For a brief moment, it felt like time had stopped.
Thud! Thud!
Blue blood and pieces of flesh rained down from the sky. The surreal scene was broadcast live across the globe, a spectacle so shocking that no one dared to speak. What was once a 'giant magical beast' had just exploded like a balloon due to an overwhelming force. After a while, the frozen chat window started moving again.
– ?
– ??
– ??
– ???
Countless question marks began to flood chat windows worldwide. The scene was so shocking that people's minds couldn't process it, leaving only a sea of question marks. Then, someone finally managed to type a coherent sentence.
– Who is that?
The Chinese government, which was in charge of the live broadcast, was also in chaos.
"Who the hell is that Hunter?!"
"W-We're trying to identify him now!"
"Surely he must be one of our people, right? Right? He has to be…" The adjutant responded to his superior, who was anxiously muttering while biting his nails, with a forced smile.
"Of course he is. Judging by his hair color and the fact that he's working with Mr. Liu Zhigang…"
"Then why don't we know him?! If there was a Hunter stronger than Mr. Liu Zhigang, why wouldn't we know about him?!"
"W-We'll find out as soon as possible!"
The emotion on the faces of the staff hurriedly typing on their keyboards and searching the Association's database was the same: anxiety. They were extremely tense.
'He has to be Chinese.'
'Please let him be a Chinese Hunter.'
The reason they boldly deployed the drone unit, even violating international law, was that they were confident of reaping more than what they invested in this incident. International law? They could make some excuse later and get away with it. If it didn't work out, they could just offer a sincere apology and appropriate compensation to the Indian government through diplomats. On the other hand, the political advantage and great glory that the Chinese government would gain from this incident were immeasurable, impossible to convert into money. It was none other than Liu Zhigang! The fact that the strongest Hunter representing China was saving India and showing his great achievements to the world was worth that much!
'Politically, in terms of brand value, everything was in our favor!'
But things had gone wrong. A fatal error had occurred in their perfect calculation.
"S-Something terrible has happened!"
Suddenly, one of the staff members screamed, his face pale. Unfortunately, what he was pointing at with his trembling fingertip was not the Chinese Association's Hunter list. It was the chat window. In the chat windows from all over the world, 'Korean' was being translated in real-time.
- Isn't that guy a Korean Hunter?
- Oh, you're right. I've seen that face in the news.
- What? A Korean? Who is he?
- Isn't it this guy?
- (Attached link to a related article)
- What is this?
"…!"
Someone had been kind enough to even post a link. Clicking on which, they found a video capture of an A-rank villain incident that occurred in Korea. Three Hunters and a giant beehive. The recording showed three Hunters with black wings soaring towards a giant beehive that had formed on top of a high-rise building. Two of them were the relatively well-known Lim Tae-Gyu and Baek Miho, and the other one… was undoubtedly the same man who was currently in India.
"Damn it!"
Bang! A fist slammed down, shattering the desk, but no one here was in any state to be surprised by that. They were already dumbfounded enough. They were doomed. A single sentence pierced their minds.
'He isn't Chinese…'
Was this what they called "making rice cakes and feeding them to dogs"? They tried to show off China's combat strength to the world, even violating international law, but they ended up promoting a Korean Hunter who displayed even more tremendous achievements. And they even made him stand out more by using Liu Zhigang as a point of comparison.
'…We're truly doomed.' It was disastrous. It seemed like they would have to deal with a lot of things, both internationally and domestically.
'Packing up and fleeing abroad might be the quickest solution.' The perfect option came to someone's mind, but they couldn't bring themselves to act on it.
* * *
"Tsk. Doing useless things." Liu Zhigang clicked his tongue with a displeased expression as he looked at the drones flying overhead. Judging from the direction they came from, it seemed like they were sent from China.
Bang!
He lightly swung his sword and smashed one of the most annoying ones as if swatting a fly, then approached Suho and said,
"I'm sorry about this. Your face has been exposed because of me."
"It's alright." Suho shrugged nonchalantly, brushing the magical beast's blood off his fist.
"I recently got permission from my father."
"That's a relief then."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't his father, but his father's illusion that gave him permission, but it wasn't entirely wrong either. Moreover, now that he had surpassed level 100 and became strong enough to deal with Itarim's apostle alone, it was more beneficial to actively seek them out rather than hide his identity.
"Are you alright?" Suho turned his head and checked on the people he had rescued. The Hunters from the Indian Association bowed their heads towards Suho and expressed their gratitude in English.
"Th-Thank you."
"Thank you for saving us."
As they voiced their appreciation, the Indian Hunters were a little worried about the expressions on their faces. They were grateful to be rescued, but…
'Honestly, it's scary.'
'Can we even consider this person to be the same as us?'
They knew. This was quite disrespectful to the person who saved their lives. In fact, regardless of rank, fellow Hunters understood each other's hardships without having to say anything. The 'gaze' they received from everyone around them the moment they awakened their magic power. Ordinary people didn't see Hunters as the same as them. The media always praised Hunters as humanity's shield, but in reality, they were no different from 'talking magical beasts' to ordinary people.
It was natural to feel apprehensive. Superhumans who could throw cars and collapse buildings at any moment were living among ordinary citizens as if they were the same. It was unfair to the Hunters who risked their lives to save humanity. Quite a few hunted magical beasts even more diligently with the mindset of earning more money out of frustration. But now they completely understood. Just like the ordinary people who were grateful to the Hunters, yet looked at them with fear in their eyes…
They were now looking at Suho with the same gaze.
'It was at least A-rank magical beast.'
Even if they tried not to, their gaze unconsciously drifted to the remains of the magical beast that Suho had blown up with one punch.
'Maybe it was S-rank…'
They hadn't been able to properly measure it, but recalling the overwhelming pressure they felt for a moment, it was possible that it was an S-rank magical beast. And the superhuman who had blown up that tremendous boss monster with one punch was standing before them.
"Are you… an S-rank Hunter?"
Someone mustered up the courage to break the awkward silence, but everyone knew it was a useless question. What was the point of asking? Everyone knew that Liu Zhigang, who was visible right across from them, was a 6-star Hunter from China. And this man in front of them had performed an even more powerful attack than him. In fact, an S-rank Hunter meant someone who surpassed the range of the magic power measuring device created by humans and was deemed 'unmeasurable.' Therefore, even among S-rank Hunters, their power varied greatly.
But they couldn't tell them to fight amongst themselves to determine who's stronger. If someone died, it would be a loss both nationally and for humanity. It was also a common theory that the aftermath of that battle could wipe out at least one city. But now that they had witnessed an S-rank Hunter blowing up a boss monster like a balloon with one punch, they immediately understood.
'As expected, S-rank Hunters are amazing…'
But Suho's expression was somewhat awkward when asked that question.
Scratch. Suho scratched his cheek sheepishly and opened his mouth. His English wasn't good enough to give a long explanation, so he just went straight to the point.
"I'm C-rank."
"…Huh?" The confusion deepened.
* * *
Suho brought all the Indian Hunters to Imphal. And he entrusted them with protecting the citizens, not hunting magical beasts. With Rio Singh, a fellow Indian, interpreting, the conversation became much smoother.
"While our Guild Master is hunting magical beasts, please prevent them from entering the city."
"We can fight too!"
"We'll help, even if our strength is lacking!" The Hunters of the Indian Association, suddenly treated as weaklings, felt powerless but didn't forget their duty. But Rio Singh was firm.
"Ah, it's alright. Our Guild Master will take care of it."
"…?" They couldn't understand at all. They knew Sung Suho was strong, but this field was too vast, and there were too many magical beasts.
"Even with China's Mr. Liu Zhigang helping, you'll need a lot of manpower to find and hunt all those magical beasts!"
"Mr. Liu Zhigang is resting over there."
"…Huh?" At Rio Singh's words, everyone's gaze turned to the side. Liu Zhigang, who was the center of attention, was really just relaxing. Even getting a shoulder massage from Esil.
"Ahem… I told you it's alright."
"I'm just doing this because I'm bored." Even Esil was excluded as someone who would hinder Suho's leveling up.
"…What? You're really going to take care of it alone?" Suho left the dumbfounded Indian Hunters behind and walked alone towards the magical beasts rampaging outside the city. Then he suddenly looked up and glanced at the drone cameras flying in the sky.
"A worldwide broadcast… It's a bit burdensome."
[It's rather a good thing.] Beru, who peeked out from beside him, had a glint in his eyes. The higher the level, the more experience points required for leveling up. But now, despite just defeating a boss monster, he still couldn't level up.
[It will be impossible for you to level up by hunting just a few small frys, my liege. From now on, it would be faster to make the strong ones come to us.] Suho nodded at Beru's suggestion.
'To show those Itarim guys hiding around the world what they were capable of.'
"Alright. Let's show them." At that moment:
Flare!
The magic power he received from the Dragon Emperor surged within him.
Fwoosh!
A black shadow spread from his feet, covering the ground.
"Come out, everyone." At Suho's command, thousands of shadow soldiers rose in unison. With jet-black smoke billowing…
[Kyaaaaaaaaa!]
…And the moment that scene was broadcast worldwide the Chinese server crashed due to chat overload.