Chapter 244
Lee Changsik had a bad feeling after hearing Choi Yeonseung’s words. They reminded him of the old days.
During the time when Hwang Gyeongryong and Lee Changsik were in the same clan, Choi Yeonseung became the one they needed to be the most wary of within the clan.
-Did you hear? A hunter wants to join our clan! It’s a D-grade hunter! He has an incredibly promising future!
.
-Really?! That’s great! Hurry up and sign the contract so he can’t escape! What is he like... If he’s the kind of guy to goof around…
-No. He said he wants to train to become stronger.
-... Make sure he doesn’t meet Yeonseung!
Choi Yeonseung, who did nothing aside from eating and training, was the main reason why new hunters ran away from the clan.
Before joining the clan, hunters would say, ‘I have undergone all sorts of harsh training’ or ‘I’ve spent years on Jiri Mountain just learning magic!’ Then, after training with Choi Yeonseung, they would run away saying, ‘I’m sorry, I came to the wrong clan.’
Later, the clan officials prevented Choi Yeonseung from interacting with the newcomers.
-The newcomer is so arrogant and annoying. He completely spoils the atmosphere.
-Shouldn’t we just kick him out?
-Even if we try to do that, I don’t think he’ll leave just like that.
-Um. Then how about making him train with Yeonseung?
-Isn’t that too cruel?
… It was to the point that such conversations had occurred.
Of course, Choi Yeonseung didn’t know that the clan officials had been talking about him like that, and Lee Changsik had no intention of mentioning it now either.
“Yeonseung. I am telling you this just in case you don’t know. Times have changed. You should keep that in mind.”
In the past, the Internet hadn’t been that developed and there hadn’t been any smartphones. However, now they lived in an era where information spread at the blink of an eye whenever something happened.
Because of that, they had to be cautious when dealing with clan hunters.
The current hunters were much smarter than they used to be. If someone made a mistake, false rumors would spread, and consequently there would be a lot of criticism.
“Times are different than they used to be... I see. Are you saying that we need to make them train harder since the hunters of this generation have gotten stronger overall?”
Illeya had an expression of admiration at Choi Yeonseung’s words, whereas Lee Changsik responded in a bewildered voice, “That’s not what I...”
However, the work started before he could finish his words.
Choi Yeonseung took out a handful of coins and took aim.
***
Go Junwon walked in while laughing with his colleagues. His late arrival wasn’t meant to trouble the new clan owner.
Go Junwon was doing well in the clan, but in South Korea alone, there were several hunters who had higher ratings and were more popular than him. Therefore, he wasn’t going to openly play tricks with the new owner of the clan.
He came in late because... it had become a habit. It had always been that way. He always arrived late.
Bam!
“What, this fucker?!”
There was a violent sound and a huge hole appeared in front of Go Junwon’s feet.
These hunters had never participated in raids, but they had played dozens of life-threatening matches in the Otherworld. They could see how threatening this attack was. Its strength easily surpassed a large-caliber bullet. Wasn’t that powerful enough to knock down a hunter if it hit them?
“Who’s the asshole that did this?? Are you crazy???”
However, instead of an answer, he received another attack. The hunters screamed and moved as something came flying toward them with a murderous sound.
However, the onslaught didn’t stop. The hunters ran in all directions. If they were even a second slow to react, they would be hit by the coin, which would leave a hole in them.
The attacks were deadly! Within seconds, the hunters actually felt like their lives were in danger.
“An attack! An attack!! It’s an attack!!”
“What are you doing? Call someone!”
The hunters rolled over and shouted at their colleagues who had come here before them. However, instead of helping, their colleagues just stared at each other in bewilderment.
What was wrong with them all of a sudden?
“There isn’t… There’s no attack…”
“Have they switched from alcohol to drugs?”
“It’s about time.”
The hunters whispered to each other. In their eyes, it looked like these hunters were just running here and there...
The moment he ran out of coins and the hunters who came in late started to scurry around, Choi Yeonseung stopped attacking.
Go Junwon and his group of hunters gasped and cursed.
“What type of fucking prank...?”
“This isn’t funny at all! Come out now!”
“Isn’t it interesting?”
“Crazy...”
Go Junwon growled as he looked up. He could see a face he had never seen before. It was only then that the other hunters in the clan also became confused.
-What? Is he new here?
-He seems like a hunter, doesn’t he?
-Did another clan take over?
-Why would they do that? They’d just waste money. If it’s a company...
Go Junwon’s anger didn’t really subside even when he found out that the new guy was actually the new boss. He wasn’t one to calm down after almost dying.
“Why did you do this?? Do you think you can get away with being so selfish?”
“Yes.”
Choi Yeonseung stopped and Go Junwon wondered if the other person had realized what was going on. No matter what, this person would never do the same as before...
“I think it’s okay.”
“...”
The hunters, including Go Junwon, were at a loss for words.
A regular person couldn’t really afford to talk so arrogantly in front of hunters. No matter how powerful and rich they were, their lives would be in danger if a hunter resorted to violence.
“You truly are a son of a bitch!”
The hunter next to Choi Yeonseung extended his fist. Then he hit himself.
Bam!
“???”
"What are you doing?”
“Eek.. Eeek. No... My hands...”
The hunter raised his fist and slapped himself.
“!??!”
Choi Yeonseung was watching impassively. The moment the hunter stretched out his fist, Choi Yeonseung redirected the power and aimed it right back at the hunter's own face.
Lee Changsik could vaguely notice it, but the other hunters present weren’t capable of doing that. In terms of actual skills, the difference was too big! It wasn’t until the hunter hit himself three times that he seemed to notice.
“How... What are you...?”
“Why were you late?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you come late? If there were any circumstances that forced you to arrive late, tell me now.”
“... No, since we compete, we can have dinner parties or do something else... Eek!”
Choi Yeonseung picked up a long stick and began hitting the hunter. Since the hunter had awakened and gained powers, he wasn’t supposed to be hurt by a few hits from a stick like this, but...
“Ack! Aaaack! Aaaaaack!”
The hunter screamed as if he was actually in pain.
“Hey, aren’t you exaggerating?”
"Yeah, you should scream in moderation. This is too obvious.”
The hunters next to him were frustrated and scolded him. It looked like he was trying to fool his attacker, but if he overdid it like this...
“It... It really hurts!”
The pain he felt from having internal energy penetrate his blood flow every time he was hit was unspeakable. It was much more painful than slamming his pinky toe against a threshold!
Everything became quiet and Choi Yeonseung began speaking.
“I’ve bought this clan and I’m going to train you well. After that, I’ll send you out to several competitions. I hope that the hunters who have signed contracts with this clan will follow suit.”
“... Are you Choi Yeonseung?”
“That’s right.”
“I-Is it acceptable for an A-grade hunter to act like this?!” The hunter who received the full-body massage with the stick staggered and complained.
Even if Choi Yeonseung was an A-grade hunter, doing this to the hunters of his own clan...
“Yes.”
Choi Yeonseung nodded in understanding. It seemed that the hunters had misunderstood something because they rarely got to meet A-grade hunters.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding, so let me explain. Do you know what the difference is between A-grade hunters and popular players competing in the SSL?”
“Is there any difference?” asked one of the hunters casually.
They were indeed curious since they had never met an A-grade hunter before.
“Players need to be conscious of others, whereas A-grade hunters don’t. Because of that, they’re much more shameless and basically have no conscience.”
“...”
“... T-That’s nonsense!”
The hunters refused to accept that, partly because the Korean A-grade hunters were exceptionally calm people.
Jeong Wonuk was an earnest individual, and as for Kwon Yeongseung, he was a likable celebrity, so he worked very hard to maintain his image. Han Seha was the only one who caused incidents, but they weren’t that serious.
If they looked at hunters from abroad, there were many SSL hunters that were more impudent and caused incidents much worse than that.
However, that was as far as it went for Korean hunters.
In South Korea, Han Seha stood out as the hunter with the most vulgar manner of speaking, but nobody would’ve noticed her abroad.
“Believe it or not, it’s true. A-grade hunters don’t really pay attention to others. If a story puts them in a bad light, they’ll just beat up the reporter behind it. If the police comes to them, they will fight them as well.”
“In what kind of messed up country do things like that happen?!”
“That’s how things are in the United States.” Choi Yeonseung was being honest, but none of the hunters were convinced by his words.
No matter how much they heard about foreign hunters in the news, few people believed all of it.
“In any case, I’m from the American side, so I’m going to handle things the American way. You should be careful in the future.”
“But aren’t you Korean... Eek!”
Before he could finish speaking, one of the hunters fell forward after being poked by Choi Yeonseung’s stick.
“What did you say?”
“... Nothing...”
“Now, Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor Lee Changsik, the great A-grade hunter born in South Korea, has also come here to help us. Come out.”
“...”
Lee Changsik came out while inwardly grumbling about Choi Yeonseung. Why did he have to make such a spectacle out of it? He could’ve just told him to come out.
“?!?!?”
“W... Why is the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor...?”
“You don’t have to call me that,” said Lee Changsik to the hunters.
However, Choi Yeonseung was adamant about it.
“I believe no one here is rude enough to call you by your name.”
“Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor! It is an honor to meet you!”
“I didn’t expect to see you like this...!”
The hunters rushed forward. Until now, they had been confused and dissatisfied, but Lee Changsik’s arrival changed the atmosphere.
Even though Choi Yeonseung was an A-grade hunter, the others didn’t know what he was doing. In comparison, Lee Changsik was a hero known by all Koreans.
To think that such a person would be looking after them…
‘Isn’t this a great opportunity...?’
***
“Isn’t that jerk crazy? So what if he’s an A-grade hunter?!”
“Well… He’s an A-grade hunter after all…”
“That’s right. Where else can we see an A-grade hunter?”
“...”
Putting aside their pride, there could’ve been many complaints, given that Choi Yeonseung just showed up in front of the hunters and beat them up at random. But surprisingly, there weren’t many complaints.
Their opponent was too great.
On one side there was an A-grade hunter who had recently stolen the show in the monster wave and whose stock was going up like crazy. On the other side was a retired A-grade hunter that any Korean would have to cheer for...
There was a chance that those two would leave if any complaints were addressed.
Go Junwon was speechless at his companions’ reactions.
If he wanted to express his dissatisfaction, he needed the others to back him up. Why was this happening?
“You’re saying this even after being hit like that?”
“Come to think of it, ‘hit’ isn’t the right word. Wasn’t it more like a kind of teaching? Isn’t it like that?”
“You son of a bitch...!”
Go Junwon realized that the companion who was eating with him had definitely switched sides.
“Ah, why? What did I do wrong?”
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