Chapter 220

Won Myunghoon left. The memory of him grinding his teeth at my attitude while still hesitating to attack made a short laugh escape me.

If he had, I would’ve made him regret it.

He was a hyena of a man.

When his opponent showed weakness, he bared his teeth. When they showed strength, he hid them.

Looking back over everything he had shown me so far, the incident eight years ago had probably not been unrelated to his nature.

You should consider yourself lucky.

No matter how much a hyena leaped or crawled, it was still a beast.

If it knew how to tuck its tail, all you had to do was scare it away.

There was no reason—or desire—to get blood on my hands before it sank its teeth into my shoulder. Especially not before I had to face a real monster rather than some beast.

—Kyaaaaaaaah!

The black dot drew closer.

A roar filled with rage echoed from the edge of the horizon.

Just as I had recognized it, it had recognized me.

Yes. You remember me too.

That was enough. I was about to face a half-mad Named Monster, but I felt neither fear nor excitement.

There was only one thing bothering me, like a thorn caught in my throat.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

Team Leader Choi stared at me with his arms loosely folded.

His answer, however, came in the form of another question.

“Who are you asking?”

“Everyone.”

I glanced around. Four people stood against the backdrop of the endless wasteland, with scattered rocks and trees stretching behind them.

Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim. Im Kkeokjeong and Song Song.

Not one of them had left.

“You all know that thing coming this way is a Named Monster, right?”

“We’re all well aware.”

“Then this should be simple. It’s dangerous, so leave while you still can.”

“Where would we retreat to?”

“Where else? The exit we came in through.”

“The Star Guild isn’t exactly a great partner to flee with. Especially if we’ve already fallen out with their Guild Master.”

I don’t see it that way.

It wasn’t known yet, but Butler Kim was an A-Rank mage. He had even experienced the unprecedented war known as the Great Cataclysm firsthand.

The Star Guild had more people, but even without me, the Peace Guild wouldn’t be outmatched if they fought Won Myunghoon’s Guild right now.

“That’s a good excuse.”

Team Leader Choi stared at me as I smiled.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung.”

“No.”

I cut him off before he could say anything, but Team Leader Choi was not the sort of person to quietly back down.

“Since I’m trapped with no way to go anywhere because of you, I think I have the right to ask a few questions.”

Damn. He has a point.

I answered reluctantly.

“Fine…but keep it short.”

“The monster coming this way—is it connected to what happened three years ago?”

I hesitated before nodding.

“You’re not going to retreat.”

“…”

Silence was as good as an affirmative answer.

Team Leader Choi let out a low sigh.

“Mr. Jin Taekyung, you’re facing a Named Monster.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it. All I see is something I need to kill.”

“This is something you need to think about rationally.”

“Do I look that unstable to you right now?”

“That’s…”

Team Leader Choi closed his mouth.

I was calmer now than I had ever been. Unlike my heart, which was pounding like mad, my mind was coming up with countless ways to deal with the creature.

“Team Leader Choi.”

“…?”

“I’ve mentioned my life motto a few times before, haven’t I?”

Im Kkeokjeong, who had been silently watching us, answered in his place.

“Long and thin.”

“You remember that too, Uncle?”

“You were a strange kid. A young man ought to have at least one big dream…but you never did.”

“I’ve never liked a life with too many twists and turns.”

This time, Butler Kim answered with a smile.

“For someone like that, you seem to have come a very long way.”

“That’s why I changed it.”

“Long and broad. Is that right?”

“Yes. It’s too late for me to live a thin life now. Since things have turned out this way, I’m going to live as large and as long as possible.”

“Good. If you wish, perhaps…”

I knew what he was about to say.

I quietly shook my head. Butler Kim was someone who needed to take on a far more important task.

“I’m fine. Protect the others.”

“Understood. Even if you hadn’t said anything, I would have done what I should. I’ll give it my best.”

At Butler Kim’s clear-cut answer, Song Song asked with an incredulous expression,

“You’re telling him to fight a Named Monster alone? Are you all out of your minds? One wrong move and we’ll all die!”

“And why haven’t you left, Miss Song?”

“…That’s true. Why am I still here?”

I watched her sink into deep thought before suddenly opening my mouth.

“Miss Song.”

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Hunter Jin Taekyung, please.”

What was with these reactions?

I had only just gotten the first word out, but after Song Song, Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim had stepped in and cut me off without hesitation.

“Taekyung, go for it.”

At least Kkeokjeong hyung was on my side.

I looked at the other three with an aggrieved expression.

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

Song Song answered,

“That’s why I’m saying no.”

“How do you even know what I was going to say?”

“Hmm. A confession?”

My head went numb for a moment.

The back of my skull throbbed as if someone had struck it with a hammer.

“Wait. How did you know?”

“Good grief. How could I not know?”

“D-did it show that much?”

“Yes. Very much.”

“Then…”

She shook her head without hesitation.

“I’m sorry. I’m not the sort of person who flips her attitude at the drop of a hat because of money or fame.”

“Oh.”

“To be honest, you’d be quite a catch, Mr. Taekyung. But when I like someone, I’m the type to reel him in right away. I can’t string a bunch of men along.”

After saying everything she wanted without restraint, she blinked.

“Ah, I didn’t say anything too harsh to someone who’s about to fight a Named Monster, did I?”

I had been opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish, but soon I let out a short laugh.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing. I just thought you were refreshingly straightforward.”

At my answer, she narrowed her eyes.

“Hold on. Why are you suddenly speaking casually?”

“You said you’re twenty-seven, right? We’re the same age, so being friends should be fine, shouldn’t it?”

“Hmm. There’s no such thing as friendship between a man and a woman.”

“We’ll think about that if it ever comes to that.”

I added one more thing to the hesitant Song Song.

“We’re guildmates, after all.”

“…When you put it that way, I can’t exactly refuse.”

I grinned at her.

In the end, I had been rejected cleanly, but I didn’t regret it in the slightest. In a way, I felt strangely calm.

If someone saw me like this and asked whether I had really liked Song Song, the answer would be yes. That was an undeniable fact.

But even I couldn’t give a definite answer about what I was feeling now.

I had simply said the words I had kept in my heart for a long time, and regardless of her answer, I felt relieved.

Maybe that was enough for now.

“Let’s have some soju when this is over.”

“My family motto is that boys and girls over seven shouldn’t sit together.”

“All together.”

“…Oh. Yeah.”

I turned around with light steps.

At the same time, I felt an enormous flow of mana behind me. I hadn’t seen it directly, but I could tell that Butler Kim was layering magical barriers one after another.

I’m counting on you.

That meant the battle was about to begin. Sure enough, the creature that had been no more than a tiny dot had drawn close enough for even an ordinary person to see it clearly.

“Kid, you’ve grown a lot.”

Its body easily exceeded fifty meters, and its wings were even larger.

Black scales covered its entire body without leaving a gap, flashing in the light of the setting sun.

It had grown at least two or three times larger than when I had last seen it three years ago.

Was that even possible?

I had never heard of anything like this.

But there was no mistaking it. Its cloudy eye was proof.

Its other eye, stained red, stared directly at me.

—Kraaaaaaaah!

Whoooosh!

A single roar sent a tremendous wind crashing down upon us. Dirt and pebbles scattered throughout the wasteland rose into the air in thick clouds.

When the curtain of dust settled, I saw a massive shadow standing tall on a hill not far away.

It’s big.

And strong.

With my senses fully open, I could feel its rage and power.

A monster that had broken beyond the boundaries of A-Rank.

It possessed the majesty befitting a Named Monster.

“So we finally meet.”

When I finally stood face-to-face with it, my chest trembled. Three years ago, I had lost my comrades, and it had lost one of its eyes.

What a tenacious grudge.

It had to end now.

I gripped the cold spear shaft tightly and began walking slowly toward it.

“Long time no see. Do you remember me?”

A Wyvern was undoubtedly a higher life-form.

It had already been cunning and cruel in the past, so now that it had become a Named Monster, it naturally possessed even greater strength and Intelligence.

—Grrrrr…

“Looks like you remember me. So, how’s your eye?”

A searing red flame rose from its one remaining eye. I let out a short laugh as I watched its scales bristle across its entire body.

“You fucking bastard. Where do you get off hissing at me?”

—Grrrk!

One step.

Then another.

My heart pounded, and my mind spun at full speed. Hundreds of paths through which I could hack apart its body and cut off its breath unfolded before my eyes.

“There were some names I wanted to tell you when I saw you again. Open your ears and listen carefully.”

Step.

Step.

As the distance between us gradually narrowed, something hot surged up from my lower abdomen.

It was like a small sun—both Scorching Yang Qi that had surpassed one jiazi¹ and rage that had accumulated until it solidified.

“Kim Hyunsu.”

The face of a bespectacled nerd appeared before my eyes.

He had been a Hunter for only four months. He was the first victim. The tail that creature swung had crushed his entire body.

He had been slow on his feet, but full of enthusiasm. Whenever he had a spare moment, he would come find me and ask questions.

Deputy Team Leader. How do I do this?

Deputy Team Leader. I don’t understand this part.

Deputy Team Leader…

Sometimes, I thought about him.

I wondered whether he might have survived if I had explained things more thoroughly back then, if I hadn’t been annoyed by him asking me dozens of questions every day.

But regret was always too late. Kim Hyunsu’s life had stopped at twenty, and the parents who had lost their only son had wailed throughout the funeral.

Maybe even now, three years later.

There were nine more people like him.

Every one of them had a family and dreams of their own.

“Lee Hyerim. Song Donghyeok, Park Sangho, Kim Haneung, Park Gwanghyeon…”

With each name came one step, and with each step, memories of that person rose like heat haze.

My vision blurred because of that.

That was what I chose to believe.

After ten steps, only one name remained.

“…And Hong Cheonsu.”

The round face of a man in his thirties flashed before my eyes.

When I first met him, I was a rookie Hunter who had just turned twenty, while he was a ten-year veteran.

After he saved me from being surrounded and nearly killed by goblins, I started calling him hyung.

One ordinary day, I suddenly asked him a question.

Why are you always so good to me?

He answered,

It kept eating at me, seeing a kid like you struggle. My youngest sibling is about your age.

I learned on the day of his funeral that he had grown up in an orphanage with no relatives at all.

I laughed because the whole thing was absurd. Then I ended up crying.

I remembered the last words he had left behind.

You cocky bastard. Taekyung, go on ahead.

He—Cheonsu hyung—died like that.

Leaving behind a wonderful spouse and three children.

And now, at this very moment, I stood before that creature. I opened my mouth while glaring at its enormous red eye.

“Listen carefully, you fucking lizard bastard.”

I had overcome countless crises for the sake of saying those words.

After three years and ninety-two days, I was finally ready to tear off those wings and drive my spear into its heart.

“This time, I’m not going anywhere.”

Internal energy surged from my dantian and spread through every limb and bone in my body.

The Scorching Yang Qi raced forward without restraint, converging on the cold spearhead. The internal energy that linked continuously and tangled together like a skein of thread transformed into a new shape.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

Aura, Spear Energy.

It didn’t matter what I called it. I leveled the blue-burning spearhead at the creature.

“You’re…dead today.”