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I Alone Level-Up (Full) (01-270)
I Alone Level-Up (Full) (01-270)
Alone Level-Up
Only I Level Up • Solo Leveling • 나 혼자만 레벨업
10 years ago, after “the Gate” that connected the real world with the
monster world opened, some of the ordinary, everyday people received the
power to hunt monsters within the Gate. They are known as “Hunters”.
However, not all Hunters are powerful. My name is Sung Jin-Woo, an E-rank
Hunter. I’m someone who has to risk his life in the lowliest of dungeons, the
“World’s Weakest”. Having no skills whatsoever to display, I barely earned
the required money by fighting in low-leveled dungeons… at least until I
found a hidden dungeon with the hardest difficulty within the D-rank
dungeons! In the end, as I was accepting death, I suddenly received a strange
power, a quest log that only I could see, a secret to leveling up that only I
know about! If I trained in accordance with my quests and hunted monsters,
my level would rise. Changing from the weakest Hunter to the strongest S-
rank Hunter!
Author(s):Chugong, 추공
Artist(s):
Year: 0
Country: Korea
Genres:Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Shounen
Tags:Accelerated Growth, Adapted to Manhwa, Adventurers, Appearance
Changes, Betrayal, Character Growth, Determined Protagonist, Dungeons,
Game Elements, Gate to Another World, Grinding, Hard-Working
Protagonist, Hiding True Abilities, Kuudere, Level System, Male Protagonist,
Modern Day, Near-Death Experience, Necromancer, Personality Changes,
Weak to Strong
Source: WEBNOVEL
© Webnovel
Part 0: Prologue
[Daily Quest is now available.]
An articulate voice of a young female.
This was definitely not a game. Of course, it wasn’t a dream, either.
But, her voice definitely resounded within my head. Hell, I could even see
the quest window floating in mid-air, too.
‘Could it be… Even today?”
While fervently praying in my head, I cautiously opened the information
window.
Ttiring….
[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]
Press-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)
※Warning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of
punishment.
As soon as I got to confirm the contents of the Daily Quest, I began cussing
out reflexively.
“Awww… Just how many days has it been already?!”
***
Part 1: Rank E Hunter
Rank E Hunter, Seong Jin-Woo.
No matter where he went, this title always followed him around.
Jin-Woo’s overall strength was almost the same as a regular human being.
With the exception of being a bit stronger and his wounds healing slightly
faster, Jin-Woo was about the same as regular people in every other aspect.
It was par for the course then, that he’d always end up getting injured. He
nearly died several times, too.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Seong Jin-Woo liked being a Hunter.
The work was dangerous, others made fun of him, and to confound the
matters even further, the pay was pretty pathetic, as well.
If it weren’t for the medical aid paid out by the Hunter Association to the
Hunters in their “payroll”, he’d have turned in his hunter licence and quit by
now, and live his life like a regular person.
Unfortunately, someone like Seong Jin-Woo, in his mid-twenties and
lacking in any tangible job skills, there was no other way but to remain as a
Hunter if he wanted to pay for his mother’s hospital fee of millions of won
every month.
Should one say that he had no choice in the matter?
That was why, even though he didn’t want to, he simply had to participate
in the raid supervised by the Association.
***
Hunters operating within the same area tended to know each other pretty
well. In the event of a Gate opening up, all the Hunters in that district would
be asked to come, that’s why.
The Hunters who had arrived early sipped on the cups of coffee handed out
by the Association’s employee and shared cordial greetings with each other.
“Oh, hey. Mister Kim, Over here. Here.”
“Oh? Mister Park, what are you doing here? I thought you were giving
up on being a Hunter?”
“Well, that… My wife is pregnant with our second child.”
“Hahahaha, is that so. Yeah, for a Hunter to earn big in one go,
participating in a raid is the best, isn’t it.”
Mister Kim jovially burst out in laughter. Mister Park followed suit with a
sheepish chuckle, before asking Kim.
“By the way, why do I feel like that the Association is calling on us less
and less nowadays? Did the number of Gates decrease or something?”
“Eii, of course not. That’s only because the Guilds are getting all worked
up over clearing the Gates; it’s got nothing to do with the Association. I
hear that various Guilds are jumping in with both feet since there is big
profit involved in this whole thing.”
“Well, in that case, since this raid is being supervised by the Association,
it should be safe, no?”
Mister Park took a glance around as if he was getting nervous.
If a Guild was not involved today, that meant there wasn’t enough profit to
be had, and if there wasn’t enough profit to be had, then that could only mean
that this particular Gate’s difficulty would be low.
Of course, nothing in this world was 100% absolute.
It wasn’t just Mister Park; other Hunters were nervously glancing around as
well.
“Hmm. I wonder….”
Mister Kim finished the rest of his coffee while avoiding answering his
friend, before spotting a certain someone and raised his hand in happiness.
“Uh! He’s here. Hey, Mister Seong!! Mister Seong!”
Other Hunters also displayed joy at discovering that young man.
“Ah, hello.”
It was none other than Seong Jin-Woo.
Jin-Woo performed a simple nod of the head at the joyous Mister Kim and
walked by.
After making sure Jin-Woo was well out of earshot, Mister Kim began
sniggering while confidently speaking up.
“So, Jin-Woo showed up. Then it’s going to okay today, too.”
Mister Park’s eyes widened up and he hurriedly asked Kim.
“What was that? Is that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo really strong?”
“Ahh. Right, of course, you wouldn’t know who he is. He’s a Hunter who
started working shortly after you left, you see. However, every Hunter here
knows who that kid is by now.”
“He’s really that strong? Wait, why is he working for the Association,
then? Why not for a Guild or as a freelancer?”
Kim sniggered some more before narrowing his eyes.
“You know what that guy’s nickname is?”
“How should I know that? C’mon, man. Just tell me already.”
“Humanity’s weakest weapon.”
“….Weakest? Not something like, the ultimate weapon?”
“Dude, that’s the nickname for the rank S Hunter Choi Jong-In. That
kid is the ‘weakest weapon’. I’m pretty sure he’s the weakest Hunter in the
Republic of Korea.”
“Really?”
Park began frowning deeply.
Why would other Hunters greet this Seong Jin-Woo if he was really that
weak? After all, didn’t they need someone to trust their backs if things went
south?
Park couldn’t really understand the reactions of other Hunters.
When Park’s head tilted this way and that, Kim chuckled and poked the
side of Park with his elbow.
“Eii! The raids Seong Jin-Woo participates in will only have low
difficulty because he’s so weak. The Association would never entrust him
with a tough job, don’t you get that? They don’t want to see him get killed,
right?”
Only then did Park’s expression brightened up.
“R-right. Yeah.”
His wife was deeply worried about him since this would be his first raid in
quite a while. Honestly, even he himself was worried, too. However, now that
he listened to Kim’s words, he felt like a weight was lifted off his mind.
Kim continued on.
“That guy, there was a rumour not too long ago that said, he got injured
participating in a raid of a rank E Gate and spent a week in the hospital.”
“A Hunter got injured by a rank E Gate?”
“That’s right. No one expected to see a Hunter getting injured during a
rank E Gate raid, so they didn’t even bring along a Healer, apparently!”
“That’s why he spent a week in a hospital?! Pu-hahaha!”
When Park began guffawing too loudly, Kim hurriedly hushed him.
“Stop it, man. Mister Seong might hear you.”
“Aigoo. I didn’t think of that.”
Park cautiously checked Jin-Woo’s reactions as he continued to giggle.
Thankfully, the distance was far enough and the youth didn’t seem to have
heard them.
Of course, they were mistaken.
‘I can hear everything, you geezers.’
A bitter smile formed on Jin-Woo as he tried hard to ignore them. At times
like today, he couldn’t help but blame his unusually-acute sense of hearing.
It seemed that he arrived too early and the raid was yet to commence.
‘Did I arrive too early?’
Jin-Woo looked around to while away the waiting time, spotted the
Association employee handing out warm coffee, and walked closer.
“Can I get a cup of coffee as well?”
“Oh. Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim… I’m really sorry, but we ran out of
coffee just now.”
“……”
The cold Winter breeze brushed past the tip of his nose.
Jin-Woo quietly wiped his nose with his index finger.
What a sad day it was, for the coffee to run out as soon as it was his turn to
get one.
***
“Why do you persist on being a Hunter, Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“I’m sorry.”
Jin-Woo lowered his head and apologised.
The young, beautiful girl using healing magic in front of Jin-Woo, Yi Ju-
Hui showed how unhappy she was with a pouting expression.
“I’m not trying to get you to apologise, you know? I’m only worried
about you. If you continue fighting this way, sooner or later you’ll be faced
with a truly dangerous situation.”
Jin-Woo glanced past Yi Ju-Hui’s shoulders and took a look at other
Hunters fighting over yonder.
When one entered through the Gate, one would arrive at a place called
‘dungeon’. The rank of this particular dungeon should be around D.
A dozen-plus Hunters were taking care of the monsters inside this dungeon
without so much as breaking a sweat.
Unfortunately, for a rank E, such a feat was nearly impossible.
Normally, the job of healing the injured Hunters from the back fell on the
Healers. Since he always got injured during raids, Jin-Woo was rather well-
known among the Healers.
Yi Ju-Hui cautiously asked him.
“Perchance, is there a reason why you can’t give up being a Hunter?”
Jin-Woo resolutely shook his head.
He didn’t want to reveal anything personal to other people.
“I’m only doing this as a hobby. If I don’t do this, I’ll probably die of
boredom, actually.”
Yi Ju-Hui pouted even more.
“If you continue on with this hobby of yours, soon you’d be raiding a
dungeon in the netherworld, you know?”
Jin-Woo was taken off-guard from her remark and ended up chuckling out
loudly.
Thanks to that, Yi Ju-Hui’s nagging intensified.
“Ah, ahh!! Don’t laugh! Don’t! Your injuries might get worse!!”
Jin-Woo giggled before asking her.
“Where did you even learn to say stuff like that?”
“What do you mean, where? It’s from Mister Kim waaay over there.”
“Aigoo, that ahjussi really went and did it, didn’t he….”
As they chatted and laughed, his treatment was almost over.
It was already too late by then, though. It seemed that the raid was pretty
much over now.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened.
‘I only killed a single monster today.’
A rank E creature, no less. Seong Jin-Woo began fidgeting with the rank E
magic crystal in his hand.
The lowest grade magic crystal from a rank E monster fetched less than
hundred thousand won. For something he bet his life to earn, it was a
pathetically small amount. (TL: Just over $88.)
‘A magic crystal from a rank C monster can sell for over ten million won,
though….’ (TL: $8830+)
Too bad, a rank E Hunter such as himself couldn’t even attempt to kill a
monster with a rank as high as C.
Out of the blue, someone shouted out.
“Uh? Hey, there’s another entrance over here.”
The nearby Hunters rushed over there.
“Huh, it’s true.”
“There really is another path?”
Just as that Hunter said, there was an entrance hidden within the dungeon
itself.
“A dual dungeon, is it… So, such a thing actually exists for real….”
Mister Song, possessing over ten years’ experience as a Hunter, looked into
the hidden entrance and displayed how surprised he was.
The interior of the hidden, cave-like passage was dark and nothing could be
seen. Mister Song activated his speciality, flame magic, and tossed it further
forward into the passage.
The flame flew forward and illuminated the interior. The passageway
seemed to go on forever. Soon enough, the flame lost its forward momentum,
fell to the ground and smouldered for a bit before flickering out of existence.
The passage was shrouded in darkness once more.
“Hmm….. Everyone, gather around. Let’s have a meeting.”
The unspoken leader of this raid, Mister Song, called for other Hunters to
gather around. Jin-Woo’s treatment was over by then, so he and Yi Ju-Hui
also joined in.
Song spoke up while sweeping his gaze over the gathered Hunters.
“As you know very well, a Gate will not close unless the dungeon’s boss is
killed. Since the Gate itself is still intact even though we took care of all the
monsters here, that can only mean that the boss is beyond that
passageway.”
Song pointed towards the hidden entrance.
Hunters exchanged meaningful glances and nodded their heads. No one
could disagree with that notion.
Song continued on.
“Now normally, we’re supposed to relay this information back to the
Association and wait for their decision first, but… But, if we do that, we
might end up handing over the task of killing the boss to other Hunters, and
our takings for today’s raid would decrease by a lot.”
The expressions of the Hunters crumpled.
Park’s face hardened more than anyone else since he needed a lot of cash
for his wife’s pregnancy.
‘Postnatal care eats up so much cash nowadays, you know…’
At this rate, there’d be no meaning behind him risking his life to participate
in this raid.
“That’s why I’d prefer if we took care of the boss before leaving this
dungeon… So, what do you all think?”
Hunters fell into a deep contemplation.
“….”
“….”
The truth was, no one here could figure out the current situation and so,
their safety could not be guaranteed. However, the difficulty of this particular
dungeon proved to be very low.
So, the hidden dungeon within it couldn’t have been that difficult, either.
“Hmm, hmm.”
Song coughed to draw everyone’s attention to himself.
“Since we have seventeen people here, let’s put this to a vote, shall we?
Once the decision has been made, no one complains. So? How about it?”
Others nodded their heads after hearing Song’s suggestion. No one was
disagreeing with him.
“I vote for going ahead.”
Song raised his hand.
And then, other Hunters began raising their hands one by one.
“Me too.”
“Count me in as well.”
Park was the first to raise his hand, followed shortly after by Kim and a few
other Hunters.
Of course, those disagreeing were plentiful, too.
“Let’s go back.”
“I feel that it’d be better to wait for the Association’s decision.”
The two opposing camps were neck and neck and eventually, the final
votes came down to Jin-Woo and Yi Ju-Hui.
“I’m sorry….”
Yi Ju-Hui bowed to Song and added her vote to ‘retreat’ camp.
And so, the vote count for ‘go ahead’ and ‘retreat’ was at 8:8.
A deadlock.
Song asked the hesitant Seong Jin-Woo next.
“And you, Mister Seong?”
Chapter 2 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Ju-Hui’s complexion was incredibly poor; Seong Jin-Woo was deeply taken
aback by this sight.
“What’s wrong? Are you ill somewhere?”
“T-there. Over there.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes followed Ju-Hui’s trembling pointing finger. She was
pointing at the giant god statue. More specifically, she was pointing at the god
statue’s face.
Jin-Woo could only tilt his head in confusion because it looked pretty much
the same as before.
“….?”
Ju-Hui stuttered some words out.
“The, the eyes… The eyes of the god statue moved towards us. Just now.”
“Pardon me?”
Jin-Woo looked again several times, but nothing seemed to have changed.
There was no visible change to the god statue.
“Eii… I’m sure you’ve made a mistake.”
However, it seemed like Ju-Hui didn’t hear him; her head stayed lowered,
and as she held onto Jin-Woo’s arm, her entire body trembled even harder.
‘Hang on a sec here.’
Even Jin-Woo picked up on this strange but ominous sensation now. The
world was eerily quiet. So much so, it felt just too bizarre.
‘No sounds….?’
Even the sounds of the flames burning on the torches could not be heard
anymore.
“First law.”
In the meantime, Song’s voice continued on as he read the contents of the
slate.
“Worship the god. Second law. Exalt the god. Third law. Prove your piety.
Those who do not keep to these laws shall not leave this place alive.”
It was then.
SLAM!!
Everyone was jolted back to their senses at the sudden explosion of noise.
“What, what was that?!”
“Where did that sudden noise come from?!”
The first person to notice the change in the situation was none other than
Jin-Woo. Because his senses were running at full tilt already, he could tell
where the noise was coming from right away.
“The door!! The door is closed!!”
As soon as Jin-Woo shouted out, everyone shifted their gazes towards the
doorway. The door they left open was now firmly shut close.
“God d*mn it! I can’t stand this!”
The Hunter who was the first to oppose the idea of continued exploration of
the dungeon began spitting out cusses as he took large strides towards the
door.
“I’m going home, so you all can have fun with a boss or treasures or
whatever.”
That Hunter glared at Song with an expression that contained all of his
dissatisfaction before he spun his head around and angrily grabbed the door
handle.
It happened, then.
Song’s eyes grew extra large.
“No!!”
Splash!
The area above the Hunter’s neck suddenly vanished. The headless body
powerlessly collapsed to the ground.
“K, kkkkyaaachk?!”
“Uwaa?! Uwaak!!”
Hunters began screaming their heads off.
The stone statue that smashed a human’s head apart with a steel mace
returned to its original spot next to the door, as if nothing important had
happened, its body completely covered in fresh blood.
“That, that thing can move?!”
“What the hell?? Does that mean every statue in here can move, too?!”
“We gotta fight against these things?”
“I couldn’t even see that d*mn thing swing the mace, so how can I?!”
Unlike others here, though, Jin-Woo knew the truth.
….Their troubles only had just begun.
Didn’t Ju-Hui say it earlier?
“The, the eyes… The eyes of the god statue moved towards us. Just now.”
‘If what she said is true….’
A chill rapidly ran down his spine.
Jin-Woo forced his stiff neck to turn around so he could look behind him.
“….Oh, sh*t.”
The stone statue of the god was looking down at him.
Part 3: Commencement of the attack
It was then, the god statue’s two black eyes changed to red.
Was this the instincts of a Hunter?
No, the instincts of a living being were sending out urgent warning signals.
Something was coming.
Something none of them could contend with!
Jin-Woo turned towards the other Hunters and cried out as loudly as he
could.
“Get down!!”
Almost at the same time, red beams of light shot out from the eyes of the
god statue. Jin-Woo hugged Ju-Hui and threw their bodies to the floor.
BUZZZ!!
The beam shot right by the spot Jin-Woo had been standing.
A tenth of a second.
No, he survived by one-hundredth of a second.
That was definitely too close for comfort.
Unfortunately, not everyone was as lucky as Jin-Woo.
“Uwaaahk?!”
“Euh-ahahack!!”
Those who were swallowed up by the red light evaporated where they
stood. Only the ashes of what used to be human Hunters remained where the
beam flew past.
The screams came not from the dead Hunters, but those who witnessed
their final moments from the sidelines, actually.
“What the f*ck was that?!”
“Euh, euh-euh…”
“How, how can such a thing even be…”
The remaining Hunters began freaking out.
Out of the seventeen Hunters, only eleven survived.
Not one of them had ever experienced such a powerful attack before in
their lives.
‘I barely made it because he told me to get down.’
‘If it wasn’t for Mister Seong’s shouts….’
Hunters stared at Jin-Woo while nervously swallowing their saliva. Jin-
Woo turned out to be their unlikely saviour. Without his timely warning, they
could only imagine what would’ve happened to them and that thought sent
chills down their spines.
“…..”
While still lying prostrate on the ground, Jin-Woo glared at the god statue.
Its eyes were still glowing in red, but it did not attack again.
‘Is the attack… over?’
Jin-Woo looked underneath him. The scared-silly Yi Ju-Hui was trembling
in his arms.
This was the reason why she worked for the Association and not for a big
Guild, and participated in simple raids like this one, even though she was
nominally an excellent Hunter with a rank as high as ‘B’.
Ju-Hui’s breathing was getting rougher by the second.
He couldn’t let her be like this. He had to do something.
Jin-Woo was about to raise his body up, thinking that he gotta do
something here, but then, someone grabbed his shoulders and pushed him
back down, hard.
“Don’t get up.”
It was Mister Song, somehow next to the youth before anyone had noticed
it. Jin-Woo was flustered, but still did as he was told.
Song then shouted at the other Hunters.
“Nobody move! Stay exactly where you are!”
Song looked around before focusing on Jin-Woo.
“Only those that moved got killed. Those who listened to you and got
down survived.”
“It seems that way.”
Song tilted his head slightly.
“I thought you warned us because you figured something out?”
“No, well, I just felt something dangerous was coming, so….”
A flash of light brushed past Song’s eyes just then.
‘His instincts are pretty good, in other words. He’s a rank E Hunter? If
only his abilities were a bit higher….’
Just as Song stared at Jin-Woo with a rueful expression, Jin-Woo too found
a little bit of leeway to check out the older Hunter’s condition.
And the youth’s eyes opened up wider after finding something pretty
terrible.
“A-ahjussi, your, your… Your arm?!”
“This is nothing. I can still hold on.”
“But, but, still….”
Jin-Woo swallowed down his saliva.
Song’s other hand that wasn’t pressing down on Jin-Woo’s shoulder, his left
arm, was gone.
“…”
Song studied Ju-Hui’s conditions for a bit, before he took off the T-shirt he
was wearing, and while not even showing the enormous amount of pain he
must be feeling, he wrapped up what was left of his left arm.
“Help me tie up the end, please? It’s difficult to so with only one hand.”
Jin-Woo could only nod his head then.
They were able to somehow stop the bleeding for now.
Rather than a scream or a pained moan, Song let out a long sigh. It was a
sigh containing ten years’ worth of experience as a Hunter.
“Fuu…..”
Now that the first-aid was over, Song’s gaze became a level sharper as he
studied his surroundings. Although the god statue stopped attacking them,
their situation hadn’t improved in the slightest.
And like so, seconds continued to tick by.
“Sob, sob….”
“Just why do we have to suffer like this, this…..”
A few Hunters even began shedding tears now.
“We can’t stay like this forever!!”
The patience of the other Hunters was running out as well. Jin-Woo agreed
with that sentiment, though.
‘Right, we can’t stay here forever.’
But, what could he possibly do here? If Song’s suspicion was correct, then
the moment they moved, they’d get attacked.
And, even if they got lucky and managed to evade the beams and reach the
door, there were the two stone statues guarding the doorway to worry about,
as well.
They were a big problem too, actually.
The movements of the doorkeepers were so fast that he couldn’t see it with
his eyes. Could he or anyone else open the door and escape before those
statues attacked them?
It sounded completely impossible.
Which meant that the annihilation of the Hunters was just a matter of time.
‘Wait….. A matter of time?’
When his thoughts arrived there, a strong sense of disharmony filled him
up.
An event that couldn’t have happened, but it happened anyway.
But no one else seemed to have picked up on “it” yet.
‘Something… We missed something here.’
Without a doubt, the answer to their salvation hid in that ‘something’.
It was then.
“Don’t move!”
Song shouted at Mister Joo, who was at the far end of the group.
“Shut up! Who knows when that thing will start attacking us again!! But
you want me to stay here and wait?!”
Mister Joo was a close-combat type Hunter.
These types of Hunters possessed far, far superior physical abilities than
regular human beings. On top of this, Joo was about to sign up with a big
Guild after his skills were acknowledged by them not too long ago as well.
“I’ll not die here today.”
While keeping low to the ground, Joo put all his strength down to his legs.
His aim was at the doorway.
The muscles on his legs were swelling up fast.
“D*mn it….”
Song could only mutter out to himself.
Right then, Joo kicked the ground and exploded forward.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo hurriedly turned his head to look at the god statue.
Just as he suspected, the eyes of the statue were fixed on the back of mister
Joo.
And then, the chilling red ray shot out from those eyes.
BUZZ!!
The beam slammed on the back of Mister Joo.
“Kkyaaahck!!”
The female Hunter screamed at the top of her lungs.
She must’ve developed a leak, because a puddle of yellow liquid formed
where she was squatting on the ground.
The expressions of the Hunters froze, hard.
“Oh my god….”
Mister Joo no longer stood where the red beam flew past. Only the pair of
ownerless ankles could be seen now.
One of the men with a weaker constitution began emptying the contents of
his stomach.
“B-blergh!!”
Jin-Woo’s expression also crumpled as well.
As expected, the god statue could easily finish them off if it felt like it. It’d
be easier than stepping on squirming bugs, actually.
‘If that’s the case, then…. Why hadn’t it?’
It could kill them, yet it hadn’t done that.
This was a completely different pattern of behaviour compared to the
monsters that attacked as soon as spotting human Hunters in their vicinity.
These statues only moved if certain conditions were met: the doorkeepers
that only attacked if someone approached the door; the eyes of the god statue
firing that red beam if someone moved.
It was like a game with a set regulation.
‘Hang on… Could there be some kind of rules in this chamber?’
It was here that a piece of puzzle found its place in Jin-Woo’s head. He
began recalling the contents of the stone slate Song was reading not too long
ago, that was why.
‘The laws of the… Karutenon temple, was it?’
‘Regulation’ was ‘rules’, and ‘rules’ could be ‘laws’ as well.
The key to their safe escape from this camber had to be buried within those
warnings found on the stone slate.
“….Worship the god.”
That was the first law.
“Mm? Did you just say something?”
Song shifted his gaze back to Jin-Woo.
Instead of a reply, Jin-Woo simply placed his index finger on his lips. It
was a sign asking for a bit of time to think.
‘If my thoughts are right…’
Jin-Woo slowly rose up.
Song hurriedly tried to stop the youth, but Jin-Woo shook his head while
carrying a determined expression.
‘….Doesn’t look like he gave up on living.’
Song nodded his head.
Jin-Woo kept his eyes trained squarely at the god statue and carefully stood
up.
Almost right away, the eyes of the statue were fixed on Jin-Woo.
BUZZZ!!
And as expected, the red beam was fired in his direction.
If he got down to the ground a moment slower, it’d be his face melting
away, instead of a few strands of hair on top of his head!
Lying face down on the ground, Jin-Woo breathed in and out quite heavily.
“Heok, heok, heok, heok.”
He nearly died just then. The moment the statue’s eyes met his, he thought
he was going to die for sure. He somehow did dodge it, but his legs wouldn’t
stop shaking from the fear.
‘Still….’
Still, he learned something important just now.
‘It’s not attacking someone who’s moving around.’
As long as he was squatting low to the ground, he could go anywhere he
wanted to and the statue’s eyes would remain still.
However, if one stood up, then the red beam would be fired without
hesitation.
‘The d*mn thing only attacks if we breach a certain height.’
That was why Jin-Woo bet his life on proving this theory right just now.
And now, he was sure of it.
The meaning behind the first law, that was!
Chapter 4 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo was surprised by the weighty voice coming from the corner of the
hospital room, and hurriedly turned his head to look.
“I apologise if we took you by surprise.”
“Unfortunately, we are unable to wait any longer.”
Two men kitted out in black business suits approached Jin-Woo’s bed. The
youth tilted his head and asked them.
“Who…. are you?”
He had never seen these two’s faces before.
One of them with the close-cropped hair like a soldier and wearing a pair of
sunglasses presented him with a business card.
“This is who we are.”
Jin-Woo received the business card and read what was written on it.
‘Woo Jin-Cheol, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, the Korean
Hunter’s Association?’
The Monitoring Division was the only department in the Hunter’s
Association with many strong Hunters in their payroll. Well, since this
department was tasked with managing the country’s Hunters so, quite
obviously, they would employ many high-class Hunters to facilitate that
purpose.
“What does the Monitoring Division want from me?”
Woo Jin-Cheol dragged a chair closer to the bed and sat down. The other
man, who must’ve been his subordinate, stood behind him.
The unspoken pressure emanating from the two buff guys staring down in
close vicinity was quite heavy. The story they conveyed was rather surprising,
though.
“I was unconscious for four days?!”
“By any chance, do you remember what happened before you blacked
out?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Please tell us everything you can remember.”
Jin-Woo told them everything truthfully, minus the strange hallucinatory
words he heard before he lost his consciousness.
“And that’s when you lost your consciousness… Is that all?”
“Yes. I open my eyes next, and I’m in a hospital.”
Woo Jin-Cheol and his lackey exchanged meaningful glances. For some
reason, they seemed to be troubled by Jin-Woo’s lack of knowledge.
Actually, Jin-Woo was the one who wanted to find out what happened the
most in this room.
“Just how did I get to this hospital? Did a large Guild participate and kill
those d*mn things?”
“Well, actually….”
Woo Jin-Cheol awkwardly opened his mouth.
“By the time the agents of the Monitoring Division and the White Tiger
Guild arrived at the scene after being briefed by the survivors….”
The White Tiger Guild was a super-massive Guild and also one of the top
five in the country. The Association had recognised the danger, hence they
requested the aid of such a huge Guild as the White Tiger Guild in the first
place.
Just what did happen back there?
Jin-Woo nervously swallowed a dry spit.
“By the time….?”
“….Everything was ‘gone’. The only thing to be found within that open
space was you, Mister Seong Jin-Woo. There was not one trace of the god
statue nor the stone statues.”
“Come again?!”
Jin-Woo displayed a shocked, disbelieving face.
“It’s hard for us to believe it as well. If there had been any
inconsistencies in the testimonies of the survivors, or if we had failed to find
the remains of the victims in the chamber, we might have suspected
something fishy was going on.”
Woo Jin-Cheol scratched his chin.
It’d been six years since he got ranked as an ‘A’ and started working for the
Monitoring Division. He could confidently say that he had witnessed and
experienced pretty much everything during his tenure. However, this kind of
situation was a first even for him.
He had asked other Guilds as well as the Associations in other countries,
but the end result was nothing worthy to speak about.
That was why…
“So, this is what we’ve been thinking….”
Woo Jin-Cheol carefully opened his mouth.
“There were powerful creatures in that chamber, without a doubt. But,
they were taken care of by an unknown group, or an unknown person.
Because, no otherworldly beings escaped from the Gate before it was closed,
you see.”
They had to consider all the possibilities. Even if the odds were low, they
had to confirm them all. The head honchos of the Association deliberated, and
then deliberated for some more, and finally came up with a theory.
Woo Jin-Cheol carefully studied Jin-Woo’s reactions as he continued on.
“We… suspect that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo-nim might have gone through
another Awakening.”
Another Awakening!
Jin-Woo’s eyes shot open wide.
Although extremely rare, there had been instances of a human who had
awakened his or her abilities as a Hunter going through yet another
Awakening.
Often referred to as ‘Re-Awakening’, those who undergo this process
would normally become extremely powerful compared to before.
Originally, once a Hunter’s rank was assigned at the beginning, it rarely
changed. A Hunter’s abilities were determined the moment one went through
an Awakening, that was why.
However, it was a different story for those going through the Re-
Awakening process.
Jumping past their own limitations to rise up from, say, rank C to A, or
even from B to S, such things had happened before.
Woo Jin-Cheol nervously swallowed his saliva.
‘Seong Jin-Woo…. If he went through a Re-Awakening and became a
rank S, no, maybe even exceeding that, then it’s possible for him to kill
those monsters all by himself.’
The god statue was said to have melted rank C Hunters with nothing but its
eyes, according to the survivors.
If one were able to kill such a creature even while unconscious, just how
powerful one could possibly be?
To prepare for this unlikeliest possibility, Woo Jin-Cheol labelled this
incident as ‘top secret’ and made sure everyone involved would keep their
mouths shut.
This was also the reason why Seong Jin-Woo found himself in a hospital
room all alone, as well as being looked after by some of the finest medical
practitioners in the nation.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s chest began beating real fast.
‘Could Korea finally have a Hunter on the level of an international
powerhouse….?’
There were less than ten people in the entire world that could truly be
described as a global powerhouse. But, what if Korea were to possess a
powerhouse that were said to rival a nuclear warhead in terms of pure
firepower?
Of course, confirming the truth of the Re-Awakening wasn’t difficult at all.
Didn’t the wise elders once say to make hay while the sun still shines?
Woo Jin-Cheol signalled to his lackey.
“Bring it here.”
Then, the lackey went to the corner of the room and began rummaging
through a briefcase placed there.
“That is…?”
Before Jin-Woo could finish his question, Woo Jin-Cheol explained first.
“It’s the device to measure your magic energy.”
He added that, although this device had been miniaturised, its efficiency or
accuracy did not fall short of the actual full-size measuring device located in
the Hunter’s Association.
“All you have to do is to place your hand on this magic crystal over
here.”
On top of a circular plate, there was a fist-sized magic crystal embedded in
the middle. Its colour was pitch-black, as if it was a black hole that wanted to
suck him in!
It was one of the highest quality magic crystals that cost as much as a
billion won, not to mention that could only be found in monsters ranked A or
higher. (TL: Almost $900,000)
When Jin-Woo stared at the magic crystal without saying anything, Woo
Jin-Cheol formed a dignified, serious expression and spoke up.
“This is a necessary step during our investigation, so please, cooperate
with us.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
If he indeed had undergone a Re-Awakening, then his life would do a 180
in an instant. And they were going to test it out for him for free, so who was
he to refuse?
Jin-Woo placed his hand on top of the black crystal and soon enough, warm
rays of light oozed out from it.
Cold sweat drops formed on the foreheads of Woo Jin-Cheol and his
lackey.
*SFX for a beam of light dissipating*
Not too long after then, the light surrounding the crystal dissipated.
Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly took off his sunglasses and confirmed the
numbers.
Right away, a small earthquake rocked Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes.
“How can this be?!”
He rechecked the numbers, but it remained the same.
‘How can….’
How could a person holding a Hunter licence possess the magic energy
value of only 10?!
When considering the fact that the lowest average value for rank E – the
bottom rank – was around 70 to 100, Seong Jin-Woo was no different from a
regular person.
“Is it really a Re-Awakening? If it is, what could be my new rank now?”
Jin-Woo’s hands were soaked in the sweat of anticipation.
Seeing the suspicious reactions of the two Monitoring Division agents, the
result must’ve been somewhat beyond their expectations.
Meanwhile, Woo Jin-Cheol was comparing the existing data on Jin-Woo
with the new measurement.
‘His first measurement returned the value of 12. Four years later, it’s 10.
It has decreased by 2, but it is within the margin of error.’
In other words, the magic energy measuring device was working fine.
Instead, it was Seong Jin-Woo’s magic energy that happened to be just
illogically, nonsensically low.
It was a miracle that he had survived until now.
Woo Jin-Cheol rapidly realised that being here was a waste of time, so he
got up from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol and his lackey quickly packed up to leave.
“Uhm, excuse me. Can you tell me what is….”
Just as Jin-Woo was about to ask, Woo Jin-Cheol bowed his head slightly.
“Thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything else, please
give us a call anytime.”
As if their rear ends were on fire, two men-in-black rapidly left the room as
soon as they put away the device.
The hospital room that felt rather small suddenly became quiet and lonely.
“…”
Jin-Woo scratched the back of his neck.
‘I guess that was a no, then.’
Well, if he thought about it, besides him feeling refreshed, there didn’t
seem to be any change to him at all. Even if he did go through a Re-
Awakening, it’d still be difficult for him to kill all those statue b*stards,
anyways.
‘Maybe, you might have a chance against them if you were either the
ultimate weapon, Hunter Choi Jong-In, or the rank SS Hunter Goh Gun-
Hui.’
Of course, him speculating like this was meaningless, since he had never
seen them in action before. There was always a thick veil of secrecy draped
over the Hunters ranked S.
They were more like clouds in the sky to him, actually.
He thought up to here and inadvertently raised his head up. And that’s
when he saw ‘it’.
‘Huh?!’
He looked up without thinking, and then, saw ‘words’ floating in the air.
[You have several unread messages.]
***
“…..?”
He closed his eyes and opened them again.
[You have several unread messages.]
The words remained floating up there without a single change. He shook
his head hard a few times and even rubbed his eyes, but they were still there.
Jin-Woo massaged his aching forehead and lowered his head.
‘It hadn’t been a long time since I started hearing weird things, but now,
I’m even seeing them, too….’
Could something in his head really be broken?
There was a condition called PTSD, after all. People who experienced a
huge accident or a traumatic event usually suffered from this condition.
It was only a few days ago since he witnessed the deaths of many of his
comrades, not to mention he himself nearly died as well, so it would not be so
strange to hear or see weird things as a possible side effect.
‘However….’
However, there were a couple of things that prevented him from dismissing
this out of hand.
Jin-Woo’s sight lowered to his leg – the leg that got cut in half by the shield
of the stone statue was now all fine and dandy.
The voice he heard out of the blue inside the underground temple hidden
within the depths of the dual dungeon; his completely-cured (?) leg; and now,
those words floating in front of his eyes.
Too many weird things were happening all at once.
‘What if….?’
There was a chance that all these things were not isolated events but linked
to one another. When his thoughts arrived here, his aching head felt just a bit
clearer.
‘Okay, fine.’
Jin-Woo slowly raised his head.
Once the confusion in his heart died down and he felt calmer, he became
quite curious about the contents of those so-called unread messages. There
might be answers to his questions found within those messages, after all.
In order to confirm the messages, he reached out towards the words.
And his hand simply went past them.
‘It’s not touch-operated?’
It seemed that he got way too used to how a smartphone worked. He
couldn’t think of any other way to access the messages other than tapping on
the ‘icon’, though.
While he was deliberating on the means to access the messages, he recalled
the memories from the moments before he blacked out.
“Right. That happened.”
Back then, he could only get his intentions across to that unknown voice by
‘talking’ to it.
‘Just like back then, I should either form the words in my head or speak
it out loud.’
Thinking that this must be the case, Jin-Woo then began to mutter the
potential combination of words one by one.
“Confirm.”
“Messages.”
“Confirm messages.”
“Check messages.”
“Reading.”
“I want to read.”
“I want to look.”
“Hey, show me already, will ya?!”
It was then.
“…..Just what is it that you wish to see that bad?”
He felt a cold, probing stare coming from the side, so he turned his head to
look. And, spotted his little sister in her school uniform looking at him from
the gap of the half-open door.
“Uhm…..”
Jin-Woo became speechless.
Her oppa, busy glaring at the ceiling while demanding someone to show
something to him – he simply didn’t know how to explain this one to her.
Chapter 9 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
It happened then.
Shururururu…..
Suddenly, the sandy ground next to him caved in and a deep pit formed
there.
“Huh? Uh, uh!”
Jin-Woo desperately ran away so he could avoid getting sucked in down
there. The sandy pit grew wider and wider, and eventually, Jin-Woo had to
crawl on all fours just to pull himself out.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
He plopped down on his butt, panted heavily and stared at the bottom of the
pit. Quite bizarrely, he could see that the sand at the bottom was ‘boiling’.
Realising that just one misstep would have resulted in him falling in there
sent shivers down his spine.
“Hang on a minute….”
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“….It’s not actually boiling, is it?”
When he took a closer look, he spotted ‘something’ pretty big wiggling
down there.
Jin-Woo instinctively forced himself up. He was getting a really bad
premonition right about now.
Sure enough, just as Jin-Woo took a step back, the sand within the pit
suddenly exploded upwards.
Phushu-!!
The falling sand emitted the roar of a waterfall.
Jin-Woo’s eyes went extra round in the meantime.
“An… an insect?”
The identity of the thing that exploded out from the sand was a giant
centipede.
Kiiiieeehhhk!!
When fully revealed, the d*mn thing’s head almost reached the height
equaling that of a five-story building.
Jin-Woo anxiously swallowed his saliva.
‘This is unreal….’
For sure, the b*stard was unrealistically huge. He had never heard of a
centipede this big existing in the world before. But the size of the centipede
wasn’t the only thing that shocked Jin-Woo.
“Why is there a… name floating on top of that monster?”
Was he dreaming again?
Jin-Woo closed and opened his eyes again, yet nothing had changed. Even
now, there were five red words floating on top of the monster’s head.
….Just like a monster from a video game might have.
‘The Poison-Fanged Giant Desert Centipede.’
Just like its horrendous and bizarre appearance, its name too was something
he’d like to avoid at all cost. What drew his attention the most was the two
letters “poison” and “fanged”.
He spotted a pair of fangs as large as a child jutting out just below the
b*stard’s jaw. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what might happen if he got
stabbed by those fangs simply from its name alone.
Seeing those large fangs and its jaw constantly opening and closing, it was
as if….
“It’s busy licking its lips, right?”
It was then, the sound went off in his head again.
Tti-ring.
[Penalty Quest: Survival]
Goal: Please survive until the end of the time limit.
Time limit: 4 hours
Remaining time: 4 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds
‘Are you kidding me….?’
However, as soon as the ‘remaining time’ changed to 3 hours, 59 minutes,
and 59 seconds, the centipede parted sand and rushed towards him as if it
couldn’t wait any longer.
*SFX for sand parting ways*
“Wha-what the hell?!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly spun around and ran for his life.
There was no time to deliberate on things.
If he wanted to live, then he had to run!
That was the only thought racing in his head.
However, even before he had taken several steps, another pillar of sand
exploded upwards not too far from his position.
Boom!!
“Euh-ahhck?!”
Jin-Woo fell on his rear from the powerful shockwave. He rolled on the
sandy ground before urgently getting back up. He swiped the sand off his face
before his eyes shot open even wider.
This time, it wasn’t just one or two of them.
Boom!!
Booooom!!
Before he had even noticed it, there were seven sand centipedes jutting out
from the sand and they were all glaring at him.
Kiiieeechhk!!
Kiieeek!!
As the centipedes issued shrill cries, Jin-Woo’s complexion changed for the
worse. A lot worse.
“God d*mn it….”
***
Jin-Woo reappeared in the hospital room exactly four hours later.
Plop.
Jin-Woo keeled over on the floor and painfully wheezed out.
“Cough, cough!! Ptooi, ptooi!!”
His mouth felt full with this coarse, grainy taste. His eyes stung badly too,
seemingly like sand particles got in there.
Jin-Woo whimpered and groaned for a long time, before powerlessly
falling flat on his back. He didn’t have any energy left to lift even a finger.
“Pant…. Pant…. Just…. What was that….?”
Jin-Woo continued to pant heavily when a new message appeared before
him.
Tti-ring.
[You’ve completed the ‘Penalty Quest.’]
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled into something unsightly.
A ‘Penalty Quest’?
Did he do something worthy of being punished?
Jin-Woo carefully retreaded his memories until he recalled the [Daily
Quest] he abandoned mid-way yesterday.
‘Could it be…?’
Now that he thought about it, it definitely said that if the quest was not
completed, he’d be hit with a corresponding penalty.
“Pant, pant, that…. That was not a hallucination?!”
Indeed, it was not a hallucination nor was it a dream.
There was no need to pinch his cheeks to confirm whether this was a dream
or reality.
When he was running around, the shortness of breath felt so suffocatingly
harsh, and the pain he felt when he got grazed by the centipede’s leg still felt
fresh in his mind.
Everything happened for real.
He nearly died back there.
“This is way too much…. Pant… pant….”
The so-called penalty turned out to be him being throwing into a d*mn
execution ground!
At the same time, another ominous premonition rushed into his mind. If
this event was indeed caused by the ‘Daily Quest’ thing, then without a doubt,
this would not be the last time.
Sure enough, he got to hear yet another mechanical beep going off in his
head.
Tti-ring.
He flinched in surprise, but thankfully, it was not about another quest or
anything like that.
[Rewards for completing the Penalty Quest is now available.]
[Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)
‘Rewards….?’
The word ‘rewards’ jumped right out. Too bad, the problem was, he
currently didn’t have any energy left whatsoever to confirm this and that.
His situation simply didn’t allow that.
‘Never mind giving me rewards or not…. Let me take a break first….’
His sights gradually blurred.
Soon, Jin-Woo fell into a deep slumber akin to a blackout.
***
“Oh my gosh?! What happened in here?”
morning.
A nurse entered Jin-Woo’s room, only for her eyes to open up wide in
surprise.
The patient was lying sprawled on the floor, while sand was everywhere as
far as she could see. Not only that, the patient too was full of sand as well.
She threw the medical chart on the bed and urgently pressed the emergency
buzzer.
“Please, someone get over here right away!”
Soon, the doctor in charge rushed into the room.
“What happened? What’s the matter with Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“I don’t know. Everything was fine until last night, yet this morning….”
“For now, let’s relocate him back on the bed. One, two!”
Two people lifted Jin-Woo off the floor and placed him back on the bed.
During the process, the back of Jin-Woo’s hand got scratched by the edge of
the medical chart left on the bed and his skin tore just a little, but no one
noticed that.
“Let’s take a look.”
The doctor then carefully examined Jin-Woo’s condition. However, he
couldn’t find anything wrong with the youth.
“What the heck…. Isn’t he just in a deep sleep?”
The doctor spat out a sigh of relief.
The Hunter’s Association had requested the hospital to pay a special
attention to this particular patient. Understandably, the doctor was scared
almost out of his wits while thinking that something bad had happened here.
“For now, let’s let him be. Looks like he’s in a really deep slumber at the
moment.”
The doctor in charge spoke to the nurse and was about to leave, but then, he
took a look around the room and scratched the side of his head.
“By the way, this room… might need a thorough cleaning. Miss Yu-Rah,
please take care of tidying this place up.”
“Yes. I shall, doctor.”
The doctor left the room and the nurse, Choi Yu-Rah, patted her chest
down.
What a relief that it turned out to be nothing to worry about.
Sure, they might not be the patient or the relatives of one themselves, but
you wouldn’t find a doctor or a nurse who wished ill on those they were in
charge of.
The Hunter’s hospital especially saw many heavily-injured patients every
day. At the bare minimum, she’d like to never see another one of patients she
was looking after get worse under her care.
“Whew…”
She had calmed down a little now, and began worrying about where should
she start tidying this room up, but then, her eyes spotted drops of blood on the
floor.
“Oh my?”
The blood droplets were coming from the tip of patient’s hand that fell
outside the bed.
She got stunned by this and hurriedly searched for the wound on Jin-Woo’s
hand, before flipping it around.
“What’s going on here….?”
There definitely was a trace of flowing blood, but she could not find a
single wound. She wiped the blood clean, yet the expected wound was not
there.
‘Wait…. Could his injury heal in that short time?’
Yu-Rah’s heart began beating faster as she cautiously studied Jin-Woo’s
complexion.
He was still submerged in a deep, deep sleep even now.
Part 7: Daily Quest
Tti-ring.
[Daily Quest is now available.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes shot right open.
He quickly raised himself up and the first thing he did was to check the
time. The needles of the clock just went past 16:30.
Meaning, there was the leeway of seven hours and thirty minutes before
midnight.
‘Good.’
Jin-Woo opened the mailbox.
Tti-ring.
[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]
Press-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Squat, 100 times: Incomplete (0/100)
Running, 10 km: Incomplete (0/10)
※Warning: Incompletion of Daily Quests will result in appropriate levels of
punishment.
“It’s the same thing, again?!”
He groaned out almost reflexively.
No, perhaps this was for the better. Rather than a quest with impossible or
hard-to-understand goals, this was far more preferable, instead.
Well, as long as he had enough time, he’d be able to complete this quest
after all, although his body might suffer for a bit. Jin-Woo got down to the
floor this time and began the press-up.
“One.”
Obviously, he was not planning on being dragged to yet another suspicious
place and get almost killed there.
“Two.”
He got lucky the previous night and survived, but there was no guarantee
that would happen tonight as well.
“Three.”
He raised his head a little and confirmed the contents of the quest, and
noticed that every time he performed a press-up, it was being recorded in real
time as well.
Tti-ring.
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: Incomplete (7/100)]
Tti-ring.
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: Incomplete (8/100)]
He wanted to make sure, so he only went down half-way and got back up,
but as expected, that didn’t count. Now he finally realised why the so-called
press-ups of yesterday didn’t count. He had to perform the proper press-ups or
it wouldn’t be counted at all.
‘Huh…. Gimme a break.’
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded, but didn’t stop the exercise.
He still had 50 more press-ups to go.
After that, sit-ups, squats and running were waiting for him.
….And, three hours later.
Press-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
Squat, 100 times: Complete (100/100)
Running, 10 km: Incomplete (9/10)
“Pant, pant, pant, pant…”
Jin-Woo lapped the outer perimeter of the hospital once and arrived back in
front of his room. He was currently bent over and panting out heavily. His
heart felt like it might explode at any second, but he couldn’t give up yet.
‘I worked so crazy hard until now, so no way I would….’
He somehow managed to open the door and took a step forward.
When he did that….
Tti-ring.
[Total distance ran: 10 km.]
[You’ve completed Running, 10 km.]
It was finally over.
“Pant…. Pant…”
Jin-Woo fell down to his knees. His breath reeked of something sweet and
bitter. His face and back were soaked in sweat.
“Pant…. Pant….”
As Jin-Woo tried to regulate his heavy, rough breathing while thick sweat
drops continuously dripped down, a familiar message popped up in front of
his eyes.
Tti-ring.
[You’ve completed ‘Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong’.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)
Jin-Woo momentarily thought about forgetting about everything and simply
laying down in defeat, but quickly changed his mind. At least for now, he
wanted to confirm what these reward things could actually be with his own
eyes first.
“Confirm.”
Tti-ring.
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition
Reward 2. Three additional Stat points
Reward 3. One random box
[Would you like to collect them all?]
‘Why are there so many of them?’
That was the first thought to enter his dazed mind after he took a gander at
the contents of his rewards.
But, when he thought about it a little deeper, one of those rewards seemed
rather useful right now, and there was also one that made him curious about
what it could actually mean.
For now, he urgently needed the first reward available. He was on the brink
of collapsing here.
Since there really was a penalty for failure, the odds of completion rewards
being real were pretty d*mn high as well.
Well, trying wouldn’t hurt anyways, right?
Seriously, this ‘thing’ wouldn’t throw him back into the penalty zone again
after it said it’d give him the rewards, now would it?
Chapter 11 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The sole surviving Lycan, the one that flew over Jin-Woo’s head just now,
lowered its tail after seeing this scene and began taking faltering steps
backwards.
“Huh….?”
Was this the result from him raising his Strength Stat?
The utterly stunned Seong Jin-Woo couldn’t close his slack jaw as the
headless Lycan’s legs shook like a leaf, before its movement stopped for
good.
That was when he heard the familiar mechanical beep going off again.
Tti-ring.
[You’ve killed an Iron-Fanged Lycan.]
[Level up!]
***
“My level rose up?”
To make sure that he didn’t mishear that, Jin-Woo hurriedly accessed his
Status Window.
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 2
Class: None
Title: None
HP: 205
MP: 22
Tiredness: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 32
Stamina: 11
Agility: 11
Intelligence: 11
Perception: 11
(Available points to distribute: 0)
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- (Unknown) Lv. Max
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
His level really did go up.
And when a level went up, a single point was added to all of his Stats.
As it turned out, it wasn’t only the quest rewards that could impact the
values of his Stats. It was also possible to improve his Stats through levelling
up, too.
‘To think, I can actually level up!’
He only carried a vague expectation, but it actually became reality. His
heart began to beat faster and faster.
‘On top of that, I get more additional points from levelling up.’
The Stat points he got from the quest rewards were 3. Meanwhile, he got 5
from levelling up once.
Although he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t freely distribute those
points the way he liked to, but still, his growth through levelling up was much
greater.
Also, there was the thing about quests only being available once per day,
but there was a good chance that levelling up wouldn’t suffer from such
restrictions.
‘I only killed two, but my level rose up.’
This was the same as in video games. When his level was low, he could
raise it up by a lot during a short space of time.
And currently, Jin-Woo was only a level 2. It was not an exaggeration to
say that he was right at the bottom of the pile. However, he was not what one
would call a normal low-level player, either. His Strength stat already
exceeded 30.
If the Strength stat rose up by one point every time one levelled up, then
the Stat value of Jin-Woo’s Strength was equivalent to level 20 or higher.
What if a ‘user’ possessing level 20’s worth of Strength stat hunted in the
‘level 1’ beginner’s hunting area?
‘In other words, explosive levelling up….’
As if to prove his guess, the destructive might behind that punch easily
exceeded his own expectations.
‘The Strength stat might have been multiplied by just over three times,
but…. The difference in actual, physical strength was well beyond that.’
Jin-Woo’s original Strength value was 10.
There was the difference of three times the value between the Strength stat
of 10 and 30, but the difference between the actual forces produced was well
beyond that.
‘Could it be….?’
What if, as the Stat’s value rose up, the weight was also added as well? If
that was the case, then such a destructive power output could easily be
explained away.
Besides that, his movement speed had increased as well.
If it was in the past, there was no way he’d be able to lightly evade the all-
out attack of an animal, nor could his punch move fast enough to produce the
sound of the air splitting apart.
“Right, the physical strength in my muscles has increased so, obviously
my speed would have increased along the way, too.”
Simply by raising his Strength stat higher, both his power and speed had
gone up. The battle against the Lycans proved this.
So, what would happen if he increased his Agility, instead?
His curiosity was at its peak, but he didn’t have any method to find out at
the moment. If he wanted to satisfy his burning curiosity, then he simply had
to increase his Stats, ASAP.
‘Even still….’
He couldn’t help but think that investing points he got as quest rewards in
the Agility Stat kinda felt a bit wasteful. If he shored up his Strength Stat,
both his power and speed would go up anyway, so what was the point of
investing in the Agility Stat?
Since his thoughts were as such, there was only one way to go forward
here.
‘I gotta level up lots of times, really fast.’
Indeed, he’d raise the Agility Stat through levelling up. Every little cent
saved would eventually net him a buck later down the line. If he increased the
values one point at a time, he’d feel the difference sooner or later.
Jin-Woo pried loose the sword off the ground.
‘In that case, shall I get started for real, then?’
There was one more monster he needed to kill, after all.
“By the way…. Where did it disappear to?”
The Lycan that was definitely somewhere nearby had gone with the wind
before he had noticed it. Jin-Woo hurriedly scanned his surroundings, but he
couldn’t find a single trace of the creature.
Quite likely, it had turned tail and ran away while he was immersed in the
Status Windows. Well, he should’ve known something was up when it
lowered its tail and cautiously studied his ‘mood’.
“Tsk.”
Jin-Woo smacked his lips, realising that a bundle of experience points had
just escaped from his grasp.
‘Hang on, do these things give away things like magic crystals, too?’
The sudden thought popping up in his head stopped him in his tracks.
Monsters appearing within the Gates all possessed one, or sometimes,
several, magic crystals in them. If one got lucky, a Rune stone might drop,
too.
Magic crystals could be used for a variety of purposes and they alone
exchanged hands for princely sums; no need to even mention the Rune stones,
which could be used by Hunters to learn brand new skills.
It was not an exaggeration to say that the reasons why Hunters participated
in raids was not just because of the promised payment from the related
organisations, but also these magic crystals, as well.
Jin-Woo was also a Hunter.
He was successful in killing these monsters, so not being rewarded for his
work kind of felt a bit like he was wronged somehow.
Feeling a little rueful, he sliced open the Lycan’s stomach, but it turned out
to be a waste of time. It seemed that these creatures were fundamentally
different from the regular monsters.
The thing was, he had entered quite a few different dungeons in his career
so far, but he had never seen these wolf-like monsters before.
Jin-Woo dusted his hands and was about to stand back up, but then….
“Mm?”
He spotted something glittering within the dead Lycan’s mouth. So, he
opened the creature’s maws. One of the Lycan’s fangs was emitting a beam of
light. When Jin-Woo reached out, a new message popped up before him.
[You found the ‘Item: The Canine of a Lycan’. Take it?]
“Sure thing.”
[Item: The Canine of a Lycan]
Rarity: None
Type: Miscellaneous
A large and sharp canine of a Lycan. Can be stored in the Inventory or can
be sold at the Store.
Jin-Woo got flustered a bit while staring at the canine tooth.
‘There was a Store, too?!’
Where would you find a System less friendly than the one he was saddled
with?!
To think, it was designed in such a way that the end user had to personally
experience it with his own body before learning about any of its functions….
Hell, he wasn’t given much of an explanation during the penalty quest and
he almost died as a result back then.
Jin-Woo gnashed his teeth and tried to summon this ‘Store’ thing.
“Store.”
He couldn’t help but feel his anticipation build up, wondering if a shop
with a signboard declaring ‘Store’ and manned by an NPC merchant, kinda
like from video games, might really appear before him.
However, what appeared instead was a bunch of green letters floating in the
air like hologram projections, just like when he accessed his mailbox.
And there were only two words there, too.
‘Buy’ and ‘Sell’.
“…….”
What a simple-tastic Store this was.
Jin-Woo selected ‘Buy’.
He didn’t have a single cent in his pockets, but he was still curious about
the stuff available within the Store.
Unfortunately for him, the Store turned out to be one cold customer.
[Your level is too low to access the ‘Buy’ function.]
He was already familiar with the cold-shoulder treatment from the places
that required him to pay up, so this was fine.
“Sure, sure.”
Jin-Woo didn’t think too much about it and shifted his gaze away to ‘Sell’.
[Will you sell ‘Item: The Canine of a Lycan’?]
“Yup.”
With the clinging sounds of coins, his Inventory appeared next. Right at the
bottom of the display, in the column saying ‘Gold’, he could see the number
20 appearing there. That space had been empty yesterday.
‘20 Gold, eh,’
He couldn’t really use that ‘money’ in real life, and he couldn’t even use
the Store properly yet, so he had no idea just how much this 20 Gold was
actually worth.
‘Oh well. A creature from the rank E dungeon wouldn’t have given me
any decent loot, to begin with.’
Even if there was a difference between the dungeons found beyond the
Gates and this so-called instant dungeon, it would be the same difference at
the end of the day.
Still, Jin-Woo wanted to make sure, so he was about to collect the canine
from the other dead Lycan, but he ended up doing a facepalm, instead.
“Ah. I blew away its entire head, didn’t I….”
Jin-Woo felt bitter as he turned around to go somewhere else.
20 Gold and its unknown worth were calling back to him, but he couldn’t
waste time searching for a single canine that could’ve flown to pretty much
anywhere under this dim lighting.
However, as soon as he turned around, the feelings of bitterness dissipated
in an instant.
“Growl!!”
“Grrr….”
“Growl!!”
“Grrr!!!”
Well now, the Lycan he thought had ran way actually came back with a
bunch of its friends!
A wonderfully bright smile bloomed on Jin-Woo’s face. Even at a casual
glance, there must be over 20 of them here.
“Eureka!!”
Hang on a minute, was that the right word to use in this sort of situation?
Whatever.
It was definitely a word to express one’s joy, anyway.
Jin-Woo tightly grasped the sword and spoke up.
“With the exception of your canines, I’m gonna massacre all of you.”
When the chilling glare of a man who was obsessed about making money
landed on the Lycans, they became intimidated and shuddered slightly.
It was at this point that Jin-Woo pounced on them without mercy.
***
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
As he expected, his levels rose up quite quickly.
Simply from searching every nook and cranny of the first floor and killing
all the Lycans he could find, Jin-Woo’s level shot right up to 7.
He had jumped up five flights of stairs, in other words.
“Whimper…..”
When he caught up and killed the very last monster running desperately
away from him, a strange message popped up into his view.
Tti-ring.
[You have acquired the ‘Title: Slaughterer of Wolves’.]
“A Title?”
[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves]
A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-
type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%. (TL: the ‘hunter’ is a
lower case here, because that’s what’s in the raw. The ‘Hunters’ until now had
been written in English, actually.)
When he opened his Status Window to take a look, the ‘Title’ column
indeed had been updated.
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 7
Class: None
Title: Slaughterer of Wolves
HP: 766
MP: 81
Tiredness: 3
[Stat]
Strength: 37
Stamina: 16
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 16
Perception: 16
(Available points to distribute: 0)
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- (Unknown) Lv. Max
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
A bonus boost to his stats when fighting against animal-type monsters….
Although the effect was a bit restricted, still, having his Stats increase by
40%, now that didn’t sound too bad at all.
‘There are plenty of animal-type monsters out there, so would this apply to
them as well?’ (TL: the author had been using the Hanja word for monsters to
describe those found in the Gate’s dungeons until now, but the creatures found
in the instant dungeon are written in the English word, ‘monster’. That’s why
we get this line.)
If that was the case, then he’d be able to easily kill monsters when
participating in the future raids.
However, he still earned big time even when disregarding his new Title.
‘34 wolf canines, two rusted daggers, a set of traveller’s clothes, and one
return crystal.’
While killing these wolves, he learned that he could sometimes find loot
from their bellies. Of course, none of them was all that useful.
The rusted daggers possessed lower attack power bonus compared to the
sword he’d been using until now, and the traveller’s clothes were not
something he could actually wear, but just some random japtem (ED: ‘Vendor
Trash’, essentially.) that he could hawk off to the Store.
When he sold them all off, he earned just over a thousand Gold.
[Current Gold: 1,060]
‘….Even then, I can’t really celebrate, can I?’
Well, no matter how much he hoarded this Gold thing, he couldn’t use
them anyways. At least not for now.
The only thing remaining, besides the Gold, was the return crystal. When
he was trying desperately to escape from the dungeon back then, the message
said he’d need a return crystal if he wanted to leave. And now, if he wanted
to, he could escape at any time.
He found himself on a crossroads.
In front, the stairs leading down to the second floor.
And in his hand, a single return crystal grasped tightly.
‘Do I continue on, or do I back out….?’
If it was in the past, he’d not hesitate and choose the latter. That was how
he managed to survive all those raids with his pathetic Stats. Everyone said
that him surviving until now was a miracle, but well, he was trying to be
smart about his choices, actually.
However, the story was different now.
He didn’t want to retreat here.
He felt that, if he turned away to leave now, then he’d never be able to take
another step forward in his life.
“I’ve retreated enough times already, right?”
Wouldn’t it be okay for him to jump in headlong, at least once in his life?
Jin-Woo pocketed the return crystal. His steps climbing down the steps to
the 2nd floor was light.
Chapter 15 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Unlike the dungeons of the Gates, there was a thing called ‘respawn’ within
the instant dungeon. While he was sweeping away every single monster found
on the second floor, all the monsters on the first respawned. While he went
back upstairs to deal with them, monsters on the second floor respawned. So
on and so forth.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo hopped between the first and second floor and killed monsters
until his level no longer rose up.
‘Who knows when I’ll ever run into another opportunity like this one?’
Along the way, he got so used to this place that he was able to predict from
where and how the monsters would try to attack him.
“A monkey, falling from the ceiling….”
He lightly evaded the claws of the monkey-type monster falling from the
ceiling and stabbed it in the chest with his sword. And then….
“Kkiiieeck!!”
“….One cat each from left and right.”
…And then, he orderly sliced the necks of the black panther-like creatures
jumping at him from his sides.
“Kyahk!”
“Kkahk!!”
[You’ve killed a ‘Blade-Claw Briga’.]
[You’ve killed a ‘Black-Shadow Razan’.]
[You’ve killed a ‘Black-Shadow Razan’.]
And with these three, he had arrived at the end of the second floor.
He had cleared out the second floor once more. However, his level hadn’t
been moving from 15 for a long time now. It seemed that reaching that high
was the limit for the first two floors.
“Stats.”
[Stat]
Strength: 45
Stamina: 24
Agility: 24
Intelligence: 24
Perception: 24
(Available points to distribute: 0)
With him being level 15, his Stats had risen up by quite a lot. His Agility
was now almost at 25. He finally got to feel the difference between the
Agility and the Strength Stat when the former hit the value of 20.
The Agility did not increase his speed, but rather, it was as if the
opponent’s movement had become far slower in his perception, instead.
‘Exactly like watching a slow-motion video.’
The scenes of the monkey falling from the ceiling and panthers pouncing
on him played out in slow-motion.
Should he describe it as him being able to manipulate the time flow as he
wished? It became easier to evade enemies’ attacks, and it also became easier
to hit them as well.
As the word implied, he had indeed become more ‘agile’.
The so-called speed was wholly dependant on who was looking at it. The
higher his Agility Stat, the bigger the difference between him and his enemies
would become; from their perspective, he’d look as if he was moving at an
unbelievably quick speed.
‘If both the Strength and Agility increase concurrently, their synergy
should be pretty incredible.’
That was his final assessment of the Agility Stat.
“Besides all that…”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away.
“What should I do now….?”
He was looking at the stairs leading down to the third floor.
There was a reason why he continued to hunt in the first two floors even
though there was a way to go even lower.
‘It’s giving me the creeps.’
With his Perception Stat so much higher, he could sense the aura of
something ominous lurking down there far better than before. Without a
doubt, something really strong was hiding somewhere down below.
He didn’t have to see it to know.
Jin-Woo recalled the message he saw back by the entrance of this instant
dungeon.
[You can not exit the dungeon. Please defeat the boss first or find the
return crystal.]
The existence of the ‘Boss’.
Jin-Woo had been roaming the first two floors in order to raise his levels
until he couldn’t anymore, all for the purpose of fighting this ‘Boss’.
He had prepared himself as much as he could but, when the time to actually
go down there came, he was getting all sweaty and nervous.
Jin-Woo lightly slapped both of his cheeks.
‘I mean, I’ve entered a dungeon, so I can’t just leave without taking a
look at what this boss looks like, now can I?’
A certain amount of tension was a must in order to maintain the peak
condition. And this amount was just about right for him.
Jin-Woo gripped the sword tightly with both of his hands slowly descended
the steps. Could he have been mistaken when the steps felt unusually longer
than before?
He swallowed dried saliva down.
The lighting was worse than the first two floors, but there was no problem
with seeing where he was going.
‘Is it because of my Perception Stat?’
He couldn’t help but feel that his eyesight had improved greatly.
He cautiously climbed lower until eventually spotting the railway tunnel
used by the subway trains.
No, he saw where the railway used to be.
The tunnel that should’ve been used by trains was now filled with jet-black
liquid, instead.
‘What is this?’
Rather than a subway tunnel, it was…. more like a lake or a river now.
Just as Jin-Woo took one more step forward to take a closer look….
A long log-like object shot out from the surface of the black ‘water’.
Swish!!
‘It’s fast!’
The thing that arrived in front of his nose in the blink of an eye was not a
log, but a snake with the thickness rivalling one, actually.
“Heop!!”
Taken by surprise, Jin-Woo could only swing the sword and strike the head
of the snake away from him.
Clang!!
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
“What the hell?!”
He did succeed in deviating that direction of the lunging snake, but his
trusty steel longsword ended up breaking apart from the impact.
Jin-Woo looked back in surprise.
The snake must’ve been surprised by his counterattack as well because it
didn’t try to follow up right away, but instead chose to simply glare at him
while coiling itself up a distance away.
‘The ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.’
Jin-Woo could clearly see the orange-coloured name of the monster.
It was a creature incomparably faster and hardier than those with their
names written in white.
‘Even then, for a sword reinforced with magic energy to break like
that….’
Jin-Woo swallowed nervously and cautiously studied the Boss monster
called Kasaka.
Blue scales covering its entire body gleamed in an oily manner. As if it had
draped itself with thick armour, those scales had no gaps to speak of.
Sword strikes wouldn’t have worked in the first place. It’d be the same
story for punches, too.
When Jin-Woo’s thoughts arrived there, the Kasaka must’ve finished its
own analysis on its prey, because it finally lunged at him once more.
No matter how one looked at it, it was a frightening turn of speed, that’s for
sure.
Swwwiiiish!!
Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.
‘It’s coming!’
When he concentrated hard, he could now clearly see the attack of the
Kasaka, which was something he couldn’t even properly decipher in the
beginning. This was all due to the increased Agility Stat.
Just before the Kasaka opened its maws wide and tried to swallow him, Jin-
Woo swiftly sidestepped and let the attack brush past him. At the same time,
he wrapped his arms around the creature and caught it in a headlock. He then
tightened his grip.
*SFX for bones breaking*
Jin-Woo’s Strength Stat was almost at 50.
An unbelievably powerful pressure tightened around the snake’s main
artery. The snake could not escape from his grip and thrashed around as if it
was in pain. Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and strengthened his arms even more.
Slam!! Boom!!
Jin-Woo’s body slammed against the walls and on the floor, but he never
released his arms.
‘If I didn’t raise my levels as high as I could before coming here….’
There was literally no end to wondering about ‘what-ifs’ and ‘what could
have beens’.
However, all kinds of thoughts still swirled in Jin-Woo’s head.
If he didn’t raise his level to the limit….
If his Strength Stat wasn’t so illogically high….
Then, he’d have gone through incredible hell in order to kill the Kasaka.
No, he might even have died here.
So, his decision not to come down right away proved to be the smart one.
His choice was indeed the right one.
Crack!!
Accompanied by a rather awful noise, the skull of Kasaka gave in and
cracked apart.
[You have killed the ruler of the swamp, Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
As expected of a boss mob.
His level rose up by 2 after killing the Kasaka.
Jin-Woo tightly clenched his fists.
The level that had been stagnating at 15 had jumped up to 17.
In just a single day, he crazily raised his level from 1 all the way up to 17.
‘However!’
No one hunted boss mobs for experience points!
Indeed, if it was a boss mob, then it’d be all about the loot drops!
When he started checking out the dead snake, two spots of light began
gleaming from somewhere within its limp body.
‘Two items, because it was a boss?’
His expression one of elation, Jin-Woo reached out towards the spots of
light.
Tti-ring.
[You have discovered ‘Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka’. Take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka’. Take it?]
“Take them all.”
As soon as he said those words, a dagger made out of a bone and a small
pouch with liquid in it appeared on his palms.
[Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka]
Rarity: C
Type: Dagger
Attack +25
A dagger fashioned from the poison fang of the Kasaka. There are traces of
the Kasaka’s poison on it, so when attacking, it will cause Paralysis and
Bleeding status effects. Can be stored in the Inventory, or can be sold at the
Store.
Status effect ‘Paralysis’: the target will be unable to move. Success rate is
fixed.
Status effect ‘Bleeding’: the target’s stamina will be reduced by 1% per
second.
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
‘A dagger made not out of bone, but from the fang, huh. It’s not a bad
item with those options, yeah?’
up was the pouch.
[Item: Poison Sac of Kasaka]
Rarity: A
Type: Medicine
A pouch containing the refined poison of the Kasaka. Can be found very
rarely when hunting Kasakas. Drinking this poison will give you strong skin,
but the toxicity will permanently damage your muscles.
Effect ‘The Iron Scales of Kasaka’: 20% reduction in physical damage.
Side effect ‘Damaged Muscles’: Strength -35
Jin-Woo’s expression alternated between joy and anguish.
The Poison Fang of Kasaka was a good weapon to replace the broken
longsword. Not only did it possess over twice the attack power, but he really
liked the two status effects of Paralysis and Bleeding, too.
‘However, this poison sac is a bit….’
Initially, he was really pleased to find an item with the ‘A’ Rarity rating, but
when reading the description, he realised this was not something he could feel
completely chuffed about.
Of course, that effect of reducing all physical damage taken by 20% was a
great option befitting an A-rank item. However, it also carried a fatal penalty
of decreasing his Strength Stat by 35.
It’d be a really painful loss for him especially when he invested all of his
points on increasing his Strength stat.
Was this the famed double-edged sword, then?
No, the expression of ‘chicken ribs’ suited this item far better, instead. (TL:
a Korean idiom. It means something like ‘people not giving up on chicken
ribs even though there isn’t all that much meat around there’.)
Maybe, he might be able to use this thing only when his Strength Stat had
risen so high that the loss of 35 points wouldn’t affect him in the slightest,
which should be in the distant future. It was impossible to drink it right now.
“…..For the time being, I should just hold onto it.”
With a rueful expression, he stored both inside his Inventory.
Maybe, if an A rank dagger and a C rank medicine came out, then he might
have felt not as bad as he did now. Well, he’d have just gotten rid of the C-
rank medicine if it was useless, after all.
It was then, a new message popped up.
[With the death of the Boss, the interior of the dungeon will revert back
to its original state.]
Suddenly, his sights blurred for a bit, and then, they were restored back to
normal, along with a slight bit of dizziness assaulting his senses. When he
took a look around, he found himself inside a normal subway station.
The lights overhead shone brightly, and the black liquid filling up the
tunnel was all gone, too.
“….But, where is everyone?”
Not just people, but even trains were strangely absent.
He even checked the time while thinking that the trains had stopped
running for the day because it was so late already, but the clock was
indicating 10 PM.
He entered the Hapjeong station around the lunch hour, so he had spent
over 9 hours inside that dungeon.
‘I was in there for a long time, wasn’t I?’
If it weren’t for his Tiredness Stat being refreshed every time he levelled
up, he’d have keeled over from the accumulated fatigue several times by now.
‘Anyway. Isn’t it still too early for the trains to stop running?’
Jin-Woo tilted his head as not one train showed up, no matter how long he
stood there waiting. He decided to leave the station for the time being.
While he was trudging towards the exit, he couldn’t spot a single person.
But, as he climbed up the steps to get to the surface, someone shouted at Jin-
Woo from above.
“Who goes there?”
Who knew that the voice of another person would sound this welcoming?
Jin-Woo quickly raised his head. He saw a soldier wielding a rifle.
“Who are you? Why are you coming out from there? Haven’t you heard
the broadcasts?”
The expression of the soldier was so serious that even Jin-Woo’s own
expression hardened in an instant.
“Did something happen?”
“What the? How can you even say that?”
The soldier approached closer, but then, he spotted the broken sword in Jin-
Woo’s hand.
After it broke, it could no longer be stored in the Inventory, and Jin-Woo
didn’t feel like leaving it behind, so he just carried it outside like this.
Seeing that, the light within the soldier’s eyes changed rapidly. He then
carefully studied Jin-Woo’s current appearance.
Now that this soldier had taken a closer look, Jin-Woo’s clothes displayed
various hints of the youth participating in many fierce battles recently.
The crumpled expression of the soldier lightened up in an instant.
“Are you a Hunter by any chance?”
Chapter 16 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo only needed one minute to get ready, quickly grabbed himself a
taxi, and headed off to the meeting point. Nine people were already there,
waiting for his arrival.
The man who looked like the leader of the group waved his hand at Jin-
Woo.
“Heyyy! Over here.”
It was a bearded man with a fairly big physique. He smiled softly and
walked closer while speaking to Jin-Woo.
“Are you Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“That’s correct.”
“Aigoo, it’s a relief that you found the right place so quickly. I guess this
is fate, so how about we greet each other before we get started?”
The bearded man briefly introduced the members of his team.
The eight of them including himself were regular teammates that worked
together all the time, while the remaining guy was someone who also came
here to make up the numbers, just like Jin-Woo.
Jin-Woo greeted other team members and studied their countenance
carefully. Thanks to his enhanced Perception Stat, he was able to more or less
sense everyone’s capabilities.
‘Five with a similar rank. Four with a slightly lower rank than them.
Five rank Cs and around four with D or lower.’
There was a regulation when attempting to clear a Gate rated C. The
minimum number of a party had to be ten Hunters, and more than half had to
be at least ranked C or higher. Only then did the Association issued a permit.
It seemed that them claiming to do all the hunting and he only needed to be
there to make up the numbers didn’t sound like an empty boasting after all.
“Now we’re done with introductions, let me briefly explain the important
points to remember.”
The bearded man introduced himself as Hwang Dong-Seok, a Tanker rated
C. He displayed a relaxed atmosphere as if he possessed plenty of experience
raiding dungeons.
As he began describing the situations one had to keep an eye out for in the
middle of a raid, someone came closer to Jin-Woo.
“Excuse me. Looks like we’re both pieces of fluff in this party, huh?”
He was none other than the other Hunter Hwang Dong-Seok had brought
along in order to fill up the numbers. He was a young man with a bright
expression. However, unlike Jin-Woo, he was actually going to participate in
battles. He was ranked D, so he had the right to do so.
His name was Yu Jin-Ho, aged 22.
Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head as Yu Jin-Ho greeted him, before shifting
his gaze away. Yu Jin-Ho seemingly wanted to carry on with the conversation,
but ended up scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He soon returned to
his spot.
“Hyung-nim, let’s stop here and go in already.” (TL: Hyung-nim = big
brother, or a male addressing an older male. Used more as an honorific by
gangsters to address someone higher up in the hierarchy. Most of the time,
anyways.)
“We’ll be the ones to kill them all, so what’s the point of explaining it in
detail like that?”
“Right, my ears might get blocked up with wax at this rate.”
When the original team members all raised their voices, Hwang Dong-Seok
laughed jovially and clapped his hands.
“Alright, then. Enough with the explanations, let’s get going.”
Everyone got ready to enter the Gate.
“Ah, before we enter, you two, take a look at these.”
Hwang Dong-Seok pushed forward a page of a document to Jin-Woo and
Yu Jin-Ho each. It turned out to be a simple contract.
“Write your names on the bottom and sign it, and we’re good to go.”
The contents said, he’d not participate in any hunting, he’d not participate
in sharing of the loot, and when the raid was over, he’d be paid 2 million won
right away.
The terms were the same as what he heard over the phone. However, they
were not the ones to catch his attention.
‘I have to promise not to question them regardless of whatever incident
happens inside the dungeon….?’
Unlike the raids organised by the Association, one would not be able to
claim for compensation if something happened during a raid organised by the
freelancers. One of the reasons why Hunters couldn’t get a life insurance,
either.
One had to look after one’s own neck, in other words.
Only now did it feel real that Jin-Woo had entered an assault team.
While confirming the clauses, Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at Yu Jin-Ho’s
contract. As expected, his was different; besides the promised 2 million, he
was also going to share in the loot, as well.
Before signing the document, Jin-Woo asked Hwang Dong-Seok.
“What am I supposed to do when we’re inside?”
“Nothing too particular. Just follow us and help us carry the luggage,
that’s all.”
“Your luggage….?”
Hwang Dong-Seok pointed at the huge backpack one of his ‘dongsaengs’
pulled out from the minivan. (TL: A “dongsaeng” is a gender-neutral term to
denote a younger sibling. Can also be used as an honorific to denote a
younger person.)
“You’ll be carrying around lunch boxes to eat when inside, several sets of
clothing and equipment, first-aid kits and some other stuff.”
‘Wait, first-aid kits when entering a dungeon?’
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but question this.
“You are not entering with a Healer?”
“I’m sure you already know that it’s not easy to hire a Healer if you’re
running your own assault party. Well, we’ve been doing things this way
until now, so it’ll be fine.”
Hwang Dong-Seok smiled awkwardly.
To think, this team just barely met the required minimum number of
Hunters, one of the additional members mistook a raid as a blind date or
something, and the composition of the assault team only happened to feature a
Tanker and damage dealers, and not one Healer…
Even after hearing that there was no Healer present, that oblivious
additional member didn’t seem too bothered by the revelation. It was the sure
proof that he was a newbie.
Jin-Woo smirked inwardly.
‘They are a bunch of wannabes.’
However, he still signed on the contract. Not because he needed that 2
million, but because he knew very well that he could protect himself now.
“Here it is.”
“I’m done, too!”
Hwang Dong-Seok confirmed the signatures of both men and shouted out
in a loud voice as if he was feeling really pleased today.
“Okay!! Let’s get going, everyone!”
***
The party headed straight to the location of the Gate.
It was in the middle of the halted construction site for an apartment
complex.
“The economy nowadays isn’t so good, but still….”
Hwang Dong-Seok clicked his tongue.
Like large tombstones, unfinished apartment buildings stood still
sporadically, imparting a certain sense of foreboding to all who looked at
them. Could a cemetery of giants feel this way to observers?
“Did you know?”
Yu Jin-Ho had walked closer to Jin-Woo and whispered softly.
“…. That, while the employees and the investors are going through hell
at the moment, the CEO of the project ran off to overseas two months ago
along with ₩900,000,000,000?”
“…”
Jin-Woo gave the other guy plenty of hints, But it seemed like Yu Jin-Ho
didn’t want to leave his side at all.
Well, with the exception of Jin-Woo here, all eight of them originally
belonged to one team so it’d be hard to get along with them that easily.
“Hyung, are you always this quiet?” (TL: “Hyung” here is slightly
different from “Hyung-nim” from earlier on. Still means older brother, but
without the tough-guy connotation.)
Before anyone had noticed it, the honorific had become ‘hyung’. Jin-Woo
couldn’t ignore this kid anymore.
“…..Don’t you know how to take the hint?”
“Well, I’ve never lived while worrying about taking hints, so… Ehehe.”
Was this guy simply a good-natured, or just brainless? Jin-Woo wordlessly
scratched the side of his head as he stared at Yu Jin-Ho and that bright smile
of his.
‘However, I….’
It was indeed true that Jin-Woo would get unusually nervous when he got
nearer a Gate. But, it was par for the course, really.
To other Hunters, raids might come across as a legitimate source of
income, but to Jin-Woo, each and every one he participated so far had been a
desperate, bitter struggle to make ends meet.
He’d get tense because of all the painful memories stuck forever in his
head.
“It’s over here.”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s steps came to an end.
“Oh….”
The Hunters all let out a surprised gasp.
“Hwang hyung, is this really a Gate rated C? But, isn’t it too big?”
“You think the Association was lying to us? They said that investigators
came around here twice already.”
A hole in the air, floating like a black hole. People took to calling it a Gate.
Its rank was assigned according to the waves of magical energy emission
coming from inside. Folks from the Association would stop by first to assign
a rank to each one.
After that, individuals or Guilds wanting to clear the Gate could follow the
procedure and apply for a permit.
Gates ranked A or B were, most of the time, left to the big Guilds. Well,
they were too difficult for freelancers to clear, after all.
So, assault parties formed by freelancers took care of the Gates ranked
lower than that. Which meant that a Gate ranked C was effectively the hardest
one for Hunters not affiliated with anyone to clear.
Hwang Dong-Seok stood in front of the Gate and looked back at his team.
“I’ll be entering first. Do your best to keep up, everyone.”
The Tanker entered first, and the other Hunters began entering one by one.
‘You never know, so….’
Jin-Woo lightly stretched himself just in case.
to him, Yu Jin-Ho began pulling out his own equipment from his bag. The
sword and the shield coming out from his bag gleamed attractively under the
light.
Even a casual glance could tell that they were very expensive. They were
definitely not something a newbie Hunter could organise on his own.
‘Hang on, he said that he never had to take hints before, so does that
mean he’s from a well-to-do family?’
Jin-Woo formed a surprised expression.
Perhaps sensing Jin-Woo’s gaze on him, Yu Jin-Woo confidently and
bravely stood in front.
“Hyung, you said that you’re ranked E, right? Don’t worry, I’ll protect
you. Just stick close by me.”
Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head.
Just who would protect who?
“…Okay. Thanks for the sentiment.”
“Let’s go in as well.”
Regardless of how Jin-Woo felt, they still followed in afterwards and safely
entered the Gate.
***
The interior of the dungeon was eerily quiet.
“…..”
Not only that, but it was also completely dark, too.
Hwang Dong-Seok issued his first order.
“Hey, Gyu-Hwan? I need a light.”
“Alright.”
The magic-related Hunter Joh Gyu-Hwan created a ball of a light in mid-
air. The surroundings became bright immediately.
Hwang Song-Seok lowered his shield and tilted his head slightly.
“What the hell? Where are all the monsters?”
“I wonder. There is no light in here, either.”
Now normally, there should have been luminous stones found here and
there inside cave-like dungeons and emitted some light to illuminate the way
forward. However, this dungeon didn’t have those.
Yu Jin-Ho whispered to Jin-Woo from the side.
“Hyung, could there be a dungeon without monsters in it?”
“Shush.”
Jin-Woo gestured the younger man to keep quiet. Because, Jin-Woo’s ears
were twitching. He could hear lots of footsteps coming from the distance.
Jin-Woo spoke up.
“It’s not that there aren’t any, they just haven’t arrived yet.”
Yu Jin-Ho swallowed nervously after hearing that.
Rumble….
Soon, the party could hear what Jin-Woo had heard earlier on.
Only then did Hwang Dong-Seok realise something was amiss here.
A dungeon with no luminous stones could mean…..?
“What moves around in groups, lives in darkness, and rushes towards a
source of light?”
“Oh, crap!!”
The complexions of Hwang Dong-Seok and his dongsaengs became ashen
all at the same time.
“It’s bugs!!”
“Bugs are coming!!”
“F*ck it, man!! Why the hell did it have to be god d*mn bugs!!”
Hwang Dong-Seok cried out.
“Get into your positions!! They are coming! In front!!”
From the other side of this lone passage, ‘somethings’ were madly rushing
towards them in a large group.
“Wait, could this be an ant hill?”
“Don’t say something that might jinx us, okay?”
Out of all the monster types, insects were the most troublesome to deal
with. Their shells were quite hardy, they always moved around in large
groups, and each individual possessed pretty high combat potential, as well.
And the worst of that lot just so happened to be the ant-types. Countless
Hunters made a mistake and entered the ‘ant hills’ only to lose their lives very
quickly.
Rumble, rumble!!
The sounds of the insect legs rustling on the ground noisily reverberated
throughout the cave. It meant that they had come pretty close now.
Hwang Dong-Seok raised his shield right up below his chin. However, they
couldn’t see any insects even then. His dongsaengs began raising a fuss from
behind him.
“What’s going on here? Why can’t I see them?”
“But, they are close by, though?”
“Dong-Seok hyung, can you see anything out in front?”
It was at this time that Jin-Woo shouted out.
“Above you!”
‘What?!’
Hwang Dong-Seok reflexively looked up.
Rumble…..!
Huge insects were running towards them on the ceiling.
If they were discovered late even for a single second, those things would’ve
jumped down on top of their heads.
When fighting against monsters such as these insect-types that formed
large groups, the breaking down of the team’s formation would mean death
for everyone involved.
‘If those were discovered too late, then….’
Hwang Dong-Seok felt a chill run down his spine.
The silver lining here was that he couldn’t spot a single ant-like creature
among the various insects.
He raised his voice and shouted out.
“Fire!! Fire and bring them down!! Once they are on the ground, I’ll
attract the aggro!”
Swish, pow!!
Boom!!
Kiiieeehhk!!
Kiieehh…
When a few monsters fell down after getting struck by the attacks of the
Hunters, the rest of them followed suit and landed back on the ground.
Without a doubt, they were planning to engage the Hunters.
From here onwards, the capability of the Tanker would prove to be crucial.
Hwang Dong-Seok activated his provocation skill to attract the gazes of all
the monsters to himself.
And as if they had a prior agreement, monsters all turned their heads to
glare at Hwang Dong-Seok at the same time.
“I’m over here, you d*mn bugs!!”
Kiieeehhh!!
Dozens upon dozens of monsters rushed towards Hwang Dong-Seok’s
position.
Slam!! Clang!!
Clllannng!!
Cling!! Clang!
His shield managed to defend against the attacks of the bugs without fail.
The strong jaws and claws couldn’t tear the shield in half. The Tanker Hwang
Dong-Seok defended commendably well from the front, all stable and
unmoving.
“Standby, get in position, and get ready!!”
Hwang Dong-Seok waited for the right timing.
Chapter 19 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Even when the bugs chomped and bit at him with terrifying intensity,
Hwang Dong-Seok remained steadfast and waited for the chance to counter-
attack.
….To make sure that the aggro wouldn’t deviate from him even if the
damage dealers landed a crippling blow to the enemies.
‘This should be enough!’
With that thought, the real hunt had finally begun. To hunt, the real reason
why the Hunters were called Hunters in the first place!
Hwang Dong-Seok roared out.
“Attack!”
Along with that short but manly shout, all the accumulated firepower of the
team poured out on the marauding insect horde.
Kiiieehhhk…
Kiieehhkk!!
The pained screams of the monsters rose up from here, there, and
everywhere.
Jin-Woo stood at the back and observed this situation as it unfolded. That
was the contractual obligation he had to adhere to for this raid.
He inwardly simulated how he’d fight alone as his eyes continued to take in
the battle happening in front.
‘How frustrating.’
Jin-Woo had to suppress his urges to rush out there several times already.
He could see so many open gaps within the ranks of the monsters. And he
also spotted the Hunters missing those gaps and continue to commit simple
errors.
So, how could he not feel frustrated when he was not allowed to do
anything and simply had to stand around?
Even then, the damage to Hwang Dong-Seok’s team proved to be
surprisingly non-existent. It was all because their teamwork was rather
excellent.
It seemed that the relaxed demeanour of Hwang Dong-Seok before the raid
began was not just for a show, after all.
“Jin-Seok-ah! 11 o’clock!”
“Hyung, they are coming from your right, too!”
“Joon-Tae, Seok-Min, Gyu-Hwan!! Take care of the right!”
“Okay!”
“Cheol-Jin, your wrist’s swollen up. Retreat to the rear.”
“Hwang hyung, this ain’t much to fret about.”
“You wanna go back only after sweeping clean the entrance? We don’t
know how long this raid will take, so stop being hasty from the get-go.
Control your pace, got that?”
“Roger that.”
Perhaps because they’ve been working together for so long, they were able
to communicate quite smoothly. Being able to communicate quickly like this
would inevitably result in an excellent teamwork as well.
It was a world apart from the ragtag bunch of Hunters brought together by
the Association.
‘What’s more surprising is that this kid turns out to be pretty handy, too.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to Yu Jin-Ho next.
When a monster bit into his shield, he kicked it away and swung his sword
quickly at it. The expensive sword easily separated the monster’s head from
its body.
For a newbie rank D Hunter, he was defending himself admirably well.
‘His kick-a*s gear is filling up the hole left behind by his lack of skills
and experience, huh.’
Indeed, it was not for nothing that pretty much all Hunters struggled hard to
get themselves good equipment.
When their gazes briefly met, Yu Jin-Ho quickly raised his thumb up.
“…..”
Because of his expressions that looked as if he was desperately pleading for
a positive response, Jin-Woo was left with no choice but to reciprocate the
same gesture as well.
Looking rather satisfied now, Yu Jin-Woo turned around.
Kiiiehhhk….!
Whatever the case may have been, the end of the battle was drawing nearer.
Once the coast was more or less clear, Hwang Dong-Seok issued another
order to his dongsaengs.
“Don’t forget the magic crystals! We split them exactly nine ways!”
“Yep.”
“This is my favourite part of the raid.”
“Me too.”
Hwang Dong-Seok confirmed his giggling dongsaengs collecting the loot,
and walked closer to Jin-Woo.
“Aigoo, we survived all thanks to you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you were the first one to alert us about them monsters coming up
from above, weren’t you? How did you know, though?”
“It was…. a gut feeling.”
Jin-Woo came up with a half-cooked story on the spot.
Quite obviously, he couldn’t come out and say that his Perception Stat was
high, now could he?
“Oh, really? A gut feeling, huh…. Well, we got lucky today. I don’t even
want to imagine what might have happened if we didn’t discover them in
time… whew-woo.”
Hwang Dong-Seok patted his chest while speaking up.
It was then.
One of the Hunters rummaging through the carcass of the insect gestured at
Hwang Dong-Seok to come closer.
“Hwang hyung, please come over here for a sec.”
The dongsaengs had all gathered in one spot. So, Hwang Dong-Seok went
there to join them as well.
“Mm?”
“Something’s a bit off about these crawlies.”
The Hunters parted ways when Hwang Dong-Seok arrived, allowing the
bearded man to squat down and take a look at the surroundings. He couldn’t
spot anything out of the ordinary, though. No matter where he looked, all he
could see was the dead insects.
“What’s off about these?”
Hwang Dong-Seok tilted his head.
One of the dongsaengs pointed at the leg of the insect monster closest to
him.
“I’m pretty sure that wound didn’t come from us.”
“…..”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s expression crumpled slightly. He took a closer look
before raising his voice.
“Looks like…. something took a big bite out of it, doesn’t it?”
“Right? That’s not the only one with wounds like that, you see. Looky
here. This one, that one over there, and over there, too. Looks like that
one’s missing a pair of wings as well. Could these creepy crawlies have been
beaten down already before fighting us?”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s expression hardened even more.
Now he realised why the battle went off so smoothly when compared to the
number of the monsters they had to fight.
“Could it be that…. these things were fighting against something else?”
It was then.
Although it had been for the briefest of all brief moments, Jin-Woo still
sensed the gazes of the several members of this team landing on him.
Their eyes shifted away as soon as Jin-Woo displayed a hint of sensing
them. With this, he was certain now.
‘As I thought….’
His initial suspicions proved to be correct.
Seeing that their teamwork was so good, they must’ve been fighting
together for a long, long time already. And without anyone dying, too.
However, would such a thing be possible without a Healer backing them
up?
No matter how good Hunters were, they were still humans at the end of the
day. Inevitably, they would slip up sooner or later. Well, only a short while
ago, didn’t their formation nearly break apart from the attacks of the bugs?
A bigger picture finally formed inside Jin-Woo’s head and a subtle smile
formed on his lips.
‘Maybe…. I can use them to my advantage.’
As long as they acted within his calculations, that was.
Hwang Dong-Seok smiled and stood back up.
“Well, now. Why don’t we go in a little bit deeper? We might be able to
clear this dungeon rather quickly if this keeps up.”
Hwang Dong-Seok deliberately spoke up with a loud voice.
He didn’t do that for the sake of his dongsaengs. Well, the original
members of the team were already surrounding him, to begin with.
In the meantime, Yu Jin-Ho smiled brightly and approached closer to Jin-
Woo.
“Hyung, did you see it? You saw it, right? With this, I kicked some
serious monster a*s today, didn’t I?”
Yu Jin-Ho swung the sword around in the air. Seeing this, Jin-Woo quietly
asked him.
“Hey, that sword and the shield, they are really expensive, right?”
“Pardon? Ahh, when I told my dad that I’d be participating in my first
raid, he got them for me.”
“Well, in that case, I think you should keep your wits about you, too.”
Jin-Woo lightly patted Yu Jin-Ho on his shoulder and followed after the
other Hunters walking deeper inside the dungeon.
“What is he talking about now, out of the blue?”
Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion before chasing after the departing
group.
*
The cave seemed to go on forever. However, bizarrely enough. they hadn’t
come across a single monster as of yet.
Since the dungeon was shaped like a long cavern, there was no way that
they’d miss each other, too.
“Could it be that the crawlies at the entrance were everything?”
“Eii, no way.”
“Now that would be really strange.”
“Still, there should be a boss at the end, right?”
“Without one, why would a Gate remain open, then?”
The opinions of the Hunters were shared among themselves as they roam
the expansive but empty interior of this big dungeon.
“Hold it.”
Hwang Dong-Seok in the lead suddenly stopped walking. He stopped so
abruptly that people behind him ran into his back.
The Hunter whose nose had slammed into the head of the guy in front
asked with a sullen expression.
“Ouch, what the heck…. Hwang hyung, what is it?”
“Gyu-Hwan-ah. I need a light over there.”
Joh Gyu-Hwan controlled the ball of light floating up in the air and
redirected it further up ahead, exactly where Hwang Dong-Seok had been
pointing at.
“Holy sh*t.”
“All these….?”
All the Hunters spat out low groans.
The torn wings, legs, torsos, and even heads of the bugs – remains of the
various dead bugs were strewn about everywhere as far as the light shone.
The further into the cave the light got to, the greater the amount of the
remains they could see. And also, a huge chamber located at the end of it all.
“That’s the boss’s room.”
Someone muttered out softly. Hwang Dong-Seok nodded his head.
“Everyone, get your equipment ready.”
The Hunters quickly armed themselves. Nervousness was evident on the
expressions of everyone present.
With Hwang Dong-Seok leading them in, the rest of the Hunters cautiously
and silently entered the boss’s ‘room’. However, their silence only lasted for a
few seconds afterwards.
“J-Jackpot!!”
The Hunter with a red nose cried out. He was none other than the guy
whose nose slammed into someone’s back of the head.
Originally, it was forbidden to shout out too loudly inside a dungeon.
Because there was a possibility that a monster they didn’t have to fight might
hear the noise and run towards where the Hunters were.
However, none of the others scolded the red-nose for his mistake.
“Wowsers.”
“How much could all of these be?”
“It is a real jackpot, innit?”
Everyone was way too busy gasping out in admiration and happiness, that
was why.
“Wait a second.”
When Joh Gyu-Hwan fixed the beam of light high up in the middle of the
air, the situation within the room became clear for all to see – as well as the
jewel-like stones jutting out from one of the walls of the cave.
“They are mana stones!”
“The entire wall is made up of them!”
These mana stones reflected the light attractively and caused the eyes of the
Hunters to sparkle brightly in greed as well.
Mana stones!
They were one of the treasures that could be found inside dungeons.
Although each stone possessed a lower amount of magic energy compared
to a magic crystal extracted from a monster, they almost always were found in
large quantity, so if one were able to mine them, one could earn a substantial
profit.
Besides, the mana stone deposit they had discovered was incredibly large.
The entire wall of the huge cave was actually filled up with these stones.
“Let’s do a quick calculation.”
A Hunter with a mathematical brain began moving his fingers in a hurry.
“If we can mine them all, we could be earning as much as
₩1,000,000,000. Even if we split nine ways, we’re looking at a payout of
over ₩100,000,000 per head.”
“Ohh, ohh!”
Smiles formed on the faces of the Hunters.
Yu Jin-Ho had been staying at the back until then, and when he heard those
words, he began poking Jin-Woo’s side with his elbow.
“Hyung, show me your copy of the contract.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me on this one. I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to
law, you see.”
Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders once and handed over the contract as
requested. Yu Jin-Ho walked over to Hwang Dong-Seok while carrying that.
“Excuse me, seniors? I wanna ask you about something.”
The eyes of the celebrating Hunters immediately focused on Yu Jin-Ho
next. Yu Jin-Ho flapped open Jin-Woo’s contract and showed it to them.
“Mister leader, this is Jin-Woo hyung’s contract. As you can see, there is
no clause about splitting the treasure beside the magic crystals earned from
the hunting itself.”
Everyone there caught on to what Yu Jin-Ho was trying to say.
- It’s customary to share the treasures or other rare items found in a
dungeon equally among all the participants of the raid. The splitting of the
profit, in this case, is different from monopolising the magic crystals of the
monsters one hunted themselves.
In other words, the mana stones had to be split ten ways, not nine.
The light within the Hunters’ eyes changed greatly, but Hwang Dong-Seok
simply smiled and took a step forward.
“Of course, we’ll be sharing them equally. I know the rules well. We still
have some things to take care of before that, though.”
Hwang Dong-Seok raised his index finger and pointed to his front.
Yu Jin-Ho grandly flinched from that. He thought that he was the one being
pointed at, actually.
He shuddered slightly and turned his head around to take a look, and finally
spotted a spider as huge as a house quietly squatting way over there.
“Heok….!”
Yu Jin-Ho began taking hurried steps backwards and covered his mouth
after seeing the spider’s appearance. As if it was fast asleep, the huge spider
didn’t even budge an inch from the spot.
Around the creature, there were empty shells of the dead insects piled up as
high as a mountain.
A fair few of them were ‘half-eaten’, and there were bodily fluids mixed in
among them as well, basically resembling a trash pit full of food waste.
“That’s the boss, huh.”
“Did that thing eat the bugs inside the dungeon?”
“Well, it sure did eat a lot, didn’t it?”
Hunters glared at the spider and passed their opinions one at the time.
Hwang Dong-Seok called the others to gather around. Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-
Ho, too, stood in front of Hwang Dong-Seok as well.
“As you all know very well, as soon as the boss is killed, the Gate will
start closing up. So, before we kill the spider, let’s mine the mana stones
first.”
Everyone nodded their heads.
“Cheol-Jin-ah, did you bring along the equipment for the job?”
The man named Lee Cheol-Jin shook his head.
“No. Who knew we’d find mana stones inside a C-ranked dungeon? All
the mining equipment is back in the van.”
“Oh, come on now, dude…. Didn’t this hyung always tell you to keep it
around just in case?”
“My bad, my bad. I’m really sorry about this.”
Lee Cheol-Jin grinned brightly and began apologising to Hwang Dong-
Seok, the rest of his teammates, and even to Jin-Woo.
Hwang Dong-Seok spoke up while scratching the back of his head.
“Aigoo. What a bother this has become. In that case, why don’t you two
stay here and wait? We’ll go outside and fetch the equipment in the
meantime.”
Chapter 20 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
When the Hunters tried to leave all at the same time, Yu Jin-Ho formed a
confused expression and quickly asked them.
“Are you telling me and Jin-Woo hyung to remain in the boss room?”
Hwang Dong-Seok smiled with his eyes and replied.
“The b*stard is yet to wake up even though we’ve been talking loudly for
a while now. So, I’m sure nothing’s going to happen here. Well, there are
some things I wanna speak to my boys, too, so we’ll take a short smoke
break as well. But, don’t worry, it won’t take long.”
Jin-Woo listened to Hwang Dong-Seok’s rather detailed explanations and
smirked inwardly.
‘You’ve finally revealed your true colours, huh. But all of you are leaving
at the same time? Aren’t you fools taking us way too lightly?’
They were looking down on him because of his low rank, of course.
As Jin-Woo expected him to, Hwang Dong-Seok finally began to move. It
was slightly different from the youth’s expectation, though.
It had been four years since he became a Hunter. During that time, he had
met many Hunters. One of them was an ahjussi named Mister Oh.
He had retired from the life of a freelancer, but still showed up now and
then to help out with the Association’s work.
“Be careful of geckos.”
Mister Oh used to say that rather often.
When one participated in raids, one would inevitably encounter a
dangerous situation.
When such an event happened, some crooked, immoral Hunters would try
to sacrifice someone who had been fighting alongside them until then, with
some flimsy pretext of them not being in the same team, to begin with, or that
the other party was simply weaker than they were.
All just to buy themselves some time for their safe escape.
It was exactly like a gecko cutting off its own tail and running away.
‘Cutting its tail off….’
Mister Oh took to calling those types of Hunters ‘geckos’, and such actions
as cutting off one’s tail.
The regulation stated that in order to enter a Gate ranked C, the minimum
number of participants had to be ten. Yet, Hwang Dong-Seok’s team only had
eight members.
“I’m sure you already know that it’s not easy to hire a Healer if you’re
running your own assault party. Well, we’ve been doing things this way
until now, so it’ll be fine.”
Indeed, he stuck to only eight members, even though his team had entered
countless Gates ranked C – so much so that he could say ‘this way until now’.
‘They obviously have no reason to fill the last two spots.’
They needed a tail that they could cut off at any given moment, after all.
There was a reason why they were willing to accept anyone whether it was a
Hunter ranked E or a newbie.
And now….
Hwang Dong-Seok had decided to abandon both Seong Jin-Woo and Yu
Jin-Ho for a slightly different reason than usual.
‘But, it’s a good thing for me.’
Jin-Woo had figured out Hwang Dong-Seok’s intentions pretty early on,
but chose to say nothing. This was what he wanted, actually.
However, unlike Jin-Woo who was full of confidence, Yu Jin-Ho was quite
different as he only started his work as a Hunter today.
Yu Jin-Ho spoke with a voice full of worries.
“No, wait a minute. That is just…. Why don’t we leave together?”
It was then, Jin-Woo spotted one of the Hunters at the back raise his hand
towards his hips. So, he placed his hand on Yu Jin-Ho’s shoulder and spoke.
“It’ll be fine. We’ll guard this place.”
The Hunter’s hand heading towards his waist stopped.
“Hyung….?”
Yu Jin-Ho was quite surprised and confused, but Jin-Woo simply kept his
mouth shut and lightly shook his head. Sure, the kid was noisy and got on his
nerves just a tad, but Jin-Woo wasn’t planning to let him die here.
After all, didn’t he try to get the fair share for Jin-Woo just now, although
that would have ultimately put him in a disadvantageous position?
Hwang Dong-Seok formed a smile as he looked at the two youths.
“Our van isn’t parked too far, so it shouldn’t take long. Well, then.”
Hwang Dong-Seok and his lackeys quickly escaped from the boss room.
And their footsteps rapidly got further and further away.
Yu Jin-Ho turned around and demanded answers from Jin-Woo.
“How could you say those things, hyung? What if that thing wakes up?”
Without a doubt, he was quite scared of that spider.
‘Looks like this kid hasn’t grasped the situation quite yet.’
Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue. It was too much of a bother to
explain everything, too. Instead of an answer, he began loosening his body
once more.
***
Around the same time, Hwang Dong-Seok turned around towards the boss
room. The Hunters following him also came to a stop. They had arrived at a
far-enough spot from the boss room now. At this sort of distance, there was no
danger of being overheard.
Hwang Dong-Seok smiled deeply and signalled to Joh Gyu-Hwan next to
him with his chin.
“Hey, Gyu-Hwan-ah? Block up the entrance to the boss room.”
“Should I blow it up?”
“That’s right. But, don’t block it up completely, okay? We gotta go in there
a bit later, too.
Lee Cheol-Jin then asked him.
“Hwang hyung, is there a reason to beat around the bush like this? Why
don’t we just kill them now and get started right away?”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s expression crumpled and glared at the other guy.
There was no need for him to maintain the fake smile now. At least that was
one less thing to worry about.
“M-my bad.”
Lee Cheol-Jin averted his gaze in fear. Hwang Dong-Seok tsk, tsked.
“What if we start fighting there and the spider wakes up? How will you
mine those mana stones and carry them out then?”
“I’m sorry.”
Joh Gyu-Hwan butted in.
“Hwang hyung, since we are on that subject…. Wouldn’t that thing wake
up while we try to mine the mana stones? If so, we might end up losing big,
you know.”
That creature was strong enough to prey on those already-scary insect-type
monsters. If the team got sneak attacked in the middle of the mining
operation, the losses they incur would be enormous.
“That is why….”
Hwang Dong-Seok smirked deeply.
“We’re trying to offer those two up as food, aren’t we?”
“Ahh…..”
Joh Gyu-Hwan nodded his head as if he had finally understood the plan.
Right now, no one knew just when the spider would wake up. It could be
10 hours from now, maybe one hour, or it could be a minute later. That was
why they had to wake the spider up now and feed it.
No matter how dull that monster happened to be, it’d still wake up from the
impact strong enough to cause the entrance to cave in.
Hwang Dong-Seok continued on.
“We mine the mana stones when the spider goes back to sleep with a full
belly.”
The permit they got from the Association would last for five days. They
still had over four and a half days of leeway, in other words.
They would wait and if the spider didn’t go back to sleep, they would
simply dispose of it and mine as much as they could before the Gate closed
shut.
They wouldn’t be able to mine everything within the hour, but with Seong
Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho no longer in the picture, they should be able to avoid
losing out too much.
Wouldn’t that be far more preferable than working under the constant fear?
Their safety was the number one priority, after all.
‘Of course, that’s the worst possible scenario….’
If they were lucky, the profit would be divided eight ways, they mine all
the mana stones, and even monopolise the spider, too. As an added bonus,
those expensive-looking equipment on Yu Jin-Ho’s body would become
theirs, too!
‘That sword and the shield, they have to be worth at least a few hundred
million Won.’
They had nothing to lose from this transaction at all.
The corners of Hwang Dong-Seok’s lips arched up.
“Block up the entrance, so we can go and take a smoke break. Quick.”
“Yes, hyung.”
Joh Gyu-Hwan replied as a blinding light began to gather on the tip of his
fingers.
***
“…..”
Yu Jin-Ho’s gaze was fixed on the sleeping spider. Even his breathing was
cautious. He then asked, his expression rigid with fear.
“That spider b*stard, it’s not gonna suddenly wake up on us, right?”
“Who knows.”
Jin-Woo remained economical with his words. He had more or less figured
out what would happen next, but if he said out aloud his thoughts in full, then
Yu Jin-Ho might faint from fear.
‘Now that I think about it….’
Those words were the first to come out from Yu Jin-Ho’s mouth in the past
five minutes or so. It seemed that he was really scared right now. And he used
to be so talkative, too.
Then, ‘it’ happened.
Kabooom!!!
With a loud explosion, the entrance of the boss room suddenly caved in.
“Uh, uh?! Huh!! Ahhh!!”
Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly ran towards the entrance.
Unfortunately for him, the entrance was completely blocked up by the
fallen rocks. He pushed on with all his might, but not a single stone budged.
Jin-Woo slowly walked over there in the meantime.
“Groan~! Hyung, help me push this!”
Yu Jin-Ho was still giving his all to push the blockade of stones away.
‘He said his name was Joh Gyu-Hwan, huh.’
Before the explosion, there was a flash of light. A Sorcerer ranked C that
controlled ‘light’. This was no doubt that b*stard’s handiwork.
Jin-Woo placed his hand on the fallen rocks.
‘If I want to, I can get out of here at any time.’
He could sense the weight of the stones through his hands. They weren’t as
heavy as they looked. When he very slightly pushed, he felt the wall tremble
gently. Of course, he wasn’t thinking of leaving at all, anyways.
“Ah!”
Yu Jin-Ho stopped pushing at the stones and cried out as if he had finally
figured out the truth. His face now reddened in fury, Yu Jin-Ho shifted his
gaze over to Jin-Woo.
“Those sons of b*tches are trying to kill us!! They don’t want to share
the mana stones, so they blocked the exit and let the spider devour us!”
‘Wow, you figured that out so quickly, Sherlock.’
Jin-Woo was rolling his eyes in his head, but still played along for the time
being.
“Looks that way. This is troublesome.”
“Heok!”
Suddenly, Yu Jin-Ho’s reddened complexion paled in an instant. Would that
be the look of someone whose blood had gone cold?
No need to ask him what happened, there – the silhouette of the giant
monster was oh-so-clearly reflected in Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes.
Jin-Woo turned around.
“Keurruuuk. Keururuk.”
The spider’s sleep had been interrupted by that loud explosion and it was
slowly raising its massive body up.
The body the size of a house.
Dozens upon dozens of eyes.
That horrifying mouth.
Eight long, long legs.
Now that it had begun moving for real, it looked far more terrifying than
when it was actually in a deep slumber.
“Euh….”
Yu Jin-Ho leaked out a fearful gasp. His body had frozen stiff like a statue.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo kept his sight firmly locked on the spider as he
calmly summoned the ‘Poison Fang of Kasaka’ from his Inventory.
‘You’re mine.’
This was the perfect opportunity to test out his enhanced stats.
The Poison Fang of Kasaka appeared in his right hand….
Swiish.
….As if it had always been there.
Jin-Woo gripped the dagger’s hilt tightly. The reason why a Hunter was
called a Hunter! From this moment on was when the true hunt would begin.
“H-hang on a second, hyung!!”
However, Yu Jin-Ho swiftly snatched up Jin-Woo’s sleeve just as the latter
took a couple of steps towards the spider.
“Wha, what are you trying to do?!”
Yu Jin-Ho’s hands were shaking pretty bad. Jin-Woo used his left thumb to
point over his shoulder.
“Obviously, I’m going to hunt that.”
Jin-Woo had been following around Hwang Dong-Seok’s group until now
for that purpose.
….In order to monopolise the remaining monsters in the dungeon as soon
as Hwang Dong-Seok cut the tail and ran away. This was a splendid
opportunity to swallow whole all the experience points and magic crystals.
‘Well, only if the boss hadn’t devoured every monster in this dungeon,
that is.’
If that hadn’t been the case, then he would’ve profited a lot more, though.
What a missed opportunity that was.
However, Yu Jin-Ho’s facial expression clearly displayed his disbelief, as
he had no idea about Jin-Woo’s special constitution.
‘What is this hyung rambling on about?!’
There was something he’d heard from someone somewhere before.
A person would stop thinking rationally the moment he or she received a
mental shock beyond their capability to deal with.
The Hunter ranked E standing right in front said that he’d hunt the boss of a
C-rank dungeon. If this was not an act of irrationality, that what else could it
be?
Yu Jin-Ho asked again, this time looking rather dumbfounded.
“Hyung, you want to hunt that thing? For real?”
Jin-Woo scratched the top of his head, looking somewhat troubled, before
replying back with a question of his own.
“What, you want to hunt it, then?”
Part 10. ‘Give and Take’
Jin-Woo turned around even before Yu Jin-Ho had the chance to respond.
There was no need to listen to his reply, anyway.
Even now, Yu Jin-Ho was barely managing to stand up straight as his legs
continued to shudder.
From the get-go, he didn’t expect anything from Yu Jin-Ho. Rather, he was
relieved that the kid didn’t follow after him while saying he’d lend his aid or
some such.
‘He’ll just get in my way, anyway.’
Jin-Woo slowly approached the spider.
The spider must’ve discovered the humans’ presence as well, as it was
changing its direction towards them while shuffling on its eight legs.
It was coming closer.
As if it found the never-before-seen prey rather strange, the spider didn’t
immediately rush out. Using its thick and long legs to push down on the
ground, it inched closer and closer.
“Fuu-woo.”
As that giant monster slowly filled up his entire view, Jin-Woo’s breathing
became heavy. His heart began thumping faster and faster, too.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
Jin-Woo controlled his wayward breathing and did his absolute best to calm
himself down. He had to remain focused and steady here.
He recalled the exact feelings he felt when he stood at the end of the second
floor of the Hapjeong station’s instant dungeon.
He then recalled seeing the Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka for the first time.
However, this giant spider in front of him didn’t emit as much pressure as
that snake did. Meaning, he could definitely do this.
From the get-go, if he thought that this boss was impossible to clear alone,
he wouldn’t even have stayed here.
“Keurururuk.”
They had gotten close enough that his face was now reflecting rather
clearly on those smooth, jet-black eyes of the spider.
Jin-Woo’s own eyes narrowed to a slit.
Chapter 21
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘The exoskeleton looks pretty tough…. Can my dagger even damage it?’
Quite obviously, a dagger would have a shorter reach than a steel
longsword Jin-Woo used before. So, if he wanted to cause a deep wound, he
needed to strengthen his attacks.
Jin-Woo held the dagger in the reverse grip. He figured that it’d be easier to
hurt the monster by holding the blade in this fashion.
“Keuruk.”
Finally, the spider stood before Jin-Woo. Then, it raised its two front legs
up and bent them at an angle.
‘What is it trying to do?’
His curiosity lasted only for a brief moment – Jin-Woo’s eyes shot open
wide next.
SLAM!!
If he didn’t instinctively tilt his body out of the way, the spider’s legs
would’ve penetrated his chest just now. The spider’s legs stabbed into the
ground behind him before rising up in the air, its joints folding back up. And
from the ends of its legs, pieces of the rocky ground fell.
Jin-Woo sneaked a glance behind him.
The stone floor now had a pretty substantial hole in it.
‘If I got hit by that, it wouldn’t have ended with me feeling a bit of ache
in my chest, huh.’
Jin-Woo’s glare sharpened even more. Now was the time he needed to
concentrate even harder.
‘It’s coming!’
Swish!
The spider’s legs that initially resembled bullets being fired could now be
captured in his eyes.
Left.
He ducked his head lower to evade the spider’s left front leg.
Right.
He tilted his body back and let the spider’s right leg brush past him, before
he took a step closer.
Right.
He evaded the spider’s leg that took aim at his head once more, and took
two steps forward this time.
Left, right, right, left, right, right, right, left, left.
Slam! Boom! Kwahng! Kaboom! Slam! Boom! Kwahng! Kaboom!
The spider’s legs stabbed and destroyed the ground so loudly that his ears
actually felt numb from the pain.
Jin-Woo evaded the spider’s attacks one by one and got closer and closer to
the monster.
Meanwhile, Yu Jin-Ho couldn’t quite believe his own eyes.
“Wha-what the hell is up with this guy?!”
Even though he was watching from afar, those attacks were so ferocious
that all the hair on the back of his head was standing up.
However, that man was evading them all while standing right in front of the
monster, not to mention he was actually getting closer too.
Seeing that efficient and calm movement, Yu Jin-Woo felt a chill run down
his backside.
“And he’s supposed to be an E rank?!”
There was no freaking way.
If it was him standing there and not Seong Jin-Woo, then he’d be torn into a
rag by now. He didn’t have any confidence whatsoever to dodge those attacks
even once.
However, Jin-Woo was evading them without making a single mistake.
An E rank doing something that a D rank Hunter such as himself couldn’t
even dream of doing?
There could only be one explanation for this.
‘……He is a fake registrant!!’
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression hardened.
Out of those highly talented Hunters, there were a few who could freely
control his or her magical energy. If they felt like it, they could easily fake the
results and get a lower ranking.
Hunters who got assigned lower ranks than what they should’ve got in the
first place simply by hiding a portion of their magic energy – such people
were labelled as ‘fake registrants’.
And perhaps more alarmingly, most of those fake registrants carried around
rather sinister motives for doing so.
‘Such as, that serial killer whose hobby was to enter low ranked
dungeons and murder all the other lower ranked Hunters….’
As only those who were present knew what happened inside a dungeon,
there was no better place to commit crimes than the world behind the Gates.
Yu Jin-Ho nervously swallowed his saliva. Suddenly, Jin-Woo seemed far
scarier than the spider.
‘And just why did I have to insist on coming to this place….?’
Yu Jin-Ho felt like he’d break out in sobs at any moment now.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In the meantime, the spider’s attacks poured down without a break.
Jin-Woo dodged all of those attacks and grew confident of his victory.
Having decreased the distance between them little by little, the head of the
spider was almost within his reach now.
The attack pattern of the spider was rather simple so he could get close to it
pretty easily.
‘For now, I’ll aim for its eyes.’
It was the basics of all basic rules to attack the monster’s weak points. So,
he decided to attack the eyes of the spider, which looked to be the weakest
point in its defences.
‘As soon as I stab my dagger in those eyes….!’
Just as Jin-Woo made up his mind….
He suddenly sensed that the spider’s attacks had slowed down for some
reason.
Swish! Swish!
Was it because his eyes had adjusted fully to the speed of its attacks?
Boom!! Slam!!
No, that wasn’t it.
His eyes might’ve been misled, but his hearing could not be fooled. The
loud noises coming from the exploding ground came to him a beat slower
than before, since a few seconds ago.
Jin-Woo was already pretty confident of his rather excellent sense of
hearing so he could feel this subtle change.
It was then, a certain ominous premonition flickered past in his brain.
When he took a closer look, the muscles around the vicinity of the spider’s
mouth were trembling quite imperceptibly.
‘Why is it trying to open its mouth now?’
Jin-Woo had been getting ready to jump up three metres and reach the head
of the spider, but he sensed something ominous was about to happen. Jin-Woo
hurriedly changed the direction of his jump from forward to his rear.
And then….
Splash!!
From the mouth of the spider, dirty and turbid liquid spewed out.
Jin-Woo rolled on the floor for a second before regaining his balance. He
quickly took a look behind him. The spot on the floor he had been standing
only until a second ago was now emitting smoke as it got scorched black.
Sizzle….
Stones on the floor melted away powerlessly.
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva after seeing that.
‘If I had jumped forward just now….’
It wouldn’t have been only the floor that was melting right now.
Perhaps sensing that Jin-Woo had been distracted, the spider rushed
towards him in no time.
Rustle!!
Jin-Woo raised his head. By then, the spider was already right in front of
his eyes.
Swish!
Jin-Woo jumped up to evade the giant spider’s legs.
Slam!!
The b*stard’s attacks had recommenced.
“D*mn it!!”
After that, Jin-Woo got near the monster’s head several times more. Every
time he did that, though, he had no choice but to retreat in order to evade that
disgusting digestive juice.
When the spider’s attack pattern had become two, it became that much
harder to deal with it. If he got closer after evading all those snapping legs,
the digestive juice spewed out. Its legs attacked again once he had to retreat to
a distance because of the juices.
“Sh*t!”
Feeling frustrated now, he decided to attack the legs with his dagger.
Unfortunately, the legs were also covered in that thick exoskeleton and no
matter how many times he cut it, he couldn’t even nick it once.
Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.
‘This isn’t going to work.’
The spider only needed its two front legs to attack him, but on the other
hand, he needed to use his entire body to evade them. It was obvious who
would tire out first here.
‘Tiredness.’
[Tiredness: 57]
As he thought, his Tiredness Stat was rapidly rising up.
When this Stat hit 70, his speed would decrease, and when it reaches 90,
his breathing would become too heavy and it’d become that much harder to
freely move about.
He was running out of time.
‘If I want to get closer to it, then…..’
Speed.
His speed was the issue.
Boom!! Boom!! Boom! Boom!!!
‘Wait. Speed, is it?’
As Jin-Woo continued to barely evade each of the legs raining down, a
thought entered his head.
‘Yeah, I had that, didn’t I?’
He indeed possessed a single active skill. He had forgotten all about it
because there was no need for him to use it, until now.
‘Dash!’
[You’ve activated ‘Skill: Dash’.]
[Your movement speed has increased by 30%. One Mana will be spent
every minute during its activation.]
Along with those messages, Jin-Woo’s body became even faster as if a
booster had been activated. Evading the spider’s legs had become even easier
as a result.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He swiftly evaded the spider legs slamming down like lightning bolts and
in the blink of an eye, arrived before the monster.
Taken by surprise, the spider hurriedly spewed out its digestive juice.
However, thanks to the increase in his speed, his movement had now this
certain composure to it. Jin-Woo easily evaded the digestive juice and
pounced towards the spider’s head.
Slash!
His dagger slashed at the spider’s eyes.
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]
[‘Effect: Bleeding’ has been activated.]
[The target’s stamina will decrease by 1% per second.]
“Yes!”
One of the two special effects the Poison Fang of Kasaka possessed had
activated successfully.
Rooooaaaar!!!
The spider roared out and staggered about.
Jin-Woo didn’t miss this opening.
The moment his two feet landed back on the ground, he jumped up again
and climbed on the spider’s body to get to the top of its head.
The spider went crazy and swung its legs all over the place, but Jin-Woo
wasn’t going to let those blind attacks land on him.
Slam! Boom! Kaboom!
Holes continued to appear on the poor, blameless ground instead.
Now standing on top of the spider’s head, Jin-Woo began stabbing the eyes
of the spider with his dagger.
Stab! Stab! Staaab!!
ROOOAAARR!!!
Stab! Stab!!
ROOAARR?!!
The spider rampaged around this way and that, but Jin-Woo endured till the
end and continued to shove his dagger into the head of the spider.
“Keu, keu-ru-ruk!”
The spider began tottering about dangerously. It was obviously getting
damaged now. Seeing this, Jin-Woo’s hands picked up speed.
And eventually, the huge body of the spider finally tilted to the side.
THUD!!!
However, Jin-Woo didn’t stay his hand. No, he kept going at it, until the
spider was dead for sure.
Stab! Stab!! Stab!!!
“Keuruk. Keureureureu….”
Along with the final gasps from the spider, several messages popped up in
his view.
[You’ve killed the owner of this dungeon.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
“I did it!”
While covered from head to toe in the spider blood, Jin-Woo raised his
hands up high. Maybe because it was a boss monster, his level jumped up by
three.
“Status Window.”
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 21
Class: None
Title: None
HP: 2,600
MP: 391
Tiredness: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 53
Stamina: 30
Agility: 38
Intelligence: 30
Perception: 32
(Available points to distribute: 0)
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- (Unknown) Lv. Max
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
From level 18, he had jumped up to reach 21 in one go. And that wasn’t
even the end. Besides the level up messages, something else also popped up
as well.
Tti-ring.
[‘Store: Buy’ function is now available with your level having reached
20.]
‘Oh, so I can finally spend those Gold things now, eh?’
That was a nice message, for sure. However, now wasn’t the right time to
relaxedly browse through the Store.
RUMBLE…..
The cave began to shake just a little.
[With the death of the dungeon’s owner, the entrance of the dungeon will
be destroyed in one hour.]
[Remaining time: 59 minutes 58 seconds.]
Indeed, he had to get out of this place before the Gate closed on him, after
all. Browsing through the Store could be done once he was somewhere safe.
Just as Jin-Woo was about to climb down, he spotted something gleaming
brightly in the middle of the spider’s head.
‘Is that an item?’
However, unlike the monsters from the instant dungeon, there was no
message about recovered items, nor could he automatically claim them.
What could it be, then?
Jin-Woo pondered briefly before realising what it was.
‘Ah, these things have magic crystals, don’t they?’
No matter how busy he was, how could he forget something so valuable
like that?
Jin-Woo extracted the magic crystal hidden deep inside the head of the
dead spider. This was a C-rank magic crystal extracted from the boss monster,
so it should at least go for around ten million Won, easy.
As the trophy for his glamorous victory, this would do very nicely.
Jin-Woo lightly jumped down from the dead spider’s head.
Tap.
He landed lightly on the ground and turned around, and well, he discovered
more gleaming lights, this time coming from the spider’s belly.
Not only that, but several of them, even!
Jin-Woo was now feeling rather surprised.
He heard stories of some monsters possessing two, three magic crystals, but
there were simply too many lights to say those could all be magic crystals.
‘What could they be, then?’
He used the dagger to slice open the belly and continued on to its stomach,
which resulted in half-digested remains of the insect-type monsters to pour
out to the ground. And the lights were coming from those.
“No way….?!”
Jin-Woo rummaged through the dead insects one at the time.
And just as he suspected, they all possessed their magic crystals. Sure, a
few of them had melted down and become smaller than before, but quite a lot
of them had survived and remained as good as new.
When he collected the intact ones, he counted over ten.
“I really hit the jackpot this time!”
He came to earn this month’s rent, but at this rate, he’d be earning way
more than that.
“H-hyung-nim.”
When Jin-Woo looked back, he saw Yu Jin-Ho there.
“Please, put them in here.”
Yu Jin-Ho then proceeded to carefully tuck in the magic crystals belonging
to Jin-Woo inside his equipment bag. , he reached inside the corner of the
same bag and pulled out a Thermos, before pouring the flask’s content on its
lid.
“Hyung-nim, you must be feeling thirsty. Please, drink this. It’s water.”
Indeed, it was a cold, refreshing cup of water, filled right up to the edge.
‘Why is this kid doing something no one asked him to?’
Chapter 22 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Since Jin-Woo was feeling thirsty anyway, he took the Thermos lid to drink
the water. But, his head never stopped tilting in the meantime.
Gulp, gulp.
The water slid down his throat and refreshed him quite nicely.
“Hyung-nim, did you enjoy it?”
Before he had noticed it, the honorific had changed to ‘hyung-nim’, too.
“Mm…. Yeah, it’s refreshing.”
Jin-Woo spoke his earnest opinion and handed the lid over to Yu Jin-Ho.
“And, the things you saw in here….”
Even before Jin-Woo could finish his sentence, Yu Jin-Ho quickly cut in, as
if to say that there’s nothing to worry about.
“Of course! I won’t say anything to anyone and take this secret with me
to my grave.”
“No, hang on. No need to take it to your grave….”
“But, of course, I will. It’ll be a promise between hyung-nim and I, after
all.”
“Well, in that case….. Okay. If you say so.”
“You don’t have to worry about a thing, hyung-nim.”
It wasn’t as if anyone would believe the claim that a rank E solo’ed the
boss of a rank C Gate anyway. Still, the kid was saying he’d voluntarily keep
his mouth shut, and that would certainly make his life a bit easier.
‘I thought he didn’t know how to take a hint, but he’s pretty quick on the
uptake on things like this, eh?’
“Is there anything else you’d like to tell me, hyung-nim?”
“….No, not particularly.”
Well, that sounded a bit suspect, there. Jin-Woo studied the overly-polite
mannerism of Yu Jin-Ho and inwardly questioned his motives, before coming
to a conclusion of his own.
‘Well, yeah. From Yu Jin-Ho’s perspective, I did save his life and all.’
Wasn’t it the most obvious thing in the world that you’d become really
courteous and humble towards a person who saved your life?
When looked at that way, his attitude made more sense. The reality of the
situation was slightly different from that, though.
Rumble….
The dungeon shook around for a bit again before its tremors stopped. That
tremor was the reminder that the Gate would close in a little while.
The tremors would progressively get worse as time went by, and just before
the Gate closed, it’d morph into a full-blown earthquake.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo began walking towards the entrance.
Before they reached it, though, there was a sudden flash of light, and the
rocks blocking up the entrance collapsed.
Boom!
Afterwards, Hwang Dong-Seok and his goons rushed into the boss room.
As soon as spotting the dead spider behind Jin-Woo, their expressions became
dumbfounded.
“What the hell?! It’s really dead?!”
“Did those two hunt it?”
“That spider must’ve been nothing much, even with that big body and
all.”
“Well, if a rank D and a rank E managed to kill it, then….”
“Hwang hyung, what should we do now?”
Hwang Dong-Seok scratched his chin while gazing at Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-
Ho.
With the spider dead, the Gate would soon close. It’d be too late to start
mining the mana stones now. They hadn’t even finished getting ready, yet the
remaining time was now less than a hour.
It was time for the ‘plan b’. So, he loudly called out to Yu Jin-Ho.
“Yu Jin-Ho!!”
Yu Jin-Ho flinched and took a step back. His face was full of nervous
tension.
An oily smile floated up on Hwang Dong-Seok’s face.
“I thought your gear looked real eye-catching, so we did a background
check on ya, and it turns out that you’re a son of a real bigshot. The son of
the Yujin Construction’s owner, Yu Myung-Han, no less.”
“S-so what?”
“We’ll give you a chance. I’ve got some stuff to discuss with your old
man, you see. However, it’d get real troublesome for us if the matters of this
place get out. So, if you wish to live, you better become our accomplice.”
“An accomplice?”
Hwang Dong-Seok pointed at Jin-Woo with his chin.
Being on the receiving end of that disgusting stare, Jin-Woo’s forehead
creased for a second.
“Kill Seong Jin-Woo.”
“What?!”
Yu Jin-Ho freaked out. And Hwang Dong-Seok chuckled as if he found that
expression rather funny.
The thing was, he used his phone to do an online search and found out that
Yu Jin-Ho’s father was the owner of the top construction company in the
country. Seeing that, a sinister scheme formed in his head.
He’d film the scene of Yu Jin-Ho killing Seong Jin-Woo and then, under
the pretext of keeping his mouth shut, blackmail Yu Myung-Han.
‘The known wealth of Yu Myung-Han is supposedly around 10 trillion
Won, wasn’t it? (TL: Almost $9 billion)
He might be able to reel in several times more money than mining these
mana stones if he played his cards right.
“That’s the only way you’ll leave this place alive. As long as you kill
Seong Jin-Woo with your own hands, we’ll let you live. If not, we kill both
of you.”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s eyes became very hostile right away.
“What are you hesitating for? No one will know what happens inside a
dungeon, anyway. Wait, could it be that you’re scared of a rank E, even
though you’re a rank D?”
Yu Jin-Ho turned his head to his side. Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders as
his answer. He was implying that Yu Jin-Ho should do whatever he felt like.
With a determined expression, Yu Jin-Ho unsheathed the sword on his hips.
‘Finally, he made up his mind, huh.’
A smile formed on Hwang Dong-Seok’s mouth. Unfortunately for him, his
expectation was not met. Still holding that sword, Yu Jin-Ho stood alongside
Jin-Woo.
“Ho-oh? So, you wanna team up with that guy and fight us, is that
right?”
Hwang Dong-Seok muttered softly. A scion of a well-to-do family got
lucky and killed a rank C boss, and it looked like his ego had become bloated
somewhat as a result.
Joh Gyu-Hwan whispered from the side.
“Hyung, what should we do now?”
Hwang Dong-Seok lowered his voice so both Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho
wouldn’t be able to hear him.
“For now, take care of Seong Jin-Woo first. We gotta hold onto that
potential moneybag. Our losses today are pretty substantial after all.”
“Okay, will do.”
Joh Guy-Hwan’s hands began emitting bright light next.
Seeing this, Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘In the end, they want to have a go, huh.’
This would be his very first time fighting against other Hunters. However,
he wasn’t planning to go easy on these b*stards that have aimed for his life
several times already.
…But then, this happened.
Tti-ring.
There was that mechanical beep again.
[An Emergency Quest has been generated.]
‘An Emergency Quest?!’
Jin-Woo raised his head.
He didn’t even say anything about wanting to look at the contents, yet the
quest window spread out before his eyes without his consent.
Now that was a first.
[Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies!]
There are lifeforms holding murderous intentions towards the ‘Player’. Kill
them all in order to secure your own safety. If you do not follow this
instruction, a corresponding penalty will be given.
The number of enemies left to kill: 8
The number of killed enemies: 0
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
‘In order to complete the quest, Hwang Dong-Seok and his teammates
must all die?!’
It was then, a beam of light flashed right before his eyes. The light beams
left Joh Gyu-Hwan’s hands and flew straight at Jin-Woo.
Boom!!
Flung away by the explosion, Jin-Woo’s figure flew at a frightening speed
and slammed into the cave wall.
Slam!!
A portion of the wall collapsed and fell on top of Jin-Woo.
Tumble…
“Hyung-nim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho froze on the spot from surprise.
“Don’t sweat over the dead guy and why don’t you come over here?”
Hwang Dong-Seok beckoned with his fingers.
Yu Jin-Ho stared at the spot where Jin-Woo was. Just like what Hwang
Dong-Seok had implied, Jin-Woo wasn’t moving an inch as he remained
buried under the debris.
“You…. you murderers….”
Tears pooled around Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes.
Hwang Dong-Seok and his dongsaengs simply giggled at the label of
‘murderers’ thrown at their way. Well, that was the truth, to begin with,
anyway. Just how many died by their hands inside many other dungeons?
While they were looking at Yu Jin-Ho and continued to smile, Jin-Woo was
under the pile of rubble, doubting his own eyes at the moment.
The contents of the quest were slowly changing, that was why.
[Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies!]
There are lifeforms holding murderous intentions towards the ‘&*@##’.
Kill them all in order to secure your own safety. If you do not follow this
instruction, #$%^%$#$%^!&*#$%^$.
The number of enemies left to kill: 8
The number of killed enemies: 0
A few words suddenly became illegible, before changing their shapes.
[Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies!]
There are lifeforms holding murderous intentions towards you. Kill them
all in order to secure your own safety. If you do not follow this instruction,
your heart will cease functioning.
The number of enemies left to kill: 8
The number of killed enemies: 0
What a clear-cut threat that was.
If he didn’t finish the quest as intended, ‘it’ would kill him, instead.
‘Kill if I don’t want to be killed, is that it?’
The contents were pretty shocking, but Jin-Woo’s fluster didn’t remain for
long.
No, his flustered mind rapidly morphed into one of relief. Even he found it
hard to believe, but that was the truth.
There was this fear that always lingered in his mind, starting from the day
these quests popped up in front of his eyes alongside Stat values and such.
‘What would happen to me if this mysterious phenomenon suddenly
stopped’?
What if all these things only happened as a coincidence, and they could end
at any given moment?
Such fear always accompanied him.
However, through this Emergency Quest, the truth became clear.
Things happening to him were not a coincidence nor were they some weird
goodwill from someone. If the quest was generated by something holding
some form of goodwill, then it should’ve just said “Overcome this danger”,
and not threaten him to kill him as a penalty.
The System had a clear purpose.
It was either ‘Make Seong Jin-Woo strong’ or ‘Need a strong Seong Jin-
Woo’.
‘And, depending on the situation, me who could kill other Hunters at the
drop of a hat, even….’
He could glean such intentions from the System now. Jin-Woo felt
reassured by that revelation.
‘What a relief that….’
….That, it was not a coincidence.
….That, it definitely had a goal.
Whenever he found himself in danger, he yearned to be stronger. He so
dearly wished to stop living the life where it was no different from dangling
precariously on the edge of a cliff.
But, on that fateful day, during the most dangerous moments of his life, his
opportunity came.
The goal of this System and Jin-Woo’s wishes lined up perfectly.
‘The System is using me, and I’m using the System.’
That was all there was to it.
As long as there was an end goal, a purpose, this phenomenon would never
suddenly vanish from his eyes.
Jin-Woo slowly got up from the rubble.
[HP: 1360/2600]
As expected of a magic spell shot by a rank C Hunter; it was only a single
hit, yet his HP had almost halved. There was no more room left to take it easy
now.
Intense malice filled up Jin-Woo’s eyes.
He began walking towards Hwang Dong-Seok.
“What the heck?”
Hwang Dong-Seok and his goons had been surrounding the scared Yu Jin-
Ho, so they ended up discovering Jin-Woo rather belatedly.
“What’s going on here? He’s still alive.”
“But, Gyu-Hwan hyung looks like a dead fish, though?”
“What an embarrassment this is. He’s a measly rank E, you know.”
Hwang Dong-Seok scratched his chin.
“Hey, Gyu-Hwan-ah, why didn’t you finish him properly the first time?”
Joh Gyu-Hwan’s face reddened somewhat.
“Yeah…. I should’ve.”
But, this wasn’t right.
He really did pour his all with that shot.
He had spent over a third of his overall magical energy, yet how could this
kid stand back up? Could the attack not connect properly? But then, there
wouldn’t have been such a loud explosion if that was the case.
Lots of questions formed in his head, but there was no time to ask them.
Because, Jin-Woo opened his mouth first.
“Since you’re playing around with people’s lives….”
The eyes of Hwang Dong-Seok’s group were now fixed to Jin-Woo. He
came to a stop in front of them.
Yu Jin-Ho flinched in surprise, but the reactions of other Hunters were
rather subdued. Some of them even began smirking in derision.
Jin-Woo spoke with a dry voice.
“…You’ve all sufficiently resolved yourselves, right?”
Hwang Dong-Seok let off a snort after hearing that.
“What the hell is this fool even saying?”
“Hyung-nim, let me handle this kid.”
A Hunter with tiny little eyes approached Jin-Woo and placed his arms
around the latter’s neck.
“It looks like you Mister hasn’t really figured the situation out yet, but
the thing is…. Eh?”
The expression of the tiny eyes became weirder and weirder as he
strengthened his arms.
‘….What the hell? Why can’t I pull him down?’
He tried to perform a headlock with his physical strength, but no matter
how hard he pulled, Jin-Woo’s upper body showed no sign of budging.
Wasn’t this b*stard supposed to be only a rank E?!
Cold sweat formed on the forehead of the tiny eyes.
‘How could he be this strong….”
It happened then.
Slice.
The head of the tiny eyes fell to the ground.
Thud.
“J-Joon-Tae!!”
Hwang Dong-Seok’s eyes trembled like an earthquake.
“Wha-what the hell?!”
“That knife, just when did he?!”
“Where did he get that?!”
Hwang Dong-Seok and his goons quickly took several steps back and
yanked their weapons out. Jin-Woo’s hand was already holding the ‘Poison
Fang of Kasaka’.
Blood dripped from the tip of the blade.
Tti-ring.
[The number of enemies left to kill: 7]
[The number of killed enemies: 1]
‘Seven left.’
Chapter 23 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo swept his gaze at Hwang Dong-Seok and his group like a predator
eyeing his prey.
Hwang Dong-Seok swallowed his saliva. He was already pretty surprised
by the dagger appearing in that man’s hands, but more importantly, Park
Joon-Tae’s death shook him to the core rather greatly.
‘How did an E-rank Hunter kill a D rank in one hit?!’
He had no idea what kind of a trick the other guy used, but from now on,
underestimating his opponent was definitely forbidden. No, he had to be very
meticulous here. Hwang Dong-Seok gave a signal with his eyes to his side.
‘Gyu-Hwan-ah, hit him one more time.’
Joh Gyu-Hwan lightly nodded his head.
This time, he wouldn’t make the same mistake again!
Joh Gyu-Hwan told himself such as lights began gathering in his hands
again. But, even before the arrows of light could leave his fingertips, Jin-Woo
appeared right in front of Joh Gyu-Hwan first.
“Uh? Huh?!”
Joh Gyu-Hwan’s jaw hit the floor.
The light in Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed coldly.
‘You first, the magic-type Hunter who possesses strong firepower but a
weak body.’
Jin-Woo had finished his calculations already.
The dagger stabbed straight through Joh Gyu-Hwan’s neck.
Stab!
“Keo-heok!!”
Joh Gyu-Hwan tried to cover the hole in his neck and collapsed to the floor.
Plop.
“Kill him!!”
“Uwaaahhh!!”
With that as a signal, the Hunters around him rushed towards Jin-Woo at
once. Jin-Woo raised all his senses to the maximum and calmly focused on
the movements of his enemies.
All sounds disappeared and time slowed down. The Agility Stat and its 38
points had begun displaying its worth. He then blocked or evaded swords,
spears and arrows being thrust at him from the very short distance.
The eyes of the Hunters became incredibly large.
‘H-how can an E rank move like this?!’
‘Too fast!!’
‘I can’t hit him at all!’
The complexions of the Hunters became ashen.
Indeed, speed was a subjective thing. To their eyes, Jin-Woo’s movement
was absurdly fast. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo waded in among the Hunters and
calmly cut into their vital spots, one at the time.
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
[‘Effect: Bleeding’ has been activated.]
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
The special effects of the Poison Fang of Kasaka continued to activate and
the Hunters all fell into a quagmire of confusion.
“I-I can’t move my body!! Uwaah?!”
“Magic?! Was that magic?!!”
“You son of a b*tch!!”
[‘Effect: Bleeding’ has been activated.]
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
“Keok!!”
“Wha-what the hell is this guy’s real identity?!”
“Uwaaahk!!”
Screams resounded out without a break from here and there. Five Hunters
surrounding Jin-Woo all crumpled down to the floor in no time at all.
Plop.
Plop.
Tti-ring.
[The number of enemies left to kill: 1]
[The number of killed enemies: 7]
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the last remaining survivor.
And that was none other the big bearded man, Hwang Dong-Seok. He
discarded his shield as an expression of determination formed on his face.
He then loudly roared out.
“Uuuhhhhhhhaaaa!!”
Hwang Dong-Seok the kicked the ground and rushed forward.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!!!
His mind raced as he ran forward. He was a Tanker, and was considered
one of the top even within the C rank.
His opponent most likely was a damage dealer.
Although that man seemed to be very agile, judged from his quick
movements, there was no way he’d possess enough power to penetrate past
Hwang Dong-Seok’s ‘Reinforcement’ skill.
‘You can’t fatally wound me with a measly little dagger!’
The one to be crushed when they collide would be Seong Jin-Woo, instead!
Their distance closed up in the blink of an eye, and Hwang Dong-Seok
tackled with his shoulder.
“Reinforcement!!”
But then, his entire world seemed to spin around, and before he realised
how, he was staring at the ceiling of the dungeon.
SLAM!!
His brain shook hard and a strong impact force was transmitted into his
entire body.
He wanted to get up, but his body didn’t listen to his commands. Hwang
Dong-Seok tried very hard, but eventually gave up and lay sprawled on the
ground.
“Cough!!”
He coughed out a mouthful of blood.
‘Did he… Did he throw me down to the floor?!’
Did Hwang Dong-Seok really lose in the contest of strength?
In a battle of physical strength?!
“How can a measly rank E….”
He was now so sure that something had gone terribly awry somewhere.
Five rank Cs and three rank Ds were knocked down in the blink of an eye.
There was no way this b*stard was a rank E.
Jin-Woo stood next to Hwang Dong-Seok.
The bearded man couldn’t even properly move his body. His fate was quite
obvious now.
If this was a sports match or a spar, then this battle would’ve ended right
here. Too bad for the bearded man, though, Jin-Woo wasn’t planning to stop
there.
“W-wait a minute.”
Hwang Dong-Seok raised his hand first.
“Le-let me go! If you, you want m-money, I’ll give it to ya. As long as you
spare me….”
“Three times.”
Jin-Woo’s voice remained cold.
“Aren’t you a bit shameless, asking to be spared by someone you tried to
kill three times already?”
First, by blocking the exit of the boss room.
Second, ordering Yu Jin-Ho to kill him.
And finally, Joh Gyu-Hwan’s magic.
Hwang Dong-Seok tried to kill Jin-Woo these three times – even after
excluding the battle just now.
‘Give and take’.
When he returned alive from the underground temple, Jin-Woo resolved
himself to return as much as he had received.
….Whether it was kindness or hostility.
He’d repay the acts of ill intents with an equal amount of malice. There
would be no room for negotiation.
Realising that begging for his life wouldn’t work, Hwang Dong-Seok’s
eyes shot wide open and foam bubbled around his mouth.
“You, you!! You think you’ll be okay after you laid your hands on me like
this?! Do you have any idea who my younger brother is…..”
Shatter!
Hwang Dong-Seok could no longer continue with his words after his neck
was broken.
“Keok.”
The whites of the bearded man’s eyes were showing now.
Tti-ring.
[The number of enemies left to kill: 0]
[The number of killed enemies: 8]
Finally, this quest had come to an end.
“Whew-woo….”
Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh containing a myriad of emotions and lifted his
hand away from Hwang Dong-Seok’s head.
His gaze then stopped on his hands.
He might have one-sidedly bulldozed past his opponents, but for someone
who had fought to the death against eight other people, his hands remained
remarkably steady.
‘Is it okay to be like this?’
Jin-Woo placed his hand on his chest and felt for his beating heart.
Thump, thump, thump….
His heart was beating as calmly as if he had been taking a stroll.
‘What if…..’
For the first time ever, he began to think that, seeing the System wasn’t the
only change taking place within him after he returned alive from the
underground temple.
However, his musings had to be kept brief. Soon, the familiar beep entered
his head.
Tti-ring.
[You have completed ‘Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies’.]
[Completion rewards are now available.]
[Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)
He was half-expecting this to happen, and sure enough, he now had
received rewards. Jin-Woo didn’t even hesitate and chose ‘yes’.
‘Confirm.’
Tti-ring.
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition
Reward 2. Ten additional Stat points
Reward 3. Skill: ‘Intimidation’
‘Not only ten points, but even a skill, too?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened from the huge amount of available rewards. All
those Stat points were one thing, but this new skill stole away almost all of his
attention.
‘If I didn’t possess the Dash skill when fighting that spider…..’
The only reason why he managed to hunt the boss down was because of
‘Dash’. There was no need to mention how important a skill was during a
battle. It was not for nothing that a Rune stone, with which a person could
learn a brand new skill, cost several hundreds of millions of Won.
Jin-Woo immediately checked this skill called ‘Intimidation’ out.
‘Show me the third reward.’
Tti-ring.
[Skill: Intimidation Lv. 1]
Active skill.
Mana required to activate: 100.
Can render a designated target in a state of fear for one minute by using
your powerful aura. Multiple targets can be selected.
Effect ‘Fear’: All Stats -50%
Although it was only active for a short time, it was still a rare skill that
could decrease the opponent’s Stats by a substantial amount.
Of course, exactly like other effects, if the opponent’s resistance was high
enough it would fail to activate. But, if it did work, then Jin-Woo thought that
taking care of his enemies, regardless of who it was, would become as easy as
pie.
And since it could be used against multiple opponents, the scope of this
skill’s usefulness seemed limitless, too.
‘It’s really good, isn’t it?’
The rewards were just as good as the potential penalty was as bad.
‘Hang on a sec…. Now that I think about it, it’s not like that, is it?’
After all, his life was at stake here. And, was that all?
Jin-Woo took a look around him.
He frowned deeply after taking in the gruesome sight.
He had witnessed enough deaths of other Hunters, but even then, he’d
never really get used to looking at the corpses of other people.
This was what this quest asked of him, though. But, for a quest that asked
for many lives as its completion requirement, the rewards handed out felt
rather cheap and not quite enough.
Well, even if it weren’t for the quest, he’d still have to fight against Hwang
Dong-Seok and his crew in the end, but still.
‘And they say, a man’s greed knows no bounds….’
Jin-Woo shook his head wryly.
It was then, the cave shook around once more.
RUMBLE…..
The tremor had become stronger than before. It was now the time to get out
of the dungeon. But, before he could do that, there was something else he
needed to take care of first.
And that happened to be Yu Jin-Ho. Jin-Woo’s gaze drifted toward him.
Yu Jin-Ho had been pitifully frozen solid in his spot until then, and flinched
rather grandly before hurriedly lowering his gaze to the ground.
‘Now, what should I do with this kid….?’
Of course, he wasn’t thinking of harming Yu Jin-Ho. There was no need to,
nor was there a reason to do so, either.
However, if the events of this place got leaked out to the rest of the world,
then there was a good chance that his life would become inconvenienced in a
variety of ways.
‘So, I guess I should make sure he doesn’t talk, huh.’
Just as he thought that course of action would be for the best, Yu Jin-Ho
rapidly ran towards him, knelt down, and bowed his head.
“Hyung-nim, please spare me!!”
“….”
Suddenly, Jin-Woo felt that the following conversation should unfold a lot
more smoothly than his initial expectation.
***
Yu Jin-Ho was shaking like a wet dog. His complexion was pale, as well.
Well, eight people died in the blink of an eye right in front of his face, so that
was par for the course, really.
One of the most important tools in dealing with people was this – the
‘fear’. So, Jin-Woo decided to use this situation to his advantage.
“Why should I?”
“Hiiick!!”
Jin-Woo thought that he heard the sound of Yu Jin-Ho’s heart falling to the
floor just now.
His guilty conscience that asked, “Was that too much?” only lasted for a
second, though.
“If, if you want money, I can speak to my father, and….”
“Who do you think I am?!”
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled unpleasantly.
Sure, he did grow up impoverished, but that didn’t mean he was corrupt
enough to hold a person’s life hostage and extort money that way.
Wouldn’t he be no different from Hwang Dong-Seok if he did that?
“I-I’m truly sorry.”
If it weren’t for Yu Jin-Ho’s current state being absolutely terrified, Jin-
Woo would have smacked the back of the kid’s head or something by now. He
was holding back only because it looked like Yu Jin-Ho might keel over from
a heart attack if he really did that.
Confirming how displeased Jin-Woo’s expression was, Yu Jin-Ho
nervously swallowed some dried saliva.
‘Now that I think about it, even back when Hwang Dong-Seok offered
him money….. Could he have abandoned all material desires and now only
walks the path of bloodshed and murder?!’
Jin-Woo’s image inside Yu Jin-Ho’s head was being solidified in an even
weirder direction.
However, it was too early to draw a conclusion yet.
‘If that was the case, then why did hyung-nim extract those magic
crystals?’
Not too long ago, Jin-Woo personally went and extracted all those magic
stones, even going so far to dig through the spider’s entrails.
Sure, it was used in a variety of ways, such as a source of high-density
energy, as a raw material in manufacturing magic tools, etc. – but, to a Hunter,
a magic crystal was simply another word for ‘money’.
Yu Jin-Ho’s mind spun at a quicker pace.
‘So, that’s how it was!’
Those crystals were the ‘prize of blood’.
They were the deserved prize he earned through staining his hands with
blood, and that was why he didn’t mind digging through the stomach of a
dead monster.
He’d not show a hint of mercy to those enemies who tried to harm him, but
he was also the practitioner of the way of the blood. Meaning, he did not want
anything to do with the monetary gain that he hadn’t earned with his own
hands.
‘And I tried to buy his benevolence with money, so of course, he’d get
p*ssed off at me….’
In that case, what Yu Jin-Ho needed here wasn’t ‘father’s money’, but the
‘deserved profit’ that could be earned if he managed to walk out of here alive.
When he sneaked a glance, Jin-Woo’s expression was still distorted
somewhat. Yu Jin-Ho quickly continued on with his words.
“Hyung-nim, if you spare me, then I’ll hand over all the profit earned in
this dungeon to you.”
“Mm?”
As expected, Jin-Woo immediately displayed his interest.
“Please, think about it, hyung-nim. If you monopolise the profit meant
for ten people after nine others are killed, others would definitely start
questioning you.”
From Yu Jin-Ho’s perspective, Jin-Woo was, without a doubt, a fake
registrant. Not only that, a highly-skilled fake registrant who enjoyed
murdering people!
Obviously, he’d not want the attention of other folks landing on him.
“So what?”
“On the flip side, if we both walk out of here alive, then according to the
contract, all the magic crystals from this dungeon belongs to me. Even if all
the other teammates had died, since you don’t get a share in the first place,
no one would suspect you.”
Of course, there’s was no way that Yu Jin-Ho would be suspected of foul
play here. Well, his father owned one of the country’s top-ranked companies,
after all.
The potential profit he’d earn from selling off the magic crystals would be
like a pocket change to him.
“This money is something hyung-nim totally deserves. I mean, this is
your deserved reward for saving me and getting rid of Hwang Dong-Seok
and his lackeys, wouldn’t you agree?”
Chapter 24 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Part 1. Transaction
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression became dumbfounded.
“Already, hyung-nim?!”
“I don’t need to hear the rest to figure it out.”
Jin-Woo was quite decisive in saying no.
This wasn’t because he didn’t like Yu Jin-Ho or something like that.
Although he seemed a bit off in the head, his attitude remained courteous
and he came across as someone who’d always keep his word. He was quite
different from other scions of ‘chaebols’ often seen in mass media. (TL:
‘chaebols’: Wealthy owners/families of corporations)
However, Jin-Woo was not interested in becoming a playmate of the son of
a wealthy family during the boy’s ‘Hunter’ phase.
“If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”
“Hyu, hyung-nim!!”
Just as Jin-Woo got up to leave, Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly reached out and held
onto him.
“Hyung-nim, only for 20! No, wait, please partner up with me for the
next 19 times!!”
“For what? To clear dungeons?”
“Yes!! I’ll definitely compensate you properly!!”
Yu Jin-Ho’s voice sounded rather desperate.
Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly.
There were two reasons why people became Hunters. Either it was for
money, or for their sense of duty.
But, Yu Jin-Ho didn’t belong to either camp. Maybe, it was possible that he
thought of being a Hunter was a slightly more dangerous form of extreme
sports or some such.
That was what Jin-Woo had been believing until now.
True, he was taken aback slightly when the kid declared that he wanted to
form his own private raid team, even after going through that ordeal the last
time.
‘There are all sorts of people in this world, that’s for sure.’
It wouldn’t be too strange to find a scion of a wealthy family who had
become numb to the safe environment he had grown up in. However, Yu Jin-
Ho’s expression seemed far too serious and determined at the moment for that
kind of an explanation.
‘Could there be a different reason?’
Rather than the promise of ‘proper compensation’, Jin-Woo’s curiosity was
being tugged by the idea of raiding dungeons ‘19’ more times.
Jin-Woo’s brain quickly kicked into gear.
‘Hang on…. Let’s say that last time was his first raid. And when he
completes 19 more raids, then….’
Could this kid be aiming for…..?
It didn’t take long for Jin-Woo to realise the truth. His expression became
dumbfounded, instead.
“You, are you perhaps thinking of getting the Guild Master licence?”
“That’s correct, hyung-nim!!”
What a smart decision it was not to order coffee.
Otherwise, he might have sprayed the bitter liquid all over the table by now
while trying to drink it.
“You wanna become a Guild Master?!”
“Well, uh, the story’s a bit complicated there, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s face reddened considerably compared to before as he spoke.
“Hyung-nim. Please listen to my story.”
“….”
Jin-Woo was in a slight dilemma, wondering what he should do now, but in
the end, he was defeated by his curiosity, so he sat back down.
“Fine, I’ll listen.”
Well, the promised hour had not ended yet, so there was that, too. It
wouldn’t be a problem to listen to the kid’s story anyways.
Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly parked his butt back down as well.
“As you’ve correctly guessed, I want to acquire the Guild Master
licence.”
Acquiring that licence was not that difficult, actually. You had to be a
Hunter who participated in at least 20 raids. As long as you met this base
requirement, all you had to do was to pass a written test and you’d get the
licence.
Of course, nobody would join the Guild created by a rubbish Hunter, and if
a Guild failed to maintain the minimum number of members, it’d be
disbanded as well.
Yu Jin-Ho continued on.
“It’s not public knowledge yet, but actually, my father is trying to
establish a Guild of his own.”
“A Guild created by Yujin Construction?”
“Yes.”
Yujin Construction was one of the biggest corporations in South Korea.
It had expanded its business well beyond the fields of construction and into
other sectors and had been making a killing there. Jin-Woo had heard that
recently, they reaped huge profit after jumping into the Hunter-related
businesses as well.
‘And they want to form a Guild of their own?’
When Jin-Woo displayed a hint of interest, Yu Jin-Ho became excited and
added more explanations.
“He’d scout strong Hunters and build a massive Guild, and place all our
Hunter-related business interests under it. That’s his plan.”
If a corporation wished to partake in Hunter-related businesses, then it was
a necessity to work together with a Guild. Well, you’d need the strength of a
large Guild if you ever wanted to get your hands on magic crystals and
remains of the monsters, or treasures such as mana stones found in Gates
ranked A or B.
“And so, you wish to become a self-sustaining entity. Is that it?”
“That is absolutely correct, hyung-nim!”
With the financial wherewithal of Yujin Construction, creating a Guild
wouldn’t even pose a problem. No, the real issue would be with just who gets
to run it.
“My father is thinking of hiring an S-ranked Hunter as the Guild Master
and placing my older brother as the Vice-Master, and run the Guild that
way, but….”
Jin-Woo immediately caught onto what Yu Jin-Woo was implying here. If
things were done that way, then a source of worry would be created along the
way.
The power of authority the Guild Master wielded was simply far too great.
Even if it was the Vice-Master who had hired the Master, in case of a conflict
arising between the two, there was a very good chance that the latter would
end up completely overtaking the entire Guild.
In order to prevent that, there was only one way. All you had to do was to
hire a Master who’d never ever betray the one who hired him or her.
For instance, brothers – or, even a son.
And the chairman of Yujin Construction, Yu Myung-Hwan, had a son
called Yu Jin-Ho.
“However, my older brother’s business experience is far too good for me
to simply take over the position of the Guild Master. It was his idea to enter
the field of Hunter-related business, you see. We gained huge profit in that
sector because of him.”
His older brother had become a successful entrepreneur by the age of 31.
Compared to him, Yu Jin-Ho was only a 22-year old university student, even
if he possessed a unique plus point of being a rank D Hunter.
Naturally, the chairman was thinking of entrusting the Guild over to the
eldest son.
The eldest couldn’t become a Master since he was not a Hunter, but he still
knew a lot about the Hunter-related businesses, and also managed to achieve
great success in the sector, too.
Meaning, even if there was an element of a risk, the chairman would still
take the chance.
“And you wish to change your father’s mind by acquiring the Master
licence, yeah?”
“That’s right, hyung-nim.”
And so, Jin-Woo figured out why Yu Jin-Ho was here, trying desperately to
reel him in.
Even if the kid hired a high-ranked Hunter and acquired the licence that
way, it’d be no different from buying it with cash. However, what if the kid
succeeded in 20 raids with low-ranked Hunters, such as Jin-Woo, and
acquired the licence that way?
Yu Jin-Ho would be able to persuade his father.
Simply him being able to lead a group of Hunters would be enough to get
his approval. That was what Yu Jin-Ho was counting on.
If Yu Jin-Ho became the Guild Master, they would get an S rank as the
Vice-Master and scout all the talented Hunters.
Well, others would only feel secure and join them if one or both Master and
Vice-Master spots were filled by someone with powerful abilities.
If this plan were to come to fruition, then completing those 20 raids was an
absolute must.
“Hyung-nim, please help me! I have no one but you, hyung-nim!”
Yu Jin-Ho bowed his head.
If it weren’t for Jin-Woo, the kid would’ve died during his very first raid.
By the giant spider, or at the hands of Hwang Dong-Seok. Two times.
Yu Jin-Ho needed a trustworthy ally here.
‘I can definitely trust hyung-nim.’
He might be a cold-hearted person who would not bat an eyelid when
killing his enemies, but he also happened to be a righteous man who’d not
treat lightly the lives of those weaker than him, and just as important, he
didn’t care about getting his hands on ill-gotten gains, as well.
Jin-Woo was the perfect candidate.
However, Jin-Woo didn’t need Yu Jin-Ho. That was why he asked the kid.
“What would I get in return, then?”
Yu Jin-Ho raised his head, his expression one of joy, as he quickly
produced an envelope he had prepared earlier on. And a blueprint of a
building came out from there. Jin-Woo took a look at it.
“This is the Guild office building we’re constructing at the moment. The
expected retail price of the building is around ₩30 billion, but it’ll
definitely rise up in the future.”
Although the Association was doing their best to manage them, there
would always be that fear of monsters escaping from the dungeons. That was
why the land price near the Association headquarters or around large Guilds
always rose up higher as time went by.
Well, there would be no more precious wealth than one’s own life, after all.
Even if it was a small Guild, being near one almost guaranteed your safety.
However, if it was a building occupied by a large Guild?
There was no need to mention it.
“If I become the Master, then for exactly one year, I’ll use it until the
Guild has been stabilised. And then, hand over the deeds to you, hyung-
nim. Of course, I’ll make sure all the paperwork are in order so there
wouldn’t be any unnecessary complications later down the line.”
A 30 billion building, for raiding rank C Gates 19 more times….
Jin-Woo smirked slightly.
“As long as you become the Master, it’ll all be worth it, is that right?”
“That’s correct, hyung-nim.”
On that fateful day, Yu Jin-Ho got to learn the valuable lesson of
“Anything goes inside a dungeon.”
Hiring any ol’ Hunters could lead to him getting killed.
On the flip side, hiring famous Hunters would mean Yu Jin-Ho would lose
the ability to persuade his father.
However, Jin-Woo was different.
He was nominally a rank E Hunter, yet he was strong enough to solo a C-
ranked boss, as well as eight C-ranked Hunters without getting hurt.
‘Hyung-nim could be at least a B-ranked…. Or, someone far stronger
than that.’
With Jin-Woo was around, raiding 19 C-rank Gates would not pose any
problems at all.
So, yes – if he could become the Guild Master, 30 billion sounded rather
cheap in comparison.
The only thing remaining was Jin-Woo agreeing to do so.
‘He wouldn’t say no with this sort of terms on offer, right?’
Yu Jin-Ho nervously studied Jin-Woo’s reactions.
‘What should I do?’
In the meantime, Jin-Woo was in a serious dilemma.
30 billion Won.
That was a huge amount of money.
If one considered the fact that the winning prize of the local lottery was 1.5
billion Won, he’d have to get lucky 20 times in a row to earn that amount.
Not only that, the value of the building would only continue to rise up.
If it were any other normal Hunter, they would jump in with both feet and
sign up right away – that’s how tempting this offer was.
However, Jin-Woo was as far removed from being normal as anyone could
ever hope to get.
The one and only under the heavens; he was the only Hunter who could
grow stronger.
If he continued on with quests and levelled up over and over again, he’d
reach the S rank sooner or later, or even something surpassing that.
‘If I can surpass the S rank, then 30 billion would be nothing.’
The contract fee for S rank Hunters went for several dozen billions already.
No matter how famous a celebrity or a sports star was, they would never
even come close to the worth of an S-ranked Hunter.
This was the era where the number of high-ranked Hunters signified the
strength of a nation. As a result, the treatment S ranks received exceeded
one’s imaginations.
Considering that, what Jin-Woo needed to prioritise here was not money,
but his growth.
And in order to grow, it’d be more convenient to be alone.
‘Yeah, it’d be better to minimise the risks of unexpected events.’
If he hunted along with other people, the experience points received could
decrease too, and because of all those eyes watching him, making a move
would become rather cumbersome as well.
Not to forget, in order to avoid anything troublesome happening down the
line, he had to threaten Yu Jin-Ho back then, something he didn’t want to do
in the first place.
And finally, he’d have to match his schedule to that of the assault team
from now on. The efficiency of his growth would only decrease, one way or
the other.
‘I can always make money later on.’
Although it was unfortunate, he had to decline this offer. Just as he thought
like this….
‘Hang on a sec.’
Suddenly, he came up with a pretty good way to catch two birds called
money and growth with a single stone.
‘If it’s in this manner….’
When he finally raised his head, he spotted Yu Jin-Ho and his nervous face.
Jin-Woo slowly opened his mouth.
“I only have one condition.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression brightened up instantly.
“Whatever it is, please tell me, hyung-nim!!
‘I wonder, would you be able to smile even after I told you what it is?’
Jin-Woo smiled inwardly and spoke up.
“You and I. Only two of us will enter the dungeons.”
“Pardon?!”
Yu Jin-Ho gasped out in pure shock.
“Hyu-hyung-nim…. If I didn’t make a mistake here, then…. Are you
saying that hyung-nim and I, just us two, will clear C-ranked Gates? Only
us two?”
“You didn’t make a mistake, then.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s face was drained of all colour, just then.
Chapter 27 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Sure, Jin-Woo was able to defeat the spider boss all by himself, so he’d be
able to do something similar to other bosses as well.
But, when imagining only the two of them against the horde of monsters,
just like back in that dungeon’s entrance with those insects, Yu Jin-Woo
suddenly found himself unable to breathe.
“…..”
Yu Jin-Ho became completely speechless, while Jin-Woo formed an
expression that said, “I knew it.”
‘However, this is the best way.’
….The best, in order to catch both birds.
It’d be very hard to enter any freelancer-run raid teams as a Hunter ranked
E. From the very first day he made up his mind to start making money in this
profession, he was constantly reminded of this harsh reality.
Either he had to give up entering dungeons with his qualifications, or he
had to create his own raid team. However, this kid was volunteering to form
one for him. Wasn’t this a great opportunity, in other words?
“B-b-but, hyung-nim! You need at least ten people if we want to enter a
C-ra…..”
“I’m pretty sure you’d find plenty of willing people when you say you’d
pay them just for showing up to fill up the head count.”
Time to put to good use what he had learned from Hwang Dong-Seok,
then.
If there were Hunters who didn’t want to fight with their lives on the line,
but were in urgent need of cash, they would surely jump in with both feet at
this golden opportunity.
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression became one of a scared cat, though.
“Wait…. Surely, you are not suggesting that us two will kill every single
monster inside a dungeon, all the way up to the boss, are you?”
….In truth, it’d be only one person doing that, though.
“You got it.”
With this arrangement, Jin-Woo would be able to prevent the potential
worst-case scenario of someone stealing his experience points, and the only
person next to him would be Yu Jin-Ho, so he wouldn’t even need to worry
about other people watching him all the time as well.
‘If it’s like that, then I’ll get to enjoy some serious power levelling, won’t
I?’
On top of that, after all the raids were done and dusted, he’d get a nice little
bonus of a wonderful building rolling right onto his lap. The only thing
remaining now was him persuading Yu Jin-Ho.
And as expected, Yu Jin-Ho was very, very scared at the moment.
“Is-isn’t that way too dangerous, hyung-nim?!”
“You’re only looking at it from one way and not the other.”
“Eh?”
Jin-Woo beckoned the kid to come closer, so Yi Jin-Ho leaned forward.
“If no one else participates in hunting besides us, doesn’t that also mean
no one will get hurt, as long as we’re okay?”
“O-of course.”
“For the first raid, you were like a third wheel being dragged along, so
you couldn’t do anything about the incident that had happened, but think
about for the moment the ramifications of your own raid team finishing up
all 19 raids without a single casualty.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes shot open right up.
If that’s the case….!!
If that was the case, then persuading his father would become one level
easier.
Not only he’d be a D-rank Hunter, but the record of being the leader of a
team that successfully performed 19 raids without a single incident would be
added on top as well.
It’d be the definite proof of him being qualified to become the Guild
Master. Nothing would be a better advertisement for himself than this,
wouldn’t it?
Jin-Woo studied Yu Jin-Ho’s expression and smiled in satisfaction.
‘This kid…. He’s convinced now.’
From the word go, the person in need was Yu Jin-Ho.
As for Jin-Woo, he didn’t really need to go on a raid with Yu Jin-Ho, but
still could enter dungeons via the Association giving him a call, or through
the random boxes.
Yu Jin-Ho’s was thinking now.
Although it was a bit scary, if he succeeded in pulling this off, then just as
Jin-Woo had implied, there would be so much he’d get in return.
When recalling the sight of Jin-Woo displaying his absolutely
overwhelming might in battles from last time, Yu Jin-Woo realised that
maybe, there wasn’t much to fret over at all.
Yu Jin-Ho finally made his mind up, albeit after some serious internal
struggle.
“We’ll do it your way, hyung-nim. In that case, I’ll search for suitable
teammates.”
“Very good.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
They had come to an understanding.
Since he was still in front of Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho stopped feeling nervous
and tight-chested, and displayed a bright smile.
‘I’ve managed to finally get hyung-nim on my side.’
For some reason, he was not feeling too scared of the upcoming raids.
A trustworthy comrade named Jin-Woo had joined him, and it’d be a bit
easier to form a raid team now, too. As Jin-Woo had said, with the terms on
offer, many would queue up in line just for a chance to participate.
‘With this, I’m one step closer to becoming the Master.’
Jin-Woo also smiled brightly as well.
‘Clean up as many C ranked dungeons by myself, and level up as quickly
as possible.’
The two men exited the cafe with satisfied expressions.
***
After going their separate ways, Jin-Woo ran back home.
Well, he didn’t know when the Association would give him a call, after all.
It had been over ten days since he was discharged from the hospital, so it’d
not be so strange to hear about a Gate opening up in the vicinity.
The Association normally summoned Hunters two, three times a month to
clear dungeons that appeared within this area.
One of the main reason why he only gave one hour to Yu Jin-Ho was that
the call from the Association could come at any time.
‘For the time being, I can’t afford to miss even a rank E dungeon….’
He wanted to kill lots of monsters and raise his levels quickly.
How inconvenient it was not to have his smartphone around. What a relief
that the new one should arrive in a few days’ time….
Jin-Woo pushed open the front door and entered.
‘…….’
The apartment was quiet.
It was in the middle of the week, so his little sister was still at school.
After confirming that there was no one at home, Jin-Woo opened the
window displaying the Daily Quest.
‘I should get today’s rewards.’
Before he went out to meet up with Yu Jin-Ho, he had finished the day’s
Daily Quest already. But there were too many eyes watching, so he had no
choice but to delay receiving his rewards.
Well, he couldn’t really show off the sight of a blue light wrapping around
his body as well as a box suddenly popping out from nowhere in the middle
of the street, now could he?
Tti-ring!
[Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong]
Press-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Squat, 100 times: complete (100/100)
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
[You’ve completed ‘Daily Quest: Preparations to become strong’.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)
“Yeah…. Oh, hold up. Wait.”
Just like usual, Jin-Woo was about to receive his rewards, only to spot
something strange and hurriedly stopped himself. His gaze stopped dead and
remained fixed to the column of ‘Running’.
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
At first, he thought that he ran one kilometre more than necessary.
However, the longer he thought about it, the stranger it seemed to him.
‘I’ve filled up my quota, so why did it keep recording the extra distance?’
Jin-Woo’s gaze became sharper.
Was this really nothing more than coincidence?
Jin-Woo got down to the floor and supported his weight on his arms. And
then, his body rose up and down without a break.
However, his sight was fixed to the seemingly-empty air in front.
Tti-ring!
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (111/100)]
Tti-ring!
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (112/100)]
‘As I thought….’
‘Running’ wasn’t the only category that reflected the extra number of
exercises performed. The count for ‘Press-up’ also kept climbing up.
Suddenly, he became rather curious just how much higher the numbers
would count to.
Veins bulged on Jin-Woo’s arms.
Thanks to his enhanced Stats. He couldn’t feel his weight. Actually, his
body felt as light as fuzzy hair.
Before long, the number hovering near the hundred mark climbed to 200.
Tti-ring!
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]
Tti-ring!
[You’ve completed one press-up.]
[Press-up 100 times: complete (200/100)]
The count stopped for sure at the 200 mark. He performed a few more
press-ups just in case, but it didn’t want to go up any higher.
Both the sit-up and the squat also stopped counting at the 200 mark.
Press-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Sit-up, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Squat, 100 times: complete (200/100)
Running, 10 km: complete (11/10)
200, no more and no less.
It wasn’t just climbing up without an end, and no, it wasn’t as if the 100
mark was the end. There definitely was something here. His gut feeling was
declaring as such.
What if there was another result waiting for him once he completed all the
‘over-counting’?
‘Let’s make sure.’
With much faster steps than usual, Jin-Woo exited the apartment.
The next 9 kilometres for the ‘Running’ column were filled up really
quickly. When Jin-Woo arrived before his home once more, a new message
popped up in his view.
Tti-ring!
[You’ve completed ‘Hidden Quest: Preparations to become strong’.]
[Completion rewards have arrived.]
[Would you like to confirm?] (Y/N)
The title of the quest hadn’t changed, but the type of the quest had changed
to ‘Hidden Quest’ now.
His suspicion was proved to be correct.
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.
‘……Confirm.’
Tti-ring!
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Full recovery of the current physical condition
Reward 2. All Stats +3
Reward 3.
1) Blessed random box
Or
2) Cursed random box
[Would you like to collect them all?]
‘All Stats raised by 3!!’
His eyes shot open wide.
The rewards from the hidden quest proved to be really exceptional.
With all the Stats getting a three point boost, it was the same thing as his
level rising up by three.
No, wait – his Stats might have risen, but since his level stayed the same,
he had gained even more. Because, with higher Stats, raising his level would
become that much easier.
But at the same time, he felt a bit fearful as well.
On one hand, he couldn’t help but hold a vague hope that, from today
onwards, all the Daily Quest coming his way could be converted to Hidden
Quests, instead.
‘However, if the rewards are this big….’
Then, the odds of the Daily Quests coming to an end were incredibly high
as well.
Also, if the Hidden Quest was something only available for just this once,
then that meant he had to be extra careful when choosing the third reward.
Reward 3.
1) Blessed random box
Or
2) Cursed random box
This would be his first time having to choose his reward.
If he chose one, then he’d lose the other one.
‘So, I wouldn’t be able to see one of the two forever, is that about right?’
Just taking a single look at their names, it was rather obvious which one he
needed to select, but…
But, this also could be a trap, as well.
“Collect the third reward.”
Tti-ring!
[You must choose between one of the two available random boxes.]
[Blessed random box]
Presents the player with the item he wants.
[Cursed random box]
Presents the player with the item he needs.
[Which one will you choose?]
Their explanations were exceedingly simple. And that made choosing even
harder.
If there were no explanations to begin with, he’d have chosen the ‘blessed’
random box in a heartbeat. But now that he had read the dang explanations, it
felt like he’d still end up missing out regardless of which one he chose.
‘A thing that I want and a thing that I need….’
Just from those explanations, both of them sounded like a good deal.
‘But, there’s definitely a trap here.’
The thing he ‘wanted’ would be something he wanted because he
recognised its usefulness to his current situation.
However, the thing he ‘needed’ might not necessarily be like that.
Something that he may need but didn’t want could come out, instead.
For instance, when needing a powerful weapon, he might end up getting a
horrifying bomb that could completely blow himself and all his teammates
into smithereens in one go.
‘That’s why it’s called the cursed random box, right?’
So, he’d go with the lower risk selection.
In situations where the end results of a choice weren’t known, this would
be the wisest way to minimise the amount of regret felt later on.
Jin-Woo finally made his decision after a cool-headed weighing of pros and
cons.
“Blessed random box.”
A small box slowly materialised in front of his feet.
Jin-Woo picked it up.
‘Could it be….?’
Chapter 28 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
His heart began beating faster and faster. Because, the size of the box was
rather familiar to him. His hands ripping open the box became far more
urgent.
‘As I thought!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider. There was a golden key inside the box.
Indeed, it was the key to an instant dungeon, the one he’d been anxiously
waiting for.
The information on the key appeared soon afterwards.
Tti-ring!
[Item: Key of the Demon’s Castle]
Rarity: S
Category: Key
A key that will let you enter the ‘Dungeon: Demon’s Castle’. Can be used
at the Daesung Tower located in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
“It’s an S?”
Jin-Woo raised his voice in surprise.
Of course, there was no guarantee that the rarity ranking had any bearings
on the difficulty of the dungeon. But, he couldn’t think of it any other way.
The rarity ‘E’ key opened a dungeon that was on par with a Gate ranked E,
after all.
What would he do if the difficulty of the instant dungeon turned out to be
‘S’, then?
Even with a raid team consisting solely of S-ranked Hunters, there was no
definite guarantee that such a dungeon would be cleared.
The odds were around 50:50?
The difficulty of a Gate exploded upwards past the rank B, and even when
looking through the entire world, there had been too few cases of S-rank
Gates opening up in the world.
‘One of them appeared on Jeju Island, though.’
Afterwards, the island of Jeju became an abandoned hellhole where no
humans could exist.
Jin-Woo stared at the key in his hand for a long while.
‘This is what I really wanted?’
If there was one silver lining to be found here, then that would be the
explanation saying he’d be able to ‘enter’ the dungeon with this key, unlike
the previous one which said he’d be ‘transferred’ instead.
The implication being that he could escape at any time if he felt like it.
Even if the key suddenly vanished from him, he still had the return stone
from the last dungeon waiting to be used inside his Inventory as well. He was
no longer worried about getting trapped behind an invisible wall like the last
time.
‘I’ve worked hard to earn this chance, so I can’t throw it away like that
now, can I?’
He simply had to confirm right away with his own two eyes whether this
was what he really wanted or not.
Part 2. Demon’s Castle
In front of the Daesung Tower.
A super-tall skyscraper over a hundred floors tall was standing straight as if
to pierce the heavens above. Indeed, this was what the modern skyscraper
should look like. Just looking up at it made him feel extremely dizzy.
There were only a few people walking around as it was already late
evening now. The streets with not one soul on it gave off an eerie vibe.
‘Still, I can’t be sure, so….’
Jin-Woo took a good look around him, before pulling up the hood attached
to his top to hide his face.
If someone saw a person disappearing and appearing again in thin air
without a Gate around, that might cause a bit of ruckus. Not only that, there
were several CCTV cameras installed here and there in the near vicinity, so it
wasn’t such a bad idea to avoid being too conspicuous.
….Actually, there was someone busy eyeing Jin-Woo right at that moment.
‘Who could that kid be?’
To think, there would be a straggler wearing a hoodie busy loitering around
the building at this time of the night….
The security guard watching on from inside the building found Jin-Woo’s
behaviour rather suspicious and stood up from his chair.
However, as this guard walked towards the door, he couldn’t help but come
to an abrupt stop and his eyes opened up real wider.
“Wha-what the heck?!”
The security guard gasped out in a surprise and hurriedly ran outside.
The man was definitely walking towards here, yet he had vanished from the
view, just like that. Utterly without a trace.
The security guard searched around his vicinity, but he couldn’t even spot
an ant here.
He tilted his head this way and that, before turning around.
“Well, I’ll be…. What a baffling thing that was.”
The security guard was about to go back inside the building, but then,
caught something in the corner of his eyes, and turned his head to see what it
could be without thinking.
“U-uwaaahhk?!”
He cried out in shock as he fell hard on his butt.
“What, what, what the heck is going on here?!”
The security guard cried out with a pale face.
A person’s disembodied hand floating in the air then vanished once more.
*
Jin-Woo retracted his hand.
‘It’s connected to the outside world.’
Unlike the last time, there was no invisible wall blocking his exit. The key
also didn’t disappear and remained tucked inside his pocket. If he wanted to,
he could get out of here at any time, in other words.
‘Now that I’m finished with confirming the escape route…’
Since he didn’t know whether the rarity of the key equated to the difficulty
of the dungeon, he was far more cautious than usual.
Jin-Woo pulled the hood back and took a look behind him.
“…”
It was a sight shocking enough to make him groan. Just now, when he was
taking a few steps towards the Daesung Tower, the world in front of his eyes
transformed in an instant.
Could this place even be called a dungeon anymore?
A completely different world was waiting for him.
Instead of the vanished Daesung Tower, a massive tower-like structure
stood there.
‘Wait, is that really a tower, or should I call it a castle, instead?’
A tower rising up high into the air without an end, wrapped in reddish black
flames. It was as if the tower wasn’t burning, but it was spewing out
billowing flames, instead.
“A burning tower, huh.”
Rather than the name of ‘Demon’s Castle’, maybe that nickname suited it
better. Jin-Woo slowly walked towards this burning tower.
Crackle! Pop!
The closer he got, the louder the noises of flames rampaging around grew.
‘Can I even enter this thing in the first place?’
However, even if he did, there was yet another problem to consider.
Just like the last instant dungeon that was based off on the subway station,
there was a good chance that, since this dungeon was based off on the
Daesung Tower, he’d have to climb up 100 floors to clear it completely.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how long that would take.
‘Mm?’
Jin-Woo’s steps came to a halt. He sensed a strong aura near the entrance.
He slowly surveyed the surroundings and spotted a black lifeform the size
of a bull huddled in slumber right in front of the doorway.
Jin-Woo carefully summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka.
Tti-ring.
[Item: Poison Fang of Kasaka]
Rarity: C
Type: Dagger
Attack +25
A dagger fashioned from the poison fang of the Kasaka. There are traces of
the Kasaka’s poison on it, so when attacking, it will cause Paralysis and
Bleeding status effects. Can be stored in the Inventory, or can be sold at the
Store.
Status effect ‘Paralysis’: the target will be unable to move. Success rate is
fixed.
Status effect ‘Bleeding’: the target’s stamina will be reduced by 1% per
second.
Its attack power wasn’t all that high, but the greatness of its added effects
was proven in real battles time and time again.
‘It’d be nice if the Paralysis works and I get to kill it easily.’
Jin-Woo walked as quietly as possible while approaching that creature.
However, it was impossible to fool the olfactory senses of a monster. Soon
enough, the creature sniffed the air and raised its body up.
‘Che.’
Jin-Woo clicked his tongue.
The creature stood up completely and all three of its heads turned in Jin-
Woo’s direction.
[Hell’s Gatekeeper, Cerberus]
It was a huge dog possessing three heads. The name written in red letters
floating on top of its heads immediately drew his attention. It was proof that
the monster’s ‘level’ was very high.
‘Since it’s red, does that mean it’s around the same level as those
centipedes from the penalty zone?’
Back then, he managed to barely run away from the centipedes. Well, he
was only a level 1 back then, so it couldn’t be helped.
‘But, it’s different this time.’
He had grown stronger quite quickly during the short space of time.
Without a doubt, that black creature was strong, but still, it didn’t come
across as truly overwhelming. His enhanced, alert Perception was telling him
that he could do this.
It wasn’t for nothing that he raised his Perception Stat. He kept on
investing points to this Stat so he could easily tell whether he should fight or
take flight in cases like this.
“Growl!”
The Cerberus sensed the enemy and bared its fangs to threaten him.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze then wandered off to the creature’s tail. It kind of
resembled a whip, and its end was enveloped in flames as well.
Jin-Woo’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
‘Fangs and a tail. At the bare minimum, two methods of attack, huh.’
Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.
The Cerberus slowly closed the distance before stopping right in front of
him and began studying him for some reason.
‘Is it… looking for an opening?’
Just as he thought that….
The monster attacked him.
“Rowr!!”
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened much, much wider.
‘Too fast!!’
Jin-Woo barely evaded the Cerberus’s fangs by sliding underneath the
leaping monster.
The Cerberus landed back on the ground and spun around, before began
biting at him with its three heads.
“Woof!! Bark!! Rowr!!”
The sharp fangs gleamed coldly in between the biting snouts.
Tti-ring!
[‘Title: Slaughterer of Wolves’ buff effect has activated.]
[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves]
A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-
type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%. (TL: Again, the ‘hunter’
is a lower case here, because it literally means someone who hunts, while the
‘Hunters’ up until now had been written in English and is a specific job title
of those who hunt monsters from dungeons.)
He sensed his body getting lighter.
‘Nice!’
Jin-Woo quickly retreated and wielded his dagger at the Cerberus as it
continued to stick close to him.
Swish!! Swish, swish, swish!!
Clang!! Cling, clang!! Claaang!!
The dagger collided with the fangs and issued loud noises.
The blade moved at a blinding pace, yet all he could do at the moment was
to deflect the Cerberus’s attacks and nothing else.
‘Even after I buffed up, it’s still this strong?!’
The Cerberus’s Agility had easily exceeded his imaginations.
In order to overturn this situation, Jin-Woo activated his ‘Intimidation’
skill.
[‘Skill: Intimidation’ has been activated.]
[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
‘It didn’t work?!’
It was at that moment that the long tail of Cerberus flew in like a whip.
Whoooosh-!!
Jin-Woo reflexively ducked his head lower and evaded the tail. But that
caused his legs to stop moving for a second. And the monster didn’t miss this
opportunity.
One of its heads powerfully bit into Jin-Woo’s left shoulder.
“Uwaaahck!!”
Jin-Woo summoned all of his strength and stabbed the dagger into the
middle of the biting head.
STAB!!
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]
[‘Effect: Bleeding’ has been activated.]
[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]
“Whimper!!”
The Cerberus cried out and let go of him.
Thankfully, he was able to minimise the damage done before other heads
had the chance to join in on the attack, but his left shoulder was now in
tatters.
What a scary biting power that was.
He tried to move his left arm, but it didn’t want to budge. Jin-Woo’s
expression crumpled unsightly.
He managed to wound the Cerberus, but when comparing the severity of
their injuries, then it was clear that he came off far worse in that exchange.
‘If either of Paralysis or Bleeding worked, the situation would’ve been
different by now….’
Jin-Woo glared at the Cerberus and clicked his tongue.
Then, something else happened.
‘Huh?’
The eyes of the Cerberus were being dyed in a crimson colour all of a
sudden.
“Grooowwl.”
Inexplicably, Jin-Woo sensed something ominous was about to happen.
‘What could it be?’
[Hell’s Gatekeeper Cerberus is using ‘Skill: Rage’.]
[Its state of rage will persist for the next three minutes.]
[All of Cerberus’s Stats will be increased by 100%.]
[Cerberus will no longer feel pain.]
Jin-Woo cried out.
“What did you just say?!”
A monster just used a skill!!
In that instant, the Cerberus leaped off the ground.
‘F*ck!!’
Even before he could react, the Cerberus appeared right before his eyes. He
hurriedly swung his dagger, but it only managed to graze the side of one of its
heads.
And all three heads bit into Jin-Woo simultaneously.
Kwajeek!!
“Euheuheuhk!!”
Jin-Woo gritted his teeth. His neck, waist and thigh all got bitten.
The Cerberus ran at its top speed and slammed Jin-Woo against the castle’s
gate.
SLAM!!
Jin-Woo’s HP hit the rock bottom in an instant.
“Keo-heok!!”
[HP: 411/3,602]
Tti-ring!
[Your HP has decreased below 30% and ‘Skill: Tenacity’ has been
activated.]
[All damage received will be reduced by 50%.]
Thanks to the damage reduction and the Tenacity passive, he was able to
avoid getting killed in one hit.
“Keuh….”
Jin-Woo’s eyebrows shot up in anger.
Chapter 29 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
It’d be easy to go mad from pain and wildly thrash about, but he’d lose this
great opportunity, which would most likely never happen again. Losing his
consciousness now would mean his end.
‘….178, 179, 180!’
Jin-Woo had been bitterly waiting for the end of the three-minute duration
and finally, revealed his hidden trump card.
‘The first reward, give it to me now!’
He immediately collected the first reward from the Daily Quest he had
saved up until now.
[‘Reward 1: Full recovery of the current physical condition’ has been
applied.]
Suwhhooosh!
A blue light enveloped him and all depleted health reverted back to full.
[HP: 3,602/3,602]
Even his tattered left arm was healed as good as new in the blink of an eye.
‘This is my chance!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed coldly. In such close proximity, no matter how
agile this monster was, it’d not be able to dodge his attacks.
Jin-Woo rapidly caught one of Cerberus’s necks with his left arm, and
stabbed the ‘Poison Fang of Kasaka’ in the middle of that neck.
Stab! Stab! Stab!!
The rage state had ended by now, and the Cerberus began to violently
thrash about trying to escape from Jin-Woo’s embrace.
“Whimper!!Whine!”
However, Jin-Woo did not let go and held on with his powerful arms. The
harder the Cerberus struggled, the stronger he gripped the neck of the
monster.
In the meantime, his dagger continued to stab into the creature’s neck.
Stab, stab, stab!!
“Whimper-!!”
The Cerberus bit into Jin-Woo as it struggled to the bitter end, but the battle
had already been decided by then.
Stab! Stab!!
“Whimper…! Whine…”
The Poison Fang of Kasaka now travelled lower down from the neck and
stabbed the Cerberus’s chest.
Stab! Stab! Stab!!
Soon enough, the monster’s resistance became noticeably weaker and
weaker.
“Whimper….”
In the end, the heads of the Cerberus fell to the side, lifeless.
Tti-ring!
[You have defeated ‘Hell’s Gatekeeper, Cerberus’.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
In one breath, his level rose up by 4. That was how difficult this battle was.
Jin-Woo only let go of the Cerberus’s neck after confirming its body going
limp with his own eyes. The heavy body sprawled to the floor without any
resistance whatsoever.
Plop.
Jin-Woo rested his hands on his knees.
“Ha-ah….”
Only now could he breathe a sigh of relief.
A monster that could use a skill – if he didn’t prepare a hidden trump card,
then he’d have been killed for sure. A chill crawled down his spine just from
thinking about it.
‘Oh, I almost forgot…. Items.’
Would there be as many rewards befitting his life-or-death struggle to bring
down this monster?
After calming himself down, Jin-Woo reached out towards the Cerberus.
Tti-ring!
[You have discovered ‘Item: Gatekeeper’s Necklace’. Take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Key to the Castle’s Gate’. Take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Cerberus’s Molar, x3’. Take it?]
‘Take them all.’
A steel necklace originally found around one of the Cerberus’s necks, a
grey key, and three molars of a monster appeared in his hand.
[Item: Gatekeeper’s Necklace]
Rarity: A
Type: Necklace
Agility +20, Perception +20
[Item: Key to the Castle’s Gate]
Rarity: A
Type: Key
The key to unlock the gates of the Demon’s Castle. Can only be acquired
after killing the Gatekeeper.
[Item: Cerberus’s Molar]
Rarity: None
Type: Miscellaneous
“Ohh.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes went round.
‘This necklace can boost both my Agility and Perception by 20 points?’
A necklace with eye-spinningly good options came out. Its rarity was also
ranked A. Out of all the items he’d seen so far, this one featured the highest
rarity ranking yet.
‘Well, I had to go through so much to kill it, so….’
Indeed, there was no way that its rarity would be low.
However, when it came to actually putting the necklace on, he couldn’t
help but to hesitate big time.
The thing was, it was shaped like a roundish metallic choker with spikes
spouting out in regular intervals, so no matter what it said on the cover, it was
undoubtedly… a dog collar.
“Mm…”
Jin-Woo closed his eyes and deliberated on his choices for a long time,
before deciding to try it on at least once, and brought the necklace closer to
his neck.
Then, a message popped up.
Tti-ring!
[Will you wear ‘Item: Gatekeeper’s Necklace?]
Jin-Woo fell into yet another bout of dilemma for a second, before
helplessly muttering out his answer.
“…..Sure thing.”
It was then, the necklace slowly disappeared from his view.
[You’re now wearing ‘Item: Gatekeeper’s Necklace.]
“Huh?”
Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned his Status Window.
[Stats]
Strength: 60
Stamina: 39
Agility: 80
Intelligence: 37
Perception: 67
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 20%
“Holy sh*t!”
Both his Agility and Perception were increased by 20 for real. The option
was now in effect, in other words.
It seemed like that he didn’t have to worry about walking around
displaying the ‘items’ he wore. The fact that he didn’t have to be seen with a
dog collar on his neck brought him a huge sense of relief.
‘ up are the molars.’
Jin-Woo summoned the Store next.
He sold the japtem ‘Cerberus’s Molar’ and got 150 thousand Gold for each.
He sold all three off right away.
Soon, 450 thousand Gold entered his hands.
[Current Gold: 562,362]
‘What kind of japtem is this expensive??’
It was a rather nice baseline to judge the overall difficulty of this dungeon.
In other words, the difficulty of clearing the Demon’s Castle would be
incredibly high.
However, it wasn’t all necessarily bad news.
He only hunted a single monster, yet he got to earn over four times the
amount of Gold compared to the whole day spent inside the Hapjeong
station’s instant dungeon.
If he saved up Gold in this fashion, it wouldn’t be too far from now when
he’d get to purchase all those items that cost millions upon millions in the
Store.
‘That is, as long as I get to clear this dungeon….’
Jin-Woo stared up at the burning tower.
Crackle! Pop!
The very top of the structure was completely shrouded in some kind of
blurry fog. He had to actually enter the tower if he wanted to see what was
going on inside.
But, Jin-Woo shook his head.
‘Now’s not the time.’
He only barely managed to hunt down a single sentry standing guard by the
door, even with his Title buffing him up and resorting to using up the quest
reward, too.
He couldn’t even guess just what kind of danger would be waiting for him
beyond that gate. So, now was the time for him to back off.
Still, he was certain of one thing.
Just as the explanation said, this key to the Demon’s Castle was indeed
something he wanted. The name ‘Blessed random box’ wasn’t wrong.
Levelling up quickly, valuable items, and plenty of Gold, too. This place
had it all.
And one day, he’d get to claim them all as his.
Only that, today wasn’t that day.
Although he was slightly unwilling, he stored the grey key inside his
Inventory.
‘I’ll return.’
Definitely, very soon.
Jin-Woo smiled as he turned around to leave.
Part 3. Coincidence
A few days went by without any incident.
Yu Jin-Ho called Jin-Woo almost daily and reported on the progress. From
the day after their meeting, he had called Jin-Woo precisely three times.
- “Hyung-nim!! It’s me, Yu Jin-Ho.”
“Details only.”
- “Yes, hyung-nim.”
It seemed that the job of finding other teammates was going rather
smoothly. Yu Jin-Ho repeatedly emphasized that the formation of the raid
team would end soon, and that Jin-Woo should wait just a little while longer.
‘Looks like he’s really scared of me dropping out, huh.’
However, Jin-Woo couldn’t just wait and do nothing while waiting for the
team to form. So, he accessed the website for Hunters today as well.
He asked around all the time for the past few days, but no freelancer-run
raid teams wanted to work together with an E-rank Hunter.
He simply had gotten lucky on that day. Sure, Hwang Dong-Seok had been
scheming some nefarious things, but in any case, Jin-Woo still ended up being
a part of a raid team, didn’t he?
‘Thanks to that, I made lots of money, my levels went up, and even got me
a new skill, too.’
Should he feel grateful to Hwang Dong-Seok, in that case?
Jin-Woo let off a smirk.
Well, as he was now, he wouldn’t mind meeting up with other selfish
Hunters acting like geckos at the moment.
No raid teams wanted him, the Association wasn’t calling him, and keys to
instant dungeons didn’t want to show up, too.
Basically, he was doing nothing but suck on his fingers for the past couple
of days.
*SFX for an empty stomach rumbling*
‘Is it time to eat already?’
Jin-Woo felt hungry as he spent hours roaming the online job postings, so
he headed to the kitchen.
But, when he opened the fridge’s door, it was completely empty inside.
‘……..’
This was the inevitable result of not going shopping for the past few days.
His excuse being that his mind had been preoccupied with several urgent
matters until now.
‘Should I go shopping, then?’
Jin-Woo yawned out slightly and closed the fridge’s door.
*
One of the few advantages the apartment he was living in had, was its close
proximity to a large supermarket.
Wearing simple, easy-to-move clothes, Jin-Woo left his home. A ten-
minute walk later, he had arrived at his destination already.
As soon as he stepped in through the door, the wide-open expense of the
supermarket’s interior entered his view. Maybe because there wasn’t some
sort of promotion going on, it was quieter than usual in the aisles.
Jin-Woo picked up a basket and slowly walked around.
Ever since his mother was confined to the hospital, Jin-Woo had been
acting as the head of the family, and now, he grew to be more or less familiar
with chores of the household, such as shopping for groceries.
‘There isn’t anything catching my eyes today, though…’
While he was deeply staring at the displayed produce, trying to think about
what to prepare for dinner….
“Pardon me, young man. I see that you’re feeling much better now.”
A rather friendly voice came from behind him and Jin-Woo turned around
to look who it was.
‘Who is he?’
Because of his high Perception Stat, he knew that there was a Hunter
nearby. But, this was a supermarket where lots of people came and went, and
Hunters also had to go shopping too, so he didn’t dwell on the matter for long.
However, he didn’t expect that Hunter to engage him in conversation.
Not only that, a Hunter he actually knew, too.
“Mister Song ahjussi??”
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened in an instant.
Mister Song – Song Chi-Yeol looked at Seong Jin-Woo with an expression
half in disbelief and the other half in delight.
“I did hear the news that you were fine, but I still can’t believe it, even
after running into you like this.”
Song Chi-Yeol formed a deeply moved expression next. Jin-Woo felt kinda
embarrassed by the emotional eyes of Song Chi-Yeol and sheepishly
scratched the side of his temple.
Meanwhile, Song Chi-Yeol continued on.
“I should’ve gone to visit you at the hospital, but for some reason, the
folks at the Association all tightly shut their mouths and I couldn’t hear any
concrete information on you until now. Did you know that Miss Ju-Hui is
also anxiously waiting for your news?”
“Miss Ju-Hui? Really?”
“That’s right. She said that she’d give up being a Hunter, but still, she
stopped by at last week’s raid location just to look for you.”
“Last week….?”
After listening to Mister Song’s story, it turned out that, rather
coincidentally, there was a raid organised by the Association on the very same
day he entered Hwang Dong-Seok’s team.
‘That was why there hadn’t been any word from the Association until
now.’
It was not that there hadn’t been any calls from the Association, but more
like he missed it when it did come. A small mystery got resolved pretty easily,
just like that.
Song Chi-Yeol studied Seong Jin-Woo’s appearance here and there, still
mystified by what he was seeing.
‘By the way, was Mister Seong this tall before? And, with his bad leg and
all, too….’
Song Chi-Yeol’s gaze naturally headed lower.
And then, his eyes grew extra wide in shock.
“Your…. Your leg?!”
Chapter 30 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Yes. All the convicts are rank Cs, but the Hunter from the Monitoring
Division is actually a rank B, so there is nothing for you to worry about.”
Kim Sang-Sik nodded his head.
The popular opinion stated that you’d need around ten C-rank Hunters in
order to contend against a single Hunter ranked B.
Well, a B-rank was personally coming to monitor the troublemakers, not to
mention participating in the raid itself, so there was no reason to say no here.
‘One rank B and three rank Cs, huh…..’
Jin-Woo quietly studied the faces of the Monitoring Division’s agent as
well as the three replacement convicts, before tilting his head slightly.
‘Something’s off here.’
He could sense a minute trace of murderous intent flowing between those
four.
Was this also one of the facets of the enhanced Perception Stat? Or was he
simply being overly cautious?
In any case, he was overcome with this unexplainable anxiety all of a
sudden.
So, Jin-Woo whispered in Ju-Hui’s ear.
“Miss Ju-Hui, please don’t participate in this raid.”
Ju-Hui looked up at Jin-Woo’s eyes and asked back.
“What about you, Mister Jin-Woo?”
Rather than answering her, he too asked back.
“If I say I’ll be going?”
“Well, in that case, I’m going too.”
She looked like she’d follow him, no matter what.
‘I’m sure she’s only doing this because she’s concerned about me.
And….’
And, he learned through prior experience that, whenever Ju-Hui’s face was
forming that expression, she’d suddenly become a very stubborn young lady
and she’d never change her mind, no matter what.
‘There shouldn’t be a problem with me around, right?’
After all, he had experienced dealing with Hwang Dong-Seok’s gang,
which contained five rank Cs in their midst.
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
“In that case, okay.”
The agent from the Monitoring Division finished signing on all of the
documents, and then came to speak to the gathered Hunters.
“My name is Kahng Tae-Sik from the Monitoring Division. I believe
you’ve been informed of the situation. I’ll keep a very close eye on those
three, so you can rest easy.”
Kahng Tae-Sik then beckoned the three convicts to come closer. They all
trudged towards him and presented their hands. With a practised hand of his
own, Kahng Tae-Sik swiftly undid their cuffs.
“Wowsers. I thought I was gonna die from the stuffiness just now.”
“We ain’t even slaves, so isn’t it against our rights for you to drag us
around here and there like this?”
The convicts massaged their freed wrists and continued to pile on their
complaints.
Kahng Tae-Sik roundly ignored them and returned his gaze back to the
Hunters.
“Who will be taking the lead today?”
Song Chi-Yeol, having led raids before, raised his hand about half way up.
Kahng Tae-Sik nodded his head.
“Understood.”
With Song Chi-Yeol in the lead, Hunters entered the Gate one by one.
“Let’s get going as well.”
Jin-Woo and Ju-Hui also entered the Gate, albeit at the same time.
Perhaps the trauma from the last incident remained with her, because she
ever so slightly held onto Jin-Woo’s sleeve.
***
Goblins were the main enemies for this dungeon. They were the weakest of
all man-type monsters out there. So, clearing the dungeon itself wasn’t hard at
all.
“Kiiieeehhk!!”
“Kiiehhk!!”
These strange-looking creatures were weak enough for Jin-Woo to fight
evenly one on one even before he got his power boost. Still, Jin-Woo did his
utmost best to carefully hunt Goblins with his bare hands.
“Kiiehhck!!”
“Kahk!!”
When Jin-Woo displayed the combat prowess that easily exceeded their
imaginations, both Ju-Hui and Song Chi-Yeol’s eyes became extra round in
surprise.
“Wow.”
He was hiding most of his true power, yet the result of each fight was still
remarkably different compared to the past. Ju-Hui approached him and
carefully asked him.
“Have you been working out lately?”
“Well… I, uh, I’ve been jogging every day.”
“Jogging??”
Ju-Hui tilted her head, but well, he wasn’t technically lying here, so….
‘But besides all that… I’m not earning any experience points here.’
“Kiiieeehhck!!”
[The enemy’s level is too low, and your experience points did not rise.]
“Kah-gahk!!”
[The enemy’s level is too low, and your experience points did not rise.]
Jin-Woo formed a disappointed expression.
The message of Goblins being too weak and him not getting any
experience points kept repeating itself.
‘This isn’t going to work….’
On top of this, the magic crystals from the Goblins were also the worst
grade there could be.
Jin-Woo took a look around him.
The C-ranked convicts must’ve been really excited by the taste of freedom
because they were wildly swinging their weapons and energetically ripped
Goblins to shreds.
“Kkkiiiieehhhkk!!”
“Kehk! Kehhk!!”
From that scene alone, it was difficult to tell apart just who were the
monsters and who were the humans there.
‘I guess there’s no reason for me to break a sweat today.’
Well, he wasn’t earning any experience points, nor was he making lots of
money today, either. A certain thought popped up in his head next.
‘If it’s going to be like this from now on, wouldn’t it be better to quit the
Association?’
Pretty much the majority of jobs coming to the Association’s way were
clearing the Gates ranked D and E. However, if his level wasn’t going to
increase from entering those types of Gates, then there was no need to
participate in Association’s raids anymore.
‘I can easily earn mom’s hospital fees by myself now, too.’
He could quit the Association at any time he felt like it.
This was why having money was always for the better. As soon as he had
some, his selection had widened. While thinking of this and that, the raid
team entered deeper into the dungeon.
“Uh?”
“Mm…..”
And soon, a forked road with three paths appeared before them.
Kahng Tae-Sik made a suggestion to Song Chi-Yeol.
“Since the difficulty of the dungeon is low, how about splitting up from
here onwards?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
Song Chi-Yeol readily agreed to that idea.
Jin-Woo closed his eyes and extended his Perception to the max.
‘Now, which path leads to the boss?’
He was hoping that maybe the boss would give him a few experience
points, at the very least.
Soon enough, he could pick up on the auras of all living creatures inside the
dungeon.
Jin-Woo opened his eyes and spoke to Song Chi-Yeol.
“Ahjussi, let’s go left.”
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo, Song Chi-Yeol, and Ju-Hui chose the left pathway, Kahng Tae-
Sik and the three convicts the right one, and the remaining two went down the
middle one.
Jin-Woo’s heart began beating a little bit faster.
‘The boss is at the end of this passage.’
Although it couldn’t be described as strong, a unique and different aura
from that of a Goblin was leaking out from the end of this cavern-like
passageway.
He wanted to quickly kill the boss.
However, groups of Goblins kept jumping out at him every couple of steps
he took, and this hindered their progress.
“Kek, kek, kek,”
“Keeriiick.”
“Keeiick.”
And this time, there were around ten of them or so.
One carried a wooden club. One held a wooden sword, one even held a
long wooden shaft with a stone shard crudely tied around the tip….
They had armed themselves to the best of their abilities, but…. None of
them managed to threaten him.
‘Haven’t you guys had enough yet?’
Jin-Woo frowned really deeply. It proved to be a such a bother, these
b*stards that were worth nothing yet moved around in large groups like this.
“There are ten of them this time….”
“What should we do, ahjussi? Should we come back after finding the
others?”
However, Jin-Woo’s two companions were getting rather sombre about the
current predicament they were in.
“Still, there are only Goblins here, so maybe we should try fighting them
first.”
“Okay.”
Flames formed on the tip of Song Chi-Yeol’s fingers, while Ju-Hui got
ready to cast her healing magic as well.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was scratching the back of his head.
‘Now that I think about it, I’m not feeling nervous at all even though I’m
inside a dungeon.’
Was it because he had become incomparably stronger than before? Only
now did he grow a little bit more conscious of the changes that had taken
place inside him.
Song Chi-Yeol asked Jin-Woo.
“Mister Seong, are you ready?”
“Oh, uh, yes. I am.”
Jin-Woo matched the timing with the rest of his teammates and slowly
hunted each Goblin down.
And so, as they steadily cleared the dungeon….
Out of the blue, screams reverberated throughout the dungeon from
somewhere, one after the other.
“Uwwaahhhk!!”
“Uwahhkk!!”
Those weren’t from the Goblins. No, they definitely belonged to humans.
Jin-Woo, Song Chi-Yeol, and Yi Ju-Hui exchanged glances.
They thought the things had calmed down, only for yet another desperate
scream to enter their ears.
“Uwaahhhh!!”
Song Chi-Yeol’s expression hardened.
“Let’s go take a look.”
The three of them quickly ran to where the screams came from.
Jin-Woo could’ve run faster than his two companions, but for the sake of
their safety, matched their speeds.
….Just how long did they have to run?
Ju-Hui cried out in alarm after finding a person.
“There’s a person there….!”
And it just so happened to be the Hunter from the Monitoring Division,
Kahng Tae-Sik. He was kneeling on the ground, covered completely in blood.
Kahng Tae-Sik shouted out at them.
“Be, be careful! I don’t know where they could be right now!”
Kahng Tae-Sik spat those words out with great difficulty before collapsing
on the ground in pain.
“Euh-heuk….”
Ju-Hui couldn’t watch on anymore and hurriedly ran towards Kahng Tae-
Sik.
“Hold on, I’ll heal you right now!”
Ju-Hui was thinking like this; regardless of where the enemies were hiding,
she was still a Healer ranked B. Meaning, the speed of her healing magic was
very fast.
So, she thought that before enemies attacked them, it’d be more
advantageous for her to quickly heal Kahng Tae-Sik.
“Please hold on for a little while longer.”
Ju-Hui stood in front of Kahng Tae-Sik and reached out with both of her
hands.
Gentle rays of light gathered near the ends of her hands.
It happened then.
Kahng Tae-Sik rapidly raised his upper body up and took aim at the centre
of Ju-Hui’s neck with his hand full of magical energy.
Swish!!
Just before his fingertip could touch Ju-Hui’s Adam’s apple, someone
managed to grab Kahng Tae-Sik’s wrist just in time.
Snap!
“Ahh…!!”
The stunned Ju-Hui stumbled backwards before falling on her rear.
Plop.
Kahng Tae-Sik’s expression became one of shocked amazement.
‘He stopped my attack in that short space of time?’
It was not a hard job for a high-ranked Hunter to deal with a handful of
lower-ranked Hunters.
The only thorn in his side today happened to a female Hunter ranked B, the
same rank as he was. The silver lining about this thorn was that she was not a
combat-related Hunter. She didn’t possess any abilities to protect herself, so
as long as he succeeded in sneak attacking her, everything would end quite
easily.
However…. to think, his sneak attack would end up missing.
With things like this, there was no reward for all that great acting he had
put on.
Kahng Tae-Sik’s gaze followed the hand grabbing his wrist and to its
owner. And Jin-Woo’s face was at the end.
Jin-Woo’s eyes were emitting a very strong light of murderous intent.
Kahng Tae-Sik frowned deeply.
“How dare you, a f*cking Association bottom-feeder!!”
Swish!
Kahng Tae-Sik’s other fist flew towards Jin-Woo’s face. However, Jin-Woo
simply tilted his head out of the way and let the fist fly by.
‘What?!’
Kahng Tae-Sik hurriedly yanked his arm loose from Jin-Woo’s grasp.
“Huh?”
Jin-Woo displayed his shock next. As expected from a high-ranked Hunter
and his power.
Now that both of his hands were freed, Kahng Tae-Sik began pouring out
attacks without a rest.
However, Jin-Woo also moved at the speed that didn’t lose out to Kahng
Tae-Sik’s and went on the offensive of his own, too.
Pow-pow-pabababahat!!
Fists and arms belonging two men endlessly collided and traded countless
blows.
None of them showed any signs of backing off.
Seizing this opportunity, Song Chi-Yeol quickly dragged Ju-Hui away from
the area.
“Ah-ahjussi….”
Ju-Hui couldn’t finish what she wanted to say because of the sheer shock
from seeing what was happening right now.
However, there was one person here who was even more shocked than Ju-
Hui, and that was none other than Song Chi-Yeol.
‘Just how on earth is this possible…..?’
This fierce battle unfolding at a scarcely believable speed – he was having
a hard time trying to follow with his eyes.
Something like that was expected of a high-ranked Hunter, so that was fine,
but then, the Seong Jin-Woo fighting that man couldn’t have been the same
person from Song Chi-Yeol’s memories. The youth was definitely not losing
out against a rank-B Hunter at all.
‘I’m a C-rank, and even I can’t follow his movements with my eyes!’
Indeed, his gut feeling proved to be right.
The Jin-Woo in front of his eyes right now was not the same youth from his
memories, an E-rank who was weak but possessing a good head on his
shoulders.
In the blink of an eye, the two traded hundreds of blows and they quickly
stepped back while trying to catch their breaths.
Jin-Woo glared at Kahng Tae-Sik and frowned.
“The blood on your clothes… I’m guessing it’s not yours.”
Kahng Tae-Sik loosened his wrist and answered back.
“That’s right, it belongs to those b*stards. Besides all that, I never
expected to run into a Hunter of your calibre in this sh*tty place.”
Honestly speaking, Kahng Tae-Sik was really impressed.
He hadn’t heard of any information regarding a high-ranking Hunter
slumming it out along with those bottom-feeders working for the Association.
‘This is going to cost me big time.’
He thought that today would be the best time to act, so he did his deeds, but
quite unexpectedly, he ran into a pretty steep hurdle here.
Kahng Tae-Sik couldn’t control his curiosity and asked out aloud.
“Who the hell are you? What rank are you?”
Jin-Woo summoned the Poison Fang of Kasaka, and while grasping it
tightly in his hand, replied rather curtly.
“Seong Jin-Woo. I’m rank E.”
Chapter 32 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Kahng Tae-Sik had been paying attention only to the daggers, so he got
really stunned by the pain shooting up from his foot, causing him to hurriedly
step back.
Jin-Woo didn’t miss this opportunity.
‘Dash!’
[‘Skill: Dash’ has been activated.]
[Your movement speed has increased by 30%. One Mana will be spent
every minute during its activation.]
Jin-Woo rapidly got closer to his target.
Kahng Tae-Sik’s eyes grew wider still.
‘He got faster?!’
Jin-Woo had been displaying an already high level of agile movements, but
now that he had gotten even faster, Kahng Tae-Sik found it quite
disorientating.
Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of an eye and sank his Poison Fang
of Kasaka down on Kahng Tae-Sik’s thigh.
“Kuwahhhk!!”
He aimed there precisely because Kahng Tae-Sik was focused on defending
his upper body only.
[‘Effect: Paralysis’ has been activated.]
[The effect has been cancelled due to the high resistance of the target.]
[‘Effect: Bleeding’ has been activated.]
[The target’s stamina will decrease by 1% per second.]
‘Nice!’
The added effects of the Kasaka dagger kicked in as well. It was a bit
regretful that the ‘Paralysis’ didn’t work, but still, this fight had become just a
tad easier now.
However, Kahng Tae-Sik was a high-ranked Hunter himself! So, his
resistance was nothing to scoff about. His dagger aimed at Jin-Woo’s vitals
and continued to fly in.
Swish, swish!
Jin-Woo evaded the blade with only a hair’s breadth and also attacked
Kahng Tae-Sik’s vital spots.
Even though his thigh was badly damaged, Kahng Tae-Sik calmly defended
against Jin-Woo’s attacks, as befitting an experienced Hunter.
Clang! Cling!
Cold sweat drops formed on the foreheads of both men.
‘Our speeds are about the same!’
‘We’re moving at the same speed!’
Two men were inwardly admiring each other’s agile movements and
continued to clash in a dazzling display of super-close proximity knife
fighting.
Several powerful attacks, each one capable of ending this fight if hit, were
exchanged without rest.
Swish, swish, swiiish, swish, swish, swish!!
It was a truly scary and gripping battle that caused the onlooker’s blood to
go cold.
‘I gotta break this stalemate somehow.’
Jin-Woo gathered strength in his eyes.
[‘Skill: Intimidation’ has been activated.]
The moment his eyes met Jin-Woo’s, Kahng Tae-Sik flinched slightly for
some reason.
‘What was that?’
[‘Effect: Fear’ has been activated.]
[The target’s (All) Stats will decrease by 50% for one minute.]
‘It worked!’
Jin-Woo knew that he had won now.
On the other hand, a small earthquake erupted in Kahng Tae-Sik’s eyes.
‘How come my body is…..?’
After he had met Jin-Woo’s gaze, his body felt as heavy as if he was
floundering in deep water or some such. His trusty speed began decreasing as
well.
Swish! Swiiish!!
Wounds on Kahng Tae-Sik’s body increased quickly one by one.
‘This, this isn’t possible!’
Kahng Tae-Sik’s thoughts became confused and messy.
This was, without a doubt, a debuffing effect. But, he had never, ever heard
of a case where an assassin class was able to use a debuff magic.
‘Assassination was not his speciality, then?’
If that was the case, then what was up with his crazy speed?
However, Kahng Tae-Sik had stopped his train of thoughts there. His
confusion had rapidly morphed into panic, instead. Because… he had spotted
Jin-Woo abruptly rushing in closer.
Kahng Tae-Sik hurriedly took aim at Jin-Woo’s eyes.
Swish!!
Jin-Woo quickly tilted his head out of the way, but the dagger still managed
to graze his cheek.
Of course, he knew he’d get hurt, at least by this much, or even worse. In
order to get that decisive strike in, he decided to take the risk.
Kahng Tae-Sik’s expression crumpled.
‘F*ck.’
Jin-Woo succeeded in getting close to Kahng Tae-Sik’s chest and stabbed
down on the latter with the Poison Fang of Kasaka.
Stab.
“Keo-heok!!”
Kahng Tae-Sik’s eyes shot open wider.
Both men knew right away at that moment. The victor had been truly
decided with that one move.
Crimson-red blood pooled in Kahng Tae-Sik’s mouth. It was gushing up
from his chest. As blood leaked out from the side of his lips, Kahng Tae-Sik
formed a smirk.
To actually run into a Re-Awakened Hunter inside a lowly rank D
dungeon….
‘Me and my seriously rotten…..’
The dagger in Kahng Tae-Sik’s hand fell to the floor.
He continued to pant heavily as he leaned his head closer and whispered
something in Jin-Woo’s ear.
“…..”
Jin-Woo silently listened to those last words, before pulling the dagger out
from Kahng Tae-Sik’s chest.
Just like a dress slipping off a clothes hanger, Kahng Tae-Sik crumpled to
the floor, lifeless.
Plop.
Tti-ring!
[You have completed ‘Emergency Quest: Kill all the enemies’.]
The expected messages did pop up, but Jin-Woo’s expression wasn’t so
good. Just like the last time, the aftertaste of killing someone remained bitter
and nothing to feel too happy about. Even though the other guy attacked first
and initiated this fight….
[Completion rewards are now available.]
[Would you like to confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)
If there were no rewards, then this would be one hell of a loss-loss
situation, that.
Jin-Woo consoled himself with that line of thought and confirmed the
rewards.
Tti-ring!
[The following rewards are available.]
Reward 1. Five additional Stat points
‘Huh?’
Jin-Woo formed a confused expression.
The reward on offer was far, far less than when compared to fighting
Hwang Dong-Seok and his goons.
‘But, it was a far harder opponent this time, though?’
Did this mean the number of enemies was more important than the skills of
the opponent? Or, was there something else he hadn’t figured out yet?
Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly.
It was here that Jin-Woo lowered his gaze and ended up spotting something
rather odd. There was a spot of flickering light about as big as a coin
gleaming on the corpse of Kahng Tae-Sik.
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider and wider.
‘No way, could it be….?’
Although he could hardly believe it, that light seemed far too similar to the
one emitted by the loot found on the dead monsters from the instant
dungeons.
That light also indicated the position of the magic crystal inside a monster
from the Gates. But now, the dead Kahng Tae-Sik was emitting this light.
‘What does this mean?’
Jin-Woo calmed his trembling heart and quietly reached out towards the
chest area of Kahng Tae-Sik where that flickering light was coming from.
Tti-ring.
Indeed, he wasn’t seeing things just now.
[You’ve discovered ‘Rune Stone: Stealth’. Take it?]
‘A Rune Stone?! Are you talking about THAT Rune Stone….??’
His heart began pounding even harder than before.
The skill Kahng Tae-Sik used had now become a Rune Stone and was
waiting to be discovered on his body.
‘Stealth’ was a rare skill that only a select few Hunters could use. If this
message was indeed talking about the Rune Stones he knew, then….
‘Acquire it.’
Suddenly, a small rock with mysterious runic letters carved on the surface
appeared in his hand.
[Rune Stone: Stealth]
You can absorb the skill by breaking this Rune Stone.
….Absorbing skills by breaking the stone.
As the description said, this rock was definitely a Rune Stone.
By breaking it, he’d be able to use Stealth from now on.
He had not heard of a Rune Stone that taught one to use Stealth being put
up for sale until now. So, it was impossible to estimate just how much this
little Rune Stone would go for in the marketplace.
It was then, he heard the voices of two people coming from his rear.
“Mister Seong, are you alright?!”
“Mister Jin-Woo!!”
Jin-Woo hid the Rune Stone inside his pocket and turned around.
And he found Song Chi-Yeol and Yi Ju-Hui busy gawking at him with eyes
filled with disbelief.
The rank E Hunter Jin-Woo, who used to struggle like there’s no tomorrow
in a rank D dungeon, just defeated a rank B Hunter Kahng Tae-Sik.
As a non-combatant class, Yi Ju-Hui didn’t know this, but the rank C Song
Chi-Yeol knew very well how incredibly crazy that notion was.
Jin-Woo checked out his own appearance.
“Well, yeah, I’m okay.”
From a casual glance, he was totally fine. He wasn’t feeling any pain,
either. But, when he turned his head a bit, the blood pooling around his chin
dribbled down. He reflexively touched his cheek and found that the cut he got
earlier was bleeding now.
“Oh.”
“Let me heal that for you.”
For a second or two, a blue light danced around Ju-Hui’s fingertips, before
that little cut disappeared from the view.
That was the confirmation; a rank E had successfully defeated a rank B
without a single injury.
For the two people here that knew Jin-Woo, rather than the fact of a rank B
Hunter trying to kill them, it was the fact of the youth before them defeating
said Hunter that shocked them the most.
“How can you be able to…..”
Song Chi-Yeol couldn’t finish his sentence.
Jin-Woo, of course, knew what Song Chi-Yeol and Ju-Hui wanted to say
here. That was why he opened his mouth first.
“I’m really sorry. When the right time comes, I’ll tell you both
everything, so please, don’t ask me anything for the time being.”
When Jin-Woo made a request in a grave voice, Ju-Hui nodded her head
first. Eventually, Song Chi-Yeol nodded, as well.
“If you’re saying that, then you must have your reasons. I understand,
young man.”
Jin-Woo then turned his head in the direction where the boss was. Although
the situation had become complicated somewhat, his plan of killing the boss
hadn’t changed.
He wanted to kill the boss by himself if possible. Also, there was another
thing he had to, meaning these two couldn’t be here.
Jin-Woo looked back at Song Chi-Yeol.
“With what has happened here, I think it’s impossible to continue on with
this raid anymore. For the time being, you two should leave the dungeon
and contact the Association. I’ll remain here and search for other
survivors.”
Song Chi-Yeol instantly realised what Jin-Woo was trying to do.
‘He’s going to close the Gate all by himself.’
Even from the older man’s perspective, doing that would ensure the least
amount of suspicion.
“That would be a good idea. Miss Ju-Hui, let’s go ahead first.”
Ju-Hui hesitated after hearing Song Chi-Yeol’s recommendation, but then,
she quickly ran at Jin-Woo.
“You haven’t forgotten about our dinner date, right?”
Jin-Woo smiled gently.
“I haven’t. I still need to ask you for my change, remember?”
“In that case, you honour that promise, okay? I’ll be waiting on the
outside.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head, and that must have relaxed her a lot since she
took a step back without saying anything else.
Even as she was escaping from the dungeon, she continued to look behind
her several times.
Jin-Woo only let out a sigh once the shadows of the two people were gone
for good.
“Fuu-woo.”
And he really wanted to hide for as long as possible, but….
In the end, he got discovered.
There were two eyewitnesses, so it was impossible to talk his way out of
this one now.
‘It’s not like I can threaten Ju-Hui or Mister Song ahjussi, either.’
Killing the rank B should be seen as self-defence. He had two
eyewitnesses, so no worries there. The real issue would be with how a rank E
managed to kill a rank B.
‘I guess being a Re-Awakened is the most plausible excuse there is, huh.’
He decided to go with that one, then.
He’d reveal himself to be a Re-Awakened Hunter and get himself a re-
assignment test.
No one would believe him even if he told them about the System or
levelling up and all the other stuff. There was also no reason for him to reveal
that information voluntarily, anyway.
After he decided to go through with the re-assignment test, he kind of felt
relieved on one hand, and a bit wistful on the other.
‘And here I was, hoping to do the test only after I got even stronger….’
But, since when did the world move as one wished?
There was nothing he could do about it now.
‘I wonder, how high will my new rank be?’
Since he fought on equal footing with Kahng Tae-Sik, was he slightly
stronger than a rank B Hunter at this moment?
He thought that he had gotten really strong now, but as it turned out, those
high ranking Hunters, starting from B all the way up to S, were indeed all
freakish existences far surpassing his imaginations.
‘Oh well, let’s think about the future once I get out of here.’
For the time being, he had to get rid of the boss first.
The dungeon that emitted magical energy waves equalling a rank D only
had a bunch of rank E Goblins inside. In that case, there was a good chance
that the magical energy wave was actually coming solely from the boss.
A boss like that should give him enough experience points for a level up.
‘But before I do that….’
There was something else he had better confirm first.
Jin-Woo pushed his Perception to the limit and carefully combed over all
auras present within the dungeon.
“Found you.”
Jin-Woo began waking to his new destination.
On the way, he discovered the cold corpses of Kim Sang-Sik and the other
Hunter.
This was the power of a high ranked Hunter; if such a Hunter really wanted
to, then killing a few lower ranked Hunters could be done in the blink of an
eye.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened as he walked past them.
Chapter 34 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo picked a pebble up from the ground, and it too disappeared from
the sight.
‘Can I do that with this, too?’
He got even more curious, so he reached out and touched the shoulder of
the dead Hobgoblin, but nothing happened next. It seemed that there
definitely was a limit to this skill.
At least, he was now sure of the clothes he wore and the objects held in his
hand being affected by the skill.
It happened right then.
[You’ve exhausted all of your Mana and ‘Skill: Stealth’ will be
deactivated.]
“Eh?”
Suddenly, ‘Stealth’ came undone.
‘But, it has been only a few seconds, though??’
Jin-Woo had been moving his body this way and that, trying to familiarise
himself with the state of being cloaked, but after the skill came undone all by
itself, he hurriedly summoned the skill list and confirmed the details with a
flustered look on his face.
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- (Unknown) Lv. Max
- Tenacity Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 1
- Intimidation Lv. 1
- Stealth Lv. 1
What he sought was the information on the Stealth skill.
The relevant words quickly floated up before his eyes.
Tti-ring!
[Skill: Stealth Lv. 1]
Active skill.
Mana required to activate: 200
Simultaneously cloaks the body and hides all traces of the skill holder.
During its activation, 10 Mana will be spent every second.
He needed 200 Mana to activate, and further 10 would be spent every
bloody second?!
“Hah….”
No wonder his MP couldn’t hold up.
[MP: 7/548]
His remaining Mana of 7 looked rather pitiful to his eyes.
‘It’s really all spent up, huh.’
Currently, the maximum amount of Mana he could store was around 550. If
he were to activate the Stealth skill once, he’d be able to maintain the cloaked
state for around 35 seconds.
But, if he were to use other skills, then he’d not even get the full 35
seconds, either.
‘Now that I think about it, even Kahng Tae-Sik cancelled his Stealth
pretty quickly, didn’t he?’
He didn’t do that accidentally, as it turned out.
If a high-ranking Hunter like Kahng Tae-Sik couldn’t keep the skill going
for long, then it meant that lower-ranked Hunters wouldn’t even be able to use
it.
“….My Mana is the issue here, huh.”
Until now, he had invested all his Stat points on every Stat other than
Intelligence, and not even once did his MP value rise up from doing that.
In other words, he now needed to raise the Intelligence Stat as well….
‘I guess it’s about time I did that.’
Still, it kind of felt like a waste investing his hard-earned Stat points on a
non-combat related Stat just so he could use a skill for a few seconds longer.
‘Compared to other Stats, Intelligence just has too low of an efficiency.’
Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Perception.
He had personally felt the effects of those four Stats increasing. As they
increased in value, he became physically stronger and stronger.
The only Stat that he couldn’t sense any tangible change taking place inside
him was this Intelligence, although it had climbed up a bit now.
‘I mean, it’s now almost four times the value compared to when I was a
level 1.’
If he were to really dig around and find the difference, then it’d be his
increased MP value. That was all, really.
So, to invest his points on this Stat based only on a single result like
that…..
‘It’s just too wasteful.’
Those points would become his flesh and blood if he were to invest them
elsewhere. The only conclusion he could draw here was to continue on with
his levelling up until he no longer had to worry about his MP.
Meanwhile, he’d spend his precious Stat points on other, better Stats….
‘My Stat points….’
He abruptly recalled that he still had five extra points he got as the reward
from the emergency quest.
He pondered for a second or two on whether he should invest that on
‘Intelligence’, but in the end, he spent 3 points on Strength and the other 2 on
Stamina.
[Stats]
Strength: 75
Stamina: 45
Agility: 82
Intelligence: 39
Perception: 69
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 20%
‘As I thought, numbers ending in 5s are the best.’
As a satisfied smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face…
RUMBLE….
The earthquake inside the interior of the dungeon became too severe for
him to ignore.
‘Is it the one hour mark already?’
There was no more time to waste here.
Jin-Woo closed his Status Window. He had been deliberately wasting time,
waiting for the Gate to nearly close, but if he stayed here for a second longer,
he might get trapped inside, unable to leave forever.
Before leaving, Jin-Woo turned around and swept his gaze around the boss
room one more time.
‘I extracted all the magic crystals, and….’
Well, it looked like he hadn’t missed a thing.
After confirming this fact, he rapidly disappeared down the exit.
RUMBLE…
As if to warn those still inside that the Gate was about to close, the
dungeon began shaking even harder than before.
***
With excellent timing, agents from the Association’s Investigation
Department arrived in front of the Gate. Their eyes grew real round after
spotting Jin-Woo leisurely exiting from the Gate as it gradually closed behind
him.
“H-Hunter-nim!! Are there any other survivors besides you?”
“No. No one else.”
“Euh!!”
The expressions of the agents hardened in an instant.
Nine people entered it, yet only three walked out alive. This undoubtedly
qualified as a huge incident.
What with several similarly bad incidents occurring within a single district,
it was little wonder why these Association agents felt like they had stepped on
an almighty pile of dog poo at this very moment.
They wanted to make sure there were no other survivors, but the Gate
closed on them so that was no longer possible, too.
This was precisely the reason why Jin-Woo waited around until the time
limit was almost up, however.
‘Well, I can’t let them know that there indeed was a survivor, now can I?’
With this, the testimonies of the three survivors would have to suffice. One
of the agents spoke with a complicated tone of voice.
“Just now, the Investigation Department has received a telephone call
from the chairman of the Geumgang Industries, wishing to hand himself
over.”
It was here that Song Chi-Yeol entered into the conversation.
“The chairman of the Geumgang Industries, you say?”
“He’s the father of the victim, and he allegedly has paid off the Hunter
Kahng Tae-Sik from the Monitoring Division to murder the convicts.”
“Oh….”
The chairman had confessed to everything after he heard that Kahng Tae-
Sik was indeed successful in killing the rapist.
‘Although, it wasn’t Kahng Tae-Sik but me….’
Cops headed there, and the Association came here, it seemed.
Jin-Woo listened quietly before asking a question.
“If that’s the case, there is no problem on this side, isn’t that right?”
At Jin-Woo’s question, the agents formed troubled expressions.
“Yes, basically.”
There was a clear evidence of Kahng Tae-Sik’s crimes, and these three
people fought Kahng Tae-Sik in order to survive. Just as Jin-Woo asked, there
was nothing here that could be seen as problematic.
….Except for one thing.
One of the agents asked the part that felt the most suspicious to him.
“Just who delivered the final killing blow to Mister Kahng Tae-Sik, who
was a rank B Hunter?”
The agents had only arrived at the scene not too long ago, and they were
not briefed on the minute details of the situation yet.
‘Oh, well. The distance from here to the Association headquarters is
really far, so it can’t be helped, huh. It’s already quite commendable that
they had arrived here before the Gate actually closed.’
They surely had to leave the HQ and drive super fast to get here in time as
soon as receiving the call.
Hints of fatigue were clearly visible on the faces of the agents.
Just before Jin-Woo was about to speak the truth, he recalled the face of Yu
Jin-Ho.
‘What a missed opportunity this is, but looks like I won’t be helping that
kid out with his raid quota after all.’
By making an excuse of him being a Re-Awakened Hunter, and going
ahead with the re-assignment test, he’d not be able to humour Yu Jin-Ho’s
plan anymore.
What Yu Jin-Ho looked for was a low-ranked Hunter that possessed
incredible skills. As soon as Jin-Woo’s ranking was re-assigned and it
dramatically rose up, everything would’ve been for nothing.
However, what was up here?
When Jin-Woo imagined the dejected, depressed face of Yu Jin-Ho, he
found that sight rather humorous, instead of feeling apologetic.
Sure, Jin-Woo was kind of bummed out about the promised building, but,
oh well.
‘Well, naught I can do here now.’
Jin-Woo thought as such and was about to open his mouth, but then….
“It was me.”
….His head naturally swivelled towards the source of that voice. And he
saw Yi Ju-Hui, her wide-open eyes full of surprise, staring at Song Chi-Yeol.
“But, ahjussi….?”
Before Jin-Woo could ask what his intentions were, Song Chi-Yeol took the
initiative and walked closer to the agents.
“I’m the one who killed Kahng Tae-Sik.”
The questioning agent still didn’t look convinced, however.
“Song Chi-Yeol Hunter-nim, are you saying that you brought down
Kahng Tae-Sik Hunter-nim?”
His suspicions had merit; not only was Song Chi-Yeol a rank C Hunter, but
he also had lost his left arm as well. On the other hand, wasn’t Kahng Tae-Sik
often referred to as a high-ranked Hunter, someone who was ranked B?
The power of high ranked Hunters easily exceeded one’s imaginations. The
accepted norm was that the difference in strength between a rank B and a rank
C was far, far wider than that between a rank C and a rank D.
It was here that Song Chi-Yeol began chuckling amiably.
“Have you all forgotten just who is behind me?”
“….Ah!”
Just as the gazes of everyone focused on her, Yi Ju-Hui’s face reddened and
she quickly lowered her head.
Yi Ju-Hui was a B-ranked Hunter. She hadn’t been mentioned until now
because her class was not combat-related, but when looking only at her rank,
then she was a high-ranked Hunter, just like Kahng Tae-Sik had been.
Why wouldn’t a rank C Hunter be able to defeat a rank B Hunter, when a
rank B Healer was lending her aid from the side?
The agents finally formed expressions of understanding.
Taking the opportunity born from the momentary confusion, Jin-Woo stood
real close to Song Chi-Yeol and whispered to the older man.
“Why are you lying to them, ahjussi?”
Song Chi-Yeol replied back in a whisper as well.
“I thought that there must be a good reason why you were trying to
conceal your abilities. Did I overstep my boundaries?”
Of course, he didn’t. Thanks to him, Jin-Woo would get to avoid dealing
with many inconvenient matters. This was the reason why one could never
discount wisdom formed from years of experience.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I’ve received a lot of your help until now, so I’m glad to hear that I was
able to help out you now, even if it’s just a small thing,”
Meanwhile, one of the agents walked closer to the two men.
“Mister Song Chi-Yeol, why don’t you come with us? Help us for a
minute or two with writing up the report.”
“Alright. Let’s get going, then.”
Song Chi-Yeol left for the Association along with the agents, and before
anyone knew it, only Jin-Woo and Yi Ju-Hui remained on the scene.
The sun had set a long time ago.
Ju-Hui must’ve found Jin-Woo and the somewhat altered aura he emitted a
bit foreign, because she hesitated greatly before cautiously approaching him.
“Would you like to walk with me for a little while?”
‘Is she talking about that dinner date?’
He was starving after moving around for a bit today, so he found her
suggestion to his liking.
Jin-Woo agreed with a welcoming expression.
“Okay, let’s.”
As if they had made a promise earlier, the two young people began quietly
walking side by side under the soft lights of the street lamps.
“….”
Ju-Hui’s eyes remained fixed to her toes.
Because, if she tried to raise her head, her gaze automatically drifted
towards to her side. She tried very hard not to think about it, but it was of no
use.
In the past, she found him comfortable to talk to, but now, the current Jin-
Woo was overflowing with this certain sense of power. She found it much
harder to talk to him now as a result.
‘Just what happened….?’
He was strong enough to subdue a rank B Hunter without too much trouble.
He had changed so drastically.
Since he requested her to keep it a secret, she wasn’t planning to pry, but
his amazing transformation kept tugging at the corner of her mind.
Chapter 36 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Gate seen behind the waiting group seemed a bit too small for a C
rank.
After Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho exited from the van, the waiting Hunters
quickly gathered around them. For some reason, there was almost no ‘normal’
person in this group.
Most of them seemed to have some difficulty with their mobility, there was
one person who looked to be suffering from an illness, while another was
clearly an alcoholic.
Not only that, there was an underage girl too, someone that neither the
Association nor the Guild would admit to their ranks. From a casual glance,
she looked to be a high-schooler.
“Is it okay to bring a child here?”
“I asked for a professional advice, and apparently, there is no problem
according to the law, hyung-nim. Actually, the only reason why people don’t
hire underage Hunters is that there would be hell to pay if something went
sideways.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
‘In that case, it should be fine.’
Really now, only Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho were going to enter the Gates
anyway, so the odds of something going wrong were as good as 0%.
Indeed, these people were only here to make up the numbers. In order to
get the permit to clear a C-rank Gate, one needed at least ten Hunters, after
all.
That was why eight extra people had to be recruited.
And sure enough, these eight understood very well why they were here,
too.
These people all possessed the Hunter licence, but couldn’t act as one due
to their circumstances. Most who answered the call to gather were suffering
from the hardships of life in various ways.
Yu Jin-Ho took a step forward.
“My name is Yu Jin-Ho, and I’ll be taking the lead in this operation. And
this gentleman beside me is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim who will
accompany me to the dungeons. Everyone, your role is to wait outside the
Gates until we return.”
One of the Hunters cautiously raised his hand.
“Excuse me… If we really do that, we can get 3 million Won?”
No need to participate in any huntings.
No actual need to even enter the dungeon itself.
3 million Won per raid.
For a payment of simply lending one’s name so they would be permitted to
enter the Gates, it sounded just too good to be true.
This man named Yu Jin-Ho didn’t even look like that Seon-Dal character
who sold the Taedong River, but the terms on offer were so good that the
gathered Hunters couldn’t help but be anxious. (TL: Kim Seon-Dal is a main
character of an ancient Korean novel; he is a pro swindler and manages to
‘sell’ a river to the wealthiest man in Korea.)
“I guarantee you that the terms offered are for real.”
Yu Jin-Ho stood stiffly, looking rather serious now. Even his expression
had become grave.
“However, you are not to discuss any facet of the events that’ll take place
here with anyone. Do not forget that the moment you break the vow of
secrecy, you’ll be forced to pay back ten times the money you were paid, as
per the contract you all signed.”
Chatter, chatter….
Hunters murmured to each other in hushed whispers.
Just what were these two young Hunters planning to do inside the Gate that
they offered up such enticing terms?
They were curious, but no one came out and asked.
That was also the part of the vow of secrecy clause within the contract.
- Absolutely no questioning what happens inside dungeons.
Jin-Woo didn’t want anyone to know of his special constitution, and Yu
Jin-Ho wanted to become the Master of a Guild, so there was a serious need
to make sure that none of their teammates blabbered their mouth to someone
else.
‘……’
Instead of asking questions, the Hunters began whispering to each other
now.
“Still, can those two survive a rank C Dungeon all by themselves?”
“But, they don’t look that strong, don’t they?”
“If these two are capable enough to clear a rank C dungeon, wouldn’t it
be better to enter a large Guild and get access to higher ranked dungeons?”
“You’re so right about that.”
They all spoke in a suspicious tone of voice, but not one person said they
were quitting.
That was par for the course, really – the terms were too good to give up
from their perspective. Even Jin-Woo got hooked by the promise of the two
million Won, after all.
The reason for the extra one million Won, compared to what Hwang Dong-
Seok had offered, was because of the clause on the participants maintaining
their secrecy.
While the explanations carried on, the time was being wasted somewhat.
Jin-Woo confirmed with his watch and spoke to Yu Jin-Ho.
“We should get started.”
“Understood, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho answered right away and clapped his hands in order to draw the
attention to himself.
“Well, that will be all for the explanations. I won’t force you to
participate. So, is there anyone among you who’d like to quit now?”
“…..”
“…..”
Of course, no one raised their hands.
Just before the duo tried to enter the Gate….
“Ah! Hyung-nim, hold on for a moment.”
Recalling something he had completely forgotten about until now, Yu Jin-
Ho hurriedly ran back to the van.
He then put several things on the entirety of his body and walked back to
the Gate in an unsteady and difficult fashion.
“What…. is that?”
“It’s a full-set of reinforced armour, crafted by a famous Guild of master
craftsmen in Italy. Hyung-nim, don’t you think we need at least this type of
equipment if we were to clear a dungeon by ourselves?”
Jin-Woo slowly facepalmed.
“…”
Simply staring at that hunk of steel covering the kid from the tip of his toes
all the way up to the crown of his head, Jin-Woo felt like his own breathing
was getting all choked up and the like.
“What’s the matter, hyung-nim?”
Unable to watch on any longer, Jin-Woo reached out, yanked loose the
longsword attached to Yu Jin-Ho’s waist, and dropped it on the ground.
“Uh, uh??”
Yu Jin-Ho tried to bend down in order to pick up the sword only to lose his
balance, and he toppled over ungainly.
Plop.
Jin-Woo did his best to suppress the rising tides of anger and spoke with
great difficulty.
“While I’m still being civil, take them off.”
“…..Yes.”
However, after struggling for a bit to stand back up, Yu Jin-Ho called out to
Jin-Woo.
“H-hyung-nim….”
“What now?”
“Please help me. I can’t stand up.”
Jin-Woo spat out a long sigh while looking at Yu Jin-Ho reaching out to
him.
*
“Will this be fine, hyung-nim?”
“Yeah.”
In the end, they agreed on the kid wearing a helmet, and nothing else.
With a satisfied face, Yu Jin-Ho jumped inside the Gate. Jin-Woo followed
in right after without saying anything else.
As soon as the two men walked into the dungeon one by one, the remaining
Hunters all slowly shuffled towards the Gate.
One of them piped up with a worried voice.
“Judging from the way they acted, they looked like a couple of
amateurs….”
Another agreed, while staring at the Gate’s surface.
“You’re right.”
The two people’s conversation opened the floodgate of words from the
remaining Hunters. Everyone began speaking their minds now.
“What will happen if those two get killed inside the dungeon?”
“Well, we all got paid the contract signing fee already, so….”
“Yeah, well. That’s true, too.”
“Wait, what were the names of those two again?”
“Hold on. So, it was….”
A man whose leg was in a plaster quickly pulled his phone out and
searched the two’s names online.
“Yu Jin-Ho, Seong Jin-Woo….”
Another Hunter helped the man in crutches to stand straight while peeking
into the phone as well. Whether he felt the ‘crutches’ needed help, or was just
too impatient to find out the result of the online search, no one could tell.
“What the hell? The raid leader is only a rank D??”
Hearing that, everyone else stiffened up from the shock. However, what
shocked them even more was the following search result.
“The dude next to the rank D is only a measly E???”
“Isn’t it way too dangerous for a rank E to enter a rank C Gate?”
“One D and an E wants to clear a rank C dungeon?!”
“How can that even be possible??”
“Also, the raid team leader has no record of leading a team before!”
“What the heck….? Why would these two young men….?”
Wasn’t this no different than committing suicide?
It was not for nothing that the Association had set a strict rule of one
needing ten people, with five rank C Hunters, as the bare minimum if one
wanted to enter a rank C Gate.
“Tsk, tsk…”
A male Hunter sporting a smattering of white hair pulled a cigarette out and
lit it up.
“The arrogance of youth tends to catch many young people unawares.”
The cigarette smoke slowly rose up.
“….”
“….”
The Hunters all fell silent. They couldn’t help but feel awkward and bad,
thinking that they were now a part of someone else’s suicide attempt.
Even if they were total strangers, no one liked seeing another person
getting killed right in front of their eyes, or in this case, inside the Gate right
in front of them.
Was that all?
What about the rest of the money?
They may have received the contract fee upfront, but they would’ve made a
lot more by following the two young men around for the next 18 raids.
Regrettably, though – the odds of two young people coming back alive
were simply too low.
“This…. Shouldn’t we report this to the Association, even if it’s now?”
“I wonder. Yeah, what if we get blamed for this?”
Then, this happened.
Buzz….
Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly emerged from the Gate.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
Yu Jin-Ho was panting laboriously. Steam slowly rose up from the bodies
of two young men carrying tired expressions.
“Oh, ohh…”
“They managed to escape unhurt!”
“What a relief.”
Hunters welcomed the two with happy expressions.
They were all thinking that these two only roamed around the entrance of
the dungeon like a pair of lost kids, because the time between them entering
and leaving was fairly short.
However, what was going on here?
The expressions of the Hunters gradually changed.
Because, they all heard someone crying out in alarm, that was why.
“The, the Gate is closing!!”
What??
Everyone hurriedly shifted their gaze over to the Gate.
“Oh my gosh!”
“Look, look!!”
“They killed the b-boss??”
The Gate is turning blurry and illusory, just as it would when the boss of
the dungeon was killed.
While the Hunters couldn’t hide their shocked disbelief, Jin-Woo utterly
disregarded their gazes and quietly asked Yu Jin-Ho.
“Where is the next one?”
“It’s about an hour’s drive from here, hyung-nim.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho headed straight to the van.
Meanwhile, the eight Hunters stared at the duo’s backs with completely
dumbfounded faces.
Realising that they weren’t following him, Yu Jin-Ho turned his head and
called out to them.
“Let’s hurry up, everyone. We barely have enough time to go to two more
Gates today.”
The jaws of the Hunters all dropped to the floor from that declaration.
Drop.
The middle-aged Hunter with the smattering of white hair, Yun Gwi-Won,
was so stunned that he failed to realise his cigarette slipping out from his lips
and falling to the ground.
‘Those two managed to clear a rank C dungeon, and they are going for
another raid, too??’
It wasn’t only Yun Gwi-Won, though.
Everyone present was thinking the exact same thing.
‘Just who are these people???’
***
The first day.
Grrroooar….
A group of zombies rushed at the duo.
“Hyung-nim, they are coming!”
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo smoothly glided among the rushing zombies. Whenever he
brushed past one, the head of an undead creature fell and rolled on the
ground.
The number of zombies decreased quite rapidly.
Soon, only one remained.
Stab!
“Kkkroooarr!!”
When Jin-Woo stabbed his dagger deep into the last monster’s chest, a
familiar mechanical beep rang inside his head.
Tti-ring!
[Level up!]
Yu Jin-Ho, who had been standing at the far back, gasped in admiration and
clapped his hands enthusiastically.
“Hyung-nim, you’re so cool!!!”
“Magic crystals.”
“Ah. Okay.”
Yu Jin-Ho quickly pulled the bag out and began collecting the magic
crystals.
It was around at this point.
The mechanical beeps didn’t end with the level up message and continued
on.
Tti-ring!
[You’ve acquired ‘Skill: High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1’]
Tti-ring!
[You’ve acquired ‘Skill: Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1’]
Tti-ring!
[‘Skill: Dash’ has levelled up!]
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened in an instant.
‘I’ve got new skills?’
Been a long time too, hasn’t it?
Feeling rather chuffed with himself, Jin-Woo quickly summoned his Skill
Window.
[Skills]
Passive skills:
- (Unknown) Lv. Max
- Tenacity Lv. 1
- High-Grade Dagger Technique Lv. 1
Active skills:
- Dash Lv. 2
- Intimidation Lv. 1
- Stealth Lv. 1
- Vital Points Targetting Lv. 1
The Dash skill had levelled up after he constantly used it.
Also, in the passive and the active columns, High-Grade Dagger Technique
and Vital Points Targetting had been added as well.
Chapter 38 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Hold on.”
Jin-Woo covered the mouthpiece of the phone with his hand and asked Ahn
Sahng-Min.
“If you still can’t believe it, why don’t you speak to him personally?”
Ahn Sahng-Min wiped the cold sweat forming on his forehead and shook
his head.
“Hey, Jin-Ho? It’s fine. Thanks. I’m hanging up now.”
After ending the call, Jin-Woo noticed that the look on Ahn Sahng-Min’s
face had changed completely now.
Indeed, Ahn Sahng-Min’s eyes were trembling non-stop.
‘Even before their Guild is established, Yujin has promised 30 billion as
the contract signing fee?? And then, the second son of Chairman Yu
Myung-Hwan continues to use honorifics, too?’
Ahn Sahng-Min was now deeply mired in uncertainty and confusion.
“That, that, that is… I, I should say that, such a big amount is, well, uh,
well beyond my ability to… If you just give me some time, I can speak to the
higher-ups in the Guild and then….”
Jin-Woo abruptly cut him off.
“In that case, our discussion ends here.”
Ahn Sahng-Min became speechless.
His head drooped slightly, as his head was quickly filled with the reason for
this failure.
‘In the end, we simply didn’t have enough information.’
Being too hasty brought about this failure.
After he picked up on the scent of this huge jackpot, he got too excited and
forgot to move in a more cautious and prepared manner.
If he had learned of what Yujin’s offer was like, get the full backing of his
Guild, and go about his business step by step, then…..
‘For now, I need to report this to the Guild Master.’
If he was a Hunter that Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan was willing to put
forward 30 billion, then perhaps his value could be over 50 billion, no, 100
billion, instead.
It was not too late.
‘If I get the promise of the Guild’s full backing, dig out all the
information on Seong Jin-Woo, and come out swinging even harder,
then…’
It was at this point that Jin-Woo’s voice could be heard.
“I want to ask you about something.”
Ahn Sahng-Min raised his head.
Jin-Woo was no longer smiling.
The weather had warmed up nicely with the hint of Spring nowadays, yet
for some reason, the surrounding air felt chillier than usual.
Gulp.
Just as Ahn Sahng-Min swallowed some dry saliva, Jin-Woo asked him a
question with a low, heavy voice.
“How many people know about me?”
“It’s… It’s only me for the time being. I was too anxious to scout you so I
didn’t even stop to report to my superiors yet.”
Actually, there was one more person. Hyun Ki-Cheol, his subordinate but
also his right-hand man.
Ahn Sahng-Min concealed the presence of Hyun Ki-Cheol for the time
being. He was worried that Jin-Woo might get real unhappy if he learned that
there were two people instead of one.
However, Jin-Woo voice became even colder and threatening than before.
“For the sake of trust, let’s not lie to each other, shall we?”
Ahn Sahng-Min began panicking visibly now.
‘What is this? Did he obtain some information on us before coming
here?’
If that were the case, then things might get worse if he continued to argue
that he was the only one. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen
next.
‘I gotta be honest here.’
The relationship between a Hunter and a Guild was pretty similar to that of
an entertainer and the talent agency.
They might not be able to sign a contract right now, but by maintaining a
good relationship, anything could happen in the future.
At the bare minimum, he should not cause friction with another Hunter.
That was one of the iron-clad rules of the Second Division.
Ahn Sahng-Min quickly opened his mouth.
“Actually, one of my subordinates also knows about this matter. I’m
telling you the honest truth.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
‘Indeed….’
It was as he suspected.
All these things, there were too many for one person to handle –
investigating him, observing him, and calling him, too.
Most importantly, what made Jin-Woo sure of this fact was the timing of
the phone call. As soon as he was near his place, Ahn Sahng-Min called him
with such excellent timing.
‘Meaning, someone was waiting near my home and called him as soon as
I showed up.’
This man wanted to meet Jin-Woo as soon as possible but it’d be bad if Yu
Jin-Ho found out in the process, after all.
‘Still, it’s not the whole White Tiger Guild.’
He could tell from that earlier reaction, back when he was talking about 50
billion Won. Ahn Sahng-Min was so openly flustered when an amount of
money he couldn’t handle was brought up.
If he was being ordered around by the upper management, then he’d at
least try giving them a call after hearing that amount, didn’t matter whether
that amount was even feasible or not.
That was why Jin-Woo suspected that a small team consisting of two,
maybe three, people were involved here, and lo and behold, the person in
charge confessed to it being only two.
‘What a relief.’
Jin-Woo definitely didn’t want to complicate the matter any further than
necessary. Two people were within his ability to control.
If he left them alone like this, no doubt they would continue to harass him
down the line. That was why there was a definite need to warn the other party,
back off him for good.
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“Actually, I also refused Yujin’s offers.”
Jin-Woo’s explosive, unexpected revelation!!
Ahn Sahng-Min was even more shocked than before.
“Pardon me?!”
It was right at this moment, Jin-Woo suddenly vanished from the spot.
“What?!”
Ahn Sahng-Min hurriedly stood up from his chair.
He quickly scanned the interior of the cafe, but couldn’t spot Jin-Woo
anywhere.
‘What was that?? Could he have moved faster than the eye can see?!’
Ahn Sahng-Min was too flustered and realised that someone had grabbed
his shoulder from the side quite belatedly.
“Heok.”
All the hair on his back stood up at once.
“Don’t turn around.”
A cold voice came from his side.
Jin-Woo, who had been sitting across him until then, had vanished without
making a sound and was now standing right next to him, still not visible to the
naked eye.
‘S-Stealth??’
Cold sweat drops formed on Ahn Sahng-Min’s forehead.
‘Could…. could he be…. angry at me….?’
Hunters were, in general, monsters.
He knew this well, because he got to observe them from a close vantage
point every single day.
That was why he was always super-respectful towards them.
‘Did me spying on him and following him around cause an issue here?
Should I have requested protection from the Guild before coming here? No,
hang on, no one knows what his ranking is, so how can I request
protection, then….?’
His thoughts became messy and his heart pounded relentlessly. Even the
sound of him swallowing his saliva echoed around too loudly in his ears.
Jin-Woo spoke, almost in a hushed whisper.
“Sit down slowly. I don’t want to scare you.”
Ahn Sahng-Min slowly nodded his head.
‘But, you’re plenty scary enough already…’
He then slowly sat back down on his chair. Jin-Woo revealed himself and
settled down right next to him.
‘Right…’
Jin-Woo’s words of not wanting to scare Ahn Sahng-Min sounded about
right. His eyes when he said he wanted to ask something, were cold enough to
chill the surrounding air.
If Ahn Sahng-Min had to stare into those eyes while listening to Jin-Woo’s
words, then he might have experienced what his heart falling to the pit of his
stomach felt like.
‘You’re being considerate towards me, is that it?’
Of course, he couldn’t get the thoughts of Jin-Woo being a very scary guy
out of his head.
In the meantime, Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“The reason why I refused Yujin’s offers is simple. I’m not planning to
join any Guilds at the moment.”
Two men conversed while staring forward, never locking their eyes once.
“S-so that’s how it was.”
“Also….”
Jin-Woo took a second before continuing on.
“I don’t want to see the number of people who know about me increase.”
What he wanted here was rather simple.
He didn’t want to join a Guild, and he didn’t want anyone talking about
him.
Ahn Sahng-Min quickly understood those points.
However, there was one thing he was still curious about.
“T-then, why are you still being accompanied by Mister Yu Jin-Ho?”
“He’s helping me out on some personal matters. He’s the only one who
knows about my Re-Awakening. Also, I believe he’s a friend that I can trust.
That’s why I asked him for a favour. And so….”
Jin-Woo’s voice became heavier still.
“So, if I start hearing things about me, can I assume that it came from
you, Chief Ahn Sang-Min, or your subordinate?”
It’d been a while since Jin-Woo stopped grabbing his shoulder, yet Ahn
Sahng-Min felt like he was being crushed by the younger man’s words.
‘He’s not putting on airs, either.’
Why did he feel this way?
Ahn Sahng-Min was so sure of the fact that Jin-Woo was fully capable of
harming him.
‘My gut instinct when evaluating people is almost always right.’
Jin-Woo survived several devastating, horrifying incidents.
Wasn’t there a saying about burying the matters of the dungeon inside a
dungeon? No one knew just what kind of things Jin-Woo did inside those
dungeons.
‘On top of that, this man possesses the Stealth skill, too…..’
Dealing with the Stealth skill was incredibly tough. If the skill holder
decided to commit a crime, he’d be able to off anyone without so much as
leaving behind a single clue.
Things like CCTV, security guards and alarm system would all become
utterly useless against such a person.
A thick strand of cold sweat rolled down the side of Ahn Sahng-Min’s
forehead.
‘Who knew he could use Stealth….?’
Excellent abilities, and even a rare skill, too.
It was not for nothing that Yujin came up with an offer of 30 billion.
‘They aren’t ones to start a losing business deal, indeed.’
Thump, thump.
Ahn Sahng-Min’s heart continued to beat in excitement even though he was
trembling in fear. His lips parted with great difficulty.
“I-I’ll never talk about this matter ever again. I’ll make sure that Ki-
Cheol… No, my subordinate will keep his mouth shut as well.”
Keeping everything hush-hush was something Ahn Sahng-Min also
wanted, too. Heck, he probably would’ve requested it himself first!
An excellent Hunter not affiliated with anyone!
There was no reason to increase the competition by spreading the rumour
around, nor did Ahn Sahng-Min want to share the glory and recognition by
telling other people, either.
‘Honestly, though, the biggest reason being I’m too scared of him and
don’t want him as my enemy….’
“I’ll trust you, Chief Ahn.”
With those words, the presence beside Ahn Sahng-Min disappeared
completely. He quickly took a look around.
It was as if Ahn Sahng-Min fell out of a different dimension, since the
atmosphere inside the cafe was rather serene.
“Huh…..”
Ahn Sahng-Min remained speechless. He could only pat his pounding chest
down.
It was here that Hyun Ki-Cheol ran into the cafe.
He’d been staring at the two men through the window from the outside, and
as soon as Jin-Woo completely disappeared from the view, hurriedly entered
the cafe to check up on his superior officer.
“Chief!”
Ahn Sahng-Min’s complexion was poor. Hyun Ki-Cheol asked, his voice
full of worry.
“What happened? Did it not work out with Seong Jin-Woo?”
Ahn Sahng-Min’s trembling hands managed to pull out a cigarette. While
sliding it between his lips, he made his reply.
“Hey, Ki-Cheol-ah… I think, we just ran into a far bigger jackpot than
our initial estimates.”
He definitely had to scout that man.
That was the only line of thought in his head. Thankfully, there was still a
chance.
It was then, Hyun Ki-Cheol lightly grasped Ahn Sahng-Min’s wrist.
“Uhm…. Pardon me, Chief.”
Ahn Sahng-Min raised his head just before he could light the cigarette up.
“Yeah?”
Hyun Ki-Cheol took a look around, then cautiously whispered.
“This is a no smoking zone.”
Ahn Sahng-Min slowly crushed the cigarette.
“You dumba*s…..”
As soon as he got home, Jin-Woo summoned his Status Window.
Tti-ring!
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 39
Class: None
Title: Slaughterer of Wolves
HP: 7,220
MP: 683
Tiredness: 0
[Stats]
Strength: 97
Stamina: 59
Agility: 97
Intelligence: 51
Perception: 81
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 20%
[Skills]
Passive skills:
Active skills:
[Equipped items]
‘Well, no wonder people are beginning to notice me.’
Chapter 43 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Ahn Sahng-Min lowered his head again. And then, he hurriedly issued an
order to Hyun Ki-Cheol.
“Vice Chief Hyun, get the contract documents ready.”
“Yes, Chief!”
Their preparation was done in the blink of an eye.
After the duo hurriedly left the offices, Baek Yun-Ho sneaked in a question
to a male employee next to him.
“What’s going on here? Just what kind of an assignment could make
Chief Ahn roll his sleeves up and jump in personally like this?”
The male employee sent a pleading look to a female colleague next to him,
asking silently for any form of assistance. Unfortunately, even she shook her
head.
‘I also don’t know,’ said her eyes.
‘Dang it….’
The male employee hesitated for a bit before he finally gave in and
answered with great difficulty while scratching the back of his head.
“Well, sir… The thing is, none of us….”
He expected the boss to throw an almighty hissy fit, but then….
Quite unexpectedly, the boss didn’t say anything else.
‘So, he’s involved in something so secretive that he can’t even tell his own
people, is that it?’
Baek Yun-Ho slowly rubbed his chin.
The person who had contributed a great deal in building up the White Tiger
Guild to its current size and power was none other than Chief Ahn Sahng-
Min.
If someone like that was throwing all his focus on this matter, then….
‘Will our Chief Ahn once more reel in a huge fish?’
A huge smile slowly bloomed on Baek Yun-Ho’s face.
‘Why the hell is this coffee so bitter?!’
Jin-Woo frowned deeply.
He was thinking of the vending machine coffee’s taste when ordering a cup
of Espresso at the cafe. But hell, rather than calling this coffee, it was much
more fitting to label it as a really bitter traditional medicine, instead.
And it cost way too much for what it was.
‘Man, ₩6,000 can buy me several canned coffee, you know….’
He began wondering just how many sticks of sugar he needed to pour into
this bitter b*stard in order to make it taste about the same as the canned
coffee. But then…
Cling.
The door to the cafe opened, and the duo of Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun Ki-
Cheol rushed inside.
“Over here.”
Jin-Woo raised his hand.
Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun Ki-Cheol quickly took a sweeping look around
the cafe, and when they discovered Jin-Woo, their complexions brightened in
an instant. Their expressions resembled that of ‘Heungbu’ sawing the gourd
brought by the swallow. (TL: ‘Heungbu’ is the main character of an old
Korean novel ‘Heungbu and Nolbu’. There is a dedicated page in Wikipedia
for this folk tale if you’re interested.)
“We honestly didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
Ahn Sahng-Min greeted like so and sat opposite to Jin-Woo, while Hyun
Ki-Cheol made a quick greeting with a nod and settled down next to his
superior officer.
Jin-Woo also nodded his head lightly as his greeting.
The old saying went ‘make hay while the sun still shines’. So, Ahn Sahng-
Min pulled out the contract as soon as settling down.
“For the terms we can offer you, we can negotiate…..”
His ardent desire to get the contract signed quickly was quite easy to see.
Unfortunately for him, Jin-Woo cut him off rather decisively.
“I didn’t come here today to talk about signing with you folks.”
Ahn Sahng-Min’s hands froze in mid-action of pulling out the contract.
Hyun Ki-Cheol also looked quite confused as well.
Ahn Sahng-Min asked in the frozen position as if someone had pressed the
pause the button.
“Well then, what brings you to our White Tiger Guild….?”
His expectation had been great, and so was the ensuing disappointment.
The biggest find of the year walked into the Guild with his own two feet,
but he refused to sign the contract the moment he clapped his eyes on it.
Could he have changed his mind in the meantime?
As the duo’s confusion grew, Jin-Woo calmly spoke to them.
“I came here to help you two.”
“Pardon me?”
“Excuse me?”
The reactions of Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun Ki-Cheol were roughly the
same. Two men exchanged glances, before shifting their gaze over to Jin-
Woo. In a complete contrast to their flustered state, Jin-Woo remained utterly
calm.
“I remember you mentioning your troubles regarding the training of
your new recruits, because my raid team swept away all the available rank
C dungeons in the area.”
“T-that’s correct. Well, we can’t really take the newbies to a high ranked
dungeon just because we couldn’t book a rank C Gate, after all.”
“That’s why I’m here today.”
Ahn Sahng-Min tilted his head slightly.
“Forgive me, but I can’t seem to….”
Jin-Woo thought this was enough of him beating around the bush, so he got
to the main topic.
“I want to sell the raid permits for three of the rank C gates my raid team
acquired.”
“Ah.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol let off a short gasp.
The two men from the White Tiger Guild finally figured out what Jin-Woo
really wanted from them.
“If you really wanted to help us out, then wouldn’t it be simpler just to
not book Gates anymore?”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
“Unfortunately, I have some matters that require the continued clearing
of rank C Gates for the time being.”
“Well then, why today….?”
Jin-Woo smiled refreshingly.
“I’m here because I wanted to help you out of your troubles.”
Should the duo believe those words at their face value?
Just before the calculator inside Ahn Sahng-Min’s head could start
crunching some numbers, Jin-Woo continued on with his explanations.
“Of course, I’m being considerate only for today. We also can’t delay our
operations as well, you see. If you miss this chance, I’m pretty sure that it’ll
only get harder to book rank C Gates for the foreseeable future.”
For some reason, he came across as a host of a home shopping channel
alerting his viewers to the looming end of the discount period.
‘Hmm…..’
Ahn Sahng-Min fell into a dilemma.
Gates didn’t just appear in and around the capital city only.
If they couldn’t book one around here, there was an option of going to the
countryside and training the rookies there. However, there was a good chance
of earning the ire of the local Guilds and the raid teams by doing that.
That wasn’t all, either.
Doing that would be like giving ammunition to large Guilds located in the
countryside, like the Shining Star located in Honam, or the Knight Order in
Youngnam, to ridicule the White Tiger.
In other words, his Guild could be saddled with the ignoble reputation of a
poorly-run organisation that couldn’t even train their rookies in their own
backyard.
‘Hmm…. Can we claim that it’s an undeserved reputation, even?’
Because, it was clearly true, after all.
Whatever the case may be, which rookie would want to join a Guild that
was being roundly ridiculed by other famous Guilds?
This was one of the reasons why the Guild’s public image was really
important.
“Okay.”
After a lengthy deliberation, Ahn Sahng-Min came to a conclusion.
“Please sell us the permits. Three rank C Gates should be enough for our
needs. How much are you thinking of for all three of them?”
The White Tiger Guild had a really deep pocket.
However, nothing good would come out of trying to compare their
financial muscle with Yujin Construction’s, and just as importantly, he feared
souring the relationship with Jin-Woo the most, so he’d not even try to
compete at the end of the day.
But now, Jin-Woo was actually volunteering to hand over the Gates, so
shouldn’t this be something to be grateful about?
Unfortunately, he couldn’t be grateful for the proposed prices, though.
“300 million Won per gate, so 900 million for all three.”
“Keok!!”
Both Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun Ki-Cheol spat out pained, shocked gasps at
the same time.
“That’s too much.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol tried to interject, but Ahn Sahng-Min quickly stopped him.
Something like this also happened the last time they met.
Jin-Woo ended the talks without an ounce of hesitation once his price
couldn’t be met.
In a way, this was a great opportunity that rolled on to their laps.
If they failed to grasp this chance, then either they only get to book a rank
C Gate a really long time from now or, in the worst case scenario, go to the
countryside to train their rookies.
‘Well, at least I should try negotiating properly today.’
Ending the talks this quickly would only leave the bitter taste in his mouth.
Still, a Gate priced 300 million each was just too expensive.
Yu Jin-Ho’s bid for the raid permits averaged around 100 million Won
lately. Asking three times that amount was just being too unreasonable.
Surely, Jin-Woo would know this, too.
‘I’m sure he’s thinking of starting at a high enough number and
gradually come down.’
Now that he thought about it, he recalled the words Baek Yun-Ho had said
before they left the office.
[“I don’t care whether it’s a hundred million, two hundred – just book the
d*mn Gates! Do you understand me?!”]
This was the same thing as the CEO giving his consent.
Plus, every employee working in the Second Division heard those words,
so Baek Yun-Ho wouldn’t be able to pretend his way out of this one, either.
Ahn Sahng-Min swallowed his saliva and put up his counteroffer.
“300 million is too large an amount even for us, so how about 200
million ins….”
“I accept.”
Even before Ahn Sahng-Min could finish his sentence, Jin-Woo reached
out with his right hand. With a slightly dazed face, Ahn Sahng-Min reached
out as well and shook the offered hand.
“This….. Are you okay with this?”
“Yes. 200 million Won for each rank C Gate. Please deposit the money
into this bank account.”
It kind of felt like the situation got resolved way too fast, but well, from
Ahn Sahng-Min’s perspective, this should count as a fortunate thing indeed.
Ahn Sahng-Min lightly shook Jin-Woo’s hand and bowed his head as well.
“I’m grateful for this. Thank you.”
“You’re being too kind.”
Jin-Woo also formed a bright smile.
Ahn Sahng-Min inwardly thought that he’d be able to breathe a little bit
easier now. For the time being, he was able to resolve the situation with
training the new recruits, and his relationship with Jin-Woo had improved,
ever so slightly, as well.
‘Trust is the foundation of all negotiations and dealings, after all.’
Indeed.
Just like this, their relationship would evolve for the better bit by bit.
Sooner or later, he’d be able to reel in his catch.
No one would spit at a smiling face, and no one would pretend to not notice
when someone gave you a present.
Ahn Sahng-Min inwardly clenched his fist.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo stood up from his seat first.
“Now that’s been sorted, I should get going. I’ll see you around. Oh, and
here.”
Jin-Woo handed over a shopping bag containing an empty tumbler to its
original owner.
“Thanks for the drink. I really enjoyed it.”
“I’m happy to hear that you liked it, Mister Seong.”
With a slightly reddened face, Hyun Ki-Cheol accepted the shopping bag.
With that, Jin-Woo exited from the cafe.
After he got to a far enough distance away from Ahn Sahng-Min and Hyun
Ki-Cheol, Jin-Woo gave Yu Jin-Ho a call.
A short bout of poppy music ringtone later….
Yu Jin-Ho’s clearly excited voice came out from the speaker.
“….”
Jin-Woo quietly smiled in satisfaction.
This transaction was a resounding success.
He managed to sell off raid permits at double the price of what they paid
for, before they became useless junk. This was a huge profit for them.
Yu Jin-Ho asked him in a mystified voice.
“That’s my trade secret.”
“Enjoy your break, and see you in two days’ time.”
While Yu Jin-Ho was getting flustered on the other side, Jin-Woo simply
ended the call.
Click.
Later, on the same day.
The Second Division’s office.
Hyun Ki-Cheol was urgently seeking out Ahn Sahng-Min.
“Chief! Chief!!”
“What’s wrong?”
Ahn Sahng-Min tore his eyes away from his computer monitor. Hyun Ki-
Cheol pointed to his phone’s screen with an urgent expression on his face.
“You gotta take a look at this, Chief!”
“What’s going on now?”
Ahn Sahng-Min looked at the screen and his eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘Isn’t this…..?’
The screen showed the section of the Hunter Association’s website that
only the Hunters had access to.
To be more precise, the screen showed the page which notified everyone of
where the reported Gates were located at, as well as allowing anyone to buy
the raid permits for those Gates.
“What’s this?! Why are there so many rank C dungeons in our
district?!”
“Not only that, each one is going for less than 10 million Won at the
moment, as well!”
“No way…..”
Ahn Sahng-Min realised that something was terribly awry here.
“….Yu Jin-Ho’s team hasn’t booked a single Gate for tomorrow.”
Hearing Hyun Ki-Cheol’s words, Ahn Sahng-Min immediately recalled
what Seong Jin-Woo told him over the phone.
[“I have some free time on Thursday.”]
And tomorrow was Thursday. Yu Jin-Ho’s team had no plans to go on a
raid tomorrow. He didn’t even know that and bought those permits at a huge
premium.
“Huh…”
An amused chuckle leaked out from Ahn Sahng-Min’s mouth.
There were enough hints, but it was too late by the time he had pieced them
together. This was his mistake. Well, he did succeed in cooling the anger of
the CEO in the end, so it wasn’t all bad.
“Looks like we’ve been had, Chief.”
It was then, a text message arrived in Ahn Sahng-Min’s phone.
Ding-dong.
It was from Seong Jin-Woo.
[With this, we’re even now. I will consider your people spying on me as
something that never happened.]
‘I can’t take this fellow lightly, can I?’
Ahn Sahng-Min inwardly chuckled.
If the sole sticking point between Jin-Woo and the White Tiger could be
resolved in this manner, as implied by the youth, then this wouldn’t
necessarily be a bad trade for the Guild at the end of the day.
Their final aim was to scout Jin-Woo, after all.
Besides, the amount they spent today wasn’t all that much, anyway.
“Let’s think of it as us investing in Seong Jin-Woo.”
It’d be nice if they were able to earn back as much as they have invested,
though.
Ahn Sahng-Min stopped looking at his phone and with a smile on his face,
closed the mailbox.
After sending the text, Jin-Woo took one more look around his vicinity.
There was absolutely no one here.
Only the dense forest greeted his searching eyes.
In order to make sure he’d get to ‘enjoy’ a relatively-safe quest, he searched
for a mountainside with almost no human presence and found the most
suitable candidate.
The current time was 17:44.
There shouldn’t be any hikers in this in-between hour, plus his current
location was an empty spot of land far, far removed from any hiking trails.
‘Time to get started.’
Jin-Woo accessed his mailbox.
[Will you take on the Class Change Quest now?] (Y/N)
The message popped up in his view as if it’d been patiently waiting for
him.
Chapter 46 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Gulp.
Jin-Woo’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Indeed, it was rather scary
not knowing what kind of quest would pop up.
However, his anticipation was even greater than his fears.
While he was looking for a suitable location to start the quest, he used his
phone to search for topics related to changing one’s class online.
….Etc, etc.
They were all from video games, sure; but, the accepted norm was that
changing one’s class would result in many benefits.
‘And level 40 was when I could get my Class.’
Of course, it wasn’t all good news, either. He often spotted ominous
sounding thread titles as he browsed through online forums.
….Well, these were also related to video games, anyways.
He certainly had far less to worry about here since he only used daggers as
his main weapon until now. All the skills he had acquired leaned towards the
profession of ‘assassin’.
‘Right, I’ve got dagger techniques and Stealth as my skills.’
Not only that, he invested mainly in raising the Stats of Strength and
Agility, so it was kind of hard to imagine getting another class other than
‘Assassin’.
As his thoughts arrived here, Jin-Woo summoned the ‘Poison Fang of
Kasaka’ from his Inventory.
Shush….
This feeling of the hilt falling so perfectly in his hand….
‘Yeah, this for me is the most comfortable.’
He nodded his head like a wise old sage.
While gripping the dagger tightly, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze towards the
message floating in the air.
‘Well, then….’
Now that he was all done with getting ready for any unexpected events, he
firmed his resolve and answered the message.
[Will you take on the Class Change Quest now?] (Y/N)
‘Yes, I’m taking it on.’
The moment he thought of taking on the quest, another message popped
into his view.
Tti-ring.
[You’re now partaking in the Class Change Quest.]
[A new dungeon will be generated for this quest.]
‘Generating… a new dungeon?’
Before he had the chance to interpret what that message was saying, a
change took place before him really fast.
Wuuonnng–-
A black ‘hole’ formed right in front of his eyes. That was merely the
beginning, too.
Wuoonng, wuuuonngg…..
The black hole the size of a bean expanded to the size of a coin, then to that
of a volleyball, and eventually, it grew large enough for a person to walk
through.
‘Isn’t this….?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider.
He was expecting to see a new message with the contents of the quest pop
up in front of his eyes, but this….
What appeared before him was, without a doubt, a Gate.
‘To think, a Gate would show up here….’
This one didn’t seem any different from the others he was familiar with.
Only that, it was a bit smaller than usual.
The System sent him a new message as if to urge him on.
[Please enter the dungeon through the Gate.]
‘I need to calm down.’
Jin-Woo quickly collected himself.
Right…
If he thought about it, there wasn’t much of a difference whether he used a
key or a Gate to enter a dungeon. Indeed, he was simply taken aback just now
by the sight of a Gate forming ‘artificially’ like this.
Also, this would be his first time seeing a Gate form. He always just
walked into one that was already there, so…
When the chain of his thoughts stopped there, a new question popped into
his mind.
‘Hang on… can other Hunters enter this Gate as well?’
Too bad, he had no method to experiment on this one today.
Well, there were no Hunters nearby that he could call for ‘assistance’, nor
did he have anyone who would rush over here because he gave them a call.
He momentarily recalled Yu Jin-Ho’s face, but slowly shook his head.
‘How will I take care of the aftermath if I called him and something bad
happens?’
It was then.
As if to urge him on again, the message blinked.
Tti-ring.
[Please enter the dungeon through the Gate.]
The mechanical beep brought him back to his senses. He slapped his
cheeks a couple of times to wake himself up.
‘This is no time to daydream.’
If he succeeded, then a new class and all the rewards that followed would
be his. And if he failed, then he couldn’t even tell what might happen to him.
So, he needed to focus here.
“Fuu-woo….”
After taking a deep breath….
Jin-Woo held the Poison Fang of Kasaka in reverse grip and entered the
Gate.
[You have entered the dungeon.]
‘Eh?’
He entered in a state of taut tension, but to his surprise, there was nothing
here.
He was greeted by the sight of an ordinary cave-like dungeon.
“Isn’t this exactly the same as the others….?”
He heard that high-ranking dungeons were often linked to ‘other worlds’ so
he was kind of worried about such a thing happening to him, but thankfully,
he was spared from that.
Instead, a strange message popped up into his view.
Tti-ring.
[The current location forbids the usage of potions as well as the functions
of the Store, and your physical state will not recover even if you level up.]
Jin-Woo confirmed that there was no presence of monsters nearby and put
away his dagger. Then, his head began tilting this way and that.
‘…..This isn’t going to be easy, is it?’
Maybe because his class change was up for grabs, there were quite a few
restrictions here to contend with.
The most important one was that he couldn’t replenish his spent energy or
stamina, and couldn’t heal himself using potions or level ups.
‘The damage will stack, in other words.’
If he got injured, then that would spell his doom.
Since he couldn’t heal himself, he had no choice but to be thorough and
cautious with every action he took.
‘Meaning, I gotta keep my wits about me.’
Jin-Woo closed the message.
And as he’d do every time when entering a dungeon, he confirmed the
presence of the exit.
[You can’t leave until the Class Change process has been concluded.]
A message popped up as soon as he touched the surface of the Gate. He put
some strength behind his hand, but it didn’t even budge.
“….”
Jin-Woo retracted his hand.
‘The exit is blocked off.’
An unknown grade, impossible to heal himself, and no exit; this dungeon
was a pretty risky proposition. Even a Hunter with balls of steel wouldn’t
want to tread in a place like this one.
‘However, high risk doesn’t always equate to bad things, does it?’
Indeed, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. He learned that through
experience.
If clearing this place was difficult because of all the restrictions, then didn’t
that also mean there was an amazing opportunity waiting for him at the end?
There was only one way to find out.
‘I’ll know once I get there.’
Jin-Woo took his first step forward.
His eyes gazed far forward, and all he could see was the cavern-like
passageway with seemingly no end. And there were no monsters nearby.
‘Wait, since this is still within the System’s influence, should I call them
monsters, and not monsters?’ (TL: Well, sorry about this line. The author had
been using the Hanja word for monsters to describe those found in the regular
Gates/dungeons, while using the romanised English word ‘monster’ to
describe those found in instant dungeons. They mean the same thing,
obviously, but well, wordplay and all that….)
Even though they both meant the same thing.
In any case, that wasn’t the only difference to consider. There were lit
torches lining up at a fixed interval along the cavern walls as well.
‘Instead of luminous stones, I got torches, huh.’
Unfortunately, the light from the torches was not an effective source of
illumination.
No matter how many there were, they were still not enough to light up the
entire passageway. So, there were plenty of hidden shadows.
With the deafening silence being accompanied by the gloomy shadows, this
place came off far more eerie and ominous than a regular dungeon.
‘I can see no problem, but still….’
Should he say it’s down to the atmosphere of this place?
Jin-Woo pulled out the nearest torch and held it. His front brightened ever
so slightly with the torch in his hand.
‘Yeah, this is better.’
Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile.
He took one last glance behind him and slowly made his way forward, the
torch lighting the way.
Just how long did he walk?
When he walked for a long, long time, he finally got to a bend in the
passageway. And just beyond it, he sensed multiple presences.
‘Are they finally here?’
Jin-Woo carefully placed the torch on the ground and stood back up.
Shurururu…
His right hand was now holding his favourite dagger instead.
He briefly entertained the idea of using ‘Stealth’ to quickly deal with his
enemies, but gave up on that after remembering the crazy expenditure of his
Mana. Well, he wouldn’t be able to use potions to replenish the spent Mana in
this place, after all.
If he carelessly spent Mana here, then he might be unable to use the
necessary Skills when he really needed to.
‘….It’s coming this way.’
Jin-Woo pressed tightly against the wall and waited for the enemy to show
up around the bend.
Clank, clank….
Whenever this thing took a step, the metallic clang reverberated loudly in
the passageway.
The noises were getting closer.
Clank, clank….
Hearing that strange noise, Jin-Woo tilted his head.
‘Could it be carrying some kind of chained weapons?’
He was curious, but there was no need to get anxious. He’d get his answers
soon enough.
‘5, 4, 3.’
Jin-Woo tightly held the dagger in the reverse grip and stopped breathing. It
was to prevent the opponent from hearing the sound of his breathes.
‘2, 1.’
Clank, clank.
Finally, the enemy’s shadow could be seen.
‘……0.’
When his countdown hit 0, the enemy revealed itself.
Jin-Woo aimed for the side of its neck.
Clang!!
But, he got to hear metal hitting metal instead.
The blade didn’t go in.
‘Metal armour?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
Finally confirming the identity of his opponent, Jin-Woo quickly took
several steps back.
“It’s a human?!”
He was now facing a knight decked out fully in a suit of armour. Its face
was hidden behind the helmet and he couldn’t see what they looked like.
Jin-Woo called out to it while thinking to himself, ‘Could it be….?’
“Oii!”
However, the knight didn’t even utter a word and simply lunged in Jin-
Woo’s direction.
Thud, thud, thud!!
The knight rushed forward like a raging bull and tried to shoulder tackle
him, but Jin-Woo lightly tilted out of the way and evaded the attack.
The knight couldn’t win against the momentum and continued to run
forward for a bit longer, before somehow bringing itself to a stop.
‘Maybe, it’s not a human?’
He was able to take a quick peek at a close distance and he could tell
something was off. He couldn’t sense the beating heart that a normal person
should possess.
So, most likely, it was not a human.
He was now facing off against a type of monster he’d never even heard of
before.
….A monster that armed itself from head to toe, no less.
‘It’s like….’
Wasn’t this like he was actually fighting against another person?
Swururung!
The knight turned around and unsheathed the sword mounted on its hips.
Just as Jin-Woo had done, this ‘knight’ probably didn’t plan on letting him go
alive.
After sensing its intense hostility, Jin-Woo’s glare became a level sharper.
‘Dash!’
[Your movement speed has increased by 40%.]
The first one to strike, wins!
Before the enemy made its move, Jin-Woo dashed in first.
Swish!
Jin-Woo evaded the hurried swing of the knight’s longsword and stabbed
his dagger at various points in its amour.
Clang! Clangg!!
Unfortunately, he couldn’t damage it.
‘The armour’s too thick.’
Not only was it thick, the surface was smooth as well, so when he landed a
straight blow, the blade didn’t go in but simply slid off to the side.
It was at this point that the knight swung its sword in a huge arc.
SWISH!!!
Jin-Woo ducked lower and evaded it. The blade swung past Jin-Woo’s head
by a hair’s breadth. A big move like this would inevitably expose a big
opening.
Another chance had come by!
Jin-Woo lunged in closer to the knight and gathered his strength in his
dagger-holding arm.
‘Vital Points Targetting!’
Crack!
The tip of the dagger penetrated past the armour.
‘Did it work?’
However, it must’ve not suffered any damage, since it swung its sword
down vertically with great force, not caring at all about the dagger stuck to its
side.
Swish!
Jin-Woo rapidly threw himself back.
Clang!
The blade slammed into the ground and sparks flew everywhere.
“…”
Jin-Woo took several steps back and corrected his posture. His dagger
remained stuck to the knight’s side.
‘Tsk.’
Jin-Woo clicked his tongue.
‘It’s not really that strong, is it?’
That was his earnest assessment.
Probably because of all that heavy armour, its movement was dull, and its
attack pattern was also rather simple, too. Only that, its defence against
bladed weapons was truly exceptional.
Jin-Woo rolled up his sleeves.
‘Well, I’ve already fought against an enemy with thick armour that
blades can’t penetrate.’
His relaxed demeanour came from previous experience.
The boss monster, ‘Poison-Fanged Blue Kasaka’ that broke a steel sword
infused with magical energy in one hit – he had experienced killing such a
snake before.
‘Compared to the Kasaka, that thing is nothing….’
A thin smile slowly formed on Jin-Woo’s lips, since that was a pretty good
memory to recall.
Thud, thud, thud!
The knight stupidly charged in again, perhaps trusting the protection
provided by its armour.
‘I knew it. It’s a really simple creature.’
Jin-Woo easily evaded the knight’s attack aimed at his shoulder, slid to its
back, and caught it in a headlock.
Craaack!
Since its neck area was also protected by armour, it’d not choke to death,
but….
Crack, crumple!
Jin-Woo’s arm muscles expanded and veins bulged. Jin-Woo wasn’t
planning to choke the knight, to begin with.
He gritted his teeth, his eyes shooting up wide open.
And when that happened…
CRACK!
Along with a pretty sickening noise, the helmet was ripped off.
This was the moment when his Strength Stat exceeding 100 points had
begun shining ever so brightly.
‘I did it!’
The knight lifelessly knelt down on the ground once its head was separated
from the body.
Thud!
[You defeated the knight.]
A simple but concise message announcing the end of the battle popped up.
A flickering light indicating the presence of loot came from somewhere on
the armour, but Jin-Woo’s attention was elsewhere.
‘What the heck? There’s nothing inside?’
The helmet he held in his hands was totally empty.
He quickly checked inside the armour to make sure, but it was the same
story: empty.
‘Does that mean I was fighting against a suit of armour that was moving
by itself?’
Just as he arrived at his conclusion, two more knights rushed into view
from around the bend. It seemed that they had belatedly sensed the unfolding
battle.
Clank, clank!
The knights discovered Jin-Woo, and as if they had made a prior
arrangement, they unsheathed their longswords in unison.
Jin-Woo tossed the empty helmet away and loosened the muscles on his
neck and shoulders.
He now knew how to fight these things.
‘So, this is the real beginning, huh.’
Thud, thud, thud, thud!!
Jin-Woo’s lips formed a slight grin as he stared at the knights rushing
towards him.
His first step in clearing this dungeon proved to be on the right track.
Chapter 47 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Rumble-! Boom!
The door to the boss room finally opened.
The interior was completely shrouded in darkness.
Even with Jin-Woo’s eyesight, greatly enhanced by his Perception Stat, he
found it hard to see one inch in front of him. All he could see clearly was the
ground beneath his feet.
The floor was covered in stone tiles.
The ash-coloured tiles, laid with no visible gaps in between, gave off this
feeling of heaviness and barren chill.
As soon as he set foot on this floor….
Whooosh!
Countless torches lining up the walls lit up all at once and illuminated the
interior.
‘As I thought… it’s almost the same as back in that underground temple.’
Jin-Woo maintained his vigilance. He scanned his vicinity and cautiously
stepped forward.
Several giant stone pillars stood erect to his left and right; at the far end of
this ‘room’, he could see a tall throne.
‘It’s as if….’
This place reminded him of the king’s audience chamber from a fantasy
movie. Of course, the scale was noticeably larger, though.
A few steps later, the door issued a loud bang and closed shut behind him.
SLAM!!
Jin-Woo glanced back, but he didn’t panic. He already expected something
like that to happen. Jin-Woo resumed his careful march forward.
‘….I can sense a powerful presence.’
He kind of got this really strong gut feeling that, in order to conclude his
class quest, he had to arrive before that throne.
Just as important, his gut feelings on matters such as this one were on the
money, most of the time.
It was then.
From the gap between stone pillars, which couldn’t have been more than
ten steps, a ‘doll’ walked out from its hiding spot and stood before him,
blocking his path forward.
The ‘thing’ stopped its walk and turned around to face him.
Gulp.
Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva.
He only had to take one look at the creature’s red name floating just above
its head to know that the boss had finally made its entrance.
[The Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson]
It was a knight wearing a suit of blood-red armour.
The way it was kitted out from head to toe in metal armour was similar to
other knights he fought so far, but quite unlike those that looked dull and
slow, this thing looked incredibly agile.
What caught his eyes next was its helm.
The red-coloured mane extending rearwards from the top of the helm
reminded him of a stallion’s tail and it left a rather deep impression.
While he studied its helm, Jin-Woo discovered one more difference
between it and the other knights.
‘This guy…. has eyes?’
But, were they eyes, or irises?
Whatever the case may be, the pair of silvery lights oozed out from where
one’s eyes should be. They felt so cold and uncaring, utterly mechanical and
lifeless.
Those cold eyes were now fixed on him.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up.
‘So, the aura of the really powerful enemy was coming from this guy,
huh…..’
The goal of the class quest could be to defeat this knight, for all he knew. If
that was the case, he needed to be doubly cautious.
Jin-Woo observed the movements of this Igrit while slowly raising his
clenched fists.
‘My dagger won’t work on it anyway.’
What was needed in defeating a knight was blunt force. He needed Strength
to overwhelm him.
‘……’
Igrit quietly observed Jin-Woo for a while, before it abruptly took off its
red cape.
Plop.
The cape fell to the floor.
‘What’s it doing?’
The b*stard’s strange actions didn’t end there.
It proceeded to take off the longsword on its hips, and the two daggers
hidden behind its back, and dropped them all to the ground.
Not only that, it showed them to him, before dropping them one at a time.
Clang, clang…
The interior of the boss room had been quiet until then; the loud clangs of
the metal hitting the stone tiles reverberated noisily throughout this vast
chamber.
Igrit finished discarding all of its weapons, and as if to imitate Jin-Woo,
clenched its fists and got into a fighting stance.
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider.
‘Could this b*stard be thinking of….?’
Was this thing going to fight him bare-handed because he was also bare-
handed?
Jin-Woo bit his lower lip.
‘….It’s looking down on me.’
The monsters’ provocation that really wasn’t one only served to rapidly
cool his head. The hotter his emotions boiled, the colder his head got.
On the contrary to his heart beating faster and faster, Jin-Woo’s eyes
became sharper and calculating.
‘Come.’
Perhaps reading his mind, Igrit made a beeline towards him.
Tap, tap, tap, tap!
The speed it produced was so fast that he found it hard to believe it was
wearing a suit of armour.
‘The speed penalty of the armours only comes into effect when the
Strength Stat is lower than 80, right?’
Meaning, this thing’s Strength was at least 80!
Judging from its nimble movement, its Agility would also rival some of the
highest-ranked Hunters out there.
Igrit closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and leapt up into the air.
Once flying, the thing stuck its knee out and aimed at Jin-Woo’s face.
‘It’s fast!!’
However, Jin-Woo had been ready as well, his own movement speed
pushed to the extreme. He bent his back almost 90 degrees and let Igrit’s
attack brush past him.
Jin-Woo then rapidly stood back up.
Quite unlike other knights that needed some distance to stop after their
tackle had failed, Igrit simply landed on the ground without much fanfare.
Kung!!
There was no time to admire that perfect landing, though.
Jin-Woo rushed in and before Igrit could turn around all the way, he
diagonally kicked its head.
Shockingly enough, the thing still could move its arm accurately even
when its posture was unstable.
Slam!
Jin-Woo’s right leg was easily blocked by Igrit’s left hand.
‘How can this be?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
While one of his legs was blocked, Igrit’s other fist flew in at his face.
Swish!
He raised both of his arms instinctively to guard himself, but the impact
force still got transmitted to the rest of his body.
Boom!!
His guard broke and his entire body became airborne.
“What?!”
A shocked gasp escaped from his mouth.
But soon, it turned into a groan.
“…..?!”
Because, Igrit had already appeared right in front of his eyes.
Even before he had the chance to do something about it, Igrit’s left fist
powerfully slammed into Jin-Woo’s left cheek.
Slam!!
He slammed into the floor and bounced up from the impact, before
continuing to roll away. He only managed to force himself back up after a
while.
BUZZ!!
The inside of his ears rang noisily.
Jin-Woo shook his head around a couple of times. Only then did the loud
ringing die down somewhat.
However, the much bigger problem than that was coming closer to him. His
blurry sight captured Igrit as it walked towards him.
Step, step….
Jin-Woo opened his eyes wider and got ready.
Eventually, Igrit arrived right before Jin-Woo’s nose.
And so, a bloody dogfight erupted between the two.
Igrit didn’t even try to dodge Jin-Woo’s punches. No, it simply took on the
hits and counter-attacked right away.
Pow!
Igrit’s head was forced slightly to the side.
But, even before Jin-Woo could correct his posture, a sharp and accurate
counterpunch flew at him.
POW!
Jin-Woo tottered about like a drunken man.
Pow!
This time, Igrit took a step back.
POW!
After his stomach was kicked in, Jin-Woo’s body bent forward 90 degrees.
“Keok!”
Blood welled up in his mouth.
‘What is this nonsensical bullsh*t….?!’
Currently, Jin-Woo’s physical damage reduction Stat had exceeded 30%.
However, each of Igrit’s attacks hurt like crazy, as if he was being pounded
on by a hammer. On the other hand, his attacks almost didn’t inflict any
damage to the enemy.
Their exchange didn’t last for long afterwards.
POW!
Jin-Woo teetered about unsteadily, before falling to his knees.
Plop.
He tried to stand back up, but his legs didn’t want to listen.
Plop.
“Euh-euk…”
Igrit stood before Jin-Woo, but stopped attacking him. It wordlessly stared
down at him for a while.
‘…..?’
Then, while ignoring Jin-Woo’s question-filled gaze directed at it, Igrit
extended its hand out towards the sword discarded to the ground some
distance away.
Then, the sword was automatically reeled in.
Igrit grasped the sword in both of its hands and walked to the side of Jin-
Woo.
Soon, the tip of the blade was pointing to the sky.
‘You want to execute me, is that it?’
This b*stard certainly lived up to its title as the captain of the knights.
When it looked like Jin-Woo wasn’t going to resist his final moments, Igrit
went ahead with the execution.
Of course, Jin-Woo wasn’t going to let that happen without a fight.
The sword fell down in a straight line.
Swish-!
However, Jin-Woo reached up with his left hand and blocked the
descending blade.
CLANG!
The noise of metal hitting metal!
The gauntlet he found just before entering here protected his hand.
Flinch!
He sensed Igrit being taken back just now. Jin-Woo didn’t miss this chance
and threw a punch with his right hand.
As expected, Igrit didn’t try to dodge.
‘You’re thinking of countering me again, right?’
It had probably calculated that getting hit once while countering that was
far more productive. Too bad, it failed to take something important into its
calculation.
‘Poison Fang of Kasaka!’
Shururu….
The Poison Fang of Kasaka was summoned instantly into his hand.
And Jin-Woo stabbed the dagger in the creature’s eye.
Stab!
Kuwooooaaar!!
A scream that couldn’t have come from a human being exploded out.
At the same time, a fierce light poured out from the eye with the dagger
sticking out.
Jin-Woo hurriedly stood back up.
‘Now what?’
Just damaging one eye wouldn’t be able to determine the winner of this
battle. He needed an attack even more powerful than that if he wanted to win.
It was then, a thought entered his mind.
The horrifying attack that almost pushed him to the brink of death the other
day! He wanted to let Igrit taste that attack, too.
Before he could finish thinking that, his body moved first.
Jin-Woo bent down and bear-hugged Igrit’s midriff.
And then… he began running.
Kuooaark!!
Igrit thrashed about in pain and managed to land several solid blows on Jin-
Woo’s back. However, he gritted his teeth and didn’t let Igrit go.
No, he increased his speed instead.
“Dash!!”
[Your movement speed has increased by 40%.]
Jin-Woo’s legs were now moving so much faster. He felt the electrifying
speed sending chills down his entire body.
‘Yes, this is it. And now….’
And now, he’d slam this b*stard!
While gripping the midriff of Igrit even harder, he dashed towards the
nearest wall with every ounce of energy he had.
Of course, if they collided against the wall at this speed, the impact his own
body received would be substantial as well. However, Jin-Woo had a hidden
trump card in the form of a certain passive skill.
The distance closed in the blink of an eye!
The wall was right behind them.
Kaboom!!
Along with the huge explosion, Igrit crashed into the wall.
At the same time, a message from the System popped up.
Tti-ring!
[Your HP has dropped below 30% and ‘Skill: Tenacity’ has been
activated.]
[All damage received will be reduced by 50%.]
The impact force was great enough for the entire boss room to tremble
momentarily.
“Keu-euk.”
Jin-Woo took a step back.
Igrit was buried half-way into the wall, yet it was still alive. The ‘flame’ of
life burning under the helm was still flickering visibly.
‘….I need to finish this.’
Jin-Woo yanked the Poison Fang of Kasaka, still buried in its eye, loose.
That caused Igrit’s body to quiver once.
Jin-Woo held the dagger in a reverse grip, and stabbed hard at the b*stard’s
neck.
‘Vital Points Targetting!’
Clang!!
The attack failed to work.
One more time.
‘Vital Points Targetting!’
Clang!!
Sparks flew off from the tip of the dagger.
A small nick formed on the metal covering the monster’s neck.
One more time.
‘Vital Points Targetting!’
Clang!
One more!
Clang!
One more!
Clang!!!
And finally…
‘Vital Points Targetting!!’
Crack!!
The Poison Fang of Kasaka broke past the protective metal and dug deep
into its neck.
[You defeated the Captain of the Knights, Igrit the Crimson.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo raised both of his hands up high into the sky.
He took several steps back, before losing all strength in his legs and
faltered to the floor.
“Pant, pant….!”
Jin-Woo spat out the heavy breaths he’d been holding in until now.
He won, somehow.
It was an incredibly close fight.
‘However… wasn’t this the end of the quest?’
Jin-Woo collected his breaths for a long time, before painfully raising his
body up.
He expected the class quest to end once he killed this guy, but not one
message popped up in his view. He looked around, but he failed to spot
anything different in the boss room.
No, there was one thing that was different from before.
Several strands of light began flickering on Igrit’s body. Meaning, his loot
was now ready.
‘For the time being, let’s grab those.’
After all, he couldn’t tell what else might happen here.
Grabbing things that he could grab when there was a chance was the
smartest move one could make, wasn’t it?
Jin-Woo reached out towards those lights.
[‘Item: Red Knight’s Helm’ has been found. Take it?]
[‘Rune Stone: Ruler’s Reach’ has been found. Take it?]
[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been found. Take it?]
[‘Item: Immediate Return Stone’ has been found. Take it?]
Why were there so many?
Jin-Woo felt rather puzzled, but still, he couldn’t hide his elation, either.
‘Acquire them all.’
The first thing to enter his Inventory was the Leather Pouch.
[‘Item: Leather Pouch’ has been opened.]
[1,500,000 Gold is inside.]
[1,500,000 Gold has been acquired.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes went extra round.
‘The level of reward is on another scale altogether!’
It definitely was worth it, defeating it after going through so much crap.
He wasn’t expecting all that much, to begin with, yet the leather pouch spat
out an unbelievable amount of 1,500,000 Gold.
With this amount, he’d be able to buy something useful from the Store
now.
However, Jin-Woo’s attention was directed elsewhere at the moment.
If the leather pouch he didn’t even hold high hopes for managed to produce
such wealth, then just how high was the value of the helm or the Rune Stone?
Jin-Woo tried very hard to calm his heart and brought up the information
on the helm.
Tti-ring.
[Item: Red Knight’s Helm]
Rarity: S
Type: Armour
Reduction in physical damage: +15%
Stamina +20, Strength +20
“It’s an S!!”
Jin-Woo cried out in elation.
Chapter 49 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
For the first time ever, an item with a rarity ranking of ‘S’ showed up.
Just the effect of 15% reduction in physical damage alone would’ve made
it a top-tier item, yet it even possessed two more remarkable additional
attributes of raising the Stamina and Strength Stats by 20 points each.
Just seeing those options alone made his heart palpitate so much faster.
‘The rarity A items can’t even compare to it!’
He had acquired two A-ranked items up until now.
The first was the Poison Sac of Kasaka, the one he got after he defeated the
snake ‘Blue Kasaka’; the second one being the Gatekeeper’s Necklace after
he defeated the Cerberus.
Those two items were already quite excellent.
The poison sac had the terrible penalty of stealing 35 points from his
Strength Stat, but its effect also decreased the physical damage taken by 20%.
What about the Gatekeeper’s Necklace, then?
It was one of the best items out there that increased both Agility and
Perception Stats by 20 each – two Stats he now knew the importance of.
But the Red Knight’s Helm possessed the kind of buffing effect that
combined both of those items. And without any penalty, to boot.
‘No need to mention it. It’s the best.’
He was fully aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of the
dungeon’s boss room, yet the smile on his face didn’t want to go away.
And if he were to add in one more unnecessary point here, he even liked
the helm’s design.
‘It’s a bit of a pity to hide this thing, though.’
The crimson helm that immediately reminded all onlookers of the flowing
blood, and the mane connected to the helm itself, made him feel like he was
holding an artistic masterpiece.
It was only for a brief moment, but he even felt compelled to put on the full
set of this armour if it existed somewhere.
However…
‘What a waste….’
Igrit’s other armour pieces weren’t considered to be loot, as there were no
lights coming off from them. Only the helm could be taken away.
Jin-Woo forced back a rueful smile and cautiously put on the helm.
Poof.
Just as always, the helm disappeared from the view immediately.
Although he couldn’t show off his new look, his Stats had gained a huge
boost thanks to his new headwear.
[Stats]
Strength: 128 (+20)
Stamina: 87 (+20)
Agility: 107
Intelligence: 66
Perception: 89
Reduction in physical damage: 46% (+15%)
The numbers appearing in brackets were the increases in his Stats from the
helm itself. Not only the Strength and Stamina Stats, but the hard-to-increase
damage reduction Stat all enjoyed massive boosts.
He was completely and utterly satisfied now.
Having confirmed the increase with his own two eyes, his heart began
beating even faster.
‘No, no, no.’
Jin-Woo quickly shook his head.
‘The quest isn’t over yet, so let’s calm down.’
Besides, he still had other items to sort out, too.
With the trace of excitement still lingering in his mind, Jin-Woo shifted his
gaze to the other two items.
[Rune Stone: Ruler’s Reach]
[Item: Immediate Return Stone]
Two pieces of stones.
Out of the two walnut-sized stones, the first one to grab his curious gaze
was the Immediate Return Stone.
‘I know what is a Rune Stone, but this….’
Just what could this Immediate Return Stone do?
His curiosity got resolved pretty quickly, however. The information on the
Immediate Return Stone floated up right away.
Tti-ring.
[Item: Immediate Return Stone]
Rarity: ??
Type: Consumable
An item exclusive to this Class Change Quest. When destroyed, you’ll be
transported outside the dungeon immediately. However, once the Class
Change Quest has been concluded, it will automatically be destroyed.
Can’t be stored in the Inventory.
The way to use it was similar to a Rune Stone.
However, to think that its effect wasn’t about absorbing a new skill, but to
escape from this dungeon….
‘Hang on a sec. The Class Change Quest isn’t over yet?!’
If that were the case, then this particular item should’ve been destroyed
already.
Since it hadn’t, that could only mean…
For some reason, he felt a creeping chill slowly caress his spine.
What an odd sensation that was.
He had received one of the best items out there that could help him make
his escape from this dungeon, yet why was he getting this incredibly bad
premonition right now?
If this stone could be used in regular dungeons, and not only inside the
System-generated ones, then just about everyone alive would try to buy this
thing.
Seriously, this stone would be the same as having a sure-fire way to save
their lives, so no one should be foolish enough to pinch pennies when trying
to get their hands on one.
It was the same with Jin-Woo, too. Just this item alone should decrease the
burden of this quest by a great deal.
‘If I so choose….’
….He’d be able to escape at any time.
However, the ominous feeling taking root in the corner of his mind didn’t
want to go away, no matter what.
And, sure enough!
The warning beep from the System went off in his head as if it was waiting
for this moment.
Tti-ring.
[‘Player’ has acquired the Immediate Return Stone.]
[The ‘Class Change Quest’ will now commence.]
Son of a b*tch!
So, this was the item to start the quest for real!
He nearly fainted on the spot. He felt like he had stepped on something he
shouldn’t have in the first place.
‘If I knew this might happen, I’d have taken a short break first!’
What would regret do for him now?
No matter how much one relied on one’s experience and knowledge to
predict the future, one would never be able to correctly guess the tricks of
fate.
A strand of cold sweat dripped down from Jin-Woo’s forehead.
Jin-Woo summoned the Status Window inwardly and confirmed the
remaining HP and his fatigue level.
[HP: 4161/10270]
[MP: 390/850]
[Tiredness: 61]
‘The Tiredness Stat is a bit on the high side, but I can still do this.’
The helm’s added effects enhanced his Stamina Stat by a lot, which meant
that his overall endurance had increased greatly as well, and his remaining HP
had risen up as an added bonus, too.
What a relief that was.
As if to encourage himself, Jin-Woo continued to tell himself that…
‘I can still do this. It’s not impossible.’
Of course, his life should not be in any imminent danger. Because, he held
the Immediate Return Stone, after all.
However, no matter how hard he thought about it, this Immediate Return
Stone sounded awfully like an item that signified him giving up on the quest.
If that was not the case, then it shouldn’t have been the quest-starting item,
to begin with.
‘If I give up on this quest….’
Wouldn’t it be the same as him giving up on this chance to get his class?
The cold sweat on his forehead rolled past his temple and down to his chin,
before dripping down.
Gulp.
Just as he swallowed a bit of dry spit and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and
down, the System’s new message popped up in his view.
Tti-ring.
[In ten seconds, dimensional doorways will be randomly generated.]
‘Dimensional doorways?’
Even before his question could be cleared up, huge numbers appeared up in
the middle of the air.
[00:00:10]
He could easily tell what that was.
It most likely was signifying the countdown.
Meanwhile, the messages continued on.
[‘Player’ has a choice.]
[You can escape from the dungeon by using the Immediate Return Stone,
or….]
…..8, 7, 6.
The timer continued to tick down to 0.
[Or, endure as long as you can and earn as many advancement points as
possible in order to access the higher ranked classes.]
“Endure?! Endure what exactly?”
He ended up shouting out loudly as his frustration mounted. However, Jin-
Woo was already holding the Poison Fang of Kasaka summoned from his
Inventory.
He stored the Rune Stone inside the Inventory, while the Immediate Return
Stone was placed inside the back of his pocket since it couldn’t be stored
there.
Even though his heart beat fast and hard enough to nearly explode, he
didn’t forget to get ready for the battle that was about to come.
That was how Seong Jin-Woo operated.
[The Class Change Quest will soon commence.]
….4, 3, 2.
Jin-Woo anxiously glared at the time and quickly scanned his surroundings.
His head and eyes darted around quickly, over here and over there.
Something ominous was clearly getting ready to begin; the space around
him was separating and twisting visibly to his eyes.
[00:00:01]
[I wish you the best of luck.]
What?
For the first time ever, the System expressed ‘emotion’.
Too bad, he had no time to stew inside his shock. The moment the timer hit
0, several Gates began forming all around him.
Buzzz…
Wuuooong….
Not just one or two, either.
He first spotted six around him. The number continued to climb up even
higher, however.
And at the same time, the timer began ticking upwards.
[00:00:02]
The ‘countdown’ began again.
The time would become his so-called advancement points. He hadn’t
understood everything the System said, but still, he did figure out some parts
of it.
‘The longer I endure, the stronger I will get.’
No, more specifically, he’d instead get a powerful class.
There was no way he’d throw away a golden opportunity like this. He also
had some wiggle room left with his HP and MP.
‘Let’s endure as long as I can.’
[00:00:03]
When the timer hit exactly three seconds, weapon-less knights poured out
from the nearest Gate.
Thud, thud, thud, thud….
When the knights decked out in full armour formed silver-coloured waves,
the ground couldn’t help but tremor from the weight.
The momentum these things displayed would have been enough to
overwhelm most people, but there was a smile floating up onto Jin-Woo’s
lips, instead.
‘If it’s these guys, I can definitely fight them!’
In a way, he was oh-so-glad to see them as his opponents.
If the monsters coming out from the Gates happened to be as strong as
Igrit, then he wouldn’t even be able to last a couple of seconds.
‘Stealth!’
Jin-Woo used some part of the remaining MP and activated the skill
‘Stealth’.
‘For the time being, I should observe what’s happening here first.’
Jin-Woo’s form blurred and slowly disappeared. As expected, the knights
rushing towards him all came to an abrupt halt.
However…
[The mage has used ‘Skill: Eyes of Detection’.]
The crisp ‘tti-ring’ of the warning beep resounded in his head. Jin-Woo’s
head snapped in the direction of the beep.
‘What was that?’
He spotted a mage that had just emerged from the Gate chanting a spell.
That’s also when Jin-Woo discovered an ‘eye’ like symbol floating above the
head of the mage.
The moment that eye flashed…!
In that moment, Jin-Woo’s Stealth was cancelled.
‘F*ck!’
From the get-go, his calculation proved to be way off the mark.
Snap.
Snap.
The knights that stood around like telephone poles snapped their heads all
at once towards Jin-Woo’s direction. It was a scene straight out of a horror
movie.
And soon enough, the silver waves pounced on him.
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider and he gritted his teeth.
BOOM!!
His punch blew away the head of the incoming knight.
That guy died where it stood.
[You defeated the knight.]
Crazed lights shone in Jin-Woo’s eyes.
‘Intimidation!’
[‘Skill: Intimidation’ has been activated.]
[‘Effect: Fear’ has been activated.]
[The targets’ (All) Stats will decrease by 50% for one minute.]
The movements of the monsters became much duller through the effects of
‘Fear’, but his Mana fell down to 90 points.
The Intimidation required 100 MP in order to activate.
He wouldn’t be able to use it the second time.
‘However, I just bought myself a minute.’
Intending to use this precious minute to the best of his abilities as the
monsters were noticeably weakened, Jin-Woo began wailing on them with
everything he had.
Boom!
Crack!
Kaboom!
Slam!
With a terrifying momentum, he proceeded to utterly dismantle the knights.
Boom! Slam! Crack!!
Too bad, the speed of him defeating knights was far inferior to the rate of
the replacement knights popping out from the Gates.
Rumble–!!
Even in the midst of the maddened battle, Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the
timer.
[00:03:19]
It’d only been three minutes and 19 seconds.
If that was converted into points, how much would he get?
Wouldn’t it be fine for him to leave this place now?
However, he didn’t have any leeway to dwell on that matter.
Even while he was thinking to himself, knights were continuously pouring
out from the Gates like unstoppable waves.
He managed to destroy countless Knights, yet he simply couldn’t deal with
so many of them.
“U-uwaaaahh-?!”
In the end, Jin-Woo was buried in the sea of knights.
[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]
[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]
His HP was in a freefall now and eventually, it hit rock bottom.
[HP: 1036/10270]
‘The time is….?’
[00:05:08]
Five minutes and eight seconds.
He had endured enough, hadn’t he?
‘……Let’s get out of here.’
Now completely entrapped among the knights, Jin-Woo flailed about
helplessly in this silver prison and dug through his back pocket.
However…
Drop.
The Immediate Return Stone slipped out from his grasp and fell to the
floor.
And the roundish stone hit the sole of one of the knights and rolled away
far from him.
“NOOO!!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly reached out towards the stone, but the knights blocked
him.
Soon, knights piled up on top of him, too.
It became almost impossible to breathe in an instant.
[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]
[Passive skill, ‘Tenacity’ has been activated.]
His consciousness began to blur.
Pow, pow!!
He continuously got struck by the knights while trapped below them, and
as his mind began to grow dimmer, he thought he heard a snarky cackle
coming from somewhere.
‘…….’
‘……’
‘……Shut up.’
Shut the hell up!!
Kwaboom!!
The knights surrounding and pressing down on Jin-Woo were suddenly all
blown away.
Even though he somehow managed to crawl out from death, his eyes were
burning with life. As a matter of fact, his eyes were burning with a stubborn
will and sheer malice.
‘I won’t let it end like this!!’
He earned this opportunity after going through so much. So, how could he
let it end like this? Never.
Because he was stuck at the very bottom for so long, he yearned to be on
top more than anyone else. He knew the sorrow of the weak better than
anyone. He tried everything to survive, and when he did survive, others kept
pointing fingers at him.
So, how could he simply watch and do nothing, when a ladder that could
take him to the very top was put in front of his eyes?
What a rubbish notion that was.
‘….I remember now.’
That voice ringing around his head just now.
That voice belonged to those b*stards.
The voice that always yapped on and on from behind his back.
‘Fine, laugh all you want.
‘I’ll struggle on until the bitter end.
‘It’s fine if my HP drops to ten, no, 1. I’ll struggle and struggle on like
crazy, right until the end. I’ll fight until I won’t be able to move anymore.’
“Uwaaahh!!!”
Jin-Woo threw his body forward.
Crack!
He thrust forward another punch.
A knight’s breastplate caved in and the monster flew away. Other knights
collided with it and they all fell on their butts.
But then, more knights rushed in again.
Jin-Woo’s movements became a step more violent in response.
Crack! Boom!! Slam!!
Without an exception, knights colliding with Jin-Woo’s body parts, be that
his fist, elbow, knee, feet, were all destroyed like a bunch of paper dolls.
[Tiredness has exceeded 70 points.]
[Your movement is being restricted.]
Just as the warning message said, his movements became duller. However,
the malice and anger in Jin-Woo’s eyes didn’t weaken in the slightest.
One by one, the knights he couldn’t defeat in one hit slammed into him.
Jin-Woo resorted to hitting them three, four times and made sure to destroy
them.
[…..8, 7, 6, 5.]
In the meantime, a strange countdown was silently ticking down. He was
too focused on the battle so he failed to notice it before the timer had reached
the single digit.
‘What’s this? Is the quest coming to an end?’
A small ray of hope blossomed in his head for a brief moment, but it turned
out to be nothing but a useless dream.
[00:06:27]
The quest timer was still ticking up as it supposed to. No, something
separate from this timer was counting down one second at a time.
[4, 3, 2.]
‘Is it to show me the time of my death?’
Indeed, the System did tell him this way back then; it told him that, if he
didn’t accept becoming a Player, he’d die 0.02 seconds later.
‘Fine.’
Jin-Woo glared fiercely.
‘I’ll gladly use up every moment, right down to the final second!’
Slam!! Crack!!
Two more knights were destroyed in the meantime.
Unlike Jin-Woo’s unyielding stubbornness, though, his entire body was
now riddled with all sorts of wounds. It progressively much harder to lift his
arms.
His weakened fist wasn’t enough to stop the knights’ tackles and charges
anymore.
From the front, one; from the back, another one.
Slam!!
Jin-Woo was sandwiched powerfully by the two knights slamming into him
from the front and back, and he spat out a pained groan.
“Keok!”
Other knights pounced on him as if they didn’t want to miss this chance.
In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo was buried under the masses of knights and
couldn’t even lift a finger.
Rumble-!
Even during that, more knights continued to pile on top of Jin-Woo. The
silver waves had transformed into a silver mountain, instead.
Jin-Woo’s breathing became incredibly harsh.
“Pant, pant….!!”
At this rate, he’d be asphyxiated to death first.
Jin-Woo’s hand somehow broke out from the gaps of the knights and
helplessly pointed towards the sky.
[HP: 93/10270]
He was in a truly desperate situation. Even then, Jin-Woo did not give up,
though.
‘No, not yet. I can still go on….’
Just as Jin-Woo managed to clench the hand pointing at the sky, the
mysterious countdown ticking down finally announced its conclusion.
[…..1, 0.]
[You’ve failed to complete the Daily Quest.]
[ You’ll be transferred to the ‘Penalty Zone’.]
Chapter 50 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The reason for searching for the mages was quite simple.
‘If my thoughts are correct….’
And that was to confirm whether the supposition he made back in the
Penalty Zone was correct or not.
Meanwhile, the knights all began rushing violently towards him.
Jin-Woo calmly jumped and stepped on the shoulder of the knight closest to
him, and leapt up into the air. That allowed him to take in the interior of the
boss room in one go.
‘Where are the mages?’
……Found one!
Not too far from him, he spotted a lone mage.
‘As I thought!’
What he witnessed back then was right.
Indeed, he didn’t see wrong.
Back then, when he was being squeezed tight by the group of knights and
only his arm could flail about helplessly, Jin-Woo spotted something through
the narrow gaps he couldn’t quite understand at the time.
‘…….’
And that was a mage continuously chanting a spell.
A mage busy chanting a spell… at a casual glance, that wouldn’t be
something out of place. However, Jin-Woo still felt a strong sense of discord
from that.
‘If that’s the case, then how come….’
How come he saw not one single spell flying at him?
Every attack he received came from the knights. Mages continued to chant,
yet not once did they complete their spells and display their might.
No, there was that one time.
Back when one of them used something called Eyes of Detection and undid
his Stealth. And when that was happening, for some reason, all the knights
nearby stopped moving.
At first, he thought they only stopped because they had lost their target.
However, while he was hunting down the giant centipedes in the Penalty
Zone, he belatedly realised something quite important.
Was it around the eighth centipede he killed? The level up message popped
up and he clenched his fist tightly.
[Level up!]
His spent HP and MP were restored to full. After the short period of
elation, a weird incongruency rushed in right afterwards.
‘My level can rise this easily, yet why didn’t I level up once in that place?’
The System said that his health wouldn’t recover through level up, but
crucially, it said nothing about him being unable to level up.
Indeed, his level rose up by 5 on his way towards the boss room, too.
However, only during the Class Change Quest, he didn’t level up once. Even
though he endured for over six minutes and killed a hundred plus knights.
Mages busy chanting but not casting any spells.
Knights that apparently didn’t give out any experience points.
When he took these actions of the two separate groups that puzzled him so
much and combined them into one singular puzzle….
A new possibility formed in Jin-Woo’s head.
‘It could be….’
It was possible that all of the knights there were fake.
The reason why all those knights stopped moving when the mage used
Eyes of Detection could be that… it wasn’t because he had vanished, but
because the mage had stopped casting.
‘If my guess is correct…!!’
He needed to confirm it right now.
Jin-Woo ignored the knights reaching out to grab him and ran towards the
mage while using their shoulders and heads as his footholds.
‘….!’
He sensed the mage panicking after spotting his approach. And its casting
speed had increased. Suddenly, the knights no longer attacked him without a
plan and tried to gather around the mage to protect it.
With that, Jin-Woo was convinced now.
Tap!
He landed in front of the mage. Without a moment of hesitation, the dagger
held in his right hand accurately pierced the mage’s heart.
‘Vital Points Targetting!’
Stab!
The mage soundlessly turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared
from the view.
[You defeated a mage.]
And at the same time-!
Tumble!!!
Hundreds of knights rushing in to attack Jin-Woo all collapsed at the same
time. It was as if they were puppets with their strings cut.
The knights collapsed on the floor were now, more or less, empty suits of
armour.
‘This was my answer!’
Jin-Woo cried out inwardly in elation.
He had to go through several near-death situations just to get to this
conclusion.
Knights were nothing to worry about. No, it was the mages that controlled
these knights.
The real goal was to kill them, instead.
‘The first target my Knight Killer killed was a mage…..’
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle as he looked down at the empty robe
discarded on the floor. He had that much leeway now.
Of course, he couldn’t continue to stand around doing nothing forever.
After all, his quest hadn’t ended yet.
Rumble…
The ground shook again.
Jin-Woo turned around and saw that the knights had him surrounded from
almost all sides with no gaps to speak of.
Meaning, there were other mages controlling these batches of knights
hidden somewhere.
Knights pounced on him. Jin-Woo’s right hand moved so fast that naked
eyes couldn’t even see its shape.
Slice!!
The knights standing in front of him all got cut in half.
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened real wide after witnessing that.
‘Wow!’
It was worth investing 2.8 million Gold on this dagger. The blade of his
Knight Killer pierced and sliced open the knights’ armour as if they were
made of paper.
It didn’t seem that the saw-like blade was the only reason for this.
Just as the item description, ‘dagger designed for use against knights’ said,
he could sense a strong magic-like power emanating from this Knight Killer.
‘A weapon from the Store is actually pretty good, isn’t it?’
There was a slight deviation from the accepted norm here. Normally, most
people would think of weapons sold in stores as something one would use in a
pinch when there was no better alternative.
‘I shouldn’t be dismissing Gold from now, huh….?’
At a bare minimum, this dagger seemed a lot more useful than weapons
designed for a Hunter. He even thought that, if he sold weapons from the
Store to other Hunters, he would become rich in no time at all.
Well, he didn’t see any restrictions on the weapon descriptions that he
couldn’t give one to someone else, which was different from ‘consumable’
type items.
‘Concentrate, man. Concentrate!’
Now wasn’t the time to get distracted. Knights were still tirelessly rushing
at him.
Swish! Slice!!
Jin-Woo dodged this way and that while cutting them down.
However….
‘This will go on forever.’
When he shifted his gaze away just for a brief moment, far more knights
than he had cut down appeared out of seemingly nowhere to fill the gap.
Slice!!
One more knight lost its head.
‘I gotta find the mages.’
Jin-Woo utilised the shoulders of the headless knight and leapt up before
the creature collapsed to the floor.
‘Stealth!’
Jin-Woo’s form blurred in an instant. Of course, he wasn’t trying to hide
via Stealth. What he was aiming for was….
[The mage has used ‘Skill: Eyes of Detection’.]
[The mage has used ‘Skill: Eyes of Detection’.]
[The mage has used ‘Skill: Eyes of Detection’.]
….The ear-piercing mechanical beeps rang out from several directions.
Jin-Woo ran on top of the knights and quickly confirmed the positions of
the eye-like symbols.
‘There are a total of five mages!’
Jin-Woo targetted the closest mage to him.
‘……!’
The mage hurriedly gathered knights around it the moment Jin-Woo turned
to stare at it, but….
Swish-!!
The Poison Fang of Kasaka flew out of his left hand in a straight line and
stabbed accurately in the middle of the mage’s forehead.
Stab!
[You’ve acquired ‘Skill: Dagger Throw’.]
[You defeated the mage.]
Tumble…
Once more, hundreds of knights tumbled to the ground.
‘Four more left!’
Jin-Woo stepped on the knights’ heads and moved towards his next target.
Meanwhile, he sneaked a glance towards the ‘Poison Fang of Kasaka’ he
hadn’t recovered yet. It was time to use his new skill.
‘Ruler’s Reach!’
Jin-Woo extended his left hand towards the dagger, and as if a magnet was
pulling it in, the weapon flew back in.
‘Yes!’
Jin-Woo snatched the dagger off the air.
Now that he didn’t have to personally retrieve his dagger, he could take the
most efficient route to his target. In the next second, he arrived before the next
mage, and…
‘…..!’
Even before the knights could try anything, he cut the b*stard up in half.
[You defeated the mage.]
More knights collapsed again. With that, not even half of the original
number of knights remained.
The initiative was clearly with him now.
Jin-Woo’s glare became harsher.
‘There are three left.’
Perhaps sensing the threat, the remaining mages all gathered in one spot. It
wasn’t only them, either. The knights they controlled also gathered around
them.
And then, the mages all chanted a certain spell together. Their ominous and
creepy voices reverberated throughout the boss room and soon, they finished
their spell.
Crack, creak.
The knights guarding the mages were suddenly pulled into one lump and
got compressed as if they were thrown into an industrial crusher. And then,
they were reborn as one huge metal Golem which began glaring at Jin-Woo
right away.
Wuooo-!
‘Wow, this is no joke, huh?’
Jin-Woo leaked out a gasp of pure admiration after sensing the
overwhelming pressure emitted from this giant monster.
However, he wasn’t scared by its appearance at all.
Perhaps because he had encountered several life-or-death situations
already, he was feeling expectant rather than nervous.
Thud, thud, thud!!
Whenever the large Golem took steps, the ground shook.
What a fearsome presence it possessed.
Swoooosh-!
Jin-Woo ducked lower and dodged the Golem’s fist.
Kabooom!
The stone pillar behind Jin-Woo shattered into pieces after its metallic fist
grazed it.
‘Well, that is pretty serious power…..’
Jin-Woo grinned slyly.
If he hadn’t yet figured out what was going on here, he would’ve been
wracking his brain trying to figure out how to deal with this monster.
However, there was no need for him to worry about that now. No need at all.
Kuoooaarr!!
Just as the Golem locked its hands together and raised them high to smash
down…
Jin-Woo didn’t back away, but used his skill, ‘Dash’, and pounced forward.
And then, he slid on the floor.
In the blink of an eye, he had slid in-between the legs of the Golem and
shot right past it.
While the lumbering Golem was hastily turning around, Jin-Woo had
already arrived before the three completely defenceless mages, still busy
chanting their spell.
‘….!’
‘….!’
The shoulders of the panicking mages grandly shuddered.
‘Checkmate!’
A smile of contentment formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
The old saying went something like, by being together, you’d be safe and
that separating from one another would mean death. Too bad for them, that
was not the case this time around. It was far easier to kill them off because
they had gathered in one place.
Jin-Woo freely swung his daggers about, and….
[You defeated the mage.]
[You defeated the mage.]
[You defeated the mage.]
The remaining three mages also became smoke and joined their already-
departed comrades. And the Golem that was trying to hurriedly grab Jin-Woo
shattered into pieces of armour and scattered all over the place.
Jin-Woo didn’t let his guard down, however.
‘Is this the end? Or, is there something more?’
He remained alert and ready just in case something else might happen, but
then, the familiar beep went off in his head.
Tti-ring.
Jin-Woo swallowed his saliva.
Perhaps to laugh at his unnecessary worries, the System announced the end
of the quest, instead.
[The Class Change Quest has been concluded as all monsters inside the
examination chamber have been defeated.]
[Your Class will be determined shortly.]
[Depending on the amount of advancement points accumulated, it will be
possible to change your Class to a high-ranking one.]
Only now…
Only now could Jin-Woo spit out a sigh of relief.
“Fuu….”
What a difficult battle this had been.
If he remained fixated on the Immediate Return Stone, he’d never have
figured out how to counter the Class Change Quest monsters.
‘Yeah, I’d probably have been thinking about escaping all the time.’
He got unlucky – or perhaps got really lucky, instead – and lost the
Immediate Return Stone. And that forced him to focus solely on surviving
this battle. The end result was an unbridled success.
And now, it was time to receive his rewards.
Jin-Woo’s gaze drifted towards the timer.
[04:29:16]
The numbers on the timer had stopped moving. He had ‘endured’ for
almost four and a half hours. And that wasn’t all.
In a quest that could be cleared simply by enduring the combined assault of
the countless enemies for a while, he actually managed to kill them all.
Just from wondering about how many points he got to accumulate and what
kind of a class he’d earn from that, his heart began trembling in anticipation.
[The suitable Class will be bestowed upon the Player after your past
actions have been thoroughly analysed.]
‘Yup, that sounds good.’
If his past actions were used as the basis for the selection of his Class, then
the odds of him ending up with something weird and struggling in the future
would be close to zero now.
It was probably the most welcoming thing he’d heard in a while.
[The places where the Player stands are dyed with the hidden breaths of
an assassin. Corpses fill the paths the Player has walked past, and the scent
of blood is thick and strong.]
….He thought that this description was a bit too heartless and cold, but
after looking back, he couldn’t come up with anything to rebut those words.
‘I only did those in order to raise my level, though….’
After entering an instant dungeon, he kept hunting monsters down until his
level would not rise any more. And while inside a regular dungeon, he made
sure to find every single hidden monster there and slew them all, too.
Also, although it wasn’t his intention, he ended up fighting other Hunters a
couple of times, too.
‘Assassin’, ‘corpses’, and the ‘scent of blood….’
‘No matter how you look at it….’
Just as he suspected from the beginning, it seemed that his Class would be
set at ‘Assassin’ now.
[Also, the Player thirsts for power, never relies on his comrades, and
paves the new path for himself with his own strength.]
Nod, nod.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in agreement with the System’s assessment.
‘Well, it’s not like I had any trustworthy comrades, to begin with.’
However, he couldn’t understand why those points were being addressed
during the selection of his Class. The System’s explanation continued on.
[Your thirst for strong power is intense enough to summon the spirits of
the departed, and the army of the deceased that unquestioningly follows all
of your commands will pave the road only for you, without anyone’s aid.]
‘………The army of the deceased?!’
Only now had Jin-Woo realised something had gone awry here.
Too bad, though.
“No, wait!!”
Even before he had any chance to raise his objections….
The System read off the result of the selection in its usual dry and
humourless voice.
[Your Class has been set as ‘Necromancer’.]
“…..What the f*ck?”
Chapter 52 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
What was the meaning of this sudden slap to the back of his head?
Everything was going well, so why did ‘Necromancer’ pop out instead of
the expected ‘Assassin’??
Jin-Woo dazedly stared at the message. He even rubbed his eyes several
times, but nothing changed.
[Your Class has been set as ‘Necromancer’.]
The message still floated up there, unchanging.
He couldn’t believe it at first, then he became really angry next.
‘I’ve never even touched the Intelligence Stat, so what the hell?!’
Just how did he end up with a rare class not even found among countless
Mage-type Hunters in the world??
From the moment Jin-Woo awoke as a rank E Hunter, he was always a
close-quarters fighter. With the exception of the steel longsword, he always
used daggers, and the skills he got until now were perfectly suited for the role
of an assassin.
That was why he hadn’t even thought of the possibility that his class would
end up belonging to a different type altogether.
It was a magic-type, no less… No, more than that, a Necromancer!!
His knowledge of different classes came from video games, but even then,
he knew enough about what being a Necromancer entailed.
A gloomy-looking mage, and an army of undead following that dude.
No matter how much he thought about it, that image just didn’t correlate to
him whatsoever.
Jin-Woo frowned deeply and shook his head.
‘….Let’s calm down, first.’
Even if his thoughts were complicated, his responses should be calm.
Being calm and cool-headed were Jin-Woo’s ultimate weapons. He
controlled his rage and regained his cool head soon afterwards.
‘Hang on, isn’t this….’
Denial, then rage.
He suddenly felt like he was acting like a patient who just heard the
diagnosis of terminal illness, and was going through the so-called five stages
of grief.
‘Rage… then, it’s supposed to be negotiation, is it? Or was it
compromise?’
Of course, there was no way he’d be allowed to negotiate or come to a
compromise with the System.
If he were to think about the advantages of being a Necromancer, then….
just as the System alluded to, he could create his own army? About that
much?
‘Well, the problem here is that army will consist of skeletons and rotting
corpses.’
If he walked around with such an army, the whole world would be up in
arms in no time.
Hunters were already the objects of aspiration and fear, yet he was being
asked to become a Hunter who could lead around an army of the departed….
Never mind the question of this class being suitable to him or not, he
wasn’t even confident of handling the fallout from that.
Tti-ring.
[Will you accept this Class?]
The System demanded his answer.
What a relief that was.
‘I can still say yes or no…..’
Jin-Woo spat out a sigh.
If the Class wasn’t forced down his throat, then that meant there was
another opportunity for him. If he still had another shot, then there was no
reason to sweat so much right now.
Jin-Woo gladly (?) refused the suggestion.
“No way.”
When he did that, the message asked him again.
[The ‘Necromancer’ is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]
Although it was asking the same thing for the second time, he found
himself unable to quickly answer back.
He was now hesitating.
‘A hidden class… is it?’
That term might sound like something straight out of a video game, but
still, there were Hunters with rare and strange abilities even in reality.
Such as, Hunters who could create ‘Shields’, or buff others. Or, even…
‘….The Master of White Tiger Guild can apparently transform into a
monster, too, according to the rumours.’
All those Hunters with rare and strange abilities were now enjoying a great
deal of special treatment after being scouted by the biggest Guilds out there.
‘Could this hidden class thing be the same thing as the special abilities
those Hunters possess?’
If that were the case….
‘This could be an opportunity, instead.’
Suddenly, such a thought popped into his head. The System did say
something about this just now.
‘I thirst for power, and that’s why it’s recommending the Class of
Necromancer to me.’
In other words, the Class of Necromancer had the potential to be truly
powerful.
When considering the fact that most of the Hunters with rare skills happen
to belong to ‘support type’, this could be seen as quite an encouraging thing
for him, indeed.
A Hunter with a rare skill that could directly enter any battle.
His heart began beating just a little bit faster just from thinking about that.
‘If I could only get to experience the Class of Necromancer just for a bit,
I wouldn’t even need to weigh my options this much.’
However, would anything in this world be that easy?
There was no way the matters of this world would revolve according to his
wishes, and worse still, he had never heard of anyone possessing an ability
similar to that of a necromancer.
The thing was, one wouldn’t be able to find a mage who commanded its
own army, to begin with.
Just as his thoughts ended there…
‘…..Oh.’
Jin-Woo took a sweeping look at all the broken remnants of the knights
strewn about this place.
‘Those mages!’
One could say that those mages in the Class Change Quest were using
roughly the same ability as a Necromancer.
These knights were their army, in other words.
‘For sure….’
It was certainly very difficult to fight all those knights who attacked him
with complete disregard for their own lives.
If he failed to figure out how to fight them until the end, or if the mages
possessed very high close-quarters combat abilities, then….
‘The one lying on the floor right now would be me instead of these scrap
metal bits.’
Jin-Woo stopped looking at the knights and raised his head.
A certain look of determination flashed by in his eyes.
‘I already possess the close-quarters combat ability.’
Meaning, he was different from those mages.
What if there was a mage possessing excellent hand-to-hand combat skills
who also happened to command an army? Wouldn’t that be the worst of all
worst possible nightmares for his enemies?
‘What if….’
Something he could only think about but couldn’t do – wouldn’t it be
possible for him to enter a dungeon rated B or higher alone and clear it now?
Jin-Woo silently swallowed his saliva.
If he were allowed to continue raising his Stat values after becoming a
Necromancer, then obviously, the army under his command would also grow
even more powerful than before.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine the effect of that.
‘It’ll no longer be only me levelling up.’
His own army would be levelling up, too.
‘Wait. Could this be….?’
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. Jin-Woo raised his head and looked at
the floating message. It was still patiently waiting for his decision.
[The ‘Necromancer’ is a hidden class. Will you still refuse?]
Unlike how it was usually, the System wasn’t urging him on. Jin-Woo
couldn’t help question its motives in his mind.
‘Is this what you wanted from me?’
Of course, no replies came to him.
After a lengthy deliberation, Jin-Woo made up his mind.
If it was giving him power, then he’d accept it with open arms.
He no longer hesitated.
[Will you accept this Class?]
“I will.”
As if it was waiting, the System immediately displayed the following
messages.
Tti-ring.
[Your Class has been set.]
[You will now be given the opportunity to change to a higher ranked
version of this Class through the amount of advancement points
accumulated.]
[Calculations have begun.]
[Tallying up your advancement points….]
While that was going on, Jin-Woo unwrapped the bandages from his right
hand.
He’d been holding the dagger so tightly that his palm had swollen up rather
painfully.
“Well, I’m gonna get blisters now.”
He lightly clicked his tongue.
Such a wound would’ve been taken care of with a drop from the healing
potion, but not being able to use one was proving to be rather inconvenient in
various ways.
He finished unwrapping the bandages and was about to store the Knight
Killer back in his Inventory, when he heard yet another mechanical beep.
Tti-ring.
Jin-Woo reflexively raised his head.
[You’ve exceeded the expected time limit!]
[Bonus points will be granted.]
Bonus points, it said. But, that was rather obvious, wasn’t it?
‘Not sure how long was the expected time, but well, I did endure for quite
a long time, didn’t I?’
He began smirking in satisfaction, then all of a sudden, several messages
inundated his vision.
[You did not use Immediate Return Stone!]
[Bonus points will be granted.]
[Your remaining HP is over 50%!]
[Bonus points will be granted.]
[You eliminated all the enemies!]
[Bonus points will be granted.]
[Total advancement points tally has exceeded the Class-specific point
limit.]
[According to the Contract, you will be given a special reward.]
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
‘What’s this?’
His ears hurt from all the beepings, but Jin-Woo’s focus was fixed
elsewhere and didn’t care anymore. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t even hear
those beeps now.
‘A special reward?’
Those words jumped right up at him.
A reward.
Not only that, it was ‘special’, too.
Jin-Woo stopped trying to store the Knight Killer in his Inventory and
concentrated on the message.
His stares were now firmly fixed on it.
Soon, follow-up messages popped up.
Tti-ring.
[Your Class has been upgraded from ‘Necromancer’ to ‘Shadow
Sovereign’.]
[You have acquired Class-specific skills.]
[You have acquired bonus Stats.]
[You have acquired the title, ‘The One Who Overcame the Adversity’.]
‘Shadow Sovereign?’
Hearing that strange term, Jin-Woo hurriedly summoned his Status
Window.
[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]
[Level: 51]
[Class: Shadow Sovereign]
Indeed, there was a new term added to his Class column.
‘It’s not a Necromancer anymore?’
The System definitely said that he’d be able to get a higher ranked version
of his Class according to the amount of advancement points he had earned.
And also, it mentioned that the point tally had exceeded the limits of the Class
itself, too.
The end result from all that was this ‘Shadow Sovereign’.
“So, is this….”
….The special reward the System was talking about?
The thing was, though, Jin-Woo couldn’t continue on with what he wanted
to say.
‘……??’
Right in front of his disbelieving eyes, a truly bizarre and hard-to-explain
phenomenon began unfolding.
Behind the hologram-like messages….
Unknown black smoke was slowly and eerily leaking out from the knights
strewn about on the floor like scrap metal.
No such thing happened prior to him getting his Class.
These bits of scrap metal were nothing more than ownerless junk, only
until a minute ago.
However.
Jin-Woo closed the Status Window and swept his gaze around the interior
of the boss room once. It wasn’t just one or two now.
That black smoke was rising up from every single knight on the ground.
[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]
[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]
[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]
Whenever his eyes landed on ‘targets’ with black smoke oozing out from
them, the words with hard-to-fathom meanings ‘possible to perform
extraction’ popped up into his view.
‘Shadow extraction?’
He couldn’t understand why, but to Jin-Woo, those rising smokes looked
like they were writhing in pain.
As a matter of fact, it felt like they were reaching out to him, begging him
to save them.
Would it be strange if he said that…. he could hear their screams?
‘But…..’
He was sure of one thing.
He was sure of him being able to free them from their pain.
‘Shadow Extraction.’
[Please set the command phrase to activate the Shadow Extraction skill.]
‘I gotta set a separate activation phrase for this skill?’
Jin-Woo pondered for a bit, before muttering out almost instinctively.
“Rise up.”
When he did….
Wuuaaahhhh….
Thick, heavy moans resounded out from somewhere and at the same time,
the shadows of the fallen knights began wiggling as if they were still alive.
Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings once more.
All the shadows found near him were beginning to move.
Soon enough, a black hand rose up from one of the shadows. It pressed
down on the ground hard, and slowly, the arm attached to it rose up.
‘Oh my god!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider and wider.
Those things were…. people.
No, soldiers possessing the outer appearance of a person!
Soldiers kitted out head to toe in jet-black armour climbed out of the
shadows one by one.
‘This is my new skill??’
By the time Jin-Woo recovered his wits, there were a couple dozen soldiers
standing by his side, waiting.
[Shadow Extraction was a success.]
Tens of soldiers were now surrounding him.
‘What the hell is this….?’
Jin-Woo approached the nearest soldier.
The first thing he did was to touch it. When he placed his hand on it, he felt
something metallic.
As it turned out, the metal-looking armours weren’t just for show.
Indeed, these guys were all outfitted in real black armour and real weapons.
‘At first glance, they look like people, don’t they?’
However, they weren’t people. He couldn’t sense any signs of life from
them. They didn’t breathe, and there were no heartbeats he could hear.
On top of this….
“…”
Jin-Woo swallowed down his shocked gasp.
He sneaked a glance inside the helmet through the eye holes and found
nothing but pure darkness in there. Jin-Woo slowly took several steps back
after feeling like he was being sucked in.
‘These things came out from the shadows??’
He immediately checked his Skill Window.
Just as the System informed him, new Class-specific skills could be found
there now.
[Class-specific skills]
Active skills
He checked the details of the first skill.
[Skill: Shadow Extraction Lv. 1]
Class-specific skill.
Required Mana to activate: None
Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the recently deceased
lifeform.
The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on the target’s
original Stat values, as well as the length of time since its death.
Number of shadows that can be extracted: 30/30
Only after reading the explanation on the Skill did he realise the identity of
these black soldiers.
‘…….They are all undead.’
Shadow soldiers – monsters, pulled out from the shadows of the dead.
Jin-Woo swallowed down his saliva.
‘If these things are really my soldiers, then….’
Jin-Woo raised his arm and pointed to his right.
And the soldiers all uniformly shifted their bodies to right.
The end of his hand slowly moved to his front.
And the soldiers too followed after his hand and slowly faced their front.
Jin-Woo stood in the middle of them.
He did his best to calm his pounding heart and lowered his hand.
And at the same time….
Every single soldier knelt down before him.
They were moving according to his will.
“Hah…..”
Jin-Woo let out a soft gasp of admiration as the ends of his lips arched up.
‘Isn’t this so cool?’
Chapter 53 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘Oops!’
A thought flashed by in Jin-Woo’s head.
‘I shouldn’t be wasting time like this.’
He had witnessed the power of his new skill. He could now turn the
defeated monsters into his soldiers.
If that was the case, then wasn’t there a monster nearby that he just had to
turn into his lackey right away?
Jin-Woo climbed up the pile of armours that once used to be the giant Iron
Golem and stood on top. By being so high up, he could take in the entirety of
the boss room.
‘……’
Jin-Woo searched around as his glare became sharper.
Found it!
Confirming the direction, Jin-Woo immediately ran over there. Perhaps he
was feeling really psyched, he arrived there in the blink of an eye even though
he didn’t use the Dash skill.
Gulp.
Jin-Woo looked the ‘corpse’ of the monster that he was planning to extract
the shadow from, and swallowed dry saliva.
The creature remained in the exact same spot where he had killed it.
‘…..Igrit the Crimson.’
The sight of the red-armoured headless knight half-buried in the thick,
sturdy wall told how desperate his situation was back then.
Jin-Woo stood before Igrit.
It might have been a fearsome enemy that threatened to kill him only a few
hours ago, but now, it was probably the best ingredient he could find.
Fortunately enough, he saw the black smoke slowly oozing out from Igrit, just
like how it was with other fallen knights.
[It is possible to perform Shadow Extraction on the selected target.]
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened.
‘Nice.’
He already knew the drill. Jin-Woo took a short but deep breath and spoke
out the command phrase.
“Rise up.”
He spoke the activation phrase for the skill, Shadow Extraction. However,
the skill didn’t activate.
‘……..??’
Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that way, and was about to say the
command phrase again. But then, following a ‘tti-ring’, several warning
messages popped up.
[You have exceeded the number of shadows that can be extracted.]
[If you wish to perform Shadow Extraction, you must return a portion, or
all, of your soldiers back to the world of nothingness via ‘Extraction
Cancellation’.]
[Once returned to nothingness, the shadow soldiers can’t be summoned
back.]
‘Oh, yeah. There was something like that, wasn’t there?’
At the end of the skill’s explanation, there was something he should’ve
taken note of.
[Number of shadows that can be extracted: 30/30]
The maximum number of extractions he could perform was 30. Which
meant the number of his soldiers was currently 30….
Jin-Woo looked behind him.
The shadow soldiers had followed him even before he had noticed it and
they were standing in attention.
‘When did they?’
Perhaps fitting their title of ‘shadow soldiers’, they seemed to move around
without making a single sound.
Whatever the case might have been, if he wanted to extract Igrit’s shadow,
he had to get rid of one of these guys, just as the System had alluded to.
‘But….’
It had only been a short while, yet when he thought about them being his
soldiers, he kind of didn’t want to dismiss any one of them.
Did he get attached to them already?
With a rueful, unwilling expression, Jin-Woo slowly scanned each and
every one of his shadow soldiers. As his eyes swept past the soldiers, their
names and levels appeared before his view.
[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]
Regular grade
[Shadow Infantryman Lv. 1]
Regular grade
Everyone possessed the same name and level.
‘Oh well, their origins were exactly the same, so…’
But then, he discovered three somewhat different-coloured soldiers right at
the back of the infantrymen.
‘Are those….?’
Unlike the regular infantrymen, these guys were wearing robes.
[Shadow Magic Soldier Lv. 1]
Elite grade
“Oh.”
He quickly figured out what they were.
The three mages that were controlling the Iron Golem must’ve been
revived as undeads as well when he gave out his ‘Rise up’ command just now.
‘So, 27 infantrymen and three mages, eh?’
This was why being ‘rare’ was a good thing. He excluded the low-
numbered mages and selected the closest infantryman from him to cancel the
extraction.
….And he was really sorry about this.
“Extraction Cancellation.”
Phush….
The soldier turned into black smoke and scattered in the air. Not even a
trace remained of it.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo gazed at the spot of the disappeared soldier for a little while with
an apologetic expression, before shifting his attention back to Igrit.
His preparation was complete.
He even had to sacrifice one of his wonderful soldiers just so he could turn
Igrit into a shadow. So, he simply had to see some results here.
Time to act while the sun still shone.
Jin-Woo tried the extraction right away.
“Rise up.”
When he did that, the shadow cast beneath Igrit began to wiggle as if it
came to life. It was the same reaction as when he extracted the shadows from
the knights just now.
‘Okay, good!’
Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly. He had a good feeling about this.
[Shadow Extraction has commenced.]
[Attempting to extract….]
What would Igrit look like after its extraction? Jin-Woo’s hands became
slick with the sweat of anticipation.
Unfortunately…
Ting!
A mechanical beep akin to a metal plate breaking in half rang inside his
head.
[Shadow Extraction has failed.]
“What?!’
[Two more attempts remaining.]
“Whew-woo….”
Hearing that he still had more chances remaining, Jin-Woo spat out a long
sigh of relief.
‘Hang on, now that I think about it….’
The skill’s explanation definitely said that the odds of extraction failure
would rise up depending on the target’s Stat values.
But having experienced it personally, he couldn’t help but be
dumbfounded. It felt like he got slapped in the back of his head, this taste of
his first failure.
Not only that, there was a restriction on the number of attempts he could
try, too.
‘So, I have two more attempts remaining….’
If he failed in both attempts, then did that mean Igrit’s shadow would
disappear into that ‘nothingness’, just as the sacrificed infantryman did?
Imagining the worst possible scenario, he felt dizzy for a second. Jin-Woo
quickly shook his head to clear his mind.
‘Let’s stop thinking negatively about this.’
Indeed, only positive thoughts…
Didn’t someone say that if you believed earnestly enough, the universe
would find a way to help you out?
While stewing inside anxiety and anticipation, Jin-Woo attempted the
extraction for the second time.
“Rise up.”
Too bad, his expectation was shot down grandly once more.
Ting!
[Shadow Extraction has failed.]
[One more attempt remaining]
‘…..’
This guy gave him so much trouble while it was still alive, and even in
death, it was managing to give him some serious headaches.
And here he was, hoping against hope.
Now that he had failed twice in a row, his vision seemed to have blurred,
everything looking a bit bleak.
“Fuu…..”
Jin-Woo deeply inhaled and exhaled his breath.
There were no more attempts remaining after this. He had only one more
shot left. Jin-Woo closed his eyes and reorganised his thoughts.
‘Well, it could be nothing more than percentages and odds, but….’
But, it was possible that his desire to possess Igrit’s shadow wasn’t earnest
or strong enough.
Jin-Woo slowly reopened his eyes.
He sensed the black smoke rising up from Igrit reaching out to him,
pleading with him to save it. Jin-Woo became a lot more serious than before.
And he reached out with his right hand as if to grab that pleading hand of
the smoke.
“Rise up.”
He didn’t do it deliberately; he himself didn’t quite realise it then, but Jin-
Woo’s voice sounded much heavier and graver than ever before and it
reverberated throughout the boss room.
It was then!
Uwaaahhh-!!
A deep scream could be heard coming from somewhere, and chilling, eerie
wind swept by the boss room.
‘Isn’t this it…?’
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened.
He remembered encountering a similar situation like this one before.
….Back when his infantrymen first popped out from the shadows.
Aaaaah-!
Just as he hoped for, as the lengthy scream came to an end, a long black
hand emerged out from the shadow. And when that hand pressed down on the
ground, a new message popped up in his view.
[Shadow Extraction was a success.]
Jin-Woo let out a cry of happiness.
“Yes!!”
He tightly clenched his fists. The taste of success was so much sweeter
since he had to go through two failures to get here.
However, the good news didn’t end there.
[The sovereign’s voice had awakened the departed’s fighting spirit.]
[You have succeeded in strengthening your shadow soldier.]
[The shadow’s level will now start at 7.]
‘I succeeded in strengthening? What?’
A shadow’s starting level could be higher than 1?
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened once more. Just as the message said, the black
knight emerging from the shadow carried ‘level 7’ in its status.
“Mm!!”
Jin-Woo spat out a short gasp.
The newly-emerged shadow looked exactly as it was in his memories.
The mane attached to the helm; the highly-fashionable armour wrapped
around its entire body; that noble, dignified cape.
The only difference being that the blood-like armour now sported a pitch-
black colour, instead. Everything else was exactly the same.
He’d have probably believed it if someone told him that Igrit had returned
to life just now.
However…
‘…..’
The newly-born Igirt didn’t display a single hint of animosity towards him.
No, it just stood there quietly, waiting for Jin-Woo to give it a new order.
Thump, thump.
Hin-Woo’s heart began pounding in excitement as he stared at Igrit. And
there was a big grin etched on his face. Even though his heart was palpitating,
there was something he was curious about.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted just above Igrit’s head.
‘Why doesn’t this guy have a name?’
[?? Lv. 7]
Knight grade
For some strange reason, there was a couple of question marks instead of
its name.
‘And its grade is also different.’
He understood that its level was high because of that strengthening thing,
but still, this guy exhibited quite a few differences from the regular
infantrymen.
Perhaps it read Jin-Woo’s mind, because the System sent him a new
message with excellent timing.
Tti-ring.
[You can bestow a name to a knight grade soldier.]
[The bestowed name will be maintained until the shadow soldier is
dismissed.]
[Please set the soldier’s name.]
‘A name, is it?’
At first, he was at a loss with this unexpected demand, but soon enough, he
recalled that this ‘guy’ already had a name and a smile crept up on his face.
There should be no problem calling it by its original name, no?
[Please set the soldier’s name.]
The message blinked as if to urge him on with the naming already.
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“Igrit the Cri….”
No, hang on a minute.
When the System asked him to set the name, it meant that he’d have to use
that name to call this guy from here onwards. So, didn’t that also mean that
he’d have to call it Igrit the blah-blah all the time from now on?
Just thinking about that gave him a nasty case of goosebumps.
‘…..That’s way too cringey.’
In the end, he decided to shorten the name somewhat.
“Igrit.”
[Will you set the name as ‘Igrit’?]
“That’s right.”
As soon as Jin-Woo spoke, the question marks on the guy’s head
disappeared and the name Igrit appeared there.
[Igrit Lv. 7]
Knight grade
All he did was to simply give it its original name, yet Jin-Woo still felt like
he had accomplished something pretty amazing. He was filled with
contentment, knowing that this guy was his loyal soldier now.
‘My own loyal soldier, eh….’
Jin-Woo took a look behind him.
29 shadow soldiers were still there, waiting for his orders.
For now, the number was too small.
‘Only 30, huh….’
Either this was because the skill level of ‘Shadow Extraction’ was too low,
or because his Intelligence Stat hadn’t been raised high enough yet.
But, he was sure of one thing, and that was the number of his soldiers
would gradually swell up.
‘Yup, I really have myself a new army.’
Not only that, they weren’t some skeletons and corpses, but an army of
shadows.
Now, there was only one problem remaining.
And that was how he’d walk around with these guys. Now that gave him a
bit of a headache.
‘Doesn’t matter skeletons or shadows….’
It’d be way too eye-catching if these guys freely walked around in the
streets.
Would that be all?
This skill was already way past regular people accepting it as one of the
many awakened abilities a Hunter could possess.
Either he’d be under the constant surveillance, or worse, someone might
even demand him to dismiss the summoning, too.
‘Woo Jin-Cheol, the section chief of the Monitoring Division, the Korean
Hunter’s Association….’
Thinking about how stuffy-looking guys like that man would come around
every day and annoy him to no end in the future, Jin-Woo felt like he’d die
from frustration already.
That was precisely why the next skill existed, probably.
‘Skills.’
Jin-Woo summoned his Skill Window.
[Class-specific skills]
Active skills:
The skill he only checked its name and nothing else until now.
The ‘Shadow Storage’.
That name alone made him think that this skill would help him out in these
sorts of situations.
Chapter 54
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo lowered his gaze slightly while feeling rather pleased with
himself, then he spotted something else in the Status Window.
[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves (extra 1)]
‘…..There was another one?’
….Oh.
Now that he thought about it, he did earn a new ‘Title’ as well during the
Class Change Quest, didn’t he?
Jin-Woo checked out the hidden title’s description.
[Title: The One Who Overcame the Adversity]
A Title only given to those who have splendidly overcome their adversity.
Your Stat values will rise as your HP decreases. (1% of lost HP = 1% gain in
Stats)
‘Hell yeah!’
It was a truly wonderful buff where his Stats would rise up as his HP was
decreased.
The Title ‘Slaughterer of Wolves’ was a wonderful Title as well that would
give him a 40% Stats increase against any and all beast-type monsters.
However, because there was a strict activation condition attached to it, he
often had to do without receiving the Stat buff.
‘It’s the same thing as not having a Title if I’m not fighting against beast-
type monsters.’
But now, he had gotten a new Title with a wonderful effect. After reading
the description, he thought that this Title’s effect would match up quite nicely
with his passive, ‘Tenacity’.
Without wasting any more time, Jin-Woo changed his Title.
[Title: The one who overcame the adversity (extra 1)]
The Title he didn’t set would be hidden, and if he needed it, he could swap
them at any time, too.
‘ up, it’s my Stats.’
The rewards he got for exceeding the point limits of his Class yesterday
were three.
One, his Class changed to a higher-grade version; two, a new Title; finally,
bonus Stat points.
[Stats]
Strength: 132
Stamina: 91
Agility: 111
Intelligence: 70
Perception: 93
(Available points to distribute: 10)
Reduction in physical damage: 46%
He still had ten points yet to be allocated. If it was in the past, he’d have
spent them all in Agility or Perception, but things were different now.
Jin-Woo dumped all ten points in Intelligence, instead.
Even then, his Intelligence value only reached 80.
Tti-ring.
[Stats]
Strength: 132
Stamina: 91
Agility: 111
Intelligence: 80
Perception: 93
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 46%
Compared to Strength or Agility, it simply fell way, way behind. As a
matter of fact, it even fell behind Stamina, the Stat he decided to put on the
back burner while raising his Agility first.
It was clear proof that he had been looking down on the Intelligence Stat
until now.
‘Well, I never guessed that I’d somehow end up using magic, so it’s
understandable.’
For the time being, he decided to invest every single bonus Stat point he
earned into Intelligence. He wasn’t planning to change how he fought in the
meantime, though.
‘I mean, the new skills I got are assassination type skills, after all.’
A new skill he acquired during the fierce battle – the dagger throw. He
didn’t even have to take a gander at the skill description to know that it was a
dagger-exclusive skill.
[Skill: Dagger Throw Lv. 1]
Active skill.
Required Mana to activate: 30
Exclusive to daggers.
Causes damage by throwing your dagger. The higher the level, the greater
the damage inflicted, as well as the accuracy.
‘Yup. I knew it.’
He had been fighting his battles as a close-quarter melee fighter. He
wouldn’t change his current fighting style, just because he got himself a new
Class and a couple of new skills related to that.
So, he was planning to use the shadow skills as his back-up, while the
dagger would remain as his primary means of attack.
‘Well, at least until I manage to raise my Intelligence Stat to a somewhat
more useful level, that is.’
Excellent combat abilities. And soldiers able to support him from behind.
The plan he formed in his head as he got his new Class hadn’t changed.
‘But, if there is one difference from my initial expectations, then that
would be….’
That would be his soldiers potentially being a lot more useful than he
thought. Who could’ve guessed that he was able to turn boss-level monsters
into his underlings?
‘….Still.’
He felt that it’d be a bit of waste not to utilise his proficiency with daggers
and the skills related to that if he were to rely solely on his shadows to fight.
Also, he bought the Knight Killer only a few hours ago, too.
‘If I knew I’d end up as a mage-type, maybe I should’ve bought a magic
staff or something.’
Of course, if he did that, he wouldn’t have cleared the quest and ended up
being buried under the knights, instead.
Jin-Woo closed the Status Window. With that done, he pretty much had
confirmed every change that occurred to him.
‘Wait a sec. What’s the time now?’
While he was doing his thing, 20 minutes had flown by. Jin-Woo scratched
the side of his head.
‘I guess I should hurry up, huh.’
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
The power of his enhanced Stats didn’t prove to be effective only when
fighting against monsters.
When he concentrated, time slowed down. To be more precise, it was Jin-
Woo who had gotten quicker, however.
He opened the door and left his room.
He entered the bathroom and took a quick shower.
He swiftly wiped the water off of him.
He put on whatever clothing he could find and stood before the mirror.
All this, and he only needed three minutes.
He could’ve moved faster, but he figured that this old, decrepit apartment
would fall apart if he did.
‘My hair hasn’t completely dried out yet, but….’
The end result was him saving over 20 minutes, so there was no need to
rush now.
Time to leave, then.
Jin-Woo was about to step out of his room, but discovered something and
stopped in his tracks. He found the key for the apartment. It was sitting on top
of his desk.
In the past, he’d have felt a bit lazy and unwilling, but still turned back to
grab the key; however, he simply extended his hand instead of walking over
there.
‘I mean, if I don’t use it in times like this, just when will I ever get to use
this skill?’
The Ruler’s Reach!
The key crept forward bit by bit, before flying into his open palm as if a
strong magnet was reeling it in.
Grab!
Jin-Woo snatched the key and grinned refreshingly.
Having gotten ready to leave in the proverbial blink of an eye, Jin-Woo
closed the door to his room, a whistle escaping from his lips.
Jin-Woo’s first stop was at the bank.
He was wondering just how much cash from the sales of the magic crystals
had accumulated in his new bank account.
‘I couldn’t come earlier because I’ve been so busy until now.’
As the raid team leader, Yu Jin-Ho was in charge of managing the magic
crystals.
From what he told Jin-Woo, that kid had been selling all the magic crystals
at the end of each day and deposited every single cent into this account.
He didn’t mention in detail how much the money would be, though.
‘That Jin-Ho. He reports to me every little thing that happens, but he
doesn’t really mention much about money issues.’
Was it because he wasn’t really interested all that much? Perhaps because
he grew up lacking nothing, Yu Jin-Ho’s interests were quite far removed
from the matters involving money.
No, they tended to be along the lines of celebrity gossip, stories of raids,
songs or movies he liked – those kinds of things.
Even if it was nominally a conversation, it’d be Yu Jin-Ho who yapped on
and on all by himself, though. And Jin-Woo would simply listen quietly on
the side and provide appropriate responses every now and then.
‘Ah, now that I think about it…’
A chatterbox guy like him also didn’t say anything about his family
situation until now.
Now that was pretty strange. Jin-Woo combed through his memories
starting from when they met for the first time, but he couldn’t remember a
single instance of him mentioning his family.
While thinking that it was pretty bizarre, he had arrived at the bank.
‘Well now, that’s some crappy timing, isn’t it?’
All of the ATMs were currently under maintenance.
He was left with little choice, so Jin-Woo walked inside the bank branch.
He got his number in the queue, waited for his turn, before eventually sitting
down in front of a bank teller.
“Hello there.”
A female teller with a bob-cut hair reaching just below her ears and a
refreshing smile asked him politely.
“How may I be of service today?”
“I’d like to see the amount currently in the bank account, please.”
“I understand.”
With a smile, the female teller took the bank book Jin-Woo presented to
her.
While waiting for her to do her thing, Jin-Woo scanned the inside of the
bank. It was a normal Thursday afternoon, yet there were quite a large
number of people inside.
As he continued to look at the crowd, the female teller got to confirm the
amount resting in Jin-Woo’s account and her eyes shot open super-wide.
‘Heok!!”
[Remaining amount: ₩1,482,920,000] (TL: Just over $1.315 mil)
She checked the number of digits again, but without a doubt, it started from
a billion.
Not only that, he hadn’t even accumulated this amount over a long period
of time.
For the past week or so, the records showed that over 100 million Won had
been deposited every single day.
‘He looks so young, so how could he?’
The female teller initially took Jin-Woo as a university student who came to
the local bank to get the bank book newly printed on because his mother
asked him to. But, her expression had changed quite a bit now.
The female teller asked him, her voice containing just a sliver of ulterior
motive.
“Oh, my goodness. May I ask, what you do for a living?”
Perhaps she herself was embarrassed by her own ulterior motive, the
female bank teller’s cheeks blushed softly as she cautiously studied Jin-Woo’s
reactions.
He replied as if it was nothing.
“I’m a Hunter.”
“Ah…..”
The female teller slowly nodded her head almost instinctively.
The popular rumour she heard was indeed true.
‘I heard that Hunters made lots of money, but….’
But to think, it’d be on this level….
All of a sudden, her life as a normal working-class employee came across
as rather pathetic.
Only until a minute ago, this man was a regular customer, just like
everyone else. But now, Jin-Woo looked like a person from another galaxy
altogether.
‘He must be a pretty high ranked Hunter, right?’
This amount wasn’t something an average Hunter with average skills could
ever hope to touch.
This would be her first time meeting a truly high-ranked Hunter, then.
The unexpectedness of this situation caused her heart to palpitate just a bit
faster.
Thump, thump….
Her heart was indeed beating a bit quicker now.
A young customer possessing well over a billion Won in cash would
certainly be a VIP in the eyes of the bank. And well, that customer was a
Hunter, so he should be treated as a VVIP, instead.
And so, in order to ensure that this VVIP wouldn’t slip through the bank’s
fingers, the female employee began advertising several of the bank’s financial
products.
“Our bank has launched brand new products and services especially
catered for VIP customers such as yourself.”
Her smile was no longer the business one, but a real one, too. The female
bank teller’s gaze was now firmly fixed on Jin-Woo.
‘Oh, my. He’s….’
Seeing his current appearance, the one where he must have thrown on some
clothes lying around, and that slightly dishevelled hair, her heart began
beating faster than ever before. She realised that he must’ve been a very busy
man who managed to find some free time to stop by the bank today.
“This product has proven really popular with our customers lately, so
how about taking a closer look at the benefits it offers, sir?”
Too bad for her, Jin-Woo refused right away.
“No, thank you. I’m fine.”
“Ah…. is that so?”
The female bank teller’s voice was thickly laden with regrets over missed
chances.
Sensing that this chat might get drawn out if he said something wrong here,
Jin-Woo quickly took the bank book and stood up from the seat.
“Thank you for your help. Have a nice day.”
He made his quick getaway from the bank as the hot stares from the female
bank teller continued to bear down on his back.
As soon as the bank’s door closed behind him…
“Fuu….”
Jin-Woo spat out a sigh of relief.
He picked up on the change in the bank teller’s expression the moment he
revealed his job as a Hunter.
Attentions of strangers, and their interests.
It would probably be something normal for other Hunters, but it was still
something new to Jin-Woo.
‘Well, I better get used to it now.’
The attention on him would get even worse than this, once he’s gone
through with the re-assignment test and gets a super-high rank.
He heard that there were quite a few reporters and fans following around
particular Hunters as well.
He raised his head slightly and saw a large electronic billboard displaying a
cold drink advert featuring a famous Hunter, attached to the side of a
skyscraper.
Before Gates appeared in the world, one would’ve found top sports stars or
popular idols occupying that position.
That’s right.
This was the age where a Hunter would be at the receiving end of more
attention and adulation than a celebrity. Even Jin-Woo wouldn’t be an
exception now.
The only person who didn’t like Hunters nowadays were probably
employees of various insurance companies.
‘Besides all that.’
Only after he made his escape from the bank did he get to confirm the
amount in the account. And his eyes grew real wide afterwards.
‘1.48 billion….?!’
The total amount of money he earned after participating in nine raids was
almost 1.5 billion Won. Meaning, each rank C dungeon netted him almost 160
million Won.
He got around 180 million from the dungeon he raided with Hwang Dong-
Seok and Co. So, the average amount per rank C Gate he got was somewhere
between 150 and 200 million each raid.
‘Yup, that’s why that bank teller was so shocked, wasn’t it….’
Chapter 56 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘It’s done.’
Jin-Woo ended the call.
Initially, Chief Ahn Sahng-Min was confused by the sudden request, but
once he heard Jin-Woo’s reasons, he gave his okay rather easily. And now,
Jin-Woo would be able to check out White Tiger’s method of training their
new recruits.
‘And I also managed to borrow the van, too.’
Even though the kid was busy, Yu Jin-Ho still showed up.
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but think that the kid should be praised
wholeheartedly; Yu Jin-Ho came running even though he was tied up with
something, and didn’t even forget to greet him properly, too.
And so, the preparations were complete.
Right now, Jin-Woo was standing in front of the apartment building that the
problematic female student lived in.
‘It’s really close to my own place, isn’t it?’
It only took two minutes of walking to get here. It was the proverbial
stone’s throw away.
He took a look around his vicinity. And he was still in the familiar district,
too tiny and cramped, with lots of old apartment buildings standing close to
one another.
Meaning, this girl’s family circumstances weren’t that good, just how his
used to be not too long ago.
He could understand where she was coming from, now that she was
nominally a Hunter. Well, Jin-Woo was also like that once upon a time.
‘Too bad, those people die the quickest.’
Didn’t he get injured every single time?
Just how many times did he come close to getting killed? If it weren’t for
his mom suffering from the d*mn rare illness, he’d have quit this crap a long
time ago.
For a rank E Hunter, a dungeon was a horrible place to be in.
If left alone, this girl would definitely grow to regret ever being a Hunter.
No, it’d be more likely that she’d die long before she had the chance to regret
making that decision.
‘Of course, that happens all the time, unfortunately.’
The incidents of Hunters dying or getting gravely injured happened dozens
of times in a single day, after all.
It was impossible to talk all these people out of going on a raid, nor was
there any reason to do so. Well, they made their choices so they had to bear
the responsibilities of their decisions accordingly.
‘However….’
If he didn’t know the girl in question, he wouldn’t have cared. But now that
he knew who she was, he couldn’t just ignore this one.
Indeed, Jin-Woo was rather familiar with this girl.
He sensed the presence of a person and raised his head, and spotted the
problem child walking towards him.
Her hair rolled up into a bun above her head; slightly rough and tired eyes –
she was definitely someone he knew.
“Uh?”
The female student discovered Jin-Woo there and tilted her head.
“What are you doing here, ahjussi?”
Just as Jin-Woo did, the female student also recognised him right away.
‘Yup, this world is indeed too dang small.’
Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head.
The female student who declared that she’d become a Hunter; she was
none other than the underage kid, the lone female in the ‘raiding team’ Yu Jin-
Ho had assembled. The one that briefly caused Jin-Woo to worry slightly
since she was still so young and all.
‘….Hahn Song-Yi.’
When he heard that name from Jin-Ah’s homeroom teacher, a flood of
emotions briefly inundated him. So, he just had to confirm it for himself.
And sure enough, the date Hahn Song-Yi began missing school coincided
with the day Yu Jin-Ho’s team began its raiding ‘missions’.
With that, it kinda became a bit harder to think of this matter as someone
else’s mess.
In a way, he felt responsible for it.
As a matter of fact, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was the cause of this
mess, to begin with, after letting a kid who didn’t know how the world really
operated taste some easy cash, and give her false impressions that she was
capable of doing anything now.
‘At least, one thing’s for sure.’
No matter when it might be, he’d feel really bad if he heard of Hahn Song-
Yi perishing inside a dungeon. He had done nothing wrong, so he shouldn’t
suffer through a couple of nights’ sleep, lost through guilty consciousness,
no?
And so, he decided to make time for this evening and sort this mess out. It
wasn’t that difficult, to begin with, anyway.
“What’s going on?”
Hahn Song-Yi’s eyes opened wider as she stared up at Jin-Woo. And then,
her expression became rather unimpressed.
“Wait, could it be that the Hunter my teacher wanted to introduce me to
was you, ahjussi??”
Her continuously calling him ahjussi got on his nerves a bit, but Jin-Woo
maintained his smile and nodded his head.
But then….
“I don’t know what my teacher told you, but I’m not interested in going
back to school anymore. And I’m definitely not gonna give up being a
Hunter.”
Hahn Song-Yi curtly stated her position.
She seemed to be a quiet kid when she was with the raid team, but, her
attitude definitely changed when the story involved her.
She was definitely one of those headstrong modern kids who thought they
knew how to draw the line on where their opinions and viewpoints lied.
‘Well, the thing is, there’s a girl back in my house who’s exactly like you,
you know?’
Jin-Woo grinned slightly.
Hahn Song-Yi thought that she had managed to come across tough and
intimidating, but seeing that Jin-Woo’s response was completely out of her
expectations, she began to get flustered somewhat.
Jin-Woo spoke to her in an even tone of voice.
“I wasn’t planning to tell you to quit being a Hunter.”
Hahn Song-Yi’s eyes widened further.
“I’m sorry?”
Kids like her would always act completely opposite to what you tell them
to do. So, he wasn’t even planning to talk her out of it. No, all he had to was
to show her what the reality was like, just once.
‘That’s what happened to me, anyway.’
He realised the truth after participating in his first raid.
And that was… reality was far crueller and heartless than his imagination
had been.
Hahn Song-Yi did her very best to hide her fluster and asked him.
“T-then, what brings you here?”
Jin-Woo took a step closer.
Hahn Song-Yi flinched noticeably and was about to retreat a step back, but
upon realising that such an action would make her look weak, she forcibly
stopped her body from moving.
Jin-Woo now stood before Hahn Song-Yi.
Although he didn’t mean to, and no one would understand the meaning
behind it, an ominous smile still found its way to Jin-Woo’s lips.
“I’m here to mould you into a better Hunter.”
There was no need to persuade her to accompany him to a dungeon.
She said “Okay, I’m coming!” as soon as he told her that she now had an
indelible opportunity to witness how the White Tiger Guild conducted its new
recruit training exercise.
She didn’t even suspect that Jin-Woo had any ulterior motives.
As they walked to the van, Hahn Song-Yi asked him how he knew her
teacher, and he simply showed her the photo of him and Jin-Ah stored on the
phone.
“Ahjussi, you were Jin-Ah’s oppa??”
“….”
For a while now, a certain word was really getting on his nerves, but since
everything was going according to his plan, he endured it and let it slide.
“Get in.”
“Thanks!”
Jin-Woo drove Hahn Song-Yi to the location where the White Tiger Guild
was holding its evening training. Since he was told that the training exercise
would only commence at 9 PM, there were still plenty of time left.
Vrroom….
The van that was clearly too big for only two people glided across the road.
Was this because both his Agility and Perception had been enhanced a great
deal? He had never driven a car after getting his driver’s licence some time
ago, yet the actual driving proved to be rather easy.
When he concentrated a bit harder, all the other cars on the road looked as
slow as worms to him.
‘Yup, Stats really come in handy in all sorts of things, don’t they?’
Meanwhile, Hahn Song-Yi asked him from the passenger seat.
“Does Jin-Ah really study the whole day even back home? I mean, I
heard rumours that she actually plastered pages of a dictionary on her walls
so she can memorise them even when she falls asleep.”
There was a such a rumour about Jin-Ah?
But, she was such a fried chicken-loving sleepyhead when she was at
home….
“Jin-Ah’s just like you, you know. When she’s home, all she does is play
games, eat, and sleep.”
Well, it was mostly sleeping, but still.
“Eii…. That must be a lie. How come her grades are so amazing, then?”
“I can hardly believe it myself. She used to frequent arcades with me
back when she was still in middle school, you know?”
They chatted about this and that, and eventually arrived near the vicinity of
the Gate. Jin-Woo stopped the van.
Screech…
The area they were in was designated as a location where Gates frequently
appeared. Almost no human beings dared to live around here anymore, so it
was quite convenient to park the van.
From what he heard, almost 80% of houses here were deserted. The story
went that, once the remaining populace moved out, the whole district would
be shut down.
Jin-Woo and Hahn Song-Yi exited from the van.
He scanned the surroundings, and immediately picked up on the
overflowing amount of eerie, creepy chill in the air.
Vrrrr…..
For some reason, he thought that he could hear loud cheering coming from
the shadow beneath his feet. He was probably imagining it, though.
Hahn Song-Yi got a bit scared by the eerie atmosphere of the place, but
after spotting the group of Hunters in the distance, regained most of her self
confidence back.
The way her eyes sparkled, it was as if she had just ran into a super
celebrity or something.
‘Oh well. They are Hunters from the super Guild, White Tiger, so it can’t
be helped.’
To a high schooler who yearned to become a real Hunter, those people
would be no different than actual celebrities, no?
Also, such a thought process wasn’t so strange, to begin with, when
considering how mass media packaged these Hunters on the TV and such.
“Oh, so you really came.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol quickly ran over to Jin-Woo after discovering him.
“Do you still remember me?”
Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head.
Sensing that Hyun Ki-Cheol’s smile wasn’t the fakey business one but the
real thing, a smile also formed naturally on Jin-Woo’s face as well.
They haven’t met too many times before, but this Hyun Ki-Cheol character
seemed to be someone good-natured and easy to talk to.
“I heard it from the Chief. Ah, so this young woman is her?”
“Hello there.”
Hahn Song-Yi lowered her head in greeting.
While they were saying hellos in this fashion, a big muscular guy sauntered
over and spoke in an irked tone of voice.
“Let’s stop with useless chatter and get started already. We didn’t come
here for a picnic, and it’s almost 9 PM.”
The muscular guy didn’t even wait for the response and walked back
towards the Gate. Something didn’t feel quite right with that guy, so Jin-Woo
asked Hyun Ki-Cheol.
“Who was that?”
“Oh. He’s one of our new recruit. He’s ranked A, actually. He must be
feeling a bit unhappy after I asked him for his understanding earlier. He
even asked me if I thought that going to a dungeon was a fun pastime or
some such.”
“He’s a rank A?”
Hyun Ki-Cheol nodded his head, thinking that such a reaction was
reasonable, coming from a proud rank A Hunter like that guy.
Jin-Woo asked again.
“What are the ranks of today’s raid team members?”
“One rank A, seven rank Bs, and four rank Cs, for the total of 12
members.”
“A rank A and several Bs, just for a rank C dungeon….?”
“Well, their ranks might be high, sure, but they are still newbies, you see.
We’re trying to help them earn first-hand experience inside an easier
dungeon.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol spoke with some pride in his voice.
He then added quickly that after today, these guys would immediately be
inserted into high ranked dungeons. Meaning, they could definitely be
counted as a proper combat force.
‘Still, one A and seven Bs, huh…’
Jin-Woo’s expression subtly changed.
Actually, this was the reason why Chief Ahn Sahng-Min gave his
permission. He was thinking of convincing Jin-Woo with the mighty display
from the White Tiger Guild’s new, talented recruits.
However, quite contrary to Ahn Sahng-Min’s and Hyun Ki-Cheol’s
expectations, Jin-Woo could only look on at the Gate with a disappointed
expression.
The Gate was rated at C.
Compared to that, the members of the raiding team were simply too
brilliant to the point that they were even blinding the onlookers with their
auras.
‘If the raid is too easy, the shock factor will lessen, though…’
That was what his main worry was about.
But, he slowly shook his head.
‘No, wait. If she sees it with her own eyes, she should still be able to feel
it.’
….Feel how weak and powerless a rank E would become inside a dungeon,
that was. That alone would be sufficient.
“When can we enter?”
Still utterly oblivious to Jin-Woo’s real intentions, Hahn Song-Yi began
whining already. When Jin-Woo took a look at her, her expression showed
how pumped up she was.
‘Let’s see how long you can keep that up.’
Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his laughter and spoke to Hyun Ki-Cheol.
“We’ll be on our way now.”
“Ah, yes. Wait, hold up for a second, please.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol sneaked a glance around him, and then whispered
something to Jin-Woo’s ears.
“Uhm, excuse me, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. If you decide to step in,
today’s raid will become too easy, so please, refrain from doing anything in
there. Please?”
Since Jin-Woo’s purpose today was to simply observe, obviously he
wouldn’t enter the fray.
“I won’t step in.”
He’d be going around other rank C dungeons with Yu Jin-Ho from
tomorrow onwards, so what point was there for him to disrupt the White
Tiger’s training exercise?
Of course, he’d use his shadow soldiers to conquer those dungeons. For
that reason alone, he had to bring Hahn Song-Yi over here.
‘Besides, I don’t feel like revealing my shadow soldiers with a matter this
simple, either.’
If he showed how easy it was to clear a dungeon with his shadows busy
beating monsters to bloody messes, there was a real danger that Hahn Song-
Yi’s delusions of grandeur might get inflated, instead.
And so, Jin-Woo and Hahn Song-Yi approached the Gate. Unlike that rank
A Hunter, there were some people who welcomed the duo rather happily.
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Since they weren’t here to make money, the higher the headcount, the
better it would be for everyone. As it was customary, they introduced each
other.
But when it was the turn of the rank A Hunter….
“I don’t care.”
He simply walked inside the Gate.
“Well, let us get going as well.”
The new recruits of the White Tiger also began entering the Gate one by
one.
Before Hahn Song-Yi entered, she turned her head to look at Jin-Woo.
“What about you, ahjussi?”
Jin-Woo crossed his arms and replied to her.
“After I see you enter first.”
Hahn Song-Yi’s face was stiff with nervousness, but she still resolutely
nodded her head and jumped into the Gate.
‘Hmm….’
Jin-Woo took a quick breath and stood before the Gate.
He sensed someone looking at him, so turned around to confirm, only to
spot Hyun Ki-Cheol over yonder, waving at him and cheering him on.
‘………’
He reverted his gaze back to the Gate.
However…..
‘…??’
The surface of the Gate continued to ripple softly non-stop.
‘But, shouldn’t the surface return to being a solid black barrier once a
person goes through it?’
Right now, it was continuously rippling about like the surface of water.
Something was off here.
Jin-Woo placed the tip of his hand against the surface.
And it reacted like a sticky liquid, clinging to his fingers and following him
as he lifted his hand away.
‘Could this be….??’
Jin-Woo quickly spun his head around and met Hyun Ki-Cheol’s gaze.
At this point, even Hyun Ki-Cheol had sensed something was very wrong.
Jin-Woo loudly shouted at him.
“Call your main raid team!! Hurry!”
As soon as he finished shouting, Jin-Woo was automatically sucked into the
Gate.
“W-what the hell was that?!”
“V-Vice Chief Hyun?!”
Hyun Ki-Cheol hurriedly ran towards the Gate.
The three remaining employees of White Tiger Guild also hurriedly
followed after him.
Once he got to the Gate, though, Hyun Ki-Cheol began freaking out.
“This… this can’t be!!”
Hunters weren’t the only newbies today; the new employees were also
brought along in order to train them as well. So, none of the newbies had
experienced anything remotely like this.
The trio of new employees looked at Hyun Ki-Cheol with completely
stunned expressions.
“V-Vice Chief!! The Gate’s surface!! It’s changing to a red colour!!”
As if a drop of blood had fallen in it, the surface of the once-black Gate
was now slowly changing to the crimson-red colour.
Hyun Ki-Cheol ignored the confused employees and hurriedly called
someone.
Click.
“Chief!! It’s the Red Gate!! The Gate our people just walked into
changed to a Red Gate!!”
Ahn Sahng-Min’s voice became urgent, shocked.
Hyun Ki-Cheol raised his head and stared at the Gate, now dyed
completely in the colour of blood.
The ripples on the surface had stopped now, too.
Hyun Ki-Chole nervously swallowed his dried saliva.
“I don’t know how… but it’s definitely a Red Gate, Chief.”
Chapter 59 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
There was one more thing – one more reason why Jin-Woo chose the forest
route.
‘Status window.’
[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]
[Level: 51]
[Class: Shadow Sovereign]
[Title: The one who overcame the adversity (extra 1)]
Jin-Woo silently summoned his Status window and swapped his current
Title from ‘the one who overcame the adversity’ to that of the ‘Slaughterer of
Wolves’.
[Title: Slaughterer of Wolves (extra 1)]
A Title given to a hunter skilled in hunting wolves. When facing animal-
type monsters, all of your Stats will increase by 40%.
A chance to abuse this plainly-cheating buff had fallen on his laps, so why
should he go anywhere else now?
Tti-ring.
[An animal-type monster has appeared.]
[The effect of the current Title will activate.]
A smile crept up on Jin-Woo’s face after he confirmed his Stat values
shooting up.
‘Nice.’
It was then.
The Hunters all began screaming out, loudly.
“It, it’s the bear!”
“It’s the Ice Bear!”
An Ice Bear that had picked up on the scents of humans was slowly
trudging towards the group.
These humans were its enemies that had invaded its territory. Obviously,
it’d not look too kindly towards the intruders.
Growl….
The Ice Bear bared its fangs, transparent-like-ice, and slowly raised its
massive frame on its hind legs. It’s huge and hulking figure completely filled
up the Hunters’ vision!
“Ah….”
The creature did resemble a polar bear, but it was almost twice the size, and
the magic crystal, the symbol of all monsters, could be seen in the middle of
its chest area as if it was some kind of a proud emblem.
ROAR!!
It roared out furiously, the ground seemingly quaking under its might!
All the Hunters, excluding Jin-Woo, all froze stiff on the spot after hearing
the ice Bear’s roar.
Park Hui-Jin’s expression crumpled unsightly.
‘Oh, so we only need to be mindful of Ice Bears, was it?!’
How could anyone say that sort of nonsense after seeing that monster?!
She almost fell for Seong Jin-Woo’s pretty convincing argument. But, upon
seeing an Ice Bear, she was certain of one thing.
‘We definitely shouldn’t have chosen the forest route!’
Sensing the approaching danger to the group, Park Hui-Jin stepped out in
front of the group and shouted out.
“I’ll draw its attention towards me, so everyone must… Kyah?!”
The scruff of Park Hui-Jin’s neck was yanked back by a considerable force,
and she had to back step several times to make sure that she didn’t end up on
her butt.
After somehow regaining her balance, she raised her head only to find Jin-
Woo standing before her.
“Hey, what was that all about?!” Jin-Woo pointed at Park Hui-Jin. “I’m
telling you this right now. I’ll be killing all the monsters from now on.”
Obviously, he couldn’t let anyone steal his experience points, now could
he?
For Jin-Woo, these bears were perfect health tonics to buff him up for his
inevitable showdown with the true enemies of this place, the White Phantoms.
“Hah?!”
Park Hui-Jin couldn’t hide her astonishment.
‘Did he just yank me back because he wants to monopolise the monster?’
The other two male Hunters, who so happened to be Mage-types, also
stopped casting their spells in sheer dumbfoundedness.
“No matter how strong you think you are, that thing is a monster of a
high-rank dungeon!”
Completely ignoring Park Hui-Jin’s furious voice coming from behind him,
Jin-Woo walked right towards the Ice Bear.
‘Well, it’s not going to be okay to use daggers for this one.’
The blood splatter would make a mess of things, wouldn’t it?
Jin-Woo had already summoned his two daggers almost out of reflex, but
stored them back in his Inventory. Instead, he clenched his fists tightly.
‘Well, I promised to just observe, but this is an emergency, so I’m sure
they’ll understand. Right?’
Jin-Woo’s glare collided mid-air with the Ice Bear’s.
Roar!
The Ice Bear swung its telephone-pole-thick front arm towards Jin-Woo
like a streak of lightning.
Swish-!!
However, the attack only swiped at the empty air.
‘Why is it so fast compared to its size?’
Jin-Woo was already above the Ice Bear’s head. It was here that he kind of
understood the reason for this monster’s infamy.
“Even then….’
He also sensed that all his level ups until now weren’t in vain.
Before the Ice Bear could lift its head up, Jin-Woo punched with all his
might right in the middle of the monster’s forehead.
Kaboom!!
The head of the Ice Bear slammed down on the snowy ground with an
explosive force.
Its skull was completely obliterated; with its limp tongue hanging outside
the slack maw, the Ice Bear stopped moving completely.
[Level up!]
‘Hell yeah!’
He was thinking that his level up was just around the corner, and now, he
was glad to have stopped Park Hui-Jin from taking any action.
“You… you, just what are you??”
Jin-Woo heard that trembling voice and looked behind him, only to spot
four speechless faces staring back at him.
Jin-Woo sheepishly scratched the side of his head.
‘I warned them earlier because I didn’t want to run into this sort of
situation….’
It seemed that a person would become rather forgetful whenever he or she
witnessed something utterly beyond their capacity to understand.
Left with little choice, Jin-Woo had to state his position once more.
“I told you, I’ll not tolerate anyone asking me questions. If you’re
unhappy with my methods, then….” Jin-Woo pointed his finger in the
direction of Kim Cheol’s team. “You can always go that way.”
Only then did Park Hui-Jin regain her senses, and her facial expression
changed.
“You think I’ll leave your side after seeing how you one-punched that Ice
Bear??”
Honestly, Park Hui-Jin was now overflowing with joy.
She only chose to follow this youth because her gut feeling said he’d be a
better option than Kim Cheol, but holy cow, she quickly discovered that she
had quite literally stumbled onto an unexpected jackpot here.
She was blessed with a quick head, so it was easy to come to a conclusion.
If she really wanted to get out of this place alive, then she had to follow
Seong Jin-Woo.
She feared that Seong Jin-Woo might suggest they go their separate ways,
so she hurriedly made a suggestion first, her heart beating anxiously.
“Mister Jin-Woo, please take over the leader’s position. We’ll definitely
follow every one of your commands from now on.”
‘….Well, I did say I wouldn’t humour their demands at all, but….’
Jin-Woo pondered for a bit, before nodding his head. Thinking about the
near future, it seemed that this arrangement would prove to be convenient for
him.
Park Hui-Jin looked behind her.
The student named Hahn Song-Yi was someone Seong Jin-Woo brought
along, so there was no need to ask her. So, that left the two male Hunters.
“I’m sure you two also agree with my suggestion, yes?”
The two Hunters, now being on the receiving end of the unexpected stare,
alternated their gazes between the corpse of the Ice Bear and Jin-Woo, before
hurriedly nodding their heads.
Once more, in front of the Red Gate.
Hyun Ki-Cheol used his handkerchief to wipe away the cold sweat from his
brows, his eyes locked on his watch.
Baek Yun-Ho asked him.
“How long has it been?”
“It’s been about three hours now, sir.”
“Three hours…. Meaning, it’s almost been three days inside.”
Baek Yun-Ho’s voice sounded grave. Out of four people gathered here,
only he had personally experienced entering a Red Gate before.
One of the S-ranked Hunters representing South Korea – Baek Yun-Ho.
Even to someone like him, a Red Gate was a challenging place to survive.
With a complicated expression, Baek Yun-Ho recalled his experiences.
“The most terrifying aspect of the Red Gate is that… you’re thrown into
a completely different world.”
This was a rare recollection of the past as told by an S-rank Hunter.
Naturally, the attention of Ahn Sahng-Min, Joo Sung-Chan, and Hyun Ki-
Cheol focused on him.
Baek Yun-Ho continued on.
“Once you cross the Gate, the place you end up could be a desert with
temperatures soaring past 60 degrees Celsius, or it could be a dense jungle
full of poisonous insects and snakes. Or, it could be the middle of a snow-
covered field where it’s so cold that you’d immediately develop frost bites.”
Gulp.
The three men simultaneously swallowed their dry saliva.
“Until you actually enter it, no one knows what awaits them beyond the
Red Gate. So, how can anyone prepare for something like this?”
It was the same story as today. The Gate that looked plain and normal
immediately changed its colour to red as soon as Hunters entered it.
“Your skin is burning under the hot glares of the sun, or you’re
tormented by poisonous insects throughout the day, or your flesh rots from
the skin-peeling cold….. And so, the weakest of your group would start
dying first.”
“Oh, my god….”
Hyun Ki-Cheol spat out a gasp as if he could hardly calm himself down.
“But, even when you’re in such a perilous situation, you still have to
fight monsters as well.”
Just from listening to his explanations, they could understand the
hopelessness of the current situation. However, the explanation didn’t end
there.
“Okay, then. Let’s say that you’ve somehow adapted to your new
environments. From then on, you will have to procure food.”
Indeed, one would have to secure enough food to last a few weeks at a
minimum, or at worst, for several months. Now that would be a huge
challenge in and of itself.
“While stuck in the unforgiving surroundings and suffering from
constant hunger, all you can trust is your magic energy compass.”
The magic energy compass always pointed towards the source of a
powerful magic energy emission.
The only ways to escape from a Red Gate were to follow the needle of the
magic energy compass, locate the boss and kill it, or wait until the dungeon
break occurs.
“Now, think about waiting for days, weeks, or even months while only
staring at that compass. How can anyone not go mad from that?”
The three men nodded their heads. These three knew that normal people
like them would not last one day in places as hostile as those.
“I said that it’s been three days already, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
After hearing Hyun Ki-Cheol’s reply, Baek Yun-Ho formed a distressed
expression.
“Most likely, all Hunters ranked C and below have died by now.”
Kim Cheol was ranked ‘A’. However, no matter how good his skills were,
it was impossible for a rank A to protect everyone. Unless it was a rank S
Hunter standing by their side….
Which meant….
“All we can pray for now is the safe return of the higher ranked
Hunters.”
This was the conclusion derived from his personal experience.
In Baek Yun-Ho’s mind, the Hunters ranked C and below were already as
good as dead by now.
Evening.
Large chunks of meat were nicely sizzling on top of a campfire.
“You know, this bear meat, it’s a bit chewy but not as bad as I thought.”
“Would you like some more?”
“Aigoo, thank you kindly.”
Goh Myung-Hwan expertly sliced the meat of the Ice Bear and placed them
on a plate pushed forward by Yun Ki-Joong. These two men were the rank C
Hunters following Jin-Woo.
Both Park Hui-Jin and Hahn Song-Yi were also slowly chewing on the bear
meat, although their portions weren’t as large as the men’s.
“Unni, please pass me the pepper.”
“What about salt?”
“Mm, the seasoning’s just about fine, so it’s okay.”
They all looked to, more or less, have adapted to the living conditions of
the dungeon. From the campfire, to the blankets wrapped around them, and
the tents all set up, too…
They didn’t seem to be in trouble at all.
Heck, from a certain perspective, one could say that they looked rather
comfy, instead.
Goh Myung-Hwan scanned the vicinity and spoke up.
“Don’t you think the attacks of the Ice Bears have lessened lately?”
Park Hui-Jin replied to that question.
“Well, that’s because the team leader has annihilated their numbers,
that’s why.”
“That man, it’s like he has some sort of unresolved vendetta against these
bears from his previous life or something. His eyes go all crazy when he
spots an Ice Bear. He’s so scary whenever he does that. Really, really
scary.”
By now, Jin-Woo’s title had been set as the team leader.
Park Hui-Jin felt Jin-Woo’s absence and craned her neck a little to scan the
surroundings herself.
“Now that I think about it, where did the team leader disappear to?”
Yun Ki-Joong had his head almost buried in the plate as he chomped down
on the meat, but still, raised his head to make his reply.
“He went out a little while ago, saying that he’s going to take a look
around here.”
“Huh.” Park Hui-Jin formed a helpless expression. “Roaming inside a
high ranked dungeon all alone….. Isn’t he scared at all?”
Yun Ki-Joong formed a sly grin.
“If it’s him, it’s not going to be a problem.”
“Oh, well. He’s strong enough to kill Ice Bears, high-rank monsters, with
his bare hands, after all.”
Goh Myung-Hwan followed up to Yun Ki-Joong’s words and continued on.
“But, by the way…. since we’re discussing this and all…. Just how high
must your rank be, if you can beat up a nonsensically huge monster like
that?”
Stop.
Everyone suddenly became utterly silent.
They were all curious about the same thing as well. But, they dared not say
anything, fearful of being kicked out of this place.
“….Let’s just finish out meals first.”
Everyone nodded their heads at Park Hui-Jin’s suggestion.
Jin-Woo searched through the forest, and made his exit as he brushed past
some thickets.
‘It must be somewhere nearby….’
He could sense the presences of multiple Ice Bears coming from
somewhere. From last night, he had been carefully tracking the Ice Bears.
This was all because he had finally realised that Ice Bears were coming
from the same direction.
Jin-Woo continued to search, before his eyes began glittering dangerously.
‘Found you!’
He spotted dozens of caverns on a cliff-like wall, lying beyond some
bushes. And he sensed presences of more than one lifeform coming from each
of the caves.
Hell, he didn’t even have to expand his Perception here; his eyes could
clearly see many Ice Bears lazily moving in and out of several caves.
Just a quick head count and he found over 30 bears.
In other words, this was literally a bear farm.
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
He deliberately came here alone to eliminate the possibility of
eyewitnesses. This would be the perfect opportunity to utilise his shadow
soldiers.
Indeed, he had been waiting for a moment like this.
‘Come out.’
When he inwardly called out, the soldiers wearing black armour
soundlessly materialised and surrounded him.
“You all understand that this is your first sortie, right?”
What he meant by that was, just as one’s impression was decided upon
through the first encounter, these guys would have to impress him with their
first battle, too.
‘……..’
‘……..’
The shadow soldiers stood at attention in eerie silence, with nary a hint of
disorder.
‘Nice.’
Jin-Woo smirked deeply, seeing them like that.
Sniff, sniff….
Meanwhile, more and more Ice Bears began emerging from the caves after
detecting Jin-Woo’s scent.
‘Looks like the other side is done preparing, too.’
Jin-Woo pointed at the Ice Bears.
“Go.”
As soon as his order was issued, the shadow soldiers rushed forward as if
they were sliding on ice.
Chapter 62 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Jin-Woo oppa!”
Hahn Song-Yi displayed her happiness as tears formed in her eyes.
“Team leader!”
It wasn’t as much as Hahn Song-Yi, but still, the two male Hunters’
expressions also brightened up considerably. Park Hui-Jin also breathed a sigh
of relief after confirming Jin-Woo’s face.
Unfortunately, Jin-Woo didn’t have much leeway to respond to their
welcomes.
“Ssh!”
Jin-Woo placed his finger on his lips and gestured them to keep quiet. The
four people, seemingly getting ready to embrace Jin-Woo at any moment now,
all froze up like ice statues.
Park Hui-Jin cautiously asked.
“W-what’s the matter?”
Jin-Woo glared at the fainted Kim Cheol, the dumb b*stard who deserved
to be beaten up, before turning around.
“Looks like Kim Cheol brought along unwanted visitors.”
He sensed countless presences hiding in the forest. Right now wasn’t the
time to worry about Kim Cheol or Go Cheol or whatever. The real problem
lay elsewhere, after all.
Shururu…
After sensing Jin-Woo’s glare, the White Phantoms undid their stealth and
revealed themselves one by one. At a quick count, there were around 20 of
them.
And among them…
Jin-Woo’s glare was fixed on a long-haired White Phantom riding on
horseback.
‘….That has to be the boss.’
An overwhelmingly mighty aura was coming from that creature,
incomparably heavier than any Ice bears and the White Phantoms near it.
If that guy wasn’t the boss of this dungeon, then just who else could be?
For the first time in a long while, Jin-Woo’s skin broke out in goosebumps.
Just as Jin-Woo was shivering ever so softly from its powerful aura, the
boss also recognised Jin-Woo’s strength in one go.
“So, there really was one. A truly worthy being among all the human
trash.”
“….What did you just say?”
“…?”
When Jin-Woo spat out a response purely out of reflex, the boss displayed
an expression of pure surprise.
“You, can you understand our language?”
Jin-Woo was also taken aback.
‘How is it possible to converse with this guy?!’
Not only could he understand what a monster was saying, but he could also
actually converse with it, too.
A language he couldn’t even remember learning before fluently rolled out
of his mouth as if it was his mother tongue.
“You…. You know how to speak the language of the monsters?!”
Park Hui-Jin’s expression said her shock was so extreme that she didn’t
know what to do now. Seeing that, Jin-Woo realised that only he could
understand what that boss was saying here.
‘Is this because of the System?’
Like, an automatic translation feature?
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to the boss. The boss returned the gaze with
great interest.
“To be able to converse…. Very good. There is someone I wanted to
introduce to you.”
The boss pointed at one of the White Phantoms standing behind it.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with him already.”
Jin-Woo’s glare sharpened instantly. Indeed, he recognised that particular
White Phantom.
‘That guy is….’
That guy was none other than the bstard that fired an arrow at Hahn Song-
Yi before breaking out in a mocking grin. How could he forget that arrogant
bstard’s face?
That exact same smile was still etched on the monster’s face.
“This friend informed me of a truly strong being among the humans.
And this friend wishes to challenge you to a duel, so how ab…..”
Even before the boss finished his words, the ‘Knight Killer’ Jin-Woo threw
flew in a straight line.
Stab!!
And the dagger landed right in the middle of the grinning White Phantom’s
face.
“Heok!”
The shocked cry came from the Hunters, though, Yun Ki-Joong hurriedly
covered his mouth to stifle the cry he let loose inadvertently just now.
Plop.
The White Phantom collapsed on the ground.
Jin-Woo extended his hand out, and the ‘Knight Killer’ buried in the dead
Elf’s face shook around a little before it got pulled out and flew back to him.
Jin-Woo grasped the returned ‘Knight Killer’ in reverse grip and lowered his
posture.
“Anything else you want to say?”
The boss spoke up in admiration.
“….You are indeed very strong.”
Then, it climbed off the horse. However, as if it wasn’t planning to fight
yet, it didn’t draw its weapons nor showed any willingness to engage in
battles.
“However, you know this already, don’t you?”
The boss maintained a leisurely expression and continued to engage him.
“….That you can’t fight this number all by yourself.”
There were over twenty Ice Elves here.
However, their number wasn’t important. No, the real danger came from
the fact that there was the boss monster among them.
The rest of the White Phantoms were no match for Jin-Woo, who had
raised his level as much as he could by hunting every single Ice bear in this
forest.
….Exactly like the fool who got killed with a dagger to its face.
‘So, how should I go about killing the boss?’
While Jin-Woo began kicking his brain into gear, the boss continued on.
“So, I shall make a simple suggestion.”
“A suggestion?”
“That’s right. It won’t be such a bad suggestion for yourself.”
“….”
Jin-Woo was inwardly surprised.
It was a well-known fact that humanoid type monsters possessed
intelligence. But he never expected to see a monster trying to negotiate with a
human. So, he couldn’t help but get curious here.
“….I’ll hear it.”
The boss smiled as if it had expected that answer and opened its mouth.
“Before that, I want to ask you something.”
“…..?”
“Why are you among these humans, when you’re not one of them?”
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled deeply.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Ahaha. It seems that you have no idea.”
The boss guffawed out loudly, before pointing to its temple.
“Every one of us can hear a certain voice repeating itself in our heads. It
tells us to kill humans. However, I can’t hear that voice when I’m looking at
you.”
‘Ah.’
That’s what this guy meant?
In that case, Jin-Woo could think of a reason for that.
‘When the boss says humans, it’s probably talking about Hunters.’
The thing was, he had changed to this strange something called ‘Player’
through the System, during his ordeal in the underground temple. Technically
speaking, he was slightly different from other Hunters – meaning, other
Awakened human beings.
‘That’s why that guy thinks I’m not a human.’
That made perfect sense.
When Jin-Woo’s expression slowly changed to that of an understanding,
the boss nodded its head.
“There is no need for us to fight each other. And our side does not wish
to see needless casualties, as well.”
The boss finally got to the main topic.
“Hand over the humans behind you. Then, we will guarantee your life.
How does my suggestion sound to you?”
Before he answered, Jin-Woo asked back.
“I want to ask you something, too.”
“Fine. Go ahead.”
“Just who are you? Where did you come from, and why do you wish to
kill humans?”
“We are….”
It happened then.
The smiling face of the boss suddenly froze stiff. But, that odd state lasted
only for a brief moment. The boss regained its original expression and
continued on.
“There is no need for us to fight each other. And our side does not wish
to see needless casualties, as well.”
‘What the hell was that?’
Jin-Woo frowned deeply.
The boss repeated itself like an NPC from a game that was asked a question
that was not in the script, or one that it was not permitted to answer, to begin
with.
“Hand over the humans behind you. Then, we will guarantee your life.
How does my suggestion sound to you?”
Its expression showed how relaxed it was. In other words, it had not
recognised how odd its own actions were. The White Phantoms standing
behind didn’t display any reaction towards the boss’s strange behaviour,
either.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo continued to wordlessly observe then, prompting the boss to begin
urging him.
“Will you accept my suggestion or not?”
Jin-Woo wanted to find out more about the monsters’ origins and their true
intentions, but as it turned out, it was all a waste of time.
‘In that case….’
The only thing remaining was to choose. But then again, he had made up
his mind already a long time ago.
“I refuse.”
The corner’s of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
‘You see, you possess a far too tempting shadow for me to let go.’
He was planning to kill the boss and take away its shadow. And there was
no way he’d change his mind now when he was constantly thinking about
how to carry the plan out ever since the boss made its entrance.
“Are you planning to fight my soldiers all by yourself? Do you truly
believe that you can overcome the disadvantages in numbers all alone?”
Jin-Woo smirked derisively.
‘Soldiers’, was it?
‘You think you’re the only one? I’ve got them too.’
He summoned his shadows. According to his wishes, the soldiers hiding in
Jin-Woo’s shadow all revealed themselves in the blink of an eye right behind
him.
“Uwa?! Uwaaak!”
Again, the cry came from the Hunters this time as well.
Yun Ki-Joong cried out in fright as the shadow of the Ice Bear, the shadow
beast soldier, suddenly materialised right next to him and he fell hard on his
a*s.
“Ah, ahh….”
When Jin-Woo took a glance at the pale faces of the surviving raid team, he
felt that it was a bit regretful, but this was an emergency situation. There was
no time to explain things to them here.
‘Well, I wouldn’t explain things to them even if this wasn’t an emergency,
though.’
After summoning 29 shadow soldiers, Jin-Woo stood before them and
glared at the boss.
“So, who’s disadvantaged now?”
Finally, the boss displayed its hostility.
“…You seem to know some petty tricks, don’t you? Fine. If it’s your wish,
I shall grant your death.”
The boss unsheathed two daggers from his sides.
This was what Jin-Woo wanted, as well. He grasped the ‘Knight Killer’ in
his right hand, while the left grasped the ‘Poison Fang of Kasaka’ as he got
ready for battle.
‘Petty tricks, is it?’
The boss had a point there. Jin-Woo might hold an advantage in numbers,
but his ‘army’ was slightly lacking if he wanted to hunt the boss down.
Jin-Woo knew this very well.
The boss’s self-confidence could have come from this fact.
Indeed, he now needed more comrades. Powerful comrades.
‘If it’s a powerful comrade, then….’
There was one candidate here.
Jin-Woo sneaked a glance to his side. The still-unconscious Kim Cheol was
lying there, unmoving.
“Attack!”
When the boss issued the order, the White Phantoms pulled on their
bowstrings.
“Bears!”
Jin-Woo placed the beast soldiers at the front.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
Kkrrroooar!!
The beast soldiers, with arrows sticking out of their bodies, all roared out in
anger.
Before the White Phantoms could nock the next volley of arrows, the
infantrymen rushed forward. The magic soldiers also began chanting their
spells.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed dangerously.
‘You’re mine!’
Jin-Woo deliberately pushed Kim Cheol’s longsword towards its owner
with his heel, before pouncing forward himself as well.
His sight was fixed solely on the boss of the White Phantoms. The boss too
was waiting for Jin-Woo’s arrival.
Soon, sparks endlessly flew as the four daggers wielded by two creatures
clashed in mid-air.
Clang! Clang!! Clllaang!!
At the same time, the shadow soldiers and White Phantoms also slammed
into each other as well.
Goh Myung-Hwan looked at Park Hui-Jin next to him.
“Uhm…. So, like, shouldn’t we lend assistance here?”
Park Hui-Jin shook her head.
“This isn’t a fight where we can butt in, you know.”
This was a battle where huge black monsters were swinging their giant
claws; the destroyed black soldiers were regenerating to their original state in
the blink of an eye; and the gleaming blades and the arrows fired from the
upper-rank monsters, White Phantoms, were chaotically flying around in the
snowy field.
‘So, what can a rank B or C do in this place?’
Indeed, the only thing they were permitted to do here was to pray. Park
Hui-Jin could only stare at Jin-Woo with a tight chest as he fought the long-
haired White Phantom.
“Keu-heuk!”
Jin-Woo gasped out.
As expected of a boss from the high-ranking dungeon!
The fight looked to be even from the side, but Jin-Woo was getting cut and
sliced constantly all over his body. Would he be able to last three minutes at
this rate?
His MP was also rapidly depleting away as his soldiers constantly
regenerated.
Finally, the magic soldiers managed to finish their chants. A ball of flames
larger than a volleyball flew in the midst of the White Phantoms.
KABOOM–!!
That was the power of the levelled-up magic soldiers in full display.
Awakened by the resounding eardrum-shaking explosion, Kim Cheol
regained his consciousness and opened his eyes.
“M-mm…..”
Kim Cheol raised his head to look.
Clang! Clang!! Pow-!!
His blurry vision picked up on the sight of White Phantoms fighting against
the unknown black soldiers.
‘What the… hell is going on here?’
He couldn’t figure out what happened while he blacked out, but at least, he
knew very well why he was lying on the ground like this.
The hand that slapped him in the back of his head!!
And the voice that came from behind him!
‘That voice definitely belonged to Seong Jin-Woo!!’
Now that he had regained his bearing, the sense of shame and rage bubbled
over like crazy and the ends of his fingertips trembled.
How fortunate that he could feel the hilt of his sword.
If he was surrounded by the White Phantoms, then he’d not get out of here
alive. In that case, he must….
‘I’ll kill that b*stard Seong Jin-Woo with my own hands.’
His maddened eyes finally spotted the back of Seong Jin-Woo.
…..There he was!
He was too busy fighting a White Phantom and wasn’t paying any attention
to his rear.
This was his chance.
Kim Cheol stood up right away. And then, ran.
“Uwaaaahhhhh!!!”
After sensing Kim Cheol running towards him, Jin-Woo laughed out
inwardly in elation.
‘Right, if it’s you….’
Kim Cheol ran with all his might and after taking aim at Jin-Woo’s neck,
swung the sword, hard.
“Die!!”
In front, the boss. From behind, Kim Cheol.
Even though he was stuck in a seemingly dangerous situation, Jin-Woo still
managed to shout out.
“Igrit!!”
As if he’d been waiting for that call, Igrit jumped out from his shadow
immediately and easily deflected Kim Cheol’s sword.
Clang!!
“No!”
Kim Cheol’s bloodshot eyes opened wider.
However, even before he could say anything, Igrit’s sword pierced deeply
into his chest.
Stab!!
The blade ran straight through his chest and emerged from his back.
“Keo-heok!!”
Jin-Woo quickly took several steps back.
‘I knew Kim Cheol would act this way.’
This fool was someone who didn’t think about anything in depth, and only
acted according to his emotions. They had been together only for a short
while, but that was enough for Jin-Woo to figure this guy out.
Kim Cheol glared at Jin-Woo.
“You…. You….!”
And with that, Kim Cheol breathed his last.
As Igrit stepped up to delay the boss, Jin-Woo issued an order to the
shadow of the dead Kim Cheol.
“Rise up!!”
When that happened….
Uwaaaahhh-!!
Accompanied by a heavy, sombre cry, a huge hand emerged from the
shadow.
Chapter 64 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Hyung-nim! Now that the raids are over, how about we celebrate with a
hearty meal?”
As they were driving back home, Yu Jin-Ho cautiously asked.
“Celebrate? But, there’s no one with us, though?”
The raid team was disbanded as soon as the last raid was completed. Even
Hahn Song-Yi said that she had someplace she had to stop by, so there were
only Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho in the van.
Yu Jin-Ho spoke as if he was embarrassed by something.
“I’ve been receiving your help all this time, hyung-nim, so like, I just
wanted to treat you to a good meal, at least.”
Why was he having so much trouble saying the words “Let’s have a meal
together”?
Jin-Woo chuckled wryly.
Since the kid was implying that he wanted to splurge on a grand feast, there
was no reason for Jin-Woo to refuse the invitation, now was there?
“Alright.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression brightened considerably as soon as Jin-Woo said
okay.
“Hyung-nim! Should I take you to this restaurant in a certain hotel that I
know? They know how to make a mean steak, you see.”
“No, not something like that.”
Unless such dishes came out in public engagements he simply had to
attend, Jin-Woo would rather prefer to eat a simpler meal in peace with Yu
Jin-Ho in an easy-going, relaxed atmosphere.
What a good timing it was, since he spotted one such place that fit the
criteria.
The tip of Jin-Woo’s pointing finger pressed on the van’s window.
“How about that place over there?”
“Ahh, you wanted to enjoy ‘han-wu’, hyung-nim?” (TL: han-wu –
Korean beef. Much more expensive than imported beef.)
“No, the place next to that one.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
A restaurant next to that one…. He could only see a common diner there.
[Day of Flower Blooming on Pork Belly – thinly-sliced pork belly
specialists]
“By any chance, are you talking about that pork belly place, hyung-
nim?”
“What, you don’t like pork?”
Yu Jin-Ho grinned refreshingly.
“Not at all. I also love pork belly, hyung-nim.”
They parked the van in the nearby parking lot and went inside the diner,
only to find the place was packed to the brim with patrons, as well as part-
time workers busy moving around without a moment of rest.
Right now, it was seven in the evening. No wonder the diner was so full.
“Welcome. How may I help you?”
One of the part-time workers walked over with a smile and engaged the
two men.
“How many customers will we be serving this evening?”
“Us two.”
“Please follow me.”
After hearing Yu Jin-Ho’s answer, the part-time worker guided the two men
to a spot in a secluded corner.
However…
“Hold on for a second.”
Yu Jin-Ho took a look around, and pointed towards the empty table by the
windows.
“Can’t we sit over there?”
“I’m sorry, sir. That table has been booked already….”
A large group must’ve made a booking, because several tables had been
brought together. Currently, they were all empty.
Yu Jin-Ho stared at the empty tables with a rueful expression and shook his
head. In the end, the two of them had to occupy the most secluded, out of the
way spot in the diner.
Yu Jin-Ho lowered his head in shame.
“I’m sorry, hyung-nim.”
“There’s nothing for you to apologise for. I was the one who suggested
that we come here, anyway.”
“Even still, I should’ve taken you to a bit better spot than this one.”
Jin-Woo smirked and lightly patted Yu Jin-Ho on the shoulder.
“Don’t sweat over such things and enjoy the food, okay?”
Actually, Jin-Woo was inwardly worried about a scion of a chaebol finding
the taste of such cheap meat to his liking or not.
‘Also, even though I didn’t say anything, but well….’
Jin-Woo scanned his surroundings.
He could see people, and then, more people.
He spent quite a lot of his time in a silent apartment with no one in it, so he
kind of enjoyed this hustle and bustle.
“Here are your orders of three portions of pork belly, and two bottles of
soju.” (TL: Soju – Korean distilled spirit.)
Soon, the part-time worker brought out their orders.
Sizzle–
The thinly-sliced portions of pork sizzled enticingly on the heating plate.
And sure enough, pieces of meat began disappearing real fast. Fortunately
enough, Yu Jin-Ho seemed to like it.
“Well, the thing is, me and my friends frequent pork belly diners
whenever we have the chance, hyung-nim.”
“Oh, really? Friends from the university?”
“Yes, hyung-nim. It’s just that, I seem to mix better with friends from my
university rather than the classmates from the expensive private schools I
went to.”
Jin-Woo smirked slightly and nodded his head. If it was Yu Jin-Ho, then
that sounded about right.
“Here, let me pour you a glass, hyung-nim.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
They filled their glasses with soju, clinked them a little and one-shotted
them.
“Kyaha.”
Unlike Yu Jin-Ho, who was immensely enjoying the bitter taste of soju,
Jin-Woo could only frown deeply in unhappiness.
“Mm? Hyung-nim, is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing….”
Jin-Woo could only stare at the empty glass with a bitter expression on his
face. He had forgotten one crucial fact about his body, what with him being so
busy lately and all.
Tti-ring.
[Harmful substances have been detected.]
[Effects of ‘Buff: Detox’ will now commence.]
[3, 2, 1…. Detoxification has been completed.]
‘I forgot that I can’t get drunk anymore. D*mn….’
It was the same story regardless of how many glasses he knocked back.
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring…..
As long as the buff ‘Good health and Long Life’ was in effect, soju would
remain as only slightly bitter-tasting water and nothing more. Jin-Woo angrily
spat out a cuss in his mind.
‘God d*mn it.’
Rather than drinking bitter water like an idiot, he decided that it’d be
infinitely better to order a soda, instead.
“Excuse me.”
A part-time worker hurriedly came over to their table.
“I want to order two more portions of pork belly, as well as a bottle of
Sprite, please.” (TL note at the end.)
“Okay, please wait for a moment.”
After the waiter left, Yu Jin-Ho began tilting his head.
“Hyung-nim? Why didn’t you order more alcohol?”
“I’m not that good with alcohol, you see.”
Jin-Woo replied, his expression not even changing slightly, but as usual, Yu
Jin-Ho didn’t quite catch that. Instead, a loose smile crept up on his alcohol-
tinged reddened face.
‘Hyung-nim still has a humane side, like this one….’
Yu Jin-Ho kept on giving him a strange but meaningful look, but Jin-Woo
simply ignored him outright.
‘It’s not as if he started acting strange all of a sudden just today or
anything….’
Actually, he was getting curious about something else here.
“What are you planning to do from now on?”
When Jin-Woo asked in a serious voice, Yu Jin-Ho sat upright like a job
seeker waiting for his job interview to start.
“As soon as I complete a simple written test at the Hunter’s Association,
they should issue my Guild Master licence right away, hyung-nim. I’m
planning to negotiate with my father with that licence in hand.”
Determination flooded in Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes. He had invested a lot of his
own moolah for this purpose, and there was no room to retreat now.
‘Besides, I also made a promise with hyung-nim, too.’
The Guild building he promised to Jin-Woo. That part of the bargain could
be upheld only after Yu Jin-Ho successfully persuades his father, Yu Myung-
Hwan, to install him as the new Guild Master.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was feeling rather liberated.
‘Sure, it’d be nice to get my hands on that 30 billion Won building.’
But well, that would only be an added bonus to him. His real purpose had
always been levelling up. While entering all those rank C Gates, he had
reached a far higher level than he initially bargained for.
In other words, he had achieved his goal.
And the results of his frantic levelling up spree?
One punch from him, and the rank A Hunter with a guaranteed annual
salary of billions of Won, Kim Cheol, lost his consciousness. Just like that.
‘At the bare minimum, I can make more money than that guy now.’
If one possessed excellent abilities, wealth was sure to follow. There was
no need to feel nervous at all. And his relaxed mindset could clearly be seen
on his demeanor.
Jin-Woo began reminiscing about the last few days and smiled to himself.
It was at this moment that Yu Jin-Ho asked him a question.
“What are your own plans now, hyung-nim?”
“Oh, me?”
Did I ask something that I shouldn’t?
Yu Jin-Ho thought like this and flinched slightly. But he breathed a sigh of
relief after spotting Jin-Woo’s relaxed expression.
“I’ll be out of reach for a while, actually. There’s this place I have to go
to, you see.”
That one sentence caused Yu Jin-Ho’s face to harden visibly. After forming
an expression of an abandoned puppy, Yu Jin-Ho emptied the soju glass in
one go.
Tap.
He then placed the empty glass on the table, filling it up back to the brim.
After knocking back another glass, he began to open his mouth with some
difficulty.
“Hyung-nim. Please tell me straight if I’ve been bothering you. If that’s
been the case, I shall make sure never to bother you again in the future.”
‘This idiot….’
The moment Jin-Woo said that he’d be out of reach, this idiot must’ve
misunderstood his words again.
Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head and asked a question instead of a
proper reply.
“Hey, Jin-Ho.”
“Yes, hyung-nim?”
“What do you think of me as?”
“Well, I….”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes rolled around this way and that as if he couldn’t come up
with a good enough answer, before he raised his head.
“Hyung-nim, I have a brother who’s over ten years older than me.”
Jin-Woo remembered hearing that from somewhere.
The firstborn son of Yu Myung-Hwan, Yu Jin-Seong.
“My brother doesn’t really like me, so I think, the time I spent with him is
far shorter than what I’ve spent with you, hyung-nim. Compared to him,
you have saved my life, helped me out with my dream, and….”
Yu Jin-Ho stared straight at Jin-Woo.
“To me, you’re more like my real brother than him, hyung-nim.”
He was still a bit scared of Jin-Woo, though.
Still, he’d never, ever forget these past few days following around Jin-Woo
for the rest of his life. Indeed, his respect was far greater than fear of Jin-Woo
at this point.
“If you see me as your brother, then….”
Jin-Woo smiled deeply.
“I’ll think of you as my younger brother as well.”
“Hyu….. Hyung-nim….”
The tip of Yu Jin-Ho’s nose reddened and he began to get teary-eyed all of
a sudden. If that was all, it’d have been fine, but then, he tried to get closer to
Jin-Woo out of nowhere.
“Hyung-nim! I want to give you a big hug! It’s fine, right?”
“Hey, hey!! You’re drunk, dude!! Stop it!”
“No, that’s not true! Hyung-nim, I’ve never been this clear-minded in my
life before! Hyung-niiiiim!”
“Say that with your eyes open, will ya?!”
“Waaaail~~!”
Either he was far too moved by his emotions, or he just was a bad drunk,
Yu Jin-Ho collapsed over the table and began crying his eyes out, prompting
Jin-Woo to pat him on the shoulder.
Soon enough, Yu Jin-Ho fell asleep and the table had quietened down now.
“Hah-ah… what a helpless kid….”
Jin-Woo leaned back on his seat and lightly clicked his tongue.
Yu Jin-Ho.
He was a troublesome kid in many ways, but for some reason, Jin-Woo
didn’t find him dislikeable at all.
Jin-Woo heard that voice and shifted his gaze over to its source.
A TV mounted on the wall of the diner was showing a news bulletin.
‘Is it nine in the evening already?’
He thought like that and stared the screen, only to spot someone rather
familiar appearing there.
‘Huh?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
It was none other than Baek Yun-Ho, and he was being bombarded with an
unending stream of questions from the reporters as he exited from the White
Tiger’s headquarters.
“Is it true that there was a huge incident during the training of your new
recruits?”
“Is it also true that only the lower ranked Hunters returned alive while
all the higher ranked ones had perished?”
“What do you think about the rumour of a mystery person allegedly
aiding the survivors during this incident?”
Baek Yun-Ho was doing his best to ignore the reporters, but in the end, he
had no choice but to respond.
“This incident has been investigated by the Association already. It was
true that there was an incident, but there was no mystery helper at the
scene. No, the White Tiger Guild’s proud Hunters combined their powers
and managed to clear the upper-rank dungeon. And many Hunters lost
their lives or got injured during the process. That is all.”
Another reporter quickly fired in a follow-up question.
“If that’s the case, why are you forbidding us from interviewing the
survivors?”
“Those folks managed to avoid death’s doorstep by a hair’s breadth. So,
why do you wish to speak to those people regarding this deeply traumatic
event? That’s as far as I’m prepared to answer you people.”
Baek Yun-Ho made a quick getaway from there after climbing into a car.
Jin-Woo’s eyes remained wide-open.
‘They were talking about me, right?’
A little while ago, somewhere in the Eastern United States of America.
A shrill scream exploded out inside a certain dungeon.
“Uwaaaahhhk?!”
A Hunter named ‘James’ plopped down on his butt.
His legs had lost all strength and he could only crawl on the floor to run
away. But when he realised that he only managed to corner himself against a
wall, despair quickly dyed his expression.
“Oh, dear god!”
The rank for this dungeon was estimated to be ‘A’. And in order to clear
this Gate, suitable Hunters were recruited to form a raid team.
However, every single one of them was annihilated. Technically speaking,
they weren’t dead, but unconscious on the floor, though.
‘I can’t believe this!’
James leaned against the wall and breathed heavily before roughly shaking
his head around several times.
Today had been a series of truly unbelievable events.
When the raid team entered the dungeon, they could not find a single
monster. Because there was seemingly no monster inside.
A dungeon without monsters?
Can such a thing even exist?
If that was the case, where did the magic power emission that the
measuring equipment had picked up outside the Gate, come from?
The Hunters came up with all sorts of theories by themselves.
This was already a hard-to-believe phenomenon, yet something even more
shocking was waiting for them by the boss room.
When they entered it, they did find a single ‘monster’.
And it looked exactly like a human being.
Indeed, there was only one, but….
From that monster’s single attack, every raid team member lost their
consciousness. This creature proved to be far, far too powerful for them.
Only James had somehow escaped from the boss room.
‘Wait, could it be that all the magic energy emission detected on the
outside of the dungeon is coming from that thing alone??’
The measurement took place far away, from outside the Gate itself, yet its
magic power was already exceeding the level of a rank A?
James shook his head again.
‘That’s just f*cking impossible!’
But then….
“Hah…. This, really now.”
That lone ‘monster’ walked out from the darkness and stepped into the
light.
James began screaming once more after he saw the approaching creature.
“U, uwaaaahk?!!”
“Uh-whew. That hurts my ears, you know.”
The monster – no, an Oriental man with long, unkempt hair and a bushy
beard roughly scratched the top of his head.
“Ah, aaaah….”
James no longer screamed but began leaking out scared gasps instead.
The mystery Oriental man stood before James and placed his hands on his
waist.
“What the hell?! So, who told you to attack first without warning?! I told
you that I’m not a monster, but a human being. I’m a human!”
Unfortunately, James could not understand a single word of this strange
language. Naturally, his complexion progressively worsened.
The Oriental man stared at the terrified American Hunter with a troubled
expression on his face.
Eventually, he spat out a long, long sigh.
“Dang it. What a pain, trying to talk to these big-nosed foreigners….”
In any case, he tried to initiate another conversation one more time.
He squatted down low enough to match the American’s eye level and did
his best to sound as friendly and non-threatening as possible.
“Hey, hey, man.”
He could recall a few English words. With such a poor grasp in that
language, he couldn’t really tell if he was making any sense at all, grammar-
wise.
“I, am, a, Korean.”
So, he tried to enunciate every word to the best of his ability.
“I, want, to, go, home.”
(TL: Originally, the raw said our MC ordered “cider”, but the thing is, in
Korea, all non-alcoholic soda-like beverages with clear colouring, like Sprite,
are colloquially referred to as ‘cider’. Not sure how that came about, though.
So, if you hear/read about someone ordering cider in other forms of Korean
media, such as Kdramas or other KR novels, don’t be surprised, as there is no
alcohol involved.)
(TL: In case you haven’t noticed it yet, the mystery Korean man had been
speaking in Korean, while “James” was speaking/thinking in English.)
Chapter 68 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
On the first light of the day, Jin-Woo headed to the Daesung Tower.
‘It sure is really big.’
Trying to look up at the top of this 100-floor-tall skyscraper from nearby
made his neck hurt.
‘But, why are there so many people around here?’
Unlike the last time, there were way too many people coming in and out of
the Tower. The difference in foot traffic between the nighttime and daytime
was far too huge.
Not only the building’s entrance but the streets surrounding it was packed
full as well.
‘It’ll probably get real noisy if a person suddenly vanishes in a place with
so many people in it, right?’
Not only that, the media was casting a spotlight on this mystery helper or
whatever, so there wasn’t any reason for him to go out of his way and draw
attention to himself, was there?
‘Obviously not.’
Jin-Woo wasn’t someone who enjoyed the attention, to begin with.
He made his way to an area with not much foot traffic and pulled out the
key to the Demon’s Castle from his Inventory.
It was a long, slender, golden key. At a casual glance, it even resembled a
fancy decorative item.
‘No one’s around me, right?’
After scanning his surroundings, Jin-Woo nodded his head.
‘Let’s enter from here.’
Jin-Woo activated his ‘Stealth’ skill.
Shururuk…
After vanishing from view, he returned to the main street and walked closer
to the Tower while brushing past the countless passersby.
Tap.
Tap.
As befitting the busy street in the middle of the city – and during the
daytime, no less – the distance he had to walk wasn’t far but he still ended up
bumping into quite a few shoulders as he blended in with the crowd.
However, not one person noticed it.
‘If I were to abuse this Stealth skill, I can do pretty much anything, no?’
He even thought that this had to be the reason why high-ranking Hunters
possessing the Stealth skill were closely monitored at all times.
His aimlessly wandering mind didn’t stay like that for long. Just like the
first time he came here, the surrounding view suddenly transformed as soon
as he stepped across the invisible boundary.
Rumble….
‘I can already hear the sounds of flames burning from this far away, so
just how hot is it in there?’
The giant tower enveloped in flames – the Demon’s Castle, replacing the
Daesung Tower, filled up his entire view.
The thing was, though, humans were supposedly capable of quickly
adapting to their situations.
‘Well, it’s not as bad as the first time.’
For sure, he didn’t feel as nervous as the first time he saw the Demon’s
Castle.
No, maybe…
‘Maybe, it’s because I have levelled up sufficiently enough.’
Jin-Woo stored the key to the Demon’s Castle in his Inventory, and
summoned an ash-coloured key, instead.
[Item: Key to the Castle’s Gate]
Rarity: A
Type: Key
The key to unlock the gates of the Demon’s Castle. Can be acquired only
after killing the Gatekeeper.
It was the key he got after killing the gatekeeper, the Cerberus. Back then,
he didn’t even dare to use it after getting almost bitten to death by the
Cerberus, but now, he could use it.
Shururuk…
up, he summoned his weapon.
On his left hand, the key; and on his right hand, the Baruka’s Dagger. Jin-
Woo cautiously approached the front gate of the Tower.
He couldn’t see the Cerberus.
‘Could it be that monsters don’t respawn in the Demon’s Castle?’
He couldn’t be sure, but there was some possibility that it might be, just
like with the Cerberus.
‘In that case….’
In that case, the layout of this dungeon could be very different from other
instant dungeons where monsters always respawned.
Jin-Woo expanded his Perception to the limit.
Thump, thump, thump!
By expanding his Perception Stat that had broke past the 100 mark, he
could even hear his own heart beating as loudly as thunderclaps.
‘However, I’m not scared at all.’
Unlike before, he was certainly feeling a lot more confident, knowing how
strong he was currently. Maintaining his vigilance and shivering from fear
were two very different stories, after all.
Tti-ring.
When he stood before the castle’s gate, a new message popped up.
[Will you use the Key to the Castle’s Gate to enter?] (Y/N)
‘….You think I’m going back home after coming this far?’
Jin-Woo snorted at this nonsensical question and chose ‘Yes’.
Creeaaaak….
He didn’t even do anything, yet the huge pair of doors began moving as the
hinges issued loud creaks.
Slam!
‘Huh….?’
Jin-Woo was flustered next.
He had had his Perception expanded to the max, yet he couldn’t sense a
single presence of monsters from beyond the castle gates.
‘There are no monsters??’
Jin-Woo had been worried about precisely the opposite situation happening
to him.
He had even thought about going through a special training by deliberately
entering the penalty zone to fight against those desert centipedes or whatever,
in case monsters crazily rushed out as soon as the castle gate opened up.
‘But, what the hell….’
What the hell was the meaning of this?
All his effort so far seemed to be in vain.
The interior was utterly devoid of any life.
‘Huh…. Well, this is….”
Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, Jin-Woo stored ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ back
to his Inventory and entered the Demon’s Castle.
It happened, then.
Tti-ring.
As soon as a mechanical beep rang inside his head, he immediately
summoned both of his daggers. But, that beep was nothing more than an alert
to let him know that a new message had arrived.
‘Uh?’
[A new quest is available.]
‘A new quest, is it?’
It wasn’t a Daily Quest?
Well, it’d be strange if it was, since Jin-Woo made sure to complete the
Daily Quest and pocketed the rewards before coming here. Meaning, this had
to be a regular quest….
And that would be his first, ever.
‘Well, yeah, I’ve been getting only the Hidden Quests or Emergency
Quests until now, so….’
Excluding the Daily Quests that showed up every day regardless of how he
felt, of course.
Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly and confirmed the contents of the message.
‘Confirm.’
Then, the information on the quest appeared before him.
Tti-ring.
[Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (1)]
Demons are everywhere within the Demon’s Castle. Kill the demons and
collect their souls to receive special rewards.
One soul can be collected from a single demon, but on higher floors, there
are demons with multiple souls.
Quest generation condition:
Quest clear condition:
Rewards:
20 bonus Stat points!
That was the very first thing that attracted Jin-Woo’s attention – the Stat
points.
‘I can raise my Intelligence by 20 points!’
A smile instinctively formed on his face.
He’d been feeling his lack of MP for quite some time now.
‘I need lots of Mana if the shadow soldiers need to regenerate.’
And, was Mana his only problem? He had already confirmed that the
number of shadows he could extract, as well as the number of soldiers he
could store, increased when his Intelligence Stat also improved.
So, for him, increasing the ‘Intelligence’ Stat was a must.
‘There always has been a limit to increasing that Stat through level-ups
and Daily Quests, but now….’
If he could get his hands on that 20 points via the completion of this quest,
then his problems would be solved in one fell swoop.
Gulp.
He was salivating already.
‘Not only that….’
Jin-Woo’s gaze landed on other rewards.
[Rewards]
He was feeling grateful for the bonus Stat points, but now, he could even
choose one item from the Store, too?
‘Can I really choose anything?’
Jin-Woo recalled those ultra-expensive items he saw in the Store’s menu.
‘I definitely saw….’
There were some S-rarity items that cost billions, hell, even tens of billions
there. Well, those billions weren’t the real-world currency but Gold that only
existed within the System, though.
Still, just how amazing was this?
The ‘Knight Killer’ he’d been using so nicely until now cost only three
million Gold.
‘A three million B-rarity item already possesses this high quality and
attack power, so just what will those costing billions be like?’
His curiosity had been stoked for sure.
Never mind the mystery third reward, just from looking at those two
rewards alone, he knew right away that he couldn’t let this quest slip through
his fingers.
‘For this kind of rewards, killing one or two monsters is a walk in the
park.’
Jin-Woo was genuinely elated now and thought about finishing this quest
real fast to receive those rewards, only for his eyes to bulge out after
confirming the quest clear condition.
“Ten thousand?!”
He gasped out in sheer shock.
This was already far beyond the notion of killing one or two monsters.
‘What the hell, what kind of slave labour is this?!’
He had no idea what kind of a monster these demons could be, but hell, ten
thousand was a scary-high number, indeed.
Still, a smile crept up on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘Well, that would have been, if I was alone.’
Currently, the number of shadow soldiers he possessed was 50.
If each one killed 200, this quest would be cleared. If he pushed his soldiers
to work hard, surely this sort of quest would prove to be nothing but a
cakewalk.
[Will you accept the ‘Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (1)’?]
‘Of course.’
He had no reason to refuse.
[You have accepted the quest.]
The penalty for failing this quest would be him wasting a bit of time, that’d
be all.
‘Compared to other quests, uh-whew…..’
Without a doubt, this was truly a wonderful quest when compared to the
Class Change Quest or Emergency Quests where his life was on the line.
Jin-Woo raised his head.
‘I wonder, is that thing supposed to display my progress from now on?’
As soon as he accepted the quest, a counter he hadn’t seen before appeared
in the air, just above his line of sight.
[Collected souls of demons: 0/10,000]
‘Ten thousand… so far away….’
A bitter chuckle leaked out of his mouth once he got to physically confirm
the number that had been floating inside his head as nothing but a vague
notion until now.
It was then that he discovered a different counter to the left of that one.
‘Huh?’
[Exp. needed for the next level up: 60,000]
There it was, sixty thousand clearly displayed via the holographic display.
As soon as he met that, he’d level up, or at least that’s what was written
there.
‘Even my experience points are being displayed now?’
However, he had never seen anything like that prior to his entry into the
Demon’s Castle.
‘Maybe….’
To make sure, Jin-Woo took a step backwards and left the Demon’s Castle.
Sure enough, both the counter for souls and experience points disappeared.
When he stepped back inside, they showed up again as if they had never
disappeared in the first place.
‘Yeah, they only show up inside the Demon’s Castle.’
Although it was unfortunate that he couldn’t see them outside the castle,
but at the least, it’d be quite convenient to have them inside, that’s for sure.
If he looked at it from another perspective….
‘Does this mean that it’ll take a long, long time for me to conquer this
place?’
That was a distinct possibility.
Jin-Woo carefully read through the quest details one more time and closed
the message windows.
‘That should be enough preparation, I think.’
Finally, he had some leeway to take a closer look at the interior of the
Demon’s Castle.
‘Heok?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened immediately once he did.
Wuuuuu-….
Inside of the castle was…. a ruined city. Quite unexpectedly, it was a field-
type dungeon.
‘What is this place? Is this Seoul?’
If everyone in Seoul died and a hundred years had passed by, would the
city look like this?
Within this lifeless, ash-grey cityscape, only the lonesome street lights
flickered as if they were having a seizure.
‘I never expected it to be a field-type dungeon, though….’
Not only that, a dungeon created to look like the metropolis of Seoul.
This was the kind of scale that utterly disallowed any comparison to other
instant dungeons that were based around a special location such as subway
stations or department stores.
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘So, like, where should I go now?’
Where should be his destination?
Jin-Woo’s gaze scanned the surroundings and the distant horizon.
Thankfully, his dilemma didn’t last for long.
In the far-off distance, in the direction where the famed Namsan Tower
should have been, there stood a massive pillar of light stretching beyond the
sky.
‘Let’s head over there.’
Jin-Woo began walking in that direction. He also made sure to memorise
the surrounding area of the castle’s gates in case he got lost on the way, too.
However….
His steps had to come to a stop not long after.
“Kekeke.”
“Kekekek.”
Monsters with smallish physical sizes began creeping out from the gaps of
ruined buildings, one by one.
[Low-Ranked Demon]
Jin-Woo immediately recognised what they were from the dark-red name
floating above their heads.
‘They look like….’
These creatures reminded him of Gargoyles, but without wings. There were
a total of eight of them.
Seeing them, the corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
‘Well, for starters, I got myself eight souls.’
Right away….
Kwajeeck!
The ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ pierced deeply into the forehead of one of the
demons.
[You killed a Low-Ranked Demon.]
[You have earned 100 experience points.]
[You have collected (1) Soul of Demons.]
“Kiaahk?”
“Kiieehk?”
The moment the demons’ attention had shifted to the one with the dagger
stuck to its forehead, Jin-Woo rapidly approached another one to separate its
head from its body.
Slice!
[You killed a Low-Ranked Demon.]
[You have earned 100 experience points.]
[You have collected (1) Soul of Demons.]
This one also gave him 100 EXP.
‘And I need sixty thousand experience points….’
If he hunted down 600 Low-Ranked Demons, then he’d get to raise his
level.
The remaining demons were taken care of in the blink of an eye.
“Kiiiiehhk?!”
“Khek!!”
He had collected eight souls, and the experience points earned were eight
hundred.
‘Hey, this is not too bad.’
And they said that the journey of a thousand miles started with the first step
– Jin-Woo’s eyes began sparkling brightly as he began searching for his next
prey.
Inside the office of the White Tiger Guild’s Guild Master.
Baek Yun-Ho was browsing through several documents he had been
neglecting in the past few days because of his busy schedule.
Beep-!
He picked the phone up after hearing that beep.
“Let him through.”
A short while later, a familiar voice came from the phone’s speaker.
Baek Yun-Ho spat out a long sigh.
“Because of the d*mn reporters. I was thinking of being out of the
public’s eye until this whole thing dies down.”
“Stop riling me up, man. I’m not in the mood to kid around. If I find out
just who leaked it to the media, I’m gonna…”
“Big news, is it? From Japan?”
“What happened?”
About a week ago, the Japanese Hunter’s Association secretly contacted
several of Korea’s large Guilds. They said that they needed advice from the
Korean Hunters.
And so, two days after that, a few of Korea’s elite Hunters travelled to
Japan. The Hunter Min Byung-Gu was one of them.
Baek Yun-Ho had been curious about that matter for a while now.
“Stop building up the suspense and tell me what happened already. This
was the first time the Japs have asked for advice from us. What made them
do that? What did those prideful b*stards want?”
Four years ago, a rank S Gate opened up on the island of Jeju. Ants came
out of there.
There had been three separate subjugation operations since then, and all of
them ended in failure.
In the end, the Korean government gave up on the island, and it was now a
barren land ruled by monsters.
“How could I forget? I nearly died back then.”
“A mutation, is it? But, what does it matter to us? Aren’t they just going
to fight among themselves while being confined to that island?”
The voice coming from the phone sounded rather troubled.
Chapter 70 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
THUD!!
Vulcan fell to the ground, hard. Jin-Woo relaxedly walked out from the
thick, ash-grey dust clouds rising up, and took a look around him.
He was thinking of assisting the Shadow Soldiers right away, but even they
seemed to be getting close to finishing up, as well.
“Kiiechk!!”
“Khekeck!!”
“Kheeck!”
As the shadow soldiers hacked away with their swords, the number of
Vulcan’s underlings rapidly decreased.
‘Status.’
Jin-Woo studied his Status Window. Since he had levelled up only a
moment ago, both his HP and MP were full.
‘I’ve plenty of Mana, so I don’t really need to help out, huh.’
As long as there was sufficient Mana, shadow soldiers would be exactly
like immortals. Now that was the true power of an undead army.
Leaving the mop-up of the remnants to his trusty soldiers, Jin-Woo turned
around in order to collect the loot.
“Hmm.”
Was this feeling similar to unwrapping a gift? Seeing that dead body of
Vulcan, a smile automatically formed on his lips.
‘I wonder what’ll come out this time?’
He could spy several lights sparkling on the body. Just like before, Jin-Woo
extended his hand towards the lights. Then, item acquisition messages popped
up in his view.
Tti-ring!
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon Sovereign’s Earrings.’ Will you take
it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Bead of Avarice’. Will you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Vulcan’s Horns’ x2. Will you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree’. Will
you take it?]
He had been feeling rather optimistic about fighting Vulcan, even before
the battle started. And as he expected, items were quite literally pouring out
from the dead demon.
Having checked the list only once, Jin-Woo’s face was brightening up
considerably already.
‘I can pretty much tell that Vulcan’s Horns should be japtem.’
From its name to the total number he found, it wasn’t that hard to guess
that ‘Vulcan’s Horns’ were japtem only good for additional Gold, just like the
Demon’s Horns he got after killing various demons.
Which meant the remaining three were the ‘real’ items….
And there was this one item that attracted his attention more than the
others.
[You have discovered ‘Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree’. Will
you take it?]
‘What is this Material Item thing?’
What could he possibly make with something like that? Or, was the System
trying to imply that it might be something related to a quest?
Jin-Woo’s curiosity roused from its slumber after reading about a type of
item he hadn’t heard of before. If he wanted to read the explanations on the
items, he had to acquire them first. So, he chose ‘yes’ on all the item
acquisition messages.
“Take them all.”
The lights glittering from different parts of Vulcan all morphed into items
and appeared near his feet as soon as he said that.
A pair of earrings, a red marble-like object, and timber as big as a grown
woman. He could immediately tell which one was the ‘Fragment of the World
Tree’ among them.
Jin-Woo looked at the timber. When he did, the information on the item
popped up.
[Material Item: Fragment of the World Tree]
Rarity: ??
Type: Material
Remaining part of ‘Vulcan’s Club’, originally fashioned out of a branch of
the World Tree, after the contaminated portion had been removed. Timber
from the World Tree possess extraordinary magical energy, and is seen as top
material for the crafting of the very best magic tools available.
‘Top material for the very best magic tool, is it?’
He was curious about just what could be made from this piece of wood, but
too bad, that wasn’t disclosed. Still, there was no doubt this thing was no
ordinary item. Simply by standing near it, he could sense a powerful aura
coming off of it.
‘This timber… I think it’ll come in handy later.’
Instead of selling off this ‘Fragment of World Tree’ to the Store, he decided
to store it in his Inventory.
After he finished doing that, Jin-Woo confirmed the details on the other
loot as well.
[Item: Demon Sovereign’s Earrings]
Rarity: S
Type: Accessory
Endurance +20, Stamina +20
When worn together with ‘Demon Sovereign’s Necklace’ and ‘Demon
Sovereign’s Ring’, set bonuses will be unlocked.
Set bonus effect 1. (locked)
Set bonus effect 2. (locked)
‘This one has hidden set bonuses?’
If only its additional Stat boosts were concerned, then it was not that
different from the ‘Gatekeeper’s Necklace’ in terms of usefulness, but this
‘Demon Sovereign’s Earrings’ had hidden set bonus effects as well.
Even if those set bonuses were ignored, the item itself was still quite
brilliant. Both his Endurance and Stamina got a boost of 20 points, which was
considerable.
‘Every level up gives me 5 Stat points, so….’
He’d need to level up 8 times to get that many Stat points, in other words.
Feeling genuinely pleased now, Jin-Woo picked the earrings up.
[Will you equip ‘Item: Demon Sovereign’s Earrings’?]
‘Equip.’
Just like with other items, earrings disappeared from the view, but their
options still activated with no problem. A satisfied smile formed on Jin-Woo’s
face after confirming the rise in his Stats.
So, the accessory set of a demon sovereign, then.
‘Other accessories should be around here somewhere. Right?’
What with the word ‘demon’ in their names, he could easily guess that
those items must be somewhere inside the Demon’s Castle.
Just what kind of set bonuses would be unlocked if he managed to find the
other two? He had found only one part of the set, but there was nothing he
could do about his anticipation soaring higher.
However, Jin-Woo’s smile didn’t last for long.
‘What is this now….?’
[Item: Bead of Avarice]
Rarity: A
Type: Magic Tool
Bead created by solidifying superior demon Vulcan’s blood. Will
strengthen all magical effects and cause greater damage.
Effect ‘Appetite for Destruction’: x2 magic damage
It was a spherical red object the size of a billiard ball.
Jin-Woo tightly grasped the ‘Bead of Avarice’. But, there was no change to
his Stats.
He then summoned and checked the Class-related skill windows, since
those were the only things that could be called ‘magic’ in his repertoire, but
he saw no change to the number of shadows he could extract nor the number
that could be stored.
‘Maybe it’s not something I can use?’
Jin-Woo’s head tilted this way and that.
An increase of 100% in magic damage. That kind of performance was quite
incredible, indeed.
Now originally, tools that boosted magic cost an arm and a leg, so only a
few mage-type Hunters could afford to use them. Even then, Jin-Woo had
never heard of an item that could double the power of magic among all those
uber-expensive artefacts.
If there were, then it’d been utter chaos, with headlines and special reports
and whatnot. So, there was no way he’d be unaware of one until now.
However, this ‘Bead of Avarice’ or whatever could supposedly double the
amount of magic damage.
‘But, so what? It doesn’t really help me, anyway.’
Jin-Woo licked his lips.
An item that doubled magic damage but did nothing else, would not have
any effect on him. Both his ‘shadow extraction’ and ‘shadow storage’ had
nothing to do with damaging something, to begin with. And the rest of his
skills weren’t magic-related, either.
At this point, he’d rather prefer to have an item that raised his Intelligence
Stat, instead.
‘Tsk.’
Jin-Woo formed a wistful expression and lightly tossed the Bead of Avarice
up and down in the air. Meanwhile, his soldiers arrived near him one by one
after taking down Vulcan’s remaining underlings. The first one to arrive was
Igrit.
In the right hand, three, and another three in the left; he carried a total of
six demon heads and placed them before Jin-Woo.
“…..”
Jin-Woo looked at Igrit kneeling before him and scratched the side of his
head.
“Uhm, hey man. Can’t you stop doing that?”
Of course, Igrit and his gravely-lowered head didn’t reply.
“Because of you….”
Jin-Woo’s gaze slowly shifted over to Iron.
Nobody could tell just when he did it, but Iron had cut Vulcan’s head off
and dragged it all the way to Jin-Woo, before kneeling on the ground
“….This guy is starting to imitate you, you know.”
More importantly, Jin-Woo hunted Vulcan down, not Iron!
Jin-Woo spat out a long groan while keeping his stare fixed to Iron. It was
at this point that an amusing idea popped up in his head.
‘Just like how I used Iron’s shield, maybe should I try and let these guys
use this Bead of Avarice?’
What a good timing it was, since he spotted the magic soldiers slowly
walking behind the regular infantrymen. They were far slower compared to
normal shadow soldiers, never mind the two knights.
Jin-Woo summoned the first of the three magic soldiers to arrive in the
vicinity.
When he beckoned with his hand, the magic soldier decked out in the black
robe hurriedly walked towards him.
‘….Maybe I should go there myself.’
Jin-Woo lightly shook his head and took large strides towards the magic
soldier, before handing over the Bead of Avarice. And then, pointed at the
remnant of the building he used to run up during his battle against Vulcan.
Since all shadow soldiers could be controlled via his will, he didn’t really
need to issue any particular commands here. Jin-Woo simply gave the signal.
“Fire.”
Right at that moment, a ball of flames that was double the size of the usual
attack suddenly materialised at the tip of the magic soldier’s raised hand.
‘Heok?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened super-wide. Without giving him enough time to get
shocked, the ball of flames quickly flew out from the magic soldier’s hand.
Swooooosh—!!
KWABOOM!!
“Huh?!”
Jin-Woo’s jaw dropped to the floor.
The building was swept up in the grand explosion and collapsed like a
house of cards. And the ferocity of the burning flames didn’t show any signs
of weakening at all afterwards.
Jin-Woo stared in pure shock at the roaring flames, before he hurriedly took
the Bead of Avarice back from the magic soldier. He then quickly checked the
item information once more.
‘It’s not there. It’s definitely not there.’
He went through the explanation several times to make sure, but without a
doubt, there was nothing about him being prevented from lending this ‘Bead
of Avarice’ to someone else.
Didn’t this mean he could potentially sell this item?
Gulp.
Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva, before his gaze shifted back to the
burning building.
Rumble! Crackle!!
Yet another part of the still-burning building issued a loud rumble and
collapsed to the ground. Seeing that, the corners of Jin-Woo’s lips began
quivering uncontrollably.
‘Well now. This is…’
Mage-type Hunters would definitely go mad with greed over this thing.
His previous wistful look was long gone by now, replaced by the
expression of anticipation slowly filling up his face.
In the middle of a sunny afternoon.
“The young man from the apartment 902, you say?”
An auntie tilted her head and replied a short while later.
“Hmm, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him lately.”
“Ah, is that so? Thank you for your help.”
Hyun Ki-Cheol lowered his head and said thanks.
It had been four days since he began waiting for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
near the youth’s old apartment building. However, he hadn’t run into his
target until now.
At this point, Hyun Ki-Cheol was beginning to feel that making veggie
juice every morning was a bit of waste now. He let out a helpless sigh and
pulled his phone out.
Ring…. ring….
Shortly afterwards, the recipient answered the call.
“Section Chief.”
The recipient was, of course, the Section Chief Ah Sahng-Min.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is nowhere to be seen. Residents of the
building say they haven’t seen him lately, either.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Understood.”
Click.
Ahn Sahng-Min ended the call and tilted his head.
Just where did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo go to?
No one could contact him for the past few days now. Wondering if he was
avoiding phone calls for the time being, Ahn Sahng-Min had dispatched Hyun
Ki-Cheol over to where Seong Jin-Woo lived, but the news wasn’t good. No
one had seen the young Hunter for a while.
Ahn Sahng-Min couldn’t help but wonder if something had strange
happened.
‘I can’t figure out why I should be worried about him, though.’
In any case, this kind of felt rather weird to him.
Tap, tap.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and when he turned around to look,
he found Hunter Park Hui-Jin standing to his side. She opened her mouth
first.
“Apparently, he told his little sister that he’d be going on a trip with his
friend for a week or so.”
“You mean, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim said that?”
“Yes.”
“In that case… he’s probably not on Earth anymore.”
“Pardon?”
Park Hui-Jin’s eyes opened wide. Ahn Sahng-Min quickly explained
himself.
“We haven’t found any evidence of him going overseas. And there is no
record of him drawing money from his bank or using his credit card,
either.”
“You can even find out things like that?”
“Well, it’s our job to follow around various Hunters, after all.”
“….Oh, my god.”
“Anyways. On top of this, according to the Association’s last known
location records, the communication with his phone was cut off in the
middle of the city, as well. And that happened about five days ago. Doesn’t
all this sound too mysterious to you?”
“He couldn’t have been kidnapped, right?”
Park Hui-Jin inadvertently voiced her worry in the ensuing confusion.
However, the gazes of the two people soon met, and they began chuckling
almost at the same time. It was hard to tell who started first.
Seriously now. Just who was Seong Jin-Woo?
He was none other than a Hunter who soloed a high-ranking dungeon. Not
only that, a Red Gate, to boot.
Ahn Sahng-Min scratched his cheek and spoke up.
“If you want to kidnap Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, well, you’d need at
least the rumoured Chinese special forces to show up. You know, the one
supposedly made up entirely of high-ranking Hunters.”
Park Hui-Jin nodded her head in agreement.
Ahn Sahng-Min continued to grin, but then, found something rather odd
and asked her.
“By the way, how did you find out about him going on a trip?”
“Ah, that. It’s from Hahn Song-Yi. I talk to her often, you see. She goes
to the same school with Mister Seong Jin-Woo’s little sister, so I asked her
for a favour.”
“Aha….”
With Ahn Sahng-Min’s reply, their conversation came to an abrupt end.
And then, they began thinking the exact same thing.
‘Just where did that guy disappear to?’
Chapter 74 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Knock, knock.
“Here are the requested files, sir.”
“Come in.”
Woo Jin-Cheol entered the Association President’s office.
As if he had been waiting a while, Goh Gun-Hui welcomed him as his
expression brightened considerably. As soon as opening the file Woo Jin-
Cheol handed over, a familiar youth’s face could be seen.
It was none other than Seong Jin-Woo.
The Jin-Woo in the identity photo looked immature and the atmosphere
exuded seemed quite different compared to now, but it wasn’t enough to make
it impossible to recognise him.
“H-mm…”
Reading the youth’s prior records, Goh Gun-Hui gradually became serious.
‘Four years of Hunter activity as a rank E? Not only that, the lowest
grade there is?’
This was no different than him trying to kill himself.
Even if the Gates under the Association’s jurisdiction were of lower grades
compared to what large Guilds or freelancers were in charge of, they should
still be breathlessly difficult for a rank E!
And as expected….
Jin-Woo had spent as much time in the hospital as he was active as a
Hunter.
“Even with all these frequent injuries, he still managed to tough it out.”
“Apparently, he couldn’t quit the Association because of his mother’s
hospital fees.”
“….A rare type of youth in this age, indeed.”
An unreadable light flickered in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes.
‘In place of his missing father, he has been looking after his sick mother
and a younger sister who is still a student, all by himself….’
After learning that Seong Jin-Woo was a Re-Awakened, Goh Gun-Hui
decided to take a peek at the youth’s files half out of interest, but he sure
didn’t expect this.
Goh Gun-Hui found the youth even more likeable after reading more about
the kid.
‘It’ll be just too much of a waste to hand him over to large Guilds.’
The longer he took a look at the information, the greater Goh Gun-Hui’s
regret grew for failing to recruit the youth to the Association’s folds.
“Tsk.”
He smacked his lips a little and flipped the page, and eventually, arrived at
the last one. Feeling satisfied now, Goh Gun-Hui closed the file folder.
“Thank you. This was informative.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol took the files being handed back to him and turned around
to leave, only to stop and open his mouth, apparently in some difficulty.
“Excuse me… President, sir.”
“Mm?”
Goh Gun-Hui raised his head.
The look of hesitation could clearly be seen on Woo Jin-Cheol’s face.
‘….Why would Chief Woo make that kind of face, when normally, he
looks hard enough to chew on rocks for breakfast?’
Was there a difficult matter to discuss?
Goh Gun-Hui’s curiosity had been stoked for good now.
“What’s the matter?”
Woo Jin-Cheol hesitated for a while before he finally replied.
“There is something you should know, sir….. The truth is, I received
word not too long ago that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has entered a raid team
earlier today.”
“Already? Okay, so whose team are we talking about here?”
“It’s the raid team from the Hunters Guild.”
“Hmm… Hunters, is it?”
Seong Jin-Woo had chosen the Hunters. Not only that, in one day, too.
Goh Gun-Hui’s expression hardened.
‘Could he have been just all talk, and he got tempted by the massive
contract signing fee of the Hunters…?’
If so, what a disappointing turn of events this was. Well, he was feeling
genuinely moved for the first time in a long, long while after meeting a
Hunter worthy of that job title.
However, when thinking back to the attitude the youth carried from
yesterday’s meeting, as well as the information Goh Gun-Hui had read just
now, Seong Jin-Woo definitely did not look like someone who’d change his
mind with a flip of his hand.
There must be some other reason.
Such as…
“For sure, if he wished to combat truly powerful monsters, then the
Hunters Guild should suit him the best.”
Goh Gun-Hui was ready to accept this explanation. Too bad, because Woo
Jin-Cheol quickly tackled him off that thought process.
“It doesn’t sound like that’s the case, sir.”
“Have you heard of something?”
“It has been confirmed that he…. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo didn’t join with
the main raid team, but actually with the mining team, instead. Sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui shot up from his chair.
“What did you say? A rank S Hunter applied to become a miner??”
His voice accurately conveyed his disbelief.
In all honesty, Woo Jin-Cheol reacted the same back then. That was why he
confirmed it several times to make sure, but the result didn’t change no matter
what.
‘That’s why I hesitated about telling him about this matter….’
Just what was Seong Jin-Woo thinking?
Cold sweat trickled down Woo Jin-Cheol’s face as he spoke.
“Yes, sir. He has indeed done so.”
Goh Gun-Hui plopped down on the chair and began chuckling in
helplessness.
“What a hard to understand young man he is.”
After putting on the distributed hard hat and the miner’s overall, Jin-Woo
followed after the foreman Bae Yun-Seok. He found a fairly large group of
Hunters wearing hard hats like him near the Gate itself. Around twenty or so?
Their gazes focused on Foreman Bae. And the moustached man introduced
Jin-Woo to everyone.
“This here is Mister Seong, and he’ll be working with us from today
onwards.”
“Hello.”
Jin-Woo lightly bowed his head and tried to read the overall atmosphere of
the mining team.
“…..”
Their reactions were indifferent. But, that was understandable.
‘Of course….’
On one hand, he was a temp who may or may not show up tomorrow. And
on the other side, they were Hunters who had signed formal contracts with the
Guild to become full-time members of the mining team.
From their perspective, there was no reason to get particularly friendly with
Jin-Woo.
“Gee whiz…. These guys. He’s a colleague who’s going to work together
with you, you know.”
Foreman Bae smiled awkwardly and pointed at a guy with pretty scary
facial features standing far back.
“Mister Seong, please stick with Mister Mok over there, and if you’re
curious about something, learn from him. Mister Mok might be a silent
type, but he’s the most experienced out of everyone here.”
“…Understood.”
Jin-Woo didn’t say anything else and stood next to this Mister Mok. When
their gazes briefly met, Mister Mok spoke in a voice small enough to miss it.
“It’s Mok Jin-Su.”
“I’m Seong Jin-Woo.”
The introduction ended with that. Before long, Mok Jin-Su’s gaze had
shifted to the foreman.
‘….What a friendly guy.’
Jin-Woo also shifted his gaze.
The foreman was conversing with a regular person who must’ve been the
Guild employee in a location a bit of a distance away, looking rather serious.
When Jin-Woo concentrated a little harder, he could hear the contents of that
conversation.
“…The raid team hasn’t come out yet? Didn’t you say they were finished
already? How many minutes ago was that?”
“They said that they are almost finished for real, this time. Please be
patient for a little while longer until all the monsters inside are taken care
of. This is all for the safety of you and your team, you know.”
“I’ve heard the exact same thing three times already.”
“Eii~. Mister Foreman, you know as much as I do how complicated it’ll
become when we don’t do a thorough job, and a hidden monster pops out
during the mining operation.”
When the male employee who was young enough to be his son smiled and
went on a charm offensive, Foreman Bae could no longer stay angry
anymore. The moustached man turned around with a smirk on his lips.
“Okay, okay. I got it.”
“Oh? Mister Foreman, you’re not angry anymore?”
“I said I got it. So get going already.”
“Yes, sir. As soon as the raid team exits from the Gate, I’ll definitely run
over to you right away without a moment’s hesitation. Oh, by the way. You
still remember that we’re all having a drink after today’s operation, yes?”
“Aigoo. I know. I know! So get going, young man.”
Fortunately, the conversation came to an end without any potential
problems developing. That employee’s responses were quite excellent,
indeed.
‘Most folks would think that, once you start working for a large Guild,
you become more arrogant than before no matter where you are, but….’
The truth was, most of the Guild’s administrative staff were regular people,
while those operating out in the field were mostly Hunters – those who had
Awakened.
There were many things requiring the touch of an Awakened, but there
would always be a finite number of them.
In other words, it was impossible to hire and fire Awakened at will as if
they were parts of a factory machine that could easily be replaced. That was
why all Guild employees did their best to mind the Hunters and their moods.
From others’ perspective, they might seem like they had made it in life, but
the employees of large Guilds all had to go through trials and tribulations that
only they knew.
It was then.
‘…..Mm?’
Jin-Woo was focusing on the conversation between the foreman and the
employee, but out of the blue, he could also hear the whisperings coming
from his side.
“Did you hear that? The newbie joining us today is supposed to be a rank
E.”
‘Are they talking about me again?’
Sometimes, Jin-Woo couldn’t help but resent his excellent sense of hearing.
‘Still, doesn’t mean I’m gonna cover up my ears or anything….’
While he bitterly smiled to himself, other Hunters were cautiously
whispering to each other.
“What? A rank E?”
“A rank E has been selected?”
“That’s right.”
Jin-Woo could sense the sharp glares boring down on the back of his head.
“What the heck. What is the foreman thinking of, hiring a rank E and
all?”
“Does a rank E even have enough strength, I wonder?”
“Yeah, I wonder about that, too.”
“Huh, can we even finish today’s operation on time?”
Worried voices could be heard coming from here and there.
Still, they kept their voices low, perhaps in consideration of the new guy.
Too bad, such actions were meaningless in front of Jin-Woo, though.
Jin-Woo could only keep his chuckles down.
‘There was another reason for their reactions not being so welcoming,
huh.’
As expected – a rank E would receive cold shoulders no matter where they
went. He was already well used to this, so it didn’t faze him anymore.
‘Well, it’s not like I’ll be seeing them for long, anyway.”
But then, something else happened.
Noisy, noisy….
Suddenly, the front of the Gate became rather noisy.
“The raid team has come out.”
“Looks like they are finally finished.”
The tired expressions of the Hunters in the mining team, restless from all
that waiting, brightened one by one. Foreman Bae had been observing the
situation until then, and he gestured at his team.
“Okay, okay. Everyone, let’s get going.”
Hunters in the mining team checked their equipment and slowly shuffled
towards their destination. Jin-Woo blended in and went along with them.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Thank you.”
“You all worked hard, everyone!”
The Hunters Guild employees stood in front of the Gate and welcomed the
raid team members as they made their exit one by one.
The term raid team as used in the field seemed to refer to the members
belonging to the Guild’s main assault force.
‘So, these people are…. the country’s best assault force.’
Studying the faces of each and every upper rank – no, the very highest
ranked – Hunters walking by, Jin-Woo’s eyes sharpened considerably.
He spotted a familiar face among them.
‘….Choi Jong-In.’
The leader of the Hunters Guild, and a rank S mage-type Hunter.
Jin-Woo pulled the hard hat lower to hide his face, figuring that things
might get complicated if Choi Jong-In recognised him here. Thankfully, there
were many Hunters wearing a similar get-up as him nearby. So, Jin-Woo was
able to blend in just fine.
And so, as he stood amidst the miners and silently studied the members of
the country’s very best assault force, Jin-Woo began thinking that…
‘…..Are they really the true elites of the Hunters Guild?’
He was feeling quite incredulous inwardly.
Quite contrary to his initial expectations, it was hard to find a single Hunter
with a really powerful aura.
As befitting of the nickname ‘Ultimate Weapon’, Jin-Woo could sense an
enormous amount of magical energy from Choi Jong-In, but besides that guy,
not one was worthy of mention.
‘Could they be the weak ones, instead?’
But, that simply made no sense.
Jin-Woo softly shook his head.
These were the members of the no.1 raid team selected from the cream of
the crop found in the country’s top Guild.
‘I mean, the Guild Master himself has participated in the raid, so there’s
just no way that some nobodies would be chosen as team members.’
The word most ill-suited to describe these people would be ‘Weak’. Then,
there could be only one conclusion.
‘No, it’s me who has gotten stronger.’
A thin smile crept up on Jin-Woo’s lips. Strength was relative, wasn’t it?
The efforts of the last couple of months definitely did not betray his
expectations. His Stats had increased by so much that he could think of the
raid team that managed to conquer a rank A dungeon as weaklings.
By using the difference between himself and them, he could sense his own
strength.
Thump, thump, thump….
His heart began beating faster from this realisation.
But, then….
No one told him to do so, and there was no sound attracting him, yet Jin-
Woo’s head instinctively swivelled back towards the Gate. And then, he
gasped out in surprise.
‘How can this be….?’
There was a woman with a short hairstyle relaxedly walking out from the
Gate.
The very first things that caught his attention on her makeup-less face were
a pair of large and clear eyes. up, her clean and pale skin, as well as her
smoothly flowing neckline, also managed to attract his gaze.
If there were 100 men, 99 of them would unhesitatingly praise her looks
and call it beautiful. However, besides all that, what attracted Jin-Woo’s
attention the most was not her looks but what was inside her.
The power that was hidden inside her.
From that expressionless woman, an incredible amount of magic energy
was leaking out non-stop.
‘At a bare minimum, she’s on the same level as Choi Jong-In.’
Or maybe, even more than that.
She possessed an aura that easily overwhelmed her surroundings.
By the time his shock wore off and cold reasoning succeeded in driving his
emotions out of his head, Jin-Woo recalled this woman’s name.
‘She must be….’
The only female rank S, Cha Hae-In.
The top-ranked Hunter who formed, along with Choi Jong-In, one of the
core pillars of the Hunters Guild.
‘I can’t think of anyone else.’
Just how many women possessing such an aura existed in South Korea?
Compared to her ‘rarity’ though, Cha Hae-In’s face wasn’t all that well
known. It was because she didn’t enjoy being exposed to the cameras. And
that was also why Jin-Woo saw Cha Hae-In’s face for the first time today as
well.
‘Wait, her face doesn’t even look weird like in some rumours, so how
come she hates being in front of a camera?’
Indeed, pretty much all ladies in their early twenties loved taking photos.
Sure, all those happened to be selfies, but still.
Perhaps his stare was too direct, Cha Hae-in’s own gaze began shifting in
Jin-Woo’s direction.
‘Stealth… shouldn’t be necessary here, right?’
Jin-Woo easily hid his presence. Cha Hae-In continued to scan the area Jin-
Woo used to stand before tilting her head slightly.
‘What was that? I thought I felt a really strong presence just now.’
Was she mistaken?
Initially, she thought that the Association President Goh Gun-Hui had
stopped by at the operations area. However, that powerful presence
disappeared completely as if it was a lie.
‘Well, someone as busy as the Association President wouldn’t come
unannounced, now would he?’
Too bad for her, the cost of her misunderstanding was rather great.
Because she was searching after the hint of that strong presence, she had to
focus her senses, and that meant the heavy odour several times worse than
normal assaulted her nose.
“Euk.”
As usual, Cha Hae-In pulled out a handkerchief to cover her nose, and
while tottering around somewhat uneasily, escaped from the cordon of
Hunters.
‘Her perception is better than I thought.’
Jin-Woo let out a sigh of relief while watching Cha Hae-In’s distancing
back. With her exit, all the raid team members had come out of the Gate.
Having been waiting with bated breath for this moment, the foreman of the
mining team Bae Yun-Seok turned around to face his boys. He clapped his
hands loudly and spoke up with a bright voice.
“Well, it’s our turn now, so let’s all do our best!”
The unique nature of the job meant that the retrieval team would have to
enter first, followed by the mining team.
Jin-Woo stood in front of the Gate.
‘…….’
As he stood there while silently admiring the splendour of the rank A Gate,
something he hadn’t experienced before, Bae Yun-Seok approached him.
“Mister Seong, what are you doing? We should go inside.”
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo replied briefly and stepped through the Gate, just like other
Hunters did before him.
And then, a familiar message popped up before his eyes.
[You have entered a dungeon.]
Chapter 82 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Right then, Jin-Woo felt his heart crash down to the pit of his stomach.
‘When did she….?’
He was paying too much attention to the boss and failed to notice that
someone had come closer.
‘I’m busted….’
Jin-Woo could only smack his lips in regret.
Tsk.
However, with an eyewitness around, it was no longer possible to stare
avariciously at the boss.
The Hunters Guild had purchased the raid permit for his particular
dungeon, so naturally, the boss of this place was also a part of their
investment.
And, if the boss was killed off, the Gate would close down. The potential
losses the Hunters Guild might incur would be a lot, then.
‘I nearly messed up.’
He got blinded by the desire to level up and nearly put his hands on
someone else’s property. Jin-Woo regained his bearings and spat out a sigh of
relief; meanwhile, the owner of the voice had walked closer.
“I asked you what you were doing.”
Jin-Woo formed an embarrassed smile and turned around to face her.
“I got lost and ended up here.”
“You got lost?!”
She sounded flabbergasted. Only then did Jin-Woo confirm who the owner
of the voice was.
‘Huh? Isn’t she….?’
He saw that face just before entering the dungeon, didn’t he?
It was none other than the rank S Hunter Cha Hae-In. As Cha Hae-In
slowly closed the distance, she carefully scanned both of Jin-Woo’s hands.
‘I definitely saw him holding weapons just now, though?’
Was she mistaken?
Whatever the case might have been, they had disappeared without a trace.
Cha Hae-In’s gaze scanned the entirety of Jin-Woo, up and down.
‘A hard hat and a worker’s overall….. Is he from our mining team?’
She honestly believed him about getting lost here. She didn’t know how he
got this far, but well, the boss room was a very dangerous place to hang
around.
Discovering the ‘reason’ was secondary. For now, Cha Hae-In figured that
the priority should be on helping this man to leave this place.
“That chamber is where the boss is.”
Cha Hae-In covered her nose with her handkerchief as usual and stood
before Jin-Woo.
“Please exit from the dungeon as soon as possible. If you manage to
attract its aggro, people inside this dungeon could all die.”
“Ah. I’m sorry.”
It seemed that his acting worked. Jin-Woo formed a satisfied expression
and walked past Cha Hae-In. It was then.
‘….Uh?’
Cha Hae-In’s head snapped towards Jin-Woo.
Something impossible just happened.
Cha Hae-In’s eyes opened wide and even before she realised it, she was
calling out to him.
“Excuse me. Wait!”
“Yes?”
“Can you take a look at me for a sec?”
What’s gotten into her?
And they said that thieves knew what they did wrong; Jin-Woo was not
looking forward to Cha Hae-In coming in close to him. Too bad, she was
already standing right in front of his nose.
“What…. what’s the matter?”
He asked with a troubled look on his face, but she didn’t answer and simply
proceeded to lightly breathe in the air near him. She had already put away the
handkerchief covering her nose.
‘What’s going on here?’
Jin-Woo failed to understand why she was doing this.
‘Wait, why is she suddenly smelling me?’
Jin-Woo began panicking inwardly. However, the state of confusion Cha
Hae-In was going through at the moment was several times greater than his.
‘There is no…. stink coming from him.’
This would be her first time meeting another Hunter that didn’t stink.
Cha Hae-In’s surprised eyes stared at Jin-Woo. And a question mark floated
above Jin-Woo’s head as his reply.
“Is there some kind of a problem?”
“You… Are you a Hunter for real?”
Was there a need for words here? Jin-Woo pushed forward the Hunter
licence hanging on his neck. Cha Hae-In took the licence and her gaze
quickly alternated between Jin-Woo’s face and the ID photo.
‘Rank E…. Seong Jin-Woo….’
Was this because his rank was too low?
She could not pick up any type of smell coming from this man named Jin-
Woo. No, wait. Actually, a pleasant odour was gently wafting out of him,
instead.
Jin-Woo sneakily extracted his licence out of Cha Hae-In’s hand.
“Can I go now?”
“Uhm, well, I….”
Cha Hae-In did call out to Jin-Woo, but then, realised that she had nothing
else to say nor had a reason to keep him here.
“…..It’s nothing. Please be careful on your way out. This dungeon is
rather large, you see.”
“Ah, of course.”
Jin-Woo lightly nodded his head and turned towards the location of the
mining operation. His back soon disappeared around the corner of the cavern.
However, Cha Hae-In’s lingering gaze didn’t shift away from the path Jin-
Woo had walked down on.
‘He smelled really nice.’
Hunters of the mining team were returning to the mining operations area
one by one after finishing their lunch.
Foreman Bae was walking with a toothpick stuck in between his teeth.
Once he saw Jin-Woo appearing from the deeper parts of the dungeon,
though, he flinched greatly in shock.
“Uh? Huh?? Mister Seong, why are you coming from there??”
“Oh, that….”
Jin-Woo sneakily shifted his gaze over in the direction of the boss.
‘….I can’t tell him about me stopping by the boss to see what it looks like
out of curiosity, right?’
Jin-Woo’s gaze returned to Foreman Bae.
“I got lost while searching for the bathroom, actually.”
“Aigoo! You need to be more careful, young man. Interiors of these
dungeons all look the same, so if you get lost inside, it won’t be easy finding
your way around! But still, how did you find your way back to here?”
“Oh, I ran into Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim on my way back, so….”
“Ahh, Cha Hunter-nim, was it? She’s probably gone to stand guard by
the boss room just in case the boss decides to take a stroll. That lady also
worries a lot, maybe as much as you, Mister Seong.”
Foreman Bae guffawed vigorously. It seemed that Jin-Woo being worried
about the boss not too long ago had left a deep impression in his mind.
Jin-Woo could only smile wryly.
‘The foreman can laugh like this only because he has no idea how
terrifying the boss actually is.’
This was the difference between the Hunters doing these sorts of jobs, and
the Hunters working in the assault team.
Cha Hae-In understood very well how dangerous and scary an existence the
monsters could be, so she was just being meticulous in those areas that no one
else was paying much attention to.
‘I didn’t know there was such a side to her, what with that expressionless
face of hers and all.’
If the boss decided to come out of the boss room, the assault team wouldn’t
be the ones in danger. No, it would be the workers doing their job, as the raid
team would be taking a break outside the dungeon.
And she was sacrificing the allure of sweet rest to stand guard in front of
the boss room, just for the sake of total strangers.
‘…..She’s an amazing woman.’
That was Jin-Woo’s honest impression of Cha Hae-In. It was at this point
that he suddenly recalled her odd habit.
‘Why was she covering her nose with a handkerchief?’
Thinking back, she never let go of the handkerchief not even once, except
for their meeting a few moments ago.
“Foreman?”
“Yeah?”
Foreman Bae remained very friendly whenever Jin-Woo asked him a
question, even though it’d be quite reasonable for him to get a bit annoyed by
now.
‘Right, the responses were pretty good back when I was doing my job,
wasn’t it?’
Indeed, one should strive to do their best in their jobs.
Thanks to his efforts, Jin-Woo could ask about this and that without
holding back now. Heck, it was Foreman Bae who urged Jin-Woo to speak,
instead.
“Mister Seong? You called for me, so how come you ain’t saying a
thing?”
“Oh, well, it’s nothing important, but…. By any chance, do you know
why Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim walks around with a handkerchief?”
“Oh, that? Well, it’s cuz Hunter Cha is a bit peculiar, you see.”
“A bit peculiar?”
What did he mean by that?
Jin-Woo didn’t have to ask, because Foreman Bae helpfully explained
himself first.
“Hunter Cha can supposedly smell a kind of body odour coming from
other Hunters. And I hear she finds them pretty horrible.”
“She can smell other Hunters?!”
“I heard something or other about her special constitutions and stuff.”
Her special constitutions, he said.
Jin-Woo also possessed something similar to that – his excellent sense of
hearing.
Even from his early years, his hearing could be considered better than
average, but once he Awakened, it developed even further.
‘Probably, Cha Hae-In’s sense of smell also got enhanced like mine.’
So, he could more or less understand where she was coming from.
“Well, wouldn’t you agree that she is peculiar?”
Perhaps he enjoyed the sight of Jin-Woo focusing on his words more than
he should, because Foreman Bae continued on with his explanations without
any prompt from the youth.
“I heard that she finds it really hard to breathe near other Hunters
because of the stink.”
“…”
Was that why?
‘….Asking me if I was a Hunter.’
Was it because, unlike other Hunters, he didn’t smell at all?
Back in the Red Gate, the leader of the White Phantoms said something
similar.
Wasn’t this a bit similar in context with what that creature told him? He
didn’t have the Hunter-specific stink, and they couldn’t hear the voice telling
them to kill him.
‘Because, I’m a Player…..’
A unique existence who had received the advantages of the System.
Just what was this ‘Player’?
The question of his own identity rose up in Jin-Woo’s head, but he shook
his head eventually.
‘This isn’t a problem I can figure out now, anyway.’
Jin-Woo emptied his mind. Problems that couldn’t be solved by thinking
too hard would only tire him out if he continued to dwell on it.
Crack! Kwack!
It was then, he heard his colleagues getting back to work. So, Jin-Woo also
lifted the pickaxe.
‘The rank A boss… I wish I could hunt it down.’
What would he have done if Cha Hae-In didn’t show up in time?
He couldn’t help but wonder.
Thanks to Jin-Woo’s brilliant efforts, the mining team was able to finish
their operation well before the dinner time. According to the foreman, they
had finished two hours faster than planned.
With that, the looks the fellow miners were giving him had gone through
substantial changes.
“Nice work, Mister Seong!”
“You were really good, you know?”
“After seeing all those Mana stones tumbling down, I thought we
somehow got ourselves on an excavator or something.”
Hunters surrounding Jin-Woo began praising him one by one. The cold,
indifferent eyes before entering the Gate were nowhere to be seen now.
Jin-Woo was also feeling rather pleased with himself. This experience of
being a dungeon miner proved to be surprisingly educational, and he also got
to achieve the purpose of coming to this rank A dungeon as well.
“Well, let’s get out of here, everyone!”
“Roger that!”
“Let’s go!”
At Foreman Bae’s order, the miners all began moving at the same time.
“One, two!”
“Yu-cha!”
They left behind the retrieval team still suffering through their operation
and, after changing out of their overalls, the miners re-gathered in one spot.
Unlike the other miners, who were all full-time employees of the Guild,
Jin-Woo’s daily wage was handed to him immediately.
“Here. This is your share, Mister Seong.”
“Ah, thank you.”
While handing over the envelope containing the day’s wage, Foreman Bae
sneakily threw in a question as well.
“We’re planning to go and enjoy a drink together, so how about it?
Would you like to join us?”
He sounded light and cheery, but his eyes were gleaming in a serious light.
‘Looks like he has something important to say to me, but….’
Jin-Woo could sense the man’s desperation, even. Unfortunately, Jin-Woo
declined the invite as tactfully as possible.
“I’m sorry.”
“Mm…. Is that so.”
Foreman Bae scratched his chin.
‘Well, this is a story best told after knocking back a few cold ones, but…’
He hurriedly changed his tactic.
“I’ve met quite a few people while doing this job for many years now.”
“Okay.”
“But, it’s my first time meeting someone like you. You have a natural-
born talent to become a miner.”
It seemed that Foreman Bae really liked Jin-Woo here.
‘Haha…. Well, this is….’
All Jin-Woo could do here was to chuckle awkwardly, unable to neither
agree or refute that notion. Deciding that the young man’s smile was a good
omen, Foreman Bae confidently moved on to the main topic at hand.
“I’d normally not say something like this, but…. Don’t you want to come
and work for me full-time? I will definitely not treat you poorly, you see.”
This young man named Seong Jin-Woo.
Even though today was his first day as a miner, he managed to outperform
the veterans by three, four times the amount.
If he couldn’t hold on to such outstanding talent, wouldn’t he be a failure of
a foreman?
He was even thinking of discussing the matter with the person in charge
and have Jin-Woo’s wages paid separately from others. That was how badly
he wanted to reel in this young man.
Too bad, Jin-Woo remained resolute.
“Thank you for your kind words, but…. Actually, I’m getting ready for
something else at the moment.”
Just a few words from Jin-Woo, and Foreman Bae’s face was forming a
dejected expression of a man who had lost his country.
“….R-really?”
Jin-Woo chuckled to himself.
‘What an interesting guy.’
To display his raw emotions so openly like this. More than likely, Foreman
Bae must’ve thought that he had discovered an unpolished rough within the E
rank.
Foreman Bae pondered something for a bit, before cautiously asking the
youth.
“What about tomorrow, then? Can you come to work tomorrow as well?”
“Tomorrow? Hmm…..”
Actually, he didn’t have anything else planned for tomorrow. The re-
evaluation was scheduled for the day after, too.
Still, was there a reason for him to take another mining job now? He
already got to learn the process of the dungeon conquest, and he even got to
witness the rank A boss, too.
However….
‘Wait a minute.’
Just as he was opening his mouth to voice his refusal, a new question
quickly entered Jin-Woo’s mind.
“Does that mean Hunters Guild will go on another raid tomorrow?”
“That’s right. And that one’s also a rank A.”
“But, is that even possible? They finished the raid today.”
Normally, a raid team would take about a week off after finishing up a raid.
‘And this raid only started from yesterday afternoon.’
Which meant the elites of the Hunters Guild were raiding this dungeon for
two days in a row – yesterday and today.
And by the time they kill the boss after the retrieval operations finally end,
it’d be the early dawn. Naturally, Jin-Woo couldn’t understand how there
would be another raid tomorrow.
When Jin-Woo displayed a hint of interest, Foreman Bae also got more
enthusiastic.
“You see, assault team B will be stepping forward tomorrow, not team A.”
Assault team B?
Could it be that they were thinking of clearing a rank A dungeon with a
backup team?
“And this is precisely the power of the Hunters Guild, you see. I mean,
we are probably the only Guild in entire South Korea who can conquer
rank A dungeons with two different teams.”
Foreman Bae sounded quite proud, then.
“Does Hunters raid dungeons like this all the time?”
“No, no. Now normally, we wouldn’t have to split up the teams like that.
But it looks like the schedule got overlapped this time.”
Because two rank A Gates appeared around the same time in the district the
Hunters Guild operated in, Chairman Choi Jong-In had to sweat a lot in order
to get the permits for both of them, apparently.
‘Ah. So, the reason for running into Chairman Choi in the Association
yesterday was this….’
Someone as busy as Choi Jong-In wouldn’t just randomly show up in the
Association for no reason whatsoever.
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
“Okay, so does that mean it’ll be your first time trying to raid the
dungeon with the B team?”
“That’s right. However, the B team of the Hunters isn’t your regular
backup team, okay? They are even better than the A team of some of the
other large Guilds, I’ll have you know.”
“Still, it should be far more dangerous than today, yes?”
Foreman Bae became speechless, then.
Because, that would be quite obvious.
In today’s raid, two rank S Hunters participated. On the other hand, only
the rank As and below would try to raid the dungeon tomorrow.
Sure, he heard that the size of tomorrow’s Gate was smaller than the one
today, but still, losing two rank S Hunters was a big blow, indeed.
After all, Mister Seong was worried about the boss monster, even when the
assault team featuring two rank S Hunters were nearby.
‘Doesn’t mean I can lie to the kid, now is it?’
Foreman Bae was thinking of changing the youth’s mind tomorrow while
working beside him, but realising that he had failed, he expressed some
regret.
“Yes, it’ll get more dangerous, for sure. If something goes wrong, then
the raid itself might fail, too.”
It was here that the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes changed.
Chapter 84 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Screech.
A black sedan stopped by the side of the road.
The man climbing out of the driver’s seat, kitted out in a pair of sunglasses
and a black business suit, was none other than Woo Jin-Cheol, the section
chief of the Monitoring Division, the Hunters Association.
Soon after his exit, three more men climbed out of the car from the
passenger and rear seats. All of them were from the Monitoring Division as
well.
“Chief, weren’t we on our way back to the Association?”
“I just wanted to confirm something, first.”
Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze over the Gate, some distance away.
‘A rank A Gate still gives me the creeps every time I look at it.’
Woo Jin-Cheol frowned deeply. If that giant hole opened up like a door and
monsters trapped inside emerged outside…..
Just imagining that made him shudder.
‘However, why did that man apply to become a miner in such a
horrifying place?’
Not only that, for two days in a row, too.
Even if Association President Goh Gun-Hui hadn’t asked him, Woo Jin-
Cheol would have personally come here to find out, anyway.
‘Investigating behind his back is…. impossible.’
The man in question was a rank S Awakened. A measly rank A like him
going undiscovered while secretly investigating a rank S was, realistically
speaking, an impossible dream.
That was why he decided to show up in the open like this.
Since he had a matter to attend to nearby anyway, he was thinking of
greeting the youth while saying he was in the neighbourhood, and then ask a
couple of simple questions.
‘I hope he won’t find me strange or anything.’
Anyone would get curious of the circumstances if a Hunter, already pretty
much confirmed to be a rank S, chose to shovel the ground for some reason.
On top of this, wasn’t Seong Jin-Woo someone the Association President
was paying close attention to? The Association President must’ve found this
young man very much to his liking, because he even focused all of his
attention on everything Jin-Woo did.
‘No, I’m not the strange one here.’
It was obvious that you’d get curious, and it was only natural to ask.
While telling himself that, Woo Jin-Cheol walked over to where the
representative of the Hunters Guild was.
“I’m looking for your mining team.”
“Who…. are you?”
“I’m from the Association.”
The Guild employee confirmed Woo Jin-Cheol’s identity and pointed in the
direction of the waiting mining team.
“Please head over that way.”
“Thank you.”
Four Hunters from the Monitoring Division were now paying a visit to the
mining team. As if he had received a heads-up already, Foreman Bae Yun-
Seok hurriedly ran to meet them halfway.
“Aigoo, what brings the Hunters from the Monitoring Division to this
place?”
The members of the mining team had been relaxing until then overheard
those words, and tension briefly flashed by in their eyes.
The oppressive pressure Hunters felt from the words ‘Monitoring Division’
was rather huge.
The people whose job was to arrest the Awakened that the normal laws
couldn’t do anything about, they then either reformed the troublemakers or
simply eliminated them. The ‘Monitoring Division’ was where those kinds of
people worked for.
“What’s going on?”
“Hunters from the Monitoring Division are here.”
“Monitoring Division?”
“Something must’ve happened.”
Feeling curious now, the mining team members began flocking around
Foreman Bae.
Woo Jin-Cheol took his sunglasses off.
‘……’
He swept his gaze around the miners to locate Seong Jin-Woo, but in the
end, he had to ask for that man’s whereabouts from Foreman Bae.
“Do you know by any chance where Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is?”
“I bloody knew it!”
Suddenly, a man jumped out from among the miners. It was Lee Seong-Gu,
who had run into Jin-Woo’s shoulder yesterday.
Lee Seong-Gu passionately spat out his complaints, flying spittle
accompanying his rapidly firing words.
“When that bstard looked at me and began grinning, I was terrified that
he might eat me alive or something, you know! Uh-whew, it’s still so dmn
scary even when I think about it now….”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s brows furrowed slightly.
‘Terrifying enough to eat a person….?’
Just what on earth was this man talking about?
Murmur, murmur…
The voices of the Hunters rose up higher and higher. Woo Jin-Cheol
ignored the background noise and asked Lee Seong-Gu.
“Did something happen?”
“Ah, well, that is….”
Lee Seong-Gu was about to answer him, but then, he rapidly realised that
he was also at fault and quickly waved his hands around.
“Well, that isn’t really important, but the main thing is, his eyes were
really scary, man.”
“….”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s gaze shifted back to Foreman Bae.
“Where can I find Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Mister Seong is… He’s inside the Gate right now.”
Seong Jin-Woo was inside the rank A dungeon, where a raid was ongoing?
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes opened wider.
“Why did he enter the dungeon?”
“Well, the raid team’s porter hasn’t shown up today, you see. Nobody
wanted to go in there, so Mister Seong volunteered as the porter.”
“….”
“But, it’s a wee bit weird, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s nothing particular, but… Cha Hunter-nim… no, I mean, Cha
Hae-In Hunter-nim was also looking for Mister Seong, so she entered the
Gate just now, you know? Isn’t it just too weird…?”
Foreman Bae spoke up to there and tilted his head.
Meanwhile, the mind of Woo Jin-Cheol became a bit of mess after hearing
that.
‘The Vice Chairman of the Hunters Guild Cha Hae-In was looking for
Seong Jin-Woo? Not only that, she even went after him into the dungeon,
too?’
Just what was happening here?
He only stopped by to say hello to Seong Jin-Woo, but now, it felt like
something big was afoot here.
‘For the time being, I should head over to the Gate.’
That seemed to be the best choice he could make for the time being.
“We’ll stop by at the Gate, and leave afterwards.”
“Oh, sure thing.”
Foreman Bae chuckled genially and nodded his head. Just as Woo Jin-
Cheol and his subordinates turned around to leave, Lee Seong-Gu quickly
grabbed his arm.
“Excuse me, Mister Hunter?”
Lee Seong-Gu had this expectant face for some reason as he hurriedly
asked Woo Jin-Cheol.
“That b*stard, Seong Jin-Woo, did he do something bad? Maybe, he’s
killed someone? I mean, he looked like someone fully capable of that.”
Woo Jin-Cheol frowned slightly again. He sort of could understand why
Seong Jin-Woo glared scarily at this moron.
‘A fool who’d get blown away into the weeds if Seong Jin-Woo snorts in
front of him…..’
Still, there were too many eyes watching. As a Hunter working for the
Association, he couldn’t carelessly display his irritation at a stranger.
This was why working for a public organisation sometimes could get rather
annoying. Woo Jin-Cheol spat out a long sigh and did his best to sound as
diplomatic as possible.
“You’ll find out when you take a look at tomorrow evening’s news
broadcast.”
Perhaps that answered most of his own suspicions, Lee Seong-Gu raised
his voice high as if he had correctly predicted this.
“I told you, didn’t I? I told you that man is too suspicious!”
“But, he didn’t look that way….”
“Right. And he worked so diligently, too.”
Not minding the lukewarm responses of his colleagues, Lee Seong-Gu
went on about how great his discerning eyes were.
‘Tsk.’
Woo Jin-Cheol stared at that man making a fool of himself, before taking
his subordinates towards the Gate.
However….
Woo Jin-Cheol instinctively stopped a few steps away from the Gate.
“Chief?”
The subordinates began staring in confusion at Woo Jin-Cheol’s stiff face.
‘This… This can’t be. It makes no sense.’
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly yanked his phone out. He then accessed the
Association’s information hub and checked out the available info on the rank
A Gate the Hunters Guild was supposed to conquer today.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Why is the measured value of the magic energy so low?!’
His head began rocking side to side automatically.
‘The measurement results are wrong.’
Not all rank A Hunters were equal. For instance, Hunter Woo Jin-Cheol
was right near the top within the rank A. And his instincts were telling him
this: The measurement value was all wrong.
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly issued an order to his subordinate next to him.
“Go get the magic energy measuring device.”
The subordinate immediately realised that Woo Jin-Cheol’s expression was
grave, and hurriedly ran to where their car was parked.
The miniature measuring device used by the Monitoring Division was a
world apart in quality from the devices used by the regular Association
employees. As befitting a device created from a top-grade magic crystal that
cost over a billion Won, this piece of equipment very rarely threw up errors or
mistakes in its results.
Bleep.
The measurement result quickly came out.
‘I knew it….’
The displayed result showed a clear discrepancy to the previously
measured value. If the Guild formed their raid team according to the
measured value presented by the Association, then it’d definitely become a
serious situation.
‘Well, with two rank S Hunters inside, I’m sure nothing untoward would
happen, but…’
But, when Woo Jin-Cheol placed the measuring device on the ground and
tried to stand back up…
Wuuuuoooonnng!!
The Gate suddenly began vibrating.
The powerful gushing magic energy wave caused Woo Jin-Cheol and his
three subordinates, with far worse perceptions than him, to flinch grandly on
the spot. They began trembling like leaves right away.
“S-Section Chief?!”
“What, what was that, sir??”
Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze to the youngest of the agents present, the
kid’s complexion looking awfully pale now.
“You okay?”
“Y-yes, sir. I’m okay.”
The youngest agent cautiously stared at the back of his hand after making
his reply. He could see goosebumps covering up his skin.
Woo Jin-Cheol stood upright.
“We’re going inside.”
“Pardon me?”
“You want to go in there, sir?”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s determination didn’t waver, even for a second.
“If you’re scared, it’s okay for you to back out.”
Only he knew that the measurement value was incorrect at this stage. It was
his duty to inform the Hunters trapped inside. It was the duty of the
Association’s agents to manage other Hunters, and to keep a close watch on
them, but also to aid them in time of their needs.
“N-no, sir.”
“We’ll go with you.”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head in satisfaction.
“Junior. Stay behind and report the new measurement result back to the
Association.”
“Yes. No, wait. Sir?”
“Can you do it?”
Woo Jin-Cheol lightly tapped the youngest agent here on the shoulder, and
the latter nodded his head with some difficulty.
“….Yes, sir. I understand.”
Woo Jin-Cheol turned to look back at the Gate.
On top of its already nonsensically-high magic energy emission, an even
greater storm of magic power rushed out from the Gate just now.
‘What the hell is going on inside this Gate?’
With Woo Jin-Cheol as the lead, the two agents of the Monitoring Division
also threw themselves beyond the Gate’s surface.
Around the same time….
Cha Hae-In was following after the traces left behind the raid team.
‘This is so weird. Why can’t I find the traces of monsters?’
In a regular dungeon, it was normal to find the corpses of monsters strewn
about here and there, starting from somewhere near the entrance and all the
way till the boss room.
But, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t see any dead monsters.
Did the monsters gather in one place or something?
She thought like this and continued to walk forward, until….
‘…Huh?’
She finally located corpses in the distance.
As befitting a rank S melee-type Hunter, Cha Hae-In arrived at the location
of the battle in the blink of an eye.
‘How can this be?!’
Her eyes opened up super-wide. All the corpses belonged to the High Orcs.
It was easy to identify them, because they featured red skin and their fangs
were noticeably longer, too.
‘How did Mister Sohn Ki-Hoon’s team manage to defeat this many High
Orcs?!’
And, was that all? There was seemingly not one casualty, too. Of course, if
there was a casualty, they would’ve retreated on their own accord, saving her
the trouble of having to step foot inside here.
‘…Did I underestimate the rank A and B Hunters by too much?’
That could certainly be the case.
Surveying the location, she thought that the battle had to be a bit one-sided,
as well.
However….
‘Wait, isn’t that….?’
Cha Hae-In discovered something odd and crouched down to take a closer
look at one of the corpses. And her eyes grew even wider than before. She
stood back up and quickly began checking out each of the High Orc corpses.
‘This one, and this one, too….’
Her suspicion gradually morphed into certainty.
‘But, how….??’
How could something like this happen?
Almost all the High Orcs were left with injuries inflicted by short but
incredibly sharp weapons.
‘They weren’t blows fatal enough to kill, but….’
But, she thought that these were definitely enough to hinder the movements
of the High Orcs. Which meant that other Hunters were simply dining on the
table full of tasty dishes prepared by someone else.
It also meant that one Hunter managed to almost single-handedly massacre
all 20 High Orcs.
Only two High Orcs were killed off in a different fashion to everyone else.
One had its head ripped off by an incredible force, while the other one had
died after something blunt hit it in the head.
‘Excluding those two, one person managed to drive all the other Orcs to
the brink of death?!’
Could such a thing even be possible??
She was deeply confident of her own speed, but even then, she couldn’t be
sure of achieving the same feat under the same given situation. And also,
from what she knew, there was no Assassin-type Hunter wielding daggers or
shortswords within Sohn Ki-Hoon’s team.
‘….Shortswords?’
It was then, a certain scene flashed past her brain.
The man who stood near the boss room yesterday.
Seong Jin-Woo was definitely holding short weapons in both of his hands.
‘Could it be that man?’
When her thoughts arrived at this point, Cha Hae-In’s head snapped
towards the deeper parts of the dungeon. And her expression rapidly
hardened. She could sense this incredibly powerful magic energy wave, no,
magic energy tremors, the kind she’d never experienced before, coming from
there.
The air itself was trembling, hard.
‘No!!’
Cha Hae-In bit her lower lips.
If that magical energy belonged to the boss monster, then no one from Sohn
Ki-Hoon’s team would be able to survive.
She began running towards the boss room with all her might.
Chapter 90 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘Summons??’
The first thing Cha Hae-In thought of was summoning when she saw the
Shadow Soldiers. However, there were simply too many of them to say that
this was the result of summoning magic.
The thing was, the mage-type Hunters specialising in summoning magic
could only control one, or two at a push. If one could control two, then the
treatment one received improved greatly, and she hadn’t yet heard of anyone
capable of controlling three or more summon creatures.
However….
Just how many of them were here?!
‘This makes no sense!’
One man summoned over 100 in one go. And, he didn’t even need a lot of
time to summon them, too. No, he only needed a moment to summon dozens
and dozens in one go.
‘I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes.’
She might be one of the top-ten ranked Hunters in South Korea, but another
Hunter’s ability had managed to leave her totally speechless now.
However….
‘This isn’t the time for me to stand around like this.’
Her gaze immediately shifted past the Shadow Soldiers and locked onto the
raid team. Their complexions were not good at all. Some of them were
squatting on the ground as if they no longer had any energy left.
Didn’t matter what the identity of the man named Seong Jin-Woo was,
didn’t matter what kind of ability he possessed – her priority lay with lending
him aid by taking care of these High Orcs right away.
The results of her thought process might be simple, but she was incredibly
quick to put them into action. Cha Hae-In tightened her grip on the ‘weapon’
in her hands and took a step towards the High Orcs.
However, it happened then.
Her eyes met Jin-Woo’s. And his eyes were telling her in no uncertain
terms.
….That it was not necessary; that she shouldn’t interfere.
That she should just observe from the sidelines.
Cha Hae-In couldn’t understand why.
‘But, how come….?’
She could easily tell that Seong Jin-Woo was capable of controlling
countless summons. However, there were just as many High Orcs standing,
and there was also the boss possessing greater power, too.
Because he had to summon that many creatures, and he had to maintain
them constantly too, his magic energy reserve should be running empty by
now. Yet….
‘What is he trying to do on his own?’
She was puzzled, sure, but in the end, Cha Hae-In lowered her weapon. It
wasn’t because the so-called weapon just so happened to be a pickaxe she
borrowed from the mining team. No, she became curious with what the
Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo would do against the army of High Orcs,
instead.
Expectations.
Her cool-headed reasoning and her expectation had a fight in her mind, and
the latter achieved a resounding victory. For some reason, her heart began
palpitating faster now.
‘Whew, that’s a relief.’
Jin-Woo inwardly breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Cha Hae-In’s
response. Seriously, the real thing was about to begin, so it wouldn’t do for
some interference to suddenly pop out, now would it?
Heck, he even had to let the poor Sohn Ki-Hoon go through that crap until
the very last moment humanly possible, just for a chance to monopolise all
the monsters in here.
‘Well, he’s the kind of a guy who’d try to fight alongside if he has some
energy left still.’
That was why he only acted the moment Sohn Ki-Hoon let go of his sword.
Even though he had to suppress his urge to rush forward and kick the head of
that d*mn Shaman.
It was all for this moment.
‘As expected of a quick-witted woman.’
What a relief it was that Cha Hae-In turned out to be a smart girl. She
backed off without him needing to raise his voice, after all. Jin-Woo turned
his attention back to his front while a deep smile formed on his face.
“Shadows!”
Jin-Woo loud yell reverberating within the boss room prompted the
shadows to take the battle stance all at once, not one of them deviating from
the formation ever so slightly.
Clack!!
Only a moment later, an eerie silence filled up the chamber.
The thing that broke this silence was the single word Jin-Woo threw out
while pointing at the High Orc Shaman.
“Go.”
With that, over a hundred Shadow Soldiers rushed towards the cowering
group of High Orc warriors.
RUMBLE–!!!
The black soldiers and their controlled march shook the ground, the cavern,
and even the eyes of all those witnessing this scene.
Woo Jin-Cheol was running breathlessly.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
He ran so hard that he now tasted sweetness in his mouth.
He bent over and tried to catch his breaths, before raising his torso up –
only to spot a woman with a short hairstyle standing near the entrance of the
boss room. He immediately recognised who she was.
‘Cha Hae-in….’
Where would you find a female Hunter possessing an aura like hers?
‘….However, why is she standing still like that?’
Woo Jin-Cheol found it strange that she didn’t try to participate in the battle
and simply stood by, so he quickly walked up next to her.
And it was at that point he got to see clearly the situation inside the boss
room.
“This…. What is this?”
Soldiers wearing jet-black armour were one-sidedly massacring the
supposedly-powerful monsters, also known as High Orc warriors.
“K-kuwaaahk!!”
“Kiiahk!”
“Kueehhk!!”
The pitiful screams of the High Orcs even managed to deafen Woo Jin-
Cheol’s hearing.
Also, he might have been less shocked if there were only human-shaped
soldiers present. But then again, just what were those nonsensically huge
black bears with smoke coming out of them, as well as High Orcs kitted out
in various black-coloured armours?
“Been a while, Chief Woo Jin-Cheol.”
“Ah, yes, miss. It’s been a while… but, what are they? They don’t seem to
be simple monsters….”
“They are summons that man called out.”
Cha Hae-In greeted Woo Jin-Cheol first before pointing at Jin-Woo in the
distance.
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly took his sunglasses off and stared at Jin-Woo, now
standing in the middle of the battlefield. While wielding two shortswords that
looked like daggers, he was busy destroying the formation of the High Orcs.
‘No matter how I see it, doesn’t he look like a top-ranked melee-type
Hunter?’
However, he could even use summoning magic, too?
And, sure enough…
When Jin-Woo’s lips moved a little, dozens more summons rose up from
the ground.
“Oh, my god!”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s jaw fell to the floor.
Just how many summons could that man control?!
‘This… this is the true ability of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….’
He couldn’t close shut his slack jaw at all.
Could the Association President Goh Gun-Hui have recognised the skill set
of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo already? If so, then his sky-high interest in Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo made plenty of sense.
Cha Hae-In couldn’t rip her eyes away from Jin-Woo for a long time, but
she belatedly did manage that and asked Woo Jin-Cheol.
“By the way, why are you here, Chief Woo? Was the call made to the
Monitoring Division already?”
When Cha Hae-In asked him that question, Woo Jin-Cheol somehow
managed to regain control over his emotions and replied.
“No, that’s not it. We were in the neighbourhood, just passing by. But, it
was a coincidence that we discovered the Gate’s abnormal condition, and
we came here to help facilitate the evacuation of the raid team, but well….”
Woo Jin-Cheol stopped talking there and stared at Jin-Woo again.
“However, looks like that won’t be necessary.”
This would be his first time witnessing Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s true skill.
And that just so happened to be the spectacle of him clearing a rank A
dungeon with his own power.
It didn’t look like other’s help was necessary.
“Yes. I think standing still is the right call to make here.”
Cha Hae-In too agreed with that assessment.
That man’s battle didn’t leave any gaps for a rank S like her to butt in at all.
“Do you know who that man is?”
Cha Hae-In asked.
Woo Jin-Cheol was clearly admiring Seong Jin-Woo’s skills, and obviously
not worried about his identity, at least not outwardly. Also, he was an agent of
the Association which did block Jin-Woo’s information from leaking out, too.
‘So maybe, Woo Jin-Cheol might know who that man is.’
Her expectation was on the money.
“Yes, a little bit.”
“That man… just who is he?”
Woo Jin-Cheol put his sunglasses back on and replied.
“I can’t reveal that information.”
The Shaman was furious.
When it first opened its eyes in this place, only one order was filling up its
mind.
However, what was the meaning of this pathetic display?
Wasn’t a lone human easily hunting down every single member of its tribe?
This wasn’t supposed to happen. No, such a thing must not happen at all.
The Shaman’s eyes reddened even further as it witnessed the massacre of
its subordinates.
‘You insect-like b*stard! I’ll step on you!!’
If hexes didn’t work against the enemy, then all it had to do was to bless
itself and fight!
“The song of rage! The song of strengthening! The song of the giants!
The song of the fire dragon!”
With the completion of the various spells, the Shaman’s body suddenly
ballooned up to nearly ten metres tall. Its strength, agility, stamina, and even
its confidence increased greatly as well, power filling up every square inch of
its frame.
Right away, the Shaman used its gigantic arm to swat away the Shadow
Soldiers, and then took a deep breath.
And then…
“Fuuuu-hoook!!”
When the Shaman spat out its breath, reddish black flames erupted out of
its mouth.
Rumble!!
The soldiers immediately dissipated and scattered away when they were
struck dead-on by the flames. Even those grazed by it were no exception.
Parts of their bodies were blown away and they were rendered unable to carry
on fighting.
The flames didn’t end with one attack; the second wave of flames spat out
of the Shaman’s mouth in a row.
The Shaman was able to greatly reduce the number of the Shadow Soldiers
with its continuous attacks. Having received a boost to its confidence, it
roared out at the top of its lungs.
“Do you still find this great Karugalgan funny now?!”
The reply came from above its head.
“Yup.”
The Shaman flinched and raised its head, all the while hurriedly trying to
chant a defensive spell, but…
But, Jin-Woo was one step quicker.
POW!!
CRACK!!
The Shaman’s head smashed down into the ground. The floor shattered and
spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread out.
Jin-Woo had already experienced blowing away Vulcan with his bare fist.
And that demon was much, much larger than this arrogant Shaman, too.
[You have killed the owner of the dungeon.]
Tab.
When he lightly landed on the ground, feel-good messages began popping
up in his view one after the other.
Tt-ring.
[Level up!]
“There you go!”
Jin-Woo pumped his fist.
Back when he was fighting using ‘Stealth’, he levelled up once. When he
was killing these Orcs, another level up. And, after killing the boss just now,
another level up. Clearing this rank A dungeon netted him three level ups, in
other words. This was a result well above his expectation. He even felt very
grateful towards Foreman Bae for suggesting yesterday that they should work
together again.
‘This is very good.’
With an elated mind, Jin-Woo walked closer to the boss. The once-buffed
up Shaman’s body had reverted back to its original size already.
He saw an egg-sized magic crystal embedded in the dead boss’s necklace,
but he decided to not to get too greedy.
‘Earning experience points is good enough.’
This was the Hunters Guild’s dungeon, at the end of the day.
If he wanted to get his hands on a magic crystal from a rank A dungeon, he
didn’t need to enter someone else’s dungeon – he’d just buy himself a permit
for a dungeon of his own, instead.
No, what Jin-Woo was aiming for was something else. And that would be
the black smoke beginning to rise up from the boss’s corpse.
Gulp.
Jin-Woo licked his lips in anticipation.
He couldn’t help but remember the corpse of Baruka, the one that slipped
through his fingers back in the Red Gate.
‘But, my situation is a lot different compared to then.’
Compared to now, his Stats weren’t that high back then.
Also, killing that b*stard took a lot out of him. Only after receiving the aid
of two knight-grade soldiers, Igrit and Iron, did he manage to beat that boss
down.
However, he was able to kill this Shaman comparatively easily today.
A week spent inside the Demon’s Castle – this was the definite proof that
the events of those short seven days weren’t in vain.
Jin-Woo issued a new order at the rising, wavering black steam-like smoke.
“Rise up.”
At the same time, an ominous wind brushed past his two cheeks. He
instinctively realised it right away.
‘It worked!’
A radiant smile bloomed on Jin-Woo’s face.
Kuwaaaahhh!!
As the soul-tearing scream resounded out, a mage covered in black robe
rose up from the shadow of the dead Shaman.
‘…Huh?’
Jin-Woo sensed something was different about this guy, and so he checked
the information window.
[?? Lv.1]
Elite Knight grade
‘An Elite Knight?’
ly, Jin-Woo was able to confirm that there were three grades to the Shadow
Soldiers.
Regular grade.
Elite grade.
And then, the Knight grade.
But now, for the first time ever, the ‘Elite Knight’ grade appeared.
He began to think that, seeing the word ‘elite’ tacked on to the already-
existing grade ‘Knight’, this new guy had to be a realm higher than either Igrit
or Iron in terms of combat prowess.
‘For sure, I can sense that its magic energy is far greater than that of my
two knights.’
As expected of turning the boss of a rank A dungeon into his Shadow
Soldier.
Tti-ring.
[Please set the soldier’s name.]
And also as expected, he got another System message telling to name the
new guy, now that another Knight-grade Shadow Soldier had appeared.
‘A name, is it….’
Well, its face was hidden under the hood of the robe now, but still, High
Orcs and lengthy fangs went hand in hand, no?
‘Right, let’s name it Fangs.’ (TL note at the end)
He didn’t need to issue a separate order; just thinking about it meant the
new guy’s name would be set.
[Fangs Lv.1]
Elite Knight grade.
Instead of question marks, the new name appeared in the information
window.
If the Shaman who remained utterly arrogant right till the moment it died
heard this name, the poor guy might have fainted on the spot. But well, who
cares? It was already dead, anyway.
With a satisfied grin on his face, Jin-Woo recalled his Shadow Soldiers.
He could now store almost 130 of them. Although it was a bit regrettable,
he had to return the rest back to the void.
‘This much is more than enough, though.’
He stepped off from the altar with a big smile on his face, but then, several
people rushed over to him. They were – Hunters from the raid team, Cha Hae-
In, and finally, a group of men wearing matching black business suits.
Jin-Woo recognised one of the faces among the black suits.
‘Since when did Chief Woo Jin-Cheol show up?’
Seeing the expression on Woo Jin-Cheol, he probably had witnessed the
Shadow Soldiers in action in full.
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo.”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
“Mister Porter?!”
Everyone called out to him at the same time, then they took glances at each
other.
Well, it was all fine and dandy that he got to fight to his heart’s content
since he no longer had any reason to hide his powers, but…..
‘….How am I supposed to get out of this now?’
Jin-Woo looked at all these people surrounding him and scratched the back
of his head.
(TL: Right, for some reason, this author keep using the Korean word for
molars when describing the characteristics of the High Orc. So, he named the
new Shadow Soldier “Molar” but I just couldn’t use that in my good
conscience and swapped it out to “Fangs” which, to me personally, make
more physiological sense. I mean, lengthy molars wouldn’t be practical at all,
right? And I’m pretty sure Orcs have long fangs, not long molars….)
Chapter 92 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Holy cow! Oppa, those reporters are still outside the building!”
Jin-Ah spoke while looking out of the window.
It was already late in the evening. Reporters who hadn’t given up yet were
still gathered around in front of the apartment’s entrance like a storm cloud.
“Look!! Up there!”
After discovering the silhouette of a person by the window, they hurriedly
operated their cameras, thinking that it was Jin-Woo.
Click, click, click!!
Seeing all those camera flashes suddenly exploding from here and there,
Jin-Ah jumped up in fright and quickly shuttered the curtains. She turned
around and sighed softly like a timid little animal.
“Whew….”
Having returned from the Hunter Auction, Jin-Woo was thinking of taking
a bit of a well-deserved rest, but he was carrying a rather stiff expression at
the moment.
“Should I go downstairs and say something?”
It was fine for those folks to disrupt his rest. However, he was more
worried about them disrupting his sister’s studies. Jin-Ah was a high school
senior, about to take the most important test of her life.
Wasn’t this the time when some overly-sensitive kids would throw a
tantrum just because of the faint footsteps outside their doors disrupting their
studies?
‘Well, Jin-Ah isn’t the type to raise a fuss over stuff like this, but….’
But, still – could she even be able to concentrate with all these distracting
noises coming from the outside?
Just as Jin-Woo was getting prepared to step forward….
“Nonono, don’t do it.”
….Jin-Ah quickly waved her hands about.
“Oppa, you’re already being slagged off in the internet, you know? So,
can you imagine what they’ll say if you chase away the reporters?”
“Slagged off?”
‘Since when did I do something worthy of that treatment??’
As Jin-Woo tilted his head this way and that, Jin-Ah accessed one of the
news articles online with her phone and pushed it forward. So, he took it from
her.
‘……’
On the screen, he could see the photo of him standing in front of the
Association’s entrance, relaxedly answering his phone while being
surrounded by a sea of reporters.
Maybe because a professional snapped that shot, even a plain guy like him
came out looking pretty good, so he was happy about that. However, when he
took a look a bit lower down….
‘His attitude sucks.’
‘He already doesn’t care about the reporters.’
‘He’s way too cool for himself.’
Countless comments with similar nature were posted below the article, and
the highest upvoted comment was ‘Mom, I’ve become a rank S!!’
Because the photo and the comment went so well along with each other,
Jin-Woo ended up breaking out in a grin.
Jin-Ah in turn became flabbergasted from his reaction.
“How can you smile from that?!”
“But, it is funny.”
“….”
When Jin-Woo showed her the top upvoted comment, Jin-Ah too nearly
broke out in laughter, but somehow managed to suppress it. And, perhaps as a
rebound….
“No, wait a minute! That’s not important, is it?!”
With a slightly flushed face, Jin-Ah raised her voice.
“Why did you have to answer your phone there?? I mean, there were so
many reporters present, you know! Thanks to you, everyone now knows my
name!”
Jin-Woo replied confidently as if he couldn’t be fazed by anything.
“Do I really need to observe reporters and their moods when answering
my little sister’s call?”
“Euk!!”
Jin-Ah became speechless. No matter how hard she thought about it, he
wasn’t wrong, so she couldn’t readily come up with a suitable rebuttal.
‘….I simply can’t win against him in an argument.’
Jin-Woo handed the phone back to her.
“Here.”
Jin-Ah took the phone back with a slightly testy face, and opened her
mouth.
“In any case, I’ll be fine, so oppa, don’t mind the reporters, okay?”
“Okay. Got it.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
If the current situation persisted, then he might have done something, but
then again, the Association did call him earlier to say that these reporters
should all receive orders to stay far away from him in a day or two.
‘Well, I can endure that.’
And there was also Jin-Ah not wanting to inflate the situation any further,
too.
“By the way, just what on earth happened here?”
Jin-Ah looked at her brother with a pair of mystified eyes.
“My own oppa became a rank S Hunter, and reporters are camping
outside our house, too….”
Some said that it’d be difficult to run into a rank S Hunter even once in
your entire life, yet there was one standing right in front of her. Not only that,
he was her older brother, no less.
Pretty much anyone would react the same way if they were in her shoes.
Jin-Ah sounded as if she couldn’t quite believe it.
Too bad, she had no choice but to adjust to the new reality sooner rather
than later.
‘Just like how I had to.’
Jin-Woo smirked softly.
And, in order to soothe his sister and her still-stunned heart, he lightly
pinched Jin-Ah’s cheeks. Of course, she reacted in the same manner as in the
past by kicking him, but….
“Ouch!!”
She instead grabbed her foot and jumped up and down in pain.
“Heeiing~.”
Jin-Ah glared at him from the corners of her eyes as if this was just too
much, while Jin-Woo could only shrug his shoulders. It seemed that she’d
need quite a lot of time to get used to the fact that her oppa was now a rank S
Awakened.
“Oppa, I guess you’ll become a lot busier now, right?”
Jin-Ah cautiously asked him.
“Mm.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
There were lots of things he wanted to do, and plenty of work to get
through, too – but for now, clearing the Demon’s Castle took priority. He even
resorted to buying a flame-resistance defensive artefact for the sole purpose of
conquering the upper floors, after all.
His own funds came up ridiculously short so his heart nearly fell to the pit
of his stomach, but thankfully, he was able to use one of the Store’s rarity ‘A’
items as collateral and got a loan from the Hunter Auction.
‘I’m in debt as soon as becoming a rank S….’
For some reason, a wry chuckle escaped from his lips.
Well, as long as the items from the Store could be sold off at high prices in
auctions, that debt would be wiped clean in an instant, though.
“In that case, it’d get harder to see you, right?”
Hearing that he might get a lot busier in the future, Jin-Ah formed a slightly
rueful expression. Indeed, being alone would be a lonesome task.
Without saying anything, Jin-Woo placed his hand on Jin-Ah’s head.
A few days from now….
Once he cleared the Demon’s Castle dungeon, there would never be
another day when his sister would have to house-sit all alone.
‘I’ll make sure that happens for real.’
It was then.
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit. His gaze shifted toward the front door.
‘Someone’s coming this way.’
Jin-Ah also noticed her brother’s tense aura. She asked, sounding a little
anxious.
“Oppa?”
“Stay in your room for a bit, okay?”
“What’s the matter?”
A presence climbing out of the elevator was walking straight to here now.
‘It’s a Hunter….?’
The suspicious presence emitted a thin and weak magic energy. Jin-Woo
couldn’t sense any hostile intentions from this presence, but still, he didn’t
feel like humouring an uninvited guest.
Did a Guild send someone over? Or, was it a foolhardy reporter placing too
much faith in his own Awakened powers?
Didn’t matter which was which – Jin-Woo wasn’t a gracious enough person
to accept with a smile an uninvited guest trying to invade the privacy of his
home, when the hour was already well past ten in the evening.
Jin-Woo stood before the door.
‘With that kind of power…’
He didn’t need to summon his weapons. Jin-Woo lightly loosened his
muscles. He tilted his head left and right, and his neck issued cracking noise.
And, as he expected….
Thud, thud.
Someone ‘knocked’ on the door, causing Jin-Ah to run into her room in a
bit of surprise. Jin-Woo quietly opened the door.
Clang.
And from the slowly-widening gap of the door, a familiar face of a man
could be seen. The man spoke.
“Hyunnng-nim….”
He was even sniffling, too.
Yu Jin-Ho and his reddened nose were standing in front of the door,
sniffling like a little kid.
“…..”
Jin-Woo was so dumbstruck that he stood there in a total daze, prompting
Yu Jin-Ho to tearfully speak up.
“Hyung-nim. I got kicked out of the house. Dad kicked me out.”
“…”
Now that Jin-Woo took another look, there was a backpack as big as Yu
Jin-Ho slung on his back. He was even carrying quite a lot of luggage in both
of his hands, too.
“…..Wait, didn’t you live alone already?”
“Well, that….”
Sniff.
“The villa I was living in was under father’s name, and he took it away.
He even blocked all my bank accounts.”
A father blocking his son’s bank accounts. All of them. What a movie-like
situation that was, but well, this being the top businessman in South Korea,
Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan, it sounded rather plausible.
Besides all that, though – what did this kid do to get on his father’s bad side
like this?
When Jin-Woo stared with a pair of questioning gaze, Yu Jin-Ho spoke up,
his voice trembling.
“So, like, I was wondering, hyung-nim. Can I impose on you for the time
being?”
Creaaak….
Clank.
Jin-Woo quietly closed the door, and even proceeded to lock it.
Click.
Worried Jin-Ah had been observing the situation from her room, and once
Jin-Woo turned away from the door, she quickly jogged next to him and
asked.
“Oppa, who was that? Do you know him?”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
“Nope. Never met him before.”
“You really don’t know him? But, why did he come to our place, then?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he got the wrong address.”
“…..Really?”
But, it sure didn’t look like that, though.
As Jin-Woo gently but firmly pushed his still-suspicious little sister back
into her room, Yu Jin-Ho’s sorrowful voice continued to ring out behind him.
Thud, thud!!
“Hyuuung-niiim!! Hyung-niiiiim!!”
“Dear, don’t you think you were being too harsh on Jin-Ho earlier
today?”
“Hmph.”
Yu Myung-Hwan roughly yanked at his tie.
What an insolent little child.
He was about to be gifted with the Yujin Guild, which would no doubt
become the Yujin Construction’s core business in the future, yet he dared to
answer like that?
[“I’ve decided to work for hyung-nim’s Guild.”]
What?
Follow ‘hyung-nim’, was it?
“That fool deserved it.”
Yu Myung-Han snorted derisively.
If the boy wished to stand on his two feet, then he should do so on his own
power, too.
The father thought that he’d teach his son about every choice being
accompanied by responsibilities and consequences.
Was it because he was far too agitated? For some reason, it felt like his
d*mn tie just didn’t want to come undone. His clumsy and hasty hands caused
the tie to be tangled up even more instead, prompting the lady of the Yu
family to reach out with her hands.
“Let me do it for you.”
Soon enough, the tie was easily loosened. Yu Myung-Han entrusted himself
to his wife’s skilful hands.
However….
The wife began giggling while holding his tie.
“What’s the matter, dear?”
Yu Myung-Han was confused. She had been doing his ties for as long as
they were together. So, she shouldn’t have found his tangled up tie all that
funny by now.
“My dear. Are you sure you’re really angry?”
“Mm….??”
Did she eat something wrong? Why was she saying something so
nonsensical?
Yu Myung-Han tilted his head slightly and took a look at his own reflection
in the mirror.
‘What the….’
He was surprised by what he saw.
Why did he look so pleased in the reflection, even though his mouth was
busy spewing out complaints only until a second ago?
Feeling embarrassed now, Yu Myung-Han began rubbing his cheeks and
chin.
“Today was the first time, wasn’t it, dear?”
“What do you mean?”
“Jin-Ho rebelling against you.”
“….”
That was why he was angry.
Just like how water flowed from the top to bottom, a large corporation
would not be able to sustain its massive self if the orders from the top didn’t
get delivered to the rest. He believed it was the same story for running a
family, as well.
That was why he maintained the exact same type of attitude he’d have
when at work while he was home with his family, and he did not accept
anyone going against his decisions.
However….
Even though he was feeling angry today, why didn’t he feel bad about it,
either?
‘I’m angry, but not unhappy at the same time?’
This situation made no sense when he thought about it.
The madam spoke gently like a mother pacifying a child, as if she had
already read everything in her husband’s mind.
“Jin-Ho is trying to do something he feels passionate about for the first
time in his life. So, how about cooling your anger a little and cheering him
on from the side?”
“…..”
Yu Myung-Han shut his mouth tight.
He found it a bit hard to decipher his own head at the moment.
“For the time being… I shall keep an eye on him.”
“Of course.”
The madam formed a sweet smile and received his jacket as he took it off.
However, something happened then.
Yu Myung-Han stared at his wife’s face.
“But, this is quite strange.”
“What is strange, dear?”
“I can see two of your faces.”
“Pardon?”
Just as the madam’s eyes widened, Yu Myung-Han lost his balance and
staggered unsteadily.
“Dear?!”
The frightened madam hurriedly tried to support Yu Myung-Han. He shook
his head continuously, heavily gasps escaping from his mouth.
“Pant, pant…..”
The madam’s eyes opened wider.
‘Why is there so much cold sweat?!’
Yu Myung-Han tried to keep his eyes wide open to forcefully beat back the
sudden feeling of sleepiness, but in the end, lost his consciousness.
Yu Myung-Han reopened his eyes inside the VIP room located in the
country’s top university hospital.
One of the doctors in charge approached him to check up on Yu Myung-
Han’s complexion. They had been working in a 24-hour rotation schedule to
keep an eye on his condition.
“Can you hear me, Chairman?”
“….”
Yu Myung-Han took a quick look around him, and immediately figured out
where he was.
“How long have I been here?”
“You’ve been sleeping for the last two days.”
Two days?
The person most likely to be picked as the role model for “hard working”
would be Yu Myung-Han. He had never slept for more than five hours in a
day in his entire life, no matter how tired he was.
“…..”
Yu Myung-Han resolutely kept his mouth shut, before speaking up as if it
was nothing.
“I guess I was quite tired, then.”
He was indeed swarmed with various matters that kept him insanely busy
recently. The sudden bout of vertigo and that unshakeable sleepiness were
probably the side effects.
However, the doctor couldn’t hide the seriousness from his expression.
Yu Myung-Han was the owner of the country’s top company that employed
tens of thousands of people. So, he was already a master at reading people’s
expressions.
Seeing the stiffening face of the doctor, Yu Myung-Han asked him.
“By any chance…. Have you discovered something wrong with my
body?”
Chapter 99 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Mister Chairman, by any chance, do you have anyone near you who is a
Hunter, or someone who’s not a Hunter yet but has been evaluated as an
Awakened?”
The doctor suddenly asked about something rather strange.
Yu Myung-Han asked if there was something wrong with his body, yet why
was he talking about Hunters now?
Yu Myung-Han asked back feeling puzzled now.
“What are you talking about? Why Hunters, all of a sudden?”
“Have you heard of Eternal Sleep?”
Hearing the term “Eternal Sleep”, Yu Myung-Han finally lost his cool, and
his eyes trembled.
The Eternal Sleep Disorder. An endless slumber that no one could wake up
from.
Not only was it impossible to wake up from its death-like slumber, but the
lifeforce of the sufferer would also decline quite sharply, so it was a necessity
to use life support machines that utilised magic energy.
Appearing for the first time after the advent of the Gates, it was a terrifying
illness that managed to kill scores of people who lacked the wherewithal to
borrow one of those life support machines.
“It’s an illness where you’d be assaulted often by drowsiness, and
eventually, you’d be unable to wake up at all.”
The doctor carried a complicated expression. There had not been a single
case of the sufferer of the ‘Eternal Sleep’ waking up, so far.
Even if one’s life was extended via machines, you’d still be unable to open
your eyes. It was no different from a death sentence for the victims.
“….”
Yu Myung-Han waited for the doctor to finish explaining before asking his
question.
“How does that relate to Hunters?”
“The ‘Eternal Sleep’ is widely believed to be deeply related to magic
energy.”
There were those people who, by nature, couldn’t endure magic energy all
that well. One of the abnormalities displayed by these people after being
exposed to surrounding magic energy for a long time was this Eternal Sleep
Disorder.
“Wait, isn’t magic energy used to power the life support machines that
supply lifeforce to the patients?”
“That is true, but….”
Just like how one could safely use the electricity generated by the
dangerous material fuelling the nuclear reaction, the doctor explained,
magical devices and magics utilising magic energy did not harm people.
“What you need to be careful with are the Magic Crystals, Mana Stones,
as well as people possessing magic energy.”
‘People possessing magic energy…..’
Yu Myung-Han immediately recalled the sole Awakened in his family, Yu
Jin-Ho. Meanwhile, the doctor cautiously carried on.
“I’ve heard that your second son is a Hunter, sir.”
When Yu Jin-Ho was mentioned, Yu Myung-Han’s face visibly hardened.
“So, the gist of it is… you want me to never meet my own son? Is that
it?”
“If it’s at all possible, that is indeed my recomm…..”
“Don’t make me laugh!!”
Yu Myung-Han abruptly cut the doctor off and empathised his point.
“Don’t speak of nonsense.”
And then, as if he was annoyed, he gestured the doctor to leave.
“Chairman….”
The doctor hesitated, not knowing what to do, but he soon left the room as
if he was being chased away after being glared at by Yu Myung-Han’s furious
eyes.
He continued to glare at the door the doctor used to escape with barely
concealed fury in his eyes.
‘Distance oneself from one’s son, just because one fears the illness
getting worse? Is that something a father should even say??’
Sure, let’s say that did happen.
What if Jin-Ho heard that news? What would that boy think of, then?
As a father, he could not bear to burden his son with something that heavy.
At least, that’s what Yu Myung-Han believed.
‘Not only that….’
With each passing day, people found more and more practical applications
for magic energy, and the number of people innately possessing magic energy
was steadily increasing, as well.
So, if you couldn’t withstand magic energy when living in a world like this,
didn’t that already mean you had been eliminated from the natural selection?
Yu Myung-Han harrumphed unhappily.
‘I, Yu Myung-Han, have failed to make the cut?’
Such a thing could never happen.
‘I will not submit.’
Even when everyone else ridiculed him and predicted his failure, he always
managed to succeed so his detractors could take a good look at him.
He was the very person who, after inheriting the Yujin Construction that
barely cracked the top 30 in the country, turned it into the number one
corporation in South Korea.
‘So, you think I’ll kneel in defeat over a stupid illness like this?’
He wouldn’t give up.
Yu Myung-Han inwardly told himself this over and over again.
Before leaving, Jin-Woo carefully opened the door to his sister’s room.
As it was still in the early hours, Jin-Ah remained blissfully stuck in a
slumber so deep that she’d not be any wiser if someone kidnapped her right
now.
Suddenly, he felt worried.
‘There might be a jacka*s or two who’ll try to get closer to her while I’m
away.’
Of course, there should be no one stupid enough to harm the little sister of
a rank S Hunter, but well, it was hard to tell what was in a human’s heart
sometimes.
At least, he needed some sort of a contingency plan.
‘Wait a minute. I can hide my soldiers inside shadows, right?’
Jin-Woo recalled the time when he sent out his Shadow Soldiers on the
patrol of the district, in case that serial killer decided to show up again.
Back then, soldiers moved by hiding in the various shades found in the
surroundings. By utilising that, he might be able to protect his sister without
anyone even noticing it.
Which was good, because he just so happened to possess the perfect
candidates for this role.
‘Come out.’
Jin-Woo called out those monster soldiers that had been guarding ‘Fangs’
when they were still alive.
Shururu….
Three of the biggest, burliest High Orcs appeared simultaneously and
ended up making the already-tiny room of his sister feel even more
claustrophobic.
However….
‘Huh? Why are there only three?’
There definitely had been four guards, though?
Jin-Woo combed through his memories, only to spit out a soundless groan.
‘Ah.’
Only now did he remember that he ‘planted’ one of the guards in the
ceiling of the boss room. And naturally, he forgot to extract that guy’s
shadow.
‘I guess I should pay closer attention next time.’
Jin-Woo smirked softly, before shifting his gaze over to the three monster
soldiers, who used to be High Orc guards while still alive. All of them were
elite grade.
They were on another scale altogether when compared to the shadows
extracted from the ‘regular’ High Orcs. With these three, they would still be
fine even if their opponent was a rank A Hunter.
He wasn’t exaggerating here – the leader of the Hunters’ raid team, the rank
A Sohn Ki-Hoon, was pushed to a corner while fighting off three regular High
Orcs, after all.
So, there was no reason to worry about these guys.
Jin-Woo pointed with his chin towards the sleeping Jin-Ah. And when that
happened…
Shururu….
The guards returned to ‘shadow’ forms and moved along the floor, and they
assimilated into her shadow.
‘Very good.’
Hide in there quietly, and when Jin-Ah finds herself in danger, get rid of the
opponent, regardless of who it is.
Jin-Woo gave that order to the guards and carefully closed shut the door to
her room.
‘I can relax a little now.’
Indeed, he felt less worried.
He made sure to lock the front door properly and exited from the
apartment, and found Yu Jin-Ho waiting for him there, just as promised.
“Hyung-nim!”
Yu Jin-Ho greeted Jin-Woo with a bright face.
“Was it okay sleeping in that place?”
“Yes, it was fine, hyung-nim. I had no idea, but motels nowadays seem to
feature pretty good amenities.”
Since his little sister was staying at home, Jin-Woo had Yu Jin-Ho stay in a
local motel nearby. Thankfully, it must not have been too bad there.
“Until we can find some office space for my Guild, stay there for the time
being.”
“Got it, hyung-nim.”
He must’ve been enjoying himself, since Yu Jin-Ho continued to giggle.
Jin-Woo already heard the most of what happened from the kid last night.
While listening to the tale, he was hoping against hoping, but to think, this kid
would show up here after really rejecting the golden chance to become a
Guild Master…..
When he heard that, Jin-Woo was so dumbfounded that he just had to ask,
and that prompted Yu Jin-Ho to reply while sounding like a victim.
[“You really came over just because I made an offer?!”]
[“But, hyung-nim, you said I should come!!”]
Even then, Jin-Woo couldn’t really kick to the curve a kid who gave up on
a job equivalent to being a chairman of a company just to be next to him.
“Okay, well, let’s go.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho climbed into the driver’s seat of the van, and Jin-Woo settled
down on the passenger’s. And the van containing two people drove towards
the Daesung Tower.
Yu Jin-Ho sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo.
‘What business does he have in the Daesung Tower so early in the
morning?’
He was curious, but he also thought that asking hyung-nim this and that
would be quite insolent of him, so his lips didn’t want to part that easily.
Screech.
By the time their van came to a stop in front of the Daesung Tower, though,
he managed to work up some courage.
“By the way, hyung-nim. What about this Daesung Towe….”
“I’m off.”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho hurriedly turned his head to the passenger side. However, the
door was already wide open, and hyung-nim was nowhere to be seen.
Didn’t something similar to this happen before?
Yu Jin-Ho scratched the side of his head.
‘Hyung-nim can be so elusive sometimes, you know.’
[You have entered Demon’s Castle dungeon.]
Jin-Woo cancelled his ‘Stealth’ skill.
‘I’ve finally returned.’
Thinking that he had returned to the place where he could cut loose without
worry, his heart began pounding harder.
As soon as he walked past the castle’s gates, the mechanical bleep went off
as if it was waiting for his arrival.
Tti-ring.
[A new quest is available.]
Unlike the first time he got here, Jin-Woo wasn’t surprised.
Well, the quest he got the first time was called ‘Collect the Souls of
Demons! (1)’, after all. He expected the next part of the quest to show up
sooner or later.
Jin-Woo opened the message window.
Tti-ring.
[Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (2)]
The sovereign of the demons, ‘Baran’, can be found residing on the top
floor of the Demon’s Castle. Defeat Baran and collect his soul.
If you succeed in sealing the soul of the Demon King, you will be rewarded
handsomely.
Quest generation conditions:
Quest completion condition:
Rewards:
‘The goal of this quest is to kill the Demon King?’
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened. He no longer needed to go all over the
place now. Instead, he just needed to climb up to the top floor of the Demon’s
Castle as soon as possible.
And the rewards on offer were excellent as well.
‘30 bonus Stat points!’
The previous quest was pretty much slave labour, asking him to collect ten
thousand demon souls. And after all that hard work, he ‘only’ received 20
bonus Stat points.
However, he could earn 30 points this time by killing one Demon King.
He’d need ten days of Daily Quests, or six level-ups, to match that amount of
Stat points. A smile instinctively broke out of his lips at this unexpectedly rich
reward.
‘Ok so, what is this highest grade Rune Stone all about?’
Jin-Woo confirmed the details of the first reward next.
Tti-ring.
[Highest grade Rune Stone: Shadow Exchange]
By breaking this highest grade Rune Stone, you can learn a Class-specific
Skill.
‘I can learn a Class-specific skill?’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up.
So far, he had ‘earned’ three Class-specific skills.
The ‘Shadow Extraction’.
The ‘Shadow Storage’.
And finally, ‘Sovereign’s Territory’.
Every single one of them was an indispensable skill. And, just from the
mere idea of adding one more skill to his roster, his heart palpitated even
harder.
‘What kind of skill is this?’
He wanted to confirm the information on the skill, but the only thing that
popped up was its name, and no in-depth explanation was offered.
‘Tsk.’
Jin-Woo could only smack his lips wryly.
‘Well, I’ll find out eventually after completing the quest.’
A Class-specific skill, and 30 bonus Stat points, too. Even when excluding
the unknown reward, it was already a remarkable amount of loot on offer. He
was really tempted to simply rush up to the top floor in one go, but…
‘Before I start anything, though…’
Jin-Woo summoned his Status Window for the first time in a while.
Tti-ring.
[Name: Seong Jin-Woo]
[Level: 80]
[Title: The One Who Overcame the Adversity (extra 1)]
[HP: 24,406]
[MP: 5,019]
[Tiredness: 0]
[Stats]
Strength: 186
Endurance: 145
Agility: 175
Intelligence: 189
Perception: 126
(Remaining points available to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 46%
[Skills]
Passive Skills:
Active Skills:
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skills:
[Crafting Skill]
Consumable: Divine Water of Life (2/3)
[Equipped Items]
His level was already 80. And thanks to him investing every single bonus
Stat point on Intelligence, he could see that it exceeded his Strength Stat now.
‘My Intelligence Stat is nearing the 200 mark already.’
The result of that was his total MP now went past 5000.
His MP, or Mana, was a must for one thing. It was like a cheat device that
allowed him to infinitely revive his soldiers. But, when he thought about the
number of his soldiers increasing in the future, that 5000 MP seemed rather
inadequate to his eyes.
‘Fine. Let’s get started.’
Even a second couldn’t be wasted here.
Jin-Woo closed his Status Windows.
Currently, he was standing on the ground floor of the Demon’s Castle.
Getting back to the 76th floor, where he temporarily had to stop his conquest,
wouldn’t take long at all.
So, he immediately made his way over to the floor-transfer magic circle.
[Floors 1 to 76 have been opened.]
[Which floor would you like to go to?]
Jin-Woo spoke without hesitation.
“76.”
The light gleamed brightly. In the moment it took to blink an eye, his
surroundings had changed completely. He was now faced with a vigorously-
burning city.
When inside the floor-transfer magic circle, he wasn’t supposed to be
affected by the environments outside, but it still felt like his skin was burning
up already.
Jin-Woo put the luggage down and pulled two artefacts out. First one was a
black robe named the ‘Wind Robe’ by its maker, and the other one was a
nameless ring with water-type magic imbued within.
Jin-Woo put on both the robe and the ring.
After putting on the robe and pulling on the hood, Jin-Woo finally felt like
he was a true Mage-type Hunter now.
‘….I can feel my body cooling down.’
Just by wearing them, it felt like he was standing inside a refreshingly cool
cavern or some such.
‘I wonder, will this work against the flames of the Demon’s Castle?’
Jin-Woo slowly stepped outside of the magic circle. And thankfully, these
artefacts proved their expensive worth. The debilitating heat couldn’t affect
him at all now, quite unlike the last time he was here.
‘Wait, won’t it be uncomfortable to move around because it’s a robe?’
He couldn’t be sure, so he moved this way and that, but it proved to be
surprisingly comfortable. As befitting its name, ‘Wind Robe’, the whole thing
felt as light as air.
‘Nice.’
With that, his preparations were complete.
However, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one who had finished his
preparations, because demons had picked up on his scent, and had formed a
large group to rush towards his position.
If it was in the past, he’d probably fight them off in order to loosen his
muscles or search through every nook and cranny of each floor to increase his
level.
‘However, right now….’
Now that his mother’s treatment depended on this dungeon being cleared,
he couldn’t afford to waste a single second here. Rather than summoning out
his daggers like the usual, he instead called out his soldiers first.
Shururu….
His trusty Shadow Soldiers revealed themselves.
‘Where is Fangs?’
Jin-Woo looked for Fangs amidst his soldiers. It seemed that the higher the
soldier’s grade, the closer he’d appear, because Fangs had been summoned
right behind Jin-Woo.
He took out the ‘Bead of Avarice’ from his Inventory and placed it on top
of Fangs’ palm.
“You use this from now on.”
Even though Jin-Woo was supposed to be a Mage-type as well, the
amplification effect of the ‘Bead of Avarice’ didn’t work on him. But, he
thought it’d prove to be quite helpful to a sorcerer like Fangs.
‘…….’
As if to express his gratitude, Fangs deeply bowed his head.
Thump, thump, thump!!!
Finally, Jin-Woo could see the huge bodies of the demons getting closer.
‘Okay, time to get started.’
After ordering his soldiers to get ready for battle, Jin-Woo grasped both
‘Baruka’s Dagger’ and ‘Knight Killer’ in his hands.
Soon, demons rushed forward like a horde of insects in front of his nose.
However, his own numbers weren’t that lacking, either.
With a more relaxed expression on his face compared to his previous
sojourn in this place, Jin-Woo bid his time and then, loudly shouted out.
“Go….!”
No, actually, he was planning to shout, ‘Go, now!’
But, even before he could finish his words….
Kuuuuuoooooooohhh–!!
From somewhere high up above his head, a stupendously thick frightening
pillar of flames fell in a diagonal line and swept every single enemy away.
“W-what the f*ck?!”
Kuuuuuoooohhh!!
The moment that scary pillar of flames swept by, everything had melted
down, whether that be demons or the ground itself.
“Kiiiieeehhckk!!”
“Kiieeck!!”
Demons were incinerated in an instant, and familiar mechanical beeps rang
one after the other in his ears.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
‘No way…..’
Jin-Woo tried to calm his trembling heart and took a look behind him. And
he spotted Fangs standing there, now twice the size of what his living
counterpart grew to back in the dungeon, busy breathing out grey smoke from
his mouth.
Gulp.
Jin-Woo swallowed down dry saliva.
‘Is this the true might of the ‘Bead of Avarice’??’
Since these monsters lived inside the Demon’s Castle, they all must’ve had
some amount of innate resistance towards flame-based attacks, but they were
all burned away into oblivion, just like that.
“Huh, huhuhuh….”
Once he figured out what was going on, a chuckle broke out of his lips all
by itself.
‘Wait, maybe I’ll get to clear this place a lot quicker than I thought?’
Jin-Woo stared at the still-burning remains of the demons as well as at the
scorched-black earth and screamed out in joy inwardly.
Chapter 100 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Fangs’ power, having been buffed up by the item ‘Bead of Avarice’, was
gobsmackingly incredible.
Fuu-woop.
Fangs sucked in so much air that the temperature of the surroundings
momentarily dropped to a bone-chilling level. And then…
Kuuuuwuuuu….
He spat out a massive pillar of flames from left to right and literally
vaporised all enemies before him.
[You killed a High-Ranked Demon.]
[You have earned 1,700 experience points.]
[You killed a Superior Demon.]
[You have earned 2,200 experience points.]
….
…….
[You killed a High-Ranked Demon.]
The messages telling him that he killed a demon and earned some
experience points endlessly popped up in his view. And the tti-ring, tti-rings
of the mechanical beeps didn’t want to end for a while, too.
Jin-Woo was all smiles, though.
‘I’ve hit the jackpot!!’
His Mana must’ve run dry, because Fangs stopped attacking.
A single shot from Fangs managed to vaporise the majority of the attacking
demons’ group, but there were a few lucky ones who managed to somehow
survive the fiery massacre. Jin-Woo simply ordered his Shadow Soldiers to go
and get rid of them.
Quietly watching over one hundred of his Shadow Soldiers marching
forward in perfect order, Jin-Woo finally felt like the ‘Shadow Sovereign’.
[You killed a High-Ranked Demon.]
[You killed a High-Ranked Demon.]
The feel-good messages continued on. Jin-Woo didn’t even lift a finger and
used only his Shadow Soldiers to annihilate the monsters. The biggest
contributor among them was, of course, Fangs.
‘Fangs, you beauty….’
Jin-Woo looked behind him – or, more specifically, way up behind him.
He then saw the gigantified Shadow Magic Soldier, previously a High Orc
Sorcerer, and the ‘Bead of Avarice’ that had also been enlarged to match his
size.
That bead was an item capable of doubling the power of its holder’s magic
attack. From Jin-Woo’s perspective, it looked like that bead shored up Fangs’
powers quite nicely, which would’ve been nerfed somewhat after becoming a
Shadow Soldier. And it looked like there was some room to spare too.
‘Looks like I’ll have to entrust the ‘Bead of Avarice’ to Fangs for a
while.’
Even though he was also a mage-type, he possessed not one skill that might
enjoy the amplification effect, so he didn’t have much of a choice here.
Jin-Woo opened his own Skill Window.
[Number of shadows that can be extracted: 127/820]
[Number of shadows that can be stored: 127/155]
‘Shadow Extraction, Shadow Storage, and Sovereign’s Territory.’ All three
skills were unaffected by the ‘Bead of Avarice’ whatsoever.
If he wanted to increase the number of slots for either the extraction or
storage for his shadows, the sole method available currently was to increase
his Intelligence Stat.
Jin-Woo closed the Skill Window.
Meanwhile, the soldiers gathered one by one in front of Jin-Woo after
mopping up their quarries.
Seeing the mountains of demon corpses piled up like that, the corners of
Jin-Woo’s lips arched up considerably.
‘With this many demons, I get plenty of loot as a result.’
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring….
This time, an endless stream of item acquisition messages popped up in his
view.
‘Well, I got everything I can from here….’
Jin-Woo smiled deeply as he went about acquiring all the loot, and after
finishing that up, he climbed up on the back of ‘Tank’, his trusty Ice Bear
Shadow Beast Soldier.
The so-called ‘Entry Permit’ allowing him to move to the next floor hadn’t
come out yet. Which meant, he had to kill more monsters on this floor.
Jin-Woo ordered his troops to move out.
“Giddy up!”
Tank slowly began trotting forward, and the Shadow Soldiers all followed
after Jin-Woo in an orderly fashion.
‘The whole army moving around together is inefficient.’
Jin-Woo thought that all 120 Shadow Soldiers acting as one unit was not
quite efficient enough. If the individual soldier was weak, fine, this tactic
made sense. But, even the regular soldiers had gone up several levels now and
they could more or less hold their own against the demons and still achieve
some success.
Not only that, he even had assimilated monsters from a rank A dungeon
into his Shadow Soldier army, too. Quite obviously, the overall quality of the
soldiers had risen up by a lot.
“Kiiieehhk!!”
“Kiiaahk!”
[You killed a High-Ranked….]
[You killed a…..]
What with his soldiers boasting such a mighty combat prowess, the time
taken to move around and search for monsters turned out to be longer than it
took to actually kill them.
The thing was, each floor of this Demon’s Castle was as wide as an average
city.
‘This will take forever at this rate.’
Jin-Woo divided his soldiers into six groups of twenty. And then, had them
scatter around to hunt down monsters.
He gave them two orders.
‘One, kill every enemy you can find.’
‘Two, if the entry permit for the next floor is found, let me know straight
away.’
It may not be possible to hold a conversation with his soldiers, but he could
still communicate by using simple hand gestures.
Since the soldiers couldn’t pick up any loot, he had to go there personally if
he were to acquire the entry permit. Sure, he’d have to give up on other loot
beside the ‘floor entry permit’, but his current priority was to get to the top
floor as soon as possible.
“Begin.”
With his command, all six groups went their separate ways.
And, a short while later….
[You have earned 1,500 experience points.]
[You have earned 1,500 experience points.]
[You have earned 900 experience points.]
[You have earned 1,100 experience points.]
Experience points began raining down on him from literally everywhere.
‘Looks like my shadows have begun hunting, huh.’
Jin-Woo watched his experience points climb up and formed a pleased
expression. However, he soon discovered that something was off.
‘The amount of experience points I get has decreased?’
After arriving on the upper floors, he never once ran into the commonly-
found low or mid-ranked demons from the lower floors.
High-Ranked Demons appeared most of the time now, and every now and
then, he would find a couple of Superior Demons mixed in among them.
The amount of experience points earned after killing a High-Ranked
Demon was 1,700. And from the Superior Demon, a creature one rank higher
than High-Ranked Demons, he received the fixed amount of 2,200 points.
However, the amount he was getting at the moment fell far, far short of
those numbers.
‘Could it be that the further away they are from me, the less experience
points I earn?’
Jin-Woo quietly observed the experience points messages popping up non-
stop for a while. The amount earned had definitely decreased, albeit by a
small margin. It seemed that he was right about the distance affecting the
amount of experience points he could earn.
‘I got to learn about something useful.’
He wouldn’t have found out about this fact without the unique set-up of the
Demon’s Castle, which let him know of the information regarding experience
points.
He also thought that, he did the right thing by not letting his soldiers go out
in groups to hunt on the lower floors. Back then, he wanted to refine his
combat style even further by personally fighting the monsters, as well as not
wanting to miss out on a single ‘Demon’s Soul’, the so-called quest
completion ‘items’.
Still, he didn’t think the reduced experience points weren’t much of a loss.
‘Sure, I’m getting less experience points, but….’
Now that much more efficient hunting was taking place over a greater
expanse of the hunting area, the overall rate of the experience points earned
was actually a lot faster than before. Even now, the experience points
messages were raining down on him.
With the situation being like this, his level that had stayed still since the
first battle of this floor suddenly gained a lot of momentum.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly.
‘Nice!’
Sure, he felt a bit sore about giving up on loot, but…
‘Levelling up and fast clearing speed, I shall catch these two birds in one
go.’
Jin-Woo smiled in satisfaction as he confirmed his level jumping up by
two.
His plan was on the money. He got to climb up to the 80th floor much
faster than anticipated.
As soon as arriving there, he summoned his soldiers once more.
Shururuk.
119 Shadow Soldiers were summoned simultaneously.
The soldiers and their levels had all climbed up pretty nicely after going on
their own groups to hunt monsters and earn a ton of experience points for
themselves.
‘Oh? Since when did Tank gain over ten levels?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
Maybe it felt happy after his owner’s interested gaze fell on it, Tank, who
had reached level 28 only yesterday, stood on his hind legs and let out a roar
of ‘Wuuong’. Jin-Woo wasn’t the only one to enjoy the fruits of the efficient
hunting, as it turned out.
He grinned brightly.
“Alright, then. Let’s go!”
Just like before, he divided his army into six groups and had them set off.
He then took off alone, as well. He was familiar with acting alone anyway,
and he also didn’t really need the soldiers’ help, either.
Excluding Fangs buffed up by the ‘Bead of Avarice’, he was pretty
confident of fighting the whole Shadow Soldier army and winning.
However….
‘If Fangs is included?’
In that case, who knows?
If Fangs was indeed included, then things could get really interesting, that’s
for sure. In the end, though, it was just him imagining something improbable,
anyway.
‘Was it a week or so ago?’
Out of sheer curiosity, and also a bit as an experiment, he ordered Shadow
Soldiers to attack him. For the first time ever, the soldiers disobeyed him.
‘I couldn’t tell whether that was from their loyalty to me, or because of
another power restricting them….’
They didn’t budge an inch, in the end. Well, as the guy using them as his
subordinates, that result wasn’t such a bad one.
Regardless of all that….
‘How come I can’t see any demons?’
After summoning ‘Baruka’s Dagger’, Jin-Woo lightly tossed it over his
head and caught it a few times while searching for the presence of monsters.
‘I can tell that they are nearby, but….’
Jin-Woo took a quick look around. He could definitely sense their presence
nearby, but he couldn’t spot a single monster.
When was it again?
Didn’t he experience something similar to this before?
It was then, the ground seemed to undulate violently a couple of times,
before the earth suddenly shot up.
“Kek, kek.”
“Keeheehee….”
At the same time, three Superior Demons emerged from the ground and
surrounded Jin-Woo while letting off rather unpleasant cackles.
Jin-Woo frowned deeply. Demons took that as the sign of their prey being
scared, and they scrambled among themselves to throw their wide open maws
first at the head of the prey.
It was to call dibs on the tastiest part of a human, the head.
However, when that prey jumped up and spun around once in the air…
Swiiiish!!
Even before Jin-Woo’s feet landed back on the ground, heads of the
demons fell with soft thud, thud!! first.
[You killed a Superior Demon.]
[You killed a…..]
“Ah!”
Jin-Woo lightly clapped his hands.
He finally recalled when it happened – it was the last rank C dungeon he
cleared with Yu Jin-Ho.
‘Right, those Stonemen back then were hiding underground before
bursting out like this, weren’t they?’
Jin-Woo’s expression that had darkened from failing to remember
brightened up immediately. It sure felt like he had gotten a load off his chest.
Jin-Woo took care of the loot from the monster corpses, his face still bright,
and began walking away again.
But, only after taking a handful of steps, he stopped again.
“….”
Jin-Woo’s eyes were now nailed to the ground.
While glaring at the ground beneath his feet, he spoke up.
“By the way, why aren’t you guys coming out already?”
No one could tell whether the thing that trembled just then happened to be
the ground or the demons’ eyes.
Jin-Woo wasn’t able to easily leave the 80th floor.
‘Is there a group of really strong monsters somewhere on this floor?’
Yet another of Jin-Woo’s group returned back to him as shadows. He had
no choice but to call them back because his Mana couldn’t sustain the rate of
the soldiers’ destruction and revival anymore.
This would be the first time this happened.
From the 76th to 80th floor…
The method of hunting in dispersed groups during the past four floors had
yielded the highest efficiency.
‘Is it because fighting against Superior Demons is still too much to ask
for?’
For sure, it were the Superior Demons and not High-Ranked Demons that
appeared on the 80th floor most of the time. Heck, these Superior Demons
even employed petty tricks like hiding under the ground, too.
Even then, he didn’t think these Superior Demons possessed such powers,
to be able to push back his soldiers to this degree.
‘Not only that….’
There was something weird here as well. And that would be the groups of
soldiers getting attacked all happened to lack a ‘captain-class’ among them.
The groups with Fangs, Igrit, Iron, and Tank were all perfectly fine, but the
other two with no captain-class got annihilated.
‘Wait, could it be that the enemy is deliberately attacking the weakest
groups first?’
If so, this could only mean that a monster possessing high-enough
intelligence to detect the opponent’s weakness existed on this floor. Not only
strong, but it even possessed intelligence.
He obviously didn’t know who it, or they, were, but without a doubt, they
were proving to be a bit of a pain in the neck.
There were four groups remaining. If he were to include himself, then five.
‘If the enemy has figured out the soldiers’ movement pattern, then their
next target is pretty obvious.’
The moment he thought that, Jin-Woo disappeared from the spot.
Chapter 101 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Just as Esil had alluded to earlier, the difficulty of the quest rose up steeply
from the 90th floor upwards. The levels and the number of monsters guarding
each floor’s castle were so much incomparably higher compared to the lower
floors.
It got so tough that he no longer could enjoy the fruit of his current sky-
high Intelligence Stat – his MP used to hover near the max almost all the time,
but now, it fluctuated greatly every time there was a battle.
That showed just how many of his Shadow Soldiers were destroyed and
had to be revived over and over again.
It wasn’t some fluke that Jin-Woo managed to clear the 90th floor,
however.
Just like a hammer shaping the raw iron that had been heated for a long,
long time, he had been constantly polishing his skills as he climbed up from
the lowest floor to get to where he was now.
The clear evidence of that was his current level, which had reached 90
already.
The fiercer the resistance of the superior Demon Aristocrats became, the
stronger the attacks of Jin-Woo and his Shadow Soldiers got in order to break
past their defences.
[Level up!]
As Jin-Woo exited from the castle carrying the 97th floor’s Entry Permit,
haze-like gas was rising up from his body. That steam was from his sweat
evaporating in the heat, caused by the friction of him moving beyond the
physical limits.
That was a clear indication of how much of a life-or-death struggle this
battle had been. And accordingly, Jin-Woo’s face was filled with the
satisfaction from the victory well earned.
Esil had been hiding until then, and when she saw him, quickly ran up to
his side.
She could see a castle was roaring in flames behind Jin-Woo, and the Entry
permit held firmly in his hand.
‘Fifth-ranked Ricardo Clan, and now, even the fourth-ranked Faetos
Clan, too….’
Esil no longer had any reserve energy to be shocked anymore. If every
other intruder boasted strength on this scale, then rather than protecting her
land, it’d be difficult to even survive from the initial assault, instead.
“Are all the other Humans as powerful as you?”
Esil anxiously asked.
Jin-Woo combed through his memory for a bit, before making a suitable
reply.
“Maybe, there are two more, I think.”
Goh Gun-Hui and Cha Hae-In were those two. Jin-Woo had no doubt that
they were much stronger than other rank S Hunters he came in contact with so
far.
As for the rest, which were Baek Yun-Ho, Choi Jong-In and Im Tae-Gyu,
he didn’t feel that they were that particularly strong.
Especially for Choi Jong-In - he seemed to be highly rated by everyone, but
to Jin-Woo’s eyes, that seemed to be the case solely due to him being in
charge of South Korea’s top-ranked Guild, the ‘Hunters’, rather than because
his own skills were impressive.
‘If I were to judge from their auras alone, Cha Hae-In is several times
stronger than Choi Jong-In.’
Without a doubt, one could still find differences in power even among the
ranks of ‘S’ Hunters.
No, maybe the differences found within this rank would be far greater than
any other ranks precisely because those who couldn’t be measured by regular
means were all lumped in together here.
Jin-Woo formed a subtle smirk.
‘How would I perceive others after I get out of here?’
Just like how the feelings he got from Baek Yun-Ho differed from their first
meeting to the second, would there be a change in how he perceived the
Association President Goh Gun-Hui?
Jin-Woo’s heart raced faster when he thought about checking out how
much he had changed.
‘But, before I can do that….’
He had to clear this Demon’s Castle instant dungeon first. There were only
four more floors remaining. He’d get to clear this dungeon soon enough. Jin-
Woo turned to speak to Esil.
“You should go back to your people now.”
She had been utterly dejected after hearing that there were two more people
like Jin-Woo out there, but then, she was jolted out of her morose state and
raised her head.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll find my own paths on the floors above this one.”
Thanks to Esil guiding the way, he got to quickly locate the Demon
Aristocrats and their castles. However, he no longer needed her help from
now on.
‘Well, my Perception Stat has risen up pretty high so that’s one of the
reasons, but also….’
The auras emanating from the superior aristocrats were so strong that he
could easily locate them from afar now. She didn’t do much besides showing
him the way, so he didn’t want to walk around with one more luggage
anymore if he could help it.
When he finished explaining himself like that….
“A-am I no longer useful to you?”
Esil’s complexion had paled completely.
‘She’s a funny one until the end, huh.’
Jin-Woo suppressed his laughter as he saw Esil’s reaction that always
managed to exceed his expectations. He then walked right up to her nose.
‘Heok!’
Esil’s eyes opened wider as he got progressively closer and closer.
‘A-am I being eliminated, as well?’
Ba-dump, ba-dump….
Her pounding heartbeat sounded like thunderclaps to her ears.
She then spotted Jin-Woo raising his hand. Seeing the tip of his hand
slowly approach her face, Esil could only squeeze her eyes shut in terror.
However….
‘….Uh?’
His hand lightly rested on her shoulder, instead. The warmth spreading
from her shoulder prompted her to open her eyes just a little. Jin-Woo’s face
was oh-so close to hers. As if he was waiting for her to open her eyes, he
began smiling brightly right away.
“You really worked hard until now. Thank you.”
With that, it was done.
Jin-Woo thought that he made a good-enough goodbye just then, and he
took large strides to enter the floor-transfer magic circle.
Tti-ring.
[Floors 1 to 96 have been opened.]
[Which floor would you like to transfer to?]
He turned around to look at Esil’s face, and he saw the emotions of surprise
and wistful longing forming the perfect two halves of her expression.
Terror, anxiety, shock, wistfulness….
Those were the range of emotions the monsters with intelligence had
shown him.
Were they truly residents of another world, just as Esil said, or were they
simply figments of the System’s imagination, brought to reality for this
dungeon?
‘I can’t tell that yet, but….’
If he continued to gather more clues in this manner, eventually he’d get to
understand the true identity of the System as well as what it wanted from him.
Meanwhile, the hesitant Esil finally mustered up some courage to call out
to Jin-Woo.
“Uhm, excuse me….”
But, almost at the same time, Jin-Woo raised his head and replied to the
System message.
“97th floor.”
97, 98, 99….
Jin-Woo finally acquired the ‘key’ to enter the abode of the Demon King.
[Item: Entry Permit]
Rarity: ??
Type: ??
A permit allowing you to enter the 100th floor of the Demon’s Castle. Can
only be used on the 99th floor’s floor-transfer magic circle.
Just how much hardship did he have to go through for this thing? Before
entering the 100th floor where the Demon King was waiting for his arrival,
Jin-Woo checked out his Status first.
[Level: 93]
His level was already knocking on 100’s doorway. He could sense his
increased Stats throughout his entire body. Strength flowed in every corner of
his body, and his senses were so much sharper than before. His condition was
at its peak.
‘Very good.’
Jin-Woo summoned the Store. He topped up his HP and MP with potions
bought from there. He even bought some bandages as well. Just like before,
he wrapped it around the right hand holding the dagger. It had been a long
time since he felt this nervous.
Once he was done, he slowly moved his body this way and that.
Swish….
Slice….
‘Hmm, it’s not too bad, I guess?’
His movement gradually picked up speed, his limbs moving accurately
according to his commands.
Faster! Even faster!
Jin-Woo left behind countless after-images in the air but quite suddenly, he
stopped moving altogether. Hot steam rose up like a fog from his shoulders.
Should he say this was sufficient for a warm-up?
Whatever the case might have been, he was finished with his preparations
now.
“Fuu….”
Jin-Woo inhaled and exhaled a big chunk of air, before stepping onto the
floor-transfer magic circle. Just like before, the magic circle asked for his
destination, and Jin-Woo confidently replied.
“100th floor.”
By the time he blinked, the surroundings had already changed. Jin-Woo
surveyed his new surroundings.
‘There are no flames here?’
The horrifying flames that seemingly burned for all eternity on the lower
floors were all gone, and he could only see the burnt-out remains. He raised
head and spotted snowflakes falling from the sky.
‘….Snow?’
The colour seemed a little off for real snowflakes, so he extended his hand
out. The flakes falling on his hand didn’t melt down, weirdly enough. When
he took a closer look, he realised that it was actually ash.
Ash was falling from the sky like snow.
It was then.
Tti-ring.
He heard the familiar mechanical beep. Jin-Woo’s sharpened glare was
directed to the distant skies above.
‘So, it’s above me….’
Soon, the System alerted him to the entrance of the enemy via its trusty
messages.
[The Demon King Baran has discovered the intruder!]
A black dot that wandered in the sky….
That black dot gradually got closer to the ground, before settling down on a
spot pretty far away. It was a winged lizard-like creature.
After successfully landing on the ground, the lizard flapped its large wings
and screeched out aloud.
Kiiiiieeeehhhk!!
Just above the head of the lizard, Jin-Woo saw a face of a demon, with a
certain blue aura oozing out from it. A male creature kitted out in a flashy set
of armour that only royalty might wear, while riding on the back of the large
winged lizard….
The four words could clearly be seen above the male demon’s head.
[The Demon King, Baran]
This boss was emitting an extraordinary aura.
Cold sweat formed on Jin-Woo’s forehead. As befitting the boss protecting
the top floor of a dungeon this massive, the creature was full of magnificent
splendour.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted to the side of the boss, however.
‘Mm?’
The lizard this boss was riding on also possessed a name of its own.
[The Sky Dragon Kaisellin]
‘….Sky Dragon?’
Judging from its name and its appearance, it didn’t look like a demon at all.
‘Wait a minute…. If it’s not a demon, then could I….?’
Even if he worked his butt off to kill demons, he couldn’t extract their
shadows. So, he had already given up on acquiring a useful shadow in this
place. But, what if it was a non-demon monster that could also fly?
‘…….I want it.’
If he could extract its shadow, then definitely he would.
This would be the first time he ran into a shadow he so dearly wanted to
extract since encountering the leader of the White Phantoms, Baruka. Jin-Woo
swallowed his dry saliva.
It was then, Baran raised its hand towards the sky.
Tti-ring.
[The Demon King Baran has activated ‘Skill: The Army of Hell’.]
‘….The Army of Hell??’
Tti-ring, tti-ring, tti-ring.
Several warning bells rang one after the other in Jin-Woo’s ears.
[Demon Soldiers have been summoned!]
[Demon Knights have been summoned!]
[Demon Generals have been summoned!]
Along with the messages filling up his view, an army entirely consisting of
demons appeared around the Demon King. Even at a casual glance, there
must’ve been over a thousand of them.
‘So, this must be the beginning.’
Jin-Woo also released all of his hidden magic energy.
When Baran arrogantly lowered the hand pointing at the sky in the
direction of Jin-Woo, the demonic army rushed at him like a black tide.
Rumble-!!
The ground vibrated from the forceful march of the demons.
Jin-Woo stared at the Demon King’s army as the corner of his lips arched
up.
‘I also have soldiers too, you know.’
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“My shadows….”
In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo’s shadow spread out to all the surrounding
areas. He had activated the skill, ‘Sovereign’s Territory’. When the Demon
King’s army set foot within the darkened land, Jin-Woo finally summoned his
Shadow Soldiers.
“….Show yourselves.”
His shadows stood up all at once to answer his call.
‘….!!!’
Jin-Woo could acutely feel the confusion and panic among the enemies’
ranks.
Wuuoooohhh!!
Kkkrrroar!!
Immediately seizing upon this opening, the two ‘physical’ type Knight
grade soldiers, Iron and Tank, ran forward with everything they had and
crashed into the enemy.
Kaboom!!
“Kuwaahk!!”
“Kehgehk!!”
Dozens of demons screamed and were flung away from the absurd
strengths of the two Shadow Soldiers. Right behind them, over one hundred
soldiers rushed forward like a black tidal wave.
And the highlight of this opening salvo obviously belonged to Igrit!
He jumped lightly over the head of Iron and landed gently on the ground,
before using the swords he held in each hand to cut and slice apart every
demon he could find.
“Kiieeehhk!!”
“Keuhark!!”
It was a performance befitting the grade of ‘Elite Knight’.
‘By the way, Igrit isn’t the only Elite Knight in my army, you know.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to his side.
Fangs had finished gigantifying himself by then, and walked forward with
large, heavy thuds as if to emphasize that it was his turn to fight. Jin-Woo
formed a content expression as he watched Fangs’ large back.
Fuu-wuu-wuheup.
Fangs took a deep, deep breath. His chest puffed up noticeably. Jin-Woo
quickly recalled all the Shadow Soldiers found in front of Fangs, so his giant
soldier could attack without holding anything back. The soldiers reverted to
shadows, and shifted to the new location Jin-Woo pointed with his finger.
And then…..
Kuwuuuuuuu….
Massive, ferocious pillar of flames spewing out from Fangs’ mouth
completely vaporised the demons on the ground. The flames didn’t stop there,
though.
Kuwuuuuuu…..
Fangs moved his head left to right, and utterly incinerated all demons
trapped with the arc of the attack. All those poor demons swallowed up by the
flames couldn’t even leak out a scream.
A few Shadow Soldiers were sucked into the attack in the process as well,
but as long as they were under the influence of their Sovereign, it was
possible to infinitely revive them.
‘Very good!’
Jin-Woo clenched his fists tightly.
One hundred-plus Shadow Soldiers were overwhelming the army over ten
times their numbers. The demonic soldiers and their ranks crumbled in no
time at all.
But, it was then.
Baran stopped standing back passively, and finally made his move.
Countless arcs of blue sparks buzzed and crackled within the wide-open
mouth of the boss creature.
Gahaaaaahark!
Along with that hair-raising yell, a chill-inducing beam of blue light
enveloped the Shadow Soldiers.
Kwa-bzzzzzzzzzz!!
‘….Lightning?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened from sheer surprise.
Soldiers getting swept up in the blue electrical storm disintegrated in an
instant, while those that managed to avoid instant death stood still in their
spots as if they were frozen solid.
‘….It’s not regular lightning.’
Lightning bolts containing horrifying destructive power, as well as side-
effects of stunning their targets, fell all over the place. And of course, one of
these blue-coloured electrical storms also headed for Jin-Woo as well.
Cra-ckle!!
Quite unlike his Shadow Soldiers, he didn’t receive a single lick of
damage, however.
All burn-related damage was absorbed by the ‘Wind Robe’ he currently had
on, and….
[You have resisted abnormal status with the effects of ‘Buff: Immunity’.]
[You have resisted abnormal status with the effects of ‘Buff: Immunity’.]
[You have resisted abnormal status with the effects of ‘Buff: Immunity’.]
….As for the lightning’s stun effect, his abnormal status immunity buff
dealt with it.
Jin-Woo dashed towards Baran right away. If he didn’t stop the boss’s AOE
magic right now, there was a good chance that the flow of battle would shift
away from his favour.
Baran’s glare landed on Jin-Woo.
Gahaaaaahk!!
Another ear-screeching yell exploded out from the boss’s wide open mouth,
and blue streaks of lightning rained all around Jin-Woo.
Crackle, crack, crackle!!
However, Baran flinched grandly upon realising that the concentrated
lightning attacks had no effect on Jin-Woo.
‘…..!!’
He sensed the boss’s agitation quite clearly.
Utilising the skill ‘Dash’ that had reached the maximum achievable level,
Jin-Woo closed the distance in the blink of an eye and jumped up high in the
air. Baran also unsheathed its sword.
Jin-Woo’s reverse-gripped ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ and the Demon King’s blade,
infused with bluish flames, clashed face to face.
BOOM!!
A huge explosion of noise spread out; Baran was shoved off the Sky
Dragon, while Jin-Woo was flung away by the rebound as well.
Jin-Woo stopped rolling on the ground and got up at the same time as
Baran. They glared at each other only for a brief moment.
Both of them dashed towards each other with everything they had almost
out of pure instinct.
Gaaaaaahk!!
Baran spat out more blue sparks from his mouth.
Craaaackle!! Crack!!
Countless blue-coloured rays of light crashed down on him. Jin-Woo
continued to run forward while believing in the defensive properties of the
robe, but then, he sensed something was off.
‘….It’s getting hotter?’
When he glanced back, he realised that the end of the robe was on fire. He
quickly threw off the robe.
‘I guess that’s as far as the robe can protect me.’
In the end, it was an artefact crafted by humans. It had already performed
its job quite admirably up to this point, so he felt no regret. From here
onwards, Jin-Woo had to take care of things on his own.
He swallowed his saliva.
Gaaahhhhak!!
As if it had sensed that an opportunity had arrived, the intensity of the blue
sparks crackling within Baran’s mouth increased by a notch. Jin-Woo
heightened his senses as much as he could to get ready.
‘I can do this.’
No, he simply had to do this.
With time slowing down substantially in his perspective, Jin-Woo calmly
evaded each and every single one of the blue arcs of lightning flying right at
him.
‘….Why is this happening?’
Craaackle!
As Baran’s figure got closer and closer, Jin-Woo began recalling his
memories of the Demon’s Castle one by one. Even during that, he still
managed to evade the blue lightnings.
Craaaackle!!
His heart was beating quite gently right now.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….
Jin-Woo dodged all of Baran’s attacks by a truly paper-thin margin, and
eventually, stood before the Demon King.
‘….Ah.’
Only then did he finally realise why he was reminiscing about the events of
the Demon’s Castle like this. Because, he was feeling grateful.
‘Thanks.’
To grant him this great power to fight evenly against an absurdly strong
monster like this….
As he climbed up each floor, he was moulded and refined further and
further. It was as if he was being trained precisely for this moment.
So, how could he not feel grateful right now?
Swish-!
Baran slashed down diagonally with his sword, and Jin-Woo raised
‘Baruka’s Dagger’ in his right hand to block it, before using the ‘Knight
Killer’ to stab the Demon King’s shoulder.
Crack!!
The weapon designed specifically to tear through the enemy’s armour dug
deeply into Baran’s shoulder.
‘……!!’
Jin-Woo momentarily thought that he could hear Baran’s soundless scream
just then. He yanked the ‘Knight Killer’ out. Flames of rage erupted within
Baran’s eyes. The Demon King began panting out rather laboriously.
Finally, the boss made his move.
Jin-Woo’s two daggers and Baran’s sword swished and swung and clashed
against each other countless times, leaving behind several wounds on their
bodies.
Clang!! Claaaank!! Clang, clunk!!
Every time their blades collided, the ground around the two caved in by the
shock waves emanating from the collision of the magic energy.
A deep frown formed on Jin-Woo’s forehead.
‘Even with such a deep wound on his shoulder….’
As befitting the title of the Demon King, Baran’s powers were nothing to
scoff at. Jin-Woo felt aching coming from his wrists. He realised that he’d be
in a disadvantageous position if things continued on in this fashion.
‘I need to break this deadlock.’
Jin-Woo and Baran both had two hands. However, Jin-Woo also possessed
a hidden third hand.
‘Ruler’s Reach!’
Out of the blue, a powerful impact force pushed Baran down on one knee.
Thud!
‘….??’
Even before Baran could recover from his confusion, Jin-Woo’s fist
slammed hard into the Demon King’s face.
Ka-boom!!
Baran’s uncontrollable tumbling only came to an end after it rolled on the
ground for dozens of metres. However, it couldn’t get up. Because, Jin-Woo
was already straddling the torso of the Demon King by then.
Baran quickly opened its mouth wide towards him.
Gah-ark!
Too bad, Baran couldn’t fire off another lightning. Jin-Woo’s left fist
shoved deep into the Demon King’s mouth ensured that the ‘spell’ would
remain sealed.
‘…..!!’
Baran’s eyes shook hard.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo raised his fist up high, choosing not to use the dagger
wrapped around his hand.
Slam!!
Boom!!
Slam!!
Kaboom!!
The terrifying physical power from the Strength Stat that had exceeded 200
rapidly shaved away the boss monster’s HP.
And finally….
Jin-Woo placed almost all of his strength into the raised right fist.
Fuu-huup!
In an instant, his shoulder and arm muscles expanded greatly, and the air
around him became so heavy that it actually sank lower. An enormous amount
of magic energy pooling around his right arm forced all sounds away, and
instantly, the surroundings became eerily quiet.
‘……..’
Within this brief respite of silence, Jin-Woo looked down at the boss below
him and murmured.
“Thanks for everything.”
Of course, there was no reply. The Demon King only glared at Jin-Woo
with hatred deeply burning in its eyes.
‘I’m sure you’ll never understand what I’m trying to say here.’
Even then, he wanted to convey this emotion welling up inside his chest.
After he gave his honest thanks…
Jin-Woo landed the final hit against the ‘owner’ of this Demon’s Castle.
KABOOM!!
And then, he was greeted by the sound of ‘Tti-ring!’ as well as several
messages that made him feel even better.
[You killed the Demon King, Baran.]
[You have acquired Baran’s Soul.]
[You have completed ‘Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (2)’.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
Chapter 108 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Fuu…”
Jin-Woo spat out a short sigh of relief.
This was the moment his long march that started from the very first floor of
the Demon’s Castle dungeon was drawing to a close here on this 100th floor.
He closed his eyes for a moment in order to get a grip on his turbulent
emotions, only for the image of his mom’s face to pop up.
‘…’
When he reopened his eyes, the System messages that hadn’t gone away
yet entered his view again. Four alerts of him levelling up floated up there.
‘I rose up four levels in one go?’
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened up considerably. Thinking back to how his
levelling speed had slowed down to a crawl after he broke past level 90, he
couldn’t help but revel in happiness.
He quickly checked his Status Window.
[Level: 97]
Indeed, his level had jumped up by four.
‘Niiice!!’
Jin-Woo fist-pumped.
A dizzying sense of achievement was quickly added on top of the relief he
felt from finally clearing this dungeon. However, he quickly put aside this joy
to the back of his mind.
He still had something far more important than levelling up right now.
‘The Purified Blood of the Demon King.’
That was the final puzzle piece to craft the item, ‘Divine Water of Life’.
Jin-Woo quickly unwrapped the bandage off his hand and reached out
towards the blinking lights on the corpse of the Demon King, Baran.
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon Sovereign’s Ring’. Will you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Longsword’. Will you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Shortsword’. Will you take
it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Demon King’s Shortsword’. Will you take
it?]
[You have discovered ‘Item: Baran’s Two Horns’. Will you take it?]
[You have discovered ‘Ingredient Item: Purified Blood of the Demon
King’. Will you take it?]
Rather than feeling elated, Jin-Woo felt anxious instead from the list of
‘item discovered’ messages that continued to pop up. Because, he couldn’t
spot the item he was looking for. However, he cried out in excitement as soon
as he spotted the very last item, ‘Purified Blood of the Demon King’.
‘It’s here!’
Jin-Woo quickly acquired all the items and lifted up the item that must’ve
been the Purified Blood of the Demon King.
[Ingredient Item: Purified Blood of the Demon King]
Rarity: ??
Type: Ingredient
This is the liquid created from purifying the blood of Baran, the Sovereign
of the demons.
Possesses immense magical energy, but even after going through the
purifying process, the blood still retains strong toxins. In order to use the
blood as a medical ingredient, both the ‘Fragment of the World Tree’ and
‘Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes’ are needed to neutralize the toxin.
The red liquid sloshed inside a clear glass bottle according to the angle it
was held.
‘This is the blood of the Demon King….’
He already possessed the other two ingredients, ‘Fragment of the World
Tree’ and the ‘Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes’. So, what was there to
hesitate about?
Jin-Woo promptly summoned the Crafting Skill Window.
[Crafting Skills]
Consumable: Divine Water of Life (3/3)
Different from the past, the words ‘Divine Water of Life’ was now blinking
constantly. When he checked the details, the words ‘Crafting possible’
immediately caught his attention.
[Divine Water of Life]
[Will you start crafting ‘Item: Divine Water of Life’?]
Jin-Woo was in a hurry to see the finished article, so he didn’t waste any
more time and chose to start the crafting process.
“Start.”
[Crafting process for ‘Item: Divine Water of Life’ has commenced.]
[10, 9, 8….]
Jin-Woo waited for the result with bated breath.
[7, 6, 5….]
[The ‘percentage of Crafting success’ and ‘number of finished items’ will
depend on Crafter’s Intelligence Stat.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
‘Are you telling me only now that the odds of success, as well as the
number of completed items, will depend on the Intelligence Stat?!’
If you were stupid, then you couldn’t even craft anything?
….It did sound somewhat logical, so Jin-Woo could only nod his head.
In the meantime, the countdown steadily ticked on.
[4, 3, 2….]
Why did the words ‘percentage of Crafting success’ get on his nerves so
much? The only solace he could take away right now was the fact that he had
at least woke up to the importance of the Intelligence Stat quickly enough to
invest a lot of extra Stat points there.
[….1, 0.]
[Crating process has been completed!]
[Crafting is a success!]
[You have acquired ‘Item: Divine Water of Life x6’.]
“That’s what I’m talking about!!”
Jin-Woo had been waiting anxiously until then, but as soon as the
‘Success!’ message popped up, he raised his hands high up into the sky.
‘….Huh?’
However, he quickly discovered something a bit odd. The bottle containing
the blood of the Demon King still remained in his right hand.
‘Well, uh, the amount of blood has decreased by a little, but….’
Jin-Woo tilted his head, before summoning the ‘Fragment of the World
Tree’ and the ‘Spring Water from the Forest of Echoes’ from his Inventory.
The only thing that appeared on the ground was the slightly-shaved-on-the-
edge Fragment of the World Tree, though. He accessed his Inventory and
searched, but couldn’t find the Spring Water anywhere.
‘Could it be….?’
Feeling a bit suspicious, he confirmed the Crafting Skill Window, and his
suspicion was soon answered in full.
-Ingredients:
Out of the three ingredients, only the Spring Water showed ‘0’.
‘So, it’s something like, not all the ingredients will be used up, but only
the necessary amount – is that it?’
The Crafting process must’ve come to a stop because the Spring Water
from the Forest of Echoes had run out, unlike with other two ingredients.
From the get-go, he got this feeling that the Crafting process wouldn’t have
required a lot of the Demon King’s blood. As for the Fragment of the World
Tree, it was a gigantic piece of lumber when he had initially acquired it, to
begin with.
It was rather obvious that the Spring Water contained within a small bottle
would be the first one to run out.
Jin-Woo grinned widely in satisfaction.
‘Well, it’s not a bad result for me regardless.’
Because, as long as he could find more of that ‘Spring Water from the
Forest of Echoes’ in the future, he’d get to craft more of this Divine Water of
Life.
‘Hold on, there’s another problem to consider, isn’t there?’
Jin-Woo was desperate for a bottle of this Divine Water, yet now, there
were six wooden bottles waiting for him on the ground, so it was rather
difficult for him to calm his wildly beating heart.
[Item: Divine Water of Life]
Rarity: S
Type: Consumable
A mysterious liquid medicine that cures any and all illnesses through
powerful magic contained within. The effect will only manifest after one
whole bottle has been consumed.
Would this item truly cure his mother’s illness?
‘….I guess I’ll find out later today.’
His heart palpitated faster.
Jin-Woo carefully stored away all six bottles in his Inventory, as well as the
remaining ingredients. Even then, he still had lots of other items to go
through.
‘One ring, one longsword, two shortswords and two japtems.’
Because Baran was the boss of a rank S dungeon, it sure coughed up a lot
of loot. This proverbial pile of treasure was a sight for sore eyes, but there
was no reason to go through all of them right now.
Indeed, his priority lay with getting out of here to see his mother.
Jin-Woo simply dumped all the items acquired from the corpse of the
Demon King in his trusty Inventory. And then, while lightly dusting his
hands, took a look around him.
‘I’ve got a pressing matter to attend to, but….’
….But, he shouldn’t miss out on other things because of that, no?
Wasn’t there an old saying about ‘the more of a hurry you are in, you
should take the longer of the routes available’ or some such?
Jin-Woo looked behind him, and found his Shadow Soldiers standing at
attention in rows, having massacred an army ten times their number. Behind
his boys, dead demons were strewn about everywhere.
‘What about the Sky Dragon?’
Jin-Woo’s wandering gaze hurriedly searched for the monster that the
Demon King rode around in. Worryingly enough, all he could spot were the
corpses of demons piled up on high, with not a hint of the Sky Dragon
anywhere.
‘Wait, it couldn’t have flown away during the fight, right?’
Thankfully though, his worries didn’t last for long. Iron was dragging a
limp corpse behind him. It was none other than the Sky Dragon, Kaisellin.
“Iron, nicely done.”
Maybe Iron felt embarrassed by Jin-Woo’s praise, which was a first in a
while, because he began scratching the back of his head. Of course, it was still
the back of his helmet, though.
Jin-Woo lightly patted the shoulder of Iron and stood before the Sky
Dragon’s body.
‘It’s as I thought.’
Just as he suspected it from the monster’s name and its appearance, he
could see the black smoke slowly rising up from the corpse of the Sky
Dragon. Which meant, it was possible to extract its shadow.
Jin-Woo extended his hand out.
“Rise up.”
The Shadow Extraction worked without any problems whatsoever, perhaps
due to his much higher level.
Kiyaaaahhhk-!
Accompanied by the death throes of a beast, a creature covered in some
type of black gas crawled out of the Sky Dragon’s shadow. The dead
Dragon’s shadow immediately recognised his new owner and lowered his
head in front of Jin-Woo.
[Please assign the name of the Shadow Soldier.]
‘Oh.’
Jin-Woo formed a surprised expression.
Since he didn’t get to witness the creature fighting, he only assumed it to be
a mount and not much else, but it must’ve been pretty handy in battles,
because the Sky Dragon’s shadow started right away as a Knight grade.
If he considered the fact that the ace of the Shadow Army, Igrit, was also a
Knight grade not too long ago, this was a surprising development. But, then
again, it made some sense. There was no way a boss referred to as the
‘Demon King’ would ride on a weak, pathetic monster, now was there?
Jin-Woo was genuinely satisfied with the grade of his new soldier, and
replied to the System message.
“Kaisellin…. No, wait.”
Inexplicably, he thought that name was a bit too long.
“…Kaisel.”
The Sky Dragon, now bestowed with a brand new name, raised his head up
high into the sky and spat out a lengthy roar.
Kiiieeeehhk!!
“Everyone, you all worked hard.”
With those words, Jin-Woo stored all of his Shadow Soldiers, including the
new addition of Kaisel, back into his shadow. It was almost time to make his
exit from the Demon’s Castle. There was one more thing still remaining,
however.
Jin-Woo opened the inbox, where the quest completion messages were still
waiting for him.
[You have completed ‘Normal Quest: Collect the Souls of Demons! (2).]
[Completion rewards are now available.]
[Will you confirm the rewards?] (Y/N)
‘Yes, obviously.’
As soon as he answered, the list of rewards popped up in his view.
Tti-ring.
[Following rewards are made available.]
[Will you take them all?]
The so-called ‘Shadow Exchange’ skill. Just what could it be?
As he had been curious about this ‘highest-grade’ Rune Stone ever since
the beginning of the quest, Jin-Woo chose to take that one first.
‘Okay, I choose the first reward for the time being.’
Tti-ring.
[‘Highest grade Rune Stone: Shadow Exchange’ has been delivered.]
After that message came and gone, he felt a small rock residing within his
palm. When he brought the hand closer to his nose and opened it, he found a
jet-black Rune Stone resting there. Its colour was completely different from
the ‘regular’ Rune Stones.
Also, its hue came across as so much more mysterious compared to the
average black colour.
Crumble.
Unlike in the past, when he physically had to break the Stone, the item
crumbled all on its own the moment he thought about squeezing his hand.
The pitch-black aura rising up from the shattered Rune Stone slowly
enveloped Jin-Woo, before getting absorbed into his body.
He hurriedly checked his Skill Window.
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv.1]
Class-specific skill.
Mana required to activate: None.
The summoner can switch locations with the designated Shadow Soldier.
Once activated, you must wait three hours of ‘cool down’ period before
being able to use the skill again. The ‘cool down’ period will change
according to the Skill’s level.]
‘Heok!!!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened as he read the skill’s description.
Sure, it might be handicapped by the limitation of the cool down period,
but…. No, instead, it was an incredible skill that perhaps necessitated that
cool down period to make it fair.
‘Doesn’t this mean it’s possible to switch locations regardless of where
my Shadow Soldier is?’
Depending on how he used it, this was almost on the level of teleportation.
Jin-Woo was about to summon a Shadow Soldier and test this new skill out
right away, but quickly changed his mind.
‘If I’m to test it out, I might as well try it with a soldier that’s really far
away.’
Thankfully, he did leave behind a handful of soldiers outside the Demon’s
Castle. He hid three of them in his sister’s shadow, while five were patrolling
the district as of this moment.
‘There’s nothing to think about, is it?’
He didn’t know what kind of an after-effect the skill might have, and also,
he couldn’t just haphazardly pop out near his sister’s location, either. And that
was after setting aside the possibility of his sister freaking out, too.
So, he sought out the ‘signal’ emitted from one of the five Shadow Soldiers
patrolling around his district and zeroed in on it.
“….Shadow Exchange.”
As soon as Jin-Woo opened his mouth…
“….Uh? Eh?”
As if gravity was powerfully pulling him down, he was rapidly sucked into
his own shadow.
Chapter 109 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
There wasn’t any deeper meaning behind his actions. Goto Ryuji came to
South Korea to personally confirm the capabilities of the top Korean Hunters
with his own eyes. And now, he had developed a bit of curiosity after
discovering someone a bit unique out of the lot. That was all.
‘I’ll soon find out whether he’s really a Mage or not.’
Goto Ryuji refused to accept that the man standing right in front of his eyes
wasn’t a melee-type Hunter.
He needed more ‘data’. In order to eliminate any and all form of
unexpected variations, he simply had to acquire more data on Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Well, half of it is for fun, though….’
Goto Ryuji smirked to himself.
The interpreter heard what the Japanese Hunter had to say, jumped up in
surprise, before hurriedly asking a question.
“M-mister Goto, are you sure about this?”
“Please translate what I said to this man ad verbatim.”
“B-but, even then….”
“Will there be a problem?”
Goto Ryuji asked back in a teasing tone. His voice seemed to ask why
shouldn’t he participate in the proceedings, when the Korean Hunters were
already doing some ‘light exercises’?
The interpreter continued to sweat buckets, before giving up in the end and
replied to him.
“I… I understand.”
He turned his head and met Jin-Woo’s questioning gaze. The interpreter
hesitated before opening his mouth.
“Mister Goto is asking… If you don’t mind ‘training’ with him…..”
There was no need for an extra explanation on what that training was
supposed to be.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to Goto Ryuji. The Japanese man was waiting
for an answer with an unreadable smile on his face.
‘You want to find out more about my skill level, is that it?’
There was no way that the world-famous Goto Ryuji would do something
so eye-catching just to show off his abilities. If that was indeed his aim, he’d
have asked either Choi Jong-In or Baek Yun-Ho, the leaders of the number
one and two South Korean Guilds respectively, instead.
‘I don’t know what you’re planning here, but….’
Judging from the undisguised stare from earlier on, it was more than likely
that Goto Ryuji’s interest was on Jin-Woo.
Even then, he didn’t feel displeased by the Japanese Hunter’s abrupt
suggestion. No, rather than that, he was genuinely intrigued by the prospect of
the fight itself.
He wanted to test out the strength he got to raise inside the Demon’s Castle,
and he was also curious about the abilities of Japan’s top Hunter, too. Indeed,
it wasn’t only Goto Ryuji who was curious about his opponent’s strength.
‘…..Mm?’
Goto Ryuji stopped smiling as a thin frown formed on his forehead.
‘He’s smiling?’
He expected Jin-Woo to become flustered and then eventually try to back
out, but then, the Korean Hunter simply displayed a certain relaxed vibe,
instead.
Was there something he felt confident of? Or, was he smiling wryly after
finding the current situation troublesome to handle?
The answer was revealed soon enough. Jin-Woo told something to the
interpreter, and the latter jumped up pretty high in shock right away.
up, the interpreter looked as if he was doing his best to dissuade the youth,
while Jin-Woo was all smiles as he tried to calm the former, instead. Since
they were talking in Korean, Goto Ryuji couldn’t understand a word being
spoken and as a result, a frown grew progressively deeper on his face.
‘What are they even talking about…?’
It should’ve only been either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Why was the interpreter sweating buckets like that over a question with
only two exceedingly simple available answers?
Just as Goto Ryuji’s patience was about to run out, the interpreter spoke up
while continuously sneaking glances at Jin-Woo.
“Uhm, excuse me, Mister Goto….”
If only there were no eyes watching right now, Goto Ryuji would’ve
shouted at the man to stop wasting time and hurry up with it. Forcibly
maintaining his smile meant that Goto Ryuji’s brows were quivering greatly,
as he waited for the interpreter’s next words.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim agreed to your proposal. However….”
“However?”
“He says he has a condition.”
‘A condition?’
Not only had the opponent failed to lower his tail and cower, but he also
accepted the challenge straight away, and even put up an extra condition, as
well. It was Goto Ryuji’s turn to feel somewhat flustered now.
“And what is this condition?”
“Well, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim said that…..”
The interpreter took one last look at Jin-Woo, and the latter nodded his
head.
“….He’ll agree only on the condition that Mister Goto gives his all.”
Goto Ryuji’s stare immediately shifted to Seong Jin-Woo.
‘Is he being serious??’
Seeing the expression on Jin-Woo’s face, one could tell that he wasn’t
kidding around. Goto Ryuji tilted his head.
‘Wait… Maybe he doesn’t know who I am?’
But, that couldn’t be. Even if he didn’t know before, the interpreter
should’ve provided an explanation just now. Even then, for him to not cower
and back off – was this the case of arrogance or a mistaken belief in himself?
‘….This might be fun.’
The smile was already wiped clean from Goto Ryuji’s mug.
He was thinking of matching the opponent’s pace and ending things after
checking out Seong Jin-Woo’s skill, but now, his thoughts had changed.
Thankfully, with a rank S Healer nearby, there shouldn’t be any big
‘accidents’ either.
“Alright, I accept.”
“Heok!”
The interpreter’s face paled immediately.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had just advanced to rank ‘S’, so he might not be
able to contain his overflowing passion, but why was Mister Goto, who had
experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations, behaving like this?
Unfortunately, the atmosphere had already gone past the point of no return.
“Who’s that guy next to the Japanese Hunter?”
“Isn’t he… Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
“What’s this? Are they going to spar or something?”
Soon, the rank S Hunters and Association employees within the
gymnasium all gathered around the two men glaring at each other. As
everyone was immersed in the developing situation, half of them looking on
with worry while the other half in anticipation, Cha Hae-In also stood next to
the Hunters and looked on at the duo.
‘Will he be fine…?’
Jin-Woo’s opponent was a man who managed to stand at the top of Japan, a
country with over 20 rank S Hunters.
As for Jin-Woo himself, if one excluded the years he spent as a rank E, then
he should be considered as a newbie who had been a rank S for only a few
days now.
It’d be the right thing to stop Hunter Seong Jin-Woo from continuing on
any further.
From Cha Hae-In’s perspective as someone affiliated with the Hunters
Guild, Seong Jin-Woo was a benefactor who saved the lives of an entire team
consisting of her Guild’s elite men and women.
She wasn’t some honour-less woman who’d do nothing and watch a
benefactor get hurt from the sidelines.
However, she kept recalling the events of that day whenever she thought
about dissuading him.
….The look Jin-Woo gave her, telling her not to interfere even when he
was facing off against over one hundred High Orcs and a boss of a rank A
dungeon.
When recalling that powerful, determined stare, she felt her chest palpitate,
and unexplainable anticipation bubbled up in her heart. That was why she
couldn’t readily step forward, only to bite down on her lower lip in
nervousness.
It was then.
“Are you feeling okay today with other Hunters around you?”
Before she had time to notice it, Baek Yun-Ho was already next to her to
ask that question. They had gone on several raids together, so he knew very
well of her strange physical condition.
“Well, it’s not like I’ll be able to continue blocking my nose in Jeju
Island, so…”
Hearing her answer, Baek Yun-Ho nodded his head. It was her turn to ask
next.
“You said before that you’re an acquaintance with Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo, yes?”
“Yes.”
Cha Hae-In remembered that the White Tiger Guild also received Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s help in the past, just like her own Guild did.
“In that case, shouldn’t you try to stop Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
“I guess that’s the normal way of thinking.”
After all, the opponent today was none other than Goto Ryuji. Cha Hae-In
tilted her head.
“If so, then why….?”
Baek Yun-Ho shifted his gaze and met her eyes before replying to her.
“It’s the same reason as yours, Cha Hunter-nim.”
Flinch.
Cha Hae-In felt as if her inner secrets had been exposed by Baek Yun-Ho
just now. Her always-taciturn expression displayed just a hint of change.
“I don’t…..”
“Don’t you feel this strange anticipation in the air?”
….She couldn’t deny that.
Even now, her heart was racing with a singular thought of ‘If it’s Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo, then he might….’ filling up her head.
“It’s the same story for me.”
Baek Yun-Ho replied with a grin and looked back in Jin-Woo and Goto
Ryuji’s direction. His expression was filled with barely-checked anticipation.
‘If Hunter Seong is really an Awakened who can grow stronger as per my
expectation, then….’
This could be the chance to confirm that theory.
Goto Ryuji raised his fist first.
The interpreter standing nearby hurriedly left their side. Two rank S
Hunters were about to have a smackdown. Not only that, one of them
happened to be referred to as Japan’s best, as well. A normal person would die
simply from being too close in this situation.
Making sure that the interpreter had run off to a safe-enough distance, Jin-
Woo belatedly put his dukes up as well. No, that’s what he tried to do.
But then…
Swish!
Without a moment’s delay, Goto Ryuji’s fist flew past where Jin-Woo’s
head had been a blink ago.
The Japanese man’s eyes grew wide.
‘I missed?’
The attack was meant to floor Jin-Woo in one go and help Goto recover his
damaged pride, but now, it was all for nothing. Jin-Woo evaded the punch by
tilting his head out of the way, and then, he easily created some distance
between them.
His reaction speed was surprisingly fast.
‘And you still claim to be a Mage after that??’
What a bloody laughable notion that was.
Indeed, Goto Ryuji’s eyes weren’t mistaken. He didn’t know the reason for
the Korean Association hiding that man’s true abilities, but without a doubt,
Seong Jin-Woo was a melee-type Hunter. Not only that, definitely an
Assassin, too. His agile movements and his silent steps were all the proof
needed.
‘You may be able to fool the others, but you can’t hide the truth from me.’
The corner of Goto Ryuji’s lips arched up.
‘Allow me to peel off another layer of yours.’
….Right until everything you possess is brought up to the surface!
For the first time in a long, long while, Goto Ryuji was feeling genuinely
pumped up.
After taking some distance away from the aggressive Japanese Hunter, Jin-
Woo stood still and listened to his heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump….
Indeed, his heart was beating faster. He could sense power on another level
compared to other Hunters from Goto Ryuji.
However, the emotion filling up Jin-Woo’s heart whenever Goto Ryuji’s
unbelievable aura touched his skin was this strong sense of belief in himself.
‘So, that guy is the best in Japan….’
Only now could he truly recognise how much he had changed while raising
his level to 97. His strong confidence was clearly visible on his face now. On
the other hand, Goto Ryuji’s expression was hardening.
‘He’s smiling again?’
How dare he, in front of me??
Goto Ryuji spat out a heavy breath.
The scarcely-believable amount of magical energy he emitted began to
heavily press down the surrounding air. Hunters watching on were jolted by a
nasty surprise.
‘Shouldn’t we stop them before something happens here?’
‘Goto Ryuji, maybe he’s thinking of really going for it now?’
However, there was a thin smile on Jin-Woo’s face. This was what he
wanted, anyways.
Goto Ryuji saw that Jin-Woo showed no signs of cowering even after he
had unleashed his fearsome level of magic power, and felt something welling
up from deep within.
His eyes gleamed dangerously just then!
Even before other Hunters had the chance to step forward and stop this
bout, Goto Ryuji pounced like an angry predator.
The distance closed up in an instant; Goto Ryuji reached out with his hand;
Jin-Woo leaned back in the nick of time and evaded the attack.
‘….!!’
Goto Ryuji’s eyes trembled imperceptibly.
‘He dodged?!’
Was that also a coincidence, or….?
Even though many thoughts fleeted in and out of his head, he didn’t stay
his hands and continued to rain down his attacks. Too bad, not one of them
could connect to his target; Jin-Woo always managed to dodge by a hair’s
breadth or repelled the incoming hits away.
‘How could this be…??’
Cold sweat drops formed on Goto Ryuji’s forehead.
Goto Ryuji and his brilliantly flashy attacks, and Jin-Woo who managed to
dodge everything by the smallest margins imaginable. Other Hunters watched
the duo and expressed their genuine admiration.
“That’s some fierce attacks, alright.”
“Hard to follow those movements with my naked eyes.”
“Look, even Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is enduring pretty well, no?”
“Right, it’s already pretty remarkable that he can evade the attacks from
Japan’s best to that extent.”
Cha Hae-In shook her head multiple times inwardly.
‘No, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo isn’t enduring anything right now.’
Others could only see that Jin-Woo was being endlessly led around by Goto
Ryuji’s continuous stream of attacks, but in reality, it was completely the
opposite. Cha Hae-In swallowed her saliva, feeling rather astonished at the
moment.
‘He’s actually leading Goto in such a way that Goto has no choice but to
keep attacking!’
If she was not wrong about this, then… Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had
matched his own pace to the opponent’s, so he could figure out more about
who he was facing here.
Such a thing was only possible if his own level of abilities was several
times greater than that of his opponent’s.
‘How can that even make any sense….??’
But, that nonsensical event was actually unfolding right before her eyes.
And now, she couldn’t help but think that the real reason to stop this sparring
wasn’t that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo might find himself in danger, but the other
way around….
Just as Cha Hae-In’s thoughts arrived at this point, she discovered Baek
Yun-Ho next to her shuddering non-stop.
“C-Chairman Baek…??”
She called out to him in a soft voice, but he didn’t respond. His eyes were
glued to Jin-Woo and nothing else. She tried to read his expression, only to
get stunned by what she saw.
‘His eyes….?’
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes were gleaming in yellow colour like that of a wild
beast. His vertical-slit eyes were trembling softly in shock.
She looked on with a worried expression on her face, but he didn’t even
notice that someone was looking at him right now. Baek Yun-Ho was seeing
everything clearly with his ‘Eyes of the Beast’.
‘I…. I was right!’
Jin-Woo’s current level of power was incomparably greater than back when
they last met in front of the Association building.
‘….A Hunter who can grow stronger!!’
Baek Yun-Ho’s entire body shook from the unbridled shock.
It was then.
“…Ah!”
Baek Yun-Ho had been paying his utmost attention to Jin-Woo all this time,
and when ‘it’ happened, he unconsciously spat out a frightened gasp. Cha
Hae-In next to her also sensed this deeply chilling aura and hurriedly shifted
her gaze.
“Ah!!”
A few seconds ago….
Goto Ryuji knew better than anyone else here that he had been suckered
into Jin-Woo’s pace.
He had been always referred to as the ‘Strongest’ back home, so it felt like
his pride had been shoved down the gutter in its entirety by this development.
‘How dare he do this to me….?!’
The attack that he meticulously aimed at the opening also missed its mark,
as Jin-Woo narrowly avoided it at the last possible second. Goto Ryuji grew
enraged, and murderous intent began filling up his eyes.
‘I’ll kill him!!’
Jin-Woo’s own eyes grew wider. He could acutely sense Goto Ryuji’s
killing intent pricking his skin.
‘Murderous intent?!’
Jin-Woo’s heart nearly fell to the pit of his stomach, then.
If someone formed a murderous intent towards him, the System would float
up a message and issue an emergency quest right afterwards. What if he got a
quest telling him to kill Goto Ryuji here…??
Tti-ring!
A mechanical beep resounded out right at that moment, and Jin-Woo
quickly looked up.
[Warning! Discovered a subject with murderous intent nearby!]
Thankfully, it was still a warning message; there was no emergency quest,
like back then with Hwang Dong-Seok or Kahng Tae-Sik.
However….
Swish-!!
Goto Ryuji’s outstretched hand, aimed at Jin-Woo’s eye, narrowly missed
and ended up slicing his cheek just a little. If his reflexes that had reached the
absolute limit, didn’t react in time and tilt his head out of the way, he might
have really lost his eye just now.
It was an attack that clearly carried the intent to kill, and it was clearly
aimed at a vital spot of the human anatomy. Such a thing would never be
accepted during a training match like this.
Grit.
In the blink of an eye, the atmosphere changed.
“Ah.”
Baek Yun-Ho unconsciously spat out a frightened gasp.
The first person to sense the abrupt shift in the atmosphere was actually
Goto Ryuji, however. Unfortunately for him, although his body understood
the change, his head could not.
The chilly air roused sleeping goosebumps to break out all over his body,
and all the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He had never, ever felt like
this before.
‘This, what is this….?’
Even before his brain had the time to process anything, Jin-Woo grabbed
his wrist, hard. Goto Ryuji tried to yank his arm out with all his might, but it
wouldn’t budge.
‘What kind of strength is this….?!’
His gaze briefly lingered on his wrist, before moving on to Jin-Woo’s face.
And he found an icy cold glare.
But what caught Goto Ryuji’s attention even more than Jin-Woo’s cold eyes
were his right shoulder and his raised right arm. Jin-Woo’s arm was cocked
back by a lot; a tightly-clenched fist at the end of that arm was taking an aim
at Goto Ryuji’s unguarded face.
The air sinking lower all around Goto Ryuji pressed down on his shoulders.
He suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore.
Why?
Why did he inexplicably think of the word ‘death’ right at this moment?
But, then….
“S-stop!”
Baek Yun-Ho and Cha Hae-In jumped into the fray purely out of instinct
and grabbed hold onto Jin-Woo’s right arm.
The former was tightly hugging Jin-Woo’s shoulder as if he was trying to
pull it down, while the latter was grabbing onto his wrist with everything she
had.
When Jin-Woo looked back, Baek Yun-Ho hurriedly shook his head. Even
Cha Hae-In was looking at him with anxious eyes, fear clearly visible on her
face.
‘…….’
The desperate dissuasion of these two that didn’t even care about their own
safety helped Jin-Woo to cool his agitation down somehow.
“Fuu.”
Jin-Woo let off a short sigh and released Goto Ryuji’s wrist.
The Japanese man rubbed his now-freed wrist and retreated quickly.
Meanwhile, the interpreter hurriedly arrived near his side. Baek Yun-Ho
quickly spoke to him.
“Let’s stop the sparring session here, since the mood seems to have
turned for the worse. Please tell the Japanese for us.”
The interpreter nodded his head.
When Baek Yun-Ho’s words were relayed to him, Goto Ryuji proceeded to
glare at Jin-Woo for a long time, before spinning on his heels to exit from the
gymnasium without saying single a word.
“M-mister Goto!!”
The voice of the interpreter as he ran after Goto Ryuji sounded so pitiful.
Baek Yun-Ho finally spat out a sigh of relief and lowered his head at Jin-Woo.
“Forgive us for butting in.”
“…”
“That man is supposed to lead the Japanese team in the operation a few
days from now. I couldn’t just stand by and watch, even though there was a
chance that something might go horribly wrong for us.”
Baek Yun-Ho cautiously studied Jin-Woo’s expression and asked.
“Did I do something unnecessary?”
“No, not at all.”
Jin-Woo readily admitted to it.
Baek Yun-Ho was right. If something happened to Goto Ryuji and that led
to an unnecessary snag in the operation, then both countries might end up
suffering severe consequences afterwards.
So, he never thought of assigning any blame on Baek Yun-Ho or Cha Hae-
In after they interfered in the timely fashion.
“Wow….”
Now that the situation seemed to have calmed down, people absorbed in
spectating on the sparring session between Goto Ryuji and Jin-Woo quickly
approached him. The way they looked at him went through a noticeable
change.
The first one to make his approach was the Master of the Shining Star
Guild, the massive-framed Mah Dong-Wook.
“Huhuh!!”
Mah Dong-Wook laughed genially.
“To be able to walk away with only a small scratch on your cheek after
having a bout with the one and only Goto, you’re truly something else,
young man!”
Regretfully, no one else seemed to have figured out what happened here
besides Cha Hae-In and Baek Yun-Ho.
“Ooh!! You have really firm muscles! What an outstanding physique!”
Mah Dong-Wook touched Jin-Woo’s shoulders and arms while expressing
his genuine admiration.
“My Guild is full of Mage-type Hunters, so we’re severely lacking in
melee-types at the moment. Instructor Seong, if you haven’t thought of a
Guild to join, how about joining mine?”
“Excuse me, Mah Instructor-nim?”
Having been quietly observing the situation from behind until then, Choi
Jong-In stepped forward and raised his voice.
“Yes?”
When Mah Dong-Wook turned his head, Choi Jong-In spoke up as if he
was waiting for this moment.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is actually a Mage-type Hunter.”
A massive earthquake erupted within Mah Dong-Wook’s eyes.
“What was that?!”
On the other hand….
Goto Ryuji escaped from the confines of the gymnasium and, after quickly
distancing himself from the interpreter, he checked his wrist.
‘……’
His wrist was bruised black and blue all over. Even though the weather
wasn’t all that hot, there were cold sweat drops visible on his forehead. He
pulled out his phone and dialled a familiar number. After a couple of rings, he
could hear the sound of the phone’s receiver being picked up.
Click.
“Association President.”
Goto Ryuji did his best to calm his trembling voice.
“In South Korea…. There’s an incredible Hunter in South Korea.”
“More than likely, sir.”
“I think there’s a need to modify our plan a little bit, sir.”
Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t immediately say anything, but rummaged
through something for a while instead, before finally asking a question.
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo. He’s a Re-Awakened, evaluated as a rank S
recently.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Such a name didn’t exist?!
Did that mean the Hunter Goto Ryuji met just now was a phantom, an
illusion? Well, he did kind of feel that he had been bewitched just now,
though. However, didn’t he also personally enter the Korean Association’s
website to confirm that that man was supposed to be a Mage??
“What do you mean, sir? How can Seong Jin-Woo not exist?”
“Are you saying Seong Jin-Woo isn’t on the list?”
But, how could that be?
Unless Goh Gun-Hui had gone truly senile, there was just no way that he’d
form a raiding party without the strongest member available.
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke in a calm manner from across the phone line.
As if to signify that there was no need to modify their plan at all,
Matsumoto Shigeo spoke in a voice filled with conviction.
Baek Yun-Ho took a deep breath.
Even after the two men who turned the inside of the gymnasium chaotic
had left, his heartbeat didn’t want to slow down at all.
‘Was such a thing even possible?’
Having witnessed something that he’d been hypothesizing in his head for
real, Baek Yun-Ho had difficulty trying to hide his astonishment.
‘An Awakened that can really grow stronger….’
Just what would be that man’s true value? He couldn’t even dare to imagine
it.
This was his reason for standing back and watching on from the distance at
the efforts of Choi Jong-In, Mah Dong-Wook, and Im Tae-Gyu as they tried to
scout Jin-Woo. He remembered Choi Jong-In’s confused stare directed at him,
as he didn’t even bother to sweet-talk the youth.
‘If it was me, I’d probably never even think about joining a Guild with an
ability like that.’
Indeed.
All the attempts to scout Hunter Seong Jin-Woo were a waste of time.
However, there were all sorts of ways to form a good relationship with a
brilliant Hunter that didn’t involve scouting him.
Time to activate the ‘Plan B’, then.
It was then.
Vrrr….
His mobile phone suddenly began vibrating. Seeing that the vibration
didn’t last for long, it must’ve been a text message. Without thinking too
much, he pulled his phone out and took a look.
It was an alert sent out by the Association. And it was the final list of the
participants for the ant subjugation raid taking place four days from now.
Baek Yun-Ho skipped past the lengthy list of the Japanese Hunters and
scanned the list of the Koreans, only for his eyes to widen in surprise.
He shot up from his spot in the wooden bench.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo isn’t on the list?!”
Chapter 113 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The mutated ants discovered the helicopter’s presence in the air and began
flying up one by one.
Vuuonng….
Vuuonnng…..
Maybe the number of specimens that could fly was low, because the
Hunters could only see seven flying up to meet them.
“Let me take care of them.”
The sole Mage-type Hunter among the team, Choi Jong-In, stepped
forward. His skill, ‘Flame Spear’, was called into action.
As soon as he was done casting his magic, seven bodies of floating flames
drew long lines in the air to resemble burning spears and slammed accurately
into the airborne ants.
Kwa-kwa-boom!!
It was difficult to kill a single ant monster with scattered firepower, but it
was more than enough to burn away their wings.
Kiiieeehk-!!
Kyaahhk-!
With their wings burnt off, the ants fell freely back to the earth. Choi Jung-
In tightly clenched his fist while witnessing the result of his hard work.
However, now wasn’t the time to bask in the glow of his victory.
Choi Jong-In turned around and asked Mah Dong-Wook.
“What’s happening with the Japanese side?”
The ants had noticed their approach and began moving now. Meaning,
there was no more time for them to take it easy.
Crackle-!
Mah Dong-Wook paid attention to the radio receiver stuck in his ear. As a
Tanker, he was named as the leader of the Korean side of the raid team.
“They say they have landed on the island now….”
Ka-boom!!
Just as he was done speaking up, there was a loud explosion from afar.
Boom!!
Kaboom!!!
As if that was the signal, several more explosion began ringing up from all
parts of the island as thick, choking smoke plumes rose up. The fourth
subjugation operation was now officially underway.
The Master the Reapers Guild, Im Tae-Gyu, looked out of the helicopter’s
window, and at the ground far below, a deep frown forming on his forehead.
Thousands of ants were pouring out of the ant tunnel, before splitting up
into four smaller swarms to rush towards the four cardinal directions.
“That’s some creepy and disgusting thing to look at. Seriously, man.”
“Doesn’t it look like most of them have left the tunnel now?”
“….It does, doesn’t it?”
The once-lengthy lines of ants soon came to an end, leaving behind a
massive gaping hole in the ground. That was the entrance to the ant tunnel.
The scale of the ant tunnel must’ve been rather incredible, because the
entrance itself was as big as the mouth of a tunnel one would see commonly
on the national highway.
And in the deepest past of the ant tunnel, the ant queen was waiting for
their arrival.
This raid team only had one goal – to eliminate the ant queen.
“Everyone.”
Before they set off to invade the ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook gestured and
gathered the raid team members around him. He even gestured towards the
hesitant cameraman, too.
Everyone participating in this operation pressed their heads together.
“During hundreds of simulation runs, Japanese were only able to buy us
one hour, tops. Which means, we need to kill the ant queen within that
hour, no matter what.”
He didn’t bother to speak about the possibility of ‘if we fail’. Unlike the
first three subjugation raids, there was no escape path this time around for
them. They would be utterly cut off inside the ant tunnel.
Mah Dong-Wook studied the faces of each raid members, and they returned
a nod, a look of grim determination clearly etched on each one.
‘These are the best individual team members imaginable.’
Unless there was another tragedy similar to Jeju Island happening in the
future, one would never come across an opportunity to hunt together with
members this capable ever again.
Mah Dong-Wook was deeply honoured to be the leader of this team.
They soon finished reconfirming their resolve, and then…
“Let’s go.”
From the helicopter, seven people, the six members of the raid team and the
lone cameraman, jumped out.
“How long has it been since the Koreans went inside?”
Goto Ryuji threw out a question.
“Hold on.”
Now originally, it was Goto Ryuji’s job to communicate with the mission
control centre. But, as he didn’t enjoy carrying around bothersome things,
another Hunter was tasked with doing so. It was precisely this person that
provided the answer.
“They say it has been less than 10 minutes.”
“Ten minutes, is it….”
Time to start the escape procedure, then.
Before they started withdrawing from Jeju Island, though, Goto Ryuji
briefly scanned his vicinity. The corpses of the massacred ants were piled up
on high.
The role of the Japanese in this raid, on the surface, of course, was to
attract the attention of the ants. They didn’t even focus on killing the ants and
concentrated on retreating in order to buy as much time as possible, yet they
still managed to achieve such a feat.
‘The Koreans might find these ants as tough opponents, but they are
nothing to us, the Japanese.’
The unbridled confidence caused the corner of Goto Ryuji’s lips to arc up.
He kicked away an ant corpse hampering his steps to a far away distance and
immediately issued the order to withdraw.
Finally, it was time for them to start moving towards the true goal of the
Japanese team.
However….
“Excuse me, Goto-san.”
“Mm?”
The Hunter in charge of the communication formed a worried expression.
“I can’t get in touch with Team 3 from a while ago.”
‘Is it equipment malfunction…?’
The instances of equipment, that had gone through multiple meticulous
checks, malfunctioning right before an important part of the mission, or
during the important part itself, did happen occasionally.
The landing point of Team 3 was in the southern part of the island. Goto
Ryuji’s Team 1 landed on the western part and they had been constantly
moving south, so their distance shouldn’t be that great.
“What is the estimated distance between our current position and the last
known position of Team 3 before the communication failure?”
“With our current speed, we should be able to get there within ten
minutes.”
As expected, it wasn’t far. At this rate, Team 3 would never get to hear the
order to withdraw and get left behind in the island, eventually meeting a very
bad end for themselves.
‘……’
When he thought about the next subjugation operation that would take
place involving only the Japanese personnel, he simply couldn’t afford to
have five rank S Hunters as KIAs.
Also, because Team 3 was planned to be deployed on the southern part of
the island, which was the closest to the ant tunnel, the whole team was made
up of the best of the best among Japan’s elite.
Losing them here meant that Japan would greatly suffer as well.
‘Well, I’m sure nothing bad has happened over there….’
Indeed, it must’ve been a minor error. Nothing to worry about.
After a short deliberation, Goto Ryuji decided on the next course of action.
“We shall head over there and take a look.”
The moment Jin-Woo stopped his usual daily run, the familiar mechanical
beep rang out in his ear.
Tti-ring.
[Total distance ran: 10 km.]
[You’ve completed Running, 10 km.]
Completely the opposite to when he started doing the Daily Quests, Jin-
Woo wasn’t even out of breath. He had repeated these Daily Quests for so
long, it simply felt like the part of his daily routine now.
Soon, along with the completion message, his rewards figuratively landed
on his lap.
‘Stats.’
Out of the three Stat bonus points he gained as a reward, Jin-Woo spent two
on his Agility, while the remaining point was spent on his Strength.
[Stats]
Strength: 219
Endurance: 200
Agility: 230
Intelligence: 250
Perception: 200
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in the physical damage: 46%
Seeing that almost all of his Stats were now ending with a ‘0’, a satisfied
smile crept up on his face.
‘If only I had one more point….’
Although it was regretful, he couldn’t manufacture a point out of thin air,
so there was no helping it. Still, looking at his Stat value that had risen up
evenly like this, a smile automatically bloomed on his lips.
‘Nice.’
After he raised Intelligence Stat to 250, he began maintaining a balance of
sorts and made sure that not one Stat was left behind.
‘All five Stats are indispensable to me.’
That was his final assessment after levelling up and raising his Stats for a
long time. Regardless of which Stat it was, with their numerical values
continuing to soar higher, he hadn’t been disappointed once so far by their
usefulness.
‘That’s why….’
He was planning to continue with this Stat balancing act for the foreseeable
future – as long as there weren’t any unexpected circumstances forcing him to
change, of course.
Jin-Woo dismissed the Stat Window with a satisfied grin still etched on his
face. He then took a look around him. His neighbourhood had always been on
the quieter side, but today, he failed to spot a single soul so far. He could
easily guess the reason why, though.
Jin-Woo pulled his phone out and confirmed the current time.
‘I knew it.’
The Korea-Japan united team’s raid would be in full swing by now. And
pretty much every single citizen should be glued to their TV screens, too.
Jin-Woo turned around. His Daily Quest was already over, but the steps
leading him back home were far more urgent than usual.
The operation was unfolding smoothly so far.
Just as the Japanese had predicted, Mah Dong-Wook’s team didn’t
encounter any obstructions as they entered the deeper parts of the ant tunnel.
The inside of the tunnel resembled the cave-type dungeons in its layout.
However, if there was one clear difference to note, then that would be the lack
of illuminating stones. The Hunters had to provide light themselves to see
where they were going.
‘……..’
Gulp.
The cameraman thought that he had plenty of experience exploring
dungeons before, but today, he just had to nervously swallow his saliva.
His current position was right at the back of the group. The team
maintained a formation of Choi Jong-In standing right at the front to light
their way using magic, while the other Hunters were sticking very close to
him.
The cameraman also had a flashlight attached to his headgear for the
purpose of filming.
Unfortunately, this darkness was infused with a heavy amount of magical
energy. The flashlight didn’t provide as much help as the magic from a rank S
Mage, and it could just barely illuminate a bit of space in front of his eyes.
“It’s really quiet in here.”
Choi Jong-In voiced his opinion without giving it too much thought, and
Mah Dong-Wook next to him nodded his head to express his agreement.
“Mm.”
As a leader and a Tanker, he was duty-bound to protect the Mage, Choi
Jong-In, who should originally be stationed at the far back.
Was that the reason why? Mah Dong-Wook continued to glare at the
surroundings with a pair of sharp, focused eyes. His usual, out-going
demeanour was nowhere to be seen now.
It was the same story with Baek Yun-Ho, as well. He activated the ‘Eyes of
the Beast’ even before entering the ant tunnel. He hadn’t spoken a single word
and did his absolute hardest to latch on to any slight movement or deviation in
the flow of the magic energy.
Both Min Byung-Gu and the cameraman also carried deeply tense
expressions.
Only Cha Hae-In maintained that expressionless face of hers, silently
walking forward while her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.
It was then.
“Look, over there….”
He must’ve found something in the distance, because Choi Jong-In raised
his voice.
“…Huh.”
“Mm….”
The Hunters all gasped out in nasty shock.
Countless ant eggs were attached to the walls and the ceiling of this huge
chamber with nary an empty space between them.
They could see dark-coloured larva wiggling inside the semi-transparent
shell of each egg. There could only ever be one emotion they felt when facing
this nursery area filled with gloomy, dreary atmosphere and a seriously
terrible stench.
That would be ‘sheer disgust’.
“Don’t you think we should just burn all these away?”
Choi Jong-In spoke, his expression crumpling greatly.
For the first time since he entered this ant tunnel, Mah Dong-Wook formed
a smile.
“I’d like nothing more than to do exactly that, but since we don’t have
much time, let us not.”
Even if all of these creatures hatched, they would only live for no more
than one year, at most. As long as they could kill the mother, they didn’t have
to worry about these critters anymore.
“….Here they come.”
Baek Yun-Ho pointed towards the distant darkness and warned the rest of
the team. Even before he made his warning, though, Cha Hae-In had
unsheathed her sword already.
Mah Dong-Wook pulled the shield as large as his body right up to his chin
and glared at his front.
Shashashasha….
A group of around ten ants appeared at the same time. As if they were born
on Jeju Island and had gone through some sort of a mutation, all of them
didn’t have eyes.
“Are they the queen’s guards?” Asked Mah Dong-Wook.
Choi Jong-In shook his head.
“No, they are not. Looks like they are here to guard the nursery area.”
“In that case, this shouldn’t be difficult.”
If they were regular monsters, not the guards of the boss creature, then
there was just no way these critters could withstand the combined firepower
of a raid team consisting entirely of rank S Hunters!
Knowing better than anyone else that there wasn’t a lot of time, Mah Dong-
Wook jumped into the fray first.
“Let’s go!”
Hunters followed after him. Right behind them, flames flared out brightly
from Choi Jong-In’s hands, and arrows fired by Im Tae-Gyu sliced up the air
as they flew to their targets.
Just as Mah Dong-Woo predicted, the battle was concluded pretty quickly.
Kiiehhk!
The head of the last ant fell to the ground. Cha Hae-In wordlessly shook off
the bodily fluids clinging onto her sword. Meanwhile, Mah Dong-Wook
spoke up.
“Since the nursery area is right here, that means….”
Choi Jong-In provided the follow-up.
“….The queen’s lair is nearby.”
As the Hunters began checking their equipment before they rushed into the
decisive showdown against the ant queen, the cameraman began looking here
and there to capture more footage. But then, he gasped out in pure shock.
“Heok!!”
The gazes of the Hunters were immediately focused on him.
“I-I’m really sorry.”
Momentarily forgetting that the camera attached to his head was actually
broadcasting to the rest of the nation, the cameraman hurriedly bowed
towards the Hunters. Sensing something was afoot, Baek Yun-Ho approached
the cameraman.
“Did you find something?”
“Ah, well, it’s just that…. Over there.”
The cameraman sheepishly smiled and pointed to the corner of the
chamber.
“There’s a pile of empty eggshells over there, but like, one of them
happens to be really, really big, you see.”
‘.…!!’
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes grew larger.
It was as the cameraman said. Most of the eggs containing regular ants
were only about the size of a bicycle wheel, yet the one pointed out was as big
as a grown man….
‘No, wait.’
The lengthy and ovoid shape of the egg was large enough to say that a
fully-grown ant specimen must’ve emerged from it.
‘That’s also an ant egg??’
“….Just what the hell came out of that egg?”
Min Byung-Gu had walked closer before anyone had noticed it; there was a
look of huge shock on his face as well. Baek Yun-Ho’s expression was stiff
for a brief moment, but he quickly changed it to a grin as he lightly slapped
Min Byung-Gu’s back.
“We’re here to kill the queen. Let’s not worry about anything else.”
“…..Right.”
Min Myung-Gu carried an uneasy expression as he turned around to walk
over to where the rest of the Hunters were. Before he joined the others, Baek
Yun-Ho took one last look at that egg.
‘That’s just crazy….’
‘This is just crazy….’
Goto Ryuji had to doubt whether his own eyes were working properly or
not.
“Heok!!”
“Mm…..!!”
Other Japanese Hunters either convulsed in shock or muttered lowly under
their breaths.
Goto Ryuji frowned deeply as he scanned his surroundings. The Hunters of
Team 3 were found in the exact location where their communication had been
cut off. All five of them were here, but without their heads.
The sight of their headless colleagues lying on the ground as corpses left a
shocking mental imprint on the other Hunters.
‘……’
Goto Ryuji wordlessly massaged his temples, before approaching the
bodies to check out their wounds.
‘This wasn’t done by a blade.’
The necks of the dead Hunters were all roughly bitten off.
‘Just how much of a biting force was it for their necks to end up like
this?’
While Goto Ryuji was stewing in his astonishment, one of his fellow
Hunters walked in closer and angrily spat out.
“How dare these d*mn ants….!!”
Goto quickly shook his head.
“It’s not ‘ants’.”
“Pardon?”
“Whether this was the handiwork of an ant or not, there was only one
enemy.”
“B-but, how can that be?!”
Goto Ryuji swallowed his saliva.
No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t see any hint of a battle taking
place here. If ants pushed on with sheer numbers to annihilate Team 3, then
he should’ve found corpses of dead ants or some other traces around this area.
However, he couldn’t find anything.
Also, the wounds on the dead Hunters – judging from the location of the
attack, it was more than likely that they were killed by a single assailant.
‘How could a team of the best Hunters from Japan fall to a single
monster….?’
If his guess was correct, then only a rank S dungeon’s boss could do
something like this.
Goto Ryuji quickly snatched the communication device from the Hunter
next to him and spoke up.
“It’s Goto.”
“Where is the ant queen? Did it come out of the tunnel?”
The magic energy detection camera mounted on the spy satellite. Only
America, Japan and China possessed such technology in the entire world.
In reality, China had to hack the Americans to copy the camera system, so
one could argue that only the USA and Japan truly possessed this technology.
The location of the ant queen, as monitored by the technology Japan so
proudly boasted to the rest of the world, soon came out of the receiver.
“What was that?!”
Goto Ryuji stood right up.
He felt his heart nearly leap out of his mouth just then.
‘The queen didn’t do this?!’
His breathing quickened. He realised that something was going terribly
wrong here. Goto Ryuji hurriedly issued a new order.
“Issue the withdrawal…. Tell every single Japanese Hunter to escape
from this island immediately.”
Chapter 116 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Goto Ryuji ended the communication there, his expression remaining quite
grim.
‘Did we miss something?’
In order to successfully achieve what they were aiming for, the Japanese
considered all types of possibilities and variables.
However, the event of a team featuring five of the very best Japanese
Hunters getting annihilated in one go like this - such a thing simply exceeded
all their expectations.
‘Wait a minute….’
Something popped into his memory just then. There was an odd occurrence
about four months ago.
The ant queen, being observed for 24 hours straight every single day,
suddenly showed a massive decline in its magical energy emission. It was less
than half of the usual amount!
The research team interpreted that as the lifespan of the queen coming to an
end, and submitted several hopelessly optimistic reports. That was only until
the ant queen began slowly recovering her magic energy, of course.
‘It took about a month, didn’t it?’
It didn’t take too long for the queen to regain its original magic energy
output. All those researchers that spoke up about the lifespan or rather had to
shut their mouths as this result obviously went against their expectations.
“Goto-san.”
The voice of one of the team members woke Goto Ryuji up from his
reminiscence.
“….Mm.”
He had been kneeling on one knee in order to check the bodies of Team 3’s
dead Hunters. He slowly stood back up. Now wasn’t the time to worry about
anything else.
‘Did we come in far too deep inland…?’
Shashashashak….
Hundreds of ants had appeared behind him by then, and these monsters
raised their heads up as if they were smacking their lips in anticipation of a
tasty meal.
On the other hand….
The Korean team had entered the boss room, also known as ‘the queen’s
chamber’. It took them 15 minutes to get here.
‘If we consider the fact that we’ll need roughly the same amount of time
to get out of here….’
They still had around 30 minutes of wiggle room. Assuming that they
should be able to shorten their return trip because they were already familiar
with the path now, the remaining time was on the ‘more than enough’ side.
‘Very good.’
Having confirmed the time with his wristwatch, Mah Dong-Wook raised
his head. Everything was going according to plan. What remained now was
how should they go about bookending this operation.
Baek Yun-Ho used his ‘Eyes of the Beast’ to see through the darkness and
accurately assessed the number of enemies present.
“The queen is at the rearmost location. There are eight guards in front of
the target.”
The queen’s guards were incomparably stronger than the regular ants. It’d
be too tough for one Tanker to take on the attacks of the queen and its guard
monsters. From here onwards, Mah Dong-Wook needed another person to act
as a secondary Tanker. He looked to his side.
“Hunter Cha.”
“Yes.”
“Can you take on the guard duty while I tend to the queen?”
“Leave it to me.”
Cha Hae-In’s reply was short and simple.
She served as the main Tanker during the raids of her Guild, the Hunters.
So, performing the role of a sub-Tanker was easier than drinking cold soup
for her.
Mah Dong-Wook shifted his gaze to the rest of the team. Every single
member present here was a top specialist in hunting down monsters. Going
through detailed explanations was a waste of time for them.
“Let’s go.”
As soon as Mah Dong-Wook turned towards the ants, Choi Jong-In created
a massive ball of light and floated it up to the highest point in the boss room.
That brightly illuminated the entirety of the chamber.
“Heok.”
The cameraman spat out a quiet gasp at the sheer size of the light sphere.
He quickly began whispering towards a small mic located near his lips.
“As a rank A Hunter, I’ve participated in quite a few raids before, but it’s
my first time seeing such a huge ‘Light’ magic like that. As expected of
Korea’s best Mage-type Hunter!”
His voice entered the mic and got transmitted to the viewers throughout the
entire country.
Not too long ago, he heard that the live broadcast he was filming had shot
past the audience rating of 80%.
Feeling overly motivated now, the cameraman tried to step forward in order
to capture even better footage, but then, Min Byung-Gu standing next to him
at the back of the group hurriedly yanked him back by his shoulder.
“Keok?!”
At this absolute strength, the cameraman couldn’t offer any resistance and
spun around to face Min Byung-Gu. His shoulder hurt so much that his mouth
bobbed up and down all by itself.
‘How can a Healer be this strong….??’
There was no time to get shocked, though. The cameraman was now facing
Min Byung-Gu who carried a completely different expression to when he was
busy cracking jokes during the ride in the helicopter.
“This here is a boss room of a rank S dungeon. No one here is
responsible for your life, except yourself.”
Hearing Min Byung-Gu’s anger-infused voice, the cameraman could only
continue to nod his head, unable to form an intelligible reply.
“If you understand, then stay at the back. The real thing is about to get
started.”
The overflowing energy of a rank S Hunter – even a Healer, who was
supposed to be the physically weakest out of all the Hunter types, still could
display an aura that easily overwhelmed a rank A Hunter. That was the
difference between a rank S and a rank A.
Such monstrous beings were uniting together to start an intense battle, so
what could a measly little rank A cameraman even achieve here? The
cameraman felt his own powerlessness for the first time since becoming a
Hunter, and hurriedly stood behind Min Byung-Gu. Sure enough….
“Here they come.”
A super-giant ant discovered the Hunters’ presence and shifted its six legs
to slowly approach where they were.
“So, that’s the queen….”
Baek Yun-Ho nervously swallowed his saliva.
The taut, nervous tension was also writ large on the faces of other Hunters.
The absolutely commanding presence of the ant queen!
These men and woman had become the very first humans to witness the
outer appearance of the ant queen, having sneaked past the wall of hundreds,
thousands of ants to get here.
‘Today, we shall end the lifeline of these d*mnable ants for good.’
Baek Yun-Ho’s heart trembled as he thought about bringing that massive
creature down. But, if they were to do that, then first of all….
Baek Yun-Ho’s glare that had been fixed on the ant queen now shifted
lower to the ground.
‘We need to….’
Eight ants walking in front of the ant queen – they had to get rid of the
guards first.
“Ha-ahp!”
As if he had read the minds of his fellow raid members, the main Tanker of
the team, Mah Dong-Wook, rushed forward to the frontline. A thick vein
protruded out of his neck as he shouted out.
“You d*mn ants, come and get some!”
His impressive roar!
The ants’ sights had degenerated now, but in return, their sense of hearing
had become even more developed, so they immediately bared their fangs and
claws before pouncing on Mah Dong-Wook’s position.
He quickly looked behind him.
“Hunter Cha! Now!”
Cha Hae-In had been running behind Mah Dong-Wook while maintaining a
certain distance, and when she heard his call, quickly unsheathed her
longsword. Grabbing the hilt in a reverse grip with both hands, she
powerfully stabbed the ground.
Skill, ‘Tremor of Provocation’ - activated!
Khwack!!
With the sword stabbing the ground serving as the epicentre, magic energy
radiated out in circular waves. The ant guards aiming at Mah Dong-Wook
suddenly all changed their directions and jumped at Cha Hae-In instead, as if
they had been entranced by something powerful.
‘There you go!’
Mah Dong-Wook inwardly fist-pumped the air as the monsters ran past him
and towards Cha Hae-In. She was successful in attracting the aggro of the ant
guards.
up, it was his turn.
Mah Dong-Wook quickly stepped in between Cha Hae-In and the giant ant
queen trying to shuffle towards her.
“You’re mine.”
The ant queen must’ve been displeased by an enemy blocking its way,
because it began bellowing out a high-pitched scream.
Kiiiieeeehhhk!!
Any old Tanker would have been suppressed by the sheer pressure and
cover their ears from that horrifying screech, but such a trick wouldn’t work
against Korea’s best Tanker, Mah Dong-Wook.
“Hap-!!”
He instead activated his skill, ‘Battle Cry of Provocation’.
Unlike Cha Hae-In, who activated an AOE aggro skill, Mah Dong-Wook
activated one that only worked against a single target.
The ant queen stopped screeching out and glared at Mah Dong-Wook now.
He had successfully attracted its aggro.
‘Yes!!’
And now, his role was to endure the boss’s attacks until his colleagues
managed to kill off the ant guards and come to his aid. And that would be the
role he felt most confident of performing in this world.
Mah Dong-Wook lifted up that heavy, large shield right up below his chin,
the light of grim determination burning in his eyes. As he always had done, he
began praying deep in his heart.
‘Please grant me the power to protect myself and my colleagues today.’
Kwa-ka-boom!!
Just then, a huge explosion resounded out from behind him, signalling the
beginning of the raid of the ant queen, where countless lives were at stake.
“Grandpa, aren’t you going to watch? Hunters are supposed to show up
on screen today.”
“Grandma, I don’t care.”
“Don’t be like that now…..The folks in TV said just now that they can
really smash apart those ants today this time, so let’s watch together.”
“Argh. They all say the exact same thing all the bloody time. I told you, I
don’t care.”
An old grandpa turned away on his chair and concentrated on the
newspaper, instead. But then, a sound of him clicking his tongue came out
from his slightly hunched back.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Even this newspaper is talking about those d*mn Hunters
and nothing else. How boring.”
The old grandma cautiously closed shut the door to their bedroom as the
grouchy voice of her husband continued to enter her ears.
“Uh-whew….”
Only until two years ago, her husband used to hold so much interest
towards all the news related to Jeju Island. He was also a big supporter of
Hunters, too.
Their one and only child was taken from them by the ants of Jeju Island,
after all.
The despair that felt like their world was collapsing on them soon became
deep hatred towards the ant monsters. Her husband donated a sizeable amount
of money to the Hunters Association whenever there was a subjugation
operation taking place to cheer on the participating Hunters.
He failed to fall asleep because of nervousness on the nights leading up to
the operation dates, too.
However, the bigger the one’s expectation, the greater the one’s
disappointment would be.
When the third subjugation attempt, where the Hunters promised to spare
no effort to succeed, also ended up in failure with heavy losses incurred, her
husband couldn’t regain his wits for several days, looking all dazed and the
like.
After that, her husband stopped talking about Hunters altogether. He
stopped expecting, and stopped hoping for a miracle from them.
“Whew….”
The grandma sighed out once more and picked up the remote of the TV in
the living room. When it was switched on, the host of the broadcast was in the
middle of making his emotional speech.
The Hunters were getting ready to engage in combat just as she turned the
TV on. The grandma gathered her hands in front of her chest and continued to
watch on, her heart beating faster and faster in anxiety.
When the Hunters were injured, she averted her gaze while feeling sorry
for them. When the attacks of the Hunters landed successfully, she clapped
her hands in delight.
“Aigo! Aigoo!!”
That was the beginning. The terrifying-looking ant monsters began falling
one by one from the fierce attacks of the Hunters. And whenever that
happened, the roars and cheers of people shook and reverberated throughout
the apartment building the grandma lived in.
“Aigoo! Aigoo!!”
Hearing that announcement, tears suddenly formed in the grandma’s eyes.
First of all, she was thankful towards these Hunters who were risking their
lives to protect other people.
Secondly, she recalled the face of her son as the boy celebrated him getting
hired by a large corporation located in Jeju Island.
It was then.
Slam!
The bedroom’s door flew open and the grandpa hurriedly ran out, his face
burning with emotions.
“Dear….”
Even though grandma called out to him, grandpa didn’t say anything, his
reddened eyes glued to the TV screen and nowhere else. His tightly-clenched
fists were trembling hard now.
The host held his breath and continued to observe the situation for a while,
before….
The TV screen now displayed the stirring image of five Hunters rushing in
at the same time from behind Mah Dong-Wook, who had endured
commendably well against the ant queen’s attacks.
Thick tears streamed down grandpa’s face as he energetically punched the
air almost out of instinct.
“Uwaaahhh-!!”
Inside the TV station.
As the phone calls of encouragements and support inundated the station’s
phone line, the station’s director yelled out in pure, unadulterated joy.
“Sir, the audience rating has gone past 85% just now!!”
“We did it!!”
The director tightly clenched both of his fists.
The audience rating of 85%!!
Now that was a record that would never be beaten, even if the South
Korean football team reached the final of the World Cup. And when he
thought about all the profit coming from overseas, as well as the potential
future revenue…..
‘A jackpot!!’
He plopped down on his chair and rubbed his face. All the other employees
within the station’s ‘situation room’ all breathed sighs of relief after seeing the
happy face of their boss.
On the main screen showing the transmitted footage from the island, the
Korean Hunters were busy making mincemeat out of the ant queen.
The station’s director took out his handkerchief to pat down his sweat-
soaked slick forehead.
‘Yes, very good! Very good!!’
The queen was on the brink of death now; all these Hunters had to do now
was to finish off the ant monster and safely escape from the ant tunnel.
However….
Kyahhhhhhhh-!!!
“What the hell?!”
The director was jolted out of his senses and he quickly took a look behind
him. One of the producers hurriedly lowered the volume. The director tilted
his head this way and that, before walking closer to where this producer was.
“Producer Nah? What was that noise just now?”
“Ah, that was…. This is the real-time live feed coming from Jeju Island,
actually. That screech came from the ant queen.”
“The ant queen made that noise?”
There was a slight delay between the broadcast being shown to the public
and that of the real-time live feed coming in from the island. Since no one
knew what would happen during the raid itself, it was decided that the real-
time footage couldn’t be shown to the public directly.
The station’s director stared at the feed, before issuing an order with a
smile on his face.
“Well, I think it won’t do for a monster’s terrible screech to come out
when we’re about to witness a historic victory. How about you edit that part
out, or decrease the audio volume?”
“Will do, sir.”
This producer named ‘Nah’ nodded his head, and the director squeezed his
right shoulder as a gesture of encouragement. It was then.
One of the station’s employee hurriedly ran up to him with a hardened
expression.
“Director, Producer Nah!!”
The director quickly turned his head around.
According to his personal experience, not once did the reports made by his
subordinates carrying such expressions turn out to be a good one.
Even before the director heard the report, he was beset with this rather
ominous hunch. Praying that he was wrong, at least for today, the director
cautiously asked the employee.
“….What happened?”
Unfortunately, one’s ominous hunches had a way of coming true. The
employee spoke in a disconcerted voice.
“Sir, I just found out that Japanese Hunters are withdrawing from the
island right now!”
“What was that?!”
Mah Dong-Wook spurred his teammates on.
“We’re almost there!! Let us just push a little bit harder, everyone!”
Just as his words implied, the ant queen was truly on its last legs. All they
needed was a little more push, and that would be it.
There were hundreds of arrows stuck tightly together on the head of the
queen fired by Im Tae-Gyu, and the creature resembled a hedgehog as a
result.
Pi-ooong!
Kwa-jeeck!
Yet another arrow flew and struck the queen in the face. The creature
screeched out as if it was in great pain and shook its head.
Kieeehhk!!
The queen quickly recovered its bearings and began spewing out poisonous
acidic liquid throughout the boss room.
Splash-!!
It was such a wide-scale attack that several Hunters failed to escape in
time. Their skins began burning up into black charcoal, but their wounds were
restored in full by Min Byung-Gu’s healing magic.
Kiieeehk!!
The queen was further enraged by the fact that its acid attack wasn’t
effective, and bit down on Mah Dong-Woo in front of the group with its large,
saw-like fangs.
Kwack!!!
However, Mah Dong-Wook activated the ‘Advanced Fortification’ skill to
defend his entire body and managed to endure the queen’s attack.
One side of the ant’s jaw was blocked off by the shield, while the other
side, with his left hand. While Mah Dong-Wook was buying more time in this
fashion, a huge pillar of flames exploded out from the side of the ant queen.
Kwa-ka-ka-boom!!
It was Choi Jong-In’s magic doing its thing.
Kiiehk!!
The queen staggered and failed to balance itself. Baek Yun-Ho in his beast-
type monster form, meanwhile, seized upon this chance and jumped up very
quickly to rip out the queen’s left fang with his bare hand/paw.
Kwajeeck!!
Deftly landing back on the ground, Baek Yun-Ho breathed heavily as
certainty grew larger in his heart.
‘The queen’s finished.’
His extensive hunting experience told him so. This would be the moment
when they finally kill the leader of an army of monsters that dyed this land
black with the blood of their victims.
Just a little bit more, and it’d be done. When he thought like that, a certain
powerful emotion welled up from deep inside his heart.
but then, the queen suddenly raised its head high up in the air. And….
Kyaaaaaaaaahhh-!!
A screech that was so loud that it almost ruptured the Hunters’ eardrums
reverberated throughout the entire ant tunnel. Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes shook
hard.
‘What was that?! A roar of anger? Its death throes?’
No, it felt different from those. That screech sounded like a pleading call
towards someone, something, which was still far away.
‘It’s calling for something?!’
When his thought process reached there, he felt an unexplainable chill run
down his spine.
“We need to stop that thing!!”
Before Baek Yun-Ho could take another step forward, Cha Hae-In jumped
up rather gracefully and swung down the sword she held firmly with both
hands.
Slice!
The queen’s head fell down to the ground first before she could land back
on her feet.
Thud!!
The cameraman had been holding his breath as he bore witness to this
battle of the rank S creatures. And finally, he was able to raise both of his
arms up high in elation as tears formed in his eyes.
This was the moment when the curtains closed on the horrifying battle that
lasted for 4 years.
“Pant, pant….”
The heavily-panting Mah Dong-Wook raised his thumb up towards his
teammates.
Cha Hae-In also sighed out in relief. Choi Jong-In grinned as he adjusted
his glasses, while Im Tae-Gyu punched the air. Everyone was expressing their
delight over the victory in their own way.
Only Baek Yun-Ho among them was shuddering from this ominous and
unexplainable chill taking root within the corner of his heart.
“Hyung, we just became the seventh raid team in the entire world to
successfully clear a rank S Gate, so why do you look like….”
“Hold on.”
It was then. Mah Dong-Wook, who had been in communication with the
command centre, suddenly formed an enraged expression.
There was no time for them to relax like this. He quickly called out to his
teammates taking a short break nearby.
“The Japanese have withdrawn already, and the remaining ants are
heading this way! We need to escape from here, right now!”
“What?!”
“But, don’t we still have some time left?!”
“20 rank S Hunters couldn’t even hold out for 30 minutes, never mind
one hour?!”
When his teammates grew visibly flustered, Mah Dong-Wook spoke in a
complicated voice.
“I don’t know the details, but…. The Association is trying to find out
what’s going on, but the Japanese have one-sidedly cut off the
communication.”
“Those stinking sons of b*tches…!”
Choi Jong-In spat out some choice words in disgust.
If it were the Japanese Hunters down here and not the Koreans, would they
have given up this early and withdraw? No matter what, though – one had to
be alive first in order to get angry later.
To prevent unrest from breaking out among his teammates, Mah Dong-
Wook did his best to suppress his own feelings. With a calm face, he hurried
with their escape from this place.
“Everyone, hurry!”
The members of the Korean raid team hurriedly ran towards the exit of the
queen’s chamber.
However, the one running in the lead, Baek Yun-Ho, stopped in his tracks
first.
“Ah…..”
“Hyung?”
Min Byung-Gun running right behind had to stop there, and as a chain
reaction, everyone else came to a stop as well. Wordlessly rooted to the spot,
Baek Yun-Ho’s gaze was fixed in one direction as his entire body began
trembling noticeably.
“This, this can’t be….”
This couldn’t be happening.
No, such a thing shouldn’t even happen in the first place.
As he watched a shadow approach them, he recalled the tall, humanoid-
shaped eggshell back in the nursery area.
‘This… you’re telling me that this is the power possessed by a single
monster??’
Baek Yun-Ho’s complexion paled instantly.
Other Hunters feeling puzzled finally sensed something was wrong and
quickly took a step back from the exit.
“What’s this?”
“Did the ants return here already??”
As the Hunters began falling into a confused state….
From the far side of the ant tunnel draped in darkness, a single winged ant
was slowly walking towards the Korean Hunters.
Chapter 117 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Cha Hae-In immediately felt something was very wrong as soon as she saw
the ant monster leisurely entering the queen’s chamber.
‘There’s… no presence?’
It was almost impossible to locate the creature without keeping her eyes
locked on it constantly; that’s how difficult it was to sense its presence.
There were only two beings out of all the Hunters and the monsters she met
until now, that had this sort of effect on Cha Hae-In. One of them was this ant
monster right in front of her eyes, and the other one was….
‘….Mister Seong Jin-Woo.’
She inexplicably recalled Seong Jin-Woo, who had finally bared his hidden
fangs at Japan’s most powerful Hunter a couple of days ago.
What if that man stood in front of her as her enemy?
Shudder.
She couldn’t breathe anymore as a crippling chill ran down her spine.
‘…..’
Just imagining it alone caused her expression to harden considerably. The
entrance of this unknown ant monster was definitely not good news for the
Korean Hunters, who were still deeply fatigued from fighting the ant queen.
“That thing….”
“Something’s wrong with that monster.”
“It feels really creepy.”
It wasn’t to the extent of Baek Yun-Ho or Cha Hae-In, but other Hunters
also felt a certain sense of incongruence here.
Gulp.
It was just a single monster, yet the atmosphere was shifting rather rapidly.
‘What should we do?’
Mah Dong-Wook was inwardly worried. When faced with an unexpected
situation, a leader had to make a quick decision. Especially so, when they
were pressed for time like this.
‘It’s a monster, so we should just kill it, but….’
But.
Just why was he feeling this enormous sense of unease right now?
While they stood there pondering and hesitating, the ant monster narrowed
the distance between them quite quickly. Its movements were so eerily quiet
that goosebumps automatically rose up on their skins.
‘We don’t have the time to hesitate like this.’
By the time Mah Dong-Wook finally managed to suppress the warning
bells rung by his instincts and made the next logical decision….
….The monster suddenly disappeared from his view.
“Where?!”
Mah Dong-Wook’s eyes opened super-wide as he hurriedly scanned his
vicinity. The reactions of other Hunters weren’t all that different, either.
“Behind….”
The cameraman anxiously looking around belatedly located the monster
and shouted out.
“It’s behind us!!”
The Hunters were startled by this and quickly turned around. With the
speed none of them could see, the ant monster had slipped past the Hunters to
stand before the dead corpse of the ant queen.
‘It went past us?!’
‘But, how….??’
Just like that, the Hunters of the Korean raid team finally got to see what
Baek Yun-Ho saw earlier with his ‘Eyes of the Beast’.
Thump, thump, thump!
Their heart rate rapidly picked up and their breathing quickened in no time.
‘….That’s no ordinary monster.’
Cold sweat drops dribbled down Mah Dong-Wook’s forehead.
The ant monster quietly stared at the dead queen, not even showing a hint
of interest towards the Hunters. But then, it raised its head and….
Kiiiiieeeeeeehhhhh…..!!!
It began screeching out a beastly howl so terrifying and loud that the entire
ant tunnel began shaking from the reverberation.
Plop!
The cameraman was the first to lose all his strength in his legs.
Plop!
Plop!
The other Hunters couldn’t withstand the sheer pressure as well, and they
began kneeling on the ground one by one. Mah Dong-Wook too carried a look
of pure disbelief as he tried to support himself off the ground.
‘I… I’m kneeling because of a howl?’
Eeeehhhhhkkk…!!!
By the time the seemingly-never-ending howl came to an end, the only one
standing still was Cha Hae-In and no one else. However, her two legs were
wobbling noticeably too, as if standing upright was all she could do at the
moment. Obviously, fighting back was out of the question here.
Only then did the ant monster display some interest towards the Hunters.
With a clear hostile intent, to boot.
‘….!!’
Cha Hae-In’s eyes grew wider.
The creature’s face was hideously twisted as it turned around to face the
Hunters, as if it was expressing its anger at the death of the queen.
She did her best to calmly move her hand towards the hilt of her sword.
However, the ant monster was a step faster than the speed of Cha Hae-In
drawing her sword from her waist.
Piishuk-!
The ant monster literally blinked and reappeared right in front of her nose.
Cha Hae-In’s eyes shook hard. She didn’t even have enough time to think
about defending herself.
SLAM-!!
“Ahk!”
Being struck in the side of her head, Cha Hae-In flew away in a straight
line and slammed into a far wall, before powerlessly falling to the ground.
Tumble….
Just one hit, and Cha Hae-In was rendered unconscious. All of her
teammates couldn’t hide their astonishment after seeing that horrible
spectacle. Because… their strongest member had been knocked down in one
hit, that was why.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any time to stay shocked like that.
They had confirmed the ridiculous power level of their new enemy.
Through their experiences, these Hunters knew very well that their odds of
survival would decline further the longer they remained hesitant as they were
now.
As the main Tanker, Mah Dong-Wook took a step forward first.
“Hup-!!”
Mah Dong-Wook powerfully bear-hugged the ant monster from behind and
strengthened both his arms.
With the strength that could easily uproot a full-grown tree, he squeezed
hard at the ant monster’s body. Thick veins popped up all over his arms and
his neck. Unfortunately…
“Uwaaaahk-!!”
When the ant monster increased its strength for a bit, both of Mah Dong-
Wook’s arms fell off, just like that. He fell down to his knees.
“No!!”
Baek Yun-Ho pounced forward.
If he failed to draw that thing’s attention away now, then Mah Dong-Wook
would be killed off in an instant now that he lacked the means to defend
himself.
Baek Yun-Ho gritted his teeth. White fur began sprouting up all over his
body; his claws extended and he transformed into a ferocious beast, before
pouncing on the monster.
Piishuk-!!
The monster disappeared from the spot again.
‘Where…?!’
Even Baek Yun-Ho’s ‘Eyes of the Beast’ failed to follow the monster’s
movements.
The scream came from his behind.
“Uwaaahkk!!”
This time, it was Choi Jong-In, who was getting ready to cast his magic.
The ant monster’s long claw left a lengthy, diagonal cut wound on his upper
torso, and he fell to the ground with a pained moan.
About five paces from where he was, Im Tae-Gyu had been waiting for an
opening while hiding his presence. He immediately fired an arrow containing
his magic energy.
‘I’ll never miss in this distance!!’
His strong self-belief was contained within that shot.
Swish-!!
Too bad for him,
Grab.
A powerful tremor rocked Im Tae-Gyu’s eyes.
‘Heok?!’
The ant monster snatched the flying arrow and easily snapped it in half.
Crack!
Im Tae-Gyu hurriedly tried to nock his next arrow, but by the time he did so
and raised his bow, the monster was already standing in front of him.
“….F*ck.”
POW!
Im Tae-Gyu was struck in the face and flew away.
Baek Yun-Ho attacked when the ant monster’s back was turned away from
him, but the back of his head was grabbed by the monster instead, as the
creature spun around in an instant. He was planted violently into the ground
next.
Boom!!
Baek Yun-Ho’s body quivered from the impact.
Just as the ant monster was getting ready to slam Baek Yun-Ho to the
ground again, Mah Dong-Wook dashed forward and shoulder charged the
creature away.
Kwahng!!!
The ant monster rolled on the ground for a little while, before standing
back up. Mah Dong-Wook’s arms had been severed for sure only a moment
ago, yet he was attacking the creature with all his limbs completely intact.
The ant monster defeated Mah Dong-Wook again, and then, proceeded to
defeat other Hunters again, too. Yet, the humans that should’ve stayed down
with crippling injuries were attacking again, all fully healed in the blink of an
eye.
Only then did the ant monster begin to recognise the existence of a Healer.
The monster scanned the vicinity to find this annoying human.
However, Min Byung-Gu stayed calm under the pressure.
His lone self-defence skill, ‘Camouflage’.
He was able to completely hide himself with this skill that was quite similar
to the ‘Stealth’ skill, but there was a drawback to it: He couldn’t move from
the spot. Even then, that was more than enough for a Healer like him.
He simply had to stand still in one spot and continue to heal his teammates,
that was all.
When the healing skill continued to fly in from an unknown place, the ant
monster changed its tactic. It selected Mah Dong-Wook who looked the
sturdiest among the Hunters, grabbed his leg, and dangled him upside down
in the air.
‘What is that thing trying to do now??’
Min Byung-Gu was taken aback with great surprise.
The ant monster then proceeded to slowly destroy Mah Dong-Wook. Min
Byun-Gu carried on healing him as that happened.
He had no choice there. The moment he stopped healing Mah Dong-Wook,
that man would be dead in less than a blink, after all. Sweat poured out in
buckets as Min Byung-Gu continued on with the healing magic.
The ant monster traced the continuously-firing healing magic’s origin, and
then, its head swivelled in Min Byung-Gu’s direction.
‘It can’t be?!’
His heart skipped a beat; he blinked, and the ant monster was gone from the
spot.
‘What the hell?’
Where did it disappear to this time?
“Byung-Gu!!”
Baek Yun-Ho loudly yelled out.
It happened, then.
Stab!
“Keok!”
Blood sprayed out of Min Byung-Gu.
The pain of being burnt alive came from below, and he took a look down to
see a huge hole in his stomach. And the ant monster’s black arm emerging out
of that hole.
He raised his head in disbelief and met Baek Yun-Ho’s gaze.
Min Byung-Gu spoke in a faltering voice.
“Hyung…. Run.”
“B-Byung-Gu!!”
Baek Yun-Ho tried to get up, but he couldn’t put any strength to his
wounded leg.
Kwajeeck!
The ant monster tore into Min Byung-Gu’s head.
Kwajeeck! Kwajeeck!!!
“Uwaaaaahh!!”
Baek Yun-Ho staggered unsteadily and ran forward. The ant monster
discarded the now-headless body of Min Byung-Gu and grabbed Baek Yun-
Ho by his neck.
He struggled with all his might, but it was still insufficient to escape from
the creature’s incredible grip.
Suddenly, the ant monster opened its mouth.
“Hyung…. Run…. Hyung…. Run…..”
“…..??”
Baek Yun-Ho was freaked out of his skull, his brows shooting up real high
in shock and terror.
The ant monster was perfectly mimicking the speech pattern of Min
Byung-Gu. If one subtracted the off-putting crack in its voice, one might even
mistake it as Min Byung-Gu’s, even.
“Run…. Hyung.”
The ant monster repeated the same words for a long time, before looking
straight into Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes.
“You are all….. weak.”
From the mouth of the ant monster, a familiar language flowed out. It
sounded inarticulate, but for sure, it was still undeniably Korean.
“What the….?!”
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes widened even further.
“This side… Queen, dead….. Killing soldiers….. Not enough payment…
your king, who?”
“….King?”
The ant monster strengthened its grip on Baek Yun-Ho’s neck.
“Keok.”
“Your king… where?”
Baek Yun-Ho’s brain kicked into gear.
With the strongest person in the Korean team, Cha Hae-In, still
unconscious, he needed to find someone who could buy him and the rest of
the group a little bit of time.
And he immediately thought of the Japanese team that had abandoned the
Koreans. More specifically, the strongest among the Japanese, Goto Ryuji.
“Out… Outside….”
“Outside….”
The ant monster raised its head up. It seemed to be searching for
something, before speaking again in a satisfied tone of voice.
“…There….. A strong one.”
And then, it discarded Baek Yun-Ho as if he was not even worth wasting
time on, and disappeared from his sight in a scarcely believable speed.
“Keok, keok.”
Baek Yun-Ho lay on the ground and panted out heavily. He quickly took a
look around him.
This wasn’t the time for this. Before that thing comes back, they needed to
get out of here.
However…
Shashashasha…..
While they were engaged in the battle against that ridiculously
overpowered monster, the swarm of ants had returned to the ant tunnel and
were slowly encroaching upon the queen’s chamber now.
“Hmm….”
Goto Ryuji sheathed his sword back in the scabbard. Corpses of ants were
piled up like small hills all around him. At a quick glance, there must’ve been
over a hundred of these creatures.
It was a perfect demonstration of the abilities possessed by Japan’s
strongest.
“Looks like we’ve taken care of most of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
His teammates nodded their heads while admiring the sight of the always-
trustworthy Goto Ryuji. They thought that, as long as they stuck by his side,
they at least would avoid the fate of getting killed off.
“Sir, I’ve been told that we’ll be the last to withdraw.”
The Hunter receiving the transmission from the operations centre relayed
the message. Goto Ryuji nodded his head and turned in the direction of the
coast.
“This way….”
Goto Ryuji didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Swish-!!
Because an ant monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now
standing before his group, that’s why.
‘…….”
With a single glance, Goto Ryuji figured out the capabilities of the new
enemy.
‘That isn’t a normal ant at all.’
“Goto-san!”
His colleagues tried to step forward to help him, but he held them back.
“I’ll handle this.”
Against an opponent this strong, his colleagues would only prove to be a
hindrance, instead. Going at it solo would be simpler for him.
Trusting his judgement, the teammates heeded his order and retreated to a
distance while leaving everything on his shoulders. Goto Ryuji unsheathed his
sword with a circumspect look on his face.
“An ant…. You seem to possess a pretty strong aura.”
Perhaps the ant monster had also sensed his power, because it wasn’t
budging an inch from the spot.
But, that was to be expected – if that creature displayed even a hint of
movement, Goto Ryuji was planning to slice it up into hundreds of fine little
pieces.
It was then, the ant monster opened its mouth.
“You are… the king?”
“King?”
Goto’s eyes opened wider.
An ant just spoke a human language!
However, it was already a well-known fact that intelligent monsters
conversed in their own languages. So, it wouldn’t be a stretch of his
imagination to think that a monster would succeed in imitating human’s
languages.
A smirk formed on Goto Ryuji’s face.
‘A king, is it….?’
When Association President Matsumoto Shigeo finishes building his
empire of Hunters, then indeed, he was the one and only viable candidate to
assume the throne, wasn’t he?
“That’s right. I’m the king.”
Kekek.
As soon as the desired answer came out of his mouth, the ant monster fully
unleashed its magic energy.
Hwa-ahck!
Like failing to realise how big an iceberg was from seeing only its tip, Goto
Ryuji misjudged the true power of the enemy from the small portion of its
magic energy that leaked out. His eyes imperceptibly trembled.
‘This, what is this….?!’
The bone-chilling cold air woke goosebumps up on his skin, and all the
hair on the back of his neck stood right up. He had experienced a sensation
like this only once before.
‘……..Seong Jin-Woo??’
Slice.
Almost at the same time as the ant monster made its move, Goto Ryuji’s
head fell to the ground.
“Uwaaahh!!”
The Korean team was currently surrounded by the swarm of ants.
Mah Dong-Wook fought; Im Tae-Gyu fought; Choi Jong-In also fought,
and even the cameraman had to kill the ants. However, there was seemingly
no end to the waves upon waves of ants.
“Pant, pant, pant…..”
All sounds had stopped and all Baek Yun-Ho could hear was his own heavy
breathing.
‘Is this the end?’
He quickly wiped the blood trickling down below his eyebrow with the
back of his hand. With their lone Healer-type Hunter gone, they had no
avenue to deal with these many monsters now.
This resistance was a futile one, indeed.
Even then, he couldn’t bring himself to give up – because, two of his most
precious friends had lost their lives in this d*mn place. He definitely didn’t
want to dig his grave where they were buried, too.
“Uwaaaah-!!”
He destroyed the head of yet another ant. However, countless more
replaced the dead one and tried to pounce on him.
Kiieechk!
Kiiehck!!
Baek Yun-Ho powerfully shook off the ants and stood with his back against
a wall. Like this, he at least wouldn’t get surrounded from all sides now.
“Pant, pant….”
He raised his head and searched for other Hunters. His colleagues, who had
been fighting alongside him only a moment ago, could no longer be seen,
their figures completely buried within the swarm of ants.
No way. He wanted to believe that it wasn’t possible….
He bit his lower lip, but then, was jolted out of his senses with a sudden
presence appearing behind his back.
He spun around rapidly and threw a punch, but stopped before he reached
his target. Because… the one standing behind him wasn’t an ant.
‘What…. Who is this?’
It was, in fact, a ‘soldier’ decked out in black full-body armour.
This was his first time seeing one, but then again, he heard plenty of times
before about this ‘thing’ from Park Hui-Jin who had been involved with the
Red Gate incident.
‘Isn’t this….??’
Baek Yun-Ho cried out in surprise.
“Why is this thing here?”
It was then.
From the soldier, a familiar voice came out.
Chapter 118 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
One year before the Korea-Japan united raid team came knocking on the
island….
The ant queen began thinking.
Other lifeforms that should’ve served as their food source had all
disappeared from the island, and the incidents of its children devouring each
other occurred frequently now. There was no source of food on this island to
sustain the citizens of the queendom now that its population had swelled up to
several thousand strong.
Abandon the existing nation and seek out a fertile land overflowing with
other lifeforms to establish a new one – if the domination of the island was
the queen’s first task, then this problem would be its second one.
However, the queen remembered. It remembered all the powerful invaders
that stepped on the island several times before.
The queen’s forces managed to repel them, but the nation had to suffer
great losses as well. Far too many of the queen’s children had to be sacrificed.
Would its children be able to defeat those beings if they went to another land?
It needed a single most powerful soldier to lead the citizens of the nation.
And so, the queen decided upon the direction of their evolution.
Half a year later.
By gathering the magic power it already possessed, as well as all the
nutrients it had amply absorbed before, the queen gave birth to a brand new
life. It was the greatest combat weapon imaginable, born solely for the sake of
dealing with the strong humans.
The queen’s determination to create the most powerful soldier there was,
combined with the original order of killing all humans it heard in its head,
created a horrifying monster that simply exceeded all common sense.
The monster was born with the skill, ‘Gluttony’.
By consuming its opponents, this new monster could turn their magic
energy as well as a portion of their knowledge into its own.
The monster realised what its powers were early on and began devouring
its own kin, but the queen left it alone. What this monster wanted was the
same as the queen’s desire, after all.
The queen was greatly happy as ‘he’ grew stronger and stronger day by
day.
It was happy because ‘he’ had already exceeded the power of ‘his’ mother
now. And without encountering a single hitch, the army ‘he’ would lead was
getting closer to completion as well. That was why.
In the midst of that….
The human invaders entered this land once more. Their numbers were
lower this time, but they were far stronger than before. However, the queen
laughed at them.
In preparation of the ants waging war against humanity in another land, this
should serve as a great opportunity to test out the powers of ‘him’.
The queen, as usual, sent out all of the soldiers guarding its castle along
with ‘him’.
Just as the queen desired so, ‘he’ went out and completed the first mission
‘he’ was given. But when ‘he’ returned, the queen was already dead.
‘He’ was enraged.
And thankfully, there were enough strong humans left on this island that
would serve as the outlet for ‘his’ rage.
First of all, the king of the humans was killed. And then, it systematically
annihilated all the subordinates next to the dead king. One of the subordinates
cried out before he got killed off.
He asked just what the hell ‘he’ was.
After devouring humans through the skill ‘Gluttony’, ‘he’ now possessed
the ability to reason. ‘He’ then began thinking to itself.
‘What… am I?’
Up until that point, ‘he’ was a soldier of the queen.
But now, with the queen’s death at the hands of the humans, what should
‘he’ call itself now?
A sole existence that must lead the remaining soldiers of the queendom.
‘He’ only knew one word to denote such an existence.
‘….King.’
‘He’ had killed off the enemy king already, so ‘he’ had definitely satisfied
the requirement to become one now.
Grab.
The ant king bit onto the head of the remaining human. But, then….
Suddenly, the ant king’s head swivelled in the direction of the ant castle.
There was an enormous aura rushing out like a fierce storm from where the
queen used to live.
That level of power couldn’t have come from a common foot soldier.
‘…..A king?’
Immediately sensing that an enemy that could threaten itself had appeared,
the ant king slowly rose up towards the ant castle.
Just what kind of a calamity was this?
The TV station’s situation room used to be enveloped in the celebratory
mood, but now, everything felt sombre and dreary like a funeral.
The ‘live’ broadcast showing up on the viewers’ TVs suddenly got cut off
with the entrance of a strange, winged ant monster. Understandably, they
began flooding the station with phone calls of angry complaints and urgent
inquiries.
Ringgg…!
Ringgg….!!
One of the employees walked over to the station’s director and cautiously
made his report.
“Sir, our communication network is about to collapse from all the calls
made by the irate viewers.”
The station’s director raised his head.
“So what? Are you suggesting that we should broadcast live the scenes of
our Hunters getting ripped to shreds by a single ant monster??”
“N-no, sir.”
The broadcast got cut off just as the Hunters were getting one-sidedly
beaten up by that mysterious ant monster. It was understandable that the
curiosity of the viewers would skyrocket.
However, that didn’t mean they could broadcast the scenes of Hunter Mah
Dong-Wook getting tortured, nor the moment that Hunter Min Byung-Gu got
devoured.
The director buried his face in his hands and let out a helpless moan.
“It’s over…. It’s all over.”
The once-in-a-lifetime gamble where the fate of his station rode on, was
now going down the drain because of one d*mn ant monster.
“It’s over…..”
Heavy, grim silence filled up the situation room. No one person was brave
or dumb enough to open their mouths now. Except for one, that was.
“Huh??”
The producer staring at the real-time feed with an ashen complexion
suddenly opened his mouth.
“D-Director!!”
“….What now?”
“Someone just appeared in the location out of nowhere!”
The director didn’t bother to raise his head up and grimly replied.
“Unless it’s Jesus himself, don’t report to me every little thing that
happens over there. Got that?”
“However…!!”
“….It’s all over.”
Realising that talking wouldn’t get him anywhere, the producer increased
the previously-lowered volume up way higher.
Kiieeehck-!!
Kiieehck!!
The situation room was immediately filled up with the screams of the ant
monsters.
The director quickly raised his head up out of sheer shock. It wasn’t just
him, either. Everyone present within the situation room all rushed to the live
feed monitor. And soon, sounds of “Oh, oh!” came out amongst those
watching the screen.
“…”
The director sitting there in a daze finally managed to lift his butt off the
chair. When he came in closer, the employees stepped aside to let him
through.
The screen of the live-feed monitor was reflected in the director’s eyes.
“Oh, dear lord….. Jesus holy Christ.”
The director suddenly began calling out to Jesus, which he didn’t even
believe in, to begin with, and hurriedly shouted out to the rest of the
employees.
“What the hell are you all doing here? Why aren’t getting ready to start
broadcasting this?! Are you going to take responsibility if we lose out on the
current audience rating?!”
The producer hurriedly tried to dissuade his director who didn’t even
bother to hide his boiling excitement.
“But, sir! If we start broadcasting again, we’ll be showing the live feed,
instead! There won’t be any delay in the transmission, and everything will
be shown in real time, sir! We won’t be able to do anything if another
emergency situation breaks out!”
The delayed transmission time of ten minutes between the feed and the
broadcast had run out by now. Which left the director with the decision of
going with either the real-time feed, or end the broadcast altogether right here.
“….It’s all or nothing.”
“Pardon me?”
“We’ve already stopped broadcasting midway, anyway. Things won’t get
any worse than it already has.”
“Well…. I, I guess so…?”
A Hunter’s sudden appearance was caught on the camera. No one could tell
whether he was a Korean or a Japanese. Heck, it was unknown if he was a
Hunter at all, but with his appearance, the director’s gamble that seemed to be
over for good suddenly gained one last shot at the glory.
The director issued a new order with a determined expression firmly etched
on his face.
“Switch it on. Switch it on, now.”
He then pulled a chair closer to the producer and settled down there.
“Our station’s fate rides on that man, you got that?”
“Euhhhk!”
Even though he was being pushed into the figurative cliff, the cameraman
didn’t regret anything. Anyone would’ve dreamed at least once of doing
something like this when they were young.
…To become a hero.
If that was impossible, then at least, to become a support to the true hero.
During the time he did menial jobs for the TV station and earned his
experience that way, he never imagined that he’d be blessed with an
opportunity to do so in his lifetime.
But then, he Awakened into a rank A Hunter, and by earning experience
fitting for his rank, he was able to get to this point in his life. Thanks to that,
he got to clearly capture the scene of Hunters proudly representing South
Korea successfully raid the boss of a rank S Gate.
‘I’m the one who caught that on film. Yes, me.’
And with the footage he captured, many people would come to know the
valiant sacrifices these rank S Hunters made for the purpose of the
extermination of the ant monsters. That was more than enough for him.
He felt like that all of his efforts spent in studying filming techniques and
working as a Hunter was finally being paid off here. But, if there was one
thing he was a bit regretful about, then that would be….
‘Dad…’
His father, who looked after the cameraman all alone after they lost his
mother to cancer. Thinking that he’d not get to see his father again, he felt a
deep pain in his heart.
Kwajeeck!!
His shoulder was bitten, yet he couldn’t feel a thing. His arm had stopped
moving a long time ago.
He was originally a Tanker, so he was able to endure somehow, but this
really was his limit.
Plop.
He knelt down on the ground. Even then, his head was filled with the
thoughts of his father.
‘Why did my last conversation with dad have to be me asking him if he
had his breakfast?!’
If he knew this would happen, he might have talked for a lot longer.
‘On that day, when dad came for a visit to Seoul, I should’ve cleared up
all of my schedule….’
However, time was a ruthless, unrelenting b*stard and regret always
arrived one step too late.
The cameraman raised his head. The horrifying fangs of the ant monster
were nearing his head.
He no longer had any magic energy left to activate the ‘Fortification’ skill,
so he wouldn’t be able to defend against the monster’s attacks now.
Tears formed on the edges of his eyes.
‘Dad, I’m sorry.’
It was then.
Kwajeeck!!
Accompanying the noise of the outer shell being crushed, the bodily fluid
of an ant got splashed on the cameraman’s face.
“….Huh?!”
A blade emitting a cold, silvery gleam had cleanly stabbed through the ant’s
head.
The cameraman raised his head and followed the blade, only to find
another ‘ant’ with a long red-coloured ‘plumage’ stuck to the top of its head
standing there.
‘Why is an ant attacking another ant?!’
No, that thing wasn’t an ant!
The cameraman was mistaken because both were of the same black colour.
What he saw was an unknown ‘soldier’ decked out in black armour from head
to toe pulling his sword out from the head of the dead ant.
Plop.
The ant monster with a hole in its head powerlessly sagged to the ground.
“Just what on earth is…..?!”
When the black ‘soldier’ stepped aside, a youthful man with a somewhat
familiar face approached the cameraman and shouted at him.
“Open your mouth.”
“Pardon me?”
This man didn’t even give the confused cameraman a chance to start a
conversation; he simply grabbed the injured man’s chin and poured down an
unknown liquid down the throat.
“Keok?! Keok!!”
The cameraman nearly coughed his lungs out, but he still managed to
swallow all of the liquid. He covered his mouth and asked.
“Who, who the hell are you?!”
However, the youthful man didn’t even bother to respond and simply
turned around to face the ants.
‘W-what the heck?!’
The cameraman was flustered greatly, but still, he stood back up.
‘….Wait a d*mn second here.’
His legs were moving again. But, was that all?
He belatedly realised it, but his arm was also fine after drinking that strange
liquid.
‘What happened here? What’s going on??’
Did that man do something to him just now?
He couldn’t come up with any other logical explanation besides that one.
It was then.
Quite out of the blue, the cameraman finally remembered where he saw
that youthful man’s face.
‘Could he be that guy?!’
Jin-Woo calmly scanned his surroundings.
‘……..’
Last time he got to meet the members of the Korean raid team in the
Association’s gymnasium, he had inserted one of the Shadow Soldiers in
Baek Yun-Ho’s shadow, just in case. What a relief it was that he did that.
It seemed that what he’d been watching wasn’t a live broadcast, as the
situation here was far worse than the stuff shown on the TV screen before it
got cut off. He managed to save the weakest of the lot, the cameraman, first,
but the other rank S Hunters were still surrounded by countless ant monsters.
‘What should I do now?’
The quickest way to deal with this situation would be to summon Fangs out
and sweep these pesky ants away in one go with his trademark pillar of
flames. But, if Jin-Woo did that, he couldn’t guarantee the safety of the rank S
Hunters.
So, he needed another solution here.
Jin-Woo quickly made his decision and turned his head towards Iron.
“Iron!!”
Iron tapped his chest in a manly manner as if to say, “Leave it to me!”
He then strode forward, his large frame shaking to and fro, before opening
his shoulders wide to roar out at the top of his lungs.
Woowuhhhhhh-!!!
Tti-ring.
[Iron has activated ‘Skill: Roar of Provocation’.]
The effect of that was rather amazing. The ants attacking the Hunters all
snapped their heads towards Iron’s direction simultaneously. And soon, they
all rushed over.
“Nice work.”
Jin-Woo lightly tapped Iron on his back and summoned the two
shortswords he got as rewards after killing the demon king.
‘The Demon King’s Shortsword.’
The pair of shortswords with a blue tinge to their blades gleamed
threateningly under the light magic’s glare.
Kkiiiieeeehk!
Kiiechk!
When hundreds of ant monsters screeched out and pounced at the same
time, his entire view was dyed jet black in an instant. Jin-Woo began gripping
the hilts of the shortswords even harder. And then, he vanished from view.
Kiiiechk!!
Soon, ants collided with the soldiers in a bloody battle to the finish.
In the meantime, Baek Yun-Ho, whose status was still better than everyone
else, managed to move the injured Hunters to a safe corner. Thankfully, they
were all still alive. The cameraman joined soon afterwards, and helped Baek
Yun-Ho out.
Because Jin-Woo, or more specifically, Jin-Woo’s summoned creature,
attracted the aggro of all the ants present here, he was able to safely finish this
task.
“Pant, pant, pant….’
Mah Dong-Wook was leaning against the wall, his breathing rough and
irregular. He then grabbed the arm of Baek Yun-Ho, who brought him here,
and asked.
“W-what’s going on? Who’s fighting?”
Mah Dong-Wook’s eyes were unfocused. His eyes were injured and he
couldn’t see properly.
Baek Yun-Ho placed his hand on Mah Dong-Wook’s hand.
“Instructor Mah. It’s fine now. Everything will be fine.”
“…..”
He then shifted his gaze over to Jin-Woo.
Other people may not have know it yet, but Baek Yun-Ho had a rough idea
already on how powerful Seong Jin-Woo was in reality.
Baek Yun-Ho might have been greatly flustered when the black soldier
suddenly vanished, only to be replaced by the youth, but he still ended up
shouting out loud even before he consciously realised it.
He said, ‘please, help us.’
And then, after seeing the youth move towards the ants along with his
summoned black soldiers, the sense of relief washed over Baek Yun-Ho; so
much so that he nearly plopped down to the ground.
Sure enough…
Seong Jin-Woo proceeded to massacre and annihilate the ants that gave him
and his teammates so much trouble at a frightening pace, as if those creatures
were nothing but broken toys to be played around with.
Kiieeehk!!
Screams of dying ants exploded out from everywhere and nearly made
Baek Yun-Ho dizzy in the head. But, he still sighed out in relief.
‘It’ll be fine now.’
He wasn’t saying that to Mah Dong-Wook. No, he was telling that to
himself. The hope of survival was rekindled in his heart. The aid from one
Seong Jin-Woo was far more reliable and trustworthy than the 20-plus rank S
Japanese Hunters combined.
‘….Looks like there’s no need for me to step up here.’
Baek Yun-Ho formed a smile and sat down next to Mah Dong-Wook.
All he could do now was to sit down quietly like this and watch Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo do his thing. He then drew the cameraman’s attention towards
Jin-Woo.
“You should keep the camera pointing at him. Because you’re going to
witness something amazing pretty soon.”
The incident of the Red Gate, and the incident during the raid of the
Hunters Guild. This was Baek Yun-Ho’s chance to personally witness the
spectacle he had been hearing about all this time.
“Y-yes!”
The cameraman did his best to maintain his distance so he wouldn’t get in
the way and tried to capture Jin-Woo’s actions with his camera. The work of
the raid team’s Hunters may have been finished now, but his own work was
far from over.
Gulp.
The cameraman struggled to swallow his saliva.
Kiiiehk!
At the same time, an ant was split cleanly in half from top to bottom by Jin-
Woo’s hands. He then took a look around him. The number of ants had
decreased significantly, and there were just over half of them remaining.
He killed so many ants that he had lost count now, but his breathing
remained even and unperturbed. In all honesty, he found this place far easier
to manage when compared to the uppermost floors of the Demon’s Castle.
‘Should I increase my speed a bit more?’
Glance.
Jin-Woo sneaked a glance at the floor, and he immediately issued an order
to the puffs of black smoke rising up from the corpses of the countless ants.
“Rise up!!”
Chapter 119 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The cameraman felt a creeping chill crawl all over his skin.
‘Wha-what’s the meaning of this?’
What was about to happen here?
He was deep inside a cave where breezes shouldn’t exist, yet this eerily
chilly air inexplicably brushed past his back.
‘Now that I think about it…’
Just as he began questioning whether the surroundings had become too
quiet or not….
Kiiiieeeehhhk-!!
Thick, heavy screams resounded out within the queen’s chamber and
countless black hands began shooting out from the ground.
Tuck.
Tuck….
The hands grabbed the ground, and began pulling themselves out.
“Heok!!”
The cameraman unwittingly gasped out in pure fright. His eyes were
opened wider, and his breathing grew rough and heavy. He was a rank A
Hunter yet he could scarcely believe the things taking place, so what would
the viewers at home watching be feeling right now?
While the cameraman remained stewing in his own astonishment, the
owners of the black hands finally emerged out of the ground.
‘Ant monsters?!’
At a casual glance, they looked like ant monsters, but then again, endless
streams of black smokes were rising from their bodies. It was hard to tell
whether these monsters were physical beings or made out of gases.
Wouldn’t one potentially get that sort of appearance if one carved out the
statue of an ant monster using a block of black-coloured dry ice? Several
hundreds of such things rose up from the ground.
The cameraman’s heart beat so fast and so loud that he couldn’t even breath
now.
Seeing that scene, Baek Yun-Ho too gasped out in shock as well. He was
comparatively calmer than the cameraman, but that didn’t mean he could
close his slack jaw.
‘All of those…. are his summons???’
Unlike the two speechless men, Jin-Woo was forming a satisfied grin at the
new additions to his shadow army.
‘Nice.’
Now, the number of his Shadow Soldiers easily overwhelmed the surviving
ant monsters.
‘With things like this, looks like I won’t have to personally step out now.’
Jin-Woo stored the Demon King’s Shortswords back to his Inventory. And
then, issued the very first order to his new soldiers.
‘Go. Don’t leave any one of them alive.’
Kiiieeehhk-!!
With the same intensity as back when the ant monsters flooded into the
queen’s chamber, Jin-Woo’s new soldiers crashed into their enemies like a
tsunami wave.
The once seemingly-endless swarm of ant monsters was now being swept
away by the black tide.
Woooahhhh!!!
A huge cheering roar broke out inside the TV station’s situation room.
The director shot up from his seat and clapped his hands in happiness.
“Yesss!! He’s doing it!!”
Seeing those disgusting ant monsters being swept away like that, it felt like
his tight chest was being pried open again. It was as if the ten-year-old
indigestion plaguing him had finally been flushed away.
If only there were no other eyes watching here, he’d have asked the
producer to screen capture that moment and have it sent over to him later – so
he could relieve his accumulated stress even if it was several months later.
Nay, several years later!
It was indeed very regretful to see the death of Hunter Min Byung-Gu.
When the director saw the scene of the team’s lone Healer die at the hands of
that d*mn monster, he thought that the heavens were crashing down on him.
Even then, if the Korean Hunters get out of the ant tunnel safely with the
help from that unidentified Hunter?
‘That’s all I ask for!’
The Korean team had already achieved its goal by killing the ant queen.
With their only method of propagation gone, there was no need to even repeat
the simple fact that the ants would eventually die out in the Jeju Island.
And then, what about the Japanese?
Indeed, what would happen to the Japanese team?
Since they abandoned the important mission right in the middle of it all and
escaped with their tail between their legs, there was obviously no need to
hand over the promised share of the loot. And not only that, the Koreans
could even demand reparation from them, instead.
And of course, the footage of the raid selling like hot cakes would be the
tasty icing on the cake, too.
The complexion of the director brightened like a midday sun.
‘Just where did this massive ball of fortune fall out from?!’
The director’s expression, as he continued to stare at the face of Jin-Woo in
the monitor’s screen, remained somewhat confused. It was then.
Another employee hurriedly ran towards him.
“Sir!”
The director shot up from his seat, nearly freaking out of his skull.
“What is it this time?!”
The director’s expression hardened in an instant.
His heart began quivering, thinking that maybe another mishap occurred
somewhere just as he was beginning to soak himself in the sea of happiness.
What with the situation arriving at this point in time, the director was
quickly growing resentful of this dumb employee. He even wanted to reach
out to cover that employee’s mouth and pretend that no bad news was afoot.
‘Looks like I’ve finally lost it….’
Completely unaware of what his boss was thinking of at that moment, the
employee spoke hurriedly with an excited face.
“We discovered that man’s identity!”
The director’s eyes opened up super-wide.
“What was that?!”
Inside the office of the Hunter Association’s President.
Kwajeek!!
Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly lifted his hand off the crushed armrest. His private
doctor sitting next to him turned to look at him.
“…Association President.”
“….It seems that I got overexcited just now.”
He unconsciously gripped too tight, and this happened. However, how
could he not get excited by the scenes he was seeing right now?
Indeed, watching Jin-Woo’s performance playing out on the giant screen
made his emotions well up without him even realising it. If only his body
permitted it, he’d have gone there to fight alongside, too.
“Getting overexcited is not good for your body, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
There was only one reason why he, as the Association President, wasn’t
present in the mission control centre. Didn’t matter whether this subjugation
operation ended as a success or a failure, there was a potential risk that he’d
strain his heart simply by being there.
Even watching the broadcast like this carried enough risk, so the personal
doctor had to set up a camp next to Goh Gun-Hui.
‘Maybe, it would’ve been better to not let him watch the broadcast.’
The personal doctor worried about his decision for a brief moment, but
after seeing the expression etched on the face of the Association President, he
soon shook his head.
Ever since the Hunter named Seong Jin-Woo appeared on the scene, that
wide smile didn’t want to leave Goh Gun-Hui’s face.
[“Hey, that man, that’s Seong Jin-Woo!”]
In that critical moment, as the despair quickly transformed into a loud
cheer, the words Association President cried out still rung inside the doctor’s
ears.
Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui was beaming widely.
‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
He then cautiously placed his hand back on the sofa’s armrest. Unless he
was holding onto something, his entire body would itch too much and he’d be
unable to endure it.
‘But, how did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get there?’
Initially, he was greatly intrigued by this quandary. The island must be
overflowing with the ant monsters, so how did he appear there without
anyone else noticing it?
But, such a thing wasn’t important right now.
No, the truly important thing would be that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was
there. And with that, the other Hunters had hope. Those two were the
important things.
It was then.
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes grew extra large after witnessing the spectacle of Jin-
Woo creating even more soldiers by extracting shadows out from the dead ant
monsters.
‘That friend, he lied to me, didn’t he?’
Who could’ve guessed that there were well more than “only about a
hundred” summons? Even at a casual glance, there must’ve been over 300,
easy. However, Goh Gun-Hui didn’t look like someone who’d been lied to.
No, a smile of contentment was filling up his face, instead.
‘He said that he wanted to fight against the monsters, didn’t he?’
Goh Gun-Hui could now understand a bit more of why the youth said those
words to him back then. After all, he possessed such incredible power, so no
monsters out there should faze him.
For sure, Jin-Woo looked like he was enjoying himself as he fought the
monsters. It was to the extent that the viewers watching felt a deep stirring
within their hearts.
However….
Why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who so dearly wished to battle monsters
that badly, asked to be left out of the Korean raid team?
‘He must’ve had an important reason behind that decision.’
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head. Without such a reason, there was just no
way that a man who formed an expression like that during battle would
willingly walk away from a raid team.
When his thought arrived at that point, Goh Gun-Hui grew very curious
about what could possibly be Jin-Woo’s reason.
Tang, tang!
Jin-Ah was studying in her bedroom, but she heard those loud noises and
hurriedly came out to the living room.
“Mom??”
“I, I’m sorry. That was too loud, wasn’t it?”
Jin-Ah shook her head.
Mom had already lowered the volume of the TV until not much could be
heard so she’d not interrupt her daughter’s studies. Jin-Ah didn’t feel like
unduly burdening her any more than that.
“Besides all that, what’s going on? Is the TV broken?”
“Not sure. It just stopped working all of a sudden.”
“Where’s oppa?”
“He’s right h….”
Mom turned around to look, only to gasp out in surprise.
“Oh, my?? Where did he go? But, he was here only about a second
ago??”
Jin-Ah tilted her head and opened Jin-Woo’s bedroom door.
“Oppa?”
He wasn’t even in the bathroom, either. Jin-Ah proceeded to scour the
entirety of the apartment before turning around towards her mom.
“What were you watching together just now?”
“The Jeju Island raid.”
“…..”
Suddenly, Jin-Ah was overcome with a certain ominous foreboding. Now
that she thought about it, the entire apartment building was bustling with loud
noises ever since a little while ago.
‘No way….?’
Jin-Ah hurriedly ran back inside her room and switched on her phone.
When she did…..
Just as the vigorous, loud cheers exploded out from the floors above and
below hers, Jin-Ah’s eyes opened wider as she finally confirmed the scene
playing out within her phone’s screen.
“Oppa?!”
After utterly massacring every single ant monster found inside the queen’s
chamber, Jin-Woo stored his soldiers back inside his shadow.
Even now, ants that had been spread out to the rest of the island were
scurrying back to the ant tunnel. He judged that his priority should be placed
on guiding the Hunters out of here to somewhere safe before more ants
showed up.
‘We have the injured here to worry about, too.’
Jin-Woo strode towards the Hunters. Beside Baek Yun-Ho and the
cameraman, the rest weren’t in a good shape. Cha Hae-In was still
unconscious, and the three others had suffered some serious wounds, as well.
Jin-Woo asked while looking around.
“What about Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim?”
Baek Yun-Ho shook his head with a hardened expression.
“…”
Not saying anything else, Jin-Woo brought out the potions and began
treating the Hunters one by one. Since the potions would become useless once
they leave his hands, he had to personally feed each of the Hunters.
“M-mm….”
After drinking the potions, Hunters began regaining their consciousness.
“What’s this?”
Im Tae-Gyu quickly raised his upper torso up, touched all over his body,
and spat out a gasp of amazement.
“What the….?”
Both Choi Jong-In and Mah Dong-Wook recovered from the numerous
injuries on their bodies in no time.
“Hmm…”
“Cough, cough.”
Choi Jong-In had no clue on what had transpired here, so as soon as he laid
his eyes on Jin-Woo, he was taken aback rather greatly.
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo? What are you doing here??”
“Let’s talk after getting out of this place first.”
“Oh….”
Choi Jong-In took a look around and nodded his head. They were still stuck
inside the deepest part of the ant tunnel. This was no place to idly chat away,
indeed.
“Instructor Seong!”
Having regained his eyesight, Mah Dong-Wook was able to reach out and
grab Jin-Woo’s hands.
“Were you the one fighting off those ants? Thank you. Thank you so
much!!”
Jin-Woo replied in the same manner to him as well.
“Let us get out of here first.”
“Got it.”
Finally, Cha Hae-In.
Standing before her, a frown formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘Something’s not right… her aura’s far too weak.’
While feeling a sense of foreboding, Jin-Woo raised her head and
cautiously poured the potion down her mouth.
Sure enough, a message quickly popped up in his view.
Tti-ring.
[When the remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to recover HP
with healing potions.]
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled.
When he slowly pulled out his hand supporting her head, it was soaked in
her blood.
‘……’
That ant b*stard.
That creature inflicted a fatal blow to the strongest person among the
Korean Hunters, Cha Hae-In, with nothing but a single blow.
The sole reason why these Hunters were still alive wasn’t that they were
strong. On the contrary, that b*stard simply toyed with them for a little while,
that was all.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened.
‘In any case, I gotta….’
Cha Hae-In’s injuries took priority. If her wounds couldn’t be healed by the
potions, then she needed to get out of this island as soon as possible and get a
Healer-type Hunter to heal her, ASAP.
“Let’s hurry.”
Jin-Woo carefully picked her up and stood up to leave. Other Hunters also
stood up.
As they were preparing to leave the ant queen’s chamber, Jin-Woo walking
in front of the pack suddenly spat out a long sigh.
‘……’
Baek Yun-Ho could guess the reason why.
Jin-Woo entrusted Cha Hae-In over to Baek Yun-Ho. Suddenly dumped
with the responsibility of carrying her around, Baek Yun-Ho formed a
flustered expression, and he hurriedly raised his voice.
“I would like to help.”
Jin-Woo looked at the Hunters present, including Baek Yun-Ho, and told
them all in no uncertain terms.
“Do not ever step forward during the fight. It’ll be faster that way.”
“But, Mister Seong Jin-Woo, that means….”
Choi Jung-Hoon was still oblivious to what had transpired before, so he
was about to speak up his opinion, but Mah Dong-Wook stopped him and
shook his head.
He may not have seen the situation unfold with his own eyes, but through
his perception, he was able to detect how Jin-Woo annihilated the swarm of
ants from the beginning until the end.
Jin-Woo was right about this.
However, Baek Yun-Ho still butted in.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo turned his head to look at him.
“I understand full well that you’re strong. I can confidently say that no
one here knows that better than me. However…..”
Baek Yun-Ho spoke with a serious expression on his face.
“However, you’ve already summoned far too many creatures by now.”
But, why would that be a problem? When Jin-Woo stared at him with a
confused expression, Baek Yun-Ho got flustered and quickly added more
explanation.
“You must’ve had exhausted a lot of your magical energy by now. What
would happen if you completely spend them?”
‘Ahh… so that’s what he was talking about.’
Jin-Woo guessed from Baek Yun-Ho’s words that the other Hunters
utilising the summoning magic had to be using a lot of magic energy to
summon even a single creature.
‘I’m sure there aren’t any real reason to reveal that my Shadow Soldiers
don’t need any magic energy, right?’
Even without him saying anything, his soldiers wouldn’t look like ordinary
summons to these people’s eyes, anyway. So, Jin-Woo decided to change the
story ever so slightly.
“My summons don’t require as much magic energy as you think. You
don’t need to worry about me.”
“Excuse me?”
Both Baek Yun-Ho and the cameraman exclaimed out at the same time.
He controlled that many summoned creatures all at once, yet he was saying
that the magic energy usage wasn’t high? Then, just what was his weak point,
then?
‘……..’
Realising that explaining would take up too much time, he simply turned
towards the cave up ahead, instead. With excellent timing, the waves of ant
monsters were rushing inside the chamber.
‘Wow, there are still so many of them.’
Their side had someone in a critical condition. So, he couldn’t afford to
waste time here.
Jin-Woo activated the Sovereign’s Territory for maximum efficiency. The
ground beneath his feet was immediately dyed in black.
Just as he was done with preparations to call his soldiers back out again, an
ominous, creepy air blew in from the other side of the cave.
‘……..?’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to where that eerie aura was coming from.
There was this one individual among the masses of ants. It looked similar to
the others, but it was a completely different type of monster compared to the
others.
‘Ah, so that’s the one.’
Jin-Woo instantly recognised the ‘ant king’. And likewise, the ant king
recognised Jin-Woo as well.
Taking its time, the ant king slowly walked over to him.
“A human… you seem to possess a pretty strong aura.”
It even imitated Goto Ryuji’s speech pattern.
Hunters immediately recalled the nightmare of a few moments ago and
flinched grandly as soon as spotting that ant monster. On the other hand, Jin-
Woo showed no outward ripples and simply stared at the creature without
saying a word.
Eventually, the ant king stood before Jin-Woo.
“Are you the king of humans?”
“…..Huh, an insect that knows how to speak. Well, I’ll be.”
When Jin-Woo replied with a less than impressed expression on his face,
the ant king’s own expression crumpled unsightly.
The power the queen bestowed it with, and the power it gathered through
the ‘Gluttony’ skill - the moment the ant king unleashed all of its magic
energy, its body suddenly ballooned up greatly in size. Its height, which used
to be around the same as Jin-Woo’s, grew by at least 1.5 times taller.
The ant king then screeched out loudly right in front of Jin-Woo’s nose.
Kiiiiiieeeeeehhhhhk-!!!
Jin-Woo didn’t even blink once, and instead, a smirk formed on his lips.
“Yup, now you’re acting properly like an insect.”
And then, he himself unleashed his own magical energy.
Chapter 120 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“All communications with Goto and his team have been cut off?!”
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo’s complexion became ashen.
The Association employee next to him presented a receiver and asked
politely.
“Would you like to hear the last communication, sir?”
Matsumoto Shigeo snatched the receiver away from the employee’s hand
and put it on his head, before nodding once.
Soon, the recorded sound clip began playing.
Beep.
“That’s where the communication ends, sir.”
Matsumoto’s face, as he took off the receiver, was as hard as a rock. The
creepy noises and the horrible screech the monster made in between the
chatter – he couldn’t picture any other situation where those sounds would
come out of.
‘An ant monster using a human language? And Goto Ryuji was killed by
that thing?!’
Such an eventuality was not within his calculations. He and his compatriots
had definitely planned everything out, and made preparations for every
eventuality, so why….
The ends of Matsumoto Shigeo’s fingers trembled almost imperceptibly.
“….Sir?”
Only after he realised that the gazes of his employees were focused on his
trembling fingertips did Matsumoto Shigeo carefully hide his hands. He
quickly changed the topic.
“Where is the monster that…. No, where is the talking monster, right
now?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the words ‘the monster that killed Goto
Ryuji’.
“It’s disappeared, sir.”
“What do you mean, disappeared??”
It was a creature capable of killing Goto Ryuji. So, how could the satellite
equipped with the magic energy detection camera keeping a close eye on Jeju
Island not pick up on such a powerful monster?
The employee seemed to have figured out what his boss was about to say,
and he pointed at the monitor once more.
“That spot of light is the magic energy emitted from the monster at that
moment.”
The magic energy detection camera displayed the emitted magic energy as
spots of lights. The bigger the spot of light appearing on the monitor, the more
powerful the existence was.
Once spots of lights belonging to Goto Ryuji and the Hunters around him
disappeared, the larger, brighter light vanished quickly, as well.
“Oh, my god….”
Matsumoto Shigeo spat out a shocked gasp. The unknown enemy was in
perfect control of its magical energy.
‘That was why…. Because it was such a monster, that….’
That was why the research team failed to notice the creature before.
It was, without a doubt, a perfect failure. And as a punishment, Japan just
lost ten of her elite Hunters. Among them, the best Hunter in the country. For
a result of a single oversight, it was very, very painful price to pay. Even
worse, the price most likely hadn’t been fully paid yet, either.
‘When that nonsensical monstrosity crosses the ocean and enters the
country….’
Even though Matsumoto Shigeo tried to shake them off, the horrifying
images continued to fill up his head. It was then.
“We found it! The b*stard has reappeared again!”
Matsumoto Shigeo’s eyes shot open wider.
“Where is the creature?”
“It’s inside the ant queen’s chamber, sir.”
“….”
Only the ants returning to the ant tunnel, as well as the Korean Hunters
facing off against them, remained in that place. They must be fighting with
everything they had, but unfortunately, their opponent this time easily
exceeded everyone’s imaginations.
‘In the end, even the Koreans will be finished for good.’
That’s what he believed, but then, Matsumoto Shigeo’s brows shot up
instantly.
‘…..???’
There was another spot of light that suddenly appeared right next to that
horrifying monster.
“W-what’s the meaning of this?!”
Matsumoto Shigeo gasped out in sheer astonishment and quickly looked at
his employees. One of the employees, affiliated with the research team,
urgently shook his head.
“It, it’s also our first time seeing this, sir.”
That spot of light was as big and bright as the monster’s. No, maybe it was
even bigger than that.
What was even more astonishing was the fact that there were hundreds of
smaller light spots swirling around that large one.
Even the head researcher of Japan’s research team, who had been analysing
the spy images for many years now, had never seen such a phenomenon
before.
‘Ah….!’
Seeing the mesmerising sight of the sea of lights repeatedly separating into
tiny pieces before gathering back together, all those present couldn’t help but
gasp out in admiration.
However, Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t have the time to leisurely stew in his
emotions right now.
“The Korean team! They must be broadcasting the raid even now, aren’t
they??”
If the Korean team was still strutting around like that, that could also mean
that the broadcast was still ongoing. Matsumoto Shigeo was beset with
curiosity and wanted urgently to find out just what was going on here.
“The Korean team’s broadcast!! Bring that up to the main monitor!!”
When he shouted out, the super-large screen in the middle of the Japanese
mission control centre was immediately filled with the image of a certain
young man having a stare-down with an ant monster.
After seeing that man’s face, Matsumoto Shigeo nervously swallowed his
saliva. The lone strand of sweat trickled down his temple and pooled on the
bottom of his chin.
‘That man…. That man is the source of that massive light spot??’
And then, the giant ant monster standing in front of that man. That thing
was at least over 1.5 times larger than regular ant monsters. They were only
looking at the thing through the monitor, yet the sheer pressure emanating
from that thing managed to quicken their heartbeats.
‘…..’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s expression hardened even further.
It was then.
The ant monster made its move.
The ant king’s fist powerfully slammed into Jin-Woo’s face.
SLAM!!
Jin-Woo’s back nearly bent backwards, but he stomped down and
withstood the hit.
‘….!!’
The ant king had struck with all of its might behind that punch, so it
couldn’t help but get taken by surprise.
“You can… withstand my power?”
The ant king struck out with a simple plan to kill this puny human in one
hit, but instead of sending him flying away, the whole thing simply ended
with his head turning slightly away.
Too bad, there was no time to remain surprised, because Jin-Woo’s own fist
flew in afterwards.
Swish-!!
SLAM!!
The ant king was smacked right in the middle of its face, and it flew away
to crash into the wall on the far side of the cavern.
Kaboom!
As if a meteor had collided there, the wall caved in deeply. Although it was
only for a short while, the impact force was powerful enough to shake the
entire ant tunnel.
“What kind of an ant talks this much?”
When the ‘live’ broadcast got suddenly cut off, and the static screen
showing the message of about the station encountering ‘technical difficulty’
appeared on their TV screens, countless viewers were left devastated and
stunned by what they saw.
“The Hunters…. What’s happening to the Hunters??”
“What was up with that ant just now?!”
“What the hell! How can you cut the broadcast off right there?!”
The scenes of an ant monster suddenly appearing without warning, and
then, it proceeding to systematically dismantle the Hunters one by one….
The viewers celebrating after the death of the ant queen felt like a bucket of
cold water was poured down on them by that horrifying scene. Not too long
afterwards, the static screen with the ‘technical difficulty’ message went away
and the emcee appeared there, instead.
With a sorrowful voice, he relayed the death of Hunter Min Byung-Gu.
And he also added that the safety of the Hunters remaining in the ant tunnel
couldn’t be guaranteed, either.
“God d*mn it!!”
“They got the ant queen, so why are they dying now?!”
“What about Japan?”
“Isn’t it supposed to be a united team or something? Where are the d*mn
Japanese?!”
Some people raged on, some people worried about their safety, while some
others grieved.
The news of the Hunters risking their lives potentially meeting with a grisly
fate spread out like an uncontrollable wildfire. Weirdly enough, the audience
rating actually rose up higher than ever before, even though the raid broadcast
had been cut off for a while now.
The emcee’s expression brightened considerably after receiving an urgent
message.
Those words were more than enough to inject much-needed vitality into the
fatigued eyes of the viewers staying put in front of their TV screens.
Soon, the live feed was restored, and….
“What the heck?”
“This…!!”
The viewers were greeted by the black soldiers filling up their TV screens,
and they all shot up from their seats.
They then saw those black soldiers fighting tooth-and-nail against the
waves upon waves of ants flooding into the ant queen’s chamber. The camera
moved around to take in the unfolding events, before locking onto a single
young man.
He was too far away and it was hard to see what he looked like.
The viewers watching on with nervous tension all cried out in elation from
that news. And then, they began cheering for that unidentified Hunter.
“Yes!! Go and smash them all!!”
“You’re doing great!! Push them back!!”
“Let’s go!!!”
And finally….
When that unidentified Hunter summoned an even greater number of
soldiers to completely massacre the ants….
Woooooaahhhh!!!
People punched the sky with their fists and celebrated wildly.
Those who had lost their families and friends to the ants and sought
revenge shed tears as the cathartic moment played out in their screens. As if
he was waiting for the perfect timing, the emcee’s heightened voice came out
from the speakers just in the nick of time.
The eyes and ears of every single viewer out there were now turned
towards their screens.
Just who was that man?
Just what was the identity of a man capable of rescuing rank S Hunters
from a place crawling with rank S monsters?
And so, the viewers grew even more cheerful from the fact that a Hunter
possessing such an incredible ability was not a Japanese, but a Korean like
them.
Countless ants were soon taken care of in no time at all.
Just as the Hunters were getting ready to escape from the ant tunnel, yet
another wave of ants appeared.
“Uh?! Uhhh??”
“Isn’t that…?”
The ant monster that appeared just before the broadcast got cut off the first
time was now leisurely walking forward while pushing past the swarm of
ants. Since there weren’t that many ants with wings to begin with, and the
shape of its face was different from everything else, it wasn’t that hard to tell
that monster apart.
The viewers were instantly thrown into confusion.
“What the hell? I thought that b*stard was already dead?!”
“Why is that thing appearing again?!”
The winged ant monster stood before Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
Those viewers who understood a bit about the compatibility of different
abilities grew deeply anxious when the two stood face to face.
“Aigoo! He’s going to get killed here!”
“Why would a Mage-type give up on the safety of distance like that??”
“It’s not too late, so run away!”
That monster was strong enough to blow away Hunter Cha Hae-In, a
melee-type Hunter, with a single blow. They thought that it was beyond
obvious how things would turn out now.
It was already distressing enough to see those two glare at each other in
close proximity, but then, the d*mn ant monster suddenly grew larger and
larger as well.
Every viewer watching their TV screens cried out in shock.
And then…
Pow!!
Those with weaker constitutions squeezed their eyes shut at that moment.
They thought that the moment the monster’s punch found its target, the
Hunter’s head would explode.
However, contrary to their expectations, the Hunter was fine.
‘Huh??’
‘A Mage withstood a punch strong enough to knock out the Tanker Mah
Dong-Wook in one hit?!’
The eyes of the viewers grew wider and wider.
And then….
SLAM!!
The ant monster got shoved deeply into the cave wall.
“…..”
“…….”
Most viewers required a little bit of time to process what just transpired.
But when the camera zoomed in on the ant king half-buried in the cave
wall…..
Waaaahhhh!!!
Yet another round of loud cheering exploded out.
“Heok!!”
The cameraman’s jaw fell to the floor.
When Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was struck by the ant’s fist, he flinched in
surprise. Even Cha Hae-In lost her consciousness from that hit.
But then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo blew away the ant monster, instead. The
very same monster, that toyed around with six rank S Hunters as if it was
nothing. No wonder he’d gasp out a “Heok!”
‘Were the rank S Hunters that weak?’
No, of course not.
The Korean Hunters bravely fought and managed to defeat the rank S boss,
the ant queen.
So, the mutated ant monster that made an utter fool out of those Hunters
was the weird one. And Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who blew away that weird
mutated ant, was an even weirder one.
Gulp.
The cameraman suppressed his agitation and swallowed his dry saliva.
The reactions of other Hunters weren’t all that different, either.
While everyone was staring at Jin-Woo with excited eyes, only Choi Jong-
In began looking around in his vicinity. And he could see mountains of ant
corpses. He initially thought that those were the result of the Hunters working
together while he was out cold. But now, having witnessed Jin-Woo’s power,
his thoughts had changed.
‘Can it… Could it be…. Mister Seong Jin-Woo alone was responsible
for….?’
After taking a rough count of the dead ants, Choi Jong-In’s eyes began
trembling non-stop.
Kiiieeehhhhk!!
A beastly screech exploding out without warning caused his head to snap
back.
The ant king extricated itself out of the wall and displayed its rage. The air
within the ant queen’s chamber was quivering noticeably.
‘Ho-oh?’
Jin-Woo stared at the ant king with a genuine surprise. The damage he dealt
was far less than he thought.
‘Is it because… of the exoskeleton?’
The black, tough shell covering the entirety of that b*stard – whatever that
thing was, it had already exceeded being a normal organic matter.
In that case, he’d use brute force to shatter that shell. The thing that could
break one’s armour wasn’t a sword or a spear. No, it was a hammer.
Jin-Woo’s shoulder and arm muscles expanded, thick veins bulging visibly
on his skin. The air grew thicker and heavier as it descended all around him.
The ant king stopped screeching and shifted its horrifyingly crumpled
expression towards Jin-Woo.
“You dare!!”
As the two of them walked closer, the distance between them shortened
faster and faster. Soon, Jin-Woo and the ant king stood right before each other
again. And then, without a hint of hesitation or mercy, they began exchanging
countless attacks, each thumping hit carrying all their might.
Slam!!
Kaboom!!
BOOM!!
The Hunters watching from the sideline were all stupefied into silence.
The shock wave from the collision of magic energy whenever Jin-Woo and
the ant king exchanged blows rocked the ant tunnel itself. It was so severe
that these top-ranked Hunters, renowned for their mastery over wielding their
magic energy, felt their innards tumble.
“Woo-wuoop…”
“Are you alright?”
“I, I’m fine.”
The cameraman was only a rank A, but he still tried his best to suppress the
contents of his stomach from rising up. He was even experiencing vertigo,
too.
‘Woo-wook….’
Even then – even as his complexion paled greatly, he could still maintain
his smile all because….
Slam! Slam!! Slam!!!
‘How can a lone Hunter do that against such a monster….?’
….Because, he saw a ray of hope.
Kwa-boooooom!!
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo might be getting wounded from that exchange, but
the outer shell of the ant king was definitely being broken as well.
Chapter 121 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The ant king quickly sensed the ‘changes’ taking place on the body that it
felt so proud of.
Crack.
Crack….
Its outer skin, most likely tougher and hardier than any known metal on this
planet, began developing cracks all over the place. On the other hand, the
enemy was easily withstanding the ant king’s attacks.
‘It can’t be.’
An impossible hypothesis quickly entered the ant king’s head.
‘I… I’m losing out on physical strength?!’
Not only that, to a human less than half its size?
But, right at that moment….
CRACK.
It realised that the fresh wound on its waist from that powerful hit felt
‘wrong’. Even the sound coming from there was not too good to hear.
The exoskeleton lacked pain receptors, so the ant king had to divert its
attention for the briefest of moments to confirm the status of its shell down
there.
Sneak.
The result was rather shocking to behold.
‘….It’s cracked open!’
The small crack that was no more than just a nick had spread out to
everywhere and was growing larger and larger. It was the same thing as a
warning sign, telling the creature that there wasn’t a lot of time left.
The ant king quickly turned its head around. However, even if it was only
for a brief moment, Jin-Woo wasn’t some amateur who’d miss this golden
opportunity.
Ka-boom!!
The king’s face spun to its side.
‘…..??’
The ant king staggered unsteadily for a second or two from the ridiculous
impact force that ignored the ant king’s forged steel-like shell on its face.
It managed to regain its balance before it took a step back, but by then, the
follow-up punch was already closing in from below.
KWAHNG!!
The ant king’s chin shot upwards.
‘How dare a human, who’s inferior than a bug…!!’
While its head still pointing up at the ceiling, the ant king shot a glare full
of murderous rage down below.
The power this human possessed – it was indeed great. However, unlike
this human, who only had his physical strength to fall back on, the ant king
possessed a variety of other powerful means at its disposal.
Such as….
The ant king’s head snapped back down, and at the same time, it fired a
poison needle out of its mouth. A tip coated in deadly poison attached to the
tongue-like tentacle shot out like a bullet.
It was an unavoidable attack aimed at the enemy’s face in this point-blank
range.
Swish-!
The human deftly tilted his head out of the way to dodge the needle, but a
smile still crept up on the face of the ant king as the result of its attack became
clear. The needle still managed to scratch the human’s cheek and left a small
wound there.
‘It’s done!’
That alone was more than enough.
Once, the ant king devoured a sea snail and somewhat coincidentally,
absorbed a skill called ‘Paralysis Poison’.
One of the most fatal poisons secreted by the known lifeforms in this world
had been transformed into an even more deadly substance within the ant
king’s body after it became a concentrated mix that contained the magical
energy of the host creature.
It was indeed the worst poison imaginable, evolved forcibly by the skill,
‘Gluttony’.
‘You’ve really given me so much trouble, you human b*stard.’
Even the slightest scratch would result in complete paralysis in one’s
nervous system within seconds; the victims would lose all sensations in their
bodies and lose control of themselves.
The only thing remaining would be to systematically destroy the resistance-
less enemy.
“….?”
As if the poison was doing its thing, the human formed a flustered
expression.
“This is the power of the true king!”
The ant king smiled widely and smacked the human’s face. However….
Kwahng!!
The human raised his left hand and blocked it.
‘…..??’
The question of how he was still able to move lasted only for a second.
Ka-booooom!!
The human’s right fist flew in from the other side and struck the ant king so
hard that the monster was shoved down to the ground rather unceremoniously.
“Kiiiehk!!”
For the first time ever, a pained yelp shot out from the king’s mouth.
Tti-ring.
Jin-Woo confirmed the System message popping up in his view as that
familiar mechanical beep rang out.
[Detoxification has been completed.]
‘I was wondering why it was celebrating all alone, but huh, is this why?’
Maybe that was the case because, for some reason, he could sense that the
ant king showed much more panic when he moved without a problem just
now.
What a mystifying thing this was.
He wasn’t talking about the all-powerful Buff getting rid of the poison, no,
but the fact that he could actually sense the insect-like monster’s emotions.
Before he had realised it, he could sense what other monsters were feeling
about.
‘Wait, was it from around the time I fought those High Orcs?’
Back then, he thought that he was able to decipher what those creatures
were feeling by looking at their facial expressions and their gestures.
However, that ant monster wasn’t even what you’d classify as a humanoid
creature.
Indeed, that thing had no other facial expressions other than crumpling it in
anger.
‘Is this because of my Perception?’
Just as his Stat values had all increased by so much lately, his Perception
Stat also had increased by a lot, too. It was possible that some other unknown,
hidden abilities to his Stats were unlocked when they went past a certain
threshold.
However….
‘….Now isn’t the time to think about that, is it?’
Indeed, his priority lay with killing this thing and getting out of this place.
Jin-Woo sprinted towards the ant king trying to push itself off from the
ground.
‘…..!!’
He could definitely feel the ant king’s nervousness on his skin now. His
continued pounding resulted in the creature’s exoskeleton almost being
cracked open. Just a little bit more now!
He thought like so and closed the distance in the blink of an eye, before
jumping up slightly in the air. And then, he kicked down.
Kwa-boom!!
However, the ant king had already vanished from the spot. Only the poor
ground caved in from the impact.
“Where did it go?!”
“It disappeared??”
While the other Hunters hurriedly searched for the ant king, Jin-Woo
calmly looked above him. The monster was flying in the air using its wings.
‘Well, I guess this is convenient.’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself.
What with him being able to sense the monster’s fluctuating emotions,
searching for its presence had become a step easier now. The emotion of
confusion felt had changed to fear, before it changed once more to happiness.
The ant king had changed its strategy now.
‘If that human’s speciality is his strength, then there’s no need to face
him head-on.’
The ant king’s true weapon was its speed. Even that foolish human who
lied and said he was the king of humans, couldn’t even react to the ant king’s
movements and lost his neck.
From the onset, the reason why the creature wanted to use physical strength
to suppress the human was a type of desire to show off its kingly powers.
But, right now, the ant king had decided to throw away that selfish
reasoning and focus all of its being in this battle from now on.
Shushushuk….
The enlarged body reverted back to its original size, while the claws in its
hands grew even longer and sharper, like well-honed blades.
‘Its claws….’
Jin-Woo studied the changes taking place in the ant king and realised that
the creature would change how it attacked from here onwards.
Shururuk….
Two shortswords he summoned from the Inventory landed in Jin-Woo’s
hands.
Swiiiish-!!
The airborne ant king shot down towards Jin-Woo. Its speed was
incomparable to only a minute ago.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo focused his senses.
Time slowed down, and every single movement the monster made entered
his vision. In all honesty, Jin-Woo felt most confident when it came down to
the contest of speed. He easily deflected the ant king’s claw slashing down
from above with his shortsword.
The follow-up attacks from the ant king landing on the ground, as well as
from Jin-Woo spinning around, clashed violently.
Clang!! Claaaang!! Clang!!
As they exchanged offence and defence countless times, the ant king was
now completely beset with unbridled shock.
‘How can this be?!’
The enemy was actually matching its speed. No, it wasn’t only that – as the
seconds ticked by, his movement speed was actually picking up as if his
muscles had finally loosened up sufficiently enough.
‘How… How can such a….’
The ant king had been pushed back during the contest of raw strength, and
now it was also being gradually pushed back in the contest of speed, too.
One step, another step….
As the number of retreating steps taken increased, so did the wounds
appearing on the exoskeleton. The greater the monster’s retreating distance
became, the more confident Jin-Woo grew.
‘I can finish this.’
The mental shock this monster, this so-called ant king felt right now, it was
being transmitted in full to Jin-Woo. Right now, that monster was greatly
shaken up.
Compared to the Demon King Baran, this monster’s strength, speed, and
abilities fell some ways behind. No, maybe, it was on the same level as the
dead Demon King, or even exceeded it in some regards.
Unfortunately, the current Jin-Woo wasn’t the same as the Jin-Woo of back
then.
Indeed, he had stepped up into a far higher realm with the rewards he had
received after completing the Demon’s Castle dungeon.
‘Here’s the fruit of all my labours.’
Jin-Woo got to fully experience just how much his Stats had grown through
this particular opponent. Along with the satisfaction derived from knowing
that his Stats had been greatly enhanced now, even more stirring emotions
welled up from deep inside his chest.
When the ant king took another step back, Jin-Woo took two steps forward.
And then…
‘Vital Spot Targetting!’
Jin-Woo’s skill stabbed straight into the ant king’s torso.
The ‘Vital Points Targetting’ was a skill that inflicted additional damage if
he had managed to stab the enemy’s weak spots. With the monster’s
exoskeleton broken in several places, it was not an exaggeration to say that
the creature’s entire body was now the so-called weak spot.
Pa-ba-bak!!
Dozens of ‘Vital Points Targetting’ landed on the hapless monster.
[‘Skill: Vital Points Targetting’ will now be upgraded to the ultimate
version, ‘Skill: Violent Slash’.]
‘….Violent Slash?’
Having unlocked a new skill, Jin-Woo promptly used it.
It was then, his shortswords immediately sought out all of the ant king’s
openings and, literally in the blink of an eye, slashed out dozens of times.
Tadadadadada!!
“Kiiiieeeehhckkk?!”
The ant king screamed out.
As the creature writhed around in pain, Jin-Woo swung his shortsword once
more and sliced off its arm.
Slice.
The monster’s long, black-coloured arm fell to the ground with a dull thud.
“Kiiehhk!”
By now, the ant king lost all semblance of pride or desire for revenge, and
hurriedly fled to the air. Its instinctive desire to survive overruled everything.
Unfortunately for it, Jin-Woo didn’t allow for one moment of respite.
Sensing the approach of another being, the ant king took a look behind.
‘A human… is flying?!’
Jin-Woo flung himself up using the ‘Ruler’s Reach’ skill and proceeded to
cut off one of the ant king’s wings.
Plop!
The ant king crash-landed in an unsightly manner. During that short time of
its fall, the ant king constantly thought about a way to escape from this
incredibly dangerous predicament, even though confusion and fear threatened
to paralyse it.
‘I, I need to come up with something to overwhelm the enemy!’
Physical strength, speed, and even its hidden trump card, ‘poison’ all failed
to work. It couldn’t come up with anything.
Did it not possess anything that was better than what that human
possessed?
Just before the despair set in, the ant king finally arrived at the right
answer. It recalled the one thing that it held an advantage in over the enemy.
And that would be…. the headcount.
There was only one enemy. But the ant king possessed thousands of
soldiers. Indeed, didn’t it have brave warriors waiting for its orders by the
entrance of the chamber right this moment?
The ant king staggered back to its feet, before pointing at Jin-Woo with its
one remaining arm.
“Kiiiieeeehhhkk-!!”
As if they were waiting for that rage-filled screech, the waves upon waves
of ants began flooding into the chamber.
‘Take this, human!!’
“Kiiieeehhk!!”
The king continued to screech out. It was to restore its crushed pride, and
also to rouse the fighting spirit of its countless soldiers, as well. And so, as it
confidently glared at the impudent human….
“…?”
From that side, a black ‘wave’ was rushing out now.
‘Go!’
Jin-Woo issued an order to his Shadow Soldiers.
The ‘Sovereign’s Territory’ he had activated prior to the battle was still
active. The Shadow Soldiers, enhanced a step further by this skill, marched
towards the ants at a frightening speed.
Dududududu….!!
The loud footsteps reverberated throughout the ant tunnel.
‘And then…. You come out, too.’
Finally, Jin-Woo summoned Fangs out, as well.
As if it was feeling sheepish for being summoned all alone, Fangs looked
around himself and scratched the back of his head. Jin-Woo handed over the
Bead of Avarice and warned him in no uncertain terms.
“Aim only at the ants. Only at them. If even a single lick of flames land
on the humans sitting over there, I will never summon you out ever again.”
Fangs enthusiastically nodded his head as if he was confident of doing
exactly that.
Soon, Fangs grew super-large with the ‘Song of the Giant’ and spewed out
that enormous pillar of flames.
Kuwaaaaaaahhhh-!!!
Although he had seen that plenty enough times by now, Jin-Woo couldn’t
help but feel impressed by the sight regardless.
‘It’s kinda like his flame pillar is getting bigger every day, isn’t it?’
Was it because his level was also rising up?
Only Jin-Woo could come up with such a reaction since he had seen this
spectacle before, but well, other people were thinking of entirely different
things.
The Hunters hiding in the far corner holding their breaths while witnessing
the battle between Jin-Woo and the ant king could only gasp out in pure
astonishment at the emergence of this new ‘monster’.
A rather severe reaction also came out from their midst, too.
“T-that is his summoned creature?! What?! That’s a summon?!”
Im Tae-Gyu pointed at Fangs and raised his voice.
As for the other Hunters, no one could respond to him as their jaws were
still resting on the ground at that moment. However, everyone was thinking of
roughly the same thing.
How could that thing be classified as a mere summon??
From the way it looked, or the powers it possessed, that thing no longer
looked like a simple summoned creature, but a demon king that had
descended to this earth.
Whatever the case may have been, that totally nonsensical pillar of flames
roasted the swarm of ants like there was no tomorrow.
The ant king began shuddering once more.
‘These… These are that human’s soldiers….??’
Less than one minute later, hundreds of the ant king’s soldiers were
evaporated into ash and dust. It wasn’t some metaphor, either. The ant
monsters coming into contact with that strange pillar of flames really did
evaporate where they stood.
For the first time ever….
The ant king felt true terror towards another being for the first time in its
life.
It also sensed an unscalable wall. The ant king finally learned that there
was an enemy that couldn’t be overcome, regardless of what power it tried to
use.
This was a complete defeat, in every sense of the word.
But, how could such a thing be…?
‘I was born to fight against the strong humans, so why….’
That was its sole calling. It hurried with its growth for that purpose. It even
absorbed human’s powers in order to facilitate that goal.
But to think, it still couldn’t win against this one human….
The ant king began shivering and turned around to run. It just had to run
away far, far away from this human. At least in this very moment, the
thoughts of its glorious kingdom and its soldiers had completely disappeared
from the ant king’s head.
Using the healing skill taken from one of the dead humans, the ant king
quickly regenerated its lost wing and took to the air again.
‘Even if it’s only a little bit further away…..’
But, it happened then.
Khu-woong!
Out of the blue, a powerful force pushed it down and planted the ant king
flat on the ground.
“Kiiieeehk!!”
It spat out a mouthful of bodily fluid.
Having utilised the skill ‘Ruler’s Reach’ like a flyswatter, Jin-Woo quickly
walked over to where the downed ant king was.
‘I can’t let this guy escape, obviously.’
It was a strong monster. He wanted to turn it into his Shadow Soldier no
matter what. But, in order to do that….
‘Killing it comes first.’
After discovering Jin-Woo approaching it, the look of sheer terror filled up
on the face of the ant king, so much so that the creature looked almost pitiful
to the onlookers.
“Kii, kiieeehck!!”
In the end, the ant king began crawling on the ground to get away from
him. That arrogant, dignified appearance it displayed back when it proceeded
to toy around with the Korean Hunters – it was now long, long gone.
“Now you look like a proper insect.”
Jin-Woo closed in quickly, took aim at the back of the ant king, and
activated his skill, ‘Vital Points Targetting’ – no, ‘Violent Slash’.
That brought up the message window.
Tti-ring!
[You have killed your enemy.]
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
‘Niiice!’
Jin-Woo clenched his fist. But his celebrations lasted only for a short while.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
He quickly turned around after Baek Yun-Ho called out to him, and found
the latter’s complexion to be extremely poor. Jin-Woo quickly ran over to
him.
Other Hunters rejoicing at the defeat of the ant king stopped and shifted
their gazes over to Baek Yun-Ho, as well.
Meanwhile, Baek Yun-Ho continued to speak to Jin-Woo.
“Hunter Cha Hae-In is….”
Just as his unfinished sentence implied, Cha Hae-In’s vitality had declined
so much that it was hard to even sense it now. The situation had deteriorated
even further than before.
Jin-Woo’s expression quickly hardened.
Time had almost run out.
Even if he rode on Kaisel, just when would he arrive in his destination and
just how long would he take to find a Healer to heal her?
‘I need another way….’
After some brief pondering, Jin-Woo came up with a method to save Cha
Hae-In.
He finished checking her complexion and stood back up. He then turned
towards the cameraman.
“Can you switch off the camera for a minute or two?”
Chapter 122 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Master of the Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su, had to doubt his own
eyes. Because, there was a good-looking foreign man leisurely strolling out of
the ant tunnel’s entrance at that very moment.
But, that was just impossible.
‘The ants being completely wiped out should still be a top secret, so how
could this be??’
Everything found rolling around on the ground was literally the top-grade
magic crystals. So, the Association decided to keep the annihilation of the
ants a secret in order to prevent those enterprising souls from taking their
chances here, at least until they could come up with a suitable solution to this
problem.
So, only a few select people knew that there were no monsters left on this
island.
‘It’s only to the extent of the Association entrusting the mission to us, the
military, and then….’
And then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
However, Park Jong-Su could confidently bet his entire life savings that the
man standing in front of the ant tunnel was definitely not Seong Jin-Woo.
How could anyone forget that man’s face? Not only was he the most
talked-about Hunter in South Korea, but he also occupied the top spot on the
Knight Order’s must-scout list.
Park Jong-Su asked again.
“I asked you who you are! Why are you coming out from there?”
It was unknown whether the foreigner didn’t understand a single word
coming out of his mouth or wasn’t planning to answer in the first place. No,
that man just stood there, smiling brightly.
The Knight Order’s Vice Master, Jeong Yun-Tae, got right next to Park
Jong-Soo, his suspicious eyes firmly locked on the foreigner.
“Hyung-nim. Is that guy even a human?”
“I…. I’m not sure, myself.”
They couldn’t sense any magic energy emission from the mysterious man,
so he couldn’t have been a Hunter nor a monster…. But, for some reason, he
was also emitting this strange aura.
Jeong Yun-Tae always had been the ‘act first, talk later’ type of a guy. But
even he had to take a step back and cautiously observe his surroundings after
sensing the ominous aura.
Unfortunately, soldiers didn’t possess the Hunter-like sensory perception.
They belatedly discovered the foreigner’s presence and hurriedly raised their
firearms.
Park Jong-Su quickly dissuaded them, fearing that they might end up
inadvertently killing someone.
“Oii, oii! Don’t shoot! He’s not a monster!”
“Is he a human, then?”
“Well, that is…. Maybe?”
Park Jong-Su could only nod his head with a somewhat unconvinced
expression.
‘You can only be a human being if you’re not a monster.’
Park Jong-Su’s limited scope of knowledge meant that he could only arrive
at this faulty conclusion.
The military commander briefly nodded his head.
“Understood. From here onwards, we’ll handle the affairs of that
person.”
“Pardon me? I thought you guys came here to take Hunter Min Byung-
Gu’s remains back home?”
“Our orders were to secure the remains of Hunter Min Byung-Gu, as
well as to control the situation on the island itself.”
Park Jong-Su stepped back, having understood the gist of it.
If they weren’t dealing with monsters or other Hunters then the Knight
Order didn’t have to get involved here. Besides, they wouldn’t get mired in
unnecessary headaches this way, too.
The commander shouted at the mystery man.
“You are currently inside a restricted area. Please follow my orders to the
letter or you’ll be fired upon.”
“…”
The mystery man continued to smile, not a single hint of nervousness
visible on his face.
Gulp.
Soldiers swallowed their saliva while thinking to themselves, “Are we
really going to open fire at him?”
This was an expected response from these soldiers who had never pulled
the trigger on another human being before.
Hunters were also carrying tense expressions now. They began thinking
that there was something strange going on with this situation when that
mysterious man continued to smile like that.
It was then – the man slid his hands inside the trouser pockets.
‘That man…. Is he really a human being?’
Could anyone stay so nonchalant when these many guns were pointing at
them?
Park Jong-Su’s expression gradually hardened. Meanwhile, the nervousness
of the soldiers reached their peak when they could no longer see the
mysterious man’s hands.
“Hold your fire!! Hold your fire! Not yet!”
A thick vein popped up on the commander’s neck as he shouted at his
soldiers.
But, then….
“Commander, look!”
The commander quickly turned his head towards the mysterious man as
soon as he heard that urgent call. That man was slowly opening his mouth.
“…??”
He couldn’t understand the language being spoken here.
It wasn’t that he had never heard of it, but more like it didn’t even originate
from Earth, to begin with, judging from the way that man sounded and how
he enunciated the words.
“What?”
“What is he saying?”
While the soldiers were at a loss from this situation they had never
encountered before, Park Jong-Su’s lips were busy flapping open all on their
own.
“M-monster language??”
One could sometimes meet intelligent monsters in higher-ranked dungeons.
What that man said sounded almost like the language spoken by those
creatures.
“Which means, is that….”
Before the commander could finish his sentence with “….is that a
monster?” the mystery man pulled his hands out from the pockets.
Blam-!
An ear-splitting boom reverberated throughout the land.
When that mysterious man behaved in a suspicious manner, one of the
well-trained special forces soldiers ended up reflexively squeezing the trigger.
‘Heok!’
The commander’s stunned eyes quickly locked on to the man.
The bullet, failing to dig into the man’s smooth forehead, fell to the ground
with a light thud. The smile on his face was already gone.
“It, it’s a monster!”
“It’s not a human!”
Their cries lasted only for a brief moment because, as soon as that man’s
eyes changed colour to red, everyone here felt an incredible pressure tightly
squeezing down on their hearts.
“Ah, ah-!!”
“Argh….”
But, then…
Snap!
Like puppets with their strings cut, the soldiers and Hunters all collapsed to
the ground along with the sound of a crisp finger snap. That mysterious man
wasn’t responsible for this event.
He looked behind him and testily spoke up.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
There was a short-statured middle-aged man standing behind him now.
“There’s no need to make a commotion here. I just put them all to sleep.”
The middle-aged man also wasn’t speaking in the language of humans.
“….Indeed.”
The mysterious man sounded rueful, but still agreed with his new guest
nonetheless. The middle-aged man shifted his gaze towards the interior of the
ant tunnel and asked.
“Did you confirm it?”
The mysterious man nodded his head.
“It’s definitely ‘his’ power.”
“How strange.”
The middle-aged man’s gaze now shifted over to the collapsed Hunters.
“Why is ‘he’ helping out these humans?”
“Who knows what ‘he’ is thinking? If you’re curious, why don’t you go
ask ‘him’ personally?”
“….I’ll decline.”
The middle-aged man shook his head before continuing on.
“We commence with the hunt as planned. Nothing has changed.”
“Got it.”
The middle-aged man lightly twirled his hand in the air. A black Gate small
enough to let a person through opened up there.
“Oh, by the way.”
The middle-aged man stopped briefly and looked behind him when the
mysterious man called out to him.
“I think one of them is here.”
“You mean, here in South Korea?”
“Since we’re here, how about we take care of that guy, first?”
The middle-aged man closed his eyes slightly. Soon, the information the
mysterious man was talking about flowed into his head. However, the middle-
aged man didn’t look wholly convinced.
“If it’s around here…. Let’s leave it to his hands.”
“You don’t want to get involved, is that it?”
“It’s fine to think of it that way. It doesn’t matter.”
The middle-aged man and his trailing voice soon disappeared along with
the Gate itself.
After confirming that the black Gate was closed for good, the mysterious
man muttered to himself.
“What a coward….”
He took a look at all the unmoving humans lying on the ground. They were
only knocked out for a little while and should regain their consciousness soon
enough.
“Hmph.”
The man snorted derisively and extended his hand towards the humans.
However…
‘……’
He quietly withdrew it his hand.
“Well, there’s no need to raise a commotion.”
He also entered a small Gate and disappeared from the spot, as well.
Late at night.
Jin-Woo was sitting on his bedroom floor, busy taking a closer look at his
shortsword. Currently, he was holding the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’, a
weapon that proved its worth several times over during the battle against the
mutated ant monster.
[Item: Demon King’s Shortsword]
Rarity: S
Type: Shortsword
Attack: +220
A shortsword taken from the Demon King, Baran. Using two ‘Demon
King’s Shortswords’ will activate a set effect.
Set effect ‘Two Becomes One’: Extra attack power equal to the current
Strength Stat will be added to each shortsword.
His eyes almost bulged out when he first saw that attack power, as well as
its additional attribute. In fact, he now forgot how many times he re-read that
information.
His reaction was justified, though. The ‘Baruka’s Dagger’, a rarity A item,
only boasted the attack power of 110, after all. He searched through the Store
just in case, but not many of the rarity S daggers being sold there exceeded
200 in their attack power.
‘Not only that….’
He really liked the fact that, when wielding both Demon King’s
Shortswords at once, his Strength Stat would be converted and added to the
weapons’ existing attack power.
His current Strength Stat had far exceeded the 200 mark, and was fast
closing in on 250. And now, such a high Stat value would be added to the
weapon’s attack power as well?
If he omitted the last digit and added up the numbers, then he’d still get to a
frightening four times the attack power of what ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ possessed.
‘This is why it felt so good when I swung them around back then.’
Other Hunters would froth in their mouths like madmen and pounce on
these shortswords, if they were able to see the item’s information like he
could.
What about the longsword’s specs, then?
[Item: Demon King’s Longsword]
Rarity: S
Type: Longsword
Attack: +350
A longsword containing the power of the Demon King, Baran. Swinging
the sword will activate the effect, ‘Tempest of White Flames’.
Effect ‘Tempest of White Flames’: Summons a persistent thunderstorm
within the designated area.
A longsword had to be wielded with both of his hands, while he could hold
one shortsword each in his individual hands. This meant that, quite obviously,
the former would boast better attack damage than the latter.
However, the additional effect the longsword had been blessed with was
not ‘obvious’ at all.
‘I can perform an AOE attack just by swinging this thing?’
It was a weapon that would no doubt prove its worth during a fight against
multiple opponents.
He still felt chills run down his spine whenever he thought back to how
Baran’s magic attacks rendered his Shadow Soldiers into a bunch of helpless
sitting ducks.
Of course, the sword’s effect wasn’t as good as Baran’s magic, but it was
still an excellent trump card to hold onto, nonetheless.
‘If it weren’t for my dagger skills, I might even consider using this
longsword, instead….’
Jin-Woo was about to take a swing with the sword, only to stop himself in
time.
‘……’
The hours were getting late; but then, you’d still wake up from your sleep
in sheer fright when a lightning strikes in the room next to yours, now
wouldn’t you?
He didn’t want to shock his mother any more than he had already. So, he
cautiously put the sword down.
‘Well, what a relief it was, at least.’
Indeed, it was a relief that his mother didn’t object to his decision.
That day, Jin-Woo explained everything that happened to him to his
mother, minus the stuff about the System, of course.
He told her that, he coincidentally went through a Re-Awakening and
became a rank S Hunter, and that he’d like to continue working as one in the
future, too.
Mom was worried about him but eventually, decided to support her son all
the way.
The sole condition his mom put forward was that he was forbidden from
pushing himself too far.
‘But, well, if I’m in a situation where I have to push myself to that extent,
then….’
Jin-Woo shook his head since his imagination was about to take him to a
pretty dark and horrifying place.
It was then, he abruptly remembered something else his mom told him.
Mom added that she had never heard of someone else’s voice before and
after that day, as well.
‘I guess Mom still hasn’t gotten over Dad yet.’
Even then, his mother didn’t try to stop her only son from being a Hunter. It
was proof that she trusted him. Jin-Woo didn’t plan on betraying that trust any
time soon.
Survival.
That had always been his priority, his end goal.
He only got to this place precisely because he didn’t give up and struggled
right till the end during one of the most dangerous moments in his life.
‘….Alright.’
Now that his biggest worry, his mom saying no, had been addressed, there
was nothing stopping him from entering dungeons now. He’d establish his
own Guild, monopolise high-ranked dungeons and quickly raise his levels
even higher.
Jin-Woo’s heart began beating faster and faster.
‘Well, now I have a different reason to raise my levels, don’t I?’
Shururuk….
Igrit revealed himself after Jin-Woo called him out.
This guy had been with him for the longest time out of all his soldiers.
‘Not only that….’
He was also the lone Knight-grade soldier the System gifted him with.
In other words, one could say that Igrit was the closest to the System out of
all his soldiers currently.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to talk once your grade goes up, right?”
Jin-Woo had so many things he wanted to ask Igrit. Of course, he couldn’t
hear any answers from his trusty knight yet.
“…”
Igrit replied with silence, as usual.
If silence could be seen as words, then wouldn’t this guy qualify to be the
most talkative soldier in the whole world?
Jin-Woo smirked to himself and scratched the side of his head. He then
carefully picked up the Demon King’s weapons to store them back in his
Inventory.
‘Inventory….?’
But then, Jin-Woo’s eyes caught a flash of light being reflected off an
object.
‘….What was that?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes opened wider.
An item was gleaming brightly inside his Inventory.
Chapter 128 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo didn’t particularly mind the gazes of other people, unless he was
talking about some special circumstances. As long as no one bothered him, it
didn’t matter to him if he got famous, either.
That’s why he didn’t really care when the mourners discovered his
presence and started whispering among themselves.
However….
‘At the very least, you all should know that now isn’t the time nor the
place.’
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows unhappily.
Wasn’t this the place to remember and honour the valiant sacrifice of
Hunter Min Byung-Gu?
Jin-Woo didn’t want this solemn occasion to fall into some noisy chaos
because of him, so he briefly unleashed a portion of his magic energy – no,
not even that, but an amount so tiny that it didn’t even qualify to be called a
portion.
‘…..!!’
The desired effect took place right away. The air suddenly became
incomparably heavier and oppressive silence descended to the place. Even the
breathing of the mourners became incredibly cautious.
“….”
“….”
All those people noisily yapping to each other promptly shut their mouths
up at once.
‘Alright.’
Jin-Woo succeeded in creating an acceptable atmosphere with nothing but a
quiet display of power before he started walking forward again. He didn’t get
to walk for long, though, as a middle-aged lady, who was too young to be
called a granny but too old to be called an auntie, stood before him.
She was none other than Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s mother.
People began gasping softly as they looked on at the mother and Jin-Woo
standing in an apparent face-off like that.
‘Uh, uh?’
‘Wait, she isn’t going to scold him and chase him away, right?’
Fortunately, the outcome people were worried about didn’t come to pass.
The why of it was simple enough.
“You’ve arrived. Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for inviting me, ma’am.”
It was actually Hunter Min-Byung-Gu’s mother who pleaded with him to
come by here today.
“There was something I’d like to speak to you in person and that’s why I
had to make that call. I hope I wasn’t troubling you.”
“No, not at all, ma’am.”
“Hunter-nim, I heard you got rid of all the monsters in that place so that
my son could come home.”
Min Byung-Gu’s mother stopped there and gazed up at Jin-Woo, perhaps
wanting to confirm the story she was told straight from the man himself.
‘……’
Jin-Woo had various personal reasons for hunting down the ants of Jeju
Island. However, it was also true that a part of him didn’t want to see Hunter
Min Byung-Gu rot away forgotten somewhere in the darkness of that ant
tunnel. So, Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You helped my son so he won’t sleep in that dark, damp place. I….”
Min Byung-Gu’s mother finally began shedding the tears she’d been
holding and continued on.
“I was to able to meet my son for the last time with your help. Thank you
very much, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
There were no words that could console a parent grieving for her lost child.
Jin-Woo could only remain silent with an agonised look on his face. In the
meantime, the relatives of Min Byung-Gu’s mother came over and carefully
escorted her away deeper into the funeral venue.
Even then, even as she was getting further away from him, she never
stopped bowing to him to express her gratitude.
‘……’
For a moment there, the face of Min Byung-Gu’s mother overlapped with
that of his own mom’s from ten years ago in Jin-Woo’s eyes, back when she
heard the news of his father going missing inside the Gate.
A thick lump formed in his throat.
‘But….’
Just like how his father sacrificed his life to save a countless number of his
colleagues, Hunter Min Byung-Gu’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain.
Without his dedicated effort to heal his comrades, it’d have been really
difficult for the Korean Hunters to walk out of the ant tunnel alive. Not only
that, he used his powers to save the life of one more Hunter even in death.
Min Byung-Gu’s shadow actually felt relieved after it confirmed the colour
of life gradually seep back into Hunter Cha Hae-In’s complexion. From that
alone, Jin-Woo could sense how much the Healer cared for his comrades.
Coincidentally, Jin-Woo spotted Cha Hae-In in the distance as he quietly
approached the black-and-white portrait of the deceased to lay down the
flowers. But when their gazes met, she suddenly flinched and fell into a
panicked state.
‘Did they come together?’
The members of the Korean team around her sent him a silent greeting with
a slight nod of their heads, but Cha Hae-In looked as if she had no clue which
expression she was supposed to make right now.
‘Huh, so that woman can make a face like that, too?’
He couldn’t recall any other times when she didn’t carry that expressionless
face of hers. Indeed, one should get to know somebody for a longer time
before passing judgement, that’s for sure.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze away and stood before the portrait.
Hunter Min Byung-Gu within the black photo frame was smiling brightly
without a care in the world. Jin-Woo placed the flower in front of the portrait
and closed his eyes for a brief moment.
‘I hope you find yourself in a better place.’
Finishing up with the prayer for the departed, he turned around to see a
familiar figure approach him from the distance.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The low, bassy voice naturally belonged to the Association President, Goh
Gun-Hui.
“Sir.”
“I was actually planning to give you a call later, but it’s good that we
have run into each other here.”
“You wanted to see me?”
It was pretty obvious why the Association would look for a Hunter.
Thinking that he might find himself with an opportunity to raise his level, Jin-
Woo gazed at Goh Gun-Hui with anticipation, but regretfully, the Association
President gently laughed and shook his head.
“It’s not what you’re thinking about, Hunter-nim.”
“….Oh. I see.”
How deflating, that.
Jin-Woo could only ruefully smack his lips.
“In any case, I’d like to speak to you for a moment or two. Will that be
fine with you?”
Jin-Woo was planning to stop by the Association after leaving here to
resolve his Guild Master licence problem anyway, so he said yes immediately.
“I have business in the Association, so why don’t we go and speak
there?”
“You have business in the Association….? May I inquire what that is?”
“Oh, actually, I need a Guild Master licence, you see.”
“Pardon?”
A question mark floated up above Goh Gun-Hui’s head.
“Why do you need the Guild Master licence when you already possess a
rank S licence?”
“Wait, does that mean a rank S can establish a Guild without a licence?”
“Of course.”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a good-natured smile and continued on.
“If you wish to form your own Guild, all you have to do is to give the
Association a call. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“…..”
The rank ‘S’ was a realm he never expected to step into half a year ago. So,
it wasn’t surprising to see Jin-Woo greatly underestimate all the cool benefits
this rank came with.
He was inwardly flustered after learning of something he didn’t know until
now, but…
‘But, this is actually for the better, isn’t it. Let’s find out more about all
the benefits a rank S Hunter enjoys while I’m at it.’
Also, seeing that he could directly get in touch with the Association
President Goh Gun-Hui, he might be able to establish his Guild right away as
long as he met the minimum requirements.
Was this the reason why the old saying went on about finding the right
backer if you wanted to succeed in life?
Most people would never get to meet the President of the Hunter’s
Association in their lifetime, yet such a man had already become a
dependable backer for Jin-Woo.
Goh Gun-Hui continued on.
“What I’d like to speak to you about won’t take long, so we don’t have to
change the venue.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head, leading Goh Gun-Hui to quickly ask him a
question.
“By any chance, have you cast some kind of a barrier spell over Jeju
Island?”
“What do you mean?”
Where was this barrier magic thingy coming from, all of a sudden?
Did something happen in Jeju Island after he killed every ant there and left
for home?
Goh Gun-Hui calmly explained what had happened.
“During the operation to retrieve Hunter Min-Byung-Gu’s remains, there
was an incident of the military personnel and the accompanying Hunters
losing their consciousness in the same location. Hmm, rather than losing
consciousness, it’d be more appropriate to say that they had all fallen
asleep, instead.”
Everyone within the same location… all fell asleep? Jin-Woo could only
tilt his head slightly.
‘Sounds like an AOE abnormal status magic, doesn’t it?’
….It sounded similar to the thunder magic of the Demon King Baran that
inflicted ‘Stun’ effect to all the Shadow Soldiers caught within the attack
range.
However, the problem lay with the fact that the folks present during that
incident weren’t your average Hunters.
“I thought the elite members of the Knight Order were asked to go to Jeju
Island?”
Jin-Woo’s question elicited a nod from Goh Gun-Hui.
“They were either Hunters in the top of the rank A pile, or rank Bs who
are very close to rank A in terms of their abilities.”
To be able to put not just one, but several dozens of such people to sleep all
at once – a regular rank S Mage wouldn’t even dare to try performing a spell
of that magnitude.
“That’s why I had to ask you about it, just in case. I was hoping that
maybe you cast a barrier there but forgot to tell us about it.”
Here was the solid proof that both Hunter’s Association and its boss, Goh
Gun-Hui, rated Jin-Woo’s abilities incredibly high.
Unfortunately for them, Jin-Woo’s speciality didn’t lay in casting debuff or
abnormal status magic. And, perhaps more importantly, there was just no way
that he’d forget about activating such a magic spell in the first place.
Jin-Woo promptly shook his head.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t done that.”
“I see…. I guess so.”
Traces of worry slowly entered Goh Gun-Hui’s expression. The most
optimistic explanation he could think of turned out to be wide off the mark in
the end.
“What did the Hunters say, sir?”
“That is….”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a troubled face of a man finding it hard to explain
something, before continuing on his explanations with some difficulty.
“Not only the soldiers, but even the Hunters can’t remember anything
that happened before they lost their consciousness.”
His voice sounded even more dispirited next.
“Actually, we can’t even figure out whether they were victims of a magic
spell or not in the first place.”
“…”
If it were just the soldiers, who were simply regular people, it’d be possible
to knock them out with something like the sleeping gas, but even the rank A
Hunters and their exceptional physical abilities fell victim as well. So, it
couldn’t have been a conventional weapon of some kind.
‘Could it have been a trap left behind by the ants?’
Jin-Woo was really tempted to summon out Beru right now and ask him
about it, but….
‘…..’
If he did that, this funeral venue might morph into a blood-splattered
battlefield in no time at all. The thing was, Jin-Woo could see a few dozen
high-ranked Hunters around here just from a quick headcount.
Of course, he wasn’t worried about Beru at all. Nope, he was only
concerned about the Hunters rashly trying to pick a fight with the former ant
monster.
It was then.
A young man who must’ve been an Association employee approached
them in hurried steps and whispered something to Goh Gun-Hui’s ear. The
Association President formed a rueful expression as he spoke to Jin-Woo.
“A guest has arrived sooner than expected, and unfortunately, I must be
on my way now. Thank you for your time.”
“You too, sir.”
After sharing brief goodbyes, Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly left the venue and
disappeared from the view along with that unnamed employee.
Now that he no longer had any reason to go to the Association, Jin-Woo
figured that he might as well go home, instead. He too left the venue and
began walking towards the location of the parked van.
But, then….
‘What’s this?’
He seemed to have picked up a somewhat puzzling ‘tail’ since from a short
while ago. Jin-Woo tilted his head in confusion.
‘Aren’t you supposed to do your best not to get discovered when tailing
someone?’
Not only that, any ol’ regular folks wouldn’t even dare to dream about
tailing a rank S Hunter, too.
Step, step….
Since he couldn’t hear the roll of a camera, the person following him didn’t
seem to be a reporter. Heck, this person wasn’t even trying to mask his
presence, either.
Getting curious about how long the tail would follow him, as well as what
would this person do after catching up to him, Jin-Woo chose to keep walking
over to the van without saying a word.
And sure enough, the tail diligently followed after him.
‘Huh. Well, I’ll be….’
Jin-Woo was getting more and more dumbfounded here. He even realised
for the first time that he didn’t want to deal seriously with someone who was
this unprofessional at what he was supposed to do.
However….
Just as Jin-Woo was about to grab the door handle of his van, he heard a
voice calling out to him from behind.
“Are you Mister Seong Jin-Woo?”
Jin-Woo smirked slightly and turned around while thinking to himself,
‘Well, you’ve finally revealed your true colours, haven’t you.’
“Yes, I am.”
But then, Jin-Woo was momentarily taken aback after confirming the face
of his opponent.
‘He’s a foreigner?’
That man’s Korean was so perfect that Jin-Woo didn’t expect him to be a
Westerner at all. Meanwhile, the young Westerner, sporting a business suit so
slick that it bordered on being a fashion statement, formed a smile as bright as
his golden hair colour.
“This is who I am.”
The man pulled out a business card and presented it to Jin-Woo. His name,
the organisation he worked for, as well as his contact numbers, were all
printed in large, legible letters on the card.
[Senior Agent Adam White, Hunter Bureau, the United States of
America]
‘Hunter Bureau??’
What did an elite agent from the most powerful organisation in the US
want from him now?
‘No. There’s only one reason why the Hunter Bureau would want to
speak to a Hunter.’
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from the card and looked straight at the agent,
prompting the American to introduce himself with a sunny smile.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.
Please call me Adam from now on.”
Chapter 130 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo locked his gaze on the young American man named Adam White,
who turned out to be an agent of the Hunter Bureau.
‘…….’
Judging from the glint in that man’s eyes, he obviously had no ill intentions
towards Jin-Woo whatsoever.
The Americans spending an exorbitant sum of money to bring in top
Hunters from all over the globe was already a well-known fact. So, Jin-Woo
figured that the guy would start extolling the virtues of coming to America
soon after making his introduction.
However, what Adam White said next went wildly against his expectations.
“There is a piece of information we’d like to share with you, Hunter-
nim.”
“Information, is it….?”
“Yes. And you won’t ever hear about this information from any other
existing country or organisation in the world. Except ours, of course.”
Jin-Woo tilted his head slightly. What would be their reason for revealing
such highly-classified information to a foreign Hunter like him, a complete
stranger?
“Why are you willing to share such information with me?”
Jin-Woo’s probing question only managed to elicit another round of a
refreshing smile from Adam White.
“We certainly will get something in return by revealing this information
to an exclusive group of a specially chosen few.”
“Specially chosen few”, he said.
Which meant that the Americans considered Jin-Woo to be eligible to enter
that category now. Sure enough, that roused his curiosity rather greatly.
“Okay, let’s hear it.”
“That is as far as I’m permitted to tell you, Hunter-nim. As for the rest,
you’ll have to hear it from our deputy director.”
The deputy director of the mighty Hunter Bureau? A man who possessed
more political clout than a minister of some government actually was in South
Korea, right now?
‘Sounds like it can’t be some run-of-the-mill info, then.’
Adam White must’ve thought that he was successful in stoking the flames
of Jin-Woo’s curiosity, because he finally delved into the main topic at hand.
“We have a car ready nearby. How about accompanying me to meet up
with the deputy director?”
Unfortunately for him, though – it was Jin-Woo who had the final say in
the matter.
‘Information, is it….’
It could only be one of two things. Either it was info that would benefit him
in some way after learning of it, or a tip of someone coming after his life.
Funnily enough, he didn’t feel all that compelled to get to the bottom of this
matter at the moment.
For the time being, he wanted to focus on the preparations for the ‘black
key’, even if this info proved to be beneficial to him. If it was the latter and
someone indeed wanted to take him out, then he was pretty confident of
emerging victorious from that, too.
Also, most importantly….
‘It’s not like I can fully trust the information these guys will furnish me
with, in the first place….’
This whole thing about sharing information could be just a ruse, too.
He wasn’t even sure of the opponent’s hands being useful to him, or for
that matter, if the opponent held any useful hands at all. So, was there a
reason for him to be lead around by the nose here?
He quickly arrived at his decision.
“I’ll sleep on it, and give you a call later.”
“…!!”
Adam felt like someone had just punched him in the back of his head as
this unexpected turn of the conversation left him reeling in shock.
‘What? The deputy director of the Hunter Bureau came all this way to
share information, yet he’s ignoring that and wants to go on his way??’
Jin-Woo didn’t look like he was bluffing here, because he was already
opening the driver’s door of the van. Cold perspiration immediately coated
Adam White’s forehead.
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was allowed to slip through his fingers now, then
who knew when he’d get another chance like this? No, there was even a
distinct possibility that this could be the very last time.
It was unknown whether the Korean intended for this reaction or not, but
without a doubt, the ones ruing the missed opportunity would be them, not
him.
“Well, have a nice day.”
Just as Jin-Woo was about to climb into the van, the restless Adam White
urgently cried out.
“P-please, hold on!”
Jin-Woo shifted his disinterested gaze over to Adam White. Hoping to
rouse Jin-Woo’s curiosity further, even if it was only by a fraction, Adam
White hurriedly continued on.
“Upgrader….”
“An Upgrader?”
Adam formed an expression of a defeated man and explained the meaning
behind the word he just spat out.
“Did you know that there is an Awakened who can enhance the abilities
of other Awakened?”
‘Yup, you should’ve started with that from the beginning.’
Right away, Jin-Woo realised that the stuff being shared by Agent Adam
White, no, the deputy director of the Hunter Bureau, was actually of far
greater importance than mere ‘information’.
‘An Awakened who can enhance other Awakened, is it…?’
Finally, Jin-Woo felt compelled enough now. He pulled the half-entered leg
out of the van and closed the door. Adam could sigh a sigh of relief after
seeing that.
“Whew…”
When he raised his head, though, Jin-Woo was already standing a couple of
inches away from him.
“Jesus H. Christ?!”
The startled Adam White took a step back in fright, but Jin-Woo didn’t care
about that and simply asked the man.
“Where am I supposed to go?”
Screech-
The black saloon carrying the two men came to a stop in front of a famous
luxury hotel.
“We’re here.”
Jin-Woo noted that the name of the hotel was the same as the one from the
memo Yu Jin-Ho handed over to him not too long ago.
‘Wait, that English-speaking foreigner Yu Jin-Ho was talking about,
could it have been one of these guys?’
Jin-Woo followed after Adam White and climbed up to the suite where the
deputy director was waiting for him.
The deputy director of the Hunter Bureau, Michael Connor, failed to
disguise his excitement at the sight of a certain Oriental man standing behind
his subordinate.
‘Very good!’
One of the more difficult aspects of negotiation was bringing the other
party to the negotiating table. One could even declare that half the battle was
won already by doing so.
The deputy director smiled brightly and extended his hand to Jin-Woo for a
cordial handshake.
“My name is Michael Connor. I’m the deputy director of the Hunter
Bureau.”
His self-introduction was translated into fluent Korean with the speed of
lightning by Adam White. Jin-Woo took the deputy director’s hand and
lightly shook it.
“I’m Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Now that their brief introductions were over, they settled down on the
opposing sides of a table. Adam remained standing next to his deputy
director.
“Before we start, have anyone claiming to be from foreign Hunter-
related organisations tried to make contact with you before us?”
The deputy director directly fired the opening salvo.
“No one, so far.”
Once that anticipated answer was given, the deputy director formed a smile
of pure satisfaction.
‘But, of course. There shouldn’t be anyone else on Earth quicker than
the United States of America.’
Only the striker a step ahead of everyone else could score the winning goal,
indeed.
The deputy director didn’t plan on wasting this golden chance that no one
else had the luxury to enjoy yet – especially when his target was someone his
superior officer ordered to reel over to their side, no matter the cost or the
method.
He didn’t even try to beat around the bush and went straight to the topic at
hand.
“Allow me to be frank with you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.
With a solemn, determined face, the deputy director pushed a rather
sizeable mountain of files towards Jin-Woo and continued on.
“We, at the United States of America, want you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim.”
“These are….?”
“These are all the documents needed to emigrate to America. Now
normally, you’d need at least one or two years for these papers to be
processed. However, it’ll be a different story for you, Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim.”
The deputy director then raised his index finger.
“Just a single second.”
He declared in a very confident voice.
“If you agree to immigrate, then you’ll become an American citizen in
one second. And not as a simple, regular citizen, either – no, you become
eligible to receive the equal treatment as the nation’s existing top-ranked
Hunters.”
“…”
Everything so far had been what Jin-Woo expected to hear from this man.
However, what he wanted to find out about was the information related to this
Awakened called ‘Upgrader’. He shifted his gaze over to Adam, causing the
American agent to flinch slightly and avert his eyes away.
Jin-Woo looked back at the deputy director.
“But, I only came here because Adam said something about some
‘information’.”
The deputy director let out a burst of genial laughter when he heard that.
“That isn’t entirely unrelated to what I was talking about.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hunter-nim. If you give us your word that you’ll become the next
American Hunter, then we will definitely enhance your abilities to an even
higher realm.”
The so-called ‘Upgrader’. It seemed that this Awakened could really do
what that moniker implied.
Still, Jin-Woo was not entirely convinced, even if the deputy director said
roughly the same thing as Agent Adam White.
‘Could there really be an Awakened possessing such a power?’
That’s why he decided to make d*mn sure.
“To enhance one’s abilities – can such a thing be for real?”
Jin-Woo’s apparent interest caused the deputy director to become even
more excited.
“Actually…. she’s here with us, right now.”
Jin-Woo already knew that there was someone else within the hotel’s suite.
From a while ago, he had picked up on the minute amount of magic power
leaking out from the gap of the closed door just over there.
Because the magic energy emitted didn’t seem all that powerful, he was
inwardly thinking that person was too weak to be a bodyguard of someone as
important as the Hunter Bureau’s deputy director. And now, his suspicion
proved to be correct.
The deputy director quickly issued an order.
“Please bring Madam Selner here.”
Click.
Almost immediately, the door was opened and two agents escorted a
middle-aged African-American woman out from the room beyond. Jin-Woo’s
eyes narrowed slightly after picking up on a strange vibe coming off of her.
‘……’
Somehow, she gave off a different aura from other, regular Awakened.
The African-American lady stood next to the table, and the agent quickly
pulled out a chair for her. She then elegantly settled down on the end of the
cushion.
She immediately recognised who Jin-Woo was and floated a smile of
genuine interest.
“So, you are that man from the video….”
She was already familiar with all the important information on Jin-Woo and
needed no introduction, so the deputy director’s job became a bit easier.
“This is Madam Norma Selner. She is the lone Awakened, the only one of
her type in the entire world, who can enhance the abilities of other
Awakened to even greater heights.”
At the end of the introduction, Madam Selner did a simple nod of her head
as a greeting to Jin-Woo. He reciprocated the greeting with the nod, as well.
“Madam Selner. Please, if you will, briefly explain what you can do to
Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
She formed a teasing smile while staring at the still-unconvinced Jin-Woo’s
face.
“Everyone has the same look as you, in the beginning, Hunter-nim.
However….”
She then leaned in closer to Jin-Woo and whispered softly to him.
“Once they have a taste, they have no choice but to beg me for more.”
“Madam, please….”
The deputy director furrowed his brows a little, prompting her to laugh out
and wave her hand about.
“I know, I know. Don’t worry, Director Connor. I know that he’s a very
important man.”
Still with an alluring smile, Madam Selner began with her explanation.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. As you may know already, all Awakened
face a limit they can’t breach. No one can overcome it.”
That was why the ranks of the Awakened would never change, unless one
was lucky enough to go through a Re-Awakening process. This was common
knowledge that all living Hunters out there knew all too well.
“But, Madam. You can….?”
Even before Jin-Woo could finish his question, Madam Selner formed an
expression of a little kid picking up the final piece of strawberry on top of a
cake that she’d been saving up for the very last.
“You’re correct.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew progressively wider.
“I can increase that limit even higher in three separate stages. I don’t
know whether to call it a forced Re-Awakening, or simply waking up the
latent potential sleeping within the subject already, but yes, I can do it.”
What an incredible ability that was!
The things she said just now were explosive enough to shake the very cores
of every top-ranked Hunters found throughout the world. Jin-Woo’s gaze
shifted over to the deputy director.
He nodded his head to reaffirm what she said.
“What she said are all true. It’s just that, once she uses her powers once,
she needs to take a lengthy break to recover her energy. So, only around
three to four lucky Awakened get to enjoy this benefit in a single year.”
“….How effective is it?”
“It depends on individuals, but once one goes through all three stages,
they say that they grew stronger by a minimum of 20 percent, and as much
as 30 percent, over their original powers.”
Twenty to thirty percent!
With the average of his Stat values nearing the 250 mark, if Jin-Woo got
that mystery enhancement, that average value would shoot past the 300 mark,
instead,
Without a doubt, that would be an enormous leap up.
….As long as these guys weren’t lying to him, of course.
‘Is she casting a buff that raises one’s powers? Or, is it more like raising
the fixed level cap?’
Regardless of what it was, the ability she possessed would be like a
precious treasure for all the Hunters out there. Which also meant that there
should be no shortages of people aiming for her, too.
“If the knowledge of such an ability is made public, then….”
The deputy director nodded his head.
“That is why Madam Selner is with us.”
She too worried about the exact same thing as Jin-Woo had thought of, and
after lengthy deliberation, she joined the Hunter Bureau who’d guarantee her
safety while also letting her use her powers as often as she wanted to.
“We ensure her absolute safety and reward her accordingly, while she
enhances the abilities of those Hunters we deem worthy of joining us. We
have been maintaining this symbiotic relationship for a long time now.”
And so, that’s where the deputy director bookended the explanation. Now,
the time for the fireworks to begin.
“Madam Selner’s ability, that is precisely the gift we wish to give to you,
Hunter-nim.”
“A gift, is it….”
Indeed, could there be a gift even more valuable than this one?
“If you become a Hunter of the United States of America, you will be the
first in line to receive this benefit. Also, we will make sure that you get the
best possible terms when negotiating with any Guilds you wish to join.”
From the perspective of an ordinary Hunter, these were simply too good of
conditions to say no to.
Only now could Jin-Woo understand why Hwang Dong-Soo didn’t even
hesitate once and emigrated to the States when everyone was criticising him
for it. The enormous sum of money the Americans reportedly paid him was
most likely a cover-up story to hide the real reason.
Regular Hunters would lose their collective sh*t if they ever heard of such
a tale. So, if you told a top Hunter that his or her abilities could be enhanced
even further? Who in their right minds would say no to that?
However….
“Can you prove that she really possesses such a power?”
Everything they said so far were just words, and there had been no proof to
back them up yet.
It was her turn to butt in next.
“No need to rush. Today, I’m only here to undo the first button, you
know.”
Jin-Woo finally realised what she meant earlier.
‘One taste, and people beg her for more, was it?’
Just as she had alluded to, every Hunter seeing her powers with their own
eyes chose to head to America right away, one hundred times out of one
hundred. Her sky-high confidence was based off on that.
The deputy director quietly asked a question to Jin-Woo.
“It is as she says. So, will you let us unlock your ‘first stage’?”
“Without anything in return?”
“Think of it as a ‘service’ from us, Hunter-nim.”
Madam Selner lightly grasped Jin-Woo’s wrist. When he turned to look at
her, she formed a gentle smile and gestured to him to get closer.
“Please, look into my eyes. Look deeply into them. That will be your first
step.”
Was she telling the truth?
To confirm if this Madam Selner really did possess the power the Hunter
Bureau was swearing by, Jin-Woo decided to follow her instructions for the
time being.
The deputy director leaned against the back of the chair and crossed his
arms.
‘It’s done! He’s ours now!’
The game was already over.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had been constantly maintaining that cold,
indifferent expression until now, but that was only because he hadn’t yet
experienced what this lady’s power had to offer.
Once the first lifting of the natural limit was completed, Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo would call them on his own volition sooner rather than later. No, if he
had an impulsive personality, then he might sign the immigration documents
right here, right now.
The deputy director’s curiosity shifted on to something else now.
‘Just how high will his limit be, I wonder?’
The deputy director uncrossed his arms and rubbed his chin, his eyes of
anticipation firmly locked on Jin-Woo. But, it was then.
“Heok!!”
Madam Selner sucked in her breath, as her eyes began to quake quite
violently.
Chapter 131 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Plop.
Matsumoto Shigeo fell down on his knees.
A boss of an organisation – not only that, a man representing the opinions
and positions of every Hunter in the country called Japan, was kneeling in
front of another person.
‘……’
Even in this brief moment, countless thoughts raced through Matsumoto’s
brain.
However, no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he couldn’t come up
with a way to get out of this predicament.
This was not the time to worry about his pride or honour. If any of this got
out, then its ensuing aftermath wouldn’t end with him just losing his position.
“President Goh Gun-Hui…. Please, forgive me.”
Unfortunately for him, Goh Gun-Hui’s glare remained icy and unmoving.
This man was shouting blue murder when there was no proof of his
wrongdoing, but as soon as the situation turned disadvantageous, he
obediently lowered his tail.
Who’d look at such a man with sympathetic eyes?
“Get up.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s icy voice advised his Japanese counterpart to stop wasting
time with this hollow apology, but Matsumoto didn’t heed that and slammed
his forehead on the office floor repeatedly.
Thud! Thud!!
“Our nation, Japan, has lost half of her top-ranked Hunters and we will
soon have to beg the international community for their aid.”
No matter how excellent the Hunter system in Japan was, they would
eventually see the gaps in their defences opening up sooner or later with half
of their rank S Hunters dead.
Their remaining combat force would be enough to deal with rank A Gates
for the time being, but….
But, Japan would have to be on their toes the moment a rank S Gate opens
up somewhere in their territory. Even worse, the repeat of the tragedy that
occurred on Jeju Island could happen in Japan, too.
“If that sound file gets out, then we’ll be completely isolated from the
world. I beg of you, President Goh Gun-Hui. Please, think about the
innocent Japanese citizens and forgive our transgressions just this
once….!”
“Think of it as your due punishment.”
Goh Gun-Hui ruthlessly cut Matsumoto’s words there.
“Think of it as the punishment for the sin you and your Hunters tried to
commit and gladly accept it.”
Carry around a bomb that might go off at any given moment, and wait for
the hour of reckoning – that’s what Goh Gun-Hui was implying here.
However, Matsumoto didn’t show any sign of lifting his head off the floor.
“President Goh Gun-Hui…. Until I appease your anger, I shall not rise
up again. I beg of you, please, please! Consider it one more time!”
“You leave me with no choice.”
With a displeased expression firmly etched on his face, Goh Gun-Hui
pulled out his mobile phone.
“You have five minutes.”
What could he mean by that?
Unable to win against his curiosity, Matsumoto raised his head and looked
up at Goh Gun-Hui. The Korean man slowly waved his phone around.
“If you don’t get out of here in the next five minutes, a message will be
sent to the numbers of every reporter saved on this phone. It’ll be a message
about the President of the Japanese Association grovelling before me.”
If you cling onto me in fear of the bomb going off at any second, then I’ll
just let it go off, right now – he wasn’t threatening anymore. No, it was a
declaration.
“But, that…”
Matsumoto bit his lower lip.
Goh Gun-Hui’s determination wasn’t soft enough to be shaken up by
nothing but a pitiful plea for leniency. Matsumoto belatedly realised this fact.
And this was also the moment his last-ditch attempt to save this situation at
the cost of his pride ending up in total failure.
Powerlessly, Matsumoto stood back up.
Goh Gun-Hui’s glare remained icy, his phone gradually being lowered. He
then spoke to the unsteady Japanese man.
“You should thank Mister Seong Jin-Woo.”
The light of pure anger flickered dangerously within Goh Gun-Hui’s beast-
like eyes.
“Not at the hands of that mutated ant, no, but if my Hunters got hurt
from the schemes of your people, then you wouldn’t have walked out of this
room alive.”
Matsumoto’s trembling hands packed up his belongings and without taking
a single look back, he escaped from the Korean Association’s building in a
hurry. Not one lick of his former pride and confidence he displayed during his
last visit here could be seen from his departing back now.
“Fuu….”
Meanwhile, Goh Gun-Hui was leaning against the back of the couch. It felt
like all of his pent-up stress was cleared away in one shot. Of course, he
wasn’t planning to end things here.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he now held the lifeline of the
Japanese Hunter Association.
‘If you committed a crime, then you get punished for it.’
From early on in his life, Goh Gun-Hui was taught how to treat his friends
and enemies accordingly.
It was then, his mobile phone resting on the table suddenly issued a loud
racket.
‘Mm?’
He tapped on the ‘Answer’ icon, and an urgent voice came out from the
speaker. Goh Gun-Hui quietly listened to what happened, and his eyes
progressively grew wider and wider.
“What?! A Gate formed in the middle of a road??”
Not only that, it was rated to be a rank B Gate that no regular raid team
could do something about, too!
“Where is it located?”
The best course of action for this problem was to contact a major Guild and
have them send over a capable raid team. But, then….
‘….Hold on.’
Having heard the report from the agent on site, Goh Gun-Hui’s expression
became a bit strange.
‘Didn’t Hunter Seong Jin-Woo get an office for his Guild around there?’
The road suddenly became really clogged up.
Jin-Woo was in deep contemplation as he found himself stuck in the middle
of an unmoving sea of traffic.
‘That lady, she definitely saw something.’
That woman called Madam Norma Selner. She must’ve faced countless
powerful Hunters, yet she couldn’t even meet his gaze because she felt a
crippling fear of him.
Just what did she ‘see’ in him?
Was it the traces of his System?
The System would make a few ridiculous demands from him every now
and then, sure, but it was certainly not a scary existence.
‘Instead of being scary, that thing’s my greatest ally.’
However, how would it look like in other people’s views?
The deputy director asked him back then if it was fine to get in touch at a
later time. The thing was, though, the woman regaining some calm behind
him suddenly got startled again and began shuddering as soon as he asked that
question.
Even if Jin-Woo wanted to see that woman again, she’d avoid him of her
own volition. Her entire body displayed her unwillingness quite clearly. Jin-
Woo then came to a realisation.
Maybe, that woman’s power didn’t work on him. He was very different
from normal Hunters, after all.
‘Well, I guess there’s no need to waste more of my time with those folks,
then.’
That was why he already told the American deputy director that there
wouldn’t be a need and tactfully declined their invite. The frozen-stiff
expression of the deputy director was particularly memorable, to say the least.
‘Besides all that, what is up with this traffic, man?’
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows at the road ahead utterly mired in congestion
as far as his eyes could see.
‘This is why taking the subway is so much more convenient.’
Just as he began wondering if there was an accident up ahead or
something….
Vrrrr….
His phone stuck in the car charger vibrated rather noisily. Jin-Woo checked
the ID of the caller.
‘…It’s the Association President?’
They saw each other in the funeral venue only a few hours ago, so what
business did he have in calling him so soon? Jin-Woo tapped the ‘Answer’
icon.
The Association President explained the situation taking place in the
middle of Seoul in a calm voice.
“Excuse me? A Gate opened up in the middle of the road?”
He was beginning to think that this traffic jam was far too heavy to be
normal, but there was a good reason behind it, as it turned out.
Hoping to turn the van around, Jin-Woo scanned around the vehicle.
Unfortunately, there were simply too many cars tightly packed around him
and it was not possible to move an inch. He helplessly shook his head and
returned his gaze to the front of the road. It was then.
A welcoming piece of news capable of washing away the wave of
dissatisfaction rising up from the traffic jam jumped out from his phone.
‘Heot!’
Jin-Woo struggled to suppress the giggles of joy this truly excellent news
managed to awaken. As a matter of fact, he shouldn’t be pleased about
something that was greatly inconveniencing so many citizens like this. Yes.
Jin-Woo managed to straighten his voice and cautiously asked.
“I don’t have the raid permit, so can I just enter like that, sir?”
“It’s issued by the Association.”
Jin-Woo suppressed his laughter again and replied seriously.
“You’re the President of the Hunter’s Association.”
“Well, in that case, thank you for the me…. No, I mean, thank you for
the opportunity.”
Jin-Woo clenched his fist.
He climbed out of the van and began walking after the trace of the magic
energy leaking out from the Gate. Because of the cars packed tightly in all
sides, he didn’t even need to park the van somewhere else, too.
“….Yes. Everyone, the black hole in the air you see behind me is the Gate
that has appeared in the city today…..”
“….According to my sources, this Gate has been ranked at B, a high-
ranking Gate that requires the participation of a large Guild….”
Reporters had already formed a cordon around the Gate by the time he got
there, and the Association employees, as well as the members of the local
police force, were restricting the access.
‘Hmm…’
Jin-Woo brushed past the wall of the reporters and approached the Gate,
but then, a female Association employee with a by-the-book demeanour
abruptly blocked his path.
“Please hold it! What do you think you’re doing?!”
She pushed at his chest and spoke loudly.
“You can’t just barge your way in here like this!”
Too bad, no matter how hard she pushed with her small hands, Jin-Woo
didn’t show any signs of budging from the spot. Only then she belatedly
realised that the guy standing in front of her was a Hunter – and a pretty high-
ranking Hunter at that.
“Are you… a Hunter?”
Jin-Woo pulled out his licence and showed it to her. Naturally, her eyes
grew super large.
‘A r-r-rank S? Seong Jin-Woo???’
Wasn’t he the same guy who killed all those ant monsters on Jeju
Island….?
Finally learning of Jin-Woo’s identity, the female Association employee
raised her head to take another look.
Jin-Woo looked a lot different from when he appeared on TV, so even
though she was an Association employee, she ended up failing to recognise a
rank S Hunter.
However, it was also natural for people with discerning eyes to exist within
the large crowd gathered here.
“Uh??”
“Isn’t he…?”
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo!”
“I think Seong Jin-Woo came here to deal with the Gate personally!”
People feeling fed up from being stuck here began recognising Jin-Woo,
and their complexions brightened greatly. Some people among them with
appointments to get to even cried out in elation, too.
However, the female employee completely disregarded the reactions of the
citizens and showed no signs of backing down. She hesitated slightly before
asking him.
“What… What brings you here?”
What did she even mean, what brings him here?
There would be only one reason why a Hunter chose to stand before a Gate,
wouldn’t it?
Jin-Woo figured that there was no need to explain, so he simply pointed at
the Gate beyond her shoulders. She looked behind her for a second or two,
and then, formed an expression of pure determination.
Many Hunters ended up losing their lives after placing too much faith in
their skills while disregarding the established rules and regulations.
‘It should be the same story with a rank S Hunter, right…?’
The Association existed to prevent such accidents – this fact had been
drilled into her head over and over again. Hunters and their safety were the
top priority of the Association.
Especially when the person in question happened to be an exceptional
individual ranked ‘S’, her duty was to prevent any mishaps from happening to
him no matter what. That’s what she thought, and so, she expressed her belief
with a plucky attitude.
“Even if you’re a rank S Hunter, sir, I will not tolerate any behaviour
that ignores proper procedures.”
“…”
Jin-Woo was lost for words and blankly stared at her face. He didn’t expect
her to come out like this at all.
She thought that she had succeeded in persuading a rank S Hunter, and
continued on with her next question.
“Did you obtain the raid permit?”
Jin-Woo shook his head, which led her to….
“No, wait. Even if you did obtain the permit, since you haven’t met the
minimum required number of team members, you can’t be allowed in.”
The female employee was impressively unyielding.
Jin-Woo could tell from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t doing this out
of spite. No, she just seemed to be the type to stick as close to the rule book as
humanly possible.
Jin-Woo scratched the back of his head. Well, there’s no helping it, then.
“Hold on for a sec.”
Jin-Woo immediately called somebody on the phone. After the call
connected to the other side, he pushed the phone to her.
“Here.”
When the female employee looked at him puzzled, Jin-Woo spoke to her in
a clear voice.
“Please, take it. The call’s actually for you.”
She maintained her puzzled expression while asking him.
“W-who is it on the phone?”
“Someone else you may not ‘tolerate’ as well.”
She inadvertently took the phone from him, but when she discovered the
name of the call’s receiver appearing on the screen, her brows shot up really
high.
‘Goh, Goh Gun-Hui?!’
If the person on the line was really…
“H-hello….?”
The female employee’s nervous voice was greeted by a deep, heavy voice
from the phone’s speaker.
Sure enough, it was him.
The female employee’s eyes trembled noticeably, before she began nodding
her head over and over again.
“Yes, yes. No, sir. Yes. Yes. I shall do as you say, sir.”
Click.
She returned the phone with a crestfallen expression on her face. When Jin-
Woo walked past her, he whispered to her in a hushed tone.
“Thanks.”
“Pardon me?”
“For worrying about me.”
“Y-you, you knew….?!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly disappeared into the Gate.
‘Euh….!’
Greatly annoyed by his antics now, the female employee shuddered from
dissatisfaction and she threw… not a curse, but more like an unhappy
grumble at his departing back.
‘Father in heaven! Sprain that guy’s ankle or something inside the
dungeon, please!’
However….
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a man who walked away safely from the Jeju
Island that was completely overrun with rank S monsters.
‘Such a guy won’t have much trouble inside a rank B dungeon,
probably?’
But then, it happened at that moment. Screams were rising up from here
and there.
“Uhhh? What’s going on here??”
“Why is it changing to red colour?!”
Right after Jin-Woo stepped past the Gate, the eerie colour of blood slowly
spread over its black surface. It was a Red Gate!! A terrifying event was
unfolding right now.
“Ah…..!”
The female employee felt utterly devastated after seeing the Red Gate
appear.
‘Was it because I prayed for him to get that sprained ankle?!’
Of course, that wasn’t it. However, she couldn’t get rid of the voices in her
head telling her that it was her fault.
She was taught that the Red Gate, a portal to another world, was one of the
most dangerous places there was. She also heard that even the high-ranked
Hunters weren’t guaranteed to get out of there alive.
‘It can’t be…..’
Suddenly, her head was filled with the images of the worst case scenario,
and her complexion paled instantly.
‘If, if that Hunter-nim gets injured for real, what then…..?’
Just how many minutes went by like this?
She continued to stew in self-guilt, but when she felt a presence near her,
the female employee tore her gaze away from the asphalt below to look up.
And found Jin-Woo standing before her.
“M-mommy?!”
She got royally frightened out of her wits as if she saw a real ghost just
now. Jin-Woo simply threw a grin at her way and walked right past her.
‘…….’
The face of this female employee was in a deeper shade of red than when
she was talking to the Association President earlier.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo searched around for something, and eventually, made
his way over to a driver of a truck filled with sacks of potatoes.
“Excuse me, ahjussi? Can I buy a sack from you?”
“Pardon? You wanna buy some potatoes?”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
“No, just the sack.”
The Vice-Master of the tentatively-named ‘Solo Play’ Guild, as well as its
chief recruitment officer, its sole lawyer, and even its accountant, Yu Jin-Ho
smiled brightly as he saw Jin-Woo entering the office.
“You came back, hyung-nim!”
“Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
“Yes, hyung-nim. However, an applicant wanting to become a founding
member is…..”
“Okay. Show me the list. Let me go through it as well.”
Seeing that Yu Jin-Ho was pressing him with the same stuff they’d been
talking about in the morning, the kid must’ve been desperate to establish the
Guild as soon as possible.
Thankfully, Jin-Woo was thinking the same thing.
They only needed one more person for the spot of the founding member.
The minimum of three people was needed to satisfy the requirements to
establish a Guild.
‘Even if we’re trying to fill in the headcount, it’s better to pick someone
hard-working and trustworthy, I think. It’s not like we’ll be seeing each
other only once, after all.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head, convinced by his own thoughts. But now that he
took a closer look, Yu Jin-Ho’s complexion seemed a bit cloudy for some
reason.
“Did something happen?”
“The thing is…. Hyung-nim.”
“Yeah?”
“As you may well know, you need a lot of capital in order to establish a
Guild. The bidding prices for higher ranked Gates all start at astronomical
sums, we gotta pay the signing fees to the newly-joining Hunters, and most
importantly, the person applying to become our founding mem….”
Jin-Woo cut him off there.
“Is this enough capital for now?”
Thud.
Jin-Woo placed the potato sack he carried into the office on the floor.
‘What’s this?’
Yu Jin-Ho’s puzzled gaze peered into the open gap of the sack. And he
found it packed full of expensive magic crystals.
“H-hyung-nim….?! W-what are these?”
Jin-Woo was nonchalant in his reply.
“There was an open Gate on the way to the office, so I made a pit stop.”
“…..”
He went out only a couple of hours ago, yet during such a short period of
time, he found a high-ranking dungeon, cleared it completely, and brought out
all the magic crystals found within?
“As expected of you, you’re amazing, hyung-nim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho stopped thinking about this matter there. It was ultimately a
fruitless endeavour to pigeon-hole hyung-nim with common sense.
Jin-Woo watched Yu Jin-Ho celebrating the acquisition of their seed money
with a content smile, before shifting his gaze over to the conference suite.
“By the way, why is she here?”
“Pardon? Ahh. I was about to talk to you about her a minute ago….
Well, someone applying to become a founding member is waiting for you,
hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
“An applicant?”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
“Who is?”
“The person waiting for you in the conference suite, hyung-nim.”
“That’s what she said?”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
What on earth was this kid even talking about….?
Jin-Woo quickly strode over to the conference suite as soon as Yu Jin-Ho
was finished and opened the door wide open.
Clunk.
And then, inside this mostly-empty conference suite, he found a woman
sipping on a can of coffee all alone and in silence turning her head to meet his
gaze. Incidentally, Yu Jin-Ho had to quickly dash outside to get that coffee
because they hadn’t even bought proper office equipment yet.
“What brings you here, Hunter-nim??”
Jin-Woo asked his guest with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
Then, Cha Hae-In opened her own mouth, still looking up at him from her
sitting position.
“I came to…. join your Guild.”
Chapter 133 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Did he hear that right? Jin-Woo ended up doubting his own hearing, then.
Cha Hae-In was the Vice-Master of South Korea’s top Guild, and her skills
were ranked to be among the very best, but she willingly walked into a Guild
that hadn’t even taken its first baby step yet?
Unless she was being threatened into coming here, how could this situation
make any sense? But then again….
‘Uh, well, just who’d be brave enough to threaten her?’
Jin-Woo decided to bring up the one person with enough clout to
potentially threaten her in South Korea.
“Did the Association President order you to do this?”
Cha Hae-In formed a confused expression, evidently not understanding
why Goh Gun-Hui was being brought up in this discussion.
“Why would he….?”
It was Jin-Woo who couldn’t understand what was going on here, so why
was she making that face even though she was the reason for all this
confusion?
‘No, hang on. Let’s calm down.’
It was a situation where most people would’ve been left too stunned or get
overexcited, but Jin-Woo was able to stay calm as he pulled out a chair to sit
on Cha Hae-In’s opposite side. He then wordlessly stared at her.
He only needed to focus for a short while. As the time visibly slowed down
in his perception, various bits of information about her flowed into his brain,
one at the time.
‘She’s restless.’
Her heartbeat, her breathing, even the glow within her eyes. She was doing
her best to look composed, but there was no fooling Jin-Woo’s sky-high
Perception.
So, the question was – why was she forcing herself to this extent and trying
to enter the tentatively-named ‘Solo Play’ Guild?
Jin-Woo had to ask her.
“Don’t you still have some time left in the duration of your contract with
the Hunters Guild?”
Now normally, the Guild would negotiate contracts with Hunters in five-
year terms. Cha Hae-In joined the Hunters Guild two years ago when she was
evaluated to be a rank S, so at a bare minimum, she should still have three
years left in her contract.
“I have enough money to pay the penalty for breach of contract.”
Cha Hae-In’s collected answer only elicited Jin-Woo’s head-tilting.
Most of the time, such a penalty fee would be between two to three times
the original signing fee.
Thinking about the exorbitant sum the Hunters Guild must’ve forked out in
order to sign up a rank S Hunter like her, one didn’t need to be a genius to
figure out that the breach of contract penalty fee would be absolutely
horrendous, as well.
Since he was about to speak to her about harsh reality, Jin-Woo’s attitude
became very business-like.
“Our ‘Solo Play’ Guild simply can’t afford to pay the kind of signing fee
your skill set warrants, Cha Hunter-nim.”
“T-the name of your Guild is ‘Solo Play’??”
“You have a problem with the name that the Vice-Master and myself
came up with?”
“…No, not really.”
Cha Hae-In let a soft sigh escape from her, and continued on.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s fine if you don’t pay me the contract signing fee.”
She didn’t mind signing a contract without any payment, even though she’d
have to pay an enormous breach of contract fee to the Hunters Guild?
‘What is she scheming here?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
When their eyes stayed locked for a while, Cha Hae-In could no longer
endure the silent pressure and averted her gaze. Her heart was beating a step
faster than before, too.
Jin-Woo’s ears perked up. His acute sense of hearing didn’t miss out on a
single change taking place inside her.
‘Is she hiding something?’
At this point, he simply had to ask her or he’d die of curiosity.
“Why are you willing to go through such a wringer just to join our
Guild?”
“….”
As expected, Cha Hae-In couldn’t easily answer him and kept her mouth
resolutely shut. And seeing her face redden like that, it became oh-so-obvious
that she was hiding something from him, too.
‘Wait a minute…’
Now that he thought about it, he remembered sensing that something was
different about her even back in the funeral venue. He couldn’t tell what she
was thinking of, but she could have been planning to do this for quite some
time already.
Jin-Woo quietly waited for Cha Hae-In’s answer. However, she kept her
head lowered and for a long while, didn’t say a single word.
‘….But, how can I even explain myself to him?
….That I sensed your presence next to me even after I lost my
consciousness from the attack of that mutated ant monster?
….That, I felt safe and warm after picking up on your scent as I sank
deeper into an empty and endless dark void?’
There was no word in this world adequate enough to describe what she felt
back then.
‘Even if I explain it, he’d only say that I’ve gone mad.’
Her heart began beating faster after she learned of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
really being there. She felt so relieved, knowing that she wasn’t imagining
things.
And also….
‘What if….’
She discovered that she wanted Jin-Woo to be by her side in the worst case
scenario of her being unable to escape from the cold blade of death.
‘….To think, it’d be like ‘please be right by my side until my final
moments’.’
How could she even attempt saying that, when just thinking about it made
her blush uncontrollably?
That was an impossible task for Cha Hae-In who didn’t know anything
about a normal girl’s sensibilities. That was why she finally spoke up an
answer she cooked up before coming here.
“…To be more comfortable.”
She raised her head to meet Jin-Woo’s gaze and continue on with the rest.
“I wish to be live more comfortably….”
Although it wasn’t exactly what she tried to say, it wasn’t a complete lie,
either.
She couldn’t even lift her head properly from all the horrendous stink when
high-ranked Hunters were standing next to her. But, in contrast, she felt her
mind getting peaceful in the presence of Jin-Woo.
The meaning of Cha Hae-In’s ‘comfortable’ was precisely that.
Jin-Woo didn’t interpret the meaning that way, but still, he could
understand where she was coming from. He slowly nodded his head from her
answer.
She apparently wanted to leave a big Guild like the Hunters, and spend a
more ‘comfortable’ time in a far smaller Guild like his.
According to Jin-Woo’s knowledge, Cha Hae-In was either twenty-two or
twenty-three years old.
‘I’m sure the burden that a rank S must carry would be pretty heavy for a
woman in her early twenties.’
Especially more so, after she felt the threat of death during the Jeju Island
raid.
Jin-Woo could easily understand her feelings as he too felt like abandoning
everything and running away from it all countless times, back when he still
worked for the Association.
Unfortunately for her….
‘Although her plight is pitiable, but…..’
But, he couldn’t just accept her like that.
Why would he have named the Guild ‘Solo Play’? That was because he
planned to book dungeons using the name of his Guild and clear them all by
himself.
If the minimum number of team members proved to be a stumbling block,
then he’d simply hire temps to fill the headcount, just like how it was back
when he cleared those rank C Gates with Yu Jin-Ho. That was the smartest
thing to do in his quest to level up higher.
However, if Cha Hae-In entered the picture, things would become rather
complicated in many ways. Even if they forget about her contract signing fee,
wouldn’t she still need money for her daily necessities?
By hiring a rank S Hunter with huge salaries, someone he didn’t even need
in the first place and wasn’t planning to put to work either, he’d be
committing a massive wastage on a national scale.
However…
‘If I reject a rank S Hunter who’s willing to waive the contract signing
fee and join my Guild without a proper reason, it’s going to look pretty
suspicious.’
That was why Jin-Woo quickly came up with a plan.
“Actually, our Guild has an admittance test you need to go through.”
“Pardon? But, the job posting didn’t specify anything li….”
Jin-Woo quickly cut off Cha Hae-In’s flustered words.
“This rule is pretty new, so it’s possible that the Vice-Master may have
made a small error.”
The glow in Cha Hae-In’s eyes became quite serious at the mention of a
test.
“What kind of a test is it?”
Jin-Woo was inwardly taken by surprise from her reaction.
‘This gal, she was really serious?’
Because of her professional pride, he expected her to quit after being told
about taking a test. However, Cha Hae-In acted the exact opposite. No, she
was actually burning up even hotter with the desire to win.
He could sense her fervour hidden behind that expressionless mask of hers.
‘Is she the type to face any fight coming her way head on?’
Or, was this the case of misplaced pride?
Whatever the case may have been, Jin-Woo couldn’t back off now while
staying it was all a misunderstanding.
“It’s to win against the summoned creature I pick.”
Crack.
He swore that he heard the physical sound of a crack forming on her ego.
“….”
‘Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, is that how low your assessment of me is?’
What a mysterious thing this was. He only looked into her eyes briefly, yet
it felt like her voice could be heard so clearly inside his head.
However, Cha Hae-In didn’t display any of her thoughts and asked in her
usual collected manner.
“Which summon will you pick?”
“For you, Cha Hunter-nim, I’ll especially have to pick the strongest
one.”
“…..Alright.”
She wasn’t backing down here.
Most likely, she wouldn’t have dreamed it in her wildest imaginations,
regarding who became the latest addition to Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures –
no, his Shadow Army collection.
Jin-Woo thought that, since her will to win was so strong, she’d give up on
her own after tasting defeat. He immediately agreed to the bout.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“When will the test be?”
“Right now.”
Jin-Woo wanted to establish his Guild as soon as possible, so he didn’t
want to waste any more time on Cha Hae-In. Since he came up with this idea,
might as well do it now.
The location would be the gymnasium of the Hunter’s Association.
A rank S Hunter could rent out the gymnasium whenever he felt like it. It
was one of the many special privileges afforded to rank S Hunters.
“Got it.”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head. She too wanted to move things along as
quickly as possible. They both stood up at the same time as if they made a
promise to do that.
‘….Hold on.’
It was then, a certain thought flashed past his brain. He quickly called out
to Cha Hae-In as she was about to turn the door handle.
“Cha Hunter-nim, please wait.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no need to go that way.”
“…?”
Cha Hae-In formed a confused expression.
There was only one door in the conference suite. He obviously wasn’t
suggesting that they should jump out of the window, so….
Jin-Woo quickly walked over to her unmoving frame.
“I have a quicker way of getting there, actually.”
“Excuse me?”
“But, I must be touching you if I’m to use this method, so will it be
alright with you?”
“Oh…..”
Cha Hae-In recalled what Baek Yun-Ho told her about the situation back
then. He said that, as all the members of the Korean assault team found
themselves in a life-or-death situation, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo suddenly
popped up behind him.
‘Is he trying to show me that skill?’
She quickly swallowed her dry saliva and looked up at Jin-Woo’s face that
was now much closer than her initial expectations.
“Sorry about this.”
Jin-Woo lightly embraced her.
He thought that such a light hug wouldn’t mean anything to her since he
had carried her unconscious frame around inside the ant tunnel, but Cha Hae-
In’s face was rapidly dyeing in a beet-red colour.
However, she didn’t struggle or try to get out of his embrace.
‘….His nice scent.’
While her face was getting progressively redder and redder, Jin-Woo
cautiously held her to make sure they wouldn’t get separated and finished
getting ready.
‘Okay, all done.’
There was this thing he wanted to confirm. And he wouldn’t find as good
an opportunity as this one in the future.
“It might get a little dizzy.”
Well, he felt that the first time, so there.
Cha Hae-In only then wrapped her arms around Jin-Woo and whispered her
reply.
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo raised his head up to his front and issued a command in his mind.
‘Shadow Exchange.’
Shururu…..
Two of them soundlessly got sucked into the shadow beneath their feet.
It was right at that moment Yu Jin-Ho opened the door and entered the
conference suite. He ran out to the local convenience store to buy some
refreshments after thinking that the talk might go on for a bit.
“Please, drink these while you two ch….”
A High Orc Shadow Soldier met Yu Jin-Ho’s gaze, and as if he was feeling
a bit sheepish over something, scratched the back of his head.
“….”
Claaank!!
The tray in Yu Jin-Ho’s hand crashed to the floor, and cups of liquid
refreshment shattered from the impact.
“W-what the hell?!”
Yu Jin-Ho freaked out grandly and blinked his eyes, but the High Orc
soldier was gone without a trace.
‘B-b-but, I definitely….!!’
He rubbed his eyes hard and shook his head to regain his composure. He
took another look at his surroundings, but he couldn’t spot a single trace of
the monster anywhere.
‘….I guess I’ve been working too hard recently.’
Yup, that must be it, what with seeing a hallucination and all.
Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head and scanned the conference suite one more time,
before turning around to find a mop to clean up the mess on the floor. But
then….
A thought entered his mind and stopped his feet from moving again.
“Where did hyung-nim and Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim disappear to?”
Chapter 134 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The moment the ground disappeared and they got sucked into the shadow,
Jin-Woo looked at Cha Hae-In falling together at the same time.
‘As I thought….’
His expectation was on the money.
He wondered if the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’ worked in this manner while
using it a few times in the past, and he was right.
The identity of the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’ was actually a ‘Gate’. That
theory was proven correct when Cha Hae-In travelled alongside him through
the shadow.
‘The entrance is generated below my feet, and the exit is where the
determined coordinates are.’
And those coordinates would be the location of a Shadow Soldier.
Even though there was a limitation of the three-hour-long cooldown time,
he was still able to create a Gate with this skill. If he wanted to, then wouldn’t
it be possible for him to move to the other side of the planet every three
hours? Jin-Woo unconsciously swallowed his saliva.
But, his stunned state lasted only for a brief while longer.
His view covered up by the inky darkness reverted back to normal almost
right away. And the two of them found themselves inside the Association’s
gymnasium.
The last time he came here, Jin-Woo left behind a shadow just in case he
found himself in an urgent need to visit the Association.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
The overhead lighting system sensed the magic energy from them and the
bulbs came on one by one, brightly illuminating the gymnasium’s interior.
Cha Hae-In opened her eyes after sensing the brightness through her closed
eyelids.
“But, how…..?!”
Her brows shot up as she failed to hide her astonishment. They were
already in a familiar place.
She sensed only about one second passing by, yet the surroundings were
completely different when she opened her eyes.
‘How is this even possible?!’
She had never heard of such a skill existing in the world. Cha Hae-In
looked around in utter amazement before shifting her gaze back to Jin-Woo.
“You…..”
She had so, so many things she wanted to ask, but in the end, she couldn’t
open her lips to voice any of them.
The first reason for that was because she didn’t even know just where to
start her questions, and secondly, their distance was far, far too close for a
spot of civilised conversation.
“It’s safe now, so….”
Jin-Woo lightly grasped her wrists and unwrapped her arms around his
waist.
“….You don’t have to hold on to me anymore.”
Nod, nod.
Cha Hae-In lightly rubbed her wrists he had grasped and wordlessly
nodded her head.
“Okay. Let’s get started.”
Jin-Woo walked out of the corner the High Orc Shadow Soldier was
probably hiding in, and strode towards the centre of the gymnasium.
“Alright.”
She too followed behind him only to remember that she left her sword back
in her car. Although a weapon was an indispensable tool for her trade, it
would be quite rude to visit someone else’s office fully armed, now wouldn’t
it?
Cha Hae-In quickly spoke to him.
“I left my weapon back in my car…..”
“Oh, you mean that pickaxe?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, the one you were carrying around back in the rank A
dungeon with High Orcs in it.”
Her face reddened as soon as she remembered a small detail she’d been
wanting to forget.
“N-no, my weapon is….”
She then spotted Jin-Woo giggling to himself, and belatedly realised that he
was teasing her just now.
“….”
Jin-Woo waved his hand after seeing Cha Hae-In’s reddened complexion.
“I was just joking with you.”
Time to stop kidding around, however.
‘Seriously, though. What should I do?’
Even if it was Cha Hae-In, she wouldn’t be able to fight against the soldier
he was planning to summon out. Of course, he wanted his soldier to win, but
that didn’t mean he wanted to see her get hurt, either.
“It’ll be fine.”
Cha Hae-In shifted her gaze towards the storage located within the
gymnasium.
“I’m sure there will be a weapon I can borrow in the storage.”
‘Oho.’
A light gleamed within Jin-Woo’s eyes after learning of something new.
She walked up to the storage and diagonally swiped her Hunter licence on the
electronic lock found on the side of the door.
That prompted the storage door to automatically slide open.
Rows of not-too-shabby-looking spare weapons were displayed inside the
storage. Looking into the interior from a bit of distance away, Jin-Woo was
inwardly impressed by the preparedness of the Hunter’s Association.
‘So, there was even stuff like this inside the Association….’
He wondered where all those high taxes Hunters had to fork out over the
years ended up, but it looked like they were being put to good use. Cha Hae-
In scanned the displayed items before picking up a sword similar in length to
the one she’d been using and exited from the storage.
“I’m ready.”
“Will that be fine? It’s not a sword you’ve been using before, so wouldn’t
it feel off in your hands?”
Cha Hae-In shook her head.
“It doesn’t really matter what weapon it is. Monsters don’t care about
what weapons Hunters are wielding when they fight us, after all.”
Those were some wise words.
Jin-Woo carried the same opinion as her, so he didn’t argue with her there.
At the very least, he found her straightforwardness rather likeable.
‘So, calling out my soldier is next, right?’
As if to prove that she wasn’t joking about being ready, a sharp, focused
aura oozed out of her. Against someone like her, any ol’ regular soldier would
be sliced up into tiny pieces in no time.
That’s why, Jin-Woo called for the best card he could bring out under the
current circumstances.
‘Come out.’
A small portion separated from Jin-Woo’s shadow and moved away a
couple of steps from him. Then a black knight rose up from the unmoving
shadow.
The jet-black armour and the helm; the red plumage attached to the helm,
extending all the way down to his waist. The best sword-wielding Shadow
Soldier in his army. It was Igrit.
‘I told her that I’d be summoning the most powerful guy out, but…’
But, he thought that calling out Beru was a bit too much. Before he was
turned into a Shadow Soldier, Beru was the terrifying creature that nearly
drowned the entirety of Korean team members in the pit of pure terror. Hell,
even Cha Hae-In herself almost died from his attack, too.
Jin-Woo couldn’t bring Beru out when considering the potential mental
shock she could suffer after seeing him again.
As for Fangs, he might end up destroying the gymnasium, so he was
excluded. That’s why he chose Igrit.
‘Yup, at the end of the day, it can only be you.’
Jin-Woo knew he made the right call when looking at the wide, dependable
back of Igrit. But then…..
“Mister Seong Jin-Woo.”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Cha Hae-In.
“What are the conditions for victory and defeat?”
When he heard her icy voice that was cold enough to instantly freeze the
listener’s heart, his belief began wavering somewhat. Jin-Woo pondered a bit
before making his reply.
“Either my summon is destroyed, or Cha Hunter-nim admits defeat
first.”
Nod.
Cha Hae-In briefly nodded her head. Then, unsheathed the sword she got
from the storage.
She was only holding a simple, plain magic sword one could buy pretty
much anywhere, but even then, the aura oozing out of her was still quite
incredible to behold.
‘Yup, she’s definitely strong.’
Jin-Woo could sense it. Her surging aura, after she decided to get serious,
was definitely fitting for a woman whose skills were rated as the best even
among the rank S Hunters.
Igrit also unsheathed his sword. As a matter of fact, he was now holding a
longsword each in his hands. Even then, Jin-Woo couldn’t help but think that
Igrit would be defeated by her at this rate.
But then…..
‘Wait a sec…. Didn’t she say that it doesn’t really matter what weapon it
was, right?’
Jin-Woo recalled what she said just now and a smile floated up on his lips
as he asked her for a small favour.
“Can you turn around for a second, please?”
“…..?”
Cha Hae-In tilted her head for a bit, but didn’t complain and turned around
as he asked. Using that gap, Jin-Woo summoned the ‘Demon King’s
Longsword’ out of his Inventory and handed it over to Igrit.
‘Use this.’
By saying that she didn’t mind what weapon she used, it could also be
interpreted as she didn’t mind what weapon her opponent was using.
Having been bestowed a sword straight from his sovereign, Igrit tried to
kneel down to express his profound gratitude, but Jin-Woo quickly stopped
him.
‘I’m telling you, you don’t have to stand on ceremony all the time, you
know?’
If only Iron could learn half of Igrit’s attitude….
In any case, the preparation was done, so Jin-Woo called out to Cha Hae-In
again.
“It’s fine now.”
She turned around and spotted Igit now holding a brand new sword that
crackled with blue arcs of electricity. Which he clearly wasn’t holding a
minute ago.
“……..”
“Will it be fine if we start now?”
Jin-Woo pretended to not notice anything and asked her if she was good to
go.
“….Yes.”
Cha Hae-In, having already agreed to do this, could only say yes again with
a begrudging expression.
“Okay then, begin.”
Soon after Jin-Woo signalled the beginning, Igrit swung the ‘Demon King’s
Longsword’ to activate its passive ability as his opening attack.
Crack!
A strand of lightning flew in a straight line at Cha Hae-In. She flinched for
the briefest of brief moments. But then, like an agile cat, she bent her upper
body back and evaded the lightning.
Crackle!!
The wall of the gymnasium was scorched jet-black after getting struck by
the stray lightning.
Shudder.
Cha Hae-In righted her torso and sent her sharp glare in Jin-Woo’s
direction, but he averted his gaze to stare into the distance, still pretending to
not notice a thing.
‘……..’
Without saying anything, Cha Hae-In gripped the sword tighter in her
hands.
It was right then. Igrit rushed towards her at a frightening pace from her
front to heed his Sovereign’s order to bring her down. However, she didn’t
even blink once and also flung herself forward towards her opponent.
The office of the Association President, located on the top floor of the main
building.
One could clearly see not just other Association buildings but the
surrounding scenery when sitting inside this office.
‘Mm?’
The Association President was in the middle of going through a report, but
then, his gaze abruptly shifted over to the window. There should have been no
one inside the gymnasium, but the lights there came on just now.
Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head slightly, before picking up his phone to speak
to his PA.
“Did someone book out the gymnasium today?”
“Is that so?”
Goh Gun-Hui covered the phone’s receiver and organised his thoughts for a
bit, before speaking to his subordinate again.
“Can you send the CCTV feed from the gymnasium into my office?”
Shortly thereafter, the live feed was displayed on the giant TV occupying
the entire wall of his office. And that’s when he got to see Seong Jin-Woo and
Cha Hae-In hugging each other inside the gymnasium.
“….Keu-hum.”
Stunned by what he saw, Goh Gun-Hui hurriedly coughed to clear his
throat. He looked over and over again, but it was definitely those two. He then
tilted his head again.
‘Did those two people have such a relationship?’
But then again, the very first person Hunter Cha Hae-In searched for when
she regained consciousness briefly inside the helicopter was none other than
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
‘It seems that I was very slow on the uptake, huh.’
A content smile spread on Goh Gun-Hui’s face as he gazed at the two
young people on the TV screen.
Both of them requested for their private information to be protected as soon
as they got their rank S licences. Even then, there was not one person in this
country who didn’t know Cha Hae-In, or for that matter, Seong Jin-Woo.
So, if two such people wished to spend some quiet time together, there
would be no better place than the Association’s gymnasium after the closing
time.
To think, they’d chose a gymnasium as their date venue, quite unlike the
youths of today. What a wonderfully wholesome date this was.
Goh Gun-Hui maintained a heartwarming smile and shook his head wryly.
‘Yup, being young is indeed wonderful.’
He reached out to the resting phone’s receiver and picked it up once more.
“I’m sorry about this, but I want you to switch off all the CCTV feed
coming from the gymnasium.”
“Just say that today was the maintenance day in the records.”
The giant TV screen in the President’s office showing the CCTV feed
switched off as soon as he ended the call. Goh Gun-Hui took one last look at
the gymnasium and returned to perusing the report, a grin still etched on his
lips.
But, it was then.
RUMBLE…
The surface of the water in his cup vibrated softly as he sensed a minute
tremor coming from the gymnasium’s direction.
“Huhuh.”
Goh Gun-Hui didn’t bother to look at the gymnasium and simply carried on
smiling.
‘Indeed, being young is the best.’
‘This is…..’
Jin-Woo massaged his aching forehead.
It seemed that he had been greatly underestimating Cha Hae-In’s actual
skills up until now. Igrit’s strength had been boosted overall by the ‘Demon
King’s Longsword’, but in the end, he couldn’t win against her skills.
Right after Igrit’s left arm flew away from being cut, Jin-Woo ended this
match.
“Stop!”
Even though they would regenerate back to full, he still couldn’t stand the
sight of his soldiers getting destroyed.
“Fuu-.”
Cha Hae-In reined in her rough breathing and let out a long sigh. Her
opponent must’ve been tougher than expected, because she was soaked in
sweat from head to toe. Her slender, white fingers wiped the droplets of sweat
forming on her forehead.
Jin-Woo looked at that with a rueful expression, inwardly accepting his loss
today, and called Igrit back.
“It’s my loss.”
Shururuk….
Igrit returned back inside his shadow. However, Cha Hae-In spoke directly
to him, her hands not letting go of her sword.
“No. Please, this one doesn’t count.”
“…?”
What did she even mean by that, out of the blue? Didn’t count?
Cha Hae-In explained herself.
“Didn’t you say that you’d bring out the most powerful summon?”
Cha Hae-In walked closer and only stopped when she was one step away
from Jin-Woo.
“Was that black knight really your strongest summon?”
She wasn’t asking him here. No, it sounded as if she was just trying to
confirm what she knew already.
Jin-Woo quietly shook his head. As if she was waiting for that, Cha Hae-In
immediately carried on.
“Please call out your strongest summon. We agreed to do from that get-
go, didn’t we?”
“But, you may get injured.”
“It’s fine. I wanted to fight it at least one more time, anyway.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened from her declaration.
“Wait, you knew?”
Nod, nod.
“I saw the video footage.”
Cha Hae-In had watched the raid video starring Jin-Woo several times by
now.
The giant monster that made its appearance during the clip – she definitely
remembered seeing that monster shooting out the pillar of flames from
somewhere.
“That summoned creature, that was the High Orc Shaman, the boss of
that rank A dungeon. Am I correct?”
If that was the case, then the mutated ant monster he hunted down this time
would also have become his summoned creature, as well. From the word go,
she chose to go through the test while thinking of fighting that mutated ant.
‘There is no meaning in a victory like this.’
She wanted to defeat the summoned creature that used the powers of the
mutated ant monster, and thereby get Jin-Woo to acknowledge her true value.
He pondered for a little bit, before nodding his head.
‘Beru’.
Right away, a Shadow Soldier enshrouded in jet-black smoke rose up
behind Jin-Woo. Cha Hae-In instinctively jumped back and created some
distance as soon as she saw Beru’s entrance.
Back then or now, that guy carried a truly horrendous aura.
Jin-Woo got genuinely worried when all colour drained out of her face and
quickly asked her.
“Will this really be fine?”
Even if Beru had gotten weaker compared to when he was alive, this guy
was originally a killing weapon born solely for the purpose of eliminating
Hunters.
Cha Hae-In’s lips were squeezed shut in a straight line, as she weightily
nodded her head.
Beru had been staring at her quietly for a while, before lowering his head to
whisper a question to Jin-Woo.
‘Oh my king. How should I deal with this female?’
Cha Hae-In must’ve been unable to hear what Beru was saying, because
she showed no particular reaction at all.
‘Defeat her without injuring her.’
‘It shall be done.’
The former king of the ants and the current Shadow Soldier turned towards
the deeply tense female warrior.
Gulp.
Cha Hae-In swallowed her dry saliva. She felt goosebumps break out on
her skin from the enormous amount of magic energy emitted by her opponent.
‘Mister Seong Jin-Woo fought against a creature like this and won??’
Her eyes that showed no signs of hesitation while fighting against Igrit
were now trembling greatly. Beru was done with the necessary preparation to
follow his sovereign’s order, and suddenly, spat out a mighty screech.
Kiiiaaaahhk!!
Blade-like claws began extending out from the ends of Beru’s fingers, so
Jin-Woo standing behind him sent over an unhappy glare.
‘….Retract the claws.’
The high-spirited Beru immediately retracted his claws. Jin-Woo drilled
one more instruction into his soldier’s head.
‘If you injure that woman, it won’t be nice for you, either. Got that?’
‘I shall follow your will.’
Only after hearing that definite answer from Beru did Jin-Woo declare the
start of the second bout.
“Begin!”
Chapter 135 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Beru was the first to make his move. His Sovereign had given him only one
order.
‘Defeat the enemy without harming her.’
Beru once stood at the peak of his species, and he knew what the best
method to perfectly fulfil that order was. And that would be this: Make the
opponent lose her will to fight by imprinting the clear gap in power between
them in her mind.
Paht!
Beru disappeared from Cha Hae-In’s view the moment he moved, before
reappearing right in front of her nose even before she had the chance to
realise it.
“…!!”
Cha Hae-In’s animal-like instinct kicked in even as the astonishment at
Beru’s speed nearly overwhelmed her, and she swung her sword at her
opponent. She followed that up with dozens more.
However, Beru stood in the spot and evaded all of her attacks without
taking a single step.
It was a precise movement that eliminated all necessary motion. He was so
bloody quick that afterimages were left behind in his wake. This was the
display of an unbridgeable gap in their power levels.
‘This is impossible!’
Cha Hae-In’s eyes shook hard every time she missed.
‘It can dodge all my attacks at such a close distance without moving its
legs once?’
Just one more time!
She took aim at the neck of her opponent and took a swing, but the creature
lightly evaded it by leaning back slightly. No matter where she attacked from,
or how she changed her attacks, her opponent easily dodged them all.
‘How can this be….?!’
This thing wasn’t even alive anymore. This thing was a summon borrowing
the powers of the dead monster, so how could it still be this strong?
And also….
‘Mister Seong Jin-Woo, who can freely control such a summon, just
what…..’
Cha Hae-In’s movements became a tad dull from the vague fear invading
her, and Beru seized upon this opportunity to smack her incoming sword
away with the back of his hand. And then, pressed his face closer to hers.
Cha Hae-In froze up on the spot as the stench of death blew right into her
face.
‘This is the end.’
She inadvertently gasped out the moment those huge mandibles filled up
her view.
“Ah!”
However, the creature didn’t crush her head by snapping shut its maws but
instead, chose to screech out loudly right in front of her face.
“Kiiiieeeeehhhk!!”
She was knocked away ungainly from the screech containing his magical
energy.
“Kyahk!”
Jin-Woo grimaced while watching that. Indeed, there was no way he’d start
enjoying the sight of someone else getting knocked around one-sidedly like
this.
However, she stood back up again and fixed the grip on the sword as if to
show that she wasn’t giving up at all. Jin-Woo tilted his head.
‘What is she trying to do?’
The Cha Hae-In he knew wasn’t a low-class Hunter who didn’t want to
accept the difference between her and her opponent even after confirming the
truth with her own eyes.
‘And she’s definitely not reckless enough to keep attacking when she
knows of the gap, too.’
In that case, could she still be in possession of one more card up her
sleeve?
‘Whatever it is, I hope she’s not making an incorrect call.’
Jin-Woo was mentally linked with Beru, so he could feel how much his
soldier was suppressing its killing intent at the moment. On the other hand,
Cha Ha-In’s will remained unyielding, even though she found herself in an
absolutely disadvantageous position.
He was getting a bad premonition here. Jin-Woo’s expression became even
more serious as he watched the two of them.
‘…..?’
On the hand, Beru had failed to understand Cha Ha-In’s decision.
He had displayed their overwhelming gap in power several times by now.
So, why hadn’t she stop her challenges yet?
The former king of ants, a being who lorded over others at the apex of the
food chain, was beginning to get displeased by the human female’s
stubbornness. The basis of his anger stemmed from the past memory of him
being a ruler.
‘How dare…..’
The moment Beru made up his mind, he arrived before Cha Hae-In in the
blink of an eye. He then pressed his face closer to glare straight into her eyes.
Any lifeform still breathing would’ve immediately realised who was the
predator and the prey in this situation just from their gazes meeting like this.
It would be a warning from one’s primal instinct.
Beru planned to awaken that instinct of his opponent and make her lose her
will to fight in that manner, but unfortunately, his ploy wasn’t as effective as
he thought.
Just as Jin-Woo had predicted, Cha Hae-In still held one last trump card to
fall back on.
The skill, ‘Sword Dance’, one she was most proficient in wielding. Her
movements sped up as if she was performing a deadly dance, and the tip of
her sword drew splendid arcs in the air.
Paht! Paht! Paht!
Too bad….
Beru used his claws to easily defend against all those smoothly flowing
attacks that had no interruptions in between. At the end of the barrage, his
expression crumpled unsightly.
‘No more playing around.’
Beru snatched the sword flying at him with his bare hand and crushed it.
Kwajeeck!!
She only had half a sword left, but rather than falling into despair, her glare
became icy cold, instead.
‘I have only one last chance!’
Every single drop of magic energy in her was poured into the broken sword
to activate her skill, ‘Blade of Light’.
The magic energy expenditure for this skill was far too great and she could
only use it as the final hurrah. And for the first time during this fight, she
revealed it in its full glory.
The blade of light shone brilliantly.
Beru had lowered his guard for a moment after breaking her sword, and she
used that opening to jump into his front and stabbed the blade of light
forward.
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
‘Nooo!’
Of course, he wasn’t worried about Beru. Utterly disregarding his worries,
the blade glowing in golden light pierced deeply into Beru’s tummy.
“Kiiieehhk-!!”
In that brief moment, Beru’s mind spun quickly.
‘This woman is an enemy.’
It’d not be a problem for him to die. However, if he fell here, then this
woman’s sword would point towards his Sovereign next.
It was then.
An instinct buried deep within all Shadow Soldiers’ psyche, one designed
to activate in times of great distress and override everything else, wiggled
back into life.
In that moment, inside of Beru’s head blanked out into a ‘reset’ state and
the order Jin-Woo gave him, ‘defeat the enemy without harming her’ was
wiped away completely.
Beru transformed into a terrifying monster in order to protect Jin-Woo. His
body ballooned up to a giant proportions. His mandibles split wide open as if
he was getting ready to chew on steel, and finally, his claws extended out to
resemble a group of sharp blades!
“Stop!!”
Beru finished getting ready to rip apart his owner’s enemy, and swung all
ten of his claws and their sharp edges at his target.
Swish-!!
Just before all ten blades reached Cha Hae-In….
Grab!
Jin-Woo managed to make it just in time.
“….I told you to stop, didn’t I?”
Jin-Woo stopped both sets of Beru’s claws with his bare hands and began
glaring at his soldier. Beru met that enraged glare and began shuddering. He
quickly leapt back and, while not even bothering to pull that sword of light
from his midriff, prostrated flat on the ground and begged for forgiveness.
“Oh, oh my king. Mercy…..”
Jin-Woo knew what this guy was thinking of the moment he was about to
act. Hell, the singular thought of ‘Protect the Sovereign’ was ringing really
loud inside his head, too.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo glared at Beru for a little while, before shifting his gaze away.
Plop.
Cha Hae-In was completely spent and, unable to stand any longer, plopped
down to the ground. She knew that she just came face to face with death again
during that brief moment.
“Are you alright?”
Jin-Woo walked closer. She was trying to push herself back up, but gave up
in the end and, while keeping her gaze rooted to the floor, nodded her head.
“I am fine.”
‘Fine, my foot.’
Jin-Woo supported her up and asked.
“Why were you pushing yourself that hard? I mean, you shouldn’t have
any reasons to enter my Guild while putting yourself through a wringer like
this, right?”
“…..”
Indeed, this was supposed to be a simple test. More than that, this was a
‘test’ he cooked up to reject her tactfully. But, to think, she’d be this obsessed
about winning, even to the extent of using such a dangerous skill, too.
This couldn’t be chalked up to her desire to win at all costs. That was
why….
“Could it be…..”
….Jin-Woo cautiously asked her, so as to not damage her ego.
“Are you perhaps interested in me?”
“Excuse me??”
Cha Hae-In got flustered and formed a dazed expression of someone
getting hit in the back of her head. Jin-Woo tilted his head.
‘That wasn’t it, either?’
But then, Cha Hae-In carefully reorganised her thoughts and corrected her
answer.
“….Yes, I think so.”
Within the United States’ Hunter Bureau.
The director was feeling rather unhappy after receiving the news of Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s recruitment ending in failure. Instead of getting a report, he
summoned the deputy director to the conference chamber.
The deputy director brought Madam Selner with him.
“Explain what happened back there.”
The director asked even before they had the chance to sit down. This was
the first time since the founding of the Hunter Bureau that their scouting offer,
accompanied by Madam Selner no less, had been rejected by the subject.
The deputy stood up with a darkened expression and lowered his head.
“I’m truly sorry, sir.”
“I didn’t call you here for your apologies, Michael.”
The director pressed a certain button, and all the glass walls were covered
up and the exit was locked tight. The interior had become perfectly
soundproof.
In order to prevent the leakage of information, all matters pertaining to
Madam Selner were never discussed over the phone or through emails. That
was why the director was still unaware of what went down in South Korea
until now.
“Now, please explain to me what happened.”
The deputy director glanced at Madam Selner for a moment or two. She
slowly nodded her head, and only then did the deputy open his tightly-shut
lips once more.
“Madam Selner was able to ‘observe’ Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
“What was the result?”
The director knew how her power operated, so the result of her
‘observation’ was as important as the result of the ‘recruitment’ itself.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is….”
The deputy licked his dried-up lips from tension and continued on.
“….Is apparently one of the ‘kings’.”
“What?!”
The director jumped up from his seat.
Of all the powerful Hunters she had met over the years, she described only
three people as ‘kings’. And all three of them were powerful enough to shake
the world by the scruff of its neck, too.
Quite literally, they were the zenith of Hunters! And the man named Seong
Jin-Woo had to be included in that list now, as well.
The director shifted his gaze over to Madam Selner and asked her.
“Does that mean Hunter Seong Jin-Woo possesses the level of power
equal to other Special Authority-rank Hunters?”
Strangely enough, she promptly shook her head.
“Excuse me?”
Frowns formed on the director’s forehead.
The deputy could amply understand how his boss must be feeling right
about now. He, too, had displayed a similar reaction back when he heard the
exact same answer, after all.
Madam Selner let out a long sigh.
“Looks like… I’ll have to explain myself a little.”
Her talk began from those words.
“First of all…. I’ll assume that both of you know just what kind of an
ability I possess.”
The director and his deputy both nodded their heads simultaneously. The
former spoke first.
“You said that the Awakened are people connected to the powers of the
‘other side’.”
By staring into the eyes of the Awakened, Madam Selner could sense the
‘passageway’ connecting said Awakened to the other side.
However, she said that there were certain Awakened who were receiving so
much incredible power from the ‘other side’ that it ends up resembling a
blinding flood of light, instead.
These were precisely the ‘kings’ she talked about.
“So, what is different about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, then?”
“He doesn’t have a passageway.”
Madam shivered in fear again.
“When I looked into his eyes, the darkness within him was staring back
at me. Oh, my god. He was the darkness itself.”
The deputy director refuted this immediately.
“But, he has helped out a lot of people during his tenure as a Hunter, and
I can’t see him as someone as evil as you describe him to be….”
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was indeed a vicious, evil individual, he’d have
immediately killed the two agents who pointed guns at him where they stood.
However, he just let that slide without caring too much about it.
Madam shook her head.
“I wasn’t talking about whether Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a good or
evil man, deputy director.”
The light shining in her eyes was determined.
“No, I’m talking about the origin of his power.”
The director had been listening to her with his hands pressed below his chin
until then, but he finally raised his voice.
“There’s no mistaking that he’s a powerful Hunter, yes?”
Madam nodded her head.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, he’s not borrowing someone else’s power. He
only relies on the power residing within him, so he’s not restricted by the
passageway. Which means…..”
“There’s no limit to his power…..”
The deputy director muttered absently before breaking into an abrupt
shudder. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how absurd the level of power
gushing out without any limit could potentially be.
The director fell into a deep thought after he heard both of his guests. And
a short while later, he nodded his head, evidently having made his mind up
over something.
“Madam, thank you for your hard work.”
After seeing Madam Selner off, the director headed down to the
underground floors of the Hunter Bureau with his deputy in tow.
“Director, where are we going?”
“Ninth basement floor.”
“Isn’t that where we store old records?”
“We have something else secured there besides the records.”
The director watched as the number on the elevator’s display panel steadily
decrease and continued on.
“If we can’t rely on Madam Selner’s power, then we should use a
different method to bring him in.”
That man was still so young. And he possessed unfathomable power.
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo indeed possessed incredible power just as Madam
Selner had eluded to, then it no longer mattered whether that was the power of
light or the power of darkness.
A knife you picked up to protect yourself would look like a deadly weapon
from someone else’s perspective. And the director wanted to possess the knife
called Seong Jin-Woo.
They arrived at their destination, and while unlocking a series of electronic
door locks, steadily walked deeper into the ninth underground floor. A few
Bureau agents greeted them as they walked past, but the director didn’t even
spare a single glance.
“Do you still recall the very first rank S Gate ever to appear?”
“Of course.”
How could anyone forget the worst dungeon break in history that destroyed
a portion of the Western United States?
The American government summoned in the world’s most powerful
Hunters with an unbelievably huge amount of reward on offer, and eventually,
they succeeded in killing the boss-level monster that emerged from that rank
S Gate.
However, only five survived that encounter. Meaning, just a single monster
managed to kill dozens of the best Hunters out there. Without their sacrifice,
the nation of the United States of America might have ceased to exist
altogether.
That was why the American government bestowed the five remaining
saviours the rights equalling that of the country itself, and that’s where the
term ‘Special Authority-rank’ originated from.
The director mouthed the name of the monster that brought upon one of the
worst tragedies in the history of mankind.
“Kamish the Dragon….”
Didn’t the Mage-type Hunters say that ‘Kamish’ meant an undying flame?
They entered the deepest room on the floor, and the director opened the
safe found in there. And that’s when a single Rune Stone, under a heavy
guard and being monitored constantly, revealed itself.
The deputy director flinched in surprise.
“In that case, could that thing be….?”
“Your guess is correct.”
The director placed his hand on top of the reinforced glass shielding the
Rune Stone and formed a smile.
“This Rune Stone came out from that Kamish’s corpse.”
Two of the Special Authority-rank Hunters settled down in the US after the
end of the Kamish raid. In a way, they were the gifts that Kamish managed to
deliver to the US.
To avoid another calamity like this, the Americans established the Hunter
Bureau and focused all their might on improving the strengths of the Hunters.
Around eight years passed by since then.
Simply because no Mage-type Hunters were among the surviving Special
Authority-rank Hunters, Kamish’s Rune Stone was tucked away in this cold
underground storage beneath the Hunter Bureau, waiting for a new owner to
come along.
The director formed a meaningful smile as he peered into the glass case.
“Kamish will present us with yet another invaluable gift to our beautiful
country very soon.”
Chapter 136 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Hyung-nim, I heard that it might be difficult for us to get the permit for
the Gate that appeared yesterday.”
The first thing that the chairman of the Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su,
did after arriving for work was to harden his expression.
“What was that?”
The Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae hurriedly explained himself.
“The result from the Association folks measuring that thing apparently
came out higher than they expected.”
“What, it’s a rank S?!”
“No, not that. They say it’s a rank A, but right at the top of the scale.”
“Gimme a freaking break, man. Really now.”
If it was a rank S Gate, then they could have given up on it without
hesitation. The Knight Order Guild didn’t have a single rank S Hunter in their
midst, so it wouldn’t make much sense for them to attempt clearing a rank S
Gate, after all.
Just like back in the Jeju Island raid, the Association would have to
summon every rank S Hunters in the country just to deal with such a Gate.
However, the story would change drastically if the magic energy emission
measurement came out to be rank ‘A’. The Knight Order Guild would be
ridiculed for being unable to deal with a rank A Gate, even though they were
supposed to be one of the five major Guilds in South Korea.
Their already thinning presence could become even more invisible at this
rate.
“Hyung-nim, what will you do?”
“Not sure yet.”
“If we don’t get involved, then the folks from the Shining Star would
definitely show up….”
The Shining Star Guild from the district of Honam. Fine blood vessels
bulged within Park Jong-Su’s eyes when he heard that name.
“You want to gift that big Gate hovering right in front of our house to the
hands of Mah Dong-Wook?!”
“No, I’m just saying, hyung-nim.”
“I won’t let that happen, even over my dead body.”
“Then, you wanna take it on, hyung-nim?”
The previously-agitated Park Jong-Su suddenly closed his mouth shut.
His reaction was obvious, though. Just one word from him would decide
the fate of not just him, but the rest of the raid team members, as well. Even if
he was agitated, he shouldn’t mutter whatever he felt like.
A migraine crept into Park Jong-Su’s head.
‘The rank A Hunters in my Guild can stand toe to toe with the rank As
from other large Guilds.’
No, if one were to consider the number or the overall quality of the rank As
in the Knight Order’s roster, then his outfit easily equalled the best Guild in
South Korea, the Hunters.
The only issue was to do with the lack of rank S Hunters.
Because they didn’t have any rank S Hunters in their roster, the Knight
Order was in real danger of being kicked out of the so-called five major Guild
of South Korea.
For the same reason, the elites of Knight Order were more than good
enough to deal with regular rank A Gates. However, if it was a Gate measured
to be at the top end of the rank A spectrum, then as they didn’t have a rank S
Hunter, the Knight Order had to risk the lives of their raid team members
when attempting to clear it.
Even though it was rated nominally at rank A, the difficulty of clearing
such a dungeon would be a lot closer to a rank S in reality. The Hunter’s
Association also knew of the dangers, and that was why they hadn’t decided
on whether to issue the raid permit or not to the Knight Order.
‘……..’
As Park Jong-Su’s silent deliberation grew lengthier, Jeong Yun-Tae
cautiously voiced his opinion to his boss.
“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then we’ll all die
for sure.”
“I’m sure we will.”
It was already tough trying to deal with the highest-rated rank A Gate, but
if it were to morph into a dang Red Gate? Even thinking about that horrified
him.
If lady luck was on their side, half of the team would survive. If not, the
whole of the raid team, including himself, would perish inside the dungeon.
‘If I think about it objectively, then I should give up on this one.’
But then again, he should consider the fate of the Knight Order as good as
finished if the story of them giving up on a rank A Gate gets around. Just
which newbie would want to join a Guild that didn’t have a single rank S
Hunter, and couldn’t even deal with a rank A Gate?
“In that case, hyung-nim, how about forming an alliance with another
Guild?”
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
“Who’d wanna form an alliance with us when they already know we
can’t go at it alone and need help?”
Especially when they monopolise everything a rank A Gate could offer if
the Knight Order was removed from the picture altogether? And, even if they
formed an alliance, it’d prove to be problematic, still.
‘It’s the same as us walking around advertising our incompetence.’
Deep frowns of worry drew upon their faces. It was then.
“If allying with another Guild is a problem, then how about working with
a freelancer?”
The two men’s heads snapped in unison towards the direction of the
woman’s voice, coming from their side. It was from the rank A Healer
charged with mending the elite raid team, Jeong Ye-Rim.
A Healer was given a lot of say in the matters of a raid. And if that Healer
just so happened to be a rank A possessing various skills, then there was no
need to even mention that.
However, as the fate of the Knight Order Guild was hanging in the balance
here, Park Jong-Su couldn’t easily hide his troubled expression.
“We want to go inside the hardest rank A Gate, so how could a single
freelancer help…”
But then, Park Jong-Su stopped his words right there.
‘Ah!!’
Because, he just remembered a certain someone in the middle of his own
speech. A man capable of sweeping away rank S monsters all alone, never
mind rank As!
Unable to suppress his excitement anymore, Park Jong-Su shot up from his
seat.
‘If Mister Seong Jin-Woo joins us, then….!’
That man easily brushed off a monster that the combined might of the
Korean rank S Hunters couldn’t do anything about. If he chose to participate,
then the safety of the raid team members was as good as 100% guaranteed.
And, was that all?
They could also avoid the ignominy of having to borrow another Guild’s
power to clear a rank A Gate, too.
‘On the contrary, the fame of the Knight Order would increase, instead.’
Allying with the best Hunter in the country to complete a raid would not
negatively affect the Guild in any shape or form.
The guaranteed safety of the team members, as well as a boost to the
honour of the Knight Order Guild itself – this was a wonderful way to catch
two birds with one stone.
Feeling really excited now, Park Jong-Su spoke with an eager voice.
“What is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doing right now?”
Both Jeong Ye-Rim, who originally came up with the idea, and Jeong Yun-
Tae quietly listening from the side, shook their heads.
“Since he cleared the Gate appearing in the middle of the road not too
long ago, he’s gone pretty quiet nowadays.”
Jeong Yun-Tae recalled seeing Seong Jin-Woo on one of the TV news
broadcasts recently, and pulled his phone out.
“Should I find out the contact number for Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim,
hyung-nim?”
“No, don’t bother. Put your phone down.”
“Eh?”
“Do you think you should try to solve something this important over a
phone call? No, we gotta meet up with him and discuss it face to face.”
“Aha!”
Jeong Yun-Tae agreed with that opinion immediately, and Park Jong-Su
continued on with a smile.
“Let’s go up north.”
That evening.
Cha Hae-In was lying on her bed with sheets pulled right up over her head.
But she was writhing around in great distress at the moment.
‘Why did I go and say, I think so?! Just why!!’
Wasn’t that the exact same thing as confessing?!
She wildly kicked the sheets away, and finally stopped moving only after a
thought popped up into her head out of the blue.
‘Then…..’
How was she to decipher Mister Seong Jin-Woo’s reply, then?
[“In that case, isn’t there a better way than to join my Guild?”]
She wanted to quickly escape from that situation and told him that she’d
think about it before leaving in a hurry, but simply from recalling that
moment caused such distress that her thought process ground to a complete
halt almost immediately.
Blush.
Her face blushed from the memories she remembered yet again.
Back when she looked into the maddened eyes of the enlarged summoned
creature, she predicted her unavoidable death. She felt absolute terror. This
was the fate of the prey.
Cha Hae-In even squeezed her eyes shut as ten claws descended upon her
from both sides. But, then….
She felt the warmth coming from her back. At the same time, a familiar
scent gently wrapped all around her.
‘Ah….’
Cha Hae-In cautiously opened her eyes and looked behind her. And she
found Jin-Woo standing there, busy glaring with angry eyes at the summoned
creature while stopping the claws with his bare hands.
It was true that her heart skipped a beat in that moment.
But then….
[“Are you perhaps interested in me?”]
Wasn’t it patently unfair to ask a question like that in that sort of a
situation?!
‘No, wait.’
Cha Hae-In shook her head hard as if to shake off all the distracting
thoughts. Even if he asked her like that, she shouldn’t have answered him
truthfully.
‘He might start seeing me as a strange person, after all.’
Even though she knew she shouldn’t, her lips parted on their own.
Maybe because her mind felt more relaxed when she was around Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo, she ended up revealing a side to him that she always kept
hidden. It was as if she wasn’t herself anymore.
‘….As if I wasn’t myself?’
Those words sounded rather familiar for some reason.
Where could it have been from? She could vaguely remember hearing a
similar expression from somewhere.
It was then – a piece of memory once erased from her mind brushed past
her brain.
Cha Hae-In quickly bolted upright.
‘…..!!’
She finally recalled that voice, a voice that seemed to slowly fade away to
the other side, just like a waking dream. Even though it couldn’t have been
that long ago.
‘I, I….’
Cha Hae-In did her very best to remember the contents of the voice as well
as the owner of it. The full scope of the memory, blurry and indistinct as if a
thick veil of fog was covering it, slowly regained its former glory.
‘….I met with Hunter Min Byung-Gu.’
Back when she lost her consciousness and was being dragged into the
endless void, Hunter Min Byung-Gu appeared out of nowhere and pulled her
back by her wrist. She felt momentarily displeased from her peaceful rest
being interrupted back then.
She remembered being puzzled by the black armour covering the entirety
of Hunter Min Byung-Gu. Only his face was visible outwardly.
Even that face seemed quite sad for some reason, which was unlike his
usual self.
As the memories of those moments slowly crept back into her mind, Cha
Hae-In felt a chill run down her spine.
Hunter Min Byung-Gu spoke to her, his expression barely holding back his
tears.
‘To Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, what….?’
After ending the shower, Jin-Woo stood before the bathroom window.
‘Hmm….’
He sure looked okay from where he was standing, but….
But, to think that he was so good looking that a beauty like Cha Hae-In felt
enough interest to try switching Guilds!
‘Am I really that good looking?’
Jin-Woo peered deeper into the mirror. And a smirk leaked out of his
mouth. He wasn’t planning to drown in narcissism even if no one told him to.
He was confident of only one thing about himself, and that would be….
….That would be his taut muscles, getting progressively firmer through
repeated daily quest routines, as well as his height that suddenly grew up
much higher than before, probably due to the influence of the System. That
was about it. Meaning, all he had was his body and not much else.
As for his face…. Well, minus his sharper than normal eyes, wouldn’t it be
on the level of an average man commonly seen on the streets?
It was at this point that he noticed something.
‘Hold on.’
Jin-Woo’s expression became serious as he stared into the mirror. He
leaned his head slightly to the side, and took an even closer look than before.
The Jin-Woo of the mirror’s reflection and the Jin-Woo of reality stared at
each other for a long while.
‘Uh?’
A strange light flickered in Jin-Woo’s eyes. His gaze swept all over his
face. And as he thought…
He really did change.
Those small scars, spots and nicks that couldn’t be seen normally and
needed to be looked at really close, had all disappeared from his face even
before he had time to notice it.
‘Is this because of the ‘Will to Recover’ buff?’
One of the buff effects he got as the reward for becoming a Player said that
‘all his damaged body parts would be recovered back to their original state’.
This buff even managed to regenerate the leg that got cut off by one of the
stone statues, too. So, it wouldn’t be so strange for those little skin damages to
be healed completely, as well. However, what really came across as
mystifying was….
‘….I think I’ve actually grown younger?’
He was originally in the middle of his twenties. But the him in the mirror
looked two, three years younger, in his early twenties. Now that was a
surprising thing.
The magical energy apparently could delay the ageing process of the
Awakened to a certain degree, so could this be a similar effect to that?
‘Gimme a break….’
Jin-Woo thought that it was a funny notion for a grown man to stare at
himself in the mirror like this, so he decided to leave the bathroom. With
excellent timing, his younger sister also emerged from her bedroom, and the
siblings got to have a brief reunion in the living room.
Jin-Woo grinned and called out to Jin-Ah.
“Hey, sis?”
“Ng?”
“How do I look to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, my appeal as a man.”
“Huh??”
Jin-Ah furrowed her brows.
“And where did you find your baseless confidence from? Because, you’re
still the same stay-at-home oppa in my eyes, you know?”
“Alright, thanks for that.”
Jin-Woo grinned and pinched her cheek lightly, and she too threw a rather
sharp kick to his shin as a retaliation. Of course, the one jumping around in
pain was Jin-Ah.
“You forgot what kind of a person your oppa was? Can you even study
properly with that head of yours?”
“What was that?”
Jin-Ah pouted and narrowed her eyes at him.
“I was ranked first place in the mock test in the entire school, I’ll have
you know.”
Jin-Woo really enjoyed his sister’s reaction and had a hard time swallowing
back his laughter.
One of the best things about having your family around was that, even if
you changed, they still treated you the same with exactly the same attitude as
before.
Jin-Woo used the towel to rub his wet hair and walked past Jin-Ah.
“Work hard.”
“You too, oppa.”
Just before he slipped into his room, though, he remembered something and
looked behind him.
“Ah, right. I’m thinking of creating a Guild soon.”
“Ohhh!”
Jin-Ah’s expression brightly and her eyes sparkled brilliantly as well.
“Oppa, are you going to be called a ‘chairman’ from now on, too?”
“If it all works out.”
“What’s the name of the Guild?”
“That’s what I wanted to hear your opinion on.”
“Oh! What is it? What is it??”
Jin-Woo cautiously asked his little sister busy looking at him with eyes full
of expectations.
“What do you think of ‘Solo Play’ Guild?”
Chapter 137 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“HUH?”
The answer sounded the same but its ‘nuance’ was rather a lot different
than the one that came before. If she was kidding around just now, then she
was dead serious this time.
“What’s wrong? You think it’s weird?”
“…..Oppa, why are you naming your Guild like that?”
“Because I like moving around solo.”
“It does sound like you, but still, isn’t it a bit strange to name your Guild
like that?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t your ability summoning out those black-armoured soldiers?”
“Yeah.”
“So, if you get technical about it, you aren’t fighting alone, right?”
Now that he heard her opinion, that made some sense. Jin-Woo nodded his
head.
‘I may think of it as just another one of my skills but it won’t look that
way to other people, is that it?’
Indeed, she had a point there.
This Guild might end up accompanying him for the rest of his life, so he
wanted to give it a name that best represented who he was. And that’s why he
went with ‘Solo Play’, but now….
‘If the true meaning doesn’t come across all that well, it’ll be useless.’
What could be another term that could describe him the best?
Jin-Woo asked his sister’s opinion again.
“How about ‘Ah-Jin’ Guild?”
“Ahjin?”
Jin-Ah mouthed the name for a bit, before asking him back with a smile.
“I kinda like it, cuz it sounds like my name but flipped around. But, what
does it even mean?”
“Ah (我) means ‘myself’ and Jin (進) means ‘moving forward’.”
Meaning, only he could tread on this road. And it was a name he wanted to
give to the Guild that would grow alongside him.
“Combine them together, and you get the meaning of ‘I shall progress
forward’. That’s Ah-Jin (我進).”
“Ohh…”
Jin-Ah came up with the best praise she could think of.
“You know, that doesn’t sound bad at all.”
***
day.
Jin-Woo went to the office armed with the new Guild name.
“Hey. It’s about the Guild’s name….”
Yu Jin-Ho had been in the office since early morning, working. When he
heard the new name from Jin-Woo, a brilliant smile formed on his face.
“That is an excellent name, hyung-nim!!”
Didn’t they say that a swan floating elegantly on water was kicking
furiously under the surface? Yu Jin-Ho had been feeling as desperate as that
old saying.
‘Whatever it is, everything will be fine as long as it’s not Solo Play.’
He imagined ‘it’ so, so many times already. And that would be him
introducing himself as ‘Hello, I’m Yu Jin-Ho, Vice-Chairman of the Solo Play
Guild’.
That seriously tormented him.
He couldn’t be sure of why, but a corner of his heart ached every time he
imagined himself saying those words. However, how could he dare to rebel
against a name that hyung-nim had worked so hard to come up with?
He resigned himself to that fate but then, a heaven-sent opportunity came
knocking in his way!
“Hyung-nim, let’s go with that as our Guild’s name!”
Jin-Woo made his decision after receiving his partner’s genuine consent
this time.
“Okay, so we decided on the Guild’s name, finally.”
Yu Jin-Ho began crying out in elation inwardly after hearing Jin-Woo make
that declaration. Meanwhile, the latter rubbed his chin and muttered out.
“The remaining issue is the last founding member slot, isn’t it?”
“Oh, that. Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim yesterday?”
“I don’t think it’ll work out with Hunter Cha. She’s not exactly who I’ve
been looking for.”
‘Keok?!’
Yu Jin-Ho hastily swallowed a shocked gasp. He expected his hyung-nim
to hold a high standard, but to think that he’d not be satisfied with a Hunter on
Cha Hae-In’s level!
Hunter Cha Hae-In was a rank S, she was still very young, her records were
excellent, and to top them all off, she was beautiful as well. No matter from
which angle, she was pretty much perfect. At least, from the perspective of an
‘average’ joe, that was.
However, would the word ‘average’ even apply to his hyung-nim?
‘I mean, he almost swept away all the rank S monsters by himself in the
first public raid he participated in as a rank S, after all.’
It’d be oh-so-obvious that ‘regular’ rank S Hunters wouldn’t even be able
to catch his attention. But, if that was the case then just what kind of a Hunter
would satisfy hyung-nim’s strict judging criteria?
It felt as if the hundreds of applications this yet-to-be-named Guild had
received recently all due to the name of ‘Seong Jin-Woo’ were about to be
thrown into a trash heap now.
‘But, I don’t think anyone will be better than Hunter Cha Hae-In among
the rest of the applicants, though….’
Yu Jin-Ho was suddenly beset with worry that the Guild might never get to
open its door at this rate, and he cautiously asked Jin-Woo.
“Excuse me, hyung-nim. What kind of a person are you looking for,
anyway?”
“Someone with a Hunter licence who doesn’t care much about the
Guild’s activity but we can still place our trust in.”
“Uh….?”
Yu Jin-Ho thought up of a person meeting that criteria perfectly right away.
‘Isn’t that…..’
It was then.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the office’s entrance.
“Who is it?”
Yu Jin-Ho stood up from his seat and opened the door. And he found two
unfamiliar men standing there looking somewhat awkward and all.
They were none other than Chairman Park Jong-Su and his deputy, Jeong
Yun-Tae of the Knight Order Guild, who rushed up to Seoul to have a chat
with Jin-Woo.
Park Jong-Su recognised Jin-Woo first and formed a bright smile.
“Oh! You’re here.”
Jin-Woo got up from his seat and asked them.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, where are my manners?”
Park Jong-Su hurriedly walked up closer and extended his hand out for a
gentlemanly handshake.
“I’m Park Jong-Su, the Master of the Knight Order.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head in acceptance. Indeed, he thought he had seen this
man’s face from somewhere before. Even if he wasn’t all that interested, he’d
still recognise a Master of one of the five major Guilds in South Korea. Such
a guy would constantly pop up in news and in television shows, after all.
However, the Knight Order was a major Guild based in the city of Busan,
so….
After that brief introduction, Jin-Woo could only tilt his head in confusion.
“By the way, what brings the representatives from the Knight Order to
Seoul like this, if I may ask?”
“Ahh, the thing is….”
Park Jong-Su hesitated slightly before exchanging a couple of glances with
Jeong Yun-Tae. With some difficulty, he opened his mouth.
“We got assigned a pretty big fish among the rank A Gates, and….”
Hesitation disappeared from his eyes almost immediately as he carried on.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, you won’t regret it from hearing us out,
that much I assure you. Would you mind taking some time out of your day
and listen to what I have to say?”
***
[Citizens cowering in fear at the super-large Gate appearing before the
Gwang-An-ri’s coastline….]
[The Hunter’s Association, still deliberating on the raid permit.]
[Will the Knight Order Guild give up on the raid of Gwang-An-ri’s
Gate?]
[Will the nightmare of Jeju Island repeat itself?]
Park Jong-Su picked one out of the many online news articles and then,
played the video clip embedded in it.
The video footage, obviously taken by a civilian, contained the crowd’s
scared voices as its BGM. But, that was understandable – the Gate in the
video was just nonsensically too large. It was taller than a ten-story building,
even.
This particular Gate was so big that it managed to terrify even those
citizens who were now pretty much numbed by the smaller Gates popping up
almost everywhere without warning these days.
“The size of a Gate and its ranking don’t always line up, but….”
Park Jong-Su ended the video playback and further explained himself.
“As befitting its nonsensical size, it’s also apparently busy dumping out a
massive amount of magic energy as well.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes began gleaming from this rather interesting piece of news.
“Is it a rank S?”
“We’ve been told that it hasn’t reached the rank of ‘unable to measure’,
but just below the threshold, apparently. It’s supposed to be the largest Gate
to ever appear in Busan.”
Meaning, although it was nominally a rank A, it was far closer to being a
rank S, instead.
‘If that’s the case, I can expect a fair bit of experience points, can’t I?’
In contrary to Jin-Woo’s heart quietly gearing up to pump even faster, Park
Jong-Su’s voice sounded quite bitter as he carried on.
“As you can see from those headlines, the Association doesn’t want to
issue us the raid permit.”
“Is it because it’ll be too dangerous?”
“Our Guild lacks a rank S Hunter, as you might have heard. From the
perspective of the Hunter’s Association, they can’t trust us to get the job
done.”
Park Jong-Su stopped talking there and sneaked a glance at Jin-Woo.
“If you are still searching for a Guild to join, then how about…..?”
Before Park Jong-Su had the chance to finish his sentence, Jin-Woo pointed
at the cover of a file lying on the top of the conference table.
One could quite clearly see the title written on the upper half of the cover.
[List of applicants for the Guild founding member spot]
Park Jong-Su embarrassedly scratched the back of his head and nodded
once.
“Aha….”
And with that, Park Jong-Su’s hope-against-hope attempt at reeling Jin-
Woo to the Knight Order Guild went down the drain. In that case, it was time
to get to the meat of the story.
“The elite Hunters of our Knight Order are in no way inferior compared
to those from the Hunters Guild. It’s just that we don’t have a rank S who
can lead our rank As. That’s all.”
They had done well up until this point, but ‘anything’ could happen during
this particular raid. In case that worried ‘anything’ happens, they definitely
needed the presence of the top-ranked Hunter.
Just a single rank S Hunter would be enough to reverse any situation.
Right now, there was no need to search for one from afar. Because, he was
sitting right here.
Just as the Hunters of the Korean team were facing complete and utter
annihilation, this young man appeared out of nowhere and overturned the
situation all by himself. Such a man was sitting right in front of him.
More than that, now that he could see Hunter Seong Jin-Woo up close….
Even though they were the same Hunters, this man simply instilled trust and
confidence in others.
‘An autograph…. If I ask him, will he give me one?’
Suddenly, Park Jong-Su could understand where the Healer Jeong Ye-Rim
was coming from, back when she asked him to get at least an autograph even
if Seong Jin-Woo said no to the idea of cooperation.
“Is there something on my face?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
Park Jong-Su smiled and waved his hand about before carrying on.
“Actually, I believe that we’ll get the raid permit for this Gate if you
decide to cooperate with our assault team, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo crossed his arms and leaned against the back of his chair. Before
his pondering could get any deeper, though, Park Jong-Su hurriedly added on.
“Of course, we will definitely make sure not to treat you poorly.”
With a smile still etched on his face, he pulled out the prepared contract.
“We will hand over 20% of the revenue generated from this dungeon.”
He was saying that one of the major Guilds was prepared to submit two-
tenths of the potential profit from a Gate to a freelancer. Now that was an
unimaginable offer for a regular Hunter.
Now typically, a rank S Hunter would only commend around ten percent of
the overall revenue when a large Guild raided a dungeon. But the Knight
Order was offering up double of that norm. As Park Jong-Su had said, this
certainly wasn’t a ‘poor’ treatment by any stretch of the imagination.
Unfortunately, Jin-Woo’s thoughts were a bit different.
“Fifty-fifty split.”
Park Jong-Su’s hand flinched momentarily as it was about to pull out a pen
that was supposed to help Jin-Woo sign the contract.
“If you agree to consider me not as a freelancer but as a Guild, then I
shall cooperate with you.”
Jin-Woo made sure that declaration was heard loud and clear.
An earthquake erupted within Park Jong-Su’s eyes at the suggestion of
splitting the revenue in half.
‘Keu-heuk…!’
However, he didn’t have any means to come out as strongly as Jin-Woo
here. It was not an exaggeration to say that the fate of his Knight Order Guild
depended on this raid.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was inwardly clicking his tongue.
‘I mean, twenty percent is just not on, don’t you think so?’
He wasn’t trying to exploit the urgent situation the Knight Order Guild
found themselves in. But, when calculated from all possible angles, the most
sensible ratio of splitting the loot was 50:50.
‘Even if they are the elites of the Knight Order, are they as good as my
Shadow Soldiers?’
Either in number or even in quality, they were incomparable. Not only that,
his side even included a rank S Hunter, too. If the commission received for all
that potential was measly 20%, then that was as good as working for free.
Was there a reason why he should give up on what was rightfully his when
both sides were making a straightforward deal in the name of mutual benefit?
Besides, Jin-Woo also didn’t want to lower his own worth, as well.
“In that case, how about 40 to 60…..”
“Apologies, but I’m not trying to negotiate with the Knight Order Guild
here.”
“Does that mean you won’t accept anything less than 50:50 split?”
Instead of a verbal answer, Jin-Woo nodded once as his reply.
‘Groan….’
Park Jong-Su fell into deep thought.
‘I thought things would work out easily enough because he’s still young
and looks friendly, but I see now that he is no pushover.’
But, that made sense. He was someone that not even the combined might of
South Korea’s rank S Hunters could defeat.
Park Jong-Su was trying to add such a Hunter to his assault team. He
suddenly realised that this young man’s demand might not be as outlandish as
it sounded initially.
‘No, that’s not right.’
Park Jong-Su shook his head.
An outlandish demand?
If the other party decided to come out hard and unforgiving, then forget
about 50:50, he’d have demanded 80% of the loot for himself, instead.
Regardless of what, the one in the bind was not Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in this
situation.
The losses to the Knight Order after giving up on this raid would be too
enormous to even properly take a guess. But, what would this young man lose
in return?
Absolutely nothing at all.
Actually, this was the same thing as this young man unwillingly being
dragged into the negotiation table by the other party. But then, he was only
demanding half of the share, so wasn’t he being quite considerate here?
‘Is that all?’
If this deal does go through, then the Knight Order would be taking out the
most trustworthy insurance policy in South Korea, otherwise known as Seong
Jin-Woo.
Inexplicably, Park Jong-Su recalled what Jeong Yun-Tae told him
yesterday.
[“Hyung-nim. If that thing turns out to be a Red Gate, then we’ll all die
for sure.”]
However, what if Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was accompanying them? This
young man didn’t even bet an eyelid as he faced off against thousands of rank
S monsters.
And, didn’t Park Jong-Su personally confirm how the ants of Jeju all ended
up?
‘Right, that happened, didn’t it?’
Only now did he remember that the man responsible for wiping all those
ants out was sitting right in front of him.
Gulp.
Dry saliva painfully slid down Park Jong-Su’s throat.
He witnessed with his own two eyes the killing field filled with massacred
ants, but here he was, busy yapping on about 20 to 80 split with the man
responsible.
‘Yup, the rude one was actually me, wasn’t it?’
Park Jong-Su finally admitted to his oversight. And then, he became deeply
grateful for Jin-Woo’s gracious counteroffer.
However, being grateful would have to wait.
The offer from the other side meant that he’d be taking a step back, so in
return, he needed to take something away as well if the fairness of the deal
was to be reached.
So, then. What should he do now?
After a lengthy bout of deep deliberation, Park Jong-Su cautiously raised
his voice.
“Alright, we will accept. In return….”
“In return?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, can you take on the boss monster by
yourself?”
Chapter 138 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The handling of trivial matters was now over. Along with the members of
the Knight Order Guild, Jin-Woo moved to the front of the Gate.
Before they were about to enter, though….
“Please wait.”
Chairman Park Jong-Su and his deputy, Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae, began
going through their equipment as well as the conditions of the team members
for the last time.
Maybe because they were now standing before the entrance, the noisy
atmosphere from before was now long gone, replaced by weighty silence.
‘……’
He wasn’t sure from when it started, but Jin-Woo began liking this state of
tension just before entering a dungeon. It felt as if the inside of his head was
settling down.
Such a thing would’ve been totally unimaginable back in the past when he
avoided answering phone calls out of the fear he felt for the Hunter
Association’s periodic call-ups.
“Hyung-nim, there are no problems.”
“Very good.”
Park Jong-Su nodded his head and walked over to Jin-Woo, standing a step
away from the rest of the raid team. The latter shifted his gaze to the leader of
this raid.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Yes?”
Jin-Woo uncrossed his arms and stared directly into Park Jong-Su’s eyes,
and the older man lowered his head right away.
“We’ll be in your care from now on.”
Although short, those words contained many of Park Jong-Su’s feelings
and worries. Jin-Woo used similar words as his reply.
“I’ll be in your care, as well.”
Park Jong-Su and Jeong Yun-Tae entered the Gate first, and the rest of the
Hunters entered one by one after them. And after confirming that the Hunters
had all gone inside, the last person still standing outside, Jin-Woo, slowly
walked into the Gate as well.
[You have entered a dungeon.]
As usual, the System message no one else could see beside him welcomed
Jin-Woo before anything else could happen. But then….
‘Mm?’
Jin-Woo tilted his head.
He was greeted by a dungeon with passageways large enough to
accommodate giants passing by.
He hadn’t entered a lot of high-ranked dungeons before, but he was lucky
enough to be inside one this huge. That was why Jin-Woo wasn’t puzzled by
the size of the dungeon. No, it had to do with this strange feeling he got from
the air of the dungeon itself.
‘What’s this….?’
For some reason, he felt incomparably comfortable inside here.
He felt ominous sensations being carried in the air of the dungeons
countless times, but this would be his first time feeling like this.
However…
“It’s the Ogre!”
Somewhat different from Jin-Woo’s own premonition, the assault team was
greeted by huge trouble from the entrance, instead.
“It’s the Twin-Head Ogre!!”
“Everyone, be careful!!”
A monster that would typically appear as a boss in other high-ranked
dungeons was standing in the entrance, its bloodshot eyes glaring at the
Hunters.
“Grooooaaaar!!!”
A Twin-Head Ogre was about twice the size of a regular Ogre. But it was
difficult to quantify how many times greater the creature’s powers were.
If it were any other ‘regular’ assault team that had to face off against a
Twin-Head Ogre in a dungeon, they would have been utterly frightened out of
their senses and have tried to escape right away, but….
“Let’s go!”
….It was a different story with the elites of the Knight Order.
Park Jong-Su the tanker raised his shield up and rushed towards the Ogre.
Discovering the human approaching it, the monster raised above its two
heads a huge club that looked as if it was made from a tree yanked straight
out of the ground, roots and all.
SLAM!!
The impact force actually shook the interior of the dungeon!
However, Park Jong-Su activated his skill in time to balloon up his muscle
mass and managed to endure against the incredible physical strength of the
Twin-Head Ogre without being brought down to his knees.
“Hyung-nim!”
“I’m fine!”
“Then, I’m coming, too!”
The sub-tanker, Jeong Yun-Tae, stood next to Park Jong-Su.
Succeeding in his mission to get the Ogre’s attention locked firmly onto
himself, Park Jong-Su yelled out loudly, veins in his neck standing up.
“Attack!!”
With that, the counteroffensive of the Knight Order commenced. Arrows,
magic spells, swords, and spears rained down on the Twin-Head Ogre.
Krrroooaar!!
The Twin-Head Ogre became agitated and began rampaging around.
However, Park Jong-Su didn’t give the monster a chance to divert its attention
elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Jeong Yun-Tae quickly ran over and defended the others
whenever they were targetted by the Ogre.
THUD!!
Just now, Jeong Yun-Tae defended against the Ogre’s kick and was shoved
back greatly as two lines were gouged on the ground by his feet. Thanks to
him, though, other Hunters suffered almost no damage at all.
“K-krooar, Kheu-uh-uhrk!”
The body of the Ogre was gradually shaved away due to the combined
attacks of the damage dealers. It was a spectacular teamwork!
From this spectacle alone, Jin-Woo could now understand why the Knight
Order Guild managed to lock down on the position of Yeong-Nam district’s
number one for such a long time.
“Gheo-uh-uhrk!”
Eventually, the Ogre fell backwards, bubbles foaming in its mouths.
THUD!
It was the moment when a boss-level monster fell without injuring a single
person. A perfect victory, in other words.
“We did it!”
The leader of the team, Park Jong-Su, tightly clenched both of his fists.
Was it because they had a guest today? Not just him, but even the rest of
his teammates were much more motivated than usual.
How would they have looked in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s eyes just now?
‘I’d be beyond ecstatic if he got moved by our teamwork and suddenly
decides to join our Guild….’
Sneak…
Park Jong-Su sneaked a glance and immediately encountered Jin-Woo’s
gaze.
Feeling as if his inner thoughts had been laid bare, Park Jong-Su became a
bit sheepish and began wondering what he should do next, before deciding to
approach Jin-Woo with a warm smile.
“We’ll stay here for a bit longer to recheck our equipment before
advancing forward.”
“Ah, okay. Please do.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
While he only needed to drink potions to refill his magic energy or stamina,
other Hunters clearly suffered from a physical limit to their magical energy
reserve or fatigue. It was a must to take a break, even if it was a short one,
after fighting against a powerful monster like that.
Park Jong-Su was now standing next to Jin-Woo. He stared at the dead
body of the Ogre and spoke with an awkward look on his face.
“This is going to be big trouble.”
“…?”
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Park Jong-Su. The latter continued on.
“It seems likely that this raid won’t be easy, unfortunately. To think, we’d
end up running into a Twin-Head Ogre right from the start.”
He rubbed his chin before turning to look at Jin-Woo with a grin.
“Do you know what the nickname of a Twin-Head Ogre is, by any
chance?”
Jin-Woo shook his head, and the older man replied as if he expected that
answer.
“It’s the ‘grave keeper’.”
Did that nickname come about because it was such a powerful monster that
killed a lot of people? However, Park Jong-Su’s explanation was far off Jin-
Woo’s estimations.
“The thing is….”
The older man cast his gaze deeper into the cavern’s interior. An ominous
aura seemed to be oozing out from the other side of the cavern still
enshrouded in darkness, at least in his eyes.
“….When you meet one as the boss of a dungeon, it’s fine, but when you
run into one right at the beginning, then well, you’ll find that this
dungeon…”
Park Jong-Su sounded worried as he finished his sentence.
“….This dungeon is full of undead monsters.”
An urgent call came through to the Hunter’s Association emergency
hotline. The caller’s voice belonged to a young teenage girl.
The call centre employee heard the scared sobbing coming from the other
side of the line as soon as the call got connected, and realised something was
wrong.
“Yes, it is. Please speak.”
“Outside? Where are you making this call from?”
Her sobbing meant that her words were constantly being cut off and it was
hard to carry on a conversation. However, the call centre employee was
experienced enough to piece together those stuttering words and figured out
what this girl was trying to say.
Immediately, an urgent message was sent to the Association’s main
building.
[Monsters appeared in the local school, one confirmed victim, the
informant in hiding.]
Could it be that a dungeon break occurred inside a school? The employee
shuddered from the horrifying images taking root in his head and focused all
of his being in trying to keep this female student alive.
“How many monsters are there? Are they any near you right now?”
“Please calm down and listen to my voice.”
This employee knew very well from his extensive experience about how
weak-kneed humans could get when faced with life-threatening situations. He
knew he had to be calm and collected in such situations while answering the
call.
He had to calm the caller down sufficiently enough and then, had to
suggest some kind of a plan for the current situation. That was his role.
“Right now, Hunters from the Association are headed your way. These
Hunters will not give up on you guys. That is why you need to stay calm and
rational, okay? Can you hear me?”
The voice coming from the other side of the line was gradually recovering
from the panicked state. That was a good sign.
The employee thought that he succeeded in calming the female student
down, and then asked the question that could prove to be most important in
saving the girl’s life.
“By any chance, those monsters… do you know what kind of monsters
those are?”
“Which monsters are they?”
If the monsters possessed weak senses and chased after humans using their
eyes, then hiding in a bathroom would work as a suitable solution for the time
being. The employee prayed that such monsters had invaded the school,
instead.
‘Can it be?!’
The eyes of the employee grew wider and wider.
“Orcs… are they Orcs?”
‘N-no, this can’t be!!’
The employee shot up from his seat before he realised it and cried out.
“You need to run away from there! Hurry! Orcs can…..”
It was then.
Despite the employee’s earnest prayer, he could hear the sound of the
bathroom door being destroyed, followed soon by a sorrowful scream.
The Knight Order’s raid was trucking along quite smoothly.
As a matter of fact, things were working out so well that the Hunters felt
the whole thing was strangely too easy.
For instance, there encountered yet another monster, but….
“Kuwaaahk!”
A rotting creature the size of a house tried to escape from the assault team,
only to get ensnared by the restriction magic spell cast by the Mage-type
Hunter, and soon, it too met with a grisly end.
And when the exact same thing repeated itself over and over again, the
Hunters were getting progressively more puzzled.
“Isn’t this weird?”
“Why are these monsters running away when they see us?”
“Isn’t it like they were being chased away?”
Powerful undead creatures, such as Vampires, Lichs, Dread Worms, Red
Ghouls, etc., continued to pop up inside this dungeon.
Undeads were difficult opponents to fight against.
Not only were they difficult to kill, but even after killing them, Hunters
couldn’t let their guards down. Because no one knew when they would
regenerate or get revived to start attacking again.
However, these creatures couldn’t do much to display their prowess for
some reason, and continued to get powerlessly massacred at the assault team’s
hands.
‘It’s like they are too scared and can’t even think about resisting us…..’
That was Park Jong-Su’s assessment after observing the monsters and their
strange behaviour. He even thought that maybe there was no need to bring
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo along when things were this easy.
‘Seriously, man. You really can’t tell what’s going to happen inside a
dungeon.’
Who’d have imagined that they were clearing a highest-difficult rank A
dungeon this painlessly?
‘Even still….’
Being able to end a raid without a single person getting injured was always
a good thing. There might have been an unnecessary loss of profit here, but
result-wise, it sure was a big relief.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was inwardly feeling quite disappointed.
‘Here I was, really hyped up because this place was supposed to be the
hardest rank A dungeon there could be….’
There was still that enormous magic energy leaking out from the deeper
part of the dungeon, but would he even be able to earn any experience points
if things continued on at this rate?
Because of the spirited attacks by the members of the Knight Order Guild,
he didn’t even have a single chance to step forward at all.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo inwardly sighed out. But then, he abruptly halted his steps.
‘Uh?’
When Jin-Woo looked behind him, Healer Jeong Ye-Rim also came to a
stop as well.
“What’s the matter, Seong Hunter-nim? Is something following us?”
Jin-Woo didn’t answer her. As a matter of fact, his heart was beating so
madly that he didn’t even have any leeway to answer her questions.
‘Could it be…..?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes, as they stared towards the outside of this dungeon, began
quaking violently. Only then did Jeong Ye-Rim also realise that something
was wrong as well.
“Seong Hunter-nim??”
It was then.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened like stone.
“Uwaahhk!”
“Kyaahhk!”
Heartbreaking screams rose up from all corners of the school.
Less than half of the students managed to escape from the school alive. As
for the rest, either they had all ended up as corpses, or were busy running
around inside the school’s premise trying to evade the Orcs. Unfortunately,
their futile resistance could only buy them a brief respite.
The hunts of the Orcs that started from the lowest floor continued on to
higher floors and drove all victims caught in their wake to gruesome deaths.
“Uwaaahk!”
The students who couldn’t run away in time and remained trapped in their
classrooms could only cover their ears as more screams rose up from the
lower floors.
The classrooms for the third year students were located on the top floor of
the school building. Jin-Ah was also among those 3rd-year students who
couldn’t run away in time. The doorway shoddily blocked up with junk was
the only thing that could defend them against the marauding Orc horde.
“Ah….”
“….F*ck me.”
The male students grabbed onto chairs and mops or whatever that could
serve as weapons with their trembling hands. But, none of them helped to
instil a sense of confidence in the scared students.
No, all they could do was to wait and pray fervently for the Hunters to
show up before those Orcs stepped foot inside their classroom.
KWANG!
The bent classroom door was flung away.
“Uwaaahk!”
“Kyaaahk!”
As the screams of the frightened students resounded out, two Orcs covered
in the blood of the countless number of people they had murdered stepped
into the classroom.
“U-uwaaahk!”
A male student holding a mop near the door threw away his make-shift
weapon and ran to the back entrance, before yanking it open.
However, another Orc was lying in wait there, and it slammed an axe down
on the forehead of this fleeing male student.
Kwajeeck!
The male student fell powerlessly, the light of life leaving his eyes.
“Kyaaaahk!”
“Uwak!”
Both entrances of the classroom were now blocked off by the Orcs.
The remaining students screamed out loudly and crowded against the
windows, but they all knew that the results would largely end up the same
regardless of whether they chose to jump out from a sixth-story window or
get caught by the Orcs.
‘Oppa, oppa!!’
Finding herself stuck in the middle of the students fleeing towards the
corners of the classroom as they tried to get away from the Orcs, Jin-Ah
squeezed her eyes shut and called out to Jin-Woo.
Her oppa, the rank S Hunter. If she called out to him, it felt as if he’d show
up here right away. That was her only hope.
“Kurururuk.”
“Ku-euk?”
The Orcs stopped advancing after they surrounded the students from all
corners. They began conversing to each other in their native tongue.
“Boss. There is a human with magic energy coming off.”
“Kill that one first.”
Unlike regular humans, those that knew how to wield magic energy were
dangerous opponents. Therefore, these Orcs had to deal with a threat like that
first.
The Orc, having received the boss’s order, began scanning the students
before eventually locking onto Jin-Ah’s location.
“Ah!”
The Orc grabbed her wrist and dragged her out to the middle of the
classroom.
“Is this female the one?”
“It is, boss.”
The underling was right. Although faint, they could sense magic energy
coming from somewhere on this girl. Whether that came from this female’s
abilities or some sort of a weapon she possessed, it didn’t change the fact that
she had to be eliminated first before everyone else.
The boss raised its axe up.
“Ah, ah….!”
Jin-Ah saw the axe rising up high above her head, and eventually squeezed
her eyes shut.
“Kuruk.”
The boss twitched its nose and swung the axe down with a disinterested
face.
Swiiiish-!
‘Oppa!’
But then, this happened.
Rumble-!
A veil of black smoke suddenly exploded out from Jin-Ah’s shadow and
took on a solid shape.
Grab.
The brows of the advanced scout’s boss shot up high in surprise.
Because, it just realised that a High Orc wearing black armour suddenly
appeared out of nowhere to grab onto its wrist, that was why.
“Kuruk?”
Before the puzzled Orc could say something….
The High Orc threw a simple punch and shattered the head of the monster
like an exploding watermelon.
Kwajeeck!!
Chapter 141 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Right away, Guroktaru felt every hair on its body stand up.
‘What is this?’
As time slowed down from the extreme tension it felt, the Orc Chieftain’s
instincts of a warrior, trained to their very limit, sent out countless warning
bells. It said that a truly ‘terrifying’ being was headed this way.
Badump!!
The sound of the Orc’s heartbeat rang around painfully in its eardrums, like
a series of thunderclaps.
If it didn’t get out of here right now, it’d be killed.
The sharp instincts of a warrior, honed like a fine blade, would sometimes
display powers close to that of the gift of foresight. Just like right now!
‘…….!!’
Guroktaru quickly discarded the human female and with the movements
akin to a wild animal, fled to the door of the classroom.
BOOM!!
A mighty, ear-splitting explosion occurred next, the shards of glass flying
out like shrapnel. Meanwhile, Orcs manning the doorways began hastily
retreating away after the back of their Chieftain suddenly appeared in front of
their eyes.
‘……’
Guroktaru wordlessly glared forward, its breathing now becoming
extremely cautious.
It was picking up on an unusual and eerie vibe. It could see a human male it
hadn’t seen before standing on the spot where the human female was just
now.
Guroktaru shifted its gaze ever so slightly to the side.
Its opposite corner was where the windows were. Nothing remained of the
entirety of that wall as if it had been struck by a powerful siege weapon.
‘Did the human enter by breaking through the windows?’
Even with its excellent dynamic visual acuity, the Orc Chieftain still failed
to follow that man’s movements.
‘…….’
Guroktaru could only swallow its saliva at the sudden entrance of a
powerful opponent. A strand of cold sweat trickled down its temple.
Kiiiaaahhk-!!
Guroktaru’s head snapped upwards after it heard that screech.
Past the ceiling, beyond the roof – yet another powerful enemy was circling
around above the Orc’s head like a hawk waiting for prey to emerge.
‘This might become a difficult fight.’
Guroktaru’s eyes were now dyed in the colour of nervousness, something
that didn’t exist only a few moments ago.
The new enemy completely ignored the presence of the Orc Chieftain and
its underlings, and simply proceeded to confirm the human female’s
condition.
Guroktaru spoke to its enemy.
“I am Guroktaru, from the proud tribe of Red Blade!”
That was the warrior’s introduction only granted to an opponent capable of
reaping away the Orc’s life. Having completed its introduction, Guroktaru
asked the human male.
“And who are you?”
Jin-Woo raised his head and quietly spoke.
“Shut your mouth and quietly wait for your turn over there.”
A human just used the language of the Orcs?
The Orc’s surprise lasted only for a moment.
Perhaps it was because of the power carried in that man’s voice, none of the
Orcs, which included Guroktaru itself, could even dare to budge an inch from
the spot.
“Cough, cough.”
Jin-Woo gently patted Jin-Ah’s back as she continued to cough and wheeze
while he carefully checked to see if she had sustained any injuries.
Thankfully, he couldn’t see any.
….With the sole exception of the handprint clearly visible on her neck, that
was. Jin-Woo asked, his expression hard and unforgiving.
“Are you alright?”
“Oppa!!”
Jin-Ah finally stopped coughing and jumped into his embrace, tears
streaming from her eyes.
Jin-Woo gently stroked her hair as if he was soothing a scared child.
‘…Oppa?’
‘Jin-Ah’s Oppa… that means….?’
‘Ah!’
The students finally realised who the man in front of their eyes was. He
was Seong Jin-Woo, a Hunter ranked S!
‘We’re saved!!’
The students confirmed Jin-Woo’s face and began sobbing again. These
tears weren’t of despair and fear like the ones from before, but were formed
from the mixture of joy and relief they felt.
“Sob, sob…”
“It’s fine now. I’m here, so everything will be okay.”
Jin-Woo gently soothed his sobbing sister, while extending his sensory
perception to the rest of the school. And, within this large school building, the
only presence of humans he could pick up on was…. 17.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo’s hardened complexion was now dyed in the darkness of rage.
He very cautiously separated his sister from him as she tried hard not to
leave his side. He then called out his Shadow Soldiers matching the exact
number of the surviving students.
“Everyone, follow my summons out of the building.”
The students nodded their heads, and the soldiers proceeded to pick up
them up in an embrace. As for Jin-Ah, he entrusted her especially to Igrit.
“Please wait for me downstairs, okay? I’m going to join you very soon
after dealing with this.”
Normally, Jin-Ah would try to stop her oppa, telling him that they should
go together regardless of whether he was a rank S Hunter or not. No, she’d
still say that even if he was something greater.
But now…. She couldn’t do that.
Because, Jin-Woo’s current expression was far, far too scary for her to say
those words. So, Jin-Ah could only nod her head.
Jin-Woo gave out his signal, and the soldiers carrying the students jumped
outside of the destroyed wall one by one. Orcs in the corridor flinched slightly
at the sight of the almost-caught prey making their escape. When that
happened, Jin-Woo glared at them with his ice-cold eyes.
“I told you not to move.”
Like some kind of a lie, all Orcs stopped moving altogether. None of them
could go against his glare.
One of the Orcs, its complexion utterly pale, sneaked its gaze around and
cautiously whispered to Guroktaru.
“C-chief….”
“Shush.”
Guroktaru was in agreement with that Orc, though.
It was true that right now wasn’t the time to care about those weak prey
escaping. No, they should be minding the ‘hunter’ right in front of their eyes.
A fight between hunters would commence very soon, where who eats who
would be determined.
‘Even then…. We can’t let them get away that easily.’
Guroktaru sent out a sneaky little signal, and two of its guards moved
without making any sounds.
After confirming that all of the students had left the classroom safely, Jin-
Woo turned around to face the Orcs. He didn’t let them leave because he was
worried about them getting injured.
‘These measly Orcs….’
He was confident of killing them all in the blink of an eye.
He simply didn’t want to show his little sister or other kids what was about
to happen in here, that was all.
And now, there were no more eyes watching. Meaning, there was nothing
to restrict his actions now.
‘……’
Jin-Woo’s gaze briefly drifted towards the stairs outside the classroom. He
sensed two Orcs going downstairs while hiding their presence to the best of
their abilities. It seemed that they were going after the kids, but… it didn’t
matter.
He had sent Igrit there, and Kaisel was circling around in the air, too.
‘So, the remaining task is to deal with these lot, then.’
Jin-Woo exhaled softly. The exiting air contained a heavy, dense amount of
magic energy.
Guroktaru asked him again.
“Who are you? How can you speak our tongue?”
Jin-Woo ignored the Orc’s words and slowly made his way over to them.
Realising that the human male had no intentions to answer back, Guroktaru
bared its fangs and shouted out.
“Attack!”
The brave Orc warriors pounced on Jin-Woo all at once after hearing the
Chieftain’s order.
“Kurururuk!”
“Kurarak!”
When they did… the time froze.
Within this freeze-frame of a moment, Jin-Woo leisurely walked in
between the Orcs that were moving agonisingly slowly, and proceeded to
destroy them one by one.
He didn’t even need to take his weapons out. He only needed to use his
finger. Every time Jin-Woo’s finger brushed by an Orc, heads, shoulders,
wrists, waists and midriffs of the monsters exploded into bits. And after
utterly destroying over twenty Orcs in one blink of an eye….
Jin-Woo stood before Guroktaru.
The Orc Chieftain could only barely keep up with Jin-Woo’s afterimage
with its eyes. Its trembling lips parted with much difficulty.
“W-what….?”
It didn’t even have a chance to swing its scimitar. Jin-Woo’s left hand
grabbed Guroktaru’s mouth and jaw, and the Orc could only whimper
pathetically.
“Keok!”
Jin-Woo walked forward just like that and slammed the Orc’s head against
the corridor’s wall.
SLAM!!
The empty corridor reverberated with the thunderous boom.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted towards either end of the corridor. It was filled with
the remains of the students. It was truly a hard-to-look gruesome sight to
behold.
However, Jin-Woo didn’t avert his gaze and imprinted the sight of every
single one of these kids in his mind, just so he could demand reparations from
the guilty one responsible.
Jin-Woo shifted his eyes to Guroktaru.
“Why?”
His voice was incomparably icy.
“Why does your kind want to kill humans to this extreme level?”
Guroktaru had long lost its desire to resist and could only tremble in fear as
it replied.
“In, in our heads, telling us…. to kill humans….”
Jin-Woo became momentarily confused.
‘Kill humans?’
He had heard of the exact same thing before. But, back then, he interpreted
the word ‘humans’ as another term for ‘Hunters’.
But it seemed that the word ‘human’ really did mean all humans, now that
he got to hear this monster’s reply.
“Then? What about me?”
Jin-Woo asked the Orc again.
“Do you not hear the voice telling you to kill me?”
He brought his face closer.
It was inevitable that Guroktaru would look into Jin-Woo’s eyes. The Orc
began shaking its head and shivered hard as if it had discovered something in
there.
“F, f-forgive…. Forgive, me….”
Something impossible happened. The brave and mighty great warrior of the
Orc race began shedding tears like a little child. Jin-Woo felt the inside of his
head suddenly cool off as he watched the terrified monster cowering before
him.
‘So, that’s how it is….’
He was not being seen as a human even in this guy’s head, was that it?
‘….Well, it doesn’t really matter.’
Jin-Woo wasn’t all that interested in how monsters viewed him. No, he
simply killed them because they were out to harm humans.
Guroktaru shivered and continued sob as the fear it couldn’t overcome
completely enveloped it.
“Please…. forgive…..”
Jin-Woo replied.
“I’ll forgive you.”
And then, he summoned the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
“However, do not think that the process will be a painless one for you.”
The Knight Order Guild’s assault team could only gasp out in astonishment
while spectating on the battles of the monsters.
“Heok!”
“H-how could it be….”
How could anyone call this a raid now? Because, the ants very easily
subdued the undead monsters and then, began greedily devouring them.
Crunch, crunch….
The eyes of the Hunters opened wider and wider from this horrifying
spectacle.
“B-but, if they eat up everything like that, nothing will be left behind, you
know?”
“Right. Even the Magic Crystals….”
The Hunters could only anxiously look on as the top-class Magic Crystals
all ended up in the stomachs of these monsters, no, summoned creatures.
Unable to watch from the sidelines any longer, Jeong Ye-Rim hastily ran
out.
“Don’t you know how expensive that is?!”
She tried to wrestle away the corpse of a Vampire, but that only managed to
annoy the ant, and the creature swung its arm at her direction.
“Ahk!”
She cried out and tumbled backwards after the ant’s claw cut into her
forearm.
Plop.
“O-ouch.”
Just as she tried to get up while rubbing her butt….
“Kururuk-!”
By the time she regained her wits, the ant monster that swung its arm was
standing before her. The creature had its gigantic maw and its horrifying
mandibles wide open as if to swallow her head whole.
Jeong Ye-Rim’s expression froze stiff at that moment.
“Ah…. Ah….”
It was then. Beru had come swooping in and turned that ant around. He
opened his own maw wide just like how this ant did a moment ago, and
then….
“Kiiiieeeeehhhk-!!!”
…And then, he screeched out incredibly loudly.
Being subjected to the rage of an existence on another level, the ant
creature couldn’t even meet Beru’s gaze and simply shivered in fear.
“K-keeiick….”
Beru let go of the ant’s shoulder, causing the creature to hurriedly scurry
away from there. Jeong Ye-Rim watched this scene play out in a total daze,
but Beru approached her and extended his hand out.
‘Uh…..?’
Still stupefied over everything, she grabbed the offered hand and was able
to finally stand back up.
“I, uh… T-tha….”
She was about to say something, only for her lips to stop. Because, she saw
the gentle blue light circulating around Beru’s fingertips, that was why.
“….Healing magic?!”
Jeong Ye-Rim’s brows shot up real high in surprise.
The wound in her arm healed up immediately the moment that blue light
touched her. After confirming that her wound was completely cured, Beru
turned towards the ants and shouted out.
“Khe-ehck!”
That caused the ants to end their mealtime and began moving deeper into
the dungeon’s interior.
Jeong Ye-Rim watched the back of Beru and murmured to herself.
“How can…. a summon cast better healing magic than me??”
The Hunters finally arrived in the school.
They followed the direction the needle of the magic compass was pointing
to and climbed up the stairs. An incredible magic energy reaction was coming
from the sixth floor’s corridor.
The man in charge of the Hunters looked behind at his group and spoke.
“Be careful.”
The Hunters nodded their heads.
And when they eventually arrived on the sixth floor, they got to discover
two things.
“Heok!!”
One, an Orc sliced up into so many pieces that it was impossible to count;
two, a lone man covered in blood standing still with a shortsword in his hand.
‘And that person is….?’
The leader of the assault team met Jin-Woo’s icy cold eyes and his breath
nearly came to a sudden stop. But he recovered somehow and picked up the
walkie talkie.
“Yes, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is here.”
The leader took a look around and made another report.
“The situation has been resolved.”
Chapter 144 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Because of the nature of the incident itself, a massive crowd of people had
rushed towards the school’s perimeters.
“My son goes to this school!!”
“Get out of the way!”
“I need to confirm what happened with my own eyes!!”
“Aigo, aigo!!”
If it weren’t for the desperate crowd control efforts by the police and the
Association’s employees, the scene of the incident would’ve descended into
pure pandemonium from the maddened crowd.
The reporters had also rushed here as soon as word got out and were now
busy snapping away with their cameras.
“Uh? It’s Seong Jin-Woo!”
“Take his pictures!!”
Jin-Woo evaded their gazes and wordlessly walked over to someone that
seemed to be a staff member of the Hunter’s Association. This staff member
immediately froze up in nervousness after seeing Jin-Woo’s face. That was
how scary the Hunter’s complexion looked at that moment.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….”
“Where’s my sister?”
“Miss Seong Jin-Ah and other students have been transferred to the
Seoul Il-Sin hospital.”
“…..”
Jin-Woo nodded his head, his expression still remaining grave, and turned
around to walk away. The staff member unconsciously swallowed dry saliva
while watching his back get further away.
Gulp.
The first thing those arriving here did was to confirm the status of the
student named Seong Jin-Ah, as per the instruction from the Association.
Thankfully, she was unhurt. With the exception of abrasions suffered around
her neck and wrists, there were no other injuries on her.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was the one who had rescued her, so he should
know that fact better than anyone, yet….
‘Even then, for him to be that p*ssed off….’
It was a good thing that he arrived on time, otherwise, how would he have
reacted if something happened to his sister? The staff member shuddered
from the terrifying dizziness he suddenly felt just then.
It indeed was a huge relief.
Contrary to the relief of the staff member, though, Jin-Woo was feeling
quite gloomy at the moment as he pulled out his phone.
‘I’m sure Mom’s about to get the news.’
Too many students lost their lives at the hands of the monsters. Rather
obviously, his mother would feel like her world was about to crumble after
receiving the news.
‘Before that happens, I need to tell her that Jin-Ah’s okay.’
He thought as such and was about to tap the “Call” icon, but then, he heard
an unexpected voice coming from behind him and stopped.
“I’ve already sent some of the Association’s agents over to speak to your
mother, Seong Hunter-nim. They should be on their way to the hospital as
we speak.”
Jin-Woo looked behind him.
“Mister Association President.”
Goh Gun-Hui stood there, his complexion as dark as Jin-Woo’s.
Even though the President himself was not at fault here, as the person
representing South Korea’s Hunter’s Association, he was feeling the burden
of responsibility for failing to prevent this tragedy. Jin-Woo could only
express his gratitude for Goh Gun-Hui looking out for his family even under
the current circumstances.
That prompted Goh Gun-Hui to shake his head.
“No, it’s us that should be thanking you.”
Seventeen students survived.
It was only because of Jin-Woo’s arrival that those students among the
trapped in the school building were able to get out of there alive.
“We are constantly in your debt, Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo could only smile bitterly at that.
He could have saved a lot more students if he were able to use the Shadow
Exchange and get here right away. Such regret seeped clearly into his
expression.
Goh Gun-Hui could faintly sense what Jin-Woo was feeling right now from
his expression. But the older man shook his head.
‘Now isn’t the time to wallow in our emotions.’
Indeed, didn’t he have something important to say to this young man? Goh
Gun-Hui raised his head.
“Will you be heading to the hospital now?”
Jin-Woo thought back to the Gate in Gwang-An-ri, but quickly stopped
worrying about it.
His MP remained the same as before. Meaning, Beru and his ants were
conquering the dungeon without encountering any problem at the moment.
‘Well…. It’s not just any soldier but Beru, so it’ll be fine.’
There was no need to worry about the progress of the raid right now.
“Yes, I am.”
“Please, let me give you a ride there.”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Please, allow me. There is something else I wish to talk to you about on
the way, as well.”
Jin-Woo initially declined thinking that the offer was made out of courtesy,
but he nodded his head after seeing the earnest attitude of the Association
President.
“Alright, I will.”
Jin-Woo followed Goh Gun-Hui’s guidance and they both climbed into the
back seat of the waiting car.
Even though it was a full-size saloon, the back seat felt cramped after Goh
Gun-Hui’s huge frame and Jin-Woo’s wide shoulders climbed aboard. Woo
Jin-Cheol was sitting in the driver’s seat, and nodded his greeting through the
rear-view mirror.
Jin-Woo also nodded slightly as his greeting.
The car slowly set forward and only then did the Association President stop
hesitating and speak up.
“…In a way, you could say that today’s tragedy has been foretold in
advance.”
His expression was hard.
On the other hand, Jin-Woo was feeling confused.
‘Does that mean the Association didn’t do anything about an incident
they could have prevented in advance?’
Before his confusion had the chance to transform into anger, the
Association President pulled out his phone and showed Jin-Woo its display. It
showed a graphical chart.
“This shows the increase in the Gate activity around the city of Seoul for
the last six months.”
The dots drew a gentle curvature but when it got nearer to present, it
suddenly spiked up steeply.
“And this side shows the stats from around the world.”
If the Association President didn’t make that clear, Jin-Woo might have
mistaken them for two of the exact same thing. That was how similar-looking
the inclines in those two graphs were.
“The numbers of Gates appearing has spiked up noticeably throughout
the world.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s complexion got darker and darker.
“However, that isn’t the only strange thing.”
He returned the phone back into his inner jacket pocket and carried on.
“People wanting to confirm their Awakened rankings are practically
lining up in a long queue outside the Association every day now.”
The number of Gates where monsters come out was increasing, and at the
same time, the number of Hunters who were supposed to block the Gates was
also increasing? As if to maintain a balance?
Seeing Jin-Woo’s interested expression, the Association President spoke in
a complicated tone of voice.
“We think that…..”
Goh Gun-Hui ended his lengthy explanation while implying that it was
only his personal hypothesis.
“….Something is changing.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
This was indeed interesting information. Anyone could tell something big
was afoot from that data. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean Jin-Woo could do
anything about them right now. It was the same story for Goh Gun-Hui, as
well.
Also, a simple phone call would have sufficed if it was about sharing of
information and a hypothesis. Jin-Woo thought that Association President
wouldn’t have taken time out of his packed schedule to simply have this
conversation.
“In that case, what you wish to talk to me about was…..?”
As if he was waiting for that, Goh Gun-Hui picked up a briefcase resting by
the footwell and pulled out various documents from there.
“Japan, the States, China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, and even
from the Middle East….”
All the nations with some international clout were brought up abruptly.
“These are all the official documents sent in from those nations that wish
to make contact with you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim. I’m fairly certain
that some of them even have made unofficial contacts with you already.”
Jin-Woo briefly recalled the incident involving the American Hunter
Bureau’s people, but decided not to mention it.
“In all honesty, we at the Hunter’s Association simply don’t have any
rights to stop these people. No, we can only protect your personal
information according to your request.”
Jin-Woo silently listened to the older man’s story.
“I know that everything depends on your decision, Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim, but…. But, I fear that our country will not be able to adapt to
the incoming changes if you decide to leave us.”
Rather than a concrete answer, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze out of the car’s
window. As he fell deeper into a myriad of distracting thoughts, one of the
biggest hospitals in the country entered his view.
It was the very hospital where Jin-Ah had been admitted to.
“We will provide you with every convenience we can possibly provide.”
Goh Gun-Hui stuffed the documents back inside the briefcase and asked
Jin-Woo with a tense expression.
“So, would you please remain in South Korea?”
***
The Knight Order’s assault team chased after the ants and arrived at the
boss chamber’s entrance.
Jeong Yun-Tae’s eyes grew extra large after he spotted the ants that began
entering the boss chamber.
“Hyung-nim, shouldn’t we try to stop them??”
“….I don’t think I can.”
Indeed, Park Jong-Su was not confident at all of persuading the summoned
creatures that they needed to stop the raid for the moment, so they could start
retrieving the remains of the dead monsters and the Magic Crystals.
He could only spit out a resigned sigh.
‘Yup, let’s just forget about it.’
His thoughts just went and did a 180.
They entered this Gate in order to let the world know that the Knight Order
Guild was still going strong, didn’t they? It’d be perfectly acceptable to show
the world that they could still clear a rank A dungeon, the highest rated one at
that, without a single casualty or someone getting injured badly during the
raid itself.
‘Not only that, without Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s presence, too!’
Wasn’t it the case of no one would know of what happened inside a
dungeon?
Even if those ants managed to defeat the boss, the folks outside would only
remember the name of the Knight Order Guild, not the creatures Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo summoned out before leaving in a hurry.
Better still, once the boss died and the Gate closed, there would be no way
to confirm the truth. Judging from Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s personality, he
wasn’t the type to go around blabbing his mouth, either.
Park Jong-Su’s thought process arrived at that point and a smile floated up
on his lips.
‘Well, isn’t this a fortune among misfortunes?’
It was then. The Hunters at the back of the pack suddenly became rather
noisy.
“Chairman? There are a lot of things coming from our rear!”
“Yeah, I can hear them coming, too.”
“….Mm?”
Park Jong-Su tilted his head and walked to the rear of the team. And for
sure, he could hear lots of footsteps as well.
‘Wait, did the retrieval team enter the Gate already?’
But, the highly-trained retrieval team of the Knight Order Guild wouldn’t
have entered a dungeon without receiving an order first, so how could this be?
Just as such thoughts entered his head….
“….Heok?!”
Park Jong-Su’s brows shot up high. Because, the undead monsters, those
the ants didn’t snack on, were busy rushing to where the assault team was, all
of them fully revived back to how they were.
‘C-could it be….??’
Did the ants chow up the undead because they knew this might happen?
Such a thought only lasted for a moment in his head. Park Jong-Su realised
that his team wouldn’t be able to deal with that many monsters, and hurriedly
shouted out to his teammates.
“Everyone, enter the boss room, now!”
Their sole hope for survival was the summoned creatures left behind by
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. The assault team didn’t even have a chance to
confirm what was waiting for them inside the boss chamber and hurriedly
jumped in.
After confirming that every last Hunter had entered, Park Jong-Su shouted
out, veins popping up in his throat.
“Block the exit!!”
Jeong Ye-Rim activated her skill, ‘Holy Wall’, and blocked up the
entryway connecting the boss room and the passageway before it.
Slam-!
Boom-!!
The Death Knight standing in front of the rushing horde noisily pounded on
the invisible barrier. Her forehead soaked in cold sweat now, Jeong Ye-Rim
turned her head towards Park Jong-Su.
“Chairman! I won’t be able to hold this for more than five minutes,
tops!”
“I know!”
Not only Park Jong-Su, but the rest of the assault team members had
finished preparing for a battle in case the wall was breached.
But, when they took a good look at the undead monsters pressing forward
like a horde of insects on the other side of the wall, they began doubting
whether they had any chances of winning here.
“All we can do here now is to pray that the summons kill the boss quickly
and open up the path for us.”
Park Jong-Su looked back at the ants that should be facing off against the
boss with a pair of desperate eyes. He prayed that the boss was an easy
monster to fight.
‘….Oh, my dear lord.’
His eyes opened even wider than before.
The boss monster currently standing in a face-off against the ants was
something even Park Jong-Su knew of, after hearing about it many times in
the past.
A pale-faced ‘Mage’ wearing a tattered robe – the Arch Lich.
It was the strongest undead-type monster, thought to be the creature at the
top of the undead food chain.
‘Why did it have to be a d*mn Arch Lich?!’
Park Jong-Su’s complexion darkened considerably.
He prayed for the summoned creatures to quickly kill the boss and help
them out, but then, the opponent turned out to be a d*mn Arch Lich. It’d be
more realistic for the Hunters to get rid of the scores of undead first and help
the summoned creatures out next.
It was then.
Beru took a step forward towards the Arch Lich.
The Arch Lich then immediately summoned over a dozen Death Knights
around the ants and surrounded them.
“Kiiiieeehhhk-!!”
Beru bared his fangs and extended its claws out.
‘…..?’
The Arch Lich recognised the black smoke continuously rising up from
Beru’s entire body. It was almost as if the completely-empty eye sockets had
widened for a second there.
“The Shadow Army??”
The language of the monsters came out from the Arch Lich’s mouth. Beru
retracted his claws after hearing the boss’s words.
The Arch Lich swept its gaze around the ants behind Beru and asked in a
puzzled voice.
“Why is the king’s personal army attacking us?”
Kekeke.
Beru leaked out a sound that sounded like a cackle of ridicule, before
pointing to himself.
“We have been chosen by the king.”
And then, he pointed at the Arch Lich.
“And you… weren’t.”
The Arch Lich couldn’t believe it, its voice now containing a trace of anger.
“That can’t be! I shall personally report to the king, and…..!”
Unfortunately, even before the Arch Lich could finish its sentence, Beru
appeared right before its stunned eyes.
‘….!!’
The shoulders of the Arch Lich quivered momentarily.
Beru was a high-class monster that the owner of a rank S dungeon
sacrificed its own lifeforce to create. Even if its overall Stats had fallen a little
ever since becoming a Shadow Soldier, there was just no way that an owner
of a measly rank A dungeon, an Arch Lich, could fight against Beru.
The former ant king simply thrust its hand into the shocked boss’s chest
without hesitation.
Stab!!
The hand pierced through the chest, along with a pendant hanging on the
Arch Lich’s neck.
“Keok!!”
Beru’s hand exiting from the back of the Arch Lich was grasping the
pendant now. That piece of jewellery was basically the heart of the Arch Lich.
It wasn’t all that difficult for Beru, once a top monster himself, to detect
what was supplying the lifeforce to his enemy. The Arch Lich desperately
shook its head.
“No…. This can’t be….!”
However, Beru didn’t pay any attention to the pleading of his enemy and
simply crushed the pendant in his hand.
Crack.
“You talk too much for someone about to die.”
Along with Beru’s words, the body of the Arch Lich crumbled to dust.
Chapter 145: Chapter 145
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Park Jong-Su’s jaw dropped to the floor. He was so shocked that he needed
some time to process the event his own two eyes had witnessed just now.
‘How could it kill the Arch Lich in one hit?!’
There was an event that catapulted the Arch Lich as a pretty infamous
creature among the boss-level monsters. And that would be the incident of the
Gold Dragon Guild’s annihilation.
An entire Guild was completely destroyed by a single Arch Lich. Not just
any Guild either, but one that was supposed to be quite powerful even within
China, no less. But then again, that might have been an obvious result.
The Arch Lich could continuously summon out ‘Death Knights’ any time it
wanted to. And one Death Knight was a very powerful undead-type monster
that required the bitter struggle of multiple rank A Hunters to defeat.
If you underestimated the boss monster simply because it didn’t have any
guards around it initially, then you’d not be able to escape the fate of total
destruction.
In the end, a dungeon break occurred from the Gate the Gold Dragon Guild
failed to close. China’s own Special Authority-rank Hunter Liu Zhigeng
arrived in the nick of time so the incident didn’t turn into a catastrophe, but
still, many Hunters got to know the terror an Arch Lich posed through this
incident.
‘But now…..’
That mutated ant summon killed the Arch Lich in one hit. What an
astonishing event that was.
Maybe it wasn’t only Park Jong-Su who thought like this, because Jeong
Yun-Tae standing next to him also couldn’t seem to close his slack jaw at all.
“Oh, my god…..”
As if he couldn’t believe his own eyes, he asked Park Jong-Su for another
confirmation.
“Hyung-nim, wasn’t that an Arch Lich?”
“Yeah, it was. The thing that came out of the Gate during that Gold
Dragon Guild incident.”
“If that’s true, then that ant just one-shotted an Arch Lich….?”
Jeong Yun-Tae now formed a completely disbelieving expression. Other
Hunters also heard the conversation taking place between Park Jong-Su and
Jeong Yun-Tae, and failed to hide their extreme shock as well.
“An Arch Lich?!”
“That thing was an Arch Lich??”
“And the ant took it down in one hit??”
“Whoa.”
Just as the entirety of the Knight Order Guild’s assault team was being
astonished by Jin-Woo’s ‘summon’ that could kill the boss of a rank A
dungeon in the blink of an eye….
The multi-talented healer Jeong Ye-Rim, currently sweating profusely
while trying to hold back the tide of the undead monsters, was dying of
curiosity regarding what happened behind her back.
“What was that? What happened??”
However, her curiosity couldn’t be maintained for long. Something quite
surprising started happening right in front of her eyes, that was why.
“Uh??”
All those undead monsters, rampaging around as if they were only a
moment away from breaking past the ‘Holy Wall’, suddenly collapsed on the
ground like puppets with their strings cut.
Plop.
Plop.
And then, they didn’t stand back up again.
“C-Chairman??”
Jeong Ye-Rim was startled by this sudden turn of event and hurriedly
looked behind her. Park Jong-Su was nodding his head.
‘The Arch Lich must’ve had something to do with the defeated undead
monsters reviving in full.’
He really did feel utterly dazed and lost at the sight of the crazed horde of
the monsters rushing in like a black tidal wave, wondering what would
happen to him and his group, but now…
It felt like he could breathe easy again.
“Fuu….”
Behind Park Jong-Su busy sighing out in relief, the Hunters standing there
failed to hide their elated expressions. They were all excited at the idea of
exiting from this dungeon safe and sound.
“Hyung-nim, you worked hard.”
“What do you mean, I worked hard….. It’s those guys that worked hard,
not me.”
Park Jong-Su used his chin to point and Jeong Yun-Tae looked behind him.
The summons were all standing still unmoving and staring at the human
Hunters as if to ask ‘Where are we going next?’
‘Well, uh, them standing around like that and not budging makes them
look a wee bit cuter…..’
However, one of the ants must’ve felt bored, because, for no apparent
reason, it loudly screeched towards the ceiling.
“Kkkkiieeeehhhk-!!”
Just like that, Jeong Yun-Tae’s expression that contained a hint of
favourable impression towards the creatures flew away in an instant.
Swish.
Jeong Yun-Tae swivelled his head back and asked his boss.
“Hyung-nim. Isn’t this the same as Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim solo
clearing this dungeon?”
“Yup, more or less.”
Park Jong-Su also agreed with that assessment. In the deeper parts of the
dungeon, where the difficulty was at its highest, the Knight Order Guild’s
assault team did nothing but just followed around the ant monsters.
And those ants were Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures. In the
end, it was the same thing as Jin-Woo clearing the dungeon all by himself,
just as Jeong Yun-Tae had alluded to.
‘What a scary power….’
They had seen the extent of his power in Jeju Island, but having witnessed
it for real, they had to concede the fact that he possessed an incredible ability.
The fact that the summoned creatures were capable of displaying levels of
combat prowess easily exceeding their imagination, and the fact that Seong
Hunter was able to freely control these summons, left a deep mental shock in
the Knight Order’s Hunters.
“Which means, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doesn’t even need to enter a
Gate and still gets to clear it by just sending these guys in, no?”
Jeong Yun-Tae spoke without thinking too much about what he was saying.
However, Park Jong-Su felt goosebumps break out all over his skin after he
thought about what his deputy just mentioned in passing.
‘Hold up….’
The number of summons Hunter Seong brought out back in Jeju Island was
at least over two hundred. That was only from those that got caught on
camera. So, it was difficult to even estimate how many more he could actually
summon out at once.
What if he didn’t even need to make a single move, but simply send out his
summons to clear out dungeons….?
‘There must be some exhaustion of magic energy when summoning out
and controlling these creatures, so he might not be able to use them all at
the same time, but….’
Just half of his summons.
No, even if that guy could only utilise half of that half, his method would
be so much more efficient than what other large Guilds could even come up
with.
‘Urgh.’
Park Jong-Su suddenly realised that he’d have invested his entire life
savings if Hunter Seong’s Guild was a publicly-traded company.
“Hyung-nim, let’s not waste more time and push ahead with merging our
Guild with Seong Hunter-nim’s Guild.”
“This guy, really now…..”
Park Jong-Su glared scarily at Jeong Yun-Tae, before his expression
became a lot more serious.
“Refer to it as ‘M&A’, okay? M&A. The new Guild created by the best
Hunter, and one of the five major Guilds in the country, the Knight Order,
pushing forward for the M&A. How nice sounding is that?” (TL: M&A =
mergers and acquisitions)
“Keok??”
Jeong Yun-Tae flinched grandly.
“You really wanna try your luck with that, hyung-nim?!”
“Think about it. Combine Seong Hunter-nim’s abilities with our Guild’s
know-how – even the likes of the Hunters Guild should be terrified by our
potential, man!”
Would Vice-Chairwoman Cha Hae-In leave the Hunters Guild and join
hands with Hunter Seong for no reason? Of course not.
Elation bubbled up in Jeong Yun-Tae’s face as he nodded, but then, he
began rubbing his chin and tilted his head.
“But then, hyung-nim. You honestly believe that Seong Hunter-nim
needs us?”
“Tsk, tsk.”
Park Jong-Su tutted and explained in detail.
“Do you really think that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim will be able to
disregard the law if he wants to work?”
“Excuse me?”
“Even if it’s possible for his summons to clear dungeons, he still needs to
fill up the minimum headcount for the raid team, no?”
“Ohh….”
Hearing that plausible explanation, Jeong Yun-Tae’s expression brightened
up once more.
“You’re right, hyung-nim.”
As the two men stared at each other with happy smiles on their faces, the
ground beneath their feet trembled ever so softly.
Rumble….
“Aigoo.”
Park Jong-Su stopped wasting time. With the death of the boss-level
monster, the Gate was starting to close up.
“Well, let’s carry on our discussion after we get out of here first.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Park Jong-Su loudly called out to the rest of the assault team still waiting
for his orders.
“Everyone, let’s all get out of this place before the Gate closes down!”
“You’ll provide all the convenience you can?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Jin-Woo’s question was met with Association President Goh Gun-Hui’s
assured answer.
Officially, there were ten rank S Hunters recorded in the Korean Hunter’s
Association’s database. But, they had lost three now. Two died at the hands of
monsters, while one abandoned Korea for America.
From the perspective of the Hunter’s Association, they could not afford to
be hands-off in this matter anymore.
They wanted to do everything they could – this wasn’t just the opinion of
Association President Goh Gun-Hui, but the rest of the Association as well.
‘Unless it’s the other rank S Hunters…..’
They definitely could not afford to let Hunter Seong Jin-Woo slip away.
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes gleamed with the light of determination. As the
representative of the Hunter’s Association, he had met countless Hunters over
the years. Several of them were those whom you’d qualify as some of the
strongest in the world, as well.
However, Seong Jin-Woo was the first Hunter ever to make his heart race
this madly. Not just as the Association President, but as the citizen of this
nation, he definitely wanted Jin-Woo to remain in South Korea.
[“We will provide you with every convenience we can possibly provide.”]
Those words expressed the Association President Goh Gun-Hui’s strong
will to keep Jin-Woo in the country. They also contained how highly the older
man thought of the young Hunter, as well.
“If that’s the case….”
Jin-Woo thought for a little while, before opening his mouth.
“Will you let me enter high-ranking Gates all by myself in the future?”
“Pardon me?”
When he was faced with a completely unexpected demand, Goh Gun-Hui’s
eyes opened up wide.
“Are you asking me to exclude you from the minimum headcount rule?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
“Huh-uh….”
The regulation regarding the number of raid team members was the
minimum safety net in place for the Hunters. It was a policy to prevent the
incidents of Hunters entering a dungeon without sufficient preparation and
losing their lives.
However….
Did Hunter Seong require such a safety net when his summons could beat
down countless rank S monsters? Abruptly recalling a certain scene from the
ant tunnel raid, Goh Gun-Hui asked as his expression tensed up.
“By any chance…. The raid permits your Guild will be issued with, are
you planning to clear those Gates all by yourself?”
“Yes.”
Goh Gun-Hui became speechless from Jin-Woo’s straightforward reply.
There was not one trace of worry in his voice.
‘Could it be that he made the Guild just for this…..?’
Did he do that so he could solo-clear high-ranking dungeons?
There were many powerful Hunters throughout the world, but none of them
planned their raids in this manner.
But, when the images of this Jin-Woo confidently chatting away, and the
Jin-Woo back in the ant tunnel summoning countless soldiers to sweep away
the ant monsters, overlapped in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes, the older man suddenly
began shivering almost uncontrollably.
‘A one-man army….’
For Goh Gun-Hui, who had been constantly worried about the unchecked
growth of the major Guilds, that proved to be one hell of an attractive
concept.
Ba-dump, ba-dump!!!
His heart began racing again.
Goh Gun-Hui placed his hand on the chest that began to hurt a little, and
formed a bitter smile after comparing himself to the virile and healthy-looking
Jin-Woo.
“Will it be difficult?”
Jin-Woo asked, but Goh Gun-Hui immediately shook his head.
“It’s not going to be impossible.”
Indeed, it wouldn’t be impossible, but it’d be quite difficult, nonetheless.
That was what Goh Gun-Hui thought.
But, just what kind of man was he? He was the President of the Hunter’s
Association, a rank S Hunter, and the member of the National Assembly.
This was a request from not just anyone, but Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. Even
if it was a tough request, there would be nothing holding Goh Gun-Hui back
from fulfilling it.
And if that was enough to keep Hunter Seong in South Korea, then all the
better for it.
“Leave it to me.”
Jin-Woo grinned brightly after hearing Goh Gun-Hui’s confident reply.
‘Nice.’
One of the things that could’ve proved to be a source of headache got
resolved just now.
“Thank you.”
Jin-Woo smiled and expressed his gratitude, and Goh Gun-Hui replied with
a smile of his own.
“I always bring this up, but well, it should be us thanking you, Hunter-
nim.”
Screech.
The large saloon carrying the two stopped at a bit of distance away from
the hospital’s entrance.
“Let us speak again soon, Seong Hunter-nim.”
“Of course.”
After sharing simple goodbyes, Jin-Woo climbed out of the car.
The news of the victims being transferred to this hospital must’ve gotten
around, because there were a lot of reporters camping by the entrance already.
The car stopping a fair distance away from the entrance was all due to Woo
Jin-Cheol’s consideration. There was little doubt that another commotion
would’ve broken out if the car carrying the Association President came to a
stop in front of the hospital and Jin-Woo climbed out from there.
‘It’s times like this that being famous can get really annoying.’
Jin-Woo shook his head and used ‘Stealth’ to conceal himself.
Inside the office of the Yujin Construction’s chairman.
Chairman Yu Myung-Han, who had been taking a nap on the impossibly-
wide desk, slowly raised his slouched torso up.
Sunlight entered at an angle through the windows.
He felt his eyelids getting impossibly heavier, and it seemed that he
eventually had fallen into a bit of slumber.
On the couch located in front of the desk, the right-hand man of Yu Myung-
Han, Secretary Kim, was sitting upright and looking back at his boss.
Yu Myung-Han rubbed his face to chase away the remaining sleepiness and
spoke up.
“Looks like I have napped for a little while. How long was I asleep for?”
Secretary Kim looked at his wristwatch and then raised his head back up
again.
“Sir, you’ve been asleep for 23 hours and 46 minutes.”
‘…….’
Yu Myung-Han’s hand rubbing his face came to a sudden stop.
“I’ve been waiting here in order to carry out your order of escorting you
to the hospital if you don’t wake up after 24 hours have elapsed, sir.”
Was it that illness striking again?
Yu Myung-Han’s face, his hand no longer covering it, was frozen stiff.
He would sometimes fall into a state of deep sleep without any warning
signs, and once asleep, it became harder and harder to wake up.
The ‘Eternal Sleep’ disorder.
Although the process was slow, this disease definitely dragged all of its
victims to death’s doorway.
Secretary Kim strode quickly forward and stood before Yu Myung-Han.
“Sir, there are two things I need to inform you about.”
“What are they?”
As befitting his nickname of ‘Pokerface’, Yu Myung-Han had already
wiped off all traces of worry from his face and reverted back to his regular
stoic expression.
Secretary Kim picked up the newspaper resting at the corner of the large
desk and politely placed it before Yu Myung-Han.
‘….?’
Somewhat puzzled, Yu Myung-Han quickly picked the paper up and
browsed through it. The article dominating the front page was about the event
of a Gate opening up in a school somewhere in Seoul, causing the devastating
losses of hundreds of high school students.
“Tsk, tsk….”
Yu Myung-Han grimaced after seeing that terrible news.
“What a terrible incident this is. Make sure our company donates
something to the school and to the victims.”
“Yes, sir. But, Chairman, that’s not it.”
Yu Myung-Han put the paper down. Secretary Kim bowed slightly and
carefully flipped the page of the newspaper, so the next page could be seen.
There was a large photo dominating this page.
“This is the photograph I wanted to show to you, sir.”
The tip of Secretary Kim’s finger stopped by at a certain lady within that
photo.
“This woman…. Do you recall who she is, sir?”
The photo was of a hospital where the survivors of that horrible incident
had been admitted to. Secretary Kim had singled out a certain woman among
the many pictured. She was hurriedly running into the hospital’s entrance.
Quite coincidentally, she was someone Chairman Yu Myung-Han still
remembered quite clearly.
“But, how…..??”
Yu Myung-Han never forgot a person’s face. And he definitely had seen
that woman’s photograph before.
She was none other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s mother.
“But, I thought Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s mother suffered from the
Eternal Sleep, too?”
He had studied Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s profile several times in great
detail.
A person who, according to Yu Myung-Han’s knowledge, should be
confined to a bed and unable to move while completely dependent on the life
support machines, was walking around looking completely healthy.
The thing Secretary Kim wanted to talk to him about – Chairman Yu
Myung-Han finally realised what that was. His hand gripping the newspaper
began trembling.
“Can you find out for me what happened in detail?”
“Understood, sir.”
“…..Thank you.”
As his response to Yu Myung-Han’s praise, Secretary Kim bowed again for
a brief moment, before raising his head again. After putting the newspaper
back down again, Yu Myung-Han quietly opened his mouth.
“You said there are two things I need to know about.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is the second matter, then?”
Yu Myung-Han raised his head and met Secretary Kim’s gaze. And the
light in the latter’s eyes wasn’t so good. This was one of Kim’s old habits. He
always brought up the good news first, then spoke the bad news the last.
Secretary Kim displayed some hints of hesitation, before speaking up as if
he decided to give up.
“The Young Miss has returned home yesterday.”
As if waiting for that declaration…
Clung!
The door to the Chairman’s office was flung wide open and an intellectual-
type beauty rushed inside.
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s daugther, Yu Jin-Hui, saw how thin her father
had become and tears began wetting her eyes.
“How long have you been like this, Father?”
Chapter 146 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Camera flashes went off every few seconds as a slim woman with natural
black hair assumed several different poses.
“Good, that’s good.”
A wide grin didn’t want to leave the face of the photographer as he snapped
away with his camera.
Click!
The final click of the shutter rang out and the photographer raised his head.
“This is great. Nicely done.”
Cousin/older sister of Yu Jin-Ho, as well as his best friend, Yu Soo-Hyun,
smiled brightly and bowed her head to the director.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“You too, Miss Soo-Hyun.”
All thanks to Yu Soo-Hyun’s rather affable personality, the photo shoots
she participated in were always filled with jovial laughter.
It was to such an extent that, even those photographers previously
unwilling to work with her because of her image as the daughter of a chaebol
family, would actively seek her out for more photo shoots after working with
her just once.
“Thank you.”
“Thanks for your work today.”
With a bright expression, Yu Soo-Hyun thanked the photographer and other
staff members of the shoot, before trotting over to her coordinator who also
happened to be her manager as well.
“Unni, did Jin-Hui call me back?” (TL: Unni = honorific to denote older
female by another female, usually younger)
The coordinator shook her head, her expression one of worry.
Yu Soo-Hyun had tried to call her cousin four times already. She could only
pout unhappily at the fact that her diligence hadn’t been rewarded with a reply
so far.
‘She’s supposed to be back in the country since yesterday, so how come I
can’t get in touch with her?’
Yu Soo-Hyun heard the news of her cousin, studying abroad, briefly
making a trip home around yesterday morning.
She had been involved in a photo shoot that lasted the whole night and was
fast asleep when her cousin’s call came through. Who’d have thought that
missing one phone call would lead to such a hassle?
There was utterly not a peep from her cousin since then.
‘Did something happen to her?’
No, that couldn’t be. Yu Soo-Hyun shook her head.
That girl was none other than Yu Jin-Hui, the eldest daughter of Yu Myung-
Han – the owner of the biggest corporation in South Korea. The odds of
something bad happening to her was about the same as a rank S Hunter
entering a dungeon only to meet with a grisly end.
“Unni, gimme my phone back for a sec, please.”
Yu Soo-Hyun took the phone back, thinking that she’d try her luck again.
But then, her phone suddenly began vibrating and a bright expression
immediately formed on her face.
‘Is this from Jin-Hui?’
However, she began pouting again after confirming who the caller was.
‘……..’
Yu Soo-Hyun tapped on the ‘Answer’ icon and spoke in an annoyed voice.
“Hello?”
It was from Yu Jin-Ho, regrettably.
Yu Soo-Hyun was well aware of the fact that this kid would only call her
‘noona’ if he wanted something from her. She spat out a grand sigh in her
heart and asked him.
“Do you know by any chance where Jin-Hui is right now?”
“…..”
Now that she thought about it for a sec, didn’t this kid get chased out of his
own home after rejecting his father’s order of becoming the Yujin Guild’s
Master? Indeed, this cousin of hers proved to be of no help whatsoever, even
now.
“No, never mind. Okay, so what did you call me for?”
Surely, he wouldn’t be calling her for another drinking binge like the last
time. It was then, Yu Jin-Ho’s rather exhilarated voice came out of the phone.
What on earth was he on about, out of the blue?
A thin frown formed for a second there on Yu Soo-Hyun’s fine, smooth
forehead.
“Your Guild?”
She was so dumbfounded that she simply had to ask again.
….And this was the rather remarkable reply she got in return.
Yu Soo-Hyun’s voice became quite low as she got more and more
suspicious.
“And why do you need my name in the first place?”
“Wait, are you telling me to join a Guild that’s not even a real thing
yet??”
Yu Jin-Ho answered back oh-so-innocently.
Yu Soo-Hyun felt her head slowly develop a pulsing migraine simply from
wondering just what this kid believed in to become such an optimistic human
being.
‘No, besides all that…. Just who could be the other person, then?’
Rather than the ‘idiot’ asking her to put her name down as one of the
Guild’s founding members, she was getting a lot more suspicious of the other
person’s reasoning for wanting to make a Guild with this ‘idiot’, instead.
“You, you aren’t acting like this ‘cuz some shady character sweet-talked
you into it, right?”
Who’d want to create a Guild with a rank D Hunter possessing a negligible
amount of hunting experience other than swindlers? However, Yu Jin-Ho’s
response was rather different from her expectations.
From the other side of the phone line, the sound of a chuckle formed when
the corner of one’s lips arched up came out, followed soon after by a relaxed
voice.
“Okay, who is it?”
“I’m hanging up.”
Her hand moving towards the ‘End Call’ icon stopped as that desperately
pleading voice came out of the speaker. Yu Soo-Hyun smirked and placed the
phone back against her ear.
“I’m giving you three seconds to tell me. Three, two….”
‘….Seong Jin-Woo?’
Yu Soo-Hyun’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after hearing that
rather unexpected name.
“You mean, that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
“You mean, that rank S Hunter who single-handedly smashed apart Rhee
Min-Seong’s press conference before suddenly disappearing from
everyone’s view?”
“Are you really telling me that it’s him?”
Regardless of what Yu Jin-Ho’s retort was like, Seong Jin-Woo would
forever be the rank S Hunter who stepped on the pride of that arrogant jerk-
off Rhee Min-Seong in Yu Soo-Hyun’s eyes.
Just how refreshed did she feel back then? A lot.
If what Yu Jin-Ho said was true, then it was not that difficult to understand
that bottomless, sky-high confidence of his.
‘Well, Jin-Ho might like to put on airs sometimes, but he’s not the type to
lie, so…’
Yu Soo-Hyun pondered for a second or two, before asking her cousin
again.
“Can we meet up and talk?”
“What’s the address?”
Yu Soo-Hyun took a post-it note from nearby and quickly jotted down the
address. She did her best to calm her bubbling excitement down and made her
reply.
“I’m on my way right now.”
Click.
That’s where the conversation came to its end. The coordinator,
‘accidentally’ overhearing the contents of the call, sent out a probing question.
“Do you need to go somewhere? Are you even planning to drop out of the
afterparty?”
Nod, nod.
Yu Soo-Hyun rapidly swapped out of her modelling clothes and packed her
belongings as if she didn’t even have the time to explain herself.
“There’s someone I wanted to meet, you see.”
“Who….?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Yu Soo-Hyun tried to brush it aside and was about to leave the shoot
location, but the coordinator hurriedly called out and stopped her.
“Please tell me who it is! I need to know who it is so I can report back to
the Chairman!”
Yu Soo-Hyun’s father was the Chairman of the XX Pharmaceuticals. When
his daughter told him that she wanted to work in the entertainment industry,
he came up with a single condition. And that would be her being
accompanied around by a chaperone all the time.
Naturally, the coordinator was hired by Yu Soo-Hyun’s father. Meaning,
she was Yu Soo-Hyun’s coordinator, her manager, as well as her monitor.
Yu Soo-Hyun belatedly remembered that her coordinator unni would get
scolded by her father if she left without saying a single word like this. So, she
turned around and grinned refreshingly before making her reply.
“It’s Mister Seong Jin-Woo!”
Yu Soo-Hyun quickly ran off after that. The coordinator’s expression was
slowly filling up with worry as she watched the distancing back of her charge.
“The Chairman will throw a fit when he learns of his daughter meeting a
man without permission….”
The coordinator tutted for a little while, before she began recalling what Yu
Soo-Hyun had said.
‘Wait….. Who did she say she was meeting again?’
Didn’t the coordinator hear that person’s name before somewhere?
She carefully combed through her memories only for her brows to shoot up
in surprise. She quickly swivelled her head towards the exit Yu Soo-Hyun
used only a moment ago.
“Who did you say it was again?!”
‘It’s not here… not here, either….’
Yu Jin-Ho stared daggers at the computer screen while chewing on his
fingernails.
‘Not here…. It’s not here, too…..’
From a certain point in time, all thread forums and posts slagging his dear
hyung-nim off had vanished from the view. But, then again, such a thing
wasn’t that hard to understand why.
His hyung-nim rescued rank S Hunters from Jeju Island. He then closed a
rank B Gate in double time and cleared up the heavy traffic. And yesterday,
he saved the lives of a whole bunch of high school students as well.
So, it’d be far stranger to find someone trying to badmouth hyung-nim
now.
Those persistently annoying anti-hyung-nim idiots had been mostly driven
away into oblivion, all due to Yu Jin-Ho’s own concerted efforts as well as
everything hyung-nim had done so far.
Even those rarer-than-rare negative comments that cropped up on articles
concerning hyung-nim couldn’t endure against the concentrated cross-fire of
other commenters, and would eventually get deleted.
This was excellent news. Indeed, it was a great development.
‘But, why am I….?’
Why was he feeling so empty right now?
It felt like the things he could do was decreasing one by one, what with
things going like this.
Click, click….
Yu Jin-Ho formed a saddened expression and operated his mouse. In the
meantime, the office’s door quietly opened up. Jin-Woo was entering the
premise.
Yu Jin-Ho’s complexion brightened up after confirming Jin-Woo’s face,
and he quickly stood up to bow his head.
“You came, hyung-nim?”
“Yeah.”
Jin-Woo looked quite fatigued. But, that was rather understandable, really.
He had been staying next to Jin-Ah’s side from last night till this morning. He
briefly stopped by his home to get a quick wash-up before showing up here.
In case a rank A Gate suddenly popped up in the hospital, he even left Beru
in her shadow to deal with all the threats coming from there.
Yu Jin-Ho asked in an anxious voice.
“Hyung-nim, is your sister doing okay?”
“Fortunately, yeah.”
Jin-Woo kept his answer short. He was trying hard to show that everything
was fine, but then, he was still her older brother and couldn’t stop worrying
about her.
Even the doctor in charge recommended that she needed to be in close
observation for the time being, as the mental shock she suffered would have
been quite serious.
‘I hope she can quickly overcome this….’
After all, she was a bright, energetic kid to begin with. All Jin-Woo could
do now was to cheer her on in his heart.
It was then.
“Oh my gosh!! You were telling the truth!”
The surprised voice of a woman came from Jin-Woo’s side. He turned
around to find Yu Soo-Hyun exiting from the conference suite with a pair of
very large eyes staring back at him.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to Yu Jin-Ho and silently asked him.
‘And she is?’
Yu Jin-Ho replied with a pair of tense eyes.
‘It’s her, hyung-nim.’
Before arriving here, Jin-Woo had already heard the gist of the situation
from Yu Jin-Ho.
[“There is this one person that perfectly fits your criteria, hyung-nim!
How about meeting her, at least once?”]
Someone who carried around a Hunter licence but couldn’t be bothered
about the matters of the Guild, yet worthy of their trust.
‘And, she’s even a rank A Hunter, too….’
Her rank wasn’t all that important, though.
In any case, the first impression she gave off was not bad at all, perhaps
owing to her clear eyes and her bright smile. They shared quick and simple
introductions.
“Excuse me.”
Before they could sign the contract, Jin-Woo decided to ask her about
something he was curious about.
“If you do this, your relationship with your uncle might get a lot more
tricky. Will that be fine with you?”
“That’s still better than getting mixed up with Yu Jin-Seong, you know.”
“Yu Jin-Seong?”
Jin-Woo looked back to Yu Jin-Ho, and the latter embarrassedly scratched
the back of his head.
“He’s my older brother, hyung-nim.”
‘Ahh, that bad-personality older brother he talked about. Right, Yu Jin-
Seong was supposed to take over the Guild if Yu Jin-Ho failed to cut the
mustard, wasn’t it?’
Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head.
This wouldn’t have happened if Yu Jin-Ho did as he was told and took over
the Yujin Guild. In a way, Yu Soo-Hyun was another victim of the choice Yu
Jin-Ho made.
‘Because of this kid, many people are being greatly inconvenienced,
aren’t they….?’
Jin-Woo shifted his slightly narrowed eyes over to Yu Jin-Ho. The latter
formed a happy smile, not knowing what was in the former’s mind.
‘……..’
While Jin-Woo was groaning inwardly, Yu Soo-Hyun cautiously walked up
to him.
“Uhm, excuse me….”
“Yes?”
She was blushing just a little bit. It seemed like she had something
important to say to him, judging from how her eyes were quietly trembling
like that. Jin-Woo also formed a serious expression.
“Is there something you’d like to ask me?”
Yu Soo-Hyun hesitated slightly but after hearing his words, she worked up
enough courage to ask him. Her eyes even began sparkling.
“Can we take a selfie together? I wish to upload it to my SNS profile.”
The Chairman’s office of the XX Pharmaceuticals.
The younger brother of Yu Myung-Han, Yu Seok-Ho’s expression was far
more grave and serious than ever before.
“Are you telling me the truth?”
“Yes, sir.”
The coordinator nodded her head. She looked quite scared at the moment.
“My little girl is meeting up with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
“That’s correct, Mister Chairman.”
“Can it be another man with the same name?”
“I was also feeling unsure about that, but this….”
The coordinator rummaged through her pockets and cautiously pulled out
her phone. Yu Soo-Hyun’s SNS profile was displayed on the phone’s screen.
Yu Seok-Ho’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after he saw the last
uploaded image. Wasn’t that really the face of the Hunter that kept showing
up in the news lately?!
‘This, this is…..!’
Yu Seok-Ho glared daggers until he could almost bore a hole through the
photo, but eventually, he began massaging his forehead and spat out a soft
groan.
“…Huh.”
“A-are you alright, sir?”
“….Please leave me alone for a while.”
“P-pardon me?”
“Uh-huh! Didn’t I say to leave me alone?”
Yu Seok-Ho returned the phone back to the coordinator and almost literally
chased her out of his office. And then, having made sure she was gone for
good, he quickly switched on his computer to read every article concerning
Jin-Woo online.
⸢[Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, what could be his true worth?]⸥
⸢[Propositions flooding in from every country in the world! What will
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo choose to do next?]
⸢[Chairman Park Jong-Su of the Knight Order Guild: “Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo’s abilities are impossible to evaluate.”]⸥
⸢[Hunter Seong Jin-Woo: Did the Americans contact him in secret
already?]⸥
⸢[Experts describe Hunter Seong Jin-Woo as the walking, talking large
corporation….]⸥
Public’s interest in that Hunter had gone through the roof ever since the
raid on Jeju Island. The clear indication of that was all these articles found
online.
As Chairman Yu Seok-Ho continued to read the articles one at the time, the
look of admiration formed on his face.
“Huh-uh, huh-uh….!”
Two hours passed by like that.
He leaned back against his chair as his fatigued eyes ached rhythmically.
He had been concentrating so hard that his forehead was soaked completely in
sweat.
He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief and put a cigarette between his
lips. But, before he could light it up, he remembered something. He put the
cigarette down and picked up his phone instead.
Ring…. Ring…..
Click.
A voice of a middle-aged woman came from the phone.
“Huhuh, dear. Do you happen to know who our little girl is getting
acquainted with lately?”
“I’m telling you, my dear. I sure have raised our girl properly, haven’t
I?”
Chairman Yu Seok-Ho was utterly sure of it.
Just who was his little girl, Soo-Hyun? Wasn’t she his daughter who did not
lack for anything when it came to her looks, her background, and even her
academic achievements?
Even if he supposed that these two young people were nothing more than
just acquaintances now, it was only a matter of time before they developed a
far more intimate relationship.
The voice of his wife coming out of the phone’s speaker sounded puzzled
now.
“Huhuhuh. Did I really do that?”
Yu Seok-Ho suddenly guffawed loudly enough to almost shake the
chairman’s office.
“You’d be just as surprised as me when you find out, ahahahahaha!”
Chapter 147 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘Huh…!’
He had been using his Class-specific skills constantly, but they showed no
signs of budging until now. But then, their levels all went up in one go?!
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Jin-Woo’s heart began pounding really hard for the first time in a while.
Currently, there were only two other people inside the boss chamber, and
that would be Yu Jin-Ho and Woo Jin-Cheol. Since both of them weren’t the
type to needlessly complain about small matters, he decided to not to mind
their presence and summoned out his Status Window.
‘Stat Window.’
Tti-ring.
Along with the familiar mechanical bleep, all the information about him,
starting from his level to every item he was wearing, and even his current
physical status, appeared to fill up his view.
Jin-Woo’s gaze stopped at the ‘Class-specific Skills’ list.
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skills
‘It’s for real.’
Hearing about the truth and actually seeing it were two different things. Jin-
Woo clenched his fist tighter, especially from the fact that the level for
‘Shadow Exchange’ had gone up.
‘Nice!’
The Shadow Exchange skill possessed such an endless potential but he was
feeling frustrated by the limitation posed by its lengthy cooldown time.
‘The description said that cooldown will change according to the skill
level, right?’
With this, his frustration should go down a little.
This was today’s biggest gain for him. He was far more pleased about the
skill Shadow Exchange being enhanced rather than his stalled level rising up
again.
‘Should I see how much of it has changed now?’
Feeling like a kid pulling the wrapping off his new present, Jin-Woo
accessed the information on the skill Shadow Exchange.
Tti-ring.
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv. 2]
Class-specific….
….Once activated, you must wait two hours of ‘cooldown’ period before
being able to use the skill again.
The ‘cooldown’ period will change according to the Skill’s level.
‘…..!!’
Reduction of one hour!!
Just by going up one level, the cooldown time had decreased by one-third.
Jin-Woo could barely hide his excitement now.
‘One hour’s gone after going up one level.’
A simple calculation told him that there was a high possibility of yet
another hour being chopped off from the cooldown time with the next level
up of the skill. And, what if he raised the level of this skill one more time
after that?
‘It means, regardless of where I am, mom and Jin-Ah will never find
themselves in trouble….’
Just thinking about that made his entire body shiver. That was the most
important thing for Jin-Woo, after all. Maybe his excitement showed up on his
face, Yu Jin-Ho asked him a question with a jovial smile.
“Hyung-nim? Did something good happen?”
“Mm?”
Only then did Jin-Woo realise that Yu Jin-Ho had come closer to him.
‘I was too focused on the Status Window, wasn’t I….?’
He also could see Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol walking towards this way
behind Yu Jin-Ho as well. Jin-Woo grinned and closed the Status Window.
Even if these two men weren’t the types to raise a fuss over every single
thing, there was no reason for him to look like a madman to their eyes, either.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“That’s cool, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s wits had become a lot quicker after following Jin-Woo around
for a while, so he didn’t try to dig in anymore. Instead, his attention shifted to
the sight right next to them.
“Wowsers.”
This would be Yu Jin-Ho’s first time ever seeing an actual rank A
dungeon’s boss. This monster’s upper torso looked human-ish, but the lower
part looked like a sea snake.
It looked so nonsensically huge from afar, but now that he got to take a
look up close, it seemed even bigger and really disgusting to behold, as well.
It was only natural that he couldn’t close his slack jaw after seeing such a
humongous monster.
‘I know that hyung-nim has entered several other high-ranking
dungeons prior to this one, so does that mean….’
Did that mean he killed creatures like this one every time he entered such a
Gate?
Gulp.
Yu Jin-Ho swallowed some dry saliva. For some reason, his hyung-nim
looked even more imposing and cool to his eyes today. And he felt incredibly
proud of himself, as it was him and not someone else standing beside such an
incredible man.
“Hyung-nim!!”
“Mm?”
“I respect you.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
‘Silly kid.’
Jin-Woo stared wordlessly at Yu Jin-Ho, and the latter averted his gaze
after realising how embarrassed he was feeling right now. Meanwhile, Woo
Jin-Cheol next to them was also stewing in a bottomless shock at the moment.
‘I knew Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s skills were amazing, but this….’
To think, he’d be able to easily take care of a boss-level Naga like this.
Other raid teams would begin tearing their hair out after seeing this
spectacle. Especially when they would need the full participation of tankers,
damage dealers, and Healers just to barely bring down a monster of this
magnitude.
‘……..’
Woo Jin-Cheol walked up close to the remains of the boss-level Naga and
lightly tapped on the monster’s scales. He could definitely sense the steel-like
hardness through his fingertips.
Scales of Naga boasted amazing hardness and they were often used in the
manufacturing of all sorts of defensive items, such as various armours and
shields.
‘But, such scales were….’
Some part of the scales on the lower torso of the monster were crushed and
torn into pieces as if they were made out of paper. That was the aftermath left
behind by Jin-Woo’s skill, ‘Violent Slash’.
‘Being able to produce such devastating destructive power, while using
nothing more than a couple of shortswords.’
Cold sweat formed on Woo Jin-Cheol’s forehead as he observed the
monster’s corpse. What a great relief that the youth was their ally and not an
enemy.
It was then, Jin-Woo’s voice came from behind him.
“….Can you step aside for a bit, please?”
Woo Jin-Cheol was too deep in his thoughts and couldn’t properly hear
that, so he quickly looked behind him in a fluster.
“Y-yes?”
“I’m trying to create another summoned creature, but Chief Woo, you
are too close, you see.”
“Ah.”
Yu Jin-Ho had already moved to a far enough location and was busy
gesturing at Woo Jin-Cheol to come over there.
“M-my apologies.”
Woo Jin-Cheol offered an appropriate-sounding apology and quickly
stepped aside. He kept staring with great anticipation, though. He had seen
how the summoned creatures were created during his trip here, but this would
be the first time seeing a boss-level monster become a summon.
‘Could this huge thing become a summoned creature as how it looks?’
Even Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes were sparkling as he waited for the result. Even
though he was subjected to two men’s boiling anticipation, Jin-Woo was
utterly relaxed as he activated Shadow Extraction.
‘Rise up.’
The shadow of the boss-level monster answered the call of its new owner.
Kiiiaahhh-!!
A hand emerged out from the shadow and grabbed hold of the ground,
before dragging its body out from the darkness. However, the newly
summoned creature was way smaller in size than what the audience was
expecting to see.
As a matter of fact, it was only about the same size as the summoned
creatures created out of regular Nagas. Maybe, it was slightly larger, but that
was about it.
‘Haha….’
Woo Jin-Cheol was so tense that his palms were soaked in sweat, but now,
he could let off a wry chuckle. This result was perhaps an inevitable one.
How could a summon created from borrowing the dead monster’s powers
be similar to the actual thing? That would be just about the right size, whether
that criteria being its actual power or the physical size.
Woo Jin-Cheol felt relieved for some reason after seeing the summon and
its comparatively miniaturised size.
‘Maybe, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s powers have a defined and clear
ceiling?’
Even if that was the case, Hunter Seong’s own combat abilities easily
exceeded one’s imaginations, so one could never see him as an easy opponent
at all.
Quite different from Woo Jin-Cheol’s thoughts, though, Jin-Woo was
shouting out in elation at the unexpected jackpot he just stumbled onto.
[The Sovereign’s voice has roused the fighting spirit of the deceased.]
[You have succeeded in strengthening the shadow!]
[The shadow’s level will start from 13.]
‘Nice!!’
Was this because of the Shadow Extraction had levelled up? For the first
time since Igrit’s case, the message regarding the strengthening of a shadow
popped out. Jin-Woo quickly checked the new soldier’s information.
[?? Lv. 13]
Elite Knight grade
It wasn’t that surprising to see the grade ‘Elite Knight’ pop up like Fangs
before since this guy used to be the boss of the rank A dungeon. However, its
starting level was 13!!
Jin-Woo confirmed that level and could barely keep his happy chuckles in
check.
‘Is it because its level is so high? Its power is not all that different from
the original.’
Unlike the soldiers he had extracted so far, he couldn’t sense many
discrepancies between this guy’s stats and those of the dead original. He
picked up on the massive magic energy hidden deep within its smaller body.
He was actually puzzled by its different size, but he could make one
hypothesis here.
‘Maybe, this is how it looked originally?’
That made sense, seeing that they were all Nagas, to begin with. So, how
could the boss be that much bigger than the others? If it used magic like
Fangs to balloon up its size, then that made perfect sense.
His hypothesis was supported by the fact that this new guy was ably
controlling its own magic energy just like how Fangs did, and also from its
great reserve of magic energy as well. That reserve wasn’t as huge as Fangs,
though.
It was then.
[Please assign the soldier’s name.]
Just like before, the message urging him to name this new soldier popped
up to his view. Jin-Woo didn’t give it much thought and named it ‘Jima’.
[Will you name the soldier ‘Jima’?]
‘That’s right.’
And so, a powerful new mage had been added to his Shadow Army, as well
as to his new Naga troops, as well. With the extraction process now over, Jin-
Woo absorbed Jima back into his shadow.
Right on cue, the dungeon began sending out warning signals now that it
no longer had an owner.
Rumble…..
A faint tremor rose up from the ground. It was the signal that the Gate
would close in one hour. Yu Jin-Ho stopped staying back and quickly ran over
to his hyung-nim’s side.
“It’s time for us to leave this place, hyung-nim.”
“Right.”
Yu Jin-Ho took one last sweeping look around him and smacked his lips as
if he was feeling regretful over something.
“But, hyung-nim. This is a bit of a waste.”
His gaze was now fixed on the corpse of the boss-level monster.
“That thing would’ve fetched a handsome amount on the market, you
know?”
A Gate would close soon after the dungeon’s boss was killed off. Meaning,
one would have to take on a huge risk to bring out the body of the boss
monster outside the dungeon.
If you made one mistake and got trapped in here, then you’d literally
become ‘missing in dungeon’ forever, so to speak.
Perhaps that was why it was rare to see the corpses of boss monsters
outside of the Gates. The first problem being, because they were so much
bigger, transporting them itself posed a significant challenge.
Of course, their rarity ensured that the price they fetched was quite
substantial, as well. Strangely enough, Jin-Woo replied nonchalantly to Yu
Jin-Ho and his wistful longing.
“What’s the problem? We’ll just take it with us.”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes opened up wider as he hastily asked a question.
“Hyung-nim, isn’t that too big to take with us?”
Jin-Woo smirked softly.
“It’s fine.”
He didn’t know how strong his guy was physically, but well, didn’t he have
someone on his side who was way bigger than that corpse?
‘Come out.’
When Jin-Woo issued his order, a former High Orc Shaman Shadow
Soldier decked out in a black robe made a soundless appearance.
Shururuk….
Fangs lowered his head as his greetings, and Jin-Woo pointed at the corpse
with his chin.
‘Go ahead.’
In the blink of an eye, Fangs grew back into a giant. He then began
dragging out the boss-level Naga, which wasn’t even half his size, out of the
boss chamber.
“Heok!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes shook hard after witnessing such a shocking
spectacle.
‘Wasn’t that thing…..??’
Without a doubt, that was the High Orc Shaman from the Hunters Guild
raid not too long ago that Jin-Woo killed in one hit. He clearly witnessed it
back then.
But now, that thing was at least twice the size than when it was still alive.
And it wasn’t just its size that had grown bigger, too. The emitted waves of
magic energy coming from its body when it grew to that size was far, far
scarier compared to back then as well.
Woo Jin-Cheol was genuinely astonished by this new development.
‘What is this?! Didn’t the monster’s power drop when turning into a
summon??’
If that was the case, then how should he go about explaining that summon
created out from the High Orc Shaman?
Jin-Woo could create summons out of the boss monsters from rank A
dungeons, and he could even strengthen them, too?
‘How can this make any sort of logical sense…..??’
Jin-Woo asked a nonplussed question to Woo Jin-Cheol and his slack jaw.
“Chief Woo? Aren’t you coming as well?”
“Ah….”
If one were to lose some of their lifespan through mental shocks, then Woo
Jin-Cheol must’ve lost half of his life here today.
He had a mountain of questions he’d like to ask. But then, he was actually
afraid of the kind of answers he might get, so he felt disinclined to ask them,
as well.
Woo Jin-Cheol hesitated, but in the end, could only reply with a tired look
on his face.
“…..Yes, let’s get going.”
Reporters were thinking of leaving for early lunch but then, their eyes
nearly bulged out of their sockets after Jin-Woo leisurely walked out of the
Gate.
“What the heck? Has he finished already?!”
“No way??”
He cleared a rank A dungeon in less than three hours?!
A big lightbulb got switched on inside the heads of the gathered reporters.
‘This is a huge scoop! A jackpot!’
The reporters gripping their cameras tightly began flooding towards the
Gate, fearing that they might miss Jin-Woo if they didn’t hurry up. Too bad,
the Hunters from the Monitoring Division waiting there quickly blocked their
progress.
“Argh, let me go! We aren’t going to interview him, you know??”
“I just want to snap a photo! What the heck, will you take responsibility if
I get fired for failing to take a single picture today??”
“It’s just one photo, so why are you all behaving like this??”
And just as the desperate scuffle between the reporters and the Monitoring
Division’s agents intensified….
THUD.
The sound of something heavy stepping on the ground resounded out.
“Uh…”
One of the reporters dropped his camera in an utter daze.
Crack.
He didn’t even realise that his fallen camera was stepped on by other
reporters. No, he could only point towards the Gate and stutter out in pure
shock.
“L-look over there…”
Or, more specifically, he was pointing at the massive, hulking giant of a
monster stepping outside the Gate.
“R-run away!! No, no wait! Take its pictures first! Hurry!”
“Are you filming this??”
“Ah, yes!!”
The reporters quickly forgot about the physical confrontation of a second
ago and hurriedly began snapping away with their raised cameras.
They were inwardly fearful of the monster suddenly attacking them, but at
the same time, their fingers continued to move at a blinding pace as if they
had been bewitched by something.
Clickclickclickclickclickclick-!!!
Fangs was diligently dragging the boss-level Naga’s corpse outside the
Gate, but when he felt quite a lot of stares landing on his back, he slowly
turned around to look.
‘…..??’
And he found that, not just the reporters, but the police, Association
employees, and even the passersby on the street stopped in their treks to look
up at him.
Fangs was now suddenly overcome with embarrassment and sheepishly
scratched the back of his head.
Chapter 150 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Somewhere…. private??”
Embarrassment began dyeing Cha Hae-In’s expression beet red as she took
a look around where they were. Jin-Woo’s own expression hardened as well.
‘How come all the buildings around here are so….’
Indeed, they were now in a location where everything around them was ill-
suited for a pair of young people to casually walk in.
Before this awkward situation could get any worse, Jin-Woo quickly came
up with a solution.
“You need to get your car anyway, so why don’t we go back to our Guild
office?”
“Ah, yes.”
Nod, nod.
He briefly thought that her nodding like that with a reddened face was
rather adorable to look at. But still, he quickly turned around in the direction
of the office.
“Shall we?”
“Okay.”
Jin-Woo began retracing the path he and Cha Hae-In took and was
reminded of the fact that she was indeed a rank S Hunter like him.
‘Wow, we really did run far, didn’t we?’
Although it felt like only a brief moment for him, they needed ten minutes
of regular walking just get back to his office.
The Guild office was located on the third floor. Jin-Woo placed his thumb
on the electronic lock, and the door clicked open to allow them inside.
He was about to head straight into the conference room, but then, he had to
stop in his treks and take a look behind him, at Cha Hae-In still standing by
the doorway.
“…..?”
Jin-Woo stared at her with eyes asking “Aren’t you coming in?” which
prompted her to ask back at him, instead.
“Isn’t it too dark inside?”
“….Ah.”
Only then did Jin-Woo realise that the interior of the office was pitch-black.
His vision wasn’t hindered by regular levels of darkness, so stuff like this
would happen every once in a while. As for Hunter Cha, maybe she wasn’t as
good with darkness as he was.
Click.
He flipped the switch and the interior was brightly lit up. She took a look
inside the illuminated interior and cautiously asked him again.
“There is no one in the office?”
“The Vice-Chair wanted to remain behind in the Gate’s location, you
see.”
“Could there be only two people in this Gui…”
Cha Hae-In stopped her words there and quickly shook her head when she
saw Jin-Woo and his expression that said, “So, what’s the problem with
that?”
“…..No, it’s nothing.”
Cha Hae-In was very quickly coming to an understanding that the common
sense of the world didn’t seem to apply to the man in front of her eyes.
‘Hold on.’
Her steps taking her into the Guild office suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
‘Doesn’t that mean there are only me and Mister Seong Jin-Woo inside
this Guild building??’
The light of tension quickly filled up Cha Hae-In’s eyes. At the same time,
she also realised that it’d been a while since she felt this tense as well.
‘Maybe, it’s my first time since becoming an Awakened….’
How many men out there in this world were capable of making her feel this
tense? Especially when she was acknowledged to be one of the highest
levelled among the ranked S Hunters, at that?
For some reason, the words of ‘somewhere private’ kept repeating in her
head and she became even more conscious of herself because of that. Her
heart was palpitating faster and faster.
She began giggling then, suddenly thinking that she was no longer acting
like a rank S Hunter, but like a regular girl now.
“Keuk, keuk.”
Jin-Woo gazed at Cha Hae-In trying hard to suppress her giggles and tilted
his head.
‘Is it that funny to have only two employees in a Guild?’
But, then again, she was a part of the top Guild in South Korea, so from her
perspective, this arrangement must’ve come across as totally inconceivable.
So, Jin-Woo stopped paying any mind to that and entered the conference
suite. He made her sit close by and settled down on the opposing chair.
He started talking only after the air in the conference suite felt a bit more
familiar to both of them.
“Please tell me. What happened?”
Just those simple words were enough to change the atmosphere within the
suite completely.
“How is it possible for Hunter Min Byung-Gu to leave you with messages
for me?”
Jin-Woo’s expression was serious. He didn’t know her all that well, but
still, he got the impression that she wasn’t a type to start spewing baseless lies
just to get some attention.
That was why he became so much more serious now.
“…”
Either she needed some time to recall her sleeping memories, or didn’t
know where to begin her tale, because she needed a bit of time before she was
ready to open lips.
“That day…..”
Cha Hae-In finally raised her head and looked deeply into his eyes. Her
gentle eyes were now filled to the brim with tears. When Jin-Woo saw her
expression, he thought he could more or less tell where she’d start her story.
She quietly spoke.
“I heard his voice.”
***
Cha Hae-In was getting sucked deeper into the unending darkness, but it
was none other than the hand of Min Byung-Gu reaching down to stop her
falling.
“Min Byung-Gu…. Hunter-nim?”
Min Byung-Gu slowly nodded his head.
Cha Hae-In had to confirm that it was him multiple times because he was
currently decked out in unfamiliar black armour. If it weren’t for his
uncovered face, she’d never have figured out that it was him.
Cha Hae-In asked him in confusion.
“Where…. Where are we?”
“I don’t know myself, but I do know what will happen if I let go of the
hand holding you.”
Cha Hae-In was about to take a look below her, but Min Byung-Gu
hurriedly stopped her.
“Don’t look!!”
“Excuse me??”
Cha Hae-In got startled and she quickly looked up at him. Min Byung-Gu
explained to her with a sombre look on his face.
“If you look down there, you might not be able to come back up again.”
As he said those words, she got to read a certain emotion that almost felt
like a longing of some kind within his eyes.
‘No, it can’t be….’
She began recalling the scene taking place seconds before she lost
consciousness.
The Jeju Island raid.
The ant queen.
And then, the sudden appearance of a truly terrifying mutated ant monster.
She sensed a scary something approaching her, and then, the darkness came
over her.
“Did I… Am I dead?”
Min Byung-Gu shook his head.
“No, not yet.”
“But then, what about you, Min Byung-Gu Hunter-nim?”
He didn’t reply. Instead, Min Byung-Gu stopped her line of questioning
there.
“We don’t have much time left, so allow me to get to the point.”
This was likely his one and only chance. If he missed it, then he’d never be
able to get this message across. Min Byung-Gu’s expression became urgent,
pleading even, as he spoke to her.
“Please pass this message to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
‘Seong Jin-Woo….?’
Cha Hae-In could only briefly stew in her confusion arising from that name
unexpectedly being mentioned here. Min Byung-Gu carried on.
“You must tell him that he needs to be careful with the power he
possesses.”
“What, what do you mean by that?”
“You must’ve noticed it by now, but I’ve already died once. I fell to the
bottom of this place, but someone pulled me back up. He pulled me back out
of this endless darkness.”
“Could it be that man is….?”
“Yes, it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Cha Hae-In’s eyes began quaking powerfully now. Even if Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo was ridiculously overpowered, was he really powerful enough to
revive a dead person??
However, Min Byung-Gu continued to recount the experience he had gone
through without holding anything back.
“Truth is, even though it was indeed I that got revived, that wasn’t really
me, either. I possessed my will and my consciousness, but I was also
prepared to do anything for him…. It felt like I have become an
unquestioning, unconditional slave only existing to serve him and nothing
else.”
There was no reason for Cha Hae-In to ask who this ‘he’ was in Min
Byung-Gu’s explanations. She swallowed her nervous saliva.
“I was scared as well, because the mere idea of serving him made me feel
so happy.”
Min Byung-Gu formed a bitter expression.
“You must let Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim know this.”
His expression then hardened into a sombre one.
“His powers are absolute, and it was incredibly scary. He needs to know
this, as well.”
However, what was even more horrifying than that was…
His expression now shifted to the one of sheer terror as he recalled the
memories of only a few moments ago.
As he stood up from the ground after becoming the new Shadow Soldier
through Hunter Seong’s command, he got to see the welcoming cheers of the
countless black-armoured soldiers lining up behind Jin-Woo.
Their numbers were in the tens of thousands. No, millions.
As if they were faithfully waiting for the commands of their Sovereign, the
innumerable number of soldiers were ‘hiding’ quietly behind Jin-Woo.
And when Min Byung-Gu’s gaze met the eyes of their general standing
before them, he lost all his sense of self and Cha Hae-In’s lying body filled up
his view, instead. He already knew what he needed to do by then.
Not only that, he also understood that there was something else he had to
do on top of saving her. And that would be letting Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
know of how terrifying the power sleeping within him was.
In that brief moment when his mind was connected to Jin-Woo’s, Min
Byung-Gu got to see the true identity of that power – as well as the extent of
his true army.
He sensed that his time was rapidly running out and shouted at her.
“You must remember!! The real army of Hunter Seong is…..”
It was then.
A blinding light came from somewhere above and enveloped Cha Hae-In.
Min Byung-Gu’s expression stiffened.
“His real army is….!!”
Unfortunately, his voice was buried within the empty echoes, and it
flickered dimmer and dimmer, eventually sinking deep into the void below.
***
“….”
That was as far as Cha Hae-In could remember. Her memories had become
faint and indistinct like a fading dream, but they somehow managed to return
to her not too long ago.
Jin-Woo’s expression was understandably heavy after hearing her tale.
‘Her consciousness seconds before dying met with that of Hunter Min
Byung-Gu’s, who actually did die and became a Shadow Soldier??’
It was a truly hard-to-believe story.
Was it possible that her subconscious mind created a false memory with the
stuff she picked up from the surroundings, all because she received a heavy
mental trauma after facing the imminent threat of death?
Jin-Woo raised this point with her, and she replied with these following
words.
“Yes, I also thought that could be a possibility.”
Why wouldn’t Cha Hae-In consider such a possibility? That was why she
found herself in a deep dilemma over the last few days, before she finally
worked up enough courage to tell him about the message.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in understanding. He then pushed forward his
phone towards her.
“Let me give you my number. In case you remember anything else,
please, can you give me a call right away?”
Cha Hae-In nodded her head.
“Yes. If I do, I’ll contact you immediately.”
Her complexion seemed to have brightened just a tad now.
***
Japan immediately sent out requests for help to the international
community.
As they had lost over half of their combat force ranked S, this somewhat
rapid decision had an air of inevitability to it.
Unfortunately, the international community’s attitude was rather icy, to say
the least.
Japan wilfully ignored the dangerous situation developing in the
neighbouring nation of Korea. But then, the Japanese got all worked up about
putting out the fire only after the flames landed on their feet.
The international community hadn’t forgotten that.
The Japanese were left baffled and lost after the United States, already well
known for never, ever letting their rank S Hunters work overseas, as well as
the most powerful Hunter nation in Asia, China, abandoned them to their
devices.
[The USA abandons Japan.]
[Will China do nothing and let the destruction of Japan happen?]
[The Tokyo Gate: two days since its appearance. The remaining time
is….]
[What will Korea choose to do?]
The world’s attention began focusing on Japan; sensational articles were
being published every single day.
It was at precisely at this point that a lone Hunter extended his hands of
salvation towards the Japanese public being overwhelmed by despair and
terror.
His name was Yuri Orlov, a rank S Hunter of Russian nationality.
In order to negotiate the terms with the Japanese government, he invited
over the related representatives to his place. The Japanese Hunter’s
Association President Matsumoto Shigeo jumped aboard a plane taking him
to the Russian Federation at the first chance he got.
Yuri Orlov didn’t even bother to greet the Japanese representatives at the
airport and instead, received them in the living room of his palace-like
mansion.
“My name is Matsumoto Shigeo.”
A middle-aged blonde Caucasian man arrogantly greeted back.
“I’m Yuri Orlov. You should probably know this by now, but I’m called
the best Support-type Hunter in the world.”
After that brief introduction, the two men settled down on the opposite
side.
Yuri Orlov had asked for all the related data concerning the Tokyo Gate
before this meeting. After getting his hands on those files, he began to
leisurely browse them.
And so, how much time passed by like this?
He kept nodding his head as he calculated the cost, and eventually opened
his mouth to name his price.
“Ten million US Dollars per day. You pay me the money properly on time,
and I will block the Gate for you for as long as you want.” (TL note at the
end)
Ten million per day??
The Japanese representatives almost flew into rage from that outrageous
price, but Matsumoto Shigeo didn’t. He raised his hands and gestured them to
calm down, prompting the flinching Japanese Hunters to settle back down in
their seats.
“Looks like I can hold a civilised conversation with you.”
Yuri Orlov grinned, his gold-plated teeth now on full display.
“3.6 billion in a year. That money will save your nation. It’s not even 36
billion, either. So, how about it? Will you save your country with 10 million
per day, or will you give up on your country because you think that’s a
waste of money?”
Officially, the wealth of the richest man alive was supposed to be just over
100 billion US Dollars. So, 3.6 billion per year was definitely not a small sum
by any stretch of the imagination.
‘But, when compared to the nation of Japan, it truly is a negligible
amount.’
Matsumoto Shigeo had come to a decision and opened his mouth.
“We are willing to pay you that amount.”
“Very good. Then, let’s sign the contract right now, and my signing
fee….”
“But before we do that,”
Yuri Orlov was busy ordering his underling to bring along the contract, but
he stopped and took a long hard look at Matsumoto Shigeo.
“….?”
Even though he was being subjected to that blatantly criticising glare,
Matsumoto Shigeo remained collected as he carried on.
“Please, can you demonstrate your abilities to us, at least once.”
Yuri Orlov heard the translation from the interpreter and began guffawing
out right away.
“Euhahahahahahat!!”
He laughed his head off until tears came out of his eyes. He eventually
collected himself enough to speak up.
“You think you’re in any position to get picky here? When licking my
boots and pleading on your knees might not even be enough?”
It was then–two Japanese rank S Hunters tasked with guarding Matsumoto
Shigeo during this trip to Russia could no longer endure this insult and shot
up from their seats.
“Stop, you two!!”
Matsumoto hurriedly shouted out, but it was too late; the eyes of the two
rank S Hunters were burning in rage and they weren’t backing down.
However….
Thud!
Thud, thud!!
The rank S Hunters did try to make their moves but, as if they were stuck
behind invisible walls, couldn’t even budge an inch from the spot. They were
like rats trapped inside a glass bottle, only being able to exchange shocked
glances with each other.
Yuri Orlov cackled again while looking at the two men.
“Free yourselves if you can, alright? But then, you won’t be able to move
a single foot without my permission.”
Yuri Orlov was the ‘master’ of placing barriers. Not just the two trapped
rank S Hunters, but even Matsumoto Shigeo couldn’t hide their shock from
this development. The corners of Yuri Orlov’s lips arched up as he made his
offer again.
“For the price of ten million per day, I’ll block the Gate for you, plus I
shall add the lives of these two morons on top, as well. So, how about it?
Isn’t this enough to satisfy you now?”
His teeth reflected the living room’s light and glittered in gold.
He had just demonstrated the power of his restrictions that could tie up two
rank S Hunters as if they were nothing much at all.
‘Is trusting this man the best option we have at this point….?’
Matsumoto Shigeo’s head slowly bobbed up and down.
“May I use the phone for a little while?”
“But, of course.”
And on the following day.
The name of Yuri Orlov filled up the news broadcasts from all over the
world.
Chapter 152 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The first thing Jin-Woo did after he got home was to bring up his Status
Window.
‘Stat Window.’
What he wanted to check out was the newly updated info on his Skills. His
gaze scrolled past his current level, his Class and Title, and eventually arrived
at the Skill Window.
[Skills]
Passive Skills
Active Skills
Almost all of his bountiful skills displayed in the Skill Window had
reached their level limit and evolved into their ultimate forms, or were about
to evolve into one.
The level cap for a skill was 3. And when a skill reached the level cap, the
number would change to ‘MAX’ and stopped rising any further than that.
However, if he continued to increase his proficiency with the skills, they
would eventually evolve into their ultimate versions. The gap between the
skill’s effectiveness before and after its evolution was noticeably huge.
The skill ‘Dash’ had evolved into ‘Quicksilver’.
The skill ‘Vital Points Targetting’ had evolved into ‘Violent Slash’.
And ‘Dagger Throw’ had morphed into ‘Dagger Rush’.
Even the passive skill that aided with handling daggers and shortswords,
‘High-Grade Dagger Technique’, had evolved into ‘Master of Shortsword’.
The result of that last evolution was something like this. Jin-Woo
summoned ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ out and began manipulating it this
way and that on his hand.
He spun the weapon seamlessly around his index finger before letting it
glide up to the palm of his hand. It then smoothly slithered around to the back
of his hand.
The near-acrobatic silky movements continued on for a little while, before
he lightly tossed the weapon over his head and snatched it back in his grip.
Jin-Woo slowly smacked his lips afterwards.
‘What a pity that there is no one here to appreciate this.’
The shortsword felt like an extension of his own limb, and that was all due
to the passive skill, ‘Master of Shortsword’.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Skill Window while repeatedly tossing
the shortsword up and down.
‘So, ‘Intimidation’ and ‘Stealth’ are the only two with realistic chances of
getting stronger, huh.’
Regretfully, there didn’t seem to be much room for the ‘Tenacity’ skill to
improve beyond level 1, where it had been stuck ever since he got the skill.
But, that was inevitable, really.
[Skill: Tenacity Lv.1]
Passive Skill.
Mana required to activate: None.
You possess untiring tenacity. When your stamina drops below 30%, this
skill will automatically activate and reduce all damage received by 50%.
….Because, ‘Tenacity’ was a skill that only activated when his stamina
dropped below 30%. Obviously, he wouldn’t endanger his own life just to
level up one of his skills, now would he?
Also, Jin-Woo had experienced a fair number of close shaves after that
passive skill became part of his arsenal. Even then, it hadn’t changed from
being level 1, so that could only mean he’d need to go through an
extraordinary situation just for a chance to upgrade this skill.
Besides, Jin-Woo becoming far too strong also played a factor here. Just
how many enemies out there could realistically drive him to a desperate
corner now?
All things considered, he had no choice but to forget about upgrading
‘Tenacity’ altogether.
He then decided to increase his proficiency with both ‘Stealth’ and
‘Intimidation’, the latter of which he hadn’t had a lot of chances to utilise
until now and was stuck at level 2 as a result.
Unlike ‘Intimidation’, which was rather difficult to activate willy-nilly
anywhere as he pleased, he could activate ‘Stealth’ even when he was going
through his daily routines.
But, right now, Jin-Woo’s gaze was fixed to a spot up above those skills.
‘Just what could this guy be?’
He was looking at the skill simply labelled as ‘Unknown’ found within the
passive skill list.
This skill had been with him ever since he became the ‘Player’. But up
until now, not even its basic information had been revealed to him.
‘I thought it’d eventually disclose its secrets after a while, but….’
Did this skill also require him to meet some kind of a condition to be
unlocked as well? Because it was labelled ‘MAX’ from the very beginning, he
was really looking forward to finding out just what kind of skill it was, but
this….
A lot of time had passed since those days, but his curiosity only managed to
grow larger and larger in the meantime.
‘……..’
Jin-Woo continued to stare at the ‘Unknown’ skill until he almost bore a
hole right through it, but in the end, he shook his head in defeat. Besides,
what he really wanted to confirm couldn’t be found within the regular Skill
Window, anyway.
No, they were right below it.
Indeed, he wanted to check his Class-specific skills that had all gone up a
level earlier in the day.
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skill
‘So, what changed, and by how much?’
Jin-Woo took a closer look at the information on the skills, excluding
‘Shadow Exchange’, which he had already taken a gander before.
[Skill: Shadow Extraction]
Class-specific skill.
Required Mana to activate: None
Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the recently deceased
lifeform.
The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on the target’s
original Stat values, as well as the length of time since its death.
Number of shadows that can be extracted: 590/1,300
Level 2 effect ‘Boost’: Increases the odds of enhancing the Stats of the
extracted shadow.
Perhaps as a reward for such a tough levelling up process, the number of
shadows he could extract had shot up to a shocking degree.
‘The maximum number of shadows is now 1,300?!’
As long as his surroundings were filled with targets for Shadow Extraction,
he’d be able to increase the number of his allies by well over double the
current size. Not only that, there was the special added effect to consider as
well, which raised the odds of the extracted shadows starting off at higher
levels.
‘So, that’s what it was….’
The reason for the boss-level Naga ‘Jima’ to start from level 13 was most
likely due to this ‘Boost’ effect. It wasn’t a coincidence at all.
‘What would’ve happened if I possessed this Boost effect before I made
Beru into a Shadow Soldier?’
Without a doubt, he might have gotten his hands on an even more terrifying
monster.
‘Heh, and the wise old ‘they’ say that a man’s greed knows no bounds,
didn’t they?’
Jin-Woo smirked softly to himself and confirmed the details of his other
Class-specific skills one by one. The other two skills had also received a lot of
enhancements, and a new, never-before-seen effect was added to each of
them, as well.
A wide grin settled on Jin-Woo’s lips as he read the explanations of his
upgraded skills, ‘Shadow Storage’ and ‘Sovereign’s Territory’.
‘This is great.’
He closed the Skill Windows with a satisfied grin on his face.
There was no doubt that his growth had slowed down recently. Even then,
he still managed to keep moving forward, and when he thought about the fact
that there was still more room for him to grow, his heart began pounding even
harder.
He wanted to climb even higher and higher.
‘I don’t know where the summit is, but….’
Every time he managed to reach and exceed his goals, his heart was filled
with this indescribable happiness, a powerful bliss.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Jin-Woo returned the shortsword back to Inventory and placed his hand
quietly on his chest.
Ba-thump, ba-thump.
His heart issued pleasant noises as it continued to beat steadily.
It was then, he abruptly remembered something else that happened earlier
in the day.
‘…..She said it was a scary power, didn’t she?’
He recalled the tale he heard from Cha Hae-In a few hours ago.
Min Byung-Gu left a warning for him. He said that Jin-Woo was in
possession of a scary power, and he needed to be circumspect about it.
‘Was he talking about the System?’
Jin-Woo also was scared of the things happening to him initially as well.
He felt fearful towards the System capable of creating all these unexplainable
phenomena around him.
However, his fears didn’t last for long.
He adapted to the ways of the System in no time at all. And the System
quickly became the single greatest tool he possessed.
Sure, there were still far too many mysteries left unanswered, but that was
about it, really.
‘…..’
Jin-Woo’s gaze drifted towards the empty air in front of him.
“Just what are you?”
Of course, he didn’t get an answer in return.
“I mean, isn’t it okay to tell me what’s going on already?”
He quietly stared into the empty air as if he was expecting an answer to
arrive, but rather obviously, nothing came.
‘Inventory.’
Jin-Woo opened his storage to extract the black key.
[Item: Key to the Karutenon temple]
Rarity….
….has been reached.
Remaining time: 249:25:07
Here it was, the invitation sent out by the System.
A week’s worth of time had flown by already, and only around 250 hours
remained.
‘What kind of answers will I find in that place?’
Half of him was filled with expectations. And the other half, deep curiosity.
His heart rate that quietened down for a bit began beating faster again. Jin-
Woo lifted his hand off his chest.
His thoughts of doing everything he could during the remaining time hadn’t
changed at all. He picked his phone up and quickly made a call.
Yu Jin-Ho replied in a cheerful voice over the phone. Jin-Woo wasted no
time and got straight into the main topic.
“Hey, Jin-Ho?”
“You think we’ll be able to book every single high-ranking Gate opening
up in our area from tomorrow onwards?”
“Yeah, like that.”
Yu Jin-Ho thought for a little while, before replying back with a bright-
sounding voice.
A huge crowd had gathered in the Japanese airport where the Russian rank
S Hunter, Yuri Orlov, made his landing, and there was hardly any space left to
even set a foot inside.
The corners of Yuri Orlov’s lips arched up as he took in the sight of the
massive throng of Japanese people coming to see him.
On the other hand, the high-ranking members of the Japanese Hunter’s
Association bringing the Russian home walked around with their heads
lowered as if they were criminals going on a trial.
‘The country lacking enough talented Hunters to stop a calamity by
themselves, so they must borrow the strength of Hunters from another
nation.’
Those words were what Japan used to ridicule South Korea only a few
weeks ago. Yet, the exact same situation was playing itself out within the
Japanese border now.
The Association President Matsumoto Shigeo, as well as the Association’s
representatives, recalled their own past indiscretion and couldn’t even dare to
lift their heads up again.
‘If only we didn’t lose our Hunters on Jeju Island….’
Matsumoto Shigeo bit his lower lip.
“It’s Yuri Orlov!!”
“It’s him, Yuri!”
The reporters from all corners of the world discovered Yuri Orlov’s
triumphant figure and began madly snapping away with their cameras.
Click, click, click, click, click, click-!!
The Russian Hunter stood before them and formed a wide grin as if to
proudly advertise his gold teeth.
His entry procedure was taken care of in a flash. The first request Yuri
Orlov received from the Japanese government was to assuage the fears of the
country’s citizens. And he agreed to do the request easily enough.
His nickname was the ‘Saviour’. This moniker came about because he had
blocked up countless Gates on the brink of entering the dungeon break stage
up until now.
As for Yuri Orlov himself, he definitely didn’t shy away from this
nickname which held the potential to earn him all the wealth and fame in the
world.
“Are you ready, Mister Yuri Orlov?”
“Of course.”
That evening, he was moved to a certain TV station for a live interview. It
was quite obvious that the attention of the entire nation of Japan was focused
on this broadcast.
Once the proceedings got underway, the interviewer asked the Russian.
“How will you block the Gate, Mister Yuri?”
“In the same way that I’ve been doing until now, obviously.”
Yuri Orlov’s expression was overflowing with relaxed, assured confidence.
He raised both of his hands in the air and drew a large circle.
“I’ll be creating a huge magic circle. Like so, around the Gate itself.”
The screen changed for a brief moment to show the Gate in Shinjuku. And
then, the 3D diagram of the magic circle was superimposed with the image of
that massive Gate.
“And then, everything will be finished after I pour my magic energy into
it. Whatever is inside that Gate, they won’t be able to come out ever again.”
Unfortunately, such a simple explanation wasn’t enough to calm the fears
of the Japanese people. The interviewer tilted his head, looking unconvinced.
“Pardon me, but… is that even possible?”
Yuri Orlov’s brows twitched slightly.
“What is?”
The interviewer cautiously studied the Russian’s mood as he asked again.
“Well, the claim of one rank S Hunter being able to block up an entire
rank S Gate is…. Shall I say that, it’s a bit hard to believe?”
Suddenly, Yuri Orlov began smirking derisively.
The Russian Hunter was famed for his short fuse. So, the interviewer felt
quite relieved inside when Yuri Orlov chuckled instead of flying directly into
an enraged state. But at the same time, the Japanese interviewer became even
more unnerved then before, wondering if he had inadvertently touched that
man’s reverse scale.
Fortunately enough, Yuri Orlov kept his smile.
“If I were to continue spending my magic energy to maintain that barrier,
then sure, even I wouldn’t be able to pull that off.”
He wouldn’t be able to do it?
Gulp.
The interviewer swallowed his dry saliva.
With the Japanese rank S Hunters having effectively announced their
intentions to give up on the raid, if Yuri Orlov himself also decided to forget
about the Gate, then there were no other solutions left for the Japanese people.
The Russian took his time and enjoyed the sight of the stiff face of the
interviewer before continuing on with his words.
“However, the thing with my ability is…. The barrier magic circle I use
absorbs magic energy from its surroundings to maintain itself.”
“….!!!”
In an instant, the interviewer’s expression changed.
“If that’s the case, then what did you mean when you said your own
magic energy was needed….?”
“It’s the same principal as switching on the ignition of a car. Once my
barrier gets going, it will start absorbing the magic energy and become an
even sturdier and bigger fortress wall.”
A certain ray of light descended on the faces of the interviewer as well as
the filming crew after they heard that explanation.
Yuri Orlov’s leisurely voice was filled to the brim with undeniable self-
confidence. And as if that confidence had begun spreading around like an
infection, the Japanese TV crew felt their fears slowly melt away.
According to his explanation, wouldn’t his barrier grow tougher and
stronger when there was a great amount of magic energy present in the
surroundings?
There was no need to even mention the simple fact that the magic energy
being emitted by a rank S Gate was absolutely enormous. So, what would
happen when such a barrier was to wrap around a Gate of that magnitude?
It’d get all tied up by its own power, that’s what. Where would anyone find
a situation that better fit the idea of one falling into the trap it made itself?
At this rate, the hardness of that barrier would become the greatest in the
recorded history of mankind.
Yuri Orlov pointed to the camera. He was probably pointing at the
unspecified number of viewers at home with his finger. Thick veins bulged in
his neck as he shouted out.
“I will save all of you! So, all you have to do is to remember who is
saving you!”
Beep.
The giant TV was switched off.
The President of Korean Hunter’s Association, Goh Gun-Hui, put the TV
remote down, but his expression wasn’t very good at all. Woo Jin-Cheol
standing next to him asked.
“What do you think, sir?”
“I can’t be sure.”
Goh Gun-Hui leaned against the couch, his expression now full of worry.
He was different from his Japanese counterpart; he definitely wasn’t some
low-rent villain who’d deride the misfortune of his neighbouring nation.
Although, that didn’t mean he was willing to help them out while taking on
the harsh cost his own nation might have to bear. He deliberated for a short
while, before opening his mouth again.
“I don’t know whether Yuri Orlov will be successful in blocking up that
rank S Gate or not, but….”
The eyes of the Association President Goh Gun-Hui became a lot sharper.
“….But, I am well aware of what will happen if he fails in his task.”
“…..It’s such a relief, sir.”
“…..?”
Goh Gun-Hui looked up at Woo Jin-Cheol with a surprised face. Only then
did the latter realise that his boss had misunderstood his words. Woo Jin-
Cheol hurriedly waved around his hands.
“I wasn’t referring to the situation in Japan, sir. But….”
Woo Jin-Cheol stopped for a second or two before finishing up his
explanation.
“Unlike how it is with the Japanese, I’m relieved by the fact that we have
a Hunter we can wholly place our trust in. That’s what I meant, sir.”
Nod, nod.
Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head greatly. There was no need for him to
specifically ask who that Hunter was, either. That Hunter’s presence alone
imparted such a sense of security in him.
“Oh, by the way. How goes it with Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim
nowadays?”
Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly pushed forward a piece of printed document to
his boss.
On it, one could find the listed locations of all the high-ranking Gates that
had appeared recently around the city of Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi
province.
“Why are you giving me this, all of a sudden….?”
“Sir, can you see how many of the locations have been circled in red?”
“Looks like it’s about half of all the dungeons.”
Woo Jin-Cheol quickly wiped the cold sweat streaking down his forehead
and replied.
“Ah-Jin Guild wants the raid permits of all of the highlighted Gates, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“These…. All of them?!”
“Yes, sir. That’s correct.”
Chapter 153 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Woo Jin-Cheol was among the very best within the Hunters ranked A, and
could be considered the core fighting force of the Monitoring Division.
There was no one within the Association, save for Goh Gun-Hui, who
could win against him in a fight. He was that strong.
However, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was capable of controlling not just one or
two summoned creatures, but several hundreds of them at the same time, each
one of them strong enough to shock someone of Woo Jin-Cheol’s calibre. In
that case, a schedule like this one shouldn’t be seen as strange at all.
However, why was he in such a hurry like this?
‘H-mm.’
Deep frowns formed on Goh Gun-Hui’s forehead.
If it were someone else, a different Hunter, then he’d pack his lunch and
follow them around to dissuade them. He was even prepared to whip them
until they changed their minds, but now….
‘But, I can’t imagine Hunter Seong Jin-Woo getting hurt inside measly
rank A and B Gates at all.’
If he were to borrow Woo Jin-Cheol’s description from earlier, than
wouldn’t it be ‘pitying the monsters’, instead? Goh Gun-Hui smirked softly
and nodded his head.
“If there isn’t any serious problem, do as he wishes, please.”
From the perspective of the Association President, he was thankful for the
fact that there was a Hunter taking lead in subjugating monsters all on his
own. Especially when that person was a powerful being who’d not get injured
during the process, too.
However, Woo Jin-Cheol apparently didn’t agree.
“Sir, I believe it could lead to problems.”
“You mean, his activity will overlap with the jurisdictions of other large
Guilds, is that it?”
“Yes, sir.”
There were three major Guilds operating within the Seoul Capital Area: the
White Tiger, the Hunters, and the Reapers.
These three Guilds took care of high-ranking Gates that appeared within
the districts they were in charge of.
But, if Ah-Jin suddenly butted their heads in among them without notice
and start expanding rapidly like this, then the three Guilds would obviously
grow unhappy rather quickly. It’d be basically the same thing as old nails
being driven out by a new one.
‘They might end up in a conflict.’
That was Woo Jin-Cheol’s opinion and Goh Gun-Hui certainly agreed with
that. Still, a smile floated up on the Association President’s lips.
‘I thought President was on Seong Hunter-nim’s side?’
Woo Jin-Cheol formed a puzzled expression as he asked.
“…..Did you come up with a good idea, sir?”
“No, not that. It’s just that, I can’t stop smiling when I think about how a
newly established Guild with only three members and one combatant on
their roster, have managed to exceed the major Guilds and are already
coveting their territories like this.”
“Ah…..”
Only then did Woo Jin-Cheol understand.
“I agree, sir.”
It was Goh Gun-Hui’s turn to ask, that smile still etched on his lips.
“Did Ah-Jin provide an explanation on why they want to do this?”
“They said that they have a personal reason and wants us to entrust them
with the Gates nearby only for the next week or so, sir.”
“A week, is it….”
During the Jeju Island raid, the Masters of the three major Guilds ended up
owing their lives to Hunter Seong. It’d not be hard to get their understandings
if it were only for a week.
‘If there’s one thing that I’m still puzzled about, then it’d be….’
That would have to be ‘why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was willing to put
himself under such a strenuous schedule’ – or, at least, when viewed from
someone else’s perspective.
‘It can’t be… about money.’
If he wanted wealth, then there were other ways. If he negotiated with
either the United States or China, he’d have gotten his hands on astronomical
sums of wealth.
However, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo decided to remain in South Korea, and he
didn’t even bother to bargain with any of the Guilds, either.
‘Then, just why….?’
Goh Gun-Hui’s gaze was soon directed to Woo Jin-Cheol guarding his side.
The former asked as if it was in passing.
“In your opinion, why do you think Hunter Seong is trying to clear this
many Gates in such a short time?”
Woo Jin-Cheol thought about it for a moment, before answering his boss.
“There is one thing I can think of, sir.”
Goh Gun-Hui expected an answer along the lines of “I don’t know” or
“Can’t be sure”, so he couldn’t help but pay more attention to this somewhat
surprising reply.
“What would that be?”
“I remember seeing how delighted he was during the process of hunting
down the monsters.”
“He was ‘happy’ hunting down monsters?”
“Yes, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol dragged out the memories of the recent past to the fore.
Even back when Jin-Woo was helping out the Hunters Guild by fighting the
High Orcs, he was carrying an expression of delight as he cheerfully moved
around.
“And he was especially elated when taking down the boss-level monster,
sir.”
“He feels delight at hunting down powerful monsters, is it….”
Goh Gun-Hui remembered listening to Jin-Woo saying something similar
in the past.
[“I wish to fight against the monsters.”]
And ever since he made that declaration, he had been diligently keeping his
promise.
‘What an interesting fellow he is.’
That man was certainly a lot exceptional than being merely interesting, too.
It was then, the office of the Association President was suddenly filled with
the noisy ring of the telephone.
It was a call from one of his adjutants.
“What’s going on?”
“From America?”
Not only that, from the Hunter Bureau, too? Goh Gun-Hui tilted his head
slightly.
‘Why would the Hunter Bureau contact me, the President of the Korean
Hunter’s Association?’
A country like the United States wouldn’t request South Korea for
cooperation, so what could this possibly be about?
“Connect me through.”
The call was connected right away. It didn’t even take one, maybe two
seconds for the voice coming out from the phone’s receiver to change.
“Hello. This is Goh Gun-Hui from the Korean Hunter’s Association.”
The basic language for any aspiring businessman was English. And
unsurprisingly, fluent English flowed out from Goh Gun-Hui’s mouth. He was
far more confident of this language then he was with Japanese, the latter of
which he only dabbled with when he was much younger.
“What business does America’s Hunter Bureau have with us?”
Adam White didn’t tarry and got right to the point.
“…..Okay, so?”
Before he got going properly with his raids, Jin-Woo searched for the
appropriate Guild first. He needed a Guild that could painlessly handle the
disposal of various loot he’d get from the high ranking dungeons.
‘I mean, it’s not like I’m planning to clear a raid once every few days
here, is it….?’
It’d be quite tough for a newbie Vice-Chair to get through the tightly-
packed raid schedule all alone, after all. Besides, he thought that it’d be far
more advantageous to form a partnership with another Guild and work
together with them, rather than letting the middlemen deal with the loot every
single time.
‘The question is, who should I go with?’
He initially thought of the White Tiger, which he had interacted with often
in the past, or with the Hunters Guild where Cha Hae-In was a member, but in
the end, he settled on the Knight Order, instead.
He only had one reason for doing so. And that would be because they had
worked together recently.
Also, some part of his decision was influenced by the fact that one was
located in Seoul while the other one was in Busan, and therefore their
activities wouldn’t overlap with each other.
Jin-Woo made his call during the early evening that day.
Chairman of the Knight Order Guild Park Jong-Su was lying on the couch
in his living room, busy giggling away while watching the TV.
Vrrr…. Vrrr…..
He picked up his vibrating phone resting on the couch’s armrest without
giving too much thought.
‘Mm??’
[Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim]
But then, he confirmed who the caller was and his eyes rapidly grew wider.
He shot up from his lying-down position and quickly answered his phone.
“Hunter-nim? Is that you?”
“Ah, yes. It’s Park Jong-Su from the Knight Order.”
“Of course.”
Park Jong-Su’s complexion gradually brightened as he heard Jin-Woo’s
explanation.
To be honest, Park Jin-Su had been feeling dejected lately, after his plans of
building a very close relationship with Jin-Woo went down the crapper after
the regulation had changed overnight.
Combining the know-how of the Knight Order Guild and the strength of
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo – what a dang waste of time….
Even his trusted Vice-Chair Jeong Yun-Tae looked severely disappointed
when the whole thing went sideways pretty quickly.
But then, what kind of jackpot was this? A phone call he didn’t even expect
came his way all on its own volition?
Forming a tie with a strong Guild, nay, a Hunter, was probably one of the
most important acts for any Guild out there.
“Yes, yes! There will be no problem at all.”
A bright smile didn’t want to leave Park Jong-Su’s face as he continued to
chat away on the phone.
“Leave everything to us.”
The matter of processing various loot from a dungeon was not that hard for
the Knight Order Guild and their extensive prior experience.
Normally, the Guild’s processing team would be doing nothing but sucking
on their thumbs when there was no raid in sight. So, how good would it be to
utilise them in this situation?
The smile grew with wider as Park Jong-Su spoke up.
“We’ll see you tomorrow!”
The lunch box Mom packed was indeed quite delicious. Even if the
location for their meal turned out to be in the middle of a dungeon
overflowing with monsters.
Yu Jin-Ho raised his head and spoke, his mouth still full of chow.
“With us being like this, I can’t help but think back to how we were
clearing all those rank C dungeons, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo smirked and replied back.
“Hey, finish chewing your food first before talking, alright?”
“Ah, my bad, hyung-nim.”
It wasn’t as if Jin-Woo couldn’t understand what Yu Jin-Ho was talking
about, though.
In the past few days, they kept themselves real busy by raiding every single
Gate they could book, one after the other, with barely any rest in between.
The only thing that had changed since then would be that, rather than rank C
dungeons, they were raiding rank B or higher dungeons this time.
And, if he were to think of yet another difference, then that would be….
‘…….’
Igrit met Jin-Woo’s gaze and bowed slightly in a dignified manner.
‘Well, I now have a lookout during the meal times? Is that about it?’
It didn’t matter if he had one or not, though. Because of his Perception Stat,
he didn’t have to concentrate hard to sense all the movements within the
interior of the dungeons. Meaning, he could deal with any monster daring to
approach him, even with his eyes closed.
It was just that, he didn’t want to be disturbed during his mealtime, and
also, wanted to decrease Yu Jin-Ho’s fears a bit so he had a lookout like this.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the other side.
‘……’
Iron also met his owner’s gaze and powerfully pounded on his chest as if to
say “Leave everything to me!”
Thud, thud.
Metallic thuds filled the interior of the cavern. Jin-Woo wryly shook his
head.
‘It’s a problem that this guy’s enthusiasm still gets the better of him.’
Yu Jin-Ho looked in the direction of the noise, before asking Jin-Woo a
question out of the blue.
“Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“Can’t your summons act on their own?”
“Well, yeah. More or less.”
Hunter Min Byung-Gu did say that, didn’t he? He said that each of the
Shadow Soldiers possessed their own ‘ego’.
‘Not sure how much of that story I can believe, though.’
Whatever the case may be – Yu Jin-Ho continued on with his question.
“Doesn’t that mean it’s fine to let the summons clear the raids by
themselves during when we are having a meal, or otherwise can’t move
around for some reason, hyung-nim?”
“Nope, that I can’t do.”
The amount of experience points he’d earn decreased when the distance
between himself and the soldiers increased. He couldn’t really explain what
the experience points were and all that to Yu Jin-Ho, though, so Jin-Woo
simply formed a sombre, serious expression and replied.
“These guys, who knows what they will do when I’m not looking?”
“Hiiiick?!”
Jin-Woo thought that he could hear the noise of Yu Jin-Ho’s falling appetite
in real time. That’s how far he was prepared to take that joke, however.
‘Okay, should I try ‘that’ one more time?’
Jin-Woo finished his meal and quietly put the spoon down.
[Skill: Shadow Storage Lv. 2]
Class-specific skill.
Mana required to activate: None.
Stores the shadow soldiers inside the summoner’s shadow.
The stored soldiers can be summoned back into the open or absorbed back
at any time the summoner chooses to.
Number of stored shadow soldiers: 840/840
Level 2 effect ‘Sensory Sharing’: You can share your sensory perception
with a single designated Shadow Soldier from your storage.
The newly added effect to the skill ‘Shadow Storage’ was called ‘Sensory
Sharing’. It was a rather unique ability that let the summoner, him, feel what a
Shadow Soldier was sensing.
Since it was possible to choose a Shadow Soldier far away from him and
see what was going on around there, he ended up using it rather often in the
last couple of days. Such as now.
Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes.
‘Sensory Sharing.’
He picked up on the signal sent out by the Shadow Soldiers spread all over
outside the dungeon, within the nation of South Korea.
‘I sure have spread around quite a few, haven’t I?’
Without worrying about it too much, he selected one of them to see. Quite
coincidentally, it just so happened to be a soldier hidden with Hunter Cha’s
shadow. And when he connected with that soldier…
Splash…..
….He heard the sounds of water falling on the floor.
‘It shouldn’t be raining today, so what’s up with all the water noi…..?!’
His confusion lasted only for a brief second.
Jin-Woo’s eyelids shot up open in haste as soon as he saw the pale nude
figure enshrouded in the rising steam.
Yu Jin-Ho was taken by surprise alongside him.
“Hyung-nim?? What happened? Were you taking a nap just now?”
“….No, it’s nothing.”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
He inwardly told himself to buy Hunter Cha a hearty meal as soon as
possible as a gesture of apology.
“Oh, right. Hyung-nim, have you heard the news?”
“Which one?”
“About that massive rank S Gate in Japan’s Shinjuku, hyung-nim. I
heard that the dungeon break should be happening sometime around
tomorrow.”
Did the time move along that much already? Jin-Woo slowly nodded his
head.
‘That means, it’s already been six days since we began clearing these
high-ranking Gates.’
During these past six days, Jin-Woo hadn’t been static at all. Although
moving at a snail’s pace, his experience points were steadily going up. The
result of that being his level having moved to 103 from 101.
That was his reward for focusing on levelling up while forgetting about
everything else.
Jin-Woo summoned the black key stored within his Inventory.
Shururuk…
The black key materialised on his palm.
[Item: Key to the Karutenon temple]
Rarity…..
….has been reached.
Remaining time: 26:51:49
‘One more day left.’
Jin-Woo wordlessly grasped the key tightly. His heart began beating faster
every time he looked at this thing.
“….Hey, don’t make a move.”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho had been sneaking glances at both Iron and Igrit more and more
while barely managing to eat his meal, after Jin-Woo cracked that joke.
However, he nearly jolted upwards after Jin-Woo suddenly issued that order.
“I wasn’t talking to you, though.”
Actually, Jin-Woo was giving an order to his soldiers. The Shadow Soldiers
were about to make a move, but when they heard Jin-Woo’s order, they all
stopped at the same time.
“Kururururu….”
“Kururuk.”
From the other side of the cavern, beasts baring their fangs walked out into
the view while carrying weapons like sickles and longswords. Jin-Woo slowly
stood up from his spot as he kept his gaze locked on these monsters.
There was still one more day to go.
‘Right, I still have one more day to kill.’
He summoned the ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ from his Inventory and
smiled as he gripped the weapon tightly.
The evening before the dungeon break.
A massive magic circle was drawn within Tokyo’s Shinjuku district,
according to Yuri Orlov’s instructions. Its scale was truly enormous;
completely unprecedented in history.
All the residents within the area had been evacuated by now. Yuri Orlov
remained in the location to inspect the barrier’s formation right up until the
end.
The Japanese representatives quietly watched him, not even daring to
swallow their saliva. Every single word the Russian said, every little action he
took, all of them were under close scrutiny.
Yuri Orlov frowned and rubbed his chin over and over again, before finally
opening his mouth.
“…..This is so weird, you know?”
The interpreter’s eyes opened wider.
“I beg your pardon? Is there some kind of a problem with the
formation?”
“No, it’s not that.”
The magic circle drawn was perfect. Without a doubt, he was confident of
having laid down the greatest masterpiece of his life down here.
No, the barrier formation wasn’t the weird one here.
“It’s like, there’s someone nearby, watching us.”
“Ehh?”
If that weren’t the case, why would Yuri Orlov’s heart tremble non-stop
like this? The Russian opened his eyes wider and scanned his vicinity, before
angrily shouting out at the top of his voice.
“Who the hell are you? Where are you??”
Too bad, no one replied back to him. No, only the echoes of his voice
reverberating within the deserted streets came back to haunt him.
“…..”
One of the Japanese representatives wiped the cold sweat off his forehead
and forced out a smile.
“Mister Orlov, the dungeon break is happening tomorrow so there
shouldn’t be any foolhardy person waiting around here. Wouldn’t you
agree?”
Yuri Orlov snorted out derisively.
“When did I say it was a person?”
“Pardon??”
Yuri Orlov looked at the Japanese representative getting paler by the
second with disproving eyes, before tilting his head again.
“Was I mistaken….?”
Unfortunately for him, there indeed was the figure of a person staring at
him from the roof of a tall building far away.
‘He’s got a pretty good perception.’
But, then again – when considering where Yuri Orlov drew his powers
from, that wouldn’t be such a strange thing.
‘More importantly…..’
The mysterious man’s gaze shifted over to the rank S Gate. The silence was
so eerie that it induced a certain disgust in all who looked as it circulated
around that giant Gate.
‘……’
The man slowly pulled back the hood covering his face. It revealed the face
of an Oriental man in his late thirties. The unkempt and bushy beard covering
most of his face told the man’s identity rather clearly.
He was none other than Seong Il-Hwan.
He continued to gaze at the massive Gate with a regretful expression,
before pulling the hood back up.
‘Finally… it’s starting.’
Everything was moving according to the schedule.
Chapter 154 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Creak, creak!
The stone statue began moving as weird creaking noises came out from its
various joints. Jin-Woo glared at this ‘creature’.
There were several differences between this guy and the other stone statues,
but the biggest one had to be the wings attached to its back, which made it
look somewhat like an angel.
Indeed, this guy was the only one among the statues designed to resemble
an angel. Not just any angel either, but one with six wings on its back, too.
The angel statue slowly stood up from its sitting position and straightened
its bent back. As it turned out, it was over three metres tall.
Paht!
Jin-Woo quickly retreated and summoned the second shortsword into his
other hand, before lowering his stance to get ready.
When he made up his mind to fight against that thing, every single strand
of sensory receptors on his body awakened in full; every part of himself, from
his mind to all corners of his body, had become fully optimised for the
upcoming battle.
‘…..’
However, the angel statue showed no signs of wiping that smile off its face,
even though it must’ve clearly sensed Jin-Woo’s desire to fight. That smile
was so disgusting and unnatural that it sent a shiver down his spine.
The angel statue took a look at the stone tablet damaged by the shortsword
and simply tossed it away, as if it meant nothing to the ‘creature’.
….As if, it was doing the most obvious thing in the world.
Crack!
The stone tablet clattered on the floor and shattered into countless pieces.
The angel statue stiffly laughed as it took in the sight of the now-useless
tablet.
“….Hahaha.”
Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes.
‘So, from the very beginning…..’
Just then, he realised that there was no meaning behind them from the very
beginning. That stone tablet, and the so-called laws written on it, none of
them meant anything.
‘If not, there’s no way that thing would’ve treated it so recklessly.’
In that case, just what exactly was this place? And what did this thing want
from him?
‘And….’
All those quests, levelling up, instant dungeon keys, etc. All those strange
events that took place after he left this temple – what did they even signify?
Finally, an opportunity to get the answers for all of his burning questions
had come. When he thought like that…
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!
His heart began madly pounding away in his chest. Usually, it beat in a
regular rhythmic pulse most of the time. But now, right at this moment, it
shook and rumbled and revved harder than a race car’s engine.
‘This thing knows everything.’
Jin-Woo didn’t lower his vigilance and threw out a question in a low voice.
“Were you the one calling me here?”
Jin-Woo was asking about what the statue’s relationship with his System
was through that question.
“That’s correct.”
The angel statue moved its individual fingers before carrying on.
“You have done well to get here.”
up, its neck. The ‘creature’ rotated its head from side to side.
Creeeak.
Creak.
The d*mn thing was busy loosening itself. It didn’t take a genius to tell
why it was loosening up like that.
Now normally, Jin-Woo wouldn’t hesitate to get the first strike in when
finding himself in a situation like this one. However, he was making an
exception this time.
He had far too many questions to ask this angel statue and didn’t want to
end the little conversation that he got going here.
Jin-Woo threw out another question.
“Are you a monster?”
The waves of magic energy being emitted from the angel statue were
certainly different from the ones emitted by the regular monsters.
However, meaning behind the term ‘monster’ was simply created by
humans for their own convenience. If that term was used to denote a true
monster, then yes, that statue was without a doubt, a real ‘monster’.
A stone statue that could speak and move around – where would anyone
even hope to find a monster more monster-ish than that?
So, what Jin-Woo wanted to find out here was whether this thing was in
cahoots with the regular monsters or not.
Craaack.
Creak.
The angel statue bent down to loosen up its back before standing straight
up again.
“That’s the wrong question to ask.”
“…..?”
“Rather than asking what I am, you should be asking what you are,
instead.”
Jin-Woo was frozen for a brief moment there, but he couldn’t stay flustered
for long.
Clap!
The sound of the angel statue clapping its hands wiped all distracting
thoughts out of his head.
“Well, then. This will be your final test.”
The smile was long gone from the angel statue’s face as it finally finished
loosening up.
“If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the test, then
everything you wished to know will be revealed to you. That….”
The angel statue snapped its fingers, and almost immediately, a red glow
appeared within the eyes of the countless stone statues within the temple.
“….Will be my reward to you.”
It was then.
Every single head of the stone statues densely packed into this chamber all
snapped in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Thud.
And they all uniformly stepped off their pedestals.
Clack!
All the statues raised the weapons in their grasp.
Jin-Woo swept his gaze around the stone statues. Even if they were
puppets, they still seemed quite tough opponents to deal with. He actually
almost died several times because of them in the past, too, didn’t he?
Jin-Woo remained calm as he summoned out his Shadow Soldiers.
‘Come out.’
But, then….
Tti-ring!
[For the duration of the final test, all of your Class-specific skills have
been sealed.]
[Usage of various potions and the Store’s functions have been prohibited,
and status recovery effects from levelling up and quest completion bonuses
will be inapplicable during the duration of the test.]
[You can not exist this chamber until the end of the final test.]
‘What??’
Jin-Woo’s forehead creased up as mechanical beeps continued to go ‘Tti-
ring, tti-ring’ in his ears, but even those lasted for only a short while. Because
the stone statues had begun sprinting towards him right then.
Their movements were eerily silent, yet also incredibly fast as well. This
was on a whole new level compared to back when he faced down hundreds of
‘knights’ during the Class Advancement test.
‘Oh, so you want to play it like this, is that it?’
All the hidden cards he had come prepared with, just in case – various
potions, quest rewards, etc. – had become useless in one fell swoop. The
System had been with Jin-Woo ever since the beginning, and knew how he
operated the best.
‘In that case, I shall overcome this with nothing but my own power!’
Jin-Woo firmed up his resolve and gripped his shortswords even tighter.
The easiest way to get out of this dangerous situation was to eliminate the
main body enabling the stone statues to move. And that would be the angel
statue. However, he’d not be able to get what he wanted if the angel statue
was killed off. So, that would have to be consigned as the final resort for now.
For the time being, he decided to go along with this ‘test’ thing the statue
talked about.
‘And that is why, I….’
….That was why he never stopped getting stronger right up until now.
He never once stopped polishing his skill levels, just so he could achieve
everything he aimed for regardless of what sort of situations tried to hinder
him.
Fuu-whoop-!
Jin-Woo spat out white-hot air from his nostrils and mouth.
The things he initially couldn’t see, the stuff he had missed when he first
set foot in this place began entering his field of vision. His naked eyes could
chase the movements of the stone statues that looked like instant teleportation
to him back then.
‘From my left.’
His shortsword blocked the spear of the stone statue stabbing forward from
his left.
CLANG!!
‘Left, again.’
Another stone statue launched itself in the air by stepping on the shoulders
of the statue with the spear, and slammed down with a war axe.
It was inefficient to defend against an attack falling from above head-on, so
Jin-Woo tilted his body halfway to the side and let the axe simply brush past
him.
Kwa-boom!!
Broken bits of rock spat up from the floor, now shattered by the force of the
axe. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo powerfully kicked the face of the axe-wielding
stone statue.
Ka-boom!!
The moment its head came in contact with his foot, it got crushed into fine
powder. However….
Swish-!
Jin-Woo bent backwards and dodged an arrow. It flew straight past him and
got embedded in the wall on the far side.
He didn’t even have time to feel happy about eliminating one enemy – the
proper assault was only just beginning now.
‘Right.’
This time, it was a sword.
Swish-!
Clang!
Jin-Woo used his physical strength to shove away the blocked sword of the
statue and at the same time, drew a diagonal line in the air with the
shortsword held in his other hand.
Tuk!
The stone statue, now missing an arm, fell away while writhing around as if
it could feel crippling pain.
From his left, right, right, left, front, front, right, and left.
‘I can do this.’
The more he concentrated on the battle, the slower the movements of the
stone statues became. On the other hand, his own movements got
progressively faster and faster.
It was then – he sensed a chill right behind his neck.
‘Behind me!’
Jin-Woo jumped up above the head of the stone statue trying to ambush
him from behind and while still in the air, easily sliced its head off.
Slice!
He let his Perception Stat cover him from the enemies that tried to attack
him in his blindspots.
Ha-ah!
His exhaled breath exploded out.
His body, trained to the absolute limit, and every cell within his flesh, were
reacting to the movements of these stone statues. Light burned fiercely within
his eyes.
He began gradually thinning out the horde of the statues while blocking,
slapping away or shaking off their persistent, annoying attacks.
‘As if, for this very moment….’
It felt as if the ‘Demon King’s Shortswords’ were solely created for this
moment. He held them tightly in his hands and easily sliced up the limbs and
body parts of the statues made out of solid stone.
Jin-Woo sensed his body, his mind, his cells and even his shortswords
become a single entity. He endlessly moved, fleeted in and out, and continued
to slither around without rest.
The angel statue, silently observing Jin-Woo’s remarkable movements with
a great deal of interest, began to shudder greatly.
‘How could he move like that with the physique of a mere human…..?’
The smile that was gone momentarily on the angel statue’s face was back in
full force now. It knew it had made the right choice.
However – it was still far, far too early to end the test.
The angel statue looked behind itself. With that, the eyes of the humongous
statue of the god sitting on the throne and silently waiting for its turn, began
glowing an eerie crimson hue.
It gripped the armrests of the throne tightly and slowly lifted up its
unimaginably huge frame.
Kuuuggguuuuuugung!!!!
Because it was so gigantic, simply seeing it stand up sent shivers down
one’s spine.
THUD.
The god statue took its first step, and the vast interior of the temple shook
hard from the resulting noise.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
The god statue’s strides were so enormous that it didn’t need to walk for
long before arriving where Jin-Woo was. The rubble of the fallen stone
statues was forming small mountains all around him by then.
The god statue stopped walking in front of him and raised its right arm.
It was also around this time that Jin-Woo, in the midst of a maddened
melee among the stone statues, felt something change around him.
He realised that the surroundings had become dark for some reason and
raised his head.
‘…….?’
A giant descending palm was rapidly filling up his entire vision. The god
statue slapped down on the ground as if it couldn’t care any less about the
well-being of the stone statues surrounding Jin-Woo.
RUMBLE-!!
He hurriedly flung himself away to get out of the range of that gigantic
palm strike. He rolled on the ground several times, before shooting right back
up on his two feet. His expression hardened as he glared at the god statue.
‘Right, there was that guy, too.’
This was definitely the case of one headache after another.
Jin-Woo lowered his gaze to see around a hundred or so still-surviving
stone statues busy sprinting towards him right this very moment. These
tireless enemies arrived in front of his nose in no time at all.
He lightly tipped away the iron mace flying his way at a frightening speed
with the end of his shortsword; he then slid forward as if he was skating on
ice and sliced off the head of the mace-wielding statue.
Thud.
As if the head of the statue crashing to the ground was the signal, the rest of
the statues following right behind pounced on Jin-Woo like a pack of wild,
but well-organised, animals. However, the truly dangerous opponent wasn’t
one of these statues.
It felt as if every hair on his body was standing up straight. Jin-Woo
flinched in nasty shock and hurriedly raised his head.
‘….!!’
Sure enough, the bone-chilling red light was coagulating in the two eyes of
the god statue.
‘Dodging it…. it’s too late for that.’
His brain quickly calculated that his escape routes would be blocked off by
the stone statues if he were to make a wrong move now. The odds of him
getting melted down to nothing by that laser beam or whatever would be too
high for his liking if that happened.
‘In that case….’
Jin-Woo quickly put the shortsword down and immediately extended his
now-empty left hand at the stone statues pouncing on him.
‘Ruler’s Reach!!’
Five of the stone statues got caught in the skill ‘Ruler’s Reach’ and were
stacked up together in the air.
Tti-ring!!
[Skill: ‘Ruler’s Reach’ has been upgraded to its ultimate version, Skill:
‘Ruler’s Authority’.]
‘Nice!’
Too bad, he still didn’t have a single second of leeway to bask in the
happiness of his skill getting an upgrade right now. Jin-Woo quickly moved
the make-shift shield made from the stone statues into the trajectory of the
god statue’s glare.
Buzzzzing-!!
Just as he expected, red laser beams shot out from the eyes of the god
statue.
Chiiiiii-jick!
It didn’t even take one second for the shield made out of the stone statues
to melt away, but Jin-Woo successfully used that brief respite to safely get out
of the attack range of that beam.
He withdrew the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’, and the smouldering remnants of
the statues dropped to the floor.
Tumble-!
Jin-Woo rapidly revised his battle plan as he confirmed the power of the
god statue capable of completely evaporating these stone statues.
‘As I thought, getting rid of the god statue should be my priority.’
His next goal had been set now. Before the god statue could fire the second
laser beam attack, Jin-Woo kicked the ground hard and dashed forward.
‘Quicksilver!’
Tadadadadadaht-!!!
Jin-Woo’s movement was already fast, but with that skill activated, his
speed immediately shot past what the god statue could actually follow with its
perception.
Jin-Woo arrived at the foot of the god statue in the proverbial blink of an
eye and tensed up his leg muscles to the extreme. An unbelievable amount of
energy, reserved solely for jumping up, condensed within his crouched
position.
He had only one shot.
Without a doubt, it’d become much harder to dodge the red laser beams
flying in at a terrifying speed once he was airborne. It was impossible to move
freely in the air, after all.
But then again, hadn’t he learned that valuable lesson already?
If he weren’t willing to take on some risks, then he’d not be able to find
himself with any opportunities.
‘That is why….’
Jin-Woo’s lips shut tight in a straight line as he powerfully leapt up from
the ground.
His entire frame flew up like a fired rocket.
‘….Just get destroyed already!’
Chapter 157 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Hunters of the Monitoring Division arrived on site. There were a total
of seven high-ranked Hunters. Woo Jin-Cheol had scrounged up the top elites
of the Association that could be mobilised on such short notice.
However, he knew the truth. He knew that this little fighting power would
not be of any help to Hunter Seong.
‘Even still, for the worst case scenario….’
These Hunters from the Monitoring Division would buy enough time so
Hunter Seong would be able to escape from the dangers. They came to this
location with such a resolve in their hearts.
“Is that the one, Chief?”
“Looks that way.”
Hunters from the Monitoring Division stepped out of the minivan and
entered the school’s athletics field.
They found the Hunters from the Bravery Guild who had made the report
earlier waiting for their arrival. Their expressions brightened once they saw
the members of the Monitoring Division.
“Over here, mister agents!”
The Master of the Guild came running and greeted the Hunters of the
Monitoring Division. However, Woo Jin-Cheol’s gaze remained fixed on that
Gate in question.
He could pick up on an ominous aura coming out of it already. Woo Jin-
Cheol looked at his subordinates and issued an order.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Yes, sir.”
Their steps became hurried and they crossed the field to arrive before the
Gate in a proverbial heartbeat.
But then, Woo Jin-Cheol’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
“Chief?”
“Senior?”
The subordinates behind him naturally came to a stop, as well. Woo Jin-
Cheol cautiously took off his sunglasses. His hand holding the accessory was
trembling imperceptibly.
‘This… what the hell is this….?’
He picked up on the utterly horrifying maelstrom of magical energy all
around the Gate. As a matter of fact, the magical energy leaking out was so
savage and brutal that the space around the portal looked as if it was being
distorted to his naked eyes.
He was startled by what he saw and quickly took a step back.
Was this simply an optical illusion, or the sign of an impending ill omen?
He thought that, all of a sudden, a dark veil seemed to be enveloping this
Gate from above. He had seen this somewhere before. It was the looming
shadow of death.
All the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Woo Jin-Cheol instinctively knew it.
He knew that the fight taking place inside was not something he or his boys
could possibly butt in on.
The subordinates saw his complexion getting paler and gasped out in
surprise. They hurriedly asked him.
“Section Chief?? Are you alright?”
“….”
Rather than an answer, Woo Jin-Cheol threw out a question, instead.
“Is there a… major Guild with a team ready for a raid nearby?”
One of his subordinates checked the Association’s database and quickly
made his reply.
“Yes, sir. The Hunters Guild is getting ready for a raid at the moment.”
“What about their two rank S Hunters?”
“According to the data, both Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In Hunter-nims
are scheduled to partake in the raid, sir.”
Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In. If it were those two, then they might be able
to do something.
Woo Jin-Cheol shifted his gaze back to the Gate. That imperceptible
trembling that started from his hand had slowly but steadily spread out to the
rest of his body.
Gulp.
Dry saliva slid down his throat all on its own.
Woo Jin-Cheol barely managed to rein his trembling voice and spoke to his
subordinate.
“Send… the emergency cooperation request to the Hunters Guild.”
He finally asked it.
Just as the angel statue had recommended it, he changed his question from
“What are you?” to “Who am I?”
In that short moment, Jin-Woo’s heavy and laboured panting relaxed to his
usual rhythmic breathing. The sound of his breaths was so measured and calm
that it was hard to believe he was involved in a fierce life-or-death battle just
now.
Even his panting shoulders had stopped quivering completely.
[….]
The answer from the angel statue seemed to be getting delayed for some
reason, and Jin-Woo pressed the shortsword deeper against its skin as a
reminder. The blade dug into the neck of the stone statue.
If this thing was a human, its skin would’ve been cut open and began
bleeding by now. Since it was seemingly made out of stone, it didn’t bleed,
but he knew there was no problem with cutting its head off like this.
Perhaps the angel statue also knew this truth? It belatedly opened its mouth.
[Finally.]
Hearing it from such close proximity, this thing’s voice sounded even more
freakish than before.
[You have asked a proper question.]
It then formed a smile next. There was not one hint of fear on its face even
though several of its arms were sliced off and there was a blade pressed just
below its chin.
‘Maybe, its real body is somewhere else?’
Jin-Woo’s exceptional sensory perception scanned his surroundings but he
couldn’t pick up any other aura. If the real body was indeed somewhere else,
then the current him couldn’t even begin to imagine just how incredible the
technique being employed here was to conceal the connection this perfectly.
The angel statue carried on with what it wanted to say while that smile
remained etched on its stony face.
[The answer is within you.]
‘…In me?’
Jin-Woo had been glaring at his query until now, worried that this thing
would try another petty trick on him. But when he heard that, his eyes became
even sharper than ever before.
He spent four years of his life as a lowest-ranked Hunter and had to fight
against countless enemies that were stronger than himself and could have
killed him instantly.
Even though he was classified as a rank E Hunter, and not only that, as the
lowest even among the rank Es, Jin-Woo still managed to survive in those
four years as he bravely roamed around in various dungeons. That was no
mean feat, indeed.
It was only possible because of his sixth sense, honed through experiencing
several life-or-death moments, helped him to pick the best possible option
available during the worst of all the worst situations.
And his ultra-sharp sixth sense was warning him of a certain shift in the
atmosphere. Sure enough…
Tti-ring!
The mechanical beep abruptly rang out in his head, accompanied by the
usual voice of the System. It was definitely not the angel statue’s voice – he
only heard that of a mechanical-sounding female.
[Recalling the stored data in the System’s memory.]
[Will you consent to its playback?] (Y/N)
It wasn’t just the voice this time, but even the actual message window also
popped up, as well. It was asking him ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
The alphabets ‘Y’ and ‘N’ lazily blinked in front of his eyes as if they were
patiently waiting for his answer.
‘Just what on earth is this….?’
Just what was this d*mn thing trying to pull this time?
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted away from the message and landed on the angel
statue. The smile was long gone from the statue’s face. It spoke to him with a
completely emotionless face.
“The decision is up to you.”
Unlike before, its voice was now separated from the System. The machine-
like, stiff male voice grated against his eardrums. Jin-Woo shut his mouth
tight after seeing that face.
‘Data saved in the System’s memory, is it….’
Just like how it was with various video games, did the System also possess
a save file or something similar to that? And, he could view what that save
file contained, right now?
‘…..’
In this short span of time, all kinds of thoughts raced in and out of his
brain. Of course, his answer had already been decided.
He finally earned what could be his one and only chance to confirm the
truth for himself, so why should he back out of it now?
If the System wanted to trick him into a trap, then well, it didn’t have to go
through such an elaborate process, either. After all, the System possessed the
power to decide when his heart would stop beating, didn’t it?
‘Just as the angel said, if all these were just the processes of a test,
then…. Then, I have earned the right to view this data.’
He suddenly recalled what the angel statue told him before the battle
commenced.
[“If you still manage to stand on two feet by the end of the test, then
everything you wished to know will be revealed to you. That will be my
reward to you.”]
Most likely, the reward the angel talked about meant his right to view the
data. He finally arrived at this conclusion.
Jin-Woo made his decision and slowly opened his mouth.
“….Yes.”
When he did, darkness immediately enveloped him.
Tti-ring.
The familiar mechanical beep hit him in the eardrums, and the voice of the
System followed right after.
[The saved data has been successfully uploaded.]
It felt like he crossed an endless tunnel at a speed very close to that of
infinity.
He flew past the space filled with nothing but darkness; the light seeping
into this space from such a long distance away slammed into him in an
instant.
After the blinding by the light dissipated away….
Jin-Woo was greeted by the immense spectacle laid out before his eyes –
no, below him – and spat out a shocked gasp in his mind.
‘Oh, my god….’
An army consisting solely of innumerable monsters stretched far beyond
the scope of vision below him.
From where he was, all the way to beyond the horizon. Countless monsters
completely covered up the ground until there was no uncovered patch left.
In all honesty, that was one hell of a terrifying sight to behold. If this many
monsters jumped out of a Gate all at once, humanity wouldn’t have a chance
in hell at winning against them.
Just from seeing this, he felt his innards tighten as if he was having
indigestion.
‘Hold on… Where is this place, anyway?’
It couldn’t have been Earth. He could see thin, tall, and bizarre looking
rocky outcroppings jutting out from here and there on this reddish-brown,
dried up plains where not even a single blade of grass grew.
This was a completely foreign landscape that he had never seen before.
His eyes could catch the sight of the reddish-brown ground, those strange
rock formations, and then, the great army of monsters standing on top of said
ground.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to these monsters.
He spotted weaklings commonly seen in low ranked dungeons, all the way
to the powerful monsters that could only be seen in much higher-ranked
dungeons, such as High Orcs, White Phantoms, and even Giants.
This disparate gathering of monsters that ignored their ranks and species
were busy looking up and waiting for something to happen.
‘What are they all looking at?’
Jin-Woo followed after their gazes and raised his head to the sky above.
And then… he discovered it.
‘…..!!’
He saw a jet-black lake, quietly floating high up in the sky.
No, it was actually not a lake. He mistook it for a lake because of its sheer
size. But, it was a Gate so big that he couldn’t even begin to guess its size.
And it was silently looking down on the ground.
This black ‘hole’ was blocking up the purple sky beyond it.
‘Purple sky, is it…..?’
Seeing the colour of the sky that should not exist, he became doubly sure
that this was not Earth anymore.
In a world that was clearly not Earth, something major was about to happen
between the monsters and that Gate.
He unconsciously swallowed his saliva. Trapped within this eerie silence,
his nervousness also increased as the time wore on.
Gowooooh….
Just what would come out from that Gate?
Jin-Woo began wondering if he’d get to see the weapons of humanity or the
armies of humans stepping out of that huge Gate, just like how monsters
would step onto Earth through those portals.
However….
CRACK!
What came out of the cracked-open Gate’s mouth was soldiers decked out
in silver armour, with wings attached to their backs.
These silver-armoured soldiers poured out of the Gate like agitated bees
rushing out of the disturbed beehive.
While monsters covered up the entirety of the ground, these soldiers in turn
utterly blotted out the sky.
It was truly a spectacular sight. Jin-Woo couldn’t stop admiring this
incredible view.
However, the monsters must’ve thought rather differently. They began
howling at the top of their lungs upon seeing the silver-armoured soldiers
covering the sky and began bucking around in agitation.
He didn’t even have to be a genius to figure out what would happen next.
It was war.
Swahhh-!!
The flying soldiers became silver drops of light and descended to the
ground below. As it turned out, there was more than one Gate in the sky.
There were several of them, and silver soldiers poured out of them one after
the other.
Monsters on the ground versus the soldiers of the sky!!
Two groups, clearly burning with hostile intentions against each other, soon
collided just above the ground. And a battle of an indescribable scale and
proportion unfolded next.
ROOOAAAR-!!
The beastly roars of the monsters shook the land below, and….
Vuuoooo—!!
….And, horns being blown by the silver-armoured soldiers thunderously
resounded out.
Weapons collided with other weapons; the sounds of armours shattering
noisily rang out. The beastly roars soon morphed into screams and pained
groans. The ground below was steadily being dyed the colour of blood.
The superiority in this battle was established very quickly.
The silver-armoured soldiers were very powerful. These guys easily sliced
off the necks of the monsters that were strong enough to rip high-ranked
Hunters apart with their bare hands.
Such powerful beings had formed a massive invading group, so perhaps it
was only inevitable that the monsters were being swept away.
The balance was tilting noticeably now to their favour. Even then, silver-
armoured soldiers continued to pour out from the Gates non-stop.
The waves upon waves of the silver soldiers crashing forward like the
incoming tide erased all traces of living monsters off the dried plains in no
time at all.
Kuwaaahk!
Kiiiehhk!
The war began as a fierce clash between two forces, but now, it descended
into a blood-soaked massacre, instead.
Just like how Jin-Woo was with his foes, the swords and spears of the silver
soldiers knew no mercy. Because of that, the number of monsters decreased
quite rapidly.
Jin-Woo watched this scene of the horrifying monsters being killed off with
little to no resistance and was overcome with a puzzling mixture of emotions.
‘Am I mourning all those people who lost their lives to these b*stards, or
am I feeling rueful for humans not being able to possess powers like
that….?’
Such trivial thoughts remained in his head for only a short while. The truly
extraordinary event only happened afterwards, that was why.
With the complete annihilation of the monsters mere moments away…
The silver soldiers of the sky that violently pushed their enemies back
suddenly stopped moving one at the time.
‘What’s going on?’
Could they possibly have developed a sense of pity for these things now, of
all times? But, there was just no way. If they did, then they shouldn’t be
gripping their weapons even tighter like that.
They were gripping their weapons so hard, in fact, their hands were
beginning to tremble noticeably, too. On top of that, the emotions filling up
the faces of these silver soldiers were as far from the ones of compassion as
you could get. No, they were definitely filled with terror.
Their collective gazes were focused in a certain direction. And that was
somewhere behind him.
Jin-Woo suddenly had a hunch. He felt that something extraordinary was
about to happen behind him, one amazing enough to overturn this situation on
its head.
However, his gaze didn’t immediately look behind him, but instead, to the
ground below.
On top of this reddish-brown land, a black shadow was spreading out. This
shadow rapidly spread beyond the blood dyeing the land red, as well as the
mountains of corpses. And when this darkness sped past underneath these
corpses, mysterious screams could be heard.
Screams that no one could tell where they were coming from.
Jin-Woo knew of a skill that was eerily similar to this – no, make that pretty
much identical.
‘Sovereign’s Territory….’
A powerful chill ran down his spine immediately.
He slowly, agonisingly slowly, turned his head around to take a look.
And there he found an impressive knight covered in jet-black armour from
his head right down to his toes. From this knight, and the horse he was riding
on, black aura-like strands of energy continuously rose up.
Why did this happen? No one told him, yet Jin-Woo could think of only
one title when looking at that black knight.
‘….The Shadow Sovereign.’
Just by being in front of this being subjected him to an incredible pressure
that was heavy enough to strangle him.
Whether it was the silver-armoured soldiers from the sky, monsters with
intelligence, or even those without it, they all forgot to breathe and simply
stared at this Shadow Sovereign.
Every single gaze within this battlefield was now looking at only this black
knight.
[…..]
The Sovereign glared at the soldiers of the sky, before extending his hand
out as if he wanted to grasp something.
Flinch.
Jin-Woo now could see the sight of the silver-armoured soldiers flinch and
start to back away in fear. The intolerable stillness that stifled one’s breaths
pressed down on the shoulders of every single being under the heavens.
And soon….
The Sovereign’s solemn voice shattered that stillness.
[Rise up.]
Chapter 160 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Ba-thump.
His heart beat louder just then.
‘Rise up.’
The ripple generated from those two words spread out at a frightening
speed and roused up the shadows. The battlefield dyed in the colours of
monsters’ blood roiled and tumbled in black waves.
Uwaaaahhh-!!
The Shadow Soldiers leaping out of the ground roared out in what could
have been either loud cheers or screams of horror. They then shifted their
blackened eyes towards their enemies.
Those eyes carried not one trace of fear towards their enemies now.
For the silver soldiers of the skies supposed to deal with this new army, the
scene before them was worthy of sending cold shivers down their spines. Too
bad for them, the Sovereign’s powers didn’t stop there.
[Wuoooohhhhh-!!]
The Sovereign bellowed heavily towards the skies. That powerful roar
didn’t attack the eardrums of the listeners, but directly shook their hearts,
instead.
Hearts, legs, and even the ground shook from his roar.
The land began crying as its response.
Jin-Woo didn’t need a lot of time to figure out what that roar was meant for.
Because… the Shadow Soldiers raised their weapons up high and roared
alongside as well.
WUUUOOOOHHH-!!
Just that single roar alone, and the Shadow Soldiers all transformed into
completely different beings in an instant.
From this corner of the land, all the way to the other side – the dead
monsters were instantly reorganised into Shadow Soldiers.
Jin-Woo had been quietly observing this process while holding his breath.
A powerful shudder ran through his entire body from the combined roars of
the Shadow Soldiers.
Ba-thump!!
His heart loudly beat again.
If this scene was supposed to demonstrate the true pinnacle of the Shadow
Sovereign Class, then it certainly succeeded in letting him know just how
much further he still had to walk to get there.
Eventually, the soldiers of the sky stopped hesitating and began moving
again. They gathered into one large mass, and like a gigantic swarm of bees,
descended on the black soldiers below.
However, the monsters that were reborn as Shadow Soldiers didn’t fall as
easily as before.
Weapons clashed against weapons.
Soldiers collided against soldiers.
The silver army and the black army got tangled up on top of this expansive
land.
Explosions rang out constantly, and the ground quaked over and over again.
The battle that should have ended as a one-sided massacre reverted back to
full-on warfare.
Just the entrance of a single individual had changed everything. Now that
was the display of truly shocking power. Jin-Woo didn’t know why this scene
was being shown to him, but nevertheless, he found himself unable to tear his
eyes away from it.
The violent, fierce clash continued on.
A desperate and bloody engagement, incomparably fiercer and more
violent than the first battle that took place, unfolded before his eyes.
Monsters were unable to contend with a single soldier of the sky while they
were still alive, but after becoming Shadow Soldiers, they were now able to
stand their ground and not get pushed back.
But, well, the truly terrifying thing about these Shadow Soldiers weren’t
their fighting spirit or their combat potentials.
The soldiers of the sky drove the Shadow Soldiers back with their powerful
attacks and excellent martial prowess. The ferocity of the Shadow Soldiers
that rebelled against death itself wasn’t enough to bridge the gap of strength.
The balance of the battle seemed to tilt in favour of the soldiers of the sky
once more. However, the Shadow Soldiers regained their original appearances
almost right after they were destroyed.
Kuwaaahhk!
A Shadow Soldier writhed and screamed out as a spear belonging to a
soldier of the sky pierced through it.
The silver soldier sensed that its victory was near. It let go of its spear and
unsheathed the sword on its hips to slice off the head of its enemy, the
Shadow Soldier.
Slice!
However, right after the head flew off….
‘….!!’
The head of the Shadow Soldier falling to the ground and the headless body
all transformed into black smoke, before combining back to one form a
couple of steps away.
As the soldier of the sky flinched, the Shadow Soldier used the sword it
held to stab the chest of its silver-clad enemy.
Crack!!
The blade broke through the chest armour, dug into the internals, broke
through the back skin and emerged out in the open again.
The silver soldier of the sky powerlessly fell to the ground.
Plop.
As the light of life within the fallen silver soldier’s eyes faded away,
someone’s dignified voice entered its ears and woke it back up.
[Rise up.]
In an unknown instant….
The soldier of the sky discovered the black spear being held by its hands.
What came to visit this soldier wasn’t death, but a new beginning.
Its now-blackened eyes shifted towards other soldiers of the sky who used
to be its comrades only a few breaths ago.
Flinch.
When their gazes met, it saw the trembling shoulders of its former
comrades. Even then, the reborn soldier knew what it had to do.
“Wuuoooouhhh!!”
It joyously accepted the brand new fate bestowed upon it.
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from these soldiers and took an overview of the
entire battlefield and its situation.
The battle taking place between the soldiers of the sky endlessly pouring
out from the Gates in the air, and the Shadow Soldiers reborn through the
orders of the Shadow Sovereign, was incredibly even.
Many poured out of the Gate to match the number of the dead, and just as
many stood up from the shadows to match the dead, too.
If war broke out in hell, would it resemble something like this?
Horrifying warfare that a human’s intuition couldn’t even properly tell what
would happen next breathlessly continued on in this vast land.
However, the balance between these two opposing sides broke in a single
instant.
The flow of the war shifted very quickly when the Shadow Sovereign
stopped issuing commands to his troops from far back and personally stepped
forward to enter the fray.
The black horse carrying the Sovereign dashed into the battlefield.
Whenever he swung his sword, thousands of enemy troops fell to create a
pathway. And the dead enemies, without an exception, became Shadow
Soldiers and stood back up.
Just one flick of the Sovereign’s hand and all those enemy soldiers flying
away to safety had their wings broken and they all crashed back down to
earth.
‘Ruler’s Authority…..’
The areas the Sovereign dashed through got utterly swept away as if a
storm rampaged past there. For the first time ever since the two opposing
camps started clashing their weapons – the soldiers of the sky were being
forced back.
Hundreds of thousands, no, millions of silver-clad soldiers couldn’t deal
with a single enemy and were constantly pushed back.
Jin-Woo could only gasp out in admiration at this sheer marvellous
spectacle. He thought that the war would come to an end like this.
However…
Just as the Shadow Soldiers began pushing back the tides of the silver
soldiers of the sky, an ominous, eerie wind that was hard to describe in words
blew in from somewhere behind him.
Auras powerful enough to send a shudder down his spine rushed in.
The Sovereign temporarily disregarded the enemies to his front and looked
behind him. Two ginormous Gates had been generated in some place far
behind the Shadow army. Their sizes didn’t lose out to the ones floating up in
the air.
And from these two Gates, two disparate groups of monsters poured out in
droves. On one side, beast-type creatures being led by a wolf the size of a
mountain.
And from the other one, knights and soldiers rushed out with countless
banners proudly announcing their clans being waved about in their midst.
Jin-Woo’s eyes grew wider and wider.
‘Huh….??’
The clan crests embroidered on those banners were all familiar to him.
From Ricardo’s, Faestos’s, Rokan’s, Ingreyace’s, and even Radiru’s.
‘….Esil.’
Those crests belonged to the aristocratic clans of demons he ran into as he
was climbing up to the top floor of the Demon’s Castle.
His confusion regarding why those demons appeared here could only last
for a short while. The beasts and the demons began attacking the shadow
soldiers together as if they had a prior agreement.
The back line of the Shadow Soldiers was immediately torn up into shreds
from the combined assault of the two monster armies.
That wasn’t the end, however.
Their front was occupied by the soldiers of the sky, still alive and ready to
battle. These silver-clad beings changed their strategy and began striking back
once more.
The soldiers of the sky to the front and the armies of monsters at the back
surrounded the Shadow Soldiers in a pincer attack and closed in on them. The
flow of the battle had changed once more.
Ba-thump.
Jin-Woo grasped his chest tightly.
His heart was aching now.
His gaze slowly shifted towards the Sovereign standing next to him.
Why was this? Why could he sense the Sovereign’s emotions so clearly
like this?
Just like when he was reading the thoughts of his Shadow Soldiers, the
Sovereign’s emotions were vividly transmitted to him. The emotion welling
up thickly from the deepest depths of his heart was none other than
indignation.
No, it had already exceeded past the level of indignation and into the
territory of pure wrath.
Now that they were surrounded by enemies from all sides, the Shadow
Soldiers had to endlessly repeat the cycle of destruction and regeneration.
Although they seemed to have possessed a never-ending power of recovery,
Jin-Woo too possessed the same ability and he knew its fatal weakness very
well.
‘It can hold up as long as there’s MP….’
When MP ran out, the Soldiers would not be revived again. Meaning, the
Sovereign wouldn’t be able to use his army again. He sensed the Sovereign’s
magical energy that felt bottomless and vast in the beginning, slowly reaching
its limit.
The Sovereign changed the direction of his mount away from the army of
the sky and towards his rear. His black horse kicked the ground and rushed
forward.
The ensuing battle was truly intense.
Corpses formed mountains. Blood formed oceans.
This conflagration called ‘war’ created by countless soldiers swallowed up
every single lifeform still standing on this land and continued on its horrific
path of destruction.
But, even then – this stubbornly persistent battle that didn’t seem to end
was slowly marching towards its inevitable conclusion.
Not too many remained standing on the battlefield now.
The Sovereign lost his mount during the battle. He wasn’t hindered in the
least, however. He cut down two demon knights blocking his path and stood
before a certain demon breathlessly panting away as it leaned against a
bizarre rock formation.
The demon’s face was hidden behind its helm, but the Sovereign seemed to
know its identity as he glared down at his feeble prey.
[We could have ended the war with them today.]
“…”
[But, why did you betray me?]
The demon weakly faltered its head, but it forced himself to look up. It had
already suffered grievous wounds and it seemed unlikely it’d be able to
survive its injuries.
The voice coming out from beneath the helm sounded precariously close to
being cut off.
“So…. regrettable. We could have ended you for good today, but….”
The Sovereign’s voice became even icier as he asked again.
[I said, why did you betray me?]
“Keuk, keuk.”
The demon’s shoulders trembled as it painfully cackled, before it raised its
head up again. And then, it replied.
“#$%#^#%#%@$.”
For some reason, Jin-Woo couldn’t properly hear that answer. Did he lose
his concentration and miss it somehow?
No, that wasn’t it.
“@$^$##.”
The demon said something else, but he still couldn’t understand a single
word of it.
However, it must’ve sounded different to the Sovereign’s ears, because as
soon as he heard the reply, he extended his hand out and sucked the demon in.
The creature spat out a pained moan as its neck was tightly grasped by the
Shadow Sovereign.
“Keo-heok.”
Crumble!
The piece of armour protecting the neck crumpled up. Even in the middle
of this, the demon continued to say the things it wanted to say.
“….%^&*$@%^&.”
Stab.
The Sovereign’s thumb plunged into the throat of the demon.
Cough!
The demon spat out a mouthful of blood. And that was precisely the
moment when his gaze met with the demon’s eyes staring back from within
that helm.
But, how could this be?!
Jin-Woo freaked out and let go of the dying demon’s neck.
Plop.
Its life had ended by then and its body limply crumpled to the ground.
‘But, that doesn’t make any sense.’
Those eyes in hidden in the helm – he had seen those eyes before. But, such
a thing could not have happened.
Ba-thump!
His heart began pounding madly now.
Jin-Woo shook his head hard and cautiously approached the dead demon to
take its helm off. Even in death, the creature was maintaining the same glare it
shot him back when it was still alive.
How could he ever forget that glare?
The removed helm fell out of Jin-Woo’s hands and clattered to the ground.
Clang.
The wide-open eyes of the demon were still filled with the light of pure
rage. It was the exact same light he saw back on the top floor of the Demon’s
Castle.
‘The Demon King… Baran?!’
The moment he realised this fact, he also discovered one more strange
thing.
He saw his hands decked out in black armour. He then saw his feet, his
legs, and his own chest. From a certain point in time, he had been using the
Shadow Sovereign’s body as his own.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!
The pounding beats of his heart grew even heavier and louder, assaulting
his eardrums. Jin-Woo placed his hand where his heart was.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
His eyes grew wider and wider.
‘How… How come I haven’t noticed it until now?!’
He had grown more conscious of his own heartbeat after surviving the
events of the underground temple. Even then, he had failed to notice it until
now.
Jin-Woo’s trembling hand moved to the right side of his chest. He sensed
the tremor there. One coming from the left, and then another coming from his
right.
Ba-thump!
Two hearts were issuing exact same sounds.
His shock-filled eyes were lowered immediately, but then, he discovered
four shadows on the ground, slowly growing larger. Some things were
approaching him from above. His head hurriedly rose up to the skies.
And, right above his head…
Four angels with six wings each were slowly descending towards him.
The ‘memory’ lasted only up until then.
Tti-ring.
Along with that mechanical beep, darkness blinded him again.
He heard the clear, concise voice of the System as his consciousness grew
further away.
[Playback of the saved data has concluded.]
Chapter 161 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Telling the Master of a Guild that best represented the Republic of Korea to
show up before a rank C Gate?
When he got the call from Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol, Choi Jong-In
initially wasn’t feeling too pleased by its contents. He even thought about not
bothering to go there personally and simply send out an assault team
consisting of just a handful of higher ranked Hunters.
However, he heard the detailed explanation next, and he had no choice but
to personally make the move.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had entered the dual dungeon by himself?’
The dual dungeon alone was enough to draw his attention, but now, Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo was in there, too? How many Guild Masters, no, Hunters out
there would remain aloof and unimpressed after hearing those revelations?
At Chief Woo Jin-Cheol’s urgent request that emphasized time was of the
essence, Choi Jong-In immediately delayed the raid they were preparing to go
on and summoned the elite Hunters.
“We received a request for assistance from the Association. Looks like we
will have to get involved on this one.”
Hunters began whispering to each other because these people knew very
well through experience, that this sort of summons only happened in
extraordinary circumstances.
And the fact that the Hunters Guild had to be summoned, who were just
about to raid a rank A Gate – was there a need to even mention the
seriousness of the occasion?
On top of this, these Hunters also had to hear about the breaking news
coming out from Japan not too long ago, so the commotion within them could
only grow larger.
“Did something happen?”
The woman who possessed the second highest authority behind Choi Jong-
In as the Vice-Chair of the Guild, asked her boss for clarification. He looked
back at Cha Hae-In and replied.
“A dual dungeon was found within a rank C Gate.”
‘A dual dungeon?’
Cha Hae-In tilted her head in confusion.
Of course, it was not everyday one gets to hear about a dual dungeon. A
dungeon found within another one – there was no way such a thing could
happen all the time.
However, the Hunters Guild was being summoned because there was
another dungeon attached to a measly rank C Gate? It was hard to understand
from a common-sense point of view.
Choi Jong-In still got ready to move out regardless of her puzzled stare but
still spoke to her to dispel her confusion.
“It sounds like Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is fighting something inside all by
himself. Since it’s none other than that Chief Woo Jin-Cheol from the
Association requesting us for assistance, and he sounded rather frightened
out of his wits too, so… Hunter Cha? What’s the matter?”
Choi Jong-In asked her after spotting the abrupt change within her eyes.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“…..Well, yeah. It’s Hunter Seong we’re talking about, so nothing
serious would happen to him, but still, let’s go take a look anyway.”
Nod.
Cha Hae-In nodded her head, and other Hunters listening in on their
conversation also quickly packed their gear and got ready. Their gear
consisted entirely of weapons they were to use within the raid, but that didn’t
mean they could be lackadaisical with their preparations.
“Uh? Why is there one person mis…”
A Hunter was taking the headcount, but someone lightly tapped on his
shoulder. He looked behind to see who it was, and his colleague was pointing
at a certain corner with his chin. A man with a devastated face was on his
knees there.
“…Suzuki?”
“Leave him be.”
“Ah…..”
That Hunter immediately understood it.
Suzuki was a Hunter who got scouted recently and left Japan for a life here
in South Korea. It was only obvious that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from
his smartphone that kept issuing breaking news one after the other regarding
the dungeon break taking place in his home country.
“We gotta do what we gotta do. Let’s get going.”
“Ah, yes.”
Two Hunters let Suzuki be and climbed aboard the Hunters Guild’s private
van.
And so, vehicles carrying the elites of the Hunters Guild quickly travelled
towards their new destinations.
“Argh, hot, hot!!”
A reporter named Kim freaked out and hurriedly discarded the cigarette
butt. The ground beneath was sand, but still, his foot stomping on the butt to
kill it carried all of his bared emotions.
That lasted only for a little while, though. This was no time to waste his
attention on some stupid cigarette butt.
Reporter Kim’s gaze returned to the parked vans again. He thought that
every single person climbing out of those vehicles looked familiar, but when
he took a second look, weren’t they the top elites from the Hunters Guild??
He didn’t even notice that his fingers were getting burnt off while he was
searching for all the famous aces in that Guild.
‘Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In? Yun Jeong-Ho too? Uh, uh?? Even
Sohn Ki-Hoon’s here?’
With these folks here, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the top
faces of the Hunters had all shown up. He chased after Woo Jin-Cheol without
a plan to speak of, but to think, he’d stumble into a location filled with such
bigshots like this?
And, the Gate in question was only a rank C.
Reporter Kim swallowed his nervous saliva. He couldn’t even begin to
imagine just what was going on inside there right now.
Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol would normally let the cat out of the bag
pretty easily, but even he shut his mouth tightly while saying that it was top
secret. So, Kim didn’t have much of a choice but to suck on one cigarette
after another to soothe his anxious mind.
Indeed, butts he discarded since a while ago formed a small mound near his
feet.
Woo Jin-Cheol paid no heed to Reporter Kim’s longing expression and
hurriedly approached Choi Jong-In. The latter couldn’t tear his eyes away
from that Gate, just like how the former had reacted earlier.
“What the fck…?! Dmn it…! What the hell is that thing??”
Cusses jumped out all on their own from Choi Jong-In’s mouth. That was
how ominous the aura emitted from the Gate was.
Unlike Woo Jin-Cheol, who possessed exceptionally good senses for a
melee-type Hunter, Choi Jong-In was South Korea’s most powerful Mage.
After Baek Yun-Ho and his ‘Eyes of the Beast’, as well as Seong Jin-Woo
and his otherworldly level of sensory perception, one could confidently say
that Choi Jong-In was the best in the country when it came to sensing the flow
of magical energy.
“Can you do it?”
That’s how Woo Jin-Cheol framed his question. Choi Jong-In didn’t miss
the subtext of ‘It was impossible with just us’ in that question.
He replied with a bitter expression.
“You said that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo is inside, yes?”
“Yes, that’s been confirmed.”
Nod, nod.
Choi Jong-In nodded his head gravely.
But, of course. If it wasn’t him, who’d be capable enough to participate in a
fight of this scale? No, who else besides him was capable of defending
against an opponent that emitted this much magical energy?
“Is he trying to save this planet all by himself or something?”
He meant to say that in his head but his words still came out of his mouth
in the end.
Rather than asking for the clarification, though, Woo Jin-Cheol simply
nodded his head with a heavy expression. To him, that sounded quite
plausible.
“Whether we can do it or not, we still need to go inside anyway. We owe a
debt to Hunter Seong, after all.”
If the monsters inside were something that couldn’t be stopped by the
combined might of Hunter Seong and the Hunters Guild, then no one else in
South Korea could stop them. Meaning, there would be no second opportunity
if they couldn’t kill the monsters by aiding Hunter Seong today.
‘What was that? Hunter Seong??’
Reporter Kim was standing a little further away and was doing his best to
eavesdrop, but after hearing something incredible, his eyes rapidly
transformed into a pair of round dots resembling those of a rabbit’s.
‘Hunter Seong is inside that Gate??’
Kim’s shocked gaze quickly shifted towards the Gate, before scanning the
vicinity around it.
There were two rank S Hunters here, and as for the number of rank As, he
had already lost count. But then, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter was inside that Gate,
too??
‘My, my…. my memo. Where’s my d*mn memo pad?!’
Reporter Kim’s nose picked up on the trail of a huge scoop and hurriedly
sought out his memo pad.
From this point onwards, he could not afford to miss a single word
muttered nor a single event happening before him. He found himself with a
god-sent opportunity to report on a massive scoop involving three rank S
Hunters as well as the Association itself when everyone else was too busy
with the events taking place in Japan.
‘That’s why Chief Woo kept his mouth shut, wasn’t it?’
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s private information was a closely-guarded secret,
not to mention he was a super VIP under the special supervision of the
Hunter’s Association.
Kim now could understand the reason why Woo Jin-Cheol was not willing
to talk about what was going on here.
While Woo Jin-Cheol and Choi Jong-In were sharing a brief conversation,
the elite assault team had finished getting ready. The Tankers picked up their
defensive armaments, damage dealers picked up their weapons, and Healers
held on to magic tools filled with magical energy.
As befitting the top Guild in the country, their preparation was quite fast.
Choi Jong-In briefly exchanged glances with Cha Hae-In and nodded his
head. Cha Hae-In swept her gaze over the rest of the team once and nodded
her head as well. That meant that the preparation and inspection were finished
now.
The elites of the Monitoring Division had already finished their
preparations a while ago. Woo Jin-Cheol received confirmation from his
subordinate and turned around to face the others with a heavy expression.
“Let’s get going.”
The passage before them was incredibly long.
They moved at the fastest speed they could afford, but they didn’t break
into a full-bore running. Even if they were all nominally high-ranked Hunters,
their individual running speeds were vastly different, that was why. Among
them, Cha Hae-In was especially fast.
She was about to run ahead, but Choi Jong-In next to her grasped her wrist
in a hurry.
“Hunter Cha. What do you think you’ll achieve by going there alone?”
“…”
He understood that she wanted to go and save Seong Jin-Woo from danger,
but if she went ahead, the whole team might end up falling into grave danger,
instead.
“If we try to keep up with your speed, there’s a good chance that the
entire team might become disorganised, instead.”
Cha Hae-In’s expression hardened as she stood still, but eventually, she
returned to the rear of the team. Woo Jin-Cheol watched her make her way
back and whispered softly to himself.
“I guess the rumour was true.”
“Pardon?”
Woo Jin-Cheol mumbled some excuses out when Choi Jong-In questioned
him.
“Ah… No, it’s nothing important.”
Choi Jong-In tilted his head slightly but shifted his gaze back to his front
anyway. The ominous magic energy that caused goosebumps to break out on
his skin was still flooding out from the deepest part of this dungeon.
He had to keep his wits about him here.
He also thought that it’d be the same story for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo who
had entered in here ahead of everyone else.
‘I pray we aren’t too late….’
For the time being, there was nothing he could do to help other than pray
for Hunter Seong’s safety – while moving as quickly as they could without
lowering their vigilance, of course.
However, it was also true that too much tension would in turn dull one’s
body, as well. In order to dispel some of this tension, he engaged Woo Jin-
Cheol in a conversation.
“How did Hunter Seong come across this place, anyway?”
“I also don’t know the details. But, by piecing together what the people
making the reports said, it seems that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim knew that
this Gate was a dual dungeon even before entering it.”
“H-mm.”
Choi Jong-In’s expression became circumspect. This time, it was Woo Jin-
Cheol who asked the question.
“By any chance, can you think of something suspicious?”
“No, it’s not that, but….. Just that, this feels quite strange, doesn’t it?”
“Strange as in how?”
“I did some research on Seong Hunter-nim in the past, you see.”
Choi Jong-In was a Master of a huge Guild. It was his duty to build a Guild
with highly capable individuals, so it was only obvious that he’d hold an
extreme amount of interest towards Jin-Woo.
“There was an event similar to this, wasn’t there?”
Woo Jin-Cheol did personally investigate the event Choi Jong-In was
talking about so, he indeed knew a lot about that incident. He quickly figured
out what the Master of Hunters Guild was trying to say here.
Less than half a year ago, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo experienced going into a
dual dungeon. And now, after all this time, he sought after another one and
entered it.
Those who knew this truth would not see today’s event as a mere
coincidence. Just like how Woo Jin-Cheol had predicted, Choi Jong-In’s next
words were about that.
“Experiencing dual dungeons twice by himself, when it’d be near
impossible for anyone to see it once in their lifetime… Not just that, he
willingly walked into the second one on his own volition? Don’t you find
that strange?”
Woo Jin-Cheol didn’t immediately make his reply.
Just as Choi Jong-In had alluded to, many things about Hunter Seong were
shrouded in a veil of mystery. The dual dungeon. The Re-Awakened. And
possessing a unique ability.
However, there was one indisputable fact, and that would be Seong Jin-
Woo being utterly indispensable to the Association, no, the entire nation of
South Korea.
And that was why Woo Jin-Cheol requested the Hunters Guild for their
assistance without waiting for the clearance from the higher-ups when he
found out that Hunter Seong had walked right into this Gate.
No matter what, they had to secure Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s safety. It’d not
be too late to ask him the necessary questions afterwards.
Woo Jin-Cheol swam inside his thoughts, before raising his head.
‘So, over there…..’
The distance that would have taken nearly one hour for regular Hunters to
cross was bridged in less than ten minutes by the rapid marching of these
high-ranked Hunters. They could finally see the end of this cave in the far off
distance.
“Looks like we’re here.”
“Yes, I can sense it.”
Indeed, they could sense something horrifyingly massive in there. Choi
Jong-In’s face stiffened hard as he replied. The colour of blood was slowing
draining out of his complexion right now.
The only consolation he could think of right now was the fact that he could
also sense Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s presence.
‘As long as Hunter Seong is fine, it’s okay.’
Combining his abilities with the support from these elite Hunters, they’d
win regardless of what the monsters within this dungeon were like. Choi
Jong-In assured himself with that line of thought and called out to the rest of
the team.
“Let’s hurry!”
The elite Hunters from the Hunters Guild and the Association rushed past
the massive doorway reminiscent of an ancient castle.
And then….
The sight waiting for them beyond was a spectacle none of them had ever
seen before during their lengthy and illustrious careers as Hunters.
“This… What on earth is this….?”
“What the hell is this place?!”
First, they found innumerable destroyed stone statues strewn about the
floor. Their debris was piling up into small hills all over the place.
“Look, look!!!”
One of the Hunters raised his finger high up.
And in the direction his finger was pointing at, everyone could see a truly
gigantic statue of an unknown god standing frozen still, its hands interlocked
in the gesture of slamming down. Its head, with half of its face blown away,
especially caught their attention.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s heart began racing like crazy as he remembered the
testimonies of the survivors from the previous dual dungeon incident.
‘It was all real… the god statue and the stone statues were all real…!!’
The survivors all said the same thing – that this place was filled with a
monstrous god statue that could melt down a rank C Hunter with nothing but
a glare from its eyes, as well as countless stone statues whose movements
couldn’t be picked up by the naked eye.
This whole open area was pockmarked with clear signs of desperate battle
having taken place recently.
‘Wait a minute. Where is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?’
It looked as if all the enemies had been eliminated already. Their priority
was to confirm the status of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
Choi Jong-In shifted his head this way and that to locate Jin-Woo’s
presence, and eventually found him.
“He’s over there.”
Jin-Woo was quietly lying on his back just below the god statue as if he
was asleep.
“Seong Hunter-nim!!”
Hunters were about to run to his side, but this time, it was Cha Hae-In’s
turn to raise both of her arms to stop them in their treks. Feeling urgent now,
Woo Jin-Cheol turned to look at her.
Her rather shapely facial features were soaked completely from cold sweat
right now.
“Cha….. Hunter-nim??”
She bit her lower lip and spoke up.
“Over there… there’s something over there.”
It was then. A certain stone statue kneeling next to Jin-Woo slowly stood
up. The wings on its back were all torn up, and it only had one remaining arm.
“I don’t remember inviting you humans in here.”
The angel statue stood up completely and swept its gaze over at the Hunters
intruding into the temple. The corner of its lips suddenly arched up.
Chapter 162 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Ah…..”
They all became utterly speechless. There could not have been a more
fitting description than that.
Choi Jung-Hoon forgot what he wanted to say. But, he was certain of
something. The origin of that ominous energy he sensed before entering this
Gate was that living sculpture.
The magic energy leaking out of that thing was so great that the space
surrounding the d*mn creature seemed to twist around in his view.
He was simply staring at it from far away, yet goosebumps were breaking
out on his entire body.
Glance.
His gaze was redirected towards Jin-Woo.
It made some sense to see someone as strong as Hunter Seong lying
unconscious if he had been in a battle against a ‘thing’ like that.
No, hold on.
Fighting against such a ‘thing’ while also finding enough leeway to destroy
all these other enemies – the stone statues – was only possible precisely
because it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and not someone else.
He felt nothing but admiration in his heart. However….
‘It’s our turn to fight against such an opponent now.’
A thick drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and stopped on his
chin.
The strength of this one monster easily exceeded that of the mutated ant
that appeared on Jeju Island. No, it was unknown whether this enemy was
really a monster or not, to begin with.
Gulp.
His dry saliva painfully slid down his throat.
Choi Jong-In glanced to his side and found that the complexions of Cha
Hae-In and Woo Jin-Cheol were utterly pale from fright as well. These two
had also figured out the depths of the enemy’s power and were in the middle
of inwardly freaking out.
On the other hand, the Hunters behind them were getting surprised by
something else entirely.
“That thing… did that thing just speak??”
“Wait, I didn’t hear incorrectly just now, did I?”
“A monster can speak our language?”
Hunters exchanged glances with one another, their faces filled with
incredulity. Something like this seemed impossible.
It was already public knowledge that the monsters with intelligence spoke
the language of their own.
Back when these Gates began appearing for the first time, some tried to
learn the language of the monsters. Of course, their attempts all ended in
failure.
The sole reason for that was the violent tendencies of the monsters.
Monsters captured alive through great difficulties couldn’t seem to endure
being around humans the longer they remained in contact.
Even if their entire bodies were restrained, they tried to rampage around
trying to attack humans - even when under the intense pain of their flesh
being ripped apart and their bones snapping in half. In the end, either they
were killed off by their human captors, or died naturally after being unable to
win against the tides of their rage.
This was the unanimous conclusion reached by the scientists researching
monsters from all over the globe, one they were completely certain of.
However, the monster in front of their eyes was speaking in Korean as if it
was the most natural thing in the world.
A monster that could be seen as the find of the century had made its
entrance, but for some reason, these Hunters all felt this inexplicable sense of
dread in their hearts.
That was the warning bell rung by the primal instinct only detectable by the
first-class Hunters such as these people.
Flinch.
The angel statue took one step forward, causing the trembling Hunters to
hurriedly back away. The creature slowly shifted its gaze left to right as if to
appreciate the sight of these humans and their expressions of fear and terror.
“Oh, strong humans.”
The statue spoke up as it began looking at the Hunters with the eyes of
someone finding a delicious snack.
“It seems that there are no shortages for the first sacrifices prepared for
the king.”
If a snake could smile, would that be as disgusting as the one on this
creature? The movements of the Hunters froze stiff from the smile forming on
the angel statue’s face.
‘….The king?’
Could there have been yet another monster here?
Choi Jong-In’s head slanted to the side briefly, but too bad for him, now
wasn’t the time to dissect what the monster was saying.
The angel statue ripped up the arm of one of the stone statues strewn about
on the floor.
Crack!!
‘What is it trying to do?’
Hunters and their confusion didn’t last for long. It placed the torn arm in its
right shoulder socket that was already missing a limb, and the two parts
suddenly began fusing by themselves.
‘Heok…!’
As the Hunters gasped out in astonishment, the angel statue moved the
newly-regenerated arm around this way and that. It was then.
Shooph.
The statue suddenly appeared before the Hunters. They didn’t even have
any time to respond. The angel statue took a swing with its right arm. The
face of the Hunter standing in front of the group was crushed inward.
Peo-geok!!
The Hunter and his crushed face flew backwards and slammed into the
wall. Other Hunters nearby threw out urgent counterattacks, but by then, the
angel statue was already gone.
“Where…?!”
“Over there!!”
The creature was now standing on the same spot as before as if it never
made a move in the first place. As a matter of fact, it was busy fidgeting with
its newly-attached right hand and its fingers. It looked like it was testing out
whether its new limb was functioning properly or not.
“M-Myung-Cheol-ah!!”
“Euh, uwaaaahh!!”
Hunters belatedly discovered the casualty among them and began crying
out in anguish. He was killed instantly. A rank A Tanker working for South
Korea’s best Guild had died in a single hit.
Choi Jong-In’s eyes as he stared at the angel statue began shaking
unsteadily now.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo fought against such a thing all by himself…?’
Rather than the pain of losing one of his comrades, his mind was overcome
with this hopeless sense of vagueness at not knowing how to break out of the
current situation.
Unfortunately, not everyone was capable of rational thought process like
Choi Jong-In.
“You son of a b*tch!!”
One of the female Hunters, the lover of the deceased Hunter, screamed out
and dashed forward in anger. A pair of flames were burning brightly in both
of her hands as she did so.
Just as she was about to launch those flames, someone grabbed her wrists
from behind. The female Hunter looked to her side and discovered that Cha
Hae-In had approached her before she noticed it. The female Hunter shook
her arm and yelled out.
“Let me go!”
“Unni, you must hold it back.”
“I said, let go of me, right now!!”
“Please, you gotta hold it back!”
The female Hunter glared straight at Cha Hae-In’s face. The latter carried a
grave but determined expression as she bit her lower lip.
“I’m also holding back, you know….”
Cha Hae-In’s hardened expression caused the female Hunter to stop
writhing around in anger. Because… even she knew it was unwise to agitate a
monster that no longer showed any interest in their group after making that
initial attack.
It was just that, she found it nearly impossible to hold herself back.
Someone she loved was met with a horrific death, yet she was unable to do
anything. The female Hunter began sobbing under her breath.
“Heuk….”
Once she stopped displaying hints of making a rash decision, Cha Hae-In
shifted her attention over to Jin-Woo lying on the ground far away. The
female Hunter wasn’t the only one holding herself back, indeed.
For some reason, the monster had stopped attacking the group. And Jin-
Woo looked unhurt as he continued to breathe normally. His expression was
peaceful, as if he was simply asleep right now.
‘For now…’
….She and others had to buy as much time as possible until Jin-Woo woke
up. That was the best they could do.
It was then.
The angel statue moved its body this way and that before laughter abruptly
broke out from its lips.
“Haha.”
The empty interior of the underground temple was suddenly filled up with
the echoes of the angel statue’s voice. It kept its laughter short and shifted its
gaze over to the Hunters.
“Well now, should I get the fun started?”
The colour of the angel statue’s eyes suddenly reddened up.
Was that the beginning of the assault? The Hunters strengthened their grips
on their chosen weapons and prepared for battle.
If it was only one… if it was only one enemy, couldn’t they be able to do
something here? Not only did they have two rank S Hunters present, but there
were also dozens of top local Hunters gathered here at the moment, too.
As such an optimistic outlook quickly raced past the minds of the Hunters,
this happened.
Dududududududuk.
Suddenly, an earthquake broke out inside this huge, open chamber.
“Ah…. No, this can’t be….”
The dark shadow of despair drew upon the faces of the Hunters. The
broken stone statues were beginning to stand up one by one, that was why.
The bstards without heads, bstards with holes in their chests, and even
b*stards with limbs missing all began standing up. But the absolute worst
among them all was the statue of the unknown god that could only be
described as truly gigantic.
“….Oh, my god.”
The god statue and the stone statues were standing upright and glaring at
the Hunters as if they had never been destroyed in the first place. Their
expressionless faces only made the already creepy atmosphere that much
more bizarre.
Hunters began to backtrack a step at a time, only to run into something
solid behind their backs.
“Uh….?”
It was the door.
Even before they had realised it, the doorway to this once-empty arena was
closed shut tightly. It seemed that the angel statue had no thoughts of letting
these humans go at all.
The angel statue spoke to them.
“Those who manage to survive until all of my dolls have fallen will be
given the opportunity to witness the glorious rebirth of the king.”
The monster kept saying ‘king’ this and ‘king’ that for a while now.
‘Just what is it trying to say here?’
Woo Jin-Cheol’s brows creased up.
He just couldn’t understand the words the creature was busy spewing out.
However, one thing was for certain. He knew that this creature was trying to
kill everyone within the chamber.
He gritted his teeth.
He spent the last four years of his life in the Association.
He had faced plenty of hair-raising situations, but still managed to pull
through by bitterly struggling till the end. Today would not be any different.
He wasn’t planning to die as easily as the monster wanted him to.
‘Even I can’t make it out of here….’
At least, he’d try to save Hunter Seong.
His thoughts reached there and he glanced at Jin-Woo. Rather
coincidentally, the angel statue also pointed at the youth lying unmoving on
the ground.
“This person was able to destroy all my puppets in less than five
minutes.”
The pointed finger of the angel statue was then locked onto the rest of the
Hunters.
“How many minutes will it take for all of you to die today, then?”
Just as the words of the angel statue came to an end, Woo Jin-Cheol cried
out at the top of his lungs.
“Everyone, get down!!”
Hunters hurriedly bent down to the ground.
A red laser beam sliced right past just above their heads with almost no gap
to spare. The casualty was zero this time. It was almost a miracle in and of
itself.
The red energy beam shooting out from the eyes of the god statue slowly
dissipated.
‘Ho-oh.’
The angel statue stared at the Hunters with eyes of some interest as it took a
step back. It seemed that these humans might be able to provide some fun
distraction before the king awakens.
“Pant, pant, pant.”
Woo Jin-Cheol panted out heavily. Cold sweat poured out from his pores.
If he hadn’t heard about the special trait of the god statue beforehand,
would he be able to survive that blast? His entire body shuddered from sheer
horror. Still, they managed to somehow live through the first attack.
Of course, that wasn’t the end.
‘No, it’s merely the beginning.’
Woo Jin-Cheol raised his head.
The stone statues were rushing towards them now. They were so quick that
only the high-ranked melee-type Hunters would be capable of following their
movements.
Fortunately, Woo Jin-Cheol was one of the very best within the rank A
Hunters. He rose up from his spot in an instant and while rotating his waist,
sent out a powerful punch. The specially-constructed glove slammed hard into
the face of a stone statue.
Boom!!
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
‘….??’
He genuinely believed that one punch would be enough. However, the
stone statue was unscathed.
Because he saw that one of this statue’s shoulders was completely
destroyed from an unknown attack, he ended up making a mistake on his
enemy’s durability. It was a gaffe he shouldn’t have made when thinking back
to just who it was that destroyed all these statues in the first place.
The stone statue’s face was pushed back only by a little bit, but it recovered
from the impact force almost right away and thrust forward the sword in its
hand.
‘Tsk.’
Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly clicked his tongue.
He threw that punch out without taking into consideration the possible
counterattack so he was unable to dodge. Besides, the enemy wasn’t slow
enough for him to evade at such a close distance, anyway.
But, then.
Ka-boom!!
A powerful explosion wrapped the statue up and it flew away.
Woo Jin-Cheol frowned and shook his head hard to recover from the
buzzing sensation in his ears. Only then did he get to hear the voice coming
from his side.
“Are you alright??”
It was none other than the ‘ultimate weapon’, Choi Jong-In. Woo Jin-Cheol
nodded once to express his gratitude. They simply didn’t have enough time to
leisurely share a conversation.
Boom!!
Because, the god statue began moving in earnest, and…
Dudududu-!!
…And, the stone statues had already arrived right before their noses by
then.
“Chairman Choi!! Aggro skills don’t work against these things!!”
Tankers loudly cried out.
“What was that??”
Choi Jong-In’s expression hardened considerably. If the aggro skills didn’t
work on them, then these creatures would instinctively start targetting the
physically weakest Hunters present.
If the Healers were killed off first, then their line of defence would collapse
in no time at all. It was nigh impossible for them to fight against powerful
enemies without some sort of a defensive line to back them up.
Not only that….
Right behind these d*mn stone statues, the massive god statue was now
raising its equally massive fist as well.
‘Can we really get out of this place alive?’
Their situation was despairingly critical.
However, he still could think of one final method. And that would be
waking up the unconscious Hunter Seong.
The angel sculpture b*stard said it, didn’t it?
‘That thing said that Hunter Seong was able to destroy them all by
himself. In less than five minutes, too.’
Their situation could change greatly if his guess was correct and the only
reason why Hunter Seong lost to the angel statue was that he became too
fatigued from destroying all these stone statues.
Indeed, weren’t there dozens of first-class Hunters present here that could
aid Hunter Seong right now?
That is why….
‘I need to wake up Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.’
Flames alighted on Choi Jong-In’s hands. It was not for nothing that he was
called the ‘ultimate weapon’. Not only his firepower, but even his accuracy
didn’t lose out to any of the modern firearms.
It was now ‘sink or swim’ time.
Choi Jong-In fired the magic he cast in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Hunter Seong might experience some discomfort, but he wasn’t weak
enough to get injured greatly by this level of magic. But, if he did wake up
from the impact of the explosion, then the human Hunters would stand a good
chance of surviving this event.
‘That is why, please…!’
The flames flew towards their target while leaving behind a long trail.
However….
Boom!
The flames simply exploded on the torso of the angel statue that stepped
into the trajectory in the blink of an eye.
‘….??’
Choi Jong-In was greatly taken by surprise from the unexpected
interference from the angel statue and hurriedly raised his head.
Every muscle on the face of the angel was distorted unsightly until they
couldn’t be twisted any further to form a truly terrifying expression.
“How dare…..”
For the first time ever, the angel statue stopped smiling and bared its fangs.
“How dare you try to interrupt the slumber of the king!?”
Chapter 163 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
For a moment then, within the recalled data, Jin-Woo had become THE
Shadow Sovereign. And that’s when he realised it.
He realised that there was another heart of magical energy beating within
his chest. He felt powerful surges of energy ceaselessly flowing out from this
new heart.
Could he have made a mistake? It was rather easy to confirm the truth,
actually.
‘Status Window.’
While keeping his hand firmly locked around the angel statue’s neck, he
summoned his Status Window. What he wanted to see out of the many listed
values in there was his current reserves of magic energy, which the System
had designated as ‘Mana Points’ or ‘MP’.
[MP: 109,433]
Jin-Woo’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
‘Over one hundred grand?!’
He confirmed the truth with his own two eyes, yet he still couldn’t believe
it. The last time he checked, he definitely only had around nine thousand or
so. He confirmed it before arriving here, so he couldn’t have made an error on
that one.
But now, it was over ten times greater?
However, that wasn’t the only surprising thing he discovered.
‘My Title has changed?’
As if to let him know of a big change that had taken place, the ‘Title’
column was blinking continuously. He didn’t even change his Title, yet it had
been swapped out to something else.
And the new Title was ‘Demon Hunter’.
He had been putting this Title in the background because its information
was hidden from him until now. Jin-Woo quickly confirmed its newly
unveiled info.
[Title: Demon Hunter]
‘You have satisfied its requirements.’
You have recovered the memories of defeating the King of Demons, Baran,
Sovereign of the White Flames. An immense power has acknowledged the
Player as its new owner.
Effect ‘Black Heart’: Additional MP +100,000
‘Black Heart!!’
This here was the reason why his MP reserves had shot up to a nonsensical
degree.
Additional MP of one hundred thousand – that was enough power to
regenerate his Shadow Soldiers almost infinitely.
Abruptly, Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the Shadow Sovereign from the
recalled data. The beings that fought against the silver soldiers blotting out the
entire sky were part of the immortal army led by that person.
They went through an endless cycle of destruction and revival while
managing to gradually overwhelm their enemies.
The silver soldiers, strong enough to easily suppress roughly the same
amount of monsters, couldn’t endure against the regenerative abilities of the
Shadow Soldiers and, in the end, were forced into retreat.
If it weren’t for the timely arrival of the reinforcements, those silver
soldiers would not have avoided the fate of being annihilated. And that was
all due to the bottomless amount of magic energy the Shadow Sovereign from
the data had possessed.
‘If that’s the case….’
‘….As long as I have the effect of this ‘Black Heart’, then my own
Shadow Soldiers can become the immortal army, too…’
When his thoughts reached that far, Jin-Woo’s entire body shuddered from
the shock.
“But how….. can you be….??”
Jin-Woo raised his head. A trembling voice was leaking out of the angel
statue’s mouth.
For the first time ever, Jin-Woo saw another expression besides that
disgusting smile or the one of anger from this statue’s face. The emotion
revealed by its new expression was clearly fear.
The angel statue looked at Jin-Woo with true fear and spoke as if it couldn’t
believe what had happened.
“How can you still retain your former ego, even with the Black Heart
beating within you?!”
‘What was that??’
Jin-Woo heard the creature’s mutterings and quickly realised two important
things.
One, the angel statue was definitely not responsible for this ‘Black Heart’
appearing within his body. Two, the result of it waking up within him
shouldn’t have ended well for him.
Crack!
Jin-Woo strengthened his grip on the angel statue’s neck, and deep cracks
formed on its neck.
“Keu-heuk!!”
The face of the angel statue distorted in pain.
“What is this ‘Player’ thing? What were you trying to do to me?”
Jin-Woo didn’t lower his vigilance, so he could shatter this thing’s neck at
any given moment. However, it seemed that the angel statue wasn’t of the
right mind to provide an answer.
“Could it be….?! Y-you, you d*mn Shadow Sovereign, you dare to…
against us….!! You think other Sovereigns will take this lying down?!”
The angel statue glared at Jin-Woo and kept muttering out some nonsense.
Crack!!
Jin-Woo’s fingers dug quite deep into the angel statue’s neck. If he simply
pulled his fingers back, the creature’s neck would shatter into pieces. The
enormous pain was transmitted in full to its real body somewhere.
“Keuaaahk!!”
The angel statue screamed to the high heavens.
“Answer my questions.”
That was why he went ahead and gained the right to ask for the result of the
test. So, it was only right that he demanded the promised rewards be handed
over.
At that time, red lights flashed from the angel statue’s eyes.
“Heok?!”
“What’s this??”
Jin-Woo heard the Hunters’ shocked cries and looked behind him.
“T-those things!!”
“They’re coming back!!”
Red lights were burning within the eyes of the god statue and the stone
statues that were moved to one corner of the chamber. And then, they began
moving again.
“Haha.”
The angel statue guffawed out loudly.
“If you kill me, no one will be able to stop my dolls.”
‘So, can you really kill me now?’ The angel statue glared at Jin-Woo with
eyes that screamed that question at him.
Inferior beings possessed far too many weak points. Since this man was
also human, this would be one of his weaknesses, too. Without a doubt, he’d
have the so-called friends among those humans. However, quite different
from the angel statue’s expectation, Jin-Woo suddenly formed a smile.
‘He’s… smiling?’
Jin-Woo asked the dazed statue.
“So, what will happen if I kill you first, and then destroy those dolls
afterwards?”
The angel statue hurriedly replied in a panic.
“If you kill me, the architect of the System….!”
“You know, I also thought about that.”
Jin-Woo cut the words of the angel statue off. The look in his eyes was
rather similar to what the statue had when it was looking at the human
Hunters earlier on.
“Here’s the thing. Just because the guy who created the System
disappears, that doesn’t mean the System will suddenly start breaking down,
does it?”
The bluff was called.
This human already knew the truth that the angel statue deliberately failed
to mention.
This was a serious miscalculation on the angel statue’s part. It had forgotten
with what criteria this particular human being had been selected in the first
place. This man, even in the past, was capable of seeing through the set rules.
‘If that’s the case, you’ve forced my hand!’
The angel statue activated the final hand it possessed.
Tti-ring!
[System has denied the System Administrator’s access.]
[System has denied the System Administrator’s access.]
[System has denied the System Administrator’s access.]
Tti-ring! Tti-ring!!
Several more mechanical beeps rang in his head. The exact same Message
repeated itself again and again, however.
[System has denied the System Administrator’s access.]
The face of the angel statue hardened considerably.
It attempted to use the System and do something to Jin-Woo, but
unfortunately, even the System itself had turned its back on the creature.
Jin-Woo shrugged his shoulders, causing the angel statue to go berserk in
rage.
“Uwaaaahk!! You b*stard!”
If this thing wasn’t going to answer, then….
‘….Then, no point in keeping you alive.’
Jin-Woo let go of the angel statue’s neck, but at the same time, injected
magical energy to his left fist and punched out.
KABOOM!!
The immense impact force broke past the angel statue and left behind a
massive crater on the wall behind it.
Guooooh….
For a moment there, silence filled the surroundings.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Jin-Woo bestowed an appropriate level of punishment to the angel statue
that tried to use him.
Not just its head, but the entirety of its upper torso had been obliterated.
What remained of the creature slid down against the wall and sunk to the
ground.
‘It’s a bit regretful that I didn’t get to hear any answers, but…’
But, this thing was trying to deceive him from the get-go, anyway. Could
he be able to believe anything such a creature told him?
‘With this, it’s done.’
As if he was shaking off the regret, Jin-Woo lightly shook the dust off his
left hand. It was at this moment that he heard the desperate voice calling out
to him.
“Seong Hunter-nim!!”
“…Ah.”
Jin-Woo quickly turned around. He was far too focused on the angel statue
and had forgotten about the other stone statues. These things were
indiscriminately attacking the Hunters as ordered by the angel statue just
before its death.
“Hunter Seong!!”
Choi Jong-In pitifully sought out Jin-Woo as he used his magic to keep the
stone statues at bay.
Even then, even as he called out, these statues were still descending on
them in their droves like a black storm.
Pow!
Woo Jin-Cheol was struck in the chin by a stone statue and he unsteadily
staggered on his feet. He tried to maintain his balance with his faltering legs,
his eyes searching to his left and right.
He caught the sight of the blood and sweat belonging to his fellow Hunters
spraying into the air as they desperately mounted a resistance against the
monsters pouncing on them.
The inside of his head blanked out.
‘Wait. What was I doing just now?’
Ah.
When he regained his senses, the stone statue was already right in front of
his nose.
He confirmed just what had struck him on the chin just now. It was actually
a d*mn book with a thickness of several encyclopedias stacked together. Of
course, it was made out of stone so it was only obvious that his head would
spin like that.
‘No, hang on a minute… can a thick book be considered as a deadly
weapon?’
For a brief moment there, Woo Jin-Cheol recalled watching a certain
televised criminal law amendment process and smirked to himself. In any
case, he no longer possessed any strength to block the book, nor could he
avoid it now. He definitely didn’t have any strength left to throw a counter,
either.
And that’s why he finally gave up with a wry smirk, but then….
Ka-boom!!
The stone statue’s head split into two and the monster was flung away as if
it got swept up in an explosion.
“Huh….?”
His mind abruptly woke up from that. He blinked his eyes and shook his
head to clear his mind, and finally spotted a familiar man standing next to
him.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah…..”
Woo Jin-Cheol could only gasp out at that moment. That familiar man was
none other than Seong Jin-Woo.
Woo Jin-Cheol kept that look of surprise on his face as he managed to leak
out a question.
“By any chance, you only used bare hands to…..??”
“Let’s talk about the details later.”
Jin-Woo left behind the dazed Chief of the Monitoring Division and dashed
away to elsewhere. Even then, he never stopped searching and eventually, he
spotted a certain something reflecting the light just over yonder.
It was his missing ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’.
‘Found it!!’
Jin-Woo extended his hand out to the weapon. He activated the ‘invisible
hand’ and sucked his shortsword back into his grip.
Grab!
The sense of grip transmitted through his hand remained top-notch.
Boom!!
First of all, he kicked away an annoying stone statue blocking his path and
began slicing all the statues that had been tangling with human Hunters.
Fuu-woop.
In the midst of doing that, he took a deep breath.
Time slowed down greatly, but only he remained unbound and free. Right
afterwards, Jin-Woo seemingly vanished from the spot and, while using the
movement that not even the top-ranked Hunters could follow, he began
destroying all the stone statues.
Slice!!
Thud!!
Four stone statues fell apart simultaneously.
The Hunters who barely made it out alive thanks to Jin-Woo’s timely
intervention could only look on dazedly as their jaws dropped to the floor.
“Uh….?”
Woo Jin-Cheol eventually made his way next to these Hunters and quietly
spoke to them.
“That’s all you can think of, am I right?”
“….Yes.”
Hunters nodded their heads.
“Yes, I’m the same as you.”
Woo Jin-Cheol had seen this spectacle a few times by now, but even then,
the only thing coming out of his mouth was a gasp of astonishment. He
grinned wryly and placed a cigarette between his lips. A Hunter from the
Monitoring Division stood next to him.
“Chief, will it be alright for us to step back like this?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Right now, Seong Hunter-nim is still engaging the monsters…..”
The Hunter from the Monitoring Division turned his head towards Jin-
Woo, but even his jaw fell.
“Huh…..?”
Woo Jin-Cheol placed another cigarette in the slack mouth of this guy and
even lit up for his subordinate.
“Can you see how should we go about helping him?”
“No, sir… I can’t.”
“So, stay here and quietly smoke that.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Hunters gazed at Jin-Woo with eyes of awe but still, didn’t forget to swarm
around Woo Jin-Cheol. And as a result, his stash of cigarettes ran out very
quickly.
But, for some reason, his nose began stinging just a tad.
‘I can’t even remember how many times I nearly died in this place.’
He thought those monsters were a wall he could never overcome, no matter
what he tried. But now, seeing Jin-Woo single-handedly sweeping those
things away, the sense of relief and powerful emotion of delight were flooding
into his heart.
“Section Chief? Are you crying, sir?”
“No, I’m not, you idiot. It’s just this spicy cigarette. Okay?”
“Right. It’s also too spicy for me.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Me three.”
Maybe this batch of cigarettes tasted far too spicy for them today since
teardrops were clearly visible within the eyes of all these Hunters.
SLAM-!!
Sohn Ki-Hoon managed to block the punch of the god statue with his shield
and gasped out a pained grunt.
“Keo-heok!”
His knees were bucking hard. With no Healer around, he had no choice but
to take on the impact force all by himself, but he knew that anything more
than this was asking for too much.
“S-someone…. Anyone!!”
He painfully turned his head to the side and spotted a quiet gathering of his
fellow Hunters sitting over there.
What the hell.
He was sh*tting blood trying to block the attacks of the god statue all by
himself, yet why wasn’t anyone trying to lend him a helping hand here??
Sohn Ki-Hoon was royally p*ssed off and angrily yelled at them.
“What do you all think you’re doing?!”
When he did, the Hunters all pointed above him. Sohn Ki-Hoon interpreted
that as them warning him of another attack, so he flinched greatly and raised
his shield up again.
However, the expected attack didn’t materialise.
‘……??’
He finally noticed that the surroundings had become eerily quiet for some
reason.
‘What’s going on here?’
He sneakily scanned his surroundings below his shield, and finally noticed
that all the stone statues in the vicinity had been destroyed.
“What’s this?!”
He got startled out of his skin and hurriedly lowered the shield. And that
allowed him to see what was going on above him. He saw the sight of the god
statue, as tall as a skyscraper, and Jin-Woo standing on the d*mn thing’s
shoulder.
“Huh….??”
Even before Sohn Ki-Hoon was done with his surprise…
Ka-boom!!
Jin-Woo’s punch blew away the other remaining half of the god statue’s
face. With its head gone now, the massive statue began unsteadily tottering
around.
“….Uh? Ehhh?”
Sohn Ki-Hoon sensed something awry was afoot and ran as if his back was
on fire. And just as his senses had warned him, the god statue crashed down
right where he used to be standing a second ago.
Kwa-boooom!!
A choking dust cloud kicked up and filled the entire interior of this place.
“Cough, cough!”
Choi Jong-In coughed out repeatedly and while blowing away the dust
from himself, he quickly made his way to Cha Hae-In.
“Hunter Cha.”
“Chairman….?”
“How are you feeling? Can you stand up?”
She was still lying on the ground, moaning in pain. She shook her head at
his question. Not one part of her body was okay right now. Choi Jong-In’s
brows furrowed as he felt somewhat helpless at this.
“Let me help you. Try to slowly stand up.”
Just as he was trying to support Cha Hae-In, Jin-Woo arrived next to him,
having finished off all the stone statues in the room.
“Will it be fine if I aid Cha Hunter-nim?”
“Pardon me?”
Choi Jong-In shifted his gaze towards the direction of that voice. It was
then, he thought that for a little bit there, Cha Hae-In was pushing his hand
away. He replied in somewhat of a daze.
“Oh. Uh, yes. Why not.”
Jin-Woo quickly lifted her up in an embrace. Cha Hae-In’s face reddened
instantly.
“Please, hold on for a little while longer.”
Jin-Woo promptly ran over to the exit and kicked the closed door, hard.
BOOM!!
A locked door such as this only needed a good kick from him. The sturdy
door that didn’t even want to budge an inch when these high-ranking Hunters
pushed at it got destroyed in an instant.
He cautiously laid her down outside the chamber and summoned up his
Store. Her current condition was considerably bad. Jin-Woo quickly
purchased a superior grade healing potion and carefully emptied the vial in
her mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
Her wounds began recovering at a scarcely-believable rate.
“But, how…??”
“Shh.”
Jin-Woo raised his index finger and pressed to his lips. Right now was ill-
suited to explaining himself, wasn’t it?
Hunters emerged from the chamber one by one. Could this be called a
silver lining within the sea of misfortune? Their current appearance was truly
wretched, but thankfully, none of them required emergency medical
assistance.
Jin-Woo closed the Store’s interface.
Not knowing the existence of the healing potion, Hunters and their eyes
could only pop out of their sockets when Cha Hae-In stood back up as if
nothing was wrong.
“Huh?? But, Cha Hunter-nim, weren’t you…..?”
“Well, I….”
She was about to answer back reflexively, only to sneak a glance at Jin-
Woo and quickly diverted the conversation away.
“This isn’t the right time to discuss that, so let’s get out of here first.”
Hunters all agreed with her.
“Are there any more survivors?”
She asked Jin-Woo, who possessed the best sensory perception among the
group. He looked into the interior of the chamber and shook his head.
Only seventeen remained standing outside the chamber. Over half of who
stepped inside had died. Their joy at surviving this encounter only lasted for a
short while and the atmosphere grew gloomy and heavy.
“In that case….”
Cha Hae-In turned around with a stiff face, but Jin-Woo reached out and
held her wrist. She turned to face him.
The reason why the Hunters Guild came here was secondary. He was a lot
more curious about something else at the moment.
“Excuse me, but… what happened to Japan?”
Jin-Woo had entered here just before the dungeon break of the rank S Gate
occurred and so, he was getting legitimately curious of the news coming out
of Japan.
Cha Hae-In hesitated slightly, but eventually, came up with a suitable
description.
“They have been destroyed.”
Chapter 165 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The American Hunter Bureau mobilised its agents from the Asian branch
office in order to assess the current situation in Japan.
A helicopter set off from the safe zone and eventually, entered Tokyo’s
airspace. A senior agent from the Hunter Bureau, who had risked his life and
volunteered for this trip, looked out of the vehicle’s window and clicked his
tongue.
“How tragic.”
The current status of Tokyo was far worse than he had imagined. The city
itself was completely destroyed after the dungeon break occurred.
Buildings no longer possessed their former appearances; cars folded and
crumpled like bits of paper; street lamps bent at their waists; burning flames,
rising smoke, scorched remains, and unidentifiable structures turning into ash.
Surely, the word ‘tragic’ was invented just for a sight as wretched as this
one.
The agent’s forehead unconsciously creased up. If someone were to ask
him in the future if he had seen hell, then yes, he could now say that he indeed
have seen one.
Unfortunately, he didn’t come here to mourn the now-destroyed city.
No, his mission was to assess the current situation. He continued to film
and carefully observed the carnage below, before asking the Japanese
representative next to him.
“Even though the city has been destroyed to such an extent, I don’t see
any human remains?”
The senior agent remembered seeing the images of the rank S Gate opening
up on the island of Jeju during his training back in the Hunter Bureau’s HQ.
Whether it was from a video clip or a still photo, the streets of the Jeju
Island were filled with dead bodies. Ants had killed every single resident who
couldn’t escape the island in time.
It was one of the worst tragedies ever in history, and the Hunter Bureau
kept detailed records of what happened then.
But now, even though the city of Tokyo was wiped clean off the face of the
planet, it was hard to see any corpses. No, there were no traces of dead people
to be found, actually.
The Japanese representative spoke up.
“That can’t be helped, actually. The Giants have been eating humans,
you see.”
He was a young man working for the Japanese Hunter’s Association. It
wasn’t all that hard to figure out what his life had been like recently from his
bloodshot eyes and the overgrown beard he couldn’t trim yet.
He continued to speak with worries forming deep creases on his face.
“Those b*stards are acting as if to erase all traces of Japanese people
from Japan itself. They destroy all the buildings, eat humans, and they even
pull out trees from the streets, too.”
Nod, nod.
The Hunter Bureau agent agreed with that.
These Giant-type monsters that came out of the rank S Gate displayed a
certain difference in behaviour from other monsters. While other monsters
concentrated on killing humans, this batch of monsters was actively trying to
destroy everything they could see.
Only the destroyed remains of the civilisation were left behind in these
creature’s wake. No matter where in Tokyo, one couldn’t see a building, no, a
single house still standing intact.
“But, thanks to that, we were able to buy ourselves a bit of time.”
He said, ‘thanks to that.’
The Japanese Association employee formed a smile full of self-mockery.
Should he be thankful or feel sorrowful for the monsters proceeding to
destroy everything in their path, thereby buying enough time for people to
escape from their carnage?
Such complicated emotions were writ large on the employee’s face.
The Hunter Bureau agent looked at this Japanese man and thought to
himself.
‘It’s already something that he’s able to hold on like this.’
After all, the capital city of his country had fallen into such a wretched state
in an instant, had it not?
The sense of loss felt from monsters raping one’s country wasn’t a foreign
concept to this American agent.
The United States also lost a portion of their Western Seaboard about eight
years ago from the single monster that came out of the rank S Gate, ‘Kamish’.
And, was that all? South Korea right next to Japan also had to surrender the
biggest island in the country to monsters for nearly four years, only to
somehow recover it recently, didn’t they?
The American agent got to confirm something while watching the footage
of that raid’s ferocious battles.
He had no relations with South Korea at all, yet when he saw the lone
Korean Hunter sweep away all those ant monsters and even smack that
mutated ant a really good one, he jumped up from his seat and let out an
elated cry.
That wasn’t simply because he worked for the Asian branch of the Hunter
Bureau. No, he saw that battle of Jeju not as a fight between a small nation of
Korea and monsters, but as a proxy war between humanity and the waves of
monsters, instead.
And here, on this land called Japan, there were more battles taking place
between humanity and monsters.
‘The result of that is this…..’
Tatatatatata-!!
The spinning rotors of the helicopter remained an incredible racket, but the
situation on the ground was severe enough to steal away the agent’s attention
from the noise.
He felt angry and frustrated. However, there was nothing he could do here.
All he could do was to carry out the mission he was given. The agent
continued to operate the camera and asked the Japanese the questions that
popped up in his head every now and then.
But then, he discovered something that took him by great surprise and he
fell hard on his a*s.
“Heok!! T-that thing over there!”
Cold sweat poured out of the American agent as he began calling out to
Jesus. The Japanese Association employee helped him to stand back up.
“So, you saw it.”
“O-over there! There’s a Giant over there!!”
“Yes. There is one Giant still remaining here. No, rather than calling it
‘remaining’, should I say that it’s not budging from the spot, instead?”
The employee’s gaze shifted outside the window. The American agent
wiped the cold sweat off his brows and cautiously looked in the same
direction as well.
A massive monster, bigger and taller than any monster this agent had ever
seen, stood proudly in the downtown area of the utterly-devastated city of
Tokyo.
‘That is the Giant-type monster….’
The helicopter began flying closer according to the employee’s
instructions. The agent hurriedly inquired as his face paled instantly.
“W-will it be fine to get this close to that thing?”
The American definitely heard this before coming on this trip. All Giant
monsters had left Tokyo now, which meant that the abandoned city was as
safe as it could get under the circumstances.
But then, wasn’t this way too different from that declaration?
The Japanese Association employee calmly explained the situation with a
tone of voice indicating that there was nothing to worry about.
“It’ll be fine. As long as we stay in the altitude that the creature’s hands
can’t reach and we don’t attack first, we’ll be 100% safe. This has been
confirmed through multiple observation efforts so you can rest easy.”
Gulp.
The American agent swallowed his saliva.
‘Confirmed through multiple observations, is it?’
‘Observation.’
The Japanese employee spoke of that word as if it didn’t mean much, but
just how many people had to be sacrificed at the hands of that Giant monster
in order to come to that conclusion?
Just thinking about those unlucky few who flew too close to the reach of
the Giant sent an eerie shiver down the agent’s spine.
In any case, it was highly valuable information for this agent who was
tasked with compiling data on the rank S monsters, as well as to report on
Japan’s current status back to HQ.
His brows gradually rose up as he studied the Giant. Now that he took a
closer look, this creature’s face seemed familiar to him.
‘That’s right….’
It was none other than the super-giant b*stard that shattered Yuri Orlov’s
magical barrier with its body. Unlike other monsters that had been scattered
elsewhere, only this Giant monster, designated as the boss rank by many
others, chose to remain here.
The Japanese employee spoke with a bitter expression on his face.
“Do you also think that the monster is guarding that Gate, too?”
“Ah…. Well, I….”
“This is my third time seeing that b*stard, but every time I do, I keep
thinking of different things.”
“What did you thought of just now?”
“To my eyes, that thing is…”
The Japanese employee took his time before carrying on a beat later.
“That thing is waiting for something. That’s what it looks like to me.”
“I… see.”
The agent shifted his gaze back over to the Giant.
Indeed, it certainly looked like that in a way. He thought that it wouldn’t be
much of a stretch for this Japanese employee to read the current situation that
way.
As these two people conversed regarding the boss rank Giant monster, the
helicopter had arrived near the absolute limit of the safety.
Even though there was a helicopter buzzing above its head, the Giant didn’t
even lift a finger. As if it hadn’t even perceived the presence of the man-made
contraption, it remained utterly docile.
However, according to the employee’s explanations, it wasn’t as if this
thing would never attack, either.
“The creature will definitely attack whatever enters the fixed range.
Whether the targets of its attack are people or machines, nothing can
escape from it.”
Just how many observation attempts were needed to find that out?
The final moments of Yuri Orlov overlapped with that of the employee’s
face in the American agent’s eyes as the Japanese calmly explained the
situation.
The boss monster’s agile movements as it broke past the barrier and rapidly
snatched up Yuri Orlov left a huge mental shock with all the viewers watching
the broadcast at home. The Russian’s death had been shown live in that
manner to the rest of the world.
The report on the rank S Hunter compiled by the Bureau described Yuri
Orlov as such:
He may have failed in extracting money from Japan, but well, he had
definitely become one of the most famous Hunters in the entire world through
this incident.
‘Not sure if that was the result he’d have liked to see but, oh well.’
The agent frowned deeply after recalling the final moments of Yuri Orlov.
Meanwhile, the Japanese employee spoke up.
“This is also from a personal point of view, but…..”
He said it was a personal point of view. But the American agent found this
man’s opinions rather interesting, even the one about the Giant monster
waiting for someone or something.
“Alright, please tell me.”
The agent nodded his head, prompting the employee to continue on.
“When I look at that thing, I don’t really get the feeling that the creature
is truly ‘alive’, you see? Yes, it’s obviously breathing in and out, and can
move around because it’s alive, but well, should I say that it’s like looking at
a machine that only acts according to how it was programmed?”
“A machine, is it….?”
Quite regretfully, the agent couldn’t agree with that assessment.
The imposing figure of the Giant monster when looked at from up close
was, in a word, overwhelming. When subjected to the chest-tightening
pressure emanating from the creature, the agent simply couldn’t think of that
thing as a machine at all.
It was then.
The Giant’s eyes shifted in their direction.
“Heok!!”
Tumble!!
The agent fell on his a*s once more. As if he was waiting for that, the
Japanese agent supported the American back up. He then spoke as if to calm
his charge down.
“That thing’s simply looking at us. As long as we maintain this distance,
it won’t attack.”
The agent nodded his head. He thought his heart just fell out of his chest
just now. He belatedly raised his camera up and recorded the creature in great
detail. The reason for the viewfinder shaking ever so slightly like that was
probably not entirely due to the helicopter busily buzzing around in the air.
The agent only spoke up again after he figured he had captured enough data
by now.
“How many Giants came out from that Gate?”
“A total of 31. Excluding the boss rank, the rest have evenly dispersed
throughout the countryside.”
“….And how many have been killed so far?”
“Only two.”
“Which means, with the exception of the boss over here, there are 28
Giants destroying Japan as we speak.”
“Well, there aren’t any Hunters left to fight against the Giants, you see.
Everyone’s been preoccupied with escaping at the moment.”
The complexion of the employee was gloomy.
On the day the dungeon break happened, Hunters participating in the
crucial battle to buy the residents of Tokyo enough time to evacuate were all
killed.
They were able to kill two monsters in the process, but they had no other
methods left to stop the remaining 28 from spreading out to the rest of the
country.
This here was the reason why the Japanese Association employee said ‘yes’
without resistance to the request for assistance from the Hunter Bureau when
he should have been far, far too busy trying to put out the fire burning on his
foot – no, make that on his entire body.
Right at that moment.
“W-what are you doing?”
The American agent jumped up and tried to stop him, but the Association
employee finally managed to bow his head down. His knees were bent all the
way down and his forehead was pressed to the floor.
Stuff like pride or dignity no longer mattered. No, if the only cost to pay
were his pride or his dignity, then he’d not have hesitated to do something
even more drastic.
And so, still remaining in the kowtowing position, the employee spoke up.
“Please, aid us, the Japanese.”
The American agent was about to help his Japanese guide up but stopped in
the middle of his actions. He couldn’t say anything back to the grave
determination of the employee.
The Japanese spoke in fluent English and emphasized his plea.
“If America doesn’t help us, then Japan as a nation will be finished.
Hasn’t Japan been a trusted ally of the United States all this time? Will you
not consider taking on the risk, just this once, for Japan, the allied nation of
America?”
It was unknown whether this was coming from the employee’s own heart
or he was being ordered by the Japanese Hunter’s Association. However,
regardless of where it was coming from, this young man’s desperation could
definitely be felt in his voice.
The agent chewed on his lower lip and pondered for a bit before replying
with some difficulty.
“I’ll lodge a request for aid to the HQ.”
“Thank you. Truly, thank you very much.”
The American agent couldn’t tell the Japanese employee bowing his head
several times in a row that he shouldn’t get his hopes up.
Would the Americans, after having lost many of its high-ranking Hunters
from the ‘Kamish’ incident, and thus began obsessively managing the well-
being of their remaining Hunters, make a move just for the sake of the
Japanese?
‘I’m pretty sure they won’t.’
However, how could the agent tell this young man lowering his head for
the sake of his nation, that his beloved country was already as good as
finished?
‘All you can do is to leave it to the will of heavens….’
The agent looked at the sky above.
Unfortunately, the heavens simply stared at the world below in disinterest,
just like how it had been, like how it was doing right now, and how it would
continue to do so in the future.
The agent dazedly stared at the heavens before muttering to himself.
‘Oh, dear God…. Please, don’t forsake us.’
***
Jin-Woo woke up early in the morning and went to the Guild office while
doing a light jog.
‘Yup, as I suspected.’
His eyes brimming with happiness looked slightly above from the dead
centre of his vision. And he could see the current status of the Daily Quest
there, just like how it had been until now.
Tti-ring.
[The distance run: 10km]
[You have completed ‘Running: 10km.’]
Even though he got rid of the self-proclaimed architect, nothing seemed to
have changed from before. The System continued to function as it had so far,
and just like before, the Daily Quest arrived as soon as he opened his eyes in
the morning.
His physical condition was at its peak, too.
Ever since this ‘Black Heart’ took root within his body, vitality was
overflowing within him. He deliberately held back his speed, yet each of his
steps felt light and airy.
However, thanks to the d*mn b*stard getting killed off like that, he was
now left with a ton of unanswered questions.
‘Just what was that recorded footage I saw?’
He kind of figured that watching it was one of the conditions to unlocking
this ‘Black Heart’, but everything else remained a mystery.
Just as his thoughts were getting deeper….
“Excuse me!! Hold on!”
“Mister Yu Jin-Ho!! May I ask you some questions?”
Jin-Woo raised his head at the noises coming from afar. And that’s when he
spotted the big cordon of reporters camping outside the Guild building.
Yu Jin-Ho was currently being surrounded by them, unable to do anything
to extricate himself. It seemed that he got ensnared by the reporters during his
morning commute.
The reporters began their barrage of questions.
“Mister Yu Jin-Ho, were you aware of the tragedy of the Hunters Guild
that happened yesterday?”
“Please provide us with a statement as the Vice Chairperson of the Ah-
Jin Guild.”
“What is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s connection to that incident?”
“Japan is going through a crisis at the moment, but did Mister Seong
Jin-Woo express his thoughts on aiding the Japanese?”
‘Aha.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
These reporters couldn’t interview him personally, so they resorted to
clinging onto Yu Jin-Ho, who must’ve come across as an easy mark to them.
Jin-Woo was about to take a step forward, thinking that he should help the
kid out, but then, he discovered something and he stopped moving altogether.
‘Mm….?’
For some reason, Yu Jin-Ho’s expression didn’t seem so bad right now.
He outwardly looked to be somewhat troubled, but Jin-Woo’s exceptional
eyes definitely caught the kid trying to forcibly suppress his smile every now
and then.
‘Hah, this Jin-Ho. I didn’t know that he enjoyed stuff like this.’
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded but still formed a soft smirk anyway. It seemed
that his help was not strictly necessary here.
‘So, what should I do instead, then?’
Should he just drag Yu Jin-Ho into the office quietly, or go back the way he
came so the kid could enjoy himself a bit more?
As Jin-Woo seriously considered his options, a car rolled to a stop right
behind Jin-Woo. And its window silently rolled down next.
“Are you Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
Jin-Woo heard that unfamiliar voice and turned around to see who it was
without thinking too much about it.
However….
‘Huh?’
His brows rose up slightly after he confirmed who it was.
Chapter 167 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
In the venue for the press conference held by the American Hunter Bureau.
The United States of America had opened her mouth to make her
statement.
“We’re currently gathering Hunters to one location.”
Was America finally revealing her hand in order to save Japan?
Reporters had all rushed to attend this press conference after the Hunter
Bureau announced that they would clarify their position. They all cried out in
elation from this announcement as if this matter concerned them personally.
No one alive would wish for tens of millions, no, hundreds of millions of
people to die a gruesome death. That was why these reporters were so
enthusiastic about this announcement.
As the atmosphere within the press conference venue heated up to an
astounding degree, the spokesperson ruefully shook his head.
“However, it’s not for Japan’s sake.”
What was that?
The gathered reporters began exchanging glances as hushed murmurs grew
louder. It seemed that no one present here had received any prior warning
about this as they were all cautiously looking at each other’s reactions right
now.
The spokesperson pointed to the giant screen behind him.
“….Heok!!”
“What the hell…”
The mouths of the reporters were clamped shut by the image now shown on
that screen.
The chaotic atmosphere cooled down in an instant and it was replaced by
deathly silence instead. And then, as this weighty silence persisted, shocked
gasps could occasionally be heard in between.
The prepared footage indeed carried that much of an impact.
“This is the image of the Gate discovered earlier today in eastern
Maryland.”
The size of the Gate was not normal. It was smaller than the one in Japan,
but still, its sheer scale was uncommonly massive.
The rank of a Gate didn’t always match up to its size. But then again, a
Gate with an enormous size never led to a low-ranked dungeon, either.
The spokesperson continued on with his explanation.
“According to the measurement taken by our investigative team, this Gate
is also a rank S, exactly like the one that has appeared in Japan. This
nation’s top Hunters will focus all their efforts in closing this Gate,
instead.”
Some reporters covered their faces, some shook their heads in helplessness,
some spat out pained sighs to display the despair each of them felt in that
moment.
An unprecedented event of two rank S Gates being generated close to one
another had taken place.
Of course, the United States of America wasn’t worried in the slightest. It
was now time for the dozens of rank S Hunters she had reeled in from all over
the world to step forward and easily take care of this Gate.
The problem was with Japan.
‘America doesn’t have the spare manpower to aid Japan.’
When this horrifying piece of news finally made its way over to Japan, the
Japanese people desperately praying for the Americans’ aid all cried out in
despair.
Japan was finished.
The Giant-type monsters were advancing south as it destroyed everything
in their path. People escaping up north were slowly but surely being forced
onto a cliff, as well.
In this situation, Korea finally broke her silence over the matter and
clarified her position as well.
Goh Gun-Hui stood in front of the reporters and spoke up.
“We will not get involved in Japan’s matters.”
A day before the press conference.
Just like any other day, the wide-open office space of the Ah-Jin Guild was
occupied by only two people – Jin-Woo and Yu Jin-Ho.
The latter’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Hyung-nim? A rank B Gate just became available. Should I book it?”
“Is it within the Hunters Guild’s jurisdiction?”
“Pardon? Oh, yes it is, hyung-nim.”
“In that case, don’t.”
“Oh…. okay. I got it, hyung-nim.”
Having sacrificed a lot of her elite Hunters, the Hunters Guild would be
going through a seriously hectic time now. It’d not look good if Jin-Woo’s
Guild swooped in to take advantage of the situation and stole a Gate from
under their noses.
Yu Jin-Ho scratched the side of his head before shifting his head over to
Jin-Woo.
“Hyung-nim? What have you been you looking at so intently like that?”
Jin-Woo tore his eyes away from the computer screen and leaned his back
against the chair.
“Hey, Jin-Ho?”
“Yes, hyung-nim?”
“Should I go over to Japan for a while?”
“Excuse me?”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression hardened.
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten just who was saying those words. He had
seen hyung-nim’s amazing feats closer than anyone else out there.
However, common sense simply didn’t apply to rank S Gates. It was
impossible to measure, to begin with. Didn’t that imply such a Gate was
beyond the scope of what’s considered normal?
Just like how there was an unscalable wall even among the rank S Hunters,
no one could tell just what kind of dangerous monsters would pop out from a
Gate that was impossible to measure.
And that was why Yu Jin-Ho simply couldn’t think of Jin-Woo’s words of
going to Japan as him simply kidding around.
Abruptly, his head shifted over to the computer screen Jin-Woo was
looking at.
‘Ah….’
It was filled with the breaking news regarding Japan.
‘Hyung-nim was worried about them.’
Unlike Yu Jin-Ho, hyung-nim possessed incredible powers. It was quite
obvious that he’d also suffer from the distress that the responsibility of his
power level brought along.
“Hyung-nim, hold up.”
“Mm?”
Jin-Woo only lightly threw that suggestion out but Yu Jin-Ho’s reactions
were rather serious.
Yu Jin-Ho vacated his spot and hurriedly extracted a photo album from the
file cabinet before bringing it over. When he flipped that thick book open, all
sorts of newspaper articles were clipped onto its pages.
‘What’s this….?’
All of them were articles related to Jin-Woo.
From the incident of the Red Gate – which the media still didn’t know that
Jin-Woo was a part of – to the raid of Jeju Island; when he solved the issue of
the traffic jam; and even when he took care of the strange, unidentifiable
stone statues alongside the Hunters Guild recently, too.
Jin-Woo was dumbfounded by this spectacle and asked Yu Jin-Ho.
“You were collecting all of these?”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s face was slightly flushed red.
“Okay, fine. But, why are you showing me this all of a sudden?”
“You know what the common theme among these articles is, hyung-
nim?”
“I wonder….?”
‘….Surely, he’s not trying to say that I’m involved in all these incidents.’
A short while later, Yu Jin-Ho spoke with a voice softer than the buzzing of
a mosquito.
“It’s that I’m nowhere to be found in all of them, hyung-nim.”
If it weren’t for Jin-Woo’s high Perception reinforcing his hearing, he’d
have missed that voice.
“What?!”
Jin-Woo looked back, and Yu Jin-Ho raised his drooped head and stared
straight into the former’s eyes.
“Hyung-nim. If you’re planning to go to Japan, please take me along
with you.”
“….??”
Jin-Woo was baffled here.
He expected Yu Jin-Ho to either stop him or cheer him on when he said
he’d be heading over to Japan, but never did he imagine the kid would say
‘Take me with you!’
However, Yu Jin-Ho was being dead serious.
“Although it is embarrassing to say this out loud, hyung-nim, you’re my
pride. You’re the only thing that I can proudly boast about to other people,
you know.”
“But, you….”
Jin-Woo quickly shut his mouth up.
Yu Jin-Ho looked outwardly as if he had possessed more than anyone else
in the world. According to his own words, however, all of those were shackles
that only managed to torment him, and to him, they were nothing to be proud
about.
But then, it was Yu Jin-Ho’s own decision to stick around Jin-Woo, and
then to continue developing the Ah-Jin Guild. All his, and no one else’s.
Jin-Woo could more or less understand where Yu Jin-Ho was coming from
when he said this was his sole source of pride.
“That is why I’d like to be there where you are, hyung-nim. Please,
please take me with you, hyung-nim.”
“You, you haven’t forgotten where I want to go, right?”
Even if Yu Jin-Ho was a naïve, immature kid, he surely would have heard
about what was happening in Japan.
That place was currently a true hell on earth. Demons called ‘Giants’ were
judging mankind in the most gruesome manner imaginable.
Even then, Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head with a determined expression on his
face.
“As long as you’re unhurt, hyung-nim, I’ll be alright as well. If you get
hurt somehow… eiii, I don’t wanna even think about that.”
Yu Jin-Ho looked back with a strong light of trust burning in his eyes.
The feeling you’d get from someone trusting you to such an extent
certainly couldn’t be described as bad in any shape or form.
Jin-Woo felt this strange warmth tickling him in his chest and he happily
ruffled Yu Jin-Ho’s hair. The latter was flustered but he didn’t withdraw his
head.
“H-hyung-nim?!”
“I was only joking, you know? Why would ever I go to Japan when times
are like this?”
Jin-Woo stood up from his spot.
“Hey, that’s enough for today. Let’s just go home. You worked hard
anyway.”
“Uh? You’re going home already, hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo stepped outside the office door while waving his hands. Yu Jin-Ho
bowed his waist deeply to send him off.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, hyung-nim!”
Clunk.
Jin-Woo stepped into his house.
A truly mouth-watering savoury scent of stew tickled his nostrils. He stood
on the spot and soaked in the evening’s smell.
‘This is so good.’
One of the great things about mom being discharged from the hospital was
that now, he had someone to welcome him back home every day. The dark
and quiet home of the past no longer existed in his life. Not anymore.
“Son, you’re home?”
He heard his mother’s voice coming from the kitchen.
“Yes, Mom.”
He took off his shoes and neatly arranged them before walking into the
kitchen himself. His mother was looking behind her and he sent her a smile as
a greeting.
“I’m home.”
“Will you eat dinner?”
“Yes. What about Jin-Ah, though?”
“She says she’s got no appetite.”
Jin-Woo’s hand suddenly stopped before it finished pulling out his chair.
“Even now?”
“She couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night. She only fell asleep not too
long ago.”
“…”
Jin-Woo hid his presence and cautiously opened the door to his sister’s
room.
“Mm… Mm…..”
Jin-Ah was rolling around in her bed, struggling to fall into a deeper
slumber. She normally maintained such a bright appearance, but it seemed
that she hadn’t gotten over her mental trauma yet.
‘Then again…. She had to go through such an experience, didn’t she.’
His rage towards monsters boiled over whenever he saw how much his
sister was struggling like this.
Why were those things endlessly tormenting humanity?
It was then, Jin-Woo recalled the sight of those silver-clad winged soldiers
pouring out from the Gates in the sky to sweep away the monsters. The army
with its unfathomable size, burning with clear animosity against the horde of
monsters. If such an army actually existed, then….
‘Are they our allies?’
Wasn’t there an old saying about an enemy of an enemy being a friend?
Jin-Woo studied his sleeping sister quietly for a little while, before closing
the door behind him.
“Thank you for the meal.”
After finishing his dinner, Jin-Woo headed off to the Association’s
gymnasium to get a little bit of exercise in. It indeed proved to be really
convenient to have a Shadow Soldier stationed inside the gymnasium.
Sweating a lot was the best cure when one’s head became clogged full of
complicated thoughts. And so, he wanted to sweat buckets for the first time in
a while.
Jin-Woo summoned Beru out.
As he began to lightly loosen his body, the former king of the ants politely
knelt before him and lowered his head.
“Oh, my king…”
Beru was the sole soldier among Jin-Woo’s Shadow Army that could
withstand his attacks, at least for a little while. But even he flinched grandly
after sensing the extent of Jin-Woo’s change and shuddered where he stood.
“I offer my unreserved congratulations, my king. I sense from you a far
greater amount of power than ever before.”
Beru sensed an electrifying shiver run down his body after sensing that
incredible amount of magic energy oozing out of the ‘Black Heart’. His head,
still lowered to the ground, was trembling noticeably now.
Jin-Woo didn’t summon his Shadow Soldier out to boast of his growth,
though. He gestured to Beru to stand up.
“….??”
The former ant king tilted his head after picking up Jin-Woo’s worried
eyes, which would be the first time he had sensed such a thing ever since
becoming a part of the Shadow Army.
Jin-Woo spoke under his breath.
“Attack me with everything you have.”
“Oh, my king. How dare I even…..”
“It’s fine. I just want to shed some sweat for a little while. And you know
no one else besides you can do that.”
“I… I am truly honoured….”
Feeling touched, Beru was about to kneel down again, but then, Jin-Woo
glared at him with a pair of very sharp eyes.
“Hang on a minute. You know, your vocabulary seems to be increasing
every day. You haven’t devoured someone else somewhere, have you?”
Beru’s shoulders flinched somewhat, but Jin-Woo soon let go of the matter.
He clenched his fists and issued his order again, instead.
“Remember to hit me with everything you have.”
“If my Sovereign’s wills it, then I shall follow….”
Beru raised his head as his claws lengthened.
“Kiiiieeehhk-!!”
There was no burden on Beru as he knew that his claws would never touch
his Sovereign. Jin-Woo grinned after seeing that and nodded his head. This
was what he wanted, anyway.
“Kiiieehhk!”
Along with the thunderous roar that shook the interior of the gymnasium,
Beru pounced on his master.
Boom!
Beru slammed down on the floor and was laid out flat on his back.
“K-kiiieck….”
127 times fought, 127 times defeated.
Indeed, even though he threw everything he had, he failed to touch even the
hair on his master’s body. In the last few days that Beru didn’t see his king,
Jin-Woo had become far stronger than ever before.
The display of power today only deepened the level of respect and loyalty
Beru held towards his king.
While the former ant king remained sprawled on the floor unable to move,
Jin-Woo settled down next to him. There were a few strands of sweat on his
forehead. But this was as far as he could take it.
If he moved any harder than this, then this gymnasium would have been
demolished in no time at all.
Jin-Woo remained seated and stared into the far distance.
Beru silently sat back up and knelt down before asking him.
“Oh, my king… Is there a matter that’s troubling you?”
“Troubling me, is it?”
“A portion of our consciousness and the Sovereign’s are connected as
one. The king’s troubles are transmitted as pain to us, the subjects.”
“…”
To think, he’d get consoled by a Shadow Soldier. Not only that, from a
dude who originally was an insect, too. Jin-Woo couldn’t help but form a wry
smirk.
Now normally, he’d simply chuckle and put the matter to bed, but this time,
things were a little different.
“There’s something I want to do, but I’m not sure how I should go about
doing that.”
The events taking place in Japan were, strictly speaking, someone else’s
troubles.
Who knew what kind of dangers were in hiding and waiting for him there?
Besides, it wasn’t as if he could resolve every single incident that happened in
the world, either.
And not to forget, there was that resolved emotional baggage between the
Korean Hunter’s Association and its Japanese counterpart to consider, as well.
All these thoughts only served to make the inside of his head more
complicated than ever before.
It was then, Beru suddenly raised his head.
“Oh, my king!”
Jin-Woo looked at Beru with surprised eyes. This was the first time this guy
expressed his thoughts this strongly ever since becoming a Shadow Soldier.
“Nothing must become a hindrance in the path of my king.”
Beru’s voice filled with conviction made him sound more like a close aide
that stayed by Jin-Woo’s side for a long time rather than a monster that got
turned into a Shadow Solder recently.
“The one that does what he wants to. That is what it means to be a king.”
“Hold on. I keep telling you, I’m not a king.”
Indeed, the Class he got coincidentally through the System just so
happened to be the Shadow Sovereign. That was all.
However, Beru strongly denied Jin-Woo’s assertion.
“That is incorrect, my king. My king, you possess the power to achieve
anything you desire.”
Jin-Woo’s eyes shook around heavily.
Ba-thump.
For some reason, his heart began pounding away rather violently.
“You are, without a doubt, a king.”
‘That stuff about being a king again.’
However….
However, his heart that began racing on its own didn’t want to calm down
that easily at all.
‘Anything I desire, is it…..’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back to the distance, but his eyes were gleaming
with a cold light now.
day.
The United States of America made her announcement, and the Association
President Goh Gun-Hui also clarified the position of the Korean Association.
“We will not get involved in Japan’s matters.”
Click, click, click, click!!
Camera flashes ceaselessly exploded all around him.
The Association President then proceeded to reveal every little detail of
what the Japanese Hunters were trying to do back then to these reporters. The
proofs he presented only solidified the inscrutable truth even further.
The CCTV footage of the President of Japanese Association, Matsumoto
Shigeo, brazenly yelling at the top of his lungs at his Korean counterpart even
after he put into motion such a dastardly scheme left a serious shock to all the
reporters watching on.
And the Japanese reporters, hoping for South Korea to come to their aid,
could only watch the footage with utter devastation.
Before long, their hands holding the cameras were pointing down to the
floor.
Only a short moment ago the Americans said that they couldn’t help Japan.
In such a situation, the explosive revelations from the Korean Hunter’s
Association were no different from passing a death sentence to the Japanese
people. Thick, burning tears began falling from the eyes of the Japanese
reporters.
“…..This is everything I wanted to say.”
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui finished saying what he came to
say.
Normally, this would be the time when countless questions started
inundating him, but no reporter present here could unshackle their mouths
from the nasty shock and astonishment to do so.
The poor atmosphere of the press conference was broadcast live to the rest
of the country through the various TV cameras. Only then did the viewers
watching on realise why the Koreans had maintained their silence over the
crisis unfolding in Japan.
But then….
“However….”
Goh Gun-Hui looked as if he’d be turning around to leave as the press
conference had come to an end but then, he continued to speak on.
“This is the decision of the Hunter’s Association, and ours alone. We
won’t stop any individual Hunters from doing what they wish to do.”
What was he even talking about now?
Noisy, noisy….
Like animals lazily waking up from their winter hibernation, the reporters
still frozen in shock began slowly exchanging glances with each other again.
“There is one such person. There is one Hunter who wishes to go to
Japan and get rid of the Giant monsters.”
Who could that be?
Who wanted to head to Japan under the current situation all by himself?
The bottomed-out atmosphere of the press conference venue suddenly
began boiling over. Even the Japanese reporters shedding tears raised their
cameras with their trembling hands.
‘Please… Please….!’
The lone strand of hope was busy hammering away in their hearts now.
One of the Korean reporters raised his hand up. The Association President
pointed to this man. Perhaps fearing that his turn would be snatched away
from him, he quickly asked his question.
“Just who is this Hunter?”
The attention of everyone present in the venue was directed to Goh Gun-
Hui. He took his time for a moment or two, before pressing his lips as close to
the mic as possible.
“It’s Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Click, click, click, click, click, click!!
That one sentence caused hundreds of cameras to explode in a wall of
blinding flashes.
Chapter 170 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Giant monster was flung away and violently rolled on the ground,
before bouncing back up again with a spring-like movement that didn’t really
suit its large frame.
“Gururuk.”
The Giant monster didn’t immediately counterattack, instead opting to bare
its fangs as it remained prone on the ground. Meanwhile, the giant Naga
responsible for flinging it away stood before the growling monster.
It was none other than ‘Jima’, previously the boss-level monster of the
Naga species that were inducted into the Shadow Army not too long ago.
Jima reached his right hand out next to him. When he did, a black spear
slowly rose up from the shadow on the ground.
Grab!
Jima powerfully grasped the spear and aimed the weapon at his front. One
could sense his unbreakable will to not let anything pass by him.
“Uh….? Uh…..??”
The young soldier from the JSDF couldn’t quite figure out whether the
spectacle unfolding before his eyes was a dream or reality.
To think, a monster was protecting him from another monster right now.
He thought he’d end up inside the Giant monster’s mouth for sure. But,
having taken a look at the wide, imposing back of the other monster, he felt
several powerful emotions welling up from deep within his heart.
“Just what is going on here…”
Could they survive?
Could they survive against the Giant monster?
Not just the young soldier, but the old couple and the patients, too?
The soldier’s thoughts reached this point, and suddenly, all the built-up
tension left him and tears rushed up to his eyes.
“Use this.”
Someone pushed forward a colourful handkerchief towards the young
soldier. He turned his head to the side to take a look.
A youth who looked to be way younger than the soldier pointed at the
handkerchief with his chin and nodded his head afterwards.
Since this youth didn’t speak in Japanese, the soldier didn’t understand
him, but it wasn’t all that hard to figure out what he wanted to say in the first
place.
‘Is he Korean?’
The young soldier wiped the streaming tears away with the offered
handkerchief and asked his questions.
“By the way…. just who are you? Wait, why are you even here?”
The Korean youth silently shook his head before raising his thumb up high.
“Good.”
“Excuse me?”
“Very Good.”
“T-thank…. you, I guess?”
While the young soldier dazedly expressed his gratitude, another man who
seemed to be the comrade of this Korean youth appeared from behind him.
Even though this soldier didn’t know a whole lot about Hunters, he saw all
the blood splatters on this man’s clothing and realised that he was now
looking at a powerful being who existed on another realm altogether from
everyone else.
“This might get dangerous.”
Jin-Woo had taken a look inside the rural clinic before showing up here,
and he told Yu Jin-Ho while pointing behind him.
“Looks like we’ll have change locations. We’re too close.”
Yu Jin-Ho had witnessed the battle against the Giants a few times by now
so he figured out what Jin-Woo was saying almost immediately.
“I’ll be on standby over here, hyung-nim.”
“Right.”
Jin-Woo looked at the young soldier next and saw his scared eyes.
He walked past the soldier and lightly patted the scared, tearful Japanese
man on the shoulder. The gesture meant to say that the soldier had done
excellent work.
What he did, standing off against a monster all by himself with just a single
rifle, was not something any regular person could even try to imitate.
Jin-Woo had entered many dungeons as a rank E himself so he knew better
than anyone just how courageous this soldier had been.
The young JSDF soldier looked at the back of Jin-Woo walking by and let
out a gasp of admiration.
“Ah.”
That weightiness brushing past his shoulder, and that warmth from his
hand. Just a single touch, and the terror he felt forcing him to get ready for his
demise completely washed away.
A powerful sense of relief rushed out from the deepest part of his heart.
It was then, the young soldier recalled the story of two Koreans roaming
around in his country while subjugating the Giants.
He recalled the name of one of the two. The name of the Hunter who also
subjugated rank S monsters almost all by himself in South Korea, was…..
‘Seong Jin-Woo…. Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….’
It had to be. That man had to be him.
Ba-dump!
The soldier’s heart began pounding hard after running into a person he only
heard about in passing. He quickly questioned the Korean youth still standing
next to him.
“Is he that person? The rank S Hunter from South Korea??”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head and provided his answer.
“Good.”
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo walked over to where the two monsters were in a
violent melee. His forehead was creasing up.
“Kiiaaaahhk-!!”
The Giant dug deep into Jima’s front in the blink of an eye and proceeded
to powerfully rip into the Naga’s shoulder.
He used to be a boss-level monster of a rank A dungeon. Even if his
attention had been diverted a bit in order to protect the humans behind him, he
should still be a much more powerful being than other, regular Shadow
Soldiers.
To think, he was being suppressed by a regular monster that wasn’t even on
the same ‘boss-level’ as he used to be. This situation easily demonstrated how
strong these Giant-type monsters were.
Besides all that, Jin-Woo never enjoyed the sight of his soldiers getting
beaten down like this at all. His expression hardened as he bent his knees. An
unbelievable amount of strength filled up his thighs and shins.
Crack, crack….
The asphalt below that was supporting his legs began splitting as cracks ran
underneath his feet.
Ka-boom!
Jin-Woo exploded up from the ground and shot right towards the Giant’s
face in an instant. In that short moment, the monster’s darting eyes discovered
him flying straight at it.
A glint of understanding filled the flying human’s eyes.
‘As I thought, these guys aren’t your average monsters at all.’
Jin-Woo’s fist slammed into the forehead of the Giant. However, the
damage dealt was less than he had expected. The monster pulled its head back
just before the hit landed to minimise the impact as much as it could, that was
why.
The monster possessed a massive frame, as well as surprisingly agile
movements. From the perspectives of the Hunters who had to face off against
these b*stards, those two aspects alone would have been enough to give them
a sense of helplessness.
The thing was, though, that only applied to regular Hunters.
Jin-Woo immediately summoned a ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’ in the air.
And then, he extended his other free hand not holding anything towards the
Giant’s face.
‘Ruler’s Authority!’
An invisible hand yanked at the Giant’s face with irresistible force. The
distance between Jin-Woo and the monster rapidly closed up.
“Kureuk??”
The monster didn’t expect the airborne opponent to immediately start
attacking again, and it began thrashing about in a panicked frenzy, but in the
end, it was all for naught.
Jin-Woo flew in front of the Giant’s nose in an instant and activated his
skill.
“Violent Slash.”
Dududududududu!!
Rapid-fire attacks so fast that they left behind a series of afterimages turned
the Giant’s face into a complete mess.
“Kuwaaaak!!”
Boom!!
The monster covered its face and rolled around on the ground. It lost its
eyesight from that attack and wildly thrashed about in unbridled pain.
Tap.
After lightly landing back on the ground, Jin-Woo looked on and sensed
that this hunt was drawing to a close.
‘It’s done.’
But then, the Giant sensed Jin-Woo’s approach; its shoulders flinched
greatly before it began running away in haste, without even bothering to look
behind it.
‘It can also sense the presence of others?’
The more Jin-Woo fought these things, the more surprised he got.
He was speaking from his observations, and it said that these Giant-type
monsters were like specialised weapon systems that happened to possess large
biological bodies.
The Giant quickly distanced itself. Of course, he wasn’t planning on letting
it go.
‘Quicksilver.’
Jin-Woo’s frame slid forward like a bolt of lightning.
The Giant monster ran with all its might on all fours, but rather than the
distance increasing, it rapidly shrank, instead.
The monster felt terror. It sensed a bone-chilling aura emanating right
behind its back.
The Giant creature belatedly realised that it could never escape no matter
how much it struggled. So, it came to an abrupt stop, spun around, and tried to
pounce on its enemy, but…
‘……??’
The presence of the human that had been closing in at a scary velocity
suddenly vanished. And then….
‘….!!’
The presence reappeared behind the creature.
Even though its eyes were not working anymore, the Giant reflexively
turned its head around.
That made it easier for him to slice up the monster, however.
Jin-Woo jumped up straight and powerfully swung down the ‘Demon
King’s Shortsword’.
Swish-!!
The blade overflowing with the magical energy oozing out from the ‘Black
Heart’ vertically split the face of the Giant monster in one slice.
Slice!
“Gu-urk….”
Like a tree that got hacked by an axe, the monster slowly tipped over
backwards, not even able to scream out properly.
THUD!!
With that, the third Giant was successfully hunted down.
Jin-Woo cleanly landed back on the ground and let out a light sigh filled
with lingering emotions of victory from his lips.
“Fuu…”
“Hyung-nim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho had been standing far, far back while waiting for the battle to
finish. Once it was safe, he hurriedly ran over and presented the lid of the
thermos containing refreshingly cool tea.
Jin-Woo grinned brightly and accepted the lid.
“Thank you.”
The tea in the lid slid down his throat while issuing the familiar gulping
noises.
‘Mm?’
He sensed a presence and looked behind him, only to find Jima and his
slumped shoulders approaching him. The Shadow Soldier was evidently
depressed from losing the one on one fight earlier.
‘You fought well, regardless. Get some rest.’
Jin-Woo encouraged his underling and had it return. Jima returned to being
a shadow and got absorbed back below Jin-Woo’s feet.
Yu Jin-Ho stared at that process before raising his voice.
“Hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo returned the empty lid and replied.
“Yeah?”
“You sent out all your other summons on their own, but well, is there a
reason why you decided to act alongside your Nagas?”
Yu Jin-Ho was feeling puzzled by this.
Just now, hyung-nim was almost solely responsible for killing this Giant. It
seemed as if he didn’t really need the Naga’s help at all.
Even then, he always sent out the Naga first, in the beginning of the battle,
and only participated after his summon was pushed to its backfoot.
Yu Jin-Ho was curious as to what Jin-Woo’s aim could be. The actual
reason was simple enough, though.
‘Because, I just wanted to level these guys up, you know.’
The Naga Shadow Soldiers had become a part of the Shadow Army
relatively recently, and as a result, their levels fell quite behind that of his
other soldiers.
That was why he figured that, since he would be fighting these Giants
anyway, he’d raise the levels of the Nagas in the process as well. However, as
it turned out, these Giant-type monsters weren’t easy enough opponents for
his new recruits to deal with by themselves.
Although it was a bit tedious, this method was still the best one if he
wanted to increase the Nagas’ battle experience.
‘Of course, I can’t really tell Yu Jin-Ho any of this, now can I?’
Jin-Woo formed a smirk.
“Well, I feel like I’m still not too familiar with these Nagas, you see? If I
keep them around me for a little longer, wouldn’t I become friendlier with
them?”
“Oh.”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded his head.
What an easy kid to lie to, this guy - thought Jin-Woo.
But then, Yu Jin-Ho suddenly fell into deep contemplation, before raising
his voice as his eyes sparkled brightly.
“You even make sure to look after every single one of your summons,
hyung-nim. As expected of you!”
‘……..’
And also, Jin-Woo felt really bad for lying to him, as well.
“Excuse me….”
Jin-Woo’s head shifted to his side.
The young soldier who courageously stood up against the Giant was
walking closer while continuously glancing at the dead monster’s
mountainous corpse. Jin-Woo could also see the old couple responsible for
protecting the hospital behind the soldier’s shoulder, too.
He hadn’t spoken to them yet, but he could already tell what they wanted to
say simply from their expressions alone.
That was all he needed.
For now, he didn’t have enough time to receive their gratitude one at a
time. Even as he stood around here, these Giants were busy going on a
rampage in other locations.
Jin-Woo took a long look at the Giant’s corpse.
The biggest reason why he came to Japan was lying on the ground right in
front of his face.
“Stop! Stop!!”
Yu Jin-Ho quickly stopped the Japanese survivors from approaching the
location.
Jin-Woo had been feeling it lately, but well, Yu Jin-Ho’s wits seemed to
have quickened up considerably since their first meeting. Thanks to that, the
job of extracting shadows had become that much easier.
He smirked and looked at Yu Jin-Ho for a bit, before shifting his gaze back
to the dead Giant.
He extended his hands out and quietly murmured to himself.
“Rise up.”
***
“Dear viewers at home…. It’s hard to believe, but the scene before me is
truly happening!”
Tatatatatatata-!!
The reporter riding on the helicopter continuously spat out gasps of
astonishment as if he could hardly believe his own eyes.
The camera began transmitting the scenes below. Several hundreds of ant
monsters were uniformly marching towards a certain direction. And in front
of them, there was a mutated ant monster with wings on its back.
Of course, it was none other than ‘Beru’.
He had been advancing up ahead of the marching ant army, but he abruptly
raised his head high up in the air.
“Kiiiiieeehk-!!”
The loud explosion of his screech prompted the reporter to hurriedly cover
his ears. Meanwhile, the ants marching behind all came to a stop right when
they heard Beru’s call.
There were three Giants to their front.
The differences in size were like looking at an elephant and a mouse.
However, Beru displayed not one hint of fear as his claws extended out like
lengthy blades, and he dashed forward.
“Kiiieeehhhck!!”
And behind him, the army of ants began covering the land in black.
The intense and bloody battle ended not too long afterwards.
“Oh my god!! Oh my GOD!!”
As the reporter cried out in sheer astonishment over and over again, the
ants successfully brought the Giants down. They then began chomping down
with their sharp mandibles and ate the corpses.
Wooduduk!!
Kwajeeck!!
Of course, under Beru’s orders, they didn’t forget to leave some part of the
monsters behind so more Shadow Soldiers could be created later. As for those
ants that got too greedy for their own good, swift kicks from Beru flew in to
sort out the situation immediately.
The reporter was shouting out in a clearly-excited voice now.
“The Giants are being devoured right now!! These Giants are being
devoured by the insects right now!!!!”
These Giants that instilled unbridled shock and fear with the actions of
devouring humans were in turn, getting devoured by the ants. The Japanese
people watching this scene felt a certain sense of inexplicable gratification.
That was perhaps the reason why the most amount of interest was focused
on the ant army, since Jin-Woo himself refused to be filmed from the get-go.
The only problem being….
“Heok!!”
The reporter and the cameraman flinched in surprise and hurriedly backed
away after spotting Beru flying right next to the helicopter.
The former ant king didn’t even hesitate and snatched away the camera
pointing at him and destroyed it immediately.
Kwajeeck!!
“Keok!”
The reporter and the cameraman embraced each other and shuddered
pitifully in fear.
“…..”
Beru alternated his quiet gaze between the two trembling humans before
returning back to the ground below.
“Whew….”
“Pant, pant….”
Both men spat out sighs of relief right away.
There was a reason why they followed around the monster ant army even
as the cameras worth tens of thousands of dollars were being lost every single
time. The countless viewers were going absolutely crazy with ardent fervour
for these creatures, that was why.
The cameraman quickly picked up the spare camera prepared for this
eventuality, while the reporter spoke the closing words to the mic as if he was
already used to this whole situation.
“….I’m Kitamura, reporting from the location.”
***
“Kkyaaahk!”
She must’ve graduated from elementary school not too long ago. This
young girl was running away screaming with a tear-strewn face.
“Ah, ah ah!!”
Right behind her, a Giant gave chase with a disgusting smile on its face.
How far could she go when running on her still-short legs? The distance
between them closed up in an instant.
The Giant must’ve found this game of tag with a certain winner set in stone
rather amusing to play, because it continued to form a toothy grin.
It reached out with its arm that was at least 1.5 times longer than other
Giant’s. And, just before such a rough hand got to snatch the young girl up, a
cold flash streaked past the monster’s wrist.
And the blue-coloured lightning that exploded out afterwards began
burning up the cut surface of the now-missing wrist with extreme heat.
Crackle!!!
“Guwaaaaahahk!!”
The Giant shot up to its feet and screamed out in pain as it held its wrist.
The owner of the blue-coloured blade was none other than ‘Igrit’.
He spun around and lifted up the pale-faced girl that was on her knees
shivering, before quickly evacuating from that place.
The Giant angrily glared below. The creature that had cleanly severed its
wrist was busy escaping with its prey.
The eyes of the enraged Giant were quickly dyed in red.
“Gureuk….”
The scene was scary enough for any observers to wet their pants. But even
then, someone still stood before such a terrifying monster. It was, of course,
‘Iron’. His armour had become even more enhanced after his grade rose up to
‘Elite Knight’.
Iron stabbed the shield down on the ground and stood proudly with his
chest wide open. And then, a truly loud roar exploded out from beneath his
helm.
Wooooowuuuuuhhh-!!
[Iron has activated ‘Skill: Roar of Provocation’.]
[The enemy has fallen into a provoked state.]
The glare of the Giant previously aimed at Igrit was instantly switched over
to Iron.
As if to say ‘Come if you dare’, Iron pounded on his chest vigorously and
raised up high the shield as huge as himself.
“Guwuuurk!”
The fist of the enraged Giant mercilessly punched down on Iron.
Ka-boom!
However, Iron was not forced back an inch. The effects of his grade rising
up had pushed him to a whole new plateau of power.
Boom! Slam! Bam!
Iron ably defended against dozens of punches and loudly cried out again.
“Wuuoouuhh!!”
When he did, the army of Shadow Soldiers and Ice Bears, the ones that had
been with Jin-Woo the longest, attacked at the same time from either side of
the Giant.
The leader of the Ice Bear troops, Tank, shook its head around and roared
out loudly as if he got excited by the prospect of entering the battlefield after
a long time of inactivity.
“Krrroooarr!!”
His roar was so loud and explosive that even those far away could feel the
faint tremor in the air.
The reporter watching this scene unfold from afar with bated breath
shouted at the camera next to him.
“Can you see this, everyone? These summons, these creatures summoned
by Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, are raiding the Giant by themselves!”
Could this truly be reality?
This very reporter didn’t believe Yuri Orlov’s claims from the word go, and
quite obviously, he also didn’t hold much hope with Jin-Woo, as well.
But then, not just Seong Jin-Woo himself, but even the summoned
creatures he ordered to go out on their own were speedily hunting down these
Giants, as if they were nothing.
Maybe, just maybe….
When the reporter thought that, just maybe, Seong Jin-Woo could possibly
save this country all by himself, something warm and powerful gushed up
from the deepest part of his chest.
It was precisely then.
“L-look! Over there!”
The cameraman pointed at the Giant. The reporter hurriedly shifted his
tear-soaked gaze in the general direction of the monster.
“How could this be…..!!”
The reporter spat out a moan.
The Giant’s posture was already crumbling. Countless screaming bolts of
lightning, shooting out from the tip of Igrit’s sword, were pounding down on
the faltering monster’s head.
It was such a mesmerizingly beautiful sight that all those who looked upon
it forgot what they wanted to say next.
Chapter 172 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘Hold up.’
Jin-Woo hurriedly brought the message windows back up.
He didn’t even have time to enjoy the notices of his level going up four
times in a row, as his eyes were currently fixed to the very first message.
‘Oh, my god.’
Jin-Woo’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
[You have defeated your enemy.]
‘This wasn’t the boss monster??’
His shocked gaze shifted over to the Giant sagged on the ground, with no
focus to be found within its dull eyes.
The incredible power that was on another realm compared to other Giants,
and the overwhelming aura that even left Jin-Woo surprised. No matter what,
this creature looked, sounded, and smelled like a boss, yet it was apparently
not. The System’s message clearly said that this thing was a ‘regular’ monster.
It was then.
“Hyung-niiiim-!!”
He heard the overexcited voice of Yu Jin-Ho coming from a distance.
Jin-Woo raised his hand quickly to signal the sparkly-eyed Yu Jin-Ho
running over here that he should stop right there.
“Heok!!”
It was unknown whether he was a good listener, or maybe he was just
scared easily, but regardless, the kid froze up right in his tracks.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo’s glare became even more serious than before.
The message of [You have killed the owner of the dungeon] hadn’t
appeared yet. Which could only mean that this raid was far from over.
That wasn’t the only suspicious thing here, either; it was impossible to
perform ‘Shadow Extraction’ on this massive monster, as well. He couldn’t
see any black smoke rising up from the corpse, a telltale sign of it being a
candidate for the extraction.
And, just as he suspected….
When he glared hard at the Giant’s corpse as if to bore a hole through it, a
mechanical beep went off in his head.
Tti-ring.
[It’s impossible to perform Shadow Extraction on the target.]
‘What’s going on?’
Jin-Woo’s brows furrowed deeply as the situation began exceeding his
expectation in more ways than one. But then, he heard the sounds of bones
clattering against each other coming from somewhere.
The jaw of the Giant was suddenly moving again.
The creature’s mouth was pried open and a humanoid-shape of something
emerged from there.
‘…..!!’
Jin-Woo reflexively got into a battle stance. Flashes of sharp light gleamed
off the blades summoned into his hands. Fortunately, the voice coming from
the Giant’s mouth turned out to be a familiar one.
“Oh, my king…. It is I, Beru.”
The former ant king managed to extricate itself and stepped out, before
displaying the appropriate courtesy towards Jin-Woo.
“….It’s only you.”
Jin-Woo lowered his vigilance.
After Beru entered the Giant’s body, his presence got hidden by the huge
monster’s near-bottomless magical energy and as a result, it became
momentarily impossible to differentiate him.
After confirming that it was Beru for real, Jin-Woo returned his
shortswords back to his Storage.
Beru trudged out forward while covered from head to toe in the Giant’s
flesh and blood. It wasn’t that difficult to imagine how hard the former ant
king struggled within the monster’s head.
Jin-Woo was about to heartily praise his underling with a smile but his
expression crumpled in an instant.
‘What the hell is up with this stink…..?’
A truly disgusting odour was getting stronger as Beru got nearer. Perhaps
he could also smell it, his expression was also deeply crumpled as well.
He eventually stood before Jin-Woo and bowed his head in a dignified
fashion.
“Well, then…..”
Jin-Woo was about to pat his ant soldier on the shoulder as a gesture of a
job well done, but discovered a yellowish liquid of unidentifiable nature there
and sneakily withdrew his hand.
“You did well, Beru.”
“….I thank thee, oh my king.”
Jin-Woo was probably mistaken when he thought that he heard a slightly
sullen tone of voice coming from the ant soldier.
In any case, what he needed to concentrate on was not the identity of this
weird liquid on Beru’s shoulder. If this super-massive Giant-type monster was
not the ‘owner of the dungeon’, then where was the real owner?
Just as that thought worked its way into Jin-Woo’s brain, this happened.
Wuuuuu….
Suddenly, the air all around him trembled.
‘….!!’
Sensing yet another change taking place, Jin-Woo hurriedly raised his
guard up. Beru also sensed the danger only a beat slower and quickly
increased his overall body size to stand guard before his Sovereign.
“Kiiieeehhk!!”
A powerful gust of wind assaulted them right afterwards.
‘Keuk.’
Jin-Woo’s forehead creased up.
The stormy winds violent enough to rip out trees, roots and all, swept all
around him, but then, they abruptly slithered off to somewhere else.
The commotion died down almost instantly.
Beru decided that the situation had been normalised and stepped away from
Jin-Woo’s front. Meanwhile, the latter surveyed the surroundings only to gasp
out in pure shock.
‘How could this be?!’
What suddenly ‘attacked’ him just now weren’t some gusts of wind. No,
what he mistakenly thought as storm winds was simply the horrifyingly
disgusting and bottomless magic energy the dead Giant possessed.
That massive amount of magical energy clawed and swept everything in
the vicinity away as it moved entirely elsewhere.
‘What about Yu Jin-Ho?!’
Jin-Woo hurriedly turned to look behind where Yu Jin-Ho had been.
Thankfully, the kid was unscathed due to Igrit shielding him.
Jin-Woo sighed in relief.
‘Fuu.’
Now that he found more leeway to search his vicinity, Jin-Woo quickly
snapped his head in the direction where that vast magic energy had
disappeared to.
‘…..’
It was deep within the Gate.
Every single drop of the magical energy the dead Giant possessed was
sucked into the Gate.
It was as if the Gate itself had swallowed up that magic energy.
The black ‘barrier’ blocking the Gate had shattered a long time ago during
the dungeon break. The interior of the Gate, which was the inside of the
dungeon, could be seen clearly from the outside.
Guuoooo-….
The air itself seemed to cry out softly.
Jin-Woo thought that he had experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations
in his life so far, but even he had never seen nor heard of a bizarre event like
this one before.
‘Something else is in there.’
His Perception Stat was telling him as much. Jin-Woo stared at the interior
of the dungeon, his eyes progressively getting narrower and narrower.
Whatever was waiting for him in there, the moment that he recognised its
presence, the hair on the back of his neck all stood right up. A deathly chill
came knocking and goosebumps broke out all over his body.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
As if it was resonating with the crying air, his heart began beating faster
and faster.
“Hyung-nim….”
Yu Jin-Ho had crept up closer and closer until he was standing next to Jin-
Woo. He too stared at the gigantic Gate.
This might get very dangerous. Jin-Woo looked at Yu Jin-Ho and spoke in
a heavy voice.
“You stay here and wait for me.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
Yu Jin-Ho nodded without raising a fuss. His desire to follow was quite
strong, but at the same time, he figured that he’d be more of a hindrance than
anything else.
Jin-Woo left the kid on standby outside, and led his Shadow Soldiers into
the mouth of the Gate, entering into the dungeon itself.
‘This is really…..’
While entering a few top-ranked dungeons, he thought that he got pretty
used to the idea of things being ‘massive’ by now. However, his thoughts had
to be revised the moment he entered this particular dungeon.
‘…..Way too huge.’
Jin-Woo walked within the passage that seemed so limitlessly tall and wide.
It was as if the word ‘massive’ had been invented just to describe this place,
and he continued to swallow back his gasps of astonishment.
He still didn’t make any noises inside the dungeon, though.
He continued to maintain this habit formed during the time when he was a
lowest ranked Hunter and lacked any means to protect himself from the
monsters, even though he greatly exceeded the levels of ‘regular’ rank S
Awakened by now.
It was never a bad thing to remain cautious of one’s surroundings, after all.
Jin-Woo’s eyes glowed softly within the darkness.
He didn’t lower his vigilance, not even for a moment, and continued to
advance towards the end of the dungeon. The soldiers, having recovered to
their perfect state despite being involved in such a fierce battle earlier on,
silently followed right after him.
And so, just how long did they have to walk?
Jin-Woo’s steps eventually came to a stop.
Beru, walking right behind him, raised his hand to signal the Shadow Army
to stop, as well. Perhaps because he was formerly an ant, the species
optimised for life in a large group, he was rather adept in commanding the
large army.
Chut.
The entire Shadow Army came to a perfect halt. Beru scanned the soldiers
once, before sticking close to Jin-Woo’s back.
“Oh, my king….”
“Shh.”
Jin-Woo raised his index finger, and continued on a short while later.
“Can you hear it?”
Beru concentrated on the ambient noises for a little bit, before nodding his
head.
“….Yes, I can hear it, my king.”
Beru could also hear it now.
Just over yonder was the end of the dungeon. From the location where the
dungeon’s boss should usually be, laughter came out from there. It was so soft
that only the beings on the levels of Jin-Woo or Beru could perceive it.
The good-natured laughter of a man continued to resound out as if he was
genuinely pleased about something.
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but get puzzled here.
Even though the darkness of the dungeon had masked them and they
couldn’t see each other, the other party must’ve felt Jin-Woo’s approach by
now. It’d be the same story for the Shadow Army extending far behind him,
too.
‘Even then, it can still laugh like that?’
Of course, Jin-Woo had already assessed the situation.
Incredible magical energy, one so powerful that it even made breathing
difficult, was hidden in the darkness just over yonder. The enemy’s aura that
gave him a foreboding sensation easily exceeded that of the Giant’s magic
energy when it was still alive.
However, Jin-Woo himself was no pushover, either. He unleashed all of his
cloaked magic power, too.
Wuuoongg-….
Ripples spread out to Jin-Woo’s surroundings.
The massive wave of magical energy rippled out, one strong enough to
knock away all the Shadow Soldiers in the vicinity if it had contained any
amount of malice.
Even then….
Hahahaha-
The opponent didn’t stop laughing, even then.
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips also arched up in response.
‘Aren’t you an interesting fella.’
With a smile on his face, he stepped into the boss chamber. He was greeted
by an unfathomably huge and open space that should have served as the home
for the super-massive Giant monster.
Jin-Woo continued to walk towards where the laughter was coming from
without a shred of hesitation.
His Shadow Soldiers followed after him and marched forward, as well.
Chut, chut, chut, chut…. (TL: SFX for metal boots walking on a hard
surface.)
The spectacle of so many monsters enveloped in black smoke advancing
forward in unison was more than enough to instil fear in the hearts of every
enemy watching.
However….
“Hahahaha!!”
However, such a thing wasn’t applicable to a certain man, whose entire
body was tied down by chains, with the sole exception of his head.
Was it him simply being tied down?
No.
It wasn’t as simple as that at all.
The black chains connected to the walls of the dungeons not only wrapped
tightly around this unknown man several times, some of them even pierced
straight through his body, the emerging ends seemingly taking root within his
flesh.
It was such a wretched sight that anyone watching would immediately start
wondering, if that was punishment then just how big was the crime committed
to warrant such treatment?
Jin-Woo furrowed his brows.
On the other hand, the man formed a bright smile while looking at Jin-Woo
as if he had run into a very close friend.
“Oh, how humorous this is! So very humorous!! All of you detestable
Ruler b*stards, take a good look at who had come to see me first!”
Jin-Woo came to a stop, not too far but not too close.
The man quickly carried on.
“The chains… hurry and undo these chains. I know all the plans of the
Rulers. I need to let the other Sovereigns know of the tru…..”
The man’s words suddenly came to a halt, then. His eyes, filled with joy
only until a moment ago, had cooled down in an instant as if it had all been a
lie.
“…”
This unknown man quietly peered into Jin-Woo’s eyes. While that was
happening, the latter also carefully studied the former. And it was in that
moment he realised that this man’s face and that of the super-massive Giant
guarding the Gate were exactly the same.
‘It’s not…. a human.’
The ripples of magic energy coming from it were too different from a
human’s. Besides, the fact that it was speaking the language of monsters so
fluently could only mean this guy was not human, for sure.
However, why was a monster being restrained inside a dungeon in this
fashion?
In the ensuing ten years since the first Gate opened up, all sorts of different
monsters made their appearances, but this would be his first time hearing
about the appearance of a monster that was all tied down and couldn’t move
inside a dungeon.
However, if there was one clue given away now, it was the term this being
used with such disgust – ‘Rulers’.
“…”
“…”
A short bout of silence flowed in between them.
Only after a while did the lips of this unknown man part open.
“You are…. not the one that I know of.”
Jin-Woo had no idea who this guy mistook him for, but he wasn’t planning
to deny that, either. Well, he also had never seen the face of this tied-up man
before. Excluding the dead Giant outside, of course.
Jin-Woo threw a question.
“Did those Rulers or whatever make you look like this?”
“They are trying to use me. As the stepping stone for laying the
foundation of the true warfare about to take place.”
This was the first time something like this happened. Jin-Woo had tried to
initiate conversations with intelligent monsters up until now, but none of them
were able to explain their origins at all.
But then, the one right in front of his eyes had revealed the reason for its
existence for the first time ever.
It said, to lay the foundation of the true warfare.
Whether those words were truth or lies, Jin-Woo realised that they could
become an important clue to unravelling everything.
“Just what are these things called Rulers?”
“Ancient enemies of the Sovereigns.”
‘Sovereigns….’
The angel statue back then began to go berserk as it was being pushed to
the corner. It cried out something about other Sovereigns not taking this lying
down. For the time being, even if he were to set aside what kind of existence
these Sovereigns were….
He kind of realised just where one of them could be right now.
“In that case, the reason why those beings tied you up like this is that….”
“That’s right.”
The man replied with sorrowful eyes.
“I am also a Sovereign.”
And then, he explained further with a desperate voice.
“It is quite likely that both the Sovereigns and Rulers are aiming for you
right now. However, you lack the strength to fight against them. In order to
stand a chance against them, you’ll be needing influence, too.”
Out of all the hard-to-fathom words being spewed out, Jin-Woo still
managed to catch what this man wanted to say the most.
“Influence?”
The man nodded his head.
“Release me from my seal. I shall aid you.”
Chapter 175 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
[Level: 122]
‘Heok!’
Jin-Woo confirmed his new level and swallowed back a huge gasp of
shock.
His level reached 100 after hunting down all the ants on Jeju Island.
However, his level stayed pretty much the same for a little while after that,
probably because of the wide gap between him and the monsters he ran into.
After asking for other major Guilds’ understandings, he got to sweep clean
every single high-ranking dungeon in the vicinity for a week and only then
did his level rise up to 103.
But now, his level had jumped past 120?
This was all thanks to the Giant-type monsters, each possessing a boss-
level worth of experience points, as well as the King of Giants who gifted him
with an enormous amount of experience points. Which was as much as eight
levels’ worth, no less.
‘Very nice.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head. He had made the right call by killing the King. It
was definitely not a coincidence that his level shot up by eight in one go.
This being was able to emit enough pressure to make breathing difficult for
him even though its powers had been sealed away by these special chains. If
this thing got freed and was allowed to roam freely in the outside world,
then….
Jin-Woo shook his head left to right.
He should thank the lucky stars that he got to discover its true nature before
that happened.
It was then – the King’s corpse suddenly began splitting up like the ground
suffering from drought, and soon, changed into sand-like dust and collapsed
to the floor.
The words the King told him abruptly brushed past Jin-Woo’s mind just
then.
[“Once such a spiritual body dies, it’s destroyed and can’t be turned into
one of your Shadow Soldiers. Meaning, I can never become your soldier.”]
The death of a ‘spiritual body’.
For the first time in his life, he got to witness the death of a so-called
spiritual body.
What the King said was right. Its corpse transformed into sand and no
black smokes came up from it, nor did he see a message regarding Shadow
Extraction pop up.
Jin-Woo dug out the black Magic Crystal from the pile of sand and lightly
dusted its surface.
‘It’s a bit of a loss that I couldn’t get me a new Shadow Soldier, but… I
guess I should satisfy myself with this thing, then.’
Jin-Woo studied this large Magic Crystal.
Its mirror-like clear surface reflected his face. As he peered deeply into it,
he felt the ends of his fingertips tingle from all the power contained within
this thing.
‘So, it’s those Rulers that keep sending these things over here….’
Why did it happen? Back when he first heard the term ‘Rulers’, a scene
automatically began replaying itself in his mind. And it was about four
‘angels’ descending from the heavens.
Even though it hadn’t really happened to him, Jin-Woo felt a chill run down
his backside simply from ‘discovering’ them in the playback.
Tumble.
He felt as if his heart fell to the pit of his stomach.
‘Could those things be the Rulers?’
If those things were planning to invade Earth, then he definitely lacked
enough power to stop them as he was right now. He gripped the Magic
Crystal even tighter.
‘I need to get much stronger.’
In that sense, it was an incredibly fortunate thing that he was bestowed with
the powers of the Shadow Sovereign. He had gained an unimaginable power,
and there was a very good possibility that he’d grow even stronger in the
future.
What would have happened if he lacked enough points back during the
Class quest and was not chosen by the System? Jin-Woo quietly engaged the
yet-to-be closed Status Window with a bit of banter.
“Oii… Will you say something back already?”
Too bad, the System still didn’t bother to reply back to him.
“….”
Jin-Woo told himself that one day, if he was left with no choice but to
compile a bucket list then he’d definitely put ‘have a serious chat with the
System’ somewhere in there. He stood up from the ground to leave.
But as he turned around, his foot touched something lying on the floor.
Tap.
‘Mm?’
He took a look below and discovered that it was the black chain that used
to be wrapped around the King of Giants. Immediately, curiosity filled Jin-
Woo’s eyes. And very soon, that curiosity morphed into full-on interest.
‘Maybe these things…. might come in handy?’
He sneakily reached out and grasped onto one of the chains still attached to
the dungeon wall.
And, sure enough, he could sense his strength being sucked away.
‘Ohhh.’
Indeed, this chain was absorbing his magic energy.
Only one wouldn’t be a problem, but if these chains were tightly wrapped
around you in several layers, even the holder of an incredible power wouldn’t
be able to extricate themselves out any time soon.
Jin-Woo confirmed the MP reserve being steadily eaten away and grinned
brightly.
‘Isn’t this an unexpected harvest?’
Feeling rather pleased, he summoned out a ‘Demon King’s Shortsword’
and cut one of the chains off. However, he couldn’t sense any magical effects
taking place from the now-severed chain.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t just this one, either. It was all of them.
‘What’s going on?’
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the dungeon wall.
He grasped a chain still connected to the wall, and felt the same sealing
effect as before. However, all the severed chains didn’t display that magical
effect at all.
He could venture a guess on what was going on here.
‘….So, that’s how it was.’
These chains were not some sort of artefacts. No, the sealing effect was
simply the power of this dungeon. In other words, these chains were no better
than some scrap metal when outside the dungeon.
‘I can’t use them.’
Jin-Woo lowered the chains that had become regular items to the floor.
Although he couldn’t say for sure that he didn’t feel a bit rueful here, he
found some solace in the fact that he still had gained a lot on this trip already.
Through this expedition, the shadows of the Giants had been added to his
Shadow Army, and his level had shot up to 122 after killing the oversized
monsters and their King.
All these alone were results that already far exceeded his expectations.
Jin-Woo decisively gave up on the chains and turned around with a grin.
Beru courteously lowered his head at his Sovereign. He then raised his
head back up and pointed to the exit with his finger. The Shadow Soldiers
standing in front of Jin-Woo stepped aside at once and created a large
pathway.
Jin-Woo saw that Beru’s shoulder was all clean from unidentifiable
substances and lightly patted him there, before walking over to the exit
himself.
Beru felt moved by that gesture of his Sovereign and quietly followed after
Jin-Woo as well. And right behind them, the near-thousand Shadow Soldiers
who had contributed a great deal in the battle against the Giants, maintained
the perfect formation and advanced out of the boss chamber.
Chut, chut, chut, chut.
The interior of the dungeon was soon filled up with the heavy footsteps of
the marching Shadow Soldiers.
In the distance, the mouth of the dungeon could be seen.
Jin-Woo formed a smile as he looked at the sunlight permeating into the
entrance. It was the moment that this seemingly endless raid had come to its
conclusion.
***
The situation room of the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
The inside of this situation room was draped in a deathly silence; not even
a squeaking noise could be heard. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that
the staff members had forgotten to even breath right now.
All of their attention had been focused on the giant monitor located in front
of the room.
Gulp.
Gulp…
Only the subtle noises of dry saliva being swallowed would sometimes
murmur out from here and there.
The footage as displayed by the giant screen currently showed the image of
Shinjuku, shot from the spy satellite’s magic energy detection camera looking
down on Earth from space.
This camera displayed the magic energy detected in terms of light spheres.
The stronger the magic energy, the brighter the light would be. Weaker
magical energy would naturally lead to a smaller light sphere.
There was not one person among everyone present in this situation room
who didn’t know what that gigantic light sphere making itself at home in the
middle of Tokyo represented.
Almost a thousand smaller light spheres gathered and stood right before
that large ball of light. Every Association staff member watching that
enormous number turned pale from sheer fright.
“T-those, all of those are Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summons?!”
“Oh, my god….”
“Even with a casual headcount, isn’t that over five hundred?”
The Association President Matsumoto quietly leaned his head closer to the
agent from the analysis department sitting next to him.
“How many of his summons are there exactly?”
“Because several lights are overlapping with one another, it’s difficult to
tell exactly, but at the least, I believe there are well more than eight hundred
creatures, sir.”
Eight hundred creatures, he said.
Since a member of the analysis department even bothered to mention ‘well
more than’ in his sentence, the offered number should be seen as the absolute
minimum value.
Even when looked that way, this was already twice the number of summons
first seen back in Jeju Island.
Matsumoto was inwardly astonished.
‘It hasn’t even been that long ago, but just when did he double the
number of his summons?!’
No, it was already not normal to increase the number of one’s summons, to
begin with.
His trembling hand wiped the area around his mouth.
If this man was considered an enemy, then without a doubt, Matsumoto
wouldn’t have been able to see a way out, but knowing that Seong Jin-Woo
was an ally, his mind had never felt this comfortable before.
What a relief it was that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had graced his mercy on
Japan like this. The Association President Matsumoto barely recovered from
the mental shock and shifted his gaze back to the large screen.
The smaller spots of lights advanced towards the single large light sphere.
It was the beginning of the battle between Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summons
and the Giant guarding the Gate.
Their palms soaked in sweat, everyone present witnessed the spectacle of
spots of lights endlessly tangle and writhe around against each other.
And eventually, the flickering large pillar of light…. vanished.
“Waaaaaahhh!!!”
As if waiting for that very moment, cheers loud enough to rock the entire
situation room erupted out.
The employees embraced each other tearfully and rejoiced in their
happiness. Finally, they were greeted by the momentous occasion of the
Japanese mainland being freed from the menace of the Giant-type monsters.
All these had been the handiwork of a single Korean Hunter.
“…”
The Association President Matsumoto kept his mouth resolutely shut and
watched the screen before nodding his head to himself.
He blamed the heavens for not gifting such a Hunter to Japan but to Korea
back when Jin-Woo ended up foiling his scheme. But now, he was thankful
that such a Hunter indeed was gifted to South Korea, instead.
‘If he wasn’t around, then by now, Japan would have been….’
The Association President Matsumoto shuddered from the horrifying
imagery taking root in his head and picked up the phone in order to carry out
the final duty he needed to perform.
The call got through quite quickly.
The tense voice of the Japanese Prime Minister came out from the phone’s
speaker.
The Association President Matsumoto informed him of the results with a
voice slightly choked up with emotions.
“Japan’s…. Japan’s crisis is over, sir.”
Excited, loud yells could be heard from the phone’s speaker next.
However, the Prime Minister spoke in a dignified voice, doing his very best
to mask his sheer joy felt in his heart.
“Of course, sir.”
He had already made up his mind.
It was obvious that the general who failed to kill the enemy’s leader would
offer his neck up as compensation. And, what if that enemy’s leader ended up
saving your own country, too?
Faced with the perfect, utter defeat, Matsumoto Shigeo couldn’t bring
himself to mouth any excuses whatsoever.
He simply spoke in a soft voice.
“I shall gladly accept any punishment, sir. That is… the final duty I must
carry out.”
***
The news of the Giants all being hunted down quickly spread to the rest of
the world. From the closest neighbour of Japan, South Korea, all the way to
Brazil in South America, on the other side of the globe.
The entire world heard of Jin-Woo’s feats.
Various social media networking sites were in upheaval with suggestions of
a brand new ‘Special Authority-rank’ Hunter making his appearance. The
difference this time, compared to the Jeju Island raid, was that such
suggestions were being made not only by the Koreans.
The state of Maryland, in the eastern half of the United States of America.
The American Hunters who had safely concluded the raid of the rank S
Gate were supposed to be heading to the celebratory party organised by the
U.S. government.
However, all these Hunters didn’t enter the party venue and simply stood
by the hotel’s lounge watching the TV located there as it continued to transmit
the news coming out of Japan. Their collective jaws were falling to the floor.
“What the hell??”
“No freaking way…. This doesn’t make any sense, logically.”
They just couldn’t believe it.
The most famous Support-type rank S Hunter in the world, Yuri Orlov,
couldn’t do anything before he got killed in the blink of an eye.
The agile movements of the super-massive Giant captured by the TV
cameras – calling that thing a monster was simply not enough when
considering such a huge body was able to exhibit such speed.
But then, a single rank S Hunter managed to hunt down such a nonsensical
creature by himself?!
[….Hunter Jin-Woo Seong, accompanied by another Hunter ranked D,
Jin-Ho Yu, arrived in Japan and…..]
No, it’d actually be better if he had done it alone.
But then, to say he killed all the Giant-type monsters with a measly rank D
in tow as well? It was simply too unbelievable.
Unfortunately, they had no choice but to believe, because the cameras
continued to capture the scenes of Japanese citizens continuously shedding
tears to express their unbridled joy.
And finally, the footage changed to display the corpse of the super-massive
Giant, currently lying sprawled powerlessly on the ground.
“Keok!!”
The three rank S Hunters who made bets earlier spat out shocked gasps
almost simultaneously, making it hard to tell who did it first. Only now could
they truly believe that the monster had been killed for real.
It was then.
“Ah, everyone. So this was where you were.”
The three men’s heads snapped immediately in the direction of where that
voice was coming from. And their eyes all widened as well.
“T-Thomas….”
Thomas Andre stood before them and with a grin, presented them with a
single slip of paper.
“W-what is this?”
“The promissory note stating that all of you will uphold the result of the
bet.”
“Ehhh?!”
Thomas Andre didn’t really give a d*mn about the stunned reactions of the
three Hunters and began jotting down the items each of them had put forward
in the bet.
“You said your yacht. You, your mansion. And you…..”
Thomas Andre stared straight at the third Hunter and began scratching the
side of his head with the end of his pen.
“What did you bet again?”
The singled-out Hunter gulped down his saliva and hurriedly raised his
voice.
“I didn’t bet anything, actually.”
“Hey, your tie looks pretty cool, no?”
“I didn’t….”
“Your tie.”
“No, wait, I….”
Thomas Andre lowered his sunglasses just a little and quietly stared at him,
causing the Hunter to shut his mouth.
….Because, this guy had witnessed the power of ‘Goliath’ capable of
ripping rank S monsters apart with nothing but his bare hands. This Hunter
had not one bit of desire to go up against Thomas Andre who waltzed around
the rank S dungeon as if it was a low-rank dungeon commonly found
everywhere.
“Your tie.”
The Hunter undid his tie with a tearful face.
A short while later, Thomas Andre walked into the restaurant of the hotel
while whistling to himself before discovering a familiar face there and
stopped his leisurely stroll.
It was the manager in charge of managing the top Hunters of the Scavenger
Guild, Laura. When she approached him, Thomas Andre showed off his new
tie to her and asked.
“So, what do you think about my new tie?”
“It looks expensive, but it does not suit your Hawaiian shirt, sir.”
“You think so?”
Thomas Andre undid the tie around his neck and chucked it inside a trash
can nearby while replying nonchalantly to her.
“Yup, I thought as much.”
Laura had seen how Thomas Andre operated from a close vantage point for
a very long time now. So, she didn’t display much of a reaction and simply
stated the reason why she was here.
“We have a problem.”
“A problem?”
Thomas Andre raised his head away from the trash can.
His experience told him that this problem couldn’t have been a minor one
since Laura didn’t use the phone, but rather showed up here personally to
inform him like this.
“What kind of a problem are we talking about here?”
Laura spoke with a worried voice.
“The list of Guilds invited by the Hunter Bureau for this year’s
International Guild Conference has been published. However, it includes
South Korea’s Ah-Jin Guild.”
“Ah-Jin… Guild??”
Suddenly, he was overcome with an ominous feeling. Thomas Andre’s
voice sounded heavier as a result.
Laura nodded her head.
“It’s as you suspect. It’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s Guild.”
As he thought. Why did all the ill omens he sensed never miss their marks?
Thomas Andre frowned deeply and spoke.
“So, I guess he’s coming to America, then.”
Chapter 178 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“For the time being, let me accompany you back to your home.”
“…Alright.”
Yu Jin-Ho left the hospital room of his father, Chairman Yu, with Secretary
Kim a little while later.
But, just before the door to this special hospital room closed shut, a portion
of the shadow beneath Yu Jin-Ho’s feet separated away and slipped inside the
room. No one witnessed this strange phenomenon happen.
Tak.
The door closed shut and the light within the room automatically switched
off. And time continued to tick by like this.
When the hour became late and no more people came around to visit this
room, a ‘shadow’ sneaked out from underneath Chairman Yu’s bed.
Shururuk…
Then, an ant soldier emerged from this shadow. He quietly looked around
the room and discovered the sleeping Chairman Yu.
What sort of delicious open buffet was this?
Kiieehk.
The ant soldier fixed his gaze on the Chairman Yu and began drooling
avariciously, but too bad for him, he got rapidly sucked into the shadow and
was replaced by Jin-Woo.
That was the effect of the skill ‘Shadow Exchange’.
Jin-Woo already had cloaked himself with ‘Stealth’ even before activating
the exchange. Now that he was here, he took a careful look around the
hospital room.
There was no source of light to be found inside and, as a result, it was
completely dark in the room, but with his Perception Stat having reached such
an extreme peak, he could see just fine as if this was in the middle of the day.
Jin-Woo’s eyes gleamed coldly in the darkness as he finished searching for
the presence of security cameras in the room.
‘Looks like it’s clean.’
The only people nearby were four guards manning the door from the
outside.
As long as there was no event of Chairman Yu Myung-Han suddenly
waking up and start yelling at the top of his lungs, Jin-Woo’s presence
wouldn’t be detected at all.
Feeling sure of this conclusion, he undid his ‘Stealth’.
Shuuuk…
His once-transparent body revealed its faint outer line before gradually
regaining its original colour.
There was a reason why Jin-Woo was being doubly, triply cautious like
this. Because he should not carelessly reveal the existence of the item called
‘Divine Water of Life’ to anyone. That’s what he thought.
Not too long ago, Chairman Yu presented him with a blank cheque. That
was not all. He even promised to fulfil whatever Jin-Woo wished for as long
as it was within his powers.
Did he offer all those juicy terms because he was a kind-hearted
gentleman? Of course not.
No way such a thing was true.
He was a man who stood at the apex of the cutthroat corporate world where
one could only survive by coldly calculating their gains and losses.
He was also a naturally-gifted businessman who even managed to turn a
small corporation he inherited from his parents into one of the biggest
conglomerates in the entire world.
He should be fully aware of the true worth of something that ‘can heal the
illness he’s suffering from’. And that was his reason for offering up
everything he could realistically put on the table.
However, not everyone in this world was as gentlemanly in conduct as
Chairman Yu. Desperation could sometimes become a motive that caused one
to make rash decisions.
Meaning, it was for the best not to create a potential source of trouble.
That was Jin-Woo’s reason for concealing the existence of the ‘Divine
Water of Life’ to the best of his abilities.
Even if he was the father of the kid he thought of as his little brother, Jin-
Woo wasn’t naïve enough to risk unknown dangers that may or may not occur
in the future for the sake of Chairman Yu, someone whom he didn’t know all
that well, to begin with.
‘Well, there wouldn’t be that many naïve fools out there who bring out an
item like ‘Divine Water of Life’ just because someone asked them to….’
So, he waited quietly for the best timing to make his move, and finally, that
moment had arrived.
It wasn’t as if Chairman Yu’s life would negatively be affected or he’d
suffer from some after-effects just because the treatment came about a little
later.
If Jin-Woo were to think about those who might be getting a raw deal out
of this, then it’d only be the shareholders who quickly got rid of all their
shares related with Yujin Corporation after hearing about Chairman Yu’s
collapse.
‘Is this why people say investing in stock markets is pretty much the case
of ‘all or nothing’?’
Jin-Woo smirked to himself and accessed his Inventory to retrieve one of
the five remaining bottles of the ‘Divine Water of Life’.
With the usage of this one bottle, he’d had four more left.
He knew exactly what it was like to lose one’s parent through this illness.
So, he felt that using this bottle for Yu Jin-Ho’s sake was not a loss to him in
the slightest.
‘That kid, why did have to he go and cry like that? Making me feel all
bad and stuff.’
Jin-Woo carefully raised the upper torso of Chairman Yu Myung-Han,
opened his lips, and slowly poured in the ‘Divine Water of Life’.
Very slowly, and only a small amount at a time.
However, Chairman Yu must’ve known that this item was the sole lifeline
capable of saving him, because he gulped the Water down rather
commendably well.
“Cough.”
The bottle became empty in no time at all.
Jin-Woo lowered Chairman Yu’s upper torso back on the bed and returned
the empty bottle to his Inventory.
Just like how he remembered with his mother’s case, the colour of vitality
returned to Chairman Yu’s complexion very quickly. Even his faint, weakly-
beating heart gradually picked up pace, as well.
Jin-Woo nodded his head in satisfaction.
‘It’s done.’
The medicine was working perfectly.
The only remaining thing would be to escape from this room before
Chairman Yu Myung-Han wakes up and leave not one trace of himself
behind. Jin-Woo reactivated ‘Stealth’ and stood before the room’s door.
Wuiiing…
“Huh?”
“What’s this?”
The door could only be opened by pressing an electronic button either on
the outside or inside, yet it automatically opened up by itself, so the guards
quickly fell into a state of panic.
“Huh?!?!”
Before long, though, they spotted Chairman Yu through the glass wall.
An event dozens of times – no, make that hundreds and thousands of times
– more shocking than the door opening up was unfolding inside the hospital
room.
The guards all discovered Chairman Yu sitting upright on the bed and their
eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“Huh? Uh??”
“C-Chairman has… woken up?!”
Guards stood there completely frozen as if they had seen a ghost, before
one of them regained his wits and loudly yelled out, veins on his neck visibly
bulging in the process.
“Doctor!! Where is a doctorrrrr!!”
Excluding one guard who ran to elsewhere in search of a doctor, the rest
quickly rushed inside the hospital room.
“Mister Chairman!”
“Are you alright?”
Yu Myung-Han formed a refreshed expression of someone just waking up
from a good, long rest and took a look at the guards.
“Why are you people raising such a fuss here? Besides all that, who are
you people, anyway?”
“S-sir, we’re….”
“No, wait.”
Yu Myung-Han cut into the guard’s reply, and took a good look around his
surroundings first. And he found himself in the VIP hospital room designed to
accommodate a victim of the Eternal Sleep.
He easily recognised this place, because it was he who had prepared this
room soon after learning of his own terminal condition.
‘Which means, I….’
Could he really have?
“….Did I collapse, but somehow woke up again?”
Wuuiiing…
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s head quickly swivelled in the direction of that
sound. He watched through the glass wall the electronic door slowly closing
shut by itself.
***
Ting!
The elevator’s door slid open.
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the cordon of doctors rushing in from the
other end of the corridor as if they were gathering storm clouds before
climbing into the empty elevator.
Now that he thought about it, wasn’t Yu Jin-Ho’s birthday at the end of this
month?
‘I know it’s a bit early, but well, happy birthday, Jin-Ho.’
His father’s full recovery – Jin-Woo thought that it might prove to be the
best birthday gift for Yu Jin-Ho as he pressed the button for the ground floor.
Click.
An ahjussi belatedly climbed into the elevator and was about to press the
same button as well, but he stopped after seeing the light come on all by itself.
“What the…? That’s spooky.”
Jin-Woo was still cloaked with ‘Stealth’ so the interior of the elevator
looked empty. The ahjussi gruntled out ‘Urgh, dang it’ after taking a look
around and quickly left the elevator altogether.
‘My bad, ahjussi.’
Jin-Woo apologised from deep within his heart and pressed the ‘close door’
button.
Clunk…
As the elevator began climbing down, he confirmed his skill window.
‘Skill information.’
[Skill: Shadow Exchange Lv.2]
Class-specific skill.
Mana required to activate: None.
The summoner can switch locations with the designated Shadow Soldier.
Once activated, you must wait two hours of ‘cooldown’ time before being
able to use the skill again. The ‘cooldown’ period will change according to the
Skill’s level.
Remaining cooldown time: 01:54:11
‘Still one hour and 54 minutes left….’
Even if he disregarded the 11 seconds, he still had roughly two hours left to
kill.
He hadn’t finished with the task of extracting shadows yet. Meaning, he
still needed to go back to Japan one more time if he were to seek out the
remaining dead Giants and turn them into Shadow Soldiers.
He did leave a shadow on standby there, so the issue of travelling back
would be resolved as soon as Shadow Exchange’s cooldown time had
elapsed. But his current problem would be with how he’d go about spending
the next two hours of waiting.
‘Going home…. is out of the question.’
Her son came back home after over a week spent in another country, so
what kind of expression would his mom make if he had to leave again only a
couple of hours later?
He didn’t have to be there to know.
Ting!
The elevator stopped on the ground floor and opened its door.
Even as he stepped out of the Seoul Ilsin Hospital’s front entrance, Jin-Woo
continued to agonise over what he should next, but then, a rather nice idea
popped up in his head.
‘Okay, should I search for an ownerless dungeon or something?’
Jin-Woo undid ‘Stealth’ and greatly extended out his sensory perception.
His senses picked up four or five Gates near his location. He pulled out his
Hunter-issued smartphone and accessed the Association’s app to confirm the
details on those Gates.
‘….Found you.’
Jin-Woo found out that two of those Gates weren’t reported to the
Association yet. A meaningful smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face right away.
***
“Miss. We’ve arrived.”
“Thank you, driver.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s eldest daughter, Yu Jin-Hui, was returning to
the hospital after escorting her nearly-fainted mother back home. She stepped
out from the chauffeur-driven car’s back seat.
She felt as if the heavens were crashing down on her the day she learned of
her father slowly dying from that illness.
Even then, she unreservedly believed her father’s words.
[“I’m still searching through all avenues for a cure. I seemed to have
found a strand of hope, so do not worry about me too much.”]
If someone else declared oh-so-proudly that he’d cure this incurable illness,
Yu Jin-Hui would flat out not believe that man.
However, just who was her father?
Was he not the one and only Chairman Yu Myung-Han, the man who could
legitimately be called the top dog in South Korea’s financial world?
That was why she held on to that slim strand of hope, but in the end, things
had become like this. If only she knew things would end up this way. She’d
have thrown away all notions of studying abroad and spent more time with
her father, instead.
She recalled him doing his best to hide his loneliness when she told him
about her plans to study abroad and quietly wiped her tears away.
It was around then.
As she raised her head, her eyes briefly caught the sight of a rather familiar
face walking past her.
‘…Uh? This man….’
Hadn’t she seen that face often before?
As she began wondering where she had seen him, the man also must’ve
sensed her gaze, because he pulled the hood down even further and rapidly
distanced himself from her.
She stared at the man’s back and tilted her head just a little, before
resuming her walk. The identity of that man was not an important issue to her,
anyway.
Yu Jin-Hui anxiously waited for the elevator’s door to open up. But then,
her phone suddenly issued out loud ringtones.
Ringggg, ringgg…
With the hour being so late already, the corridors of the hospital were
mostly empty now and the ringtone sounded especially loud to her ears.
She didn’t recognise the number shown on the screen. She usually wouldn’t
answer a call from an unfamiliar number like this, but now….
‘Who could this be….?’
Perhaps because she had been experiencing a storm of events for the whole
day, she got this feeling that she should answer this call no matter what.
Yu Jin-Hui tapped the ‘Answer’ icon and pressed the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
Her mother had taken a shot of sedative and had fallen asleep at home, so
she wouldn’t be able to wake up and answer the phone now.
But, why was the hospital calling her like this? Yu Jin-Hui instantly became
scared by this call made by the doctor in charge.
That was why she was extra cautious when asking back.
“Did something happen?”
As she heard the ensuing explanation, her eyes grew as large and round as a
rabbit’s.
This had to be a lie.
‘You, you expect me to believe that?!’
Her eyes were getting wetter and wetter but she still managed to ask that
one last question.
“You… are you telling me the truth??”
“H-hang on! I’m already there!”
Ting!
With excellent timing, the elevator opened its door and Yu Jin-Hui
practically threw herself inside.
Oh my god.
‘Really…. Truly??’
These few minutes the elevator took to climb up felt like the longest
moments in her entire life so far.
Ting.
The moment the door opened, she rushed out and entered the hospital room
– and was greeted by the sight of her father’s face shifting towards her.
From the top of his head right down to the tip of his toes, he was definitely
her father and there was no need to even suspect otherwise.
“Dad!!”
Yu Myung-Han, currently surrounded by a cordon of doctors, turned his
head towards his little girl.
“Jin-Hui….?”
“Dad!”
She jumped into his embrace and as Yu Myung-Han gently patted her back,
he finally realised that he had returned from death’s doorstep somehow.
‘I’m alive.’
However, could he really describe this as a coincidence?
While the cordon of doctors in charge responded with whispers of “It’s a
miracle”, and with his daughter sobbing her eyes out as she clung to her dad,
Yu Myung-Han began focusing on the sounds of his own beating heart.
‘B-but…. How could this be??’
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!!
He was already well past his fifties, yet his heart was pounding away
vigorously as if he was still in his twenties, instead.
Chapter 181 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Sure enough….
One of the doctors in charge, who proceeded to check and observe Yu
Myung-Han’s condition throughout the night, continued to tilt his head this
way and that while staring into the medical chart containing the good
Chairman’s test results.
“How can any of this make sense…..”
Yu Myung-Han saw the expression on the doctor’s face and cautiously
asked.
“Are my results that bad?”
The doctor hurriedly waved his hand around.
“Ahh, no, it’s not that, sir. It’s the complete opposite, in fact.”
He resumed staring back at the results as if to bore a hole through the paper
and carefully asked his question some time later.
“Chairman, by any chance, have you taken your high blood pressure
medication before taking these tests?”
Only up until last night, he was hanging precariously on the edge of death.
He might be awake now, but that didn’t mean Yu Myung-Han had the spare
mental capacity to take his meds on time.
“No, I haven’t.”
Yu Myung-Han shook his head.
The doctor nodded his as if he knew that answer was coming. Then, he
formed a troubled expression as he made his reply.
“Even without the medication, your blood pressure seems to have
completely stabilised to a healthy level. No, wait. With your current level,
you could even confidently say that you’re even healthier than a regular
person, sir.”
Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s eyes grew really large then.
‘What on earth is he talking about??’
He thought that only death awaited him after entering the ‘final sleep’ state,
but after waking up, even the chronic high blood pressure he’d been suffering
from for a long time had all been cured away??
The doctor in charge continued to read the medical chart.
“And also, the rest of your bodily functions have reverted back to being
perfectly healthy as well. Chairman, if I were to forget about your current
age, then I’d have believed that I was looking at a test result from a young
man in his early twenties.”
How could such a thing even happen?
As great was Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s surprise, the doctor’s own
astonishment was even greater and he struggled to hide that fact from
showing up on his expression. His own two eyes definitely saw the results,
yet he could hardly believe them even then.
Chairman Yu collapsed for the first time a few weeks ago and was brought
to this hospital back then. The results of tests taken on that day were printed
on a separate medical chart, and the ink on that thing barely had the chance to
dry properly yet.
So, how could anyone go about explaining this completely befuddling test
result coming out only a few weeks later?
Did he drastically change his lifestyle or some such during that time
period? Not to forget, he was wasting away from an incurable illness only a
night before, too.
The doctor in charge confessed what was in his mind without holding back.
“I’ve been a doctor for 30 years or so, but this would be my very first time
something like this has happened. This… this can only be described as a
miracle and nothing else.”
A patient woke up from the ‘final sleep’ state of the Eternal Sleep disorder,
and on top of that, his body had become even healthier than when he went to
sleep, too.
Didn’t the word ‘miracle’ exist precisely to describe a situation such as this
one right here?
The doctor couldn’t hide his astonishment anymore and let a soft gasp of
admiration escape from his mouth before a bright smile bloomed on his face.
“Congratulations, Chairman Yu. Your Eternal Sleep disorder has been
cured completely.”
He then added that the Chairman was healthy enough to start running the
length of a full marathon course right now if he wanted to.
However…
‘.….’
Instead of celebrating, Yu Myung-Han pondered something for a while
before raising his head to look at the doctor.
“By any chance, are there cameras installed near the hospital room I’ve
been staying at?”
“Pardon? I don’t understand what…..”
“There is something I’d like to confirm first. Are there any cameras
installed inside the room or around the entrance itself?”
“There are none within the room, but there should be one by its
entrance.”
‘Very good.’
Yu Myung-Han nodded his head.
‘Something like this can not be a coincidence.’
Indeed, this matter had gone far beyond treating it as pure coincidence now.
There was little doubt that someone possessing an unfathomable ability had
intervened in this matter somehow.
And he had a fairly good hunch who that someone might be.
‘I’ve ended up owing him a great deal.’
Yu Myung-Han had lived without owing anyone in his entire life. And he
wasn’t planning to start now. But then again, how was he supposed to go
about paying the debt of saving his life?
No, more than that. Putting aside the idea of paying or not paying the debt,
wouldn’t it be a common sense to at least find out the name of his saviour
first?
Yu Myung-Han wished to confirm that personally.
“I’d like to view the footage from the CCTV cameras taken last night.”
***
Quite obviously, the cameras failed to capture anything.
“Right here. This is the only odd thing that happened, the doorway
malfunctioning this one time.”
The guard pointed at the screen and explained what happened back then.
The windows were confirmed to be locked from the inside, so the sole exit
left in that hospital room was the doorway.
However, all four guards manning the door said the same thing. They said
that not even a single ant had entered the room during their watch. And since
these guys were professionals hired from a dedicated security company, they
wouldn’t make mistakes regarding such things.
“H-mm….”
Yu Myung-Han couldn’t have imagined that Jin-Woo possessed the skill
‘Stealth’ and so, his thoughts had become quite complicated as a result.
Around this time, Secretary Kim hurriedly entered the security room as
well to bring some news.
“Chairman. I’ve found out what you asked for.”
“Alright. What’s the news?”
“That is….”
Secretary Kim became extra mindful of the surrounding eyes and ears,
leaned in closer and cupped his hand on Yu Myung-Han’s ear to whisper his
findings.
“I lodged an inquiry to the Association, and they say Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim was in Japan the whole time. He’s only scheduled to return to
the country around tomorrow or so.”
“…..”
Here he was, thinking that no one else would be capable of making this
event happen unless it was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo himself.
Yu Myung-Han finally admitted to making a wrong guess. He now realised
that it couldn’t have been that young rank S Hunter.
‘If so, then why….’
Even though he had confirmed through all this evidence, why did a certain
amount of suspicion remain rooted in the corner of his heart?
He just couldn’t understand it at all.
However, there was one thing Chairman Yu Myung-Han and Jin-Woo had
in common. And that would be – they were rather decisive in moving on
when stuck with a quandary they couldn’t solve just yet.
“I see.”
Yu Myung-Han carried on.
“The doctor says I’m healthy enough to even run a marathon right now.
I shall return to the company tomorrow so make the appropriate
arrangements, please.”
One could say that this was more like him.
Having realised that the attitude of Yu Myung-Han was still the same as
before, Secretary Kim barely held back his laughter and replied.
“Sir. Do you know what the mass media is calling you right now?”
It was obvious that there would be quite a bit of chaos unfolding outside
right about now, since a guy who was as good as dead only yesterday had
gotten back up on his feet perfectly fine.
However, why would such a thing be treated as something big?
Yu Myung-Han asked without a single noticeable change in his expression.
“What are they calling me this time?”
“The Invincible, sir. They are calling you the Invincible.”
“The Invincible, is it?”
Yu Myung-Han wouldn’t break out into a smile that easily over anything
but even then, the corners of his lips arched up ever so slightly after he heard
that nickname.
‘Invincible’.
Mass media had been calling him with useless labels like ‘Hand of Midas’
or even ‘Pokerface’ but rather surprisingly, they managed to cook up a
somewhat okay-sounding nickname this time.
“Huhuh.”
Yu Myung-Han slowly chewed on this new nickname and formed a
satisfied smile.
“The Invincible, is it. The Invincible….”
Didn’t this nickname suit him perfectly, when he had never bowed down
regardless of the obstacle blocking his path and even managed to survive the
threat of a deadly illness?
Yu Myung-Han gratefully accepted this second chance at life and smiled
contentedly.
“I really like that one.”
***
While Korea was set abuzz with the news of Chairman Yu Myung-Han…
Jin-Woo had sneaked back into Japan and eventually, succeeded in
gathering all 29 Giant Shadow Soldiers.
‘Finally….’
Feeling legit emotional right now, Jin-Woo made the giant soldiers line up
starting from No.1 to No.29.
The process of searching for the remains of the giants to extract new
soldiers reminded him of a certain video game. But the fruit of his hard labour
so far was monumentally tastier than any video game’s quests and he even
kind of felt apologetic for thinking of comparing the two in the first place.
The Giant Shadow Soldier No.29.
Looking at the imposing figures of twenty-nine giants with black smokes
constantly rising up from their bodies standing tall before him, Jin-Woo felt as
if he had gained a whole new army of thousand troops and warhorses.
‘It’s a bit of a shame that one of them escaped from my grasp, but….’
Excluding the one guarding the Gate, the total of the Giant-type monsters
emerging from there was thirty. One of them had escaped to the ocean and it
was not possible to extract its shadow anymore.
Still, the sense of accomplishment welled up from deep within his heart
now that he had successfully gathered up all 29 of them. And with them
standing tall and proud in a single location like this, the ruined cityscape
suddenly felt rather full all of a sudden.
Of course, Jin-Woo didn’t summon all of his giant soldiers out just so he
could decorate this empty city, nor was he admiring his new Giant soldier
collection, either.
He scanned the Giant soldiers and addressed them.
“Who among you are the strongest?”
There was a need to find the one soldier among the giants that could serve
as the leader to control the others, just like how Beru did with the ant
battalion, Igrit with the elite soldier battalion, and Fangs with the High Orc
battalion.
The Giant soldiers busily looked around at each other and didn’t want to
step up. Beru standing by the side couldn’t endure this sight any longer, so he
stepped forward and screeched out loudly.
Kiiiiiieeeehk-!!
The shoulders of the Giants all flinched greatly at that powerful screech
seemingly vicious enough to rip the atmosphere in shreds.
But then again, there were a few of them who got killed by Beru, and even
if others were lucky enough to avoid that fate, they should still sense the clear
gap in power between him and them. It was quite understandable why they
would be scared of him.
Kiieehk!
Only after receiving that hot, harsh scolding from Beru did one of the Giant
soldiers hesitantly raise his hand.
Beru turned around and bowed to his Sovereign. Jin-Woo raised his thumb
up high, feeling quite impressed.
“Nice work.”
But then, this happened. Something both Jin-Woo and Beru didn’t expect
unfolded next.
Another Giant soldier watched the hand of his compatriot raise up and
quickly raised his own, as well. The glint in his eyes even said, “Regardless
of what, I’m better than that guy”.
“Ohhh.”
As it turned out, the soldiers weren’t hesitating and waiting for others to
make a move first but simply that, they didn’t know who was the strongest
among them until now.
Jin-Woo smirked a little at this unexpected situation and called those two
out to the front.
“No.22 and No.6, to the front.”
No.6 and his unusually large fists, and No.22 with an overall sturdier-
looking frame strode forward valiantly.
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘H-mm….”
Just like the assertions of these two soldiers, their individual quantities of
magic energy were quite similar to each other. Even Jin-Woo’s excellent
sensory perception had a hard time telling them apart.
Now that the matter had come to this, there was only one way to solve it.
Jin-Woo grinned brightly.
“I’m sure both of you are ready, right?”
No.6 and No.22 stood facing each other. Their eyes were practically
shooting out flames born from their powerful desires not to yield, no matter
what.
“Start!”
As soon as Jin-Woo gave his signal, the two giant soldiers entered into a
messy dogfight.
Boom! Thud!! Bang!!
At the end of a lengthy fight, No.6 and his big fist managed to beat No.22
down by a paper-thin margin of victory.
“Nice work. From here on, No.6 will be appointed as the leader of the
Giant soldier battalion.”
The big-fist Giant raised both of his fists high up in the air, prompting the
other Shadow Soldiers watching to cheer on loudly as well.
‘So, that’s the issue of the Giants’ leader all sorted out.’
With this, Jin-Woo had finally concluded all the business he had in Japan.
He then summoned out his Status Window next.
‘Stat Window.’
Along with the familiar mechanical beep of “Tti-ring”, walls of texts and
numbers rose up to fill his view.
Name: Seong Jin-Woo
Level: 122
Class: Shadow Sovereign
Title: Demon Hunter (extra 2)
HP: 65,230
MP: 115,160
Tiredness: 0
[Stat]
Strength: 292
Stamina: 281
Agility: 305
Intelligence: 310
Perception: 277
(Available points to distribute: 0)
Reduction in physical damage: 65%
[Skills]
Passive Skills
Active Skills
[Class-specific Skills]
Active Skills
[Equipped Items]
Red Knight’s Helm (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Earrings (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Necklace (S)
Demon Sovereign’s Ring (S)
Truth Seeker’s Shirt (A)
Truth Seeker’s Gloves (A)
Truth Seeker’s Pants (A)
Truth Seeker’s Shoes (A)
The outcome of his Japanese expedition was all too easy to see. His Stat
values that had gone through the roof like crazy were the first things to catch
his gaze.
Every one of his Stats was now hovering near the 300 mark, while the
Intelligence Stat had shot past that number a while ago after receiving his
concerted investment for arguably the longest time out of the lot.
All these were the results of receiving the rewards from the Daily Quests he
always made sure to complete every day, the level-ups he got after hunting
down the Giant monsters, as well as from the defensive artefacts he bought
from the Store after completely exhausting his stack of Gold.
‘The Truth Seeker armament set.’
Up until now, he didn’t care much for any of the available items in the
Store. However, he had no clue how strong the other Sovereigns and the
Rulers were – the ones the angel statue and the King of Giants mentioned.
And he figured that he might need some kind of tools to protect him in case
he ran into them somewhere along the line.
‘The King of Giants, almost half a corpse from his powers being sealed
away like that, was already that powerful. So, it’s more than likely others
will also possess truly monstrous levels of strength.’
Jin-Woo recalled those six-winged angels he ‘met’ inside the memories of
the Shadow Sovereign. If he were planning to fight them head-on as well,
then he simply had to become much stronger.
His gaze shifted up from the list of equipped items back up to where his
level was listed.
[Level: 122]
Just killing one Sovereign resulted in his level jumping up by eight in one
go.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how far he’d get to climb up once
he started fighting against these Sovereigns or whatever they were called.
Ba-thump!
His chest was pounding.
It was from fear.
And hidden just beneath that fear – he also could pick up on the throbbing
of his heart from excitement, too.
‘I shall level up.’
And all the power earned through levelling up, it’d become the bedrock,
the foundation, and the support in his effort to protect everything he held dear.
His heart pulsed powerfully once more.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
The symphony of two hearts powerfully beating at the same time was
enough to cause a dull aching pain within his ear canals.
However, this pain felt pleasant to him, instead.
‘Good.’
Jin-Woo sensed someone’s approach and stored all of his Shadow Soldiers
back into his shadow.
Tatatatatata-!!
In a spot not too far from where he was, the Japanese Association
helicopter coming to fetch him was making its noisy landing.
For the time being, he’d go home first.
Feeling genuinely happy now, Jin-Woo climbed aboard the helicopter.
Chapter 182 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
What were the odds of finding a familiar face occupying a seat next to
yours after boarding a plane?
Jin-Woo was guided to the first class cabin by the stewardess, but before he
could take his seat, he could only stare vacantly at his temporary neighbour.
He then spoke in a rather exasperated voice.
“I hope you aren’t going to blame this one on coincidence.”
“I’d be happy, very much so, if you did, but… yes, it does sound like a bit
of stretch, doesn’t it?”
Listening to a blue-eyed foreigner speak such fluent Korean still remained
a rather disharmonious experience to Jin-Woo. He didn’t take his eyes off the
man as he settled down on his seat.
“We meet again, Mister Adam White.”
“It’s an honour to speak to you again, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The Senior Agent from America’s Hunter Bureau, Adam White, still
carried that amiable smile as he bowed his head, just like the first time they
met.
Jin-Woo scanned the rest of the first-class cabin.
‘Ah, so that was why….’
He was wondering why there were two pretty strong Hunters present in the
first-class cabin, but now he could venture a guess and say that they were also
affiliated with the Hunter Bureau.
Two men kitted out in black business suits met Jin-Woo’s drifting gaze and
silently nodded their heads as their greeting.
Here was the thing, though – including the people of the Monitoring
Division from the Association as well as these two, why did these ‘agents’ of
something or rather all walk around wearing black business suits as if that
was their uniform?
Were they trying to show off the fact that they were agents of some
organisation?
Jin-Woo studied those two men with such needless thoughts swirling in his
head. In the meantime, though, Adam White was letting out a sigh of
admiration.
“We’ve only met once briefly, yet you still remember my name. I’m
honoured.”
“Well, let’s just say that our first meeting had been too memorable not to
remember.”
“I’d like to offer my apology about that day’s events. We certainly didn’t
expect there would be a Hunter Madam Selner’s abilities couldn’t
reach….”
Jin-Woo lightly waved his hand about.
Because, as far as apologies were concerned, he heard plenty from the
deputy director himself until he felt almost fed up on that very day. He didn’t
feel like bringing that subject back up again.
However, he was still curious as to why the agents of the Hunter Bureau,
who seemed to have cleanly given up on reeling him in, had appeared before
him like this.
“I thought our negotiation had broken down completely?”
Jin-Woo’s voice became lower. It was at that moment the amiable smile
disappeared from Adam White’s face.
“We’re aware that seeking you out like this without a prior heads-up is
quite rude, but an urgent situation had developed and we had no choice but
to contact you.”
Jin-Woo abruptly recalled the news of a rank S Gate appearing somewhere
in the eastern US.
“Could it be that you guys also failed to handle that rank S Gate….?”
“Mm? Ah, no. Not that. We took care of that one, no problem.”
If this wasn’t about the rank S Gate, then what other problem could there
be? Could this matter be somehow related to him killing the King of Giants?
When Jin-Woo displayed his clear interest, Adam White didn’t waste any
more time and pulled out a notebook PC.
A video clip came up on the computer’s screen and it showed thick rising
plumes of black smoke as if a wide-scale wildfire had broken out somewhere.
Adam handed the laptop over to Jin-Woo so that the latter could watch the
clip.
He could see that the firefighters were struggling mighty hard to rein in the
flames that were clearly getting stronger and stronger. Those flames definitely
contained magic energy.
The firefighters were clearly in a panicked state. They seemed to be trying
all sorts of methods but the raging inferno showed no signs of weakening at
all.
No, it was actually only getting stronger and began to slowly box them in,
instead.
A scorched tree toppled over, hitting another tree in the process and
transferring the flames; it was a chain reaction giving birth to the unending
inferno.
The billowing flames crashed forward like an angry tidal wave.
It was right then. A helicopter arrived in the nick of time and several Mage-
type Hunters disembarked from the vehicle. And they proceeded to pour out
water-type magic on the flames.
After magical water spray slammed into the fiery forest dozens upon
dozens of times, the inferno gradually was brought under control.
Jin-Woo carefully studied the video.
‘All these guys… are top-class Hunters.’
Judging from the strengths of the magic spells used, there was little doubt
that they were top-ranked Hunters for sure.
Flames that could only be barely put under control after several top-ranked
Hunters had to combine their forces together – this fact confirmed that the
cause of the fire itself had to be one hell of a Hunter, as well.
The firefighters continued to express their admiration as they gradually
killed off the fire that lost most of its power. If the Hunters had arrived only a
second later, there could have been a costly human tragedy unfolding in that
location.
The video clip was nearing its end. Seeing that there wasn’t much time left
in the video’s duration, Jin-Woo felt it strange and had to ask.
“Why are you showing me this?”
Sure, it had been an interesting viewing experience, but people coming to
see him because of some wildfire in the US didn’t make much sense to him at
all.
Adam White reached out and skipped forward to the last part of the clip.
“Here… please watch the end.”
The guy shooting the video broke past the thick black smoke still rising up
and continued to venture deeper into the scorched forest until the footage
could capture the origin of the inferno.
There must have been an incredibly powerful explosion, judging from the
radius of things being swept away.
And in the centre of that radius…..
A single corpse was lying face down there.
There was no need to confirm if the victim was still alive or not. There was
a wide hole in his chest and that should have been the exact spot where his
heart used to be.
“In order to put out the fire this man caused, over 1800 firefighters and
14 Mage-type Hunters had to be mobilised.”
Not only that, they were all top-ranked Hunters, too.
14 high-ranking Hunters had to give their all just to put out a fire lingering
around after the one activating it had died already? Just from that alone, Jin-
Woo was able to make an educated guess at the identity of the corpse lying
face down on the ground.
“Could it be, is he….?”
As Jin-Woo looked up at him, Adam White replied with a melancholic
expression.
“As I thought, you have recognised him. Indeed, it was Christopher Reid
Hunter-nim.”
The previously-unsure Jin-Woo’s eyes widened in shock.
But, this didn’t make sense. A Special-Authority Hunter, one of the world’s
very best, had been murdered by someone else?
“We also don’t want to believe it, but he had definitely been
assassinated.”
Right at the end of the video playback, one of the firefighters flipped
Christopher Reid’s body on its back. With that, one could see the state of the
corpse far more clearly.
Not just a hole in his chest, no, there were several horrible wounds inflicted
all over his body, too. They were definitely traces of an intense battle.
“And finally, these are….”
Adam White pulled out several photos from his inner pocket and spoke up.
“These are the photos of the being we at the Hunter Bureau strongly
suspect to be the culprit in this case.”
‘….The being?’
Jin-Woo could only feel confused from the way Adam White said his
words, as he didn’t sound like he was talking about a man or a woman – as if
he wasn’t talking about a human but a ‘thing’, instead. Soon, though, the
Korean’s gaze lowered down to the photographs.
There was no need to even take them for a closer look. Jin-Woo simply
stood up from his seat and beckoned with his finger, and that caused Adam
White to rise up automatically from his seat, as well.
“Uh, uh?!”
Adam White’s eyes opened up wide in surprise.
Jin-Woo used his ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to drag the American agent in closer
and grabbed hold of the latter’s collars.
“Keo-heok!”
Now that they were close enough for their noses to touch, Jin-Woo spoke in
a voice a few octaves lower than before.
“If this is your way of trying to play some kind of a trick… you, all of
you, won’t walk out of here alive.”
He was not making an empty threat here, either.
Jin-Woo’s cold eyes were gleaming like a wild, ferocious beast as he
genuinely emitted a murderous intent.
Adam White, although his collars were held tight, still managed to cry out.
“Don’t! Don’t do it!”
Of course, he wasn’t shouting at Jin-Woo.
His desperate dissuasion managed to stop just in time the movements of the
two high-ranking Hunters about to descend on Jin-Woo.
Having successfully stopped the actions akin to pouring oil into the fire,
Adam White then pleaded with Jin-Woo next.
“That being in the photo walked out from a dungeon! He’s most likely
not the person you know!”
“A dungeon….??”
Jin-Woo’s grip on Adam White’s collars relaxed just a tad. Being able to
breathe just a bit easier now, the American hurriedly added more explanation.
“The magic energy emission from that guy was a match to that of
monsters, and he suddenly began attacking our rank S Hunter, as well.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze lowered down to the photos that fell out of Adam White’s
hands. The person being photographed by the CCTV cameras was…
None other than Jin-Woo’s father.
‘My dad came out of a dungeon, and started attacking other Hunters?’
As Jin-Woo began falling into confusion, Adam White quickly clarified
himself.
“Do you still remember the accident that happened a few months ago in
the HQ of Hunter Bureau? That explosion?”
How could Jin-Woo forget? That incident caused quite a bit of clamour
around the world, after all.
All sorts of wild conspiracy theories were flung about, such as – the
explosion being the result of a secret experiment gone wrong, a high-ranking
Hunter running amok, or even two rank S Awakened fighting each other, etc.
“Are you telling me that was the handiwork of my father?”
Adam White nodded his head.
“He beat down one of our Hunters and vanished into thin air. We at the
Hunter Bureau continued to chase him in secrecy, but as if he had disappeared
from this world, we couldn’t find any traces of him.
“….”
Jin-Woo wordlessly listened to Adam White’s explanation.
“I understand how you feel, Hunter-nim. However, that person fits the
profile best for this particular crime.”
For one, he had the precedence of attacking another Hunter, he was strong
enough to easily exceed a rank S Awakened, and finally, his whereabouts
were a complete mystery. It would not be all that strange to see the Hunter
Bureau designate the ‘being claiming to be Seong Il-Hwan’ as one of the main
suspects.
However, even if he took what Adam White said as 100% truth….
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed down to a slit.
“What is your reason for showing me those pictures?”
“The International Guild Conference.”
“…??”
“During the International Guild Conference, where the representatives
from the world’s leading Guilds will gather in one spot, the higher-ups of
the Hunter Bureau are planning to distribute that person’s pictures.”
Meaning, they would no longer keep the investigation a secret.
It also meant that the American government had become really enraged by
the loss of an invaluable asset called a Special Authority-rank Hunter and
they would fully mobilise every resource at their disposal in tracking down
and apprehending the party responsible.
In that regard, there would be no better timing than the International Guild
Conference.
The assassination of a Special Authority-rank Hunter – quite obviously,
gathered Guilds would pay extra attention to this topic, and the announcement
from the Hunter Bureau would certainly intensify their interest.
“We at the Hunter Bureau would like to continue maintaining our
amicable relationship with you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
“So, you came to inform me first before the public announcement takes
place, is that it?”
Adam White managed to move his still-restricted head up and down with
some difficulty.
“I-if you attend the gathering only to be confronted by the images of your
father, you’d no doubt become shocked and confused by it, wouldn’t you
agree?”
Even if it was unknown whether that thing was really his father returning
from the dungeon or a fake that simply looked like him.
From the death of a Special Authority-rank Hunter, to the existence of a
being calling itself Seong Il-Hwan, and finally, even about the warrant itself –
these were the Hunter Bureau’s way of showing consideration, as they had
rated Jin-Woo’s abilities very highly and didn’t want to become his enemy.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo’s silence continued on.
He could sense truthfulness from the pleading eyes and voice of Adam
White. That came from an emotion borne out of friendly intentions.
Jin-Woo was thinking of not holding back the moment he sensed even a
minute level of hostility here.
However, there was the photographic evidence of the being that resembled
his father stepping on the neck of the Korean Hunter with American
citizenship, Hwang Dong-Su.
He was unable to rebut the assertion of the Hunter Bureau that the person
in these photographs couldn’t be a human being at all.
“We’d like to ask you for your understanding on why we had no choice
but to do this.”
Only then did Jin-Woo let go of his collars. The red-faced Adam White
coughed and wheezed heavily to the side.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo picked up the photographs from the floor. No matter
how hard he looked, the person in these pictures was definitely his father. His
heart madly pounded away as he peered deeper.
Around at that time, the announcement from the pilots came out of the PA
system.
[Ladies and gentlemen, the plane will land shortly.]
Even though a commotion broke out in its first-class cabin, the plane still
managed to land without any further incident on the runaway of the Incheon
International Airport.
Using the skill ‘Stealth’, Jin-Woo escaped from the eyes of all the reporters
waiting for him there. The first thing he did after making his getaway was to
call up Yu Jin-Ho.
Perhaps because his father had recovered fully, Yu Jin-Ho’s voice sounded
even happier than before as he welcomed his hyung-nim back.
However, Jin-Woo was in no mood to smile right now.
“Looks like I’ll have to travel to the US next week, after all.”
“Situation has changed.”
He needed to find more information.
He needed to know more.
He needed some kind of proof so he could determine whether that being
was really his father or something else.
In order to meet his goal, he had no choice but to attend this International
Guild Conference.
“Can you book me the plane ticket, then?”
When he asked, an unhesitating reply came right back at him.
Adam White couldn’t stand back up again for a long while even after Jin-
Woo had left the plane. He tried to get up, only to stagger unsteadily on his
feet. The Hunters escorting him quickly asked.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, more or less. Just that I’m a bit exhausted right now.”
Adam White sounded more like he was trying to console himself, instead.
The Hunters helped him to stand up straight again.
Because his major was in criminal psychology, he got to interrogate his fair
share of rather horrible human beings so far. But still, this would be his first
time being terrified of another person to this degree.
He could still recall Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s quiet yet cold eyes seemingly
tightening around his neck like a noose.
Adam White knew full well that the Korean was not going to come back to
harm him, yet just from remembering those eyes, he felt his bowels tighten.
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo before and after the photos was like two different
people altogether.
‘A person can switch that much, huh.’
However, the truly shocking thing was something else. Adam White asked
the Hunters for the confirmation.
“I need to confirm with you both since it happened too quickly for me.
Just now, didn’t Hunter Seong Jin-Woo somehow move me without
touching me at all, right?”
The two high-ranking Hunters, who wouldn’t lose out to anyone on the
matters of excellent eyesight, nodded their heads as their reply to Adam
White’s question.
‘I thought as much…!’
The American agent was now properly freaking out now. He definitely
hadn’t seen it incorrectly. That Korean man, he could use psychokinesis.
Up until now, he was under the impression that the psychokinesis was the
exclusive ability only available to the Special Authority-rank Hunters.
However, Hunter Seong had used it without so much as batting an eyelid.
Adam White felt goosebumps breaking out all over his skin.
Seong Jin-Woo was the first one discovered to possess the psychokinesis
skill outside the five Special Authority-rank Hunters.
‘There is no time to waste.’
His trembling hand picked up his phone. The ringtone went for a little
while before the deputy director answered the call.
Adam White did his best to calm his trembling voice.
“Deputy director… I just discovered the sixth one.”
Chapter 184 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The American Hunter Bureau released the list of the Guilds invited to the
conference.
[Sicario Guild, Alron Diaz (Mexico)]
[Ah-Jin Guild, Seol Jin-Woo (South Korea)]
[Ira et Vitae Guild, Fabio Garco (Italy)]
……
The International Guild Conference.
It was an important event where Guilds representing their nations were
invited over to discuss the current trends and future prospects of the Hunter
community at large.
And ‘Ah-Jin Guild’ had been chosen to represent South Korea. Its
participation in the conference became the hot topic of conversation for both
the local and international mass media.
The thing was, Jin-Woo was the sole high-ranking Hunter affiliated with
that Guild as well as its Master. This invitation was no different from the
American Hunter Bureau publicly acknowledging that this single Hunter was
in no way inferior to any of the very best Guilds in the world. Guilds that
countless high-ranked Hunters worked for.
However – no, perhaps unsurprisingly – not one person raised a voice of
discontent. Because, was there really a need to discuss whether that lone
Hunter was qualified or not in this case?
Jin-Woo already possessed the records of solving two massive crises on the
level of bringing their respective nations down to their knees in South Korea
and Japan. Most importantly, all by himself, too.
Quite obviously, no one now dismissed the capabilities of the Ah-Jin Guild,
or more precisely, the core of the Guild itself, Jin-Woo, and his abilities.
No, even more than that – quite a few people around the world were getting
rather hyped up from the prospect of a brand new super-powerful Hunter
participating in the gathering, where the strongest Awakened scattered
throughout the world would stand on one stage.
Whenever the international mass media talked about the Japanese dungeon
break incident, they also mentioned Ah-Jin Guild planning to participate in
the International Guild Conference in the same breath as if it was the most
obvious thing to do.
South Korea was no exception.
As the local interest in the International Guild Conference heated up, one of
the TV stations requested the Master of the Hunters Guild, Choi Jong-In, for
an interview.
He knew that the station couldn’t ask Jin-Woo for one and had sought him
out as an alternative, but still, he readily said yes.
And so, the interview being broadcast live to the nation took up the time
slot of the eight in the evening, the one seen as the most important hour just
before the watershed.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Choi Jong-In, and I’m the person in
charge of the Hunters Guild.”
His handsome visage and the inviting smile made sure to shake up the
hearts of many ladies watching the broadcast.
Currently, the comments section of the TV station’s website was inundated
with complaints from the female viewers at home. They all said that it
should’ve been the Hunters Guild getting the invite for the conference,
instead.
“Thank you for coming, Chairman Choi.”
The female interviewer lowered her head as a greeting and began asking
the prepared questions.
“The news regarding Ah-Jin Guild has attracted a great deal of interest
from many people around the country. But, what are your thoughts
regarding this issue?”
Choi Jong-In didn’t even hesitate for a second before he made his reply.
“I believe that the American Hunter Bureau made the right choice.”
“It’s not ‘you understand the reason why’, but you believe it was the right
choice?”
“Yes. I definitely believe that’s the case.”
“But, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the Ah-Jin Guild is basically a
one-man show, is it not?”
“Let’s not forget that that one-man show is currently being run by none
other than Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.”
Choi Jong-In replied with an amiable smile on his face, and the interviewer
also broke out in a smile, as well.
Before her smile could end, though, Choi Jong-In smoothly continued on.
“If you define the Guild staff members as personnel that could be
mobilised in a combat situation, then you could say that Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo already possesses hundreds of Guild staff members.”
“Are you referring to Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s summons?”
“That’s correct. I believe that Ah-Jin’s overall combat potential won’t
lose out to anyone, even when compared to some of the very best Guilds
around the world.”
“Just because of Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“Yes, because of him.”
Noisy, noisy….
Choi Jong-In’s firm, unwavering reply caused an outbreak of low
murmurings from the audience members in the studio, but the man himself
remained calm in his demeanour.
He had witnessed Jin-Woo’s feats both directly and indirectly, so he was
absolutely certain of this. Even now, his feelings hadn’t changed.
Every time he recalled Jin-Woo creating a path in that siege of ant
monsters, all the back hair on Choi Jong-In’s neck would stand up and
goosebumps quickly enveloped his entire body.
‘Just who out there would believe that, in the past, he used to be a rank E
Hunter?’
Choi Jong-In didn’t hold back and acknowledged the difference in strength
between his Guild and that of the Ah-Jin Guild, and that elevated the
atmosphere of the TV studio to an even hotter degree than ever before.
The interviewer smiled in satisfaction, before cautiously studying Choi
Jong-In’s response.
“Even still, the Hunters Guild can’t be too happy about this situation.
After all, It was your Guild that had been participating in the Conference
for the last several years.”
“Yes, it indeed hurts a little that our dream American trip had to be
cancelled this year. I mean, we have all renewed our passports and been
waiting for the invite to arrive in the mail, you see.”
Choi Jong-In joked around good-heartedly and that prompted a burst of
laughter from the audience members.
“However, the pride I feel easily trumps any pain in my gut.”
Choi Jong-In’s smile that had been constantly fixed on his face was
suddenly replaced by something much more earnest. The laughter from the
audience members died out gradually. Meanwhile, the light within the
interviewer’s eyes also became earnest, as well.
Words spoken from now on would be the main topic of this interview –
such atmosphere emanated from the expression Choi Jong-In was making
right now. Quite naturally, the gazes of the audience members were directed
towards his lips next.
Choi Jong-In had appeared in TV shows quite often and knew how to play
the crowd. He built up some suspense to get everyone psyched up first before
opening his mouth.
“Please, think about it. Even if monsters my powers aren’t good enough
to deal with appear before us, we now have a Hunter we can completely
place our faith in.”
His words spoken from the depths of his heart carried a certain weight that
no simple description could adequately convey. That weight from one man’s
opinion bore down on the studio, leading to the interviewer and the audience
members to forget what they wanted to say and simply stare at Choi Jong-In.
As silence filled the once-noisy filming venue, he quietly spoke up.
“In all honesty, my Guild members and I, not to mention countless other
people affiliated with other Guilds, managed to survive all thanks to Hunter
Seong coming to lend his aid.”
Choi Jong-In scanned the audience members. He wasn’t trying to achieve
this effect, but still, the atmosphere had become quite sombre somehow.
In order to brighten up the mood, he formed a warm smile and finished
what he wanted to say.
“I am genuinely proud of the fact that Hunter Seong has been chosen to
represent South Korea.”
When he did, thunderous clapping exploded out from the audience
members.
Choi Jong-In successfully concluded the interview and was about to leave
the TV station when he received a call on his mobile phone.
Vrrr…. Vrrr….
‘Mm?’
He lifted up his vibrating phone to find the number belonging to his advisor
in the Guild, manager Joh Myoung-Ki.
“Hello, this is Choi Jong-In.”
“That’s good news.”
Choi Jong-In formed a smile after hearing that piece of good news before
tilting his head a little.
“By the way, did Ah-Jin Guild not apply for the raid permit again?”
It had been four days since Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had returned from
Japan. And during that time, four high ranking Gates had opened up.
Basically, it was at the rate of one a day.
The rate of high-ranked Gates being generated had gone up quite rapidly,
yet the Ah-Jin Guild – or, more specifically, the entirety of Ah-Jin Guild
itself, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, hadn’t shown any signs of movement at all.
But well, the major Guilds located in the Capital had been in a constant
state of celebration day after day due to these events.
All because the destroyer of the monsters, the god of destroying dungeons
who rushed in like crazy whenever a new Gate appeared so he could
completely root out all monsters within, had not shown himself for the last
few days.
However, Choi Jong-In felt a certain strange sense of discord whenever
Seong Jin-Woo wasn’t there at the location of a Gate, and that made him feel
a bit concerned.
‘I’m different from Baek Yun-Ho of the White Tiger or Im Tae-Gyu.’
If you didn’t care about anything else and simply felt happy about an apple
suddenly falling from a tree, then what made you any different from a simple-
minded ape?
Some would begin drooling at the prospect of free apples, while some
others would start thinking about the laws of gravity.
Choi Jong-In thought that his class hadn’t fallen low enough to simply
celebrate this sudden slice of good fortune. It was at that moment he got to
hear the bright, innocent-sounding voice of manager Joh Myoung-Ki coming
from the phone.
“Well, here’s an ape…..”
“Ahh, never mind. It’s nothing.”
Choi Jong-In quickly changed the topic.
“Did the Association say they know what’s going on here?”
“H-mm….”
Choi Jong-In shook his head.
“I don’t think that’s the case.”
Just what kind of a person was Hunter Seong Jin-Woo? Choi Jong-In spoke
up his explanation.
“Before his ranking reassignment test, he cleared three to four lower-
ranked Gates in a day. And after he became a rank S, he began intruding
into the territory of other Guilds, and only a few days ago, he went to Japan
and sorted out a rank S dungeon break all by himself. That’s who Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo is.”
Having heard all heard that, even Joh Myoung-Ki became curious as to
why Ah-Jin Guild had suddenly gone quiet recently. Didn’t Hunter Seong
always show up in a place crawling with lots of monsters? He couldn’t have
been fatigued from the Giant monster raid, right?
He now thought that his boss getting puzzled by the Ah-Jin Guild’s lack of
activity was not so strange anymore.
“Oh, by the way. Wasn’t the Ah-Jin Guild supposed to interview the
prospective employees today? But, he still didn’t show up there?”
“….”
A short bout of silence flowed between the two men. Choi Jong-In
eventually broke the silence first and spoke in a relatively calm voice.
“And how do you know that, manger Joh?”
The moment Jin-Woo answered the phone, Yu Jin-Ho began bitterly
complaining. He couldn’t help but grin a little.
It must’ve indeed been tough staring at the faces of the applicants the
whole day. Although the number of hopefuls had been carefully filtered and
trimmed down, didn’t it still shoot past several hundred?
The kid might have been young, but he was doing his job as the Vice-
Master of a Guild and the proxy of Jin-Woo admirably well.
‘Is this why the wise elders say you are your father’s child?’
Sure, his ‘dongsaeng’ might come across as a bit naïve and dopey, but
within Yu Jin-Ho’s body flowed the blood of the natural-born business tycoon
Chairman Yu Myung-Han.
And thanks to that, Jin-Woo could simply leave the running of the Guild to
Yu Jin-Ho and freely pursue what he wanted to do.
“Thanks. You worked hard.”
“Here?”
Jin-Woo looked behind him. The JSDF soldiers on standby sent him a
signal as if the preparations had been completed. Seeing that, a smile floated
back up on his lips.
“Well, it’s the same old story. I guess things could get delayed a bit here,
so close up shop without me.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s polite goodbye signalled the end of the phone call.
An employee working for the Japanese Hunter’s Association hurriedly ran
towards Jin-Woo and received the phone as well as his luggage. Having
handed over his stuff for safekeeping, he slowly loosened his neck and
shoulder muscles.
This state of heightened feelings he’d get while lightly stretching his
muscles before a raid always served to relax his mind.
As if to provide a conversation partner while Jin-Woo was stretching his
body, or maybe he was just curious about something, the Japanese
Association employee suddenly asked a question.
“If you let the world know that you’re busy closing the Gates being
generated in the disaster areas, your fame would skyrocket even further, so
if I may ask, why are you keeping it a secret?”
Jin-Woo’s reply to that was pretty simple. He finished his light stretching
exercise and grinned brightly.
“I like peace and quiet, you see.”
Humility was one of the highest praised qualities in Japanese society.
Tears began welling up in the eyes of the Association employee as he took
Jin-Woo’s “peace and quiet” answer as the latter being modest in his actions.
“If you need anything, please let me know immediately! I shall absolutely
do everything in my power to make it come true, even if that means I must
die!!”
….Well, this guy seemed to be clearly mistaken about something, but as
long as the end result was good, all’s well. Jin-Woo could only smile
awkwardly and lightly patted the Japanese man on the shoulders before
walking nearer to the Gate.
The JSDF soldiers stepped aside to create a path and saluted Jin-Woo.
This Gate was ranked at ‘A’. Jin-Woo had been travelling from Korea and
Japan every day to monopolise all the high-ranking Gates the Japanese
couldn’t handle by themselves.
He should thank the Japanese spy satellite that could detect magical energy,
as well as his movement skill, ‘Shadow Exchange’, for this venture.
Jin-Woo stood before the Gate and looked up. Indeed, it was a pretty d*mn
big thing that totally fit its rank A status.
He didn’t need to spend a heap of cash trying to book high-ranking Gates
here, and the Japanese government even promised to waiver all related taxes.
However, the financial side of the things was not the biggest merit for him
– no, it’d be the fact that he got to monopolise every single high-ranked Gates
appearing within the breadth of Japan, a large country that had lost the
functionality of Guilds after the dungeon break disaster.
‘Demon King’s Shortsword.’
Shururuk….
“Heok.”
A young soldier witnessed a pair of shortswords suddenly materialising in
Jin-Woo’s hands and reflexively gasped out in surprise. And then, as if he got
embarrassed by that outburst, he quickly bowed towards Jin-Woo.
He simply smirked as a reply and began walking towards the Gate.
‘Four days left until the International Guild Conference.’
Jin-Woo told himself that he couldn’t afford to waste a single day and
jumped straight into the Gate. Along with the mechanical beep, he was also
greeted by the familiar voice in his ears.
Tti-ring.
[You have entered a dungeon.]
“Will this be fine, sir?”
Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously asked his question. The Association President
Goh Gun-Hui showed no signs of agitation as he received a report.
“Regarding?”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim…. Recently, he has been frequently visiting
Japan.”
The Hunter’s Association could use the Hunter-issue smartphones to trace
the current whereabouts of individual Hunters. And they had been feeding
disinformation to those asking for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s whereabouts as
ordered by the Association President Goh Gun-Hui.
“What if Seong Hunter-nim decides to simply stay put in Japan….”
South Korea would be losing the greatest Hunter ever while sucking on
their thumbs doing nothing. This would be Woo Jin-Cheol’s worry in a
nutshell.
For some reason, though, President Goh Gun-Hui didn’t seem to be all that
concerned regarding this event, even though he probably held the highest
evaluation of Jin-Woo out of anyone alive.
That appearance certainly caused some amount of frustration in Woo Jin-
Cheol’s heart.
Perhaps finding the anxiety-ridden expression of his younger subordinate a
bit pitiable, Goh Gun-Hui chuckled gently and finally spoke up.
“You don’t need to worry.”
“By any chance, do you know something, sir?”
“You see, he came to see me before he went over to Japan to hunt down
those Giant-type monsters.”
That sounded quite logical. After all, it was precisely the Association
President Goh Gun-Hui who announced the story of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
planning to hunt those Giants to the world.
Goh Gun-Hui recalled the memories of that meeting.
“I, of course, tried to dissuade him. I told him that, compared to the risk,
he’d be earning far too little from this venture. It wasn’t as if he was
promised a huge amount of cash like Yuri Orlov in the first place.”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head.
Jin-Woo demanded the rights to the corpses of the monsters and that was
all. For the price of saving an entire country, that was far, far too small.
‘Of course, that didn’t mean there was enough spare time to negotiate a
deal with a country busy losing several cities in a day….’
One should say that the matters couldn’t be helped back then.
The Association President should be protecting the Hunters of his own
nation, so it was already an odd thing for him to let Hunter Seong go this
easily.
“But then, he told me this.”
Goh Gun-Hui recalled the conversation back then and formed a deep grin.
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t win against his curiosity and asked back first.
“What… did he say?”
Goh Gun-Hui happily replied to that.
“He said, he wanted the Ah-Jin Guild’s territory to also include Japan.”
“Keo-heok!”
A shocked gasp jumped out from Woo Jin-Cheol’s mouth. Goh Gun-Hui’s
initial reaction after hearing that declaration from Jin-Woo himself wasn’t all
that different, either.
“Japan’s major Guilds lost most of their strength from the losses
incurred on Jeju Island, as well as from the attacks of the Giants. He told
me straight that his Ah-Jin Guild will fill the void left behind by them.”
“Huh-uh….”
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t shut his slack mouth.
Was it the young man’s confidence or simply an excellent head on his
shoulders that allowed him to think that far ahead, even before he got to hunt
down a single Giant? Regardless of what it was, Jin-Woo still got to achieve
his objective.
After all, wasn’t this story something the Japanese would welcome with
wide open arms?
“After hearing that, how could I not permit him going there?”
While the major Guilds were busy bickering among themselves over the
comparatively small territory of Seoul, he’d go and make the entirety of Japan
his own.
One of the qualifications to become a true Hunter was the talent to choose
his own hunting spot. And as he even possessed the necessary power to
handle whatever his prey turned out to be, one could definitely call Seong Jin-
Woo as someone born to become a Hunter.
Goh Gun-Hui let the opinion stewing in his mind, as well as a sigh of
admiration, escape from his mouth.
“He sure is one incredible fellow.”
“….I agree wholeheartedly, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol definitely agreed with that sentiment.
Putting aside the incredible power of travelling between Korea and Japan in
an instant without the aid of an aeroplane, the fact that he also possessed
enough abilities to make that nonsensical goal into reality, could only bring
about a sigh of admiration from both men.
With excellent timing, the TV that was left switched on began showing the
clip from Choi Jong-In’s interview.
[“I am genuinely proud of the fact that Hunter Seong has been chosen to
represent South Korea.”]
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui leaned against the couch as a
genuine chuckle left his mouth, and spoke back to Choi Jong-In on the screen.
“I also think the same as you.”
Chapter 185 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Goh Gun-Hui switched the TV off. As it turned out, it was already nine in
the evening, a bit too late to say that now’s a good time to get off work for the
day. However, it seemed that Woo Jin-Cheol still had something else to say.
“The Chinese have requested for information on Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim.”
“Information? You mean, his personal information?”
“No, sir. It’s not that.”
“What do they want, then?”
“The requested information is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s raid records
as well as any official reports related to them.”
That seemed about right; unless the Chinese were truly dumb, they
probably knew they wouldn’t be receiving any personal information of a rank
S Hunter – no, someone who may greatly exceed that category altogether.
The question was, why were the Chinese showing their interest in Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo at this belated stage? After all, they must’ve heard his
decision not to entertain any love calls or scouting offers from other countries,
which included China.
“The one requesting the information wasn’t the Chinese government,
sir.”
“Really?”
“It’s actually from a single individual.”
“An individual?”
The Hunter’s Association representing a country would never release
information to any individual Hunters. But to think, this request was made by
a person?
Goh Gun-Hui thought it’d be the obvious thing to refuse that request
outright, so he was puzzled by the fact that the issue had been brought up at
all. Woo Jin-Cheol quickly added some additional explanation.
“It seems that China’s Seven Star-ranked Hunter, Liu Zhigeng, has
taken interest in Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Liu Zhigeng!
With the mentioning of that unexpected name, Goh Gun-Hui became
somewhat lost for words.
China didn’t accept the global standard in ranking Hunters and used its
own unique ranking system. The higher the number of ‘stars’ in front of your
ranking, the better Hunter you were. And for them, ‘Five Star’ was the highest
attainable rank.
However, only one person was separated from that ranking system. Only
Liu Zhigeng was ranked as the Seven Star. And rather obviously, the
treatment he received was on another realm compared to the ordinary Five
Stars.
Of course, not one person was brave enough to raise a fuss regarding the
fact that he, a well-known ‘Special Authority-rank’ Hunter, was receiving
preferential treatment.
He possessed abilities that deserved such recognition, and China herself
respected that fact greatly as well.
‘That Liu Zhigeng has taken an interest in Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?’
The thirst of Goh Gun-Hui’s curiosity was then quenched by Woo Jin-
Cheol’s reply.
“Sir, didn’t Liu Zhigeng fight the Giant-type monster? I’m quite sure
that’s why he’s interested in knowing more about Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim, who had hunted down every other Giant.”
That sounded logical. Goh Gun-Hui nodded his head.
Not too long ago, a single Giant-type monster escaped from Japan and
swam towards China. And it had been reported that the creature was ably
dealt with by Liu Zhigeng at the Chinese coastline.
“The truly strong can recognise another strong being, is that it?”
Goh Gun-Hui formed a slightly mischievous grin.
The American Hunter Bureau that invited the Ah-Jin Guild. And China’s
greatest Hunter Liu Zhigeng, beginning to show his interest in Jin-Woo.
Both America and China had finally recognised the true worth of Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo. For someone like Goh Gun-Hui, who knew that man’s true
value from the very beginning, this development certainly made him feel
rather good about himself.
Even then…
‘Even then, that doesn’t mean I’ll hand over any information, just like
that.’
Was there a need to advertise how excellent Korea’s genius was to those
craving after other people’s geniuses?
Sure, a Special Authority-rank Hunter would get quite annoyed by it, but so
what?
‘We have Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, after all.’
Goh Gun-Hui made up his mind and let out a genial, hearty chuckle.
“That request? Deny it, please.”
Dungeons had changed.
That was Jin-Woo’s overriding impression as he cleared all the high-ranked
dungeons being generated throughout Japan.
As he scanned the interior of this particular dungeon, his glare became even
sharper than before. He could definitely sense the presence of monsters, but
his eyes couldn’t detect them.
If his sensory perception or experience had been lacking somehow, this
situation would’ve been enough to cause some consternation. Fortunately, Jin-
Woo lacked neither of those.
‘Is it up, this time?’
Jin-Woo stopped walking and raised his head up. Sure enough, some type
of thick liquid dropped in the spot just a bit up ahead and began melting the
ground.
Chi-jiiiiek…..
Thick smoke rose up from the ground as it melted down by what was
clearly an acidic substance. Perhaps inevitably, the stink was rather atrocious,
as well.
Naturally, Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled unsightly.
When he showed no inclination to come forward anymore, the large blobs
of something attached to the ceiling dropped down to the ground, instead.
Thud, thud, plop….
These blobs then began assuming humanoid shapes next.
He was now confronted by a strange type of monster whose face was
covered in a white mask, while the rest of its body was made up of blackish
liquid. These bizarre creatures had never been seen before up until now.
Twelve of them were blocking his path. Jin-Woo quietly called out the
name of his old pal.
‘Knight Killer.’
Then, a single dagger suddenly appeared in his hand.
In the not too distant past, this guy used to be his main combat weapon
alongside ‘Baruka’s Dagger’, but it had been collecting dust in the corner of
the Inventory after he got his hands on the pair of ‘Demon King’s
Shortswords’.
However, he found a good place to use it for the first time in a while. Jin-
Woo briefly felt nostalgic from the familiar grip, before throwing the ‘Knight
Killer’ at one of the monsters approaching him.
‘Dagger Rush!’
Swiiiish-!
The dagger flew in a straight line while issuing a hair-raising screech and
landed directly in the chest of the monster. Unfortunately, it simply flew right
through as if to mock his accuracy and stabbed deeply into the wall behind
the creature.
That wasn’t all, either.
The black liquid coated the dagger as it went through the body of the
monster and began melting the weapon down.
Chiii-eeek- Chiiieeek….
The dagger soon turned soft and malleable in no time, before transforming
into an unrecognisable substance and slid down from the wall.
‘I thought as much.’
His expectation of regular physical attacks not working against this
monster was on the money.
It was then. The monsters didn’t even give him enough time to eulogise the
passing of his old comrade, ‘Knight Killer’, and pounced on him at the same
time. They were surprisingly nimble, as well.
However, Jin-Woo simply greeted them back with ‘Ruler’s Authority’.
Ka-boom!!
The monsters were attacked by the unseen hands and were immediately
flung away all at the same time.
Tumble!
The bodies of the creatures were ripped to shreds as they tumbled back
down to the ground, but then, they coagulated back again and returned to their
previous state.
“Huh.”
Jin-Woo chuckled wryly at that gob-smacking level of regeneration. He
was almost tempted to summon out his Shadow Soldiers and start a
competition of who possessed better regenerative powers, but….
‘….Be patient.’
Physical damage, whether it be tangible or not, didn’t seem to work. So,
then. What should he do next?
Jin-Woo relaxedly dodged the outpouring of monsters’ attacks and
pondered this quandary for a bit, before realising that a particular creature
among them was moving around unnaturally compared to the others.
‘Mm?’
Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
Now that he took a closer look, one of that particular creature’s arms wasn’t
regenerated, and also, the corner of the white mask covering its face had been
cracked to a noticeable degree. It must’ve been broken off when the monster
was flung away by the ‘Ruler’s Authority’ earlier.
‘Oh, so that was your weak point?’
A smirk floated up on Jin-Woo’s face. As long as he knew how to attack
these things, killing them would be a piece of cake.
Swish, swish!
Jin-Woo continued to easily evade all the punches thrown desperately by
the monsters and summoned out his current comrades.
‘Demon King’s Shortswords.’
Once he got to tightly grasp the shortswords in each of his hands, cold glint
flashed in his eyes.
Crack!
A monster powerlessly crumbled to the ground as the ‘Demon King’s
Shortsword’ stabbed its forehead.
Plop.
That was just the beginning. Jin-Woo moved as if he was performing a
slick dance routine and in no time at all, destroyed the white masks of all the
monsters present.
Crack!
Kwahck!
And eventually…
Crack!
The mask of the sole remaining monster was split in half. The creature
reverted to being pure liquid and lost its overall shape as it crumbled to the
floor.
Easily taking care of all twelve of them, Jin-Woo returned the ‘Demon
King’s Shortswords’ back to his Inventory.
If it wasn’t him, but some other people finding themselves in this situation,
what would’ve happened?
Without a doubt, several of them would’ve met their end before someone
finally figured out that regular attacks didn’t work. And then, a few more
would have been sacrificed until they figured out the monster’s weakness.
Or, even worse – the whole raiding party could have lost their lives before
finding out the weakness. Even if that party happened to be made up of elite
Hunters.
That was how strong, nimble, and dangerous these d*mn things were.
Unfortunately, this was not his first time running into creatures this strong.
‘For sure…. dungeons have changed.’
On that day, after the King of Giants was killed by his hands, Mana Stones
had disappeared from the dungeons appearing throughout the world.
The ores that used to suck up most of the magical energy leaking out from
the dungeon itself were now all gone and so, that magic energy with nowhere
to go had all become part of the monsters, instead.
Meaning, even if the ranking of a dungeon remained the same as in the
past, the conditions had become far more dangerous.
‘And on top of that, monsters as dangerous as these ones have begun
showing up, too….’
Jin-Woo’s frown grew deeper.
If a run-of-the-mill raid party entered a high-ranked dungeon willy-nilly,
then they would not be able to avoid running into a serious accident inside.
As a matter of fact, he had been hearing some news of several ‘accidents’
happening from all over the world lately. He already assigned the protection
of his family to Beru, as he was feeling anxious about these developments.
If it was Beru, then he’d be able to resolve most crises by himself even if a
dungeon break happened nearby.
‘But, then again…’
It wasn’t all necessarily a bad thing for the rate of Gate generation to go up,
as well as the monsters in the dungeons to become stronger. At least, for Jin-
Woo, that was.
Because, it’d be easier to raise his level this way. For instance, this
dungeon was still full of monsters he hadn’t disposed of yet. He could feel on
his skin a large number of monsters hiding deeper in the dungeon while
emitting overwhelming magical energy.
A smile now floated up on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘Well, I’m now familiar with how to deal with these strange monsters. I
guess it’s time to start the hunt properly, isn’t it?’
The warm-up exercises were now over. And the proper subjugation was
about to begin.
“Come out.”
Shururuk….
The Shadow Soldiers stopped hiding in Jin-Woo’s shadow and appeared
behind him in full force. He told them how to deal with the monsters, so they
shouldn’t be experiencing any difficulty in dealing with the enemy.
Jin-Woo sent out the signal with his eyes. Igrit was now entrusted with the
command of the entire army, since Beru had become the guard dog protecting
his home, instead. The black knight issued the order for the troops to advance.
Dududududu-!!
The entirety of the huge cavern began rocking loudly from the marching
footsteps of the Shadow Soldiers.
The world’s best Hunters began landing on US soil one by one before the
International Guild Conference began. Among them were, of course, the
Special Authority-rank Hunters.
However, Thomas Andre’s interest was solely fixated on one single person.
‘Tomorrow’s the day Seong Jin-Woo enters the US….’
He had confirmed Jin-Woo’s arrival schedule earlier, and on the day before
that fateful date, he summoned Hwang Dong-Su into his office.
“Did you call for me, sir?”
Hwang Dong-Su cautiously studied Thomas Andre’s atmosphere. It had
been a few years since he started working in the Scavenger Guild, but even
now, he found it rather difficult to speak to its Master.
Because, that man wielded incredible strength, was cursed with a hard-to-
fathom personality, and finally, was even beset with an extreme case of
possessiveness, as well.
Hwang Dong-Su might be a rank S Hunter, but before Thomas Andre, he
became an utterly insignificant being.
“Mister Hwang.”
Thomas Andre went to the main topic right away.
“Do not ever provoke Seong Jin-Woo.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s eyes grew larger. He formed an expression that seemed
to ask ‘How did you know’ before his gaze drifted towards Laura, standing
behind Thomas Andre.
She simply responded with her eyes that said, she only did what she had to
do.
“Che.”
Hwang Dong-Su let a dissatisfied grunt escape from his mouth.
Meanwhile, Thomas Andre continued on.
“I know about your brother and Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. I’m sure you
feel suspicious of some things, and also want to know what happened back
then.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s older brother, Hwang Dong-Seok had entered a dungeon
along with Seong Jin-Woo, only to go ‘missing’ and never came back out.
The eight fixed members of Hwang Dong-Seok’s raid party were all dead,
yet the two people who walked out from that dungeon alive had formed a
Guild together.
So, quite obviously, he had plenty of things to ask Seong Jin-Woo.
Naturally, his dissatisfaction seeped into his expression.
“But….”
Before he could properly say something, though, Thomas Andre raised his
finger up and waved it around. His lips below the sunglasses arched up. He
was actually smiling.
“I don’t remember giving you permission to speak, Mister Hwang?”
Keep your mouth shut and just listen – that was the message of a clear
threat.
There wouldn’t be all that many people capable of issuing a true warning to
a top-ranked Hunter in this world. One of them just so happened to be
Thomas Andre.
Hwang Dong-Su was well aware of the gap between himself and his boss,
so he obediently kept his mouth shut.
Thomas emphasized his point again.
“Do not ever provoke Seong Jin-Woo. During the duration of the Guild
Conference, take some time off and relax at the Guild’s getaway villa in the
countryside. So, how about it? Are you willing to humour my earnest plea?”
“…..”
“Mister Hwang?”
Hwang Dong-Su nodded his head, unable to hold out any longer.
“…..I shall do as you say.”
“Good to hear. You can go now.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s expression stiffened hard as he quickly made his escape
from the Guild Master’s office. Meanwhile, Laura asked her boss in a worried
voice.
“Will this be enough, sir?”
Thomas Andre’s own expression had hardened as well as he shook his
head.
“No.”
He definitely read the signs of ill intent flickering within Hwang Dong-Su’s
expression just now. That fool still couldn’t let go of this matter, it seemed.
“Laura?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Until Seong Jin-Woo leaves US soil, place Mister Hwang under strict
surveillance.”
“Will he…. take that lying down?”
Although he had been suppressed by the aura of Thomas Andre, Hwang
Dong-Su’s original personality was as stubborn as it could get, as well.
However, Thomas wasn’t worried. No, rather, he knew that this matter
wasn’t simple enough to sweat over something as minor as Hwang Dong-Su’s
disgruntlement.
Thomas Andre scratched his chin before making a nonchalant reply.
“Well… being frustrated should be better than being dead, right?”
Chapter 186 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Shadow Sovereign was the sole existence capable of dragging back a
soul that had fallen to the pits of the abyss. That was why the Dragon needed
only one glance to recognise Jin-Woo’s identity.
The King of the Dead, in the body of a human, was staring right back at the
creature with dignified eyes. The authority of a Sovereign that he possessed
sent a powerful chill through the Dragon’s body.
But, that only lasted for a brief moment.
The creature’s eyes shifted to a location a bit further away. And that’s when
it discovered the stupid-looking humans and their jaws agape as they stared
right back at the gigantic creature.
‘Humans…. Humans?’
It immediately recalled the bottomless malice it held against humanity right
up until its death. And that also helped the Dragon to remember the terrible
pain it felt as it drew its very last breath.
‘Humans… must be killed.’
Snap.
That’s where its rationality got cut off. The Dragon raised its body up as
crimson light filled its eyes.
[Every single one of you… I shall kill all of you.]
The air of the underground storage area began boiling right up.
“Oh, my god….”
The Director of the Hunter Bureau spat out a shocked gasp.
This dome had been designed to accommodate the Dragon’s sleeping
figure. So, the whole space seemed wholly inadequate the moment the
creature raised his head high.
Crack!!
The Dragon’s head pushed against the ceiling and destroyed the concrete
there.
“W-what the hell?!”
“No, could it be….?”
They could now see the blood-red light gather within the open maw of the
Dragon.
A mass of red light – both the director and his deputy had seen the video
footage countless times and they knew what that red light cluster was
supposed to do.
Adam White urgently grabbed the director’s shoulder and shouted out.
“Sir! You need to evacuate….”
“That’s Kamish’s Breath! You think we’ll be safe because we escaped
somewhere?!”
It was rather clear that, once the red light exploded out, then forget about
the underground storage area, the entire Hunter Bureau building would
completely be obliterated in the blink of an eye. There was no place safe from
the Dragon’s attack, in other words.
Rumble-!!
One of the stationed staff members collapsed to the floor as if his legs lost
all strength from the fright. The other two, meanwhile, were urgently
punching the security code to open the electronic door-lock in order to escape
from the dome.
The director and his deputy knew full well that was simply a waste of time.
They could only alternate their gazes between Jin-Woo and the revived
Kamish with dazed expressions etched on their faces.
Kuwaaaaah-!!
The red glow created out of pure magic energy finally transformed into a
sphere of blinding flames. The Dragon was finally finished with its
preparation to erase all ‘humans’ standing before it. Just before it could spit
out its ultra-high temperature Breath, though…
[Die!]
….Jin-Woo roared out at the top of his lungs.
“That’s enough!”
The director and his entourage all raised their arms reflexively to shield
their eyes from the bright, blinding light. However, after hearing Jin-Woo’s
call, they all slowly lowered their arms.
They thought that everything was over once that light filled up the inside of
the dome. As it turned out, they were far too hasty in making that judgement,
however.
“But, but…. How can this even be possible?”
The flames within the jaw of the enraged Kamish were dying out gradually.
Did the Dragon that melted away the lives of several hundred elite Hunters
with a single Breath, stop its attack because of just one command issued by
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?
Gulp.
The director stared at Jin-Woo with eyes that were clearly still swimming in
unbridled shock. And then, those eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from
an even more incredulous sight.
Jin-Woo actually began talking to Kamish, that was what.
“The Magic Crystal embedded in your head has been removed a long
time ago. You have no more reason to follow the orders of the Rulers.”
The deputy director standing right next to his boss shuddered from a nasty
shock and hurriedly asked.
“Is, is Hunter Seong Jin-Woo actually speaking in the monster language
right now?!”
“….Even though I’m looking at it, I can’t figure out how to interpret this
situation.”
While everyone else was still stuck in their pit of pure astonishment, Jin-
Woo was too busy spitting out a sigh of relief in his mind.
‘Whew-woo….’
He was worried about what he needed to do for a brief moment there, but
the end result turned out to be rather good. What a relief that was.
Even then, Jin-Woo was honestly almost scared out of his wits the moment
he felt the unchecked rage gushing out from the Dragon.
‘What kind of a Shadow Soldier possesses this powerful an ego?!’
It seemed that the thing about higher existences possessing stronger egos,
as proclaimed by the King of Giants, could be true after all. Meanwhile, the
Dragon was quite surprised by the fact that it willingly obeyed the new
Sovereign’s order.
[So, this is how it feels to submit to the Shadow Sovereign….]
The Dragon then lowered its tall posture and paid its respect to Jin-Woo.
The humans flinching constantly from each and every movement of the
oversized creature finally spat out lengthy sighs of relief.
The Dragon lowered its head, as if to kiss the floor, and spoke.
[This lowly servant who once used to serve the Dragon Emperor pays
respects to the new Sovereign.]
There was a great deal of respect in the creature’s voice that still growled
like that of most monsters. Jin-Woo slowly approached the Dragon and placed
his hand on the nose of the creature. It silently closed its eyes and enjoyed the
warmth of its new lord.
The sensation that couldn’t be described in mere words travelled from its
nose tip to the rest of its body.
Jin-Woo also sensed that the Dragon’s mood was lifting up. He had barely
managed to calm his pounding heart by then, but now, it was racing hard
again.
BA-THUMP, BA-THUMP!!
‘Kamish…. The Dragon Kamish has really become my Shadow
Soldier….’
A broad smile automatically floated up on his face.
Adam White’s jaw, meanwhile, had been hanging slack from this
unbelievable scene right before his eyes. But then, he discovered something
even more incredulous and hurriedly confirmed it with the deputy director.
“S-sir. Is the Dragon really wagging its tail??”
‘What the heck, the worst calamity in history isn’t some puppy, so what
kind of rubbish is he even talking about?’
The deputy director thought such a thing would be completely illogical and
shifted his eyes to where Kamish’s tail was, only for a pained groan to escape
from his mouth.
“Jesus H. Christ….”
Jin-Woo lifted his hand away and the Dragon’s tail stopped wagging, as
well. It then raised his head up again.
The name ‘Kamish’ was given to the Dragon for the convenience of
humans. Jin-Woo was pondering what new name he should give to his latest
addition to the ranks of his Shadow Soldiers, before abruptly recalling the
words it used to greet him just now.
“You said you used to serve the Dragon Emperor, right?”
[That is indeed correct, oh, my king.]
The Dragon continued using a polite tone of voice.
[I served the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction.]
‘I’m the King of the Dead, the Shadow Sovereign….’
And then, there was the King of the Giants, the Sovereign of the
Beginning.
Jin-Woo realised that the former owner the Dragon served had to be one of
the nine Sovereigns the System mentioned before.
However, that wasn’t important right now. No, what he wanted to know
was the creature’s real name, so he could use that one, too.
“Alright, then. What was your original na….”
Jin-Woo couldn’t continue his words, though. His eyes looking up at the
creature began quaking rather violently. Like a sand castle being scattered
away by a gust of wind, the Dragon’s body was slowly disintegrating right
before him.
[Regrettably, my king… I must bid you farewell.]
“What?!”
Jin-Woo’s Perception Stat communicated with the Dragon’s current
emotion. And it was one of pure sorrow, not even a hint of falsehood
contained within.
The Dragon was truly lamenting this moment.
[It seems that our meeting came about far too late, my Sovereign.]
Even if it was the power of a Shadow Sovereign, the gap of eight years
proved to be far too wide to bridge. The Dragon had been trapped for too long
within the bottom of the abyss and as a result, its magical energy had become
too weak and began scattering away in the air.
“System?! Systeeeem!”
Jin-Woo couldn’t accept this and desperately cried out to the System, but
the d*mn thing remained utterly silent, as always.
Just like how he could sense the Dragon’s emotions, the creature could
sense his, as well.
[I am truly envious of Your Majesty’s soldiers, as they are now tasked
with serving you for all eternity.]
It spoke from the depths of its heart. To the king who didn’t want to lose
his soldier, the Dragon left behind one final advice.
[Oh, my king. There are four humans who have borrowed the powers of
the Rulers. Please, you need to be wary of them.]
As the Dragon’s body became completely blurry and indistinct, even its
voice grew further and further away.
[I was honoured to be in the presence of a new king…..]
And then, deathly silence descended on the dome.
Like a shifting mirage, the Dragon’s shadow disappeared. All the spotlights
flickering precariously above all reverted back to working normally again.
The director had been holding his breath as he witnessed this spectacle.
Once the Dragon was gone, he quickly looked at the corpse of the creature.
Absolutely nothing had happened to Kamish’s remains.
He felt as if he had been dreaming until now and that left him utterly dazed
and confused.
But, then again, if what happened was simply a bad dream, Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo wouldn’t be standing around making such an empty, despondent
expression right now.
“….”
Jin-Woo couldn’t rip his gaze away from the spot where the Dragon’s
shadow used to stand. Eventually, the System message popped up in his view
alongside with the familiar ‘Tti-ring!’
[Shadow Extraction has failed.]
[Too much time has elapsed since the target’s death and therefore, any
further attempt at Extraction holds no meaning.]
[The target’s shadow has returned to the emptiness of the void.]
Mechanical beeps continued to go off in his head.
Today would be his first time hating the sounds of continuous ‘Tti-ring, tti-
ring’ going off in his head. Jin-Woo’s tightly clenched fists trembled ever so
slightly.
Ka-boom!
In his rage, he punched the ground hard. For a brief moment there, the
entire building shook around just a little.
Jin-Woo returned to the hotel.
Because he was in such a gloomy mood, Adam White was unable to say a
single thing during the trip, even though he was tasked with ‘escorting’ him
here.
The American agent checked in for Jin-Woo at the front desk and that
finally presented him with an opportunity to talk.
“I’m in charge of accommodating your needs during your stay in the
U.S., so if you want something, please, don’t hesitate and give me a call.”
Adam White spoke with a bright expression, but the reply remained frigid
and disinterested.
“….Got it.”
The smile on Adam White’s face hardened instantly.
‘S-scary….’
He learned that standing in front of a very upset top-level Hunter could be a
quite scary experience for the first time in his life today.
The negotiation had been postponed to a later date. Which wasn’t
surprising, considering Jin-Woo’s current mood. And well, both the director
and his deputy hadn’t regained their lost spirits so even they didn’t show any
signs of disappointment, either.
Jin-Woo figured that he might as well sleep today’s events off and was
about to head towards his assigned room, but then….
“Uh?”
Woo Jin-Cheol was coming down to the hotel’s lobby just then and
discovered Jin-Woo here. The Chief of the Monitoring Division quickly made
his way.
“Seong Hunter-nim, why couldn’t we get a hold of you?”
“Oh, that… I was temporarily in a place where no calls could get
through.”
Outsiders were not permitted to carry their personal phones when inside the
HQ of the Hunter Bureau. There was no exception to this rule even if you
were an important guest. It was a necessity in order to protect the
organisation’s many secrets.
If an important person such as Madam Selner got her face photographed,
the entire Hunter Bureau would be turned upside down, that was why.
Woo Jin-Cheol scratched the side of his head and asked.
“Did you get to meet Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim, then?”
“Eh?”
Almost right away, an expression of confusion formed on Woo Jin-Cheol’s
face.
“But, I thought Yu Hunter-nim received a message from you and that’s
why he went out? The message said that you were waiting for him at the
Hunter Bureau’s building.”
“That’s where I’m coming from right now, so what are you even talking
about here?”
Adam White was listening to this conversation from the side and quickly
confirmed the fact for them.
“There was no Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim in the visitor’s log.”
“Excuse me? But, how can that be? About two hours ago, a rank S
Hunter came here to fetch him personally.”
Jin-Woo quickly butted in there.
“Which rank S Hunter are you talking about?”
“It was Hunter Hwang Dong-Su. He actually came to the hotel.”
Jin-Woo couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt this ominous sensation
the moment he heard the name Hwang Dong-Su, which was in stark contrast
to the other two men who didn’t seem to know what was going on here.
‘Is this because of the Perception Stat?’
Seeing that the light in Jin-Woo’s eyes had become unusually tense, Adam
White quickly pulled his phone out again.
“I shall call Hwang Dong-Su Hunter-nim’s Guild right now.”
Several ringtones later, the manager in charge of Scavenger Guild’s high-
ranking Hunters, a woman named Laura answered Adam White’s call. He
briefly introduced himself and explained the current situation.
Surprisingly, though – the voice coming from the phone’s speaker was
calm and collected, which went completely against Adam White’s
expectations. He thought that she might be as flustered as he’d be, but no.
Adam White only said that Hunter Hwang Dong-Su had taken Yu Jin-Ho
away, yet Seong Jin-Woo’s name suddenly popped out of nowhere. He tilted
his head slightly, before sneaking a glance at Jin-Woo.
The Korean Hunter shook his head briefly. Adam White nodded his head in
acknowledgement and came up with a suitable reply.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim hasn’t learned of the news yet as he’s still
stuck in the Hunter Bureau. However, Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim’s travelling
party had called us to find out what was going on earlier, you see.”
And that’s where the call came to an abrupt end.
Jin-Woo listened to the conversation without saying a single word and
when the call ended, headed straight to the hotel’s exit.
“Seong Hunter-nim?! The Scavenger Guild said they will find out, so we
should wait for…..”
Adam White hurriedly chased after Jin-Woo and came out of the hotel’s
exit, but the Korean Hunter was long gone by then.
“What the hell…? Where did he go?”
Adam White stared at the street with a troubled expression on his face, not
knowing what to do next.
Jin-Woo sought out a deserted back alley away from the crowded main
street and undid ‘Stealth’.
A rank S Hunter using his name showed up and took Yu Jin-Ho away. But
then, the Guild this guy worked for didn’t even try to get a detailed
explanation of what happened and simply stated that they would find out
before one-sidedly ending the call.
‘Something bad is happening….’
And that thing should be related somehow to why that Guild staff member
on the phone mentioned his name right away.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened as he issued a new command. If that guy
was looking for trouble, then he certainly picked a very bad day for it.
‘Find him.’
If his thousand-plus soldiers dispersed throughout the city and searched for
Yu Jin-Ho’s magic energy signature, then finding him shouldn’t take that
long.
Shashashak, shashashashak…
A thousand shadows breaking off from below Jin-Woo’s feet quickly
scattered in all directions.
Thomas Andre scanned the interior of the apartment with a hardened face.
Inside this luxurious apartment where Hwang Dong-Su should have been
staying, the two Hunters assigned to keep an eye on him were lying face
down with foam bubbling out of their mouths.
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue and removed his trademark sunglasses.
“…”
His deeply crumpled expression was finally revealed for all to see, and the
complexions of his subordinates searching through the apartment paled
instantly.
Thomas Andre gnashed his teeth and issued a new order in a low, growling
voice.
“Hwang Dong-Su….. Find him, before Seong Jin-Woo does. No matter
what, we must find him first.”
Chapter 189 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo now stood on top of a skyscraper that afforded him a view of the
entire city. His eyesight, enhanced to extreme heights through his Perception
Stat, began scanning the city from the streets right below the skyscraper all
the way to the residential homes located in the far-off distance.
While doing that, his hearing was focused on the noises his Shadow
Soldiers picked up.
[Hey, Smith! How have you been?]
[Dear customer, our store doesn’t accept returns based on a customer’s
sudden change of mind….]
[C’mon, man. Why didn’t you come to the party last night?]
Pretty much all of them were useless idle talks.
Aside from those, the horns of passing cars, noises from TV speakers, cats
meowing, splashes of water from bathrooms, etc. – all sorts of sounds made
by a living city entered Jin-Woo’s ears.
Sweat drops formed on his forehead as he utilised his five senses, plus the
sixth one to detect magic energy, to their fullest extent.
‘I wouldn’t be going through this much trouble if I just left the Shadow
Soldier in Jin-Ho’s shadow….’
Didn’t someone say this before? It was already too late the moment you
start regretting it.
The ant soldier he had inserted in Yu Jin-Ho’s shadow just in case had been
used to get to Chairman Yu Myung-Han’s hospital room. Jin-Woo became
really busy after that, and since he was planning to accompany the kid during
their trip to the US, he had forgotten about inserting a replacement.
And the end result from all of that is him working his a*s off like this.
‘Kamish’s shadow is gone, and Jin-Ho’s whereabouts are unknown….’
Veins popped up one at a time on Jin-Woo’s forehead. His already gloomy
mood had now hit rock bottom and was about to convert into a storm cloud.
His knife-like glare, sharp enough to almost shoot bolts of lightning, darted
this way and that as if he didn’t want to miss a single movement happening
down below.
Unfortunately, never mind Yu Jin-Ho, it proved very difficult to find an
Asian youth that resembled him in this city.
‘Could it be…. they are not in the city at all?’
To Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho might be a cute little brother, but the truth was, the
kid was still a melee-type rank D Hunter. Any ol’ group of regular people
trying to jump him wouldn’t work at all.
If the car supposedly heading for the Hunter Bureau’s HQ suddenly drove
out of the city limits, Yu Jin-Ho would have realised something was amiss
and started resisting his kidnappers.
The sole problem was…
‘The b*stard kidnapping Jin-Ho was a rank S Hunter.’
Jin-Woo immediately widened the scope of his shadows’ movements.
‘His name was Hwang Dong-Su, wasn’t it?’
Jin-Woo didn’t know why that man faked his name and took Yu Jin-Ho
away. However, this was about ‘Give and Take’. He was determined to ask
for suitable compensation for provoking him like this.
And, if something untoward happened to Jin-Ho for some reason…
A dangerous gleam flashed eerily within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
Not too long after, the Shadow Soldiers expanding their search range sent
in countless bits of information that encompassed the entirety of the city.
In the end, Hwang Dong-Su really went for it and caused an incident.
An emergency situation descended on the Scavenger Guild once that fact
was revealed to its members. Their opponent this time was Seong Jin-Woo.
Just one misstep and Hwang Dong-Su’s life could be forfeited.
He was one of the top aces within the Scavenger Guild and should be
considered as one of the core pillars of its combat force, too.
Thomas Andre couldn’t afford to lose someone like that. But all he could
do for the time being was to sit in his office and anxiously wait for any news.
“Anything new?”
His subordinate shook his head with a darkened complexion.
“No, sir.”
The frowns on Thomas Andre’s forehead grew deeper by a level.
Tracking Hwang Dong-Su through his phone was impossible since he had
switched the device off. The places he frequented had been searched
thoroughly by the Guild’s members, but unfortunately, nothing worthy of note
had been uncovered so far. It seemed that Mister Hwang had been planning
for this day for quite some time.
‘Isn’t he scared of dying?’
No, Mister Hwang was also a rank S Hunter. He should be aware of the
differences in strengths between himself and Seong Jin-Woo, at the bare
minimum.
Even then, he still went ahead and did something so monumentally stupid.
Because he probably had something he could place his bets on.
‘He knows that I’ll step up on his behalf.’
Well, that fool wasn’t wrong with his calculation. Regardless of whether
that man would cause another incident in the future or not, he’d still remain as
Scavenger Guild’s asset until the contract duration expired.
The Guild saw potential in Hwang Dong-Su’s skills and had invested a ton
of money on him. He bravely started this crap with no care for the aftermath
because he knew that Thomas Andre would never willingly give up on his
assets.
‘….Did I treat my Hunters too nicely until now?’
Thomas Andre repeatedly told himself to strictly discipline his underlings
as soon as this issue had been sorted out so they wouldn’t cause another
problem like this one in the future.
The Guild employees in the near vicinity had to stay extra cautious, even
with their breathing, as Thomas Andre’s upset mood continued to stew
quietly.
It was then, his phone suddenly began ringing. Thomas Andre had been
waiting too anxiously for news, regardless of what nature it took, and
hurriedly yanked the receiver up.
The voice on the line belonged to Laura. Thomas Andre shot up from his
chair.
“How?”
She knew what he was feeling right now, so Laura didn’t pause for a
second before she quickly carried on with her explanation.
‘Very good!’
Thomas Andre nodded his head. Rather unexpectedly, they were able to
find a clue sooner than he thought.
“Send everyone to that location. I’ll be on my way there, as well.”
Thomas Andre was about to end the call there but hesitated slightly, before
raising the receiver up again.
“By the way… how did you convince the old codgers in the Hunter
Bureau, Laura?”
The Hunter Bureau had a habit of recording the locations and movement
patterns of all the Hunters via GPS attached to the Hunter-issue smartphones.
Of course, they were not an organisation known for giving away their
information willy-nilly. Even if it was the Scavenger Guild making the
request, the approval process should take several hours at a bare minimum.
But to think, they spat out Hwang Dong-Su’s records, just like that.
This didn’t sound logical at all. Thomas Andre couldn’t help but get
curious about the methods Laura employed here to convince them.
However, her answer was rather simple in nature.
“Every single Guild member has begun moving, sir!”
Adam White, currently observing the behaviour of the Scavenger Guild,
cried out in an urgent voice at his smartphone. The deputy director on the
other side of the line quickly asked back.
“I just found out that the raid they were getting ready for has been
cancelled as well, sir. All of their Hunters are being mobilised to go
somewhere.”
“…”
Adam White couldn’t easily open his mouth here.
A rank S Hunter from the Scavenger Guild used Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s
name and kidnapped Yu Jin-Ho. And then, both Seong Jin-Woo and the
Scavenger Guild had begun mobilising.
This couldn’t have been something simple at all.
Not to mention, with the entirety of the Scavenger Guild being mobilised
like that, it could only mean that Thomas Andre was behind the move. The
ominous foreboding crept up on Adam White and he quickly wiped the sweat
off his face.
Sure enough – Adam froze up on the spot after discovering Thomas Andre
walk out of the Guild building’s entrance.
‘Heok….’
The American Hunter took a sweeping look around once before climbing
into a waiting car. The vehicle then hurriedly set off to an unknown
destination.
And it just so happened to be in the same direction where the Hunters of
the Scavenger Guild had disappeared to, as well. Adam White did his best to
calm his trembling voice and described what he saw to the deputy director.
“S-sir… The Goliath… Thomas Andre has made his move as well. Sir.”
“Is this really alright?”
A man looked at Yu Jin-Ho lying unconscious on the ground and worriedly
asked. Hwang Dong-Su to his side nodded his head.
“Look, I’m not gonna do anything bad to him, alright? I just want to ask
him about this one thing, that’s all.”
The Guild Master Thomas Andre warned him. He said not to provoke
Seong Jin-Woo.
However, Hwang Dong-Su never planned to provoke that man from the
get-go, anyway. Why? Because there was one other person beside Seong Jin-
Woo that could answer the question burning a hole in his head. That was why.
The question of what happened on that day – the events that took place
within the dungeon where his older brother Hwang Dong-Seok, Seong Jin-
Woo, and Yu Jin-Ho entered together. Hwang Dong-Su promised Yu Jin-Ho
that he’d be freed as soon as he answered that question truthfully.
Unfortunately, Yu Jin-Ho didn’t squeak a word out right until he ended up
in such a pathetic, wretched state. The longer Yu Jin-Ho kept his mouth shut,
the stronger Hwang Dong-Su’s convictions became, though.
All he wanted to hear was one thing.
[“Seong Jin-Woo killed your brother.”]
If he could just hear that one sentence, he’d no longer have any business
with Yu Jin-Ho. But then, with what balls was a punk with a small physique
and a naive-looking face keeping his mouth shut against a rank S Hunter? His
courage alone was worth praising him for.
‘Of course, his foolhardiness won’t get him off the hook here.’
Hwang Dong-Su lightly kicked the waist of Yu Jin-Ho’s heavily-wounded-
all-over body.
“Oii. Wake up.”
Would this be the fourth time the kid fainted and was woken back up
again? Hwang Dong-Su’s irritation grew somewhat at Yu Jin-Ho’s tenacious
endurance and his kick became a little more vicious than before.
“I said, get the hell up!”
Pow!
“Keo-heok!”
Yu Jin-Ho curled up on the floor as he spat out the pooled blood in his
mouth. The third man of Hwang Dong-Su’s group began cackling out.
“Still, this kid’s supposed to be a tanker, wasn’t he? He sure can
withstand some punishment, can’t he? A regular person would’ve died by
now.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s face now reflected no emotion whatsoever as he
grabbed the back of Yu Jin-Ho’s head to yank it up.
“Listen here. I don’t want to kill you. You see this guy over here laughing
his a*s off? Let me tell you, he’s a Healer with some considerable skill.
He’ll bring you back just before you are about to die.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s blurry gaze was directed to the cackling man, and the Hunter
grinned brightly and wagged his finger around as if to greet the kid.
Hwang Dong-Su’s viciously moved his hand.
“Keo-heok!”
Yu Jin-Ho’s head, still grabbed by that hand, also had to viciously swing to
the side. He now could see the dust-filled interior of a decrepit building.
Hwang Dong-Su continued on.
“This here is a factory that closed down over five years ago. You can
scream all you want, but no one’s gonna hear you.”
After grabbing and fixing Yu Jin-Ho’s head in the place, Hwang Dong-Su
brought his own face right up against the kid’s nose. Their locked gazes grew
closer and closer.
“Which means, you will suffer from intense pain forever. That is, until
you tell me what I want to hear.”
When they got close enough for their noses to touch, Hwang Dong-Su
formed a toothy grin.
“So, how about it? Do you feel like talking now?”
“…”
Yu Jin-Ho’s busted lips bobbed up and down but his voice was too small
and even Hwang Dong-Su couldn’t hear it.
“What did you say?”
“….”
Hwang Dong-Su tilted his head slightly in confusion and brought his ear
near the kid. When the ear was only a few millimetres away from his lips, Yu
Jin-Ho whispered softly.
“…..F*ck off.”
Hwang Dong-Su’s expression crumpled instantly.
Ka-boom!
He slammed the side of Yu Jin-Ho’s head on the ground and panted like an
angry bull.
“Oii! Did you just kill him?”
The Healer’s brows shot up and he quickly checked for Yu Jin-Ho’s pulse.
“Whew-woo.”
After confirming that the kid’s heart was still beating, the Healer spat out a
sigh of relief. Still, there was no doubt that this young and weak Hunter’s life
would’ve been cut short if Hwang Dong-Su had used a little more of his
strength.
“Mister Hwang, be more careful, will ya? I don’t want to become an
accomplice to a murderer just because of money, alright?”
“…I’ll be more careful.”
Hwang Dong-Su acknowledged his mistake.
Was it because of the precariousness of the situation? The man who
couldn’t hide his worries from the get-go decided to persuade Hwang Dong-
Su.
“Let’s just call it a day and move on. Haven’t you found out all you can
by now?”
“What are you talking about? We’re only getting started.”
The corners of Hwang Dong-Su’s lips arched to form a sinister smile. His
vicious, cruel nature was pretty much the carbon-copy of his older brother.
The man knew he failed to change Hwang Dong-Su’s mind. Still feeling
worried and anxious, he continued to scan his surroundings. And it happened
at that moment. He discovered something standing over on the other side of
the disused factory.
What could it be?
The man’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
And then…
“Uh? Huh, uh??”
He became surprised by his discovery and pointed in that direction. Hwang
Dong-Su and the Healer both raised their heads to take a look. There it was, a
High Orc kitted out in black armour standing over yonder.
“….An Orc?”
Hwang Dong-Su stood up. The Healer checking Yu Jin-Ho’s condition also
got up from the ground.
“Is there a dungeon break happening nearby?”
Hwang Dong-Su shook his head. If that was the case, their surroundings
should’ve become a pandemonium by now.
He extended out his sensory perception just in case and searched for other
presence in the vicinity, but he couldn’t sense any other monsters at all. This
High Orc was all alone.
“Now that’s pretty bizarre.”
That wasn’t the only bizarre thing, though.
The High Orc was actually shivering.
As a matter of fact, its facial expression contained terror. It looked as if the
creature was barely holding back tears threatening to burst out at any moment.
And all four of its limbs were quivering from pure fright, too.
“Mister Hwang. I think that thing is terrified of you.”
“….I don’t have time to fool around like this.”
White rays of light began coagulating on Hwang Dong-Su’s clenched fist.
He didn’t know where this Orc came from, but now that he had discovered it,
of course, he wouldn’t let it just walk away.
Hwang Dong-Su strode right up to the Orc and raised his fist so he could
blow the monster’s head clean off. Before he could do that, though…
….The heavy voice of a man suddenly called out from somewhere.
Chapter 190 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The TV in the living room was showing the scenes of yet another accident
that took place within a dungeon. Those seemed to happen frequently
nowadays.
Although no events that could be called truly enormous happened so far,
the number of Hunters dying during the raids was on the rise lately, according
to the news broadcast.
“I wonder, will my boy be okay?”
His mother, watching the news, recalled Jin-Woo and whispered to herself
in a worried voice.
Didn’t matter how excellent a Hunter her son was, there was no helping
with a mother worrying about her child’s safety.
Beru, hiding within the shadows to protect this home as per Jin-Woo’s
instruction, heard her whispers.
‘Oh, the mother of my king. If my liege meets with an accident that even
he can’t survive, then no one in this world can.’
Beru did his best to suppress the words trying to jump out of his mouth.
Obviously, he couldn’t surprise the mother of his liege needlessly, now could
he? As his reward, he’d have to suffer in silent frustration all by himself.
He also found the liege’s mother, currently equating his liege against those
low-class monsters shown on the TV screen, rather cruel and unkind for doing
that. However, he roused up a super-human level of endurance and suppressed
his desire to preach the incomparable might of his dear liege to her.
[ up. We bring you the news on the conference organised by America’s
Hunter Bureau….]
The scene shown on TV changed yet again to that of a certain American
airport as the news related to the International Guild Conference played out.
And then, Jin-Woo appeared on the screen as he stepped foot into the airport.
She saw her son walking forward as he was swarmed by the constant
explosions of camera flashes. The worried look on her face was soon replaced
by a contented smile.
“Jin-Ah? Your brother’s on TV.”
“Really?”
Jin-Ah abandoned her studies and quickly trotted out of her room. This
wouldn’t be the first time, but regardless, seeing her oppa on the TV screen
remained a mystifying and welcoming viewing experience to her, even now.
But the thing was – both Jin-Ah and her mom had no idea.
They simply had no idea that there was someone very close, cheering on
even more passionately then they did while watching the TV screen.
‘Oh, my king….!’
Beru’s deeply-moved eyes were firmly fixed on the screen as he watched
the clip being played out.
But then, a powerful chill began invading his body out of the blue.
Literally, without warning, his body hidden in the shadows began trembling
non-stop.
This sensation, hadn’t he felt something similar to this in the past?
When was that?
Beru combed through his memories and finally recalled that moment. Back
then, right when the king’s gaze filled with killing intent was looking down
on him. It was at that moment.
A feeling of death that could not be avoided. The warning bells rang out
loudly via his instincts after detecting the unmistakable stench of death.
The king’s rage he felt for the first time since becoming his Shadow Soldier
was so great that Beru’s entire thought process froze up. However, he was still
his king’s loyal soldier!
He regained his wits quite quickly.
‘….My king has been truly enraged.’
Now that he realised something had happened to his king, he couldn’t just
sit around quivering in fear like this. Beru quickly sent a signal to Jin-Woo
and tried to engage him conversation.
‘Oh, my king. Please compose yourself. I shall get to your side
immediately.’
The response arrived immediately.
[You…. Don’t make a move.]
Beru heard the king’s voice which sounded like unchecked rage being
compressed into a volatile mass. He could only tremble like a leaf against
stormy winds.
‘I shall obey.’
He could only say that he’d submit to the command, that was all. But at the
same time, he became also curious about the moron who managed to earn his
king’s wrath.
‘Why would anyone do something so reckless and ill-advised….’
To numb the fear, even if only by a little, Beru hid his still-trembling body
ever deeper into the shadow.
***
In the city of Busan.
The Knight Order Guild was in the middle of preparing for a raid.
The Master of the Guild, Park Jong-Su, was confirming the raid party
members and their current conditions one last time, as the will to make this
raid a success burned fiercely within his heart.
“There’s been a lot of accidents happening in dungeons lately. So,
everyone – keep your wits about you at all times! Let’s make sure that not a
single person gets injured today!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Guild members had become rather docile after experiencing a raid
together with Jin-Woo’s summoned creatures. And now, they even sounded
properly disciplined, as well.
It was at that moment something strange happened.
The Vice-Master of the Guild, Jeong Yun-Tae, was standing behind Park
Jong-Su to nod his head and provide suitable reactions to his boss’s words.
But, he discovered something and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.
“Heok?!”
Park Jong-Su hurriedly looked behind him.
“What?! What happened?”
Jeong Yun-Tae pointed to the ground and alternated his gaze between Park
Jong-Su and the shadow beneath his boss’s feet.
“H-hyung-nim!! Your, your shadow! The shadow on the ground was
vibrating….”
Jeong Yun-Tae discovered that Park Jong-Su was glaring at him with
narrowed eyes and stopped talking right there and then.
“Hey, Yun-Tae? How many times have I told you not to touch booze
before a raid?”
“N-no, hyung-nim! I haven’t had a drop of the stuff today! But your
shadow, it really did vibrate! Like it was alive!”
Park Jong-Su stared at Jeong Yun-Tae with criticising eyes and spat out a
long groan.
“This won’t do. Take a day off today.”
“Hyung-nim! I’m telling you the truth!”
“Okay, everyone! Time to go inside. The Knight Order Guild, let’s do our
best today, too! Fighting!”
“Ahh! B-but, hyung-nim…!”
Just as Jeong Yun-Tae’s voice that protested his innocence resounded in the
air…
Unbelievable sightings of shadows trembling streamed in from all the spots
where Jin-Woo had left behind his Shadow Soldiers. Shadows trembled
noticeably as if they didn’t care for the presence of witnesses or not.
But then again, the Shadow Soldiers had no choice but to shiver from the
emotion of pure rage their lord was feeling at that moment.
***
The High Orc soldier disappeared, only to be replaced by Jin-Woo.
‘….!!’
Hwang Dong-Su’s group froze up like a mouse confronted by a snake the
moment this unexpected intruder entered the stage completely unannounced.
Especially for Hwang Dong-Su himself, he nearly even forgot to breathe after
recognising Jin-Woo’s face.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo simply strode past the stunned rank S Hunter, as if the
latter didn’t even exist, and stopped before Yu Jin-Ho. No one said anything,
yet the two Americans standing near the unconscious kid quickly stepped
back at the same time, as if they agreed to do so beforehand.
After summoning out a healing potion, Jin-Woo began easing a little bit of
liquid down into Yu Jin-Ho’s mouth.
Unfortunately…
[When the remaining HP is less than 10%, it is impossible to recover HP
with healing potions.]
….The message saying it was impossible to heal the kid’s wounds popped
up in his view along with the familiar ‘Tti-ring’.
Crack.
The empty vial of healing potion shattered in Jin-Woo’s hand.
The ‘Divine Water of Life’ was meant to heal diseases and illnesses. It
couldn’t help in matters of physical injuries like this. It was the same principle
of healing magic not being able to cure illnesses.
‘I need healing magic.’
Too bad, the only Shadow Soldier capable of using healing magic, Beru,
was currently back in Korea house-sitting. Even if Jin-Woo recalled him now,
who knows just how long he’d take to get here…
….It was around this time that Hwang Dong-Su finally regained his wits
and tried to engage Jin-Woo in conversation.
“You… You, what the hell? That Orc, just now… What the hell did you
do?”
Jin-Woo didn’t respond to that and simply asked the two men before him,
instead.
“Is either one of you a Healer?”
Hearing the word ‘Healer’, the Healer-type Hunter ended up reflexively
nodding his head. Jin-Woo pointed to Yu Jin-Ho.
“Heal him. Now.”
The Healer’s gaze shifted over to Hwang Dong-Su. The latter shook his
head. Jin-Woo carefully lowered Yu Jin-Ho’s upper torso back down and
stood up.
“Final warning. Heal him.”
The Healer’s gaze shifted back to Hwang Dong-Su again, but the answer
remained the same. So, the Healer stared straight at Jin-Woo and the corners
of his lips arched up.
“You see, dude, you should talk to the boss first before…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Ka-boom!!
Just like how Hwang Dong-Su had done to Yu Jin-Ho, Jin-Woo slammed
the Healer’s head on the ground. It happened so fast that no one saw his
movements.
Hwang Dong-Su might have been a rank S himself, but he simply failed to
even sense Jin-Woo’s attack and only belatedly discovered the Healer lying
face down on the ground.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze to the second of the Americans.
“Are you a Healer?”
This man finally confirmed the face of Jin-Woo walking closer to him and
his jaw began trembling in shock.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo?! Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
He back-pedalled in panic and began glaring at Hwang Dong-Su before
shouting out.
“Mister Hwang Dong-Su! You promised that this matter had nothing to
do with Seong Jin-Woo! What the f*ck is this?! Ah?? What is this sh*t?!”
“I asked you if you are a Healer or not.”
“N-no, I, I’m not. I’m just….”
His answer was also abruptly cut off there.
Ka-boom!
Struck by an unseen hand, the man’s head crashed to the ground like his
friend’s before him. In the blink of an eye, two high-ranked Hunters had lost
their consciousness.
Finally getting to witness Jin-Woo’s real strength with his own two eyes,
Hwang Dong-Su felt his heart pounding away like crazy.
It was then.
“H-hyung-nim…”
Perhaps because the ground rumbled loudly twice in a row? Yu Jin-Ho had
regained his consciousness somehow.
“Hyung…. nim….”
Jin-Woo lowered his body and listened closely to the kid’s voice.
“Hey, Jin-Ho. I’m here.”
Yu Jin-Ho managed to crack open his swollen eyelids. He barely managed
to move the muscles on his bloodied and messed-up face, his words clearly
being formed with great difficulty.
“Hwang Dong-Su… little brother… Hwang Dong-Seok…. Be careful…”
Jin-Woo looked at Yu Jin-Ho breathing weakly with a helpless expression
before stopping the kid’s words.
“Shh. It’s fine. Don’t speak anymore.”
“Hyung-nim….”
Yu Jin-Ho grabbed Jin-Woo’s hand as tears pooled on the edges of his eyes.
Jin-Woo quietly asked.
“Can you hold on for a little longer?”
Nod, nod.
It became harder to speak so Yu Jin-Ho made do with a nod to answer the
question.
Jin-Woo carefully let go of his dongsaeng’s hand and slowly got back up to
his feet, before shifting his gaze back over to Hwang Dong-Su.
However, Hwang Dong-Su didn’t back down and shot a glare right back.
His legs were weakly trembling from the pressure of Jin-Woo’s murderous
eyes, but he was not someone who’d cower and run away.
In the meantime, Jin-Woo’s coldly-flickering eyes were getting closer and
closer. Hwang Dong-Su did his best to look unruffled and raised his voice.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You killed my older brother, Hwang Dong-Seok.
Am I right?”
Hwang Dong-Su’s scared face grew closer with every step taken. And then,
a certain someone’s face who enjoyed being strong against the weak, but
remained weak against someone stronger, overlapped with his face in Jin-
Woo’s view.
That caused his glare to become even colder.
Meanwhile, Hwang Dong-Su cried out.
“Answer me!! Seong Jin-Woo, didn’t you murder my brother and his
team?!”
Jin-Woo stopped right in front of Hwang Dong-Su’s nose and replied.
“Ask him after you meet him again.”
Grit.
Hwang Dong-Su punched with his fist wrapped in bright light. He was
aiming for Jin-Woo’s face. Unfortunately for him, the latter simply ducked
lower to evade that and shoved his own fist deep into the former’s stomach.
“Keo-Heok!”
Just one hit and Hwang Dong-Su vomited out a mouthful of blood.
***
“Stop the car!”
“Sir?”
“I said, stop the d*mn car!”
Thomas Andre roared out and the car he was riding in came to a sudden
halt. As the vehicle in front carrying their Guild Master came to an abrupt
halt, the chasing cars ferrying the Guild members all hurriedly came to a stop
as well.
Screech, screeech….
Loud noises resounded out from everywhere. Completely disregarding
that…
Boom!
….Thomas Andre kicked the car’s door away and climbed out in a hurry so
he could glare in a certain direction. His expression crumpled into a vicious
scowl.
“D*mn it….”
The elites of the Scavenger Guild, often referred to as the world’s best,
jumped out from all the halted vehicles.
“Master, what is it?”
“Did something happen?”
Thomas Andre answered briefly to all the hurried questions from the Guild
members.
“It has already begun. I’ll go ahead, so hurry and follow after me.”
“Sir??”
What had already begun?
Before anyone could ask him for an explanation, though, Thomas Andre
bent his knees. The muscles on his legs expanded powerfully and the asphalt
on the ground began melting down. Other Hunters naturally took two, three
steps away from him.
Ka-boom!!
Thomas Andre exploded up from the ground and in an instant, disappeared
from their view.
***
‘Something is…. coming.’
Something strong, that was.
Just as Thomas Andre had sensed Jin-Woo’s powers, the latter also sensed
the former’s presence. So, he stopped moving his punching hand.
His other hand was still grabbing onto the collar of Hwang Dong-Su, who
now was suffering from just as many grievous wounds as Yu Jin-Ho.
Ka-boom!
A part of the disused factory’s ceiling caved in and through the open gap,
one of the four remaining Special Authority-rank Hunters in the world,
Thomas Andre, flew in and landed on the ground.
Since he knew that a guest was arriving anyway, Jin-Woo wasn’t surprised
in the slightest as he calmly took a look at the landing zone.
Thomas Andre stood up straight and quickly confirmed the situation.
He first saw Yu Jin-Ho, then Jin-Woo, and finally, the end of Jin-Woo’s
hand. His gaze moved in that order, until stopping at Hwang Dong-Su.
Right away, Thomas Andre’s forehead creased up. Jin-Woo’s incredible
magical energy emission had completely masked Hwang Dong-Su’s presence
and he couldn’t initially sense it.
Thomas Andre took off and discarded his sunglasses.
“Hwang Dong-Su… Is he still alive?”
“For now.”
Thomas Andre resorted to using simple English and enunciated each word
loudly so that Jin-Woo, someone who might be not familiar with the
language, could hear him clearly.
“Let him go. If you do that, we’ll forget that today’s event had ever
happened. I’m asking you for a favour.”
Jin-Woo strengthened his grip on Hwang Dong-Su’s collar and asked.
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Then, well. A favour won’t be a favour anymore.”
One of the most powerful Hunters in the world bared his fangs.
A regular Hunter would start p*ssing their pants right about now. However,
Jin-Woo’s own aura didn’t lose out to Thomas Andre’s.
“Come, then.”
Chapter 191 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
day.
Almost every TV station and newspaper under the sun was talking about
the Hunters arriving in the United States before the International Guild
Conference began. However, only one newspaper from the east of the country
dared to carry a rather different sort of headline on its front page.
[Thomas Andre loses consciousness!]
There was not one American who didn’t know the name of Thomas Andre.
So, they couldn’t quite believe that their Special Authority-rank Hunter had
lost consciousness.
Did he contract some kind of illness?
The passersby were immediately drawn in by that simple-yet-attention-
grabbing headline. They reached out to grab their copies of the paper and
gladly paid the asking price.
But then, steps of the curious buyers came to a stuttering halt after they
unfurled their papers and read the article within. That rather boring headline
didn’t prepare the readers adequately enough for the bombshell hiding within
the article itself.
It was unknown why the fight happened, but regardless, the article went to
detail the event of a lone Hunter clashing against Thomas Andre and his
Scavenger Guild the night before.
And the aftermath was laid bare for all to see with several pages’ worth of
large photographs.
They showed bloodied and battered Thomas Andre, as well as many
injured Hunters being carried out from a disused factory.
If someone who didn’t know any of these people saw the images, that
person might have said that they were victims of a terror attack. That’s how
severe the scenes depicted were.
However, weren’t these people all top-ranked Hunters in this nation?
Especially for Thomas Andre – he was the Special Authority-rank Hunter
who survived the ‘Kamish’ raid, referred to as the worst calamity in human
history.
Every single person reading the article couldn’t hide how shocked they felt.
Their breathing became rough and heavy, just like the editor back when he
first laid his eyes on these images.
And when the identity of the man who drove the Hunters of the Scavenger
Guild to this wretched state was revealed, the readers focusing on the article
cried out in pure shock and astonishment.
“What in the world….”
“Jesus Christ!”
Why was there an image of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in this article? Wasn’t
he the current darling of the international media after he stopped a massive-
scale crisis taking place in Japan not too long ago?
The contrast between Thomas Andre lying sprawled on the ground, and
Jin-Woo turning around to leave with an emotionless face, was so great that it
left the readers with an indescribable level of mental shock.
As almost all of the mass media was focused on the International Guild
Conference, the ripple caused by the article was even greater than it might
have been otherwise.
Rather than traditional media outlets breaking the news, though, the story
first gained traction in South Korea through social media, instead.
[ROFLOL. Thomas Andre beaten to a pulp by Seong Jin-Woo was real?
Link to the article.]
[Holy cow, it’s real. LOL Thomas Andre showed up with Guild members
and still got ransacked like nobody’s business?]
[Bullsh*t. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Makes no sense. One guy wrecked a Special
Authority-rank Hunter + super-top-number one Guild?]
└ [Go read the linked article. All true.]
└ [Why did they fight, tho?]
└ [No one knows. No reason provided.]
[LOLOL Yankee bros yapping on about Special Authority this and that,
but now, boom! Maybe, these fools were nothing but hot air?]
[It’s not Thomas Andre being useless, it’s Seong Jin-Woo being
incredible.]
[Yup, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is the pride of South Korea.]
└ [Kyah~! Barmaid! Time to get drunk! Bring me a tall glass of
patriotism!]
Most of the Korean commenters expressed their surprise at this event, but
on the other hand, the comments filled with pride quickly appeared on various
Japanese social media accounts.
[It’s only obvious that even Thomas Andre was no match for Seong Jin-
Woo Hunter-nim.]
[Maybe the U.S. didn’t help us because they were afraid of exposing the
truth behind their Special Authority-ranked Hunters…]
[We need to be grateful that such a Hunter came to lend us his aid.]
[I’ve been trying to send a thank you gift to Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim
for a little while now. Where should I send it so he can receive it?]
[You can send it here. The address is….]
└ [Hey, dude, why U writing your own address?]
└ [wwwwww What a crazy b*stard.]
Jin-Woo was already the hero of Japan.
The wounded pride of the Japanese people was restored when Jin-Woo, a
man who rescued their country from the brink of destruction, defeated the
hero of America.
Perhaps inevitably, the attention of the world – not just America’s, where
the incident took place – was laser-focused on Jin-Woo once more, after a
short period of peace since the Giant subjugation.
Why did he do it?
Why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo pummel Thomas Andre and his Guild
members into near-oblivion?
Did something irreconcilable happen between the two men?
Public opinion and mass media were burning up from the flames of
speculation. Everyone that learnt of this incident could only wait in
desperation for some clarity on the situation.
Jin-Woo woke up in the assigned hotel room. He took a look outside the
window and saw the sea of reporters camping outside the hotel’s entrance and
clicked his tongue.
“Where did all these people show up from?”
Sure, it wasn’t as if he had no clue why these reporters had gathered
outside the hotel. No, he simply got surprised by the fact that the news had
spread out this fast, that was all.
Even then, he had no plans to shy away from them. Wasn’t this a good
opportunity to let the world know what would happen if someone tried to
mess him?
It was not against the law to shoot down someone aiming a gun at you in
America. Especially more so, with laws being amended recently, after the
appearance of the Hunters.
The issue might have gotten out of hand if he kept attacking the
unconscious Thomas Andre. But, he wisely stopped right away the moment
his opponent lost the will to fight.
It should be a similar story with Hwang Dong-Su, too. Once people learn
about what he did to Yu Jin-Ho, not many would point their fingers at Jin-
Woo.
So, he stayed calm and waited for Agent Adam White to contact him. Sure
enough…
Knock, knock.
He opened the door after hearing the knock to find Agent Adam White
standing on the corridor with two other Bureau-affiliated Hunters.
Jin-Woo asked with absolutely no nervousness in his voice.
“Are you here to arrest me?”
“No, not at all.”
The American agent shook his head and hurriedly continued on.
“We’re here to escort you to the Guild Conference venue because we are
expecting quite a big fuss to develop during the day. And also….”
Adam White quickly fixed his attire and politely bent his waist 90 degrees
forward, totally out of the blue.
‘…..?’
Feeling puzzled by that gesture, Jin-Woo looked on. However, Adam White
showed no signs of straightening himself and spoke while maintaining the
current posture.
“Also, I’d like to express my gratitude, as well.”
Jin-Woo combed through his memories briefly just then, but he failed to
recall any moments that warranted a thank-you from the Hunter Bureau.
All he did yesterday was – he lost Kamish’s shadow, wandered around
searching for the kidnapped Yu Jin-Ho, encountered Thomas Andre
coincidentally and beat his a*s down to the ground. That was all.
‘…….’
Recalling the events of yesterday managed to sour his mood by a notch.
The American agent probably wasn’t expressing his gratitude to Jin-Woo
for showing him the process of extracting a shadow. So, why was he saying
his thanks for?
Fortunately enough, Adam White opened his mouth just in time, right
before Jin-Woo’s confusion had the chance to grow any bigger.
“If you hadn’t stopped right then, the United States of America would
have lost both of her Special Authority-rank Hunters.”
‘Ahh, so that’s what he was talking about.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head as he recalled the scene of Adam White crying
out and trying to dissuade him the night before.
For sure, yesterday’s result might have been entirely different if the
American agent didn’t show up and Thomas Andre remained stubborn right
until the end.
The U.S. had already lost one of her Special Authority-rank Hunters. So,
the government would’ve done everything in order to prevent the loss of her
second, regardless of the cost.
Jin-Woo could more or less understand now where Adam White and his
bowed head was coming from.
Meanwhile, the American agent carried on.
“We at the Hunter Bureau will do our best to ensure that you’re not
unduly troubled by this incident, Seong Hunter-nim.”
With those words, Adam White stood upright again. He looked dead tired,
though.
The Hunter Bureau held a night-long emergency meeting on how to deal
with this event. Naturally, Adam White had to attend the meeting, seeing that
he was in charge of chaperoning Jin-Woo around.
The conclusion of that meeting was….
The higher-ups decided to do everything in their power to make Jin-Woo’s
stay in the country that much more comfortable. His feat of defeating Thomas
Andre only served to improve the Hunter Bureau’s evaluation of him.
The organisation definitely didn’t want to see their relationship with Jin-
Woo souring because of the Scavenger Guild’s wrongdoings. Most
importantly, Thomas Andre wasn’t dead, now was he?
Adam White was ordered to carry on as scheduled and so, he came here to
escort Jin-Woo. He stared at his charge for a little while before swallowing
dry saliva.
Gulp.
‘This man alone managed to defeat the Scavenger Guild….’
The normal image of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was a man of power for whom
common sense still prevailed.
But then, Adam White got to personally witness the kind of spectacle the
Korean Hunter’s wrath could bring about. And so, he was genuinely envious
of Yu Jin-Ho after realising that such wrath was solely reserved to protect the
people close to Jin-Woo.
“Oops. It’s already this late.”
Adam White confirmed the time and formed a smile.
“Well, then… Shall we get going?”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
Jin-Woo was escorted out of the hotel with the guidance of Adam White
and his fellow agents. The group broke past the wall of the fervent reporters
and climbed aboard the waiting Bureau-supplied vehicle.
Click, click, click, click, click-!!
Meanwhile, the reporters continuously and tirelessly took photos even as
the vehicle carrying their query gradually disappeared from their views.
On their way to the conference venue, Adam White explained the current
situation.
“We have secured the testimonies of Hunter Hwang Dong-Su’s
accomplices. The Bureau will soon release a statement containing the full
account of what happened.”
He then went and strongly emphasized that ‘Hunter-nim’ would not be
inconvenienced in any shape or form. It was a welcome piece of news for Jin-
Woo, of course.
The reason why he decided to travel to the States had to do with the
‘monster’ possessing the appearance of his father. He wished to gather
information through the International Guild Conference.
He asked the newly Shadow Soldier-ified Hwang Dong-Su, but even that
guy didn’t know much about this creature who could possibly be his father.
According to the former rank S Hunter, that creature came out of a dungeon
all alone, and its magic energy emission was identical to other monsters.
When the issue with the being’s son was brought up, it became hostile and a
fight broke out afterwards.
That was all.
‘Just what was its real identity….?’
There was a good chance that it might not be his father, after all. If that
thing was really him, then quite obviously, the first thing he’d do was to come
and see his family.
The more Jin-Woo looked into this matter, the greater his questions
became. To confound the matters even further, several more questions were
added on top of the already-existing ones.
It all started off with the final words of Kamish, just before the Dragon
disappeared for good.
[Oh, my king. There are four humans who have borrowed the powers of
the Rulers. Please, you need to be wary of them.]
Five Hunters survived the Kamish raid. Which meant that the odds of the
four among the five Special Authority-rank Hunters borrowing the powers of
the Rulers were very high.
‘But then… one of the Special Authority-rank Hunters was killed by
someone recently.’
That man’s name was Christopher Reid.
Just who was he fighting that a Hunter as powerful as he was had to resort
to burning down his mansion and the surrounding forest?
Could it be possible that the Sovereigns mentioned by the King of Giants
were finally making their move?
If that wasn’t it, did the sudden changes dungeons went through recently
have anything to do with it?
As several thoughts fleeted in and out of Jin-Woo’s head, he could see the
venue for the conference getting nearer and nearer.
The moment Jin-Woo stepped into the lobby of the venue, the
conversations and welcoming greetings being shared among the crowd all
came to a sudden halt.
Gazes of curiosity and fear came flying at him from pretty much all
directions.
He was that Asian Hunter responsible for utterly destroying Thomas Andre,
who had been reigning over other Hunters like a king.
Noisy, noisy….
Quite a few Hunters kept whispering the stories related to Jin-Woo even
now, but none of them dared to approach him. Because they still didn’t know
why he went and wrecked the Scavenger Guild to that extent.
Seriously now, what if the reason for that unholy mass beat-down turned
out to be nothing more than Thomas Andre staring at him for too long? If so,
wouldn’t one get marked for death simply by trying to say hello to Jin-Woo?
Even though all these people were ace Hunters that subjugated scary
monsters for a living, they found it hard to meet Jin-Woo’s gaze right now.
After the cordial lunch prepared by the Hunter Bureau came to an end, the
participating Hunters began filling up the seats facing the rostrum in the
conference venue.
Afterwards, the conference got going, and several topics were discussed.
Unfortunately, none of those really warranted Jin-Woo’s complete attention
nor his sustained interest. Most of the things being talked about were similar
in nature to status updates and so on.
‘If only Jin-Ho was here. I’d not be this bored….’
All Jin-Woo could do was to wake up his super-human patience and wait
until the topic he might be interested in came around.
Quite a while later…
Although it was not the information he was waiting for, a topic did manage
to grab his attention.
“Everyone, you should be aware of the fact that the number of Gates
being generated has shot up recently, and the fact that stronger monsters
have made their appearances, too.”
Initially, it sounded like something everyone knew only too well.
Since quite a few scientists had appeared before this man to speak their
theories regarding this topic already, the atmosphere in the venue came across
as lukewarm at best.
“However, there should be almost none of you who have realised that
unusual activity has been detected in the skies above us.”
The scientist named Belzer emphasized the word ‘skies’ and the Hunters
finally began showing signs of interest. Of course, Jin-Woo was included
among those Hunters, as well.
“The truth of the magical energy concentration found in the planet’s
atmosphere getting greater – we all know of this fact since it has been
widely reported.”
Now that he was being showered with the interested gazes of the Hunters,
the clearly-happy scientist carried on.
“I’d like to use a different term to denote the magic energy found in our
atmosphere. Until another more suitable word is invented, how about we
use the term, ‘magisphere’?”
The scientist gestured with his hand, and a huge map was displayed on the
screen behind him. It was the atlas of the world that contained all of the
continents – no, all of the countries existing on this planet.
The scientist used a laser pointer to highlight several spots on the map.
“Did you know that the magisphere has begun gathering and
concentrating on the skies of several nations at present?”
Noisy, noisy….
The noise level among the Hunters gradually rose up. The scientist
implored his audience to quieten down and listen to him for a little bit longer,
before continuing on with his explanations.
“There are a total of nine spots in the world where the magisphere has
begun gathering into a large mass. My purpose today is to reveal the
locations of the nine spots.”
Doctor Belzer then calmly read off the names of the nine countries on his
list.
“….Province of Alberta, Canada. And finally, this is the spot with the
highest magisphere concentration. City of Seoul, South Korea.”
The moment those translated words of the scientist came out from the
earpiece Jin-Woo wore – for some reason, every single Hunter sitting inside
the venue shifted their gazes in his direction all at once.
Chapter 195 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo had read the article featuring his feat on his way here.
After seeing the gazes of other Hunters locking onto him because of a
completely unrelated matter, though, he had to concede that the ripples
created from that article were far greater than he anticipated.
Jin-Woo scanned the Hunters and they quickly withdrew their gazes.
‘Come on now. This is just….’
He discovered palpable fear within their eyes and could only let out a
helpless sigh in his heart.
‘Looks like these people are really, seriously mistaken about something
here.’
All he could do now was to wait for the Hunter Bureau to release that
promised statement.
And so – just as the atmosphere within the venue was getting a bit weird,
Doctor Belzer looked in Jin-Woo’s direction and cracked a joke.
“I’ve also read this morning’s article. But folks, you shouldn’t be looking
at Seong Hunter-nim that way. If he was capable of causing all this
magisphere in the air like that, then obviously, he’s no longer a Hunter, is
he?”
Hahaha….
Awkward laughter came from here and there. Doctor Belzer smiled
refreshingly and carried on with his explanations.
“As you might have guessed, we couldn’t discover any tangible
similarities between the locations I have mentioned.”
Since there were no similarities, it was hard to figure out the cause for this
change. And since there was also no precedence, it was equally as hard to tell
what might happen next.
The scientist then brought up another image on the giant screen.
“This here is a shot of the skies above the aforementioned nine spots.”
He then added that his team had enhanced the footage with special effects
so that the image taken by the magic energy detection camera on the spy
satellite could be deciphered far more easily for the audience members.
Just as the scientist had explained, large magisphere lumps could be seen
gathered above, in the skies of the nine spots, like some kind of storm clouds.
Since ‘special effects’ had been added to the image, the reality might not be
as severe, but still, those things didn’t look like natural phenomena, all things
considered.
“Huh….”
“Mm.”
Hunters began leaking out shocked groans after confirming the contents of
the giant screen. It was definitely bad news that no one could figure out the
reason for this suspicious phenomenon, or what would come out of it.
The skies above Seoul looked to be especially bad.
Jin-Woo studied the satellite image of Seoul, which seemed to have become
the eye of the storm made up entirely of magisphere, and wondered why there
were nine spots in the world, to begin with.
‘Is it related somehow to the number of the Sovereigns? Because there
are nine of them?’
To call it a mere coincidence, it just left that vague uncool aftertaste in his
mouth. And also, now that the King of Giants was slain by him, that number
nine should not hold significance anymore.
It was then – Doctor Belzer shot him a very quick and sneaky glance. Their
gazes met in the air. Unlike the last time this happened, though, there was not
a hint of a smile on the good scientist’s face.
“Our current situation is that, since we don’t know the cause, we also
don’t know how to respond to this phenomenon.”
The scientist’s lengthy presentation was about to come to its conclusion.
“However, let me make it clear. The assertion of being unable to respond
does not mean there is no need to make plans. It’s eminently possible that
our world will experience yet another seismic shift soon.”
As the conference was drawing to a close, the director of the Hunter
Bureau took to the stage. His reason? To make an important announcement.
Since this wasn’t in the schedule, Hunters naturally became noisy from his
unexpected entrance.
Noisy, noisy….
Was the Hunter Bureau about to make an official statement related to the
events of the night before?
While being showered by the curious, interested gazes of the Hunters, the
director politely requested his audience to quieten down before he could
proceed.
“I have something important I must inform you about, everyone.”
Every single Hunter gathered here today were the elites of the elite within
their respective nations. The citizens of those nations would recognise who
they were just from their names alone.
Indeed, these people were not some unruly immature kids or a ragtag bunch
of misfit soldiers.
“….”
“….”
Just one sentence from the director, and in an instant, the venue was
enveloped in an eerie silence.
This was their superhuman-level ability to focus in full display; the high
degree of concentration that no regular human could ever possess was deeply
ingrained like instinct within the highest-ranked Hunters present in this venue.
The director nodded his head as he found the current atmosphere much to
his liking and scanned the faces of the Hunters. Eventually, his gaze met Jin-
Woo’s.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo….’
The director had been fully informed of everything that transpired
yesterday. He sent his acknowledgement in Jin-Woo’s direction with a brief
nod.
He was expressing his gratitude for letting Thomas Andre live.
Unfortunately, other Hunters had no clue on the ins and outs of that
situation, so they could only begin murmuring their theories to each other
when the director of the Bureau shared that greeting with Jin-Woo.
After a short while of unease later, the director finally addressed the crowd.
“My heart is heavy as I deliver this unfortunate news to you all.”
Finally….
Jin-Woo sensed that the moment he was waiting for had finally arrived.
The director spoke in a low, gloomy voice.
“About two weeks ago, Hunter Christopher Reid was murdered by
unidentified assailants.”
‘….!!’
The gathered Hunters were all astonished by the revelation.
One of the top Hunters in the world was murdered by someone?
Their level of shock transcended what Jin-Woo felt when he heard the news
first. This issue was well beyond the realm of who won the fight between two
powerful Hunters.
The director brought up the relevant information on the giant screen behind
him.
First, the remnants of flames that didn’t want to die out; the ashes of the
mansion; and then, Christopher Reid’s dead body with a hole in his chest.
Hunters confirmed the death of the Special Authority-rank Awakened via
the provided video footage as well as the several still images on the screen,
and reacted by gasping out in shocked moans.
Not one person present was able to dispute the fact of that man being dead
now.
As expected, the surprised Hunters began their outpouring of questions, but
the director firmly shook his head, instead.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll answer your questions only after this presentation
comes to an end.”
There was a far more important matter still to be carried out instead of
answering the questions. The director glanced at Jin-Woo from the corner of
his eyes. The young Korean Hunter and his gleaming eyes displayed no
reaction as he sat quietly in the corner of the conference venue.
His calm attitude managed to rouse up several complicated emotions in the
director’s heart.
However, there was no more time to hesitate. He pressed a button on the
remote controller and the image on the screen behind him changed again.
“We strongly suspect this man as the perpetrator of this crime.”
A man’s face now filled up the entirety of that giant screen. Almost
immediately, the gathered Hunters realised that something was amiss.
That Asian man’s face, wasn’t it uncannily similar to someone else sitting
inside this conference venue?
But then, these Hunters also recalled what happened to Thomas Andre, and
none of them could voice the thoughts bubbling up inside their minds.
“…..”
Jin-Woo too, closed shut his mouth.
The photograph must’ve been taken moments after ‘he’ had arrived at the
Hunter Bureau for identification purposes. That face definitely belonged to
his old man from his memories no matter how many times he took a look.
Jin-Woo eventually bit his lower lip.
‘How come it’s my father….’
Dungeons were supposedly the territory of the Rulers.
He couldn’t tell why they sent a monster with the outer appearance of his
father. Regardless of what their intentions were, though – Jin-Woo could still
feel the bubbling pit of rage slowly building up its intensity deep within his
heart.
Too bad, Hunters nearby completely mistook that rage for something else
and they did their absolute best to not look at his way.
‘Do not look back. Do not look back!!’
‘They just look similar, that’s all! Just similar, and nothing else!’
‘Asians all look alike, right? Right??’
‘But still, that is just so….’
The director branded ‘Seong Il-Hwan’ as ‘Suspect S’ and began explaining
who this man was. From where he was discovered, what happened during that
discovery, and finally, what transpired afterwards.
Hunters were taken by yet another surprise from the revelation that this
person actually defeated Hwang Dong-Su during the interrogation to make his
escape.
Just who was Hwang Dong-Su?
The Hunter Bureau acknowledged his powers early on and offered him a
sweet deal, prompting him to emigrate to the States right away. Moreover, he
was also one of the aces in what many believed to be the best Guild in the
world, the Scavenger Guild.
The shock these Hunters felt was great, perhaps because the news of his
demise hadn’t been publicised yet.
They were now thinking that, if multiple assailants possessing similar
levels of strength pounced on their target simultaneously, even a Special
Authority-rank Hunter wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
They understood the reason for the Hunter Bureau suspecting this
mysterious ‘Suspect S’ for this crime.
“Several human-type monsters possessing that level of power escaped
from dungeons and attacked Hunter Christopher Reid at the same time –
we at the Hunter Bureau feel that this is the likeliest explanation.”
As the director continued on, the image of ‘Suspect S’ pressing down on
Hwang Dong-Su’s neck with his foot popped up on the giant screen next.
The scene clearly exhibited the extraordinary power of the creature capable
of subduing Hwang Dong-Su like some kind of an insect – even though he
was a Hunter easily exceeding the regular rank S classification.
Hints of pure astonishment flashed past within the eyes of the Hunters
watching the footage on-screen. For Jin-Woo, though, that video clip didn’t
come across as all that surprising.
This ‘Suspect S’ was an existence the Rulers had created for some
unknown purpose. And they possessed unimaginable powers, enough to
generate dungeons, didn’t they?
‘So, obviously, it’s not weird to see Hwang Dong-Su getting defeated by
that creature.’
No, besides that – Jin-Woo was more concerned with what that ‘Suspect S’
was trying to do. It was engaging Hwang Dong-Su in a conversation.
‘It’s trying to… talk to him?’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up. He concentrated hard, like when he would do
during battles, and time slowed down instantly. His sharpened senses began
reading the lip movements of the Suspect S.
Ba-thump!
Jin-Woo’s heart pulsed powerfully just then.
Those last words….
‘….Even in death, not being able to close his eyes?!’
If his lip-reading proved to be correct, then that meant that ‘Suspect S’
knew about his existence. Thankfully, he knew of a way to easily confirm the
contents of that little chat those two had shared.
Jin-Woo suppressed his wildly-pounding heart and called out the name of
the brand-new addition to his Shadow Army.
‘Greed!’
Greed already knew what Jin-Woo wanted to know through their shared
mental link, so he immediately made his reply.
[It is as you suspect, my liege.]
‘….!!’
While the thoughts in Jin-Woo’s head were getting more and more
complicated and confused, the lengthy explanation of the director was coming
to an end.
“We’re planning to ask you, the Guilds of the world, to help us track
down and apprehend this ‘Suspect S’. If you discover this man’s
whereabouts, please, give us a call immediately. That is all.”
The end of the director’s words signalled the incoming flood of questions
that the Hunters had been holding back until then. They impatiently raised
their hands into the air.
“Yes, the sir over there.”
The director pointed to one of the raised hands, prompting that Hunter to
throw his question out, as if he couldn’t wait anymore.
“Do you have any proof that this ‘Suspect S’ isn’t a human?”
“We have perfectly matched his magic energy emission to that of
monsters. question.”
“That creature insisted that he was someone who went missing inside a
dungeon. However, did a Hunter like that really exist?”
“Yes, that Hunter did really exist. .”
“If that’s the case, why haven’t you revealed the identity of that Hunter?”
“Oh….”
The director hesitated greatly, but eventually replied while doing his very
best to avoid looking in Jin-Woo’s general direction.
“We’ve decided not to reveal that information because the suspect is
related to one of the Hunters currently attending this conference.”
That brought about a prompt and sudden end to the barrage of questions.
The ‘maybe’ changed into ‘as expected’ in that instant.
The director scanned the suddenly-silent conference venue and decided
he’d wrap up things here.
“Are there any other questions?”
It was then – someone sitting at the end of the audience seats at the back
raised his hand. Even before the director could call out his name, this guy
opened his mouth first.
“Even then, don’t you think it’ll be better to release the identity of that
person, if you really want to arrest ‘them’?”
Hunters didn’t have to turn around to see who asked that question in that
weighty voice. It was spoken in Chinese, and it came from a certain middle-
aged man.
He was none other than China’s Seven Star-rank Hunter, Liu Zhigeng.
One of the Special Authority-rank Hunters was looking straight at the
director with a sombre expression on his face. Dozens upon dozens of China’s
top Hunters, including his own Guild members, sat to his right, left, and front.
The director seemed to be at a loss, but Liu Zhigeng continued to press on.
“Don’t you agree, Mister Director?”
Although it had been urgently decided earlier in the day to seal the
information on the identity of ‘Suspect S’, the director realised that he didn’t
have much of a choice now and begrudgingly brought up it on the screen
behind him.
Beep.
One press of the remote button and the information on Seong Il-Hwan
filled up the giant screen. Soon, surprised gasps came out from several of the
audience members.
To think, the very first human-shaped monster to appear in dungeons
possessed the exact same countenance as Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s missing
father!
How could there be such a coincidence?
The once-quiet interior of the conference venue was buzzing with the
hushed voices of the Hunters.
Liu Zhigeng quietly stared at the screen before raising his hand again. The
director had to point to the Chinese Hunter once more.
“….Hunter Liu.”
“This time, I have a question I want to ask Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The director shifted his gaze to Jin-Woo. The latter lightly nodded his head
at the former and turned around in his seat to stare at Liu Zhigeng in the
distance.
Shortly thereafter, the Chinese Hunter’s heavy, bassy voice resounded out
within the interior.
“What will you do if this ‘Suspect S’ really turned out to be your long-lost
father, and the Hunters of the world were trying to hunt him down?”
Jin-Woo pondered that for a little bit before making his reply.
“If that creature is nothing but a monster, then I’ll kill it with my own
hands. However, if it’s not a monster, but really is my father, then….”
If it was really his father?
The gathered Hunters became intensely curious as to what he might say
next and began swallowing their saliva. Disregarding them all, Jin-Woo
firmly declared his intentions for all to hear.
“I shall protect my family, even if that means every single Hunter in the
world becomes my enemy.”
Chapter 196 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘I lost.’
Thomas Andre slowly opened his eyes as his head kept repeating those two
words he never thought he’d say ever again.
He found himself inside a hospital room.
‘When was the last time I stopped by at a hospital?’
Jin-Woo might have frequented hospitals as if they were his second home
during his early years as a Hunter. However, Thomas Andre didn’t, and he
couldn’t recall a single instance of staying in a hospital even once, ever since
becoming a Hunter.
Just who would’ve expected to see this kind of a result from a fight
between a Hunter who used to be the worst even among the rank Es, and a
man who started his career at the very top?
Of course, Thomas Andre didn’t care about Jin-Woo’s past. He was still
deeply flustered with this result, though.
‘I really… did lose.’
Thomas Andre slowly sat up with a dazed face of a man whose soul had
abandoned him.
Tap, tap….
The sound of someone lightly tapping on a keyboard came to a halt. He
shifted his gaze in that direction and found the main manager of the
Scavenger Guild, Laura, sitting in a location not too far, but not too close,
either.
Perhaps she was in the middle of her work because her slender fingers were
still hovering above the laptop’s keyboard.
“You’ve woken up.”
“….Looks like it.”
Thomas Andre withdrew his gaze and rubbed his chin.
One could estimate just how much time had passed, with the length of
one’s beard. Should he say he felt relieved, then? Because… his beard wasn’t
as long as he feared.
“About… one day, is it?’
“Yes.”
Laura affirmed it for him with a short answer, before continuing on.
“The first doctor to examine you suggested that I should prepare for the
worst case of you waking up several weeks later.”
That was how terrible Thomas Andre’s conditions were last night.
But then….
….She found it bit difficult to decide whether him waking up after only one
day was rather befitting of Thomas Andre’s capabilities, or the fact that he
even blacked out in the first place was unbecoming of him, instead.
Laura felt this conflict of emotion as she stood next to her boss’s bed.
“Should I call for a doctor?”
“No, not yet.”
Thomas Andre massaged his aching temples and shook his head.
The impact force he felt when that man punched him in the head still
remained vivid even now. What a horrible pain this was. So much so, he no
longer wanted to recall yesterday’s event if he could help it.
A doctor wouldn’t be able to do much anyway, even if one was summoned
here. Besides all that, though – wasn’t there something else he should confirm
first?
Thomas Andre quickly asked.
“What about Mister Hwang?”
Laura’s lips parted for a moment, but she couldn’t verbalise her answer and
simply shook her head.
“….Is that so.”
He pondered for a little while longer, before asking a different question
with an unconcerned tone of voice.
“What about other losses?”
“We have incurred many injured personnel, but thanks to the timely
response from the Hunter Bureau, everyone has fully recovered.”
Thomas Andre had been maintaining his calm until then, but he couldn’t
stop his voice from going up an octave.
“There were no other casualties?”
“Yes, sir.”
“…..”
His shock soon morphed into astonishment. He began gasping out
inwardly.
Even though the fight had been truly intense, not one person was killed. It
could only mean that his opponent went easy on them.
This was a clear sign of an overwhelming defeat.
When a person tastes such a complete defeat, one would often lose any
notion of getting angry at the result. That’s how Thomas Andre felt right
about now.
He was also awestruck, as well. Jin-Woo had defeated not just Thomas
Andre, but all the elite Hunters the American had gathered, all by himself.
That made Thomas somewhat fearful of the young Korean Hunter. No, his
emotion had gone beyond that and almost into the territory of pure respect.
Thomas Andre always told himself that being powerful was justice, so the
mental shock he felt right now was rather immense.
However…
However, why was he being like this?
He tasted an ignoble defeat yet he didn’t feel so bad at all. Maybe, he had
no regrets because he got to confirm the gap between him and his opponent?
He didn’t feel like getting angry at the person who defeated him. Nor was
he thinking of avenging his loss, either.
‘Instead, it’s more like….’
As several thoughts began crisscrossing in his head, Laura suddenly
presented him with a small but lengthy box. It was a case for glasses.
‘….?’
Thomas Andre accepted this case while sending her a puzzled stare. She
solved his curiosity right away.
“Your sunglasses were recovered from the location, but they were too
damaged to be repaired.”
Click.
He opened the case to find a new pair of sunglasses with the same design as
before that he liked to wear. Thomas Andre broke into a smirk and put them
on.
“Looks like I keep ending up owing people.”
Laura was inwardly worried that her boss would start going off on a
rampage the moment he woke up, but his response brought about a sense of
relief in her and she sighed inwardly, before forming a gentle smile.
“It’s my job, sir.”
Thomas Andre wordlessly stared into the distance, before quietly opening
his mouth.
“Mister Hwang…. Make sure you hold a proper funeral for him. He was
still one of our own, after all.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and also….”
And also?
Laura stopped jotting down Thomas Andre’s orders in her memo pad and
raised her head.
“Tell Hunter Seong Jin-Woo that the Scavenger Guild will…. No, wait.
Scratch that. Send him a message that I, Thomas Andre, will offer an
official apology.”
Protect the Hunters.
Why did Madam Selner say something like this? Jin-Woo formed a puzzled
expression.
“….Why me?”
She seemed to be unsure of where to start her story but eventually, opened
her mouth rather laboriously.
“While the dream kept repeating itself, I tried my best to memorise the
faces of those hunting down the Hunters. However, it was all for nought.”
She explained that all she could remember after waking up were faces
covered in veils of darkness.
“And so, I decided to use another method. Even if it was just a dream, I’d
use my ability to look into their true nature, their true form.”
“Was that why you looked into my eyes last time?”
“Yes, correct.”
Madam Selner readily admitted to how her ability worked.
Ba-thump.
Jin-Woo’s heart began racing again.
Back then, what did Madam Selner discover inside him that made her
shiver in fear like that? Unfortunately, her story hadn’t finished yet, so he had
to suppress the rising tide of curiosity and concentrated on her voice.
“What I found within those people was limitless power. But, when I
locked gazes with ‘that thing’, I had no choice but to wake up from my
dream.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze momentarily drifted lower and saw her fingertips tremble
imperceptibly.
“When my eyes looked into it… I can still clearly remember the words
and voice of ‘that thing’ even now.”
Jin-Woo slightly raised his head back up again. Both the director listening
in, as well as Adam White translating from the side, carried deeply tense
expressions.
Jin-Woo asked her in a calm voice.
“What did that thing say to you?”
“It said that I should… quietly go back and wait for the war.”
Madam Selner began shuddering in horror after finally recalling that
memory. The voice she heard in her dream was far more vivid than any other
sound she heard in reality.
Unlike the frightened woman, though, Jin-Woo was focused on the word
‘war’, instead. That was his clue.
‘It’s similar to what the King of Giants told me, isn’t it?’
The battle between the Rulers and the Sovereigns – didn’t the King of
Giants say it? That ‘they’ were gearing up for war? Most likely, the Rulers
weren’t the only ones preparing for this upcoming battle.
If that was the case, then, just which side did the b*stards hunting the
Hunters belong to?
Although he felt curious about this, he still hadn’t heard a reply to his
original question. So, he asked again.
“How does that relate to you asking me to protect other Hunters?”
“….Because, I saw the same power sleeping within you.”
Her cautiously-mouthed words slapped wide awake Jin-Woo and in the
face. The power of the Shadow Sovereign – that’s what she saw on that day,
hiding deep inside of him.
Since she saw the same type of power from the assassins in her dreams,
their identity had to be….
‘….Sovereigns.’
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened.
Madam Selner detected the rapid shift in Jin-Woo’s expression and quickly
added more explanation.
“They are existences above the Hunters, and in order to stop them, we
need you who possess the power that equals theirs, Hunter-nim.”
The director quietly listened up to here and finally entered the
conversation.
“In all honesty, I wasn’t convinced by the claim that no one can protect
the Hunters besides you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, but, well….”
The reason why this meeting had been hastily arranged was…
“….My fight with Thomas Andre yesterday changed the way the Hunter
Bureau thinks, am I correct?”
The director replied awkwardly after the truth was accurately pointed out.
“Yes, you’re correct.”
Thanks to the matters of the day before, the Hunter Bureau finally learned
of the difference between Jin-Woo and other Hunters. That event might have
been a big incident, yes, but it also helped the organisation to discover a new
ray of hope.
Beings capable of murdering Special Authority-rank Hunters, and a lone
Hunter possessing powers equal to those beings.
The Hunter Bureau was in desperate need of Jin-Woo’s help more than
ever. The United States had already lost one of her Special Authority-rank
Hunters. And from their perspective, Thomas Andre had to be protected at
any cost.
“Of course, we don’t expect a Hunter as excellent as you to help us
without any suitable compensation.”
Anything he wanted, it’d be made available. And that included the greatest
treasure Kamish had left behind, its Rune Stone.
The new proposal coming from the Hunter Bureau wasn’t about scouting
him. Rather than annoy Jin-Woo by pushing forward the already-rejected
offer, they’d rather borrow his power to protect America’s greatest combat
force. That was the response the Bureau had decided to go with regarding the
current events, post-Christopher Reid’s death.
“…..”
Jin-Woo shut his mouth and fell into a bit of a dilemma.
Madam Selner came clean on what she saw in order to help him make up
his mind.
“There are Hunters enjoying powerful blessings in this world. They have
supported this world with their powers. If they are gone, this world will not
be able to hold on for much longer.”
Jin-Woo finally replied to them after his lengthy deliberation.
“….I’m sorry.”
His firm refusal that didn’t leave any room for reconsideration caused the
director’s brows to shoot up high.
“I-is it because of some unresolved emotion towards Thomas Andre
Hunter-nim….??”
Jin-Woo quickly shook his head before people jumped to wrong
conclusions.
“No, not at all.”
There was only one reason why he made this decision.
“It’s only because I don’t know anything about the enemies I’ll be
facing.”
Even if he had a rough idea about what their identities were, he hadn’t
encountered them once yet. It was only obvious that he’d not make any
promises on protecting someone else when he had no clue on the enemy’s
capabilities.
Jin-Woo wasn’t some amateur who’d readily make promises when he
wasn’t sure whether he could keep them in the first place.
‘I’ll observe the situation for the time being.’
And then, he’d take care of those things he could handle, first.
His collected ways of thinking hadn’t changed at all from that day he
entered the dual dungeon for the first time all those months ago.
Thankfully, Jin-Woo possessed several Shadow Soldiers who’d accurately
convey information to him in real time. By leaving behind his boys in the
shadows of all the Hunters the Bureau was concerned about, he’d be able to
respond to those b*stards in time if they made a move.
“Well, then….”
Jin-Woo began thinking up a suitable response when the time comes as he
stood up from his seat to leave.
In the president’s office of the Korean Hunter’s Association.
The Association President Goh Gun-Hui was spending yet another busy
day.
Why, of all possible things under the heavens, did Hunter Seong and
Thomas Andre have to fight a day before the International Guild Conference?
He was worried about things going wrong on the other side so he sent
inquiries through all available channels and finally, received a reply from the
Hunter Bureau not too long ago.
Their investigation had found that the Scavenger Guild was at fault for the
incident and that Jin-Woo wouldn’t be unduly inconvenienced in any shape or
form moving forward, according to the message from the United States.
“Whew….”
Association President Goh Gun-Hui finally could get this load off his
shoulders and plopped down on his chair like a man feeling greatly relieved.
No one could imagine how worried to death he was as he thought about
Hunter Seong getting locked up in an American prison.
But then again…
‘Hang on a minute.’
….Just who would be capable of locking Hunter Seong up?
Even Thomas Andre had lost consciousness, didn’t he?
Goh Gun-Hui broke into a chuckle after his thoughts finally reached there,
long after the dust on the matter had settled down.
‘In a way… I was worried about something totally unnecessary.’
“Huhuh….”
Goh Gun-Hui chuckled for a while before feeling a bit of thirst creeping in.
He searched for something to drink and found a bottle of water located on top
of the coffee table a bit of distance away from the President’s desk.
‘…..’
Goh Gun-Hui wordlessly stared at the water bottle before extending his
hand out. That prompted the bottle to fly into his hand.
Grab.
He expertly snatched the bottle up and while unscrewing the cap, formed a
thin smile.
‘Looks like I’ve got yet another story to hear from Chief Woo once he
comes back.’
Huhuh….
Goh Gun-Hui felt quite pleased, knowing that he made the right choice to
forcibly send Section Chief Woo Jin-Cheol to the U.S.
Chapter 198 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Hyung-niiiim!”
Jin-Woo lightly evaded the tearful Yu Jin-Ho’s attempt to bear-hug him.
Then, he coolly addressed Woo Jin-Cheol in the same hospital room, who had
volunteered to look after the kid during the conference itself.
“What’s gotten into him?”
“Well, I showed him this when he woke up, and now….”
The Chief of the Monitoring Division picked up the newspaper he was
reading.
The front page of the folded newspaper was plastered with the photographs
of Jin-Woo’s beatdown victims, the utterly wrecked Scavenger Guild’s
members, and that of the bloodied and unconscious Thomas Andre’s face.
It might have been something obvious to him, but the same couldn’t be said
about Yu Jin-Ho who now had seen the article in its full glory.
Just who in this world would clash head-on against the world’s most
powerful Guild in order to rescue him? Not only that, when that Guild’s
Master, ‘Goliath’ Thomas Andre was involved in the shenanigans, too?
Yu Jin-Ho was shedding thick tears of heartfelt emotion after reading the
article, so when Jin-Woo arrived in the hospital, he began expressing his
happiness with his entire being.
“Hyung-niiiiim!!”
Unfortunately….
Jin-Woo’s agility had surpassed far beyond what rank S Hunters were
capable of by now. In spite of Yu Jin-Ho concerted efforts, the target for his
manly affection kept slipping out of his heartfelt hug.
Jin-Woo slipped past yet another attempt of the kid trying to embrace him,
and pointed a thumb at the stumbling Yu Jin-Ho’s back.
“Are you telling me he read an article written in English?”
“Oh, that. I figured that it’s really uncool to let our employee get paid
without doing a single thing, so I told her to translate the article for him.”
“Aha.”
The end of Yu Jin-Ho’s nose reddened as if he found Jin-Woo constantly
dodging his attempt at skinship rather cold-hearted.
“Hyung-nim!”
“Here.”
Yu Jin-Ho took the tissues Jin-Woo handed over and blew his nose on
them.
Sniffle~.
Of course, Jin-Woo knew how the kid felt. Even then, he couldn’t walk
around with a snot stain on the expensive suit he especially picked for the
International Conference, now could he?
Wiping his tears away seemed to have done the trick and calmed Yu Jin-Ho
down. He asked in a more even-sounding voice.
“By the way, hyung-nim, since when did you learn to speak English?”
It seemed that the kid must’ve heard Jin-Woo conversing with Thomas
Andre back inside the disused factory, even though his consciousness was
wavering in and out.
“Well, you have a lot of free time as a low-ranked Hunter, you know.”
A Hunter without a raid to go to was basically an unemployed bum. Jin-
Woo studied English whenever he had time, trying to prepare for the
eventuality of him quitting the life of a Hunter someday.
‘I didn’t know it’d come in handy in that sort of situation, though.’
He felt a bit reminiscent of the times back when he was studying the
language. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that the first
time he used the language he self-taught to converse was during the fight
against Thomas Andre.
“Oh…”
Yu Jin-Ho recalled that Jin-Woo was a low ranked Hunter once upon a time
and nodded his head in understanding.
When he thought about his hyung-nim’s past in relation to yesterday’s
events, he became even more moved by Jin-Woo’s loyalty that propelled him
to confront the Scavenger Guild and its entire catalogue of elite Hunters just
for his sake.
Yu Jin-Ho began tearing up again as he emotionally declared his intentions.
“Hyung-nim! I’ll definitely trust you and follow you till the ends of the
earth!”
His eyes reddened again and snot once more drooped out from his nose tip,
which was cleaned barely a minute ago.
Jin-Woo was grinning outwardly, but too bad…
‘….Having a high Perception Stat isn’t always useful, is it?’
Thanks to his supernatural-level of senses that allowed him to read every
little minutiae of Yu Jin-Ho’s emotions, even Jin-Woo’s nose began stinging a
little bit now. He deliberately avoided meeting the kid’s gaze and shifted his
attention over to Woo Jin-Cheol.
“Looks like there’s no problem for him to get discharged, doesn’t it?”
“Agreed. As a matter of fact, the doctor in charge was quite surprised
that Mister Jin-Ho had completely recovered from his injuries in just one
night.”
“In that case, let’s just go through with the discharge process and return
to the hotel. We even have transportation lent to us by the Hunter Bureau,
so might as well.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll get ready too, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo quietly stared at the still-swollen-eyed Yu Jin-Ho packing up his
stuff to leave and felt grateful for the fact that the kid was safe now. And at
the same time, his anger towards the culprit responsible for this whole chaos
ballooned up in an instant.
‘Greed, when we get back to the hotel, you know what you have to do,
right?’
[….I understand, oh, my king.]
As he was leaving the hospital room, Jin-Woo inwardly ‘comforted’ Greed
with an assurance that all the former rank S Hunter would have to do was to
plant his head on the floor for around two hours, which was neither too long
or too short in his opinion.
There were two vehicles prepared by the Hunter Bureau.
Since Jin-Woo had something private to discuss with Adam White, he got
in the car in front where the American agent was waiting for him, while Yu
Jin-Ho and the two Korean Association employees climbed into the vehicle at
the back.
When Jin-Woo opened the rear passenger door with a loud clunk, Adam
White flinched awake from his short nap taken while leaning against the
window frame and urgently shook his head to chase away the drowsiness.
“You’re here, Hunter-nim.”
The American’s face was haggard, to say the least.
Unmistakable dark circles thickly coated the spots below his eyes. He was
utterly exhausted from the breakneck-pace of all the events taking place, as
well as the packed itinerary, of the past couple of days.
Jin-Woo looked on at him with pitying eyes, but Adam White didn’t even
notice that and simply ordered the driver to start the vehicle.
Now that they were moving again, Jin-Woo got down to the main topic.
“Can you get me the list of the Hunters you people wanted me to
protect?”
Those words seemed to have chased away all traces of sleep from Adam
White’s mind because his expression brightened in an instant.
“Have you changed your mind?”
“No, but I’m curious about something else.”
“Oh….”
Adam White struggled to hide his disappointment.
He got his hopes raised up before being shot down. Still, he didn’t think
this was all bad news. Because it indicated that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was
still interested in this problem one way or the other.
Adam formed a smile and replied back.
“I shall draw up a list as soon as I get back to the Bureau.”
As soon as he got back, he said. Jin-Woo snuck a glance at the time. It was
already nine in the evening.
He briefly wondered whether he made a mistake or not when he saw Adam
White’s complexion waning just a little bit more after the poor man was asked
to perform yet another task.
Not surprisingly, the American agent tried hard to keep his sleepy eyes
wide open to make sure he’d not drift away to dreamland in front of the
Hunter he was supposed to escort.
‘Tsk, tsk.’
Jin-Woo couldn’t watch on any longer and reached out toward him.
“Uh? Uhh?”
Adam White’s panicky voice cracked up a little when Jin-Woo’s left hand
covered his eyes.
“H-Hunter-nim?!”
Too bad for him, though, just a couple of words from Jin-Woo and he was
petrified in the spot.
“Will you just stay still?”
A normal person doing something similar would send creeping chills down
the hapless victim’s spine. However, the one doing it right now was Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo, arguably the man most far removed from a ‘normal’ person.
He even beat the living crap out of Thomas Andre until the latter was
almost dead.
Gulp.
Suddenly having his vision blocked by the hand of a rank S Hunter, Adam
White could only swallow dried up saliva of nervousness.
Jin-Woo leaned the American agent’s head back with his left hand and with
his right hand, poured the healing potion he just bought from the Store down
the now-open mouth.
‘W-what is this?!’
Adam White was obviously very tense from forcibly swallowing the
unidentifiable liquid while his vision had been blocked. But even he was able
to feel that, as more and more of this liquid slid down his throat, his stamina
seemed to recover more and more.
‘But, how can something like this….?!’
By the time Seong Jin-Woo withdrew his hands, Adam White realised that
the deluge of drowsiness plaguing him was completely gone.
No, hang on. Was that all?
He felt so refreshed and airy as if he had been asleep in a comfy bed the
whole night and was roused from his slumber by the gentle warmth of the
morning sun.
As if his fatigue had been a lie, he couldn’t feel a single trace of it
anywhere on his body.
“H-Hunter… nim?”
‘….How did you do that??’
That was the question Adam White’s look seemed to be asking, but Jin-
Woo simply shrugged his shoulders as a reply.
“It’s a trade secret, so….”
“Oh. I see.”
Since it was such a mystifying event, Adam White found it somewhat
easier to accept. He moved his body this way and that to confirm and
expressed his admiration in a shocked-sounding voice.
“You are… well, how should I phrase this…. It feels like, you’d have
greatly succeeded regardless of what you chose to do, even if that was
unrelated to being a Hunter.”
Although this praise seemed a bit excessive when coming from a ‘special
agent’ of the Hunter Bureau, someone so highly educated that he was capable
of speaking ten different languages according to himself, Jin-Woo still formed
a content smile regardless, after seeing that look of satisfaction on Adam
White’s face.
With this, it’d be easier to ask for the next part of the favour. Indeed, asking
for the list of the Hunters was just the beginning of his plan.
“And also, can you organise an opportunity where I can meet the ones
found on that list?”
Now was his chance.
Since all the powerful Hunters from around the world had gathered in one
place, just by him inserting his Shadow Soldiers in their shadows would allow
him to respond quickly to the attacks of the Sovereigns when they happened.
However, Adam White began shaking his head, instead.
This was what Jin-Woo was worried about. Even if the Hunter Bureau was
a powerful, influential organisation, it should still be quite difficult to
mobilise that many top-ranked Hunters of the world.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened gradually.
“As I thought… I guess it’s too difficult.”
“No, not at all. On the contrary, I meant to say that there’s no reason to
organise such an occasion in the first place, Hunter-nim.”
Adam White grinned refreshingly and explained the itinerary for the final
day of the International Guild Conference.
“Don’t forget, there is the ‘Night of the Hunters’ still left.’
He suddenly spoke of a combination of words that would’ve worked well
for a video game’s title. For some reason, he seemed quite hyped up over it,
too.
“There is a big party organised by the Bureau. All the Hunters attending
the Conference are invited. If you wish to meet them, you can most likely do
that there, Hunter-nim.”
A party, was it?
Was there a better occasion to meet the Hunters ‘naturally’ and attach
Shadow Soldiers on them than a party? Jin-Woo clenched his fist tightly.
‘This is good.’
Through other Hunters, he’d get to meet these mysterious Sovereigns. And
from that encounter, he’d get to learn who his real enemies and allies were,
and also, how he should go about fighting them, too.
“I will do that, then.”
Jin-Woo smiled and leaned against the back seat.
The night sky of America was getting darker beyond the window of the
speeding vehicle.
The ‘Night of the Hunters’.
The world’s top Hunters and related parties began flocking towards a
gigantic banquet hall, capable of housing nearly 1,500 people.
“Wow….”
Yu Jin-Ho’s eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets as he soaked in the
sight of the legendary gathering of Hunters that he only got to see through TV
screens.
Funnily enough, though, the gazes of other Hunters staring at Jin-Woo were
quite similar in nature to Yu Jin-Ho’s reaction. The moment he stepped into
the banquet hall, everyone’s attention was laser-focused on him in an instant.
“Look, isn’t that….”
“Yes, I saw.”
“He’s right in front of us, but I can’t even feel his presence.”
“He’s on a completely different level.”
And with all the attention being poured on him, it was only natural that
even Yu Jin-Ho would be subjected to their intense scrutiny, as well.
“In that case, the Hunter next to him must be….”
“He fought Thomas Andre in order to rescue that young fella?”
The situation had settled down somewhat by now after the Hunter Bureau
had released the public statement.
On one hand, every Hunter in here was deeply shocked by the fact that Jin-
Woo was willing to clash against the entirety of the Scavenger Guild for the
sake of his rank D Hunter comrade. But on the flip side, they were also
getting a heavy case of goosebumps, knowing that the declaration he made
towards the end of the conference’s first day was not a bluff at all.
[“I shall protect my family, even if that means every single Hunter in the
world becomes my enemy.”]
The photographs accompanying the article clearly demonstrated what had
happened to the Scavenger Guild. No wonder everyone in this room was
dearly praying that what he said wouldn’t come true.
In any case – now that the Bureau had cleared up the air, lots of Hunters
were beginning to seek out a chance to engage Jin-Woo in a conversation,
busy waiting for the right moment to strike.
This was the result of his public image going through a revamp of sorts,
going from a monster capable of pummelling the freakishly strong Goliath, to
that of a monster who’d not hesitate at anything to protect his comrades.
The thing was, though – the very first person to pluck up his courage and
made his approach was not a Hunter, but a chairman of a very famous global
corporation specialising in dealing with monster remains.
“It’s my honour to meet you like this, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
The businessman introduced himself first, and then…
“We’d like to purchase the remains of all the Giant-type monsters you
have hunted down in Japan. Do you have some time to discuss this matter
in greater detail?”
Giant-type monsters most of the time appeared as bosses in rank A Gates,
so it was very rare to find a completely intact corpse of such creatures.
This man’s desire and acute business acumen led him to make his move a
step faster than anyone else present in the banquet hall.
‘This is a good opportunity.’
Jin-Woo grinned affably and introduced Yu Jin-Ho next to him to the
businessman.
“I’m in charge of the raid aspect of the Guild. I usually leave all the
business-related discussions to my trusted Vice-Master over here.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Yu Jin-Ho became far bolder than ever before from Jin-Woo propping him
up like that. He straightened his back proudly and extended his hand out.
“I’m Yu Jin-Ho, Vice-Chairman of the Ah-Jin Guild.”
“Ahh, yes. Hello. It’s a pleasure.”
“I don’t usually discuss business-related matters in occasions such as this
one, but if it’s you, Mister Chairman….”
Jin-Woo watched on as Yu Jin-Ho expertly guided the businessman to
somewhere better suited for a conversation like the one they were about to
have, and formed a satisfied smile.
‘This kid. He’s finally acting like a proper Vice Chair now.’
But, Jin-Woo’s eyes sharpened almost instantly afterwards. Now that the
pair of potential obstructions went away, the real thing would begin now.
Adam White got close to Jin-Woo.
“Here is the list you asked for.”
The screen of the tablet PC he handed over displayed the ten names of the
Hunters who could all legitimately be called the world’s best in numerical
order.
“We at the Bureau had taken all the feats each Hunter had achieved and
converted them into points so we can assign them numbered rankings.
These ten people are the ones with the highest amount of ‘Hunter points’ in
the world.”
The ‘Hunter points’, he said.
Jin-Woo was intrigued by the fact that the feats and achievements of a
Hunter were represented through a points system. He then realised that his
name wasn’t on the list and asked Adam White.
“Where am I on this list?”
“If we were to include your feat in hunting down the Giant-type monsters
in the points tally, then… you should be around here.”
The American agent pointed in the spot between 3rd and 4th. The names of
Liu Zhigeng, Thomas Andre, and Christopher Reid occupied the spots above.
The mere fact that he was already located beneath those three when he
hadn’t been a rank S Hunter for long attested to all the incredible feats he
managed to achieve so far.
‘The 4th place is… India’s Siddharth Bachchan. And the 5th spot is….’
The first five spots naturally belonged to the five surviving Special
Authority-rank Hunters. As for the spots below, they were also occupied by
some of the most decorated, celebrated Hunters in the world.
It was then, Jin-Woo stopped reading the list and raised his head after he
heard a bit of commotion rising up.
Noisy, noisy….
An unexpected appearance of a certain guest had thrown the party goers
into confusion and chaos. Confirming who this guest was, Jin-Woo handed
the tablet back to Adam White.
“H-Hunter-nim….”
“You don’t need to worry.”
As he expected, this guest displayed not one hint of hesitation as he strode
straight towards Jin-Woo.
He even proceeded to step aside Liu Zhigeng trying to dissuade him in the
middle of the way and stopped right in front of the Korean Hunter, before
removing his sunglasses.
Jin-Woo mouthed the man’s name.
“Thomas Andre.”
Jin-Woo didn’t lose his relaxed demeanour even when Thomas Andre was
standing before him. However, the same couldn’t be said about pretty much
all of the onlookers staring at him, and the American with his arm wrapped in
bandages. They were getting properly freaked out now.
The burly American looked at his Korean counterpart, who was at least a
good head shorter than he was.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo… I want to ask you a question.”
Chapter 199 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo had a bit of history with the monsters called Ice Elves.
Didn’t he encounter these creatures when he stumbled into a Red Gate for
the first time in his life? How rueful did he feel back then, after seeing the
boss mob ‘Baruka’ slipping out of his hands while leaving only a dagger
behind?
Just remembering that event brought back all the bad emotions he felt then
after failing to extract that monster’s shadow.
‘And here I was, having just barely forgotten about it….’
Naturally, his strength while gripping this creature’s wrist and neck
increased.
Wuduk!
[Keok!]
In any case, why was a high-ranking monster that should have been
confined to a dungeon roaming freely around here?
Jin-Woo got here by switching his position with his Shadow Soldier. up, he
used ‘Ruler’s Authority’ to keep his balance and float in the air about 7 or 8
stories high. While gripping the monster tightly, he asked this mysterious Ice
Elf a question.
“What the hell are you?”
Seeing those pointy ears, or the long whitish hair, or even its pair of silvery
eyes, this thing seemed to be a White Phantom alright, but then again, he
could also sense the trace of an unfathomably lengthy passage of time from
this creature, too.
Not only that….
[Kuwuaaahk!]
The monster gritted its teeth and shook off Jin-Woo’s hands.
‘….!!’
What an incredible physical strength!
Even before he had the chance to get surprised from the monster slipping
out of his grasp, Jin-Woo picked up on this chilling aura coagulating around
the creature’s mouth.
Inexplicably, the image of Demon King Baran shooting lightning out of its
mouth overlapped with this b*stard. By sheer instinct, Jin-Woo tilted his torso
away.
Kawahh-!!
The bitterly cold air shot out from the monster’s mouth, sped past Jin-
Woo’s original position, and poured out into the air behind him.
After confirming the scary amount of magical energy being poured out by
the monster with his two eyes, Jin-Woo quickly retreated an adequate-enough
distance away.
‘…..’
He lightly dusted the particles of ice clinging onto his shoulder and stared
intently at the Ice Elf – no, the Sovereign of Frost.
That thing was no ordinary monster. His ultra-sharp senses were warning
him that this thing was much stronger than any monster he had faced off
against so far.
Jin-Woo wasn’t the only one getting surprised, though.
[But, how can you….??]
The Sovereign hurriedly looked at Jin-Woo’s shadow and, after confirming
the number of soldiers hiding in there, couldn’t hide the fact that it was
feeling deeply surprised right now.
[You have managed to amass that many soldiers, so why haven’t you
contacted us already?]
When Jin-Woo made no effort to reply, the Sovereign began looking into
his eyes. And then, a pained gasp leaked out from the creature’s mouth.
[So, that’s how it was…. You’re the variable he talked about, aren’t you?]
What was this fool talking about?
Jin-Woo was getting rather curious about the meaning behind this
monster’s constant babbling, but too bad, he didn’t have enough leeway to
hold a cordial Q&A session with this creature.
Just one moment of carelessness and the enemy’s blade would reach him.
And that blade wasn’t dull enough for him to ignore it and hope for the best.
As a matter of fact, his shoulder that got frozen for a moment just a few
seconds ago was still aching even now.
Jin-Woo took a glance at the hurting shoulder and quietly summoned the
‘Demon King’s Shortswords’ from his Inventory.
Weapons silently appeared in his hands.
‘Is it a Mage-type creature?’
Judging from how it barely managed to get out of his grasp, its physical
strength or defences didn’t seem to be as high as its magical energy reserve
suggested.
Which was a relief, actually.
He knew from his vast experiences in fighting many different types of
monsters up until now that the Mage-type enemies were the easiest to deal
with since they could be killed in an instant.
Just one hit would be enough to determine the winner.
If they both possessed a similar level of magical energy reserves, then the
one needing to dodge the magic attacks would hold an advantage.
His opponent must’ve known that too because it didn’t immediately try to
go on the offensive, even though it had clearly sensed Jin-Woo’s hostility.
The Sovereign of Frost deliberated on its options very seriously – but, only
for a brief time – before deciding on what it would do next.
[….We shall stop here. I didn’t come here today to hold a life-or-death
struggle with you.]
“What was that??”
Jin-Woo frowned deeply. He had no desire to let this guy leave, so just who
decided when they would stop fighting?
Besides, this creature wielded a massive amount of magic energy. Jin-Woo
couldn’t even begin to imagine just how many experience points he’d earn if
he successfully killed this monster. His level might even jump up by another
ten, just like back when he killed the King of Giants.
‘….Hang on.’
When his thoughts arrived there, Jin-Woo finally deduced the identity of
the monster.
‘Could that thing be….??’
Meanwhile, the Sovereign pointed towards the broken wall of the Hunter’s
Association building.
[Did you not come here to save that human?]
Technically speaking, he came here because the ant soldier he left behind in
the Association President’s shadow sent him an urgent alert, that was all.
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted towards the location the Sovereign’s outstretched
finger was pointing at. And he found Goh Gun-Hui lying on the floor there.
‘….!!’
The unconscious Association President was covered in blood from head to
toe, and even at a casual glance, he could tell that the man’s life was hanging
precariously on the edge.
It was then.
[Now, choose.]
A large, incredibly sharp ice lance suddenly formed on the left hand of the
Sovereign.
[Choose between fighting me or saving that human.]
The moment the creature’s words came to an end, the lance flew towards
Goh Gun-Hui.
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened. He pushed his concentration to the absolute max,
causing the flow of time to slow down greatly. He watched the lance fly
agonisingly slowly, but accurately, towards the unmoving Association
President.
‘Ruler’s Authority!’
He tried to use his invisible hand to stop the ice lance, but the magical
energy of the one who threw it easily thwarted his attempts. Enraged, Jin-Woo
shifted his glare at the Sovereign of Frost.
The b*stard was waiting. For Jin-Woo’s answer, that was.
He bit his lower lip before dashing towards the spot where the Association
President Goh Gun-Hui had collapsed on.
Wuuwung-!!
The air where Jin-Woo used to be wavered and tumbled about from the
explosive power. Just before the lance landed, he arrived by Goh Gun-Hui’s
side first with almost no time to spare and dragged the unmoving man away
from the weapon’s trajectory.
Kwajeeck!!
The lance stabbed straight through the floor and the bitter coldness rapidly
flooded out to freeze up the surroundings in an instant.
Kwa-du-duk, kwa-duk!!
In the blink of an eye, the entire floor of the President’s office froze up
solid from the extremely low temperature.
‘D*mn it!’
Jin-Woo picked Goh Gun-Hui up and lightly jumped up in the air to avoid
the freeze, and once this incredible biting coldness stopped spreading around,
he settled back down on the floor.
Further enraged by this cheap tactic, Jin-Woo raised his head to look, but
the b*stard was already jumping into a small Gate to escape from this battle.
In a rush, he quickly summoned ‘Baruka’s Dagger’ from the Inventory and
threw it.
‘Dagger Rush!’
Swishhhh-!
The dagger flew in a dead-straight line and accurately stabbed into the
Sovereign’s shoulder.
[Kuwahk!!]
The Sovereign of Frost glared at the dagger in its shoulder, then glared at
the one who threw it next – at Jin-Woo – and gnashed its teeth. It soon
disappeared into the depth of the Gate.
Jin-Woo was thinking of chasing after the creature, but seeing the Gate’s
gradually shrink in size, he gave up on that idea. Besides, Goh Gun-Hui’s
current condition wasn’t good enough for him to focus his attention
elsewhere.
“Euh-euhk….”
The older man gasped out a pained moan.
Jin-Woo’s lips closed shut in a straight line as he watched the Association
President Goh Gun-Hui teeter precariously on the edge of life and death.
‘This can’t be healed with a healing potion.’
In that case, the best response he could come up with was to….
….Jin-Woo yelled out at the top of his lungs.
“Beru!”
Right away, he sensed the familiar aura hurriedly fly out from his
apartment from a far away.
Kwa-boom!!
Beru smashed past several walls after flying in with all his might and
entered the President’s office, before kneeling down in front of Jin-Woo.
“Have you called for me, oh, my king?”
Jin-Woo cautiously lowered Goh Gun-Hui’s upper torso on the floor and
took a step back.
There was so much blood dripping out from the Association President that
Jin-Woo’s hands were now painted crimson just from supporting the older
man’s torso for a few seconds.
Drip, drip….
Jin-Woo’s complexion grew gloomier as he stared at the droplets of blood
fall to the floor from his fingertips.
Beru did as his master willed it and approached Goh Gun-Hui. He began
using up all of his magical energy healing the gravely injured man.
Wuuonng… Wuuwuong…
Unfortunately, the complexion of the dying man didn’t want to improve at
all even with such a concerted healing effort. Beru panicked and opened his
mouth.
“M-my king….”
Beru’s scared eyes shifted over to Jin-Woo as he spoke.
“My healing magic… isn’t working on him. I can’t heal this man.”
“What??”
He didn’t seem to be exaggerating, because Beru’s hands were shuddering
as he continued on with his healing magic. Even Jin-Woo could sense the
enormous amount of Beru’s magic energy being spent right now. At this rate,
even the former ant king would keel over from exhaustion.
Jin-Woo halted the healing effort and sat down next to Goh Gun-Hui to
take a closer look at the man’s current condition. Despite Beru’s near-selfless
efforts, the Association President’s vitality had weakened even further than
before.
Whatever that attack was, the hole in Goh Gun-Hui’s chest didn’t want to
close up even after Jin-Woo poured in a whole bottle of the most expensive
healing potion sold in the Store.
‘D*mn it!’
Jin-Woo’s breathing became urgent as the critical moment for Goh Gun-
Hui approached closer and closer. The man who did his best for Jin-Woo’s
sake was slipping away and he couldn’t do anything.
Out of sheer desperation, he even summoned out the bottle of ‘Divine
Water of Life’, but before he could use it, someone grasped his wrist.
“Please…. stop.”
It was Goh Gun-Hui. He managed somehow to force his eyes open.
“Association President!”
His breathing remained heavy as if it was on the brink of cutting out. He
still got to confirm the faces of Jin-Woo and Beru next to him, though.
“….You did come for me. Thank you.”
A weak smile spread on Goh Gun-Hui’s face.
“Please, hold on for a little bit longer. I’ll take you to a hospital right
now.”
Jin-Woo’s urgent voice only managed to earn a shake of Goh Gun-Hui’s
head.
“It’s useless… the attack that got me far exceeds the level of being
curable with medicine or magic.”
“But, sir!”
Jin-Woo was about to get angry after hearing those words of weakness
from the Association President, but he had to stop. Goh Gun-Hui’s trembling
hand was grasping his, that was why.
“Listen to me!”
As if he was spurring on the dying embers of life for one last hurrah, Goh
Gun-Hui’s brows rose up high, his eyes opening up wide.
“I was able to get in touch with the will of the great beings. I saw their
plans, who our common enemies are, and the things that we must do….”
The blood pooling in Goh Gun-Hui mouth gurgled and welled up.
“What a relief that you’re here with us… to think, you’d possess that
kind of power…. Thank you, God….”
Tears began welling up in Goh Gun-Hui’s eyes as he stared at Jin-Woo. He
then grasped the young Hunter’s hand with both of his own and spoke with a
trembling voice.
“Gates and dungeons weren’t for them. In order to protect us, they chose
this method, and…. Cough….”
At that moment, Goh Gun-Hui coughed and reddish-black blood spluttered
out from his mouth.
Jin-Woo hurriedly tried to use the Divine Water, but Goh Gun-Hui shook
his head. He knew the condition of his own body better than anyone.
“Sometime in the future… there will come a time when you must make a
decision. When you do… I pray that you remain on the side of mankind.”
Hearing the pained gasping voice of Goh Gun-Hui, Jin-Woo felt as if his
heart was being ripped to pieces. But, all he could do right now was to quietly
listen to his words. That’s all he could do.
“Cough. I always wished I could fight alongside young people like you.
But…. This body of mine made sure that would never happen.”
For the first time ever, Goh Gun-Hui poured out what was in his heart
without holding back.
Some people pointed their disapproving fingers at him, accusing him of
establishing the Association to rake in more money. Some even insulted him
as a senile old fool who was blinded by the allure of power.
The thing was, the man they were criticising was feeling angry that, even
though he was blessed with this incredible power, he couldn’t even use it
properly.
He sought out other avenues to use his powers and, after spending every
cent to his name, created the Hunter’s Association. And through this
organisation, he got to be near other Hunters and fulfilled his calling to its
fullest.
“Even then, cough, I don’t regret anything. I can now entrust the future
to young people like you. That’s all I ask for.”
Drop….
Goh Gun-Hui’s hands holding onto Jin-Woo’s powerlessly fell to the floor.
And he was no longer staring at the young man, but at the ceiling of his
office.
Was it because his tears had spread out? The lights hanging on the ceiling,
the ones he always thought were a bit too dim for his liking, seemed
excessively blinding today.
Goh Gun-Hui shielded his eyes to block those lights.
“I’m truly relieved…. Thank you, thank you….”
At the end of those words, the Association President Goh Gun-Hui stopped
murmuring altogether.
Confirming that he was no longer breathing now, Jin-Woo wordlessly
closed the deceased man’s unmoving eyes shut. Like his final words of
gratitude, the expression on his face was one of peace.
Jin-Woo raised his head above to stare outside.
Drip, drip…
He saw through the destroyed wall the raindrops falling from the cloudy
sky. The sky that had been gloomy since the early morning.
***
day. Several headlines dominated the front pages of countless newspapers.
The first news item was about Brazil’s greatest Hunter, ‘Jonas’ being found
on the vicinity of a river – as a corpse. The second one was about the grisly
murder of the Korean Hunter’s Association President after his chest was
stabbed through by an unidentified assailant.
And finally, the news of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo returning to South Korea.
Chapter 202 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
After Jin-Woo left, the elite members of the Hunters Guild fought against
each other to become the first one to enter the dungeon.
“H-hey! Stop pushing me!”
“This dungeon ain’t gonna run away, so there’s no need for all this
craziness!”
Rumble, tumble-!
Just what did the one and only Hunter Seong Jin-Woo want to test out that
he even resorted to borrowing a rank A Gate someone else had already
booked? Not only that, a Gate with a difficulty that had clearly gone up
drastically?
Hunters quickly stepped on the dungeon’s floor and scanned every corner
with their curious eyes. But soon, their expressions turned into ones of pure
shock and astonishment.
Literally, they were facing a river of blood!
The corpses of monsters, ripped to almost unrecognisable shreds, formed a
road of blood. And this ‘road’ seemed to continue on forever into the darkness
on the far side.
The Hunters were all rendered speechless and couldn’t even dare to go in
any deeper.
“Look…. Look over there.”
One of the Hunters ribbed the person next to him with his elbow.
The victim of the elbowing attempt shifted his dazed gaze towards the
location being pointed out and gradually, his jaw almost hit the floor at the
unbelievable sight waiting for him there.
Just what kind of force could make a monster get embedded in the ceiling
of the dungeon in such a grotesque fashion?
Considering that the walls of these dungeons were made up of materials
incomparably harder than any regular caves, that was one seriously shocking
sight to behold, indeed.
“That’s all for my dinner plan tonight, I guess….”
Hunters with weaker stomachs saw this scene of utter slaughter and their
complexions turned paler than a sheet of paper. What surprised them even
more, was the fact that monsters of the dungeon measured to be at the top end
of rank A had been killed off in such a state in less than ten minutes.
A female Hunter muttered to herself, her expression still one of pure shock.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…. He didn’t even look like the type, but this is
just….”
The deeper the group entered, the clearer and clearer for them to spot the
signs of the overwhelming violence; she had been a Hunter for almost five
years now, but never once did she witness the walls of a dungeon destroyed to
such an extent before.
Another male Hunter scanning the interior of the dungeon responded to her
muttering.
“What do other people call this? Unleashing the inner beast? Or
something like that?”
Cha Hae-In slowly shook her head after hearing that. None of this was the
handiwork of Hunter Seong. She had witnessed his fights from up close
several times already, so she was pretty certain of this.
The Jin-Woo she knew was a Hunter who preferred to end his enemies as
cleanly as possible. It was artistic, even.
She was enthralled by the beauty in the way he controlled his skills the first
time she saw him fight.
If that was the case….
‘….The one capable of doing this among Hunter Seong’s summons is…’
It was right then – she recalled the head of the ant monster screeching at
her with its mandibles wide open, causing a chill to run down her spine.
That creature was the peak existence of vicious cruelty!
Didn’t Jin-Woo say it? That one of his summons had gone through a
change. Just what kind of a change did that ant monster go through, then?
Cha Hae-In left behind her colleagues still being shocked by the remaining
traces of Beru’s activity found throughout the dungeon, and quickly exited
from the Gate. However, Jin-Woo was nowhere to be seen by then, even
though he left only a few minutes ago.
“Why does he have to be so fast….”
Cha Hae-In scanned her surroundings and murmured with a cheeky pout.
And she had so many things to ask him, too….
‘I’m sure there will be another chance.’
She sighed so softly that it wouldn’t even frighten a butterfly settling down
in front of her. A subtle smile formed on her face as she slowly turned around
to re-enter the Gate.
***
Jin-Ah killed her footsteps and sneaked like a crafty little cat to close in her
mom busying washing dishes.
Clink, clink….
Either mom didn’t hear her daughter’s footsteps, or maybe she did hear
them but decided to pretend that she didn’t, she didn’t react to Jin-Ah closing
the distance. And then, in the end…
Jin-Ah got close enough to hear her mom’s breathing before hugging her
tightly.
“Mom!”
Too bad for all of her efforts, though, her mother didn’t seem to be
surprised at all. She simply responded with a gentle voice.
“Are you feeling bored?”
“Ng, I am. Oppa doesn’t want to come home, and Mom doesn’t want to
play with me~.”
While mom was sleeping in the hospital, Jin-Woo performed the role of the
substitute mother to his sister. To help Jin-Ah focus on her studies, he did his
best to act as the sole breadwinner and took care of all the chores around the
family home.
To her, he was her sibling, her parent, and at the same time, her friend.
That was why Jin-Ah often missed her oppa’s presence around the family
home as he grew busier and busier every day.
Every single one of her fellow countrymen knew her oppa’s face and his
name by now, but what was the point if she couldn’t really get to see him
anymore?
And so, here she was, trying to fill the hole Jin-Woo had left behind with
her mom and her warm words of encouragements.
“Still, it’s great to have you around, Mom.”
Jin-Ah buried her face in her mom’s back and formed a happy smile.
Although she couldn’t see her back, the mother carried a similar expression as
the daughter and continued cleaning the dishes.
Jin-Ah clung to her mom’s back like a cicada holding onto a tree for a
while before opening her mouth.
“Mom? Let’s move house.”
Flinch.
Mom’s hands momentarily stopped moving before resuming their actions.
A smile formed on her lips again.
“Do you want to move to somewhere else?”
“Yeah.”
“But, what will we do? Mom really likes this place, you know.”
“Why do you like such an old apartment?”
Jin-Ah lightly rebuked her, but mom simply smiled back and her hands
continued to move briskly.
Actually, Jin-Ah knew why her mom didn’t want to leave this old
apartment. She knew the reason why her mom still persisted in staying here
while paying the monthly rent, when her oppa was making the kind of money
that regular people would never get to touch in their lifetime.
She was still waiting for her missing husband, her children’s father. She
was hoping that, maybe one day, he’d stumble back here.
Jin-Ah couldn’t remember much about her father now and felt that waiting
for him was a waste of time. But, her brother hadn’t mentioned moving house
again after he heard mom’s reasoning.
“Still, I like this apartment.”
Mom gently persuaded her daughter again, prompting Jin-Ah to spin on her
heels to leave, her cheeks puffing up unhappily.
“Che.”
“Don’t be like…. Ah!”
Mom quickly turned around and looked at Jin-Ah with a face that said, ‘I
forgot!’; she had just remembered that the weather forecast warned of rainfall
later in the evenings.
“Sweetie, can you take the washing from the veranda and bring them
in?”
“Mom, you only call me sweetie when you need me to do stuff.”
Still, she didn’t mind being called that, as evidenced by her happy
humming as she made her way to the veranda.
As befitting of Jin-Ah, who was more or less an expert at performing
chores like this, she quickly took down the washings and placed them in the
basket.
But then….
Her rapid hands suddenly stuttered to a halt. She realised that the sky above
had darkened even before she noticed it.
“…Uh?”
Did the rain clouds arrive already?
Naturally, she raised her head up to look above. And her eyes opened
incredibly wide next.
The basket filled with washed clothes fell out of her hands.
“M-Moooom!!”
***
His hands were soaked with sweat.
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol looked down on his wet palms
before hurriedly rubbing them against his blameless pants.
How long had it been since he felt this nervous? He’d actually prefer to
enter a Gate on the brink of a dungeon break. That would be easier on his
stress level.
“You don’t have to be that tense, Association President Woo Jin-Cheol.”
A certain high-ranking official who had invited Woo Jin-Cheol to the
Korean Presidential residence – the Blue House – formed a rather slimy grin.
How could a proper conversation be held when the guy supposed to meet
the holder of the highest office in the country was this nervous?
The official understood full well that climbing up to such a high office at a
young age must’ve been quite burdensome, but even then, he prayed that
there wouldn’t be any ‘mistakes’ committed during the meeting itself.
“My apologies.”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s smile was just a tad stiff but he still nodded his head. As a
gesture of encouragement, the official patted his back a couple of times.
Soon, the door to the special guest room opened and the president of the
country these two men were waiting for strode in while flanked by several of
his retinues.
“Mister President!”
“Sir!”
Woo Jin-Cheol and the government official both stood up from their seats.
“Ah, ah. It’s fine. Please, take a seat. I’m okay either way. It’s not like
I’m someone that impressive, anyway.”
The President of Korea, Kim Myung-Cheol, cracked a light joke to disperse
the nervous atmosphere and settled down on his seat.
Once the president of the nation found his seat, the government official and
Woo Jin-Cheol settled down as well, in that order.
The president’s gaze shifted immediately in Woo Jin-Cheol’s direction.
“I’m sure you’re really busy with the matters of the Association right
about now, Mister Association President.”
“Well, uh… not as much, sir.”
His lips might have denied it, but the dark circles beneath Woo Jin-Cheol’s
eyes were expanding their territories every single day.
He began wondering how did the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui
manage to survive all this workload with his unhealthy body. Woo Jin-Cheol’s
level of respect for him had deepened even further after his passing.
But that was probably why he really wanted this uncomfortable get-
together to end as quickly as possible.
“Excuse me, sir…. Why did you ask me to come by today, sir?”
“Uh-huh, this guy!”
The high-ranking government official tried to warn Woo Jin-Cheol as the
latter tried to jump straight into the meat of the story, but then, the President
stopped him.
“Indeed, it’s not right to keep the Association President here for too long
when he took time out of his busy schedule to come and see me.”
Not beating around the bush, and keeping it simple when it comes to the
main topic; President Kim Myung-Cheol didn’t mind the speedy progress of
discussions at all.
“In that case, allow me to get to the topic right away. The reason why I
asked you, the Association President, to come here is because….”
For the briefest time then, Woo Jin-Cheol’s senses of a high-ranked Hunter
caught on to the fact that the country’s president was trying to read his current
mood.
This led to him having a certain premonition. No doubt, the other man was
getting ready to ask him for a rather troublesome favour.
Sure enough – as if he also felt a bit sheepish about this, President Kim
smiled awkwardly and began explaining himself.
“I heard that you and Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim enjoy a particularly
close relationship.”
Woo Jin-Cheol immediately corrected that faulty rumour.
“I am indeed an acquaintance with Seong Hunter-nim, but our
relationship is not as close as you think, sir.”
“Huhuh, is that so.”
“Yes. It was actually the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui who
enjoyed a close-knit relationship with Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded by himself, recalling the moment when Goh Gun-
Hui expressed his desire to knock back a few cold ones with Hunter Seong.
President Kim pondered something in silence for a bit, before carrying on.
“Even still, you are in a position to communicate readily with Seong
Hunter-nim, yes?”
“Oh…. Yes, I am.”
“In that case, may we ask you for a favour, Association President Woo?”
As expected…
Woo Jin-Cheol inwardly thought, “Here it comes,” and replied with a
begrudging tone of voice.
“What kind of a favour are we talking about, sir?”
“Because of Seong Hunter-nim’s sky-high acclaim, we were wondering if
we could use him as a public relations ambassador for the country. With a
slogan similar to, ‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo makes the Republic of Korea
safe’.”
President Kim ended his words there and grinned brightly.
Here was a proudly Korean Hunter strong enough to teach the American
Special Authority-rank Hunter a lesson, not to mention important enough to
make the Hunter Bureau be at his beck and call, too.
There was no way that the financial and the political world wouldn’t take
notice of such a person’s actions.
Kim Myung-Cheol was planning to use his position as the country’s
president to reel Jin-Woo in to his side before anyone else could.
In the beginning, as the public relations ambassador of the nation, and then,
gradually build up a friendship with him over time.
As his fame as the world’s strongest Hunter soared higher, being his
‘friend’ would prove to be one of the most powerful cards anyone could
possess.
As for the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, his role was to become the
bridgehead to facilitate that purpose.
Of course, Woo Jin-Cheol wasn’t naïve enough to not realise what the
ulterior motive of President Kim was.
‘You called me here to talk about something like that?’
Woo Jin-Cheol felt all his nervous tension dissipate. And then, he began to
get angry, wondering about why he had to get involved in this kind of crap as
soon as he occupied the position of the Association President.
‘….So, he thinks I’m easier to push around.’
Indeed, he wasn’t Goh Gun-Hui. The late Association President performed
the role of a breakwater of the Association, but with him gone, the figures of
the financial and political world were now focusing their attention on him,
instead.
They were telling him to serve their interests.
The funny thing was, though – Woo Jin-Cheol was getting angry, sure, but
at the same time, he also felt rather relieved, as well.
In the past, the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui often mentioned
this – the Hunter’s Association needed to create the right kind of atmosphere
for the Hunters to do their jobs.
And this incredibly important role wasn’t just for the sake of the Hunters,
but for the sake of everyone else, as well.
When his thoughts reached up to that point, Woo Jin-Cheol became much
more relaxed than before. A natural smile even crept up on his face, too.
Unfortunately for President Kim, though, he misinterpreted that smile and
began laughing alongside as well.
“Huhuhuh. It seems that Association President Woo is quite a sensible
man, unlike a certain someone. Very good. I’d be very appreciative if you do
us this small favour. This isn’t just for my benefit, wouldn’t you say?”
He said ‘unlike a certain someone’. It didn’t take a genius to figure out just
who the president was talking about. Woo Jin-Cheol soundlessly gritted his
teeth and spoke up.
“Indeed, the late Association President was an amazing gentleman.”
“That’s right. Very true. He was a great gentleman, but also just as
stubborn and inflexible, too.”
“I’m very different from the late Association President.”
“Huhuhuh! Indeed, you are. The Hunter’s Association should change
accordingly with the times. It’s no good to be tied to the ideals of the past
forever.”
A cold grin floated up on Woo Jin-Cheol’s lips as he began glaring at
President Kim.
“How long do you think it’ll take me to kill every single person in this
building, including all of your bodyguards?”
“W-what was that?!”
The high-ranking official jumped up from his seat, but he was frozen stiff
immediately from the dense killing intent emitted by Woo Jin-Cheol.
Never mind low ranked Hunters, a rank A Awakened would prove to be an
existence even more lethal than any known savage beasts to a normal civilian.
Regular people would be utterly powerless when facing against a tiger or a
bear out in the wilderness, so how could the same people be able to deal with
a rank A Hunter?
“A few hours? No. I think it won’t even take a few minutes.”
Woo Jin-Cheol watched the complexions of the two men listening turn
paler and paler with every passing second and calmly addressed them.
“In that case, how many men do you think you’ll need to stop me when I
start rampaging around? I wonder. If you were to mobilise every single
police officer and soldier stationed within Seoul and defend until my
magical energy reserve bottoms out, then, well, I think you can somehow
save yourselves.”
Woo Jin-Cheol drawing this incredibly horrifying picture with a calm
expression only served to heighten President Kim’s terror even further.
“Y-you…. But, but, why….”
The politician wanted to say something, but this dense killing intent
constantly weighed down on his lips and he couldn’t utter anything that
resembled words.
“However, what if it was Hunter Seong going on a rampage, instead of
me? How many men do you have to mobilise to defend against him?”
Was it because of all this murderous intent emitted by Woo Jin-Cheol?
President Kim was instantly overcome with a nasty case of goosebumps
spreading all over his body after imagining Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, capable of
hunting down those Giant monsters alone, suddenly starting to hunt down
people, instead.
Woo Jin-Cheol figured that this was enough of terrorising the two men and
withdrew his killing intent.
“Such a thing doesn’t happen, because every Hunter out there focuses
solely on what a Hunter must do.”
Hunters needed to operate in the sphere of Hunters. Meanwhile, politicians
needed to stay within their bubbles.
Making the world go around the correct way – that was the creed of the
Hunter’s Association, nay, of the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui.
Woo Jin-Cheol stared straight into the frightened eyes of President Kim and
firmly warned him.
“I have no thoughts of sullying the ideals of the Hunter’s Association as
established by the late President Goh Gun-Hui, sir. And of course, I expect
you to cooperate with us fully.”
Chapter 207 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo’s gaze was fixed to the shortsword crafted out of Kamish’s fang.
Its utterly unbelievable attack power could be seen floating above the
weapon.
[Item: Kamish’s Wrath]
Rarity: ??
Type: Shortsword
Attack: +1,500
Top quality shortsword fashioned from the sharpest fang among the
Dragon’s teeth by the expert’s hands.
The blade’s sharpness has no equal in this world; it also boasts excellent
sensitivity towards Mana, and can become greatly strengthened depending on
the wielder’s capability.
The explanation seemed to go on forever. However, nothing besides the
attack damage entered his eyes.
‘1,500?! Just the pure attack damage??’
Never mind any added options, just the base damage dealt was 1,500.
As much as 1,500!
After recalling that the higher attack damage would make it easier to slice
up the enemy, Jin-Woo couldn’t even begin to imagine just how scarily
effective this shortsword was going to be.
‘N-no, hang on. Was there any weapon with 1,500 attack damage in the
Store, to begin with?!’
Jin-Woo was so excited by the shortsword’s attack damage, he hurriedly
summoned the Store’s interface without paying any mind to all those eyes
studying his every move.
Obviously, it was quite a bit embarrassing to compare this bad boy to the
shortswords being sold there, so he went straight to the section with
broadswords, which boasted the highest attacking power among the blade-
type weapons.
‘Huh….’
The most expensive broadsword’s attack damage barely cracked past the
1,000 mark. Even if this weapon was sold in the Store, it was still a
broadsword boasting 1,000 damage, but a measly little shortsword was 1,500.
‘Hang on. Just purely from the perspective of the attack damage, won’t it
be the same thing as me wielding two broadswords in each of my hands?’
The weightiness of the shortsword could still be felt through his palm.
He raised his head, his desire to cut something up with this thing
powerfully stimulating him. That’s when he spotted Thomas Andre forming
an awkward smile after having read Jin-Woo’s mind. The American shook his
head.
“Whoa there, Mister Seong. Even if I activate my reinforcement skill to
increase my defence, that blade will still cut me down. I hope you ain’t
thinking of killing me with my own gift, right?”
Of course, Jin-Woo wasn’t thinking of doing that. He replied to Thomas
Andre’s OTT exaggeration with a chuckle and focused back on the
shortsword.
‘It’s got excellent sensitivity towards Mana, is it?’
Mana was another name for magical energy. To find out what the ‘excellent
sensitivity towards Mana’ could even mean, Jin-Woo poured a tiny little
amount of his magic energy into the blade.
And when he did….
“Heok….”
The bodyguards were supposed to refrain from making needless noises, but
one of them couldn’t hold back and gasped out in pure astonishment. He
quickly covered his mouth, but no matter – no one scolded him, anyway.
Because, everyone else’s attention had been stolen away by Jin-Woo’s
shortsword to such an extent that they failed to notice his faux pas just now.
“Oh, my god…..”
Thomas Andre had experienced all sorts of craziness in his life, but even he
couldn’t hold back his shocked gasp from leaking out of his mouth. From Jin-
Woo’s hand, from the entirety of the shortsword itself, a blackish aura was
slowly rising up, that was why.
‘This shortsword is…. It’s responding to my magic energy.’
It wasn’t just the aura rising up from the weapon; that weightiness of the
shortsword seemingly filling up his palm had also vanished in an instant. As
if it was all a lie from the very start.
The weapon had become lighter than a feather.
‘Holy cow….’
This weapon even allowed its wielder to control its weight as he willed it.
Wuuong, wuuong…
The shortsword ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ began vibrating as if to greet its new
owner. Jin-Woo’s heart began pounding even harder as he grasped its hilt.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
He really wanted to fight with this weapon. He really, really wanted to use
it right now. Although, he couldn’t really figure out whether this was the
shortsword’s will, or his own desire speaking.
Jin-Woo calmed his palpitating heart down and stabbed the shortsword
back to where it used to be.
Stab.
That brought about the end to the blade’s vibration.
The black aura had been oppressing Laura and the bodyguards to the extent
that they couldn’t even breathe properly, but now that the overwhelming aura
was gone, they were able to finally gasp for fresh air.
Thomas Andre stopped looking at Jin-Woo and shifted his gaze over to her.
‘You still think I made a mistake?’
Thomas Andre’s meaningful gaze prompted Laura to shake her head
quickly. As long as these shortswords were to be pointed in the direction of
the monsters and not other humans, Thomas Andre’s decision should be seen
as irrefutable.
The weapon would find its rightful owner. Even as a regular person who
couldn’t sense any magical energy, Laura understood what was going on here
in an instant.
Now that his judgement was proven correct, Thomas Andre began grinning
quite refreshingly.
“So, how do you like my present, Mister Seong?”
The most extreme of all emotions would always be expressed not in words,
but through one’s actions. Jin-Woo quietly lifted his thumb up real high.
“Hahaha-!!”
Thomas Andre felt pleased as punch and leisurely clapped his hands to
express his joy.
These shortswords were the proof of their friendship. He didn’t feel a shred
of regret for using them if he was able to get on Jin-Woo’s good books.
Rather, it was Jin-Woo who was feeling burdened by this gift.
“Is it really okay for me to receive something like this for free?”
“What do you mean, for free?”
Thomas Andre erased that semi-permanent smile off his face and formed a
serious expression next.
“Actually, I think it’s a cheap price to pay for the lives of my Guild
members as well as myself.”
This was how Thomas Andre expressed his plea of “Don’t refuse my gift
and just say yes.”
Since Jin-Woo had already heard the particular way Thomas Andre
expressed himself from Laura, he simply chuckled and replied to the
American.
“In that case, thank you. I’ll gladly accept them.”
“If you’re willing to do that, well, I’m happy, too.”
As the atmosphere between the two Hunters standing at the very apex of
the world grew warmer and more cordial…
….Jin-Woo and Thomas Andre both stopped moving at the same time.
Laura and the bodyguards didn’t even have the chance to panic at the
sudden stiffness in the two men’s expression, because Thomas Andre opened
his mouth before they could.
“Mister Seong, just now, that…”
Jin-Woo briefly nodded his head. That ominous sensation that brushed past
his backside – Thomas Andre must’ve felt something quite similar to that.
It came from the sky. As if they had a prior agreement, both men shot up
from their seats and quickly stood next to the window.
“….”
Jin-Woo spat out a gasp. Thomas Andre discovered the same thing and his
eyes visibly quaked. Just how could a thing like that appear in the middle of
the sky?!
The American Hunter stared at the massive Gate floating up high in the sky
and muttered loudly.
“I can hardly believe this. I’ve never seen a Gate that huge before.”
Even the Gate that spat out Kamish wasn’t as big as that b*stard up there.
The thing was, though, Jin-Woo had seen a Gate with similar dimensions
before – within the ‘data’ the stone angel statue played for him back then.
He saw winged soldiers pour out in their droves from a Gate high up in the
sky.
The massive size of the Gate covering the heavens above the city of Seoul
was almost an exact match to the Gate he saw within the data. Just from
recalling the sight of all those soldiers painting the sky silver, Jin-Woo felt
this shudder, a jolt, buzzing from the back of his neck.
‘Hang on. Could it be that the identity of the massive amount of
magisphere pooling in Seoul’s sky is that thing?’
Jin-Woo became utterly speechless. Even Thomas Andre, even Laura, and
even their bodyguards, all of them failed to close their slack jaws.
And as a heavy, powerful silence descended on everyone in the room, the
gigantic Gate that suddenly manifested itself in the sky continued to gently
ripple about, as if to swallow everything that was down below.
***
Right below the airborne Gate.
The residents of the city formed a literal sea of people below it, knowing
that there was no danger of a dungeon break as the Gate had been generated
not too long ago. They raised their smartphones and busily snapped shots of
the portal dyeing the heavens black.
It was the first-ever Gate to form in the middle of the sky. And its gigantic
size was unprecedented, too.
Although no one knew what would come out from there and should all be
terrified as a result, people still couldn’t rein in their curiosity.
There were quite a few members of foreign press mixed among the crowd.
Their cameras were working at full capacity to capture the scenes of this
packed gathering of people
[Yes, I’m currently standing right below the giant Gate that has covered
the entirety of Seoul’s skies, and….]
[The Gate you see before you is the biggest one ever recorded since
monsters began appearing….]
[As you can see behind me, the crowd spectating on the Gate itself are
carrying bright expressions, but….]
[….This is Nick Powell from BBN News.]
Reporters from various nations carried serious, even grave, expressions and
spoke their mother tongue towards the camera lenses.
Japanese people had been interested in the ongoings of South Korea for a
while now, so a certain TV station even scheduled a special program to report
extensively on the ‘Gate above Seoul’s skies’.
As for the expert invited to share his insight on the program, it was none
other than Doctor Norman Belzer who had been studying the irregular
phenomenon in the sky for a long time.
After the brief introduction by the emcee, Doctor Belzer grasped his
microphone.
“I have been warning the relevant authorities about the unknown mass
of energy gathering in the various spots in the atmosphere for a while now.
The giant Gate appearing in the skies of Seoul is merely the beginning, I
fear. We will be seeing Gates just as horrifying as that one over the skies of
many other countries in the future.”
The emcee’s shoulders flinched greatly.
“Ehhh?! What you’re implying there is, Doctor, there are more than one
or two places with such ominous phenomena in the world?”
“That’s what I’d like to emphasize today.”
The scientist then went on to explain again what he told the Hunters
participating in the International Guild Conference. He had a duty to inform
the public of the dangers, now that his subject of research had bared its fangs
for real.
Indeed, Seoul was just the beginning.
The magisphere was still being amassed above the skies of the remaining
eight spots even now.
The scientist proceeded to reveal the nine locations with the help of the
satellite images, leading to many gasps of shock and pained moans to leak out
from the audience seats.
Some felt relieved by the fact that Japan was not among the list, while
some were left deeply shocked by the imminent threat the neighbouring
nations had to face.
The emcee listened to Doctor Belzer’s explanations with a gloomy, heavy
expression, before asking the scientist.
“Doctor, you have been researching the Gates and monsters for a very
long time, am I correct?”
“You’re correct.”
“In that case, can you tell us your opinion on what would be the smartest
response we can come up with in this situation?”
Not just the audience members present, but even all the viewers at home
watching their TV sets, leaned forward to pay closer attention to the good
scientist’s next words.
Unfortunately for them, what he said was something everyone could say,
too.
“We can only pray.”
He shifted his gaze over to the audience members and continued on.
“We can only pray that this unprecedented event doesn’t end in tragedy.”
Even as the expressions of the audience members became graver, the
scientist carried on with his explanation.
“However, there is this one thing. One piece of news that can’t be
considered bad.”
Doctor Belzer’s words, coming in just before the broadcast was about to
end, managed to change the emcee’s expression. Hoping to brighten the
sorrowful, gloomy mood of the studio even by a little bit, the emcee quickly
asked the scientist with an expectant face.
“What could that news be, doctor?”
“It’s rather fortunate that the location of the Gate just so happens to be
South Korea.”
Did this doctor hold some sort of personal grudge against Korea or
something?
Noisy, noisy…
Doctor Belzer’s shocking declaration left the audience members in noisy
confusion.
The expression of the Chief Producer of this program hardened in an
instant, fearful that one wrong move now and he might end up with a
broadcasting accident big enough to cause a serious diplomatic incident.
Fortunately enough, the feared event didn’t materialise. The scientist
quickly added more explanation before the misunderstanding could get any
deeper.
“South Korea is the home of one of the greatest Hunters, someone who
has already stopped a couple of world-ending calamities all by himself.”
Everyone present here definitely knew who that Hunter was.
“Yes, I’m talking about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, who has removed every
single ant monster from Jeju Island, and then killed all the Giants in
Japan.”
The spot where the most amount of magisphere concentration could be
found also happened to be where the world’s best Hunter lived. Doctor Belzer
felt that this was no simple coincidence.
“If he can’t stop that Gate, then no Hunter alive will be able to do so,
either. And that is why, when viewed from the world’s perspective, we
should be thankful that the first Gate to open up is in South Korea.”
Should they feel glad, or console their neighbours, instead?
As the Japanese audience members couldn’t decide what to feel, the
scientist emphasized his point once more.
“What I’m saying might come across as cold-hearted ans callous,
especially when Korea is facing a grave crisis, but the truth is, the world
doesn’t need to feel pity for the Korean people.”
Ah, so the broadcasting accident had finally happened!
The Chief Producer began tearing his hair out, but then, as if to mock the
poor man, Doctor Norman Belzer formed a deeply meaningful expression and
ended his explanations.
“If we ever come to the situation where we must pity the Koreans, then
that means there will be no humans left on this planet to console each other
anymore.”
Chapter 209 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The biggest Gate ever to open up on Earth so far had been the one in the
United States of America, where Kamish came out of. However, the one in
front of everyone’s eyes was easily over ten times that.
Was there a need to even measure its rank in such a case?
Unfortunately, someone had to do the job and so, the Hunter’s Association
had to dispatch a helicopter up there.
The aircraft was being populated by employees who were also Hunters.
This was done out of fear that the bodies of the regular employees would not
be able to endure against the magical energy emitted by the ‘Super-massive
Gate’ and break down if they got too close.
Tatatatatata….
Pilot and co-pilot, as well as two Association employees, were riding on
the helicopter as it flew ever closer to the Gate.
Would being sucked into a black hole feel like this?
Within this shaking hunk of metal flying in the sky, one of the employees
stared intently at the gigantic black circle drawing ever closer and asked.
“Senior, have you ever seen anything like that before?”
The sun had set already, and they had to rely on the spotlights attached to
the helicopter, but the sheer massive scale of this terrifying Gate still entered
their sights with no problem.
The senior employee shook his head.
“No, never. I’m sure no one in this world has seen a Gate this big
before.”
The entire world was in a great upheaval over this single Gate. Such a thing
wouldn’t happen just because this particular one appeared in mid-air.
Actually, the world was freaking out by the unbelievable scale of the Gate
along with its unique location of being in the air.
If only these employees knew that even Thomas Andre had to doubt his
own eyes – they wouldn’t even have shared the dumb conversation about
anyone seeing a Gate like that before.
Gulp.
While the two men’s gazes were stolen away by the Gate and dry saliva
continued to slide down their throats, the helicopter arrived near the
destination and gradually slowed its rate of ascent.
The co-pilot informed his passengers.
“Getting any nearer than this will endanger the helicopter.”
The employees mouthed their understandings and finished getting ready to
measure the Gate. Now originally, one would have to stand right next to a
Gate in order to measure its rank. However, doing that wasn’t necessary this
time around.
As soon as the switch was turned on, the measuring device went ‘Pop!’ and
stopped functioning immediately. It was proof that the device couldn’t handle
the level of magic energy leaking out from the Gate.
It was also an expected result, too.
“Senior?”
The employee trying to manipulate the device looked up at the senior
employee. The latter nodded his head to express his agreement. The junior
employee opened the communication line in order to report the findings to the
Association.
It was at that moment that the senior employee staring outside suddenly
cried out.
“Be careful!”
The junior employee jumped up in fright and quickly scanned his
surroundings.
“W-what was that?!”
“I, I thought I saw something resembling a monster outside….”
“Eh? A monster came out already??”
A monster emerged from a Gate that had appeared less than a day ago?
Such a thing couldn’t happen, but the senior employee witnessing this
phenomenon was one of the high-ranked Hunters in the country. Neither the
pilots nor the junior employee were in a position to criticise him and ask him
if he was sure of what he saw.
But then, sure enough….
“Over there!”
The senior employee accurately pointed out again what he saw earlier.
It was also around this time that the urgent voice of the Association
President Woo Jin-Cheol came out from the headset the junior employee was
wearing.
“S-sir, it’s a monster! We spotted a large monster near the helicopter!”
“But, uh… I don’t think it’s an ordinary monster, sir.”
“N-no, sir. The thing is, Association President, uh… There’s a person
riding on top of the monster.”
It was then, an image of a certain man that really rode around on the back
of a monster entered Woo Jin-Cheol’s head and his voice got cut off for a
moment there.
“Hold on, sir. Yes, I can just about make it out.”
“Excuse me?”
The junior employee opened his eyes wider and pressed his face tightly
against the window to take a closer look at the monster, before crying out in
surprise and asking back.
“H-how did you know that, sir?”
***
Kkkiiiieehk-!
Jin-Woo riding on the back of the Sky Dragon Kaisel drew closer to the
Gate. Once he got near its bottom, the d*mn thing looked more like an
endlessly-stretching lake rather than an actual Gate.
What a near-overwhelming size it was.
A regular Hunter wouldn’t have been able to endure this extraordinary
amount of magical energy leaking out from the Gate itself, but Jin-Woo
remained unaffected and aloof, starting from the moment he decided to check
this thing out personally, all the way up to this point in time.
He could see that the Association’s helicopter far below had begun
descending to the ground, perhaps assessing that it was too dangerous for
them now.
Jin-Woo watched the aircraft for a little while before he got even closer to
the Gate itself.
Above his head, in the distance where his hand could reach, the Gate, with
its maws wide open towards the ground below, floated in eerie silence.
Of course, the portal’s surface was still blocked off by the black screen so
he couldn’t see what its inside looked like.
‘…..’
If he reached out to touch it, would he be able to enter it, or would he get
sucked in like a Red Gate, or…?
Jin-Woo cautiously extended his hand out.
‘I most likely need to enter it and solve the problem before this Gate
breaks open and monsters start pouring out.’
With a little bit of expectation bubbling noisily in his heart, he pressed the
tip of his hand against the Gate’s screen.
‘What the…?’
For the first time ever since becoming an Awakened, he encountered a
rather strange situation. He couldn’t enter the Gate.
His hand couldn’t enter the Gate as it got blocked off by the black screen. It
was as hard as a solid wall.
‘If it was a regular wall, I could’ve broken it down, but….’
He pushed with everything he had, but this ‘wall’ didn’t even budge.
Knock, knock….
Jin-Woo knocked on the screen next, and his lips closed shut in a straight
line.
‘It’s different.’
A Gate where Awakened couldn’t pass through. Indeed, this one was
different from all the other Gates that preceded it. If so, would the things
waiting inside be different from everything else that had emerged before?
‘Whatever the case may be….’
Whatever came out – his family and friends were below this Gate. He had
no plan of letting them easily get past him.
‘I now possess the Stats I’ve raised up until now and the brave soldiers
that will fight alongside me.’
When his thoughts reached there…
Waaaaaah-!!
He thought he could hear the uproarious cheers of the soldiers hidden in his
shadows echo in his ears.
Ba-thump-!
Anxiety and anticipation alternated in his heart. Ever since he became the
‘Player’ and received the powers of the System, Jin-Woo believed that there
was a reason, a purpose, for his existence.
If that was the case, then could it be that he was meant to stop this
calamity?
‘What rubbish am I even thinking about now….?’
Jin-Woo chuckled and brushed aside his needlessly grim determination
before pulling his hand back from the Gate.
It was then. The Hunter-issue smartphone, which he left on in the vibrate-
only mode, suddenly began writhing around inside his pocket. The caller was
from the Japanese Hunter’s Association.
Jin-Woo had asked them for a favour earlier, so he quickly answered the
call.
“Please speak.”
Jin-Woo glanced down at Seoul’s skyscrapers, now small enough to
resemble toy building blocks, and grinned to himself.
“There’s no need for that. Actually, I’m somewhere pretty high up at the
moment. Anyway, have you found out what I asked you about?”
Unlike how he usually was, the employee from the Japanese Hunter’s
Association blurred the ends of his sentence. Could something have happened
in Japan on a day like this?
The answer from the employee was completely out of Jin-Woo’s
expectation, however.
‘….!!’
After he killed off the Giants, he had been spending most of his time
raiding dungeons in Japan, so this news came across as a bolt from the blue.
“Not one new Gate has appeared?”
The employee hesitated before continuing on with a voice thickly laden
with his own vexation.
It had been about three hours since this super-massive Gate had appeared in
the air. What were the odds of every Gate in the entire world all
‘coincidentally’ vanishing at the same time?
‘….It’s not a coincidence, obviously.’
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened. His stiffened face looked up at the Gate
again, and in the meantime, the Japanese Association employee asked him
again.
“….”
It was a bit troubling to honestly answer that.
Well, he couldn’t really come out and say that he just wanted to test the
shortswords boasting 1,500 attack damage he got from Thomas Andre as gifts
before this uselessly huge Gate opened up, now could he?
In that case…
“We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow so someone needs to
plant an apple tree, don’t you agree?”
Jin-Woo gave out an evasive answer and left the guy on the other side of
the line to interpret it in any way he liked, before trying to end the call there.
“Yes?”
As if he was feeling embarrassed, the employee hesitated greatly before
continuing on.
Jin-Woo quietly listened on to his confession.
As his story got longer and longer, his voice became more and more tearful
as well.
People who got trampled by the Giants. Cities were burned down. Screams
echoed around in the air. The despair that couldn’t be forgotten.
Those nightmares happened only a few weeks ago.
The employee had witnessed the calamity from up close and that was why
he knew; he knew that such things should happen to no one.
Jin-Woo heard his pleas and confidently replied back.
“That will not happen.”
He wasn’t making a promise. No, it was much closer to him making a
resolution. The reason for him diligently maintaining his growth up until this
moment was the same.
It was now time to show the results of his hard work.
The employee heard Jin-Woo’s reply and quietly laughed.
“You don’t have to praise me that much. I don’t have any other hobbies
besides hunting down monsters, so I was planning to continue to visit
Japan as long as there are monsters still running loose in this world.”
The employee thanked Jin-Woo for ably improving the atmosphere that
threatened to get untenably heavy, before saying his ‘heartfelt’ goodbye.
“Of course.”
Jin-Woo pocketed the Hunter-issue smartphone. He then quietly stared at
the Gate that was preternaturally quiet as if this was the calm before the
storm.
‘If this thing’s duration is the same as dungeon breaks from other Gates,
then…’
There were around six days left. Jin-Woo’s two eyes glowed softly within
this darkness.
“….Let’s go down.”
Kiiiahk-!!
The Sky Dragon carrying Jin-Woo energetically flapped its wings and
made its descent.
***
About a day later, other people also detected the changes; Gates had
disappeared.
New Gates stopped being generated right after the super-massive portal
appeared in the skies above Seoul! There was no way to tell whether this was
a good or a bad thing, but still, those welcoming this change did exist.
And that would be the Hunter’s Association, currently being led by Woo
Jin-Cheol.
With a deeply tense expression, he read the report being handed in and
made a decision.
“Call every Hunter in our country to Seoul.”
“Sir? But, that will be too dangerous.”
“If we do that and a Gate we failed to discover goes to become a full-on
dungeon break, then…”
“How about we summon only around half of the Hunters and leave the
rest to…..”
Woo Jin-Cheol heard the incoming rush of objections and angrily slammed
down on the conference table.
SLAM!
The shoulders of the people attending the emergency meeting flinched from
this display of a high-ranked Hunter’s anger.
Woo Jin-Cheol shouted out loudly.
“Do you all believe we have the necessary leeway to worry about unseen
dangers right now?”
With that, everyone inside the conference room stopped talking at once.
Woo Jin-Cheol pointed to somewhere beyond the walls of the room.
“We’re facing an unprecedented calamity right now. We don’t know
whether we can stop that d*mn thing or not even after we pour out
everything we have at our disposal!”
Woo Jin-Cheol roared out and scanned the faces of the attendees.
“I shall take full responsibilities if incidents take place in other districts.
Even if you tell me to give up my entire wealth, I will. If you tell me to put
my life on the line and fight, I’ll gladly do so.”
No one could argue against Woo Jin-Cheol’s grim determination.
In a case where the opinions differed during the life-threatening situations
inside dungeons, the leader of the raid team would even resort to killing the
insubordinate team member.
It was because the incorrect decision made by a few could drag everyone
else to their doom. In the outside world, such an action would be seen as a
crime, but it was a different story altogether when inside a dungeon.
Raids weren’t a kids’ garden tea party, but true warfare where everyone
involved had to put their lives on the line to win, And right now, that war was
about to spill outside the dungeon and onto the world.
Woo Jin-Cheol wasn’t a slack Hunter who would entertain opposing
arguments when every second counted.
“Summon every Hunter in the country to Seoul immediately, please. As
long as they can fight, do not leave anyone behind.”
And so, under the direct order of the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol,
the Hunters of the Republic of Korea began heading to the city of Seoul.
Chapter 210 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
An unusual scene was playing out; the roads had become a confused mess
as the citizens tried to evacuate from Seoul, while the Hunters were trying to
enter the city in order to protect it.
People living in the districts directly below the super-massive Gate, the
ones predicted to bear the brunt of the damage, heeded the warnings issued by
the Hunter’s Association and the government, or even their own logical
reasoning, and escaped from the city in droves.
Jin-Woo watched the TV news, busy covering the evacuation efforts and
spoke to his mom.
“Mom, don’t you think it’ll be for the best if you and Jin-Ah go
somewhere else?”
“Our area isn’t even one of the evacuation zones, you know.”
Mom had no thoughts of leaving Seoul at all, it seemed.
Jin-Woo’s home, the old apartment, was located far, far away from the
centre of Seoul. If monsters invaded this place, then that meant the defensive
line of the Hunters had crumbled, and that would also signify Jin-Woo’s
failure to defend the frontline, too.
Mom believed that the flames of danger would never reach here.
Jin-Woo also grinned but didn’t say anything else.
Unlike him and his mom sitting around a low coffee table located in front
of the couch, Jin-Ah was sitting on the couch itself with her knees drawn up.
She glanced at her older brother and asked him.
“Don’t you have to go, too?”
She was talking about the nationwide Hunter summons. However, Jin-Woo
was a Seoul resident, to begin with. He wasn’t really included in that
summons.
“The Hunters on TV are from other regions and they are trying to report
to the Association that they have arrived in Seoul.”
“Ohh.”
Jin-Ah nodded her head while receiving a plate of sliced apples from her
mom.
In reality, Jin-Woo had been feeling frustrated by the fact that he had no
choice but to dazedly spend his time at home under the current circumstances.
He wanted to raise his level, but there were no monsters to fight. He
wanted to enter the instant dungeon, but he hadn’t seen a single special key as
his reward ever since the architect of the System died.
His family certainly enjoyed him spending more time at home, but Jin-Woo
really wanted to strengthen himself even further in order to prepare for any
and all eventualities.
‘Should I not do the daily quests and enter the penalty zone or
something?’
It sounded like a good idea, but at the same time, not really.
First of all, he had no clue what might come out from that Gate in front of
his eyes, yet he was thinking of entering the penalty zone where unknown
monsters were lying in wait?
‘Even if the odds are low….’
If there was one in ten thousand, no, one in ten million chance that
something could happen to him during the penalty quest, then he wouldn’t be
able to deal with what might happen on this side.
He had no reason to take on two different types of risks right now. And so,
that idea was dismissed.
In the end, he’d have to look for another way to test out the ‘Kamish’s
Wrath’ shortswords somehow.
What should he do?
As Jin-Woo pondered his options, a certain scene fleeted in and out of the
TV screen. It was of the Hunter’s Association HQ building, as shot from a
flying helicopter.
That’s right.
‘Should I use ‘that’?’
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up, his eyes gleaming rather
suspiciously. He pulled his smartphone out and tapped one of the saved
numbers.
Ringgg…. Ringggg….
As usual, the call was promptly answered only after a couple of ringtones.
“Looks like I should start referring to you as the Association President
from now on, don’t I?”
Woo Jin-Cheol chuckled sheepishly on the other side of the line before
brushing past the issue.
After sharing simple greetings, Woo Jin-Cheol figured that now would be a
good time and his voice instantly became serious.
With the current situation being what it was, all of Woo Jin-Cheol’s nerves
had been sharpened to a noticeable degree. How could he be not tense when
the country’s most influential Hunter suddenly gave him a call?
“Well, it’s nothing serious, actually….”
Woo Jin-Cheol, still very tense, audibly swallowed his saliva.
‘Even if it’s not a serious matter to Hunter Seong, it might be a grave one
for us. No, because he doesn’t sound that concerned, it could very well be
incredibly bad news for us.’
As this short bout of silence drifted in between the two men, Woo Jin-
Cheol did his best to calm his frayed nerves and paid closer attention.
Jin-Woo nonchalantly asked for a favour, since it really was nothing
serious.
“Can I borrow the Association’s gymnasium for a little while?”
***
Even though he was really busy, Woo Jin-Cheol personally came out to
greet Jin-Woo.
“As you can see…. This is the situation of our gymnasium.”
Jin-Woo scratched the side of his head.
In his quest to find a quiet place that was also out of people’s prying eyes,
he thought that using the Association’s gymnasium would be a good idea, but
it was currently housing the Hunters that had gathered in the city.
He saw the stuff being carried by their hands and belatedly remembered
what was hidden within the storage of the gymnasium.
“Are you giving weapons to the Hunters that lack proper equipment?”
“Yes. The late Association President Goh Gun-Hui had prepared them
for a rainy day like this.”
Jin-Woo’s head nodded by itself.
This was a sight he wanted to show to those detractors who pointed fingers
and criticised the Association for storing all this expensive equipment in a
dark corner and letting them rot away.
These Hunters came across as grimly determined as they equipped their
handed-out weapons and armours.
It was then.
A physically-imposing Hunter struggling to push his arms and legs into a
set of armour coated in magic energy raised his head and by chance, met Jin-
Woo’s gaze.
“Uh?”
He was taken by surprise after witnessing the presence of the greatest
Hunter, a man he only got to see on TV screens until then.
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??”
“What was that?”
“Hunter Seong is here?”
Hunters filling up the gymnasium all simultaneously looked behind them.
And sure enough – just like what that big Hunter had said, there he was,
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in his full glory, standing alongside the Association
President and studying them without saying anything.
The noisy interior was suddenly enveloped in silence. The atmosphere
became deeply heavy in no time at all. The overwhelming presence that
couldn’t be transmitted through TV screens flooded out from this Hunter at
the top of his game.
It was only natural that one’s heart would start palpitating when doing
nothing but staring at a person who was standing at a realm that one couldn’t
even hope to reach.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump!
The expressions of the Hunters facing Jin-Woo all began to glow. Gazes
filled with envy and respect flew in from everywhere. Only now did he realise
the reason why Woo Jin-Cheol wanted to show him this sight when
explaining it over the phone would’ve been sufficient.
Everyone gathered here were lower-ranked Hunters who found it hard to
prepare their own expensive magic energy-infused equipment.
The new Association President was hoping to rally the lower-ranked
Hunters, who should have been mentally strained by the sudden summons, by
showing them the single greatest ally they had on their side right now.
His calculation was proven true since renewed vigour seemed to have
seeped into the eyes of these Hunters.
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle softly at Woo Jin-Cheol’s smart
thinking. Well, the latter had been leading the Monitoring Division for quite a
while, after all.
Meanwhile, Woo Jin-Cheol had been scratching the back of his neck as if
he was embarrassed about his intentions being seen through. He suddenly
asked a probing little question.
“By the way, Hunter-nim. Why did you want to borrow the gymnasium?”
Jin-Woo pretended to pull something out from his pocket, when he was
actually taking it out from his Inventory.
“I want to use this.”
Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head in confusion as he looked at the plum-sized
seed resting on Jin-Woo’s palm.
“This… What is it, exactly?”
“When you plant this on the ground, a monster resembling a tree will pop
up. I wanted to test something with it.”
“A monster will pop up?!”
Jin-Woo looked at Woo Jin-Cheol’s wide-open eyes and nodded his head.
The tree-type monster would spit out a seed in its death throes. Failing to
destroy this little seed meant that a new monster would sprout in the same
spot again.
He figured that it was inefficient to repeatedly hunt these monsters since
their defences and vitality was so tenaciously high, so he proceeded to destroy
all the seeds. However, he stored this particular seed from the boss tree
monster in his Inventory, thinking that maybe, he’d find a use for it later.
Jin-Woo took to calling these monsters ‘Armoured Tree’, trying to imply
that they were as sturdy as if they were wearing metal armour.
‘If it’s that guy, wouldn’t it be the best target to test out these new blades
of mine?’
The problem was…
“Under the current atmosphere of unease, many people will freak out
from the sight of a moving monster out in the open.”
Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up in a worried voice. Jin-Woo agreed with him.
“That’s why I was looking for a quiet, reinforced location out of people’s
eyes, but this….”
Civilians had no access to the Association’s gymnasium, and its hardiness
was second to none, but it was impossible to use it now in this situation.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze back over to the Hunters.
Even now, many Hunters holding tightly the weapons given to them by the
Association and were glancing in his direction while trying to psych
themselves up.
“Well, what with the situation like this….”
He could go to one of the uninhabited areas in Japan and use the seed there,
but then again, the distance he had to fly was quite far, and as for using the
skill, ‘Shadow Exchange’, he thought it’d be a waste.
Who could say what might happen in Korea during the two hours of
cooldown time? That was why Jin-Woo was about to turn around to leave, but
Woo Jin-Cheol had come to a decision by then, so he spoke up with a resolute
voice.
“Very well.”
“Excuse me?”
“The afternoon schedule for the gymnasium today will be cleared out for
you, Hunter-nim. Compared to everything you’ve done, something like this
doesn’t even qualify as a special privilege.”
The late Association President Goh Gun-Hui even went as far as to change
the related laws for Hunter Seong Jin-Woo. He argued that no one would be
able to ask an excellent Hunter to put his life on the line to fight for them
when they were unwilling to even do such small favours.
And now, as he was the new Association President, how could it make any
sort of sense if he couldn’t even lend out a measly gymnasium for a few
hours?
“Will that really be fine?”
Jin-Woo worriedly asked, but Woo Jin-Cheol simply grinned.
“I may not look it, but I am still the man in charge of this place. I get to
decide when to open or close this building, you see.”
Woo Jin-Cheol clapped his hands and gathered the attention of the Hunters,
before speaking out loudly.
“Who’s in charge here?”
“I-it’s me, sir!”
Jin-Woo watched an Association employee hurriedly run over here from
the far end of the gymnasium and thought to himself that, didn’t matter
whether a job title sounded awkward or if it suited a person, the job itself
needed to be a high enough position at the end of the day first.
***
In a certain top luxury hotel in Seol.
There was a man wordlessly looking down at the cars trying to escape the
city clogging the streets below from his suite’s window. He was Thomas
Andre. Laura quietly approached him from behind.
Her hands were grabbing onto the travel case filled with her luggage.
“Master, will you still not leave with us?”
“That’s right.”
Thomas Andre lightly tapped the window with his finger. He was pointing
at the Gate.
“How can I leave behind something that big and beautiful and run
away?”
“It is big, but…. beautiful, sir?”
Thomas Andre’s eccentricity was well-documented by now, but for him to
say that horrifyingly huge and ominous Gate was beautiful….
Just as Laura, his manager, was feeling puzzled by his declaration, he
turned around to look at her.
“Anything that makes your heart palpitate is beautiful.”
He placed his hand on his own chest to confirm his heart pulsating there.
Ever since he saw the Gate, his heart had been racing non-stop with nary a
sign of fatigue.
“From the Dragon spitting out flames, that massive Gate, and even the
power of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, all of them are beautiful things to me.”
He couldn’t be understood by normal logic. Laura shook her head
helplessly, but still, couldn’t hide her smile, either. Thomas Andre lowered his
hand away from his chest and grinned brightly.
“Besides, all Gates have disappeared, so what’s the point of going back
now?”
“However…. the Hunter Bureau is getting worried, sir.”
Worried, she said.
Thomas Andre began chuckling at the notion of someone being worried
about his well-being.
“What a funny notion that is, worrying about me. Is there any place safer
than right next to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?”
Even Laura forgot what she wanted to say after hearing Thomas Andre’s
words. It was no secret that the Hunter Bureau had asked Seong Jin-Woo to
protect the world’s top-ranked Hunters.
Thomas Andre smiled back at the clearly-speechless Laura and turned
away from her. He stared at the Gate that had exceeded the classification of
‘huge’ and entered the realm of ‘super-massive’. It floated high up in the skies
above Seoul, its surface quietly rippling.
“If that thing’s not stopped here, then there will be no future for us,
anyway.”
A calamity that even Seong Jin-Woo may not be able to stop would occur
eight more times around the world.
Who would be able to stop them? Thomas Andre himself? Or, China’s Liu
Zhigeng? Maybe other Special Authority-rank Hunters?
What an absurd notion that was.
“That’s why I wish to witness everything.”
Thomas Andre’s gaze drifted off towards Laura’s reflection on the glass
and a smile floated onto his lips again as he spoke.
“I wish to witness whether this will be the curtain call of human history,
or the beginning of a new chapter.”
***
Inside the empty gymnasium.
Jin-Woo walked to the middle of this large structure.
‘Okay, this should be good enough.’
Jin-Woo put the seed down on the floor and poured some water on it.
A seed and water – these two were the only things needed for a monster to
sprout even without soil or sunlight. He had confirmed this many times
already.
Wududuk, Wudududuk…
Accompanied by the sounds akin to bones twisting around, the seed rapidly
expanded and became a tree.
“Huh.”
No matter how many times he saw it, this process remained a spectacle,
that’s for sure.
What an outrageous vitality this was, one so strong that the number of these
tree monsters would never decrease even if the surrounding environments
were barren and infertile.
Jin-Woo leisurely stepped back to the distance he thought was safe.
“Kiiieehk! Kiiehk!”
The ‘baby’ tree continued to grow larger until it regained its original
appearance. Eventually, the seed had transformed into a monster so big that
its head nearly touched the gymnasium’s ceiling in less than five minutes.
“Kiiieehkk!”
Jin-Woo didn’t pay any mind to the screech of the monster tree
reverberating around within the interior and calmly summoned the newly-
upgraded Beru.
‘Come out.’
Beru’s figure smoothly emerged from the ground.
[Oh, my king!]
Beru’s new and improved appearance was indeed eye-catching; rather than
the usual insect-like exoskeleton, his entire body was now outfitted with the
snug-fitting black armour, which made him look even more ‘substantial’ than
before.
Was that all?
The black smoke rising up from his body became even more noticeable as
well, and now, rather than looking like a haze, it looked like black flames
burning up, instead.
That overflowing power!
Jin-Woo confirmed Beru’s information window one more time.
[Beru Lv. MAX]
Marshal Grade
This grade is equivalent to the head of the army and only one such being
can exist. If another Shadow Soldier also reaches this grade, the hierarchy
must be decided.
‘So, the only ones that can potentially challenge the Marshal Grade right
now is Greed, who is currently a Commander Grade, and Igrit, who’s only a
step away from entering the Commander Grade himself….’
Jin-Woo inwardly thought that the competition between the three of them
for the grade of ‘Marshal’ should be quite entertaining, before gesturing at
Beru with his chin.
“Beru, attack that creature with everything you have.”
Everything he had – Beru increased his physical size as per the command
given to him by his liege.
Kiiiiiiieeehk!
Screech of the genuine beast!
The armours also naturally transformed to match the enlarged body. Beru
soon became twice his original size and began striding forward with loud,
thudding footsteps.
His steps gradually picked up speed until he broke into a full-on sprint and
he pounced on the Armoured Tree.
Ka-boom!!
Beru’s eyes widened in surprise.
The attack he poured in his entire being couldn’t sever the tree monster in
half, only managing to dig in as deep as his wrist, instead. For Beru, capable
of ripping rank S monsters into pieces as if they were jokes, this was one hell
of a fluster-inducing event.
But then again, such a sight was befitting of the ‘Armoured Tree’
specialising in defence against pretty much all physical damage, barring the
magic attacks.
That was enough of a warm-up. Jin-Woo recalled Beru after achieving a
satisfactory result.
“Step aside.”
Beru quickly moved aside.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo summoned the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ from the
Inventory.
Shuwuk…
Two shortswords as long as regular swords appeared in the grips of his
hands.
‘Nice.’
Kuueehhk!
The Armoured Tree was searching for the culprit responsible for the hole in
its tummy, before inadvertently discovering Jin-Woo’s presence and began to
slowly run towards him.
So, so slow….
Seriously speaking, this thing had no other redeeming qualities other than
its high defence.
Indeed, there was no doubt about its defensive capability. But, how well
would these two shortswords work against that stupefying defence?
The blackish aura starting to spread out from the ends of his hands instantly
enveloped the blades.
‘What I need is the destructive power, right?’
When his thoughts arrived there, the two weapons suddenly became rather
heavy as if there were thousands of weights attached to them. They were so
heavy, in fact, veins began bulging on Jin-Woo’s shoulder muscles as he tried
to endure against this increase in weight.
‘The attack damage of 1,500…. Let’s see what it feels like.’
Jin-Woo made up his mind to fight, and the blades of the two Wraths began
to shiver in unison.
Chapter 211 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
day.
The news of various Hunters had taken over the sports newspapers from
the likes of actual athletes or celebrities a long time ago. And on this
particular day, a rather sensational headline found itself on one such
publication’s front page.
[Seong Jin-Woo and Cha Hae-In go to a theme park; birth of the
strongest couple?]
The articles contained many large photos of the two people in question
visiting a theme park, taken by various smartphones. The last image was of
them riding on a large monster to fly off to elsewhere.
The personal affairs of these two Hunters were supposed to be protected
and couldn’t be reported to the public, but the boss of this particular
newspaper went mad from this massive breaking news and, even under the
threat of sanctions, decided to release the article nonetheless.
Of course, the response had been tremendous.
The ‘scandal’ concerning two rank S Hunters whose names everyone could
recognise brought about renewed vitality to the psyches of everyone who was
fatigued by the constant stream of articles related to the super-massive Gate in
the sky.
The world’s greatest Hunter and Korea’s best female Hunter were dating.
Obviously, people would display an incredible amount of interest in this
matter.
Especially online, where the story of the two Hunters was spreading out
with an even more rabid intensity.
└ Seong Jin-Woo Junior LOL
└ It’s not official that they are dating, yet look at all these idiots jumping to
conclusions. Tsk, tsk.
└ Going by that example, you think we got Seong Jin-Woo because his
parents were both super duper top Hunters? You sound like a little kid who
don’t know how Hunters awaken their powers.
└ Even then, doesn’t those two dating make you feel excited?
└ I wish it was true. Them having a marriage argument will be an epic
encounter that flattens their surroundings. LOL
└ This. ㅇㅈ
└ I hope TV stations will stop playing special reports on the Gate now.
└ Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim, Cha Hae-In Hunter-nim, whether it’s a
super-massive Gate or a super-duper-massive Gate, please stop it for us!
“Tsk, tsk.”
The Chairman of the White Tiger Guild, Baek Yun-Ho, clicked his tongue
and folded close the newspaper in his hand.
He wondered why Hunter Cha Hae-In’s eyes were gleaming suspiciously
whenever she looked at Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, and so, this here was the
reason.
However, he wasn’t clicking his tongue because the two of them were
going on a date.
“Look at this headline. It’s complete rubbish. What do they even mean,
strongest couple?”
Section Chief Ahn Sahng-Min, sitting near his boss and his rather
displeased expression, asked him while sounding puzzled.
“What’s the matter, sir? The way I see it, Hunters Seong Jin-Woo and
Cha Hae-In would definitely be worthy of the title of ‘strongest couple’.”
“Doesn’t matter who Hunter Seong Jin-Woo dates, we’ll still get the
‘birth of the strongest couple’ anyways, so what’s the point of attaching this
sort of a headline?”
‘Eh?’
Now that it was said out loud, that certainly sounded logical.
Ahn Sahng-Min began placing all the female Hunters he knew next to Jin-
Woo in his mind, and began nodding his head at Baek Yun-Ho’s opinion.
Even if Hunter Seong was dating that high school girl Hunter, he just
couldn’t think of anyone capable of winning against them. None at all.
The female high school Hunter might be not much to write home about, but
well, her partner would be too much of a cheat, after all.
“You’re completely correct, Chairman.”
“Yes, I’m telling you.”
Ahn Sahng-Min nodded his head again and began sipping the coffee he
bought from the vending machine not too long ago. He slowly shifted his
gaze outside the window.
“By the way, this issue with fine dust is really getting serious, sir. I’m
actually scared of opening the windows nowadays.”
Ahn Sahng-Min frowned and got up to close the half-open window.
However, Baek Yun-Ho stopped him from doing so.
“Hang on.”
“Sir?”
Baek Yun-Ho stood up from his seat and walked over to Ahn Sahng-Min,
before opening the window wide to reach outside.
“This…. This isn’t fine dust at all.”
The feeling he got at the tips of his fingers was icy cold.
This was actually a fog. Not only that, a fog that carried this extreme
coldness, bitter enough to make one’s bones shiver.
“This is weird.”
It was only around the middle of Autumn, but to think, there would be a
wintery fog enveloping the entirety of Seoul. At that moment, he felt this
creepy chilling sensation brushing past the back of his neck.
Baek Yun-Ho’s eyes changed to that of the ‘Eyes of the Beast’ and he
glared outside the window. He muttered to himself, his expression hardening
gradually.
“Something… something feels really off.”
***
Jin-Woo was the first one to open his eyes.
Hae-In must’ve been exhausted from yesterday as she hadn’t woken up
from her sweet slumber yet.
Just how long had it been since he greeted the morning together with
someone else?
Jin-Woo cautiously got up to make sure not to rouse Hae-In and walked
over to the nearby forest.
‘It was definitely around here….’
He found the stream he used the last time he was here and washed up. After
he was done, he walked back to where Hae-In was still asleep but then….
He discovered something strange and his steps came to an abrupt halt.
‘What is this….?’
There was this small tree with new buds sprouting up. One might be
tempted to say that it was a plant commonly seen anywhere, but the thing
was, its leaves were gently shimmering in a silvery colour.
It was a tree never before seen on Earth, in other words.
And sure enough, this strange tree was emitting a very faint amount of
magical energy, something only Jin-Woo’s level of sensory perception could
have picked up on.
‘It’s not from our world.’
The plant’s magical energy emission was different from that of a monster’s,
so it clearly wasn’t one. Jin-Woo observed the tree for a little while longer,
before raising his head to discover more of the same silvery leaves here and
there.
It was such a contrast to the sight of regular surrounding trees all drying up
gradually.
‘Even the ground… is changing.’
Was this also the part of the Rulers’ plan? Or, was it more like the after-
effects of monsters pillaging the land?
Jin-Woo scooped a little bit of soil and smelt it, before rubbing his hands
together to scatter it away little by little. Even the falling soil contained a
minute trace, a scent, of magic energy.
Maybe it was only the humans that hadn’t noticed the truth yet. It might be
that this world had become deeply mired in the magical energy already.
It was at this moment, he sensed Cha Hae-In’s movement from afar as she
slowly woke up from her slumber. Jin-Woo dusted his hands and stood back
up.
It was indeed important to worry about the consequences of the
transforming world, but there was something even more important than that
right now.
And that would be to calm Hae-In down, when she’d no doubt start
panicking after realising that he wasn’t there. Jin-Woo deliberately made
some noises as he approached her. She quickly discovered him and let out a
soft sigh of relief.
He smiled and greeted her.
“Good morning. Did you rest well?”
Her complexion reddened for some reason. She replied while averting her
gaze away from him.
“…..Yes.”
Jin-Woo sent her a puzzled look, prompting her to sneakily raise her head.
“Where were you coming from?”
Hae-In’s question sounded cautious. He used the towel around his neck to
rub his still-moist hair and replied.
“I was washing myself, actually.”
Now that he thought about it, she must’ve wanted to clean herself just as
badly, too. Especially with all that ocean breeze – even a little bit of exposure
would leave behind plenty of salt on one’s skin.
‘Still, I can’t let a young lady wash herself in a place like this….’
Jin-Woo pondered his options for a bit, before a smile floated up on his
lips. Going to ‘that place’ would solve the issues of both taking a bath and
breakfast in one go.
“I know a hotel with a killer breakfast nearby, so how about going there
for our meal?”
Although she didn’t verbalise her answer, Hae-In must’ve felt really
hungry, because she immediately nodded her head, her lips firmly closed shut.
Jin-Woo reached out to her and helped her to stand back up, before
summoning Kaisel out again.
Kiiiaaahk!
Hae-In tilted her head while looking at the Sky Dragon unfurl its wings.
“But, didn’t you say it was nearby?”
“Well, it’s about a five-minute distance if I run with everything I have,
so…. Would you like to run alongside me, then?”
Five minutes at Jin-Woo’s top speed; Hae-In quickly calculated just how
far that would be in her head, and without saying anything, she climbed on
the back of Kaisel.
‘Yup, it’s great that she understands me so quickly.’
Jin-Woo grinned and took his place in front of her. Kaisel flapped its wings
and flew up.
The Koreans had seen Kaisel fairly often on TV so their reactions were not
as severe, but he wondered how the Japanese staff of the hotel would react
after seeing his ride.
He prayed that the chef working this morning wouldn’t be too frightened.
Meanwhile, Kaisel slowly began heading in the direction of the hotel.
***
‘It’ suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
The first person to discover ‘it’ was a middle-aged man who got evaluated
as a rank B Awakened in the Hunter’s Association only a few moments ago.
Thud.
The man ended up bumping shoulders with ‘it’ appearing suddenly before
him in the middle of the busy street and stopped walking right then.
“What the….?”
The man raised his head while chasing after the silhouette of the shadow.
There was a big, hulking man of over two metres tall standing right before
him.
This dangerous sense of wild beast oozed out from the man wearing some
sort of leather clothing. No, rather than just some ‘sense’, this man was a wild
beast personified.
Since the man’s huge physique was so eye-catching, the gazes of the
passersby quickly focused on this person, and the middle-aged man that had
run into him.
“What’s this? Are they going to fight?”
“Wow! Look at that man’s size. He’s no joke. Even Mah Dong-Wook
would take a bow, man.”
“By the way, that uncle must’ve lost his mind. He might end up in the
hospital at this rate.”
Even though the street was filled with people, there was this heavy silence
descending on it. That’s what the middle-aged man thought after becoming
the centre of attention of the passersby.
Now normally, he’d have apologised and stepped aside, but he was a
different person compared to the past.
He’d no longer suffer the ignominy of kowtowing before his superior or be
ignored by his junior workers.
‘I’m a rank B Awakened now.’
Not only that, among the upper tier of the rank B, too. There was no need
to act subservient towards a ‘regular’ person like this who only relied on his
massive frame.
The middle-aged man carefully put down the bag of documents on the
ground and roared out at the top of his lungs.
“Oii! You’re supposed to apologise when running into someone!”
Once his agitated heart began racing away, he felt his magical energy
moving vigorously from within every inch of his body.
Cells in his flesh were telling him.
That he was alive.
That he was ready to start a new life as a Hunter.
Perhaps suppressed by his spirit, the beast-like man didn’t say anything
while standing rooted in the same spot. The middle-aged man saw this
reaction and became even more excited.
“You think everything will be over just because you’re standing still
looking at me like that? If you made a mistake, you’re supposed to admit to
it and start begging for forgiveness to the person you’ve wronged…. Ah?!
Ah, aaah!!”
When the huge man grabbed the middle-aged man by his head and lifted
the poor man up, the passersby watching began screaming at the top of their
lungs.
“Ah!! Ah, aaaaah!!”
Thick, reddish veins bulged on the head of the middle-aged man as he was
being squeezed.
A bear. No, a tiger; a lion, a shark, a crocodile, a poisonous snake – which
predator existing on this world was capable of frightening a human being to
this degree?
The fear of the predator ingrained into humanity’s DNA caused the middle-
aged man to wet his pants.
“Ah….. Ah…..”
And eventually…
CRACK!
Accompanied by the sounds of something shattering, blood and brain mass
splattered to everywhere.
“Kyyyaaaaahhk!!”
The huge man didn’t stop there; he began to voraciously devour the
sagging, lifeless body of the middle-aged man on the ground.
“He, he’s eating that man!”
“U-uwaaaah?!”
“Wha-what the hell is this?! What’s going on?!”
The noisy meal time came to an end in an instant. The huge ‘man’ wiped
the corners of his mouth, still dirty with bits of flesh, with his hand while
slowly standing back up.
A wild beast.
Not even a hint of intelligence could be seen behind the eyes of the huge
man. They definitely resembled a wild beast’s eyes now.
While many people screamed and ran away, there were just as many who
had failed to recognise the severity of the situation and continued to spectate
on the next actions of this huge man.
This ‘wild beast’ roared out towards the humans around it.
[Listen well, you lowly humans! Starting from now, I will hunt all of you
down!!]
The thunderclap-like roar paralysed all who listened. They stood there on
the spot shivering, tears rolling down their cheeks.
Before anyone had noticed it, sharp fangs were jutting out gloriously from
the huge man’s mouth.
[My fangs and claws will mercilessly rip apart the flesh and skin of you
weaklings!]
It was the King of Beasts. The roar from the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs
baring its sharp canines reverberated loudly against the entirety of the streets.
[I dare you to come and stop me!]
***
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol finally received the report on the
‘horrifying being’ that appeared in the middle of the city without any prior
warning.
“How many victims so far?”
“At the moment, it’s impossible to tally the number of the dead, sir.”
The ‘thing’ was first spotted in the district of Myeong-dong and while
moving in a straight line, the creature proceeded to kill every human it laid its
eyes on.
“When taken into account the direction this creature has taken, its
destination could be…”
“…..It’s the Hunter’s Association, isn’t it?”
Woo Jin-Cheol bit his lower lip and clenched his fists.
“We’ve got our hands full worrying about the d*mn Gate right now, but
just where did such a monster even…..”
Unfortunately, there was no time to stew in his anger right now. No, he had
to come up with a solution to stop that thing somehow.
“What about Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
“We still can’t contact him.”
“God d*mn it…”
He cursed out involuntarily.
Only a few minutes ago, he heard the news that a Guild stepped forward to
stop this monster only to be annihilated without being able to do anything.
The only consolation right now was that the creature moved at a slow pace
as if it was waiting for someone to show up. But still, it didn’t take a genius to
figure out that, as long as it was not stopped soon, the total number of victims
would end up being astronomical.
In such a situation, the fact that the country’s most powerful combat force
couldn’t be reached was probably the worst news imaginable.
‘If things go wrong, even the country can….’
Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth as he kept his mouth shut, his determination
firming up. It was then, a welcome piece of news came at his way.
“Association President!”
Woo Jin-Cheol shot up from his seat as an Association employee burst into
his office without permission.
“Did you get in touch with Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim??”
“No, sir. That’s not it. However, I just learned that a world-class Hunter
staying nearby is getting ready to stop the monster!”
“What? Really? Who is it?”
“That is….”
***
Ranked as the number one in the German Hunter community, Lennart
Niermann, could sense the aura of the monster approaching closer as it dyed
the streets red with blood.
‘Will I… be able to win?’
Even though he was doubtful, as a Hunter, there was no way he’d ignore
the screams of terror coming from the innocent citizens.
And when he took a look at the brightening expressions of the escaping
citizens as they recognised him, the Hunter ranked twelfth in the American
Hunter Bureau’s ‘Hunter Point’ list, Lennart Niermann was overcome with
this great weight of responsibility bearing down on his shoulders.
Yes, it was not a matter of whether he could do it or not. No, he simply had
to do it. That was the purpose, the duty, of a Hunter.
‘Maybe….’
The reason why he ended up staying in Seoul was probably the trickery of
fate so that he could stop that monstrosity with his own two hands.
Lennart Niermann formed a grave but determined expression and undid a
couple of buttons on his shirt. Just as he was about to take his step towards the
monster that finally revealed itself at the far end of the street….
A heavy voice came from behind him.
“Get out of the way.”
Chapter 214 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Jin-Woo’s smartphone began ringing off the hook as soon as he entered the
reception range.
‘From the Hunter’s Association?’
His expression hardened when he confirmed who the caller was. Could
something bad have happened while he was away for a bit?
He quickly answered the call.
“Yes, it’s me, Seong Jin-Woo.”
He sensed that something was definitely wrong after hearing the urgency in
the Association employee’s voice. Feeling suspicious, he quickly asked.
“What happened?”
A problem serious enough to make the leader of the Association personally
step up?
Jin-Woo realised that the matter at hand couldn’t be a simple one and
wordlessly waited for the reply. The distinct connecting signal tone soon
ended, and as if he had been desperately waiting for the call, Woo Jin-Cheol
hurriedly answered the phone, his anxious voice leaking out from the speaker.
“I was outside the reception range until a moment ago.”
Perhaps because of being contaminated by the frequent dungeon breaks, it
was almost impossible to contact outside when within that vast ocean of trees.
However, he thought it was more than sufficient enough to leave behind his
Shadow Soldiers with those whom he wanted to protect. That’s what he
believed.
‘Could the super-massive Gate have opened up while I was in the forest?’
But, there should have been at least two more days left still?
All manners of hypotheses bubbled up in Jin-Woo’s mind and just before
he could urge Woo Jin-Cheol to spit out the truth, the latter told him the
greatly simplified version of the current crisis.
Tumble.
Jin-Woo had been feeling energised after enjoying a rare break from the
action. But now, he felt as if his heart had fallen to the pit of his stomach.
“How big is the size of the monster horde??”
‘Just one?’
Currently, all Korean Hunters had gathered in Seoul.
They were summoned to the city in order to fight against the potential
dungeon break from the super-massive Gate, so they should be on their toes,
getting ready to move at a moment’s notice.
On top of that, the Association was even supplying weapons to those
Hunters lacking in proper equipment, too.
‘But then, they are getting destroyed by a monster that suddenly appeared
out of nowhere?’
As Jin-Woo fell ever deeper into confusion, Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly
continued on with his explanation.
“What about its current location?”
Could this be chalked up to being mere coincidence?
The moment Woo Jin-Cheol mentioned the name of the ultra-luxurious
hotel where Thomas Andre was staying, Jin-Woo felt this sense of creeping
unease tickle him in his throat.
Sure enough….
The Association President’s voice speaking the American’s name was filled
to the brim with anxiety.
But, that couldn’t be.
Just in case, Jin-Woo had left a Shadow Soldier behind with Thomas
Andre. The order issued to the soldier was to ‘send a signal right away if
something strange is sensed in the immediate vicinity’.
But then, the target for protection started fighting alone against a monster
capable of wiping out a Guild and yet, there was no signal?
‘….Hang on.’
Only now did Jin-Woo realise something was off.
The signals coming from the Shadow Soldiers spread throughout Seoul
were extremely weak. As if something was interfering with the transmission.
‘What is going on?’
An enemy possessing incredible power, a Special Authority-rank Hunter
fighting it, and finally, signals being blocked off.
Could it be?
One distinct possibility popped up in Jin-Woo’s head. He asked in a hurry
to confirm.
“Association President! Did that monster possess a shadow?”
“Please, confirm if that monster has a shadow!”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s voice seemingly got cut out for a moment, then – before
continuing on with greater urgency.
‘Oh, my god.’
Jin-Woo recalled that the Ice Elf attacking Goh Gun-Hui also didn’t
possess a shadow and loudly cried out.
“You must never let Thomas Andre fight that monster!”
There was a good chance that the monster had been aiming for Thomas
Andre all along.
Time was of the essence right now.
Jin-Woo realised that he had no need to listen to any further explanation
and tried to activate ‘Shadow Exchange’ with the Shadow Soldier attached to
Thomas Andre.
Tti-ring.
Accompanied by a rather ominous-sounding alert noise, a clear holographic
message suddenly popped up in his view.
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
Jin-Woo tried several times more, but it was the same story.
Tti-ring, tti-ring….
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
[The designated Shadow Soldier cannot be located.]
‘How could this be!’
Jin-Woo began freaking out, his expression gradually hardening like stone.
‘My soldier… has disappeared?’
The Shadow Soldier he needed to use as his coordinates for the skill
‘Shadow Exchange’ had disappeared without a trace, somehow.
He couldn’t detect any trace of that particular solder at all.
And he could now definitely sense that the connection he shared with the
soldier attached to Thomas Andre had been severed, just like when he sent
some of the soldiers back to the void.
The cancellation of the Shadow Soldier independent of his will??
A confused-sounding voice leaked out of Jin-Woo’s mouth next.
“What the hell has happened here?”
***
Lennart Niermann heard the weighty voice coming from behind him.
“Get out of the way.”
The German had experienced a similar sort of situation before, but the
emotion he felt right now was quite different compared to back then.
“Thomas Andre!”
The giant of a man large enough to block out the sun, that’s Thomas Andre.
Lennart Niermann’s expression brightened the moment he discovered the
American standing behind him.
Thomas Andre wordlessly walked past Lennart and slowly went up ahead.
Even those screaming people running away from the scene recognised the
Special Authority-rank Hunter and his hulking physique, and their steps all
gradually came to a stop.
“He, he’s that American Hunter…..”
“T-Thomas Andre??”
“It’s the Goliath! THE Goliath!!”
Even the first rate Hunter Lennart Niermann felt his heart pound excitedly
when seeing Thomas Andre’s broad back as he walked forward. So, how
would the regular people feel, when they were desperately fleeing in terror
from the monster’s dense killing intent?
“Ah, ah!”
“Oh, dear lord! Thank you!”
Some people even began plopping down on the ground from the sense of
relief robbing their built-up tension, knowing that one of the world’s best
Hunters had come to save them.
Meanwhile, Thomas Andre angrily shouted at the other Hunters nearby
who were all frozen stiff from the powerful pressure emitted by the unknown
monster.
“Stop standing around like idiots, and start evacuating these citizens, you
b*stards!”
The roar from the Special Authority-rank Hunter was more than enough to
blow away the stifling pressure dulling the thought process of the other
Hunters.
They understood his intention through that thunderous roar and began
grabbing those citizens that had fallen behind to drag them far away from
Thomas Andre. Lennart Niermann also cooperated with the evacuation of the
powerless citizens along with his Korean counterparts.
The American stood tall in the middle of the street as if to protect them.
And that ‘monster’ slowly made its way over in his direction.
The Special Authority-rank Hunter took off his sunglasses, his eyes
narrowing to a slit.
“….”
What he saw was a beast covered in blood. Although it vaguely looked like
one, there was simply no way that thing was a human being.
Veins bulged on Thomas Andre’s face as he spotted the bits and pieces of
the victims strewn messily about behind this ‘beast’.
“A stinking beast who doesn’t know its place has rampaged around for
far too long.”
As if to mock Thomas Andre’s rage, the ‘beast’ bared its fangs covered in
bits of flesh in a toothy grin.
Putting down a crazed animal was a universal truth, no matter where one
was from. Thomas Andre’s eyes became incomparably murderous right away.
“Reinforcement.”
His muscles transformed like armour and his already-hulking physique
grew larger and larger than before. As far as one’s physical size was
concerned, he was a step larger than this monster.
To find out the gap in the strength, Thomas Andre rushed towards his
target.
A tank!
People watching and sensing the ground tremble every time he took a step
forward instinctively pictured a powerful tank.
The beast smacked its lips at the appearance of a new prey and made its
move as well.
Two giants closed their distance in an instant and stood before each other.
At first, they exchanged glances studying their new opponent, and soon, they
squeezed their muscles laden with massive magical energy while roaring out
at the same time.
Two monstrous beings and their fists powerful enough to crush concrete
like tofu began exploding out like bullets towards one another.
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
This exchange of fists relied solely on brute force with no consideration
towards any type of techniques. Hunters watching on were left absolutely
awestruck by this spectacle.
Just being kissed by one of those fists would result in instant death for
these Hunters. But these two were trading such lethal blows without even
taking a breather, without even bothering to block them, as if these punches
were just light probing jabs.
‘It’s working.’
Thomas Andre grew sure of it now.
Pow!
His punch caused the beast’s head to spin to the side. This heavy sensation
of impact got transmitted to his left hand. This attack definitely worked.
After losing to Jin-Woo, the Goliath felt his confidence had plummeted
somewhat, but through this dogfight, he felt it growing back again.
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
The continuous stream of powerful punches pushed the beast gradually
backwards. Grabbing hold of this opening, Thomas Andre’s fearsome full
swing of his fist floored the b*stard right into the ground.
Kwa-boooom!!
Kwa-jeeeeeeeck!
The beast was shoved away as the concrete below split apart from the sheer
force. The creature smashed into the side of a building and demolished its
wall; only then did it finally stop moving.
Other Hunters watching on punched the air and celebrated, but the person
responsible, Thomas Andre himself, didn’t display any hints of joy.
‘No, that was wrong. It wasn’t…. as deep as I wanted.’
The thick dust cloud spread out, obscuring the vision. However, he could
still sense the presence of the beast emitting the dense murderous intent from
beyond the collapsed debris of the building.
Swish-!
Swiiish-!!
Suddenly, heavy hunks of metal flew out from the dust and at Thomas
Andre’s location. He smacked these flying cars away from him and quickly
activated the skill, ‘Capture’, to yank the beast hidden from his sight closer to
his position.
Wuuwoong!
The resisting beast was brought right up to the American’s nose; he
immediately activated his strongest skill.
“Demolition!!”
Muscles on both of Thomas Andre’s arms ballooned up until they nearly
popped. He slammed down on the ground with everything he had.
KWA-BOOM!!
The horrifying shockwave arising from the ground pummelled the beast.
[Kuuwahhh!!]
The beast cried out in agony as it was flung into the air before it came
crashing back down.
Thomas Andre seized upon this chance and jumped on top of the monster,
before proceeding to rain down his fists laden with an unbelievable amount of
magic energy.
Skill ‘Power Smash’!!
Boomboomboomboomboomboom!!
Waaaah!!
The citizens watching the battle between the Goliath and the beast from
afar with anxious minds all began raising excited cheers. Even the Hunters
began breaking out in relieved smiles as well.
No matter who saw it, this fight now had a clear victor. It was an
overwhelming victory befitting the Special Authority-rank Hunter, often
referred to as the world’s best.
However….
Thicker and thicker drops of cold sweat began forming on Thomas Andre’s
forehead even as he mercilessly pummelled the beast down below.
‘What is this?’
What was this anxiety, born from this sensation of a noose gradually
tightening around his neck the closer he got to his victory?
Each and every one of his attacks was landing splendidly, and the beast
being floored down below wasn’t showing any signs of resistance.
So, why….?
‘Why do I feel this anxious, even though I’m clearly in an advantageous
position?’
Fairly quickly, though, Thomas Andre got to discover the source of his
anxiety.
It was the eyes.
From the very beginning of the fight right up until now, the beast had been
looking at him with the exact same apathetic eyes, even going so far to
completely disregard the indiscriminate outpouring of his attacks.
It was as if the thing was mocking him, telling him to try and give his best
shot.
Grit.
The Goliath was thoroughly enraged and raised his interlocked fists up
high.
His shoulder muscles expanded in an instant, and thick veins bulged on his
skin. Horrifying amounts of magic energy flowed into his shoulders, arms,
wrists and fists, emitting a bone-chilling aura at the same time.
With this, it’d be the end.
Could this beast reopen those eyes again after being struck by ‘Demolition’
right in the epicentre of the skill?
With everything he had, Thomas Andre slammed down both of his fists.
“Demolition!!!!”
It was then.
He clearly saw it.
He saw the beast close its eyes for the briefest of brief moments before
opening them to reveal that those eyes, previously resembling that of a
human’s, now fully resembling a wild predator’s.
Grab.
The beast leisurely raised one hand up to easily stop Thomas Andre’s two
fists swung down with all his might.
“…..??”
The American looked at his hands, now held tight and couldn’t be pulled
back at all, and felt a chill run down his back.
[Even though you’re a mere puppet of a Fragment, you managed to drag
out this much power.]
The sounds similar to a predator growling caused Thomas Andre’s
expression to crumble.
“What was that?”
Right at that moment.
The black hair of the beast began to grow longer and longer as its colour
changed to white.
That wasn’t all; the nails resembling awls grew lengthier as well, while its
fangs grew sharper, too. Soon, whitish fur covered its entire body.
‘A Werewolf?!’
Unfortunately, there never had been a single instance of a white Werewolf
making its appearance in ten years of humans going on raids.
“You…. Just what is your true identity?”
Thomas Andre threw that question out as he felt this ominous chill from the
disgusting, vile magical energy oozing out from the beast’s eyes.
Too bad, the creature didn’t bother to answer him and proceeded to shatter
the bones in the human’s hands with nothing but sheer physical strength.
Wuduk!!
“Wuuuuaaahk!!”
Chapter 215 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Unbridled astonishment!
The strongest Hunter screamed out and everyone else in the vicinity
couldn’t hide their shock and astonishment.
The helicopter dispatched from the TV station flying in the air filmed in its
entirety Thomas Andre suffering in great pain.
Right in the middle of Korea’s capital city, Seoul, where the focus of the
world had gathered due to the appearance of the super-massive Gate – to
think, a Special Authority-rank Hunter trying to stop a monster was
screaming out in pain like that?
“How can this be….??”
All those watching the two being’s fight, whether in the location itself or
through various screens, prayed fervently in their hearts that this wasn’t the
end of this battle.
Too bad, the ‘beast’ snatched and then, slammed Thomas Andre’s wrists
into the ground as if to mock their prayers.
BOOM!!
It then climbed on top of Thomas Andre, reversing the previous position.
“Keo-heok!”
Blood spewed out from the Goliath’s mouth as he bitterly resisted even
with his broken hands, but now that the beast had fully revealed its true
powers, he was unable to endure against his opponent’s physical prowess.
The beast stomped on Thomas Andre’s face and roared loudly into the sky.
Kuuwaaaaahhh-!!
The horrifying howl loud enough to tear out the eardrums of everyone
listening reverberated like a thunderclap in the city’s streets.
A predator didn’t fight. It simply hunted its prey.
The Hunters nearby were overwhelmed by the howl containing an
inconceivable amount of magical energy and began kneeling down one by
one from the closest position to the furthest back.
As for Thomas Andre, the closest one to hear the howling, his eardrums
had ruptured and blood leaked out from his ears.
The beast smirked derisively.
[Are you scared now?]
One of the joys a hunter could derive from the process of hunting was
seeing the prey shiver in fear.
However, Thomas Andre didn’t give up. He clenched his messed-up fist
with great difficulty and threw a counterattack.
Pow!
Quite unlike before, when they exchanged many crippling blows earlier,
the beast’s head didn’t even rock once.
The wall.
He looked into the disinterested eyes of the beast glaring down at him and
began picturing an imposing wall stretching endlessly into the sky standing
tall to block his path.
He had felt something similar to this once before.
What a strange thing this was; for a moment there, Thomas Andre thought
he saw Jin-Woo within the beast’s glare.
‘But, how come….?’
He didn’t have any chance to sort out his confusion, though, as an attack
from the beast rocked his head violently side to side, the ground underneath
caving into a crater.
BOOM!!
“Keok!”
That was just the start of the onslaught, though.
Boomboomboomboomboom!!
Just like how he had done, the beast began raining down powerful attacks
from above. As if to teach the human what true attacks looked like, the
vicious punches continuously slammed down without mercy.
Boomboomboomboomboom!!
Thomas Andre’s lips continued to issue pained grunts over and over again,
unlike back then when the beast simply withstood his punches.
“Keo-heok!”
It was then; the beast, in the midst of enjoying the pain of its prey,
discovered something odd just beyond the human.
[….??]
The beast stopped its attacks. What it was glaring at, as if to bore a hole
into it, was Thomas Andre’s shadow.
[I see that there’s a rat hiding in there.]
Stab!
The beast stabbed its hand deep into the shadow and grabbed ‘something’
within the subspace.
Paht!
When the creature pulled its hand out, an ant soldier hiding inside the
human’s shadow was dragged out along as well.
The beast stood upright again. The ant soldier, its neck tightly grabbed by
the powerful grip, desperately struggled but the monster didn’t even budge
from the spot.
“Kiiieehk!”
This one was a soldier belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
It was impossible to destroy an immortal soldier like this one through
regular means. However, the creature holding onto the ant’s neck was no
ordinary being, either.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was a higher existence. It simply focused
the energy inherent within the spiritual body to erase this ant soldier from the
very fabric of existence altogether.
“Kiiahk!”
The ant soldier spat out a short death throe and turned into dust, returning
to the void beyond. The beast grinned as it watched the grey ash scatter in the
air.
It was then.
Thomas Andre got up and positioned himself behind the beast before
anyone had noticed it. He then wrapped his arm around the creature’s neck
and secured his grip with the other arm.
If he lacked teeth, then he’d bite with his gums, instead!
His hands may be broken, but his arms and shoulders were still fine. Thick
veins bulged on his arms as he poured in all his might to exert enough
pressure to crush a steel beam in one breath.
“Pant, pant….”
Thomas Andre continued to gasp out breathlessly and concentrated on this
final attack.
There would be nothing left after this. His eyes shot wide open in
concentration as he clenched his teeth, fully knowing that he’d get killed if he
missed this chance.
Wududuk, wuduk….
He heard the displeasing noises similar to bones being crushed into powder.
If that was the sound of the enemy’s neck breaking, then there was still a
chance of victory here.
‘….I’ve done it!’
Unfortunately, the incoming rush of pain had been slightly delayed by the
adrenaline coursing through his body. Thomas Andre bore the full brunt and
screamed out in agony.
“Wuaaaaahhhk!!”
The beast shattered the American’s arms locked onto its neck with nothing
but sheer physical hand grip. It then grabbed his head with both hands before
proceeding to slam him down on the ground.
THUD!
Viewers watching this scene through their screens saw the Goliath’s arms
dangling around and quickly averted their gazes. It was a scene they simply
couldn’t bear to watch with their eyes open.
Too bad, the horrifying scene didn’t stop there and continued on. The beast
pounced on the sprawled Goliath and began biting him.
The predator’s mealtime had begun.
Dozens of sharp, knife-like fangs began tearing into Thomas Andre’s skin
and made a mess out of his flesh.
“Euh-euhk! Wuaahk!!”
He didn’t give up until the end and continued to desperately struggle, but it
was obvious that he had no chance in hell right now. His blood poured out
and the bits of his flesh flung into the air.
“Wuuuaahk!”
Seeing this horrendous, sickening sight, the other Hunters supposedly
guarding the location began backtracking inadvertently in terror.
As for the regular people that had bet their hopes on the Goliath, they had
scattered away in fear a long time ago after seeing the incoming end result.
However, something unexpected happened then; among the ranks of the
hesitating Hunters, one man dashed forward like a bolt of lightning and ran
straight towards the beast.
Boom-!!
The monster had been drunk on the victory and the taste of its loot, so it got
caught unaware and was struck cleanly by this unexpected attack, which
resulted in it getting flung away.
It was none other than Lennart Niermann. Germany’s best Hunter quickly
stood next to the grievously wounded Goliath.
Thomas Andre recognised Lennart and somehow managed to squeeze out
his voice.
“Run… away….”
However, Lennart shook his hardened face.
“I’m also a Hunter, you know.”
‘….Although I’m far weaker than you.’
Back when he Awakened his powers and made up his mind to become a
Hunter, Lennart had promised himself this one thing – that he’d never turn his
back on a comrade.
Sure, they might not even be in the same team, but from Lennart’s
perspective, Thomas Andre was an exemplary comrade who was fighting
against a common enemy.
Didn’t matter what the American thought of him, because as a Hunter, the
German simply couldn’t back away from this situation.
‘However…. Just staring at that thing face to face is making me break
out in cold sweat here.’
Lennart watched the beast’s expression crumple unsightly after its
mealtime had been unceremoniously interrupted, and his own legs began
turning to jelly right then.
Seeing him shiver like that, Thomas Andre opened his mouth again.
“You… will… die….”
He knew that already. Of course, Lennart knew that.
He didn’t even have his equipment with him. And his strongest one-hit-kill
trump card, the skill ‘Charge’, only managed to shove the beast away.
Germany’s best Hunter?
12th in the world rankings?
He knew better than anyone that such things had no meaning in the current
situation.
Even then…
‘….I don’t regret anything.’
Even if this moment turned out to be his last, he’d still choose exactly the
same over and over again. Rather than the life of a coward, he would choose
to go out in a blaze of glory!
‘I’m not wrong. I am not wrong!’
Lennart continued to psyche himself up as he glared at the massive power
gradually running faster and faster towards him.
‘I’m definitely not wrong!’
He locked his eyes on the chill-inducing maw of the beast opening up wide
as the monster closed the distance in an instant. Lennart summoned up every
ounce of energy and swung his fist.
For a very moment there, the life he led up until this moment flashed past
him like a revolving lantern. He didn’t even work that hard yet this incredible
power was handed to him, allowing him to live an overabundant and perhaps
undeserved lifestyle.
But, he did live a happy life, didn’t he?
That’s right, he did.
A grin floated up on Lennart’s lips as he saw the beast’s throat approaching
ever closer.
Indeed, he was not wrong. Right up until the end, he didn’t live an
embarrassing life.
Just before the beast’s maw swallowed his head, Lennart quietly closed his
eyes, thinking that there would be no more need to open them again.
But then!
Kwa-boom!!
A sudden noise of explosion coming from his front shocked Lennart and he
quickly opened his eyes.
‘What was that?!’
The beast struck by his fist was flying away in a straight line for dozens of
metres before rolling ungainly on the ground. The asphalt cracked up into
pieces, cars were blown away, and street lights were bent in the middle.
“Uh?”
‘Was I this strong?’
Lennart dazedly stared at his fist, only to realise that someone was standing
right next to him.
“Uh, uh??”
Confirming that man’s face, Lennart joyfully cried out in a half-tearful
voice.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!”
***
He was cutting it really close.
If he hadn’t attached a Shadow Soldier to Lennart Niermann when the
German came to the Guild office, would he be able to make it in time, even?
After confirming that the Shadow Soldier attached to Thomas Andre had
disappeared, Jin-Woo searched for another one near the location and activated
‘Shadow Exchange’. But to think, that Shadow Soldier just so happened to be
the one in Lennart Niermann’s shadow.
Thanks to that, he got to save the lives of these two men.
Jin-Woo hurriedly checked Thomas Andre’s wounds and breathed a sigh of
relief. The American’s wounds looked pretty serious, but thankfully, he’d be
able to survive.
He must’ve had no more energy left to even speak, as Thomas Andre could
only quietly look up at Jin-Woo. The latter also remained silent but nodded
his head as his reply.
He silently thanked the Goliath for his courageous effort in stalling for
more time.
When he turned around, his ears were filled up with Lennart’s emotional
voice.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!!”
“Thank you for stopping that b*stard. My apologies, but can you
evacuate Thomas to somewhere safe?”
Jin-Woo politely asked in English, and Lennart nodded his head
energetically. Compared to fighting that monstrosity, this job sounded so
much easier.
“Ah, yes! You don’t have to worry about that one.”
The German cautiously lifted Thomas up and hurriedly distanced himself.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the beast raising its body up.
Tangible, horrifying, murderous intent oozed from the creature. He sensed
power on another realm compared to other monsters from the b*stard.
‘I knew it….’
His guess was on the money.
This thing possessed a similar sort of aura to the Ice Elf he met earlier. It
was, indeed, one of the Sovereigns that were hunting down the Hunters.
However, what was going on here? Unlike with the Ice Elf, this thing
showed no signs of panic. No, more than that – even though its fight had been
interfered with, it looked composed, nay, relaxed, even.
‘But, why….?’
Did it possess a calm personality, to begin with? Even though it looked half
man, half beast?
While Jin-Woo was stewing in his confusion, the beast emerged fully from
the building’s debris and walked leisurely over in his direction.
It was sloshing something in its mouth before spitting whatever it was to
the floor. They turned out to be its broken fangs.
The beast glared at Jin-Woo who managed to break off several of its fangs
with just a single punch and didn’t even bother to disguise its surprise.
[So, it was for real. The smell of the Shadow b*stard is mixed in among
that human’s scent.]
The beast sniffed the air noisily and asked as if it had discovered something
rather amazing.
[But then…. how can a human manage to bring out the power of a
higher existence to this degree?]
‘I raised up my levels, that’s how. You dumba*s.’
Rather than choosing to solve the b*stard’s curiosity, he summoned the pair
of ‘Kamish’s Wrath’, instead.
He had a lot of things to ask this Sovereign. But, the Q&A session could
only take place after the battle was over and he had grasped the right to decide
the creature’s fate.
Glance.
Jin-Woo glanced at the traces of the victims still visible here and there in
the street and an ice-cold murderous rage began overflowing out of his eyes.
But, then….
….The voice he hadn’t forgotten yet suddenly resounded out right from
next to the beast.
[It’s possible that the architect has found a way. Well, the business
dealings between the Shadow Sovereign and the architect started a long
time ago, after all.]
The thin, fog-like smoke suddenly coagulated into a singular mass before
morphing into a humanoid shape.
‘Isn’t that….?’
It was the ancient Ice Elf. The Sovereign of Frost, hiding its presence as a
fog until now, had finally revealed itself.
Jin-Woo realised that the fog wrapped around the city was not a natural
phenomenon the moment he came in contact with it.
And this time, it was from his behind.
[In that case, I can eat the corpse of this human, right?]
A weird female voice harsh enough to grate his ears came from behind him,
and Jin-Woo quickly looked back.
And that’s where he discovered a spectacle that made him doubt his own
eyes.
Bashushushushu….
A horde of insects poured out from the sewerage and began merging into
one to assume the shape of a humanoid female.
[I really want to find out what a fellow Sovereign tastes like, you see.]
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened, now that he found himself suddenly
surrounded by his enemies. And then, he realised it.
They gagged his Shadow Soldiers by confusing the signals not because
they were worried about their hunt being disrupted by him. No, they did that
in order to hide the fact that there were more than one of them here.
In other words, this was a trap. A trap laid out in the entirety of Seoul in
order to box Jin-Woo in.
Sure enough, the System finally recognised the severity of the situation and
urgently sent out warning messages.
[The King of Snow Folk, the Sovereign of Frost has designated you as an
enemy.]
[The King of Beasts, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs has designated you
as an enemy.]
[The Queen of Insects, the Sovereign of Plagues has designated you as
an enemy.]
Enemies possessing power on another scale altogether, and three of them to
boot, too! His Black Heart, sleeping quietly until now, began to pound away
madly at the entrance of these three incredibly powerful foes.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
‘Isn’t this….’
….Good?
The corners of Jin-Woo’s lips arched up.
These things were thinking that they had managed to surround him, but the
thing was, he wasn’t alone. In reality, they were the ones surrounded now.
Jin-Woo kept his senses ultra-sharp in order to not miss their movements
and summoned out his army that’d surround his enemies.
‘Come out!’
Chapter 216 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The Rulers were asking for forgiveness from the Shadow Sovereign.
They occupied an overwhelmingly advantageous position. As long as they
willed it, they could have sent the Shadow Sovereign back to the empty void,
yet they wished to make up with him, instead.
This was their own way of showing their respect towards a comrade, born
together at the same time, as well as the greatest warrior who once stood at
the forefront with his Army of Brilliant Light, in the war against the powers
of the Sovereigns.
Although the Shadow Sovereign was never their leader, his comrades
nevertheless respected him greatly.
And that was why they ignored the command from their leader, the
‘brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light’, to get rid of the Sovereign and instead
chose to kneel before him.
[We no longer have any reason to fight each other.]
The enraged voice of the Shadow Sovereign resounded throughout the land
next.
[What do you mean, there’s no reason??!]
The Sovereign reached down and grabbed the collar of the Ruler asking for
forgiveness and yanked him up by force.
[Have you not harmed my liege with your swords and spears?!]
[He was our master as well.]
[That is precisely why your crimes are even more heinous!]
The Rulers maintained a courteous attitude, even towards the enraged
Shadow Sovereign.
[You know better than anyone what we felt in our hearts when we raised
our banners of rebellion against our master.]
The Shadow Sovereign raised his head and discovered that the silver-clad
winged soldiers had gathered around them before he had noticed it, and they
were looking in his direction with worried expressions etched on their faces.
These were truly loyal soldiers.
How could he not know what they felt, watching their comrades die at the
hands of their enemies? It was him who led these soldiers in countless
battlefields and shed blood in honour of their master, after all.
[We only wished to end this war. That was all.]
The Sovereign’s grip holding onto the Ruler’s collars loosened just a tad.
[And finally, we have the opportunity to do so.]
[That’s right. You can finally end this war.]
The Shadow Sovereign let go of the Ruler, picked up his discarded sword,
and made the angel grip the weapon’s hilt.
[Strike me down with this sword.]
And then, he looked at the other Rulers and shouted out.
[Pierce my heart with your spears! That is the end that you so desperately
seek! With this act, you shall finally become the victor of this war!]
But, the sword powerlessly fell from the Ruler’s grasp and clattered noisily
onto the ground. No one else tried to push forward their spears against the
Shadow Sovereign. Only the pleading voice came back his way.
[Please, find it in your heart to forgive us.]
Unfortunately, their earnest plea struck the Shadow Sovereign more
painfully than any weapon known to man.
After he lost his subordinates, after he lost his master, and after he himself
was trapped within the darkness, the only thing that motivated him to carry on
were the thoughts of revenge.
The desire for vengeance helped him to endure until now.
He had led the army of the dead with the singular thought of making these
Rulers pay for their transgressions.
But now, how could he continue to hate those asking for his forgiveness in
order to save their own soldiers from this endless cycle of warfare?
After all, both he, fighting to protect his master, and these Rulers, who
fought to keep their subordinates alive, were victims of fate’s cruelty, were
they not?
The truth, that these kneeling angels weren’t his detestable enemies, but
comrades who went through hell together, began tearing at his heart
mercilessly now.
With that, the sole reason for his existence gone, the Shadow Sovereign
cried out towards the others as if he was vomiting blood.
[Come! Kill me!]
Everything shall end here.
He’d rather return to the embrace of the void and rest for eternity while
forgetting everything that had happened.
[Hurry!]
None of the Rulers moved an inch.
No, they remained kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed to the floor,
just like how it was from the beginning.
The Shadow Sovereign raised his head up next.
That prompted all the silver-clad soldiers in the air, still remembering the
greatest warrior ever to grace the heavens, to place their fists where their
hearts were and lower their heads.
[…….]
Although they had to fight against him because of the differing ideals, they
still hadn’t forgotten about their admiration towards him in their hearts and
consequently, they paid their utmost respect.
The number of such soldiers utterly dominated the entire sky. And when all
of them lowered their heads, the Shadow Sovereign stopped silently watching
them and turned around to leave.
The Sovereign of Death left the scene just like that, and afterwards, he
completely vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, the combined forces of the
Sovereigns, now that their own armies had been greatly depleted by the
internal conflict of the three Sovereigns, met with a resounding defeat at the
hands of the Rulers.
The defeated remnants escaped to the crack between dimensions with their
remaining forces. Jin-Woo watched the Sovereigns and their defeated army
escaping through the enormous Gate and became utterly dumbstruck.
‘The scale of the defeated remnants were that big….?!’
He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how many soldiers from both sides
had to be sacrificed for the sake of the Absolute Being’s entertainment.
He kind of understood where these Rulers were coming from when they
rebelled against their master’s rule.
But, it was then.
The Shadow Sovereign that secluded himself from the worldly affairs,
appeared before the other Sovereigns again.
When the Shadow Sovereign and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran into
each other, others became extremely tense that another violent clash might
take place, but due to the intervention from the Dragon Emperor, the feared
event didn’t come to pass.
[Now is the time to replenish our depleted forces. I understand the history
between you two, but I shan’t allow a fight to take place.]
The Dragon Emperor then accepted the Shadow Sovereign back to their
fold once more with open arms.
Jin-Woo swallowed his nervous saliva as he watched the Dragon Emperor
in humanoid form. He was aware of the fact that the figure before his eyes
was nothing more than a fragment of the Shadow Sovereign’s memories, but
still….
‘So, this guy is the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of
Destruction….’
The insane level of power oozing out from nothing more than just a glare
even made Jin-Woo’s teeth clatter.
Having evacuated to the crack between dimensions, the Sovereigns avoided
the Rulers’ detection and searched for a new world where they would nurture
their army again.
Countless galaxies and planets flew past Jin-Woo’s eyes. And eventually,
the footage came to a stop right before a certain planet.
He unconsciously let out a gasp.
“Ah…..”
It was a beautiful blue planet shining all alone within the darkness of space.
It was Earth.
Through their concerted efforts over a long period of time, the Sovereigns
succeeded in tunnelling a portal from the crack between dimensions, to Earth
that existed in another dimension.
And thanks to the entrance of unprecedented enemies, mankind couldn’t
avoid the fate of being annihilated.
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened as he watched the cities get reduced to
smouldering rubble, as first seen inside the ‘Demon’s Castle’ instant dungeon.
“Is this what will happen in the future?”
[No. This is a record of the past.]
Jin-Woo’s eyes quaked powerfully from that unexpected answer. But, his
shock could linger around only for a short while. Because the Shadow
Sovereign continued on with his explanation.
[The Rulers belatedly detected the movements of the Sovereigns and sent
their armies, but by then, everything had already come to an end.]
If the purpose of the Sovereigns was to destroy, then the role of the Rulers
was to maintain the worlds.
Naturally, the Rulers grew angry at the fact that the thugs of the Chaos
World they failed to eradicate the last time managed to bring down yet
another world.
In order to right the wrong, they resorted to activating a certain tool of God
that they themselves had prohibited from use.
The tool of God was called ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ – an item they made sure
to steal first as their top priority from God’s storage, just before they started
their rebellion. It was an incredible item that could reverse time by around ten
Earth years.
‘Ten years?!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes shot wide open.
Could this be pure coincidence that the number of years matched the time
when Gates began generating out of thin air, and Hunters appeared to stop
them?
[It is as you suspect.]
The Rulers did their best to rescue other worlds, but Earth was simply too
fragile to host the battles between themselves and the Sovereigns. This planet
with no magical energy couldn’t endure against the mass-scale battles.
Didn’t matter who won in the end between the Rulers or the Sovereigns,
the result waiting for this planet remained the same. After going through
several cycles of war and the destruction of the planet, the Rulers came to a
drastic decision.
If saving everyone was impossible, then make sure that some would still
survive and continue the life on this planet.
“If so, does that mean….?!”
[Gates are the process to create humans that would survive the collision
of two forces. That’s how much the Rulers wanted to guard humanity.]
Only then did Jin-Woo finally realise it.
He realised the reason why these Rulers stayed behind the scenes and
quietly let the process take place without getting in touch with humanity, even
if they knew that there was a calamity coming.
‘Humans capable of surviving in the changed world are…..’
If humanity learned that everyone in the world would die soon with the sole
exception of the small number of people referred to as Hunters, would the
human societies be able to function properly ever again?
No, hang on. Jin-Woo inwardly shook his head.
He finally heard the reasons for the Gates and the Hunters after this lengthy
tale. However, the one thing he really wanted to hear about, he still hadn’t
heard the answer yet.
As if he had read Jin-Woo’s mind, the Shadow Sovereign gestured with his
hands and the surroundings changed completely again.
[The higher existences, such as Rulers and Sovereigns, are able to
perceive the change in the flow of time created by the tool of God.]
Even if they couldn’t do anything about it, said the Sovereign afterwards.
While the Rulers busily tried to fix their mistakes several times, the
Sovereigns also began modifying their plan continuously, as well.
….Until the tool of God couldn’t be used anymore.
“Hold up…. Are you telling me that there’s a limit to this ‘Chalice of
Rebirth’?”
[There are no such things as infinite power. Just as the Absolute Being
capable of creating the universe was eliminated by his own creations, no
power lasts forever.]
There was a hint of this tangible bitterness in his voice and that prompted
Jin-Woo to turn his head towards the Shadow Sovereign before he had time to
even notice it.
“I’m asking you because it was brought up first, but, how can creations
kill the creator?”
[It is not too different from you dying at the wiles of the machines you
have created.]
That sounded logical. Even if machines were created for the sake of
humanity’s convenience, they could still harm humans depending on how
they were utilised. It was a similar sort of reason as to why humans feared
artificial intelligence they themselves had created.
[We were created to fight, and our powers were more than enough to
bring down our own master.]
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Soon, the figures of several familiar Sovereigns appeared around Jin-Woo
and the Shadow Sovereign.
[The Sovereigns had a ‘light-bulb’ moment from the methods employed
by the Rulers.]
And that would be to copy the method of the Rulers, that lent the portions
of their powers to various humans and had them kill monsters, in order to
spread magic energy throughout the planet. Sovereigns would also ‘borrow’
the bodies of human hosts to descend on the world and bring their armies far
earlier than what the Rulers had been expecting.
[They plan to use the magical energy spread around the planet by the
Rulers and turn the entirety of Earth into one large trap.]
“To devour the Rulers’ armies coming to aid humanity in one go….”
[That’s right.]
For a Sovereign possessing incredible power to cross over into this world,
it needed a host body.
Sovereigns searched for and found suitable hosts for themselves one by
one.
However, only the two, the Sovereign of Destruction and the Shadow
Sovereign, the possessors of two indescribably enormous powers, couldn’t
find human hosts with a physique that could handle their powers.
[It was around that time when the greatest wizard, working under one of
the Kings, came to me with an offer. He said that he’d find me a suitable
human host.]
The ‘Architect’. This wizard, referred to as the Architect by the Sovereigns,
promised to aid the Shadow Sovereign’s descent to this world for the price of
turning him into a true immortal.
Since he was already somewhat interested in the ongoings of the human
world, the Shadow Sovereign agreed to this offer. Unfortunately, no human
alive could handle the power of ‘death’.
[The human with high sensitivity towards magic energy. The human with
an overwhelmingly superior physical condition. The human with amazing
mental faculty. All of them couldn’t handle my power and either became
mentally crippled or died.]
No living lifeform could become a vessel for death itself.
The contract with a Sovereign – this act possessed a meaning on a whole
different realm compared to other types of promises. Obviously, the Architect
became rather anxious as time ticked by.
While the Architect was sweating buckets trying to locate suitable
candidates, the Shadow Sovereign actually went ahead and found himself a
potential host first.
“…”
Jin-Woo raised his head.
As if there were hundreds of monitors displaying all sorts of varied and
colourful images of him, his past self doing various things appeared in all
directions.
[I saw you. You, who always accompanies death so closely yet still
desperately escapes from its grasp every time.]
He had been working as a Hunter for four years.
Jin-Woo was ranked E. Not only that, at the bottom of the lowest rank, too.
Yet, despite experiencing the life-threatening dangers of dungeons every day,
he didn’t stop entering them. It was all for the sake of his mother and his little
sister.
He sacrificed himself for his family and desperately struggled on. The
records of the past four years were all preserved in their entirety within the
Shadow Sovereign’s memories.
[The Architect opposed it, but I still chose you.]
The Shadow Sovereign was now pointing at Jin-Woo, and seeing that
unwavering finger, he felt his heart race faster and faster.
The Sovereign did say it before, didn’t he?
Those words weren’t describing Jin-Woo’s life after he had become a
‘Player’. No, it was about his life before he got to enjoy the benefit of the
System. Every one of those words rang weightily within his chest once more.
[The anxious Architect agreed to carry out my wish, and in the end, he
lured you into his grand plan.]
The dual dungeon, the test of his survival, and then, the ‘Player’.
All of these were part of the plan of the Architect to create a suitable vessel
for the Shadow Sovereign.
[As your world continued to repeat itself, the Architect got to observe
humans closely. And he created a system based on what humans enjoyed
playing and were also good at, in order for you to adapt to my great
powers.]
What humans enjoyed playing and were also good at, he said.
Jin-Woo knew right away what that thing was as soon as he heard the
Sovereign. It was none other than video games.
Here was the reason why the System designed to manage the ‘Player’
possessed such a similar layout to a video game.
And Jin-Woo was the lone successful case among all the test subjects.
[The System the Architect created by borrowing my power slowly
changed your physique step-by-step to better suit me.]
“But then, you betrayed the Architect, didn’t you?”
Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the angel statue jumping up and down in fury
while busily crying out that the other Sovereigns had been deceived back
inside the second dual dungeon.
The puzzling thing was, why did the Shadow Sovereign deceive the one he
was in contract with, and choose Jin-Woo, instead?
He simply had to ask for clarification here.
“But, why?”
[……]
For the first time ever, the Shadow Sovereign hesitated. He looked to be
agonising over something, and Jin-Woo didn’t press him for an immediate
answer.
Eventually, the Sovereign opened his mouth again.
[Because… I wanted to.]
Compared to how lengthy his deliberation was, that answer was way too
simple. Strangely enough, Jin-Woo couldn’t hold back his chuckle, though.
[Perhaps, I enjoyed the time I spent with you far too much and didn’t
want to lose ‘you’.]
Rather than erasing Jin-Woo’s ego and taking over his body, the Shadow
Sovereign had chosen to assimilate with him, instead. Meaning, he chose to
become a part of him.
And the end result was….
The Sovereign slowly raised his hands and grasped the sides of the helm
covering his head, lifting it up slowly. And, as the face hidden beneath it was
finally revealed, Jin-Woo’s eyes gradually widened.
‘….!!’
It was his own face.
The Shadow Sovereign possessed the exact same face as him.
But, was that all?
Jin-Woo’s gaze dropped back down to himself only to discover that the
surrounding darkness had wrapped around him to form new armour.
The appearance of the armour was exactly the same as that of the Shadow
Sovereign. It was as if they were looking at their mirror reflections and they
continued to gaze at each other.
[I have become you, and you have become me.]
‘I am you.’
That was the undeniable truth, with not an ounce of falsehood within.
[It won’t matter who gets to control our body, whether it’s me or you.]
Because… they were the same person now.
[And that is why… I shall give you the opportunity. Now, choose.]
The Shadow Sovereign raised his left hand and all those faces Jin-Woo
missed seeing appeared one after another.
[You can enjoy eternal rest inside this beautiful dream you have created
within the territory of death.]
First, it was the face of the gently-laughing Association President Goh
Gun-Hui, followed by his young-looking mother well before she collapsed
from the illness. And finally, even the scene of his much younger self that
existed within the time now long forgotten, drew up in the darkened
surroundings.
[However, if you don’t want that….]
The Shadow Sovereign lowered his left hand raised the right one, instead.
In an instant, all those faces disappeared, only to be replaced by a humongous
Dragon flying in from the darkened sky high above. And then, an army
entirely consisting of countless Dragons following after it to incinerate every
city they could find.
[….You shall return to reality and fight them.]
Jin-Woo stared at the Army of Destruction led by the Dragon Emperor with
a hardened face before making his reply.
No, he asked a question, instead.
“Why did you run away to another world with the other Sovereigns when
you had no desire to fight against the Rulers?”
[Because… there was no place for me to remain anymore.]
The Shadow Sovereign was a Ruler and at the same time, a Sovereign. And
he couldn’t find the place he could call home with either group. That was why
he chose to wander in other worlds he was not originally a part of, hoping to
find his place.
Hearing the Sovereign’s answer, Jin-Woo finally made his decision.
“My answer is the same.”
An imperceptible smile had already floated up on the Sovereign’s face even
before Jin-Woo made his reply.
“This is not where I belong.”
[….Very good.]
The Shadow Sovereign nodded, saying, [That’s why I chose you.]
“Does this mean I won’t ever get to see you again?”
[I shall be taking my eternal rest. And as the new Shadow Sovereign, you
shall live an eternal life. Surely, there won’t be a reason why we have to
meet again.]
Despite saying those words, there was the look of a relieved man on the
Sovereign’s face. Finally, the time of rest had come after an eternity of
waiting.
Jin-Woo watched the Sovereign genuinely feeling happy for himself and
bade his last goodbye.
“I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity.”
[…….]
For a brief moment there, a look of wistful longing brushed past the
Sovereign’s expression before disappearing altogether.
[With your death, your powers have become complete. As for how to
return, its….]
Jin-Woo stopped him there.
“I know.”
Because… I am you.
A smile floated up on the Shadow Sovereign’s face as the time of departure
drew near. After a long, long journey, he had reached a place he could rest
now.
The Sovereign addressed Jin-Woo.
[This is our farewell.]
He took a step back and wordlessly stared at Jin-Woo nodding his head.
Two words that would allow him to be reborn as the perfect Shadow
Sovereign left his lips in a low, hushed voice.
“Rise up.”
Chapter 221 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The System’s familiar female voice rang in his head the moment Jin-Woo
uttered ‘Rise up.’
[‘Rise up.’]
[‘Player’ Nurturing System delete code has been entered.]
[The System will now be deleted.]
Jin-Woo was now bestowed with the true power of the Shadow Sovereign,
which meant that the System was now rendered irrelevant to him. So, it began
deleting itself.
He felt as if he was saying goodbye to a nanny that looked after him since
his childhood. He then suddenly thought of a question and asked the Shadow
Sovereign.
“How did you include the female voice in the System?”
[….That’s actually the architect’s voice.]
The Sovereign was a bit dumbstruck by Jin-Woo’s sudden question, but
eventually, added more explanation.
[That creature was from a hermaphrodite race. It’s possible for them to
produce both male and female voices.]
“…..”
He often wondered who the owner of that clear and cool voice was every
time it accompanied the System messages, but to think, it was the same dude
all along.
Feeling a bit sheepish, Jin-Woo averted his gaze, prompting the Shadow
Sovereign to chuckle under his breath.
“Kuk, kuk.”
‘I also enjoyed watching that part of you, too.’
This man was indeed worth betraying the architect’s promise, even though
trust was one of the most important things for the Sovereign. A small hint of
sorrow briefly flashed past his eyes.
In the meantime, the System continued on with deleting itself step by step.
[All limitations imposed on the power ‘Player’ possesses has been lifted.]
[With the removal of the limitations, every Shadow Soldier of ‘Marshal’
grade enjoying the authority of the Sovereign will regain all of their
original powers.]
[Marshal grade soldier Igrit’s powers have been restored in full.]
[Marshal grade soldier Beru’s Stats have been enhanced greatly.]
[The former Shadow Sovereign, ‘Osborne’, is returning to the world of
eternal void.]
Jin-Woo silently listened to the messages before raising his head. He found
the Shadow Sovereign, despite facing his own end, staring back at him with
serene eyes.
Jin-Woo was able to understand all the pain and suffering the Sovereign
had gone through because of the memories of the distant past shown to him
within death’s territory. His goodbyes were, therefore, genuine and heartfelt.
‘Goodbye, my king.
I pray that you find the peaceful rest you dearly wished for so long in the
land of eternal sleep.’
Finally, even the System message signifying farewell popped up.
[Will you really delete all System and System-related functions?]
Two icons of ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ blinked in the empty air.
Jin-Woo shifted his gaze, one last time, to the Shadow Sovereign. Even
until the end, the former angel hadn’t lost that content smile of his.
Because, that would be the lasting image engraved in his heart, after all.
That was why Jin-Woo also smiled back.
With a smile, he issued his final input to the System.
“Yes.”
***
RUMBLE!!
A powerful wind pressure being generated at the same time with an
explosion of light forced back the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs and the
Sovereign of Frost. The former regained its posture first, its brows quivering.
[A Fragment of the Brilliant Light….?]
The body of the robe-wearing enemy was now burning in golden flames.
That light was the symbol of the Rulers.
This b*stard was, without a doubt, a human that borrowed their powers.
However, why were the Rulers aiding one of the most powerful Sovereigns
out there, the Shadow Sovereign?
The Sovereign of Frost cried out.
[The worst calamity imaginable is approaching us through the body of
the human you’re trying to protect! Are you planning to bring the
apocalypse to this world by your own hands??]
“…..”
The man wearing the robe didn’t even bother to reply. No, instead of an
answer, he simply brought up both of his shortswords near his chin, clearly
getting into a stance to fight. That was as good a sign as any of his intent.
The Sovereign of Frost’s expression hardened after confirming this man’s
decision once more.
Its current opponent had borrowed the powers of the Rulers and activated
Spiritual Body Manifestation. But, a human’s body couldn’t withstand a god’s
power.
Unlike with the Sovereigns who had completely taken over the host’s body
and ego, the one borrowing the Ruler’s power would soon crumble into dust
and disappear.
‘Even then…. He’ll risk dying just to aid in the Shadow Sovereign’s
revival?? Just what are the Ruler b*stards scheming now…?!’
The Sovereign of Frost looked at the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. They
exchanged suspicious gazes. There was no time. The beast-like man, the
Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, nodded its head.
Instantly, the two Sovereigns split left and right to approach the robe-
wearing man from both sides, before raining down a ceaseless barrage of
attacks.
The claws of a beast and the spear made of ice tried to tear into the robe-
wearing man countless times, but as if he was well versed in combat, he
easily countered and repelled all incoming attacks with expert movements.
He would let the ice spear slip past him or block against the claws, but
never forgot to throw out his counterattacks every now and then, as well.
This was the action of a warrior that survived a nonsensical number of
battlefields throughout his life. A truly troublesome opponent, in other words.
An enemy possessing great strength and technique disregarded his own life to
block the advance of the two Sovereigns.
BOOM-!!
The robe-wearing man blocked the weapons that carried incredible
amounts of magical energy belonging to two Sovereigns, and then, shoved
them away once more.
The Sovereigns landed some distance away, correctly judging that it would
be quite difficult to get a desirable result in time, at this rate.
Tap, tap.
As if the robe-wearing man had no purpose other than protecting the vessel
of the Shadow Sovereign, he only stood his ground and didn’t chase after the
Sovereigns.
[….Just what is your true identity?!]
The Sovereign of Frost was left dismayed and puzzled, but the robe-
wearing man remained silent as usual.
It was then.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs suddenly reverted from its Werewolf
appearance back to its human form and spoke up.
[I’m done with this.]
The sharp fangs peeking out of its lips went back inside, and its long claws
also changed back to those of regular person’s nails. As it turned around to
leave, the Sovereign of Frost hurriedly cried out to stop its comrade.
[We’ve come this far, yet you wish to leave now?! Are you insane!!]
[Can’t you sense it?]
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs shook its head.
It possessed sensory perception far exceeding the norm and after picking up
on the subtly-changing atmosphere, its body shuddered ever so slightly.
[The surrounding Mana has begun crying out. Soon, the Shadow
Sovereign will arrive.]
The gaze of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs went up to the sky before
shifting back to the Sovereign of Frost.
[I’m taking my leave.]
[But, you promised to attack the Shadow Sovereign with me, did you
not?!]
Veins bulged on the neck of the clearly-agitated ancient Ice Elf. Too bad,
the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs remained rather collected in its reply.
[My promise was only applicable when the vessel remained a human.
However, the real thing is about to come, so there’s no more reason for me
to stick to our promise.]
[Even then, how can a King of all beasts run away with his tail between
his legs?!]
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was triggered by those words and it
angrily grabbed the collars of the ancient Ice Elf.
[You can’t understand me because you’ve never tasted the true power of
the Shadow Sovereign, oh, Sovereign of Frost!!]
Back then, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs got to witness the depths of the
Shadow Sovereign’s powers when he faced off and survived against six huge
armies consisting of the beast army, demonic army belonging to the White
Flames, and lastly, the armies of the four Rulers.
Such a monster was about to show up here, so who cared about one’s
dignity in such a situation? It was fine if others ridiculed the Sovereign for
hiding behind the Dragon Emperor. It’d do anything if it meant surviving until
the end.
It made the correct call to abandon its former comrade, the King of
Demons, the Sovereign of White Flames, and to escape from the battlefield
back then.
And now, it was not daring to risk encountering the real deal while trying to
kill the Shadow Sovereign’s vessel.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was the King of Beasts, whose power was
founded upon the abundant life force of the surrounding creatures. And the
power of death, capable of eating into that life force, was the most fearful and
frightening thing in the universe.
Indeed, there was no time to waste its breath here. It sensed the terror of
death approaching ever closer with every passing second, and quickly
released the collars of the ancient Ice Elf to generate its personal Gate.
[I shall pray for your fortune.]
With that departing words, the beast quickly stepped into the Gate.
The Sovereign of Frost clicked its tongue unhappily as it watched the Gate
gradually shrink before completely disappearing from the view.
[What a foolish b*stard.]
How could a fool that runs away in fear, even when there was a nearly dead
prey right before its eyes, be deserving of the title of the Chaos World’s best
hunter?
The Sovereign of Frost’s thoughts remained the same as before – the
Shadow Sovereign had to die, no matter what. And the prey was as good as
tip-toeing on the precipice’s edge. Nothing would change just because a
hindrance suddenly showed up.
Indeed, there was no reason to borrow the hand of a coward. Deciding
such, the Sovereign of Frost activated its own Spiritual Body Manifestation.
Although its stamina would greatly be consumed by maintaining this form,
as this wasn’t the world it originally belonged to, there was a need to get the
result as soon as possible before the Shadow Sovereign really made his
appearance.
[Taste the terror of the bitter frost, you weakling!]
The Sovereign of Frost transformed into a gigantic ice storm that instantly
covered up the land. The violently thrashing blizzard slammed into
everywhere!
After morphing into an actual storm, the Sovereign of Frost coldly glared at
the robe-wearing man below and roared out like a thunderclap.
[This is my true power!!]
Tens of thousands of ice spears created out of crystallised Mana in the air
began raining down like falling snow. Each spear carried enough power to kill
a person in one shot. That was how extremely terrifying this attack was.
Cars still remaining in the roads were swept away like worthless toys and
buildings were torn apart by the blade-like winds. However, the robe-wearing
man didn’t even budge from his spot and protected Jin-Woo behind him with
all his being.
Countless wounds began appearing on the man facing off against the
endless barrage of ice spear blizzard. The Sovereign of Frost didn’t let up
with its attacks, not even for a second.
[My soldiers!]
From the snow that had piled up to one’s knees, ice humanoids created
from the magical energy rose up one by one. And soon, they numbered nearly
several thousand!
[Attack.]
The ice humanoids heard the command of their Sovereign and pounced
simultaneously at the robe-wearing man. He desperately resisted against these
humanoids by slicing them and shoving them away.
Unfortunately….
Stab!
He was struck on the shoulder by an ice spear and wobbled unsteadily on
his feet.
“…..”
Even in the midst of this, the ice humanoids were still rushing at him
relentlessly. The man forcefully strengthened his legs and gritted his teeth.
The mysterious man tenaciously hung on, and the Sovereign of Frost
decided to once more enter the fray itself. It transformed into a crystallised
form of sheer coldness and, while emitting white smoke from its entire body,
it gallantly strode over to the man.
[Get out of the way!!]
Its loud roar prompted the ice humanoids to quickly scatter. The Sovereign
of Frost stood before the man and opened its maw real wide.
Incredibly cold energy began gathering within its mouth next.
The air began freezing up. Ice even formed on the chin of the man visible
underneath the hood.
At this rate, things would get very dangerous. The robe-wearing man
understood this. However, if he tried to evade this attack, it’d hit Jin-Woo still
lying on the ground head-on.
The man displayed no hints of evading even when facing off against the
horrifying murderous intent oozing out from the Sovereign of Frost.
The facial expression of the Ice Elf crumpled unsightly.
‘A measly human simply borrowing the powers of a higher being through
sheer luck dares to form such an insolent face at me!’
Finally, the horrifying aura of coldness was fired out from the mouth of one
very enraged Sovereign.
KUWAAAHH-!!
The man crossed his arms in an ‘X’ to defend against the blast of cold air.
Rather obviously, his arms had to bear the brunt of blocking the entire attack
and they became frozen in an instant, unable to move again.
And then, truly vicious attacks continued on the man now unable to offer
any resistance.
Pow! Pow!! Pow!!! Pow!!!!
Every time the Sovereign of Frost smacked the man, his upper torso visibly
staggered. However, he never took a step back, not even once. Blood trickled
down his legs and formed a pool beneath his feet, but he continued to endure.
[How dare a measly little human….?!]
The Sovereign of Frost tilted its shoulder and raised up its right arm up
very high. In an instant, cold air gathered around the arm and transformed into
a gigantic ice block.
‘Now, let’s see if you can withstand this!’
The Sovereign of Frost was planning to not only crush the man, but the
vessel of the Shadow Sovereign lying behind him, too. It roused up its entire
magical energy to slam down the block of ice.
Vuuu-woong!!
The man watched the shadow of the falling ice block grow ever larger and
raised both of his frozen arms above. Even if his arms shattered, even if his
body was crushed, he must protect Jin-Woo.
He dragged out every ounce of power granted to him by the Ruler and his
body glowed in the most brilliant golden radiance.
And finally…
BOOOOM-!!
…There was a collision.
Strangely enough, although there was a collision, he didn’t feel any impact
force from it at all.
‘What is….?’
The man opened his closed eyes and discovered someone else standing
before him.
‘….!!’
This figure was kitted out in jet-black armour. And then, there was the
blood-red mane extending from the top of its helm all the way down to its
back.
It was none other than the faithful servant of the Shadow Sovereign, Igrit.
He defended against the massive block of ice before roughly shoving it away.
The Sovereign of Frost had to doubt its own eyes after that attack was
perfectly defended against.
[Igrit?!]
If the Marshal-grade Shadow Soldier made his appearance, then that could
only mean….!
The ancient ice Elf flinched nastily in surprise and hurriedly shifted its gaze
to the spot behind the robe-wearing man. Sure enough, the unconscious man
who should’ve been lying there could no longer be found anymore.
Finally…
Finally, the Sovereign of Frost understood what the Sovereign of Beastly
Fangs had said before running away.
The atmosphere itself was trembling. Mana, the magical energy densely
packed in the air, was resonating with the entrance of a transcendent
existence.
Igrit turned around and politely knelt down and lowered his head.
Kiiieeehhk!!
Beru, having appeared alongside Igrit, screeched out loudly as if to
announce the return of his master, and quickly knelt down while facing the
same direction.
And between the two, Jin-Woo calmly walked out.
He took a sweeping look around the messily destroyed surroundings and
threw a question at the Sovereign of Frost.
“Did the beast run away?”
[……]
Only after facing off against the true Shadow Sovereign did the ancient Ice
Elf realise the reason why the King of Beasts made its hasty, scared escape
earlier.
Even though it was the Sovereign of all things existing within the cold, it
was still trembling pitifully before the lord of death standing before it.
Jin-Woo continued on.
“….I didn’t permit it.”
The Sovereign of Frost couldn’t understand what he meant and reflexively
asked back.
[What was that??]
“I didn’t give my permission for it to run away.”
[What are you even on about…?]
Jin-Woo didn’t even give the ancient Ice Elf enough time to get flustered
and simply closed his eyes. He rapidly expanded his sensory perception to his
surroundings in search of the unique magic energy signature belonging to the
Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.
The range of his perception exceeded past the border of South Korea in an
instant and enveloped the whole planet.
He was deeply confident that, as long as the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs
didn’t escape to the gap between dimensions and remained hidden somewhere
on Earth, he’d located that b*stard no problem.
And his confidence was not proven to be baseless.
Jin-Woo smiled refreshingly and opened his eyes after discovering the
presence of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.
“Found you.”
Chapter 222 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
While Jin-Woo had his eyes closed to focus all of his attention on searching
for the escaped beast, the Sovereign of Frost had intuitively sensed it. It was
an opening left by the Shadow Sovereign.
Such an opportunity would not come around a second time. Even if there
was a huge gap in individual strength, how dare he take his eyes off his
enemy?
Avoiding death would be impossible if this chance was left ungrasped.
It was facing unavoidable death right now. In order to struggle free from
the shadow of death taking large strides towards itself, the Sovereign of Frost
decided to bet everything on one final move.
‘I must end everything with this one hit.’
Its right arm slipped behind its back and Mana began gathering there in a
large lump. It then proceeded to create the most powerful spear of ice it had
ever created.
Every ounce of energy dragged up by the desperation it felt would be
contained within this attack!
A terrifying amount of magical energy was being forcibly concentrated on
the ice spear. The power gathered was so great that the ground beneath the
Sovereign wielding the spear froze up in pure white while issuing cracking
noises.
Just before one would be tempted to wonder whether the Sovereign’s right
arm grasping the spear had expanded far too much or not…
The spear was fired out with the velocity of a bullet and tore straight
through the air.
Whoooosh-!!
At the same time, the ice humanoids received orders from their master and
pounced on Jin-Woo like a nest of enraged fire ants.
Whoooosh-!
Moments before the spear aiming at his forehead could penetrate into his
face…
….Jin-Woo opened his eyes.
“Found you.”
Simultaneously, the time flow of the surroundings came to a standstill as if
the ‘pause’ button had been pressed on the playback. No, actually, the time
had slowed down to such an extent that it almost looked as if it had come to a
standstill.
The ice spear’s shaft spinning at a scarcely-believable speed was definitely
getting closer, albeit only an inch at a time. And behind that, he could see the
Sovereign of Frost’s rather deeply distorted face glaring in his direction.
Was that all, though?
He even could see the faces of every single ice humanoid surrounding him
from all sides pouncing on him.
This was the scope of the Shadow Sovereign’s vision once he got ready for
battle. His ability to perceive that had reached the realm that no other human
being could ever hope to touch upon, and made it as if everything around him
had come to a dead stop.
Jin-Woo was like an alien invading the world of a paused video and
relaxedly scanned his surroundings.
This feeling…
‘Haven’t I felt something similar to this before….?’
When could that have been?
He slowly combed through his memories and eventually recalled that
moment when he was about to die from the assaults of the stone statues.
Indeed.
Back then, time had come to a standstill as if everything had been paused,
too.
‘Ah, so I had already possessed the power of the Shadow Sovereign in
me, even then.’
Only now that he got to unlock the full powers did he realise once more
just how long the Sovereign had been watching him. Jin-Woo continued to
check out his vicinity and soon, discovered the backs of his two Marshal
grade soldiers.
‘Ohhh….’
Even though the time had seemingly frozen, both Beru and Igrit were
moving in to intercept the enemies, albeit very slowly. This was as good
evidence as any that their agility had reached an incredible height now.
Jin-Woo studied them in happiness before remembering that there was a
spear coming his way.
‘Oopsie.’
Like an insect studiously crawling forward, the spear was continuously
closing the distance bit by bit. To stop the weapon’s advance, Jin-Woo used
one of his powers.
‘Ruler’s Authority.’
This was one of the Shadow Sovereign’s powers, although he trained on
using it proficiently while thinking that it was merely a skill.
The moment he activated ‘Ruler’s Authority’, he got to see the Mana
dispersed throughout the surroundings suddenly rush in and wrap about the
ice spear.
Once caught in the magical energy, the weapon lost all forward momentum
and stopped in its treks.
He got to see for the first time how the skill ‘Ruler’s Authority’ worked and
he couldn’t help but softly sigh in admiration.
‘Ah, so it was not an invisible hand or some such.’
No, it was more like ‘invisible Mana’. Simply put, Mana moved according
to the will of the skill’s activator. Jin-Woo’s eyes could capture the movement
of Mana so clearly now, when it was impossible to do so in the past.
‘Nice.’
Now that his sensory perception had reached the peak, he could definitely
pick up on the flow of Mana surrounding his vicinity. As he observed its flow,
his eyes sparkled brightly.
This was the end result of the Rulers trying so hard to fortify this world. A
world once devoid of Mana was now overflowing with it. And as the inheritor
of the Shadow Sovereign’s powers, he was given the right to freely wield this
energy with nothing but his will.
Ba-thump, ba-thump.
His heart raced faster as he sensed the surrounding Mana breathe.
‘….Let’s do this.’
Jin-Woo broke past the slowly-moving time and approached his two
Marshals before resting his hands on their shoulders.
“There’s no need for you guys to step up here.”
Beru and Igrit heeded their master’s order and immediately stopped
moving. Jin-Woo stood before them.
He’d now maximise his control of Mana that he trained whenever he had
the time through ‘Ruler’s Authority’. He took a sweeping look at the ice
humanoids and deeply breathed in and out once.
The emotion still filling his chest was the gratitude towards the Shadow
Sovereign welling up from deep inside his heart. Also, gratitude for teaching
him how to control his powers through the System’s guidance.
Jin-Woo was done focusing on himself and controlled the Mana in the air at
once. In that blink-of-an-eye moment, the space around him tumbled.
Wooo-woung-!
It truly was for just a moment.
In an instant, a powerful wave of Mana, starting from Jin-Woo as its centre,
crashed out and swept away the huge masses of ice humanoids trying to
pounce on him.
The Sovereign of Frost also detected the violent storm of Mana rushing at
it.
[….!!]
It hurriedly spread out an ice barrier to protect itself.
Once the violent winds of Mana went past, the Sovereign quickly undid the
barrier and it was greeted by the sight of debris, belonging to the ice
humanoids, scattered everywhere. The powerful pulse of Mana had destroyed
them all. Even the blizzard storm clouds it had summoned were gone, too.
This was the power of Shadow Sovereign.
[But… but how!!]
The Sovereign of Frost shivered from shock after witnessing the true power
of the Shadow Sovereign, formerly the greatest Fragment of the Brilliant
Light, as well as one of the most powerful Kings in existence.
The wall.
The completely insurmountable wall.
Didn’t the gap between it and him seem far too great?!
Jin-Woo took a look around himself and nodded his head at the rather
satisfying result before locking his gaze with the frightened eyes of the
ancient Ice Elf.
Flinch!
He could sense that creature shivering even at a distance away.
He still had a score to settle with that thing. Jin-Woo recalled the face of the
late Association President Goh Gun-Hui and his expression became colder in
an instant. However, he wasn’t the type to expose his emotions that easily.
The enemy he wanted to kill the most would be disposed of at the very end.
He’d make sure that the opponent would get to enjoy enough time to shiver in
terror from the unavoidable death.
Jin-Woo raised his voice.
“You shall be the last.”
Suddenly, Jin-Woo’s figure slowly submerged into the shadow beneath his
feet.
“Until I go and catch that beast, you stay and quietly wait, okay?”
***
As soon as the TV’s broadcast got cut off, the Association President Woo
Jin-Cheol slammed his fist down on the desk.
Bang!
The final scene before the live footage got cut off was the one of Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo powerlessly crumbling to the ground after getting struck by
those two monsters.
Watching that scene play out, Woo Jin-Cheol felt as if his whole world had
come crashing down. If only this desk wasn’t an item that Goh Gun-Hui had
used, he’d completely smash it into pieces with one punch.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s clenched fist trembled greatly.
All the other subordinate employees present within the President’s office
and watching the broadcast with him shut their mouths up as well. Heavy
silence permeated in the office now.
However….
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol knew better than anyone that he
shouldn’t be wasting time here like this. He quickly threw out a question.
“How many Guilds are on site now??”
“All five major Guilds have arrived on site, sir.”
Woo Jin-Cheol stood up from his seat and urgently issued his new order.
“Our Monitoring Division will go, as well. And I’ll accompany them,
too.”
“But, it’ll be far too dangerous, sir!”
“You think being dangerous or safe is important in our current
situation?!”
Woo Jin-Cheol shot a scary glare, immediately rendering those employees
trying to persuade him not to go utterly speechless.
The Republic of Korea had just lost its final line of defence, Seong Jin-
Woo. Meaning, there was no more room to retreat. Every Hunter had to
cooperate to kill those monsters, otherwise, there would be no future left for
anyone anymore.
Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly put on his jacket before raising his head to spot
the real-time footage being transmitted from the CCTV camera, currently
shown live, right next to the giant TV screen.
This camera was pointing to the sky 24 hours a day. It continuously
streamed the sight of the super-massive Gate floating above the skies of
Seoul. Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes staring at the screen trembled for a moment then.
‘Perhaps….’
Perhaps, the nation of Korea was already doomed.
His heart tumbled to the pit of his stomach. Even if they got lucky and were
able to kill those monsters, they would suffer grave casualties. Could they be
able to deal with that nonsensically humongous Gate with the remaining
Hunters, no, more accurately, without the presence of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?
Just from thinking about the monsters in the city centre and then the super-
massive Gate in a row, the despair he so desperately tried to deny rushed in
like a tidal wave.
However, Woo Jin-Cheol forcibly shook his head.
Even if tens, hundreds of thousands, no, the entire population of Korea
thought the same as he did, someone still had to step up and fight. The powers
Hunters possessed were precisely for that purpose.
Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth to shake off all unnecessary thoughts from
his head. He was about to step outside his office when one of the employees
hurriedly called out to him.
“Sir!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol looked behind him. Not at the employee calling out to him,
no, but at the large TV screen with the news anchor urgently speaking to the
viewers.
[Everyone, one of our cameras have finally reached the site!]
Maybe the camera was positioned on a rooftop of a high-rise building,
because the scene now on screen was being filmed from a great distance
away. But, that alone was enough.
The blizzard covering up the city was being dispersed by some kind of an
unseen force.
Feeling rather agitated now, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol
brushed past all the employees that had stood up from their seats and rushed
to the front of the giant screen.
Once the icy fog was blown away, it became possible to see clearly the
figures standing on the street.
There were five people. No, make that four people, plus one creature.
Among them, the man standing before a certain ant soldier was someone
Woo Jin-Cheol was quite familiar with.
“It’s Hunter Seong Jin-Woo!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol shouted out unbeknownst to even himself. Other employees
saw the shattered remains of the ice humanoids strewn about around Jin-Woo
and roared out in elation.
Waaaah-ah!!
Not only was Jin-Woo, who looked to be dead for sure, standing upright
completely fine, he even seemed to have pushed his enemy into a corner as
well, so how could they hold back their cries now?
Indeed, tears even threatened to break out of Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes.
There was only one enemy now; the sole creature of ice seemed to be
terrified out of its skull, because it was completely rooted to its spot, unable to
even move an inch.
No one could tell just what transpired within that blizzard, but the situation
had done a complete 180 now.
He didn’t need to hear it, but Woo Jin-Cheol knew that the attention of the
entire world was focused on this very same footage being broadcast.
Just with what method would Hunter Seong demolish that monster now?
The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol’s face was quickly filled up with
anticipation as he watched Jin-Woo.
But then….
Jin-Woo seemed to be saying something to the monster, before he began
submerging below his feet and disappearing from the site.
‘….???’
The expressions on the employees hugging each other to celebrate
gradually hardened.
Eventually…
….Jin-Woo completely vanished from the battlefield.
The cameraman must be panicking as well, as the camera kept moving this
way and that in order to locate Jin-Woo. Unfortunately, not even his hair
could be seen now.
“Huh…..”
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t hide his fluster and rubbed his mouth. Yet another
bout of heavy silence descended on the office of the Association President.
***
After returning to the hideout located in a jungle somewhere, the Sovereign
of Beastly Fangs’ teeth began clattering.
That aura of death gradually tightening around its neck. What a regretful
thing it was, wasting time arguing with the Sovereign of Frost and delaying
its escape from that place.
Back when it was out hunting Brazil’s greatest Hunter, Earth was nothing
more than a hunting ground filled with weak prey. The beast had been drunk
on the feelings of freedom after leaving behind the dreary, boring gap
between dimensions where there was practically nothing fun to do.
But now…
Who’d have thought that the Shadow Sovereign had descended to this
world with a malicious plan up his sleeve? Unless they were talking about the
human masquerading as the King of the Dead, fine, but the beast definitely
didn’t want to fight against the real Shadow Sovereign.
If one wanted to stop that guy, then one needed power far exceeding him.
One needed the Sovereign of Destruction.
‘Now that things have turned out this way, I have no choice but to hide
here and quietly wait until the Dragon Emperor shows up….’
The beast lied down on the bed made out of leaves and branches.
When it did, several wild beasts of the Chaos World, referred to as
monsters by humans, gathered around and laid down around the Sovereign’s
feet.
These wild beasts possessing powerful magical energy were none other
than the Sovereign’s royal guard. They purred and rubbed their faces when
their King began stroking them.
But then, the Sovereign sensed something was off and stopped stroking the
heads of its pets in his comfy reclined position.
‘Mm….??’
The furs on the pets had all stood upright.
The sixth sense possessed by all animals; the inexplicable sensation
travelling down the back of its neck caused all sorts of goosebumps to break
out on the Sovereign’s body.
It wordlessly shifted its gaze over to the same spot where the nervous
beasts were glaring at, before its own eyes narrowed down to a slit. The shade
of a tree several steps away was wavering noticeably, that was why.
The voice thickly laden with despair leaked out from the mouth of the
Sovereign of Beastly Fangs after picking up the scent of death quickly
permeating into its hideout.
“Could it be….?”
Chapter 223 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The beast’s eyes opened wider. ‘Something’ was slowly rising up from that
wavering shade of a tree.
‘Is that the human…?’
Or, was it the real Shadow Sovereign?
It couldn’t quite figure out the true identity of its opponent yet. However,
the presence of the enemy all five senses of the beast had picked up were
identical to that of the man who drove it to the edge of the cliff all those years
ago.
Didn’t matter what his identity was, this man now possessed the perfect,
complete power of the Shadow Sovereign.
‘He chased after me all the way to here?!’
The terror of death seemingly had invaded deep into the beast’s bone
marrows, and as a result, the creature trembled greatly in pure fear.
And when Jin-Woo’s entire frame completely emerged back into the
world…
Growl….
One of the savage beasts bared its fangs to threaten Jin-Woo in order to
protect its master before quickly dashing forward. This monster, although
outwardly feline in appearance, possessed three red eyes. It was also known
to be one of the most vicious creatures even in the Chaos World.
Roar!!
The monster opened its jaw wide to reveal dozens of knife-like fangs that
coldly reflected the light.
Jin-Woo disinterestedly stared at the predator dashing towards him. It
seemed to possess as much magic energy as a boss from a rank S dungeon. If
it was in the past, even he’d have to pay attention, but now, it didn’t pose any
threat whatsoever.
But before that…
Boom!
Even before he could decide on what to do next, the savage beast suddenly
lost its head and its four limbs sagged down to the ground.
The culprit was none other than the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. It leapt in
an instant and destroyed the savage beast’s head. Then, it quickly extracted its
fist stuck deeply to the ground.
‘Why did he kill his own soldier…?’
When Jin-Woo stared at it with puzzled eyes, the Sovereign of Beastly
Fangs got low to the floor and bowed its head. And then, words spoken with a
trembling voice leaked out from its mouth now facing the ground.
[Oh, Shadow Sovereign, this King of Beasts does not wish to enter into a
conflict with you. I pray that you forgive this one’s transgressions and
accept me as your ally.]
This was the instinct of an animal in full display. When facing against an
opponent that couldn’t be beaten and also, escaping from it was impossible,
then one should bow one’s head.
The beast’s instincts were quite strongly recommending this course of
action. Since the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs possessed the characteristics of a
wild animal, it readily discarded its dignity and pride to stay loyal to the
demands made by its instincts.
[Not too long from now, the Dragon Emperor will lead his army to
descend on this land. During that time, my beast army and I shall aid you in
your quest.]
The beast had assumed the most subservient posture it could.
Whimper… Whimper…..
The savage beasts behind the Sovereign were all frozen stiff in their terror
and had sprung a leak, wetting the ground with their p*ss.
To these wild, untamed creatures that lived for their own continued
survival, the aura of death walking ever closer was the most terrifying thing
imaginable.
Jin-Woo briefly observed the King of the Beasts and its lowered tail before
coming up with a reply.
“Fine.”
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was feeling really nervous, but upon
hearing that easy answer, it began smiling inwardly. And that smile soon crept
up on its face directed to the floor, as well.
What a foolish man!
‘That b*stard is not the real thing.’
The real Shadow Sovereign would never forgive the one who had betrayed
him once before, and not to forget, someone who tried to eliminate the vessel
prepared for his descent to this world.
Thanks to this human’s kindness and stupidity, the beast was able to buy
some time.
How could it obey this man’s words when this human, no, this prey was
busy emitting a delectable scent mixed in among that of the real Shadow
Sovereign’s?
Indeed, all it had to do was to pretend as if it was on the Shadow
Sovereign’s side and wait until the Sovereign of Destruction’s arrival.
‘When the time comes, I shall personally rip your corpse apart and gnaw
on your bones.’
So, how could the beast not break out in smiles right now? With a bright
face, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs raised its head again.
[I swear my loyalty to…..]
As it did, it ran straight into the chilling glare, as cold as ice, and leapt back
greatly from sheer fright. As a matter of fact, the level of fright it felt was so
great that it had leapt back dozens of metres in one go.
Jin-Woo coldly addressed the beast and its pale complexion.
“Before we do that, though, we should settle our debt first.”
The beast squeezed out some words with a hardened expression.
[Debt? Could you be talking about the past….??]
In the past, the Sovereigns of White Flames and Beastly Fangs tried to stab
the Shadow Sovereign in the back. Jin-Woo had seen that treachery through
the recollection of the former Shadow Sovereign. However, that had no
relevance to what Jin-Woo was about to do right now.
From the subspace that the System designated as ‘Inventory’, he extracted
one Kamish’s Wrath.
Shururuk….
While grasping the blade tightly with one hand, Jin-Woo pointed to five
spots in his chest with his thumb on the free hand.
“Five wounds where claws have pierced past.”
The horrifying pain from that moment was still vivid in Jin-Woo’s mind.
“Withstand five attacks from me, and I shall forgive you.”
That was the same thing as telling the beast to survive five fatal attacks.
It was at this point that the beast finally realised that Jin-Woo never
planned to let it go from the beginning. The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs
roared out in a final show of its pride.
[You dare…!! How dare you toy with me, the King of Beasts!!]
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs activated Spiritual Body Manifestation and
rapidly transformed into a gigantic wolf. Although, it was incomparably
smaller than the one from the Shadow Sovereign’s memories, perhaps owing
to the fact that this wasn’t the creature’s original world. Still, the King of
Beasts wielded enough power to destroy this world and then some.
Now thoroughly enraged, the giant wolf loudly howled at the Shadow
Sovereign.
[My life will end here today, but you too will not live for long!]
Whoosh-!
It was right then, a strand of chilling wind brushed past the face of the huge
wolf. Searching for the presence of Jin-Woo that had simply vanished from its
view, the creature quickly took a look behind.
And that’s where he was, having moved there before the wolf had noticed
it. He slowly turned around to face the monster.
“The first hit.”
The wolf then saw it.
It saw the horrifying black aura rising up from Jin-Woo’s entire body. This
guy, he wasn’t the fake. His movements completely matched that of the
Shadow Sovereign.
Gulp.
Unbeknownst to itself, the wolf swallowed back its dry saliva.
But, then….
With an audible ‘plop’, something fell to the ground.
For a moment there, the wolf forgot what kind of a monster was standing
before its eyes and lowered its gaze. What fell to the ground was a huge ear.
The wolf’s ear, cut off from its head, now lay on the ground next to its own
feet like a hideous item of gore. And then, blood exploded out like a fountain.
What visited after all of that was intolerably cruel pain.
The wolf gritted its teeth and raised its head back up and discovered that
Jin-Woo was holding yet another shortsword.
One weapon in each of his hands.
Jin-Woo held the pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’ oozing out black aura and
delivered his final judgement on the giant wolf.
“Four more left.”
***
Literally, enemies on all sides.
After Jin-Woo disappeared from the scene, the Sovereign of Frost was left
stuck in a rock and a hard place. It’d be logical to escape if there was no
chance of victory. But then, the gaze of the ancient Ice Elf landed on the two
Marshal-grade soldiers belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
‘Forgetting about the ant b*stard busy treating that human puppet of the
Rulers, this….’
The remaining one was a huge problem.
It was none other than Igrit, also referred to as one of the two wings of the
Shadow Army, who was keeping a close eye on the Sovereign right now.
This black knight’s nickname was the ‘Knight of Death’. He was the
greatest knight there ever was, accompanying the Shadow Sovereign to
participate in many battlefields and killing countless enemies in the process.
One of the opponents that needed to be kept an eye out for was standing
right in front of the Ice Elf.
‘But then again….’
The ancient creature was not some measly little soldier, but a Sovereign. If
it fought with everything it had, then bringing down two Marshal-grade
soldiers wouldn’t be difficult at all.
No, the real problem was with these two possessing immortality-like
abilities. They would continue to regenerate infinitely until the Shadow
Sovereign ran out of his power.
This was really bad news, considering that the Sovereign of Frost had to
waste a lot of its stamina by activating its Spiritual Body Manifestation.
On top of that, if it decided to attack these two soldiers, then their master
would be alerted to its actions. All Shadow Soldiers were connected to the
Shadow Sovereign. Even if one succeeded in defeating the Marshal-grade
soldiers, that would only serve to summon their master over here.
That had to be prevented at all cost.
‘That’s why….’
The Sovereign of Frost spun around in order to quickly generate a Gate to
facilitate its escape.
Swish-!
But then, Igrit appeared out of nowhere to block the escape attempt. He
slowly shook his head and lightly tapped the hilt of the sword sheathed on his
waist.
‘Don’t do anything foolish.’
Even without saying anything, his words came across loud and clear.
Swish-!
The Sovereign of Frost quickly swivelled its head around and discovered
the ant standing on the other side, his maw wide open to screech out loudly.
“Kiiiieeeehhk-!!”
The meaning of this particular ant standing here, when he should have been
healing the arms of that human….
….The gaze of the Sovereign of Frost shifted over to its front and caught
the sight of the saboteur, now completely healed, walking in closer.
[These b*stards….!]
The Ice Elf shuddered in rage as the enemies surrounded it once more.
[Mere b*stards like you dare to….!!]
The angry voice of the furious King rocked the ground. The world began
freezing again, and the storm clouds gathered up in the sky.
[How long do you think you lot will last against me?!]
Igrit unsheathed his sword, Beru’s claws extended in full, while the robe-
wearing man held his shortswords tightly.
However, the event of these four colliding didn’t happen.
The first one to sense the change was, once more, the Sovereign of Frost.
[….!!]
When its gaze hurriedly shifted over to a certain direction, others followed
suit as if they had a prior agreement. The shadow there was rippling
noticeably.
The Sovereign of Frost needed just a little bit more time, that was all. It bit
its lower lip in vexation.
[Shadow Sovereign!!!]
In a spot of ground a bit of distance away, Jin-Woo emerged from the
shadow.
‘This is so convenient, not being restricted by the cooldown now that the
System is gone.’
All restrictions on his abilities had been unshackled. That allowed him to
return to this spot in an instant. Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Sovereign
of Frost over yonder.
He then lightly threw something in his hand in the direction of the Ice Elf.
The Sovereign caught that object drawing an arc in the air, before its eyes
trembled greatly from shock.
[Isn’t this….?!]
It was an ear belonging to a giant wolf.
The Sovereign only knew of one wolf large enough have an ear this big.
[It’s only been a few minutes since you left, yet you already killed the
Sovereign of Beastly Fangs?!]
The Sovereign of Frost cried out in sheer panic, but Jin-Woo didn’t even
bother to make his reply. He simply summoned his two shortswords like how
he had done with the beast earlier, instead.
On the blades crafted out of the Dragon’s teeth was the still-fresh blood
from the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.
The ancient Ice Elf flinched greatly as the hostile intention from a truly
powerful individual locked down on it. The two Marshal-grade soldiers and
the robe-wearing man confirmed the black aura rising up from Jin-Woo’s
shoulders and quickly retreated to the rear.
Jin-Woo gripped the hilts of the two weapons tightly. He had already given
this creature enough time. And now, he was going to collect the debt.
The Sovereign of Plague, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, and now, the
Sovereign of Frost. The deaths of these three would serve as Jin-Woo’s
warning to other Sovereigns.
The Ice Elf watched as Jin-Woo dashed forward as if he was gliding on a
smooth surface and urgently fired out multiple arrows of ice in a last-ditch
attempt.
[You b*stard!!]
Of course, these arrows of magic were still fatal if struck, even though they
were created in a hurry. Countless arrows, each one too powerful even for a
rank S Hunter to survive, shot towards Jin-Woo in droves.
Dudududududududu!!!!
The Sovereign of Frost did everything in its power to prevent Jin-Woo from
getting any closer.
[Uwaaaah-!!]
Too bad, Jin-Woo’s hands were quicker than those arrows raining down. He
swatted away all the ice arrows aiming at him and yet, his dashing speed
hadn’t decreased at all.
[Uwaaaaaaaah-!!!!]
Dududududududududu!!!!
Ice arrows were generated and fired out from the front of the
personification of the frost, their numbers too innumerable to count, yet…
….Yet, Jin-Woo was able to break through their barrage and stand before
his target.
Stab!
Jin-Woo accurately drove the Kamish’s Wrath into the shoulder of the
Sovereign of Frost – on the exact same spot where the dagger had struck in
the past. He did that to remind the creature about the late Association
President Goh Gun-Hui.
[Kuwaaahhk-!!]
Suffering from the pain on an incomparable scale than the last time, the
Sovereign of Frost’s head rose up high as it screamed at the top of its lungs.
Before the second shortsword could strike it, though, the Ice Elf hurriedly
gathered the cold air in its mouth and fired it out. Jin-Woo reached up and
simply covered its mouth.
Kuwaaaahh!!
Just as the cold blast of air unable to break free of his hand went on a
rampage inside the Elf, Jin-Woo reverse gripped his other shortsword and
stabbed it deep into his opponent’s chest.
CRACK!!
He heard the sounds of its ribs breaking and its heart being penetrated
cleanly. It was the exact same attack that he suffered not too long ago.
[Kuwaaaahahhhk-!!]
However, Jin-Woo knew that such an attack wouldn’t be able to kill the
Sovereign of Frost, since he had prior experience of killing two other
Sovereigns.
“The beast died on the fourth attack.”
The chilling light shone coldly in Jin-Woo’s eyes.
“How long will you be able to endure?”
Terror filled up the eyes of the Sovereign of Frost as it looked down at Jin-
Woo.
This man was the Sovereign of Death.
Weren’t those eyes the exact same as the merciless warrior that slew all the
enemies he came across in an endless battlefield?
Only now did the Ice Elf realise just who it offended, and began shuddering
from the crippling fear.
Shortly afterwards, the shortsword stabbing into the creature’s heart sliced
down lower and tore the Sovereign’s body into a rag.
[Kuwaahk!!!]
Chapter 224 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Was there any other time in history that the whole world cheered on with
one voice?
Jin-Woo vanished and then reappeared again shortly afterwards only to stab
his shortsword into the chest of that Sovereign of Frost. It was precisely at
that moment that everyone watching punched the air with both of their fists
and roared out in elation, as if they all had been waiting for this chance.
Waaaaaaah-!!
They all despaired in the false knowledge that humanity’s greatest Hunter
had died at the hands of monsters, so that spectacle proved to be the best gift
imaginable to them.
Some passionately chanted Jin-Woo’s name out loudly.
Some began shedding tears.
Some tried to console those shedding tears.
And they watched together as a lone Hunter from Asia took care of the
monster that threatened all of mankind.
Indeed, all of mankind.
The moment the Special Authority-rank Hunter Thomas Andre fell, and
one of the top-ranked Hunters in the world, Lennart Niermann, tried to step
up in his stead, these monsters had become far greater than the calamity of
South Korea.
No, the situation had transformed into a grave crisis that directly impacted
everyone else’s lives.
After all these years, people still hadn’t forgotten about the terror of
watching the Dragon ‘Kamish’ swallowing up American cities, one after
another.
No one alive wanted a repeat of that horrifying event. And that’s why every
viewer, from all corners of the globe, went so wild at Jin-Woo’s victory.
It was as if they were trying to wash away the frustration and fear they felt
while watching the best Hunters in the world continue to fall.
Waaaaaaah-!!!
Every time Jin-Woo attacked the Sovereign of Frost, the viewers roared out
again and again.
And finally.
When that monster with seriously tenacious vitality finally toppled over
and turned into grey-coloured ash before scattering away, the roaring cheers
of the viewers reached their absolute peak.
Waaaaaaaahhhh-!!!!
Their combined roars rocked their respective cities.
Anchors tasked with relaying the breaking news were also shouting out at
the top of their lungs, no longer caring whether the cameras were filming or
not.
Breaking news pieces announcing the end of the battle continued to stream
out of their TVs, but….
Seong Jin-Woo! Seong Jin-Woo! Seong Jin-Woo!!!
….But, the excitement and elation of the people showed no signs of dying
down at all.
And then, there was this one man. There was this one particular man who
was perhaps far more elated than anyone else on this planet. And that was
none other than the current Association President, Woo Jin-Cheol.
His gaze was firmly fixed to the TV screen, even though he was
surrounded by his fellow employees of the Association busily bear-hugging
each other and cheering out in pure happiness.
He had discovered something from the live feed and his eyes trembled
greatly.
‘Could it have been….?’
He hurriedly yanked his smartphone out and, with trembling hands, he
searched for and played a certain video clip saved on his device.
He had watched this footage so, so many times. It was the footage of the
late Association President Goh Gun-Hui being murdered, taken by the CCTV
cameras inside the President’s office.
There was an unknown man captured in the footage.
That man appeared and disappeared too quickly within this grainy footage,
so Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t be sure, but now that he took a second look, didn’t
this mysterious creature look almost like the monster that Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo had killed just now?
Even the scenes of the frozen floor rapidly melting away were an exact
match.
‘In that case….!!’
Only then did he realise just what kind of enemies Jin-Woo had been
fighting until now. It was the murderer of the late Association President.
And then, Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the conversation he shared with Jin-Woo
back when the latter came to pay his respects to the late Goh Gun-Hui. A
powerful jolt travelled down his entire body.
[“Thank you. Thank you for being there for the final moments of the
Association President.”]
[“….I’ll kill that b*stard.”]
[“Excuse me?”]
[“The monster that murdered the Association President. I’ll definitely
hunt it down. You can save your thanks until then.”]
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo hadn’t forgotten about that day’s promise. And now,
the monster responsible was dead. By his hands.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s nose became reddened and he raised his eyes, now wet
with thick tears, to look at the TV screen. The camera was zooming into
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s face, looking somewhat tired now.
Woo Jin-Cheol could more or less understand what that expression
signified. From somewhere deep within, a powerful emotion welled up
uncontrollably. From here onwards, the late Association President should be
able to rest in peace.
Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the memories of Goh Gun-Hui, a man he greatly
respected, and inwardly muttered his gratitude towards Jin-Woo.
‘…..Thank you very much, Hunter-nim.’
***
The Sovereign of Frost reverted back to humanoid figure after its Spiritual
Body Manifestation had been undone. It slowly turned into the grey-coloured
ash.
The debt of the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui, as well his own,
both of them had been settled in full now. Jin-Woo coldly looked at the
Sovereign of Frost scattering away before turning around.
The two Marshal-grade soldiers waiting in the distance until the end of that
foolish Sovereign’s punishment approached Jin-Woo.
“…..”
Even though he had now completely regained his original power, Igrit still
maintained his reserved personality and he politely paid his courtesy to his
master. However, quite unlike him….
“Ohhh, my kiiiinggg!!”
….Beru expressed his unreserved joy of being able to see his master again
with his entire being.
Jin-Woo lightly tapped the big ant soldier and his two tearful eyes on the
shoulder before taking a sweeping a look around his vicinity. There should
have been one more person here. That man wearing the tattered robe was
nowhere to be seen, though.
“Just who was that man, anyway?”
Beru was far too moved by his own emotions to reply properly, so Igrit
answered Jin-Woo’s puzzled inquiry.
“While you lost your consciousness, he protected you with all of his
being, my liege.”
Jin-Woo was taken by great surprise after hearing Igrit’s thick, manly voice
for the first time, ever. But that lasted for only a short while. He formed a
puzzled expression again.
“He protected me?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Unlike Beru, Igrit was probably not that familiar with human languages, so
they were currently conversing in what was referred to as ‘monster language’,
which was actually the common tongue of the Chaos World.
However, there was no problem understanding each other at all.
In any case – did that mean a man he had never seen before was protecting
him?
Jin-Woo had been having a Q&A session with Igrit in the common tongue
of the Chaos World, as if he was a native there, before abruptly discovering
something and walking over to it.
It was a certain item that had fallen to the ground.
‘Isn’t this….?!’
As he picked this item up, his eyes trembled rather imperceptibly.
***
The robe-wearing man sought shelter behind the exterior wall of a half-
destroyed building and plopped down to the ground while pulling his hood
back.
His hair and beard covering his face were unkempt and messy as if he had
never bothered to trim them at all.
He was Seong Il-Hwan. And he was leaning against the wall while spitting
out heavy, laboured breathing.
“Hah-ah, hah-ah.”
He then raised his left hand that had lost all feeling now.
Sure enough, his hand changed its colour to grey and was slowly
disintegrating into dust from the tip of his fingers. This was the inevitable
result of accepting the powers of a god with the body of a mere human.
However, even though he was experiencing unimaginable pain, he still
formed a satisfied expression.
“It’s done….”
With this power, he managed to protect Jin-Woo. Now that his son had
completely inherited the powers of the Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo would
prove to be a great asset to humanity.
That’s why it was done now.
Seol Il-Hwan stopped looking at his gradually-disappearing hand and
powerlessly leaned his head against the wall to close his eyes.
The Rulers had entrusted their powers to him and asked him to stop the
Shadow Sovereign. He had been helplessly trapped within the gap between
dimensions after the Gate closed up and thus was left with not much of a
choice.
As a proxy of the Rulers, and as their emissary, he returned to Earth with an
important mission to accomplish.
Unfortunately, Seong Il-Hwan couldn’t carry his mission out.
Even though he knew that the worst calamity in human history was hiding
within that boy’s flesh, how could a parent kill his own child?
All he could do was to observe Jin-Woo from a place just out of his
detection.
And as he continued to delay his mission, the opinions of the Rulers that
had been focused on stopping the advent of the Shadow Sovereign gradually
began changing.
And eventually….
‘The Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light’ sent him a brand new mission.
[Protect the Shadow Sovereign.]
The Rulers had finally realised that they needed the Shadow Sovereign
possessing his full powers if they were to stop other Sovereigns and their
nefarious scheme.
There was no one else besides the Shadow Sovereign on Earth that could
defend against the Dragon Emperor and its Army of Destruction before the
soldiers of heaven could arrive later.
It was a huge gamble, considering that no one knew whether the Shadow
Sovereign would side with mankind, or with the other Sovereigns.
And the result came out pretty quickly.
Jin-Woo remained on the side of humanity, and the Shadow Sovereign
approved that choice.
The newly-reborn Shadow Sovereign was, simply put, Jin-Woo himself.
It was worth risking Seong Il-Hwan’s life in order to protect his son, in
other words.
“…..”
Although it was unfortunate that he couldn’t even say a simple hello to his
son he hadn’t seen in ten years, no one alive was qualified to take a child’s
parent away twice. Even if that person just so happened to be said parent.
So, quietly disappearing like this was in Jin-Woo’s best interest. Seong Il-
Hwan looked down at his body slowly disintegrating into ash and consoled
himself as such.
It was then. He heard the familiar footsteps from nearby.
Seol Il-Hwan hurriedly got up and used his still-mobile right hand to pull
the hood back and hid his face.
A certain someone stood before him, then.
He didn’t even have to take a look to know just who it was standing before
him like this. It was Jin-Woo.
Even though here was the son whose name he so wanted to call out to, he
still resolutely brushed past Jin-Woo’s side while hiding his face with the
hood.
However, Jin-Woo turned towards the departing man and asked.
“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t have noticed it if you went away like
this?”
Halt.
Seong Il-Hwan’s steps came to a halt.
But, how….?
He turned around towards his son, only to spot a certain item thrown by
Jin-Woo slowly flying at in an arc towards him.
Grab.
What Jin-Woo returned was a shortsword. It was Seong Il-Hwan’s own
shortsword that he ended up dropping after his left hand became useless.
He stared at the weapon for a moment or two, before raising his head. Jin-
Woo was staring back at him with reproachful eyes.
Jin-Woo could still remember quite clearly that particular shortsword.
When he was a young boy, he got found out while playing around with his
father’s shortsword and received a scolding worth remembering.
Only now did Jin-Woo consciously realise why his own weapons had been
set as shortswords when the previous Shadow Sovereign swept through the
battlefields with a longsword, instead.
It was all because of the memories he had of his father.
Influenced in part by his memories, the dungeons generated by the System
ended up presenting Jin-Woo with daggers and shortswords as his main
weapons all this time.
His hushed voice continued on.
“Are you going to leave again without saying anything, Dad?”
‘Dad’.
That one word dug deeply into Seong Il-Hwan’s heart and he had to
remove his hood.
His right hand was slowly turning into ash as well.
His son flinched greatly after realising the state of his hands, but Seong Il-
Hwan formed a thin smile as his reply and spoke.
“I didn’t want to show you this sight.”
Jin-Woo understood that a body turning into ash after exhausting all
lifeforce couldn’t be saved no matter what. He hurriedly tried to get closer,
but Seong Il-Hwan raised his right hand to stop his son.
His left arm had scattered away in dust and only his shoulder remained by
then.
Jin-Woo hesitated, before remaining in his spot, and asked his father.
“Then, what about you, Dad?”
“…..?”
“Didn’t you want to see me again? Dad?”
Surely, he could still use his right hand for the time being, so how come…
Jin-Woo’s question caused Seong Il-Hwan’s raised arm to slowly go back
down.
“I wanted to see you. Always.”
….To the extent that, even if you couldn’t see me, I still felt happy from the
fact that I could see you from far away.
Jin-Woo finally came closer to his father until he stood right before his
face. Seong Il-Hwan reached up with his remaining hand to gently touch his
son’s face.
Thick tears falling from the boy’s eyes wetted the back of his hand.
‘This foolish father wasn’t able to do anything for you, yet despite that,
you have….’
“….Grown up so well.”
Jin-Woo opened his mouth.
“Is this the Rulers’ doing? Are they throwing you away after using you?”
A scary amount of rage could be felt in Jin-Woo’s voice now.
Seong Il-Hwan shook his head, though.
“They only gave me an opportunity to make a choice. I chose to protect
you, that is all. And that choice was not wrong.”
And now, even his remaining right hand was turning into ash and scattering
away.
“I wouldn’t have minded talking to you for a little bit longer, but….”
And he wanted to stay here for a little bit longer, too….
He had done something reprehensible.
He ended up making a boy say goodbye to his father not once, but twice
now. He tried so hard to hold back, but in the end, tears began flooding out
from Seong Il-Hwan’s eyes.
“I’m sorry for not being a good father to you.”
Those were his last words.
Shururuk….
Seong Il-Hwan’s body, all his lifeforce exhausted from fighting against the
Sovereigns, turned to ash. Jin-Woo hurriedly tried to embrace his father’s
body slowly crumbling away, but….
What remained in his palms wasn’t a person, but grey-coloured powder.
Eventually.
In the spot where Seong Il-Hwan once stood, nothing remained.
Something from deep inside angrily welled up in an uncontrollable burst.
Jin-Woo couldn’t hold it back anymore and in the end, raised his head
towards the sky and roared out loudly.
“Uwaaaaaah-!!!”
When he did, the Mana in the atmosphere reverberated.
The sky, the air, the ground – they all cried.
And soon, Jin-Woo’s mouth began emitting the heavy, grave voice similar
to other Sovereigns.
[Hear me, remaining Sovereigns!!!]
If all these events were set in motion simply because the Sovereigns
decided to settle on Earth, then….
Then, I shall make them pay an unforgettable price for that.
I shall definitely make it so.
His voice infused with Mana was carried in the airflow and spread out to
the rest of the world.
[You shall all pay for today’s events, without exception!]
The roar of the enraged Shadow Sovereign shook around both the heaven
and earth.
[Are you listening, Sovereigns?!]
On this day, one human who inherited an unparalleled power decided
where his abilities should be used on his own accord.
This was the moment that the true opening curtains of the war had gone up.
Chapter 225 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Fifty thousand or so Hunters from all corners of the globe, here to defend
against the super-massive Gate, watched dazedly as the black monsters began
kneeling before Jin-Woo.
“Jesus…..”
This sea of soldiers wrapped in black armour or black smoke seemed to go
on forever. Every single one of these creatures possessed an incredible
amount of magical energy, but there was something else that made the
gathered Hunters doubt their own eyes even more.
“T-that, that, that! Could that be?!”
“Right at the end there, you see what’s right at the end there, right?”
“…..Yeah, I can see it.”
Hunters pointed to the back of this army of black soldiers, their
complexions paling greatly. More specifically, they were pointing to the three
black Dragons at the back of the army who were obediently lowering their
heads before their owner, as if they were house-trained pets or some such.
The gathered Hunters were now rendered completely speechless after
discovering those Dragons being the part of the line-up of these black
soldiers.
The Dragon that appeared for the first, and last, time in human history had
been ‘Kamish’. That one creature alone managed to wipe out almost every
single elite Hunter alive back then, and the whole world was in danger of
being thrust into a horrifying conflagration of destruction.
Seriously now, would people begin calling that Dragon with a name
carrying the meaning of ‘undying flames’ for no good reason?
And so – only one such creature was enough to threaten the very existence
of the human race, yet there were three of them now. It couldn’t be helped
that the Hunters gathered here to fight these things felt as if all of their energy
was quickly abandoning them.
Just what would have happened if they decided to clash against this army?
Hunters imagined the potential combat situation against these black monsters
currently in bowing positions and felt goosebumps rapidly spread throughout
their bodies next.
And at the same time, they grew really curious about the real identity of
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, standing before them as if it was the most obvious
thing in the world.
Jin-Woo swept his gaze over the Grand-Marshal Bellion and the seemingly
endless number of Shadow Soldiers kneeling behind their leader.
‘So, this is the real Shadow Army….’
What Igrit said was right.
His black knight asked for an audience and spoke to Jin-Woo in his usual
dignified manner yesterday.
[My liege, the Shadow Army has concluded all of their preparations.]
Jin-Woo needed a bit of time to completely digest those words. That’s how
surprising it was to him.
That was why he was in a dilemma.
He knew better than anyone here regarding the matters with the Sovereigns
and the Rulers, as well as the truth behind the Gates. But the thing was, he
himself wasn’t certain about the overall narrative, so there was no way he’d
be able to convincingly explain what was happening here to everyone else.
No, it was an impossibly tall order to convince every one of these Hunters
coming from all over the world to stop the Gate before it turned into the worst
calamity in human history.
And also….
In the one-in-ten-thousand case, no, make that one in ten million chance
that Igrit’s information was faulty, could he be able to handle the fallout from
that?
That was why Jin-Woo decided to wait.
He decided not to make up his mind until he could confirm the truth with
his own eyes first, and waited until the Gate opened up. And the result of that
was now kneeling before his eyes.
Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his saliva and scanned his soldiers. Although
he was not responsible for raising these soldiers, he could still sense that
every single one of them was connected to him.
It was a complicated network, connected like a spiderweb. And through
this network, the level of sheer joy they felt at reuniting with their master was
fully transmitted to him.
‘This is the inheritance the former Shadow Sovereign had given to
me….’
These creatures were all swearing their loyalty to their new master. Just like
how quickly their hearts were racing, Jin-Woo’s own chest was as well, now
filled up with powerful emotions.
That’s right.
He took a brief look at the Dragons at the back before returning his gaze to
the front of the army.
The Grand-Marshal Bellion.
This guy certainly possessed a suitable amount of dignity and strength,
fitting for the title he carried. There was a trace of torn-off wings on the back
of his armour, though.
‘Two pairs of wings….’
Jin-Woo recalled that regular silver-clad soldiers possessed a pair of wings,
while the Rulers had six wings, and from that fact, he could roughly estimate
the level of Bellion’s capability.
Jin-Woo focused his sensory perception and the light within his eyes
gleamed brightly.
With that, he could take a gander at the truly humongous reserve of magical
energy the Grand-Marshal chose to hide because of the presence of his liege.
‘As expected….’
Because he possessed this much power, he was indeed qualified to lead a
Shadow Army that contained even Dragons.
Jin-Woo raised his head.
The Shadow Army. The king wishing to go to war had finally regained his
soldiers.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump.
Jin-Woo took a long, hard look at his soldiers as his heart raced faster and
faster. The thing was, those kneeling before him weren’t the only Shadow
Army, now were they?
If these guys were the soldiers that belonged to the former Shadow
Sovereign ‘Osborne’, then Jin-Woo too possessed his own loyal soldiers, as
well.
‘Come out.’
Even more Shadow Soldiers materialised from behind Jin-Woo at his
beckoning. Their numbers had already ballooned to near two thousand by
now.
Beru, Igrit, Greed, No. 6, Fangs, Iron, Jima, Tank, etc., all filled up the
space behind Jin-Woo. And then….
Chut.
….They too knelt down and lowered their heads, just like the Shadow
Soldiers that came out from the massive Gate. Every single Shadow Soldier,
surrounding him from both sides, swore their allegiances in silence.
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Finally, the separated Shadow Army had become whole.
A powerful force capable of standing up against the enemies and their
armies had been completed. Things seemed to be unfolding quite smoothly
right now.
However, Jin-Woo could feel quite a few gazes flying in his direction,
stabbing him rather painfully on his neck, and he just had to take a look
behind him.
‘……..’
‘……..’
That’s where he discovered tens of thousands of Hunters standing there
staring at him, along with hundreds of reporters risking their lives to record
the historic battle that was supposed to take place here.
Understandably, all of them were sporting the same sort of expression that
screamed, “Just what the hell is going on here??”
‘Okay, so now….’
As a sort of reply to their frozen-stiff expressions, Jin-Woo formed an
awkward smile.
‘….How am I supposed to explain this?’
***
Quite obviously, the whole world was in an uproar.
Well, every single monster emerging from the super-massive Gate started
kneeling before Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, and this shocking scene was
broadcast live to the entire world, so the pandemonium breaking out was
rather understandable.
Viewers were watching on with anxiety and dread as the Gate opened up,
so it was quite hard for them to drag themselves out from the pit of heady
mental shock, akin to someone smacking them unexpectedly in the back of
their noggins.
Pretty much every single online community went into a heated frenzy over
this matter.
└ Horsesh*t…. I heard from somewhere that well over a hundred thousand
monsters came out from that Gate.
└ What the hell. How can summons pop out from a Gate? You should start
spewing things that make sense.
└ Oh? Why don’t you, good sir, enlighten us, the ignorant masses, then?
└ First of all, they all look exactly like Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summons,
don’t they? But still, how can summons come out of a Gate?
Many displayed the reactions of disbelief, but there were also a few who
viewed the incident in a different light.
└ For real. ㅇㅈ.
└ If they were, we’d all be dead by now. I saw an interview and they say
there were three Dragons in the horde, too.
└ Three Dragons LOLOLOL So f*cking crazy. LOLOL
└ Kamish comes out, sees them, he be like, “Nope”, goes away ROFL
└ What are you even talking about? Kamish died almost nine years ago, so
how can that thing come out and goes away again?
└ The commenter above mine, whoooosh. You must be a delight in dinner
parties.
Meanwhile, TV stations continued to repeatedly broadcast the same
shocking scenes from back then, and did their best to analyse and come to a
suitable conjecture.
Unfortunately, there were no experts on this planet capable of convincingly
explaining away the event of summoned creatures, not monsters, that
belonged to a single person and even contained Dragons, coming out from a
Gate boasting an unprecedented size.
“Huh-uh….”
“As to figure out how something like that can happen, even I….”
“Mhmm…”
Every single one of them was at a loss and could only shake their heads.
They even spat out astonished gasps at the recorded footage of a hundred
thousand-plus summoned creatures kneeling before Jin-Woo played over and
over again.
Anyone could tell that was the sight of those creatures acknowledging who
their master was. Some quarters in the world even raised the idea of calling
Jin-Woo with a nickname of ‘Demon King’ because of that memorable scene
alone.
Indeed, Jin-Woo was emitting the kind of manly aura befitting the title of
‘Demon King’ as he was being surrounded by all those black soldiers.
Soon, experts collectively defined this incident as….
….A miracle.
“Although this event unfolded in a shocking and unexpected manner,
there is little doubt the end result is a fortunate one for all of us.”
“It’s fortunate, you say?”
“Can you see how many monsters, no, summons there are on screen
right now?”
The expert pointed towards the Shadow Army displayed on the screen.
Beyond Jin-Woo standing before them, one could see a nearly-infinite number
of soldiers busy bowing their heads.
The emcee didn’t think too deeply about it as he began counting with his
eyes before dry saliva automatically slid down his throat from that outrageous
number on display.
One didn’t even need to bring up the fact that there were three Dragons
included in this army. That was how horrifying the overall number was.
“If our Hunters were to fight those things, then it would no longer have
been the issue of whether we’d win or lose. No, the remainder of humanity
would have been counting the hours until those creatures get to the other
side of the planet and completely exterminate us, instead.”
The emcee’s head nodded all by itself.
“Fortunately, they are summoned creatures of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
And it seems that he can control them just fine.”
Regrettably, though – that remained a conjecture at this stage.
“Only Hunter Seong Jin-Woo knows the truth.”
That was where the expert ended his explanation. With rather excellent
timing, the screen now displayed the very last scene from that event, the one
responsible for causing everyone to be so astonished like this.
“Right here, this moment.”
Jin-Woo was taking a sweeping look at the other Hunters before he literally
slid into his own shadow and disappeared without a trace.
That’s how he vanished from everyone’s sight.
The emcee helplessly shook his head before adjusting his glasses and
continued on.
“The protagonist of this chaos, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo – just where could
he be right now?”
The Korean Hunter’s Association was inundated with telephone inquiries,
lodged seemingly by the entire world. Their only reply so far had been, “We
don’t know, either.”
That, though, was like adding fuel to the already burning flames of interest
for the event the world had laser-focused onto. The emcee stared straight into
the camera with a still-excited face and addressed the viewers at home.
“We can only pray that he returns as soon as possible to clarify all the
questions that continue to burn a hole in our heads.”
***
Jin-Woo put aside the curiosity of many, many people for the time being
and made his way to the sea of trees in Japan. This vast expense of abandoned
land was just about the perfect place to observe the movements of the entire
Shadow Army.
Jin-Woo stood at a far distance, while the 130,000 plus army was split in
two and stood on either side of a vast field.
‘Start.’
He issued his order inwardly, prompting the two columns of armies to
powerfully rush towards each other.
Dududududududu-!!
The sounds of their feet pounding on the ground seemed to rock the earth.
The distance between the two columns of rushing soldiers closed up in an
instant, and just before they were about to clash head-on….
….Jin-Woo shifted the platoons that fell behind in the rush right behind the
other column and had them surround the opponents in this mock battle.
Was that all?
In a location where there was a shortage of soldiers, he sent reinforcements.
When some soldiers were left isolated, he simply unsummoned them and
brought them back out in an adequate-enough location. The smoothness of his
actions was like a river flowing to the ocean.
Deployment and manipulation of soldiers based on the experiences of
battles he fought so far also applied to this hundred thousand-strong great
army, as well.
“That’s enough.”
Jin-Woo spoke in a soft voice but that was still enough for the Shadow
Soldiers to hear his will. They all came to a standstill in an instant.
Chack!
Their movements were in perfect synchronisation. After stopping this mock
battle, Jin-Woo took a look to his side.
“So, what do you think?”
The Grand-Marshal Bellion spoke in an amazed, admiring tone of voice.
“I’ve never thought about mobilising the forces in this manner. I can
only express the emotions of awe and shock, my liege.”
It seemed that, to Bellion, controlling the combatants in this manner was a
fresh concept to mull over, even though he had roamed countless battlefields
with the former Shadow Sovereign.
Especially the part about utilising the aspect of freely summoning and un-
summoning Shadow Soldiers – that part left him with quite a pleasant
surprise.
Igrit had been with Jin-Woo since the beginning and was perhaps the most
familiar with how their master fought, so he proudly opened up his chest just
a little bit wider.
Jin-Woo smirked softly while watching the black knight and his growing
nose for a bit. He had to stop and pick up his phone, though, when the device
suddenly went off noisily inside his pocket.
Vuwooo… Vuwoooo….
“Hey. What’s up.”
According to Yu Jin-Ho, calls inundated not just the Association but the
Ah-Jin Guild as well after Jin-Woo went and disappeared on everyone
without saying a word, leading to the phone lines temporarily breaking down.
“….My bad. Can you hold on for a bit longer until I properly organise
my thoughts first?”
After hearing Yu Jin-Ho’s smiling voice coming out of the phone, Jin-Woo
also formed a smile.
“Yeah. I told them I’ll be home after cooling my head a little bit.”
Jin-Woo pocketed the phone after ending the call, but a heavy, lengthy sigh
slowly escaped from his mouth as he did so.
He knew that he shouldn’t be avoiding ‘it’ like this. However, in order to
explain the Gates and his Shadow Soldiers, then naturally, he had to speak
about the matters of the Sovereigns and Rulers, as well.
Soon, soldiers of the Sovereigns would pour out from the eight remaining
Gates. How was he to go about telling others that the entire world would be
turned into a fierce, bloody battlefield?
In order to give himself some time to think, he simply had to get away from
there.
He thought that this was for the best.
Just a little bit longer.
He wanted humanity to enjoy peace even for a little bit longer.
‘I’m sure I can delay this for a few more days.’
Jin-Woo kept telling himself this; meanwhile, Beru sneaked closer to him
and spoke in a serious voice. He had been rather quiet for some reason lately,
though?
“Oh, my king….”
“Mm?”
Jin-Woo turned around to look at Beru kneeling on the ground, his head
lowered deeply towards the ground as he opened his mouth.
“I beg of thee to bestow unto me an opportunity to compete for the
position of the Grand-Marshal.”
“The position of the Grand-Marshal, you say?”
But, didn’t they already have a Grand-Marshal?
Jin-Woo felt puzzled by this, before abruptly recalling the System’s
information on the highest grade of Shadow Soldiers available.
‘In that case, could he be….?’
Sure enough – Beru raised his head.
“As a Marshal of the army, I’d like to challenge the Grand-Marshal
Bellion.”
Chapter 228 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
When the System was still around, it did mention something about what
Beru was talking about. There could be only one occupying the position of
the general of the army.
So, Soldiers that recently reached the Marshal grade must establish a
hierarchy with the one before it – didn’t the System say something like that?
If he were to assume the general of the army was the Grand-Marshal, then
indeed, Beru, as the recently-promoted Marshal, possessed the qualification to
challenge Bellion.
Perhaps befitting an ant-type monster familiar with living in a large
community, Beru wanted to establish the proper pecking order between the
Marshals, it seemed.
‘Marshals going at it, huh…?’
Just to make sure, Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to his other Marshal, Igrit,
but the black knight politely declined the proposition. It seemed that he
wasn’t interested in establishing the hierarchy between the Marshals at all.
Unsurprisingly, once the black knight quietly took a step back, the other
guy to catch Jin-Woo’s attention was Bellion standing next to him.
The current leader in charge of the army 130,000-strong was Bellion right
now. Only Jin-Woo was above him in terms of hierarchy, as the master of the
army itself.
After meeting his liege’s gaze, Bellion bowed his head slightly.
Since he was in the presence of his master, he had lowered his posture as
much as possible, but still, he was a good head taller than Thomas Andre.
This giant calmly answered his boss’s querying eyes.
“I shall follow your will.”
Follow his will, he said.
Jin-Woo formed a slight smirk at Bellion’s answer.
His voice was, of course, very humble. However, it wasn’t all that difficult
to read the underlying message that he’d face the challenger head on, as long
his master gives the permission.
Jin-Woo sneaked a glance behind him, and Beru standing there had already
extended his claws while visibly burning with fighting spirit himself. He
must’ve also read the message, too.
“Kiieeehk!”
While Bellion was doing his best to mask his magic energy as much as
possible, Beru was the opposite and didn’t hold back any of his horrible
magic energy emission.
‘Hmm….’
Jin-Woo pondered for a moment or two before making up his mind.
“Alright.”
He knew pretty much everything there was to know about Beru, but Bellion
was a different story. Knowing the extent of his combat prowess would prove
to be an invaluable data in deploying the army correctly in the future.
It was also obvious that Jin-Woo’s heart would sway towards allowing the
challenge to go through.
“However, I shall be the one judging when to end the bout.”
After receiving his master’s permission, Beru’s expression was now
overflowing with ecstasy. Moved almost to tears, his eyes began sparkling
brightly as he cried out.
“I am humbled and deeply honoured by your inscrutable…..”
“Stop it.”
“….I thank thee, my king.”
On one side, Beru celebrating his opportunity. On the other side, Bellion
calmly getting ready for the upcoming challenge.
It was as if these two were the plucky challenger going up against the
incumbent champion in a sports movie. But before these two could start
duking it out for real, there was something Jin-Woo had to confirm first.
He summoned out a single ‘Kamish’s Wrath’ and loaded a bit of black aura
on its tip. Then, he lightly swung it towards the forest.
Kwa-jajajajajajajak!!
The black ‘howl’ shooting out from the shortsword swept up a portion of
the forest. However, the damage wasn’t as severe as he thought. Jin-Woo
nodded and stored the weapon away.
‘With this much….’
It seemed that he didn’t need to worry about the surroundings getting
destroyed unduly during the battle of the two Marshals. The ground had been
hardened sufficiently enough by the condensed Mana and it would survive the
upcoming warfare without a doubt.
‘…….’
Jin-Woo gazed at the earth with a somewhat lonely expression before
raising his head. His eyes were already filled back up with anticipation as he
looked at his two Marshals.
“Well, then….”
Both the Grand-Marshal and the newbie Marshal waiting for their master’s
order nodded their heads simultaneously.
“We are ready, my liege.”
“Give us your order, oh my king!”
Jin-Woo chuckled and addressed the two.
“Get to your positions.”
***
Meanwhile, back in the Korean Hunter’s Association.
The activities taking place inside the Association’s emergency response
conference hall were a lot more bustling than before, even though the so-
called emergency situation had come to an end yesterday.
“The international media is still hounding us, demanding us to release
an official statement already, sir!”
“The American Hunter Bureau is requesting us to release the
information on Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’s current whereabouts!”
“The Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disasters are asking us if it’s okay to
bring back the evacuated citizens.”
“The Hunter Channel’s famous ‘The Jimmy Show’ wants to interview
Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim….”
“Jimmy or whatever can kiss my a*s!! If he’s able to, tell him to find the
guy and try his luck there!”
The number of calls flooding the Association was inconceivably high. It
was a small miracle already that their phone lines hadn’t broken down yet.
As for the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, even though he
breathlessly issued one order after another, he also didn’t forget to spit out
groans repeatedly as he stared at the stacks of official inquiry documents on
his desk.
“Fuu-woo….”
The things he had to do was as tall as Mount Tai at this moment. No, hang
on – if it was only as tall as that legendary mountain, that would have actually
been preferable.
The thing was, Mount Tai had actually formed a long-a*s mountain range,
and after overcoming one mountain, he’d be facing another one, and another
one after that, and yet another one was waiting for him….
His work had piled up to the extent he couldn’t see the end now.
It was so serious that even he was feeling dizzy from the craziness of it all
when he was supposed to be a rank A Hunter!
But then – Woo Jin-Cheol was busy shaking his head to get rid of this
drowsiness, until he ended up hearing something spoken by a subordinate that
simply could not be overlooked, no matter the circumstances.
“Just why did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s summons have to come out from
there….”
This employee’s words were tinged with a certain amount of
dissatisfaction. Woo Jin-Cheol’s drowsiness was driven away in an instant. He
immediately made this employee stand at attention before him.
“In that case, do you, Mister Seong-Won, think it would have been better
if monsters came out from that super-massive Gate yesterday? Is that what
you’re saying?”
“Pardon me, sir? Ah, no, that’s not….”
The subordinate couldn’t hide his fluster. Woo Jin-Cheol let his sharp
scolding fly, regardless.
“If the phone calls you’ve been receiving until now weren’t about TV
stations asking for interviews but relatives of the deceased Hunters asking
for the news of their loved ones, do you really think you can continue
working with just the thoughts of things being too hectic for you?”
The subordinate employee couldn’t even meet Woo Jin-Cheol’s glare.
Even if you were nominally an employee of the Hunter’s Association, as
long as you hadn’t worked out in the field, you’d never really understand it.
They would never understand just what Hunters had to go through during
emergency situations.
They would never understand just what kind of things unfolded and got
buried inside dungeons, enshrouded in the darkness where no one could see
you.
Going through all the potential scenarios that could’ve gone down during
the raid of the super-massive Gate, what happened yesterday was easily the
best result one could ever hope for.
Over one hundred thousand monsters popped out, but no one got injured.
Nothing was destroyed. Not only that, all those monsters were absorbed into
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s fighting force.
Just who could’ve imagined it?
Indeed, no one could’ve dreamed such a result that far exceeded one’s
expectations.
That was how Woo Jin-Cheol got to endure, with a smile on his face, all
these mountains of work that probably required him to go through a few
sleepless nights to finish.
But to think, there was an employee of the Hunter’s Association busy
complaining about yesterday’s events just because his body became a bit
fatigued.
How could he even dare to say something so nonsensical?
If Hunter Seong Jin-Woo was present nearby, Woo Jin-Cheol would’ve
stepped up to slap some sense into this employee well before the young
Hunter had a chance to get angry.
That was how deeply Woo Jin-Cheol understood what Jin-Woo was going
through.
The Association President temporarily stopped his employees, and while
taking a sweeping look at them, he began speaking with a loud voice.
“I know full well how flustered you all are after Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-
nim suddenly vanished on us.”
However, there must’ve been a good reason why Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
had to disappear on them like that, when he was a man possessing a strong
sense of responsibility.
“In a way, the person most confused by yesterday’s event could very well
be Seong Huner-nim.”
Didn’t someone say once that, with great power comes great responsibility?
Some line from a movie Woo Jin-Cheol watched a long time ago kept
repeating itself in his head. However, that line helped him to imagine the
weighty burden now pressing down on Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s shoulders.
‘I’ve been around Hunter-nim for a while now, but yesterday was the
first time seeing him that tense.’
Indeed, Jin-Woo didn’t seem to know what was about to take place next.
It didn’t matter who, anyone in his shoes would’ve thought of quickly
getting the heck out of there when the Gate one was ready to die defending
against instead suddenly began spewing out his own summons. What’s more,
they then began swearing their allegiance out of nowhere.
Who could be foolish enough to point the fingers of blame on him?
Right now, the Association’s job was to share the load until Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo finished sorting out his confusion and returned to explain the current
situation.
The Association had to perform the role of a sturdy, dependable shield for
Hunters, regardless of the time or the circumstances.
“If we at the Hunter’s Association can’t even understand what Seong
Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is going through, just who else will??”
The employees listening to the passionate speech from their President
forgot all about their fatigue, the corners of their eyes moistening quickly.
As for the employee complaining like a little kid because summoned
creatures came out from the Gate, he lowered his head to Woo Jin-Cheol and
apologised as his own nose reddened considerably.
“I’m sorry, sir. I was being thoughtless. I am truly sorry.”
Woo Jin-Cheol wordlessly patted this guy on the shoulder and had him
return to his post before sitting back down.
“Fuu-woo….”
He only shouted for a little while, yet there were at least twice as many
documents as before piled up on his desk now.
‘……’
He shifted his gaze away from the stacks of paper, his mind still worried
about Jin-Woo who’d no doubt be stuck in all sorts of dilemmas even now.
‘I wonder, what is Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim doing now?’
***
With a bright face, Jin-Woo got to a distance quite far from the two
Marshals.
Igrit came to stand next to him.
Other Shadow Soldiers also spread out into a giant circle and created
enough room for the two Marshals to move about unrestricted. Standing on
the opposite end of that circle to his opponent, Beru extended his claws until
they couldn’t be extended anymore and screeched out loudly.
“Kiiiiiieeeeehk-!!”
Meanwhile, Bellion wordlessly unsheathed the sword mounted on his hips.
So far, he seemed to be a type of swordsman similar to Igrit, but then…
‘Mm…?’
Jin-Woo’s gaze was fixed to Bellion’s sword now. The blade looked rather
uniquely-shaped.
‘Hang on, can I even call that a blade?’
As a matter of fact, the blade resembled the body of a centipede in that it
was made up of dozens of connected sections.
As if they were done with their preparations, both of them looked at Jin-
Woo simultaneously.
“Begin!”
The moment the signal was given, Beru dashed forward immediately.
“Kiiiieeehk-!!”
He closed the distance with a stupendous turn of speed and powerfully
swung his claws; Bellion proceeded to block and let the attack slide past him,
and then, as Beru’s momentum took him further away, the current Grand-
Marshal spun around to face the distancing ant soldier.
It was then.
‘……!!’
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened.
Bellion pointed with his sword and it suddenly stretched out like a long
snake to fly towards Beru.
Shushushushushu-!!
Beru urgently spun around and reflexively slapped the blade away.
CLANG!!
That was just the beginning.
Bellion used his sword like a whip and rained down a barrage of
incredulous attacks at his target. The flexible body of the blade, carrying an
enormous amount of Mana, danced and writhed according to its wielder’s
desire to pummel the ground and air surrounding Beru.
BOOM!! BANG!! BOOM! BANG!!
On the other hand, all Beru could do right now was to concentrate all his
being to barely defend against the attacks.
“Kiiiieeehk!”
While watching Bellion’s attacks that had clearly surpassed the limitation
imposed by the sword-type weapon, Jin-Woo imagined what would happen if
it was him facing that barrage.
When he did, everything seemed to slow down to a crawl. Even then, even
within this slowed-down time, Bellion’s sword remained dangerously fast.
Jin-Woo’s expression became even more serious.
His eyes, now emitting cold glare, followed and caught each and every slap
and swish of the unpredictable sword dance. Upper left, right side, upper left
again, then lower left, and to upper right….
….The him of his imagination evaded all the attacks and was standing
before Bellion.
And then, he cut the soldier down. In Jin-Woo’s imagination, Bellion’s
neck rolled to the ground. It only took a blink to get to that point.
Bellion momentarily sensed this chill-inducing feeling of his neck being
cut off and flinched grandly as he took a look in Jin-Woo’s direction.
‘Oops…’
He ended up being a bit carried away after discovering a rather interesting
weapon; meeting Bellion’s rather panicky gaze, Jin-Woo replied with an
apologetic expression. But that only lasted for a moment.
Beru didn’t miss this opening and viciously slapped the irritatingly-
tenacious blade away, before dashing towards Bellion like a bolt of lightning.
“Kiiieeeehcck!!”
STAB-!
Unfortunately – against Jin-Woo’s own expectation, the one to stab his
weapon in the midriff of his opponent was Bellion.
What an unexpectedly fast motor reflex!
On top of that, a scary power capable of destroying everything with each
attack. This was Bellion, the soldier who wasn’t left wanting for anything as
the Grand-Marshal of the Shadow Army.
‘….Still, one should never let one’s guard down.’
It was a wee bit uncool to talk about one of his soldiers in this manner, but
well, the truth was, the biggest plus point of an insect was its tenacious
vitality.
Sure enough, Beru suddenly expanded its body size even with a sword
stuck to his belly. He swung his humongous fist down on the head of his
opponent.
KWA-BOOM!!
The power behind that punch was so great that a part of Bellion’s helm
broke off and scattered black smoke in the air.
“Kiiieeehk!”
Almost right away, Beru followed up with his second attack. No, he tried
to.
Beru’s wrist was caught by Bellion’s powerful grip just in time. The ant
soldier tried to use his physical strength to yank his arm out, but too bad, the
Grand-Marshal didn’t even budge an inch.
In the meantime, Bellion cocked his free arm backwards. An enormous
amount of Mana quickly gathered in that cocked arm.
A moment later.
BOOM-!!!
Beru’s chest was punched powerfully and he flew backwards in a straight
line. The shockwave generated at the same time from his flying figure swept
up the forest surrounding him, and the trees were yanked out of the ground
from their roots and all, before being flung away to the sides.
A long and straight path suddenly got carved out within the sea of trees.
“Kiiiieeehck!”
Beru hurriedly unfurled his wings to stop his body from being flung away
endlessly. Unfortunately, just as he somehow managed to steady himself,
Bellion had already arrived right before his face.
That was followed by a powerful slam towards the ground!
KWA-BOOM!!
Like a meteor crashing into earth, a huge crater caved in on the ground and
Bellion lightly landed inside.
In the middle of this crater, Beru was hurriedly getting up to respond to his
opponent. Now normally, any ol’ regular enemy would have been torn to bits
and shreds by now, but he had managed to withstand several of these attacks
already.
Swiiiiish-!
Bellion used the back of his hand to slap away Beru’s claws and just like
that, smacked the ant soldier right on top of his head.
BOOM!!
That was the beginning of a dogfight.
Boom! Bang! Boom! Boooom!!
Beru’s attacks were only on the level of briefly disrupting Bellion’s
balance, but…
BOOM-!!
….Bellion’s attacks each carried fatal power behind them.
Craaaack, crack!!
Cracks formed on Beru’s exoskeleton as if they were about to shatter at any
given moment.
“Kiiieehk!”
Even then, Beru desperately resisted until the end, not showing any hints of
giving up on this fight. He tried to chomp down on Bellion’s shoulder, but the
latter simply pushed away the former before grasping Beru’s neck.
Kwa-jeeck!!
Now rendered immobile, Beru writhed his entire body to free himself, but
Bellion remained unmoved. The latter simply concentrated Mana once more
on his free arm so he could attack for the last time and end this fight.
A horrifying amount of Mana, more than enough to easily shatter the head
of a Dragon in one hit, gathered around and distorted the space around his
arm.
With this, it’d be the end.
Bellion’s cocked fist soon flew out towards Beru’s face.
But, Jin-Woo reached out and grasped the deadly fist before it did, since he
didn’t want to see Beru’s head explode today.
Grab!
“That’s enough.”
Bellion realised that it was his liege stopping his fist and quickly withdrew
his attack.
“My liege.”
The Grand-Marshal hurriedly knelt down and bowed his head.
‘….You did well.’
Jin-Woo praised Bellion with his eyes for not holding back anything and
displaying his prowess like that. He then walked over to Beru collapsed on
the ground.
“Kiieehhk, my king, I, I… kiieehk! I can still….”
“…..”
Jin-Woo studied the faltering, unsteady Beru with pitying eyes before
asking him out of genuine curiosity.
“Hey, Beru. Why are you so dead-set on the position of the Grand-
Marshal?”
“Kiiehk, I, only, I wish to, become the Grand-Marshal and always stand
next to my liege…”
Beru couldn’t continue on due to his grief-stricken mind. Jin-Woo
scratched the side of his head and offered up his reply.
“The Grand-Marshal can stand to my right, while you can stand to my
left, right?”
“…!!!”
Only then did Beru realise that he could still stand next to his liege without
being the Grand-Marshal, and his eyes opened up extra-round.
“….I am honoured by….”
“Stop it.”
Leaving behind Beru and his emotion-induced tears filling up his eyes, Jin-
Woo stood back up and spat out a helpless sigh. But then…
Another Shadow Soldier silently approached him. It was none other than
Igrit, who had been listening to the conversation between Jin-Woo and Beru
without saying anything.
“My liege, may I be granted an opportunity to challenge….”
As Igrit cautiously asked, Jin-Woo quickly replied as if he was expecting
this already.
“You can stand behind me.”
“….!”
Igrit couldn’t finish the rest of his sentence due to his liege’s keen insight.
***
“Is that so… In the end, the Shadow Sovereign has become our enemy.”
The Dragon Emperor, currently in a humanoid form, was receiving the
reports from the Sovereigns that had already descended to Earth. Only their
voices softly echoed within this eternal darkness.
“I see. Fine. I shall deal with him personally. None of you make a move.
We must prevent any further losses.”
The Dragon Emperor had fully analysed the situation and ended the
connection to the Sovereigns.
Soon, there was no more sound.
This world, the gap between dimensions where nothing existed, was
quickly filled up by empty silence. To the Sovereigns, this place was no
different from hell itself, as there was nothing here to destroy.
That was why…
That was why, the Sovereign of Destruction, born from the darkness with a
singular purpose of destroying every single existence, did its hardest to escape
from this place.
And finally, the day it’d taste the fruit of its labour was literally around the
corner.
The Dragon Emperor turned around and issued its command towards the
darkness behind it.
“My troops. Ready yourselves for war.”
When it did, dozens of Ancient-grade Dragons, hundreds of Dragons, and
tens of thousands of Dragonewts hidden within the darkness shot out heated
glares from their eyes and roared out in unison.
Waaaaaaahhhh-!!
Chapter 229 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Late at night.
Jin-Woo climbed up a nameless hill and settled down on its summit. The
bright moonlight illuminated the sea of trees below.
Under this pale light, he could see the Shadow Soldiers going about their
business after he granted them free time to do whatever they wanted.
The first thing that caught his attention was Fangs who had already
gigantified himself, and the three Dragons.
Dragons, carrying serious expressions, conversed in hushed tones with
Fangs for a bit, before whispering something else amongst them. And then,
the biggest Dragon stepped out of the group.
‘What are they trying to do now?’
He could see that every other Shadow Soldier in the vicinity of the four
giants scatter away in panic and thought that the mood was getting a bit
suspicious over there.
Soon, though, that big Dragon spat out a long pillar of flames into the sky.
Kuwaaaaaaaah-!!
Fangs smirked after checking out the thickness of the flames and took a
step forward as well.
Kuuuuooooooh-!!!
An enormous pillar of flames exploded out from his mouth and rose up
high to brightly illuminate the dark night sky. While the High Orcs were
whistling and cheering on from the distance, the Dragon’s shoulders sagged
visibly as he turned around to slink away.
It seemed that they decided to bet on who possessed the stronger flame
attack.
However….
‘Isn’t it cheating to use the Bead of Avarice during such a bet?’
Perhaps knowing that he was in the wrong, Fangs was trying to sneak his
Bead of Avarice back into his pocket. His gaze met Jin-Woo’s at the last
second, though, and he began scratching the back of his head as a sheepish
grin formed on his face.
Jin-Woo chuckled good-heartedly at Fangs’s thick skin and waved his hand
about to signal that there was nothing to worry about.
Fangs grinned and bowed his head towards his liege several times.
What a peaceful sight this was.
Too bad, Jin-Woo wasn’t feeling as content as his outward facial expression
implied.
‘…….’
He raised his head towards the sky. He could faintly sense the beings from
another world getting ever closer to this planet.
He felt their ominous intentions.
He also sensed their strengths.
Jin-Woo’s perception, now pushed to unfathomable heights, buzzed and
stung from the stimulation received – even if it was only on the level of
perceiving blurry, indistinct things beyond the thick veil of fog right now.
‘It’s unknown just when their approach will become distinct enough for
me to see.’
The fact that the battle against them couldn’t be avoided weighed heavily
on his mind. Jin-Woo fell into deep thought before raising his head again.
Something kept tugging at his mind so he took a closer look, only to find
his ant soldiers busy carrying stuff like lumber or stones around.
‘….And what are they trying to do now?’
Before he could summon Beru here to ask for clarity, a voice came from
behind first.
“It seems that they wish to construct a small-scale lodging that my liege
can use to rest more comfortably.”
This voice, too smooth for a dude with such a huge physique, belonged to
the Grand-Marshal Bellion. Jin-Woo didn’t look back and simply nodded his
head.
“I guess it was Beru’s idea.”
The only Marshal in the Shadow Army capable of passionately doing
something that no one asked him to was Beru. On the other hand, Igrit did
everything asked of him perfectly. As for Bellion….
‘….I wonder.’
Jin-Woo knew practically next to nothing about Bellion. The sole bond
tying him to Jin-Woo was the former Shadow Sovereign.
Naturally, he was inclined to learn more about his new Grand-Marshal in
depth. Perhaps his thoughts had been transmitted, because Bellion wordlessly
approached his master and stood behind him.
“My liege. May I inquire as to why you haven’t recalled the soldiers back
into your shadow?”
Jin-Woo replied, his eyes still surveying the soldiers.
“I figured that they might be feeling too caged up. I mean, you guys had
been stuck inside the place called the gap between dimensions for a long
time before arriving here, right?”
“…..”
Bellion didn’t say anything for a while as if that answer was a bit beyond
his expectations. So, Jin-Woo spoke to him first, instead.
“Aren’t you saddened by the fact that you won’t be able to meet the
former Shadow Sovereign…. Osborne, again?”
Jin-Woo was painfully reminded of what it felt like to lose someone
precious to you only a few days ago while watching his father disappear.
Bellion’s emotions should be similar to that. It wasn’t difficult for Jin-Woo
to understand the sense of loss the loyal Grand-Marshal must’ve been feeling.
“I’ve been protecting the former liege’s side from the moment he decided
to stop the Rulers rebelling against the Absolute Being. And after he
acquired the power to rule over death, I was the very first one to volunteer
to become his loyal soldier.”
Bellion explained himself in a calm manner, his voice unwavering.
“I have spent almost an eternity acting as his support, but not even once
have I ever questioned his decisions.”
“That’s not what I was asking you about.”
Jin-Woo pointed out accurately to his soldier that he was asking about
something else. Bellion took a bit of time to ponder his answer before
revealing how he felt with a bit of hesitation.
“I haven’t yet given any thoughts on how I feel, my liege.”
“That’s why I’m giving you this chance. Come on. Take your time and
think about it.”
“…”
What ensued was a lengthy, weighty silence.
From this silent answer, Jin-Woo could sense Bellion’s true feelings.
Although no words had been spoken, he heard enough to know already. Only
then did he look behind at Bellion.
“I wish to know more about Osborne from your perspective. Would you
like to tell me?”
“But, my liege. It might be a very long story.”
“That’s perfect. I was actually in need of a long story to kill some time
until I felt sleepy, you see.”
Jin-Woo returned his gaze to his front, and Bellion quietly settled down
next to his Sovereign.
“This event happened back when I was still a fruit of the World Tree.”
“A fruit?? You were… a fruit?!”
“Every single soldier of the heavens is born as a fruit on the branches of
the World Tree. It is a truly gigantic tree large enough to blanket the entire
sky with its branches alone.”
“Huh-uh…..”
As Jin-Woo focused on the story with an incomparably grand opening, the
night continued to wear on.
***
Just before sunrise.
Before the darkness had the chance to completely lift up, Jin-Woo was
leisurely jogging within the forest. He had developed the habit of running for
ten kilometres every morning since from a long time ago.
He knew very well that there was no more Daily Quest available to him,
yet his body moved on its own volition regardless.
While drinking in the crisp, cool air of the forest draped in the dawn’s light,
Jin-Woo finally finished sorting out his thoughts.
‘….I should go back.’
He should inform the world on the existences of the eight massive armies
that might arrive on this planet at any time now. He needed to tell them that
the real war was just around the corner.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee the safety of everyone. He
also couldn’t promise whether the world would be able to retain its former
appearance or not, either.
That was how stupendously powerful the Dragon Emperor was, as seen
from the memories of the former Shadow Sovereign.
The Dragon Emperor and the Army of Destruction led by that guy reduced
just about everything before them to piles of ashes. And such creatures set
their sights on Earth as their next target to destroy.
That was why, not only him, but the entire world needed to prepare
themselves.
The System didn’t need to inform him but he still stopped his running
precisely on the tenth-kilometre mark. This was yet another habit ingrained in
his flesh after doing the Daily Quest almost every single day.
The truth was, though, habits weren’t the only things ingrained in his body
now. He learned so much about fighting, and also, inherited incredible power
to boot.
The final gift left behind by the Shadow Sovereign, who yearned to return
to the eternal rest, had now transformed into ‘opportunity’.
Jin-Woo turned towards the direction where the rising sun’s rays were
pointing at. From the ridge of a distant mountain, the morning sun was
greeting yet another day.
***
Jin-Woo was now able to use Shadow Exchange freely. The first place he
headed to was inside the building where the Ah-Jin Guild was located.
He chose not to enter the offices straight away, in consideration of his
employees’ hearts tumbling down to their pits in shock, but thanks to his
actions, he ended up running into an unfamiliar woman stepping outside the
office’s entrance, instead.
Although she was unfamiliar to him, it was as if he had seen her
somewhere before, too. She must’ve felt the same, because, just as they were
about to brush past each other, she abruptly turned around and engaged Jin-
Woo in a chat.
“Uhm, excuse me. By any chance….”
“…?”
He wordlessly stared at her. She flinched for some reason and while saying
“Never mind” she hurriedly escaped out of his view.
‘Well, she was a bit anti-climatic, wasn’t she?’
Jin-Woo entered the Ah-Jin Guild offices next.
“Uh?”
“Eh???”
Every single employee froze stiff with their eyes wide open as if they had
just seen something they shouldn’t have.
‘Should I have said good morning while walking in or something?’
With things being like this, there was no point in him entering from the
outside of the offices, now was there?
Even before someone had the chance to scold these wayward employees
for making such faces when their boss had stepped into the office….
….Yu Jin-Ho finally discovered Jin-Woo and rushed towards him with a
bright expression.
“Hyung-niiiim!!”
Before sharing that welcoming greeting, though, Jin-Woo decided to solve
his curiosity first.
“Who was that lady walking out of the office just now?”
He was about to add “She seemed way too familiar”, but then, Yu Jin-Ho’s
reply easily solved the mystery and there was no need to say anything else.
“Ah, her? She’s my older sister, hyung-nim. I’ve been avoiding
answering my family’s phone calls, and she barged in here as a result. By
the way, did she inconvenience you or some such….??”
“No, nothing like that.”
That was why she came across so familiar – she was Yu Jin-Ho’s sibling.
Jin-Woo glanced back at the office’s exit and nodded his head before asking
again.
“What brought her here, though?”
“Oh, that….”
Yu Jin-Ho hesitated for a bit before speaking up while cautiously studying
Jin-Woo’s reactions.
“Remember, hyung-nim? I was standing next to you just before the
super-massive Gate opened up.”
“Yeah, you were.”
“Looks like that scene was caught on camera, hyung-nim.”
Jin-Woo roughly figured out what happened next in his head.
“My family wants me to hand in my Hunter licence and quit doing
dangerous stuff since I’ve become the Vice-Chair of the Ah-Jin Guild.”
As he thought. Since the Guild’s Master, Seong Jin-Woo, was already a
Hunter, there was no strict need for its Vice-Master Yu Jin-Ho to stay as a
Hunter, as well.
There was a point to what the boy’s family said out of a genuine concern
for his welfare. However, Jin-Woo already knew what was on Yu Jin-Ho’s
mind, so he didn’t even try to convince the kid.
‘I’m sure he’d say something similar to him wanting to remain as a
Hunter and stand next to me.’
Sure, Jin-Woo was responsible for sorting out most of their troubles, but
still, they had gone through many life-or-death struggles together and that
made Yu Jin-Ho come across as quite praiseworthy in Jin-Woo’s eyes. He
reached out and quickly ruffled up the boy’s hair.
“H-hyung-nim?”
Jin-Woo left behind the flustered Yu Jin-Ho and headed into his office so
he could change out of the clothes he’d been wearing for the past few days.
“Hey, I’m gonna use the company car for a bit.”
“Oh? Should I drive for you, hyung-nim?”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll be quick.”
“Where are you headed off to, hyung-nim?”
“The Hunter’s Association.”
Yu Jin-Ho urgently tried to stop Jin-Woo as the latter took the keys, but…
“Huh? Hyung-nim, there are reporters camping outside….”
‘….So it might get really annoying’ – that’s what he wanted to say, but Jin-
Woo had already escaped out of the office by then.
And sure enough, reporters sacrificing their sleep and food for that one
chance at a scoop were camping outside the building and waiting for Jin-Woo
to show up, their faces looking wane and gaunt like a crowd of zombies.
Just as their wait had been long, their reaction after discovering him was
unbelievably explosive as well.
“Hunter Seong!! It’s Hunter Seong!!”
“Hunter Seong Jin-Woo has shown up!”
“Is the camera on??”
However, they couldn’t continue yapping for long.
“Uh, uh??”
“Eh, ehhh??”
They all looked down at themselves with expressions of someone not
understanding what was happening to them, before shifting their gazes this
way and that.
Only then did they realise what was going on. They realised that, not just
themselves, but everyone nearby was floating up in the air about ten
centimetres off the ground.
“B-but, what the….?!”
Fortunately, this sudden bout of suspicious flight didn’t last long.
“Heot!!”
The reporters were all settled back down on the ground at the same time.
Too bad for them, Jin-Woo was long gone by then. They quickly exchanged
flustered gazes with each other, before waves of helpless laughter broke out.
“Ha, hahah….”
“Well, I’ll be.”
A phenomenon that rendered them speechless; they now had one more
thing to add to the article about Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
***
Jin-Woo drove ‘Bonggo’ straight to the Hunter’s Association.
He had called Woo Jin-Cheol ahead of setting off, so he wasn’t surprised to
see the Association President and the employees waiting for his arrival
outside the building.
But, then…
‘….What’s going on here?’
The look on Woo Jin-Cheol’s face was rather suspicious. It was the same
story for the employees next to him.
While Jin-Woo was climbing out of the van, Woo Jin-Cheol urgently
walked over to him and asked with a trembling voice.
“Seong Hunter-nim…. By any chance, have you heard of the breaking
news yet?”
Chapter 230 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
‘….This is so strange.’
Yu Jin-Ho’s older sister, Yu Jin-Hui, was returning home empty-handed due
to her little brother’s stubbornness. As she was driving home, though, she
suddenly pulled up to the side of the road and cautiously parked her car there.
Screech.
That man she ran into while exiting the Ah-Jin Guild offices…
‘….Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.’
There should be no one in South Korea who didn’t know what he looked
like. So, even though she had never met him in person until now, it was easy
to explain why it felt as if she did.
Someone who didn’t sweat over such things would have accepted that
explanation and move on. However, she was the eldest daughter of Chairman
Yu Myung-Hwan, a man famed for never forgetting a face after meeting a
person only once. Although not as sharp as her father, she too didn’t forget a
person’s face that easily.
The contour of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s face, the one she briefly glimpsed
while raising her head as they brushed past each other, came across as
distinctly familiar.
‘Just when would that be….?’
She combed through her memories until her eyes inexplicably grew extra
large.
‘Could it have been then?’
Back then, in front of the hospital.
There was that time near the entrance of a certain hospital where her father
had been admitted to, when a man possessing the same facial contours
brushed past her.
Why didn’t she recognise him back then?
Could it have been because her mind was in a mess after her father had
collapsed earlier in the day?
‘Right, definitely.’
The man leaving the hospital that day simply had to be Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo.
And a short while later, she received a phone call telling her that her father,
diagnosed to never open his eyes again, had precisely done just that.
Was she even allowed to treat this as a mere coincidence?
Yu Jin-Hui’s entire body was suddenly overcome with a case of powerful
goosebumps. She quickly pulled out her smartphone and began dialling her
father’s number.
Beep, beep, beep…
But, before she could finish dialling his number, her fingers came to a
stuttering halt.
‘What am I even trying to do here….?’
Just because she ran into Hunter Seong Jin-Woo in front of the hospital that
day, she somehow ended up linking him to her father’s miraculous recovery.
What a grand delusion this was.
Yu Jin-Hui could only scold her logical reasoning that seemed to have
taken a leave of absence for a moment there with a long, long sigh. She was
about to start the car again, but then…
….With excellent timing, her phone went off.
[Secretary ahjussi.]
After confirming who it was, a smile floated up on Yu Jin-Hui’s lips.
Without a doubt, her dad became curious about the result of her visit to the
Ah-Jin Guild and asked the ahjussi to find out from her.
‘Back then or even now, Father just can’t be honest with the matters of
his kids, can he?’
Yu Jin-Hui swallowed back her laughter and answered her phone.
“Hello?”
And so, the conversation proceeded exactly as she imagined it would. But
then, just before it was about to end, Yu Jin-Hui thought it’d be a good idea
and quickly asked Secretary Kim.
“Ah, ahjussi? By any chance, is dad a close acquaintance with Seong
Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
Secretary Kim’s surprised voice came out from the phone’s speaker next.
At this unexpectedly intense response, Yu Jin-Hui panicked slightly and
ended up replying while feeling a bit lost.
“It’s nothing in particular, but, I remember seeing Seong Jin-Woo
Hunter-nim exiting from the hospital on that day, you see. I was wondering
if he was also there to visit dad while he was admitted there.”
“Y-yes. Just before I got the call to inform me that dad had woken up, we
brushed past each other in front of the hospital.”
“No, I’m pretty sure. I couldn’t remember who it was because I wasn’t
thinking straight back then but now…. But, why do you sound so agitated
like that, ahjussi?”
He didn’t say the usual ‘goodbye, speak to you soon’, but ‘will call again
later’?
‘Did I say something wrong?’
Yu Jin-Hui tilted her head in confusion. Before she could put her phone
down, though, it rang noisily again. She confirmed who the caller was and her
brows rose up just a little.
‘….Dad is personally calling me?’
Only after seeing the number for Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan on her
phone’s screen did she realise that this matter couldn’t be simple at all.
Could it be that her father’s recovery and Hunter Seong Jin-Woo were
related in some way, just as she imagined earlier?
She cautiously answered the call.
“Dad?”
***
Beijing International Airport.
The biggest and busiest airport in the whole of China was now bustling
even more than ever before, all thanks to a huge throng of people present
today.
There was only one reason for this. The best of the best Chinese Hunters
that went to lend aid to the Koreans were coming back home today, that was
why.
It would be the same story in other countries as well, but at least in China,
the highly-ranked Hunters were treated as superstars famous enough to
summon up a sea of adoring fans wherever they showed up.
And it went without saying that the leader of the support team, the Hunter
ranked as Seven-Star, Liu Zhigeng’s popularity couldn’t be described with
mere words alone.
One of the reporters doing her job surveying the atmosphere of the airport
spotted Liu Zhigeng and raised her voice.
“Ah! There he is! Liu Zhigeng Hunter-nim has entered the airport’s
interior!”
Waaaaah-!!
His fans filling up the airport cheered on loudly. While holding his now-
trademark pair of longswords in one hand, he waved his other hand lightly
towards his adoring fans.
Kyaaaah~!!
Liu Zhigeng’s dignified atmosphere that simply oozed the charm of an
older man caused the much-younger female fans to bounce up and down and
even scream in uncontrollable excitement.
The special team of Hunters followed after their leader and quickly entered
the airport next.
Waaaah-!!
The gasps and cries of awe emitted by many onlookers, moved by their
emotions after witnessing the Hunters they only got to see through TV
screens until then, quickly filled up the airport’s vast interior.
Meanwhile, the reporter looked into the camera with the green light
switched on.
“Our proud Hunters are now entering the airport, having returned from
their trip to support South Korea.”
As her bright expression alluded to, the overall result of this trip was being
seen as satisfactory from the Chinese government’s point of view.
They got to claim that they didn’t forsake their neighbouring nation’s
troubles and also got to save their face when their elite Hunters volunteered to
fight against the super-massive Gate in Seoul’s skies.
Was that all?
With this particular matter resolving in the way it did, not one Hunter from
the special team travelling to lend their support got hurt. They saved face, and
also earned some practical benefits, too. Two things rolled onto their lap, so to
speak.
Many Chinese clapped their hands in admiration at Liu Zhigeng who
personally persuaded China’s top Hunters and formed this special team.
However, there would always be those with dissatisfaction regardless of
where it was. There were quite a few who tried to slander Liu Zhigeng or
South Korea through the anonymity of the internet.
Comments that contained rather toxic contents even at a casual glance
filled up the live broadcast’s ticker tape being updated in real time at the
bottom of the screen.
The reporter, subbing for many people and their curiosity, stood before Liu
Zhigeng to do her job.
“Many people are cheering you on for your brave decision, Liu Hunter-
nim. On the other hand, those questioning why we had to aid the Koreans
are also quite a few in number as well. By any chance, do you have
anything you’d like to say to them, Liu Hunter-nim?”
Liu Zhigeng took his sunglasses off and glared at the reporter.
“Who is walking around spewing something that stupid?”
“Pardon?”
Not paying any heed to the reporter and her wide-open eyes, Liu Zhigeng
continued on with what he wanted to say.
“Are their heads nothing more than decorations? Can’t they read a map?
Don’t they know which country is next if you move your eyeballs up from
Korea?”
“Ah….”
“One Giant monster that wasn’t stopped in Japan crossed the sea and
almost made it onto the Chinese mainland. I heard that the audience rating
back then rewrote the history books, so surely, they must’ve seen it, too.”
Liu Zhigeng glared straight at the camera next.
“What I am saying here is that something similar could’ve happened, but
on a far, far greater scale. I and my comrades agreed with that notion and
we went there to prevent that from happening.”
Liu Zhigeng’s torrent of harsh language put an immediate end to the stream
of toxic comments.
He continued to speak, his voice rising up higher and his glare getting
sharper as if he was addressing the toxic commenters directly.
“If there are people still spewing crap like that, then tell them this. I, Liu
Zhigeng, am not confident of stopping an event that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo
also failed to stop. That’s why we went there to help him out, so if you’re
unhappy about that, why don’t you try and catch monsters with your
own….”
Liu Zhigeng continued with his tirade which made his supporters really
happy, but then, he abruptly stopped talking for some reason. Could it be that
he finally realised the camera was rolling?
Of course not.
Liu Zhigeng was probably the only person in the whole of China capable of
pouring out insults and swearing on live TV without worrying about
repercussions. But then, someone like him had been rendered utterly
speechless as he took a look outside the airport.
Just what could have happened?
The first person to look was the reporter. up were the Hunters and their
supporting staff behind Liu Zhigeng. And eventually, everyone gathered here
in the airport – their gazes all shifted to the outside.
And after witnessing the change, their eyeballs began quaking greatly.
Liu Zhigeng would never get shocked by any ordinary little thing, but he
couldn’t stop a soft gasp of surprise leak out of his mouth.
“Oh, my god…..”
Above Beijing’s skies, a massive darkness was slowly descending.
***
“Seong Hunter-nim…. By any chance, have you heard of the breaking
news yet?”
Jin-Woo shook his head.
After the ‘raid’ of the super-massive Gate, he headed straight to Japan and
made it back to Korea only a little while ago before coming to the Hunter’s
Association straight away. He didn’t have any opportunity to check out the
news or any mass media coverage, really.
Besides that, if something serious happened while he was away, Yu Jin-Ho
would’ve informed him the first thing after he entered the office.
Seeing how grave the expressions on the faces of the Association
employees, even Jin-Woo’s own expression hardened.
“Did something happen?”
Woo Jin-Cheol pulled his phone out and showed him the real-time footage
being recorded right at that moment.
Eight super-massive Gates all revealed themselves in various parts of the
world. Half in fear and half feeling mystified by this development, people
were filming these Gates and uploading the footage on social media. Breaking
news poured in from all parts of the world.
Gulp.
The sound of Woo Jin-Cheol swallowing his saliva rang out loudly from
Jin-Woo’s side. He didn’t mind that and continued to watch each and every
one of the video clips.
“Hunter-nim… Could these be also….?”
“No, definitely not.”
Jin-Woo quickly cut him off. He made sure to drill home the point that
these new Gates had no relations to him whatsoever.
Woo Jin-Cheol had been secretly hoping that these Gates would also end up
as nothing too serious, so his complexion darkened fast enough to be noticed
in real time from that grim reply.
What if hundreds of thousands of monsters poured out from all those Gates,
just like how it had been with Seoul?
Isn’t that the same thing as announcing the end of humanity?
While Woo Jin-Cheol shuddered from the enormity of it all, Jin-Woo
finished watching the footage and spoke to him.
“Let’s change our location first.”
“Ah, yes.”
They quickly got to the Association President’s office and settled down on
the couches facing each other.
“You said you had something to tell me….?”
Woo Jin-Cheol cautiously spoke, and Jin-Woo replied to him immediately.
“Association President. Do you trust me?”
Woo Jin-Cheol nodded his head.
“Yes, of course, I trust you.”
“In that case, I hope you will believe everything I’m about to show you.”
“Excuse me?”
Just like how the former Shadow Sovereign had done, Jin-Woo reached out
with his index finger and placed it against Woo Jin-Cheol’s forehead. The
moment his finger touched, darkness filled up the older man’s eyes, and
countless images brushed past within his vision.
“Heok!!”
Jin-Woo showed the necessary amount of information to the Association
President and nothing more. That would be – the Rulers and their plans, as
well as the Sovereigns. And then, the armies those Sovereigns were
summoning to this world, as well.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
Woo Jin-Cheol had witnessed the powers of these Sovereigns with his own
eyes now. Once the images stopped flashing by, he began gasping out
breathlessly.
“This, this can’t be…. Just how can such a thing….”
Woo Jin-Cheol had believed ‘it’.
He believed that God had gifted special powers to a small number of
selected individuals in order to safeguard humanity. He believed that this was
precisely the reason why Hunters had to fight against the monsters and protect
other people.
But, if everything Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had shown him was true, then….
He had been too arrogant. He had made a grave mistake.
Hunters, no, the ‘Awakened’ were simply the process of cultivating a small
number of humans that might survive the aftermath of the true war about to
take place.
This was not a war between humanity and Sovereigns. It was a war
between Sovereigns and Rulers, two organisations boasting unimaginable
might. Indeed, it was they who were going to fight.
However, a huge variable entered into this fray in the form of a certain
man.
And now, with the armies of the Sovereigns arriving much faster than
expected to this planet, mankind had only one being they could place their
hopes on – the unexpected variable.
“How can this be….”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s fingertips trembled as he raised his tear-filled gaze.
“Seong Hunter-nim…. Are you planning to fight these things? All by
yourself?”
Even if the enemy possessed a powerful force, he couldn’t just give up
without trying something first now, could he? At least, Jin-Woo had never
lived his life in that manner.
That was why he quietly nodded his head.
“Yes.”
Woo Jin-Cheol wanted to help him in any shape or form, so he quickly
asked.
“In that case, what should we… No, what should I do to help you,
Hunter-nim?”
Now that the expected question came out, Jin-Woo calmly replied with the
answer he had thought of before arriving here.
“Can you gather the representatives of the world in one location,
please?”
Chapter 231 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
What could he possibly be looking for when the world was facing certain
annihilation? No, besides all that, was the man in front of the director’s eyes
the real Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, to begin with?
Wondering if he got too drunk and was seeing things, the director roughly
shook his head from side to side.
But, Jin-Woo’s figure became even clearer and in focus from that action,
leading the director to realise that the man in front of him was not a figment
of his imagination.
His intoxication flew away in an instant and his voice rose up an octave.
“W-what are you looking for?”
“The Rune Stone.”
Jin-Woo told the director precisely what he was here for.
“The Rune Stone from Kamish, give it to me.”
“…..!!”
His surprised lasted only for a short while; the director reflexively shook
his head.
“As you may well know, Hunter-nim, the Kamish’s Rune Stone is the
Hunter Bureau’s…..”
That was when his words came to a choking halt.
This d*mn work-related habit of his. What about the Hunter Bureau? So
what? Never mind the Bureau, the whole of the United States of America was
about to go up in flames, so who cared about a measly little Run Stone now?
‘Looks like I haven’t fully woken up from the booze yet.’
The director loudly slapped his cheeks with his palms. After his skin
reddened up from the stinging impact, he finally felt as if his brain was
getting in gear.
His once-blurry eyes regained their focus as well.
He then arrived at a certain conclusion that to the Hunter Bureau, no, to the
entire United States of America, the reason why Jin-Woo wanted the Rune
Stone in the first place was far more important than its financial value.
A short bout of deliberation later. The director asked cautiously as to not
sour Jin-Woo’s moods.
“I can definitely give you the Rune Stone, but why do you need it?”
Without a single shred of hesitation, Jin-Woo replied back.
“I’ll use it as a tool for my counter-attack.”
***
Through the eyes of the System, Jin-Woo got to confirm the ‘Skill’ sleeping
within the Rune Stone in question pretty early on. It definitely contained a
certain power of a Dragon.
There was a reason why he showed no interest whatsoever to this Rune
Stone until now, though – this Skill had a rather serious drawback.
Meaning, it was a power he didn’t need.
‘However…. The story has changed now.’
After descending to the ninth underground floor of the Hunter Bureau’s
HQ, the director and Jin-Woo now stood before the reinforced glass case that
housed the Rune Stone in question.
Rather than through the System, Jin-Woo only needed his eyes and senses
this time to accurately decipher the Skill contained with that little ‘stone’. It
was as exactly as he remembered it.
A ‘Skill’ that boasted a truly horrifying power. The seriousness of the
current situation should be more than enough to offset the drawback of such a
horrifying power.
Ba-thump. His heart pulsed softly in approval.
The director wordlessly stared at the Rune Stone before asking his
question.
“Hunter-nim, you once told me that the monsters of the dungeons were
sent here by the beings called the Rulers, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
“In that case, what are these Rune Stones found inside the bodies of the
monsters?”
“They are gifts from the Rulers to enable humanity to hunt monsters
down more efficiently.”
What the Rulers wanted was to spread Mana around this world through
violent clashes between monsters and mankind. The sacrifices made by
humans were simply a side-effect, not their true end goal.
Indeed, these Rune Stones – stones inserted into the monsters so, upon their
deaths, their powers could be sealed within – were the sign of the Rulers’
consideration towards mankind’s monster hunting.
And so, Kamish’s power was stored within this stone.
Jin-Woo took hold of the Dragon’s power that would play the crucial role
in his fightback.
The director tensely observed Jin-Woo grasping the Rune Stone tightly and
swallowed his dry saliva.
“Truly…. Can you truly stop the monsters with that thing?”
“Well, I should at least give it a shot.”
Even at this very moment, the armies led by the Dragon Emperor were
repeating the actions of destroying everything in their paths and advancing
forward before stopping to destroy some more.
Thanks to the Mana from the Rulers fortifying the planet, the marching
speed of the Army of Destruction had been pegged back somewhat, but that
would only last for a short while.
Soon, every inch of this land would be engulfed in the conflagration of war.
He simply couldn’t sit back and watch as the world crumbled, now could he?
The powers of the Shadow Sovereign that they feared so much – they tried
to cowardly hit him from behind and prevent that power from blossoming, but
now, it was time to show them what this power in the hands of a measly little
lifeform was capable of achieving.
“I’m planning to do everything within my power.”
The unwavering will within Jin-Woo’s two eyes left a powerful impact on
the director’s heart.
Seeing that this young Korean Hunter wasn’t trying to avoid fighting the
enemy, even though he knew full well their frightening scale, the older
American man realised how pathetic he was behaving not too long ago when
his mind was still filled with thoughts of running away and nothing else
besides.
‘I wanted to go to where my daughter was? You stupid son of a b*tch….’
He felt so, so ashamed of himself. And also, he wanted to witness this
young man’s battle right up until its conclusion, regardless of how everything
would play out.
“I know I have no right to ask you of this, but…. Please, I beg of you.
Please, stop those b*stards, those monsters.”
The director bowed his head deeply as tears trickled down his face again.
Maybe, what he really wanted to avoid was not his impending doom, which
would most likely be at the hands of the monsters.
No, the truth was, he simply lacked the courage to witness his countrymen
getting killed and pillaged by these abominable monsters when he was
supposed to be the leader of the Hunter Bureau, a man whose job was to be at
the forefront, leading the Hunters in the battle against humanity’s enemies.
Even if it was nothing but a straw, it didn’t matter.
Just a single strand was enough at this point.
If there was one glimmer of hope, then he’d do anything to grasp it.
His emotions had morphed into hot tears as they flooded out of his eyes.
Jin-Woo wordlessly grabbed the director’s shoulder.
“…”
That single gesture felt a hundred times more reassuring than any words for
the director. He belatedly wiped his tears away.
“I ended up showing you something pretty disgraceful. My apologies,
Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo waited for a little while until the director regained his calm before
opening his mouth.
“There is something else as well. I’m looking for a person now.”
***
Jin-Woo followed after the director and entered a certain apartment
building near the Hunter Bureau’s HQ.
“You had her stay so close by?”
“We at the Hunter Bureau believe that the things we’re supposed to
protect should always be within reach, you see.”
Perhaps their destination wasn’t high up, the director chose the stairs,
instead. Just as his back was getting soaked by the sweat, they stopped at a
certain door on the fourth floor. The director turned about to look at Jin-Woo.
“We’re here.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
Knock, knock.
There must’ve been some sort of a security arrangement, because rather
than pressing the doorbell, the director lightly knocked on the door twice,
instead.
A short bout of silence later.
An agent confirmed the face of the director through the peephole and
opened the door.
“…..Director??”
The agent frowned slightly at the strong stench of booze stinging his nose,
before belatedly discovering Jin-Woo standing behind his boss and jumped up
in surprise.
“…!!”
Should one call this a piece of good fortune when the agent didn’t
immediately yank out his firearm, just like back when they met him for the
first time?
The agent instinctively reached down to his waist after spotting the
unfamiliar visitor, but perhaps he recalled the events of the past, a flustered
expression quickly bloomed on his face, instead.
“S-Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?”
The agent wasn’t even given a chance to think about why the world’s most
powerful Hunter showed up here, because the director simply led the visitor
straight into the apartment.
The other agent waiting on standby greeted the director.
“Where is Madam?”
“She’s waiting for you inside. Heok!”
Like his partner that opened the door, this agent also jumped up in surprise
after seeing Jin-Woo here.
“S-sir, this gentleman….?”
“Hunter-nim wishes to speak to the Madam, so I guided him here. Can
you inform her that Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim is here to speak to her?”
“….Understood, sir.”
It was then.
“….I didn’t expect you to pay me a visit during such times.”
As if she was waiting for Jin-Woo’s arrival, the door to her room opened up
and the Madam slowly walked out.
It was none other than Madam Norma Selner.
Currently, she was acting as the ‘Upgrader’, capable of enhancing the
strengths of Hunters to their maximum potential, but before she awakened her
powers, she used to work as a psychic.
Jin-Woo took a step forward and politely bowed his head towards the
middle-aged woman.
“Please, this way.”
She guided him into the room. The director standing behind Jin-Woo also
tried to come in, but Madam Selner stopped him with a gentle voice.
“I believe that Seong Hunter-nim would want to speak to me in private.
Am I wrong?”
She looked behind her and asked, prompting Jin-Woo to nod his head. It
was as she said. The director spat out a couple of fake coughs and began
fixing his attire a little as the room’s door closed shut.
She closed shut the door completely and slowly turned around to face Jin-
Woo, patiently waiting for her at the corner of the room.
The moment she took a look at his entire being, she failed to stop the
shocked gasp from bursting out of her mouth.
“Oh, my gosh!”
He looked completely different from the last time she saw him.
“You are…. You’re not the same person as the one I know.”
Her eyes began trembling fearfully.
Back then, the darkness had been hiding deep, deep within him somewhere,
but now, he had become the perfect darkness itself. She could clearly see the
power of ‘death’ enveloping Jin-Woo. However, he quickly shook his head
and corrected her misunderstanding.
“I’m still the same person you know, Madam. Except that I’ve become
one with the darkness you saw inside me.”
“Ah, ah….”
Which words in the known vocabulary would be adequate enough to
describe this truly wondrous development? The power of a god, now dwelling
inside a human being!
She studied just the tail-end of that incredulous power leaking out of Jin-
Woo and continued to gasp out in pure admiration. Her slack jaw didn’t want
to shut close for a long while, but eventually, she did recover her wits
somehow.
“Looks like…. I don’t possess the necessary power to help you, Hunter-
nim.”
No, could there be someone possessing an ability capable of helping this
man out in this entire world? Because… he had already transcended the
limitation of humanity.
The thing was, though, Jin-Woo was thinking of something else. He
cautiously approached the still-terrified woman and asked her.
“Madam, you said that you can glimpse into the future, yes?”
“To a certain extent, yes….”
“In that case, can you tell me about my future?”
Before he was about to enter the battle properly, he wanted to see the end
through her eyes first. He thought that, regardless of what she saw, he’d be
more relaxed going in.
Madam Selner hesitated somewhat before she nodded her head slowly. She
reached out and grasped both of Jin-Woo’s hands and closed her eyes.
To look deeper into the inner workings of the darkness – she needed a big
dollop of courage for that.
However, she couldn’t dare to refuse the request of a warrior about to go to
war against the foes that required a far greater level of courage than hers. No,
the level of courage required would be so great that it defied all attempts to
compare it.
The time flew past as if it was merely a moment and, when she finally
opened her eyes, uncontrollable tears began trickling down her cheeks.
“You… Are you really going to carry all that burden by yourself?”
“….”
Jin-Woo didn’t answer her.
“But, how can it be…. How can just one person carry all those terrible
burdens…. Are you going to sacrifice one to save everyone?”
Jin-Woo’s expression brightened.
“Sounds like I can at least get that far. That’s a relief.”
“What do you mean, you’re relieved?! No one will be able to remember
you. You’ll end up fighting a lonesome battle all by yourself!”
Jin-Woo let go of her hands as she tried to dissuade him. Back when he
made up his mind to fight, he was already prepared to go that far. He took a
step back from Madam and bade farewell in a dignified manner.
“I’m sorry for coming by unannounced and asking you for something
like this.”
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim!!”
Even before her earnestly pleading voice came to an end, Jin-Woo slid into
the shadow beneath his feet and disappeared from there.
The agents outside were taken surprise by her cries and hurriedly rushed
into the room, but he was long gone by then.
***
‘……’
Just like back when he was searching for Yu Jin-Ho, Jin-Woo climbed back
up on top of the tallest building in the city and expanded his sensory
perception as much as he could.
At the far, far off distance, towards the far end of the land up north….
….He felt the presence of so, so many monster soldiers that couldn’t even
be counted anymore, making their march south. There seemed to be almost no
presence of life beyond the advancing army.
Meaning, they had become prey of the denizens of the Chaos World.
Min Byung-Gu, Goh Gun-Hui, Adam White, and even his own dad.
Faces of many people who became sacrifices in this war against those
creatures fleeted in and out of Jin-Woo’s mind.
Pure anger.
Anger gradually welling up from the depths of his chest began dyeing the
Black Heart. Jin-Woo closed his eyes and began searching for the Dragon
Emperor’s aura within that massive army.
As it turned out, it wasn’t all that difficult to spot the centre of the mass of
‘power’ that raged on like a violent storm and swallowing up everything in its
wake.
‘….Found you.’
Jin-Woo saw the Dragon Emperor.
At that moment, the Sovereign of Destruction also saw Jin-Woo.
That sharp sensory perception that swept past it – there could only be one
possessing senses like that. The Dragon Emperor abruptly came to a halt and
glared in Jin-Woo’s direction.
Its demonic snake-like eyes didn’t shy away from the darkness in the
distance for a long while. It had finally sensed the presence of the true enemy
that could threaten its existence over yonder, that was why.
‘…..’
‘…..’
The Shadow Sovereign and the Sovereign of Destruction glared at each
other while transcending past the distance itself. The latter bared its fangs
first.
[I am right here!]
Its terrifying roar as loud as hundreds, no, thousands of lightning bolts
exploding at the same time resounded throughout the entire planet.
[Tens of millions of your kin have died already! So, how long are you
planning to hide like this?]
Murderous glare flickered for a moment within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
‘Don’t you worry. I’ll see you soon.’
And when I do….
Jin-Woo swallowed back the words he wanted to say and submerged
quietly into the shadow.
Chapter 238 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
“Rise up.”
As soon as Jin-Woo issued his command….
Kiiieeehk-!!
All those insect monsters that got torn to shreds just now stood back up as
new Shadow Soldiers.
In the past, he also revived monsters that got killed during the battles and
added them to his stock of soldiers, but these new additions were on a
different scale altogether compared to those guys.
Quite far removed from the recent past when the System suppressed the
powers of the Shadow Sovereign and resulted in the creation of Shadow
Soldiers that were weaker than their living counterparts, Jin-Woo was now the
bonafide King of the Dead, and the restrictions of the System no longer
affected him. He could create the perfect Shadow Soldiers at will now.
Kiiehk!
These soldiers were so much stronger than when they were still alive.
Black smoke rose up vigorously like flames from their bodies. It was pretty
obvious that the stronger the soldiers of the Chaos World, the stronger his
Soldiers extracted from their shadows would be.
And so, this would be how the unparalleled power that tried to destroy this
world ended up becoming the noose that tightened around his enemies’ necks.
Jin-Woo issued his first command to these new soldiers, overflowing with
fighting spirit.
‘Go rampage to your heart’s content.’
Kiiiiieeeeehkkk-!!
The insect-type Shadow Soldiers madly rushed towards the incoming
waves of Chaos World’s forces. Jin-Woo also dashed forward, as well.
He instantly overtook the insect-type Shadow Soldier at the very front of
the pack and leapt into the midst of the Orcs unfortunate enough to be
marching at the forefront.
Keu-hahk!!
The panicking hordes of Orcs, as well as Ogres standing here and there
among them, blindly swung their weapons in a hurry, but the odds of those
hits landing on him were zero.
Jin-Woo evaded every attack pouring in from all sides with consummate
ease before swinging his shortswords. Like being sucked into the centre of a
whirlpool, the hapless Orcs were swept away in one go without any mercy.
Every time he sliced down, the black aura shooting out from his blades
utterly tore through not just the Orcs, but the ground they were standing on,
too.
Simply put, it was a hellish storm.
The headcount of Orcs decreased a lot faster than the screams exploding
out from their mouths could be heard.
It was then. A tall shade was suddenly cast above Jin-Woo’s head. He
raised his head to look.
Guooo….
A Giant-type monster, so humongous that tilting one’s head to look might
actually injure one’s neck, was busy glaring down at him. And it was also in
the middle of raising up high a pillar of stone that matched the length of its
arms.
It must’ve devoured innumerable humans while getting here because the
blood of its victims had dyed the vicinity of its mouth dark red.
Jin-Woo’s brows creased up. Even before the creature could smash down
its stone pillar, he made his move first. In the blink of an eye, he arrived right
below the Giant’s groin area and swung his reverse-gripped Kamish’s Wrath
with a crap-ton of power.
SLICE!
The black aura dancing around on the edge of the blade cleanly severed the
Giant’s thick ankle.
Wuh-uh-uh-uh-uh!!
Suddenly losing one of its ankles, the Giant’s body tilted to one side and it
cried out in alarm before its balance eventually broke. That humongous body
tipped over to its back and soon, gained momentum as it crashed down to the
ground.
Ka-boom-!!!
Countless monsters located behind the Giant couldn’t evade in time and
were crushed to death quite unexpectedly by that huge falling body.
up was the turn of the Shadow Soldiers.
As the Giant lay on its back breathing heavily in pain, the insect-type
Shadow Soldiers quickly began climbing up on the creature.
Shashashashashak-!!
The Giant struggled mightily to shake off the insects, but too bad, they
reached the panicking creature’s face in no time at all. And soon, their
ravenous feeding time began.
Uwuuuuhhh-!!
The screaming Giant’s convulsion ended pretty quickly. However, that
wasn’t the end for this Giant, not by a long shot. Once more, the Shadow
Sovereign issued his command.
“Rise up.”
When he did….
Wu-uh-uhhh….
to the corpse of the Giant with its face mostly gone from the insects and
their vicious bites, a Shadow with the exact same height slowly rose back up.
Not just this guy, but other Shadow Soldiers began crawling out one by one
from beneath this gigantic shadow, too.
These new Shadow Soldiers created out of the Orc remains were already
outfitted with their own weapons. Their hostile eyes were now glaring at their
former, still-alive comrades.
In no time at all, over one hundred of Chaos World’s forces had been
absorbed into the Shadow Army.
Wuuuong….
When the Giant soldier made its move, the enemies flinched greatly.
Ignoring them for now, it bent all the way down to the ground where the
original’s body lay, unfurled the dead monster’s fingers, before yanking back
the stone pillar for itself.
That was how the massive object had become the new weapon for the
Giant soldier.
Tumble, duduk….
Clumps of soil clinging onto the stone pillar tumbled and fell to the ground.
As if not being able to swing its pillar while still alive was its greatest
regret ever, the Giant soldier cocked that enormous weapon behind it and got
ready to take an almighty swing.
Only then did the soldiers of the Chaos World realise just what kind of
authority their enemy possessed.
Stagger, stagger….
These monsters used to enjoy fighting in this so-called war, but now, they
all began taking retreating steps in fear. Their unchecked terror travelled
through the air of the battlefield and got transmitted in full to Jin-Woo.
He roared out in the languages of the Sovereigns towards these creatures.
[What are you all scared of?]
After all, his counterattack had only just begun. It was indeed far, far too
early to feel fear from only this much. A murderous, chilly glare flickered
within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
In that moment…
WHOOSH-!!
The stone pillar powerfully swung by the Giant soldier brushed past and
swept away every single enemy in its path as if they were mere small toys.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gahk!!
***
Immediately after Jin-Woo made his entrance to the battlefield.
The Dragon Emperor, having never let its guard down once, finally
detected the presence of the Shadow Sovereign.
‘Towards the eastern front.’
Right at the eastern end of the gigantic army spreading out with itself as the
centre – that was where the Shadow Sovereign decided to make his
appearance.
Although a bit later than their leader, the Ancient-class Dragons as well as
other Sovereigns also eventually detected the Shadow Sovereign’s
movements.
The King of Demonic Spectres, the Sovereign of Transfiguration,
addressed the Dragon Emperor respectfully.
[We should lead all of our forces and….]
However, the latter raised its hand up and abruptly cut off the words of the
former.
The Emperor’s underlings formed various puzzled expressions.
The one who waited for the entrance of the Shadow Sovereign with the
greatest anticipation was the Sovereign of Destruction right before their eyes.
So, why did it choose not to make a move even after the much-awaited enemy
had finally signalled the earnest beginning of this war?
Even at this moment, the forces of the Chaos World were rapidly morphing
into the Shadow Army’s soldiers.
The anxiety felt by the Sovereign of Transfiguration, currently occupying
the body of a short-statured middle-aged man, forced it to open its mouth, but
before any words could be spoken, the Dragon Emperor voiced his opinion
first.
[The Shadow Army…. Can you see where the Army of the Dead is?]
Even though they were separated by an incredible distance, the Emperor of
Dragons didn’t miss the crucial fact that the Shadow Sovereign’s loyal
soldiers were not present within his shadow.
‘But, that can’t be….?’
The Sovereign of Transfiguration hurriedly closed its eyes shut.
At the Eastern battlefront – a large illusory eyeball created using magic
appeared in the air just above the location where the Shadow Sovereign had
begun his warfare.
This magical eye took a sweeping look at the battlefield.
‘….!!’
It was as the Dragon Emperor had said.
The Shadow Sovereign was freely roaming through the middle of the
battlefield as the storm of blood raged on, but not one single hint of the army
that should have been hidden within his shadow could be detected.
The Sovereign of Transfiguration opened its eyes and looked at the Dragon
Emperor and discovered that the latter’s glare was now half-made up of rage
and unanswered questions.
‘Just what….?’
What was the Shadow Sovereign thinking of by stepping into the battlefield
without the army to protect him?
At a casual glance, this seemed to be the most perfect opportunity to
eliminate him for good. However, they simply couldn’t mobilise the entire
army when it was unknown what their enemy was scheming right now. In a
way, doing precisely that might be the true aim of the enemy, to begin with.
Anxiety akin to a veil of fog clogging up one’s vision grabbed hold of the
Dragon Emperor and it couldn’t readily make its next move. One of the
Ancient-class Dragon worriedly called out to its master.
[Oh, my Sovereign….]
The Dragon Emperor shot a glare at its servant, and all of the Ancient-class
Dragons lowered their heads.
Having silenced them all with nothing but sheer intense pressure, the
Sovereign of Destruction shifted its glare back towards the eastern battlefield,
where Jin-Woo was going on a rampage at the moment.
The number of the Chaos World’s soldiers were decreasing at a noticeable
rate. And at the same time, that b*stard’s own forces were increasing rapidly.
The decision needed to be made right now. The quicker the better.
Too bad, the Dragon Emperor couldn’t readily make a choice when the
battlefield’s direction was unfolding in an unexpected direction through one
man’s actions that seemed to defy all attempts to predict what his next moves
would be.
The Dragon Emperor’s brows creased up.
‘Shadow Sovereign…. Just what is it that you’re aiming for?’
***
From a certain point onwards, Jin-Woo gave up on consciously cutting
down on the vast sea of enemies. There were simply far too many of them for
that.
The number of his own allies was increasing at a rapid pace, but still, the
scale of the enemy forces was just so ridiculous that it almost rendered all of
his actions so far inconsequential.
‘Fuu.’
After he sucked in a deep breath, Jin-Woo entrusted himself not to his
logical reasoning, but to his senses. When he did, reflexive movements that
seemed to have transcended the limits of human anatomy began repeating as
if he was a machine created solely to murder and destroy.
Just one strike from him tore through hundreds of monsters. And then,
“Rise up!!”
Then, hundreds of new Shadow Soldiers joined his army. Like a gigantic
tsunami wave crashing and swallowing everything up, the Shadows gradually
dyed the battlefield black.
Every time Jin-Woo moved, black waves rumbled and rose up from the
ground.
“Uwahhh-!!”
A thunderous cry filled with Mana exploded from Jin-Woo and it
proceeded to knock down all the monsters standing in the frontline of the
battlefield.
Their eardrums must’ve blown up because blood was trickling down from
their ears; as the creatures gruntled out in pain and failed to orient themselves
properly….
….Shadow Soldiers pounced on them without mercy.
Screams of monsters reverberating from all corners completely filled up the
battlefield.
And so, just how much time went by in this manner?
Jin-Woo finally detected the approach of existences quite different from the
forces of the Chaos World that he’d been fighting so far.
He raised his head to spot hundreds of Sky Dragons, as well as Dragonewts
possessing humanoid appearances riding on top of them, completely blanket
the sky above.
‘Is the Army of Destruction finally making its move?’
However, he still couldn’t sense the presence of the Dragon Emperor yet.
Not yet, huh?
There was no need to be disappointed, though – because, he had plenty of
time on his hands, after all. Besides, if that b*stard was reluctant to make a
move, then all he had to do was to give it a good enough reason.
Kiiihak!
The Dragonewt flying at the front of the pack let out a loud shriek which in
turn made every single Sky Dragon change their heading and rush towards
Jin-Woo’s location.
At that moment, determination filled up his eyes.
The reason for the Dragon Emperor to make a move? He’d create that
through his overwhelming power that these measly underlings were incapable
of dealing with.
Jin-Woo reached out with both of his hands towards the Sky Dragons
descending towards him.
‘Ruler’s Authority!!’
As if to squeeze dry the heavens itself, he strengthened his grip and
dragged ‘something’ that eyes could not see. Mana in the atmosphere
answered the will of the Shadow Sovereign next.
Without a single exception, hundreds of Sky Dragons buzzing towards him
like a swarm of bees were caught by the invisible hands and were slammed
down to the ground.
KWA-GAH-GAH-GAH-GAH-GAHNG!!!
It was a spectacular sight to behold.
The earth rocked violently from the Sky Dragons seemingly endlessly
crash landing to their deaths.
What a truly absurd level of power this was. Even Jin-Woo himself got
stunned by this display of the Shadow Sovereign’s power that was no longer
restricted by anything.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to stew in his surprise for long.
A Dragon that was previously hidden from his view by the swarm of Sky
Dragons revealed itself. And he witnessed a cluster of energy gathering in the
flying creature’s jaw.
‘….!!’
Sure enough, the horrifying Breath of a Dragon made up purely of flames
fell from the sky.
Kuwaaaaaaaah-!!
Having accurately fired the Breath attack on the target, this Dragon then
increased its altitude.
The enemy’s presence couldn’t be detected. Could the human have been
melted away by its Breath, then? Thinking that it had reached a safe-enough
altitude, the Dragon stopped flying up and looked down at the ground to
confirm the fate of the Shadow Sovereign.
The raging flames died down, and the black smoke dissipated, but…
….But, not a trace of the Shadow Sovereign could be seen anywhere.
‘Where is he…??’
It was then.
A presence could be felt on top of the Dragon’s head. A chill-inducing
sensation brushed past the back of this creature’s neck, but by then, it was
already too late.
Even before the Dragon could look up, Jin-Woo standing on its head
stabbed down with ‘Kamish’s Wrath’.
Kwa-jeehck!!
Sharp black aura shooting out from the tip of the shortsword penetrated
clean through the Dragon’s head and exited from underneath its chin.
Rather obviously, the dead flying lizard lost its ability to stay airborne and
helplessly fell towards the earth.
The ground rapidly closed in, and eventually, collided with the Dragon.
BOOM-!!
Jin-Woo lightly jumped off from the head of the unmoving, sagging
Dragon and while walking towards the approaching enemies, spoke without
even bothering to look behind him.
“Rise up.”
Just like that, the Dragon and hundreds of Dragonewts began rising up
again right behind him.
***
The Dragon Emperor also felt it.
Its own army shouldn’t even be compared to the ragtag bunch calling
themselves soldiers that belonged to other Sovereigns. But now, a portion of
its proud army had been lost to the Shadow Sovereign.
With that, the situation was now beyond the point of wait-and-see in
regards to whatever schemes the b*stard had cooked up. The event of the
Army of Destruction being swallowed up by the Shadow Sovereign must be
prevented at any cost.
[We shall strike him down.]
The Dragon Emperor issued a new order to the Ancient-class Dragons
waiting for their chance to participate in the war.
[All of you shall accompany me.]
And just in case, it issued a different command to the Sovereign of
Transfiguration.
[You shall remain here and prepare for the possible surprise attack by the
Shadow Sovereign.]
[It shall be done.]
Hundreds of Gates connected to the battlefield in the east suddenly
materialised in front of the Dragon Emperor and the Ancient-class Dragons.
‘I shall not let you escape.’
With that thought in its head, the Dragon Emperor and its eyes burning in
the flames of rage disappeared into the Gate. Right behind it, the Ancient-
class Dragons also entered their respective Gates.
Finally, the Army of Destruction, shrinking back and not doing anything
until now, was forced to make their move after the Shadow Sovereign
successfully managed to provoke them.
***
Quite unlike in the east where the violent storms of power were on a
collision course, a comparatively quieter battle was coming to an end on the
opposite side, on the western front.
The American military that had set up their final defensive line here was
tragically being torn apart by the fangs and claws of the monsters.
What these soldiers had bet their last hopes on were the weapons used by
the Hunters. Unfortunately, there was simply no way that these regular people
could effectively use the Hunter-issue weapons that were originally designed
for raid situations.
And so, the American military rapidly crumbled away in defeat.
“Uwaaahk! Uwaahk?!”
The role of the marauding army’s spearhead for the western front was also
given to the insect-type monsters that possessed great agility and sharp
senses.
Shashashashak…
The insect monsters quickly closed in on the human soldiers.
Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!!
These creatures completely ignored the barrage of bullets and pounced on
the humans to tear them apart.
“Uwaahk!!”
The survivors retreated and continued to fire away with their guns, but as
expected, their actions were completely ineffective. However, it was even
more unimaginable that they would suddenly start swinging swords around to
fight these insect monsters now.
While they found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place…
Kiieek.
The insects, having finished their feast on the human soldiers, swivelled
their heads towards the next wave of prey. It was now the turn of the
survivors.
The platoon commander’s expression hardened as he took a look at his
soldiers to the side. They were nodding their heads back to him.
From the moment they learned that this mission was simply a ploy to buy
enough time for the civilians to evacuate, they all had prepared themselves for
this moment.
The platoon commander pulled out a hand grenade. This little modern-day
explosive might not be able to kill these enemies, but on the flip side, they
couldn’t avoid becoming food for their enemies, either.
The platoon commander yanked out the safety pin.
The insect-type monsters sensed that the atmosphere had turned weird from
the human’s action and while screeching out loudly, they madly pounced on
the platoon commander.
Kiiiiaaaahhkk-!!
His eyes grew wider as he watched the insects swarm towards him. It truly
happened in the blink of an eye.
These insects arrived right before his nose in less than a breath. Just before
their sharp mandibles split open wide to swallow him up…
….A certain figure stepped before the platoon commander faster than any
of the insects could and took the hand grenade away, while blocking the
attacks of the monsters with his bare back.
The commander could only look up in a total daze at the man blocking his
view, who was also at least a good two heads taller than he was.
“T-Thomas Andre???”
Thomas winked and spun around towards the insects before shoving the
grenade into the open mouth of one of them.
Although there wouldn’t be any tangible damage suffered by the d*mn
thing from the grenade, but, it still should get really surprised by a strange
object suddenly entering its gut like that.
The corners of his lips arched up as a rather humorous situation played out
in his head. Meanwhile, he swung his massive fist and easily blew away the
head of that insect.
Kwa-boooom!!
The dead headless insect flew away and landed far away.
“Oops…. That thing’s not gonna get surprised now, is it?”
As Thomas stood there scratching the back of his head, top-ranked Hunters
urgently rushing forward from somewhere behind him began their desperate
struggle against the insect-type monsters.
Kiiieeehk!
Kiiaaahk!
Painful screeches of dying insects noisily rang around. The surviving
soldiers quickly recognised who these people coming to their aid were and
bright expressions filled up their faces.
“I-it’s the Scavenger!!”
“They’re Hunters from the Scavenger Guild!”
“Ah, ahh!! Thank you, Lord!”
As befitting a Guild consisting of truly exceptional Hunters, the current
situation was resolved in no time at all. However, they didn’t have any
breathing room whatsoever as yet another wave of monsters was madly
rushing towards them.
Thomas Andre’s ultra-sharp glare swept across the incoming enemies.
Orcs, Ogres, Trolls, Minotaurs, Cyclops, etc….
All of them were monsters commonly seen inside dungeons. No matter
how many of them were here, they didn’t pose any challenge to him.
‘Except….’
In the middle of this sea of weaklings, there hid a nonsensically powerful
being. Just like how other monsters were scared by Thomas’s presence, he too
couldn’t make a move because of that one presence.
Eventually, this creature slowly walked to the front of the horde, as if it was
done observing the situation.
[You’re the human from that time, aren’t you? The weakling vessel of the
Rulers, almost driven to death by the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.]
The King of Monstrous Humanoids formed a sinister grin.
The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs did indeed possess powers of a predator,
but basically, it was more specialised towards hunting down its prey, instead.
However, this particular King was different from its now-dead comrade in
that it ruled over Monstrous Humanoids such as Orcs and Ogres, and its
speciality was in up-close-and-personal physical confrontations.
So, it was quite obvious that it’d find this human acting so flippant when he
had only a pathetic little bit of strength to fall back on rather humorous to
behold.
The King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Sovereign of Iron Body, began
unleashing its enormous Mana reserve.
Pressuring the opponent’s fighting spirit through aura alone. This was a
display of confidence from the Sovereign, implying that it could easily kill off
a measly human like Thomas Andre in a heartbeat.
But then….
[….?]
In stark contrast to the Hunters behind him with their rapidly-paling
complexions, the vessel of the Rulers didn’t seem to lose his relaxed
demeanour at all.
The Sovereign began to wonder if this human had some sort of a scheme, a
trick up his sleeve, but then…
“…..So, this much should be enough, right?”
….Thomas Andre muttered to himself.
When he did, the darkness suddenly spread out from beneath his feet and in
the blink of an eye, completely covered up the land.
The Sovereign’s brow quivered greatly.
‘Shadow….?’
This was, without a doubt, the skill belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.
The odd thing was, though, if he was here, then there was no way that the
King of Monstrous Humanoids would have missed the source of that
enormous power.
At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly rose up from right behind
Thomas Andre.
[It’s been a long time, oh, King of Monstrous Humanoids.]
The Grand-Marshal Bellion sent his greeting in a polite yet still threatening
tone of voice. And right behind him, over 130 thousand Shadow Soldiers,
hiding within Thomas Andre’s shadow while patiently biding their time, were
rising up above the ground at the same time.
Chapter 240 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The elite Shadow Soldiers numbering over 130 thousand that managed to
survive the last war under the guidance of their Sovereign erased their
presence as much as possible and hid within the human’s shadow.
It was a trap.
Now suddenly finding itself coming face-to-face with the Shadow Army,
the Sovereign of Iron Body felt this dizzying sensation of being sucked into a
quagmire.
‘They got me.’
Currently, the army manning the western battlefront didn’t possess enough
power to face off against the Shadow Army. Not only that, the ones leading
this Army of the Dead were Bellion and Igrit, so the Sovereign in charge now
had to worry about its own neck, instead.
Most likely, the Shadow Army – no, the Shadow Sovereign, was aiming for
this result.
‘….I need to let them know.’
The Sovereign of Iron Body urgently tried to communicate with the Dragon
Emperor. However, some kind of ‘power’ was blocking its attempts to send
the word out.
‘Could it be….??’
Did the Shadow Sovereign plan this far ahead?
The Sovereign of Iron Body hurriedly activated its sensory perception to
locate the source of the ‘power’ interrupting the contact with the other side.
When it did, it discovered a certain High Orc Shaman standing next to Igrit,
diligently murmuring out some kind of an incantation while holding onto
something small in his hand.
‘….!!’
That d*mn creature’s spell was disrupting all forms of communication with
the other Sovereigns.
The spell from the Commander-grade Fangs, now that he had experienced a
rebirth as a true Shadow Soldier, as well as borrowing the power of the Bead
of Avarice, was more than strong enough to perform that role.
Grin.
Fangs blushed slightly when his gaze met that of the king he used to serve.
Even then, he didn’t try to stop casting his spell.
The King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Sovereign of Iron Body felt as if it
was being made fun of after looking at Fangs’ smile. An uncontrollable rage
welled up from deep within.
[You pathetic insects dare to…!!]
No, hang on – this tactic was not something the Shadow Sovereign would
have cooked up, never mind his Shadow Soldiers. Indeed, this was not how
the Shadow Army conducted its business; this army used to proudly announce
the approach of unavoidable death right in front of their enemies every single
time.
This was….
‘….A human’s way of thinking.’
The current Shadow Sovereign, the human, had perverted how the war was
supposed to be fought. Didn’t he possess any pride as a Sovereign?!
Now thoroughly enraged, the Sovereign of Iron Body expanded its
muscles. As his body ballooned up to a near-bursting size, thick veins bulged
up on its various muscles.
The Sovereign of Iron Body roared out.
[That b*stard is not qualified to be called a Sovereign!]
It then arrived right in front of Fangs in less than a blink of an eye, but its
path was suddenly blocked off by Beru.
Boom-!!
The former ant king grabbed both hands of the Sovereign and began a
contest of pure physical strength. He glared at the enemy and growled in the
language of the monsters.
[What you said just now…. Retract it. Or else, you shall pay a heavy price
for the sin of insulting my liege.]
As a reply, the Sovereign of Iron Body exerted enough power to twist and
yank off Beru’s arms while shouting out even louder than before.
[How dare a measly little soldier try to stop a Sovereign!!]
And when that happened….
Kiiieeeehhhk-!!!
An ear-splitting screech exploded out from Beru’s mouth as his entire body
quickly expanded to double his previous size.
***
The Dragon Emperor saw it.
It saw the corpses of countless soldiers of the Chaos World that died during
its brief period of hesitation, as well as the number of Shadow Soldiers that
matched those that had fallen.
Figurative flames erupted out from the Dragon Emperor’s eyes as it strode
outside the Gate. The end of its glare was locked onto Jin-Woo, currently
swallowing whole a portion of the Chaos World’s army after becoming a
literal giant storm in their midst.
The man…
‘That b*stard must die!!’
The Dragon Emperor didn’t even have the necessary time to transform
back to its original appearance, so it hurriedly fired the Breath of Destruction,
instead.
Kuwaaah-!!
A flash of light flared brightly in the distance and Jin-Woo, even though he
was in a trance-like state while butchering the forces of the Chaos World,
didn’t miss that blink-and-miss-it moment.
‘It’s him!’
Jin-Woo’s figure vanished from the spot. Right afterwards, all the soldiers
of the Chaos World as well as the new Shadow Soldiers were exposed to the
Breath and got incinerated without a trace.
Kuwaaaaaahhhh-!!!
Jin-Woo made his timely escape and settled down on a location not too far
away.
Ending its Breath attack, the Dragon Emperor glared right at him.
Countless Gates opened up behind it and through them, Ancient-class
Dragons and Dragonewts revealed themselves.
And so, the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction, had
entered the fray. What appeared now alongside it was the main portion of the
Army of Destruction.
Forces capable of destroying this planet in one day had been mobilised in
their entirety just to deal with the lone Shadow Sovereign. And in front of
them stood the King of Kings, the Sovereign that lorded over other
Sovereigns – the Dragon Emperor.
‘….’
Jin-Woo had to quickly swallow back his saliva after sensing the truly vast,
seemingly-limitless sea of power from the Dragon Emperor.
At once, every single Shadow Soldier still fighting against the forces of the
Chaos World stopped and retreated according to his new command. Just like
the army of Dragons choosing to stand behind the Dragon Emperor, the
Shadow Soldiers also stood right behind Jin-Woo.
The leader of the Army of Destruction formed a mocking grin.
[Are those pathetic soldiers everything you possess?]
There were several thousand Shadow Soldiers hurriedly ‘recruited’ to his
cause after killing the enemy forces. However, he was facing off against
nearly ten million soldiers, hundreds of Dragons, and most importantly, the
truly dangerous existence called the Dragon Emperor.
Of course, Jin-Woo knew full well the differences in the size of their
armies. That was why he chose to enact this plan from the get-go.
“Advance!”
Jin-Woo had his Shadow Soldiers, initially brought to one location, march
forward again. An expression of confusion floated up on the Dragon
Emperor’s face.
‘He saw my soldiers, yet he wishes to confront me head-on?’
Those were the actions of an insane fool!
As if to mock the Dragon Emperor’s suspicion, the Shadow Soldiers
simply rushed forward towards their enemies. Dragons immediately fired
powerful, vicious flames at them.
Huwaaaa-aahk!!
With that, Shadow Soldiers were enveloped in flames before disappearing
away like expendables, with nary a hint of regeneration happening among
them.
Almost instantly, the Dragon Emperor realised that these were simply
decoys to buy time.
‘Where is he….?!’
It quickly expanded its sensory perception. The Shadow Sovereign was
using his shadow to escape to somewhere.
Seeing this shameful sight, the Dragon Emperor formed a mocking grin. It
seemed that the human b*stard was planning to slowly shave down the forces
of the Chaos World by repeating the tactics of hit-and-run, but he had made
one crucial oversight, something he had failed to consider.
And that would be the fact the leader of the enemy’s forces could chase
after him no problem. The Dragon Emperor easily traced Jin-Woo’s shadow
now being connected to the western front.
‘There you are!’
It’d never let him get away.
The Dragon Emperor quickly generated a Gate connected to the exact spot
where Jin-Woo had fled to and jumped in without hesitation.
Just as it took the first step out of the Gate….
‘……’
….It was greeted by the sight of the 130,000-strong great army surrounding
it.
That wasn’t all.
Jin-Woo had been waiting for the Dragon Emperor’s arrival and spoke in a
calm voice when it did show up.
“….Rise up.”
Just one command and every single creature belonging to the Western
portion of the Chaos army that were killed at the hands of the true Shadow
Army rose up as new Shadow Soldiers.
The Dragon Emperor took a sweeping look at the Shadow Soldiers that
now numbered well past two hundred thousand and spoke.
[Is this what you were aiming for?]
Draw your enemy to the battlefield of your choosing and establish the
upper hand – since the Shadow Army was facing an overwhelmingly
disadvantageous number of enemies, the current tactic could be seen as a
must, but still, a mocking grin didn’t want to leave the face of the Dragon
Emperor.
[How laughable.]
It finally understood what the scheme of the Shadow Sovereign was.
Although the process of uncovering the plot resulted in the loss of the western
portion of the Chaos World’s army, that was not a large cost to bare as long as
the Shadow Sovereign could be killed here today.
‘Even losing half of all the soldiers would not be a loss.’
‘Fear’ would bloom in one’s heart when one couldn’t predict the events of
the future. But its opponent had been laid bare here.
[Oh, Shadow Sovereign.]
The Dragon Emperor chuckled and looked back at Jin-Woo.
[You must’ve thought that only I was capable of chasing you down,
but….]
‘You are wrong.’
In reality, there stood a certain Sovereign that could be seen as the greatest
sorcerer in the Chaos World waiting right behind the Dragon Emperor.
Not too long afterwards, the Sovereign of Transfiguration waiting for the
surprise attack from the Shadow Army created countless Gates that connected
two battlefields.
Before long, a seemingly-endless number of soldiers from the Chaos World
poured out before the measly two hundred thousand or so Shadow Army.
‘So, how do you feel now?’
With this, your plan has been smashed to bits.
Your miscalculation will result in your death today.
The Dragon Emperor stared at Jin-Woo with a triumphant expression on its
face.
[This is your defeat.]
However, Jin-Woo grinned as his reply.
He actually smiled right back at the Dragon Emperor and his satisfied
expression.
‘He got suckered in.’
Indeed, the Dragon Emperor had acted exactly according to his will.
The King of Berserk Dragons, of course, didn’t miss that brief flash of a
smile on the human’s face.
‘….He smiled?’
Sure enough – the summoning of the Shadow Soldiers was cancelled in an
instant, and they all got sucked into the dark shade below the Shadow
Sovereign’s feet.
Just what was this human thinking?
Withdrawing his soldiers now was no different from trying to kill himself.
If he had no soldiers to buy him time, then he’d not even be able to escape to
somewhere else, either.
Even if he didn’t want to lose his precious Shadow Soldiers, no one
would’ve taken him for a fool who would expose his back to his mortal
enemies while hurriedly scurrying away!
Before Jin-Woo could do something else, the Dragon Emperor closed the
distance first. At the same time, the entirety of the forces of the Chaos World
also pounced towards Jin-Woo’s direction.
The gazes of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of soldiers still
breathlessly emerging from the Gates were locked on Jin-Woo and Jin-Woo
alone.
It was then – just as the Dragon Emperor arrived right before Jin-Woo’s
nose and reached out towards him…
….At that moment, Jin-Woo’s eyes changed to resemble a Dragon’s.
Only then did the Dragon Emperor realise that something had gone terribly
awry.
[You….!!]
A moment of stillness came and went.
‘…..’
From Jin-Woo’s mouth, a loud and vicious roar exploded out. It was the cry
from the soul that pushed every single being near him, every single being
weaker than him, into a state of pure despair!
[Kuwaaaaaaahhh-]
It was the Dragon’s Fear. The vilest and cruellest Skill of Dragons he
learned from Kamish’s Rune Stone. He hadn’t been interested in it since its
powers didn’t differentiate allies from enemies, but now…
‘But now, it’s different!’
The skill that drove hundreds of elite Hunters gathered to hunt down a
Dragon to the pits of hell had now been used against the Dragons, instead.
[-Aaaaaaaahhh-!!!]
Just like how Kamish had done to the human Hunters all those years ago,
the Shadow Sovereign froze up all the soldiers of the Dragon Emperor, too.
There was no being alive that could break from the effects of Fear
produced by the near-bottomless supply of Mana belonging to the Shadow
Sovereign, save for one lone individual, and that would be the Dragon
Emperor.
After making every single one of the enemy forces freeze up in an instant,
Jin-Woo reached out and grabbed the Dragon Emperor’s arm next.
[You b*stard…!!]
The brows of the King of Berserk Dragons crumpled.
Jin-Woo gripped the arm tighter as a grin suffused on his lips.
“You, come with me for a sec.”
Chapter 241 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The circular shadow spreading out from beneath Jin-Woo’s feet rapidly
grew large enough to swallow up the Dragon Emperor. The creature’s
expression hardened.
‘From the beginning, had he been aiming for this….?’
From the moment he appeared in the battlefield all alone, directing the
Shadow Army behind everyone’s back and mopping up the western front, and
finally, even drawing the Dragon Emperor to here – were all of those just for
the sake of this moment?
Although this human was its enemy, the King of all Dragons couldn’t help
but admire the meticulousness of the Shadow Sovereign.
At first, he created a situation where it simply had to make a move, and
through what looked to be a pretty obvious tactic to lower its guard, then
finally, by relying on an unexpected hidden card, he eventually got what he
was aiming for.
‘….To think, he’d actually use Dragon Fear here.’
The Dragon Emperor formed an expression of someone suffering from a
sucker punch. Jin-Woo’s grip on the creature’s arm tightened after witnessing
that unmistakable expression.
‘I did it.’
There had been no mistakes so far. A couple more steps, and then…
Soon, the shadow swallowed up both Jin-Woo and the Dragon Emperor.
The darkness blinding them quickly rescinded and they re-emerged at the
pre-selected destination.
Having succeeded in his endeavour of inviting the Dragon Emperor to the
true battlefield of his own choosing, Jin-Woo quickly distanced himself away
from his opponent.
And now, finding itself in a location very far away from its underlings, the
creature began scanning the surrounding scenery with mystified eyes.
[And this is….?]
“A place on the opposite side of the world from where your army is.”
Truthfully, it was a bit incorrect to call it the exact opposite side, but
regardless, that’s how far they were now.
They were in Japan, a land where an enormous amount of Mana had
densely permeated into its every pore after the King of Giants died.
The land and atmosphere fortified by Mana should be able to withstand
much of the potential impact forces resulting from his battle against the
Sovereign of Destruction.
Once a massive sea of forest, this location now resembled a barren
wasteland stretching endlessly beyond the horizon, all thanks to the concerted
efforts of his Shadow Soldiers cutting down the trees present here.
What particularly drew one’s attention was this huge white-coloured
fortress built up on the top of a hill. The Dragon Emperor pointed at it with a
black flag flapping in the wind on top.
[Is that your castle?]
“….Something like that.”
[For a castle of the Shadow Sovereign, its size is fairly lousy, isn’t it.]
Why did Jin-Woo briefly feel apologetic to Beru all of a sudden? Of course,
there was no reason to get suckered into his enemy’s pace now, was there?
Jin-Woo threw out a genuine warning at the Dragon Emperor, currently
looking rather relaxed despite the situation – it was unknown whether that
was because of its sky-high confidence, or it was simply trying to bluff him.
“Well, I think that building’s just about the perfect size to commemorate
your death today.”
Only then did the gaze of the Dragon Emperor fix on Jin-Woo. He didn’t
try to avoid meeting that glare.
[….]
The King of Berserk Dragons stopped looking at the human and closed its
eyes for a moment while trying to communicate with its underlings.
Sure enough, not a hint of their signal could be captured. Some creature
borrowing the power of the Shadow Sovereign was using a spell to interfere
with all forms of communication.
The Dragon Emperor grew conscious of the fact that his human enemy had
prepared everything from the beginning in order to perfectly isolate it.
It slowly opened its eyes again and found the entirety of the Shadow Army
surrounding it from all sides.
A battle that should have been ten million against one was suddenly turned
on its head to become two hundred thousand against one, with the ‘one’ being
a completely different person.
The Dragon Emperor had been surrounded.
[So, this is it…. A battle where either I survive or fall, until my soldiers
pinpoint my current location.]
However, its expression was not as gloomy as one would hope for in the
current situation.
The thing was, although it didn’t mind the types of battles where it’d use
the overwhelming numbers to completely massacre its enemies, it also found
the exact opposite of that situation quite enjoyable too, where it’d get to
overwhelm the enemies alone.
In short, it was an existence born solely for warfare.
It was the incarnation of destruction, one who would not mind its own
demise if it was all for the sake of blood, screams, madness, and destruction
swirling in a dizzying storm of warfare.
That was why the Dragon Emperor could smile brightly.
[Allow me to show you the real thing.]
At the end of those words, that smile vanished from the creature’s face.
Jin-Woo also sensed something at the same time. His senses that had far
surpassed the limits of a normal human continuously rang loud warning bells.
Shiver.
Along with a chill running down his spine, goosebumps broke all over his
skin.
It was then. Like a scene from an unrealistic movie, a truly frightening roar
scary enough to stop one’s heart just from hearing it exploded out of the
Dragon Emperor’s mouth.
Khayaaaaaaaah-!!
This was the Dragon Emperor’s Fear, the ruler of all Dragons. The level of
terror previously never experienced before slammed into the Shadow Army
like a massive shockwave.
AAAAAH-!!
A seemingly endless chain of ripples began shaking the atmosphere. Even
the ground quaked violently.
As the shaking akin to an earthquake rocked the world, Jin-Woo detected
an extreme amount of terror, pain, and confusion from his soldiers and he
urgently brought them back inside his shadow.
AAAAAH-!!!
During that process, vicious dizziness assaulted him and he wobbled
unsteadily for a moment there.
The Dragon Emperor finally ended its roar. The corner of its lips curled up
after seeing how pale Jin-Woo’s complexion was.
[That was the real thing.]
The true Dragon’s Fear.
Jin-Woo roughly shook his head in order to get rid of that attack’s
horrifying impact. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor addressed him in a calm
manner.
[When you grabbed my arm, I could’ve easily shaken you loose.]
However, there was a reason why it didn’t. It continued on.
[It’s only because you impressed me with your efforts to trap me.]
Jin-Woo stared at the Dragon Emperor praising him with a suspicious glare.
However, there was not a single hint of ridicule within that serious light
shining from its eyes.
[That made me want to speak to you in a quiet place as two Sovereigns on
equal ground.]
Jin-Woo’s breathing, disrupted by the Dragon Fear just now, finally
reverted back to being normal. He quickly righted his posture, his vigilance
remaining high.
The Dragon Emperor continued to address Jin-Woo and his tightly-shut
mouth.
[If you have inherited the previous Shadow Sovereign’s memories, then
you should know this by now…. Our real enemy is not this land, but well
beyond the sky up there.]
It was referring to the armies of the Rulers. The first and the last ultimate
command given to them was to annihilate all Sovereigns born from the
darkness.
Quite obviously, the Shadow Sovereign wouldn’t be an exception.
[I originally thought of disposing of you first and then get ready to fight
them. However, I changed my mind after seeing how you conduct your
battles. You possess a different set of skills compared to Osborne. And from
your skill set, I foresaw our glorious victory.]
The Dragon Emperor extended its hand out towards Jin-Woo.
[If you take this hand, then I shall do as you want.]
His gaze slowly lowered towards the extended hand.
[If you wish to save your family, so it shall be. If you wish to save your
nation, then that shall be done. If you wish for me to leave this land, fine.
My soldiers and I shall quietly withdraw from this world.]
Jin-Woo gaze briefly lingering on the hand gradually rose up again until it
stopped at the Dragon Emperor’s face. The creature was carrying an
expression full of compassion.
[You shall become the master of this world. Become a master of this
whole planet, not just that small castle on the hill. You amply possess the
qualification to do so. All you have to do….]
A gentle smile formed on the Dragon Emperor’s lips now.
[….Is to take my hand.]
Once we cooperate and defeat the forces of the Rulers, not only you and
your family, even your country – no, even more than that, everyone living on
this land will gain peace and freedom.
That was the promise the Dragon Emperor was making here.
[So, how about it? Shadow Sovereign?]
Did he get enticed by the offer? A thin smile slowly spread on the face of
the Shadow Sovereign as he quietly listened to the tempting words.
The King of Dragons also formed a smile of its own.
[Will you join me?]
Too bad, Jin-Woo’s reply was rather curt in nature.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
The Dragon Emperor’s expression hardened after hearing that pointed
retort.
“You want me to trust a b*stard with the eyes of someone that can barely
hide its desire to kill me?”
[Haha…. Euh-hahahahaha!!]
The King of all Dragons grasped its forehead and guffawed for a long time.
Its laughter must’ve contained Mana, because every single wave of sound
emitted by the creature caused a powerful reverberation within Jin-Woo’s
heart.
When it finally took its hand away from its forehead, both of its wide-open
eyes had changed to that of a reptile’s.
[I just can’t seem to hide these eyes of mine.]
Appeasement attempt had ended in failure. If conning the other party didn’t
work, then the remaining way was to destroy him with everything it
possessed.
The Dragon Emperor finally revealed its true self. A hostile aura that
couldn’t be concealed anymore flooded out from its body.
[Bet everything you have and attack me, oh, Child of Shadow!!]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened in shock.
In an instant, choking heat rushed into his face. He quickly retreated to a
far-off distance, his gaze still locked onto the unbelievable event unfolding
right him.
A mountain of raging inferno suddenly materialised in front of his eyes.
If a sea of boiling lava gained sentience and willingly morphed into the
shape of a Dragon, would it look like that?
Jin-Woo watched this appearance of a Dragon made up of endlessly-
burning flames and immediately recalled the outer shell of the Demon’s
Castle instant dungeon that was also burning in perpetual flames.
A battle between a living ‘castle’ and a man.
It wouldn’t be too surprising for anyone to get scared by this incomparable
pressure, but Jin-Woo calmly grasped the pair of Kamish’s Wraths.
BOOM-!!
When the Dragon Emperor took one step, the world rocked viciously.
‘It’s coming!’
The massive Dragon was trying to stomp him to death, so Jin-Woo quickly
evaded that and ran to create some distance before summoning up the Sky
Dragon ‘Kaisel’.
Kiiaaahk!
His mount was already getting ready to take off, so as soon as it emerged
from the shadow, it flew up into the air. Jin-Woo quickly climbed up on its
back.
Kaisel rose up as fast as it could; Jin-Woo then had his ride change
directions and descend towards the Dragon Emperor’s location. As if it was
waiting precisely for that, the Dragon made up of flames fired a Breath of
Destruction.
“Go down!!”
Almost at the same time as the blinding flash of light exploded forth from
the Dragon Emperor’s jaw, Kaisel descended at the rate of knots. The flames
capable of erasing everything – the chill-inducing white beam of light brushed
past right above Jin-Woo’s head.
Kuwaaaaah-!!
Kaisel followed after its master’s instruction to descend closer to the
Dragon Emperor while barely managing to side-step the Breath continuously
pouring out towards it.
Fuuuwoo….
Once the Breath attack came to an end, Kaisel was already near the head of
the gigantic flame Dragon. Jin-Woo gathered every drop of his Mana while
riding on the back of his mount.
‘You did well, Kaisel!’
The gathered Mana flowed into the Kamish’s Wrath held in his right hand.
The black aura danced and tumbled about as if to signal that it was ready for
that final strike.
With everything in his power – Jin-Woo swung his sword containing all of
his might towards the Dragon Emperor.
SWIIIISH-!!
The black aura that looked capable enough to tear through anything in a
single breath split up like the claws of a predator and took a powerful swipe at
the head of the flaming Dragon.
Kwa-gah-gah-gah-gah-gah-gahk!!
However…
‘….How can this be?!’
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up high.
There wasn’t even a scratch on the creature’s flaming scales; instead, the
unscathed Dragon Emperor began raising its head towards him.
Jin-Woo’s expression crumpled.
‘Is it Breath again?’
He got ready to quickly descend again in case another round of Breath of
Destruction came at his way, but he was greeted by an ear-splitting roar,
instead.
Kuwaaaaaah-!!
Dragon Fear!!
Jin-Woo had developed some amount of immunity after experiencing it the
last time, but it was a different story for his Sky Dragon. It couldn’t withstand
the roar from the Dragon Emperor and froze up in mid-air.
Not even giving him any time to un-summon Kaisel, in came the ruthless
beam of light signalling true destruction spat out by the King of all Dragons.
RUMBLE-!!
Even though they were in a free fall, Kaisel still twisted its body to push
Jin-Woo away to a safer location, and collided head-on against the Breath of
Destruction with its body.
“NOOO!!”
Jin-Woo cried out as he watched Kaisel disintegrate in an instant, not even
leaving behind ash in the process. Utterly disregarding his wishes, the Sky
Dragon was erased from existence without a single trace.
Grit.
Jin-Woo bit his lower lip and fired Mana out from behind to fly into the
chest area of the Dragon Emperor in an instant. And to make sure he wouldn’t
fall off, he grasped tight the scale of this nonsensically humongous creature.
Chiieeiik!
His palm was instantly scorched by the ultra-high temperature.
“Euh-euhk!!”
Jin-Woo gritted his teeth and raised up the Kamish’s Wrath held in his other
hand up high above his head. The shortsword held in reverse grip was
enveloped in the dancing black aura.
Crack!!
The blade stabbing down with all his might managed to break past the
scale. But that was all it could do.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!
No matter how many times he lashed out, all he could do was to leave
behind small, inconsequential nicks on the Dragon’s flesh just below its
scales.
It was then. Sensing this ominous chill creep up behind his neck, Jin-Woo
hurriedly took a look behind him.
‘…..!!’
The giant arm of the Dragon Emperor was swinging closer to his location.
To dodge that, he unhesitatingly jumped down.
He didn’t suffer any impact damage when landing on the ground due to his
Mana, but then, without giving him a break, yet another round of the Breath
of Destruction poured out from above.
Kuwaaaaahhh-!!!
Somehow managing to evade that merciless attack once more, Jin-Woo
breathlessly panted hard.
“Hah-ah, hah-ah, hah-ah….”
He rained down so many attacks, yet the Dragon Emperor remained
standing, imperious like the legendary Mt. Tai. It possessed the level of
defence and attack power that not even Giants could match up to.
He realised that he couldn’t subjugate this Dragon by relying on the same
tactics.
‘I need stronger power….’
Indeed, he needed an even stronger power – the power that might bring
down a giant covered in thick armour with nothing but bare hands.
Just like how an insect small enough not to be noticed by one’s eyes
couldn’t do much about a human being, one needed to become a mountain if a
mountain was blocking his path.
It was then.
‘Hang on…. Armour, is it?’
A certain possibility flashed by like a bolt of lightning in Jin-Woo’s head.
If he could manipulate the power of darkness to create regular-sized
armours, then couldn’t he also be able to create something much larger and
thicker than that, too?
When his thoughts reached that far…
….The shadow beneath Jin-Woo’s feet suddenly began growing much
larger.
[….??]
Even the Dragon Emperor noticed this change.
The blackish liquid bubbled and rose up from that shadow to wrap around
the Shadow Sovereign, layer upon layer, his size abruptly increasing at an
alarming rate.
‘What is this human b*stard trying to do now?!’
The thing was, answering its instincts took priority before satisfying its
curiosity.
Just before the Dragon Emperor got ready to fire yet another round of
Breath of Destruction towards that unidentifiable black mass, it felt the
sensation of something poking softly at its back.
‘….??’
It quickly took a look behind.
Fangs had been hiding in a distant corner to perform the communication-
disrupting spell but to aid his Sovereign, he had grown into a giant to fire his
own pillar of flames at the back of the Dragon Emperor.
Once their gazes met, the Bead of Avarice powerlessly fell from Fangs’
grip.
Tumble, roll….
The massive Dragon’s murderous rage was now redirected to the scared
and trembling Fangs.
[How dare a measly b*stard like you….!]
The Dragon Emperor shifted the direction of its head.
And naturally, the aim of the Breath was shifted towards Fangs, as well.
Just before the attack capable of erasing everything could be fired from the
Dragon’s maw….
A humongous black shadow that had risen up high into the sky, before
anyone had noticed it, viciously punched the head of the Dragon Emperor.
KA-BOOOM!!!!
Chapter 242 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
As it was being shoved away by the enormous impact force coming from
the side, the Dragon Emperor saw it.
It clearly saw a gigantic shadow tall enough to touch the skies standing
there proudly. And perhaps trying to reject an existence that shouldn’t even
exist in the first place, thousands, no, tens of thousands of black lightning
bolts could also be seen violently roiling and crackling beyond the shoulders
of this black shadow.
‘….Spiritual Body Manifestation?’
No, that couldn’t be right.
The Shadow Sovereign used to be one of the Fragments of Brilliant Light.
He didn’t have any other ‘hidden’ form to activate, and how he appeared was
how he looked.
However, how could the current Shadow Sovereign assume such a massive
form right this moment?
Kwa-gah-gahk!!
The Dragon Emperor pushed down hard with its legs, causing a thin layer
from the ground to peel off like the skin of an apple, as its gigantic body came
to a stop.
‘Could it be….?’
When a certain theory brushed through its head, the eyes of the Dragon
quaked in sheer surprise.
‘The b*stard…. Could he be summoning the power of death to the
surface world?’
But, how could that be?
How could a man who used to be a normal human not too long ago control
the power of death to such an astonishing degree?
[So, that’s how it was.]
Another sigh of admiration left the mouth of the Dragon Emperor.
[You have spent a lot of time on the border between life and death,
haven’t you?]
There was a reason why the previous Shadow Sovereign, Osborne, chose to
hand all of his power over to a measly little human being. This particular
human had been continuously fighting a bitter battle against himself right up
until he inherited this power.
All for the sake of his life.
The Dragon Emperor had been looking down on the current Shadow
Sovereign just a tad in comparison to his predecessor but now, he felt
renewed respect for its human opponent.
[….]
And then, it reflected on itself for even thinking of manipulating the
weakness of humans to pit him against the Rulers earlier.
‘Without a doubt…. This human must die. As expected, he’s far too
dangerous.’
While the Dragon silently glared at its opponent, the giant Shadow
Sovereign was also doing the same thing in silence.
Having become this gigantic Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo shifted his
surprised gaze lower to his hands that had also grown into a size easily
exceeding his own imagination.
‘This…. Is this really me?’
He tried to move his fingers. The ginormous body that had become the
darkness itself began moving according to his will. It wasn’t just his body that
had grown huge, though.
From deep within his gigantic frame, the kind of dizzying power that defied
all attempts to estimate how big it was gushed out infinitely. He had truly
become a mountain in order to bring down another mountain.
Jin-Woo raised his head back up again. And there it was – the
personification of Destruction rushing towards him.
BOOM-!!
Violent flames and black lightning bolts scattered in all directions.
Jin-Woo propped his body with his legs extended to his rear and stopped
the charge of the Dragon Emperor.
Their physical strength was about evenly matched!
An even contest of strength briefly played out before the Dragon suddenly
bit Jin-Woo on his shoulder. Crimson-red flames danced around the bitten
part. Jin-Woo didn’t panic, though, and proceeded to grab and yank at the
Dragon’s horn to pull the creature’s head away.
And then, one more punch to its face-!
Ka-boom!!
This time, though, the Dragon Emperor wasn’t pushed back.
Kuwaaah-!!
Almost as soon as it was shoved back, the Dragon pounced towards him
again, before opening its huge maw wide to take a big bite of Jin-Woo’s side.
“Keuh-eeeeuhk!”
For the first time since he began fighting against the Dragon Emperor, Jin-
Woo couldn’t hold back and spat out a pained cry.
Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!
He used his elbow to smack down on the Dragon’s head several times, but
the creature still lifted him up in the air and began shaking him around
without mercy.
An incredible pain akin to his waist being snapped in half rushed up from
below.
“Kuwaahk!! Keuh-eeeeuhk!!”
Deciding that enough damage had been inflicted on its enemy, the Dragon
Emperor threw Jin-Woo to the ground.
THUD!!
That was followed by another round of Breath of Destruction pouncing on
him. When the conflagration-like Breath swept by, one of Jin-Woo’s arms had
vanished.
However, he didn’t scream in pain. He just gritted his teeth. He instantly
closed the distance and shoved his remaining hand deep into the Dragon
Emperor’s jaw.
Rip, riiiip!!
Along with the thick leather being torn apart, the Dragon Emperor’s huge
tongue was ripped out of his throat.
[Kuwaaaaahk!!]
Rather than blood, crimson lava exploded out from the torn wound of the
creature’s tongue.
The Dragon writhed in pure agony. Jin-Woo took this opportunity to punch
the head of the creature. The lengthy maw was spun to the side as lava spilt in
all directions.
The Dragon Emperor glared at Jin-Woo with its vertical-slit eyes and
rammed into him with its horns.
The battle’s flow see-sawed between the two over and over again.
BOOM-!!
Whenever the two collided, the ground quaked and the heavens screamed.
Every plot of land being showered by the falling flames was scorched black;
every square inch being struck by the black lightning bolts was ripped apart
without mercy.
A desperate battle ensued.
From the sideline, Fangs witnessed the battle between two Sovereigns with
dazed eyes.
At this grandiose yet frightening spectacle unfolding right before his eyes,
the High Orc Shaman was left completely flabbergasted, unable to turn his
head away nor close shut his slack jaw.
What if…
….The Absolute Being created these beings in order to witness a fight of
this magnitude? If that was the case, the High Orc Shadow Soldier thought
that he might sort of understand the reasoning behind that decision.
Indeed, the battle between these two was no doubt a world-ending calamity
but, at the same time, it was a spectacular once-in-a-lifetime event as well.
Tears slowly fell from the eyes of Fangs as he continued to take in the sight
of two god-like beings colliding with everything they had.
The power of Destruction and the power of Death smashed into each other,
writhed around, and shook the world to its very core.
Jin-Woo clenched his fist even harder.
Boom-!!
It was working.
It’s working, it’s working, it’s definitely working!!
Each of his punches, issuing shock waves that tore apart the air every time
he threw one, landed on their targets with scary accuracy.
Boom!! Bang!! Thud!! Kwahng!!
The Dragon Emperor struck out with its sharp claws, brushing past him and
hitting the empty air.
WHOOOOSH-!!
Jin-Woo took a step back to evade the attack before pushing forward on his
tiptoes to slam his shoulder against the Dragon and shoved it to the ground.
KA-BOOOOM!!!!
He then quickly mounted the toppled Dragon Emperor. What followed next
was the continuous stream of vicious punches.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
Brutal attacks rained down from above, without a single break in-between.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!!
Lightning bolts, sparks of flames, and the screams of air being torn
endlessly reverberated throughout the land.
Unfortunately, it was clear to see that just one hand was not enough to land
that one fatal blow.
He concentrated all of his Mana to the remaining hand, but as if he was
stuck inside a dream, his strength continued to seep out of him the longer he
continued on.
‘What’s going on?’
Jin-Woo’s expression hardened gradually.
Not too long afterwards, the Dragon Emperor also noticed the change
taking place in Jin-Woo. Its clawed hand shot up to grab his fist.
Grab!
It happened too suddenly. Jin-Woo got flustered as he couldn’t pull his fist
back. Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor addressed him.
[This is the difference between our experience level!]
Jin-Woo’s eyes widened considerably.
“Uwaaaahk!!”
The Dragon pierced into Jin-Woo’s side with the claws on its remaining
free hand and spat out its mocking words filled with laughter.
[Didn’t you know that maintaining a large body wastes an unimaginable
amount of stamina?]
After completely immobilising Jin-Woo, another round of horrifying
energy began gathering and swirling inside the Dragon’s maw. The Breath of
Destruction was being readied to put an end to this battle.
‘This is the end….!’
The Dragon Emperor was sure of its victory now.
However….
Just before the Breath was ready to fire, a new arm suddenly sprouted out
from Jin-Woo’s shoulder missing a limb.
‘He still had that much energy left?!’
The Dragon was stunned but knew that it was still impossible for a
different victor to emerge from this situation.
Soon, a blinding light formed inside the maw of the Dragon Emperor. It
was then – Jin-Woo shoved his newly-generated arm inside that maw.
“Uwaaaaah-!!”
And then, he scrounged up every ounce of energy and concentrated it to his
hand.
Wuuong-!!
Accompanying an incredible impact force, powerful blinding light
blanketed the surroundings.
Eventually, the light receded and silence descended on the land.
*
Jin-Woo reverted back to his human form from the giant shadow. He lay
sprawled on the ground and panted heavily.
“Pant, pant, pant….”
His entire body was burning up as if flames had scorched him. He was
covered in wounds from head to toe. His current status was an utter mess.
He did his absolute best to control his heavy breathing while sucking in a
lot of air. A short while later, he forced his fatigued body to slowly stand back
up.
Just beyond the veil of thick fog kicked up from the explosion, someone
was making its approach towards him. Jin-Woo could only marvel wryly as
the Dragon Emperor, in its human form, revealed itself.
‘What a monster….’
The Dragon b*stard was not okay either, but compared to Jin-Woo’s own
condition, it was noticeably better off.
[You are a very tenacious b*stard, aren’t you?]
‘That’s my line.’
Too bad, Jin-Woo wanted to save the energy required to make that retort so
he had to swallow back his opinion. Instead, he wordlessly summoned the
pair of ‘Kamish’s Wraths’ and held them tightly.
The Dragon Emperor also unsheathed its sword as well.
Shurung-!
Even though it no longer possessed enough strength to maintain its
Spiritual Body Manifestation, the King of all Dragons still scrounged up
every little bit of remaining energy in order to kill the human for good.
Jin-Woo, too, held his rough breathing back and gritted his teeth.
The Dragon Emperor arrived before him in just one step and swung its
longsword at him. The pair of shortswords and one longsword clashed and
clanged chaotically.
Every time sparks flew off from their clashing blades, sweat and blood
sliding off their wielders’ bodies rained down on the surroundings.
It was then.
Crack!
One of the Kamish’s Wrath shattered after its edges had been badly
damaged from attacking the Dragon Emperor’s toughened steel-like scales
earlier.
‘…..!!’
He managed to tilt his body in time to let the longsword cutting down
diagonally brush past him, but that resulted in him losing balance for a brief
moment.
The Dragon Emperor didn’t miss that opening. It thrust forward its weapon
in the blink of an eye and penetrated Jin-Woo’s midriff.
Stab!!
Even in the midst of the torrent of terrible pain, he gritted his teeth and
swung the shortsword held in his other hand towards the neck of the Dragon.
Too bad, just before his blade could reach the Adam’s apple belonging to
the Dragon Emperor, the creature grabbed the weapon with its bare hand. The
black aura wavering around the blade was blocked by the reddish-black aura
of the Dragon.
A mocking grin floated up on the creature’s face.
[Did you truly believe that the shortsword fashioned out of a Dragon’s
tooth can actually hurt this body of mine, the Dragon Emperor’s?]
After declaring confidently as so, it pushed the hilt of the longsword with
even more power. The weapon sunk deeper into Jin-Woo’s midriff and he
vomited out a mouthful of blood.
“Keo-heok-!!”
The Dragon Emperor pushed Jin-Woo off with its foot and pulled the
longsword back.
Jin-Woo ungainly rolled along the ground and barely managed to stop
himself. Just before he could force his body up, the Dragon Emperor arrived
right in front of him and pointed the tip of its blade at his throat.
‘…..’
His actions came to an abrupt halt at the weapon that was uncomfortably
close to his vital point. The Dragon Emperor chuckled as it addressed him.
[Don’t you find it funny?]
Not even once doubting that it’d end up as the victory, the Dragon in
human form looked down at the face of its helplessly cornered enemy.
[A battle between the flame born from the darkness and the darkness
born from the light. However, this battle is finally drawing to its
conclusion.]
Jin-Woo readily agreed with the Dragon Emperor’s assessment.
“You’re right. Its conclusion is around the corner.”
[Oh-hoh.]
The Dragon formed a half-puzzled and half-satisfied expression and
scanned Jin-Woo’s grievously-wounded body, before asking him a question.
[Have you decided to give up on the meaningless resistance now?]
It was then.
He seemed energyless and defeated, pretty much ready to give up, but in an
instant, the light gleaming within Jin-Woo’s eyes changed.
[….!!]
The Dragon Emperor urgently thrust the blade forward. To its great
surprise, however, Jin-Woo unexpectedly pushed himself forward instead of
dodging backwards.
The longsword brushed past his artery with barely a hair’s width. The skin
on his neck sliced off and blood spluttered out like a fountain, but it wasn’t a
fatal wound.
‘I can do this.’
By paying the price of a grievous wound, Jin-Woo got near the Dragon
Emperor’s vicinity. He then summoned his father’s shortsword stored in his
‘Inventory’.
The Dragon’s eyes widened.
Even before the creature could decipher this new turn of events, Jin-Woo’s
shortsword stabbed deeply into his enemy’s chest.
KWA-JEECK!!
The blade penetrated past the chest armour and stabbed the Dragon’s heart.
[Kuwaaaaaah-!!!]
Not yet.
Not over yet!
Jin-Woo knew all too well that this much of an attack wasn’t enough to kill
a Sovereign. Even he himself was continuously fighting on with the types of
injuries that would have killed any normal human being, after all.
Jin-Woo yanked the shortsword out and activated the skill ‘Violent Slash’.
Dududududududududu-!!!
Countless attacks stabbed deeply into the Dragon Emperor’s body.
One more time!!
Dudududududududu!!!
[You… you b*stard….!!]
Shockingly enough, even though it was being subjected under the barrage
of countless attacks, the Dragon Emperor still raised its sword up.
An earthquake erupted within Jin-Woo’s eyes after seeing that.
The Dragon, inflicted with heavy injuries on its chest where various holes
could be seen, began deflecting Jin-Woo’s shortsword. The longer his skill
was deployed, the faster the Dragon Emperor’s speed became, as well.
This was the display of the might possessed by the strongest creature borne
out of darkness for the sole purpose of destruction. Cold sweat drops formed
on Jin-Woo’s forehead as he was gradually pushed back in the one area he felt
most confident in – his speed.
[Khayahk!!]
The Dragon Emperor spat out a beastly howl and shoved Jin-Woo away.
The force was so strong that he thought his wrist broke just now.
‘Keu-heuk!’
By the time Jin-Woo regained his balance, the Dragon was already right
before his eyes. Unlike before, though, the creature didn’t repeat the same
mistake of staying its sword.
The weapon penetrated past his Black Heart.
“Keok!!”
Jin-Woo felt the burning pain shooting up from his chest. His breathing
tightened and he couldn’t even voice his pain anymore. All strength
abandoned his legs and automatically, he knelt down on the ground.
Plop.
As if its anger hadn’t been cooled down, the Dragon Emperor viciously
roared out towards the sky.
Kuwaaaaaaaahhh-!!!
It transformed into a Dragonewt-like form that was halfway between a
human and a Dragon’s appearance before anyone noticed it, and extended its
claws out in order to attack for one last time.
A growling-like voice leaked out of the Dragon’s mouth.
[You b*stard, I shall rip you apart piece by piece and feed you to my Sky
Dragons!]
If trying to show courtesy and give the Shadow Sovereign a death fitting
for a king was a mistake on its part, then the Dragon Emperor would bestow a
cruel and miserable death that would make up for that mistake many times
over.
‘I shall show you what happens to the one daring to obstruct me, the
King of all Dragons, at the end!’
The Dragon Emperor raged on with such thoughts filling up its head. It
bared its lengthy fangs and continued to roar on. But then…
….Out of the blue, a loud chorus of vigorous warcry exploded forth from
the heavens.
Waaaahhhh-!!
The Dragon Emperor raised his head. It was greeted by an unbelievable
spectacle just then.
The army of the Rulers, the soldiers of the heavens were endlessly pouring
out from a gigantic Gate that wasn’t there before. Their flapping wings began
filling up the gloomy, clouded sky with the colours of whitish silver.
‘Impossible…!!’
The Dragon Emperor inwardly freaked out.
Without a doubt, there was no Gate when it arrived here. So, just from
where did that Gate come from, and how could the soldiers of heaven enter
this world so quickly?
One would need an incalculable amount of energy to open up a portal
connecting this world to the other side. So how….
When its thoughts reached that far, the Dragon Emperor looked down with
its trembling eyes at Jin-Woo on the ground, currently panting heavily on his
knees.
[You b*stard…. The reason why you attacked me with everything you had
from the beginning was to….?!]
It wasn’t the difference in experience levels, but he had been working
towards this end result from the very beginning? To call the allies from the
other side by tearing the space up with the collision of two great sources of
power?
Up until now, the Dragon Emperor had been guessing what Jin-Woo’s
scheme might be through its own world view. The reason for attracting the
attention of the army of the Chaos World, the reason for bringing it to this
desolate location…
The Dragon took that as the human not wanting their battle to be
interrupted by outside factors. But as it turned out, the Shadow Sovereign had
a different goal altogether.
Even then…
[Even then…. You couldn’t have any other way to communicate with the
Rulers….?]
The Dragon Emperor couldn’t finish its sentence.
There was a way – the vessels of the Rulers.
Weren’t there still a few vessels, connected to the Rulers through the
lending of their powers, left on this planet? And that was how the Fragments
of Brilliant Light were able to prepare a Gate in this location.
[…..]
The Dragon Emperor glared at Jin-Woo.
Just for that one-in-ten-thousand chance, he had chosen the method where
even if he lost the fight, he’d still win the war before starting this battle.
It was a complete defeat for the Dragon, who only focused on the fight in
front of its eyes and nothing else.
Jin-Woo, barely managing to hold back the dizzying pain from all of his
wounds, formed an energyless smile.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
[…..?]
“It was you who told the Sovereigns of White Flames and Beastly Fangs
to ambush the Shadow Sovereign from behind.”
[….Did the Sovereign of White Flames run its mouth off?]
Rather than answering right away, Jin-Woo looked up at the sky filled with
innumerable winged soldiers. He lowered his gaze back down to the Dragon
Emperor a little later and formed a grin.
“Osborne wanted me to pass along this message.”
Jin-Woo slowly unfurled his middle finger. The Dragon Emperor exploded
in pure rage just then.
[You b*stard!!]
The deadly-sharp claws rushed towards defenceless Jin-Woo kneeling
down on the ground.
Too bad, those claws couldn’t reach him, instead getting blocked off by six
beautiful wings gently embracing Jin-Woo’s figure.
The Dragon Emperor stopped its actions and withdrew its claws. It looked
at the figure that blocked its attack and spat out a pained grunt.
[The most Brilliant Light….]
The Dragon raised its head next.
From above, six angels, each with three pairs of wings, slowly descended
all around the creature.
Indeed, the conclusion of this battle had been around the corner. The
Dragon Emperor recalled that brief conversation he shared with Jin-Woo, and
began forming a self-mocking smile.
[….This is the end.]
Soon, the spears belonging to the Rulers penetrated the Dragon Emperor
from all directions.
Chapter 243: Chapter 243
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
The desperate and gruelling battle between the two Sovereigns also left its
mark up in the sky, as well. Ash, scattered into the heavens from the aftermath
of the fight, quietly fell like snowflakes.
Jin-Woo watched the grey ash settling down on his shoulders one by one
and lifted his head up.
From the distance far away, somewhere above him – the soldiers of the
Rulers utterly blanketing the sky were moving to another location via
countless Gates.
The spectacle of tens of millions of soldiers all marching in unison
according to their Rulers’ bidding was truly an overwhelming spectacle to
behold.
Their aim was to completely eliminate the remaining forces of the
Sovereigns. Now that not just the Dragon Emperor, but several other
Sovereigns, had died, there was no chance in hell that the Army of the Chaos
World would be able to survive.
That was why the soldiers of the heavens were marching forward to
announce the end of this war that had been going on for far too long.
Jin-Woo felt his chest become numb for some reason while watching their
deployment. While he was stewing in his emotions, the ‘most Brilliant Light’
finished giving commands to its soldiers and returned to where he was.
A truly beautiful lifeform that no known expression in human language
could adequately describe folded its proudly-unfurled six wings at once, after
landing in front of Jin-Woo. Other Rulers also landed behind the ‘most
Brilliant Light’ one by one.
It studied Jin-Woo’s current condition. At a casual glance, he seemed to be
any other regular human being.
‘However, this lone human managed to bring an end to the war between
us and the Sovereigns.’
Who could have imagined such a thing?
Who could have thought that the curtains on the eternal war, with
seemingly no end in sight, as designed by the Absolute Being, would be
closed by a weak existence in a world so far away?
At the least, this angel had never imagined it.
And that was why its initial surprise had morphed into pure respect for Jin-
Woo’s accomplishments.
[You have ended our war. I do not know how to even properly express my
gratitude.]
“…”
Jin-Woo wordlessly looked at the ash falling from the sky before shifting
his gaze to look at the Brilliant Light.
“There’s a favour I want to ask you, although it might come across as a
bit too big for a gesture of saying thanks.”
[A favour…?]
The Brilliant Light formed a slightly puzzled expression.
The power of the Shadow Sovereign could very well be on the same level,
no, maybe even greater than its own. However, such a being was asking for a
favour?
As if to lessen the confusion within the head of the Brilliant Light, Jin-Woo
answered first before the obvious question could be asked.
“It’s something only you can do.”
The angel with six wings nodded its head.
[If it’s within my power to make it happen, I pledge to aid you to my
fullest.]
The Shadow Sovereign played an important role in killing the Dragon
Emperor and the Rulers now owed him a large debt of gratitude that couldn’t
easily be repaid. There certainly was no excuse not to do fulfil his favour.
However, a rather difficult favour came out from Jin-Woo’s mouth.
“One more time…. Can you use the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ one more time?”
The Brilliant Light felt a shock akin to someone hitting it at the back of its
head. Even the other Rulers standing behind it couldn’t hide their
astonishment.
As their leader, the Brilliant Light simply had to confirm it again.
[Did you ask me for the usage of the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’, and to reverse
time once more?]
“That’s right.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head and explained himself.
“And after reversing the time flow, I’d like you to not send anything to
Earth. I shall kill the Sovereigns, and their armies, in the gap between the
dimensions.”
The Brilliant Light was left flabbergasted by what Jin-Woo wanted to do
after the time reversal and couldn’t immediately say the words stuck in his
mouth.
‘Alone… He wishes to fight this war all by himself?’
Jin-Woo had heard the explanation on the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ from the
former Shadow Sovereign.
Even if the tool of God was used and time was reversed, the higher-beings
such as Rulers and Sovereigns would keep their memories. In that case, since
he had inherited the power of the Shadow Sovereign through becoming one
with Osborne’s ego, his current abilities wouldn’t disappear.
Jin-Woo was planning to take this power, as well as his memories, and
willingly enter the gap between dimensions.
[You wish to fight them all by yourself?!]
The Brilliant Light spoke in a disbelieving voice.
[But, why do you want to do that? We have used the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’
many times before, but never did we achieve a result better than this.]
‘…..’
Jin-Woo looked down at his father’s shortsword and calmly made his reply.
“Far too many lives were lost during this battle. I just wish to bring them
back, that’s all.”
If it meant he could bring them back by reversing time itself, then Jin-Woo
was fully prepared to fight the Sovereigns one more time.
The Brilliant Light closed its eyes to give itself some time to think, and
suddenly realised that it did empathise with Jin-Woo’s answer. Regardless of
what, though, reversing time remained a very dangerous action to take.
[The ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ is nearing its limit. In case you fail in your
objective, it is likely that we won’t be able to reverse the time itself.]
Those words implied that a future far more cruel and horrible might be in
store for this world. Meaning, the current development might be the best end
result for everyone.
[If you wish for it, you could remain in the memories of everyone,
forever, as a hero who has single-handedly stopped the invasion of the
Sovereigns. But, instead….]
An all-too-easy to see sorrow suffused on the expression of the Brilliant
Light.
[The battle you wish to start will be remembered by none except yourself.
If you are defeated, annihilation awaits. And even when you emerge
victorious, no one will celebrate your accomplishments.]
The six-winged angel confirmed Jin-Woo decision for the last time.
[Even then, do you still wish to turn back the time?]
Before he answered, Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes and thought of the
important people in his life. The eyes of the Shadow Soldiers inserted into
their shadows allowed him to see them in real time.
His mom and young sister were holding each other’s hands with worried
faces, anxiously watching the news coming from Japan on their TV.
Cha Hae-In had her eyes deeply closed as if she was ardently praying to
someone. Meanwhile, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol was also
watching the news broadcast with tearful eyes.
Jin-Woo felt their heartfelt emotions and a certain corner of his chest
warmed up gradually. And when he opened his eyes, his mind was already
made up.
“I’m going back.”
….To those people who still remained, and even to those who were no
longer here.
The faces of Association President Goh Gun-Hui, Adam White, and his
father all brushed past his mind. Lots more people besides them were
sacrificed in this war. Jin-Woo swore that no one else would be lost ever
again.
The Brilliant Light clearly saw his unwavering determination.
[…..]
The reason why the Rulers went as far as to use the ‘tool of God that
should never be used’ and save this world was because this planet was
originally unrelated to their ongoing war.
However, a denizen of this world and a hero who saved it came to a
decision. He said that he’d save not just a portion, but the entire world with
his own powers.
And that he’d bear that burden all by himself.
For a moment there, the angel thought the face of the former Shadow
Sovereign had overlapped with that of Jin-Woo’s just now.
It was the face of its stubborn comrade that refused to step aside even
though the soldiers of heavens completely blanketing the skies threatened him
so he could protect its master, the Absolute Being.
He might have been a scary enemy, but at the same time, the angel greatly
respected him.
‘….They resemble each other.’
A thin smile formed on the lips of the Brilliant Light after recalling
Osborne’s face.
[I understand. I shall pray for your success.]
“Hold on.”
Jin-Woo quickly asked a question.
“What will happen to my Shadow Soldiers that didn’t exist in the past?”
For instance, soldiers like Beru.
Osborne’s original soldiers would still remain within his shadow, sure, but
what about others like Greed who was a human named ‘Hwang Dong-Su’
back ten years ago, or Beru, who didn’t even exist back then?
The Brilliant Light explained according to what it knew.
[Those that ends up being overlapped with the time flow of the past will
be erased, while those that don’t will remain as they are.]
That meant that Beru would continue to exist, while Greed would
disappear. He could now hear the soldiers crying out in sorrow from inside his
shadow.
Jin-Woo bade his goodbyes in his mind to those soldiers about to part ways
with him and raised his head up with a smile.
“I’m ready.”
The Brilliant Light summoned out the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ from subspace
and nodded its head.
[I pray that your courage will save your world one more time.]
*
The blinding light enveloped the entire world.
A small, easy-to-miss article about a middle school student who went
missing after leaving behind a letter with the words ‘I’ve something to do’
appeared on the corner of a certain local newspaper.
And about two years later.
The world became noisy for a brief moment after the middle school student
who went missing suddenly came back home completely fine, as if everything
had been a dream. But everything soon returned to its usual calmness, as it
should.
And then, time marched on, quietly.
No incidents of Gates, monsters, or Hunters stepping forward to hunt those
monsters ever happened again.
***
Yu Jin-Ho found himself in the middle of a freshman welcoming party but
his expression remained quite stiff.
The enticing odour of pork belly strips sizzling on the grill coming from
here and there tickled his nose, but thanks to how tense he felt, he just
couldn’t work up his appetite at all.
But, how could this be?
Although he was hiding his family background, for the time being, he still
lived a life fitting for the last born son of a wealthy ‘Chaebol’. For some
reason, though, this diner specialising in the frozen pork belly didn’t feel
unfamiliar to him.
‘But, how come?’
Yu Jin-Ho tilted his head this way and that, leading one of his university
seniors to lightly tap him on the shoulder.
“Hey, Jin-Ho? C’mon, man. Loosen up, dude. Someone might think
you’re being led into a slaughterhouse or something.”
Yu Jin-Ho got flustered and his voice naturally rose higher.
“N-no, that’s not it, Senior!”
“What I’m saying here is, stop doing that for the time being, alright?”
The senior guffawed mischievously but then, sneakily withdrew his
laughter.
“Ahh, right. I think, you know, it’ll be prudent to behave yourself in front
of ‘that’ senior, just in case. We have this really scary senior in our faculty,
you see.”
“Heok.”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression stiffened a lot worse now.
“You know, that kind of a guy? He doesn’t just punish or discipline the
juniors for no reason, but just by standing next to him, his incredible
charisma is so…..”
If one were to talk about such a person, Yu Jin-Ho also knew someone like
that pretty close by, too.
He briefly recalled his father’s face, often referred to as the CEO of Iron
Blood, before roughly shaking his head in order to get rid of the distracting
thoughts.
Perhaps he was getting properly drunk now, the senior began talking
enthusiastically about this mysterious and scary ‘senior’ all of a sudden.
“Hey, you know that athlete named Cha Hae-In?”
“Uhm…. Are you talking about Cha Hae-In who became really famous
not too long ago as the idol of the athletics world?”
“Right, right. Her. That Cha Hae-In is the GF of our scary senior, you
see? Aigoo, here he comes.”
The senior jumped up from his seat after seeing a certain man enter the
diner and hurriedly bowed his waist.
“Senior-nim, thank you for coming!”
“Senior-nim!!”
“Senior-nim!”
After seeing the polite, disciplined greetings of his seniors, Yu Jin-Ho
realised that the drunk senior hadn’t been exaggerating a thing until now.
With the entrance of one single man, the atmosphere of the noisy, boisterous
freshman welcoming party changed instantly.
The useless nervousness he felt right now was good for nothing other than
to make his dry saliva slide down his throat quite painfully.
Gulp.
The thing was, though – an unlucky man would supposedly break his nose
even when falling on his butt. Yu Jin-Ho couldn’t even raise his head from all
the fear he felt, but for some reason, that scary senior in question settled down
on the spot right next to him.
‘Ah….. Dear senior-nim, why did you have to choose the spot next to
mine when there are so many available elsewhere?!’
Yu Jin-Ho spat out a sigh deep inside his heart, his head still lowered in
dejection, but then, that scary senior suddenly presented him with a glass
filled with a clear liquid.
“Take a cup from me.”
To think, a glass of booze given to a freshman was not one of those tiny
little soju cups but an actual glass cup??
Yu Jin-Ho thought that this action was as expected of a hardcore senior and
cautiously took the offered cup, hoping to not make any mistakes here.
‘I’m actually not that good with alcohol, though….’
He squeezed his eyes shut real tightly and forced the liquid down his throat.
But then, his eyes shot open wide in surprise and he ended up asking a
question at this unexpected development.
“S-senior? Isn’t this soda?”
“It is.”
That supposedly-scary senior was making an expression that was definitely
not scary at all as he shook around a soda bottle.
“Why don’t you and I drink this, instead?”
For an unknown reason, the senior was forming the face of a person
running into someone he really wanted to see after a long, long time of
separation.
“Oh, and Jin-Ho? I’m gonna feel really bad about myself if you keep
calling me senior this and senior that, okay?”
The senior filled the empty glass up with soda and spoke in a friendly tone
of voice.
“From now on, call me ‘hyung’.”
“Eh?”
“What, you don’t want to?”
The once-affectionate eyes of the scary senior suddenly changed to
something far more serious. Yu Jin-Ho instinctively straightened his back and
energetically shouted out his reply.
“N-no, I shall, hyung-nim!!”
‘…Huh?’
After involuntarily spitting out the words ‘hyung-nim’, Yu Jin-Ho suddenly
grew puzzled by how they felt so familiar to his tongue.
‘Besides… Hang on, have I ever told the senior what my name is
before?’
He continued to tilt his head this way and that, and in the meantime, the
senior lightly clinked their glasses.
“Cheers.”
For some reason, Yu Jin-Ho realised that grin on the senior’s face was not
unfamiliar at all; the corners of his eyes grew reddened with moisture as he
energetically clinked his own cup with the senior’s once more.
“Yes, cheers!!”
***
Yu Jin-Ho’s somewhat dissatisfied voice came out from the phone’s
speaker.
Jin-Woo replied with a grin.
“I’ve got a small errand to run today, you see. Ah, that’s right. Hey, Jin-
Ho?”
“There’s this really important matter I gotta take care of first, so can you
sub for me during the afternoon class? Thanks.”
Jin-Woo distanced his ear away from the voice desperately calling out to
him and ended the call.
Click.
Jin-Woo raised his head and caught the name of the hospital written in
large font right before his face.
‘Seoul Il-Sin General Hospital.’
There was someone he had to meet staying in this place.
He stopped walking for a bit to fix his attire. Then, just as he took a step
towards the hospital, a rather familiar face brushed past him.
He didn’t mean to get noticed, but perhaps because his gaze had lingered
on for a moment too long on her, she stopped and turned around to face him.
“…?”
It was Ju-Hui.
The rank B Healer who got scared often but still entered the Association
and did her best so that the power given to her wouldn’t be wasted.
She used to be like that, but now, she was staring at Jin-Woo with the
appearance of a regular university student. He ended up forming a gentle
smile after realising just how well not being a Hunter suited her.
Ju-Hui intensely studied Jin-Woo for a long time before she opened her
mouth in a hesitant manner.
“Uhm, excuse me…? Have we met somewhere before?”
The words of happy greeting rushed up all the way to the tip of his tongue.
However, he chose to shake his head, instead.
“No, I don’t think so.”
And then, turned around to leave without looking back.
For a little while there, Ju-Hui tilted her head this way and that as she
looked at Jin-Woo’s departing back before she too continued on her path. He
heard her distancing footsteps and formed a satisfied expression.
He had protected her.
He had protected the peaceful everyday lives.
Whenever he ran into the evidence of peace created from his sacrifice, it
felt as if he had reaped the benefits of all his hard work.
That was why….
‘That’s enough for me.’
….That was enough for him.
Jin-Woo stood before the entrance of the hospital and took a look at his left
palm with untreatable burned skin. He then slowly stepped inside the
building.
If someone asked him about this wound, he’d always reply like this:
That he got this injury while saving the world.
***
When the doctor in charge walked into a hospital room, a certain patient
lying on the bed gestured at him to come closer.
“Can you… help me sit up, please?”
The doctor hurriedly ran up to the bed and cautiously helped the upper
torso of the patient lying on his back to sit up.
“Thank you.”
It was then, the doctor spotted a wooden bottle he had never seen before on
top of a table next to the patient’s bed.
“What is this, Chairman?”
The gaunt patient, as thin as a desiccated tree, painfully coughed and
wheezed before making his reply.
“A young man gave it to me just now.”
The doctor formed a flustered expression.
This was a VIP patient’s room in the hospital, which meant that there were
two guards constantly manning the front entrance. No one could enter without
express permission from the doctor himself.
But just who managed to sneak in here to leave behind that bottle?
“It is a truly strange thing, indeed…. However, what that young man told
me was even more incredible.”
That young man told the tale of a time now long overwritten, when the
patient used to battle ‘monsters’ alongside him. The young man continued on
and said that he came to visit him with this gift as a thank you for everything
that happened back then.
“And then, he just simply vanished. As if he was a mirage, as if he was
never here, to begin with.”
If it weren’t for the physical evidence, even the doctor in charge wouldn’t
have believed it. But there it was, the gift supposedly left behind by that
young man.
While the doctor stood there wondering how should he respond in a
situation like this, the patient’s trembling finger was now pointing at the
wooden bottle.
“Give it… to me.”
The doctor picked the bottle up and placed it in the patient’s hand. The old
man sitting up in the bed studied the bottle and chuckled.
“He said that, as long as I drink what’s inside this thing, my disease will
be completely cured as if being washed away. Huh-huh.”
“C-Chairman. You can’t possibly be believing in the words of a…..”
“I’m tired.”
The Chairman cut the doctor off.
“Let me ask you this one thing. Even if I don’t drink this, how long do I
have left anyway?”
“….”
The doctor couldn’t make his reply.
Even now, the absolute best that modern medicine had to offer only barely
managed to keep the patient breathing, that was all.
At this point, one could even claim it a miracle that he was still alive.
The ‘Chairman’ lightly tutted as the doctor was unable to say anything.
“If I drink this and things go wrong…. I want you to write this down on
my gravestone. Chairman Goh Gun-Hui, buried in this place, having never
given up, and fought against his illness right until the end.”
“Mister Chairman….”
As a doctor, he knew it was his duty to stop this, but he couldn’t bring
himself to do so when Chairman Goh Gun-Hui formed a determined
expression on his face while opening the lid of the bottle.
He then began drinking the liquid inside with some difficulty.
Gulp, gulp.
After making sure that every drop had entered his throat, Goh Gun-Hui
began recalling the face of that young man who left this bottle behind. He
recalled those eyes, specifically.
Goh Gun-Hui felt that it was definitely worth it to trust a man with such a
powerful pair of eyes.
And then…
Once he finished drinking every drop of this medicine…
Ba-dump.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.
His dying heart began pounding healthily once more.
His heart… was beating again.
[Only I Level Up – Fin.]
Author’s afterword
Hello, everyone. It’s Chugong speaking.
Actually, after I wrote ‘hello everyone’, I’ve been stuck deliberating on
what to write next for almost ten minutes now. But, it’s as expected.
If the afterword at the novel’s completion is a letter from the author, then as
I thought, there can only be one thing I should say.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I’d like to thank you from the depths of my heart for following these
lacking words of an untalented wordsmith, for liking and following them, and
for waiting patiently as much as you liked them.
We’re at the end now.
A few of you have expressed your worries that the end has come too
abruptly, but honestly speaking, this conclusion had been planned from the
very beginning.
Things like Jin-Woo reversing time, Ju-Hui that made her appearance at the
beginning of the novel appearing again at the end, or even him healing Goh
Gun-Hui’s illness, all of these.
Although, I did add the reunion with Yu Jin-Ho a bit later on after writing
the diner scene between Jin-Woo and him, thinking that it’d be fun.
And so, at the end of the almost-250-episode-long march, [Only I Level
Up] has come to an end in this fashion.
When I asked other authors on what they felt after ending their novels, they
all said that it was a mixture of relief and sorrow, but why do I not feel any
relief, just sadness?
Even as I write this afterword, tears threaten to break out my eyes.
I can’t even act my age, it seems.
I might be feeling sad for some reason, but truth be told, I’m thinking of
taking about a week off before coming to visit you again with a series of side
stories.
I pray that you will all remain unscathed until then!
And since I’m writing this afterword, I might as well burn some page real
estate and take this opportunity to express my gratitude towards those who
helped me to make [Only I Level Up] a success: my greatest partner, Goh
Dong-Nahm Deputy Manager-nim, Lee Seok-Won Associate Editor-nim, who
helped me in various ways, as well as Author Leltree, the rising star of our
Unique Team.
In all honesty, I thought it’d be awkward to thank just two people so I
added Author Lel as well, but after I did that, I was reminded of me whining
to him over the phone whenever I got stuck in the writer’s block and now I
feel really apologetic about almost forgetting him.
I’m really sorry, Leltree!
And so, I’d like to announce once more the end of [Only I Level Up]
created out of 10% whining, 39% hard work, and 50% love from all of you,
dear readers.
One more time, I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Although it was quite tough during the writing of this novel, I still found
the journey very enjoyable because of you, my readers, who chose to
accompany me on this ride.
I shall prepare even more thoroughly and come back to you better than ever
before next time.
Everyone, stay healthy, and farewell!
Chapter 244 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 1
When you’re taking a stroll on a street, ask this question to any student you
run into. Ask them what kind of job they would like to have in the future.
A hundred times out of a hundred, you’d get one of these three answers.
One, a famous Hunter; two, a staff member of a major Guild; and three, an
employee of the Hunter’s Association.
If a kid you talked to was a bit slow in the head, he or she would end up
wasting each day wishing to become a famous Hunter.
A kid smarter than the above example would want to get a job in a major
Guild that paid you according to one’s abilities.
The smartest cookies of the lot would choose to become an employee of the
Hunter’s Association, where one would still get paid as much as the large
Guilds while being treated as a quasi-government official which lessened the
danger of getting unceremoniously fired from the job.
Me? I was a smart cookie.
A very smart one, to boot.
And perhaps that was why when I announced my intentions to join the
Hunter’s Association, both Mom and Dad were saddened somewhat, which
was a bit different than how other parents would have reacted.
Dad wanted me to become a prosecutor, and Mom preferred to see me
become a doctor. Of course, as the only son in the family, it wasn’t as if I
didn’t know my parents’ wishes of seeing me follow after their career choices.
However, I too had my own dream. And that dream played a big part in me
choosing to become an employee of the Hunter’s Association.
Those words were thrown my way by none other than the Chairman of the
Association, Goh Gun-Hui, as I sat in the interview room with a stiff-as-rock
face.
I was busy scolding myself for messing up almost all of the questions asked
by the interviewers because of how nervous I had been. But, when I heard
that question piercing into my brain and waking me up in an instant….
The light shining in my eyes changed.
At least, I remembered replying to that question with a determined look
flashing up on my face.
My voice rose up while saying that I wanted to become a member of the
Association and stand on the side of those people that protected Hunters.
Was I mistaken back then when the still-nervous me heard the soft gasps of
“Wow” coming from my side and to my front?
But, one thing’s for sure – I distinctly remembered seeing a nearly-
imperceptible smile on the face of Association Chairman Goh Gun-Hui as the
corners of his lips arched up slightly.
That was how I became an employee of the Hunter’s Association, a job that
others would certainly die for. Putting my parents’ slightly lonely farewells
behind me, I set off from the hometown that I grew to love and came to
Seoul, where the HQ of South Korea’s Association was located.
I felt totally over-the-moon because I’d successfully taken my first step in
fulfilling my dream of becoming a member of the Association that protected
Hunters.
I even had this vague expectation clouding my mind, wondering if
everything was going the way I wanted them to.
Unfortunately for me, though, my beautiful image regarding the
Association was shattered into a million little pieces on the first day of work.
My thoughts of something still remaining that only I could do for the sake of
Hunters was completely wrong.
It had already been over nine years since the Awakened, Gates, and
monsters began appearing in this world.
The society had already entered a period of stability after experiencing
many failures as well as countless trials and errors. And as a newbie member
of the Association who had taken his first baby-steps in said society, there
was not a snowball’s chance in hell that I could have my say in it.
Since my initial goal was to help Hunters out, I was assigned to the
‘Support’ department accordingly, but what waited for me there were all sorts
of unrewarding miscellaneous tasks.
And that was me being kind here. In reality, it was no different than taking
care of the mess left behind by the Hunters affiliated with the Association.
Indeed, it was always something like this.
Even if it was low-ranked Gates worth not much money, someone still had
to deal with it. But, the number of Hunters were limited, so their needs and
wants had to be met no matter what.
In an unlucky chance that someone lodged a claim against Hunters, a pretty
awful day would wait for me, but if the Hunter with a claim against him
suddenly decided to leave the Association, then….
As I ran around all over the place trying to put out all these fires, I grew
disillusioned at the reality that was just too different from my imagination,
and as I become more and more fatigued, I also became used to my situation,
as well.
And so… on a certain day.
As I was listlessly spending time, a phone call came at my way.
Ringggg…. Ringggg….
I spat out a long, long sigh while looking at the phone ringing off the hook,
and wondered just which dear Hunter-nim was calling me this diligently to
lay out his or her complaints. I reached out and picked up the receiver.
As soon as the plastic touched my ear, a seriously agitated voice exploded
forth from the speaker.
I had no idea what this guy was talking about, but first things first – which
was to apologise.
“I’m terribly sorry, Hunter-nim. There must’ve been an error during the
formation of the raid team. Can you please tell me what happened in
detail?”
The call was one-sidedly cut off there.
I put the receiver down while repeatedly recalling the spelling of the word
‘patience’ in my head, and then, began collecting data on the Hunter the
person on the phone spoke about before any sort of claims could be lodged.
Just like how varied the reasons were for demanding one’s raid party
member to be changed – such as disagreement over the leader’s decision, they
didn’t like each other, or didn’t fight as well as one hoped, etc – such requests
were made quite often so I never really paid much attention to the specifics
until now.
But then…
‘Mister Seong…. Mister Seong…. His name is Jin-Woo, right?’
I saw the record of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo and soon realised that something
had gone really wrong here.
‘Huh….??’
His rank was only ‘E’. As for the amount of magical energy he possessed,
it was right at the bottom of the rank E, too.
‘Hey, his magic energy emission is no different from a regular person’s,
isn’t it??’
As expected, his record was full of all the instances where he ended up
getting injured.
“Oh, my god.”
I closed his file in stunned amazement, my heart wildly pounding away.
This… This was definitely wrong.
If I pretended that I didn’t see his story and move on here, he’d really die
not too long from now.
It was at this point when I recalled the declaration I made back in the
interview room.
Hunters risked their lives for the regular citizens, but who risked their lives
for the sake of these Hunters?
My head nodded all by itself.
For the first time ever since I started working for the Hunter’s Association
during this past year or so, I finally found what I needed to do.
***
The first thing I did was to seek out a senior officer.
Unfortunately, neither my immediate superior officer, or the officer above
him, or even the person above that guy, wanted to get involved in a matter
that could potentially prove to be too much trouble for what it’s worth.
Eventually, I had to seek out the Chief of the ‘Support’ Department.
“Sir, this is a matter concerning a person’s life. It’s not going to get
solved by itself when we continue avoiding reality like this.”
Chief was forming an expression of a deeply concerned man after seeing
the junior agent suddenly transform from a well-behaved kid who worked
hard without complaints to the current me.
However, I didn’t stop voicing the things that needed to be said out loud.
“What if that Hunter dies during a raid, sir? What will we say to his
surviving family members then?”
“Uh-huh, you shouldn’t say anything so unlucky….”
“That’s how much Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s life is in danger, sir. Please,
take a look. This is his hospital admittance record. It’s already a miracle
that he managed to survive until now.”
“….”
For a while there, Chief wordlessly scanned the data I brought along before
raising his head.
“So, what you’re saying is that we need to do something as the
Association and stop Mister Seong Jin-Woo acting as a Hunter, is that it?”
“Yes sir, that’s correct.”
Because he’d definitely die in the end if he continued to act as a Hunter.
“Fella, I hope you’re aware of this Hunter’s backstory while telling me
all this.”
I nodded my head.
His mother was currently admitted to the intensive care unit. I knew that
she’d not survive for another day without the aid of the life-support machines.
And I also knew that he worked for the Association in order to receive
financial support for the hospital fees.
“But, sir. Patients struck with the Eternal Sleep Disorder will never wake
up. Surely, we can’t let a living person march to his grave for the sake of a
dead person, don’t you agree?”
Even now, countless people were dying because of the illness, the Eternal
Sleep Disorder.
It was indeed a regretful thing, but we just couldn’t continue to drive him
into death traps over and over again for his mother’s life. We needed to save
him, at the least.
Even though Chief did his best to dissuade me and change my mind, I
didn’t back down from my decision.
In the end, Chief had to nod his head.
“Alright, fine.”
My expression brightened quickly, only for the Chief to add a stipulation
first.
“Except that you will personally be responsible for changing Hunter
Seong Jin-Woo’s mind. If he willingly decides to stop, then we shall do so.”
I had already made up my mind about that. Indeed, I’ve never even
entertained the idea of forcibly kicking him away without his consent, to
begin with.
Even though I was facing perhaps the most difficult hurdle…
“I understand.”
….I still nodded head at the Chief, my expression full of determination.
***
Seriously now, have I ever been so committed to something to this degree
in my life before? I was preparing so much data that I ended up asking myself
that question.
This wasn’t to make a grand announcement in front of higher-ups nor to
pass a difficult examination. No, it was just to persuade one single Hunter
named Seong Jin-Woo.
‘He’s twenty-three years old… he’s younger than me by six years.’
Thanks to my meticulous preparation, I felt reasonably confident of my
chances today. Well, I had in possession plenty of evidence and records of
him driving himself towards the jaws of death, more than enough to chide
him for his reckless actions.
I was planning to go through each and every one of these records to argue
my case why he should stop being a Hunter. I was even prepared to lecture
him that one needed to value one’s life as much as one valued the life of his
mother.
Clink.
The door of this cafe opened and a face that I only saw through the file
photos stepped into the establishment. When I saw him in person, though, I
froze up solid on the spot.
He scanned the cafe’s interior before spotting me. He cautiously settled
down on the seat opposite mine.
“H-hello, there.”
He greeted me first. I couldn’t say a single thing I’ve been preparing in my
head, though.
***
“It’s not as if we haven’t tried to do the same thing.”
Chief pushed forward a shot glass filled with soju and I swallowed it one
go, my expression scrounging up afterwards.
Whether it was because of the bitter taste of the booze, or maybe my heart
felt heavy, I didn’t know why my expression refused to loosen up.
“Even then…. Sir, still, this isn’t right, you know? That was just wrong,
sir. He’s a young kid, only 23 years old, so his eyes shouldn’t look like that.”
I honestly thought that, at the very least, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo would
show up to the meeting place with an expression filled with unfounded
confidence, believing that he’d always survive no matter what, or with a look
of a scared person searching for someone, anyone, to help stop him.
And I felt confident of persuading him regardless of where his mental state
was in.
However, Seong Jin-Woo was different. He seemed to have completely
acknowledged the predicament he was stuck in.
There was this thin smile on his face implying that, although he was
shivering away in fear, he somehow barely managed to overcome it.
So, how could I push someone’s back towards a corner, to the precipice of
a cliff, when that person had barely managed to overcome his fear?
I just couldn’t do that.
And also, I came to realise that I shouldn’t bad-mouth my superior officers
just because they failed to do something that I, too, had failed to do.
Chief didn’t say anything while filling up the shot glass, but then he quietly
asked me a question.
“Fella. Why did you join the Hunter’s Association?”
“I….”
That moment when I began thinking about helping Hunters out for the first
time – my head dropped a little and recalled the events of that fateful day.
“When I was young, I saw a certain news broadcast, sir. It was about a
Hunter who ended up being trapped inside a Gate while trying to save his
comrades from getting stuck like him.”
I recalled seeing the grounds of a theme park, a place where people were
supposed to smile and have a good time, now filled with Hunters soaked in
blood from head to toe as they lay there helplessly while moaning in pain.
Back then, I became really curious.
My parents couldn’t answer my question, and that was when I made up
mind. If no one could help them, then I shall be the one to do so.
I shall do everything in my power to make sure that Hunters don’t get
injured or die.
“But now, even I became the same as the rest, sir.”
I failed to become that source of support, strength, to Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo who was facing a deadly crisis in his life.
There was nothing I could do for him.
I scolded my uselessness with such thoughts. Meanwhile, Chief studied me
for a moment or two before putting down his shot glass.
“What if you still have something you can do?”
“Pardon me?”
I raised my head up.
Chief reached into his bag and pulled out a file containing information on a
high-ranking Awakened. He then placed it before me.
“You see, there are people who Awakened as a high rank but due to not
being interested in monetary gains, they chose not to become Hunters.”
“….??”
“How about helping the Hunters affiliated with the Association by
persuading these folks to join us?”
My mind snapped awake from that and I looked down at the file.
“Rank B Healer Hunter Yi Ju-Hui….”
An upper-rank Healer!
If someone like her joined the Association, then surely, she’d be able to
save people from dying or suffering from heavy injuries. Even a weak Hunter
should be able to fight to his heart’s content without being worried about his
safety.
For a moment there, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo’s face I saw earlier brushed
past my mind. My eyes were sparkling brightly, causing the Chief to gently
chuckle and speak up.
“So, how about it? Are you interested?”
I stopped staring at the file and nodded my head energetically.
“Yes, sir. I am!!”
Chapter 245 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 2
Ash continued to fall from the sky like snowflakes.
Jin-Woo bade farewell to his Shadow Soldiers as their time to part drew
near, and without a shred of hesitation, turned around to face the leader of the
Rulers.
“I’m ready.”
The ‘Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light’ summoned out a stunningly
beautiful chalice, its expression slightly sorrowful. Jin-Woo’s eyes shone with
interest when he saw that artefact.
‘So, that’s the Tool of God that can turn back time, the Chalice of
Rebirth….’
Gulp.
Dry saliva slid down his throat all by itself right after he realised that the
moment when everything was over and would begin anew had arrived. Jin-
Woo’s face was filled with tension. Seeing him like this, the Fragment of
Brilliant Light asked him one more time.
[Truly… will you not regret this decision?]
It had spent aeons fighting against Sovereigns and knew better than anyone
how heavy the burden a war of this magnitude imposed on one’s soul was.
Meaning, it understood full well the weight of that burden this Shadow
Sovereign was about to bear all by himself.
The second Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo, nodded his head.
He won the first battle. The second battle should be that much easier. He
had to ensure that would be the case.
He formed an expression half-filled with grim determination and
confidence. The Brilliant Light also nodded its head.
This man’s drive to save all those lost in this war – how could this angel
not know his determination when it too raised a flag of rebellion against its
master, the Absolute Being, all for the sake of countless subordinates that died
during the course of this everlasting war?
[I pray that your courage will save your world one more time.]
The Fragment of Brilliant Light made a heartfelt prayer and flipped the
Chalice of Rebirth around. When it did, light filling up the Chalice poured
down onto the ground, gently and gradually soaking it.
The most blinding veil of light slowly began enveloping the whole world.
Everyone – injured soldiers waiting in the battlefields, their families
learning of their fate through TV, those praying for the safety of their loved
ones, those with pale complexions after hearing ominous news broadcasts,
those dropping their heads lower in despair….
In their houses, inside their cars, inside hospitals, inside schools, inside
their workplaces….
Everyone saw the blinding light gently permeating through their windows.
Eventually, the whole planet became awash with pure light.
And then, the light silently blanketing the whole world, quietly dissipated
and disappeared without a trace, just like when it first appeared.
***
Morning.
Past the closed eyelids, the rays of morning sun signalling the start of yet
another day could be felt. Jin-Woo kept his eyes closed for the time being and
while lying on his back, stroked the familiar material of the bed sheet.
Although he wasn’t fully awake yet, his perception that had far surpassed
the boundaries of a human being could pick up on the unfolding situation of
his immediate vicinity with ease.
‘Jin-Ah is coming out of the bathroom after washing up, the smell of the
boiling stew, sounds coming from the cutting board, and then, the air in my
room with this familiar smell….’
This was his home.
He had returned back home.
Jin-Woo’s heartbeat began quickening bit by bit from the realisation. He
then heard his mom’s voice through the closed door.
“Jin-Ah? Can you go and wake your brother up?”
That’s right.
His little sister Jin-Ah really liked sleeping, as befitting a growing girl of
her age, but oddly enough, she always woke up early in the morning. And
almost always, Mom would ask her to go and wake her oppa up every day
like this.
“Okay!”
After realising that the memories of the childhood he dreamed of reliving
were now playing out so vividly in front of his eyes, a wide grin quickly
floated up on Jin-Woo’s face.
Clunk.
“Oppaaaa…”
Before his sister could fully open the door, he slowly pushed himself up
from the bed.
“Uhh? When did you wake up?”
She stared at his already-awake figure with wide-open eyes, and Jin-Woo
formed a deep smile as his reply. In front of his eyes stood Jin-Ah, who hadn’t
lost her friends to the monsters yet.
Jin-Woo stood up from the bed and walked past his sister to enter the living
room.
“Son? You’re up?”
Mom stopped preparing breakfast and looked behind her after hearing his
footsteps. From today onwards, he’d never get to see the sight of her trying
her hardest to escape from the clutches of the Eternal Sleep that no one could
wake up from.
But, the most welcoming scene that he really wanted to see again was…
Jin-Woo heard the sounds of a newspaper page turning and quickly shifted
his gaze towards the dining table. His father, waiting for breakfast to arrive by
quietly reading the newspaper, felt his gaze and raised his head.
The moment their gazes met, Jin-Woo felt this rush of breathless emotion.
“Father….”
He muttered the word ‘father’ out unbeknownst even to himself.
Seong Il-Hwan formed a puzzled expression after hearing his son use a
rather grown-up word when the boy always used the term ‘Dad’ up until now.
Did his boy wake up after experiencing a scary dream?
The young Jin-Woo now looked to be struggling to suppress his tears, so
the alarmed Seong Il-Hwan quickly got up from his chair and approached his
son.
“Son? What’s the matter?”
The voice of his dad, now coming from right in front of Jin-Woo’s nose. He
could still vividly remember that feeling of his father scattering away like
dust from his grasp, so this moment came across like a dream come true.
However, this was not a dream. No, it’s THE reality that he needed to
protect, no matter what. Tears of happiness briefly welled up in his eyes, but
soon enough, they were replaced by the gritty determination, instead.
Both his mom and dad were studying him with worried expressions on
their faces. Jin-Woo forcibly changed his own expression and formed a grin.
“….I must’ve had a nightmare.”
Indeed.
His nightmare was over.
The nightmare was over, and his young sister, his healthy mother, and his
father, who hadn’t vanished, were all here.
He was given one last chance to make everything right. And he swore
never to let this chance slip through his fingers. He’d rewrite the future with
his own two hands.
His eyes gleamed brightly as his resolve firmed up even further.
***
It felt like only a couple of days ago when he told himself that, but…
….A week flew by already.
Jin-Woo failed to grasp the right timing to enter the gap between
dimensions until now. He rested his chin on his hand and dazedly stared
outside his classroom’s window. Beru began talking to him from his shadow.
[Oh, my king….]
‘Yeah, I know.’
Indeed, he knew.
He knew that the Sovereigns desiring after this land were getting ready to
deploy a gigantic Gate just beyond the blue sky above his head.
However, these last few days had been like a holiday for him, someone
who had ended a big fight not too long ago. For a little while longer….
Wouldn’t it be fine for him to fully enjoy these peaceful times for a little bit
longer? Especially as a reward for his hard work so far.
‘…..’
As he spent his time worrying about this and that, the much-welcomed
sound rang around the classroom.
Ding-dong…. Ding-dong….
The bells signalling the end of school noisily resounded out from the
speakers.
Kids all looked to be slowly wasting away until then, but renewed vitality
suddenly seeped into their expressions. Going with the flow, Jin-Woo formed
a bright expression as well.
Even if the inside was a young man aged twenty-four, no, twenty-five, his
outer appearance was that of a child only fourteen years old or so.
The after-class goodbyes with the homeroom teacher came to a quick end
in a heightened, noisy, and boisterous atmosphere. Soon, though, schoolboys
sporting buzz cut hairstyles quickly crowded around Jin-Woo.
“Hey, Jin-Woo!”
“You’re stopping by at the internet cafe today, right?”
Jin-Woo checked out the excited faces of the kids and grinned softly before
nodding his head.
“Oww yeah!”
“Hey, hey! Jin-Woo’s playing for our team today!”
“What? What’re you on about?! He played for your team yesterday
already.”
“But, we also took in Jong-Shik too, you know. And he’s the worst player
here.”
“Ah, ah, fine. We’ll take Jong-Shik and Min-Pyo too, so Jin-Woo is on
our team.”
“Let’s decide with rock-paper-scissors!”
“Deal!”
Around this time period in the classrooms of the nation’s middle schools
saw the boom in the RTS video game genre. Jin-Woo’s stunning reflexes and
perception were more than enough to show these kids a whole new world out
there.
For the middle school boys, top skills in a video game meant that you were
the most popular kid in school. Just about every kid out there competed hard
to be in the same team as Jin-Woo.
The matches of rock-paper-scissors were supposed to be decided on the
best out of three but soon morphed into best out of five.
Meanwhile, middle school girls, clearly not interested in the matters of
video games, stared at the boys intensely competing in the warfare to steal
Jin-Woo away with eyes reserved for looking at helpless idiots and left the
classroom.
Also, right by the rear door of the classroom, there was this kid who kept
stealing glances in the direction of the crowd while he belatedly packed his
school bag.
He liked playing the video game like everyone else, but was no good in
making friends. Such kids could only look on with envy at the rest of their
classmates going around in groups like that.
Smirk.
Jin-Woo quietly smirked to himself.
He began noticing things that he wasn’t conscious of before as a kid one by
one. Was it because he was an adult now? Or, because of his perception that
had exceeded the norms of humanity?
Even in this cramped space of the classroom, so, so many emotions swirled
around and collided against one another to form a small world of its own.
In the meantime…
“Wow-!”
Kids who finally found themselves in Jin-Woo’s team exclaimed out loudly
without a shred of embarrassment.
Jin-Woo inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘This is why girls are looking at you like that….’
The victors of the rock-paper-scissors battlefield left behind the dejected
kids and hurriedly crowded around Jin-Woo once more.
“Alright, let’s go, Jin-Woo!”
Before he did that, though, he pointed to the back of the classroom.
“Hey, I want to form a team with him.”
“Uh?”
In the direction the boys turned their heads to, there was only that lone kid
packing up his bag in silence. He flinched from surprise after realising that
everyone was looking at him, his eyes growing larger in panic.
“Uh….? Me?”
Jin-Woo replied back.
“Yup, you.”
At that moment, he found countless traces of agonising dilemma flit in and
out of the boy’s expression. He just smirked again and asked.
“What’s the matter? You don’t wanna?”
“N-no…..”
The boy was now forming a shy but happy smile. Seeing that he was
successful in his mission, Jin-Woo picked up his bag and spoke up.
“Okay, let’s go.”
The boy quickly picked up his bag and nodded his head.
“Y-yeah!”
Jin-Woo grinned brightly again.
For a little bit longer.
This feeling – just for a little bit longer.
‘If these moments that I’m living my life aren’t harming anyone, let me
enjoy them at least for another day.
Let me stay for a bit longer….’
Jin-Woo’s steps taking him outside the classroom alongside his friends
were cheery and light, but at the same time, also incomparably heavy as well.
The sun leaning against the mountain behind the school was already dyeing
the sky amber. Jin-Woo came to a stop for a moment there and looked up at
the heavens above, prompting his friends to call out to him.
“Hey, Jin-Woo? What are you doing?”
“Our spots in the internet cafe will get taken over at this rate!”
‘These guys, trying to hurry me and all….’
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”
Jin-Woo caught up to the rest of his friends walking a step ahead. They
were noisily chatting about their famous victories soon to be written in history
with voices full of anticipation.
Jin-Woo didn’t really need to enter the conversations to sense their
excitement and hear their throbbing heartbeats.
And so….
Under the skies dyeing in the colours of vivid copper, Jin-Woo walked on
these streets with friends he met again after what felt like an eternity.
He walked with a wide smile still etched on his face.
Chapter 246 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 3
After entering the gap between dimensions, Jin-Woo developed a habit he
never had before. And that would be jotting down things he saw and
experienced on that day on a notebook.
He wasn’t doing it with some lofty purpose of leaving behind the records of
his bitter life-or-death struggle against the Sovereigns.
The gap between dimension was a perfectly ‘empty’ space, pretty similar to
the land of eternal rest. Without battles against his enemies, this world of
nothingness where only the eternal darkness existed would have been
incredibly dreary and lonesome - he’d have difficult time trying to keep his
sanity as a result.
However, his reason wasn’t as simple as there being nothing to do in here.
Jin-Woo now possessed the experience of living the same timeline twice
and because of that, realised something crucial – the perspective on an event
would shift depending on when you were looking at it.
Meaning, after some time had passed, he might see some things he
previously failed to notice.
And that was why he became rather curious as to how he’d feel after going
through these records again when his memories started to fade away and grew
indistinct in the distant future.
Would he become embarrassed that he left behind written records? Or
would he feel regret, thinking that he could’ve done it better? Or, maybe even
miss this war, although he felt almost completely fed up with it right now?
That was his reason for writing a diary whenever he had a chance.
Jot, jot…
Within this endlessly deep darkness, only the sounds of a pen softly
scratching on the surface of a paper quietly rang out. As he continued to jot
down the records of the day’s events, a smirk suddenly formed on his lips.
‘….Even still, I’m pretty sure I’ll never miss the stuff that happened here
in the future.’
Jin-Woo raised his head and caught the sight of the monster corpses too
numerous to even count strewn about in the darkness.
Yet again, Jin-Woo tasted victory in the battle against the Sovereigns, and
through this particular engagement, killed the ‘Sovereign of Transfiguration’
– the one that gave him the most headache so far.
It had already been 27 years since he entered the gap between dimensions.
Finally, the closing curtains of this long, dangerous, and monotone warfare
was in sight.
The only remaining enemies were the Dragon Emperor and its direct
subordinates, the ‘Army of Destruction’. His heart briefly beat faster from
knowing that he’d go home soon.
‘What a relief that the time flow in here and outside is different.’
Only around two years should have gone by on the outside.
Coming home after two years of absence, was it?
How much would Jin-Ah have changed? What about Dad? Mom? Were
they holding up well? Should he have explained a bit better before coming
here?
All sorts of worries briefly fleeted in and out of his head.
‘No, hang on.’
Jin-Woo shook his head as if to get rid of all distracting thoughts. Now
wasn’t the time to focus his attention on how to decorate the last pages of his
‘diary’.
With excellent timing, Bellion walked closer and bowed his head.
[My liege, the surroundings have been tidied up. There are no living
enemies left.]
Jin-Woo took a look around him.
The Shadow Soldiers had finished sweeping up the battlefield and
massacred all the still-breathing enemies, and now, they stood in near-infinite
columns as far as his eyes could see, silently waiting for his next command.
Guooooh….
He had already given up counting the number of his current soldiers quite a
while ago. With a chuckle, Jin-Woo closed the diary.
“Alright.”
He stored both the notebook and the pen within the subspace and
descended from the top of a hill made out of the monster corpses.
It was now the time – time to meet his greatest enemy. The one he so badly
wanted to meet.
It was time to go and greet the ‘one’ who handed him his first defeat ever
since becoming the Shadow Sovereign. The Rulers intervened and the end
result was flipped on its head, but without a doubt, Jin-Woo did lose to the
Dragon Emperor in that battle.
‘….I won’t lose again.’
A cold gleam dangerously flickered within Jin-Woo’s eyes.
His heart beat only softly when he thought about going home soon, yet now
his eardrums were hurting from its vigorous, thunderous pounding.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!!
What if…
Jin-Woo focused on the sounds of his beating heart, only to begin
wondering if there would come a day in the distant future when he’d really
start missing this war.
He then wordlessly turned in the direction where the aura of the Dragon
Emperor could be felt. And, along with the soldiers that would participate in
the final battle….
“Rise up.”
From next to the countless dead monsters strewn about everywhere, an
equal number of shadows rose up after hearing the command of the Shadow
Sovereign.
Right behind Jin-Woo, his three Marshals, Bellion, Beru, and Igrit, plus
many commanders, stood in an orderly fashion.
And behind them, the enormous army, more than large enough to cover an
entire continent, quietly waited on standby for his next command.
‘…….’
Although this world lacked the flow of air, it still felt like a wind signalling
the end of the war was faintly blowing around.
Jin-Woo quietly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. And when he
opened his eyes, he uttered out the words that ushered in the end of this
lengthy war.
“We march forward to attack the Dragon Emperor.”
The Dragon Emperor also felt it.
It felt that a truly gigantic horde with a scale that couldn’t even be
estimated heading in its direction.
Since when did it start?
When was it that the Shadow Sovereign, initially starting off with the
repeated tactic of hit-and-run to shave away the massive Army of the Chaos
World, began to openly hit his enemies with the full might of his army,
instead?
The position of the army chasing him down had suddenly reversed and
now, they were being chased down by him.
Out of all the armies that had been scattered around on their own, only the
Army of Destruction remained. So, it wasn’t all that difficult to guess where
the attention of the Shadow Sovereign would land next.
The final, deciding battle.
Although the Dragon Emperor never imagined that the seemingly-
everlasting war would end not with a grand battle against the Rulers but as a
conflict between Sovereigns, it still believed that the upcoming battle would
be a perfect finale nevertheless.
Indeed, didn’t its blood boil from just remembering the battle against the
Shadow Sovereign that took place decades ago?
‘….’
The Dragon Emperor quietly stood still and glared in one particular spot. In
the meantime, one of its subordinates cautiously approached it.
[Oh, my Emperor….]
The Dragon Emperor standing there with its arms crossed quickly replied.
[Yugumunt has died.]
After hearing the news of the Sovereign of Transfiguration dying, the
subordinate formed a stunned expression before bowing its head again.
[That is why… perhaps it is advisable to move to somewhere more
distant….]
[No.]
The Dragon Emperor bared its fangs as murderous aura rose up from its
body in a red mist.
[I’m already sick and tired of running away. We shall fight the b*stard
right here.]
That man had spent over twenty years to hunt and whittle down the armies
of the Sovereigns. So, he’d not even give his enemies sufficient time to
regroup and reform their army.
If it was impossible to escape from his siege, then the Dragon Emperor
would fight back head-on and decide everything. Now that would be a choice
befitting of the King of Berserk Dragons.
[Get ready for battle!]
One command from their Sovereign and the Army of Destruction got ready
to fight in an instant.
Kuwaaaah-!!
The Ancient-grade Dragons, Dragonewts, and the Sky Dragons they were
riding on, all raised their heads up high and roared out.
‘He’s coming!’
The Dragon Emperor’s head snapped in the direction where it just detected
the movement of a gigantic power.
There was a clear reason why the Army of the Chaos World was defeated
by the lone Shadow Sovereign.
‘….Outstanding mobility.’
No one could even come remotely close to the mobility of the Shadow
Army that could be summoned freely by their Sovereign whenever he felt like
it.
No matter how close one was, the distance would grow in an instant, and
no matter how far away they were, they could close the distance in the blink
of an eye, too.
And right this moment, the Dragon Emperor was looking at the reason why
the Sovereigns’ armies had been so thoroughly defeated. The Shadow
Sovereign slowly rose up from the darkness. And at the same time, millions
upon millions of black soldiers lined up behind him.
The Shadow Sovereign!!
The fighting spirit emitted from the entirety of the Shadow Army standing
behind him was so great that it even made the Dragon Emperor shudder from
this slight sense of disgust for a moment there.
Two decades of war later, he had finally got himself the greatest army
imaginable.
[Kuhahahaha!!]
The Dragon Emperor roared out with boisterous laughter after coming
face-to-face with this incredible army.
[Amazing. Truly amazing, oh, King of Shadows.]
Fight the smaller number with overwhelming numbers – the situation back
then when he first faced off against his enemies had now completely turned
on its head.
[I never imagined that you alone would be capable of completely shaking
up the entire army. Who would have thought that we’d arrive here?]
The Shadow Sovereign, currently outfitted in jet-black armour, wordlessly
stared at the king of all Dragons.
The previous immaturity of the Shadow Sovereign had been replaced by
this still weightiness and he emitted a much stronger aura than ever before.
Flinch, flinch….
The Dragon Emperor’s body shuddered from excitement, as a truly
powerful enemy stood before it.
It so desperately wanted to rip him into pieces.
It so badly wanted to rip him into several pieces and devour him.
The nature of a berserk Dragon began wiggling madly from within the
Dragon Emperor. However, it was still too early to confirm whether this
encounter was a celebration or a punishment. It wanted to enjoy this moment
as it trembled from the anticipation for a little bit longer.
[I want to ask you one thing.]
Also, there was this thing it was quite curious about as well, which was
rather convenient.
[Why did the Rulers use the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’? Why did they revive all
the dead Sovereigns and their soldiers?]
There was no doubt that on that day, the Dragon Emperor’s life came to an
end at the hands of the Rulers. The pain from the spears that pierced into its
body was still vividly etched in its memory.
The grand army of the Chaos World would have crumbled pretty quickly
after their leadership was lost through the Dragon Emperor’s death. And with
that, the lengthy war between the Sovereigns and Rulers would have come to
its natural end. With the Rulers as the final victors.
It’d have been a perfect defeat for the Sovereigns, with not even a bit of
room for any excuses whatsoever.
However, they went ahead and revived every Sovereign for some unknown
reason, by reversing the time through the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’.
Ever since that day, it tried to decipher the intentions of the Rulers over and
over again, but failed to even come close to guessing the reason. That was
why it simply had to ask the Shadow Sovereign, who was with them at the
time.
And then…
[Because I wanted it.]
….That completely unexpected answer caused the brows of the Dragon
Emperor to shoot up.
[What did you say…?]
Jin-Woo slowly spoke again, enunciating every word clearly so his
opponent could understand him.
[I wanted to kill you lot with my own hands again so I asked them for the
favour of using the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’.]
Crazy son of a b*tch!
The Dragon Emperor somehow managed to suppress a torrent of swearing
that rushed up to the tip of its tongue. To attack an army of over ten million-
strong soldiers with just one hundred thousand combatants, he resorted to
using a Tool of God to reverse time?!
Although it was a truly nonsensical declaration, but at least, it did resolve
one of the questions burning up inside the Dragon Emperor’s head.
The reason for the Rulers using the Chalice of Rebirth, and the Shadow
Sovereign suddenly going on a rampage – these two matters were actually
related, as it turned out.
[Haha…. Ahahahaha!!]
As if it found the whole thing too absurd, the Dragon Emperor shook its
head helplessly and roared out in a burst of loud laughter.
The Shadow Sovereign wanted to fight the massive army of the Chaos
World again on his own volition, and just as he wished, managed to succeed
in driving his enemies to a corner.
This feat demanded a level of respect that transcended all types of respect.
The Dragon Emperor had no other way to express its opinion on the Shadow
Sovereign who had managed to almost succeed in a challenge that seemed
utterly impossible to accomplish in the face of it.
And he was now staring down on one final hurdle of that challenge.
Whether to devour, or be devoured.
For the first time ever, the Dragon Emperor became curious about the name
of its opponent, the one that would either devour it, or end up getting
devoured by it, instead.
[My name is Antares.]
The name bestowed unto it by the Absolute Being, but revealed to no one
until now – the Dragon Emperor readily revealed its name to the Shadow
Sovereign.
[That is my name. Remember it well.]
It did so, in order to learn the Shadow Sovereign’s name.
With a sombre, serious expression on its face, the King of Dragons asked
its question.
[What is your name?]
The Shadow Sovereign, Jin-Woo, decided to answer what could very well
be the last-ever question of the Dragon Emperor.
[It’s Seong Jin-Woo.]
And then, he spoke up in a tone of voice implying that there wouldn’t be
any further Q&A session after this.
[Is there anything else you want to say?]
The power of death in a pitch-black aura ominously quivered and rose up
above Jin-Woo’s shoulders.
The gap between dimensions was very similar to the world of eternal rest
and it was rather easy to summon out the power of death in this place. The
Shadow Soldiers that were resonating as one with their Sovereign’s power
also raised up their fighting spirit higher.
Uwaaaaahh-!!!
The entirety of the Shadow Army seethed and writhed. The corners of the
Dragon Emperor’s lips curled up as it witnessed this spectacle.
‘Anything else I’d like to say, is it?’
Would there be a need for any further discussion when there was this grand
feast laid out before its eyes?
[….I don’t have any.]
The Dragon Emperor transformed into a burning Dragon and stood before
Jin-Woo, who also transformed into a humongous black giant as well.
A mountain against another mountain.
The two gigantic existences glared at each other just before the final battle.
But, that lull only lasted for a moment.
Kuwaaaaaah-!!!
The Dragon Emperor roared out loudly as if to shake the dimensions
themselves, and the entirety of the Army of Destruction charged forward.
Jin-Woo was far quieter than his opponent as he simply pointed to his
forward. Right away, near-ten million soldiers made their move.
At the same time, he too dashed forward towards the Dragon Emperor with
everything he had.
The end of the lengthy war was here. He had been waiting with bated
breaths this reunion with the Dragon Emperor just so he could witness the
end.
A chilling ray of light began gathering within the Dragon Emperor’s maw.
It was now Jin-Woo’s chance to display the amount of growth he had gone
through due to the experiences he earned before reversing time, as well as
things he learned during this long war.
The flow of time slowed down to a crawl and only him and the Dragon
Emperor remained within Jin-Woo’s vision.
Just as the light of destruction exploded out slowly from the maw of a
burning Dragon, Jin-Woo’s fist enveloped in jet-black aura was thrust
forward.
And so, light and darkness clashed once more inside the gap between
dimensions.
Chapter 247 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 4
The entirety of the United States of America became rather noisy when a
certain fortune-teller made an announcement.
“Not too long from now, the God of Death will descend on this land!”
Now normally, a prophecy like this, one better suited for a spot on a comic
book cover, wouldn’t have garnered any attention from the public. However,
the big issue here was that this prophecy had been made by none other than
Madam ‘Norma Selner’.
Just who was this woman?
After abruptly opening her ‘Heavenly Eye’ around two years ago, she
accurately predicted the death of North Korea’s leader, terrorists kidnapping
an aeroplane full of passengers, the stock market crash brought about by the
sudden collapse of the housing markets, etc., and she had been the centre of
many controversies for a while now.
And such a person made an announcement that implied the end of the
world was coming, so it’d only be obvious that everyone would start freaking
out.
Madam Norma Selner was also known as the ‘prophet who is never
wrong’. The mass media that saddled her with that label went into full-on
panic mode and tripped over themselves to get an interview with her.
Too bad for them, though, she refused to speak to every reporter save for
one person, who just so happened to be a personal friend of hers. It became
known later that she had invited him privately and gave him a message.
And the very next day.
A gigantic black hole suddenly opened up in the skies of Seoul, one large
enough to almost completely cover up the capital city. And Madam’s
prophecy dominated the headlines of every newspaper in the world.
Meanwhile, inside said Gate….
Jin-Woo could only let out a gasp of surprise after spotting the humongous
sea of people, as if the humans of the entire world had gathered in one spot,
right below him.
“Huh-uh….”
How wonderfully moving would it have been if all those people were here
to welcome him back? Unfortunately, Jin-Woo knew better than anyone that
would not be the case and could only form a wry smile.
Soon, this Gate would open up. To all those watching on from the ground,
this portal might be a source of sheer terror, but to him, it was an important
doorway back home.
Home.
Jin-Woo’s heart was rapidly filling up with warm emotions from the
knowledge that the pathway to his home that he missed so much would soon
open up.
‘Now that I think about it, isn’t this my first time looking at the outside
from the inside of a Gate?’
The outside world was in full display from inside the Gate. That was how
Jin-Woo got to spectate on the sea of people below his feet. He placed his
hand on the ‘wall’ of the Gate that separated the two spaces.
In the past, he needed to give it his all in the battle against the Dragon
Emperor in order to break this wall down, but now…
‘Now, I….’
Jin-Woo lightly pressed down, causing minute cracks to form on the wall
with sharp noises. If he pushed a bit harder, then this wall would surely break
down without much resistance.
For a short moment there, Jin-Woo pondered whether he should do that and
make his descent now or not, but eventually, he shook his head with a gentle
smile on his face.
‘….No, I shouldn’t.’
People on the ground were scared already, so there was no need to alarm
them even further. Besides, he’d been waiting for this moment for almost 30
years, so it was not a problem to wait for a few more days.
Jin-Woo carefully withdrew his hand, only to discover something else.
‘Hold up. Just who would think that this is the hand of a third-year
middle school student??’
Indeed, he just realised that his hand was simply too big now. Having spent
27 years in the gap between dimensions, Jin-Woo had naturally become a
middle-aged man.
His physical age had already surpassed his own father’s now. However,
he’d been missing for only two years on the outside.
He needed to adjust his physical age to that of the outside one so that he
could avoid the situation of people who knew him freaking out after seeing
how much he had changed.
Although, he wasn’t that keen on looking young to other people…. Hang
on, maybe he was?
…In any case.
“I guess there’s no helping it.”
Jin-Woo grinned and looked down at his body before activating his powers.
With him being able to perfectly control the powers of the Shadow Sovereign,
the biological clock of his physical body posed no problem at all.
Soon enough, Jin-Woo’s figure shrunk back down to that of a middle
school student.
Shururuk….
The bearded face of a middle-aged man became that of a fresh-faced
teenage boy with a bright complexion in no time at all.
The black smoke enveloped him for a brief moment and when it receded
away, even the clothing had changed to the school uniform he wore on the
day he went ‘missing’.
‘This should be enough, right?’
Jin-Woo formed a satisfied smile after confirming his new look, which was
definitely that of a student no matter who took a gander at him.
Both his mind and body were now ready to go home and meet his family.
The only thing remaining was to wait.
‘Two more days left….’
Even the wait until the Gate opened up proved to be something to enjoy to
Jin-Woo, who was nearing the end of one hell of a long journey.
“Uh… Uh?? H-hey, it’s opening up!!”
“The hole is opening up!!”
The crowd of people screamed and pointed at the Gate now beginning to
open up.
Aaaah-!!
Kyahhack!
However, only the interior of the Gate connected to some other place was
revealed to the waiting eyes outside. No feared events of scary things jumping
out from there happened.
“….??”
“What’s this?”
“It’s over, just like that?”
The folks from all corners of the globe, here to spectate on the giant Gate,
began murmuring in uncertainty as they watched the mysterious portal slowly
dissipate.
In the meantime, Jin-Woo blended in with the completely-unawares crowd
and upon arriving at a quiet, deserted street, undid his Stealth.
Since pretty much everyone was focusing on the disappearing Gate, none
of them paid much attention to a middle school student that popped up out of
seemingly nowhere.
Jin-Woo briefly observed the crowd of onlookers for a bit, before turning
around to head towards his home.
It was precisely at that moment he discovered a young man holding an
expensive-looking bouquet of flowers standing before him.
This man smiled brightly and addressed Jin-Woo.
“Welcome back home safe and sound, Mister Seong Jin-Woo. Or, should
I address you as the Shadow Sovereign, instead?”
He had never met this guy before. However, he didn’t sense any malice
from this unknown dude, either. So, he decided to lower his vigilance.
“It doesn’t matter what you address me as.”
Jin-Woo received the bouquet of flowers from the man and smirked softly.
“Having at least one person welcome me back isn’t so bad, I guess.”
He leaned in and took a sniff at the flowers before raising his head up
again. The man spoke as if he was genuinely surprised.
“Honestly…. I’ve never imagined that you would successfully finish your
mission and return home like this. By the way, I see that your steps carry
the weight of ten million soldiers.”
The ‘Army’ was defeated, and without a single exception, the denizens of
the Chaos World that made up its fighting force came under the influence of
the Shadow Sovereign.
Jin-Woo now wielded the biggest fighting force when both the Sovereigns
and Rulers were taken into account. He lowered the bouquet and asked the
stranger.
“I’m sure you didn’t come here to hand me this bundle of flowers, so…
What does the emissary of the Rulers want with me?”
Quite different from the tone of his voice that could’ve come across as
overbearing, his expression was filled with a relaxed composure.
A lion would never fear a lamb, after all.
His overwhelming strength, honed even further through the lengthy war,
was more than enough to make this unknown man shudder slightly in fear,
even though the latter already knew who he was dealing with today.
Indeed, it was the role of the lamb to fear the opponent, not the other way
around.
Now faced with the dignified air of the Sovereign that was not too
dissimilar to a king of all predators, the unknown man chose to politely lower
his head first.
“The Rulers have sent you a message, Shadow Sovereign. Our
conversation might take a while, so may I inquire if it’s fine with you for us
to go elsewhere?”
“Fine.”
Jin-Woo walked past the smiling man and took the lead.
“I just remembered a place I wanted to stop by, anyway.”
“….”
The unknown man wordlessly stared at the bowl of ice cream presented
before him for a bit and raised his head.
“The place you wanted to stop by was an ice cream parlour?”
Sure, just because he became younger-looking, that didn’t mean his tastes
had changed, as well.
It was just that…
“Well, staying in a distant ‘place’ for a long time does make you hanker
for something sweet, you see.”
Jin-Woo replied with a grin and began scooping the delicious ice cream
into his mouth.
This wonderful, refreshing coldness transmitted from his tongue. And then,
followed by this thrilling sweetness.
Only now did it strike home that he had returned for real.
The unknown man tried to get to the main topic several times but Jin-Woo
stopped him again and again. Only after he cleaned out the ice cream bowl
did he open his mouth to speak.
“So, what did the Rulers say?”
The unknown man had been dazedly watching the Shadow Sovereign’s
snack time until then. He hurriedly regained his wits and spoke up.
“Oh. First of all, they wish to express their genuine gratitude….”
“Why don’t we skip the perfunctory greetings and move on?”
The Rulers should not have any further business with this world, yet they
still sent an envoy to speak to him like this. Jin-Woo deduced that the matter
at hand must be something extraordinary, so he wanted to skip the opening
remarks.
“Did a new problem pop up from somewhere?”
“No, not at all. It’s nothing like that. Rather, I’m here to speak to you
because all the problems had been resolved, instead.”
Came to speak to him because all problems had been solved, he said.
The light in Jin-Woo’s eyes became even more serious. The unknown man
greeted that sombre look and gulped down his dry saliva out of sheer
nervousness. Still, one shouldn’t forget to perform one’s duty just because the
other party happened to be quite a scary person.
The man opened his mouth with some difficulty.
“The Rulers, they…. They are worried about the potential side effects
your powers might have on this world, Sovereign-nim. As you may well
know, the powers you possess are not something this world can cope with.”
“….Okay, so?”
“Without the presence of Mana, this world is just too fragile. If it’s okay
with you, we’d like to transfer you to a world that can take on your powers,
Sovereign-nim.”
“Or, they can just go ahead and seal me up instead of transferring me
around, saving us from potential headaches.”
“Of course, that is an option….”
Bang!
Jin-Woo lightly slapped the table, causing the unknown man to flinch and
stop his attempt to reply, his bright complexion frozen solid mid-speech.
The heavy voice of the Shadow Sovereign slowly came out of Jin-Woo’s
mouth.
“So, they wish to get rid of me since I’m no longer useful, is that it?
Because they fear the power that I possess?”
Jin-Woo maintained a smile, but the glare in his eyes was incomparable
colder than before. The unknown man nearly jumped up in fright and quickly
waved his hands around.
“N-no, that’s not true! I swear, it’s not like that!”
He then presented Jin-Woo with a certain newspaper he had prepared
earlier. Jin-Woo took the paper and read the article dominating the front page.
That’s when he spotted a rather familiar face there.
The article was about a prophecy made by one Madam Norma Selner, who
used to work as the ‘Upgrader’ in the previous timeline.
Jin-Woo’s brows quivered a little at the words ‘God of Death’.
“She wasn’t originally an exceptional soothsayer even back in the erased
timeline. However, coming into contact with our world has changed her life
a great deal.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze stopped at a certain part of the article, the part about when
she had abruptly opened up the so-called ‘Heavenly Eye’. It was around two
years ago.
Her ‘awakening’ matching up with the exact point in time he found himself
after the timeline had been reset using the Tool of God couldn’t be chalked
down to simple coincidence.
“So, what you’re saying is, my existence can potentially cause other
changes like this one?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Sovereign-nim.”
Once Jin-Woo showed signs of calming down, the unknown man spat out a
sigh of relief.
“The Rulers’ thoughts are to present you with a suitable location where
you can stay, if that’s what you decide, with their intentions being to prevent
the potential adverse change taking place in this world.”
“…”
Jin-Woo leaned against the chair.
He still couldn’t sense any malice from this unknown man. The Rulers
connected to this man were making this offer out of good-will and other
similar emotions.
However…
To think, he’d have to hear such news on the first day of his return.
Jin-Woo had been in a state of anticipation from the thoughts of going
home, so he found it hard to hide how disappointed he was.
He definitely didn’t want to discuss stuff like this right now. And he didn’t
bother to hide his thoughts on that matter.
“Can you come back some other time?”
“….I shall do so, oh, great Sovereign.”
The unknown man performed a smart, courteous bow towards the greatest
hero who brought to an end the war between Sovereigns and Rulers. The only
thing remaining after the man had left was a black-on-both-sides business
card.
Most likely, that signified the unknown man requesting him to call the
number on the card when Jin-Woo had made up his mind.
He studied the face and the back of this card before stuffing it in the inner
pocket of his school uniform, a bitter smile slowly spreading on his face.
The bubbles of anticipation and excitement from coming home had burst
for good now. Many thoughts swirled in his head, almost making him dizzy.
‘If all living creatures have a clear goal, a purpose in their lives….’
He was certain of one thing.
As the Shadow Sovereign, he had fulfilled his purpose after stopping the
invasion of the Sovereigns, as well as making sure that no weird phenomena
occurred on Earth.
Meaning, he had accomplished his goal.
So, the enormous power that served its purpose would only become a
headache that was hard to dispose of, just like the nuclear waste at the end of
its life cycle.
In that case – a question suddenly popped up in his head.
‘In the end, have I become an existence surplus to this world?’
When the chain of his thoughts reached there, he spotted a certain familiar
face jogging past the ice cream shop. As if he was entranced, Jin-Woo got up,
pushed open the front door, and stepped outside.
Without a doubt that moving forward, there would come many occasions in
the future where he’d have to ponder whether remaining in this world was a
good idea or not.
However….
‘As long as there is a reason for me to stay, even if it’s just one, then….’
A teenage girl kitted out in an athletics uniform stopped jogging and turned
around to look behind her.
At the place where the scent she really liked was coming from, she
discovered an unfamiliar teenage boy standing in front of the wide-open exit
of an ice cream parlour.
‘What’s going on? Did ice cream smell this good before?’
The teenage girl tilted her head this way and that while glancing behind
her, but in the end, she failed to solve her confusion and continued with her
jogging.
Seeing her departing back, a brief smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘There are still people that I love in this world.
And also, those who love me, and those who used to love me exist in this
place, too.
That is more than enough reason for me to stay here.’
Jin-Woo smiled and inwardly told himself to find other reasons to stay in
this world.
Chapter 248 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 5
The first time I met ‘him’ was inside the irregular space created out of my
liege’s power. My mission was to test the human about to enter this place.
Although my liege said that he wished to find out if this human was fit to
become his vessel, I knew the truth, somehow.
I knew that this order might be the last one my liege would ever give me.
My liege had lost all interest in warfare after forgiving the Rulers. From that
point alone, I knew that he had harboured a deeper meaning in why he was so
focused on this rather unremarkable human being.
I began guessing that I’d soon bid farewell to my liege. However, the
command issued by my liege was still absolute. I had no thoughts of
questioning his motives or changing his mind. All I could do was to comply
with his command.
That was all I could do.
And so, after most of my powers were sealed away, I was made to stand all
alone in the space where the testing of that human would take place.
‘Humans of this world call spaces such as this one dungeons, don’t
they?’
At the far end of this imaginary dungeon shaped to resemble an audience
chamber of a king’s castle, I saw a large throne. I combed through my fading
memories of the time when I was still human and studied this place.
‘As expected…. You have certainly created quite a detailed stage with my
liege’s power, haven’t you?’
I continued to touch and feel each large pillar lined up from the entrance to
the plinth where the throne was and expressed my admiration towards the
abilities of the architect, who had created all these.
As the fruit of this meticulous planning, that human’s body would
continuously be modified to accept my liege’s power.
It was then.
I sensed the presence of someone approaching this place.
‘He’s here already….?’
I panicked at this unexpectedly fast arrival of the test subject and ended up
sitting down on the throne.
However….
“…..”
After I settled down on the throne, I began wondering if me sitting here
would be seen as a bit ‘insolent’.
The consciousness of my liege had already taken root within the human I
was supposed to test, so I couldn’t help but wonder if me sitting on a throne
like this, in front of my master, would be seen as me being disrespectful.
‘…..’
In the end, I judged that I should refrain from displaying any uncouth sight
and hurriedly climbed off the throne to hide behind the nearest pillar.
Geuh-gugugugu-!!
With a truly gobsmacking timing, the massive entrance opened up, but
thanks to the surroundings being too dark, that human failed to discover me
panicking grandly like that.
What a relief that was.
It’d be no good to make this serious test my liege had planned out into a
farce with my mistakes, now would it?
I inwardly spat out a sigh of relief and when the human was about ten steps
away from me, I slowly walked out from behind the pillar to block his path.
‘….!’
Through the still air, I sensed his nervousness.
He was a young man.
Obviously, my gaze lingering on him couldn’t be described as favourable.
‘So, he’s the one my liege has chosen…’
Even if this mission wasn’t the final order bestowed unto me, I never
planned to go easy during this fight. If I believed that he wasn’t qualified, I’d
kill him with my own hands.
And so, as I stood there, igniting my fighting spirit…
….This young man suddenly clenched his fists tightly and put his dukes up.
‘…..??’
Wait, could he be thinking of using his bare fists to defeat me?
I briefly thought about how praiseworthy his bravery was, for a human
being. To fight him in equal conditions, I took off my cape and removed my
weapons one by one.
‘….!!’
Why was he getting so surprised by every single thing I did, anyway? Sure,
his eyes filled with drive were rather likeable, but did he possess the same
level of abilities to match those eyes, I wonder?
So, time to check it out…
….And the results came out pretty quickly.
“Keo-heok!”
Plop.
Even though I was forbidden from bringing out my full power, he was
already kneeling before me. What a disappointment that was.
However, just as I felt disappointed, I also felt an equal amount of relief.
Because, if the one supposed to inherit the power of my liege turned out to be
not qualified, then that meant my liege would remain as he was for a little
while longer.
For the first time ever, and also for the last time, too, I felt relieved by my
liege’s failure.
And then, I decided to bestow a fitting end matching the level of bravery
this man had shown me even though he was a mere human being. I used the
‘authority’ briefly granted to me by my liege and dragged along the sword
discarded to a distant location.
Cutting his head off in one go and sending him off on his way with
minimal pain was what I planned to do. I figured that such a gesture would be
the best form of mercy I could show this human.
Perhaps he had read my mind, he even presented his neck before me.
‘You made the right decision. Wisdom matching your bravery….
Although your loss is lamentable, there is no way other than this to change
my liege’s mind.’
For the sake of the man choosing an honourable death, I performed the
beheading. But then – he seemed to have accepted his fate without a struggle,
but the light in his eyes changed abruptly at that moment.
Clang!!
My sword was blocked off by his hand, and instead, his dagger stabbed
deeply into my face next.
Stab!!
Kuwaaaaah-!!
I was stunned.
Not by the fact that he managed to block my blade, no, but from the fact
that he never gave up on his life right up until the end, even under the current
circumstances.
Also, although it was for a brief moment, I saw the light coldly gleaming in
his eyes and belatedly realised that it was uncannily similar to the light within
my liege’s eyes.
‘Ah, ah… That was why my liege has…’
I completely lost all of my desire to fight, and was unable to respond to any
of the continuous streams of attacks landing on me.
I was slammed into the wall, and…
Ku-waahng!!
….And, I was stabbed repeatedly.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Eventually, the metal protector surrounding my neck couldn’t endure and
broke off.
Crack!!
The strength he possessed, and then, the one I possessed – since this was a
test to confirm whether he possessed enough of a qualification, I should
possess higher stats than he did.
However, I still lost.
And quite obviously, too.
Was this the result of me underestimating him after seeing him as just
another human being, or a miracle brought on about by his tenacious nature
that didn’t know the meaning of giving up?
As my consciousness blurred, I caught the sight of him raising both his
hands up high to celebrate.
“Uwahh-!!”
Well, now. Since I began chuckling while watching him be like that, it
could only mean that I wasn’t right of mind, no?
My consciousness blurred even further as my gaze drifted up towards the
ceiling.
It was too dark up there, and I couldn’t tell what these endlessly-stretching
pillars were connected to. However, I was just a bit saddened by the thought
that the distant darkness above seemed to signify my own growing distance
away from my liege.
‘Am I supposed to feel happy that my liege’s choice turned out to be
correct, or feel sad that I couldn’t manage to change his decision….?’
I couldn’t decide, and that’s how I lost my consciousness.
That was… until that man came closer and shouted out ‘Rise up’ in my
direction.
He really cherished me.
Was it because I was his very first soldier – no, technically speaking, not
his first but someone very close to being one?
There were many occasions where I thanked him for the kindness I felt
from him. And there were many things that remained etched in my memories,
such as…. Indeed, that one time.
On a certain day, he said this to me.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to talk once your grade goes up, right?”
How was I supposed to describe the state of my mind that nearly
overloaded with emotions when I saw his bright smile? I wasn’t sure of what
he thought of me, but at least to me, he was my master, my friend, and my
ally.
He and I overcame many battles together.
At times, against denizens of the Chaos World, sometimes against monsters
of the instant dungeons, and sometimes, even against other Hunters.
When he was happy, I too was happy, and when he was struggling, I too
struggled. And when he was sad, I also felt sad, as well.
I knew that the deeper my loyalty to him became, the longing towards my
former master would get fainter and fainter. Despite that, though, I gradually
grew to accept my new liege.
Of course, it was not always smooth sailing, either. There were moments
that I was actually sweating buckets.
“Use this.”
Such as, when I fought against a much stronger female Hunter while still
being under several restrictions, with only a sword that could shoot out some
lightning bolts.
“Was the black knight you brought out really your strongest summon?”
‘…..’
I was even subjected to such insults, too.
And then, I even became a ‘roommate’ with a Shadow Soldier who
possessed an abnormal fighting strength rather unexpectedly, as well.
Kiiiieeehhhk-!!
‘……’
Now I found myself saddled with a ‘roommate’ who, although very loyal
by nature, his nature also happened to be quite vicious. You have no idea how
badly I missed my dignified comrades from the past.
That’s how I felt when I met Bellion again. And if I were being honest….
when he taught Beru a lesson, I felt just a tiny bit refreshed.
Just a bit.
Too bad, my joy at reuniting with my old comrade didn’t last long.
Because, not much time passed by before Bellion became influenced by
Beru’s antics, too!
[Look, Igrit. This black flag… if we plant it on top of this castle, don’t
you think our liege will become happy?]
[….Are you being serious?]
[I don’t possess any skills to craft things like ants do, but if it is to make
my liege happy, I’m prepared to do anything.]
[N-no, that’s not what I meant….]
[Kiieehk-hehehet, is that the flag for our liege?]
[…..I give up.]
Of course, there was no need to even mention the reaction of our new
master.
In any case, our boss’s powers became even greater after absorbing the
original Shadow Army that had been patiently waiting for his summons from
the gap between dimensions.
Contrary to my worries, he didn’t treat the ‘soldiers from the previous
liege’ any differently from his own, and after uniting under one banner, we
were now fully prepared to sacrifice our lives regardless of what battle it was,
all for his sake.
Our training time came and went way too quickly, and…
….And, our determination was fully put to the test in the war against the
Sovereigns.
We fought with everything we had for his sake and successfully ended the
war against the Sovereigns in our decisive victory.
When he was fighting against the Dragon Emperor, we watched with bated
breath, this incredible life-or-death battle, from inside the shadow. The
brilliant face-off of the two Sovereigns was so beautiful that I was almost
overcome with emotions.
[Kiiehhk? What’s this? Igrit, are you crying?]
[….Shut up.]
The entirety of the Shadow Army was up in arms inside our liege’s shadow,
thinking that a seriously dangerous moment was upon their master, but then,
the armies of the Rulers opened up the doorway in the sky and decided to
crash the party.
Waaaahhh-!!
We all cried out in elation after seeing the reinforcements blotting out the
sky.
[You lazy bums, couldn’t you have come a bit earlier?!]
[Wait, could they have deliberately waited until now to make us anxious
as heck before making their entrance??]
[If I was standing outside, I’d have kicked their a*ses already!!]
We were pouring out our complaints and dissatisfactions, but inwardly, we
were celebrating our master’s victory with great relish.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sing our songs of celebration for long.
Because… our liege spoke.
“One more time…. Can you use the ‘Chalice of Rebirth’ one more time?”
He said that he wanted to reverse the time and completely erase any signs
of Sovereigns and Rulers from this world he was living in.
Back when I was still a human being, I too had people that I wanted to
protect, so I could easily sympathise with his emotions. Maybe, I’d have
chosen the same path if I was allowed to make the same decision.
I completely respected his choice.
Myself and my comrades were fully prepared to clash against any
opponents once more, whether they be the armies of the Sovereigns or not, as
long as it was for our master’s sake.
Regrettably, though, not everyone was invited to this battle.
When we learned that some of us would disappear when the time was
reversed, those soldiers that fell under that condition all plopped down and
began to sorrowfully cry out.
All I could do was to console Iron who had been with us for a long time,
Greed who got on the liege’s bad books from the get-go and ended up going
through a lot of hardships, as well as other wailing soldiers.
And so, the moment of farewells came to an end like that. We returned to
the past and were gifted with a brand-new battlefield.
Our master became more and more adept at warfare, and following after
our master’s growth, we too, became stronger in turn, as well.
We faced several dangerous crises, both big and small. However, he grew
even stronger every time he overcame them, to a point that it was getting
harder to keep up with him.
That’s how almost 30 years flew by.
All of our enemies were defeated, bar the ‘Army of Destruction’.
The desperate clash of our liege against the Dragon Emperor.
While our master was fighting against the leader of the enemy forces, we
faced off against the Ancient-grade Dragons.
One of them named Granodeh decided to engage me in a chat as I was
mercilessly and crazily cutting down the army of Dragons.
[IGRIT!!! You were supposed to be one of the twin wings of the Shadow
Army, yet you follow the orders of a Sovereign who is a measly human?!
Are you not ashamed of yourself??]
Not even possessing enough energy to maintain its Dragonic form
anymore, the b*stard had reverted back to a humanoid appearance, panting
laboriously as it clutched the sword sticking out its chest. I ended up staring at
the dying creature with dazed eyes for a long time after hearing its final
words.
Indeed, I had forgotten it.
The moments spent with my new master had been so glorious that I had
completely forgotten about the previous liege.
Since when did this happen?
Since when did the previous liege completely disappear from my mind?
Granodeh’s breathing came to a stop a long time ago, and fierce skirmishes
continued to break out all around me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to leave
this spot for a while.
I thought that my master was everything to me – but, in reality, he meant so
little to me?
Such feelings of doubt caused the inside of my mind to blank out.
But then, this happened.
I heard a loud yell coming from somewhere that woke me up real fast.
“Igrit!!”
It was the voice of my liege.
I urgently raised my head to look. In the direction my gaze landed in next, I
was greeted by a ray of blinding light.
‘Breath of Destruction!!’
The Dragon Emperor had spent most of its energy after battling my liege
and reverted back to its humanoid figure as well. But, for some reason, it was
firing a Breath in my direction.
No, wait.
That b*stard wasn’t aiming at me. It just so happened that I was standing in
the path of the Breath, that was all.
Indeed, I was rather unlucky. The truth was, most of the accidents
happened because of some bad luck, and the victim at the end would lose his
life. And it was my turn to become that victim.
Khuwaaaahh-!!
I realised that it was too late to do anything after seeing the ray of blinding
light about to swallow me up. I couldn’t even do anything and just stood
there, frozen.
I resigned myself to my fate.
While facing the light enveloping my entire vision, I began thinking to
myself. Maybe this was… a punishment for completely forgetting about my
pledge of allegiance to the previous liege?
‘If so, then I shall gladly accept it.’
After all, I was a sinner, wasn’t I?
And so, as I quietly waited for my final moments approaching me at the
speed of light…
…In that blink of a moment, someone stood before me and extended his
hand out to block the ‘Breath of Destruction’.
Kuwaaaaahhhhh-!!!
His left hand was burning away from the horrifying attack of the Dragon
Emperor, but he showed no signs of pulling away.
I watched him defending against the flames capable of burning away
everything in the universe for my sake and even before I had realised it, I was
calling out in desperation.
[My liege!!]
Once the Breath of Destruction came to its end, my liege turned to look at
me with rebuking eyes.
‘….!!’
Just like back when he loudly yelled out my name, I woke up again with a
start just now. My liege scanned my condition for a moment or two, before
dashing towards the Dragon Emperor again.
I too, raised up my sword in order to cut down the Dragonewts trying to
surround me.
Clang!!
Blades clashed with blades once more to create flying sparks, and the
Dragonewts being cut down by my sword screamed out in anguish.
‘That’s right.’
I had never forgotten about my previous liege. My loyalty to that person
simply had been extended to my current liege, that was all.
How could me staying loyal with all my being to the inheritor the previous
liege had personally chosen, be seen as a bad thing, a sin?
‘I am a knight.’
I was a sword of my liege.
I was one of the twin wings that led the Shadow Army.
If a one in ten thousand chance occurred… if I were to face the moment
where I had to part ways with the current liege, then I’d add the words of
farewell I didn’t get to say to the previous liege as well.
Every day I fought under my liege had been honour and privilege to me.
[Uwaaaahhhh-!!!]
I roared out viciously and pounced on the Dragons dashing towards my
direction.
The lengthy war ended safely, and we all returned to the liege’s
homeworld.
Jot, jot….
My liege was focused on studying until late at night. Hidden inside his
shadow and sharing his vision, I decided to offer my advice.
[My liege, the answer to the 14th question was not the first one, but the
second option.]
“Ah, really? Thanks.”
Thanks to not being able to meet the minimum required number of school
attendance days, my liege was unfairly expelled from this institution called
‘middle school’ and now found himself stepping into a brand-new battlefield,
called ‘GED’.
Although he maintained near-perfect score in every mock test he
participated in, there were still a few problems that did slip through the cracks
of inattention every now and then.
But, whenever something like that happened, just who was qualified to lend
the liege his aid?
Grand-Marshal Bellion, who only had his huge physique and nothing else?
Or Marshal Beru, who could legitimately claim to be pretty smart but
ultimately, still a lousy insect at heart?
In the end, it fell upon myself to counsel our liege, as I had graduated the
knight training school with top marks when I was still a human being.
“Hey, by the way, here, it says that the answer to the 14th question is…
the first one? Igrit, can you really stake your life on the second one?”
My liege opened up the answer sheet and pointed out my flaw with razor-
sharp accuracy. So, as befitting a knight, I owned up to it.
[It seems that my training is still quite lacking, my liege. I shall devote
myself even further to my liege’s cause.]
‘……..’
I am my liege’s knight.
My liege’s sword.
The battlefield of my liege is my battlefield; now that he had stepped into a
new war, it seemed that my glorious days would continue on for a little while
longer.
Chapter 249 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 6
Every once in a while, Woo Jin-Cheol felt this inexplicable sense of loss in
his heart. One heck of a weird thing this was, as if he had forgotten something
really important to him.
However, no matter how hard he combed through his memories, he knew
that he had definitely not forgotten anything. Only, the emptiness in his heart
would grow larger and larger the more he thought about it, that was all.
“Hey, senior. What are you thinking about so deeply like that?”
The youngest detective in the unit asked him while handing over a cup of
warm coffee taken from a vending machine. Woo Jin-Cheol shrugged his
shoulders to say that it was nothing important and received the coffee.
“Thank you.”
Once this aromatic smell of coffee entered his nostrils, it felt as if the
emptiness in his heart was filling up just a little bit.
His name was Woo Jin-Cheol, a fourth-year detective in the National Police
Agency’s Violent Crimes Investigation Unit.
It wasn’t as if he lived a soft life where his mind would sway gently from
the warm breezes of the incoming spring, but still, this sense of loss started
chasing after him out of the blue, about three years ago.
When he mentioned this to his acquaintances, they all promptly reminded
him with the cruel fact that he had no family to call his own, even though he
was already at a ripe old age, and that must’ve been the reason for his
restlessness.
Just like the bitter aftertaste of the coffee, Woo Jin-Cheol formed a bitter
smile, too, and emptied out the paper cup in no time at all.
‘….That’s right.’
Didn’t someone say that a busy bee had no time to feel sad, or something
like that? The best medicine to heal this trivial depression of his was,
traditionally speaking, more work.
With excellent timing, Woo Jin-Cheol’s sharp gaze landed on the backs of
some men sitting in a line as soon as he stepped into the offices of the Violent
Crimes Unit.
He crushed the empty paper cup with his hand and pointed at these three
men with his chin.
“What’s their story?”
“Ah… those b*stards? Well, uh….”
Woo Jin-Cheol heard the youngest detective’s somewhat hesitant voice and
walked over quickly to stand before them.
Sure enough….
These men’s facial complexions were whiter than snow as if they had seen
something they shouldn’t have. They couldn’t even meet his gaze and
continued to shiver like a lone leaf in the wind.
Seeing their faces, Woo Jin-Cheol began muttering to himself.
“It’s the Shadow Monster again…?”
It wasn’t all that rare to see criminals turning themselves in and confessing
to their wrongdoings out of the sheer weight of guilt, or out of fear of getting
caught.
However, it was a completely different story to see a bunch of hardened
career criminals, scared sh*tless, begging the cops to throw them into jail
cells as quickly as possible.
And for the last several months, the so-called ‘not rare at all’ spectacle
repeated itself over and over again.
“S-Shadows…. The… the, the shadow stood up from the ground… and
spoke to me. If, if I don’t turn myself in during the next 24 hours, I’ll end
up regretting that I’m even alive…. D-detective, I’m a bad guy, so please,
please! Throw me inside the slammer! I beg you!!”
They all generally retold the same story.
When similar situations kept repeating itself, the higher-ups got fed up and
had ordered their underlings to get to the bottom of this matter right away.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s voice rose up higher.
“So, what you’re saying is, you all saw the Shadow Monster?”
“T-that’s right!! Right!”
Woo Jin-Cheol began writing up his report with the testimonies of these
criminals, and when he got to the part called ‘the reason for turning oneself
in’, he spat out a long, long sigh.
‘How am I supposed to write a report about this, again?!’
His head began developing a migraine just from thinking about writing yet
another report on the unbelievable story of the ‘Shadow Monster’ cursing
people.
It was then.
Tap, tap.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder so he took a glance back, and that’s
when he spotted a senior detective standing behind him.
“Hey, Jin-Cheol-ah? Let the junior here take over writing up the report.
Can you come to the conference room for a sec?”
‘The conference room?’
What with the blindingly wonderful antics of the Shadow Monster reducing
the number of violent crimes recently, there shouldn’t be a need to use the
conference room anymore, but he was being summoned there without a prior
heads-up, regardless? What was going on?
The senior detective left behind the puzzled gaze of the younger officer and
headed straight to the conference room; Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head a bit
before standing up from his seat as well.
“Senior, I’ll take care of this.”
“Good luck.”
Woo Jin-Cheol encouraged the junior, now charged with finishing up the
miscellaneous work, and headed towards the conference room along with
other detectives.
“Pardon? You want to release the suspects back on the street?!”
“Uh-huh! Lower your voice, Detective Woo! Someone might hear us
from the outside and get the wrong idea.”
Woo Jin-Cheol asked again in a disbelieving voice.
“What do you mean by releasing the suspects back on the street, sir??”
“It’s not ‘releasing’, but we just let one of them outside for 24 hours and
observe what happens afterwards.”
After listening to the opinion of the senior detective, one of Woo Jin-
Cheol’s colleagues formed a deep frown before voicing his own.
“Senior, I’m telling you, these bstards are talking bullsht after getting
themselves high on drugs. This crap about monsters and whatnot, it’s
definitely them having a new type of bad trip from the sh*t they’ve been
taking.”
“But, their drug test came back negative, didn’t it? I personally went to
Forensics to confirm it myself, didn’t I?”
“Well, that…”
“Besides, just because of some nasty side effect of a drug, these b*stards
without any connection between them saw the exact same thing and decided
to turn themselves in?”
“…”
In the end, the colleague shut his mouth as if he had nothing else to say.
The meeting of the detectives continued on.
“The brass told us to get to the bottom of this a while ago, but look at us,
we haven’t even gotten anywhere. What choice do we have? We gotta do
something this drastic so that, at least, we can find us some clues.”
The detectives, initially unmoved and hesitant, began sneaking glances at
each other and nodded their heads.
Since every single one of them saw the exact same type of hallucination,
then there had to be some kind of a clue from the rubbish they were all
spewing at the same time.
“So, like…. What I’m saying here is, let’s create an opportunity for them
to continue spewing rubbish.”
Woo Jin-Cheol, quietly listening on until then, opened his mouth.
“But, what if something really does happen?”
“….??”
“….?”
The gazes of every detective seriously contemplating their next actions all
shifted in Woo Jin-Cheol’s direction at once.
Smirk, smirk….
The corners of their lips began curling up next.
“Detective Woo, you believed in ghosts and stuff?”
“I didn’t take you for someone like that, but I guess our Woo Jin-Cheol
has an unexpectedly sensitive side, doesn’t he?”
“Hahaha…”
Of course, Woo Jin-Cheol wasn’t foolishly believing them, taking some
nonsense story about monsters at face value. However – if everyone was
seeing the same hallucination, then there should be a reasonable explanation
for that, no?
For some reason, he felt this ominous foreboding that, through the
testimonies of the suspects, he was now meeting some kind of a gaze that was
staring straight at him from beyond the darkness.
He got this feeling that he shouldn’t poke his nose in this matter.
The squad captain must’ve interpreted Woo Jin-Cheol’s concerns in a
different manner, since he said the following words while lightly tapping on
the shoulder of his detective forming a worried expression.
“There shouldn’t be any accidents, Detective Woo. We’ll just take one
suspect, place him inside a quiet storage facility somewhere and see if
anything pops out. I mean, several burly and healthy officers will be
watching him like hawks, so with what miracle will he escape from us?”
The squad captain looked at him with eyes that said ‘You can’t possibly be
believing in this supernatural hocus pocus, can you?’ and Woo Jin-Cheol
could only nod his head in defeat.
That elicited a burst of manly laughter from the captain.
“Right. Let’s say that 24-hour time limit elapses, and a monster does
appear to do something to the b*stard. If that’s the case, isn’t that
something we can also feel thankful for, in a way?”
These criminals were serious, vicious offenders who specifically targetted
the homes of senior citizens to rob and even ended up beating a couple of
pensioners to death just because the victims dared to resist.
The captain then spoke half-jokingly, but also half-seriously, that, rather
than such b*stards staying in the slammer getting fed three times a day, it was
only right that they got ripped to shreds by a monster.
“So, now we need volunteers….”
The captain shifted his gaze over to Woo Jin-Cheol and formed a rather sly
grin.
“Detective Woo, you can sit this one out if you’re still hesitant about it.”
“…..”
Anyone who had lived in society for a while should already know this –
those words definitely meant “Don’t sit this one out”.
Woo Jin-Cheol still felt unconvinced so he had to deliberate on this for a
little bit, before eventually making his reply.
“No, sir. I shall come along as well.”
“D-Detective-nims!! N-no! You can’t! You seriously can’t! I’ll die!”
“Just be still. I told you, we have stuff to confirm.”
“I will die!!”
“Hey, man. Just who’s going to die here? Can’t you see us protecting
you? Detective Kim? How long do we have until the 24-hour mark comes to
an end?”
“Let me see…. I think roughly 30 minutes?”
“Is it? Uh-whew, it’s pretty cold tonight.”
The air of spring remained frigid and white steam rose up from the lips of
the waiting detectives.
They were currently inside a quiet storage building, the time being in the
middle of dawn. To observe the ‘change’ that might take place with their
suspect, detectives were waiting around with nothing much to keep them
company.
Only one among them – Woo Jin-Cheol – kept a close watch on his
surroundings, his glare remaining sharp.
‘Something’s different….’
For some reason, the surrounding air felt different from the norm. It even
vaguely felt like something he should never be near was approaching this
location.
He prayed inwardly that this feeling would prove to be nothing but a simple
fuss….
Woo Jin-Cheol sucked in the cold air repeatedly in order to calm his
breathing that tried to get faster and faster.
And so – the hour warned by the existence called the ‘Shadow Monster’
slowly encroached upon them.
“Uhm…. It’s time now, everyone.”
“Really?”
One of the detectives took a look at his watch and stood up from his chair.
Tick, tock.
The 24-hour mark the suspect was strongly emphasizing earlier on had
come and gone now.
“….”
“….”
Should one say that this turn of events was entirely not unexpected?
Nothing had happened, and there was no sign of anything about to happen,
either.
“What the heck?”
The detective with a short fuse began glaring at the suspect, prompting the
criminal to stop shivering in fear and peek his head out before forming a
dumbfounded expression himself.
“Uh….?”
Since there was no one watching anyway, the detectives surrounding the
criminal began mercilessly shouting at him.
“Hey, you little sht! You asholes probably got high as a d*mn group,
didn’t you?!”
“Stop wasting our time and just be clean with it, will ya? Why don’t you
make all of our lives easier, ah?”
The suspect shifted his head this way and that while blinking non-stop, but
when nothing happened even after a long time passed by, he began sheepishly
scratching the back of his head.
“No, hang on, the thing was…. We definitely saw it, you see? Actually,
there were four of…..”
When his words arrived there…
Woo Jin-Cheol, who always stayed a couple of steps away from the group
and watched the surroundings, quickly turned around towards his fellow
detectives and urgently cried out.
“Get away!! Get away from there!!”
What was he trying to say now?
The faces of the detectives seemed to be asking that question as they
looked at Woo Jin-Cheol, but then, they were all blown away on their
backsides without warning.
“Uwahk!!”
“Keok!!”
Detectives rolled along the ground and, as if they had lost their
consciousness just like that, remained dead-still in their sleep after coming to
a stop.
Woo Jin-Cheol tried to run towards his colleagues, but after discovering
something, his steps came to an abrupt halt. His irises were engraved with the
images of ‘monsters’ slowly rising up from the shadow on the ground.
“Ah…..”
He couldn’t say anything.
His breathing suddenly felt stifled, choked up.
These…. No, hang on, these things were definitely not human.
They were ‘insects’ that just so happened to possess the arms and legs of a
human being; above their necks sat the head of an ant, rather than that of a
human.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes quaked in fear.
‘There are three such monsters?!’
These suspects definitely didn’t see any hallucinations, nor were they
suffering from adverse side effects of some strange narcotics, either. Their
testimony had contained not one shred of falsehood, as it turned out.
“U-uwaaaaaahhhk!!”
Now completely surrounded by these ant monsters, the suspect began
screaming at the top of his head.
It was the most desperate, frightened, and sorrowful scream a human could
emit. It was unmistakably the death throes of a dying man.
The ant monsters ripped the suspect apart without hesitation and began
devouring him.
“Uwaaahk!!”
His scream didn’t last for long.
Only some splotches of blood and bits of flesh remained on the spot where
the feast of ants took place.
Woo Jin-Cheol dazedly stared at that spectacle. And then, two of the ant
monsters also discovered the dazed detective after ending their meal.
Kiiehk.
And their gazes were now fixed on him.
Woo Jin-Cheol thought of turning around in a hurry to escape, but his feet
didn’t want to move. His legs had frozen up solid and he couldn’t lift them up
at all.
“P-please….”
It was then.
The biggest ant monster with wings, situated behind the two other ants,
stopped his comrades (?) from going any further.
The winged ant grabbed their shoulders and turned them away, and for
some reason, he formed the kind of expression that said, “Hey, nice to see
you again”. Heck, he even formed a grin, too.
“….??”
An ant… was smiling?
No, hang on a minute.
‘Never mind the fact that an ant is smiling – how the heck can I even tell
that it’s making a delighted expression?’
It was so, so strange.
Even though he now found himself in this deeply horrifying, frightening
situation, Woo Jin-Cheol was suddenly overcome with this sense of longing.
As if, there once had been a time that he was quite familiar with situations
such as this one.
‘But…. How?’
Woo Jin-Cheol fell into a state of confusion and panic, only to realise that
the ants were disappearing into the shadow.
“H-hey!! Hold on!! Wait!”
Too bad, despite how desperately he called out, the ant monsters were gone
without a trace, in the blink of an eye.
By the time he ran over and stood above the shadow itself, there was not a
single trace of them left anywhere.
He felt this sense of loss assaulting him again and bent down to slowly rub
the shadow that the ants had disappeared into.
Just how long passed by like that?
“M-mm….”
Woo Jin-Cheol belatedly regained his wits after listening to his colleagues
toss and turn behind him.
“H-hey, are you alright?”
He checked out their current conditions and quickly called the emergency
services. Even after he did that, though – even when ambulances arrived on
the scene to take his colleagues away to the hospital, his gaze remained fixed
to the shadow.
“Brilliant!! Absolutely f*cking brilliant!!!”
The squad captain was, understandably, up in arms.
But, that was to be expected.
The suspect had completely vanished without a trace, while the detectives
supposed to watch over the man were struck unconscious by something and
couldn’t remember a thing.
The captain looked at the two detectives covered in bandages here and
there with their heads hanging low in embarrassment, and spat out a long
sigh. He then shifted his gaze over to Woo Jin-Cheol.
“Detective Woo? What about you?”
“…”
“You called the ambulance, didn’t you? Can’t you remember anything?”
“My apologies, captain. When I came to, I saw my colleagues
unconscious, so I just….”
“God d*mn it!!”
Captain pounded on his chest as if the frustration was about to kill him and
sighed out again.
“Thankfully, this matter hasn’t been reported to the higher-ups yet, so all
of you, keep your mouths shut, okay? And you two, you got hurt by mistake
while trying to investigate the gangs in the Guro-gu district. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, captain.”
Along with the energyless replies from the two detectives, this incident had
come to its conclusion – for the time being.
The Violent Crimes Unit became rather quiet for a while afterwards.
“Senior? You know, you look a lot better nowadays. Did something good
happen to you lately?”
The youngest detective in the squad asked while handing over a cup of
steaming coffee taken from the vending machine to Woo Jin-Cheol.
“Well, I wonder.”
Woo Jin-Cheol shrugged his shoulders as if to say there was nothing to see
here and received the cup.
The thing was, though – the youngest detective’s words of something good
happening weren’t entirely off the mark.
After that day, after meeting those ant monsters, it felt as if that emptiness
in his heart had been filled by a little, for some unfathomable reason.
‘There’s definitely something here.’
Without a doubt!
The instincts of a veteran detective, no, the instincts of a human being
named Woo Jin-Cheol, were telling him that there was definitely something
there.
The youngest detective stole a glance over Woo In-Cheol’s shoulder to see
what was on the pages of a small memo pad the latter was concentrating so
hard on.
“Uh? Uhh? Senior? You’re still investigating that missing suspect
incident? But, didn’t the captain say…..”
“I know, I know. It’s something I’m looking into in my spare time.”
Woo Jin-Cheol made sure that his junior wouldn’t run his mouth off and
finished off his share of coffee. However, unlike in the past, the junior didn’t
shut his mouth up immediately.
“Wowsers…. There are quite a lot of suspects turning themselves in
because of the Shadow Monster beside our precinct, isn’t it?”
“….”
He couldn’t simply treat this young detective badly when the number of
hopeful officers applying to join the Violent Crimes Unit was in decline
lately.
Although he was slightly annoyed by this unnecessary attention, Woo Jin-
Cheol still did his best not to show it and replied calmly.
“That’s what I heard.”
“Mm….”
The junior stared hard at the contents of the memo pad, before asking
another question.
“Huh? Wait, why did the number of suspects turning themselves in
suddenly decrease by a lot between the end of February and the beginning
of March?”
After hearing that astute observation made by the junior, the veteran’s eyes
gleamed brightly.
“Hey, can you think of something?”
“Ah, well, it’s actually nothing much, but…. My aunt used to run a small
book rental shop, you see.”
“….Okay, so?”
“I just remembered that she used to whine about business going downhill
during the end of February and the beginning of March, because the new
school semester started around then, senior. Haha, it really was nothing
much, wasn’t it?”
Perhaps he felt a bit sheepish, the junior scratched the back of his head with
a smile. But then, he gasped out in sheer surprise when he saw Woo Jin-Cheol
carefully jot down what was said on the memo pad.
“S-Senior??”
“Well, you never know.”
School opening, students, semester.
Those four simple words with no adjectives or modifiers attached were
quietly added into Woo Jin-Cheol’s memo pad.
Meanwhile, in XX High School.
A day before the entrance ceremony for the new students, the headmaster
of the school secretly summoned the teacher serving as the director of the
students’ affairs department to his office.
“We’ll be welcoming a problem child in our school tomorrow.”
“Pardon me, sir?”
The headmaster pushed forward a set of prepared documents. The director
of the students’ affairs scanned the profile of a certain student written on the
document and tilted his head.
“His father is a firefighter, his mom is a regular housewife. His academic
records aren’t too shabby, and I failed to see anything major with this child,
sir.”
“Uh-huh. This fella. Look at the bottom. Look at the details on his
expulsion.”
“…..!!”
The student had run away from home for two years when he was only a
first-year middle school student. Rather obviously, he was expelled from his
previous school.
But then, he ‘completed’ the middle school diploma through GED and
applied to enter their high school.
‘Not even as a high school freshman, but a child who just graduated
from the elementary school ran away from home for two years?’
The director sensed the entrance of a powerful adversary and his eyes
began quaking ever so imperceptibly. Meanwhile, the headmaster spoke in a
hushed voice.
“What do you think? This student, do you think you can handle him?”
The director of the students’ affairs took a deep, deep breath and closed the
file of this problem child.
Tap.
“Sir, you know very well already why I’m called the ‘Venomous Snake’.
No matter what kind of a problem child he is, just leave him to me. I shall
make sure to discipline him correctly so he won’t go around causing
trouble.”
His eyes were now shining with a sense of duty and unbridled confidence.
The headmaster nodded his head in approval.
“Very good, then. I shall trust your judgement in this case, Teacher
Park.”
The expression on the headmaster softened after hearing the assurance
straight from the mouth of the director. A thin smile crept up on the latter’s
lips.
The fated encounter would take place the next day.
His heart was racing already from his determination to suppress the
troublemaker in one fell swoop during the welcoming ceremony before the
kid had a chance to start anything.
Extra Spin-off Beru’s Memories
Kiiiieeehhhk-!!
Kiiahk!
Kiiieeehk, kiiiieeehk, kiiehk, kkiiieehhk.
Khaahk, kiiieeehh, kiiek.
Kkiiieehk!
Kiehhehehehehehet~!
Kkieeehhk! Kiiaaahk!
Kaahrurururururuk-!
Kihak.
Chapter 250 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 7
The high school freshmen were gathered in the school’s athletics field for
the entrance ceremony.
Noisy, noisy….
The new students used the gap created by the still-lax surveillance of the
teachers to form small groups comprising of the graduates from the same
middle schools and noisily chatted away.
It was then.
“Silence!!”
Like a lone shark scything its way into a school of sardines, the ‘Venomous
Snake’, Teacher Park Gi-Sool, made his sudden entrance and shot a scary
glare, prompting the new students to hurriedly shut their mouths up at once.
“Who dares to make a noise? Who??”
Rather unfitting for his name, Teacher Park Gi-Sool was in charge of the
physical training. But, fitting for a man who competed in amateur wrestling in
his youth, he was blessed with cauliflower ears, a thick neck, broad shoulders,
as well as muscular thighs.
Everywhere Teacher Park Gi-Sool’s glare landed, kids quickly dropped
their heads lower. The war of aura – nerves – at the beginning of school life
wasn’t exclusively fought between the students, oh no.
If one took into consideration the potential atmosphere for the rest of the
academic year, or even the classroom itself, then the war of nerves between
the teacher and students would be far more important than the one taking
place between the headstrong students.
And as far as his track record for this kind of war was concerned,
‘Venomous Snake’ Teacher Park Gi-Sool had never tasted defeat before.
Starting from ten years ago, when he took his first step into the teaching
profession, last year, and the year before that too, never had he failed his
mission. He was planning to extend the streak to this year, as well.
The school of sardines in front of the shark, no, the new students in front of
Teacher Park Gi-Sool couldn’t withstand his fierce glare and quickly lowered
their gazes.
All the noisy kids shut their mouths for good wherever he walked past.
Meanwhile, his colleagues watching on from the sidelines could only look on
with eyes of pure respect.
“As expected of Park Teacher-nim….”
“Looks like we can rely on the director of students’ affairs for another
trouble-free year, as well.”
Park Gi-Sool scanned the new students and their broken fighting spirit
while forming a content smile on his face.
‘Right, that’s how it should be.’
However, he couldn’t be satisfied with this much of ‘victory’ yet. Not
today. Didn’t he already have a real target in mind for today, the one the
headmaster personally entrusted him with?
As long as he didn’t break that problem child’s fighting spirit, then it’d be
rather difficult to claim that he had performed his duty of guiding these
students properly today.
Park Gi-Sool continued to scan the faces of the new students and
eventually located the problem kid in question.
‘There he is.’
The moment he located his target, that content smile was wiped off from
his face immediately.
Even at a casual glance from far away, one could tell that the boy was no
ordinary challenge, what with his height far taller than his peers, the hints of
firm muscles all over his figure, as well as powerful vitality that could be
gleaned from his eyes.
‘So, that kid is Seong Jin-Woo….’
The thing was, an expert would be able to recognise other experts.
No matter how wild they were as a student, they all would become a well-
behaved sheep in front of him before long. And in case the boy decided to
show off with inadvisable bravado, then Teacher Park simply had to reveal
just a wee bit of what was in store for unruly children.
There hadn’t been a single problem kid that ‘Venomous Snake’ Park Gi-
Sool failed to discipline properly. His confidence oozed out from every pore
of his body like an actual aura.
‘Alright….’
….Time to get started.
Before that, though, Park Gi-Sool’s snake-like eyes quickly scanned the
problem kid from top to bottom. And then, his eyes gleamed brightly.
‘That’s it!’
There was a black glove on one of the problem kid’s hands.
A teacher in the student affairs department couldn’t possibly ignore the
problem kid violating the dress code, such as wearing hats or gloves, while
standing in the middle of the athletics field, now could he?
Of course, it wasn’t as if he had forgotten about the small fact that the boy’s
left hand had a serious scar and needed to wear a glove all the time.
Such a thing was already written within the student’s records, after all.
However, Park Gi-Sool needed a pretext, however small, to butt in and start
his operation of breaking that problem kid’s fighting spirit.
Indeed, what could be a better pretext to scold a student than the violation
of the school’s dress code?
Having discovered a suitable gap to dig in, Park Gi-Sool’s eyes gleamed
sharply like a real venomous snake, and he quickly made his way over to the
problem kid in question.
It seemed that the boy hadn’t sensed his approach yet, which was good. A
surprise attack was very effective in breaking the enemy’s fighting spirit, after
all.
Once he got close enough distance where a whispered name could be heard
by the other party, Teacher Park Gi-Sool’s brows shot up as he got ready.
“Hey, you fool! Where do you think you are to wear a glo….”
The loud, energetic roar coming from Teacher Park Gi-Sool prompted Jin-
Woo to turn his head around. And then, his eyes met Park Gi-Sool’s.
In that moment….
“Uh, uhhh….??”
….Teacher Park Gi-Sool saw ‘it’.
He saw the countless black monsters, standing seemingly endlessly behind
this ‘problem kid’.
The entirety of the athletics field, filled with students, disappeared in
darkness from Park Gi-Sool’s view, only to be replaced by the sight of a
massive army of ten million soldiers standing in columns that stretched
endlessly towards the distant horizon.
“Heok!!”
Teacher Park Gi-Sool was instantly shoved away by the absolutely
overwhelming pressure and tumbled on his backside while loudly screaming
out.
“Teacher-nim?!”
“Park Teacher-nim! Are you alright??”
Other teachers in the vicinity hurriedly rushed over there and supported
Park Gi-Sool. His complexion was as white as a sheet of paper. He took
another look at Jin-Woo, but by then, his view had reverted back to normal.
“B-but, how….??”
He roughly shook his head and blinked his eyes several times while the
attention of the surrounding students began falling on him.
Noisy, noisy….
“Everyone, keep quiet!”
“Park Teacher-nim, maybe you’re feeling unwell somewhere?”
Now being on the receiving end of the worried gazes of his colleagues, as
well as unsettled looks from the students, Park Gi-Sool’s face reddened up
considerably from embarrassment.
“I, I’m fine.”
He shook off the support from his colleagues and quickly made his escape
from the area.
Bellion hiding in his master’s shadow quietly whispered to Jin-Woo while
watching the departing man’s back grow further away.
[My liege, that man must’ve…]
‘Yeah. It seems that he has seen you guys.’
Jin-Woo nodded his head.
There were some people who possessed far keener senses than other
regular folks, although there weren’t that many. Such people would
sometimes – not very often, mind you – discover that Jin-Woo was a bit
different from everybody else.
Just like now.
‘….Could this be one of the adverse influences I have on this world, too?’
He couldn’t tell for sure. Jin-Woo recalled the pale, frightened face of the
urgently-escaping teacher and tutted softly to himself.
It was then.
The speakers located in the athletics field issued ear-piercing static before
commencing with the campus broadcast in earnest.
Jin-Woo stopped looking in the direction where Park Gi-Sool had
disappeared to and shifted his gaze forward, just as the broadcast ordered
everyone to do so.
It was a brilliantly sunny spring day.
Under the warm rays of the sun gently beating down on Earth, the
headmaster’s smooth forehead blindingly reflected the excitement these new
students were feeling right now.
For a reason only known to him, Jin-Woo deliberately applied to a high
school that was some distance away from his house. And naturally, he
recognised no one in the new class.
‘Well…. Isn’t that obvious?’
He scanned the faces of other kids without feeling bummed out about it, a
smirk slowly creeping up on his face.
He was already well past the age where his heart would start beating
nervously from the burden of sharing a classroom with kids he didn’t know.
If it was him in the past, he’d start greeting others even while under the
vicious assault of awkwardness, but now? It just felt too annoying, so he
didn’t even bother.
While other kids were busy scanning their classmates to see what was
what, Jin-Woo simply took out a book he brought from home and opened it
up.
Maybe spending such a long time in the gap between dimensions, where
there was not a sound to be heard, had changed him somehow, because he
gained a renewed appreciation for reading a book in quiet stillness.
Besides, even though they were ostensibly his classmates, there was the age
difference of several decades to consider here, so what could he possibly say
to these kids, anyway?
Indeed, it’d be more preferable to share a wordless conversation with a
good book, instead.
But then, just as he got ready to spend some quiet time with himself,
someone actually approached him to engage in conversation.
“Uh-uhm…. Could you be…?”
The voice sounded a bit powerless. Jin-Woo raised his head towards where
that voice came from.
The owner of the voice flinched a bit when their gazes met, but when he
confirmed Jin-Woo’s face, he seemed to have gained a boost to his courage.
“Y-you are Jin-Woo from XX Middle School… Seong Jin-Woo, right?”
Who could this kid be? Jin-Woo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘Huh. He does look kinda familiar….’
However, they must not have been all that close, because he couldn’t
immediately recall this boy’s name or things they did together. He tried to dig
deeper into his memories, but then….
“Uhm, I….”
As if this sort of situation was a common occurrence for him, the boy with
a rather faint sense of existence re-introduced himself without minding it at
all.
“I’m Oh Young-Gil…. We belonged to the same class during freshmen
year in middle school.”
“…Ah-!”
Hearing the name helped Jin-Woo to remember.
He was none other than the boy that kept glancing at the group of kids
getting ready to go to the internet cafe with envious eyes. The boy with the
buzz cut hairstyle had grown up to become a high schooler now.
His facial expression now half made up of amazement and delight, Jin-Woo
extended his hand for a shake.
“Hey, good to see you, Young-Gil-ah.”
“Uhm…..”
It seemed that shaking hands was a gesture still too foreign for a boy just
entering high school life, because Oh Young-Gil was hesitating somewhat on
what to do next, but eventually, he cautiously grasped the offered hand with a
sheepish expression.
“Y-yeah, me too….”
As they shook hands, Jin-Woo felt this great sense of relief coming from
the boy. Indeed, one would certainly feel relieved after finding a familiar face,
a friend even, when entering a new school and a new class.
Jin-Woo formed a warm smile so the friend he met after a long time could
feel relaxed now. It must’ve been pretty effective, because Young-Gil grew
just a bit chattier than before.
“You live around here? My family moved house to the area nearby.”
But, just as the boy’s words reached there, Jin-Woo had no choice but to
stop him for a bit, slightly peeved by the fact that he was unable to enjoy this
unlikely reunion with a friend to its fullest.
“Hang on.”
Jin-Woo turned his head to the side, and that was when four kids who
didn’t look to be a nice sort, even at a casual glance, surrounded him and
Young-Gil.
“Hee~ya, hey man. You must be somebody important, right? You even
have a glove?”
The hooligans pointed at Jin-Woo’s left hand and cackled among
themselves. Meanwhile, Young-Gil’s complexion grew gloomier at the rather
obvious approach of these fools.
‘He’s supposed to be a man, but he’s just too timid…’
Jin-Woo found it rather unfortunate that his friend’s expression was
hardening like that and he shifted his gaze over to these four hooligans
surrounding him.
The kind of faces and glare in eyes best described as worthless were the
only things he saw.
These four might not have graduated from the same middle school, but they
had been acting as local hoodlums for a bit and had become acquaintances as
a result. After finding themselves in the same class, they took a look at the
faces of their classmates and arrived at a consensus that there was only one
hindrance to their plan of taking over this class.
And so, they were here to prod this potential hindrance a little and see what
would happen. Other kids in the class were scared and couldn’t even meet
these four’s glare, but in Jin-Woo’s view, who had been fighting non-stop for
almost thirty years, these four were….
….Quite adorable, actually.
The quartet, oblivious of how they were being judged, continued their
mission to provoke Jin-Woo who had grown silent now.
“Hey, hey. Why don’t you take off that glove? I wanna try it on, too.”
“By the way, why did you put a glove on only one hand? Maybe, you have
a Dark Flame Dragon on your arm, too?”
“Euh, euh, euh-! My hand! My right hand’s Dark Flame is roaring out!”
Ahahaha!
They must’ve found something really funny, because all four of them burst
out into boisterous laughter. Seeing them react like that, Jin-Woo formed a
derisive smirk at them.
When he did, the glare in the four hooligans’ eyes changed.
“Oh, you think this is funny?”
“Seriously, did this bstard plug his ears with crap or something? We told
him to take the dmn glove off, yet he ignores us?”
“What? What gives? You have a tattoo there or something?”
It was then.
From his shadow, Jin-Woo heard the extremely agitated voice of Beru
crying out.
[Oh, my king!!! Grant me the permission so that I can tear the heads and
limbs off of these fools and make sure they can never ever disparage you in
this manner!!]
‘I ain’t giving you permission.’
[H-however!]
‘Stop it.’
Jin-Woo reprimanded Beru, and before the ant soldier’s rage could be
fuelled even further, he took his glove off and showed the hooligans his hand.
When he did that, a hideous burn scar starting from his palm to his wrist was
revealed for all to see.
“….”
“….”
The quartet of troublemakers became speechless from the scar that implied
a pretty serious tale even at a casual glance, before they began mouthing some
vague excuses.
“T-this guy, we were just fooling around, so why are you getting
serious?”
“H-hey, dude. Put your glove back on. I might have nightmares about it
now.”
“Whoa…”
Perhaps realising that this should be enough, the quartet withdrew from
there. Jin-Woo didn’t say anything and put his glove back on, before
powerfully stomping on a certain blotch of shadow on the floor sneaking
towards the departing quartet.
‘What were you planning to do after catching up to them?!’
[K-kkiieehk-!]
Beru was really incensed by those kids that dared to insult his liege, but
Jin-Woo was ultimately successful in holding back the irate ant soldier. He
raised his head again afterwards.
Wasn’t this good?
He had already killed all the enemies that bared their fangs at him back in
the gap between dimensions. Enemies that threatened him inside dungeons
also lost their lives, too.
However, this place was Seoul, the Republic of Korea, where there were no
Gates and no monsters to worry about. This was a place filled with peaceful,
everyday normal stuff.
Jin-Woo was enjoying to the fullest this peace he achieved with his own
two hands, so such a little provocation was nothing more than minor stuff to
simply chuckle over and forget about it.
And that was why…
‘I’m sure this much is fine.’
Jin-Woo’s gaze shifted over to the back of the quartet.
When he did – the hooligans making their way to the rear of the classroom
got tripped by the ‘invisible something’ and fell on their faces as a group.
Tumble, crash!!
Beru, currently being pushed down by Jin-Woo’s foot, watched the boys
tumble ungainly like that and shifted his dumbfounded gaze back to his liege.
[Uhm… Oh, my king….?]
‘I did that for a laugh. You know, so I can laugh.’
Since that was humorous, everything was fine now.
Jin-Woo smirked softly and settled down on his seat again after seeing the
flustered expression of the female teacher, who just so happened to enter the
classroom at that exact moment to discover that four of her students had fallen
face-first on the floor.
With that, his high school life began for the second time.
Chapter 251 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 8
Ding, dong. Ding, dong….
From the elementary school kids who’d find the embrace of their mothers
more comfortable than their respective classrooms, right up to those teachers
with greying hair and only a little bit left on their clock until retirement…
….The sound of the end-of-school bell, capable of re-energising pretty
much everyone who heard it, rang around noisily throughout the school.
Most of the kids in the classroom formed expressions of ecstasy as if they
were about to fly away. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo, sitting among them, carried a
carefree face as he greeted the end to his school day in this place.
“Everyone, don’t go home late because you want to hang out with new
friends you made today, okay! Understand?”
Yeees-!
After the token replies, half consisting of mischievous voices of the male
students and the other half high-pitched tones of the girls were made, the
classroom became empty in no time at all now that the day’s schedule had
come to its end.
Jin-Woo deliberately took his time packing up his bag, before he spotted
Young-Gil hesitantly and slowly approaching him like a full-bellied tortoise.
‘….?’
Jin-Woo stopped packing his bag when Young-Gil cautiously asked him a
question.
“Uhm… I’m heading off in the direction of the ‘Gigamart’, but what
about you?”
‘Ah, I guess he wants to get close to me.’
An easy-to-read relaxed smile formed on Jin-Woo’s face.
‘A minor favour shown when young can also become the start of a
relationship later on like this, huh?’
Jin-Woo smiled for a little while, before shaking his head.
“Well, yeah, it’s in the same direction, but there’s something I gotta do
first.”
“Oh….”
As Young-Gil stood there in disappointment, Jin-Woo lightly tapped the
boy on the shoulder and grinned brightly.
“Let’s go.”
Not too long afterwards, both of them exited from the school building.
“What? Track and field club??”
Young-Gil asked with a surprised voice, while Jin-Woo nodded calmly as
his reply.
“Yup.”
The reason why Jin-Woo chose this school, far from his home, instead of
those nearby was because it was only this particular one that happened to
have a track and field athletics department.
Young-Gil could only tilt his head when Jin-Woo replied that he’d join the
track and field team from today.
‘Was Jin-Woo good at track in the past?’
He remembered hanging around Jin-Woo for only about a month or so. The
memories of him playing that game really well were the only thing that came
to the boy’s head, but he just couldn’t recall Jin-Woo doing anything
particularly outstanding during physical training or club activities.
No, Young-Gil simply remembered Jin-Woo doing pretty much everything
at his pace – which was leisurely.
‘A high school track and field club should be operated by only the
talented students, though….?’
The boy suddenly felt worried about Jin-Woo and found himself
unconsciously chasing after his friend. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo crossed the
athletics field and approached the group of athletes loosening themselves up
in the corner of the field.
“Mm…?”
Their attention soon shifted towards the incoming duo of freshmen. They
initially expected the two to walk past them or change their heading, but their
expectation turned out to be off the mark. The senior with the biggest
physique took a step forward and ‘greeted’ the duo.
“What do you two want now?”
Jin-Woo briefly scanned the atmosphere of the team members and replied
with a smile.
“I’d like to join the athletics club.”
The senior with big physique, the captain of the track and field team Choi
Tae-Woong, alternated his gaze between Jin-Woo and a shorter kid with a
rather unhealthy complexion.
“You wanna join the club?”
“Yes.”
“Both of you?”
Jin-Woo looked behind, and Young-Gil hurriedly shook his head.
“…No, just me.”
After seeing Jin-Woo’s continuously-smiling mug, the seniors grew
interested and gathered around the freshmen.
“Ohh, what’s this? We have an applicant wanting to join us?”
“This is my first time seeing a freshman barging in here and wanting to
join the team, though.”
“He’s not playing around, is he?”
Choi Tae-Woong scratched the top of his head and scanned Jin-Woo from
top to bottom before asking another question.
“You a student-athlete?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Okay, you have experience running track in middle school?”
Although Jin-Woo was rather experienced in running all over the gap
between dimensions to kill Sovereigns, that wasn’t something he could refer
to as his middle school days, or running track competitively, so he could only
shake his head with a wry smile.
“No, I don’t.”
The seniors in the athletics club were ready to welcome this enthusiastic
newcomer right up until that answer. But now, their complexions were
hardening drastically.
A freshman who hadn’t even run track competitively wanted to enter the
athletics club comprised only of student-athletes?
Wasn’t this kid taking high school track & field way too lightly?
One of the seniors blessed with a short fuse suddenly jumped into the
conversation from the side.
“You haven’t run track before, so why do you want to enter the team?”
Jin-Woo’s reply was rather simple.
“There’s someone I’d like to meet during the athletic meet, you see.”
She was still in the middle school division, but without a doubt, she
possessed enough talent to participate in the regional competition.
Well, she used to be an excellent athlete before she had to give up on that
dream after becoming a high-ranked Hunter, didn’t she?
If it was an athletic meet featuring participants from both middle and high
schools, then wouldn’t he be able to naturally run into her there?
Jin-Woo judged that, rather than forcibly get close to her and insert himself
into her life that way, this might be a far better approach for both of them.
However, judging from the expressions of the seniors, it seemed that they
didn’t share his thought process.
“Athletic meet….??”
The expression of the senior with the short fuse, Jeong Gu-Shik, hardened
like stone. Even if one was to look down on running track, there was a line
one shouldn’t cross.
Jeong Gu-Shik’s anger shot up to the top of his head and he was about to
roar out some choice words to chase away the freshmen, but then, captain
Choi Tae-Woong formed a grin and gave his permission.
“Fine.”
Jeong Gu-Shik looked back at his captain with an expression of a man
failing to comprehend the situation.
“What?!”
“However, there is a condition.”
Choi Tae-Woong used an expression that said ‘Be quiet’ to defeat Jeong
Gu-Shik, and pointed at a glasses-wearing student busy stretching his muscles
over yonder.
“You see that friend over there?”
Jin-Woo followed after the pointing finger and nodded his head.
“Yes.”
“That friend is the worst runner in our team, a reserve from the second
year. Meaning, you gotta at least beat that friend to earn the right to enter
our team.”
That was a bold-faced lie.
Even before he heard the explanation, Jin-Woo had already analysed that
particular second-year student’s abilities, and as a result, he began chuckling
inwardly.
‘At first glance, that student’s thighs and calves look lean and thin, but
they are actually hard and well trained. And confidence simply oozes from
the rest of his body….’
Spying from the student’s steady, relaxed breathing or his upright posture,
Jin-Woo knew immediately that he was looking at no ordinary athlete here.
Meaning, the third year seniors were trying to make fun of him. How could
Jin-Woo not laugh when their intentions were so easy to read like this?
Jeong Gu-Shik also belatedly realised what Choi Tae-Woong was trying to
do and quickly changed his expression.
“Ahh, right! You said that you’re aiming to enter the athletic meet, right?
Well, in that case, a simple little admittance test like this is no problem for
you, right?”
Jin-Woo didn’t like the way this guy was grinning slyly like that, but still,
asked back in a calm manner nonetheless.
“That senior…. Is he really a reserve?”
“I guarantee it.”
Choi Tae-Woong replied in a confident voice, and the rest of the athletic
team members had to try their best to hold back their laughter.
‘He’s a reserve, alright. Well, the truth is, he did finish third place in last
year’s regional meet, but he sprained his ankle during winter training so
he’s been demoted to a reserve spot, for the time being.’
If he were to get technical here, then Choi Tae-Woong wasn’t really, really
lying by saying that the glasses-wearing guy was the worst ‘runner’ here due
to the lengthy unscheduled lay-off, and that he was in the reserve spot
because of the injury.
Jin-Woo then replied in an easy-going manner to captain Choi Tae-Woong
and his insidious smile.
“Very well, I understand. Let me try.”
This b*stard, he fell for it!!
Not just Jeong Gu-Shik, but everyone in the athletics club shouted out
“Hooray!” in their heads.
‘A guy who can’t even recognise the third-place finisher from the
regionals last year wants to join the track and field team? Gimme a break.’
Choi Tae-Woong, standing in front of the group to deal with Jin-Woo, did
his utmost best to hide his laughter threatening to break through his lips.
“Very good. However, just running the track like that wouldn’t be any
fun, so…. How about this? If you win, you get to join the team, but if you
lose, you do the team’s laundry and cleaning for one month, free of
charge.”
“Sounds good.”
“J-Jin-Woo….”
Young-Gil tried to stop him, but Jin-Woo simply formed a smile that said:
“It’s fine.”
‘Let’s see how long you can keep that relaxed face of yours.’
Choi Tae-Woong looked towards the ‘reserve’ student and shouted out
loudly.
“Hey, Sahng-In-ah! Looks like you’ll have to take to the track for this
one.”
The ace of the team, Woo Sahng-In finished his stretching exercise and
raised his body up.
“It’s not a problem.”
He took off his glasses and entrusted it to another member of the club,
suspiciously ominous aura shooting out from his eyes. Jin-Woo held the
senior’s fierce gaze while handing over his school bag and his jacket to
Young-Gil next to him.
While the members of the track and field club were thinking that here was
a chance to let a freshman taste the bitterness of life, Jin-Woo was deeply
pondering inwardly just how seriously he should run so that the sheer mental
shock his seniors no doubt feel wouldn’t be as high.
“Hey, freshman, are you ready?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Sahng-In, what about you?”
“I’m ready.”
Jin-Woo and Woo Sahng-Min stood side by side on the starting line.
The former assumed a posture that best optimised one’s ability to rapidly
change directions and enter a battle at any time, while the latter assumed a
posture solely designed for track competition.
This time, the team members didn’t bother to hide their ridiculing laughter
at Jin-Woo’s weird posture.
“What the hell is up with this idiot?”
“And he still wants to join the athletics club? But, isn’t he a d*mn
beginner who doesn’t even know anything about running track?”
Jin-Woo didn’t pay any attention to their mocking words and controlled his
breathing.
“Ready?”
Soon, Choi Tae-Woong’s baritone voice signalling the start could be heard.
“Start!”
“Teacher-nim? How are you feeling now?”
“Ah…. yes, well….”
‘Venomous Snake’ Teacher Park Gi-Sool replied half-heartedly at his
colleague’s question after they ran into each other on the corridor, and with
hurried steps, he quickly walked past the confused-looking fellow teacher.
Park Gi-Sool’s crumpled expression easily spoke of his current mood.
‘I ended up making a fool of myself in front of all the gathered students
today….’
He definitely must have made a mistake. Without a doubt, his strange
hallucination was the fault of not eating a proper breakfast earlier today.
It felt as if every student was laughing at his expense. He quickly evaded
their gazes and slipped into the teacher’s lounge, before spitting out a sigh
rushing out from the deepest part of his chest.
“Fuu-woo….”
‘Should I smoke to take the edge off?’
Since almost every teacher was a smoker, smoking in the lounge was
permitted, which meant that this place was like a safe haven for the current
Park Gi-Sool.
He stuffed a cigarette between his lips and stood next to the windows while
lighting it up. Just as he mindlessly shifted his gaze down to the athletics
field…..
….His eyes grew extra large and he hurriedly lowered himself below the
windows while spinning around.
‘W-what the hell?! Why is that kid running around the track with the rest
of the athletics club members??’
It was then, the director of the track and field team entered the lounge and
discovered crouching Park Gi-Sool.
“Ah, Park Teacher-nim!”
Wondering if the dizzy spell from the morning had come back again, the
director hurriedly ran over to Park Gi-Sool and helped him up.
“Are you alright? You sure you don’t need to stop by at a hospital?”
“I, I’m fine, thank you. Just feeling a bit dizzy, that’s all….”
Park Gi-Sool made an evasive answer before asking back.
“B-by the way…. Why is the student named Seong Jin-Woo running
together with the kids from the athletics team?”
“Ahhh…. That? So, that student’s name is Seong Jin-Woo?”
The director took a look outside the window over Park Gi-Sool’s shoulder
and formed a wry chuckle as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“It seems that a freshman just showed up and said that he wanted to join
the team. Kids tested him out, and as it turned out, he has a talent, so they
just couldn’t chase him away. Apparently, what they are doing now is to test
his stamina.”
“H-his stamina, you say??”
“Yes. That’s his 20th lap already. Just watching him going around is
exhausting, so I quit first and came up here.”
Sports, and sports clubs.
There was no better alternative to get rid of one’s overflowing hot-
bloodedness of youth than sports.
Several thoughts crisscrossed within Teacher Park Gi-Sool’s mind, then.
Student Seong Jin-Woo, the one he pre-judged to be a troublemaker, seemed
to be trying his best to discipline himself by joining a sports club.
‘It’s possible that…. That I have been holding the wrong idea about
him….’
Now that he thought about it closely, there was simply no way that a boy
walking around with monsters would exist in reality.
Student Seong Jin-Woo was just another exceedingly normal learner still
searching for a place to call home within the fields of academia and sports,
after a lengthy spell of aimlessly wandering around in his life.
But here was a teacher busy going on about seeing monsters and phantoms
and whatnot from a regular student like that…. The reputation of the
‘Venomous Snake’ had been thoroughly stained with this matter, indeed.
Park Gi-Sool chuckled meekly, stopped hiding, and stood back up.
‘That’s right…. I should look at him without judging him first. I’m sure
that will help resolve all the misunderstanding.’
Seeing Park Gi-Sool form a serious expression before breaking into a
chuckle, the director looked at him with a concerned face.
“Park Teacher-nim….?”
“Ah, no. It’s fine now. I don’t feel dizzy anymore.”
“Oh… In that case, that’s a relief.”
Park Gi-Sool successfully made the director withdraw and slowly turned
around to look behind him. He could now see a boy, covered in sweat and
running diligently around the track while being showered by the bright, warm
spring sunlight.
How could anyone point fingers at such a boy?
He focused his gaze on Jin-Woo, currently running steadily and unflustered
even after lapping the panting and breathless members of the track and field
team several times already.
‘Indeed, this morning was….’
Too bad, even before he could celebrate himself…
….Without any warning whatsoever, Park Gi-Sool’s entire field of vision
was dyed in black and the spectacular sight of the Shadow Army stretching on
endlessly entered his eyes.
He nearly toppled over from fright, but he forced his legs to steady himself
and gritted his teeth.
‘This, this is a hallucination. This isn’t real!!’
It was then.
A certain ant monster standing in the front-most row of the soldiers kitted
out in black armour, gazed straight at him and opened its maw wide.
[Khak!!]
“U-uwaahk?!”
In the end, Teacher Park Go-Sool did fall on his butt and lost
consciousness.
[….]
Within the subspace in Jin-Woo’s shadow, Igrit watched Beru’s action and
used his elbow to rib the former ant king in the side.
[I told you to stop that, didn’t I?]
[Kiieehh…. That human can really see us, can’t he?]
Beru lightly scratched the side of his head and before his liege could order
him to, planted his head firmly on the ground first.
Late at night.
Detective Woo Jin-Cheol and the youngest detective in the squad stopped
by a diner that served ‘gopchang’.
Once enough alcohol entered their bloodstreams, stories they found hard to
talk about during the day came out – mostly from the youngest’s mouth,
actually.
“Excuse me, Senior Woo….?”
“Mm?”
“You’ve been investigating that missing prisoner case until now, yes?”
What was this guy trying to say here?
Woo Jin-Cheol tipped his glass filled with booze, his head beginning to
develop an ache already.
Unfortunately, completely oblivious of his senior’s wishes, the youngest
detective continued with his questioning time.
“That day… you really did see something, didn’t you?”
“What day?”
Woo Jin-Cheol played dumb deliberately, but the youngest simply grinned
and replied.
“Eii, senior, you… You already know, don’t you? I’m talking about that
day when the suspect went missing. Didn’t you really see something that
day?”
This kid, he had this habit of catching people off-guard when they least
expected it.
‘Well, that’s a good talent to have as a detective.’
Woo Jin-Cheol recalled his own newbie days and formed a slight chuckle
as he replied.
“What if I did?”
“Really?”
The youngest looked to be adequately drunk until then, but his eyes
suddenly began sparkling and his ears even physically perked up. That wasn’t
so surprising, considering that the youngest was closer in age to being a
student than a full-fledged member of society, anyway.
That was probably why he applied to the Violent Crimes Investigation Unit
of the National Police Agency, reputed to be the worst paid but with the
highest amount of workload.
Maybe the power of the booze circulating in him was to blame, or maybe,
he just wanted to use this opportunity to get some stuff off his chest – Woo
Jin-Cheol began speaking of things that he’d never even think about uttering
in normal times.
“An ant…. Ant monsters.”
Gulp.
The noise of saliva sliding down the throat of the youngest detective could
be heard from where he was sitting.
“Even I can’t tell for sure what I saw back then. In any case, those things
looked like ants.”
“Ant monsters, is it? Are you saying that giant insects like ants came
out?”
“No, not that. Well, they were ants, but….”
It was right then.
Just as Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up to there, a certain man unsteadily tottering
about, as if he had one too many to drink, stopped walking past the duo and
addressed them.
“T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of ants, but
bodies that look like humans??”
The heads of the two detectives, Woo Jin-Cheol and his junior, raised up
towards the owner of the voice.
Chapter 252 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 9
Didn’t someone say that the ground would harden after the rain had fallen?
Now normally, people would grow much closer when they made up after a
big fight. But then, the bond between young boys created through sweat and
drive to succeed was far hotter and stickier then any old saying could
intimate.
“One, two! One, two!”
As the early dawn’s fog thickly covered the school’s athletics field, every
member of the track team was energetically roaring out their rallying cries.
“Hey, Jin-Woo! How about it? Isn’t this doable?”
Before anyone had noticed it, Jin-Woo was now permitted to run alongside
the captain of the team, Choi Tae-Woong. The former replied in a refreshing
manner.
“Yes, it is doable!”
“Very goooood! One, two! One, two!”
Choi Tae-Woong raised his speed just a bit higher and shouted out.
“Our goal is to conquer the whole country!”
“Our goal is to…..??”
The members almost subconsciously chanted after their captain’s words,
but they quickly caught onto the fact that their warcry had changed and began
questioning their leader.
“Hey, captain! I thought our goal was the overall win in the regionals?”
“Uh-huh!! You’re aiming far too low in front of our new ace! Again!
Our goal is to conquer the whole country!”
“Conquer the whole country!!”
“The whole country!!!”
Glance.
The captain glanced at Woo Sahng-In, currently running behind him.
“Hey, Sahng-In-ah, are you crying right now?”
“N-no, captain!”
“Don’t give up yet, ace of the second year! Although the ace of the team
has changed, how can we conquer the nation without your aid?!”
“I… I shall do my best, captain!!”
“Very goooood-!! Conquer the whole country!!”
“The whole country!! The country!”
“Conquer the country! The whole country!!”
While the members of the team lapped around the athletics field, positively
buzzing with a heightened fighting spirit, only Oh Young-Gil’s complexion
was turning blue amongst all the runners present. The poor kid ended up
following after Jin-Woo and inadvertently entered the team as well.
“Pant, paaant, paaant….”
Jin-Woo, running out in front, heard Young-Gil’s heavy, rough breathing
and tutted inwardly.
He wanted to improve the boy’s rather feeble constitution, so he said yes to
the idea of one-plus-one admittance to the athletics club, but this….
….It was only a matter of time before someone keeled over at the rate
things were going.
But then again, it’d not be an easy task to let Young-Gil escape in this
atmosphere when the fighting spirit of the seniors had reached a brand new
height that they had never seen before.
Left with no choice, Jin-Woo loaded just a little bit of Mana and sent it
behind him. Like dandelion seeds being carried in the wind, the lump of Mana
gently floated in the air and entered Young-Gil’s nose and mouth.
“…..??”
The effects of Jin-Woo’s Mana were an immediate stamina recovery, as
well as a temporary boost to one’s muscular endurance, reaction times,
flexibility, and to one’s rate of stamina recovery, etc….
Basically, it was a comprehensive buff gift set, filled with his desire to help
out a friend.
Since it was a gift set straight from the Shadow Sovereign who reigned
over in another world as basically a god, the effects of the buffs were rather
incredible.
“Eh? Uh? Uhhh????”
Young-Gil’s eyes opened wider and wider as soon as he inhaled the
comprehensive buff set.
‘Wha-what’s going on?! My body, it… It’s getting hotter?!’
Thick veins rose up on the boy’s legs as they powerfully kicked the ground
away.
Paht, paht, paht!!
One by one, seniors running ahead of Young-Gil were left behind, and
then….
“Ohh, ohh!!”
Then, Young-Gil’s solo sprint began in earnest.
‘N-no, hang on a minute…?’
Choi Tae-Woong was instantly impressed by Young-Gil who managed to
shoot past ahead of everyone. The captain loudly shouted out in excitement.
“Look at our newbie’s fighting spirit burning up like that! How can us
folks calling ourselves his seniors remain lukewarm when things are like
this??”
“No, we can’t!!”
“Definitely not!”
“We chase after the newbie with everything we’ve got! Let’s go!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Let’s go!!”
Jin-Woo was inwardly worried whether he had given Young-Gil too much
energy or not, but that only lasted for a brief moment.
The bright flames of the athletics team swept across the track today, as
well.
While performing his duties of guiding incoming students from next to the
school’s gate, ‘Venomous Snake’ Teacher Park Gi-Sool was keeping tabs on
the track and field team diligently going through their morning training
regime at a distance.
Contrary to his initial worries, it seemed that Student Seong Jin-Woo was
getting used to the life in the track team without any problems whatsoever.
Heck, the headmaster even thanked Park Gi-Sool out of nowhere, too.
The only thing Park Gi-Sool had done so far was to watch Student Seong
Jin-Woo until he fell or lost consciousness. He became so embarrassed that
he’d rather become a potted plant that the headmaster was watering at that
moment.
That happened earlier in the morning.
Park Gi-Sool tasted this bitterness deep within his core whenever he
thought about the headmaster’s high expectation of him versus his own
pathetic situation where he couldn’t even look Student Seong Jin-Woo
straight in the eye.
And that was why… Because of his circumstances, he ended up getting
p*ss drunk and unloaded all the useless stuff off his chest to a couple of
people he’d never even seen before in his entire life.
‘Now why did I have to go and do something like that….?’
Just from recalling that night’s events, Park Gi-Sool felt like tearing out all
of his hair.
A few days ago, in a certain diner he stopped by out of sheer frustration….
“T-those ant monsters, are they monsters with the heads of ants, but
bodies that look like humans??”
With their conversation being interrupted rather rudely like this, the two
men shifted their curious gazes at the same time towards Park Gi-Sool, and
that helped the school teacher to sober up real fast.
“Ah…. What on Earth am I saying… I’m very sorry. Looks like I must be
really drunk. Both of you, please don’t mind me and carry on.”
Park Gi-Sool politely bowed his head and turned around to head back to his
own spot, but then, Woo Jin-Cheol actually called out and stopped him in his
tracks.
“Excuse me.”
The school teacher turned his alcohol-reddened face behind him and saw
that Woo Jin-Cheol had gotten up from his seat to pull a chair closer to his
own table.
“That tale of the ant monster…. Can you tell me more about it?”
Just where would anyone be able to safely tell the story of a teacher seeing
strange things when looking at a student?
After being admitted to a mental hospital? Now, which parents would
entrust their kids to a teacher who frequented the mental health institution’s
hallways?
Park Gi-Sool had been silently suffering all by himself, unable to tell a soul
what he saw, but now that he was given a chance, he came completely clean
as teardrops formed at the corners of his eyes.
“You see, I am someone who teaches his students with his charisma.
Charisma, you know? So, where can I possibly go and speak of these
things?”
Still, he felt a bit more refreshed, a load off his shoulders, now that he got
to say the things he wanted to say. With that, he was given enough leeway to
take a gander at his surroundings.
Even though what he said sounded like a lame joke, the two detectives next
to him were listening to his tale with serious expressions on their faces. It was
at this point that Park Gi-Sool grew quite curious as to what these people’s
story might be.
“By the way…. Why were two police detectives like yourselves discussing
stuff like monsters in a place like this diner?”
Woo Jin-Cheol exchanged glances with the junior detective before
explaining their circumstances – minus the bit about him actually witnessing
the real monsters, of course.
“….And so, the brass ordered us to look into this matter, but well, it’s
really difficult to even find a single clue, you see. Right now, I wouldn’t
mind grasping at straws if that will help us.”
Woo Jin-Cheol pulled out his business card and handed it over to Park Gi-
Sool as he continued on.
“That’s why, I’d like to stop by at the school sometime later on, but will
that be fine with you?”
“Ahh, of course. Of course, we must help with the police’s investigation.
You can come and visit us at any time.”
And so, the booze-shared diner experience came to a rather friendly end in
that manner, but now…
Some time had passed since then, and after thinking about it for a little
while, Park Gi-Sool couldn’t help but wonder if he had unnecessarily made
the situation even worse than what it was.
‘How can a student have anything to do with the case of missing
suspects…?’
Especially a boy who was wholeheartedly focusing on the club activities
since early dawn?
Fearful that he might see another weird thing again, Park Gi-Sool couldn’t
stare for too long in Jin-Woo’s direction, so he could only afford to sneak
quick glances at the boy, instead. Eventually, he shook his head in resignation.
Then, he spoke to another teacher manning the school gate alongside him.
“Teacher Yun, my apologies, but I had a bit too much to drink last night
and my innards are….”
“Ahaha, come on now, Park Teacher-nim. No need to apologise for that.
Please, go back inside and take a break. I’ll cover for you and keep an eye
out here.”
“Mm, thank you.”
Before he went away, Park Gi-Sool took another quick glance at Jin-Woo
and slunk off into the school building.
Only then did Jin-Woo shift his gaze towards the departing teacher, even
though he hadn’t shown any signs of noticing the glances right up until then.
‘…..’
Recently, a teacher was staring at him in a rather open manner. He couldn’t
just gloss over what was happening here. From inside the darkness of his
shadow, Grand-Marshal Bellion’s quiet voice entered his ears.
[My liege…. Wouldn’t it be better to erase that human’s memories and
take away his abilities?]
Back when he returned home from the gap between dimensions, after
ending the war – as Jin-Woo stepped onto the ground of his home, feeling
rightly emotional about his return, a proxy of the Rulers showed up and left
behind some advice of sorts.
He said that, even if it was only a tiny bit of the Sovereign’s powers, it’d
end up causing a humongous change to this world. And that was why Jin-
Woo had been avoiding interfering directly unless it was something utterly
necessary.
‘For now…. Let’s just observe him for a little while longer.’
[I understand, my liege.]
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared at the entrance Teacher Park Gi-Sool had
disappeared to, before turning around to leave himself.
The members of the athletics club who were heading off to the club room
before him were waving their hands towards him.
Woo Jin-Cheol found himself hesitating several times in front of the school
gate.
It had been a week already since he was gifted an unthinkable piece of a
lead in a gopchang diner. Starting from then, right up until now, all sorts of
thoughts crisscrossed in his head.
He could have treated that testimony as a crazed teacher rambling on about
some incoherent nonsense. However, every now and then, a link would
suddenly be established between two seemingly unrelated cases and that
would lead to an untangling of a dark web that seemed impossible to unravel
initially.
‘The suspects that encountered monsters, and the monsters of a student
that only one teacher can see….’
Woo Jin-Cheol found a vague link between these two disparate incidents.
This was from the instincts of a detective, something that couldn’t be
explained by logic.
However, there was a problem – there was a massive hurdle to overcome
here. If there was indeed a link, then what should he say exactly to the student
in question?
He couldn’t just bet everything on that drunken teacher’s words and start
questioning this student named Seong Jin-Woo about monsters and stuff, now
could he?
As for asking a question in a roundabout way, the nature of the question
itself was too broad for that, too.
No matter how hard he practised it in his head, he just couldn’t picture the
interview going down well at all. Woo Jin-Cheol pored at the memo pad
containing detailed records of the investigation so far and spat out a long,
long sigh.
‘It’d be a miracle not to be labelled as a madman while asking around
these sorts of questions….’
At the end of a long, long dilemma, Woo Jin-Cheol turned around to leave.
He might come back later after thinking up another pretext, but for now, it
didn’t seem like the time was right.
And so, as Woo Jin-Cheol took steps to get out of there, he lowered his
gaze to the ground without thinking much about his actions.
Shuk.
If it wasn’t him, famed even among the fellow detectives for possessing a
pretty keen pair of eyes, but someone else not as sharp, they would have
missed a faint movement on the ground.
Without a shred of doubt, he noticed a blob of shadow move from the
shade of a tree towards the school’s wall.
He definitely saw it.
Goosebumps broke out all over his body and he hurriedly spun his head
back towards the school.
‘There is… there is definitely something here!!’
Woo Jin-Cheol’s determination firmed up, then. He no longer cared if
people pointed at him, calling him insane.
As long as he could find out the reason for this sense of loss that continued
to plague him every now and then; as long as he could find out the exact
cause why he felt his mind relax for a little while after encountering those ant
monsters, then he’d not hesitate to pay any price.
With a hardened expression, Woo Jin-Cheol began walking towards the
grounds of this high school.
At the same time.
Jin-Woo was spinning a pen with his fingers as he listened to the droning
sounds of the geography lesson while the heads of many kids were dozing off
all around him.
‘Did he see the sentry I posted there?’
As expected of Woo Jin-Cheol, the former President of the Hunter’s
Association. He should no longer have any memory of his previous life, yet
his sharp eyes must’ve remained intact.
Jin-Woo closed his eyes and recalled the very last image he had of Woo
Jin-Cheol.
The image of him tearing up when Jin-Woo revealed his plans of waging
war against the Sovereigns all by himself remained vividly etched in his
brain.
Back when the late President Goh Gun-Hui died, the voice requesting for
revenge also remained, unforgotten, in Jin-Woo’s mind, as well.
Was that why?
Even though this ‘visit’ would prove to be rather troublesome in his efforts
to maintain his current lifestyle of pretending to be a normal person, the smile
etched on Jin-Woo’s lips didn’t want to leave him all that easily.
Soon enough, the knocking on the classroom’s door resounded out,
followed by the surprised voice of the geography teacher.
“A d-detective?”
“It’s not a big issue, actually. It’s just that, I have some questions to ask a
student named Seong Jin-Woo.”
Ohhh-!!
At the announcement that a detective had shown up, kids let out gasps of
amazement and shifted their gazes to Jin-Woo.
The thing that was coming had come.
Jin-Woo’s eyes remained closed throughout, but then, with that grin getting
deeper, they opened calmly again.
At that moment, Woo Jin-Cheol was entering the classroom’s door and his
gaze met with a certain student’s. Even though the geography teacher didn’t
specifically point the boy out, the seasoned detective knew that student was
Seong Jin-Woo with just one look.
Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….
Woo Jin-Cheol’s heart began pounding away, as if it wanted to explode.
Chapter 253 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 10
Woo Jin-Cheol led Jin-Woo to the end of the school corridor. He only
stopped walking once they got to a distance far away from the classroom
where their conversation wouldn’t be overheard by someone else.
Jin-Woo, quietly following behind the detective, also came to a stop as a
result. He sneaked a glance towards the classroom.
For some reason, this sense of distance he felt by being a student that was
looking into the classroom from the outside seemed rather large.
Perhaps Woo Jin-Cheol was conscious of that too, because the first thing he
did was to apologise to Jin-Woo who was still looking back at the class.
“Sorry about dragging you out in the middle of class like this.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Jin-Woo held back the words of ‘I wanted to escape from there anyway
because it was so boring’, in consideration of the teacher doing his best to
teach the classroom full of kids.
Rather than say anything, Jin-Woo looked up at Woo Jin-Cheol, instead.
The detective was young.
Since Jin-Woo had changed his physique to match that of a high school
freshman, Woo Jin-Cheol was now actually a good head taller than he was,
with much broader shoulders, as well.
‘A guy who looked like he’d give a gangster a run for his money was
actually working as a detective.’
A smile abruptly bloomed on his face after seeing a friend’s face in what
felt like aeons.
It had been years – no, decades actually, if he added the time spent
wandering around the gap between dimensions – since he last saw the
Association President Woo Jin-Cheol.
Even though Jin-Woo didn’t want to show anything outwardly, there was
not much he could do about his expression betraying him with a hint of
happiness.
‘……?’
However, Woo Jin-Cheol was immediately beset with confusion after
discovering the smile on the student’s face.
There would be only a handful of people alive who’d remain unflustered
after suddenly being visited by a cop, and not only that, a detective with such
a threatening face like his.
More than that, was there a reason to say anything else when the person in
question was just a high school student?
However, this kid in front of his eyes was actually smiling.
‘This boy…. Something’s different about him.’
Woo Jin-Cheol felt it the moment he stepped into that classroom – this kid
was different.
Thanks to his job being what it was, he had run into his fair share of
murderers who killed many people, or gangsters that lorded over the
backstreets with iron fists.
However, not even once had he meet anyone with a pair of eyes as calm as
this boy.
‘How can a student possess eyes like that?’
Gulp.
Unbeknownst to him, Woo Jin-Cheol swallowed back dry saliva from all
this tension in the air. Starting from the moment he saw the boy, his heart was
still violently pounding away for reasons unknown to him.
To dissolve the many questions swirling and circling inside his head, Woo
Jin-Cheol pulled out his memo pad and began looking into it.
“By any chance, Shadow… no, wait. Ants….”
Woo Jin-Cheol was looking at the contents of his memo pad, but no matter
what he did, he just couldn’t form any coherent sentences. So, he pulled out a
pen from his inner pocket, instead.
Jot, jot….
While Jin-Woo watched on with an interested gaze, Woo Jin-Cheol quickly
drew something on the page of the pad and presented the resulting artwork.
“…..”
Jin-Woo inwardly praised the detective’s effort.
‘This dude, he’s actually a lot more talented in art than I thought.’
What Woo Jin-Cheol sketched just now was the general appearance of
Beru.
Although it couldn’t be called exact description, still, he got right the head
of an ant, human-like hands and feet, the sharp claws, as well as the ant’s
wings on the back, etc, etc.
Anyone who knew what Beru looked like, they would recognise him from
this drawing in an instant. Woo Jin-Cheol asked his question then.
“By any chance, can you think of something when you look at this
image?”
Jin-Woo looked at the drawing for a bit before raising his head and spotted
Woo Jin-Cheol and his slightly-blushing face. Even he should be aware of
how ridiculous this whole thing must’ve looked.
But regardless of all that, he seemed to be desperate to recover the
memories of things that happened to him, but were later taken away, even if
that meant he’d have to resort to doing something like this.
Containing all of his desperation….
“….Do you know what this is?”
….Woo Jin-Cheol asked one more time.
Before the hints of embarrassment, as evident in the detective’s voice,
could grow larger, Jin-Woo quickly answered him.
“Yes.”
Ba-dump.
Woo Jin-Cheol’s heart powerfully rocked and pounded on his chest.
“Y-you know what this is??”
The detective’s voice grew louder. But, Jin-Woo’s expression was utterly
calm in his demeanour, a complete contrast to Woo Jin-Cheol’s.
“Yes.”
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes trembled violently.
Finally.
He finally found it.
His breathing quickened considerably, and his voice picked up just as the
greatly urgent questions flew out of his mouth.
“What is this ant monster? And what is your real identity?”
Jin-Woo took a step back in order to avoid the agitated Woo Jin-Cheol. The
latter realised that he made a mistake and quickly calmed himself down.
“Ah, I got too carried away there for a second. I’ve been chasing after
this case for a while, you see.”
One by one – he would dig into what this student knew, step by step. Didn’t
he have to go through so much hardship to find this clue already? So, there
was no need to be too hasty now.
Woo Jin-Cheol managed to tide over his pulsing heart with those thoughts
and spoke up with a much more calm voice.
“Alright. So, you know something about the creature in this image?”
“Yes.”
Jin-Woo replied briefly with a nod of his head, before an ‘innocent’
expression formed on his face.
“Isn’t that a monster that pops out from one of those special effects
dramas that kids like to watch? Like, Kamen Rider?”
“Ah…”
Woo Jin-Cheol was immediately overcome with this sense of despondency,
akin to watching a sand castle he built all day long get washed away by a
single incoming wave. A small but heartbroken sigh leaked out of his mouth.
Since his expectation had been great, the ensuing disappointment was just
as great, too. His hand holding the memo pad naturally dropped lower.
He looked so fatigued right now, so tired that he couldn’t even hold that
little pad up anymore.
For a brief moment there, he grew angry at this boy for needlessly stringing
him along with his vague answers. But, well, what crime did this student
commit exactly, when he spoke only of the things he knew about?
Woo Jin-Cheol forced a smile on his face.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. I spoke to your teacher, so there shouldn’t be any issues when you
go back.”
Woo Jin-Cheol spoke up to here and was about to pocket the memo pad,
but then, Jin-Woo quickly addressed him.
“That image of a monster, can I have it as a souvenir?”
The detective looked at the student’s bright expression, and a genuine smile
floated up on his face. He opened his memo pad and stared at the sketch for a
little while, before tearing the page out cleanly and handing it over to Jin-
Woo.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
As if he didn’t want to get arrested by any lingering emotions, Woo Jin-
Cheol spun on his heels and jogged down the steps as soon as the student
bade him goodbye.
‘……’
Jin-Woo remained in his spot and listened to the detective’s footsteps
echoing down the staircase. In the meantime, his shadow sneakily expanded
to the side like spilt water and Igrit quietly emerged from there.
[My liege.]
“Mm?”
[Why… didn’t you tell that person the truth?]
Igrit retained his memories from back when he was still a human, and
thanks to that, he knew better than anyone just how sad and difficult it was for
a person to be forgotten from the minds of those he cared about.
And that was why he thought of the Detective Woo Jin-Cheol’s entrance as
perhaps the most ideal opportunity that came knocking so far. Even if it was
just one individual, wouldn’t it be a good thing for the Sovereign to let
someone know how he had saved this world?
There was this distinct hint of rueful longing in Igrit’s voice.
Still, Jin-Woo shook his head.
“Being able to forget is supposed to be a god’s gift to humans, you
know.”
Even if that was an artificially created result after using a Tool of God; Jin-
Woo thought that he didn’t possess the qualifications to choose which
memories to erase and which ones to keep.
Only a god should do something like that. That was why he decided to let
the former Association President Woo Jin-Cheol go in this manner.
[Are you sure about this, my liege?]
“Yeah.”
It was then, Jin-Woo abruptly looked down on his left hand.
There it was, the evidence of the Dragon Emperor’s powerful attack.
The burn scar on this left hand, earned from blocking the ‘Breath of
Destruction’ head-on, couldn’t be healed no matter what he tried. An
unpleasant memory that couldn’t be forgotten was rather similar to this scar –
a wound that couldn’t be healed.
Even if the person in question wanted it, was there really a need to
deliberately bring those painful memories back?
Right now, not a trace of pain and misery that was suffered at the hands of
the monsters and Sovereigns remained in the memories of people living on
this planet.
And that was why Jin-Woo didn’t want to let the memories of the past
remain in the mind of the former Association President Woo Jin-Cheol.
[I understand, my liege.]
Igrit silently submerged back into the shadow, as if he accepted the
explanation.
Jin-Woo remained standing on the spot looking down at the bottom of the
stairs before turning around to enter the classroom.
Once the break came, the boiling interests of the kids finally focused on
Jin-Woo.
Seriously now, just when would these kids get to experience a TV drama-
like situation of a police detective suddenly barging into their classroom? It
was only obvious that their unbridled attention would be focused on the
protagonist of that tale.
Even the girls who were interested in Jin-Woo before but couldn’t say it
outright hurriedly rushed towards him and soon, a rather sizeable horde of
people formed around his desk.
“What happened just now?”
“Hey, Jin-Woo? Why did a detective-nim come to school??”
Jin-Woo grinned softly at the burning curiosity of his classmates and spoke
of the fresh excuse he just cooked up on the spot.
“Well, he’s someone that I know, and he just stopped by to ask me about
something, that’s all.”
“Wowsers, that’s awesome.”
“You’re an acquaintance with an actual detective?”
“Jin-Woo, I’m so envious, you know?”
Jin-Woo found it hard to keep his laughter in check as the kids’ interest
began heading down a slightly unexpected direction.
‘Young-Gil-ah, why are your eyes sparkling like that now?’
Still, thanks to the detective-nim’s unannounced visit, it felt as if the
invisible wall these kids felt around Jin-Woo had crumbled just a little. Girls
took this opportunity to ask about those things they were dying to know.
“I heard from other boys that you got a killer body?”
“Really? Are you an athlete or something?”
“Ahh! I saw Jin-Woo running on the track with the seniors from the
school’s track team the day before yesterday.”
“Wahh, look how broad his shoulders are.”
Kyahk, kyahk….
As the girls surrounded him from all sides, Jin-Woo began pondering how
he should go about making them quietly return to their seats, but then…
The quartet of the hooligans found one person hogging all the attention
quite displeasing and decided to interrupt the fun.
“Hey, you. Aren’t you getting really popular now? Even a cop came to
see you and all.”
Once this quartet entered the scene, the boys quickly retreated to their
seats, while the girls began to quietly back away.
A boy named Nam Joon-Shik, the one with the highest position within the
quartet, began slapping Jin-Woo’s shoulder that played host to the curious
touches of high school girls not too long ago. The corners of his eyes began
curling up.
“Does me being mischievous like this count as school bullying? Are you
going to report me to the detective-nim now?”
‘….It’s your hand that’s gonna hurt if you keep hitting me like that,
though.’
Jin-Woo stared at the dumb kid with apathetic eyes, and sure enough, Nam
Joon-Shik’s complexion began reddening gradually when he realised that his
hand hurt like hell, but despite his efforts, his target’s reaction seemed way
too lukewarm.
“Argh, just why the hell are this punk’s eyes so sh*tty, man?”
Nam Joon-Shik then swiped everything away on Jin-Woo’s desk.
Textbooks, notebooks, and his pencil case, plus a couple of other things
tumbled to the floor.
Ten million-strong Shadow Army hiding in Jin-Woo’s shadow all roared
out in anger after they witness this show of force from the teenaged fool.
The teen hooligan didn’t stop there and reached out to grab the collars of
Jin-Woo, whose complexion had hardened just then.
“What? You wanna have a go? You better loosen up while I’m still being
civil, got it?”
It was then.
A massive arm suddenly pounced from above and wrapped tightly around
Nam Joon-Shik’s throat.
“Keok!!”
The hooligan grabbed at the thick arm as he began choking pathetically,
and in the meantime, a familiar face revealed itself above the pale-faced kid.
“You have business with our beloved ace of the track and field club,
boy?”
That face belonged to none other than the captain of the club, the third year
senior Choi Tae-Woong, and he was being accompanied by another third year,
the senior with a short fuse, Jeong Gu-Shik.
All four members of the quartet found themselves trapped in armlocks and
headlocks of their seniors, their complexions paling gradually from the lack
of oxygen.
Jin-Woo wordlessly got up from his seat and picked up the pencil case. Jin-
Ah bought this case as a gift to commemorate his successful admittance to the
high school, so these four hooligans wouldn’t have gotten away scot-free if
anything had happened to it.
He dusted the case and placed it back on the desk before asking his
question.
“Seniors, what brings you all here?”
“We showed up to dissuade our ace from beating the living crap out of
four idiots.”
“No, please. Be serious.”
“Ahahahat-!”
Choi Tae-Woong’s large framed quaked as he roared out in a peal of loud
laughter before he continued on.
“I forgot to tell you guys that we were planning to hold a welcoming
party for our new members later today, you see. You and Young-Gil both
have free time today, right?”
Jin-Woo glanced at Young-Gil and the latter nodded his head.
“Yes, we do.”
“In that case, see you both after school.”
Still smiling, the seniors began leaving one by one, but then, Jin-Woo
called out to them to stop their march out of the classroom.
“Seniors? Where are you taking those four still stuck under your arms?”
“Ahaha, these idiots?”
Choi Tae-Woong exchanged some knowing glances with Jeong Gu-Shik.
“Well, what should we do with them?”
“How about we do an easy lap around the track, captain?”
“Sounds gooood!”
Soon afterwards, the loud shouts of “Conquer the whole country!” slowly
got further away from the classroom’s interior.
Ding, dong. Ding, dong.
Several end-of-school bells rang around, and then, quite a few more bells
later.
Jin-Woo stepped out of the school’s gate along with the rest of the track and
field club members.
Young-Gil had now grown to appreciate the joys of sweating after getting
used to the training regime of the club, although he did receive a few timely
boosts from Jin-Woo every now and then.
While Young-Gil was listening to the advice of the seniors as he walked
among them, Jin-Woo remained a step behind and eavesdropped on the
unfolding conversations.
It was, without a doubt, a peaceful sight of a normal day.
Jeong Gu-Shik walking up ahead and turned his head towards Jin-Woo and
asked.
“Ah, right. Hey, Jin-Woo? What was up with those idiots earlier in the
day? Should we the seniors speak to them ‘nicely’ so they won’t start
anything stupid later on?”
Jin-Woo replied with an unconcerned expression.
“Nah, it’s fine.”
“I’m not doing this because I’m worried about you. No, I just don’t want
to see problems suddenly crop up and prevent you from participating in the
regional meet because of those idiots.”
Jin-Woo grinned refreshingly.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen.”
It was then.
Someone suddenly popped out from behind the shadow of the gate’s wall
and called out to Jin-Woo.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
It was as if time itself had come to a standstill, just then. Jin-Woo froze up
on the spot, and slowly shifted his head in the direction of that voice.
Detective Woo Jin-Cheol had been waiting for Jin-Woo until now.
The latter’s voice trembled slightly.
“But, how…?”
Having finally gotten his confirmation from Jin-Woo’s reply, Detective
Woo Jin-Cheol’s eyes began tearing up.
“As I thought… you are him.”
Chapter 254 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 11
“That image of a monster, can I have it as a souvenir?”
A few hours ago.
As a souvenir for his reunion with Woo Jin-Cheol, Jin-Woo wanted the
sketch of Beru the detective had drawn up on the spot.
‘Well, it does kind of resemble Beru, so I want it because of that….’
Of course, a certain someone hiding in his shadow didn’t think the same as
his liege, though.
[Oh, my kinggggg!! I beg thee not to fall for that shoddy and crude
doodling of a plebeian!!]
Beru desperately pleaded with his liege that he was nowhere near that ugly
in the sketch, but Jin-Woo simply let that whining enter one ear and go out the
other.
In the meantime, Woo Jin-Cheol stared at his own drawing for a bit as if to
let go of all his lingering attachments.
Soon, though…
Riiip…
….He cleanly tore the page off the memo pad. Woo Jin-Cheol extended his
hand holding the drawing to Jin-Woo.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
Jin-Woo gladly accepted the sketch.
And during that process, the detective’s hand briefly touched the tip of Jin-
Woo’s finger.
It was surely nothing important in the grand scheme of things. However,
massive events that left their mark in history books sometimes began with
seemingly insignificant little things.
Woo Jin-Cheol turned around and hurriedly descended the staircase.
‘I knew it, this whole thing was a dumb mistake.’
Regret was rapidly filling him up.
Because he got too hyped up from the prospect of finding a clue, he ended
up doing something that he’d be unable to explain even to the youngest
detective in the squad with a straight face.
The sense of embarrassment and regret rushed in like the incoming tides,
now that this was all he had to show for his efforts.
‘Stairs always feel so d*mn long only on days like today, don’t they?’
Detective Woo Jin-Cheol bitterly muttered to himself as he climbed down
the staircase, but then, his steps had to come to an abrupt halt.
‘Mm….?’
He suddenly heard a voice from somewhere, that was why.
‘…..??’
Woo Jin-Cheol froze up when a chill-inducing feeling crept up on his spine
and he quickly scanned up and down where he was. He saw not one person
coming down from the stairs or climbing up from below.
Classes were still ongoing, so the steps of the school were quite literally,
quiet and still.
Woo Jin-Cheol tilted his head this way and that, before he tried to climb
down the remaining few steps to the ground floor only to hear another voice
again.
This time, it was his own voice.
‘W-what the heck is this?!’
A person with an easily-scared personality would squat down or start
screaming from fear by now. However, Woo Jin-Cheol wasn’t one. He simply
remained calm while he scanned his surroundings once more, before pulling
out a memo pad and a pen as a sombre expression formed on his face.
‘I’m suddenly hearing auditory hallucinations. Could it be that the sense
of loss I feel or the ant monster I witnessed were evidence of something
wrong with my brain?’
The end of a brief observation was signed off with a question mark
scribbled on with his pen.
Woo Jin-Cheol felt rather weirded out now. He stuffed the memo pad inside
his inner pocket and hurriedly descended the rest of the steps. And with a
speed far quicker than that, he escaped from the school building.
But then….
….Yet another auditory hallucination rocked the inside of his head.
“Euhk!!”
Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth and covered both of his ears.
The voice he had never heard before and his own words that he never
uttered before as well, began making a mess out of his mind. An intense bout
of confusion crashed into him like an unstoppable tide.
“W-what the hell is this?!”
And then, out of all those voices swirling in his head, there was this one
phrase that kept ringing so clearly in his head.
A name that didn’t want to leave his head alone. The name of Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo.
‘If it’s Seong Jin-Woo, then…. Isn’t that the name of the student I just
met?’
He heard that patients suffering from mental disorders often came up with
crazy stories that featured people from their lives. Could such a thing be
happening inside his head now?
Woo Jin-Cheol walked forward as his body swayed unsteadily. He kept
frowning in pain as a migraine viciously pounded away at his temples.
Even then, even if the inside of his head had become so complicated and
messy to the point that he didn’t know how to unravel all the tangled thoughts
in there – every time he recalled the name ‘Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim’, it felt
like the big hole in his heart was slowly filling back up for some weird
reason.
Woo Jin-Cheol crashed down on a park bench and began murmuring
repeatedly the name that continued to swim inside his mind.
‘Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo…
That name holds the clue.
I definitely know that name, Seong Jin-Woo.
I must remember it.
I must drag it out into the open.
I must find all the memories of him, and the reason why those memories
are erased from my mind.’
“Euh-euhk!!”
While still under an extreme case of a migraine, Woo Jin-Cheol fought hard
to recall his memories and eventually, a certain scene popped up in his head.
“Association President. Do you trust me?”
“Yes, of course, I trust you.”
“In that case, I hope you will believe everything I’m about to show you.”
“Excuse me?”
The tip of a finger belonging to someone approached his forehead. The
moment it touched his skin, darkness dyed his view for a short while but
during that time, a countless number of images flashed past his eyes.
Those were the memories that connected the past, the present, and the
future. And they contained the stories of Gates, monsters, Hunters, Rulers,
and Sovereigns.
“This, this can’t be…. Just how can such a thing be….?”
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t finish what he wanted to say, and Jin-Woo, now
the Shadow Sovereign, replied with a lonesome expression.
“Well, a higher being’s memories aren’t affected by the flow of time, you
see.”
Indeed, a Sovereign’s memories easily transcended the boundaries of time
itself.
“Pant, pant….”
Woo Jin-Cheol panted heavily and with great difficulty after emerging from
the flashback of the ‘past’. For a short moment in time that no longer existed,
his consciousness was connected to Jin-Woo, who was a higher existence.
And it happened then; memories sealed tightly away somewhere within his
soul had been unlocked through yet another contact with Jin-Woo, and were
brought back up to the territory of his consciousness.
“Oh, my god….”
The sense of emptiness that felt as if there was a hole in the corner of his
heart slowly filled back up, and warm tears began trickling down from Woo
Jin-Cheol’s eyes.
He then remembered the question he asked Jin-Woo after learning of what
the latter was planning to do.
The answer to that question, it was right in front of his eyes now.
A young man whose name was unknown, walking past the park bench
while listening to music through a pair of earphones; a pair of lovers brushing
past him while whispering their undying love to each other….
An old man out to walk his dog, and people loosening their muscles near
the exercise equipment in the park….
In this world, in this place, there were no Gates. No monsters. No battles.
Woo Jin-Cheol now bore witness to the miracle that man had created
through his hands, this incredible peace, and thicker, hotter tears began
flooding out from his eyes.
“Seong Hunter-nim, you… did it.”
Woo Jin-Cheol recalled the screams of so many people meeting their ends
at the monsters and continued to weep for a long, long time.
‘….No, hang on. I, I shouldn’t be doing this.’
The veteran detective’s rough, calloused hands busily moved about to wipe
away the tears.
Even if the entire world had forgotten about the truth, Woo Jin-Cheol had
to go and tell Seong Jin-Woo that at least there was one person who knew the
latter had battled for the sake of the world itself.
Such a sense of duty began welling up in his heart, but at the same time, a
sense of uncertainty also entered him, wondering if what he was about to do
was for the sake of that man.
‘He’s spending his time as a regular student now, having willfully
forgotten about his past as a Hunter.’
If he wanted to remind Woo Jin-Cheol of the past, then there were ample
chances to do so. Jin-Woo could’ve answered his questions, or just like
before, transmit a whole section of memories through nothing but a fingertip.
However, the youth didn’t show any reactions when a detective showed up
in this place through a series of coincidences, before quietly letting him be on
his way.
Could it be that… he didn’t want his peaceful everyday life to be
interrupted?
If that was the case, then wouldn’t them going back to their regular lives,
while pretending to be none the wiser, be for the better for Hunter Seong Jin-
Woo in the end?
Woo Jin-Cheol fell into a dilemma.
His dilemma grew heavier and harder to resolve and he remained stuck
with it right up until students began leaving the school for the day. However,
watching them cross the park one by one did help Woo Jin-Cheol with
coming to a rather tough conclusion.
‘….Right.
Rather than me deciding this, let’s leave it to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.
I’ll call out to him, and if he pretends to not understand me, then I shall
respect his choice.
However.
Even if there is a small reaction, then I….’
Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly returned to Jin-Woo’s high school. And then, he
didn’t leave the side of the school gate even when no more students walked
past him.
He was currently acting on this groundless assumption that Hunter Seong
Jin-Woo hadn’t left the school yet.
And so, as he stood there for several dozen more minutes, while anxiously
sucking on one poor cigarette after another….
“….I just don’t want to see problems suddenly crop up and prevent you
from participating in the regional meet because of those idiots.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen.”
….He finally got to discover Jin-Woo walking out of the school gates.
Feeling genuinely happy now, he took a large stride forward and called out
the youth’s name.
“Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.”
Ba-dump.
Just how much courage did he require to mutter out those simple words?
Woo Jin-Cheol felt his heart madly pound away and waited for Jin-Woo’s
reaction.
Sure enough, the youth turned around to look, his entire body now
completely frozen stiff. There was an expression of genuine surprise etched
on his face.
“But, how….?”
The light in Jin-Woo’s eyes told everything there was to know.
Having finally gotten his confirmation from Jin-Woo’s eyes, Detective Woo
Jin-Cheol began tearing up once more.
“As I thought…. you are him.”
The two of them moved to the park in the vicinity of the school, the very
location where Woo Jin-Cheol recovered his memories.
Sunlight reflected on the gently undulating surface of a small pond located
in the middle of the park, creating ripples of ripe gold.
Woo Jin-Cheol stopped walking around there and opened his mouth first.
“I hope I didn’t cause a problem between you and your club seniors.”
Jin-Woo formed a thin smile and shook his head.
“They are good seniors. Sure, their competitive streak can be a bit much
at times, but…..”
Woo Jin-Cheol asked Jin-Woo if they could speak for a while, and the latter
had to ask his seniors for their understanding on this one. Since there was a
prior engagement, the older kids could’ve easily gotten unhappy at this
situation, but….
“Don’t be too late!”
“Until you show up to the welcoming party, we’re holding Young-Gil as
our hostage, okay?”
“S-senior?!”
The seniors from the track and field team didn’t sweat it and left for the
party venue ahead. Jin-Woo recalled Young-Gil’s tearful face as he got
dragged away by the seniors and smirked softly to himself.
“Still, the life of my friend is hanging in the balance here, so I can’t stay
for too long.”
Woo Jin-Cheol broke into a gentle chuckle after seeing the youth’s
expression that showed how much he was enjoying his current life.
“In that case, I understand. Let me get to the main topic, then.”
The smile was gone in an instant from the detective’s face after he finished
those words.
“How long… how long have you been fighting against those creatures in
the gap between dimensions?”
According to the records, Jin-Woo was missing for around two years.
However, Woo Jin-Cheol had seen the overall combat force of the
Sovereigns through the memories of the Shadow Sovereign, and he knew that
the two years were simply not enough to defeat them all.
Jin-Woo cautiously replied.
“27 years….”
The moment he heard that reply, Woo Jin-Cheol sucked in his breath.
To think, he had to fight against over ten million enemies for nearly 30
years in the gap between the walls of different dimensions, where not a single
thing could exist….
Woo Jin-Cheol couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult and arduous
the battles must’ve been. For a long while there, he failed to come up with
something to say, but eventually, forced his lips to part just a little.
“…..You don’t regret anything?”
Jin-Woo’s reply this time was instantaneous.
“No, I don’t.”
He could say this with absolute confidence.
“If I were to be given the same opportunity over and over again, I will
make the same decision every single time.”
Everything that happened – from when he and his father went to a baseball
game while holding hands during the latter’s off day; the doenjang stew mom
cooked with so much care and love; his little sister’s smile, bright and
unclouded by the fear of the monsters….
….All of these were precious things that couldn’t be measured with any
financial value.
If the price he had to pay for all of these things was to carry the weighty
burden by himself, then he’d not hesitate to carry it over and over again.
“I don’t regret anything.”
Woo Jin-Cheol heard Jin-Woo’s composed voice and in that instant, felt his
nose sting once more.
‘Thank you, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim.’
He barely managed to swallow back those words that almost came out of
his mouth. He knew that these simple words of gratitude could never convey
his true feelings to Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, that’s why.
He took a quick look at his wristwatch while thinking about the ‘life’ of the
hostage and raised his head.
“It looks like you’re living a wonderful life now.”
Jin-Woo smirked softly.
“It is satisfactory, yes. Well, other than my body not ageing anymore so I
need to constantly modify my body shape, that is.”
‘Eternal youth and immortality.’
Hunter Seong Jin-Woo had now possessed god-like powers after becoming
the Shadow Sovereign. However, even though he possessed such powers, he
chose to live the life of a simple, normal person. If that was his decision,
then….
“May I ask whether you thought about what you’d like to do in the
future?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet, unfortunately.”
“In that case…. How about, you know, joining this side?”
Woo Jin-Cheol displayed the police identification card inside his wallet.
“You mean… the National Police?”
“Recently, many hardened criminals visiting our offices are all whining
about the exact same thing. They say that it’s hard to make a living with
Shadow Monsters around.”
Jin-Woo studied the identification card for a while and returned the wallet
with a grin on his face.
“But, if I become a police officer, other cops won’t have anything to do
anymore, you know?”
“That’s precisely why we’re working very hard, you see – to create a
world like that.”
He hadn’t changed.
From when he was the Chief of the Association’s Monitoring Division, and
when he was the President of the Hunter’s Association itself, the expressions
Woo Jin-Cheol had shown back then remained as he continued his life as a
police detective now.
“I’ll think about it.”
Jin-Woo replied so and turned around to leave as he began to worry slightly
about his friend’s safety. Woo Jin-Cheol quickly bade him goodbye.
“I shall wait for your favourable reply.”
“Please don’t. I heard that there’s a crap ton of work but the pay is pretty
bad.”
Jin-Woo waved his hand as he walked away, and Woo Jin-Cheol smiled
gently as his silent reply.
‘Lots of work, but rubbish pay, is it?’
A wry chuckle leaked out automatically from his mouth after hearing that
wonderfully succinct assessment that left no room for a rebuttal. At the same
time, he recalled the face of the youngest detective who actually volunteered
to join such a squad out of his own free will.
‘Isn’t he off today, that kid?’
Well, so what if it was the junior’s off day?
While thinking that he’d just call out the youngest and treat the kid to a
hearty meal, Woo Jin-Cheol politely bowed his head towards Jin-Woo’s
departing back, now a faint silhouette in the distance.
As the only man who knew of that youth’s sacrifice, he stood for everyone
in this world and expressed his gratitude, perhaps for the first and the last
time.
Chapter 255 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 12
‘That’ suddenly appeared without any warning.
On a certain day in April, only a stone’s throw away from May’s doorstep,
an American emergency call centre was blessed with a strange phone call.
It was not uncommon to hear about tourists getting lost. Since that was the
case, the call centre operator figured that this call was from yet another poor
stranded soul searching for a way out from the middle of the vast desert.
“Did you run into an accident, sir?”
“In that case, did something else happen to you, sir?”
The call centre agent got ready to connect the call to the emergency
dispatch service while replying in a calm voice to make sure that the caller
wouldn’t start panicking over the phone.
“Is it something urgent? Should I dispatch the emergency personnel to
your location?”
The caller’s voice indicated that he was feeling really hesitant over
something here, so just in case, the agent decided to confirm the caller’s
identity first.
As it turned out, the caller was actually a college professor, and judging
from his family circumstances, or the past records of lodging emergency calls,
he didn’t seem to be the sort to make prank calls for fun.
“Sir, you need to describe the situation so we can dispatch the right kind
of response personnel to the scene.”
“Can you explain to me in detail what you see?”
It was at that point that the agent heard the caller take deep breaths over the
phone’s speaker.
There was a building in a desert about to topple over? The agent tilted his
head this way and that before asking again.
“Where are these cracks exactly, sir?”
The voice of the caller hesitated for a long time again as if he still couldn’t
believe what he saw, but eventually it did come out of the phone.
April.
This was the time when pretty much all students would find themselves
with barely any free time, but for Jin-Woo facing mid-term exams and the
track competition literally around the corner, it proved to be a great deal more
hectic than usual.
As he was studying deep into the night, his little sister, Jin-Ah, entered his
room while carrying a tray of sliced Korean melon.
“Oppa, Mom says you should eat these while studying.”
Jin-Woo was concentrating on the textbooks below the desk lamp’s light,
and raised his head to greet her.
“What about Dad?”
“Dad is on night shift duty from this week again.”
Jin-Woo received the plate with melon slices neatly arranged on top and
nodded his head. But then, he reached out to snatch his sister’s ponytail just
as she was about to sneak out of his room.
“Stop right there.”
“Heok!”
Jin-Ah turned around to face him with wide-open eyes and he sternly asked
her.
“Why are all these slices missing the soft middle sections?”
“I, uh, I don’t know….”
“You should say that while getting rid of those pips stuck near your lips.”
“Ahh-iinng…”
Jin-Ah formed an unhappy expression at the fact that she got busted, but he
found her way too adorable when she acted like this and couldn’t hold back
his own laughter.
He used his thumb to remove the pips from the ends of his sister’s lips and
out of pure mischievousness, formed another stern expression.
“If you eat only the softer part of the melon again, I’m gonna make you
eat nothing but the hard part for a whole day as punishment, okay?”
“Hiii-eeeng….. Okay.”
Jin-Ah turned around to leave with a tearful expression and he lightly
patted her on the head.
Currently, she was in her sixth year in elementary school. Jin-Woo had seen
her grow up once before already, and pretty much anything she did came
across as adorable to him.
Crunch.
He began chewing on the sliced melon piece and focused his concentration
back on the questionnaire on the desk. When he did, though, Igrit began to
offer his counsel once more, as he was still worried about his liege’s academic
success.
[My liege, the 24th question should not be tackled in this manner, but…]
‘I’m going to check the answer sheet, then?’
[….Allow me to ponder this query for a little while longer, my liege.]
‘…….’
It was rather commendable that he was so concerned about his master, but
this….
‘Oh, well. At least, I’m not bored during studying, so there’s that….’
Crunch.
As the number of questions remaining on the questionnaire decreased, so
did the number of sliced melon pieces on the plate.
Tick, tock….
And so, just how long had it been?
Abruptly, Jin-Woo sensed this chill and raised his head.
‘What was that? Where?’
He shot up from his chair and shifted his head in the direction of where he
detected that strange phenomenon. He closed his eyes and focused his
perception.
….He definitely hadn’t made a mistake just then. Right away, he imagined
the worst possible scenario and his expression hardened as a result.
‘Where is that business card….?’
He quickly dug through the pockets of his school uniform and pulled out a
certain business card. It was none other than the one left behind by the envoy
of the Rulers.
Jin-Woo quickly dialled the number and tapped on the ‘Call’ icon on his
smartphone. The call itself got through really quickly.
The envoy tried to greet him with a warm, welcoming voice, but Jin-Woo
simply spoke up certain coordinates without any hints of emotion. And then,
he added one more thing at the end.
“Is this your people’s doing?”
The envoy was stunned by his serious attitude and replied quickly.
“…”
The brief silence was soon shattered by the panicky voice from the other
side of the line.
As expected – it wasn’t the absolute worst possibility, much to his relief.
Still, it didn’t mean that the situation itself had become any better, though.
‘To Earth…. Someone, or something, is coming.’
Whether they held good or bad intentions, there was no way to tell for the
time being. So, he should start preparing for either case right away.
Jin-Woo fell into deep thought as he stood there, still holding the phone,
before he spoke to the envoy.
“Can you come and see me?”
He added that there was also something else he’d like to talk about and that
prompted the envoy to reply as if it had been waiting for that all this time.
The meeting place was the cafe where Jin-Woo met Yu Jin-Ho for the first
time outside the dungeon. He got there just in time and found the envoy
already waiting for him by the corner of the cafe, having arrived a while ago.
After entering, Jin-Woo wordlessly settled down on the opposite side of the
Ruler’s proxy. The latter only discovered the former’s presence after he
appeared right in front of its eyes. The envoy performed a polite bow of the
head.
With the situation being what it was, Jin-Woo went straight to the meat of
the discussion.
“The things trying to get here…. Do you have any clues on who they
are?”
“They are the ‘Outsiders’ that tried to step into my world not too long
ago. They were beaten back by the Army of the Heavens and it seems that
they have now set their sights on this world, instead.”
“Why are they trying to come here?”
“They are a race of giants that consumes the rocks found on a planet that
can support lifeforms. They are referred to as a race of ‘Titans’ and are
known for their evil nature even back in their own world. Their reason for
coming to Earth should be rather obvious at this point.”
Jin-Woo leaned against the chair’s back and nodded his head.
“….So, they are not friends.”
“Yes, they are most certainly not.”
Now that he knew what their purpose was, the nature of his response had
been decided, as well. However, there was something he still felt curious
about.
“This didn’t happen before the Chalice of Rebirth was used, so what
gives?”
Jin-Woo could only remember the Gates and monsters, but nothing about
the attack of an alien race capable of ‘eating’ a planet. The envoy hesitated
slightly with his answer before willingly admitting to it.
“Yes, you’re indeed correct. Actually, when I told you about them
invading our world not too long ago, I was referring to the timeline that has
been overwritten.”
“Meaning, the creatures that should have been aiming for your world
changed their heading towards Earth, instead?”
“Yes.”
The envoy replied as thus, carefully observing any changes in Jin-Woo’s
mood. Of course, he immediately figured out the reason for this change.
“I’m the cause.”
“Those creatures chased after the traces of Sovereign-nim, who possesses
incredible power…. At least, that’s what the exalted Rulers believe
happened in this event.”
Just like how one would rely on the light from the lighthouse illuminating
the lone pathway to navigate the treacherous nighttime waters when you
couldn’t see an inch in front of your nose, the race of ‘Titans’ had been led
towards this small planet by the enormous power being emitted by the
Shadow Sovereign.
The potential influence Jin-Woo’s powers would have on this world, the
one that shouldn’t exist and shouldn’t remain – the part the Rulers were
worried about had finally become reality.
Still, the Rulers felt that they owed Jin-Woo big time and thus, they weren’t
planning to sit back and watch another crisis unfold on Earth. The agent made
sure to drive this point home.
“The exalted Rulers have already deployed the Army of the Heavens.”
Jin-Woo slowly shook his head.
“No, it’ll be too late.”
Even if they started creating a tunnel connecting from that side to here right
now, at a bare minimum they would still need a good few years to get here.
By then, everything would be over.
In that case….
“I shall take care of it.”
‘….My soldiers and I will stop those b*stards.’
Jin-Woo was fully confident of defeating these new enemies if they were
on the level of being driven back by the Army of the Heavens.
The voice of the Shadow Sovereign seemed to heavily press down on the
envoy’s shoulders and he nervously swallowed his dry saliva. Regardless
which forces they were, none of them would prefer to have this man as their
enemy. The Ruler’s agent suddenly felt pity for this race of ‘Titans’ now.
By the way, if this meeting wasn’t to ask for reinforcements, then why were
they even here?
Jin-Woo replied as if he had seen through the agent’s thoughts.
“What you asked me back then…. I thought it’s about time that I tell you
my answer.”
“Ah, ah. I see. You were talking about that matter.”
The Rulers made an offer to make available a location that the enormous
power of the Shadow Sovereign wouldn’t cause an issue. It seemed that he
was able to come to a decision due to this crisis. The envoy nodded his head
after seeing Jin-Woo’s determination-filled expression.
“I understand what you’re trying to say. As soon as this crisis is resolved,
we….”
“I’m remaining on Earth.”
“….Pardon?”
The envoy’s brows rose up after hearing that unexpected reply. However,
Jin-Woo’s voice remained composed, with just a hint of a grin etched on his
lips.
“You know, I still want to live here.”
He wanted to spend his time in this world populated by his family, friends,
as well as others that he’d like to meet and talk to. After he ran into
Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, no, Detective Woo now, he had finally
realised what he wanted to do.
‘Well, it’s a bit cumbersome that he keeps calling me up so he can buy me
food, but still.’
In any case, Woo Jin-Cheol was a good man. And that was precisely why
that young detective being dragged around by him could carry a happy
expression like that.
‘I’d like to be with those people.’
Jin-Woo thought that he’d like to be by their sides and be able to laugh
along with them. The envoy spied on Jin-Woo’s smile and replied with a
sheepish smile of his own.
“Actually, I…. I was getting really bored with staying in this world, you
see. What a relief this is. Now I can finally return to my world as well.”
One year since that day. If one said it was short, then it was, but if one said
it was too long, then it could be, as well.
The envoy’s mission of remaining in this world to wait for the Shadow
Sovereign’s decision had finally come to an end. And seeing his expression, it
was rather clear that the odds of him changing his mind were absolutely none.
“Well, then….”
While looking as if a load had been taken off his shoulders, the envoy stood
up from his seat. He then bowed his waist towards Jin-Woo, no, the greatest
hero who brought the war of two worlds to an end.
“I entrust this world to your capable hands.”
Jin-Woo stopped digging through his closet and scratched his head.
‘This isn’t good….’
He couldn’t see a single piece of garment that could hide his face. But then
again, he bought a hoodie and a baseball cap to hide his face riddled with
scars he earned while working as a low ranked Hunter, so it was only obvious
that they wouldn’t remain anymore in the new timeline.
Left with no choice, Jin-Woo decided to create the clothing he wanted.
The black smoke quickly enveloped him and became thick like actual
liquid, before transforming into a hoodie that he used to wear so much in the
past. He pulled the hood up and stood before the mirror in his room.
‘How long has it been, me in this look…..?’
He experienced renewed reminiscence of the time erased, as the reflection
was like looking at his past self. His lips exposed below the hoodie curled up
into a grin.
“Nice.”
With this, his preparation was over. And his figure slowly submerged into
the shadow beneath his feet.
Somewhere in the desert, west of the United States of America.
The American government sealed tight the surrounding area and invited
every expert they could get their hands on to this place, but in the end, every
single one of them failed to come up with a meaningful hypothesis.
“I wonder. Well, this could be….”
“I’ve researched many strange weather phenomena across the globe for
over 30 years, but this is my first time seeing something like that.”
From the get-go, how could any expert, regardless of the numbers gathered,
be able to explain the phenomenon of cracks developing in the atmosphere?
Crack, split…
Even as they dithered about, the empty sky was slowly but surely breaking
apart bit by bit. Understandably, the American defence forces surrounding
this area just in case something bad happened were very tense right now. If
one were to exaggerate the scale a bit, more than enough combat forces had
been gathered here to literally blow away a foreign nation.
The commander confidently spoke to the President of the U.S.A.
“Even if something pops out of there, Mister President, we shall take care
of them. Yes, yes, sir. The scale of the crack has grown much larger since its
initial discovery….”
While chatting on the comm device, the commander shifted his gaze over
to the ranks of the soldiers without thinking too much and discovered a
certain man walking closer to his position.
A man whose face was obscured by the pulled-up hoodie was walking
straight towards the commander’s location.
“Who the hell is that guy? How the f*ck did he even enter here?”
“No, sir. Let me call you back a bit later, sir.”
The commander hurriedly ended the call and, along with his adjutants,
quickly ran towards this unknown man.
“Excuse me! Who are you?”
This was a restricted zone secured by a water-tight cordon of soldiers, yet
how could a normal-looking civilian waltz right in completely unhindered?
Signs of irritation floated up on the commander’s face as an annoying
situation suddenly came to visit him.
However, the man didn’t show any signs of fear, even though he was
surrounded by heavily-armed soldiers. The uninvited guest coming to speak
to the commander was, of course, Jin-Woo. And he certainly had something
to say.
“Please, withdraw your troops from here. This place is dangerous.”
His English didn’t sound natural.
‘Is he a foreigner?’
The commander formed a deep frown and in order to put the fear of God in
this uninvited guest, he shouted out at the top of his lungs.
“Do you have a death wish?! Do you seriously not know who is in real
danger here?”
‘What do you mean by that, mister? It’s you, obviously.’
Jin-Woo knew that convincing these people with words would be
impossible, so he released just a tiny bit of his power. When he did, the
commander, his adjutants, as well as all the soldiers watching Jin-Woo floated
up in the air at once.
“Uh, uhhh?!”
The commander became flustered and he quickly took a look around him.
There was only one person with both of his feet firmly planted on the ground.
Not only that, the vehicles, various machinery and equipment, and even heavy
tanks were floating over a metre in the air.
Having witnessed something that couldn’t scientifically happen, the eyes of
the commander began trembling hard.
“B-but, how?!”
Deciding that this much was enough, Jin-Woo brought them back down to
the ground.
However, the first thing the commander did upon landing was to yank out
his sidearm. His highly-agitated voice rang around loudly in the desert sky.
“What the hell are you?!”
Jin-Woo raised both of his hands up to his shoulders to clearly indicate that
he didn’t want to fight and calmly continued on with his explanation.
“Soon, enemies possessing similar powers as what you saw will emerge
from that spot in the sky. And….”
He used Mana to take away the commander’s sidearm and had it float over
to near his head.
When the pistol suddenly began moving towards Jin-Woo seemingly on its
own, the nervous soldiers quickly cocked their rifles and got ready to fire, but
the commander was equally as quick to raise his hand to stop them from
doing anything.
“Hold your fire!”
While he was busy calming his subordinates down, Jin-Woo used the
‘invisible hand’ to pull the trigger of the pistol now aimed at his face.
Blam! Blam! Blam!!
Bullets that failed to even touch Jin-Woo’s body fell powerlessly to the
ground. The gazes of the soldiers relying on their firearms until then were
rapidly filling up with sheer astonishments and panic.
Jin-Woo could sense their hearts freezing up, too. He swept his gaze around
and took in their eyes of shock and panic, before calmly continuing on with
his explanation.
“Your weapons will not work against the incoming enemies.”
Soon after that, his gaze landed on the commander, still rooted firmly in his
spot.
“Are you willing to watch the meaningless deaths of your subordinates?”
“What should…. What am I supposed to do, then?”
“Withdraw your troops from here as far as possible. I shall be the only
one to remain here.”
“You alone…? Are you planning to fight against the enemies by
yourself?”
Him alone, was it….
Jin-Woo didn’t particularly feel the need to explain himself any further, so
he just nodded his head.
“…”
The commander shut his mouth and began weighing his options, but then
suddenly, he yanked out his spare sidearm tucked neatly in the back of his
pants and fired several shots at Jin-Woo.
Blam! Blam!! Blam!!! Blam!!!!
Every single bullet fired from the commander all tumbled to the ground
powerlessly as soon as they reached Jin-Woo’s vicinity.
This man was a ‘monster’. No, at this point, wasn’t he more like a
character from some mythical legend, rather than a simple monster?
The commander bore witness to the miracle that kept repeating itself and
eventually lowered his weapon. He then spun towards his soldiers and
shouted out loudly so that they could hear him.
“All personnel, pull-out!! We withdraw from here, as quickly and
efficiently as possible!!”
The adjutants quickly relayed the commander’s new order to the rest of the
defence force.
“Pull out, now!!”
“Pulling out!”
This well-trained army quickly distanced themselves away from the
potential combat zone. Jin-Woo observed their withdrawal process before
shifting his gaze over to the large fissure rapidly developing in the sky.
He could sense it now.
He could sense the intense greed of the enemies wanting to devour this
land.
He could even sense their heavy breathing as if they were close by.
For the first time in a while, his Black Heart began pounding hard again to
notify him of the entrance of new enemies. A grin formed on Jin-Woo’s face
as he summoned his shortswords from subspace.
Soon, they would….
Craaak
Split, crack!!
The atmosphere rocked from an intense impact force and the dimension
finally split open. With that, giants seemingly made out of rocks stepped onto
this land.
They belatedly discovered a small lifeform below their feet while emitting
a thick amount of hostility towards them and began snorting in derision.
[What’s this? Just you alone wish to stop us?]
This feeling – Jin-Woo closed his eyes to enjoy this stillness before the
battle and slowly opened them back again.
Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump!
His heart was beating loudly.
He finally unleashed all of his powers and spoke up.
“Does it look like I’m alone to you?”
With that, his shadow extended in the blink of an eye to encompass the vast
land behind him, and the Shadow Army of ten million rose up at once.
Chapter 256 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 13
Gooood morning!!
….Was what I’d like to say, but there was no distinction between day and
night in the world of shadows. So, I simply stretched my limbs without saying
anything after waking up from my nap.
Yawn-!!
The sleep one could get inside this place, the ‘territory of eternal rest’, was
absolutely the best, no two ways about it. Honestly speaking, the majority of
the Shadow Army’s soldiers would spend most of their downtime sleeping
until our liege summons us.
I should be seen on the side of those who enjoyed napping, but today was a
very important day and I just had to rouse myself up. Soldiers stretching their
muscles to get ready for the day discovered me and began bowing their heads
to greet me.
“Oh, hello, Fangs-nim.”
“Sure, sure.”
“Good day to you, Commander Fangs.”
“Right, right.”
I didn’t want to show it, but heck, I couldn’t help but feel good when this
happened.
I came under my liege’s wings relatively early compared to some other
soldiers and after my various accomplishments were recognised, I now found
myself in the position to command all the magic-wielding soldiers in the
army.
The hierarchy within the Shadow Army was determined by how trusted one
was by our liege, and that was why Ancient-grade Dragons were paying their
respects to a mere High Orc Shaman like myself!
My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!
My exalted and great Shadow Sovereign-nim, hooray!!
‘Tsk, tsk….’
I ended up shouting out three cheers towards my liege again today due to
the overwhelming gratitude I felt. While feeling happy and content, I headed
towards the portion of the army comprising of ant soldiers.
Quite unlike other Shadow Soldiers, these ants didn’t seem to enjoy
napping and were always doing something or rather to keep themselves busy.
After finding me visiting their territory, they began bowing their heads in
greetings.
“Huh-huhuh….”
I half-heartedly accepted their greetings and quickened my walking pace. If
I were to be honest, I felt a wee bit scared by these ant soldiers, even though
we were on the same side.
Because, well, not only were they the most vicious and cruel of all the
Shadow Soldiers, but they were also scarily diligent with their given tasks,
too.
Kkiieek!
Kkiiiahk!
Whenever these ants screeched out those sounds containing meanings that
were lost on me, I couldn’t help but flinch my shoulders just a little.
‘If it isn’t Beru Marshal-nim, just who would be capable of commanding
this lot….?’
Thankfully, Beru Marshal-nim in question must’ve read my mind, because
I didn’t have to walk far to meet him, who had graciously come out to greet
me as well.
When our gazes met, though, his shoulders began quivering ominously.
“Kiieehehehehehet.”
“Ehehehehe.”
“Kii-hahahahahat!”
“Ehehehehehet!!”
We stood face to face while laughing to our hearts’ content.
Judging from the expression on Beru-nim’s face, a very satisfactory item
must’ve been created. So, it was only obvious that a big smile would form on
my own face too, as it was me who entrusted the creation of that item to him
in the first place.
Beru-nim quickly approached me and then, showed me the ‘item’ hidden
behind his back.
“So, what do you think?”
I was so moved by my emotions that I ended up exclaiming out loudly.
“Hoh!!”
The item that I requested Beru-nim who possessed excellent crafting skills,
with its creation even at the risk of inconveniencing him! A robe with a hood
attached that resembled what our liege wore not too long ago had been
completed and was waiting for me.
“Kii-hehehehet!”
“Ehehehehet!”
I threw off the robe on my body right away and put on the brand new one
Beru-nim handed over.
The best!!
Was there a need for any other description than these two words?
I couldn’t control my overflowing, heightened emotions and addressed
Beru-nim with an abashed voice.
“I can’t even imagine how should I go about repaying you for this,
Marshal-nim…”
“Keh-hehehet. How can I turn a blind eye to your wish to become more
like our liege? As long as you’re happy, it’s all good.”
“Yes, I am truly happy. So much so that I’m almost tempted to make it a
duty of every Magic Soldier to wear this robe, Marshal-nim.”
“Kii-hahahahahat!”
“Uwehehehehet!”
Beru-nim couldn’t control his laughter for a long time, but then, he fixed
his gaze on me as if he had discovered something else.
“That thing…. Wouldn’t it be better to turn that item into a staff rather
than walking around with it in your hand?”
What Beru-nim was pointing at was the ‘Bead of Avarice’ I carried in my
right hand most of the time.
“Heuh…. Does that mean I can entrust you for this one as well….?”
I was sheepish, but still, I presented the Bead, but Beru-nim raised his hand
to stop me.
“I can’t help you with magical artefacts. Unless you bring me a living kin
of the bearded Dwarves, then the story might change.”
“Ah…. I see.”
“Since we’re talking about it, how about entrusting the job with the
bearded Dwarves? They might be pretty terrible at warfare, but they are still
talented artisans, aren’t they?”
“…..”
I rubbed my chin and pondered this dilemma, and eventually, nodded my
head.
“That is a good idea, Marshal-nim.”
“Kii-hehehehet!”
I bowed my waist 90 degrees to express my gratitude towards Beru-nim
and his excellent work, before quickly making my way out of the ant’s area.
This time, my steps took me to the area populated by my friends, the Dragons.
We grew quite close after comparing our firepower, you see. I explained to
them my circumstances, and they willingly stepped forward to lend me aid. I
chose the smallest of my friends and climbed up on his back.
There was only one reason why I chose this guy. Well, I was cursed with
short legs so if I mounted a friend with a bigger body, I might have to suffer
through the terrible pain of my groin being torn in half, that’s why.
Soon, my Dragon friend flapped its wings and flew up in the air. I pointed
in the direction where the bearded Dwarves were residing.
We were currently inside the world of eternal rest. It was wide enough to be
called infinite, and on top of that, there were ten million soldiers residing
here, so some places could only be accessed after borrowing the abilities of
my friends like this.
Flap, flap….
As the Dragon friend flew rapidly to our destination, I sneaked a glance
below us and oh boy, there sure were lots of soldiers below us.
‘There is… Grand-Marshal-nim.’
Slap, slap!!
“Stand up straight, Titans!!”
Currently, Bellion Grand-Marshal-nim was using his long sword that could
be manipulated by one’s mind like a whip to properly re-educate the newest
additions to the army.
The newbies must’ve been fairly renowned back in their own world and
that resulted in them still being influenced by their old habits, which meant
that Grand-Marshal-nim would have to strictly discipline them for a little
while longer.
“….Ah!”
Bellion-nim discovered me and my Dragon friend in the air and waved his
hand at us, necessitating me to hurriedly bow my head to him as well.
After we flew past the location of the newbie training area, I spotted Igrit-
nim. He was so immersed in studying that he failed to notice a Dragon flying
above his head. We couldn’t disturb Igrit Marshal-nim when he was being
like this, so we did our best to get out of there as quietly as possible.
Kii-ahhk!
Once we put the areas with Marshal-nims behind us, my Dragon friend
unfurled its wings even wider and increased his speed.
A truly wonderful scenery greeted us!
Countless Shadow Soldiers, now no bigger than ants in our eyes, went past
in a blur below us.
Soldiers that were asleep; soldiers that were in the middle of training;
soldiers noisily chatting away; soldiers playing cards to while away time; and
even those soldiers busy grabbing at each other’s collars, their voices getting
louder still….
What a colourful bunch they were.
Indeed, soldiers of all varieties could be seen below my feet. It wasn’t
originally like this, however.
We were psychically connected to our liege’s mind, and as his powers grew
stronger and stronger, we began to grow closer in personality to him, as well.
Meaning, we who only knew and desired wanton destruction were gradually
learning more about our liege’s human side.
The process of many new and different emotions of a human filling up our
once-empty chests was quite a refreshing experience, that’s for sure.
When our liege’s heart begins to pound, even our hearts would go on a riot
alongside it.
I liked my liege very much.
I could only express my gratitude to my liege who had shown me a new
world that I never ever imagined experiencing before.
My Sovereign-nim, hooray!!
My exalted and great Shadow Sovereign-nim….
‘Eh?’
While I was unconsciously exalting my liege after being moved by my
emotions once more, we had already arrived at the area populated by the kins
of the bearded Dwarves.
Perhaps fitting for our comrades that enjoyed crafting things, they had
managed to construct a proper village, what with houses and smithies, as well
as other buildings dotting the landscape.
Flap, flap.
After my Dragon friend landed on the ground, I cautiously stepped down,
my toes wiggling and searching for solid footing.
“F-Fangs Commander-nim!”
“Commander-nim?”
The bearded Dwarves discovered my sudden, unannounced visit and
quickly gathered around before politely bowing their heads. I was pretty sure
that they were flustered by my presence, since it would be very rare for a
Commander to come visit this far-flung ‘frontier’ area.
I politely explained what my situation was to these very courteous folks.
When I was finished, their Elder replied with a bright expression.
“Ah, I see…. Please, leave it to us. As a matter of fact, we were troubled
by the fact that we couldn’t find a good place to use the divine timber our
liege had bestowed upon us.”
“Hoh-oh!”
It seemed that the right material had been prepared already.
While I was being treated to a cup of warm tea at the residence of the
Elder, other artisans gathered together to craft my new weapon.
“What do you think, Commander-nim?”
The Elder confidently presented a cool-looking staff and I cried out as
another bout of emotions overwhelmed me.
“Hoh-ohhhhh!!”
I had no choice but to carry around the Bead of Avarice in my hand, but
that beautiful thing glowing in bright crimson hue was now decorating the
end of this great staff.
“Very good! It’s wonderful!”
My mood lifted up so much that I almost flew away from there. And as I
took hold of the staff and assumed several different poses, the corners of the
Elder’s lips curled up.
“The word wonderful would better suit the robe you’re wearing right now
instead of the staff, Commander-nim!”
“Uwehehehehehet! I see that you too have a great sense of fashion!”
I was able to leave the residential area of the kins of bearded Dwarves in
utter satisfaction. I watched them wave their hands to bade me goodbye and
raised my thumb up real high as my reply.
If, in the distant future, my liege asked me about the coolness of this staff,
then I swore in my heart to mention their hard work in crafting this item.
I went back the way I came and returned to the area of the Magic Soldiers.
The first thing I did was to summon all the Magic Soldiers under my
command and showed off my new robe and weapon combo.
“It’s really cool, Fangs-nim!”
“It’s the best!”
“I can’t stop my tears from gushing out, Fangs Commander-nim!”
Rather obviously, praises kept pouring in from everywhere. It was the
romance of all Magic Soldiers to wear cool-looking robes and hold cool-
looking staffs, after all!
“Uwuhuhuhuhut!!”
I magnanimously shared my joy with the rest of the Magic Soldiers, and
then, gifted the highest-quality robe I used to wear until recently to this one
particular soldier busy clapping his hands who said a moment or two ago that
he couldn’t stop crying.
“Thank you, thank you, Commander-nim!!”
“Uwuhuhuhuhut!!”
He was expressing his joy with his entire body and I lightly patted his
shoulders. But it was at this point that my eyes caught the sight of a few big
guys that I hadn’t seen before.
“And who you guys might be?”
The giants made out of rocks scratched the backs of their heads, and one of
them spoke to me in an awkward voice.
“Bellion-nim ordered us to come to this place.”
‘Ah, ah. I see.’
It seemed that there were a few Magic Soldiers among the ranks of the new
additions to the army. But then again, wouldn’t such a big guy shooting magic
spells around be a waste of his hulking…. No, hang on a minute, that wasn’t
something I could say with a straight face, now was it?
In any case.
There was this one process that all newbie Magic Soldiers had to go
through if they were to be put under my command.
“There, there. Other Magic Soldiers, you’re dismissed for the time being.
The newbies, settle down there for a second.”
The rocky giants were so well disciplined that they politely knelt down on
the spot and quietly waited for me.
“From now on, I shall describe in detail what I’ve accomplished during
the first battle our liege fought against the horrifying enemy called the
Dragon Emperor, and then, every achievement I earned during the ensuing
battle within the gap between dimensions. Listen well, and then…..”
After I finished telling them the lengthy tale of my unforgettable history, I
had the newbies still stewing in admiration towards me return to their
respective posts. It was then that I realised my day had come to an end.
I sensed the encroaching embrace of Lady Sleep, so I unfurled the bedding,
lied down on it, and let out an almighty yawn.
“Yawn-!!”
I liked wonderful clothes, cool weapons, or telling stirring heroic tales, but
what I liked the most at the end of the day was to fall asleep. Especially for
sleep that closed out a day like today, which was hectic, to say the least.
I pulled the duvet right up until my neck and slowly drifted into my
slumber while being embraced in this wonderful warmth. But then, just as the
sleepiness sneaked its way closer and carried me off to the land of dreams,
someone suddenly began shaking my shoulders!
How dare he?!
How dare anyone try to disrupt the sweet slumber of Commander Fangs?!
My eyes shot wide open as I got ready to rip the idiot apart.
“…?”
Igrit Marshal-nim was quietly looking at me from near my head.
“I love you, Marshal-nim.”
“….I am also grateful for your sincere loyalty.”
“By the way…. What brings you here, Marshal-nim?”
I pushed my upper torso up and Igrit Marshal-nim pointed to the distant sky
above.
“It’s about to begin. Didn’t we, the Commander-grade soldiers that serve
our liege from close by, agree to cheer him on when the time came?”
“Heok!!”
I kicked the duvet off and hurriedly jumped up before raising my head
towards the sky. Like a gigantic movie theatre, the sky morphed into a screen
to share what our liege was viewing to the rest of us.
“Finally, is our liege about to meet Lady Hae-In?”
“That’s correct.”
“Uwohohohot!!”
So moved by the fact that I was allowed to share this historical moment
together with my liege, I ended up crying out loudly. The rest of the Shadow
Soldiers cheering on our liege then also raised their arms high up and roared
out as well.
Waaaahhhh-!!!
When our liege’s heart pounded away, ours would pound away as well. I
too raised my arms up high and joined in the chorus of soldiers’ roars.
Waaaah-!!
My heart was beating really loud now.
Chapter 257 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 14
Antares was my name.
I was the ‘First Sovereign’ born from the darkness, as well as the ‘Strongest
Sovereign’. I was the king that lorded over all Dragon-kind, an existence that
signified terror and destruction.
That’s right.
All those who knew me referred to me as the ‘Dragon Emperor’ as a sign
of respect and awe.
However, something strange happened.
On a certain day, as I was getting ready to invade the planet called ‘Earth’
alongside the ten million-strong soldiers within our hideout inside the gap
between dimensions….
….I opened my eyes to discover that I was now occupying the body of a
human being.
‘…….’
And rather inexplicably, I seemed to have retained all the memories of this
human, as well. I quickly found a mirror in the corner of the room and took a
look at myself, only to emit a shocked gasp.
‘What’s this? Why does this human’s face look so feeble?’
Hah-ah, how pitifully pathetic this man was.
The name of this human was Seong Jin-Woo, a young man acting as a rank
E Hunter in a nation called the Republic of Korea. It seemed that this human
never gave up on being a Hunter, even though his pathetic level of abilities
drove him to the moments of near death quite often.
‘His reason is…. his mother’s illness?’
Just as I began thinking to myself that such a measly little illness would be
healed in an instant with my magic, the human’s mobile phone suddenly
began vibrating loudly.
Vrrr…. Vrrr….
I discovered the miniature electronic device angrily vibrating on top of a
desk and picked it up. When I did, I was greeted by an urgent female voice
coming from the other side of the phone line.
I tried to match this voice to the memories of my human body and soon,
came across a result of ‘Hunter’s Association Employee’.
‘Hmph.’
I was thinking of ending this call which was answered purely out of this
body’s habitual reaction, but then, what this female said towards the end got
on my nerves somewhat.
‘…..!!!’
Being ‘late’.
The action of failing to meet the promised deadline because one lacked the
ability to arrive on time. Meaning, this female just dared to ask me, the
mighty ‘Dragon Emperor’ and the personification of omnipotent powers, that
I’d do something which was the very symbol of incompetence.
Since this was completely unacceptable, rage quickly filled up my eyes.
“You…. Where are you right now?”
I concentrated for a bit to find the exact location where this insolent female
was speaking from. My sensory perception spread out to envelop the entire
city and soon enough, I found her coordinates.
“Found you.”
Click.
The location was about 11 kilometres away in the human distance
measuring system, and since it wasn’t too far, I ran with all my might and
arrived there in only a couple of seconds.
And then, I stopped right in front of that female Association employee as
she began lowering the phone away from her ear, now that the call had been
disconnected.
“Now, am I still late, woman?”
“H-Hunter-nim?!”
Perhaps she had sensed just a tiny fraction of my limitless power, because
she began backpedalling with a deeply frightened expression etched on her
face.
I reached out and grabbed her shoulders as to make sure she’d not get away
and asked her again.
“Tell me. Am I being tardy now?”
“N-no, not at all.”
“Very good.”
I released her as a look of satisfaction floated up on my face. I then swept
my gaze around the surroundings to find a group of Hunters raising a bit of
fuss.
Rather than focusing on these unremarkable individuals and their
forgettable faces, I focused on the distinct aroma rising up from the paper
cups they were holding at the moment.
“Coffee…. I also want to drink coffee.”
I turned around to look at the female employee with her rapidly-paling
complexion, and she bowed her waist with all of her heart.
“I-I’m truly sorry, Hunter-nim. We ran out of coffee just now…..”
“It’s not an issue.”
“Pardon?”
Even before she had the chance to raise her bowed heard, I walked over to
the closest human and snatched his paper cup away.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Gulp, gulp.
I swallowed the sweet liquid in one go and formed a crumpled expression,
causing the flustered man who lost his coffee to me to jump up in fright and
quickly flee from there.
“Hahah!!”
The one possessing great powers would take away what the weak
possessed, that was the way of the Sovereigns. It seemed that such logic also
applied to humans and that certainly made me feel rather refreshed.
“Mister Seong…. Isn’t he acting a little bit weird today?”
“Yes, his eyes today are a bit….”
“Well, I’ve been getting this really creepy, eerie feeling from him since he
showed up here.”
Other Hunters were murmuring amongst themselves behind my back, but
there was no reason to pay heed to the opinions of these lowly humans
anyway, so I outright ignored them.
“There, there. Since everyone is here, let’s get started.”
While the Hunters began stretching their muscles to get ready for the raid, I
shifted my gaze towards the ‘Gate’ that these people were scheduled to enter.
‘….’
That place, it… was quite suspicious.
The Gates that appeared on Earth were, without a doubt, the ploy of the
Rulers, yet…. Why was I picking up the aura of a Sovereign from there?
There was a need to investigate this. I glared at the Gate with eyes as sharp
as a hawk and stood behind the Hunters getting ready to enter.
“I’m coming along.”
“O-of course, you do need to come with us, Hunter Seong.”
Perhaps they too had detected the eerie, chilling atmosphere oozing out
from the interior of the Gate, because the Hunters were forming flustered
expressions as well. I accompanied them and stepped past the portal.
Pow, bang, boom, thud!!
As I began pummelling the fake monsters placed here to hide the real
purpose of this dungeon into oblivion, other Hunters began showing me their
respect.
“Isn’t Mister Seong acting seriously weird today??”
“No, well…. Maybe the monsters of this dungeon are just too weak…?”
“But, I can’t see his movements. My eyes can’t follow Mister Seong at
all….”
I took care of all the monsters in an instant and finally discovered a
suspicious entrance.
“We go through here.”
“Hold on, we need to take a vote to decide on such issues…”
This man didn’t get to finish his sentence. Because he lost his
consciousness from a single hit from me.
Plop.
I looked down at the collapsed old man before scanning the rest of the
Hunters.
“Anyone else want to take a vote?”
“….”
The decision to enter the passage was unanimous. We walked the
seemingly-infinite corridor and finally arrived at the giant door at the end.
“But, how can there be a door at the end of the cave?”
“Has there ever been a boss room with a doorway before?”
“No, this is a first….”
“This… wouldn’t this be too dangerous?”
Noisy, noisy….
The Hunters didn’t bother to hide their high level of anxiety. I too had
detected the truly scary aura leaking out from the interior and agreed with
their opinion that things could get dangerous.
That was why as soon as I opened the door, I grabbed the collar of a Hunter
standing at the front of the pack and lightly tossed him inside.
“U-uwahk?!”
The thrown idiot flailed about unsightly on the floor, but contrary to initial
worries, nothing happened. Only after confirming that it was safe to enter, I
strode right in. The vast open interior waiting for me was decorated like an
ancient temple.
“W-what is this place??”
Other Hunters belatedly entered behind me and began searching around,
but they were wasting their time doing that.
I closed my eyes for a brief moment and focused my senses; soon, I
discovered the b*stard that was basically the true puppeteer of this place.
“It’s that one over there.”
Hunters quickly gathered in front of an angel statue holding a stone tablet
that I pointed at.
“Looks like something is written on the tablet?”
“Uh, uh? It’s the Rune letters!”
It seemed that a Hunter capable of reading the Rune letters were not present
among us, so I read it out loud for them, instead.
“The Laws of the Karutenon Temple.”
When I did, though, someone suddenly pulled at my arm. I looked behind
me only to find a young girl with a completely pale complexion standing
there.
“T-the god statue over there, it….”
“Unhand me.”
I shook off the girl’s hands and continued to read down the stone tablet.
“One, worship the god. Two, exalt the god. Three, prove your piety. Those
who do not keep to these laws shall not leave this place alive.”
It was at that exact moment two beams of crimson light shot out from the
eyes of the gigantic god statue sitting in a corner over there.
Zzzziiinnng-!!
I didn’t even bother to dodge or block those beams and simply stood up
proudly to clash face-to-face with the attack.
“You dare to belittle this Emperor with so little power?!”
I ridiculed the destructive power of the beams that didn’t even come
anywhere remotely close to that of the Breath fired by an Ancient-grade
Dragon, before stepping forward to display what true destruction looked like.
Kwahaaaaaaahhh-!!
The ‘Breath of Destruction’ fired out in a straight line from my mouth
completely blew away the head of the god statue.
“Now that is true power.”
That served as the starting signal. The statues lining up the walls of the
temple like some decorations began rushing towards me while ignoring other
Hunters.
“Keuh-hahahahaha!!”
What a bunch of arrogant dolls!
With nothing but my bare hands, I began smashing apart the heads of the
statues pouncing at me one by one.
Boom! Bang! Boom! Kwa-jeeck! Ka-boom!!
“Too slow!! So slow!”
Hunters quickly lowered themselves to the floor in order to dodge the
debris flying all over the place. Some of them even began crying out, too.
“Why! Why does it feel like there was another way?!”
“What was up with those laws or whatever just now?!”
Even before their desperate cries could come to an end, most of the statues
were turned into nothing more than shattered rubble by my hands. It was only
obvious, but well, they didn’t even serve their role as a proper warm-up for
me.
“Is that all you have??”
The angel statue with the stone tablet suddenly rose up from its seat and
loudly shouted out, perhaps incensed by the fact that all of its careful
preparation had been rendered useless by my power.
[Y-you b*stard, just what is your iden…..]
“Silence!”
I yanked the spear loose from the grip of a broken statue and threw it
straight at the angel. In less than a blink, the spear penetrated through the
neck of the b*stard and it collapsed down to the floor.
I didn’t come here to converse with a fake. What I wanted to bring out was
the true figure hidden behind the scenes!
“Reveal yourself, you coward!”
I got rid of all the hindrances and roared out loudly, and that prompted the
headless god statue to quietly raise itself up off its throne.
Indeed, that’s better.
The corners of my lips curled up as the sensation of boiling blood coursed
throughout this body. The god statue strode closer and stopped right before
me to look down.
[The Sovereign of Destruction, our paths were fated to cross like this.
Here, in this place, I shall put an end to our ill-fated relationship!]
“Ha-ha!! Now that is an excellent idea!”
The god statue was rapidly enveloped in a jet-black aura and transformed
into a gigantic shadow, and I unleashed all of my strength in order to contend
with that massive hunk of power.
An ecstatic jolt coursed from the tip of my toes right up to the ends of my
hair.
“Come!”
Our battle would not end that easily!
“Heok?!”
Jin-Woo hurriedly raised his upper torso from the bed.
He spotted the familiar bed, familiar wallpapers, familiar ceiling, and his
old computer. He quickly took a look around and finally realised that the
place he woke up was in his own room.
‘It was a dream?’
It was a truly rubbish dream where he had become the Dragon Emperor.
No, should he say that the Dragon Emperor became him, instead?
‘Hold up….’
He hurriedly confirmed the current time with his smartphone and sighed in
relief afterwards. There was still some time left before the beginning of the
exams.
‘Now that I think about it… It’s been four years already since I got rid of
the Dragon Emperor.’
Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and here he was, scheduled to take the
College Scholastic Ability Test later today. Him having a crap dream like this
was good evidence of how tense he felt right now.
Smirk.
Jin-Woo chuckled helplessly for a moment there before getting up from the
bed. Today, he’d get to confirm the fruit of his hard work and determination
of the past four years.
He had already decided on which university he wanted to go to. Because
this one person he just had to meet would attend that institution later on.
‘What a relief that you aren’t so good with studying, Jin-Ho.’
Yu Jin-Ho.
Jin-Woo reminded himself of the name of the guy he dearly missed and
pulled open the curtains covering up the windows to the side. The dusky aura
of the dawn was gradually fading away outside.
‘I shall go there first and wait for you.’
Jin-Woo breathed in the winds of the early morning entering through the
open gap of his window while thinking about the reunion that’d take place in
the near future. It was at that moment when the door to his room was pushed
open, accompanied by the loud, hurried footsteps.
“S-son, you know that today is the CSAT day, right?”
“Son, as your father, I can take you there, you know?”
His parents couldn’t catch a wink during the night, worried that their son
might end up missing out on this all-important exam because he woke up a bit
late today. Jin-Woo looked at their haggard faces and gently smiled while
nodding his head.
“I’m ready.”
[Let’s go, my liege.]
Jin-Woo soon stepped out of his home as Igrit, sounding tense for some
reason, spoke words of encouragement.
What a refreshing morning this was.
Chapter 258 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 15
The United States of America, inside the official residence of the nation’s
president – the White House.
Several bigshots gathered in this iconic white building created for the
President of the U.S. of A to live and work.
“….”
Every single one of these important government officials occupying a spot
inside the briefing room all carried tense expressions. Among them, one
person carried the gloomiest expression.
The American President continued to rub his face, wondering over and
over again if he had made the right call.
‘Rifts formed on an empty sky, and unidentified objects began appearing
from there.’
It was an unprecedented historical event. But, was it the right thing to
handle this incredible event without saying a word to the public at large?
No, before that, did they even possess the capability to deal with ‘the
objects that came out’ from there?
All he could do was anxiously wait for the arrival of the commander in
charge of the operation. And, when the entrance to the conference room
opened up and General Chester Harrison entered, the President quickly got up
from his seat to welcome the military man.
“Harrison, just what the hell happened back there?”
The final report sent in from the location of the event was…
….That report, sadly enough, lacked the most important ‘how’ of that
normalisation process.
That was why so many bigshots, including the POTUS himself, were
nervously waiting for the arrival of the military man inside this conference
room.
Chester mouthed a brief greeting to his boss and scanned the room for a
short while, and stood in front of the room.
“Rather than me trying to describe the situation to you, it’ll be far
quicker to play the video contained in here.”
What he was holding was a small USB stick. The President grew curious
about its contents in an instant and hurriedly nodded his head.
Not just him, though, but everyone present within the room was staring at
the tense-faced general’s hand. He slotted the USB stick in the terminal and
video footage began playing on the giant screen installed on the wall of the
conference room.
“This is the footage captured by the surveillance drones and robots.”
Chester Harrison spoke those short introductory words and stood beside the
screen while swallowing down his own nervous saliva.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine how these folks would react to the
footage about to be played. Well, he’d seen it several times before coming
here, and he was still unsure how to take it, even now.
However, what was really important here was that it did happen.
The evidence of that was contained within this USB drive, and as the
commander in charge of this operation, it was his duty to reveal it to this
gathering of higher-ups.
The beginning of the footage started off with the ‘cracks’ in the sky.
“Keu-heum….”
“Huh-uh!”
Several gasps of shocks came from here and there as giants seemingly
made out of rocks emerged from the rift reminiscent of dimension itself
shattering away.
If it weren’t for the heads-up they received in regards to the existence of
those bizarre creatures, the inside of the conference room would’ve descended
into pure chaos by now.
But the truly shocking scene happened after that. In front of terrifying
giants, ones so scary that you’d forget to even breathe while looking at them,
stood the lone figure of a person.
‘Judging from his body size…. a boy?’
‘An East Asian, maybe?’
The Secretary of Defense couldn’t hold it back anymore and pointed at the
screen while asking his questions.
“That man!! Who is that man?? Where were our troops, Harrison? And
why was there a civilian standing in the middle of those creatures?!”
It was as he said; this footage wasn’t a record that everyone in this room
was expecting to see in which the mightiest army on Earth – the American
military – smashed apart and drove back the creatures of another world.
No, this video was all about a lone, nameless man whose face they couldn’t
even see.
With excellent timing, the screen now showed pitch-black ‘soldiers’
suddenly rising up from the ground behind that lone man. General Chester
Harrison, his gaze fixed to the screen until then, spoke as if he was letting out
a pained moan.
“….I’d like to know that myself as well.”
“Does it look like I’m alone to you?”
When those words came to an end, nearly ten million Shadow Soldiers
simultaneously lined up right behind Jin-Woo.
The number of Titans that emerged from the rift in the sky was around
several hundred. So, it was ten million versus a few hundred. In any other
normal circumstances, the ‘ten million’ should’ve easily overwhelmed the
opposition with this number.
The problem today, however, was the fact that each Titan possessed powers
equal to that of higher existences.
Ba-thump, ba-thump!!
Facing a battle for the first time in a long while, Jin-Woo’s heart began
pounding away quite loudly. He sent a mental communication to Fangs,
currently in charge of commanding all the Magic Soldiers.
[There is no problem on this side, my liege.]
Not just Fangs, but all of the Magic Soldiers were entrusted with
performing and maintaining magic spells to minimise the shock waves that no
doubt would be generated by this battle.
He had no choice but to do this, since this world had no Mana, and it was
simply far too fragile as it currently was.
Also, the uninvited guests came here with the purpose of literally
devouring this planet, so they wouldn’t go about flinging around
unnecessarily powerful magic spells, either. Inevitably, the battle about to take
place would be a confrontation involving physical powers between allies and
enemy forces.
A contest of pure raw strength, in other words.
Thankfully, he didn’t dislike such a type of fighting, to begin with. A smirk
formed on Jin-Woo’s lips.
One of the Titans completely misinterpreted the meaning behind that smirk
and in the blink of an eye, smashed its fist down in pure rage.
BOOM-!!
Too bad, the target – Jin-Woo – had already risen up in the air. He had
lightly jumped up like a pole vaulter and settled down gently on top of the
Titan’s fist like a falling feather.
‘……?’
This Titan’s expression hardened and a sense of ominous foreboding crept
up along its backside after seeing that smile etched on the human’s face as he
stood upright on top of its fist.
Sure enough, the human began dashing forward on top of the arm next.
Pah-bababaht!
His legs were moving so fast that even the Titans, possessing as much
power as higher beings, couldn’t react in time. And when they did, Jin-Woo
was already well past this particular Titan’s shoulder, heading straight to the
back of its neck.
Soon, the shortsword held in his hand penetrated straight into the Titan’s
rocky neck.
[Kuwaaahk!!!]
It was almost like scratching the paint of a car with a coin. While gripping
tight the shortsword still buried in the neck of the gigantic creature, Jin-Woo
ran towards the other shoulder, leaving behind a long, long line on the poor
thing’s skin.
Kwa-gahgahgahgahgahk!!
The black aura loaded on the blade cleanly separated the head of the Titan
from the rest of its body.
Riiip!
Jin-Woo stood tall on the shoulder as the huge head rolled off its body, and
he provocatively glared at the other Titans. He could sense rage, fluster, and
fear creeping up on their expressions.
One at a time….
Memories, as well as the feelings he had while hunting down the Army of
the Chaos World in the gap between dimensions, floated back up in his head
one by one.
He knew he had succeeded in breaking the fighting spirit of these creatures.
His original goal was the complete annihilation of the race of Titans. And
so, he finally had his Shadow Army break out of its standby mode and enter
the fray.
‘All personnel, advance!!’
The will to fight from the enormous army beginning to make its move
could be felt from below.
Waaaaaaahh-!!!
‘It’s no good that their leader stops moving here, right?’
At least, that was not his style, the style of the current Shadow Sovereign.
Jin-Woo’s sharp glare began searching for his next prey.
Flinch.
One of the Titans that met Jin-Woo’s glare flinched its shoulders.
The enemy that lost itself to fear would be the first one to be devoured. He
pounced in that direction while swinging his shortsword, packed full of black
aura.
This blade might not have been the ‘Kamish’s Wrath’, but Jin-Woo had
been roaming the battlefield for 27 years already, and the control he could
exert on the black aura was no longer dependent on the weapons he wielded.
The black aura spreading out from the end of the shortsword stretched out
towards his front and completely sliced up the face of the frozen Titan.
Kwa-gah-gahk!!
The giant that got terrified by the overwhelming power of this small
lifeform lost its life so easily like that. However, as it turned out, not all Titans
were cowards like this guy.
Jin-Woo’s brows shot up in surprise. Right behind the falling body of the
dead Titan with its torn-off head, he could now see other Titans throwing
everything they had in order to kill him.
He used his ability to fly to dodge beneath the huge fist approaching him
from the front, while another one sharply digging in from his back was
avoided by him flying up.
The skill, ‘Ruler’s Authority’, had now been fully ingrained within his
body and he could manipulate it without any restriction whatsoever. The thing
was, though, the enemies and their abilities also surpassed his expectations, as
well.
The fist of a Titan slammed down like a hammer, and Jin-Woo kicked it
away, only to be greeted by the back of a hand flying in from the side. He
quickly gathered his arms and got ready for the impact while crouching, to
minimise the surface area of his body.
BOOM-!!
In order to ensure that he wasn’t flung away, Jin-Woo yanked at the back of
the Titan’s hand that smacked him with Mana. In an instant, that huge hand
was pulled towards him and his shortsword, swung without mercy, sliced off
the creature’s wrist in one go.
Slice-!!
The Titan grabbed its now-severed wrist and roared loudly to the sky.
[Kuwaaah-!!]
Jin-Woo rapidly approached its neck and stabbed his weapon deep into
where the creature’s Adam’s apple should be.
Kwa-jeeck!
One razor-sharp killing move later, and another massive physique came
crashing on its backside. Jin-Woo kicked the chest of the toppling Titan and
jumped up high, before slicing and dicing the hands of the Titans relentlessly
reaching out towards him.
To his side!
He dodged the edge of the Titan’s hand, swung with all of the creature’s
might, by flying up, which in turn helped him to find enough leeway to take
stock of the current situation.
In that briefest of moments, Titans keeping close to his position crashed
into him with their shoulders from both sides.
BOOM-!!
“…!!”
Trapped between the two humongous shoulders, Jin-Woo extended his
hands to stop himself from being squashed and then, shoved both of the
Titans away with his raw physical strength. Like an unbelievable lie, those
two huge figures were pushed away from him.
[Keu-heum!]
[How could he, with such a small body of his?!]
While there were Titans freaking out over the fact that they lost out in the
contest of strength, there was also another Titan who was smashing down
with its arm as if it was waiting for this precise moment.
While the palm swung downwards viciously as if to crush a bug to death….
“UWAHHH-!!”
….Jin-Woo spat out Mana with a terrifying roar to deflect it away.
The Titan got flustered by the invisible hand suddenly shoving its arm
away, only to belatedly realise something.
‘….??’
It realised that there was a massive black fist flying straight in its face.
KWA-BOOM!!
The black aura concentrated on Jin-Woo’s right hand morphed into the arm
of a giant before cleanly blowing away the head of the Titan. Soon, he
transformed into a giant himself by enveloping his body with the black aura
and proceeded to mercilessly destroy the Titans around him.
Like a group of starving wild beasts, the giant shadow and the Titans made
out of rocks went on a crazed melee of pure chaos and confusion.
The end result came out pretty quickly.
Right in the midst of the Titans kneeling and collapsing to the ground, the
black shadow giant standing tall was busy crushing an arm made out of rock
with his pure physical strength after ripping it off from one of its victims.
Wu-duduk!!
Maybe they finally had enough of Jin-Woo’s fighting spirit, the Titans
surrounding him began backing away one step at a time.
‘….?’
Jin-Woo scanned his enemies with puzzled eyes, but then, a Titan even
bigger and sturdier-looking than all the rest confidently strode out from
among them.
Strangely enough, though….
[Hoh-oh.]
The one to actually speak was a rather small lifeform standing on the
shoulder of this particular Titan, instead.
[I now see that even a small planet on the outskirts of the universe can
contain a pretty useful talent.]
It was a humanoid made out of rocks that looked like a miniaturised
version of the Titans. It threw a rather insidious grin in Jin-Woo’s direction.
[However, the mere fact that you need to increase the size of your body in
order to enhance your power is a sure sign of how primitive your species is.
On the contrary, we, the Titans, decrease in size when we need to fight with
everything we have.]
The talkative creature had both its hands reach out before pointing back at
itself as a wide grin formed on its face.
[Fu-hut. Of course, such a thing is only possible for the greatest warriors
of the Titan race…..]
It was then.
Jin-Woo was forming an expression of ridicule as he listened to the fool
talk, but then, his head quickly snapped to the side.
Flash!!
With excellent timing, a streak of crimson light flew in from behind Jin-
Woo and utterly erased the so-called greatest warrior of the Titans from
existence.
It was fired by an Ancient-grade Dragon, which was currently being ridden
on by Bellion. The Grand-Marshal asked his boss in a bit of fluster.
[My liege, were you perchance conversing with that creature?]
Jin-Woo shook his hand to show that it was all good and shifted his gaze
towards Bellion.
“You know, these guys seem to be way too arrogant for their own good, so
it looks like you’ll have to pay them extra special attention later on.”
[Please leave it to me, my liege.]
The trusty Grand-Marshal bowed his waist politely before flying away to
somewhere else, and Jin-Woo took a sweeping look at the remaining Titans.
Most of the invading rock giants’ higher-levelled combatants had been
destroyed by Jin-Woo, and as for the remaining ones, they were being
overwhelmed by the black tidal waves created by his Shadow Soldiers.
[Kuwaaaahhk-!!]
[Kuwahk!!]
Loud screams spat out by the giants made out of rocks completely filled up
this nameless stretch of the desert.
“…”
“…..”
Utter silence.
Could there be any other words that could better describe the current
atmosphere pervading within the conference room?
As if someone doused the entire room in icy cold water, it was eerily quiet
in there.
The POTUS had become completely speechless after watching the footage.
However, he did eventually regain his voice, albeit with great difficulty.
“That man…. Have you uncovered his identity yet?”
The general shook his head in silence.
The true monster capable of toying with those scary-looking monsters
ended up saving the United States of America without anyone even realising
it.
‘No, maybe the entire world….’
Unfortunately… if you flip the notion of a power capable of saving the
world on its head, it also implied that the same power could destroy this
world, as well.
The President realised that uncovering the identity of that mystery man, at
the very least, should be their top priority and asked the bigshots present
within the conference room.
“Is there any way to uncover and confirm the identity of that man from
the footage? Anyone?”
They began offering up their opinions here and there, but they all agreed
that it was realistically impossible to do so. But then….
“Indeed, it may realistically be impossible. When we are talking about
‘realistic’ means, that is, sir.”
The director of America’s Central Intelligence Agency, David Brennan,
raised his voice. The President quickly looked at him.
“…..Is there something you’d like to tell us, Director?”
Director Brennan cautiously spoke up.
“If a realistic approach is impossible, how about we employ ‘unrealistic’
means, instead?”
The bigshots around him tilted their heads, but Director Brennan simply
formed a grin.
“We do have a way. A certain person who can inform us of the truths that
no one would have known, through fantastical means.”
Could he be talking about…?!
Pretty much everyone living in the United States of America would’ve
heard of her name by now. It was an open secret within the world of politics
that she had been maintaining a special relationship with the CIA.
The President recalled her name and his brows shot up.
“What you’re saying is….?”
The Director replied confidently.
“That’s right, sir. It’s Madam Norma Selner. Just like before, she will
help us with the right answer this time as well.”
Chapter 259 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 16
Once more in the United States of America, somewhere in the quiet
suburbs on the outskirts of a city. A black saloon car gliding smoothly on a
certain road finally arrived at its destination – a small, but cosy and inviting
house, with a red roof.
Tap, tap, tap.
The ones climbing out of the vehicle was the Director of the CIA, David
Brennan, and his two bodyguards. The director studied the red-roofed
residence for a little while before issuing a new order to his underlings.
“You two, wait for me here.”
“But, sir…”
Since these two agents were charged with protecting him, that order was a
rather difficult one to accept, but the director’s attitude remained unchanging.
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
He waved his hand dismissively towards his underlings trying to dissuade
him.
“Madam doesn’t enjoy noisy visits like this, anyway.”
Leaving behind his entourage by the car, the director walked alone towards
the front door and began fixing his attire. Once he felt satisfied by his
grooming attempt, he cautiously knocked on the door.
“Madam? It’s me, Dav….”
Even before he could finish introducing himself, the door opened up and a
young African-American child peeked his head out. The director recognised
Madam Selner’s grandson and crouched lower to match the boy’s eye level
before patting the kid on the head.
“Is your grandma home?”
“She’s been waiting for you, bearded uncle, for a while now.”
David Brennan looked at the child pointing at him and couldn’t help but
chuckle gently.
But, of course. Just who was the woman he came here to speak to?
The psychic, the prophet, the real ‘Esper’.
Didn’t matter which title was used, none of them would sound ill-fitting to
Madam Selner, the world’s pre-eminent soothsayer. That’s who he came here
to see today.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he trusted her words in the beginning.
But then, she began solving serious problems that even the CIA, an
organisation at the peak of the cut-throat intelligence world, had given up on
with preternatural abilities, and the director had no choice but to stop
suspecting her gift there and then.
She was the real deal.
‘A true superhuman…’
So, predicting his unannounced arrival for someone like her would be
easier than, say, changing the channel on TV with a remote.
Guided by the grandchild, the director was led into the sitting room where
the Madam was waiting for him with a cup of warm tea on top of a coffee
table. He politely greeted her.
“It’s been a while, Madam.”
“Good to see you, Dave.”
The director raised his head.
The last time he stepped in here was about a year ago; he took a look
around at the interior decoration of the sitting room that hadn’t changed since
his last visit before carefully parking his butt on one of the couches.
“Madam, you probably can’t imagine how difficult our work has become
ever since you announced your retirement.”
One could say that the information on the past was of no value compared to
the information on the future.
The CIA reaped a great deal of harvest by cooperating with Madam Selner,
so the sense of loss the agency felt after she retired was indeed well above
one’s imagination.
The director might have spoken with a smile as if he was cracking a joke,
but his genuine belief, hidden beneath the surface, could be heard if one paid
closer attention.
Too bad, the Madam spoke composedly as if she was tiding a young child
throwing a tantrum for more cookies.
“Dave, I’ve already told you this, haven’t I? I can no longer see the
future after that person arrived.”
“Ah….”
Was she talking about that story of the ‘God of Death’ again?
The director could only smack his lips wryly at the exact same answer she
gave every time he asked her.
It was the story about how her powers became useless after an existence
powerful enough to twist destiny as he saw fit had descended to this world.
The director forgot what he wanted to say next after remembering her
reason for retiring, one that defied one’s attempt to understand through logic.
“….”
And so, silence weighed down between these two people.
David Brennan wondered how he should go about breaking this awkward
atmosphere before his nose picked up on the enticing aroma of food.
“Madam, were you in the middle of a meal?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Actually, I have been entertaining another guest.”
“Ah…. I see.”
She didn’t enjoy meeting with people, yet she was with another visitor?
The director tilted his head slightly, but soon enough, made up his mind to
stop beating around the bush. The smile on his face vanished next.
“In that case, I shall get right to the point and get out of your hair as
soon as possible.”
When he said that, though, the Madam replied as if she was waiting for
him.
“The answer to the first question is a ‘yes’, and for the second one, a
‘no’.”
“H-hang on….”
The director could only form a flustered expression when his questions
were answered even before he had a chance to say them out loud. She grinned
refreshingly.
“You wish to ask me how I knew about your questions if I can’t see the
future anymore, am I wrong?”
“….Well, no.”
“Dave. The answers you seek from me are actually the matters of the
past. I simply took a glimpse at a portion of the past and provided you with a
suitable answer.”
“Oh. Ohh…”
The director nodded his head, a soft moan leaving his lips. She carefully
continued on.
“Well, then. Shall I provide you with proper answers to your questions?”
David Brennan pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the sweat on his
forehead.
“Of course. Please go ahead, Madam.”
She then began with her explanations.
“That’s right, Dave. I know just who it is that you wish to find out
about.”
Her answer to the first question was ‘yes’. However, her answer to the
follow-up question was ‘no’.
“Unfortunately, I will not divulge any information on that person to
anyone.”
“But, Madam!”
The director’s voice suddenly grew louder. He wasn’t trying to threaten her
or anything like that. It was just that his agitation got the better of him and he
ended up shouting out.
“If it’s you, Madam, then you should already know what he has done! We
can’t just let someone like that run around without a respo…..”
It was at that moment that the Madam herself shouted out as if she couldn’t
hold it in anymore.
“I’m choosing not to say anything precisely because I know!”
This must’ve been the very first time seeing her like this.
The director didn’t know what kind of expression he should form now after
being confronted by the Madam’s angry expression for the first time ever. Too
bad for him, though, her angry voice didn’t stop there.
“Director, are your eyes just for decorations??”
“Madam!”
“Didn’t you see the footage contained in that USB drive, then??”
“…”
Indeed, he did see it.
He saw the sight of a single human being not even taking a step back while
standing up to those frightening giant monsters. The power that man
possessed was scary and incredible, but it did rescue humanity back then.
“Would you believe me if I told you…that event wasn’t the first time?”
The Madam formed a serious, nay, a grave expression, and the director’s
own expression froze up instantly.
“….”
There was another incident like that in the past??
The moment the director thought of humanity facing extinction-level
threats multiple times in the past without him knowing about them, his entire
body began shuddering uncontrollably.
But when he pondered it some more, he realised that such a case wasn’t so
surprising anymore; even this event had been classified as a top-top secret by
the U.S. government and, besides an extremely small number of people
related to the matter, no one else knew just what happened or who did what
on that particular day.
If that was the case, could he really come out and say with full confidence
that no similar things happened in other countries as well?
‘Perhaps, just like what Madam has said, that man really…..’
The director rested his chin on his hand and began pondering something
else before raising his head.
“No, I trust you, Madam.”
He only knew her for around three years, but for some reason, he’d
sometimes get this feeling that he’d known her for a far longer time than that.
That was perhaps the reason why he felt this sense of trust in her. One based
on absolutely nothing but his gut feeling, really.
The Madam nodded her head in reply. The director cautiously asked her
another question.
“That man from the footage…. Can you assure me that he’s not a
dangerous individual?”
She answered him without a moment of hesitation.
“Yes, I can.”
He nodded his head again, alone this time, and as if he finally came to a
conclusion, raised his head.
“In that case, I understand. I shall pretend that I never heard you talking
about that man.”
The director rose up from his spot while forming a rueful but relieved face.
“Well, then.”
He bade her a short goodbye and turned around to leave, but her warm
voice stopped his feet from taking another step.
“Dave, I’ve baked some cookies. Would you like some?”
“Oh….”
He spotted a bag of cookies in her hand, but could only decline the offer
with a smile of his own.
“No, I’m fine. Thank you for your offer.”
Now that his official visit was over, his expression reverted to that of a
regular, normal uncle. The Madam bade him goodbye with a gentle smile and
called for her grandson to guide him to the car.
The child really liked this ‘bearded uncle’ for some reason, so he quickly
rushed to the bearded David Brennan and hung on to the older man’s hand.
“I shall come again sometime later, Madam.”
“Be careful on your way, Dave.”
The director, his hand still being held tightly by her grandchild, finally left
the residence, prompting the other guest hiding on the other side of the sitting
room to emerge into the open.
“Huh. I don’t like that old man. Hey, grandma, should I go teach him a
lesson for you?”
He was a giant of a man with slicked-back blonde hair. He took a handful
of cookies out from the bag in Madam’s hand and shoved them inside his
mouth.
“Thomas, I thought your competition licence will be revoked if you
caused another incident outside the ring?”
Thomas grinned sheepishly and chewed on the cookies that filled up his
mouth.
Crunch, crunch….
“Well, that is…”
This man was none other than Thomas Andre.
Not many people knew that the current Heavyweight champion of the UFC
was one of her very few friends that she chose to keep. If the reporters learned
of this fact, they would jump up and down in sheer madness while clicking
the shutters of their cameras non-stop.
He emptied out the bag of cookies in the blink but that didn’t seem to fill
him up at all, so he took the bag itself and tossed the cookie crumbs down his
gullet next. When he was finally done, he opened his mouth to speak.
“Hey, grandma. Can I ask you a question?”
She grinned refreshingly and nodded her head. Thomas rolled the empty
bag into a ball as he spoke.
“I’m sure lots of people die through accidents, not just someone like me.”
Especially with car crashes, where innumerable people would die almost
every single day. However, almost none of them would receive a phone call
from the Madam before that happened.
On that much-awaited off day, Thomas was climbing inside his treasured
sports car so he could go for a crazy-fast drive through the back roads. And
then, he became one of the very lucky few that did get that fateful phone call.
After answering her call, he hurriedly checked out the tyres of his beloved
ride only to find a small nail stuck in one. Thankfully, he avoided getting into
an accident, but if he started the car and drove away, then he’d have lost his
life, just as how Madam had warned him.
Which meant that Madam Norma Selner was the saviour of his life.
Afterwards, Thomas grew close enough to her to share meals like this, yet
what happened on that day still remained a mystery to him.
“Why did you save me on that day?”
Well, she couldn’t possibly have been a fan of the UFC and that prompted
her to quickly pick up the phone, so….
Thomas Andre always felt curious about why she went out of her way to
help him.
“…..”
Madam Selner looked at him without saying anything after hearing his
rather sudden question, before providing a belated answer to her friend, one
of the top sports stars in the country.
“Because… you did many good things in your past life.”
“…..I did?”
Thomas Andre, known as the ‘Bad Boy’ of the UFC, no, Devil of the
Octagon, did what now?
He briefly wondered if this grandma ate something she shouldn’t have, but
then, he decided not to say what popped up in his head after remembering that
he owed her big time.
“Hohoh.”
Madam chuckled softly and shifted her gaze outside the sitting room
window to stare at the black saloon driving away with the CIA’s director
inside. Her grandson was waving his hand at the ‘bearded uncle’ until the car
couldn’t be seen anymore.
The ‘relationships’.
Seeing that relationships of the past were being formed anew either
consciously or subconsciously by the parties involved, perhaps this ‘fate’ was
a real thing after all.
That’s how she felt right now.
After confirming that the director was gone for sure, Thomas plopped
down on the very spot on the couch where the leader of the CIA once sat.
“Alright, then. Just what did the man in the video do that an uncle like
him came to see you?”
Madam replied in a tone of voice belonging to someone busy putting up
still-wet clothes on the washing line.
“He saved the world.”
“…..”
Sometimes, it was hard to tell whether this old lady was joking or was
being dead serious.
‘Well, that’s why it’s so fun being around her, anyway.’
Thomas put on the pair of sunglasses he liked to wear all the time, and
shifted his now-darkened gaze towards Madam Selner.
“In that case…. What would Mister Hero who saved the world be doing
right about now?”
Madam kept her gaze on her grandchild walking back inside the house, a
quiet smile forming on her lips.
“Hmm, I wonder…. Maybe he’s enjoying his youth to the fullest
somewhere?”
Waaahhh-!!
In the location of the qualifying rounds of the track and field competition
filled with the heated cheerings of the spectators, featuring schools from all
over South Korea.
When the captains of the two rival high school track teams came together
on the field, perhaps unsurprisingly, proverbial flames began erupting from
the eyes of both men.
“Oiii, Choi Tae-Woong! Looks like you’ve lost your way, doesn’t it!! You
even let a freshman enter every type of competition, didn’t you!”
Jin-Woo’s school track team was now facing off against the pointed
ridicule belonging to the captain of their long-time rival from Hwaseong Tech
High, Joh Gi-Seok.
“I heard that your former ace, Woo Sahng-In, got injured and took a
break for a few months. Did that result in your prowess falling so much that
you don’t have a choice but to make a freshman your new ace??”
Joh Gi-Seok continued on with his provocation, but Choi Tae-Woong
simply smirked brightly and grasped Jin-Woo’s shoulder.
“Soon enough, you lot won’t be able to close your mouths at the talents
of this first year.”
“Heee~yah, rather than you guys breaking more records, you got better
at cracking jokes, instead!”
Figurative sparks flew in all directions after these two’s war of nerves grew
to an intense level. Meanwhile, Jin-Woo was scratching the side of his head
with his index finger.
‘With things like this, it’s going to be difficult to stick to my plan of
holding back so that I won’t get noticed….’
While Jin-Woo stood there showing just a tiny hint of how troubled he was,
Joh Gi-Seok scanned him from top to bottom and received a great boost of
confidence from his expression. The corners of the Hwaseong Tech High
Captain’s lips curled upwards.
“Here’s the thing, though. What a funny coincidence this is, you know?”
Joh Gi-Seok turned around and gestured towards his team members; when
he did, a big dude standing behind them strode forward with an expression
filled pure, unbridled confidence.
“You see, we also got ourselves a freaky freshman, too.”
It was at that point that Jin-Woo ended up blurting out a surprised cry after
seeing the face of this so-called freaky freshman.
“Uh?”
“Looks like your own freshman can sense it already, no?”
Joh Gi-Seok increased the volume of his voice while placing his hand on
the shoulder of the newbie team member who possessed a physique that far
surpassed the level of a regular high schooler.
“This kid here, he’s Hwaseong Tech High’s secret weapon, Kim Cheol
from the first year.”
Chapter 260 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 17
The ‘impulse’.
An overwhelming impulse, that’s what Kim Cheol felt; this powerful
impulse, strong enough to nearly blow his reasoning away, almost completely
swallowed him up.
‘But….. But how come I…..’
Why did he want to kneel down in front of a kid that he’d never seen
before, a student from the same year, but from another school?
In that brief moment, if he didn’t force his ankles and calves to be still with
all his might, then he would’ve shown a pretty disgraceful sight to everyone.
Way too close for comfort, indeed.
Kim Cheol couldn’t describe this situation in any other way. Still, he
managed to overcome it somehow and wiped the cold sweat pooling on his
forehead with the back of his hand.
It was at that moment that a really plausible theory popped up in his head.
‘Could it be that…. I’m scared by a dude from the same year as me?’
If it was not that, then how else could he explain away this current situation
where his breathing quickened up suddenly and he wanted to avert his gaze
while all strength drained out of his legs, as soon he met his opponent’s eyes?
Too bad, Kim Cheol simply couldn’t accept reality as it was.
‘Don’t make me laugh!!’
By relying on his superior physique surpassing that of high schoolers, as
well as physical strength that matched his size, Kim Cheol enjoyed incredible
prominence during his middle school days. Yet here he was, getting scared by
another kid in the same age bracket?
Such a thing was not possible. No, more than that, such a thing could not
be allowed to happen.
“H-hey, Cheol-ah? What’s wrong?”
“You feeling okay, my man?”
The seniors began showing concern for his well-being, and as his reply,
veins bulged in Kim Cheol’s throat as he roared out.
“Nothing’s wrong, seniors!!”
‘That’s right, there’s nothing wrong with me!’
Kim Cheol convinced himself of this fact and powerfully nodded his head.
‘Right, I was suffering from a simple dizzy spell because I didn’t have a
fulfilling breakfast. That must be it.’
In order to prove right the theory that he just cooked up on the spot, Kim
Cheol slowly raised his head and stared straight at the freshman of the
opposing school.
Although possessing a pretty well-trained physique, the first-year high
school kid standing there was like a stalk of straw compared to himself.
Finally regaining some sort of leeway now, a grin floated up on Kim Cheol’s
lips.
Smirk.
‘….I knew it.’
Getting scared by a kid that might get knocked out in one punch from him?
What an absurd thing that was.
Kim Cheol straightened his slightly hunched figure as the unbridled
confidence from earlier on returned to his face.
The members of the Hwaseong Tech High’s track team were feeling
worried from the sudden changes Kim Cheol was going through, but they
regained their smiles after confirming that their ace had returned to how he
was.
“Dayum, you surprised me there.”
“I’m telling you, our ace freshman really knows how to command
attention.”
The seniors patted his shoulder to encourage him, and Kim Cheol replied
with a confident smile before fixing his gaze back on Jin-Woo.
‘What a disgrace, why did a dizzy spell have to happen at the same time
as looking into that guy’s eyes…?’
Kim Cheol began thinking that he needed to return this ill-timed disgrace
he suffered back to his opponent tenfold somehow. The best method to
overturn an embarrassing situation was to suppress the other’s spirit.
‘…….’
Only now did he notice that, even though he was glaring at the kid, this
fellow first-year was being insolent by standing upright and shooting a glare
right back.
Not once did Kim Cheol let a moron like that walk away in one piece until
now.
“Hey, you.”
He lowered his voice and pointed to the rear of the athletic field with his
chin.
“I’ve got something to say to you, so follow me to over there for a sec.”
Oh, ohh-!
While the members of the Hwaseong Tech High’s track team whistled in
excitement at their junior’s spirited display, Jin-Woo’s seniors were hurriedly
blocking him from disinterestedly following after Kim Cheol.
“Jin-Woo! Listen to me, you mustn’t commit murder!”
“You ain’t thinking of spilling someone’s blood on the day of the
competition, right?? You gotta hold it in.”
“That’s right, let’s just think of it as saving a poor soul today and let that
kid be.”
Jin-Woo chuckled and gently shook off the hands of his seniors.
“Don’t worry, seniors. I’m sure nothing will happen over there.”
The seniors tried to confirm the safety of his ‘opponent’ once more.
“Really? There really won’t be anything bad happening to that kid,
right?”
“We’re choosing to believe you.”
“That friend over there, he’s definitely walking back here on his own two
feet, right?”
Jin-Woo smiled brightly in order to put the worries of his seniors to rest and
quickly walked over in the direction Kim Cheol had disappeared to.
‘…..’
The captain of Hwaseong’s track team, Joh Gi-Seok, watched all of this
unfold from the side and formed a disbelieving expression before walking up
closer to his rivals.
“You guys…. You all being serious right now?”
Choi Tae-Woong sneaked a glimpse at Joh Gi-Seok’s face before shifting
his gaze back in the direction where Jin-Woo had gone off to and spoke up in
a worried tone of voice.
“Don’t talk to me, man. I’m feeling really conflicted right now.”
Choi Tae-Woong had been watching Jin-Woo’s monster-like motor reflexes
from a close vantage point, so all he could do now was to fervently pray for
that fella named Kim Cheol to not try anything funny for his sake.
While walking after Kim Cheol, Jin-Woo’s anticipation grew just a tiny bit.
Could it be that this kid also regained the memories of the past, too?
If that was the case, how would human ‘Kim Cheol’, and not the Shadow
Soldier ‘Iron’, react to the memories of those days?
Unfortunately, it didn’t look like Kim Cheol had called him over here to
discuss their past, judging from the light in the kid’s eyes as he turned around.
“Hey, you.”
The high school kid’s murderous eyes were now looking down on Jin-Woo.
“What, just because I’m wearing a school uniform while standing on the
same field as you, you think I’m a pushover?”
Kim Cheol was getting riled up here, but well, the sight of him being
agitated like this reminded Jin-Woo of him losing his crap back inside the Red
Gate, which caused an unplanned smirk to break out in response.
Sure, he did get annoyed back then, but now, weren’t they all his cherished
memories? Too bad, though, Kim Cheol didn’t remember a single thing from
those days, and Jin-Woo’s smile didn’t go down all that well with him.
“You son of a b*tch!”
Kim Cheol’s rough hands reached out and grabbed Jin-Woo’s collars in an
instant. When that happened, there was a chorus of ‘Waaaah-!!’ breaking out
from his shadow, made by the Shadow Soldiers cheering out loudly.
[Yes, Iron is returning to us!]
[Welcome back, Iron!]
[My liege, entrust this lost sheep to me. I, Bellion, swear to re-educate
him properly and ensure an event like this will never happen again….]
‘……’
It seemed that there was a real need to teach his Shadow Soldiers about the
ways of the modern world. Jin-Woo inwardly tutted and stared deeply into
Kim Cheol’s eyes.
Without a doubt, someone was challenging him right now, but maybe
because the fond memories of the days when this kid was a loyal Shadow
Soldier, Jin-Woo just couldn’t bring himself to despise him.
No, rather than that, he grew real curious about whether Kim Cheol would
regain all the lost memories if they came in physical contact here.
‘…..’
The burly high school kid sensed something strange from Jin-Woo’s eyes
and inadvertently swallowed dry saliva.
‘What’s going on….?’
If this was in the past, he’d not give a d*mn about being disqualified from
the track competition and have thrown a punch by now, since the other guy
was seemingly making fun of him.
But, rather than emotions of anger or even the desire to settle the score, a
different kind of feeling, thicker and purer than anything else, began to wiggle
violently from the deepest part of his chest.
And as Kim Cheol stood there conflicted on what to do next, Jin-Woo
slowly and cautiously grasped the boy’s wrist right then.
The ends of his fingers touched Kim Cheol’s skin.
When that happened….
“Uh….??”
Tears began flooding out from the boy’s eyes.
He didn’t know why he was crying all of a sudden, yet the tears didn’t want
to stop falling down. Soon, all strength abandoned his legs and he plopped
down to the ground.
“B-but, why….?”
Kim Cheol looked up at Jin-Woo.
He was searching for an answer, but all he got in return was a rueful smile
from the mysterious boy, instead.
‘If the Sovereign’s memories weren’t shared in the past, then the
memories won’t come back even if we make physical contact, huh?’
Unless… he restored the memories forcibly, that was.
Jin-Woo recalled the faces of people he shared his memories with, in the
now-erased past.
‘Association President Woo Jin-Cheol, and….’
….And, Madam Norma Selner.
He thought about the distinct possibility that she might have also regained
the memories from the erased timeline, and while wondering about that, he
turned around to leave.
He no longer had any business with ‘Iron’, no, ‘Kim Cheol’. Because… the
kid was living as a ‘human’, and not as a Shadow Soldier, now.
But then, the boy on his knees called out to Jin-Woo and stopped him in his
tracks.
“H-hang on….. Wait.”
Kim Cheol wiped his eyes with his hands and hurriedly stood back up. His
tears might have stopped, but his nose was still beet-red, but not caring about
that, he squarely met Jin-Woo’s gaze shifting back at him so he could speak,
his voice choked up with thick emotion.
“This, is this…. what they call love?”
He was being swept up by the sudden torrent of powerful emotions that he
had never experienced before. Although he was deeply mistaken about what
his feelings were, he was dead serious right now as he had ever been in his
life.
“…”
Jin-Woo stared at the boy for a long while in an utter daze, feeling like he’s
been struck hard in the back of his head. Eventually, a lengthy groan escaped
from his mouth.
“….This won’t do.”
Indeed, he couldn’t let some poor kid live the rest of his life confused about
his sexual orientation like this, now could he? When Jin-Woo walked closer,
Kim Cheol’s cheeks blushed beet red like a maiden in love.
Unfortunately…
Snap!
All signs of cognition and emotion were wiped from the boy’s face along
with the sound of fingers snapping. Kim Cheol’s eyes lost focus and became
blurry. Jin-Woo stood in front of him and began inserting new memories to
replace the old one.
“Okay, so…. You tried to provoke me, but then found out, coincidentally,
that I was the son of your father’s friend’s friend’s friend and that’s how we
got to resolve our differences.”
Kim Cheol dazedly nodded his head.
“Oh, and also….”
For a brief moment there, Jin-Woo recalled back to when the kid was still
‘Iron’ and was crying his eyes out as they were about to say goodbye, right
before the Chalice of Rebirth was to be used. A thin smile floated up on his
lips and he continued on.
“From here onwards, you gotta stop behaving like a bad person, alright?
You were one of the guys who fought to protect this world, so be proud of
yourself, man.”
“…..Yes, sir.”
After hearing a hushed, soft reply leaking out of Kim Cheol’s lips, Jin-Woo
finally undid the hypnosis and let the boy be.
Snap.
“Uh…. Eh?”
Kim Cheol regained his consciousness and stayed rooted in his spot for a
little while, utterly confused, only to belatedly discover Jin-Woo’s distancing
back over yonder.
As if he was separating again from a friend he met after a long time, Jin-
Woo waved his hand in a genial manner.
“Hey, see you again next time!”
“Uh…. O-okay.”
Feeling bewildered by this situation, Kim Cheol waved his hand and smiled
along awkwardly as well.
‘Nice.’
Jin-Woo turned away from the kid’s direction, a happy grin forming on his
face now. The unexpected encounter with an old comrade had come to a
successful conclusion, but it was now time to search for that girl in earnest.
With excellent timing, he heard the announcement reverberating
throughout the athletics field.
Somewhere at the far back of the athletics field, which was quiet and
sparsely populated.
A young girl managed to get to the shade of a tree with some difficulty and
plopped down on her butt there. Her shaking hands reached down to take off
one of her shoes and her sock. Her swollen ankle testified as to what her
current situation was.
She lightly bit her lower lips and glared at her ankle, before squeezing her
eyes shut and leaning against the tree’s sturdy trunk.
What a blunder it was.
Her shoulder was shoved away by another runner right next to her and that
caused her to stumble ungainly during the race. She somehow managed to
pass the first round of preliminaries even with this fairly heavy injury, but
now….
Now, it was clearly asking for too much to compete again with her leg
being like this.
‘I’m furious….’
Indeed, she was.
This might be the last time she competed as a middle schooler, and so, she
didn’t want to end the day with an injury.
That was why….
‘That’s why… I should just carry on.’
This was a line of thought that could only be cooked up by the head of an
immature middle schooler, who still hadn’t shed the mindset of a child yet.
And it was the role of the adults to stop such a child from going down the
wrong path since the dawn of time itself.
“You want to hide your injury?”
The girl flinched grandly after hearing the voice of a male student, walking
out from behind the tree, that she failed to detect earlier. This mysterious male
student didn’t look at her, but instead, stared into the distance.
“Even though a certain someone competed in that condition, hurt her
ankle even more and had to spend over a year to recuperate, but still ended
up as a third-rate athlete and could only regret the decision she made
today?”
The male student shifted his gaze back to the girl with her wide-open eyes
and formed a refreshing grin.
“I was talking about a person that I know, actually.”
Here was a strange guy telling her a strange tale. But the girl, Cha Hae-In,
didn’t immediately run away from here and instead, chose to observe the boy
for a bit longer.
‘Isn’t he an athlete….? A high schooler, right?’
She could detect a hint of this nice scent coming from the male student for
some reason.
As for the identity of that scent, the ‘smell’ of the purest Mana leaking out
of Jin-Woo, as well as her possessing a unique constitution that allowed her to
sniff out Mana, she’d get to learn about them much, much later on.
As Hae-In grew more flustered by the second, Jin-Woo crouched near her
and carefully placed his hand on her swollen ankle.
“Ah….”
She flinched again for a moment there but didn’t resist him all that much,
either. And when his hand left her skin, her ankle was completely healed.
She raised up her shocked eyes and stared at Jin-Woo.
“Run without any regrets. You only have one shot, right?”
She shone so brightly as a rank S Hunter fighting against monster threats,
but today, her sweating figure under the bright sunlight would shine just as
wonderfully.
Jin-Woo smiled and tried to stand back up, only for his wrist to be grasped
in a hurry by Hae-In.
“W-wait a minute.”
“…..?”
Could it be that a change occurred with the contact they made just now?
Now facing off against Jin-Woo’s curiosity-laden gaze, Hae-In’s face flushed
just a little.
“Excuse me, we…. Have we met somewhere before?”
She had to work up so much of her courage just to ask that simple-enough
question that even her neck had turned beet-red by the time she was done
asking it.
“Let’s run.”
“Eh?”
Hae-In visibly grew confused, but Jin-Woo maintained his grin.
“If you run against me and ever win, then I’ll tell you everything.”
“…..I saw you compete, oppa. I saw you coming in at first place in every
preliminary race you entered.”
Jin-Woo smirked and stood back up.
“I’ll take that answer as you giving up.”
But then…
“I-if that’s the case!”
Cha Hae-In worked up her courage once more and made a suggestion.
“The record for the preliminaries about to take place in a bit…. How
about you telling me the truth when I break that? Even if it’s not right
now?”
Jin-Woo’s head lowered and did his best to suppress his chuckles.
‘Whether she’s younger or older, she’s still so pure.’
While briefly entertaining the idea of breaking the world record for the
under-18 track event today, he nodded his head, a warm smile filling up his
face.
“Alright, deal.”
Having successfully changed the condition of the bet, Hae-In formed a
sunny smile as well.
‘Well, you ain’t going to be smiling later, though.’
Jin-Woo turned around and left her side for the athletics field while
continuing to suppress his chuckles from breaking out.
On that day.
Under the bright spring sunlight, the world record for high school male
athletes was shattered in what was supposed to be yet another ordinary
preliminary race meet.
And the track team Jin-Woo was a part of defeated their rival Hwaseong
Tech High on their way to achieving their goal of an overall first place finish.
Chapter 261 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 18
Since he didn’t share his memories with them, Jin-Woo had not thought of
the possibility of it happening, but the truth was, there were a few other
people who were still connected to the higher beings on Earth.
And, out of them all, one person was quite lucky enough to have physical
contact with Jin-Woo, who was a higher being himself.
A certain early morning.
“Son? What’s the matter?”
His son emerging from the room having just woken up looked like he was
about to break down and cry, so Seong Il-Hwan reached out and gently
grasped the boy’s shoulders, only to be greeted by the spectacle of a different
past playing right before his eyes.
It happened in the briefest of the brief moments that didn’t even last a
blink, but that was more than enough to tell the tale spanning several years
that felt as long as eternity itself.
Tumble.
His final moments that caused his heart to tumble to the pit of his stomach
flashed past his eyes. Then, the time wound back and the memories of how
the present came to be played out in a panorama being played backwards.
The one and only tool of God that could cause a phenomenon like this, the
‘Chalice of Rebirth’. Seong Il-Hwan knew of the artefact’s existence through
the memories of the Rulers, and after looking at the boy’s current facial
expression, he instantly realised that his son must’ve had reached some kind
of a deal with the higher beings.
Indeed, Jin-Woo had decided to carry the weight, the cost, of the deal all by
himself, regardless of how heavy it was. Seong Il-Hwan had to bite down on
his lower lip in order to suppress his emotions and prevent them from bursting
forth right then.
His efforts must’ve not been in vain, because Jin-Woo wiped away the tears
threatening to break out and formed a smile.
“….I must’ve had a nightmare.”
At that moment, Seong Il-Hwan saw the powerful determination flicker for
a blink of an eye on his son’s face.
But even then, no, even when Jin-Woo left behind a single note and
disappeared from this world, he couldn’t even guess just what kind of
‘promise’ his son had made with the Rulers.
“….I’d never imagined that promise was to defeat the entirety of the
Army of the Chaos World all by himself.”
Seol Il-Hwan recalled that very day and let out a helpless chuckle.
What if he got to find out about his son’s deal before the boy jumped into
the gap between dimensions and disappeared? Would he have stopped Jin-
Woo, or for the sake of the world, let the kid leave?
“Still, hasn’t he beautifully taken care of it?”
The envoy of the Rulers sitting on the opposite side of him smiled
refreshingly.
Seong Il-Hwan had his lips firmly shut now, but he nodded his head
regardless. Thanks to Jin-Woo’s sacrifice, this world was spared from the
horrifying war that was supposed to tear through this planet.
But, when he thought about the terrible suffering his son must’ve gone
through during those years, Seong Il-Hwan just couldn’t bring himself to
smile anymore.
It had been almost one year since Jin-Woo returned from the gap between
dimensions.
“My son….”
His hesitating voice was drowned out by the gently-flowing background
music of the cafe they were in. The Ruler’s envoy sipped the half-remaining
coffee with his straw as he unhurriedly waited for Seong Il-Hwan to continue
on.
“What was my son’s decision?”
“The Shadow Sovereign has….”
The envoy discovered the traces of nervousness flit past Seong Il-Hwan’s
face and formed a thin smile.
“….Chosen to stay in this world. He said that every minute and every
second spent in this world is precious to him.”
Seong Il-Hwan inwardly spat out a lengthy sigh of relief.
The envoy emptied out his cup and silently placed it back on the table. He
had to remain in this world until Jin-Woo made up his mind, but that role
came to an end yesterday.
Which meant that it was time to leave. Seong Il-Hwan would be the very
last guest he’d entertain before leaving this world for good.
Maybe that was the reason? Although he wasn’t really the talkative type, he
wanted to converse for just a bit longer today.
“Are you planning to continue deceiving Shadow Sovereign-nim…. no,
your son?”
“That’s what he wants, no one remembering the past. So, yes.”
If what Jin-Woo wanted was the normal, regular family life, then as his
father, Seong Il-Hwan was fully committed to continuing the charade until the
end of time itself.
“I see. Like father, like son.”
The envoy smirked and nodded his head before raising his gaze a little
higher.
“Once I leave, the Rulers will no longer interfere with this world.”
“I know.”
“Which means, this really is the end. With this world….”
The envoy scanned the interior of the cafe and spoke with an emotional
voice.
“It has been fun. Truly. To be honest, right up until the Shadow
Sovereign-nim made his triumphant return, I had been waiting with bated
breath on what destiny had in store for us.”
The envoy held back slightly and didn’t mention that even the Rulers didn’t
expect to see Jin-Woo succeed in his quest. Well, there was no reason to pour
a bucket of cold water on this emotional farewell, was there?
Just before he bade his farewell and stood up to leave, the envoy addressed
his guest once more.
“The Rulers express their unreserved gratitude towards not just Shadow
Sovereign, but to you as well, Seong Il-Hwan-nim.”
It was unknown whether a result like this would’ve been achieved without
his help. He fought for the sake of the Rulers, and he even suggested that the
higher beings cooperate with the Shadow Sovereign, too. Indeed, his role had
been great.
The Rulers had decided as thus, and they prepared a small gift for him in
return.
“By any chance, is there something we can help you with?”
When considering that the Rulers possessed incredible powers as well as
various ‘tools of God’, this was akin to them saying, “We will grant any wish
you have.”
However, Seong Il-Hwan shook his head almost immediately.
“I have none…..”
But, that made sense. The envoy could understand where he was coming
from. There was an existence on the level of a god living as family right next
to him, so what was the point of voicing his wishes here?
“Well, then.”
The envoy bowed his head slightly and got ready to stand up, but then,
Seong Il-Hwan belatedly said something else.
“Hang on.”
The envoy stopped and settled back down on the chair again.
“Is there something else….?”
Seong Il-Hwan pondered for a bit and spoke up with some difficulty.
“My memories…. Is it possible for you to erase my memories of the
previous timeline?”
“Yes, it’s possible, but why would you choose to do so….?”
“Well, it’s unimaginably hard to keep pretending in front of a son with an
amazing perception, you see.”
Seong Il-Hwan smirked once he was done. Again, like father, like son – his
grinning face was almost a dead-ringer for Jin-Woo’s.
“And, also….”
Seong Il-Hwan lowered his gaze and fell into thought for a bit again, before
continuing on with his words slowly.
“I also wish to become a regular dad who worries about his son’s
welfare.”
He wanted to return to being just a simple father who felt anxious about his
son possibly coming back home injured in some way, and a father who sighed
in disappointment at his son’s exam results – a man who worried about his
‘regular’ son, in other words.
“To me, Jin-Woo isn’t the Shadow Sovereign, but a precious son, you
see.”
That was Seong Il-Hwan’s small wish.
“I understand.”
If that was his reasoning, then it’d be no problem. The envoy smiled gently
and granted Seong Il-Hwan’s wish.
“Once you exit from this cafe, all memories of the previous timeline will
completely be erased from your mind.”
As the envoy began performing the magic spell on Seong Il-Hwan, he
whispered a goodbye so small that no one could hear it properly.
“You won’t remember this, but still… I pray that you get to live a
fulfilling life.”
Time continued to tick by.
On a certain cold winter morning.
The alarm set for six in the morning went off without a hitch and Seong Il-
Hwan shot up from his ‘sleep’. His wife woke up at the same time, too, and
stared straight at him.
“What about Jin-Woo?”
“Yes, what happened to him?”
The couple quickly checked the time and breathed a collective sigh of relief
after realising that it was still only six in the morning.
“Dear, what should we do? Should we go and wake Jin-Woo up?”
“No, there’s still some time left until the beginning of the CSAT, so I
think it should be fine to let him rest for a little while longer.”
“You’re right. I can always drive him to the exam location with my car,
anyway.”
“At seven…. Let’s wake him up around seven, Dear.”
Seong Il-Hwan nodded his head at his wife’s suggestion.
The couple anxiously waited for the needles of the clock to hit seven and
when the fated time came, they rushed out of their bedroom to slam the door
to Jin-Woo’s room wide open.
“S-son, you know that today is the CSAT day, right?”
“Son, as your father, I can take you there, you know?”
Their son seemed to have woken up not too long ago. He replied with a
chuckle.
“I’ll get ready to leave now.”
After confirming that Jin-Woo left his room, Seong Il-Hwan hurriedly
threw on his clothes and reached out to grab the car keys, only for his gaze to
be stolen by the key ring – a gift from his son.
When he looked at this seemingly-handmade keyring shaped like a white-
coloured castle with a black flag on top, a wide grin formed on his lips.
The weather was beautifully clear and crisp; it was a refreshing morning as
the early rays of the sun gently seeped into the world.
The evening of the 24th of December.
Jin-Woo was walking on a street filled with the festive atmosphere of
Christmas. He could easily spot the smiling faces of movie stars or top
athletes proudly on display on the electronic advertising boards hung here and
there.
‘The streets have changed a lot.’
Whenever Jin-Woo recalled the time when the streets used to be dominated
by the faces of top-ranked Hunters, he still felt a bit awkward and disjointed.
But then, he spotted an advertising poster for a certain sports drink and
broke out into a gentle chuckle. A rather familiar face was on it, that was why.
Just how many people lost their hair to stress while trying to take that one
photo of her making a natural-looking expression?
‘The idol of the athletic world, is it….?’
Indeed, Cha Hae-In’s smile on the poster was good enough to be called on
the level of an idol.
She drew attention with her stunning achievements on the track, and
eventually, the mass media caught onto her shining star as well. In a bid to
boost the popularity of the track sports, the athletics organisation pleaded with
her and this was the end result.
‘She never stepped in front of a camera even when she was a rank S
Hunter, but now, she must perform the role of one of the most popular
sportswomen in the country….’
This future wouldn’t have come about if he hadn’t healed her ankle back
then; a satisfied grin formed on Jin-Woo’s face. She might be having a bit of a
hard time trying to get used to the cameras, but it’d only get better with time.
Still smiling, Jin-Woo resumed his walk towards the meeting area.
He took a look around himself without thinking too much about it and
discovered many young couples and their colourful clothing filling up the
streets.
‘Yup, I definitely am an examinee who recently finished his CSAT. Look
how plainly dressed I am.’
Jin-Woo lightly tutted at his rather plain-looking clothes and sought out the
nearest clothing store. With the time being what it was, the shops were all
closed, but from the get-go, he wasn’t planning to buy something, anyway.
Jin-Woo stopped walking in front of a mannequin kitted out in the coolest
outfit inside the shop window.
Sha-ah-ahk….
The pitch-black smoke enveloped Jin-Woo’s figure for a brief moment and
his outfit had changed to the exact same thing as that mannequin’s. He
examined his new look through the reflection on the shop’s window before
asking his Shadow Soldiers.
“What do you think?”
Fangs, having developed an intense interest in all things fashion-related
from some time ago, hurriedly replied first, maybe fearing that someone else
might steal his limelight.
[You look amazing, my liege.]
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo’s steps became a touch cheerier than before and they helped him
arrive at the place of his appointment in the proverbial blink of an eye.
Surrounding a massive Christmas tree installed in the middle of a plaza
were many people searching and waiting for their companions to arrive.
Even though many of them were nervously glancing at their watches, the
looks of happiness still could be gleaned from their expressions regardless,
perhaps because today was Christmas Eve.
Unlike them, though, Jin-Woo was staring into the heavens above since he
had more than enough leeway compared to them.
There were all sorts of ambient noises made by people walking on the
streets, but Jin-Woo still could accurately distinguish the footsteps that
mattered to him.
‘…..3, 2, 1.’
Just as that ‘kid’ arrived near his back, he turned around to greet her.
“Hey. You came.”
Hae-In was planning to take Jin-Woo by surprise, but could only sneakily
lower her arms, looking a bit disappointed.
“Oppa, it’s like you’ve got eyes behind your back, you know?”
She seemed just a bit despondent, which was rather adorable as well, so he
broke out into a soft grin. Hae-In pulled up the hood on her top to avoid the
attention of the passersby, like how Jin-Woo used to do.
“Should we take a walk for a while?”
Jin-Woo’s suggestion was met by Hae-In’s brightly smiling face. She even
nodded her head to emphasize her agreement, too.
As the two of them walked, they chose the less populated path whenever
they came across a crossroad. Meanwhile, Hae-In’s eyes were growing really
large after listening to Jin-Woo’s CSAT result.
“You got such a great score, yet you wanna go to that university? But,
why?”
“Well, the fees are completely paid for by the scholarship, plus they are
adding on the opportunity for me to study abroad, as well. Besides, there is
this person I just have to meet in that place, you see.”
It was at that point that her ears perked up.
“Wait, that person isn’t a woman, is it?”
Her eyes narrowed to a slit, but Jin-Woo found her expression really
adorable so he decided to string her along for a bit.
“Mmm, who knows.”
Her cheeks immediately puffed up.
To Jin-Woo, seeing her express her emotions so freely like this – something
she didn’t do back when both of them were adults – proved to be a different
but still wonderfully joyous occasion to behold.
Around then….
Tap.
Something fell gently from the sky and landed on the tip of his nose,
followed soon after by wet coldness melting on his skin.
It was a snowflake.
He raised his head up to look and white specks began falling gently from
the blackened sky. A White Christmas was coming, it seemed.
He silently stared at the falling snow only to recall the sight of settling grey
ash after he defeated the Dragon Emperor. Ash as white as snow – no,
snowflakes as light as ash silently descended on the land.
“Oppa? What are you thinking about?”
Jin-Woo smiled softly and tried to gloss over it.
“Nothing much.”
Well, it wasn’t as if he could tell her that, while he was looking at the snow
falling from the evening sky a day before Christmas, he was busy recalling
probably the most dangerous enemy he had to fight in his entire life, now
could he?
Hae-In formed a broad grin after listening to Jin-Woo’s reply, then she
brought up something out of the blue.
“Oppa, do you remember our promise?”
“What promise?”
“The one about you promising to answer everything when I win in a
race.”
“Yeah, I do.”
Hae-In promptly pointed towards one of the trees lining up along the street.
“Well, why don’t we make a bet, then? Let’s see who will arrive there
first.”
Jin-Woo couldn’t help but chuckle after hearing her sudden challenge and
asked her a question.
“What is it that you’d like to ask me?”
“Everything.”
“Everything??”
“What you’re thinking about sometimes, whether it’s a girl or a guy you
want to meet in that university, and also….”
“Also?”
“….Also, about the time we met before that athletic preliminaries took
place.”
“….Alright.”
Jin-Woo readily agreed to it and took his hands out from his pockets. The
end result wouldn’t be affected just because he kept his hands there, but still,
he wanted to show her that he was taking this challenge quite seriously.
But then….
Hae-In had been staying a step away from his position until then, but
suddenly walked in very close to wrap her scarf around his neck before asking
him for a small favour in a whisper.
“Oppa, if you like me, don’t move from this spot.”
“Wha?”
While he was getting flustered by this development, Hae-In began walking
slowly towards the tree in question while looking straight at him. As for Jin-
Woo himself, he couldn’t hold back his laughter after realising that his defeat
had been set in stone from the get-go.
“Hah….”
In the end, Hae-In succeeded in touching the tree first, and she lightly
jumped in the air to announce her victory.
Meanwhile, his Shadow Soldiers watching the two lovers’ competition with
a great deal of anticipation and excitement began jumping up and down
themselves in happiness as well.
[Heee-ya~, our liege has lost!]
[Wow, there are times when our liege will lose a challenge with so much
at stake, too!]
[My liege, you did it wrong!]
[Kkiiieehhk-!! Oh, my kinggg! It’s not too late, so please get going
now!!]
Jin-Woo was left stupefied and chuckled again while scratching the side of
his head. He took a glance around the street and approached the tree as well.
Thankfully, he couldn’t spot a single soul on this particular stretch of road,
all due to the fact that they sought out only those paths with little foot traffic.
“Well, I won, right?”
Hae-In was waiting for his reply with an excited expression clearly etched
on her face. Jin-Woo stopped before her smile and issued a dignified order to
his Shadow Soldiers.
‘Shadows? Every one of you, close your eyes.’
[……]
[……]
While the soldiers were rightly feeling frustrated….
….Jin-Woo slowly brought his lips closer and gently locked them with
Hae-In’s.
The white snowflakes continued to fall silently from the sky.
Chapter 262 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 19
The last side story: Twelve years later (1)
Within the ranks of the Central Region Precinct’s Violent Crimes Unit,
there was this one detective nicknamed the ‘Phantom’.
The newbie detective joining the squad this year after passing the
promotion exam, Lee Seh-Hwan, often heard this rumour while he was
walking the beat as a patrolman.
The arrest rate of 200 percent!
The rumour went that, in front of this ‘Phantom’ capable of solving not just
the cases in his own docket, but even the cold cases of the past, every single
violent criminal or bloodthirsty thug would become a very well-behaved
sheep in an instant.
To the officers patrolling these streets, this detective remained an object of
pure respect, a real bonafide legendary figure.
Seriously now, the rumour even went on to say that, although he was
eligible for a promotion, he wished to devote himself fully to fieldwork and
refused to move up the career ladder. How hardcore was that?
‘Anyone with some sense in them would definitely never refuse a
promotion, obviously.’
In any case – even if only half of the rumours making the rounds turned out
to be true, then the mystery cop was sure to be one hell of an investigator.
His fellow patrol officers were deeply envious of Lee Seh-Hwan joining
the Violent Crimes Unit. Little did they know, he was currently swallowing
back his nervous saliva while scanning the squad’s office, wondering who this
legendary detective from the rumours could be.
As befitting a group of detectives that clashed against seasoned criminals
every day, they all carried manly, no-nonsense countenances. They began
shooting sharp, probing glares in the direction of an unknown visitor to their
ranks.
It’d not be all that awkward to call any one of these fine officers
‘Phantom’, indeed.
‘The light in their eyes are so….’
Lee Seh-Hwan gradually shrunk back from the powerful glares of the
veterans and began inwardly worrying about whether he’d survive for long in
this place or not.
“Ehh…. Are you that newbie joining us from today onwards?”
A voice came from behind without any prior warning whatsoever and Lee
Seh-Hwan jumped up in fright. He hurriedly turned around and performed an
excellent salute.
“Loyalty!”
“Ah, ah… no need to be that tense. We’re all one family now, right?”
The voice belonged to a middle-aged man carrying two paper cups filled
with coffee standing right behind Lee Seh-Hwan. He kindly offered one of the
cups to the still-nervous rookie.
“Here, it’s on me.”
“T-thank you very much!!”
Lee Seh-Hwan bowed deeply and received the coffee.
Instantly, he was greeted by the reassuring warmth that was kind of like a
phone call from his family he dearly wished to see again after living alone for
a long time.
Maybe that small first mouthful of the hot coffee helped him to relax?
Lee Seh-Hwan continued to sip on the hot beverage while cautiously
studying the overall atmosphere of the surroundings, before asking the Senior
who gifted him the drink.
“Excuse me… I went to speak to the Squad Captain, and he informed me
that I’d be working together with Seong Detective-nim from here on, I was
wondering…”
“Ahh, that ‘Phantom’ is your partner?”
“FUU-HEUP!!!”
It took almost everything Lee Seh-Hwan had to stop the coffee from
spraying out of his mouth and nostrils.
“Well, we came up with that nickname for the guy because he’s
supernaturally quick, you see? Dunno when it happened, but that name got
stuck somehow and even the folks in other units began calling him that. I’m
sure you’ve heard of him too, right?”
“Y-yes, I have….”
Lee Seh-Hwan hurriedly nodded his head several times. A meaningful
smirk suddenly crept up on the senior’s face.
“The thing is, that coffee I gave you? It’s meant for him.”
The senior detective turned around to escape to the corridor, but then he
stopped and pointed to the far end with his chin, a grin now firmly etched on
his face.
“Speak of the devil. There he comes.”
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Lee Seh-Hwan also quickly came out to
the corridor himself and shifted his gaze in the direction where the senior was
staring at.
That was when he discovered a certain man unhurriedly strolling towards
his direction from the end of the corridor.
‘That man is the legendary….’
Without a doubt, that man didn’t seem to be in a hurry, yet he was already
standing before Lee Seh-Hwan even before the rookie could fully regain his
wits.
What an overwhelmingly intense pressure he emitted.
Lee Seh-Hwan was about average in height for a Korean male, but he had
to physically look up at his new partner, the senior detective nicknamed
‘Phantom’, who was at least a head taller than himself. Almost instantly, the
poor newbie felt stifled and it became hard to breathe from this inexplicable
pressure emitted by the man in front of him.
‘The Phantom of the Central Region….’
The reason why this detective was saddled with such a nickname wasn’t
simply because of his preternatural swiftness, oh no. Lee Seh-Hwan was sure
of this fact after finally encountering the person in question.
“Senior.”
“Ohh, hey man. Going out on a call?”
“Nah, it’s nothing much, really. By the way, is he our new recruit?”
“That’s right, he is. His name is Lee Seh-Hwan.”
Jin-Woo bowed his head slightly to greet the senior detective standing next
to Lee Seh-Hwan. He then spun the newbie around to face the other direction
and placed his hand on the completely-frozen junior’s shoulder.
“Then, I shall go ahead and train the rookie.”
The senior detective with the face of a good-natured uncle continued to
grin as if he found something quite amusing. He nodded his head to say yes.
“Sure, sure. Go ahead. Have a good day.”
Almost as soon as the greeting with the senior was over, Jin-Woo dragged
the rookie cop he was now entrusted with to outside of the building.
‘H-he can’t be p*ssed off about me having drunk his coffee, right?’
When that line of thought popped up in his head, Lee Seh-Hwan ended up
hurriedly asking a question.
“S-senior-nim?! W-where are we going?”
Rather than an answer, though, he got a question as a reply, instead.
“Why did you become a police officer?”
“Oh, that…. I….”
Lee Seh-Hwan hesitated for a bit before remembering his original dream,
the goal, that he had forgotten about while working as a beat cop wrestling
with drunkards and other idiots for the past few years.
“I wanted to catch the bad guys….”
“That’s right.”
Even though they were exchanging questions and answers, Jin-Woo didn’t
slow down his steps that continued to lead the rookie to their unknown
destination. And he finally let go of the flustered newbie once they reached
the end goal.
“We are going to a place where we can do exactly that.”
Lee Seh-Hwan raised his head, and Jin-Woo formed his now-trademark
smile.
Grin.
It was a smile that eased the minds of all those who saw it. Jin-Woo looked
at the shorter rookie with such a smile on his face before continuing on.
“That’s why I became a cop too, you see.”
Just those words alone, and Lee Seh-Hwan’s heart began pounding quite
violently.
Ba-dump.
How could one’s heart not throb in moments like this as long as one was a
police officer worth his or her salt?
“You coming?”
Lee Seh-Hwan heard the question with only one possible answer and
replied with an excited face.
“Of course, Senior-nim!!”
Completely pooped out from chasing after criminals the whole day, Lee
Seh-Hwan collapsed on top of his new desk and fell asleep. Jin-Woo was
planning to dump the write-up of the testimonies of all the suspects they
apprehended today to the rookie, but now….
Tap, tap…
He stopped jotting down on the report paper and quietly studied Lee Seh-
Hwan, utterly lost to the distant lands of sweet slumber.
‘He said he had the experience of catching an armed robber bare-
handed, didn’t he? Yup, it is fun training a rookie like this guy.’
A smile naturally crept up on his face now that a rather excellent seedling
had joined his Unit.
“Hehehe.”
After seeing a smile blooming on Jin-Woo’s face, the suspect sitting on the
opposite side of the desk mistakenly believed that the atmosphere had become
rather friendly and formed a sly smile of his own.
That only elicited a hardened scowl from Jin-Woo, though.
“….And why the hell are you smiling?”
“I, I’m sorry.”
“Okay, then. up is….”
Just as Jin-Woo’s fingers touched the keyboard once more….
[My liege, may I suggest that such miscellaneous tasks be left to us, your
loyal soldiers….]
….He heard the voice of Igrit coming from his shadow.
Indeed, it’d be convenient to utilise his soldiers.
Forget about training the rookies to arrest the suspects, he could just
unleash his near-ten million soldiers and have them catch the bad guys. That
would clean up the entirety of the Republic of Korea in no time at all.
However, what was he supposed to do about the extreme unrest and the
fear from the public at large that would no doubt follow soon afterwards?
A suitable balance needed to be kept, regardless of what the job was.
That was why Jin-Woo did his best to control his powers, so as to minimise
the impact against the society at large. And so, as the administrative work on
these petty criminals was coming to an end….
….Although, the rookie still hadn’t been able to extricate himself from the
land of dreams yet.
Jin-Woo heard the voices coming from the corner of the office and ended
up paying attention to the contents of the conversation.
“Detective-nim, please listen to me. Jin-Yi isn’t a girl who’d willingly take
her own life.”
“Look, miss. I understand how you feel. But, I already explained to you
in detail, didn’t I? All the evidence points to….”
“Please, please take a look at these texts messages! Do they look like
something sent by a person planning to commit suicide three hours later??”
“Hah-ah…..”
Maybe it was because of the fact that the deceased’s name sounded similar
to his own sister’s?
For a while now, Jin-Woo’s mind kept wandering towards the conversation
between those two people that didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast.
The detective, now fed up by this ‘heckling’ ended up responding in an ill-
tempered manner.
“Look here, miss! From the get-go, most suicides aren’t planned out in
advance but are done in the spur of the momen….”
“Do you mind if I take a look at the case?”
The detective flinched nastily when Jin-Woo approached him without any
presence whatsoever.
Detectives were supposed to be able to suss out whether a person was
guilty of a crime or not just by locking gazes with a suspect in the blink of an
eye.
Such detectives couldn’t detect his approach, so it was a small wonder that
Jin-Woo was saddled with the nickname of ‘Phantom’.
“Uhm, Detective Seong….?”
The detective formed a troubled expression while looking at Jin-Woo,
before shifting his gaze forward, only to spot the expression on the deceased’s
friend now gaining a ray of hope.
‘Ah….’
The detective instantly realised that things might get a bit complicated for
himself, so he quietly asked Jin-Woo to step outside the office for a moment.
He handed over the related case files and pulled out a cigarette after they
got there.
“Detective Seong…. I hope you aren’t going to put me under the spot
here.”
“…”
Jin-Woo didn’t pay any attention to the plea of his Senior and scanned
through the files, only for his expression to harden to a scary degree.
The detective was about to light his cigarette up, but after sensing the aura
oozing out from Jin-Woo, ended up taking a step back in surprise.
‘He’s like a different person when he’s concentrating like this.’
The senior detective deeply sucked in the smoke puffed out from the lit
cigarette as if to calm his trembling nerves.
The female victim was found inside her bathtub, having died of massive
blood loss from a large cut wound on her wrist. The knife used to cut her
wrist was recovered inside the bathroom, and perhaps unsurprisingly, only her
fingerprints were found on the weapon, no one else’s.
The file also said that, even though the deceased displayed a bright
personality outwardly, she actually suffered from depression.
Not many other investigators would come up with a different hypothesis
after looking at all the facts available in this case.
Jin-Woo returned the case file back to the detective assigned to the case.
“I don’t see anything amiss.”
“R-right. You think so, too?”
The detective received the files back with a somewhat happy-looking
expression.
“However.”
“H-however….??”
With a hardened face, the senior asked back while thinking, ‘Could he
be…?’
“I shall confirm it myself, just in case.”
“Ah…..”
The Phantom had sniffed a trail, it seemed.
While looking at Jin-Woo’s back as he walked over to the friend of the
deceased waiting anxiously over there, the Senior detective roughly scratched
the back of his head and complained in his head.
‘Doesn’t that guy ever get tired or something?’
The friend of the deceased, her gaze currently fixed to the ground, quickly
raised her head after hearing Jin-Woo’s voice.
“I’m Detective Seong Jin-Woo. Can we talk for a moment?”
The friend nodded her head, her current grim expression seemingly a blend
of new-found hope and sorrow.
“Yes!”
Inside a quiet, empty and owner-less home, a black shadow suddenly rose
up. It was Jin-Woo.
He found himself in an apartment which was slightly too large for a woman
to live alone. Her warmth from the time she was still alive could be felt from
several corners of this apartment unit.
The current time was late at night.
The surroundings were pitch-black, but there was no need to turn on the
lights because this was the same as broad daylight to Jin-Woo’s eyes.
He entered the bathroom, the place where she met her final moments. The
thick smell of blood yet to be cleaned stung his nose. Jin-Woo stood before
the bathtub and silently studied the very spot where the deceased prepared
herself to die.
Seeing all the spilt blood, it was as if he could sense the pain of the woman.
However, he could only imagine what that pain was like, not actually feel
the pain itself. What the deceased was feeling when she chose death, how
painful it was as she lay here dying….
Those left behind would never know them.
Generally speaking, that was.
Jin-Woo crouched slightly and studied the blood splatters before recalling
the last text message she sent to her friend. It was filled with her anticipation
about the upcoming meeting with her friend.
Just like what the friend had said, that message didn’t seem to be sent by
someone getting ready to take her own life.
Most likely, the friend wanted to believe that she’d not choose to die
without saying a single goodbye to her closest friend.
For sure, the ones left behind would never know what the dead wanted to
say to them. Ordinarily, that would be true. Ordinarily.
However, Jin-Woo possessed a way to hear the voice of the dead.
‘I needed the actual remains in the past, but now….’
Jin-Woo issued his command, and the blackened, coagulated blood reverted
back to a crimson liquid and began trickling again. The blood splatter that
remained as nothing more than grisly reminders gathered together to form a
deep pit of boiling blood.
As if it was alive, the mass of blood continued to seethe and tumble as it
grew larger and larger.
The Shadow Sovereign, the King of the Dead, then issued the absolute
order that couldn’t be refused at the remains of the deceased.
“Rise up.”
Chapter 263 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 20
The last side story: Twelve years later (2)
A shadow of a woman, yet to shed the hints of her teen years, vigorously
rose up from the thickly-coagulated clump of blood on the floor.
Chwa-ahck!!
Droplets of blood dripped from the ends of her hair as she took a look
around her, her expression one of sheer confusion regarding her current
situation. Eventually, though, she spat out pained moans.
[Ah…. Ah….!]
Indeed, it’d be quite painful for her since she retained the memories of her
dying moments. Jin-Woo used the authority of the Shadow Sovereign and
calmed the shadow for the time being.
“Don’t be frightened.
The you of now has become an existence untethered from the boundaries of
life and pain.”
The king’s calming, warm voice helped the woman to compose herself
gradually. Jin-Woo then created a new set to clothing for her sake and
wrapped them around her figure since she appeared how she died – nude.
[Ah….]
She cautiously pulled the clothing on her shoulders tighter.
Her name used to be Seo Jin-Yi. He named the newly-revived shadow
woman the same as back when she was still alive, and began asking his
questions.
“Did you… willingly take your own life?”
The shadow woman, no, Seo Jin-Yi, nodded her head.
Jin-Woo placed one of his knees lower to the ground so he could match her
eye level. He studied her expression and quietly asked her.
“Your reason?”
And when he did, her lips, frozen shut like a block of ice, cautiously parted
ways.
[I….]
Ding-dong.
The doorbell resounded out rather late at night; a middle-aged man put a
photo frame containing a picture of his daughter down on its original spot and
looked away.
‘Who could it be at this late hour?’
He tilted his head this way and that while standing up from his seat, and
walked over to the intercom.
The monitor on the device showing the scene outside the front door now
displayed a man kitted out in a smart business suit standing there. The
middle-aged man didn’t think too much about it and pressed the ‘Speak’
button.
Beep.
The man outside the door pulled out his ID badge and showed it to the
camera.
The photo in the ID badge matched the face on the monitor.
The middle-aged man forgot that it was far too late in the day for a guest to
show up like this when he heard the word ‘Detective’ and hurriedly flung the
door open.
“Did the investigation’s result come out? How did my little girl die?!”
Jin-Woo quietly studied the face of Seo Jin-Yi’s father, Seo Gyu-Nam,
before shaking his head.
“Nothing is certain yet, sir. However, I do have several follow-up
questions I’d like to ask you regarding your daughter.”
The father of the deceased formed a somewhat disappointed expression
when he heard there was nothing to report yet. Jin-Woo made a quiet demand
towards the man.
“Can you come with me?”
Seo Gyu-Nam seemed to be in a dilemma, but soon enough, formed a
grimly determined expression.
“Of course. If I can help in any shape or form in uncovering the truth of
my daughter’s death, then I shall cooperate fully.”
He came outside and locked the door before turning around to face Jin-
Woo.
“Let’s get going, Detective.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head once and turned towards a certain direction.
“This way.”
Seo Guy-Nam initially thought that they would go to the police station, but
instead, they ended up in a cafe near his place. He asked the detective why
they had to come here and only got a vague answer in the form of “We need a
place to chat quietly” instead.
And so, Jin-Woo and Seo Gyu-Nam sat on the opposite side of the table.
The former then began his questioning as the latter formed a heavy
expression.
“What kind of a student was Miss Seo Jin-Yi usually?”
“Excuse me?”
“By any chance, was there anyone who might have been resentful
towards….”
Seo Gyu-Nam belatedly realised the implication behind the question and
hurriedly shook his hand around.
“No, no. Never. She was definitely not a child who’d go around doing
things to make others hate her. She was really kind and pure and…”
Seo Gyu-Nam replied up to there before his head faltered and sounds of
sobbing escaped from him.
How long did it go by like this?
The sobbing man’s shoulder’s stopped trembling eventually and he raised
his head slowly.
“I, I’m sorry, Detective. I still can’t believe that my little girl left me in
that manner…..”
“You must’ve cherished your daughter a lot.”
“Of course. I’m sure you know this already, but Jin-Yi wasn’t my
biological child. That was why I cherished and loved her as much as I
would’ve with my real child, no, maybe even more than that.”
His gaze lowered as he struggled to swallow back his sadness. He
continued on.
“If only she told me when she was hurting, when it was getting too much
for her….”
Although Seo Gyu-Nam was displaying an intense emotional state, Jin-
Woo was quite different in his attitude and kept an icy-cold gleam in his eyes
from the beginning right until the end. He then pulled out his own smartphone
from his inner pocket.
“While we were sifting through your daughter’s personal effects, we
uncovered a certain sound file.”
“….Pardon?”
“Well, let’s listen to it first.”
Jin-Woo tapped on the play icon and let the voice of the shadow play out.
It was the testimony straight from her mouth about the tale of the horrifying
abuse she suffered at the hands of her adoptive father, ever since she was a
young child.
And as the testimony continued on…
Seo Gyu-Nam finally stopped acting like a sorrowful father who lost his
daughter, his eyes constantly shaking from shock.
The girl deliberately chose to go to a university far away from home,
believing that she was finally freed from the torment of her adoptive father,
but then, when the b*stard got in contact with her again some time ago,
starting with the text message saying ‘I want to see you again’, she chose to
end her life, instead.
She might have taken her own life, but the culprit that drove her to that
decision was someone else.
Tap.
Once the sound file ended its playback, Seo Gyu-Nam raised his head, his
expression frozen-stiff now.
“Why… why did you play that in front of me?”
This middle-aged man could legitimately claim that he possessed quicker
wits than most other people.
If the real goal of this meeting was to arrest him, then this detective
would’ve shown up with a couple of other officers, slap the cuffs on him and
be done with the whole thing just like that.
However, this cop didn’t take him to the police station, but to a local cafe,
saying that they needed to have a quiet chat.
That was why Seo Gyu-Nam had a hunch that the detective in front of his
eyes had a somewhat different purpose in coming to see him. As if to reply
positively to that hunch, the expressionless detective finally revealed a toothy
grin.
“You now have two options available to you.”
Options were available!
Seo Gyu-Nam clenched his fists tightly after hearing those words that
sounded like the heavens extending a lifeline, just as a precariously dangerous
situation was about to befall on him.
‘Yes!!’
Meanwhile, the detective carried on.
“First…. You admit to your wrongdoing, go to the station with me, and
confess everything.”
“And… the other option is?”
“Rather than admit to your crime, you pay an appropriate price, instead.”
Seo Gyu-Nam had to grit his teeth in order to suppress this powerful wave
of jovial laughter gushing out from somewhere deep inside his chest.
‘Oh my goodness me.’
And the wise old ‘they’ said that, even if the heavens collapsed, there
would always be a way out, didn’t they? Who would’ve thought that the
detective who uncovered his ugly sins just so happened to be such an
individual?
Seo Gyu-Nam had lived a pretty great life as a medical doctor. So,
regardless of how much this pathetic policeman wanted, he knew he had the
financial wherewithal to satisfy that demand.
Seo Gyu-Nam did his utmost best to stop the ends of his lips from curling
up and asked back.
“How much are you asking for?”
“That is already enough.”
Jin-Woo formed a hollow chuckle and securely pocketed the phone.
He knew better than anyone just how many people regretted with their
whole being the choice they’ve made just now. This middle-aged man trying
his best to hide his laughter came across as utterly disgusting and ridiculous.
In an instance, Jin-Woo’s expression changed.
“Now, listen well.”
With the smile gone from his face, an aura so ominous and bleak oozed out
from him, instead.
“In reality, this place you’re in isn’t the world you were living in. No, it’s
a different world I simply mocked up to resemble the outside scenery.”
The land of the dead that no living soul could enter without the express
permission of its master – the territory of the eternal rest. Jin-Woo calmly
added that that was the name of the prison about to seal Seo Gyu-Nam away.
Of course, the middle-aged man became flustered at the suddenly-changed
Jin-Woo’s attitude as well as at this strange, hard-to-understand explanation.
“E-excuse me, Detective-nim. I, I don’t underst….”
“Think about it carefully.”
Seo Gyu-Nam felt his breathing choke up from Jin-Woo’s murderous glare.
“Can you remember how you got here?”
Now that he thought about it….
As the chill ran down on his spine, Seo Gyu-Nam finally realised the
oddness of his situation.
‘B-but, how….?’
Within this brightly-lit cafe, how was it possible that there was not a single
soul around other than himself and this mysterious detective?
Even if you forget about other patrons, no, maybe even the actual owner of
the place, shouldn’t there at least be one waiter or a clerk somewhere??
However, whether it was inside the building or outside of the glass wall,
there was not a single trace of other people at all.
“Ah….”
Just as he finally recognised that something unexplainable had happened to
him, everything vanished, just like that, leaving only the darkness.
The only items left within this inky-black darkness were the table, plus the
two chairs. And of course, himself and the detective sitting on those chairs.
“U-uwaaaaahhk?!”
Seo Gyu-Nam shot up from the chair and hurriedly stepped back as his
complexion paled instantly.
“W-who the hell are you?! Is this a dream? It’s a nightmare, isn’t it??”
The middle-aged man pointed at Jin-Woo in a confused mixture of anger
and desperation. Unfortunately for him, his retreating steps couldn’t go too
far.
Thud.
Because he ran into something as hard as a wall, that was why. An
inexplicable chill swept him up and his head slowly shifted towards his back.
That’s when the ‘wall’ began moving.
No, it wasn’t an actual wall, just a giant ‘ant’ standing stiffly like one, and
it was moving now.
This ant creature shoved its head closer to Seo Gyu-Nam’s face and quietly
placed its unfurled index finger against its ‘lips’.
[Shh….]
In that moment…
“Euph! Eu-euph…!!!”
Dozens upon dozens of ant arms reached out from the darkness and
grabbed onto him, before dragging him deeper into the unknown.
He would now be subjected to horrifying torture from here onwards where
he’d eventually beg for death, but too bad, he’d not be able to die that easily.
See, the thing was, the Shadow now tasked with his punishment was one of
the greatest soldiers in the ranks, and at the same time, the greatest ‘Healer’
there ever was, too.
[Kkiiehk!]
Beru bowed his waist to perform a smart greeting towards his liege, before
melting back into the darkness.
‘……’
Jin-Woo wordlessly stared in the direction where Seo Gyu-Nam had
disappeared to, and slowly stood up from his chair. This time, not from his
front but from behind, another figure watching the proceedings unfold while
hiding stepped out of the darkness.
It was Jin-Yi.
Jin-Woo was well aware that, no matter how badly the guilty suffered, the
victim’s pain would never fully disappear. However, if such a thing could
console the heart of the deceased just a tiny bit….
He walked over to her and placed his fingertip on her forehead to erase all
memories of her adoptive father.
[Thank you. Thank you so much, Sovereign-nim.]
The Shadow bowed her head many times to Jin-Woo afterwards.
Now that she was reborn as a Shadow, she instinctively understood what
kind of a special existence he was, but well, Jin-Woo never planned to convert
her into his Shadow Soldier, to begin with.
So, it was now time to return her to the void.
Just before their goodbyes, Jin-Woo asked her in a gentle voice.
“Is there anything else you’d like to say?”
The Shadow lightly shook her head, before going, “Ah!”
[By any chance…. If it’s not too much trouble, can I ask you for a small
favour?]
day.
Jin-Yi’s friend came to the station in the early morning to find out about
any new development in the case. Jin-Woo found her first and took her to the
corridor outside the office.
“By all appearances, the chances of the case being treated as murder is
extremely low at this point. The investigation itself will close soon, as well.”
The friend looked at Jin-Woo with a disbelieving expression, before
speaking up with the voice of a person clutching at a straw.
“T-truly…. There isn’t even one percent of any other possibilities??”
Rather than a verbal reply, Jin-Woo quietly nodded his head up and down.
The friend’s head dropped towards the ground next.
She seemed to have a million things to say in her mind, but couldn’t say
any one of them out aloud – her expression sorrowful but unwilling, she
hesitantly spoke.
“That means, Jin-Yi, she….”
Jin-Woo studied her for a moment or two, before presenting her with a
small gift box covered in a cute wrapper.
“This is?”
“The name written on the gift card is yours, isn’t it?”
“…..It is.”
It was none other than a gift the deceased carefully handpicked and
prepared for the friend’s birthday. The gift that would’ve never entered its
intended owner’s hands finally found its way to its rightful home.
“Jin-Yi prepared this….?”
“That’s correct. I thought that Miss Jin-Yi would’ve wanted this gift to
find its intended owner.”
“Ah…. Thank you….”
The friend thanked Jin-Woo wholeheartedly, her eyes tearing up
uncontrollably.
If only the adoptive father’s insidious text message didn’t arrive at the
victim’s phone one hour before she cut her own wrist, wouldn’t these two
friends get to enjoy the birthday party as planned?
Jin-Woo felt complicated in his heart as several thoughts intersected within
his mind and his gaze drifted away to the distance, only for him to feel the
familiar vibration coming from within his pocket.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
He asked for an understanding from the sobbing friend of the victim, turned
around, and answered his phone.
A voice he felt relieved to hear came out of the phone’s speaker.
Chapter 264: Chapter 264
Source: WEBNOVEL
REPORT
Side Story 21
The last side story: Twelve years later (Fin)
Later that evening.
Jin-Woo headed to the local diner that he frequented with Yu Jin-Ho when
they were much younger. Still did, as a matter of fact.
He felt the hints of determination, different from the kid’s usual self,
emanating from Yu Jin-Ho’s voice on the phone. When Jin-Woo stepped into
the diner, Yu Jin-Ho sitting anxiously by the table, easily visible from the
entrance, quickly raised his hand up high.
“Hyung-nim!!”
After graduating from the university, Yu Jin-Ho continued to train in the art
of running a business empire under Chairman Yu Myung-Hwan, which
transformed his body and spirit into a proper man now.
However, he still came across as a little kid brother to Jin-Woo, even now.
“Hey, man.”
He greeted back with a chuckle and settled on the other side of Yu Jin-Ho.
His gaze then scanned the soju shot glass in Yu Jin-Ho’s hand, as well as the
half-empty soju bottle for a brief moment.
‘This guy, he knows he can’t handle alcohol, so why….’
It was unknown just what he was psyching himself up for like this, but
without a doubt, Yu Jin-Ho needed a massive boost to his courage to do it, it
seemed.
So, Jin-Woo asked.
“What’s going on with you? You didn’t even tell me anything yet.”
Yu Jin-Ho greatly hesitated with his reply, before pulling out a small box
from his inner pocket and opened it up. A rather expensive-looking ring was
stored in there.
“Hyung-niiim!!”
“What now?”
“This time, I’m gonna propose to Miss Jin-Ah for sure!”
Aaah.
‘That’s what this was all about.’
Jin-Woo was guessing that the kid got scolded by his little sister or some
such and wanted to complain to someone trustworthy, but now that he knew
the score, a smile automatically floated up on his face.
Yu Jin-Ho completely misinterpreted that smile, though, and a fierce glare
of determination lit up within his eyes.
“Hyung-nim! I’m really serious this time! I’ll confess to her tonight! B-
but, the thing is…. You think she’s going to like this ring?”
When Jin-Woo thought about how Jin-Ah always complained at home,
wondering aloud just when the blockhead that was her boyfriend would come
around to confess his feelings for her, he could picture her jumping up and
down in happiness already, but well….
Jin-Woo deliberately left his words vague so the after-confession swelling
of emotions could be even tastier for the couple.
“I wonder… I’m not very good with this sort of things, so….”
“Keuh-heuk.”
As if he felt tormented, Yu Jin-Ho dropped his head lower in agony before
raising it back up again.
“I-it’s still fine, hyung-nim. Actually, I don’t know what she’d like to
have anyway, so I prepared lots of presents in advance.”
And then, he began pulling out a large paper envelope out of the blue.
What that contained was a blueprint of a building.
“Actually, there’s this new building about to be constructed in our
company’s premises, so as soon as Miss Jin-Ah is done with her medical
degree, we could build a hospit….”
“Hold up.”
Jin-Woo felt as if he had seen this blueprint lots of times from somewhere
and quickly cut Yu Jin-Ho’s word off.
“By any chance, this building…. The estimated pricing is around 30
billion Won, isn’t it?” (TL: Around $25 million USD)
Yu Jin-Ho was taken by surprise and his eyes opened up wider.
“What the…. Hyung-nim, how can you know that….?”
Well, it was obvious how – because it was the exact same thing.
…The same as the blueprint of the building offered as the compensation for
making Yu Jin-Ho the new Guild Master back in the erased timeline, that was.
Jin-Woo worked hard to keep his laughter in check. Yu Jin-Ho saw that
expression and his complexion reddened considerably as he tried to come up
with a suitable excuse.
“Hyung-nim, this is the best I can do for Miss Jin-Ah at the moment
because I’m still learning about this trade from my father, but I….”
“No, that’s not it.”
To stop Yu Jin-Ho’s misunderstanding from getting any deeper, Jin-Woo
wiped the grin off his face and spoke in a far more earnest tone of voice.
“Listen to me, Jin-Ho.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
“There’s no need for you to give her lots of presents to prove yourself so
hard like this. Because… you are a good man. All you have to do is be you.
Just you.”
“…..”
Jin-Woo’s opinion rendered Yu Jin-Ho completely speechless, but he began
tearing up greatly.
“Hyung-nim….”
It was at this point that Jin-Woo belatedly remembered how this kid
behaved when drunk and felt this ominous foreboding creep up on him.
And like clockwork, Yu Jin-Ho spoke in a tearful voice.
“Can I hug you just this one time, hyung-nim?”
“Nope.”
“Hyung-niiim!!”
Yu Jin-Ho failed to rein his emotions in the end, and pounced on Jin-Woo
to embrace him, but the latter extended his hand and rather deftly stopped the
former from getting too close.
Yu Jin-Ho struggled for a long time before finally regaining control over
his emotions and settled back down on his spot.
“Sob, sob, sobbbb…”
He continued to sob away, though, and Jin-Woo could only smirk at this
sight. Sure, this kid did have a bit of a moronic streak in him, but Jin-Woo
knew the truth very well from what the kid had shown him during the
moments of great life-or-death peril.
Back when they entered the rank C dungeon along with a bunch of con-
men and were forced into making a decision, or when he was being tortured
for information by a rank S Hunter blinded by thoughts of revenge, Yu Jin-Ho
always chose loyalty over his safety.
He was a good kid, indeed. That was Jin-Woo’s honest impression of Yu
Jin-Ho after observing him from a close vantage point after all this time.
Jin-Woo poured soju into his own empty shot glass.
“Why don’t we pray for your success with this toast?”
“Eh?”
Yu Jin-Ho raised his head to find Jin-Woo pushing forward his shot glass.
“If your proposal is successful, then we will really become family, you
know. So, how about we share a toast while praying for your success?”
“A real family with hyung-nim…..”
Yu Jin-Ho’s expression was soon overcome with a great swell of emotions
once more and he lifted his own cup up, only for his gaze to stop by at Jin-
Woo’s left hand.
He knew very well what was hidden behind that black glove, of course.
“Excuse me…. Hyung-nim?”
“Yeah?”
“If I’m not overstepping here, can I ask you about something?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Yu Jin-Ho sneaked a couple of glances at Jin-Woo’s left hand before
working up his courage once more.
“The scars on that hand…. What actually did happen to you, to get such
serious scars?”
Those scars were so horrendous that just a casual glance would make
people recall heart-wrenching pain in an instant. It must’ve been a rather
serious accident for such a clear burn scar to be left behind like that.
Although Yu Jin-Ho found it pretty hard to ask this question up until now,
he borrowed the powers of the booze to ask this rather difficult question.
“Oh, you mean this?”
Jin-Woo glanced at his left hand for a little while, before a smirk floated up
on his lips.
“I got it while saving the world.”
Jin-Woo’s gaze had reverted back to Yu Jin-Ho by then. His reply was
spoken as if it was nothing much to worry about, so the latter chuckled back
lightly, too.
“Hyung-nim, you and your sense of humour….”
Jin-Woo also chuckled along as well.
Yu Jin-Ho belatedly realised that the shot glass had been stuck waiting for a
while inside his hyung-nim’s hand and quickly raised his own higher.
“For the successful proposal!”
Jin-Woo brought his cup closer and prayed for the kid’s fortune as well.
“Yeah, for your successful proposal.”
Clink.
They clinked their shot glasses and emptied them in one go.
Yu Jin-Ho’s face went into a scowl at the bitter taste of soju, but unlike
him, Jin-Woo could only form a wry grin as he put the empty glass down.
‘I’d love to get just a little bit drunk on a day like today, though…’
It was then.
“Ah, I almost forgot.”
Yu Jin-Ho must’ve recalled Jin-Woo’s family life after hearing the word
‘family’ since he suddenly began discussing precisely that.
“Is sister-in-law doing well?”
“Yeah, she’s well.”
“What about Soo-Hoh, though? I should really stop by soon to see how
the boy’s doing nowadays. Has he started walking yet?”
Jin-Woo chuckled and shook his head.
“No, not yet. He’s only six months old, so crawling is all he can do for
now.”
“That’s weird. I thought that a kid sharing your and your wife’s genes
would start running around the moment he was born, you know?”
“What the hell. Is that how you think of me and her?”
“Ahaha.”
Yu Jin-Ho scratched the back of his head in a playful manner and Jin-Woo
also chuckled as well.
But then, Yu Jin-Ho went “Oops!” and hurriedly spoke in a worried voice
as he heard that the post-natal care was rather arduous for the newborn’s
parents.
“Well, in that case, shouldn’t you go home as soon as possible?”
“Mm… Maybe I should?”
With good timing, Jin-Woo was also beginning to miss Hae-In and his son
Soo-Hoh waiting for him back home after the word ‘family’ had been
mentioned earlier.
A certain residence located in the outskirts of the city.
Arriving back home safe and sound, Jin-Woo parked his car in the vicinity.
Screech.
Although the house was unimaginably huge for a detective to afford with
his government salary, no one suspected a thing since the person sharing the
residence alongside him just so happened to be the idol of the sporting world
that pretty much every South Korean had heard of before in the past.
However, only he and Hae-In knew the secret of this house not being built
by the hands of humans.
When Jin-Woo stepped into the house, the first thing that greeted him was
the sight of his two Marshals in the middle of a war of nerves.
Bellion and Igrit were glaring at each other without backing down an inch,
apparently not ready to give up on their ground. Soon, Hae-In came out to the
living room while carrying their son, Soo-Hoh.
“Dear….”
With a smile, Jin-Woo took over Soo-Hoh from Hae-In, and gently held
him up. When he did…
“Ppa-!!”
Soo-Hoh broke out into boisterous laughter and extended his small hands
towards him. The boy wanted to be hugged by his father, so Jin-Woo helped
with that by embracing the baby against his chest, and then, pointed to his two
Marshals with his chin.
“What’s up with those two?”
“Well, the thing is….”
Hae-In was fighting back to keep her own laughter from breaking out while
hesitating with her answer, but Jin-Woo didn’t need long to figure out what
was up with this situation.
Bellion shot back at Igrit with a harsh glare.
[What do you mean by we mustn’t teach our Lord Soo-Hoh the ways of
the sword? Do you really think your suggestion makes any sense
whatsoever, Igrit?!]
However, Igrit’s own fighting spirit didn’t lose out an inch, other.
[High academic success is the barometer of one’s capability in this world,
Bellion.]
No one knew when or who ordered them online, but well, Igrit was holding
home-schooling material for toddlers as he argued his case.
Jin-Woo watched the tightly-contested war of nerves between these two
proud Soldiers and became utterly speechless. He stared at them with a
dumbfounded face for a while, before he took a step closer to address them.
“You guys….”
The Marshals finally realised that their liege was right in front of their
noses, hurriedly turned around to face him, and knelt down on the floor.
[My liege!]
[My liege!]
Jin-Woo tutted audibly at the two Marshals far too obsessed in the matters
of the post-natal care and spoke to them.
“It’s fine whether you want to teach my son swords or maths, but let’s
worry about that only after the boy learns to walk first, shall we?”
Bellion and Igrit stared at each other for a little while before bowing their
heads down to Jin-Woo.
[That is a reasonable approach, my liege.]
[You are correct, my liege.]
“Alright.”
Jin-Woo grinned brightly while holding his son in his arms, and just like
that, Soo-Hoh also grinned brightly in return, as well.
“Kkyah.”
Nobody would doubt that they were a father and son; Hae-In watched the
two’s smiles that seemed like a carbon copy of one another and chuckled
softly herself.
Around the time Lee Seh-Hwan, joining the Unit as someone’s potential
successor, had gotten more or less used to the life as a detective, Jin-Woo was
summoned by the Station Commander for a private chat.
The senior detective leaving the commander’s office before him carried a
rather suspicious glint in his eyes, so it was unlikely that this chat would be
about a pleasant topic, thought Jin-Woo. He entered the commander’s office
after the senior detective left and walked over to his superior’s desk.
“Did you call for me, sir?”
The commander was looking out of his office window at the time; he didn’t
turn around and addressed Jin-Woo in a quiet voice.
“I heard that you’re still interfering in other detectives’
investigations….”
As expected – the senior of earlier carried that look of ‘I told you so’ as he
was leaving, didn’t he? Jin-Woo inwardly swallowed his fake cough.
The commander turned around towards Jin-Woo and formed a refreshing
grin.
“Please, I beg you to not go overboard and make other detectives resent
you, Seong Hunter-nim.”
The commander’s face was someone quite familiar to him. It belonged to
none other than Woo Jin-Cheol, the youngest Station Commander in Korean
history.
Of course, that feat was built upon the hidden fact that Jin-Woo played a
key role in solving many of Woo Jin-Cheol’s cases.
Jin-Woo smiled and corrected his current boss’s words.
“I’m not a Hunter anymore, Commander.”
“Even still, it’s a lot more convenient for me to refer to you as a Hunter-
nim.”
While saying those things, Woo Jin-Cheol scanned the documents on top of
his desk.
“Did you know that the legal guardian of the suicide victim, her father,
suddenly went missing a few days ago?”
“Really?”
“Rather coincidentally, every CCTV camera around the missing man’s
residence stopped working at the same time.”
“Oh my goodness. How can such a thing even happen?”
Jin-Woo’s feigned innocence brought about a helpless chuckle from Woo
Jin-Cheol. He then threw the documents into the nearby trash can.
“Whatever you decide to do, I shall continue to believe in you, Seong
Hunter-nim.”
Jin-Woo heard Woo Jin-Cheol’s declaration of unreserved faith in him and
as a gesture of thanks, bowed his head just a little.
Afterwards….
“Actually, I didn’t ask you to come and stop by because of that….”
Woo Jin-Cheol pushed forward a piece of memo paper that had been
hidden in the corner of the desk until then. A name of a hospital, as well as a
patient’s room number, was written on it.
“….I thought that you’d like to know.”
“What’s this?”
Jin-Woo asked back and Woo Jin-Cheol replied as if he was waiting for
that.
“The Association President, no, Chairman Goh Gun-Hui is apparently in
critical condition.”
This would be Jin-Woo’s second time coming to visit Goh Gun-Hui’s
hospital room.
About ten years ago, he saved the older man’s life by using the ‘Divine
Water of Life’ that he also used to save his mother’s life in the erased
timeline.
And now, he was facing the gaunt Goh Gun-Hui once more as the latter
found himself at the death’s doorstep. Since this was his second visit, the
dying man didn’t get surprised by Jin-Woo’s unexpected appearance.
No, he simply nodded his head in the direction of the unfamiliar young
man with a hood pulled up. He then tapped on the oxygen mask blocking his
mouth.
Jin-Woo reached out and cautiously removed the apparatus, allowing Goh
Gun-Hui to speak even though he wheezed heavily and laboriously in
between each word.
“Young… man, you came back again…. Actually, I…. I’ve been
searching for you… all this time.”
Jin-Woo looked on at this sight with sorrowful eyes before raising his
voice.
“If Chairman wants this illness to be cured, then….”
Even before he could finish saying that he could cure the illness one more
time, Goh Gun-Hui shook his head first.
“I’ve… lived for a long time now. I did what I had to do during the ten
years you gave me. That is enough for me.”
Back in the erased timeline, Goh Gun-Hui sold off his company and
became the first President of the Korean Hunter’s Association. But in this
timeline, he had been acting as the role model to all the other corporate
leaders by taking the lead in various charity work. And he no longer wished
for his life to be extended anymore.
What he really wanted, though, was not what everyone would’ve expected.
“Actually…. I have a favour to ask you.”
Jin-Woo nodded his head. And that’s when he was met with Goh Gun-
Hui’s pleading eyes.
“You told me that there was a world where we fought side by side, didn’t
you?”
Jin-Woo nodded his head again without saying anything.
“Can you tell me more about that world? I’d like to know more. What I
looked like, what you looked like back then….”
“Those might not be the memories you’d like to recall, sir.”
“It’ll be alright. I only wish to regain the memories now lost, that is all.”
Jin-Woo confirmed the earnest desperation on Chairman Goh Gun-Hui’s
expression and gently grasped the dying man’s hand.
When he did….
….The memories of the time now erased rushed into Goh Gun-Hui’s mind
like a tidal wave.
“Ah, ah….”
Tears began flooding out from the older man’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Jin-Woo slowly pulled the hood back and revealed his face to
the Association President Goh Gun-Hui. He tightly grasped the younger
man’s hands and confirmed the face now looking back as even thicker tears
fell from his eyes.
“Hunter-nim, you have…. Again….”
Jin-Woo gently held the Association President’s hand as the latter’s
breathing became harsher and noticeably more laborious.
Goh Gun-Hui’s gaze shifted back towards the ceiling.
“I… I really… Along with young heroes like you….”
His voice now contained traces of his satisfaction.
Goh Gun-Hui was overcome with the genuine happiness gushing out from
the deepest part of his heart, and as his tears continued to flow, he quietly
breathed his last.
Jin-Woo also stood there with tears in his eyes, before reaching down to
gently close the older man’s eyes. Soon after, the life-support machines
informed everyone involved of the passing of their patient.
Beeeep-!!
By the time shocked doctors rushed into the room, the suspicious, uninvited
guest had already left without a trace.
As Jin-Woo wordlessly walked the streets, electronic advertising boards
installed here and there continued to display the breaking news of Chairman
Goh Gun-Hui’s passing.
Emotions of sadness could be spied on the expressions of many watching
the breaking news.
Back then, or even now….
Chairman Goh Gun-Hui was loved by many, and even more paid their
respects after his death.
‘Be well…. You were also a hero who sacrificed so much of yourself for
the sake of the others.’
Jin-Woo stepped away from the populated streets and made his way
towards those avenues with little to no foot traffic.
Every time the wind blew, leaves that lost their colours from the influence
of the encroaching autumn fell in droves from the trees lining up the streets.
Soon, winter would arrive.
‘And then, spring will come again, too.’
Jin-Woo fell into a deep train of thoughts while looking at the scattering
leaves, before belatedly realising that his phone was ringing off the hook
inside his pocket.
The call was from Hae-In.
“Dear?”
As soon as he answered the phone, he was greeted by her incredibly urgent
voice.
Could something have happened in their home, even though two Marshals
were guarding it?? Jin-Woo’s own voice rose up higher at what seemed to be
an unbelievable situation currently unfolding there.
“What’s the matter with Soo-Hoh?!”
When he did, Hae-In cried out as if she too couldn’t believe that it was
happening, either.
“Eh?”
It was right at that moment that Jin-Woo recalled what Yu Jin-Ho said a
few days ago.
He became completely speechless after recalling those words and stood
dead still on the spot.
For some reason, laughter tried to break out of his mouth after hearing his
wife’s panicky voice over the phone. For the time being, he decided that
calming his wife down would be his first priority.
“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry too much about it.”
“I’ll teach Soo-Hoh how to fly step by step, soon.”
‘….Oops.’
Didn’t I tell her that before?
When he was dating Hae-In back in the now-erased timeline, he wasn’t all
that adept at flying around so they used his Sky Dragon ‘Kaisel’ to travel,
instead.
Jin-Woo finally couldn’t hold back and guffawed out.
The autumn leaves shook around in the wind and fell to Earth once more.
After autumn, winter would come, and afterwards, spring would greet the
world. Everything had a beginning and an end, and a new beginning would
follow after the end.
However…
Clank, smash!!
….It seemed that the winter of his household was still a long way away.
[Only I Level Up, Side Stories Fin.]
Chapter 265 Fin.
Source: WEBNOVEL
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