012 - The 0th World
The motorcycle sped powerfully past the collapsed tollgate and onto the highway.
Vrooooom!
The motorcycle raced, making a noise that might have gotten reported if they were downtown. Of course, outside the barrier, there weren't even houses, let alone people, so there was no risk of being reported.
The speed was as intense as the noise; the tilted signs and buildings he had just seen receded behind them in an instant.
Afraid of falling off, Jinwoo held on tight to Chartia's waist and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Chartia! Is it okay to drive this fast?!"
"There's no traffic enforcement here, so who cares!"
"It's not about enforcement, it's safety... Ack!"
Thump!
As soon as he spoke, the motorcycle jolted heavily. It had hit a fragment of broken asphalt and launched into the air.
Jinwoo, experiencing the dizzying sensation of flying for a moment, lowered his center of gravity as much as possible to prepare for the landing. Thud!
"Ahahaha! This really relieves stress, doesn't it!?"
"I'm going to die while relieving stress!"
The motorcycle ran for quite a while longer. The road, remaining only as a trace of the past, was broken here and there and full of holes, so it wasn't exactly a place for a pleasant ride.
Yet, Chartia pulled the throttle instead of slowing down.
How long did they ride? Just as his butt was throbbing from the shock of the unfamiliar vehicle, the motorcycle finally stopped.
A drawbridge that had stopped while raised. Below it, there were only traces of a river from the past, but no flowing water.
On top of it, Chartia stretched her waist and shoulders, enjoying the lingering excitement, while Jinwoo rubbed his tailbone and sighed.
"Good work. Have some canned coffee."
"Thanks. Uh, do you have anything cold?"
"I don't have cold coffee, but I can give you orange juice instead."
Chartia took the hot canned coffee she had just pulled from her inventory and handed him a slightly frozen orange juice instead.
Only after opening the can and downing nearly half of it in one shot did Jinwoo let out a big breath and calm down.
'Sweet, sour, and delicious. This stuff.'
Perhaps because it was a drink from New York, the label was all in English. With his short educational background, Jinwoo couldn't read all of it, but he could roughly see the words "100% Fresh Fruit."
It wasn't juice full of artificial ingredients, but fresh fruit juice; the taste was almost moving.
Looking out at the ruined world outside the city, Jinwoo asked.
"Is riding motorcycles a hobby of yours?"
"It's a hobby that serves a practical purpose. I go around looking for land that's still intact. If I find any, I plant trees or seeds."
She said a mobile vehicle was essential for that. She had not only a motorcycle but also an off-road four-wheel-drive vehicle in her inventory.
Indeed, as expected of an S-class Hunter with a long career and active duty, she seemed to be prepared with all sorts of things. It was practically a treasure chest.
"It's in a similar vein to studying foreign languages."
"It's a very important job to me."
"I guess S-class Hunters have a different perspective. Someone like me is only interested in eating and living day to day."
"I don't do it out of some great sense of duty either. It's just that if I didn't immerse myself in something like this, it was hard to endure."
Her planting trees started as a form of escape.
Escape from the reality where the New York Hunter Management Bureau wouldn't acknowledge her no matter how many merits she piled up, and where she couldn't join a decent party due to bullying within the industry.
Of course, things were much better now.
"Well, I somehow managed to get S-class recognition, and now I just do it because it's rewarding."
"It's good to have something to pour your passion into. Even better if that's a great task like reviving the Earth."
"It's not that grand... just taking care of a few trees."
Chartia answered with a slightly embarrassed look.
Even though she had been bullied, it wasn't as if she never heard words of praise.
The ones who despised her were industry insiders, conservative politicians in New York, and business people; among the unrelated citizens, there were those who were grateful to her.
Those who inherited the trees or gardens she planted and tended often sent letters enclosing photos, and reading them was one of her joys.
She hadn't lived a life that was only painful.
'I'm a bit embarrassed over something so small...'
Still, the praise from Jinwoo felt a little more embarrassing than usual. Ever since recognizing that Jinwoo's past life was an Elf and that he was in the same situation as her, she found herself caring about his every move.
Glancing sideways, she saw Jinwoo tilting his head back to finish the canned juice she gave him.
Her gaze was drawn to his moving Adam's apple and thick forearms; Jinwoo's body, which had frequented construction sites and logistics centers like his own home, was well-knit with healthy, practical muscle.
The reason Jinwoo could wield his sword like that was partly thanks to his well-built basic physical strength. If he had a frail body, there would have been a limit no matter how much mystical help he received.
"Chartia."
"Yes, yes!?"
Seeing her startled response to being suddenly called, Jinwoo looked at her quizzically before getting straight to the point.
"About Elves. How much do you know? Or rather, do high-ranking Hunters possess all the memories or experiences of their past lives?"
"Ah, that's not it. There are individual differences. I have almost no memories of my past life, but I know quite a bit about common sense and knowledge."
Entering explanation mode, Chartia moistened her throat slightly with the canned coffee.
"Elf society is what you would commonly call a monarchy."
"The kind with a King and nobles?"
"Yes. Like human history, they have various kingdoms and families, but all nations are matriarchal societies led by a Queen. The heads of families are also women."
"I see."
"It's because female Elves are usually born with superior mana and vitality. Conducting war and ruling the country are almost entirely women's roles. Conversely, male Elves are exceptional in sensibility and are active in fields like music and literature."
He heard many things after that. Most of it was precious information hard to find in books, and hearing it from her, who had an Elf's past life, made it feel more real and concrete.
"What? A lifespan of eight hundred to a thousand years?"
"You can consider it roughly 10 times that of a human. The standard for adulthood is around 200 years old. Instead, once an Elf becomes an adult, their appearance hardly changes for over 700 years, until aging begins around 800 and they prepare for death."
"What a scale..."
In the human world, that was a period long enough to contain the rise and fall of nations entirely, yet that was just the lifespan of a single person.
"In exchange, they say Elf society changes little and is slow-paced. In a way, it's relaxed; in another way, you could see it as stagnant..."
He heard so many things.
The history and nations of the star where Elves lived. The heroes and prestigious families renowned in history. The religious system centered around a monotheistic existence called the World Tree, and so on.
When he had heard roughly all the basic common sense, Jinwoo asked what he was truly curious about.
"Do Elves act on whims or anything?"
"Of course. Everyone has an ego and a personality."
"Actually, I went through something strange..."
Jinwoo told her in detail about what happened in his first Gate.
From blindly catching fish in the stream on the first day and encountering an Elf, to receiving the white jewel sword at the end.
"I received this sword from that Elf too. When I came to, it was stuck in the ground right in front of me."
"They just gave you a sword like this?"
Chartia's eyes went wide.
The previous actions were already meaningless, but to leave behind an object that was clearly a treasured sword—it was even more incomprehensible.
She thought about what it could mean in her own way, but there wasn't much she could say.
"Hmm, I actually had a similar experience during my first awakening. An Elf who saw my ability mistook me for kin and just let me go."
"Mistook you?"
"Couldn't Jinwoo's case be something like that? I'm not certain, but..."
Unfortunately, it didn't feel like a clear answer. The reason was that even the person saying it sounded doubtful.
The Elf who let her go was just someone passing by briefly, but the Elf who stalked Jinwoo had followed him for days on end.
One might be mistaken for a moment, but it's impossible to be mistaken continuously for that long. Her case and Jinwoo's case were completely different.
"I'm sorry. I brought you here all confident, but I couldn't give you the answer you wanted."
"No, I learned a lot. There were many interesting stories."
His curiosity wasn't solved, but he heard many other things. Stories about the race called Elves that couldn't be learned just from library books.
Chartia smiled, saying that was a relief, and tossed her empty can into her inventory. It was easier to collect trash and throw it away all at once.
"Then shall we go back?"
As she straightened her back and prepared to return, Jinwoo spoke to her.
"Can we stop by just one place?"
Nearby, slightly further away, there was a black flame detected by his senses.
Jinwoo held onto her waist again, sitting on the motorcycle and crouching low.
If there was one thing he realized while heading from Seoul to the drawbridge, and from the drawbridge to the location of the black flame, it was that there weren't as many black flames as he thought.
'I thought there would be many Cores since the outside is full of Black Earth.'
That wasn't the case. When he asked why, she said it was because it was near a big city.
'True, Hunters of the past would have desperately tried to block Erosion if it appeared near Seoul.'
Not just Seoul, but the areas near other foreign cities were also said to be somewhat clean. If one wanted to find a place with many real Cores, it was better to go to a secluded place, not near a big city.
Places like the Chinese borderlands, Russia, Australia, or Africa, where the population density was low compared to the land size.
Naturally, the further away from the city, the more dangerous and ferocious monsters swarmed. It was better not to even think about going alone.
"They say there are many Cores in polar regions like Antarctica, but that's a remote area where it's hard to even set foot, so you'd better give up on that!"
"I see!"
Trying to shout over the motorcycle's exhaust noise, his voice was on the verge of going hoarse.
Fortunately, neither Jinwoo nor Chartia had bad hearing, so there was no issue understanding each other.
Following Jinwoo's navigation, the motorcycle carrying the two arrived at a location. It was a large-scale flower garden where vinyl greenhouses used to be lined up, but now only torn traces remained.
Under a broken tree, a placard reading 「Flower Delivery Specialist Doori Flower Garden 1515-1234」 had fallen forlornly.
Bark bark!
There were quite a number of monsters there—dwarf-like monsters with short, blunt dog heads.
The pack of starving monsters, roaming around looking for prey, spotted Jinwoo and Chartia and charged.
Kiaaaaa!
Despite having the bodies of small dwarfs, running on four legs made them quite threatening. Saliva dripped and splattered from their mouths, torn wide open, and a foul stench that felt like it would rot one's nose wafted out.
Slice—
He cut down the one in the very front from the crown of its head to its crotch.
"Wow."
Chartia let out a small exclamation. The clean and powerful swordsmanship was one thing, but Jinwoo's decisive action without a single hesitation was also an eye-opener.
It is rare for a novice Hunter who hasn't even been awakened for a month to be this calm in front of monsters. In the first place, at one month, it was normal to run away just seeing the tip of a monster's hair...
Two, three, four.
Jinwoo cut down every dog-headed dwarf that charged in succession. Delivering sword strikes with a sense of rhythm, Jinwoo asked.
"Do these guys make any money if I sell them?"
"No. The teeth and skin are all trash, so disposal costs would probably be higher. At least the magic stones will sell, but with this quality and size, hmm... about 300 dollars."
"300 dollars is a little under 500,000 won (approx. concept). That's plenty expensive, isn't it?"
Chartia spoke of 300 dollars like it was gum money, but for Jinwoo, it was a sufficiently large sum.
Thinking that 500,000 won was deposited into his bank account every time he swung his sword, his sword strikes naturally became bouncy. He swung his sword feeling like he wanted to hum a tune.
'200, 250, 300...'
In his mind, the numbers were going up by units of 50. The number finally stopped at 1,650. In terms of head count, it was thirty-three.
The surroundings were filled only with dead dog-headed dwarfs, and nothing else remained.
"I guess this is the Core."
"It's an ominous-looking rock."
After slicing up all the monsters and seeking out the black flame, there was a rock the size of a house.
It wasn't just a rock, but a twisted and hideous rock like pyroxene dug out of hell, and inside it, he could see the black flame flickering.
Jinwoo raised his sword.
Shiiing—!
He cut that rock in two as well.
"This works."
"That's s-surprising."
Seeing a rock the size of a house split open with a single sword stroke surprised not only Chartia but Jinwoo as well.
He thought it might work, but he didn't expect it to be cut so easily.
'At this point, it's scary.'
It felt like he had obtained some demonic power. He doubted if it was okay to become strong this easily.
His soul wouldn't get collected later or anything, right...?
[A Fragment of a Past Life rises. That sword shall be like a solid rock.]
Without fail, the message of ability awakening appeared this time as well.
While he was at it, Jinwoo used the ability right away. Lumpy rock fragments clung to the sword and hardened solidly just like that.
"What is this?"
"Isn't that just a club?"
Chartia's impression was exactly the same as Jinwoo's. Like this, he couldn't use the edge; wasn't it just a blunt weapon?
Whoosh whoosh
He swung it a few times and struck a rotten tree fallen nearby.
Crunch!
The feeling in his hand was good. The heavy impact felt refreshing.
"Well, there might be times when a blunt weapon is needed."
It was definitely better than nothing. When he withdrew the ability, the hardened rock fragments crumbled away, and it returned to the original sword.
He checked to see if the edge was damaged, but fortunately, it wasn't.
"Are you done with your business?"
"Yes. Let's go back. I don't sense any more Cores, and the sun is setting."
"Hop on."
Chartia, who got on the motorcycle first, tapped the back seat. Jinwoo took the helmet, put it on, and sat in the back.
"Please drive safely."
"I'll do it within the limits of not being boring."
Vrooooom!
An exhaust sound not much different from before echoed through the abandoned flower garden.
They returned safely after finishing the drive outside the city.
Since they periodically cleared monsters near big cities, the risk factors were indeed low.
Still, the reason they could return without any trouble was probably because Chartia, an S-class Hunter, accompanied him.
Though rather than accompanying, she was the driver.
"Thank you for the driving."
"No, it was fun. See you next week then."
"Wait a moment, the magic stones..."
"Just use them where you need them."
He intended to discuss the distribution of magic stones, but Chartia coolly gave up her rights and left.
As expected of an S-class Hunter. Her generosity was on another level.
'The corpse of the guy called Shadow, two tooth-daggers, and the magic stones from the dog-heads come to about 16 million won...'
The profit in a single day was substantial. He heard the scales from the Shadow's corpse were expensive material, so just that alone would bring in a four-digit sum (in ten thousands). There was the Shadow's magic stone separately, too.
Since it was a regular monster and not a boss, it wasn't a jaw-dropping amount like the black bear, but it was still plenty.
Earning tens of millions in a single day was something the Jinwoo of the past couldn't have even imagined.
A few days passed after that.
A brief, peaceful daily life continued.
There was no particular schedule until next week, and the next Gate was about 3 weeks away. Usually, Gates opened on a cycle of about a month, though there was some margin of error.
The time in between was for resting, handling personal affairs, or maintenance, but in Jinwoo's case, he spent most of it on Food—Sword Training—Sleep.
He could have gone outside the city to search for black flames again, but he prioritized exploring the two new abilities, the Shadow Sword and the Rock Sword.
Because solidifying the basics is important for anything.
While spending his days busily yet leisurely like that.
[The Trial of the 0th World shall open.]
[Death is inevitable and destruction is fate; with those hands, carry out that fate.]
"Uh? A Special Gate?"
A Special Gate, which opens irregularly rather than periodically, had opened.
Among them, the '0th World' that appeared this time was a place known to grant substantial rewards to all Hunters who cleared it, in exchange for its high difficulty.
Jinwoo immediately took out his smartphone and called the official in charge.