Chapter 313 – Part 2 – Fierce Attack

[You have killed Hunter Moon Yong-taek.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Fierce Attack.’]

[You have stolen 12 pieces of equipment.]

[You have stolen 2 Magic Stones.]

[You have stolen 2 collectibles.]

[Synchronization Rate 13.9%]

Choi Seong-min deliberately ignored the messages that appeared after killing Moon Yong-taek.

Because it would be troublesome if Song Chi-hyeon read his thoughts.

However, he didn’t hide his own flustered emotions.

‘S-surely he’s not dead, is he?’

He knew he was dead the moment the message appeared, but he intentionally pretended not to know.

Because Song Chi-hyeon was approaching.

“Move aside!”

Song Chi-hyeon hurriedly intervened and examined Moon Yong-taek’s corpse.

“…He’s dead.”

“Gasp!”

Only then could Choi Seong-min reveal his emotions.

His genuinely shocked emotions.

“G-Great Hero-nim… I absolutely did not kill him on purpose. Please believe me…”

It was true.

He had sparred only to correct Moon Yong-taek’s bad habits, not with the intention to kill him.

Song Chi-hyeon nodded as if he had read those sincere thoughts.

“I know. It was purely an accident.”

Since Song Chi-hyeon had been the referee, he could tell.

That it wasn’t an intentional throat slash, but an accident caused by Moon Yong-taek’s greed.

“Don’t worry, Choi Seong-min. You won’t suffer any consequences from this incident. It’s not your fault – I saw it, and the group members here saw it too.”

“Ah…”

But perhaps shocked by having committed murder, Choi Seong-min could only gape without giving a proper response.

Song Chi-hyeon couldn’t help but chuckle at this uncharacteristic behavior.

‘What an amusing guy. He easily cut off Team Leader An Gi-hyeon’s wrist for insulting me, but now he’s trembling like this just because he killed one person.’

A wrist and a life couldn’t be compared in value, but seeing such a weak reaction despite his skills made him laugh.

“Don’t feel guilty, Choi Seong-min. You didn’t kill him. He died in an accident.”

“But I’m the one who killed him…”

“You’re training to be an assassin, so why are you so shaken by someone’s death? Can you continue working under me like this?”

As long as he remained Song Chi-hyeon’s direct subordinate, he had to do whatever was ordered.

If necessary, he shouldn’t hesitate even at murder.

Perhaps realizing this fact, Choi Seong-min’s eyes changed.

“If it’s work that Great Hero-nim orders, I’m confident I can do anything.”

“Yes, that’s how it should be.”

Reading his thoughts, the anxious emotions had calmed down.

‘Anyway, whenever my name comes up, people change beyond recognition.’

His usually stoic subordinate showing absolute loyalty to his commands?

Naturally, as a superior, he couldn’t help but feel good.

“As you can see, the sparring is over. I’ll have my servants clean up here, so everyone go home.”

At the Great Hero’s command, the group members glanced at the corpse a few times before turning away without lingering.

They seemed completely unaffected by Moon Yong-taek’s death.

‘How much must they have suffered under Moon Yong-taek usually…’

In contrast, Choi Seong-min felt slightly sorry as he headed to the parking area with the car keys in his hand.

When he pressed the key, a stylish sports car greeted him, but perhaps because he felt like he had stolen a dead person’s belongings?

Choi Seong-min only felt uncomfortable.

At least until he was out of Song Chi-hyeon’s sight.

“Kuk, kuk kuk kuk.”

Laughter leaked through Choi Seong-min’s twisted lips.

‘I never thought things would work out this way.’

Like feeling the cool breeze while driving down the road, Choi Seong-min’s mood was refreshing beyond measure.

‘I didn’t kill him on purpose, but it worked out well. To think he’d die on his own.’

Unlike what he had shown Song Chi-hyeon, Choi Seong-min felt not a trace of guilt about the group leader’s death.

‘Trash like that is better off dead.’

Rather than having him scheme for revenge again someday, he thought it was good that he died.

‘Though I really didn’t expect him to die like that.’

He had slashed his throat because the guy moved, but it was purely an unplanned accident.

‘Originally, I planned to beat him in sparring, drive him out, then take the group leader position…’

Somehow it had produced an even better result.

Hadn’t he gained unexpected traits and items?

‘Let me see what trait it was.’

[Trait – Fierce Attack]

-Grade: S

-Description: Each time you land an attack, attack speed increases by 20%. Duration is 1 minute and can stack up to 10 times. At 10 stacks, it increases by 200%.

‘Huh… An S-rank trait?’

The trait he opened without much expectation surprised Choi Seong-min.

‘At 10 stacks, it boosts attack speed by 200%?’

In other words, he could attack three times in the time it would normally take to attack once.

‘The short duration is a flaw, but at 10 stacks, I can attack so fast it’s hard to follow with the eyes.’

Moreover, if attack speed was fast, he could trigger the 10% chance defense ignore effect more quickly.

‘It’s the most suitable trait for me.’

As expected of Song Chi-hyeon’s direct subordinate, his abilities were solid.

‘He seemed so easy during sparring that I didn’t know he had such a good trait.’

Since the buff only activated when attacks hit, Moon Yong-taek probably couldn’t properly utilize his trait during sparring.

‘Since I dodged everything without getting hit once.’

He wondered what it would have been like if he had used daggers as his main weapon like himself instead of an axe.

‘Axes are heavy and have slow attack speed, making it difficult to stack. It would be much more efficient to quickly stack 10 with fast daggers.’

Of course, choosing an axe wasn’t a bad choice either.

‘If a high-damage axe also became fast, it would become that much stronger.’

But considering the buff duration was only 1 minute and he’d have to stack again later, fast weapons like daggers could be considered optimal.

‘Looking at the items, there’s nothing special.’

Several C-rank equipment pieces came in, but nothing worth wearing.

’12 C-rank equipment pieces and 2 C-rank Magic Stones worth 50 million won each…’

If he sold them together with the equipment, he could easily make 400-500 million won.

‘I won’t need to worry about money in this world either.’

Therefore, rather than expensive items, he wanted useful items, but there was nothing worth taking.

‘But the collectibles that came in are needed.’

In his inventory were 2 Fang Poisons.

Collectibles that drop from Little Snakes – Choi Seong-min also had 1.

‘Not bad. I’ll need these poisons later to use poison skills…’

Little Snake fang poison, Tarantula spider poison, etc.

Monster poisons are used as precious materials for poison skills that assassins learn.

‘Since they’re bound items, I have no choice but to obtain them directly… At least I’ve reduced the grinding I’ll have to do later.’

With such a light heart, while driving the sports car home.

Ring ring- Ring ring-

Choi Seong-min’s phone rang.

It was Song Chi-hyeon.

“Yes, Great Hero-nim.”

-Are you getting home safely?

“Yes. I’m on my way now. Is there something wrong?”

-No, I didn’t call because something was wrong, but because I was worried about your condition.

It seemed he had been completely fooled by Choi Seong-min’s acting.

“I’m fine. Thank you for worrying about me.”

-People are bound to die someday. You don’t know what might happen in the future, so don’t be shocked by something like this.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Great Hero-nim.”

Song Chi-hyeon probably didn’t know that just moments ago he had been rejoicing over Moon Yong-taek’s death.

-I’ve cleaned up the scene, so don’t worry and rest well at home until tomorrow. Don’t even come to work at the Association.

Though he was energetic enough to hunt immediately, he couldn’t complain about the Great Hero’s consideration.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

-And this is obvious, but since Moon Yong-taek is dead, you’ll take over as Group C leader. The other group members will accept it too, so don’t worry.

“Understood.”

-Is there anything else you need? Something you want?

“…”

-It’s fine, so speak without burden. Whether it’s items or power. I’ll grant anything I can do for you.

Since he knew Choi Seong-min’s skills were more impressive than expected, he seemed ready to provide full support.

But Choi Seong-min unexpectedly declined politely.

“I’m fine. I don’t need anything right now.”

-Really? Then tell me anytime you think of something later.

“Thank you, Great Hero-nim.”

The call ended with those words, but Choi Seong-min actually had something he wanted.

‘What I need right now is an environment where I can solo.’

For him, whose top priority was growth, nothing was better than dungeon soloing.

‘I can monopolize both runes and items, and I can exert all my power without worrying about others.’

But there was no need to specifically say he wanted to solo.

Song Chi-hyeon would also know the importance of soloing.

‘Since he knows I raised my combat power to 60,000 in just one day, he’ll want to let me solo even without me saying anything.’

Choi Seong-min just needed to bask in the sunlight under the sun called Song Chi-hyeon and grow vigorously.

‘Then when I have enough power to eliminate even the sun…’

Eliminate the sun and absorb its power.

In a way, it was a plan that seemed difficult yet simple.

* * *

Mother Jeong Hee-seon felt like she was dreaming these days.

Not only had she escaped from the semi-basement that she thought she’d never be able to leave for life.

She no longer had to endure all the injustices she faced due to her low status.

Not only that?

Her son was working as a team leader at the Hunter Association, the center of the continent, and her daughter was attending the school she had so desperately wanted.

‘This is the happiest moment of my life.’

All of this was because her excellent son had awakened as a hunter.

Therefore, Jeong Hee-seon was proud of her son and always grateful.

Her daughter also bragged about her brother whenever she came home.

“Did you come back from school?”

“Mom, where’s oppa?”

“He’s not back yet, why?”

“Just, since I achieved my dream thanks to oppa, I wanted to say thank you.”

“Didn’t you do that last time?”

“Still, I’m grateful every single day, so I want to say it whenever I think of it.”

Mother Jeong Hee-seon felt the same gratitude every day.

She couldn’t express how comfortable it was to live without worrying about money.

“But is oppa busy these days? It’s hard to see his face.”

“Yesterday he didn’t come home saying he had to go through dungeons, and I wonder if he’ll come home today…”

While worrying that he might be working too hard, she also thought she should make a delicious dinner for her son who was working so hard.

“Daughter, mom’s going grocery shopping. Want to come with me?”

“Yes!”

As Jeong Hee-seon was leaving the house with her daughter, she spoke about a thought that suddenly occurred to her.

“What grade hunter did Seong-min say he was?”

“Oppa? He’s D-rank.”

“Mom doesn’t know well, but is D-rank very high?”

“Um… From what I know, C-rank is mid-level and oppa is below that, so a little below average?”

“I see.”

“But even D-rank makes really good money.”

“Really? Does he make 3 million a month?”

“Oh, mom. What’s 3 million? He probably makes 5 million.”

At that moment.

“Isn’t that estimating too low?”

At the voice that joined the conversation, both mother and daughter turned their heads.

“O-oppa?”

“Seong-min?”

Soon they could see Choi Seong-min sitting in a stylish sports car.