Chapter 295 – Part 2 – Kim Gi-hong

During lunch after morning training, the tiger instructor appeared before Gwang-jin once again.

“Trainee Gwang-jin. You have a visitor!”

“Again?”

Gwang-jin frowned but obediently followed the instructor.

‘Seong-min, that bastard didn’t come back to take the items, did he?’

He was worried that Seong-min might try to take back the items he’d given, claiming he’d changed his mind, but contrary to his concerns, the visitor wasn’t Seong-min.

“Your name is Gwang-jin, right? The one who worked at the Central Hunter Management Center.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I’m Kim Gi-hong, armory manager at the Southern branch.”

Gwang-jin found it strange that unexpected people kept visiting him today.

“Why would a manager from another center want to see me…”

“I have some questions about Choi Seong-min.”

At the mention of Choi Seong-min, Gwang-jin’s attention sharpened.

“Why him?”

“Don’t ask why, just answer. You’re close with Choi Seong-min, aren’t you?”

“Not really close, but… I know him to some extent.”

“Tell me everything you know. Family relationships, personality, everything.”

Gwang-jin readily spilled all the information he knew without hesitation.

There was no loyalty he needed to maintain between him and that guy.

‘We’re not friends anyway.’

Besides, as a commoner, he had no choice but to obey a manager’s orders.

“Hmm…”

Even though Gwang-jin freely shared information, Kim Gi-hong was still unsatisfied.

‘This isn’t enough. There’s no decisive evidence.’

There were no clues that could definitively identify Choi Seong-min as the culprit.

“Has he done anything suspicious recently?”

“Yes! That bastard became completely weird after waking up from his coma. He changed 180 degrees as a person!”

Gwang-jin excitedly began badmouthing Choi Seong-min.

For him, who’d had no one to gossip with until now, this was his chance.

“Not that kind of thing. Any other suspicious behavior?”

“Nothing else… Oh! Come to think of it, that guy came to visit me this morning.”

“A visit? What time?”

“It was around 10 o’clock.”

‘That was an hour after I visited his house!’

Why did that guy suddenly come to visit Gwang-jin?

Kim Gi-hong felt suspicious and gestured for him to continue.

“He’s not someone I’m usually close with. But that guy came with some trivial excuse saying he was grateful and gave me items.”

“Items?”

“Yeah, he gave me an E-rank weapon and armor as gifts, but they were quite worn down, like someone had used them before…”

“Wait, can you show me those items?”

Gwang-jin casually took the weapon and armor out of his inventory.

“Th-this is…!”

Kim Gi-hong’s eyes trembled as he recognized the items.

‘These are definitely Dong-il’s items!’

He wasn’t mistaken.

As his lover, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize Nam Dong-il’s items.

‘Choi Seong-min, that bastard really did kill him!’

Why did that guy give the items to his friend Gwang-jin?

And so soon after he’d visited his house.

‘He got nervous when I came looking. So he hurriedly tried to destroy evidence by dumping the items!’

Grind-

Kim Gi-hong gritted his teeth and trembled with rage.

Gwang-jin was curious about why he was acting this way, but could only hold his breath and watch.

“…This was helpful. Here’s my business card. I’ll give you a proper reward when you get out of the training camp.”

Leaving only those words, Kim Gi-hong left the training camp.

‘Definitely… I’ll definitely kill that bastard with my own hands.’

Vowing revenge against Choi Seong-min.

However, Kim Gi-hong didn’t know.

That his target of revenge was tailing him from behind.

* * *

‘As expected, Kim Gi-hong went to find Gwang-jin.’

Watching Kim Gi-hong emerge from the training camp, Choi Seong-min smiled.

‘Then he must have seen it too. Nam Dong-il’s items that I planted on Gwang-jin.’

Given Gwang-jin’s personality, there was no way he’d hide the items.

He would have spilled all information to make a good impression on Kim Gi-hong.

‘As expected, I’ve made Kim Gi-hong angry, so now he’ll try to kill me.’

Despite earning resentment, Choi Seong-min wasn’t worried.

Rather, he was excited.

About how many prey he would bring.

‘Things are going more smoothly than I thought.’

Choi Seong-min secretly followed Kim Gi-hong.

* * *

Though Kim Gi-hong had found solid evidence that Choi Seong-min was the culprit, he couldn’t tell anyone.

‘If I carelessly reveal this and damage the image of Hunter Yang Jo-young and Hunter Yang Baek-du…’

The arrow might turn back on him instead.

‘It’s better to kill him quietly without anyone knowing.’

The center director had told him not to touch it, but handling it personally and quietly without informing the higher-ups would be cleanest.

He also preferred this method.

‘But I can’t just rush in recklessly.’

Kim Gi-hong knew.

That Choi Seong-min was definitely not an easy opponent.

‘He’s one rank lower than me, but he was called an elite at the training camp. He also killed Dong-il and Oh Nam-gi without a trace.’

Therefore, Kim Gi-hong forcibly suppressed his desire to kill him immediately.

‘If I’m going to kill him, I need to do it for sure.’

He wanted to overwhelm him with crushing force and chew him up from fingernails to toenails to vent his anger.

‘For that, I need to make maximum use of my trait.’

To utilize his trait, he needed people to help him.

Kim Gi-hong, determined on revenge, made a phone call somewhere.

The boss of an organization he’d been dealing with for a long time would help him.

-Oh, isn’t this the manager?

“Have you been well? Boss Yang?”

-Of course. I’ve been doing well. Though I’ve been incredibly busy lately since the dungeons opened.

“Ah, are you going hunting?”

-Not yet. As you know, you need a team to enter dungeons, right? So I’m creating one now. By absorbing other organizations.

Among gangsters composed of ordinary people, hunters were like wolves among sheep.

That’s why most boss positions in organizations were occupied by hunters.

Ranking by strength was the same for gangsters too.

“How many have you absorbed?”

-This might sound like bragging, but I’ve currently destroyed and absorbed three organizations.

“So you have three hunters under you?”

-That’s about right.

The gangsters in this area were composed of 1 hunter and 30 gang members per organization.

If he’d subdued and absorbed three organizations, that meant he’d secured 3 hunters and 90 gang members.

“As expected of the Yang Dong-i gang. Impressive, Boss Yang.”

-Haha, you flatter me.

Kim Gi-hong praised boss Yang Dong-hyeon.

‘Perfect. Including Boss Yang, that’s 4 hunters, right?’

If he could get help from 4 hunters, Kim Gi-hong could become stronger than anyone.

-But manager, today isn’t even a trading day. What’s the occasion for your call?

“Actually, I want to kill someone and was hoping you could help.”

-Killing people is our specialty, but… is it a hunter?

“That’s right.”

-If a D-rank manager like you is asking for help, they must be quite high rank?

“Not really. Same E-rank as Boss Yang.”

-Ah, then it’s not difficult at all.

“I want to kill them for sure if possible.”

-Ah, if that’s the case, I should help you. What’s our relationship after all. Hehe.

“I want to pressure them with overwhelming force and kill them slowly and painfully. Including that guy’s family. So I was hoping to get help from the team you created…”

-Our entire team?

“Yes. I’ll pay you well. I’ll also lend E-rank equipment for free for a year.”

-Ooh, with those conditions, I can’t not help you.

“Then come to the armory tonight with the hunters and I’ll lend you the equipment.”

-Okay, understood.

After ending the call, Kim Gi-hong grinned wickedly.

“Choi Seong-min, you’re a dead man today.”

Not just Choi Seong-min.

Him and his family too.

He would storm into that smelly semi-basement with the gangsters and kill them all.

Tonight.

* * *

Beep beep- Clank!

Kim Gi-hong opened the armory door and looked around once.

Since he was sneaking in, it would be troublesome if there were witnesses.

‘No one’s here.’

Relieved, he went inside and saw the vast display cases.

All E-rank items.

‘Taking a few for me and the gangsters to use shouldn’t be a problem.’

The CCTV monitoring the armory entrance was already turned off.

The scene of him going to turn off the CCTV wouldn’t be recorded either.

He’d been as careful as possible.

‘I won’t make mistakes like Dong-il did.’

Buzz-

At the sudden text notification, Kim Gi-hong looked at his phone.

[Boss Yang: We’ll arrive soon. You handled the armory CCTV, right?]

[Kim Gi-hong: Of course. The door is open, so just come right in.]

After sending the text, Kim Gi-hong looked around the display cases.

The gangsters would arrive soon.

He should prepare the weapons they’d use in advance.

That’s when it happened.

Clang-!

At the sudden metallic sound, Kim Gi-hong’s head whipped around.

With a tense face, he carefully walked toward where the sound came from.

He saw equipment that had fallen from a display case.

“What? Did it just fall?”

He sighed as his tension completely released.

He felt embarrassed for having ominous thoughts for a moment.

“Well, there’s no way anyone could have infiltrated an armory that only I can enter…”

Stab-

He felt something pierce deeply into the back of his neck.

Before he could confirm what it was, the thing that had been pulled out stabbed under his jaw once more.

Stab-

“Kuheu…”

Kim Gi-hong’s head trembled as his eyes widened.

Choi Seong-min was pulling a dagger from his neck.

[You have killed Hunter Kim Gi-hong.]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Pack Instinct.’]

[You have stolen 8 pieces of equipment.]

[Synchronization Rate 13.3%]

Choi Seong-min looked down coldly at Kim Gi-hong, who was collapsing while spurting blood.

“In the end, you died the same way as your lover Nam Dong-il.”

The ambush itself wasn’t difficult.

‘I just had to tail Kim Gi-hong, see the CCTV turn off, and infiltrate in advance.’

It was good that he’d learned the armory password before possession.

If not for that, the guy wouldn’t have been so careless.

‘Let’s see what kind of trait this is.’

[Trait – Pack Instinct]

-Rank: A

-Description: Your main stat increases by 10%, and when there are other awakened individuals within a 100m radius, it increases by an additional 5% per person. Applies to a maximum of 4 people.

Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened as he checked the trait.

‘Basic 10% increase to main stat plus 5% per hunter?’

With a maximum of 4 people, that meant up to 30% was possible.

‘This is a perfect trait for the current situation where you can only enter dungeons in teams.’

Since solo play wasn’t possible anyway, it would be easy to reach the maximum.

‘First prey is handled…’

Choi Seong-min searched Kim Gi-hong’s pants and pulled out his phone.

Checking the texts, it seemed he hadn’t planned to ambush alone as expected.

‘They’re coming here? Perfect.’

Just as he grinned—

“Manager! We’re here!”

At the appearance of additional prey, Choi Seong-min hid his body.

‘I’m curious. Just how many hunters did he bring…’

His curiosity was soon answered by a message that appeared.

[Number of nearby awakened: 4]

[Pack Instinct trait increases Agility by 30%.]

Pack Instinct didn’t distinguish between allies and enemies.

It applied unconditionally based on the number of nearby hunters.

‘4 people came?’

Choi Seong-min smiled in the darkness.

The party was starting.