The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 76

Ch 76: Red Gate （2）

‘Huk.’

The monster’s speed was beyond imagination.

I had only blinked, and it was already right in front of me.

‘This is bad!’

The situation happened so suddenly that I couldn’t react at all.

But then.

—Thud!

The magical beast in front of me suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, I heard a dull cracking sound.

‘It, it burst?’

I quickly turned my head and caught a glimpse of Kang Changho’s outstretched arm at the edge of my vision.

That S-rank had knocked away the monster that was charging at me.

Kang Changho was staring blankly at the blood that had splattered on him from killing the monster, and then he said in a quiet voice.

“Not taking any action even when an enemy is flying at you… can I take that as you were testing how I would react?”

Honestly, it’s absurd.

I just couldn’t keep up with the movement because my dynamic visual acuity is terrible.

“No. That’s not it.”

I immediately denied his words.

Then, Kang Changho narrowed his eyes for a moment, flicked the blood off his hand, and fell silent again.

‘What, what is it?’

Even at this point, I was still unsure about the whole situation.

—Whoosh!

But a moment later.

As An Yunseung, who failed to manage his mana, started missing monsters more frequently, the S-rank standing next to him gradually began to show his true worth…

—Thwack!

The second monster, the third monster too.

—Thwack!

Even this time, he wasn’t even in a dangerous range, but he took it upon himself to deal with them?

‘Huh?’

When I came to my senses, the corpses of C-rank monsters were already scattered around me in a gruesome manner.

In other words, Kang Changho had been thoroughly managing this area since earlier.

‘Huh?’

I rolled my eyes and cautiously asked, pointing to the corpses lying on the ground.

“Hunter Kang Changho, I’m just asking in case, but are you going to collect these corpses?”

“No.”

“Then, can I take some?”

“Suit yourself.”

With that answer, an unknown emotion welled up in my chest.

‘This hunter… is incredibly diligent…?’

Is this the Korean spirit?

◈◈◈

Clear weather. Green grass.

In such a high-saturation landscape, a person wearing dark leather clothes would stand out.

“Huh?”

A few minutes ago.

An Yunseung found Kang Changho appearing in the park and his face hardened.

Like most people in this industry, the young man didn’t really want to encounter that S-rank.

“Why is Kang Changho here…”

Yunseung held his breath for a moment due to the pressure created by the top-tier awakened one, and in the meantime, the thing he was worried about happened.

The other party had suddenly shouted someone’s name.

“—Hey, Kim Giryeo!”

The third S-rank of Korea was known for only showing interest in strong people.

Then, of course, the attention would be focused on that hunter now.

‘Ugh, is he picking a fight with Giryeo hyung…!’

Yunseung looked around worriedly.

But what do you know.

It seemed that Kang Changho wasn’t just acknowledging him because the other party was strong.

“Changho-ssi, welcome.”

What was going on?

Kim Giryeo naturally greeted the S-rank who had appeared.

As if he knew that he would appear.

‘Did they become friendly in the meantime…?’

I desperately want to hear an explanation, but I can’t afford to be distracted in front of the gate.

Yunseung forced himself to focus on the red gate that had soon appeared.

‘Let’s get a grip. Today is an important day to show my skills to the person who saved my life!’

He positioned himself as if Giryeo, who was standing behind him, was his teammate.

“Ugh!”

But there was no way that a single defense-type hunter could do a proper hunt.

A moment later.

A monster that he failed to restrain slipped out to the rear.

Normally, he would have immediately deployed a barrier towards his companion at this time, but…

‘I don’t need to do that now.’

An Yunseung soon canceled his skill.

That monster was practically walking towards its own grave.

‘How pitiful.’

A few seconds later.

He suddenly became curious about the fate of the escaped monster. He glanced back to check.

‘Huh?’

But the sight that followed was so shocking that he almost dropped his shield.

—Thwack!

‘Kang Changho is dealing with a C-rank monster…?’

What is this?

Yunseung checked the rear from time to time after that, but the situation was always the same.

‘No way!’

While the blonde hunter was standing by with an indifferent face.

Kang Changho, who was next to him, took the initiative and eliminated all the monsters coming from the rear.

‘Kang Changho of all people?’

Kang Changho was a top-tier awakened one and at the same time, a hunter with a thoroughly self-centered personality.

As a prime example, he was someone who never responded to the Association’s calls, despite the huge penalties.

Even the government had given up on trying to borrow Kang Changho’s power.

But how could such a person be so obediently helping others?

‘Is he really the S-rank I know?’

From An Yunseung’s perspective, it was difficult to guess that they were bound by a 『Enhancement』 contract.

Therefore, he tried to understand the situation with only the information he had, and ended up making a big mistake.

‘No, no way, did hyung make up his mind to establish his position this time…!?‘

Would that belligerent S-rank have left a skilled person like Kim Giryeo alone all this time?

Clearly, Kang Changho must have been picking a high-intensity fight with Giryeo while he wasn’t watching.

And perhaps, Kim Giryeo was generously overlooking it, but the moment the other party crossed the line, he ruthlessly crushed him.

No, it’s not just a guess, it must have actually happened, right?

A gap so big that he couldn’t even open his mouth.

To make the mighty Kang Changho do chores, that level of secret was necessary.

‘Really, it seems like there’s no other explanation, right? Look, Kang Changho is completely under Giryeo hyung’s thumb!’

An Yunseung was impressed.

To subdue an S-rank that even the huge power of the Hunter Association couldn’t handle! This is beyond words.

‘Wow, the more I know about him, the more he’s beyond my imagination.’

An Yunseung gulped dryly.

There was a time when he wanted to team up with Kim Giryeo, but if there’s such a difference in level between them…

‘It’ll be difficult to become a teammate.’

An Yunseung defeated the last monster with a bitter expression.

But his gloomy mood didn’t last long.

‘Then, how about I become a porter?’

The hunter industry had more diverse jobs than he thought.

‘Long dungeons sometimes require you to solve food and lodging inside the gate. If I learn the skills needed for that, I might be of help to hyung someday…?’

That blonde man is a born hunter.

Because he’s so outstanding, he probably doesn’t feel the need to team up with others. He probably won’t easily find a teammate in the future either.

So, Yunseung decided to aim for a support role in the team, rather than a teammate position.

That was the most likely way he could work with Giryeo.

‘Let’s build up my skills! To be more suitable as hyung’s porter!’

His intentions were pure.

He only wanted to be of help to the person who saved his life.

However, because he greatly misunderstood the other’s skills, his goal setting was slightly off…

‘That’s right. I’m nowhere near hyung’s level right now, so training is the only way!’

This useless effort would later.

Put Yunseung in the position of a ‘monster rookie who drags even a dead team by the collar’.

◈◈◈

Day 5 of the Red Gate raid.

“Huuup!”

Bang.

The sharp thorns surrounding the monster’s body shattered miserably as they hit the silver shield.

Around the time the fragmented thorns scattered in all directions.

An Yunseung brought his mace down on the monster’s exposed skin.

Then, with a squish! sound, the monster split into pieces of flesh.

Another monster had been hunted.

‘His skills are improving, aren’t they?’

But it wasn’t a scene that was worth being greatly surprised by.

We had been watching An Yunseung work for the past five days, so we were tired of it.

‘Is this the 5th gate already?’

We originally started hunting safely at around C-rank, but now we were gradually gaining confidence and were even confidently raiding B-rank gates solo.

However…

‘Sigh.’

To be honest, even B-rank was a bit lacking for me.

If I could just get my hands on that A-rank gate, which offers the best rewards for the worst difficulty, it wouldn’t be a dream to make 2.6 billion won in one go.

‘Honestly, even if a jackpot hits with a B-rank, it’s hard to get a lottery-like profit.’

I smacked my lips as I looked at the red passage across the street.

Is it too presumptuous to think that I wish that was an A-rank gate?

—Crack!

As you can see, I have such a reliable bodyguard by my side.

‘Yes!’

In the meantime, another monster had met its end.

Because the hunter next to me had kicked away an approaching monster.

But looking at it again, his reaction speed is really amazing.

I thought he was slacking off, but how does he manage to protect the 5m radius so perfectly?

“Thank you.”

I bowed my head and collected the magic stones from the corpse.

But Kang Changho just focused on his work again without saying a word.

That Earthling had started bringing a tablet PC to the site at some point.

‘Web surfing right in front of a gate?’

Normally, that would be considered insane, but was this guy an ordinary awakened one?

S-rank hunter Kang Changho had perfectly fulfilled his duty during that time.

Thanks to that, I was able to collect the materials of high-level magical beasts without getting a scratch.

‘Hehehe.’

I should have signed a contract earlier if I knew this would happen!

Actually, I didn’t know that Kang Changho would be this helpful.

When he said that he also had ethics, I just brushed it off as him talking nonsense again.

‘Kuh, I lacked faith…!’

That’s why you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, right?

Our Changho may look like he’s going to bury someone alive, but he’s actually a good-natured person. Always diligent.

‘At this rate, I’ll be able to collect 100 million won in the blink of an eye.’

Slyly.

I took out the item box that I had borrowed from An Yunseung in advance and diligently collected the monster materials.

My hands were covered in blood because of that, but I didn’t care.

Originally, your hands can get a little dirty when you count money.

“Hoo, it’s all done!”

After waiting for a while, it seemed that An Yunseung had also solved all the monster waves.

“Huk! Hyung-nim, your hands are covered in blood…”

“Ah, this?”

“I, I missed too many enemies, so hyung-nim ended up catching some! I’m sorry!”

“That’s not it.”

“Yes, it is! You don’t have to be considerate of me because I might feel embarrassed.”

There was a brief misunderstanding in the middle of the conversation. Well, let’s just let that go.

“Anyway, you did well today too.”

With that light praise, we started cleaning up after the hunt.

Because we had to gather the defeated monsters in one place so that the cleaners could work easily.

‘Heave-ho.’

But then.

A shadow suddenly fell over me as I squatted down to pick up a monster. Kang Changho had come closer.

“Kim Giryeo.”

It seems like he has something to say.

“Stop doing that?”

While I was silent, Kang Changho continued to speak.

“Are you perhaps protesting because you think I won’t give you money?”

“Excuse me?”

“You, who usually don’t do that, are suddenly poking around high-level red gates every other day, so honestly, it doesn’t look good.”

He paused for a moment to choose his words.

He didn’t look particularly angry, but as expected, just standing still was enough to feel pressure from an S-rank hunter.

“Kim Giryeo, how about you take a break from gate raids for the next few days?”

“Pardon?”

“Pushing yourself like this isn’t good for your health. For both you and me. Like I said before, since we made the contract terms lenient, we should be considerate of each other in these areas.”

“….”

“Of course, the red gate is a loophole in the oath, so you can do whatever you want, but you won’t die.”

Kang Changho then advised.

“Just know this. I’m not bound by the oath as much as you are.”

That meant that he could attack me anytime he wanted if he had a mind to.

“If you get caught secretly going to the red gate… then it won’t be fun for either of us.”

After making him work non-stop for five days, that guy is finally showing his true colors.

‘Well, there’s nothing like overwork to make someone’s temper terrible.’

I knew it.

My life was only established by his generosity.

Although a certain weakling even made a miserable promise with his life on the line, the other party was in a favorable position where he could stop even minor considerations depending on his mood.

Unilateral relationship. Or a tilted scale.

At this point, I could end up living with more restrictions than using that S-rank as a bodyguard.

‘This won’t do.’

But I had been aware of that problem long before.

“I’m sorry. I will correct it immediately.”

I organized my thoughts and spoke.

However, unlike my docile outward reaction, I was planning something else inside.

‘Kill me, huh.’

I had at least one way to make sure Kang Changho couldn’t do that.

Let’s start preparing that after today’s settlement is over. I made that resolution and lifted the last corpse.