25 chapter - The Auction House (4)
Zhang Wei stood there, striking a proud pose, and Kim Jieun muttered under her breath.
“Fucking lunatic.”
At the same moment, the brown wolf charged at Zhang Wei.
“Enhance.”
The brown wolf, empowered by Kim Jieun’s mana, instantly grew to more than twice its size.
Its physical strength now matched that of a C-rank boss-level monster.
“Graaaagh!”
“What a cute puppy.”
Zhang Wei didn’t move a muscle, even as the now-massive brown wolf closed in, baring its fangs.
The wolf sank its teeth into his exposed neck.
Crunch!
But—
“Puppy, are your teeth all right?”
Zhang Wei remained completely unbothered.
In fact, the one who took damage was the brown wolf. Several of its teeth had snapped, bloodied saliva dripping from its mouth.
“When big dogs don’t understand how scary tigers are, they get hurt. I let you have the first strike—”
Right then, Zhang Wei’s spear seemed to vanish from sight.
Splat!
It reappeared just as suddenly, shattering the brown wolf’s head into pieces.
“—So I assume you won’t mind if I take the egg.”
“Bullshit.”
The wolf’s body scattered into light, and a smaller version of the brown wolf materialized beside Kim Jieun.
“I paid good money for that thing. Why the hell would you take it?”
Zhang Wei responded with his usual calm.
“I’m merely returning it to its rightful owner.”
“Owner?”
Kim Jieun scoffed and then said flatly,
“I’m the owner of that baby.”
The moment she declared it, something surged up behind Zhang Wei’s back.
Sensing murderous intent, Zhang Wei swung his spear behind him—
Crunch!
His attack was blocked.
“…Hmph.”
There it was—a white tiger the size of a mid-sized car, clamping down on his spear shaft with a furious expression.
“Enhance.”
Kim Jieun’s mana enveloped the white tiger, and its body turned blue as it became a Ghost Tiger.
It was the strongest of her summons.
Just as the Ghost Tiger raised its claws to slash Zhang Wei—
Whoosh!
He dropped his spear and leapt back.
He immediately recognized that the glowing blue claws weren’t ordinary.
KRRAAAAAAASH!
Zhang Wei’s instincts had been right.
The Ghost Tiger’s claws, flung through empty air, obliterated part of the cliff beside the road.
The destructive force was overwhelming.
Crunch, crunch!
As the Ghost Tiger began chewing on the spear shaft with the intent to break it, Zhang Wei growled in annoyance.
“Hey, hey. Do you even know how much that costs?”
Incredibly, despite having retreated far back, Zhang Wei was suddenly right in front of the Ghost Tiger, gripping the spear shaft.
Thud!
He followed up with a kick to the tiger’s abdomen. As its jaws parted from the impact, he moved to pull the spear free—
“!!”
But from the ground, a summoned Ironclad Rhinoceros rammed its horn into Zhang Wei’s back.
BAAAAAAAM!
His massive body flew through the air like it had been hit by an eight-ton truck.
CRASH! SNAP!
He smashed through trees before finally slamming into the forest floor, far in the distance.
Kim Jieun watched him crash and confirmed the impact before climbing onto the brown wolf’s back.
“…Let’s go.”
But then—
“Summoners really are a pain in the ass.”
Kim Jieun whipped her head around, face stiff.
Zhang Wei was standing there like nothing had happened, casually stretching his neck.
“You’re kind of like Fang, but a little different.”
“How…?”
Kim Jieun stared at him in disbelief, and Zhang Wei spoke again.
“But the ones who command creatures always have one weakness.”
He slowly spread his stance and pulled his spear arm back.
Anyone could tell he was preparing to throw.
“They’re shit at close combat!”
SSSWWWIIIIIISH!
The spear flew through the air like a missile, headed straight for Kim Jieun.
Fortunately, she was still mounted on the brown wolf.
The wolf, eyes locked on Zhang Wei, dodged the spear with fluid precision.
Just as the spear grazed past them—
Zhang Wei appeared midair and stabbed forward with the weapon.
“…Enhance!”
Kim Jieun hurriedly summoned a giant turtle to block the strike—
SHLUCK!
But the force of the thrust pierced straight through the shell and into her abdomen.
The giant turtle was unsummoned the moment it appeared, and Zhang Wei casually yanked the spear out.
“Once I’m in close range, you can’t do a damn thing.”
Kim Jieun’s eyes burned with fury, but Zhang Wei didn’t even blink as he went on.
“I’m not planning to kill you. I’ll just take the egg.”
Somehow, the egg that Kim Jieun had been cradling close was now in Zhang Wei’s hand.
“Urgh…”
As Kim Jieun coughed up blood, Zhang Wei tossed her a single bean.
“It’s a rare item called Sundu. Eat it and your wounds will heal quickly. Let’s call that payment for the egg.”
With trembling fingers, Kim Jieun picked up the bean and swallowed it.
It worked—her trembling stopped, and she looked up at Zhang Wei and smiled.
A blood-smeared smile.
“Hm? Why are you smiling?”
“I was just picturing how your face under that mask is going to twist soon.”
Zhang Wei tilted his head.
“Was that Korean? Why the sudden switch to Korean?”
Kim Jieun replied in Korean, completely unfazed.
“I’ll find you one day. And I’ll kill you with my own hands.”
“My Korean isn’t fluent yet. Let’s speak in Chinese… But judging by your tone, I assume that was a curse. Korean curses do sound soft.”
A black vulture was summoned from the ground, lifted Kim Jieun onto its back, and soared into the night sky.
Watching her disappear into the distance, Zhang Wei muttered to himself.
“Smart choice. At least she’s not stupid.”
He would’ve killed her if she’d tried anything else.
Then—
Crack.
“Hm?”
A strange sound came from the egg in Zhang Wei’s hand.
Craaaack.
Something inside was breaking.
CRACK!
The egg was hatching.
“….”
Zhang Wei stared blankly at the newborn chick emerging from the shell.
“PEEEEEP! PEEP!”
The chick, its eyes barely open, radiated unmistakable hostility toward Zhang Wei.
Flash!
Then, in an instant, it vanished.
Kim Jieun’s mana signature lingered inside the egg.
CRACK!
Realizing what she’d done, Zhang Wei crushed the eggshell in his fist, seething with rage.
“That fucking bitch!”
The roar of an enraged beast echoed through the mountains.
**
“Hmm.”
Despite having drunk heavily the night before, there was no trace of a hangover.
Having a body with a Body Enhancement-type Trait was convenient in more ways than one.
That morning, I skipped both my usual jog and my training session, choosing instead to lounge in bed well into the day.
‘The sun’s already high.’
Leisurely, I opened a delivery app and ordered a 30cm sandwich for brunch.
Ever since I became Choi Changshik, my food intake had more than doubled.
That was another quirk of Body Enhancement-type Hunters—most of them ate like monsters.
Some even became famous streamers for doing mukbangs.
“Yaaawn.”
Stretching out a lazy yawn, I turned on the TV.
I flipped through the channels until I landed on a news station, then set a kettle of water to boil.
While sipping on a mug of instant coffee, I stared blankly at the screen.
The news was mid-broadcast, reporting a string of incidents and accidents.
[In our next story: last night, South Korea’s A-Rank Hunter Kim Jieun was attacked by an unidentified assailant.]
I snapped to full alert the moment her name came up.
‘What??’
The footage on screen switched to black box footage from a car.
[While driving along a road in Ganghwa-do, Miss Kim’s vehicle was blocked by a man wearing a cat mask.]
And then I was hit with a second shock when I saw the man.
‘Why the hell is he there?’
[The attack, suspected to have been carried out by a high-ranking Hunter, caused Kim’s car to flip over. A battle broke out shortly afterward.]
The black box apparently didn’t capture the fight itself, as no combat footage aired.
[Kim is currently hospitalized at a university medical center and is in stable condition.]
The masked man appeared again on-screen.
[Police believe the large man in the cat mask to be Zhang Wei, one of the internationally wanted fugitives. He is classified as an extremely dangerous individual, roughly A-Rank in strength, and a nationwide warrant has been issued for his arrest.]
His name was followed by a photo and identifying features.
[Height: 2.17 meters. Muscular build. If anyone sees this man’s face, please contact 112 immediately.]
“Holy shit.”
There was a bounty on his head—two million dollars.
Roughly 2.2 billion won.
“Insane…”
I’d thought something felt off about him back at the auction, but this confirmed it: the guy was unbelievably dangerous.
I grabbed my phone.
Online forums and communities were already exploding.
News about Kim Jieun’s ambush had been spreading like wildfire since early morning.
Article after article flooded the web, all revealing Zhang Wei’s identity.
[GreenPine] – 31 minutes ago
Isn’t ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Zhang Wei one of NF’s officers?
👍 1,843 👎 34
[1002] – 28 minutes ago
That’s a straight-up terrorist.
👍 1,122 👎 21
NF was a radical armed group composed of awakened individuals.
They were extremists who claimed that the state should be overthrown to secure the rights of awakened Hunters.
[WackyWorld] – 12 minutes ago
All those hunting dogs should be rounded up and executed by firing squad. Or just gassed and massacred wholesale.
Replies: 57 | 👍 13 👎 322
There were ordinary people who hated Hunters, largely because so many violent criminals ended up being awakened.
‘Though, really, guys like that would’ve become criminals even without being Hunters.’
Thankfully, the majority of the public still supported Hunters.
To most people, Hunters were seen as heroes risking their lives to protect civilians.
‘The truth’s a bit messier, though.’
There were definitely some Hunters who acted on conviction.
But I’d never met one.
And if they existed, they were probably high-ranking elites.
‘Then again, maybe even that’s just branding.’
In reality, Hunters were just scraping by—risking their lives to earn money.
‘I’m one of those kinds of Hunters too.’
I stared at the wanted poster of Zhang Wei on my screen.
‘2.2 billion won, huh.’
Saying I wasn’t tempted would be a lie.
‘If I ambushed him…?’
But I shook my head immediately.
‘Way too dangerous. He’s an A-Rank Hunter.’
I wouldn’t stand a chance.
How could I ambush someone who could block bullets with their bare body?
A prize like that could only be claimed by someone ready to die for it.
‘I’ll stick to D-Rank Gates where I belong.’
I opened the Hunter app to check my reservation status.
I’d already signed up to raid a D-Rank Gate.
It would take two to three days for the permit to be issued.
‘I’ll run F-Rank Gates in the meantime.’
Sure, the money was important—but more than that, with my Predator-Type Trait, consistent raids were essential for my growth.
And I also had to keep training Lee Yuna.
‘Somewhere near Goyang.’
I’d be picking her up anyway, so it made sense to choose something close to her house.
Just as I was about to submit my request for an F-Rank Gate, a new notification popped up in the app.
[You have a new message.]
It was from the Gate Management Bureau.
[Hello, Hunter Choi Changshik. This is Kim Taehyun from the Gate Oversight Division. First, we want to express our sincere appreciation for your hard work. Recently, Gate appearances have been increasing. While high-density urban areas still suffer from a shortage of Gates, rural regions with smaller populations are now seeing more than they can handle, leading to frequent cases of uncontrolled incursion. As a result, the government will be offering additional compensation… (abridged)… Please consider this carefully. We look forward to your response.]
To summarize: if I agreed to be deployed somewhere rural like Gangwon-do, they’d pay double the usual reward.
‘That’s not bad at all.’
They were basically treating raids in high-volume areas the same as emergency missions.
So every cleared Gate would pay out double.
It was worth considering.
‘I’ll bring it up.’
I shot a message to the group chat.
[You guys awake?] -4
[Take a look at this.] -4
[Screenshot of Bureau message] -4
The replies came fast.
Im Jin-sol:
[Whoa, jackpot. Gangwon-do, let’s go?]
Hong Soo-ah:
[I’m in.]
Lee Yuna:
[But where would we sleep if we go there?]
Seong Yohan:
[Obviously we sleep at home. Just drive to Gangwon-do and back.]
Unanimous agreement.
[Cool. I’ll register us, then.]
Im Jin-sol:
[Yup, got it.]
Hong Soo-ah:
[Okay.]
Lee Yuna:
[Okayy~]
Seong Yohan:
[Got it!]