Aftermath (4)
I trained with Na Sang-min as usual.
For the first fifteen minutes, we warmed up with barehanded sparring.
Pak-pak-pak!
Na Sang-min clenched his fist and attacked Lee Ji-jun at a speed the eye couldn’t follow.
Just because he was a swordsman didn’t mean he was weak in hand-to-hand combat.
Na Sang-min was a master of physical technique.
Even unarmed, he was skilled enough to tear a man apart with his bare hands.
“Ghk!”
Lee Ji-jun was too busy dodging Na Sang-min’s attacks to do anything else.
Then, before long, he took a hit to the stomach.
“Oof…!”
Clutching his belly, Lee Ji-jun rolled across the floor.
“M-Master Na. Your fists seem a little emotional today.”
“Huh? Not at all. Next. Choi Yongki, get in here.”
I stepped up to face Na Sang-min.
Is it just my imagination?
For some reason, I could feel hostility coming off him.
He’s not still suspicious about that Purple Devil business from last time, is he?
“Start.”
Before I had time to think, Na Sang-min’s fist came flying at me.
Pak-pak!!
My palm stung from batting away his blows.
Each strike was heavy, brutal, and unforgiving.
It suddenly crossed my mind that Na Sang-min would’ve been a monster even if he’d chosen some other field instead of swordsmanship.
“Oh? You’ve got the nerve to space out on me?”
Na Sang-min brought his heel down on my crown.
Instinctively, I twisted my body and raised my elbow toward his jaw.
Click.
Our motions stopped, as if time itself had frozen.
My right elbow hovered near Na Sang-min’s chin.
I didn’t actually hit him; I’d halted the strike at the exact point of impact.
“Hmm.”
Na Sang-min muttered to himself.
“You, Choi Yongki, you’ve gotten a lot better lately.”
For the Mad Dog who cursed at the world to actually praise me—it was almost shocking.
I smiled to myself.
Not long ago, I’d been going through a serious slump.
I hadn’t improved unless I relied on my hero powers.
So I’d gone in and out of Pigrum countless times, beating down the strong in Gyeongso Daejeon to sharpen myself.
Only after stubborn effort and a mountain of experience had I finally reached the full strength of an A-class hunter.
“Of course, you’re still nowhere near there yet.”
Looking closely, I saw the blade of Na Sang-min’s hand resting against my side.
If he’d driven in just ten centimeters farther, my ribs would’ve been shattered.
To be held in check this much even while he was going easy on me...
That’s enough to make your blood run cold.
Lee Ji-jun stared at me blankly.
Then, as if he were feeling a stab of jealousy, he pouted his lips.
Na Sang-min spun on his heel.
“Next!”
The second round of training was weapons practice.
Lee Ji-jun had created a new tool out of his own blood.
A bow with a mechanical structure.
A compound bow, in other words.
With a motion so slight it looked like he was hooking it with his fingertips, Lee Ji-jun released the string.
Taang!!
A sound like a gunshot rang out, and a blood arrow buried itself in the target.
Not only was the shot dead-center with absurd precision, but the power behind it was insane.
It pierced through ten layers of plywood mounted on the wall.
“Okay.”
Na Sang-min gave a satisfied nod.
“Hmph.”
Lee Ji-jun shrugged at me with a smug look that seemed to say, Well?
At Na Sang-min’s call, I took my place before him.
I gripped my sword, took up an unusual stance, and lowered my center of gravity.
The one-strike killing form of Ilcheon-illyu.
“Yeomhwa, First Form!”
Red flames burst up from Heoksikdo.
The slash fired from the tip of the blade slammed into the wall.
There it is.
Not long ago, I couldn’t use Yeomhwa.
No matter how much I practiced, it had remained a technique I couldn’t master.
And then, on the brink of death at a fire scene, I’d finally succeeded.
Living as a hero was never easy.
Back when I fought Dirty Kraken, I nearly sank to the bottom of the sea and died.
During Gyeongso Daejeon, my whole body had gone up in flames.
They were horrifying experiences I never wanted to go through again.
But I’d gained something from them, too.
I’m growing one step at a time.
Today, compared to yesterday.
And tomorrow, compared to today.
I was getting stronger, little by little.
If I kept going like this, then someday...
Maybe I really could reach the strongest hero in the world.
With a goal in mind and nowhere else to look but forward, I felt my thoughts growing clearer and clearer.
I’m actually pretty damn happy.
Na Sang-min looked at the target and rounded his lips in surprise.
“Oh?”
All twenty sheets of plywood had been burned pitch-black.
The concrete behind them was gouged in as though some monster had raked it with its claws.
“When did you learn Yeomhwa?”
“All thanks to you, Master Na.”
“Heh. You sly little wolf.”
Just as we were exchanging those warm words of praise...
I felt a blazing, simmering glare from somewhere nearby.
Lee Ji-jun was glaring at me, breathing hard.
“I can do it too, Master Na!!”
He sprang to his feet and began firing off blood arrows in a frenzy.
Then the door opened, and an elderly manager stepped into the training room.
“Master Na! Again? Again! Why would you tear the wall up like that!”
There were rules in the training room.
First: don’t overuse mana abilities.
Second: take care of the facility.
“It wasn’t me! They did it! Hey! You’re paying for this today!”
A storm of chaotic shouting filled the room.
“Thank you for your hard work, Master Na.”
Once training was over, we all split up to handle our own business.
I finished showering and headed outside.
Then, all of a sudden, an alarm rang in my ear.
Ding.
Balance:￦457,991,370
Balance has been reduced by more than half.
…
I stopped walking.
For a long moment, I just stared at the blue window.
It was something I already knew.
The money that had once totaled around one billion won had dropped to less than half of that.
That was the result of everything I’d been doing as a hero.
Starting with turning Big Lava into minced meat,
killing the head of the Dio Guild and the Cheonyang-ji cult leader,
cutting through the sea to take down Dirty Kraken,
hunting villains, saving people,
summoning the legendary sacred beast Haechi...
Now that I thought about it, it all felt like a dream.
The problem was...
What do I do now?
If this kept up, before long that number would hit zero.
The good news was that the more I spent, the stronger I became.
My current level was A-class.
If I could increase my Awakener's Balance, what would happen then?
I’m confident I could at least become an S-class hunter.
An S-class hunter was power worthy of being called the best in the country.
But...
There were quite a few SS-class hunters overseas.
And SSS-class hunters existed too.
To reach that kind of level...
I’m still desperately short on money.
Was there really no way to increase Awakener's Balance?
While I was lost in thought, another sound chimed.
When your balance falls below 20%, we will tell you how the deposit method works.
My eyes snapped wide open so hard it felt like thunder had cracked beside my ears.
That was new.
And an incredible piece of news.
As if it had read my mind, a hint had finally appeared about how to increase my money.
If one billion won was the base, then twenty percent of that would be...
Two hundred million won.
I was curious.
So curious it was almost driving me crazy.
How much more could it grow?
Ten million? One hundred million? One billion...?
What kind of method were they talking about?
The questions kept piling on top of one another.
Still, I couldn’t just waste money until it naturally fell to two hundred million.
Awakener's Balance was the fuel for my hero powers.
I had to use it at the right place and the right time.
Even if they told me how the deposit worked...
There was still a chance it could fail.
So I couldn’t let my guard down.
I ran through the possibilities and built my plan in my head.
At the same time, I felt a sense of relief.
Good.
I had a reason to keep going as a hero.
I can push farther.
To become the strongest hero.
To save humanity.
This life, I’d reach the grand goal I’d set for myself.
Leaving the blue window floating in the air behind me, I walked down the hallway with light steps.
Half a month passed.
The articles about Gyeongso Daejeon, which had once dominated the media, gradually dwindled.
On the other hand, a new set of stories began to rise.
Conflict between villain organizations is intensifying. A series of murders has claimed multiple senior members of the Dark Alliance...
Quarter has systematically eliminated Dark Alliance executives in Jeollabuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Jeollanam-do...
After the Dark Alliance, the newly risen organization is being called New Dark...
Quarter was methodically murdering the Dark Alliance leadership.
He’d already wiped out executives in Jeollabuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Jeollanam-do.
After clearing out the higher-ups all across the country, Quarter had built his own empire.
Ryu Su-hon came striding over with a tense, flushed face.
“Brother Choi! How long are we supposed to sit here sucking our thumbs?”
This was behind the press conference stage.
Today, the prosecution and the hunters were set to officially announce a joint operation to capture villains.
“Brother Choi. We need to show some action, anything at all!”
Since we’d been working cases together lately, Ryu Su-hon had gotten more and more casual with me.
“Prosecutor Ryu. You’re dropping the polite act now. Fine, I’ll drop mine too.”
“Hey, that’s not what matters. What are we going to do about that Quarter guy?”
“He’s almost here. Wait.”
“Ah! How much longer?”
Quarter was a slippery bastard.
Even in my past life, nobody knew his face, his height, his build, or even his gender.
“He’s the one doing all the cleaning up for us, so isn’t that convenient?”
Quarter was moving around the country, diligently eliminating the villain executives for us.
It was a two-for-one deal; I didn’t even have to dirty my own hands.
As if frustrated by my relaxed answer, Ryu Su-hon thumped his chest and then answered a call that came in.
“Huh? What? Really?”
After talking for a while, he hung up and came back to me.
“Quarter’s taken over Busan too. What now?”
The leader of New Dark had united the villains and swallowed up South Korea whole.
“If you want to catch a rat that keeps slipping away, you have to drive it into a corner.”
“What the hell does that mean...?”
Just then, the microphone crackled to life.
“Next, we’ll introduce the hunter selected by the prosecution. Typhon of the Dio Guild, Choi Yongki, please come up.”
I stepped onto the podium under the barrage of camera flashes.
Ryu Su-hon stood off to the side, watching me.
“Hunter Choi! How do you feel about serving as a hunter representative and a prosecutor’s investigator in this joint operation?”
“You’re being called the hero hunter. Are you confident about this case too?”
“When did you first start coordinating with the prosecution?”
“Quarter has been designated a Class 1 wanted criminal. Are you at all afraid of him?”
Amid the barrage of questions, I said, “Hunters are always afraid. We live with death at our side. But if it’s something I have to do as a hunter, I’ll carry out my duty and come back.”
The questions kept coming.
“Quarter’s whereabouts are unknown. Do you know where the suspect is?”
There was a reason I’d intentionally left Quarter alone.
South Korea was small, yet somehow vast.
Even if we searched every inch of it, if Quarter decided to hide seriously, there would be no way to find him.
So...
“I’ve received intelligence on Quarter’s location. I plan to go there tomorrow.”
“Where is that?”
All the Dark Alliance executives were dead, except for one.
“Jeju Island.”
The largest volcanic island in the southwest sea.
That was where Quarter was now.
On an island, the battlefield had boundaries.
It made hunting Quarter much easier.
The only information I’d gained about him through my past life was this:
His personality.
He’s fiercely competitive and hates losing.
If I made a formal announcement like this in public...
He’ll have no choice but to get stirred up.
Statistically, instead of running away...
He’ll want to face me head-on.
That suited me just fine.
Only then did Ryu Su-hon, who’d been watching all this, light up with relief.
He shot both thumbs up in the air.
A reporter thrust a microphone toward me.
“What do you think about the Purple Devil who appeared during Gyeongso Daejeon? The Purple Devil is also a Class 1 wanted criminal.”
I checked the broadcaster’s name printed on the microphone.
It was one of the outlets that had always written especially negative pieces about the Purple Devil.
There are all kinds of people in this world.
And each of them has a different opinion.
I’d never once assumed the Purple Devil would be welcomed by everybody.
Heh. This is funny.
As the hunter Choi Yongki, I was loved by the public.
As the Purple Devil, I’d picked up some pretty bitter anti-fans.
And yet it’s the same me.
The reporter’s question was basically asking the man himself what he thought of himself.
If a first-rate liar got asked a question like that, it was only natural to answer.
“The Purple Devil is a criminal, too.”
Staring straight into the cameras, I spoke with complete confidence.
“Someday, I’ll arrest him, too.”