The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood - Chapter 69:

“You’re telling me to use my skills until I can’t breathe anymore…?”

Given that such long sentences are flowing smoothly, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lack of oxygen.

‘Oho.’

Fortunately, there wasn’t much need to worry. Afterwards, Seonwoo Yeon began to do as she was told.

Whoosh.

She activated her skill. The waves of wind that gathered in the air gradually gained strength and soon formed a huge whirlwind. And the tornado shot horizontally and shattered one side of the honeycomb.

Boom!

-Kyaaaaaaa!

As the loud noise served as a signal, the final roar of the queen bee echoed. I swiftly moved, observing the queen bee’s exoskeleton being torn apart like a biscuit wrapper.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon.” 

Now that the dungeon boss has been defeated, it’s time for the minor side effects I mentioned earlier to occur.

“Bow your head!”

Wiiiiing. 

The killer bees, having lost their swarm leader, stopped attacking and began to run wild around the area. They collided with each other in their flight paths, falling to the ground, unable to distinguish friend from foe, and even accidentally stinging each other. It was truly a scene of chaos.

“It’s basically this kind of monster. It’s completely different from the bees that live on Earth.”

I explained myself before the other person even said anything.

“The boss is the only proper entity here; the rest are just avatars created by the queen bee. So, when they lose the queen bee, who acts as the brain…”

But I couldn’t finish the explanation.

“Huh?”

Bugk.

As Seonwoo Yeon suddenly collapsed to the ground, I rushed over to her in surprise.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon?”

Originally, I had intended to immediately help her up and guide her out of the gate.

“….!”

Immediately after this, I made eye contact with Seonwoo Yeon. The B-Class awakened individual glared fiercely at me with bloodshot eyes.

‘P, please, spare me.’

I don’t know the details, but anyway, I think our precious B-Class is upset about something… Could it be because she was assigned the hunting task? At this rate, is she going to tear me apart like a queen bee as well?

I spoke urgently, feeling a chill.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon, do you know that?”

“….”

“In actual combat, if you use your mana to its limit, that feeling lingers for a long time. In other words, the depletion of magical power trains her skill activation to some extent.”

Ta-da.

I tried to convey it brightly, telling her to be happy.

“That’s great. With this incident, you’ve probably mastered your awakening ability perfectly now.”

“….”

“You were always worried about forgetting how to use your skills again, right?”

From now on, you will never forget magic again. So let’s think positively. I tried hard to find good things about the current situation, but these efforts were in vain.

‘Oh my~ the alien is dead.’

The Association employee frowned even more as soon as they heard my words.

***

10 minutes ago.

Seonwoo Yeon felt like the sky was falling. At first, seeing Kiryeo’s face made her feel like she had survived. But the reality was different from her expectations.

-Why do you want others to interfere with something you can do yourself?

Seonwoo Yeon felt resentful towards Kiryeo, who drew the line without mercy. So, in order to ask for help again, she closed the distance with her opponent. Surprisingly, the swarm of killer bees that had been attacking her also naturally followed behind. For a moment, she unintentionally lured the killer bees toward Kiryeo, which surprised her. However, after she thought about it carefully, wasn’t it not such a bad situation after all?

‘If a swarm of bees rushes in, he’ll catch a few even if it’s annoying.’ 

However, Seonwoo Yeon couldn’t help but be astonished when she saw the strange phenomenon that followed.

Kiryeo wasn’t attacked by the bees. No, they didn’t attack anywhere. The sight of those countless killer bees moving aside for just one person was truly remarkable. It was as if they were treating Kiryeo’s presence like a dangerous object not to be touched, avoiding wherever Kiryeo was present.

‘The monster can’t even get close.’

This is terrifying!

The bees must have sensed the difference in skill between them and that hunter and felt fear. So, it makes sense that they wouldn’t attack recklessly. But despite creating such an impressive situation, the opponent remains silent as if it’s just natural…

Calmness. Composure.

In addition to skill-based competence, there’s also a sense of ease. Perhaps that is the example of an ideal hunter.

Seeing this, Seonwoo Yeon belatedly came to her senses.

What on earth am I doing?

‘Embarrassingly, I can’t solve even a C-Class gate on my own in front of someone like that.’

But the reality is not easy. Because I haven’t been controlling my power for a while, my mana is already running low.

“Ugh!”

A magician who has lost their fuel doesn’t have many options. She was pushed back helplessly by the swarm’s attack.

Is that why?

“Seonwoo Yeon-ssi!”

Kim Kiryeo, who can’t keep watching, finally came forward to give advice. He revealed the location of the hidden boss lurking somewhere in the dungeon.

“Pierce through it with your skill. Tear through the nest along with the boss.”

However, when Seonwoo Yeon heard the subsequent gate strategy, her eyes widened.

“The whole nest?”

The nest he pointed to is very thick at first glance. Just looking at it, it’s hard to be sure if it can be destroyed or not, let alone the fact that she has to aim for the boss inside all at once.

“I used up all my mana earlier!”

Seonwoo Yeon shouted loudly.

She was out of breath.

Her head was occasionally dizzy. The symptoms of mana depletion have already appeared long ago, so what more can she do here?

However, at that moment.

The blonde man, who had been carefully watching her reactions, slowly opened his mouth.

“You still have a lot of mana left.”

As his cold voice reached her ears, Seonwoo Yeon felt a momentary chill run down her spine.

“You’re talking and breathing, aren’t you? Keep doing it until you can’t breathe anymore.”

Using a skill until you can’t breathe anymore sounds insane under normal circumstances. However, Kim Kiryeo didn’t seem to be joking at all.

“Because awakened people like us don’t die from things like that…”

Does this sentence mean that people don’t die as easily as she thinks, so stop whining and squeeze out her mana? Kiryeo quietly looked down with his pitch-black sambaegan eyes.

Scared.

Even though he was the person who taught her so kindly yesterday.

‘Ugh…’

Seonwoo followed his orders with a slight sense of tension.

Boom!

-Kyaaaaaaak!

But the sound that comes immediately after killing the queen bee is like this.

“Heuk, heuk.”

Thud.

As the boss died and the exit gate appeared, an exhausted Seonwoo Yeon slumped down weakly. Then, Kim Kiryeo, who approached afterward, uttered a strange remark.

“Hunter Seonwoo Yeon, do you know that?”

“….”

“In actual combat, if you use your mana to its limit, that feeling lingers for a long time. In other words, the depletion of magical power trains her skill activation to some extent.”

Seonwoo Yeon listened to those words and suddenly thought. Could it be that this person intentionally left this whole situation alone?

“That’s great. With this incident, you’ve probably mastered your awakening ability perfectly now.”

Come to think of it, it was Kiryeo who insisted on using the killer bee’s nest as a training ground. A skilled hunter who can handle an A-Class golem barehanded probably wouldn’t have overlooked proper gate reconnaissance, right?

In that case, there was a high probability that Kiryeo knew the saturation level of this gate. Perhaps he strategically utilized every variable to his advantage.

‘No way, could it be that he intentionally trained me to my limits!’

Seonwo Yeon was shocked and her complexion turned pale. To think someone would throw people into a monster’s den just to prevent them from experiencing the frustration of their skills not working again.

‘Aren’t you psycho?’

Seonwoo Yeon took back the assessment of Kim Kiryeo as a good person. How can he push others into a corner without even changing his complexion? Well, that person showed a similar behavior when trapped in a B-Class dungeon before. Kim Kiryeo had a tendency to use any means possible when it came to cultivating the abilities of others.

‘This is too Spartan-like…’

Seonwoo Yeon almost cried for a moment. However, if he thinks about it calmly, it was because of such harsh criticism that the desired outcome was achieved at last. Seonwoo Yeon manages to let go of her anger when the other person says that she will never again forget the manifestation of her awakening ability.

It was that kind of moment.

“Would you like me to hold it for you?”

When she looked up, she saw Kim Kiryeo holding out his right hand.

Haa. Giving both the disease and the cure.

“Haa.”

Seonwoo Yeon hesitated for a moment but eventually accepted his help. Just when it seemed like it would end with them holding hands and getting up like this.

“Huh?”

“Argh.”

Thud.

As soon as Seonwoo Yeon pulled the outstretched hand, the body of the F-rank Hunter slumped abruptly. Seonwoo Yeon looks at Kiryeo, who has collapsed helplessly, in surprise.

What is it? These weak movements that don’t feel like any power at all…

“Ah.”

After a while. Seonwoo Yeon realized something and started laughing to herself.

“…Oh my. What on earth does a B-Class hunter look like in Kiryeo-ssi’s eyes? To the extent of letting out all your strength like that.”

Really. Anyway, it’s not like an elephant with a chick at its feet.

“Do you think I might explode if you put even a little bit of strength into it?”

Seonwoo Yeon laughed in disappointment. There were many cases where advanced awakened people were unable to control their strength and caused harm to people. It’s only natural for Hunter Kim Kiryeo to be concerned about that and relax his strength.

‘Kindness is ingrained in you.’

Still, that consideration was genuine as expected. Seonwoo Yeon soon relaxed her heart due to Kiryeo’s delicate touch.

“Kiryeo-ssi, can I leave the gate now?”

“Ah, yes. Please go first. I’ll catch up in just a few minutes.”

This is actually a skit caused by the difference in physical strength between F-Class and B-Class, but whatever.

Anyway, the important thing is that they completed the training safely.

Thanks to Kiryeo, she was able to leave a good impression.

***

A few hours later.

On the way back to Seoul.

‘Hoho.’

I really had a great time this holiday.

Not only did he safely collect the killer bee’s honey, but he also received Seonwoo Yeon’s gift in return.

‘I could probably survive on my own for a few months at this rate.’

I looked at the green tea gift set in my arms with satisfaction.

Drrrt. 

At the same time, the sound of the car’s transmission being operated was heard from the front seat.

“Why are there so many cars since Sunday morning?”

As I sit in the back seat of Seonwoo Yeon’s car, the hunter with long hair gripping the steering wheel clicks her tongue at the congested road ahead.  As you can see here, I am currently sitting in the backseat of Seonwoo Yeon’s car. The reason why I’m in this woman’s car, well…

‘I mentioned that I used public transportation when I came to Hadong. Seonwoo Yeon was startled and said she would give me a ride back when we leave.’

I briefly recalled what had happened before leaving and then brought up a new topic. There’s nothing to do until I get home anyway.

“Seonwoo Yeon-ssi.”

As the conversation shifted in this direction, the woman in the driver’s seat glanced over briefly.

“It’s nothing special. I have a question.”

“Yes.”

“When your skills started to fail, you mentioned that you tried counseling or something like that.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What kind of counseling did you receive? Did it have any effect?”

I threw a light question because I’m interested in Earth’s medicine. What followed was some trivial talk.

“Uhm, what the program I received at the hospital roughly was something like…”

Seonwoo Yeon responded with a quiet voice, sharing a few words about what he had experienced.

“By the way, Kiryeo-ssi.”

But by the time the story about treatment was over, Seonwoo Yeon gently brought up another topic.

“Come to think of it, I met Jung Haseong at the hospital while I was getting counseling.”

“Jung Haseong?”

“Anyway, these days, Hunter Jung Haseong is…”

However, I couldn’t hear the end of that sentence. Right after, an unknown impact hit the car we were riding in.

-Bang!

Suddenly, something heavy fell onto the car. I can vaguely feel magical power, so it seems like the thing that fell is a monster, but does that matter now?

‘Hiiik!’

The front of the car was crumpled like a piece of paper. I was able to avoid damage because I was sitting in the back seat, but I don’t know what would have happened if the falling object had landed just an inch in the wrong direction.

I got out of the car hurriedly and immediately checked the driver’s seat.

Damn it, what happened to Seonwoo Yeon?