Second Life of a Dragon Raising Hunter

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Chapter 64

“If you want to continue being a Hunter, there will surely come a day when you’ll have to kill someone. Your opponent will try to kill you too. Can you really hold back from hurting people when that day comes?”

“…Ah, I know. I get it. I’ve thought hard about it, and I understand there might be a time to fight someone. But, no matter how I think about it, I just don’t get how you could swing a sword at a classmate during a spar.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Yeon-woo glanced at Shar, who appeared to be deep in thought, sitting at a distance as if refraining from joining the conversation. Rubbing his aching forehead, Yeon-woo said,

“So basically, you’re asking how you could even think of killing a classmate during a practice match, right? Are you in your right mind?”

“N-no, that wasn’t my intent…!”

“That’s just what it sounds like!”

To be fair, the relationship between Darius and Yeon-woo was not the greatest—they had a rather tumultuous dynamic, one that Darius enjoyed teasing shamelessly. Despite Yeon-woo thinking it was cute, their reputation didn’t quite match.

But they were still both students. If they had been complete strangers, it might not have mattered, but the fact remained that they were classmates.

Though no one spoke up about it, there was an unspoken understanding.

A fifteen-year-old boy swinging a sword filled with intent to kill at another fifteen-year-old boy from the same class? That felt alarming.

Thus, Kim Yoo-min’s words could definitely be interpreted as follows:

‘You were sparring with a friend, how could you so easily decide to kill?’

Honestly, if someone challenged Yeon-woo on this point, he wouldn’t have a viable counter. It was his own thought that Darius was cute, and even if there was a barrier preventing death, he was still the one who thought, even for a moment, of killing him.

Who wouldn’t think of him as a psychopath, considering he could flip his mindset just like that? Even if this was Yeon-woo’s own way of adapting, who would believe that in such a peaceful era?

“…Hey, I’m sorry. I think I was too hasty. But seriously, think about it. If you can’t even hurt someone over something so trivial, you might really be in trouble.”

“…Huh?”

Yeon-woo grabbed Kim Yoo-min’s shoulder and shot off words rapidly before turning away. It wasn’t about determining who was right or wrong; the truth was his own attitude had been misguided. Moreover, hashing it out now would only deepen the emotional rift between them.

The world where one had to be ready to sever the neck of someone who might betray them at any moment was now buried on the other side of the hourglass.

In hindsight, that was the reality. The dark and confined world he knew had ended, leaving only a slightly blackened blank slate behind.

Instead of forcing Kim Yoo-min to bear the weight of those dark days, he just needed to make sure it never returned.

That flimsy illusion would surely shatter someday. A warning had been issued, and when that moment arrived, he intended to help if he could. Sometimes, moving forward requires not just words but a little hardship too.

So, for now, he decided to avoid stepping too deep into the matter.

He genuinely wanted to see a world where one could live even while harboring such complacent thoughts.

That would be challenging, but he felt he’d need to extend his hands wider than before.

Kim Yoo-min, in the meantime, couldn’t comprehend the situation he was thrown into.

He realized now that the mistake had been his own. He had misspoken. The moment he saw the look in Choi Yeon-woo’s eyes, he felt a lump in his throat.

It was as if he had called his precious friend a psychopath who could kill anyone at any time. That really hadn’t been his intention.

However, the meaning of words was always determined by the listener, not the speaker. If the listener understood it that way, then that was the end of it.

There was room for dialogue, but still, why had Kim Yoo-min felt the need to say something to him as he quickly walked away, looking wounded?

“Seriously, you idiot…”

Leaning against the wall, Kim Yoo-min could only mutter to himself. He didn’t want to confront his own foolishness directly.

*

“Dad, is it really okay to leave him like that?”

“He should be fine. It’s not common to fight for your life against people. Even if the Demon King Cult is found around the city, they can’t make it into the Academy.”

Of course, that wasn’t to say that nothing would ever happen. If he were to participate in the massive purge operation a month from now, there would definitely be fights involving people.

Besides, it wasn’t like an average student could participate whenever they felt like it, so it was extremely unlikely that Kim Yoo-min would face such situations unless he was caught up in them.

‘But I still have to get mixed up in that purge.’

The real trouble lay in the fact that the timing of the Gate incident and the purge overlapped perfectly. It wasn’t just the dates; Baek In-hwa getting caught up in the Gate during the height of the operation was a major concern.

Fortunately, the time Yeon-woo had to intervene was at the end of the operation. After most of the cancerous cells had been eliminated, it would be the final phase of taking out the last major core.

In that moment, when the Dark Guild’s boss, the deceiver Louis, encountered Yuri and lost his head while trying to escape, Yeon-woo needed to be in a separate location.

He had to position himself and wait ahead of time to ensure that Louis made it safely out and could contact the Demon King Cult waiting outside Harmony City. The issue, however, was that Yeon-woo only had one body.

Ultimately, it had to be him who went into the Gate with Baek In-hwa. After all, he was the only true friend Baek In-hwa had. There were others like Namgung Seong or Je Gal Seong-ryong, but even if they met outside, it would only be for a quick greeting; no one could make plans to go into the Gate together like Yeon-woo could.

Thus, when exactly Baek In-hwa would get dragged into the Gate remained unknown. What she had been doing before getting caught up was still a mystery. Yeon-woo only knew she had been swept into the Gate in the city.

He would have to drag Baek In-hwa around all day under the pretense of needing to go to the Gate. Regardless of whether she got caught up in it that day or not, he’d need to loiter nearby for a while afterward.

Ultimately, saving Baek In-hwa’s life became not just about Yeon-woo’s desire to help her, but also about determining the points of various historical twists that would occur in the future.

The simple fact that Choi Yeon-woo had been accepted into the Academy might lead to causality that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. The minutiae, like consuming a potion meant for someone else, could affect whether a life would be saved or lost.

“So, should I go toward the purge operation?”

“Hmm… Eventually, I’ll have to try entering the Gate without Shar, but I don’t think it’s necessary for this time. Let’s focus on saving Baek In-hwa. We’ll leave the rest to someone else.”

“Someone else… who exactly?”

Is there anyone who can do that? Shar tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand.

It wouldn’t do to just point at anyone and say to send them.

“The best option would be Kim Hyun-soo… but… that might be difficult. It wouldn’t be right to act based solely on speculation about the chase name. I guess Namgung Seong or Je Gal Seong-ryong would have to do. Kim Yoo-min would be the ideal choice based on compatibility, but in this case, we should probably exclude him.”

Well, it wouldn’t be easy to casually ask either. He’d need to invest a month carefully to discuss matters.

And a month passed. Time was much like an addictively entertaining video, it would flow away before one knew it, making you a wandering traveler lost in the algorithmic gaps of life while robbing you of your concept of time.

It could surely be said that the process of learning swordsmanship was joyfully exhausting enough to make one forget time itself. Over the course of this month, Yeon-woo has devoted most of his effort to mastering swordsmanship.

While mastering magic or elemental enhancement would yield great results if fully learned, the physical exertion resulted in clearer accomplishments compared to mental cultivation.

Neglecting the magical aspects, which could have been of at least average talent, and continuously pouring time into unremarkably talented swordsmanship bore resemblance to the story of Kongji wasting water in a bottomless well until a toad blocked it; he found himself understanding the futility, but there was little he could do. After all, his master was a swordsmanship master.

Of course, he hadn’t just been training in solitude. If he finalized his discussions with Riley, he would have successfully arranged to receive items from Relin’s Warehouse, and he had also managed to seek help regarding the purge operation from Namgung Seong. Although Jung Yu-jin interfered somewhat during the process, he was also the one who provided information about the movements of the Demon King Cult.

Ultimately, the only thing left was a day out with Baek In-hwa.

[Why are you on a date with another girl!?]

‘No way, what date is this…?’

Sure, if you defined the action of a man and a woman dressed nicely walking through the city as a date, I could see some merit in it, but frankly, Yeon-woo felt it was quite unfair.

‘Who goes on a date wearing armor?’

Of course, it was light armor. He was wearing pieces that were uniquely tailored to important regions: a cuirass, shoulder guards, and the like.

To top it off, despite Baek In-hwa’s attire, Yeon-woo was in his school uniform. No casual outfit of his could possibly surpass the performance of a school uniform as magical garments rarely came through even at a Gate.

[Having a school uniform makes it feel even more like a date!]

‘Is it really like that??’

That thought felt absurd, but it also had a ring of truth to it. A school uniform date…? Oh, definitely…!

If only he had dated a girl during his school days, he might know something about it.

In any case, Yeon-woo was now on his way to his meeting spot with Baek In-hwa. Reflecting on it, perhaps choosing a city rendezvous was the root of this awkward sensation. They could’ve just met at the Academy gate.

The meeting time was precisely noon. The agreed-upon location was a park in front of City Hall. With it being a weekend afternoon, there were lots of people around, and there sat Baek In-hwa, waiting, dressed in a pure white hoodie that resembled snow, perched on the fountain.

Before speaking to Baek In-hwa, Yeon-woo took a deep breath. When would the day come that he would be sucked into the Gate? Would he end up wandering around this area the whole day, and then what backstory would he concoct then?

Lost in thought, he lifted his gaze, only to see a red-lit Gate emerge and devour the space around him, sucking Baek In-hwa’s body, who had been sitting near him.

“Forget about dating or anything else! Grab my hand!!”

“Ugh, Choi, Yeon-woo…!”

Having already been pulled to the halfway mark into the Gate, Baek In-hwa reflexively reached out with her hand.

He had once mentioned that the Gate that had killed Baek In-hwa was a closed-type Gate. In other words, if one was not recognized as part of the party—whether they connected physically or through mana—then there would be no saving her afterward.

Was she hesitating whether dragging her in was the right thing to do? With that thought lingering, Yeon-woo steely gripped Baek In-hwa’s left hand as she recoiled slightly.

(To be continued…)