Chapter 197 – Who Are You?

Reporter Go Du-sik was startled when he understood what Kim Pil-young meant.

“Why, why are you doing this? I told you everything you wanted to know…”

“I said I’d let you live if you answered well, but I never said I’d let a lying bastard live.”

“I’m sorry. That was a mistake…”

“I never intended to let you live anyway.”

“What?”

Kim Pil-young smiled maliciously.

“If I just wanted to talk, we would have met at a cafe, not in a reed field like this. Don’t you think?”

“…”

Kim Pil-young bared his teeth at the shocked Go Du-sik.

“Do we look like fools who would spare someone who wrote a hit piece on us? You piece of shit.”

The hunter’s pressure weighed down on Go Du-sik, an ordinary person.

“You dare write such an article about an S-rank hunter? Do you have a death wish?”

“I’m sorry! Please spare me!”

“It’s too late for apologies. Because of you, my image is ruined and my contract fell through.”

“I’ll delete the article immediately and write a clarification. Just please spare my life…”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the public already believes the article and has turned against me. All because of your greed.”

“I, I just wrote based on the information Hunter Min Do-jun gave me…”

“This bastard is still blaming Min Do-jun. Tsk.”

Kim Pil-young clicked his tongue as he watched Go Du-sik desperately trying to find a way to survive.

“Do you think that will save you? You’re the one who wrote the article for views. So isn’t it only natural that you die? As for that bastard Min Do-jun, I’ll kill him too, of course.”

“That, that was my fingers typing on their own…”

WHACK!

Go Du-sik couldn’t even make a sound as he was struck on the back of his head.

It was so painful he couldn’t even speak.

“What’s this? Can’t even read the situation. Are you playing around, you bastard?”

“N-no, I’m not.”

Go Du-sik felt wronged.

How could he possibly be joking in such a life-or-death situation?

… He had just unconsciously blurted out an excuse while trying to escape the situation.

“Now you’re blaming your fingers. You want to die.”

“Please spare me. Sob sob…”

Despite his tears, he was facing someone who couldn’t be moved by compassion.

“If I spare you, won’t you report this to the police?”

“No, absolutely not! If you spare my life, I’ll cherish this mercy forever. I really will!”

“How can I trust a liar like you?”

Go Du-sik continued to beg for his life, but Kim Pil-young, who seemed thoroughly annoyed, ignored him.

“Woo-jin, is the drum ready?”

“Hyung, why do we need a drum?”

A massive battle axe appeared in Choi Woo-jin’s hand.

“We can just chop him up and bury him here.”

“P-please spare me! Uhuhuhu!”

The look in their eyes showed they weren’t joking.

Go Du-sik, his face covered in tears, desperately looked around.

Kim Pil-young smirked at the sight.

“What are you doing? Hoping someone will pass by so you can shout for help?”

“…”

“Look all you want. There’s not even a rat around here. And if a witness does appear, do you think we’d let them go?”

Kim Pil-young made a throat-slitting gesture with his dagger in the air.

“We’ll just kill any witnesses. So don’t hold onto false hope and just die quietly.”

“Huhuhu…”

Go Du-sik hung his head in despair.

As Kim Pil-young said, there was no hope.

‘How did I end up in this situation…’

He had underestimated hunters too much.

They were monsters beyond common sense.

‘I shouldn’t have been so happy about getting an exclusive.’

If he hadn’t published the article, none of this would have happened.

‘This is all because of Hunter Min Do-jun.’

Because of the information that hunter gave him, he was about to lose his life in a place with no witnesses…

‘Wait! There is one witness!’

A thought suddenly sparked a glimmer of hope.

‘Maybe, maybe I can survive.’

As the giant approached with his axe, Go Du-sik looked at Kim Pil-young with a desperate expression.

… “W-wait, please listen to me.”

“I told you begging won’t help, didn’t I?”

“Are you going to kill me even though there’s a witness?”

“A witness?”

Kim Pil-young looked around warily.

But there was no way there would be a witness in such a deserted place.

“What are you talking about? Where is this witness?”

“Not here, but up there.”

Go Du-sik pointed to the sky, and Kim Pil-young laughed incredulously.

“What the hell, now you’re claiming a satellite is your witness?”

“N-no, he’s watching. Hunter Min Do-jun.”

Go Du-sik explained the situation to the confused Kim Pil-young and his group.

The secret suffering he had endured alone.

‘Hunter Min Do-jun might not like this, but I have no choice. I need to survive first.’

Go Du-sik revealed the pain he had suffered from Min Do-jun and how he had been monitored remotely.

“Since then, my life has been held hostage by Hunter Min Do-jun. If I didn’t obey, I would suffer pain remotely, and my every move was monitored. In such a situation, how could I not write the article when he told me to?”

Though he complained as if wronged, Kim Pil-young still seemed skeptical.

‘The ability to inflict pain remotely and monitor someone?’

It was an absurd story.

“So you’re saying Hunter Min Do-jun is watching this situation right now, so don’t touch you?”

“Y-yes…”

CRASH!

Choi Woo-jin irritably slammed his axe down.

The blade landed right next to Go Du-sik’s face.

“HIIIEEK!”

“You think you can keep lying to us? Do my hyung and I look like pushovers? Just because we were former gangsters, you think we’re stupid?”

When the previously silent Choi Woo-jin stepped forward, Kim Pil-young smiled.

“Woo-jin, this bastard is pissed off. If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. Why are you treating sane people like fools, Mr. Reporter?”

“It’s not a lie…”

It was an unfair situation for Go Du-sik.

But his lack of credibility was having the opposite effect.

“Pil-young hyung, do we still have time?”

… “Yeah.”

“Then let me play with this bastard a bit.”

“Go ahead.”

Choi Woo-jin put away his axe and took out a sashimi knife.

Then he approached Go Du-sik with terrifying eyes.

“You made Woo-jin take out his sashimi knife. Mr. Reporter, you messed with the wrong people.”

Kim Pil-young clicked his tongue but had a sneer on his lips.

The switch from an axe to a sashimi knife meant he intended to kill slowly and painfully.

Choi Woo-jin spoke with a demonic face.

“Do you know what kind of people I hate the most? People like you who look down on me for not being smart.”

“What? I, I wasn’t looking down on you…”

SLICE!

As if to say no more words were needed, Choi Woo-jin moved his hand.

“AAAAARGH!”

Go Du-sik’s skin was sliced off with excruciating pain.

“Why are you making such a fuss over this? We’re just getting started.”

“AAAAA…”

“First, let me thinly slice the flesh from your forearm.”

Just as he was grinning, planning to torture him slowly:

“…!”

Choi Woo-jin suddenly stopped and looked up.

Amidst the screaming, he heard the sound of someone moving through the reeds.

“Who’s there?”

Kim Pil-young and Choi Woo-jin looked in the same direction.

Rustle, rustle-

Breaking through the reeds, the person who appeared was none other than Choi Woo-jin’s brother, Choi Woo-hyun.

“Woo-hyun?”

“Hyung?”

They were initially relieved to see someone they knew, but confusion remained on their faces.

“Pil-young hyung, did you call my brother too?”

“No. You said he was in a dungeon, so I didn’t call him.”

While the two were confused, Choi Woo-hyun approached.

“Hyung, why are you here?”

Choi Woo-jin asked as he lowered his knife, but Go Du-sik continued to make noise.

“Uuuugh…!”

“Shut up, we’re talking here. Be quiet.”

“Uuugh…”

“I said be quiet!”

As he raised his arm as if to hit him, Choi Woo-hyun grabbed his wrist.

Thud-

“Hyung?”

Choi Woo-jin found it strange that his twin brother was stopping him.

‘This isn’t like my brother.’

The brother Choi Woo-jin knew was an observer.

… Whether people were being killed or tortured, he never intervened, usually just watching with indifferent eyes.

He had been like that since their gangster days.

‘And now he’s stopping me…’

Suddenly, Choi Woo-jin felt a chill down his spine.

‘My brother grabbed my wrist?’

Now that he thought about it, he could feel considerable strength in the hand gripping his wrist.

He tried to pull his arm away, but it wouldn’t budge.

His twin brother, a mage, couldn’t possibly have such physical strength.

As soon as he realized this, Choi Woo-jin’s expression hardened like stone.

“…Who are you?”

“How dare you speak to your brother like that. Do you want to be punished?”

The face was definitely his brother’s, but the voice was completely different.

WHAM!

Choi Woo-jin was sent flying by a kick and rolled on the ground.

He had tried to stab with his knife as soon as he realized the voice was different, but his opponent’s kick was faster.

“Urgh…”

To think someone could overpower him with strength.

He had felt it when his wrist was grabbed—the strength was formidable.

“Come on. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

TSEEEUT-

A battle axe appeared in Choi Woo-jin’s hand.

How dare someone impersonate his brother’s face.

He couldn’t let this slide.

“Hey! What’s going on? You’re brothers!”

Unlike Choi Woo-jin, Kim Pil-young still thought the person was Choi Woo-hyun.

From his angle, he hadn’t seen the kick, so he thought his brother had repelled him with magic.

“Pil-young hyung! That’s not my brother!”

“Hey! No matter how angry you are, cutting off your only family is…”

“That’s not what I mean! That’s really not my brother! That bastard just changed his face to look like him!”

“What?”

Kim Pil-young had been looking at him with an expression that said “Is that even possible?” but after seeing the magic being used, he changed his mind.

“Are you out of your mind? That’s clearly Woo-hyun!”

Choi Woo-jin had no time to answer as he launched himself forward.

Wind blades were flying toward him at a fierce speed.

But he hadn’t expected the blades to change direction after he thought he had barely dodged them.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

“URGH!”

Choi Woo-jin groaned in pain as his skin was sliced off.

Even in the midst of this, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘The damage penetrated even though I’m wearing equipment!’

He had thought the opponent was a warrior due to his strength, but he was completely wrong.

‘With this level of damage, his magic power might be even higher than my brother’s…’

Tension appeared on Choi Woo-hyun’s face, something never seen before.

‘He’s not an opponent I can handle. I need to escape.’

Though he hadn’t faced him much, he could tell immediately, just like when he met Min Do-jun before.

That they couldn’t win even if he and Kim Pil-young worked together.

‘Wait, Min Do-jun?’

As far as Choi Woo-jin knew, Min Do-jun was a Magic Swordsman.

One who raised both strength and magic power.

‘The person in front of me is the same.’

The opponent also had both strength and magic.

Neither aspect of his damage could be ignored.

‘And the reporter mentioned Min Do-jun.’

He had been spouting nonsense about being remotely monitored by him, but…

‘What if that wasn’t nonsense?’

He could suspect that the person in front of him was Min Do-jun.

‘Anyway, I need to escape.’

The identity of his opponent didn’t matter.

Survival was the priority.

‘If I’m going to fight, I need to do it with my brother.’

Twin hunters truly demonstrate their power only when they’re together, not when they’re separate.

Blood was splattered everywhere, but fortunately, he could still move his limbs.

As he was planning his escape:

“You two! Stop fighting!”

Kim Pil-young, still not understanding the situation, stood between them.

“No matter what, there’s no need to fight to the point of spilling blood…!”

STAB-

Kim Pil-young’s eyes widened enormously.

“Woo… Woo-hyun?”

It was none other than Choi Woo-hyun’s sword that had pierced his chest.