Chapter 1. Resurrection

There’s a joke that the number one thing you shouldn’t do at a funeral is to ‘resurrect’ because it would leave everyone bewildered.

And right now, Jin Jeongeun was utterly bewildered. It seemed he had awakened inside a coffin.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

It hadn’t been long since he regained consciousness, but blood surged up from his insides. To prevent choking on the regurgitated blood, he turned his head to the side. Soon, a thick, dark red mass of blood spilled out beside his head.

It felt like his insides were completely in turmoil. Yet, it was absurd to think that this was better than the state he was in just before collapsing.

He blinked and took a deep breath, trying to piece together how he ended up trapped in a coffin.

Just before he opened his eyes in the coffin, the last moment he remembered was standing in the middle of Seoul. It was a scene littered with the bodies of countless dead hunters and civilians due to monsters that had suddenly torn through the air.

It was a rift. A rift that had occurred in Korea, just like the ones that had happened once in China and once in the United States.

Typically, a gate would open, allowing entry into a dungeon, but when monsters invade by tearing through the dimensions directly from another world, it is classified as a catastrophic event known as a ‘rift.’

Unprepared hunters, unawakened civilians, monsters of various ranks, and an environment on Earth lacking sufficient magical energy… Due to these overwhelmingly unfavorable conditions, once a rift opened, it was almost guaranteed that the continent would be devastated.

And Jeongeun had single-handedly stopped that rift.

‘[Everyone, stop.]’

Jin Jeongeun, the S-rank Word Sorcerer and number one hunter in the country. With his immense magical power, all creatures imbued with magic would obey his commands. This applied not only to monsters but also to hunters.

In the sudden stillness, as if everyone had been struck by a spell, Jeongeun spoke again.

‘[You there, guide me to the boss monster.]’

He addressed a monster right in front of him. The enormous creature, resembling a chimpanzee with eight eyes, turned without hesitation and began to walk ahead as if to lead him.

Jeongeun followed the monster slowly, throwing the gag he usually wore to the ground.

‘[Destroy your core and die.]’

Before the boss monster, Jeongeun spoke clearly and quietly. Drawing on all his magical power, blood was already flowing from the gaps in his body.

The boss monster, also an S-rank like Jeongeun, attempted to resist and attack him until the very end, but ultimately succumbed to Jeongeun's command and committed suicide.

‘[Leave no monsters that came through the rift alive; kill each other.]’

Squeezing out the last of his remaining magical power, Jeongeun uttered his final command, spewing a tremendous amount of blood as he collapsed on the spot. With a sudden shock as his heart expanded and then abruptly stopped, he closed his eyes.

‘...But I didn’t really die!’

Jeongeun cried out inwardly, feeling wronged.

There had been times before when he had overexerted his magical power, causing his body to fall into a state of paralysis as if the system had shut down.

Guild leader Semi must have known well about Jeongeun’s condition. Even if others who didn’t know the circumstances mistook him for dead since he collapsed outside rather than in a dungeon, Semi should have been the one to help him. So why was he now in a coffin?

He raised his trembling arm, exhausted, to push the coffin lid. However, it didn’t budge at all.

Was he so weak that he couldn’t even lift the lid of a coffin? Or… had he already been buried underground?

“Ah, ah.”

Jeongeun tried to voice out. His throat was raw and painful, but fortunately, he could still speak.

‘[Get me out of here...]’ …cough, cough!

But before he could finish his command, blood surged up again. This time, he felt a horrific pain as if someone was twisting his insides.

“Ugh… cough, cough, spit!”

Jeongeun quickly turned his head and spat out blood. In the fading consciousness, he saw a status window, akin to a hunter's spirit, floating before him.

Jin Jeongeun

Word Sorcerer (S)

Lord of Language (??)

Magic Absorption (??)

Loudspeaker (??)

Status Effect - Debuff due to 99.9% magical damage

All the skills that were originally S-rank now had question marks next to them. Moreover, a debuff due to magical damage? He had seen ‘lack of magic’ before, but this was the first time he had encountered the term ‘damage.’ It felt as if the vessel that contained his magic had shattered completely.

‘Is this how I die…?’

As a Word Sorcerer who fought solely with commands, Jeongeun was stronger than civilians, but he was no match for other hunters in terms of physical strength or stamina. With his magical power damaged and injuries sustained, death was practically inevitable.

‘Just once more… I want to see you one last time.’

Jeongeun thought as he closed his eyes.

A beautiful and delicate face, a warm smile, a heavy yet gentle voice. A man with azure eyes that sparkled as if all the light in the world was contained within them.

‘You want to send Jin Jeongeun alone? Has everyone lost their minds?’

He wanted to see the man who had fought for him until the very end.

“...Hyun-hee, Ro…”

Struggling to utter the name he had always called in his heart, Jeongeun lost consciousness.

**

“Damn it! Hey! Where the hell is that mute bastard!”

Not long after Minseong shouted, a tall, thin man in a shabby uniform stumbled in.

“Hey, who do you think you’re sticking this to?” Minseong threw a pair of chopsticks at the man’s face. The man, hit by the chopsticks, silently lowered his head.

“Throw this trash away yourself. Ugh, my life trapped here with that frustrating bastard.”

“Minseong, be quiet. I’m trying to sleep. Stop bothering the kid who can’t even talk.”

Gwiho, who had been napping on a makeshift bed in the corner of the office, spoke up, causing Minseong to curse under his breath and leave the office.

The man standing awkwardly in the shabby office, Jeongeun, slowly bent down to pick up the fallen chopsticks.

He dusted them off and sat down at the desk. There were several plastic containers filled with rice and side dishes that Jeongeun had prepared. It was the lunch that Minseong had ordered him to make.

“You know Minseong acts like that all the time. Just try to understand, whatever your name is.”

Gwiho patted Jeongeun on the back and turned over to sleep again. Jeongeun bowed his head and quietly began to eat the lunch he had prepared. The news playing on a small TV, left on by someone, barely filled the silence in the room.

This place was the boundary wall of the Deer Field. It was the office of the wall guard where Jeongeun had been indebted for a year.

A year ago, Jeongeun had fainted right in the coffin. However, the incomplete command he had uttered before fainting had reached someone.

That someone was Gwiho, who had been searching for his father’s grave. Gwiho, an F-rank hunter, had sensed Jeongeun’s remaining 0.1% magical power and recklessly dug up the grave. He then pulled Jeongeun out of the coffin.

In a trance from the command, Gwiho had dug up the grave with his bare hands until his skin was torn and his nails broken. After crawling up from the deep hole, he collapsed from exhaustion. When Jeongeun woke up, Gwiho was snoring on the ground. Realizing the state of Gwiho’s hands, he understood the situation.

He gathered all his strength to carry Gwiho out of the graveyard. Searching through Gwiho’s wallet and phone, he discovered that he was a wall guard stationed at the boundary wall of the Deer Field.

It was the time when the great upheaval first occurred. During the early days of the upheaval, when awakened hunters were popping up like mushrooms, there were places that had become otherworldly due to the inability to properly respond to dungeon breaks. The world referred to those places as ‘fields.’ In Korea, names of extinct species like deer, bees, and otters were given to them, and high walls were built around them.

And in front of those walls, national hunters were stationed to keep watch. Known as ‘wall guards,’ their job was simply to patrol the perimeter twice a day.

These days, wall guards were often seen as a sort of exile for low-ranking hunters who had caused trouble and been demoted.

It was perfect.

Jeongeun thought he was incredibly lucky. There were hardly any people living near the field. It was only natural, as there was a risk of monsters breaking through the walls.

At that time, Jeongeun was in such poor condition that he couldn’t even speak. The bigger problem was the magical damage. He would likely never be able to live as a hunter again, and since he had already been declared dead, no one would welcome him back.

He had no family, no friends, and aside from the guild leader Semi, most hunters feared and avoided him. For some reason, even Semi, whom he had trusted, had agreed to bury him in the grave.

Should he just disappear like this?

The only lingering regret was for the Sooryun guild leader, Hyun Heero, but honestly, he had only exchanged glances with him once or twice a year. And Heero was the second-ranked guild leader in the country, so he could be seen anytime on TV or in the news.

Yeah, let’s disappear. It was a useless body anyway; there was no point in returning to say, “I’ve resurrected.” It would only leave everyone bewildered. He wanted to live as if he no longer existed.

Thus, the strongest hunter in South Korea, the Word Sorcerer Jin Jeongeun, vanished.

Notes:

• Our main character is an 언령술사 (Eonryeong Soolsa), which can be translated as "Spellcaster," "Incantation Master," "Spiritualist," or "Word Sorcerer." They use magic through spoken or written words, incantations, and commands. The term "언령" refers to the concept that words themselves hold mysterious powers. For now, I'll use "Word Sorcerer" as it seems the most accurate based on the MC's abilities.
• The guild led by the male lead is called 수련 (Sooryun). As a name, it can mean "Water Lily" or "Water Nymph," which aligns with the male lead's specialization in water. However, it also carries the meanings of "training," "cultivation," or "discipline," adding depth to its significance. I’ve decided to keep the name "Sooryun" because it fits well as a proper name, whereas "Water Nymph" feels a bit too cheesy for the tone I’m aiming for.