Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Chapter 4. Filled with Love
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The sound of the ambulance siren grew closer and closer to my ears.
The area around the Eternal Guild headquarters and the Hunter Store main branch, which had barely avoided being in this zone, started to grow noisy.
I rubbed my stinging cheeks and thought.
So, what now?
There was only one immediate problem facing me right now.
Lee Woo-yeon had discovered my identity.
Of course, I didn't regret what I'd done.
Even if time turned back an hour, I would have used the item and taken down the Lich the exact same way. No matter how much I didn't want to reveal my identity, it wasn't worth comparing to human lives.
That said, my honest feeling was that I didn't want to reveal my identity right now.
I could only use my original power while equipped with the Cloak Honoring the Hero—and even then, only for 10 minutes.
On top of that, after using it for 10 minutes, there was a week-long cooldown before I could use it again. If someone came at me before that week was up, I was done for.
Like an empty tin can, I'd rattle around however they shook me.
And honestly, 10 minutes had been just enough to take down the Lich, but if Lee Woo-yeon came at me with murderous intent, given his skills, it would be hard to settle things within 10 minutes.
Still, somehow, Lee Woo-yeon didn't seem like the type... but I couldn't say the same for the other rankers.
Did that mean I had no choice but to hope the rankers here weren't as aggressive as those in Tartarus?
Leaving things to luck really wasn't my style.
I glanced at Lee Woo-yeon.
His face was still pale, probably from the injuries he'd sustained in the battle, but he looked much more relieved now that I'd regained consciousness.
...Should I just hit him once and bolt?
The top contributor announcement for defeating the boss monster had popped up as a global notice, so everyone in the zone must have seen it, but the only one who'd actually seen who that top contributor player was happened to be Lee Woo-yeon.
Plus, everyone else in the history had passed out.
If I snuck up and clocked Lee Woo-yeon on the back of the head, then ran, wouldn't that let me keep it hidden even longer?
I started seriously considering it.
The only issue with smacking Lee Woo-yeon on the back of the head and fleeing was my current physical condition—it was abysmal.
The Cloak Honoring the Hero still had a full week of cooldown left on its usage time, so my stats had bottomed out again.
Lee Woo-yeon was injured too, but with my pathetic strength, could I even land a hit on that smooth, bulging back of his head? Taking more Strength Enhancer would just make my injuries worse....
That was when it happened, as I was glaring intently at the back of Lee Woo-yeon's head. He tilted his head at my stare, then smiled and spoke.
"You look a lot better now. That's a relief."
"...Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. What about you?"
"This much is nothing once my mana recovers. A few potions from the hunter hospital will fix me right up. Even without that, the Hunter Store and Eternal Guild are right next door... Come to think of it, this dungeon break was really unlucky."
"Yeah, I guess so...."
"So?"
Lee Woo-yeon bent down toward me as I stood there dazed.
He was much taller than me, so he matched my eye level and grinned widely.
"Don't you think we should get going now? The zone's cleared, so hunters and even reporters will swarm here any minute."
Wow, look at this guy.
I shoved my index finger right into Lee Woo-yeon's forehead, even though our noses were almost touching.
I hadn't put much force into it, but he stumbled back three steps in an instant, clutching his forehead and dramatically whining.
"Ow, ow, that hurts! Hey, people around here, look! The Rank 1 guy, he...."
"You crazy? Shut up?"
"My mouth is th~is mean. How am I supposed to live in fear like this? I'm so worried about getting hit from behind, I can't even sleep."
"............"
I'd even been targeting his back of the head, and he'd seen right through it. I shut my mouth.
No, seriously, Lee Woo-yeon... that was a little creepy. Was his trait something like "Quick-Witted Fox" or whatever?
Lee Woo-yeon grinned mischievously.
"You've got that 'how did he know, that's creepy' look on your face. When you stare at the back of my head like it's burning a hole through it, only an idiot wouldn't notice."
"I get it now—you think half the world is full of idiots!"
Lee Woo-yeon shrugged at my words.
He's seriously treating people like idiots, that jerk.
Ignoring my glare, Lee Woo-yeon tossed the sword he'd called Levatein into the air and stored it in his inventory.
Now defenseless, he raised both hands in front of me in a gesture of surrender.
"Come on, hurry up and go. I'll draw all the attention."
From the looks of it, Lee Woo-yeon had no intention of revealing that I was the Rank 1.
I stared at him intently.
It was great news for me, obviously.
"Why are you keeping my identity a secret?"
"Does it need a reason?"
"Kindness without a reason just feels suspicious."
"Hahaha. You're funny. Why do you think there's no reason?"
As he said that, Lee Woo-yeon pulled something out of his inventory and held out his palm to me.
Nestled cutely on his large palm was a pair of rice-grain-sized blue gem earrings.
Lee Woo-yeon took one earring and put it on his right ear, then offered the other to me.
Instead of taking it, I just stared.
Lee Woo-yeon urged me on.
"Take this first. It's an item that lets you contact me directly."
"Why give something like that to me?"
"I'd love to explain right now why I'm not planning to reveal your identity, and why I want to be kind to you...."
Lee Woo-yeon smiled and tapped his earlobe where he'd put on the earring.
"But don't we have no time, Wandering Pilgrim?"
"...Hey, it's Wandering Pilgrim?!"
"Same difference, isn't it?"
He was annoying to the bitter end.
I glared at Lee Woo-yeon for a moment, then sighed as I heard the sound of helicopters approaching from afar.
Fine. As he'd said, time was short if I wanted to leave this place.
I quickly unequipped Angelus's Blessing and the Apex Holy Sword, storing them in my inventory. I put the earring he'd given me there too.
With the armor and sword gone, no one would recognize me as a hunter now.
"Well, I'm off then."
As I gave a short goodbye and walked away briskly, Lee Woo-yeon called out after me in a relaxed voice.
"Take care, Pilgrim! Get treated quick! I'll be waiting for your call~!"
Ah, seriously, should I just hit him once? Come on, let me hit him just once....
"Hey, there's Hunter Lee Woo-yeon!"
"Hunter Lee Woo-yeon! Are you okay?!"
I'd thought about turning back even now to smack him and run, but that wasn't possible anymore. Hunters were starting to swarm toward Lee Woo-yeon.
I paused in a street corner to observe them.
They all wore badges that looked like 0s, so they must have been Eternal Guild hunters.
They spotted the people collapsed on the ground around Lee Woo-yeon and sprang into busy action.
Good. Now I could relax.
All I had to do was leave.
I glanced around the street one more time and headed toward my hotel lodging.
I'd acted calm in front of Lee Woo-yeon, but honestly, every step on the way back felt like hell.
I vaguely remembered someone in the hotel lobby whispering as they saw my state, but I couldn't recall what they said... or even how I'd made it back to my room.
The moment I got back, I collapsed onto the bed. I wanted to wash up, but I didn't have the strength to get up.
I at least tried to take off my clothes, but realized they were soaked in blood and stuck to me, so I gave up.
-Warning! Your physical condition has severely deteriorated.
-Vitality is critically low! Immediate recovery is advised.
Why even pop up a system message like that? I know I'm on the verge of death even without it.
"Useless crap... get lost...."
-System messages have entered temporary mute mode.
I sighed and buried my face in the pillow.
Truth be told, I'd been prepared ever since using the Cloak Honoring the Hero.
It was the item I needed right now, and thanks to it, I'd escaped the crisis—but it wasn't a miracle cure.
Forcing out power I absolutely couldn't access normally had overloaded my body, as expected.
"Ha, seriously...."
The pain was at a level where I just wanted to die. During the fight, adrenaline and spite had kept it bearable, but now that the tension was gone, this was it.
If I had money, I'd buy a ton of high-grade potions and chug them, but I had none... and no strength to go get them anyway.
Just sleep it off like this.
I'll feel a bit better when I wake up.
Once I'm up, I'll figure out how to go save those kids.... Yeah, sleep first, think later.... With that, I let my fading consciousness slip away.
When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
It felt like I'd been dreaming for a really long time....
...Wait a second. Didn't the exact same thing happen about a week ago? Where the hell am I right now?
I jolted in surprise and tried to sit up.
"Ah, Patient Ye-na! You're awake!"
It was a somewhat familiar voice. I blankly looked up at the man approaching my bedside.
"...Nurse Pine Cone?"
* * *
Title: About that top contributor from the sudden dungeon break at Gangnam Station a week ago
Content: Who do you think it was?
└What're you talking about? It was Monami.
└Didn't you see the articles? Hunters who joined in the first and second waves all testified it was Monami as the top contributor. Said an angel with wings came down and wiped everyone out with an AoE.
└The more I think about it, it makes no sense that Monami isn't Rank 1 lololol Magic swordsman who can even do air combat now? For real?
└The Professor can do air combat too.
└Damn, now I'm curious what happens if those two fight lololol
└Don't pit people who fight for their lives against each other;
└But rankings are based on achievement points anyway. If we're talking pure firepower, Monami's gotta be the strongest, right?
└Doesn't it make even less sense that someone weaker than Monami overtook her for Rank 1?
└Yeah. Monami's obsessed with dungeon clears, so to beat her in achievements, they can't have less firepower... So who the hell is it?
└It's been two weeks since the rankings dropped and no one knows, so the government probably isn't gonna announce it.
└The government doesn't know either?
└Looking at Monami's specs, a system error seems more believable lololol Who can beat Monami? Let's enter her in the world championships.
└I'm just shocked she got wings item of all things. How'd she get such a perfect match?
└Bet NexusXEnzer uses her as an ad model lololol
└Sticking to the topic, I get what OP means. You see those KakaoTalk rumors going around?
└Yeah, those rumors are blowing up rn.
└Isn't that cuz of the guild stock listings?
└The public offering competition rate was insane.
└So if not Monami, who?
└Rank 1 Banggu was the third wave top contributor.
└Wtf lololololololololololololol
└Lmao shortening it like that lolololololololol
└Please forgive us, No.1...... =3
└=3=3=3=3=3
└I heard this too. Friend went to an academy at Gangnam Station, got caught in the dungeon break, and is hospitalized now? Says they vaguely remember seeing =3 as the top contributor name. KakaoTalk proof incoming.
└Sure, next up~
└For real tho ㅠㅠ
└Monami did an interview on the news herself, so stop spreading dumb rumors. Didn't you see how pissed she was about almost dying soloing a dungeon break?
└Monami has every right to be pissed. Korea's hunter pool is wide but shallow... Gangnam Station's basically hunter central—would anyone there really not have cleared a high dungeon?
└Gotta admit that's true...... The Rank 1 reveal overshadowed it, but tons of top achievement names are people we've never heard of.
└Real talk: Out of the top 10 hunters, I only knew 4. Monami, Professor, Jo Han-yul, Kim Seong-yeon! The rest... anyone know them?
└Yeah, all those S-rank hunters who bragged on TV were nowhere in the achievement rankings. Even Baek Sa-hyeon was only 38th.
└They got into broadcasting and slacked on actual dungeon clears.
└Turns out the nameless hunters we've never heard of are topping achievements... lol
└But 38th for Baek Sa-hyeon is still super high, right? How many hunters are there in Korea?
└38th is impressive, but the way he runs his mouth on TV, you'd think he should be Rank 1.
└Real Rank 1 is the mysterious Banggu no one knows.
└Fml, would Rank 1 want to live knowing that? Bet next month's rankings have the player name auto-revealed to real name.
└Apologize! Apologize to No.1! =3
└Y'all are hilarious lololol Instead of dissing other hunters, why don't you go clear dungeons yourselves? Anyone can be a hunter—why just bitch instead?
└At least I'm not making easy money flapping my gums like Baek Sa-hyeon lol
└Sent this thread as a PDF to Baek Sa-hyeon's agency ㅇ
└Yeah, your boy Baek Sa-hyeon's all talk lol
―This post has been blinded at the request of the relevant party.