Chapter 04
Dawn
Beyond the glass wall, like a zone of pitch-black darkness.
A single light turned on.
Normally, I wouldn’t pay it much mind.
*’Just a car passing by.’*
That would have been the extent of my thought.
But this one was different.
Like a ball bouncing on the floor.
A light bouncing up and down, rapidly approaching.
And an immense roar accompanying it.
*-Thump! Thump!*
*-Crash!*
“Ahh!”
*’Why is a car flying through the air?!’*
I ducked my body under the counter.
*-Kwa-gang.*
*-Paaack!*
The sound of shelves shattering.
And the sound of the ceiling and floor being demolished struck my eardrums.
At the same time, countless fragments and objects rained down over my body.
After a storm passed over me,
inside a box covering my body,
Cheonhwi, who had been sleeping, felt the anomaly and woke up.
[What is the matter?]
“I don’t know either. Suddenly, a car…”
I raised my body to assess the situation.
And the sight before me was sheer devastation.
Half of the convenience store was unrecognizable.
At the center of it, a compact car crumpled beyond recognition.
Even though there was a road right next to it,
I never expected a car to crash into the convenience store.
No, I never expected it to bounce off the ground and fly through the air.
*’It was as if someone had thrown it.’*
My gaze fixed on the direction the car had come from.
A single silhouette faintly visible under the streetlamp’s glow.
That silhouette was slowly approaching.
“Could it be a monster?!”
The word instinctively escaped my lips.
Something that should only exist inside a Gate was there.
At that moment, Cheonhwi emerged from the box and landed on the shattered counter.
[What are you staring at so blankly?]
“There. A monster…”
My eyes were still fixed on the large approaching silhouette.
[Hoho. It’s a somewhat large magical beast.]
He spoke nonchalantly.
Rather, he sounded intrigued, which snapped me back to my senses.
*’If I stay here, I’ll die!’*
*-Tak.*
*-Ta-dak.*
I grabbed Cheonhwi and scrambled out from behind the counter.
[Why are you rushing about so?]
“It’s a monster! We need to get out of here fast!”
*-Jageurak.*
*-Kkagagak.*
I moved outside the convenience store, stepping over the debris scattered everywhere.
Finally, the moment I was outside.
The large silhouette, illuminated by the streetlamp,
had already drawn close and revealed its identity.
“Yeti…”
Because of the huge silhouette and the monstrous strength to throw a compact car,
I had suspected it.
But still.
*’To think it’s a D-class monster.’*
To me, an F-class production-type Hunter, it was a catastrophic existence.
“Whoa, what the hell?! I thought I was gonna die.”
At that moment, I saw Choi Jin-ho crawling out from the debris.
*’Right. That bastard was here!’*
If it was him, a D-class Hunter who was always brimming with pride, he should be able to handle a Yeti.
“That’s a Yeti! Do something, quick!”
At my shout, Choi Jin-ho turned around.
“Heeek!”
He hurriedly got up and moved his body.
*’Thank goodness. I can leave it to that guy.’*
My relief was short-lived.
His movement wasn’t aimed at the Yeti.
It was aimed at me, in the opposite direction.
*-Ddeudung. Ddeudung.*
“Why are you coming this way?!”
“Waaah! Help!”
“You said you were a D-class Hunter! Then you should fight!”
“I’ve never actually fought a D-class before!”
*-Cheolpudeok.*
Pathetic.
A so-called D-class Hunter running away from a monster, tripping and falling.
The Yeti was now getting closer to Choi Jin-ho.
“Don’t come! Waaaaah!”
*-Peok!*
*-Kwang!*
The Yeti swung its arm, sending Choi Jin-ho flying back into the convenience store.
*’I’m an idiot for relying on a piece of trash like that.’*
All I had left now was
Cheonhwi, small and cute like a cotton ball in my arms.
“Cheonhwi-nim. Please take care of that thing.”
[You dare ask this Venerable One to deal with a piddling magical beast like that?]
*-Koong. Koong.*
I shouted as the Yeti approached closer.
“We’ll really die at this rate!”
[There’s no way you’d die to a mere oversized beast like that!]
“But an F-class Hunter like me would die in one hit!”
The Yeti was closing the distance.
Just as I was about to turn my body to flee from it,
Cheonhwi jumped out of my arms and landed on the ground.
*-Poljjak.*
[How can a disciple receiving my teachings show his back? Hurry up and deal with it.]
“How can an F-class like me possibly fight a Yeti?”
[Are you saying one who has even pierced a ley line cannot handle such a trivial magical beast?]
Right.
I had pierced a ley line.
With his help, I had changed my magic insensitivity, once treated as garbage, into magic sensitivity.
*’I can’t live as an F-class forever.’*
I had lived my life with the goal of becoming famous and making my parents, who abandoned me, regret it.
If I just ran away from a monster like that, how could I ever achieve fame?
Of course, I should try to fight.
But would simply changing my trait provide a way to defeat it?
*’If I don’t know, I just need to ask.’*
“Fine. I’ll fight it, so please tell me how.”
[Just use your own martial arts. What is there to ask?]
Martial arts?
“I don’t know any martial arts.”
At my words, Cheonhwi slapped his own forehead with his front paw.
*-Pok.*
[Hah… What am I to do with you? You don’t know martial arts.]
“What do you expect from a mere alchemist?”
The Yeti was right in front of me.
Its fist, raised high, came into view.
*’I have to dodge!’*
The Yeti’s fist moved in slow motion.
I threw my body to the side, matching the falling fist.
*-Kwa-aang.*
[Your movements are decent.]
When had he come beside me?
Cheonhwi was looking at me.
“Enough with the commentary, just teach me!”
[Don’t rush me. Since your ley line is pierced, even if you don’t know martial arts, you should be able to perform TANJI SHINTONG.]
I dodged the Yeti’s flying fist again and shouted.
“What’s that?!”
[Pick up a pebble from the ground. Then gather your Ki at your fingertip and flick it.]
Following Cheonhwi’s words, I picked up a piece of asphalt rolling on the ground.
A piece smaller than my pinky fingernail.
I held it with my fingers to flick it.
But the problem was, I didn’t know how to gather magic.
*’Should I just do it like when I refine magic stones?’*
“Refine.”
Magic gathered into the asphalt piece, but it soon crumbled into dust.
*-Pasaak.*
[I told you to gather Ki, but you broke its internal structure. What are you going to do about that?]
“No! You said to gather magic!”
*-Pok.*
Cheonhwi’s swung front paw hit the back of my head.
*-Buuung.*
A chilling sound of wind passed behind it.
*’What?!’*
If I hadn’t ducked my head from that hit,
my head would have been shattered by the Yeti’s fist.
[Right now, you are touching the foundation, not gathering Ki. And you can’t even grasp the enemy’s movements – are your eyes just for decoration?]
I’m touching the foundation?
*’So I shouldn’t do it like refining magic stones?’*
[You fool! What are you just standing there thinking about so blankly?!]
Cheonhwi’s shout struck my ears,
and thanks to that, the Yeti swinging its fist again came into view.
*’Damn!’*
*-Tadadak.*
*-Kwa-ang.*
The Yeti’s fist slammed into the ground, sending fragments flying in all directions.
One fragment flew toward my face.
*-Tak.*
*’There’s too much to focus on!’*
I fiddled with the fragment in my hand while putting distance between myself and the Yeti.
*’Ah! Right. I have that.’*
A skill came to mind.
I hadn’t used it yet, but there was one skill I’d gained when Cheonhwi pierced my ley line this time.
“Magic Discharge!”
Like icy water carrying a chilling cold flowing through my veins,
magic flowed through my entire hand and then headed toward my fingertip.
*-Piiing!*
The fragment flew faster than the eye could see.
*-Peo-eok.*
“Kuh-eoeo…”
The Yeti’s head snapped back.
*-Kuuung!*
Then its entire body fell backward with a loud crash.
Just a tiny fragment had felled that massive Yeti.
“Is it done?”
*-Kkumteul.*
The Yeti began to stir slightly.
*-Chalssak.*
Damn my loose lips.
Why did I have to say that?
“Krrrr.”
As I berated myself while watching the Yeti get up,
Cheonhwi spoke via telepathy.
[Tsk. You fool. You should have gathered more Ki.]
*-Hwik. Hwik.*
Perhaps from the impact, the Yeti shook its head vigorously.
*-Tok.*
The asphalt fragment embedded between its brows fell to the ground.
“Krrrr. Kraaaa!”
The Yeti even roared at me.
*’I feel like I just made it angrier…’*
As if my prediction was right,
the Yeti charged toward me.
*-Buuung.*
Unlike before, a fist filled with killing intent flew toward me.
[Watch it until the very end and then dodge.]
Following Cheonhwi’s guidance, I watched the Yeti’s fist and moved my body.
*-Kwa-aang.*
And it seemed like that wasn’t the end.
The Yeti swung its fists indiscriminately.
*-Kwang. Kwa-ang.*
The attacks were filled with killing intent.
*’But it’s simpler than I thought.’*
However, I couldn’t just keep dodging forever.
I had to attack again.
*-Beonjjeok.*
A piece of glass caught my eye.
*’That’s it!’*
I dodged the Yeti’s attack and rolled on the ground to snatch it.
“Kraaa!”
The Yeti roared and suddenly grabbed the street tree standing beside it with both arms.
*’No way?’*
*-Udeuk.*
*-Tudeudeuk!*
The street tree groaned as if screaming and moved.
This was my chance while the Yeti was wrestling with the tree.
I focused all my senses on my fingertip and activated the skill.
“Magic Discharge.”
Again, I felt the cold-filled magic.
Just as it flowed quickly from my hand and was about to be discharged from my fingertip,
*’I can’t release it like this!’*
I suppressed the magic with strong will.
Then, the undischarged magic began to gather at my fingertip.
*’Just a little more.’*
*-Tududuk.*
The street tree was uprooted.
“Krarara!”
*-Buuung.*
With the Yeti’s roar, the giant tree cleaved through the air.
Clumps of dirt scattered everywhere, creating a thick cloud of dust.
In that fleeting moment,
the view between it and me was completely obscured.
*’Now!’*
I discharged the magic I had held back to its limit.
*-Piiiing!*
The glass fragment flew with a sharp sound, like tinnitus in my ear.
*-Pasak!*
The street tree was cut cleanly in two.
*-Peo-eok!*
The debris of the broken tree and dust covered the Yeti.
*-Kwang.*
The massive log of the tree crashed to the ground.
A suffocating silence followed.
When the time, which had felt like an eternity flowing slowly, finally returned to its place,
the dust settled, revealing the Yeti.
It stood there with a hole the size of a fist in its neck, then fell backward.
*-Kuuung.*
A strong vibration traveled through the ground to the soles of my feet.
*-Poljjak.*
Cheonhwi, who had hopped onto my shoulder at some point.
[It took you too long to deal with such a worthless beast.]
His words made me realize the battle was over.
“Hoo… It’s over.”
[Still, at the end, you managed a decent imitation of Tanji Shintong.]
Imitation?
The Yeti with the hole in its neck, the tree cut in two…
*’Just how powerful is the real Tanji Shintong?’*
As a chill ran down my spine,
a cool pain in my right hand jolted me.
“Ugh…”
[What’s wrong?]
“My hand… feels strange. And my senses are dulled.”
[That’s because you used the ley line properly for the first time. It will subside with time.]
“Then that’s a relief.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off the fallen Yeti.
An F-class like me had taken that down.
The surge of joy was short-lived.
*-Teolseok.*
As the tension from the battle subsided, all strength left my body.
“Ah… All my strength is gone.”
Cheonhwi glanced at me sitting there, then looked into the distance and spoke.
[The situation is already over, but they’re running here diligently.]
“Running here?”
[Some more useful fellows than you are coming. They should arrive in half an hour.]
“Half an hour? What’s that in…?”
[I’ve never seen such an ignorant fool. It’s the time it takes for tea not to cool down. Got it?]
That fast?
*’If they’re more useful than me, they must be Hunters… from the Association?’*
My surroundings came into view.
The half-destroyed convenience store.
The cold corpse of the Yeti.
The ground sunken in all directions, scattered with debris.
“…I need to do something about this.”
[What do you mean?]
“About that.”
[Just announce your achievement. What else is there to do?]
“Announce it? Absolutely not. If an F-class like me gets caught having taken down a Yeti, I’ll be investigated immediately.”
[So what if you get investigated? You’d be receiving recognition for your achievement.]
“What if it takes several days? How am I supposed to earn money in the meantime?”
His small eyes widened,
and his slightly folded ears perked up.
[That won’t do! You are a body that needs to earn money.]
“Exactly. So let’s clean this up quickly…”
*-Tudeudeuk.*
A small sound reached my ears, and my head turned toward it.
“What’s that sound…”
What could possibly make a sound from the half-destroyed convenience store?
There is one person.
*’Right. That bastard was here?!’*
The one who would take responsibility for this troublesome situation.
Unknowingly, a smile spread across my lips.
