Thirty Seconds Left
“You crossed the line first.”
With those words, Lee Seoyun unleashed every ounce of his power.
Kang Hanna slowly shook her head as she looked at him, his sword already aimed at her.
“You’re lying, right? Seoyun……”
Even as she looked at him, she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
They had spent more than twenty years together, and she had never once seen this side of him.
Lee Seoyun not only pointed his sword at her, he’d gone so far as to hurl those words at her.
So she kept shaking her head, denying the reality in front of her.
“S-Seoyun! Please, don’t do this! Please, just stop now!”
Kang Hanna pleaded desperately, but it was useless.
End Blossom.
Thirty seconds from now.
All of his power would break past its limits.
“Senior Hanna. There’s nothing more to talk about. Leave this to me.”
At that moment, S-Rank Hunter Park Jongwoo stepped forward.
This was his chance to seize the spotlight properly. He brandished his massive axe at Lee Seoyun, putting on a show.
“Hey, Lee Seoyun. You’re not a Hunter anymore, so I don’t have to call you senior, right?”
“……”
“You criminal bastard! You’d better be ready. My axe won’t show you any mercy—”
- KUGUGUGUGUGUGUNG!
In that instant, no one even understood what had happened.
“Huh……?”
One of the Hunters blinked dumbly, mouth hanging open.
Lee Seoyun, who had been standing there a moment ago, had vanished in the blink of an eye, and Park Jongwoo, who should have been beside him, was nowhere to be seen either.
A beat too late, the Hunters turned around.
There, a single building had collapsed in on itself.
“Ah. Uh…….”
And there, Park Jongwoo lay pinned beneath the wreckage, letting out nothing but a pitiful scream.
Lee Seoyun slowly straightened, his hand still clamped around the man’s face.
“...Twenty-eight seconds.”
He looked at the remaining Hunters and murmured under his breath.
＊
Hunter Association Headquarters, in some country.
In the break room there, a man was twitching on the sofa as if he’d been knocked out.
“Damn it, did I drink way too much yesterday? I still feel like I’m going to puke.”
He pressed a hand to his forehead, remembering how he’d spent the whole day drinking with the deputy director.
“If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve stopped at round two… Ugh, no, forget it. I’m going home early today and getting some rest……”
“Guild Master! Big trouble! Big trouble!”
But contrary to his wishes, someone burst through the door.
At the guild member’s frantic look, the man shut his eyes in despair.
“Listen, I’m seriously getting the feeling I need to take today off, so… couldn’t you just handle it yourselves?”
“It’s not the time for that. Hurry up and look at this!”
At the member’s urging, the man had no choice but to sit up.
Rubbing at his temple, he let out a long sigh.
“Haa. What is it now? Who’s causing trouble this time?”
“It’s not one of ours. It’s Korea!”
“Korea? Why are they suddenly—”
As far as he knew, nothing had been wrong there lately.
Instead of explaining, the guild member opened a video on the laptop.
“Haah. Twenty minutes? And when am I supposed to watch all of this?”
He muttered irritably and clicked the video anyway.
It was another country’s problem, after all. He figured he’d take a quick look, figure out what was going on, and get back to his own business.
“……”
But not long after, the bored man’s expression gradually changed.
By then, he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.
“What is this…….”
A single Hunter was taking down dozens of other Hunters alone. And in an utterly overwhelming, brutal fashion.
By now, he had long since forgotten his hangover.
“See? I told you this wasn’t a joke. Those guys are losing their minds because of this right now!”
“……”
“Word is he’s S-Rank. They’re saying Hunters from all over the country have gathered just to catch this one person.”
The guild member kept chattering beside him, but the man didn’t answer. He stayed focused on the video.
Even after it ended, he kept staring at the screen for a long moment.
Then he lit a cigarette and leaned back into the sofa.
“So. Korea, was it?”
“Yes. They said it happened an hour ago, so I’m guessing it’s probably been cleaned up by now.”
“I wonder……”
From the looks of it, that didn’t seem like someone easy to catch.
As he closed his eyes and fell into thought, the guild member muttered beside him.
“Haa. What are we supposed to do for now? They’re even talking about executing this Hunter in Korea……”
“What, executing him?”
The man shot up from the sofa, and the guild member nodded.
“Yes. Because of that, S-Ranks all over the world are watching too. If it happens, it’ll be the first time in history an S-Rank Hunter is executed by a nation.”
“That Hunter… they’re really going to kill him?”
That seemed a little, no, a lot too wasteful.
If that was the case, then maybe he should rather…….
“G-Guild Master?”
“……”
“Hey?”
No matter how many times the guild member called, he didn’t answer.
Instead, he stood there thinking hard for a long time, then seemed to make up his mind and looked at the guild member.
“Hold on. Give me your phone.”
“Huh? Oh, here.”
The guild member handed it over, still not understanding.
After searching through the Hunters’ numbers, the man looked up at him and asked,
“Who’s in Korea right now?”
＊
Kwaaaaaaaang!
With the explosion, the entire building shook.
On the rooftop, I looked down at the Hunter writhing in my hand.
“Ghhhhh! You crazy bastard… you’re really attacking us!?”
“……”
“K-kekekeke. You’re finished now, you piece of shit. How the hell are you planning to deal with this afterward?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”
Crunch!
I drove my fist straight into the bastard’s smirking face.
His features caved in, and he stopped moving altogether.
“Seventeen seconds……”
I looked around. More than half the S-Rank Hunters had already been thrown somewhere or another.
Five remained.
I hurled a dagger in an instant at one of the Hunters sneaking up from behind.
“Kkh—!?”
Clang!
She barely blocked it, but that alone was enough to wreck her stance completely.
I didn’t waste the opening and lunged at her at once.
“W-wait!”
I heard her begging, but it wasn’t worth listening to.
Crunch-crunch-crunch—
I stomped down on her leg and crushed it beneath my weight.
“Aaaaagh!?”
Bang!
Then I slammed her into the ground, and after that she couldn’t even scream anymore.
“Fourteen seconds.”
Passing the two downed Hunters, I looked at the others below.
“You insane bastard. How dare you do this to our S-Ranks!?”
“Everyone. We need to attack all at once. Let’s go together!”
“Right. Good idea……”
At that moment, before they even finished speaking, I jumped down.
Then I landed precisely between them and looked around at their faces.
“What are you waiting for? Weren’t you going to attack all at once?”
“W-wha…….”
“If you don’t come to me, then I’ll go to you.”
Thwack!
I drove a fist into the side of the man nearest me.
Then I threw him with all my strength into the building across from us.
“Y-you monster. You monster bastard!”
The Hunter beside him swung his sword, but it was useless. I blocked it with my dagger, then stabbed through his arm.
“Ghh!?”
I sneered at the Hunter who’d dropped his own sword.
To throw away your weapon just because your arm got stabbed once?
Thud. Thud-thud. Thud!
I stabbed him several times with the dagger.
“A-ah… ghuuuuh……”
He couldn’t even manage a proper scream before falling backward.
Eleven seconds.
Now there were only two left.
“D-die! You son of a bitch!!”
Then the one behind me shouted and lunged at me with a hand packed full of mana.
“Yeah. I’m curious too.”
“W-what?”
I snatched his arm in an instant and fixed his palm so it was pointed straight back at him.
“I wonder if this would really kill you if it hit.”
“W-what are you doing? Let go. Let go of this right now! You fucking bastard!!”
He struggled in panic, trying to break free, but it was useless.
His arm was already completely in my grip, and once mana had been gathered, it couldn’t be called back.
By then, the condensed power was ready to burst toward its owner.
“Let go, let go! Hurry up and let go!! Let go already, you goddamn—”
Bwoooooom!
The explosion cut him off before he could finish.
Instead, only one Hunter remained on the ground, felled by his own mana.
“Six seconds……”
Now there was only one Hunter left. And plenty of time.
I looked at Kang Hanna standing across from me.
She had gathered mana into her staff and was pointing it at me.
“P-please, just stop already. Seoyun.”
“……”
“You can still come back. I’ll help you! So let’s just……”
Whoosh!
I threw a dagger at her.
“Hng!?”
Clang— She barely managed to block it with the barrier she raised, but it didn’t matter.
That was just a decoy, after all.
By the time she realized it, I was already behind her.
I was planning to drop Kang Hanna here and then head straight for the Orion Guild.
“Lee Seoyun, enough already! Do you really not care what happens to Jian!?”
But only until that woman said my little sister’s name.
“I know exactly where Jian lives. Are you really going to do this?”
“Kang Hanna… how dare you bring up my little sister!”
Then two S-Rank Hunters who had just arrived attacked me from both sides.
Clang, clang. Clang!
I blocked every strike and leaped back.
More S-Ranks were arriving behind them, but that didn’t matter.
I stared at Kang Hanna in front of me as if I wanted to kill her on the spot.
“You know what, Seoyun?”
And yet she remained calm.
She only gave a bitter smile and said,
“Thirty seconds have already passed.”
Then she aimed her staff at me with the other Hunters.