A Hunter on Borrowed Time Keeps Surviving - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17.
The air in the Investigation Room froze for a moment.
It was because of the radical proposal that Kang Ho-cheol had just made.
“Become a Special Hunter.”
Si-ul, who received the proposal, was taken aback—and Baek Ga-hyun, standing beside him, was equally flabbergasted.
“…I’m sorry?”
Baek Ga-hyun spoke first, before Si-ul could.
The usually composed and dignified woman had twisted her face into an almost comical expression of disbelief.
“Senior, I’m not sure what you mean all of a sudden….”
But Baek Ga-hyun trailed off mid-sentence.
She had glimpsed something different in Kang Ho-cheol’s eyes.
It wasn’t that characteristic gleam of his that usually carried a hint of playfulness.
‘…He’s serious.’
Reading the sincerity in Kang Ho-cheol’s gaze, Baek Ga-hyun closed her mouth.
She decided that with her senior being this grave, she shouldn’t butt in carelessly.
Still, it was difficult to hide her bewilderment.
‘Why? What’s the reason….’
A witness to the Black Gate incident and a person under protective watch for investigation.
To someone like that, he was making an offer to become a Special Hunter?
By any reasonable standard, it made no sense.
And yet Kang Ho-cheol seemed to have absolute conviction about something.
“If you come in as a Special Hunter, Mr. Kim Si-ul, you’ll be able to grow stronger at an accelerated pace. A well-equipped training system, top-tier gear provided at no cost, real combat experience through missions—they all compel you toward growth.”
Kang Ho-cheol gave a casual shrug.
“It seems like an enticing proposition for someone dreaming of conquering an SSS-rank Dungeon, wouldn’t you say?”
At first, Si-ul thought it was a joke.
But the more he listened, the clearer it became to him that this wasn’t casual talk.
“I don’t understand what you saw in me to say such a thing… and how could someone like me possibly become a Special Hunter?”
Si-ul didn’t merely deny it—he belittled himself as he spoke.
And for good reason. A Special Hunter wasn’t a profession one could become simply by wanting to.
Only A-rank or higher hunters could apply, and even then, one had to pass numerous tests.
“My rank alone disqualifies me.”
Si-ul furrowed his brow, signaling for Kang Ho-cheol to drop the matter.
Of course, knowing that Kang Ho-cheol had made the proposal in earnest, Si-ul had responded with equal earnestness about its impossibility.
‘People at their level would already know my current rank.’
Just as Si-ul had guessed, Kang Ho-cheol and Baek Ga-hyun were inferring him to be B-rank level.
However, one singular anomaly existed that was weighing even more heavily on Kang Ho-cheol’s mind.
“Your Trait possessed a value of S-rank or higher. The rarity of an Awakening’s Trait ordinarily correlates with one’s Awakening grade. Based on that, I’m inclined to believe Mr. Kim Si-ul could achieve S-rank Re-awakening in the not-too-distant future.”
Even Baek Ga-hyun, his colleague, was hearing this theory for the first time.
It struck her as a rather compelling deduction.
‘He has a point. A Trait at the level of the country’s top-tier healer, yet an Awakening grade of B-rank? There’s definitely a contradiction there.’
“I’m sorry, but you’ve misjudged me.”
Yet the response from the man in question was far from encouraging.
“I appreciate your high regard for my potential, but truthfully, I have no interest in such a dangerous profession in the first place.”
A sharp refusal. Si-ul was unwavering.
“Special Hunter, or whatever—the name alone exhausts me. Having to risk my life on missions each time while being monitored on top of it all.”
Si-ul clicked his tongue, a hint of derision in his voice.
“Besides, I simply don’t have the time for it.”
Silence fell over the Investigation Room once more.
Baek Ga-hyun glanced at Kang Ho-cheol’s expression.
After such a blunt rejection, she had expected at least one more word from him.
But Kang Ho-cheol neither smiled nor frowned.
“If you dislike it, then there’s nothing to be done.”
He spoke matter-of-factly and turned to leave.
“I was simply informing you of a method that could benefit us both. The choice is yours, Mr. Kim Si-ul, and I respect that.”
With the conversation concluded, Kang Ho-cheol walked out of the Investigation Room.
“I’ll leave the remaining questions and paperwork to you.”
At the door, he gave Baek Ga-hyun her instructions, then closed it without hesitation.
It was hard to believe this was the same man who, just moments ago, had made the Special Hunter offer with such enthusiasm.
Yet Baek Ga-hyun alone saw through Kang Ho-cheol’s heart.
‘He’s quite disappointed, isn’t he.’
Kang Ho-cheol fell into that characteristic silence of his when things weren’t unfolding the way he wanted.
Baek Ga-hyun studied Si-ul’s face with curious eyes.
‘Does he really want him that badly?’
She was puzzled by it.
There was something about Si-ul she couldn’t see, something her senior seemed to sense.
In her experience, when that happened, Kang Ho-cheol’s intuition was usually right.
‘What else did he spot to get that look on his face?’
Baek Ga-hyun smiled faintly and, in place of her sulking senior who had left, continued with the rest of the investigation.
* * *
“This is exhausting… So I’m going to have to do this investigation once a week from now on?”
It was nearly midnight.
Si-ul trudged through empty streets toward home.
‘My legs feel heavier than when I came out of the dungeon raid this afternoon.’
His calves were stiff, as if he’d been sprinting at full speed for hours.
‘I guess I was pretty tense?’
His mind had been blank when he left the house.
The moment he climbed into the black vehicle behind Kang Ho-cheol and Baek Ga-hyun, Si-ul’s thoughts crystallized into one thing.
‘This is bad….’
Scenes straight out of movies flickered through his mind.
Torture of every kind, and then finally spilling information about the Black Gate, his life draining away in the process, death….
‘Honestly, I thought I’d wet myself walking into the Investigation Room.’
But once it was over, reality turned out to be the complete opposite of what he’d imagined.
If anything, Si-ul was struck by how keenly his senior had picked up on his distress and tried to help.
For that, at least, he was genuinely grateful.
‘But that guy….’
Kang Ho-cheol’s face rose in his mind.
‘Was he really serious about scouting me as a Special Hunter?’
No matter how much he turned it over, he couldn’t quite believe it.
Sure, he’d grown stronger—but Special Hunter was a world away.
South Korea’s highest-tier combat force.
‘I’m not even in their league.’
Even thinking that, a strange feeling stirred in him.
‘He rated me that highly even though he mistook my ability for High-Speed Healing?’
The corner of his mouth twitched upward.
‘What would his face look like when he finds out it’s actually Immortality?’
Si-ul chuckled to himself and indulged in pointless daydreams.
‘I was tempted, to be honest.’
Becoming a Special Hunter would give him access to the government’s intelligence network and SSS-rank Dungeons.
It would definitely be a huge help in tracking down the Dragon of Judgment.
But Si-ul had one decisive reason he couldn’t accept.
‘I don’t have time.’
Five months until his Death Notification.
Si-ul couldn’t afford to be tied down to some organization.
‘Even if I run full-speed toward my goal alone, I’ll barely make it.’
That was why—Special Hunter or not, nor the guild executive position Park Jung-gi had offered.
If he accepted, he could use the power to quickly gather intelligence on the Dragon of Judgment.
‘But I can’t focus only on that. What organization would operate solely around my needs?’
For Si-ul, independent action was the priority.
Even if he died in five months, at least he’d die having done everything he wanted to do freely.
“I’m sorry, but a man on borrowed time pursues a life without responsibility, stubborn sir.”
Si-ul murmured with a laugh.
But then the word responsibility caught his throat, and his feet stopped dead.
“Oh!”
Si-ul gasped suddenly.
“Zero!”
A responsibility he’d forgotten had just come back to him.
‘How long have I been away from home?’
He checked his phone—it flipped to exactly 00:00.
Midnight. A day had passed.
More than seven hours spent in the Investigation Room alone.
He’d been away from the newly hatched baby dragon alone at home for far too long.
“…It’s waiting quietly for me, isn’t it?”
Si-ul murmured the hopeful words before slapping his own cheek with a sharp crack.
‘There’s no way it’s sitting quietly waiting!!’
Si-ul’s face went pale in an instant.
At that moment, he bolted down the street with every ounce of strength he had.
“Zero! Dad’s coming!!”
* * *
Bang!!
Si-ul burst through the front door nearly hard enough to break it off its hinges.
“Huff… huff…!”
Without even removing his shoes, he swept through the house, gasping for breath.
The living room, the kitchen, the desk.
‘Not here?’
His heart dropped like a stone.
“Zero…?”
He called out the name gently.
Si-ul’s voice trembled badly.
Then the blankets on the bed stirred ever so slightly.
The blanket rustled, and a small head peeked out from underneath.
Teal scales and round eyes.
And in those eyes, tears as large as chicken droppings.
Without climbing out from under the blanket, Zero remained there, staring at Si-ul.
“King…!”
It was a cry of affirmation, but his voice betrayed him—he was desperately holding back tears.
“Ah.”
Si-ul’s heart twisted painfully.
“You… you’re staying under there because I told you not to come out of the blanket, aren’t you?”
Zero pouted his lip and nodded.
At last, tears began to roll down Zero’s cheeks.
“Ah, no…”
Si-ul kicked off his shoes and ran to the bed.
“You can come out now.”
Before the words even finished, Si-ul scooped Zero up and lifted him out from under the blankets.
The baby dragon’s body, smaller than a basketball, burrowed into his arms.
“King…! King…!”
Zero buried his face against Si-ul’s chest and wept inconsolably.
His wings trembled faintly, and his tail coiled around Si-ul’s wrist as if gripping it.
“I’m sorry. Really sorry.”
Si-ul gently stroked Zero’s back.
“From now on, I’ll never leave you alone like that and rush out suddenly.”
Zero’s tears finally began to subside.
“There was no choice today…”
Si-ul added, almost as an excuse.
“I couldn’t take you outside with me. And if people saw what you looked like, it would cause problems.”
A moment of silence fell between them.
Zero listened quietly to Si-ul’s words, and then suddenly—
“King!”
He let out a short but powerful cry.
And in that very instant—
Swoosh—!
Zero’s teal scales flashed brilliantly with light.
“…!”
Si-ul winced and turned his head away in surprise.
When he looked back, his arms were empty.
“What?”
Si-ul spun around in confusion, looking everywhere.
“…Where did you go?”
Then he felt a heavy weight settle on his shoulder.
Si-ul raised his hand to his shoulder, feeling the strange sensation.
Something snagged against his fingertips with a soft catch.
A sharp cry split the air.
Space rippled and distorted, and Zero materialized on Si-ul’s shoulder.
“What? How did you—”
Zero rustled his scales.
The cyan-blue scales shimmered, shifting to translucent with each change of angle before reverting, over and over.
“You don’t mean—”
Si-ul’s eyes widened.
“You can change your scale color to transparent?”
“Woof!”
Zero barked brightly.
This time his voice carried a note of pride.
Si-ul fell silent for a moment, then his expression turned serious.
“With this ability, we could go outside together.”
Zero’s face lit up.
“Woof!”
Thrilled at the prospect of being with Si-ul, Zero flapped his wings and spiraled through the air.
In truth, this news was far more welcome to Si-ul than to Zero.
‘I was worried about how to manage him outside, but if he has this Transparency ability, most of those problems just disappear.’
That wasn’t all.
Zero was a monster—more precisely, a dragon, a creature of the Demon Realm.
Though he was still an infant now, it wouldn’t be long before he displayed formidable power and fought alongside Si-ul.
That Zero possessed Transparency was something that would expand the breadth of combat strategies Si-ul could employ.
‘Born just recently, and already possessing this much potential….’
It was no accident that the reward for the fifth consecutive quest success had been Zero.
“I’m counting on you going forward.”
Si-ul caught Zero mid-flight and settled him onto his lap.
Zero gazed up at Si-ul with gleaming eyes.
Innocent and pure, yet within them flowed the unmistakable Demonic Power of the Demon Realm.
“Woof! Woof!”
A Doomed Hunter Continues to Survive
Author |
Kutsummatsu
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Corp.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Corp. – Dreambooks
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Corp. – Dreambooks.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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