S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 75
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 75. Good Medicine Tastes Bitter (3)
At Chae Mujin’s declaration of war, Han Tae-woo shouted with absolute confidence.
“Jung-hwan, that’s the pretty boy I told you about.”
The man called Jung-hwan stepped forward, and his height and build were remarkable.
He stood a full head taller than Chae Mujin, and his muscles weren’t the kind built in a gym. They were sharp, battle-forged muscles earned through countless fights.
“Haha, has fear gotten into your bones? It should have. I’m ranked 219th as a Breaker.”
Lee Jung-hwan, the Breaker. A former UFC fighter turned Hunter, he was famous for his precise yet devastating techniques.
It made no sense that someone with a reputation in underground fighting rings would voluntarily join such a small guild.
“Aren’t you ashamed, working under a pig like that?”
Lee Jung-hwan remained unmoved by Chae Mujin’s provocation.
“From your stance, I’d say you’re a Martial Artist too.”
He didn’t look down on Chae Mujin. From his posture alone, Lee Jung-hwan had already grasped that this was no ordinary opponent.
He took a fighting stance, dragging his feet as he spoke.
“Resist, and you might die.”
Whoosh!
A professional boxer’s jab travels as fast as a bullet. A Hunter’s jab travels faster still.
But Chae Mujin slipped inside, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
Lee Jung-hwan reached out with his unclenched right hand to lock a chokehold around his neck, but—
Crack!
“Gaaaah!”
Lee Jung-hwan let out a strangled cry and staggered backward.
One of the guild members watching shouted out.
“Dirty! He stomped his foot!”
Chae Mujin hadn’t simply charged in. In that same instant of closing the gap, he’d come down hard on Lee Jung-hwan’s instep with crushing force.
For a fighter like Lee Jung-hwan, who had endured countless pains, this stomp was an entirely new experience—a kind of agony he’d never known.
He regained his senses too late; Chae Mujin’s fist was already coming at him.
‘A punch? So he’s a striker. I’ll block and counter.’
He raised his guard solidly, keeping his eyes locked on the incoming feet.
But Chae Mujin threw his punch straight at the upraised arms, and—
Boom-boom-boom!
Heavy, relentless combinations hammered against Lee Jung-hwan’s guard.
‘This… what is this? Each punch feels like a cannon shot.’
He couldn’t hold. The impact was too violent; his body trembled as if an earthquake ran through it.
Knowing a few more blows would shatter his arms entirely, Lee Jung-hwan pulled back and unleashed a skill.
“Flash Punch!”
True to its name, a brilliant flash erupted from his fist, meant to blind his opponent.
In all of history, not a single Hunter had ever escaped the Flash Punch unscathed.
“Ahhh, my eyes!”
“I can’t see! What happened?!”
Even his own guild members were blinded, but surely Chae Mujin couldn’t avoid this!
Bang!
Chae Mujin’s front kick smashed into his solar plexus.
Just before Lee Jung-hwan unleashed the Flash Punch, Chae Mujin had caught him smirking with overconfidence.
‘A skill? And from head-on?’
Even without knowing which skill, Chae Mujin could read the intent to use one from that split second—and his reaction speed once he anticipated an attack was beyond imagination.
Taking the direct impact, Lee Jung-hwan’s massive frame flew through the air and crashed down on another guild member.
“Craaaagh! Get out of the way! Move!”
Lee Jung-hwan shouted for the tangled guild members to hurry and clear the space.
As he was struggling to his feet—
Crack!
Chae Mujin ran forward, leaped, and drove a flying knee directly into his face.
Lee Jung-hwan went down without resistance, his nose spurting blood, a few teeth clattering to the ground.
……
“H-he’s dead, isn’t he?”
Less than a minute of fighting. Three attacks total. Lee Jung-hwan lay unmoving.
Chae Mujin swept his gaze across the room. Every guild member his eyes touched instinctively retreated.
Then Han Tae-woo shrieked in panic.
“He’s worn out! Get him! Kill him!”
Whether out of loyalty or commanding presence, the guild members rushed at Chae Mujin exactly as ordered.
Nineteen Hunters coming at him from all sides.
Their average level was a mere 50, but level alone doesn’t determine absolute strength.
Still, they had chosen the wrong opponent.
Clang!
Chae Mujin hurled one of Lee Jung-hwan’s teeth and shattered a fluorescent light.
The guild members thought he’d lost his mind.
It wasn’t evening. It was still early afternoon. Breaking a fluorescent light wouldn’t darken the room.
But what mattered was that everyone’s gaze snapped upward in that instant.
“H-he’s gone!”
Chae Mujin, who should have been in the center, vanished without a trace.
Thud!
“Here! I’m here—gaaah!”
Appearing and disappearing without warning.
Chae Mujin had cast a Buff of Attack Speed +1 on everyone in the room.
In other words, using Buff Link, he moved while draining the focus from their minds entirely.
“He’s using a Teleportation Skill! Watch your backs!”
A seasoned guild member barked the warning, telling others to guard behind them. Chae Mujin appeared directly in front of him.
“Should’ve watched your front, too.”
Bang!
He seized the man’s face and drove his head backward into a headbutt.
The man’s eyes lost all focus.
“Aaaahhh!”
Rat-a-tat-tat!
One panicked guild member drew a pistol and fired wildly, but Chae Mujin was long gone.
“No! Stop! Stop shooting!”
“Somebody stop him!”
While they struggled to restrain the trigger-happy member, two more guild members dropped.
“Huff… huff… Everyone gather! Come together!”
“Wh-what? We’ve already lost this many?!”
In the blink of an eye, ten guild members lay fallen.
Only nine remained now.
“Where’d he go?”
“Can’t see him. Maybe he ran? If he keeps spamming the Teleportation Skill, his Mana will run out fast!”
“No, he didn’t run.”
“How do you know that?”
“My Mana regenerates incredibly fast.”
“Ah, w-what?”
Chae Mujin was already among them.
“Kyaahhh!”
The startled guild members swung wildly while Chae Mujin grabbed two by the back of the neck with tremendous force and smashed their heads together.
It was brutality akin to a child playing with toys.
“W-we can’t… compete.”
“He must be an S-Rank Hunter!”
Fear washed over them, and they tried to flee, but Chae Mujin wouldn’t allow it.
“If I let you go while the others are knocked out, they’d think it was unfair.”
“Psychotic bastard!”
Realizing there was no escape, the remaining guild members threw themselves at him, and—
Bang! Crack!
The sounds of tearing flesh and breaking bone echoed once or twice before Chae Mujin wiped the sweat from his brow and walked out of the office.
“Phew. Holding back and controlling my strength really is difficult.”
If he’d fought to kill, it wouldn’t have taken this long, and he wouldn’t have expended so much effort.
But Chae Mujin didn’t think these men deserved to die.
Instead, he’d taught them a lesson: wield violence, and you’ll be crushed by something far worse.
“I wonder where Han Tae-woo ran off to. Hmm? He didn’t get far.”
The guild leader had bolted early.
Chae Mujin had let him go deliberately—because he’d already placed a Buff on him.
Even if Han Tae-woo had escaped by helicopter, Chae Mujin could track him down with Buff Link.
* * *
The moment the Breaker fell, Han Tae-woo sprinted for the hidden safe.
He frantically stuffed bundles of cash inside and bolted to the basement parking garage.
“Wh-where did that monster come from? The Breaker couldn’t last even a minute. C-could he be with the Hunter Association? Yeah, I’ve heard of him. The villain hunter. I think his title was Sky-Splitting Blade or something.”
Ranked 44th: Sky-Splitting Blade.
If that was who had shown up, the Breaker not lasting a minute was entirely believable.
“Damn! I paid off those official Hunters so much, and they didn’t even warn me? Corrupt government thugs really are the worst.”
Once Han Tae-woo had gathered everything, he climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the key.
His eyes met Chae Mujin’s, who was sitting in the back seat.
……
“Come here.”
“Eh, y-yes?”
“Sit next to me.”
“Y-yes!”
Han Tae-woo’s survival instinct overtook thought. Chae Mujin had appeared suddenly, blood on his clothes—though not his own blood.
Realizing escape was impossible, Han Tae-woo meekly settled into the passenger seat.
“You’re Han Tae-woo?”
“Yes, sir Hunter.”
Bang!
Chae Mujin’s fist struck his face the instant he answered.
“Cough, ack, h-hacking.”
“Stop whimpering. Your subordinates are looking at minimum six months to recover.”
“P-please, spare me. I-I’ll give you everything I have!”
“Spare you? Why would I kill you? Here, drink this and recover.”
Chae Mujin produced a bottle. It was, he claimed, an Elixir.
“Th-this is…”
“As you know, an Elixir costs 10 trillion per bottle—a universal cure-all. You had mountains of them in your warehouse.”
“Th-that is, ahaha.”
“Drink up. It’s an Elixir. A nosebleed like yours should clear with a single drop.”
“No, sir. That’s not an Elixir.”
Han Tae-woo waved his hands frantically. Chae Mujin smiled and replied.
“I know.”
“……?!”
“Want me to feed you?”
Chae Mujin gripped the bottle upside down.
Han Tae-woo quickly snatched it and chugged it down.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
‘Ugh, just endure. Get through this moment and escape.’
Sky-Splitting Blade was an official Hunter. Would an official Hunter commit murder? Besides, he said he’d let him live.
“I-I’ve finished it.”
“Your wound hasn’t healed.”
“B-because it’s fake…”
“No, no. Let’s try another Elixir. Maybe that one just didn’t work for you.”
“That’s impossible…”
Chae Mujin pulled out another bottle from nowhere.
With tears in his eyes, Han Tae-woo downed the second bottle. Now his stomach was completely full. Nothing else would fit.
“Here, a third one.”
……
“Won’t you drink?”
“M-my stomach is too full.”
“Your stomach’s full?”
“……?!”
He was right, but saying so was wrong. Han Tae-woo had no idea what to say.
“Why are you doing this to me? Just throw me in prison.”
“Do I look like a Hunter Association police officer to you?”
“…No, sir?”
“Tae-woo. The Hunter Association doesn’t have the manpower to deal with small-time crooks like you. And you knew that, which is why you’ve been acting so boldly.”
“That is…”
“Honestly, I don’t care what you do. Fraud or whatever.”
“Ah, ahaha.”
“But here’s the thing. If it hadn’t caught my eye, fine. But once I’ve seen it, it bugs me. You understand? It’s the feeling you get when you spot a cockroach in your home.”
Crunch, splatter!
Chae Mujin crushed the glass Elixir bottle with raw strength, then touched Han Tae-woo’s cheek with that very hand.
“When there’s a cockroach in the house, I can’t relax. I can only sleep peacefully after I’ve seen its corpse. Don’t you feel the same?”
“I-I, w-well.”
“Tae-woo. Han Tae-woo.”
“Y-yes…”
Shiver, shiver, shiver, shiver.
Han Tae-woo trembled so violently the car creaked.
“Right now, you look like a cockroach to me.”
“H-hiccup!”
“Until now, you’ve lived pretty well as a cockroach. Others found you repulsive and hid away, so you were never caught.”
Bang!
Chae Mujin’s kick sent Han Tae-woo flying through the car door.
“Gasp, cough.”
The force was enough to tear the door clean off. His ribs cracked and shattered. Breathing became a struggle.
Yet Chae Mujin approached like Death itself.
“But, I, hate, cockroaches, really, truly. So what should I do?”
“Agh, hck.”
“Oh, the broken ribs have punctured your lung, haven’t they? Hard to breathe, hard to speak?”
“P-please… save…”
“The people you defrauded felt far worse than this. Not for a moment, but for days, weeks, perhaps even now.”
“S-sorry…”
“Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the victim. I’m the one inflicting harm.”
“……!”
Chae Mujin drew the Light Sword, and with the sword energy enveloping it, it looked to Han Tae-woo like a guillotine’s blade.
“Cockroaches must be exterminated.”
Whoosh!
The Light Sword came down on Han Tae-woo’s head.
Thud!
……
Han Tae-woo clenched his eyes shut. He was certain he’d died.
But something was wrong. For a dead man, his body still hurt far too much. So he cautiously opened his eyes and began hiccupping.
The Light Sword’s blade was right before his eyes, driven deep into the asphalt.
“Light of Healing.”
“……?”
“It’ll be difficult, but try to sit. I’ll examine your condition.”
Chae Mujin carefully examined Han Tae-woo’s injuries and pronounced his verdict.
“You’ll need surgery and recovery time at a hospital, but it’s not fatal. I’ve done emergency treatment with a healing skill, so you won’t have lasting complications.”
“I… I…”
“Why didn’t I kill you? Because I only killed the cockroach.”
“……!”
“Han Tae-woo. I won’t ask you to live a good life. I’m too busy to keep an eye on someone like you. But listen.”
Chae Mujin crouched down to meet Han Tae-woo’s eyes.
“If I ever get curious about how you’re living and come to check… and find nothing’s changed?”
Shing.
He withdrew the Light Sword from the deep earth and whispered.
“I swear by heaven, one of us will die.”
Who would die remained unknown, but Han Tae-woo understood it perfectly, so he nodded vigorously.
Years later, as Han Tae-woo earned the title “Savior” for rescuing countless Hunters, his miraculous redemption would be the subject of much praise.
But the true source of that desperate struggle for survival—only two people in the world knew that secret.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————