Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter:
Chapter Title: Desperate Stand in the Arena
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She needs to get hurt a lot more...
The orange princess gripped in one hand.
Lifted her up just like that, then mercilessly slammed her into the ground.
BOOM!
"?!"
"A man, wh-what kind of strength...!"
"No, more than that—to knock down Princess Lee Hanul, who’s actually a hunter—that means..."
"Wha, a hunter?! No way, you mean a male hunter?"
Indeed, this was an arena crafted by a hunter clan.
If it had been ordinary dirt, it would’ve carved out a small crater at least, but since it was made from some special plaster, there was only a faint vibration—no cracks at all.
And as the crowd watched me—the guy who’d just beaten down one of the stars of this substitution blood battle...
"A male hunter!"
"The Supreme Lee Clan has to claim him!"
"Ha, haha! Unbelievable! To think I’d live to see a male hunter of Korean descent!!"
I figured they’d blow a fuse for sure.
'These women... their eyes are all glazed over?'
They looked just like explorers who’d stumbled on some priceless treasure.
The old vixens were already drooling, pointing right at me and barking orders left and right.
"Isn’t there a single mutt around?!"
"Grab that man now!"
"But don’t hurt him! He’s a precious commodity! Bind him without so much as a scratch if you can!"
The Supreme Lee Clan guards who’d been eyeing us warily this whole time.
Most of them had been staring at me in a daze, gulping down saliva—for just a moment.
"Y-Yes, ma’am!"
"We’ll tie him up with restraints right away!"
Hunter clan soldiers, through and through.
They tamped down their womanly urges with sheer loyalty and immediately started forming up to take me down.
"B-But what about Princess Lee Seolgi and Princess Lee Hanul?"
"The winner of this substitution blood battle is our Hanul! So Princess Lee Seolgi’s life... doesn’t really matter."
"Y-Yes... yes?!"
Crack.
But hold on—these batshit old hags.
With me standing right here in plain sight, they’re gonna toy with Seolgi’s life like it’s nothing?
"Don’t fuck with me."
"...!"
"Is that...?"
"Magic? A male hunter who can even use magic?"
If I activated Armament here, my stats would surge, and I’d be able to unleash every one of my cyberpunk-modified custom skills to boot.
The plan was to turn this whole place into a raging inferno at full throttle and bolt with Seolgi.
But...
"No... don’t..."
"Seolgi?"
"If you openly... ‘terrorize’... a hunter clan... you’ll become... the enemy of the entire world...!"
Right on the verge of suiting up.
Seolgi latched onto my pant leg, desperately trying to hold me back.
"Please... don’t do it... Yongchan..."
"...!"
"Just... head to Mom’s... right now...!"
Transparent tears streamed endlessly down her bruised cheeks.
As if begging me not to cross a line I absolutely shouldn’t—for her sake.
More than that, she’d warned me: if I went full Kim Hyunjun mode to escape right now, those old vixens would storm the Hunter Association without a doubt.
And for this mess? It had to be handled by Kim Yongchan—Seolgi’s one and only childhood friend—not some enigmatic guy wrapped head to toe in a mystery suit.
So.
Fireball
(Pre-modification Fire Shot skill)
Even so, my Fireball—with a magic power stat of 5—swelled up in an instant, big enough to blot out the entire field of view.
"Wha-wha?!"
"Is that guy seriously gonna fire it at us?"
BOOM!
It wasn’t as fast as a bullet or piercing in the slightest, but it erupted in a shower of embers, turning everything in front of me into a blazing inferno in a heartbeat.
But...
"Incredible!"
"How can a mere man wield such power?!"
"...Tch."
It’d been a full-power Fireball, no question.
Yet across the arena...
Not a single scratch on those women from the Supreme Lee Clan’s branch family—the ones who’d seemed to be on the orange princess’s side.
The reason? Some transparent barrier between the arena and their seating area.
"There was that thing?!"
"The arena sees all kinds of dangerous techniques flying around all the time."
"We designed it with stuff like this in mind."
The old vixens, still lounging in their seats, casually explaining it all.
They’d been foaming mad at my taunts just moments ago, but now? They were straight-up impressed by the blatant threat I’d lobbed their way.
"A male hunter’s already rare enough, but power like this too?!"
"Historically speaking, men showing this kind of strength have been few and far between."
"Hohoho, you’re right about that."
"All I can think of is Admiral Yi Sun-sin, at best."
Infuriating—but I’d deal with those geezers later.
Seolgi’s safety came first.
"All troops—target the fallen Princess Lee Seolgi as top priority!"
"Then we can snag that male hunter easy!"
"Tch!"
Guess those politics-honed instincts were the real deal.
They were starting to catch on that my goal wasn’t just random chaos, but straight-up protection.
"Yongchan... just... run..."
"Ugh, you’re messing with my head. Just plug those bleeding spots and stay quiet. Got it?!"
Vampire hunters could usually control their own blood.
Of course, for Seolgi—who could only manipulate the iron in it—that’d be tough, but she was a princess of that prestigious Supreme Lee Clan.
I had to believe she could staunch it somehow on her own.
No time for me to babysit right now.
"Damn it, status window. Don’t you usually cough up a quest or something in a pinch like this?"
"Haa... figures?"
Whatever the request, this was a site with a system-certified 100% failure rate.
(For reference: back when my stats averaged 0.1, the status window had sworn it was possible to make Lee Gok submit.)
If even that thing was throwing up its hands, yeah—my situation was a classic four-sides-siege nightmare.
"Well, doesn’t mean I’m giving up without a fight."
At the very least—for Seolgi.
No matter what happens to me, I’ll protect her, even if it kills me.
"Surrender peacefully!"
"We won’t harm you if you do!"
"Heh, says the ones with all these sticky stares coming from every direction?"
"I-Is that so?"
Supreme Lee Clan soldiers now locked in standoff about three meters out, razor-sharp spear tips trained on me from all sides.
Captured or surrendered, I’d end up with a full semen inspection either way.
Might as well...
"One step closer, and I go all out."
"...!"
"Pro tip: if you’re thinking of targeting Seolgi, don’t. Even if they pierce straight through me, I’ll guard her to the end."
"N-No!"
"You idiots! Not even a scratch on him!"
"If his condition tanks and he pumps out less semen later, that’s a loss for all of Korea!"
With my back to the wall for a last stand like this, that line Seolgi had begged me not to cross...
Looked like I had no choice.
"Armament..."
And then.
Whoosh.
"Oh..."
"Huh?"
The instant my whole body was on the verge of being encased in that cyberpunk-style suit.
BOOM!
"Wh-what the hell?!"
A red meteor streaked down from the sky, crashing right in front of me.
"What the—outta nowhere?"
"Don’t tell me... more backup?"
No way.
I’d come here alone.
Hadn’t told a soul, and I didn’t have a single friend crazy enough to raid a hunter clan alongside me anyway.
But here was this sudden reinforcement, stepping up for me.
With a casual wave, she swept away the thick dust cloud blanketing the area—the intruder who’d illegally crashed the Supreme Lee Clan’s arena alongside me.
"Jeez... Yongchan, you really are the type to stir up trouble wherever you go, huh?"
"D-Deokja sis?!"
Her identity? None other than Kim Deokja.
The Hunter Association’s top medical director—the one who’d always revived me with her magic massages whenever I limped back half-dead.
"Phew. Made it just in time, looks like!"
One of my precious few allies.
"Wait—how’d you even know to come here, Deokja sis?"
"Huh? Oh, well... Hyun—no, Yongchan, you’re the type who can’t sit still, right? I was worried you’d kick up some mess during your downtime, so I swung by your place in person!"
"...My place?"
But when I signed my hunter contract, I hadn’t put down my home address or anything.
More than that—searching for Kim Hyunjun at Kim Yongchan’s house?
Which meant...
"You... knew who I was?"
"Yup!"
"Since when...?"
"Hehe. Might be tricky for a regular hunter, but for one of the few male hunters out there? If I really wanted to track you, there are plenty of ways."
What is this, some Truman Show bullshit?
So she’d known the whole time... and let it slide on purpose?
And if Deokja knew, that meant her boss—Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon—had to know too.
"No way... you knew."
"Ahem. Originally, I planned to play dumb till the day I died, but... you kept coming back half-corpse every time you pulled some stunt."
"Ah......"
Now that I thought about it, to women their age, I must look like a total kid.
A baby just starting to form thoughts—its every move is adorable.
Especially when it tries so hard to hide its little secrets. That innocence tugs at adults’ heartstrings, makes ’em smile.
But if that baby keeps coming home banged up every time it guards its ‘secret’?
Then the watching grown-ups can’t just laugh it off anymore.
Seemed like that’s where Kim Deokja and Branch Chief Im Eonnyeon were coming from.