I threw a flurry of punches into the wide-open stomach. With a sound like thud-thud-thud, the opponent collapsed to the ground.
It wasn’t over yet. If I stopped here, this bastard would definitely grab their sword again and come charging.
I punched the one lying on the ground about five more times before I finally stopped attacking.
"Ugh... gah..."
The woman groaned and slowly raised her left hand. I did say to raise it if it hurt, but she really did? What a funny one she is.
— The victory goes to Hunter Yoo Chan-seok. Please take adequate rest.
I squinted at those words. Not that it’s over, but to rest adequately?
— Three hours from now, at this location, Hunter Yoo Chan-seok will fight in an additional duel.
What kind of situation is this now?
— The opponent is Hunter Lee Se-eun from Jannabi, currently defending the Erosion Zone near the DMZ.
The screen in the air showed the face of the next opponent. I turned my head and looked at the faces in the stands. They too were all murmuring with shocked expressions.
“Jeez, what a crappy situation this is.”
Then I spotted someone who looked exactly like the face on the screen. And in that instant, I grasped the level that this Lee Se-eun woman had reached. Right now, it’s beyond my reach.
The woman, who had a smoking pipe in her mouth, met my eyes and smirked as her lips moved.
‘Pick up the spear.’
Seeing that, my expression turned grim. Maybe I should’ve just fought with the spear from the beginning. I had held it at first but kept using my fists, which must have piqued her curiosity.
I quietly spent the allotted three hours of rest, then stood once more in the prepared arena.
“You're Yoo Chan-seok, right?”
Lee Se-eun tossed away the pipe she had in hand and struck the ground once with the large sword she carried on her shoulder.
“I was impressed. Honestly, I didn’t come here expecting much.”
“The students’ skills were a bit lacking.”
Lee Se-eun nodded at my words.
“Yes, and you have the right to say that.”
“I’ll do my best to win.”
After my words, Lee Se-eun lifted her massive sword with one hand and pointed it at me.
“Right. If you’re going to fight, you should aim to win.”
I’ve never once in my life said nonsense like "I’ll try to learn." If you charge in with that kind of half-hearted mindset, you won’t learn anything at all.
Even if you know how it will end, you have to charge in with the intention of winning if you want to walk away with anything.
Holding the spear in my hand, I took a deep breath and got into position.
“Huh.”
Lee Se-eun stared at me while holding her greatsword.
“That’s not a stance for using a spear.”
Right. My main weapon is a spear, but I don’t use it like one.
“What does that matter?”
I rushed toward Lee Se-eun and swung my spear.
With a loud crash, her greatsword clashed with my spear. I quickly twisted my whole body to deflect the shock and stepped back slightly.
The swinging greatsword didn’t seem to allow even that brief retreat. Like a wild beast, the massive weapon over two meters long danced wildly.
“Kid. You won’t win if all you do is endure.”
Kid? Did this young brat just call me a kid?
Does she even know how many bowls of rice I’ve eaten? Still, all I can do is hold out for now.
It’s not like there are no openings, but I don’t have the physical ability to exploit them. Seeing an opening and not being able to reach it is maddening.
“Huff… agh…”
If I’d known this would happen, I’d have asked to leave something behind before coming back to Earth. This was rather frustrating.
No, if I’d known my hometown would be in this state, I wouldn’t have agreed to those terms at all actually!
“30 minutes huh.”
Lee Se-eun said that and gave me a thumbs-up.
“You held out well. I was thinking 5 minutes at most.”
Lee Se-eun searched her pocket as she spoke.
“It’s not over yet.”
Who said the fight was over? I may be pathetic now, but I’m not letting it end like this.
Lee Se-eun scoffed after hearing me.
“I don’t have a hobby of stepping on sprouts, you know.”
“I said it’s not over.”
Everything I lost is something I have to reclaim myself. And in the past month, through relentless effort, I recovered a fragment of my former strength.
I took a deep breath. Gathering mana flowing through my body, I ignited a small flame at my fingertips.
It was a flickering black flame like a candle about to go out.
“Huh, so you awakened your unique ability. But what can you do with such a tiny spark…”
Lee Se-eun looked at the small flame in my hand and started to speak but fell silent for a moment, then her face stiffened.
“You, what is that thing.”
“It’s something like this.”
I murmured and pressed the black flame against my body. The fire clung to me and slowly grew, feeding on something as fuel.
Paradoxical Flame. My specialty, the power I trusted most before returning to Earth. A unique ability awakened through magic and embedded in the soul.
Since my soul fully crossed into this world, I can naturally use my ability immediately.
This black flame cannot burn matter. Instead, each flame feeds on abstract concepts as fuel to burn.
For example, the accumulated fatigue in my body. I clicked my tongue as I looked at the black flames clinging to me.
Still that weak huh.
It was an evaluation of myself. Paradoxical Flame is powerful, but not invincible. Aside from the difference that it burns things that normally can’t be burned, it’s still just a flame.
‘The output is too low.’
Everything has a different ignition point.
With this level of power, it’s impossible to burn high-threshold concepts like self, reason, or memory.
It’s like trying to light firewood that just won’t catch and goes out.
“What’s this magic density in the air?”
Lee Se-eun looked around me and murmured with a cautious expression.
As fire releases heat while burning matter, the black flame I wield burns abstract concepts and releases magic.
I use mana to ignite Paradoxical Flame. The flame burns abstract things and releases mana, which I then absorb and use in battle.
It’s pretty much an infinite cycle.
In short, my specialty is clinging to other people’s pants and dragging them down.
“Do you perhaps like clingy people?”
“No. I despise them, actually.”
“Then use this opportunity to get used to it.”
Unfortunately, you’ll meet people like me eventually as you live.
That fight continued and finally ended in my defeat after four hours and seventeen minutes.
“Hah… Hagh…”
It couldn’t be helped. When you burn wood, ash remains. And ash cannot be burned.
Similarly, even if I burn my fatigue with Paradoxical Flame, something like ash remains and that residue can’t be burned again, so it just accumulates.
The buildup of that residue reached its limit, and I hit a wall. Lee Se-eun lifted my chin slightly with the tip of her sword, with her expression complicated.
Of course, I lasted this long because we didn’t fight seriously. If she had gone all out, I couldn’t have lasted even 15 minutes.
“You’re tough. Do you want to keep going?”
“No thanks. Please spare me.”
I’m in no condition to fight more, and this isn’t a battle to the death, just a spar.
Then, she held something out to me.
“Here, candy.”
What she gave me was a rather large lollipop. After handing it to me, Lee Se-eun tossed her greatsword aside and handed me a business card.
[Jannabi LLC, Team 3 Partner Hunter, Lee Se-eun]
“Once you get your license, someone will approach you.”
“I get the feeling it won’t be just one person.”
A newbie Hunter lasted four whole hours. Even if Lee Se-eun held back, that’s not something just anyone can do.
“You can’t catch tuna with a small boat.”
I then understood what she meant. If the big companies approach, then the small ones will break away on their own.
That means only capable and well-resourced companies will approach me.
“Anyway, don’t decide immediately and contact me again.”
“Sounds like Jannabi holds me in high regard.”
Lee Se-eun smiled and replied.
“We’ll talk in more detail then. Just give me a call.”
She made a phone gesture with her hand near her ear, then left the arena.
Next came the Hunter license ceremony.
I looked at the Association President standing before me. They didn’t seem like a fighter, but then again, the President most likely handles admin work, so no rule says they must be strong.
“Hunter Yoo Chan-seok. You showed a great, exciting performance.”
With those words, the President handed me the license. Though it was called a license, it was actually a smartphone with a special SIM card.
“Think carefully and act cautiously. Bring fear to your enemies, and bring peace to those behind you.”
“Thank you.”
I examined the smartphone that was my license.
With the app installed, I could do many things.
Community for Hunters, selling gear and materials obtained from hunting in Erosion Zones, receiving emergency alerts from the Association, communication via military satellites, and more.
“Personal transactions are strictly prohibited.”
Fair enough. That was obvious. Some of the items being traded offer various effects even without using magic. Like guns that fire magic bullets with a trigger.
If items like those circulate in the market, public safety will deteriorate even faster.
“Based on my experience…”
Banning private transactions officially means there are Hunters secretly doing them.
If it didn’t exist, why make such a rule? A quick search confirmed it. Articles about people committing crimes with Hunter gear.
“But that’s not my concern for now.”
I’ll worry about that after I’ve cleared out some of the Erosion Zones. As I prepared to leave, someone blocked my path.
Looking up, I saw a hulking mass of muscle struggling to contain his overflowing strength.
His arm was as thick as my thigh, and it had a large dragon tattoo. He seemed about 30cm taller than me, which puts him just over 2 meters.
“Nice tattoo you got there.”
“Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.”
The tattooed muscle man replied and handed me something. A business card with the name Taebaek LLC.
I took the card and spoke.
“Hunter Yoon Sung-hyun from Taebaek, I see.”
Yoon Sung-hyun nodded.
“Come to Taebaek. More specifically, my team. If you gain enough experience, you’ll surely shine.”
Partner Hunter huh. Lee Se-eun’s card also said Partner Hunter. I suddenly grew curious.
“By the way, what’s a Partner Hunter?”