Chapter 12
“Ugh...”
Inside the Tyrant’s Cave, a man opened his eyes.
“What... happened...?”
The sharp smell of blood stung his nose.
A burning pain throbbed in the back of his head.
Sensing that something was wrong, the man tried to sit up.
“Ugh!”
His body wouldn’t move properly.
Only then did he realize his hands and legs were tied with rope.
The rope was firmly connected to a heavy rock in the corner.
“W-What the hell is this?”
The man looked around.
It was a cave.
But not an ordinary one.
Clothes were scattered across the ground.
Bloodstains covered the areas around them.
Human bones were visible between them.
“Aaaagh!”
The man jolted in horror.
The sight sent chills across his entire body.
“W-Where is this?! Why am I here?!”
He tried to calmly retrace his memories.
“I was definitely party hunting...”
Then suddenly he had woken up here.
Had a monster attacked him from behind?
“If that happened, I wouldn’t be tied up like this.”
The man remembered the three people he had been hunting with.
They had clearly done this.
“Why...?”
He had no idea.
He couldn’t even guess at the reason.
His equipment wasn’t especially valuable.
The only thing he could tell was that this situation probably wouldn’t end well.
A terrible feeling told him he was going to die here.
“Haa... I should’ve never become a Hunter...”
If only he had never awakened.
No.
If only he hadn’t seen that man in the Grassland Field back then.
If only that sight hadn’t made his heart race.
He would still be hunting casually with his friends in the Grassland, chasing romance and laughing together.
“That bastard... Why did he have to appear right in front of me...?”
The man, Baek Je-jung, felt his eyes grow hot.
Tears the size of beans rolled down his cheeks.
“Dad... Mom...”
His father, a Hunter himself, had strongly opposed Je-jung becoming one.
He had said Je-jung had no business becoming a Hunter with abilities like his.
Out of frustration, Je-jung had said he wasn’t seriously planning to do it anyway.
Then he changed his mind.
And now it had led to this.
“I should’ve at least called them before coming...”
At that moment...
-Just wait here! I’ll go check it out first!
A voice came from beyond the cave entrance.
“A-A person?”
Baek Je-jung hurriedly shouted.
“Over here! Please help!”
A figure soon entered the cave.
Because the sunlight was behind him, Je-jung couldn’t make out the face clearly.
His expression brightened.
He shouted even louder.
“Over here! I’m farther inside!”
Still lying on the ground and barely lifting his head, Je-jung felt hope rising.
Then a shadow fell across his face.
And that hope turned into despair.
A familiar face.
Kim Seok-dae.
The leader of the party he had been hunting with.
“When did you wake up?”
“W-Why are you doing this to me?! What do you want?!”
Thud!
Kim Seok-dae kicked Baek Je-jung and snapped irritably.
“Can’t you keep quiet? We’ve got another guest outside. If you make noise and scare him away, are you going to take responsibility?”
“Ugh...”
“Tch. Don’t resent us too much. It’s your own fault for being careless.”
Kim Seok-dae drew his dagger.
Even while trembling from the pain, Baek Je-jung forced out a shout.
“Run! These bastards are criminals!!”
Judging from Kim Seok-dae’s words, someone else was outside.
That person would clearly end up in the same situation.
Je-jung shouted because he wanted to save at least one person.
“I know.”
“!”
Kim Seok-dae spun around.
At some point, Hyeon-jun had appeared right behind him.
W-When did he get there...?
Kim Seok-dae hadn’t sensed even the slightest presence.
But that wasn’t the important part.
“You idiots! What the hell are you doing outside?!”
The warrior and archer rushed into the cave.
For some reason, an arrow was lodged in the warrior’s shoulder.
“T-That bastard is freaking fast!”
“What?”
The archer shouted too.
“H-He dodged an arrow from right in front of me!”
“What kind of bullshit is that?!”
An F-rank dodging an arrow?
It sounded ridiculous.
“Wow. So this is basically your workplace, huh?”
Kim Seok-dae looked at Hyeon-jun.
Hyeon-jun casually examined the cave.
Then he smiled leisurely.
“How many people have you killed here?”
Traces of death filled the cave.
Even if some victims had been killed by the Tyrant, there were simply too many remains.
This had to be the result of Rune Killing.
“...Puhahahahaha!”
Kim Seok-dae stared at Hyeon-jun for a moment.
Then burst out laughing.
“I thought you were some clueless bastard, but you knew everything?”
“I happen to know a lot. Especially about this industry.”
“And someone like that came all the way in here? You don’t understand the situation you’re in, do you?”
“To you, do I look like some cow or pig that walked into a slaughterhouse on its own?”
“Kahahaha! This bastard is funny. If you understand that much, why are you still acting tough?”
Maybe because of Kim Seok-dae’s confidence, the warrior’s previously stiff expression became smug.
“You might be stronger than us, but you can’t beat him.”
“Hehehe.”
Kim Seok-dae chuckled lowly.
He had absorbed more than three hundred Runes.
Even better, the three Stats most closely linked to his awakened Trait, Strength, Agility, and Vitality, had all been maxed.
No matter how fast or strong his opponent was, Kim Seok-dae was confident he could beat any Hunter of the same rank.
“Guard the back. Don’t let him escape.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let him get past me twice.”
The warrior raised his sword.
The archer also placed an arrow on the string, her expression much calmer now.
“...”
Silence filled the cave.
Nobody moved first.
The air felt like the calm before a storm that could explode at any second.
Baek Je-jung watched everything with a pale face.
It’s... over...
Three against one.
There was no chance.
The result was obvious.
That man would be brutally killed by the sharp dagger in Kim Seok-dae’s hand.
And then Je-jung would be next.
I even screamed at him not to come. Why did he still...
Had he not heard?
Should Je-jung have shouted louder?
If he had, maybe he could have saved one person.
