WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a B-Rank Hunter ◈
Chapter 22
──────
His voice was like a growling beast.
The moment President Choi spotted Dohyeon’s yellow eyes glaring at him as he stood alone, he felt something was terribly wrong. Anyone who met that flashing gaze would have felt the same.
But anger rose in him at the same time. This bastard had the nerve to linger after being told to leave?
His face stiffened. The apartment fell quiet. The other hulking men also sensed that something had gone wrong because of Dohyeon’s sudden appearance and tone.
President Choi spoke.
“Say that again. What business do you still have here?”
“They’re mine.”
That growling voice again. A smile returned to President Choi’s lips. This time, though, it was like an animal baring its teeth just before tearing into its prey.
“What the hell is this? You should’ve quietly fucked off after finishing your business. Why go looking for trouble? Being a hunter doesn’t mean a knife won’t go into your gut.”
“Move.”
“...So you’re confident, are you?”
Still smiling with only his teeth exposed, President Choi slowly moved the right hand Yang Haneul had bitten earlier. Everyone in the apartment was watching Dohyeon, so no one noticed.
President Choi, his dozen or so hulking subordinates, Yang Haneul, and even the crying Yang Gihyeon. All of them were looking at Dohyeon, who stood in the middle of the apartment’s living room.
Then Dohyeon’s yellow eyes, which had been fixed on President Choi, slowly shifted. His chilling gaze settled on President Choi’s right hand.
The hand stopped moving.
The yellow gaze returned to President Choi.
“What? Go on. Keep trying.”
“...You fucking bastard.”
The next moment, President Choi pulled something from his waistband. A black, gleaming object a little longer than his palm.
A handgun.
At the same time, Dohyeon’s right foot shot toward him.
The tip of his foot lightly struck the underside of the black metal object President Choi was about to aim at Dohyeon. It flew easily out of President Choi’s hand.
Perhaps the trigger caught on President Choi’s finger. A flame burst from the muzzle with a Bang!
“Aah!”
“Boss!”
The missed bullet left only a black hole in the apartment wall. The handgun spun through the air before falling to the floor.
Clutching his broken finger, President Choi stumbled back and shouted.
“What the fuck are you idiots staring at?!”
The hulking men snapped out of it at his shout and rushed Dohyeon all at once.
His yellow glare swept over them.
“You dog-”
Dohyeon’s fist sank into the center of the first man’s face. His nose flattened, and he lost consciousness.
Before the unconscious man could even fall, Dohyeon’s back kick snapped up into another man’s jaw. The nearly two-meter-tall man threw his head back and lifted slightly off the ground.
The next man was too close. Dohyeon lowered himself beneath the incoming punch and drove his elbow into the man’s chest. With a Crack!, the sound of breaking ribs rang out, and the man collapsed forward with all the breath knocked out of him.
Then another fist struck Dohyeon in the jaw.
He could not avoid it. There were limits to perception and physical ability. No matter how much a hunter’s body was strengthened by entering dungeons, humans still had eyes, noses, mouths, and two arms and legs. He had taken down three men in an instant, but he could not evade every attack after that.
Yet a savage smile appeared on Dohyeon’s lips after taking the blow.
“Wh-”
The hulking man who saw that smile was startled enough to hesitate.
That brief moment was enough. Dohyeon closed in and smashed his forehead into the man’s face. With a Thud!, the man’s face crumpled as he fell backward.
At that moment, someone swung a chair from Dohyeon’s blind spot behind him. It was the chair Dohyeon had been sitting in earlier.
The wooden chair shattered with a Crash!, scattering splinters everywhere.
The man who swung it must have expected Dohyeon to go down. But Dohyeon turned around as if nothing had happened and drove a fist into his face. Another Thud! rang out as teeth and blood flew.
The fight between Dohyeon and the apartment full of hulking men continued in that manner. Whenever Dohyeon took down one man with a single blow, the others landed at least one blow on him.
Dohyeon avoided most of their attacks, but when he could not, he willingly took the hit.
And throughout the entire fight, he smiled with his teeth bared like a beast.
After taking several blows, the inside of his mouth had split, and bright red blood flowed between his teeth. The hulking men shrank back when they saw that savage smile.
The more they recoiled, the fiercer Dohyeon’s glare became. President Choi, retreating while clutching his broken finger, suddenly doubted his own eyes. It felt as though Dohyeon had grown larger during the fight.
“Fuck, these goddamn hunters...!”
As he staggered, he remembered that the handgun had fallen to the floor and quickly looked down. He saw it, still giving off a faint wisp of smoke from the shot it had fired.
At the same time, someone else looked at the handgun.
Yang Haneul.
“...!”
“...!”
The two lunged at the same time.
President Choi was slightly faster, but the moment Yang Haneul realized it, she struck the handgun away instead of grabbing it. The gun slid far across the floor.
“You bitch!”
“Gah!”
President Choi stretched out again to grab it and rolled across the floor. Yang Haneul threw herself at him to stop him. The two became tangled on the floor.
“You ungrateful bitch! After all I’ve done raising you!”
“I... raised... myself...!”
Yang Haneul tried to bite President Choi’s hand again. President Choi, who had been trying to grab the gun first, failed to shake her off and got bitten.
“Argh!”
This time, it was his left hand. Hard enough to draw blood.
President Choi snapped and struck Yang Haneul across the face. With a Smack!, she was flung away, but he did not stop there. He pounced on her and wrapped his hands around her throat.
“You fucking bitch! Are you as worthless and fucked-up as your parents?!”
“Ghk...”
Half-conscious from the slap, Yang Haneul’s eyes widened as she struggled to breathe. Her startled eyes met President Choi’s bloodshot ones.
Fear appeared in Yang Haneul’s eyes. The agony of suffocation, helplessness she could not fight, terror of death.
Her vision blurred.
Beyond that fading vision, behind the bloodshot-eyed President Choi as he choked her, she saw something.
A tall female warrior in a winged helmet and armor, holding a spear. A strange being with huge wings folded behind her, looking down at Yang Haneul.
She saw the woman’s green eyes.
“Ghk...!”
Why?
The next moment, her fading vision cleared. The will to live surged from deep within her chest. Along with it came a furious resolve to survive no matter what, then live well enough to show them all.
She saw President Choi’s bloodshot eyes, wild with excitement.
She was no longer afraid.
So she jabbed her fingers straight into his eye.
“Argh!”
President Choi screamed and recoiled. Yang Haneul, able to breathe again, coughed as she lifted her head.
The mysterious female warrior she had seen moments ago was gone. Instead, she saw only her younger brother, pressed against the wall and frozen white with fear.
“G-Gihyeon...!”
“Noona!”
Yang Gihyeon snapped out of it at her call and looked toward his sister. She was pointing at something.
The handgun that had been knocked away earlier.
Understanding her intent, Yang Gihyeon hurried over, picked it up, and ran back. Yang Haneul took it and immediately aimed it at President Choi. By then, President Choi had regained his senses enough to notice the gun pointed at him.
“You fucking...”
He could not open his right eye. She had stabbed it so hard that it was bleeding. With his remaining left eye, he glared at the handgun aimed at him and at the Yang siblings beyond it. Yang Haneul’s finger rested on the trigger.
Then a Boom! exploded.
President Choi and the Yang siblings flinched. President Choi especially had a near seizure, thinking Yang Haneul had fired.
It had not been a gunshot. Yang Haneul’s startled eyes saw a huge hole smashed through the apartment wall.
And Dohyeon standing before it.
He had picked up a hulking man and swung him like a hammer, smashing through the wall.
“Oh my God...”
Only then did Yang Haneul realize that every one of the more than fifteen gangsters had fallen. They were sprawled across the floor, each with some part of their body broken. A few had prosthetic arms, and those arms had been completely destroyed.
“Hmph.”
Standing before the hole, Dohyeon pressed one nostril shut and blew out a bloody stream from the other before turning around.
He was not unhurt, either. The inside of his mouth had split, leaving his teeth red with blood, and blood streamed down his face as though his forehead had split open.
But his two yellow eyes still shone fiercely. He stood there proudly, all four limbs intact.
“Wh-what the fuck is he? A-rank? Is he A-rank?”
“Is he? Is he really A-rank?”
“No, he’s not A-rank... No... Probably not...”
“Hey, fuck, you used to be a hunter too. Go in there!”
“Fuck off... If you want to die, die alone...”
There were more gangsters beyond those already on the floor. But they could only hover near the front door, unable to come inside. President Choi could do nothing but curse quietly as he watched his subordinates.
Dohyeon walked through the fallen gangsters with heavy steps. President Choi remained on his knees and looked up at him with his one good eye.
A deep shadow fell behind Dohyeon, making the yellow gleam in his eyes look even deeper.
President Choi swallowed dryly without realizing it. He even imagined, irrationally, that those gleaming eyes might leap at him and tear out his throat at any moment.
“...”
After looking down at President Choi for a moment, Dohyeon’s gaze shifted to Yang Haneul. Yang Haneul, who had been staring blankly at him, met his eyes and flinched in surprise.
Dohyeon grinned at her. It was a mischievous, friendly smile, unlike the one he had worn while smashing the gangsters apart.
“...?”
The smile soon vanished. Instead, he held out his hand to her.
More precisely, to the handgun she held.
Yang Haneul obediently placed the gun in his hand. The moment Dohyeon took it, he expertly removed the magazine, pulled back the slide, and caught the ejected round.
His yellow eyes looked at the bullet for a moment before turning back to President Choi.
“These kids. They’re mine. Do you agree?”
“...Do whatever the fuck you want.”
Dohyeon grinned.
Unlike Yang Haneul, President Choi shrank back at the sight of it. Just as he had kept thinking, it looked like a wolf baring its teeth before biting its prey.
“Pack your things.”
“...Pardon?”
Yang Haneul realized a beat late that Dohyeon had been speaking to her and asked him to repeat himself. But Dohyeon said nothing more. He simply removed the slide from the confiscated handgun and tossed its parts across the floor.
Yang Haneul finally understood what he meant and hurried into the small room they used as a bedroom.
While she brought out her and her brother’s clothes and a few belongings, President Choi and the other gangsters could only watch helplessly.
“I-I got everything!”
Yang Haneul, wearing one backpack, spoke to Dohyeon as he spat out bloody saliva. Beside her, Yang Gihyeon was also wearing a small backpack across his chest.
After confirming the siblings were ready, Dohyeon began walking without even telling them to follow. The frozen gangsters all flinched when he started moving.
The gangsters filling the apartment entrance and the building corridor hesitantly stepped aside, making a path for Dohyeon.
The Yang siblings hurried after him as he strode out.
Only after they disappeared from the third floor did President Choi, still sitting on the ground, let out a long breath and mutter.
“Fuuuuck... I lived...”
The other gangsters, who had also sighed in relief, looked at President Choi. He snapped back to his senses at their strange gazes. A gang leader who lost his authority could not remain a gang leader.
“What are you morons doing?! Call an ambulance already!”
“Huh? An ambulance?”
“Yes, you idiots! Or are you going to leave these bastards lying here until they die?!”
The gangsters finally began moving after President Choi shouted at them.
While his subordinates busily ran around, President Choi managed to pull out a cigarette with trembling hands and put it in his mouth. As he tried to light it, he spotted a bullet rolling across the floor.
“...Fuck. I really picked the wrong target.”
Perhaps his lighter had broken when he rolled around earlier, because it would not light. President Choi cursed again and threw it away.
* * *
“Yes. One girl and a younger boy. Yes, then I’ll head straight there. This was sudden, but thank you, hyung.”
Dohyeon said this while speaking to Lee Seongbaek on the phone, one hand on the steering wheel. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he saw the anxious eyes of the Yang siblings pressed close together.
Once the call ended, Yang Haneul spoke.
“Um... Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“And once we get there? What do we have to do?”
Dohyeon tossed his smartphone onto the passenger seat and turned the wheel left. Then he suddenly noticed blood running down his left arm. It seemed President Choi’s bullet had grazed him earlier.
“Excuse me? Mister?”
“My name is Kang Dohyeon.”
“Kang Dohyeon... Kang Dohyeon? That Stagnant Water Hunter?”
For some reason, he heard the Valkyrie laugh.
Dohyeon ignored it. But Yang Haneul did not seem to have any intention of stopping.
“Then... are you our creditor now?”
“Creditor?”
“You said so earlier. That we’re yours now.”
“...”
Dohyeon frowned.
Why did I say that?
And that question did not only apply to the words he had said then. It included the fight there, too. It had been a fight he had no reason to start, an incident he had no reason to involve himself in.
Dohyeon glanced at the rearview mirror again. It reflected only the Yang siblings and his own black eyes.
“You have something you want us, no, me to do, right?”
Perhaps interpreting that look in her own way, Yang Haneul spoke with a face full of determination. Dohyeon felt tired when he saw it.
“Nothing like that. I’ll give you somewhere to stay for a few days, so find a job or a sponsor and leave on your own.”
“Huh? Didn’t you need an Observer, mister?”
Rather than argue that he was not crazy enough to storm into the middle of a gang and cause trouble just to recruit an Observer whose face he had never seen, Dohyeon shut his mouth and accelerated the car.
The result had ended up that way, after all.
Again, Yang Haneul seemed to interpret his silence on her own.
“Thank you for getting us out of President Choi’s grasp. But I can’t work for free just because of that. That would make things no different from before. I need to get new equipment, and it’ll take some time to restore the information resources you destroyed. But...”
Yang Haneul’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Dohyeon.
“Once I’m ready, I’ll make your Observer work my top priority. I’ll only charge the minimum, too. If you want, you can even call me your exclusive Observer.”
“...Do whatever you want.”
Dohyeon gave that careless answer because he was too tired to deal with her any further. Whatever she heard in it, Yang Haneul pulled her bag and her brother sitting beside her close, then fell deep into thought.
The way her lips moved made it seem like she was already planning what to begin with.
Dohyeon considered saying something, but then noticed the bruises visible on her neck and closed his mouth.
Maybe I should’ve just killed them all.
“...”
This is driving me crazy. Kill them? And then what about cleaning up afterward? There had been dozens of gangsters there. Unless he could kill every one of them and erase the murder scene, he should avoid murder whenever possible.
The media and police were already in an uproar because of an unidentified A-rank hunter who wore either a wolf or bear mask and tore people apart. Naturally, if a massacre occurred, much attention would fall on Dohyeon as well.
He had started this whole matter to prevent that attention and the resulting leaks of information. He could not put the cart before the horse.
For a while, the quiet car, each person lost in thought, contrasted with the busy city outside. Then Dohyeon’s car stopped.
“Get out.”
Dohyeon got out first after saying that, and the Yang siblings followed with anxious expressions. The car had stopped in an outdoor parking lot.
Lee Seongbaek, his employee Jang Gyuchan, and an old van stood in front of them.
Lee Seongbaek, who had been smoking, quickly put out his cigarette when he saw Yang Gihyeon.
“These the kids?”
“Yes. Just for a few days. After that, they’ll leave on their own.”
“I was already worried when you said you were using Goshawk...”
Lee Seongbaek slowly shook his head.
“Fine. What can I say? Thanks to you, I can sell Vana and feed my family. Hey! Come this way.”
Jang Gyuchan opened the van door. The Yang siblings began moving in the direction Lee Seongbaek pointed.
Yang Gihyeon let go of his sister’s hand and ran to Dohyeon.
“...?”
“This.”
Yang Gihyeon held out his small hand. Dohyeon accepted what was in it and found three or four little candies.
After handing them over, Yang Gihyeon placed both hands over his belly and bowed deeply.
“Thank you.”
“...”
Yang Haneul also bowed deeply to Dohyeon.
Dohyeon’s expression did not change as he received their thanks. It remained unchanged while Lee Seongbaek and Jang Gyuchan took them out of the parking lot, and even after their vehicle had disappeared from sight.
Dohyeon raised his head and looked up at the gloomy sky once more.
He put the candy packet in his mouth, pulled it open, bit down on a candy, and chewed it.
“Sweet.”
A sliver of sunlight showed through the cloudy sky.
Footnotes:
“Stagnant water” is Korean gaming slang for a long-entrenched veteran.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
