Chapter 306
‘What the…?!’
Yang Haifeng felt his blood freeze as he saw the Korean A-grade hunters sit down one after another.
‘Why are they here...?’
Yang Haifeng suddenly felt it was unfair. If he had been born a few decades earlier, he wouldn’t have had to worry about this. He felt it was truly unbelievable as he remembered what the party officials had said about the past.
-The world crawled at our feet! When China coughed, many countries in the world fell to their knees...
-South Korea? Japan? They couldn’t even look at our shadows!
-Ah, those Americans too! They’re scared to death of us. Really! Don’t you believe me?
Back then, listening to what the party executives said, he felt that China was the most powerful country in the world. Of course, they must’ve exaggerated, but it was still clear that China had been quite prosperous at one point.
However, China wasn’t doing that well in the present.
The north was occupied by some crazy constellation, and a vast mass of land had become contaminated after the raid era had begun. No matter how many hunters there were, it was impossible to protect such a large area. The necessary facilities were destroyed every time.
Divisions within China were also a serious problem.
In the past, those who opposed the party and the government were simply labeled as revolutionaries and crushed with force. They couldn’t fight back at all. However, these days , those kinds of people fought back by making contracts with evil god constellations or mastering evil magic.
That was one of China’s vexing problems as they couldn’t really do much about it due to the limitations of the existing technology.
China was big, but it was festering on the inside. That was the current situation.
‘I can’t deal with a Korean A-grade hunter...’
Looking at the current situation, South Korea was a tough opponent. Moreover, one couldn’t disregard A-grade hunters no matter how small their country was.
...But he couldn’t show that he felt intimidated!
When on the verge of being ruined, a prosperous family was especially proud. The same was true of China. After all, the party had one golden rule: never bow down to outsiders!
“I was invited here,” said Yang Haifeng.
“...?”
“And who’s asking?” continued Yang Haifeng.
Han Seha as she looked at Yang Haifeng like he was a madman. Choi Yeonseung tried to stop her from ripping him apart.
“Seha, we don’t know who this is, so watch your tone.”
“Yeah, right. Hey, why are you interrupting us when nobody asked you a damn thing? Do you have a loose screw…?”
“Forget it. I’ll speak myself,” Choi Yeonseung cut in.
Yang Haifeng sighed with relief. It seemed like he could actually talk to this person.
“You said you received an invitation. Were you invited by the organizers?”
“That’s right.”
Choi Yeonseung curiously asked Lee Changsik, “Chinese people were invited here?”
“It’s because they’re from a neighboring country,” replied Lee Changsik with a nod.
“Uhh, aren’t they spies?”
“...”
Yang Haifeng was shocked by this but he endured it. After all, he was talking to an A-grade hunter.
“I’m not a spy... We were invited.”
As neighboring countries, there were bound to be exchanges with each other. South Korea had also received an invitation to a competition in China before.
“Oh... Can they go and scout for talent?”
“On paper, they shouldn’t be able to do that. However, they can sign the contracts in secrecy and steal the hunters”
Yang Haifeng couldn’t stand to listen, so he cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“Anyhow, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Well, for us it’s not a pleasure. Drop the friendly facade.”
At Han Seha’s words, Yang Haifeng’s expression contorted once again.
“...”
“Well, since this is the case, let’s watch the competition on our own.”
Choi Yeonseung didn’t apologize on behalf of Han Seha... He merely completed her sentence.
Yang Haifeng cursed at them inwardly. He was too scared to do it out loud.
***
The talents from China’s Beijing 31st High School were truly amazing. Seeing their outstanding performance, Yang Haifeng could finally let out a sigh of relief, feeling much better. Even if he had no impact on the competition itself, it felt good seeing the people from his country win.
“They’re pretty amazing, eh?” Yang Haifeng spoke casually to Choi Yeonseung.
‘Whoops.’
He then instantly regretted it. He got so excited for a moment that he spoke without realizing.
“Yup, they’re pretty good.”
“!”
Choi Yeonseung’s answer was unexpected.
“Really?”
“Did you want me to say no?”
“Ah, n-no… Nothing like that. ”
It was just that he hadn’t expected an A-grade hunter to acknowledge the Chinese talents. It was genuinely unexpected.
Choi Yeonseung asked his group, “Were they trained separately before coming here? They seem to be cooperating exceptionally well.”
“It looks like they’ve been trained in a training camp.’
“I don’t think other schools are like that. What’s going on?”
“Basically, schools focus on training the prospective hunters individually, maximizing their unique abilities. They don’t really train them as a team for competitions.”
“Then what about these Chinese talents?”
“I think they received orders from above.”
“...”
Yang Haifeng was once again offended by their conversation.
‘Tsk… Will the next match start already?!’
At that moment, Yang Haifeng’s favorite hunter, Zhang Wei, happened to come out. He was a young hunter considered to be the ace of Beijing 31st High School.
Zhang Wei went down the bottom lane in the mock battle. He cornered his opponent with brilliant long-distance attacks and quickly increased his strength.
The Korean spectators applauded with admiration at his brilliant playstyle that matched his appearance.
“That Hunter Zhang Wei...”
Yang Haifeng couldn’t help eavesdropping on Choi Yeonseung’s words.
“...He’s injured, but he seems to endure it? Shouldn’t someone stop him? He might be fighting in a virtual world, but he shouldn’t overdo it like that if he’s injured.”
“What injury? He’s fine!” Yang Haifeng couldn’t help protesting.
Han Seha said, “Why are you listening to other people’s conversations? Are you crazy? Do you want to die?”
“...”
‘Fuck... I can hear all your conversations...’
“Since you can hear me, I’ll tell you this. It looks to me like he’s injured because he’s using too much magic power,” retorted Choi Yeonseung.
Yang Haifeng protested, “That’s impossible! The director isn’t that incompetent not to notice it...”
Come to think of it, the director wasn’t incompetent, but he wouldn’t remove an ace when trying to win either.
“...If Zhang Wei were injured, he would’ve said something...”
On second thoughts, Zhang Wei was young. If he received pressure from above, he would have no choice but to go out even if he was injured.
“...Do you really think he’s injured?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“No... But just in case....”
Yang Haifeng couldn’t shake off this uncomfortable feeling. He couldn’t just disregard the words of an A-grade hunter, but he couldn’t interfere to stop the match either…
Meanwhile, Beijing 31st High School secured its first victory.
The next opponent was Gyeonggi Hunter High School.
Since they were still playing, Yang Haifeng checked them out.
‘Well, they’re not that good.’
Putting aside the lack of teamwork, the hunters were overall weak when it came to their abilities. Even if he compared them individually with the hunters from Beijing 31st High School, they were significantly weaker!
It seemed that Zhang Wei could easily win regardless of whether he was injured or not.
“Umm. They’re pretty good.”
“Is that so?
“Their playstyle is weird, but their abilities themselves are okay. I think their school has trained them surprisingly well.”
“If you want to help them, go ahead and do it,” proposed Lee Changsik.
Choi Yeonseung was puzzled by Lee Changsik’s comment.
“Can I do that in the middle of the competition?”
“Who’s going to say anything if you just give advice during the break between matches?”
“Hmm, alright. I’ll be back in a minute then.”
Choi Yeonseung accepted Lee Changsik’s idea and got up from his seat.
Yang Haifeng blinked in disbelief.
‘...What’s he doing?!?’
He didn’t understand what was going on. Not even A-grade hunters could make incompetent hunters stronger in a few minutes. Anyone who thought it was possible was a madman.
What was he thinking...?
Yang Haifeng should’ve laughed, but strangely, he couldn’t. Instead, he couldn’t shake off this inexplicable sense of foreboding.
‘...Don’t tell me. No... It can’t be.’
***
“Hunter Choi Yeonseung?”
“I don’t have much time, so I’ll quickly get to the point.”
After stopping the hunters and director from trying to make a fuss, Choi Yeonseung got to the point.
“I’m here because I want to give you some simple advice. Is that okay?”
“Oh, it would be an honor!”
The director was more pleased about the opportunity to learn from an A-grade hunter than he was obsessed with his authority. What advice would an A-grade hunter give them?
‘Maybe he’s going to talk about the order of our skills? I used a weird order earlier.’
‘I think he’ll say that we’re not aggressive enough...’
“You’re in charge of the top lane, aren’t you? And you. You’re in charge of the bottom lane, correct?”
“Yes...”
“You two should swap lanes.”
“Huh?!”
“I saw you talking before and you didn’t seem confident that you’d win.”
At Choi Yeonseung’s words, the hunters of the Gyeonggi Hunter High School blushed.
“That isn’t necessarily what we meant...”
“If you lose, you can just say that I made you do this.”
“N-No. We can’t do that. We can’t throw you under the bus!”
“It doesn’t matter. I really don’t care about that. In any case, change the top and bottom lanes...”
“B-But Hunter Choi Yeonseung…!” the hunter in charge of the top lane yelled in a tearful voice, “I don’t have the confidence to deal with Zhang Wei at all.”
Aside from never having played in the bottom lane, he would have to face Zhang Wei, who was proficient in blocking his opponents from doing anything.
“You don’t have to fight him. Just stall.”
“Huh??? N-No. If there’s a large level difference, how can I stop him later on?”
“It’s okay. There won’t be that much of a difference. In addition, the opponent in charge of the top lane over there...”
“Mao Tong?”
“He’s a martial artist. He uses the Metal Boxing Technique. It might be confusing because of his erratic movement, but just go around him. His technique is weak when it comes to backward movements.”
“...!”
The young hunter that Choi Yeonseung wanted to place in the top lane was perplexed.
‘Can I actually do it...??’
Regardless of whether Choi Yeonseung’s strategy would really work, he was worried about whether he could actually carry it out. He couldn’t help thinking that his opponent was objectively stronger than him.
“Just try it first. If you keep playing like you have, you’ll be at a disadvantage.”
“...I understand, Hunter Choi Yeonseung. We won’t blame you even if we lose! We’ve made our choice!”
Their reaction was so strange that Choi Yeonseung couldn’t help asking, “Is your school running out of funding?”
***
Lee Changsik saw Choi Yeonseung return and asked him in a puzzled manner, “Did you make them change the top with the bottom lane?”
“There wasn’t a lot of time and I couldn’t say many things.”
“Umm...”
Lee Changsik didn’t quite understand it. Of course, in this type of six versus six mock battle, changing the position was also an important strategy. However, would there be a meaningful effect just by changing the position of the prospective hunters in the match?
“...?!?”
However, he witnessed something amazing.
The Korean hunters were holding their own against the Chinese hunters!
“...H-how??”
Lee Changsik was surprised, but Yang Haifeng was downright shocked. The Chinese team, which was supposed to at least reach the finals, was now being held back by such a weak team?!
‘What the hell is going on?’
Beijing 31st High School had originally gone with the strategy of playing around their ace, Zhang Wei, before decimating the enemy hunters.
However, much to everyone’s surprise, Zhang Wei could no longer push aggressively. If the opponent ran away, he should chase after the opponent and crush him with confidence. Despite that, Zhang Wei hesitated. If he didn’t capitalize on opportunities, he was bound to fall off.
No matter how hard he had trained, they were all teenagers at the end of the day. Moreover, he was under ten times more pressure than his opponent.
The Chinese team made mistakes one after another on different lanes.
Yang Haifeng couldn’t help screaming in exasperation when he saw Mao Tong, who was famous as a martial arts student, miss his opponent in a head-on fight and got counterattacked.
“What are they doing? What are they doing?!”
“Hey, you think you’re sitting alone in these VIP seats? I’m trying to watch a competition here. Why don’t you shut up?”
“...”
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