Auto Hunting

“Oh… aren’t you Kim Sung-wook?”

He turned his head in the direction of the voice.

A familiar beauty met his eyes. He hadn’t met her before, although it was the face of someone well-known.

“Yes, I am. Shin Yu-hee?”

At this, the woman nodded.

Then, they spoke at the same time.

“I have always wanted to meet you.”

“I have always wanted to meet you.”

Sung-wook laughed lightly, while Shin Yu-hee tilted her head.

“You wanted to meet me?”

Sung-wook nodded. “Yes. I heard about you from Yoo-seong.”

It wasn’t much of a story. Yoo-seong had only met Yu-hee twice. However, his student had told him how she helped him when he was in trouble at the event.

Sung-wook had years of experience, and he knew Yoo-seong well. He thought there was something else between his student and Yu-hee.

“Thank you again, on behalf of Yoo-seong,” he told Yu-hee, with a glint of amusement on his eyes.

“Well… As a senior, I did what I had to,” the woman replied with a flat tone.

Sung-wook, however, picked something up.

She seemed to hesitate and choose her words as they were talking.

“I guess you were trying to meet him before the Dive?”

“What?”

“Yoo-seong. You were not part of the rush team, so… were you trying to meet him?”

“Why… I’m not sure why you’re putting it that way.”

Sung-wook’s smile widened.

“Ah, I thought you came to me because you wanted to convey a message through me. Is there something you wanted me to tell him?”

Shin Yu-hee’s eyes widened. “There is no such thing…”

She was obviously flustered.

Sung-wook hadn’t met her before, but as a public figure, her personality was well-known. She was a veteran among veterans, known to never lose composure.

Yu-hee was also someone known to be straightforward and could speak her mind if she wanted to.

However, she had been flustered and speechless in front of Sung-wook several times already.

“I need to meet him for… an item,” she finally uttered.

“What?”

“He borrowed something from me that last time we met. I need to get it back. Yoo-seong must have told you about it as well.”

“Ah, yes. The e-cigarette? He told me about it, yes,” Sung-wook said, striking his palm.

Shin Yu-hee continued to stare at him as if she expected him to have the e-cigarette.

“Anyway, I don’t have it. I only heard about it, but I don’t even remember seeing it,” he explained.

“I see…” she looked disappointed.

“It must be something that you really cherish. Sentimental value?”

Shin Yu-hee’s face turned red.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said. “It’s just that I loaned it to him, and I need it back.”

There were still questions in Sung-wook’s mind.

An e-cigarette was an item that could be purchased anywhere. It was something that could even be bought cheaply at street stalls.

As a hunter ranked 2nd, Shin Yu-hee’s wealth easily surpasses the 100 billion level, so it was strange that she’d need it back.

“That’s a little unexpected,” he admitted.

“Well, it still works. I don’t have to buy another,” Yu-hee said, regaining her composure.

“Lending e-cigarettes to another person is not common. It’s a personal product. Asking for it back after he had put it in his mouth, well…”

Before Sung-wook could continue, Shin Yu-hee turned her back on him.

“It’s not worth talking about it anymore,” she said, walking away.

Suddenly, she heard something flying in from behind.

‘An attack?’ she thought.

With her quick reflexes, she turned around and snatched it out of the air.

“Good catch,” she heard Sung-wook say.

It wasn’t anything that could hurt her.

On her palm was Yoo-seong’s business card.

It wasn’t a rare item. Yoo-seong even gave away copies during the event. However, this card had another number, freshly written with a pen.

“This…”

“That’s Yoo-seong’s personal number. After 19 hours, you could dial that number, and he’ll pick it up right away.”

For the second time in a day, Shin Yu-hee’s face turned red.

“This – “

She crumpled the card and tried to throw it away; however, Sung-wook interrupted her.

“This job that we have…” he started, his tone serious.

“Especially the quiet people, like us. We don’t seek praise or popularity. Hunting and training repeat steadily. One day, I woke up with nothing but money. I don’t even have someone to enjoy it with.”

Shin Yu-hee stared at the man before him.

It didn’t seem as if he was still teasing her. He sounded sincere.

“With this hard schedule, it’s not easy to build a relationship. It’s hard to find someone who’d understand. Yoo-seong, I think of him as a younger brother.”

Shin Yu-hee lowered her head, staring at the crumpled business card.

“He’s a good person, don’t you think?” he asked her. “If you don’t think so, you can tear that card into pieces and dispose of it right now.”

Shin Yu-hee understood how important the card was for Sung-wook.

It was more than being an agent exposing his client’s personal’s information. He felt like an older brother to him.

“I will think about it,” she said, tucking the card in her pocket.

“Okay,” there was relief in Sung-wook’s face. “By the way, I heard you quit QR.”

It was one of the hottest topics in the hunting industry these days.

Although she maintained a good relationship with the CEO, Yoon Kang-cheol, her withdrawal was indeed a big hole for the company.

She nodded. “As presumptuous as it sounds, I think I made the right choice.”

As she spoke, Sung-wook perceived something. There was a slight trembling in Shin Yu-hee’s limbs.

The crack involved in the operation wasn’t remarkable, and Yu-hee wasn’t even part of the rush team.

Why would someone of Yu-hee’s caliber have a trembling vein after that simple operation?

The only reason he could think of was that she had been training hard before coming to the site.

Sung-wook couldn’t help but admire her further. To think that someone who had been on the field for over a decade still trained hard…

It was proof of her dedication and work ethic. He envied her because she could walk out of a company like QR on her own terms. It wasn’t his choice to end his career.

“Then, I wish you well on your solo career,” he said.

“Thank you,” she also smiled a little.

“Oh,” Sung-wook remembered something. “By the way…”

The mischief was back on his face.

“Yes?”

“If Yoo-seong asks you how you got his number, don’t say I gave it to you.”

She nodded. She knew that it was unthinkable for an agent to expose his client’s personal information.

However, Sung-wook’s intention was different.

“Because he would find it more appealing if he thought that you wanted to speak to him so bad that you got his number somehow, rather than me giving you his number that easily…”

He laughed as Shin Yu-hee turned her back on him and walked away. Sung-wook scratched his head as he watched her.

“If it goes well, it would be fun,” he muttered.

Meanwhile, as she walked away, Shin Yu-hee’s hand unconsciously checked her pocket, as if to ensure that she still had the card.

Both she and Sung-wook weren’t worried at all for Yoo-seong. They knew his skills. They believed in him.

If only they knew that at that very moment, in the world beyond the crack, Yoo-seong was vomiting blood…

…

“Damn it.”

As he ran through the treetops, Yoo-seong could feel blood dripping out of his nose and mouth.

Monkey Viper-★★~★★★

He wiped his eyes and found blood spilling out of them as well. As he did, he remembered what the hunters who survived said upon return.

We have only fought on our home ground.

He now understood what they meant. He could hear the cries and the movements of the monkeys chasing after him.

Monkey Vipers.

They were low-ranked monsters that swung amongst branches with their arms and tail.

Their legs had degenerated into the size of a little finger, giving the impression that their lower body was that of a snake. Outside the crack, they weren’t difficult monsters to subdue.

Even with low-ranked equipment, they could be easily caught. However, in their natural habitat, they were a different foe.

Several whistling sounds came from behind Yoo-seong, warning him of incoming projectiles. The Monkey Vipers were throwing all sorts of fruits as they ran after him.

With Yoo-seong’s armor, he would not take damage even if he got hit, judging from the speed and weight of the projectiles.

However, Automatic Hunting chose to dodge them. It was indeed the right choice. The fruits exploded on impact, and poisonous gas oozed out of them.

Even the way the Monkey Vipers attack was different than when they were outside the crack.

In their natural environment, they were calmer and more organized. Those behind maintained their distance from Yoo-seong, while the others ran alongside him as if to envelope him.

It was almost the same formation that hunters use when chasing a monster. For them, this was their world, and Yoo-seong was the monster.

After throwing another volley of poison fruit, one Monkey Viper thought it found a gap and lunged towards Yoo-seong.

‘You’re dead’, Yoo-seong thought, as he turned and held his breath.

The fruits were harmless to him unless the gas enters his respiratory system.

When the Monkey Viper was within range, he swung an Aura-coated wrist blade. It was enough for monsters with 2- to 3-star durability.

His blade sliced through the beast. As he did, more and more Monkey Vipers pounced on him.

He cut through them for a while until he could not hold his breath anymore. Then, he tried to leap to the top of the treetops, away from the poison mist.

However, as he flew upwards, he thought he had miscalculated his lung capacity.

“Ugh!” he gasped as if he was drowning, filling his lungs with precious air.

Suddenly, blood spurted out from his nose and mouth. He was dumbfounded. He was already out of range of the poison.

‘Why…’

Then, he remembered.

The Golden Pill.

Even in martial arts books, something as powerful as this should be used carefully.

Strong power always came at a price.

Yoo-seong felt that his core and veins were raging. He realized the grim situation.

‘If I release Automatic Hunting, I will die.’

Auto-hunting was reducing the burden by using up the boiling CE within his body.

As soon as he turned it off, the energy would boil inside him to the point of explosion. Medicines such as the Golden Pill should be given time to settle within the user’s body for a few days.

The user must be in a place of rest, with an expert overseeing him and preventing unexpected events that the user couldn’t handle.

However, in Yoo-seong’s case, there was no moment of rest.

He was in the world beyond the cracks, and he was alone.

Below him, there were crowds of Monkey Vipers waiting to attack.

If Jin Wei-baek saw what was happening, he would have regretted giving him the pill.

It was a waste.

Not only a waste of a treasured medicine, but a waste of Yoo-seong’s life. Absorbing the Golden Pill while fighting in real-time was unprecedented madness.

Yoo-seong looked below him and gritted his teeth.

He had no choice. He had to hold on to the end.

Yoo-seong allowed himself to fall, down to the screaming Monkey Vipers, with their bloodthirsty cries.

…

Yoo-seong opened his eyes.

“Damn!”

He realized he had lost consciousness in the middle of the jungle. The bodies of the Monkey Vipers were piled around him.

Somehow, he had endured until the end, but it had cost him all his strength.

He fell with exhaustion just as he chopped down his last Monkey Viper.

Yoo-seong immediately checked the time.

“Ah?!”