NOVEL NEXT chapter 31
31 – Even with a shoddy wooden sword…
“A skewer? What are you going to do with that?”
Seungjun, still not grasping the situation, sneers when he sees Jihoon’s right hand.
“You’re really an interesting guy, aren’t you? I came out just to confirm the unbelievable things I heard… I’ve met someone strange.”
“Interesting? I find it interesting too… There are always people who stubbornly stick to trivial matters like you and end up getting beaten everywhere they go.”
Jihoon briefly reminisces about the past.
In the martial arts world, how many people had lost their lives over trivial and insignificant reasons? They died from bumping into someone at an inn, swearing at someone from behind, or even for speaking too loudly.
Each time, Jihoon couldn’t understand why the powerful ones resorted to such trivial reasons for killing. It was enough to hit them appropriately to teach them a lesson.
“Sooyoung, do you remember our virtual gate earlier?”
Jihoon asks Sooyoung, looking towards Seungjun.
“Uh… Yeah, I do.”
“Yoo Jung, did you also see us clearing the virtual gate earlier?”
This time, his question is directed at Yoo Jung.
“Um… Yeah, I saw it, but…”
“Well, that’s good. This time, instead of me, I’ll use a healing skill on him, alright? If both of you hear me say ‘heal’ to him, use the skill on him.”
“What kind of nonsense is this? Are you really going to try this? Well, whatever. If you’re really the one who cleared the virtual gate in the 8th district, we’ll meet in the team competition finals anyway. Let’s see what you’ve got beforehand.”
Jihoon takes a step towards Seungjun, who has raised his magic power to the maximum, with his right hand extended forward, focusing his magic.
It was then.
Whoosh!
“Ughhh!! Ahh!”
Jihun’s new skill instantly approached Seungjun’s face, and the skewer infused with his inner power pierced Seungjun’s right hand.
“Why can’t you wait for me to use a skill?”
“Ugh… this guy!”
Seungjun thrust the skewer Jihun had inserted into his right hand toward Jihun with his left hand.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Jihun’s body flew back into the distance.
“Heal!!”
In response to Jihun’s cry, Sooyoung, who had been dazed, shot a healing skill at Seungjun as he commanded.
Watching Sooyoung, Yoojeong also sent a healing skill without thinking.
Boom!
Suddenly, Jihun launched his new skill to Seungjun’s left again.
This time, Seungjun reacted quickly, extending his left hand filled with magic. The magic emanating from his hand took the form of a whip, drawing a large parabola towards Jihun.
Jihun swiftly bent his upper body to avoid it and immediately thrust the skewer filled with inner power into Seungjun’s left thigh.
Shush!
“Ughhh!! Ughh!”
A fountain of blood gushed out as the skewer was pulled out from his thigh.
Jihun distanced himself from Seungjun once again and shouted, “Heal!”
Sooyoung and Yoojeong extended both hands in Seungjun’s direction.
Fresh flesh filled the wound on his thigh, where blood had been gushing out.
“Huff… huff… This bastard!!!”
Seungjun extended a magic-infused whip from his right hand just like his left.
The magic whips in both hands flew mercilessly towards Jihun.
– Swinging lighter than a gentle breeze, striking harder than a typhoon. The body that treads on magic must always be like the very wind itself.
Jihun’s new skill, treading on magic, was faster but just one step ahead of Seungjun’s whip.
His attacks seemed to land but never reached their target.
“Push”
“aaah!!!”
Suddenly, behind Seungjun, Jihun’s new type of skewer pierces his right flank.
Seungjun thrashes around, brandishing his magical whip.
But once again, Jihun was already far away.
“Heal!!”
…
“Heal!!”
…
“Heal!!”
…
“Heal!!”
It’s cruel. It’s so cruel.
Blood spurts from Seungjun’s body, staining the floor.
A battle of the unconscious and a hunter’s fight.
It’s impossible to determine who has the upper hand, but it’s clear that their fighting styles are different.
The unconscious, no, Jihun was too familiar with a way of hurting and tormenting humans.
“Heal.”
Now Seungjun kneels on the floor, trembling in pain and fear.
The magical whip that was in his hands has long disappeared.
“Stop… Please… Stop.”
Jihun, who had instructed him to use the healing skill one last time, slowly approaches him.
“Stop… I lost… I was wrong… Please, stop now.”
Arms, thighs, calves, abdomen, and back.
His clothes have numerous holes, but underneath, there is not a single scratch on his skin.
However, Seungjun couldn’t bear to stand in the horrific pain and fear any longer.
“Name.”
“…?”
Seungjun looks up, meeting Jihun’s gaze.
The demon in front of him struggles to understand the words it spits out.
“Choi… Choi Seungjun… It’s Choi Seungjun…”
“Yeah, I got it. Do you have anything else to say?”
“Uh… no… nothing…”
“Well… okay.”
Although he had a somewhat uneasy expression, Jihoon quickly got up.
Name and business. Jihoon had heard only that, as if he had seen enough, and he turned without any regrets. Seungjun shed tears for the first time since his childhood as he watched Jihoon’s back walking away.
“Ugh… ugh…”
If only he had mentioned his name and purpose as the guy had suggested, could he have avoided this kind of pain?
Rather than disregarding him as a Level 11, if he had just been a little more polite…
No, when he thought about it, it was really nothing. It was truly nothing at all…
Seungjun, crying in pain, tears clouding his vision.
At this moment.
Seungjun recalls the face he had spent a lifetime hating.
His own brother.
Choi Seungmin.
Seungjun wishes that his brother, who had put him in so much pain for nothing, would suddenly appear like a dream.
Just as he was about to stop Jihoon, who had been walking that way.
“Hyung… brother?”
In the midst of suffering and tears, Seungjun is so overjoyed that his hated brother has appeared like a child that he loses consciousness.
***
“Kang Jihoon.”
In front of Jihoon, who was turning back to his group after leaving Seungjun behind, a man suddenly appears with a drawn sword. He is not Seungmin, his brother.
“…A lot of people are looking for me today…”
“Kang Jihoon, right? Do you recognize me?”
“How could I know? I’ve never seen you before.”
When the other person used informal language, Jihoon followed suit naturally.
“…You have the heart of Ixel, don’t you?”
Jihoon’s expression contorts instantly.
As if something annoying had happened, Jihun glares at the man in front of him with a sigh.
“Who… are you?”
“Yoo Sung-hyun. I was in the Ares Guild…”
The sudden appearance in front of Jihun was none other than the missing Yoo Sung-hyun.
He was one of the three A-rank hunters in the Ares Guild.
While Im Hanyoung and Yoo Soyoung went to the Ares Guild to steal Igzell’s heart and were arrested by the Hunter Management Agency, he had been living alone and hiding.
“Where is Igzell’s heart?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“I know you have it.”
“…Ah, that’s why I didn’t bring it with me!”
Jihun expresses his annoyance and sighs deeply.
That’s right.
Jihun was keeping Igzell’s heart.
He had stubbornly refused the earnest request of Lee Kangcheon, the representative of Igzell, until the very end.
However, Lee Kangcheon, who had lost his top combat power and experienced intense internal conflicts as a result of Igzell’s heart, eventually gave it to Jihun.
He begged Jihun to just keep it and, if necessary, use it.
Having lost three A-rank hunters and even trust in people, he had finally bet everything on Jihun.
“What happened to the other two who were after that? Stop being greedy and just go away, okay?”
Jihun speaks in a grumbling tone, as if scolding Yoo Sung-hyun.
“Igzell’s heart is not yours.”
“Well, then, is it yours? You frustrating man. The representative has given it to me after going through so much trouble…”
“I am not alone.”
“…What? Did you get married? Why are you suddenly…”
“No!! I mean that I belong to the Black Hunter group.”
“Ah…”
Jihun scratches the back of his head, feeling foolish for misunderstanding the words.
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“Just hand over Igzell’s heart willingly and stay out of this.”
“Is that what the representative didn’t want me to do?”
**Translation:**
“Duuung”
Yuseonghyun, the one who raises magical power.
Magical power flows like smoke from his entire body.
The atmosphere becomes oppressively heavy due to the overwhelming energy emanating from him.
Even Jihoon’s gaze is filled with seriousness.
A-rank hunter.
Though Jihoon had previously encountered hunters like Im Hanyoung and Yuso Young, who were also A-rank hunters, Yuseonghyun’s level was different.
Harnessing magic power within his body and drawing his sword from his waist, Jihoon could tell he was an exceptionally powerful hunter.
“I didn’t come here to fight. I already know you have abilities beyond an A-rank hunter.”
“If you’re not here to fight, why don’t you put the sword away?”
As Jihoon spoke nonchalantly, he felt a sensation in his right hand.
Tanghooru Kkochi.
At the very least, I should be holding a cheap sword or something…
In an instant.
Yuseonghyun’s figure disappeared from Jihoon’s view and reappeared behind him.
Whoosh.
He swung the sword, and Jihoon barely managed to avoid it by bending his upper body.
He then immediately thrust his Tanghooru Kkochi with force.
However, Jihoon’s skewer pierced not Yuseonghyun, but a tiny piece of paper floating in the empty space.
Yuseonghyun’s voice was heard from a little distance away.
“On the 3rd of next month, come to Egzel’s heart. Consider this a warning; this will be the last time you cross the line.”
With those words, Yuseonghyun disappeared in an instant.
A surprised Jihoon removed the square note pinned to his skewer.
“High-speed… movement skill?”
Jihoon, realizing that Yuseonghyun’s skill was of the same type as his own, couldn’t take his eyes off the direction where he had disappeared.