Chapter 008
[Chapter 008]
< Back Mountain Outing >
8
[South Korea B-Rank Hunter 40th Floor Integrated Ranking]
18th Lee Seok-ju (Hunter Bureau) ▲ NEW
“Fuck.”
Cha Jin-seok stared at the terminal screen as if he would smash it at any moment.
On the screen, Lee Seok-ju’s ranking, which had been dominating all kinds of Hunter communities since yesterday, was vividly displayed.
B-Rank top 20s entry.
While Cha Jin-seok had been struggling on the 38th floor for the last few months, that old tank Lee Seok-ju had crossed the wall of the 40th floor in an instant and became a high ranker.
“Jin-seok, don't mind it too much. That ahjussi must have just been lucky.”
The comfort of his girlfriend Yu In-young, a C-Rank Hunter, didn't even enter his ears.
‘Luck? Give it to the dogs.’
Cha Jin-seok didn't think his sluggish performance was because of a lack of skill.
It was all because of the damn mana pollution.
A chronic illness where joints ache and concentration is blurred every time he uses a skill.
It was a problem experienced by most Hunters who roll in the rough fields, not just Cha Jin-seok.
He firmly believed that if it hadn't been for this, he would have already become A-Rank.
‘That old tank must have been the same.’
Lee Seok-ju, who was older than him and whose body state was worse.
He inwardly hoped he wouldn't be able to pass the 40th floor first.
However, to the point that he felt miserable for having felt relieved at that, Lee Seok-ju’s achievement yesterday was dazzling.
But how on earth?
“But, isn't it strange? Hunter Lee Seok-ju, I heard he was hit by the Poison Mist Wyvern when he went to support the A-Rank Rift last time....”
“What?”
“But, when they saw him before the 40th floor raid yesterday, he was fine without a single wound. Someone who saw him directly in the infirmary said so. He said new skin had grown completely.”
“That poison, it all healed overnight?”
The poison of the Poison Mist Wyvern is closer to a curse that hinders recovery.
It’s not a fatal wound, but the toxin confuses the mana circuit, so it has the characteristic that one has to stay in bed for at least 2 weeks. It was close to an injury where time is the medicine.
“Those Bureau bastards... Did they secretly take care of only that old tank? Did he receive a special potion through connections because he was there for a long time?”
Suspicion led to suspicion.
Impatience filled up to under his chin.
The sense of crisis that if he stays like this, he will be the only one marginalized.
Cha Jin-seok jumped out of his seat and headed straight to the equipment management team.
He had to grab some clue.
When he approached the equipment team office, a much more lively atmosphere than usual was felt inside.
“...?”
Employees who would normally be groaning while looking through documents were moving busily while carrying equipment.
As Old Man No stood at the forefront and personally moved heavy equipment, the work turnover rate of the entire team had become incredibly fast.
‘What, when did Old Man No's back heal?’
Old Man No's chronic back pain was something no one in the Bureau didn't know.
“Old Man No, are you really fine?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Did you eat something good somewhere? You’ve changed since the vacation. Where did you go then?”
At the employee's question, Old Man No thought deeply for a moment.
“At that time, could it be... because of that thing Manager Jang gave me?”
Manager Jang?
No way... that E-Class noboby who does the back-up work in the field, Jang Kang-hyun?
Why is the name of the person who was said to be fired in this restructuring coming up?
To Cha Jin-seok, people in the Hunter Bureau are divided into three types.
First, ambitious people whose rank is already high but who look toward entering politics as public servants rather than Hunter work.
Second, realists like himself who lack the talent to go to the top tier like S-Rank or A-Rank, but who want to enjoy stable treatment and honor while staying at the Bureau.
And the last was the lowest class like Jang Kang-hyun who just barely survived while doing dirty work without talent or backing.
‘That guy clearly did something.’
He had the experience of having seen them for several years at the Bureau.
Normally he treated people on the support team as non-existent and looked down on them, but Jang Kang-hyun was a bit of a peculiar guy.
While other guys barely did the work told, wasn't he the guy who always moved one step ahead.
A guy who was honestly comfortable to work with, like picking out necessary consumables like a ghost before a raid or reporting after discovering a minute problem in equipment in advance.
He ignored him, thinking he was overstepping uselessly, but there were more than one or two times he was comfortable thanks to that useless overstepping.
Cha Jin-seok immediately opened his phone and contacted somewhere.
“Uh, it’s me. Jang Kang-hyun. The E-Class Hunter who was fired from the Bureau this time. Find out where he is right now.”
Cha Jin-seok’s situation was pushed to the edge to the point that he had to grab even such an absurd, "what if" kind of information.
He had to grab even a straw.
* * *
Filling the screen, Hunter Lee Seok-ju was smiling brightly against the backdrop of a giant Tower piercing the sky.
“Wow....”
At that sight, an exclamation escaped me without me realizing it.
Lee Seok-ju, who stood proudly as a hero in the press photo.
It was a sight of him being surrounded and congratulated by numerous reporters.
“Muryong, it’s really a relief. Right?”
Muryong, who was dozing off on my shoulder, tilted its head.
-Hmyoot?
In the Bureau days, I often saw Hunter Lee Seok-ju agonizing alone on the training ground.
The broad back of the man who was frustrated because he couldn't keep up with the speed of 20-something hot-blooded guys coming up, even though his skill was outstanding, was still vivid.
‘He was a person with skill.’
When rookies ran wild relying only on their spirit, Lee Seok-ju read the situation with the maturity coming from numerous experiences.
The ability to predict the monster's next attack pattern just by looking at its minute movements and forming the optimal formation.
It was truly the experience created by time.
‘Should I retire now too.’
The appearance of him being frustrated due to injury and age made even the viewer feel sad.
Such a man had taken flight again.
“It’s really a relief.”
I looked at the photo of him taken with the Tower once more.
The Tower... what kind of place is it.
A symbol of this era that brings wealth and fame to some, and despair and death to others.
Of course, I had memorized the characteristics of each floor, types of monsters, and raid methods through Bureau data.
‘What use is that, I’ve never even been there.’
In order to enter the Tower, one had to purchase an entrance ticket issued by the Hunter Association.
The price was a staggering 200 million won.
It was like an unspoken qualification test to challenge only Hunters who are confident in collecting mana stones or by-products worth at least 200 million or more inside the Tower.
Of course, there were low-interest loan products for Awakeners, but I had already used up all the loans I could get for So-ye’s medical bills.
I suppressed my bitter heart.
“Alright, today is a party!”
I shouted in a good mood and put a portable gas stove and a grill on the veranda.
Since I grew plenty of lettuce, a country house can't miss pork belly on the veranda.
Sssss-
The sound of pork belly cooking golden-brown on the grill echoed rhythmically.
The savory smell spread through the entire yard.
-Hmyooooo!
Muryong took a spot on my lap and waited anxiously for the meat to cook.
The way it sniffed while dilating its small nostrils was cute.
“Kking, kking!”
The Gorani couldn't dare to climb onto the veranda, and with its giant body, it stuck to the bottom of the veranda and looked up at me while wagging its tail.
I wrapped a well-cooked piece of pork belly in lettuce freshly picked from the field, blew on it to cool it, and put it in my mouth.
“Wow, the lettuce is honey lettuce.”
With an "Asak!" sound, there was no bitterness at all and only the cool and refreshing sweet taste of the vegetable filled my mouth.
To the point I felt the lettuce was more delicious than the meat, everything grown in this field was not ordinary.
“Alright, say ah.”
One bite for Muryong too.
I don't know if a dragon is an omnivore, but this fellow seemed ready to eat even a stone if I gave it.
-Hmyoot!
Muryong opened its small mouth as much as it could and put a wrap the size of its own body in its mouth at once.
A laugh burst out at the sight of its cheeks being about to burst while munching.
“Our Gorani too.”
Next was the Gorani’s turn.
I tore off three large pieces of meat and threw them in front of its mouth.
The Gorani ate the meat as if it was humble and grateful, and performed its front foot stomp of joy.
“Kkiyot!”
It was a peaceful time.
But suddenly a strange point caught my eye.
‘For some reason, it seems like the Gorani finds Muryong difficult?’
While the Gorani was acting cute to me, its gaze was always fixed on Muryong over my shoulder.
Like a subordinate watching the face of a superior.
If Muryong made a small sound like "Hmyoo!" while eating lettuce, the Gorani would be startled and correct its sitting posture.
“Well, I guess this means they have a good relationship.”
I laughed and put my portion of meat wrapped in lettuce in my mouth.
Eating it with vegetables from the field, even the fatty pork belly didn't feel greasy at all.
I felt a warm energy rising inside my body.
Thinking that I wished this peace would last forever, I looked at the pink evening glow sky.
* * *
The next day, while playing in the field with the Gorani as usual, I discovered a strange point.
“When did you gain this much weight?”
“Kkiyung....”
Looking closely, it hadn't just gained weight, but its whole body had turned into solid muscle.
A feeling that its body size had noticeably become sturdy in a few days. Why, for a fellow who doesn't even go hunting?
“I can't. Come with me to the back mountain over there.”
I headed to the back mountain with the Gorani.
But the fellow's movement was unusual.
“Hey, wait a moment!”
It would lightly jump over a rock taller than my height.
Even while going ahead, if called, it ran over at a speed that left an afterimage before my eyes.
“You’re amazing.”
I felt it since the first day, but this Gorani is surely not just a mutant.
Nimbleness that doesn't suit its giant body, and even intelligence that perfectly understands my words.
While I was admiring the Gorani for a while.
“Hmm?”
A cold sensation brushed the back of my neck.
“This feeling....”
It was the mana of a Rift.
“Shh, let's go this way.”
I cautiously approached the direction where the sound came from.
There, a C-Rank monster Rock Lizard, whose whole body was covered in a rock carapace, was rummaging through a garbage bag left behind by a hiker.
‘Rock Lizard?’
I gulped.
It was a fellow difficult to deal with because its defense was uniquely high even among C-Ranks.
That rock carapace was so hard that even an average D-Rank Hunter's attack couldn't even leave a scratch.
Bureau days, the sight of three C-Rank attackers clinging and struggling for over 30 minutes to catch that one fellow was vivid before my eyes.
‘Why is such a fellow here... Did a Rift pop nearby?’
If it was an individual that escaped from a Rift, the problem was serious.
If it went down to the village below, it was only a matter of time before casualties occurred.
‘No, not like this.’
Even if I requested help from the Bureau, it would take quite some time to get here.
Still, it was more important to request quickly than for me to face it with my bare body without a single weapon or armor.
“Alright, the request is made.”
I decided to first draw the monster's eye to buy time.
As a matter of urgency, I decided to pick up a stone rolling around nearby and throw it.
‘Just a slight hit to warn....’
Whish-
The moment the stone flew drawing a parabola.
Bang-!
A result completely different from my thought unfolded.
‘Wh-what. Why is there an explosion sound?’
The stone flew at a speed close to the speed of sound and accurately hit the rock head of the Rock Lizard, which is said to deflect even an average bullet.
Crack!
With the terrible sound of the skull being smashed, the giant monster's body fell backward just like that.
It was instant death without even being able to scream once.
“?”
“??”
The Gorani and I looked at each other with bewildered expressions at this absurd situation.
* * *
An hour later.
The Hunter Management Bureau field response team was looking at the sight before their eyes as if they couldn't believe it.
“...Who on earth did this?”
< Back Mountain Outing > END