Auto Hunting

EPISODE 68

The secret place where the secrets of the Red Dragon Gong had been sealed in was not where the Lord or the Vice Lord resided, nor was it at the training hall where members practiced martial arts.

It was none other than the library.

The first Red Dragon Lord was a man who enjoyed both martial arts and literature.

Once, the city of Shanghai was just a small fishing village. Then, they built a villa purely for the purpose of training martial arts.

Over the years, the family business had changed, and it became the main building of the Red Dragon Society.

Was it just a hobby, or was the first Lord a pioneer?

Either way, he bought books from all continents in exchange for a considerable number of assets he had. Using those as a reference, he constantly improved his Aura, which was already highly regarded at that time.

This remained true for the future Lords.

As time went by, the position and reputation of the Red Dragon Society increased. Its existence valued the traditional, not just the practical.

It was then transformed into a symbol for the succession of the chairmanship.

Through this process, the Red Dragon Society became more solid. The more they did that, the number of ‘outside’ books that help them diminished.

At first, the iron gate and the forbidden area were simply safety devices to store the family’s core secrets. Now, it had become the only space where the successors went for their studies.

It was only natural.

All the useful knowledge went beyond the iron gate.

Techs, including the Red Dragon Gong, the summary of various books outside the iron gate, and the essential points for the warriors of the Red Dragon Society, everything was already laid out.

And that was enough.

At least…

For the successors of the Red Dragon Society.

***

It didn’t take long for Yang Jeong-cheon to arrive.

A crowd had gathered behind him.

They were high-ranking officials of the Red Dragon. They wanted to see it, too.

Yoo-seong’s eyes, nose, mouth, and ears constantly bled while he screamed inaudible screams.

Choreureuk-!

Yoo-seong stumbled repeatedly. He ran through the bookshelves. Books and other important documents were strewn all around.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Don’t you think we should stop him? The library is all in a mess.”

Everyone stared at the scene with a stunned expression.

At Yang Biyeon’s request, they were here to recover Yoo-seong, who was thought to be in a critical state.

Everyone had their own share of experiences during Aura training. However, they had never seen anything like this before.

“Father!” Yang Biyeon said with a face that looked more frightened than anyone else,

She looked back at her father and clung to his sleeves.

“Please do something! Dear Oppa…”

There was nothing else she could do.

Yoo-seong seemed to have gone crazy. Otherwise, what would that be?

In one hand, he held a stack of paper scraped from a desk.

And then, in that state, he opens a book he just pulled out, his eyes darting to and fro.

“With what I see,” Yang Jeong-cheon finally spoke. “It looks like he’s reading a book?”

“What?”

“Then…”

A puzzled look passed over everyone’s faces.

“Is there any other reason for him to take a book out of the bookshelf and open it?”

“Ah, Father!”

“Look at how his eyes are moving.”

Yang Biyeon turned away from her father and looked at Yoo-seong.

Everyone else watched him, and that’s when they saw it.

“Huh?”

A collective gasp was heard from the crowd.

The books that Yoo-seong seemed to unfurl and throw away carelessly,

Normally, anyone would think that it would either be crumpled or too worn up to be used but, to everyone’s surprise, they were actually fine.

The books were lying face down and scattered all over the library floor, but there were no tears or creases. However, it was not the only reason why Yang Jeong-cheon came to his conclusion.

Everyone could not properly see it, but Yoo-seong’s fingers were dancing madly on his phone screen, but their movements were not random.

Tatak-!

His fingers were typing on the keyboard.

His translation app was open.

The paper that he seemed to have grabbed randomly at first glance was actually a note in Yang Biyeon’s handwriting. The main points were summarized so that the words of the various authors could be easily translated.

“No way,” Yang Biyeon muttered under her breath.

“Whether it makes sense or not, the guy you call ‘oppa’ is reading right now.”

Yang Jeong-cheon looked at Yoo-seong’s eyes.

“He’s not even reading all the pages.”

Although it seemed like he opened every book, he could lay his hand on, his eyes and hands seemed to have a purpose. Once he opened a book, he slowed down for a while.

As if he was checking if it had what he needed, Yang Jeong-cheon observed.

“If he doesn’t like the book, he puts it down. If it has what he wanted, he goes from page to page,” he added.

That was how it appeared to him.

But he could not understand why Yoo-seong was doing it.

“Clearly, Yoo-seong’s CE is running wild inside his body. That’s the reason why he looks crazed,” he tried to explain.

But why does he need to go through all the trouble?

But, no matter how crazy it seemed, what was unfolding before them was truly exceptional.

His veins seemed thoroughly stressed, but the pain did not completely devour him. Yoo-seong was enduring the pain and continued to read books at an insane pace.

“Just quit that crazy thing for a while and concentrate on reading,” Yang Jeong-cheon told Yoo-seong.

“I can’t,” Yoo-seong answered.

But Yang Jeong-cheon was not having it as he took a step closer.

There should be no harm in subduing him for a while, he decided.

It should be done as soon as possible.

Yang Jeong-cheon stopped in his tracks.

“Father?” Yang Biyeon asked.

“Lord?”

The crowd was tilting their head to get a better view. But as much as they did not see, they did not feel what Yang Jeong-cheon felt.

“This…”

What Yang Jeong-cheon just felt was very temporary but clearly visible.

“What…”

Purple.

Yoo-seong’s complexion turned into a pale purple.

“The Jahan Gong,” Yang Jeong-cheon whispered.

He had never actually seen the Jahan Gong, but he recognized it.

It was a legendary technique, and its characteristics were quite famous. A distinctive purple complexion was one of its trademarks.

The side effects appearing on Yoo-seong could only be evidence of success.

T-This is impossible.

Yang Jeong-cheon still could not believe what he was seeing.

Is he restoring the Gong with just breathing techniques and his fine veins?

However, one way or another, everything was bound to happen.

Yang Jeong-cheon turned his gaze to the floor, where Yoo-seong placed the books he had read.

There was another thing that puzzled him.

All the books Yoo-seong chose were about the basic know-how of Aura. These were the kind that was sold on the streets centuries ago.

Then, it dawned upon Yang Jeong-cheon.

“Are you going back to the basics of Ki while enduring the pain in your veins?” Yang Jeong-cheon’s voice was full of disbelief.

“I could bear it,” Yoo-seong groaned as he continued reading.

He couldn’t see how his skin looked like, but he felt the Aura within him stabilizing.

Gradually, his Aura seemed to have found a constant route.

Behind Yang Jeong-cheon, the other Red Dragon Society members were murmuring.

“Did you see it?”

“His complexion turned purple, right?”

Meanwhile, Yoo-seong turned his focus back on the books.

He steadily gathered information from various sources and pieced them together.

The task of tapping on his phone and writing notes is done through Automatic Hunting.

As soon as he understood the contents, Auto-Hunt turns the page over.

Then…

Choreul-!

The speed at which automatic hunting flipped turned the bookshelves grew faster.

Yoo-seong was now ‘hunting’ for something useful in almost every bookshelf in the library.

The second change had come unexpectedly.

Swoosh-!

HIs purple complexion suddenly disappeared. It then returned to normal.

The Red Dragon Society executives then gathered and held a heated debate over Yoo-seong’s state.

“What, did the energy disappear?”

“Was he not able to restore the Gong?”

“Maybe it was only temporary.”

“No matter how exceptional he is, it doesn’t make sense to proceed with the restoration this way.”

In the end, it was impossible to restore a Gong with just references.

“That’s right.”

Almost everyone nodded in agreement, all except for one.

“No.”

Yang Jeong-cheon.

“Yes, my Lord?” a puzzled employee asked for clarification.

Rather than answering him, Yang Jeong-cheon approached Yoo-seong.

“Congratulations on your achievements.”

Yoo-seong bowed.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Biyeon, and the entire Red Dragon Society.”

After that, Yang Jeong-cheon asked his employees to bring Yoo-seong into a room.

He badly needed to rest.

***

It was almost daybreak when Yoo-seong woke up.

How many hours have passed, he thought.

It wasn’t only him.

The people who watched him at the library have lost track of time because of the night’s bizarre happenings. One of them was Yang Jeong-cheon, who waited with his executives for Yoo-seong.

“Have you thought of a new name?” Yang Jeong-cheon asked him.

Everyone who understood Korean, including the general manager, tilted their heads at Yang Jeong-cheon’s question.

“A name?”

“What is he talking about?”

“He wasn’t able to restore the new gong, right?”

The confusion was only natural.

Based on Yoo-seong’s complexion, he wasn’t able to restore Jahan Gong.

“Ah…”

Yoo-seong touched his face as he realized what the fuss was all about.

“I learned a lot today. And… I knew that the hypothesis I read in books was correct.”

A purple complexion.

It was the trademark of Jahan Gong and was mentioned in all the books written about its existence.

However, there was also a lesser-known hypothesis. It stated that upon creating a new Gong, having a purplish complexion could happen due to a dominance of Yang energy.

It was a temporary imbalance that needed to be fixed.

Once the energy had been balanced, then a new Gong would be ready for use.

Suddenly, everyone in the room understood what their Lord meant. They had goosebumps upon realizing what happened. The purple color they had seen was not the sign of Jahan Gong.

It meant something else.

From the beginning, the purpose of reading the books in the library was not to help him restore the Jahan Gong – it was to create his own.

“I can’t believe I am going to do this.” Yang Jeong-cheon’s voice was trembling with excitement.

He was thrilled like an expert who has just witnessed a miracle in his field.

‘What do you mean?” Yoo-seong asked.

Yang Jeong-cheon’s answer was halted by the sound of footsteps arriving at the library.

“Lord.”

They were two employees who came as ordered by Yang Jeong-cheon.

“We brought these, as you commanded.”

Each person had something at hand. It was the Red Dragon Twin Swords, one of Red Dragon Society’s treasures. The executives were on their feet immediately.

“Lord!”

“What’s the matter?”

Everyone was startled.

“Father! What is this?!”

However, Yang Jeong-cheon seemed to not hear them.

“Today, I am in good shape like never before.”

He beckoned the employees to come closer and took the swords from them. He was smiling as if he was about to have a lot of fun.

It has been a while since he has felt this kind of rush.

There were those who misunderstood Yang Jeong-cheon’s intentions and tried to stop him. However, Yang Jeong-cheon pointed the Red Dragon Twin Swords at them.

They froze in their tracks.

The Lord had decided.

However, Yoo-seong was at a loss.

“I don’t know why you are doing this.”

“You do not have to know why. You just have to choose.”

“Do you think I have a reason to attack you? I am… I am a hunter.”

Yang Jeong-cheon was very well aware of Yoo-seong’s principles.

He knew that Yoo-seong wouldn’t fight and that he could not force him to.

“Yes. I’m not a hunter, and I don’t understand your job. But I know one thing. Everyone always wants better skills.”

Yoo-seong flinched. He knew that Yang Jeong-cheon was right.

Then, Yang Jeong-cheon spoke as he pointed at the sealed area behind his back.

“If you beat me, I’ll allow you to pass beyond the iron gate.”

It was a place that neither Automatic Hunting nor Yoo-seong had touched all night.

Yang Jeong-cheon definitely knew how to play his cards well. He knew what was in Yoo-seong’s heart.

Yoo-seong stared at the iron gate, the restricted area behind Yang Jeong-cheon’s back.

“If you can do this with the Jahan Gong… what do you think can you create out of everything that’s in there?”

Yang Jeong-cheon was offering a bait Yoo-seong could not say ‘no’ to.

‘Perhaps’, Yang Jeong-cheon thought, ‘I also want to find out.’

However, Yoo-seong had to beat him first, and he was planning to go all out.

Yoo-seong took a while to consider.

Then, his eyes met Yang Jeong-cheon’s.

“All right,” he agreed.

“Let’s have it outside.”