Status.
[Kim Dojin — Hunter B‑Rank]
HP: 32/100
Skills.
[Basic Swordsmanship Lv.5], [Enhanced Stamina Lv.4]
Hidden Skills.
[<< ERROR >>]
Death Inheritance Count.
[0]
Stone hit my shoulder. Pain flared. Dust filled my mouth. The Gate smelled of wet earth and rot. Roots struck the ground and knocked men down. People fell with sharp, animal sounds. I learned which sounds meant bone.
Minsu coughed to my left. Her shoulder moved in thin breaths. Her palms were slippery with blood.
A ledger field on my HUD listed an account.
_
[SISTEM: SISTER: LEE‑HAE. NEXT PAYMENT DUE: 6 DAYS. AMOUNT: 1,200,000 CREDIT.]
DETAILS: PERSONAL ACCOUNT ALERT.
——————————
The digits held steady like an accusation.
We were six in the party. A breaker, two DPS, a mage, a healer, and me. We should have been seven. The missing slot decided outcomes.
"Hold the line!" the breaker ordered. His voice had been torn by too many Gates.
The support's hands went blue and stopped. Her spell failed mid‑shape. She pitched forward. The mage swore and miscast a rune. A root found a calf and hooked it.
If she died, the chest would shut and the boss would heal. If she lived, the chest would open for a second. That second allowed a blade to reach a heart.
My fingers found her wrist because my hands do a set of tasks the world expects. Flesh was hot and slick. Her pulse fluttered.
"Hold," I said. My voice was dry.
Her eyes opened. "Doji—" she started, then coughed until it was only a sound.
_
[SISTEM: FUTURE SIGHT LV.1 — ACTIVATED. SIDEFFECT: TRAUMA ECHO. REGISTERED TO: KIM DOJIN. TTL: BRIEF.]
DETAILS: FUTURE SIGHT PROVIDES PRECISION MOTION PREDICTION. TRAUMA ECHO ATTACHED.
——————————
Images ran through my head in a mechanical sequence. FUTURE SIGHT drew motion frames. Rae's knee would slip at the third step. The root would catch the edge of stone. Bone would meet rock at a specific angle. A breath would leave the boss. The ribs would separate a hair's width. The window would exist and then be gone.
A memory pushed in with the vision. Not mine. Fruit and coal in a cramped room. A woman coughing while laughing. A child pressing his face to a sleeve. A cup tilting and falling. Metal cold against skin. The image lodged in my skull and did not leave.
I swayed. The breaker shoved a root aside with his shoulder. Someone shoved hard and the support stayed standing. She coughed and stared at me with wet, surprised eyes.
Death Inheritance Count.
[1]
Hidden Skills.
[Future Sight Lv.1] — Passive Support. SideEffect: Trauma Echo.
I pressed my palm to my temple. The memory sat under the skin of thought. It would not go. Night would be long. A pressure grew under my ribs.
We finished the boss fast and messy. It collapsed and stopped moving. Men cheered. Cameras clipped angles and posted the run with our names. The System updated the mission record.
No line recorded the memory in my head.
Outside, the city smelled of frying oil and rain. Neon lit wet stone. Minsu tied a cloth to her arm and gave me a small, shaking thanks. Rae limped by with a dark smear on her thigh. The breaker spat and tried to drown the sound of the Gate in his laugh.
I sat on a crate and watched the ledger on my pad. The amount blinked. My sister's name flashed.
I had sold a tool belt last month. I had worked three double shifts. The clinic needed money. The math was a weight in my chest.
The pad did not care. It only showed due dates.
Two days later the board posted a mid‑tier Boss contract. The payout was high. The risk was higher. The guild posted a practical lineup. My name read as "additional support."
They listed time windows, expected damage, cooldowns. I did the arithmetic and the numbers were ugly.
We entered the Gate with practiced moves. The boss stood on a slope of dirt and roots. It moved with a heavy pattern. The breaker took blunt force. The mage set precise wards. The healer kept heads together. I stayed where they told me to, behind the front, ready to fix and steady.
_
[SISTEM: CHOICE OFFERED — FUTURE SIGHT REGISTERED. SAVE THRESHOLD: ONE LIFE. OPTION: SAVE (CONSUME 50% HP NOW) / WATCH (INHERIT). TTL: 8S.]
DETAILS: HUD TARGET LOCKED ON: RAE. SAVE COST = 50% MAX HP. WATCH COST = CORRUPTY INCREASE.
——————————
The HUD pointed at Rae on a narrow ledge. She would misstep. SAVE would eat half my HP. WATCH would add another inheritance and another trauma echo.
They teach courage. They do not teach ledgers.
The scene replayed in my head. Rae's knee would clip the edge. A root would stop her. Bone would hit stone. The chest would open for one clean second. A blade could end it.
My mind pulled the sister account into view.
_
[SISTEM: SISTER: LEE‑HAE. NEXT PAYMENT DUE: 4 DAYS. AMOUNT: 1,180,000 CREDIT.]
DETAILS: PERSONAL ACCOUNT UPDATE.
——————————
I ran the numbers. I made a calculation. I chose WATCH.
No flash. No fanfare. A body hit stone. The sound punched my gut. The breaker cursed and shoved with full force. Runes flared. A blade moved into the seam. The boss stopped.
Silence pressed into the space. Rae breathed in and out, ragged. She looked at me. Her eyes held a small, useless thanks.
Death Inheritance Count.
[2]
Hidden Skills.
[Future Sight Lv.1] — Passive Support (stack). SideEffect: Trauma Echo (stacking).
Memories came in a rush. A courtyard where a man counted ration tickets. A boy with a bird. A face split open. Bargaining words in a tongue I could not form. Sewer smell mixed with peppermint. Cold metal on the tongue. A lullaby I had never heard.
The images did not come neat. They came raw. My HUD showed my HP trembling.
The payout posted. Credits moved into the guild account and filtered. The number on my pad was small against what I needed. I had taken something that no market bought. I carried other people's last rooms. They lodged in me and waited.
Outside the guild, men smoked and tried to look calm. I kept my head down. I counted coin and memory. The System recorded choices. It looked for patterns.
I thought of my sister under lights that smelled like bleach. I thought of the digits on the pad. I thought of the small kitchen where someone laughed while coughing. The choice I made would bleed me over time.
The next morning I walked to the clinic.
_
[SISTEM: PERSONAL ACCOUNT BALANCE: 0. UNPAID AMOUNTS: 1,180,000 CREDIT. PAYMENT WINDOW: 4 DAYS.]
DETAILS: ALERT. PRIORITY: HIGH.
——————————
Lee‑Hae sat by the window on a thin chair. She stood when she saw me and frowned at my hands. "You look tired," she said. Her voice came out thin. She breathed measured air.
"Got extra work," I said. I did not tell her. Truth did not add oxygen to an IV.
I moved numbers on the pad. I scheduled transfers that would keep the clinic supplied for one more week. One IV bag. One day of oxygen. One small window.
I told myself the memory I had taken would be useful. Maybe it would open a door. Maybe the skill would find money. I told myself things. They did not buy hospital time.
Back at the guild that night there was talk. An investigator had asked questions. Two feeds linked a Hunter to multiple death scenes. The Association logged my name into a column.
A message waited in my inbox.
_
[SISTEM: REQUEST: MEET — INVESTIGATOR KIM H. TIME: 20:00. LOCATION: HQ.]
DETAILS: ASSOCIATION REQUEST. ATTENDANCE RECOMMENDED.
——————————
The System keeps receipts. People keep lists.
I washed my hands until the skin tightened. The memory under my ribs shifted. Night would be loud.
The investigator met me on time. He had the posture of a man who read reports for a living. His face carried the patience of someone paid to wait.
"You were at three drops this week," he said. "Patterns repeat."
"I was there," I said. My voice stayed low.
He folded his hands on the table. "We see witness patterns. Frequent witness correlates with Corrupty spikes across the sector. You know what that means."
I did. Corrupty was a number. It measured what watching death took from a person. It crept up and then changed the way someone moved.
"You could stop," he said.
"You think I haven't tried?" I said. Laughter rose in my throat and I cut it off. "Do the math. We need the clinic money."
He did not soften. "We can offer protocols. Medical oversight. Registry support."
"We can't afford protocols," I said. The words had no weight. They never had any weight.
He watched me. "If you see forced events, report. If you find admin interference, bring proof. But stop frequent witnessing. It puts you and others at risk."
I could tell him I wasn't hunting death. I counted days. I kept my mouth shut.
He pushed a card toward me. "Keep a log. Report anomalies. We will follow."
My HUD flagged me.
_
[SISTEM: UNDER SURVEILLANCE. NOTATION: FREQUENT WITNESS PATTERN DETECTED. RECOMMENDATION: MONITOR.]
DETAILS: INVESTIGATOR CONTACTED.
——————————
I left the HQ and walked into rain. Neon smeared the wet cobbles. The city kept its lights on for people who could pay. The rest took wet corners.
I walked back to the alley where the Gate reeked. The pad in my hand felt like another ledger. Choices stacked on the display. The System would ask again. It would watch how I priced my body and my sister's breath.
I rubbed the heel of my hand over my forehead. Iron tasted in my mouth. I had inherited someone's last room so my sister could breathe another week. I had traded sleep for oxygen.
The city did not count who paid. It only recorded who wrote the numbers.
_
[SISTEM: SESSION LOG SAVED. USER: KIM DOJIN. END STATUS: ACTIVE. REMINDER: MONITOR CORRUPTY LEVEL. ADVISE: LOG ALL SYSTEM INTERACTIONS.]
DETAILS: END OF RECORD.
——————————