Martial Arts Competition (2)

In the dark predawn hours. 

In an alley darker than the dawn. There was a container. 

“Don’t come, fuck! I said don’t come!” 

Screams echoed through the air. 

The body of a woman in a white suit was sprawled on the floor. 

She desperately crawled backwards using her two arms, dragging her body. But it was futile inside the container. 

“Ugh, you bitch. You’re making this tiresome.” 

A man with disheveled hair and a large build spat out in a rough voice. 

“I heard you belittled my cousin? Said he can’t do the job? Of course he couldn’t do the job. The kid only studied properly, he’s the type that poorly adapts to real situations.” 

Next to the man stood a young man with a foolish look. 

“She kept nagging me every day, bro. Even when I tried to live properly by joining a legitimate hunter guild. This world is too harsh on me. Boo hoo…” 

The young man pretended to cry unconvincingly. 

“Now that monsters are no longer a threat to civilians. Saying I need to have conviction as a hunter and whatnot… I’m going to teach our dear supervisor a lesson now. That running your mouth wrong leads to big regrets. Something like that.” 

The young man spread the woman’s legs wide apart. The woman kept struggling, swinging her somewhat intact right leg. 

“Y-you fucking bastard! You call yourself a hunter, you son of a bitch!” 

A faint anger clouded the young man’s face that had been filled with laughter. 

“I was a hunter. But because you kept nagging so much, I decided to live in the shadows again starting today. Beginning with eating you.” 

The young man pulled out a dagger from his waist pocket and lightly sliced the woman’s left thigh. 

“Aaaagh!” 

Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. 

The man clicked his tongue. 

“Kid, finish quickly and kill her. This is a high gate occurrence area so they don’t search much. But you never know.” 

“Hehe, yes, boss.” 

Just as the young man bowed to the man and was about to focus on his prey in front of him again. 

Shrriiiek! 

A diagonal golden line was drawn on the container door. And the steel door of the container was perfectly split in two. 

The man and young man turned around and stared blankly at the person who had cut through the steel door. 

The battle suit covering their entire body was striking. A helmet was worn on the head. 

Judging by the contours of the battle suit, one could guess it was a woman. 

A mechanical voice flowed from the helmet. 

“This is the Extermination Squad. I inform you that the authority for summary judgment has been activated for this squad member due to the one-to-many situation.” 

“What…? W-wait.” 

The man’s hand moved quickly towards the gun at his waist, contrary to his stammering words. 

And the Extermination Squad member’s hand moved even faster. A flash of sword light glinted. 

A slash that looked like a simple line swept across the necks of the man and young man. 

Shrick 

A simple sound of flesh being cut echoed in the container. They saw fountains of blood spurting from each other’s necks. 

That was the last thing they saw in life.  

After the Great Cataclysm. 

All sorts of organizations were created in this world. 

First were hunters and villains. 

And then organizations to eradicate villains. 

There wasn’t just one villain eradication organization. The <Vigilante Corps> formed out of personal grudges. And the <Extermination Squad>, the officially recognized villain eradication organization of the Republic of Korea. 

The number of vigilante corps was gradually decreasing. Although they claimed to eradicate villains, they were rooted in illegality and naturally could not receive social protection. 

<Extermination Squad>. 

Members of the Extermination Squad commonly wore masks. Most wore helmet-type gear connected to their suits. 

The reason was obviously to hide their faces. 

The female swordswoman with a voluptuous figure in a red suit that clung tightly to her body slowly took off her black helmet. Red hair was revealed. Below her right eye on her cheek was a scar in the shape of a slash mark. 

“Good work, Commander.” 

The red-haired woman called Commander sat down in a chair silently. 

A man with slicked-back hair wearing horn-rimmed glasses picked up a stack of documents and began reading them one by one. 

“The total number of villains subdued and killed today is 10. Including the Black Cow that the Commander just dealt with.” 

The Commander nodded and put a cigarette in her mouth. The man quickly pulled out a lighter from his inner suit pocket and lit her cigarette. 

Click! 

Hazy smoke drifted through the air. 

“All small fries.” 

The Commander’s dry bass voice coldly echoed in the room. 

“That kid who faced two villain groups last time, what was his name?” 

“Lee Dojin, a first-year student at Iroaz Academy.” 

“Right, Lee Dojin. He killed more villains than our Level 3 guys. A first-year student.” 

A wry laugh burst out. 

The man was a bit surprised. It was extremely rare for the Commander to show this much interest in an outsider. 

“Are you thinking of scouting him?” 

“Don’t know.” 

Another puff of thick smoke billowed from the Commander’s mouth. 

“Would he accept if we scouted him? A kid with a bright future already set.” 

The man handed two sheets of paper to her after hearing her words. 

“There were quite a few students among that student’s acquaintances who might be tempted by an offer from the Extermination Squad.” 

The Commander closely examined the papers. 

“Baek Hwayeon, Yeon Simun.” 

Baek Hwayeon had been involved in an incident related to a villain group and an orphanage in her childhood. 

Yeon Simun lost her father to execution at the hands of the <New Humanity Society>. 

After skimming through the documents of the two, the Commander pushed them back to the man, seemingly uninterested. 

“Whether it’s the Red Cult or the New Humanity Society, they’ll be after that kid’s neck since he’s done them no small amount of damage. We’ll have to make contact with him at some point anyway. Even if just to give a warning.” 

The man nodded in agreement with the Commander’s words. 

“That’s true.” 

The Commander stuffed the cigarette butt back into the pack. 

“How troublesome.” 

She gazed at the dark sky with eyes rimmed by dark circles.  

Lee Dojin was in Mistilteinn’s world. 

“The martial arts competition starts tomorrow.” 

Mistilteinn, the girl with snow-white hair and green eyes, stared at Lee Dojin. 

With wide round eyes. 

“Martial arts competition?” 

Lee Dojin explained about the martial arts competition. Worry bloomed on Mistilteinn’s face. 

“Be careful not to get hurt.” 

Hwangbo Seryeong, who had listened to the explanation of the martial arts competition together, snickered. Her hair still maintained the disheveled long mane like a lion’s. One day Mistilteinn had asked if she might try fixing her hair once. She had replied to Lee Dojin that she said ‘It’s not like there’s any man I need to look good for.’ with a raised corner of her mouth. 

Lee Dojin wasn’t offended by that anecdote Mistilteinn had relayed. He just found it very funny. 

Hwangbo Seryeong took a sip of alcohol before opening her mouth. 

“Get hurt? Would that guy get hurt? It’s the brats facing him that’ll get hurt.” 

Hwangbo Seryeong said that while looking at Mistilteinn, then turned her gaze to Lee Dojin. 

“Really be careful. One wrong move and the opponent brat in front of you could end up a corpse.” 

Having heard from Lee Dojin about the level of his peers outside, Hwangbo Seryeong spoke with a sincere tone. Lee Dojin smiled bitterly. 

“Of course.” 

Numerous instructors will be positioned all around the space where the battles take place. To forcibly intervene and stop the match if necessary. And many healers with holy power will also be positioned. Numerous medical devices and top-grade medicines will be prepared. Although it would be a thoroughly prepared environment, there was no harm in being careful. 

The current world of hunters in Korea resembled the martial arts world Lee Dojin had heard about from Dan Cheonwoo and Hwangbo Seryeong. That’s why things like this ‘martial arts competition’ are allowed. 

Death in a virtual world where one doesn’t actually die doesn’t give aspiring hunters a sense of caution. Only by feeling the cold blade of reality and actual pain can one be said to have set foot in the hunter world. This is the test purpose that the ‘martial arts competition’ is pushing, which is why it’s being tolerated by society. 

Even to Lee Dojin, the world of martial artists and the world of hunters didn’t seem very different. 

“I’ll win. At least against all the first-year students.” 

Lee Dojin placed his hand on Mistilteinn’s snow-white shoulder. He felt Mistilteinn’s warm body temperature through his palm. 

“Then I’ll have to tell the Academy Director confidently. Hand over the World Tree branch.” 

Hwangbo Seryeong clicked her tongue. 

“In the martial arts world, the end isn’t good for guys who say such things.” 

Mistilteinn quickly turned her head to look at Hwangbo Seryeong. 

“Unni! Don’t say things like that.” 

Hwangbo Seryeong looked at Mistilteinn with an affectionate gaze as if looking at a cute animal. 

“Alright, alright. I apologize.” 

Mistilteinn turned back to look at Lee Dojin. And she smiled with her eyes. 

“Good. When Master obtains the World Tree branch and I properly digest it, there will definitely be benefits then. For Master and for me.” 

“Yeah.” 

Would he be able to feel that warmth he just felt in reality then? 

Lee Dojin didn’t say those words out loud. If it ended up being impossible after all, it would remain too bitter a thing to say to Mistilteinn. 

“I’ll go win.” 

“I’ll be waiting.” 

And Tuesday came. 

It was the first day of the final martial arts competition.