Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 22

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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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22
Exhausted from the fierce combat, I lay there for a moment, unable to muster the strength to push the Twin Head away.
“Lee Ji-seok! Are you alright?!”
Bae Na-young rushed over and tried to move the Twin Head with all her strength, but there was no way she could budge the massive creature that seemed to weigh over a ton.
“I’m fine. Please step back.”
I shoved the Twin Head’s corpse aside and flipped it over. My strength had increased again with the level up—now at 50. I could easily lift one to two tons.
“Lee Ji-seok, your body has shrunk again.”
Bae Na-young turned away, her face flushed red. Looking down at myself, my clothes were in tatters, hanging half off my body.
“I must have burned too much energy and lost my transformation. Could you grab my bag?”
“Of course.”
I pulled out spare clothes from the bag and changed, then we split some rations between us.
“I was shocked to see a Twin Head appear.”
Bae Na-young spoke while resting beside me.
“Anything can happen inside a Gate.”
“Still, thanks to you, my level went up quite a bit.”
“Really?”
“I’m at level 10 now.”
“Already?”
So this is what they meant by getting carried through a dungeon. Her level had been climbing steadily just from the curse skills.
It was slower than my progression, but still quite rapid. Of course, stats and level aren’t absolute measures of strength. There are Hunters who display formidable power even at lower levels and stats.
“I also acquired a new skill. It’s called Corruption.”
Bae Na-young spoke with slight disappointment. She seemed frustrated that it was another curse skill. Acquiring additional skills was already rare, and yet another curse skill on top of that. It benefited me, but she clearly wasn’t pleased about accumulating so many curse-type abilities.
“A new skill is still great. What does it do?”
“It decays and corrodes enemies, causing them to continuously lose vitality.”
Brutal. How did all her skills end up so vicious? Blind combined with Corruption formed a formula for mass slaughter—stripped of all senses, slowly rotting away until death.
“That’s perfect. Let’s practice together sometime.”
Memories of my past life sent a chill down my spine, but I kept it hidden and spoke warmly.
* * *
Today I planned to spend time crafting armor.
I’d put it off because I hadn’t worried about it when traveling alone or with Yang Sang-heon, but after one Gate expedition with Bae Na-young, I realized I needed to pay more attention to my equipment.
Cheap protective gear kept falling apart. But wearing high-quality armor wouldn’t help my skill development.
So I needed special armor, and I knew someone from my past life who was called a master in item crafting.
I didn’t know his exact location, but by now he was probably working as a day laborer.
“Yang President, I’m trying to find a day laborer named Park Jae-in. He’s in his late twenties.”
I called Yang Sang-heon’s father. When it came to finding day laborers, no one was better than Yang President, who regularly hired them.
“Are you looking to hire him for personal use?”
“Something like that.”
“But why specifically this person?”
“I heard good things about him before. And I have a favor to ask.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment. When do you need him?”
“I’d appreciate it if we could start today if possible. Cost isn’t an issue.”
After hanging up, I waited about an hour before a call came from an unknown number.
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok, I’m calling because you need a porter.”
“Yes, I’ll send you the address. Could you come over?”
After giving the address and waiting, a short, slight man entered through the door.
“I’m here.”
Since I recognized his face, I raised my hand first to acknowledge him.
“Um… Hunter Lee Ji-seok?”
“Yes. Please, have a seat.”
“Um… this isn’t a Gate, is it?”
I had called him to the Neighborhood Cafe.
“Right. I’ll pay you daily wages, so please sit down.”
“Well… whatever suits you.”
“I’m working on a project and need some people. Could you tell me about Park Jae-in’s skills?”
“My skills? They’re not helpful in combat at all…”
“That’s fine, just tell me.”
“Well… yes. My class is Elementalist. I can create fire and wind, or manipulate water and earth.”
Just hearing it, the abilities sounded incredibly impressive, but his face as he explained them wasn’t particularly bright.
“But… the range has to be close to my hands.”
Jae-in answered while bowing his head deeply.
That was a fatal weakness for a Hunter who used magic. Well, if used skillfully, it could be useful, but looking at him, his timid personality made it difficult for him to approach monsters within arm’s reach and fight. And even if he fixed his personality, with defense stats at the level of a typical ranged mage, one mistake meant game over.
“I see. How long have you been working as a porter?”
“About two years.”
“What did you do before being a porter?”
“I was a graduate student majoring in chemistry.”
I was certain I’d found the right person.
“Do you do long-term contracts?”
“…How long-term?”
“A five-year contract.”
“Five years?!”
“Yes, I’ll pay you double the porter daily wage. That comes to about 200 million won annually. Monday through Friday, eight hours a day, with four major insurance benefits, annual leave, and sick days included. Oh, and there’s a performance bonus too.”
Since porter work isn’t daily and you don’t get paid when sick, it’s actually far more than double the money.
“What? Yes? Why? Me?”
My offer was so generous that Jae-in placed both hands on the table and leaned his head toward me.
“I have my own reasons for needing an Elementalist. The choice is yours, Jae-in.”
In my past life, Jae-in obtained the grand-sounding job of Elementalist and dreamed of being a Hunter, but due to an absurdly short range and his timid personality, he worked as a porter for a long time before losing both legs. After wallowing in despair for a while, he works as a laborer under an item craftsman, where he blooms with talent and becomes the most skilled craftsman in Korea.
“Could I think about it and let you know?”
“Of course. Take today’s wages and the contract with you. I’ll give you one day.”
Jae-in, suspicious yet hopeful, pocketed the daily wages and contract.
* * *
It didn’t take even a full day for Park Jae-in to contact me, and I called him to my house right away.
“If I sign the contract, my job is guaranteed for five years, right?”
Park Jae-in asked while sipping the tea I’d given him.
“That’s correct.”
“But… is this contract written correctly? I’m not a craftsman.”

The contract specified that I would provide materials and he would craft items from them.
“From now on, you’ll work as a craftsman.”
“But… what am I supposed to know to become a craftsman?”
Park Jae-in stared at me with a bewildered expression.
“Start as an apprentice first. During your free time from the apprenticeship, I’ll provide you with a workshop so you can practice as well.”
Since Park Jae-in had no experience whatsoever, simply providing materials wouldn’t be enough, so I’d paid a substantial sum to place him as an apprentice under a craftsman at another workshop.
“I’ll do it since you’re paying, but don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out.”
Park Jae-in said this while signing the contract.
After working as a porter for about two years, you become so parched you’d drink poison just to quench your thirst. I knew this well from experience. Besides, this wasn’t poison. He’d probably spent the entire day reading through the contract word by word.
While Park Jae-in was apprenticing at another craftsman’s workshop, Yang President procured the ogre hide I’d hunted, the tools necessary for processing, and the recipe. With his extensive connections, he fulfilled every request immediately.
I was receiving considerable help not just in recovering magic stones and auxiliary materials, but in many other ways as well.
At the same time, I hired construction workers to build a proper workshop on the vacant lot next to my house.
“When crafting, try using your skills instead of tools. Use fire magic for fuel, manipulate water for cooling—that sort of thing. It’ll be difficult at first, but eventually you’ll find it much more efficient.”
In my previous life, Park Jae-in had made a name for himself as a craftsman by leveraging Elementalist skills.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Perhaps because of the habit I’d developed as a graduate student of listening to my professors, he worked diligently at whatever I instructed him to do.
“This… it actually works…”
With so much to handle outside of Gate operations, I was enjoying a rare vacation and spending time at home when Park Jae-in came to me carrying his first piece of armor made from ogre hide.
After just a few days of apprenticeship and tinkering away in the temporary workshop, he’d already brought me a finished product. Even though it was a simple recipe, the fact that he’d produced a satisfactory item in such a short time proved he was no ordinary craftsman.
The ogre hide chest armor was a D-rank item, far superior in defense to the cheap F-rank protection gear I’d been using. While high defense wasn’t something I particularly needed, I continued providing various armor recipes and materials to develop Park Jae-in’s understanding and skill in armor crafting.
“Next, try making armor from fairy wings. I’ll keep supplying materials, so continue practicing.”
“Yes…”
Park Jae-in took the fairy wings I offered and headed into the workshop.
* * *
“Lee Ji-seok, we can’t source fairy wings. What should we do?”
“What? Why not?”
I’d requested Yang President to purchase them in bulk, so something must have gone wrong.
“Foreign guilds are hoarding them for research, so the prices have skyrocketed. If it were just the price increase, we could manage somehow, but they’ve made direct contracts with hunters and won’t sell to us at all.”
“Then there’s no choice.”
I’d have to obtain them myself. I searched the Hunter App for Gates and subjugation quests.
Hearing that fairies were being discovered in large quantities in a subjugation quest in what was once North Korea, I registered for the quest.
“I’ll be gone for a few days, but keep working. Materials will keep arriving.”
“Yes…”
In just a few days, Park Jae-in’s face had taken on a pallid, waxy appearance.
“Park Jae-in… you work only eight hours a day, so why do you look so exhausted?”
“Once I got into it, it became fun. I thought I could create even better items than what I just made, so I couldn’t stop myself.”
Park Jae-in had always possessed a researcher’s temperament, so once I provided materials and a workshop, he threw himself into the work without reservation.
“…Thank you for your hard work.”
Compared to the abilities I knew he would possess in the future, I felt a twinge of guilt for hiring him so cheaply. But seeing him work with such enthusiasm put my mind at ease. I would make sure to give him a generous performance bonus later.
* * *
When the Gate Break catastrophe occurred in the past, North Korea couldn’t withstand it and collapsed. I thought Korea and China would scramble to occupy the vacant territory, but in reality, neither nation had the resources to claim new lands.
North Korea’s abundance of mountains and forests meant that reclaiming territory required grinding through Hunters, making it far more difficult than other regions.
What was interesting was that China had even fewer resources than Korea. China was too busy dealing with the endless Gates erupting across its territory and controlling its own Hunters.
Thanks to this, the Korean Government periodically pushed northward from the 38th Parallel, gradually reclaiming North Korean territory. Bit by bit.
The subjugation mission I had requested this time fell within the same context.
We would push forward the defensive line and establish a new one.
“Combat Unit One, assemble at A4 Zone.”
At the soldier’s command, the Hunters moved, and I proceeded to A4 Zone as well.
“As you’ve already been briefed, we will advance one kilometer while maintaining this formation. Please keep the line intact.”
The command center relayed the commander’s orders through the Hunters’ earpieces. Such methods couldn’t be used in human-to-human warfare, but monsters couldn’t intercept or jam communications, making it invaluable.

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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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