Ch.36What Are You Doing Here?

While being escorted by Hunters to the Korean branch, a massive explosion erupted behind them, engulfing them in a dust storm.

“Princess!”

“It’s dangerous!”

The Hunters guarding Princess Kurumi maintained a 3-meter distance from her—necessary because she was a Beast Hunter—and deployed protective barriers around her.

When Kurumi saw what had happened, she gasped, “No…”

The mansion where she had stayed until yesterday had completely vanished. The surrounding area had been transformed into a barren wasteland. Shocked, she fell to her knees.

“Shinwoo… Shinwoo…!”

She couldn’t bring herself to think about the one person she had been forced to leave behind when the Hunters evacuated her—the one man who had shown her what it meant to be human in this hellish world. Thinking he might have perished in the explosion, her mind began to shut down, her personality on the verge of collapse.

“Shinwoo isn’t dead.”

“…!”

“I… made him escape beforehand.”

“Is that true?!”

Sophia reluctantly informed the nearly broken Princess Kurumi.

Immediately, life returned to the princess’s dead eyes. She quickly approached Sophia, closing the distance between them. “R-really?! When? Where did Shinwoo go? Is he really safe? Huh? Huh?!”

“I-I said he is! He escaped in the opposite direction from us! Don’t worry! Got it?”

“…! Yes, I understand!”

What kind of Beast Hunter could so easily close the distance with another person like this? Sophia felt even more displeased thinking this was all because of Shinwoo.

But if she had left this woman alone, Shinwoo would have been upset.

“Sigh… let’s drop it…”

While glaring at Princess Kurumi, who was now shedding tears of relief, Sophia noticed something else.

“……”

“Lia?”

The little monster in gothic lolita attire was staring blankly at the mushroom cloud in the distance.

Sophia approached Lia, who had been gazing at the same spot for a while. “What’s wrong? Are you worried about Shinwoo too?”

“…Yes.”

“That Russian National Authority-Level Hunter who appeared—did he seem that strong to you?”

Unlike herself, Lia seemed genuinely worried about Shinwoo.

However, Lia shook her head, suggesting that wasn’t her concern.

“No, that bearded human is certainly strong. But he’s about as strong as the red-haired human brother fought before.”

“Red-haired human? …Oh, you mean Branch Director Lee Jin-ah.”

“That red-haired human controlled monsters like you do. She killed the monster brother was controlling. But not once did that red-haired human attack directly. Throughout the entire fight.”

Even Hunters from the Korean branch knew little about Branch Director Lee Jin-ah. It was as if some massive organization at the Hunter Headquarters level was deliberately protecting her information.

‘She controlled monsters to fight? Does that mean she’s a Beast Hunter like me?’

But if she were a Beast Hunter, she would suffer from misanthropy. How could such a person attend company dinners and even serve as a leader?

Of course, there were exceptions like Sophia’s father, Lee Seokgyu, but still.

“I don’t know if brother can kill a person.”

That was the real issue now.

“Brother has never killed a human before.”

“…That’s true.”

This was the most important problem at the moment.

“If brother doesn’t kill that bearded man this time, it could be dangerous.”

“……”

“If he only defends, he might die!”

“…Yes.”

Should she go back to Shinwoo now?

But what if she just ended up holding him back?

Sophia stood beside Lia, holding her hand as they gazed in the same direction. Her expression revealed nothing but complicated emotions.

***

As the two had predicted, Shinwoo was currently struggling.

‘Ugh…!’

In the middle of the city that had instantly become a wasteland with the power of 10,000 compressed TNT explosives, Shinwoo could barely clench his fist.

For the first time since his kaijufication, he was breaking into a cold sweat. He even nervously gulped down his saliva.

And for good reason.

Swoosh.

“Guhak?!”

When hit a bit harder, he coughed up blood and went flying.

Tap.

“Are you… underestimating the immortal Lorensky?! Mr. Jamsil Monster!”

Conversely, when Shinwoo held back, his opponent attacked like a madman, as if mocking his restraint.

‘This is difficult… so difficult!’

He couldn’t use Kyokushin Karate because he feared he might kill his opponent, but when he tried to fight casually to just knock him out, the National Authority-Level Hunter wouldn’t go down easily.

Truly immortal.

There was a reason why Lorensky existed as an optional boss rather than a mandatory one in the latter part of the original story.

Lorensky was the strongest human Shinwoo had ever engaged in hand-to-hand combat with.

Meanwhile.

‘Fuck!! This… this monster! How can he be so tough?!’

Lorensky was also breaking into a cold sweat, reminded of the chilling sensation he felt during the collapse of the Soviet Union when he was losing his homeland.

He was a Magician Hunter, a type of Hunter optimized for ability usage.

More specifically, he was a rare “power mage” capable of both close and long-range combat.

His magic allowed him to explode anything he touched.

Using this power, he could throw objects that would explode after a time delay for long-range attacks, or directly explode parts of his opponent’s body upon contact in close combat, as he was doing now.

But what kind of hardness did this monster’s body possess?

“Huff… Huff…!”

No matter how many times he detonated explosions, Shinwoo kept charging at him unharmed.

“Is this for real?!”

At first, Lorensky had wanted to engage in a man-to-man physical fight, as that suited Russians like himself.

But.

Crack!

After a single strong punch that broke several of his ribs, Lorensky immediately changed his plan.

He turned to Systema, his homeland’s martial art created solely for killing.

Using Systema, he combined his ability with martial arts to create a dazzling chain of explosions, believing he was at least putting up a good fight.

However.

Swish. Swish. Swish swish swish.

Boom. Boom. Boom boom boom.

“Huff…! Huff…! Huff…!”

“……”

“You… bastard! Just fall already!!”

Kid!

When an adult throws a punch, you should at least pretend it hurts, as befitting someone from the land of Eastern courtesy!

Avoiding Shinwoo’s oddly clumsy punches, Lorensky unleashed his Systema, targeting only vital points.

Yet seeing Shinwoo still standing there, hesitating whether to hit him or not, Lorensky was about to lose his mind.

‘Fuck! This Jamsil Monster isn’t just National Disaster-Level by Korean standards, but by Russian… no, by Soviet standards too!’

“Uooooo!!”

But he wasn’t one to give up so easily.

After all, he was the immortal of the still-living Soviet Union.

“Even if you pretend to be fine, damage is gradually accumulating inside!”

A third-rate fighter would be begging for his life by now.

A second-rate would pretend to stop fighting while looking for the next opportunity.

But a first-rate fighter stands up even in these situations, believing in their own worth.

Lorensky resumed his Systema stance and briefly recalled the past.

His comrades training together for their homeland in the harsh natural environment of the snowy Soviet Union.

The memories of those days when he climbed to this position by stepping on the comrades who couldn’t endure and closed their eyes one by one.

As he recalled the red revolutionary flag, a flame of hope began to rekindle in his—no, “our”—heart.

“…!!”

First, pretending to throw a punch, he kicked the Jamsil monster’s left thigh.

This kick had once shattered the leg bones of a humanoid monster that appeared in Moscow, Russia.

Next, feigning an eye poke, he swung his knife hand at the neck.

A strike that had killed a National Authority-Level Hunter from France during the Soviet era.

Then, pretending to aim for the shin, he delivered a precise blow to the solar plexus!

A perfect punch that could take down the head of one of the World’s 10 Great Families…

Crack.

…but.

Thud.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly his vision spun, and when Lorensky opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground.

All he felt was a slight sting on his left cheek.

“…What was that?”

Despite being in combat with a humanoid monster.

It felt like he had received a spicy slap during a lovers’ quarrel.

And that was exactly what happened.

“Grrrr! Grr!”

‘Yes! I did it!’

After using Lorensky as a test subject through several trials and errors, Shinwoo had finally succeeded in controlling his strength enough to hit a human face without killing them.

As the pitch-black monster danced happily by himself, Lorensky stared at him in confusion.

The next moment.

“Jamsil Monster! You think this level is enough to—!”

“Grrrr!”

‘Be quiet!’

Thwack!

Presenting Han Shinwoo’s original technique.

“Forehead Flick That Won’t Kill You”—Lorensky’s skull was slightly dented, and with just a nosebleed, he passed out “alive” on the spot.

With such perfect control of his strength.

“Grr. Grrrr.”

‘Phew. Finally over.’

As the situation ended safely, Shinwoo breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the surrounding area had turned into black charcoal due to the battle’s aftermath, what mattered most was that there were no casualties.

“Huff…”

Exhaling black smoke, Shinwoo assessed the surroundings where no people could possibly be, then immediately released his kaijufication.

“Urgh?!”

As soon as he returned to human form, he winced at the pain all over his body and immediately took off his top.

Then.

“Ugh… I’m completely covered in bruises…”

He hadn’t felt anything while kaijufied.

The damage had indeed accumulated, though not severely—just about as much as he used to get during practice matches at the karate dojo.

“Maybe I should buy some pain patches on the way?”

Shrugging it off nonchalantly, he turned around, and there was…

“……???”

…Why was she here?

No, when did she arrive?

It seemed that Yoo Cheran, a true Hunter who happened to be patrolling the area, had rushed over as soon as she spotted the mushroom cloud. She was standing there, staring blankly.

After a few seconds of silent eye contact with her, question marks floating above her head:

“…How much did you see?”

“Um… well… from when you knocked that man unconscious until you released your transformation…?”

So she had witnessed everything from beginning to end.

“Uhhh…”

Shinwoo transformed again with a spiritless roar.

“Grr!”

“Uh, huh?! Wait! S-Shinwoo?”

To silence the witness, Shinwoo grabbed Yoo Cheran under his arm and leaped away from the scene with a loud thud.