Lee Kanghyun’s brain momentarily stopped.
A healer, not even a tank, was standing blocking his way.
What the hell is this situation? Why is he?
Meanwhile, the wyvern approached quickly. There was no more time to think. Lee Kanghyun moved his body first.
He roughly grabbed the healer by the collar and threw him backward. At the same time, the wyvern, having lost its target, changed direction and immediately bit Lee Kanghyun’s shoulder.
Crack-!
There was a chilling sound of flesh being torn and bones being crushed. The wyvern, still biting Lee Kanghyun, flapped its wings and flew up into the air. In an instant, the ground became dizzyingly distant.
“Urgh…!”
Terrible pain pierced through his shoulder. But the tremendous anger preceded it, making the pain feel trivial.
What the hell was that crazy bastard trying to do just now?
How dare he try to protect whom? A mere healer stood in front of me? To get hurt instead of me? What the hell does he think he is?
Didn’t he even receive basic education that healers shouldn’t step forward?
His reason snapped off.
He didn’t want to become a cowardly person who survived unharmed through someone else’s sacrifice. Never again.
But because that stupid bastard unnecessarily stepped forward, he almost became that kind of person again.
Lee Kanghyun couldn’t endure that.
While hanging in the air, he grabbed the lower and upper jaws of the wyvern biting his shoulder with both hands.
“Kieeeek?!”
The wyvern flapped its wings in confusion. Meanwhile, Lee Kanghyun began to put strength into his hands. The sound of jawbones crumbling could be heard.
Crack, crunch!
As he spread his arms that were gripping the jaw, the wyvern’s jawbone broke with a grotesque sound. The wyvern, whose mouth was forcibly opened, let go of Lee Kanghyun without even being able to scream.
His body began to fall. Lee Kanghyun kicked off the air, twisted his body, and once again powerfully kicked the wyvern’s jaw.
Thwack!
The wyvern’s jawbone finally shattered into pieces. The monster, unable to flap its wings properly even once, fell and crashed into the ground.
Thud!
Lee Kanghyun landed next to it. Just before his body touched the ground, he spun around once in the air to reduce speed, then landed lightly.
The wyvern was sprawled on the ground, convulsing. Lee Kanghyun strode over and kicked its head once more.
“Who told you, to recklessly, act up.”
That murderous voice wasn’t directed at the monster. It was directed at the healer, and the team members.
The wyvern’s head snapped around. Lee Kanghyun looked down at the already unconscious monster with murderous eyes, then raised his head to look at the team members.
Hic.
When their eyes met, the healer started hiccupping.
The wrath of an S-rank was far more terrifying than a monster.
“Hey. You guys.”
His voice was small, but cool enough to freeze the air in the cave. Moreover, it was even scarier because the person who had been politely using honorifics had now dropped that too. Lee Kanghyun looked at them with cold eyes.
“Come here.”
The team members approached fearfully and stood in a line. Everyone instinctively sensed something was wrong and bowed their heads deeply. Lee Kanghyun looked them over one by one, then ordered.
“Kneel.”
“Yes…?”
“Can’t you hear? I said kneel.”
At the sudden command, the team members were flustered, but sensing that the murderous aura emanating from Lee Kanghyun was no joke, they hastily knelt down.
“Put your heads down.”
“……!”
“Aren’t you doing it quickly?”
At Lee Kanghyun’s roar, the team members reflexively pressed their heads to the ground. The atmosphere was so murderous they couldn’t even breathe.
“Are you guys crazy?”
Lee Kanghyun began to scold them while slowly walking around them.
“Is this a playground? Playing house? What, ‘It’s dangerous’? ‘I’ll block it’? You’re all fucking insane.”
He stopped right in front of the healer.
“Why did you step forward? Didn’t you learn the basic tactic that healers should be stuck in a corner and not come out? Why didn’t the rest of you stop him and just stay still? Are you all out of your minds?”
Lee Kanghyun crouched down, tilted his head cockily, and glared at the healer.
“Who told you to step forward. Who asked you to die in front of me instead? What are you supposed to be? Are you having the crazy thought that your body is sturdier than mine, an S-rank?”
“N-no…. It’s just that you looked in danger.”
At the healer’s crawling voice, Lee Kanghyun gritted his teeth.
Right, he must have looked in danger. Because he had acted that way. Just to lower their expectations and make them shut their noisy mouths. For that one trivial and selfish reason, he had pathetically fallen in front of monsters and screamed.
This was the result. Because of the immature act he put on to be a bit more comfortable, an innocent person almost died instead of him.
Crazy bastard….
The fact that someone called an S-rank hunter had gambled with another person’s life just because it was annoying made him feel like he was going crazy.
What if he had reacted just a little later? What if that person’s body had been torn in two before his eyes?
Lee Kanghyun’s voice naturally trembled.
“Don’t be mistaken. You thought it would help me if you stepped forward? Not even close. You’re just in the way. You’re a hindrance.”
“……”
“All your lives combined aren’t worth even one of my fingers. You’d die from an attack that wouldn’t even leave a scratch on my S-rank body. But who’s protecting whom? Know your place.”
He stopped speaking and regulated his breathing. He didn’t want to be caught being shaken.
“From now on, don’t fidget around in front of me. It’s disgusting to look at. Don’t do anything, just breathe and follow. Got it?”
“But that’s….”
These bastards still hadn’t come to their senses. They were objecting to his words.
A sigh escaped automatically. He warned in a very low, creepy voice.
“Hey. If you can’t know your place one more time and act up in front of me, I’ll snap your necks and kill you myself before the monsters get you. If anyone dies in front of me, know that the survivors will die by my hands too. Understand?”
“Y-yes….”
“Your voice is too small.”
“Yes, sir!”
The team members, with their heads pressed to the ground, answered almost like screaming. Lee Kanghyun roughly swept his hair back and gripped his blood-stained shoulder. It had already fully regenerated and was fine. But it still throbbed, and he felt nauseous.
“Get up. From now on, stay at least 3 meters away from me. If you get close, I’ll kill you.”
He walked away with long strides without looking back.
***
The team members quickly got up. Looking at Lee Kanghyun’s retreating figure, they whispered to each other in lowered voices.
“Did you just hear that?”
“Yeah.”
“He was worried about us… right?”
“I think so.”
They exchanged glances with each other. They all had expressions as if they had gained some tremendous realization.
“Could it be that telling us to stay 3 meters away….”
“Maybe he’s worried we might get caught up in his attack range?”
“Ah…!”
Their eyes reddened. In their minds, Lee Kanghyun had already been perfectly filtered into a warm person who deliberately pushed them away with harsh words because he was worried the team members might get hurt.
That made sense because although Lee Kanghyun said with his mouth that he would kill them, his actions were the complete opposite. Hadn’t he actually gotten hurt to save the healer?
In this hunter industry full of trash-like people who only cared about their own safety and didn’t care whether others got hurt or not, people like Lee Kanghyun were rare.
They were deeply moved by this being with proper character they had met after a long time.
Actually, the reason they had been excessively praising Lee Kanghyun and making a fuss until now was all because of Kang Yujun.
Kang Yujun had encouraged them, asking them to please take care of our Kanghyun and lift him up from the side. That way, Lee Kanghyun would recognize the team members as subjects to protect and have a sense of responsibility. If he thought he had to set an example, he wouldn’t recklessly throw his body around fighting like before, at least.
His guess was accurate. Lee Kanghyun had been fighting while taking care of his body because he was conscious of the team members. Until today.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all of Lee Kanghyun’s team members were Kang Yujun’s fan club—they liked him that much. Until now, they had just been acting unconditionally as he said because it was his words.
But this time was different. It wasn’t acting—they were genuinely moved by Lee Kanghyun.
They all thought they finally understood why the Guild Master liked Hunter Lee Kanghyun so much.
They made a resolution. From now on, they would absolutely never disappoint Hunter Lee Kanghyun.
If he could read their thoughts, Lee Kanghyun would probably really have grabbed the back of his neck and fainted this time.
