Ch.136136. Seongjun’s Tears

Kang Seongjun let out a scream.

“AAAAARGH! FUUUUUCK!”

It didn’t hurt.

That’s why it was even more fucked up.

“That fucking bastard. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him.”

Whenever he thinks about that moment, his severed limbs seem to throb.

The doctor said there were no post-traumatic complications and that he should be grateful for the prompt treatment, but Kang Seongjun couldn’t bring himself to feel that way.

Grateful?

His arms and legs were cut off because of that bastard, and he’d have to live like this for the rest of his life—and he should be grateful?

No one understands.

That feeling when a monster opens its mouth right in front of you, drooling, about to tear into your neck, and in that moment, the desperate survival instinct makes you thrust out your arm without even thinking.

Even in the agony of having your arm ripped off, there’s still that relief—at least it didn’t get your neck.

At least you survived.

No one understands the misery of having to console yourself with such thoughts.

Inside a dungeon, humans are incredibly fragile beings.

Especially humans who are lower on the food chain than monsters can’t put up any resistance at all.

Within a solid party, he was a bomber who slaughtered monsters.

But without that shield, he was just a weak being with Strength C, Agility B, and Stamina B.

Even as a ranged dealer, he was essentially like a mage.

A mage who deals physical damage.

That’s why he couldn’t explain this to anyone, no matter how frustrated he felt.

“What exactly happened?”

Besides his core party members, Kang-splosion had many guild members.

Everyone who came to visit him in the hospital asked the same thing.

What happened?

It was a natural question.

They had assembled a solid party with A to S-rank members.

In an A+ rank dungeon, as long as you didn’t let your guard down, the chances of dying were extremely low, yet someone had returned disabled.

It was natural not to understand.

If the party members had also been half-crippled, it would have made some sense.

“Ah, they were surrounded by monsters, and the party couldn’t protect him, so this happened.”

But the party members were fine, and only Kang Seongjun, who was in the core position, ended up in this state. Any hunter would naturally ask out of confusion.

He couldn’t explain it.

How could he tell anyone that he had stupidly gotten scratched, chased after that bastard alone, drawn aggro from monsters, sacrificed his limbs instead of his neck, and pathetically begged that guy for his life?

So he could only swallow his pride and vow revenge.

“You made sure to destroy everything that kid filmed, right?”

“Yeah. I tried to take the memory card too, but he gritted his teeth and destroyed it. It’s definitely all gone.”

“Fuck. We’d be screwed if it got out.”

“Don’t worry. We did it like we always do.”

“What the hell were you doing in that situation? Fuck. You should have at least taken that girl hostage.”

“…I wanted to, but she had good equipment. She was wearing some kind of teleportation escape ring. You were screaming, and what could I do? I ran to you first.”

When the Hunter Association people came, Kang Seongjun explained the situation as calmly as possible.

“So you’re saying Hunter Kim Suhyeon put you in danger. Is that correct?”

“That’s what I’m saying. He deliberately made me come out alone and lured monsters to draw aggro to me.”

“…May I ask a few questions?”

“Yes.”

“You said you left the party alone. Was there a reason? Did Hunter Kim tell you to come out separately?”

“…He was deliberately interfering with our party’s hunt and provoking me.”

“Didn’t you say you were in a duel?”

But the Hunter Association people weren’t pushovers.

Especially the team leader who came in later—his gaze toward Kang wasn’t exactly friendly.

“Mr. Kang Seongjun. In the video sent by Mr. Kim Suhyeon, we can see you throwing bombs at monsters that were already engaged in combat with Mr. Kim. Do you have anything to say about that?”

“…? Where is that from? That definitely didn’t happen…”

“We also have footage of your party members threatening Mr. Kim’s sister and physically assaulting her while destroying her recording equipment. Do you have anything else to say?”

“…”

“The recording equipment was quite high-end, with data being stored separately—I guess you didn’t know that.”

“But…”

“According to Mr. Kim’s testimony, you ambushed him by throwing bombs while he was fighting monsters. Mr. Kim barely managed to escape, but because you attacked the monsters, they turned their aggro on you, resulting in your accident. We’ve confirmed all of this.”

“That bastard must have seen me throw the bombs and then disappeared after dealing with them!!! That’s why I… why my fucking arms and legs…! If it weren’t for that!!”

Tears welled up from the injustice.

Everything else, fine.

Let’s say that’s how it happened.

But if the bombs he threw when the monsters were groggy had just exploded properly, Kang Seongjun wouldn’t have ended up like this.

He might have had low defense, but his attack power was high enough to be considered an S-rank dealer.

Moreover, though he hadn’t told anyone, during the duel, he had even used expensive potions to buff himself, hoping to win and steal some of the Farmer Hunter’s subscribers.

So he could say with certainty:

“Two more hits and they would have died! Fuck!”

This was clearly a deliberate accident.

Even if Kang Seongjun had caused similar accidents before.

That’s why he knew better.

What kind of intention was behind this.

He pleaded his case, but the team leader’s expression remained cold.

“I’ve watched the entire video. There’s no footage anywhere of Mr. Kim deliberately detonating your bombs.”

“What?”

“Unfortunately, I did see the moment when the bombs you threw malfunctioned and exploded mid-air. Even at the slowest playback speed, Mr. Kim is nowhere to be seen.”

“That’s ridiculous…”

He was about to shout “bullshit” when something struck him.

‘Did I actually see it?’

Why was he so certain that bastard had detonated his bombs?

Thinking back to the beginning of the dungeon, he remembered his bombs exploding before they even reached the monsters, and Kim Suhyeon stealing the kills.

He naturally assumed Kim had done it then too.

His bombs had never malfunctioned like that before.

The very idea of a misfire was laughable.

The bombs were his own crafted items, but when thrown, they consumed mana through his skill—for them to explode before reaching their target?

Any real hunter would scoff at such a notion.

But it wasn’t impossible either.

After all, it wasn’t a targeting skill.

The problem was, if someone asked whether he actually saw Kim Suhyeon detonate the bombs, he’d be at a loss for words.

He could insist it happened.

It must have been him.

But did he see it?

When he calmly reviewed his memories, nowhere could he recall seeing Kim Suhyeon detonating the bombs.

A chill ran down his spine.

That cold look in the team leader’s eyes.

Understanding the reason behind it made him shudder.

It felt like he’d fallen into a perfect trap.

No one would believe him.

Not because of his past behavior, but because the evidence itself—the video—told a different story.

That idiot Kang Seongjun had just done something stupid on his own and lost his limbs.

No matter how much he insisted otherwise, nothing would change.

Kim Suhyeon’s wrongdoing?

If saving Kang Seongjun from monsters, treating his raw, torn limbs, and preventing him from bleeding to death with healing skills was wrong, then sure, he was wrong.

If this went public, even for Kang Seongjun, who made content out of being trash, it was obvious he wouldn’t hear anything good.

“Then we’ll conclude this as a simple accident, and we’ll contact you separately regarding the incident of directly attacking another hunter once a decision is made.”

He was fucked.

Kang Seongjun’s mind went blank.

What should he do now?

Could he still be effective in dungeons with prosthetic limbs?

And his broadcasts?

His viewers were ruthless, calling themselves “Grease-grease.”

People don’t hold back their vicious comments even when a streamer like Kang Seongjun is in a vulnerable position.

How would people react if he, who usually mocked and belittled other hunters, started streaming as a cripple?

Would they feel sorry for him and donate?

He was at least self-aware enough to know better.

His channel wasn’t that kind of channel.

But the more serious problem wasn’t about his broadcasts.

“Hyung, what are you going to do?”

“What should we do?”

A party formed of similar bastards.

Their leader was facing permanent disability, but there was no sincerity in their concerned expressions.

Their eyes looked at him like a useless tool.

“But hyung, don’t you think your view count might actually go up if you run dungeons in that state? Maybe not high-rank dungeons, but still. You should keep doing YouTube, right?”

Kang Seongjun had to make a choice.

It was frustrating and infuriating that the people he trusted most seemed ready to cut ties with him as soon as this situation arose, but what could he do?

Revenge or whatever—the related content was already circulating as a hot topic on the Hunters community.

“…Fuck.”

Tears trickled down his face.