A S-Class Hunter With Great Agility - Chapter 108
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 108: Curtain Call (1)
I strode toward the stage. As I lengthened my stride, the stage under the lights grew closer and closer.
“St-stop him!”
The auctioneer shouted urgently.
【Woof! Woof!】
Then the Cerberus with one head remaining went wild again.
I kicked away the debris of the broken theater.
“Battle of Hongshan.”
Swoosh—! Thud.
A stone fragment imbued with dark blue energy collided with the Cerberus’s head.
Thump.
The unconscious Cerberus collapsed just like that.
‘As expected…’
This made it the third time I’d faced an A-rank Boss Monster. But it was handled much more easily than before.
‘The increased mana played a big part.’
But it was also thanks to the Divine Descent Ritual skill that had risen to level 4. Thanks to the increased affinity with the Divine Spirit, the skill’s attack power had increased even more.
It would have been faster if I had the Spirit General Sword… But setting aside immediate regrets.
“You call yourself a caretaker. You’re not a very kind caretaker though. Is that how you do it? Driving the animals you’ve carefully raised into a corner.”
I said while wiping the blood that had splattered on my face with the back of my hand.
“I wonder if a performance without a lead actor can succeed.”
In front of the stage.
Standing before that stage still brilliantly illuminated by lights, I raised my head.
“Haha…”
The cornered actor’s pupils shook. This was probably a situation not in his script.
“Hahaha!”
The auctioneer covered his red eyes. Then he burst into loud laughter while trembling his hands.
“I… I!”
“…”
“What did I do so wrong?”
He glared at me and shouted forcefully.
“People like you don’t understand!”
The auctioneer grabbed his mask and crushed it as if he truly felt wronged.
Crack.
With the fake A-rank Hunter’s strength, the item soon fell away from his face.
A haggard face.
A young man with a worn expression laughed as if crying.
“I had no parents from birth. Ah, yes. Fine. A lonely role! I thought it wasn’t bad. The protagonist always faces trials after all.”
“…”
“So I endured it. Believing that a bright future would eventually come!”
Twitch.
The corpse of the dead Quadra Cerberus stirred slightly.
“But when I awakened as a D-rank Hunter… and received this useless skill, and everyone started pointing fingers at me… I gave up on everything.”
“…”
“I realized I wasn’t the protagonist.”
Whoosh!
The auctioneer suddenly raised his head. Then the Cerberus’s corpse also rose again.
“—!”
I briefly stepped back from the stage.
‘He could control dead corpses too?’
Tremble.
However, the auctioneer’s hands were shaking. It seemed like a final struggle, pushing his skill to its limits.
“But my only salvation! Told me otherwise. That I too have my own stage…”
Haha!
“Ahhh. That’s how I was reborn anew under his hands…!”
The auctioneer wore an ecstatic expression.
‘…He’s insane.’
Completely so.
I stared in bewilderment at the auctioneer who had become a complete fanatic.
“You say what I’ve done is cruel?”
What’s more cruel than that is…
“You people who ignored and trampled on me, who unlike me were born with the fate of main characters!”
The auctioneer stretched out his arm and clenched his fist. At the same time, Cerberus moved.
Whoosh—!
Cerberus charged forward fiercely. A dead body whose soul had already departed…
was rushing to tear me apart.
“…Thousand Autumns—.”
I planted my feet firmly to cast the skill. However.
Clank.
The black chains were slightly faster.
Thunk.
The chains pierced through Cerberus’s heart.
“Flying Wing Bird.”
The man with red wings murmured quietly. He simultaneously stroked Cerberus’s head.
Plop, plop.
That was all it took.
One eyeball from the dead fighting dog rolled to the floor. Soon after, one more, then another. All four remaining eyeballs.
I quietly swallowed my saliva.
‘This is…’
Flap.
Moving his red wings, he landed beside me.
Despite subduing dozens of monsters and casting an attack beyond common sense with just a touch, he appeared calm.
“…Are you finished over there?”
“Thanks to you.”
Taking a quick look, no one was injured. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Damn it!”
The furious auctioneer ground his teeth.
“Because of people like you…”
People who know nothing of misfortune. Living in luxury with abilities gained through luck, unable to look down on those who can’t…
“The reason I became like this is all…”
His muttering voice scraped at my ears.
“…Don’t listen.”
Then Hong I-jo spoke indifferently.
Hong I-jo spread his hand. Black chains formed in his grasp.
Those chains extended toward the stage…
“Urgh!”
And seized the auctioneer. The man on stage, now unable to move, twisted his body violently.
Clank.
Hong I-jo pulled the chains.
Thud.
The actor on stage fell below the stage like that.
“…Excuses.”
Hong I-jo stepped on the fallen auctioneer’s shoulder.
“Breaking the law, making excuses… I’ve heard plenty.”
“…!”
“They don’t work.”
Hong I-jo looked down at the lawbreaker beneath his feet with piercing cold eyes.
He gripped the chains even tighter.
“Keh, haha…”
The auctioneer, now completely resigned, laughed. The laughter that leaked out like a sigh flowed like water.
“…Then who will listen to my misfortune?”
At those words, I moved my mouth. However, no particular sound came out.
“What’s wrong?”
Hong I-jo asked back. I shook my head.
“It’s nothing.”
Hong I-jo quickly lost interest. He helped the fallen auctioneer sit up and tied him securely for arrest.
I quietly watched that scene.
“….”
Right. I have nothing to say. I wasn’t planning to listen to his complaints either.
I don’t sympathize with his thoughts. No matter how much he recites his misfortune, the pain of not being the protagonist in life, I can’t understand it.
Because that fact doesn’t justify his crimes.
It’s just…
‘I also had no parents.’
I never had natural talent either, just the ability to see strange things unlike others.
‘After Grandfather passed away…’
Forget being a protagonist, I tried to get even an extra’s position in this world. Because I didn’t want to starve to death.
I struggled to survive somehow.
‘But really, I never touched anything illegal.’
Even if misfortune consumed me. I never strayed from the right path.
“…Damn it.”
I approached the auctioneer. Then I met his eye level.
Let me act like an old-timer. You can call it meddling if you want.
Originally, a shaman is someone who listens to others’ stories and recites their path.
“…Do you want to change your fate?”
The resigned auctioneer slowly raised his head. I quietly looked into him.
Moon Death.
A life destined to suffer all kinds of hardships.
“Then before you sleep, put a 500 won coin under your pillow and spin around twenty times like an elephant’s trunk.”
“…?”
“And…”
I paused for a moment before speaking.
“Find a job.”
“….”
“Find legal work that you can do and work hard at it. Spend busy days without a moment to breathe, hold even a small amount of money in your hands, and build your life day by day with that money. While dreaming of tomorrow.”
“….”
“That’s how everyone normally lives.”
The auctioneer didn’t seek salvation to escape from misfortune.
He simply couldn’t compromise between ideals and reality. Dreams that exceed reality are greed.
We must plant our feet in the given reality, live today and hope for tomorrow.
“Still…”
I glanced at the audience.
Third generation chaebol, national assembly member, prosecutor. Corporate executives… I could see various privileged occupations.
If not all, then most of them. Probably people who were born into good environments.
‘What would it feel like to be able to survive without effort?’
And as protagonists at that.
I cleared my thoughts and soon straightened my knees to stand up.
“…Let’s go now.”
The arrest was over. What remained was punishment.
Everyone would receive appropriate punishment under fair judgment.
* * *
“But do you always handle things alone like this? You must be very busy.”
The audience members were tied up together. The auctioneer was the same.
Perhaps due to experiencing such chaos, they had become quieter than before.
“…Ah.”
I asked Hong I-jo about something I had been curious about all along. Hong I-jo pondered for a moment, then tied up the last remaining chain.
“No.”
“Then….”
“What time is it now?”
It was an unexpected question in return. I looked at the broken clock hanging in the theater and said.
“If that’s not broken, it’s about 6 o’clock.”
It’s dinner time. I had been hungry since I couldn’t eat anything while participating in the auction since daytime.
“Originally, the time was 6 o’clock.”
“?”
“Operation start time….”
So. The original time to begin the operation was 6 o’clock? Then why already….
Hong I-jo’s gaze turned to the closed door.
Bang.
Crash!
The door opened violently.
“Freeze! You are all surrounded.”
Huh?
There were familiar faces there. I tilted my head with confused eyes.
“Wow, I thought I was going to die waiting. We couldn’t even assess the internal situation because of the soundproofing…. Huh?”
Red Dog?
Opening the theater door, several Red Dog Hunters revealed themselves.
They were the Hunters in black special uniforms that I had seen at Red Dog Headquarters.
“Don’t tell me….”
I turned my stiff neck with effort and spoke to Hong I-jo.
“Was this a group operation?”
No way, if I had just waited a little longer, it might have been less difficult…!
I made a bewildered expression.
“You….”
“….”
“Weren’t going to buy anything, but staying still.”
Hong I-jo said slowly.
“That’s not polite….”
— If you’re not going to buy anything, why are you here. That’s not polite to other people.
“No, that was a joke!”
Even so, where is there someone who charges into a group operation alone? Right here!
He really was an amazing person in many ways.
“Huh. What? Is it all over already?”
“Ah, I memorized all the Miranda rights for today….”
“The operation time is definitely now, but did you finish it alone?”
The Hunters who saw the ruined theater interior walked in with confusion.
They had all lowered the weapons they had been holding solemnly.
“Not alone….”
Hong I-jo answered while yawning lightly.
“Oh? That benefactor?”
The Red Dog Hunters who discovered me standing next to him made surprised faces.
“Guild Leader…! What on earth is all this about?!”
“It just happened.”
“Please explain a bit longer….”
Just then, the interpreter appeared. Someone came rushing in through the open door.
“Ah, I’m sorry! The dungeon break has just been resolved…. Huh?”
It was Wi Seo-jin. She looked back and forth between the collapsed theater interior and the criminals tied up with chains.
“Why is this….”
Then she spotted me.
“E, Eun Hae-dam? Don’t tell me you two together did all this….”
How should I explain this. I can’t say I followed along because I had no way to get home and it ended up like this….
“Wow, time to get off work!”
…No need to explain?
“Thank you!”
Following her lead, a wave of joy swept through the other Hunters as well.
“Woohoo! Are we clocking out on time today?”
“Amazing. You’re really our benefactor.”
“I’m going home!”
Well, for office workers, getting off work early was the best thing regardless of the reason… I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders.
“Dinner, together?”
Hong I-jo turned around slightly and asked. It was a peaceful question, completely different from earlier.
Hmm, dinner. I pondered for a moment.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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