Chapter 43: Chapter 34: New Changes & A Day to Relax
A/N :
" " : Dialogue,
' ' : Thought,
[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,
"Italicized text" : Telepathy,
« » : Artificial Intelligence,
| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages,
"Bold text" : Shadows & Deathborns.
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Narrator POV
To say that Sung Jin-Woo was surprised at how much the guild had done in less than a week of its establishment would be an understatement. He had expected that the guild would simply gain a moderately strong footing in Korea, but came to find out that the guild was given a highly relevant position worldwide.
He knew that the guild would eventually become extremely important to the world as a whole, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon or so quickly. On top of that, his family had finally moved from the apartment building in the Donjak district to a much better home in the Guro district, not too far from the guild building.
After arriving in his family's new home, he decided to take a single day off to rest from the time he had spent hunting demons in the Demon Castle. Even though the Stimulants had helped him keep his energy up, he was still somewhat mentally drained, so he decided to take this time to just stay home and relax.
Sung Jin-Woo started thinking of what he would do during the time he had chosen to rest. He had originally planned on selling one of the drops he had gotten from the Avaricious Vulcan, the Orb of Avarice, in an attempt to accrue some funds. But after learning of the wage plan that Dante had put up for the guild, he let go of the idea in favor of strengthening his magic soldiers.
Letting out a sigh, he decided to just leave the house to go on a walk and explore the area. As he walked around, he noticed how the place seemed to be a lot more peaceful than the area around their former home. He felt that this could be owed to either Dante's presence, the presence of the Hunter Association building, or the presence of one of the country's most prominent guilds.
Either way, he was content with such a peaceful environment for his family. "Oh, if it isn't Jin-Woo. How's the new place?" He heard a familiar female voice behind him, then turned around to see Shiraori dressed in a light, long sleeve, white dress shirt and a loose red skirt that reached a few centimeters below her knees, with her hair out.
Beside her was another woman, one with a familiar face that he had never met personally, the Vice leader of the renowned Hunters Guild, Cha Hae-In. She was dressed in a short sleeve dress shirt and a fitted pair of black pants and sneakers.
"Ah, Shiraori-ssi. It's been a while." Sung Jin-Woo said, then looked over to Cha Hae-In who was now holding a handkerchief with a slightly confused look on her face. "Hello, Cha Hae-In-nim. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sung Jin-Woo said, greeting her with a courteous smile and his hand extended for a handshake.
Shaking out of her confused state, she accepted his handshake with a small blush on her face. "Ah... Ah, yes. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sung Jin-Woo-nim." Shiraori didn't miss the flustered state that Cha Hae-In was in momentarily, and a small, almost imperceptible smile formed on her face.
Releasing the handshake, Sung Jin-Woo noticed that Cha Hae-In was taking deep breaths. He didn't know why, but he felt that it was not his place to ask, so he subtly ignored it. Meanwhile, the smile on Shiraori's face grew to be more apparent, and it almost looked like she was teasing Cha Hae-In.
"And the new place is great. It's a lot better than living in a somewhat cramped apartment. Not to mention, my mother and sister now have a more comfortable place to stay, so I have no complaints." Sung Jin-Woo said with a soft smile that seemed particularly pleasant to Cha Hae-In.
"Oh, that's good then. By the way, when are you planning on going back to hunt?" Shiraori asked him, a small plan brewing in her mind. "Oh, I'm just going to take a rest for today, then go hunting tomorrow. Why?"
'The plan will definitely work.' Shiraori thought to herself as she heard his words. "Hmm. If that's the case, why don't you join the Hunters raid that's planned for tomorrow?" Shiraori suggested. "It's an A Rank Gate, so it'll be an easy way for you to get some cash before the weekend, even if you'll have to split some of the loot with them."
Sung Jin-Woo mulled over her suggestion, weighing the pros and cons, and he noticed that she was right. The only disadvantage he would have is the fact that he would have to split the earnings with the members of the Hunters raid team.
He would use his shadows and present them as summons, killing any suspicion toward that ability. He could just say that he got a drastic increase in his physical attributes from reawakening if asked. And he was easily the strongest Hunter in Korea apart from Dante and Shiraori, so he didn't have to worry about getting backstabbed.
"Okay, I'll check it out. Besides, I think it'd be fun to see how one of the top guilds hunts in the dumgeons." He said in agreement, causing Shiraori's smile to slip into devious territory for an instant. Bidding the two ladies farewell, Sung Jin-Woo walked away to busy himself with anything that could catch his eye.
Meanwhile, Shiraori let out a laugh as she used a perception filter spell to mask herself and Cha Hae-In, or as she likes to call it, a notice-me-not spell. Cha Hae-In, in her shyness, lightly smacked Shiraori's shoulder.
"Soooo, how did he smell?" Shiraori said with a teasing chuckle. "I - Uh - He... Um, he smelled nice." Cha Hae-In responded while fanning her face that had turned red. "Heeeh. Who knows, if he shows up to the raid tomorrow, maybe you'll be able to experience that nice smell again, instead of the sickeningly sweet smell you get from me." Shiraori said, then laughed out as she continued walking with a flustered Cha Hae-In.
...
Meanwhile, with Sung Il-Hwan and Park Kyung-Hye.
In the basement of their new home, Park Kyung-Hye looked at her husband's shaggy appearance for one last time, before deciding that she had had enough. "Honey." She said as Il-Hwan continued sparring with the automaton that was provided by Dante.
"Yes. What's the matter?" He asked as he narrowly dodged a pincer blow to his neck. Letting out a short breath, she stood up and looked at him sternly. "We're cutting it off. Today."
Hearing the sternness in his wife's voice, he quickly stopped the spar and looked at her. Tracing the direction of her gaze, he soon noticed that she was looking at his hair. Gulping down any possible protests, he meekly nodded his head and followed her upstairs to their room.
Calmly sitting down in front of the mirror in their bathroom, Sung Il-Hwan looked at his wife as she brought out a grooming set from a drawer in the room. She then walked up to him and started prepping his hair to cut it.
After softening his hair and draping the barber cape over him, Park Kyung-Hye started snipping at his shaggy mane, trying to make him look less rough. As she did, she started reminiscing on the time before he was trapped in the dungeon, looking back at it fondly.
Eventually, Sung Il-Hwan began speaking of the travails that he faced in the dungeon over the past 10 years, bringing tears to his wife's eyes. The monsters he had to fight, the crippling loneliness, the times he almost starved to death, the fights he had with his own mind to keep himself from commiting suicide,and other challenges .
As he finished speaking, she hugged him while sobbing, as she felt that her husband had been forced to undergo more pain than what should have been allowed for a human. "The only thing that really kept me going, was knowing that I would eventually come back here and be able to see you and the kids again." He said with a soft smile.
"You idiot, Jin-Woo has stopped being a kid long ago." She said as she stood back up to finish cutting his hair. After she had finished with his head hair, she helped him shave his facial hair, leaving his face smooth and bare.
"Okay, Honey. I'm finished up." Park Kyung-Hye said as she finished cleaning Sung Il-Hwan's face. Looking at the face in the mirror, he noticed that he had the exact same haircut that he had when he first got his license as a Hunter. He only looked a little bit older.
"So, how is it?" Park Kyung-Hye asked with a smile. Standing up, Sung Il-Hwan hugged his wife. "It's perfect." He said and kissed her softly. Separating the kiss, he walked over to the room's door and locked it.
...
Sung Jin-Woo POV
The next day came by quickly and I headed to the A Rank Gate that the Hunters guild had booked and saw that the actual operation of a dungeon raid was far larger than I thought. But then again, I've never actually been involved with a guild's raid, so what would I know.
"Ah, Sung Jin-Woo-nim, you're here. I'm Choi Jong-In, guild master of the Hunters guild and leader of our main raid team. It's a pleasure to meet you." A red haired man said as he walked up to me, while wearing a business smile.
"Hello, nice to meet you too." I said curtly as I shook his hand. "Honestly, when Hae-In said that you were interested in tackling the dungeon with us, I was quite surprised, and I didn't think that you'd come. So seeing you here has thrown me off a little." He said with a light smile.
"I see. I'm sorry for inconveniencing you." He just chuckled. "Oh, there's no problem." He said, waving it off.
"So, if I'm to understand, you reawakened and became a summoner class, right?" He asked as he pushed his glasses up. "Yes, but I was a physical combatant before my reawakening, so I got a considerable enhancement to by physical attributes. So I'm still pretty good as a fighter." I explained to him, knowing that he wanted to see how I would fit into the already present arrangement of the raid team.
"Oh, so you can also fight while your summons fight. That's quite useful." He said with a bit of surprise. Then again, if someone looked at me and was told to guess what class of Hunter I was, they'd most likely say I was just a physical class like a fighter or an assassin. So I feel that learning that I'm mainly a summoner class would surprise anyone over learning that I have high physical attributes.
"Well, enough of that. I'm sure you want to meet the people that you'll be accompanying on this raid, so please, take your time and greet them." He said as he pointed over to the raid team, which was comprised of Cha Hae-In, 8 tanks, 4 mages and 3 healers.
Walking over to them, I greet them all, and notice that none of them is even as strong as Igris, except for Cha Hae-In. I guess I really have not to worry about when it comes down to fighting other Hunters.
"Ah, Sung Jin-Woo-nim, you came." Cha Hae-In said and put her hand out for a handshake, which I accepted. "Well, I did say I would come by. How are you? You seem a bit red. Are you alright?" I asked her with slight concern, as her face looked a bit flushed.
"Oh, no. I'm fine. It's just that Shiraori-nim had told me a lot about your capabilities, so I'm a bit excited to se what you can do." She said as she fanned her face with her hands. Seeing that she wasn't going to be impeded by whatever was bothering her, I simply shrugged and turned to face the large gate.
From eyeballing it, this Gate easily has a minimum radius of 4 meters, which isn't all that large when compared to some other Gates, but it's still considerably large.
"Well, then. Since you're all done getting ready, shall we head in?" Choi Jong-In said as he walked into the Gate with a cigarette in his mouth. We all followed behind him as we fully began the raid.
As we walked in, I felt what seemed to be wind, but I knew that it was just waves of magic energy coming from the combined presence of the boss and all the other monsters in the dungeon.
"If you don't mind, Sung Jin-Woo-nim, could you bring out your summons?" Choi Jong-In said as he looked at me. Nodding, I summoned Igris, Baruka, Tank, my magicians and all the other Ice Bears.
Seeing the number of summons as well as sensing their level of power, everyone was quite surprised, as each of them was at least at the level of an A Rank Hunter, with Igris, Baruka and Tank inching ever so closely to S Rank.
"Haha, that's quite the impressive roster you've got, Sung Jin-Woo-nim. It's almost like you won't need a raid team." Choi Jong-In said with an awkward chuckle., while everyone else looked at me with amazement. And Cha Hae-In was, sniffing the air?
"Holy shit. That's like having a guild with you at all times." "If he was the leader, he won't need any of us." "Are we going to see another solo raid Hunter? Wasn't having 2 of them enough?" The others murmured under their breath, thinking I couldn't hear them. Perception for the win, I guess.
"There's no need to flatter me, Choi Jong-In-nim. They're only so strong, so it's better that the strongest of them join us in battle, while the rest collect the corpses." I said as I drew out one of Baruka's Daggers, and the Sanguine Ripper from the holsters on my legs. 'Thank goodness that I bought a set of these before getting to the Gate.'
"So, now that I've brought out my summons, shall we begin this raid in earnest?" I said as a few monsters started to approach us. It seems that they had also noticed them, as they had quickly gotten into formation.
As the monsters came into view, we saw that they were Earth Golems, A Rank humanoid monsters. Not much of a threat, especially for our party.
"I know I asked you to show your capabilities first, but you'll have to excuse me." Choi Jong-In said as he took out his cigarette and flicked it. As he did so, the flames on it expanded into a ball of fire. He then pushed the flames forward, and caused them to attack the Earth Golems at high speeds. "Tankers, get in position. A storm will be coming."
Less than 2 seconds later, the two tankers got in front of him and raised their shields. Almost immediately after, the fireball exploded into an inferno that killed the Earth Golems.
As the explosion subsided, I ordered Igris and Baruka to go ahead of us to attack the other monsters in the dungeon. Their movements, although fast, didn't escape Choi Jong-In and Cha Hae-In's notice.
"Are you sure that sending your stronger summons ahead is a wise decision? They could get killed." I didn't blame him for his assumption, as that is what one would expect of a summoner, but my shadows are beyond the things that they are used to.
"They'll be fine. They might not seem like it, but they are a lot stronger than they appear." I said as I saw my experience indicator increase. Choi Jong-In looked at me with a raised brow, then turned to the others"Well, let's keep moving then."
...
As we kept moving, we came across the corpses of multiple Earth Golems, with varying sizes of slashes and holes on them. With every corpse seen, the amazement of the Hunters guild members rose, as they tried to guess just how strong I was.
We soon reached the area before the boss chamber, where Igris and Baruka were waiting for us. Thankfully, Igris didn't behead them, and Baruka didn't mince them like he used to do with the demons.
"As I had said earlier, they'll be fine." I said to Choi Jong-In who was looking at Igris and Baruka incredulously. 'I wonder how much more surprised he'd be if he found out that I and my shadows could grow even stronger.'
"This... This is quite amazing." Choi Jong-In said as he adjusted his glasses. "But at the same time, it's a bit inconvenient for us. The attack which was meant to be undertaken by the attack squad was done almost entirely by your summons. Even the corpse collection that would normally be done by the collecting team was also done by your summons." He said with a sigh.
I would have been on guard, if it wasn't for the fact that none of them was letting out even a sliver of killing intent. If they were, they'll be dead before they knew it.
"Don't worry about it. I only came by because I was interested in seeing how the Hunters guild works. So you don't have to bother yourself with trying to pay me a cut." I said, hoping to disperse their worries.
"*Sigh* That's the thing. It goes against principle." He said, as if thinking of a way to somehow compensate me for my work. "Fine, just send me ₩10 million after you've gotten the money from selling the stuff from here." I said, giving him an easy way out.
"Are you sure? Would 10 be enough?" He asked, unsure if I was being serious. "Yeah, unless you're somehow going to give me more money than my weekly paycheck, or better gear than I've got or will get soon. So don't worry, I'm fine with that."
Hearing my words, he looked at me with a bit of confusion, then he just let out a laugh, as the situation just left him confused on what to do. "Okay, then. How about this? Our second attack squad is having a raid tomorrow, in another A Rank Gate. So how about you accompany them ? You can take any amount of the loot from that Gate instead."
Looking at him, I just thought to myself; 'I don't have to do anything he says or asks. I'm only here because I want to be.' But at the same time, I also thought about how little was actually done in this Gate.
Granted, Igris and Baruka killed most of the mobs, but because of that, most of the experience went to them. Maybe, just maybe, I'd get a chance to kill the boss of the Gate that they have booked for tomorrow. And who knows, maybe I'll finally get my first named soldier in a while. "I'll consider it." I told him, and we left the dungeon for the other teams to do their job.
...
OMAKE: Putting a Hammer Down
??? POV
When was the last time I ever felt like this? Have I even felt like this before? Looking at those blue eyes, they don't see me as a threat. No, he's not even looking at me, yet every fiber of my being is telling me to not even think of trying to draw his attention.
Is this what they feel when I'm present? Fear on an impossibly basic level? I refuse! I am the strongest creature on Earth. Nothing that is even a mild threat to me that isn't my offspring is allowed to exist.
Gathering my strength into a single blow, I swing at his head, aiming to kill him. But before my hand reaches his head, I hear a finger snap,and my sight is suddenly covered in red before going black.
...
"*Gasp* What just happened?" I looked around and noticed that people were looking at me with shock, but not fear. They looked as if I wasn't meant to be here at all, yet I was.
"So, do you still think that I can't bring her back for you, Baki?" I hear him say. I'm sure that I hit him, so how exactly is he still here and undamaged.
Moving my muscles to manifest the Demon Back, I dash towards him to kill him. My strength is unparalleled and absolute. I will not be disrespected or... *Snap*
...
I seemingly woke up once more, but this time, I made sure to look around more carefully. The weaklings are looking the way they always do, fearful, only this time they aren't afraid of me. I look to the man again, but this time I stopped to properly perceive my environment, and I notice something that is entirely out of my expectations, the smell of blood, my blood.
I know my body is in perfect condition, and I'm not injured, so why would I be smelling my own blood, and in copious amounts? Looking around, I see the road has been covered in a thick coat of red.
The amount of blood didn't cause me to have any bit of fear, it was the pattern in which the blood was on the ground. It looked like the blood exploded out of my body and splattered onto the ground behind me.
The pattern could have meant that I was hit with something with an extreme amount of force behind it, but I know that such a level of force would also kill everyone behind me, yet I was the only one that had been hurt. So I only had one question, "How?"
I soon hear the people all exclaim in amazement at something, then look to face him, and I see a face that I haven't seen in years, at least not since I killed her. "Emi? But you can't be alive. I killed you myself. I broke your spine in my arms. I saw you breathe your last."
"Oh, so it looks like even the so-called strongest creature on Earth has a fear of the unknown. So how does it feel to be human again, Yujiro?" He asks me with a mocking grin.
"Who... No. What are you?" I ask the white haired, dark skinned man in front of me. "Well, since you've been saying that you're the strongest creature on Earth, I guess I'll humor you. My name is Dante, and I'm one of the strongest beings in existence."
"Why? Why did you have to come here and do this to me?" I said with a growl. "First off, I didn't have to come here. Second, I just felt like knocking you down a couple of pegs. You and your bloodline have potential, but if someone who is actually strong came here, you'd be less than cannon fodder." He said as he walked away, then suddenly disappeared.
Chapter End.
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