53. Arahan Gives Fortuitous Encounters For Free (2)

I sure do.

A bad one.

The corner of Yujin’s mouth twitched up into a sneer.

The world really is small. To think I’d run into one of the Guryongbang’s Nine Dragons here, of all places, in the future.

Yeah. That’s right.

That part I don’t know either.

Song Myeongseok’s rise to infamy as one of the Guryongbang’s heads was a thing of the distant future. Being a regressor didn’t mean Yujin carried every last event around in his skull. People like the Mirror Hunters or Mister Black he remembered in detail only because he’d tangled with them directly.

What I don’t know, I don’t know.

Weren’t you the one throwing a fit about how you hated me coasting and wanted me to suffer?

Still, I am curious. One of the Guryongbang’s Nine Heads, run into in a place I’d never have expected. What are the odds of a Hunter tied to Arahan defecting to the Guryongbang? There must have been all sorts of circumstances behind it, more than I could guess at now.

You’re not about to launch into that hero spiel again, are you?

That son of a bitch never harbored a noble thing in his life.

A natural-born bastard. Yujin hadn’t known Song Myeongseok had passed through Arahan before the Guryongbang, but he knew that smile of his didn’t carry an ounce of sincerity. A hundred-percent pure fake.

Do you have any idea how vicious you’d have to be to become one of the heads of East Asia’s biggest crime network?

Human trafficking went without saying. The man had taken part in, or carried out himself, countless crimes too revolting to even bring to mind.

How much do you think a Korean-born Hunter would have to do to climb to a high seat in the Guryongbang?

Even among gods, there are ones whose insides don’t match their faces, aren’t there.

In a case like this, the one who got fooled was the one called a fool. A strange situation, with a victim but no one who’d actually run the con.

Yujin chuckled to himself.

Anyway, Arahan’s played a pretty strong hand too.

Before the regression, Song Myeongseok had climbed all the way to the 8th Rank, a talent hailed as the strongest of the Nine Heads, the mightiest Dragon among them. Even now, Arahan was pushing him with a media campaign, billing him as their Supernova.

They played a sure card, partly to flex their muscle at me.

The Iron Tomb had gone uncleared before the regression, which meant the Hunters Arahan threw in back then had died too.

If Song Myeongseok had gone in, Nine Heads or not, would it have ended any differently?

I’m the only variable worth considering here.

A promising prospect, thrown in by Arahan to win him over. Beyond that, there was no reason for Song Myeongseok to take part in a gate clear.

The future is starting to change.

In the original history, the Red Spider, who should have been wiped out organization and all a few years from now, were plotting their next move instead. And now he’d run into Song Myeongseok, a man he’d filed away as one of the Guryongbang’s Nine Heads, here at Arahan.

Cause and effect?

For anything to happen, there had to be a cause. Even the Constellations, who had carved their names above the myriad stars, were not free from cause and effect.

The miracle that warped that absolute proposition. From the moment Yujin set the Relic of Kronos in motion, even the bending of cause and effect itself…

Does that matter?

Yujin shot back curtly.

Some things change, but some things stay the same. If you’re too scared of maggots to make soybean paste, what then? I came back to change the future. If I were worried about cause and effect twisting, I wouldn’t have regressed in the first place.

If anything, it’s better this way.

I got to meet a rotten-from-the-start bastard early.

If he cut down Song Myeongseok now, that was one of the Guryongbang’s Nine Heads gone. He was fated to keep clashing with Arahan, and since it had come to this, he’d welcome the chance to snuff the man out before he ever defected to the Guryongbang.

Kronos was genuinely impressed. A rock-solid mental fortitude that betrayed not a hair’s worth of disturbance, a fierce pulse of power felt riding along the soul. A transcendent who, though no more than a mere mortal, had reached the 9th Stellar Rank without any aid from the Constellations. Yujin’s fierce will stirred Kronos’s very spirit.

You eat something bad?

With no way of knowing what was on Kronos’s mind, Yujin snapped back curtly and returned to the Scraps team’s side.

Before entering the gate, the Arahan Guild gave Yujin’s party a brief rundown.

“The Iron Tomb is a gate with no prior intel.”

Song Myeongseok, the team leader on the Arahan side, spoke in a chummy tone. Kang Minyeong’s hand shot up at once.

“That’s because it’s a sealed type, right?”
“Correct. You’re quite well-versed in gates.”
“Hehe. I studied up a bit.”
“Senior Kang, didn’t you say last semester you got hit with double pistols¹ on your transcrip—mmph, mmph.”

So carefree. When Yujin watched the scene and let out a short laugh, the skin around Song Myeongseok’s eyes twitched.

Look at that. This is a guy with nine vipers coiled inside him.

“Even calling it a briefing, all I’m sharing is the lineup, so listen at ease.”
“Hunter Song Myeongseok — no. Team Leader. I have one question.”
“Go ahead. You’re Hunter Kang Minho, yes?”
“Ha, haha. I’m honored you remembered.”

Kang Minho gave an awkward laugh and went on.

“Once we enter the Iron Tomb, do we have to follow your command, Team Leader?”
“I’ll leave that part to your own discretion.”

At a glance, exceptional treatment. In reality, it was meant to drive home the gap in force between the two groups. Yujin scoffed at the all-too-obvious intent, then raised his hand.

“How are the spoils going to be split?”
“Each team keeps as much as it hunts.”
“Is the split the same in the other gates?”
“That’s right. In any case, I wish you all a good fight.”

A split based on contribution. Now there was a welcome thing to hear. Yujin smiled broadly.

A fissure formed thirty centimeters above the ground. Blue light shone faintly through the split in space.

A sealed-type gate that had swallowed five entire Hunter strike forces before them. Keeping a slight distance apart, the two teams ran one last condition check before entering.

“Team Leader. Are you all right?”
“Ah. I’m fine.”

Song Myeongseok answered his teammate’s question as if it were nothing.

But.

Hey. The team leader’s pissed.
Haah. Once we get in the gate, there’s gonna be hell to pay.
Cheon Yujin, was it. Thanks to one clueless bastard, we’re all gonna suffer.

The Arahan strike-force Hunters shuddered even at his “I’m fine.” Having crossed blades with their team leader Song Myeongseok a few times, they knew the true face hidden behind that genial smile.

— Creak.

A grinding sound leaked from the hand gripping the sword’s hilt.

Let’s see how long you can keep that up. Cocky little bastard.

The Arahan Hunters’ prediction wasn’t wrong. Song Myeongseok was suppressing the rage boiling up from deep in his chest. Watching Yujin’s relentlessly leisurely manner, the urge to draw his blade then and there welled up in him.

If it weren’t for the vice-president’s instructions, I’d have sliced that mouth off already.

Just before the gate clear, summoned to the vice-president’s office, Song Myeongseok had received one instruction.

“Show Hunter Cheon Yujin the strength of Arahan.”

Show my strength to some 1st-Rank Hunter?

It wasn’t hard to grasp the meaning packed into Baek Seonghyeon’s words.

You’re calling me in just to lure one rookie?

Resentment surged up. Arahan’s Supernova. He believed that he alone was the one who would lead this guild, no, the whole of Korea’s Hunter world. And yet, for Arahan to pour this much effort into recruiting some Hunter he’d never seen or heard of, of course he was furious.

An ability that drew out the full power of Martial-related skills, with additional gains to physical capability upon leveling up or ingesting elixirs.

I am one of the chosen.

The same unique trait as the Martial King Chang Wufei. Even Arahan was nothing more than a stepping stone for Song Myeongseok to climb higher.

Vice-president. And rookie. I’ll show you just what a great Hunter I am.

With venom in his eyes, Song Myeongseok pushed his foot into the fissure. Blue radiance coiled around his whole body, and the scenery around him turned in an instant into a mountain of scrap metal.

— Clatter.

The iron fragments strewn across the ground floated up into the air. Sticking together in clumps, they took on a form resembling a human and bared their hostility.

Right on cue, the Arahan strike force and the Scraps team entered the gate behind Song Myeongseok.

The perfect chance to show off my skill. Watch closely. The skill that earns the name Arahan’s Supernova!

— Shing!

The sword drawn from its sheath traced an arc through the air. In less than a tenth of a second, the Living Armor that had only just taken shape was struck by countless blade strokes and shattered to pieces.

“Incredible.”
“As expected of the team leader.”

The Arahan Hunters marveled. It was a reaction speed, a destructive power, a precision no one would believe came from a 2nd-Rank Hunter. Song Myeongseok’s eyes turned toward Yujin.

“Nothing much to it.”
“Guess not.”
“For an ordinary Hunter, maybe, but to me it’s no problem.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

— Clatter.

A metallic sound that scrambled the ears. The instant Yujin finished speaking, the regenerated Living Armor flashed the glow of its eyes and lunged at Song Myeongseok.

“Regeneration?”
“Living Armor keeps reviving unless you destroy the core.”

Not that “revive” was quite the word for something inanimate. While Yujin chuckled, Song Myeongseok swung his sword once more.

“How’s that?”
“How’s what. Did you let what I said go in one ear and out the other?”

Song Myeongseok turned around at the sense of foreboding. The Living Armor he’d shattered to pieces twice over, the monster that should have reverted to its original form of scrap iron…

“Ki, i, i.”

…rose once more and mimicked a living creature’s voice by grinding metal against metal.

“Where the hell is this core!”
“How should I know. The core’s in a different spot on each individual.”
“Kind advice. My thanks.”

It meant the core couldn’t be pried loose without completely dismantling that lump of scrap. Hurling out his sarcasm, Song Myeongseok put strength into his arm.

There’s a reason every strike force that went into the Iron Tomb was wiped out.

The monsters’ absurdly high regeneration. To clear the Living Armor, a lightning-element mage was a must.

Even so, I can do it.

Can’t kill it in ten cuts? Then swing a hundred times. He was the owner of the Heavenly Bone. He couldn’t wield aura yet, but in pure martial force he matched the entry level of the 4th-Rank Martial line.

“I’ll cu—”

— Ha. What an interesting monster.

A thought heard not through the ears but directly in the mind. Right before Song Myeongseok could bring his sword down, a being had slipped inside his guard without his even noticing: a three-meter giant. Fafnir.

— So the core’s right there?

A hand the size of a pot lid burrowed into the Living Armor’s armpit. When a few pieces of scrap were torn out, it trembled like an aspen leaf and then collapsed in a crumbling heap. The skin around Song Myeongseok’s eyes quivered.

“H-how did you do that?”

— There’s a spot where the mana clumps together. You can see it if you focus.

“That’s what I’m asking — the method.”

— You’re a Hunter in name at least, so you can heighten your senses, can’t you.

Fafnir’s answer was vague at best.

Heighten my senses? Pinpoint the location of the mana core?

He pinpointed it with some special skill and now he’s showing off!

Song Myeongseok did his utmost not to spit out the curse caught in his throat.

— It’s so easy, though. And you can’t even do it.

Yujin’s great warrior carved a long scar into Song Myeongseok’s pride, in an utterly unbothered tone.