Chapter 142 – SSS-Rank Hunter (17)
[Chapter 7 – Section 8] Let’s Try Recycling
I’d had this thought myself more than once.
Just like the SSS-rank hunters claimed—what if Park Hyo-man had been swallowed by the Ancient Black Elephant, yet somehow escaped afterward through some miraculous method?
It was a natural assumption.
“Amolang-nim. We thoroughly searched the inside of the Ancient Black Elephant’s body, but we couldn’t find a single survivor—not even an intact corpse.”
“…Good work.”
“No! If anything, you’re the one who worked incredibly hard, Amolang-nim! So that’s why you used the criminals—to maximize the ability of the Super Grand Galaxy General Infinity Blade!”
“Well…”
“Not realizing that, I mistakenly thought you killed them out of simple malice. I sincerely apologize.”
“It’s fine.”
Because it wasn’t a misunderstanding at all.
If my only goal had been to increase the enemy count, there was no need to force them to charge in.
“Do you have any further instructions?”
“Hm. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to at least recover any personal belongings Park Hyo-man might have had when he was swallowed by the monster.”
“Ah! We’ll do our best!”
Had they misunderstood my intentions again?
The green fairies looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
“…This is troublesome.”
Where on earth had Park Hyo-man gone?
This world is his dream.
It’s his stage, his story, with him as the protagonist.
Yet now, like a steamed bun without filling, the most important person was missing.
It was confusing.
It feels like he’s hiding somewhere…
One possibility was that a nation was secretly protecting Park Hyo-man after he escaped via the monster elephant’s excrement.
After being betrayed by fellow SSS-rank hunters, public activity would be difficult for him. For now, this hypothesis seemed the most plausible.
“Damn it.”
My plan to end things quickly and escape the dream had fallen apart.
I’d launched this operation without considering what would come afterward.
Society.
Economy.
Politics.
By wiping out the entrenched elites who opposed me, every nation and city in humanity had fallen into chaos.
I wasn’t worried—people hungry for power are as common as pebbles in a stream—but even they wouldn’t be able to stabilize this massive turmoil in a short time.
(Looks like it’ll take longer.)
Yeah.
(I’ll tell the pretty-legged girl you love that the travel plans she was making will have to be postponed indefinitely.)
“Gah!”
Just the two of us?
(What an obvious question.)
“Ugh…”
A trip alone with my girlfriend!
After experiencing all kinds of extreme situations, I usually wouldn’t even flinch—but just imagining it made the blood rush to my head.
(The lust demon’s acting up again.)
“Ahem!”
(It’s postponed indefinitely anyway.)
“Kh!”
(Her feelings might change, and it could get canceled altogether.)
“Ughhh…”
Senior, are you bored?
You’re tormenting an innocent junior who’s done absolutely nothing wrong.
(What do you mean you’ve done nothing wrong? I’m the one cleaning up after you in the real world. At first I went along because it was interesting—but now, whenever some stranger calls your name and approaches, I get annoyed.)
“……”
I’m sorry. I honestly hadn’t thought about that.
(Grow up already.)
“Yes.”
For the sake of that heart-thumping trip that existed only in my imagination, I wracked my brain.
***
Believing that Park Hyo-man was, of course, still trapped inside the monster elephant’s stomach, I went ahead with the tasks I had postponed.
I publicly announced the deaths of the SSS-rank hunters who had betrayed him, and to commemorate the subjugation of the Ancient Black Elephant, I held a large memorial service for Park Hyo-man.
“……”
“……”
I also met Park Hyo-man’s beautiful wives—whom he had married in his dream—and his young children.
They attended the memorial calmly, without visible grief.
It felt as though they were merely making a formal appearance to avoid being criticized by the public who admired Park Hyo-man.
Strange.
“Greetings, madam.”
I quietly approached the most influential of his wives—the first wife, an SS-rank hunter.
“Oh! You must be Amolang-nim?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you very much for caring about my husband, who is slowly being forgotten.”
A purely formal response.
***
She was polite and proper, without a single breach of etiquette—but she couldn’t fully hide the atmosphere of someone who had been forced to attend.
Because it was an uncomfortable place?
I had once organized my father’s modest funeral at a young age myself.
What I felt back then was emptiness.
Aside from uninvited guests who came only for the free condolence meal, no one visited my father’s wake.
Friends.
Relatives.
Colleagues.
Classmates—
No one came.
My middle school homeroom teacher—the one in charge of me at the time—did attend, but he wasn’t someone who knew my father, and he didn’t stay long.
It was embarrassing.
Maybe because I was young.
Maybe because the hall next door was constantly crowded with mourners.
Whatever the reason, it felt utterly miserable.
In contrast—
There are so many.
An astonishing number of prominent figures attended the memorial service of Park Hyo-man, the eleventh SSS-rank hunter meant to save humanity.
Hunters.
Politicians.
Business leaders.
Friends—
Regardless of how sincere they truly were, the fact remained that they filled the memorial hall.
“Madam. Was Park Hyo-man a good husband?”
“And your intention in asking…?”
If my intent were mere curiosity, the answer would have been something perfunctory like ‘Yes. He was a wonderful husband.’
So I created an intention.
“I was curious how much you truly cherished Park Hyo-man—who left someone as charming as you behind.”
“……”
“……”
Park Hyo-man’s wife stared up at my face.
Then—
She slowly turned her head away, hiding her expression.
“Thank you for looking kindly upon a widow with children.”
“I merely spoke the truth.”
“…I was a little surprised. Despite your young age, Amolang-nim, you possess a very manly composure.”
“Thank you.”
After experiencing several brutal wars where you kill people who hold no personal grudge against you, composure becomes inevitable.
“May we take a short walk?”
“Of course.”
Leaving the memorial hall filled with listening ears, we moved to a quiet park path with few people around.
The widow—who had left her child resembling her late husband in the care of her sister—looked around once before finally revealing the truth she had been bottling up.
“This much I can say for certain. He may have been an excellent hunter, but he was never a good husband.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He claimed to love me, yet brought three more women into our home. One-quarter love? Can that even be called love? Isn’t it no different from friendship?”
“Well…”
As someone who had once knelt down and begged desperately, I had nothing to say.
“But I was the one with more to lose, so I tried to understand. In addition to his wives, he had six mistresses who hunted monsters alongside him. I pretended not to know.”
“…I see.”
That was unsettling.
“But even I found it unbearable—his addiction to his abilities.”
“……”
Ability addiction.
The moment I heard those words, my mind snapped awake.
“My husband, as everyone knows, was a multi-ability user. S-rank Acceleration and SS-rank Enhancement. By combining two highly compatible abilities, he became the strongest SSS-rank hunter.”
An upper-tier version of Natalia, the S-rank hunter.
She was incredibly fast, but lacked a means to injure the monster’s tough hide.
That’s why she was only S-rank.
But Park Hyo-man was different.
A multi-ability user who also possessed the SS-rank ability Enhancement, which strengthened anything his body touched.
He had what Natalia lacked—offensive power.
That’s why he was the strongest SSS-rank.
“What was the problem?”
“He enhances his… possessions, then moves at high speed.”
“……”
This was—
“At first, he controls the intensity just enough to be pleasurable. But once he gets excited, he loses control. From that point on, heaven turns into hell for the woman.”
“I—I see!”
A truly dangerous kind of ability addiction.
“And then, one day, something went terribly wrong. Abilities don’t belong to just one person.”
“……”
“After enduring hell on the bed, my rationality snapped—and I killed my husband with my own ability. It all happened in an instant.”
“…But he came back to life, judging by the fact that you weren’t punished.”
“Yes. My husband possessed a third ability. A multi-ability user again. A C-rank ability—Revival. As long as his mental strength wasn’t depleted, he would recover and never truly die.”
Only C-rank.
It would prevent a tragic death from an unexpected accident—but against monsters, it was an ambiguous ability, barely different from that of an ordinary person.
Still, even that changes in value depending on who possesses it.
(So it really was poop.)
Yeah.
(Revival was the ability owned by the female lead in <I Became an SSS-Rank Hunter>. There’s a rumor that the author hastily added it after killing off the heroine and getting absolutely torn apart by readers.)
“…Madam, do you believe your husband is still alive?”
“That’s precisely why I haven’t remarried. Acceleration is far more useful against humans than monsters.”
“Ah.”
That made sense.
“Of course, if it were you, Amolang-nim, I could entrust myself without worry.”
“It’s a very tempting offer—but I’ll postpone it until I at least make a show of searching for your former husband, Park Hyo-man.”
“I’ll look forward to that day.”
Swish—
The SS-rank married woman shot me a seductive smile with her eyes and walked away from the park with graceful steps.
(Planning to use the Nam Hae-soo method again?)
“…No.”
I had once provoked the hidden Swimming Emperor, Nam Hae-soo, by seducing his wife Park Han-hee so he would come looking for me.
It worked—but the patient ended up dead.
And besides—
(Right. You wouldn’t get away with it twice.)
“Exactly…”
If Song Sun-young ever found out that I dated another woman in the dream world, reality itself would be scorched earth.
In other words, romance is an absolute forbidden option in the dream world—even if escaping requires suicide.
Never again.
(Yoon So-ra asked about you.)
“Ugh.”
There’s something strange about Yoon So-ra—the patient who’d been trapped in the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun>. All I did was subdue a stalker who swung a kitchen knife at her.
I’m truly being wronged here!
(The line defendants say most often when they stand before a judge.)
“…Still, I can see a path forward.”
(A ‘strategy,’ you say?)
“A strategy.”
Every patient is different. That’s why each case becomes a riddle or a difficult problem that torments me.
So—strategy.
From now on, instead of calling it treatment, I’ll call it strategy for every Ranuvel patient.
(An admirable mindset.)
“Let’s begin.”
It wasn’t just a change in wording.
Beep—
I contacted my aide through the communicator I always carried.
(Amolang-nim. I’m receiving you.)
“Is Natalia—the one we abandoned on the deserted island—still alive?”
(I’m not sure of your intention, but thanks to her Acceleration ability, she likely wouldn’t have fallen easily.)
“So you’re saying she’s probably still alive?”
(Yes. Unless she gave up on life and chose suicide.)
“If Natalia is alive, bring her back as quickly as possible. It wasn’t my intention, but I need her help.”
(Do you need an Acceleration-type ability user?)
“Not exactly.”
Park Hyo-man never returned to human civilization.
Even after all the traitors were dead, he never reported his survival.
Which means—
He’s still living in the wild, swarming with monsters. Like Tarzan…
(Understood.)
Beep—
The transmission ended.
“…I never thought I’d end up recycling a traitor like this.”
If I want to find Park Hyo-man—now a Tarzan of the wilderness—
I need the firsthand experience of a similar ability-user who survived in the wild.
(That’s a surprisingly primitive approach, coming from you.)
“Haha!”
You’ll see just how scientific it really is.
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