Damn Hunter Life Chapter 98
Even now when he believes he’s alone, he can’t stand it like this, so imagine if Ja Hyeong-woo appeared and confessed the truth about those wet dreams to Gyeon Gang-hyeon.
He might really try to die or never look at Ja Hyeong-woo’s face again.
He was bitten on the foot again. In the end, once more, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about the treatment. Ja Hyeong-woo quietly activated his return skill like a thief.
Even in the midst of this, he found himself ridiculous for getting excited. But Gang-hyeon’s flustered reaction was so fresh, stimulating in another sense, and brought along other unknown emotions too.
The kind that made him want to hug him tightly and rub their faces together, or bite his cheeks.
‘Because of this, I have to take responsibility for Gang-hyeon. I might have to take responsibility for his whole life… That would be nice.’
He left one request with his mouse familiar.
‘If Gang-hyeon has bad thoughts, stop him. And let me know.’
He took Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s casual words seriously and left with a piece of worry.
Gyeon Gang-hyeon had a dream.
‘If you want to show sincerity in your apology, don’t push me away.’
A familiar voice said words from his memory. Whose words were those again…
The face and build in front of him were also familiar. Ja Hyeong-woo had definitely said that and then came over to embrace him.
Huh…? But Ja Hyeong-woo’s hwarang outfit wasn’t visible. He was shirtless.
His bronzed naked body was so large it covered even the background in the corners of his vision. No matter where he looked, muscles filled his entire field of view.
This is strange, this is strange… Though he could only think hazily, Gyeon Gang-hyeon’s body wouldn’t move. Ja Hyeong-woo kept getting closer.
Finally, Ja Hyeong-woo hugged him tightly, and their two bodies pressed together.
“…Aaaaah!”
He got up from his spot so hurriedly that his head spun. Gyeon Gang-hyeon forgot his dizziness and quickly lifted the blanket that was lightly covering him.
He prayed it wouldn’t be the case, but underneath was inevitably a mess from traces of his dream. It was even sticky since it hadn’t been long.
“Aaah!”
He shuddered with the exact feeling of wanting to die. He pressed his forehead while keeping his lower body stiffly rigid.
Wet dreams themselves weren’t unfamiliar. Since he never took care of things himself, he occasionally dealt with this annoying situation.
‘But usually I don’t dream anything…’
Why Ja Hyeong-woo?
The target was so shocking that the fact that it was another man had become relatively unremarkable.
This was a nightmare among nightmares. He was so ashamed that if he squeezed hard enough, he felt like he could really shed a tear.
Bad luck had struck. This was a great misfortune. Gyeon Gang-hyeon put the blanket and clothes into the washing machine with a devastated face.
‘The day after tomorrow is when we go to meet the American hunters, and what is this…’
He belatedly exploded with worry about whether the familiars had seen, but for some reason, everything was quiet on that front. At least that was fortunate.
* * *
“We teleport to the American dimensional space in 20 minutes. Get ready.”
Woo Sae-geon’s instruction to the overseas expedition team gathered here could be heard, but that wasn’t what was important to me.
That’s because I was desperately trying not to make eye contact with Ja Hyeong-woo.
Fortunately, since it was something I always did normally, it probably wouldn’t show. Believing that, I stood only in directions that had my back to Ja Hyeong-woo.
Sa Ye-ho came over and put his arm around my shoulder.
“Did you do something wrong to Ja Hyeong-woo?”
At that moment, dark-tanned skin color filled my head completely. Agh!
“Why, why…?”
“Well, Ja Hyeong-woo isn’t looking at you today particularly.”
Not me, but Ja Hyeong-woo?
Hearing Sa Ye-ho’s words, I suddenly felt creepy. Could it be that Ja Hyeong-woo knows the content of my dream…?
…How would he know that?
I know the saying about getting slapped in Jongno and taking it out on the Han River, but I got angry at Sa Ye-ho.
“What’s it to you? Are you already worried I’ll go to the competition and become an international embarrassment!”
“Ah fuck, look at this puppy’s temper. This is a Pomeranian.”
Sa Ye-ho was about to get annoyed together but soon gave a hollow laugh. He roughly tousled my hair and got down from his tiptoes.
The friendly competition consisted of a 5-day expedition.
====
Day 1: Opening ceremony (joint meal for both teams), matches 1-3
Day 2: Match 4
Day 3: Matches 5, 6
Day 4: Match 7 overtime (if victory isn’t decided in match 6)
====
Matches 1-3 were death matches that ended quickly without stamina consumption, and matches 4-6 were capture battles where you could keep reviving within the round even if eliminated. The schedule was arranged considering the match content.
Also, the schedule changed depending on how the matches went. If one side achieved an overwhelming victory, we might return home early.
Then naturally, our goal is—
“Let’s finish it on the second day, right? The goal is to only go up to match 4!”
No. That’s only Ma Cheon-ah’s thinking. No one else is thinking of a complete victory like Ma Cheon-ah. The American kids aren’t idiots either.
“Good spirit! At minimum, we’ve got the final victory secured.”
Sa Ye-ho loudly hinted from afar that we might lose a round or two, but Ma Cheon-ah didn’t listen to others. Enthusiasm blazed from her warrior outfit.
‘Then I can’t help but pour cold water on this.’
I interjected.
“You’re saying we should go 4 wins and 0 losses? We play four matches and win all four?”
“Aren’t you confident?”
A gaze that said incompetent bastards were disgusting to look at shot out like fire, snap snap.
“Then can you cover for my holes and play? Are you going to carry me?”
However, unfortunately, I was the biggest obstacle in Ma Cheon-ah’s life. In two areas, we were exactly opposite to each other.
First, since the matches were organized as PvP battles rather than monster-killing raids, I was a serious flaw in the team.
Second, unlike Ma Cheon-ah who was completely wrapped up in arrogance and conceit, I knew my place well. I also had a good grasp of what was possible for me.
“Damn, why did you even come?”
Ma Cheon-ah walked over briskly and brought her irritated face a little closer. I confidently looked up at her eyes, which were about 2cm above me.
“America called so I came.”
“These despicable bastards! They called ‘this thing’ to the enemy team because they want to win easily? They want a free meal?”
…We’re not in America yet, right?
Fortunately, since we hadn’t moved yet, there was no awkward situation with officials.
Ma Cheon-ah’s blatant criticism poked at my temples. Sa Ye-ho giggled next to Woo Sae-geon, and Woo Sae-geon had no interest in me. Ja Hyeong-woo… let’s see if I look at him.
“Whether there’s a dog on the team or not! We’re the strongest successors in Korea. Unless America sends out their rankings 1 and 3, shouldn’t we go 4 wins and 0 losses?”
“Ah, you know I’m Korea’s 3rd rank? Though it’s just skill-dependent.”
“Shut up!”
She won’t bend her will even like this.
She absolutely insists we must win all 4 matches in a row. Ma Cheon-ah is serious.
In the friendly competition I saw in the original work, none other than Ma Cheon-ah becomes a major risk factor for the Korean team. Because of that very belligerent and unsteady personality.
Even after achieving 3 consecutive victories, her mental state gets completely shaken by one defeat, and from then on she continuously creates anxiety for the team. They barely manage to win in the end, but she becomes completely out of it…
‘If I just leave it alone, she’d actually taste the bitterness of the world from this incident and naturally become an adult.’
But right now there’s the serious troll that is me, and Ma Cheon-ah’s ups and downs are added on top of that, so we might actually end up losing in the end.
Of course, since it was a friendly competition, no one’s life would be in danger if we lost.
Strictly speaking, it has no value compared to gates or stages.
“We return to the main school on the 3rd day.”
The leader who had been keeping his mouth shut suddenly spoke to everyone.
Day 3 would be under the premise that we progressed to match 5 or 6.
It was a more realistic match situation than Ma Cheon-ah’s, but it was also a statement declaring he wouldn’t let it go to overtime either.
Sa Ye-ho has this crazy habit of grinning whenever Woo Sae-geon opens his mouth. He hopped down from the railing he’d been sitting on to match Woo Sae-geon’s eye level and smiled wickedly.
“4 to 1? Or 4 to 2?”
Woo Sae-geon didn’t particularly respond. Even so, I think I know the answer.
Even the person who seems least likely to play along with such games doesn’t suggest opinions like deliberately losing all 4 matches to end the competition as quickly as possible. He’s not considering the case where we’re the 2 in a 4:2 at all.
‘Then I can’t lose either?’
Since it’s slightly more hateful than losing to Ja Hyeong-woo, I’ll find a way to counter it even if I have to recall all of the original work.
‘Then first, what should I do about Ma Cheon-ah?’
I glanced at Ma Cheon-ah, who was swinging her sword around energetically, perhaps because she was young and full of energy.
If I break that overflowing enthusiasm a little, she’d actually play more coolly.
But I can’t crush her spirit with criticism or anything. Most importantly, even if I said such things, they wouldn’t work on Ma Cheon-ah at all…
After pondering, I threw out another half-serious, half-joking suggestion.
“Ma Cheon-ah, want to make a bet with me?”
I used this well before in gate practice. Will it work a second time?
Ma Cheon-ah immediately frowned, perhaps having developed trauma since the so-called ‘Cheon-a noona incident.’
However, she was an incorrigible betting addict, so she seemed to become slightly interested in the end. She gestured at me once with a look that said she’d at least hear what I had to say.
“Let’s bet on the score.”
As soon as she heard my story, Ma Cheon-ah poured out objections.
“You want me to go 4 wins 0 losses, and you’re trying to go 6 matches with 4 wins 2 losses, right? Don’t be ridiculous. You could play terribly on purpose and lose intentionally, couldn’t you?”
She does have some sense though?
I grinned and pretended I hadn’t been caught in my scheme. Ma Cheon-ah’s eyes narrowed further as she stared intently at my face.
First, with those words just now, I planted a realistic perception in Ma Cheon-ah that a 4:0 victory had lower probability than a 4:2 victory.
And Ma Cheon-ah’s guess was wrong. Because I was planning to say the scores in reverse from the beginning.
“No, it’s the opposite. I’m betting on us winning 4:0, and you’re betting on us winning 4:2.”
Ma Cheon-ah’s expression became strange.
Before she could refuse while asking what that was, I quickly added the rest.
“Is there some punishment you want for me? Try saying it once.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
