The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood - Chapter 44:

“Rope? Are you trying to help the guild leader?”

The lowest-ranking staff member at the Magic Tower was surprised by Kiryeo’s request and hesitated, but there was a hand that stopped him.

“I’ll bring it out to you right away.”

“M, manager!”

Kwak Byeonggi, who had remained silent so far, spoke his first words. He rushed straight to the car and brought back emergency supplies—a strong rope that looked roughly 15 meters long.

“Thank you.”

As the F-class hunter holding the rope turns his back toward the swamp, the youngest employee whispers.

“Wasn’t that person an external appraiser?”

“Don’t worry, just watch.”

Normally, when faced with the deadly poison of an A-class demonic beast, one would start to tremble. However, instead of shaking, Kim Kiryeo began to walk at a leisurely pace.

“…!”

Even then, he didn’t look at the ground, as he was busy estimating the length of the rope. There are so many poisonous puddles on the floor! The C-Class hunter with the lowest awakening level in the Magic Tower nervously swallowed his saliva and turned his head sideways.

‘I can’t do something like that even if you give me money.’

The blonde man was calmly crossing the road at this moment, showing no hesitation.

“Heuk!”

However, at that moment, the corpse of a small devil fell from the high ground through a crack in the damaged road.

Splash! 

Due to that impact, the nearby poison puddle splattered. Fortunately, a few water droplets only soiled the shoe soles. It is as bad as A-class poison. Isn’t this usually a situation where you have to panic?

“….!”

Nevertheless, Kiryeo showed no hesitation, not even a sign of looking at his own shoes. He just quietly stood in front of Esther’s swamp with simple movements.

“Please wait.” Kim Kiryeo said that and slowly untied the rope.

Esther saw this and thought.

‘Why are you helping me?’

It was a crooked attitude because there was still lingering resentment from the times Kiryeo had often ridiculed her skills. She had a sullen expression as she contemplated her opponent’s provocation.

‘Hmph, seems like he has pretty high poison resistance just by looking at it. But even if he comes now and tries his best…’

But right after this, when Esther saw what he had done, the color of her face changed for a moment.

“Huh?”

“Hold it and come up, Hunter Esther.”

This man tied a rope to a nearby utility pole and threw the end of the lifeline into the swamp. From Kiryeo’s perspective, it was an action calculated based on the difference in strength between them. Strangely, this came across as refreshing to Esther.

‘What, it’s strangely cold!’

Until now, there were so many people who flattered her to win her favor. An S-Class hunter has value beyond imagination in this society. So, Esther had received a lot of favors in return, and gradually, she was getting tired of that treatment.

“Is it difficult to move your arm?”

“No. I will go now.”

However, Kim Kiryeo has no pretense at all. Even though he could easily have pulled her up with his own strength, he nonchalantly tied the rope to the utility pole, leaving her to figure it out on her own. If there was any suspicion that this side might not play tricks with curses, he could boldly test it with provocation… Looking at him, it didn’t seem like he was trying to impress the S-Class.

“Wait.”

But when he’s kind, he’s kind at the same time.

“Mud in your hair…”

“Ah.”

“It almost went into your ear.”

Kiryeo reached out his hand and swiftly wiped the purple liquid flowing between Esther’s hair.

‘Huh?’

At this time, he realized too late that the swamp was poisonous, but he didn’t really care. The neurotoxin dangerously belonged within the immunity range of Kim Kiryeo. Of course, if it was a dragon’s blood poison, it wouldn’t be easy.

‘No, if I had fallen into the poisonous swamp, please tell me.’ 

Kim Kiryeo realized that he had almost died by accident and stopped in his spot. It was Esther’s one word that broke the silence.

“Thank you.”

No matter how much Kim Kiryeo says no, it’s not right to keep quiet after receiving help. Esther spoke calmly and ordered the guild members to bring cloth and water.

Kim Kiryeo carefully looked at her, and he subtly said,

“You’ve worked hard.”

At a young age, when he sees a magician who engages in difficult tasks to the point of becoming covered in mud, somehow a feeling of sympathy arises.

“If that non-awakened person hadn’t intervened, today’s incident would have ended smoothly…”

Esther narrows her eyes at this.

“What would you do in the same situation?”

“Yes?”

“What if a citizen suddenly intervenes in a fight? Seeing how you speak so calmly, it seems as if Kiryeo-ssi will just ignore it and say that it was her fault for coming in carelessly~”

Esther smiled mischievously and looked into Kiryeo’s mind.

If she heard an affirming remark, even if it was an empty word, she intended to face him head on.

“Well, I’ve been through a similar situation before,” he said.

However, she didn’t expect the answer that followed.

“I was in the middle of activating my skills when a civilian appeared on the street.”

“….!”

“I had to cancel the casting in a hurry, but everything around me exploded due to the recoil,” Kiryeo briefly reminisced about the past.

“Ten… No, I was a bit surprised because my arm flew off.”

“What did you say?”

The alien makes a shrug of his shoulders, as people here usually do.

“Still, I think our way is right. I might be a little annoyed right now, but there’s nothing more precious than life,” Kiryeo continued with his characteristic expressionless face.

“Honestly, I was relieved when I saw Esther protecting the non-awakened person earlier. Yeah. Someone like you should be at the top.”

He tried to say more about someone like her who values the lives of the weak, but…he swallowed his words.

‘It’s not a topic to complain about to Earthlings.’

Kiryeo briefly recalled the upper class of his hometown, where their personalities were different, but he shook off the memory in disgust. Anyway, he doesn’t have time.

“Hunter Esther, I’m sorry. I suddenly remembered something urgent. Can I just leave for today?”

“Yes?”

Kiryeo bowed his head and expressed his apology.

Originally, if things had gone as planned, he should have begun assisting the Magic Tower in sorting the magic stones from now on.

‘Ouch, my fingertips are stiffening!’

In fact, he wasn’t completely immune to poison. He just happens to have higher resistance than others. Isn’t this a different problem from mental magic?

“See you again when I get a chance.”

In the end, he disappeared from the scene as if he were half-running away. From behind, the belated sound of guild members shouting that they obtained water, towels, and the antidote was heard, but Esther acted as if she couldn’t hear the sound.

-Still, I think our way is right.

The curse magician pondered over the words left by the opponent as usual for a long time.

***

“I think he’s a pretty good hunter!”

A lively voice bursts into the air. The sentence bounced back and forth against the damp cave walls, creating small echoes.

“Who?”

Next, another young woman’s voice flows.

“Kim Kiryeo~”

“Ah, that…”

“Yeah, curse resistant.”

Esther and her assistant. The two were walking out of the cave while chatting briefly.

“At first, I suspected that he might be a bad-tempered b*stard like Kang Changho.”

“That’s right.”

“Although I don’t usually nitpick about things like facial features, the eyes are so distinctive, so…”

Esther clears her throat.

“But when I talked to him, he wasn’t that bad of a person.”

“Really?”

“Surprisingly, he also has manners.”

But then.

Krrrrrr. 

An alien noise rang out from behind Esther. It sounds like heavy metal scraping on a stone floor.

“The more advanced awakened people are, the more twisted their personalities are. Hunter Kim Kiryeo has some unusual common sense.”

However, neither of them paid attention to the noise and just silently walked out of the gate.

“Anyway, it turned out well. As long as it’s not a villain, what matter could there be where the righteous Esther of justice steps forward?”

“Haha.”

“I’m really glad that Kiryeo-ssi isn’t a bad person.”

“I know, right.”

“I didn’t want to fight with a hunter who’s not even affected by curses…”

Krrrrrr. 

Krrrrrr. 

Krrrrrr. 

Amidst the sharp sound of metal, something vaguely like a person’s groan was mixed in.

“Keugh… ugh…”

Esther looked back for a moment at this sound. There was a blue shadow on her face as she turned away from the moonlight.

“Anyway, this thing is really annoying.”

Rustling.

Esther took her cell phone from her pocket. Once she was out of the gate, all functions on her phone started working normally. She activated the self-camera mode and captured her own face in the angle, and in one corner of the view, the identity of the two people and what they brought along up to here was captured.

“Evidence videos all have to be filmed outside. When on earth will body cameras that can be used at the gate be developed?”

About two people are tied up in strong chains. Esther had been dragging them around on the floor.

“Eugh!!!”

“S, save me…”

Two unidentified people, covered in blood and with black spots all over their faces, cried and begged for their lives.

But Esther just focused on her work calmly.

“One~ two~ kimchi~”

“Aaaahhh!”

“A, aaah.”

After intensifying the curse to its maximum output, the immediate outcome unfolded. They were in so much pain that blood started to appear in their eyes. They coughed up blood and died right away.

Dring.

Esther leaves that moment on video.

“Do you know what Hunter Kim Gi-ryeo said earlier during the day? He said someone like me should be at the top.”

“…”

“How can he have the same thoughts as me, be so strong, and not be flattered by an S-class person…”

She smiled softly and muttered into the air.

“Is it that self-esteem is high? Is it that there is dignity?”

It was a face that seemed fascinated by something.

“As expected, I like that guy too.”

What should I do to get him on my side?

The secretary briefly asked a question in response to Esther’s muttering.

“Are you really ready to join hands with him?”

“Of course. The desire to do so is like a chimney.”

Click, click.

Esther continued the conversation by taking a few more selfies.

“Today, a report came from team leader Kwak Byeonggi, and he said that Hunter Kim Kiryeo handled the cursed sword without any problems.”

“Really?”

“I also checked on site. In many ways, it’s beyond my imagination.”

The secretary stiffened in shock at those words. But Esther’s attitude was calm.

“If such a monster is on my side…I will be able to defeat not only the unrivaled Jung Haseong and Kang Changho, but also the world’s ranked players.”

She pursed her lips playfully while busily tapping the screen of her phone with her thumb.

“Haa, but it’s a bit confusing. That person has no greed for money…”

Even if she gave him a unique magic sword, he acted nonchalantly, so he probably has a lot of rare items as well. Isn’t the difficulty level too high?

Esther sighed heavily and made a loud noise.

“If this were in a game, it would have been easy to increase favorability. You can just search the strategy book and attack with gifts.”

“Again, another game story.”

The secretary said as she threw the bodies of the dead people into the disappearing gate.

It had a lightly scolding tone.

“I wonder if someone might think you’re a former game addict. You often make such comparisons.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve quit now.”

Esther held up her own phone and showed the screen to the opponent.

“I’m so busy with work these days that I don’t even have time to log in.”

Photo of two dead bodies. This S-Class hunter expresses all the actions that occurred in the mountains in one sentence.

“Because there are death row inmates lined up like this.”

Death row.

Esther, with sharp words in her mouth, looked beyond the gate where the body was disposed of.

“It’s pathetic. Although it has been several years since the dungeon shock occurred, there is still no prison that can imprison even one high-level awakened person.”

“….”

“Anyway, I hope all the bad things that harass the weak die~.”

What followed was the high chatter of the curse magician.