Auto Hunting

Episode 43

Yoo-seong had nothing to lose.

There was no reason for him to push the button, but he did so anyway.

At least, Auto-Hunt wouldn’t respond to a non-threat. However, the button responded.

Yoo-seong twisted his body and leaped away. He moved so rapidly that his sneakers didn’t even make a sound as it went against the ground.

Still, he felt the pressure on his clavicle.

The old man did not have a Gellar gun. Both his hands were in the pockets of his pants.

There had been no movement, but the old man clearly shot something. It felt like a tiny glass bead had been pressed against Yoo-seong’s veins.

If he hadn’t twisted his body and the bead had struck him on the right spot, it would have maimed his legs.

Yoo-seong concentrated his entire Aura on both his legs and leaped backward.

“Interesting,” Yoo-seong heard as he landed some meters away.

Suddenly, he realized it. Ship Zone!

He focused his Aura on his legs and moved to leap again, just as another shot came from the old man.

Debris from the sidewalk block on which he landed sprayed in all directions, blocking the view of the old man who had turned towards him.

Yoo-seong steadied himself. He had combined Auto-Hunt with Spider Walk to do that. He began to step on the fragments that were still suspended in the angles. He kept running without falling to the ground.

When there was no more debris to step on, he ran on the sidewalk blocks. When he was out of blocks, the trees became his new foothold.

He moved without hesitation. He was giving his all, but a seemingly harmless old man was chasing him and closing the gap rapidly.

Just as Yoo-seong left the tree-filled area, the man caught up with him, releasing another pressure bead.

It hit Yoo-seong’s left side.

“I haven’t missed with Demon Bead more than twice since I reached the level of invincibility,” the man said.

Yoo-seong realized he couldn’t move his body anymore.

“You dodged it thrice. That’s impressive,” the old man smiled, as though the chase had been fun.

“What do you want?” Yoo-seong asked as he struggled to move.

The man remained silent as he looked around him. Cars were passing by, and people were on the street watching.

Yoo-seong understood that that was what Auto-Hunt had wanted to do.

There had been no reason to escape from the man in the first place, but Auto-Hunt had wanted Yoo-seong to stand in an open area where people could see.

The old man couldn’t do anything to Yoo-seong in front of so many people.

However, he didn’t intend to do any harm.

He reached out to the nape of Yoo-seong’s neck, pretending to be a family member trying to show affection.

His attack could not only paralyze a person, but could also manipulate the person’s body.

“Nice try, but I think I’m going to pass this one,” Yoo-seong bent to avoid the hand. “You owe me an apology, old man. You’re not trying to rob me, are you?”

The man was stunned as he watched Yoo-seong.

“You released your veins with your physical strength?” the man asked in awe.

A simple Ki technique could easily do it, but very few hunters knew how to do it since blood paralysis was a hidden art.

“I asked a question first,” Yoo-seong said as he clenched his teeth. Blood-like sweat poured down his forehead. Auto-Hunt had raised the energy from his core the moment the pressure bead had hit.

Since it was Yoo-seong’s first time dealing with such, the technique was excruciating.

“Is this how you always fight: holding none of your physical resources back till you win?”

“Does it look like that?”

The old man burst into laughter, loud enough for people’s attention to be turned towards him. He removed his sunglasses as he tried to calm himself down.

Yoo-seong saw that there were no pupils in the man’s eyes- just plain white. It was just plain creepy.

“Since you can now move your mouth, I expected you to scream for help,” the man said, watching Yoo-seong’s eyes.

Yoo-seong had to force himself to stare back at the man’s eyes.

“Well, I must say, that was a really fun run, friend. Maybe we should do that again some other time,” the old man cleared his throat.

“The more I know you, the more fun it is. Anyway, I am called Jin Wei-baek. As you probably must have realized, I am the mentor of the two men you fought the other day. I run a small business.”

Tenz.

He appeared confident outside, but Yoo-seong almost cowered with reverence at the old man in front of him.

It was more than just physical appearance. The man had an air of greatness around him that commanded respect.

“Believe me; I didn’t intend to hurt you. I just wanted to give you a leisurely massage.”

“I beg your pardon?” Yoo-seong said, wide-eyed.

“Your body. I saw it on the video call and felt it was a masterpiece. I want to examine it.”

Goosebumps sprouted on Yoo-seong’s forearm.

“Examine?” he managed to say.

“Yes. Examine.”

“Then, I demand an apology for the trouble you and your mentees have put me through. That’s the minimum requirement for any conversation between the two of us.”

“Hmm.”

“If you would apologize, I would be more than happy to wait. If you have no intention of that, I will call the police right now, and I’m going to accuse you of what you did to me.”

Automatic hunting hadn’t just moved Yoo-seong to a public place.

It had also positioned him beneath a CCTV camera.

It didn’t matter if Jin was the president of the People’s Republic of China or the president of Tenz.

This was Korea, and he was going to pay for his theatrics. Wei-baek observed Yoo-seong for a moment.

Obviously, the younger man didn’t know who he was talking to. If he could recognize the authority he had, his expression and demeanor would change.

“Well, then,” Jin Wei-baek said as he put his hand in his pocket.

Yoo-seong watched carefully for a moment, but he relaxed when he saw that what was in Wei-baek’s pocket couldn’t harm him.

“In the first place, I was just trying to notify you, to give you time to think about my offer- that is until you come back from tomorrow’s event.”

Yoo-seong didn’t respond.

“If you don’t come in as my disciple by then, I’ll make sure you never get the chance to.”

“That’s absurd.”

“Is it? But it was you who stole my techniques, wasn’t it?”

Yoo-seong flinched for a moment.

The technique he used against the Habaek was a skill he never learned. He had copied it from Chu-yeop, Wei-baek’s mentee.

“No matter how ignorant you are of the basic rules that guide the industry, you should know you shouldn’t steal other people’s techniques. But don’t worry. I’ve changed my mind now about making you pay for that.”

Jin Wei-baek held out a medicine case he had pulled from his pocket.

“Originally, it was something that you would have had access to if you had become my disciple. But let’s make a bet. If you win, I’ll give this ring case to you, and I’ll forget about the technique you stole. I’ll also apologize to you and your teacher.”

“And, if I lose?”

“It’s simple. You become my disciple.”

Yoo-seong raised a brow.

“A very fair bet, right?” Wei-Baek asked.

Yoo-seong realized that he had a lot to gain from the bet – even more than what Wei-baek stood to gain.

However, it meant that the requirements of the bet would be rather difficult.

“What are we betting on?”

“The opposite of what we did before. If you succeed in attacking me at least once, you win.”

Yoo-seong was silent for a while. Then, he held out his hand to Jin Wei-baek.

“Deal.”

“Oh?” Wei-baek said in mock shock as he took Yoo-seong’s hand. “This is going to be refreshing.”

“So, where do we do it?”

“Do you know any place? Anywhere will be good, like that park we were at earlier.”

Yoo-seong nodded. Suddenly, he pressed the button with his eyes,

-Assault form applied.-

His hand moved right away. Probably, if he simply attacked Jin Wei-baek, the old man would have avoided it easily and strike him with blood paralysis.

Instead, he reached for Wei-baek’s arm.

“Ha,” Wei-baek said as he evaded what was not an attack. He was a little disappointed.

Jin Wei-baek reached out this time to seize Yoo-seong’s neck armor.

Instead, to his astonishment, the neck armor disappeared.

There were many tricks to hide things, but no matter how much experience Wei-baek had, the ‘Slot’ was a mystery to him.

Jin Wei-baek’s was momentarily flustered, and Auto-hunting did not miss the opening.

Yoo-seong’s free hand moved and slapped the old man’s face.

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