The Stranger (3)
By now, I’d acquired a total of three heroes.
Each of them gave me two skills.
Super Kid’s Judgment of the Superhuman and Aura of God.
Speeder’s Infinite Acceleration and Regeneration.
Mr. Eden’s Allusia and Mirror Turn.
One enhanced raw physical force and shielded the body. Another let me run at impossible speed and heal through brutal regeneration. The last manipulated the mind and reflected magic back at its source. Every one of them was powerful enough to work even against an S-class Hunter.
“Kree!”
The Bullet Bird standing in front of me jabbed its beak forward, looking furious as hell.
What hero card was I supposed to use on this sparrow bastard?
The conclusion I reached was simple.
None.
I’d already fought one of these birds on the ground before.
The money I’d spent from my Awakener’s Balance was.
Zero won.
I’d killed the thing without spending a single damn penny.
How?
The sparrow had rushed me.
I’d sidestepped and cut across its body.
“Kree?!”
The bird had shuddered all over and let out a shriek.
Blood poured from its belly, soaking the white feathers around it red.
The team watching from behind me gasped in admiration.
“W-what?”
“...I didn’t even see it happen.”
I looked down at the sharp beak I was holding as if it were a sword.
“Tch. A little dull.”
I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
If I’d had the Black Eater Sword, I would’ve split it clean in half.
The reason I’d been able to wound the bird at all was thanks to One Heaven Style.
As long as I had a sword in hand, I could respond to monsters just fine.
Still, I was curious.
Without using hero skills, how far did I actually stand?
Probably around Seo Gwang-pal level, maybe.
My real ability was that of a C-class Hunter.
And beyond that—
“Kreee!”
Apparently enraged by the ambush, the Bullet Bird’s pupils went bloodshot as it spread its huge wings again.
It ignored its own ridiculous cry and charged.
This time it wasn’t a single attack.
Thudthudthud!!!
A rapid series of thrusts, like a fencer stabbing over and over.
Normally, I’d have needed Infinite Acceleration to dodge it.
No problem.
I lowered my stance and gripped the beak-blade firmly.
A circular pattern of mana appeared beneath my feet.
The diameter was about 2.5 meters.
The long beak sliced through the air and came at me.
I knocked away every single incoming strike in an instant.
“Kree?”
Even without using a hero skill, I was overwhelming it.
Why was that happening?
Because it had taken a fatal wound?
Because it was exhausted?
Because it had suddenly slowed down?
No.
It was because of Ganro-ryu, the absolute defense style.
I spun the beak-blade in my hand half a turn.
Entwined with the bird, I kept the fight going at a brutal pace.
My body feels light.
Its beak couldn’t even brush the collar of my clothes.
My swordsmanship was that solid, that airtight.
Of course, I was still a long way from keeping up with Speeder’s speed.
The special training I’d received from Na Sang-min and Simon was finally paying off.
With offense and defense both at my command, I could.
match a B-class Hunter.
The Bullet Bird was a Ruins-grade monster.
It was a threat that normally required an A-class Hunter to handle.
More than enough.
Not only had I gained a powerful sword style, but the Magical Circle, Blessing of Effort, had multiplied the results of my training.
I’d kept at it every single day without fail.
All those sweat-soaked hours had finally borne fruit.
That wasn’t all, either.
Go Ju-hun of the Dio Guild, Instructor Nike, the Apostle Yohan, the Cheonyang-ji cult leader, and more.
During that time, I’d fought life-or-death battles against strong enemies over and over again.
They say there’s no better experience than real combat.
My skills kept growing day by day.
Strength, endurance, attack power, defense, senses—
nothing was left behind.
Every single one of my abilities had risen sharply.
And finally,
every time I used a hero skill, I learned firsthand how to circulate mana through my body.
All of it had built the me I was now.
In other words, even without hero abilities, I was currently—
roughly on par with an A-class Hunter!
I swatted away the bird’s beak and countered in the same motion.
Thud.
The tip of the beak drove into the bird’s belly.
“K-kik! ...Kree?”
The Bullet Bird jerked and froze.
With a blank expression, I jabbed at its body again and again.
“What kind of seagull bastard are you, anyway? Why the hell do you keep screaming like that?”
Hot blood splattered across my face.
Sticky red droplets fell onto the floor.
The bird must have sensed death approaching, because it trembled in fear and tried to back away.
“Hey now. Stay still. You’ll only make it worse.”
I pulled the beak-blade out of its body.
A stinking gush of entrails poured through the hole.
“K-kik! Kikkreee!!!”
Well, look at that.
It flapped wildly, throwing a fit as if it were in agony.
In a last-ditch effort, the Bullet Bird focused mana into its beak.
It looked like it was preparing one final strike.
Its unfocused eyes shot straight for my face with desperate speed.
It probably wanted to pierce my skull and drag me down with it, but that wasn’t happening.
I twisted my head and narrowly dodged.
Then I threw the bird-beak knife I was holding.
With my bare hand, I grabbed the bird by the neck and wrenched.
“Kik!”
Its neckbone snapped at a grotesque angle, and the bird’s body went limp.
I couldn’t let my guard down.
These things were masters of pretending to be dead.
Back on the ground, one of them had tried to play dead and run, so I’d cut its neck off.
“Hah!”
I put all my strength into my grip and yanked the neck straight.
“Kiiiek! Kreeeee!!!!!”
I felt a vibration run through my palm as the bird’s spine was dragged out long and thin.
White feathers scattered through the air.
At last, the Bullet Bird’s head separated from its body, and it died in spectacular fashion.
“Phew.”
I let out a rough breath.
That was harder than I expected.
I hadn’t become some overpowered cheat character overnight through training alone.
If I wanted to fill in the gaps, I had to keep pushing harder.
Then, someday.
I might even reach the level of a hero skill.
No.
Not might.
When I’d burned through every last won in my balance, I would—
definitely surpass it.
The heroes I’d only ever admired in comic books.
The heroes I’d once looked up to.
Before I knew it, I looked around.
Everyone was staring at me with their mouths hanging open, dumb as fish.
They blinked, speechless.
At last, Team Leader Mun Dal-su came to his senses and stammered,
“...Damn. That’s something else.”
Short, but somehow the highest praise possible.
Heo Da-yeong clapped mechanically.
“Hunter Choi! That was amazing! As expected, people from headquarters really are different!”
Only then did the other team members recover their bearings.
“He’s completely toying with the bird.”
“He was so fast I couldn’t even see it properly.”
“Didn’t they say he was D-class? Then... what was your name again?”
I walked forward, dragging the Bullet Bird’s head behind me, its spine still stretched out like a jump rope.
The gruesome sight made everyone flinch and back away.
They seemed terrified of me, some unknown thing whose true identity they couldn’t quite grasp.
“Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Choi Yongki from headquarters.”
I remembered the look in their eyes when they’d first seen me.
Suspicion and disappointment...
It was obvious they’d been ready to be territorial, but I’d already expected that.
Rejecting strangers was simply human nature.
At this point, it wasn’t even really territorial behavior.
I had a reason to get along with these people.
If we were going to stand against the Dirty Kraken, we couldn’t afford to stay divided. We had to come together as one, without anyone on the outside.
There wasn’t anything complicated about becoming friends with someone.
So long as they weren’t your enemy, if you saw each other often and spent time together, affection would naturally follow.
Especially if you’d survived life and death together as comrades.
“I look forward to working with you all.”
Before long, we could become closer than friends.
At my greeting, Mun Dal-su stretched his back hard and shouted,
“All right, everybody, good work! We’re hungry, so let’s go celebrate with a company dinner!”
The team cheered.
Some looked at me with grins, others gave me a thumbs-up.
* * *
The stew in the big aluminum pot bubbled and roiled.
Inside were a few thin strips of pork, a little tofu, and some sour Chinese cabbage kimchi.
This was a kimchi stew place near Seomyeon.
“Auntie, one bowl of rice here!”
“Add ramen noodles too!”
Once everything was set down, everyone must have been starving, because they immediately dug in and started eating.
Heo Da-yeong chirped brightly,
“Team Leader Mun, should we order drinks too?”
“Huh? Da-yeong, you want to drink?”
Mun Dal-su scratched his head furiously.
“Uh... listen. Could we maybe skip the alcohol this time? Last time, our team drank five thousand cc of beer per person, right? Do you know how much that bill came to?”
“Tch... fine.”
Mun Dal-su looked uncomfortable.
He couldn’t even eat in peace, and kept flicking his fingers over the menu.
What is he doing?
Mun Dal-su muttered to himself.
“Twenty-one servings of kimchi stew, eight rolled omelets. If you add cola and cider too... oh, hell. Just how much is all that?”
It turned out he’d been calculating the cost.
I could tell at a glance.
The financial situation isn’t great.
Dio Guild team dinners were paid for with corporate cards.
But there was a limit.
Besides, hunters were mostly big eaters.
Back at headquarters, I’d never really had to worry about dinner costs, because Na Sang-min, an S-class Hunter, had been there.
“What the hell! How much can it even be! Just swipe the damn thing! I’ll file it!”
In fact, Na Sang-min had once taken a receipt for several million won and dumped it onto the finance team’s desk without a shred of shame.
That mad dog had been useful sometimes.
Heo Da-yeong came over and sat beside me.
“Hunter Choi? Is the food not to your taste? You’ve barely eaten anything.”
I kept my mouth shut and looked over the team.
There was a bandage slapped haphazardly across a split forehead, grime clinging to every face, and not a single one of them looked clean.
Their protective gear was torn, and since they hadn’t even had a proper shower, their hair had gone greasy and clumped together.
They smelled stale, but didn’t seem to care as they mixed sour kimchi into their rice and shoveled it down like they were starving.
They look like a bunch of complete vagrants.
Some people say hunters are admired by the public and get to enjoy wealth and popularity all at once.
Was that really true?
That privilege belonged to only a tiny handful.
At a glance, hunters looked like glamorous jobs, but the reality was different.
They fought monsters on the front lines, risking their lives.
They walked in and out of dangerous gates as casually as if they were going out for a meal.
They carried one injury after another and suffered every kind of chronic illness.
It wasn’t rare to watch a teammate die in front of you, or end up crippled.
Most of them saw psychiatrists, and many carried trauma for the rest of their lives.
Just like they’d said.
They’re always working with their lives on the line.
Unlike the reputation they had as a bunch of trash, the Dio Guild hunters in Busan were nothing like what I’d imagined.
Article 1, Clause 1 of the Hunter Act of the Republic of Korea.
First, protect citizens from monsters.
Second, do not use power as a means of oppression.
The Busan team followed those rules more faithfully than anyone.
I set down my spoon.
“Ms. Heo.”
“Yes?”
It wasn’t that I hated kimchi stew.
If I had to be honest, I liked it.
But while I was busy taking down two Bullet Birds, the remaining combat squad hadn’t stood around dumbly—they’d gone back into the gate and safely closed it.
The facilities had been wrecked, sure.
But considering it all, the civilian casualties were low.
I thought these people deserved to be treated better.
“Everybody, let’s go for second round.”
At my suggestion, Mun Dal-su’s expression darkened in an instant.
“Second round? ...Haha. Sure, second round sounds good. Should we just keep it simple and get some chicken? No beer, though.”
I stood up.
“Let’s do beef. Sashimi, too, and as much beer as you want. After that, where’s the best place around here?”
“There’s a Japanese place across the street! Their skewers and highballs are insane!”
Heo Da-yeong shot her hand into the air.
“Nice. Then let’s go there for the third round.”
The team stared at me, dumbfounded.
The new guy who’d just arrived was trying to bankrupt the company?
No sense? Bad social skills?
That was the kind of look they gave me.
Standing there like I was giving a speech, I said,
“Actually, I treat hunter work as a side job. My main business is running a factory.”
My real main job was being a hero, but I left that part out.
“The sales are pretty good, too. Half of Ilsan Hunter Industrial Complex belongs to me. If you’re asking whether I’m bragging about being rich—yes, I am.”
There’s an old saying rich people like to use:
If you’re going to show off, then pay the price of showing off.
“So today only—”
I took a card from my wallet.
“I’m treating. Let’s drink until our noses are crooked.”
As if they’d rehearsed it.
The team all shot to their feet at once.
“Whoa! Seoul people really are generous!”
“Did you say Hunter Choi Yongki? I liked you from the first time I saw you! You’ve got a good face!”
“Don’t lie! You said he looked like a weasel just now.”
“Shut up!”
With that little uproar, the restaurant quickly filled with laughter.
It was my first day on assignment in Busan.
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