Chapter 401
Chapter 401
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 401
Chapter Title: The Hunter's Strange World
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Back in reality, I checked my text messages. A newspaper reporter, somehow having gotten wind of me, wanted an interview and asked me to contact them at my convenience.
'Already the third one today. What a pain.'
Hunters' status had risen worldwide recently.
It was due to the monster disaster in China. Low-rank monsters could be taken down with pistols or rifles, but as the monsters' ranks increased, guns were utterly useless.
Bombs and missiles.
They could handle high-rank monsters too. But the world would be devastated in the process. What if a high-rank monster appeared in a city? Could they just unleash bombs and missiles indiscriminately then?
'Hunters can kill monsters relatively cleanly.'
Hunters entered dungeons, hunted monsters, and used the spoils from those hunts to enrich the world.
Above all, they prevented dungeons from breaking and monsters from flooding into the world.
Vrrr...
My smartphone vibrated. A call was coming in.
'The Hunter Association?'
It was rare for the Association to call first. Slightly tense, I answered.
But the tension eased quickly. It wasn't as serious as I'd thought.
"No. I have no intention of appearing on TV. I need to focus on my Hunter activities. I'm not a celebrity."
The Association was asking me to appear on a few TV programs.
I was one of the rising Hunters in Korea right now.
I'd been dispatched to China on an emergency support mission, returned alive successfully, and reached C-rank in less than a year. My ability was lightning, a natural element, and I'd appeared on broadcasts a few times.
Anyone interested in Hunters knew my name. I'd even been asked for an autograph on the street.
"Phew. The life of a popular guy is exhausting."
I was about to set down my smartphone when I opened the Playful Life app.
I'd raised my Libido and Mana stats, and leveled up Mental Resistance too.
Mental Resistance Lv.9
Grants resistance to mental abnormalities. Provides resistance to mental interference.
One more level and Mental Resistance would hit Lv.10.
The problem was that points suddenly required more than double.
'My intuition tells me Mental Resistance Lv.10 is mastery. Then I wouldn't have to worry about Heavenly Demon Divine Art at all.'
1,000 points.
It seemed like a lot, but not hard to accumulate. The quest cooldown would reset soon, and spending time in other worlds would naturally build them up.
Browsing the Playful Life app, I thought of the item I'd gotten from Random Gacha recently and chuckled.
A thumb-sized vial of dark brown liquid.
A tool to torment someone I didn't like for 66 days.
'Useless for now. Heh heh heh.'
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
I rushed to the front door and opened it.
Standing there was a tanned, brown-skinned gal with dyed blonde hair and a voluptuous figure. Her outfit was outrageous. The blue miniskirt hugging her hips looked ready to burst, and the black tank top over her G-cup breasts resembled massive balloons, with the centers poking out prominently.
Yoshikawa Misa.
My personal Japanese fuckhouse.
"...As ordered, no panties, no bra."
"Good girl. Come in."
Thud.
The front door closed.
It had been a while since I'd come to university. I was curious about the new freshmen enrolling today.
'Maybe there's a girl among the freshmen who fits my type.'
I had no intention of making a move unless she was my type. This was reality, not a special situation like China. I didn't want to get in trouble by carelessly touching female underclassmen.
Entering the Hunter Department, students glanced at me warily before approaching to greet me first.
"Yu-jin. Long time no see. You haven't shown up at school lately... You doing okay?"
"Yeah. Tae-jin. I've been busy lately."
"It's Tae-jun, not Tae-jin."
"Was it?"
"......"
He flushed but didn't challenge me or raise his voice.
Currently, the top dogs in the Hunter Department were me and Han Ha-rin. We were the only two C-rank Hunters. In the Hunter world, rank was everything.
"Senior Yu-jin. You free this weekend? Want to hit a dungeon together? It'd feel safer with you."
"Weekend? Sorry, busy then."
The female underclassman flirted subtly, leaning forward to emphasize her chest or flashing coy smiles. But she wasn't my style. Pretty, sure, but her jaw and eyes screamed plastic surgery, and her makeup was heavy.
"What are you doing this weekend, Senior?"
"This and that with Ha-rin Senior?"
"I heard rumors you and Ha-rin Senior are dating... Is it true?"
"Friends. Just friends."
After humoring her briefly, she backed off. Their motives were obvious. They wanted to get close to me, someone on track to become an easy A-rank Hunter. That's how they'd get perks.
I sat next to Oh Jun-hyuk, who was slumped over sleeping at a desk in the back of the lecture hall. Oh Jun-hyuk was my closest friend at university. Lately, I'd been busy with women, so we'd grown apart.
"Hey. You asleep? Heard you got dumped by that girl."
"Shut up. Don't even mention that bitch."
Oh Jun-hyuk had been dumped by his girlfriend two days ago. Apparently, she'd found another guy—a B-rank Hunter.
"Got an amazing video. Wanna see? Shot it yesterday."
"......Amazing video?"
Oh Jun-hyuk peeked up. I recoiled at his face.
"Oh shit. What happened to your eyes? No way you cried all night—those eyes are impossible otherwise..."
"I thought she was my last love... My plan was a wedding in Jeju and honeymoon in Hawaii..."
"Quit moping and watch this."
I played the video on my phone, and he watched intently. It was me and Misa doing paizuri.
"Those tits are insane. What cup?"
"G-cup. Ass is killer too."
"Wh-where'd you meet a girl like this? Not Korean..."
"Met her in Japan."
"Fuck! I'm going to Japan too! Japanese girls all have huge tits like that?"
"Big girls are just big."
Oh Jun-hyuk leered at the video with a goofy grin.
"But her body... looks familiar."
"Just your imagination. Seen the new freshmen?"
"Yeah. Checked 'em out earlier. About 30, even gender split? Three cuties. Oh, and two celebrities."
"Celebrities? Like actual idols?"
"One's the granddaughter of the Sejin Group chairman. Fucking gorgeous. Aura's no joke. Born different, y'know? A guy like me couldn't even approach."
I knew Sejin Group. No Hunter in Korea didn't. They ran Hunter-related businesses, most famous for Hunter Shops. And their chairman was an S-rank Hunter.
"The other celeb?"
"Changwon's hero. You know?"
"What's that?"
"The underclassman who took down two orcs in that recent Changwon dungeon collapse and became a hero. Park Su-ho or something. Fuck. I wanna be a hero too...!"
"Could've if you'd gone to China for emergency support."
"What's the point of being a hero after you're dead."
Oh Jun-hyuk pulled out his phone, searching something. Looked like he was serious about Japan.
"Freshmen welcome party tonight?"
"Yeah. Evening, at a barbecue joint. You coming?"
"Curious about that chaebol heiress."
"She's in a different world. Neither you nor I could make a move."
"Probably."
I chuckled. Oh Jun-hyuk eyed me like I was weird.
Freshmen welcome party.
I sat with the professors. They'd called me over. I'd gone from powerless to the department's star Hunter.
"Too bad Ha-rin couldn't make it."
"She's busy prepping for B-rank."
"You not prepping?"
"Staying C-rank showed me B isn't easy."
"True. Back in my day... Even D-rank was tough..."
I half-listened to the professors while eating meat.
The mood warmed up, and the professors left for a second round among themselves.
Then the department rep approached.
"Senior Yu-jin. Haven't seen the freshmen yet?"
"The newbies?"
I stood. No point acting superior. I barely came to school anyway. Plus, clingy underclassmen would just annoy me more.
"Guys. This is Senior Sung Yu-jin, the one I mentioned. One of our department's only two C-rank Hunters."
"Nice to meet you. Sung Yu-jin here. I was powerless my freshman year... Nostalgic."
The freshmen perked up. Most Hunters awakened when fully grown. Late bloomers like me were rare.
Chatting about myself, I scanned the freshmen.
One girl caught my eye.
Casual yet stylish clothes, calm face, long black hair.
Perky breasts, beautifully curved waist. More beautiful than pretty—like a work of art.
Bodyguards in suits watched her from the back.
Sejin Group's granddaughter, Ha Seung-hee, no doubt.
Unlike the others, she showed no interest in my words. Instead, she eyed the guy across from her.
'Hot. Gotta fuck her.'
Problem was how to approach and seduce. Rape? This was reality. And raping an S-rank Hunter's granddaughter? The fallout was obvious.
I shook hands with each freshman.
"Ha Seung-hee? Nice to meet you."
"Yes. Senior. Please take care of me."
I held Ha Seung-hee's soft hand. She shook dutifully. Her gaze flicked back to the guy opposite.
'Likes this guy? ...He seems burdened by her attention.'
I offered a handshake to the guy across.
"Park Su-ho. Please take care of me."
Park Su-ho looked average but had a decent vibe.
"Ah, Changwon's hero?"
"...Haha. Yes."
Park Su-ho smiled awkwardly. Shaking his hand, I spotted the tattoo on his forearm.
"Tattoo?"
"Not one I got—appeared when I awakened. Ability is body enhancement."
"Yeah? But tattoos don't move these days, right?"
"Y-yes?!"
Park Su-ho panicked. I'd clearly seen it: the sun tattoo on his wrist had shifted sideways.
"M-must be a mistake. Tattoos don't move."
"...True."
Suspicious, but I let it slide. Pressing would just make things awkward.
But now I was intrigued. There had to be a reason Ha Seung-hee was interested.
'To seduce Ha Seung-hee, I need to deal with this guy first.'
Afterward, I tried talking to Ha Seung-hee a few times, but got only curt, emotionless replies. As aloof as Han Ha-rin.
'No weaknesses?'
I hacked Ha Seung-hee's smartphone. Her relationships seemed fine. Not close with her siblings, but overall harmonious family.
One thing, though. She'd ordered someone to investigate Park Su-ho.
'She knows I'm the chairman in the Vampire Detective world, but this isn't blackmail material.'
Still, it meant something was up with Park Su-ho.