Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The Dagger's Guidance
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Doil spoke in a low voice, saying that the function was limited to daggers.
"If it's registered to Hunter Jeong-hyeon, that dagger will gain a certain degree of guidance functionality."
How could he not faint after hearing such words?
Jeong-hyeon toppled backward and only managed to get up after losing consciousness for a few minutes.
"I feel like I vaguely heard in a dream that the dagger has a guidance function..."
"It's true."
After receiving Doil's assurance once more.
Jeong-hyeon felt an uncontrollable ecstasy and an overwhelming fear at the same time.
'It's great, but... just how much more suffering do you plan to make me go through by giving me something like this?'
Thanks to the events he'd experienced since becoming a hunter, Jeong-hyeon no longer believed in his so-called fate.
When you thought about it, hadn't he gone through more than one or two ordeals because of that EX-rank?
In any case, if he'd acquired such an astonishing function, he had to test it out.
That was probably why Doil had borrowed the measurement room.
"Then... shall we try throwing it once."
"Of course."
Doil handed him a dagger and added an explanation.
"To be precise, it responds to the user's will and allows path correction. It becomes a way to strike the vulnerabilities of enemies who predict the trajectory of a normal dagger."
Jeong-hyeon nodded.
He had thought the guidance function meant the dagger would autonomously chase a designated target, but it wasn't like that.
It was more like a wire-guided missile rather than fire-and-forget.
Even so, compared to a regular dagger, the advantages were tremendous.
Jeong-hyeon once again felt the grip of the dagger transmitted through his palm and focused his mind.
"Then I'll summon a monster."
After several manipulation sounds, a ferocious two-headed orc appeared in front of Jeong-hyeon.
The creature's head was likely two sizes larger than his, but to him now, it was merely an experimental subject.
Even if it were real instead of a hologram, it would be the same.
Jeong-hyeon regulated his breathing and threw the Onyx dagger.
'For now, hold back on the power a bit...'
He didn't throw it with full strength.
The goal of this throw was solely to see how much the dagger's path could be corrected.
At the same time, the world slowed down due to the effect of Thought Acceleration.
'This feels a bit off?'
Jeong-hyeon was startled while trying to manipulate the flying Onyx dagger.
The degree of freedom in controlling the dagger with his thoughts was considerable.
It was different from Doil's statement that it would only allow minor path corrections.
And only after the Onyx dagger curved at an odd angle, piercing the orc's temple, did Jeong-hyeon realize this dagger was no ordinary item.
'Does it normally bend this well?'
It wasn't complete free control, but this level of performance was absurd.
If a dagger that had veered off wildly enough to ignore suddenly flew in from an unexpected side, how would one react?
Of course, Jeong-hyeon also knew he had particularly good synergy with this guidance function.
'It definitely got easier because of Thought Acceleration...'
Movement speed synergized into thought speed.
This was the most decisive difference that set Jeong-hyeon apart from other hunters.
It was the same when handling the Onyx dagger.
No matter how superhuman a hunter's reaction speed was, they couldn't escape the absolute limits of time.
The time from throwing the dagger with a hunter's strength to it hitting the target was at most about one second.
Jeong-hyeon didn't fully realize it yet, but for a normal hunter, even focusing on the dagger during that time to try changing its path would only allow minor adjustments.
But for him?
Thanks to thought acceleration making time feel slower, Jeong-hyeon could leisurely adjust the dagger's path.
"Let's do it one more time. Three this time, please."
"Pardon? How did you... Understood."
Doil and Yujeong looked shocked at Jeong-hyeon casually discussing the next one.
'How did it move like that just now?'
It was a mystery.
There was no need to mention the effort they had put into embedding the golem core into the Onyx dagger.
And in that process, they had acquired and studied rare demonstration videos of equipment using golem cores.
To handle equipment of that level, the hunters' standards went without saying.
But no hunter handling any projectile had shown a magical performance like Jeong-hyeon's just now.
Even with guidance functionality, it was merely for correcting a margin of error by a hair's breadth.
That alone could decide victory or defeat in battles at the extreme limits.
But Jeong-hyeon?
'He completely changed the direction.'
At first, it seemed to curve gently but ultimately miss the orc.
That was within expectations.
No one could master it in one go.
But then the seemingly wayward dagger suddenly veered sharply toward the orc, slamming precisely into its temple.
'Did I create something too incredible?'
For a moment, Doil even thought that.
And then Jeong-hyeon requested the next experiment.
Jeong-hyeon pulled out three daggers from the case, and Doil fumblingly summoned three orcs.
Three holographic orcs appeared.
The next moment,
"Heh heh heh."
Doil could only laugh.
That he had created something too incredible?
This was beyond that level.
Jeong-hyeon was displaying an absurd harmony.
'What a monster I failed to recognize...'
Meanwhile, Jeong-hyeon was feeling an ecstasy he couldn't even show outwardly.
'This is insane.'
Since he could correct the path anyway, Jeong-hyeon hurled all three daggers at once.
The result didn't hit vital spots like the temple as before, but it succeeded in getting kill confirmations on all.
Considering it was only the second use, it was astonishing to the point of shocking.
Moreover, just like Doil was shocked, the path was far more freely controllable than equipment with other golem cores—what more was there to nitpick?
Jeong-hyeon's mind was already filled with happy imaginations of how to slaughter monsters using the Onyx dagger.
"You've made something truly amazing."
Jeong-hyeon approached Doil behind him with a bright smile.
Doil shook his head with a faint smile.
As if it wasn't due to his own merit.
Rather, Yujeong beside him responded in a dazed voice.
"How... how did you do that?"
"Pardon? Do what?"
Jeong-hyeon innocently asked back as if wondering what the problem was.
He thought hitting all three at once might have been a bit excessive, but for a hunter worthy of this equipment, wasn't it a standard level?
Yujeong urged Doil in frustration.
"Grandpa, say something! In the videos we saw—"
Doil merely shook his head silently.
It was certainly a shocking result.
But that was only when considering Jeong-hyeon based on the knowledge he knew.
"The world doesn't always turn the way we know it, my dear."
That was the wisdom Doil had gained from his long life.
It was also the reason he hadn't fallen behind in a rapidly changing world and maintained his top position.
Since Jeong-hyeon wasn't a villain, wasn't it a good thing as a craftsman if he could maximize the use of the equipment he made?
And Yujeong, who knew well that when her grandfather spoke like this, her input wouldn't matter, didn't say anything more after that.
Doil turned his body and said to his granddaughter.
"Now, let's head back."
The mace wasn't much different from regular equipment if you excluded the auto-repair and durability enhancement functions.
Since they'd tested the dagger's guidance, there was nothing left to check in the measurement room, so it was time to go.
Jeong-hyeon saw the two off to the outside and then returned to the measurement room.
From their reactions, it seemed certain that the Onyx dagger combined explosively with Thought Acceleration.
Then, it was only natural to hone it further as his own weapon.
'For now, let's master up to three perfectly.'
By the time Jeong-hyeon left the measurement room, night had fully fallen.
***
Meanwhile, Minji—who had unwittingly joined the HJH Gate Office due to Jeong-hyeon's fantastical incentive package—was rolling around on her bed.
'Where the heck is the president and what is he doing?'
It had already been two months since she started working.
At first, he gave instructions to make a homepage like this, but there had been no further word after that.
She had finished the homepage in less than a month.
She had worked diligently only for the first few days and then just an hour a day while messing around afterward.
Even when Minji messaged asking what more to do, the so-called president only replied to relax comfortably.
In the end, Minji had spent the recent month lounging at home without any work.
"Still, he pays on time, so it's fine."
Actually, it wasn't just fine—it was honey in crude terms.
Minji's salary was much higher than her friends who joined big corporations as new hires.
It was even a tiny bit more than her friend who awakened as a hunter and got a job, so she had no complaints about treatment.
Rather, she felt guilty for receiving this money without doing anything.
Even her parents, who had been happy at first about her getting a job, were starting to give sharp looks after two months of their daughter just lounging at home, questioning if it was really a proper job.
"It's not some new kind of scam, is it?"
What scam in the world pays the victim? But it was too suspicious.
And the content for the homepage Jeong-hyeon told her to make was outrageous.
Of course, she'd heard roughly during the interview, but actually making the homepage with that content made it all unbelievable.
'Mission Gate specialist—fine, let's say that's true a hundred concessions.'
There were actually freelance offices specializing only in mission gates.
Usually, they were former raiding team executives from large guilds doing consulting, so it was a bit different, but if it felt similar, she could understand.
But the problem started from here.
When Minji opened the file Jeong-hyeon provided as his career history, she was shocked.
'Unregistered, but cleared this many level 5 gates? And only four months since registration?'
He even occasionally sent emails to update the career to the latest.
All level 4 and 5 gates.
No wonder she called her friend and C-rank hunter Kim Na-yoon for advice.
After hearing Minji's complaints—not quite complaints—Na-yoon cut straight to it.
- It's a scam.
She said nothing else made sense.
Ten years ago, maybe, but impossible now.
Four months for level 5 gates was tight even for an A-rank hunter.
Plus, he'd been hunting at least every three days after that.
Two months like that would have knocked him out from fatigue long ago.
And when Na-yoon heard Jeong-hyeon's specialties listed for the homepage, she scolded Minji in exasperation.
- What? Main specialty throwing skill, evasion, and others? Why are you sticking around there? Multiple hunter traits? Does that even make sense?
She thought even an elementary kid told to lie would do better.
Even if re-awakened, listing specifics like throwing skill, evasion, and vaguely '~and others'—what was that?
- To me, saying he only recently did level 4-5s seems like backpedaling from a lie that shot himself in the foot. Whatever it is, quit immediately, Minji.
That was last week's incident, where she'd called her friend for advice and just got an earful.
Even if not scamming her directly, he might be aiming for a quick buck from clueless new guilds, she said.
Of course, Minji was deeply suspicious too, but what could she do.
Her bank account didn't lie.
- Rrr rrr
Then Minji's phone rang.
Thinking it was spam at this hour, she checked the screen and her eyes widened.
- President