Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Facing the Enemy
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In South Korea, just as there are the five major guilds, there are also the three colossal corporations. Considering that three of the five major guilds are owned by them, their power is beyond imagination—more than enough to justify the saying.
The Seohwa Group, Seo Mi-na's family, boasts the mightiest and most exalted influence, owning the second-ranked Seohwa Guild.
Among the three corporations, the Star Cloud Group holds the weakest power but possesses immense capital nonetheless, as the true owner of the fifth-ranked Star Cloud Guild.
The Cheongsung Group is a bona fide giant corporation that owns the third-ranked Cheongsung Guild.
And the repulsive old man grinning disgustingly in front of me right now, pretending to be delighted to see me, was one of my parents' archenemies—the chairman of the Cheongsung Group.
Among these so-called three colossal corporations, he was one of the scum involved in my parents' deaths alongside Star Cloud. Even when my parents were alive, he had blackmailed them by exploiting their weaknesses, envied their talents, mobilized his guild to suppress them relentlessly, and tormented them. A selfish, trash-like human being.
The words that old man had spat at my parents in the past were still seared vividly into my mind.
"Hahaha! When you see this old man, you should at least greet him. What kind of manners did you learn? Just because you grew up without parents doesn't mean you can ignore basic etiquette!"
I scowled even deeper at the old man, Lee Seo-yong, who flew a low blow right to my face the moment we met, still using his vile, trashy way of speaking that scraped at one's nerves.
"Hahaha. Look here, Shin Juha. Do you still think your parents met that fate because of me and the others? You're wrong. They chose death themselves and were banished to the Abyss. They abandoned their two children and fled reality! So now, at least, forget everything...!"
"...Is that all you wanted to say? Talking to you makes me sick, so I'll be going now."
I cut off Chairman Lee Seo-yong mid-sentence, not wanting to exchange another word with him, bowed my head slightly, and turned to leave.
"You little punk! How dare you interrupt the chairman while he's speaking!"
A burly man blocked my path aggressively. Dressed in a sharp suit and polished shoes, he looked more like an entourage than a bodyguard as he glared at me. I let out a deep sigh.
"Is this why you were waiting for me? To gauge how strong I am? Why? Are you scared? Afraid I'll grow strong enough to rip out your throats?"
"Hahaha. What nonsense. Do you think I, Lee Seo-yong, waited here personally for a punk like you, Shin Juha? Just to test your strength? I tried to hold back my grandson, but he's so hot-blooded and hates being ignored. Especially when our group is disrespected—he flies into a rage."
Lee Seo-yong flashed a sinister smile, glaring at me with sharp, serpentine eyes.
"Ji-yong, you're a C-rank hunter, so go easy on him. Sorry about this, Shin Juha. I can't rein in my nephew. As you can see, I'm just a powerless old man."
Powerless, my ass. A corporate titan and guild owner who hadn't awakened? No way. He'd probably chugged elixirs like water to awaken and secretly built his power.
I sighed at Chairman Lee Seo-yong's transparent ploy and grimaced at the iron grip on my shoulder.
'Damn it.'
The opponent was a C-rank hunter. Considering I'd barely beaten an E-rank, this was an opponent I absolutely couldn't win against. The difference in letters meant a difference in tiers.
Sure, I'd taken down an E-rank with two mythic stats, but that bastard boss had only pumped stats with money and elixirs—pure inflated stats, not a proper E-rank.
But this guy was the direct heir of the owner family, backed fully by Cheongsung—a promising talent on the elite path to holy rank and beyond. The real deal.
"Got it, Grandpa. Hey, punk. I'll give you three hits. Block all three, and I'll forgive the rudeness and disrespect you showed my grandfather."
"Threatening an [F-] rank while pretending to be a gentleman."
"Block them. If you don't, don't think you'll crawl out of here in one piece today!"
A stroke of rotten luck I could blame on misfortune. And sure enough, this encounter was just misfortune's prank.
However, as the saying goes, even in misfortune, there's fortune.
Right on cue, Fortune awakened and blessed me. The moment I saw the azure flames rising from Lee Ji-yong's right fist, I changed my mind.
'So the bastard wields fire attributes.'
This changed everything—I couldn't lose even if I tried. With my mythic stat Sun's power, I had absolute immunity to all fire-related damage.
That meant taking that fist head-on would incur no fire damage; I just needed to deflect the raw force somehow.
In other words, I now had breathing room.
'Then I'll turn the tables and hit them where it hurts.'
Normally, I'd have struggled desperately to avoid death and been dragged into Chairman Lee Seo-yong's script. But now, I could steer the board my way.
"Here comes the first strike. Try blocking it!!"
With those words, his fist rocketed toward me amid the sound of air bursting. The tier gap made Infinite stat prediction impossible.
But his attack was so straightforward, straight for my chest, that I reacted on instinct.
'Can't block the attack!'
The power gap made blocking impossible—like stopping a cannonball with a bulletproof vest.
'Then deflect it.'
I slyly shifted the incoming fist to the right, altering its impact point.
Bam!
"Guh! Th... ugh!"
Failure? No, half-success. I'd shifted the target from my chest—potentially lethal—to my side.
But I hadn't fully deflected it. My Infinite stat wasn't high enough for perfect deflection yet.
I collapsed dramatically to the floor, groaning in exaggerated pain, and raised my hand for all to see, signaling to stop.
"Too late to give up now! You pay for disrespecting my grandfather! Get up!"
"Urgh!"
"You even got lucky and didn't take it clean! Aimed for the chest, but you staggered and took it on the side? Still, my flames are fierce—no low-rank heal will fix that without treatment."
Sorry, but no burns here. If anything, his flames invigorated me, sharpening my mind as if their power flowed into me.
I kept up the pained act, staggering to my feet like a sandbag in front of him.
"Guhhh."
"One hit won't end it—lucky or unlucky, now it's two. No tricks this time!"
Fortune's blessing? Watching Lee Ji-yong mistake my deflection for dumb luck, I suppressed the pain and refocused.
'Not yet.'
Boom!
Air burst again like a cannon firing. Targeting the chest again—this time the left side, right over the heart.
'Twist it!'
I slammed my right hand against the side of his incoming right fist, twisting my body left. The rotation and muscle power shoved the projectile aside, deflecting the attack.
Bam!
"Guhh! Aaaagh!"
Half-success again. I'd altered the trajectory, but his fist smashed into my left arm, snapping it as payment.
Still, a clearer deflection than the first—fact.
I'd blocked with minimal damage, but my acting amplified the agony tenfold.
Murmurs from the crowd. In the Hunter Association lobby, this should've drawn plenty of eyes by now... time for the finale.
"Hoh~. You smacked my hand away in that split second? Fine, that's the skill expected of top of your cohort. But now it's over."
Lee Ji-yong's fist reared back, flames flaring again. I popped a buff potion in my mouth, rose, and stood before him once more.
Boom!
As his fist hurtled toward me amid the air burst...
I smirked.
I erased my pained expression in an instant and flashed him a sinister grin.
"What?"
Right in front of my chest, I conjured a small bomb of Sun power. And as his fist neared impact...
BOOM!!!
I detonated it. Amid the massive explosion's dust cloud, I hastily used Sun to fake burn marks across my body, then hurled myself back, tumbling like I'd been blasted away.
Crash!
I flew through the air, slammed into an Association pillar, then hit the floor. I spewed a flood of blood from my mouth, convulsed, and went limp, playing dead.
My whole body flushed red, clothes shredded to barely cover vitals and smoldering, blood pouring from my mouth.
Crafted to look critical to anyone glancing.
"Uh...?"
Lee Ji-yong stared blankly at his fist and me, stunned by the sudden turn. Bystanders whipped out phones; a hidden reporter far off started snapping away.
'Dirty tricks aren't just yours. You planned to bury this under the pretext of educating a disrespectful punk against your grandfather. But if I'm carted off half-dead with mortal wounds...!'
A so-called holy C-rank hunter brutally beating an [F-] rank in the Association lobby over "bad nerves"—that'd spread like wildfire.
To sell it, I'd restrained my power maximally, avoided Sun mana, acted at promising-talent level. Exaggerated every hit's pain, shattering their justification.
Of course, they were apex predators in the power food chain. They could bury it.
So, the final puzzle piece for my narrative...
With buff-heightened senses, I felt two presences rushing up from below at the explosion's echo. I went fully limp, groaning from the pain in my arm and side.
'Come on... didn't you say you're sorry for me? Then help me land one on that bastard.'
I'll consider your offer then.
With that thought, I closed my eyes for the last time, seeing Park Seo-ha rushing over in horror and the chairman's face frozen in fury.
"Hahaha! A tiger's cub is still a tiger's cub, eh? Or did you screw up, Ji-yong?"
"No, Grandpa. The final strike... it didn't even touch him. That was his trick. Who knew he had fire-attribute mana."
"Hahaha. What a mess. This wasn't the plan—we got played. So, what's your assessment of the punk's level?"
Feeling the stares, Lee Ji-yong calmed his excited mana and spoke.
"Combat power's straight promising talent—nothing more, nothing less. Bottom tier among them, even. He might reach holy rank... but ranker? Doubt it."
"Smart head earns bonus points, but still no ranker... good enough. We got what we came for. Just tidy up the mess."
The old man, Lee Seo-yong, inwardly clicked his tongue at the furious chairman approaching.
'Tsk, showed a gap to that scheming weakling. He'd bow nicely otherwise. I'm getting old. But compared to what we gained, it's fine.'
Judgment complete: the potential of the hero's son he'd toppled—could he bite my neck or not?
'Came after hearing of a secret meeting with the chairman, but seeing the punk's face, that seems off too.'
He had eyes everywhere in the Association; intel from them prompted his visit. Worried the chairman might scheme using Shin Juha.
Of course, he never thought those two would ally. How could the bystander of his parents' death join hands?
Lee Seo-yong had come to squash even that slim chance—and check Shin Juha's abilities to boot.
'Just keep tabs via the guild. That'll suffice.'
No threat—that was Chairman Lee Seo-yong's verdict. And the ending Shin Juha wanted.
"What the hell is this? In my Association! In front of all these people! Beating someone to near-death! A [C]-rank on an [F-] rank, no less!"
"Hahaha! Sorry, Chairman. My grandson couldn't stomach the disrespect. Take him to the hospital first; we'll talk upstairs."
"...There better be proper compensation and explanation."
And so, Shin Juha was rushed to the hospital, the chairman and Chairman Lee Seo-yong vanished, and the incident drew to a close.