I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 26

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

#Chapter 26.
Two men sat across from each other at a modest living room table.
One was naturally Jung Han-sung, and the other seated opposite him was Chen Long.
Jung Han-sung tapped the table with his finger before speaking.
“Weren’t you originally in China?”
I’d looked up information about Chen Long the moment I exited The Tower back then.
He was clearly an Awakener active in China.
“Yes? Yes… that’s correct. I entered Korea by plane two days ago.”
“Why?”
“To meet you, Jung Han-sung.”
“Me?”
Chen Long nodded with a heavy expression at the barrage of questions.
“That’s right. I felt I absolutely had to meet you and convey the information I mentioned earlier.”
At that, I tilted my head.
While it might seem reasonable, Chen Long’s words didn’t inspire much trust.
We’d only met once inside The Tower, and it hadn’t been a pleasant encounter.
Yet suddenly he flies over to deliver a warning?
I would never do such a thing in the same situation. Most people probably wouldn’t either.
“…which is why you won’t believe me, right?”
Chen Long asked cautiously, reading my reaction.
“Correct.”
“I thought as much. The truth is, I was already planning to leave China.”
“Leave China? That’s even more puzzling. Aren’t you being treated quite well there?”
“Well, about that…”
Chen Long scratched his cheek.
I’d been thinking about it since earlier, but he was completely different from how he’d appeared in The Tower.
Chen Long was over 190 centimeters tall with a physique of pure muscle. A truly imposing figure.
Moreover, when I’d seen him in The Tower, his gaze had looked down on everyone with unmistakable arrogance.
Yet now that he’d suddenly appeared, his clumsy demeanor only heightened my wariness.
Whether Chen Long knew this or not, he rambled on.
“Actually, everything about Chen Long is a fabricated image.”
“…a fabricated image?”
“Yes. The name Chen Long, the records I set, even my personality and everything else—all of it.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
Chen Long lifted his head and looked at me as he spoke.
“My real name is Cho Cheon-ung. And I’m Korean.”
“…?”
I felt even greater confusion.
“You’re Korean?”
“Yes. I was born and raised in Korea, but moved to China in high school because of my parents’ business.”
Chen Long continued speaking.
“And a year ago, right after graduating high school, I awakened.”
“Wait. A year ago?”
“Yes? Yes. A year ago.”
“You graduated high school back then?”
“That’s correct, but…?”
“Then you’d be twenty now…?”
“Ah, I haven’t had my birthday yet, so I’m still nineteen.”
I regarded Chen Long with eyes brimming with skepticism. He, in turn, wore a bewildered expression.
‘That’s nineteen…?’
Chen Long possessed a massive frame and a menacing countenance. And setting that aside… he appeared to be well into his thirties at minimum.
At minimum, mind you. Which meant he could easily pass for older still.
“Hmm. Well, I see. So then…?”
Honestly, I wanted to tell him to stop lying, but since commenting on his appearance felt equally awkward, I decided to let it slide for now.
Chen Long resumed his narrative.
“When I awakened, the Awakening Bureau contacted me immediately. Ah, the Awakening Bureau is China’s…”
“I have a rough idea what it is. It’s like Korea’s Association, isn’t it?”
“Yes, yes. Something similar. Though the Awakening Bureau holds far greater influence than Korea’s Association.”
I nodded in acknowledgment.
I was aware of just how formidable China’s Awakening Bureau truly was.
Their government sought complete control over all Awakeners, and from what I’d heard, they’d actually achieved considerable success in that regard.
“The Awakening Bureau tested my abilities and wanted me to become one of China’s Awakeners.”
“And you accepted that?”
“Yes. The terms were favorable. And at that time, I had no other options. My parents had their business, and the Awakening Bureau completely cut off all outside contact.”
Chen Long continued his story from there. Stripping away the various trivial details, the core of it was remarkably simple.
Jo Cheon-ung had signed a contract with China’s Awakening Bureau. And he was no longer the Korean Jo Cheon-ung—he had become the Chinese Chen Long.
An up-and-coming elite Hunter named Chen Long, at that.
The transformation itself wasn’t particularly unpleasant for him, or so he claimed. Not until something went wrong.
“By ‘went wrong,’ you mean when we met on the same floor?”
“Yes… I don’t quite remember what happened. But I definitely failed to set a record.”
“Still, just because of one failure?”
“That’s the thing—it wasn’t just one.”
Jo Cheon-ung spoke with a heavy, sunken expression.
“After that, every time I entered The Tower, every time I used my abilities, I started experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations.”
“Auditory and visual hallucinations?”
“Yes. Voices telling me to believe in myself. That if I did, they’d grant me power.”
He furrowed his brow as he continued.
“At first, I thought it was just hallucinations, but they kept repeating every time I entered. And worse, they grew more intense the deeper I went.”
“What did they say?”
“Kill someone. Offer them as a sacrifice. If you don’t, you’ll become the sacrifice instead. And most recently… such things have been happening in reality as well.”
Cho Cheon-ung spoke.
He said that when he was with his family, he heard hallucinations commanding him to rise and kill them all.
He even said that upon hearing this, he had stood up in a daze.
The expression on Cho Cheon-ung’s face as he spoke didn’t look like that of someone telling a lie.
“Hmm.”
I rested my chin in my hand.
It was a natural story, if anything, but I could guess the culprit the moment I heard it.
‘Sargon.’
Cho Cheon-ung had his body taken over by Sargon’s apostle back then. It was clear that it had affected him in some way.
“So after that, I couldn’t focus properly on missions, and my records got worse too.”
“The way people looked at you must have changed.”
“Yes. Very much. The image of me as China’s next superhuman took a serious hit.”
People tend to see failures before successes.
And if it happened repeatedly, not just once, the way people looked at you naturally had to change.
“Plus, there are people who question why the Awakening Bureau would push for someone who isn’t even Chinese….”
“That faction’s voice must have grown louder with this incident.”
“That’s right.”
Cho Cheon-ung nodded once more and continued cautiously.
“So I decided it was better to withdraw first before being completely marked and cast out.”
“And China just let you go?”
“Not so much let me go as…. I’d say I slipped away in secret.”
“Hmm.”
There was no need to ask for details here. It would have been nearly impossible for Cho Cheon-ung to escape China on his own.
There must have been a country that cooperated, but I wasn’t particularly curious about that.
I closed my mouth for a moment, organized my thoughts to some extent, then opened it again.
“I understand roughly. But now that I’ve heard everything, I can’t help but return to my first question.”
“What…?”
“So why did you come find me and give me this warning?”
The story I’d just heard was quite interesting, but it didn’t address what I was curious about.
Cho Cheon-ung seemed to realize his mistake, let out an “ah,” and hurried to continue.
“I, I received a revelation in The Tower.”
“A revelation?”
“Yes. From the Pantheon in the Neutral Zone.”
He spoke.
“To find you and fight beneath her, and in return, she would rid me of the hallucinations and delusions.”
“…Who told you that?”
“It was the First Witch.”
The First Witch.
It was a title I knew well.
‘Lilith!’
A chill ran down my spine.
Of all the ways to approach me, why this one?
“So there’s a trap set by the Evil God on the next floor?”
“Yes, the First Witch herself informed me of it.”
“I see.”
I paused to consider the situation.
‘Should I cast him out right now?’
The fact that this involved Lilith made me hesitate slightly.
But such thoughts were fleeting.
I looked back at Jo Cheon-woong and spoke.
“What floor are you currently on?”
“Me? I’ve cleared up to Floor 25!”
“Floor 25 already?”
When I heard he’d visited the Neutral Zone, I’d assumed he’d be around Floor 20 or 21.
But Floor 25 meant he was progressing at exactly my pace.
Jo Cheon-woong nodded and continued.
“The thing is, I pushed myself hard trying to show results. It wasn’t just a matter of being watched—it felt like they were ready to expel me at any moment.”
“Hmm, I understand.”
That made sense, at least.
I hadn’t been climbing desperately either. If I’d gone all out, I would’ve cleared Floor 30 long ago.
In any case, after collecting my thoughts, I spoke again.
“I can’t say I trust you completely.”
“Ah, well…”
“However, I’ll give you a chance. You said there would be a trap set by the Evil God on the next floor?”
“Yes!”
“Then enter the next floor with me and help me dismantle that trap.”
At my words, Jo Cheon-woong’s face brightened. He stood up and immediately bowed ninety degrees.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“It’s just one floor together, though.”
“Even so!”
I nodded appropriately and spoke to him.
“Then we’ll enter the next floor tonight. Will you come back then?”
“Ah, um… would it be possible for me to stay here until then?”
“Pardon?”
“The surveillance around this area is too intense. I’m not confident I can approach again…”
…
I could use an invitation token like the one I’d received before to enter from a different location together, but I didn’t have one on hand. To obtain it, I’d need to visit the Neutral Zone again.
I sighed deeply and nodded once more.
“Fine. Rest in that room over there.”
“Thank you!”
Jo Cheon-ung bowed his head once more, then hurried into the room as if afraid I might drive him out.
After he disappeared inside, I shook my head.
‘There’s no end to the strange things that happen.’
Honestly, it was a bit bothersome.
But the reason I didn’t kick Jo Cheon-ung out was simple.
I had the leisure to spare.
If Jo Cheon-ung had set a trap on the orders of some malevolent deity? It didn’t matter. Trap or not, I was confident I could smash through anything.
Allowing him to stay in my home was the same logic.
Outside The Tower, in the external world, I was confident I could finish someone like Jo Cheon-ung in an instant.
‘Though I shouldn’t become arrogant about it.’
I considered this level of confidence to be appropriate, not arrogance.
Ding dong―.
And then, the doorbell rang again.
I went to the entrance and found the food I’d ordered had arrived. I took it, set it out in the kitchen, and ate. Of course, alone.
There had been some unexpected developments, but the food was delicious nonetheless.
* * *
Sitting in seiza position in my room, I slowly opened my eyes. My face bore the deep exhaustion of fatigue.
“It’s over….”
That’s right.
Time had passed, and the subscription to Indra’s Lightning had ended.
The power that had filled my body for days drained away, and the emptiness it left felt immense.
But instead of surrendering to that exhaustion, I gazed into empty space.
There, I had my status window displayed.
[Jung Han-sung]
[Grade: B―]
[AP: 560]
[Ability: Subscription]
[Skills: Kaleha Basic Swordsmanship (B), Indra’s Lightning (A), Divine Sword Rodos Summoning (S)]
[Traits: Resilient Body (A), Lightning’s Seed (A), Blessing of the First Witch (A)]
My gaze naturally drifted downward, and as I confirmed what I was looking for, my eyes widened.
[Indra’s Lightning (A)]
The skill remained even though the subscription had ended.
The same had happened when the Basic Swordsmanship subscription ended before, but this time there was a significant difference.
‘Grade A?’
The grade was higher than I’d anticipated. When the Kaleha Basic Swordsmanship subscription ended, it had dropped to Grade B, but this was Grade A.
I reached out and examined the skill more closely.
Crackle!
Lightning erupted from my palm.
It was weaker than before, but there was no problem using the ability itself.
“So my aptitude for it was that good?”
I gazed down at my palm with a curious expression.
Simply subscribing to an ability didn’t mean all of it would remain as a skill.
And the skill grade that remained had nothing to do with the grade displayed at the time of subscription.
‘It was literally determined by the degree to which I had internalized it.’
In other words, Indra’s lightning itself had simply proven to have excellent compatibility with me.
I smiled with satisfaction and withdrew the lightning.
“Good. Shall we head out right away?”
Last time, I’d immediately searched for a new subscription channel the moment the previous one ended, but this time I’d deliberately saved my subscription token.
‘Since I don’t know what kind of trap the Evil God has set.’
I planned to arrive at the next floor, confirm the trap’s identity, and then decide.
If it turned out to be a disappointingly trivial trap, I could leisurely make my choice afterward.
Having organized my thoughts, I left my room and knocked on the door where Chen Long—or rather, Cho Cheon-woong—was staying.
Knock, knock.
“Are you ready?”
Immediately, I heard movement from inside, and Cho Cheon-woong opened the door.
“Yes! I’m all set! Let’s enter!”
At his spirited response, I nodded and spoke.
“Then, let’s go.”
It was time to crush the Evil God’s trap.

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