Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 297

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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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297
Jin-woo concentrated his mind and connected his consciousness with his snow-white rat summon. Now he could hear the conversation between Si-hwan and Jeon Ju-hee by sharing the rat’s hearing.
Visual sharing was possible too, but since both were formidable Hunters, there was a risk they might spot the rat if it came into their view.
The white rat huddled low against the Cafeteria wall, listening only to the two of them talk.
Min-woo watched the focused Jin-woo with disdain. Jin-woo had been acting increasingly strange lately, probably because he’d been idle recently. It was a side effect of only going to the Construction Site instead of hunting like a proper Hunter should.
Unable to spend his rare day off with his girlfriend, Min-woo sighed at the pathetic sight of himself monitoring his older brother in a place like this.
“J-Jeon Ju-hee, is the food to your liking?”
At that moment, Si-hwan was drenched in cold sweat.
When he first asked Jeon Ju-hee out on a date, he naturally expected to be rejected.
It was simply that everyone around him—his younger siblings, older brothers, friends—all had girlfriends, and he hated being the only one without. After the battle ended, he’d saved her too, and in a moment of desperation, he’d suggested having coffee together. Si-hwan had assumed he’d be turned down anyway, so he was oddly at ease, but Jeon Ju-hee simply looked at him and said yes.
After finishing their first date in a daze, he’d asked for a second meeting due to his siblings’ relentless pressure, and when she agreed to meet again, it felt like a dream.
Jeon Ju-hee was not only the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, but she was also no less attractive than Bae Na-young or Akiko. Her eyes had a somewhat cold gaze, but it wasn’t quite as expressionless as Ye-seul’s.
Moreover, Jeon Ju-hee’s Hunter rank was higher than Si-hwan’s, and she possessed greater wealth as well.
As a result, by the time of this third date, reality came crashing down. The gap in their standings was too vast, and he was overwhelmed with nervousness.
Hyung-bin had lectured him for hours the night before the date, so he’d eliminated all the boring topics like military service and soccer. But then he had absolutely nothing to say.
‘I… I… am I really such a boring person?! The kids at the Daycare Center like me…’
Si-hwan was the most popular among the children at the Daycare Center and their mothers, but his loneliness on weekends remained unchanged.
Now, sick of being single, Si-hwan was desperate. He wanted to make this work with her.
“Yes, it’s delicious. But are you alright, Si-hwan?”
“Y-Yes! I’m fine!”
“Really? You’re sweating quite a lot.”
Jeon Ju-hee picked up a napkin and wiped Si-hwan’s forehead, and her fingers brushed lightly against his brow. The sensation of her slightly cool yet soft fingers made Si-hwan’s mind go blank.
“Target in contact! Should we take the shot?!”
Chang-hee placed his finger on the trigger and asked Jin-woo.
“You crazy bastard! Don’t shoot! Stop it, stop! Just leave those two alone and get back here!”
Startled by Chang-hee’s words, Min-woo snatched the microphone from Jin-woo and shouted.
“…Stand by. But if anything suspicious happens, we fire immediately.”
Jin-woo took the microphone back from Min-woo and spoke to Chang-hee.
[Roger.]
Min-woo shook his head at the two of them and their insane antics.
Si-hwan, coming to his senses, wiped away his sweat.
“Hahaha!! I just sweat a lot, you see.”
Hunters rarely sweat from minor temperature differences. Jeon Ju-hee, observing Si-hwan, smiled faintly.
Jeon Ju-hee. An A-rank Hunter who primarily wielded sword and shield, commanding allies from the front line and earning the nickname Valkyrie as a warrior.
She was highly respected among Hunters and had an equally impressive record, but what people didn’t know was her hobby.
With beauty as striking as her achievements, men had been drawn to her even before she became a Hunter. While she wasn’t entirely uninterested in romance, she’d had terrible luck with men—two-timers, scammers, those who approached her for her body alone. As a result, she’d developed a disdain for men, and her hobby became humiliating or embarrassing those who approached her, driving them away.
That was how she’d turned tormenting men into a pastime.
During the last battle, when Si-hwan awkwardly smiled and suggested having coffee, she’d agreed to a cup just to mess with him.
Since he’d provided good support during the battle, she didn’t play too harsh pranks from the start, keeping things light.
She’d deliberately spilled coffee on his pants and pushed him as if he’d stumbled, even dunking him in a fountain, but Si-hwan just laughed it off.
‘He keeps pestering me, but this man really has no sense of the room….’
“Shall we leave now that we’ve finished eating?”
Jeon Ju-hee placed a card made of marble stone on top of the bill.
“Ah! I’ll pay for it!”
“It’s fine. I earn more anyway.”
Jeon Ju-hee deliberately threw out words that would wound his pride. In reality, even if she ate meals like this thousands of times, her assets wouldn’t change significantly.
“Ah, that’s right. You’re truly impressive. You said you’d become S-rank soon, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
Looking at his expression, he clearly wasn’t being sarcastic. But it irritated me nonetheless.
“Then I’ll gladly accept. Thank you for the meal!”
At Si-hwan’s audacious remark, Jeon Ju-hee’s eyebrows twitched.
Jeon Ju-hee gritted her teeth as she processed the payment. What started as a light prank had now transformed into a genuine desire to torment him.
“Let’s go get some coffee. There’s a cafe I know nearby.”
“I’ll buy the coffee.”
Si-hwan walked alongside Jeon Ju-hee with hurried steps.
Though Jeon Ju-hee possessed greater Hunter rank and strength, she appeared merely as a tall, slender woman. Moreover, with Si-hwan standing at 190 centimeters with a muscular build, the two made quite an attractive pair when walking together.
‘Well, he does have decent fashion sense. But all Hunters are like that anyway.’
Jeon Ju-hee, who had deliberately bought hot coffee, spotted suitable prey as she passed by.
A man approaching from the opposite direction. Not a Hunter, but someone who clearly exercised regularly. Just from his eyes, one could tell he had a foul temperament, and muttering curses under his breath—apparently something had happened—he drew closer.
“Si-hwan, let me take a look at that for a moment.”
Jeon Ju-hee abruptly changed direction toward the Jewelry Store’s display window.
“Huh?”
The Passerby dodged the suddenly approaching Jeon Ju-hee. But when an A-rank Hunter deliberately tried to collide with him, there was no way to avoid it. Jeon Ju-hee bumped into him and spilled her coffee all over the man’s chest.
“Ugh! That’s hot! What the hell! What is this?!”
“Oh?! I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”
Si-hwan rushed over first, apologizing and brushing off the man’s clothes, while Jeon Ju-hee simply stood there, neither apologizing nor doing anything but observing the situation.
“Don’t you have eyes?! Can’t you watch where you’re going?!”
“Ah, I apologize. I’ll cover the dry cleaning costs.”
“Do I look like a beggar to you?! You pour hot water on me and offer dry cleaning~?!”
“Ah, if there are medical expenses, I’ll cover those as well….”
“Who do you think you are acting all high and mighty?! If that woman spilled it, she should clean it up!”
“…Your words are harsh…”
“Get lost! You bastard!”
The man threw a punch at Si-hwan’s face. He tried to dodge lightly, but Jeon Ju-hee grabbed his shirt from behind, causing the fist to connect with his face.
A Hunter wouldn’t feel pain from an ordinary person’s punch. It was merely unpleasant.
“Watch your language.”
Si-hwan gritted his teeth.
“What will you do if I don’t?!”
The Passerby, who seemed to have anger management issues, delighted at Si-hwan’s lack of resistance and beat him mercilessly. Si-hwan, with Jeon Ju-hee pressed closely against his back, simply took all of the man’s punches.
The man, who had been pounding away until breathless, suddenly stopped his fist cold when Si-hwan didn’t even flinch.
‘This bastard…. A Hunter! But why was he just taking the hits?!’
An ordinary person couldn’t possibly withstand his punches like that. The man who’d been throwing punches until he was breathless felt his sweat turn cold.
“Huff…. Huff…. Damn, what rotten luck!”
The man spat on the ground for no reason and walked away.
“Why were you just taking the hits?”
“Ah…. Because you’re a civilian. It’s illegal for a Hunter to use force against a civilian.”
“But you were even turning your head for him?”
“If I just stand firm, that guy will hurt his hand.”
Jeon Ju-hee thought there were limits to being too kind-hearted. She picked another passerby to start trouble with, but this time he got intimidated by Si-hwan’s size and ran away.
“That woman…. She’s just trying to mess with Si-hwan, isn’t she?”
Jin-woo watched the woman deliberately cause incidents. They barely qualified as accidents—more like pranks—and posed no threat to Si-hwan, so he didn’t intervene.
“Right…. Does she have some kind of grudge?”
“Si-hwan? Maybe in the past, but he’s been living decently lately, hasn’t he?”
“That’s true. Anyway, let’s go now. He’ll handle it himself.”
“No, it’s fun. Si-hwan’s so smitten with that beautiful woman he can’t even notice what’s happening. Hahaha.”
Si-hwan, inexperienced with women, was so tense just being around a beauty that he couldn’t think straight.
After finishing their coffee, they decided to rest in the Park.
“Sigh….”
Si-hwan went to the restroom, and Jeon Ju-hee sighed as the fun wore off.
Because Jeon Ju-hee had such fine features, even her sigh looked picturesque.
Three men sitting on a Park bench were staring at her.
“She’s pretty decent, huh? Should we try to hit on her?”
“Sir, wasn’t she with that man earlier?”
“That scrawny guy? He’s not my type.”
Bong-joo, who’d recently been promoted to B-rank Hunter, was overflowing with confidence.
“Boss, take it easy. If you get another penalty, your rank will drop.”
A shorter man next to Bong-joo spoke up.
They were friends Bong-joo had made after becoming a B-rank Hunter. Making friends was easy when you threw money around.
“Damn it. My rank went up, but what’s this? Can’t even hunt monsters, just doing grunt work. Getting penalty points for innocent people and all.”
Recently, Bong-joo had gone to a luxury store where the clerk made him wait and didn’t treat him well, so he threw a fit. That day, Hunter Police arrested him, he got penalty points, and paid a fine.
Hunter fines were proportional to income, so a substantial amount had been deducted that day.
“That wasn’t your fault, boss. You didn’t even hit that clerk bastard directly—you just yelled and made his ears ring? That’s exaggerating.”
A tall, lanky younger man spoke up.
“Exactly!”
Bong-joo was quite pleased with younger men who only told him what he wanted to hear.
“Boss, go talk to that woman first. The way she’s sighing means the guy isn’t much.”
“Yeah? Wait for me, you guys! I’m bringing home the future Mrs. Bong!”
Bong-joo stood up. Like a proper Hunter, he had a large, muscular build, but incongruously, a large beer belly protruded prominently.
“Boss. Your belly. Your belly.”
“Oh. Thanks. Phew.”
Bong-joo flexed his core and sucked in his belly. As he straightened his shoulders, his frame seemed to expand further.
“A pretty young lady all alone, huh~?”
Jeon Ju-hee turned her head slightly to look at Bong-joo.
“Your face is already pathetic, but your pickup lines are even worse.”
“What…. What?!”
“Go play with your little cronies. I’m not in the mood.”
Normally, Jeon Ju-hee would have enjoyed toying with thugs like this, but after her pranks failed to work on Si-hwan today, she had no appetite for such games.
“Do you know who I am?!”
“How would I know who you are, you lunatic?”
Jeon Ju-hee’s irritation was mounting, and she waved her hand dismissively as if swatting away an insect.

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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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