Chapter 99
As soon as Han Jin-hwan folded in his last finger,
Photosynthesis Energy (Lichtenberg) 36%
Crash!
A bolt of lightning came down from the ceiling and struck my body.
The bark shed its usefulness in an instant and shattered apart.
Then I felt a weight pressing down over my whole body.
It was as if what had fallen wasn’t lightning at all, but a chunk of scrap metal weighing hundreds of tons.
Is this what getting struck by lightning is supposed to feel like?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, pain followed.
I couldn’t exactly scream and flail while everyone was watching in such a humiliating way.
I held it in.
“Oh. You’re not going down.”
“...Maybe I’m too hurt for that. I can’t even feel the pain.”
“Really? Then here’s another one.”
Crash!
I heard the sound of lightning falling.
And when that thought crossed my mind, I realized I had already been hit.
I thought someone once said pain you’d already endured once could be endured again, but...
As someone who had actually lived through it, I could say that was complete bullshit.
Whether you bore it once or twice, pain was pain.
My mouth was about to let out a groan from the agony when,
Photosynthesis Energy (Lichtenberg) 51%
I noticed the percentage climbing at a frightening speed.
Before this, after spending four days with Han Jin-hwan, it had only reached 21 percent.
And now, after being struck twice just moments ago, it had jumped another 15 percent.
“Ha. Hahaha, hahahahaha!”
For some reason, seeing that made me laugh.
Crash!
As if he meant to wipe that laughter off my face, Han Jin-hwan brought another bolt down.
This time, I dodged it.
Of course, I hadn’t dodged it because I saw the lightning and reacted.
I had simply guessed he would aim for the spot where I was standing and moved beforehand.
Even so, I couldn’t avoid it perfectly.
The lightning struck my right arm.
With that single hit, my right forearm was blown clean off.
“......!”
At that moment, Han Jin-hwan froze.
It was because he had seen my right forearm torn away.
This sparring match had been more like an experiment to see how long I could hold out.
Since it wasn’t a fight to the death, it was only natural that he would be startled by my arm getting blown off.
It was equally natural for the people watching from a distance to shout, “His right arm!” and “Get a healer, get a healer!”
So in that moment, the only person who could move was me.
How many times had I used Pruning by now?
Having my right arm fall off was basically part of my daily routine.
I wasn’t about to panic over something like this anymore.
Photosynthesis Energy (Lichtenberg) 51%
Glancing at the rising percentage, I raised my left hand.
“Arca!”
Bang!
Arca shot out from my left hand.
But he was a wielder of lightning mana.
Which meant he was one of the fastest people in Korea.
Han Jin-hwan saw my right arm regenerate before he moved, yet he still dodged Arca as it raced toward him with ease.
Rumble—crash!
Then he brought down lightning again.
This bolt was much louder than the previous three.
And with the greater sound came greater speed, along with much more force.
Proof of that was the percentage jumping far more sharply as well.
Photosynthesis Energy (Lichtenberg) 71%
It had gone up 20 percent in one shot.
Not bad.
If I kept holding out like this, I’d probably reach 100 percent in no time.
If I used Photosynthesis Mode, I might be able to react even better than I could now.
Of course, even with the mode on, I didn’t think I could win.
I had used Photosynthesis Mode against Kim Mu-yeon too, and even then I couldn’t handle him alone.
I was stronger than I had been back then, but the opponent in front of me was even stronger.
That was why even the thought that I might be able to react made a laugh slip out of me.
Arca returned to my right hand.
Han Jin-hwan looked at my fully restored right arm and the Arca in it, then grinned.
“Ready to do this properly now?”
“I’ve been looking forward to it.”
“That’s more like it. Then—”
“Stop the sparring!”
Bae Soo-hyun’s voice cut Han Jin-hwan off.
Her sharp voice, like a knife at my ear, came from right beside us.
Han Jin-hwan and I both turned our heads at the same time.
Bae Soo-hyun was standing where the onlookers were packed together in a mass.
Fury was burning in her large eyes.
Beside her, people could be seen covering their ears.
When she saw that our attention had turned to her, Bae Soo-hyun shouted again.
“What do you mean, ‘properly’!”
Even after that, Han Jin-hwan lifted his right arm.
He was going to ignore her and force it through.
I, too, raised Arca high, preparing to react in kind.
“Hey! I said stop it!”
Bae Soo-hyun’s voice rang out again.
Had she swallowed a boiler pipe or something...?
How could a person’s voice be that loud?
“Aren’t you supposed to be working? So unprofessional?”
Unprofessional.
At those words, the smile slowly vanished from Han Jin-hwan’s mouth.
He didn’t go blank.
His smile came back.
It was a smile with no strength in it, unlike before.
It was as though all his enthusiasm had been snuffed out.
“...Tch. Well, she’s not wrong.”
Saying that, Han Jin-hwan relaxed his stance.
Thud.
I sat down, hugging Arca to my chest.
I had been standing there as if I was perfectly fine, but the mental fatigue was no joke.
Having to get hurt and recover over and over was never going to feel good.
Still... I felt like it had been worth sparring.
I’d gained enough from it.
Photosynthesis Energy (Lichtenberg) 71%
Hehe. It was almost full.
＊＊＊
I returned to the minister’s office with Bae Soo-hyun.
The clock hands were already about to point to two.
The moment we stepped inside, Minister Hwang greeted us with a chuckle.
Had something amusing happened?
“I heard you two had quite the little duel?”
So the amusing thing had been the sparring match between Han Jin-hwan and me.
Han Jin-hwan sat down on the sofa and asked, while I took the seat beside him and Bae Soo-hyun sat across from us.
“You knew about it?”
“The whole building’s been noisy with the two of you. How could I not?”
“Ah... right.”
“Heh heh. So? Did you fight enough to your satisfaction?”
“No. We stopped halfway because Soo-hyun cut us off.”
“This is a public setting, Hunter Han Jin-hwan.”
Bae Soo-hyun said coldly.
Seeing that she called him Soo-hyun, their relationship might not be as bad as I’d thought.
Or maybe Han Jin-hwan was just the only one she treated with any familiarity.
Minister Hwang looked at me.
“You say you stopped halfway... you must be disappointed?”
Disappointed?
No, not really.
I was actually glad Bae Soo-hyun had stopped the sparring.
On the training floor, I had been planning to use Photosynthesis Mode.
The problem was that once I used it, my body would end up in a state where I could barely keep myself together.
I’d become a body that felt pain if I moved even a little, and I’d have to rely on the power-saving function.
I could have chosen not to use it, but even if I stayed awake in that state, I wouldn’t have been able to protect anyone else like that.
If I had used it, by now I’d either be lying there groaning or already unconscious.
There really are some things I need to stop forgetting...
“No. I achieved my original goal, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Your original goal?”
“I wanted to see how much of a hit from my senior I could withstand.”
“Ah, I see. Jin-hwan, what do you think?”
Minister Hwang asked Han Jin-hwan.
Bae Soo-hyun, apparently curious as well, looked at him too.
Under both their gazes, he shrugged.
“Looked like you could keep going even at full power.”
The eyes of the two people watching him widened.
They seemed shocked by Han Jin-hwan’s words.
And they had good reason to be.
He doesn’t go all out because the more power he uses, the more he ends up hurting people around him.
That was also why he wandered around as a solo hunter instead of belonging to the government, the Association, or a guild.
“Is that really true? You’re not just saying that to be nice?”
“Why would I bother with flattery over something like this?”
“Hah...”
Minister Hwang leaned back against his chair and looked at me.
There was surprise in his gaze.
It seemed he had never imagined I’d be someone Han Jin-hwan could go full power against and still be fine.
“So that’s why people were talking about you too...”
“Me? People were talking about me?”
“Jin-hwan isn’t the only one. There’s been plenty of talk about how incredible you are too.”
“...Why? All I remember is getting hit.”
What exactly was so incredible about me?
During the sparring match, I hadn’t landed a single attack and had only been struck by lightning.
The bark had been useless.
It automatically reactivated, but every time the lightning hit me, it was destroyed.
Which meant Han Jin-hwan’s lightning was far stronger than Saessak’s bark.
“You said you were getting hit by lightning over and over and still came out fine?”
“I wasn’t fine. I was regenerating.”
“That regeneration. That’s the important part. Jin-hwan’s lightning has an effect that suppresses regeneration.”
“...It does?”
I had never heard it had that kind of effect.
When I looked at Han Jin-hwan, he only shrugged.
He made it sound like it was nothing.
Minister Hwang continued.
“If having a regeneration skill made it harmless, do you think Jin-hwan would keep wandering around alone?”
“Ah. Right.”
“Your right forearm got blown off, and you just laughed, didn’t you?”
“I did laugh, yes...”
“There’s more than one person who got chills watching that. A few of them were even scared of you.”
“...I see.”
“Come now, don’t make that face. Just the fact that you’re sitting here now, after taking Jin-hwan’s attacks, is proof enough of your skill.”
“Minister.”
Bae Soo-hyun called to Minister Hwang.
When his gaze shifted from me to her, she pointed to the watch on her wrist.
It meant time was up.
The watch read 2:11.
Minister Hwang nodded.
“Ah, right. This isn’t the time to be chatting about such things.”
“Are we leaving now?”
“That’s right. I called the two of you in because we’re heading to the airport.”
Saying that, Minister Hwang stood up.
We got to our feet as well.
The plane carrying Aladin Miller was scheduled to arrive around five in the evening.
It was about time to head out.
“All right, let’s—”
Song came from Minister Hwang’s pocket and cut him off.
The sound was coming from inside his pocket.
He was getting a call.
Minister Hwang excused himself and answered it.
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m in the middle of something, so... what?”
In an instant, his expression soured.
He looked like someone who had heard something he absolutely should not have heard.
What on earth had he heard to make that face?
“You’re sure? Absolutely sure? Haa... got it. Hang up for now.”
Minister Hwang ended the call.
He let out a long sigh, then placed another call.
Bae Soo-hyun stepped forward as if to hurry him along, but he lifted a hand to stop her.
She tilted her head and stepped back.
If he was stopping her even though he knew how busy things were, there had to be a reason for it.
Once the other side picked up, Minister Hwang opened his mouth.
“Ah, hello? Mr. President. This is Minister Hwang Jeong-hee.”
Oh? The president?
The person he was talking to was the president?
Bae Soo-hyun’s eyes widened as well.
“China has sent an investigation team.”
Huh? China?
Why was China suddenly coming into this?
“And... the team includes Li Lianzhe and his prized disciple.”
“What? That old fossil?”
“Quiet...!”
Han Jin-hwan muttered with a scowl.
It was a mutter to himself, but it was loud enough for Bae Soo-hyun to shut him down.
He admitted his mistake with a nod and shut his mouth, then looked back at Minister Hwang.
Li Lianzhe...
He was one of China’s S-rank hunters.
He was also over ninety years old, making him the oldest living S-rank hunter in the world right now.
“Yes, yes. They say China just notified us.”
Not even a request, just a notification...
That was very much the sort of thing China would do.
Minister Hwang scratched his head hard and said,
“Apparently it’s because Miller is on her way from the United States.”
“Her... what?”
“Yes. They seem to think China is sending Li Lianzhe to keep an eye on her.”
Keep an eye on her?
Miller was just coming out of curiosity as a mage.
Did that really require someone to keep tabs on her?
For China to send an investigation team at all would have been enough.
There was no need to send Li Lianzhe, who wasn’t even a mage himself.
“......”
Still, this had turned out strangely.
Aladin Miller. Li Lianzhe.
To think two S-rank hunters were coming to Korea.
At this rate, maybe Russia would send someone too.
...No, surely not?