Damn Hunter Life Chapter 51
[“……Have you calmed down now? I’m sorry. I was too reckless. I shouldn’t have brought up the topic so carelessly. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”]
I swallowed my tea and settled my mind. The bottom of the teacup was visible. Park Yoon-seok repeatedly asked for forgiveness with a regretful face.
“It’s annoying, so could you stop apologizing?”
Maybe because my nerves were on edge, my words came out venomously. Park Yoon-seok bowed his head one last time before stopping his apologies as I wished.
“So what do you want to say? Finish what you were trying to tell me.”
He seemed to hesitate even more, but apparently having no intention of postponing this conversation to another day, he continued the interrupted discussion.
[“Do you… think of Ja Hyeong-woo as a friend?”]
So that’s why he brought up the topic of friendships earlier.
This feels ominous. I want to change the subject.
[“Gang-hyeon-nim doesn’t hurt anymore now, right? Since you’ve successfully awakened.”]
“……”
I avoided his gaze.
Well, it’s not something as grand as concealing the truth. The level of me groaning a bit after using my abilities now would be nothing compared to the pain the real Gyeon Gang-hyeon experienced.
[“Then now, wouldn’t it be alright to tell Ja Hyeong-woo why Gang-hyeon-nim acted that way back then?”]
Gyeon Gang-hyeon, who hid his pain because he didn’t want to drag down Ja Hyeong-woo’s ankles as he rose to become the Twelve Zodiac’s healer.
[“……He seemed to cherish Gang-hyeon-nim. I believe he still does, and I dare think it’s not too late yet. Would you… dislike trying to reach out to him? If there are misunderstandings, shouldn’t the truth be honestly revealed for the relationship to begin?”]
Park Yoon-seok met my eyes and appealed to me politely, yet stubbornly at the same time.
In this hunter school filled with clueless people where there were no complete adults, he seemed like an ‘adult.’
But my current thoughts are:
“It’s a thing of the past. I have no intention of bringing up old matters to cause confusion.”
I’m already being monitored by Ja Hyeong-woo as it is.
He’s probably paying attention to my physical condition without me knowing. Squeaky, who’s my personal doctor and double agent, would be faithfully reporting everything.
‘I should have acted not just coldly, but like we were mortal enemies. That way Ja Hyeong-woo would lose interest and go his own way.’
I underestimated Ja Hyeong-woo’s goodness.
“I appreciate what you’re saying, but don’t bring up the same topic twice. I’m warning you.”
[“……I understand. Thank you for meeting with me today.”]
Ja Hyeong-woo, who probably dislikes me as a person but still can’t let go of his sense of responsibility toward me, his former friend.
That’s why no matter how much I provoke his anger, Ja Hyeong-woo approaches me out of worry.
He’s different from Yang Pyo. Yang Pyo would get annoyed at my provocations and think about beating me, but Ja Hyeong-woo……
Rather than thinking about silencing me with his skills, he’d just come to hate me more.
Sometimes I feel like I’m on a precarious tightrope.
If I wasn’t confident that Ja Hyeong-woo was a person as calm as water with strong patience, would I have already pulled out of this act?
‘Making Ja Hyeong-woo unable to come near someone like me by only speaking harshly to him.’
In terms of urging his training to contribute to the world, this would be the best method, but—
As a human-to-human relationship, it’s the worst.
‘Change that relationship?’
It’s burdensome, and I don’t know how to do it either.
‘Anyway, I’m not the real Gyeon Gang-hyeon. I just possessed his body.’
* * *
Even after ending the video call, Park Yoon-seok remained seated with his cold teacup for a while.
“It’s annoying, so could you stop apologizing?”
The atmosphere had become uncontrollably heavy, and in the end, their conversation after so long had ended terribly. Despite his disappointment, Park Yoon-seok double-checked the area around the Hunter Association counseling room where he was. He confirmed that the door was firmly locked from the inside and that there was no one listening outside before returning to his seat.
‘I made a big mistake.’
Recalling Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s complexion that hadn’t improved until they parted ways made him feel even more dejected.
Suddenly, he remembered the previous incident. That time too, he had acted unilaterally without Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s permission.
“Gang-hyeon is in a better state now than before.”
To some student who had carried the drunk Gang-hyeon to his house, Park Yoon-seok had once revealed Gang-hyeon’s past.
“Bullshit. That guy is fine now. Well, not completely fine, but……”
The student with the peculiar way of speaking had seemed very surprised. It was understandable.
Right after failing to awaken, when all of South Korea was cursing Gyeon Gang-hyeon, they were just now learning the inside story that he had endured the pain of his broken body alone.
Now that Gang-hyeon had overcome his past and awakened, Park Yoon-seok wanted the past events to somehow become known to the world rather than remain buried. If Gang-hyeon didn’t want that… he at least wanted Ja Hyeong-woo to know.
But Gang-hyeon was still hostile about the matter, wasn’t he? Park Yoon-seok made up his mind again.
‘Since you’ve awakened now, let’s save the truth for later. And if later there’s a situation where public opinion turns unfavorably around Gang-hyeon-nim or something dramatically noteworthy happens, then I’ll reveal it.’
Because he believed protecting successors was an administrator’s duty, he couldn’t compromise on this. Even if it meant earning Gang-hyeon’s resentment.
‘……But who was that student anyway?’
I told him about Gang-hyeon-nim’s private matters, meaning for him to spread rumors about Gang-hyeon-nim, but since then he hasn’t shown his face at all……
He was suspicious in many ways. Especially if what he said about entering Gang-hyeon’s residence was true.
The most peculiar element among them was his way of speaking.
Given the building’s structure, he had just assumed that historical drama speech patterns had become trendy among regular students.
‘What did that student say his name was? The name was unusual too.’
Kim…… Jasin (子神)? It was definitely a name that would be hard to forget once heard. Park Yoon-seok now looked up the association’s hunter list to find the student’s name. He guessed he might belong to Ja Hyeong-woo’s group……
No matter how much he searched, there was no student with such a name.
‘Did he give a fake name? But there’s no reason to do that to an association member……’
Was it his imagination that his spine felt chilly?
Come to think of it, his speech was strange too, and Gang-hyeon-nim seemed to know nothing about that student. In the first place, the possibility of a student freely entering and leaving a successor’s residence—
‘……A ghost?’
Goosebumps rose and Park Yoon-seok looked for his outer garment. A ghost story that he could tell no one had just been created.
* * *
==
<Stage 30>
Appearing Monsters: Raccoon (D-rank), Homunjjo (C-rank)
Personnel Limit: 5 people
==
‘This is a stage that wasn’t in the original work……’
I rested my chin on my hand and stared intently at the status window.
Raccoons are easy, so that’s fine. But Homunjjo’s very folklore is ominously inauspicious. Roughly a winged bird with a tiger’s appearance, which means it can even fly……
‘But it’s not for me to worry about, is it?’
The currently confirmed formation has me in the center, with Myo Cho-hui, Woo Sae-geon, Ja Hyeong-woo, and Jin Seol-woon positioned north, south, east, and west of me respectively.
Excluding me, it’s a dream lineup.
How low must their expectations of me be? Woo Sae-geon deployed the highest-tier lineup that should be saved for more dangerous stages. All four of them are what could be called balanced-type successors who are considered complete even at this point.
‘There’s no need to consider compatibility with monsters or attribute combinations. Woo Sae-geon brought out the best he could deploy right now.’
Since successors have limitations on stamina and skill usage, a leader must always aim for ‘maximum efficiency with minimum personnel consumption.’
In that sense, consuming a complete team that didn’t even exist in the original work is certainly risky, but I trusted Woo Sae-geon’s judgment on this matter.
That guy deployed it because it’s ‘doable,’ because he has contingency plans. Woo Sae-geon is an extreme safety-first person.
Anyway, my goal is to do my part.
Whether I get cursed for my personality or just because I’m me, it’s all fine as long as my skills are acknowledged.
‘To receive the hunter pension.’
And I need to be careful of Ja Hyeong-woo, right?
The stage is a gate where strategy recordings are publicly broadcast to all citizens as prizes.
‘If it’s discovered that the mouse familiar is with me instead of Ja Hyeong-woo, the aftermath would be…… too frightening to imagine.’
First I’d be called a thief’s bastard, then when Ja Hyeong-woo says he gave it voluntarily, from then on I’d be called a troll, only a hindrance, a nuisance, hopeless, etc……
There’s already a lot of talk about us being childhood friends and whatnot, so I absolutely couldn’t give people ammunition. I won’t get involved with the original protagonist in any way.
Other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything else to worry about. There are four bus drivers and I just need to ride along.
As soon as the Stage 30 strategy date was set, the strategy personnel reduced their training volume to appropriate levels for conditioning.
Of course, what’s an ‘appropriate amount’ for other successors becomes ‘complete rest’ for me. So I was recuperating in bed in advance, but someone wouldn’t leave me alone.
==
Dragon Successor > Me: Want to come to the training ground?
Dragon Successor > Me: Let’s lightly sync our breathing
==
How bothersome.
==
Me > Dragon Successor: Can you teleport? Right now
Dragon Successor > Me: Yes
==
Since walking to the training ground was also bothersome, I opened the status window and shot myself to Jin Seol-woon.
The tinnitus passed briefly, and even through my closed eyelids I could feel the surroundings brighten.
I opened my eyes while lying down. Jin Seol-woon was above me.
“……?”
His face was quite close. A small crack appeared in Jin Seol-woon’s flat brow. I could feel Jin Seol-woon’s thigh stiffening beneath my head.
Only then did I recall the familiar bench in the training ground and realize I had teleported to Jin Seol-woon. The situation of him happening to be sitting there was unexpected.
“……Shall we do it?”
When I awkwardly sat up, Jin Seol-woon also sprang up. His movements were slightly faster than usual.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
