Chapter 22
He grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and hauled me up with brute force.
He sheathed his knife and shoved me hard. *Thud!*
“?!”
I stumbled and tried to find my footing, but I couldn't balance and fell flat on my face.
Damn it.
This useless leg of mine.
As I struggled to get up from the floor, the punks helped me up, acting as if we were on the same side.
The guy noticed the state of my leg, a flicker of interest in his eyes.
“What, was your leg crippled?”
The kids over there approached, confirming his identity.
“Hwang Beom-yeong, you’re here? Who’s that guy?”
The kids on the first floor of the mansion stared at us.
The three Mackerels were looking this way, too.
One of them started sniffling the moment he saw me, and the atmosphere turned icy.
“Do you know each other?”
Hwang Beom-yeong, who had been expertly spinning the knife in his hand before folding it away, approached slowly. He was quite tall.
If I felt that way, he had to be nearly 190 centimeters.
With a large, naturally sturdy frame, thick muscles, and sharp, fierce eyes, the sheer pressure he exerted when facing him head-on was no joke.
He was like a black beast.
“…….”
I kept my mouth shut instead of answering.
The punks and the Mackerels had been watching me intently for a while now.
I might have looked calm on the outside thanks to the facial control I’d practiced back when I was an athlete, but I was currently in a state of extreme tension.
I wanted nothing more than to just ditch them and run, but it was already too late.
“I asked if you know each other, or—?!”
*Whack!*
The knife in Hwang Beom-yeong’s hand went flying.
‘Not the knife.’
As I slammed my fist into Hwang Beom-yeong’s face, his gang, who had been watching, dropped their jaws in shock.
“Take the kids and go.”
The punks, who had been looking at me with equally shocked expressions, gulped and moved quickly.
One of them picked up the dropped knife and shoved it into his pocket.
‘They’ve got some sense.’
Even though they were just back-alley punks, they were my allies for now, and seeing them look out for my safety sparked a rare sense of camaraderie.
We had planned this on the way here.
The original plan was to wait for an opening to sneak the kids out, and if a fight was unavoidable, I would step up to buy time.
Of course, I hadn't known back then that this was a Hunter’s den.
‘Winning is impossible.’
I felt it the moment I landed that punch on Hwang Beom-yeong.
With my current level of strength, I couldn't even dream of beating him; it was difficult enough just to hold my own.
He had only staggered back slightly from my punch.
I could buy Level 2 Muscle Enhancement from the Coin Market, but that was my last resort. I wanted to save up 50,000 Coins as quickly as possible to fix my leg.
So, I would hold out as best I could until the punks who came with me drove the motorcycle over.
‘If those bastards betray me and leave me behind, I’m finished.’
Anxiety crept in, fueled by a lack of trust, but this wasn't the time for such thoughts.
Hwang Beom-yeong slowly straightened his head.
“……I didn’t expect a cripple to throw the first punch at me.”
In the eyes staring at me, I could feel a madness like a werewolf crazed by the full moon.
The guys who seemed to be Hwang Beom-yeong’s lackeys didn't even think to stop the Mackerels fleeing with the older boys; they just stared at us with tense faces.
They even looked excited.
Are they crazy? Their gazes only heightened the tension that was already making me feel like I was losing my mind.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it.’
I had acted on the spirit of my athlete days, which always pushed me to face things head-on when nervous, but the killing intent of a Hunter—something I was experiencing for the first time—made my knees weak.
But it wasn't like I hadn't faced one-on-one battles before.
Even as my heart raced, my mind became clearer, and my body moved on instinct, recalling exactly what needed to be done in this situation.
His eyes flashed.
*Whoosh!*
His fist came crashing down toward me, straight and honest.
His movements were so fast they were hard to track, but by watching his footwork, the way he raised his fist, and his eyes, I could predict the path.
He wouldn't use any fancy techniques against a cripple like me.
I barely dodged the incoming fist, grabbed his arm, planted my good foot firmly on the ground, and threw him with all my might.
*Bang!*
*Gasp.*
I heard the onlookers over there catch their breath.
It felt just like being in the arena, like winning a sparring match—the feeling was so nostalgic and familiar that my chest swelled for a moment.
‘Victory of my body weight, you son of a bitch.’
As soon as I threw Hwang Beom-yeong, I bolted on my bad leg.
My allies were coming.
*Vroom!*
With the loud, chaotic noise I’d been hearing for a while, one of the punks appeared, riding an unnecessarily sleek motorcycle.
“Noona!”
They had brought a getaway truck capable of carrying several people, along with a bike, saying we needed to be fully prepared.
I thought they were overdoing it, but they were right.
Of course, if they had told me this was a Hunter’s den beforehand, I wouldn't have come at all.
“Hurry!”
I hopped on the back immediately.
Hwang Beom-yeong’s gang just stood blankly inside the mansion’s garden, not even thinking to chase or stop us as we fled.
*Vrooooom—!*
We made it out safely.
But the fact that things went so easily made me even more anxious, and it seemed I wasn't the only one.
“…….”
“…….”
After a long silence, the guy in front spoke.
“……Noona, what do we do now?”
I had provoked Hwang Beom-yeong.
The shocked expressions of his gang, which I’d glimpsed as we fled, were ominously etched into my mind.
“That’s what I’m saying. Why did you raise your brother like that and drag me into this, damn it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Still, honestly, I was grateful they had come to pick me up instead of leaving me there.
It would have been horrific to be left alone.
It was lucky Hwang Beom-yeong had underestimated me because of my leg; if I had fought a combat-type Hunter with that kind of physique properly, I wouldn't have even had bones left.
“Give me your phone number.”
“Yes.”
Since it had come to this, I had no choice but to exchange numbers with these guys, share our situations, and stay on guard against Hwang Beom-yeong.
* * *
Saturday morning.
The day after I’d pulled a *Shawshank Redemption* in the early hours and collapsed into bed.
[“Surely Hwang Beom-yeong won’t make a move today, right? My brother just left for his academy.”]
“You’ve been watching too many movies.”
[“I’m just worried. Hwang Beom-yeong isn’t exactly a normal guy…….”]
It turned out the group of punks I’d met in the back alley were surprisingly normal college students who had even finished their military service.
The leader was Park Hyeong-jin, and the decent-looking younger brother was Park Hyeong-woo.
*Click, click.*
I sat in front of my computer, talking to Park Hyeong-jin on the phone, and logged into Tube.
Since I’d participated in the GOF test tournament the other day, I wondered if a video had popped up online like last time.
“Hwang Beom-yeong’s family guild is Hwanghae. If you’re that worried, try contacting them.”
[“Huh? Aren’t they all in on it together?”]
“Not necessarily.”
Since Hwang Beom-yeong was a GOF ranker, I’d seen rumors about him on related sites.
For the record, since the Hwanghae Guild was a family-run business, the siblings of Hwang Beom-yeong’s mother were the guild executives.
Among them, Hwang Beom-yeong’s aunt was said to be almost exclusively in charge of him, and it was rumored that she had personally come to apologize when he caused a major incident at school.
Since she seemed to have a headache over her nephew, she might appreciate a heads-up.
“Just in case, contact the police, too. But there’s no evidence for the police to act immediately. It’s not like we’re being stalked or threatened.”
[“That’s true.”]
“Contacting his guardian is the best bet. Tell them to pass the message to the director.”
[“Can we really do that?”]
“Can you? If you want to survive, you have to do something, don’t you? If a fight breaks out with underage Hunters, it’s game over. It’ll be too late if you wait until something happens. Make sure you call. You hear me?”
[“Yes.”]
I ended the call.
As I sat at the computer and started digging through Tube, a related video had been uploaded, just as I expected.
The highlight featured me beating two Japanese players to a pulp, taking them both out in succession, and then dying.
‘A glorious death, indeed.’
Feeling satisfied, I tapped on the comment section.
—Oh, Chicken-nim
—It really is the Hunter Olympics lol. But where’s Baek Hee-an? Is Chicken the official Korean representative chosen by GOF??
—Chicken-noona is insane, wow
—Wow, seeing the GOF highlights all together makes my heart swell
—No lol, this is hilarious. Aren’t the guys who got trashed in the highlights famous Hunters in Japan?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Curious about the Japanese reaction
—If you look at the players in the Top 10 highlights, they’re almost all rankers. Seems like the tournament admins are focusing cameras on the rankers.
—Looking forward to how the game company, which is swimming in money, will run the main tournament
—https://nurtu.be/sK6LziM78o Enjoy the full video recorded by our Chicken-unnie herself, and please subscribe and like
—The fans are promoting the channel lol
—It’s a legendary chicken channel that already has over 100,000 subscribers less than a week after being created. Come on in, come on in
It already passed 100,000?
I checked the channel, which hadn't been around for long, and it was true.
I’d only done two live streams and uploaded two videos, but it was growing like Jack’s beanstalk.
“Jackpot!”
This was all thanks to GOF, which was using the company’s money to promote my game character, Chicken Fire Slap, on billboards all over the world.
My heart raced as the channel I’d started just to earn some chicken money blew up.
It was exciting.
If things went well, not only would I have side income, but I might even be able to move out of this semi-basement and into a decent home within the year.
‘I should head out for a bit and buy some things.’
It was the perfect time to splurge on all the things I couldn't afford before.
I got dressed immediately.
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