Chapter 208

Ranging unchecked in every direction.

That was me now. Wherever I looked, whatever came within reach, I cut, stabbed, and smashed my way through it. Every flash of my spearhead sent blood spraying and split flesh from bone.

I moved freely among the enormous ogres with nothing to stop me.

Srrk! Krrrunch!

—Gwooooooar!

With a death rattle, the three-meter-tall¹ hulk dropped to its knees.

The Gate continued spewing out ogres, but they posed no problem for me. When two came out, I killed three. When three came out, I killed four.

This is easy. Almost ridiculously so.

The last time I had assigned points was during my duel with Chulwoo.

But opening my Conception and Governor Vessels had pushed my control and explosive power over my internal energy—as well as my senses—to an entirely new level.

Even when the ogres’ iron clubs came crashing down from every direction with tremendous force, they looked unbelievably slow.

To me, the ogres were nothing but idiots who had no idea how to use their own strength.

Whoooosh! Thud!

—Grrrgh…

Another ogre—I’d lost count by now—dropped to its knees with a wet, blood-choked rattle.

Its furry hand reached for the spearhead piercing straight through its Adam’s apple, then went limp and fell away.

Ding.

System

• You have defeated Lv.85 Ogre!

• You have acquired a considerable amount of EXP!

• Level Up!

“Oh.”

I’d leveled up already.

Clearing them out by myself was raking in EXP at an insane rate.

Is it because every last one of these bastards is higher-level than me?

My current Level was somewhere in the mid-to-high seventies, putting the ogres anywhere from five to ten Levels above me.

And since I was slicing through them like slabs of pork shoulder at a butcher shop, it was only natural that my Level would rise quickly.

The EXP was far more generous than I’d expected.

No, wait.

A thought flashed through my mind.

Eyes shining, I stared at the Gate as it churned and spat out another ogre.

This place was practically…

The hottest restaurant in town.

The Gate kept spitting out EXP—or rather, monsters—and I kept killing them. If that cycle continued…

So this is where the conveyor-belt sushi place was hiding.

The EXP from the ogres was sweeter than tuna belly.

My mouth curled into a grin at the thought of chewing up every ogre that came out and digesting them into points.

That was when it happened.

Vroooom. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

—Hold! Hold!

—Drop!

Three or four combat helicopters flew in on a blast of wind and circled overhead. Around twenty Hunters dropped from them like bolts of lightning.

Shu-shu-shu-shu!

They were falling from a height of more than twenty meters.² From that high up, even Hunters equipped with magical Equipment were bound to strain their knees on landing.

But these newcomers weren’t the incompetent amateurs who had been here before I arrived.

“Feather Fall.”

At the mage’s incantation, a ripple of mana passed through the air.

The bodies plunging rapidly toward the ground began to slow. The ogres about to swing their iron clubs hesitated when their timing was thrown off, and then the second spell activated.

“Grease!”

—Gwo?

Boom! Crash!

The four remaining ogres lost their balance. Some staggered, while others collapsed to the ground.

“Now!”

At the shout, the spell slowing the Hunters’ descent was released, and the melee fighters shot forward like streaks of light.

The ogres let out low growls as they sensed their imminent deaths.

That was when—

Clang! Clang-clang!

“…Huh?”

The Hunters who had been about to plunge their weapons into the ogres’ chests stared at me in disbelief.

What the hell did this bastard just do?

Is he insane?

That was exactly what their faces said.

I had knocked aside every one of their attacks with a single swing. In my most reasonable voice, I said, “Come on. Let’s show a little professional courtesy.”

“…”

These bastards were trying to steal mobs I already had dead to rights.

“That really happened?”

At the captain’s question, the Hunter Team Leader nodded.

“Yes. I’ve been on the support team for two years, and I’ve never seen anyone like him.”

“He sounds interesting.”

“Interesting? He’s a complete psycho.”

“Perhaps.”

The captain slowly surveyed the area.

The tollgate had collapsed so completely that its original shape was unrecognizable, and monster blood lay splattered across the half-destroyed road.

There were overturned and wrecked cars as well, but not many.

“How many casualties?”

Soldiers and Hunters had different statuses, but both were registered with the government as members of military support teams.

The Hunter Team Leader promptly answered his superior’s question.

“So far, four dead and five severely injured. We’ll know more once we finish checking.”

“Four dead and five severely injured.”

The captain calmly repeated the figures, then continued.

“This is already the second Gate occurrence today.”

“Tell me about it. An F-rank Gate erupted near Yangju City about an hour ago. I don’t know if something serious is going on.”

The captain clicked his tongue.

“Hey, Team Leader Jeong.”

“Yes, sir.”

“An F-rank Gate that appeared in the town center, or a B-rank Gate that appeared in the middle of a road packed with commuters. Which one looks more serious?”

“Well…”

“But the F-rank Gate caused more casualties. Ten dead and more than twenty severely injured.”

“What? That can’t be right. The breaking news said…”

“They downplayed it. Covered it up. You’ve been doing this for two years. You should know how things work around here by now.”

The captain let out a deep sigh.

“As far as we’re concerned, a hundred bows wouldn’t be enough to thank him. He’s a civilian hero who single-handedly prevented a catastrophe.”

“That’s true. He does seem a little crazy, though.”

“Team Leader Jeong.”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant. I mean he’s insanely strong and crazy. He killed more than ten ogres by himself, so he must be an A-rank Hunter or something.”

“Either way, watch what you say. There are plenty of ears around.”

“They’re all our people. What ears could there be—ah.”

Team Leader Jeong followed the captain’s gaze and immediately scowled.

A skinny, middle-aged man carrying an expensive camera was approaching with an excited spring in his step.

“Captain Yoo! Team Leader Jeong! Where have you two been hiding? I’ve been looking everywhere.”

The Hunter Team Leader replied with open displeasure.

“Hiding from you, Reporter Kim.”

“Oh, come on. Why are you so prickly today, Team Leader Jeong? I’m part of the support team too.”

“You’re only part of the team at times like this, huh? The rest of the time, you’re a military correspondent. You’re usually drowning in a hangover, and now you’re beside yourself just because you landed a scoop.”

The reporter flinched, and the captain stepped in.

“That’s enough. And Reporter Kim, please be more mindful in the future. This is an accident scene. Running around by yourself in high spirits because you found a scoop doesn’t look good.”

“…Ahem. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Even as he answered, anticipation gleamed in the reporter’s eyes.

A Gate occurrence was nothing short of a natural disaster. In some ways, it was even worse.

If a typhoon was going to strike the Korean Peninsula, people could at least predict when and how it would arrive and which areas might be damaged. There was no predicting where or when a Gate would form.

Two Gates in one day was already unprecedented, and one of them was even B-rank.

A tollgate security team helplessly overrun, followed by the heroic arrival of an unknown Hunter who prevented a rush-hour catastrophe!

It was a great story.

The reporter had already sketched the whole article out in his head, and he was itching to get started.

“So where’s our hero? He’s an A-rank Hunter, right? What’s his name? A fresh new face would sell better for a story like this.”

“A new face? Give me a break.”

The Hunter Team Leader pointed behind the reporter.

“He’s over there. Your new face.”

“Where? I don’t see him.”

No matter how much he looked around, there was no sign of a hero clad in gleaming armor.

All he could see were military personnel busily cleaning up the accident scene.

The reporter’s eyes swept across the area before suddenly stopping.

“There, Team Leader Jeong. Is that him? In front of the ogre corpse…”

“The man in the sweatpants? Yes, that’s him.”

Swish. Srrk, srrk.

Squatting as if he were making a huge batch of kimchi,³ the young man deftly separated the fat, meat, and hide from the corpse. The reporter muttered,

“…Now that’s a new face.”

“Fresh, right? Isn’t that the picture you wanted?”

“The ogre meat certainly looks fresh.”

“He’s been at it for a while. The staff offered to do it for him, but he won’t let them touch anything. Says it’s all his.”

Even funnier, his butchering technique was unbelievably good. The two employees assigned to process the corpses kept sneaking glances at his hands and copying his movements.

“Is he really an A-rank Hunter?”

“Who knows? He must be if he can wipe out ogres by himself, but the longer I look at him, the less convinced I am.”

“Team Leader Jeong asked him, but he said they could talk once he finished butchering.”

The three men exchanged looks filled with equal parts belief and doubt.

That was when—

“Whew. Finished.”

The A-rank Hunter, who had cut the notoriously tough ogre meat into pieces like mackerel, straightened his back and stood up.

The reporter took in his sweatpants, baggy at the knees, and his three-striped slides, then muttered,

“Why does a guy who makes that much money live like this?”

Was this some kind of humblebrag?

It was absurd, yet the longer the reporter looked, the more novel the whole thing seemed. After all, nothing mattered more in the media than character.

A down-to-earth A-rank Hunter with a fierce sense of justice. This will make a great story. He’s handsome, too, with bold, clean-cut features.

Yes, this was much better than some polished model-student image.

The reporter grinned and raised his camera.

He wanted a natural shot with no staging whatsoever.

That’s an ogre for you. Not a single part goes to waste.

I looked over the neatly separated by-products with a satisfied smile.

Ogres were practically symbols of strength, which made them popular among men.

There were plenty of customers, but because ogres were classified among the highest tier of B-rank monsters, the supply was limited.

Good thing I only went for their vital spots.

I was humming as I sorted the by-products when—

Click.

“…Huh?”

I turned toward the mechanical sound that had come out of nowhere.

A middle-aged man repeatedly pressing his camera shutter smiled amiably at me.

“Oh dear, did I startle you?”

What the hell is with this guy?

I stared at him incredulously. “Most people are surprised when someone takes their picture without permission. You expect me to be happy about it?”

“You might be once you’re in tomorrow’s newspaper.”

“The newspaper?”

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Here, let’s start with my business card.”

I accepted the military-camouflage business card and read it aloud.

“Military correspondent.”

“You know the Capital Defense Command, right? I’m the military correspondent assigned to Support Team 25.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And the two gentlemen coming up behind me are from the support team as well.”

The reporter smiled and gave me a thumbs-up as two men approached from behind him.

One wore a Special Forces uniform and the other wore armor. They were, well, dressed like your stereotypical soldier and Hunter.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Captain Yoo Sijin, Team Leader of Support Team 25.”

“Ah, yes.”

For some reason, that sounded like a name the sun might regret.⁴

I tilted my head and exchanged introductions with the two men.

The perfunctory introductions and praise for my heroic deed had barely ended when the military correspondent, who had been staring at me with fervent eyes, spoke up.

“You said you’re Hunter Jin Taekyung, correct?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Given the field I cover, I know nearly every A-rank Hunter. But…”

Ah, I had a pretty good idea what he was trying to say.

It was something I would have to deal with sooner or later.

I answered readily, “I’m not A-rank.”

“What?”

“And I’m not S-rank either, of course.”

“…”

Question marks seemed to appear on all three faces at once. I couldn’t help chuckling.

This is fun.

After being knocked around this way and that in another world, I hide my strength in reality.

That would make a decent novel title.

When I merely smiled without answering, the reporter spoke in a faltering voice.

“Th-Then perhaps you’re B-rank?”

“No. I’m C-rank.”

“…C-rank? You mean C-rank, not C-cup?”

“Yes.”

What kind of bullshit is C-cup? And why the hell is he looking at my chest?

I ignored their waves of disbelief and continued, “I was on my way to the Guild when a Gate happened to open…”

“Th-Then what?”

I couldn’t answer the reporter’s urgent question.

I had just remembered something I’d momentarily forgotten.

“…By any chance, what time is it?”

Damn it. I’m late.