I Became a Goblin Ancestor

『Wh-wh-what?! What’s suddenly happening?』

Along with the cameraman’s surprised voice, the image flowing from the TV shakes greatly.

“What’s going on?!”
“What’s happening all of a sudden? An ambush?”
“The sound of deflecting some kind of needle…”

The hunters in the association buzz in surprise like the cameraman.

They drew close to the TV to see what this sudden unexpected situation was about, and thanks to the image quickly stabilizing, they were soon able to grasp the proper situation.

The camera filming the cliff top of the canyon path they had just passed through.

And what was shown on the camera were five hunters standing on the cliff top wearing masks.

Undoubtedly, the interior of the 23rd district gate, which should have only Shin-yeon and the cameraman due to the General Management Team buying out today’s schedule.

With five masked hunters suddenly appearing in such a place, those in the association could roughly figure out what was happening now.

And before the hunters could put into words what they had each realized, the broadcast woman’s voice affirmed what they had realized.

“Ah, this is news that just came in from Inspector Lee Seol, who went out to support the 23rd district gate. Currently, 16 B-rank and A-rank hunters who attempted to intrude into the gate without authorization have been suppressed, and a total of five hunters have infiltrated the gate by breaking through the security guards. These hunters appearing on the screen now are suspected to be A-rank hunter Lee Hyun-woo, ranked 76th, and his party members.”

“A member of the General Management Team’s founding family personally came out?! Is the exclusive hunter being cherished to that extent?”
“No, more than that, that crazy Hyun-woo finally caused trouble. To openly charge in like that knowing the opponent is the General Management Team…”
“I could tell from his usual dirty deeds, but he really went all the way. We won’t be seeing his name in the hunter rankings anymore.”

Some hunters were surprised that Lee Seol, a member of the General Management Team’s founding family, personally came out, but most hunters focused on the point that those five were Hyun-woo and his party.

Hyun-woo was a very troublesome opponent to many hunters, notorious in many ways among the dark world hunters.

A man who stayed at A-rank 76th place with excellent skills despite doing all sorts of dirty work.

Originally, it wouldn’t have been strange for Hyun-woo to have been caught and imprisoned by the Judicial Team or Punishment Team long ago, but that was impossible because he was so protected in the slums.

In the end, the only way was to avoid him until Hyun-woo properly revealed his tail to an extent that even the slums couldn’t cover for him, but who would have thought he’d do such a stupid thing like this.

“I knew he was an idiot who acted emotionally, but I didn’t know he was stupid enough to charge head-on at the General Management Team…”
“Did he go wearing just those mass-produced gene masks while trying to kill the General Management Team’s exclusive hunter from the start?”
“Did he think he could make some money against the General Management Team, solidify his position in the slums, and kill her because she was an eyesore, without thinking his own neck would fly?”

Hunters here and there curse and mock Hyun-woo’s utterly foolish appearance.

That’s because no matter how unable to control his anger or how much he liked money, touching the General Management Team was the most idiotic act in this defense city.

What had happened to all the dark world hunters who touched the General Management Team for money until now?

There was no need to even speak of those precedents, as they could be known in great detail with just a few searches on the device.

If we were to state just the common conclusion, the price for touching the General Management Team was horrific beyond imagination.

Yet seeing Hyun-woo rushing in like a moth to a flame, he was no different from a gambling addict who thought he would succeed, so they couldn’t help but laugh.

However, just as everyone was laughing at Hyun-woo’s stupidity for a moment.

Suddenly, at a word uttered by one hunter, the atmosphere in the room cooled as if water had been poured on it.

“…But what happens if that hunter called Shin-yeon is killed?”

“””……”””

Everyone falls silent at those words.

A possibility they hadn’t even considered due to the overwhelmingly large background of the General Management Team.

But certainly, it wasn’t an impossible story.

Although it was true that Shin-yeon was strong judging from what she had shown, fighting against monsters and fighting against humans were completely different realms. versus human battles were fights where both sides were much smarter and more intelligent than monsters, and where they could read each other’s psychology.

In battles against humans, the compatibility between each other’s abilities was extremely important, and even the application of abilities was on a completely different level compared to monsters.

So if she were to engage in a 1-vs-5 battle against Hyun-woo’s party, who were all A-rank hunters… no matter how strong Shin-yeon was, victory couldn’t be certain.

『Water, and fire.』

…It shouldn’t have been certain.

Shin-yeon’s voice, heard softly but clearly.

Looking at the screen, a huge sphere of boiling water can be seen rising above Shin-yeon.

And Shin-yeon’s face, smiling leisurely while floating that sphere, was by no means the face of someone who was assuming their own defeat.

Rather, if anything, it was the expression of a child looking forward to how to play with the toy in front of them.

It was a reckless confidence, but for some reason, it was a confidence that inspired belief, and everyone in the association focused on Shin-yeon, and in the midst of those gazes, Shin-yeon greeted Hyun-woo’s party charging at her.

『It will probably hurt enough to kill, so be careful as you charge.』

Even that single greeting word was truly the words of an arrogant and overly considerate strong one.

The first reason Hyun-woo decided to kill Shin-yeon was anger at inequality.

The reason that she easily rose to a position he had worked to death to reach by wielding power.

That was the first reason he tried to kill Shin-yeon out of anger.

However, Hyun-woo was clearly a dark world hunter with one foot in the slums.

As it wouldn’t be profitable to just kill one exclusive hunter, after deciding to kill her, he looked for aspects of Shin-yeon that could make money.

And as a result of investigating a few places to connect routes, because Shin-yeon was the first exclusive hunter taken in by the General Management Team, her ransom was beyond imagination, and her murder transformed into an opportunity to both vent his anger and make money.

But when he did some preliminary investigation, the ten A-rank hunter security guards from the Punishment Team deployed to the 23rd district gate were quite tricky for even Hyun-woo to break through.

No matter how strong Hyun-woo and his party members were, it was impossible to face security guards of equal or higher rank while outnumbered, so what could he do?

Therefore, Hyun-woo belatedly tried to lure dark world hunters he had connections with using honeyed words to use as bait, and using the fools who fell for his words as bait, Hyun-woo was able to safely infiltrate the dungeon inside the gate along with his party members.

‘Since I’m wearing the mask provided by the sponsor, my identity shouldn’t have been exposed, and the security guards outside will be weakened by the other fools, so getting out should be simple too.’

Now that he had infiltrated the gate, what Hyun-woo had to do was subdue Shin-yeon, kidnap her, and quietly escape to the slums.

If he could just succeed in escaping, it was only a matter of time before Hyun-woo himself would be sitting on a pile of money.

‘What’s so scary about that General Management Team that everyone’s so afraid of?’

Certainly, Hyun-woo knew well the stories of those whose lives were ruined for messing with the General Management Team.

However, those who ended up like that were only fools who had nowhere to hide themselves, and Hyun-woo himself had no need to worry about such things at all.

‘Because I have backing too.’

Because Hyun-woo himself was a dark world hunter deeply connected to and protected by the slums.

As a member of the slums that even the General Management Team couldn’t touch carelessly, there was no reason to fear the General Management Team now when his identity hadn’t even been exposed.

Therefore, all that remained was to subdue and kidnap Shin-yeon, who wouldn’t have gone in very far, and escape.

And until now, Hyun-woo didn’t think at all that there would be any problems with the plan.

‘No matter how strong a girl who rose through backing is, she’s no match for us.’

After all, even if the opponent was an A-rank 1st place hunter, that was just a bubble-filled position that rose using the General Management Team’s power, so was there any reason to be afraid?

But unlike such a Shin-yeon, Hyun-woo himself was an experienced hunter who had built up experience as an A-rank hunter for several years.

He couldn’t imagine a case where he would lose, so there was no reason to worry.

‘But really…’

Sizzle—!!!

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Hyun-woo screamed at the pain felt along with the terrible sound.

An unfamiliar pain he had never felt before in his normal life. However, even in the midst of such pain, Hyun-woo’s head was spewing out only one question.

‘Why did it turn out like this…?’

Wasn’t it a position that rose through the General Management Team’s power? Wasn’t the talk about S-rank hunter skills just nonsense?

Hyun-woo thought like that in the midst of his screams at Shin-yeon’s ability before his eyes, which far surpassed what he had thought.

Although the fight had undoubtedly started leisurely, now Hyun-woo and all his party members were just screaming while trembling in place.

Gurgle—

The reason was none other than that water droplet Shin-yeon had created from the moment the fight started.

The huge water droplet, boiling with bubbles as if it had been heated insanely, seemed to be watching everyone from above Shin-yeon’s head.

The contrasting appearances of Shin-yeon and themselves, which seemed to have already been decided even from a third-person perspective.

However, Hyun-woo, who couldn’t back down like this, bit his lip hard and took a step forward.

“My goodness… You can’t even withstand this one thing, are you really A-rank hunters?”

Before Hyun-woo could even leap, once again, the water droplet above Shin-yeon shot boiling water at Hyun-woo.

Bubble—!!

“Ugh, kuuuh! Aaaaargh!!!”

The boiling water that had penetrated not only his hand holding the sword but even into the armor he was wearing delivered indescribable pain.

Not just the hot feeling of a scalding bath… but pain that bloomed like blades all over his body, as if boiling acid had been poured on him, so sharp that his senses were heightened beyond burning.

It was such terrible pain that he wondered if his flesh might have been cooked, but when he looked at his hand, it was perfectly fine, brimming with vitality.

However, if he pressed it slightly, brain-churning pain would surge again.

Therefore, Hyun-woo could only tremble with his body convulsing in pain, unable to move any further from where he had taken a step, and Shin-yeon, who had been spewing only boiling water at Hyun-woo from afar, slowly approached.

“It’s good that you didn’t faint, but you can’t even dodge water, let alone charge at me, looking like that, it’s really below expectations.”
“You… damn… bitch…”
“Moreover, with a weapon of this level…”

Then Shin-yeon grasps Hyun-woo’s immobile sword with her bare hand.

“You won’t even be able to scratch my skin.”

Clang—!

Immediately after, as Shin-yeon applied force to the hand holding the sword, the sword split in two and fell to the ground along with iron powder.

The remains of the sword rolling on the ground like an empty snack.

Having watched this entire series of events, Hyun-woo could only think.

That this path he thought would lead to a pile of money was actually the path to crossing the River Styx.

And.

“Now your weapon is gone too?”

That once he had crossed, there was no going back.