The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 53

Ch 53: Exhausted Heart （1）

After leaving the Association.

The first thing I did was call Hunter An Yunseung.

“Hyung-nim! What’s going on!”

“Oh, it’s nothing much. Let’s just grab a meal together.”

The next place we arrived at was a restaurant.

It was an ambiguous time, not quite dinner yet, so there were thankfully few people.

“You like pork, right? Eat a lot…”

“Huk! Thank you.”

The bribe is ready, so now I should slowly bring up the topic.

Slyly.

I slid the well-cooked meat dish towards Yunseung and casually said.

“By the way, Yunseung-a.”

“Yes!”

“I have a concern these days.”

“Yes, yes.”

“I didn’t intend to, but somehow, I’m about to get killed by Jeong Haseong?”

Clang!

Upon hearing those words, An Yunseung dropped the chopsticks he was holding.

I quietly took out new chopsticks from the utensil holder and continued speaking.

“Just listen. I’m not dead yet.”

My tone was calm, but honestly, it was enough to make me jump out of my skin.

Who knew that a meeting in an EX-rank gate would develop like this?

Anyway, trying to bury someone in an unknown gate. Jeong Haseong is really too much.

What did I do!

‘At most, I gave some false testimony, tried to pass off the monster aggro, and am just using the gate rewards that Jeong Haseong cleared with blood and sweat.’

Oh. I guess the reasons are more than enough?

“Anyway.”

Let’s get back to the main point.

“I need some advice. You’re a high-rank hunter. Don’t you know anything about Jeong Haseong?”

“Even if you suddenly tell me that.”

“I want to resolve this in a roundabout way if possible.”

An Yunseung was spaced out for a while, then opened his mouth with difficulty.

“From the start, it’s hard to imagine. Not just any hunter… but Jeong Haseong?”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t even been able to talk to him yet. He’s such an arid person. In a way, he’s similar to Hyung-nim.”

Hmm. He cleared his throat for a moment.

“Rather than fighting with someone personally, he only gets heated up when it comes to gate raids.”

Yunseung mumbled to himself, then carefully said.

“Isn’t there some misunderstanding between you two?”

“Hmm.”

“It doesn’t make sense that Jeong Haseong would get angry enough to kill someone, and it doesn’t make sense that a courteous person like Hyung-nim would incur such a big grudge…”

Finally, an objective perspective has intervened.

Only after hearing those words did my normal thinking return.

“Is that so?”

Now that I think about it calmly, I wonder if I misinterpreted Jeong Haseong’s suggestion?

‘Was I unnecessarily sensitive due to distrust of people?’

I came to my senses.

And I slowly admitted that my worries had been a mistaken delusion.

“You’re right, now that I hear you say it. There’s no way the Rank 1 of Korea would harbor feelings for an F-rank like me.”

Then An Yunseung smiles lightly.

Hahaha.

“Well, Hyung-nim. Anyway, you don’t need to worry about that kind of thing in the future.”

While skillfully using his chopsticks, I glanced up and watched Yunseung.

“Hunter Jeong Haseong would also be hesitant to start a fight so easily.”

“What?”

“There was that incident at the White Maze before, right? Since that kind of thing happened, wouldn’t he also be wary of Hyung-nim?”

I quietly focused on his words.

“That’s how it is when hunters fight each other. Unlike monsters, people often hide their abilities.”

“Oho.”

Yunseung shrugged his shoulders and said as if it were obvious.

“If the other party thinks that this awakened one is hiding something… then a conflict won’t easily occur.”

It’s a plausible story.

Come to think of it, the park incident before also didn’t escalate into a fight because the assassin mistakenly thought that the target was a strong person.

“I see.”

Bbirring.

And at that moment, an alert sounded from Kim Giryeo’s cell phone.

“What is it? A text?”

“Oh, yeah. Just a quick reply.”

I noticed the gaze that was silently looking at me and said.

“Why? Curious?”

“Ah, no. It’s just…”

“It’s nothing much.”

What followed was the text message inbox being readily revealed.

（7 days ago）

『Giryeo-ssi, if you haven’t had lunch, would you like to have lunch together today? I know a good Korean set menu restaurant!』

『I’m sorry. I’m busy with a police investigation right now…』

（4 days ago）

『Hello! The weather is getting cooler now. ^^ I suddenly thought of Giryeo-ssi and contacted you. Have you had your meal yet?』

『I just ate.』

（1 minute ago）

『Hunter Kim Giryeo-nim! What are you doing today~~? You’re not going to say you’ve already had dinner at this time, are you? Hehehe』

『Yes, I’m eating pork ribs with an acquaintance right now.』

“It’s just a casual contact. She sends me texts often these days.”

After showing the cell phone screen, I nonchalantly focused on the meal, but for some reason, An Yunseung was sweating profusely.

“The person who sent the text… it’s saved as Seo Esther?”

What’s the big deal about that?

◈◈◈

As summer was coming to an end.

These days, the hunter society in Korea is suffering from a small cold.

“The number of gates has increased again.”

Around the time of the appearance of the EX-rank dungeon last time.

That’s because the frequency and difficulty of gate occurrences have skyrocketed nationwide.

“Is it A-rank again this time? Which guilds can handle it?”

“Neo Sisters and the Korean Magic Tower have already sent all their main teams for the raids.”

“Aish, then is that hunter the only one left?”

But what kind of country is this?

Korea is a country with many S-ranks compared to its small land area. Therefore, they were able to deal with this situation to some extent.

“Contact the Rank 1!”

In other words, it means that a certain hunter is active.

━Ting♪

Then, a man covered in blood took out his cell phone from his pocket.

“An A-rank gate?”

Jeong Haseong muttered with an exhausted face.

He had just finished a gate and now he had to go again.

“Driver-nim, start the car.”

“Ah, Representative-nim. The blood…”

But he silently headed to the next destination.

Hunting monsters.

That was what a hunter, what he was supposed to do.

“The blood will just splatter again anyway, so let’s just go.”

And so, Jeong Haseong’s state of overwork was accumulating.

The next day.

Jeong Haseong poured a stamina recovery potion that he had obtained from the auction house down his throat.

This was around the time that he hadn’t slept for exactly 40 hours.

Then, while the S-rank hunter was being worn down like this.

What would the Alien Great Magician be doing?

“Hoo!”

The story returns again.

This is a one-room in Mapo-gu where Kim Giryeo lives.

The blonde man standing there shouted with a proud face.

“It’s finally over.”

It’s nothing compared to a certain hunter who is having a hard time, but in fact, Kim Giryeo had also been busy for the past few hours.

Because he had to fix the serious flaw of this body as soon as possible.

“Shall we check if the modification went well?”

Today’s results were as follows.

『1.2.2 Changes』

●Signal blocking when pain above threshold occurs.

It’s quite a lengthy sentence. So, to explain it more simply…

“Perfect!”

As of today, Kim Giryeo had acquired ‘Pain Resistance’.

If all pain was removed, there would be problems, so he added a mechanism that only nullifies pain when it exceeds a certain level.

‘It’s getting quite close to my past body.’

Now, pain is not scary!

In fact, I had recognized the need for this modification for a while, but I had been putting it off because it was annoying.

But then.

After being burned once because of Jeong Haseong, I suddenly came to my senses.

I thought that if I put it off any longer, I would die of shock soon.

“To know what burning pain feels like. I didn’t want to collect this kind of data.”

Giryeo wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was quite tired, probably from concentrating for so long.

‘Hoo, should I rest for today? I have some money saved up. It wouldn’t be bad to try out this thing called delivery food…’

But at that moment.

Something brushed past his sharp senses.

It felt like a dark and huge wave was rushing towards the direction he was facing.

“Huh.”

By the time he noticed the flow of mana, it was already too late.

Soon, an ear-splitting explosion shook the one-room apartment.

Kwaaang–━!!

Krrrrrr…….

Beep, beep, beep…….

Kim Giryeo froze and stared straight ahead.

What is this situation now?

‘The sound was too close?’

Fortunately, the room was fine, but somehow, an indescribable anxiety began to rise.

Kim Giryeo put on his slippers and hurriedly ran out into the hallway.

Then, the first thing he saw was.

“Huh.”

The building.

The building had been blown away.

“Heh heh.”

Kim Giryeo chuckled as he looked at the right side of the building that had been cut away as if by a bomb.

Steel frames and shattered cement were visible. That’s because the side line except for the 304th room where he lived had completely collapsed.

“What the h*ll…”

It wasn’t just one resident who came out after hearing the sound.

Then, a booming voice echoed in the hallway.

Get out of here right now before the unstable building collapses. Run away.

Everyone was shouting that.

“What a messed up planet.”

Occurred around late August.

It was the beginning of the dungeon break terror that would cause numerous casualties.

◈◈◈

Preparing for evacuation was not difficult.

After all, these are all the valuable things I have.

‘Let’s just take the magical tools.’

I carefully hugged the sleeping incense burner and left.

I also packed recovery potions, a protective bracelet, and a reflector, but none of them were bulky.

“Hmm.”

But the problem is where to evacuate to now.

“What, why is the phone not working?”

The first thought that came to mind was to ask An Yunseung for help, but the cell phone was acting up.

Buzzing.

“The phone isn’t working.”

“Is it because everyone is on a call?”

“What should we do…”

Judging from what those passersby are saying, it seems that this is not a problem that I am experiencing alone.

‘Should I just follow where people are running away to?’

There was no time to be spaced out.

Because even at this moment, monsters were roaming everywhere on the streets, wondering what kind of accident had happened.

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!”

“Run away!”

“Isn’t there any awakened one?”

Monsters in the form of pterosaurs screaming and running around. Or people.

Scattered debris. Blood. Smoke.

As soon as the monsters appeared, the peaceful modern landscape instantly turned into a battlefield.

Everyone was too busy running away to worry about anyone else.

I ran mindlessly in that chaos.

Thanks to that, I was barely able to find a shelter.

It seems that Earthlings use subway stations as bunkers in emergencies.

‘Everyone is gathering in the subway?’

But…….

‘Oh!’

The subway station I arrived at was already full of citizens who were evacuating.

Moreover, the hunters at the entrance were blocking people, saying that they could no longer accommodate anyone.

“D*mn it!”

It would be really helpful if my damned brain could remember the evacuation procedures of Earth right now.

Unfortunately, I have no idea at all.

‘If I stay here, I’ll be crushed to death by people.’

I had no choice but to look for another way.

When I stopped in place and sharpened my senses, I could feel various kinds of mana.

The internal mana of the awakened ones.

External mana rising from the ground.

And, the movements of gate creatures.

‘I guess I have no choice but to run away alone.’

I took a breath and started moving.

Originally, I was planning to wander around in places where there were no monsters until the situation calmed down.

“Hmm?”

But after regaining some composure, an even better idea came to mind.

“Over there, that thing… could it be that person?”

Soon, I arrived at an alleyway.

I turned my head north in the quiet street.

The situation is not clearly visible with the naked eye, but after sensing the mana, it became clear.

Jeong Haseong is beyond that building.

“In a situation where magical beasts are rampant, an S-rank hunter appears before my eyes.”

In this chaotic time. For a moment, I almost felt guilty for thinking of pestering someone who was very busy, but an alien on the verge of death doesn’t need a conscience.

Well, after all, clinging to Kim Giryeo’s body is also a kind of parasitism…

“I’m a professional at being a parasite.”

I chased after Jeong Haseong’s energy with shining eyes.