Chapter 230 – Strike Back (8)
“Senior. Are you okay?”
The old man, who had collapsed on the floor and was painted red, looked so miserable that it looked like a corpse. The figure entangled in the asphalt and red steel bars was enough to compare with the body of a terribly accidental death. But the old man was still breathing. With a frown on his face, he reached out to the Hunter who was worried about him. Hunter grabbed the old man’s hand and pulled hard to get him up. The rebars wrapped around his body like a parasitic plant scratched the old man’s body according to the power of the hunter.
Another red rust mark appeared on the old man’s body. But the old man didn’t care about getting his body dirty. He said.
“Lee Hyeon-woo?”
“Currently, other hunters are pursuing.”
“It’s an S-class Hunter. I have to go.”
And the old man got up from his seat, but soon stumbled and sat on the floor. The old man frowned as he saw blood dripping from his nose and mouth. Lee Hyeon-woo poured all his strength into the attack and eventually inflicted serious injuries on him as well. The old man said with a frown on his face.
“If you have this kind of power, you’ll have to keep calm… Eh, you pitiful bastard.”
“Elderly. Let’s rest for now. If the elders pass away, it will no longer be a problem for the Diamond Club. It will become a problem for the whole of Korea.”
“But…”
The old man tried to get up again. When Hunter tried to force him to sit down to tear him down, to his surprise, the old man’s huge body could not overcome his strength and collapsed. The old man widened his eyes, realizing that this B-class hunter’s brute force had put him in a hurry. Hunter said.
“Gates are open everywhere, so you don’t know what will happen to Chungcheong-do. If you had used the same technique just now, he would have been half exhausted. Since we sent an official letter of cooperation to other provinces, the elders, please rest for now. You should rest.”
“…I get it.”
The old man sat down again. The extent of his injuries was serious even he thought to himself, so he couldn’t help it. Hunter let out a sigh of relief when he heard the old man’s docile words.
*****
“Stand there, Lee Hyun-woo!”
“You ungrateful bastard!”
In the midst of the profanity-filled chase, Lee Hyeon-woo continued to reflect on the factor of patience in his heart. There was nothing to gain by fighting them. It was because they were the ones who couldn’t even catch up to themselves if they gnashed their teeth and ran away anyway. If you get caught up in their childish provocations and accept the fight, it would only be a matter of time before you get caught.
Who is Hyunwoo Lee? He was once the youngest S-class hunter and the pride of the Korean hunter world, famous for being the shortest S-class hunter. He was praised for being the title of Heavenly Horse better than ‘Choi Soon-hong’, who was recognized in his own way in the hunter world.
“Stand there, Hyunwoo Lee! Don’t run away!”
Funny enough, whenever he heard such low-level swear words, the memories deep in Lee Hyun-woo’s heart came out like water ghosts, pulling his heart hard, and making a mess in his head. His inner pride was telling him. Turn around and fight right now, kill all those noisy bastards who destroy your pride.
Hunters all have elements that they are irrationally obsessed with one by one. For Choi Yeon-ju, it was a ‘drama’, and for Choi Sun-hong, it was the title of ‘Heavenly Horse’. To Lee Hyun-woo, that was ‘honor’. Honor. A higher honor is to stand on an irreplaceable throne and be worshiped by people. It was such an act that made Lee Hyun-woo’s heart cry. At the same time, trampling on Lee Hyun-woo’s heart was an act of ignoring himself. He doesn’t seem to greet himself properly. He’s being sarcastic in front of himself. Ignoring oneself and swearing at oneself.
“Don’t run away! Criminal!”
“Embrace yourself and find the light!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of being a Hunter?”
The hunters chasing after him were sweating profusely and spitting curse words at Lee Hyun-woo. I couldn’t see Lee Hyun-woo’s face from behind, but Lee Hyun-woo’s face was already distorted like a Buddhist painting depicting a yaksha or a ghost. He shouted with all his might, holding his breath.
“Shut up!”
And that cry had the opposite effect. It was because the hunters realized that such swear words were effective for Lee Hyeon-woo and poured out swear words more excitedly.
“You motherless bastard!”
“Come on! You bastard who took an S-class Hunter by slaughter! Can’t you fight because you’re afraid your skills will be exposed!”
“Your mother borrowed it and got an S-Class Hunter!”
Lee Hyeon-woo’s pride was cut even more every time that happened. He could not bear this humiliation. His head was so complicated that it seemed like it was going to explode any moment. I could hear his teeth grinding. His molars were already cracked, but he clenched them even harder, as if he were going to grind them down.
“Got it!”
At that moment, the hunter who jumped out from the grass next to him grabbed his side and shouted excitedly. He was an acceleration ability hunter optimized for running. After covering the shortest distance faster than anyone else, he made a tackle to knock Lee Hyun-woo down. Hyunwoo Lee knew the name of this hunter. His name is Kim Gun-young. It was a b-class hunter. His tackle hurt as if he had been accelerating from a long distance. Lee Hyun-woo didn’t like that fact. I didn’t like Hunter’s elated expression either.
“Nice!”
“Good job!”
He didn’t like the fact that the hunters chasing him from behind spoke as if they had caught him for granted. Lee Hyeon-woo has not yet been caught. He grabbed the head of the hunter who was holding his side with both hands and pressed it as hard as he could.
“These bastards!”
“Uh, uh uh? Aaaaagh!”
Unable to withstand Lee Hyun-woo’s grip, Hunter’s head was pressed down like pizza dough and exploded. The cheers of the Hunters also stopped with the screams. When they saw Lee Hyun-woo’s sudden change of attitude instead of running away, they were startled and backed away. Lee Hyun-woo gasped for breath and waved his hand. The hunter who was running found that intangible explosions continued from the next bush, like land mines exploding. He narrowly turned around, but his arm caught in the blast was torn off in vain.
“Aaaaagh!”
Hunter collapsed to the floor, clutching his severed arm. Lee Hyun-woo clasped his hand towards another hunter. Hunter’s body was crushed and he fell to his knees, shaking his head with a look of anguish. He threw his hands forward in an attempt to unleash his ability. A sharp wind rose and lightly cut Lee Hyun-woo’s cheek and side, but he didn’t care. Lee Hyun-woo screamed and completely grabbed his hand.
“Aaaaa!”
“Quaaaaagh!”
Hunter’s whole body shriveled as he screamed. After using his ability to completely crush his six pieces and shape them into a small ball, he shuddered with rage and unleashed his ability. Only after feeling the smell of blood and meat fragments scattered in all directions, Lee Hyun-woo was able to catch his breath and regain his composure.
“Haha…!”
Hyunwoo Lee saw the Hunter who had fallen on the floor. Hunter got back up and was ready to fight. A mane grew from Hunter’s back and his mouth was elongating. Lee Hyun-woo tried to use his ability once again, but turned around when he sensed energy coming from all sides of him. Hunters were coming up from the direction of the forest. There was no doubt that the hunters were cooperated in other regions.
Even if he delayed catching the werewolf here, he was caught, and even if he ran away in the direction of the forest, he was caught. Hyunwoo Lee shook his head and looked at his last option. It was a city. Dazzling city. Where there are the most hunters. However, if the gate had not yet been closed, if all the people had evacuated due to the gate chaos, there was a higher chance that they would be able to run away rather than proceed against the hunters who did not know how many people were in the forest.
Lee Hyun-woo had to take an unwilling step. He was already exhausted, but he had to run away. Because if he ran away and lived, the opportunity would always come again.
Lee Hyun-woo’s figure disappeared. The Hunter, ready to fight, knelt down holding his arm. He gasped for breath and announced the current situation via the walkie-talkie.
[Lee, Lee Hyeon-woo escapes to the city! Hyunwoo Lee Escapes to the city! Urgently request personnel support!]
*****
The old man, who had bandages all over his body to heal his injuries, was fiddling with his cell phone. As he grew older, the newest culture was always difficult to deal with. After fiddling with his phone for a while, he said to a hunter passing by.
“I accidentally turned off this notice, what was it about?”
“Oh, notice? It said that almost all the gates to the city were closed.”
“What about Chungcheong-do? No news of the gate in Chungcheong-do?”
“I’m not a Chungcheong-do hunter, so there’s no news of the Chungcheong-do gate… But the A-level alarm didn’t go off, so please rest.”
“…I get it.”
