Chapter 123 – Episode 122 – The World’s Best Hunter Tournament (5)

The pulsation of a pounding heart fills my body.

In my ears, the sound from earlier continues to stretch.

Taang-!

In the time slowed by concentration, the shooter in front of me pulls the trigger of his shotgun.

Numerous bullets are scattered in front of me.

I opened both my eyes even wider.

It felt like the world was being pushed away.

No, to be precise, everything became clearer, as if looking at the world from above.

In this instant, I snatched the floating iron sword and thrust it in front of the bullet.

Out of dozens of bullets, only one bullet is threaded through the tip of a sharp sword.

One sword cut one bullet.

Dozens of bullets still rushed at me.

The shooter in front of me twitched the muscles around his mouth.

Before I could smile that confident victory, I pushed the tip of my sword further.

The world gets pushed further, slows down.

The iron sword cuts through one bullet, then between dozens of bullets.

Pounding.

Heart beats once

A long tinnitus was heard in the stopped hearing, and wide-open eyes continued to stare at the tip of the sword.

Pounding.

The handle went over between the bullets.

Dozens of bullets hit the hem of my clothes.

Likewise, the shooter in front of me also finished with a smile on his lips.

‘Transform.’

The sword that cut through the bullets and I change positions.

Dozens of bullets that were about to reach me hit the iron sword, and I appeared in front of the shooter and grabbed him by the collar.

There was still a smile hanging from the corners of his lips.

“What?”

When the corner of my mouth loosened and I was embarrassed, I finally smiled and slammed the shooter on the floor.

Quaang-!

The floor rumbles, and the cheerful machine buzzer is heard.

“Whoa…”

As if the hot blood in his body had relaxed, a cool breeze flowed through his body as he sweated out.

The widened field of vision diminished and the air felt loose.

“Wow!!!””

The audience cheers when they see me.

I grinned and exchanged positions with the iron sword as if showing off.

The crowd cheers loudly once more.

The angel who appeared before me knew it too, screaming beside me and praising me.

“Player! You’re so fucking cool!!!”

I silently buried my face in my leather muffler and walked to the waiting room with my back to the crowd.

Imagining the feeling of a lone swordsman who had won and returned without incident.

Seeing this, Cheonghwa, who was sitting in the audience, burst into laughter, Violet frowned, and the president just smiled.

Amid the cheers of many spectators, the first match of the quarterfinals ended with Jeong Jo-joon’s victory.

* *

“Wow…That was really fucked up.”

Illya smoked a cigarette and sucked deeply into his lungs.

During a short break, I reviewed the contents of the previous game while smoking a cigarette called Illira in a dark place behind the building.

Jeong Jo-jun, the first prosecutor and a first year student at the Great Devil Subjugation Academy.

The little boy had just skewered bullets in a close-knit acrobatics in a duel, or slashed bullets with a sword floating in the air.

“You monster…”

It wasn’t for nothing that Kim Soo-bin was called a monster.

Jung Jo-jun did not put his heart into this game.

I didn’t use that good-looking sword with the sun shining on my waist, I just hit the bullet with the sword in the air or dodged the bullet with pure physicality.

Not just shooters, but against A-rank shooters.

“I’m really glad it didn’t come out then…”

A wolf that remembers the sword right before it was stabbed in its own forehead.

Come to think of it, that monster boy had another unusual sword.

He realized that he had come to the tournament with one more method hidden from Jung Joon Lee.

“Crazy…”

After staring at the cigarette that had burned out before I knew it, I pushed the smoke deep into my lungs for the last time.

“I’m smoking today…”

Booooong… Booooong…!

My cell phone rings in my pocket non-stop.

Illira laughed bitterly.

“Ah… Swallow, I don’t know.”

Illira closed her eyes once, then received a call from the guild leader on her cell phone.

“H-Hello.”

“Hey…!”

A guild leader yelling at himself.

Lee Li-ra was breaking out in a cold sweat, anticipating the developments to come.

‘You bastard! I got caught up in my face, and I was fucked! From now on, I can’t broadcast, bitch!’, To the terrible situation of a decrease in salary, flashes through Arira’s mind.

Contrary to Irira’s expectations, however, the guild leader shouted.

“Hey! You bitch! Bow down to that guy who says you’re aiming! It’s a total blessing! Huh?! Right now, the media is going crazy over your character’s novelty… It’s crazy!”

“Yes Yes?!”

Illira blankly listened to the words of the guild leader.

The guild leader smiled broadly as if he didn’t know that.

“No, haven’t you even searched? Right now, your name is flooded with real-time search terms. Anyway, the concept is a magical girl, but people must have felt the charm of the real face you showed for a while! Ads and broadcasting contacts are overflowing. Hey. …!”

Illya opened her mouth wide.

I didn’t expect it to be.

In the decades-long entertainment of Hunter, the concept of a magical girl like Ira was numerous, but there was no concept that slightly reflected her real appearance while being a magical girl. That’s why the public is enthusiastic about the new concept.

“Uh… Well… Then what should I do?”

“What are you doing?! Do what you do! Then, if you get flustered from time to time, you’re smoking a cigarette..! Scream in that blatant voice or even curse at me!”

“Ah.. Yes.. Yes. Ah.. I understand.”

Ira bowed her head at the sound of her voice over the phone.

Pop.

The call was cut off, and Ira looked blankly at the sky.

The sky is high and blue today.

“Fuck, you really don’t know what’s going to happen in the world. Thank you, Jo Jun!”

From being a monster baby, he is now a wolf that is affectionately called Jo Joon.

The cameraman next to her announced that broadcast time was approaching and gave a signal to Illira.

As the red light flashed into the camera, Ira smiled broadly, grabbed her microphone, and turned the stars in her eyes.

“Kee-ring~Kee-ring~ Hi everyone! Everyone’s Magical Girl, Illira! You’ve all been waiting for Illa’s interview, right?! From now on, we’re going to meet A-class hunter Lee Jin-hwan, who has been designated as a strong contender for the championship, so stay tuned everyone!”

As Irira twirled her mic, pink smoke burst out and she teleported to the waiting room with the cameraman.

“Ugh… Ugh?!”

A-class hunter Lee Jin-hwan, who was sitting in the waiting room, was startled and hid something he was drinking behind his back.

However, Lee, who had just arrived, did not notice Lee Jin-hwan’s behavior and smiled blankly as he approached Lee Jin-hwan.

“Ah, yes Jinhwan Lee! Hello!”

“Oh, yes… Hello.”

Lee Jin-hwan, sweating profusely, answered Illira.

“Yes, it’s the quarterfinals soon, what do you think?”

Haha.

Lee Jin-hwan sneaks up on his table.

The sound of something moving behind Jinhwan Lee was heard.

“Ah, that’s right! It’s a humble but confident answer, as expected of a potential championship candidate! Then, may I ask who is the opponent you care about the most?”

“… Jung Jo-jun.”

In an instant, Lee Jinhwan’s face hardened.

Looking at the face of Lee Jin-hwan, who has stood out and met people countless times, I felt it.

That man, like himself, is wearing a ‘mask’.

It pretends to be humble, but it must have been the true nature of that darkness that was briefly revealed.

However, that much is common among hunters.

Illira casually skipped over that expression and continued.

“Ah, as expected. Jo Joon Jung’s impact that you’ve shown so far is rather big! Maybe we’ll face each other in the finals, so please say something to Jo Joon Jung!”

“…”

Jinhwan Lee looked at the camera blankly.

“I… Have to win. So… I’m sorry, I’ll take the fight.”

Dalgrak.

Something moved behind Lee Jinhwan’s back once more.

“Yes…! I heard Mr. Lee Jinhwan’s aspirations!”

Illira spat out a comment and thought to herself.

‘It’s a pity, he must have known the difference in power anyway.’

The appearance of a super rookie.

Unfortunately, Lee Jin-hwan is destined to become the scapegoat in front of the public.

Contrary to what was in her heart, however, Leela smiled broadly and said,

“Above all, this was an interview with Lee Jin-hwan, a strong contender for the championship! Next, let’s go to Lee Jin-hwan’s opponent, Lee Soo-rin!”

When Leera turned the microphone around, a pink mist burst out and disappeared from Lee Jinhwan’s waiting room.

Then Jinhwan Lee leaned against his table and untied his body to pick up the object he had hidden behind his back.

The object was a glass bottle.

Gulp.

Lee Jin-hwan looks at the glass bottle in which the black water drips.

‘I see, you can’t win if you’re like this.’

He remembered the words whispered by the guild officer who approached him.

‘It’s a doping agent. It’s a medicine made for your ‘necromantic art’ by extracting the blood of monsters, so there’s no need to get caught. Drink.’

Lee Jin-hwan looked at the glass bottle in front of him, where the black water dripped.

After a moment of thought, Jinhwan Lee put the glass bottle into his mouth.

Lee Jin-hwan’s eyes flashed with desire.

“Unconditionally… I win.”

* *

Returning to the waiting room, I was watching the quarter-final match broadcast over the TV.

Their opponents in the quarterfinals are necromancer Lee Jin-hwan and shooter Lee Soo-rin.

“As expected, popcorn at the game!”

An angel from the side grabs a piece of popcorn and munches it.

I also watched the game while chewing on popcorn.

“…They’re so different?”

Beyond the screen, the level of performance displayed was stark.

The souls brought by the necromancer attacked Surin Lee, and Surin Lee was running away in a panic at the overwhelming number.

“Did you really count like that?”

No matter how much he was in Hell Mode, there was no way Lee Jin-hwan was that strong in the original work.

Yes, Lee Jin-hwan, who drank the ‘doping agent’.

No matter how much he drank the doping agent, the skill of the necromancer in front of him was not at a level that Lee Jin-hwan could surpass.

“Tsk… I might not be able to break it with only the sword instructor…”

I grumbled and grabbed a handful of popcorn and popped it into my mouth.

Beyond the screen, Lee Jin-hwan uses necromantic magic and laughs wildly.

I stared at Lee Jin-hwan, who looked suspicious.

“As expected, popcorn is garlic!”

The angel who thinks I’ll win anyway smiles and munches on popcorn the size of half my face.

The World’s Best Hunter Tournament.

The end of the contest was getting closer.