I Became a Mythical Hunter After Killing the Golden Goblin - Chapter 6
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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 6. Fox Hunt
“Damn it, how much did those bastards cost me!”
A staggering 250,000 purple coins!
Before my regression, as Abyss exploration progressed further and green coins emerged beyond purple, indigo, and blue, their value had plummeted considerably. Yet at this current point in time, where even blue coins remained extraordinarily rare, purple coins were universal currency—precious assets worth roughly 1,000 won each.
Converting the resources I’d expended to overwhelm those thugs into cash: 250 million won.
The thought ignited my irritation, and my hand grew rough as I shook Kang San awake.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“Wake up, you bastard! You think you can quietly pocket that money and disappear?”
How many times had I struck him? Five?
By the time his lips split and his cheeks swelled, he jolted upright with a scream.
“Ahhhhh! W-what? Was it a dream? But why does my face hurt so much?”
“A dream? Did getting beaten scramble your brain?”
“Ugh!”
Watching Kang San recoil in alarm, I offered him a bloodthirsty smile.
“Looks like you’re awake now. So we have unfinished business, don’t we?”
“…What business?”
“Don’t play dumb, you fox bastard. We need to talk about that one.”
Kang San’s face went rigid. He racked his brain trying to figure out how I’d learned, then remembered—he’d mentioned seeing my status window.
‘Damn it! I only said it because I was sure he’d be dead!’
Who would have thought a Level 0 Hunter could defeat five hardened criminal Hunters?
Even with an excellent unique ability, his stats would still be low and his experience negligible—he should have lost without question.
Given the substantial funds he possessed, they’d already investigated whether he was a rookie from some major guild or the child of a famous Hunter—potential risks that loomed large.
More precisely, he’d assumed that Fox, being safety-conscious, would have conducted all the research and informed him accordingly. It was a careless slip born of that assumption.
“That’s… that’s because we’re basically mercenaries! Fox offered us a billion won to bring your card and kill you!”
I already knew. The alternative name for the Outer District of the Black Market was Mercenary City, after all.
A place where mercenaries congregated—those who concealed their identities and did anything for money.
A sort of labor market created with the permission of the S-rank Hunter who owned the Black Market, overseen by the Mercenary King, an A-rank Hunter.
The reason I’d deliberately stopped by the Outer District was precisely this: to safely and quietly transport my younger sibling to Seoul, away from loan sharks and their bosses’ grasp.
‘I’d planned to use the organization I’d heard about before my regression.’
After all, if mercenaries committed crimes while working, they’d be exiled from the underworld itself—their trustworthiness was beyond question. And since they were known to be skilled, I’d intended to hire them despite the steep price.
“But something more urgent came up.”
I gazed down at Kang San, whose eyes trembled with terror, wearing a bloodthirsty smile. Then I raised my fist.
“So you’ll cooperate, won’t you?”
I flashed him a sinister grin.
***
Ding!
“Thank you for your patronage.”
“Have a wonderful shopping experience. This is Fox, your consultant.”
The moment the customer left, Fox hurriedly checked the burner phone in her pocket.
-Contract completed.
-Photo attached.
-Card left at the promised location. Please transfer the contract fee.
Kekeke! Khehehehe!
Upon seeing the photograph of a corpse bleeding out, Fox forced down the laughter threatening to burst from her throat and rose from her seat.
“Should I call it a day here?”
It was 1 PM—lunchtime—far too early to leave work, but Fox had already decided to take a half-day and head out.
Given her reputation as an ace, her sudden half-day request was approved without hesitation.
“I’ll see you later!”
Fox flashed a radiant smile to her colleagues and left the Black Money.
“Hahahaha! This is perfect! Absolutely perfect!”
Four billion won! Well, they’d already transferred one billion as an advance, so that left three billion.
That was more than enough. She could stay in hotels every night, slice expensive steaks daily, and live lavishly for a full year on that amount.
“Tonight, I’ll sleep in a luxury hotel suite.”
Since she’d taken the half-day anyway, she might as well leave this Black Market and breathe the fresh air of the outside world!
Fox swallowed her swelling excitement and hastened her pace.
How far had she traveled?
Upon arriving at the promised location—a remote area completely devoid of people—Fox cleared her throat and scanned the surroundings carefully.
“Got it!!!”
She yanked open what looked like a trash bin and lifted the black object inside.
“Damn! Three billion won! I’ve got it!!!”
As she held the card up to the bright light in her excitement, Fox’s eyes caught sight of a single letter.
D.
“…Huh?”
Fox’s mind went blank for a moment. She rubbed her eyes and checked the letter on the card again, her mouth falling open.
Why? Why was there a D in the same crimson hue, not the brilliant red A she expected?
The mystery was solved moments later.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A steady, measured, spine-chilling footstep pierced through her ears. It was familiar. Yet simultaneously, it was a footstep that should never be heard in this place. The moment Fox flinched and turned around—
“Mm…”
A low sigh escaped, and Fox froze solid.
“B-Branch Director? What are you doing here?”
A man in a black suit wearing a white mask—the Branch Director—gazed at Fox with utter indifference.
Like the silent moment before a child caught misbehaving faces their parents’ scolding, the Branch Director simply stared at Fox, as if waiting for an explanation.
“I-It’s not what it looks like! Th-This is all a misunderstanding! Branch Director!”
Fox hastily threw the card away and cried out toward him, but her excuse—born from such a compromising situation—only made things worse.
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
“That is… well, you see…”
“Tch… Because of that worthless bastard, it looks like I’m going to get chewed out by the boss. I knew he was playing pranks little by little, but he finally crossed the line. Stupid fool.”
As the Branch Director spoke, he withdrew his hand from his pocket, and Fox’s face grew desperate.
“I! I can explain everything! I’m an ace Black Money consultant, am I not! If you’d just trust in my abilities one more time…!”
Splat!
Fox could never finish that sentence again.
A small ball of mana that erupted from the Branch Director’s hand had obliterated his skull.
Red blood sprayed in all directions, creating a grotesque scene, yet only one person—the Branch Director—maintained his pristine appearance as he turned around.
“I am truly sorry. I acknowledge that this is our company’s responsibility, esteemed customer.”
He bowed his head to Shin Ju-ha, who had been quietly observing the entire situation from behind.
***
‘Wow, that was brutal.’
I trembled as I watched Fox, whose head had been obliterated in a single strike.
How strong must one be to accomplish such a feat so effortlessly?
‘Is that mana?’
If the four basic stats—Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Endurance—are the minimum requirements to graduate from F-rank, then…
The three advanced stats—Mana, Inner Energy, and Ether—are the minimum requirements to graduate from E-rank.
In other words, a D-rank Hunter’s status is determined by whether they possess at least one of those three stats.
For example, possessing an F-rank stat doesn’t necessarily make you F-rank.
Even Kang San, who is [F+]-rank, doesn’t have a single F+-rank stat—his highest was Strength [General] F (41/99), which he admitted before I even had to interrogate him.
Even those celestial beings, the S-rank Hunters, didn’t achieve S-rank stats to earn their S-rank, nor did A-rank Hunters achieve A-rank stats to earn theirs.
After all, the world’s highest stat rank is still [A-], so by that logic, there shouldn’t be any [A-]-rank or higher Hunters in the entire world.
Of course, this is merely humanity’s own classification system. Later, when Abyss exploration advances further and connects to the dimensions of alien races for the first time, a transformation occurs where Hunter ranks become fixed by the system’s own grades.
‘At that level, his Mana stat must exceed C-rank at minimum.’
That would make him at least an [A]-rank Hunter.
Stats become harder to raise as their grade increases, consuming exponentially more points.
And that’s at the legendary tier?
‘I would’ve been in real trouble without the Golden Tower.’
At [F-]-rank, each point raises my stat by 1, but the moment I reach [F]-rank, I’ll need to spend twice as many points to increase a stat.
While I was contemplating strength, the white-masked Branch Director approached me and bowed with measured courtesy.
“My sincerest apologies. I acknowledge this was our company’s mistake.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. Since I personally scouted that Fox employee, I bear significant responsibility as well.”
Watching him, I waved my hand.
“You don’t need to go that far!”
It’s uncomfortable. I only came to him to report this because I needed to eliminate Fox as a liability.
“No. Since this is our responsibility, please allow me to compensate you. Do you have a moment?”
At the Branch Director’s words, I checked the watch on my wrist, and my expression hardened.
More than five hours had already passed. If I delayed any longer, something bad might happen.
“I apologize. I’m pressed for time. There’s something urgent I need to attend to right away.”
At my words, the Branch Director’s expression brightened slightly as he opened his mouth.
“I’m not sure what it is, but I’d be happy to help. What do you need?”
I hesitated for a long moment before finally resolving to explain part of my situation.
“If that’s the case, rather than trusting mercenaries, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave it to me. We can handle not only your sibling’s relocation but also provide you with a place to live in Seoul immediately. While we take care of that, could you spare us some time?”
“Yes… well, if you’re offering to help.”
“Thank you. Oh! Don’t worry about safety. Our chairman absolutely despises that sordid method of killing to destroy evidence, so we don’t do that.”
“Ah… yes.”
Having heard an unexpectedly dangerous fact, I nodded, and the Branch Director hurriedly took me back to Black Money, showed me to a VIP room, asked me to wait a moment, and left.
“This is nice.”
I looked around the VIP room—luxurious but not ostentatious—and waited for the Branch Director to return. Not long after, the VIP room door opened.
“Ah! Is it all done?”
Rising from my seat in urgency and calling out, what I saw instead of the Branch Director in his white mask and suit was a girl with a lollipop in her mouth.
She was so beautiful that if you were to sculpt the words “beauty” and “cuteness,” you might create a girl like this.
Gulp.
I froze in place, maintaining only silence.
‘How is she here?’
Looking at appearances alone, I naturally seemed older, and that was actually true, but I couldn’t treat the girl carelessly.
She was Seo Ye-rin—an S-rank Hunter and Word Spirit Sorcerer who had, for amusement, created the Black Market underworld in her territory and become the chairman of the massive Black Money corporation.
A monster among monsters who had awakened at merely ten years old and risen to become the youngest S-rank Hunter with a talent that treated the heavens as a joke.
〚As compensation for overcoming misfortune, Heavenly Fortune grants you the luck of a performer.〛
Was meeting an S-rank Hunter the reward for safely passing through that curse?
‘This isn’t exactly welcome.’
With just one person entering, the air in the VIP room transformed.
“You?”
“…Yes?”
“Fox. Death. You?”
“Ah… that’s correct.”
Pop!
Seo Ye-rin removed the lollipop from her mouth, tilted her head curiously, and her eyes gleamed.
Like the eyes of a sage exploring all truths of the world, a mysterious energy gathered in her gaze.
〚Authority—Golden Tower refuses the eyes of this presumptuous insect attempting to observe you!〛
〚Authority—Heavenly Fortune ignores the eyes of a mere insect beneath the heavens!〛
〚Your authorities block partial information about you from this high-tier search.〛
〚Unique Ability: Supreme Soul rejects all intrusions of rank equal to or below its own!〛
〚The search is completely blocked.〛
Unlike when Fox had observed me, normal messages appeared, and with a crackling sound, sparks flew from Seo Ye-rin’s eyes.
“Ow!”
Damn, I really messed up.
Using observation on someone without warning was an incredibly rude and foolish mistake, but when that someone is an S-rank Hunter who could kill me with a single finger—or even a single breath—the situation becomes rather different.
“Are you all right?!”
I cried out to her in alarm, but when Seo Ye-rin’s eyes opened again, there was no anger in them.
Rather.
“You. Interesting?”
Her eyes gleamed with an infinite curiosity directed entirely at me.
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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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