Chapter 22

▶ Chapter 22. I Can't Give Up! (2)

Mundal had completely left the country.

She traveled around the world and worked as a freelancer. Her skills were incredible, enough to place her quite high in the world rankings.

But she completely turned her back on her homeland, Korea.

She had never once cleared a Korean Gate.

On top of that, people said she had a terrible personality and was incredibly good at swearing.

Wasn't there even a video online where she openly cursed at someone?

Naturally, Korean public opinion of her wasn't very good.

I heard there was a reason she didn't work in Korea.

I'd vaguely heard something about it at my previous job, but I didn't know the details.

She definitely is good at swearing, though.

[Remaining Time: 3 seconds…….]

As I watched the countdown, something suddenly came to mind.

The Gate appeared over the ocean.

In cases like this, the survivors would apparently reappear on the surface of the sea.

But naturally, anyone who couldn't swim would sink.

Mundal may be a buffer, but she's still an SS-rank Hunter. She should be physically capable, right?

Swimming should be nothing to her.

"Aaaagh! Blub! Blub!"

Apparently not!

I hurriedly pushed through the water and grabbed Mundal's wrist with one hand as she thrashed around wildly.

Thanks to all that struggling, at least she hadn't sunk yet.

With my other hand, I grabbed the child Mundal was still desperately holding above the surface even in that situation.

Thanks to that, I was able to lift both of them into the air without much difficulty.

"Huh?"

I'd heard that drowning people sometimes panicked so badly that they ended up dragging their rescuers underwater with them.

But as expected of a veteran Hunter, Mundal quickly regained her composure.

She even stared up at me with wide eyes.

I'd turned off my Stealth skill to conserve stamina, so she could see me.

Or rather, she could see me while I was using the hidden-master item's Child Protection Mode.

"A cat face!"

Exactly.

Since I thought I'd encounter a young child inside the Gate, I'd chosen this mode.

Looks like it's a cat this time.

The child was still unconscious, while Mundal's eyes were sparkling as she stared at me.

"A transformation item! That's really nice! No, this isn't the time to admire it. Thank you, HunterAnham!"

Mundal was just as beautiful as she looked on the news.

She seemed to have deliberately done her makeup to make herself look less attractive, yet she was still pretty enough to make me admire her for a moment.

And because of that, I accidentally answered.

"Yes. You should be grateful."

"……."

Mundal blinked for a moment.

Then her smile grew even wider.

She stared at me with an incredibly intense gaze, as if she'd taken a liking to me.

It was almost uncomfortable.

I avoided her gaze and carried Mundal and the child over to the sandy beach.

"Whoa!!!"

"It's the cat—no, it's HunterAnham!!!"

The people who had been drowning in fear and despair began rushing toward us.

The fastest among them were a young couple whose faces were soaked with tears.

"Junwoo!!"

"Our Junwoo!!!"

The child was only unconscious, but to his parents, he apparently looked seriously injured.

They looked so shocked that they seemed ready to collapse themselves.

≪Consciousness Recovery≫

I activated the skill and lightly shook the child's shoulder.

His eyes immediately opened.

"……Mom?"

"Junwoo! Junwoo!"

The couple pulled the child tightly into their arms.

Even then, tears continued pouring down their faces.

After barely wiping some of them away, they bowed deeply toward me.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Cat—no, HunterAnham! You're HunterAnham, right?"

I was about to activate Stealth without answering when—

"Cough! Cough!"

Someone washed onto the beach.

The man had apparently swallowed quite a lot of seawater. He lay face-down and vomited a mouthful of water before finally raising his head.

And the first thing out of his mouth was a curse.

"Y-You fucking bitch!"

It was directed at Mundal.

"Were you trying to kill me?! I'm going to sue you!"

"You're the one who's getting sued! Everyone, that bast—that man said we should throw this kid to the monster!"

"……!!!"

"What did you say……?"

The eyes of Junwoo's parents, which had been filled with tears moments ago, suddenly began glowing dangerously.

Far more terrifyingly than the monster I'd seen inside the Gate.

"No! I never said anything like th-that!"

The man started lying without even blinking.

"She's the one who said it! That woman is Hunter Mundal!"

"Mundal?"

"Oh, Mundal!"

"The Hunter who's Korean but refuses to clear Gates in Korea?"

People began recognizing her.

The man shouted even louder, his eyes gleaming.

"You're going to believe someone like her? She's Korean, yet she ignores other Koreans, and everyone knows she's a foul-mouthed bitch with a horrible personality!"

Several people immediately began looking suspiciously at Mundal.

"Hey, kid. Did you hear anyone saying something like that?"

One of the police officers who had arrived after receiving the report about the Gate carefully questioned Junwoo.

Junwoo looked confused.

"I didn't hear anything. I was just riding on a tube with Mom and Dad…… I don't remember anything after that."

He must have lost consciousness from the shock when he was dragged into the Gate and had only just woken up.

For Junwoo's mental health, that was probably fortunate.

But it wasn't good for Mundal.

More suspicious gazes turned toward her, becoming increasingly intense.

Yet Mundal remained silent.

She merely snorted.

It kind of feels like she's waiting to see how far these people are willing to take this.

And once they crossed a certain line, she looked like she might beat everyone up.

If that happens, I'll probably get dragged into something annoying too.

Before Mundal could cause a scene, I stepped back about five meters.

"HunterAnham……?"

"Are you leaving?"

As people called out for me not to go, I suddenly began running.

Straight toward the C-rank male Hunter who had been spewing nonsense.

In other words—

That C-rank bastard.

"GAAH!!!"

That was the C-rank bastard's scream as my full-powered hectopascal kick landed directly on him.

Splash!

And that was the sound of the C-rank bastard flying through the air and crashing right back into the sea he'd only just escaped from.

Everyone stared at me with their eyes wide open.

I shouted loudly.

"I heard everything clearly! That bastard was the one who suggested feeding this child to the monster so we could buy more time!"

"……!!!"

Junwoo's parents, whose anger had briefly turned to confusion, once again looked downright murderous.

"Hunter Mundal strongly opposed him, asking how he could even suggest something so horrible. She used a few swear words while doing it, and that's when that bastard tried to attack her first. Hunter Mundal only attacked him in self-defense."

"That son of a bitch!"

"So he really was the bad guy!"

The testimony of HunterAnham, the world's number-one-ranked Hunter, carried enormous weight.

With only those few words, nobody doubted Mundal anymore.

Instead, everyone turned pale as they glared at the C-rank bastard flailing around in the ocean.

Their expressions weren't normal.

Junwoo's parents in particular looked like they wanted to grind him into powder and drink what remained.

But they were ordinary civilians.

There was no way they could actually do that.

Forget revenge—there was even a chance that bastard might come after them later.

So I stepped in again.

When I'd kicked him earlier, I'd deliberately left some of my mana on his body.

≪Retrieve≫

I pulled on my mana.

The C-rank bastard flew through the air and came straight toward me.

To everyone else, it probably looked as though I was controlling his body.

"H-Huh?! Eek! S-Save me! Please save me!"

Dragged toward me at high speed, the C-rank bastard struggled wildly and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Why are you asking me to save you?"

"Y-You're not going to kill me, right?!"

"Yeah."

I slowly added,

"Not right now."

"What?!"

"If you ever act like a villain again…"

I reached out my hand.

Then I slowly dragged the edge of my hand across the side of his neck.

"You know what happens, right?"

I didn't use a skill.

Nor did I put any strength into it.

But it must have looked terrifying, because goosebumps rose all over the C-rank bastard's body.

"……."

"You don't know? Want me to explain?"

"No! No! I understand! I understand!!! Please! Please let me go! Please!!! Waaahhh!!! I'll live like a good person from now on!! I'm sorry!!!"

"Good, good. I'll believe you."

As I said that, I gave his shoulder a few light pats.

Then, pretending it was an accident, I once again slid the edge of my hand across his neck.

That was the final straw.

Just like when Mundal had hit him hard inside the cave earlier, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Thud!

That was the sound of the C-rank bastard collapsing.

"Weak."

That was my entire assessment of him.

Then I turned around.

"……."

Everyone was staring at me with eyes as round and wide as the full moon.

They didn't exactly look scared.

They seemed…

No.

They looked extremely bewildered.

"If I didn't do that, he obviously would've tried to get revenge on all of you later."

"Ah… I-I see!"

"Right! Thank you!"

"Thank you, HunterAnham!"

Only then did everyone start thanking me.

Although judging from their expressions, they still didn't seem completely convinced by my explanation.