#21
About 10 years ago, Cha Do-hyeok, who had been an ordinary boy, awakened as an S-rank Hunter. At that time, while there were many capable Hunters in South Korea, there were no S-rank awakeners, so Do-hyeok’s awakening at the time was enough to shake up the entire country.
While Do-hyeok himself wasn’t surprised at all by his awakening, all the mass media at the time was filled with stories about Do-hyeok. It was perhaps natural that the only S-rank boy would surpass all the Hunters who had been evaluated as capable until then and rise to rank 1 in one fell swoop.
‘South Korea’s only S-rank, Cha Do-hyeok.’
While everyone was busy being enthusiastic just seeing that title, Do-hyeok was frantically trying to adapt to something more fascinating than awakening itself among the changes that had happened to him at the time.
Along with his awakening, his eyes had burned hot while he experienced excruciating pain. The pain was severe enough that he wondered if he might go blind, but after about two days, the pain stopped. And the change that occurred was…
‘What is this?’
Blue eyes. Do-hyeok’s eyes, which had been jet black like his hair color, began to shimmer with a blue light.
At first, he thought it might be a side effect of awakening and looked for information, but among the unfortunate side effects that could be gained from awakening, there was no case similar to these eyes. His eyes would turn blue at random times, which put Do-hyeok in a difficult position more than once or twice. He didn’t want this change, which even Do-hyeok himself didn’t fully understand yet, to become known to the outside world and cause a commotion. The entire country’s attention was already focused on Do-hyeok’s S-rank awakening news.
Before long, Do-hyeok figured out the purpose of these eyes.
[Trait, Search Skill (A) is activated.]
[Trait Water, Underwater Hell (A) is activated.]
[Item, Wyvern’s Wing is used. Flight trait is added.]
[Currently in debuff state.]
It was that he could see not his own status window, but other people’s – that is, other people’s status windows. Not only that, but it was the same when facing monsters. He could know what traits that monster had and what attacks it mainly used.
As soon as Do-hyeok realized the purpose of these eyes, he grew even faster. Since he was already S-rank, there was no one who could match him in terms of skill, but he achieved dazzling growth along with his manifested eyes and had maintained his overwhelming rank 1 position from right after manifestation until now.
No one knew about these eyes. At first, they appeared randomly even when he didn’t want them to, but as time passed and he gradually adapted to those eyes, he became able to use the ability appropriately only when he wanted to. Of course, he couldn’t completely hide the conspicuous blue light, so people were also interested in Cha Do-hyeok’s ‘blue eyes,’ but he explained without changing his expression at all.
‘It seems to be a side effect of awakening, but I don’t really know either.’
It wasn’t difficult to deceive people. In the first place, Do-hyeok was the only one who had manifested as S-rank in this country, so there was no comparison target at all. So people had no choice but to believe what Do-hyeok said.
Kang Won-hyeok came at him with some sharp speculation about whether he was using some item, but even to that question, he only answered vaguely that he didn’t know. Even if this ability became known, it wouldn’t harm Do-hyeok, but he just hated the surrounding area becoming noisier.
Anyway, it was a world with only Hunters of lower ranks than Do-hyeok. Even if he read other people’s status windows, it wasn’t very interesting. Of course, when facing monsters or fighting together with guild colleagues, it was useful to know what state they were in, but it was only useful to that extent.
But Do-hyeok discovered something interesting for the first time with those eyes.
[Trait, Energy Absorption and Extinction is activated.]
On the day he did cooperative strategy with Sewon Guild, when he watched Ha-seong purifying, he unconsciously or habitually read Ha-seong’s status window.
Energy Absorption and Extinction.
That wasn’t a skill used by purifiers. In the first place, purifiers were those who purified the poison that came out as a byproduct from inside when dungeons disappeared. So the skills they used were also ‘purification skills.’
In other words, it wasn’t about making energy itself disappear, but only purifying it cleanly. And the skill to absorb and extinguish energy was a technique that was difficult to learn in the first place. It was when Do-hyeok was putting more strength into his eyes with a subtle expression. What he saw in his status window was an unbelievable single character.
[Trait, Energy Absorption and Extinction (S) is activated.]
It was a skill that was difficult to learn, but even its rank was S-rank. At first, Do-hyeok doubted his own eyes. Do-hyeok also had that skill, but he hadn’t awakened it to S-rank yet. A skill that even the only S-rank in this country hadn’t mastered. The appearance of confronting the sword demon he had seen in the first dungeon they met.
‘Could he be S-rank?’
No, that doesn’t make sense. If there had been another S-rank awakener besides Do-hyeok, it couldn’t have been this quiet. Then what could it be?
Do-hyeok decided to keep Ha-seong tied to his side for now. He needed to know whether he was really S-rank, or whether his eyes had finally broken down. He thought he would keep him nearby and wait for him to use his skill once more.
Since Ha-seong was currently living as a purifier, he would only use skills when purifying. So Do-hyeok thought he would wait for that time. And that appropriate time came faster than expected.
[Trait, Energy Absorption and Extinction (S) is activated.]
He peered at his status window once more with his blue eyes. And with the thought that he had nothing to lose, he also searched the pig that was always attached to Ha-seong’s side.
[Taming Skill (C) is being applied.]
[Trait Normal, Enhancement Skill (S) is being applied.]
Another S-rank skill. It was obvious without looking. Do Ha-seong had used a skill on that monster. He had fought the dungeon’s owner using enhancement skill. Now he had no choice but to conclude.
“Hyung, who are you?”
That there were two S-rank Hunters in this South Korea.
“……”
It wasn’t only Do-hyeok whose momentum had changed. Ha-seong, who heard those words, also had a completely different look in his eyes.
“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about.”
Ha-seong’s voice became significantly lower. The back of Do-hyeok’s neck became quietly chilly. It was the first time in his life he felt such eeriness.
“I think I should call you differently now, hyung.”
Do-hyeok looked around and then approached Ha-seong, slightly bowing his waist. At the similar eye level, he whispered in Ha-seong’s ear.
“Not as C-rank purifier Do Ha-seong, but as S-rank Hunter Do Ha-seong.”
Ha-seong, who had always avoided eye contact and stepped back whenever he approached closely, was now neither avoiding eye contact nor stepping back. He was properly facing Do-hyeok’s blue eyes.
“So it’s those eyes.”
Ha-seong looked up at Do-hyeok slightly.
“What do you see with those eyes?”
“Well. If you want to know my secret, hyung also has to tell me your secret.”
Do-hyeok unconsciously thought that the subtle soap scent coming from Ha-seong was nice. It was a thought that didn’t quite match the situation of confronting each other with their unknown secrets as collateral.
“Ha.”
Ha-seong let out a long sigh as if annoyed for some reason.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s move locations.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.”
Thinking that this was definitely not something to discuss at this chaotic scene, Ha-seong raised the white flag first.
“You’re not going to run away again, are you?”
“Sorry, but I’m also sick of running away now.”
That was sincere. Honestly, the stress he had received while living as purifier Do Ha-seong – that is, a fake purifier – since coming to this world was considerable. He had to put on tearful acting shows every time for Hunters who were quick-witted and suspected Ha-seong, and being ignored for being a low-rank purifier was daily life. He just endured it all, thinking it was the price and result of running away from Hunter Do Ha-seong’s life. Making money wasn’t easy anyway, and this much was already something he had been prepared for.
But sometimes, very occasionally, there were times when he wanted to shout. Who he was. What kind of person he was and how strong a person he had been. He had no hobby in bragging or showing off, but hiding his true self and living wasn’t an easy thing.
Of course, that didn’t mean he thought positively about having his identity exposed to Cha Do-hyeok. If he could hide it, he would hide it, and if he could run away, he would run away. Anyway, Ha-seong had to achieve his ultimate goal.
But the moment he properly faced those eyes, Ha-seong suddenly thought of one thing. That running away from Cha Do-hyeok, from those eyes, wouldn’t be easy. No, that he wouldn’t be able to run away. If that was the case, he didn’t want to hide his identity and run around miserably and abjectly.
“Then shall we have a proper conversation now? As Hunter to Hunter.”
Right now, at this moment, it was time for the two people to face each other anew.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
