Ready (1)
“Yes.”
I don’t tend to talk about the past first, but there’s no reason to hide it, so Kang Hu answered honestly.
“How was it?”
“How it was, everything is good when you’re dating.”
Memories with Han Seo-yeon came to mind.
Looking back on the life of ‘Xin Ganghu’, it was a happy time before awakening as a hunter.
As Han Seo-yeon became a hunter, little by little problems began to arise in the relationship between the two.
Conflicts became frequent as the world we live in changed and consensus began to diverge.
At some point, Kang Hu came to the conclusion that breaking up was right for Han Seo-yeon.
If she wants to further develop her skills as a hunter, and if she wants to find someone to lead her… … .
He was convinced that his non-hunter existence would be a burden.
Kang Hu unilaterally said goodbye and intentionally did not receive any contact from Han Seo-yeon.
Because you don’t like her? It wasn’t.
It may be a ridiculous reason, but it was for her. I still do not regret that choice.
‘After we parted so bitterly, I found you as soon as I came out of the Qingmyeong camp. I have a thick face too.’
Kang Hu smiled bitterly.
On the one hand, I was grateful to Han Seo-yeon for worrying about me while burying the sadness of the past.
I hoped that she could further develop her dream in the purification guild.
In addition, he hoped that he would never face her as an enemy in the future. I don’t want tragedy.
After thinking about it, Kang Hu asked Ban Se-young back.
“you?”
“Me? There was someone I was dating.”
“Did you break up?”
“It’s true that we broke up, but… … . If you say bereavement, is it the right word? It happened.”
“hmm.”
Bereavement is more common than you think in hunter couples, or if one of them is a hunter.
The death rate of hunters is dozens of times higher than that of non-hunters, that is, ordinary people.
There were not many deaths in dungeons, and there were frequent cases of being killed for being entangled in interests.
The death rate was much higher in the suburbs of the metropolitan area, where security was not good.
As a result, the story of Ban Se-young’s bereavement was not new.
“I was assaulted. To those Eclipses.”
“Eclipse… … . Bad luck.”
“that’s right. We both really hate Eclipse, though for different reasons than Sehyuk.”
“Did you find the culprit?”
“yes. I barely found some of my boyfriend’s belongings. The dungeon was reset without even recovering the corpse.”
“It must have been very difficult.”
“Well, I’m going to ask my heart for the rest of my life. There’s something I swore at my boyfriend’s charnel house.”
“what?”
“I said that if I could smile at the picture of my boyfriend in the charnel house, then I would meet someone new.”
“That’s a good promise. Your boyfriend will also want you to not be stuck in the past for the rest of your life.”
“Iknow, right. But I still shed tears every time I go. It must have been a little far for me to laugh.”
Ban Se-young blushed.
I thought he didn’t have a difficult story because he always showed a lively and lively image.
On the contrary, I felt sorry for him because he seemed to have experienced deep pain at a much younger age than himself.
Ban Se-yeong awkwardly scratched the back of her head and asked if it was embarrassing to be so immersed in emotions.
“So oppa, are you not seeing anyone right now?”
“I don’t want to meet you. Because I think the person I love is bound to be that much dangerous.”
“why?”
“That’s no comment.”
Because I didn’t want to tell Ban Se-young about the way I wanted to go and the way I had to go in the future.
Ganghu finished the story by pretending to zip up his mouth.
Love is a word that makes my heart flutter and makes me feel good whenever I hear it… … . Kang Hu thought it was a luxury to himself.
I thought it was right not to love, even for myself and for the sake of the person who would be by my side.
A huge vortex of fate that will be caught up in the future. Because there is no room to pursue love in it.
* * *
that afternoon.
After attacking Hell of Judgment from Jeon Se-hyeok, Kang-hu decided to meet again and go through the dungeon handover process.
I decided on a place I liked, but it was because the ownership transfer process was more complicated than I thought.
The dungeon wasn’t even urgent right now, so it was enough just to make an appointment like that.
Then, after exchanging contact information with Park Dong-jae, he came up to Seoul early.
This is because the attack schedule for Hell of Judgment has been announced. It was 6pm the next day.
As planned, Ganghu was assigned to the search team, so it started later than the main unit.
The main unit said they would enter the dungeon at 3:00 PM the next day. That’s a 3 hour gap.
The reason why the main unit entered first was simple, because it moved only along the safe route that had already been explored. So there was no need for a search party going to the unidentified area to go in first.
Inside the L Hotel in Myeong-dong, overlooking the city of Seoul.
Ganghu was taking a break there.
The unit price for a night’s stay was unimaginably expensive, but it was perfect for a quiet stay.
“Two in one. Partner Hyoyoung Jin. I have no idea who he is.”
Before joining tomorrow, Kanghu checked the data handed over.
The search team was a two-person team.
The reason for forming a team while conducting individual actions is that cross-validation of internal search information is necessary.
The purification guild is not stupid.
Sending only one person to unknown territory, there is absolutely no way to trust the information.
So, with the role of monitoring each other, we organized a group of two like this. All search teams were the same.
Hyoyoung Jin.
Looking at the attached photo, it was an impressive woman with blue-black hair and a pink headband.
no affiliation. If so, it’s a mercenary, but I couldn’t guess where he came from.
“You’ll know when we meet.”
It’s not unusual to meet someone you don’t know. Rather, it’s strange to meet someone you know.
Gulp- Gulp-.
Ganghu looked out the window and drank the canned coffee he had bought before entering the hotel.
It’s a canned coffee that disappears after a few sips, but Kanghu liked the unique aftertaste.
Does it seem like they are stimulating and teasing the tongue at the ambiguous boundary between sweet and bitter?
“I have to go to Japan.”
It seemed like it was time to use Ahn Young-ho’s chance.
This time, as I was with the seeker of pure darkness, it was a thought because I had dark stats.
In order to utilize the Dark Age, you must use a skill based on the Dark Age. In other words, you have to steal those skills.
However, among domestic bosses, the number of bosses with skills related to the Dark Age was small.
Even if there is, the value of use in battle has declined. It was also pretty bad in terms of efficiency.
It’s not for nothing that hunters become more international as they rise to the top.
This is because there is a ‘deficiency’ of resources that can never be filled by activities limited to Korea.
That’s why Casey Rex, the master of the American Fortuna Guild, also had a relationship with the Purification Guild.
This is because, by their standards, there are quite a few compensation elements that can only be obtained in Korea.
at that time.
A call came in.
Now, there are quite a few people who have shared the number, so it is impossible to know who it is just by the fact that the call came.
Looking at the caller, it was Lee Ye-rin.
“yes.”
– Mr. Seongyu. I’m doing great?
“What kind of request is it?”
– no way! It started with a greeting, but you should do a reaction. Are you so embarrassed about this?
“how are you.”
– It’s like a machine.
“It’s something you hear a lot.”
Silly words came and went, but Lee Ye-rin giggled, wondering if Kang-hu’s characterization was fun.
Perhaps because there were many fluent male mercenaries around, Kang Hu felt more special.
– A request came in. It’s not a mercenary designation quest, but it’s a job designation quest.
From noble mtl dot com
“You mean an assassin?”
– yes. This is a request related to a pharmaceutical company. Can you guess? Although I can’t tell you the target in advance.
“Let’s just listen to the composition.”
– This is a request to set fire to a laboratory where a pharmaceutical company’s secret human experiment is being conducted.
“It sounds like there is such an overcoat that we want to prevent inhuman and unethical experiments.”
– Ho Ho. that’s right. If you take off the packaging, it’s just a check against competitors.
I thought I had a bite.
It is the beginning of a competition between pharmaceutical companies called the ‘white war’ in the original work.
A war over the distribution and supply rights of white powder, that is, narcotic stimulants.
Hence the name White War.
Unlike the Americas and Europe, where order reorganization is almost over, centering on large-scale pharmaceutical companies.
In Asia, many pharmaceutical companies were scattered.
Besides, each pharmaceutical company had different beliefs, and there were some that said they would not touch drugs.
On the contrary, there were many places where you could research and develop more than just drugs if you had money.
As a result, many researchers within existing pharmaceutical companies are getting out of head hunting.
Or, there were many cases where the entire pharmaceutical company was acquired by huge capital, and the direction changed.
A time of chaos.
The embers of the white war seemed to have been ignited by the last electric pharmaceutical incident.
“I put it on hold for now.”
– yes?
“I have some personal schedules. I’ll get back to you once I’ve dealt with this.”
– Shall we turn the other way?
“I think similar requests will continue to come in in the future anyway. You do.”
– all right. Then, please contact me as soon as work is over. I have high expectations for Mr. Sunkyu.
“I look forward to it too.”
– hmm?
Ganghu hung up the phone with words that left a strange aftertaste.
The White War is actually a war between mercenaries and mercenaries. It is also a proxy war on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.
Therefore, there was a high possibility that not only domestic mercenaries, but also large numbers of mercenaries from overseas would be deployed.
And if they are looking for cheap mercenaries, they will open their hands to China or Russia.
‘That guy or that guy.’
It doesn’t matter which country the mercenary is, it’s the same.
However, as there is no answer to human-caused tactics, I hoped that foreign mercenaries would come in moderation.
Of course, such a wish would only be a dream.
Reality is always much more gutter than you think, and it flows dirty. It has nothing to do with the white war.
* * *
2:30 p.m. the next day.
Ganghu arrived at the rendezvous point much earlier than the search team’s entry time of 6:00.
He had chosen a nearby cafe and entered.
The entrance to Hell of Judgment is located on the side of the Paju Publishing Complex.
The site was already full of reporters and fans who came to support Jeonghwa Guild.
More than 10,000 according to the Hunter Police Agency’s estimate.
It also selectively checked only the number of people on the main road, and in reality there were several times more.
Even the security officers of the National Security Agency were not enough, and the appearance of the scene where even soldiers were mobilized and controlled was truly spectacular.
‘It’s a new feeling.’
It wasn’t because of today’s attack that Ganghu was deep in thought while looking at the Paju publishing complex.
It is because this is the place where Xin Kang-hu loses his left arm to Zhang Si-hwan in the original work.
The fatal blow suffered here and the loss of his left arm eventually caught Xin Jianghu’s ankle, and there was no turning back.
Because he was portrayed as a villain with a lot of faith and a lot of stories, many readers were sad when he died from Jang Si-hwan.
‘No rebroadcast.’
Of course, that will never happen now. No, you have to make it that way.
Right then.
The smell of perfume that strongly stimulated the tip of Ganghu’s nose came in with the sound of the door of the cafe that had just opened.
Instead of drifting away, the thick scent quickly drew closer to Kang-hu.
So, just in case, when I turned around, there was a female hunter who I was supposed to meet as a search team partner.
“Jeong Seon-gyu?”
“yes. you’re right.”
“hello? I am Jin Hyo-young.”
An ordinary and natural greeting that is likely to be exchanged for the first time. However, Kang Hu felt a strange sense of deja vu from her.