The Lone Slayer's Legend
Jeong Haesu is the Hunter Association's rising star. But the words used to describe him don't stop there. 'The monster who single-handedly annihilated an entire guild.'
The Association had moved to eradicate a guild that had committed heinous acts. The scale and severity of their crimes were so extreme that immediate elimination was necessary. At the time, however, the Association lacked the manpower to spare. Just as they were about to give up, one man stepped forward. Jeong Haesu.
Everyone tried to stop him at first. The guild had fifteen members, each one an active hunter. Yet Jeong Haesu paid no heed. He stormed the guild's office alone and slaughtered all fifteen active hunters by himself. The incident is still spoken of as legend. That's why no one dares speak carelessly in front of him.
Jeong Haesu dropped into a seat. "You were telling quite the interesting story."
He smirked at Nam Doyun. Kim Simin even used formal speech when addressing him. "S-So you're saying the slight distortion in the footage wasn't a video error, but actually because of a stealth skill?"
"Yeah. That's right. I used Stealth and struck Cerberus right in the head."
Kim Simin gritted his teeth. So he really had used Stealth? But he quickly regained his composure. Fine. Hitting Cerberus's head with Stealth is one thing. But there's no guarantee he did it to shake the equilibrium organ. In other words, what Nam Doyun said could easily be wrong.
"Hey, since neither of us landed a hit, let's move on to the next topic," Kim Simin said, looking at Nam Doyun.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nam Doyun tilted his head.
"You figured out the Stealth skill, sure, but there's no proof it was meant to shake the equilibrium organ."
"You just interpret things however you want."
"What?"
"You probably don't know this, but when Cerberus's equilibrium organ is shaken, it can't use magic anymore."
"How would you know that? That Cerberus can't use magic when its equilibrium organ is shaken."
"Well, why don't you ask him?" Nam Doyun said, turning to Jeong Haesu.
Jeong Haesu chuckled. "Yeah. That's right. When Cerberus's equilibrium organ is shaken, it can't use magic."
"R-Really?" Kim Simin asked, his face filled with shock.
"Yep. I deliberately targeted that weakness. I used Stealth magic and struck Cerberus right in the head," Jeong Haesu said.
"But… hitting the head could've just been to deal damage, right?"
"Let me ask you one thing."
"Yes?"
"Are you really going to tell the person involved, right to their face, that what they're saying is wrong?"
"N-No, that's not what I meant, but…"
Even Kim Simin could tell his argument was forced. He bit his lip hard. Then, as if he'd thought of something, he continued. "But if that's true, how did that guy know about it?"
Kim Simin pointed at Nam Doyun. "Don't tell me he hacked the Hunter Association's database? That information hasn't even been made public yet."
"I'm a little curious about that too." Jeong Haesu grinned as he looked at Nam Doyun. "Doyun. How did you know Cerberus's weakness was its equilibrium organ?"
Only a very small number of people who had participated in the Cerberus raid back then knew that its weakness was the equilibrium organ. And every single one of them was someone Jeong Haesu trusted. So how on earth did this guy know?
Had he hacked the Association and read the documents? At those words, color returned to Kim Simin's face. If Nam Doyun had learned it through illegitimate means, then it didn't count. Not only that, he could even face legal punishment.
"That's simple. It's all in this video." Nam Doyun opened his laptop and showed it to them. The footage showed Cerberus breathing fire.
"As you can see in the video, when Cerberus is breathing fire, its head stays completely still, right?"
"So what?" Kim Simin said.
The video showed hunters backed against a wall with nowhere left to run. Cerberus was spewing flames at them. If it moved even one meter closer, they would turn to ash.
"Why didn't Cerberus move toward the hunters while breathing fire? It could've turned them to ash if it had taken just one more step."
"W-Well, that's because…" Kim Simin muttered.
"Exactly. It wasn't that Cerberus didn't move. It couldn't. Normally it wouldn't have been a problem, but while breathing fire, taking a step would make it lose its balance and fall over."
"..."
Kim Simin's face turned pale with shock.
"In other words, because Cerberus's equilibrium organ is naturally weak, it couldn't approach while breathing fire."
Jeong Haesu smiled. It was the correct answer. Even the thought process leading to it was flawless.
"Oh. You've got quite the analytical mind."
Kim Simin smirked. "Then let me ask you one more thing."
"Go ahead."
"What's the best way to shake the equilibrium organ?"
Using Stealth to ambush Cerberus's head was one method, but it was far too difficult. For one thing, the number of people who could even use Stealth was extremely small. But the real problem was that even with Stealth, landing a hit on Cerberus's head was nearly impossible. The moment it heard even the slightest sound above its head, it would stop breathing fire and attack upward. Stealth couldn't erase sound. While using it, the sound of swinging a weapon alone would make Cerberus react instantly.
I was pretty lucky back then. It had only worked because Cerberus had been distracted. If it had been in its normal state, the attack would've failed.
There's no way he knows about this too.
The Association members had spent days racking their brains to solve this problem. In the end, they had managed to come up with one solution.
"Hmm… A good way to shake the equilibrium organ, huh," Nam Doyun said.
"Yeah. That's probably asking too much, right?" Jeong Haesu nodded. Figuring out the weakness was already impressive. It required tremendous analytical ability just to identify it. But the solution? No way.
The solution wasn't something you could figure out through analysis alone. It was only something you could learn by dissecting Cerberus. And since the dissection footage had never been released, there was no way Nam Doyun could know.
Nam Doyun still wore a thoughtful expression. Cute. Jeong Haesu glanced at Jeong Hayeon sitting beside him. The guy was probably just pretending to think hard to look good in front of the girl he liked. It was only natural he wouldn't know. How could anyone figure that out just from watching a video?
"Well, it's not strange that you don't know. In fact, it's normal that you wouldn't," Jeong Haesu said, patting Nam Doyun's shoulder.
"I think I know, though?"
"...What?"
"The way to shake Cerberus's equilibrium organ is simple. You just need to hit it with a sound wave attack that matches its equilibrium organ exactly."
"For example?"
"The amplitude and frequency of the sound from Hermes's lyre is a perfect match for its equilibrium organ."
"..."
Jeong Haesu stared blankly at Nam Doyun.
"If you play Hermes's lyre in front of Cerberus, it'll lose its balance and collapse instantly. Isn't that right?" Nam Doyun said with a grin.
"That's the correct answer," Jeong Haesu said.
What the hell is this guy?
After hunting Cerberus, the Association had dissected it. As a result, they had learned the exact shape of its equilibrium organ. They had also discovered that sending a sound with the precise amplitude and frequency matching that shape would prevent it from maintaining balance. Finding the right sound had taken an enormous amount of time. And what they had finally discovered was Hermes's lyre. It was the instrument that produced the exact amplitude and frequency that matched Cerberus's equilibrium organ perfectly. It had cost them a tremendous amount of time and money to figure that out.
And this guy figured it out just by watching the video?
Jeong Haesu looked at Nam Doyun and said, "You really are something else."