focus solely on gate raids like Baek Eun-seol.

Instead, just like many other Hunters, she actively leveraged her fame built as a Hunter.

She ventured into modeling, appeared on numerous television shows, and received advertisements and sponsorships, accumulating immense wealth.

As a result, she drifted apart a little from Baek Eun-seol. But she didn’t mind that much.

She understood that for Baek Eun-seol, what mattered wasn’t money, but fame—after all, she had heard about the side effects of Snow White’s Blossom.

Just like her, Baek Eun-seol was focused on enjoying life, so she supported her partner quietly from behind.

By the time she was 24, Yu Ga-eun had grown into an A-rank Hunter, but at this point, she had fallen into a rut.

“Life is so boring.”

She had walked the easy path since she was 20, and now, it felt like she was stuck in the same routine.

At first, the Academy’s classes were enjoyable, but as time passed, they became boring.

Still, Yu Ga-eun hoped that things might change after she graduated, and after two years, she finally did.

However, her life didn’t change much.

The effect of the Hollow Dragon’s Fragment, her engraving, was that her body transformed to one similar to a dragon’s.

This meant she could naturally emit the dragon’s aura that dragons were known to exude.

‘Kreeek! Kwehheeek!!!’

‘S-Save me…!!!’

Monsters who experienced the dragon’s aura firsthand would either flee in madness, suppressing their fear, or choose to commit suicide to avoid a painful death.

Others would call it noble sacrifice, but Yu Ga-eun never thought of it as effort.

Simply moving around would make regular monsters either flee or choose death.

Among the boss monsters, there were some who would desperately charge at her, but their movements became slow, and their actions predictable.

To be honest, the boss monsters weakened to the point that they could serve as a textbook for second- and third-year Academy students.

She had grown stronger to escape from her rut, but it had only led her into another one.

There was a lack of stimulation.

Life has its difficulties, and because of that, it has its joys.

But Yu Ga-eun hadn’t faced any hardships since she turned 20.

The last challenge she had faced was the college entrance exam, and she couldn’t say much beyond that.

Staying cooped up at home and lost in the one-dimensional dopamine rush, Yu Ga-eun received some news.

Her partner and Academy classmate, Baek Eun-seol, had successfully cleared an S-rank gate.

In just three years, despite the immense gap between them, Yu Ga-eun didn’t feel any inferiority.

It was only natural that Baek Eun-seol, who had desperately worked hard, had advanced while Yu Ga-eun, who had done nothing, had fallen behind. No matter how much better her engraving was, she hadn’t put in the effort.

“S-rank gate… huh.”

Hearing the news about her partner made her feel a bit of interest.

If it had been an unknown Hunter who cleared the S-rank gate, she might have just congratulated them without much thought. B

ut the news about her partner, a friend she had worked with for years, sparked a new flame within her.

“Maybe I should try it too?”

Even though she hadn’t moved much lately, with her title as the youngest A-rank Hunter, she still wasn’t lacking when compared to other A-rank Hunters.

Even though it was a subjective judgment, the difference probably wouldn’t be too great.

With that thought, Yu Ga-eun, after a brief recovery, decided to join the newly opened S-rank gate raid.

<Appearing Monsters: Red Wyvern, Apocalypse’s Red Dragon>

<Combat Method: The strategy involves navigating through a canyon filled with wyverns and reaching the boss room where the Apocalypse’s Red Dragon resides. The wyverns charge using gliding and flapping their wings to create gusts of wind. >

<The physical danger level is B-rank. The magic level is also not low, around B-rank, but due to the boss monster’s influence, some exceptional creatures have A-rank danger levels. Currently, there is no information on the Apocalypse’s Red Dragon.>

S-rank gates are different from others, and even among S-rank gates, there can be a large variance in difficulty.

Yu Ga-eun had learned this back in the Academy, and she suspected that this particular S-rank gate would have a high difficulty level compared to other S-rank gates.

However, she wasn’t worried.

Since she had inherited a dragon’s constitution, she was confident that she could survive.

‘I probably won’t be the main player in the raid.’

She thought the chances of success for the raid were high. After all, two S-rank Hunters from the U.S. and four S-rank Hunters from Korea were involved in this large-scale raid.

Even though she wouldn’t be the main contributor like Baek Eun-seol, she was satisfied with the opportunity for a new challenge.

‘Oh, right. I heard that to truly perform well in an S-rank gate raid, I should undergo a reawakening.’

She didn’t think it would matter that much.

She had no intention of becoming the star of the raid, after all.

Yu Ga-eun walked forward with the same mindset she always had, stepping into the red-lit world beyond the gate.

The Nest of the Red Dragon was a hard-fought battle from the start.

With wyverns raining down magic and roars from the sky, combined with the narrow terrain of the canyon, the raid progressed slower than expected.

It was much more sluggish than she had anticipated.

“Still, it’s better than nothing. The pace may be slow, but at least there have been no casualties.”

“With six S-rank Hunters, if we already had casualties, that’d be a serious problem.”

“Especially since we’re in the rear unit—even if there are casualties, we should be the last ones.”

Yu Ga-eun secretly nodded at the words of the A-rank Hunters beside her as they moved.

The raid was difficult, but she was certain they’d eventually succeed.

As someone with almost no experience as an A-rank Hunter, Yu Ga-eun was naturally pushed to the rear unit.

In the frontline unit, what was needed wasn’t a genius but rather experienced Hunters with sharp judgment and situational awareness.

Even though she was in the rear unit, Yu Ga-eun still wielded a sword.

“The only thing left is confirming kills and finishing off the dying wyverns…”

But that was no different from what she had been doing in other gates.

The dying wyverns could not even resist her aura.

The act of confirming kills and finishing off monsters that had already died, or those pretending to be dead, had become so routine for her that it had lost all meaning.

‘Boring…’

It was boring.

She needed new stimulation. Selfish thoughts flooded her mind.

And so, Yu Ga-eun, who had been doing nothing but finishing off dying wyverns, gradually moved forward.

There were no major issues.

Even though they were in formation, as soon as combat started, the lines would inevitably get mixed.

Starting from the rear, Yu Ga-eun slowly advanced.

From a safe place to a dangerous place.

Carrying risks that an ordinary human would never choose, just to escape her boredom.

For the first time, she faced a wyvern in battle.

The fight was more enjoyable than she had expected.

While it wasn’t life-or-death, the wyvern didn’t run in fear like other monsters.

It didn’t fall into predictable attack patterns either.

This was a monster that burned its life to kill humans, just like the ones she had learned about in her textbooks.

Trying to hide the thrill she was feeling, Yu Ga-eun continued fighting.

She advanced little by little.

Her steps, which had started from the very rear, had now brought her right up to the front lines.

“If I can make it this far, I can fight the boss monster.”

Feeling the heat of battle for the first time, Yu Ga-eun became excited, unable to make rational judgments.

And that excitement led her to make an unforgivable mistake.

“Only those who have successfully undergone a second awakening may participate in the boss raid. If there are any A-rank Hunters who have undergone the second awakening, please raise your hand!”

Swish.

“Yes, Hunter Yu Ga-eun. I have undergone the second awakening.”

She lied, driven by selfishness.

In a situation where someone’s life was on the line.