Retire 335
by Cristae335 Smuggling Reports: 125(3)
“All right.”
Hong Seok-young looked down at the child standing before him, whose face was sullen and posture rebellious. The boy had been standing like that for some time, clearly dissatisfied about something.
If it had been in the past, he would have mistaken that attitude for a fit of irritation. No, he most certainly would have misunderstood.
But now, Hong Seok-young was familiar enough to read the boy’s embarrassment at a glance. If he truly had a complaint, he wouldn’t have gotten up at this early hour—before sunrise—to follow him here.
In the past, he might have thought the boy was just pretending to be considerate as he followed along, but… thinking back to the runaway incident a few years ago, that was hardly the case. Those days were behind them now. And the boy had never been one to hide his feelings, especially when it came to things he disliked.
“Shall we start by warming up?”
After confirming that there were no signs of anyone having been in the clearing, Hong Seok-young took his place at its center. He checked for this every day, just in case, but so far, no one had ever trespassed here. After all, the entrance to the mountain was plastered with warning signs declaring it private property, and there was even a dungeon left deliberately unsealed. Unless someone had nerves of steel, they wouldn’t dare enter.
In reality, it was an E-rank dungeon, but it was registered as an A-rank.
Was it really all right to do such a thing?
Of course not.
Hong Seok-young scoffed inwardly. Despite everything, he had chosen to build a family again, and to save the world. But the world could not be protected by methods that were only clean and beautiful, and to Hong Seok-young, his family was more important.
If it was for a quiet moment with his son, was this much too much to ask? When he thought about what had happened in the past, if he couldn’t even do this, nothing else would matter. If only he had been a little more selfish back then, maybe that child could have lived…
“…Uncle?”
“Hm?”
“Are we going to keep going?”
Hong Seok-young shrugged.
Enough with the past. Now he needed to focus on the time he had with his son.
“No. You’re all warmed up, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then…”
By the time they finished their warm-up, dawn had broken. Hong Seok-young nodded.
“Let’s try something a little different today.”
“Something different?”
“With your skills, you won’t die wherever you go. Of course…”
“…As long as I don’t let my guard down?”
“Exactly. You’re still lacking in real-world experience, but you’ll get the hang of it after a few trips through the dungeon.”
The boy had said he didn’t want to be a Hunter, but ironically, among all the Hunter trainees Hong Seok-young had seen, the boy was one of the most talented.
It wasn’t just because he could see mana.
Hong Seok-young recalled the first time he’d taught the boy.
He hadn’t even known how to move his body, awkward and unsure. It wasn’t because he was bad at sports—he simply didn’t know how. How much exercise could a child raised in isolation have experienced? Thinking about it, the year he’d spent in the orphanage, the boy must have struggled desperately just to survive.
The child—Hong Seok-young’s son, Woo Hee-jae—was overflowing with talent despite such a background.
He absorbed everything as if parched for knowledge, which made Hong Seok-young proud, amused, and a little sad. He resolved to teach the boy everything he could. It was something he had always wanted to do if he ever had a son, and with the boy so eager to learn, what father could ignore that?
“I don’t want to go into the dungeon.”
“Why? You said it was fine last time.”
“That’s true, but… it’s just too complicated inside a dungeon.”
At Woo Hee-jae’s words, Hong Seok-young’s eyes widened. He’d expected another protest about not wanting to be a Hunter, but this was different.
“Complicated?”
“Well… because I can see mana, I don’t know if what I’m seeing is the same as what others see… The sky is too complicated, and when the core breaks, it’s blinding.”
“I see. That must be difficult, too.”
It was a problem he’d never even considered. Hong Seok-young nodded.
Woo Hee-jae waited quietly for Hong Seok-young’s next words. If he were still in elementary school, he would have shouted, “What does it matter to you, uncle?” But now, he was looking to him for answers.
Thinking of how far they had come, Hong Seok-young was proud of his son. So he spoke gently.
“I hadn’t thought of that. But you can’t avoid dungeons altogether, so let’s think about how to handle it together, all right?”
“…Yes!”
“Not just in dungeons—similar things can happen outside, too, so it’s good to be prepared. But today!”
Hong Seok-young clapped his hands.
“As I said, we’re going to try something a little different.”
A student with curiosity was a good thing. Even better if they had the will to learn.
Woo Hee-jae listened intently to Hong Seok-young’s words.
Yes, Woo Hee-jae had talent. He might not have been free from annoyance, but the fact that he followed him out every morning meant he was interested in ‘getting stronger.’ That was fine. Even if dungeon management was more stable than before, one could never be too careful. Having a way to protect oneself was a blessing.
But sometimes, Hong Seok-young wondered what would have happened if Woo Hee-jae had truly ‘made up his mind.’ If he had decided to become a Hunter, and no one had been there to set him straight. If he hadn’t found Woo Hee-jae at that orphanage, if he hadn’t seen the fury in his eyes—what then?
“So, what’s the thing you should be most wary of inside a dungeon?”
Woo Hee-jae did not hesitate. It wasn’t hesitation, exactly—he simply lacked a clear standard. He didn’t have the sense of boundaries that most people developed naturally as children.
He knew the reason. How could a child born and raised in a world completely cut off from the outside know such things? What people called “knowing your limits” was, in the end, an unspoken agreement among people.
That was why Hong Seok-young had such a hard time teaching Woo Hee-jae. Most people disliked certain things, avoided certain behaviors.
The boy, who used to calculate profit and loss even among his peers, had gradually stabilized, perhaps thanks to all the effort. The first time he accepted pocket money to go out with friends—after refusing it for so long because he “had no use for it”—he even shed a few tears.
Woo Hee-jae would make a fine Hunter. He would be famous for charging through raids without mercy or hesitation.
But Hong Seok-young didn’t want his son to walk that path. Fortunately, Woo Hee-jae didn’t want it either.
So now, Hong Seok-young resolved to teach Woo Hee-jae something different from what he had taught the boy who had become the ace of the administration.
‘…Do you really want to learn?’
‘Yes, teacher. Please teach me.’
‘Are you sure? There’s no turning back from this, Ji-eun.’
‘There was never a way back to begin with, teacher. It’s all right. Please, teach me.’
‘Ji-eun.’
‘Teach me how to hunt humans.’
“Isn’t it monsters?”
“Everyone knows there are monsters in the dungeon. We need to be prepared for the unexpected.”
“…The environment? Every dungeon is different.”
“Not wrong. But—”
Hong Seok-young tossed a wooden spear to Woo Hee-jae. Hee-jae caught it and gave it a light swing. Even the habit of tapping the spearhead lightly was just like him.
They say you shouldn’t even drink water carelessly in front of children.
He’s picked up even my habits already.
Hong Seok-young let out a small laugh and continued his explanation.
“Always, the thing you need to be most wary of is other people.”
“…Hunters?”
Woo Hee-jae furrowed his brow.
“Well… they might panic during a raid, or something like that?”
“That’s right.”
There were also Hunters who sneaked into dungeons illegally, or illegal Awakened.
Hong Seok-young swallowed the rest. There was no way the boy would ever enter a dungeon that would attract such people.
“That’s why it’s good to know how to subdue them.”
“Can’t I just knock them out?”
“And who’s going to carry them out?”
“……”
“If there’s no other way, that’s fine. But panic doesn’t always mean a failed raid. Rare as it is, there are monsters that can charm or bewitch people.”
Woo Hee-jae’s frown deepened.
Sensing what Woo Hee-jae was thinking, Hong Seok-young added in a casual tone. He had to keep the boy from going down that path.
“What would you do with a Hunter under a monster’s spell? Would you kill them?”
“…That’s why I’d knock them out.”
“Yes, yes. Knock them out. Anyway, today I’ll teach you how to subdue a Hunter.”
Woo Hee-jae thought for a moment, then asked,
“Can’t I use the same methods as when fighting humanoid monsters?”
“Human bodies aren’t that sturdy, Hee-jae.”
“But Hunters are tough.”
“But they’re still people. If you treat them too inhumanely, you could get sued, you know?”
“……”
At the mention of a lawsuit, Woo Hee-jae fell silent.
Hong Seok-young roughly tousled the boy’s hair, then took his stance.
“Then you’ll have to learn through practice!”
“Isn’t it just that you can’t explain it?”
“It’s easier to understand this way than with words!”
Hong Seok-young grinned slyly and shouted,
“Come on, attack me!”
Hong Seok-young’s movements were nothing short of art.
At the same time, they were movements I had never seen before.
I never knew Hong Seok-young could suppress his presence like that. The Hong Seok-young I knew was always loud and boisterous.
Of course, he was a Hunter. A man who hunted monsters. Naturally, he knew when to hold his breath and wait. But now, what Hong Seok-young was hunting was not a monster, but a human.
Long ago, my father had once demonstrated how to subdue a person, insisting that real experience was the best teacher, and telling me to attack him—then overpowering me with brute force.
It was easy to understand. But having experienced it myself, I could now feel just how different Hong Seok-young was in this moment.
This was it. What my father had taught my sister, but never taught me.
“……”
Hong Seok-young moved as if gliding. There was none of his usual weight or presence. Like a cloud drifting on the wind, like a fish swimming through water, like a snake slithering along the ground.
Even without the rune, it would have been hard to keep my eyes on him. In an instant, Hong Seok-young seized the hand of the warehouse worker—the one that had reached for the police officer. Every finger was mercilessly twisted. Before the man could even scream, Hong Seok-young kicked his collapsing body aside and stomped on his knee. He crushed the ankle of the other leg. When the only remaining uninjured hand flailed, he grabbed it and twisted it the wrong way. There was no mercy in his hands.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. So quietly, in fact, that the commotion inside the warehouse—sparked by the pebble Hong Seok-young had thrown—hadn’t alerted anyone near the entrance to what was happening outside.
Hong Seok-young took off his hat and greeted the police with leisurely ease.
“Hey, good morning.”
And, to my surprise, the police greeted him in kind.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Oh, you’re the ones working hard. Looks like our timing was just right, huh?”
“You know as well as anyone how things go in this line of work, sir.”
“That’s true.”
The police spoke with easy smiles, entirely at ease.
“So, shall we proceed as usual?”