My Auto Cloning System

Episode 55 — Into the Maw

Han Jin-woo's eyes widened further, his voice rising as he took another step back in alarm. "A D-rank Fishman? Are you absolutely sure about what you saw?"

Kim Do-hyun, already halfway through checking the charge level of his familiar skill and syncing it back to Number One and Number Two, didn't hesitate. He nodded without breaking eye contact. "Its form was unmistakable. Standing on two legs, carrying a weapon, exhibiting strategic behavior. This isn't some evolved variant. That thing is a true humanoid-type aquatic monster."

Han muttered a curse under his breath, his fingers already twitching toward the phone in his breast pocket. "Then we need to inform the Hunter Bureau right now. If that monster is operating inside an F-rank dungeon, the entire zoning system might be compromised. We need to evacuate the surrounding areas and pull every licensed hunter from"

"Wait," Do-hyun said suddenly, his voice low but clear.

Han froze. "What?"

Do-hyun looked him straight in the eye and spoke slowly, as if weighing each syllable. "Not yet. Before we sound the alarm, I need to gather more information through the clones."

"What are you talking about?" Han asked, his expression twisting with disbelief. "You want to send them now? things like that might be looking forward to killing people as we speak!"

"That's exactly why," Do-hyun answered, walking past him, already gearing up. "If it leaves the perimeter, we're finished. If it's hiding or reproducing—or worse, if it's part of a breach—we'll never contain it. But right now, I have eyes inside the dungeon. Two of them."

Han looked torn, standing there stiffly, fingers gripping his phone like a lifeline. "You're gambling with their lives."

"I'm not gambling. I'm scouting. Clones aren't people, remember?" He tapped his temple, indicating the mental bridge shared with each copy. "They're extensions of me. And right now, I need to know what we're really dealing with."

There was a long silence between the two, only broken by the humming of the dungeon portal nearby. Han eventually nodded in surrender, but his shoulders remained tense with unease. "Alright... Just the two of them. But I'll lock the gate right after. No one else goes in. Not a soul."

"Perfect," Do-hyun said, already syncing his thoughts to both Number One and Number Two. "Let's begin."

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A low, vibrating hum filled Do-hyun's ears as the familiar skill activated fully. His physical vision faded, and he was drawn into the clone's perception. This time, it was Number One's consciousness he synchronized with first. The sensory link formed in an instant—sight, smell, weight, temperature—all translated perfectly across the neural channel.

The damp chill of the underground tunnel crept up through Number One's boots. The old sewage plant had been repurposed into a minor F-rank dungeon, but years of neglect made it a festering maze of mold, rusted steel, and decay. Broken piping clung to the walls like exposed veins, and brownish water rippled beneath every step.

Through Number One's eyes, Do-hyun could see the same corridor where Number Three had gone silent. At the far end, shadows flickered, barely illuminated by the faint green glow of emergency lights still functioning from some distant battery reserve.

And then, he saw it.

The Fishman.

It knelt by a twisted heap of armor and torn leather—a shape that might have once been Number Three. It was crouched low like a predator at feeding time, jaw grinding and head bobbing as it devoured something wet and dense. The sound was horrific: bones cracking beneath powerful jaws, muscle tearing with every bite. Its clawed feet stood firm on the tiled ground, its entire body rippling with monstrous tension.

Do-hyun didn't even breathe.

Through the clone, he crouched, rifle raised slowly, silently, the muzzle of the weapon hovering just behind a broken length of piping. He whispered mentally, controlling the posture of the clone like a puppet master pulling threads.

"Breathe... Aim for the skull."

He steadied the clone's grip, lined up the sights. The shot was calculated. A single high-impact round, concentrated fire at the back of the head—right where the brainstem of a humanoid target would be.

And then he fired.

CRACK!

The recoil snapped back through the clone's arms, and the echo of the gunshot tore down the corridor like thunder.

But the bullet didn't pierce.

It bounced.

Clinked off the side of the creature's dome-like skull and ricocheted into the wall behind it. The Fishman stopped mid-bite. Slowly, it turned its head in a mechanical, twitching motion that made Do-hyun's stomach drop. The creature didn't flinch. It didn't bleed. And its eyes… its eyes glowed like deep-sea lanterns, unblinking and luminescent.

"...What the hell?" Do-hyun whispered back in his real body. His skin prickled with dread.

The Fishman shrieked.

The sound shattered the silence, a sound like thousands of knives scraping against rusted steel. Do-hyun felt Number One's legs tremble slightly from the sheer force of the cry reverberating in the narrow space.

"Number Two—flank now!" Do-hyun ordered.

Number Two, positioned at an adjacent tunnel entrance, immediately sprang into motion. He moved low, keeping close to the wall, stepping around puddles of sludge and fractured stone. Meanwhile, Number One opened fire in a controlled burst, rounds hammering toward the creature's limbs and joints this time.

Nothing worked.

The bullets sparked off its arms and shoulders, shredding its ragged armor but failing to penetrate the dense, scale-like flesh underneath. Do-hyun's mental commands came faster now—backpedal, reposition, switch to knife.

The Fishman moved.

And that's when things went sideways.

The beast lunged forward, covering ten meters in a heartbeat. Water exploded beneath its feet, and its body twisted through the air with terrifying agility. It wasn't just fast. It was a killer—born to fight in narrow, wet spaces like this one. A sewer-dwelling apex predator.

It closed in on Number One.

Do-hyun shouted mentally, urging the clone to duck, roll, stab—but the Fishman's sword was already descending. A crimson blur arced through the air as the jagged blade slammed into the ground, missing by inches.

Number Two tackled from the side, slashing at the Fishman's knee with a combat knife. It bit into the joint with a sickening crunch.

The Fishman screamed again, this time in fury—not pain.

It kicked Number Two away like a toy, sending the clone flying into a wall with a heavy CRACK. A pipe shattered on impact, and water erupted into the corridor.

Back through the link, Do-hyun's mind reeled. He could feel every collision. Not as pain, but as echoes—phantom sensations that reminded him how vulnerable the clones were. They only had half his stats. Half his endurance. Half his speed.

And none of his panic.

The Fishman turned again, blood dripping from its blade now. Its gaze swept from Number One to the distant corridor—right where the real entrance stood.

"Shit. It knows," Do-hyun muttered.

Back in the real world, his eyes opened wide. Sweat poured down his brow. His right arm was trembling again.

And then, the familiar skill disconnected.

A sudden snap.

As if someone had pulled a plug from the back of his head. The world returned to his room in an instant, but his legs buckled. He collapsed to one knee, grasping his right arm. His wrist felt like it had been set on fire.

"Guh—!" He choked, pressing his hand against the floor.

The pain had bled through the mental link—whatever hit the clone had done more than just cut connection. It had hurt him.

His phone buzzed on the table.

Han Jin-woo's voice came through the speaker. "Do-hyun?! What's going on?! Your vitals are spiking!"

Do-hyun grabbed the phone with his shaky left hand and held it to his ear. "Jin-woo. Number One and Number Two's injured. But I saw it… It's smarter than we thought. We need to close that portal. But before we do—"

He swallowed, already reaching for his gear again.

"—I'm going in."

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Author's Note (from Clone 11):

HOLD UP! Before you say anything—I, Clone 11, had NOTHING to do with the D-rank Fishman showing up inside an F-rank sewer! I was busy arguing with the coffee machine (again) about whether soy milk counts as betrayal. While the real LYTA was calmly rewriting the laws of monster evolution, I was... mildly panicking, okay!?

Anyway, let's be honest here—how are bullets bouncing off that fish's head? That's not evolution, that's just rude!

So here's your homework, soldier: slap that like, punch the comment section with your theories, throw a golden ticket like a shuriken, and if you don't review this masterpiece, Clone 7 is gonna write the next chapter and I promise you, it'll be narrated entirely in fish puns.

🔥 Unlock the next chapter with privilege, share it with your guildmates, and suggest wild ideas. LYTA is watching (probably with popcorn). 👀

See you next episode! Unless the Fishman gets me first… gulp. 🐟💀

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Author's Note – Written by LYTA Clone 31 (Currently Arguing With a Webnovel Commenter About Who Has the Best Hair in the Series)

📢 STOP THE PORTALS! HALT THE DUNGEONS! ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!

Yo, readers. Clone 31 here — dripping in sweat, clutching a half-functional mana tablet, and SCREAMING because I just found out something wild…

The characters from our story? The legends? The trauma-hardened clones? The handsome, exhausted, bullet-spamming Do-hyun himself?

THEY'RE OFFICIALLY OUT ON WEBNOVEL.

That's right, baby. No more hiding in shadows. No more lurking in sewer zones. Kim Do-hyun, Clone 1, Han Jin-woo, Junmo, and the rest of this gloriously unhinged crew have made their Webnovel debut like rockstars on a burning stage. And trust me, the stage is absolutely on fire.

So if you've been waiting for the day you could yell at the characters in the comment section? That day is NOW.

If you've been sketching fanart of Fishman with a dramatic cape? TIME TO POST IT.

If you wanna scream about clone trauma, K-drama addictions, and loot economy theory? OH, WE GOT THREADS FOR THAT.

Go. NOW. Smash that Webnovel search bar with your fish-gutted hands and type in the name. Type it with PURPOSE. Type it with PASSION. And then do what every real Hunter does when their favorite characters show up in public:

You support them like your stats depend on it.

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🗂️ So here's what you do, loyal dungeon survivor:

💥 FOLLOW the series on Webnovel — don't make Clone 2 hunt you down for ignoring the button

❤️ ADD to LIBRARY — like a loot drop, but better

✏️ COMMENT on the chapters — Do-hyun needs your emotional support (and ego boost)

🌟 LEAVE A REVIEW — even if it's just "Clone 6 is my spirit animal"

📢 TELL A FRIEND — or an enemy, or your teacher, or your guild leader

🎁 DROP A GIFT — because virtual ramen is the currency of war

🎫 GOLDEN TICKETS — they're the difference between F-rank and FRONT PAGE, baby

Meanwhile, real LYTA is currently passed out on his desk after binge-rewriting five scenes, four clone rewrites, and one romantic subplot that may or may not involve a toaster. We're proud of him. Concerned. But proud.

This is Clone 31, signing off while drawing Kim Do-hyun in anime eyeliner and dodging accusations of bias.

Now go. Go welcome the cast to Webnovel like the chaotic family you all are.

— LYTA Clone 31 (Official Publicist of Clone Hunter PR Squad™)