175
Sibling fight (3)
“I didn’t know Director Song was here.”
I talked to Song Tae-won, pretending as if Sung Hyun-jae, who wasn’t needed today, wasn’t even there. He replied in a composed and obligatory tone as usual.
“If nothing gets in the way, I visit regularly twice a month, mainly to assist in the training of the Awakening Management Office members and Association Hunters.”
“You’ve been working hard.”
If you talk to someone you should look them in the eyes. I know, but my eyes kept going down unintentionally. Hos collar was a little too wide. It was originally quite wide and the clothes size couldn’t be helped, but he was still a public official.
…Frankly speaking, this was overkill in many ways.
“…Aren’t those clothes a little small? I believe sportswear should also come in a variety of sizes.”
Because there were many people who had better bodies than the general public.
“They’re specially made because ordinary clothes wouldn’t last.”
These were usually worn when measuring one’s physical abilities at a training center. There were only a few sizes because they were just common items, and Song Tae-won seemed to mostly play the part of the measuring opponent. The fact that more advanced hunters than usual were at the training center was also due to his presence. Even if one belonged to a general guild, they’d get trained by him if they just applied.
“It’s better to use lower level dungeons for simple training, but one needs a machine for accurate measurements. The measurement data wouldn’t get recorded and deleted immediately.”
In addition to their physical abilities, it seemed like many people came to test out their skills and items. The facilities were quite diverse, so it was possible to measure various factors, such as temperature resistance, toxicity, resilience and the area of effect.
It was then.
Kiiiiing-
I heard a harsh scratching sound close to my ear and almost at the same time an outstretched arm grabbed me. Immediately after that.
Kwuuwaang!!
After a loud bang, a strong wind blew making some fragments, that came from who knows where, fall. As someone half embraced me I wasn’t really injured. The others shouldn’t have even suffered a single scratch as they were all advanced hunters. But what was going on here?
“It’s Evelyn’s test shots.”
Holding me behind his back, Sung Hyun-jae said. That was an arrow just now? If one looked at the aftermath it looked more like some kind of missile got fired.
“Why did you have to leave a perfectly good dungeon and come to go crazy here?”
“To measure the intervals between each shot. They did say there was a problem with using the skill with it, but it definitely is a bit slow.”
I didn’t hear a sound.
“Cosmetics?”
“It’s sunscreen. Yerim told me to put it on.”
She told me that F-class skin needed to be protected, so she applied a lot on me. She said that she didn’t need it because she was an S-class.
It did have a strong smell.
“Now let go.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you depended on me, honestly.”
Ah, what nonsense was he talking about? I suddenly wondered what was going on, but then I remembered what happened yesterday.
“…Did Evelyn tell you?”
“I apologize for using my skill instead. Even if the party told me to do it, it was very rude.”
My heart ached for no reason. Rude… Right….I’m sure you’ve been using Evelyn’s skills here and there.
“Do you feel sorry towards anyone other than me?”
“Why should I feel sorry towards the opponents I used the skill on?”
Ah, right. If that were the case, one didn’t have to ask how many people I’d feel sorry towards. Anyway, it depended on the situation.
“Well, It’s fine. It would be meaningless anyway. The whole world knows that Sung Hyun-jae is good anyways. No one thinks like me.”
When life gets too exhausting and difficult, I just want someone to take care of everything for me so that I can just play around and eat my fill. I mean, wasn’t it common? Some chaebol suddenly showing up on your doorstep saying things like “I’m your grandfather.” or getting run over by a car only for the driver to turn out to be really rich, giving me 10 billion won as compensation. This was just insincere nonsense in that context.
“So that means you’re being cautious, even if it doesn’t mean much, Han Yujin-gun.”
“I’m always a bit on the overly cautious side. Wasn’t there this old saying that one should first knock on a stone bridge before going over it? There’s no harm in being a little cautious.”
Anyway, let go now. Noah’s getting restless. I tried to pull myself out of Sung Hyun-jae’s grasp, before I heard another annoying noise again. Then, there was an explosion, slightly faster than before.
This time Noah spread out his wings to block all the debris coming towards me.
“…How often did you use it?”
“I reported 10 times to the Association.”
“Including Sung Hyun-jae’s? I didn’t even know you could use a bow.”
I said looking down at his bow. It looked just like any other ordinary bow.
“It’s not my main weapon, but it can be used flexibly. In particular, this arrow I received this time around seems to be rather useful, so I came out to try it. I heard the young master also uses a bow as a second weapon sometimes, depending on the dungeon.”
I didn’t know, since I didn’t have any other chance to see them fight outside of the ranking matches or when dungeon breaks happen. Shall I ask Myung-woo if he had any more arrows left?
He only released me after I told him to let me go again. As if he had been waiting for this moment, Noah thrust his head towards me and glanced at Sung Hyun-jae.
– Yujin, you should go inside.
“You can only use Grace slightly. Rather, we need to gather some people you could fight against.”
The seven hunters who were on the courtyard had disappeared without me noticing. If I were you I wouldn’t want to be around this guild leader either. As expected, he’s completely useless today.
“Song-ssi, how many A-class Hunters are here today?”
“There are currently 17 here and 9 are scheduled to come.”
26 people wasn’t enough. However, we didn’t have to finish up in a single day.
“You have a broadcasting facility here, right? Can I use it?”
Song Tae-won gave me a look as if asking what I was trying to do again. When I told him that I was planning on gathering people to have some light matches with Noah in preparation for the battle with Riette, he showed me to the broadcasting room. Noah, who returned to human form followed me, as well as, Sung Hyun-jae, who seemed like he didn’t have anything better to do. Go away.
As was a place where Advanced Hunters tested out their abilities, the broadcasting staff weren’t unawakened people either, but Advanced Hunters with defensive abilities. An employee who was bewildered by the fact that S-class Hunters were rushing into the room fumbled with a microphone.
[This is an announcement for the Hunters who visited our training center. From 2 p.m. today, there will be a simple sparing event at the training center’s first stadium. A-class equipment and other products will be made available, so please attend.]
Just the mention of one piece of A-class equipment should be enough to gather A-class Hunters who had nothing better to do. It’d be even better if they’d let other people know so that the number of attendees would rise to 41.
“An event?”
Sung Hyun-jae murmured ominously at the end of the broadcast.
“It seems like I have no other choice but to help you out with this event, Han Yujin-gun.”
“I don’t need that.”
I gestured towards the broadcasting staff to turn off the microphone quickly, but he didn’t move and only looked around. Instead, Song Tae-won stepped forward.
“Please don’t increase my work for no reason.”
“I’m just trying to express my feelings, but that’s just too much.”
I don’t need your feelings. Please throw them in the trash. Sung Hyun-jae took a step towards the microphone. At the same time Song Tae-won’s right hand started to tremble. There was a cold look in his dark-colored eyes, Noah also stiffened as he felt the tension swirling between the two. The poor employee turned pale as if he was about to suffocate.
“I’m fine, so let’s just move on.”
“Han Yujin-gun didn’t come over because of my lack of sincerity it seems. As suchI decided to be more active in the future.”
As soon as I heard the sound of that I felt like I was screwed. What more do you want to do when you’re already being to much? Besides aren’t you aren’t you just grumpy? Perhaps my answer was a bit too harsh.
Sung Hyun-jae started to move again and Song Tae-won’s eyes turned towards the broadcasting machine. He seemed to be thinking of destroying it if things didn’t work out. Song Tae-won’s toes twisted slightly. At the same time, Sung Hyun-jae curved his eyes and looked back at him.
“Don’t forget that if you show your teeth you should be ready to bite.”
Then, without hesitation, he stood in front of the mic. In the end, Song Tae-won was unable to move and Sung Hyun-jae broadcasted in a clear voice like an announcer.
[The Seseong Guild sponsored the S-class equipment Purple Forest Ring as a prize for this event.]
…Hey, wait a minute. An piece of S-class equipment? You’ve really been working hard. Then my phone rang. It’s Yoohyun. When I answered the phone, my brother talked to me in a sulky voice.
[Why is Seseong sponsering an event held by hyung and not Haeyeon?]
“That was just Sung Hyun-jae…… How did you know about that?”.”
[A Hunter that was present at the training center, called me. Haeyeon will also be a sponsor.]
Then he complained about why I didn’t tell him first. I didn’t mean to do this in the first place. I tried to appease him, but my younger brother didn’t feel like backing down and Sung Hyun-jae also didn’t seem like he’d step down. I looked at Song Tae-won with a sorry expression.
“I didn’t mean to do this, I’m sorry.”
“…There’s no law yet to prevent personal events related to Hunters, so I’d like to ask you to postpone the date.”
Song Tae-won looked at Sung Hyun-jae with a tired look and said. With two pieces of S-class equipment hanging over their heads, hunters from all over the country would flock here. It was hard to prepare for the ensuing chaos in such a short amount of time. Seeing Song Tae-won’s heavy gaze, Sung Hyun-jae smiled so refreshingly that it irritated him.
“There have been so many incidents in the Hunter world recently, so wouldn’t it be nice to change the mood with an event?”
You must have had some good intentions. Song Tae-won sighed, not saying anything.
He looked so pitiful. I just wanted to cancel it, but I gave up because I thought Sung Hyun-jae would just take the initiative to hold the event.
I’d rather hold the reigns in this. If that man got his hands on this, he’d just create a total mess, widing the scale of this even more than he already did. Of course, because I started it in the first place, I’d get dragged into that mess as well.
“Let’s hold the event on the weekend. I will cooperate with the Association as much as I can. It’s not a bad thing in itself, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
“Thank you.”
“No, I should have made this announcement when there was none of the guild leaders around. I let my guard down.”
I was just gathering some people to be Noah’s opponents, but I didn’t expect that Sung Hyun-jae would intervene like this. Let’s pretend this was a rehearsal for the ranking match.
That evening, they even made a report about the event for Advanced Hunters with two pieces of S-class equipment as the price on the news. They weren’t as expensive as weapons, they were relatively low-level items, but they were still worth more than a billion dollars. Above all, S-class equipment wasn’t something one could buy just because one had money. It was usually sold only through auctions and those tended to prioritize S-classes, so this was an opportunity no A-class Hunter should miss.
“I want that ring as well. The mana option is pretty good. Can’t I just participate? I’ve only had a few years of experience, so let’s just say I’m an A-class.”
Yerim, who was eating chicken, said as such.
“No. S-class Hunters aren’t allowed to participate.”
That would be too much. If an S-class Hunter participated in the sparring match, even if the Saint participated an A-class wouldn’t stand a chance. In the case of ranking battles in the past, the scale of the competition depended on whether the saint cooperated or not. Even if you were a fighter who loved fighting above anything else, you still wouldn’t want to lose your precious life.
‘I would have to get her help to properly open the ranking match.’
Should I pay her a visit sometime? I don’t know if she’d be willing to help, but I’d have to meet her even if wasn’t for the ranking match. As her ability was useful it would be okay to let her know about the dungeons and ask for her cooperation.
“By the way, did you clean up properly? It’s calibrated, so you have to wash it properly.”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t. Come here.”
Yerim wiped the grease off her hands with a tissue and pulled me up. Then, I gained some knowledge I wasn’t really curious about.
The Hunter sparing event became a hot topic every and even broadcasting station began to argue over broadcasting rights. Even other countries seemed to be interested. The Hunter Association had also actively sought to remove its unsavory image.
The finals were handed over to the association to plan the program, and instead, I worked on the preliminary round’s planning. My original purpose was to find 41 Advanced Hunters for Noah to defeat, so we requested that we could select a few Advanced Hunters with sufficient fighting power to enter the finals, which was a battle with an S-class Hunter.
Thanks to this, Noah easily achieved the skill acquisition conditions and received Silent Wound (S). And a day before the event, Riette and Kang So-young came out of the dungeon.