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* * *
Samin frowned. He needed to enter the tower for the long-awaited duel with Doun, but even moving from the parking lot to the entrance was difficult.
The barrage of questions was endless. Starting with why he had applied for a duel against Magnetic, who was in the same guild, there were even ridiculous questions mixed in like whether the two of them actually didn’t get along, or if he was angry because Magnetic looked down on the guild master.
When Samin glared at them in bewilderment, they shut their mouths and backed away.
‘Why are these bastards so interested in other people’s business? Even if hyung is popular, it’s not like popularity feeds you.’
If they were celebrities, popularity would translate to money so there’d be reason to endure it, but hunters were closer to freelancers. Moreover, their interest was nothing more than literal gossip not directly connected to money. In other words, worthless attention.
“Please move aside so we can pass.”
Samin pushed through the crowd gathered under the blazing sun and pulled Doun, who stood beside him, closer to himself. He was already exhausted before even having the duel.
Though he had expected the frequently visited tower area to be crowded and had sought out a tower in the outskirts, word had apparently spread as this place was also far from quiet.
‘Damn, how annoying. Don’t they have anything better to do?’
When he couldn’t contain his irritation and scrunched up his face while clicking his tongue, movement became a bit easier. After much difficulty, Samin entered the tower entrance and glanced at the hat of Doun walking silently beside him.
It seemed like just yesterday when Doun had refused the hat with the guild name embroidered in large palatino font, saying it was burdensome, but now it was cute how he made sure to wear it wherever they went. At Samin’s stare, Doun asked in a small voice.
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering what we should do if it’s this crazy when we come out too.”
Samin spoke loudly and openly as if for others to hear. He didn’t hide his chilling inner thoughts that he might cause a scene if they clung to them annoyingly and bothered them like this when they came out after the duel ended.
Doun nodded slightly while hiding his troubled expression behind his mask.
Crowds were still uncomfortable for him. Though he had gotten used to the murmuring sounds, it was still midsummer with oppressive heat. Anyone would hate being packed together and moving with people they didn’t even know.
“I hope there’s less of this when we come out.”
At the same moment Doun muttered quietly, the cool and eerie sensation announcing entry into the tower wrapped around his entire body. After lightly closing and opening his eyelids, a notification window appeared in Doun’s field of vision.
[Notification: Duel opponent ‘Slope (S)’ has entered.]
Doun chuckled as he traced the nickname of today’s serious duel opponent with his eyes a couple times. When Timer’s nickname had been in that spot, he had been filled only with negative feelings including irritation, but strangely, seeing Samin’s nickname just made him laugh.
Samin scanned the surroundings with his eyes, then spotted Doun and waved his hands enthusiastically to show his delight. Even though they had woken up in the same bed this morning, pressed their lips together, and came to the tower front in the same car, he didn’t know what was so delightful about it.
‘He really knows how to act cute…’
He wondered if this was what dating someone younger was always like.
To repay the sincere heart of this puppy who wanted to fight him hunter-to-hunter using one of only three precious designation rights in the country, it would be proper to fight with his utmost effort. Doun erased the smile that had appeared on his face and slowly closed and opened his eyes.
The color of his pupils beneath his long eyelashes was bluer than ever.
[Notification: The duel will begin after preparation time ends. Duels established using ‘Priority Opponent Designation Right (L)’ have no time limit set.]
Samin gulped. Though Doun had explained in advance about the notification windows that would appear when the duel started, seeing it in reality made him feel that the duel with Magnetic, his idol, was truly imminent. He looked at the person standing before him with a nervous expression.
Instead of the short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts Doun had worn when dueling Timer, he was now wearing the hunter uniform he only wore for conquests. The dark gray hunter uniform with detachable hood was a practical design with hardly any flashy decorations visible.
He had said he removed all the hoods because they fluttered annoyingly when moving. It was an attitude opposite to some hunters who strutted around calling themselves hunters while wrapping their bodies in leather harnesses and belts that didn’t help with conquests.
After all, if you weren’t going to wear a parachute or holster a pistol, what meaning would a harness across the chest have, and what use would decorations that only hindered movement be? Pockets to carry glucose candies or chocolate bars to stuff in your mouth when blood sugar dropped would be more efficient.
[Notification: Preparation time will end soon. You cannot leave Veritas Tower until the duel is over.]
Samin scattered his thoughts as he looked at the notification windows appearing one after another. Just as Doun had indirectly shown his will to seriously engage in the duel against him, Samin was also in better condition than ever.
He had removed the two rings he wore for style and chosen the most subdued hunter uniform design. Since this was the duel with his idol that he had only dreamed of, he had to approach it seriously.
‘I need to show that I’m strong too.’
The smile that had always hung on Samin’s face disappeared. He knew this was the moment to approach not as Kyung Samin, Lee Doun’s lover, but as hunter Slope who had issued a challenge. Right here, he had to let Magnetic know his resolve.
[Notification: The duel will end immediately if the Veritas System detects defeat or if one side forfeits.]
[Notification: The duel begins.]
As soon as the duel started, Samin kicked off the ground and rushed at Doun. It was a plan to bring the initiative to himself. Even Samin himself thought Doun’s victory was likely in this duel. Because hunter Magnetic was that kind of existence.
However, he wasn’t the type to accept defeat just because the result seemed obvious. He couldn’t know until he clashed with his own body. That was Samin’s thinking.
He threw a punch at the face that had been pushing lips forward saying he liked him until this morning. It was a human body transformed into a weapon by the effect of body enhancement skills.
Thud!
Though he rushed in at a speed too fast to even chase the faintly remaining afterimage, Doun leisurely deflected Samin’s punch. This wasn’t a body that had lost much of its fighting sense from withdrawing from actual combat.
Though he had shown mentally fragile aspects, he was truly an S-class hunter. Moreover, Magnetic’s body, still ranked number one, was strong.
‘I knew he’d start with punching right away.’
Doun lightly shook off his arm with a tingling pain and created distance from Samin. Anyway, he wasn’t affected by any of the magic skills Samin used. It was thanks to the skill ‘Special Immunity’ that everyone unanimously called overpowered.
Without having to think hard, anyone could tell Samin would come at him like this. Though the first attack regrettably came to nothing, Samin closed the distance again with no sign of disappointment.
‘If I can just break his body’s center…’
Samin’s eyes narrowed. He seriously racked his brain only to attack Doun. Since they were dueling anyway, Doun hoped personal feelings wouldn’t get mixed in. And that was the same for Samin.
Swoosh!
Samin’s walker urgently dug inward and kicked through the air. It was intended to target his legs, but Doun lightly fled backward as if he had anticipated Samin’s attack.
Just as Samin, who claimed to be Magnetic’s fan, knew Doun’s combat style well, Doun also knew Samin’s movements when engaging in battle. Inside towers, if he thought he couldn’t kill something in one blow, he would tie up the magical beasts’ feet.
Several brief close-range strikes followed. Samin rushed at Doun fiercely several times, and though Doun’s eyes seemed to shine with hesitation, he only dodged without attacking first.
‘…His attacks are sharper than I thought.’
He didn’t even feel hesitation. Though he had skillfully dodged a few times, if it led to a prolonged battle, victory would be hard to guarantee. To avoid making his confident declaration to grant his wish embarrassing, he needed to make a decision.
Whoosh!
At the solid fist that barely grazed his cheek, Doun finally gritted his teeth. Since he had the skill Special Immunity, he had tried to handicap himself.
‘But Samin doesn’t seem to want that…’
Since he recognized that Samin’s gaze had turned several times to his right hand that often gripped a staff, he couldn’t continue being lukewarm.
Blue rippling light scattered from the fingertips of Doun, who had pulled back his body to avoid the surging punch.
The moment he finally made Doun summon his staff himself, both bright red warning lights and affirmative green signals lit up simultaneously in Samin’s head.
He had achieved his primary goal of making Doun engage seriously in the duel and use magic skills. However, the problem was that after summoning his staff, seeing the expression that looked at him sharply made his sense of crisis shoot up.
Could he handle the skill that Magnetic cast with determination?
The corner of Samin’s mouth twitched slightly. It looked like he was either smiling or flustered.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
