Episode 72
What came into Seo Sang-ho’s sight as he regained consciousness were unfamiliar scenes.
“It’s an unfamiliar ceiling… … .”
Seo Sang-ho slowly got up, saying the words he had always wanted to say.
Judging by the fact that all of his strength had drained from his body and his body was stiff, he hadn’t been lying down for a day or two.
“How long have you been lying down?”
Seo Sang-ho’s last memory was when he collapsed in front of Kang Jin-hyeok’s house.
Even I couldn’t figure out why I went to Kang Jin-hyeok instead of somewhere else.
Now that I think about it, it was really reckless.
In a situation where more than half of the Titans chose to betray, it was an unwise decision to go to Kang Jin-hyeok instead of going to the Association.
Although Kang Jin-hyeok has shown his prowess recently, he is still at an excellent level for a C-class hunter.
I didn’t think he was a great person who could take action on such a large scale alone.
“Anyway, the fact that he survived without dying means that he got through everything safely after that.”
The fact that he was still breathing until now was proof that his decision, which was almost like gambling, was a good one.
Rather than just lying in bed like that, Seo Sang-ho wanted to see the situation with his own eyes.
As I held onto the support with the ringer and placed both feet on the ground, the door opened automatically as if I had timed it.
Lee Hye-na, who was entering the hospital room, was startled and came running.
“What are you doing now! Stop doing something stupid and lie down quickly!”
“Uh uh… … ?”
Because of Lee Hye-na’s restraint, Seo Sang-ho had no choice but to lie down on the bed again.
Only after covering Seo Sang-ho with a blanket did Lee Hye-na sit down on the chair next to the bed in relief.
“I’m glad you woke up.”
“I’m sorry, did I cause you any trouble?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How hard was it?”
Tears welled up in Lee Hye-na’s eyes.
But there was a bright smile on her lips.
For Lee Hye-na, the fact that Seo Sang-ho had regained consciousness safely was more important than the hardships he had endured.
“What happened to Han Yeong-seok?”
Seo Sang-ho asked what he was most curious about.
He was the one who caused the incident by dragging in even the S-class hunter Kang Jun-tae, so his whereabouts were of the greatest concern.
“I’m at the association headquarters now.”
“That means… … .”
“Yes, all charges have been admitted.”
Thanks to the association’s efforts, Han Yeong-seok’s trial progressed quickly.
What would normally take three or four months was done in a matter of weeks, and even the appeal was dismissed.
There was nothing Han Yeong-seok could do, having lost all his foundations in the government’s actions.
All he could do was watch the years pass by, locked in a hunter-only cage installed in the basement of the association headquarters.
“What was your punishment?”
“It’s the death penalty.”
“It’s brutal… … .”
“It’s only natural, since I have to shoulder all the responsibility for starting the war.”
“War? Who with whom?”
“Tyrant and Titan.”
Seo Sang-ho took a deep breath with a surprised expression.
The shock never went away when the most unwanted situation happened while he was sleeping.
“… … There must have been chaos?”
“Thanks to early suppression, it didn’t spread that far.”
“You suppressed it early? Tyrant has Jo Won-cheol too?”
The Jo Won-cheol that Seo Sang-ho knows is a madman who enjoys beating up people more than catching monsters.
There is only one reason why he can proudly take on the role of Tyrant’s guild leader despite being a person that everyone finds difficult.
It was thanks to his outstanding skills.
“Did Cheon Sang-hoon come forward?”
If a hunter with that fraudulent strength had come forward himself, it would have been understandable that Jo Won-cheol would have been helpless.
However, Lee Hye-na shook her head slightly, denying Seo Sang-ho’s guess.
“Mr. Kang Jin-hyeok solved it.”
“Solved? What?”
“Both Kang Jun-tae and Jo Won-cheol.”
Seo Sang-ho looked more like he couldn’t believe it than was surprised.
April Fool’s Day must have passed a long time ago.
However, it is not like Lee Hye-na is the type of person to joke in this situation.
But when he accepted these stories as fact, Seo Sang-ho felt like all his common sense was crumbling.
“I want to believe everything Hye-na says, but… … this time, it was a bit too much.”
“I prepared it because I thought you might say that.”
Lee Hye-na showed the tablet she had brought in advance to Seo Sang-ho.
What you see on the screen are videos that Kang Jin-hyeok shot himself with a camera attached to his clothes.
There were three people in the video: Jo Won-cheol, Kang Jun-tae, and Kang Jin-hyeok.
“What is this!”
Seo Sang-ho, who was watching the video, let out a loud noise without realizing it.
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Although it was a sudden reaction, Lee Hye-na seemed to have anticipated such a reaction and appeared calm.
“Even if you took them out one by one, it wouldn’t make sense, but you took on two of them at the same time?!”
Moreover, the content of the video was truly a one-sided assault scene.
Jo Won-cheol and Kang Jun-tae fell without even being able to put up a proper fight, let alone become opponents.
“Is this a composite image? Technology has really improved these days~”
“Don’t escape reality, embrace it.”
“No, how can I take this? It honestly doesn’t make sense!”
“The association executives said the same thing.”
This footage, taken for evidence, was met with disbelief by all viewers.
Even after inviting experts and confirming that there was not even a 1% chance of synthesis or manipulation, many people denied it.
“This video has been tested and certified multiple times.”
“……really?”
“Yes, really.”
Seo Sang-ho leaned back on the pillow, making a sound of air escaping from his mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Seo Sang-ho wasn’t this shocked even when he was betrayed by Han Yeong-seok.
If it weren’t for Lee Hye-na, who showed him this video, Seo Sang-ho would not have believed it until the end.
“I knew that guy would make a big deal out of it someday. I didn’t know it would be this bad.”
The result was so unexpected that I just laughed out loud.
“You showed this video to the association?”
“yes.”
“Then it must have been turned upside down a long time ago.”
“It was a good sight.”
Lee Hye-na recalled the appearance of the association executives who were shocked and fell to the ground.
The sight of people who were always noisy trembling with pale faces was a refreshing sight that made ten years of accumulated stress disappear.
“Then is that guy Kang Jin-hyeok now an S-class hunter?”
“No. It’s A-class.”
“… … The old people of the association, are you going crazy or something?”
“I don’t want to reveal Kang Jin-hyeok’s existence to the outside world.”
A hunter with overwhelming skills that even S-class hunters can’t match.
The Korean association intended to use this as their trump card.
“They said, ‘We will only give you an official rank of A-class, but we will treat you like an S-class or higher.’”
“Did Kang Jin-hyeok accept that?”
“I just didn’t accept it.”
There were two conditions that Kang Jin-hyeok proposed to the association.
One is not to interfere with yourself in any way.
This meant that attaching surveillance devices and periodically measuring stats were both exceptions.
This was not welcome news to the association, which was trying to monitor all the top hunters.
The association had no choice but to accept the conditions in order to join hands with Kang Jin-hyeok.
“The remaining condition was that the guild officially recognize the Titan and Tyrant territories it occupied.”
“What are you talking about? Did Kang Jinhyuk join another guild?”
“I didn’t sign up, I created it myself.”
As Lee Hye-na slid the screen of her tablet, a guild creation permit appeared along with an emblem that looked like a Greek temple.
“This is a new guild created by Kang Jin-hyeok.”
“Pantheon? Just by looking at the name, it seems like it’s our successor guild.”
“It’s no different since all the Titan members who opposed Han Yeong-seok have joined and inherited the territory.”
“Except for the fact that I’m not the guild leader.”
After hearing Seo Sang-ho’s words, Lee Hye-na’s expression became slightly dark.
As he said, Seo Sang-ho was no longer a guild leader but a mere hunter.
“Do you feel sorry?”
“No way. It wasn’t the right place for me from the start.”
You could tell just by looking at the fact that many executives and guild members had joined Han Yeong-seok’s rebellion.
If he had managed his guild well, such a situation would not have occurred.
Seo Sang-ho, who thought like that, didn’t have any regrets.
“From now on, I can be free.”
“Well, that might be difficult.”
Lee Hye-na took out a piece of paper from the briefcase next to the bed.
Seo Sang-ho received the paper and checked its contents.
“… … This is a guild membership application form, right? And for life?”
“The guild leader said, ‘It is only natural that I repay the debt before I die, since you saved my life.’”
There was no need to ask who the guild leader was.
“… … .”
Seo Sang-ho covered his face and groaned.
This development was not entirely unexpected.
But for life?
Isn’t it too much to ask someone like Prime Minister Hwang Hui to work in a guild until he dies of old age?
“Yeah, there’s no law that says it has to be that way. There’s no such thing as compulsion in a contract like this.”
“That’s true. But it seems ugly for someone who usually emphasizes loyalty to run away here.”
“Ugh.”
Seo Sang-ho, who was hit in the face with a fact, felt pangs of conscience.
“You wouldn’t barge into a stranger’s house and make them suffer like crazy and then pretend not to know anything, would you?”
Every single word that Lee Hye-na uttered stabbed Seo Sang-ho’s conscience.
As she said, Kang Jin-hyeok suffered unexpected hardships because of Seo Sang-ho who showed up out of nowhere.
Seo Sang-ho had a duty to take responsibility for it.
“That’s true, but… …. Hye-na, aren’t you being too harsh on me?”
Even when Seo Sang-ho was hit in the back of the head by Han Yeong-seok and the guild members and was unable to trust anyone, he still trusted Lee Hye-na.
Seo Sang-ho felt betrayed when she, whom he had trusted without a doubt as someone on the same side, acted so coldly.
“Am I spicy?”
“Yeah. If you don’t sign, it’ll be like I’ll never see you again.”
Lee Hye-na sighed deeply when she heard that, saying that he was a clueless person.
It seemed that this dull-witted person could not understand unless he was directly spoken to.
“Where do you think I will be working?”
“I don’t know. If it’s Hye-na’s ability, she’ll be welcomed anywhere.”
Lee Hye-na took out another document and showed it to Seo Sang-ho.
It was the same contract as the one I had first shown him, but the difference was that it was a contract that had already been signed.
Of course, the person who signed was Lee Hye-na herself.
“I work under Mr. Kang Jin-hyeok.”
“ah…….”
“You’re not going to leave me and go somewhere else, are you?”
Even though I have a very oblivious personality, I couldn’t just ignore this.
“That can’t be.”
Seo Sang-ho signed the first contract he received without hesitation.
