Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Heading Home
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The barricade parted to either side.
The men crossed over toward us.
Jang Ho-seop backed away as he asked,
"What is this supposed to mean?"
"It's really dangerous if you keep going. We couldn't just stand by and watch."
"No, we're not even asking you to come with us..."
It was a dilemma.
Would it be better to just kill them and move on?
"Listen to me. I'm saying this for your own good."
"No, we're fine, really? This feels a bit forced."
This wasn't their entire group.
I needed to think carefully about which choice was more efficient.
"Just cooperate, then."
"You're supposed to be a Hunter, right? Carrying a sword doesn't make you one."
The woman stubbornly held her ground even after Jang Ho-seop spoke.
Her eyes were dead serious.
'I wonder how much EXP a level 15 would give.'
My thoughts were tilting toward killing them when...
"Wait! Hold on. Let me show you my skill."
Jang Ho-seop made a snap decision, as if he'd guessed my intentions.
"No matter how impressive your skill is..."
"Just watch. This isn't coming out of nowhere."
Jang Ho-seop vanished smoothly.
His level-up had shortened the time it took to turn invisible.
"See that?"
A moment later, Jang Ho-seop reappeared behind the man guarding the spot.
"Gah! You scared me!"
"You didn't hear a thing, did you? No smell either. That's my ability."
The other men jumped in surprise and aimed their weapons at Jang Ho-seop.
"I know those guns don't work."
At Kang Hye-seon's gesture, they all lowered their weapons.
No resistance at all.
"We're not heading out to die. We're confident we can dodge any monsters we run into."
Kang Hye-seon stared straight at Jang Ho-seop.
"How long can you maintain that invisible state?"
"Eh, that's a bit much to reveal... The point is, we made it here in one piece."
Kang Hye-seon's gaze softened.
She looked conflicted.
"Forcing you to stay wouldn't do anyone any good. I get that you're worried about us, so just let us go."
This was it.
If they kept pushing back, I'd make my decision too.
"Fine. So you don't need protection?"
"Yes."
"Then I won't insist anymore. How about a deal instead?"
"A deal?"
"Yeah. Since you're not under our protection."
The men stepped back.
"We've cleared all the monsters in this area."
"Are you... asking for a toll?"
"Call it a service fee. What's in that cart?"
Kang Hye-seon wasn't just some self-righteous do-gooder.
She was switching to securing actual gains.
Jang Ho-seop headed my way.
I nodded, and he stopped.
"Food. Water too..."
"Any liquor? High-proof stuff."
It suddenly hit me that she might have been angling for this deal from the start.
"No... we could've passed through fine without you guys."
"We'll give you info too. Local intel. Monster locations, road conditions, points of caution. That sort of thing."
Jang Ho-seop glanced at me again.
I nodded.
We were escorted to Kang Hye-seon's group's base.
We handed over the liquor from the cart, and in exchange, got the local area info as promised.
"The deal went smooth. No funny business."
"Yeah."
We were taking a short break in the front yard right now.
Lee Jang-su had gotten a sturdy, quiet wheel from them and was refurbishing the cart.
"It's nice having more people around. Feels like we can relax."
With the city at a standstill, the world was utterly quiet.
No car horns, no crowds chattering.
No subway rumbling by.
The noise we'd tuned out was gone.
Not even birds flying much.
Maybe because of last night's downpour.
The sky was clear today.
"I thought the world had ended. Turns out it was just us humans."
Peace.
It had been ages since my mind felt this calm.
"Oh, right. That Hunter lady."
"Yeah."
"Does she know you, hyungnim?"
"Nah."
"Then why did she keep staring?"
I had no idea.
Even during the meeting in the conference room, her eyes never left me.
"Could tell you're the boss right away? Or... damn."
"What?"
"Nothing. Good-looking guys are all..."
Jang Ho-seop trailed off.
The guy sure spouted a lot of nonsense.
"Still, it's good. Nice people are still around."
"Nice people?"
"Yeah. That Hunter. She called it a deal, but... she was really worried we'd die."
Kang Hye-seon's group had a lot of Fundamental Skill Awakeners.
Which meant diverse skills.
Maybe that's why they had such detailed intel on the area.
Thanks to them, we updated our map to match the current situation.
Some roads were blocked, others held by monster packs.
Especially around Yongsan Station—tons of collapsed high-rises made it impossible to navigate without recent knowledge.
"Teacher. It's done."
"Good work."
The cart refurb was complete.
Time to head out again.
When we said we were leaving, Kang Hye-seon came out herself.
"You know, right? Follow this track, get off at the next stairs."
"Got it. Thanks."
"One more time: stay away from Yongsan Station."
She stressed it again, wishing us safe passage to our destination.
"We'll keep it in mind. You and the others take care too."
"Hope we meet again. Bye."
Short farewell, and we were off.
We passed their other outpost on the bridge.
Then it was just us again.
"Hyungnim. Which way? Man... either way, it's a long detour."
Jang Ho-seop spread out the map and asked.
"East or west... West might be better? They've scouted that area most."
Following this track led straight through Yongsan Station.
And Yongsan was crawling with orcs.
That's why Kang Hye-seon warned us.
The station itself was huge, and the surrounding facilities massive.
Which meant tons of people and staff before.
Now that giant complex was a lunchbox for a massive orc horde.
"Hyungnim? Where to?"
Kang Hye-seon said even if you hit level 10, Yongsan was a no-go.
Even they weren't ready to tackle it yet.
"Yongsan Station."
That's where we'd go through.
Jang Ho-seop watched Yi Hyun's back as he headed for Yongsan Station.
He'd offered to help, but got turned down.
"Will he be okay?"
"If it's hyungnim, yeah."
He recalled what Kang Hye-seon the Hunter had said.
You needed around level 15 to take on orcs.
They were grinding weak local monsters to level up their Awakeners.
'No way...'
They were biding their time.
The Yongsan orcs wouldn't budge with all that food stocked up.
'Nah, probably not.'
It felt like Yi Hyun had picked Yongsan for the EXP.
Before Kang Hye-seon's group could claim it.
Goblins and gnolls meant nothing to him anymore.
Sticking to safe routes would just mean low-EXP scraps.
"Probably 'cause detouring would take too long..."
The thought didn't last.
Yi Hyun was focused on getting home now.
And orcs weren't much better than goblins for EXP, in his guess.
"Huh?"
"No, nothing."
Jang Ho-seop shook his head at his mother's question.
"Hope he comes back alive."
"Mom. Don't jinx it. We focus on our stuff."
Yi Hyun wasn't charging Yongsan without a plan.
They had a Spirit Stone.
"Uncle. That cord pulls and releases for sure, right?"
"Yeah. Checked it a bunch."
The Spirit Stone generating a safe zone.
Yi Hyun had pre-placed it in a corner spot.
If it got too much, he'd bail.
He'd prepped a few goblins to lure them too.
Goblins with broken arms and teeth yanked out.
The rest's job: watch, and if Yi Hyun retreated, release the goblins.
"S-sunbae."
Thirty minutes of hiding and watching Yongsan Station.
"Sunbae?"
"Y-yes? M-me?"
Lee Yu-na quietly called to Jang Ho-seop.
"Yeah. You're sunbae. From the Saihyeon party."
"Oh... yeah."
"But why keep using formal speech?"
"Ah, it's more comfy for me..."
Jang Ho-seop answered without looking at Lee Yu-na.
He found her uncomfortable in various ways.
"I have something I wanna ask."
"Sure."
"Is there a reason Yi Hyun... o-oppa, I mean Yi Hyun-ssi keeps his distance from me and Dad?"
Yi Hyun still used formal speech with Lee Yu-na.
Different from how he spoke to Lee Jang-su or Kim Soo-jung.
"Dunno."
"Help me out. Please."
"Ah... well. Sigh."
Jang Ho-seop sighed.
His mom poked his side, and he finally spoke.
"Hyungnim's skill reads energy and emotions, right?"
"Yeah."
They all knew each other's skills by now.
Except Yi Hyun's Fundamental Skill, still a secret.
"Probably 'cause of that. You two haven't opened up to him yet?"
Lee Yu-na's eyes went wide.
Though Jang Ho-seop didn't see.
"No way? From the first time I saw Yi Hyun oppa, I... no, never mind."
She recalled her heart pounding wildly back then.
She thought she'd fallen for him at first sight.
"I've been with hyungnim since the Cataclysm hit. Few days' difference, but... first ones matter, right?"
"Yeah..."
"And I've been working hard. To understand him, be helpful."
"Ah, helpful... I think I'm helpful too... maybe not..."
"Tone it down. I genuinely respect hyungnim. He saved my life big time..."
Lee Jang-su ground his teeth listening to his daughter and Jang Ho-seop.
Thinking Yi Hyun kept distance because of him.
He was afraid of Yi Hyun, after all.
"What does Yi Hyun o... ssi like?"
"Likes?"
"Yeah. Knowing that might help, right?"
Jang Ho-seop pondered.
He knew what Yi Hyun hated plenty, but likes? Nothing came quick.
"Hyungnim hates taking losses..."
"Everyone does that."
"Yeah. But his reactions are extreme. Maybe figure out his personality first?"
BAM!
A loud noise from Yongsan Station direction.
"Grraaaargh!"
Yi Hyun burst out from the track entrance, looking like a giant cave mouth.
"There!"
A dozen orcs chased after Yi Hyun.
"Ready?"
"Nah. He's fine. Look at hyungnim."
Yi Hyun wasn't fleeing.
He was luring the orcs to open ground.
"Blood..."
"Green, right? Hyungnim's good."
Yi Hyun kept moving nonstop.
Every axe swing lopped off an orc head or limb.
His movements were beyond normal human comprehension.
When he jumped, gravity seemed weaker just for him. His punches made orcs scream in agony.
His fighting looked like a choreographed action scene.
He'd dodge rear attacks casually, even using them to his advantage.
"So cool..."
Lee Yu-na found his fluid motions beautiful.
Like when they first met.
To Yi Hyun, orcs were no different from goblins now.
"Ah! Got it."
"What?"
"What hyungnim likes. Look."
Lee Yu-na snapped out of her daze at Jang Ho-seop's words.
"What?"
"His expression."
"Huh? Oh... ah!"
When Yi Hyun briefly glanced their way.
Lee Yu-na realized.
"He's smiling?"
"Yeah. Spot on."
"I hardly ever see hyungnim smile that bright."
Jang Ho-seop said with conviction.
"Hyungnim loves fighting. People, monsters... anything to smash. Come to think, his workouts were all combat sports too."
Lee Yu-na made a sour face.
"That... I can't help with."
More orcs kept pouring out.
Heads rolled. They hit the dirt.
Finally, Yi Hyun's surroundings were piled with orc corpses.
"Well, that's not all, right? Even if it's not what he likes, there are ways to help."
Jang Ho-seop muttered as he stood.
"Hyungnim!"
Then dashed to Yi Hyun.
With a wet towel and water bottle.
"Ah, that's how."
Lee Yu-na envied Yi Hyun and Jang Ho-seop's bond.
She wanted to approach him that casually too, but Yi Hyun always drew the line.
'He keeps... making his own chances.'
Lee Yu-na had always dutifully followed given training and practice.
Active, but not proactive.
Now, watching Jang Ho-seop, she got it.
Time to emulate him.
Find her own role.
"Dad. Let's go too."
Seeing Yi Hyun alone amid the green corpse field, one person began to change.
We won.
The exhilarating heat of battle wouldn't fade.
Imagining stress relief had been my suppressant—and another stressor.
'No need anymore.'
Since the Cataclysm, even that tiny attachment was gone.
Now I could enact it in reality.
I was free.
The last few days were happier than the past decade-plus.
Lost in the mad hormone rush.
"Hyungnim!"
Jang Ho-seop ran up.
The kid looked thrilled.
"Leveled?"
Like I'd asked him that morning.
Now he was asking if I'd leveled from the orcs.
I was 29 before the orcs.
"As expected, orcs don't give much EXP."
"Huh? Oh..."
Jang Ho-seop halted.
"But we got through Yongsan, right?"
He continued casually.
I laughed.