𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐘

Chapter Eight

“Ju-hee unnie, heal…” Jeongyeon mumbled, which snapped Ju-hee from her momentary stupor. “Unnie, hurry up and heal him!” she shouted.

Ju-hee nodded hastily. “R-right!” she said as she rushed towards Sang-shik and used her healing magic on him.

Sang-shik started to choke and cough on his own blood. “No… you… can’t… save me anyways… you can stop… I… lost… too much blood.” He told Ju-hee, holding her hand as to stop her from using her magic.

“You have to live.” Jeongyeon said, “You said you had to live for your family! You have to… live no matter what…” she gritted her teeth in anger. “So that… I can hate you…”

“I’m sorry… I really am.” Sang-shik told her, “I… didn’t want to apologize like this. I wanted to apologize with my head down… If I… put my head down now… I’d… die…” Sang-shik started to cough more on his blood as more of it dripped even more from his mouth. “Miss Sung… I’m sorry. Really sorry…” were the last words he said before his head then hung down.

Kim Sang-shik is now dead.

Jeongyeon who was in disbelief just stood there in silence before speaking, “why did you do that to Mr. Kim Sang-shik?” she questioned Tae-shik.

“Dunno.” Tae-shik shrugs, “could’ve been monsters. One day a gate opened and monsters overran the hunters. It’s like a natural catastrophe. I thought of a good story just now, it used to be a massacre story with the goblins, but I guess I should change it up a little.” He stretched his arms as Jeongyeon glared at him in fury, “the criminals broke free and tried to escape. After killing all of you, they tried to attack me, who was busy fighting the boss. But it was too much for them to kill the B-rank hunter, Kang Tae-shik, and therefore I was the only one who survived the raid.” He pointed his dagger at the three.

“How about it?” Tae-shik asked, “the people outside would believe the story, right?”

“You piece of shit…” Jeongyeon was about to step in and end Tae-shik but Chi-yeol had clasped her shoulder to stop her.

“No.” Chi-yeol spoke, “he’s not someone you can beat. I will do it.” He announced as he walks over to Sang-shik’s corpse and grabbed his sword. “Mr. Kim, I will be borrowing this for a while.” He walks up to Tae-shik, “it’s been a while since I raised a sword against a human… Miss Ju-hee, can you give me a physical strength buff?”

“H-huh?” Ju-hee immediately casted a spell on Chi-yeol, “of course!” she exclaims.
Tae-shik smugly smirked. “What’s a magician like you doing?” he asked.

“Physical strength buffs on a magician is pretty useless, but…” Chi-yeol answered, “for now, I’m a swordsman.”

Tae-shik immediately jumped in, surprising Chi-yeol who managed to block the attack in time with his sword. “It’s normal for a magician to be in a disadvantage against an assassin.” He told him, “it might’ve been a good idea to bring out a weapon, but in the end, you’re just a magician. If your physical level couldn’t even reach D-rank, would holding a weapon even make a difference?”

Jeongyeon was suddenly surprised when Chi-yeol had slashed Tae-shik who had just avoided the attack in a nick of time. “It certainly does.” Chi-yeol answered to Tae-shik.

“Your movements are good!” Tae-shik commented in an impressed manner, “although you were buffed, I feel a lot of practice in those movements.”

It was only for a moment but he caught up with him. Jeongyeon thinks as she watched the fight in front of them. Chi-yeol continued to swing the sword with expert swordsmanship and precision but Tae-shik continued to avoid it by weaving through and from the attacks.

“Fast and precise—pretty cool! It really was a good idea to abandon magic to hold a weapon.” Tae-shik said, “but that’s just it. If you think a little, you might realize why there aren’t any magical swordsman under in the masses of hunters.” He then scowled at Ju-hee before dashing towards her. “I’ll eliminate you as fast as I can.”

“How dare you show your back to a swordsman.” Chi-yeol was right behind Tae-shik as he slashes down, “You look down on me too much.”

However, Tae-shik had immediately turned around and blocked the attack. “Looks like you’re not just a regular old man.” He said in annoyance.

“I may not look like it but I have an S-rank student.” Chi-yeol said, “even if my body, my skills will.” Sadly, his attack didn’t hit Tae-shik.

“Unfortunately, there’s always a limit to one’s given strength.” Tae-shik suddenly appeared Chi-yeol which surprised the older man. “Did you honestly think that a magician, can follow an assassin’s speed?” he asked as Chi-yeol managed to block his attack in time, “such naivety.”

━━━

“Thank you for your patronage.” (Y/n) smiled at a female hunter, bowing in front of her. “We hope to see you again sometime.” He waved at her in goodbye as the female hunter went back to her fellow female hunters who started giggling with one another.

“So,” Heesung poke his head from (Y/n)’s broad shoulders. “How many does that make?” he asked Taeseo from behind.

“That would be the 109th female hunter who had obviously have a crush on (Y/n) now.” Taeseo answered as (Y/N) sighed exasperatedly.

“Knock it off, you two.” (Y/n) tells them as he loosened his tie, “I’m not interested in any of them.”

“Right,” Taeseo wiggled his eyebrows teasingly at them. “Your heart already belonged to that childhood friend you keep talking so much about.”

“And I’ll keep on talking about her because she deserves everything.” (Y/n) replied nonchalantly.

“I knew you were in love but I didn’t know you would be this in love.” Heesung noted. “At this point, it might be dangerous for you to be this in love with that hunter girl.”

“I don’t care as long as I get to tell her that I’m in love with her then.” (Y/n) shrugs.

━━━

“Die.” Tae-shik announced as he raised his dagger and was about to kill Chi-yeol when another dagger had blocked it which surprised him as Jeongyeon had now appeared in front of Tae-shik like an assassin.

“You again,” Tae-shik gritted his teeth furiously, “who are you? What’s your rank?” he demanded.

“Sung Jeongyeon,” Jeongyeon twirled her dagger with expertise and grace as she faces Tae-shik head o, “an E-rank hunter.” She stated with pure confidence.