Chapter 141: Starting to Get Exposed
Chapter 141: Starting to Get Exposed
At the Demigod guild headquarters, Dal-soo had finished his treatment of Gang-ho and In-sung. Apart from the two of them, many other hunters, who had severe injuries, stayed there for the time being.
At first, Gang-ho refused to use his place as a temporary place to treat the injured hunters. But, at the urging of Dal-shik and Ji-soo, he finally did it.
Only Dal-soo had the ability to do that. A-rank healers didn’t have perfect regeneration abilities. So, seeking help from the Divine Doctor was the only option. It was due to the large number of victims who lost their limbs in the battle of the four Red Gates but still survived.
Gang-ho was upstairs, standing facing the large glass window. He wore a patient gown, and no bandages got wrapped around his body to cover the injury. It was because Dal-soo’s healing abilities could heal internal and external wounds. Although, it was still within a specific limit. He was with In-sung in the same room.
“To set up a tent outside, just how many have come here to look for Dal-soo? It’s such a pain. The Demigod Guild looks like a shelter with a view like this.”
“That’s right. Who told you to do that?”
“Shut up! And you alone? What are you doing here? If it isn’t for Dal-shik, I would have kicked you out!”
In-sung shrugged his shoulders. “My hand got broken. Only Dal-soo can heal it. So I had to come here because the Demigod guild didn’t want to lend or let Dal-soo wander around to heal the injured.”
“Tch!” Gang-ho sneered at In-sung’s words. He was also still annoyed at how Ji-soo joined in with Dal-shik, giving long babbles to persuade him. Had Hyun-bin not been present at that time, he would have rejected their request outright.
Gang-ho unknowingly started to create an invisible wall against Hyun-bin after firsthand witnessing the hunters’ fight at the Apex level. Fighting at that Apex caliber wasn’t really that extravagant for him. But, the level of use of magic made him realize that the distance between him and Apex-rank was huge.
Especially, Magic Manifestation.
Gang-ho couldn’t even sense the elemental magic when it got cast by that technique. So far, hunters could usually distinguish elements of nature with their Mana.
What was real and what was artificial.
But, in Ma Dong-seok’s fight with Hyun-bin, the elements he was usually familiar with became foreign and hostile. It was as if the Mana Blessing that existed to connect him to nature had merely disappeared.
From that moment on, Gang-ho knew how strong Hyun-bin was, and he didn’t dare to act like usual, even though he was older than the Apex-ranked hunter. He couldn’t help but become timid around Hyun-bin.
Suddenly, a hunter entered the room and reported to Gang-ho.
“Headmaster, there’s Chairman Yu downstairs.”
“Oh, Hyung? What’s he doing here? Fine, I’ll be down soon.”
“Er…, Chairman Yu didn’t come to see you, Headmaster. But, to meet Senior Oh. I’m here because Senior Seol told me to tell you.”
“Eh? Sorry?”
The hunter could only bow apologetically. “I’m sorry, Headmaster. I don’t know the details. I just got ordered to inform you of this. Not anything else.” The hunter then excused himself, leaving Gang-ho confused. Meanwhile, In-sung didn’t care about the affairs of the Demigod guild.
“Oh, well. I can ask In-ah later.”
Downstairs, Chairman Yu was standing waiting for Dal-soo to finish tending to the wounded hunters under a makeshift tent in the forecourt of the Demigod Guild’s headquarters building.
In Seoul, the situation got better, and currently in the final check to see if there were any Portal Gate creatures left. After that, the blockade walls would get removed. And the Seoul area would get accessible from the outside again. Even so, the state of martial law didn’t get lifted from South Korea yet.
The damage suffered by the Seoul area was enormous in terms of infrastructure. Fortunately, the number of casualties from ordinary people could count in the thousands. That was because they had time to evacuate Seoul’s population of 10 million people.
But unfortunately, the death toll from the hunter’s side was too high. The figure reached more than two thousand hunters. Even though South Korea only had around seven thousand to eight thousand hunters.
It could get categorized as a massive loss. The victims from ordinary people could be quite large because they exceeded the number of casualties from the Red Gate incident in the Mapo district long before. That alone did not count with the victims who were only injured.
However, Chairman Yu’s arrival was not to discuss the matter. Since it had already happened, he couldn’t do anything more about it. Presenting hunters was not like creating or modifying the Spell Pages that Apex-rankers or ArchMage do.
Chairman Yu could only tidy up the current situation and maximize national security with the rest of the hunters. It was a plan that he would discuss with the other division Chiefs of the Hunters Association at a later time.
“Hyung, what are you doing here? Can’t talk on the phone? Even though it’s crowded here, I’m not too busy and available to chat on the phone.” Dal-soo said as he walked over to Chairman Yu.
Chairman Yu threw away the thoughts that weighed him down and sighed sharply. There was a problem he needed to solve first. “Let’s go inside. There’s something we need to talk about.”
Dal-soo frowned. “Is this about the young man who takes care of the Red Gate in Mapo district?!”
Chairman Yu ignored Dal-soo’s words and continued walking into the building. Dal-soo saw what he did and could only sigh, then followed from behind.
In one room, Dal-soo immediately sat on a chair, facing Chairman Yu, who was standing facing him.
“Hyung, have a seat. Talking about Ji-woo~si doesn’t need to be in a serious atmosphere. Sit down. Sit down.” Dal-soo said invitingly.
“Who is he? Of the four Red Gates in Seoul, only the one in the Mapo district has the least number of reports. Only a few remained after the Red Gate disappeared of the thousands of White Wolves. Do you think that makes sense?
“In the other three districts, even after the Red Gate disappeared, there were still hundreds and thousands of Portal Gate creatures. We’ve already mobilized more than ten S-rank hunters. And it will take hours to reduce that number.”
Dal-soo blinked his eyes while taking a deep breath. “Hyung, I know what you’re worried about it. You must be more concerned about whether Ji-woo is a threat or not than what happened at the Mapo district’s Red Gate.”
Dal-soo did not continue his sentence to observe Chairman Yu’s response. After a few moments of silence, he finally explained Ji-woo’s position.
“He is not a hunter who has the consciousness to save humans from extinction like most of the others. But, one thing is for sure, he is also not a threat to other humans and us.”
Chairman Yu snorted. “How can you be sure of such a thing? Are you acquainted with him? I can tell you are not close to that young man from the way you speak. Don’t ramble on in vain! We are talking about serious matters.
“You know that we have just got hit by the disaster of losing thousands of hunters, right? The threat from the Portal Gate and unofficial hunters like Ma Dong-seok still exists. I don’t want any trouble or other threats to existing besides the ones already there!”
“Hyung, lower your voice a little. Do you want everyone in the Demigod guild to hear about this?”
“I bet you don’t know about this. The person that recently supplied magic weapons to the Hunters Association’s armory shop was named Kim Ji-woo. Isn’t that name ringing a bell in your ears? Moreover, this information has also spread widely among the brokers. Sooner or later, the presence of that young man will get exposed and attract the attention of many people.”
This time, Dal-soo got tense hearing that. Even though he didn’t know much about Ji-woo, he knew that commotions were a nuisance to Ji-woo. It was inevitably made him worry if it would be a bad sign for the future.
Chairman Yu loosened his back and said. “Just tell me everything you know about that young man named Kim Ji-woo. You know I still appreciate you by coming here instead of visiting or investigating directly about him, right?”
Dal-soo broke into a sweat at those words. He awkwardly smiled as he chimed in. “Doing an investigation against Ji-woo is a completely unwise act.”
“Heh! I admit he’s a strong hunter. Being able to take care of the White Wolves overwhelms the A-rank hunters. But isn’t it an exaggeration to say things like that as if he’s stronger than us? Don’t makeup stories. You speak as if you’ve been beaten badly by that snotty brat.”
“Yes. It did happen.”
Chairman Yu got taken aback hearing Dal-soo’s reply. “What did you say?”
“I said that I had indeed fought him before. Even though I wasn’t getting battered, I was badly defeated in terms of hand-to-hand combat or in terms of magic.”