“Changsoo hyung1, are you okay?”
“Are you hurt?”
At his team members’ questions, Im Changsoo clenched his teeth.
“Shut up, you bastards. After everything I’ve done for you, you just stood there and watched?”
“No, it’s just…”
“Things were a little complicated back there. I’m sorry.”
“You disloyal bastards.”
They weren’t bound together by loyalty, but Im Changsoo had always thought he gave them what they were due and received what he was owed in return. Who had forced those training-camp washouts into the Guild, bought them cars, and given them spending money?
He had received their loyalty in exchange…but being abandoned at the most important moment felt like a stinging blow to the back of the head.
Fuck, what kind of bullshit is this?
Several billion won2? It was certainly a lot of money, but not more than Im Changsoo could afford. Selling one or two of the buildings in his name would be enough to cover it.
But he could never tolerate having his pride trampled.
That bastard deserves to be beaten to death.
Im Changsoo glared at one person’s back, his eyes wide.
That bastard in the black leather armor—Jin Taekyung—was the root cause of everything.
I don’t know where he came from or what he was doing before this…but I’ll make him pay for this humiliation.
He still didn’t know exactly who Taekyung was. The one thing he knew for certain was that Taekyung was no ordinary C-rank Hunter.
There wasn’t a single C-rank Hunter in the world who could crush eight B-rank monsters in a head-on fight.
Why is he hiding his identity? Is he a fugitive? Or someone with a fraudulent registration? The moment we get out of this Gate, I’ll dig up every last thing about him.
Just as Im Changsoo was quietly stoking his thirst for revenge—
Whoosh!
Jin Taekyung suddenly turned toward him and narrowed his eyes. The gaze of a predator staring down its prey made Im Changsoo’s heart drop.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“You were just cursing me in your head, weren’t you?”
“N-no, I wasn’t.”
“Don’t give me that. The stammering says it all. No wonder the back of my head has been prickling this whole time.”
Im Changsoo recalled the words of his father, a Hunter and war hero from the Great Cataclysm era.
The more dangerous the situation, the more calmly you must respond.
“I really wasn’t.”
“My mind-reading technique says you’re lying.”
“Mind-reading? There’s no such thing.”
“There’s magic, so why can’t there be mind-reading? Let go of your hidebound thinking.”
“Either way, I swear I wasn’t.”
“No, I swear you were. And you’ve got one coming too.”
Bonk!
Tears sprang to Im Changsoo’s eyes.
It was a sharp rap on the forehead. Even his father hadn’t hit him since he turned twenty. Yet here he was, suffering this humiliation at the hands of someone barely his own age—and in front of his team members and several women, no less.
“Not bad. Feels just like hitting Hyuk Mujin. Anyway, watch yourself, okay?”
Im Changsoo had no idea who Hyuk Mujin was, but he lowered his head anyway.
“…Yes.”
“But this damn labyrinth never ends. Hey, how much farther is it to the Boss Zone?”
“I don’t know. It’s a labyrinth.”
“And no more monsters are coming out. I’m bored to death.”
“…”
Of course they aren’t! You beat down every single one you see!
Im Changsoo and his team hadn’t even needed to step in. Those five were more than enough. No, Jin Taekyung alone was enough.
What a monster. Is he really an A-rank Hunter?
Taekyung alone seemed to have brought down more than thirty monsters. Just when he appeared to be tiring, he would suddenly start tearing through them again.
The raid is getting faster.
Normally, a raid slowed toward the end as fatigue accumulated.
But the raid was getting faster even though they were fighting the same monsters…
Is he getting stronger the whole time?
Im Changsoo desperately rejected the thought that had flashed through his mind.
What is he, a game character leveling up? How could that make any sense?
Getting hit on the forehead must have broken his brain.
“Hoo.”
As Im Changsoo let out a deep sigh, his team members approached him hesitantly.
“Changsoo hyung1…”
“Oppa3, are you okay? Oh no, you’ve got a bump on your forehead.”
“I’m in a bad mood, so get lost. The moment you leave, you’re all fired. Got it?”
No matter how badly his dignity had been crushed, even a tiger with its teeth pulled was still a tiger.
His team members swallowed nervously at Im Changsoo’s threat.
I haven’t even finished paying off my car.
Who’ll take me if I leave Sangdong Guild?
My credit-card bill this month…
They had been able to live so comfortably thanks to Im Changsoo’s support. They were all Hunters, so they wouldn’t starve, but they couldn’t expect the same treatment anywhere else.
“You think it ends with getting fired? Just wait. Wherever you go, I’ll make sure to place a call in Sangdong Guild’s name. You know this field is small, right?”
Their expressions changed completely at the threat that he would not only drive them out but ruin their futures as well.
“Changsoo hyung1, that’s going too far.”
“Hyung1? I’m only your hyung1 when it suits you?”
“Oppa3, do you really have to take it that far?”
“That’s why you bastards should’ve picked the right person to hitch your wagon to.”
He wanted to slap every last one of them across the face, but he forced himself to hold back.
If he raised his voice, there was no telling when Jin Taekyung might turn around again.
Fuck, how did I end up…
Too afraid of another rap on the forehead to even lose his temper properly. How pathetic could he get?
Im Changsoo spat on the floor and turned away.
That was when someone grabbed him.
“Changsoo hyung1. No, Team Leader Im, you can’t do this.”
“Please think it over one more time, oppa3. Okay?”
“Let go. I don’t want to say it twice.”
“This time, I mean it. I really will do anything you tell me. Okay?”
“…Anything I tell you?”
Im Changsoo stopped just as he was about to shake off his colleague’s hand.
He glanced back. While he had been arguing with his Guild members, Jin Taekyung’s group had pulled far ahead.
Even from that distance, Song Song’s stunning figure from behind was impossible to miss.
Wait. Maybe there is a way.
To Im Changsoo, Jin Taekyung looked like a monster—but he seemed to have one weakness.
A woman named Song Song.
He was completely smitten earlier.
There was no need to be perceptive about it. Anyone could tell from a single glance that Jin Taekyung had feelings for Song Song.
She said she was a C-rank healer, right?
Subduing a healer would be easier than wringing a chicken’s neck. If the woman he liked were taken hostage, Jin Taekyung wouldn’t be able to move so freely.
Then it’s over.
Apart from Taekyung, the other three weren’t much of a concern.
The old man who was supposedly their Guild Master was a B-rank Hunter, but he was a mage, so close combat would be his weakness. The middle-aged E-rank tank wasn’t even worth discussing.
The only person who bothered Im Changsoo a little was Choi Minwoo. That guy…
“Can I trust what you just said?”
“Of course.”
“Just trust us.”
“Oppa3, why don’t you trust people at all? Are we really only this close?”
Im Changsoo had a raid team made up of four B-rank Hunters and five C-rank Hunters who would obey his commands. He had trained every one of them to eat only from his hand.
“Fine. Then listen carefully to what I’m about to say…”
After a short and simple explanation, the team members couldn’t hide their nervousness.
“Will it work?”
“It does seem possible.”
“Oppa3, you’re not suggesting what I think you are, right? If you mean killing someone, I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Didn’t you just say you’d do anything I told you?”
“Even so, that’s a little…”
“Forget it. I’d like to, but I’m not reckless enough to go that far. First, we take the camera. Then we put that son of a bitch through a humiliation he’ll never live down.”
“Whew. That’s a relief. Then I’m definitely on your side, oppa3.”
“Do it right. You know what happens if anyone hesitates this time or holds back even a little, right?”
“Of course.”
“Just trust us, Team Leader. No, hyungnim4. Hehe.”
A sinister smile spread across Im Changsoo’s lips.
If he trampled on my pride, he has to pay the price.
In the Boss Zone ahead, he would make Jin Taekyung understand exactly who he had dared to cross.
There was even a monster there capable of standing against him.
The Minotaur Great Warrior.
The boss monster of The Minotaur’s Labyrinth.
Despite being only a B-rank monster, it was a monstrous creature whose physical abilities rivaled those of an A-rank.
Once the Great Warrior wears him down, we’ll make our move.
Set a barbarian against a barbarian.
Defeat a monster with a monster.
The moment both sides were exhausted would be their chance. In one stroke, he could recover both the money he was about to lose for nothing and the pride that had been dragged through the dirt.
“Hey, hurry up! It’s the Boss Zone!”
Jin Taekyung’s shout rang out the next moment.
Im Changsoo smiled broadly.
“Yes! Coming!”
His steps toward the Boss Zone were remarkably light.
“One Annihilation.”
Kraaaaaash!
The sound of the sky splitting erupted from the tip of my spear. A white vortex that tore apart and devoured everything it touched slammed into the Great Warrior’s muscular chest.
—Moo?
Crack-crack-crack!
There was no need to check whether it was alive or dead.
The moment I pulled my spear from its chest, the System notification rang out.
Ding.
System
Defeated Lv. 70 Minotaur Great Warrior!
Level Up!
Quest, B-rank Gate Clear, completed!
Calculating your contribution… Complete!
The Quest Success Reward has been deposited into your Inventory!
“Whew.”
The last one should always end with one big hit.
My body was incredibly tired, though.
I shook the blood from my spear and turned around.
“Let’s collect the byproducts and get out of here. I’m starving to dea—why are you all looking at me like that?”
Im Kkeokjeong spoke for everyone.
“You really have to ask?”
He looked back and forth between the boss monster’s corpse and me.
His eyes demanded some kind of explanation for how I had finished off a B-rank boss monster with a single blow.
“Hmm. Let’s just say I got lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Yes. Lucky.”
It really was because I had been lucky.
Lucky that I had lived in a goshiwon.5 Lucky that a capsule had been discarded in front of it.
All of it.
“Good grief. I’m too dumbfounded to speak. Fine.”
The others reacted much the same way as Im Kkeokjeong. Even Team Leader Choi, who had already been on a raid with me, looked stunned.
“I didn’t realize you were this capable.”
“If you know now, that’s enough.”
“Could we discuss this?”
“Of course.”
Not now. Later.
I still had something more important to take care of.
With my most charming smile, I approached one person.
“Miss Song, could I ask you for a heal—what are you guys doing over there?”
“Ah.”
“What are you doing? Why are you here?”
“We’re just…just standing here.”
“I-I just think she’s so beautiful.”
The Sangdong Guild members clustered around Song Song jumped in surprise and began blurting out whatever came to mind.
What’s with these guys?
I only meant that they should get lost because they were getting in the way between me and Miss Song.
Do I really look that scary?
“Where’s Im Changsoo?”
At a single word from me, the Sangdong Guild members split apart like the Red Sea.
Im Changsoo answered from behind them, his face white as a sheet.
“I’m here.”
“What’s wrong with your face? Are you sick?”
“I-I think I’m coming down with something.”
“Tsk, tsk. Take a potion, you idiot. Your family’s rich.”
“…”
“Anyway, hurry up and collect the byproducts. Let’s go. I’m tired.”
“Yes, yessir.”
Once Im Changsoo disappeared with the nuisances, the moment I had been waiting for finally arrived.
I flashed Song Song a bright smile.
“You’re hungry, right? How about steak at a nice restaurant for dinner?”
Song Song smiled back at me.
“I’m sorry, but I’m a vegetarian.”
“That’s strange. You seemed to eat meat just fine yesterday. How about a salad bar?”
“I’m a carnivore.”
“…”
I got rejected, right?
Footnotes
-
Hyung is a term a man uses for an older brother or an older man with whom he is close. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
-
Several billion won is approximately $1.4–6.4 million or €1.3–5.8 million. ↩
-
Oppa is a term a woman uses for an older brother or an older man with whom she is close. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
-
Hyungnim is a more respectful form of hyung. ↩
-
A goshiwon is a building of very small, inexpensive rooms, often used by students and people on tight budgets. ↩
Comments
Comments need a network connection.