The Late Game Healer Is Way Too Strong – Chapter 240

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒𝟎: 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 2

Returning to Korea, Siwoo received numerous contacts from all over the world, barely finding time to rest.

Most of them were congratulations on his performance in Mexico and simple greetings, but some were a little more serious.

“Ranker hunting?”

Siwoo asked the person on the other side of the phone while brushing his teeth.

━Yes. Recently, people like Rolf Bangenheimer from Germany and Hayakawa Seigen from Japan were attacked. You’re close to both of them, right?

“We are close. But neither of them are easy to handle.”

━Fortunately, Bangenheimer was helped by Hans Schröder, and Seigen was helped by Mukai Ryuji, so they are safe.

Siwoo made a ‘hmm’ sound at Edward’s words and spat out the toothpaste in his mouth with water.

━More rude than a goblin covered in troll dung. Do you want to gargle while talking on the phone with your superior?

“Ugh!”

━I misspoke. Even a pig raised in a goblin’s outhouse is a more noble and mannered animal than you are, you son of a b*tch.

“I was thinking of donating some of the money confiscated from the cartel to HSIU.”

━. . .My friend, who has the spirit of a wise, brave, and noble warrior. I find the sound of you brushing your teeth, and even taking a shower, as beautiful as an orchestra’s melody.

Siwoo swallowed his laughter at Edward’s words while rinsing his mouth.

Such shamelessness was necessary to lead an organization.

“You didn’t seem so obsessed with money before. Does everyone become like that when they reach a high position?”

━Haha, that’s funny. Do you know how much money it takes to run an organization? Not only the huge amount of personnel expenses, but also the buildings and various physical damages that are destroyed in the process of solving cases are claimed for compensation.

“Is that so? That’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Then where does HSIU get its income?”

━We squeeze the heads of each country based on the cases we solve.

“. . .Hmm.”

━We are an international organization. Of course, it is done through appropriate taxes and donations.

There was no need to worry about it.

“Anyway, what happened to the ranker hunting?”

Siwoo finished brushing his teeth, wiped his mouth roughly, and sat down on a chair.

━It’s hard to grasp everything, but about twenty of the current top 300 rankers seem to have been attacked. There were five deaths. Considering all the Hunters, thirty-five Hunters died last week.

“Is that higher than usual?”

━Yes. About twice as much.

Edward sighed deeply on the other side of the phone.

He seemed to have a headache.

“But was there anything that could have caused Hunters to be attacked all over the world all of a sudden? No, if it’s an organization of that size in the first place. . . 〈Pandemonium〉?”

Siwoo’s guess was met with a deflated voice from Edward.

━Yes. Remember when 〈Pandemonium〉 attacked the prison last time? At the same time as the ranking tournament. Quite a few prisons were raided worldwide. All the prisoners who escaped that time must have joined 〈Pandemonium〉. The same goes for the Republic of Korea.

Siwoo recalled the incident where Chae Woo-dam killed the prison guards and took all the prisoners with him.

He had heard that Choi Dae-soo had killed quite a few prisoners, but most of them, including the highest-ranking prisoners, were still at large.

“Then this ranker hunting is also being carried out under the orders of 〈Pandemonium〉?”

━Yes. We caught a few of them and interrogated them, and they said they attacked on the orders of 〈Pandemonium〉.

“The reason they’re targeting rankers is obvious. It’s going to be more difficult to respond to this.”

━Exactly. We can’t come up with any countermeasures unless we know who they’re going to target next.

Even if we tell the Hunters to move in pairs or threes, if they attack in groups like they did when they hit Rolf, we won’t be able to stand up to them.

Besides, they could attack when they’re alone or when they’re sleeping.

“It’s annoying. Do you know where their hideout is?”

━It seems that the lower-ranking members are staying in temporary hideouts. They move to another location after completing their mission. However. . . some of the prisoners have become full-fledged members of 〈Pandemonium〉.

“Oh? How many of them?”

━There are six in total, and they are called ‘Six Fingers’ within the organization. But when I heard the names of the prisoners. . . I understood why they were chosen as full members.

“Why?”

At Siwoo’s question, Edward sighed deeper and lower than ever before and continued.

━They are the worst criminals in human history.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“Do you know that I’m ranked 16th in the world and are you still picking a fight with me?”

Nicolas asked the intruders as he practiced shooting in the backyard of his house.

“Yes, I do, Mr. Nicolas.”

The man at the forefront of the intruders replied with a narrow-eyed smile.

Nicolas exhaled cigarette smoke and gulped down the can of beer next to him.

He roughly wiped the beer foam on his beard and lit another cigarette.

His gaze was as sharp as a knife.

“Come to think of it. . . I think I heard that ranker hunting is in vogue these days. I think the Association told me to be careful. Hoo-hoo. Could it be that you guys are the ones doing it?”

“Yes, I think they are our colleagues.”

“Why are you doing such a f*cking thing?”

“Haha. We’re just following orders. We’ll die if we don’t.”

Nicolas frowned and glared at the man who was smiling broadly.

The others behind him all had fierce expressions and rough magical powers, looking like typical awakened criminals, but the man in front of him was different.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Yuto.”

A short, harmless-looking oriental young man.

The Yuuto that Nicholas saw looked like he was in the age range of a high school student or someone who had just started university.

That’s how young he looked.

“You sure do play rough for someone who looks so harmless. Were you in an Asian gang? Five years in prison? Ten?”

Yuto scratched his thin eyes and smiled.

“Hmm, I did this and that, so I got a lot of time.”

“Oh, really? How much?”

“About 1,200 years in prison.”

“. . .What?”

Nicolas muttered to himself.

Cold sweat ran down his forehead and back.

Gulp.

Yuto’s eyes were still smiling.

Could he have noticed his panic?

He would not have been able to read his poker face if he had been a little more careless, but he was overcome by unnecessary fear.

Nicolas slowly exhaled his slightly roughened breath.

His fingers slowly approached the whip at his waist.

Nicolas’ exclusive weapon and artifact-grade item.

Once he got his hands on it, he would at least be able to escape from this place.

“Hmm, Mr. Nicolas?”

He was startled by the sudden call from his opponent.

“Did you spill your beer?”

“Uh. . .”

Nicolas tried to hide his uneasy expression as much as possible and looked at the beer.

“. . . . . .”

The beer was fine.

Yuto’s new form, holding a long Japanese sword, stood behind Nicolas.

When did he move?

Nicolas tried to open his mouth.

That moment,

Pfft!

His limbs were torn apart and fell to the floor.

“Kyaaak!”

“Haha, the beer story was a lie.”

Yuto swung his sword and shook off the blood.

“If you show such an anxious look like a dog that’s desperate to poop, even if it’s not me, everyone will know. Huh? Artifact, found!”

He picked up Nicolas’ whip, infused it with magical power, and swung it wildly at him.

However, there was no way that his first-ever whip would be done properly.

“Ugh, it’s not working properly.”

“Hey, hyung, we’re getting hit too! Damn it, calm down!”

At that moment, the other prisoners who had followed him protested to Yuto in a dissatisfied tone.

“Is that so? So what?”

“Yes. . .? No, we’re getting hit by the whip, so stop it.”

“What does it matter to me that you’re getting hit?”

“Ha . . . You son of a . . . .”

Yuto had always been like this.

The most selfish and least followed leader among the ‘Six Fingers’.

That’s why there was a lot of backlash when he was chosen as one of the ‘Six Fingers’.

They had asked that he be replaced with someone with less strength but more leadership, but 〈Pandemonium〉’s 1st Hierarchy had ignored their opinions.

They said that everything was determined by ability, so they should answer with ability.

“Damn it, it’s really too much. Do you think of us as your subordinates?!”

“Haha. Of course. That’s why I brought you with me.”

“Then do you know the meaning of subordinates?”

To such a question, Yuto scratched his cheek as if in embarrassment and smiled brightly again.

“Well, isn’t it something like cannon fodder?”

“Kukukuk. How ridiculous. This dog bastard, let’s see!”

The prisoners, who were furious at Yuto’s answer, raised their magical power and attacked him.

A critical situation.

“Hoo. This is why I told you to let me go alone so many times.”

But Yuto was calm.

He shrugged his shoulders and used his skill as he looked at them.

A silver aura that splits into thousands of rays of light.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ!!

The prisoners who had jumped into the air to attack Yuto saw a dance of light moving in lines in a strange situation where time seemed to stretch.

It was a beautiful sight.

Instead of a revolving lantern, they saw a dance performed by a sword.

The prisoners were cut into tens of thousands of pieces like a puzzle before they even reached their destination and rolled around on the floor.

A thick bloody smell wafted up.

“I’ve gotten duller than before. I need more practice with people.”

Yuuto paid no attention to his dead subordinates and grinned as he looked at the blade of his sword.

Then his cell phone rang.

“Yes, this is Yuto.”

━Me, Dmitry.

“Long time no see, Mr. Dmitry.”

━Are your subordinates okay?

“Yes, they’re doing very well.”

━You didn’t kill your subordinates this time, did you?

Yuto laughed awkwardly, as if he was in trouble.

“Hmm. . . Haha. I can’t fool Dmitry.”

━You idiot. . .! Okay. The next target has been decided.

“Oh? Who is it?”

Yuto’s small eyes sparkled.

━It’s Namir, the Queen of the half-demons.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Late at night.

Siwoo was reading materials alone in his office in the [Mad Dog Guild].

It was a list of escaped prisoners from all over the world sent by Edward.

The names of those presumed to be ‘Six Fingers’ were also checked separately.

‘𝘛𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘢𝘬𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘑𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰-𝘩𝘸𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢, 𝘋𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢, 𝘞𝘶𝘹𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘠𝘶𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘑𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘯.’

All of them were charged with serious crimes and the punishments varied.

The punishment for crimes committed by Awakened was more severe than that for crimes committed by ordinary people.

“By the way, what brings you here?”

Siwoo asked the guest who had suddenly appeared without taking his eyes off his tablet PC.

“Ahahaha. You still have sharp eyes. How did you know?”

“Well, my magical power detection is active 24 hours a day.”

“You’re a man with no gaps.”

“I hear that a lot.”

“I think it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. Shall we meet and talk?”

Siwoo put down his tablet PC and looked up.

A beautiful woman in a white robe.

“Are you done now, Crow?”

“Ahahaha. It’s nice to see your face.”

She nodded with a seductive smile.

“You’re not here to joke, are you? What’s the matter?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

Siwoo frowned at her sudden words.

“What favor?”

“Could you let my sister . . . stay here for a while?”

“It’s because of the ranker hunting.”

Crow nodded slightly instead of answering Siwoo’s question.

“You can just tell her to go.”

“My sister. . . doesn’t listen to other people well. Not unless it’s you.”

“I see.”

“So, as a price, so to speak.”

Crow hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“We’ll find and tell you where their hideout is.”

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Navigating the Digital Dojo: How to Deal with Your “That” Uncle and Auntie on Facebook
• The Unbreakable Bond: Gon and Killua’s Bromance for the Ages
• The Great Manhua Crash: Why the Hype Died Down
• Scrolling Through Reddit: “My dog got into the Chinese take-out before I did”
• Lacus Clyne: The Ultimate Waifu? A Gundam SEED Freedom Deep Dive