A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2.
The Wyvern Goblin’s razor-sharp fangs.
The acidic liquid coating their tips sent up wisps of vapor as it swallowed Siül whole.
Crunch-crunch— gulp—.
The Wyvern Goblin grinned, savoring what it took to be a satisfying meal.
Jang Jinyeong’s face went ashen as he watched.
Whatever their quarrel, seeing a man die before his eyes was horrifying.
But moments later, something extraordinary happened.
The Wyvern Goblin’s expression twisted.
Its face shifted to a sickly purple, as though something were caught in its throat.
Then, abruptly—
“Ack!!”
It let out a strangled cry and retched violently.
“What—?”
Jang Jinyeong’s eyes widened in shock.
Because there, among the bile, was Siül—perfectly intact.
‘He’s alive?’
It was staggering.
The Wyvern Goblin had clearly chewed and swallowed Siül whole.
Even if his limbs were still attached, it would be a miracle—yet Siül bore not a single scratch.
‘How is that possible?’
The same question had seized Siül himself in that incomprehensible moment.
* * *
【The trait ‘Cannot Die Until Death Date’ has activated.】
【Until your Death Date arrives, you shall not perish.】
A holographic message materialized without warning.
It was a rectangular text box labeled “Trait Window.”
‘What is this…?’
Siül barely had time to process before—
Crack!!
The Wyvern Goblin clamped down on him and began to chew in earnest.
His body was torn apart with such ferocity that it was impossible to count how many pieces he’d become.
It happened so fast that Siül didn’t even have time to register that he was dying.
And yet—
“It doesn’t hurt.”
Siül’s eyes snapped open.
‘Why… why doesn’t it hurt?’
His body was being severed by the Wyvern Goblin’s teeth.
He felt his neck snap, his ribs crack and splinter.
He could see blood pouring from every part of his frame with his own eyes.
Yet somehow there was no pain.
‘What?’
And that wasn’t all.
‘My arm—my leg—!’
They were regenerating.
Like a slime possessed of infinite regenerative power, Siül’s body—torn and shattered though it was—continuously reformed itself, returning to its original state.
‘Why is my body doing this—?!’
What unfolded before his eyes was too surreal to comprehend.
He couldn’t tell if what he was witnessing was real or merely a delusion his mind had conjured.
Squelch—.
The Wyvern Goblin shoved Siül from its tongue down into its gullet.
It assumed it had chewed enough.
At that moment, another holographic screen materialized before Siül.
【The Quest System has been activated.】
【Continuous Quest Triggered!】
【Eliminate the Mortal Threat】
Directly eliminate the entity that poses a threat to your life.
Threat Level: 30
Success Reward: 10 Level-Up Points
“What is this now…?”
Siül’s eyes darted between the cascade of holographic screens in confusion.
Strange ability descriptions labeled “trait,” quest notifications that looked plucked from a video game—everything was overwhelming.
Nothing made sense.
Siül shifted his gaze toward the trait window.
He needed to understand that Regeneration ability first, and the trait window seemed the place to start.
‘A trait? Since when do I have a trait?’
Some Awakened gained traits like alchemy, nature magic, or summoning arts.
But Siül had never obtained anything of the sort.
All he’d ever received was a curse from the Judgment Dragon.
“Wait.”
【Until your Death Date arrives, you shall never die.】
The description text in the trait window.
Siül read it again.
A hollow laugh escaped his lips despite himself.
‘So what this is saying…’
Before the date the Judgment Dragon had set, he couldn’t die no matter what.
“That insane bastard. So he gave me immortality out of pure spite?”
A curse, he’d called it—but this was closer to obsession.
Die only on the day I choose, in the manner I choose.
That was the true curse the Judgment Dragon had laid upon him.
‘Which means this quest is just another one of his twisted games.’
Now that he thought about it, the mission labeled “Quest” carried the same implication—keeping him alive until his Death Date.
[Eliminate threats to life by your own hand.]
‘That absolute lunatic. He’s going to toy with me until I die?’
The highest-ranked life form on Earth transcended human imagination, or so they said.
Apparently that included mental stability, Siül thought bitterly.
“Hide these screens. They’re pissing me off!”
At Siül’s shout, the windows shrank to the size of pebbles.
‘It listens to voice commands?’
Obedient, at least.
‘Fine. I don’t care anymore. First thing’s first—get out of here.’
Siül looked around.
Mucus stretched in every direction through the darkness, thick and glistening.
Each breath brought the stench of rot deep into his lungs.
‘I’m in the esophagus.’
Siül realized where he was immediately.
From above, periodic crushing pressure; from below, a relentless suction pulling him deeper.
‘If I keep going down, I’ll reach the stomach. And that… that won’t end well.’
Being chewed he could endure.
Dissolved, sliced open—there was no pain, and his body regenerated quickly enough.
But if it kept swallowing?
He might be trapped here forever.
‘That’s absolutely unbearable.’
Gulp—
The esophagus contracted again with renewed force.
Siül’s body was pushed downward.
“Wait, hold on!”
As the throat constricted, he heard what sounded like bones snapping.
Still no pain.
‘I’m basically an immortal now.’
Siül gritted his teeth and quickly summoned his inventory.
A translucent window materialized before him.
A weapon list. One item caught his eye immediately.
『 C-rank Longsword 』
A weapon he’d bought for his first raid, splurging on it.
Seven million won—the most expensive piece of equipment he owned.
‘It might break, though?’
It absolutely would break.
Inside an A-rank monster’s body, no less.
He’d be lucky if a C-rank weapon even left a scratch.
‘If I don’t use it, things will only get worse.’
There was no choice.
Siül closed his eyes tight and drew out the C-rank Longsword.
Whoosh—.
The heft of it in his hand felt remarkably solid.
It was an ordinary blade, but in this moment, it was his only lifeline.
‘Please….’
Siül twisted his whole body and leveled the sword at the esophageal wall.
Thrust!!
He drove the blade forward with all his strength.
Squelch—!
The sensation of rending flesh transmitted through the sword into his hands.
From outside came the death cry of the Wyvern Goblin.
The esophagus convulsed violently.
Siül gasped but refused to release the sword.
Instead, to survive, he drove the blade deeper still.
Crunch!
He felt the esophageal wall tear apart.
The Wyvern Goblin could endure no longer.
Retch!!
A mixture of vomit, mucus, and shapeless matter erupted outward.
Siül’s body came with it, expelled into the open air.
Crash!
After rolling across the asphalt several times, he lifted his head.
“Gag! Cough-hack!”
Siül lay facedown on the ground, gasping for breath.
The C-rank Longsword was still clutched in his hand.
The blade was severely corroded, its tip grotesquely bent.
“Damn it, my seven million won…!!”
Siül cried out in anguish, wiping tears from his eyes.
Before him, the Wyvern Goblin stood clutching its throat, retching wildly.
Meanwhile, Jang Jinyeong, who had witnessed the whole affair, stood paralyzed in shock.
“Gasp.”
He couldn’t help but be stunned.
How could a person be bitten and swallowed, yet emerge without a scratch?
‘Did he somehow dodge all its teeth in there? Does that even make sense?’
It was a picture Jang Jinyeong’s imagination could scarcely conjure.
“Over there!”
“The monster’s been spotted!”
Voices rang out from a distance.
Personnel from the Hunter Association were flooding toward the scene to capture the Wyvern Goblin.
Only then did Jang Jinyeong regain his senses.
‘This is no time for sightseeing.’
An A-rank monster had broken through a Gate and was tearing through the Urban Area.
It was the duty of one who wore a red badge on his chest to dispatch it as quickly as possible.
Boom!
The ground buckled as though caving in, and Jang Jinyeong’s body launched into the air.
“Hold still, you feathered idiot.”
Jang Jinyeong withdrew an A+-rank large metal hammer from his inventory and swung it with everything he had.
Crack!!!
The hammer struck the Wyvern Goblin’s head dead-on.
The creature’s neck snapped, and its massive body, robbed of control, flew backward.
It was a perfect, flawless strike.
The Wyvern Goblin would surely be dead the moment its trajectory halted.
The problem was that Siül was standing at the end of that trajectory.
“Wait? Hey! Move out of the way!”
Jang Jinyeong cried out urgently, but it was already too late.
The Wyvern Goblin shot forward like a bullet and reached Siül in an instant.
Siül heard Jang Jinyeong’s shout and raised his head.
And he found himself staring directly into the enormous eye of the Wyvern Goblin filling his entire vision.
“Huh?”
Screeeech—!!
It was a scene too gruesome to watch with open eyes.
The Hunter Association staff all turned away in unison.
‘He’s dead, right?’
‘He has to be dead.’
‘Did his head explode?’
‘Ugh! I don’t want to clean up the body!’
Everyone was thinking the same thing.
“You startled me!!”
“…?”
“…?”
“…?”
“…?”
At the sound of Siül’s voice, the Hunter Association staff flinched and looked forward again.
The wyvern goblin had burst eyes and was dead, while Siül stood perfectly intact before it.
“He’s not dead?”
“Did he dodge?”
“But the monster’s eyes are blown out?”
They could only exchange bewildered whispers, their faces blank.
Meanwhile, Siül brushed dust from his body and let loose a string of curses.
“Even if it doesn’t hurt, having your body rupture and regenerate is disgusting.”
Siül had collided with the wyvern goblin and burst one of its eyeballs in the process—but in return, his entire body had ruptured.
It had regenerated in less than ten seconds, though.
【Quest Complete!】
【You have successfully neutralized the life-threatening enemy by targeting its vital point (eyes).】
【You are awarded 10 Level-Up Points as a reward.】
‘Level-Up Points?’
Siül frowned and stared at the screen.
This wasn’t a game, and yet there were Level-Up Points.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do with them or where.
【Accumulating Level-Up Points allows you to raise your Awakening Rank.】
“……?”
Siül’s face twisted.
Awakening Rank didn’t change.
It was the realm of innate talent.
Every Hunter knew it as common sense.
There was the rare exception of Re-awakening, but even that only occurred when latent potential emerged belatedly.
‘But raising the rank?’
It made no sense.
Just then, the screen responded once more.
【Upon reaching 10 Level-Up Points, your Awakening Rank has risen.】
Siül’s heart pounded violently.
At the same time, something inside his body exploded outward.
“Ugh!”
It was Mana.
A density he’d never felt in his entire life.
Mana spread through his veins and shook his entire body.
His heart raced and his body burned.
Siül knew instinctively.
He was undergoing Re-awakening.
【Ascension Complete D-Rank → C-Rank】
The text floating before his eyes was vivid, yet unreal.
‘…It actually changed.’
Before he could gather his confused thoughts, the Quest window displayed several more lines.
【Every time your Level-Up Points reach 10, your Awakening Rank will rise by one stage.】
【Accumulated Points Remaining: 0】
He could no longer deny this dreamlike story of raising his Awakening Rank.
Siül’s rank had genuinely increased, and he himself recognized it through the transformed Mana surging within him.
‘What exactly is this Quest System…….’
He’d dismissed it as nothing more than the Judgment Dragon’s mischief.
But for that, it was far too elaborate a mechanism.
To offer a Re-awakening to a man destined to die in six months—it seemed almost perverse.
And a recurring Quest meant endless opportunities for that very thing, didn’t it?
‘Why are you giving me this power…?’
Siül couldn’t fathom the Judgment Dragon’s intent.
Then, in that moment, a chill pierced through Siül’s mind—sudden and absolute.
It felt as though someone had reached into his consciousness itself.
And his voice—the creature’s voice—resonated directly in Siül’s skull.
— Do not die until your Death Date.
— Fight with that monstrous body of yours.
— You can grow stronger still.
— Grow stronger and stronger, until……
Siül’s lips trembled.
— Come and kill me.
The Terminal Hunter Continues to Survive
Author |
Klutzmats
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Chief Editor |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks
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G720:N+A063-20260731071
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@dreambookss
Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dreambooks.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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