There's trouble.
It was around the time I unexpectedly found myself worrying about settlement money. Suddenly, I sensed another person's magic energy surging and quickly turned my head.
U, ugh...
Listening closely, I could hear the sound of gritted teeth coming from the direction of the fallen Cho Sangoh. That A-rank hunter had taken a direct hit from a Unique-grade magic tool, yet he hadn't completely lost consciousness. Still, the impact must have been considerable, because he remained unable to properly steady himself.
He's conscious?!
For reference, I was already on edge after being injured so suddenly. And now, with the enemy in front of me muttering curses while releasing magic energy, it was only natural that fear would surge through me.
I reflexively drew my weapon. I intended to deliver the finishing blow before the mysterious sorcerer could recover.
However, judging by Cho Sangoh's awakening level, he was probably somewhere in the upper tier of A-rank. Even with Hydra, I wouldn't be able to break through the sorcerer's magic barrier while he was fully armored. Which meant I would have to rely on something other than physical damage.
[Screaming Stake]
[Rank: Unique]
[Description: Inflicts the abnormal status [Pain] on the target struck.]
As I mentioned earlier, awakened individuals here tended to neglect equipment that granted resistance to status effects.
“Y, you b*stard! What the hell did you do to me...?”
I approached the crawling hunter, gripping my weapon tightly.
“I'll kill you...!”
What followed was a silver streak slicing through the air.
And then, the echoing scream of someone in agony.
***
– Aaaaargh...aargh!
Startled!
On that quiet afternoon, the new recruit of the Neo Sisters guild pricked up her ears at the scream that suddenly rang out in the distance.
“What's that scream?”
“Did a monster appear somewhere?”
The new guild member, having chosen a profession devoted to protecting the neighborhood, possessed a stronger-than-average sense of justice. The moment she heard the scream, she immediately ran toward its source with her superior. If a civilian was in danger, then as awakened individuals, perhaps there was something they could do to help.
“Heuk.”
But what was this?
When they reached the scene, what awaited them was anything but ordinary. Amid the grim, eerie sight of pedestrians lying sprawled on the ground like corpses, a blond man was coldly stabbing someone, his face utterly devoid of emotion.
“Aaargh!”
Another scream erupted.
The person being attacked had no visible wounds, yet for some reason, every thrust drew a ragged shriek from him. The fallen hunter curled tightly into himself, clutching the spot where he had been struck. Sweat drenched his face, and digestive fluid he could no longer swallow dribbled from his mouth. Even in that grotesque state, he continued to writhe in agony. ȒἈ𝐍ȯ𝐁Ɛŝ
“Kiaaaaaaah!”
The one wielding the dagger showed no pity whatsoever for the other man's wretched appearance and continued his merciless assault.
It was a truly cold-blooded sight.
“Huh? That person is...?”
At that moment, the Neo Sisters' new recruit recognized the cruel man's true identity.
Black sanpaku eyes and a suit.
Those were the distinctive features of Korea's fourth S-rank hunter.
“Huh, is that really him?”
She had heard so much about that hunter from her immediate senior that she'd quietly looked forward to the day she might meet him.
But she had never imagined she would encounter Kim Giryeo under circumstances like these.
It wasn't after he had heroically dealt with a dungeon break.
Nor was it some casual encounter on the way to or from the Hunter Association.
“Aaargh!”
Instead, she was seeing that very same man ruthlessly stabbing someone over and over again.
“What on earth is going on!”
The Neo newcomer was stunned by the unprecedented sight before her, but in truth, the situation was every bit as overwhelming for the man being attacked.
“Please, please save me...!”
After being thoroughly beaten down by Giryeo, Cho Sangoh had begun begging for mercy without even realizing it.
What the hell had happened?
He had never imagined he could suffer such a crushing defeat. When he discovered Kim Giryeo's weakness, he'd been overjoyed, believing that with the skills he'd honed, he could at least put up a decent fight.
Yet he hadn't managed to exchange even a single proper blow before being reduced to rolling miserably on the ground.
“What, what, what happened!”
It was only natural for him to be shocked when control of his own body suddenly failed him. Even now, Cho Sangoh was panicking because his hands and feet refused to move properly, and he tried desperately to negotiate.
“W, wait! Hunter! I understand. I understand, so just stop for a moment... Ughhh!”
The attempt ended in failure.
From Giryeo's perspective, there was no reason to trust the words of a human who had suddenly pulled out an axe in the middle of a crowded street.
What if he gave the man another chance, only to be threatened again?
“Before I get stabbed in the back for no reason, I should completely incapacitate him!”
However, the stun item had only just been used and was still on cooldown.
Therefore, the only thing he could do immediately was use the [Screaming Stake] to inflict mental damage.
“Keugh, aaagh!”
How could Kim Giryeo continue the torture without the slightest hesitation even while the other man screamed as though he were being killed?
There was a fundamental reason rooted in the nature of the soul inhabiting that body.
Unfortunately, the magician inside it was simply too far removed from mammals to appreciate the nuances of their cries.
In other words, it was much like humanity's indifference toward an injured jellyfish.
Yes. A jellyfish.
How many Earthlings on this planet would genuinely empathize with the suffering of a jellyfish?
“Please, please stop... Stooop aaaaggh!”
Bloodshot eyes.
A voice cracking from strain.
With his limbs barely responding, Cho Sangoh thrashed helplessly as he tried to deal with the situation, while the alien continued his mental assault without so much as flinching.
“U, ugh... Keugh.”
Whenever he clutched the affected area with trembling hands, the dagger struck him again. Whenever he curled into himself, it felt as though his skull were being finely carved open beneath his bare scalp.
How could anyone possibly continue enduring pain so unnatural?
In the end, the Han Shin guild member collapsed with foam spilling from his mouth before the paralysis effect had even fully worn off.
The continuous waves of pain had finally driven him unconscious.
“..._...”
Soon, silence fell.
Giryeo stared at his unconscious opponent, lost in thought.
“Did I take care of him?”
It was right around the moment Giryeo uttered those forbidden words.
“E, e, excuse me.”
Suddenly, a gentle voice came from beside him.
Heuph.
The Neo Sisters' new recruit finally released the breath she had been holding for what felt like an eternity.
Watching Giryeo relentlessly subdue his opponent had overwhelmed her without her even realizing it. But now that the situation had more or less come to an end, she could no longer hold back the question on her mind.
“What kind of situation is this...?”
She and the superior who had arrived with her stared at Giryeo with frightened expressions.
The cold-faced man soon parted his thin lips and answered.
“It was self-defense.”
For a moment, the newly arrived witnesses from the Neo Sisters guild tensed, wondering whether this S-rank hunter might actually be insane.
However, after hearing the entire story, the hunters quickly changed their tune.
“He deserved to get hit!”
“Wow, he swung a weapon at someone who was just standing there? Ugh! Now that I look at you, Hunter, there's blood on your neck!”
Incidentally, there was little chance that Giryeo was lying.
This was a public institution into which enormous amounts of national funding had been poured. Naturally, CCTV cameras were installed all over the place.
“Wow, even after getting dragged into something this annoying, you still managed to deal with it without actually hurting anyone.”
The youngest Neo member glanced toward the fallen Cho Sangoh.
At that moment, the female hunter who had been making a report to 119 spoke up. She was already acquainted with Kim Giryeo. An A-rank hunter skilled with a crossbow, she had briefly crossed paths with him the previous year.
“Uh... Hunter Kim. If it's not too much trouble, may I ask what that thing you're holding is?”
“Yes?”
“I was just wondering what it was. You were stabbing him with it, but it didn't seem to leave any wounds.”
The crossbow-wielding hunter awkwardly introduced a new topic while they stood around waiting for the ambulance.
In response, Giryeo raised the dagger in his hand and began to explain.
It was called the Screaming Stake, and by the very nature of its effect, it was incapable of causing physical injury.
“Ah! That trash dagger?”
The brown-haired crossbowwoman recognized the equipment's name as soon as she heard it.
But at that moment, a small question arose in her mind.
The weapon had to make direct contact with the target's skin.
Most monsters became even more violent when stimulated by pain, making them harder to deal with. Worse still, if the weapon accidentally brushed the wrong part of the wielder's own body, its effect would be inflicted on the owner as well.
In truth, it was an item most hunters deliberately avoided.
“Uh, uh... There are high-ranking hunters who actually use something like the Screaming Stake...?”
It was certainly an unusual choice of weapon for a hunter.
But that question was quickly answered.
Seeing the crossbowwoman tilt her head in confusion, the newcomer standing beside her suddenly spoke.
“Team Leader, he probably bought it specifically for situations like this, right?”
“Huh!?”
“Look. Hunter Kim Giryeo already has another main weapon at his waist.”
A longsword called Hydra hung exactly where she pointed.
“Honestly, for an S-rank, killing someone would be nothing. So he probably bought the Screaming Stake for situations where he needs to control his strength, don't you think?”
“Ah.”
“Besides, I heard from Senior Yoonseung...”
The guild's youngest member eagerly began showing off what she knew.
“I heard that the S-rank Hunter doesn't like relying on skills. He believes natural abilities are best. Apparently, he deliberately uses tools a lot so that he'll be able to adapt easily whenever he goes back to being an ordinary person.”
Right?
The Neo newcomer gazed at Giryeo with sparkling eyes.
Of course, none of that had anything whatsoever to do with the truth.
But as an excuse, it was perfect...
“Yes, that's true.”
Giryeo immediately took advantage of the newcomer's misunderstanding.
Despite this being their first meeting, he lied without the slightest hesitation.
At this point, it really seemed as though he'd tossed his conscience to the dogs.
“By the way, now that I think about it, you look familiar. Since you're calling Yoonseung 'senior', are you with the Neo Sisters?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Someone from your guild went into a dungeon with me before, didn't they?”
“Oh! You remember.”
With the crisis over, all that remained was to deal with the aftermath.
A few minutes later, several ambulances arrived at the scene.
And with that, the incident came to an end.
***
The next day.
“You crazy bastard!”
The previously quiet building was suddenly thrown into chaos.
News that the guild's ace, Cho Sangoh, had engaged in an all-out fight with an S-rank hunter had eventually reached the representative's ears.
“Are you insane? How the hell did you manage to make things turn out like this! Yesterday, you were supposed to demonstrate the power of an A-rank by competing over a dungeon raid! Why the hell did you suddenly provoke that hunter outside?”
He looked down at the guild member sitting there with his head bowed, regarding him as though he were utterly pathetic.
Yet Cho Sangoh still didn't seem to believe he'd done anything wrong.
Instead, he merely muttered excuses in a voice thick with resentment.
“I, I did it because I thought I could win.”
“What?”
“I thought I could win even if we fought right then and there! And I was pissed off. Do you know what that b*stard did to me? He acted all high and mighty just because he's S-rank. He wouldn't even listen to what I had to say—he just brushed me off. The way he acted made my blood boil...”
Bang!
Unable to listen any longer, the representative of Hanshin slammed his hand down on the table.
“Be quiet!”
At that, Cho Sangoh shut his mouth, a defeated expression crossing his face.
“Phew...”
A preemptive attack on an S-rank hunter in front of witnesses?
Under normal circumstances, any employee who caused an incident like that would have been fired immediately. Then the representative himself would have gone to Kim Giryeo, bowed deeply, and apologized.
“That rude hunter is no longer a member of our guild, so please don't hold what he did against all of Hanshin.”
At the very least, that was how he would normally have handled it.
But this time, such a heartless solution wasn't possible.
The man in his thirties sitting in front of him was none other than his own son.
“Ugh, this damn brat. I let my guard down because he hadn't caused any trouble lately...”
Still, at least he'd come back safely.
As the saying went, “The arm bends inward.”
In the end, even the representative of Hanshin couldn't bring himself to be too harsh on his own flesh and blood.
“But don't worry. It's not like I only got beaten up. I actually managed to land a hit on the S-rank.”
“What?”
“Seriously. Anyway, the other side is probably too embarrassed about getting hit by an A-rank to make a big deal out of it...”
But at that very moment,
Tring
.
Someone's phone rang with the default notification tone.
“Oh, I forgot to put it on silent.”
Cho Sangoh pulled out his phone and checked the messenger app.
But as his eyes moved across the screen, his expression rapidly stiffened.
[Hey Cho Sang = = what are you doing right now? Go check the curtain bulletin board, you're a total star now. = = ]
[A kid who's been the life of the party for three years is going crazy = = ]
[http://teamcurt....]