HDCA 03

CHAPTER 03…………………………………………

Seo Go-un in the novel was the type of person who committed all kinds of violent crimes, but was obsessively careful with his own body.

Even the slightest injury would send him not only to the hospital, but also shamelessly to the guild to receive healing from support healers.

However, since both hospitals and healing services required Seo Tae-ju’s approval, Seo Go-un had secretly hidden expensive healing potions worth a fortune all around the house as insurance.

That was what I remembered.

‘Ah, damn it. One day I’m really going to kill this bastard.’

Every movement while searching for the potion sent waves of pain crashing over me.

After gritting my teeth and enduring it for a while, my fingertips finally touched a cold glass bottle.

The transparent potion, with shimmering silver particles floating inside, was a top-grade healing potion infused with holy essence—capable of healing all injuries as long as you weren’t dead.

Who would have imagined a potion worth a fortune would be hidden under the left cushion of a sofa?

With my last strength, I opened the lid and drank it in one go.

The potion had no real taste—but the moment it entered my body, all the pain I felt with every breath vanished.

“…Oh.”

To confirm it worked, I carefully moved my body.

Even twitching a finger had once made my hair stand on end, but now I felt nothing.

I stood up. Still nothing.

“Haa… I almost died for real.”

I sat back on the sofa and let out a sigh of relief.

“So I really did get pulled into a novel.”

I had left the shelter thinking I needed to survive, fought monsters, but it all felt unreal.

When I was in pain, I was too focused on surviving the pain to process reality.

But now, after drinking the potion and recovering, reality finally crashed down on me.

I placed the empty bottle on the table and stood up.

Even a healing potion didn’t completely remove muscle fatigue, so I still felt some soreness.

‘Just running a bit and I’m sore? If this were my real body, this would’ve been nothing.’

Clicking my tongue, I loosened my stiff body and headed toward Seo Go-un’s room.

“What a miserable life. What kind of hell is this?”

The house used to belong to a family of parents and child, so it was very large with many rooms.

If I chose the wrong room, I might end up facing Seo Tae-ju’s terrifying killing intent when he returned, so I had to be careful.

I opened the first door I saw.

“…I don’t even need to search this one.”

The moment I opened it, I saw luxury clothes and jewelry scattered all over the floor.

‘With this money, he could’ve bought weapons instead.’

Clicking my tongue, I walked inside.

I couldn’t step on the luxury items, so I carefully pushed the clothes aside and sat in a corner chair.

“…Seriously, I’m going crazy.”

The moment I sat down, a sigh escaped me.

Even when I spent months tracking a single target, I had never felt this lost.

There were many clues—but none I wanted to accept.

“Possession…”

From what I had read, people who got possessed in novels almost always died in the real world.

Usually hit by a truck—or sometimes a motorcycle.

That’s why people joked about “reincarnation trucks” and “possession motorcycles.”

But I hadn’t been hit by anything. No truck. No “Awaken, hero” nonsense.

So why was I in this body?

“Did I… die?”

That cliché explanation would make sense—but I couldn’t remember dying.

Before waking up here, I had simply fallen into a light sleep.

In movies, maybe gangsters plant a bomb on a detective’s surveillance car and blow it up instantly—but in reality, that’s impossible. Criminals don’t easily get explosives or even guns.

And surveillance vehicles are usually secondhand junk—there’s no way anyone could’ve tracked me like that.

“Then how the hell did I get possessed… no, that’s not the point. The question isn’t why—I need to figure out how to go back.”

Most protagonists in these stories have no attachment to their original world.

But I was different.

Kim Hae-a.

My name meant “child of the sea.” I was abandoned on a shoreline on a day when a typhoon triggered a tsunami warning. I would have died if a fisherman hadn’t found me.

I grew up in an orphanage.

Because of my harsh-looking face, I was never adopted and endured constant ridicule at school.

Then one day, I met someone who changed my life.

He was the most just, the strongest, and the kindest person I had ever known—a homicide detective.

He saved me when I was falsely accused and handcuffed as an orphan.

I wanted to become like him.

After military service, I passed the police exam, and all that remained was joining his team as his partner.

And now I was supposed to give up all of that—my goal, my life, my entire existence—because of possession?

That would be denying everything I had lived for.

“I’m going back. No matter what.”

But the problem was I had no idea how.

“Haa… this is insane.”

I calmly organized what I knew about the novel.

The Cradle of the End was a fantasy novel about hunters fighting trials called “the Tower given by God.”

“Come to think of it, there was a god in this world. Should I meet a god?”

In this world, gods existed—but only in theory. They never appeared directly.

The only connection was through a saintess who received messages from them—but even she never left the temple.

And she didn’t participate in saving the “Cradle,” a dungeon that would cause the world’s destruction if failed.

So the remaining option was clear.

“I guess I need to join the raid party that clears the Cradle.”

I tapped my desk.

Hunters attempted the Cradle because failure meant world destruction—but success granted a wish-granting orb.

Thinking about it made me angry again.

“Damn it. Why did I have to get possessed?”

The only relief was that I remembered everything.

“Let’s think positively. It’s better than entering a novel I know nothing about.”

I steadied myself and recalled the Cradle.

In the novel, the Cradle was the final arc—the first and last SSS-rank dungeon.

But there was a problem.

The raid failed. And the world ended.

The Cradle of the End was a story with a hopeless bad ending.

“So the raid failed because there weren’t strong enough hunters?”

Yes. That was the main reason.

The absence of high-ranking hunters.

“Then I need to save them before they get ‘corrupted’.”

In the story, top hunters died early due to unexplained power rampages.

Later it was revealed that their deaths were caused by a unique system in the world: “corruption.”

“You can’t just tell people not to hunt monsters either.”

Corruption from killing monsters wasn’t visible at first, but accumulated over time. When it reached a limit, hunters would either go berserk or die instantly.

Higher-ranked monsters caused more corruption—and ironically, high-ranking hunters died because of it.

“So the only solution is purification.”

A purification item was eventually discovered mid-story—but by then most of the strong hunters were already dead.

The final raid team assembled from the remaining strongest hunters was wiped out.

Even the protagonist Seo Tae-ju died there.

But right now, none of that had happened yet.

“I don’t have a choice.”

If I saved the hunters needed for the raid, there might still be a chance.

And if the raid succeeded…

“I might be able to return to my world.”

I opened the status window to analyze Seo Go-un’s condition.

[Seo Go-un]

Level: 4  
Class: Alchemist  
Rank: D  
Age: 27  

HP: 300 / Mana: 2000  

Stats:
Strength C / Stamina C / Agility D / Magic A / Dexterity S+  

Attack F / Defense F  

Unique Skills:
[Decomposition] / [Transmutation] / [Understanding]

“…Level 4?”

He awakened at 20, and he’s still level 4?

What the hell has he been doing all this time?

Oh right—mandatory dungeon training.

A coward like him would never enter a dungeon voluntarily.

But something more serious stood out.

“His HP is trash too.”

Even after a top-tier healing potion, his max HP was only 300.

Is this body just garbage, or is it naturally weak?

“Ugh, nothing about this guy is likable.”

I switched to the skill window.

[Active Skills]

[Decomposition Lv.8]
Breaks a target into its original state.

[Transmutation Lv.9]
Combines materials to create new substances.

[Understanding MAX]
Reveals the essence of a target.

[Appraisal MAX]
Analyzes a target in detail.

[??-???? Lv.10 OPEN]
[??-???? Lv.20 OPEN]
[??-???? Lv.30 OPEN]

“…At least he did use his skills regularly.”

Skill levels increase through usage, not experience.

So despite his low level, his skills were fairly developed.

Now the passive skills:

[Passive Skills]

[Truth]
Grants the ability to see through everything.

[Transmutation Form]
Allows alchemy without magic circles.

[Amplification]
Amplifies effects.

[??-???? Lv.50 OPEN]

“Hmm… I kind of get Truth and Transmutation Form, but Amplification?”

I’ll figure it out later.

My goal wasn’t to live as Seo Go-un forever.

“Alright… the Cradle raid.”

The dungeon attribute in the Cradle was “darkness.”

Darkness resists all attributes except light.

Even though rank can override attributes, compatibility still matters.

Seo Tae-ju himself once regretted not bringing a light-type hunter instead of a higher-ranked fire-type hunter.

“So I need a light attribute user.”

But most high-ranking hunters were already dead in this timeline.

The strongest light users were at best B-rank.

Then another idea came.