The Way of Life for a Terminal S-Class Hunter - C72
$72
And because of the next words, Lee-han knew he had heard correctly.
“Who dies leaving behind the person they love?”
Seo-heon was now muttering like crazy, not even knowing if he was talking to himself. His twisted desire briefly showed itself. It was a selfish and cruel love.
“With that mindset, it should be fine.”
Unlike Lee-han, who was bewildered by his distorted obsession, Halo smiled as if satisfied.
“Let’s talk while eating. I ordered for Lee-han too as we came in.”
Seo-heon had no intention of eating. He couldn’t bring himself to put food in his mouth when everything he ate made him feel like he was chewing poisonous herbs and wanted to vomit. To Seo-heon, a world without Woo-hyun was full of nothing but disgusting things.
But it was Halo who had what Seo-heon wanted.
He suppressed the urge to threaten Halo to spit out what he knew before ripping his mouth apart, and waited for the food to arrive.
“It’s not polite to come to a restaurant and not eat a single bite, right?”
Halo spoke with feigned politeness. Lee-han frowned deeply.
“How long do you plan to act so leisurely when hyung’s life is at stake?”
“There’s no need to rush too much. There’s a time for everything.”
Halo rinsed his mouth with water and then took something out of his bag.
“Read this.”
Seo-heon read the document Halo handed him with half-closed eyes. Lee-han reached out his hand asking for his share too, but Halo shook his head.
“Why are you only giving information to this person?”
“As I always say, each person has their own proper role to play. This isn’t something you can do for Woo-hyun.”
It was something he had heard before. Lee-han tightly closed his mouth.
“Is it because I’m not an S-rank hunter?”
“That has little to do with it.”
While the two were facing off, Seo-heon quickly flipped through the documents one by one.
“Are you saying that a similar S-rank dungeon will appear in Georgia?”
Seo-heon, who had finished reading the documents, rubbed his eyes. It was an unconscious action due to fatigue.
“Yes. I gave you this because I didn’t think you’d believe just my prophecy. Georgia wasn’t originally a place where many high-rank dungeons appeared, so the information transmission might have been delayed. However, a D-rank dungeon was recently restored, and the dungeon that will appear tomorrow is estimated to be S-rank. The Georgian side, lacking in high-rank hunters, is urgently seeking hunters from other countries. While many hunters might want to enter an S-rank dungeon, they seem to be hesitating because they have to give a considerable amount of the rewards to Georgia.”
Seo-heon clutched his throbbing head and asked Halo.
“Stop beating around the bush and speak precisely. What relationship does this have with saving Woo-hyun’s life? There was nothing among the items obtained from the last dungeon that could save Woo-hyun’s life.”
“That’s true for items.”
Lee-han listened calmly without interrupting. He planned to secretly follow after gaining at least some information rather than being kicked out of this place.
“You know what cores mean to monsters, right?”
“It’s pretty much the monster boss’s life, isn’t it?”
Seo-heon replied irritably as if asking why he was asking such an obvious thing. His tired body was gradually losing patience.
“To be precise, the core is the boss monster’s life force. You said you encountered a monster collecting cores in the recent restoration dungeon, right? Dragons order their subordinate monsters to collect core fragments. When they bring them back, they use their skills to create a perfect core. The core fragments collected by the subordinate monsters are just fragments and can’t exert the power of a core by themselves. Instead, when gathered inside the dragon’s body, they are reborn as cores with life force. After that, if they put it into their child, the Hetchling, a powerful Hetchling is born.”
Seo-heon’s eyes changed at the word ‘life force’.
“So, Halo, are you saying that by using the dragon’s skill, it’s possible to share the core, that is, life force?”
“Yes. However, the other party must have the same skill. In other words, dragons possess a skill to exchange life force.”
“Then…”
Lee-han, who had been trying to stay quiet, let out a sigh.
“Woo-hyun hyung was the one who dealt the final blow to the dragon. Does that mean the skill he obtained is related to that?”
“That’s right.”
Seo-heon nodded.
“Then I need to kill a dragon trying to give a core to a Hetchling to obtain the same skill.”
Although he summarized it simply, recalling the last conquest, it was by no means an easy task.
“Sharing life force means sharing your life with Woo-hyun. You understand that clearly, right?”
“I’ll say it again, I don’t mind if we die together. Even if I could only live together with Woo-hyun for exactly one year by sacrificing my life, I would choose that, so don’t worry about it.”
Lee-han glared at Seo-heon. While he had shown glimpses of his obsession with Woo-hyun before, he didn’t know it was this severe.
‘How did he manage to hide those emotions all this time?’
He knew he was a ruthless man who always carried a knife in his belly, but he didn’t think it would be to this extent.
‘If he likes hyung that much, why did he hurt him so much?’
On the other hand, Lee-han thought he would never understand Seo-heon for the rest of his life. Their ways of thinking were like parallel lines.
Halo, seeming to understand Lee-han, smiled slightly and continued speaking.
“You can’t take other guild members. It must be definitely Kang Seo-heon who deals the final blow. We can’t ask someone else to share their life force with Woo-hyun, can we?”
In a chaotic battle, even if you decide who will deal the final blow, things often don’t go as planned.
“Then I’ll go in alone.”
If others heard this, they would try to stop him, calling it a suicidal act. Lee-han gave a bewildered look at the idea of going alone to conquer a dungeon with a dragon.
“No. We’ll go in together.”
Halo was calm, as if stating an already decided fact.
“With the two of us, there’s no chance of failing the final blow due to attacks getting tangled. Especially since I have a precognition skill.”
Lee-han stood up and spoke boldly.
“Please let me go too. I owe hyung a debt, and I’m prepared to give my life force. I’m saying it’s possible even if it’s not that person.”
“If you really want to come, I won’t stop you. But think about what Woo-hyun would think when he wakes up if you die there.”
Halo spoke coldly for the first time.
“You’re talking as if it’s decided that I’ll die.”
“Have you forgotten that I’m a prophet?”
Lee-han gritted his teeth and muttered ‘damn fatalist’. Halo must have heard it but laughed it off.
“I’m willing to die for hyung.”
“That’s why you can’t. Seo-heon is someone with the will to not die as long as Woo-hyun is alive. On the other hand, you think it’s okay to die anytime for Woo-hyun. Someone like you won’t survive in that dungeon.”
“Then what can I do for hyung?”
Lee-han beat his chest in frustration.
“Stay here. That’s what you can do to save Woo-hyun.”
Halo said firmly.
“Let’s leave tomorrow.”
Seo-heon got up, ignoring Lee-han who was crumbling. He was trying to maintain his balance to not be overly joyful at the one hope that had emerged. But even for him, it was inevitable to feel relief just from having a big possibility.
“I hate those who judge thinking they know the whole future. But this time, I’ll trust you.”
Seo-heon was calculating for the case if this plan failed too.
‘For that, we need to finish the conquest as quickly as possible.’
***
The next day, Seo-heon boarded the plane with Halo. They had already finished talking with the Georgian side yesterday.
“Kang Seo-heon.”
Seo-heon, who was reviewing the last battle for the conquest, looked at Halo with indifferent eyes.
“This conquest will be difficult.”
“I suppose so.”
Halo chuckled at his tone that suggested he didn’t care either way.
“It’s better to be prepared because it will be difficult in ways other than physical. When humans think they’re at their lowest point, they often encounter an even deeper abyss. People are mistaken, but there’s no bottom to pain.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Seo-heon examined the documents with an attitude that anyone could see was disinterested.
The schedule was tight from the moment they arrived in Georgia. Needless to say, Seo-heon had to sit at the negotiation table just thirty minutes after the plane landed.
“Are you really sure you don’t need any of the items obtained from the dungeon? If we proceed like this, you won’t be able to take any of the conquest items.”
The Georgian side, who had nodded unconditionally with joy when Seo-heon first contacted them, seemed to have come to their senses belatedly. They were sharpening their nerves, wondering if the Ihwa side was trying to take unfair advantage by some means.
‘It’s natural.’
While understanding their position, Seo-heon had to suppress the irritation that inevitably rose.