‘What’s this?’
Ohjin furrowed his brows in confusion as he looked at Choi Jungchul and Park Jungwoo.
Excluding the two of them, there was also a bald man with a scorpion tattoo on his head. It appeared that the three of them had partied up for the subjugation.
‘It doesn’t seem like they met coincidently, either.’
Ohjin narrowed his eyes.
The scorpion tattoo engraved on the bald man was a tattoo all Pandinus guild members had in common.
And—
That tattoo was also engraved on Choi Jungchul’s nape.
‘So that’s what happened.’
He could roughly understand the situation at hand.
‘Did he join Pandinus after being kicked out of the Starlight Lake guild?’
If that was the case, it would also explain why he was with Park Jungwoo and Choi Jungchul.
Choi Jungchul put on a sly smile.
“Hm? Why do you have no words? You’re making me sad when it’s our reunion after a long while,” he remarked.
Ohjin shrugged as he smiled.
“No. It’s just that I was surprised. What happened with the Starlight Lake guild for you to join the Pandinus guild?”
“… You’re asking me that?”
Choi Jungchul’s expression violently distorted.
Grip—
He clenched his fists.
“Didn’t you promise with me back then? That you wouldn’t say anything to the guild leader.”
“Ah, that?”
Obviously—
“I lied.”
“…”
Tremble—
Choi Jungchul’s body shook as he bit down hard on his lips.
“Haha. Because of you… I lost everything.”
For the reason of violating the official notice and provoking the Star of the Weaver Girl’s apostle, he was kicked out of the guild.
That wasn’t all.
His money, star relics, and even his starstones that he had saved up were ruthlessly seized from the penalty for breach of contract.
“How unfortunate,” said Ohjin with a calm smile as if it had nothing to do with him.
“Ha, haha!! It’s not necessarily like that.”
Choi Jungchul stroked the scorpion tattoo on his nape and smiled.
“I was able to find a nice home, thanks to you.”
“You were able to get in easily without being a Scorpio.”
“Huhuhu. The stigma of Aquarius is in high demand, after all.”
As he said, Aquarius was a constellation that was welcomed anywhere due to it having unrivaled abilities amongst healing types.
“Well… it’s not like Aquarius is the only thing I have now,” he said as he licked his lips with a meaningful expression.
“Is that so? Good for you.”
Ohjin was curious as to what he meant by those words, but he didn’t go out of his way to inquire further. There was no way he would obediently answer just because he had asked.
“Well then, if your business is finished, why don’t you get lost?”
“Haha! Yes, you’re right. We have our own matters to attend to as well, after all.”
Choi Jungchul stuck his tongue out and licked his lips.
“What? We’re ending things here?!” shouted Park Jungwoo.
“We should cut that bastard’s head right n—!”
Choi Jungchul grabbed onto Park Jungwoo’s shoulder, who was approaching Ohjin with an expression full of anger.
“Fufu. Calm down, Jungwoo.”
With his characteristic sly smile, he glanced in their direction.
“Even if you don’t work yourself up… you’ll be able to see an amusing sight soon anyways.”
Kekeke—
He laughed as his shoulders went up and down.
“…”
Ohjin observed Choi Jungchul with deeply sunken eyes.
“Well, I’ll look forward to when we meet again.”
Choi Jungchul made provoking remarks as he turned away.
When he thought it would end there—
“Fufu. Was it Ha-eun?”
—He suddenly changed his direction and walked towards Ha-Eun.
“You look great with an eyepatch as well.”
His sticky gaze licked Ha-eun from tip to toe.
Greedy desire lingered in the corners of his mouth.
“Ang?”
Ha-eun’s expression distorted like she had discovered a cockroach cut in half whilst eating a hamburger.
“Who do you think you’re hitting on?”
Ha-eun suddenly kicked out her left foot.
Bam!—
Drawing a smooth arc, it struck in between Choi Jungchul’s legs.
“UGuAgagyK!!!”
In a pigeon-toed gait, Choi JungChul stumbled with his eyes wide open.
‘Oh, damn. That must have hurt.’
“Ka~ twe! Bastard, being cocky with the size of an ant’s intestine.”
‘Ants have intestines?’
‘No, besides that, which part of him is the size of an ant’s intestine?’
“Uugh, uhh.”
Choi Jungchul bit on his lips as his body trembled.
Shooting a glance filled with killing intent at Ha-eun, he clenched his fists.
“Let’s see… Let’s see just how long you can maintain that smile.”
With those as his final words, Choi Jungchul turned his body and walked towards the heart of Sokcho.
“Heh!”
Ha-eun lifted her middle finger at Choi Jungchul’s back.
“…ha.”
Ohjin laughed in exasperation while watching them get farther and farther away.
‘You’ll see an amusing sight soon?’
He didn’t wasn’t sure of many things, but he was certain that Choi Jungchul was an absolute fool.
“You shouldn’t say such things carelessly.”
Did he think he was the protagonist in some 90s shounen manhwa and believe Ohjin would sit still like an idiot?
If that was the case, he was seriously mistaken.
‘Let’s not meet later, but right now.’
Would Jungchul be able to say such words the next time they met?
Ohjin smirked while activating the stigma of the Hunting Dogs.
Using the sense of smell that had amplified explosively, he memorized Choi Jungchul’s ‘smell’.
‘Actually, this turned out for the better.’
Ohjin licked his lips.
The stigma Choi Jungchul possessed was most definitely the stigma of Aquarius.
It was a stigma he had wanted to get his hands on one day anyways.
“Eh. The mood was ruined because we met some weirdo,” Ha-eun furrowed her brows in displeasure.
“Ohjin! Let’s hurry up and go hunt some demon beasts for their bounties!” shouted Ha-eun as she pulled on his arm.
“Yeah.”
Smirk—
The tips of Ohjin’s lip perked up.
He slowly moved towards the city that had rising gray smoke.
‘Another thing to hunt that isn’t a demon beast.’
Naturally, he didn’t have any plans on finishing with just Choi Jungchul; he was even going to go after Park Jungwoo and the bald man he was with. It was best to remove the seeds of discord that would sprout in advance.
‘I keep getting mixed up with the Pandinus guild in a bad way.’
Although it would be no different from provoking a guild in the top 10 if he killed the three of them, it didn’t matter.
“Sacrifices being made during the subjugation operation is something natural, after all.”
Putting on a sly smile, he looked at the city brimming with demon beasts.
* * *
Boom!—
“KrrrRRRruk!!!”
A demon beast that was hiding in between the debris of the destroyed buildings shrieked out as it jumped at them.
Around two meters in size, its general appearance was similar to a human’s, but it was a chimera with the lower half of its body reminiscent of a snake.
“KuraraRak!”
As the demon beast approached them, its mouth opened wide into four different sections, showing off its four sharp fangs.
“Hmpf!”
Boom!—
Park Changhyun blocked off the approaching demon beast with his large shield. A heavy impact rode down his arms and passed down into his body.
“Kugh!”
Ddddddrrrrr!—
The demon beast’s strength was so strong that even he, who possessed the stigma of Taurus, couldn’t hold still.
“Mr. Ohjin!”
“Yeah!”
Ohjin jumped up during the time Park Changhyun was holding on.
Bang!—
Ohjin’s was pulled high into the air as the wire that shot out from the wire shooter stuck to the steel frame.
“Fuu.”
After taking in a short breath—
‘Thunder Fall.’
Crackleeeee!!!—
—he struck down his spear with everything he had.
“Kuaaaaaa!!!”
The demon beast’s shoulder was pierced by the silver spear and it twisted its body.
Whip!—
Its lower body that was like a long snake’s tail flailed around in a whip-like fashion.
“It didn’t die in one blow as I expected it to.”
Ohjin lightly clicked his tongue and twisted out his silver spear.
Whirrrrrr!—
Once he sent mana into his wire shooter, his body shot into the air once again.
“Leave it to me!”
Fwooosh!—
Ha-eun, who had been hiding the debris crevice for an opportunity, snapped her fingers towards the demon beast.
“KurAraRAK!!”
The demon beast struggled with fire stuck to his body and soon turned its body around and started to flee.
“Huh? It’s running away!!” shouted Ha-eun as she pointed at the demon beast.
“Ohjin!”
“I know.”
Ohjin, who was already in mid-air from the wires, aimed his wire shooter at the escaping demon beast.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
The wires that shot out in three directions entangled around the demon beast’s body.
‘Lightning Charge.’
Bzzzzzzt!!—
“KUaaaaaa!!”
Blue lightning ran down the wire and swallowed up the demon beast.
Thud!—
Stopping in its tracks, the demon beast collapsed on the spot.
“Phew~ Even one of these is no joke.”
Park Changhyun wiped off the sweat running down his forehead.
“At worst, around 5… no, close to 6-Star,” said Ohjin as he observed the corpse of the demon beast.
‘Though it’s probably 4-Star or 5-Star, taking the demon beast’s characteristics into account.’
Because mutant monsters, also known as demon beasts, possessed much more powerful strength compared to monsters on the same rank, they would be placed lower than one’s expectations once divided into the ‘star’ standard measurement.
“Haha! Still, it wasn’t all that hard to face since our party balance is so great!” Park Changhyun raised his shield as he laughed in a way that left a kind impression.
Ohjin nodded his head.
‘Our balance is nice, for sure.’
With Park Changhyun as the melee who would hold the front, Ohjin as the ranged who could move freely across the air, and even Ha-eun who had powerful ranged firepower.
Excluding the fact that they didn’t have a healer, their balance was perfect.
‘There’s nearly no stamina consumption, thanks to it.’
Even though Ohjin was more than enough to face a couple of demon beasts alone, he would run into his stamina’s limit shortly.
“Eh, this is a bit disappointing compared to what it took to catch that bastard.”
Ha-eun clicked her tongue after taking the bottle-cap-sized black starstone out of the demon beast’s forehead.
As she had said, the demon beast’s starstone’s size and quality were very lacking compared to the difficulty.
“Haha. Still, don’t we receive a hefty amount from bounties? And…”
Park Changhyun put on a bright smile and bam!, slammed down the shield he was holding onto the ground.
“Besides money, this is for the residents of Sokcho who are shaking from anxiety, after all! Isn’t that right, Mr. Ohjin?”
“…Ah, yes. Of course.”
“Haha! I was deeply moved after seeing you refuse the interview back then! Awakeners in general should be like you!”
Ohjin smiled bitterly as he nodded his head.
Though he didn’t care whether the residents of Sokcho shook from anxiety or not—
‘It’s better if he thinks of it that way.’
In any case, the demon beast subjugation itself was proceeding extremely smoothly.
But…
‘These bastards… something’s weird.’
Ohjin narrowed his eyes while he looked down onto the demon beast’s corpse.
It was the same as back then.
Every time he hunted demon beasts, they would turn their bodies away at the last second in an attempt to run away.
‘There’s no problem up to that point.’
No matter how horrendous demon beasts looked, it was only natural for organisms to run away when their life was in danger.
The problem was—
‘They all run away in the same direction.’
Would all demon beasts running away in the ‘same direction’ in a situation where their life was in danger make sense?
“Hmm.”
* * *
* * *
With his arms crossed, Ohjin was lost in thought.
His heart wanted to call Vega and ask, but he was reluctant to summon her when Park Changhyun was with them.
While he was continuously in thought—
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!”
—a scream filled with horror was heard from far away.
“Huh?”
“This voice is…?”
Ha-eun and Park Changhyun turned their heads simultaneously.
Before they made their move…
Boom!!—
“Kuht!!”
Ohjin wildly kicked off and sprinted towards the direction the scream had come from.
‘The scream I heard just now… That voice was definitely…’
“Kugh! Kuk! Cough! Cough!”
Arriving near the place the scream came from, he could see that Park Jungwoo was collapsed on the ground with a big wound across his chest.
‘As expected.’
Ohjin’s eyes shined sharply.
He looked back and confirmed Park Changhyun’s position.
‘There’s not much time.’
If that was the case…
“Are you alright!!!”
Ohjin ran up to Park Jungwoo in a hurry.
“Kugh… uk!”
Park Jungwoo pressed down on his wound and nodded faintly.
“Who did this…!”
“Demon… the demon bea… cough!”
Park Jungwoo threw up blood.
“Get yourself together!!!”
Ohjin grabbed him by the collar and violently shook him back and forth
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
As Park Jungwoo’s head swayed, it pounded against the wall like a hammer.
“Kugh! I-I’m alright n—”
“What are you talking about when you’re bleeding this much!!!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Putting in more strength, he shook his hand that was grabbing onto his collar.
Blood flowed out of Park Jungwoo’s head.
‘So even his head got done in by the demon beasts…!’
“Ahk! Ah! W-Wait! Ahh!”
He could feel Park Jungwoo struggling.
“Mr. Ohjin!! What happened!”
He could hear the voice of Park Changhyun starting to approach them.
“Jungwoo!!! Please get yourself together!!!!”
“Kugh! Kuk! Hey, you fucker! Hey!!”
“Ahh!!! Just how could such a horrifying thing happen!!!!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!—
The blood that poured out of his head drenched his own body.
“N-No!!!”
With an urgent cry—
Crack—
—something breaking was heard.
“M-Mr. Ohjin, this is…”
Park Changhyun, who had just arrived, looked down at Park Jungwoo’s body that was drenched in a puddle of blood.
“…”
Ohjin turned his head around with an expression pale from fear.
“H-He is d… dead.”
Heat could no longer be felt from the lifeless body of Park Jungwoo.
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