Whether he died of embarrassment or died from the sheer hassle of it, the result would be the same.
Grinding his teeth, Lee Kanghyun unbuckled his seat belt.
Bang.
Kang Yujun opened the door from outside with perfect timing. His posture was so polite he looked like an attendant escorting an honored guest.
“Please step out, Hunter.”
“I’m seriously going to kill you.”
Lee Kanghyun muttered under his breath as he got out of the car.
The moment he did, dozens of camera lenses swung toward him at once.
Black sweatpants. Mismatched socks. Hair sticking up in every direction.
And in his hand, an A-rank longsword worth several billion won, dragging along the ground like a walking stick.
For a moment, the entire area fell solemnly silent at the sight—something so ridiculous it was hard to believe this was one of South Korea’s S-rank Hunters.
Then the camera shutters started going off again.
“Life really is unfair. He’s dressed like that and he’s still handsome….”
Someone muttered.
Beside him, Kang Yujun shamelessly slung an arm around Lee Kanghyun’s shoulders.
“As you can see, our Hunter Lee Kanghyun has a rather unique sense of fashion. He’s ahead of his time.”
“Please shut the fuck up.”
Lee Kanghyun spoke through clenched teeth, but Kang Yujun didn’t care.
“Still, I’d appreciate it if you looked on him kindly.”
Just then, a reporter shouted.
“Hunter Lee Kanghyun! Could you give us a comment on the controversy surrounding your preferential exemption from military service?”
Lee Kanghyun looked at the reporter through half-lidded eyes, then at the gate behind him.
An A-rank gate wreathed in bluish haze.
If he went inside, it would be crawling with monsters.
He would have to move his body.
Blood would splatter everywhere.
Just thinking about it made exhaustion wash over him.
“Move.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said move. I want to get off work as soon as possible.”
Lee Kanghyun shoved past the dumbfounded reporter and walked toward the gate, dragging the sword behind him.
Kang Yujun followed, barely suppressing his laughter.
Behind them, camera shutters were still firing like machine guns.
The moment Lee Kanghyun entered the gate, his entire demeanor changed so drastically it was almost as if someone had swapped out his soul.
His dull, unfocused eyes sharpened.
His previously limp body began moving with crisp efficiency.
And in that state, he shoved Kang Yujun in the back.
“Hey, don’t push me. I’ll fall!”
“If an S-rank Hunter is going to fall over just because someone pushes him from behind, hand in your Hunter license. That would be the best thing you could do for the people.”
Lee Kanghyun repeated Kang Yujun’s own words right back at him.
“You’re seriously petty.”
Ignoring Kang Yujun’s grumbling, Lee Kanghyun used him as a human shield and pushed him forward.
The inside of the gate was damp and dark.
Some unidentified liquid dripped from the ceiling, and the floor was covered in moss.
Every step produced an unpleasant squelching sound.
“Go faster. Come on. There’s water everywhere, the humidity’s high. This place is practically made for you. Your Ability controls water, doesn’t it?”
Kang Yujun let out an incredulous laugh.
“Hey, if you have any conscience at all, stop thinking only about how to make me do all the work and at least draw your sword. Do you know how much that thing costs? I didn’t give it to you to use as a cane.”
“It’s heavy. You said to put mana into it. Too much trouble.”
“It’ll cut even without mana. It’s A-rank!”
While they bickered, red eyes in the darkness drew closer.
Grrrrrrr.
A low animal growl rolled through the air, followed by the sharp stench of blood.
Blood Wolves.
They were notorious for being troublesome because of their habit of hunting in packs.
Five monsters the size of houses bared their teeth.
Thick saliva dripped between their fangs.
“They’re coming.”
Kang Yujun adjusted his grip on his sword.
The playful look in his eyes settled into seriousness.
“Lee Kanghyun, draw their attention from the front.”
“No. I’m scared.”
“I know you’re not scared, so stop pretending.”
“Ah, I said no. Look at that drool. They look like they stink.”
Lee Kanghyun was recoiling in disgust and about to step backward when—
BOOM!
With an explosive kick against the ground, the monster at the front lunged forward.
Its target was obvious.
The man who looked easiest to kill, standing lazily with his hands in his pockets and his weight shifted onto one leg.
“Oh.”
Lee Kanghyun opened his mouth blankly.
He could dodge.
An S-rank Hunter’s dynamic vision captured the monster’s movements almost as if they were happening in slow motion.
But dodging meant twisting his waist.
Moving his feet.
Too much trouble.
I’ll just let it bite me once.
Normally, that would have been his conclusion.
But right now, there was an annoying pair of eyes watching him from the side.
If he got bitten and Kang Yujun saw blood, the man would freak out, rush over, ask if he was okay, make a huge fuss about calling a healer, and generally lose his mind.
Moving his body was less exhausting than dealing with that.
Kang Yujun’s nagging inflicted far more severe mental fatigue than physical pain ever could.
The monster’s claws flew toward Lee Kanghyun’s throat.
Whoosh.
He lightly leaned his upper body backward and avoided them.
A perfectly clean dodge.
Not even a strand of hair was touched.
The claws sliced through empty air.
Kang Yujun had no intention of missing the opening.
Blue mana flared.
His sword, wrapped in water, drove straight into the crown of the monster’s head without hesitation.
“Lee Kanghyun, why are you suddenly moving so efficiently?”
The sound of the blade cutting through flesh and pulling free was horrifyingly clear.
The metallic smell of blood hit Lee Kanghyun’s nose.
He scowled hard and stepped backward.
Then he irritably rubbed at the drops of blood that had splattered onto his clothes.
“Because you’re so fucking noisy. I dodged because I thought my ears were going to fall off. Happy?”
“How noisy have I even been?”
My ears feel like they’re bleeding right now.
Where had this man sold off his conscience?
Kang Yujun lightly flicked the blood from his sword.
The blade, infused with the power of water, gleamed clean and silver-white once more.
A smooth, polished movement befitting an S-rank Hunter.
Maybe that was exactly what the public loved about their “national hero.”
As long as he kept his mouth shut.
Another low growl came from the darkness surrounding them.
The remaining monsters, having witnessed their companion’s death, grew warier as they tightened their encirclement.
One pair of glowing eyes.
Two.
Three….
Four still remained.
Lee Kanghyun quietly slipped behind Kang Yujun again.
“Hey, we don’t have time to stand around talking. Can’t you see they’ve lost it? Guess they’re pissed because their friend died.”
He poked only his head out over Kang Yujun’s shoulder and urged him on.
“Hurry up and deal with them. I want to go home.”
“We’d get out faster if you cooperated.”
“Can’t you just sweep them away with water or something? How long are you going to take if you kill them one at a time with a sword?”
Lee Kanghyun’s goading didn’t stop.
The reason he had suddenly become so talkative wasn’t anxiety.
It was because the faster Kang Yujun moved, the less Lee Kanghyun himself would have to move.
He wanted to provoke Kang Yujun if that was what it took to end this situation faster.
The damp air.
The bloody smell.
The animal growls.
Every single thing here grated on his nerves.
He desperately missed the soft warmth of his blanket back on his bed.
“You want to get out that badly?”
Why are you asking something so obvious?
Lee Kanghyun nodded.
“Then fight yourself.”
Click.
Kang Yujun deliberately sheathed his sword right in front of him.
“I’m not moving. Not until you do.”
And then he really did stand completely still.
Even when a monster came charging at him to bite his head off, Kang Yujun simply stared at Lee Kanghyun.
Lee Kanghyun’s eyes widened.
What the fuck is this lunatic doing now?
At that moment, one of the monsters spotted its chance and lunged at Kang Yujun from behind.
Its sharp fangs flew toward the back of Kang Yujun’s skull.
Even then, Kang Yujun didn’t move.
He didn’t so much as blink, staring only at Lee Kanghyun as though staging a protest.
If you don’t move, I’m just going to die right here.
An S-rank Hunter was throwing a tantrum in front of a mere B-rank monster.
Fucking lunatic.
The curse burst through Lee Kanghyun’s mind.
He didn’t care if Kang Yujun died.
No.
Actually, he cared a little.
If Kang Yujun died, Lee Kanghyun’s peaceful shut-in life would obviously be over too.
If he got branded as the man who let South Korea’s beloved S-rank Hunter die, there was no way those bastards at the Association would leave him alone.
They might even frame him for killing Kang Yujun himself.
More importantly, watching a person get eaten headfirst right in front of him would be bad for his mental health.
He would have nightmares.
His body reacted before his thoughts did.
Lee Kanghyun swung the sword in his hand.
He didn’t infuse it with mana.
He didn’t coat it in mana either.
The sword wasn’t even drawn from its sheath.
It was nothing more than a lump of metal being swung with the brute strength of an S-rank Hunter.
WHAM!
With a dull impact, the monster’s jaw snapped sideways.
He hadn’t cut it.
He hadn’t stabbed it.
He had simply smashed it across the face with sheer force.
The monster was flung sideways without even getting the chance to scream and rolled across the ground.
If the sword hadn’t possessed A-rank durability, an absurd blow like that would have bent it on the spot.
“Ah, seriously!”
Lee Kanghyun shouted irritably.
“Are you fucking insane? Are you that desperate to die? Or are you running some kind of injury scam? Why are you trying to feed your perfectly healthy body to a monster!”
No matter how frustrated Lee Kanghyun got, Kang Yujun only smiled.
“See? You can do it.”
“Being able to do something and wanting to do it are completely different things, you lunatic!”
Breathing hard in anger, Lee Kanghyun walked over to the fallen monster.
Its jaw shattered, the creature trembled helplessly and couldn’t even get back up.
No matter how dangerous a monster was to humans, watching one writhe in pain was still unpleasant.
Lee Kanghyun drew the sword and ended its life with a single clean strike.
Then he turned his gaze back toward Kang Yujun.
He glared at him viciously.
The other monsters around them hesitated.
They had just watched one of their companions get knocked away with a single blow.
Their instincts were telling them that the apparently helpless human in front of them was far more dangerous than he looked.
“Hurry up and take care of the rest. My arm hurts. Look, my hand is shaking.”
Lee Kanghyun exaggeratedly trembled his hand and shoved it right in front of Kang Yujun’s face.
“What if I can’t even hold a spoon anymore? Are you going to take responsibility? Are you going to feed me?”
In truth, it didn’t hurt at all.
But he figured the more dramatically he complained, the better his chances of escaping this hell of labor.
He planted the sword against the ground like a cane again and let out a deep sigh.
Only one thought filled his mind.
I want to go home.
Kang Yujun quietly looked down at Lee Kanghyun’s trembling hand.
Then, suddenly, he grabbed it.
His rough, solid palm closed completely over the back of Lee Kanghyun’s hand.
Startled, Lee Kanghyun tried to pull away, but Kang Yujun didn’t let go.
Instead, he tightened his grip and gently tugged the hand toward himself.
Kang Yujun’s thumb slowly slid over the back of Lee Kanghyun’s hand.
As though he were genuinely checking whether something had been injured, or perhaps trying to ease the tension, he pressed and rubbed over each knuckle.
The touch was persistent.
His calloused fingertips traced each of Lee Kanghyun’s joints one by one.
Heat seemed to spread wherever they touched.
Kang Yujun looked straight into Lee Kanghyun’s eyes and gave a small grin.
“What are we going to do if our Kanghyun hurt his hand because of me? If you can’t use a spoon anymore, I guess I’ll have to do it for you. Right?”