Im Kkeokjeong thought.
This is insane.
Jin Taekyung was a C-rank Hunter. A Minotaur, on the other hand, was a B-rank monster.
And there wasn’t just one. There were eight. To Im Kkeokjeong, this went beyond reckless. It was hopeless.
What the hell does money matter?
Four billion won1 was certainly enough to change a person’s life, but it wasn’t worth dying for. Im Changsoo had blinded Jin Taekyung with money, and Taekyung had lost his ability to think clearly.
I have to stop him. I have to.
Those vicious bastards from Sangdong Guild, Butler Kim for not stopping him, even Team Leader Choi—they were all insane. He had to keep his cherished little brother from dying a pointless death.
“Taekyung!”
It was at that very moment, when Im Kkeokjeong was about to reach out toward Jin Taekyung, who had just gripped his spear at the ready.
Whoosh—
“…Huh?”
With a rush of wind, Jin Taekyung vanished. He began sprinting at a speed Im Kkeokjeong, an E-rank Hunter, could neither match nor properly see.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Im Kkeokjeong let out a dazed sound.
“Uh, uh-oh.”
What was this? What was happening? Had Taekyung always been this strong? No, wait. Could a C-rank Hunter really move that fast?
Whoooooosh!
A black bolt of lightning shot across the cavern.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
The distance of several dozen meters2 vanished in an instant, and the spearhead flashed.
Swoooosh! Slice!
The Minotaur’s enormous, over-three-meter-tall3 body tilted to one side.
The thick neck that should have risen above its shoulders was already gone.
For one moment, it seemed as if the half-human, half-beast creature with a human body and a bull’s head were nothing more than an ordinary person.
Thump.
The head, severed in an instant, dropped to the cavern floor.
Crash.
The headless monster collapsed. Blood gushed from the cleanly severed stump of its neck.
“What the…!”
Someone’s voice spoke for everyone’s thoughts.
Amid the invisible shock and stunned disbelief, one person grinned.
“This is doable.”
That one remark delivered the final blow.
Im Kkeokjeong’s legs gave out, and Im Changsoo muttered without realizing it.
“Fuck… my four billion.1”
Minotaurs had bodies specialized for close-quarters combat.
Like any medium-sized monster, they were huge, packed with incredibly dense muscle, and armed with heavy weapons such as maces and axes.
Boom!
But what good was any of that if they couldn’t land a hit?
No matter how hard they swung, all they could do was smash the innocent cavern floor.
I’ll give them one thing. They’re strong.
But strength alone didn’t win fights. I slipped inside one monster’s guard and drove my spear into its lower abdomen.
Schlk.
System
Precise Attack!
Status Effect: Bleeding activated!
—Mooooo.
The Minotaur’s cry was pitiful. It had already lost too much blood to charge in as ferociously as before. That attack moments ago had probably been the One Strike it made with the last of its strength.
—Moo. Mooooo.
I approached the creature as it staggered backward.
Looking into those calf-like eyes almost made me feel sorry for it…
Like hell.
All I could see was a stack of five hundred million won.4
“In your next life, please be born in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province.”5
—Mooooo!
Slice.
The Minotaur breathed its last.
That made eight enormous pools of blood.
And eight monster corpses.
Ding.
System
Level Up!
The cheerful System notification was the movie’s background music. The real highlight of the movie was something else entirely.
I turned around with a wide smile.
“Now, for the fun part—the settlement.”
Among the people engulfed in shock and silence, one person stood out in particular.
I began settling the accounts loudly enough for the half-frozen Im Changsoo to hear.
“Let’s see. Five hundred million4 per head to start with…”
He flinched.
“One, two, three, four… Eight of them. Four billion1 in total. Wow, a few of them even dropped Magic Gems. You said all the byproducts were mine, too, right?”
He flinched again. And again.
“Changsoo. Why aren’t you answering? Don’t tell me you lied to me.”
Im Changsoo forced an awkward smile.
“Of course not.”
“Watch your tone.”
“How could that possibly be the case? I was just…”
“Just what?”
“Mr. Taekyung, if you could listen to me for a moment…”
“Mr. Taekyung? I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while. How old is our Changsoo?”
“…I’m twenty-five.”
“Oh, my. What a cheeky little shit. You’re only twenty-five, and you’ve been acting that disrespectfully toward your elders?”
“…”
“Did someone cut your tongue in half? You kept spitting out casual speech, so I thought you were ninety-five. And why does your face look so weathered? You didn’t register your birth late, did you?”
As I kept going, Im Changsoo’s face flushed bright red with anger.
“Keep that expression under control. Turn into a Hongik Ingan one more time, and I’ll make you genuinely red.”6
“I’m… sorry.”
After barely managing to compose his expression, he cautiously opened his mouth.
“Um, may I ask you one thing?”
“Ask.”
“Are you really a C-rank Hunter…?”
“Yeah. I am.”
Im Changsoo looked back and forth between me and the sprawled Minotaur corpses, his eyes filled with disbelief.
“What? Why?”
“If you’d rather not reveal it, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Think whatever you want.”
“Oh, no. That’s not what I meant.”
He denied it, but there was no doubt his imagination was running wild.
He had thought I was an ordinary C-rank Hunter, yet I had just crushed eight B-rank monsters in a head-on fight.
That’s right. Imagine away.
There was nothing to gain from antagonizing Sangdong Guild for no reason. Since they were bowing their heads on their own, I was simply grateful.
“So, perhaps you’re laundering your identity—no, you aren’t. You wouldn’t be. Right.”
Im Changsoo had been about to spout some nonsense, but one sidelong glance at my spear made him change the subject.
This guy’s reactions were kind of fun.
“So?”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t ‘pardon’ me. You have to pay me. Four billion.1”
To be honest, I was a little worried that he might tell me to go to hell.
Four billion won1 wasn’t pocket change. It was a huge sum of money that ordinary people could hardly hope to lay their hands on even after working their entire lives.
But Im Changsoo was different.
“Ah, of course I’ll pay you.”
“…You’re sure?”
“Yes. I keep my promises.”
His answer was so straightforward that it was almost suspicious.
No matter how much money a B-rank Hunter made, there was such a thing as an average income. Yet Im Changsoo talked about several billion won7 as casually as if it were a thousand-won bill8 in his pocket.
“You’re not going to disappear after saying that, are you? If you pretend none of this happened because we didn’t sign a contract, I’ll be very disappointed.”
I casually stroked my spear, and he flinched violently.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I can easily afford that.”
“Hmm. You must make pretty good money. Sangdong Guild treats you well?”
“No. I’m treated the same as everyone else.”
“Of course there isn’t. It’s not like you’re the Guild Master’s son or something. Why would they treat you especially well?”
“…”
“…?”
“…”
Something about the atmosphere felt strange.
After thinking it over, I asked, “What’s your father’s name?”
“Im Chunsu.”
“What’s the Sangdong Guild Master’s name?”
“Im Chunsu.”
What a strange coincidence. Im Changsoo’s father and the Sangdong Guild Master had the same name.
Then again, the world was a big place, and plenty of people shared the same name.
“Hey, I’m only asking just in case, so forgive me for prying… but what does your father do for a living?”
“He’s a Hunter.”
“Just a Hunter?”
“He runs a Guild.”
“Oh, I see.”
This bastard was the Sangdong Guild Master’s son.
A brief silence passed, and in that short interval, I realized what had seemed so familiar about Im Changsoo.
“Are you that guy?”
“A dog?”
“No, I’ve heard about you before.”
It was a story I’d heard around this time two years ago and let go in one ear and out the other.
The Sangdong Guild Master’s only son, born late in his life, had awakened as a B-rank Hunter and secured a position in his father’s Guild. But he was such a womanizer that he had become a constant headache.
And the nickname he had earned was…
“Horndog. Right?”
Im Changsoo answered by hanging his head.
It was an embarrassing nickname to hear in front of other people, to be sure.
But since I had to collect four billion won,1 I comforted him in a warm voice.
“It’s okay, man. Guys can be like that sometimes. I used to dream of living like you, too.”
But reality was cruel, and that dream had seeped into a hundred-terabyte USB drive.
Jinho hyung,9 a renowned authority in the world of porn, once borrowed my USB. When he showed up again, he had a hollow-eyed expression and left me with a one-line review.
This should be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Anyway.
Im Changsoo lifted his head at my warm consolation.
“Really?”
Of course not. Did I look like the kind of guy who hit on just any woman? I was the sunflower of this era, gazing at only one person in the entire world—Miss Song-i…
Wait a second. This bastard had hit on Miss Song-i earlier.
“You little shit.”
“Ack!”
Frightened before I had even done anything, Im Changsoo reflexively placed his hand on his sword hilt.
Shing. Clack.
But the blade had barely made it halfway out before it was forced back into its sheath.
I had closed the distance like lightning, pressing down on his sword hilt as I kicked his legs out from under him.
Crash!
He lost his balance and fell. When I pressed down on his neck, his face went white.
“Ghk! Cough!”
“You little bastard. Where do you get off pulling that thing on me?”
Getting beaten by Jin Mukyung had certainly paid off.
In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to subdue a B-rank Hunter with such a simple, fluid movement. Im Changsoo was probably surprised, but I was even more surprised.
“This is a Gate, you idiot. You said so yourself earlier. Did you already forget?”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
I wanted to beat him senseless, but since it had only been an attempt, I decided to let him off.
It absolutely wasn’t because I hadn’t received the four billion1 yet.
“Damages.”
“Ghk. What?”
“You drew your sword. Don’t you know that’s attempted murder? And you owe me and Miss Song-i—no, all our Guild members—a sincere apology.”
“What are you talking about?”
Im Changsoo looked around at the others with an aggrieved expression, but no one came to his aid.
His team members merely shrank back whenever my gaze landed on them. Meanwhile, our Guild members, who had been watching the spectacle, took it one step further.
“Drawing a sword on a member of a partner Guild. Well, I never.”
Butler Kim clicked his tongue as if he felt sorry for him.
“You’re only doing this because you don’t want to pay, aren’t you? My goodness, Changsoo, that’s so low. Isn’t it, Uncle?”
“Hmm? Uh-huh. What a nasty young man!”
Miss Song and Im Kkeokjeong delivered a lowlife-and-nasty-man combo.
Then Team Leader Choi dealt the final blow.
“Now, would everyone take a look at my helmet? This product is a custom-made helmet produced by Xyliton, a famous Finnish equipment manufacturer. It has all sorts of functions, but most importantly, it has been enchanted with a video-recording spell…”
Im Changsoo stared at everyone with his mouth hanging open, betrayed and utterly dumbfounded. Then he let out a long sigh.
“I’ll do it.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I’ll do everything you tell me to!”
That was the answer I had been waiting for.
I happily helped him back to his feet.
“Good choice, kid. We can discuss the damages at our leisure.”
“…This is driving me crazy. If my boomer finds out, I’m dead.”
“Would you rather die here?”
“You don’t want the four billion?1”
“You’ve got some nerve.”
Im Changsoo let out another deep sigh before speaking.
“May I ask one question?”
“One hundred million10 per question.”
“…”
“I’m kidding. Go ahead.”
“What do you really do?”
Was he really that curious?
I let out a quiet laugh and answered him.
“Someone with two jobs.”
A Hunter and a Murim martial artist.
The only two-job combination in the world.
Footnotes
-
Four billion won is about $2.9 million or €2.6 million. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8
-
Several dozen meters is roughly 100–300 ft. ↩
-
Over three meters is over 9.8 ft. ↩
-
Five hundred million won is about $360,000 or €320,000. ↩ ↩2
-
Hoengseong is known for its Korean beef cattle. ↩
-
Hongik Ingan, meaning “to broadly benefit humanity,” is Korea’s national founding ideal. Taekyung plays on hong, which can also mean “red,” to joke about Im Changsoo’s face. ↩
-
Several billion won—roughly two to nine billion—is about $1.4–6.4 million or €1.3–5.8 million. ↩
-
One thousand won is about $0.71 or €0.65. ↩
-
Hyung is a Korean term a man uses to address an older brother or an older male friend. ↩
-
One hundred million won is about $71,000 or €65,000. ↩
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