The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All

It was amusing to see the members of the Hayabusa Guild frantically chasing behind him.

On one hand, he thought it was eerie how meticulously they had set up the trap.

As he moved further from the entrance, the number of bodies piled up here and there seemed to increase.

Some had managed to escape the dangerous area near the entrance.

However, the joy was short-lived, as he found a body not too far away with a hole through the back of the skull.

Kang-hoo checked the location he had set for ‘Teleportation’ again.

It was right in front of the entrance.

Meaning, if he used teleportation, he could appear at the entrance, which also served as the exit, and leave immediately.

As long as he wasn’t caught or killed here, there was no need to worry about escaping. He just shouldn’t get distracted.

Amidst this, the sound of gunfire loudly assaulted Kang-hoo’s ears.

Despite hearing the gunshots, he didn’t dodge because his intuition had not been triggered.

His intuition not being triggered meant the aim wasn’t precise, so there was no need to worry.

“It’s absurd.”

Yes, it truly is.

It was astonishing that a being with such powers, a Constellation, had offered him a contract, bowing unilaterally to him.

Reflecting on it, it felt like a blessing to have encountered the Strategist of the Wilderness.

“A chase without a challenge isn’t fun.”

While evading his pursuers, Kang-hoo orchestrated the situation just as he had envisioned.

【Collapse】

The skill he actively used was ‘Collapse’, which he had acquired in a dungeon he entered with Yun Sang-mi.

Crack-crunch!

As soon as he used the Collapse skill, a pit formed instantly as if he had dug the ground with an invisible excavator.

The pit was large enough to bury at least a dozen adults, not something to be overlooked.

“An assassin that digs pits? That’s really crossing the line.”

He chuckled.

The sight of him running while creating pits behind him with a dagger in hand was a picture he couldn’t get used to.

Just then.

……!

His intuition triggered.

【Cutie!】

Kang-hoo created a slime and swiftly moved to the right using the quick evasion skill.

Boom!

Then, exposed to sniper fire, the slime’s eyes turned into X’s, and it burst in place like a popped balloon.

There were nine snipers chasing him.

All armed, they were numerically overwhelming, but it didn’t mean they were at an advantage.

The snipers, going through the aiming process, posed no challenge for Kang-hoo.

However, there was an exception.

One of them pulled the trigger immediately without a separate aiming process, using what’s commonly referred to in games as ‘no-zoom’; the original term was ‘eye aiming’.

It’s a method only skilled hunters capable of precise sniping can manage because it’s extremely hard to hit the target.

The moment his intuition was triggered, the trigger was already pulled, making it a challenging foe for Kang-hoo.

Thus, Kang-hoo decided to disrupt his opponent’s vision even more by using Shadow Step.

No matter how good he was at evading, it wasn’t possible to dodge bullets indefinitely.

And bullets were the best means of killing, as a single mistake could be fatal.

“Let’s see how resilient you guys are.”

Kang-hoo clenched his teeth and increased his speed.

He was in the dungeon to obtain a set item. There was no way he was thinking of giving up now.

At the same time.

“It’s funny how coincidences work.”

The look in her eyes sparkled as she chased Kang-hoo.

She hadn’t expected to encounter this man here, hence her thoughts on coincidence.

Previously, when Kang-hoo had come to deliver a Red Key to the First Research Institute under Jungmun Regulation.

It was this sniper, who had been checking sniper points inside the institute and monitoring the market fluctuations.

Her reason for being here was simple: she was employed as a mercenary by the Hayabusa Guild.

Famous for her sniping skills, she had traveled from the vast lands of Korea to Japan.

Her skills needed no verification.

Back then, just by supporting a single sniping attempt, she had cut off two of Jungmun Regulation’s fingers.

Knowing what kind of hunter Jungmun Regulation was, she had no reason to doubt Kang-hoo’s abilities.

So, it wasn’t strange that the snipers around her kept missing consecutively.

It was an expected outcome.

Even then, Kang-hoo had easily dodged the concentrated sniper fire from the multinational mercenaries.

As if he had an early warning system. Thanks to that, the snipers had become the laughing stock.

“I’m supposed to specialize in quick movement, yet the distance isn’t closing.”

She felt tense.

She thought she was good at both sniping and chasing, but Kang-hoo was an exception.

Discussing the pursuit of a nimble assassin might seem absurd.

But the important thing was that Kang-hoo was continuously dodging while being targeted by the snipers.

He wasn’t just blindly running; he was moving while dodging from side to side, with the snipers trailing behind him.

Yet, they still couldn’t catch up.

If it had been a straightforward race, Kang-hoo would have been lost beyond the horizon long ago.

“Damn it, let’s just give up.”

“Hey, he’s getting farther away, damn!”

“Damn it…”

Swearing erupted from behind.

These guys were good with magic bullets but utterly useless in a prolonged chase.

All of them were gasping for breath, losing the will to continue the pursuit and stopping in their tracks.

Initially, there were nine pursuers, but now only she remained. She probably figured that was enough.

That was because the entrance and the exit were the same, so she calculated that she would inevitably meet Kang-hoo again.

“I don’t want to kill him; I’m just curious about what kind of person he is.”

She picked up her pace again, thinking differently from the snipers who had been chasing Kang-hoo before.

They say if coincidence happens twice, it’s fate.

She had been intrigued by the hunter’s true nature back then too, wondering what abilities he had and what kind of hunter he was.

Of course, in a world where even knowing each other’s names was difficult, a proper introduction was unlikely.

Still, she had wanted to exchange words. If she had known, she would have spoken to him at the research institute back then.

Back then, she had blocked off the opportunity to connect, thinking herself a mystic or something similar.

Hissing.

Soon after, she broke away from her group and eagerly followed Kang-hoo.

“Hey, hey! Why are you following him?”

“Just stop, man!”

“Forget it. That guy, he’s just a mercenary anyway. Let him do what he wants. Dying is his fate, whatever.”

“She’s got some nerve…”

A few hunters tried to stop her, but they weren’t very insistent.

After all, she was just a temporary mercenary. They didn’t see any need to be overly concerned about her.

Just as the distance neither closed nor widened, Kang-hoo looked back.

He witnessed an unexpected situation.

He was already aware that the only sniper following him was the hunter who had been eye-aiming.

But he had focused solely on disturbing her line of sight and keeping distance, not knowing when he might be shot.

But when he looked back, at some point, she was no longer aiming her magic bullet gun at him.

She had slung it over her back. There appeared to be no other weapon in her hands, nor did it look like a pistol.

Moreover, her hands were raised as if she had no intention of fighting.

“……”

So, Kang-hoo stopped as well.

Simultaneously, she also stopped and gestured with her hands that she wanted to talk.

‘If we close the distance completely, it will also increase the opportunities for me.’

It seemed there was no significant risk in talking to her up close.

At close range, an assassin has a definitive advantage over a gunner.

Kang-hoo stood still as she gradually approached him.

Although they were both masked, as she got closer, it became apparent she was a woman.

The thick double eyelids and the long hair flowing out from behind her hat were telltale signs.

Once they were sufficiently close, she was the first to break the silence.

“You. The First Research Institute under Jungmun?”

“Hmm?”

At first, he wasn’t sure what she meant.

He thought he might have misheard. It wasn’t a situation where a conversation about the Jungmun Research Institute should come up.

As Kang-hoo looked puzzled, she explained further.

“I was the one who sniped to support you back then.”

“Was that so?”

Kang-hoo’s response was nonchalant.

He certainly remembered. During that time, he had received help from a sniper while fighting Jungmun Regulation.

But that alone didn’t mean she had been there on the field with him.

“We had made eye contact, didn’t we? You wanted to strategically draw in Jungmun Regulation for a counterattack.”

“Hmm.”

“At that time, I recognized your plan and adjusted my sniping tempo accordingly. I just didn’t want to expose my identity by greeting you since I was there as a mercenary.”

Kang-hoo nodded.

Whether or not she had been the sniper inside the institute at that time wasn’t very important to him.

He felt grateful for the help, but that was it.

However, he did think she was skilled, separate from that.

The abilities she demonstrated in the dungeon today were no ordinary feat.

The methods to counter her were straightforward, but if they hadn’t been, he might have been shot by now.

“Back then, when I saw you cut off Jungmun Regulation’s fingers, I thought you were exceptionally skilled. And today is no different.”

“I appreciate the compliment if that’s what it is.”

“The world is really small, isn’t it?”

“Indeed. I’m not sure if you were that person back then, but if you were, I would have liked to thank you.”

He spoke plainly.

It was also a chance to say something he hadn’t said back then. Whether she was the person or not didn’t matter much now.

“Could you contact me if you ever need a capable gunner? I really like skilled assassins.”

A flush appeared momentarily between her masked eyes.

What’s with this woman? It wasn’t as if he had said something particularly embarrassing, but she seemed shy.

The mood didn’t quite match, but personal preferences vary, so he would respect that.

Just as Kang-hoo preferred Park Dong-jae, a buffer, she had a preference for assassins.

The more an assassin attracts the enemy’s attention, the more opportunities a sniper has to take a shot.

But that’s only when they’re working together; it’s a completely different story if they’re adversaries.

She pulled out a piece of paper from her bosom and quickly scribbled something with a pen she had on hand.

Then, she crumpled it slightly and threw it to Kang-hoo.

It was the address for a secure Huntergram account, similar to one he had received from Takashi before.

It’s a private account shared only with specific people and is never exposed on any public account.

“My name is Ayane. Please contact me. I really want to… do something with a skilled assassin.”

“State your objective clearly. What do you want to do?”

Kang-hoo sharply retorted to ‘Ayane,’ who had oddly blushed to this point.