Damn Hunter Life Chapter 79
Ja Hyeong-woo, who was putting on his jeogori again and putting on his outer garment, suddenly focused his eyes and stared intently behind me.
What is it? I turned around too. I was startled as soon as I saw.
“Whoa, what a surprise! Why are you standing there like a ghost?”
A few steps behind, Woo Sae-geon was standing with his arms crossed, giving off an eerie atmosphere.
How long had he been watching? Didn’t he see from when Ja Hyeong-woo was taking off his clothes? Then it would have looked a bit strange.
“Did you rescue all the hunters?”
“Did you leave it to me?”
Woo Sae-geon, who had walked over, briefly shared the situation.
“I found everyone on the missing list and sent them back to the entrance first. What’s left is you two.”
I felt a sharp glare with those last words.
From the point when Ja Hyeong-woo and I consecutively didn’t answer calls, our two names were definitely added to that missing list.
“Mm! As expected, our leader. Your work handling is perfect.”
I tried to dodge Woo Sae-geon’s criticism by being evasive, but the result was a complete failure.
“Gyeon Gang-hyeon, if you keep acting impulsively like this, when you retire you’ll have to spit out money instead of receiving it. You said to watch your usefulness, but was it to raise my blood pressure? How long do I have to put up with your dog-like behavior?”
Woo Sae-geon’s blood pressure went up? Great profit… no, I’m frustrated too, you know.
You don’t know the original work!
“I found this guy.”
I boldly pointed at Ja Hyeong-woo.
Do you know what a big achievement this is? This person almost died from being left in the gate for two days.
Wait, how did Woo Sae-geon find this place so quickly?
In the original work, you’d have to wander around for two days to get out of this place.
‘Ah, I left path markers while coming here.’
Looking now, white sand flowing from the pouch at my waist was piled up softly on the ground two steps ahead. Though I got caught up in Ja Hyeong-woo’s hallucination, my body didn’t move around much.
Ja Hyeong-woo, who was just blinking expressionlessly, was perfectly fine as I saw earlier. He deviated from the original work.
Because I got him out quickly, and… I think I comforted him too.
But speaking of ‘path markers,’ one thought suddenly comes to mind.
“Leader, wasn’t it thanks to me that you sent the hunters back quickly? You came here following my path markers, right? Then if you go in the opposite direction of the path, that’s the entrance. Did you use it or not?”
Woo Sae-geon didn’t reply. He just stared at me menacingly.
He used it.
Even if the path markers that obviously looked like I made them were annoying to look at, someone like Woo Sae-geon wouldn’t kick away the correct answer right in front of him. Because Woo Sae-geon is a rationalist.
“Fine, let’s say you were useful by luck.”
My guess was right. The anger faded a little from Woo Sae-geon’s face.
Then naturally the target shifts to the side…
“Ja Hyeong-woo, what did you do? A successor lying around just the same? Didn’t I tell you not to come in if you weren’t confident about overcoming hallucinations? Should I now consider that you’ve fallen to a level where you’re completely incapable of self-judgment?”
Machine-gun-like criticism stuck into Ja Hyeong-woo’s temple. Ja Hyeong-woo stood there making no excuses with a blank face as if taking no damage.
‘…Ah shit.’
I must have completely lost it.
How can I look at this disgustingly big guy and think of the little kid who couldn’t say a word and just hung his head back then?
After struggling internally, I finally raised my hand to defend Ja Hyeong-woo.
“This guy found me though.”
Ja Hyeong-woo’s dead-fish eyes widened.
I stared hard at Woo Sae-geon while ignoring that intense gaze.
“You found Ja Hyeong-woo, and Ja Hyeong-woo found you? That’s an achievement?”
“Yes.”
The excuses seem to get more pathetic…
“Anyway, what about the boss? Did you find it?”
Since this was inside a gate, it was easy to change the topic.
Even without small fries, if it’s a gate, there’s a boss. The fact that the gate is still maintained means the boss is still alive.
“…I found it. Follow me to clean it up.”
Woo Sae-geon turned his back and led the way.
Too bad. If Woo Sae-geon hadn’t found it, I could have guided them like in the original work and shown off.
Soon I could see the boss monster with my own eyes.
‘C-rank gate. Since there are hallucinations, everything else must be difficulty-reduced.’
Even though the boss monster was right in front of us, I watched leisurely without even bringing out my familiar. I felt that little sense of crisis.
“What did the World Hunter Association name this thing?”
“Sphere.”
When you think about it, it’s probably the easiest type among all monsters.
A large spherical mass that just exists, as if prepared obligatorily according to gate rules. Though its exact identity hasn’t been revealed yet, in the original work this was explained to be close to inanimate.
No ego, no movement, and naturally no attacks. Therefore, it can be killed very easily.
Though Woo Sae-geon could end this monster with just one stab of his sword, I thought of a way to use this opportunity more properly.
“Shall we try that experiment we couldn’t do before?”
Only Ja Hyeong-woo looked puzzled, not understanding.
Instead of giving a lengthy explanation, I just held out my hand to him.
“Give me one of your things. You have a lot. Something like an attack skill.”
It was an experiment to add another attribute to my attack skill with the special ability I have and see the power. The one that was canceled last time because Woo Sae-geon didn’t allow it.
Ja Hyeong-woo quickly understood my words. He handed over a talisman shimmering with blue light.
A healer-type attack skill item. The shape was also suitable for attaching to an arrow.
‘But how do I attach it?’
It would seem not to fall off even with just a little adhesive. Since it’ll stick anyway due to the skill effect.
After thinking for a moment, I licked one side of the talisman with my tongue. I thoroughly moistened it with saliva and wrapped it around the arrow.
While doing this, Ja Hyeong-woo, who was watching, kept flinching.
…Was it disgusting?
Anyway, the weapon was ready, and there was one procedure left before going in earnestly.
After briefly composing my mind, I lowered my gaze and spoke gently inwardly.
‘Squeaky.’
When I felt genuine remorse toward Ja Hyeong-woo, I thought I had done many things I shouldn’t have to the mouse familiar too.
How frustrated must it have been with my suicidal behavior to openly tattle to Ja Hyeong-woo?
‘Would my body be okay if I try this? What do you think?’
{…You were already preparing before asking.}
‘So you’re saying it’s okay?’
{Yeah, it’s fine. Do what you want to do.}
Perhaps knowing my change, Squeaky answered gently again instead of ignoring me like before.
My mood improved quite a bit. It was more so because of the sensation of cool, soft water attribute intertwining over the familiar earth attribute. I raised my bow and took position. I drew the string long.
[<Grave of the Dead (Earth Attribute)> is activating.]
I implement the technique I did with Won Ha-ri’s arrow once more. But this time with more refined energy from my side.
I felt Woo Sae-geon’s gaze observing me closely. On the opposite side, Ja Hyeong-woo watched me.
I slowly released the string.
Thunk! One arrow stuck in the middle of the sphere monster. The heavy earth tremor that came with the skill caused dust to rise with a rumble!
Probably only I, with my special vision, could see that moment’s scene accurately.
The moment when soft rippling waves gently covered the solid earth energy dwelling in the arrowhead, becoming completely one without damaging each other’s energy.
Amid unknown excitement coursing through my body, the skill’s power gradually subsided. Soon the sphere monster’s appearance became clear.
But…
Even that pathetic sphere monster didn’t die from my intermediate attack skill.
For some reason, the arrow’s lethality had become extremely weak.
“They say if earth is too big, it blocks water. Did you mess up combining attributes, Gyeon Gang-hyeon, or is your fusion ability completely worthless to research?”
“I can only see water so I don’t know well, but the attack doesn’t seem to have worked properly.”
After Woo Sae-geon’s rebuke and Ja Hyeong-woo’s addition, silence flowed. Both looked at me suspiciously, waiting for what I’d say.
‘What do these humans take me for?’
If these humans could have seen the scene I saw, they couldn’t have such suspicions.
By my standards, it definitely succeeded. The damage being worse than expected is a separate issue.
I need to research more, but for now my hypothesis is this.
“From what I saw, it’s an attribute difference.”
I threw the words first and glared at Ja Hyeong-woo.
“Where do you put weak water into a sacred attack skill? This is water’s problem. I’ll never use your attribute again.”
I want to really annoy this guy who’s been careless because I’ve been treating him a bit loosely until now.
Ja Hyeong-woo’s eyebrows shot up. He’s offended.
Then I’m satisfied. Before Ja Hyeong-woo could retort, I quickly shot another arrow to finish the boss.
* * *
A few days later, I encountered Ja Hyeong-woo on the opposite side of the training hall corridor.
Since both he and I were just passing by, we could just keep passing. But when I stepped aside to the right first, Ja Hyeong-woo also stepped that way.
When I moved left again, he followed and blocked my path.
“…?”
Eventually I stopped walking as the distance became too close while being blocked.
“What are you doing?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
