Chapter 30. Ruining the Husband in Front of His Wife(?)...
Chapter 30. Ruining the Husband in Front of His Wife(?)...
Max Morgan's sudden visit to Korea.
With lingering questions, I headed to the Association for the first time in a while, Laila at my side.
"Where is he right now?"
"Currently waiting in the Association President's office."
"What did he come for?"
"All I was told is that he has an item to return to you, Mr. Hoon."
Could this be about the ring?
But he'd clearly said he'd come get it himself if I just gave him a call.
I followed the Association President to his office.
There, Max and a woman who appeared to be his secretary were waiting.
The moment he saw me, he rose from his seat and walked over.
'Was he smoking a cigar indoors?'
"Take it."
Resting on his enormous palm was a tiny ring.
As I stared blankly at him, the secretary beside him spoke up.
"The Master said he acquired a fine specimen thanks to you, and wanted to return this to you in person."
"Sure, but about that..."
I plucked the cigar from his mouth with my fingers.
"This is a no-smoking area."
With the secretary and Laila both acting as interpreters, communication went completely smoothly.
He heard me out, then burst into hearty laughter.
"Bwahaha! My apologies! Your Association President didn't say a word, so I had no idea!"
When I shot a pointed look at the Association President, he merely shrugged as if he'd had no choice.
He probably hadn't wanted to pick a fight over something like this and risk causing a scene.
'Had he always been this much of a bulldozer?'
"That said, I doubt you came all this way just to hand that back. Did you?"
At that, Max took off his sunglasses and grinned.
"I want to fight you."
"Hmm... Didn't you say before that you don't do stupid things?"
"I want to become strong like you. I want to know my own limits."
He was exactly like Luther.
Would this guy manage to hold out like Luther had?
I was starting to get interested.
"I don't mind fighting you, but I have a condition."
"A condition?"
"Would you be willing to appear on my stream as a guest sometime?"
"...?"
The person more surprised than Max was his secretary.
From her explanation, I gathered that the fee Max commanded for a single broadcast appearance was astronomical.
'Makes sense. He was American, after all—they don't hold back.'
Max, however, nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Booking a guest with that kind of price tag for nothing more than a spar—what an absolutely absurd bargain.
"Mr. President, may we use the sparring arena?"
"Yes, of course."
He led the way, and we all headed to the sparring arena.
Hunters affiliated with the Association were in the middle of training there.
Not knowing how much collateral damage the two of us might cause, they cleared the space for us.
"Is this your second fight since coming to Earth?"
"Yes, your first match was against your mother, wasn't it?"
Laila, come on...
When you chop the context like that and just say it, you make it sound like I committed some act of filial depravity...
Max was getting help from his secretary as he donned his equipment.
With a frame like his, putting on gear only made him look even more massive.
"It's just a spar. Do you really need to gear up this much?"
"Heh. Against you? I figured I'd need at least this much to even land a single proper hit."
"Come at me however you like."
"I won't hold back."
The armor he wore roared to life with a heated mechanical whir.
— Boom!!!
"I'm coming at you full force from the start!"
---
Laila and Max's secretary stood at a distance, watching their spar unfold.
Laila glanced sideways at the secretary and spoke.
"Are you worried?"
"Ah, Miss Laila... I've been so flustered, I never introduced myself properly... I'm Emilia Crawford."
"That's all right."
Emilia hastily offered Laila her business card, mulling over Laila's question.
Normally, she would never have engaged in this kind of personal conversation.
But standing before Laila, she felt an inexplicable sense of ease.
"The boss has never once in his life entertained the thought of losing on his own... But recently, I heard him say he wouldn't be able to win."
"Fufu. And you're worried because my man actually talked so meekly for once?"
"Y-Yes...!? What do you mean by...!"
The cool-looking Caucasian beauty flushed bright red and frantically waved both hands.
Under Laila's blatant gaze, she covered her face with her hands.
"Is it a crime to love someone? I happen to think it's a wonderful thing."
"I-Is it... that obvious?"
"I just felt a sense of kinship, that's all."
"Kinship..."
At Laila's words, Emilia looked back and forth between Song Hoon and Max.
Then she turned to Laila, who was smiling brightly, and spoke.
"In that case... Miss Laila, could it be that you too...?"
"Yes, I like Sir Hero. I followed him all the way here, to a place that had nothing for me, precisely because of him."
"..."
The realization that they were kindred spirits(?) sparked a sudden sense of closeness.
Emilia mustered her courage and asked a delicate question.
"Then, are the two of you in a relationship?"
Instead of answering, Laila let out a deep sigh.
She shook her head side to side and began venting to Emilia.
"Seriously... I'm dropping all kinds of hints, but he just doesn't pick up on them. He's completely dense and utterly clueless..."
Emilia nodded vigorously at Laila's lament, as if in wholehearted agreement.
She herself had subtly tried to appeal with her feminine charms, suggesting meals and even inviting him on dates.
And yet...
'Him showing up at the restaurant in a sleeveless performance tee was the absolute worst...!'
"The one who loves more just has to put up with it and carry on~"
Laila's words kept echoing inside Emilia's head.
"Miss Laila, if it's all right with you, perhaps we could exchange personal contact information..."
"I'd be happy to. Aren't we comrades sharing the same troubles? Who knows—maybe one day a wedding invitation will just fly in out of nowhere...?"
In that moment, Emilia sensed a strange aura emanating from Laila.
It was like the energy of a predator eyeing its prey.
This lifelong-single woman, who had never been able to date because she'd poured everything into her career, was utterly overwhelmed by the seasoned(?) feminine presence Laila exuded.
"Oh, it looks like the two of them are about to start."
---
Standing at a full 190 centimeters, he looked a whole head taller than me.
A fist the size of a bowling ball came flying at me.
Yet there was absolutely no real weight behind it.
— Bwaaang!!!
"Heh heh... You took a fist that can turn boulders to powder right to the head?"
"No reason to dodge."
I'd always taken half-hearted attacks with my body.
Rather than spend that time dodging, I'd land one more hit of my own.
'That's my fighting style.'
Why bother dodging an attack that did zero damage in the first place?
If getting hit doesn't matter, I just take the hit.
— Bang! Bang! Boom! Bang!
Fists came flying, precisely targeting every vulnerable vital point—the liver, solar plexus, philtrum, temples.
The mana he unleashed clashed and scattered, already turning the surrounding floor into a wreck.
"Huff... huff...!"
"Watch closely. This is what it really means to hit someone."
My fist drove straight into his abdomen in a single line.
A perfectly timed, perfectly placed straight.
"Guh...!"
Max's huge frame lifted into the air and slammed into the sparring arena wall.
Staggering, he stood back up in front of me.
'What the hell was this...! It wasn't a fist... It felt like being stabbed by a blade...'
As if struggling to hold onto a consciousness that was trying to fade, his teeth ground audibly.
"Getting sleepy?"
"Heh heh... Not a chance."
I'd pulled my strength as far back as I could and hit him just hard enough to avoid killing him. No—I'd tried to break his spirit.
Yet even as the blows kept landing, his eyes were brimming with fighting spirit.
This was fun.
"Don't think of it as hitting with your fist. Think of it as thrusting and piercing straight through."
"Huff... Hraaah!!!"
Was this the effort and talent that had carried him all the way to S-rank Hunter?
He grasped my advice instantly and reduced the wasteful emission of mana.
The oversized, crude cotton mallet sharpened into a keen and pointed awl.
— Bang! Bang! Boom! Bang! Bang!
The two men stood without retreating a single step, swinging their fists at each other.
Sounds like tank cannons firing filled the sparring arena.
"I gotta say, being S-rank sure makes you sturdy—I like that!"
— Boom!!! Crack...!
"Huh?"
He went flying once more and smashed into the arena wall.
And I was pretty sure I'd just heard a sound that shouldn't have been there...
"Boss!!!"
His secretary rushed frantically toward Max.
Laila and I also approached to check on him—fortunately, it was only a minor fracture.
"Sir Hero, you really should have gone a little easier..."
"Ah, um... Sorry..."
Laila chanted an incantation and used healing magic.
His external injuries began to mend, and he was slowly being healed.
"Why not heal him all at once?"
"Only you can do something like that, Sir Hero. If you did that to a normal person, it wouldn't be medicine—it'd be poison."
"First, we'd better move him, right?"
With help from the Association President, we relocated him to a clinic room within the Association building.
Most of his wounds were healed, but we couldn't just leave him sprawled on the bare ground.
"Hunter... What on earth possessed you to do that to Max Hunter..."
"Ah, my apologies... I got a little too excited and couldn't hold back."
Just in case, I glanced at his secretary, Emilia. She was watching over Max with visible worry.
Something about the atmosphere between them felt peculiar.
She was supposed to be his secretary, but they looked more like a father and mother...
'Wait, could those two actually be married?'
"Sir Hero, let's leave him in Miss Emilia's care and give them some privacy."
At Laila's suggestion, I looked at Emilia and gave a slight bow of my head.
"So... I'm sorry. When Max wakes up, I'll come find you again."
"It's all right. If anything, I think the boss was enjoying himself immensely."
If those two really were husband and wife...
Did I just beat a man to a pulp right in front of his wife...?