Damn Hunter Life Chapter 56
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“Puppy, when we enter the stage this time, you can make a cool entrance, right? Am I looking good? Let’s turn things around once.”
One night, when Gang-hyeon felt he had roughly gotten the hang of earth-attribute attacks. Gang-hyeon whispered to his familiar.
Since it was a young, innocent child who liked its master, he thought it would hop around in joy if told to be active together.
But what came back was a dejected yet resolute voice.
{I shouldn’t come out into the world.}
The familiar, in its childish tone, pointed out something the master hadn’t thought of with surprising maturity.
{I want to fight coolly too and protect Hyeon. But I can’t. If I get big, Hyeon will hurt.}
Even though the dog familiar had been like that, it couldn’t help but answer its master’s call. It burst out with brave teeth gleaming and faced the boss monster. With a headbutt using all its strength, it separated itself from its master and bit the tail hard, leaving large tooth marks.
It was similar in size to the ox familiar, or slightly larger. Though smaller than the boss monster in front of it, its upright standing posture looked quite dignified as a tanker’s familiar.
Should I say it didn’t resemble its master? A dog with a proudly broad chest growled. Brown fur fluttered from its half-spiritual body.
Woo Sae-geon and Myo Cho-hui, and Jin Seol-woon who was a bit farther away, were all looking this way with clearly surprised faces even from a distance. The familiar’s surprise attack succeeded brilliantly, pushing the boss monster back toward them.
Though it would have been fine to let them continue fighting together, Gang-hyeon called the dog back again. The large dog’s form disappeared in an instant.
Woo Sae-geon gestured to Myo Cho-hui, giving instructions. The situation returned to square one. Since the dog familiar that had been drawing attention in front of the boss monster disappeared, the boss’s target could be any of them. Among them, it was the leader’s mission to exclude the relatively weak dealer and healer.
“Jin Seol-woon, come here.”
“Yes.”
Jin Seol-woon, who had been looking at Gang-hyeon, withdrew his gaze and followed Woo Sae-geon.
Ja Hyeong-woo looked back several times at the sight of Gang-hyeon shooting with his slender arms. The pure white hem of his clothes was so eye-catching that his gaze couldn’t help but be captured.
The clothes were just an excuse. In truth, the clothes didn’t matter at all. Even if Gang-hyeon had been wearing black clothes, it wouldn’t have been much different.
He couldn’t help but fall for him. No matter how much he tried to hate him, he fell for him again every moment. He looked radiant.
It didn’t matter if he himself had no light.
He might not have realized that his hands throwing heal skills to the dealers were tinged with old emotions that would be troublesome to reveal.
When we became successors together. I hoped to fight together with you like this.
I waited for days like today, where I protect you and you protect me too.
‘To say a dream came true by taking a long detour…’
You’ll soon reject my embrace and run away.
Ja Hyeong-woo blinked vacantly. His pathetic mind that had been groping through the past finally returned to reality.
Until then, Gang-hyeon, who had been pinned down, pushed Ja Hyeong-woo’s arm off from above him. Without giving him a single glance, he jumped up and straightened his clothes.
Ja Hyeong-woo belatedly realized he had been making a foolish expression. He also mimicked the cold nod and got up.
As they watched the tanker and dealer fighting the boss monster, Gang-hyeon’s white back, which had been moving several steps away from Ja Hyeong-woo.
Suddenly stopped still.
He covered his face with his hands in panic, then came stomping back to Ja Hyeong-woo.
Why is he coming back? The fool who had momentarily gotten excited over the scene of them getting closer without being able to tell heaven from earth was slow.
It was because he realized slightly late that Gang-hyeon had a nosebleed gushing from his nose and was urgently blocking it with his hands.
Perhaps because it would be troublesome to be caught by others, Gang-hyeon approached as if embracing Ja Hyeong-woo and bumped into him. Ja Hyeong-woo’s hands came out to meet him in confusion. He used the remaining low-grade healing skill.
The bleeding stopped immediately, but the problem was the blood stains that remained abundantly down to his chin. There couldn’t be water to wash with inside the gate, and there wasn’t time for that anyway.
…And this scene was also being recorded.
“That skill of yours. Quickly use the one that covers faces.”
Though it was likely already caught on video… at least the other team members over there shouldn’t know.
Gang-hyeon looked frantic. When it seemed like Jin Seol-woon was looking back, he got anxious and even wiped his face roughly on Ja Hyeong-woo’s black durumagi.
==
<Puddle on a Rainy Day (Water Attribute)>
==
Ja Hyeong-woo placed his palm in front of the small face. Deep navy light rose from his hand.
No one would know about the nosebleed with this. Gang-hyeon, seeming to think it was enough now, quickly distanced himself from Ja Hyeong-woo. Then he approached the others with confident steps.
Just then, Woo Sae-geon and Myo Cho-hui’s weapons simultaneously pierced through the boss monster’s head.
“Is it over?”
[STAGE 30 has been conquered.]
“It’s over.”
Gang-hyeon walked leisurely toward the people standing around the boss monster. Jin Seol-woon was closest.
Jin Seol-woon’s expression became subtle when he saw Gang-hyeon.
He passed by without knowing. Next was Woo Sae-geon, who stared at Gang-hyeon expressionlessly for a long time.
“…I don’t know how to use you.”
It was around the time Gang-hyeon felt something was strange. Jin Seol-woon tapped his shoulder from behind. When he turned around, Jin Seol-woon immediately placed a handkerchief under his nose and had him press his nose bridge with thumb and index finger.
“Has the bleeding stopped?”
“Huh?”
Lastly, Myo Cho-hui, who discovered Gang-hyeon’s face, let out a small “Ah!” scream.
“Are you okay? You had a nosebleed!”
Only then did Gang-hyeon realize. Ja Hyeong-woo, who was at the place he looked back at, pretended ignorance with an indifferent expression.
Though he should be happy about succeeding in the conquest, Gang-hyeon was furious. But he couldn’t raise his voice in the middle of a recording scene. In the end, he just scrunched up his face.
‘That bastard only pretended to use his skill.’
They left the stage space and returned to their base, the school. After passing the entrance, they finally reached a space without cameras.
Jin Seol-woon, who had been walking alongside, whispered softly.
“Sorry about earlier. For dropping you.”
His usual languid attitude was nowhere to be found, as he rarely flustered with a reddened face.
Before either Gang-hyeon or Ja Hyeong-woo could answer, the leader’s voice pressed down on the atmosphere.
“What have I always mentioned?”
Rather than asking out of genuine curiosity, it seemed intended to check whether his subordinates properly remembered his words. Judging by the irritation dripping from his tone.
“…Don’t apologize for mistakes that occur in gates or stages.”
“Right.”
Train more with the spirit to apologize. It was something Woo Sae-geon had drilled into the Twelve Zodiac like brainwashing.
Next, the arrow turned to Gang-hyeon. Just when it seemed like things would pass quietly, Gang-hyeon clicked his tongue slightly.
“Gang-hyeon, you explain.”
Apologies and explanations are strictly different things.
“Why didn’t you report earlier when you succeeded in manifesting your dog familiar? …Include everything related to other attributes too.”
Woo Sae-geon had never urged Gang-hyeon to report on training progress before. He obtained information through Won Ha-ri and others, didn’t expect Gang-hyeon himself to submit reports, and originally didn’t even want to see his face.
Gang-hyeon lifted his head and deliberately brightened his voice as if pleased.
“Are you acknowledging me as a successor?”
He thought Woo Sae-geon might flinch a little, but Woo Sae-geon was Woo Sae-geon. His back, showing not a hint of confusion, replied.
“Can regular hunters enter stages?”
That meant he would accept Gang-hyeon as his chess piece.
* * *
A certain university in the Seoul metropolitan area of South Korea.
Though they hadn’t even adapted to the sudden heat wave, the burden of final exams was placed squarely on the students’ heads.
Though it was natural to devote oneself to studying with exams approaching, no one was studying. Was it because the class being held in this spacious lecture hall where Park Ho-jeong sat was a liberal arts elective not closely related to their major?
“Watching Stage 30?”
No professor included successors in their exam scope, but the male students in the lecture hall were chattering about an irrelevant topic.
Park Ho-jeong, who prided herself on being an ordinary female student, followed the most trendy information in South Korea – stages – down to daily updates. Her friends also contributed to Park Ho-jeong’s knowledge.
A classmate who licked Woo Sae-geon frame by frame every second. Another friend who followed Esi as an Innate fan but ended up stanning all successors like idol fans. A friend who went in to see Cho-hui despite hating cruel scenes because Cho-hui was so pretty. A classmate who was a viewer of GO Ye-ho’s broadcasts but came to her senses to find her phone album covered with face-revealed Sa Ye-ho and other successors.
Given her friends’ tendencies, Park Ho-jeong felt somewhat uncomfortable with the male students’ conversation she heard in the noisy lecture hall 10 minutes before class started.
“Yo, Gang-hyeon is fucking useless. The tanker is tied to Gang-hyeon so he can’t go anywhere.”
The expert male students in the corner of the lecture hall viewed the successors like soccer players, consuming them thoroughly as sports.
Gang-hyeon’s stock went up and down repeatedly even within one video.
—His bow aim is decent!
—His body is shit though.
—Isn’t his judgment good for a newbie? Compared to when Yang Pyo or Jin Seol-woon first entered.
—Even so, he’s a weakling who gets carried by the healer.
Then at some point, it tilted heavily toward the side that he couldn’t pull his weight.
—If Gang-hyeon had his familiar from the start, he wouldn’t have needed to ride the ox. The car accident was the problem from there.
—But his familiar came out later, right?
—So he was hiding it, wasn’t he?
—How could they hide from Woo Sae-geon? Woo Sae-geon must have told him not to bring it out.
—Looking at Gang-hyeon’s image, he might be ignoring the leader’s words and moving however he wants.
—The successors’ discipline is fucked.
On the other hand, they reevaluated. Even the male students who were endlessly harsh on fellow men had things they could see.
—What’s with the nosebleed at the end? Doesn’t that mean he worked hard?
—It’s his first time. He’ll gradually improve.
—Shouldn’t Gang-hyeon not be conquered? Is there any need to clean up corpses?
—The first time was coughing up blood, and now it’s a nosebleed, so I see this as progress too…
In the end, all successors were on a growth trajectory.
And all of them were young and vigorous ages where it was easier to gain or learn something rather than lose it.
Twenty-two years old. They were the same age as the students currently in this lecture hall, or one or two years older.
And among these, students who considered themselves fully grown adults were quite rare.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
