How to Seduce S-Class Hunters with Bungeoppang - Chapter 83
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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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【Chapter 83】
I braced my body, anticipating the violent impact of the impending collision. But then—
“Ugh…?”
Instead of the shattering pain I’d expected, a strange buoyancy enveloped my entire body.
As my eyes fluttered open, an unbelievable sight greeted me. I was suspended in mid-air, hovering roughly a meter above the ground. A faint blue barrier that had been wrapping around me slowly dissipated.
“What… what is this?”
The moment my feet touched the ground, a cheerful notification chimed in my ear, and a translucent system window materialized before me.
Ribbon of Wishes (S)
: Accessory-type item. Creates a protective barrier when the wearer senses danger (2/3)
It had already been used twice? I could have sworn there was no notification when that man grabbed my forearm earlier.
I reached up and felt the hair ribbon secured firmly in place. Thanks to this S-Rank item, I’d managed to survive the fall from that height unscathed.
“Phew… wearing it every day has really paid off.”
As I was catching my breath, I suddenly realized how eerily quiet the surroundings had become. Only then did I notice that Ha-nyang’s body, which had been cradled in my arms, hung limp like a stuffed doll.
“Ha-nyang!”
I hurriedly knelt down and checked Ha-nyang’s condition. Fortunately, there were no visible injuries, and the gentle rise and fall of his belly indicated he was breathing steadily. It seemed he’d lost consciousness from the shock of the sudden fall.
“…Now that I think about it, where am I?”
Cradling Ha-nyang carefully in my arms, I lifted my head and surveyed my surroundings. A colossal stone statue of a beast-like creature loomed out of the darkness, its imposing form seeming to guard something.
‘This place feels ominous.’
A chill ran through me, and a crimson warning window appeared before my eyes with an unsettling glow.
Gate ‘Thousand-Year Underground Tomb (S)’ – Entry Complete
‘Wait. An S-Rank Gate?’
The Rift had led me to the highest-tier Gate. I swallowed hard and held Ha-nyang tighter against my chest.
‘I need to escape this place as quickly as possible.’
An S-Rank Gate meant there were catastrophic-level monsters befitting that rank. I had to get out of here before any of them detected my presence.
‘Where is Lee Hyun-woo?’
But no matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t see Lee Hyun-woo anywhere. I’d assumed he’d be nearby since we’d fallen together.
“…Hunter, where are you?”
I called out to him in a hushed voice, but not even an echo returned. I forced my frozen body to move and carefully took a step forward.
‘Could he have fallen into a different space?’
In the vast, empty underground space, only the sound of my trembling footsteps echoed loudly. My palms grew clammy from the extreme tension. I looked up, but the collapsed ground from which we’d fallen was sealed shut by solid rock walls, as if it had never existed in the first place.
“Hunter, it’s Jung Ha-neul! If you can hear me, please answer!”
An inexplicable dread washed over me. I had to find Lee Hyun-woo quickly and figure out how to escape this place.
It was then, as I hurried forward with Ha-nyang in my arms, that—
—A sound like labored breathing mixed with an animal’s groan reached my ears.
I turned my gaze, and in a corner shrouded in pitch darkness, I spotted a large shadow huddled on the ground.
“Lee Hyun-woo…?”
I instinctively stopped in my tracks just as I was about to rush toward him. Something felt wrong.
Lee Hyun-woo was clawing at the ground, breathing heavily and roughly. His shoulders heaved violently as if they might break apart.
“Hunter! Are you alright?”
As I cautiously extended my hand, Lee Hyun-woo, who had been pressing his head down, slowly lifted it like a creaking doll.
“…!”
The flashlight’s beam revealed his face—transformed beyond recognition. His forehead glistened with cold sweat, and his eyes burned crimson, the whites completely bloodshot. Upon spotting me, he clenched his teeth.
“Ha-neul Hunter. Please… get away from me….”
Run away?
As I stumbled backward in shock, his crimson eyes clouded over like dying embers. A guttural moan tore from deep within his throat as he suddenly thrust one massive hand toward me.
In that instant when I realized escape was impossible and squeezed my eyes shut—
“Ugh…!”
His enormous frame convulsed and crumpled helplessly to the ground. Only then did I notice his thigh already drenched in dark crimson blood.
He had driven a short blade into his own thigh.
“Lee Hyun-woo Hunter!!!”
I screamed and rushed toward him, but he raised his blood-stained hand to stop me.
“…Don’t come closer.”
Between his ragged, scorching breaths came the stench of unbearable agony. His unfocused, hazy eyes regained a moment of clarity—courtesy of the excruciating pain that tore through his flesh.
“Ugh…. This entire space is ensnared by a powerful mental manipulation skill.”
“The whole space? Then what am I supposed to…!”
He shook his head, gasping for breath.
“It’s fortunate you weren’t affected by the skill. You must escape. There’s nothing Ha-neul Hunter can do… Ugh!”
The thread of reason he’d barely maintained by wounding his thigh didn’t last long. The thick veins on his reddened hands writhed as if ready to burst. His entire body trembled like aspen leaves as he fought to suppress some terrible impulse.
“Go…. Please!!”
He gripped the blade again and without hesitation carved a deep gash across his forearm.
Flesh split open, and crimson blood erupted into the air. A desperate struggle to bind his mind through the body’s extreme agony.
“Lee Hyun-woo Hunter….”
I bit down hard on my trembling lips and retreated step by agonizing step. Then I turned and bolted in the opposite direction like a madwoman.
There was nothing an F-Rank like me could do by staying at his side. The longer I remained, the more he would tear his own body apart trying to suppress the murderous impulse.
“I have to find some way….”
Tears had already soaked my cheeks. I wiped them away roughly with my sleeve, gritted my teeth, and pushed my legs harder.
“Aaah!”
My foot caught on a hidden stone in the darkness, and I tumbled hard across the ground. The pain of scraped knees barely registered. I scrambled up immediately, covered in dust, and hastily checked that Ha-nyang was safe in my arms before sprinting forward again.
“Huff, gasp…!”
How long did I run with lungs burning? At the far edge of the vast underground space that seemed endless, I encountered an utterly unexpected sight.
“A lake…?”
Before me stretched an enormous underground lake. Even in the pitch darkness, it radiated an ethereal blue-silver luminescence—a space so impossibly serene and beautiful it felt unreal.
“Phew….”
Fortunately, nothing threatening appeared nearby. I carefully set Ha-nyang down and collapsed to the ground. My hands trembled violently as they pressed against the stone.
I slowly pieced together what I knew. Lee Hyun-woo Hunter said he’d fallen victim to a powerful mental manipulation skill. And that this entire space was the lair of an S-Rank monster.
‘…So that’s why my defensive item was used twice.’
Thanks to the defense mechanism detecting and blocking the area-wide mental manipulation skill as a critical threat, I’d managed to keep my mind intact. But merely avoiding the skill wasn’t enough.
I had no idea how to destroy it. I possessed no information whatsoever.
“Why am I only F-Rank….”
The image of him carving into his own flesh in anguish surfaced, and the tears I’d held back came flooding back, drenching my eyes.
“No! Ha-neul, snap out of it!”
I clenched my teeth and slapped both my cheeks hard, the sound sharp and stinging. Sitting here crying wouldn’t change anything.
I stumbled toward the lake beside me and plunged my face into the water. The icy cold shocked my overheated skin, and my muddled mind snapped into focus.
“Gasp—!”
I closed my eyes, feeling the frigid water dripping down my jaw.
‘There has to be a monster using a mind-control skill nearby. If I just kill that monster….’
But doubt crept in immediately. Could I, an F-Rank, really kill an S-Rank monster?
It was then, in my despair.
-Do you want to save that child?
A strange voice echoed in my mind.
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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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