Chapter 73

SMH 73

Swordmaster Healer – Episode 73

TL: Boko

Editor: Ren

Chapter 24: Trouble (3)

Six blades aimed and rushed toward six vital points. Kyu Tae saw that and realized…

‘I can’t block that.’

He did his best. He swung his short sword like a flash of lightning. The six illusionary swords aimed at six vital points simultaneously and Sung Joon saw Kyu Tae block five of them.

‘So this is an S-rank Hunter…?’

Sung Joon also couldn’t help but be surprised. Until now, there hadn’t been an opponent that could block that many illusionary swords. If Kyu Tae had responded just a bit quicker, he may have been able to block all six swords. If that had happened, Sung Joon would’ve lost because his strongest and most lethal attack had failed.

“AH!”

Ultimately, Kyu Tae was unable to block one of them. The illusionary sword had pierced his stomach and disappeared. Kyu Tae was afflicted with a dizzying pain and yelled out in agony.

“W-Wait a minute!”

As Sung Joon was about to stab Kyu Tae with his sword, Kyu Tae retreated and hurriedly raised his hands.

“L-Let me live… I’ll apologize and give you some money… So please…” he begged.

“Sorry, but I won’t do something as stupid as leaving a source of future trouble alive,” Sung Joon coldly replied and pierced him with his sword.

“Damn it! I’m telling you to let me live!”

Kyu Tae hastily swung his short sword and defended himself; he even held him back by mixing in a feint.

‘He can resist this much even when he’s fatally wounded?’

Sung Joon was at least sure of Kyu Tae’s skill. However, the more he showed his extraordinary combat abilities, the more Sung Joon was sure that he had to kill him.

‘I’ll kill him to spare myself from future trouble…!’

He couldn’t show his enemies mercy. If he let them live, they would immediately be thankful, but that thanks would soon turn into a desire for revenge.

“Yeah! Kill me, you asshole! But I won’t die alone!”

Kyu Tae fired a mana bullet from his index finger, but by the time Sung Joon had dodged the mana bullet, Kyu Tae had already used his high-speed movement to instantly close the distance.

He was severely injured, so using his high-speed movement had caused his stomach to bleed and the severed pieces of his inner organs spilled from his stomach, but he didn’t care.

The only thing Kyu Tae was thinking about was taking Sung Joon down with him.

“Flash Cut.”

Kyu Tae had disregarded his defense and dashed in like a berserker. Sung Joon didn’t unreasonably use his Illusionary Sword again and used the comparatively less straining technique, Flash Cut, cutting deeply into Kyu Tae’s wound.

“AH!”

Kyu Tae staggered, but he desperately clung to his life and pushed forward, stabbing at Sung Joon with his short sword. However, he had amassed fatal wounds, so it wasn’t at the proper speed.

Sung Joon dodged Kyu Tae’s stab by retreating one step back; simultaneously he drew his dagger and pierced Kyu Tae’s left eye.

“AH!”

With a short cry, Kyu Tae fell helplessly and Sung Joon absorbed his mana.

“Your synchronization rate has become 30%,” Rishubalt reported.

Sung Joon’s synchronization rate had increased by 3%. His transcendence of his synchronization rate wasn’t excessive, so the pain wasn’t severe.

“What just happened…?”

“It was too fast, so I couldn’t see what happened.”

“Cha Kyu Tae is dead!”

“What exactly happened?”

Sung Joon’s and Kyu Tae’s movements had been too fast for the other Hunters to track. To them, everything had happened in an instant.

Only when there had been a lull in the battle had the onlookers been able to briefly see the two of them. Aside from that, they had only seen afterimages, but only the B-rank Hunters or higher could even see that.

“It’s the armed police*!” someone yelled. (*The police in this world are armed with military-level equipment.)

Sung Joon had already heard the sound of engines from afar and sheathed his sword. He might attract some unwarranted suspicion, so it was best for him not to hold his sword.

“That person killed an S-rank Hunter…”

“He doesn’t seem like he’s an S-rank Hunter…”

“Is he an SS-rank Hunter that the government hid?”

The onlookers couldn’t rashly approach Sung Joon and so kept their distance. There was still a thick killing intent lingering in the air, so even breathing was difficult.

Eventually, four armed policemen dismounted from the light armored vehicle III*. (*An LAV III is a military vehicle.)

One of them seemed to be a Combat Hunter as he raised and dropped his dagger while another seemed be a Healer that came to treat the injured, wearing vestments that were similar to Sung Joon’s.

The armed police were, strictly speaking, not part of the nation’s army, so even though Hunters were a part of the armed police, it didn’t violate the international treaty.

“Hunter? We briefly ask for your cooperation,” an armed police officer who appeared to be a Hunter maintained their distance and cautiously spoke. He seemed tense, as thick beads of sweat rolled down his cheek.

He had heard the contents of the report, so he knew that Cha Kyu Tae had been involved. If he was at the level of killing an S-rank Hunter, then it was highly likely that he was more powerful than an S-rank. Thus, the armed police couldn’t act recklessly.

‘If things go wrong, we’ll be annihilated even if the main force comes.’

If they confronted an S-rank Hunter, it was certainly possible that could happen.

“Based on his mana, he appears to be around C-rank,” Rishubalt explained.

“What kind of cooperation are you talking about?” Sung Joon replied callously, and the armed police felt intensely anxious.

The armed police officer opened his mouth with a tense expression.

“You must accompany us to our headquarters. We also have to confiscate your weapons.”

“I cannot accept you confiscating my weapons. I simply followed the rules of ‘self-defense’.”

“However, if we don’t confiscate your weapons…”

“Do you not understand the situation here?”

It had been reported to them that there was trouble with an S-rank Hunter, but the one on the floor was the S-rank Hunter. He hadn’t explained in detail, but Sung Joon’s response was enough to roughly explain the situation to them.

“I-I understand.” He nodded his head.

“Please keep the investigation here brief. I’m busy.”

Going all the way to the armed police’s headquarters and receiving an investigation might have taken a lot of his time. Plus, he wasn’t in a great mood because of Kyu Tae.

“B-But…”

The armed police officer looked clearly flustered. Sung Joon sighed. Then again, what authority would these low-rank guys have?

“May I use my phone for just a moment?”

“O-Of course.”

While Sung Joon called Hyun Sung, the armed police’s follow-up team arrived. The armed police officers dismounted from the four light armored vehicles.

However, they couldn’t easily approach due to the serious atmosphere.

“This is Kim Hyun Sung.”

Hyun Sung had picked up his phone and Sung Joon explained the situation to him.

“I’ll go immediately. Please buy as much time as you can.”

Hyun Sung replied that he intended to help Sung Joon without any hesitation. When their conversation was over, the armed police officers approached him.

“Will you cooperate with us?”

“Let’s go in ten minutes.”

“I understand.”

They couldn’t precisely gauge Sung Joon’s combat ability so the armed police officers were careful around him. It was a situation where in which they had no choice but to do so.

Amongst the armed police who had hastily mobilized, there were four Hunters. Excluding the one B-rank Healer, the others were C-rank.

‘He came.’

Sung Joon heard the sound of an armored vehicle’s engine from not far away. When he turned his head, he saw two of the Bureau’s Tactical Armed Forces’ armored vehicles quickly closing the distance.

When the armored vehicle stopped, Hyun Sung got out with the rifle-carrying Tactical Armed Forces troops.

“We’ll investigate the Hunter over there. Would you please turn him over to us?”

“We received the report…”

“But it seem as if the conflict is over, no? It is also within our jurisdiction to manage Hunter disputes. It may be different if we’re not on the scene, but we arrived now, so please skip the bothersome procedures and just turn him over to us,” Hyun Sung said.

In any case, even if the armed police were to investigate, they would have to transfer Sung Joon over to the Hunter Bureau in the end, so Hyun Sung wasn’t wrong.

“For now, we’ll report this to headquarters,” the armed police officer said.

“Please do so,” Hyun Sung replied.

While the armed police officer reported the situation through his radio, Hyun Sung approached Sung Joon’s side.

“I’ve finished speaking with the National Police Agency. It will go smoothly.”

Hyun Sung had spoken so softly that only Sung Joon would be able to hear him. Since his voice was overwhelmingly confident, the Hunter Bureau must’ve ended their talks well with the National Police Agency.

By the Hunter Bureau’s logic, there wouldn’t be any problems for now. Plus, this may be the birth of a new S-rank Hunter, so it seems like the National Police Agency was being cautious.

The title of S-rank Hunter held a lot of weight in Korea.

“Are you by chance Team Leader Kim Hyun Sung?” asked the armed police officer as he cautiously approached. It seemed as though he had been contacted by his headquarters, as he knew Hyun Sung’s name.

Hyun Sung nodded his head and answered, “Yes, that’s me.”

“I’ve gotten permission from headquarters. We’ll take our leave now.”

“Thank you. We’ll also collect Cha Kyu Tae’s body.”

“We’ve been informed. You may do as you wish.”

* * *

Either way, he had to undergo an investigation. It’s just that if he went through an investigation at the National Police Agency, it was highly likely that it would waste a lot of his time. But with Hyun Sung’s help, Sung Joon was able to go through a brief investigation at the Hunter Bureau.

“The black box recording confirms that Cha Kyu Tae was the first to attack, so you just need to answer a few formal questions. It should be over in five minutes.”

Team Leader Hyun Sung was in charge of Sung Joon’s investigation. Just as he had said, the investigation was really simple and was finished in five minutes.

“Thank you very much.”

When the investigation was over, Sung Joon returned home with a car that the Bureau had provided.

Despite the collision, his Hunter sedan started up properly; but there might have been some damage that he was unaware of, so he left it in Hyun Sung’s care, in order to get a professional check-up.

Sung Joon left and someone came into the Investigation Team One’s office.

“You came, Chief?”

Hyun Sung, who had been organizing Sung Joon’s statements, stood up from his chair and bowed his head.

“You’ve worked hard, Team Leader Kim.”

He spoke cordially to Hyun Sung and passed him a canned coffee. This man was the Hunter Bureau’s Investigation Chief, Park Byung Seo. He was a C-rank Supporter Hunter, but he didn’t like dungeon assaults, and he was the first Hunter to apply for a job at the Hunter Bureau.

“What do you mean by hard work? I’m just doing my job.”

“You also worked hard during the Invading Dungeon,” Byung Seo said.

“Thank you,” Hyun Sung responded as he opened the coffee and began drinking. Byung Seo smiled at the sight and just observed. Then he opened his mouth with a calm expression.

“Did you acquire the witnesses’ testimonies and the black box images?” he asked.

“We’ve acquired all the black box images. The team members are recording the witnesses’ testimonies,” Hyun Sung replied.

Byung Seo nodded his head with a satisfied expression.

“Good, you’re doing well.”

“However, it’d be best if you didn’t expect too much. There were a few B-rank Hunters amongst the eyewitnesses but apparently they couldn’t see things properly.”

“Then it’s a relief that we at least acquired the black box images, right?”

“That’s right,” Hyun Sung replied, and finished organizing Sung Joon’s statements.

“So, what do you think, Team Leader Kim?” Byung Seo asked.

“Are you asking me about the chances of Mr. Kang Sung Joon becoming an S-rank?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know how he fooled the measuring tool, but I believe he’s definitely an S-rank,” Hyun Sung replied firmly.

“He’s that good?”

The certainty in Hyun Sung’s voice surprised Byung Seo a bit.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon only had to use his ‘Heal’ once. In other words, using Heal only once means that he pretty much didn’t allow his opponent to land any hits. And we’re talking about him fighting against an S-rank Hunter as his opponent.”

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“So it’s certain. I should report this to the Director. Team Leader Kim, maintain your connection with him and if Mr. Kang Sung Joon has a request, report it, no matter what it is. The Director will probably permit anything that’s tolerable.”

“Are you thinking of scouting Mr. Kang Sung Joon?”

The international treaty forbade Hunters from joining the army, but it wasn’t uncommon for a Hunter to join a company affiliated to a guild or to a few government institutions.

Besides, the sixth placed S-rank Hunter, Na Joon Yeol, was famous for being a part of the National Police Agency.