Chapter 225 – Exposed

“What? Puhahaha!”

“Are you kidding me? Kekeke!”

At Min Do-jun’s brazen words, the hunters burst into loud laughter.

Who did they think they were?

They were S-rank hunters ranked in the top 50 even in China.

With all three over level 3,500, Min Do-jun looked laughable in their eyes.

It was understandable.

In terms of level, there wasn’t much difference from Min Do-jun, who was level 3,610.

But to Min Do-jun, they were just pitiful.

He could see their combat power.

[Opponent’s Combat Power: 812,421]

[Opponent’s Combat Power: 1,100,001]

[Opponent’s Combat Power: 931,542]

‘One guy over 1.1 million. The others are just bugs.’

Min Do-jun clicked his tongue inwardly as he looked at the Chinese hunters.

To have a similar level but only 1.1 million combat power at best.

On top of that, their cockiness made them look even more ridiculous.

‘Level isn’t everything.’

Although Min Do-jun was fairly well-known in Korea, it seemed these men didn’t recognize him.

If they’d known he was the one who reached 1st place in the Tower of Infinity, they wouldn’t have pointed swords at him like this.

“Kill him!”

The three charged again, swinging their swords.

Swish- Swish- Swish-

Min Do-jun dodged their attacks with ease.

He used only his upper body, moving as little as possible.

He didn’t even need to move his feet.

With agility over 27,000, it was effortless.

‘With Rampage, dodging is even easier at this distance.’

Plus, with his Dynamic Vision trait, he could see even the wings of a flying fly.

“Damn!”

“H-How?”

“Why can’t we hit him?!”

They even used skills to try to kill Min Do-jun, but didn’t land a single hit.

Hop-!

When all three used skills at once, Min Do-jun finally moved his feet to get out of the way.

“Oh, you finally made me move. How many minutes has it been?”

Min Do-jun glanced at the remaining Rampage time.

‘What? Only two minutes have passed?’

There were still three minutes left before Rampage would end.

‘I felt like I dodged so many attacks. Tsk.’

Instead, the Chinese hunters, who had been attacking non-stop, were panting and out of breath.

“What’s wrong? Keep coming.”

“……”

He taunted them by beckoning with his finger, but the Chinese hunters didn’t budge.

“What’s the matter? Not fighting anymore?”

The Chinese hesitated.

Their wavering eyes said it all.

Even with three of them attacking together, they hadn’t landed a single hit-how could they possibly win?

‘They must think I’m a monster.’

Especially since they’d seen him change his appearance at will, they must really think so.

“Already giving up? How boring.”

“Shit, run!”

The hunters turned and fled without looking back.

Min Do-jun didn’t even bother to chase them.

He simply gave an order in his mind.

“Awoo.”

[Grrrr!]

The ghost wolf bit into one of the fleeing men’s shoulders.

Crunch!

“Aaaagh!”

Flesh tore away as the man crashed to the ground.

With 2,300 strength, the ghost wolf’s bite was no joke even for an S-rank hunter.

‘It’s basically an S-rank hunter itself.’

The ghost wolf quickly chased the next prey.

With the Pet Master trait, it used Enhanced Assault.

[GRAAAH!]

Attack and movement speed tripled.

With this upgraded assault, the wolf easily incapacitated the hunters.

“Well done, Awoo.”

[Woof!]

“Ugh…”

The situation was over quickly.

The hunters, with body parts torn by the ghost wolf, bled as they awaited judgment.

“Now, tell me. Who ordered you to kill me?”

“S-Sorry. We mistook you for someone else. Please spare me.”

“Oh, so you swung your sword for two minutes ‘by mistake’?”

“I-I’m sorry…”

Slash-!

[You have killed Hunter Yang Jo-geon.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Low-grade Swordsmanship.’]

[You have stolen 9 pieces of equipment.]

He cut off his head without hesitation.

There were still two mouths left.

“Your turn. Speak.”

“Hic, hng…”

The Chinese, barely enduring the pain of a torn arm, shook his head.

“I don’t kno-”

Slash-!

His head fell, blood spurting.

In an instant, only clothes remained as the body vanished.

The last man, who had watched it all, stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

“One person is enough to talk, don’t you think?”

With a devilish smile, Min Do-jun approached and asked the same question.

“Who ordered you?”

“I-I don’t kno- Aaaagh!”

Min Do-jun dug his finger into the wound.

“Speak. Who?”

“Aaaagh! Aaaaagh!”

When it looked like he might die from the pain, Min Do-jun stopped digging and healed the wound.

“Gasp, gasp.”

Warmth returned, and the Chinese’s color came back.

He looked confused.

“Speak. Who ordered you to kill me?”

“……”

When he kept his mouth shut, Min Do-jun pulled out a random dagger from his inventory.

Stab- Stab- Stab-

“Guuuuuh!”

He stabbed the man’s thigh and abdomen over and over.

When the pain became too much, he healed him and stabbed again, repeating the process.

But even after repeating it again and again-

“Grrrr…”

It was just a waste of time.

“Amazing loyalty. Even after all this, you won’t talk.”

Giving up, Min Do-jun beheaded him without mercy.

Thus, the three Chinese who targeted him vanished, leaving only clothes, belongings, and bloodstains.

‘The traits and items they left aren’t much either.’

The traits were all C-rank or lower, not very useful.

‘No wonder their combat power was so low for their level.’

Disappointed with the lack of gains, Min Do-jun cleaned up the area.

It was a deserted place, but it didn’t hurt to tidy up.

Then-

Bzzz- Bzzz-

One of the dead Chinese hunters’ phones rang.

Before answering, Min Do-jun transformed into Heo Ji-pyeong, just in case.

Beep-

He quietly picked up.

He said nothing, waiting for the other person to speak first.

-Is Heo Ji-pyeong there? Is it done?

He recognized the voice instantly.

The one who ordered his death.

“You sent them to kill me, Justin Walker?”

-……

After a moment of shocked silence, the voice spoke calmly.

-So you failed.

“You called me out for lunch and this is what you pull?”

Min Do-jun dropped all formalities.

It would be odd to be polite after nearly dying as Heo Ji-pyeong.

But soon, Min Do-jun realized there was no need to keep up the act.

-Who are you?

Justin Walker had figured out the impersonation.

-Who’s pretending to be Heo Ji-pyeong?

“What are you talking about?”

-No need to play dumb. I know you’re not Heo Ji-pyeong.

Normally, his heart would have dropped, but Min Do-jun was calm.

He’d always thought he might be found out eventually.

“How did you know?”

-I asked the Chinese for the rankings. There’s no Heo Ji-pyeong in the list. Not even among the subordinates.

As expected, the rankings gave him away.

-I checked, and the White Snake Guild is completely wiped out. Not a trace of the bodies.

“……”

-Was it you who killed them?

“……”

Min Do-jun stayed silent.

He didn’t want to give Justin any information.

-When we met in Korea recently, was that you, not Heo Ji-pyeong?

“……”

-Answer me, will you?

“……”

-Ha, fine. I don’t know how you copied Heo Ji-pyeong’s face and voice, but you’d better quit while you’re ahead. If you meddle any further, I’ll kill you and all your family, everyone you know.

“Good luck.”

With that, Min Do-jun hung up first.

‘He still doesn’t know who I am.’

He only thinks someone is impersonating Heo Ji-pyeong, not who that person is.

‘Well, he’s never seen me transform, so it’s no wonder.’

Earlier, the transformation was undone, but he doubted anyone saw it.

No one had triggered his Presence Detection.

‘But what is Justin Walker’s goal?’

He summoned all the hunters in Korea but is here in China.

‘I thought he might be planning a bombing, but that’s not it.’

Eyes closed, Min Do-jun checked the situation in Korea through Parasite.

Suddenly, he opened his mouth.

‘Found him.’

Seo Jin-cheol.

He’d been spotted through Shin Kyung-min’s eyes.

‘He’s at the meeting too.’

He had to get to Korea before the meeting ended and memorize his scent.

‘I can kill Justin Walker later. Seo Jin-cheol comes first.’

With enhanced riding skill, Min Do-jun mounted the ghost wolf and turned invisible.

‘Distance to Korea: 1,100 km.’

At 3,000 km/h, he’d arrive in about 20 minutes.

‘Awoo, let’s go!’

[Woof!]

Min Do-jun vanished like a bullet.

* * *

“……”

After the call, Justin Walker’s expression was grim.

He hadn’t been able to get any identifying information.

‘A seasoned guy. He didn’t react to anything I said.’

He’d only recently learned that Heo Ji-pyeong’s name was missing from the rankings.

So he didn’t know how long someone had been impersonating him, or who the real culprit was.

‘He must have killed Heo Ji-pyeong, since he has his phone.’

That much he could infer.

But there was no concrete proof.

‘No, there’s one thing for sure.’

Whoever it was, he was strong enough to survive against three S-rank hunters.

‘And if he killed the 3,800-level Heo Ji-pyeong and wiped out the White Snake Guild…’

He must be at least level 3,800.

‘There are about 50 hunters worldwide above level 3,800.’

The culprit was likely among them.

‘At least he’s not Korean, right?’

Korea’s top rank was only 3,610.

‘Or maybe… The Tower of Infinity’s number one from Korea.’

The Korean hunter who broke his long-standing record.

‘Min Do-jun.’

The one who stole his experience buff.

He couldn’t help but add Min Do-jun to his list of suspects.

Justin Walker began to pay close attention to Min Do-jun.