Chapter 37
Chapter 37
The reply from Seo Sang-ho brought a joyful expression to Kang Jin-hyuk’s face.
Seo Sang-ho, who had contacted him with the mindset of “nothing to lose,” responded with the support of 30 Hunters.
The reason he made such a bold decision was not to recruit Kang Jin-hyuk as a guild member.
As a person before being the head of a large guild, he couldn’t just stand by and watch, so he stepped up.
As proof of this, Seo Sang-ho did not demand anything in return for this support.
“I don’t understand why the Titan guys are like that when they have a guild leader like this.”
Perhaps it’s impossible to stop a corrupt organization with individual power alone.
No matter how skilled an S-rank Hunter is, what they’re good at is hunting monsters.
Not the politics of catching people.
“We need to get ready too, before it’s too late.”
Kang Jin-hyuk’s determined words created a question mark in Lucia’s mind.
She tilted her head 15 degrees to the left like a puppy and blinked her eyes.
“Do we need to go when another guild has already stepped up?”
“We should at least pick up the crumbs that fall.”
Now that they had uncovered Tyrant’s atrocities, it didn’t sit right with him to sit back and become a bystander.
“Besides, I doubt the Hunters who came to support will work sincerely.”
Seo Sang-ho was currently overseas and could not directly control the guild members in Korea.
Then it was clear that it would be Titan’s A-rank Hunters who would command the Hunters who came to support.
Kang Jin-hyuk recalled how the Titan Hunters had reacted to him.
To put it bluntly, they were definitely not friendly people.
They were the kind of people who would stab you in the back even while fighting for their lives.
It would be fortunate if they didn’t turn into enemies, let alone be friendly.
When his thoughts reached that point, he couldn’t help but go to the scene.
Kang Jin-hyuk immediately left the dungeon and made full preparations.
He took out the expensive potions he had stored deep in the refrigerator and put them in his inventory.
He also packed a return scroll just in case.
It was a scroll that could be effective even at a distance of 300km, so the price was exorbitant, but when else would he use it if not now?
“Why are you packing so much stuff?”
Lucia wrapped her mouth with wind magic and looked at him as if he was pathetic.
Seeing him fidgeting and stuffing his inventory with junk made her sigh.
“Are you planning to go today?”
Lucia sighed, saying that at this rate, he would leave after sunset.
“Wait a minute, I’ll be done soon.”
“Geez, you say you’ll be done soon, but why are you opening the closet?”
Lucia was horrified to discover the items piled up in the closet.
She wanted to stop him right away, but she didn’t need to move herself.
The sudden ringing of the doorbell stopped Kang Jin-hyuk from ransacking the closet.
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Yoon Song-ho, who had dealt with the brown-haired man at the bar, continued his pursuit until the sun rose the next day.
Yoon Song-ho had no intention of sleeping until he found the whereabouts of ‘Choi Seo-hoon,’ who knew the secrets of Tyrant.
The place he reached after chasing Choi Seo-hoon’s trail was a place with shabby-looking buildings lined up.
It was a residential area where the presence of people was not clearly felt, perhaps because there were few residents.
Considering its inconspicuous and modest appearance, it was a suitable place to hide.
Yoon Song-ho took out a tracking item and investigated the surroundings once again.
‘No matter how many times I check, this is the most likely place.’
Inside this compass-like item was Choi Seo-hoon’s hair, which he had obtained beforehand.
Unless Choi Seo-hoon’s DNA had been altered, there was no way to avoid being tracked by this item.
“The place the arrow is pointing to is……”
Following the item’s reaction, Yoon Song-ho turned his head and fixed his gaze on a house.
“There it is.”
No one had ever failed to be found by the effects of this item.
Yoon Song-ho hid himself in a nearby building with confidence.
When he came out of the building again after about a minute, the masked man’s attire had changed.
Except for the fact that he was wearing a medical mask instead of a full mask to cover his face.
His current appearance was that of an ordinary deliveryman that could be seen anywhere.
“It’s better to be prepared for any situation.”
Although he had never failed to disguise himself, Yoon Song-ho was not arrogant.
While preparing a box to pretend it was a delivery, he also hid a dagger in his sleeve to grab the opponent’s neck.
He was confident that if the opponent showed even the slightest suspicious behavior, he could sever their carotid artery in less than a second.
“Is this too much for a C-rank Hunter?”
Yoon Song-ho had thoroughly investigated who lived in the house he was about to visit.
“He’s a Hunter who’s quite a hot topic on the internet, but……”
There’s no way he could be his opponent.
Yoon Song-ho was convinced of that.
Even if he had attracted attention by catching a new type of monster, it was just luck.
No matter how lucky he was, with his skills that were only at C-rank, he was no match for him.
He had dealt with more than 15 Hunters without a trace so far.
Among them, there was not a single Hunter below B-rank.
Full of confidence, Yoon Song-ho pressed the doorbell without hesitation.
Only after a while did a voice come from inside.
“Who is it?”
“Delivery.”
A magical answer that anyone would have to open the door to.
Sure enough, Kang Jin-hyuk opened the front door without hesitation and poked his head out.
“Delivery?”
Yoon Song-ho sensed that something was strange about Kang Jin-hyuk’s attitude.
Normally, people would pay attention to the box the deliveryman brought.
It was natural to be more interested in the box that would become their possession than the deliveryman they would only meet briefly.
However, Kang Jin-hyuk stared at the assassin disguised as a deliveryman rather than the box.
‘Was I caught?’
Yoon Song-ho thought to himself that it couldn’t be.
Not only had he changed his clothes, but he had also used a skill to eliminate any sense of discomfort and blurred the perception of the person he was facing.
Even A-rank Hunters hadn’t noticed this camouflage until the moment their necks were cut.
It wasn’t something that a C-rank Hunter, who was commonly found on the streets, could see through at a glance.
Yoon Song-ho firmly believed in his skills and did not lose his composure.
“Yes, are you Mr. Kang Jin-hyuk? Please sign here.”
Yoon Song-ho handed Kang Jin-hyuk a pen.
The moment he touched this pen, a paralyzing needle would pop out and sting his finger.
It was a poison that could instantly paralyze even large animals, so even if he was a Hunter, there was no way he could withstand it.
Even if he didn’t touch the pen, he could just cut his throat with the knife hidden in his sleeve.
He was fully prepared.
Yoon Song-ho thought there was absolutely no way for Kang Jin-hyuk to escape this situation safely.
But there’s no such thing as absolutes in this world.
Kang Jin-hyuk, after checking Yoon Song-ho’s Karma level, suddenly snapped his fingers.
“Gasp!”
It was faster for an arrow to fly from inside the house than for him to understand why he had done that.
Thanks to his instinctive movement, Yoon Song-ho was able to avoid being hit in a vital spot.
“Argh!”
As Yoon Song-ho stumbled back with an arrow piercing his shoulder, Kang Jin-hyuk’s right fist accurately struck his jaw.
His consciousness blurred as the shock that traveled through his jawbone shook his head.
Realizing that if he lost consciousness here, everything would be over, Yoon Song-ho opened his eyes wide.
“Damn it……!”
Yoon Song-ho turned his body as if collapsing and fell under the railing.
Then, without looking back, he hurriedly left the scene.
Kang Jin-hyuk watched him quietly and then raised his hand to stop Lucia’s actions.
Then she obediently released the bowstring she had been pulling.
“Are you going to let him go like this?”
“It’s okay. He’ll come back anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
“There’s no way a guy who came here so deliberately would give up after one failure.”
The assassin’s Karma level that Kang Jin-hyuk saw was over 900.
The guys who had trafficked people to obtain Alraune’s Elixir were in the 200-300 range, but this assassin was more than three times that.
Perhaps killing people was more common to him than stepping on ants.
“I don’t know why he’s targeting me, but if I play my cards right, I can use him.”
It just so happened that he was worried about how to deal with the aftermath of raiding the Tyrant Guild branch.
Even if the Titan Hunters came to support, it wouldn’t be a solution.
If he shifted the blame to Titan, a full-scale war between Tyrant and Titan would most likely break out.
It was a guild that had gone as far as burying people alive to create Alraune’s Elixir, so they wouldn’t hesitate to fight in the middle of the city.
Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t want such a commotion to happen at all.
If he could shift the blame, it would be better if it was someone who had nothing to do with him, someone who deserved it.
And just in time, the most suitable person for that condition had come to his doorstep.
From Kang Jin-hyuk’s perspective, it was like a pumpkin had rolled in on its own vine.
“The problem is how to lure that guy in……”
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While Kang Jin-hyuk was pondering, Yoon Song-ho, who had escaped the residential area, collapsed in an alleyway, gasping for breath.
Yoon Song-ho took a cloth out of his pocket, bit down hard on it with his mouth, and pulled out the arrow embedded in his shoulder.
“……!”
Thanks to the cloth he was biting on, he managed to suppress his scream, but instead, his jaw ached as if it was about to come off.
Yoon Song-ho sprayed a potion on the wound to stop the bleeding and then wrapped it with a bandage to complete the first aid.
He never dreamed that he would use the first aid techniques he had learned in preparation for emergencies against a mere C-rank Hunter.
“No, he’s not a C-rank Hunter.”
Shaking his head, Yoon Song-ho recalled the figure inside the room.
He couldn’t see clearly because of the shadows, but it was definitely a slender figure holding a bow.
How could he shoot such a fast arrow with a body that made him doubt if he even had any muscles?
If he had used the power of a skill, he would have to be at least B-rank.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have shot his shoulder so easily, even though he had dodged an attack from an A-rank Hunter right in front of him.
“It seems like he has someone backing him up.”
Yoon Song-ho admitted his mistake.
He had underestimated his opponent, thinking he was just a C-rank Hunter, and hadn’t considered the possibility of him having an accomplice.
It was a careless act that he shouldn’t have done as a veteran.
“I need to investigate more thoroughly before making a move.”
Gritting his teeth, Yoon Song-ho got up.
The arrow had missed his vital points, and he had completed the first aid, so there was no problem in moving.
His pride wouldn’t allow him to back down here, so Yoon Song-ho was determined to get another chance today.
“I’ll make you regret doing this to me.”
If he had obediently revealed Choi Seo-hoon’s whereabouts, he might have just knocked him unconscious.
But since he had resisted so fiercely, he couldn’t let him go without killing him.
For the sake of his comrades, he had to nip these unstable factors in the bud.