WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Martial Arts Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 17: Later
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“I knew you’d say that.”
Everyone reacted the same way when he said he hadn’t made a contract. It wasn’t hard to understand why. Seo Min-sik stared at Baek Hyun in disbelief, then took out a fresh cigarette to replace the one he hadn’t managed to smoke.
“No, I don’t get it. Why the hell wouldn’t you make a contract? You said all thirteen monarchs wanted you, right? And every one of them promised you powers.”
“They did.”
“If you’d made a contract with one of them and shown a little more of that... ability of yours, you definitely could’ve received an apostle’s trial. Do you know what that means?”
“That I’d get strong as fuck?”
“Exactly. Yeah, strong as fuck!”
“I’m already strong as fuck.”
Baek Hyun answered with an indifferent look. Seo Min-sik had nothing to say to that. He recalled the palm strike Baek Hyun had just thrown at him. That sudden attack... Honestly, he hadn’t been able to judge the power behind it right up until it hit him. He had managed to regain his balance in the air not because he had seen the attack coming, but because of the elemental spirit’s protection, which guarded his body even without his awareness.
“...That attack just now. That wasn’t your full strength, was it?”
“If I’d hit you with my full strength, you’d be dead.”
“You’re not just bluffing?”
“Why would I bluff? That palm strike was... well... three-tenths of my internal energy.”
“What’s three-tenths supposed to mean?”
“If my full strength is a hundred, I hit you with thirty.”
Once again, Seo Min-sik failed to properly smoke his cigarette. The smoke he hadn’t inhaled drifted uselessly into the sky. Of course, he had been off guard just now. If he gave it his all, treating Baek Hyun as an “enemy” he had to kill, Baek Hyun wouldn’t be able to overwhelm him with thirty percent of his internal energy.
“...Well, damn.”
Seo Min-sik finally took a drag.
“...I get that you’re strong, but I still don’t understand. The offer was so good... and you threw it away. You wouldn’t know, but I’ve made a contract with Tempest and received powers. I know what they’re like. The powers monarchs give you are broken. Even just receiving a power lets you go far beyond human limits. And if you become an apostle...”
“What’s the point of getting strength from beings I know nothing about?”
“...True, but still. It’s better to have it.”
“Even without that, I have the strength my master taught me. The whole reason I entered the Abyss was to see how far I could go with it. And earn some money while I’m at it.”
Seo Min-sik’s expression stiffened at Baek Hyun’s answer. He glanced at Baek Hyun as he stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray.
“...You’re not planning to pick a fight with the monarchs, are you?”
“What kind of person do you take me for?”
“So you’re not completely insane.”
Seo Min-sik gave him an uneasy look, then turned around. His shoulders drooped a little as he headed back to the parked car. Baek Hyun followed him and asked,
“Why do you look so down?”
“It doesn’t feel great knowing I’m weaker than a guy who spent five years in a vegetative state.”
“Hey, you think I was slacking off? I might’ve looked like I was in a vegetative state to you, but I spent twenty fucking years suffering in the Peach Blossom Realm.”
“I know. I know. Heavenly Martial Star, Heavenly Martial Star...? Fuck, the world’s so unfair.”
“Unfair, my ass. You’re pretty fucking unfair yourself, you know. Some people can’t even get a contract, and others make one but don’t receive a single power. You got both, and now you’re living the high life.”
“What good is that? I haven’t even received an apostle’s trial yet.”
Grumbling, Seo Min-sik climbed into the driver’s seat.
“...What are you going to do now?”
“Well, I’ve registered as a hunter. First, I’ll try to pay you back.”
“I told you, you don’t have to.”
“Even if you say that, I’d feel better trying to pay you back. It’s not like I’m incapable.”
Baek Hyun grumbled and rolled down the window.
“How do I make a lot of money?”
“...Get famous.”
The Lamborghini pulled out of the rest stop.
“Once you’re famous, you can make money doing anything.”
“How do I get famous?”
“...If you’d made a contract with a monarch like Black Rose Queen or Heaven Defier and received a power, you would’ve made headlines right away. Nobody in Korea has received a power from either of them yet.”
“They did make me offers.”
“But you can’t prove that.”
“Then I’ll just get famous some other way. What’s today’s date?”
Muttering to himself, Baek Hyun turned on his phone’s screen. July 28. There were only a few days left until the last day of July.
“Wouldn’t an uncontracted hunter get famous by beating up the monsters that crawl out of the Abyss?”
“You’d get fucking famous, all right.”
Seo Min-sik turned to Baek Hyun with a look of disbelief.
“...You’re going to do it?”
“Is there a reason not to?”
“...Is there a reason to?”
“Plenty. You said being famous makes you money.”
“That’s it? For the money?”
“No. If I get famous, won’t more people come looking for me?”
“Who do you want to come looking?”
“Park Jun-hwan.”
At Baek Hyun’s answer, Seo Min-sik nearly stepped on the brake without thinking. Of course, he didn’t actually do it.
“Why him?”
“Martial Spirit seems wary of me.”
“...A monarch? Of you? Personally?”
“Yeah. I guess my strength seems suspicious.”
“So... you want to meet that guy, Park Jun-hwan?”
“I’m pretty interested in him, too. I looked him up, and those powers he uses from Martial Spirit look like martial arts. But I have no way to meet him.”
“...True. He’s incredibly busy. Lately, it sounds like he’s practically living in the Abyss.”
Muttering, Seo Min-sik tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
“...But don’t... unusual people like you usually hide their strength?”
“That’s a ridiculous question. Why would I hide it? It’s not like I got this strength by doing something wrong. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Baek Hyun found the question absurd. Seo Min-sik blinked and looked at Baek Hyun’s face in the rearview mirror.
“...That’s true. Still, be careful. You never know. It’s the same everywhere, but the world has factions. And old cliques that won’t let anyone else in.”
“You mean guilds?”
“Yeah.”
Seo Min-sik frowned as he answered.
“It’s a little funny for me to say this when I’m a freelancer who hasn’t joined a guild... but in the end, hunters are all fighting for a slice of the pie. Those monsters that crawl out of the Abyss on the last day of every month? That’s a huge chance to win over the public.”
Baek Hyun knew that much. Hunters who regularly entered the Abyss might feel differently, but ordinary people had long since given up on surviving there. Events in the real world, meaning the monsters that crawled out of the Abyss on the last day of each month, felt far more real and important to them than anything happening inside it. Naturally, the public paid close attention to who killed those monsters and how.
“They don’t even air variety shows or dramas on the last day of the month. Especially this time, since it falls on a Sunday. The ratings will be huge. For days like that, plenty of people lobby in advance to get first dibs on the monster hunts.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“No, it isn’t.”
Seo Min-sik shook his head. Officially, any hunter could take part in killing the monsters that crawled out of the Abyss on the last day of each month. However, anyone who joined had to look after their own life. There was no insurance for hunters, whose death rate was high to begin with, and the Abyss Administration Bureau didn’t pay them any hazard pay, either.
“The guilds don’t lobby the Bureau. They lobby the broadcasters. That’s actually more reliable.”
The media had tremendous influence. If a television network focused only on a particular guild during a monster hunt, the public would naturally see only that guild’s achievements.
“Aren’t you taking part this time?”
“I’ve already got everything I need, and I’m plenty popular. There’s no reason for me to join that dirty fight. Besides, I’m busy these days.”
“And what exactly keeps you so busy?”
“I’m exploring unexplored areas. It’s a job from the Bureau. High-ranking hunters get requests directly from the Bureau, like I do.”
Seo Min-sik sounded rather proud of himself. Hearing that, Baek Hyun suddenly grew curious.
“By the way, what level are you?”
“My level? I’m 221.”
“221...? That’s high, right?”
Seo Min-sik let out a deep sigh.
“Of course it’s high, you lunatic. The only person in Korea with a higher level than me is Park Jun-hwan.”
“What level is he?”
“...I don’t know exactly... but probably at least fifty levels above me. The higher your level, the harder it gets to raise it.”
“Just like a game.”
“It’s a little different from a game... It’s more about how much the monarchs recognize me. It’s true that higher-level hunters are stronger, but it isn’t an absolute rule. And grinding barely helps you level up.”
Seo Min-sik seemed unhappy about that.
“I’d rather it worked by grinding. Then I could hole up somewhere and kill a shitload of monsters. But I tried that, and my level barely went up. That’s part of why I’m exploring unexplored areas. Doing something new raises your level faster than killing monsters nonstop. Well, it depends on the monarch’s preferences... Tempest seems to prefer it when I kill monsters I haven’t killed before, rather than just grinding.”
“What about worldwide, not just Korea?”
“...I’m above average. Why do you ask?”
“I want to know how strong I am.”
As he spoke, Baek Hyun lightly circulated the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art. His dantian held an enormous amount of internal energy. He had gained combat experience by fighting every single day for twenty years in the Peach Blossom Realm. Objectively speaking, Baek Hyun was anything but weak. The forty-year-old Ju Han-o he had defeated when his Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art reached the fourth stage had been one of the World’s Five.
‘Would I be the best under heaven now?’
He couldn’t be sure. If he’d known things would turn out this way, he would have asked his master for a sparring match after reaching the fifth stage of the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art, before seeing him off.
“By the way, where are we going?”
“Home.”
“Whose home? Yours?”
“The place you’ll be using.”
Seo Min-sik grinned as he answered. Baek Hyun blinked.
“...The place I’ll be using? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I bought a place for you to live in once you woke up.”
Baek Hyun thought he could hear hymns in his ears. Seo Min-sik’s slick face looked noble, and light from outside the window seemed to form a halo around him. Right now, Seo Min-sik was an angel who had descended to earth.
“Why would you do that much for me?”
Part of him couldn’t understand it. They were childhood buddies from the same orphanage, but he had received far too much from Seo Min-sik. Paying his hospital bills for five years was one thing, but buying him a home, too! Seo Min-sik gave a little laugh at his question.
“Because there’s nobody else I’d do it for.”
“Come on, though. Don’t you have a girlfriend or something?”
“Why would I do this for a girlfriend?”
“Then why do it for me? You’re not... you know. That, are you?”
“What?”
“Gay.”
“No, you fucking idiot.”
Seo Min-sik’s face twisted.
“You crazy bastard. What the hell is going through your head? Look, I just make a lot of money and don’t have much to spend it on. I figured you’d have no idea how to get by if you woke up from that vegetative state, so I got things ready to help you out.”
“Min-sik.”
Looking serious, Baek Hyun reached out and placed a hand on Seo Min-sik’s shoulder.
“If I meet Tempest later, I’ll make sure to tell her to make you her apostle.”
“...What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I mean it.”
Baek Hyun sincerely decided he would do just that. Until now, he had only thought about earning plenty of money to pay his friend back. But what he had received from Seo Min-sik wasn’t something he could settle with money alone.
* * *
It was a nice home.
Seo Min-sik gave him the building’s security key and the apartment’s door code, then left right away. Apparently, he had something to do. The apartment had a spacious living room, three rooms, and even a separate dressing room. All the furniture he needed was already there.
“...He really didn’t have to be this thorough.”
The refrigerator was stocked with enough ingredients to make something to eat right away. When he checked, they seemed to have been bought and put there today. His friend had probably gone grocery shopping and filled the refrigerator as soon as he heard Baek Hyun had woken up. Baek Hyun smiled, his heart warming at his friend’s thoughtfulness.
It wasn’t just the refrigerator. The dressing room was stocked with clothes, mostly tracksuits. The sofa, the bed, the TV... They were all brands he couldn’t even have dreamed of owning back when he lived in a tiny rented room.
Baek Hyun sat in the lotus position in the middle of the living room.
First, he needed to think calmly.
He analyzed the strength he had sensed from his friend, Seo Min-sik.
The palm force delivered with thirty percent of his internal energy. The response to it. The surprise Seo Min-sik had shown. There was no question that Seo Min-sik had failed to react in that moment. If Baek Hyun had harbored killing intent (殺心), he could have killed him in a single move.
Of course, he had to consider the circumstances. Baek Hyun and Seo Min-sik were friends. They would never use killing moves against each other. Even taking that into account, though, Baek Hyun honestly felt confident that he could subdue Seo Min-sik within ten moves. Even that estimate gave Seo Min-sik a very generous allowance for whatever strength he hadn’t shown.
‘Level 221.’
The second-highest level in Korea. His conversation with Seo Min-sik had given Baek Hyun a lot of information. First of all, levels in the Abyss were different from levels in an RPG. A monarch’s “interest.” A higher level wasn’t an absolute measure of strength. It depended on the monarch’s preferences. Still, that difference would have its limits.
‘Are apostles and apostle candidates the only ones I need to be a little careful around?’
He wouldn’t know that for sure until he actually fought them, either.
Feeling restless with anticipation, Baek Hyun stood up.
He had been planning to eat and get some rest, but now he wanted to go to the Abyss.
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