Chapter 99

SMH 99

Chapter 33 – Winter Sovereign (2)

TL: Boko

Editor: Frost

“You did a great job a few days back.”

Ha Yeon smiled, and spoke as she gazed at Sung Joon. She was talking about the matter of the Il Sung Group. Sung Joon nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“It just turned out that way.”

“I know about the ‘Feast of Poison’ as well. It’s an item of mass destruction that spews out a powerful poison magic; if you hadn’t intervened, Mr. Sung Joon, several thousands would’ve died at minimum.”

“But it’s a magical poison that’s ineffective against S-rank Hunters. Even if I hadn’t, other S-rank Hunters would’ve intervened,” Sung Joon replied, but Ha Yeon shook her head.

“If you just look at the list of names who worked together, you should already know. All S-rank Hunters are selfish and don’t like to act. The diligent Na Joon Yeol, who is the sole S-rank Hunter who works for the government, was on a business trip, so… the damage would’ve spread considerably.”

It wasn’t good for him to so fervently deny his role in the recent incident, so Sung Joon just silently listened to her. Ha Yeon smiled and opened her mouth to continue.

“I’m always getting helped by you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

“What are you talking about…?” Sung Joon asked. He couldn’t recall helping her with anything other than Cha Kyu Tae.

“My younger sister lived near the Il Sung Group headquarters. She wasn’t able to make it a shelter in time, so she was able to survive thanks to you taking care of the situation quickly.”

“I’m glad she’s alright.”

“It’s because of you. You saved a lot more people besides my sister,” Ha Yeon said, and Sung Joon smiled slightly.

“Could you spare some time in the future? My sister said she definitely wanted to meet you at least once.”

“Your sister did?”

“Yes. She’s a girl*.” (*This doesn’t translate into English well. Basically, she’s been ambiguous with the gender of her sister, but hiding the identity of your siblings in English is extremely awkward and doesn’t really work.)

“I’ll try to make some time soon.”

“You’re just like other men, huh, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

Ha Yeon shook her head with a delighted expression. His honesty had actually made her feel cheerful.

The more she interacted with him, the better her impression of him got.

“Did you come with ‘Royal Cross’ as well?”

“Yes. But because the scale of this Raid is so large, they said they’re going to organize more team members for me.”

It seemed like Sung Joon wasn’t the only one responsible for an improvised assault team. Ha Yeon was in charge of the regular assault team, ‘Royal Cross’, so even if they organize additional members for her, it won’t be difficult for her to command them.

They spoke about various matters, and when he habitually checked his watch, it was already ten o’clock at night. He thought it would be rude to take up anymore of her time, so Sung Joon got up from the bench first, and opened his mouth.

“I should get going.”

“You’re leaving already?”

Contrary to his expectations, Ha Yeon’s voice was tinged with disappointment.

“You never know when the Raid will occur, so I have to get my rest.”

“So if I follow you, will I be able to see ‘Unlimited Power’ rest? What an exclusive.”

Aside from ‘Self-Defense’, Sung Joon was also known as ‘Unlimited Power’. It was a title that stuck because he rested far less than other Hunters.

“There’s nothing much to it.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After he parted ways with Ha Yeon, he entered his lodging, and threw himself onto the bed. He wasn’t tired, but the refreshing breeze from the open window caused him to feel drowsy.

By the time he got a hold of himself, it was already morning.

Sung Joon checked his phone. There was a message that Cha Hyun had sent and there was a rough map of the headquarters attached.

And Sung Joon inspected the map.

‘It’s close.’

There was a cafe near the Hunters’ residences where they could eat. Sung Joon decided to eat breakfast there, and hurried to the cafe.

“Is that the S-rank Hunter, Kang Sung Joon?”

“Wow. It’s my first time seeing an S-rank Hunter.”

As soon as Sung Joon entered the cafe, the Hunters recognized him and gazed at him enviously. There weren’t many opportunities to see an S-rank Hunter up close in Korea, and because they were envied by other Hunters, it was only natural that all their gazes were focused on him.

“It reminds me of the time when I was a no-name knight,” Rishubalt spoke nostalgically after surveying the cafeteria. When he saw the self-serve cafeteria, he remembered the time when he was a low-ranked knight.

“It’s Mr. Na Joon Yeol!” someone yelled, and the gazes focused upon Sung Joon all together dispersed in search of the 6th ranked Na Joon Yeol, and eventually focused on one area.

Na Joon Yeol was walking through the entrance of the cafeteria.

He was 160 cm tall with a lithe build, and wore glasses, evoking the image of a middle school model student. He was a Mage amongst the S-rank Hunters, so the model student image strangely fitted him.

“I sense tremendous mana from him,” Rishubalt said, and Sung Joon nodded his head. Na Joon Yeol, who had finished his business trip, surveyed his surroundings, and approached Sung Joon.

“May I sit in front of you?” Joon Yeol asked. There was no reason to decline, so Sung Joon nodded readily.

“Thank you.”

Joon Yeol acted politely and sat in front of Sung Joon. He didn’t have anything worth talking about, so Sung Joon just lifted his chopsticks.

Seeing that, Joon Yeol calmly opened his mouth.

“Regarding the incident with Kim Do Hyuk.”

He stopped moving his chopsticks and turned his gaze to Joon Yeol.

“If left to his own devices, a lot of people would’ve died. If I may act as the representative of Korea, I would like to thank you for your assistance.”

Contrary to other Hunters, Joon Yeol was extremely patriotic. If it wasn’t for the international treaty, he would’ve joined the army.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

Joon Yeol left behind the tray with half of his food remaining and left. He had spoken so briefly that it couldn’t really be called a conversation, and it was one-sided, but at the very least, Sung Joon was able to ascertain that he didn’t hate him.

By the time an employee rushed over to clean up the tray, Sung Joon was also finished and left the cafeteria.

While walking over to his quarters and enjoying the cool breeze, he heard a bell sound from his phone. The caller was Cha Hyun.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. This is Team Leader Im Cha Hyun. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. It was fine. What’s the matter?”

“We’ve formed your assault team.”

“It’s faster than I’d expected,” Sung Joon replied. He thought he’d have to wait two more days.

“It’s because we don’t know when the warp gate will open. We’re trying our best as well.”

“Where do I need to go? I want to see the faces of my teammates.”

“I’ll come by to guide you. It’s really far from your lodging.”

They used a vast expanse of land for their headquarters, so if Cha Hyun says it’s far, then they would need to use a car. Sung Joon arrived at his residence first, and waited for Cha Hyun while drinking coffee.

Rather than a military vehicle, a black van arrived at his lodgings, and Cha Hyun disembarked from the van to open the door for him.

“Please get in. I’ll take you there.”

Sung Joon sat in the backseat and after Cha Hyun got seated as well, the van embarked. The van travelled for around five minutes, and eventually stopped in front of an incredibly large makeshift building.

“Here we are. Everyone is already gathered.”

The semicircular building reminded him of a hanger, and when he entered inside, he saw Hunters sitting on lawn chairs.

“There are thirty one of them. There are six A-ranks and twenty five B-ranks.”

Rishubalt quickly measured the amount of mana the gathered Hunters had, and reported to Sung Joon. Since there were a lot of eyes watching, Sung Joon just nodded his head.

“You all have been waiting for a long time. This is Mr. Kang Sung Joon, the S-rank Hunter responsible for you all.”

He heard a brief and formal applause, and Sung Joon moved towards the front of the Hunters.

“It’s nice to meet you all. Please take care of me.”

Sung Joon smiled and surveyed the Hunters. However, he felt a particularly harsh gaze upon him.

He turned his sight and saw a scampish looking Hunter gazing at him; he wouldn’t stop staring at him.

The Hunter was sending out his killing intent. This was a clear provocation.

“He’s an A-rank Hunter. He seems to be a high tier A-rank based on his mana amount.”

Rishubalt seemed to notice the exchange of sharp glances between the two and hastily reported the information that he’d figured out to Sung Joon.

‘Is he picking a fight with me…?’

Sung Joon sent him a warning by looking at him coldly, rather than releasing his killing intent, but the A-rank Hunter released his killing intent even more strongly. Now it was obvious enough such that the other Hunters could take notice of it.

Because S-rank Hunters were so rare, one of the typical misunderstandings that A-rank Hunters around the high tier level would occasionally have was that if they exerted all their strength, they might be able to overwhelm an S-rank Hunter.

Of course, only stupid high tier A-rank Hunters would have that kind of misunderstanding.

‘Since everyone’s watching, I guess I can’t back off.’

Sung Joon smirked. Due to the explicit killing intent, everyone’s attention was on him. If he backed off here, other Hunters might make light of him as well.

It was an issue of how he would go about asserting his superiority, and Sung Joon didn’t want this trivial matter to go any further. Therefore, he decided to go with the usual.

‘Release.’

Without hesitation, he released a portion of his killing intent. He gazed coldly at the A-rank Hunter, and released such a deep killing intent that it caused goosebumps.

“Ugh…!”

The A-rank Hunter briefly cried out and furrowed his brows. He hadn’t expected Sung Joon’s killing intent to be this cold and deep. However, he didn’t stop releasing his killing intent.

‘So he’s putting up with this much, huh? Well, he is an A-rank Hunter.’

Sung Joon increased the concentration of his killing intent.

The killing intent within the cold air burst forth, and spread out into the surrounding area, chilling the air, as if it had been frozen solid. Experiencing this, the A-rank Hunter grit his teeth.

He could see his defeat, but it was too late to back off. Everyone was focused on watching the two.

“U-Urgh!”

The A-rank Hunter released his killing intent to its maximum. A few of the B-rank Hunters sitting nearby furrowed their brows at the persistently flowing killing intent.

“It seems like you could just slowly overwhelm him,” Rishubalt counseled. Sung Joon slowly increased the concentration of his killing intent.

“Ugh!”

“Ah!”

As he killed countless enemies on the battlefield for dozens of years, he had tempered his killing intent, making normal Hunters unable to bear it.

A few of the B-rank Hunters near the A-rank Hunter yelled in agony and quickly backed off to the side.

However, the A-rank Hunter didn’t budge. At this point, it seemed like he was just enduring through pride.

“My lord. It would be best if you fully released your killing intent. Even if he is afflicted with several injuries, they should see him being overwhelmed.”

Sung Joon nodded his head and released his killing intent fully. At that moment, the A-rank Hunter felt it. An intangible entity strangling his neck.

“Ugh!”

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Its callous hands gripped his neck, and he felt as though the Grim Reaper’s scythe had touched his skin, seemingly relaying a sense of coldness.

“AH… AH…!”

His nose was bleeding, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was crying. Even after seeing that, Sung Joon didn’t stop releasing his killing intent.

Around the time Cha Hyun was hesitating whether to intervene or not, someone stood in front of Sung Joon.