Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Laughing at a Mere Man? Big Mistake
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Laughing at me for being a guy? You'd be in deep shit.
Running while princess-carrying Seolgi was definitely draining my strength a bit.
So I decided to spend the points I'd earned thanks to her on her.
"Use 10 points on Strength!"
"Huh? What'd you say?"
"Nothing!"
Seolgi's weight, which had felt so heavy, suddenly became as light as a feather.
At this level, I could probably live the rest of my life princess-carrying her—the weight of a single person was basically nothing to me now.
"Hey, Kim Yongchan, aren't I heavy?"
"Not at all! You're light as a feather!"
"?! Were you always this strong...?"
Meanwhile, Seolgi stared at me intently from my arms, looking me up and down.
"...You still working out these days?"
"Huh? Why?"
"No, just... your body's gotten a lot nicer looking..."
"Yeah?"
"Ah! W-Well, of course, I didn't mean it like sexual harassment or anything, so don't get the wrong idea?!"
I'd never even thought of misunderstanding it that way.
Surprisingly, she acted all gentlemanly—or ladylike, in this world's terms—in moments like these.
"By the way, this is bad... We'll be out of the alley soon."
"Worried about casualties once we hit the main road?"
"Yeah. Got any good ideas?"
"Of course. Whose kid do you think I am? Take that thing out first. I'll handle cleanup, so don't worry."
The deserted alley was about to end any second now.
Next up was the massive intersection in the heart of Hannam-dong, usually swarming with people.
The Alligator Warrior was still glued to my tail.
What would happen if I dragged a 9th-floor dungeon dweller into the middle of that crowded crossroads full of people and cars?
The outcome was plain as day.
Massacre.
No other word for it.
But right now, I had Seolgi in my arms.
'Trust my childhood friend!'
The baby girl of the Supreme Lee Clan.
Trusting her, I finally burst out of the alley.
And the sight that greeted us was...
"...Huh?"
Unexpectedly, not half bad.
"All the cars are stopped?"
"Hehe. Who do you think I am~? Before we came out, I made sure to tell the family to speed up the Hannam-dong evacuation."
"So all these cars right in front of us..."
"Yep! Empty inside, so go nuts and run!"
Nice one, Seolgi!
The intersection, cleared of all people, was just an empty street jammed full of vehicles.
Meaning I could weave between the cars without issue.
Right then, the Alligator Warrior finally squeezed out of the cramped alley behind us.
"Graaaaaaargh!"
With the space opening up into the wide-open city center, it looked ready to unleash its real power now.
Just like when it hunted other monsters or hunters back on the swampy 9th floor.
With the side walls gone, it dropped into a low quadrupedal stance.
Then it came zigzagging after me at full speed.
'?! What the hell, a snake?'
Its eye level dropped thanks to being prone, but the real problem was its speed.
I'd planned to use the parked cars as barricades, but it bulldozed straight through them like nothing and closed right up on my back.
As expected of a lower-dungeon apex predator.
Even suited up in Armament, it wasn't something I could shake off with half-assed tricks.
Of course, that's only without real tricks.
"Here, you can use your ability freely, right?"
"Of course!"
Lee Seolgi's Iron Manipulation
[Environmental iron control unlocked]
The Alligator Warrior gaped its jaws wide at me, its inner tongue writhing in some obscenely seductive display.
I only felt a chill from that long, rod-licking motion for a moment.
Vroooom.
"Gruk?!"
As I sensed the asphalt road ahead opening up more and more, I flashed a grin.
Because this place doubled as the solo stage for my one and only childhood friend.
"Can't kill it, but with this much 'iron' around? I can stall it forever!"
There were 25 hunter classes on Earth in total.
Excluding irregulars like my Female Submission Hunter, that covered every type.
Among them, Seolgi's family—the Supreme Lee Clan—carried on a particularly rare lineage of hunter jobs. And Seolgi was especially special even among them.
"Grrruk...?"
"Buildings are still too heavy to lift... but cars? I can toss 'em around all day now!"
Boom boom crash!
The hunter clan representing Korea.
The Supreme Lee Clan had passed down the ability to control 'blood' for over a thousand years—better known as Vampire Hunters.
In Eastern terms, vampires. Records said they fought by drawing out blood from themselves or others.
But Seolgi had been unable to manipulate blood since birth.
Instead, what she could control was the 'iron' contained within that liquid called blood.
From childhood, Seolgi had been the clan's one and only Vampire Hunter who moved iron instead of blood.
"You can lift cars now, not just push?!"
"Hehe. Call it a skill upgrade from ranking up to D-class? At this rate, I might yank up the Hannam Bridge soon~."
Don't you dare.
You'd turn into some iron-helmet villain?
Seolgi began levitating cars one by one from the intersection, hurling them all at the Alligator Warrior.
The croc somehow blocked them with claws or teeth each time.
But it couldn't handle the sheer volume.
"Gruk?! Grak!"
"Nice! Seolgi, it's falling back!"
"Huff huff... Of course!"
"Can't you rip up the asphalt itself?"
"Th-That might be pushing it..."
The Alligator Warrior writhed under the car debris it'd shredded earlier, now flying back at it.
Seolgi's face was growing paler from launching dozens of vehicles, but we'd bought plenty of escape time.
While it was pinned under the cars and delayed, my plan was to haul the limp Seolgi to the subway turnstiles.
The reason I'd ditched the alley for the main road?
This Hannam-dong intersection had a subway entrance just one crosswalk away.
'Hunter Association's only three stops from here. Easy run.'
The entrance was obviously too small for the Alligator Warrior.
Even if it forced its way in, anything bigger than the subway cars would hit narrowing passages and lose me.
Perfect checkmate.
The ultimate play, courtesy of Seolgi...
"H-Help! Please!"
"?!"
"Kid..."
"s?"
What the hell is this?
It happened just as the subway entrance came into view after crossing the car-choked pedestrian walk.
Children's voices echoed from the car we'd just passed—voices that shouldn't have been there.
Misheard?
I glanced down cautiously.
Seolgi met my eyes, her face slick with cold sweat just like mine, gripping my collar tight as she pointed it out.
"Kids! There were kids in that car! A baby and kindergarteners! And the driver's seat—I saw a mom with blood all over her face!"
All that info in that split second?
As expected of my one and only hunter childhood friend.
She might lack raw power, but in experience? A cut above me—a hunter's hunter.
"I'm fine. Go to the kids' car."
"What? But your condition right now..."
"I'll sit tight! Hurry! Go!"
The reason I'd been princess-carrying Seolgi nonstop? Her stamina, obviously.
Iron manipulation was powerful, sure—but it took a massive toll.
To ease that burden even a little, I'd volunteered as her rickshaw.
But right now, true to her hunter instincts, she leaped from my arms and urged me toward the kids' car.
Even as her trembling hands kept pinning down the Alligator Warrior's movements.
"I'll be right back! Just hold on!"
"Got it!"
No time for chit-chat—I bolted back to the car I'd spotted.
There, a kindergarten kid in uniform pounded the window desperately, begging for help, while a baby slept soundly in the car seat beside her.
Save those two first.
Crunch... crack!
"Kids, you okay?"
"Y-Yes! B-But Mommy! Mommy...!"
"Don't worry. Big bro's gonna save everyone."
With my 1.1 Strength earned from Seolgi's cycle, my superhuman power tore the locked door free—tough, but doable.
Once I pried open the exit, the older kid scooped up her sibling and scrambled out.
Then, in a teary voice, she begged me to help the mom in the driver's seat.
But the mom's condition...
'Pulse is weak... but she's still alive!'
The blood from her head had already clotted.
Airbag deployed—she must've been in a collision. Unconscious, but breathing.
"You can watch your sibling, right?"
"...! Y-Yes!"
The seatbelt was jammed—I ripped it out like a car door.
Then I hoisted the unconscious mom onto my back.
"Seolgi! Got 'em all! Time to bolt!"
Seolgi was still barricading the Alligator Warrior with dozens of cars.
At her limit now? She slumped to the ground, barely extending one hand forward, her whole body drenched in sweat.
I rushed to her side.
Even if it meant piggybacking two people, we'd escape together.
So what?
What're you getting at?
"...!"
...Fair point.
Not wrong, bluntly speaking.
[Right?]
"Yeah. Solid beating material, though."
[...Huh?]
A path I might've taken in my previous life, where survival was all that mattered.
But I'd already seen the end of that selfish road.
A life of pure loneliness, empty around me, just waiting for death.
To claw out of that shitty existence, this was my second shot—no giving up.
"Least I'll die trying something."
Seolgi's body finally hit the ground fully.
[...Kuh.]
The Alligator Warrior burst from the car pile with a thunderous roar, announcing its comeback.
[Kuhuhuhu...]
The sleeping baby started wailing, the kindergarten big sis desperately trying to soothe her.
[Kuhuhuhu... hahahahaha!]
But reality hit—sis was just a kid too, breaking into sobs alongside her.
"Can you watch that fallen big sis over there?"
"Huh?"
"Gonna lay your mom next to her. Don't worry—big bro promises to save you all."
The monster charged.
I charged right back at it.
[Hahahahaha, hahahahahahahaha!!]
Go ahead and laugh your ass off.
Point and call me a sucker for all I care.
I knew full well it was idiotic.
Even so, in my past life, fear of exactly this kept me paralyzed—doing jack shit until I died alone and forgotten.
I hated that meaningless life now, so...
"Graaaaaaargh—!"
Armament (Lv. ?)
[Suit deployment initiated]
Bang!
Encounter (Lv. ?)
[Direct confrontation mode]