Aggro Hunter 10

Happy New Year Y’all

But all of that had been overambition. The price for dreaming empty dreams was too painful. It hurt so much he thought he’d die. To endure the pain, Pyeonghwa unconsciously held his breath. His head spun, and the moans flowing from his throat gradually subsided.

At that moment, the man’s fingers slipped into his mouth and pressed down on his tongue.

“Breathe.”

“Kek, keheok! Kek, cough……!”

He choked as he hastily drew in breath. Pyeonghwa, who was coughing, couldn’t control his body and collapsed sideways with a thud. Even when he tried to get up, no more strength would enter.

The man clicked his tongue looking down at Pyeonghwa whimpering after taking just a few hits. Thinking he was not only weak but also had no backbone.

When he reached out his hand, Pyeonghwa’s small frightened body flinched. The man tapped Pyeonghwa’s head and opened his mouth.

“You get beaten like this because you act up without knowing your place, Noh Pyeonghwa.”

“…….”

“Awakening has nothing to do with Gate Waves, so stop doing pointless things.”

“…….”

“Don’t cause trouble. I memorized everything you wrote on the wall. Hyung will monitor what you do from now on. Got it?”

Dawn was already breaking. The dim morning sun illuminated the man’s face.

Pyeonghwa looked up at the man with half-closed eyes. Between the hood and mask, his eye shape was clearly visible.

His eyes were pretty in a way that didn’t suit him. They were almond-shaped eyes with eyelashes so long they fluttered softly every time he blinked.

“Fuck, I asked if you got it.”

“Huu, yesh…….”

When Pyeonghwa answered while endlessly shedding tears like chicken droppings, the man’s brow naturally furrowed.

It was good that he’d become docile, but still…… He overlapped with the abused puppies he’d seen at the abandoned dog shelter.

The man stood up, reminding himself that Pyeonghwa was human. Now that the sun had risen, the night play was over. It was time to return to his original appearance.

The moment the man was about to move his feet, Pyeonghwa’s hand plopped down on top of his shoe.

“What?”

“……Sa, ve…….”

“Ha.”

“Me…….”

Before he could even finish speaking, Pyeonghwa lost consciousness completely.

The man shook off the small hand clinging to the back of his foot and strode away with his long legs.

“…….”

Had he walked about ten steps? The man stopped abruptly. Ha…… The man, who let out a deep sigh as if the ground would cave in, irritably pulled off his hood.

Sleek black hair swayed. The man roughly tousled his own hair and returned to the collapsed Pyeonghwa.

“Damn brat.”

The man slung Pyeonghwa over his shoulder. Curses automatically burst out at the weight as light as a sheet of paper.

The man’s figure walking along the mountain path became blurry. Only faint footprints remained on the ground at intervals of several meters.

The man threw Pyeonghwa down in front of the emergency room. Since it wasn’t a serious injury, he could have healed him using his Constellation’s power, but the man had hit Pyeonghwa for disciplinary purposes.

Unable to sit properly because of his crushed and burst buttocks, groaning in pain—that should make him reflect and mature. The man stood on the railing of the opposite rooftop, confirmed the medical staff discovered Pyeonghwa, then turned around.

A full day later, Pyeonghwa woke up screaming while receiving a dressing on his buttocks on the hospital room bed.

Even in a half-asleep state, seeing Pyeonghwa continuously begging that he was wrong, the medical staff called the police.

When the police asked who had assaulted him, Pyeonghwa shook his head. It was because of the anxiety that the man might be watching from somewhere.

“Student, what’s your parents’ contact information? I need to talk to your parents.”

“I told you I just rolled down the stairs by myself, didn’t I? I want to be discharged. Argh!”

“Are you from a runaway fam? If you’re in one of those places that exploit kids who ran away from home…….”

“Shit, what runaway. I’m going home, so stop bothering me.”

Even though he wanted to go home right away, as a minor he needed guardian consent. He kept trying to contact his father, but couldn’t reach him. Pyeonghwa borrowed a nurse’s phone and left him a text message.

Meanwhile, a fever over 38 degrees continued. His whole body ached as if beaten, and his buttocks burned as if scorched. When lying down, he had to lie face down, and when walking while holding the IV pole, he waddled ungracefully.

“Mom, that oppa must have pooped blood.”

“Shh, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

“…….”

Red disinfectant had been applied so the hospital gown’s buttocks area was dyed red—it was an appearance sufficient for misunderstanding.

A few days later, he reached his father. He said he was overseas so he saw the text late, and that Riyeon-ssi would take care of things in his place.

Riyeon-ssi? Pyeonghwa glanced at the name tag of the nurse who handed him the phone. The nurse’s name was Riyeon.

“Your father paid the hospital bill. Here are the clothes to wear when discharged and some spending money.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Really… he’s such a sweet and wonderful person.”

“…….”

Another fish had been caught in his father’s fish tank. Pyeonghwa silently drew the curtain and changed into his regular clothes.

With her help, he went through the discharge procedures smoothly, but he adamantly refused when she offered to call a taxi. There was nothing good about exposing his home address to his father’s lover.

Pyeonghwa waddled to the taxi stand in front of the hospital and caught a taxi.

‘Finally, home……!’

While at the hospital, he was so anxious he couldn’t even sleep properly. He wanted to rest at ease in his comfortable home.

As soon as Pyeonghwa got out of the taxi, he ran in one breath and flung open the front door.

“…….”

Silence flowed through the house as always. On the living room table, the snack bag Pyeonghwa had eaten a few days ago remained as it was.

Even if his father had been in the country, he wouldn’t have come home anyway. So it was a natural and familiar sight.

But why…… did it feel unfamiliar and cold? Loneliness washed over him as if he’d been left alone in the world.

As he took off his shoes and entered, his joints ached. A surge of sadness was about to burst out. Pyeonghwa ran into his room and threw himself on the bed.

Sniffle, sniffle…… He couldn’t stop the flowing tears. Pyeonghwa buried his face in the pillow and cried for a long while.

That devil-like man he met at the Gate said he’d continue monitoring him from now on. Because he’d written all his personal information on the wall, even his home address had been leaked. If he fell out of favor with him, this time he might really die.

Pyeonghwa became glum thinking of the man who got angry and cursed every time he opened his mouth. How could he avoid offending him? No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t know.

I’m scared…… I just won’t leave the house…… Seventeen-year-old Pyeonghwa trembled in fear and shut himself in at home.

*

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Ah, fuck! If I can’t get married! It’s all that bastard’s fault!”

He’d been subdued and docile for a moment, but that didn’t mean Pyeonghwa was the type to reflect or mature.

Pyeonghwa became furious every time he saw the scars remaining on his buttocks. Even when he slathered on scar cream, the clearly remaining beaten marks on both buttocks wouldn’t disappear.

Pyeonghwa installed a punching bag in the side room and threw punches madly while thinking of the man.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Why! Won’t I! Grow taller! I drink 2L! Of milk a day!”

His joints hurt, and he grew tall rapidly like a bean sprout. But he couldn’t grow taller than Bae Sinhyo, who was over 190cm the last time he saw him, or that man who seemed close to 2m.

Bastards, sons of cows, sons of horses, die, just die! With a face filled with rage, he hit the punching bag constantly, but the anger stuck thickly in his stomach wouldn’t subside.

Pyeonghwa’s personality, which had been positive, became twisted in everything from that time on.

“Ugh, crazy! Playing with your eyes closed? How can you use that there, you idiot bastard!”

Pyeonghwa became a pathetic eighteen-year-old who ordered delivery food with the allowance his father sent, scratched his belly, and watched <Last On> game streams all day.

He’d long given up on things like university or whatever. Sometimes empty and depressed feelings washed over him, but when he was immersed in the dopamine of game streams, he could forget reality.

Then one day, the gaming community became noisy. It was because of the news that ‘Golden Ball’, a first division league team in <Last On>, had decided to recruit a new face.

[Golden Ball pursuing recruitment of gaming school student… Will it become a case of high school student going directly to first division league]

[Gaming school’s Bae Sinhyo selected as starter upon joining… Official “Attention to exceptional genius”]

[Brothers, move aside! 16-year-old youngest first division entry Bae Sinhyo, the real deal who’ll shake up the pro scene has arrived!]

The thread of reason he’d barely been holding onto snapped.

Negative emotions that couldn’t be resolved with just the punching bag swirled.

‘Ha, genius my ass. Are everyone’s eyes crooked? If it were me, I’d be better than this bastard……!’

Even though he couldn’t become a player anyway since he was non-awakened, he felt wronged as if something had been stolen from him.

He told me not to cause trouble…… I shouldn’t cause trouble…… Pyeonghwa stared at the monitor and bit his nails madly.

“……It’s fine if I don’t get caught.”

Pyeonghwa’s haggard eyes flashed. Pyeonghwa’s mind worked particularly well in certain areas. He had plenty of time and desperate will.

After a long time, his brain spun tightly. It overloaded to the point where he had to stick his head in the freezer intermittently.

Forgetting to eat and sleep, after being absorbed in it, Pyeonghwa created a circuit that no one could trace.

More ghost-like than a ghost…….

[ID: 404NotPax]

Pyeonghwa placed his hands on the keyboard.