Damn Hunter Life 88

Damn Hunter Life Chapter 88

Hae Mi-jun was just opening and closing his mouth, but when I put force in my eyes and stared at him, he took a bite of ice cream. The stick tip peeked out from where he bit.

“It’s delicious. Thank you…”

“You took it out of your own fridge, you know?”

Anyway, feeding him was effective. Once his tension was released, Hae Mi-jun watched the stage footage with a much more relaxed attitude from then on.

However, it didn’t last long. From the moment Yang Pyo in the lead charged at the first monster, his fists tensed up again and his back became overly stiff.

[“Yang Pyo-ssi, keep checking the distance with the dragon!”]

[“Yes!”]

Both support-type tankers Jin Seol-woon and Yang Pyo entered this stage.

With the sheep familiar and dragon familiar, both specialized in protecting allies, in one place, the will-o’-the-wisps that were this stage’s monsters couldn’t even approach the successors.

When the giant sheep head stirred up wind once, they were pushed back that much, and when the dragon moved its body once, they tumbled away.

On the surface, it seemed like a combination that prioritized safety upon safety with no anxiety points at all, but that wasn’t quite right either.

Unlike before, the formation on screen was missing one crucial strength.

‘What was Woo Sae-geon thinking while waiting? That guy is also watching footage from his own home like me right now.’

For the first time, the Twelve Zodiac leader didn’t enter.

Because of this, the community was quite noisy. The news also expressed various concerns about this stage conquest.

Not just our successors, but the entire nation finds the strict leader Woo Sae-geon difficult yet trusts him that deeply.

However, he can’t stay at Hunter School forever, and the time will definitely come when he loses all his power and retires. At the close point of three months later, less than a hundred days.

Right now, Woo Sae-geon is nurturing the next leader.

‘If it follows the original work, the person who will become the next leader is…’

Whoosh! Multiple talismans flew into the will-o’-the-wisps on screen as if piercing them all at once.

[“Myo Cho-hui successor! Start catching from where I attacked first.”]

Ja Hyeong-woo from the rear watched all directions while giving direct orders. Though his voice wasn’t as loud as Woo Sae-geon’s, it seemed to be delivered clearly enough when combined with communication.

Being fire attribute monsters, water attribute healer Ja Hyeong-woo’s attacks were particularly effective. Splash—! The will-o’-the-wisps’ light dimmed as if water had been poured on them.

Whoosh! The weakened will-o’-the-wisps were bound by Myo Cho-hui’s vines the next moment and dragged away. Ma Cheon-ah’s butcher knife fiercely cut through the wind, scattering the fire forms.

[“Cheon-ah! Don’t jump out, reposition yourself!”]

Ja Hyeong-woo’s loud voice rang out again.

Ma Cheon-ah looked displeased about receiving orders from a healer, but since it was the mouse oppa she trusted in her own way, she obediently followed.

‘Ja Hyeong-woo will smoothly become the next leader.’

Ja Hyeong-woo is a successor with rare skill controversies and a top-tier healer. He also has prudence no less than Woo Sae-geon, so it’s expected he can quell the anxiety after Woo Sae-geon’s retirement.

Above all, in the original work, Ja Hyeong-woo was also the leader. So this is an extremely natural flow.

Even if he’s much more tender and emotional compared to the original.

Even without Woo Sae-geon, Ja Hyeong-woo and the tankers continued the battle smoothly. Ma Cheon-ah still bounced around energetically, but hadn’t caused any accidents yet.

‘If there’s one strange thing…’

I switched the cam to Myo Cho-hui’s perspective.

Thud thud, parts of vines that touched the will-o’-the-wisps burned and broke. However, Myo Cho-hui somehow steadily pulled the will-o’-the-wisps with quantity tactics and struck them with her glaive.

At first glance, it looked like she was fighting normally well. But.

‘The vine accuracy is dropping. And even considering they’re weak to fire, the durability is too weak today. Am I mistaken?’

That’s what I think, but I don’t know how Woo Sae-geon would see it.

I’ll find out when I attend the feedback meeting later.

Unlike me, Hae Mi-jun had ordinary-level insight, so he didn’t notice that Myo Cho-hui’s performance was poor.

But soon even Hae Mi-jun would notice an accident that occurred. Right now.

[“Ah…!”]

They discovered the boss, and Yang Pyo and the sheep familiar charged once. Next should be Myo Cho-hui’s vine binding skill, but…

The skill didn’t come out properly.

Dozens of vine branches that were about to sprout from the ground withered and died as if drying up. Myo Cho-hui’s eyes widened and froze.

[“Rabbit unni! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”]

[“Ma Cheon-ah, focus!”]

Ja Hyeong-woo quickly noticed Myo Cho-hui’s abnormality and dealt with the sudden variable. The boss was somehow smoothly subdued by the two tankers’ strength.

However, that didn’t make Myo Cho-hui’s mistake disappear.

“Hyung, why is Myo Cho-hui-nim…? Didn’t her skill just fail to activate?”

Hae Mi-jun panicked at main dealer Myo Cho-hui’s gap. He kept looking back at me.

I buried my chin in the cushion without taking my eyes off the screen.

“Right. Her skill didn’t activate.”

There’s only one answer I can give.

“If she staggered or collapsed, it would be poor condition like me, but that’s not it.”

“Th-then what is it?”

“What else? Her concentration plummeted so it didn’t activate.”

Now I can be certain.

From the very beginning of combat until now, Myo Cho-hui continuously couldn’t concentrate. Behind that peaceful face, she had other thoughts.

‘Somehow it’s familiar. Just the other day during training she was like that too, wasn’t she?’

Hae Mi-jun and I arrived at the feedback meeting dead last. Hae Mi-jun bowed his head apologetically for being late, but I just shuffled in.

The round table in the Twelve Zodiac meeting room. There were exactly 12 chairs. Since everyone was currently attending the meeting, exactly two seats were empty.

“You came? Sit down.”

Jin Seol-woon deliberately acknowledged me.

There happened to be two seats empty next to Jin Seol-woon. It seemed prepared so Hae Mi-jun and I, being close to the door, could sit right down.

So I seated Hae Mi-jun next to Jin Seol-woon, and I sat next to him.

Shortly after, Woo Sae-geon started the meeting. And as always, feedback disguised as a lecture.

“Detailed movement corrections later. General attitude assessment first.”

What Woo Sae-geon values most and views most strictly is attitude.

Therefore, now is…

‘Group scolding time.’

The footage we had been watching appeared on screen. It was conquest footage Woo Sae-geon had cut in several places for feedback.

Yang Pyo diligently stuck to the remote, advancing slides when Woo Sae-geon told him to advance and stopping when told to stop.

Ma Cheon-ah, in black martial clothes holding a great sword, was caught first.

“Ma Cheon-ah, you should have realized that you showing off is always the problem. Today you acted even more foolishly.”

“Yes…”

Woo Sae-geon was merciless even to Ma Cheon-ah, who practically had the highest monster kill contribution.

“So this is how you’ll be in stages without me? Do I need to watch your training all day long from now on for you to act a little less stupidly?”

“No. I’ll be careful…”

Ma Cheon-ah was rarely dejected.

From across the table, I lightly added words that could barely be heard.

“Still caught up in appearances. Wanting to stand out. There are unnecessary movements.”

Ma Cheon-ah glared at me sharply. Regardless, I was excited.

‘I should give lots of advice. This is when I diligently maintain my scoundrel image.’

But since Woo Sae-geon also glared at me, I secretly chatted with the others from then on.

“Yang Pyo. Your field of vision is still narrow. Do you need to crush a teammate once to come to your senses?”

Me>Sheep successor: Do you have vision problems?

Me>Sheep successor: Well, at least your phobia improved

Me>Sheep successor: Now you just need to learn how to walk again, your tanking movement was inefficient

Sheep successor>Me: ;;;

Woo Sae-geon’s next target for criticism was Jin Seol-woon.

“Why don’t you know how to be bold when you need to be bold? How long will you pointlessly toy with the dragon? I told you that when there are two support-type tankers, you need to become the offensive type.”

Me>Dragon successor: Hey, the dragon is precious

Me>Dragon successor: You’re not a dragon, you’re a worm

Me>Dragon successor: Or are you a coward? Or are you half-assing it because it’s not a stage?

Dragon successor>Me: Thank you for the advice. I’ll take it to heart.

What?

Jin Seol-woon, whose eyes met mine, shrugged his shoulders slightly while curling up the corners of his mouth.

‘That bastard is being sarcastic. Is this funny?’

I moved on since the next feedback turn was Ja Hyeong-woo’s.

Perhaps because of the next leader education purpose, Woo Sae-geon’s eyes were particularly ice-cold.

“Ja Hyeong-woo, you played the leader role in the most pathetic way today. You know best what I mean.”

Today Ja Hyeong-woo… definitely gave good orders. He took care of teammates well, and overall managed the conquest flow well.

Yet Woo Sae-geon only cursed because there’s a good reason for it.

“The idea of not stopping teammates from showing off and instead covering for them with preemptive healing is something you do when you’re a healer. Today you were the leader. If you do it that way, the leader will lose stamina first during conquest. Will you become a leader who collapses in the middle?”

Because Ja Hyeong-woo didn’t abandon that damn healer overwork-type combat style.

However, Ja Hyeong-woo, though he spoke little, was far from being a pushover who couldn’t speak up. He immediately lifted his chin and looked straight at Woo Sae-geon.

“The mistake from before won’t happen again. Then and now are different. Now I’m watching what I can handle. Mi-jun is behind me too.”

I was about to chat with him but stopped.

Since Ja Hyeong-woo is particularly important, I should tell him directly with my mouth.

“Are you that great? If you make one mistake, everyone dies, you mouse bastard.”

A gleam flashed in Ja Hyeong-woo’s eyes.

The clear gaze that hadn’t been there until just now crashed into me head-on. Ja Hyeong-woo lowered his body as if he might stand up from his chair and quickly spat out words.

“Healing in today’s stage was really easy. Because you weren’t there. It’s easy without just you.”

For the first time since the hallucination gate, he also fought back. Instantly, a murderous atmosphere circulated over the table.

“Ah, really? Sorry for being weak, huh?”

Suddenly something grabbed my sleeve.

It was Hae Mi-jun’s hand. I noticed Hae Mi-jun, looking somewhat shrunk, wanting to stop this situation.

Then Sa Ye-ho from the seat next to him looked at Hae Mi-jun and pushed his head across the round table. Grinning while winking.

“Hey hey. Don’t be scared. Those bastards just said ‘Don’t overdo it.’ and ‘Don’t worry. You just need to be okay.’ in that shitty way.”

“That’s not it, so shut up, you snake bastard.”

“Yeah, I’ll shut up. Our Gang-mouse.”

“Be quiet.”

When Woo Sae-geon’s low voice rang out, we all shut our mouths at once.