Edited By: Sebas Tian
âWhat are you going to do? Give up?â
âNo way.â
âYeah? Then I wonât hold back!â
His fist moved at a fast pace and was targeting Hyun-Sooâs chin.
It wasnât as fast as before where his fist appeared right in front of him in a blink of an eye.
It was fast, but it was slow enough for Hyun-Soo to dodge it.
Thanks to their attack being slower than before, Hyun-Soo managed to avoid getting hit and getting embarrassed.
âI canât fall to the ground first.â
The opponent has to be the first one to fall at least.
Hyun-Sooâs expression suddenly turned cold.
âA solution. Whatâs the most effective method?â
âI like that look!â
âThanks for the compliment, but take this!â
Hyun-Soo called out Invisible Attack and materialized it.
âA really thick hook!â
He created a thick hook on purpose so that it wouldnât disappear when it collides with Jackâs fist.
And he immediately threw it towards Jack.
âI told you, your long-distance attacks wonât work!â
Jack noticed Hyun-Sooâs attack and tried to block it with his fist right away.
However, Hyun-Soo didnât use the attack just to make it collide with Jackâs fist.
âHuh?â
âOkay!â
The thick hook was flying towards Jackâs wrist, not his stomach.
Clank!
Itâs probably because the hook was thick, but his skill hooked onto Jackâs wrist and pulled back.
âH-huh?â
Tap, tap, tap!
Boom!
He was suddenly pulled back, which caused him to lose his balance, but as he started flailing his arms, he regained his balance.
âThatâs not all!â
Hyun-Soo threw a skill he prepared while Jack was losing his balance.
The skill flew towards Jackâs ankle.
Jack managed to regain his balance but his mind was all over the place during that brief moment.
And during that time, he gave Hyun-Soo a chance.
âHook and pull!â
His upper body was pushed back while his lower body was pulled forward.
Hyun-Sooâs eyes looked at Jackâs body, which was falling back.
âHuh?!â
Boom!
He mightâve been able to regain his balance right away, but Hyun-Soo targeted that moment and succeeded in the attack that came after.
The sound of his heavy body hitting the floor filled the room.
âWoahâ¦he fell.â
A voice filled with a bit of confusion broke the silence.
It was Eugene, who was forced to be the referee.
âHis back didnât touch the floor, but should this be counted as oneâ¦?â
He didnât fall because Hyun-Soo used a reasonable skill.
It was more of a convenient skill.
But the monsters didnât exactly fight fair and square.
âUsing the chance that youâre given is a skill too.â
Jack also had a surprised look on his face, but he wasnât angry about the fact that he was attacked by an absurd skill.
A C rank hunter beat an A rank hunter.
If they were to fight using everything that they had, then Hyun-Soo would definitely lose.
But, that didnât apply here.
âHaâ¦ha ha. I really did it.â
He wanted to teach him a lesson, but realistically, his chances werenât very high.
âBut I did it.â
âThen, weâll count that as Hyun-Soo getting a point. Are you going to continue?â
âForget it. This is enough for me to confirm it.â
Jack extended his arm out towards Hyun-Soo.
âWhat are you doing? Pull him up.â
âOh, right.â
âIs it over?â
He thought he would have to keep fighting until the end, but it finished sooner than he expected.
âWasnât he trying to beat me up?â
But Jack said he wanted to stop here and didnât continue the fight.
The fist that put his arm in pain opened and grabbed Hyun-Sooâs hand.
Hyun-Soo pulled his hand and helped Jack stand up.
âYou were pretty good. They said Yoo-Na brought you here, but youâre not totally useless.â
Jack looked at Hyun-Soo and said it.
Jack was no longer looking down on Hyun-Soo.
âYou too.â
When Hyun-Soo responded, Jack smiled and returned to where he was standing earlier.
âI knew I had an eye for talent. Good job. Iâm sure you sweated quite a bit. Do you want me to tell you where the shower room is located? Thereâs a sauna too. Itâs pretty awesome.â
Hyun-Sooâs eyes lit up when Eugene mentioned sauna.
He felt an odd pain on his arms and upper body.
âI donât know what kind of skill it was, but the pain is still there.â
But if he sat in a tub of hot water and released some sweat, then the pain will most likely go away.
Hyun-Soo followed behind Eugene.
âWhat? Youâre ending it already?â
The other hunters that were watching asked in a startled tone.
âIâve checked his skills, so thereâs no need to continue.â
âBut, stillâ¦â
âItâs tiring.â
âYou ended it because you arenât in a good condition today, right? He was just lucky, right?â
âJeez, Iâm sure itâll put him in a bad mood since he can hear itâ¦â
Hyun-Soo didnât leave the room yet, but the others started talking amongst themselves.
âI was honestly going to beat him up real good at first, but heâs pretty promising. After checking, heâs pretty skilled, so thereâs no need to continue the fight. If he came here by completely relying on Yoo-Na, then I wouldâve beaten him up, but that wasnât it.â
âBut still, our planâ¦â
âHeâs not bad. No, something amazing will come out of him if heâs taken care of.â
âArenât you complimenting him too much? Youâre so optimistic. Well, if you think that way, then it must be true. But Iâm not sure if the others will think of him the way you think of him.â
Since Eugene didnât translate, Hyun-Soo couldnât understand the long sentences.
However, Hyun-Soo made an assumption through the few words that he was able to pick up.
âIt sounds like a compliment.â
It didnât seem all that bad.
âI guess I got acknowledged.â
This was his first step in adapting, which Hyun-Soo was expecting.
***
Invisible Attack.
It was a C rankâs developed skill.
Hyun-Soo hunted quite a lot of monsters through this.
âItâs an amazing skill.â
He was able to feely control its damage, range and use.
It was a well-rounded skill.
On top of that.
âI won a round against an A rank hunter.â
It was a surprise attack, but he made Jack fall on the ground first.
It wouldâve been great if his back landed on the ground, but making him fall on the floor was a pretty big improvement in his opinion.
âEven though it was a surprise attack, if I didnât have Invisible Attack, then I wouldnât have succeeded.â
He was pretty surprised by its power and use.
What would happen if it became an A or S rank?
He didnât know how it would develop.
Raising its rank was a pretty big achievement, but what would happen if it evolved again and that skill leveled up?
âI might end up having a really strong skill.â
Invisible Attack could be used in many different ways, so it couldnât be categorized as an offense skill.
Its use depended all on Hyun-Soo.
Depending on how he used it, the skill changed.
âI just donât know how to fulfill the requirement for developing the skill.â
Anyways, it was enough for now.
It wasnât that he didnât want a stronger skill.
It was obvious that he wanted a much stronger skill.
But the skill in its current state was more than enough for now.
***
âHyon-Sso! Hyo-Na!â
âOh. Hey.â
As soon as he entered the cafeteria, Katrina stood up and waved towards Hyun-Soo and Hyuna.
âI heard something fun happened while I wasnât around.â
âYeah.â
âHurry up and tell me.â
âYou already heard it from Eugene.â
âItâs different when hearing it from someone that actually experienced it!â
âItâs difficult to say it in English. Iâm tired. I donât want to.â
How was he supposed to explain all of it?
âIt might overwork my brain.â
Maybe itâs because he listened to English audios every day after arriving at the base.
He was able to somewhat understand in English, but he still had a hard time speaking.
If the sentences started getting long, then he would pick out words that he recognized.
Because of that, Hyun-Sooâs sentences were getting shorter and shorter.
âAs long as they understand.â
However, Hyuna was improving her English at a fast rate.
She was able to use high-quality vocabulary because of it.
Thanks to that, she became really good friends with Katrina.
âThatâs mean. Then I wonât tell you either.â
She was very cold towards him when they first met, but now she was treating him like he was her friend.
âThere are times when Iâm unable to understand since she starts sulking at odd partsâ¦â
It was very comforting for him to have someone that greeted him first when he was surrounded by people that treated him coldly.
âI guess theyâve heard the news seeing as how the atmosphere changed.â
After filling his plate with baked beans and sausage, I quietly glanced around.
Since it was past lunch time, there werenât that many people in the cafeteria.
The few that were there glanced over at him briefly and then turned their heads back.
âTheyâre not openly showing signs of disgust like they did the first time. Hmâ¦â
It was the same type of disgust one would give when someone desires something that doesnât belong to them.
The hunters had the same look on their faces and Hyun-Soo clearly remembered them.
âBut it decreased after the fight.â
After the fight, there were rumors that Hyun-Soo successfully passed the test.
Katrina was the one that started it.
She started speaking English really fast and Hyuna tried her best to translate it.
Thatâs when it happened.
Their eyes towards Hyun-Soo softened.
âTheyâre still pretty unfriendly towards me thoughâ¦â
Maybe itâs because he proved his skill.
The other hunterâs unfriendliness wasnât as intense or violent as he thought.
But they chose to ignore him.
Even though their unfriendliness died down after the fight, it didnât mean they started being friendly towards him.
âOf course there are exceptions.â
Eugene and Katrina were the exceptions.
Brad and Jack tend to greet Hyun-Soo when he greeted them first.
But others ignored him.
They purposely did that, so he knew they were still being unfriendly towards him.
Right when he placed a crispy piece of bacon on his plate and turned around.
Gasp!
Their eyes met again.
The way they turned their heads was noticeable.
âJeez, this isâ¦â
A bitter smile appeared on Hyun-Sooâs face.
But he acted like he didnât see them and after turning his head, he walked back to his seat.
âHyun-Soo, you brought the same type of food again? You have to eat vegetables too.â
âHow can I use my strength just from eating pieces of grass? Go easy on me.â
âI told you that tasty foods arenât good for your body. I thought you said you had to take care of your body!â
After saying that, Hyuna grabbed the salad that was on her plate and placed it on Hyun-Sooâs.
Hyun-Soo quietly ate the vegetables that his worrying sister gave him.
âHey, Katrina. What was the thing you wanted say earlier?â
âIâm not telling.â
âJeez. Donât be like thatâ¦â
âTheyâre so similar.â
Even though Hyuna was younger, their mental age seemed similar.
After Hyuna asked a couple of times, Katrina gave up and started talking.
âSince Yoo-Na is back, weâre going to officially go on a hunt. While she was in Korea, we only took care of requests, so we decided to go on one.â
âIâm the one that made that request.â
Eugene raised his hand.
âAnd one more thing. I recommended that you be included.â
âMe?â