Chapter 193 - Chapter 193 (1/2)

Adam White urgently confirmed the signs of life on Thomas Andre.

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump....

He pressed his ear to the chest of the unmoving man and heard the faint beating of the heart. He even brought his hand near Thomas Andre's nose and felt for his breathing, too. Fortunately enough, he was still alive.

However, he was barely hanging on. He might be alive but, he didn't resemble a living man right now. That's how bad his condition was.

'To think, he's capable of reducing the one and only Thomas Andre to this state....'

Just how many Hunters in the world would be capable of doing this? No, was there anyone even remotely capable of doing that, to begin with?

If this news got out, then the entire world would be turned on its head almost instantly. Adam White even felt an emotion similar to awe at Jin-Woo's strength that had easily exceeded the Hunter Bureau's expectations.

Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to stand around in awe.

"Hurry!"

Adam White gestured towards the Hunter Bureau's Healers.

One of the top-rated Healers quickly ran over and settled down next to the patient on the ground. After confirming Thomas Andre's condition before the healing could properly commence, the Healer clicked his tongue and spoke up.

"Every bone in his body is broken. Haemorrhaging is quite serious, as well. I alone won't be able to heal him. It'll be better for everyone to participate at once."

Following the Healer's suggestion, more of his colleagues were added to the process of healing Thomas Andre.

But then, could anyone fill up a lake with water from a tap? Because of how vast Thomas Andre's overall health reserve was, one needed to expend a great deal of effort in order to heal him.

As the Healers sweated profusely and focused on healing the American Hunter, Adam White stood back up from the ground to survey the landscape. He saw the Hunters from the Bureau keeping themselves busy by pulling out the injured from the abandoned factory.

"Euh, euh...."

"My leg, my leg!!"

The state of the Scavenger's elite Hunters were wretched, to say the least. It was unknown how they ended up in such a miserable state, but it was not that hard to guess just who was responsible for them looking like that.

One man versus one Guild.

Just one Hunter managed to utterly destroy one of the top Guilds in the entire world.

'Seriously...'

Adam White was utterly flabbergasted by the incredibleness of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo, and his abilities that played a key role in this display of incredibleness.

'...Uh?'

Now that he took another look, he couldn't see Hunter Seong Jin-Woo anywhere. Adam White searched around to locate the Korean Hunter, but before he could locate his query, a rather familiar 'song' entered his ears, instead.

It was the ringtone coming from his phone.

"This is White."

- "Agent White, we discovered Yu Jin-Ho Hunter-nim's current whereabouts."

The call came from the Hunter Bureau. Out of all the stories he heard today, this had to be the best one so far. Adam White's gloomy-looking expression brightened up once more.

"Really? Where is he now?"

The caller informed him that the grievously-injured Hunter Yu Jin-Ho was discovered in front of a major hospital nearby, and his life was no longer in danger after having received a timely emergency medical treatment.

"I'll head there right away as soon as the matters this side are sorted out."

- "Understood."

Adam White ended the call and sighed in relief.

"Whew..."

He had no idea how he'd go about dealing with Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's wrath if something really bad happened to Yu Jin-Ho. Just thinking about it made him dizzy.

Spilt milk couldn't be saved, anyway. Should he say that the glass holding the milk not breaking was a silver lining among the sea of storm clouds?

A small load was taken off his mind and soon, he got to hear yet another piece of good news.

"We're finished."

The Healers tasked with mending Thomas Andre stood up from the ground. Adam White asked them for a status update.

"How is he? Is he alright?"

"For now."

"For now...? What does that mean?"

"His injured body has been healed, but he did suffer many grievous wounds and it will take some time before he regains consciousness."

"Oh."

Magic from the Healers might be able to restore one's physical wounds, but they were unable to lighten one's psychological trauma.

And since Thomas Andre no doubt suffered a huge mental setback this time 'round, his hospital room would have to be closely monitored. Adam White could only look on at the unconscious face of the Special Authority-rank Hunter with a look of pity. Still, the Healer did find words that provided a bit of comfort and delivered them.

"Even then, it was because it was Special Authority-rank Hunter Thomas Andre that he got to survive this long. If it was any other Hunter being on the receiving end of this much punishment, that person would have died ten times over by now."

"What a reli...."

Adam White nodded and was about to say something suitable as a reply, but then, his words came to a stop.

Only because it was the Special Authority-rank Hunter Thomas Andre, he could survive this event?

If so, what about Hunter Hwang Dong-Su who must've been subjected to the one-sided outpouring of Seong Jin-Woo's rage?

Was that man around here, as well?

Carrying a hardened expression, Adam White quickly made his way into the abandoned factory as more injured were carted out. Once inside, he took a look around and heard someone call out to him.

"Agent White! Over here!"

That urgent voice quickened Adam White's thought process. He tried to calm his pounding heart and ran towards where that call came from.

One of the Bureau's Hunters with a serious expression on his face was standing in front of a person lying on the floor. Adam White recognised who it was and whispered out the name of the man like a groan.

"Hwang Dong-Su...."

That prompted the Hunter next to him to speak his findings.

"This man is not breathing, sir. His heart is not beating anymore."

***

"I hope you ain't gonna waste my time by telling me some bullsh*t story about you kidding around or making a mistake here."

It was already getting pretty late. The editor of a certain publication had come out to meet a freelance reporter after the latter gave him a call. Understandably, the editor's glare was icy.

Just who was he?

He was none other than the editor of the newspaper boasting the highest circulation figures in the eastern United States.

Originally, someone like a freelancer wouldn't be able to summon him out for an impromptu meeting like this. But then, he had no choice but to make this trip after hearing the contents of the phone call.

The editor told himself that, if this freelancer was going to waste his time with a fairy tale, then he'd make d*mn sure that this guy ended up in jail with a fake crime he came up with. That was his thought process as he hurriedly put back on the clothes he wore during the day at work for this meeting in the dark.

The reporter quickly waved his hands around after being subjected to the editor's suspicious glare.

"It's d-definitely nothing like that. This thing is 100% real. I thought you only liked stories that are real?"

"Hmph...."

"So, how much are you willing to offer?"

"Let me see the photos first."

The reporter looked around his vicinity as if he was scared of something and began pulling out one photograph after another from his bag. The editor took them with an expressionless face and began flipping through them, but then, his hands came to an abrupt halt.

And an almighty earthquake erupted in his eyes next.

'H-how can this be?!'

The editor's astonished gaze naturally shifted over to the reporter's face next.

His expression clearly was asking, 'Where did you get these pictures?' and that made the reporter feel like he was on the top of the world. He quickly shrugged his shoulders as his reply.

The editor continued to flip through the pictures with trembling hands.

They were exactly as the reporter had described over the phone.

'Thomas Andre passes out after getting beaten to a pulp a day before the International Guild Conference?'

Not only that – the face of the man leisurely turning around to leave after defeating the American was captured within these pictures.

Wasn't that Hunter Seong Jin-Woo??

This was a huge scoop.

No, hang on – that word 'scoop' wasn't adequate enough to fully describe this incredible jackpot. The editor's breathing became really rough and heavy now.