Chapter 133 (1/2)

EPISODE 133

CE injection was indeed a very simple procedure.

The hunter would enter a room with a specialist. Then a doctor would use the test equipment to check on the hunter’s core and veins. After the diagnosis, there were two ways to go about the injection.

Either the hunter could use the CE extracted from the monster or take over the CE of another person.

In the latter case, the person handing over the CE had to accompany the recipient to the hospital. Once the CE was extracted, it had to be injected into the new owner within hours, under an expert’s strict supervision.

The first option was much easier to deal with; injecting the CE extracted from a monster was much like a blood donation.

When the corpse of a monster owned by a hunter was handed over to a state-run extraction agency, the state would give the hunter a “certificate” equal to the hunter’s CE. With the certificate, the hunter could receive injections from any hospital that held the CE or sold the certificate to others for money.

As for Yoo-seong, those certificates wouldn’t have to be a problem. Since Sung-wook oversaw him as his agent, the corpses of the monsters he hunted were automatically sent to the Sin Extraction Agency, which had no special utility value at all.

“If there are no problems, I’ll start injecting right away,” said the nurse in charge.

After the examination, Director Jang Jin-wook guided Yoo-seong directly in front of the injector. A veteran doctor such as him did not usually get involved with such simple matters as CE injection. However, when he heard that Oh Yoo-seong had come to the hospital, he’d dropped every appointment he had.

‘There seems to be nothing special,’ Jang Jin-wook thought with slight disappointment.

He laid Yoo-seong on the injector. A sufficient amount of gel was then applied to his skin, where a pad would eventually be attached.

Yoo-seong’s core was not significantly different from other hunters. Compared to his performance, his core seemed unusually small.

“You haven’t had your injections for nearly a year,” Jang Jin-wook commented.

“Yes,” Yoo-seong nodded.

“Then…” Jang Jin-wook hesitated for a moment.

“Then what?” Yoo-seong asked.

“Hunters usually get injected with 1000 CE at a time. But, if possible, how about we increase the dosage?”

“Increase the amount of injection?”

“Yes. In your case, your core has been maintained without any stimulation for a year. You are a very talented person. Your core strength and veins must be quite developed. So, if you agree, I will first give you the normal 1000 CE amount. Then, at my discretion, I will increase the CE little by little. I believe this will help avoid the strain in your core,” Jang Jin-wook explained.

The limit on the injection amount was a medical prohibition placed to prevent damage to a hunter’s core caused by excessive CE injection. In other words, depending on the hunter’s tolerance, there was no problem if they chose to increase their number of injections. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few veterans with their own cut lines.

“Okay. I would appreciate it,” Yoo-seong said as he accepted Jang Jin-wook’s proposal.

Jang Jin-wook asked Yoo-seong to lie down. Then a pad was attached to Yoo-seong.

At a glance, the injector looked similar to an MRI machine.

The only difference was a lid that closed once the CE recipient entered the machine.

Once the machine had made a perfect connection, Director Jang Jin-wook placed a 500 CE energy cell in the injector’s cylinder. The excitement was evident in the Director’s eyes.

This was the core of a hunter with a transcendental ability. The record amount for a single CE injection was 3,630. Would Yoo-seong be able to exceed it?

If so, Director Jang Jin-wook would be the first to know. With a lot of expectations…

Kwook-!

Jang Jin-wook started to turn on the CE injector. Before long, each of the 500 CE energy cells started getting injected into Yoo-seong’s body.

“Huh?” Jang Jin-wook said in disbelief. His eyes switched from Yoo-seong to the machine repeatedly.

This was far different from what he had expected.

***

Meanwhile, Yoo-seong was oblivious to whatever was happening outside the CE injector.

In fact, he was oblivious to everything happening outside his body. He was currently in a kind of trance.

This was a state of high concentration experienced by hunters being injected with CE.

When CE from the outside environment entered the body, the hunter’s nerves started to get concentrated only within the veins and core through which the CE flowed.

Regardless of how strong and trained a hunter was, he would be totally defenseless in this state of trance.

Centuries ago, this was a very rare occurrence. Hunters hadn’t usually received this much CE at once. However, thanks to the emergence of CE injection, it was now something that hunters could pay to experience twice a month.

Through the arteries in his lower abdomen, neck, and arms, Yoo-seong felt the CE flowing through the pads and machine. It then entered Yoo-seong’s body, flowing smoothly toward his core, like an uninterrupted river.

‘I… What am I doing?’

Of course, he was lying in the CE injector, having CE injected into him. Yoo-seong seemed to be trying to talk with himself.

‘Where are you heading?’

Before receiving the CE injection, he remembered hearing the name ‘Hankwang’ from Yang Chang-guk.

‘They are insatiable,’ Yoo-seong thought immediately.

‘They will be a problem.’

‘They will be a hindrance.’

‘They will definitely be a bother to my plans.’

‘If I do not do anything…’

Yoo-seong was astonished. Suddenly, he realized that his thoughts seemed to have gone astray.

‘No. It’s only natural for you to think about Hankwang,’ he thought.

He knew that, at some point, someone had to stop Hankwang’s dangerous plans.

‘But why?’

Was Yoo-seong thinking reflectively? He didn’t seem to know.

‘It does not have to be someone. That someone should be you.’

The thoughts seemed to flow naturally.

‘I am a hunter.’

It had become one of Yoo-seong’s biggest guiding principles.

Whatever his previous principle was, it had already changed when he decided to take Auto-Hunt and walk the path of a hunter. Perhaps he could have used Auto-Hunt for his own good. However, Yoo-seong had already defined and moved himself according to this principle.

And so far, he had not violated that principle.

Early in his hunter debut, Yoo-seong went against monsters beyond any newbie hunter’s capabilities. He’d worked in China, a country that had an entirely different environment hunting-wise. Then he got into trouble with the Japanese Leto Group’s Chairman and Japan’s Prime Minister.