The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 32

Ch 32: Novice Hunter （3）

I had agreed to continue An Yunseung’s training after the gate raid was over.

Even though that process could no longer be used as a means of making money, a promise is a promise.

I didn’t want to be criticized for being irresponsible.

So, I was just trying to make sure I finished An Yunseung’s skill correction properly.

‘You’re the only one!’

But who knew that promise would play out like this.

Is this why people say you should live kindly?

“These bastards are thugs, they tried to kill me for my items!”

A few minutes later.

I watched as the criminals were quickly subdued by the A-rank hunter and made a deep vow in my heart.

‘An Yunseung Hunter, from now on, you are my older brother…!’

In the hunter society, being strong is everything.

◈◈◈

Meanwhile, from An Yunseung’s perspective, this incident was nothing short of astonishing.

『I’ll check your skills after work』

『Thank you so much, hyung』

『Okay』

‘Phew, that’s a relief. When I got the negative evaluation, my heart sank. I was sure that hyung wouldn’t call me anymore…’

One sunny afternoon.

An Yunseung read the text from Giryeo and was lost in the afterglow of emotion.

‘He’s treating me the same even though I’ve lost my value.’

What is the value of an A-rank hunter to Kim Giryeo?

Of course, they’re nothing more or less than a key to open high-rank gates.

At least that’s what An Yunseung firmly believed, which is why he had been suffering mentally for the past few days.

“Phew.”

But, contrary to his worries, Kim Giryeo still contacted him.

Moreover, he was even going to take time out of his busy schedule to finish correcting his skills. How could he not be grateful?

‘I don’t usually believe in things like horoscopes, but is it possible that the noble person in my fate is hyung?’

An Yunseung even had silly thoughts as he headed to the meeting place.

It was in front of the F-rank gate that Kim Giryeo had told him about beforehand.

‘Wow, it’s small.’

He killed time without thinking much about it.

But then.

Five minutes passed, then ten, and by the time twenty minutes had passed.

“He’s a bit late?”

He suddenly felt a sense of bewilderment.

Even though he had arrived earlier than the agreed time, it had been a while since Kim Giryeo’s team had entered, so why was there still no news?

‘At this point… I would have swept it clean and come out already.’

At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind.

“Could it be an anomaly shift?”

A phenomenon that was bringing down the up-and-coming new team of an A-rank hunter, and even at this moment, taking the lives of innocent hunters.

An abnormal increase in the gate’s rank.

What if that terrifying anomaly had occurred again this time?

“No, it can’t be.”

It must be a needless worry.

In the first place, it wasn’t an accident that happened so easily. The probability of it occurring was so low that it could be described as negligible.

“It can’t be…”

Nevertheless, bad thoughts wouldn’t leave his mind.

Since he was the person involved in the anomaly accident, he couldn’t ignore that low possibility.

Gulp.

In the end, An Yunseung made up his mind.

‘Let’s just take a peek inside.’

Yes.

I’m just going to check if an anomaly has occurred or not.

He carefully stepped into the gate.

But the scene that followed was more shocking than he had imagined.

Not long after, An Yunseung encountered Kim Giryeo, surrounded by unfamiliar hunters.

“Help me!”

An Yunseung gasped in shock at this scene.

Kim Giryeo Hunter was hurt.

It was something he had never even considered before.

That hidden powerhouse, who was always overwhelming and relaxed, was bleeding profusely from his injuries.

Am I hallucinating right now?

“These bastards are thugs, they tried to kill me for my items!”

But there was no time to be stunned.

An Yunseung snapped out of it at Giryeo’s words and gripped his equipment.

They’re frogs. Those trash-like humans who prey on other hunters are their true identities.

“Why is An Yunseung here…!”

“Hey, Kim Jaehyun! You said this guy was a nobody, an F-rank! How are you going to explain this situation!”

An Yunseung had never hit a person in his life, but he was also a high-ranking hunter belonging to a large guild.

As he had received related training in preparation for this kind of situation, his response was quick.

‘There were guys who did frog-like things even in these low ranks!’

Just when he thought he heard a whoosh, a sound of wind.

An Yunseung dashed forward and knocked down the team leader, who seemed the strongest.

“Cough! Ugh.”

In fact, there wasn’t any grand strategy.

Since the A-rank hunter had decided to subdue them, the only obstacle was controlling his strength so that the opponents wouldn’t die.

“Agh! I, I’m sorry. No, there’s been some misunderstanding…!”

Crack!

Then, the sound of a hunter’s arm bone shattering rang out.

With this, he had incapacitated all the frog bastards in this place, but An Yunseung’s feelings were complicated.

‘It broke too easily.’

Perhaps, if this person hadn’t spoken to him right after, he wouldn’t have been able to change his thoughts.

“Yunseung-a, thank you. You saved me.”

“Hyung-nim!”

An Yunseung turned around in surprise.

There stood a man with a cold expression. His forehead was partially torn.

“If you hadn’t saved me, I don’t know what would have happened…”

Kim Giryeo was talking without caring that one side of his face was covered in blood.

“You were waiting outside, and when I was too late, you came in.”

“Ah, yes.”

But a moment later.

An Yunseung paused at the next words Giryeo uttered.

“I’m sorry. It must have been difficult for you to come into the gate alone… I made you go through unnecessary trouble.”

Come to think of it, he usually felt fear just from hearing the buzzing sound of the gate.

But today, entering the gate wasn’t difficult.

It was just that he was worried that Kim Giryeo might be in trouble because of the gate anomaly.

“No. It wasn’t that uncomfortable.”

“Really?”

Kim Giryeo raised his head sharply at those words.

“See! You’re starting to feel confident in your skills, so now you’re not scared of gates anymore.”

This incident doesn’t seem to have anything to do with confidence.

“Anyway, it’s a real blessing that you had the courage. If you had been just a little bit later, I might have died.”

“Huk! Hyung, you’re bleeding from your chin.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“But still.”

“An Yunseung Hunter saved me, so everything is fine now.”

As Kim Giryeo kept thanking him, it seemed like he really was gaining some confidence.

‘I was helpful!’

An Yunseung smiled where no one could see.

‘I saved Giryeo hyung… right.’

But right after that.

After the storm-like time had passed, and some sense of stability had returned, An Yunseung’s mind cooled down.

Huh.

‘Is this even making sense?’

He knew from breaking their arms himself that they were all lower-rank awakened ones below D-rank.

But Kim Giryeo Hunter was assaulted by these guys?

‘I was so focused on hyung-nim being hurt that I didn’t have time to think about the situation being strange.’

An Yunseung, noticing the awkwardness, tensed up.

“Yunseung-a, let’s get out of the gate quickly. We need to report these guys as soon as we get out.”

Why didn’t I notice it sooner?

Looking at it now, Kim Giryeo wasn’t showing any signs of fear at all, even though he was attacked by another hunter.

“Oh, I think I broke about two ribs too.”

Rather, he was just expressionless, as if he had predicted the accident.

“……”

I must be overthinking things, right?

It must be just a delusion that everything feels like a pre-arranged plan.

Because, Kim Giryeo Hunter…

‘There’s no reason for him to do something like this on purpose.’

He couldn’t bring himself to say the thought that had come to mind.

It was at that moment.

“An Yunseung.”

Kim Giryeo, with a sharp gaze that couldn’t be hidden even by the messy bloodstains, looked intently at Yunseung.

And then, he casually said these words.

“If my awakening rank was higher, I would have definitely teamed up with you. When I think about it, there aren’t many hunters like you.”

“…”

“It’s not just that you’re strong, but more than anything, you take the lead in saving others.”

An Yunseung tried to ignore the assumption he had made, but those words that followed shattered that resolve.

“You’re a really great awakened one. I hope you know that about yourself.”

That praise, that if he were a higher-rank awakened one, he would definitely team up with him.

It was a very important meaning to a novice hunter.

‘Ah…’

I see.

Everything was his plan.

An Yunseung sighed briefly.

What was the reason why he was unable to form a new team and was spending his time in a stagnant state?

Betrayal by a colleague? That was a reason in its own way, but the biggest influence was that day’s defeat.

‘Did Giryeo hyung see through even that…?’

The day he experienced the anomaly shift accident.

An Yunseung lost his colleague right before his eyes.

It was clearly his fault. It was the duty of a defense-type awakened one to protect his colleagues.

An Yunseung had not been able to shake off this past failure until today.

‘I couldn’t interact with new hunters because of the thought that I failed to protect my team.’

But then, an incident occurred where he had to save an acquaintance in danger…

Perhaps Kim Giryeo was trying to create a ‘successful experience’ for him by recreating a situation similar to that time?

You are not incompetent.

You can save your teammates if you put your mind to it.

If this accident was fabricated to teach him that fact, then a lot of things made sense.

‘Then, those injuries were self-inflicted for the sake of acting?’

An Yunseung turned his head to examine Giryeo’s injuries.

Torn skin and flowing blood. How many people would be able to do something like that for someone else?

━If you’re okay with it, I’d like to train you during this break.

But if it was Kim Giryeo, he thought that he could very well do that.

He was fundamentally different from ordinary hunters in many ways, such as readily sharing valuable secrets that others wouldn’t even mention.

‘The reason he told me to wait in front of the F-rank gate was to naturally call me…?’

When he realized the truth, goosebumps ran all over his body.

He had been completely manipulated from beginning to end.

But he didn’t feel unpleasant. As the other party intended, he really had regained some of his confidence.

‘It’s only hard the first time to take courage.’

Moreover, thanks to this, even his aversion to entering gates had lessened…

Wait a minute, could it be that Kim Giryeo Hunter had calculated even this part?

‘How can a person be like this?’

Yunseung, who had been looking at the awakened one walking next to him for a long time, opened his mouth with difficulty.

And asked.

“Um, well, hyung-nim, what are you always thinking when you take care of me?”

“Take care of you? Me?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…. Is that so?”

Then, Kim Giryeo stood tall in his spot.

But the answer didn’t take long.

“Well, you’re a good kid.”

You help others well, and you’re kind.

“That’s all that matters.”

An Yunseung was speechless at his question of whether there was a need for another reason.

Kim Giryeo. He was a person who was endlessly kind to hunters who were truly without malice.

“Ah, we’ve finally come out of the gate. Yunseung-a, can you report them for me?”

An Yunseung took out his cell phone from its protective case after hearing those words.

But at this moment, while he was making the call.

Giryeo slyly raised his hand and said something absurd.

“And I’m sorry, but let’s do the training starting tomorrow. I need to go home quickly.”

It was amazing that he was saying to see him again in just one day, but that was secondary.

“Home? You should be going to the hospital! Or should I call a healer you know?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“No, but still.”

“It’s fine. Don’t bother. Don’t call people, it’s tiring.”

Kim Giryeo refused to get examined and quickly left the alleyway.

An Yunseung was speechless at this sight. Oh my god.

“No, in the world, where is there an F-rank who treats himself alone! How much does a potion cost.”

He was an incredibly talented person, but there was one thing he was clumsy at.

F-rank my a*s.

After all, it was certain that this time, the poor frogs were unilaterally used by Kim Giryeo.

“Is it that he’s just bad at acting, or did he just give up because it seems like I noticed everything…?”

An Yunseung muttered with a face full of questions and continued to report the criminals.