The mysterious S-rank Hunter shrouded in secrecy, Lee Kanghyun.
No Hunter in the entire world did the crazy thing of raiding high-rank gates solo. No matter how S-rank they were, they got injured during raids. It was common sense to at least go in with one healer.
But Kanghyun was different. He was the only person who’d gone into high-rank gates alone a whopping forty-two times and walked out with all his limbs intact.
The world was curious about this Kanghyun. What kind of transcendent ability could he possibly have to make that possible?
However, the reality of that S-rank Hunter was merely this:
Kanghyun staggered as he tried to maintain his balance while threading one leg into his pants. He could easily put them on by bending over, but he stubbornly stood upright and only wiggled his feet. He was doing something more annoying because bending his waist was annoying.
Kang Yujun watched that precarious sight with frustrated eyes.
“Kanghyun-ah. Keep your balance. If an S-rank Hunter gets a concussion from bumping his head while changing clothes, it’ll be a national embarrassment.”
“You think I’m that much of an idiot?”
Kanghyun was baffled. I’m lazy, not a moron. He finished pulling up his waistband.
“Hurry up and get dressed, please. Even a slug would be faster than you.”
Hoodie and sweatpants. At the typical neighborhood unemployed bum fashion, Yujun scanned Kanghyun once and sighed.
“You’re not going dressed like that, are you? What if you run into reporters?”
“What reporters? I’m not a celebrity.”
“You’re hotter than celebrities. The national unemployed bum is finally escaping his room to enter a gate—that’s breaking news.”
“National unemployed bum, my ass. More like national trash.”
“Hey, why do you talk like that…”
Kanghyun shrugged. It’s true, so whatever. He was long past the age of being hurt by things like that.
With an expression that screamed he was annoyed to death, he began fumbling around for socks. Soon he picked up whatever from the drawer. They were mismatched socks. One white, one black. Too lazy to find the matching pair, he just put them on as they were.
Yujun was about to point it out but stopped himself. It seemed like he wouldn’t listen anyway.
“But do you have a weapon?”
At Yujun’s question, Kanghyun shook his head. A weapon? As if he’d have one. Due to his ability, he rarely used them.
Right. The basic item the Association gave him right after awakening should be rolling around somewhere. When was the last time he saw it?
Kanghyun pondered for a moment, then fumbled his way toward the sink.
“Ah, here it is.”
What he pulled out after rummaging through the cupboard was a dagger.
“This.”
“What’s that?”
“A dagger. C-rank, if I remember correctly.”
“That’s it?”
When Kanghyun nodded, Yujun pressed his hand to his forehead. A Hunter who’d been awakened for five years didn’t have a single proper weapon. Does that make sense?
“But why is this in the kitchen?”
“I didn’t use it when entering gates. I used it as a paring knife.”
At the answer he couldn’t even imagine, Yujun shut his mouth. A C-rank dagger as a paring knife… Yujun just gave up trying to understand Kanghyun.
“You must have items that came out while clearing gates all this time. What happened to those?”
“I sold them.”
“All of them?”
Kanghyun nodded.
“Then what did you kill monsters with all this time?”
“Just. Managed well on my own.”
Yujun decided not to ask Kanghyun anything more. Asking him anything was a waste of time. He clicked his tongue and opened his inventory.
“Really… I’ve never seen a bastard like you in my entire life. Just use this for now. It’s my backup, though I don’t know if it’ll suit you.”
A black longsword popped out from thin air. Contrary to being called a backup, it was a famous A-rank sword worth tens of billions of won.
When he tossed the sword with its heavy weight to Kanghyun, he reflexively caught it. But he didn’t think to draw the sword, instead propping it on the floor like a cane and leaning on it.
“It’s heavy.”
“Of course it is. Do you know how much that costs? It gets lighter if you infuse it with mana.”
“Using mana is annoying too…”
“Hey!”
Yujun’s shout rang through the narrow room. At the thought of going out, Kanghyun’s soul had already half run away from home.
Yujun grabbed the back of Kanghyun’s neck, opened the front door, and dragged him out.
“Let’s go quickly. Kanghyun-ah. Please.”
He’d even lost the patience to wait for the elevator to come down. Immediately turning his body, Yujun strode down the stairs.
“Ah, wait. Hey. I’m gonna fall!”
Forced to walk backwards, Kanghyun’s feet precariously missed the edge of the stairs. The sound of the sword clanging and scraping against the floor echoed.
Watching him practically slide down the stairs, Yujun snorted.
“If an S-rank is going to fall just from walking backwards, just return your Hunter license. That’s the path for the citizens.”
“I can do that?”
Kanghyun’s eyes sparkled.
“Yeah. Have a good time in the military.”
At those words, Kanghyun’s lips immediately shut tight. Having anticipated the reaction, Yujun burst into a snicker and sped up.
When they opened the first-floor communal entrance and went out, a black foreign car was parked on the shoulder. Yujun roughly opened the passenger door and shoved Kanghyun inside.
“I’ll even drive and personally escort you. Consider it an honor.”
As soon as he got in the car, Kanghyun didn’t even respond to his words and buried himself deep in the passenger seat. Seeing him practically melted into a puddle, Yujun clicked his tongue.
Starting the engine, he gestured with his chin.
“Put on your seatbelt.”
“Too lazy. Even if there’s an accident, the car gets wrecked, not me.”
“Traffic laws aren’t for show. If you get caught, it’s a fine.”
“I’ll pay it, whatever.”
“Stop paying so many fines. What kind of person pays 10 billion in fines starting from age twenty?”
“That’s an exaggeration. It’s not quite 10 billion.”
Kanghyun choked up. This was genuinely unfair. I was so dumbfounded when I first saw that post too! He, who extremely hated bothersome things, had even considered suing the writer for spreading false information.
Of course, it was too annoying so he only thought about it and let it go.
“I only paid 1 billion.”
Kanghyun said confidently.
Swallowing a sigh, Yujun reached out and yanked the passenger seatbelt. He wanted to just punch Kanghyun once.
Click. In the end, the seatbelt was forcibly fastened by Yujun’s hand.
Ah, uncomfortable… But Kanghyun, who didn’t even have the energy to argue, chose to stay put without unfastening it.
“Oh my, yes. 1 billion. You really paid so little. Our Kanghyun was such a model citizen. Should we give you an award?”
Yujun pressed the accelerator sarcastically. The car glided out smoothly.
As soon as the car started, Kanghyun closed his eyes and nodded off. The ride was too comfortable. The plush leather seats felt like they were sucking his body in. He wanted to just melt like this and become part of the seat.
“Hey, Lee Kanghyun. Wake up.”
His ears automatically blocked out the noise disrupting his rare rest.
“I said wake up. Lee Kanghyun. Wow, how does a person fall asleep the moment we start? I know you’re not actually asleep. Wake up.”
But ignoring only worked once or twice. Since he kept chattering noisily from the side, Kanghyun kindly responded.
“Shut up a bit.”
“We need to have a strategy meeting.”
“We can just go in and beat them up.”
“You think an A-rank gate is the hill behind your neighborhood? If you go in without knowing monster information, you’ll be in big trouble.”
“I’m going into an A-rank?”
“I’ve told you several times since earlier. Hey, listen when people talk. Please.”
Since he really had nothing to say to this, Kanghyun pretended not to know and played dumb. Hard to believe, but even he had something called a conscience.
“Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province. A-rank gate.”
“I heard you. Can I sleep now?”
“No, hah…”
What kind of trash tier person is this? Yujun looked at Kanghyun with that expression.
“Fine, fine. Do whatever you want. Should I give you a sleep mask too?”
“You have one? I’d appreciate it.”
Yujun’s expression twisted. Ah, that was sarcasm. Kanghyun belatedly realized. Not my problem.
They must have driven for a little over an hour. The car stopped. Yujun grabbed Kanghyun’s shoulder and shook him.
“Lee Kanghyun. We’re here. Wake up.”
“Mmm…”
Kanghyun waved his hand dismissively and turned over. Yujun crossed his arms and watched that sight, then flicked Kanghyun’s forehead.
Thwack, the sound echoed inside the car. Kanghyun bolted upright like he was having a seizure.
“Fuck! What are you doing?”
“Talk more nicely. You’re a full-grown adult.”
He didn’t respond and glared at Yujun.
“We’ve arrived. Get up.”
Kanghyun rubbed his forehead and looked out the window. The scenery visible beyond the dark tinting was spectacular enough to blow away even his momentary anger.
Police lines were drawn long in front of the shimmering gate. The crowd gathered behind them was like a swarm of ants. Reporters with cameras, streamers with live broadcasts on, and even citizens who came to watch. The flashing cameras were like club lighting.
“Did you tip off the media that I was coming here?”
“Why would I do that? It’s just that this is the only high-rank gate that appeared in the metropolitan area at this time. People probably guessed you’d come here and gathered. I told you you’re hot right now. They’re even betting on whether you’ll go to the military or a gate.”
What betting… Whether it was the National Assembly members or the people, they really seemed to have nothing to do.
“It’s hell.”
“Don’t think of it like that, think positively. All those people are your fans.”
“Fans, my ass. All those people want to see me fucked over.”
Kanghyun paid no mind and burrowed deep into the seat again.
“I’m not getting out.”
“What?”
“How am I supposed to go out there now? They’ll talk to me asking for interviews and stuff. I’m not going. I’d rather starve to death here.”
Yujun looked at him as if he was absurd. Now he looked at Kanghyun like looking at a child throwing a tantrum to get a toy at the mart.
“Here we go again. What about the military?”
“I’ll enter the gate when the crowd disappears.”
The longer a gate was left unattended, the higher its danger level rose. When the danger level rose above a certain threshold, the ‘Gate Break’ phenomenon occurred where the gate burst and monsters poured out. That’s why the principle was to enter as quickly as possible upon discovery.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. There are still a few days until a Break.”
“But the danger level gets higher as time goes on.”
“I can clear it anyway. It’s not particularly threatening.”
After looking down at him for a moment, Yujun soon shrugged his shoulders.
“Can’t be helped then.”
At his attitude of backing down obediently, Kanghyun cast a suspicious look.
What’s he plotting now?
Meanwhile, Yujun opened the driver’s door without hesitation and got out.
Cheers rang out. As soon as Yujun got out, he waved at the cameras pointed at him. It was a perfect business smile.
So fucking annoying. Kanghyun scrunched up his brow hard. Ah, killing my appetite.
Then, Yujun, who seemed to be heading toward the gate, turned his steps around toward the passenger side.
Knock knock.
Then he tapped on the passenger window. What’s that about? Kanghyun hesitated, then crossed his arms and whipped his head away.
Then Yujun bent at the waist and, as if speaking into a megaphone, shouted loudly toward the window.
“Hunter Lee Kanghyun! Are you nervous? It’s okay! The citizens are cheering you on! Ah, are you perhaps too scared to come out?”
“…!”
People’s reactions were immediate. The murmuring sounds began to grow louder.
That crazy bastard.
Kanghyun looked at the window in shock. Yujun was waving his fist with the most good-natured face in the world, saying things like “Hang in there, Kanghyun!” That wasn’t encouragement—it was public execution.
If he continued to hold out here, tomorrow’s article headline was obvious.
[S-rank Unemployed Bum Lee Kanghyun, Sobbing in Terror Inside Car… Hunter Kang Yujun’s Tearful Encouragement]
Just imagining it was so horrifying that Kanghyun trembled involuntarily.
