Die of embarrassment or die of annoyance. Kanghyun ground his teeth and unbuckled his seatbelt.
Click.
Yujun opened the door wide from outside with perfect timing. His posture was as courteous as an attendant escorting a VIP.
“Please step out, Hunter-nim.”
“I’m going to kill you, seriously.”
Kanghyun said quietly as he got out of the car.
That moment, dozens of camera lenses turned toward Kanghyun all at once.
Black sweatpants, mismatched socks, bedhead hair. And in his hand, a tens-of-billions-of-won A-rank longsword dragged like a cane.
At a visual impossible to believe as a South Korean S-rank Hunter, the area fell momentarily solemn. Only briefly—the sound of shutters came again.
“The world really is unfair. He’s handsome even dressed like that…”
Someone muttered.
Yujun shamelessly put his arm around Kanghyun’s shoulder from beside him.
“As you can see, our Hunter Lee Kanghyun has a rather unique fashion sense. Ahead of the times.”
“Please just shut up.”
Even when Kanghyun said it through gritted teeth, Yujun paid no mind.
“Still, we’d appreciate it if you’d view him favorably.”
Then a reporter shouted.
“Hunter Lee Kanghyun! Please give us a word about the military exemption privilege controversy!”
Kanghyun looked at the reporter with drowsy eyes, then alternated his gaze to the gate behind them. The A-rank gate with bluish haze rising. If he went in, monsters would be swarming, he’d have to use his body, blood would splatter.
Just thinking about it made fatigue wash over him.
“Move.”
“Pardon?”
“I said move. So I can clock out quickly.”
Kanghyun pushed past the reporter with a blank expression and walked toward the gate, dragging his sword.
Yujun followed behind him, holding back laughter trying to burst out. Camera shutters still fired like machine guns from behind.
The moment they entered the gate, Kanghyun’s attitude changed so drastically you’d think his soul had been swapped. His hazy eyes sharpened. His drooping body began moving briskly.
And in that state, he pushed Yujun’s back.
“Hey, don’t push. I’m gonna fall!”
“If an S-rank is going to fall just from being pushed from behind, just return your Hunter license. That’s the path for the citizens.”
Kanghyun parroted back the exact words Yujun had said.
“You’re really petty.”
Ignoring Yujun’s grumbling, Kanghyun used him as a shield and pushed him forward.
The inside of the gate was damp and dark. An unidentifiable liquid dripped from the ceiling, and the floor was covered in moss. Each step on the floor made an unpleasant squelching sound.
“Hurry up, quickly. There’s lots of water here, high humidity. It’s perfect for you. Your ability is water manipulation.”
Yujun let out a hollow laugh as if absurd.
“Hey, if you have any conscience, don’t just think about using me and at least draw your sword. Do you know how much that costs? I didn’t give it to you to use as a cane.”
“It’s heavy. You said to infuse mana. Too lazy.”
“It’ll cut even without mana! It’s A-rank!”
While they bickered, red eyes in the darkness closed the distance.
Grrrrrowl—
A low beast’s growl and the stench of blood hit them. ‘Blood Wolves.’ They were infamous for being troublesome due to their pack hunting habits.
Five house-sized monsters bared their teeth. Sticky saliva dripped between them.
“They’re coming.”
Yujun said, adjusting his grip on the sword. His playful gaze sank seriously.
“Kanghyun, draw their attention from the front.”
“Don’t want to. Scary.”
“You’re not scared and everyone knows it, so stop pretending.”
“Ah, I said I don’t want to. Look at that drool. It looks like it’ll smell.”
Just as Kanghyun grimaced and tried to step back—
CRASH!
With the sound of kicking off the floor, the monster in the lead shot out. The target was obviously the man who looked easy, with his hands in his pockets and weight on one leg.
“Oh.”
Kanghyun opened his mouth blankly.
He could have dodged if he wanted to. An S-rank’s dynamic vision captured the monster’s movement like slow motion. But to dodge, he’d have to twist his waist and move his feet.
It was annoying. I’ll just get bitten once.
…Normally, that’s what he would have done. But right now, he had an annoying gaze attached beside him.
If he got bitten and bled, Yujun would rush over in shock, ask if he was okay, and make a fuss about calling a healer or whatnot.
Rather than watch that, it consumed less energy to just move. Yujun’s nagging came with mental fatigue more severe than physical pain.
The monster’s claws flew toward Kanghyun’s neck. Swoosh. He lightly leaned his upper body back and dodged it. A clean evasion without even a hair being grazed.
The claws sliced through empty air. Yujun wouldn’t miss that opening. A sword wrapped in blue mana—water—struck the monster’s crown without hesitation.
“Kanghyun, why are you suddenly so nimble?”
The sound of the blade cutting through flesh and pulling out was horrifyingly vivid. The stench of blood hit his nose. Kanghyun scrunched up his brow hard and stepped back.
He irritably rubbed off the blood droplets that splattered on his clothes.
“It’s because you’re being so noisy. I dodged because I thought my ears would get calluses. Happy?”
“What did I do that was so noisy?”
Even now my ears feel like they’re bleeding. Where did he sell his conscience?
Yujun lightly shook off the blood on his sword. The sword imbued with water’s energy gleamed cleanly in silver-white again. It was a clean movement befitting an S-rank Hunter.
Is this what the ‘national hero’ the public loves looks like? If only he’d keep his mouth shut.
Low growling echoed again from the darkness surrounding them. The remaining monsters, having witnessed their comrade’s death, raised their guard and closed the encirclement.
Glinting eyes—one, two, three… Four still remained.
Kanghyun sneakily hid himself behind Yujun’s back again.
“Hey, no time for chatter. Don’t you see their eyes are wild? Guess they’re pissed their friend died.”
He urged, only poking his head out from over Yujun’s shoulder.
“Finish them quickly. I want to go home.”
“We could go faster if you cooperated.”
“Can’t you just sweep them away with water? Killing them one by one with your sword will take forever.”
Kanghyun’s instigation didn’t stop.
The reason he suddenly became so talkative wasn’t because he was anxious. It was because he’d move less if Yujun moved faster.
He wanted to end this situation quickly, even if it meant provoking Yujun. The humid air, the stench of blood, the beasts’ cries. Everything was grating on his nerves.
He painfully missed the warm touch of his blanket on his bed.
“You want to get out quickly?”
Why are you asking something so obvious? Kanghyun nodded.
“Then you fight.”
Click.
Yujun demonstratively sheathed his sword.
“I’m not moving. Until you move.”
And he really was immovable. Even though a monster rushed to bite his head off, he just stared at Kanghyun intently.
Kanghyun’s eyes widened.
What the hell is this crazy bastard doing right now?
At that moment, one monster seized the opportunity and lunged at Yujun’s back. Sharp fangs flew toward Yujun’s head.
Yet Yujun didn’t budge. Without blinking an eye, he only looked at Kanghyun. As if protesting, ‘If you don’t move, I’m just going to die here.’
An S-rank Hunter was throwing a tantrum in front of mere B-rank monsters.
Crazy bastard.
The curse burst out in Kanghyun’s head.
He didn’t care if Yujun died.
No, actually he cared a little. If he died, his own peaceful reclusive life would obviously end too.
If he bore the stigma of letting the S-rank Hunter beloved by South Korea die, those Association bastards wouldn’t stay quiet. They might even frame him for killing Yujun.
More than anything, watching a person get eaten head-first right before his eyes was bad for his mental health. His dreams would become restless.
His body reacted before his thoughts. Kanghyun swung the sword he was holding.
He didn’t infuse something like mana. Without mana, without even being drawn from its sheath, the sword was just a lump of metal swung by S-rank brute strength.
THWACK!
With a dull impact sound, the monster’s jaw spun around. It wasn’t a proper cut or stab, just a crude sideways swing.
The monster couldn’t even scream as it was flung sideways and rolled on the ground. It was a brutal blow that would have bent the sword if not for the A-rank sword’s durability.
“Ah, seriously!”
Kanghyun shouted irritably.
“Are you crazy? Desperate to die? Or are you running a self-harm extortion racket? Why are you trying to feed your perfectly fine body to monsters!”
Whether his insides were bursting or not, Yujun smiled.
“See? You can do it.”
“Being able to and wanting to are different, you crazy bastard!”
Kanghyun huffed and approached the monster collapsed on the floor. The monster with its crushed jaw trembled and couldn’t even get up.
No matter how much it was a beast that harmed people, watching it writhe in pain was pitiful. Kanghyun drew the sword and ended its life with one stroke.
After that, Kanghyun turned his gaze back to Yujun. He glared at him fiercely.
The other monsters around them hesitated. It was because they saw their comrade go down in a single blow. The monsters’ instincts detected that the seemingly powerless human before them was more dangerous than they thought.
“Hurry up and finish the rest. My arm hurts. Look, my hand is shaking.”
Kanghyun exaggeratedly shook his hand trembling and thrust it in front of Yujun’s nose.
“If I can’t even hold a spoon now, are you going to take responsibility? Are you going to feed me?”
He actually didn’t hurt at all, but he felt he could only escape this labor hell by exaggerating as much as possible.
He propped the sword on the floor again and let out a deep sigh. Only the thought of wanting to go home filled his head.
Yujun silently looked down at Kanghyun’s trembling hand. Then suddenly, he grabbed that hand.
A rough, solid palm gripped Kanghyun’s hand without any gaps.
Kanghyun tried to pull away in confusion, but Yujun didn’t let go. Instead, he put strength into the hand he was holding and pulled it slightly toward himself.
Yujun’s thumb slid slowly over the back of Kanghyun’s hand. As if truly checking whether something was broken, or as if trying to relieve tension, he pressed down and stroked each knuckle.
The touch was persistent. His calloused fingertips traced over each of Kanghyun’s knuckles one by one. A hot heat transferred where they touched.
Yujun stared directly into Kanghyun’s eyes and smirked.
“What should I do if our Kanghyun hurt his hand because of me? If you can’t use a spoon, I’ll have to do it for you. Right?”
