WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: BlueMangoAde
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 865: F-Rank Hunter Jeon Myeong-hoon (4)
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Jeon Myeong-hoon looks for a pipe.
'A water pipe is still the best choice.'
Of course, something better would be to tear out the parallel bars in the rehabilitation room and use them.
Unfortunately, the rehabilitation room was quite far from the Hunter psychiatric ward, and Jeon Myeong-hoon could not enter without a reason.
In the end, Jeon Myeong-hoon decides to tap on the walls until he finds the most suitable pipe.
Knock, knock, knock...
"...Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon. It seems you've found a new hobby."
"Yes. I'm looking for a spear that suits me."
"...A spear?"
Park Su-in, whom he happens to meet in the hallway, stares at Jeon Myeong-hoon as if unsure what to say.
"Why are you looking for a spear by tapping on the corridor walls?"
"Because there are spears inside the walls."
"Goodness... There are only things like electrical wires and water pipes inside the walls."
"That's another name for them."
"......"
Park Su-in looks mildly troubled as he speaks to Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon. You are an F-Rank Hunter. If you at least had combat-capable skills like attack skills, defensive skills, or Healing skills, you could somehow grow stronger. But as far as I know, you only have a strange buff-like skill called Crying Out to Heaven. You cannot grow at all with such a skill. So even if you wanted to use a pipe or electrical wire as a spear, you would not be able to break through the wall itself."
"What if I gain a new skill?"
"It is difficult to gain a new skill unless you are fighting desperately in a dungeon inside a Gate. If you are planning to cause trouble, please stop. Every wall in the Hunter psychiatric ward has protective mana formations so that Awakened patients cannot cause incidents."
Crackle.
When Park Su-in concentrates mana on a finger and presses the wall, sparks fly from the surface and push the finger away.
Jeon Myeong-hoon merely grins at the sight.
Park Su-in sighs.
"Don't entertain strange thoughts, Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon. You are someone who needs treatment."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Of course, Jeon Myeong-hoon has no intention of keeping it in mind.
Park Su-in learns that three days later.
Beeeeep.
Park Su-in lets out a deep sigh while looking at the message on the phone.
It says that his patient, Jeon Myeong-hoon, has torn a pipe out of a wall near a fire hydrant, is causing a disturbance with it, and is trying to escape the ward.
'How did he break through the mana protective formation and tear out a pipe...? No, he is supposed to be an F-Rank Hunter. What ability does he have that lets him break through a wall and pull out a pipe...?'
That is when it happens.
Flinch.
Park Su-in spots Jeon Myeong-hoon in the distance, carrying a pipe toward the wall around the hospital park.
He sighs.
'Subduing a patient isn't to my liking, but...'
Hummm.
A powerful wave of mana spreads from Park Su-in, rising around his body like a haze.
'If he insists on causing trouble... I have no choice.'
Tap!
Park Su-in opens a window, reinforces his body, and leaps down to the park on the first floor.
* * *
Holding the pipe, Jeon Myeong-hoon knocks aside the suppression skills flying at him from within the hospital.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Mana Cutting activates, slicing the skills apart.
An F-Rank Hunter is walking toward the park wall while countering the anti-Awakened skills in the psychiatric ward, but Jeon Myeong-hoon's expression remains grim.
'This isn't enough. They're all pitiful things that can barely subdue wild animals... I need something stronger. Something much stronger...!'
That is when it happens.
Boom!
Dust rises from one part of the ward's park grounds.
Someone in a doctor's coat and glasses stands up amid the dust, adjusting his glasses.
Prickle, prickle...!
Jeon Myeong-hoon smiles at the prickling mana reaction he feels on his skin.
"What is this, Doctor? You're better than I expected..."
He surpasses the Cyclops Jeon Myeong-hoon encountered before.
Whoosh.
Park Su-in emerges from the dust.
"Long ago, I had an opportunity to become a C-Rank Hunter. But I gave it up. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"There are many C-Rank Hunters, but not many Hunter doctors who can care for patients suffering from mana contamination like you, Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon."
"Oh, so you're a fine person."
Jeon Myeong-hoon corrects the informal tone he had nearly used.
Park Su-in is a person of conviction, unlike what he had expected.
"But as I have said repeatedly, I am not mentally ill."
"Many patients say that."
Whoooosh!
The mana that had risen around Park Su-in like a haze takes on a shape behind his back.
It feels foreign, unlike Park Su-in's own mana.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes shine as he looks at it.
"Oh, and that is?"
"Besides the abilities I awakened and trained, I receive support from a Constellation. The Constellation supporting me is the [Life God of Alkaros]. It is the finest Constellation for doctors. Of course, I am a psychiatrist rather than an internist or surgeon, so I cannot use that power to its fullest. But with this power added to my ability as an Awakened, I am close to C+ Rank."
'The Life God of Alkaros?'
Jeon Myeong-hoon frowns as he senses the authority of the Constellation supporting Park Su-in.
"Charcoal. I think I've heard of this Life God before."
[Yes, Your Highness. Even in the other world, it is one of the exalted high divinities comparable to an Imperial Venerable.]
"Is that so...? It feels similar to the First King before ascending. No, is its rank lower than that?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon converses with Charcoal, and Park Su-in speaks while watching.
"Give up, Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon. You cannot defeat me. You need treatment. Let yourself be subdued and return to the ward quietly!"
"...You truly are admirable, Doctor."
Grinning, he points the end of the pipe at Park Su-in.
"I believe someone of your caliber can help me surpass the limits of my skills."
"...I apologize in advance, because it seems I will have to subdue you painfully. Then..."
Boom!
Park Su-in charges at Jeon Myeong-hoon and, in an instant, tears his limbs apart...
Crack!
Jeon Myeong-hoon slices through the illusion assaulting his mind with the pipe.
"An illusion-type ability?"
"...!?"
Park Su-in flinches.
His skill is sliced apart by the tip of Jeon Myeong-hoon's pipe.
"H-how!?"
"I told you, Doctor. I might have gained a new skill!"
"...Having a skill and suffering from an illness are separate matters. And acquiring a skill just now does not mean you can defeat someone like me, who has spent years working as a Hunter!"
Shhhhkk!
Eyeball-like patterns emerge all over Park Su-in's body.
Flash!
Light bursts from the patterns.
The entire area fills with illusions.
Yet Jeon Myeong-hoon cuts through every last one.
The next moment.
One illusion moves and lunges at Jeon Myeong-hoon.
"Hm...!"
Startled by its attack, Jeon Myeong-hoon swings his spear with all his strength.
Booom!
The monster within the illusion splits apart, but unlike the previous illusions, the blow carries a heavy impact.
Hummm.
Jeon Myeong-hoon frowns at Park Su-in.
The shape of the Life God behind his back is lending power to the illusions.
"[Illusory Embodiment]. It is a skill that grants vitality to imaginary illusions and gives them physical form. It was granted by the Constellation. You can never defeat me."
"Hm."
Jeon Myeong-hoon snickers.
Countless illusory monsters rush toward him.
As he shifts his steps, Jeon Myeong-hoon begins a spear dance.
Every time he executes a spear form, an illusory monster splits apart.
"Hoooo..."
No matter how much he had trained, Jeon Myeong-hoon's body had only been trained without mana. It begins to tremble.
He feels at one with his spear at the level of Spear and Body Unity, even as sweat pours from his whole body like rain.
'Was it like this for you too, Seo Eun-hyun?'
The Heavenly Golden Lightning Body, the fate of rage.
With all of it gone, only Jeon Myeong-hoon's pure talents and body remain.
Even the rank of his soul had been sealed. All that remains are the memories of the life lived by the human being named Jeon Myeong-hoon.
With nothing but that left, and pain so great it feels as though his body will break, Jeon Myeong-hoon thinks of the man whose back he had always watched.
His spear traces a circle as he repeats the fundamental spear forms, Lan, Na, and Zha.
Within that circle, Jeon Myeong-hoon thinks:
'In hardships where you could do nothing with your own strength, did you keep fighting like this too? Doing your best... doing what you could...'
Long ago.
Jeon Myeong-hoon had envied Seo Eun-hyun.
Before arriving on Mount Sumeru, he had been parachuted into a department manager position and had thought only of using his authority to torment Seo Eun-hyun, who seemed to receive the attention of Kang Min-hee, Kim Yeon, and Oh Hye-seo.
Considering Jeon Myeong-hoon's age, those memories were literally from his fetal-cell days, but they had certainly happened.
"Hoooo!"
As Jeon Myeong-hoon controls his breathing and endlessly cuts down illusions, he advances toward Park Su-in.
The trajectory of his spear becomes increasingly splendid and domineering.
Before long, his Mana Cutting skill can no longer keep up with the path traced by Jeon Myeong-hoon's pipe.
Only after the pipe passes does it catch up and slice through mana.
'Come to think of it, perhaps I had envied you from that time onward.'
It was not jealousy over appearance.
Jeon Myeong-hoon does not think he is uglier than Seo Eun-hyun, either.
'The female employees were not all interested in Seo Eun-hyun solely because of his appearance. That guy had something even then.'
No matter how much he was trampled, he stubbornly endured. No matter the hardship, he would not yield...
He possesses the inner strength to keep forging ahead so resolutely.
'Everyone must have fallen for that inner strength. Yes... In the first place, I too was finally won over by it, and began watching your back.'
The envy he had once felt was worn away over the countless years he spent on Mount Sumeru, leaving only pure admiration and longing for the human being named Seo Eun-hyun.
'So, Seo Eun-hyun.'
Trapped within this environment that presses down on him while he has nothing, Jeon Myeong-hoon awakens the longing he had recently forgotten.
'Can I become like you too?'
In truth.
He could have resisted after someone struck him from behind back then.
But Jeon Myeong-hoon had not resisted.
The truth was...
He had wanted to go too.
He wanted to grow as Seo Eun-hyun had, enduring hardship in an environment where he knew nothing.
He wanted that same inner strength.
"Hup...!"
Crack, craaack!
The spear that had been cutting through monsters transforms.
Before he knows it, he is slicing through the world itself.
A spear that Mana Cutting cannot follow, a spear that even the flow of the world cannot follow.
Previously, his weapon had been a branch, so even Jeon Myeong-hoon's realm had limits.
But once he obtained the sturdy spear that was a pipe, nothing held him back.
Craack!
The world splits apart.
At last, Jeon Myeong-hoon's spear form unleashes its final transformation.
The final thrust that unfolds at the end of every spear.
Treading Heaven Beyond the Path
Eighty Quadrillion Lightning-Tipped Spear
Craaaash!
The world shatters.
At the end of the shattered world, Park Su-in stares blankly at Jeon Myeong-hoon, who has shattered his ultimate technique, [Illusory World].
Jeon Myeong-hoon's eyes narrow.
Crack, craaack!
A round hole has opened in Jeon Myeong-hoon's system window.
It was the hole he had just pierced by transcending the flow of the world.
Beyond it, Park Su-in's dumbfounded face is visible.
The system rings noisily, saying something about reverse calculations, the failure of those calculations, and granting skills based on the result alone.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[You have acquired the skill Demon-Breaking Spear LV.1.]
[You have acquired the skill Mana Repulsion LV.1.]
[You have acquired the skill Barrier Breaking LV.1.]
As though it cannot account for Jeon Myeong-hoon's result with a single skill, the system window grants him three skills at once.
As Jeon Myeong-hoon passes Park Su-in, he speaks.
"I respect your conviction. You are an admirable person. But as I said again, I am not mentally ill."
"...Don't make me laugh."
Park Su-in grits his teeth.
"Separately from the fact that you are unexpectedly powerful, you do have a mental illness. Schizophrenic symptoms where you converse with charcoal, delusions of grandeur about being the God of Lightning, obsessive compulsions concerning hands! You need treatment!"
"Conversations with Charcoal will not harm anyone else. As for being the God of Lightning... I will retract that for now. For now, I will only be the human Jeon Myeong-hoon. And regarding hands... yes, that is true. I think of it as a mental illness myself. But it cannot be helped. It is like a seal branded into my heart... I will ensure it does not harm anyone else. I know my own strength, so I will not act rashly."
"Rashness is not the issue. You are more dangerous precisely because you are strong. Please stay here. Everything you did was caught on CCTV. The Hunter Management Bureau will never permit a dangerous individual like you. You will be wanted. On top of that, there are rumors that a Gate Wave is coming. During a Gate Wave, someone like you could be judged a dangerous person by the Hunter Management Bureau and... executed!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon looks back at Park Su-in.
"Doctor. You are truly a fine person."
Park Su-in sees Jeon Myeong-hoon smile.
The smiles of psychiatric patients always have something strange about them.
But for some reason, the moment Park Su-in sees Jeon Myeong-hoon's smile, it feels utterly pure.
"I too have wanted to become a fine person for a long time."
Hummm.
Jeon Myeong-hoon's pipe vibrates.
"Wait..."
"From now on, I will try to become one. Until I return there... I will grow and keep moving forward. I may not become the same as him, but I will gain enough inner strength to look upon him."
Whoom.
Jeon Myeong-hoon turns and swings his pipe toward the hospital wall.
[Basic Skill: Mana Repulsion (Repels mana. Depending on the degree of repulsion, it can also create a shockwave.)]
Skills registered in the system receive correction from the world.
Even without Jeon Myeong-hoon specifically executing a spear form, the system corrects the result from the moment it is registered as a skill.
Booooom!
The mana in the atmosphere that surges from the tip of Jeon Myeong-hoon's spear explodes into a shockwave, blasting a hole through the hospital wall.
Jeon Myeong-hoon slowly steps through that hole.
Park Su-in cannot say anything as he watches him.
Objectively speaking, Jeon Myeong-hoon boldly destroying the wall of a psychiatric hospital and stepping outside is the escape of an extremely dangerous psychiatric patient...
Yet, for some reason, Park Su-in finds his figure as he heads outside unbearably pure and courageous.
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