Ocean's Fury (1)
The thought crossed my mind—maybe there would be some kind of twist.
Park Seonwoo, having awakened tremendous power thanks to the damn Trainer App he couldn't hold back from using. Crushing the Haetae Guild's small fry in a single breath...
I'd been hoping for something like that when I shouted.
"Come on! Come the fuck on!"
Reality was cruel.
No matter how generously you rated me, I was only a C-rank hunter. There was no way I could stand against B-rank hunters.
I was completely helpless.
The opponent's fists looked like they were multiplying. Because they actually were.
One against eleven. The number of arms I had to block came to twenty-two.
Thud. Thwack—!
"Guh... Hngh."
I blocked the right side.
Then something flew in from the left.
I blocked the left.
Then the right broke through.
I ended up just covering my head and enduring.
The B-rank hunters from the Haetae Guild were toying with me. My body had become their punching bag.
......
They say even a worm will squirm if you step on it, but I seemed to be worse than a worm. I didn't even have the strength to move anymore.
The Haetae Guild members looked down at me and snickered.
"This bastard isn't dead, right?"
"We were going easy on him, so he shouldn't be dead."
"We can't kill him yet."
I couldn't tell if the cold floor had come up to meet me or if I'd pressed my cheek against it. Everything was blurry. I figured it was the latter.
There was no way the floor of the 77th-floor building would move, so it made sense that my body had collapsed onto it.
I had fallen.
"It hurts... Fuck, it hurts so fucking bad..."
Groans leaked out from all over my body. My limbs and internal organs were screaming in pain. It felt like my bones were broken.
Daeun, so you really were holding back on me.
I finally understood what it felt like when someone who truly wanted to kill you suppressed their killing intent and beat you. I also realized that during my F-rank days, Choi Daeun had been cutting me a lot of slack.
"Ptooey."
My insides were a complete mess. I coughed up blood from my damaged organs and spat it out. Thick clots of blood splattered onto the floor near my mouth.
"He's still alive."
"He's a tanker, so his Constitution stat must be pretty high. No way he'd die from this."
"We didn't even hit him that hard. Anyone here go all out?"
The Haetae Guild members glanced at each other, then burst into laughter.
"As if."
"We can't kill him yet. We still have plenty of fun time left."
Their voices were dripping with playful malice. It was clear they'd planned this from the moment they smashed the back of my head. Negotiation was impossible.
...Either I die, or they die.
I absolutely could not die. The moment I did, Choi Daeun and Han Sora would inevitably be taken from me. NTR'd.
I could never allow that to happen. Even if it cost me my life.
Ah...
My eyes closed. I passed out on the spot.
When I came to again, the situation had grown far worse than I'd expected.
"Oh, you're awake?"
A B-rank hunter from the Haetae Guild, who had been mopping the floor right in front of me, greeted me casually. I wondered what he was mopping—turns out he was wiping up the bloodstains.
"What the hell..."
I lifted my heavy head and looked around. The first thing I saw was a rusty drum barrel that looked like it'd been scavenged from an abandoned factory.
My body was bound with handcuffs and shackles. Every movement made them clank loudly.
"Ugh..."
Someone else's groan. I wasn't the only one who'd been captured. The rest of the Cheongryong Guild members—excluding the Haetae Guild—were on their knees with badly swollen faces, as if they'd been beaten mercilessly.
...Why am I the only one in handcuffs and shackles?
It didn't matter why the Cheongryong Guild had ended up like this. These lunatics had done something insane. The reason wasn't important.
Wondering about it wouldn't change anything. Hearing the truth would only make my stomach twist.
I have to survive.
To do that, I needed to stay cold. I had to assess my chances and sharpen the blade of the hidden dagger I'd kept in reserve.
What were my odds of escaping this 77th-floor building? Did I possess a dagger sharp enough to pierce their throats?
...Of course I do.
There was a person living inside the Trainer App. The one who had noticed my crisis would help me.
"Boss, Park Seonwoo's awake."
The man who'd been mopping went to call Seong Jaeyun. It seemed Seong Jaeyun had been somewhere else.
A brief opportunity had appeared. I asked the Cheongryong Guild hunters crouched beside me.
There were eleven Cheongryong Guild hunters in this room. One was missing—the rather pretty female hunter. Where had she gone?
"...What the hell happened here?"
No answer. They just stared at me with dazed, empty faces like they'd lost their souls.
"Mister Cheongryong, what's the current situation?"
I asked Yi Cheongryong, the Master of the Cheongryong Guild. He was currently the only B-rank hunter among those present besides the Haetae Guild.
Yi Cheongryong was in a horrific state—both arms severed below the shoulders. They must have judged a B-rank hunter could still be a threat.
"......"
He didn't respond. It looked like he'd already given up, completely abandoning any hope of survival.
"...Actually, I want to ask you. Why is the Haetae Guild doing something like this...? Why would the Haetae Guild..."
Yi Cheongryong's voice bubbled with barely contained emotion. Frustration at a hopeless situation with no visible escape, and rage at himself for being unable to resist those with power. His heart was like boiling water.
Escape. Escape...
Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will win every battle. First, I needed to figure out exactly where I was being held.
An interior room?
I couldn't even tell if this was the 50th floor or not. How deep inside the building were we...?
Just then, noise came from outside the room. The sound of many people murmuring. It seemed the entire Haetae Guild was approaching in a group.
"Whoa, you're up?"
Seong Jaeyun walked into the room step by step. His stride was full of leisure.
The Haetae Guild hunters following behind him all wore expressions of deep satisfaction.
"Old man, I enjoyed your daughter thoroughly."
Seong Jaeyun said this and stepped slightly aside, making way for those behind him.
The hunters standing in the back shoved a person forward. A naked woman tumbled across the floor. The stench of semen wafted strongly from her body.
"Seung-a! S-Seung-a...!"
Yi Cheongryong let out a desperate cry. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
"You fucking bastards!"
Yi Cheongryong charged forward. His rage had finally exploded. Even without both arms, he rushed at Seong Jaeyun.
"Heh heh heh. You think you can kill me with that kind of spirit?"
Seong Jaeyun lightly swatted Yi Cheongryong away. It wasn't the movement of a B-rank hunter. Thanks to the Lute-Shaped Bronze Dagger, it seemed all of Yi Cheongryong's stats had been sealed.
"Your daughter made a deal with us. So you should be thanking her, old man. Why are you getting mad at us? You're the only one suffering."
Seong Jaeyun laughed mockingly at the fallen father and daughter.
"The Consumer Protection Committee wouldn't even say anything."
"Does that committee even exist?"
"I don't know. There's probably at least one committee with that name somewhere."
"Ah, got it."
The Haetae Guild members bantered back and forth like they were doing a comedy routine. They seemed to view me and the Cheongryong Guild hunters as nothing more than toys.
...These guys are seriously fucked up.
Okay. Rage fully charged.
Hey, Trainer App?
Send all these bastards to the Trainer's Room.
'......'
There was no response. Even as they approached me, grabbed me, and started dragging me along, the Trainer App didn't come to my rescue.
"Our dear Hunter Seonwoo should play the 'Loyalty Game' I created too, right?"
Seong Jaeyun stood beside me and spoke. The Haetae Guild hunters hooked their feet behind my knees, forcing me to kneel in front of the empty drum barrel. The barrel was filled to the brim with water.
Seong Jaeyun grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to look at him before continuing.
"Ordinary people can't kill hunters. Even worthless F-rank hunters won't lose to civilians, right? But there's exactly one way for an ordinary person to kill a hunter. What do you think it is?"
"......"
"The answer is water. No matter how strong a hunter is, they die if they can't breathe. They just last a little longer. Well, even if oxygen supply is cut off, the brain can hold out for about thirty minutes? Something like that?"
"......"
So that's why they'd filled the drum barrel with water.
"That doesn't mean it isn't painful. The premise of 'unable to breathe' remains the same."
Seong Jaeyun giggled like a child. It was the most cunning laugh I'd ever heard from him.
"This is where my 'Loyalty Game' gets fun. The Cheongryong Guild people have become ordinary human bodies because of the Lute-Shaped Bronze Dagger. If you dunk them in water, they'll die almost immediately."
"......"
"But that's not the case for our dear Hunter Seonwoo. You're only D-rank, but you still possess the full power of a superhuman. What does that mean? It means you won't die even if you can't breathe. Can you guess what kind of 'Loyalty Game' this will be?"
"...I get the picture."
Yi Seung-a, who had used her body to negotiate with Seong Jaeyun in order to save the Cheongryong Guild members, must have been part of this 'Loyalty Game' as well.
...Sorry, Daeun.
So this was what a 'sex game' looked like when it was this fucked up. Putting myself in their shoes, I learned yet another lesson today.
Seong Jaeyun pressed my head down hard.
"I'll save one person per hour. Let's see how long our dear Hunter Seonwoo can last."
"...Thirteen hours? That's nothing."
Including me, that would be thirteen hours. But Seong Jaeyun corrected me.
"Why thirteen hours? Whether Hunter Seonwoo endures or not, you're going to die. Because we've decided that's how it's going to be."
"...Oh, really?"
"Yep. Let's begin. Just in case you can't hold out, we'll take turns holding you down."
"Mmph...!"
Power surged into Seong Jaeyun's hand. A B-rank hunter's Strength was overwhelmingly higher than mine, so I couldn't lift my head. My eyes, nose, and mouth were shoved into the water inside the drum barrel.
Ocean's Blessing has been activated.
Ocean's Fury can now be used.