男人的网站

A man was looking down at the city from the top floor of a building that seemed to reach endlessly into the sky.

“Hmm…”

The only thing there was the man’s office. It was the epitome of inefficient space utilization, using an entire area that could easily be several hundred square meters. However, the man belonged to a world where he could afford such luxury without concern.

“An Yu-seong. That guy has joined the guild of a person named Kang Hyeon?”

“Yes.”

The smiling man sat down. A sofa worth tens of millions of won gently embraced him.

“So that good-for-nothing has finally found a use.”

“…”

“What about An Yu-seong?”

“He’s waiting downstairs now.”

“Bring him up.”

“Yes.”

The secretary bowed slightly and muttered quietly into the connected microphone.

Soon, the massive door opened, and a tall man entered.

“Sit down.”

“Yes, Father.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

In a childhood so distant he couldn’t even remember when, he was lying face down on the floor, looking up at his father and crying.

-Weak bastard.

That was An Yu-seong’s oldest memory.

As time slowly passed and An Yu-seong grew, the situation didn’t change.

His father always yelled at him.

It was always accompanied by verbal and physical violence.

It was around his early elementary school years when he found his only hobby and sanctuary.

It was the day he first saw his own blood after getting injured in an accident.

His injured arms and legs stung, but he felt a strange sense of relief.

At the same time, he felt alive.

-Kekek. Heheheheh…

The pleasure that came with the pain of seeing blood. That pleasure quickly spread elsewhere.

From himself to small insects.

From small insects to small animals.

After that, even to people.

The pleasure of destroying others and seeing their blood led him to his only solace.

Because of this, when the tutorial first started and monsters appeared,

While others trembled in fear, he felt an overwhelming rush of excitement.

-I can destroy and break as much as I want.

He went berserk.

He was always holed up in dungeons, using everything at his disposal to collect powerful items and skills.

It was possible because even though he was treated like an abandoned child, he was always given plenty of money.

-You crazy bastard!

What put the brakes on his unstoppable violence was meeting Kang Hyeon.

After meeting Kang Hyeon, An Yu-seong realized for the first time what a normal daily life was.

He felt like he understood a little bit about what happiness might be.

“I hear you’ve become quite capable these days. I heard you’ve been quite busy.”

Just as he had found some peace in his daily life, his father appeared again.

“It’s not that much…”

His father, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, was still the same. Even at over 60 years old, he maintained an upright posture, and his eyes gleamed with intensity.

An Yu-seong clenched his fists as his body trembled just from facing him.

“I hear you’ve been hanging around with this Kang Hyeon fellow?”

“Yes.”

“I’m curious about what kind of person he is to cause such a stir in the world.”

“That’s…”

“Bring him to me.”

At the command that fell as if it were only natural, An Yu-seong neither obeyed nor objected, but kept his mouth shut.

“Answer me.”

“…”

“After 20 years, you finally have some use, and this is how you act?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Right. It was my mistake to expect anything from the likes of you.”

“…”

“Get out.”

An Yu-seong left the enormous penthouse without a word, his head bowed.

The man who had been watching him slowly closed his eyes.

“Secretary Kang”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“This Kang Hyeon fellow. Bring him before me.”

“Understood.”

***

Ippotranslation

***

Kang Hyeon and Shin Seong-a. The two, now close friends, were on their way back after demolishing a C-rank dungeon.

“Don’t you think C-rank dungeons are quite manageable now?”

“Certainly. Although boss fights are still quite challenging…”

It’s been about three months since clearing the Forest of Benandi.

One thing they’ve learned during this time is that the Forest of Benandi is among the highest-tier C-rank dungeons.

Moreover, their compatibility wasn’t particularly good.

“Come to think of it, we were quite unlucky back then.”

“Indeed.”

Kang Hyeon, who had been checking his smartphone, looked at Shin Seong-a.

“There’s a commotion about a B-rank dungeon appearing recently. Shall we give it a try?”

“Is it okay when we don’t have much information yet?”

“Information? You learn that by experiencing it firsthand. Life is practical training. Practical.”

“…”

Life is practical training.

Shin Seong-a wondered if that meant they should be more careful, but she didn’t voice her thoughts.

She knew what the response would be anyway.

“By the way, why didn’t An Yu-seong come out? He’s the type to jump out even from sleep when there’s a dungeon to raid.”

“I heard he had some business to attend to, but I don’t know the details.”

“Is that so?”

As they were exchanging such trivial conversation, what they had been waiting for finally arrived.

“It’s here.”

A flashy van that was clearly from the Badass Guild stopped in front of them.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

After boarding the van, Kang Hyeon stared blankly out the window.

Seeing Kang Hyeon deep in thought, Shin Seong-a spoke up.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Just thinking about how to become stronger.”

“Hmm…”

“Seong-a.”

“Yes?”

It was the first time Kang Hyeon had called Shin Seong-a by her given name without the surname.

Caught off guard by the sudden name attack, Shin Seong-a’s face turned slightly red.

“Should I practice swordsmanship?”

“Um, oh, ah, yes.”

“What are you saying?”

Kang Hyeon frowned at Shin Seong-a’s strange response.

“Are you trying to raise your swordsmanship rank further?”

Shin Seong-a, having finally regained her composure, continued normally.

“Yeah. It’s giving me no small amount of worry.”

Recently, Kang Hyeon had decided to focus on magical power rather than swordsmanship, but after meeting the masked person, he realized that thought was mistaken.

However, practicing swordsmanship again didn’t seem efficient.

“I thought your swordsmanship was already C-rank. Isn’t that high enough?”

“What does it matter if it’s higher than the average ability user when there are monsters all around us?”

Advanced Swordsmanship (C)

It was a rank that placed him in the upper echelons among sword-wielding ability users.

Although not exact statistics, it would probably put him in the top 30%.

“What’s the point of this when we’re surrounded by the top 0.1%?”

“That’s certainly true.”

“Honestly, I know I don’t have a talent for swords. At this rate, it’s questionable whether I could reach A-rank even if I practiced until I died.”

Kang Hyeon sighed in frustration.

“You have archery separately, right?”

“Yes.”

“What rank is it?”

Normally, it would be impolite for ability users to ask about each other’s skills and stats, but Kang Hyeon and Shin Seong-a weren’t the type to care about such formalities.

“It’s been about two months since it rose to B-rank.”

“What?! Why is it so high?”

“When I first picked up a bow, it immediately rose to D-rank. I think my previous experience with archery might have influenced it.”

“Even so, to reach B-rank. And two months ago at that?”

“It’s not much… Hehe.”

Even considering that Shin Seong-a had given up everything else to practice archery day and night, it was clearly a high figure.

“I see.”

‘I think I could reach B-rank if I focused solely on swordsmanship too…’

Time was precious.

Kang Hyeon knew well how much time Shin Seong-a invested in handling the bow.

The problem was that he was already investing a similar amount of time in handling the sword.

Yet the results were so different.

“We’ve arrived.”

While Kang Hyeon was pondering, the van had already arrived in front of the guild office. As Kang Hyeon got out of the vehicle, he waved at An Yu-seong who was walking towards them.

“Where have you been?”

“Home.”

“Yeah? Hey, let me ask you something.”

“What?”

An Yu-seong looked at Kang Hyeon as if he were crazy as Kang Hyeon suddenly grabbed and shook him.

“You have basic skills like swordsmanship or archery too, right?”

“Yes.”

“What rank are they?”

“Weapon Skill B, Blunt Weapon Skill A.”

“What?”

For a moment, Kang Hyeon frowned, not understanding.

“Weapon Skill B and Blunt Weapon Skill A.”

“What? I can understand Blunt Weapon Skill, but what’s Weapon Skill?”

“It just appeared and rose on its own. I heard it adjusts any weapon I hold to B-rank.”

“Crazy…”

Kang Hyeon sincerely thought that all naturally gifted people should die.

“Why is your Blunt Weapon Skill so high?!”

“This one also just kept rising as I fought.”

A deep anger rose from within Kang Hyeon.

Kang Hyeon sighed and roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“Let’s fight.”

“Again?”

“Damn it. Let me try to raise my sword skill too. What? Don’t want to!?”

“You can’t because you lack talent, Kang Hyeon. It’s too inefficient from an efficiency standpoint.”

“This bastard, just because you have a hole in your face…”

As Kang Hyeon, his eyes rolling back in excitement, tried to take out Ogre’s Giant Hammer from his inventory, An Yu-seong stopped him.

“But why are you trying so hard to raise your sword skill?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have other strengths, don’t you? Power, reckless combat. Do you need special techniques for that?”

“I’m doing this because that alone seems insufficient.”

Kang Hyeon-do understands his strengths and weaknesses in battle quite well.

However, he’s trying to do something more out of a desire to become even a little stronger.

“Then you should focus on improving what you’re already good at. There’s no need to try harder at things you’re not good at.”

“Hmm…”

“At least for you, I think sword training is too inefficient.”

It was something he had thought about before, but hearing it from An Yu-seong, who had a natural talent for combat, made it resonate even more.

“I thought so too, but it seems like I’ve reached my limit with just smashing and destroying things…”

“It’s not about that.”

“Then what?”

“Don’t you know? You have quite a talent for magical power.”

Talent for magical power.

Honestly, until recently, Kang Hyeon thought he was quite talented in magical power.

However, after seeing the masked person’s perfected use of magical power, he had long since abandoned that thought.

“If you look around, there are probably plenty of guys more talented in using magical power, right?”

“That’s to be expected. But you should be grateful that you have an area where you’re even slightly better than others.”

“This guy, from earlier…!”

***

Ippotranslation

***

In the empty office after everyone has gone home.

Kang Hyeon, left alone, soaked his feet in poison and became lost in thought.

“To use magical power directly in combat, you need to release even a small amount of magical power externally, which is accompanied by extreme magical power consumption. And extreme mental fatigue is a bonus.”

In this situation, Kang Hyeon, who usually had to conserve magical power as much as possible, couldn’t help but be reluctant to even consider using magical power in combat.

“Magical power… I definitely need to increase my overall understanding and utilization of magical power.”

As the poison touched his skin, a tingling pain crept up his ankles, but his mind seemed to become clearer.

“Come to think of it, all skills are achieved through magical power.”

The sharpness-enhancing Bisection.

The magic-exploding Magic Explosion.

The strength-increasing Giant’s Strength.

Even Entria’s Outer Shell that hardens the skin.

All skills, regardless of type, are achieved by consuming magical power.

“Entria’s Outer Shell.”

Kang Hyeon activated the skill.

He could feel the magical power inside his body moving, changing, and hardening near his skin.

“It took quite some time just to feel this.”

In Kang Hyeon’s opinion, this effect wasn’t some inherent power of the skill itself.

It was achieved solely through the movement and utilization of magical power.

“Wayne’s Secret Technique.”

As he used the skill, strength surged throughout his body, and he felt a sensation of his flesh burning.

It was a pain intense enough to make an ordinary person scream immediately, but for Kang Hyeon, it was just a familiar pain.

“But this feels different.”

He couldn’t understand how his body was being strengthened.

Perhaps it was because the magical power was moving violently to recover the body that was being destroyed in real-time.

“Haa…”

Kang Hyeon, feeling overwhelmed, canceled all skills. This time, he deliberately moved his magical power and released it through his hand.

-Woong

It was a small sound, but as the magical power was emitted, he had the illusion that space was resonating.

After staring at his hand for a moment, Kang Hyeon struck the desk.

-Kwang!

Although he struck lightly, the magical power in his hand exploded, instantly shattering the desk.

However, unlike when using Magic Explosion up close, there was no direct damage to his hand.

“Is it simultaneous body enhancement and explosion?”

It felt like he was on the verge of grasping something, yet it remained elusive.

-Kwang, Kwang!

Kang Hyeon struck the desk a few more times.

“What if I try it like this?”

-Bang!

“How about this?”

-Kwang!

Kang Hyeon’s explosion experiments, which started late at night, continued until sunrise.

***

Ippotranslation

***

Magic Explosion (C → B)

Magic Detection (D → C)

Magic Operation (E → D)

These were abilities and skills that had increased in rank overnight.

Kang Hyeon felt extreme fatigue, but the moment he saw the status window, it felt like all his fatigue had vanished.

As he was smiling contentedly for a while, suddenly the office door opened.

It was Han Jae-moon.

“You’re here.”

“Yes…”

7 AM.

Han Jae-moon, who always arrived first, covered his mouth at the sight before him.

‘What is this…’

The office furniture was completely destroyed.

Han Jae-moon thought that there might have been an attack during the night.

“Guild Master. Did something happen…?”

“Huh? Haha! Something did happen.”

“Could it be those terrorists from before…?”

“No. Just, you know, I was practicing a bit. I should have done it outside, but I felt like I’d lose focus if I went out.”

“…”

“It’s a refreshing morning. Shall we start by cleaning the office?”

“Yes…”

The employees who arrived after also silently picked up brooms when they saw the two cleaning.

“When we expand the guild this time, we should hire a few janitors. Don’t you think?”

“Yes…”

Han Jae-moon had a lot he wanted to say but couldn’t bring himself to.

“By the way, Guild Master.”

“What?”

“The interviews start tomorrow.”

“Really? That was quick.”

It seemed the guild member recruitment he had mentioned was already prepared.

“Yes. We had to end it early because there were too many applicants.”

Kang Hyeon, who hadn’t given much thought to the recruitment, brightened at this unexpected news.

“That’s great. How many people applied?”

“5000 people.”

“What…?”