Chapter 103

Kiryeo narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the city, then made his decision.

He would put an end to [Inevitable Malice].

Leaving it alive would only invite further trouble, and there was a very real chance it might reach the unconscious Kang Changho within the next fifteen minutes.

“An eye for an eye.”

For the sake of the S-class hunter who had protected him, Kiryeo decided to take a risk.

“Kindness for kindness.”

.

.

.

“Dig deeper!”

“Cover it! Seal the whole thing!”

Meanwhile, several hunters had established a defensive position near Inevitable Malice.

They had been ordered by the government to contain the monster until Jung Haseong arrived.

“That’s enough! Hold it in place!”

Rock and earth shifted beneath their commands.

The Awakened worked desperately, manipulating the ground itself to construct a crude prison around the monster.

But their combined strength was nowhere near enough to restrain an S-class creature.

“Kaaaahhh!”

“Aaah!”

“H-How are we supposed to stop that thing?!”

Inevitable Malice shattered its restraints and lashed out indiscriminately.

“It didn’t even hold for five minutes...!”

In a matter of moments, the number of wounded multiplied.

The hunters swallowed hard as they stared at the blood spreading across the street.

“What happens if one of us gets marked?”

Some had already begun to tremble at the thought of becoming the serpent’s next prey.

Even so, retreat was not an easy choice.

Not merely because they had received orders from the Association, but because this city was their home.

“If you get marked, just let it swallow you for a second and climb back out. That should remove the mark.”

“Captain!”

“What? It’s true. Didn’t you see the broadcast earlier?”

Despite the sweat pouring down their faces, the Korean hunters refused to lower their weapons.

“Whatever happens, stay focused on the hunt!”

Unfortunately, determination alone could not solve every problem in the world.

“Keugh!”

“Ugh!”

“Shaaaaaak!”

“We’re finished...!”

At last, the Imoogi tore itself completely free.

It raised its head high, almost as though preparing to ascend into the heavens, and began laying waste to everything around it.

Boom! Krrrr—

A towering building, the culmination of humanity’s architectural skill, crumbled beneath a single sweep of the serpent’s body.

If that could not be called a disaster, then what could?

“Shurrrrrrr...”

The creature had exhausted much of its strength in its battle against Esther and no longer possessed enough energy even to remain airborne for long.

Yet to the hunters standing before it, it might as well have been a true dragon.

That was how overwhelming its presence felt.

“Shhh.”

The monster flicked its tongue with satisfaction as it gazed down upon the terrified humans.

Tuk.

Then came a small sound.

“Ssshk.”

Tuk.

What was that?

A pebble had suddenly flown through the air.

Tuk.

The makeshift projectile lacked anything close to the force required to pierce the Imoogi’s scales.

Yet whoever was throwing the stones did not stop.

Because injuring the monster was never the purpose.

“W-What is that man doing?”

Bleached blond hair.

Leather boots.

And a man dressed far too lightly for winter, casually hurling stones at the Imoogi.

“Shaaaaaaaak!”

Enraged by the persistent provocation, the Imoogi immediately placed its mark upon the insolent man.

The moment the monster’s skill activated, he spoke.

“Oh. That happened faster than I expected.”

Then, as soon as the mark appeared above his head, he turned and ran, as though he had obtained exactly what he wanted.

Boom! Shurrrr—

With its marked prey fleeing, the Imoogi naturally gave chase.

“Huh...”

The surviving hunters stared after them, drawing slow breaths, their faces blank with incomprehension.

“Did that man deliberately get himself marked?”

“Maybe.”

“W-Why would anyone do that?”

“I have no idea.”

The scene defied all common sense.

So what exactly was the F-class hunter doing, dragging the enormous Imoogi away behind him?

In truth, their pursuit did not last long.

Kiryeo had only ever needed one plan.

“This should do.”

With the Imoogi close behind, he darted into a dark alleyway.

The narrow, straight passage was perfectly suited to what he had prepared.

Shaaak.

When the serpent opened its jaws to swallow him, Kiryeo finally had a clear target for his magic.

“Now!”

The instant its mouth opened wide, he activated the trap.

Squeak!

Flutter!

Kyaaaah!

Mice.

Birds.

Cats.

The corpses of various animals, hidden throughout the alley in advance, sprang into motion and hurled themselves into the serpent’s mouth.

‘I won’t forget your help!’

The reanimated bodies surged into the Imoogi’s windpipe in a tangled mass, forcing their way past one another before swelling until they completely blocked the passage.

***

No matter how violently the serpent thrashed, the corpses remained lodged deep in its throat, impossible to cough out.

Kwak.

It was a cruel and extraordinarily precise spell.

Kiryeo had taken every possible precaution to ensure that the monster’s airway would remain completely sealed.

Gulp.

In preparation for the terrorist attack, he had even saved the last of his money to purchase mana potions.

‘With these, I should be able to hold out until it suffocates.’

Kiryeo maintained flawless control over every corpse while draining the low-grade potions one after another as though they were water.

Of course, any Association employee who had once mistaken Kim Kiryeo for a tender-hearted young man who lovingly collected dead raccoons from the roadside would probably have fainted at the sight.

But that was beside the point.

“Ugh.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The strangled Imoogi began writhing and smashing its body against the alley walls.

‘Hiiik!’

Yet the outcome of this battle had been decided before it even began.

The black calamity had already fought two exceptionally powerful opponents—Kang Changho and Esther.

It no longer possessed enough strength to resist properly.

“Kiiiek!”

With that anguished cry as its final act, the exhausted Inevitable Malice was ultimately suffocated by nothing more than an F-class spell.

Kuuung...

At last, the artificial monster collapsed and died.

“Phew...”

The reward for defeating a boss was distributed only to those who had contributed most to the hunt.

The fact that one had appeared meant the monster was unquestionably dead.

Sparkle.

Seeing the glowing orb floating beside him, Kiryeo let out a cry of relief.

“I finally killed that damned snake!”

But wait.

During the Imoogi’s rampage, it had been difficult to notice.

Now, however, Kiryeo could clearly see a longsword embedded in the bone above the serpent’s nose.

‘What’s that?’

His attention shifted to the object lodged in the boss’s corpse.

He recognised it almost immediately.

“Ah. The [Cursed Sword]?”

It was a remnant of the Korean Magic Tower’s recent battle.

Esther had used the weapon to tear open the upper half of the serpent’s mouth and rescue her guild member.

She had then been critically injured before she could retrieve it.

‘Should I keep it safe and return it later?’

Out of pure goodwill, Kiryeo decided to return the item to its owner.

To do that, however, he first had to climb onto the boss’s corpse.

The bridge of the serpent’s nose was so high that he had to crane his neck simply to see the sword clearly.

“Ugh.”

Grumbling under his breath, Kiryeo hauled himself onto the monster’s head and pulled the blade free.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, a loud noise came from behind him.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes! It should be right here!”

“What? Is it really dead?”

Rumble.

A group of hunters soon poured into the narrow alleyway.

“Huh?”

They had come to assess the situation after noticing that Inevitable Malice’s tail had stopped moving.

But the sight awaiting them was not what they {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} had expected.

A man with an unsettling air stood atop the corpse of an S-class monster, quietly looking back at them.

“...”

In one hand, the mysterious man held a longsword coated in serpent blood.

Beside him floated a drop item proving his contribution to the boss’s defeat.

What else were they supposed to conclude?

“Heuk.”

The hunters fell silent, their faces frozen in shock.

Then the Awakened standing on the monster’s body spoke first.

“...Hello?”

He tilted his head as he said it.

***

How many minutes had passed since then?

Once the situation had calmed down, I returned to the intersection.

Kang Changho, who had been lying unconscious beneath the rubble, had just regained consciousness.

‘What? He woke up already?’

There had been some confusion along the way, but in the end, everything had worked out.

The monster had been eliminated.

Su Yehwi had been captured on CCTV cameras installed in advance, and the police had immediately begun their investigation.

Most importantly, nothing serious appeared to be wrong with this Earthling.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“I’m not certain. About fifteen minutes? Oh, and I parked your motorcycle over there, Changho-ssi.”

Kang Changho rose to his feet as though nothing had happened.

From his perspective, it must have been strange to wake from a brief loss of consciousness and discover that the entire disaster had already ended.

Yet he showed little interest in the matter.

After checking that I was unharmed, Kang Changho simply went on his way.

‘He seems relieved that I didn’t die.’

And with that, was there any reason for an F-class hunter to remain here?

After seeing Kang Changho off, I trudged home.

The following morning, I woke beneath the bright sunlight and resumed my ordinary routine.

I stretched, washed my face, and brushed my teeth.

It was a morning no different from any other on Earth.

‘Ah.’

As I rinsed the toothpaste from my mouth, a thought occurred to me.

Come to think of it, I had sent Esther a message yesterday regarding the [Cursed Sword].

I wondered whether she had replied.

Spit.

I emptied the water from my mouth and checked my phone.

What appeared on the screen was—

[Missed Calls: 8]

[New Messages: 21]

“Hmm?”

What was this?

A mountain of notifications had accumulated without my noticing.

It seemed I had accidentally switched my phone to silent mode while handling it the previous day.

“Who sent me all of these...?”

With a growing sense of unease, I immediately opened my messages.

[From: Gu Seohyeong]

[Excuse me.]

[I saw what happened online. What is going on?]

[You’re F-class, aren’t you???]

[Please answer your phone.]

[Please pick up.]

[You aren’t hurt, are you?]

In fact, most of the missed calls and messages had come from an enchanter named Gu Seohyeong.

‘She saw something online?’

Unable to understand what Gu Seohyeong meant, I opened the internet to investigate.

“Huh?”

Only then did I begin to grasp the situation.

During the few hours I had been asleep, every major portal site had descended into chaos.

“Huh? What are they talking about?”

Netizens had been posting continuously about the S-class dungeon break that had occurred the previous day.

The problem was that their attention had become fixated on a completely unexpected subject.

“Me?”

The articles flooding the internet were all about a certain F-class hunter.

That was right.

At this very moment, I was the hottest topic online.

“What is all of this supposed to mean?!”

Worse still, the posts were filled with absurd claims.

They contained wild speculation about events I knew nothing about, and some were completely detached from the truth.

“Oh my.”

Even among all that noise, one article in particular had attracted the most controversy.

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Top Post: Even ‘That Hunter’ Kang Changho Was Defeated

(Video Included)

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The instant I read the title, I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

What in the world had happened...?