Chapter 57
Thanks to Park Hana appearing at just the right moment, the tide of battle barely turned in our favor.
Until now, no one had been able to land a meaningful blow against Kang Kaljin, but that was no longer the case.
Park Hana’s ‘Implosion Fist’ could destroy an opponent’s body from the inside out. It did have the somewhat ridiculous backstory of being an awakened ability she developed to deal meaningful damage to Park Cheon-ho’s body, which was packed solid with body-protecting energy, but regardless, thanks to that ability, she could land proper attacks even against that steel-bodied bastard.
The reason I could think so calmly despite having been on the verge of death moments ago was that Park Hana kept him occupied, giving me enough time to receive treatment from Kim Isabel.
-Clang, clang, claaang!!
“Ghk, y-you bitch…!! Just how ridiculously strong are you for my steel-like body to…!!”
“Who are you calling a muscle-headed powerhouse like that bastard…!!”
-Claaang!!!
It seemed her short temper and low-key idiot streak were unchanged here, too.
Honestly, the biggest mystery was how she had managed to rank among the top students on the written exam. Since there had been a lot of questions about practical combat experience, perhaps it was because her battle instincts were excellent.
It would have been nice if she had been wearing a martial arts uniform instead of jeans. After finally meeting Park Hana, it was a little disappointing that I couldn’t admire her trademark black underwear.
‘It’s a little funny that this is what I think of after barely escaping death.’
The saying that a man thinks about women as long as he has the strength to lift a spoon wasn’t entirely wrong. That was also the reason I had started actively interfering with the original story in the first place.
If my goal had merely been to live an ordinary life and survive in this world, I wouldn’t have gotten this desperately involved. I would have simply left with Cha Eun-joo and avoided interfering with the protagonist’s group at all.
“Hoo, huff….”
“…Holy light, please embrace this poor lamb’s wounds with love.”
Along with the sensation of Kim Isabel’s divine power entering my body, the stab wound Kang Kaljin had inflicted was almost completely healed.
During the practical exam, the muscles throughout my body had been torn nearly to the point of rupture, so treatment had taken a long time. This time, however, all she had to do was heal a stab wound in my back, so I probably wouldn’t have to spend three days in a church treatment room like last time.
If an injury this minor couldn’t be treated on the spot, there would be no reason to bring a healer and a Hunter into a dungeon in the first place. No sane person would bring extra manpower into a dungeon just to treat something like a sprain or food poisoning.
“You’re healed, Mr. Lee Seonho.”
“Thanks, Isabel. I really thought I was going to die from the pain, but it feels better now.”
“…If you’re grateful, please stop getting hurt. Do you know how worried I was when you got hurt just now?”
“I’m sorry. But I had no choice.”
If I hadn’t intervened, Cha Eun-joo would probably have ended up with three long scars across her face.
Even if Kim Isabel could treat them on the spot with her divine power, the pain and shock of suffering those injuries wouldn’t be something she could simply forget. Considering the possibility that she might develop something like PTSD later, it was better for me to get hurt instead.
“Haa, those Shadow Chains…!”
“This has been getting on my nerves since earlier… Ghk!!”
“I won’t forgive you…. I’ll kill you. Absolutely, absolutely….”
Cha Eun-joo steadily converted the anger she felt over me nearly dying into combat power, restricting Kang Kaljin’s movements.
Even though she must have already used up nearly all her mana, Cha Eun-joo supported Park Hana’s battle with bloodshot eyes, while Park Hana continued landing meaningful blows on Kang Kaljin’s body with that support.
Her kick landed squarely on the villain executive’s jaw, launching him into the air before he came crashing down.
“Ghk…. W-what the hell is this crazy bitch…? H-how can she keep injuring my steel-like body….”
“Implosion Fist is a technique that strikes from the inside rather than the outside. It’s useful when someone like you—who I want to beat the crap out of but whose only asset is a hard body—happens to be nearby.”
“Damn it….”
With those final words, Kang Kaljin collapsed to the ground and breathed his last.
He looked fine on the outside, but his insides were probably a complete wreck from Park Hana’s fists and kicks. He was the sort who trusted in nothing but his awakened ability to turn his body into steel and mistakenly believed himself invincible.
-Thunk!
“Kkh, ngh…!!”
-Thud.
“…This side’s all done, too.”
The other members who had been facing us had also all been taken out by Han Sora’s sniping, so now we could say it was truly over.
Unlike the others, Kang Kaljin and Bang Hwacheol were dangerous villains wanted by the authorities, so there would be no strange misunderstandings even if the Hunter Association investigated later. If anything, the government might even pay us a reward.
More important, though, was getting properly acquainted with Park Hana this time. Since this was our first formal meeting, I quietly bowed my head under the pretext of thanking her.
“Thank you for helping us, Hunter.”
“……”
“Um, Hunter…?”
“…Huh? Oh, m-me? Don’t worry about it. I just happened to see you while passing by and helped, that’s all.”
“You’re an active Hunter, aren’t you? I’d like to repay you later. May I ask your name?”
“Huh? Oh, my name is Park Hana, but…. I wouldn’t exactly call myself an active Hunter….”
“Then are you perhaps a current academy student?”
“I’m not a current student—I’m a new student. You know, Cheonmu Hunter Academy….”
The moment I praised her by saying she seemed like an active Hunter, Park Hana couldn’t hide her happiness and immediately started rattling off her personal information.
As soon as the other three heard that she was a new student at Cheonmu Hunter Academy, their eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“Oh, really? I’m a freshman this year, too!”
“Huh?”
“…Same here. And Ms. Cha Eun-joo and Mr. Lee Seonho here are also freshmen this year.”
“…Huh? Really?”
As soon as Han Sora and Kim Isabel revealed that they were freshmen, Park Hana openly showed how surprised she was, too.
Since I was effectively serving as the leader of this party, I introduced the other party members to her one by one.
“First, the purple-haired girl here is Cha Eun-joo. She’s a freshman in the Magic Department. The brown-haired girl here is Han Sora, a freshman in the Archery Department. You can tell what department Isabel here is in just by looking at her, right?”
“From her clothes, it’s obviously the Recovery Department. What about you?”
“I’m Lee Seonho. I’m in the Combat Support Department.”
“Combat Support? Did Cheonmu Academy have a department like that?”
“It’s a role that handles the things the other party members have trouble keeping track of. The tradeoff is that my combat ability is a little weaker.”
“No wonder you seemed a little weak. But is something like that really necessary in a party?”
-Flinch.
I gently pressed down on Cha Eun-joo’s shoulder before she could spring up in response to Park Hana’s subtle reaction.
It wasn’t as though she had meant to insult me, and by this point, there was nothing particularly surprising about that reaction, either.
“Well, it isn’t an essential position like a tank or DPS, so you might not be used to it. Unless it’s a large party, people don’t usually bother including one.”
“Is that so? Anyway, nice to meet you. Like I said, I’m Park Hana, and I’m a freshman in the Martial Arts Department.”
As she spoke, Park Hana offered me her hand, and I quietly nodded before taking it.
Cha Eun-joo showed slight dissatisfaction at the way Park Hana was treating me, but it wasn’t as though Park Hana had openly been rude.
Besides, she probably had no ill intent. Park Hana was simply the sort of person who honestly blurted out whatever was on her mind, unlike Seo Woojin, who had slyly tried to keep me in check in front of Han Sora.
“Come to think of it, you fought really well earlier. Having those shadow-like things dart around and dodge everything while repeatedly going after that weird-fingered guy made for pretty good support, didn’t it?”
“…Yeah.”
“Can you do things like that with magic, too? The magic I saw on TV before killed giant monsters and things with huge fireballs. Can you do that, too?”
“…No.”
“…Um, is she normally this quiet?”
“Sorry, sorry. Eun-joo is just really shy around strangers. Please understand.”
In reality, she was probably just sulking because she didn’t like Park Hana treating me as the weakest person there.
I was glad she felt that way, but judging by this reaction, it seemed like it would take Cha Eun-joo a little while to become friends with Park Hana.
“Anyway, thanks again. If we meet at the academy later, I’ll definitely repay this favor.”
“Huh? Oh, come on, it was nothing. We’re fellow freshmen helping each other out. What’s the big deal? Let’s just not pretend we don’t know each other if we meet at the academy.”
“As if I would.”
Although the unexpected situation caused by Kang Kaljin’s whim had become quite dangerous, I had still managed to get properly acquainted with Park Hana.
Now that I had also obtained a close-range damage dealer, I could say I had secured at least one person for each position. With Park Hana around, I could even bring Park Cheon-ho along as extra muscle and have him serve as a tank, which meant I had secured a backup tank for when Choi Mari wasn’t available.
“But if this guy was Kang Kaljin… then what’s left are that Jo Jinhyeon guy, the leader, and that Bang Hwacheol guy, right?”
“…Yeah, that’s right.”
“What are you going to do, Mr. Lee Seonho?”
“We have to go find them, of course. I’ve recovered from my injuries, so there’s no reason to hesitate here.”
“B-but…. What if Seonho gets hurt again while doing that….”
“I recovered from the injury earlier thanks to Isabel, so I’m fine. And like I said before, we’re the only ones who can resolve this situation right now.”
“…What? You mean you’ve been going around trying to catch these guys? You weren’t just attacked out of nowhere?”
“We were attacked out of nowhere, yes. But it happened while we were hunting down the other terrorists.”
After hearing my story, Park Hana turned her gaze toward me with quiet interest.
For someone who admired things like killing evil villains to uphold justice or defeating giant monsters that emerged during a monster wave to rescue people, this conversation was bound to be interesting.
Still, it seemed she couldn’t suddenly insert herself into such a serious atmosphere, so she cautiously watched our reactions.
“Still, I think it’s dangerous. And I feel we’ve already done enough as academy students just by doing this much.”
“Isabel’s right. And since that subordinate called Kang Kaljin was more dangerous than expected, that Jo Jinhyeon guy, the boss, might be even more dangerous.”
“…What do you think, Cha Eun-joo?”
“I-I don’t want Seonho to get hurt, but….”
“……”
“B-but if Seonho says he has to go, I-I’ll follow him….”
Cha Eun-joo would unquestionably do as I said, so in practice, the vote was split two to two.
Of course, if I stubbornly insisted that we had to go find the remaining members, Han Sora and Kim Isabel would have no choice but to follow me. But I didn’t want to project the image of an overly authoritarian leader already.
To bring them into my harem, I needed to run a stable Hunter party. Even if I was supposedly the ‘Combat Support’ member, I had to show respect for everyone’s opinions so they could trust me and follow me as their leader.
To get the hesitant girls moving again, I needed to use Park Hana now.
“Then let’s give up on the boss and at least find this Bang Hwacheol guy somehow. He’s a bomb terrorist, so if we’re even a little late, there might be more victims.”
“…A bomb terrorist?”
“Why? Do you know something?”
“I-I know where that bastard is! Oh, right! This isn’t the time to be standing around here in the first place!”
Park Hana immediately reacted to the information about the bomb terrorist that I had deliberately let slip.
Apparently, she really had forgotten, because she ruffled her hair and made her panic obvious with her entire body.