Chapter 20 – Lee Se-min Sortie

Since you became a Raider, you must hunt magic beasts, right?

Raider Lee Se-min! Sortie!

Hunt 500 magic beasts.

Quest Reward 150P

Se-min immediately closed the browser and hit the keyboard.

“Damn it, is this a grind or what!”

He buried his face in a pillow and despaired. Come to think of it, it was Hyun Jae-young’s pillow. He immediately wiped his mouth.

“I’m hungry.”

He searched the refrigerator but saw nothing.

He left the house and headed to a convenience store.

It was already night.

Se-min put his hands in his pockets and recalled a list of instant ramen he could barely remember. The ramen he liked was the stir-fried champon type.

Se-min suddenly stopped.

Since it was an apartment complex, benches and playgrounds were situated in each block.

Hyun Jae-young was there.

Hyun Jae-young was sitting on a bench under the streetlamp light, talking to someone on the phone. Se-min crept closer. Hyun Jae-young’s low voice was heard.

“Yeah. Are you home now?”

The voice beyond the phone did not speak long.

Hyun Jae-young continued the conversation with his head hung.

“I see. I trained with Se-min today. Yeah. Se-min is really strong. I must learn a lot too. Mark? I don’t really know either. He seemed stronger than the boss…”

Se-min turned back.

He went to the convenience store, bought a bundle of ramen, and also bought a few cans of beer. After paying with Hyun Jae-young’s card, he immediately cracked open a can in front of the convenience store.

*Pssh*, the carbonation escaped.

Se-min gulped it down. The cold liquid passed his throat and cooled his stomach.

“Tai Chi refers to yin and yang, heaven, earth, and human, and further refers to origin, prosperity, utility, and perseverance…”

Humming as he returned, Hyun Jae-young was still sitting on that bench.

Se-min approached. He was no longer on the phone.

He held out a beer can to him. Hyun Jae-young lifted his head in surprise, and pulled the corners of his mouth upon identifying Se-min.

“What is it?”

Se-min said.

“Why did you try to become a Raider?”

“Huh?”

At the sudden question, Hyun Jae-young put the beer can to his mouth.

“Just to make a living. What about you, brother?”

“Me too.”

Se-min left the beer can, went to the playground pull-up bar, and did a few pull-ups. It used to be so difficult, but now he felt he could do them all night.

“Do you like your girlfriend a lot?”

Se-min asked abruptly.

Watching Se-min do pull-ups, Hyun Jae-young laughed.

“Yeah.”

“Then you know it can’t go on like this, right?”

Hyun Jae-young merely smiled bitterly and did not answer.

Se-min continued.

“You probably know best.”

If Se-min, who met him not long ago, could notice it, the person himself would know best.

Se-min sat beside Hyun Jae-young and grabbed the beer can again. The two clinked their cans and gulped again.

“I know too. That Ye-na meets me because I’m a Raider. And that she meets other Raiders too.”

Hyun Jae-young opened his mouth.

“She had such an obsession since childhood because her family was poor. What can I do? She has a trauma due to her family environment. The problem is me, who keeps staying at Blue Mark.”

“So you will keep meeting her until the end?”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

Se-min stood up from his seat.

Humans choose on their own. They were such entities.

Se-min crushed the empty can and threw it behind him. The can drew a gentle parabola and was sucked into the trash can.

“It’s special training starting tomorrow, ya punk. Green? Gold? That is nothing. Just believe in me and follow.”

***

Se-min concentrated his mind, placing his palm on Hyun Jae-young’s back.

He was interpreting the aura situated in Hyun Jae-young’s body. It was a force mixed with impurities and turbidity. The total amount was sufficient, but the efficiency was poor, and the process of completing a cycle in the body was not uniform.

However, it wasn’t because Hyun Jae-young was particularly deficient.

This was the general state of an aura.

The Tai Chi Wisdom Se-min obtained was merely a divine art.

“Follow the path I lead.”

“Yeah.”

Hyun Jae-young’s aura began to move in the manner of Hak-jae’s Divine Art. Then it clashed and warped in all directions. The energy tried to proceed in the original way it flowed.

Se-min and Hyun Jae-young guided the aura to a new path.

Se-min had suffered from blocked meridians.

To heal that, he practiced Tai Chi Wisdom.

Both required delicate control ability. As the two overlapped, the difficulty doubled. However, Se-min did it. Thus, his aura adjustment ability went beyond the level of an ordinary person.

Se-min’s aura dwelt in Hyun Jae-young’s aura. Although it was an act that could be dangerous, the Tai Chi Wisdom was an energy that embraced all things in the universe.

“Wait. This is turbidity…”

“Follow.”

To oppose magic beasts, various aura methods were created.

Everyone wanted to possess pure and clean energy. Thus, even the common method taught at academies distanced itself from turbidity and accumulated pure energy.

However, Se-min was rather drawing in turbidity and mixing it with Hyun Jae-young’s aura. It was natural for Hyun Jae-young to be shocked. He was merely following because his aura might reverse flow, but he probably wanted to stop immediately.

Instead of explaining, Se-min circulated the aura faster so he couldn’t think of other things.

When Hyun Jae-young’s aura reached a certain orbit, Se-min opened his mouth.

“Turbidity does not exist.”

Pure things, turbid things, clean things, and dirty things were all part of the world.

“Your aura is not clean, but merely lost balance.”

The Tai Chi Wisdom saves or kills people depending on Se-min’s state of mind. The aura method Noh Hak-jae passed down was also similar to Tai Chi Wisdom.

It encompasses everything.

It was truly harmonious.

“Ugh…”

Hyun Jae-young still didn’t seem to understand. Se-min smirked. It didn’t matter.

“Circulate it diligently.”

His current state was like riding a tiger’s back. Since he couldn’t stop the aura, he had to keep circulating until the acceleration stopped.

No one could help him with that.

“I am going to work.”

“Ugh…!”

Hyun Jae-young tried to say something, but eventually shut his mouth due to the reverse flow and concentrated on the aura method.

Giggling, Se-min left the training ground and went to the office.

Yoo Sang-heun was sitting in his seat, reading articles about foreign football.

“Do you like football? Surely you don’t write malicious comments, saying they are relegation candidates, it’s science, or they aren’t a big club?”

“Ahem, I do no such thing.”

“Boss. Give me work. I want to work.”

“Finally?”

Se-min had not been deployed to actual combat for a while because he was teaching Hyun Jae-young.

It was his first raid.

“You know the raid procedure, right?”

“Of course. I am from a raid academy. I was a model student.”

“Model student?”

He scanned Se-min from head to toe.

No matter how he looked, he did not look like a model student. Standing with his hands shoved in a dragon-patterned jacket and shaking one leg, a thug was standing there.

“The jacket is cool, right?”

“…Here it is.”

Yoo Sang-heun handed Se-min a document.

The gate location and magic beast information were organized.

The gate forecast location was a library in Seocho-gu. The Raider Bureau expected a level that could be handled by Blue Mark Raiders alone. The gate pattern indicated a Mallak.

Harmful magic beast system number 75, Mallak.

It resembled a monkey but had scales instead of fur. Its grip strength was strong enough to tear a person apart in an instant, and its jumping power was good, so it could break the encirclement and attack civilians if they were careless.

“Good.”

“Good?”

Mallaks had low rewards compared to their difficulty. They were avoided.

“The money is not good, but the opponent is annoying. Everyone dislikes it because it’s a headache?”

“I am different. Am I not Lee Se-min?”

Se-min pointed to himself with his thumb.

“What is there to like or dislike about saving citizens? Everyone’s mindset is rotten. If the world is peaceful with the hardship of this body, I will gladly walk the path of Shura!”

Yoo Sang-heun couldn’t tell if that was sincere or a concept.

He just pushed his back.

“I will give you the key, drive my car.”

“I don’t have a driver’s license.”

“Huh?”

“I will take a taxi.”

“Uh, right…”

Since Se-min still had no income, he went to the training ground and took the card from Hyun Jae-young’s wallet.

He still couldn’t move. He lightly ignored Hyun Jae-young’s resentful look.

***

Se-min read the materials in the taxi.

Since there were many apartments and a school located around the gate occurrence site, action was urgent. The minimum raid headcount was five, and the recommended headcount was eight. Up to twelve could apply.

Access was already controlled around the library.

The taxi driver said.

“Customer. They say a gate has appeared over there, so access is controlled?”

“Keep going inside.”

“Yes?”

“I am a Raider.”

“You are, customer?”

The taxi driver’s face in the rearview mirror was not a convinced expression. Still, he pressed the accelerator.

Soon they were blocked by the Raider Bureau control team.

“You cannot enter.”

“No, this, the customer says he is a Raider?”

“Yes?”

Se-min rolled down the window and stuck his face out.

“I am a Raider!”

Se-min showed his Raider license. The Bureau employee stared at Se-min’s license for a long time and then nodded.

“Yes. Enter.”

The taxi advanced to the place where cars were parked.

Although they were said to be Blue Mark Raiders, the cars were all foreign imports. It seemed the earnings of Raiders were indeed good. Se-min whistled while looking at sports cars whose names he didn’t know.

People were gathered at the entrance of the library. The tactical vehicle of the Raider Bureau was also visible.

A few recognized him and tilted their heads.

“Who is that?”

Se-min waved his hand.

The Raiders murmured.

“Who is that?”

“What is it?”

“Shouldn’t we kick him out?”

The man walking sluggishly in a dragon Sukajan jacket did not seem like an ordinary person or a Raider.

Kim Yu-ri, who was full of enthusiasm as a rookie Raider, asked the Raider Bureau employee.

“Who is that person?”

“One more was scheduled to come, it seems to be him.”

“That person?”

She looked at the man again. Now that she saw, a sword hilt was shaking on his back. It meant he was a Raider.

He came in front of the Raiders and bowed.

“Hello. I am Lee Se-min, the magic beast cleaner, the slaughterer of magic beasts, the mana stone manufacturer, and a model Raider.”

He was a strange person.

The Raiders exchanged looks and accepted the greeting.

“Yes. Nice to meet you.”

“Let’s do well.”

And they stopped paying attention. Everyone seemed not to want to get involved with this man.

Kim Yu-ri was the same.

However, this man did nothing and stood blankly until the briefing began. Eventually she talked to him.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes. Speak.”

“Aren’t you equipping armor?”

Raiders must wear armor as well as weapons. For Raiders who fought risking their lives, armor was more important than weapons.

However, this man was standing still with a single sword rested on his shoulder in jeans.

It smelled of a rookie.

“Did you become a Raider this year?”

“No, how did you know? Do I smell like a greenhorn!?”

“I also became a Raider this time. Surely this isn’t your first raid?”

“It is though.”

“It’s been a while since the exam finished, yet now is your first raid…”

Kim Yu-ri turned back and checked the Raider members. There were six in total, and the rest seemed to have done raids quite a bit.

“Follow what those people do well. Since that man over there is the order, follow him well. If it seems dangerous, back out immediately.”

“Yes. I will trust and follow.”

“And equip your armor.”

“I don’t have armor.”

“Yes?”

“Originally I don’t use armor. It gets in the way.”

He was a nutcase.

Kim Yu-ri tried to get angry, but checked the surroundings and calmed down.

“No, how can you do a raid without equipment? Back out even now.”

“It is fine.”

“We aren’t fine. It is dangerous?”

Se-min asked the Bureau employee who was pretending not to listen to the conversation a short distance away.

“There is no regulation that you can’t raid without armor, right, employee Kim Han-il?”

At the sudden calling of his name, he opened his eyes wide, realized he was wearing a nametag, and cleared his throat.

“There is no regulation to that extent.”

“Thank you.”

Se-min shrugged.

“I will try the raid, and if it seems dangerous due to the armor, I will back out.”

“Haa…”

“Sighing reduces lifespan.”

Kim Yu-ri decided to stop paying attention to this man.

Whether he got hurt or died during the raid, it was all his choice. It was none of her business.

Soon the briefing began. Se-min listened to the support team leader’s explanation. It was not very different from what Yoo Sang-heun had delivered. Looking around, most did other things, and only the woman named Kim Yu-ri was paying attention.

Mallak.

He met them to the point of being sick of them beyond the gate. Their build was not large, they were agile, and they popped out suddenly, making them difficult to deal with.

Se-min toyed with the iron sword, loosening his body muscles.

“Raiders, everyone prepare.”

Each stood in groups.

For Raiders gathered like this without a system from various places, no tactics or operations were required. Matching appropriate people to appropriate magic beasts and destroying the gate was all. Species like Mallak were especially like that.

Companies with outstanding power concentrate on gates with large rewards.

The Raider Bureau also allocated precious gates to large corporations.

Rotten.

Se-min grinned.

Mallaks had small rewards compared to the labor. So they were allocated to these people without care. However, Mallaks were a species that should not be given to Blue Marks carelessly.

Because Se-min had experienced numerous magic beasts beyond the gate, he knew that they were not as uniform as humans thought.

Mallaks are fast and smart.

They act beyond predictions.

If they meet an enemy with outstanding strength, they are fellows who do not fight but go around instead.

What about this time?

[Counting ten until gate deployment.]

Se-min took a step back and hummed a song.

It was the song he had sung alone to brainwash himself not to give up while chewing on solitude beyond the gate.

He was not an ordinary man. He was a real man, a macho man, Lee Se-min. That way he could endure.

“No matter where I look in this world~ I was always alone~”

Kim Yu-ri pointed out.

“Don’t sing. Focus.”

Se-min ignored her.

“Shaking hands with cold solitude~ I walked my path~”

The support team informed them of the gate deployment.

[Three.]

[Two.]

[One.]

[Deploy.]

A wicked energy resembling a beast’s iris emerged. It made the central pupil clear as if recognizing the surroundings, and then split left and right, vomiting magic beasts of the other world.

“Ukiuki! Ukiki!”

“Kieee! Uquieee!”

Mallaks poured out.

The number was large.

The Raiders tensed.

They spread their formation wide to control the Mallaks’ formation. They drove them to the center and immediately swung their weapons. Swords and spears containing aura cut the Mallaks’ bodies.

The corpses of Mallaks scattered, carving bloodstains on the ground. One of them broke out of the pack and escaped the encirclement.

The beast charged toward the Raider Bureau tactical vehicle. All doors of the vehicle were closed. The Mallak banged on the car window.

It was bulletproof glass that wouldn’t break easily.

A few Mallaks followed their comrade, passed the Raiders, and ran outside.

“They broke out!”

“Damn it!”

“What should we do?”

“Deal with the ones in front first!”

The Raiders had no way either. They were already handling more than the number they could deal with.

Se-min raised his weapon and swung it greatly.

The sword turned once, drawing a distorted circle.

Five Mallaks were sliced at once, revealing their spines and entrails.

There was no death rattle.

Before their splattering blood landed, Se-min had already left the circle. He pursued and slaughtered the fleeing Mallaks.

The Mallaks realized the danger and scattered to run, but Se-min stabbed them in the back without exception.

The deaths of Mallaks were all the same.

The moment their spines were pierced with a squelch, they stopped moving.

“Kiii…”

They made a pitiful flute-like sound, convulsed briefly, and then dropped their heads.

“If you don’t kill, you die.”

Waging a continuous struggle against all things to survive beyond the gate, he had accepted that long ago.

“I cannot die, so I kill.”

Se-min thought he had to make friends with fear.

Having made friends with fear, now a new thing reached out its hand.

Sympathy, or sadness.

The melancholy of a slaughterer who kills things that want to live.

It wasn’t a good friend, but it wasn’t a bad fellow he couldn’t get along with either.

Se-min pulled up the corners of his mouth and pierced another Mallak. The body was caught on the blade. He swung the sword and threw the corpse.

The Mallak flew and crashed into the library entrance. Blood stained over the poster introducing book lectures.

“Let’s finish quickly!”

Se-min shouted.

The Raiders did not answer. They were busy exchanging offense and defense, and were in no position to answer.

Se-min joined the fight and swung his sword violently. However, no Raider was caught in his orbit. The sword that seemed to swing wildly killed several Mallaks in a single stroke.

Most of the Mallaks died.

The last Mallak resisting alone realized it was alone, backed away, and let out a bizarre shriek.

“Ukii! Ukii! Ukiki!”

The Raiders caught their breath. Kim Yu-ri stopped in front of it.

“Pitiful. If we capture it alive and send it to the research lab…”

“Mallaks aren’t that precious. End it.”

Kim Yu-ri let out a sigh and stabbed the Mallak with her sword. The last Mallak also died.

The battle ended.

“Everyone went through a lot!”

Se-min shouted. The Raiders looked at him, chose their words, and eventually ended the raid with words of hard work.

“You went through a lot.”

“Good work.”

“You did a lot of work.”

It was a clean victory.

Se-min put his sword in the sheath, took off his Sukajan jacket, and shook it in the air.

Kim Yu-ri approached.

“Excuse me.”

“Sorry, but I haven’t made an autograph yet. I will allow a selfie.”

“Gosh, what are you saying.”

Kim Yu-ri crossed her arms and distorted her lips. It was a face where anyone could read contempt without needing a book on mind reading.

“No, why do you look at a person like that? It hurts my feelings.”

“Then don’t say nonsense.”

“Didn’t you come to get an autograph?”

“No.”

Kim Yu-ri pointed her finger at Se-min.

“I know you have good skill, but I came to tell you to keep the rules.”

“Armor is not a rule though.”

“Not that. The Mark. The Mark.”

Kim Yu-ri tapped her shoulder.

A blue epaulet was attached to her shoulder.

Raiders must display their grade. There was no written regulation, but they usually attached epaulets or marks to their combat uniforms.

They said it was for fast command in emergencies, but it was practically a rank insignia.

“Don’t pretend to be a Blue Mark and make a fool out of people.”

“What do you mean?”

“What else? I am asking if you feel good making a fool of people by pretending to be a beginner.”

“I have never done that.”

“Earlier…”

“I am a Blue Mark, and today is indeed my first raid.”

Se-min pulled out his Raider license from his pocket.

On the blue card, his photo and personal details were recorded. The issue year was also this year.

“Huh?”

“I am rather displeased. Why would I do such a thing when I’m not playing the protagonist hiding his strength?”

When Se-min turned serious, Kim Yu-ri was also flustered and kept glancing at his Raider license.

“Uh… s-sorry. Your skill was not that of a Blue Mark, so I…”

“You mean you were surprised, right?”

“Yes…”

“Bring some paper.”

“Yes?”

“I am glad you became my fan. I will make an autograph for you right now.”

Realizing Se-min was joking, she pouted her lips again and turned around.

“Truly a strange person.”

“A selfie, perhaps?”

“I don’t need it, so leave.”

“Excuse me? Do you really not need it?”

The Raider Bureau employees tidied up the corpses. The support team leader overseeing this raid greeted the Raiders.

Shaking hands with each, he shined his eyes at Se-min’s turn.

“Lee Se-min. I was impressed by your activity today.”

“Do you need an autograph?”

“Haha. No. I saw you intentionally backed out earlier to prepare for the Mallaks’ escape. It was an experienced action. If not for you, we would have missed a few.”

“And civilians would have suffered damage.”

Se-min shrugged.

“It was a failed raid plan.”

The first element of a raid was nothing other than minimizing civilian damage. Maximizing profit or considering efficiency was the next problem.

If not for Se-min, Mallaks would have escaped, and no one could guarantee what kind of accident would have occurred until they were caught.

The team leader smiled bitterly.

“That is true. But unfortunately, Mallak raids do not have many applicants.”

That was the reality.

Se-min nodded.

“I understand.”

“Lee Se-min. It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you often in the future.”

The team leader reached out his hand. Se-min also grasped it.

“Then.”

The team leader shook his hand once and was about to withdraw it, but Se-min did not let go.

“Mmh…?”

“Excuse me, just one favor…”

“Yes?”

“Please call a taxi.”