I Never Was That Kind of Guy?
I never imagined I'd end up like this.
Safety first.
After Lee Doosik left the gate, Louie finally moved again.
“What on earth… who is he?”
The strategy that made my skin crawl whenever I thought about it.
Summoning the undead… so he’s a necromancer?
The first thing that popped into any hunter’s head when they heard the word “undead summoner” was necromancer.
They raised corpses and turned them into their followers.
But necromancers never really got popular in party hunts, and the reason was simple.
The undead they controlled were too dumb. Their intelligence was on the level of zombies. They only did stupid things unless the necromancer was constantly babysitting them.
That’s why most necromancers only bothered with one or two at most, and controlling them took insane battle sense.
But this guy controlled thirteen undead.
Perfect control.
“Multitasking is one thing, but thirteen? How the hell is he doing it?”
Not a single scratch on the hydra.
“Divine Beast Pheromone…”
That was the only explanation.
Louie crawled on all fours until he reached the gate exit.
The swirling portal.
He hesitated for a second right in front of it.
“Hopefully he isn’t waiting…”
Then, remembering that if he had been waiting he would’ve already been caught, he forced himself to step through.
The stench disappeared and fresh air flooded his lungs.
The camping car was untouched.
“Eh?”
Something was sitting on the camping car.
A note. And a magic stone. Blood-stained.
Louie checked the note with trembling hands.
— I hope you won’t upload anything about me on YouTube. ^^
A warning that made the hair on his tail stand up from the tip of his tailbone all the way to his frontal lobe.
Now that I think about it… the skeleton soldiers he controlled looked like humans!
A necromancer raises undead from corpses he killed.
“Hic…”
So he had killed at least twelve people and one dog.
“If I upload this, the thirteenth skeleton will be me…”
His heart skipped a beat.
He remembered the skeletons who brought him the hydra heart.
His own frozen body.
I have no heart.
But when I raise it up.
Goooo—
“Hiiie! I absolutely, absolutely won’t upload it! I swear!”
Terrified that someone might be watching him from somewhere, Louie looked around wildly and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Absolutely! I’ll keep it secret! Please believe me! Please!”
Please please please—
His voice echoed across the Upo Wetland.
He didn’t even bother washing up and scrambled into the camping car.
[Please set your destination.]
Louie entered the destination into the navigation.
[Guiding you to Oryukdo Gate.]
“On my own subject, what the heck is this? I should go catch some flying fish. Don’t come back here again.”
Whoosh—
* * *
Swoosh—
Oryukdo was windy. So were the waves.
“Hyung Tess!”
“Eh, you came? What’s with that car?”
I thought you were just fishing.
But it was Tess-hyung, who kept his eyes on every single thing happening at Oryukdo.
He hadn’t missed the Bentley I came in.
“I sold some magic stones and got one of those. But it actually caught something?”
“Looking at it, it’s definitely suspicious. It levels up by catching flying fish, but where did the magic stones even come from? Did it find a mine?”
I found one. A magic stone mine.
More precisely, Kalid’s sweet spot.
Should I tell him or not? I debated it.
Thinking about it, it was thanks to Tess-hyung that I discovered the sweet spot.
He definitely deserved a share.
“Hyung. Here.”
I pulled out one superior-grade magic stone from the bundle.
“Wow? You have a pocket dimension inventory too?”
“This isn’t much. It’s a reflection item. Take it. It’s your share, hyung.”
“This crazy bastard—”
Suddenly Tess-hyung got serious, and I flinched.
“Who hands out stuff like that in broad daylight? Put it away and give it when no one’s around. This guy is hopeless.”
That’s fair.
“Though, it’s weird that you even got a superior-grade magic stone. What is it? Tell me.”
“There was a reason. It’s scattered in a place only skeleton soldiers can go. It’s a secret.”
It wasn’t a lie.
But hiding it made my conscience twinge.
Should I just tell the truth and feel better?
“But there’s my share there too?”
As sharp as ever.
“My share, and you’re using one superior-grade magic stone to cover everything?”
The Hunterpol would hate this.
“Then I’ll give you another?”
“Wow? Not just one?”
“A real cop this greedy? Even if it is the Hunterpol.”
“Come on. We’re all just trying to eat, right?”
“Though it’s all superior-grade.”
“Your share is fine. Just tell me exactly what it is.”
Yeah, who was cheating who?
The Tess-hyung in front of me had been an A-class hunter flying high in this world before he became a corrupt official.
I couldn’t hide anything from him.
Sitting and watching me from Oryukdo would expose me today.
I leaned in close to his ear.
“Kalid’s stomach is full of magic stones.”
“What? I can’t hear you!”
The waves at Oryukdo were that loud.
“Ha… let’s talk inside.”
“Hmph.”
Tess-hyung stood up and reeled in his fishing rod.
“Yo. What’s this creepy robe and bundle? It looks ominous. Did you come here to bury a corpse?”
“…”
“Come on. Hunter life is cool, but your style is weird. Like this? Hyung, you should at least put on something that looks like artifice made by a real artist. High-end stuff. Now that you’ve got money, right?”
“Eh? This fishing outfit was an artifice?”
“Exactly.”
“…”
“Fash— never mind.”
“What? Hunter, you carry a fishing rod and then what? Suit?”
Well, that tracks.
“Okay, I admit it. But hyung, when I come back to Busan you said you’d do the full Busan course. Expect me.”
“That one? Today I’m busy.”
Too bad.
I had already left the full Busan course with the boss, Kim Cheolgeun.
The full Busan course.
What even was that?
[Oryukdo Gate]
“Okay. Now tell me.”
Tess-hyung glanced around then leaned in close.
I whispered into his ear carefully.
“Kalid’s stomach is full of magic stones.”
“Hng. Ticklish. So Kalid’s stomach.”
“Shh. Say it quieter.”
“This tight-ass who’s listening to me?”
It was secluded, but I was scared someone would notice my sweet spot.
Just like how someone might have eyes flying through the air, maybe someone had ears flying too.
“Sigh. It is true. Only skeleton soldiers can go there.”
“Skeletons can’t last three hours because of stomach acid.”
“Anyway. Congratulations. You caught it.”
“Since it’s my share, let me have some.”
“Talking like I’m some dirt-hole bean sprout. Come on, what do you think I am. This is a shield? No, this is a mythical item. This fishing rod? This is mythical too.”
“Eh?”
“You’re underestimating A-class hunters.”
“Oh. So this is a mythical item?”
When you enter the Huntred auction house and sort by price, mythical items occasionally show up.
Even the cheapest starts at one hundred billion won.
“Yeah, come on.”
“Eek, no way. Why would someone in this world take bribes? Did you buy it with bribe money?”
That wasn’t a bribe.
That was embezzlement.
“Hey. Hah… you really don’t know me?”
“You have to know?”
“Let’s not talk about it. I’m a total noob. Hunter, do you even know Tess-hyung?”
He referred to himself in the third person.
But there was something. I searched for Tess-hyung on my smartphone.
No recent articles, but old ones stood out.
Way back.
[Hunter Express: “Tess-hyung, ‘Death Desert’ solo survival!”] – 20 years ago
[Hunter Times: “Caught Terabitan. Tess-hyung’s legendary fight.”] – 18 years ago
[Tess-hyung solo defended the Upo Wetland Gate break.] – 9 years ago
[In Gangwon, Baekdu Hunter. In Jeolla, Yoo Poongyeon. In Gyeongsang, Tess-hyung.] – 12 years ago
[A-class Hunter Behind the Scenes: 10 hunters with S-class potential.] – 10 years ago
……
“Insane?”
He was way, way more amazing than I thought.
He wasn’t famous because of the Hunterpol.
It was because of his old fame as a hunter before he became an official.
“Ahem.”
Tess-hyung glanced at my phone over my shoulder and coughed.
“So you stopped the Upo Wetland Gate break?”
“Hmph. Now I smell the Upo Wetland on you. Go wash up.”
“Wow. Insane. Wow…”
“Why? Want a signature? Haha.”
“No, wait… you really are Tess-hyung. Wait, this Tess-hyung is this Tess-hyung?”
“Haha.”
He really was that amazing.
His corrupt cop image, his free personality, and his bottomless sense of humor made me unconsciously underestimate him. He was a hunter worthy of a mythical item, and his fame was enormous.
“Am I that kind of guy who just lives like this? Look at these scars on my chest.”
Suddenly Tess-hyung took off his shirt.
A palm-sized puncture wound on his right chest.
Surviving is lucky.
“This happened eighteen years ago when I got bitten by Terabitan.”
“Bitten?”
“Yeah. And this one on my back. Nine years ago, during the Upo Wetland break, I got beat up by fifteen Cargoses. And…”
“Um, pants stay on.”
“Anyway, when I was young I was really something, hunter.”
“Okay! I admit it. But did you really catch Cargoses too?”
“That asshole king? I did. Cutting them makes them split. It’s annoying as hell. They gave me a little exp for it. In my opinion the Upo Wetland should be upgraded to B or at least C. Why is the boss monster Naphelio still alive? Wait. Why did you go to the Upo Wetland gate?”
“I went for leveling.”
“You?”
His suspicious eyes scanned me up and down.
“You should have seen me as Lee Doosik back then. I’m now moving around with thirteen skeleton soldiers?”
“Wow. Fibonacci’s prestige is real? Hey, you should level up fast. You need to take a share when we catch Bae Hyeongsin. You used up all the magic stones to buy gear, right? Like me, you should be rocking nice clean artifacts and looking cool too.”
Luckily he had zero greed for Kalid’s sweet spot.
No, Tess-hyung wasn’t the type to be greedy about anything.
An A-class hunter was more than walking around like a mid-level company.
“Hyung, why did the Mir Guild come looking for me?”
It finally circled back to the main point.
I had come here to hear the whole story.
“No. A little shorty girl with a staff tried to enter the gate here earlier.”
“Shorty?”
“Yeah. Real short? Was she even as tall as my belly button?”
“So?”
“I told her minors weren’t allowed and asked for ID. She showed it. It wasn’t fake. Twenty years old. Name: Maria. A-class hunter from the Mir Guild.”
“A-class?”
“Yeah. Why would an A-class hunter come to the Oryukdo gate? I interrogated her and she spilled everything while crying.”
Why would anyone make her cry?
She was twenty, so she wasn’t a child.
“What did they say?”
“The Mir Guild leader Choi Kang asked me to find a skeleton hunter. He said I could ask at the exchange and he’d tell me. Then he said not to arrest her.”
Did Tess-hyung feel sorry for her?
The image was vivid.
“So you let her go?”
“No. I gave her candy and calmed her down, then took her to the exchange.”
“To the exchange?”
“Funny part is, those exchange guys tried to take a bribe from the shorty and sell my info. Because of that I got five times the bribe and got the info. The exchange? Huntred nickname Skeleton Hunter? Lee Doosik?”
He used Maria the A-class hunter as bait to fish out the exchange and take double the bribe.
It didn’t surprise me anymore.
“So that’s how it happened.”
“Anyway, the shorty didn’t get your info. At least not at the Oryukdo gate.”
“Thank you, hyung.”
“Ahem.”
As expected, Hunterpol connections.
Wait.
“Really grateful, but… that Ether Exchange where I usually go has branches.”
“Right.”
“So they were trying to sell my info for back money there means some other Ether Exchange probably already sold my info.”
“Anyway, this world is shallow. Narrow and shallow. But what exactly is the deal with the Mir Guild?”
“I don’t know. Me neither.”
“You should have met me first.”
“Me?”
The giant?
Me?
That didn’t make sense.
“I’ll be your shield.”
There was a column about that in the news I read while searching for Tess-hyung.
[A-class Hunter Behind the Scenes: 10 hunters with S-class potential.] – 10 years ago
It listed the names of Tess-hyung and Choi Kang side by side.
“So the story changes.”
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