Chapter 154. Nothing Comes From Nothing (3)
“This is all for your training.”
“T-training?”
Thud, thud.
I walked over to where the number one ranked Hunter was and faced him.
Raising my index finger, I said, “Do you know what the common problem among Korean S-Class Hunters is?”
“Huh?”
“It’s that they can’t cooperate.”
“…!”
“Being S-Class means you have a higher innate Awakening Level, which messes up your team’s dynamics with your skills. That’s why no one has been able to form proper teams.”
One among the S-Class is a problem due to his personality, but that’s beside the point.
“So let’s practice. Right now, I’ve adjusted my physical barrier to be as weak as an F-Class Hunter.”
Swish. I showed my burned hand as I spoke.
“From now on, every time we meet, we’ll train to ensure I don’t get caught up in your skills. Got it?”
Adding that with a confident tone was just a bonus.
“Of course, I’m not a real F-Class, so this kind of injury doesn’t hurt at all, so don’t worry.”
To increase the precision of his skills, I decided to play the role of a biological target myself.
If that’s the case, my low defense can be justified for now.
“Wait a minute! No matter how you put it, how can a person do something as dangerous as that…!”
“By the way, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
I interrupted the opponent and asserted, “This isn’t optional; it’s mandatory. Sorry, but I’m not going to work with a Hunter who can’t even do this.”
“…!”
“If you really want to team up with me, you need to take responsibility and fix these shortcomings. Don’t avoid it.”
Yeah. This is the excuse I prepared.
“Plus, I haven’t recognized you even a bit yet, so revealing my cards for someone like you is a bit…”
“Hunter-nim.”
“Do you understand what I’m saying? It’s just that it’s too early to show off my real abilities.”
Until you reach a level worth respecting, I won’t show my true strength!
It’s quite an arrogant statement, but surely this young representative would understand, right?
“So just hang in there a little longer. When we work together later, you’ll naturally learn about my information, right?”
He was a proud Hunter who had been maintaining his guild as a one-man operation because he couldn’t find any worthy talents.
*
Thinking about it, Jeong Ha-seong has had a pretty sad life.
Having lost his father at a young age and living with only his single mother.
Well, they had a harmonious relationship, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say they had a tough life.
Since the Gates appeared.
A student, who dreamed of being a veterinarian, ended up becoming a Hunter who hunts all kinds of beasts.
And the only family he had fell into a coma due to a modern incurable disease called magic addiction.
-If Ha-seong gets involved in a scandal, to be honest, no one among the Korean people can sleep easy.
Not to mention the harsh regulations he suffered until recently.
The Korean Hunter Association often spews out sophisms to use the power of S-Class effectively.
“Your lack of action as an S-Class will cause countless neighbors to die,” was their main line of blame.
In reality, it’s the monsters in the dungeons that are killing people. Yet they agitate people as if the lethargy of the Awakened was the cause of the disaster.
But just when it seemed like they had barely escaped this gaslighting effect, now there’s an alien eyeing S-Class’s bank accounts.
“Jeong Ha-seong, you still don’t realize my intentions, do you?”
Isn’t this an unfortunate life?
If only Jeong Ha-seong had a suspicious personality, his situation would have been better than it is now.
He is not that kind of person.
Rather, he’s the type who would fall for Kim Gi-ryeo’s bluff more than anyone else.
Repeated threats.
And the shocking behavior he displayed in the 13th Month’s Maze.
Thanks to consistently sowing the seeds of doubt, the image of Kim Gi-ryeo had already solidified in Ha-seong’s mind.
-Get a grip, Ha-seong! You’re being foolish!
-Are you worried that you’ll be treated like a monster with that skill? Isn’t that a bit arrogant?
-Don’t mess around with such trivial power.
These words were things Jeong Ha-seong had heard from others up till now.
If you think about it, none of them were compliments, but surprisingly, Ha-seong developed some goodwill towards those remarks.
Compared to the sycophants who were intimidated by the presence of the number one ranked Hunter and only offered flattering words, having someone who spoke harshly was actually beneficial.
‘Come to think of it, it was thanks to that person’s frank words that I finally regained my senses and got treatment.’
As expected, speaking carelessly to an S-Class Hunter can be a great tactic for disguising weaknesses.
After all, they’re not ordinary folks, so the number one ranked Hunter treats them like this!
Those who don’t know would easily misunderstand the F-Class’s bold attitude.
This tendency wasn’t much different for Jeong Ha-seong himself.
Kim Gi-ryeo was likely a high-level individual who would gladly neglect even fellow S-Class Hunters.
If that’s not the case, the behaviors displayed by him would hardly make sense.
“So let’s practice. Right now, I’ve adjusted my physical barrier to be as weak as an F-Class Hunter.”
“….”
“From now on, we will train together each time we meet so I won’t get caught in your skills. Got it?”
The victim who firmly believes that the fourth S-Class is strong.
So Jeong Ha-seong didn’t feel any sense of awkwardness in the ongoing conversation.
He didn’t question the declaration that Ki-ryeo would weaken his magical barrier to utilize it for training.
“But, but if we train like this….”
However, even Ha-seong had one thing he couldn’t believe.
“If Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo gets hurt… You’ll get burned every time, won’t you?”
That hero didn’t trust himself.
As that blond Hunter repeatedly said, this side is an Awakened one whose ability to regulate their skills is considerably low.
‘This is crazy.’
But would he want to live like this?
Since the moment of his Awakening, Jeong Ha-seong had put in a tremendous effort to handle his innate magic.
If you count the time spent practicing, no one could reasonably claim that it was insufficient.
Yet, even so, he couldn’t rein in this volcanic-like heat.
‘Moreover, I feel like that Hunter doesn’t even share the same properties as me.’
With all this, could it actually be a feasible goal to make sure his flames wouldn’t burn an ordinary person?
As time passed, distrust in himself only grew. So, Ha-seong asked.
“Can I really gain such effects just by receiving Hunter-nim’s secret?”
At that, the blond man quietly glanced around the place where he stood.
*
If it doesn’t work, it needs to work somehow.
Gi-ryeo thought upon hearing Ha-seong’s question.
It wasn’t a lie that he planned to fix the problem of S-Class Hunters who couldn’t form teams due to their skills affecting their comrades because they have high Awakening levels.
‘That’s beneficial for me too.’
Did they think I started this deal just to earn money?
In fact, training S-Class Hunters was an essential process that an alien had to undergo at some point.
No matter how high they flew, all the sorcerers in this place would ultimately be nothing but newborns in the presence of a Great Mage.
Nevertheless, even if he regains his strength after recovering from his injuries, he had no intention of working for these Earthlings.
“Hmm.”
This is a kind of investment.
If I can nurture a Hunter like Jeong Ha-seong, it seems that a safer life in Korea will be guaranteed in the distant future.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t have to personally solve the Ki-simche problem. It seems like meddling would just give me a headache….’
I’ll pass on the Gate raids to other S-Classes and retreat to the countryside for a lazy life of leisure.
An ideal plan.
So, Gi-ryeo made up his mind again. He had to refine the person in front of him to a usable level.
And to do that, he would have to solve that part first.
“Ha-seong, do you know why S-Class skills cause secondary damage?”
Gi-ryeo didn’t answer his disciple’s question but jumped right into this topic. He continued the transfer of knowledge.
“That’s because they awakened their inhumane magic all at once, resulting in significantly lower clarity compared to others.”
“Clarity?”
“For example, let’s say you create a flame of this size.”
Gi-ryeo stretched out his index finger.
“The actual magic being emitted is about this size.”
He held up his right hand behind the index finger he extended.
The clear difference in area between the two: finger and palm.
“Without consciously using it, they’re wasting magic they don’t need, which leads to side effects.”
“Wasting….”
“In other words, it could also be called diffusion. That’s more intuitive.”
As he spoke, Gi-ryeo fiddled with his shirt collar, where a low-grade Magic Tool worth 50 million won was hanging.
“In my personal opinion, if we can just tame this diffusion phenomenon, pairing up S-Class Hunters would be easy.”
The awakened one with black hair showed interest in this statement.
“Of course, no matter how much you boost clarity, if you fumble at the skill’s range designation stage, you’ll burn your teammates.”
“…Ugh.”
“That can be slightly mitigated if you master the know-how I’ll be teaching you, so don’t worry.”
“Really?”
“If you save the magic that’s being wasted and redirect it towards defense, S-Classes won’t harm their teammates while being free from each other’s secondary damage.”
Now, shall we start taking the real first step?
Chapter Part 1. The Conscious Position Designation of Magic
Gi-ryeo executed the carefully crafted curriculum for the national hero.
And as time passed, Ha-seong’s emotions shifted rapidly.
Astonishment and anticipation.
Fortunately, the alien’s teaching seemed to yield good results for Ha-seong.
‘Hmm. By the way, from what I gather, 3 billion won cash a month seems to be a bit burdensome even for S-Classes. So, raising the tuition to about 5 billion might be the limit.’
At that moment.
The F-Class Hunter, who was internally calculating, quietly swallowed a sinister laugh.
‘Let’s suck them dry for about 6 months and then come up with all sorts of excuses to break our team promises.’
As you can see, Kim Gi-ryeo had no intention of keeping the collaborative proposal he had spit out.
-Just hang in there a little longer. When we work together later, you’ll naturally learn about my information, right?
In fact, all this was an insincere lie.
Working with top-tier Hunters?
Logically, there’s no way an F-Class could do that.
‘It’s dangerous to keep pretending to be S-Class in front of them.’
The premise of this training contract is that when the apprentice Jeong Ha-seong acquires skills to a level that Gi-ryeo acknowledges, he will start team activities with him.
However, this simply means that if he subtly defers that acknowledgment, he won’t have any obligations to work with the other party for the rest of their lives.
Moreover, to be honest, even if such a contract were made, Jeong Ha-seong wouldn’t suffer any fatal losses.
Although it started as a scam, a warm conclusion awaited at the end of this story: “Finally, I can safely handle my magic.”
Of course.
‘Who said I wouldn’t work? I’ll definitely do my part as I benefit from it~ But still, a person has some conscience.’
Once Ha-seong’s ability control reaches a stage where he can collaborate with other S-Class, I’ll appropriately connect him with talents like Esther and exit stage left.
A perfect road map.
Gi-ryeo sank into his thoughts while rationalizing his deceptive actions.
‘Plus, using the excuse of pairing them up, I could even extort money from Esther later… This completely solves my financial worries!’
Hahaha!
However, at that moment, he still didn’t realize.
The unintended collusion he started would bring about unexpected consequences.
Blindness and anxiety.
His new disciple, outwardly upright, actually carried a gene that could easily spiral into absurdly negative thinking.
