Damn Hunter Life 104

Damn Hunter Life Chapter 104

Even with all his teammates except himself dead, Woo Sae-geon showed no emotion as he struck Buster’s shield with his sword.

Despite Woo Sae-geon’s weapon being a thin blade, a heavy explosive sound spread as if he were smashing with a greatsword. Buster’s shield rang out *clang clang*.

The force was overwhelming enough to dominate even us watching through the screen.

However, seeing Woo Sae-geon remain so composed as if he had been fighting alone from the beginning, one suspicion arose.

‘It doesn’t mean we were that useless… right?’

Agni fired bullets from behind Buster. Woo Sae-geon didn’t even dodge them. The bullets hit his temple directly, but the bullets just *thud* fell after their rotation stopped, leaving his health bar almost unchanged.

Perhaps frustrated, Agni attempted provocation.

“Can a captain who survived alone really be considered competent?”

*Rumble*—! An earth tremor as if heaven and earth were enraged made the open field shudder.

Woo Sae-geon had brought out his earth attribute.

Agni’s body trembled slightly. Not just that childish gunner, but all of First Call’s members.

The screen captured each other from their respective viewpoints. From First Call’s perspective… Woo Sae-geon standing detached looked exactly like a monster.

Conversely, from Woo Sae-geon’s viewpoint, the clustered First Call looked like a ragtag bunch.

Bootsman, First Call’s captain, slightly narrowed his eyes. He was probably telling his teammates through chat right now.

Attack all at once.

Unless they used a formation where the tanker pushed from the front while dealers swarmed the target, it was obvious they couldn’t match Woo Sae-geon in strength, speed, or even composure.

With rough movements, Woo Sae-geon’s hat string snapped *ping* and iridescent beads scattered wildly. Spinning his body to deflect multiple attacks in one strike, Woo Sae-geon harshly kicked away Buster’s shield. He *snap snap* cut through the tree branches tangling around his body.

‘Which side should be called more tenacious?’

First Call persistently pushing with five against one? Or Woo Sae-geon steadily managing his strength while wielding his sword like a storm?

However, Woo Sae-geon had also lost a lot of health. He couldn’t hide it outwardly in the end. His slightly loosened topknot was soaked with sweat, and his red ornament string had come undone and tangled in his clothes.

Still, he tightened First Call’s breathing as if he wasn’t tired.

“Ugh…!”

Unable to withstand Woo Sae-geon’s force, Clyte dropped her sword. Woo Sae-geon kicked Clyte and slammed her into Quiche. The slender Quiche tumbled along with her.

But when he got up, Clyte was already dead and gone.

Woo Sae-geon threw one sword upward, then with his bare hands grabbed the collar of Agni who happened to be charging in and slammed him straight into the ground. Agni disappeared immediately.

Those two had just been eliminated by internal injuries from Woo Sae-geon’s brute force. Even I watching couldn’t close my mouth.

At this moment, Buster charged in forcefully.

Woo Sae-geon’s eyes crumpled for the first time as if being crushed. The impact was so severe that his firmly planted foot left drag marks on the ground.

Buster timed his reach to when Woo Sae-geon’s sword was falling and intercepted the sword. But then came Bootsman’s scream.

“Let go of the sword!”

*Boom!* An explosion from the earth attribute skill erupted from the sword. The roar penetrated the entire area.

Before anyone knew it, Woo Sae-geon had leaped over Buster and was behind him. He faced healer Bootsman one-on-one.

Quiche hurriedly pulled Bootsman toward where he was, but while he could avoid the immediate blade, the result was gathering two people in one place.

Two more from First Call died. Buster aimed for Woo Sae-geon’s back for a final attack.

Both their health bars were hanging at the very edge. In this critical moment, I tensed up completely.

From beginning to end, Woo Sae-geon never closed his eyes deep in their sockets, watching Buster’s movements as he swung his sword widely.

And then.

*Beep*—! The match end sound shook my mind.

At that moment the spectator screen shook very violently, making immediate identification difficult, and the result of that clash could only be confirmed through notifications.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it.

[Buster ▷ Woo Sae-geon]

Because the screen quickly darkened after the match ended, we could all only see the sword fallen on the ground and the hand lying beside it for a very brief moment.

[Day 1 Match Score]

[Successors 2:1 First Call]

* * *

The sun of this space set, and a fake moon rose.

A figure dressed as a scholar wore the night sky on his hat and walked along the wall, dragging shadows.

Under his chin, a string woven with crystal beads faintly rippled in the moonlight.

Woo Sae-geon had come to the main building for an interim meeting, met Bootsman, the opposing team’s captain he had crossed swords with earlier, and was on his way back to the dormitory.

As soon as Bootsman saw Woo Sae-geon, he stood up and requested a handshake. Then he had said:

“I don’t know what to say… I know it’s presumptuous, but your strength inspires respect in us. Thank you for the good match.”

The match organizers asked if they could restrict all of Woo Sae-geon’s earth attribute skills from Set 4 onward for balance. That was exactly why they had called Woo Sae-geon.

Suddenly, crimson hair announced its presence against the moonlight in Woo Sae-geon’s field of vision.

Woo Sae-geon stopped walking. He looked up at Sa Ye-ho on the wall.

The snake whose eyes met his bared his neat teeth in a grin.

“Has your anger cooled down now?”

Woo Sae-geon passed by without opening his mouth.

Then a soundless presence fell from above to below, walking beside Woo Sae-geon with the same stride.

“Hyung also gets angry over games and stuff… Aren’t you tired?”

Even though Woo Sae-geon didn’t give any particular response, Sa Ye-ho muttered away as always.

“Those kids at most… completely banning hyung’s skills. That’s about what they managed.”

Always accurately guessing even what he didn’t say.

Everything about Sa Ye-ho was fickle, but right now his tone wasn’t bouncing around. Like tonight’s subdued hanbok pattern.

“The winning bastards have a lot of demands too.”

Woo Sae-geon spoke sarcastically.

“Set 3 was hyung’s win.”

Silence flowed after Sa Ye-ho’s words. For once, Sa Ye-ho wasn’t looking for other things to chatter about.

As soon as they reached Woo Sae-geon’s dormitory, Sa Ye-ho’s eyes sparkled and changed.

“What does hyung’s room look like?”

All the guest rooms would be the same. Even thinking that, Woo Sae-geon didn’t say it out loud. Sa Ye-ho probably wasn’t asking out of genuine curiosity either.

* * *

The dormitory provided by the American side for us Successors was quite nice. It was a traditional Korean house, and they gave all the Successors private rooms.

Lying on the bed, holding and petting the warm Mung-mung against my side, I fell into thought.

‘No matter how we’re one point ahead…’

Ending the day with defeat isn’t good for morale. That will definitely carry over to tomorrow’s first match.

Flow is never something you can ignore.

Even Woo Sae-geon, despite maintaining the same expressionless face throughout, couldn’t be said to be quite the same as usual.

No matter how this is just a game where we don’t even bring out intermediate or higher skills…

It’s not great to show Korea’s #1 getting killed.

Perhaps that’s why. Sa Ye-ho also seriously offered his opinion to prevent the team from falling into a sense of defeat.

“Actually, we could have done that from the start too. Like team-based shooting games, five people clustering together to pick off opponents one by one.”

“But I thought the Americans would bring this out starting from Set 4’s territory battle… Because they think of this as a show.”

If spectators watching territory battles expect strategy and teamplay from players, death games are a match format for seeing individual participants’ quick reflexes.

If victory is achieved through other methods, unless it’s particularly exhilarating or thrilling, spectators are bound to get bored.

First Call would have known this best of all. Yet they brought out the uninteresting method of swarming to pick off opponents one by one.

It made sense.

‘They got desperate after losing two rounds.’

Even in that final moment, Woo Sae-geon really lost by a hair’s breadth. Because it seemed impossible for Woo Sae-geon to lose, I briefly thought the kill arrow was wrong.

If even I watching from multiple angles felt that way, then everyone watching the match would feel the same.

“Mung-mung. But thinking about it now.”

{Woof.}

Mung-mung answered in a half-drowsy voice. Even though Mung-mung doesn’t understand, he gives the best responses, making him good for talking to myself.

“Maybe First Call’s strategy in Set 3 was also considering the show?”

Even if it was a show where ‘they weren’t the protagonists,’ because they sensed a picture that could be more impressive afterward.

‘Except for that lowly bastard Agni. That bastard would never yield the protagonist role.’

Anyway, even if that’s true, that’s only until Set 3.

What they want now would be more picture-perfect play—namely, a comeback victory.

Drowsiness was gradually approaching, so I briefly turned on the chat notifications I had turned off for the match before sleeping.

As soon as I activated chat, private messages flooded in. I squinted my eyes.

The guys remaining at school must be curious about the situation here.

Pig Successor>Me: Hyung! How was the match? Wasn’t it hard?

Pig Successor>Me: If you’re tired, answer later! (Fighting emoticon)

Dragon Successor>Me: Let’s have a phone call when you have time

Monkey Successor>Me: I heard you fell in Set 1, didn’t it hurt?