Clang!
He struck down the chain flying toward his neck with his sword—only for a rain of new chains to fall from above.
The chains stabbed into the ground on all sides, forming a circular cage around Cha Seohu to prevent him from escaping. They rose like the bars of a prison.
Just as he tried to cut his way through the chains and escape, a new chain whipped around Cha Seohu’s ankle.
“...!”
It coiled tightly and yanked him roughly.
Zzzzk! His body was dragged across the ground as one leg twisted unnaturally.
Before he could sever the chain around his ankle, a red cloth fluttered in front of his eyes, obscuring his vision.
“Kuh!”
As the cloth draped down and filled his sight, his neck was suddenly grabbed.
Cha Seohu let out a choked gasp as Eun Woojeong leaned down, tightening his grip even more. Their eyes met—Cha Seohu’s brow furrowed, and Eun Woojeong’s expression was hidden behind his mask.
After silently staring at the masked Eun Woojeong for a moment, Cha Seohu spoke first.
“Move.”
“......”
“I don’t have time for this. Right now—”
“Why not?”
Despite having just overpowered Cha Seohu without hesitation, Eun Woojeong’s voice was unexpectedly calm.
“Because you have to save everyone here with that oh-so-great skill of yours?”
“...And if that’s true? What does it have to do with you?”
“Hah.”
Eun Woojeong gave a short laugh, released his grip on Seohu’s neck, and grabbed his chin instead. He tilted Seohu’s face left and right, examining it, then muttered in disbelief.
“Not a single scratch.”
“What the—let go.”
“You’re talking just fine even while I was choking you.”
Cha Seohu was a Supporter, which meant his body was no different from a civilian’s.
So, his ankle should’ve broken from the chain, his face should’ve been scraped from being dragged across the dirt, and he should’ve had trouble breathing from being choked.
But look at him now.
His face was spotless, and even being choked hadn’t affected him. More importantly, he had responded calmly to an attack that most dealers wouldn’t even be able to react to.
He had even relaxed his body when Eun Woojeong charged him—he had deliberately allowed himself to be overpowered.
There was no way he was a Supporter. The person in front of Eun Woojeong was undeniably the S-rank dealer, Cover.
...But then why.
“Why can you use that skill?”
“......”
“I’m talking about Hunter Cha Seohu’s skill. How is this possible?”
Was there an item that could transfer skills? Or an item that altered your body, like what dealers used...?
“...Hah.”
Eun Woojeong scoffed and brushed away the useless thoughts cluttering his mind.
As if. If such an item existed, the head of an intelligence organization like him would’ve known long ago.
Once he cleared away those nonsense theories, only one possibility remained.
“So it was a skill all along, huh?”
Eun Woojeong had always been curious.
What kind of skill Cover possessed.
He had suspected it was some kind of warp-type ability, but too many things didn’t add up.
If it were just a warp skill, there’d be no reason to hide it so obsessively.
Knowing Cover’s personality, Eun Woojeong had figured the skill must be either strange or easily abused, and that’s why he kept it hidden.
But what kind of skill was it, really?
It’d be nice if he told him. Though a bit disappointed, he still understood why Cover tried to hide it.
He was, after all, the head of an intelligence organization that sold any and every piece of profitable information. Only an idiot would share a secret like that.
He understood... and that’s what made him want it even more.
If, one day, Cover were to personally reveal the secret he had been hiding—that would mean he trusted Eun Woojeong enough not to care about his background.
Just imagining it felt strangely satisfying.
While waiting for that day to come, Eun Woojeong had even shown his trust first by revealing one of his own secrets. It had been a big gamble for him.
The underground lab that had been secretly developing teleportation items without state approval.
Things had gone off track halfway through, but in the end, he thought the mood between them hadn’t been so bad...
“All pointless, huh.”
Eun Woojeong muttered bitterly, like spitting something out, then let go of Cha Seohu and stood up.
Cover didn’t have a skill.
Becoming Cover itself was the skill.
“Must’ve been fun. Having people fawn over you while knowing absolutely nothing.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Why? I think I’d find that pretty entertaining.”
Cha Seohu stood and brushed the dirt off his clothes with a lazy swipe of his hand.
“If you’re not gonna help, then piss off. I don’t have time to babysit you.”
Eun Woojeong’s brow twitched behind the mask as he watched Seohu turn away without hesitation. His lips curled into a crooked smirk.
“Are you even human?”
“What?”
“I mean, come on. How can one person have skills like that?”
Eun Woojeong slowly scanned the area.
Hunters who would’ve died on the cold ground if not for Cha Seohu, the cleanly purified monster blood, the overflowing presence of buffs.
“The world’s first SS-rank Supporter. It’s surprising, sure, but not unthinkable. It’s been decades since the first Awakeners—mutants like them showed up. A higher-level mutation showing up now? Within the realm of possibility.”
“......”
“But you... don’t you think you’re pushing it a bit? It’s hard not to be suspicious.”
“Spare me the bullshit and get lost.”
“Oh, right—you were kidnapped by that human experimentation lab, weren’t you?”
Cha Seohu stopped in his tracks.
“Or maybe... you’re something more like this.”
Eun Woojeong lightly kicked the corpse of a goat-headed monster lying on the ground.
“Not like there’s a shortage of humanoid monsters. To perfectly replicate a human appearance like you, though... they’d need some serious research. What do they call those again? Chimeras?”
The insults didn’t stop.
Cha Seohu, still facing away, listened in silence. Then he lifted his head.
He stared up at the blood-red sky split open by the rift and let out a deep sigh.
Then, without ever looking back at Eun Woojeong, he resumed walking.
Ironically, it was Eun Woojeong—completely ignored—whose emotions were the most shaken. He bit his lip and called after Seohu.
“Hey.”
“......”
“So you can’t even deny it? You feeling guilty or something?”
“...Haa.”
A sigh full of irritation burst out.
“Hey.”
Finally, Cha Seohu called his name.
But before he could say anything more, a massive shadow loomed over them.
Eun Woojeong reacted first, wrapping a chain around Cha Seohu’s waist and yanking him back. The moment Seohu was pulled away, something huge crashed down where he had just stood.
Boom!
The thunderous ~Nоvеlight~ flap of giant bat wings echoed through the air.
Hunters who had been fighting gremlins nearby fled in a panic. With a guttural growl, a goat-headed monster let out a scorching breath.
The thick stench of sulfur spread.
Alarmed, Cha Seohu looked around for Cha Sahyeon—but he was nowhere to be seen.
'Where did he go?'
At least the goat monster Sahyeon had been fighting was also gone. That was something.
Kwon Taehyuk and Song Jiwoon had already taken down another one. Which meant this was the third and final goat monster.
“Let go.”
Cha Seohu pushed against Eun Woojeong’s chest and grabbed his sword hilt tightly.
Cha Sahyeon was missing, and the other S-ranks were off searching for flowers. Which meant only he and Eun Woojeong were left to handle the monster.
“I’ll listen to your complaints later. Let’s take care of this first.”
He spoke in a weary voice and glanced sideways at Eun Woojeong.
But no reply came.
Eun Woojeong, who’d been chattering so smugly earlier, suddenly had his lips sealed.
'This bastard’s not planning to ditch me, is he?'
If it were any other S-rank, he’d trust them. But it was Eun Woojeong. Which meant he had every reason to be suspicious.
Cha Seohu stared at him calmly with a wary gaze.
Eun Woojeong held that gaze for a few seconds, then turned forward again.
“...Guess your face does show up well, at least.”
He mumbled something cryptic and summoned dozens of chains. So at least he wasn’t planning to run away.
Relieved, Cha Seohu grabbed Eun Woojeong’s hand.
Eun Woojeong flinched at the sudden contact.
Pretending not to notice, Cha Seohu activated his skill.
《Skill: Bond of the Guardian (SS-rank) activated!》
《Primary skill damage increased. (Target: Eun Woojeong) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》
《Base speed increased. (Target: Eun Woojeong) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》
《Stabilization effect applied. (Target: Eun Woojeong) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》
It was a handshake-type buff, so it only lasted five minutes, but that was more than enough to face the monster before them.
The moment the buff was applied, Cha Seohu released his hand and stepped forward.
The tip of his sword pointed toward the massive monster that loomed several times his size.

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