Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 31

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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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31
“But what is that? A wand?”
Bae Na-young asked Jae-in.
“Oh, I bought a bunch of items to study magical engravings, and that’s one of them. It had a curse on it, so I got it cheap, but I can’t do anything with it because I can’t break the curse.”
“A curse?”
“The person who sold it said it makes you lose your reason, but I’m not sure exactly what kind of curse it is.”
After fiddling with the clothes for a while, I turned my head at the sound of their conversation.
Something looked familiar, so I examined the wand more carefully. It was longer than a typical wand but shorter than a staff. Even without getting close to its serpent-wrapped form, I felt a malevolent aura emanating from it.
“Ah!”
I gasped without thinking as recognition struck me. It was the wand Bae Na-young used when she was a villain in her past life.
Did the curse on this thing turn her into a villain? Given how turbulent Bae Na-young’s life had been, I couldn’t fathom what incident had led to that transformation.
“President, have you seen this before?”
As I stood there entranced, Jae-in asked.
“Yes. I’ve seen something similar before.”
I approached the wand and reached out my hand.
“Wait?! You can’t touch it! The curse will—”
“It should be fine. Lee Ji-seok can resist curses.”
Bae Na-young stepped in to stop Jae-in.
The moment I lifted the wand, my mind rippled like when I’d faced the Fairy Queen. Then I heard a whisper.
‘Lim Sung-jun, you’re letting that bastard off with just prison? He’ll get out and touch your mother again. Let’s go to prison and kill him. I’ll help you.’
‘Jae-in looks down on you. She told you to take it slow, right? But she probably spent tens of billions because she wanted to go fast. You’ve already gotten the items you need anyway, so just kill her.’
The voice didn’t merely speak to me—it interfered with my mind itself. Even though I knew intellectually that this was a curse and not reality, rage and anxiety crashed over me like a tidal wave.
I slapped my own face hard, the sound sharp and clear.
“…This thing seems to corrupt people into evil. Bae Na-young’s Blind is almost ineffective now, so seeing this level of power, it must be an A-rank curse or higher.”
I spoke while wiping blood from my lips.
“Then put it down quickly!”
Jae-in fidgeted nervously beside me.
“No, this is perfect. It’s not beyond my control, so I’ll take it for training purposes.”
“No, why would you use something cursed for training!”
I said it was fine and left the Workshop as is. Jae-in’s expression turned bewildered.
* * *
Starting the next day, I carried the wand through Gates while also testing the new suit. Whenever I spotted an Ogre, I swung my fist—wand and all—at it. As a result, the wand kept colliding with the Ogres.
It sounded like it might be cracking, but it was incredibly durable and didn’t break. At this rate, it could work as a blunt weapon.
Each time it struck, I heard screams echoing from somewhere distant.
When I used the suit’s levitation magic to move, I lightened my body. This increased my movement speed, and when attacking, I canceled the levitation to plant my feet firmly on the ground before striking the monsters.
Thanks to the suit, my hunting efficiency improved noticeably.
The problem was the wand.
‘That woman’s annoying, right? Just because her face is somewhat decent, she keeps dragging you into problems. Kill her. You’re inside a Gate. No one will know. You’ve already gotten everything you need, haven’t you?’
‘You’re not harvesting mana stones? Hwagok Recovery Service? Yang President? They’re stealing your money. Where in this world can you find someone to trust? Kill them all! You have the power to do it now, don’t you?’
Even though I knew the wand’s whispers were lies, the curse’s influence made rage surge within me. I vented that fury onto the monsters as Bae Na-young and I cleared the Gate.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Ji-seok?”
Bae Na-young grew concerned watching my eyes darken from stress. After days of hunting while cursed, my mental state had deteriorated considerably.
“Don’t worry. I need to push through this to raise my skill levels. It’s better to train beforehand than to suffer in actual combat. I’m getting used to it now, so please use Blind more broadly alongside me.”
“Really?”
Bae Na-young asked worriedly, and I nodded.
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
..
..
[Resilient Spirit skill level has risen from C to B.]
After days of relentless Gate clearing while enduring two simultaneous curses, both my Awakened level and skill levels had risen.
“Hey, hey. Say something.”
As I adapted further, Wand spoke less and less. Once my Resilient Spirit skill rose, it barely spoke at all.
“Do more. Hey. Hey.”
I smacked Wand repeatedly against the rock.
‘That… stop… stop!!’
For the first time, words other than curses emerged.
“Huh? It can speak beyond curses. Does it have a sense of self?”
‘Stop this at once! I am not a toy!’
“You’re not a toy, but you are a cursed item.”
‘How much energy have I poured into you, and you won’t even kill a single human! There’s no return! If you won’t use me, pass me to someone else!’
“Ah, the curse was weakening, so it needed some kind of compensation.”
I made weak acidic blood seep from my palm instead of sweat.
‘Aaaahhh! Stop! Stop!’
The surface of Wand melted under my acidic blood.
“Hey, do more. More. Cast a curse on me.”
I struck Wand against the rock repeatedly.
‘I will curse you! My kin will kill you! Graaahhh…’
Along with the curse echoing in my mind, a layer of Wand’s surface crumbled away like dust.
Its shape remained unchanged, but the color itself had transformed. Where it once felt wrapped in a dark aura, it now gleamed with a lustrous violet hue.
* * *
“Jae-in, I think the curse is gone from this. Can you verify it?”
I returned to the Workshop with Wand in hand.
“Huh? How? It was an item where identifying what was applied made curse removal difficult….”
Jae-in put on her monocle and examined the item. Jae-in had continued crafting items and recently acquired an Appraisal skill. With this skill, she could identify not just curses but also item properties and stats. While many people around me easily gain and level skills, such occurrences are actually rare. It’s simply that I’m surrounded by talented monsters like Bae Na-young and Jae-in.
“Really… it is. I don’t see any curse. Where….”
Confirming Wand was safe, she picked it up.
“It’s definitely gone. How did you do that?”
“I just kept getting cursed, and it disappeared?”
“That’s… even possible? High-level curses like this don’t work even when you pour expensive holy water on them. Anyway, the curse removal is done and the item itself was already good quality, so you saved a fortune. This is an A-rank item. It significantly boosts magical abilities.”
As expected, it was a high-grade item.
“This should work well for Bae Na-young.”
“…That’s worth tens of billions of won.”
“Bae Na-young can pay me back once she earns more money later.”
* * *
“I can’t accept it….”
When I offered the wand to Bae Na-young, she unexpectedly refused.
“Why not?”
“I’m already drowning in debt from accepting so much. How can I take more? This is incredibly expensive, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not. I bought it for a pittance because it was cursed.”
“But now that the curse is broken, wouldn’t you make a fortune selling it?”
“Just take it. The stronger you and Yang Sang-heon become, the more help you’ll be to me anyway.”
I dropped the wand in front of her and left.
* * *
The wand’s power was formidable. The range, speed, and potency of Bae Na-young’s curse had all improved at least twofold. Equipment advantage was terrifying.
“Wow! This is amazing!”
Bae Na-young bounced with joy as she cast blindness on the ogre.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Hey! I appreciate it, but—! I’m going to die like this!”
While Bae Na-young and I were marveling at the wand, Yang Sang-heon was locked in combat with the ogre.
“Stop complaining. The ogre can’t even see with its eyes blinded.”
True to my words, the ogre was swinging its club wildly and haphazardly.
“My attacks barely do anything!”
Yang Sang-heon’s light-wrapped blade lacked sufficient cutting power, leaving only shallow wounds on the ogre’s body.
“Compress it more. Unless you want to die.”
Yang Sang-heon wasn’t ready for a one-on-one fight with an ogre yet, but with the blindness curse in effect and its strength deliberately reduced, it made for decent training.
I tore into jerky while watching Yang Sang-heon fight with desperate determination. Bae Na-young couldn’t take her eyes off the wand, utterly absorbed in examining it.
“Do I have to concentrate to keep the curse from breaking now?”
“Ah, no. Just a little attention should be fine.”
“You’re not going to help?!”
Yang Sang-heon cried out in despair, but I didn’t assist him.
Bae Na-young had grown strong enough to handle the ogre alone now, so Yang Sang-heon’s leveling and skill development took priority.
After hundreds of attacks, he’d gained technique—the shallow wounds gradually deepened. There was no fatal blow, but the ogre collapsed from blood loss.
“See? You can do it.”
“Huff…. Huff…”
Yang Sang-heon was too exhausted to respond, lying down and breathing heavily.
“At this pace, it’ll take a week. You two should go together from now on.”
“Huh? Will we be okay on our own?”
Bae Na-young asked in surprise.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t worry much even if Bae Na-young went alone. Give Yang Sang-heon plenty of chances to fight, and if things get dire, Bae Na-young can step in. See you later.”
I left the two of them behind and rushed through the Gate, cutting down every ogre I encountered. As my level rose, my stats increased significantly, and now even Twin-headed Ogres posed no problem.
After consecutive Gate expeditions, all three of us had leveled up considerably. To gain levels safely, hunting monsters slightly stronger than myself would be more prudent, but that wouldn’t develop real strength. True growth comes in moments of crisis.
Thanks to this, Yang Sang-heon’s level had risen substantially, and his Light Sword skill had advanced a tier, allowing him to land meaningful attacks even against ogres.
Moreover, from repeatedly dodging for his life, he’d acquired an Acceleration skill upon leveling up. While I was an infighter who struck while taking hits, Yang Sang-heon had become an outboxer—evading swiftly and attacking with precision.
“I’ve lost count of how many potions I’ve drunk.”
“Running short on potion money? Want me to cover it?”
“Come on, you and Bae Na-young have been giving me Gate rides. I should be the one paying. Besides, I’m making decent money helping Father with his work.”
Yang Sang-heon raised both hands in refusal at my offer. He and Bae Na-young had grown close hunting together, treating each other like older and younger siblings. Despite only a year’s age difference between them.
“Alright then.”
As I exited the Gate and handed the recovery tracker to the Hwagok Recovery Service employees, Yang President’s expression looked troubled.
“President, is something wrong?”
“Ji-seok, I’m sorry about this. Payment might be delayed a bit.”
“Take your time. I’m not in a rush for money. But what’s happened?”
Since payment had never been late before, something felt off.
“Well, you see… there’s been a small dispute with our material supplier. The materials themselves are fine, but they’re finding fault with everything. And they’re refusing to pay for goods already delivered, using absurd excuses.”
“Can’t you sell to another supplier?”
“It seems like collusion—other suppliers won’t even start dealing with us. Probably because we’ve grown so much recently, they’re trying to squeeze more money out of us. I could tolerate some losses, but it’s gotten excessive lately.”
“Is that so? Would you like me to come along once?”
“Oh no, don’t trouble yourself. I’ll go and handle it properly.”
Yet Yang President’s complexion worsened with each passing day. The abuse of power seemed worse than expected—funds were tied up and materials were simply piling in the warehouse.
“President, don’t do this alone. Let’s go together.”
We’d already grown close through our connection, and I didn’t want to pretend ignorance.
“Ji-seok, I appreciate it. But several large corporations have a stranglehold on material distribution, so I’m not sure it’ll help.”
I visited the material supplier with the President.

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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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