Chapter 119: Counter-Captured
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 119: Counter-Captured
At those words, Baeksa’s eyes turned fierce.
Sensing he was an enemy, Baeksa was certain he had to take him down now.
In an instant, Baeksa’s body slithered toward Ha-chan like a snake.
But even then, Ha-chan hadn’t moved an inch.
Just as he found that strange…
Jingle—
He felt the sound of a bell ringing from somewhere.
The moment Baeksa realized something was wrong and lifted his head, he found himself lying on the ground.
Simultaneously, an agonizing sensation, as if hundreds of snakes were writhing in his stomach, struck his brain. A swaying white tail came into view.
Flowers began to scatter before his eyes.
Just a moment ago, he was in the middle of the city. A flower field?
‘It’s a mental attack, illusion-type.’
As soon as he realized this, he raised a fist to his own body and struck himself.
BAM!
His mind snapped back with a jolt.
Baeksa, who reveled in martial combat, was rather weak against mental attacks.
Of course, those who could invade his mind were few and far between.
The fact that he had been infiltrated meant the opponent was clearly a powerful mental ability user.
The moment he realized this and managed to rouse his senses, he found himself pinned down by a grown woman.
Realizing a tall woman wearing a blindfold was pinning him down, he glared and reached out his hand.
“羞辱我！(Humiliate me!)”
However, his hand touched a giant, old tree.
He still hadn't broken free from the illusion?
“Shhh.”
At that moment, with a voice whispering in his ear, Baeksa, despite his formidable mental strength, felt his eyes roll back as his consciousness faded completely.
Meanwhile, Ha-chan was approaching someone.
It was none other than Yu U-jeong, who was covered in blood.
Seeing her obviously critical condition, Ha-chan searched his pockets.
What he took out was a Rejuvenation Pill, the kind Ahyu always told him to carry.
“...Mr. Ha-chan?”
“You’re a mess. Ms. Yu U-jeong, take this for now.”
Yu U-jeong looked at him with faintly opened eyes.
That red lightning from a moment ago… it was definitely him.
Because the report she'd received for her mission mentioned his red lightning.
Why did he save her?
Because he didn't know she was part of Alterz?
That couldn't be.
Judging by Baeksa's conversation earlier, someone must have told him her identity.
So why did he save her?
“Why… did you save me? You must have heard that I’m a spy.”
She doesn't trust people.
She had lived in a world where betraying others and being betrayed was the norm.
Having grown up in the favelas of Brazil, where only two out of a hundred people lived to see adulthood, she could never forget the life she was born into, even after joining Alterz.
That's why, even after becoming an S-rank hunter, she never revealed herself to the world.
And even in Alterz, she only cooperated by taking on missions as needed.
Because that's who the Gutter Empress was.
“That’s that, but right now, you’re a member of our team.”
Hearing his next words, she felt a surge of sorrow that made her want to cry.
She doesn't trust people.
Men only ever saw her as a woman they wanted to sleep with or as a disposable tool.
They never considered her anything more.
But Ha-chan had never once fallen for her.
And even now, there was no love or romantic emotion in the way he looked at her.
He had truly, literally come to save her just because she was his teammate.
“...Mr. Ha-chan, do you like me? Why else would you come to save a spy?”
“No, I don't. Spy or not, I told you, I came because you're a teammate. Besides, it was so obvious you were a spy, I didn't really care.”
Hearing such a clear-cut rejection, Yu U-jeong let out a hollow laugh.
After all her attempts to seduce him, to be treated as just a teammate… for a moment, she wondered if she was that unattractive.
But funnily enough, hearing those words made her realize that he truly did see her as a teammate.
‘I’m weak to this kind of thing.’
Is it because this has never happened before?
For the first time, Yu U-jeong realized she had a weakness for this.
‘I think I just took a bigger hit than the one from Beam Sniper.’
Maybe he should take some responsibility.
With that thought, Yu U-jeong had to admit that the tables had been turned on her.
*
After giving Yu U-jeong the Rejuvenation Pill, I looked over at the unconscious Beam Sniper.
‘Just as I thought. If I slam them with a high-output burst of aura all at once, they can't react.’
Having just experienced that firsthand, I clenched and unclenched the fist that had sent Beam Sniper flying.
‘Ahyu did say that even a returnee could be caught off guard if they underestimated me.’
That's why, even though Beam Sniper was an S-rank hunter, he couldn't follow my instantaneous movement.
But Ahyu also warned me.
This only works against those who aren't skilled in martial combat. If it were a professionally trained fighter, the moment they dodged my single attack, I'd be the one to go down.
I have high output, not high skill.
I just move so fast that the opponent can't keep up.
In fact, Eunnamu managed to catch me back then by that slim margin, even when I had deployed my full-power aura.
‘This isn't enough.’
Full-power aura is, at best, a last resort.
It's a tactic I can only use when facing a single opponent.
The moment there are two enemies, my chances of winning plummet.
No matter how I try to use it in bursts, I'll just get weaker and weaker.
‘The average aura output I've managed to maintain is 3%.’
Training with Ahyu and Baeksan.
Thanks to that, and various recent events, I've succeeded in raising my average aura usage to 3%.
Of course, I know that even at 3%, I can alter its power by compressing the aura.
I still remember blowing away that shadow beast with a single Brain Thunder at 1%.
‘But it's not easy to do without intense focus.’
It requires a level of concentration I can only achieve when pushed to my absolute limit, so it's not easy to use in normal situations.
Thanks to that, my body's average level is about that of a B-rank hunter.
Which leads to the conclusion that my instantaneous output is on par with a returnee.
‘Still, thanks to that, I was able to take down the S-rank hunter Beam Sniper in a single blow.’
It was lucky for me that shattering his weapon with my ability momentarily froze his thoughts and delayed his reaction.
‘If it had been that one, though.’
I looked at the white-haired old man pinned under Eunhyeon's butt.
That man is definitely the S-rank hunter from Hong Kong known as Baeksa.
It seems he's a bad match-up for Eunhyeon, but if I had fought him, I probably would have been the one to lose.
“Hey. Mr. Ha-chan…”
While I was lost in thought, I saw Yu U-jeong manage to pull herself together and look up at me.
It seemed the Rejuvenation Pill had helped her recover a bit.
“You were speaking informally earlier, so I thought we were dropping the formalities. Guess not?”
“Ugh, don't be mean. You knew I was acting.”
“Fine by me.”
I shrugged, then sat down in front of her with my back to her.
“Get on. I'll carry you to the hospital.”
Now that Yu U-jeong had released her beast transformation, I could carry her easily.
Seeing me, she looked around, unsure of where to look, before finally giving up and getting on my back.
The weight on my back was a fresh reminder that she was, in fact, a woman.
Then, Yu U-jeong grumbled.
“...I know I don't really believe in that stuff, and I know you're just saying it. But when you say things like 'teammate' in a situation like this, I might actually start to believe you, so don't.”
“But it's the truth. You're officially registered as part of our team, so as your manager, I have to protect you.”
“What kind of manager in the world protects their team's hunter with brute force…?”
“You shouldn't look at the world with such a narrow view.”
Funnily enough, now that we were being open with each other, we could talk more comfortably.
She probably knew it too.
As if embarrassed by her past actions, she buried her face in my shoulder and wouldn't lift her head.
“Ha-chan hyung-nim!”
“Wow, what a mess.”
Seo-ho and Jo Si-a, who had come after my call, commented as they looked at the scene of scattered hunters.
Jo Si-a tapped one of the hunter's faces, then spotted Beam Sniper, whom I had slammed into a wall in the distance.
“Yikes, isn't this guy Beam Sniper? Graduate Kang Ha-chan, aren't you playing on too grand a scale? This guy is in the top 100 for long-range combat.”
“He couldn't react at close range.”
“Really? Well, I guess that makes sense for a guy who snipes from the back.”
Jo Si-a skillfully restrained Beam Sniper with a pair of handcuffs she pulled from who-knows-where, then turned back to me.
“By the way, with foreign hunters invading like this, I don't think our Bureau Chief will just sit back and watch.”
“Bureau Chief? You mean the head of the Korean Hunter Management Bureau?”
“Yup, you know his name, right? He's probably pretty pissed off because of this Alterz business.”
Wasn't Jo Si-a, the one who stormed out of Alterz, the cause of that?
Whether she knew that or not, she tied up all the hunters and made a call.
It seemed she was arranging for a vehicle to transport the hunters.
An S-rank and multiple A-rank hunters fighting in a civilian area… they wouldn't be able to avoid legal punishment.
“But this means you'll get dragged into it too, Graduate Kang Ha-chan?”
I was the one who subdued them.
So Jo Si-a was saying that I wouldn't be able to just walk away from this situation.
Of course, I had no intention of avoiding it.
I was part of the cause, after all, and it would be necessary for a proper investigation.
Just then, Ms. Eunhyeon smiled at me and spoke.
“We will assist you. Let's speak with the Hunter Management Bureau together.”
Thankfully, it seemed the World Returnee Association was going to help.
‘Besides, I can't let this go on forever.’
There's a conflict within Alterz, and the sparks are flying our way.
One way or another, I have to settle things with Alterz.
“...I'll take care of all those Alterz bastards myself.”
At that moment, Seo-ho, grinding his teeth, spoke with furious eyes.
He's going to cause trouble.
I glanced at Jo Si-a, and she took the hint, moving to Seo-ho's side.
“Hey, you can't do that. We've been investigating this too. Seo-ho, Seo-ho, this could blow up into a Korea versus Alterz situation. If we, as S-rank hunters from Korea, clash with Alterz now, we'll just be giving them an excuse.”
“Wouldn't this have been over if you hadn't spouted nonsense and left Alterz in the first place?”
“Hey, you were the one who left first, Ha Seo-ho!”
Watching Jo Si-a shout back as if wronged, I looked back at Yu U-jeong on my back.
“Ms. Yu U-jeong, so what's the situation with Alterz?”
She was the spy Alterz had planted on my side.
So, I asked, figuring I should hear the opinion of the person most involved. She buried her face in my shoulder and sighed.
“Opinions have always been divided within Alterz. There's the faction that says we need to actively restrain Korea, and the faction that asks what we're supposed to do when the World Returnee Association is protecting the Korean hunter market.”
That conflict seems inevitable.
“One thing's for sure: Alterz isn't happy about this situation either. If an exception like Korea is made, there's no guarantee it won't happen again in the future.”
“Maintaining the status quo, huh. But don't you think the things Alterz does are pretty petty?”
“I won't deny it. Alterz has become pretty stagnant since its founding. But the organization wasn't originally formed to do petty things.”
She clicked her tongue as if to say there were complicated interests involved.
“In the past, even if not to the same extent as returnees, hunters were treated like weapons that protected a nation. You know how a country's power was determined by the number of high-rank hunters it had, right? Because of that, each nation tried to tie down its high-rank hunters however it could.”
Seo-ho and Jo Si-a didn't seem to disagree with that.
“So, the high-rank hunters also needed a way to protect themselves from their nations. No matter how powerful a hunter is, it's hard for an individual to beat an organization. So they decided to become an organization themselves.”
“And that's Alterz.”
“That's right. An organization founded by high-rank hunters to protect themselves from the massive power of their nations. That's Alterz.”
But Seo-ho didn't look convinced.
“But that's all meaningless now, isn't it?”
“Like I said before, its initial founding purpose has become meaningless.”
She agreed with Seo-ho.
“They've become more powerful than most nations. They tried to protect themselves from power, but ended up wielding it instead.”
People are always like that.
They start with the goal of protecting themselves, but once the situation stabilizes, they turn their eyes to other things.
This was a clear glimpse into why Alterz had fallen in Baeksan's world.