Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: The Outcast's Final Choice (5)
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Whirr— whirrr—
The golden aura enveloping Min-seok's body blocked the troll's attack, but the price was steep.
Awakening was both a blessing and a curse.
As S-rank mana was forcibly poured into a vessel unprepared for it, Min-seok's veins swelled as if they might burst.
"Urgh... ugh..."
Min-seok clutched his chest and staggered.
Veins bulged across his entire body as if ready to explode, and his eyes gleamed with golden light.
Red sparks began to crackle from his whole form.
Mana backlash—the precursor to rampage.
His body, having just accepted the power of re-awakening, was screaming as it failed to contain the overflowing mana.
Tak, tak, tak!
At that moment, Siwoo burst through the dust cloud and rushed to Min-seok's side.
"Choi Min-seok! Open your mouth!"
Siwoo pulled a glass vial filled with red liquid from his pocket, uncapped it, and roughly poured it into Min-seok's mouth.
It was the elixir he'd prepared at great expense, worth 50 million won per dose.
"Swallow it! That's the only way you'll hold on!"
Gulp.
As Min-seok instinctively swallowed the liquid, the wildly raging mana miraculously began to settle.
The pain-twisted expression on his face slowly returned to normal.
"Re... presentative..."
"You with us now?"
Without a moment to catch his breath, Siwoo gestured toward the back seat of the car he'd arrived in.
The trunk was open, revealing a massive object covered by a large cloth.
"Catch!"
Siwoo whipped off the cover and tossed the metal lump to Min-seok.
The hefty chunk of metal sliced through the air.
Min-seok reflexively thrust out his arm and snatched it.
Clank!
It was a massive circular shield over a meter in diameter.
Its surface was rough, but it was forged from a special alloy tougher than any steel.
"Budget was tight, so I could only get a shield made. But its durability is top-notch."
No sooner had Siwoo finished speaking than the golden mana pouring from Min-seok's body flowed into the shield.
Complex patterns began to glow on its surface.
Like a famed sword meeting its true master, the shield hummed in resonance.
"This is more than enough."
Min-seok readjusted his grip on the shield.
It felt light.
The world that had felt so heavy while running in the Weighted Vest now seemed as light as a feather.
"Grraaaargh!"
Furious that its attack had been blocked, the troll roared once more.
At the sound, the surrounding orcs and Blood Wolves charged at Min-seok in unison.
The killing intent from dozens of monsters blanketed the hospital front yard.
But Min-seok didn't retreat.
He raised the shield and slammed it into the ground.
Boom—!
The earth trembled, and a red wave spread out from him.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Provoke The monsters touched by the wave had their eyes turn bloodshot in an instant.
Mindless bloodlust. Their targets shifted from the hospital to Choi Min-seok alone.
"Kyaaak!"
"Grraaaargh!"
Clang! Thud! Crack!
Dozens of monsters surged toward Min-seok like a tsunami.
Teeth, claws, and clubs assailed him from all sides.
But Min-seok neither blocked nor dodged.
He simply hunkered behind the massive shield and silently took every blow with his body.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Reflect Crunch!
The teeth of a Blood Wolf that bit Min-seok's arm shattered into pieces.
Splat!
The arm of an orc that struck his back crumbled like tofu and bent grotesquely.
The attackers screamed instead, vomiting blood and tumbling away.
"Yelp! Yelp!"
"Kyaak!"
"Squeak?!"
The monsters writhed on the ground, suffering pain far greater than what they'd inflicted.
In the face of that overwhelming defense, their primal fear was triggered.
"Hoo..."
Min-seok exhaled deeply and readjusted his grip on the shield.
Then he roared at them.
"Get lost!!!"
The S-rank presence swept over them like a storm, freezing goblins and wolves in place as they pissed themselves in terror.
That was when Siwoo appeared like a ghost from the shadows of the immobilized monsters.
The sharp dagger in his hand precisely stabbed their vital points.
Slash. Stab.
Already on the brink from reflected damage, they collapsed without resistance under Siwoo's strikes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Experience gained.] [Experience gained.] [Experience gained.] System messages poured down before Siwoo's eyes like a waterfall.
It was like just adding a spoon to the feast Min-seok had laid out, but the taste was sweeter than sweet.
"Grraaaargh!!"
The troll, having momentarily retreated, shook off its daze and charged again in a frenzy.
True to its regenerating nature, its wounds had already healed.
It swung its massive bone club like a windmill as it barreled toward Min-seok.
The ground cracked and the air tore with the force of its charge.
Whoosh—!
The air ripped with a sonic boom, but Min-seok didn't flinch.
Right in the troll's path, he timed it perfectly and angled the shield upward.
Ting—!
With a clear metallic ring, the troll's club bounced into the air.
The troll's body lurched forward, off-balance.
Seizing the opening, Min-seok discarded the shield and grabbed the troll's waist with both hands.
"Hraaaah!!"
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
A mere 180cm human had hoisted up a troll over 3m tall.
Min-seok's back muscles bowed like a drawn bow, unleashing explosive power.
Thud—!!
Min-seok slammed the troll into the ground.
The earth shook like an earthquake, shattering the hospital yard's asphalt and carving out a massive crater.
"Guhak...!"
The troll convulsed, spewing blood from the impact.
But Min-seok didn't stop.
He scooped up the fallen shield.
And aimed its sharp edge at the troll's head.
"It's over."
Crack—!
The shield crushed the troll's skull.
Even a regenerating monster couldn't survive instant-death damage from a shattered head.
The massive body twitched a few times before going limp.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Your affiliated hunter has defeated the boss monster, Regenerating Troll.] [A massive amount of experience is being transferred.] ✨ LEVEL UP! ✨ [Lv] → [Lv] + User's rank has increased.
A blue glow enveloped Siwoo's body.
The exhilarating sensation of expanding veins and widening mana circuits filled his form.
As the situation ended, cheers erupted from the people who'd been hiding silently inside the hospital.
"Wooooaaah!! We're alive!!"
"The monsters are dead! We're gonna live!"
Patients and medical staff who'd been clinging to windows, holding their breath, now screamed in joy and hugged each other.
The hellish terror was over, replaced by the thrill of survival filling the hospital.
Weee-ooh— weee-ooh—
Finally, sirens blared in the distance.
The Korea Hunter Association's emergency response vehicles and police cars arrived late.
"Everyone out! Form up!"
"Check for injured!"
Heavily armed Association hunters leaped from the vehicles.
With resolute expressions, they gripped their weapons and advanced into the hospital yard.
But what they found was a pile of monster corpses, a bloodied middle-aged man heaving ragged breaths, and a neatly suited man straightening his tie and brushing dust from his clothes.
"Wha... what the hell is this...?"
The Association team leader, first on the scene, was speechless.
A gate of this scale would require an A-rank raid team to brace for total annihilation.
Yet it was already over. By just two people.
He looked back and forth between Siwoo and Min-seok in disbelief.
"How did this happen? Did you two do all this?"
Siwoo brushed the dust from his clothes and shook his head.
He pointed at Min-seok beside him.
"No. He did it all. I just helped out a little."
The team leader's gaze fixed on Min-seok.
His torn shirt revealed a body covered in wounds, his appearance shabby, his face kindly.
No matter how you looked at it, he didn't seem like a hunter who could smash monsters.
Just your average middle-aged guy.
"Him...? Excuse me, but which guild are you with? Are you a registered hunter?"
As the team leader questioned suspiciously, Siwoo stepped forward and shielded Min-seok.
He declared clearly.
"Yes. He's Choi Min-seok, an S-rank re-awakened hunter with Miracle Management."
"......Yes?"
The team leader's eyes nearly bulged out.
The surrounding Association staff and hunters froze, staring at Min-seok.
"Uh... S-rank? Did you say S-rank?"
One of the precious few S-ranks in Korea?
The air at the scene froze instantly. Shock and silence reigned.
'Ji-yu...'
Meanwhile, with the tension released, Min-seok staggered toward the hospital entrance.
His gaze was fixed on one thing: the window of the sixth-floor room.
"W-Wait! Stop right there!"
The team leader snapped out of it and urgently called him back.
"You need to do ID confirmation and file an incident report now! What situation do you think this is?!"
By Association rules, site control and hunter quarantine came first right after a gate.
The staffer spoke harshly in his panic, but such rules meant nothing to Min-seok.
He ignored the team leader and kept walking.
"Hey! Didn't you hear me?!"
The team leader barked again, aggressively.
He'd heard "S-rank," but the man's shabby look made it unreal, and defying Association control irked him.
"I need to check on my daughter. Please..."
Min-seok murmured weakly, but the staffer reached out to stop him.
"Look, do the procedures first! Don't you know Association rules?"
The team leader grabbed for Min-seok's shoulder in anger.
Then Siwoo blocked his path.
Siwoo looked down at the team leader with cold eyes.
"Step aside."
"Wh-What?"
"His father's just survived death and wants to see his daughter. Can't you cut him some slack?"
"H-Hey! This is obstructing official duties! Let go!"
"Then what have you done?"
"Hey!"
"Did you even thank the man who protected this place? Say good job? All you got is 'rules'?"
The staffer grimaced in wrist-crushing pain and yelled.
"Hey! This is obstructing official duties! Who the hell are you to meddle in Association business?!"
The team leader pointed accusingly.
The surrounding hunters murmured and approached.
But Siwoo wasn't intimidated.
He roughly shook off the staffer's hand, straightened his tie, and replied calmly—but loud enough for all to hear.
"Just a regular manager."
"......Manager?"
The staffer stared blankly at Siwoo's face.
"H-Han... Siwoo Representative?"
The team leader faltered, his momentum broken, stepping back.
Siwoo passed the frozen team leader and watched Min-seok's bloodied back as he crawled up the hospital stairs.
It shone brighter than any hero's cape.
Min-seok glanced back at Siwoo once.
Siwoo nodded.
"Go on, Hunter Choi Min-seok. Ji-yu is waiting."
Tears welled in Min-seok's eyes.
He bowed in gratitude, then mustered his strength and rushed up the stairs.
Siwoo silently closed the door behind him and stood guard.
No one would interfere.