I was Mistaken for a Noble Hunter Chapter 62

Light and Darkness (7)

 

Hunters are an important national resource in every country.

Those who wield superhuman power are treated as military assets.

Of course, low-rank hunters can be dealt with by platoon- or company-level forces, but high-rank hunters are different.

That is why top-tier high-rank hunters are treated as strategic national assets, and the same goes for hunters classified as promising prospects.

When the incident broke out at the Hunter Forum, each country became desperate to safely retrieve its own hunters.

They immediately dispatched planes and personnel, carrying out operations to bring them back home.

Among the hunters who returned to their home countries was John Gibson.

To be honest, he didn’t really want to go back.

He wanted to stay in Korea a bit longer and talk more with Kang Ian.

However, the embassy staff practically begged him to return home first, so he had no choice but to leave.

Unofficially, he was called the best C-rank hunter in the world.

It was understandable that the country would feel uneasy.

After returning, he underwent a thorough examination to check for any abnormalities in his body, and only after it was confirmed that there were no issues did things settle down.

“Haa… should I go back to Korea again?”

John Gibson lay around at home, resting alone.

He kept thinking about Kang Ian.

For the first time, he had met someone who surpassed his own standards.

Not only did Kang Ian possess outstanding buff abilities, but he also had both the tanking ability to pressure enemies on the front lines and the damage-dealing ability of a dealer.

Even in a forum filled with countless hunters, he had shone alone.

Becoming someone’s fan happens in an instant.

In that instant, John Gibson had fallen for Kang Ian.

“Ah… I really want to meet him just one more time.”

If possible, it would be even better to run a gate together.

After pondering, John Gibson eventually picked up his smartphone and made a call.

“Guild Master.”

“Oh, John. Resting well?”

The person he called was the guild master of the ‘Behemoth Guild’ he belonged to.

Even though it was a top-tier guild in the United States, the guild master answered John’s call before the ringtone even finished.

That alone showed how important John was within the guild.

“Yes. I’m resting so well that I’m bored to death.”

“Haha. Then you’re doing great. If I overwork you recklessly, I’ll get hammered by the media. So, why did you call?”

“It’s about Hunter Kang Ian in Korea.”

“……”

The voice on the other end paused briefly.

Soon, a sigh followed.

“Haa. You’ve gotten hooked on that hunter this time. You’re going to say you want to meet him again, right?”

“Hahaha… Guild Master~.”

“Alright, alright. Who can stop your stubbornness?”

The guild master sighed as if this had happened many times before.

“I already looked into Hunter Kang Ian in advance. I figured you’d bring this up.”

“Oh! Really?”

“Yeah. But honestly, I’d like to meet him too. To be frank… this is the first time I’ve been this interested in a hunter outside the U.S.”

“Right?! Kang Ian is amazing, isn’t he?!”

John Gibson’s eyes sparkled as he jumped to his feet.

The guild master felt the same as him.

It somehow felt like validation, making him happy.

“It seems Hunter Kang Ian isn’t part of an official guild in Korea, but is affiliated with an office.”

“An office? You mean he takes on requests?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God. Well, considering his abilities, I guess that makes sense.”

Normally, unless someone had great confidence in their skills, they would join a stable guild.

“That’s even cooler!!”

“…You’re seriously hopeless. Anyway, I’m thinking of sending a request to that office. We’ll assign a request to clear a gate we secured together, and I’ll arrange for you to go in with him then.”

“Ha! This is why I like our guild master!”

“So behave yourself and rest. Don’t go running off somewhere just because you’re bored.”

“Yes, sir!”

 

***

 

After finishing the Yeobongsan danger zone, Kang Hoopung and Kang Ian went straight to the fitness shop.

“Hup! Hup!”

“Puh!”

They burned through their entire bodies for a full three and a half hours.

For ordinary people, such long workouts would be inefficient, but awakened individuals were different.

They could exercise without damaging their muscles.

By the time they arrived at the gym after leaving Yeobongsan, it was already evening.

After focusing on training, it was now past 11 PM.

At some point, everyone else had left, and the gym was empty.

“Whew. Good work.”

“You too, hyung.”

“Another day of gains, haha.”

Kang Hoopung grinned in satisfaction as he looked at his pumped-up body in the mirror.

Beside him, Kang Ian also looked at himself.

Not long ago, he had been preparing for employment and avoiding exercise, leaving his belly sticking out like a tadpole.

But now it was different.

Defined abs, firm shoulders, and a solid chest.

Even accounting for awakening, his body had improved this quickly because he trained with Kang Hoopung.

“But you know this, right?”

“You’re going to say eating is part of the workout, right?”

“Exactly.”

It was a well-known phrase among fitness enthusiasts.

If you neglect nutrition, your body won’t improve, no matter how much you train.

Eating is part of the workout.

“I’ve got a special protein I drink. Have this for now, I’ll run to the convenience store and grab some chicken breast.”

“Should I go instead?”

“No. Rest.”

Kang Ian tried to step up, but Kang Hoopung shook his head.

They had finished with leg exercises, so Kang Ian’s legs were slightly weak.

Though his monstrous recovery was already kicking in, it was better for him to rest now.

Kang Hoopung had noticed that and chose to go himself.

“Alright. Then I’ll leave it to you, hyung.”

“Yeah. Drink this.”

Kang Hoopung tossed him a bottle of protein he had prepared and left.

Kang Ian opened the bottle and took a sip.

“Oh. It actually tastes pretty good?”

He had expected it to taste awful, as protein shakes usually did, but somehow it was quite delicious.

It felt like nutrients were being absorbed throughout his body, starting from his stomach.

He took another sip.

It was then…

Creak

The sound of the door opening echoed.

‘Did Hyung come back already?’

Kang Ian tilted his head.

The convenience store was close, but not that close.

Even paying would take longer than this.

“Kang Ian. Is that you?”

The ones who entered were not Kang Hoopung.

Two men.

They stared at Kang Ian with expressionless eyes.

“……”

Kang Ian didn’t answer.

They seemed to have come targeting him, and the feeling was bad.

He had a guess.

‘Are they the ones mentioned in the quest?’

The men didn’t care that he didn’t respond.

They pulled out a piece of paper from their pockets, compared it with Kang Ian, and nodded.

“That’s him.”

“…Who are you?”

“We’ll talk about that later.”

Sssss…

A black aura began to seep from their hands.

It gathered at their fingertips, forming claw-like weapons.

“!”

The moment Kang Ian saw the black energy, he felt an instinctive disgust.

Like something deeply repulsive was right in front of him.

<Knight! Destroy that evil at once!>

In his head, the knight commander Tezeros shouted.

At that moment…

“For now, you’ll have to come with us.”

The men kicked off the ground and lunged at Kang Ian.

Attackers rushing head-on.

Kang Ian called forth his equipment from subspace.

He had been in gym clothes, but in the blink of an eye, he was clad in full armor, holding a mace and shield.

The sudden transformation startled the enemies slightly, but they continued their charge.

Bang!

Kang Ian blocked their attack with his shield.

Kagagak!

A deep groove was carved into the shield.

A power that made one flinch instinctively.

Kang Ian’s eyes turned cold.

“Do you know how much this costs…?!”

They had damaged a shield he bought with hard-earned money!

Whoosh!

He swung his mace, but they moved like eels and dodged.

They attacked again with their claw-like weapons, and Kang Ian blocked with his shield.

Bang! Bang!

A series of rapid exchanges followed.

Kang Ian got a sense of it.

‘At my speed, I can’t catch them.’

They were extremely agile.

They would strike and retreat, impossible to chase.

From that point on, Kang Ian focused purely on defense.

Like a turtle hiding inside its shell, he endured the attacks.

Whoosh!

Occasionally, he would aim for an opening and swing his mace.

A powerful blow that seemed to crush the air, but useless if it didn’t hit.

They dodged easily and kept attacking.

Normally, his defense might have been broken under such pressure, but Kang Ian’s shield was like an iron wall.

‘Investing in defense was the right choice.’

Unlike in games, in reality, you had to protect yourself first.

You couldn’t just raise attack power blindly.

A sturdy shield… and the skill to use it.

Intermediate weapon mastery applied to shields as well.

A shield wasn’t just something you held.

Otherwise, you’d tire quickly.

You needed techniques to deflect and redirect attacks at the right moment.

Kang Ian mixed those techniques appropriately, allowing him to endure indefinitely.

However, he still hadn’t landed an attack, but that was intentional.

After several missed swings…

‘Now!’

Kang Ian’s eyes flashed as he swung his mace again.

As expected, one of the men dodged.

At that exact moment, Kang Ian also swung his shield.

The edge of the shield had been sharpened.

With enough force, it could cut someone in half.

But the man dodged that as well.

He instantly leapt back, escaping the attack range.

At that moment, Kang Ian activated Floating Shield.

The shield spun in the air and struck the man, who couldn’t move while airborne.

Slash!

“Ghk!”

Even then, he tried to evade, but his thigh was cut nearly in half.

His mobility was gone.

At that point, the situation completely reversed.

Kang Ian stepped forward and caught up.

No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t escape with an injured leg.

One chance was enough.

Closing in, Kang Ian buffed himself and swung his mace.

With the Blessing of Judgment Flame and Guidance of Xeros, the mace burned with flames and emitted white light as it swung.

Bang!

“Guh…!”

With that single blow, the man’s chest caved in as he collapsed.

“One down.”

Kang Ian muttered.

It felt refreshing to eliminate the one who had been as annoying as a mosquito.

He turned his gaze to the other.

The remaining man’s eyes were shaking.

“…That’s a C-rank hunter?”

Though they were servants of their master, they had confidence in their strength.

The power granted by their master was absurd.

Even if Kang Ian had interfered with their master’s plan, they thought two of them would be more than enough to subdue a mere C-rank hunter.

Tap!

The man ran toward the exit.

“Huh?”

Kang Ian was momentarily startled for the first time during the fight.

Wait… why is he running!?

It was actually the correct decision.

Kang Ian didn’t have the speed to chase him.

Clack

The man reached the entrance in an instant.

He opened the door…

“What the hell is this guy?”

Something even bigger than the doorway blocked his path.

A massive figure, like a wall made of muscle.

Kang Hoopung looked at Kang Ian from afar and asked,

“Little brother, is he your friend?”

“No. He attacked me.”

“Oh, really?”

Whoosh!

Kang Hoopung’s massive, pot-lid-sized palm swung toward the man’s head.

The man tried to block it with his dark claw…

Bang!

…and was slammed straight into the ground.