Chapter 58

Level Up Alone: Ragnarok Chapter 57

In Gangnam, there exist various private spaces that only VIPs can use.

Queen Bee (퀸비).

This room salon, which means "queen bee," was one of them.

However, Queen Bee was a bit special even among these places.

It was a unique establishment that only accepted Hunters as customers—those who had awakened their special abilities.

Of course, due to the exorbitant prices of the drinks, it was mainly used by Hunters of mid-to-high levels with good incomes.

Vice President Lee Min-sung first discovered Queen Bee just a few months ago.

But before he knew it, he had become a regular here.

‘...When did it start?’

Amidst the confusion, Lee Min-sung realized he was trapped in something that resembled golden jelly.

‘It’s sweet.’

The familiar taste on his tongue.

It was honey.

Lee Min-sung soon realized what this familiar taste was.

‘Royal Jelly.’

It was the aroma he always felt from the high-end brandy he enjoyed at Queen Bee.

A conversation he once had with the madam flashed through his mind.

- Madam, what exactly is this drink? I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.

- Hehe. It’s a trade secret.

No matter how many times he asked, the madam would only smile mysteriously and change the subject.

If he were his usual self, he could have forced the information out of her with pressure. But he found her defiance charming and decided to play along.

But now, thinking about it, he might have been under some kind of spell from the beginning.

Lee Min-sung weakly looked at the madam, who was still smiling at him through the sticky golden vision.

Her smile filled him with rage.

But something was off.

As time passed, his anger began to dissipate.

And in its place, a new emotion was creeping in...

‘What is this feeling! What is it exactly!’

Lee Min-sung clenched his teeth, trying to resist this emotion.

But the madam murmured as if his struggle was adorable.

“It’s no use resisting. You’ve already consumed too much royal jelly. So now...”

The madam’s delicate hand caressed the necklace he always wore around his neck.

The green gemstone embedded in the necklace shimmered.

[Be loyal, my drone.]

“...!”

Gurgle!

The moment the madam, or rather the queen, whispered into his mind.

Lee Min-sung’s eyes widened, and his body trembled.

An instinct he had never felt before began to sprout in his mind.

‘...My queen.’

* * *

Long ago, there was a ruler.

The king of insects, the lord of plagues, Querasha.

Querasha’s dimension was a world teeming with millions of venomous creatures.

In that world, Querasha was originally just one of the insects.

The weakest and smallest of them all.

A feeble creature that should have been devoured by larger predators or rotted away by the venom of stronger insects.

But Querasha survived in that harsh environment.

Not just by fleeing and hiding, but by tearing apart and consuming the bodies of larger, stronger insects, growing a little at a time.

Absorbing their abilities.

Accumulating their venom.

Querasha grew stronger and stronger.

When the accumulated venom became stronger and more potent than any other insect’s,

Querasha became the ruler of that world.

And.

The queen bee ‘Arsha’ was a resident of that world.

‘...When the great and powerful Querasha died, I was truly bewildered.’

The existence of a ruler in a dimension is crucial.

The world of insects, a hotbed of conflict, existed as a solid hive centered around Querasha.

But the moment Querasha died, the remaining insects began to reveal their ambitions to fill the void.

‘How dare they...’

Amid the chaos, Arsha realized her destiny.

Queen.

Arsha, who was born a queen bee, believed she was the most suitable successor.

If there was anyone who could succeed Querasha, it had to be her.

But the world, having lost its ruler, was torn apart and scattered into the dimensional gaps.

Arsha’s arrival on Earth through these gaps was a matter of pure chance.

‘No, it was fate.’

Upon arriving on Earth, Arsha took the form of a human.

She seamlessly integrated into human society, more human than any other.

Unlike other dimensional beings who tried to conquer Earth with brute force and died in the process, Arsha chose to adapt.

Or, to put it more accurately, to parasitize.

‘To think I, the queen, would end up like this...’

Arsha felt a sense of shame.

She had no drones.

A queen bee without drones was a mere shadow of her former self.

In her original dimension, Arsha had commanded countless drones. But among the many insects, only she had managed to escape through the dimensional gaps.

‘I need to increase my drones.’

If other beings who tried to conquer Earth had faced this situation, they would have acted rashly and failed.

Because they were brutish.

‘Relying solely on brute force will ultimately lead to death.’

Arsha learned this painful lesson from Querasha’s death.

‘Even the strong and great Querasha died.’

The wars of the rulers, observed from a distance, were clashes of immense and powerful beings.

But Arsha knew her place.

‘I, who am not even a ruler, and who has no drones, cannot act rashly.’

This patience was Arsha’s true strength.

Arsha patiently infiltrated Korean society.

She tried to understand human society.

‘It’s not so different.’

Ultimately, Arsha realized that human society was not much different from the world of insects.

‘Here, too, the most venomous win.’

The only difference was that the ‘venom’ was expressed as ‘money.’

This was why Arsha did not immediately turn Lee Min-sung into a drone.

To turn an A-rank Hunter into a drone, he needed to be steadily addicted to her royal jelly.

‘But it’s not too late to use him for other purposes first.’

If it were another being, they would have immediately turned him into a drone, but Arsha’s patience allowed her to make this choice.

In fact, thanks to this choice, Lee Min-sung brought more Hunters to the room salon Queen Bee as a human.

His social status and fame were truly useful.

‘Especially when he brought the star dust, I was truly surprised.’

The moment Arsha saw the star dust, she realized it was made by demons.

And she understood its purpose.

‘Demons have also infiltrated this world, like me.’

But it seemed the demons adapted in a different way.

She, the queen bee, chose to hide and increase her drones.

The demons chose to use humans as materials to create star dust, amplifying their own power.

‘...This could be useful.’

If humans were enhanced with star dust and then turned into drones?

Stronger soldiers would be born.

But the existing star dust had a weak amplification effect.

So she waited again.

For the demons to improve the performance of the star dust through more experiments.

And the person who distributed the most star dust was Lee Min-sung.

A tragic tycoon whose inferiority complex exploded when his chauffeur awakened to S-rank.

Arsha clicked her tongue as she watched Lee Min-sung, who was transforming into a drone while trapped in her royal jelly.

“...What a waste. I had hoped you would become S-rank someday.”

If he had, Lee Min-sung would have become an even more famous figure in Korea’s Hunter community.

And her position, controlling him from behind, would have risen accordingly.

More Hunters.

More power.

More strength.

And ultimately...

“An S-rank Hunter as a drone.”

But this outcome wasn’t bad either.

In fact, it was the first time she had a chance to acquire an A-rank drone.

If an A-rank Hunter suddenly disappeared, it would attract attention, which was why she hadn’t turned Lee Min-sung into a drone until now.

“Ugh...”

Inside the golden royal jelly, Lee Min-sung clenched his teeth in agony.

His eyes glowed golden.

“Grr...!”

“Hmm?”

What is it?

A puzzled expression appeared on Arsha’s face.

A reaction clearly different from the drones she had created so far.

Was it because he was A-rank?

Lee Min-sung was moving his body forcefully inside the royal jelly.

“Resisting the transformation?”

“Grrrr! Gaaa!”

Lee Min-sung was no longer in his right mind.

But even in this state, his body moved instinctively.

‘I, I... I...’

His veins bulged as he clenched his teeth.

“...I am Lee Min-sung!”

Plop!

Finally, Lee Min-sung burst out of the royal jelly with all his might.

His body was already undergoing insectification, but it was rebelling against the queen’s command.

“Gaaa!”

In his mind, the constant command to obey the queen echoed, but Lee Min-sung, writhing in pain on the ground, refused to comply.

‘Who, who dares...!’

To command me!

Finally, two pairs of wings sprouted from Lee Min-sung’s back.

Boom!

“Wait! Where are you going!”

Arsha watched in shock as Lee Min-sung broke through the wall and flew away.

* * *

Ding!

[Daily Quest: Body Strengthening Training Completed.]

Push-ups 100 reps: Completed (100/100)

Sit-ups 100 reps: Completed (100/100)

Squats 100 reps: Completed (100/100)

Running 10km: Completed (10/10)

※Carry Ammut.

[Completion Reward Received.]

[Would you like to check the reward?] (Y/N)

“Haa... It was painful today too.”

[Sniff! Young Lord, you’ve worked so hard! But you’ve become stronger, so today was a fulfilling day...]

“Shut up.”

After completing the daily quest, Suho, who had gone to Ammut, collapsed onto the bed.

Although he had instantly recovered from the completion reward, the mental aftereffects of the high-intensity exercise, which had nearly broken his bones and torn his muscles, did not easily disappear.

Buzz!

But the phone on the bedside table kept vibrating.

“...What’s so noisy?”

Suho frowned and picked up the phone.

An emergency disaster text message had arrived.

Emergency Disaster Text Message

[Hunter Association] A-rank villain Lee Min-sung has appeared in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. Evacuate and be cautious of subsequent attacks.

“What?”

Suho’s eyes widened as he got up from the bed.

[Breaking News! A-rank villain Lee Min-sung attacks other Hunters!]

[The appearance of an A-rank villain hunting Hunters!]

“The situation of an A-rank villain, who has a bounty on his head, giving up on escape and attacking other Hunters is unprecedented in Korea.” - Expert A

The internet was ablaze with the sudden news.

As Suho, shocked, read the articles, his phone rang.

- Hello, this is Baekho Guild. Are you Hunter Seong Suho? We were worried because you didn’t answer the phone.

“Yeah?”

- Deputy Guildmaster Baek Mi-ho is looking for you.