Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Price of Choice
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Early in the dawn, Kang Jin-su stepped outside.
He walked for a while before turning his head to scan the surroundings.
Confirming that nothing was there, he slipped into a secluded alleyway.
"Long time no see, Mr. Civil Servant."
Two men appeared in front of Kang Jin-su as he entered the alley—one a hulking brute, the other with a youthful face.
The burly man spoke first.
His face was covered in scars.
Already fierce-looking, the scars only amplified his savage aura.
"Ah, Mr. Tae-hoon. You're early."
Kang Jin-su offered a slight smile and a greeting to the man in front of him, then a brief nod to the one who'd come with him.
The scarred man's name was Ji Tae-hoon, a hunter.
The one he always brought along was his cherished son.
His son was a hunter too, just like his father, Ji Tae-hoon.
"So, what's this sudden thing? Calling me out so urgently like this."
Once greetings were exchanged, Ji Tae-hoon cut straight to the chase.
Kang Jin-su had reached out first, making this meeting happen.
"Judging by that look on your face, it's probably not good news again, huh? Heh."
Ji Tae-hoon emphasized "again." He flashed yellowed teeth in a grin as a bonus.
He was currently active as a C-rank hunter and belonged to a guild.
On the surface, he seemed like a normal hunter, but the reality was different.
For starters, his guild wasn't legitimate.
Ji Tae-hoon's guild was the Black Sun Guild.
It was a guild in name only, without official permission.
Yet it ran smoothly anyway.
Because plenty of people sought out the Black Sun Guild.
They handled "helping" people.
Of course, not the legal kind.
It was a guild that took care of dirty, unspeakable problems—fixer work, essentially.
That's where Ji Tae-hoon and his son had thrown in their lot.
He'd lived a rough life even before the world changed like this.
Rough meaning jobs similar to what he did now, but that experience let him hold his own in the Black Sun Guild.
The world was in this state anyway—no one was truly strong.
The survivors were the strong ones.
Tae-hoon had lived by those words ever since the cataclysm.
But as time passed, he realized surviving alone wasn't enough.
His son existed.
The late-born boy—he was guiding him, building his experience so he could survive in this world.
And now.
"I don't know what this job is, but it's probably the usual. Only this time, instead of cash, I want something else. Can you swing that?"
He hadn't heard the details yet, but fixer gigs were predictably mundane.
As he spoke, Tae-hoon leaned in close to Kang Jin-su and whispered.
"My boy's still stuck at F-rank. I'd like him bumped up to D-rank. You can pull that off at your level, right, Jin-su?"
It was a request to raise his son's hunter rank.
Ji Tae-hoon's son, Ji Sung-min, was an F-rank hunter.
There was E-rank above F, but Tae-hoon specified D.
He was asking for a two-step promotion.
E-rank didn't mean much, really.
Newbies fresh into Hunter Academy got E-rank right away, so the gap between E and F was negligible.
But his son's weak spirit kept tripping him up—even E-rank promotions kept failing.
D-rank was when you could call yourself a proper hunter, so Tae-hoon always worried about his boy.
That's why he was making this request—not quite a plea, more like subtle blackmail.
Kang Jin-su knew it full well.
"The usual requests from me are predictable. Well, if this job goes smoothly, I'll put in the effort."
And the answer he wanted came from the man's mouth.
From Kang Jin-su's position, easily boosting someone else's hunter rank was tough—practically impossible.
But this job had solid backing.
Kim Suho.
Who was Kim Suho?
The future leader of the country's top guild, the Holy Guild.
Such a promising figure was his academy classmate.
And.
'Kim Suho's been itching to crush Yi Kang-hyun for a while too.'
In short, Kim Suho was the backer for this job.
If it went well, tweaking a rank would be a breeze.
"It's the usual drill. So, you in?"
Kang Jin-su spoke confidently, and only then did Tae-hoon grin.
He hadn't heard the details yet, but it was always something similar.
"Straight to the point—I like it. Alright, lay out the job."
From here on, it would be just between the two of them.
Tae-hoon headed to the dungeon with his son.
To carry out the commission Kang Jin-su had described.
"An F-rank hunter as the target? Really?"
Ji Tae-hoon clicked his tongue.
The request for his son's rank-up was just a test balloon.
He had expected an immediate no from Kang Jin-su himself.
But the man had promised to handle the promotion if the job was done right.
How tough could this commission be to warrant that?
The thought crossed his mind for a second.
But when he heard the details, the target was just an F-rank hunter.
And it wasn't about killing.
It was okay to cut off an arm or a leg, inflict as much pain as possible, and bring the person back alive.
They even said they would take care of the aftermath when the job was done.
"Is it really this easy?"
He even double-checked if what he heard was really true.
Upon doing so, Kang Jin-su response was to nod his head and even film the other party suffering.
'That guy must be crazy.'
It wasn't something he should say after accepting such a request, but what kind of grudge did the other party have to make such a request?
Did an F-rank even make enemies?
It wasn't hard anyway, so he accepted.
His son's rank-up was on the line—who'd say no?
'Orc dungeon, right?'
The commissioner, Kang Jin-su, worked at the Awakener Center as a hunter.
Low-rank lackey, but being a civil servant had perks.
Like knowing the target's location for jobs like this.
"Heading into the dungeon this early? Diligent guy."
He liked diligent types.
But this time, he got the wrong person.
He also had to take on the request himself, so he couldn't help it, but he silently wished him well.
As he entered the entrance of the dungeon, he checked his equipment once again.
First, he checked his son's equipment and then checked his own.
As he finished, Tae-hoon had advised his son.
"Sung-min, stay right behind Dad, got it?"
"Y-yeah... D-Dad..."
Ji Sung-min mumbled from behind in a crawling voice.
Gear check done, Ji Tae-hoon entered the dungeon.
Real combat started now.
He kept glancing back to ensure his son followed.
The boy had a soft heart.
Still, if he kept bringing him along, he'd eventually pull his weight as a hunter.
He dragged his son everywhere, waiting for that day.
A few minutes after walking together.
He spotted someone in the distance.
Stopping at a safe range, Ji Tae-hoon infused mana into his eyes.
The distant figure sharpened into focus.
'......'
The target's name: Yi Kang-hyun.
F-rank hunter.
Trait: Necromancer.
According to Kang Jin-su, he had one skeleton with him.
The figure he was watching had something summon-like beside him too.
Cloaked in a robe and mask—couldn't make out details.
Didn't matter.
'Probably the skeleton, like they said.'
The guy probably dressed it up to hide his skills.
Necromancers weren't flashy traits anyway.
Summon and command undead legions.
Sounds great, but in practice, overlooked.
Even skilled necromancers hit hard limits on undead numbers.
Higher-grade undead quickly maxed out control capacity.
Stable control topped out at C-rank undead.
Anything higher was a maintenance nightmare.
And the real issue: the necromancer himself was exposed.
Common summoner flaw—kill the summoner, and summons are irrelevant.
Unless loaded with top gear, but this kid wasn't.
'Gear's mediocre—no real threat.'
Not some prodigy, just an F-rank with one F-rank skeleton.
There didn't seem to be any major variables there.
"It was completely free."
Gradually, the initial wariness faded.
All they had to do was decide how to deal with that person.
However, it wasn't a big problem that the hunter's grade was F and yet he had come to a D-grade orc dungeon, although it was unclear why.
Sometimes there were such individuals.
Perhaps that guy didn't even know himself.
"But why are there so many orc corpses here?"
Orc corpses were scattered all over the dungeon.
"Hmm."
Just the sight of the orc corpses was staggering in numbers.
Someone must have come and killed them first.
It was unthinkable that the F-rank hunter in front of them and the skeleton he summoned had hunted the orcs.
It seemed that several parties had entered before.
"Let's watch a little longer."
No matter how much of a freebie the mission was, there was no harm in being cautious.
Ji Tae-hoon continued to observe the other party.
But even after observing, nothing changed.
He couldn't see the other party hunting.
"Well, they probably can't hunt orcs."
Instead, they seemed relaxed as they checked their smartphone.
"What's this?"
They were too relaxed for entering a dungeon that didn't match their rank.
And not long after, they moved from their spot.
He left the dungeon.
Tae-hoon grabbed his son and tailed Yi Kang-hyun.
Moments later, Yi Kang-hyun entered a dungeon.
'Skeleton dungeon?'
An F-rank one, too.
It's a dungeon where only simple skeletons appear without any dangerous entities.
Did he finally find a dungeon that matches his grade?
Ji Tae-hoon saw his chance.
F-rank meant no stray monsters to worry about—just hit the target.
Time to execute.
Ji Tae-hoon boldly entered the dungeon with his son.
He was planning to subdue the opponent immediately.
And as soon as they entered the dungeon, Tae-hoon saw it.
The fact that the man in front of him, Yi Kang-hyun staring right at him.
'Huh?'
A moment of confusion.
A warning bell rang in his head that it was dangerous.
His body immediately reacted and raised his weapon.
Squelch—
He felt pain in his side.
"D-Dad...?"
And a startled voice from behind, his son shouting.
Tae-hoon turned his head to the side, enduring the pain.
There was a familiar figure there.
The summon of the man he had seen earlier.
The black robe and mask suited each other eerily well.
And there was even a black shining sword.
"Heh..."
The blade had pierced his side clean through.
Blood poured out.
Like the sword craved it, overflowing relentlessly.
"Listen... hear me out."
Tae-hoon raised a hand toward the target.
This summon was no mere skeleton.
This presence alone screamed beyond F-rank.
He'd been played.
But he had to talk.
"I never... meant to harm you... Ngh, at all..."
He forced the words through the pain.
"Just took a job... that's it, really."
Then he begged desperately.
p>"Please... I'm begging. Spare my son."
<
"I beg you... Spare me. At least my son."
He meant his son's life.
The bleeding was too severe at the moment.
He needed immediate treatment, but he didn't think his opponent would let him go.
He had no hope, so he wanted to save his son at least.
And in response to his words, the man, Yi Kang-hyun, smiled.
At the same time, the sword that had been piercing his side was pulled out.
"Kuk."
The pain increased even more.
It was strange.
The pain was so great that he felt he might die any moment.
He thought it fortunate that at least it could end here.
And at the same time.
He heard the sound of a blade piercing something else.
"?"
There was no time to think about what that sound was.
"Gaaahhh!"
His son, Ji Sung-min, screamed.
The blade that had pierced him was now piercing his son.
Tae-hoon trembled and turned back.
There, all that existed was the sight of his son's legs pierced by the sword.