Chapter 115
Chapter 115
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Karmic Vision
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Wh-what the hell is this..."
The school gate was closed, just as he'd expected.
He'd rushed to school in a daze, and the moment Seongmin spotted the warden waiting in front of the locked gate to punish latecomers, he realized something had changed within him.
"Uniform means you're one of our students, huh?"
The warden's smile made Seongmin freeze on the spot.
'Thought no one was coming today. Guess I'll get to start the day off right.'
For the warden, punishing latecomers was the highlight of his daily routine.
The perfect time to legally vent the stress from dealing with the school.
The warden's lips curved into a faint smile at the sight of Seongmin staring at him with wide, frozen eyes. He unlocked the side door.
"Latecomer, right?"
"T-teacher...?"
"Thirty minutes late means three hits. Bend over."
The warden rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a large wooden spatula.
But Seongmin's refusal to obey soured the warden's mood instantly.
"You rebelling?"
"That's not..."
"Was gonna let you off easy, but nah. You're getting it hard today."
The warden grabbed Seongmin's shoulder by force and bent him over.
Then he delivered three solid whacks to Seongmin's rear.
The sharp smacks twisted Seongmin's face in pain, sending him rolling on the ground.
"Pay for your crime, tsk tsk. Get inside quick! Class has already started."
The warden forced down the corners of his mouth, which were twitching upward from the satisfying sting in his hand.
Just as he turned to leave, Seongmin—still writhing from the pain—shouted after him.
"Absolutely do not sit in your usual spot today!"
The warden, about to step through the side door, froze in place.
His head turned slowly with a creak.
"What... did you just say?"
"You'll get hurt bad if you sit there. You need to stay home today..."
The warden's face crumpled at Seongmin's worried cry.
"Hold up."
Interrupting Seongmin forcibly, the warden approached him slowly.
He stared straight into Seongmin's face and spoke.
"How the hell do you know that? It hasn't spread as a rumor among the students, has it?"
"I just got to school..."
"Ah..."
Only then did the warden's expression soften. He nodded with a smile.
"Right you are. Hurry inside, kid."
"Yes, sir."
Seongmin clutched his stinging butt and dashed through the side door.
As Seongmin disappeared into the school and the warden locked the door behind him, he tilted his head.
"But... the seating was decided just this morning. How'd that punk know?"
The oddity hit him late, but he shrugged it off with a whatever look.
Leaning against the side door, he grinned.
"Be nice if one more showed up..."
Seongmin had already taken a beating from the warden, and then got smacked again for entering first period late.
As soon as the class ended, he bolted for the door.
"Where you going?"
The back door slammed shut right as Seongmin charged toward it.
Thud.
"Ow!"
Seongmin toppled backward, rubbing his forehead as he looked up.
His face drained of color, and he began to tremble.
"Ha-Hanul..."
"Heh heh heh, strike!"
Hanul and his three thug sidekicks.
The very ones who'd pushed Seongmin toward suicide.
The instant he saw Hanul's face, the pain in his forehead was long forgotten.
It was replaced by something worse than pain: terror.
"Heard you became a hunter?"
"Y-yeah."
"Hand it over."
The sentence was weirdly incomplete, missing the key subject.
But Seongmin got it right away. He had to think fast.
If he played dumb, with every classmate's eyes locked on him, something horrific would follow.
"This... what you mean?"
"Ooh, correct."
Seongmin pulled out his precious C-Rank Hunter license from his pocket.
Hanul snatched it from his hand.
"Whoa, so this is what a hunter license looks like."
"Hey, lemme see."
"Me too!"
In the Gate era, hunters were valuable assets.
But to ordinary folk, the profession didn't loom that large.
One in a hundred.
A special job you could only land by luck, making hunters rare curiosities.
"Now... give it back."
Seongmin held out his hand as Hanul's gang passed the license around.
Their jovial laughter twisted into scowls in an instant.
"Tch tch, a loser like you's a hunter? Shoulda given it to me."
Hanul approached with a menacing glare.
Staring at Seongmin's outstretched hand, he suddenly shoved his face close and grimaced.
"Oh, you just hit me, didn't you?"
"Huh?"
"That's your settlement fee."
"Hee hee."
Hanul waved Seongmin's license tauntingly.
His crew burst into amused laughter.
Classmates' stares intensified, joined by kids from other classes gawking at the new hunter.
Seongmin's head drooped lower, his hand thrusting out farther.
"I need that... I joined a guild."
"What? A guild?"
An unexpected word slipped from Seongmin's pathetically quivering voice.
Hanul's smile deepened.
"Pfft!"
He stifled a laugh, covering his mouth.
Then, as always, he looked down at Seongmin and sneered.
"Which one? Pork Katsu Guild? Or maybe Raw Fish Rice Guild?"
"Hahaha, raw fish rice, hee hee."
"What a drip, kekeke."
Hanul's jab turned into mockery that echoed from the class into the hallway.
But only for a moment.
"Unwoo Guild."
All laughter ceased at Seongmin's shout.
"Unwoo... Guild?"
The guild of Yong-un, Korea's strongest hunter.
A massive powerhouse—one of the few that had bumped Korea's Big Four into the Big Five.
Currently the hottest, most popular mega-guild in the country.
Seongmin's claim of joining Unwoo Guild was enough to stun his classmates.
But then—
"Puhahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Crazy bastard, puhahaha!"
The laughter exploded back, doubling in volume and spreading to every second-year class.
With everyone showering him in ridicule at the Unwoo claim, Seongmin must've been pretty infamous among the second-years.
Not a soul believed him. They all looked down on him with sneers and pitiful stares of you?
Seongmin hung his head and bit his lip.
Normally, he'd have bolted out the back door by now and skipped class until lunch.
Normally.
"Hanul."
But Seongmin had changed.
The whirlwind of events in that short time, plus receiving a divine blessing.
He lifted his head and called Hanul's name boldly, standing tall.
"Gonna run again? Fine by me. You leave, this is mine."
Hanul grinned, expecting another escape.
But Seongmin lifted his chin high and glared right back.
"Karma."
"Puhahaha, what the hell's this guy saying?"
"Loser's a loser for a reason, kekeke. Karma, pfft."
"Watched too many animes. Next he'll pull out Chiritori or some shit, kekeke."
Seongmin's cry fueled even bigger mockery.
Every classmate hurled their usual jeers.
Except one.
"Don't blame me."
"W-what...?"
Hanul—the architect of Seongmin's misery, now pinned under his venomous glare.
Overwhelmed by the changed fire in Seongmin's eyes, Hanul's face stiffened.
"Your wood energy is strong. Means you're a big tree. Know what you're holding?"
"Cr-crazy fuck, what're you on about?"
Flustered by the weirdness but unable to show weakness, Hanul spat curses.
"Fire. My fire energy is strong. What happens when wood gets too close to fire?"
With that bizarre line, Seongmin flung open the back door and bolted out like always.
"Loser runs again, kekeke."
"Hanul's the man, hee hee."
The gang clustered around Hanul, hyping him up as Seongmin fled.
"Yeah... me."
But Hanul forced a smile, lost in thought.
Eyes he'd never seen in his life—subtle and strange.
He didn't recognize it as fear.
He just swallowed his rage, blaming the gross feeling on that loser punk, Seongmin.
"Fuck it, whatever. He's dead if he shows."
His face twisted as he clenched his fist, convinced Seongmin had mocked him.
Inside the storage shed at the edge of the athletic field.
Whenever trouble hit, Seongmin would hole up here and nap until lunch.
But today, instead of sleeping, he sank into thought.
"This is... incredible?"
Meeting the warden and Hanul at school had made it crystal clear.
He'd changed.
He hadn't even noticed back on the way to school, despite the ghosts' forms sharpening so vividly.
But now he knew for sure.
'I've gained divine energy.'
No matter who he faced, their auras and glimpses of their futures appeared plain as day.
It matched what he'd seen shamans claim on TV or video sites.
Just like them.
They'd glance at a person, hear a few personal details, and pinpoint their strong energies—plus blessings or curses now and in the future.
That's exactly what Seongmin could do now.
"I can see it..."
Everything those shamans saw.
It shone through whoever stood before him, clear as glass.
Not just seeing ghosts sharply, either.
Even without personal info, it all poured in strangely.
Creeeak.
Just as Seongmin accepted his change and marveled at it—
The door to his sole sanctuary, the shed...
Suddenly began to open.
Seongmin flinched.
Startled, he pressed his back against the shed wall.
A figure who had no business there stepped in amid a flood of light.
"Was gonna let you slide easy, but nah. You're fucked."
Hanul and his gang.
Ding ding ding~ Ding ding ding~
They shut the shed door quietly as the class bell rang.
"Oh yeah, before we start: my bro said it's time to pay up, so he's heading to your grandma's. Kekeke."
Did hell really exist separately?
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you and granny share a ward. Loser."
"N-no... please..."
This place I live is already hell...
Thanks to Ghost Slaughter Soul Destruction, he'd forgotten.
The one escape from this hellish agony.
'Death.'
'If this is hell... where do I go if I die here?'
Didn't matter.
As long as it ended all the pain and sorrow.
"Beat him silly?"
"Don't kill him. You know the drill—he can't snitch anywhere til granny pays up."
Smirk.
"You know too, right? Spill, and neither you nor your hag granny sees good days."
That was enough.
Thud.
The shed door sealed shut. Seongmin closed his eyes peacefully as the gang's fists swung toward him.
The closer their fists came, the more the word death—dormant in his heart—whispered like a devil, shaking his resolve.