Chapter 300

The Black Wizard’s Black Forest. No, now that I thought about it, it would be more accurate to call it the Skeleton Warlord’s Black Forest.

In any case, this gloomy forest was disgustingly huge and complicated. If the Warlord hadn’t been able to look down over the inside of the Gate as if it were the palm of its hand, I would have gotten lost along the way.

• I knew you were wicked, but you’re stupid too. What would you have done without me?

“Right. Which way do we go from here?”

• Turn right one hundred paces ahead.

“……How does this bastard even know the words ‘turn right’?”

One well-captured Warlord beat ten navigation systems.

Swoooosh!

Following the Warlord’s directions, I shot forward at a dazzling speed.

Perhaps it was thanks to the half-jiazi of internal energy I had gained while performing True Qi Guidance on Team Leader Choi, but even as I used my movement technique with all my strength, my internal energy continued surging up like an inexhaustible spring.

More is always better.

How long had I been running like that? The sounds of people and their conversations gradually began to draw closer.

My unbelievably enhanced eyesight picked out familiar faces beyond the brush, hundreds of meters away.

Team Leader Choi and Butler Kim. Uncle Kkeokjeong and Song Song too?

I could also see the new Guild members I had sent outside about an hour earlier.

No, forget about them. Why were the people who should’ve been busting their asses circulating their qi here?

But the question only lasted a moment before facts I had forgotten flashed through my mind.

Oh. I forgot.

I had already expected the situation outside to become something of a disaster.

That was why I had planned to deal with the Warlord and the Skeleton army before immediately leaving, but the unexpected discovery of an EXP factory had gotten me so excited that I had made the mistake of leaving the scene.

Things must have gone completely insane outside by now.

Of course, considering how chaotic things had supposedly become, they had taken quite a while to arrive. At least an hour had passed since I sent the new Guild members out of the Gate.

I can explain the situation. It’ll be fine.

That was when I was just about to leave the brush and approach them.

“The skull emblem! Y-yes, this is the armor the Named Monster was wearing!”

“We found a dagger too! This isn’t equipment used by Skeletons!”

“It’s the dagger Senior Jin Taekyung used!”

At the successive shouts, Im Kkeokjeong suddenly burst into tears.

“Hk, nghh!”

“……?”

• ……?

“Taekyung. Taekyung… Nghh!”

No way. Was this what I thought it was?

As I stood there with my mouth hanging open, the Warlord rolled its green, glowing eyes toward me.

• It seems those humans think you’re dead.

“Uh, yeah. There seems to be a huge misunderstanding.”

• Then shouldn’t you stop hiding like a rat and go out there?

But the situation was already spiraling out of control.

Song Song and Butler Kim suddenly began shedding tears, and even the Guild members lowered their heads with red-rimmed eyes.

The path was weighed down by grief and mourning.

“…….”

No. I couldn’t possibly go out there in this atmosphere.

What would happen if I showed up now and said, Surprise! You thought I was dead, but I’m alive!

What would happen? I’d get cursed out.

Just thinking about cleaning up the aftermath made me break into a cold sweat. Even so, I had to clear up the misunderstanding before the atmosphere got any worse.

Of course, there was someone I needed to deal with first.

“You stay in there for a while.”

• Hm? What does that mean?

“I don’t know if it’ll work… People might be startled, so just get inside for now.”

• Inside where?

Ignoring the Warlord’s puzzled question, I immediately muttered the command in my mind.

Open Inventory. Store.

Pop.

At the same time as the command, the Warlord’s skull vanished from my hand.

The Inventory was a space that living creatures could not enter. However, since the Skeleton Warlord was an undead monster that had lost its vitality long ago, it seemed to work.

“Oh, it worked.”

• Gah! Where is this?

“What the hell? You can talk from inside?”

Was it because the Inventory and I were connected?

I had never put anything alive inside before, so this was a first.

As I marveled at the situation, the Warlord’s shrill voice rang through my head.

• What have you done to me? Release me this instant!

“Yeah. I can’t release you.”

• Do you think you’ll get away with this?

“I think I’ll live a long and healthy life, stay safe and sound, and never grow old or die.”

• It’s so suffocating! I’m going insane in here!

“Why would you suffocate? You don’t breathe in the first place.”

• You insolent wretch!

“Ah, you’re loud. Should I just make you disappear?”

The Warlord answered in a suddenly much brighter voice.

• This is a more comfortable space than I expected.

“Good. Rest comfortably. And even if you do come out, don’t say a word in front of the people.”

• Understood. But…

“But what?”

• For a wicked human, you seem to have quite a few friends. A considerable number of intruders have entered again.

A moment later, I narrowed my eyes when I spotted hundreds of Hunters approaching like a cloud.

The Warlord was only half right. There certainly were a considerable number of people, but they weren’t friends.

Especially the bastard charging at the front like a victorious general.

Go Jun?

Why the hell had he come here?

And the middle-aged man clinging to him like his soulmate was a face I had seen several times on television and in the newspapers.

The Seoul Branch President came too?

The Ares Guild and the Seoul Branch had both shown up.

This had become much bigger than I expected. And that made it even harder for me to go out.

I was anxiously waiting for the right moment when I heard the conversation between the two men and let out a hollow laugh.

“Would you look at these bastards.”

The conversation was fragmented, but it was enough to understand the situation.

Lee Jungryong had sent Go Jun to eliminate me as a potential danger, while the Association President wanted to seize the powerful connection that was Lee Jungryong.

Well, this was…

“Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.”

The man trying to delay a rescue operation just to properly kill one person, and the man eagerly accepting that proposal—both of them were pieces of shit in the same cesspool.

Even if it dirtied my hands, I had to clean up this shit myself. If pieces of shit like these were scattered along the road, it would be hard to walk around without a care in the world.

“It’s too late to regret it. The dead don’t come back.”

I could see Go Jun snickering as he taunted Team Leader Choi. Without hesitation, I pushed through the brush and walked out.

“What the fuck are you talking about, you goddamn bastard?”

At least one of them needed to be taught a lesson.

“……!”

Shock, disbelief, bewilderment.

With every step I took, gazes filled with different emotions flew toward me and struck my face.

As I passed, I patted the shoulders of Team Leader Choi and the Guild members, who had frozen at my appearance.

Greetings could wait. I needed to clean up that lump of shit before it began to stink even worse.

Step. Step. Tap.

Two people stood where my final step came to a stop.

“You were… alive?”

“J-Jin Taekyung, Hunter?”

I stared at the two pairs of trembling eyes—Go Jun and the Seoul Branch President—then turned toward Go Jun.

“Why? Disappointed that I’m alive?”

“……There’s no way.”

“That’s strange. It sounds like your answer came half a beat late.”

“You’re imagining things.”

Go Jun continued in a calmer voice.

“We were all searching for you. Where were you?”

“Oh, I went nearby to take a piss. But when I got back, you’d practically finished the funeral and even held the forty-ninth-day memorial rite.”¹

“Urinate?”

“I drank a lot of water before entering the Gate.”

“You take a long time to relieve yourself.”

“It’s a symbol of virility. If you’re interested, I can show you how to make a rainbow with my piss. It’s really pretty.”

“……You seem perfectly fine, judging by the nonsense you’re spouting.”

“I’m always perfectly fine. But…”

I continued with a faint smile.

“Are you sick? The way nothing but dogshit keeps pouring out of your mouth makes me think you might have rabies.”

“……!”

“Listening to you was pretty entertaining. You were making a whole fucking production out of whether to give me a commendation plaque.”

Go Jun wasn’t the only one whose face had stiffened.

The Seoul Branch President, who had been listening to our conversation while silently swallowing, interrupted with a flushed face.

“Young man, your mouth is filthy.”

“Yes, my mouth is a little filthy. But who are you?”

At my curt reply, the Association President frowned.

“You don’t know me?”

“Are you the president?”

“I am not.”

“Then you should introduce yourself. How else would I know?”

“Good heavens. In all my years…”

Clicking his tongue, the Association President thrust out his chest with an arrogant expression full of authority.

His fat chest bulged beneath the suit jacket he had gone to the trouble of wearing into the Gate.

“I’m Lee Woojoong.”

“Oh, Lee Woojoong.”

I scratched my chin with an innocent expression.

“Then do you happen to know Kim Jeonghee?”

“Kim Jeonghee? You mean that senior figure in the Association?”

“No. She’s my mother.”

“……Hm?”

“Mrs. Kim Jeonghee. My mother.”

The Association President was briefly rendered speechless before asking in an incredulous tone,

“So what? What do you want me to do about it?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. It’s basic to say who you are, where you’re from, your position, and your name. If you cut off everything before and after and just say ‘Lee Woojoong,’ what am I supposed to do with that? You might as well have said, “Gynecomastia.””

“What did you say?”

“So who are you, exactly, Lee Woojoong?”

“I’m Lee Woojoong! The Seoul Branch President of the Hunters Association!”

“Ah. Nice to meet you.”

“Y-you…!”

“Two twos make four. Two threes make six. Two nines make—fucking eighteen.”

“What an outrageously rude man!”

I snickered as the Association President’s face turned bright red, as if he were about to explode.

I knew perfectly well that the Seoul Branch President was one of the most important posts of all. Even so, I made no effort to hide my contempt because he was a human being who deserved to be despised.

A man who’s supposed to be responsible for Hunters’ safety and rights pulled something like this.

If anyone other than me had remained in this Gate, he would never have escaped death.

The Association President had known that, yet he had delayed for an entire hour. All so he could curry favor with the Ares Guild—or rather, Lee Jungryong.

“Jin Taekyung, what the hell kind of person are you?”

I stared coldly at the Association President as he shouted and pointed a finger at me.

“What kind of person am I? I’m a person who killed two Named Monsters by myself. While waiting for a rescue team for an entire hour.”

“Th-that…”

The Association President flinched at my aura and took a step backward.

But the distance between us didn’t widen. I advanced as far as he retreated.

Step.

One step.

“President Lee Woojoong.”

“B-back off.”

Step.

Another step.

“If you’re the Association President, work for the Hunters Association. Don’t work for a Guild.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Would you like me to make it clear? In front of everyone?”

Step. Tap.

As I took the third and final step, a strong hand seized my shoulder.

“That’s far enough.”

I grinned at Go Jun, who had stepped in front of me.

“Get your hand off me. You smell like shit.”

“Do you make a hobby of escalating things?”

“Why? Are you scared?”

“Scared?”

Go Jun whispered into my ear with a dry laugh.

“You’re the ones who should be afraid. Everyone behind me is either an Ares Guild Hunter or an Association Hunter. If you want to get out of here alive, you’d better watch your mouth.”

“Oh, so if things go badly, you’re planning to bury every single person here and leave? That’s a lot of bodies. Can you handle it?”

“That’s why I’m holding back. Consider yourself lucky.”

“That sounds scary. But are you all right after I beat the shit out of you last time? Did you drink a good potion?”

Go Jun’s gaze turned cold.

“What a childish taunt.”

“Look in a mirror. Judging by your expression, it worked pretty damn well.”

“I’m telling you one last time. Back off.”

“For the final final time, take your hand off me.”

Huff.

Hot breath carrying a foul odor poured from his mouth.

Go Jun glared at me with sunken eyes, then took several steps back and muttered,

“If it hadn’t been for my Master’s special order… you would have died here.”

“Your Master? Oh, Jungryong?”

“……!”

“How’s Jungryong doing? Isn’t it about time you found him a place in a retirement community?”

That was the decisive blow.

Go Jun trembled from head to toe as if he had been shocked by electricity. His eyes opened wide, and a flash of light different from the one I had seen when we fought at the hospital surged through them.

“If you think things will go the same way as last time… I’ll make you regret it.”

“Regret?”

I smiled brightly and spread both arms wide.

“You’ve got a long tongue. Stop making a spectacle of yourself and get over here.”

Whoooosh!