RAGAT 03

Episode 03

〈The Second Party (乙) offers a portion of their acquired experience.〉

The unidentified sentence flickered into existence, then vanished just as quickly.

The Second Party (乙), Han Bi-yeol.
The guy I know—that executioner swinging his blade over there—that’s really him?

I turned my head slightly.

Holy hell.

He was staring straight back at me.

Two gazes collided fiercely across the entire span of Hangju Bridge.

“……You. What kind of trick are you pulling—?!”

His axe-like glare chopped into me.

“KYAAAAAAH!”

“A gate—! Another gate!”

At that moment, the space near the existing gate warped.
An additional gate was forming.

Ah.

[On August 17th, a staggering five Gate Breaks occurred on Hangju Bridge, shocking the public.]

A fragment from the latter half—something I’d filtered out before—suddenly surfaced in my mind.

[The administration and various guilds have decided to form a raid force to uncover the truth behind this multi-gate break.]
[The raid leader is expected to be Seo Bo-seok, a current A-rank hunter and the most likely candidate to become Korea’s first S-rank.]

“……Haha.”

A hollow laugh slipped out.

So that’s why.

This must be the advantage of revision—of reliving things again.

This multi-gate break had been the fuse.
A detail I’d overlooked without thinking in my previous life now snagged sharply in my mind.

‘Selection of the raid leader.’

The masses fall into chaos.
A perfect stage to frame someone.

The hostile faction would exploit that opening—and use it to drag my brother down…

Crunch.

How could they do that?

To a hero who devoted himself to society?!

Grinding my molars, I scanned the area.

Green arms were forcing their way out through the outer rim of the gate.

“Shit—there are hobgoblins mixed in!”

The man swung an emergency hammer, desperately trying to hold the monsters back.

The bus passengers, realizing he wasn’t ordinary, retreated behind him.

“Don’t bunch up like that! If you cluster together, the goblins will target you even harder!”

“B-But—!”

Clang—!

“Spread out, now! Put the kids behind me first! Anyone with limbs intact, grab whatever you can and throw it!”

His hammer crushed a goblin’s temple.

Krrrk.

The convulsing creature was trampled as the next wave surged forward.

The D-rank man swung, kicked, and fought back the goblin horde.

“P-Please… save me…”

People hid behind cars, crying for help.
Instinctively, someone pulled out a phone—then realized a beat too late that it was useless.

“No signal… there’s no signal…”

Whenever an Abyss Gate appears, communications mysteriously go dead.
That was why civilians caught inside could only wait, hoping for hunters to arrive.

“KIIIIYAAAAAA!”

A scream.

“P-Please! At least save my child!”

Another scream.

I squeezed my eyes shut—then opened them again.

…I can’t just stand here spacing out.

I had to twist fate.

I didn’t care about the intentions of whatever sent me back.

I’d live the way I wanted.

“Damn it!”

Han Bi-yeol spat curses, then finally withdrew the glare he’d been aiming at me.

“I’m already out of breath! If it weren’t for that incident, I wouldn’t be doing this kind of unpaid charity, damn it!”

Grinding his words like phlegm, Han Bi-yeol resumed hunting monsters.

Ping!

A clear, ringing sound.

The red thread connecting my fingertips to Han Bi-yeol’s back was still there—
stretching and contracting with elastic resilience.

It’s… sturdy?

While I stood there dazed—

“Hunters really are on another level.”

“No wonder they separate them from regular awakened folks.”

“I used to think their salaries were bullshit, you know? Not anymore. They deserve every penny.”

Some onlookers were moved to tears by Han Bi-yeol’s apparent dedication.

It felt like I was the only one thinking differently.

If he hadn’t stabbed me before, I might’ve been fooled just as easily…

There has to be a reason he’s acting like this.

I’d dig it up later.

Right now, my life—and this incomprehensible phenomenon—came first.

I barely managed to pull my upper body upright.

Cough, cough!

Ugh.

It stung like hell.
Like chestnuts rolling around inside my lungs.
Still—this was better than before.

〈The First Party (甲) Seo Won-seok has reached Level 2!〉

This line had to be the reason.

When you level up, even a body scraped to the bottom gets fully restored—
at least in games.

〈Would you like to view numerical values?〉

“Hey! Hey! Are you okay?!”

The man who’d been smashing goblins looked at me with deep concern.

I’d thought he’d be cranky from arguing with the bus driver—but he was actually pretty warm-hearted.

“Guess judging people by first impressions really is dangerous…”

“Hey! Snap out of it! You’re muttering to yourself!”

“…Ah.”

My head was spinning.

“Mister, could you not shake me for a bit?”

“Kid! I’m doing that so you don’t pass out!”

“I think I’m gonna throw up.”

He backed away real fast.

A sigh leaked from my pale lips.

Anyway, I’d calmed down a bit.

Only then did I focus my gaze fully on the empty air.

Name: Seo Won-seok
Level: 1 → 2
◆ Vitality: +3
◆ Agility: +5
◆ Mental Strength: —
◆ Mana: +2
◆ Luck: –44
◆ Intelligence: Measurement requires additional time
◆ Trait: —
◆ Awakened Ability: [Unknown]
◈ Blessing: Blessing of Lifelong Bond

I blinked again and again.

It was still there.

A status window.

It had already been twenty years since gates first appeared.

The initial sharp confrontation with the unknown had eased, and research had fully begun—
research that continued into both the present and the future.

Massive investments poured in from everywhere.

And yet, the cause of gates and the origin of awakening remained unclear.

Some people complained, asking why something like a status window didn’t exist.

Reality had never offered anything like that.

And yet—

Here it was.

A status window.
A stat window.

An enforced objectification that ignored my will entirely.

It felt unreal.

And yet—I wasn’t happy.

These stats are trash.

Single-digit vitality and mana.
At first glance, maybe not terrible—until you saw the benchmark below.

Luck: –44.

That meant luck could go into double-digit negatives…

Rage boiled up from my core.

“Ugh!”

“What?! What is it?!”

Everything pissed me off!

“If you’re worried, then come closer and worry properly!”

“My wife yells at me if I smell like vomit! Says I’ve been drinking again!”

The man flashed a fragile, toothy grin and gave a thumbs-up.

“But hey, your voice is loud—that means you’re doing better! So what’s your ability? Oh, wait—you’re not D-rank, are you?”

Hope lit up his face.

“I’m not D-rank.”

“I knew it!”

His eyes shone.

“Then at least B-minus.”

“E-rank.”

“…What?”

“Bottom of the barrel.”

The spark of hope went out.

Ignoring that, I scanned the situation.

Monster blood had formed concentric circles around the center.

Something felt off.

My ability?

I needed to figure that out myself.

As if on cue, the status window burned itself into my vision again.

〈Blessing of Lifelong Bond – Open Event!〉
※ Event Notice
· This event is active for a limited time only. (Remaining time: 2:59:37)
· The contribution offered by Second Parties (乙) bound by lifelong contracts is slightly increased.
· Current number of bound Second Parties: 2 / ??
· Increasing the number of Second Parties within the time limit grants additional rewards in the second quest!

A sharp roar tore through the air.

KIEEEEEEEEEEK!

Monsters threw their heads back and shrieked, rushing forward again.
Red ghost-fire streamed from their eye sockets.

I’m the one who awakened—why are you guys the ones going berserk?

The answer came quickly.

〈The second wave will begin shortly. (2 / ??)〉

So it even warns you like this?

Absurd—but I forced myself to calm down.

Meanwhile—

“These damn monkeys!”

Slice!

“Kill them—kill them all—!”

Chop!

“There’s no end to these bastards!”

Han Bi-yeol was fighting hard.

But he wasn’t fully focused.

Even while swinging his blade, he kept throwing glances my way.

He doesn’t know the details.

If he did, he’d have dropped everything and charged straight at me.

His selfishness was palpable—and his name proved his vileness.

“So… what do we do?”

Dark clouds hung over the man’s face.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t even exchanged names—I’d just been calling him “mister.”

Doesn’t really matter.

Anxiety scraped at his tongue.

“If we stay like this… waiting… we’re gonna get slaughtered…”

He was right.

The monsters were growing fiercer, the gates spewing green waves like broken faucets.
Even a B-rank hunter had limits.

Cold sweat replaced blood in my veins.

“Wait.”

“You got an idea?”

“……”

I couldn’t answer.

I lowered my eyes, chewing on impatience.

“Y-You had a plan, right?”

Not you. Someone else.

Status window.

Respond. Now.

Blessing of Lifelong Bond
★★★★★★★★★★ Mythical!
A blessing that can only be granted by ■■ of ■■■.
Activation condition: “Sharing blood.”
Once fulfilled, a lifelong contract is formed between First (甲) and Second (乙), regardless of the latter’s will.
Only First Party Seo Won-seok may terminate the contract.
∴ Once bound, the Second Party cannot inflict harm upon the First Party in any form.

It was broken.

Just reading it left me speechless.

This is basically auto-hunting.

All the obstructive messages finally clicked into place.

I narrowed my eyes.

The vile bastard was drenched in sweat, hacking away.

“That guy is my Second Party…?”

The condition was simple.

Share blood.

My stomach had been slashed by his blade.
In my final act of desperation, I’d bitten into his neck.

Blood had mixed—unintentionally.

That alone fulfilled the condition.

“H-Heh…”

One thing I had to remember: my –44 luck.

My gaze dropped to the final section.

Additional Conditions:
ⅰ. The closer the blood fusion, the more the First Party’s experience gain increases.
ⅱ. When the First Party hunts alongside the Second Party, [Special Effect: Synergy] activates, increasing experience gained.
ⅲ. As levels rise, hidden abilities unlock, and the number of Second Parties increases.

So many strings attached.

And all of them inconvenient.

To maximize efficiency, I’d need either blood fusion or synergy.

I didn’t know what blood fusion really meant—and I didn’t have time to find out.

Then…

Let’s go for synergy.
Too much information clouds judgment.

Two priorities:

First, the experience bonus from the open event.
Second, multiplying it by fighting myself.

“Hoo…”

Hot breath leaked through my teeth.

I could move.

I pulled out the dagger strapped to my thigh.

I’m not in bad shape.

Most goblin weapons were scavenged from fallen hunters—lethal enough.

As I looked from the blood-slick blade to the Abyss Gate—

I spotted a hobgoblin among the goblins.

Red eyes gleamed dangerously beneath its hood.

Usually, killing the host closes the gate.

Common knowledge.

There was no way Han Bi-yeol didn’t know that.

He’s deliberately leaving it alive.

That hobgoblin.

Unless it died, goblins would keep spawning endlessly.

And goblins won through numbers.

Four gates at once made it worse.

Breathe. Stay calm.

I’d seen worse.

A goblin was something an adult male could handle—if he moved carefully.

Thankfully, this was Hangju Bridge.

They could only come from the front and back.

Maybe above, too.

“These green monkey bastards!”

Han Bi-yeol.

He’s hiding something.

Normally, I’d be furious.

But I wasn’t.

〈Han Bi-yeol gains 217 experience.〉
〈Han Bi-yeol gains 769 experience.〉
〈Han Bi-yeol gains 342 experience.〉
〈Second Party Han Bi-yeol offers a portion of the experience.〉

“Your schemes benefit me.”

Didn’t I say it?

I’d work him like a slave.

Catching my breath, I shouted across the hellscape of the bridge.

“Mister!”

“H-Huh? Me?”

“Protect the elderly and kids over there!”

“What about you?!”

You’re F—no, E-rank!
That was written all over his face.

I lowered my stance.

“Hunters will arrive within twenty minutes.”

I vaguely remembered seeing that in the news.

“Let’s hold out until then.”

“…Hey!”

Two goblins leapt from the cables and pylons, purple tongues lolling.

I thrust my dagger.

Crunch!

The impact jolted from my elbow to my shoulder.

Didn’t faze me.

I’d crawled through worse depths in hunter society.

I twisted the blade, split the neck, kept the momentum.

A crescent arc flashed.

Temples shattered.

Even with their brains shaken, goblins thrashed wildly.

One managed to rake my shoulder before collapsing.

Slash!

I yanked the blade free.

Goblin blood soaked into the still-open wound.

Ugh.

A sharp pain stabbed my solar plexus.

Paralytic toxin spread—

Thump.

∴ Once bound, the Second Party cannot inflict additional harm upon the First Party.

I flexed my hand.

Color returned to my fingertips.

“…So that’s how it works.”

The paralysis drained away.

Bubble, bubble.

Foam boiled from the wound.

Moments later—it healed cleanly.

Strange.

The blessing said additional harm.

That slash wasn’t additional.

Or was it?

〈Blessing of Lifelong Bond – Open Event Triggered〉
〈Synergy Effect between First and Second Party activated〉
〈Experience gained by First Party doubled!〉
〈Second Party Han Bi-yeol offers experience〉
〈Seo Won-seok levels up: 2 → 3〉

“….”

I looked past the status window.

Our eyes met again.

Han Bi-yeol frowned.

Realizing I was awakened, he looked deeply displeased.

“Tch.”

For a split second, impatience flared in his eyes.

Then his behavior changed.

No more pretending.

Han Bi-yeol went all-in.

Whatever plan he’d had was ruined—so now he’d finish things fast and deal with me afterward.