A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 23

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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 23.
“Screeeech!!”
A swarm of gargoyles spread their wings in unison and hurled themselves forward.
Stone dust scattered through the air, and the sound of their wings struck his ears.
“Stay back. Do I-hyeon, you handle only the monsters that stray outside my combat range. Got it?”
“Yes! Understood!”
Si-ul barked out his instructions and launched himself forward.
【Skill ‘Dungeon Dash’ activates.】
Boom!
With a deafening crack like the ground splitting open, Si-ul’s body surged forward.
The Speed Amplification Potion and Strength Enhancement Potion were both working in concert.
The movement was far too swift and sharp to be human.
Screeeee!
In the moment the gargoyle’s talons raked the wall, Si-ul had already sidestepped past.
The A-rank Longsword traced its arc, severing the gargoyle’s neck.
Then two more, three more in succession.
The gargoyles fell from the air in pieces, unable to mount a proper counterattack.
“Wow….”
Watching from behind, Do I-hyeon could only marvel.
Now he understood why Si-ul had earned the nickname “Monster Hunter” in the industry lately.
Si-ul, catching that reaction, let out a quiet laugh.
‘Nothing to be shocked about. This is all potion-fueled. The real monster body here isn’t me—it’s you.’
That was when a gargoyle in the blind spot shifted direction.
Its target wasn’t Si-ul, but Do I-hyeon standing behind him.
“Do I-hyeon!”
By the time Si-ul shouted the warning, the gargoyle had already closed the distance to Do I-hyeon’s face.
Gleaming talons, wind-like speed.
Any ordinary Hunter would have taken a fatal blow.
“Ugh!”
But Do I-hyeon’s body moved on instinct alone.
Though his stance was clumsy and awkward, he slipped past the attack by the narrowest of margins, the gargoyle’s talons missing him by a hair’s breadth.
“Hah…!”
Having barely escaped the danger, Do I-hyeon rolled across the floor and scrambled back to his feet.
Watching him, Si-ul smiled.
‘An A-rank Awakened, all right. Managing high-speed evasion from a stance that sloppy—impressive.’
Do I-hyeon himself had no idea what had just happened.
‘Insane… it’s way too fast…!’
Do I-hyeon breathed hard, his eyes wide and vacant as he looked around.
‘Are even the mobs in an A-rank Dungeon this strong…?’
As the tension drained from him, his mind went blank for an instant.
That was when Si-ul’s sharp voice cut through the air.
“Wake up!”
Do I-hyeon turned his head too late.
Another gargoyle was charging straight at him.
This time his reaction had been far too slow.
There was no time to dodge.
“Ungh!”
Do I-hyeon wrapped his arms around his head and curled into a ball.
An instinctive defensive posture born of pure terror.
But then, in that moment—
Whoooosh—!
A violent cyan-green flame erupted from empty air.
The gargoyle’s form burned away in the searing heat.
“Huh?”
Do I-hyeon lifted his head in shock.
There was nothing before him.
‘What? There was definitely fire just now…’
Do I-hyeon spun around with a bewildered expression, searching the empty space.
“Good boy.”
Si-ul’s praise would soon turn into dog treats.
It was Zero who had just defeated the Gargoyle using Fire Magic.
“King!”
In fact, Zero had been at Do I-hyeon’s side from the moment they entered the dungeon.
Moving like a shadow in an invisible state, Zero trailed after him.
— Your mission today is to protect Do I-hyeon.
Having received Si-ul’s orders, Zero was faithfully carrying out the role of shielding the promising young Hunter.
‘Did Si-ul stop that? I couldn’t see anything at all….’
Do I-hyeon’s gaze, mixing confusion with awe, turned toward Si-ul.
At that same moment, Si-ul moved to end the battle once and for all.
【The Footprint Mine skill activates.】
The detonation devices he had embedded in the ground, infused with mana.
Gargoyles had the trait of flying through the air, which made the Footprint Mine skill seem pointless, but Si-ul saw it differently.
‘All I have to do is force it to the ground.’
He shot forward, seized the Gargoyle by the nape of its neck, and hurled it downward with all his strength.
Boom! Boom—! Crash—!!
The entire swarm of Gargoyles breathed their last in the minefield.
“Phew.”
Si-ul caught his breath and turned to look at Do I-hyeon.
“I deliberately left one for you. Still find it frightening?”
Only then did Do I-hyeon understand that Si-ul had offered him the chance to fight.
“I’m sorry! I should have fought more aggressively…!”
Si-ul stepped closer to Do I-hyeon and extended his hand.
When Do I-hyeon took it, Si-ul pulled him up with a powerful grip and dusted off the dirt clinging to his backside.
“Do you know why the industry values a Hunter’s experience more than their Awakening rank, even by partner standards?”
“Huh? Oh, no. I’m not sure.”
“It’s because of situations like just now.”
Si-ul gestured around the chamber, now littered only with the remains of the Gargoyle swarm.
“When you face a Monster, the courage to charge without flinching. And the practical sense to know how to attack effectively, how to dodge efficiently. That matters enormously.”
Do I-hyeon listened intently, his eyes bright.
“I’m still a far from perfect Hunter myself. But at least I’ve cultivated the mindset to fight. I hope you’ll develop that same mindset too.”
Si-ul gave Do I-hyeon a light tap on the chest, then walked forward once more.
“Come on. This isn’t a rest zone yet. I don’t humor complaints.”
From Si-ul’s retreating figure, numerous resolves seemed to emanate.
A heart that feared no Monster.
A spirit that shrank from no battle.
Above all, an attitude as if death were always walking at his side.
‘He’s truly impressive…!’
A chill that even armor could not block rippled across Do I-hyeon’s entire body.
In that moment, he became certain: the true teacher he wanted to learn from was this man.
“Si-ul! Let’s go together!”
Do I-hyeon smiled broadly and broke into a run to chase after Si-ul.
Following in his footsteps had somehow become a source of joy for the boy.
* * *
“This is tedious.”
Government Special Hunter Headquarters.
Inside an office without windows, only the dry sound of pages turning echoed beneath dim lighting.
Baek Ga-hyeon paused while swiping through the Tablet screen and pressed her forehead.
“The investigation is ongoing… but I’m not getting anything substantive.”
Her voice carried frustration and exhaustion.
“All the testimony is identical, everything crucial is blank. Everything after the Black Gate is just murky….”
Her gaze shifted to the figure across from her.
Kang Ho-chul was leaning against the desk, casually crossing his arms as he reviewed the materials.
“Can’t be helped. They say they can’t discuss anything related to the Black Gate anyway.”
Kang Ho-chul set down the documents and added quietly,
“The most frustrated person right now probably isn’t us—it’s Si-ul.”
Baek Ga-hyeon knew this too; clinging to an investigation that went nowhere was something the body rejected first.
“I’m taking back what I said about this being an interesting assignment. Interesting? It’s just been one endless psychological game that goes nowhere.”
Baek Ga-hyeon stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Then an old memory suddenly surfaced.
“If David hadn’t left that final message ten years ago, would we be floundering even worse by now?”
Kang Ho-chul chuckled at the words, his eyes creasing at the corners.
“That would’ve been it, then.”
It was a famous anecdote.
Ten years prior, humanity’s first Raid into an SSS-rank Dungeon.
Only one Hunter walked out alive—David.
He never spoke a word about anything he saw inside.
He answered every interview and interrogation with silence.
Then, just before his death, he left the world with a single sentence.
〈The curse magic I received in the SSS-rank Dungeon carries a seal forbidding information disclosure—breaking it means death.〉
That dying testament answered people’s long-standing questions.
Why every survivor of an SSS-rank Dungeon had remained silent.
Why they remembered yet refused to explain.
“Thanks to that testament, we caught on to Si-ul’s condition rather quickly,” Baek Ga-hyeon said.
Kang Ho-chul nodded slowly.
“The Black Gate Si-ul got caught in must have been an SSS-rank Dungeon.”
“Overseas research facilities reached the same conclusion after examining the Mana concentration readings.”
After a brief silence, Baek Ga-hyeon abruptly voiced a question.
“But here’s the thing.”
“Hmm?”
“What on earth did Si-ul experience in there that’s making him rush like this?”
Kang Ho-chul’s eyes narrowed.
“Rush?”
“Dungeon raids.”
Baek Ga-hyeon tapped one of the documents.
It was a record sheet containing Si-ul’s recent Raid performance.
“This is practically obsessive. He’s clearing at least one Dungeon per week, and he’s steadily raising the difficulty each time.”
The impression was unmistakable—he was running Raids as if chased by time itself.
Kang Ho-chul mulled over Baek Ga-hyeon’s words before his thoughts shifted in a different direction.
“I’m more curious about what comes after, actually.”
Baek Ga-hyeon blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“If he’s steadily raising Dungeon difficulty, that means in reverse—he’s getting stronger at that same pace.”
Baek Ga-hyeon drew in a sharp breath and looked back down at the records.
There was no denying it.
Si-ul’s growth curve was extraordinarily abnormal.
Rather than praising his Raid prowess, the proper response was to question how he managed to break his own records every single time.
“He’s growing at a rate that’s astonishing with each passing day.”
Kang Ho-chul’s lips curved upward.
“That’s greed talking.”
Baek Ga-hyeon wrinkled her brow in dismay.
“Don’t tell me you’re still hoping to bring Si-ul in as a Special Hunter?”
Kang Ho-chul answered without hesitation.
“No.”
Baek Ga-hyeon exhaled in relief, grateful for the reprieve.
She’d worried his hobby of mentoring juniors was flaring up again.
But Korean always required hearing the full sentence through to the end.
“There’s no need to bring him in.”
“…Sorry?”
Kang Ho-chul spoke with the cold certainty of prophecy.
“He’ll walk through that door on his own. To achieve his goal, he won’t have any choice. You know that yourself, don’t you?”
The goal Si-ul had revealed to them both.
His resolve to conquer an SSS-rank Dungeon echoed suddenly in her ears.
……
Baek Ga-hyeon said nothing.
Kang Ho-chul was right.
* * *
“This is the Dungeon Mid-zone,” Si-ul announced, surveying the surroundings.
Corridors branched outward in all directions, and a wide chamber where staircases leading up and down intersected.
The perfect position to secure combat vectors and establish retreat routes.
It was an ideal location for tactical preparation.
“I’m going to set up a barrier here.”
Do I-hyeon, speaking as though from experience, outlined the next phase of the plan.
“While Hunter Si-ul ventures into the Boss Chamber, I’ll wait inside the barrier, correct?”
The words came out matter-of-factly, yet there was an unmistakable hollowness beneath them.
Do I-hyeon knew this pattern well.
Every partner Hunter he’d worked with thus far had taken him only to the Dungeon Mid-zone.
The inner regions connected to the Boss Chamber, after all, and the danger spiked accordingly.
‘I wish I could go just a little deeper….’
There was always that ache of longing in him.
Not all the way to the Boss Chamber itself—but to the chamber just before it, where he might sense the dungeon boss’s Mana, its presence like a distant hum at the edge of awareness.
“Want to go deeper?”
Si-ul’s sudden question caught Do I-hyeon off guard, and his shoulders tensed.
“What? No, no! I’ve had plenty of experience already, and waiting here is the right call!”
He forced the denial out, unwilling to seem childish or ungrateful.
Given the rare opportunity he’d been granted, it wouldn’t be right to ask for more.
But Si-ul studied his face for a long moment, then tilted his head.
“How many Gargoyles did you take down today?”
“…What?”
Do I-hyeon began to count on his fingers, and his face flushed crimson.
“Half a one… well, that doesn’t even count as a full meal, does it…?”
Si-ul said nothing.
“I’m sorry. Zero. It was zero.”
Do I-hyeon bowed his head, shame washing over him.
Then Si-ul laughed.
“Then we can’t stop here.”
“…?”
“You came out for a dungeon raid and didn’t catch a single Monster? That’s not training—that’s wasted time.”
Do I-hyeon’s eyes widened even as his cheeks flushed with renewed determination.
“But….”
“What’s legally forbidden for prospects is only the Boss Chamber itself.”
Si-ul recited the guidelines from the handbook he’d received from the liaison officer.
“They don’t recommend going past the chamber’s entrance, but it’s not a prohibited zone.”
Do I-hyeon’s eyes went wide.
“You’d really take me that far?”
Si-ul shrugged, a smile playing at his lips.
“But if you reach the inner region and still don’t catch a single Gargoyle, then I’ll have to punish you for it.”
Do I-hyeon’s face blazed with sudden brightness.
He clenched his fist and shouted with pure conviction.
“Thank you! I’ll really give it my all this time!!”
Lifespan-Limited Hunter Continues to Survive
Author |
Klutsmats
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
Address |
7F, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260731071
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
[email protected]
The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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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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