Lee Kanghyun grabbed the snout of a charging monster with his bare hands and tore it apart. The sensation of sharp teeth digging into his palm was vivid, but he didn’t even scream. The torn flesh of his palm writhed as it regenerated. A burning pain washed over him.
But he didn’t stop. It was better to finish quickly rather than drag it out.
One of his slippers came off. His bare foot was exposed, but Lee Kanghyun didn’t care.
He leaped onto the monster’s back and crushed its spine with his foot.
Crack.
The monster collapsed with the sound of breaking bones. Lee Kanghyun used the fallen creature’s head as a stepping stone and jumped to the next one.
Corpses piled up like mountains. Lee Kanghyun stepped on those mountains of corpses and crossed pools of blood to move forward.
He looked like a mess. Drenched in red blood from head to toe, he couldn’t tell whether it was his own blood or the monsters’.
His clothes had become rags and were hanging in tatters, and he never found the slipper that had flown off. Every time his bare foot touched the cold stone floor, sticky blood clung to it.
His body was fine. The torn flesh grew back, and the broken bones reattached. But his brain was screaming. The terrible remnants of pain from dozens of injuries and regenerations gnawed at his mind.
He felt like he’d die from irritation. The pain was one thing, but more than anything, his body covered in blood was disgusting.
He was on the verge of losing his reason.
The boss. The owner of this damn Gate. Just catch that bastard and it’s over. Just kill him and he could go home and sleep. Lee Kanghyun trudged forward with that thought.
This is so annoying I could die. I want to sleep quickly. When I get home, I’ll eat the food Kang Yujun made and sleep for 24 hours straight. Since I’ve suffered this much, I should make Kang Yujun do some work. I’m going to make him clean, do laundry, and cook. Since I’m protecting his house from collapsing, I think I deserve at least that much.
Lee Kanghyun arrived in front of the boss room and rubbed his blurry eyes as he raised his head.
But there was nothing there.
There was no house-sized or grotesquely shaped boss monster. Only a small shadow stood there.
Lee Kanghyun squinted and looked at it. It didn’t seem to be a monster.
A person? How is a person here?
Before Lee Kanghyun could assess the situation.
“Kanghyun-ah!”
A cheerful and lively voice echoed.
The man who had been standing far away approached in an instant.
What? A humanoid monster?
In any case, just as Lee Kanghyun instinctively clenched his fist to prepare for an attack, something warm and heavy crashed into him.
Whoosh.
The man who had drawn close pulled Lee Kanghyun into an embrace. He hugged him so fiercely it was suffocating.
He didn’t seem to care at all about Lee Kanghyun’s blood-covered body. Rather, the man buried his face in Lee Kanghyun’s shoulder and rubbed against him like a puppy, as if he liked the smell of blood.
“I missed you. Why did you only come now? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?”
Lee Kanghyun’s thought process stopped.
What kind of situation is this?
He looked down blankly at the man in his arms. He was an Asian man who appeared to be around his age. With his brightly dyed yellow hair and delinquent-looking clothes, he looked exactly like a thug. Yet his face looked gentle despite that. Gentle enough to make you unconsciously want to lower your guard.
“What the…”
Lee Kanghyun asked in a bewildered voice. He should push him away immediately, but he was so dumbfounded that the strength drained from him and his body froze.
He had a habit of his brain shutting down and his body freezing when faced with embarrassing situations. This was why he had been helplessly caught off guard more than once or twice even when Kang Yujun did outrageous things, yet he still couldn’t fix it. It was because the belief that he wouldn’t die anyway was embedded so deeply that he didn’t feel much sense of crisis.
The man raised his head. His smiling eyes curved like crescents.
“Me? I’m your fan. Ah, I’m really moved. You’re even more handsome in person. You’re sexy even taking a shower in blood, our Kanghyun.”
Is he crazy?
It was certain. This wasn’t just some crazy guy. He had a premonition that he shouldn’t get involved.
The man, disregarding Lee Kanghyun’s stiff expression, stroked his cheek as he pleased.
“By the way, how was the gift?”
“Gift?”
“Yeah! The one I prepared! I delivered it right to your door.”
The man pointed to the path Lee Kanghyun had taken.
“I’m talking about our doggies. I packed them full of A-ranks and sent them. I specially arranged them because I thought Kanghyun might be bored.”
The moment he heard that bright voice, Lee Kanghyun’s dazed mind snapped awake as if cold water had been poured on it.
A gift?
That hellish horde of monsters? Those creatures that tore at my limbs were just a gift?
“You’re saying you did this?”
“That’s what I said. How was it? Did you like it? Praise me, hm?”
The man’s eyes sparkled like a puppy seeking praise as he pulled Lee Kanghyun’s waist tighter. Goosebumps rose all over Lee Kanghyun’s body. The man’s body heat was so disgusting he couldn’t stand it. He wanted to shake off these arms immediately, but for now he held back. He had to endure and extract even a little information.
Lee Kanghyun suppressed his unpleasant feelings as much as possible. However, he couldn’t prevent his voice from cracking.
“How?”
He had never heard of an ability to create Gates and control monsters. This was the information he wanted to extract. However, unlike the serious Lee Kanghyun, the man spoke with an endlessly light attitude.
“That’s a secret. Ah! But I can tell you if Kanghyun comes with me.”
“Don’t talk bullshit.”
“That’s too bad.”
The man’s eyebrows drooped. But he quickly regained his energy and chattered again.
“Ah, right! The first gift I sent was kind of so-so, wasn’t it?”
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“I’m talking about that kid in the black mask. The delivery guy I sent to your house a little while ago. He went too easily, right?”
The man giggled. It was an innocent tone like a young child.
Lee Kanghyun’s pupils shook madly.
This bastard sent that intruder?
So he broke into my house, and when caught, committed suicide… all of that was this bastard’s intention?
“…Why the hell?”
Lee Kanghyun muttered as if to himself. He was seeing this person for the first time. But he couldn’t understand why he was tormenting him this much.
“It was a surprise. Our Kanghyun looked bored. But he was weak so it wasn’t fun. He died too easily. So I set up the stage myself right away. To see Kanghyun’s skills.”
The man’s eyes gleamed as he rambled in an excited voice.
“Were my gifts okay? Should I give you more?”
His patience ran out. There was no reason to endure anymore, no value in listening.
“You fucking bastard.”
Lee Kanghyun’s fist flew toward the man’s face.
Thud.
But the man raised one hand and caught Lee Kanghyun’s fist.
An ordinary person, no, even a decent Hunter would have had their arm blown off from the strong recoil, but the man wasn’t pushed back.
“Wow, you’re strong! As expected of our Kanghyun, so power—”
It was just as the man was leisurely about to run his mouth.
Crack!
The man’s head turned sharply to the side.
The caught fist was an intended feint. The moment he was caught, Lee Kanghyun twisted his body using the caught hand as an axis and quickly drove his opposite fist into the man’s temple at high speed.
“Kuk!”
The man staggered and released Lee Kanghyun’s hand.
Lee Kanghyun didn’t miss that opening.
Where do you get off being so relaxed.
He kicked off the ground and shot up, driving his knee up toward the now-defenseless man’s solar plexus.
“Urk…!”
The man’s body floated up and was pushed back. The man who barely landed staggered to regain his balance. Blood flowed from his mouth.
But far from getting angry, the man wiped the blood on his lips with his thumb and smiled brightly. His eyes glistened with a strange euphoria.
“Haha, ahahaha!”
The man clapped.
“You’re really the best, Lee Kanghyun! As expected, my eyes weren’t wrong!”
That last blow had gone quite deep. Lee Kanghyun was certain. It was a blow that would have made even an A-rank monster’s body explode in one hit.
Yet this bastard was standing there laughing perfectly fine. This went beyond simply having good endurance. Was his ability defensive?
Just as Lee Kanghyun tried to take an attacking stance again, the man raised his palm and winked.
“Calm down. I don’t want to fight with you, Kanghyun.”
“Shut up.”
“More than that, Kanghyun. You look like you’re in a lot of pain right now?”
The man suddenly changed the subject.
“You didn’t take your medicine, did you? I can smell it. The smell of enduring pain. Should I help you? Hm? I can make it so you don’t hurt.”
Lee Kanghyun clenched his fist tightly. His nails dug into his palm.
What the hell is this bastard that he’s tormenting me and even knows I take medicine?
How on earth.
It didn’t matter. Because he could just kill him.
Murderous intent flickered in Lee Kanghyun’s eyes. Just as he was about to charge again, the man suddenly approached. Before he could react, the man kissed his blood-stained cheek.
Smooch.
An embarrassing sound echoed inside the Gate.
“That’s all for today. See you next time, honey. Don’t forget me.”
Poof—!
The man’s body disappeared along with white smoke.
Lee Kanghyun reflexively swung his fist toward the smoke, but only cut through empty air. There was nothing where the smoke had cleared.
Anger, absurdity, and disgust mixed together, making him nauseous.
“That dog-like fucking bastard…”
He roughly scrubbed and wiped his cheek as he vowed.
Next time I meet him, I’m really going to kill him.
