Volume 1, Episode 9
009
Instructor Kim Seung-yeon couldn’t hide his confusion.
‘It was clearly full of openings.’
Yi Seo-jun’s stance, sword in hand, was so riddled with openings that one could easily mistake him for an ordinary person, let alone a Hunter.
He had swung his arm at such an opening, and yet—
*Crack!*
Yi Seo-jun had seized his arm at a speed he himself couldn’t even react to.
“Kuk!”
Furrowing his brows, Kim Seung-yeon let out a groan laced with pain.
An immense agony surged from his forearm, caught in Yi Seo-jun’s grip.
“St-stop…!”
Before Kim Seung-yeon’s words could even finish, Yi Seo-jun released him.
“……….”
Kim Seung-yeon looked at Yi Seo-jun with eyes clouded by confusion.
‘Just now… what was that strength?’
A tremendous force that absolutely couldn’t be ignored.
‘Was it an illusion?’
However, there wasn’t a single wound on his arm, and the pain had been only momentary, making it difficult for Kim Seung-yeon to judge.
*Swish.*
The two locked eyes.
A delicate silence flowed between them.
Just then.
“May I go down?”
Yi Seo-jun opened his mouth toward Kim Seung-yeon in a dry tone.
*Crack.*
Hearing that voice, Kim Seung-yeon clenched his fist.
And spoke.
“Pick up your sword.”
Kim Seung-yeon couldn’t let Yi Seo-jun go down.
No, he had no intention of letting him go.
His pride had been severely wounded.
‘I can’t stop like this.’
Countless Hunters he was supposed to teach were watching this scene.
If he let Yi Seo-jun walk away now, his dignity would be in tatters.
Wasn’t this a bizarre picture where the instructor looked like he’d been bested by a beginner Hunter who hadn’t even finished the Tutorial?
No Hunter would want to learn from such an instructor.
*Grind.*
He had to show something to Yi Seo-jun. To the Hunters as well.
If he didn’t, his life as an instructor might very well be over.
‘Was he just lucky a moment ago?’
Moreover, the bizarre spectacle Yi Seo-jun had shown just now.
He couldn’t let Yi Seo-jun go precisely because he needed to prove what that had been.
“I must have taken too much strength from him.”
Yi Seo-jun, whom he had thought lacked even the basics.
Though everything looked sloppy, he began to think that Yi Seo-jun might be a Hunter who was better than expected.
He thought so because Yi Seo-jun had caught his swung arm, and he had felt pain from it.
*Schwing.*
Kim Seung-yeon raised his sword.
Unlike a moment ago, this signified his intent to get serious now.
*Crack.*
The sword was a weapon he had held every single day since becoming a Hunter.
By now, it wouldn’t be strange to call it another one of his arms.
*Shhiiik!*
‘I’ll crush that arrogance of his.’
Kim Seung-yeon’s eyes gleamed as he swung his sword at Yi Seo-jun.
However.
*Whoosh!*
Kim Seung-yeon’s sword didn’t reach Yi Seo-jun.
“……!”
The instant it was about to connect, Yi Seo-jun leaned his head back and evaded.
‘What?’
Flustered, Kim Seung-yeon was sure that Yi Seo-jun had dodged his sword, but—
‘He dodged like that?’
It wasn’t a proper evasion made by reading the sword’s trajectory.
He knew this because of his countless battle experiences.
‘He definitely didn’t dodge that knowingly.’
Yi Seo-jun’s awkward stance.
The speed at which he had reacted to the sword.
Thinking of these, it seemed Yi Seo-jun had dodged purely by chance just now.
But this wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
*Grind.*
The Hunters he was teaching were watching this scene even more attentively.
Clenching his molars, Kim Seung-yeon charged at Yi Seo-jun once more.
*Shwack!*
As the distance closed, Kim Seung-yeon swung his sword again.
*Klang!*
The sound of clashing metal echoed throughout the hall.
The two swords collided, sending sparks flying.
Once again, Kim Seung-yeon’s attack had been blocked, but—
‘This makes it certain.’
Unlike before, Kim Seung-yeon wasn’t flustered.
He had realized through this attack.
‘His reaction speed is decently good, but in the end, that too was luck.’
That Yi Seo-jun had caught his swung arm.
And that dodging and blocking his attacks until now had been accompanied by his decent reaction speed, but were ultimately luck.
This time too, Yi Seo-jun had somehow blocked his attack by coincidentally raising his sword in that messy posture.
*Tat!*
Kim Seung-yeon quickly widened the distance to the side.
*Shwack!*
The instant he dove back at Yi Seo-jun like an arrow and swung his sword fiercely.
*Ching!*
A crisp friction sound rang through the hall.
Yi Seo-jun’s sword clashed with Kim Seung-yeon’s swung blade and flew straight out of his hand.
*Heh.*
Watching Yi Seo-jun’s sword fly away, Kim Seung-yeon smiled at the corners of his mouth.
“May I go down?”
To such a Kim Seung-yeon, Yi Seo-jun spoke with an expressionless face.
* * *
‘It’s certain.’
Yi Seo-jun thought as he went through the Tutorial.
‘Just what level a B-rank is.’
He had already checked once by facing I Yeong-won at the Haeshin Office, but he needed more information.
A Hunter from the Association, and a B-rank Hunter at that, was sufficient to serve as that subject.
That was why.
He had faced the instructor, even if it might draw attention.
However, it was true that it had drawn attention.
“Yi Seo-jun.”
Because the instructor’s focus had shifted to him.
The Tutorial continued after that as well.
“Hmm?”
Yi Seo-jun slowly erased the instructor’s attention.
“Is this all you can do? What about what you showed earlier?”
The instructor, Kim Seung-yeon’s sneering voice.
“I don’t know.”
To that, Yi Seo-jun didn’t give a precise answer.
On Planet Lumer, it wasn’t just monsters with pure strength that existed.
Though monstrous in form, they were beings far more meticulous and cunning than any human.
Having survived among such beings.
“Is that so?”
Imagination.
“I suppose it was a coincidence after all. That happens sometimes. When your senses grow hypersensitive after Awakening, or when you use explosive strength for an instant.”
It was the best thing for rationalization.
*Shwack!*
A sword rushed at Yi Seo-jun.
*Thud!*
The tip of the instructor’s sword stabbed at Yi Seo-jun’s chest and sent him flying.
“Kuk.”
Yi Seo-jun groaned in pain.
“As expected….”
Watching such a Yi Seo-jun, the instructor, Kim Seung-yeon, clicked his tongue.
“How regrettable.”
Kim Seung-yeon shook his head as well.
“Such moments come but once or twice in a Hunter’s lifetime, yet you couldn’t defeat me even with that precious opportunity.”
Kim Seung-yeon was now leisurely enough to stand before the fallen Yi Seo-jun and extend his hand.
“That’s what it means to be a Hunter. The moment you pride yourself on being strong, a stronger being appears. Always remain tense and hone yourself.”
A smile full of delight spread across Kim Seung-yeon’s lips.
“……….”
Yi Seo-jun looked at Kim Seung-yeon with an expressionless face.
“I see, so that’s what it was.”
The attention poured onto Yi Seo-jun wasn’t just Kim Seung-yeon’s.
The Hunters’ attention that had been directed at Yi Seo-jun, who had shown a spectacle similar to Yun Hyeon-gi’s—no, one that overwhelmed it.
“Have you heard that when push comes to shove, your power explodes for an instant?”
“Isn’t that something that happens when you’re in a life-threatening crisis?”
“I heard that if you luckily go through that, there are cases of re-awakening.”
“Come on, how could that be? How could you re-awaken from just something like that?”
The jealousy and envy that had briefly been directed at Yi Seo-jun.
“Tch. Pitiful.”
“Right. He should’ve thought that was his chance and fought like his life depended on it against the instructor.”
“Maybe something would’ve changed.”
They were returning as pity and sympathy.
“It was nothing special.”
Attention received in such a way would turn into indifference in an instant.
“……….”
Something that might normally have been impossible.
But to Yi Seo-jun.
‘It’s too easy.’
One could say it was similar to dealing with children.
Showing them what they wanted to see and acting it out perfectly was something ingrained in Yi Seo-jun’s body to a desperate degree, having survived on Planet Lumer.
But even so….
‘Something troublesome has attached itself to me.’
It wasn’t possible to fool everyone.
‘I’ll have to clean it up.’
No matter who it is.
* * *
When everyone was erasing their interest in Yi Seo-jun, at least one person was observing him.
*Swish.*
The youngest son of the Tyrion Guild Master, Yun Hyeon-gi.
“……!”
Yun Hyeon-gi couldn’t escape the shock.
As if his head had been struck by a large blunt weapon.
He continued to wear an expression as if his soul had left him.
“…….”
His father was none other than the master of the Tyrion Guild, one of Korea’s top three guilds.
Being the youngest son of such a father, he had already learned and mastered everything long before becoming a Hunter.
‘…I thought the Tutorial was just a bothersome process.’
So he could say he was already somewhat complete.
That was why he had thought the tutorial was merely a bothersome process.
—Congratulations. You are now a proud member of Tyrion.
Yun Hyeon-gi recalled the past, the events with his father when he had finally Awakened as a Hunter.
—Awakening rank B. Not bad.
He who had received B-rank simultaneously with his Awakening.
A faint smile had bloomed on his father’s lips upon confirming this.
*Heh.*
They say a Hunter’s strength isn’t determined by rank alone, but receiving B-rank meant that much mana already resided within him.
Since awakening rank and subsequent rank often differed.
He would attain a higher rank before long.
—Of course. This befits my bloodline.
It was for these reasons that a smile had bloomed on his father’s lips.
That a tree destined for greatness is different from the seedling.
He had proven that as well.
—Another S-rank Hunter will emerge from our household.
His father, who led one of Korea’s top three representative guilds.
His father, who possessed precious information gained through invaluable experiences incomparable to others.
He had thought he would become an S-rank Hunter just as such a father said, and had even felt pride.
However.
“……….”
That pride was now shattered into pieces.
‘…Yi Seo-jun.’
The beautiful young man before his eyes.
It was because of Yi Seo-jun.
Yun Hyeon-gi fixed his gaze on Yi Seo-jun.
‘…That guy.’
He had been instilled with knowledge about Hunters since childhood.
That was why he knew.
He who could be said to have been born as royalty of this era.
What Yun Hyeon-gi had seen wasn’t Yi Seo-jun’s posture holding the sword or his openings….
‘His eyes are different.’
It was his eyes.
The eyes of a ruler, eyes that looked down on everything and regarded them as insignificant—Yi Seo-jun had the same eyes as his own father.
‘Just what is he?’
Yet the sloppy displays he showed afterward.
They were so sloppy that one might truly think Yi Seo-jun had coincidentally experienced a momentary burst of power.
‘I’m confused.’
But those eyes weren’t something one could mimic even if one tried.
Just what was the truth?
Trying to uncover it only complicated his mind.
‘Damn it.’
He wanted to take his interest off Yi Seo-jun, but his gaze kept drifting to him.
‘I’ll need to keep an eye on him.’
The one who had to take first place in this Tutorial was himself.
—Of course you’ll be first in this Tutorial, but I’ll give you a gift anyway. I’ll make you your own raid team.
The promise with his father.
Even if it weren’t for that….
‘He could be a fine rough gemstone if polished well.’
It was unavoidable to become interested.
The greatest villain of all time has returned.