READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 12. S-Class Hunter (3)
My trapezius hurts. I rubbed my stiff neck from the aftermath of the car accident.
‘Ugh, seriously. How bad do you have to be at driving to crash on such a quiet road?’
Yet, whether he knew of my pain or not…
Kang Chang-ho was shamelessly demanding my phone number.
“Y-you’re Kang Chang-ho Hunter, right? Kang Chang-ho…”
Is that how a regular person acts when they meet an S-Class?
It seems like the frail rulers of Earth instinctively feel threatened when they see the awakened new humanity with magic. It certainly felt like a giant beast was right before me.
“Well, if you caused the accident, I hope you’ll cover the repair costs…”
“Of course, I will. Please come this way.”
But even when that’s said, an S-Class Hunter is still part of the intelligent modern humanity.
Kang Chang-ho smoothly completed the compensation.
When I handed him a few sheets of thin, white paper from my wallet, the taxi driver quieted down.
‘What’s so special about that? Is money not good enough?’
Now I was the only victim left.
Kang Chang-ho turned his gaze toward me.
“By the way, what’s your contact information?”
“Huh?”
“I just used all my cash, so it seems like I’ll have to settle your medical bills slowly.”
I didn’t quite understand what he meant…
Is this how things are usually settled after a car accident?
‘It’s just a phone number; what’s the big deal?’
I didn’t want to give him unnecessary leverage. So, I went along with this Earthling’s request.
However, during the exchange of contact information, Kang Chang-ho brought up a rather peculiar topic.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, were you on your way to take care of that chick again today?”
He paused inputting the number, lowering his gaze.
“I find it a bit surprising that someone like you is a porter.”
“Well, maybe.”
“I know a job that pays a lot better than that. Want to hear about it?”
A money-making job?
“It can’t be too difficult to listen.”
The proposal that followed was quite shocking.
“Forget being Ahn Yoon-seung’s porter and come work under me.”
“…!”
“Of course, you’ll get 80% of the items and profits you gain from the Gates.”
Recruiting me with such absurd conditions?
This S-Class Hunter must have recognized the potential contained within Kim Gi-ryeo’s corpse.
‘Before using magic, it’s hard to gauge one’s amount of magic power, but this sensitive human is giving me good clues.’
Let me think. So…
When I reincarnated, the condition was to be reborn as the body with the highest magic power on this planet…
Perhaps Kim Gi-ryeo’s magic, that is, the awakening level here, could rival or even exceed that of an S-Class Hunter?
‘Then, once I’m able to use magic, this whole planet will be within my grasp!’
Ha ha!
I felt a surge of pride after a long time.
So I tried to hide my amusement and said nonchalantly.
“Well, I’m currently in a situation where it’s hard to enter an S-Class Gate. I’m not sure if I could work with you.”
But as soon as I heard Kang Chang-ho’s next words, I lost all amusement, feeling as if cold water had been splashed down my spine.
“…An S-Class?”
“Huh?”
“Even if that’s the case, there’s no way I would push someone of your level into such a high-level Gate.”
My voice came out reflexively.
“Didn’t you approach because you recognized my awakening level?”
However, Kang Chang-ho continued as if it were the most natural explanation.
“Your awakening level? It’s high for an F-Class, but it’s nothing particularly outstanding.”
Kang Chang-ho took off his sunglasses.
Then, with reptilian-like eyes glinting, he scanned me before asserting,
“Look, my offer is simply that I’ll train you directly.”
“…!”
“I’ll protect you inside the Gate so you don’t die, share my know-how, and provide material support.”
In other words, he was offering to be a sponsor…
Kang Chang-ho stared at me without changing his expression. Perhaps he was curious what kind of guts I had to say I would venture into an S-Class Gate.
‘Even the fact that Kim Gi-ryeo’s awakening level is F-Class is secondary here.’
Anyway, right now…
I made a mistake in interpreting his proposal and drank kimchi soup too soon.
‘Ugh, how embarrassing.’
My face felt hot. I awkwardly tried to cover it up with an excuse.
“Ah, I see. I got a bit confused and said something strange. Please forget about it.”
Upon hearing that, Kang Chang-ho rolled his eyes.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter, can I take it that you’re accepting my offer?”
The sentence came out so naturally that I almost nodded, but I snapped back to reality.
What were we talking about? Right. This was a sponsorship discussion.
And why was Kang Chang-ho trying to help me?
“Hold on a moment.”
He is an S-Class Hunter.
From the perspective of a top-tier hunter, of which there are only three in Korea, an F-Class Awakened must be like a bug underfoot.
“So you’re saying you didn’t approach me because of my awakening level?”
Yet Kang Chang-ho wants to take me in, even though we’ve only made eye contact once yesterday?
“What exactly did you see in me to make such an offer?”
Then came the fundamental question.
I began to wonder why he had approached me in the first place. However…
Kang Chang-ho just smiled quietly without answering at all.
Damn it. Yoon Seung-ah, where are you?
I suddenly wanted to see her right away.
“Uh, I appreciate your offer, but I’ll have to decline.”
“Oh, really?”
“As Mr. Kang Chang-ho said, I’m just an ordinary hunter, so I should stick to being a porter.”
This Earthling’s suspicious behavior felt terrifying. I decided to make a swift exit from the scene.
“If you stick with me, your skills will improve much faster. I’ll also help you get items that raise your magic power.”
No matter how sweet the words were, did he think I’d fall for it?
“Sorry, but I’m busy right now. I have a lunch appointment.”
“A lunch appointment, huh?”
Just then, a taxi with the words “Available” lit up in the distance.
“Taxi!”
I nearly jumped in front of the car to hail the taxi, leaving Kang Chang-ho behind on the road as I escaped.
“Hm, Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter.”
I saw his figure growing distant in the side mirror, but my heart was still racing fast.
*
By the way, my statement about having an appointment wasn’t a bluff.
“Your reason for being late today was that you had a car accident with Kang Chang-ho?”
“Now that I think about it, that jerk probably caused the accident on purpose…”
In front of a restaurant that smelled of savory bean paste…
I concluded my meal in anxiety and stepped outside the building.
Ahn Yoon-seung appeared shocked after hearing everything.
“Wow, so it was true that you picked a fight with a strong hunter!”
“Oh boy.”
“If things had gone normally, even I, with my A-Class, might have been a target…”
“Oh really?”
“Thanks to you, Gi-ryeo hyung, I avoided trouble. Then again, with a hunter like you around, it’s no wonder other Awakened wouldn’t stand out.”
What should I do? Call the police?
But what could I tell them? An S-Class Hunter is protecting me so I can safely hunt and is giving me items? Good luck with that.
“If Kang Chang-ho is that strong, then you must be….”
I was so confused that I couldn’t even follow what Ahn Yoon-seung was saying.
“Ahem, talking about this topic outside isn’t appropriate, right? Uh, um… What should we say instead?”
My confusion was brief, but…
“Ah, right. Gi-ryeo hyung, did you see the news this morning? They said Korea ranked second in the assessment of gate management excellence last year.”
Before long, he began to lighten the mood.
“Although anomalies are still severe, it’s a relief that civilian casualties have decreased a lot.”
“Exactly.”
“They even said on the news that humanity will soon conquer the disaster of the Gates…”
Ahn Yoon-seung’s choice of topics was outstanding.
The concept of Gates has always been a fascinating subject for me.
‘At first, I thought it was a magical transportation route created by Earthlings…’
On that day, seven years ago, mysterious phenomena occurred simultaneously around the world.
Gates. And Monsters.
They said that along with that shocking incident, Awakened beings also came into existence.
I fell into thought for a moment.
Now I understood why Earthlings were slow to awaken their magic. After searching around, it made sense.
Normally, planetary mana is generated from the core…
And places like Earth, with a thick rock layer, make it difficult for the core’s mana to break through, resulting in an extremely slow rise in atmospheric magic concentration.
For beings to recognize magic, they first need to ingest sufficient mana, but due to its structure, Earth takes several times longer than Alphauri to take that first step.
‘The conditions are quite different from my hometown.’
Yet humanity has this much technology, yet they just gaze up at the sky for things like space travel?
They still haven’t noticed the mana hiding under their feet.
‘The Gate phenomenon that appeared seven years ago… served as some kind of well.’
In the end, humanity was inadvertently exposed to mana through an accident.
They awakened, evolved, and learned primitive magic. They gained skills.
I can guess the flow of it roughly. But…
“Hmm.”
I still had no idea what the Gates really were.
They weren’t something Earthlings installed to draw up mana, nor were they of Alphauri technology.
Then, what the hell are they?
“Hyung?”
I snapped back from my deep thoughts when someone called me.
“Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought for a moment.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing much…”
Where was I in the conversation with Yoon-seung again?
Oh right, we were talking about how the mortality rate from Gate incidents in Korea has greatly decreased.
“I was just imagining how it would be if I were the one who created the Gates.”
I spoke without much thought into the sentence that popped into my mind. It followed with some trivial chitchat.
“Well, I imagine I wouldn’t be too pleased with the situation.”
“Why’s that?”
“Regardless of intentions, the monsters in the Gates are trying to kill us. The items found inside are just cheese laid over traps.”
“…!”
“But if the little rats start to figure out the traps and just eat the cheese.”
Naturally, they would think like this.
“Wouldn’t that be a little infuriating?”
It was a lazy afternoon.
We were chatting while taking a walk after a meal, and cicadas were buzzing along the roadside.
It should have been just such a time.
“Uh?”
As I was talking, I felt a strange sensation.
Deep beneath the asphalt ground, I felt energy boiling like lava approaching.
This was magic power.
The sharp and fierce magic power was surging up from the ground, enough to make my hair stand on end. Right beneath Ahn Yoon-seung’s feet!
“Ahn Yoon-seung!”
There was no time to think. I pushed Ahn Yoon-seung hard from the side.
Immediately, a bright curtain of light appeared, splitting the surroundings right where he had been standing.
“What is this…!”
Unable to withstand the pouring light, I shut my eyes tightly.
But after a moment, when I opened my eyes, what I saw was…
“…Huh.”
A mysterious space wrapped in soft white light, reminiscent of the halos streaming across distant horizons.
As I looked around, I felt a magic structure similar to the Gate I had once entered.
In other words, I was currently inside an unknown Gate.
“Damn it, I should’ve pulled you!”
Help!