I Don’t Want This Reincarnation

Taking care of the ghouls didn’t take long. Originally, there weren’t that many and there was no reason for it to take long since four or five ghouls died every time Woo Seo-hyuk swung his arm.

I came down from the air and stood in front of Woo Seo-hyuk.

“Woo Seo-hyuk-ssi. That arm… is that your ability?”

“Yes.”

When it was confirmed that the ghouls were all dealt with, Woo Seo-hyuk’s arm returned to normal.

The exposed muscles of his upper body were no joke. Thick shoulders, chest, and clear abs. I looked at the perfect inverted triangle body with envious eyes.

Those were the kind of bones he was born with. It was not a body that could be built with a little bit of exercise. I was sure it must be because of his S-rank. Come to think about it, the people around me were all in good shape.

“You’ll drill a hole through Woo Seo-hyuk with how much you're staring, Han Yi-gyeol.”

Startled at hearing Cheon Sa-yeon’s words from behind, I came to my senses. As soon as I took my gaze away from Woo Seo-hyuk, who was standing still, he asked, “Can I get dressed now?”

“Ah, ahem. I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re in good shape. I don’t know what came over me.”

I politely apologized and backed away in case I was seen as a pervert. Fortunately, Woo Seo-hyuk started to put on his shirt with a face that said he didn’t care too much about it.

“I didn’t expect that a man’s body would be your cup of tea,” Cheon Sa-yeon said in a teasing tone, shaking off the blood that stained his sword.

“Ugh, are you crazy? I didn’t see it that way.”

“Then what?”

I answered with sincerity, “Of course, it’s great that he managed to get to that level.”

Though not as much as Han Yi-gyeol, I wasn’t the type to develop muscles very well either. I tried twice as hard as others to build my muscles, but in the end, I failed to achieve the desired level of body.

I was pretty depressed back then. Thinking about it now, though I wasn’t trying to get to where Woo Seo-hyuk was now, I think I set my ideal too high.

“A-rank and above are usually more developed than ordinary people. They’re in good shape even if they don’t take care of their bodies.”

“…I’m also an A-rank.”

“Alas. Let me cheer you on.”

This punk.

“No need.”

“I think you need to gain some weight before building muscle.”

“Still, I eat well these days.”

It was thanks to Kim Woo-jin who made three meals a day. Even the menu changed every day, so the satisfaction was very high.

Anyway, let’s stop chatting here.

“Woo Seo-hyuk-ssi, what is your ability? It seems I’m the only one who doesn’t know.”

“That should be the case. It’s an ability that’s hard to forget once you see it.”

Woo Seo-hyuk, wearing a shirt, pulled something similar to a cell phone out of his pocket. When he tapped the screen, the suit jacket and tie he was holding disappeared. I think it was an inventory item.

Woo Seo-hyuk looked at me and calmly explained, “I can transform my body into a certain shape. In my case, it is a wolf.”

Aha. I nodded my head. Somehow, when he changed, I thought it looked like an animal’s limb, but it turned out to be a wolf.

“Can you change completely?”

“The whole thing is quite large, so it’s difficult to in a place like this.”

“I see.”

He certainly had to take off his clothes. If his body grew that much, he wouldn’t be left with anything to wear. That would be inconvenient too.

“Master.” The identifier looked around the room and approached Cheon Sa-yeon. “There are no major problems, but the grades have changed a bit.”

“To what extent?”

“When we first came in, the grade was 12.89% of A-grade and now it is more than 57%.”

When the rank value exceeded 100%, the monster’s grade would go up. The identifier lowered his voice and asked, “Shall we continue to find out?”

“We have to. We’ll measure the next room.”

Cheon Sa-yeon, who sent off the identifier, looked at me. I said, making eye contact with him, “That’s not particularly good news.”

“We’ll have to find out more, but I’m pretty sure it’s never happened before.”

Since Woo Seo-hyuk was listening next to me, I couldn’t go into more detail. Cheon Sa-yeon found a device to open the iron bars at once again.

Chwareureuk, thud!

The next room appeared in front of me. Not a single candle was seen in this room. A white body swayed through the pitch-black darkness where we could not even see an inch ahead.

“Spectres (스펙터).”

Spectres from ORV (just let you know)

I remembered the name I saw in the data. A bizarre cry echoed through the room as if in response to my whisper.

Kkiiiii—

Gigik, gik—

Whoosh, a creepy energy came rushing into the entrance. Something felt strange.

“…wait, this is—”

“Master!”

Black smoke crawled slowly towards us like snakes. The identifier who noticed the strangeness similar to me shouted to Cheon Sa-yeon, “The—the grade!”

Haa, the air surrounding him froze cold and white breath scattered. Due to the sudden drop in temperature, the guild members instinctively took a step back. A feeling of fear rose from my toes.

“It’s strange.” Cheon Sa-yeon passed by me and raised a sword with a cold expression. “Not only have the spectres become S-grades when they should’ve been A-grades, the number of them has also increased.”

Chwareureureuk! Kuung!

At the same time as Cheon Sa-yeon cut off his palm with his sword, the door that was open behind his back closed tightly.

Shaaaa—

Kkiii—kkii—

As the blood flowing through the sword turned into fire, the spectres that had been hiding in the darkness were revealed. Black cloth was constantly swaying like smoke, the hands beneath them were too long and sharp, and there was nothing visible on their faces except long torn mouths.

“Damn it, it’s only the third room, what kind of S-grade is coming out?”

“Aren’t spectres A-grade? This is driving me crazy.”

The guild members raised their weapons with tense faces. Twenty spectres, which were over 5m tall, flew at us quickly with their mouths gaping open.

Kkiaaaa—!

Kkiiiik! Kkiii!

A bright red fire flew through the darkness, cutting the spectres at the forefront. In the meantime, the guild members in line also began to attack the spectres rushing to them intensely.

Kwadeudeuk!

Woo Seo-hyuk, whose arms had changed, jumped up aiming at a spectre’s head. I raised my ability to support Woo Seo-hyuk’s body, and at the same time, wrapped around Cheon Sa-yeon’s body who wielded a sword. As the energy escaped on both sides, the bracelet I was wearing vibrated slightly, and the jewels sparkled.

“Not bad.”

Since it was not just one-time support, Cheon Sa-yeon immediately noticed my ability and began to utilize it. He swung the sword flexibly between the spectres as if dancing.

On the other hand, Woo Seo-hyuk struggled a few times like he was unfamiliar with being in the air, but after killing a spectre, he expanded his range of movement a little more, getting used to it. Woo Seo-hyuk leapt up the wall with agile movements, grabbed a spectre’s arm, and shoved his nails into its mouth. The spectre howled, pouring out black blood.

“Phew.”

Cheon Sa-yeon and Woo Seo-hyuk, who had no movement restrictions thanks to my abilities, ran wildly. A bright red light burned in the spot where Cheon Sa-yeon passed and clear claw marks were left near Woo Seo-hyuk. I was worried about 20 S-grade spectres for a while, but this was a pretty good situation.

Kkiiiiik, kkiiik—

Seuaaak—

‘One, two, three… fourteen. Fifteen.’

I frowned as I counted the number of spectre corpses that fell to the floor.

“We’re done dealing with one spectre!”

One more that the guild members just dealt with. Cheon Sa-yeon and Woo Seo-hyuk were facing three. So there were nineteen in total.

The other one…

The moment I thought about it, I got goosebumps all over my body. I instinctively threw myself back and spread wind like a shield.

Kkiiiiik—!

Along with the spectre’s bizarre cries, a burning pain flashed through my mind. The spectre’s long, spider-like hands pierced my wind shield and scratched my shoulders and arms. Black smoke spread like poison over the deep wound.

“Gurgh!”

If I hadn’t avoided it while delaying the attack with my ability, my shoulder would have been torn off. I used my ability to escape, but the energy was unstable and did not activate. When I tried standing up straight, I staggered as if paralyzed.

Shaaaak—

The spectre opened its mouth and came at me at high speed. As I was preparing to dodge sideways in time, someone stepped in front of me.

Kwajik!

It was Woo Seo-hyuk who grabbed the spectre’s arm and broke it. The screaming spectre looked blurry. My body, barely enduring up until now, could not focus anymore and leaned to the side.

“Oh my.”

Cheon Sa-yeon caught me as I collapsed helplessly. I forced my eyes to open and told him. “Th-this… seems like poison…”

“Originally, it didn't have poison. Since it went from A-grade to S-grade, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had at least one more ability.” Cheon Sa-yeon, who was holding me gently, said in a voice full of laughter, “How careless. From now on, I will always fight with you in my arms.”

“That’s nonsense…”

How could an A-rank deal with S-grade monsters? If I had known this would happen, I would have been hiding among the guild members. Cheon Sa-yeon and Woo Seo-hyuk were dealing with the spectres, so I thought they wouldn’t be able to come to me.

The healers who ran after hearing Cheon Sa-yeon’s call looked at my condition and made troubled faces.

“It’s an S-grade monster’s attack and there’s poison in the wound, so I think it’s going to take some time to heal completely.”

The healers who participated in this gate-clearing were both B-rank. Min Ah-rin was away on vacation, and then there was also a sudden gate in Area C that she suddenly took over, so the two B-ranks were the next best ones. In other words, there was a shortage of manpower.

“He will rest in this room. Treat him as much as you can.”

Cheon Sa-yeon gently laid me down. Two healers quickly removed my clothes and checked the wounds.

“Han Yi-gyeol-ssi? Calm down.”

“From now on, I will push the poison away, but it’s going to be a little painful. Can you stand it?”

“…hghh, yes.” I responded as I held back a groan as a hand touched the wound. Soon after, a pure white light erupted from the healer’s hand that covered the wound and terrible pain poured in.

“……!”

My body arched up. It was like a fire burning a wound. Something shoved into my mouth, which was tightly closed to avoid screaming. Haah, hgh, exhaling a rough breath, looking up, there was Cheon Sa-yeon.

“It’s okay to bite it.”

Before I could answer, a white light flashed again, and an unbearable sensation struck in. Hghhh, my head tilted back and bit down on Cheon Sa-yeon’s fingers. My face was wet with cold sweat and tears mixed together. My body trembled uncontrollably.

“I will do it one last time. You can’t lose your mind,” the healer, who had exhausted a lot of energy to push out the poison, said in a tired voice.

I wanted to refuse treatment right away, but I forcibly closed my eyes and nodded my head.

I could feel the faint taste of blood in my mouth.