Chapter 127 - Chapter 127 (1/2)

The Master of the Knight Order Guild, Park Jong-Su, had to doubt his own eyes. Because, there was a good-looking foreign man leisurely strolling out of the ant tunnel's entrance at that very moment.

But, that was just impossible.

'The ants being completely wiped out should still be a top secret, so how could this be??'

Everything found rolling around on the ground was literally the top-grade magic crystals. So, the Association decided to keep the annihilation of the ants a secret in order to prevent those enterprising souls from taking their chances here, at least until they could come up with a suitable solution to this problem.

So, only a few select people knew that there were no monsters left on this island.

'It's only to the extent of the Association entrusting the mission to us, the military, and then....'

And then, Hunter Seong Jin-Woo.

However, Park Jong-Su could confidently bet his entire life savings that the man standing in front of the ant tunnel was definitely not Seong Jin-Woo.

How could anyone forget that man's face? Not only was he the most talked-about Hunter in South Korea, but he also occupied the top spot on the Knight Order's must-scout list.

Park Jong-Su asked again.

"I asked you who you are! Why are you coming out from there?"

It was unknown whether the foreigner didn't understand a single word coming out of his mouth or wasn't planning to answer in the first place. No, that man just stood there, smiling brightly.

The Knight Order's Vice Master, Jeong Yun-Tae, got right next to Park Jong-Soo, his suspicious eyes firmly locked on the foreigner.

"Hyung-nim. Is that guy even a human?"

"I.... I'm not sure, myself."

They couldn't sense any magic energy emission from the mysterious man, so he couldn't have been a Hunter nor a monster.... But, for some reason, he was also emitting this strange aura.

Jeong Yun-Tae always had been the 'act first, talk later' type of a guy. But even he had to take a step back and cautiously observe his surroundings after sensing the ominous aura.

Unfortunately, soldiers didn't possess the Hunter-like sensory perception. They belatedly discovered the foreigner's presence and hurriedly raised their firearms.

Park Jong-Su quickly dissuaded them, fearing that they might end up inadvertently killing someone.

"Oii, oii! Don't shoot! He's not a monster!"

"Is he a human, then?"

"Well, that is.... Maybe?"

Park Jong-Su could only nod his head with a somewhat unconvinced expression.

'You can only be a human being if you're not a monster.'

Park Jong-Su's limited scope of knowledge meant that he could only arrive at this faulty conclusion.

The military commander briefly nodded his head.

"Understood. From here onwards, we'll handle the affairs of that person."

"Pardon me? I thought you guys came here to take Hunter Min Byung-Gu's remains back home?"

"Our orders were to secure the remains of Hunter Min Byung-Gu, as well as to control the situation on the island itself."

Park Jong-Su stepped back, having understood the gist of it.

If they weren't dealing with monsters or other Hunters then the Knight Order didn't have to get involved here. Besides, they wouldn't get mired in unnecessary headaches this way, too.

The commander shouted at the mystery man.

"You are currently inside a restricted area. Please follow my orders to the letter or you'll be fired upon."

"..."

The mystery man continued to smile, not a single hint of nervousness visible on his face.

Gulp.

Soldiers swallowed their saliva while thinking to themselves, "Are we really going to open fire at him?"

This was an expected response from these soldiers who had never pulled the trigger on another human being before.

Hunters were also carrying tense expressions now. They began thinking that there was something strange going on with this situation when that mysterious man continued to smile like that.

It was then – the man slid his hands inside the trouser pockets.

'That man.... Is he really a human being?'

Could anyone stay so nonchalant when these many guns were pointing at them?

Park Jong-Su's expression gradually hardened. Meanwhile, the nervousness of the soldiers reached their peak when they could no longer see the mysterious man's hands.

"Hold your fire!! Hold your fire! Not yet!"

A thick vein popped up on the commander's neck as he shouted at his soldiers.

But, then....

"Commander, look!"

The commander quickly turned his head towards the mysterious man as soon as he heard that urgent call. That man was slowly opening his mouth.

"...??"

He couldn't understand the language being spoken here.

It wasn't that he had never heard of it, but more like it didn't even originate from Earth, to begin with, judging from the way that man sounded and how he enunciated the words.

"What?"

"What is he saying?"

While the soldiers were at a loss from this situation they had never encountered before, Park Jong-Su's lips were busy flapping open all on their own.

"M-monster language??"

One could sometimes meet intelligent monsters in higher-ranked dungeons. What that man said sounded almost like the language spoken by those creatures.

"Which means, is that...."

Before the commander could finish his sentence with "....is that a monster?" the mystery man pulled his hands out from the pockets.

Blam-!

An ear-splitting boom reverberated throughout the land.

When that mysterious man behaved in a suspicious manner, one of the well-trained special forces soldiers ended up reflexively squeezing the trigger.

'Heok!'

The commander's stunned eyes quickly locked on to the man.

The bullet, failing to dig into the man's smooth forehead, fell to the ground with a light thud. The smile on his face was already gone.

"It, it's a monster!"

"It's not a human!"

Their cries lasted only for a brief moment because, as soon as that man's eyes changed colour to red, everyone here felt an incredible pressure tightly squeezing down on their hearts.

"Ah, ah-!!"

"Argh...."

But, then...

Snap!

Like puppets with their strings cut, the soldiers and Hunters all collapsed to the ground along with the sound of a crisp finger snap. That mysterious man wasn't responsible for this event.

He looked behind him and testily spoke up.

"What do you think you're doing?"

There was a short-statured middle-aged man standing behind him now.

"There's no need to make a commotion here. I just put them all to sleep."

The middle-aged man also wasn't speaking in the language of humans.

"....Indeed."

The mysterious man sounded rueful, but still agreed with his new guest nonetheless. The middle-aged man shifted his gaze towards the interior of the ant tunnel and asked.

"Did you confirm it?"

The mysterious man nodded his head.

"It's definitely 'his' power."

"How strange."

The middle-aged man's gaze now shifted over to the collapsed Hunters.

"Why is 'he' helping out these humans?"

"Who knows what 'he' is thinking? If you're curious, why don't you go ask 'him' personally?"

"....I'll decline."

The middle-aged man shook his head before continuing on.

"We commence with the hunt as planned. Nothing has changed."

"Got it."

The middle-aged man lightly twirled his hand in the air. A black Gate small enough to let a person through opened up there.

"Oh, by the way."

The middle-aged man stopped briefly and looked behind him when the mysterious man called out to him.

"I think one of them is here."