Chapter 172 – Lee Min-ji

Min Do-jun, who had been tailing Lee Min-ji with invisibility, couldn’t help but be surprised by the unexpected situation.

‘Lee Min-ji kidnapping people?’

A world-renowned S-rank healer had kidnapped ordinary civilians.

And those kidnapped were none other than the students Min Do-jun had disciplined previously.

The reason quickly became apparent through their conversation.

‘So it was for her sister’s revenge.’

The female student who was being beaten by the bullies at this place must have been Lee Min-ji’s younger sister.

‘To think she would go as far as kidnapping for revenge.’

Even the gentlest person can explode when a certain line is crossed.

For Lee Min-ji, that trigger was her sister.

‘Those bullies messed with someone they shouldn’t have.’

And of all people, they had to mess with an S-rank hunter’s family.

‘They must have a death wish.’

Claiming ignorance wouldn’t change what had already happened.

‘I never expected her to be so bold as to kidnap them.’

He could understand her desire to punish them personally.

After all, wasn’t he himself carrying out revenge for his past life?

‘If something happened to Ye-rin, I would have done the same.’

Perhaps it was because he empathized with Lee Min-ji’s actions?

“Sob sob, please spare us.”

“Waaaah.”

Min Do-jun just stood and watched as Lee Min-ji stabbed the students with her dagger.

‘This isn’t a situation where I should intervene.’

Though he could have stopped her at any moment if he wanted to, he didn’t feel the need to.

Actions have consequences, and Min Do-jun had personally witnessed the students’ evil deeds.

‘They deserve it.’

Though the act of stabbing and healing to leave the pain behind seemed somewhat cruel, if one put themselves in her position, it wasn’t incomprehensible.

‘I shouldn’t interfere with such an important moment of revenge.’

However, there was a moment that made even Min Do-jun flinch as he watched.

It was when Lee Min-ji brought out the students’ siblings she had hidden away.

‘Parents might bear some responsibility for failing to raise their children properly, but what crime have the siblings committed?’

But Lee Min-ji, perhaps believing in collective responsibility, tried to kill not only the bullies but also their families after killing the bullies.

‘Killing family members crosses the line.’

Having made this judgment, Min Do-jun finally gave up watching and transformed his face.

And at the moment Lee Min-ji’s dagger aimed for the innocent family member’s life.

Ting-

He deflected the blade with his palm, sending it flying.

As his invisibility wore off and he appeared, Lee Min-ji stepped back in shock.

‘Gasp, what? A person?’

Lee Min-ji was visibly startled by the appearance of a third party.

It was natural since she thought no one else was here except herself and the hostages.

‘A person appearing out of nowhere.’

Not an ordinary person.

‘A hunter.’

Judging by how he appeared suddenly after being invisible, he was likely an assassin-type hunter who could use stealth.

‘And one with higher combat power than me.’

Lee Min-ji’s combat power was 170,000.

Though she was a healer, she didn’t completely avoid combat, so she had accumulated a decent amount.

It was a figure typically achievable by an ordinary level 2,000 hunter.

‘He definitely has higher combat power than me. I didn’t notice his presence at all.’

This meant the hunter before her was at least above level 2,000.

‘Who is he? I’ve never seen this face before…’

But whoever he was, it didn’t matter.

Her criminal act had been witnessed, and it was about to be exposed to the world.

‘I have no choice but to kill him.’

Just as her killing intent was directed toward the intruder.

“Huh? That person is…”

“Isn’t he that hunter from before?”

The male students’ voices caught her attention.

‘That hunter? Could it be…’

Lee Min-ji looked at the male students.

“You know this person?”

“Huh? Ah…”

“Well, that…”

The male students couldn’t speak properly due to fear.

To them, Lee Min-ji wasn’t an angelic healer but a devil straight from hell.

“Speak quickly if you don’t want to die.”

“He’s the hunter who appeared when we were bullying your sister…”

“So this hunter is the one who beat you up back then?”

“Yes…”

Upon hearing the confirmation, Lee Min-ji’s eyes sparkled.

‘Finally, we meet.’

When she heard the situation from her sister, she was furious.

How dare these trash touch her only family.

Though she didn’t show it, she immediately vowed to kill the bullies and eventually planned the kidnapping.

But at the same time, there was someone she was grateful to.

‘He appeared when she was in danger and saved her.’

She was grateful to the mysterious hunter who had disciplined the bullies and saved her sister.

If he hadn’t intervened, who knows what might have happened to her sister.

‘I always wanted to meet him if I had the chance, but to think I’d see him like this.’

Upon learning that the hunter before her was the one who had saved her sister, the killing intent disappeared from Lee Min-ji’s eyes.

The hunter seemed to notice this change, as his expression shifted slightly.

“Excuse me. You saved my sister here a few days ago, right?”

“……”

“Thank you. For protecting my sister from these trash.”

“……”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see you suddenly appearing and interfering. I’d appreciate it if you could also pretend you didn’t see me and quietly leave.”

“…And if I refuse?”

She flinched at his voice and looked at the man’s face again.

‘It’s not him.’

Though the man’s voice was similar to someone she had met recently, his appearance was different, so she didn’t suspect anything.

“If you refuse, I can’t let you leave peacefully either.”

“A supporter daring to threaten me.”

The man, who had been smirking, suddenly gave her a deadly glare.

“Do you want to die?”

‘What, what pressure…’

Lee Min-ji was taken aback.

The opponent seemed stronger than she had anticipated.

‘I thought even if his combat power was high, it wouldn’t be that different from mine…’

Now she realized it was a delusion born from unfounded confidence.

‘He’s probably an S-rank hunter like me.’

Having partied with S-rank hunters before, she could tell.

The man before her was not at all inferior to them.

‘If he’s S-rank, I should give up on winning a fight.’

The chances of Lee Min-ji, with her low combat power, defeating another S-rank were slim.

So she changed her approach.

She decided to persuade the man.

“I don’t want to fight you.”

Lee Min-ji raised both hands, indicating she had no intention to fight.

“You don’t want to either, right? That’s why you blocked my dagger instead of attacking me.”

The opponent could have aimed for her neck at any time.

Yet he only deflected the dagger and stood in a standoff, which meant he had something he wanted.

“What do you want? I’ll listen.”

“Release these people.”

“That’s not possible.”

Lee Min-ji spoke firmly.

“If those people are released, my life is over. They’ll report to the police as soon as they leave the station.”

“No, no! We won’t!”

“Please spare us. If you just let us live, we’ll never report this!”

“I swear!”

Looking at the students and family members speaking in desperate tones, Lee Min-ji sneered.

“You’ll say anything while you’re captive.”

“No, really. I promise. What we’ve seen and heard here, we’ll never…”

“Ah, so noisy with your chattering.”

When Lee Min-ji showed her discomfort, the hostages closed their mouths.

Then Min Do-jun spoke.

“I don’t care about those bullies, but these family members are innocent.”

“What about my sister? What did my family do wrong to be beaten by those nuclear waste-level trash?”

“That doesn’t justify trying to kill innocent people.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t let a single person here escape…”

Snap- Snap-

Min Do-jun tore the ropes and freed the family members.

It happened in an instant.

“Come to think of it, I don’t need your permission, do I?”

“No! I said no!”

Ignoring her words, Min Do-jun told the family members:

“Run away.”

“Ah… thank…”

“Quickly.”

The family members hurriedly untied their ropes and got up.

“Hunter!”

“Please untie us too!”

The male students cried out desperately, but Min Do-jun pretended not to hear.

“No, no!”

Lee Min-ji, unable to just watch, tried to grab the family members, but Min Do-jun blocked her path.

“Get out of my way!”

“I don’t want to.”

Seeing that all the family members were about to escape, Lee Min-ji took out her staff.

Flare-

If she couldn’t catch them, she would burn them all to ashes.

With that intention, she threw a fireball, but.

Whoosh-

The ghost sword, imbued with a buff, scattered the fireball into several fragments.

“Don’t interfere!”

Lee Min-ji created 10 icicles in succession.

It seemed she had another attack magic.

Swoosh!

The icicles flew toward the family members, but they failed again.

This was because the 10 gust blades Min Do-jun had summoned deflected all the icicles.

Lee Min-ji’s expression hardened at this display.

‘He’s using magic…?’

She had thought he was an assassin because he used stealth, but now he was using magic.

‘Could he be a Magic Swordsman?’

Min Do-jun’s profession as a Magic Swordsman had become famous after he stopped the Hongdae break.

There were even rumors that Magic Swordsman was an overpowered profession.

‘No wonder he was holding a one-handed sword…’

She didn’t even consider that the man before her might be Min Do-jun.

She just thought there was another Magic Swordsman besides Min Do-jun.

“Ah.”

The hostages had run so desperately that they were no longer visible.

‘I’m ruined.’

All the captured family members had escaped alive.

The only fortunate thing was that the two male student perpetrators were still there, but in any case, the fact that her life was over remained unchanged.

“Haaaaah.”

Lee Min-ji, who had let out a sigh of regret, raised her gaze.

“Fuck.”

Then she looked at the man who had suddenly appeared and ruined her plans with murderous intent.

“I really didn’t want to fight you if possible…”

Lee Min-ji pointed her staff.

“But now I have no choice but to kill you.”

Lee Min-ji changed her plan.

She decided to kill the man before her and flee abroad as quickly as possible.

Flare!

The fireball, whose cooldown had reset, flew toward Min Do-jun.

Min Do-jun quickly dodged to the left, but.

“Got you!”

Lee Min-ji, who had anticipated he would dodge that way, cast a light binding.

Swoosh-

Chains of light that emerged from thin air bound Min Do-jun’s limbs.

In that moment, Lee Min-ji closed the distance and reached out her hand.

Thud-

‘It’s over! Sleep!’

Lee Min-ji, who had used the skill, was certain.

That in a moment, the man before her would lose consciousness and collapse.

However, her opponent was no ordinary hunter.

[Cannot cast Sleep on the target.]

[Debuff has been nullified.]

“Huh?”

She was visibly flustered by the unexpected message.

“So you did have Sleep after all.”

At the man’s words, Lee Min-ji tried to step back, but.

Thud-

She couldn’t because her arm was grabbed.

“You used this hand to put people to sleep and kidnap them, right? You probably used invisibility too.”

As Min Do-jun’s ghost sword passed by, Lee Min-ji’s arm fell off.

“Ah, aaaaargh!”

“Let’s see if you can regenerate your arm like a lizard.”

Min Do-jun swung his ghost sword a few times, cutting the fallen arm into pieces.

“Ah…!”

Despair spread across Lee Min-ji’s face as she tried to pick up her arm.

“What? Can’t heal detached parts?”

“You b*st*rd, you knew all along and deliberately…!”

Slash-

Lee Min-ji couldn’t finish her sentence.

Because Min Do-jun had boldly severed her neck.