The Otherworldly Magic Swordsman Who Disciplines the Hunter World Chapter 43

“But it’s truly bizarre. Why on earth is it targeting Yuri hyung?”

Woo Yujin lowered his voice to a whisper. He covered his mouth while warily watching the stone statue.

“But… it’s not like it can understand what we’re saying, right?”

“More importantly, is it actually a monster?”

“It seems like it’s a monster. Honestly, if it weren’t a monster, I think that would be even scarier…”

Myeong Haejin’s voice trailed off. If a giant stone statue standing tall and just blinking its eyes wasn’t a monster… wouldn’t that be terrifying in its own way?

Julian was equally flustered by the current situation. The same went for the golems, and thinking back, the Belvoids had also hovered around him from the moment they made eye contact.

At the time, he was too distracted to notice, but thinking about it now, it was strange.

Belvoids weren’t monsters that attacked first. They usually hid in the darkness to observe and then struck from behind when a threat approached.

Yet, those Belvoids had discovered Julian and lunged first.

“Why is it that whenever monsters look at you, they charge with their eyes lit up?”

Gong Siyoung countered skeptically. Whether it was because of his attitude or his posture, he looked particularly like a hoodlum. It was quite a sight, seeing as they were all crouching together.

Was it because of his expression? Julian met his eyes while resting his chin on his hand.

“How should I know?”

If he knew the reason, they wouldn’t be sitting here ploting without a plan.

This was the first time in Julian’s life experiencing something like this.

What good could come from standing out to monsters? That he could become bait? Or perhaps that he’d get an opportunity to end his life a bit sooner than others?

No matter how positively he tried to think, he couldn’t help his expression souring.

Resets and environmental changes were flustering, but he could just adapt to them. However, if monsters were targeting him, that was a fundamental and major problem.

Furthermore, he wasn’t in his usual condition. The nausea had worsened since the moment he saw that status window thing.

It was a similar feeling to when he first saw the status window during the rank evaluation. Perhaps his current physical state was related to that? It was still just a guess, but it was certainly worth considering.

“I think we have to choose at this point. Whether to continue the raid or go back, reorganize our strength, and return. If there’s time left before the overflow, going back could be an option.”

“But can we safely return in this situation? We don’t know how the environment has changed again.”

Hadn’t everyone here experienced it? The fact that it reset meant that the path they had previously traveled had completely changed.

That meant even if they went back now, it would be no different from raiding a completely new dungeon. Whether they went forward or backward, they ultimately had to forge a new path.

While everyone was silent, Gu Jayoung slightly raised her hand. She expressed her opinion calmly.

“In my opinion, I think it’s better to proceed with the raid. Once we catch the boss monster, the threats will stop. We don’t know the cooldown, but we could escape in the meantime.”

Once the boss monster is defeated, the dungeon enters a ‘cleared’ state. There were differences between dungeons, but in a cleared state, everything stopped. If it were a one-time dungeon, it would maintain that state and then vanish; if not, it would reactivate.

Regardless, once it entered the cleared state, the monsters would disappear for a while. If they moved then, they could exit the dungeon safely.

Since they had already reached the deep zone, that was the most efficient way. After hearing Gu Jayoung’s explanation, Myeong Haejin stroked his chin.

“Hmm… Shall we decide by majority vote for now? Please raise your hand if you want to go back right now.”

Everyone crouching there remained silent with one mind and heart. Seeing there was no need to look further, Myeong Haejin shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess there’s no need to ask more. Then let’s go catch the boss monster. Even at a glance, it seems related to that.”

He gestured toward the statue with his chin as he said ‘that.’ As if it realized they were talking about it, the statue’s eyeballs moved.

“But what on earth is that? Is there anything like that among the monsters Hunter Yuri knows?”

“Mmm…”

Julian, who had plopped down onto the ground, crossed his arms. He had to tilt his head back all the way to barely see the statue’s face.

The statue’s eyeballs, which had been looking at Myeong Haejin, turned toward Julian as if drawn by a magnet. It was beyond bizarre; it was uncomfortable. Was it a relief that nothing but the eyes moved?

The eyeballs, made of white marble, glistened like inorganic matter. It was clearly not human, but calling it a monster was also… Had there been a monster like that? It must be alive for now, right?

Julian wrinkled the bridge of his nose. He began to list monster names as they came to mind.

“A mimic? For that, it’s too human-shaped… It’s also a bit much to call it a golem… They have nothing in common except for being made of stone.”

Even after agonizing for a while, nothing specifically came to mind. Julian, who had been groaning, eventually declared his surrender.

“Sorry, I have no idea.”

He couldn’t pretend to know something he didn’t. For starters, he couldn’t even be sure if that thing was actually a monster.

“I wonder if it might be a Custos… but it’s too massive for that. But it’s also hard to see it as a monster. There’s no hostility. Usually, monsters lunge to kill humans as soon as they see them, but it’s not doing that.”

“That’s true.”

Although the statue stared at Julian, it didn’t specifically display any hostility or murderous intent. It was definitely different from the reaction of a monster wary of humans.

“Well… for now, we’ll either have to pass it or defeat it…”

Julian looked at Myeong Haejin. He intended to follow whatever the leader decided for now.

“What do you want to do?”

“Hmm… Actually, I do have an idea…”

Myeong Haejin’s voice trailed off. At his suspicious expression, Gong Siyoung raised an eyebrow.

“Make it clear whether you’re going to do it or not. Now isn’t the time for jokes.”

His tone was close to confrontational, but Myeong Haejin didn’t seem particularly offended. It seemed he naturally filtered out that level of irritation.

“It’s nothing else, but I think Hunter Yuri might need to be the bait. Is that possib—”

“No.”

The refusal popped out before he could even finish his sentence. Myeong Haejin nodded as if he understood.

“I thought so. I couldn’t say it because I felt this plan wasn’t right. It’s too dangerous, too.”

Julian replied sheepishly to him as he patted his shoulder.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Huh? But just now you said no…”

Julian pointed to the side instead of answering. Myeong Haejin turned his head without much thought and then flinched, his shoulders trembling. Gong Siyoung was glaring at Myeong Haejin as if looking at a traitor.

“Gosh, what’s what? Bait? Are you in your right mind right now?”

He looked ready to strike him if he wasn’t in his right mind. Myeong Haejin felt wronged, wondering why he was getting so angry.

“No, I mean, I just asked for an opinion…”

“I don’t know what you’re planning to do with a person who’s already sick! Don’t even think about making him do something dangerous. As long as I’m here, it won’t work anymore!”

“No… But Hunter Siyoung, isn’t that a bit much? It’s not like I pushed him out of nowhere; you asked if I had a strategy, so I answered. Am I going to kill the guy? Why don’t you just go all out and drag up the past too? What, do you hate that too?”

“How about it, should I bring up more of the past here? But can you handle that?”

The two stood in a tense confrontation. Gong Siyoung looked like he could tear someone apart with his gaze, but Myeong Haejin, who stood his ground without backing down an inch, was also impressive in many ways.

Because of these two who wouldn’t lose in a battle of nerves, the others only walked on eggshells.

Woo Yujin poked Gu Jayoung in the side as if telling her to stop them. Gu Jayoung made an ‘X’ sign with her fingers. She whispered “shh” while covering her mouth with her hand, suggesting they just stay quiet.

They looked strangely used to it, as if this wasn’t the first or second time.

“And if I can’t handle it? Then what, what are you going to do to me? You’re doing a great job towards your team leader inside a dungeon, aren’t you?”

“If you’re the leader, then act like one. Instead of acting despicably by making a person into bait.”

“Our Hunter Siyoung must be young and ignorant. I haven’t even started acting truly despicable yet, you know?”

“You sure say such things quite proudly.”

“Is there any reason I can’t?”

Unlike the hostile atmosphere, the content was incredibly childish. Since Woo Yujin and Gu Jayoung had signaled him not to intervene, Julian also let their argument slide.

It felt like a fight between a cat with its fur standing on end and a resident bird that meddles in everything. Their words about the past and how one shouldn’t live like that were full of the feeling of people who knew each other well.

‘They said they were close in the past… I guess it’s true.’

Even though they bickered, their banter was strangely well-matched. It felt as if they were poking and scratching exactly at what the other disliked. To know someone to that extent, just having an interest wouldn’t be enough.

Still, shouldn’t he stop them now? He wasn’t feeling well, and they couldn’t just keep doing this here.

He stretched, thinking he should intervene tactfully. He raised his head without much thought, but upon discovering the statue, he let out a hic, gasping in shock.

“Uh… excuse me…”

“Follow my words here. Are you the type of person who ignores a leader’s instructions just because you’re an S-rank hunter, perhaps?”

“Before calling yourself a leader, why don’t you consider if you’re qualified? Just because you have a title, does it mean you can treat subordinates however you want?”

“No, excuse me, that, that thing…”

“So fix that habit of thinking, judging, and concluding all by yourself! Haven’t I been telling you since a long time ago? Stop acting on impulse.”

“The one acting on impulse right now is you—”

“Gosh! I told you to stop fighting and look at that!”

Julian shouted loudly. Following his pointing finger, everyone looked up at the stone statue.

Like a young child who had discovered an ant, the stone statue, smiling broadly, was peeking down at them with its head bowed.