Chapter 42

▶ Chapter 42. A Certain Hypothesis (3)

I heard his private life is filthy, and his personality is so rotten that calling it terrible isn’t enough.

Thanks to the Brazilian Hunter Association desperately covering things up, ordinary people knew him as a hero.

But the hunter world was full of rumors about him.

He had become a hunter at fifteen.

Now he was twenty-two.

Apparently, he’s completely obsessed with women.

Among damage dealers, he acted like nobody else mattered because he was the world’s best.

And that was not all.

He was extremely wary of damage dealers strong enough to threaten him, especially swordsmen of the same class.

He did not stop at being wary.

He harassed them.

“I’m helping them improve their skills!”

That was what he arrogantly claimed while challenging them to duels.

If they refused, he called them cowards.

If they got angry and accepted, he attacked them brutally enough to leave them seriously injured.

I heard he killed a few people too.

I had read rumors like that on HunterNet.

That part was uncertain.

What was certain was that he was extremely wary of Hunter Han Junggeun.

Han Junggeun was SS-rank, but talented enough to be compared to SSS-rank hunters.

He received stat bonuses from Excalibur and its scabbards.

He trained diligently.

And with help from his SS-rank older brother Han Yonghwan and younger brother Han Dongju, he leveled up quickly.

Apparently, everyone thought Han Junggeun would eventually surpass Heide.

Whenever Han Junggeun was mentioned, Heide became irritated.

But he did not openly challenge him to a duel.

That was because Han Junggeun’s younger brother was Han Dongju, the world’s best item crafter.

Then two years ago,

Han Junggeun brilliantly cleared a Rank 8 gate in America and received a lot of attention.

Unable to endure his jealousy, Heide publicly challenged him to a duel.

Everyone thought Han Junggeun would refuse because of the difference in rank and level.

Unexpectedly, Han Junggeun accepted.

The duel itself and its details were never released.

Wish Guild only made one official announcement.

Han Junggeun had lost.

Afterward, Heide bragged constantly about being superior, so Korean users on HunterNet cursed him every day.

Anyway.

“Yes. The duel has already been agreed upon. So, what happened is....”

“Dongju, wait. HunterAnham, I’m sorry, but because of time, I think we should finish this gate first. Would you like to hear the rest during the meal?”

Han Yonghwan spoke.

I nodded.

Now it was my turn to level up.

I quickly eliminated the remaining forty-six monsters.

[Notification: Mission complete.

This Permanent Gate will close in 10 seconds. At that time, everyone inside will return to the original world.]

[Mission contribution results are as follows.

1st. HunterAnham, approximately 56 percent

Reward: 7 Random Draw Boxes, Rank 7, 5 Inventory Slots

2nd. Han Junggeun, approximately 40 percent

Reward: 3 Random Draw Boxes, Rank 7, 3 Inventory Slots

3rd. Han Yonghwan, approximately 3 percent

Reward: 1 Random Draw Box, Rank 7, 1 Inventory Slot

4th. Han Dongju, approximately 1 percent

Reward: 1 Random Draw Box, Rank 7]

[Rewards will automatically be placed inside your inventory.]

We headed to a nearby famous beef rib restaurant.

Once again, Han Yonghwan had rented the entire place.

While Han Yonghwan opened his laptop and organized information about our gate clear, Han Junggeun diligently began grilling the beef ribs.

Han Dongju asked seriously,

“How much do you know about that Heide bastard and Second Brother?”

I told him what I had read on HunterNet and heard at my previous job.

“Most of that is true. It’s also true that Second Brother lost the duel. But there’s more to the story.”

“More?”

“Second Brother accepted the duel because someone requested that he do it.”

“A request? From whom?”

“Raimund Wiegmann.”

“The German SSS-rank hunter? The one with the Sealing skill?”

“Yes. He’s also the President of the World Hunter Association, and he values justice more than anything.”

Come to think of it,

I remembered hearing that the President of the World Hunter Association was famous for having an almost excessive sense of justice.

“Wiegmann believed there was a very high possibility that Heide would become a villain hunter. When he heard Heide had challenged Second Brother, he asked Second Brother to accept. He wanted him to carefully observe exactly what kind of hunter Heide was.”

“So that’s why he accepted the duel.”

“Yes. Wiegmann may worship justice a little too much, but he has reasons for that....”

Han Dongju frowned slightly.

“And he is the President of the World Hunter Association, and he possesses a Sealing skill. It’s best to accept his requests when possible. That’s why Second Brother dueled Heide.”

“Hmm. You went through a lot.”

Han Junggeun placed several perfectly grilled beef ribs in front of me and answered,

“No. I had never fought a swordsman stronger than myself before. It was a valuable experience.”

“Did Heide fight dirty during the duel?”

“Only a little.”

“Trying to cut off Second Brother’s head after he lost consciousness is not ‘only a little’!”

“He tried to do what?!”

“Yes. That bastard fully intended to kill Second Brother. We were there, but if David hadn’t stepped in, it would’ve been fairly difficult to stop him.”

“David?”

“David Stefano. The American SSS-rank tank. Former World Rank 1.”

“Ah.”

“He’s obsessed with duels. Whenever high-rank hunters duel, he always comes to watch. Thanks to him, major accidents usually don’t happen.”

There seemed to be a lot of obsessed people in the hunter world.

Anyway.

“Heide really is a serious problem.”

I chewed my beef harder than usual.

“Then why did you accept another duel? Did the hunter with the Sealing skill request it again?”

“Yes. Heide recently reached Level 30. That means he gained a new skill. Wiegmann asked us to find out what that skill is and whether Heide has completely become a villain.”

“And you accepted the duel?”

“Yes. This time, I’m confident.”

Han Junggeun smiled, which was unusual for him, while continuing to place beef ribs in front of me.

“Thanks to HunterAnham, both my stats and level have risen significantly. I also gained a new skill at Level 30.”

“Still, I think you need special training.”

“Yes. I am training.”

“That isn’t what I meant....”

“Yes?”

“Hmm, never mind. When is the duel?”

“One week from now.”

“That’s the day before the refinement finishes.”

Makdoongi.

The device that could locate their youngest sibling.

One month had passed since Han Dongju started refining the most important material for it, a Rank 9 Boss Mana Stone.

I remembered Han Dongju excitedly saying that the refinement would finally be completed that day.

“Yes. Second Brother will win the duel in a good mood, then the next day we’ll find our youngest sibling. It’ll be two happy days in a row!”

Han Dongju spoke excitedly.

Han Junggeun, who was grilling the beef, smiled softly.

Even Han Yonghwan, who had been quietly working on his laptop, smiled faintly.

I smiled too and thought,

Should I give him special training...?

I could not tolerate my disciple losing again.

Especially not to such a despicable bastard.

First, I should find information about that Heide bastard.

After drinking my potion, iced Americano, we headed to our next gate in Cheonan.

From now on, we had decided to raise my level to 15, so I killed the normal monsters.

If I did it alone, it would be over in five minutes.

But because the three brothers also participated a little for the rewards, it took around twenty minutes.

[Mission contribution results are as follows.

1st. HunterAnham, approximately 91 percent

Reward: 1 Random Draw Box, Rank 8, 7 Inventory Slots

2nd. Han Junggeun, approximately 4 percent

Reward: 2 Random Draw Boxes, Rank 7, 2 Inventory Slots

3rd. Han Yonghwan, approximately 4 percent

Reward: 2 Random Draw Boxes, Rank 7, 2 Inventory Slots

4th. Han Dongju, approximately 1 percent

Reward: 1 Random Draw Box, Rank 7]

[Rewards will automatically be placed inside your inventory.]

“Rank 8 boxes keep appearing! And the rewards are good too!”

Han Dongju was extremely happy.

Han Yonghwan and Han Junggeun were happy as well.

Next, we returned to Seoul and cleared the Rank 7 Permanent Gate on Gwanaksan Mountain.

We munched on snacks, then finally stopped in Paju.

After completing the Rank 7 Permanent Gate there,

“My total experience is 140,430 points. I’m Level 12.”

I still needed another three levels to reach Level 15.

And we had already cleared every Rank 7 Permanent Gate in Korea.

They would take thirty-five days to respawn.

Because of this, before we started, Han Yonghwan had considered whether we should visit Rank 6 or lower gates afterward.

In the end, we decided not to.

The experience they gave was too low, so traveling all over the country would be inefficient.

And we need to consider the other guilds too.

Basically, hunters made a living by clearing gates and selling monster materials and mana stones.

If I cleared everything myself, other hunters would suffer financially and lose leveling opportunities.

I can’t cause harm to others.

As a former hero, I did not like that.

Hunters in Korea may already be unhappy with me.

After all, we had cleared every Rank 7 Permanent Gate in Korea in just two days.

Three of the ten are managed by Wish Guild, so those are fine.

But the other seven belonged to different guilds.

That was why Han Yonghwan had negotiated with each guild on my behalf and obtained permission to clear them.

The negotiations could have taken a long time.

Han Yonghwan had explained,

“Those guilds lose both financially and in terms of leveling opportunities. It is understandable that they would object. Of course, they probably would not dare openly complain to HunterAnham.”