Damn Hunter Life 121

Damn Hunter Life Chapter 121

Silence flowed.

Kwak Ji-hong, who had been reading the room, hesitantly raised his hand. Then everyone’s attention was suddenly focused on him.

With his soft, chubby cheeks and still small, frail-looking build, Kwak Ji-hong was clearly a middle schooler to anyone who looked. The man who had been looking for a 15-year-old suddenly put on a kind expression.

“Then wouldn’t it be good for our youngest friend to give it a try? Gyeon Gang-hyeon will turn 24 and retire in 2 years, but our friend here will still be 17 even after 2 years. That’s his prime, right? He can change affiliations then.”

Uh oh… A blush spread across Kwak Ji-hong’s face.

He was flustered because a stranger was talking to him, and as the man’s words continued, more eyes kept focusing on him. He felt nervous and his mind went blank, just like when presenting in class.

‘I wanted to be a healer though…’

But everyone around him except Kwak Ji-hong was nodding and agreeing with the man’s words. They all seemed to believe it would be fine for Kwak Ji-hong to become affiliated with Gyeon Gang-hyeon as a trial run since he was the youngest.

“Uh, well…”

So Kwak Ji-hong completely forgot that he had been thinking about the healer position just moments ago. With everyone looking at him, he didn’t have the courage to refuse.

‘Everyone else dislikes it… Should I just do it?’

In the end, he hastily signed his name in the ‘Gyeon Gang-hyeon’ column.

People whose names he didn’t even know were delighted and chattered excitedly beside him.

“That’s right. Well done. There’s even a saying, right? It’s better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a dragon.”

“Right, right. Nobody knows yet. Gyeon Gang-hyeon has many unique abilities too. Maybe he’ll hit it big if you scratch beneath the surface?”

As soon as the last slot was filled, someone practically snatched Kwak Ji-hong’s application and submitted it for him. That’s how Kwak Ji-hong’s application became the first to be entered into the system.

Minors require guardian consent.

Oops, they hadn’t thought of that. They forgot that minor hunters need voice consent signatures from their guardians when making important decisions. A look of dismay briefly crossed people’s faces.

Kwak Ji-hong felt a bit relieved then. If his parents stopped him, his affiliation wouldn’t be decided by being pushed around by others. He’d probably be able to escape from Gyeon Gang-hyeon easily.

But his parents’ reaction was unexpected.

[“I looked into it and isn’t he the weakest kid? Then that’s good. Your dad and I hope you won’t have to do dangerous work.”]

If he had to take risks as a hunter anyway, his parents would rather have Kwak Ji-hong’s abilities be unremarkable so he’d be excluded from combat.

[“You don’t need to work hard. Just come back healthy. What’s the point of having great abilities? You’ll just get dragged into more dangerous places.”]

In the end, he somehow obtained his parents’ signatures too.

When he came to his senses, Kwak Ji-hong was facing his successor in the central building of Hunter School.

His eyes were drawn to the white hem of clothing and a face that seemed even whiter. Kwak Ji-hong found himself staring without realizing it.

The only things he remembered about Gyeon Gang-hyeon were his tired face and staggering appearance.

True to his reputation for being quite fierce, Gyeon Gang-hyeon didn’t offer Kwak Ji-hong any kind words of greeting. His first words were:

“Did you come to me because you wanted to?”

“Huh? Yes…”

Gyeon Gang-hyeon, seen in person, had delicate features as rumors suggested, but also possessed deeper and sharper eyes than expected. Thanks to this, Kwak Ji-hong’s heart sank the moment their gazes met.

Fortunately, Gyeon Gang-hyeon didn’t ask anything more. He simply told Kwak Ji-hong to take off his upper garment, then had him come closer and placed his palm on his heart.

Korean general awakeners absorb the energy of the Twelve Zodiac successor they first encounter directly into their bodies. This is the first step general awakener civilians take as hunters, and how their affiliated successor is determined.

“Ugh…”

Kwak Ji-hong let out a groan as he felt strange.

Gyeon Gang-hyeon wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on his temples from concentrating. He looked over Kwak Ji-hong’s innocent impression.

‘He’s like a mix of Hae Mi-jun and Yang Pyo’s weaknesses.’

Too kind-hearted and naive on top of it.

Gyeon Gang-hyeon was certain this kid had been egged on by others to take on the burden and come to the delinquent successor. Of course that would be the case. Who would voluntarily come to such a delinquent?

‘Everyone’s at an age full of vigor, so now that they’ve become hunters, wouldn’t they want to fly around from east to west?’

So Kwak Ji-hong must have been either deceived or pushed by others to come as a sacrifice…

Finally, earth energy originating from Gyeon Gang-hyeon flowed through Kwak Ji-hong’s body. Gyeon Gang-hyeon removed his hand and caught his slightly quickened breath.

“Uh… what should I do now?”

Gyeon Gang-hyeon looked pitifully at Kwak Ji-hong, who was clumsily feeling around his body.

Taking care of one extra general hunter wouldn’t be much help to himself or Ja Hyeong-woo.

But Hae Mi-jun and Yang Pyo kept coming to mind… He couldn’t just leave him alone.

Gyeon Gang-hyeon suddenly stood up. He rummaged through his inventory and pulled out a stone-tipped short spear about an arm’s length.

“Hey, you take this.”

“M-me?”

“Then who else?”

Slightly annoyed by the stupid question, Gyeon Gang-hyeon shoved the short spear into Kwak Ji-hong’s hands.

“It’s a weapon I made, but everyone else seems like they wouldn’t take it even if I gave it to them. You take it. It’s still slightly better than a hand axe.”

“Uh, y-yes…”

As soon as he finished speaking, Gyeon Gang-hyeon completely disappeared. Kwak Ji-hong stood there dazed for a moment, then trudged back to the auditorium.

The people gathered in the auditorium welcomed Kwak Ji-hong back and immediately checked his changed physical condition. The results were as follows:

Kwak Ji-hong’s physical ability improvement wasn’t particularly inferior compared to other general hunters. It seemed to be only the ability aspect that was inherited. Since hunters each had individual bodies, even being affiliated with Gyeon Gang-hyeon didn’t cause general hunters to inherit his frailty.

However, that frailty was reflected in another aspect. The amount of earth power he could wield was extremely small.

Moreover, the fusion skills they had hoped for remained exclusively Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s. It was impossible for general hunters to imitate and use them.

So becoming affiliated with Gyeon Gang-hyeon only had demerits for hunters, with no merits at all. He was truly a second (past) Hae Mi-jun.

After Kwak Ji-hong, as if by agreement, no one chose Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s affiliation. Whether fire attribute or metal attribute, everyone avoided making eye contact with Kwak Ji-hong as they hurried away.

Kwak Ji-hong was left alone. With the tag ‘Gyeon Gang-hyeon affiliate’ – the only one of its kind in the school.

‘Will I… be okay?’

Walking to his assigned earth attribute dormitory, Kwak Ji-hong could only scratch his head anxiously. He also spent a long time staring at the ugly short spear that, true to its maker, seemed incapable of any function.

Both the boy who had trouble making his own decisions, and the people who were secretly relieved they hadn’t been chosen.

The day would come when they would realize.

That Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s special abilities, and his growth, wouldn’t stop here.

* * *

At least it’s fortunate that I succeeded in making a weapon.

‘Otherwise it would’ve been really embarrassing. Imagine if I couldn’t even give one weapon to a kid under my affiliation.’

At this point, I can barely maintain just two weapons including my S-grade bow. Any more than that, well, I haven’t tried but… I backed out early because I felt like my body would get tired.

So Jin Seol-woon and Yang Pyo have been struggling here and there. They had to make completely new weapons for all the general hunters who were affiliated with Woo Sae-geon and planning to transfer.

I couldn’t even help with that, so they had to make extra weapons to cover my share too.

“What will that faction do when I retire? You’re incompetent.”

Well, I got plenty of scolding from Woo Sae-geon for that… but that’s become routine.

It wasn’t like I only took it either.

“Leader, didn’t you originally say it didn’t matter whether I was there or not, and that things would run smoothly without me?”

I looked up at Woo Sae-geon’s stiffened face smugly and deliberately made my tone even more cheerful.

“Has the situation changed a bit recently?”

Chuckling as I replayed the memory of getting one over on Woo Sae-geon in my head, I took out my phone.

I had something to ask the manager.

‘Since I need to talk about Kwak Ji-hong anyway… it wouldn’t be strange to ask about other things too.’

True to being a manager who’s always at work at the association, Park Yoon-seok answered the phone immediately.

“I have some things to ask.”

Even though it was a question I’d planned from before, now that the situation was actually here, tension touched my extremities.

Maybe because of the nature of the matter.

“Do you remember when I failed my awakening before?”

[“…Yes. I remember everything I know about it.”]

Park Yoon-seok’s voice immediately lowered too. It was clearly tense.

“Please tell me about the situation as you know it. I think my memory from that time is a bit hazy.”

I recited as calmly as possible, removing any heaviness.

That incident that drove the original Gyeon Gang-hyeon to despair. When Gyeon Gang-hyeon and Ja Hyeong-woo’s relationship went sour, when he was criticized by everyone, and when he even ruined his own body.

Since Park Yoon-seok thinks I’m as terrifyingly fragile as glass, even if I brush it off roughly, he’ll think I lost my memory due to shock or something like that. He won’t have any notion that I’m a different person due to possession or anything.

[“…Would it be alright to switch to video call?”]

“Why, are you worried I might collapse or something?”

It was just something I said casually, but Park Yoon-seok didn’t answer.

Geez. I silently did as he wanted. I even adjusted the angle so my face would be clearly visible on Park Yoon-seok’s screen.

Only then did Park Yoon-seok begin his story.