8

Hwan quietly observed Gi-Hoon. In return, Gi-Hoon tried to ignore him and continued smoking. Soon, unable to withstand the pressure any longer, Gi-Hoon flicked the cigarette away and smiled.

“Thanks for the light. I gotta go.”

With that, he tried to step away. However, he froze as Hwan spoke.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

Gi-hoon turned his head. He was an excellent actor, but this time, he couldn’t hide the confusion in his face. With a slight break in his voice, he asked Hwan back.

“I beg you a pardon?”

“I know you listened to the conversations between Ee-Na and me.”

“You are mistaken, sir. We just met….”

“I have captured and stunned all four of them.”

“What?!”

“Before they passed out, they all told me that you are the person in charge of this operation.”

“….”

“Guild secretary Cheon-Myeong, huh? A good place to work in.”

At this, Gi-Hoon froze. His men had been captured? Was that why he stopped receiving reports?

“You don’t want to do this the hard way anyway. So why don’t we settle this through an honest conversation?”

After a few moments of consideration, Gi-Hoon sighed and decided to stop acting. He began to ask Hwan.

“When did you notice that we were watching you?”

Without any hesitation, Hwan explained everything, “I already felt that someone was spying on me from the beginning. I caught your exact position when you said something about an easy life.”

“What do you want?”

“You listened to our conversation. You know what I want.”

Gi-Hoon frowned as he realized what Hwan was insinuating.

“So you want Lee Ju-Heon’s information?”

“Just his address. That’s all I need to know.”

Gi-Hoon laughed. It was obvious that this man misunderstood the situation.

“Why do you think we have his information?”

Hwan tilted his head. Even without speaking, it was obvious from his expression that he couldn’t believe how these guys didn’t know about it.

“Aren’t you guys my brother’s security? Are you saying you don’t have that in your database? That’s so useless.”

Again, Gi-Hoon felt immense pressure.

Gi-Hoon was in fact an S-rated hunter, meaning that he was one of the strongest in this country. Among the entire Korean population, there were only twenty S-rated hunters, and Gi-Hoon was one of them. In Korea, there were only nine hunters stronger than him.

Yet, the pressure the man before him had was much more intense than those of nine S-rated hunters.

“Did you just call us… useless?”

“My brother is known as one of the Big Three. One of the world’s strongest hunters. But if his secretaries lack skill…”

Hwan paused for a bit before continuing his sentence with a grin. “I guess I have to replace every single one of you before I take my GED.”

That hurt Gi-Hoon’s pride. He began to snarl at Hwan.

“Cheon-Myeong’s database is one of the best in the world. I can find the information you want in a few minutes. However… why do you want that?”

“Let me make this point clear.”

Gi-Hoon kept his eyes on Hwan. He did not say it out loud, but he was quite nervous.

Is he really Master’s brother? He seemed more like a spy. Gi-Hoon’s suspicion towards Hwa’s escalated.

“I never had to talk this much to ask for something,” Hwan yawned before continuing.

“I never tried to understand one’s feeling, consider one’s circumstance, or let someone request one’s desire. I’m doing all three now. What will you do for me as a return?”

“I repeat. What will you do with that information?”

Hwan burst out laughing.

“That was crossing the line. You don’t have a right to question my choice. Besides,”

“Besides?”

“I don’t tolerate spies. I’m offended. So I want to make a deal. I’ll let you go this time if you give me that information. How simple is that?”

Gi-Hoon realized that this man is hiding something. He had an aura that was different from ordinary hunters.

“I won’t answer your question.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said, I won’t answer it.”

Hwan stood up and stretched his body.

“I’ll make you do so.”

Gi-Hoon clenched his teeth.

“Bring it on.”

* * *

I was surprised to find hunters around when I returned to Earth, but it didn’t matter a lot to me, to be honest.

When I encountered Ee-Na and my brother, however, I spotted some awkwardness between them. It was not that they weren’t strong. I had no intention of underestimating them. But the aura inside their body is strange.

“Bind!”

Gi-Hoon began to shout out. Immediately, his aura formed a magical rope and bound me in an instant.

Yes, that was the strange part.

There was also magic in Valhalla. Bind casting, for example, was also in that world. To be more specific, it was a spell cast that required the fourth level of aura.

To be more precise, it was more like a supporting spell. Usually, one must undergo a few steps to activate it and yet, he summoned it simply by saying a word.

In Valhalla, only dragons could have done that. Wass that man a dragon? Clearly not. That was why it was strange.

In Valhalla, mages researched their entire life to learn how to use magic. I heard that they could learn skills through rigorous training and practice, much like leveling in an RPG game. If that was true, then all mages at the Valhalla must feel void or empty.

Gi-Hoon, as if he saw an absurd scene, muttered.

“…That’s it? That’s all you got? Ridiculous. All this big talk coming from a guy who can’t dodge a D-level spell.”

Ee-Na told me that there were nineteen S-Rated hunters. Including Ho, an SS-rated hunter, that would amount to twenty. Eight of them belonged in the Cheon-Myeong guild. Gi-Hoon was one of them.

He was strong enough to sense my strangeness. He sensed that something was not going right, though it seemed that it had been flowing well.

Should I compliment him for getting the answer? Nah, I guess that was not necessary.

I knew that he was only following Ho’s order, so I wouldn’t kill him. Still, I had some business to settle with him.

This was like a test, and I was ready to unleash my aura.

I collected aura, just enough to beat the guy. Aura covered my fist, and I unleashed it through a punch.

Clang-!

The rope-shaped aura was ripped apart.

“Ho…How?!”

I suppose he had never seen magic getting ripped before. It must be quite a shock for him. However, it only took him a few moments to compose himself and react.

Something appeared on his hand, and with a flash of light, a metallic object flew at me with high speed.

I tilted my head to dodge it. I noticed that it was a bullet. That meant what he had was a gun.

I walked towards him. His eyes widened with surprise, but he kept shooting.

With minimal effort, I dodged all of his bullets. A step to the left, a slight tilt of my head. With simple moves, I was able to dodge all his attacks.

Gi-Hoon exerted his aura to his gun. He then aimed at my head and pressed the trigger.

I blocked it easily with my palm. Gi-Hoon looked shocked. Then, summoned his longsword from his inventory.

He swung his sword immediately. I could see that he was planning to cut my head off.

Once again, I had good eyes. It was quite easy to dodge. Just a tilt of the head was enough to do so.

Now, he was getting more serious. I moved to the side and dodged that sword. As I continued to dodge his every attack by minimum action, he screamed in frustration.

“Is that some kind of joke? How dare you mock me-!”

‘Mock? It’s just a test, you know.’

I was always serious. I never underestimated him. In fact, I calculated his strength and released enough aura to match it.

To correct his wording, I would say that I figured him out. That was why I could dodge and predict all his attacks. However, if that was the way he saw it, then I had nothing more to say.