* * *
To me, Seoul had always just been Seoul.
I’d never felt anything like this before.
Maybe it was the unusually large full moon, but something about today made it impossible to look away.
Clink.
A coin slipped from my hand, and I blinked.
How long had I been sitting there?
The moon had climbed quite a bit higher in the sky.
With no phone, I couldn’t check the time.
Maybe about three hours had passed.
I looked down at my palm.
A few crumpled bills and some coins.
“3,600 won…”
My entire fortune.
But I felt no regrets.
It’s not like I ever had any real attachment to life.
From the moment I was left alone in the world, I had none of that.
Maybe all my relentless work and saving was just to buy myself more time.
Like some primal survival instinct, struggling to hold on.
That’s probably why I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money even when I had it.
Why I kept putting off my goals, living in a goshiwon.
Making excuses that sounded reasonable.
Because deep down, I feared that if I ever did achieve something—bought a house, met a goal—I’d lose even that desperate struggle.
But some bastard didn’t just grab my leg—he dragged me underwater and shoved me straight into a shark’s mouth.
And that was the end of buying time.
“I’m outta here, fuckers!”
I shouted at the cityscape with the loudest voice I could muster, then placed my last 3,600 won on the railing.
If anyone wanted it, they could take it.
And without a moment’s hesitation, I threw myself toward the moon.
“Huhk–!”
I gasped, my body jolting violently.
The sensation of my skull smashing into asphalt was so vivid that I instinctively clutched my hair.
Wait, but… can someone move around if their skull’s been shattered?
Puzzled, I panted heavily and then slowly opened my eyes.
The first thing that came into view was an extravagant chandelier, dazzling above me.
‘…A chandelier?’
The pain of my cracked skull momentarily forgotten, I awkwardly propped myself up.
With a chandelier like that, I thought maybe I’d made it to heaven.
But the surroundings looked way too modern.
More like a modern-day palace, if anything.
Judging by the atmosphere, it felt like someone actually lived here—though not even a president would dare live in a place this luxurious.
Yet here I was, sprawled out on a couch so grand it made me uncomfortable just to sit on it.
“What the….”
Wait a minute, what was up with my voice?
As I tried to slowly sit up, I instinctively clutched at my neck in surprise.
But the strangest thing of all was that… the more I looked around, the more familiar this place felt.
Which made no sense—I’d been living in a tiny 3-pyeong goshiwon for the past 8 years. A tiny single room for rent.
Was this really heaven?
Had the heavens finally taken pity on me and gifted me the home I’d always dreamed of?
Honestly, this kind of royal treatment was more than I’d ever imagined.
Still clinging to a faint sense of hope, I rose from the couch and began to wander the living room.
That’s when I stopped dead in front of a full-length mirror.
Staring back at me was a ridiculously good-looking young man—fair skin, pale eyes, and a build that was sturdy enough to make me flinch for a second.
And yet… something about his face felt eerily familiar.
“Seo Inho?”
Yes, that Seo Inho—the villain I’d seen just hours ago in the sci-fi movie I’m an S-Rank, shown at the theater.
He wasn’t even a major character—more of a glorified cameo. He died within 30 minutes of a 3-hour film.
It was only because I’d watched the movie so intently that I’d even remembered his name.
No wonder the house layout felt familiar, too.
But none of that mattered now.
What did matter was the fact that I had somehow ended up inside this trash character’s body.
I had cursed him endlessly while watching the movie—he was sleazy, conniving, and shamelessly vile.
“Why him, of all people….”
Let me break it down: Seo Inho was technically an S-Rank hunter, barely scraping by the threshold, and a womanizing scumbag.
He tried to kill Do Soohyuk—one of the film’s main leads—and got his head chopped off for it.
In short: the worst possible character.
Was this hell, not heaven?
Or maybe… a dream?
Please, let this just be a dream.
SMACK!
“ARGH!”
Almost on instinct, I slapped my own cheek—and let out a cry.
I hadn’t even hit that hard, but the pain was real enough to make my eyes tear up.
Okay… definitely not a dream.
So now what?
I glanced worriedly at the man in the mirror—whose melanin-deficient appearance made him look like he belonged on a movie poster—then turned my gaze toward the luxurious furniture and art scattered around the room.
“Hold on a second….”
Think. Even if he barely made the cut, Seo Inho was still an S-Rank hunter.
And not just any S-Rank—one of only four in the country who had an SS-Rank support skill.
They even mentioned in the movie how people would throw insane amounts of bribes at him just to get him into a dungeon.
He had so much bribery income, he needed a separate vault in his house just to store it all.
Which meant—Seo Inho was loaded.
So if I just stayed put and lived quietly, I could coast off that wealth for the rest of my life.
Unlike other S-Rankes, he didn’t run a guild or have anyone depending on him.
“If I’m still in one piece, that must mean this is before he enters the S-Rank dungeon….”
Like I said, Seo Inho got himself killed when he tried to mess with Do Soohyuk during what was called the ‘First S-Rank Dungeon’.
Seo Inho had a massive inferiority complex and always felt threatened by Do Soohyuk.
So when the chance arose, he teamed up with the Hunter Association to pull off an assassination plot: ‘Kill Do Soohyuk.’
To keep my head attached, my to-do list was clear:
- Stay the hell away from any S-Rank dungeons.
- Cut ties with the Hunter Association immediately.
Before doing that, I needed to figure out where things currently stood.
I picked up the remote on the couch and turned on the TV.
“…Hunter Cha Rui reappeared after completing the dungeon strategy. As expected of an S-Rank, she emerged from the second S-Rank dungeon without a scratch…”
“Cha Rui.”
The Guild Master of the Cha Sung Guild.
He was the film’s second main protagonist.
A towering man over 190 cm with a broad frame and blood-red hair—an S-Rank tank.
He was such a famous actor that even I, someone who barely paid attention to celebrities, recognized her face.
There he was, casually standing in front of the gate like it was nothing.
“Let’s hope we never cross paths….”
Anyway, if the second S-Rank dungeon had just been cleared, then by my memory, Seo Inho’s death was in 3 days.
The big SS-Rank Gate, which three S-Rank hunters would enter, would happen roughly 4 months from now.
That was in the latter half of the movie, so timeline-wise, this was still very early.
SEXY~♬
As I stared at the news screen, lost in thought, a sticky-sounding ringtone suddenly broke the silence.
It was Seo Inho’s phone.
Ugh. Of course that’s his ringtone.
I checked the screen and saw the caller ID: Hunter Association President Jang Sucheol.
I had figured I’d have to talk to him eventually, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon.
Chewing nervously on my lower lip, I finally hit the answer button.
“…….”
I kept my mouth shut.
After a moment, the man on the other end spoke first.
“…It’s me.”
It was the first conversation I’d had in this world, and for some reason, I felt weirdly tense.
I cleared my throat and murmured a quiet, “Yes…”
I heard what sounded like a sigh on the other end—maybe even a gust of wind.
“As expected, Do Soohyuk will be entering the ‘First S-Rank Dungeon’. That’s in three days. You’ve agreed to support him, so there shouldn’t be any issues with the plan.”
He sounded tired, like he’d been through a lot getting this set up.
But there was no way I was stepping foot in that death trap.
No way I was letting my head roll.
“Uh… sorry, but I’m not doing that.”
I phrased it vaguely as that, but he probably got the idea.
Did I say it too casually? Like I was canceling a restaurant reservation?
He didn’t respond right away.
Worried the call had dropped, I checked the screen.
Nope, still connected.
Did he hear me or not?
Should I say it again?
Just as I was debating, his voice came through again.
“What… did you just say?”
He must’ve been trying to figure out if there was a hidden meaning in my words.
There wasn’t, though.
“I meant what I said. I just want to live a quiet life from now on.”
“Ah…”
“…….”
“Did you… take something again?”
What the hell?
Did this guy seriously think I was on drugs?
I pressed my throbbing forehead with a fist.
“No… I’m fine. Anyway, I said what I needed to say.”
He could still hear the urgent voice over the phone, but he’d already hit the end call button.
And right after that—blocked.
It did weigh on him a little, being the only S-rank hunter affiliated with the Hunter Association, but as far as he remembered, there was nothing in the contract that forced him to comply with anything.
Stuff like being summoned by the Association and having to drop everything to show up immediately, or being required to clear a certain number of dungeons per month—there was nothing like that.
“A gift set during the holidays should be enough, right?”
Maybe a set of dried persimmons would do.
In any case, now that he’d wrapped up all the Hunter Association work, he was planning to finally take a break—when his eyes happened to fall on the bank app icon on his phone’s home screen.
Maybe it was the trauma from everything he’d been through, but the moment he saw it, his heart began to race.
Should I just take a quick peek?
He tried to calm his pounding heart and tapped the bank app.
₩437,065,964,530
One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…
“…Holy sh*t. Four hundred billion Won (307 million USD)?”
* * *
