Damn Hunter Life Chapter 29
“Why did you come?”
“It’s a secret order from Leader Woo Sae-geon. He told me to go observe how the new trainees are doing.”
“Do you usually tell the observation targets directly?”
Won Ha-ri was looking back and forth between me and Jin Seol-woon from a distance. My heart sank a little.
‘This would be troublesome for Jin Seol-woon’s image. Let’s chase him away.’
I stopped fanning myself and waved my hand dismissively toward Jin Seol-woon.
“Then just say there was one model student and one delinquent. Go quickly.”
“Which one is the delinquent?”
“The guy right in front of you. The one who only wears simple clothes and is all sweaty right now.”
As soon as Won Ha-ri heard the word delinquent, she focused her eyes and stared intently at me. But when I readily said the delinquent was me, she seemed somehow deflated and looked away again.
“Ah.”
And suddenly remembering Jin Seol-woon’s attribute, Won Ha-ri picked up the sword she had used in sword class and stood up abruptly. She went around in a circle to Jin Seol-woon’s side, trying not to get close to me at all.
“This is Jin Seol-woon-nim’s sword, right? I used it well. Thank you.”
Watching Won Ha-ri bow politely with a respectful attitude, Jin Seol-woon’s expression became uncomfortable.
“That’s not my sword.”
“Then?”
“Please return it to Gyeon Gang-hyeon-ssi. It’s his.”
Only then did Won Ha-ri realize who owned the weapon she had been gripping tightly for hours.
She was looking for an earth attribute sword, so I let her use it.
Learning the truth, Won Ha-ri turned around stiffly. The moment our eyes met, I gave a perfect wink with one eye.
Clang. The sword was thrown to the floor. Won Ha-ri headed straight for the door without looking back.
It seemed like Jin Seol-woon stared at my wink longer than Won Ha-ri did.
“Since you’re here, help me up.”
I stretched out my right hand while lying down, but Jin Seol-woon gave me both hands.
Both hands came under my armpits. He pulled me up like pulling out a radish and let my feet touch the ground.
Just before his hands let go, Jin Seol-woon’s low voice brushed against my ear.
“Eat more food.”
This guy’s showing off just because he’s a bit strong.
Not to be outdone, I shouted at Won Ha-ri who was about to disappear.
“Won Ha-ri! Do you know what this sword’s name is? Want to hear it?”
“…Close that mouth.”
Jin Seol-woon spat out with a rare expression of suppressing anger.
“If it’s such an embarrassing name, you shouldn’t have given it one.”
“It’s not embarrassing, it’s…”
But Won Ha-ri disappeared forever without hearing this interesting story.
Jin Seol-woon confirmed that Won Ha-ri had left and showed a momentary look of relief, then left me there alone and exited.
The glimpse I caught of his earlobe was red.
I’m truly Hunter School’s greatest delinquent. I chased everyone away.
Won Ha-ri returned after break time. The next class was archery, so we moved to the archery range.
[The current training ground is a space that excludes natural wind, and wind will be factored in during advanced courses.]
As befitting what could be called Korea’s Hogwarts, a spacious area spread out before our eyes as we entered the room. There were about five or six targets on the opposite side of the door.
Soon we received curved bows that looked like they came from a historical drama and magic quivers that produced infinite arrows. The bow had a sight attached, probably for beginners.
My bow was just big but incredibly light.
[The actual power is less than even a toy bow. If you shoot with this weight.]
So the AI advised that I should fill it with earth attribute.
“Finally I can breathe a little.”
I was excited because above all, this was training I could do while standing still. Won Ha-ri seemed to be watching me subtly, as if she had decided to beat me in every field.
But unexpected situations occurred after learning the basic stance and shooting the first arrow.
Thwack—.
The sound of the arrow hitting the target was refreshing. Though the target was close, I scored 9 points.
The one field where I was uniquely superior to Won Ha-ri had been discovered.
Won Ha-ri’s eyes changed. She suddenly began focusing fiercely on the target with the intensity of someone about to shoot a person’s head.
“Won Ha-ri, please don’t shoot me just because I’m doing too well.”
Won Ha-ri ground her teeth and shot another arrow. However, her score was lower than the previous one.
This damn archery range, despite not being a bowling alley, recorded the players’ scores one by one above the targets.
[Lane 1: 7 7 8 9 8]
[Lane 2: 9 10 9 10]
With me having one arrow left, Won Ha-ri bit her lips and glared at me fiercely. Were we having a score competition?
‘Well then, I should meet expectations and shoot well until the end.’
Even if I shot just 3 points I’d win, but for sportsmanship, I sincerely nocked an arrow to the bowstring.
Looking carefully at the line on the floor while standing, my face turned diagonally toward the target.
The moment I fixed my focus on the distance—.
‘…!’
My entire field of vision shook with dizziness.
At the sudden condition, I clenched my molars and simultaneously the bowstring launched the arrow.
Thunk!
My queasy vision soon returned to normal. I could see the score of the arrow stuck in the target.
[1 point]
39 points versus 39 points. It was a tie.
Won Ha-ri looked back at me with blazing eyes.
“Why did you go easy on me?”
“……”
I blankly touched my forehead and blinked, then quickly changed my expression under Won Ha-ri’s gaze. With an annoying face, I gave the wink I hadn’t managed to give earlier.
“Because I’m older?”
“Ugh…”
Fortunately Won Ha-ri didn’t notice and scrunched up her face.
The training after that—honestly, my body suddenly drooped so much I don’t even know how I did it. Anyway, time passed.
That’s how I finished my first successor training.
‘I’m tired. It’s because this is the first time I’ve trained for so long.’
‘It’s because my body suddenly changed to earth attribute and I can’t adapt. It’s like jet lag.’
I forced away the anxious feeling. I skipped dinner because I was sleepy. I roughly drank some powdered grain mixed with milk and went to bed.
Even inside the blanket I was a bit cold, so I raised the room temperature.
* * *
Late at night, Ja Hyeong-woo suddenly woke up from sleep with a chilling sensation.
‘…What?’
Something was calling him. That sound, inaudible to the ears, flowed in through the brain waves in his head, through his soul, through the power of water flowing in his body.
‘Familiar?’
Ja Hyeong-woo just threw a black durumagi over his t-shirt.
He teleported in the direction where he felt the energy.
As soon as he arrived in a room with a familiar scent, he furrowed his brow.
‘The room is too hot.’
The air was muggy. It was a temperature that would make you sweat immediately. If someone had been sleeping here, they would have been drenched in sweat, right? Ja Hyeong-woo looked down at the bed.
Soon, in the middle of this hot room, he felt a spine-chilling sensation.
Gyeon Gang-hyeon lying still looked somehow stiff.
Just like a corpse.
When he touched him, he was really cold. Above all, his breathing was too shallow. Ja Hyeong-woo turned pale and called Gang-hyeon’s name while patting his shoulder.
“Gyeon Gang-hyeon! Gang-hyeon!”
It was symptoms similar to hypothermia, but the cause was unknown. Ja Hyeong-woo’s hands filled with blue light.
‘It’s not working.’
If it were due to injury, his healing should work, but it doesn’t. Is it an energy problem?
‘Call Hae Mi-jun…’
But at the same time, he was certain that wouldn’t be the answer either. Remembering how Hae Mi-jun’s skills hadn’t worked after the gate incident.
He also realized that now was an extension of that time.
But even so, he had to do something. Ja Hyeong-woo took off his outer garment and approached closely, just like giving first aid to someone whose body temperature dropped from drowning.
He was about to embrace the ice-cold thin body to give it warmth—.
{Healing is useless. I tried it too.}
A strangely churning voice spread around.
Ja Hyeong-woo finally faced the entity that had called him here.
It was neither the form of a small mouse nor the form of a gloomy ghost. The mouse familiar had taken the form of another of its appearances—a young boy.
The familiar, whose features and entire body were blurry, was sitting by the bedside, offering his knees to Gang-hyeon.
From the mouse familiar, who had become free after the pact with Gang-hyeon was broken but secretly remained nearby instead of returning to his master—
The same killing intent as before could not be felt.
If the previous familiar had been a spirit that could see nothing but its master like an evil ghost, now it was in a state of harboring a softened energy as if it had been purified.
{I hoped that my master would not take a liking to this guy.}
The boy muttered without intonation.
It was a voice without emotion, as if mentioning past events, things that had already happened.
{Thinking that this guy will continue to make my master shed tears.}
In the silence, only the clock hands moved.
Breathing even fainter than the sound of the clock’s second hand was leaking from the person the two entities were looking down at.
Soon the mouse familiar raised his head and Ja Hyeong-woo followed suit.
The boy looked at him one last time as if testing.
{Do you want to save him?}
Instead of nodding yes to those words, a mumble flowed from Ja Hyeong-woo’s lips.
“You know something, don’t you? About Gang-hyeon.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
