Chapter 26. You Two, See Me After This
Chapter 26. You Two, See Me After This
Overt stares followed Laila and me all the way to the platform.
'So that's the guy who cleared a gate deemed unclearable...'
'A combination of absolute offense and absolute defense, huh...'
'Hm? He doesn't really look all that strong from the outside.'
'The woman who mercilessly crushed China's Yang Tenjin was right there...'
I stepped up onto the platform and gave the mic a few taps.
As I spoke a simple introduction, my companions whispered translations to them.
"I don't care if you're criminals or whatever. You pay me money, I hand over the goods. See? Simple, right?"
A tone that some might have found a little arrogant.
But no one took issue with the way I said it.
"Oh, and I don't know if you all read what I wrote, but you remember the last line?"
Once the translations finished, they all glared at me sharply.
"That wasn't a joke. Feel free to challenge me any time. Just..."
I swept my gaze across the room, meeting each person's eyes one by one.
"You won't be walking away in one piece."
I raised one hand and spread my palm open.
Then I counted down from five, waiting to see if anyone had the guts to jump at me.
"No one. Good. In that case, let the auction begin."
---
[Whoa, we usually only see him all laid-back, but seeing this side of him—our streamer is seriously cool;;]
[Him in a crisp suit like that, total national pride overload]
[But it's wild that no one's actually challenging him]
[Yeah, honestly thought a couple of them would jump in lol]
The lowest-ranked people gathered there were A-rank.
There were even S-ranks mixed in here and there.
The fact that not one of them stepped up to fight made the viewers' shoulders puff up a bit.
"Now, before the auction, I'll give you all a quick explanation."
Laila took the mic and spoke.
The bidding would be conducted in Korean won.
If payment was not transferred immediately after winning, the item would pass to the next highest bidder.
"Then let's begin."
Laila signaled the start of the auction.
The numbers on the display board behind the platform started changing without a second's pause.
[Whoa... it's climbing like crazy lolol]
[What kind of starting bid is 1 billion won?]
The number starting at 1 billion kept surging upward in 500-million increments.
Once it hit 50 billion, the pace slowed from the initial frenzy.
But by the time it reached 100 billion, the board was only flickering intermittently.
"Hmm... those two, is it?"
A woman with a refined, elegant look and a man sporting a stylishly groomed beard were competing against each other.
[Who are they?]
[I think the Japanese hunter and the Chinese hunter?]
[Wait, the Chinese hunter actually came all the way here?]
[Thought he'd be too embarrassed to show up, but here he is]
But then someone shattered everyone's expectations that one of those two would win.
A massive man who had been sitting quietly jumped the bid to 150 billion in a single move.
"If there are no further bids, I'll begin the countdown. Five, four, three, two, one..."
After sitting still the entire time, he threw in 150 billion in one shot and claimed the win.
The man locked eyes with me, grinned, and walked up onto the platform.
He was a giant of a man, easily a full head taller than me, and I was not exactly small.
"Hoon? Pleasure to meet you. Max Morgan."
He reached out for a handshake.
In his eyes, I sensed an intense competitive spirit.
It reminded me of when I first met Luther.
I smirked and clasped his hand.
"Congrats on the win. But I've heard you're a strong hunter yourself—why didn't you jump in? If you'd won, it would've been free."
"Keuh-hahaha... People see my size and call me a bear. But you know what? Bears have this dumb, slow image, but in reality, no animal is as agile and cunning as a bear."
"Huh... Is that so?"
"Picking a fight when you know you'll lose is the truly stupid thing to do."
"That's pretty high praise for me."
"You're not like those fools who think they're strong and don't know their place."
He felt like a slightly toned-down version of Luther.
Luther, when we first met, jumped straight into a fight without a word.
Though, of course, I beat the daylights out of him.
Max flicked a finger behind him, and a woman who seemed to be his subordinate approached.
She tapped the large tablet a few times, and just like that, 150 billion won was deposited into my account.
"But how should I handle transportation? From watching your stream, the corpse looked absolutely enormous."
I'd already thought of that.
My customer just paid for my goods—did he think I wouldn't have sorted that out?
I pulled the ring off my finger and handed it to him.
"This is definitely..."
"That's right. I've set it so that if you channel your mana into it, the monster corpse will come out."
"Hmm... Well then, I'll transport the corpse and return the ring right away."
"Don't worry about that."
I raised my fist slightly in front of him and let my mana flare out.
The ring naturally summoned itself right back onto my finger.
"Truly incredible... I've been a hunter for quite a while myself, but I've never seen anything like this."
"The ring will come find me on its own, so just contact me once you've moved the corpse."
Max took the ring and returned to his seat.
I stepped back up onto the platform and grabbed the mic.
"It's getting to be dinnertime, so everyone eat before you go. I had a feast prepared since you were all coming."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
This kind of thing had literally never happened at an auction before.
But I was different.
'If we're gonna be acquainted anyway, might as well get on good terms, right?'
"Oh, and you two—the ones who were bidding until the very end—come talk to me for a moment."
Through the murmuring crowd, I pointed my finger squarely at the Chinese hunter and the Japanese hunter.
A hush fell instantly.
The Chinese hunter stared daggers at me, while the Japanese hunter's eyes went wide as she pointed at herself and tilted her head in confusion.
One by one, people rose from their seats and headed toward the dining hall.
They'd come all the way to Korea—the least I could do was feed them a meal, right?
"Hoon, if it's not too forward of me, may I ask why you called those two hunters aside?"
"Just wanted to give them a gift."
"A gift, you say...?"
"They kept bidding till the end and heated up the atmosphere for me."
"Ah..."
It really wasn't anything special.
I slid my hand into my pocket and fiddled with the fruit I'd brought from the Baekdusan Gate.
"Let's go eat too, yeah?"
---
"Why in the world did he want to see me?"
"Great One, may I offer an opinion?"
"Speak freely."
"Perhaps because our relations are poor, he means to find some pretext for trouble?"
"That does make a certain amount of sense... but if so, why call the Japanese wench as well?"
Chen Longwei and the subordinate attending him fell into thought.
From what they had investigated, he currently had no points of contact whatsoever with Japan.
"Perhaps... the man has an appetite for women..."
"It's true... the Japanese S-rank's appearance is indeed worth a second look."
A beautiful woman was always at Song Hoon's side.
If he did have a taste for women, the reason he'd singled out the Japanese hunter made sense.
Arrogant, overbearing men of strength like him never bothered to hide their womanizing, after all.
But Chen Longwei was tense.
He still didn't know why he'd been summoned.
---
"He probably called the Chinese hunter to issue a warning, since relations are bad..."
"..."
"But why in the world would he call me?"
Unlike Chen Longwei, this side couldn't even begin to guess.
Even if they tried to establish some kind of connection, the Korean government had completely blocked all avenues, so they had no point of contact with Song Hoon at all.
"Could it be... he fell for the Divine Woman at first sight...?"
"Hmm... but the woman at his side was also very beautiful..."
"Isn't it standard for a hero to have three wives and four concubines?"
"I don't like womanizers..."
The woman called the Divine Woman quietly reflected on Song Hoon's appearance, manner of speech, and bearing.
'He did have the kind of face... the type that goes around collecting women...'
In her country, men who looked like that were, without exception, frivolous and promiscuous.
There were exceptions, of course, but those cases were very rare.
'Hmph... Still, at least he knew he's pretty...'
Unlike Chen Longwei, over here, a whole different set of misunderstandings about Song Hoon was steadily piling up.
---
[Damn, is the food even going down your throat?]
[Bro looks like a soldier wedged between the US president and the Korean president lmaooo]
[Wait, isn't it the other way around? He's the president and the rest are just foot soldiers?]
[Oh? Yeah, that's right actually]
"Food's going down fine. The cooking here is great."
"Hero, try this one too!"
"You guys can come over too if you want. I'll treat you."
[I think I'd pass out]
[Lolol my legs would go weak too]
[Did you cream yourself?]
[You son of a bitch, you vanished for a while;;]
Most of the hunters were eating, but their minds seemed to be elsewhere—they kept sneaking glances in our direction.
But I just kept going back and forth, eating more.
"Association President, are you not eating more?"
"Haha... I'm already quite full..."
At our table sat Laila, the Association President, my parents, and me.
"By the way, Mom, you said you'd bid too, but you didn't."
"Well, won't you just set aside something nice for me later anyway?"
"Keuh-huh... Geum Yeosa, looks like you've put your trust in your son?"
"Even if my son doesn't give me anything, our daughter-in-law will, won't she?"
"Of course, Mother!"
As I kept eating, I'd been feeling two blatant stares boring into me for a while now.
The Chinese hunter, watching me with a fierce glare.
The Japanese hunter, watching me with a slightly guarded but oddly self-satisfied expression.
'Why were they staring at me like that?'
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Rushed to make revisions and scored a PD Pick!!!
