There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

It was a very successful day.

Today, No Name swiftly took care of the gate they discovered and even helped other guilds.

One of the guilds they helped was A-rank guild Kaleidoscope.

Even if the guild is an A-rank guild, it is inevitable that they will struggle with an A-rank monster.
However, as soon as they were strengthened by Shin Jiho’s [Blessing of the Star] skill, those struggling hunters flew around the scene and easily cut the monsters down.

And this whole thing had been recorded by hunter reporters and was showing on the news right now.

Hunters that were obviously struggling with the monstrous A-rank monsters.
But as soon as they receive the skill from Shin Jiho, the monsters that once seemed like iron fortresses are chopped down in an instant.

The scenes that were censored for their violence were very satisfying for the people who had suffered under the monsters.

The people who instantly became much stronger than before were amazed.

Thanks to that, the news that had always ridiculed Shin Jiho before, was not just moderate but very supportive of him.
Even the edits were done to make Shin Jiho’s abilities stand out more.

Although Jiho didn’t check personally, Heo Sori said that the reactions on online communities and MeTube were extremely positive too, and that there wasn’t a hint of doubt.

Jiho was very satisfied with today’s results.

Though he did overwork himself…

[Blessing of the Star] is EX-rank, [Absorption of the Celestial Sphere] is SSS-rank.
Both skills are much much higher in rank than Jiho.

Was this the price of using skills beyond his power?

As a result of this, Jiho’s entire body hurt, and he had no energy as if he was sick.
Jiho couldn’t think of washing up or changing his clothes, so he just spread himself out on his sofa.

Still, considering today’s results, he’ll have to continue to endure this much fatigue.
After all, the results were so good.

Of course, he needs to improve.

He could feel that he overused his skill to show off today.
Outside of dungeons, in situations where there’s more hunters than monsters like in this gate defense, Jiho thinks it’ll probably be okay to distribute less mana to each person.

‘I should do something about my stamina too.’

Whenever a skill is used, it uses up just a bit of his HP, but because his base HP is already low to begin with, his stamina is quickly depleted.
In fact, Jiho’s stat almost fell to the single digits today.

Today, he recovered his stat with a potion.
But during his tests this past week, he found that once his HP falls, the fatigue stacks up, even if he recovers his stat with a potion.
In the end, all he can do to recover is rest.

“I should wash up and go to sleep.”

Even though he wanted to stay up and enjoy this feeling of elation a bit more, resting was work too.

Just when he was about to force his heavy body up, his phone rang.
It was a call from his friend, Son Kyung Hyun.

Jiho picked up the phone with a smile.

“Kyung Hyun.”

– “Good job today.”

Jiho’s face turned red at Kyung Hyun’s sudden words of praise.
He was the first to congratulate Jiho besides his family.

“Thanks.”

– “Is your body okay?”

“Yeah, it’s all good.
I’m a little tired though, so I was going to rest now.”

– “You must be tired.
Should I not have called?”

“No, thanks for congratulating me… You were probably very busy today too, huh?”

Because the gate prediction was wrong again, the Hunter Association was probably being cursed at right now.

The equipment used to predict the appearance of gates was actually developed by Chungram Guild’s Joo Haeun.
But instead of cursing Joo Haeun, who is no less than humanity’s savior thanks to her invention, they attack the ones who use that equipment: the Hunter Association.

Kyung Hyun laughed awkwardly over the phone.

– “It was less busier than expected.
Thanks to you.”

“Not me…”

– “It is.
If it wasn’t for you, I would probably be working overtime again today.”

Kyung Hyun grumbled, complaining about how he didn’t know the Hunter Association would have so much overtime before he joined it.
Jiho lightly responded to Kyung Hyun and continued the call.

A few minutes later, a familiar face appeared on the muted TV.

Jiho knew what it was even without reading the captions.
Joo Yiwon had been raiding an S-rank dungeon in Chungju since yesterday, and the situation being shown was the immediate aftermath.

Joo Yiwon, who raided the dungeon with five other Chungram guildmembers, was standing at the very end of the line.
Seeing Joo Yiwon with his head down, Jiho frowned.

‘Is he hurt?’

But when the reporters’ cameras flashed and Yiwon lifted his head, all of Jiho’s worries instantly flew away.

Joo Yiwon was walking out in his usual suit and coat with not a single speck of dust on him as always.

If anything was different, it was that instead of smiling at the reporters and answering their questions, Joo Yiwon’s eyes were fixed on his terminal.

What happened?

Jiho felt like he could hear people at the scene whispering all the way from here.

Joo Yiwon didn’t acknowledge them.
After dialing a number, he disappeared.
The reporters who were about to chase after him were blocked by Chungram’s guildmembers, who showed awkward smiles.

And.

“…”

Joo Yiwon’s name popped up on Jiho’s terminal.

Looking at those three characters1, Jiho’s racing heart calmed down.

He was wondering why Yiwon walked off with such a serious look on his face; to think it was just to call him.

– “Jiho?”

“Ah, sorry.
Just…”

Jiho apologized.
He forgot he was still on a call with Kyung Hyun.
Kyung Hyun laughed through the phone.

– “You must really be tired.
Go rest now.”

“Eung, sorry.”

– “There’s nothing to be sorry about.
Let’s see each other soon.
Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.”

Jiho wasn’t able to explain before he ended the call with Kyung Hyun.
After hesitating a bit, Jiho picked up Joo Yiwon’s call that was still ringing.

 

Footnotes

1. His name in Korean.
주이원.
I figured it worked better than eight letters.