Chapter 191 – Kim Pil-young

[You have obtained the Life Water Tree Stem.]

‘Finally, it dropped.’

Min Do-jun’s face lit up with undisguised joy when he obtained the material for the Life Elixir he had been seeking.

‘I’ve killed so many tree elementals just to get this one item…’

He must have killed at least thousands of them.

[Life Water Tree Stem]+[Spring of Vitality]

[Combination successful!]

[You have obtained the Life Elixir.]

The miraculous item that had revived Hwang Da-yeon when her breath had stopped.

‘I don’t know when I’ll need to use it again, but…’

It never hurts to have it on hand.

‘I don’t need to kill tree elementals anymore, but they still give a lot of experience, so should I keep hunting them?’

Who knows, he might get lucky and find another material.

Min Do-jun continued his method of combining the four elementals to summon tree elementals.

KWAKWAKWAKWANG!

As he swept them away with Magnum Burst, his experience points rapidly increased.

[Your level has increased!]

Since each one gave experience equivalent to an S-rank monster, his level rose quickly.

‘Good. I’ll keep hunting like this.’

The milestone of reaching S-rank was right before his eyes.

* * *

[Hello viewers, this is Kim Jin-hee from Hunter Magazine. As always, we bring you the latest news from the hunter industry. Today, we have a journalist from the Hunter Department with us. Hello, journalist.]

[Hello. I’m Cho Seung-chul from Hunter Newspaper.]

[What would you say is the biggest issue in the hunter industry these days?]

[Currently, the biggest issue is that the curse in Russia has been lifted.]

[The curse in Russia?]

[Yes. In Russia, there’s an S-rank dungeon called Vampire’s Night. It was a cursed dungeon with so many casualties that even Russians avoided it. But recently, the curse was lifted by a hunter from our country.]

[Who are you referring to?]

[It’s Hunter Min Do-jun.]

[You mean the hunter who prevented the Hongdae break?]

[That’s right. He became famous for preventing the Hongdae break, which was considered the worst dungeon break, but this isn’t the first time Hunter Min Do-jun has prevented a dungeon break. About 1 year and 5 months ago, he prevented a dungeon break in Gongju City.]

[He sounds like a very righteous hunter. But how was Min Do-jun able to lift the curse of the Russian dungeon?]

[Unlike other countries, Russia’s Vampire’s Night had a named boss hiding in it. That’s why there were always casualties. Hunter Min Do-jun noticed this, found the boss, and eliminated it.]

[Alone?]

[Yes, alone.]

[It must not have been easy to defeat a named boss alone. That’s truly remarkable.]

[Indeed. Especially since he did it at level 2,600, not as an S-rank, which calls for a reevaluation of his abilities. According to what I’ve heard unofficially, despite his level, his skills are already at S-rank.]

[Level 2,600 but with S-rank skills… No wonder he was able to prevent a dungeon break alone.]

[Yes. But what’s even more impressive is his leveling speed. Just two weeks ago, he was at level 2,600, but now he’s at level 2,997.]

[Is that a fast pace?]

[Of course. He’s compressed what would normally take an ordinary A-rank hunter 1 year and 6 months into just two weeks… That’s incredibly fast.]

[So that also shows how strong he is compared to his level, right?]

[Exactly. Although Hunter Min Do-jun has only recently become known to the public, he’s actually been rumored for a long time to be much stronger than his level suggests. He’s shown extraordinary feats like solo-killing bosses at low levels and reaching A-rank in less than a year.]

[And now he’s on the verge of reaching S-rank?]

[That’s right. With just 3 more levels, Hunter Min Do-jun will become the twentieth hunter in Korea to reach S-rank. Of course, that’s just the order, not the actual number of S-rank hunters. Some, like Healer Lee Min-ji, have died.]

[I see. But I thought someone else was supposed to be the twentieth S-rank hunter?]

[Yes. Actually, a hunter named Kim Pil-young was expected to be the twentieth S-rank, but because Hunter Min Do-jun rose so quickly, he’s been pushed to twenty-first…]

‘Fuck.’

Kim Pil-young turned off the TV, unable to watch anymore.

He was already irritated about being pushed to twenty-first, and now they were broadcasting this information as if it were something to boast about, which made him feel even worse as the person directly affected.

“Oppa, I was watching that. Why did you turn it off?”

A woman who had been watching TV with him on the bed questioned him.

“I feel like shit.”

“Is it because you got pushed to twenty-first?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on, don’t worry about that. What does the order matter? You have me.”

Kim Pil-young smiled slightly as the woman clung to him affectionately.

‘Right. What does it matter who becomes S-rank first? As long as I don’t lose out.’

Feeling better, Kim Pil-young pulled the woman’s arm as she was about to get up, making her lie back on the bed.

“Eek!”

“Where are you going? We need to do it one more time.”

“Ah, just a moment. Let me drink some water first, okay?”

Just then, Kim Pil-young’s phone vibrated.

“Hello.”

Kim Pil-young’s expression gradually hardened as he took the call.

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

When he suddenly shouted, the startled woman pulled the blanket up to her neck.

“Fuck! That son of a bitch Min Do-jun!”

After ending the call, Kim Pil-young looked like he was about to throw his phone but gently placed it on the table instead.

“O-oppa… What happened?”

“The advertising company I recently contracted with has filed a complaint.”

“What? Why?”

“They said they signed the contract thinking I would be the twentieth S-rank hunter, but since I’ve been pushed to twenty-first, they feel deceived.”

“So…?”

“Fuck. They’re saying it’s specified in the contract and they’re insisting on changing the terms to be more favorable to them. Damn, this is disgusting.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? I’ve already signed the contract, so I have to put up with it, no matter how disgusting it is. Unless I want to pay the penalty fee. Sigh…”

Kim Pil-young put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it, causing the woman to frown.

“Oppa. I told you I don’t like the smell of cigarettes. Can’t you smoke outside?”

“Hey. Read the room, will you? I’m already upset, and now you’re telling me what to do. Tsk.”

“So if you’re upset, it’s okay to smoke in front of your girlfriend?”

Kim Pil-young, who had been frowning the whole time, suddenly smiled as if he had heard something amusing.

“Haha, I let you hang around for a few days, and now you’re completely misunderstanding. Who said you’re my girlfriend?”

“What? I’m not?”

“When did I ever say I wanted to date you?”

“But, but we slept together and everything…”

“Hey, since when does sleeping together a few times mean we’re dating? Did you come from the Joseon Dynasty? Tsk.”

“I, I thought we were dating all this time…”

Kim Pil-young, who had just stubbed out his cigarette, looked at her with cold eyes.

“I thought you seemed a bit innocent, but now I see you’re just stupid.”

“What…?”

“I met you for your body. Nothing else. Didn’t you meet me for my money?”

“No, no. I genuinely liked you…”

“Ah, enough. Now that I know, just leave.”

“Oppa…”

“Stop being clingy and leave. I have absolutely no intention of having a nagging wife by my side. Tsk.”

Faced with his callous attitude, the woman’s eyes widened, and she eventually began to cry.

“You, you’re too cruel… sob sob.”

“Ah, damn, now she’s crying. If you won’t leave, I will.”

Kim Pil-young got dressed and left the house.

“Tsk, this is why I hate old-fashioned women.”

He put another cigarette in his mouth and got into his sports car.

Since he could easily find women just by cruising around in his car, he didn’t feel any loss.

VROOOOOM-

As he drove to clear his head, he turned on the DMB.

Every channel he flipped to was talking about Hunter Min Do-jun.

‘Min Do-jun, that fucking bastard.’

Though he had never met this hunter named Min Do-jun, because of him, his order as an S-rank hunter had been pushed back, and he had suffered a loss.

‘How did someone who was so far below me overtake me like this…’

Kim Pil-young’s level was 2,987… He was the strongest A-rank hunter, just 13 levels away from S-rank.

At least, that was the case until Min Do-jun started rising rapidly.

‘Sigh, if I could just hunt for ten more days, I could reach S-rank first.’

Then he would have been the twentieth S-rank hunter as planned, and he wouldn’t have suffered any losses from the advertising contract.

‘Should I talk to Hunter Min Do-jun? Ask him to wait just ten days?’

But how could he make such a request with his male pride?

Besides, it didn’t seem likely that Min Do-jun would agree even if he asked.

‘Guardian Guild, was it?’

With all the media coverage, it was easy to find out which guild Min Do-jun belonged to.

Kim Pil-young searched for the Guardian Guild on his navigation system.

It was only about a 10-minute drive away.

‘It wouldn’t hurt to ask, should I go visit?’

After some deliberation, Kim Pil-young made a U-turn.

He decided it would be better to at least try talking to him.

‘Wait. I’m a bit nervous about going alone…’

When he actually thought about going alone, his shoulders hunched.

‘Considering he killed a boss and his leveling speed, he’s much stronger than me, right?’

The fact that Min Do-jun was stronger than his level suggested was known to all informed hunters, not just from TV.

Kim Pil-young lacked the courage to approach such an opponent alone.

It also didn’t seem likely that Min Do-jun would kindly agree to his request.

In the end, Kim Pil-young decided to call a close friend.

Ring ring- Click!

-Hello, Pil-young hyung.

“Oh, yeah. Woo-jin. Have you been well?”

-Yes, hyung. I’ve been well, thanks to you.

“Kid. What have I done for you?”

-Thanks to you guiding us on the right path, we’re at least living like human beings now.

“Hey. You were living fine before too! Man, I actually miss those days more.”

-Is that so? I prefer how things are now.

“Really? How’s Woo-hyun?”

-My brother is in a dungeon right now.

“Why aren’t you with him?”

-We usually hunt separately. Have you ever seen a warrior and a mage hunting together?

“You brothers should get along, man.”

-Even if we don’t look like we get along, we’re still brothers.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”

-Anyway, what’s the occasion?

“Actually, do you have some time right now?”

-Of course, hyung.

“Then let’s go somewhere together.”

-Where?

“You’ll see when we get there.”

-The way you’re talking, it sounds like we’re going to intimidate someone.

“It’s not intimidation. I just have a favor to ask.”

-You did the same thing before. You said let’s go somewhere, and then we went to a debtor and intimidated them.

“Well, you’re a big guy.”

-Is it the same thing now? Trying to collect a debt?

“Well, something similar.”

-Can’t you just let it go? You have more than enough money.

“Then will you pay for me instead?”

-I don’t want to do that.

“See? You don’t like losing out either. People who are self-made are especially careful with their money.”

-Are you self-made, hyung? You just got lucky becoming a hunter and making money.

“You’re talking back to me just because your level is a bit higher?”

-I’ve been talking back since before I awakened.

“Riding on your characteristic while talking about luck. Are you in a position to mention luck? Tsk.”

-Anyway, should I come out now?

“Yeah. And we’re not going to collect a debt, man.”

-Then what is it?

Kim Pil-young smiled meaningfully.

“I have something to ask politely.”