Damn Hunter Life Chapter 113
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When the old man retires, the leader [197]
It’s Ja Hyeong-woo, right?
<Comments>
―Is this the part where ㄱㄱㅎ gets promoted thanks to his husband? lol
∟No, fuck, is this the time for that kind of talk? Korea’s screwed
―Woo Sae-geon is Korea’s 1st place, world 4th place, if he retires Korea’s ranking will really go to hell;;
―And look who the next 1st and 2nd place will be if Woo Sae-geon drops out
∟lololololol the married couple taking 1st and 2nd place side by side… such a loving relationship
∟Fuck, everyone’s lost their minds
―The ranking system is definitely Ja Hyeong-woo
―Otherwise there’s no way Gyeon Gang-hyeon would be Korea’s 3rd place no matter how many Four Divine Beasts there are
∟lolololololololol
―Obviously it’s Ja Hyeong-woo, right? But Woo Sae-geon doesn’t mention it
―Sus
―Isn’t it because spoilers are banned?
∟Why would this be a spoiler
―I think Woo Sae-geon is just keeping quiet until the school vote
∟Vote?
∟The leader is essentially student council president (lol) so there has to be a vote, and students are hunters too so they should have input
∟I’m curious, maybe it’s like 60% Successor opinion, 40% student vote
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Ma Cheon-ah, who had been reading community posts on her phone, suddenly looked up.
“Rabbit unni, won’t you be leader?”
It was lunchtime with a little time left, and the three girls—Myo Cho-hui, Won Ha-ri, and Ma Cheon-ah—had gathered for tea. The location was Ma Cheon-ah’s backyard decorated like a cafe. It was a men-forbidden zone that absolutely never allowed male entry.
From the time Woo Sae-geon first became leader, Myo Cho-hui had clearly stated that she had ‘no interest in leading a team.’
Seeing this, people would argue between two opinions: ‘Myo Cho-hui is too tender-hearted to do work that would corner someone’ or ‘She gave up because she was overshadowed by Woo Sae-geon.’
Ma Cheon-ah already knew the former was definitely not true. But what about the latter? If it were the latter, wouldn’t Woo Sae-geon be stepping down soon?
Ma Cheon-ah’s eyes sparkled. But Myo Cho-hui shook her head with a leisurely attitude.
“When I lost to General Manager Woo Sae-geon once, I decided not to do it.”
This referred to the first vote in the early days of Hunter School that Ma Cheon-ah and Won Ha-ri hadn’t witnessed directly. At that time, Woo Sae-geon had overwhelmed the students with his charisma, making them depend on him.
“Actually, I’m small and look easy-going, so if I became general manager, the Association might handle things carelessly. That’s also part of why I stepped back.”
Ma Cheon-ah stuffed gangjeong into her mouth and pouted. Myo Cho-hui’s reasoning made sense. It was just disappointing.
“Then who will be the next leader?”
When Won Ha-ri, who was stirring the rice grains in her sikhye with a straw, asked the question, Ma Cheon-ah turned around.
“Mouse oppa will probably do it. Mouse oppa gave stage orders last time too.”
“What about Woo Sae-geon-nim taking Sa Ye-ho sunbae around? Maybe he’s training him to be leader?”
“Snake oppa as leader? That’s a bit…”
Then Myo Cho-hui moved her brown rice tea cup away from her lips.
“Ye-ho can’t give orders in battle, so he won’t work.”
Her consistent, clear voice was persuasive. Won Ha-ri looked at Myo Cho-hui with eyes full of admiration and trust.
“Who do you think it is, Cho-hui unni?”
“Well…”
Ja Hyeong-woo has the flaw of Gyeon Gang-hyeon. Myo Cho-hui didn’t say this. She just pushed a plate of cookies toward her two juniors.
“But how did you get these snacks? They’re not from school meals. The store doesn’t sell them either…”
Five-colored dasik and yakgwa among other freshly baked warm traditional sweets filled the table. They were things Myo Cho-hui had brought.
Ma Cheon-ah answered that.
“She extorted them from the store, right?”
“Is that possible?”
Won Ha-ri still didn’t know much about Hunter School. Ma Cheon-ah got proud every time she explained things to the newbie and raised her shoulders.
“You could say the school store is a bit lenient with the founding members. Like sometimes they’ll listen if you whine about selling items they don’t have? I know Mouse oppa was the first to do it. Anyway, the guys are veterans at extorting food from school.”
“Founding members?”
“The nine of us Successors weren’t all together from the beginning—five came first with a one-month gap, then the other four joined. The five are the founding members. Rabbit unni is also a founding member!”
Won Ha-ri counted the five oldest Successors one by one.
“Gang-hyeon oppa must be a founding member too…?”
“That’s why he’s a blemish. The other four all awakened properly but he’s the only defective one.”
When talking about Gyeon Gang-hyeon, Ma Cheon-ah somehow always overdid it while making her voice cold. Won Ha-ri tilted her head. She felt déjà vu.
That exact behavior was the pattern she’d shown when she first met Gyeon Gang-hyeon.
A state where she could only become cold by deliberately trying to hate the other person.
“Cho-hui unni, can I wrap some of this to take?”
“Sure.”
Won Ha-ri packed some Korean sweets in a bag.
I should take some to Gang-hyeon oppa… I have to serve it to him or he won’t eat it. He always says it’s bothersome.
* * *
As always, I arrived at the earth attribute joint training ground. What else is there for a Successor to do besides this?
‘I’ll have fun tormenting Yang Pyo again today.’
In the place decorated like a martial arts master training ground from a comic, I saw familiar faces. Yang Pyo, who’d been a training ground fixture from the start, and Jin Seol-woon, who’d been sticking to the group training ground lately.
But today there was one additional person I didn’t want to see.
“Ah shit, I came to the wrong place.”
As soon as I saw the scholar in the light brown dopo, I naturally spun around. I was about to leave when Woo Sae-geon’s voice grabbed the back of my neck.
“Stop, Gyeon Gang-hyeon. Come here.”
Ugh, don’t tell me he’s going to make me do training guidance too?
‘I don’t even report my training records to Woo Sae-geon…’
But he’d already caught on to a lot. My precious stealth skill had also entered that bastard’s head, so there wasn’t much left for me now.
‘Sigh, fine. Let’s not rebel and follow the old man’s words. He doesn’t have much retirement time left anyway.’
I trudged to the center of the training ground. Woo Sae-geon immediately threw me into attribute enhancement training as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
I saw it clearly. While I stood there blankly facing hell training, Woo Sae-geon’s eyes shone with satisfaction.
I’d bet Squeaky that Woo Sae-geon enjoys my suffering.
After that, I had to listen to Woo Sae-geon’s shouting the entire time I was sweating and gripping my bow.
“Yang Pyo! Gather your energy more densely! How many times do I have to say it?”
“Jin Seol-woon, you need to increase your output more. You could increase it 150% more from your current range without problems.”
At least I didn’t have to do skill training, so I didn’t have to listen to Woo Sae-geon’s nagging like the other guys.
It’s not because my skills are good, it’s just that practice is impossible for me.
I don’t have any low-level skills worth using in training. I only have intermediate or higher skills with limited uses, and even those damage my body every time I use them, so they’re only practically usable in real combat.
“30-minute break.”
Woo Sae-geon rolled us until even the stamina king Yang Pyo was panting, then recited that so disappointingly and fluttered his dopo as he quickly left.
“Hah, ha.”
As I sat slumped, just gasping for breath, something cold and damp suddenly touched my cheek. I trembled in surprise.
It was ice water that Jin Seol-woon held out. It was the most welcome thing all day.
But I hesitated to immediately open my throat and chug it down.
“Yang Pyo, keep watch at the door.”
“Huh? Why? In case the leader comes?”
“That’s part of it, but I wonder if Won Ha-ri’s coming. If she sees me drinking cold water, she’ll nag me all day.”
Yang Pyo clicked his tongue and walked toward the door. Trusting Yang Pyo, I immediately put the bottle to my lips. The water mixed with ice chips went down my throat. It was so good I couldn’t help but groan.
Jin Seol-woon wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat next to me, then spread his empty palm toward me.
“Give it to me when you’re done.”
“What, don’t you have your own water? There’s not even half left.”
“It’s fine.”
Jin Seol-woon tilted his head and drank the remaining water. His sweat-soaked bangs hung messily over Jin Seol-woon’s forehead, unusually disheveled.
Since Woo Sae-geon’s lackey Yang Pyo had also left the training ground, all I had to do after catching my breath was trash-talk Woo Sae-geon.
“I really want to spy on Woo Sae-geon training. I want to trip that bastard when he’s running… no, I want to see if that bastard pants too.”
“Is there any point in correcting your words?”
Jin Seol-woon looked at me with a small smile hanging on his lips. This guy must have a lot built up against Woo Sae-geon too.
If you ask why I don’t just turn on my stealth skill and spy, that’s also a waste of time. Why would I look at Woo Sae-geon? It’s disgusting.
“What should we do? It seems like the leader really wants to continue training Gang-hyeon-ssi directly. He seems to want to polish the earth attribute Successors as much as possible before he leaves.”
Right, there’s nothing I can do about it. I have to accept my share of trials.
Maybe because I looked obviously upset, Jin Seol-woon added as consolation:
“There’s really less than 50 days left now. Until the leader loses his abilities.”
Right. Time has already come to that.
Woo Sae-geon’s exit is in a way both a crisis in the original work and Ja Hyeong-woo’s crisis.
I erased my thoughts appropriately so I wouldn’t get too lost in contemplation. I focused on Jin Seol-woon instead.
“The communities are all talking about the 2nd leader too.”
“Stop looking at communities. You need to meet people.”
“I’m meeting Gang-hyeon-ssi.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
