Ch.83Make Sure You Do It Right When You Do It

It hurts.

It’s painful.

I taste blood in my mouth.

It felt like sparring in a real fighting arena with weight classes and rules.

No, from a karate perspective, should I call it kumite?

Anyway, it really felt like having a human-like match after a long time of just brutally fighting monsters with brute force.

Maybe that’s why.

Thump thump-.

The life I lived before being possessed into “Hunter’s Blood.”

More precisely, my life as an athlete that shined brightest before becoming disabled in the military came to mind.

Thump thump thump-!

Karate is a technique that builds endurance before striking power.

Because of that, to become a professional, you first had to take hits well, and if you couldn’t learn patience and enjoyment from that pain, you could never become a karate practitioner.

And so, after a very long time, I could smile while recalling my brightest past.

“Smi, le…?”

I was excited at the same time.

How long has it been since I had a normal human VS human match?

This pain, this taste of blood, even these rough breaths—I missed it all.

“Gr, grrrrr…”

“Heh, hehehehe…!”

In a world where ability battles are possible, ordinary martial arts using just fists and feet have become an ultra-niche sport in the “Hunter’s Blood” universe.

Because of that, when I wrote “karate athlete” as my future dream in middle school, my teacher scolded me terribly, asking if I wanted to become a beggar.

This old man’s name was definitely Laohui, right?

“Gruk. Gruruk!”

‘Thank you so much, Master Laohui.’

Thanks to you, one of my long-held wishes has been fulfilled today.

I endured all of the opponent’s attacks while maintaining Sanchin-dachi for five minutes.

Usually, the outcome of karate matches was decided here.

If I couldn’t endure while the opponent struck me, they would win, and conversely, if I endured until the end, victory already belonged to karate.

Because that was Kyokushin and karate.

“Kyokushin Karate – Seiken Zuki.”

A full-power straight punch delivered to the center of the exhausted opponent’s solar plexus while they were defenseless.

“Kuhak?!”

With a shock that made breathing impossible and no chance to block, Laohui took the traditional hit and clutched his chest with both arms in pain.

However, he didn’t die from my full-power strike.

Instead of his body bursting or collapsing with a hole in it, he just suffered in pain like in a match in the normal world.

Thump thump thump thump-!

And here I felt even more excited.

‘I, I can do it…! I can have a proper match!!’

“You, bastard… how can a mere monster throw such a precise punch…!”

“Grururuk!”

“Tch!”

Before the opponent could fully recover from the previous pain, I ran straight toward Laohui, recalling my practical match experience.

Seeing me pull back one fist, Laohui guarded his upper body with both arms.

Here, I faked a punch and instead raised one leg to kick the side of his face.

“Too soft! I’ll easily deflect that level of attack!”

With a flowing hand movement reminiscent of the Taiji symbol, Laohui tried to counter my kick aimed at his head.

But.

Swoosh-.

“?!”

“Grururuk…”

‘Kyokushin Karate…’

My kick, having anticipated even that, sharply changed direction just before meeting his Tai Chi hands and precisely targeted his thigh.

“Gruk.”

‘Brazilian Kick.’

Thwack!

“And following up with…”

“Kughk?!”

“Kyokushin Karate…”

“W-wait!”

“Breaking One Hundred Tiles.”

Crack!

With fractured leg bones and a cracked skull, Laohui spewed blood from his nose.

***

Laohui was a renowned Chinese master who had mastered various Chinese martial arts to match his Hunter abilities.

That’s why he couldn’t believe the current situation.

‘How is this possible?’

My Chinese martial arts!

My Praying Mantis Fist!

My Shaolin Fist!

My kung fu that combined them all!

None of it works.

No, more precisely, every punch and kick I throw connects, but…

Thud!

Thud!

This monster, how should I put it.

Crack!

Crack!

He absolutely refuses to back down.

And that’s not all.

‘First, I’ll fake a punch to the face and then attack the back of the head…!’

Thud.

‘…Huh?’

WHAM!

“Kuhk?!”

I’ve never seen such a madman.

Normally, if a technique can be avoided, one should make at least some evasive movement.

This monster had none of that.

As if the concept of evasion wasn’t in his dictionary, he only knew how to charge forward, again and again.

And on top of that, the perfect quality of technique in each attack.

“W-wait a moment…!”

“Grururuk! – Gruk!”

‘Kyokushin Karate – Crescent Kick.’

Laohui didn’t know.

The masters at the Chinese Shaolin Temple who taught him techniques, gave him certificates, and even bestowed upon him the title of martial arts master.

They were actually liars who just wanted to look good to Laohui, who was a power holder in the People’s Republic of China.

In reality, Laohui’s martial arts skills were no better than an amateur student who had just joined a dojo.

Meanwhile.

Crack.

“Ku, kuaaaaaaaa-?!!”

The only talent discovered in a household where the mother ran away and the father died from alcoholism.

A man who had consistently trained that talent from boyhood until reaching the realm of Kyokushin.

If he had properly completed his military service, he would have been guaranteed a spot as a national karate representative—a professional among professionals.

Until he became disabled, Shinwoo had always won medals—gold, silver, or at least bronze—in youth karate competitions, both domestic and international.

“I, I can’t stand up…!”

The levels were different from the start.

The Kyokushin Karate crescent kick precisely targets between the ribs where the liver is located, striking with the big toe as the front point.

It’s an extremely dangerous technique that could break the toe if used incorrectly by an amateur.

It required considerable skill, and if successful, it could pierce not only bones but also internal organs—one of the candidates for “prohibited karate techniques.”

Well, Shinwoo’s sharp crescent kick not only succeeded but perfectly delivered a critical hit to Laohui’s liver.

“Heuup?!”

Writhing in pain from the bleeding in his liver, Laohui tried to stand up but collapsed again, coughing up blood.

“Kuhehuk?! This is impossible…!”

“……”

The match was over.

Laohui was already incapacitated, and now his life depended on my decision.

“…! S-spare me!”

Realizing this fact, Laohui began pleading with me, rubbing his hands together—a far cry from his earlier enthusiasm for fighting.

“You, you! You seem like a monster that understands human speech! Let’s not do this and end things amicably!”

“……”

“H-how about money?! Or if you’re interested in human society, why not come to the continent with me?! I could employ you as a controlled monster!”

“……”

“Or how about humans! We have plenty of humans left in China! If you need humans, I’ll give you as many as you want! Just name it!”

“…!”

Just to save himself, he was not only trying to bring monsters into human society but even offering humans as tribute.

Mr. Laohui… no, Laohui.

How can a human be so evil and contemptible?

Squeeze-.

“Hiek?!”

What would the past me have done?

If it had been me before I knew Princess Kurumi’s backstory, before I knew Lee Heejeong would undergo kaijufication and burn down Hongdae, before I even realized there were other Kaijufication Hunters besides me.

Then I probably would have tried to spare him, simply because he was human.

Swish…

“Th-thank you…”

Squeeze!

“?!”

But that Han Shinwoo no longer exists.

Because I’ve made my ‘resolve.’

Relying too much on meta knowledge, my head momentarily became a flower bed, resulting in Hongdae becoming a sea of flames when it could have been prevented.

I almost lost Ms. Cheran there.

And now, an unidentified Kaijufication Hunter is targeting Lia.

To thoroughly prevent all these things, I clearly made my resolve.

A pitch-black resolve that could, when necessary, abandon even humanity’s most important ‘courtesy’ and ‘consideration.’

A soldier who can’t pull the trigger out of sympathy for the enemy at a critical moment gets shot in the back of the head and dies.

But a soldier with ‘resolve’ can at least die simultaneously.

And now was the moment for that once-cowardly soldier.

“S-save meeeee!! I’ll give you women or whatever you want!”

To finally fire the pitch-black lead bullet with resolve.

“Kyokushin Karate…”

“W-wooooooooo?!”

“Seiken Zuki.”

WHAM!

Just then, his barrier was being lifted.

I was suddenly back on the deck of the Triad warship, and under the night sky where drizzle had begun to fall, there was only an old corpse with its head completely shattered.

“Grururur…”

‘It’s all over…’

With this, the Chinese Forces in Korea incident came to an end.

It meant China’s plan to sneakily place itself above the United States Forces Korea had completely failed.

“Gruruk…”

‘Phew. My body aches all over…’

My body hurts here and there after the match.

However, what bothered me more was my entire body now stained with human blood.

I wonder if kaijufication had removed even the ‘humanity’ in my instincts, as my mind remained strangely calm despite killing people in five-digit numbers.

But that doesn’t mean I’ll forget what happened today.

Even though they were villains, this achievement came from trampling on human lives.

As a human, I will remember these deaths for the rest of my life, and each time, I will strengthen my resolve, darker than the abyss.

Because that was the ‘courtesy’ that someone who took human lives with resolve should have—the proof that they themselves remain human.

“Ugh…”

My body bent forward slightly as I was about to dive into the sea.

It seemed the damage from earlier had accumulated quite a bit.

However, my body didn’t collapse, and someone supported my kaijufied shoulder.

She was none other than.

“Good job.”

“Gruruk?!”

‘Ms. Katarina?!’

“By the way, I already know your identity. Don’t underestimate the Villain’s Troupe’s intelligence network~.”

I don’t know how she figured out my identity, but it was Ms. Katarina smirking at me.

“Hmm~ Hmm~. Our Shinwoo has grown up. Now able to do this kind of work (murder). Personally, big sis is getting emotional and about to cry.”

“Gruk…”

No matter how I look at it, those aren’t tears but raindrops?

But we didn’t have time to nitpick about such things.

“Commander! What should we do?”

“Tch…! Since the Chinese military ships have essentially all been destroyed, now we’ll eliminate the monster in Jamsil!”

“Understood!”

Soon after, Korean navy battleships preparing to fire at this sinking warship.

Seeing them, I decided to just go with it.

“Gruruk!”

‘Ms. Katarina. Excuse me for a moment!’

“Oh my~♥”

I princess-carried Ms. Katarina and jumped into the sea just before the bombardment hit.