Damn Hunter Life Chapter 91
“Fusion? What does that mean…?”
Ja Hyeong-woo repeated my words in a daze with an even more stupid-looking expression. He seemed to have no understanding at all.
“I guess you could say it’s fusing parts of the body. Just, well, holding hands.”
I lifted both my hands and showed him the motion of clasping them together.
Only then did Ja Hyeong-woo’s eyes return to normal. He also looked somewhat deflated.
‘Now do you understand? What were you thinking about, twisting it all around? You’re not even that smart.’
I could introduce the breathing method I used with Hae Mi-jun before here too, but that requires concentration and is troublesome. So I settled on the simplified ‘hand-holding’ method for now.
Even successors with low attribute affinity should be able to channel their own energy through their hands. When you think about it, it’s similar to the principle of weapon crafting.
If I can do it, why couldn’t someone else?
“Then, that thing we tried when we ate together last time wasn’t…?”
“That was just skills attached to my stealth skill. This requires direct contact too, you know?”
At the part about ‘direct contact,’ Ja Hyeong-woo furrowed his brow even more.
‘He’s looking at me like I’m completely shameless.’
Considering how dignified the original Ja Hyeong-woo’s character was, maybe it’s natural for him to react like this? Come to think of it, if someone told me that touching people was related to skills…
I was pretty puzzled when I first realized it too. It’s just holding hands, isn’t it? Yet just by receiving fire energy directly from Sa Ye-ho like that, the attack power of the fusion skill increased dramatically.
‘Rather than mixing two skills, it’s better for the other person to just transfer their energy while I create the skill alone.’
In short, the fluctuating power wasn’t related to attributes but to which successor the partner was.
The other person and I need to match as ‘yin and yang’ and be harmonious individuals for the skill compatibility to improve.
‘In that case, well, I’ll have to try fusing with everyone for the greater good.’
I’m a bit worried that my skills might become too strong and I might become too competent… But I concluded that I need to go this far to impress Woo Sae-geon and get that hunter pension.
“I haven’t told the others yet. I wanted to try it with you first.”
“……”
Even though I called him aside separately to tell him first as soon as I realized it, Ja Hyeong-woo didn’t seem to be listening properly for some reason. He was spacing out as if his mind was elsewhere, then suddenly said:
“Then, besides me, you’re going to do it with other people too?”
Of course.
“Yeah. As long as the conditions are right, I plan to do it with everyone in turn—”
“No!”
I flinched before I could even finish speaking. This bastard can raise his voice like that too?
“Absolutely… absolutely don’t tell anyone else besides me.”
Ja Hyeong-woo’s eyes were filled with intensity. This guy is serious. But what the hell is the problem?
“Hey, if I don’t tell them, how am I supposed to receive their energy? Should I steal it?”
In the end, I couldn’t speak nicely either.
I don’t know who the real troublemaker is here. Look at him setting up the situation. I don’t even need to get rough first anymore.
“…Stealing is even more out of the question.”
“It’s impossible anyway, you bastard. And Sa Ye-ho already knows about this.”
Then Ja Hyeong-woo made an extremely menacing face and trembled with anger. Is he finding it so filthy just because it’s a skill made through contact?
Wait a minute…
I think there’s a small misunderstanding. I straightened my upper body from where I was sitting to explain again.
“You don’t think I’d expose this to the media, do you? I won’t talk about the method to outsiders. Also, well… I’ll avoid doing it with women if possible. It’s a bit awkward between men and women.”
Although my words sound a bit strange, I’m being sincere.
Stages are videos that all citizens can watch. No matter how much I try to deceive them, if there’s suspicious touching, I could get caught.
If a female successor did this and ended up being paired with me as a couple, it wouldn’t just end at being troublesome.
But with fellow men… I’m already weak and getting hugged here and there a lot. Slipping in some energy transfer in between is nothing.
“So, will you do it?”
“…Yeah. Do the experiment with me. So don’t ask other people to do it. The successors’ combat power isn’t lacking enough for you to have to do such things. Got it?”
He spoke in a suppressed voice as if making some great sacrifice, but his voice trembled at the end. I was really annoyed. I slammed my fist on the table and finally confronted him.
“Am I that hideous to you? Embarrassing enough not to be seen by others? How many times do I have to say it’s because of the skill?”
‘If you’re going to be that uncomfortable about just holding hands, then how did you hug me before?’
I was strangely irritated and brushing off my shoulders when Ja Hyeong-woo suddenly stood up and left the conference room without a word.
“Hey, aren’t we doing it now?”
My voice didn’t reach him either.
Sigh, fine. There’s afternoon training too, so I’ll call him again after it’s over. If I’m still alive and haven’t collapsed from exhaustion by then…
* * *
Hah.
Ja Hyeong-woo, who had barely managed to storm out of the conference room, looked up at the clear sky of the Hunter School gate while organizing his confused feelings.
‘Fusion didn’t mean something else.’
The process of getting his mind straight again took a long time. It was fortunate that there was no one around to see his face.
‘Gang-hyeon probably really didn’t have the kind of impure thoughts I was thinking about.’
At most, skin contact with others, exchanging saliva… even that was terrifyingly impure to Ja Hyeong-woo. His jaw tensed.
…This wasn’t the time to space out.
Who else among the Twelve Zodiac are yang? Since Gang-hyeon would be yin, he needed to investigate who the yang people were.
‘I need to know who Gang-hyeon is doing what with… that’s all.’
He clumsily typed ‘twelve zodiac animals’ into a portal site search bar. Due to the influence of the Twelve Zodiac successors, Korea was overflowing with zodiac information. All sorts of information poured out, but Ja Hyeong-woo only looked for encyclopedias.
He read through the yin and yang of the twelve animals from the beginning. He picked out only the animals belonging to ‘yang.’
First, the mouse – himself.
Dragon Jin Seol-woon. However, since Jin Seol-woon has the same earth attribute, there’s no concern about Gyeon Gang-hyeon attempting fusion with him.
And then Horse Ma Cheon-ah, Monkey Won Ha-ri…
Next after monkey was dog. Ja Hyeong-woo’s gaze, which was about to naturally skip over Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s, froze solid.
His heart sank. Dog was also ‘yang.’
Gang-hyeon wasn’t looking for yang as an experiment partner – he was looking for yin!
Because of his belief that Gang-hyeon would naturally be yin, he had been completely wrong from the premise. It was dizzying enough to make his head spin.
Gyeon Gang-hyeon didn’t need Ja Hyeong-woo. The two didn’t match.
‘Then why did he ask me to experiment?’
After a moment of silence, Ja Hyeong-woo realized. He was the control group. For comparison with all the ‘yin’ people he would experiment with from now on.
‘…That’s ridiculous. How can someone so sickly be the same ‘yang’ as me?’
He was burning with anger inside. Ja Hyeong-woo was so flustered that he mentally spat out words that would make the person in question jump up and down if they heard them.
The same Ja Hyeong-woo who usually let things slide calmly even when things went wrong and he suffered losses.
Always like that… he seemed to become anxious only when standing in front of Gyeon Gang-hyeon.
* * *
There was no way Gyeon Gang-hyeon would listen to Ja Hyeong-woo’s words about absolutely not telling anyone else.
When he ignores even reasonable words, there’s no way he’d listen to such unreasonable tantrums.
“Theoretically, if you match yin and yang and channel energy, the power of fusion skills should become stronger.”
He went straight to the leader and made his report.
“…But I really have to save it like a final ultimate skill. My health being what it is. If I take in other attributes, my body gets strained.”
Woo Sae-geon listened to Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s explanation with shadows cast around his eyes. His expression suggested he was listening to something completely useless.
Not that fusion skills were useless, but because the person who possessed that skill was useless.
“Include Hae Mi-jun. I’ll permit the use of Hae Mi-jun’s skills.”
The main healer was still Ja Hyeong-woo, and Hae Mi-jun was still a sub-healer who hadn’t been given major responsibilities yet.
Woo Sae-geon gave permission to receive Hae Mi-jun’s support when conducting skill experiments.
All successors had their skill usage controlled by the leader. Although Ja Hyeong-woo often used heal skills at will, that was only because Ja Hyeong-woo’s skill recharge was fast and he had some surplus.
“Can I try it in a Stage? It’s too valuable to just practice with in the training ground.”
Gyeon Gang-hyeon was full of ulterior motives. Since Woo Sae-geon probably wouldn’t deploy him in normal situations, he was forcing a reason to participate.
‘I need to show people on a large scale that even a glass cannon deserves a hunter pension.’
Woo Sae-geon flipped through the documents he was holding and found the page labeled ‘STAGE 36 Roster.’ It seemed he had been seriously deciding on the roster while taking notes, as there were scribbles all over it.
Gyeon Gang-hyeon lowered his eyes and stole a glance, but he couldn’t make it out. It was seriously bad handwriting.
But somehow, he had the reasonable suspicion that this might be intentionally bad handwriting to prevent people from peeking.
When Woo Sae-geon’s voice was heard, Gyeon Gang-hyeon raised his head again.
“You said physical contact. The other party might find it unpleasant, so coordinate with your target beforehand before entering the Stage.”
“Thanks for the unnecessary advice.”
“Do you have someone picked for the first partner?”
“Ah, Sa Ye-ho.”
“……”
In the middle of the conversation, Woo Sae-geon turned his head away from Gyeon Gang-hyeon.
“Tell other targets about your condition in advance and get their consent too. Even if you won’t use it right away. And one more thing. You tell them yourself. I have no intention of adding my words.”
“What? Ah, come on… that’s too much.”
Woo Sae-geon glared at Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s mouth. Gyeon Gang-hyeon chewed on the piercing stare and turned around.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
