Disaster
"This was a critical situation."
Jo Sanggwon’s instincts told him so.
There was no escaping a full-scale clash with Kang Juhyuk.
They hadn’t exchanged a single word yet, but the anger blazing across Juhyuk’s face was impossible to miss.
"You wanna die?"
When Juhyuk growled the words low and rough, Sanggwon’s head dropped before he could stop it.
"No."
He looked like a loser getting shaken down by a thug.
As the hulking, tattooed man floundered helplessly, every gaze in the bathhouse turned toward the two of them.
“Did some gangsters start fighting? Those tattoos are terrifying.”
“The guy talking looks like a Hunter. Must be a turf war.”
“A Hunter?! Crap, let’s get out of here. If Hunters start fighting in a place this tight, we won’t even have bones left to bury.”
As the murmur spread, people began slipping out of the bath one by one.
"Hey, you."
"Yes."
"Be glad this is Korea. If this were Militar, you’d be dead by my hand."
Militar?
It was a country name he’d never heard before.
Was this bastard from overseas, then?
"I’ll let it slide this once. Don’t make the same mistake again."
Sanggwon had no idea what he’d supposedly done wrong, but he still had to swallow the harsh words.
"Yes."
He answered in the softest voice he could manage.
Despite his rough appearance, his voice was strangely meek.
At that, Juhyuk let out a long sigh and picked up the blue scrub towel lying beneath Sanggwon’s feet.
When did that get there?
No, more importantly—
Was he seriously coming at me because of that?
Over a damn scrub towel?
Sanggwon imagined himself beating Kang Juhyuk senseless a hundred times over, but he had no choice but to endure it for the sake of the operation.
And besides.
When he thought about it again, this situation was actually fortunate.
Even face-to-face at such close range—
Kang Juhyuk still didn’t recognize him.
Then that means he doesn’t remember what happened before.
As Sanggwon apologized and carefully backed away, Juhyuk wrung the wet towel out with a scowl.
"Sorry, then I’ll be going."
"Next time, treat other people’s things with some respect."
"Understood."
"Hah. To have the guild’s pride trampled like this."
The guild’s pride?
Then maybe...
Was that lightning pattern on the towel the bastard’s guild mark?
A bright blue bolt was emblazoned across the center of the scrub towel in bold strokes.
"Hah, the master gave this only to the elite members as a gift for the guild’s first anniversary."
Given the flow of the conversation, that seemed to fit.
Just as Sanggwon was leaving, memorizing the pattern on the towel in his mind—
"Wait."
Kang Juhyuk called out again.
"Yes?"
"This won’t do. Look at this."
The lightning emblem on the towel had frayed slightly at the edge, as if it had caught on his claw.
So what?
Just as Sanggwon was about to ask—
"Pay the price for trampling ShowKing’s pride."
"?!"
Whoosh.
Juhyuk poured mana into the towel and whipped it through the air.
Slap!
Sanggwon’s face snapped halfway around from the blow to his cheek.
Thud.
He lost consciousness and crumpled on the spot.
With his forehead smashed against the floor, his limp body went slack as if he were already asleep.
"You bastard. You thought I wouldn’t figure you out in the end? I remembered everything."
Juhyuk stomped on the face of the man who had collapsed before him.
"You’re the asshole who tried to recruit me into your guild not long ago. So this is how you get revenge because I turned you down? What a piece of trash!"
He shouted to his heart’s content, but the unconscious Sanggwon didn’t hear a thing.
Click.
Just then, at perfect timing, Minho emerged from the salt room after finishing his sauna session.
SSSSSS—
Juhyuk, flushed red with heat, and Jo Sanggwon, unconscious and sprawled out cold.
What the hell is this now?
"Uncle?"
Minho hurried over and, seeing Sanggwon on the floor, abruptly widened his eyes as a memory from the playground the other day flashed through his mind.
"That’s a White Tiger Guild member!"
"Yeah. He came after me while you were gone."
"After you, Uncle?"
"Looks like he figured out I’m a member of ShowKing’s guild and came at me."
What the hell was he talking about?
ShowKing was the guild from a game.
"I was just sitting in the bath, minding my own business, and he deliberately stepped on our guild emblem with his foot first!"
"Th-that’s impossible, Uncle. The real White Tiger and the game White Tiger are completely different guilds."
"Different guilds?"
"Yeah! Of course they’re different. They just happen to have the same name."
"I see."
Minho cautiously checked Sanggwon’s face.
"You didn’t kill him, did you?"
"I just knocked him out. He’s a Hunter, so something like this won’t do any real damage."
"He’s bleeding from the head."
"I told you before. What’s the big deal if a Hunter gets his head split a little? Hunters in Raslan bang their heads against rocks to get stronger."
He doesn’t even know what Raslan is.
Minho was about to say that, but he swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
"Fine. Let’s go. Now."
"I still haven’t washed off the grime."
"Do it at home."
There was no one left in the bathhouse except the two of them.
It was obvious that something had gone badly wrong while he’d been away.
If I stay here, I’ll get dragged into some mess.
With that judgment made, Minho hurriedly left the bathhouse with Juhyuk.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A Hunter from the White Tiger Guild, one of the Seven Calamities of South Korea.
Rain Spirit Gu Jinwoo.
He had rushed to Yangjae-dong at Lee Miyeon’s emergency call, but by the time he arrived, the situation had already been settled.
What happened here?
Jo Sanggwon lay unconscious on the floor.
According to the bathhouse scrubber’s testimony, the person presumed to be Kang Juhyuk had subdued him in an instant and then hurried out of the bathhouse with a companion.
"Was everything you just told me the truth?"
When Jinwoo asked in a cold voice, the scrubber nodded fearfully.
"Yes, it was."
He had heard the rumors—that Juhyuk had subdued a giant monster that had emerged from an A-Class dungeon all by himself, and even gone up against Kim Honggyeom, an A+ Hunter.
Could the rumors really be true?
To think Sanggwon had been reduced to this.
"Brother, are you okay?"
Jinwoo lightly tapped Sanggwon’s shoulder, but there was no response—apparently he was in a very deep sleep.
"...Hey, old man."
The frightened scrubber clasped his hands together and answered.
"Yes?"
"When this guy wakes up, call the boss immediately."
"The boss?"
"Yeah, the boss. Don’t make me say it twice."
"Ah, understood."
"The White Tiger Guild will handle the cleanup, so tell him exactly what I just told you."
"Yes!"
Finishing the conversation, Jinwoo slowly drew in a breath and extended his hand toward the front.
SSSSSSSS—
Immediately, the water inside the bathhouse began to ripple, then rose into the air as if alive.
Whoooosh—
It spun rapidly and was sucked into Jinwoo’s palm.
Paht!
Kang Juhyuk, was it?
I’ll show you what a calamity looks like.
Having finished preparing for battle, Jinwoo headed out of the bathhouse—
Tap, tap, tap.
Wait.
Something suddenly clicked in his head.
If Kang Juhyuk had already left the building,
then the lookout, Lee Miyeon, should have contacted him by now.
Yet he hadn’t heard a thing before entering this place.
Then does that mean the bastard is still inside?
Jinwoo smirked.
That little rat.
There was no reason for the scrubber to lie.
In that case, he’d have to check the changing room.
Thinking that, he pushed open the door from the bathhouse toward the locker room.
Click.
"?!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
A man in nothing but underwear suddenly charged at him.
"Gotcha!"
He threw a lightning-fast punch.
Whoosh.
A sneak attack?
Impossible to dodge.
Jinwoo made the split-second decision and condensed mana into his abdomen.
Shhk.
And yet.
Kang Juhyuk’s punching power was beyond imagination.
Crack!
The fist punched straight through the mana and kept coming.
"?!"
It drove cleanly into his abdomen.
"Guhhk!"
The impact was so great that Jinwoo’s body lifted like a scrap of paper.
Shiiiiiiing!
He flew from the bathhouse entrance all the way to the opposite end and slammed into the wall.
KWAANG!
"Lee Minho, see? I told you. His partner was definitely going to come for revenge."
As Juhyuk flashed a delighted V sign toward Minho, Minho frantically waved his hands.
"U-Uncle. That guy hasn’t even done anything yet."
"True enough, but he’s obviously on the same side as the guy from before."
"Still, you should at least talk it out."
"Forget it. Let’s go. I’m starving."
"B-but that guy... no, never mind. Let’s go."
Once the two of them left, Jinwoo, who had been embedded in the wall, slowly moved and pulled himself free.
He broke my mana shield with a punch?
And he hadn’t even used any ability.
Just one ordinary punch.
Having regained his composure, Jinwoo glanced at Sanggwon and thought for a moment before immediately calling Lee Miyeon.
"Kang Juhyuk’s going to leave the building soon. Don’t touch him—just keep tracking his location. I’ll take care of him before today ends."
"So you want to be a respected Hunter, huh? I’m not a Hunter, but I know how."
Drip, drip, drip.
Juhyuk filled the bowl with makgeolli.
"How?"
Minho tore a strip of pajeon and set it on his plate.
"There was this knight I met in another world named Max Kaiser."
"A knight?"
"Think of him as a Hunter on this side."
"Ah, okay."
"Anyway, that guy was respected by everyone. Even the demon king’s army treated him with reverence."
"That was possible?"
Juhyuk stuffed pajeon into his mouth and kept talking while chewing.
"Of course it was. You just need three things. First, skill. You have to be strong enough for everyone to acknowledge you."
Minho lifted his eyebrows.
"Was this Max guy that strong?"
"Yeah. Of course he was weaker than me, but he was the emperor’s heir."
"Then he must’ve been a huge deal in that world."
"Exactly."
"At that level, people would respect him automatically."
"You think people respect you just because your status is high? Then I guess you’d respect the president of North Korea too."
"No, that’s not what I meant. Uncle, your analogy goes way too far."
Juhyuk shook his head.
"Anyway! And you need responsibility—the ability to keep your word no matter the situation."
Wasn’t that obvious?
"If you made a promise, you keep it even if it costs you. Sure, situations vary, but still."
He understood.
That happened plenty in the real world too, not just in another world.
"And then?"
"Lastly, a spirit of sacrifice."
"A spirit of sacrifice? Oh! I get that without needing an explanation. It’s the same as soldiers risking their lives to protect the people, right?"
"Exactly! If you really want to be a respected Hunter, those three are essential."
Even if you weren’t a Hunter, wasn’t that just how you became a respected human being?
"Got it. But were you a respected knight there, Uncle?"
"No, I was a hero, not a knight."
"What’s the difference?"
"A knight’s a profession. A hero is just a title attached to the deed of defeating the demon king, or to a prophecy."
"Oh. I didn’t know that."
"And I had absolutely no interest in being respected in that world."
"Why not?"
Juhyuk wore a shadowed expression and downed the makgeolli in one gulp.
"Because every damn lunatic there kept looking for a chance to kill me. What kind of respect is that?"
"Didn’t you do something wrong, Uncle?"
"Not at all!"
Minho remembered the bathhouse incident from a few hours earlier.
Honestly, with Uncle’s personality, even if he did do something wrong, he probably wouldn’t know it.
"Anyway! I was too busy thinking about how to get back here to care about that stuff."
As he talked, Juhyuk suddenly twitched the corners of his mouth, as if something had just occurred to him.
"Why are you smiling, Uncle?"
"Just because. I suddenly remembered something funny."
"Something funny?"
"Yeah. You remember I said I was going to tell you about how I dated a succubus in another world?"
Minho rolled his eyes.
"The one where you almost died over there?"
"That’s right. Back then, I thought I was inside a game."
He still seemed halfway stuck in that world now.
"If you’re bored, want me to tell you the succubus story? It happened before I met Max, but that guy’s tied up in it too."
"Sure."
As if the memory had come rushing back to him, Juhyuk closed his eyes, gave a faint smile, and began to speak.
"Well, this is how it happened. It was one of those days when the rain was pouring down like crazy and thunder was rolling overhead."
Whoooosh—
KRRAAANG!