Chapter 33

33 Mysterious Woman

“Turka, stop it!”

“Woooo!”

It was a C-rank monster, Ogre.

In the lower world, it was a kind of monster that deserved to be called the strongest. It was a humanoid monster with a height of about three meters, and the thickness of its forearm alone was larger than the body of an adult woman.

If it could handle Karma freely, it would have been listed above a B-rank, with only a few monsters below it. But…

The attack squad led by Ko Byeong-gap was way above that level.

“Woooo!”

“Grah!”

The two beings collided. Turka blocked the Ogre’s fist head-on and was not pushed back at all. On the contrary, it was the Ogre that was pushed back from the force.

“Gra-la-la-la-la-la!”

The Ogre stretched its fist backward, firing it like a missile beyond the shield. Turka quickly leaned forward and dug in his heels. He hit the Ogre’s chin directly with his shield.

“Grr!”

The Ogre fell back, its tooth broken, and hurriedly skittered on the ground. At that moment, a cluster of lightning bolts suddenly pierced its limbs.

It screamed in pain and shivered violently.

‘Good.’

Byeong-gap smiled in satisfaction as he looked at the scene in front of him.

“Grr!”

Suddenly, a growling noise broke through the pleasant afterglow. It was an E-class monster, a Skeleton Soldier.

Byeong-gap easily evaded all its attacks simply by squinting his eyes. His feet and shoulders moved as smooth as water. The Skeleton Soldier looked embarrassed at failing to land even a single attack.

“Grr! Grrraaah!”

Byeong-gap raised his sword a little and drew it from its sheath. The monster’s meager bony body shattered, bits and pieces of bone clattering in all directions.

[Current achievement rate of ‘Ancient Swordsmanship Textbook – Lower-grade’: 71.86%]

‘It’s not increasing fast enough.’

Byeong-gap looked at the hologram that appeared in front of him and frowned. Since his achievement rate reached 60%, it has been increasing as fast as a sick dog’s urine stream.

‘I want to learn intermediate swordsmanship quickly.’

Byeong-gap diligently teased his body.

There were six Skeleton Soldiers in front of him. He rushed towards them like a lightning bolt and threw out his sword in six directions, cutting the monsters down one at a time. It didn’t take long for him to send them all to the underworld.

Koo-kung!

The crack began to collapse. It was a sign that the boss monster of the back world was dead. There were only a few subordinate monsters left, and Byeong-gap, Changsik, and Taesik quickly finished them off.

He called out to the workers to move the monster corpses to Ashvilam. While they did that, he smoked a cigarette and had a short break.

‘How much debt do I have left?’

Thinking about debt was not very pleasant. He was already spending between two to three million won every month to pay off his debts.

‘I think it’s still about four hundred million.’

When he was an ordinary D-class hunter, his monthly income was around five million won. If he went out a lot, he would earn only six or seven hundred.

Excluding his maintenance expenses and subtracting the money spent on his mother’s hospital bills, he barely made any progress on his debt repayment.

But now, he was making a few times more money than before. Just one C-rank crack allowed him to save two and a half five million won.

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Aside from that, his maintenance costs weren’t as high as they were in the past. He consumed only one to two bottles of potion every month, and he didn’t have to spend on ammunition after he changed his weapon to a blade.

With this momentum, he wanted to receive at least thirty million won in monthly net profit.

‘If we keep this up, I’ll be able to pay off all our debts within the next year. Then mom will get better treatment.’

Park Young-ok, his mother, was a patient suffering from a psychiatric disease. She could only stay alive by constantly receiving the essence extracted from magic stones. She was currently being administered the essence of B-class monsters, so Byeong-gap’s goal was to get her administered with an S-class monster magic stone.

‘If she got the best magic stone, she might be able to be cured completely.’

He imagined his mother gaining strength and couldn’t wait for that moment to come.

“Lord, it’s over.”

“Well done. You can go back now, I’ll be there in a little while.”

“Yes, Lord, thank you for your hard work.”

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“Oh, and you guys. It’s always good to work, but get enough rest. Every time I go, I see you working in the cave.”

The members of the attack squad smiled sheepishly.

“See you later anyway.”

After sending the Goblins to Ashvilam, Byeong-gap exited the back world.

“It’s not even twelve o’clock yet.”

It was not even noon, perhaps because he had left early in the morning.

“Oh, I’m hungry. I’ll get some soup.”

He hummed and took the cleansing tissue from the trunk, shaking off the dirt on his body. He always had to do this tedious work when he was done with a battle. Otherwise, the car seat would be covered with monster blood.

“Why is nobody making a portable shower room or something? What are they doing after all this time?”

He groaned as he wiped the blood off his face. He was suddenly envious of the top hunters; they didn’t have to deal with all this hassle. The Karma Barriers they wore were not just to prevent attacks; it also prevented waste from getting directly on their body.

They were not contaminated in even a single battle.

‘…Wait a minute. Come to think of it, there’s a portable shower, right?’

While he was washing his hair with wet wipes, Byeong-gap suddenly realized that he had a portable shower in his body!

‘Why did I not realize this sooner? I’m a fool.’

He took his extra clothes and headed over to Ashvilam.

All the Goblins were out of the cave, and it looked like they were going to eat lunch.

“Hmm? Lord, you’re here already?”

Dorma, who was passing by just in time, asked him in surprise. Byeong-gap replied, waving his boxers.

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“I’m here for a bath. You’re getting ready to eat, aren’t you?”

“Yes, would you like to join us?”

“Thanks. I’m going to go eat rice soup today.”

“Rice… soup?”

“It’s a genius combination of warm food and reliable cost-effectiveness.”

“Oh, is that so? I’d like to try it if I have the chance.”

Dorma laughed awkwardly.

“Anyway, have a good lunch… Ah, what in the…!”

Cuckoo cuckoo!

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Suddenly, a chicken ran squawking and came to Byeong-gap’s feet. When he shook his body to scare away the chicken, it was also surprised.

‘Why are you screaming and freaking out all of a sudden?’

It seemed to protest.

“Aren’t these guys afraid of anyone? Oh, I thought I was going to lose my nerve!”

Byeong-gap stared disapprovingly at the chicken and spoke to Dorma.

“Dorma, don’t let them go to the fields. I planted potatoes and sweet potatoes, so I don’t want them to peck at it.”

“They said that Gobung would build a fence for that.”

“Fence? Gobung?”

“Yes. He had been working hard on something since last night. He’s a smart kid, and he seems good with his hands.”

Byeong-gap was a little surprised.

‘Let’s see how good he made it.’

He decided to turn a blind eye for now, saying goodbye to Dorma and heading to the river. He had also packed the toiletries that he had brought last time.

Byeong-gap soaked himself by the river and washed his body. It was very refreshing to scrub with soap from head to toe.

“I liked Jo Kang-ji’s place~ I liked the sun fuel~ My friend is an old friend.”

He was humming a song and wiping his groin when suddenly…

Rustle…

He felt a strange presence in the forest near the river. It was not in the direction of the fog but near the field.

He spoke out indifferently.

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“I’m washing. Don’t come closer.”

He didn’t know what the Goblins knew about his body, but he didn’t want them to see him naked, and vice versa.

Rustle! Rustle!

“Hey! I said I’m taking a shower. If you’re here for water, you can come back later.”

“……”

The rustling continued, and no reply was given.

At that point, he started to sense something strange. There was no way that the Goblins would ignore what he was saying.

‘Is it a chicken?’

He stared at the forest in an ambiguous manner, neither crouching nor standing. He was kind of a little nervous.

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After a while…

A huge chicken popped out of the bushes.

Cuckoo!

“Oh, these chickens. I’ll have to eat them all up.”

The chicken, big enough to fight in a World Championship, came towards him with its head held up straight. It pecked at bugs in the field, tapping its beak on the ground about twelve times a second.

Byeong-gap stared at it blankly for about ten seconds. If he fried that one, it would seem like he had eaten three chickens.

“I’ll give up being a hunter and run a chicken business instead.”

Rustle!

“Kkkkkkkkknock!”

“Hey, hey, hey, fuck!”

Everything happened in an instant!

Through the thick bushes, a figure suddenly burst out and sprinted towards the chicken. In the blink of an eye, the chicken’s head was cut off.

Crunch! Crunch! Squeak! Squeak!

The figure began devouring the flesh of the chicken.

“Kook, kook, kook, kook!”

The chicken screamed and squawked in pain. It trembled and drooped, blood splashing from its neck like a fountain.

‘Crazy!’

Byeong-gap freaked out and braced himself for battle. He instinctively brought his hand to his waist, but there was nothing there.

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Of course! He was naked!

He looked around and quickly picked up a stone that was lying near him, then he looked at the strange figure again. What the hell was that thing that ate a raw chicken without even plucking its feathers?

‘Is it a human or a Goblin? A monster? What is that?’

It was his first time seeing something like this creature. Its basic appearance was similar to that of a human being. What it was wearing had been ripped apart, but it was dressed up.

However, it was neither human nor goblin.

All he could gather was that it was a woman. Its hair was long, and its body had curves.

Byeong-gap gulped and moved carefully, not even trying to cover his groin. The unidentified creature was still bent on the ground, eating the chicken, so it paid no attention to him.

The mysterious woman suddenly sensed movement from him and turned its head halfway, just in time for Byeong-gap to quickly hurl the stone towards it.

“Ah!”

The rock hit the head of the mysterious creature. Its head didn’t explode because of his force control, but the creature stumbled and fell to the ground.

“Gasp. Gasp. What is this bastard?”

He had to calm down his frightened heart for a while.

***

“Lord, what is this?”

“I don’t know.”

Byeong-gap folded his arms and looked down at the ground. On the floor lay the strange woman that he had brought from the river.

“Its body is dressed in rags. Did the Lord do that?”

“No, it’s always been like this.”

The strange woman’s body was in tatters, and it was barely alive.

First of all, it was very skinny. There was nothing to exaggerate, but really nothing to hide. That was why he had seen this woman and thought she was a monster. With the outline of her bones sticking out of her skin, she was bound to look bizarre.

Second, her limbs were grotesquely bent. Her bones were broken, and her joints were completely twisted, but it certainly wasn’t because of the stone that Byeong-gap had thrown.

‘It was brave to catch a chicken with its body in such a state.’

Other minor abrasions covered her whole body. Whatever she was, it was obvious that she would die if he left her as-is. The only question would be whether she would die from sickness or would starve to death.

“What are you going to do?”

Dorma asked. Byeong-gap answered after a short pause.

“Go get a potion.”

“Oh, yeah, I see. Do you intend to save this person?”

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“Even if we were going to kill her, we should first find out where she came from. Only then can we kill her.”

He raised his head and ordered the Goblins.

“Listen up! Go scour the fog right now. If there’s any connection beyond the fog or where we can cross, please report to me immediately. If you find anyone else but us, do not confront them and call me immediately!”

“Yes, sir.”

The Goblins spread out in perfect order.

After a while, Gobung, who had gone to get a potion, returned.

“I’m sorry to bother you some more, but there are wooden boards and bandages in the warehouse. Bring me some of those, too.”

“Okay! I’ll be right back.”

Byeong-gap first bound together the arms and legs of the strange woman. In his third year of being a hunter, he had learned how to deal with a broken bone.

The body structure of the mysterious woman was similar to that of humans.

“Ugh!”

Every time he touched her body, the face of the strange woman distorted. She seemed to feel pain even in the midst of her unconsciousness.

After fixing up the creature, he spilled potion into her mouth. She received it and drank it up well. She was at least saved from death because of the low-grade potion.

“Ha…..”

Byeong-gap sighed heavily, his expression complicated.

‘What the hell is this?’

He felt a headache incoming.