Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Catch Rank 1 (6)

Yelp!

The thing that had been resisting by crashing into a tree lost momentum and collapsed onto the ground with a crash.

“Urgh!”

According to the law of inertia, Min-jun also rolled for quite a while, and only managed to stop after his body became tangled in a heap of vines and undergrowth.

The jungle fell silent.

“Haa…… Why is a game this realistic?”

Looking at his own state, covered in wounds, dirt, and buried in vines, irritation surged up in Min-jun for a moment.

-Eliminated: Han So-mi (death by monster)

-Eliminated: Jeong Dong-jin (death by monster)

-Eliminated: Baek Ho-jun (death by monster)

-Eliminated: Kang Jin-su (death by monster)

-Total participants: 5,000

-Current participants: 3

A notification appeared, as if the four-person party that had been after him had finally met its end.

‘When did it get down to three……?’

It was obviously because of monsters.

Remembering the Kobold Riders, Min-jun once again realized that they were not enemies one could handle just because one’s level was high.

‘They want us to catch a thousand of those? What a joke.’

Red blood dripped down from his chest.

His condition was not good.

His vision darkened, and his heart was pounding abnormally fast.

‘Reagent…….’

Min-jun searched around his waist and pulled out a red reagent bottle. It was something that had come from the supplies.

‘This better be medicine…….’

It was half a gamble.

His thought process was simple and ignorant: in games, a red bottle usually meant a healing potion, did it not?

‘Do I sprinkle it, or drink it?’

In the end, Min-jun poured one bottle over his wound and drank another one straight.

The moment the red liquid touched his tongue, his face turned a bluish shade.

“Uuuugh!”

He forced down what had almost come back up.

‘It tastes filthy!’

-Time remaining until wound treatment: 1 minute

Min-jun, who had almost spat out a string of curses at the indescribable taste, withdrew his complaint when he saw that display.

It really had been medicine.

‘Right. Bitter medicine is sweet to the body.’

One minute.

Min-jun looked at the display in the corner of his vision.

-Time remaining: 14 minutes 11 seconds

It was the timer showing how much time remained until he had to move to the central island area.

Only 14 minutes remained now.

‘I have to move as soon as I’m healed.’

There was no more time.

Since he had made it all the way to the final three, he truly had to aim for first place now.

Grrrrrk!

The sound of phlegm boiling changed all of his plans.

‘No way…….’

There was no room for doubt.

It was the sound of a wolf.

‘It’s right nearby!’

A chill ran through his whole body.

Thirty seconds remained until treatment was complete.

But the wolf’s sense of smell did not wait for that.

It quickly found Min-jun’s location and stuck its head in.

Grrrrng!

The wolf charged with its maw open.

“Urgh!”

Min-jun grabbed his sword while seated on the ground.

It was a hair-trigger situation.

And that was when the anomaly occurred.

Swaaash—!

Yes.

An anomaly.

It was an anomaly.

‘Huh……?’

The wolf’s body, which had been approaching right up to his nose, turned to ash and vanished in an instant.

The kobold riding it was the same.

It was because of the silver arc that had cut both of them apart in an instant.

‘A sword!’

Someone had sent them both to the other world with a single strike of a sword.

‘……Who is it?’

Behind where the kobold had disappeared, a red cape fluttered.

‘A woman?’

She was a woman with a unique appearance.

Leather bands continued from her legs to her waist, over her chest, and to her arms, and swords and daggers were packed densely into various places along the bands.

Click.

The way she returned the sword to her waist had not a single wasted movement, like a painting.

Her slightly curled black hair had been tied roughly, swaying in the wind.

-Subjugation Success: Yu A-yeong (monster hunt successful)

At the message that appeared belatedly, goosebumps rose all over Min-jun’s body.

‘Second place. The woman right below me!’

A participant who had recorded 213 subjugations by hunting only monsters, alone.

Yu A-yeong was now standing before him.

‘I’m going to get killed!’

Min-jun thought she would target him without delay.

If she caught him, she would receive 1.5x more reward from the event. It would be no different from practically securing first place.

‘Should I strike first?’

Min-jun hid the sword hilt behind his back as his shoulders trembled. Even if he could not win, he intended to struggle.

Soon, Yu A-yeong, who had been looking at him with a sullen expression, opened her mouth.

“What are you doing instead of going?”

For a moment, Min-jun blinked, unable to understand those words.

‘Huh?’

“There isn’t much time left…….”

“……Time?”

“The notice said to gather at the center within 13 minutes.”

Because of those indifferent words, Min-jun even thought for a moment, ‘Did I hear that wrong? Or is she messing with me?’

“We have to go quickly.”

She was serious.

‘No way…….’

That was right.

‘……Does she not know what PK is?’

Was it because she had only hunted monsters until now?

Or was it because she just had no thoughts at all?

“Are you going to stay here?”

She knew nothing about the act of PK itself.

Yes, she was the type commonly called a “pure newbie.”

‘I survived.’

Just as he was about to feel relieved.

-Eliminated: Park Hu-han (death by monster)

-Total participants: 5,000

-Current participants: 2

‘No, at this time?’

Min-jun flinched.

The timing was far too bad.

Now, if she only dealt with him, she would become first place.

It was a situation where she might awaken to PK even now.

“Do you need help?”

But she simply reached out her hand without thinking anything of it.

Min-jun blankly took that hand.

“……Are you saying that seriously?”

“Yeah. You’re hurt, so it feels a little wrong to leave you behind.”

“Ah…….”

Min-jun realized it.

In this savage game, she is alone.

Only one person, Yu A-yeong, was playing “her own game.”

‘In that case, I’m sorry.’

As he stood up with her support, Min-jun sank into venomous thoughts.

In a situation where only two people remained, if one side disappeared, the remaining side would win…….

That applied to Min-jun as well.

‘I’m first place.’

Just as he began slowly pulling out the sword hilt.

“Shh.”

Yu A-yeong brought a finger to her lips and drew her sword like lightning.

“Ugh!”

Min-jun hurriedly stepped back.

Has she noticed?

“Monster. It’s coming this way.”

Yu A-yeong’s gaze was directed elsewhere.

“Mon……ster?”

“I’ll go catch it quickly.”

“What do you mean, catch it……?”

“It’ll only take a moment.”

The direction she was looking.

Yes, Min-jun could see it too.

One Kobold Rider wandered after losing its way.

He could see it, but.

“Y-You’re going to catch that now? That thing? For no reason?”

“It’s coming this way anyway. And I have to hurry and catch 1,000 of them too.”

“No, that’s not the problem.”

Before Min-jun could say anything, she kicked off the ground with a boom.

The scene that followed was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.

Kiiiiiiik.

Yelp, yelp, yelp!

She had charged in without any preparation or adjustment, and she quite literally butchered the Kobold Rider.

Only the drops of blood dancing wherever the sword passed could occasionally be seen.

“Crazy…….”

It was the power of her Class. It had to be.

Otherwise, there was no way someone with a lower level than him could display that much ability.

‘Even so, that’s…….’

No.

Even if it was the power of a Class, that was…….

‘Too broken, isn’t it?’

Soon, Yu A-yeong returned after leaving the kobold and wolf half-dead.

“Sorry, it took longer than I thought.”

Without the slightest change in expression, she wiped the bloodstains on her sword against her cape.

“Huh.”

It was a shit game.

Yes, this was a shit game.

“We don’t have time now, so let’s hurry.”

“Yes, yes! Of course we should!”

“……?”

Yu A-yeong tilted her head at Min-jun’s changed attitude.

He followed beside her like an escort and quietly moved closer to ask. He was too curious to hold back.

“Um, if it isn’t rude, can I ask what the name of the Class you drew at the start was?”

“Class?”

“No, that, what was it, the thing that person called the Spirit of Wisdom gave at the beginning. That card-shaped thing! I’m just curious what was written on it…….”

“Ah.”

She nodded as if she understood.

“Demon Hunter Canaria…… I think.”

At the name of the avatar, which sounded chilling just to hear, Min-jun—no, the Cunning Assassin(D-Grade)—felt his head spin.

‘Even the name is too scary.’

After repeatedly rubbing his face with both hands, Min-jun had no choice but to ask one more thing.

“About that Class…… what rank, what rank is it? You know, D-Grade, C-Grade, and so on.”

At Min-jun’s confused appearance, she mulled it over with a sullen expression.

“S…….”

“S-Grade?”

“……three of them.”

“Three…….”

“It said it was a Named-Grade Avatar…….”

“…….”

SSS-Grade Named Avatar.

Demon Hunter Canaria.

‘Fucking hell.’

Min-jun could not continue speaking for a while.

It was a concept on a completely different level from him, who was merely D-Grade.

‘After D comes C, then B…… A…… S…… SS…… SSS? No, don’t tell me there are even more subdivisions in the middle.’

As he tried to calculate how many stages apart they were, his vision simply grew dizzy.

There was only one conclusion.

‘Yeah, let’s fold.’

What could he do when he could not win?

From one to ten, she was someone he could not handle with his own abilities.

‘What a dogshit luck-based trash game.’

Yu A-yeong herself looked as if she knew nothing.

‘She isn’t flexing on me, is she?’

It felt like seeing the kind of bragging often found in gacha games, where someone would flatteringly ask, “I pulled the highest-rank character from the free draw. Is this usable?”

“Why? Is it strange?”

“……No, it’s not strange…….”

Min-jun chewed on his lips and swallowed the scream that had surged all the way up his throat.

‘It’s even more absurd because she has no malice in messing with me.’

Her eyes and expression were too pure for him to explode in anger at her.

Min-jun’s mind spun rapidly.

‘Even so, I can’t just give up. What do I do?’

Min-jun could not let go of his lingering desire.

Yes, Yu A-yeong had a weakness.

‘First, she’s too dull.’

Even if she was SSS-Grade, if she was this dull, there had to be a way.

What if he did not fight her head-on and went in with a surprise attack?

‘Yeah, it’s worth trying.’

It was not something to boast about, but dirty surprise attacks were precisely his specialty.

Somehow, a move might appear.

It made him seem like human trash, but what could he do?

He had to win.

‘Her back should be defenseless, right?’

Thinking that, Min-jun discreetly tried poking her back with his finger……

Crack!

“Huuuk!”

“Ah, I thought you were a bug.”

Yu A-yeong had bent Min-jun’s finger as if she had eyes on her back.

“F-First, let go of this…….”

Terrified, Min-jun hurriedly straightened his finger, which had been bent in half, and wiped away a cold sweat.

“I can sense things coming at my back too, so I block without realizing it.”

“…….”

“When I sleep too, if something flies near me, I cut it with my sword. So if we’re still together by then, be careful.”

He simply lost his mind.

‘This just means I’m not supposed to win, right?’

Min-jun’s expression darkened. It felt as though he had met a wall he could not cross.

“I worked so desperately to raise my level, damn it.”

“……?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

How long had he walked with an ashen face?

Before long, they arrived near the river leading to the central island.

To reach the safe zone beyond it, they had to cross a river roughly ten meters wide.

It seemed to be a river with a fast current and a fair amount of depth.

“Do we have to swim?”

Min-jun muttered that with a face that had lost half its motivation.

Somewhere in his heart felt hollow, leaving him without even the energy to cross the river.

However, only about five minutes remained now.

They had to cross as quickly as possible.

“Ah…….”

Then.

Yu A-yeong reacted.

Somehow, her expression did not look good.

She had gone pale, as if all the blood had drained from her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Water.”

“What about water?”

“I…… can’t go into water.”

“Hm?”

Min-jun’s thoughts stopped.

“Because of an accident when I was little, water is a little…… I can’t swim either.”

“…….”

“…….”

A cold silence.

A long, heavy silence.

“What should we do?”

Yu A-yeong’s troubled face looked genuinely unsure.

Min-jun silently closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

Her words were probably true. Unlike before, her face had gone white, and she was hesitating while glancing at the river.

An accident when she was little.

How difficult must it have been for her to have trauma like that?

Sympathy rose from the depths of Min-jun’s heart.

“Don’t worry.”

He wore a gentle smile, as if to reassure her.

“Just trust me!”

And so.

The next moment.

Splash!

Before anyone could say anything, Min-jun jumped into the river.

He attempted freestyle swimming toward the central safe zone with terrifying momentum.

“……?”

Yu A-yeong, left alone, could only stare at him blankly for a long while.

Yes, even until the time limit ran out and she was eliminated from the game.

“I won!”

Only the lone echo of the Cunning Assassin(D-Grade) rang hollowly.

-The game will end.

-To all Hero Candidates who participated in the first game, thank you for your hard work and congratulations.

-1st Place: Do Min-jun(Reward 3,000P)

-2nd Place: Yu A-yeong(Reward 500P)

-3rd Place: Park Hu-han(Reward 450P)

-4th Place: Kang Jin-su(Reward 400P)

-…….

-250th Place: Jin Mi-young(Reward 1P)

-Thank you.

-Summoning will be released shortly.