Chapter 012
### [Chapter 012]
< Vessel of Power (2) >
12
Cha Jin-seok approached the sleeping Kang-hyun condescendingly.
Since he had been fired from the Bureau and had nothing to do, he seemed to be lounging around since broad daylight.
An E-Class was an E-Class after all.
‘A guy with no motivation or grit.’
In the moment Cha Jin-seok raised his hand toward Kang-hyun's face.
“!”
Kang-hyun’s hand, which should have been asleep, reached out with lightning speed and snatched the wrist.
“W-what!”
Cha Jin-seok tried to pull his hand away in a panic, but it was no use.
The grip of the hand held the wrist like a steel shackle and wouldn't let go.
To the point where he couldn't budge even with the strength of a B-Rank Awakener.
“...Who.”
Only then did Kang-hyun slowly open his eyes with a furrowed face.
But there was not a hint of surprise in those eyes.
As if he had known who was coming from the moment they stepped foot here.
Holding Cha Jin-seok’s wrist, Kang-hyun slowly raised his upper body and let go of the hand he was holding.
Only then did Cha Jin-seok grasp his released wrist and falter back.
“You, how....”
“How did you know this place... No, what business brings you here?”
Kang-hyun rolled his neck as if stiff.
Crack, crack-!
A fierce sound came from his joints.
Cha Jin-seok flinched involuntarily at that sound, but soon steadied his expression as he looked over the face of Jang Kang-hyun whom he disliked.
Even when seeing him in the field, Cha Jin-seok was someone who didn't like that unshrinking face.
‘How dare an E-Class!’
In Hunter society, rank meant an absolute class, much like a caste system.
And was it even possible for someone who was just a field errand boy at the Bureau to look at a B-Rank like him so confidently?
Cha Jin-seok stood crookedly and got straight to the point.
“I’ll speak bluntly. Give me what you gave to Hunter Lee Seok-ju.”
Jang Kang-hyun was silent for a moment.
Pfft.
Then he let out a sound like air escaping and laughed.
As if he had heard the most insignificant words in the world.
“You... did you just laugh at me?”
“Ahem, hem.”
He didn't even seem to intend to hide it anymore.
With a smile spreading all over his face, he said.
“Hunter Cha Jin-seok.”
“What!”
“What do you want me to give you?”
“That! The thing you gave Hunter Lee Seok-ju to heal his wound, give that to me too. I can just give you money!”
Kang-hyun approached Cha Jin-seok and asked with a face devoid of laughter.
"Why have you become so pathetic?"
"···What?"
Cha Jin-seok doubted his own ears.
Is this the Jang Kang-hyun I knew?
"No, you were always like that. So, why should I?"
Just an E-Class nobody, dare to look at me with that expression?
And now using informal speech?
“W-what did you say?”
“Didn't you hear me? I asked why I should give it to you.”
Kang-hyun said with emphasis.
In those eyes, there was no longer the submissive air of the past.
Instead, they contained a lack of interest as if he were looking at a bug.
“Hey, Jang Kang-hyun! What is this attitude right now! Have you forgotten who I am?”
“There’s no way I could forget.”
Kang-hyun snorted.
“You're the person who pushed all the dirty work in the field onto E-Classes and took all the credit for yourself.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The person who bowed so much to Hunters higher in rank than himself, but threw equipment at weaker people like they were trash. I remember it clearly.”
“Y-you bastard...!”
“But it’s strange. Why is the great B-Rank Hunter still struggling at the 38th floor? Even Hunter Lee Seok-ju, whom you ignored as a 40-something old man, broke through the 40th floor.”
That one remark accurately touched Cha Jin-seok’s most painful sore spot.
“Hey!”
Losing his reason, Cha Jin-seok’s fist flew toward Kang-hyun's face with the sound of cutting the air.
The physical ability of a B-Rank Awakener.
It was a speed that an E-Class should have been unable to react to and be knocked away.
However.
“Agh!”
The scream that rang out was not Kang-hyun's, but Cha Jin-seok’s.
Kang-hyun caught the flying fist as lightly as if he were catching a slow ball and put just a little strength into his hand.
“Aaargh!!!”
Snap, crack-!
A terrible sound of Cha Jin-seok’s knuckles being crushed echoed.
* * *
A few years ago.
Cha Jin-seok had once tasted hell after ambitiously participating as a mercenary in an A-Rank Rift raid.
The A-Rank monster he met there, an Iron Golem.
As the name suggests, it was a golem whose whole body was made of steel.
Cha Jin-seok’s main skill, Shield Bash.
It was a powerful technique that pushed back enemies with a shield and dealt impact, but that skill had a fatal weakness.
In the very short moment after the attack, the fist opposite the arm holding the shield is exposed defenselessly.
Bang!
The Iron Golem did not miss that split second and struck Cha Jin-seok’s right fist head-on.
‘Aaargh!’
The sensation of bone and flesh being crushed, and tendons snapping.
That was the first time Cha Jin-seok experienced the pain of bones being shattered.
And now.
The impact felt from Kang-hyun's grip was, compared to then....
No, comparison was impossible.
If the Iron Golem's attack was a destructive impact of striking down with a solid sledgehammer, this was a force like having one's hand put into a giant hydraulic press and being crushed.
‘What on earth... is happening?’
He was bewildered.
No matter how calmly he tried to think about the situation, it made no sense.
Wasn't the person in front of him just an E-Class Hunter?
Measured mana amount, combat training data, physical strengthening level.
No matter which one you looked at, an E-Class should not have even been able to reach the feet of himself, a B-Rank.
Isn't the world today one that runs on the logic of power?
Why does rank exist, and where in the world is a guy who defies rank?
He had never seen or heard of such a person!
‘To feel such overwhelming power from just an E-Class Hunter?’
Jang Kang-hyun before his eyes did not look like the E-Class nobody Cha Jin-seok had known.
The eyes, the attitude, and even that nonsensical grip currently holding Cha Jin-seok’s fist.
Everything had changed.
‘Why do I feel a sense of intimidation?’
These were not the eyes of a low-rank Hunter.
It was the gaze of a predator, an absolute being who held everything under his feet.
It was a kind of intimidation he hadn't even felt from S-Rank Hunters he occasionally encountered by chance in the field.
In this unbelievable reality, only the pain felt from his hand was too vivid.
“Argh, aaargh... My hand! My hand!”
Only then did Kang-hyun let go of Cha Jin-seok’s hand.
Cha Jin-seok’s right hand, which fell weakly with a thud, was twisted to a terrible degree.
“That's why I told you not to swing your fist first.”
Kang-hyun said calmly.
Like someone who had kicked a pebble on the road, there was no emotion in his voice.
“Entering someone's house without permission and suddenly threatening them, what on earth is that about? Hunter Cha Jin-seok.”
Kang-hyun no longer used informal speech.
But that polite formal speech felt like an even greater humiliation to Cha Jin-seok.
Sympathy shown by the strong to the weak.
That was exactly it.
“You, you... what on earth is your identity?”
“Hunter Cha Jin-seok.”
Kang-hyun looked down indifferently at Cha Jin-seok, who was moaning while clutching his twisted hand.
“I am no longer a Bureau employee. It means you have no right to order me or treat me poorly. So stop trying to dig for more and go back quietly.”
Kang-hyun turned his body toward the veranda. As if all business was finished.
And then he added one last word.
“Surely you won't go around blabbing about what happened today, given your own pride? If rumors spread that a B-Rank Hunter's hand was crushed in one blow by a retired E-Class... it would be quite a sight to see.”
“You bastar....”
He wanted to shout confidently as before, but Cha Jin-seok instinctively shrank back.
The sensation of his fist being crushed just a moment ago was dominating every cell in his body.
“...I’m going back for now.”
Shaking with humiliation and fear, Cha Jin-seok could do nothing but back away and leave the place.
Thud!
In the moment Cha Jin-seok was hurrying out, something massive leaped out from the thicket and blocked his way.
“Ugh, aaagh! Fuck!”
What appeared before his eyes was a giant Gorani.
It was much larger than even an average medium-sized monster and its whole body was covered in solid muscle.
A power that even a B-Rank like himself would have to be tense if encountered in the forest!
“Hi-hing!”
The Gorani stamped its front hooves threateningly and snorted.
And then, as if mocking Cha Jin-seok, it hopped lightly and went right into Kang-hyun's house in an instant.
Cha Jin-seok slumped there and couldn't move for a long time.
* * *
It had been a month since Kang-hyun left.
The National Hunter Management Bureau looked peaceful on the surface, but cracks were already appearing everywhere internally.
Because the safety device that silently filled the gaps in the organization from invisible places had disappeared.
“Fuck, this is the third time this month already!”
Old Man No of the equipment management team spat out a curse.
It was because of a training ground simulator circuit that had blown again due to overload.
In the past, Kang-hyun stayed every night to check the mana load levels of all equipment and perform stabilization work.
But after Kang-hyun disappeared, no one wanted to do that dirty work that wasn't even in the manual, so the equipment was festering.
“Field Support Team 3! Why has this month's consumable application budget been exceeded so much!”
“Ah, that’s··· because we misjudged monster characteristics and purchased a large amount of the wrong antidote potion....”
High voices were exchanged at the Operations Headquarters.
In the past, before a raid, Kang-hyun distributed his own personal analysis materials, such as precautions for mutant monsters, to each team besides the official briefing materials.
Thanks to that, unnecessary equipment loss or budget waste could be prevented. But now, they were gone.
Small mistakes.
But those small mistakes gathered and were eating away at the Bureau's trust and budget.
Park Jin-soo's selection and focus strategy failed to fill these holes hidden behind the flashy performance of the top rankers.
And the spark flew to an innocent person.
“Hunter Lee Seok-ju. You must complete the 42nd floor raid by this week.”
Lee Seok-ju, who was called to the conference room, furrowed his brow at Park Jin-soo's unreasonable demand.
“...Team Leader Park. That’s impossible. It’s only been three days since I finished the 40th floor raid.”
Common sense dictated that after raiding one floor of the Tower, there was a readjustment period of at least a few weeks to as long as two months before challenging the next floor.
But to raid two more floors in less than a week.
“Hey, why are you being like this? Isn't it common knowledge for a veteran like you, Hunter Lee, that the early sections in units of 10 floors are the easiest.”
Park Jin-soo demanded shamelessly.
“Even so, at least one week is needed for maintenance and analysis.”
“Other guilds are currently breaking through the 45th floor! Right now, when everyone's attention is focused on you, Hunter Lee, isn't it good for all of us if you show consecutive results? If you stop here, won't the citizens think the Bureau has finally reached its limit?”
The appearance of him putting Lee Seok-ju on a pedestal as a hero just three days ago was nowhere to be found.
Lee Seok-ju raised the Bureau's status by breaking through the 40th floor and getting into the top 20, but that was rather the trigger.
The higher-ups began to treat him as a piece that could compete with the guilds.
They didn't care about Lee Seok-ju’s condition or safety.
They only saw him as a piece for results and achievements.
“This is a matter of respect, Team Leader Park.”
“Respect? Haha, respect... Do you know how much the support budget for one B-Rank Hunter is? Showing results matching that budget, isn't that respect for the Bureau?”
Park Jin-soo was cunningly mentioning money to instill a sense of burden in Lee Seok-ju.
“There’s nothing more to hear. I’m leaving.”
Lee Seok-ju stood up from his seat, showing great displeasure.
A deep sense of skepticism rushed in.
Was the organization he risked his life to protect really this kind of place?
‘In the end, they’re treating me exactly the same way they kicked out Kang-hyun.’
Lee Seok-ju walked down the hallway with a bitter smile.
Just then, the words of Manager Kim Min-jun of MK Sphere, whom he had met recently, came to mind.
‘The door to our guild is always open, Hunter Lee Seok-ju.’
He was shaken.
But it wasn't a matter he could decide easily.
If he left the Bureau now, this organization would truly become precarious.
Currently, most of the A-Rank Hunters belonging to the Bureau were those more interested in administration or politics than combat.
Practically, as a top ranker who could play the role of an attacker on the front lines of the Tower, he was the only one at B-Rank.
If Lee Seok-ju left, the Bureau's Tower raid would practically stop at the 30s floors.
But at the same time, he didn't want to have any more attachment to such a rotten organization.
He had known that for a long time.
What was the reason he had endured here until now?
‘Ah, right.’
The face that suddenly crossed his mind was Kang-hyun.
Whenever he habitually said he was going to leave, the person who stopped him was Kang-hyun, and the one who clung to him saying he’d give him one more benefit was also Kang-hyun, wasn't it?
Even though nothing returned to him.
The Bureau without that one person.
The space crowded with hundreds of people felt like an empty ruin.
‘My time is also running out.’
While the Bureau's short-term performance was on the rise due to various good news, Lee Seok-ju knew exactly.
That this place was no different from a bomb that wouldn't be strange if it exploded at any time.
< Vessel of Power (2) > END