Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Level up!

The age of the end. Park Jin-ho, who had lost his family, burned with revenge and subjugated gates and monsters without discrimination.

Those around pointed at him as a madman, but it didn't matter. Their blame would not bring his dead family back.

Beside Park Jin-ho, colleagues left one by one, and at the end only the Fist King and the Sword Saint remained.

In the end he could not stay with them to the last, but hatred of gates and monsters still remained deep in Park Jin-ho's heart.

[Name: Park Jin-ho

Age: 53

Skills: Intuition (C) → Martial God, No-Self (grade unmeasurable)... }

"I wish."

That day in the past, when gates first appeared in the world. The sight of the family he could not protect flashed through his mind like an afterimage.

"May the broken will awaken. May the forgotten name live again."

Past colleagues who had forcibly retired Park Jin-ho, weakening under a demon's curse. He still hated them. Why did they not send him to where his family was.

If not for the demon's curse, even if his colleagues blocked him, the strength to force it would have remained.

"Point to the original master."

Park Jin-ho woke the skill sleeping in his mana core. His potential, suppressed for decades by a demon, began to open its eyes now.

-Kwaaaaa!!!

Park Jin-ho's official rank is B. His skills are all C-rank at most. And the hunters who cleared gates with Park Jin-ho were S-rank even at that time.

It also meant his potential could not be judged by a mere skill grade.

And.

A storm of dark-red mana began to spread wide, with Park Jin-ho at the center.

"Hoo."

A sense of elevation, experienced after a long time. The demon's curse binding his mana core had vanished without a trace.

And Park Jin-ho could tell by intuition. If he had not taken the demon's curse. If he had not died in battle with monsters after that.

A supreme realm he would one day reach.

"Martial God, No-Self."

Realizing the meaning of the arrogant words written on the skill window, a bitter smile formed at Park Jin-ho's mouth.

'If it were now.'

He would not have lost his family. Sunk in that regret, a man's voice came to Park Jin-ho's ear.

"Senior!"

At Lee Si-u's urgent voice, Park Jin-ho lifted his head and only then grasped the present situation.

"This!"

Inside the gate. In an environment where a demon not bound to this world exerted its original strength at 100%, Kim Eun-ji was struggling against two demons.

"Leave one to me!"

Kicking off the empty air and dashing out like a shot, Park Jin-ho's fist went forward. Decades had passed, and his sense was still sharp.

-Whoong!

[Irre... gular!]

A demon speaking human words was certainly astonishing, but there is no reason to talk. They are all enemies of humanity.

One strike, certain kill. Park Jin-ho's strike, reviving the sense of the past, reached the demon.

-Kuuung!!

A transcendent being called a demon always spreads a powerful barrier around itself. If you cannot pierce this, fleeing the demon is the best course.

And.

[Kiki...!]

Beyond the barrier torn like paper, Park Jin-ho, gripping the demon's neck, laughed savagely. The demon met after a long time was still disgusting.

-Crack.

Twisting the neck, the demon's body fell limply to the ground. Carving that sight into his vision, Park Jin-ho turned his head, and Kim Eun-ji too was handling one demon with ease.

"Hmm..."

Clenching and opening his fist a moment, Park Jin-ho realized a little time remained until the present state ended.

Then.

"Do-hyeok."

Park Jin-ho moved his feet toward Kwon Do-hyeok, who was looking this way with his mouth open. He had something to say to a junior far below him.

"A senior looks like nothing to you?"

Now he was a national MC receiving the people's love with a gentle attitude, but in his day he was called Mad Demon, revered in the industry, just short of a villain, less than a hero.

He, gripping a mighty strength far surpassing his prime, grabbed Kwon Do-hyeok's head.

"S-Senior...?"

Stammering and looking up at Park Jin-ho, fear lay thick in Kwon Do-hyeok's eyes.

"Our talk isn't over yet. Right?"

Anger at losing his family. Guilt at failing to protect them. An incompetent head of a house who had survived alone. The anger of the Mad Demon, who had wounded himself for decades, turned wholly on Kwon Do-hyeok.

Curse it as taking it out. Point at him as petty, and he would smile and nod. So.

"You, take a few hits."

Park Jin-ho loathes hunters who do as they please, like Kwon Do-hyeok. Because of guys like this, his family died. In the age of the end he saw far too much trash. And so.

You who hold strength. Burn away, crushed by your own responsibility. Originally what Park Jin-ho said to his colleagues.

This was the reason the hunter industry called Park Jin-ho Mad Demon.

"S-save me...!"

Before Kwon Do-hyeok's words could end, a rupture that should not be heard from a human body rang inside the gate.

-Thud. Thud. Thwack!

"Keuuuk...!!"

**

"That's fierce."

Watching Park Jin-ho and Kim Eun-ji kill the demons from a distance, I let out admiration. The sight they showed was one even S-rank hunters could not show.

"A moment ago you said designate target. Is it related to your skill, Si-u?"

Then a man who looked to be the main PD of <​Beyond the Gate> pushed a camera in and spoke. Someone I had greeted when filming in passing before.

Back then we were both the youngest, and before I knew it it had become this.

"It's been a while. Mm. Related to my skill..."

What to do with this. No particular reason to hide it, since when I was at Deungcheon Guild I had said it outright. That I had the EX-rank supporter skill Polarity.

No one believed it.

But people with even a little interest would catch on soon.

"There is. But I won't say the details."

Recalling the moment contacts had flooded the guild not long ago, I shook my head. Saebit Guild was not ready yet.

I wanted to go around clearing gates with Kim Eun-ji more than filming broadcasts too.

"Wa..."

Then a woman who looked to be the youngest writer let out admiration. Turning my gaze where she was looking, I saw Park Jin-ho and Kwon Do-hyeok.

The reason for Park Jin-ho's retirement was not known to the public. But the sight he was showing now was too ruinous to call a retired hunter.

And those sights were being filmed wholly on camera.

-Thud. Thud. Thwack!

"Kwon Do-hyeok must be really glad Senior is back."

"Yes?"

At my joke, the youngest writer looked at me with a questioning face. Hmm. Not laughing at my high-class humor, a tough opponent.

"Look. How glad must he be, to turn somersaults like that."

"Ah. Haha. Right."

-Thud! Thwaaack!!

With a rupture ringing loud inside the gate, Kwon Do-hyeok leapt into the air several times. Certainly the guy seemed glad at Park Jin-ho's return too.

The man who had cheated with Kim Seol-yeon was like that, so my mood was good for no reason.

"Help... ugh! Save m...! Aak, stop...!"

He had acted that arrogant toward me, and in front of Park Jin-ho he was showing a thoroughly shabby sight.

A fatal sight indeed, for a proud S-rank hunter of Korea.

"If you air this, Asterion won't sit still, you know?"

Worried for no reason, I whispered to the main PD, and only one corner of his mouth rose.

"I'm going to air what that bastard did to our main MC."

Just recalling Kwon Do-hyeok's usual conduct, you could infer what he had done. And Park Jin-ho is a first-generation elder hunter who experienced the age of the end.

It also means a colleague of the Fist King and the Sword Saint, who hold powerful influence even now.

"Heh heh."

I didn't particularly want to think about what would happen from here.

-Step.

"Director oppa. Shouldn't we get out before Polarity releases?"

Then Kim Eun-ji, who had killed the demon, approached us. Come to think of it, Kim Eun-ji had almost no gate-clear experience.

"During a gate mutation, no need to go out."

If a gate mutates or rampages during an internal clear, there is no need to find a separate exit. Kill every monster existing inside, and an exit gate is generated on its own.

-Vmmm.

And before long, an exit gate shining green was generated.

"Senior!"

Calling Park Jin-ho, who was still beating Kwon Do-hyeok to a pulp, his head turned slightly my way.

"You have to go now!"

"...Is that so?"

Park Jin-ho, stroking the crown of Kwon Do-hyeok's head as if regretting it, clicked his tongue and walked our way.

Unlike the set before, an enormous spirit overflowed from his gait.

"Senior! There are ordinary people too!"

Polarity had not released yet, and Park Jin-ho is not the type to handle strength with care, so even the fine mana pouring from him was fatal to an ordinary person.

-Guuuu!

Fortunately I blocked it at the front of the staff. At that, Park Jin-ho gathered his strength with an awkward smile.

"Aigoo. Sorry. But when does this end?"

"It got longer when I leveled up this time, so I have to measure it separately too."

Confirming Ageil Guild Team 1's hunters slinging the fainted Kwon Do-hyeok over a shoulder and following, we escaped the gate.

Then.

"We've escaped!"

"All survived! Write it as an article!"

"I'd like an interview with Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok!"

Beyond a boundary line spread at a three-meter distance, cameras and reporters from countless stations were positioned.

Is this something that gathers this much.

"Now. Everyone, send the injured to the hospital first. That's fine, right?"

Park Jin-ho approached them with a soft smile, and.

-Vwoooong!

This time too, just as a powerful mana storm he had failed to control meant to sweep them.

"Tch."

Kim Eun-ji clicked her tongue as if bothered and drew the edge of her hand.

-Slide.

At her gesture, precisely touching the center point of the mana, fortunately no civilian was harmed, but at a sight far too shocking, everyone lost what to say.

"Ah. I can't control my strength right now. I'm sorry. Miss Eun-ji. Thank you."

The reporters, blankly watching Park Jin-ho scratch his head, then lifted their cameras and shutters began to flash.

"You retired at the limit of your talent, and awakened at a moment of crisis?!"

"Can you tell us by what method?!"

"Overcoming a crisis enough to faint even S-rank Hunter Kwon Do-hyeok, is that thanks to Hunter Park Jin-ho's awakening?!"

An enormous spotlight concentrated on him, and in that gap Kim Eun-ji and I could get out safely.

"Why?"

We're short on work as it is, shouldn't we promote now. At a question holding that intent, I shook my head.

"From last time, attention with nothing to gain is the worst."

We stuck to the phone answering until dawn, and what came back was only a station shoot. What we needed was not that.

So I decided to pick only the tasty things.

"If it's Senior Park Jin-ho, his connections are solid, so let's ask him to introduce us."

In the first place, Saebit Guild's zone now only produces low-rank gates with no particular byproducts.

Breaking a honey gate through Park Jin-ho's connections was the gain.

"Aha."

Leaving behind the reporters showering Park Jin-ho with questions, we got in the compact and returned to the lodging.

And.

"Ah. Senior's experience distribution."

Given Park Jin-ho's character, he would clear gates indiscriminately using Polarity, so I released the target first. And a red notification was blinking in a corner of my vision.

"Half this time too."

Eating it all alone pricked my conscience. He was someone who had treated me well, too.

-Ding!

[Level Up!] x10

Even leveling up, it was 10 UP like before. Probably because they killed two demons.

[A new function of Polarity is released. You acquire new skills through Polarity. Freeze (C). Mind's Eye (B). Intuition (C).]

"Huh?"

I acquired skills I had seen somewhere often. This, no way.

"I acquire the skills of hunters designated with Polarity?"

It seemed I was not a simple supporter type.