Edited By: Sebas Tian
âOh, Hyun-Soo! You really came!â
âYeah, no way I would lie about it.â
âI thought you didnât mean it when you said itâ¦no, donât misunderstand what Iâm saying.â
He entered the Center Room after releasing the security with the Hunter Link.
The hunters that were inside all glared at Hyun-Soo at the same time.
Eugene was part of that crowd as well.
He waved at Hyun-Soo first and greeted him.
Hyun-Soo greeted back and as he approached Eugene, he greeted the other hunters around him.
âHello.â
ââ¦Hi.â
âWhatâs up?â
âI came because they said they wanted to see me.â
Hyun-Soo answered with a smile.
Maybe watching those DVDs were effective, because he was able to somewhat understand.
He would still stutter whenever he heard a word he didnât know.
But, he was still confident.
The words that he actually knew were âI miss it, you, me, Iâm here, so,â but the important part was that he was able to communicate.
âYou look pretty confident.â
A tough-looking hunter with two scar lines on his head tilted his head from side to side.
Every time he moved his arms, his muscles would move in a violent manner.
âYouâre right. He doesnât look intimidated at all.â
âLetâs see if heâs bluffing or if thatâs his actual personality, shall we?â
Thatâs what Hyun-Soo wanted.
âItâs a bit disappointing that there arenât that many watchers hereâ¦â
Perfecting it on the first attempt is difficult.
He decided to start with one and then take care of the rest later.
âHow about friend? You up for it?â
âOf course.â
Thatâs why he was here.
Hyun-Soo smiled again.
âHey! Eugene. Come here and explain. This is something he needs to really understand.â
The hunter called Eugene.
âFirst, you can use your fist. However, you cannot use a weapon. Second, if your back lands on the ground at least twice, you lose. Also, if youâre cornered and you donât get out within 30 seconds, you lose. Third, acknowledge your defeat. The referee will step in if they feel that one person is getting beat pretty badly. Got it?â
The hunter made the rules.
Since they were sparing, the rules were made based on that. Thatâs why restrictions and conditions existed based on that.
Eugene approached and translated that.
âHm, trying to understand more than three lines is still difficult.â
Hyun-Soo tried to his best understand what the hunter was saying, but he gave up.
âOkay.â
Once Hyun-Soo answered without any hesitation, the hunter looked at him and smiled.
The hunter had pretty dark skin, so when they smiled, their white teeth were really noticeable.
âA long-distance attacker, right? Isnât it easy for them to back out? Jack, go easy on them.â
The other hunters were jeering from behind.
âNow I know how much they look down on me.â
Since he hasnât shown anything, itâs possible for them to react that way.
âBut, your opinions of me will change very soon.â
There was no guarantee that he would be able to beat the A rank hunter.
However, he can do enough so that they wouldnât look down on him.
If he slowly worked his way up, then their opinions on him will change completely.
âSince weâll be sparing, Eugene, you be the referee.â
âOK.â
Tap, tap.
The hunter, Jack, tapped his feet on the ground as a way of introducing himself before the spar.
It seemed like he was warming up because his fist tightened.
He had thick fingers and large hands and the veins on top of his forearms were wriggling.
He took pride as an A rank hunter.
After changing his stance to make himself look cool, he motioned his hand and provoked him.
âCome.â
âThen I wonât decline. Invisible Attack!â
Since he couldnât use a weapon, he used a skill with a small amount of power and created a dull shape and threw it towards Jack.
It was to test it out.
He had to use his strength, but he couldnât use a weapon.
He needed a standard to go by in order estimate the limit.
Invisible.
It was an attack that couldnât be seen.
However, Jack mustâve felt something because he lowered his stance and raised his arms in front of him to create a shield.
The attack was flying towards his stomach, but his arm blocked the attack and the sound of metal clashing together filled the room.
âHm?â
Jack made a sound as if something was odd, but laughed afterwards.
âSo, that was your skill. Iâm not sure what kind of skill it is, but that caught me off-guard.â
âThanks for the compliment.â
Hyun-Soo used his skill again.
He used more of his power this time.
Clank!
Jack quickly waved his arm around and he blocked the skill that was heading towards Jackâs thigh.
With a loud noise, there was a small spark.
Jack easily blocked Hyun-Sooâs first attack, but he took one step back for the second one and blocked it.
âThis should be enough.â
As soon as Hyun-Soo had an idea of how much of his power he needed to use, Jack started moving.
Click, clack, click, clack!
Jack extended both of his arms out and ran towards Hyun-Soo like a bull.
As soon as Hyun-Soo was right in front of him, Jack wrapped his open arms and pulled them in.
If Hyun-Soo just stood there, his arms probably couldâve broken his back!
But, Hyun-Soo had already stepped to the side.
âThis is how fast an A rank hunter is. Itâs definitely different than the guys that I fought at the weaponry. That was really close. If I didnât step aside in timeâ¦â
He quickly jumped back and kept his distance.
After Jack showed off his strong and rough attack, he fixed his stance and smirked at Hyun-Soo, who dodged his attack.
It was like his expression was telling him that he was impressed.
A battle with an A rank.
He knew it wasnât going to be easy, but after actually battling him, he was worthy of being an A rank.
Just like the opponents he faced at the weaponry, his movements were slow, but not as slow as the previous opponents and it was probably because he was an A rank.
âItâs different from what I expected, but itâs too early for me to give up.â
If he was going to give up just because things didnât go his way, he wouldnât have started this battle in the first place.
âIâm actually pretty motivated.â
He already knew that it wasnât going to be easy.
But, he was prepared.
Since there was a bit of handicap, his fighting spirit was overflowing within him.
He wondered how effective his powers were on Jack.
Even though there was a difference in rank and skill, he wondered how effective it was.
Fighting spirit. And wanting to win.
Those helped Hyun-Soo concentrate better.
âInvisible Attack!â
Theyâve exchanged one attacks.
Click, clack!
Hyun-Soo distanced himself by running and released several attacks that were as big as a fist.
Clank! Claaank! Clank!
The sound of Jackâs fist blocking Hyun-Sooâs skill filled the room.
âYour skills arenât working on me. What are you going to do?â
Maybe itâs because he was an A rank.
Jack didnât realize it until Hyun-Soo used his attack.
However, he knew of Hyun-Sooâs skill right before it attacked him and Hyun-Soo didnât know how he knew. Jack was able to block it.
Thatâs why, he purposely released several attacks so that he wouldnât be able to block them, but Jack blocked them with ease and smiled.
This was a pretty tough situation.
It meant that none of Hyun-Sooâs attacks were working.
âI guess youâve reached your limit.â
Thatâs what he assumed Jackâs eyes were saying to him.
However, Hyun-Soo just smiled.
Jack raised his eyebrow.
Click, clack, click, clack!
Jack raised his fist and ran towards Hyun-Soo.
And then.
Swoosh!
It was as if he shortened the distance between them because his fist was right in front of Hyun-Sooâs nose.
ââ¦..!â
Hyun-Soo was surprised this time.
Despite of the slow movement, he moved so fast that Hyun-Soo missed it!
If this continues, heâll eventually get punched by Jackâs fist.
However, instead of dodging, he raised his fist.
âAttacking is the best way to block it!â
It was better to have the upper hand by attacking instead of running away in order to dodge the attack.
That was the method that Hyun-Soo thought of.
âYouâre going to go against me with your fist? Ha ha. Itâll take you more than 100 years!â
âIs that so?â
Jack looked down on Hyun-Soo as if he was watching a child perform cute tricks.
Since he knew that Hyun-Soo was a long-distance attacker, he probably thought Hyun-Soo was going to attack with his bare fist.
However.
Bam!
âAck!â
Jackâs body stumbled when Hyun-Sooâs fist hit his body. A small groan escaped his mouth as he gritted his teeth.
âIt worked!â
Hyun-Sooâs lips slightly went up.
He decided to give it a try after coming up with various assumptions.
That attack worked.
Of course it wasnât an attack where he just blindly kept on attacking him.
âSo the skill is effective up to his forearms.â
He made this assumption after seeing him block the attacks with just his arms. He couldâve dodged it or blocked it with other parts of his body, but he didnât.
And that assumption was right.
When he purposely attacked an area that wasnât near his forearm, the attack worked.
âWerenât youâ¦a long-distance attacker?â
âAre there rules that say that I can only do long-distance attacks?â
âHa ha. A weird one joined this time.â
Jack looked at the area that Hyun-Soo attacked.
It was already bruised.
âI was wondering why you were using your first, but I guess you didnât use your bare fist. I thought it was a desperate attempt, but this is prettyâ¦â
He used this same method before.
When a group of hunters attacked him and he when her performed an uppercut on them, he sent them flying into the roof of the training room.
He materialized the skill in the shape of a glove and enveloped it around his hand.
âOf course I wouldnât attack with just my bare fist.â
Since Jack belittled him and didnât dodge, it allowed Hyun-Soo to see that his attack worked.
Hyun-Soo knew that his attack was effective when he saw the surprising expression on Jackâs face.
Hyun-Soo wanted to show off his skills.
He purposely used his fist and through that attack, he damaged Jack.
âIâll make sure your opinion of me changes.â
That he wasnât some ordinary, boring hunter.
He wanted to show that to them.
There arenât that many people who are able to naturally switch from a long-distance attacker to a close-range attacker within the same battle.
It didnât matter whether he was a long-distance or a close-range attacker because he couldnât use a weapon anyways.
However, he used both methods so naturally that it seemed like he used it before.
It was obvious as to why he was surprised.
A smile appeared on Hyun-Sooâs face.
He was really proud about the fact that he shocked his opponent by using a method they werenât expecting.
Since it was a positive surprise and admiration, it was definitely going to change their original thoughts about him.
âAnd that will soon connect to me being acknowledged.â
He knew it would happen even if he didnât think too deeply about it.
A bigger smile appeared on his face when he was satisfied with the result. His desire to win was starting to be replaced by pride.
âThen I guess itâs my turn to attack you!â
Jack raised his fist as soon as he finished talking.
Hyun-Soo thought he was going to charge at him again so he moved back.
Even though he managed to hit him by closing the distance, he didnât have the skill to block the attack of an A rank hunter.
ââ¦..!â
However, even though he distanced himself, Jack was already close to him.
âHello.â
And then, he threw his large, iron-like fist towards Hyun-Soo.
Hyun-Soo quickly crossed his arms and blocked his fist.
He enveloped his arms with his skill and hoped it would block it.
Clank!
âGrr!â
When Hyun-Sooâs skill and Jackâs skill clashed, a spark appeared.
âDamn it! Heâs putting everything heâs got!â
Thump, thump!
It didnât seem like it was broken, but pain started filling his arms.
âThe pain feels like I got hurt in the stomach and the chest too.â
It seemed like Jackâs skill didnât just strengthen his arms.
The pain spread throughout his arms, chest and stomach.
âWow, you were able to endure my attack even though I put a lot of my strength into it? Are you really a C rank?â
Jack started shaking his fist and asked with a surprised look.
Hyun-Soo didnât really care because a thought suddenly popped into Hyun-Sooâs head and he was busy thinking about that.
âIt wouldâve been nice if I had a defensive skill.â
Hyun-Soo understood why he needed a defensive skill.
âI need a defensive skill that can envelop my entire body.â
He released the Invisible Attack that was on his arm and massaged them.
Like the name states, Invisible Attack was an offensive skill.
However, depending on how itâs used, there were unlimited possibilities.
But, enveloping it all over his body was still too tough for him to perform.
An unfortunate event can happen where he might not be able to attack at all because heâs too focused on defending himself.
âBut, if itâs possibleâ¦â
It could become really useful when heâs hunting a monster by himself.
âLetâs think about that later.â
Deciding on how to take down that hunter was the most important right now.
Hyun-Soo shook his painful arms and started focusing on Jack.