Damn Hunter Life Chapter 11
“……Um, this skill I just got, it’s a low-grade stamina recovery skill. It won’t be much help in combat, but I’m happy with even this.”
“That’s good.”
Maybe because he was grateful, Hae Mi-jun was staring at him too intently. Gyeon Gang-hyeon found it a bit burdensome but managed to get through it well.
“Try using it on me.”
Actually, Gyeon Gang-hyeon was starting to feel fatigue creeping in. He’d definitely taken a nap earlier, but what was wrong with this damn body of his?
“I’m drained and sleepy from doing this.”
So as a light test of his first skill, he casually asked Hae Mi-jun to use it. But upon hearing this, Hae Mi-jun became greatly agitated.
“Don’t overdo it!”
He dropped his breathing apparatus with a clatter and acted like he was going to immediately take Gyeon Gang-hyeon and lay him down on a bed. Gang-hyeon flinched at the fuss.
“I’ll use the skill for you. Anytime. But let’s stop here for today. Hyung, you need to rest.”
He didn’t want to receive concern from a kid. Feeling embarrassed, Gang-hyeon hurriedly soothed Hae Mi-jun, then added casually with a face that couldn’t hide those feelings.
“Alright. We’ll stop here for today, but starting tomorrow, if you want, I’ll do it diligently every single day.”
In Gang-hyeon’s view, Hae Mi-jun cried a little even then.
Hae Mi-jun was about to use his return skill to go back to his house when he looked back at Gang-hyeon again. Hae Mi-jun’s face, which had bloomed brightly without a trace of tears—something that rarely appeared even in the original work—turned toward Gang-hyeon.
“Thank you. Gang-hyeon hyung.”
“That’s the eighth time you’ve said that.”
“But, you’re not going to tell me the reason this was possible, are you?”
Gang-hyeon gazed quietly into those sparkling eyes that seemed to regard the other person not just as close, but as completely one of his own people.
At this point, Squeaky should be cursing from inside his clothes, telling him to stop showing off, but Gang-hyeon didn’t yet have any suspicions about why it was so quiet.
“I’ll tell you later.”
* * *
Hunter School central area, Building 5.
One of the buildings containing classrooms for regular hunters.
Trapped in a bathroom where [Public] wasn’t functioning, Yoon Cha-on hung his head while becoming Ha Gwon-yeong’s verbal punching bag.
“Fuck, this is why delinquents are a problem. Gyeon Gang-hyeon and Hae Mi-jun both—”
Smack, smack. The sound of flesh hitting flesh came from Yoon Cha-on’s cheeks.
Ha Gwon-yeong wasn’t hitting hard enough to leave marks, but that made it even more infuriating.
‘But… there’s still no way to fight back.’
As long as Ha Gwon-yeong’s successor Ja Hyeong-woo and Yoon Cha-on’s successor Hae Mi-jun had the same water attribute, and as long as they were the only two healers.
As long as Hae Mi-jun kept being endlessly compared to Ja Hyeong-woo… he himself would inevitably continue to be looked down upon by Ha Gwon-yeong.
What was scary wasn’t Ha Gwon-yeong’s existence. What was truly infuriating was the helplessness regarding his own abilities—that no matter how much harder he trained than Ha Gwon-yeong, he could never achieve comparable results.
At that moment, the sound of the bathroom door opening occurred. Even so, Yoon Cha-on didn’t lift his head to look in that direction.
‘Whoever it is, if they’re a student, they’ll see Ha Gwon-yeong and get scared and leave.’
“Hey.”
But the person who entered didn’t turn around and leave. The voice sharply calling out in this direction was familiar. It was someone Yoon Cha-on knew.
‘No way.’
Really? Finally, his heavy head lifted. Yoon Cha-on recognized the other person at the doorway.
A successor one year older than him. He’d always walked around with hunched shoulders so he hadn’t noticed, but now that he looked, the youngest successor had quite sturdy shoulders and a fairly thick neck.
Hae Mi-jun was glaring at Ha Gwon-yeong.
“Criticizing me is fine. Look down on me and ignore me as you always have.”
This was the first time Yoon Cha-on’s successor had directly stepped forward. Yoon Cha-on felt like he was under some kind of spell.
“But if that finger-pointing extends to my subordinate, I won’t stay quiet either.”
Successor Hae Mi-jun remembers me?
Hae Mi-jun was wearing his hunter uniform. It was a sight he hadn’t seen in quite a long time.
If Ja Hyeong-woo was a hwarang, then Hae Mi-jun embodied the image of being his successor, so his hunter uniform was decided to be a nangdo robe mixed with a lot of white. It gave the feeling of a skylark that harmonized with his gentle face, with a feather ornament worn in the hair as the main point.
‘What good is having a hunter uniform if it’s never been used?’
It would have been gathering dust in his closet. Until now.
But why did he come out wearing that? Hadn’t he not worn it because he was embarrassed?
‘Has something come up that requires those clothes now?’
He imagined Hae Mi-jun being active. Yoon Cha-on’s chest swelled with some kind of expectation.
He had been the Hae Mi-jun successor they’d so thoroughly ignored. But when he actually raised his eyes and confronted them, that stupid Ha Gwon-yeong was crushed by the greater authority and left without being able to make a peep.
‘See, Ha Gwon-yeong, I don’t know about me, but I told you that if you cursed Successor Hae Mi-jun, you’d get your comeuppance someday.’
Hae Mi-jun approached the spot Ha Gwon-yeong had left. Their eyes met.
“Are you okay? Did that person hit you?”
Incredibly, this was the first conversation the two had ever shared, yet Hae Mi-jun’s eyes looked upset and held worry directed at Yoon Cha-on.
Yoon Cha-on avoided Hae Mi-jun’s gaze while saying something else.
“You know my face.”
It was rare for busy successors to remember regular students unless they were very close associates.
“I don’t have many people who are mine…”
Students aspiring to be healers, one hundred out of one hundred wanted to belong to Ja Hyeong-woo.
The people under Hae Mi-jun were an extreme minority who, despite not being able to belong to Ja Hyeong-woo due to capacity limits, reluctantly accepted positions because they didn’t want to give up being healers.
And all of them regretted it.
They had no idea that Hae Mi-jun would embarrass them for months on end.
“I’m sorry. Because I’m weak.”
Yoon Cha-on looked at Hae Mi-jun without even blinking.
Even though he knew that the successor before his eyes had the temperament to sincerely apologize even to regular students, experiencing it firsthand felt dreamlike and dazed.
“I’ve made you wait a lot until now, but could you wait just a little longer? I’ll train so I won’t be embarrassing.”
Over the past few months, because of Ha Gwon-yeong, Yoon Cha-on had learned how worthless words that come from people’s mouths can be.
If there is darkness, there is also light. That’s why Hae Mi-jun’s words carry power.
“Yes. Successor-nim.”
Yoon Cha-on answered with formal and ceremonial speech, yet unable to hide the wonder contained in his eyes.
“When it’s just the two of us, you can call me hyung.”
Yoon Cha-on watched Hae Mi-jun’s retreating figure until the very end as he left first.
It was definitely something unfamiliar and surprising, yet somehow the shock wasn’t as great as expected. Moreover, he felt some kind of déjà vu.
“Ah.”
Gang-hyeon?
The gym incident from just last week was still vivid. Somehow Gang-hyeon and Hae Mi-jun overlapped.
‘Did everyone eat something wrong? What’s happening?’
Although it came to mind together, Yoon Cha-on couldn’t deduce the connection between his successor and Gang-hyeon.
Still half in a daze, Yoon Cha-on took out his vibrating cell phone.
—
<Notification Text>
Preliminary information for STAGE 26 has been sent to the successors.
—
—The same screen was also appearing on the screens of the successors sitting gathered in the conference room at that moment.
The total number of people in the room was 7.
Currently, only 9 of the Twelve Zodiac had manifested successors. Excluding the 2 who didn’t contribute to combat. In other words, all combat-capable Twelve Zodiac members were currently assembled here.
“I’ll announce the deployment roster.”
Ox successor Woo Sae-geon recited in a monotone voice while adjusting the notebook in his hand.
“Well… there’s nothing really to announce. There’s been almost no change for 5 stages now.”
He closed and opened his tired eyes to get a better look at the notebook, then seemed to realize the meaninglessness of that action and gave a thin smile with his thin lips.
“East side dealer, Wood attribute Myo Cho-hui.”
Instead of a reply, smooth legs wearing flower shoes under the round table wiggled slightly.
“West side dealer, Fire attribute Ma Cheon-ah.”
“Yees.”
A woman wrapped tightly in black warrior clothing grinned. Her hand stroked the hilt of her greatsword.
“Center is me. And front, Earth attribute Jin Seol-woon.”
The one called was alone wearing a black shirt among the hanbok.
Having a conspicuous appearance in various ways, he lifted his sharply cut chin and produced a resonant low voice.
“Don’t you know my injury hasn’t fully healed yet?”
“Don’t you know there’s no one to replace you for Earth attribute?”
Woo Sae-geon returned the same words and his black eyes gleamed.
Jin Seol-woon blinked several times with his long-lashed eyes, then lightly touched his injured arm with his opposite hand.
“I can’t have scars if I move around.”
“Move carefully. You’ll have to accept that much. You need to realize that you’re a hunter now.”
Ja Hyeong-woo rested his chin on his hand at the strangely flowing atmosphere. Not because of the small argument between Woo Sae-geon and Jin Seol-woon, but because of the strategy positions.
Originally, the front position was his place as the only healer.
But he couldn’t understand why Woo Sae-geon suddenly moved Jin Seol-woon, who usually took the rear, to the front.
Then, was he switching places with Jin Seol-woon to go to the rear?
“Finally, rear, Fire attribute Sa Ye-ho.”
There was no place for a healer in Woo Sae-geon’s words.
Ja Hyeong-woo scraped his chair as he shot up.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
