abcnovels
Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Chapter 93 – It’s Easy, Right? (1)
As always, Shin Tae-gil took charge of dealing with Kim Jun-yong.
Kang Hyeon decided not to worry about that and proceeded with filming as planned.
The location was an F-rank dungeon infested with those annoying goblins.
“Is the camera rolling properly?”
“Yes.”
Kang Hyeon cleared his throat and awkwardly posed in front of the camera.
“Hello everyone! This is Kang Hyeon from the Badass Guild. Thank you for all the interest and love you showed for our previous Veil’s Maze walkthrough video.”
“Pfft…”
Kang Hyeon’s speech was very clumsy, but he was also excited, which made it funny. Watching this, An Yu-seong chuckled, while Shin Seong-a smiled warmly.
“This video is about monster tactics. It will be an ongoing series, so please keep watching.”
Kang Hyeon tried to give his brightest smile to appear friendly.
He thought he looked quite cute, but to others, it was terrifying and horrible.
“Now, what’s our first monster to tackle?!”
As he spoke, Kang Hyeon gave a signal with his eyes.
Yoon Na-rae, standing nearby, opened her mouth with an openly reluctant expression.
“Drum roll please…”
The cheap sound effect Kang Hyeon had extracted through half-threats.
It sounded better than expected.
“It’s the goblin!”
Clap clap clap clap…
Kang Hyeon spread his arms like a presenter on a grand stage, basking in the half-hearted applause. Then, with a satisfied smile, he continued.
“Goblins! They’re quite tiresome creatures. Actually, the name ‘goblin’ was familiar even before the dungeon incident. They often appear as scrawny, weak monsters in movies and novels, right?”
“Yes…”
“So in the early days, many people rushed in fearlessly without knowing anything and ended up ‘swimming the River’, so to speak.”
Kang Hyeon, who had been enthusiastically mimicking swimming in the River, suddenly stopped.
“Of course, I’m not talking about myself.”
“…”
“Absolutely not.”
“I didn’t say anything?”
“Ahem!”
Kang Hyeon cleared his throat unnecessarily and continued.
“Goblins are very common monsters, with a wide variety from militia to regular troops to knights. They’re characterized by their annoying ‘keurk’ sound, and their appearance is quite disgusting…”
As he spoke, Kang Hyeon awkwardly started looking around.
“Ah! There’s one right there.”
He pointed at a goblin that had been wandering nearby for quite some time, pretending to have just spotted it.
Shin Seong-a laughed at Kang Hyeon’s poor acting and moved the camera towards the goblin.
“Keurk, keurk!”
“That annoying sound always makes me want to hit something.”
“Keaak!”
That’s when it happened.
The goblin, having just noticed Kang Hyeon, got very excited and started running towards him. It looked as if it had understood the insult directed at it.
“Now, I’ll show you how to deal with it.”
“Keraaa!”
The goblin, wielding a rusty longsword and drooling, charged forward, but Kang Hyeon’s face remained calm.
“You take this stance.”
The goblin quickly reached right in front of Kang Hyeon.
“Hyaap!”
With a shout, Kang Hyeon’s fist shot went out cleanly.
Pueok!
The goblin’s head, hit by that fist, exploded like a watermelon dropped from a high-rise building.
“That’s it.”
“…”
“Easy, right?”
“You call that a strategy? I can’t believe this.”
Yoon Na-rae said with a deeply furrowed brow.
“Not at all. This is the advanced course. Of course, there’s a beginner’s course too, so don’t worry.”
“Ugh…”
Yoon Na-rae gagged at Kang Hyeon’s slimy polite speech.
Kang Hyeon shook his fist once and continued the presentation.
“Now for the beginner’s course. First, let’s find a goblin, shall we?”
After saying this, Kang Hyeon gave Yoon Na-rae a meaningful look.
“What?”
“Assistant Yoon Na-rae. Go find one.”
“Why should I…”
“The guild pays you. Gives you items too.”
“…”
“You just eat and wipe your mouth clean, is that it?”
“…”
“Your daily routine is just staring at An Yu-seong all day, you should at least do this much…”
“Alright! I’m going! I’m going!”
With a face flushed red, Yoon Na-rae disappeared into the forest.
“That strangely dressed girl who just disappeared is actually a very sick child.”
As soon as Yoon Na-rae vanished, Kang Hyeon suddenly put on a sad expression.
“To say that such a thuggish guy is handsome instead of me. Tsk tsk…”
“…”
“Don’t you agree?”
“Yes…”
Shin Seong-a, holding the camera, nodded reluctantly.
Honestly, even to her, Kang Hyeon’s devotee, Kang Hyeon’s looks were nowhere near An Yu-seong’s level.
If she had to compare, An Yu-seong was a muscular beast-idol (beast + idol).
Kang Hyeon was just a beast. And a half-crazed one at that.
“Hmm…”
Some time later. As Yoon Na-rae hadn’t appeared even after a considerable amount of time had passed, the impatient Kang Hyeon started to get annoyed.
“Why is this loli otaku taking so long?”
Fortunately, as if waiting for that moment, Yoon Na-rae emerged from the forest.
“Where’s the goblin?”
“Here.”
Yoon Na-rae threw a magically bound goblin to Kang Hyeon.
“Alright! Now we’ll start the beginner’s course strategy.”
After that, Kang Hyeon explained in detail about goblins and seriously conducted the lecture.
“F-rank common goblins are nothing special. If you respond calmly, even a single adult male can hunt them sufficiently.”
While easily avoiding the goblin’s attacks, Kang Hyeon explained the goblin’s main attack patterns and weaknesses.
“If you carefully avoid attacks like this, and gradually inflict wounds without overexerting yourself, even non-ability users can hunt safely.”
“Keurrrr…”
Finally, the blood-covered goblin made a painful sound and collapsed on the ground.
“Easy, right?”
“Is it over?”
As the strategy lecture seemed to be over, Shin Seong-a was about to turn off the camera.
“Wait!”
“…?”
“This video was produced with the support of the Korean government, the Korean Ability Users Alliance, and the Jeong Seo-bin Item Research Institute!”
“Cut?”
“Okay! Cut!”
***
Ippotranslation
***
That evening, Kang Hyeon immediately uploaded the video he received from the editor to YouTube.
“The reaction will probably be lukewarm for now.”
Honestly, Kang Hyeon didn’t expect much from this video. After all, goblins were quite common, and there was already a lot of quality information about F-rank monsters in particular. Moreover, when he looked it up, he found that similar concept videos were already quite prevalent overseas.
“Let’s take a look at the reactions.”
Kang Hyeon accessed YouTube on his smartphone to check the comments.
– What is this? Is this a joke?
– Making a lecture video about goblins… It doesn’t seem as fresh as the first video.
– Is that sponsorship at the end for real? Lololol
– Kang Hyeon blowing off the goblin’s head in one shot is pretty impressive.
– If you look around these days, there are many videos with even more devastating scenes than that
– Super boring
The reactions were as expected.
– By the way, who’s that Yoon Na-rae? It’s my first time seeing her, but she’s moving with the Badass executives.
– Don’t know who she is, but she’s quite cute.
– That costume is killer. Hehe
– I lost it when Kang Hyeon called her a loli otaku lololol
– I’m getting off the Shin Seong-a coin and boarding the Yoon Na-rae coin.
Unexpectedly, the public opinion about Yoon Na-rae was quite good.
“Tch, what’s so cute? Just grinning uselessly.”
Feeling annoyed for no reason, Kang Hyeon took out a can of beer from the refrigerator.
“Ah! Refreshing.”
After emptying the beer in one go, Kang Hyeon crushed the empty can and smiled.
“Just you wait. It’s going to get more interesting from now on.”
After that, Kang Hyeon’s strategy videos continued.
Kurka, Redrock, Taranque, Keika, Skeleton Soldiers, Orcs, and so on.
Although they weren’t among the strongest monsters, Kang Hyeon showed an overwhelming performance, bursting any monster with a single punch without discrimination.
– Isn’t it easy?
The so-called “Isn’t it easy?” series began to gain popularity gradually, just as Kang Hyeon had expected.
“Hey. Do you watch Badass TV these days?”
And in a bar in Gangnam, Seoul.
Even two men drinking until late were talking about Kang Hyeon, who was a hot issue these days.
“What’s that?”
“You know, the one where Kang Hyeon appears and hunts monsters.”
“Ah, that video where he pretends to give lectures? It was fresh at first, but now, not so much.”
“Why? It’s super fun.”
“It feels too much like attention-seeking. The monsters he hunts for his so-called lectures are all weak ones.”
“…”
“They say he’s like a real-life One-Punch Man because he takes them all out in one hit, but honestly, it’s an exaggeration. There are plenty of ability users who can kill goblins and Taranque in one hit even now.”
Kim Yeon-su’s continued criticism finally made his friend, Jeong Jae-seon, snap.
“Hey! But Kang Hyeon takes them all out with his bare fists. It’s different from using equipment and skills.”
“He obviously used physical enhancement skills. Does it make sense that monster heads just explode from regular punches?”
Jeong Jae-seon, being an ability user himself, knew well.
It’s virtually impossible to burst monsters with bare fists without the help of skills.
“I get that you’re a fan of the Badass Guild, but honestly, I don’t like them, so I don’t really care.”
But if he didn’t put Kim Yeon-su’s arrogance in check, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of his life.
So Jeong Jae-seon decided to spill the information he heard from a friend who belonged to the Badass Guild.
“Then what about an ogre?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? An ogre?”
“I heard that because many people think like you, Kang Hyeon’s next video will be about an ogre.”
“…”
“Will you acknowledge it if he takes out an ogre in one hit?”
“Well, if it’s an ogre, I’d have to acknowledge it. But…”
Kim Yeon-su, who was flustered at the mention of an ogre, scratched his head.
“It could be video manipulation, you know.”
“What?”
“Even with physical enhancement, taking out an ogre with one punch doesn’t make sense. Since it’s an edited video anyway, how do we know he didn’t beat it up beforehand and just show the final blow?”
“This bastard, no matter what you say…”
Kim Yeon-su and Jeong Jae-seon were close friends and ability users belonging to the same guild. Their level was around 42, which was quite high within the guild.
“Our guild barely manages to take one down in a group, no matter how strong Kang Hyeon is, taking it out in one hit doesn’t make sense.”
“Hey. Then let’s make a bet.”
“What?”
“I said, let’s bet. Damn it. We can go watch Kang Hyeon film the video in person.”
Kim Yeon-su frowned at Jeong Jae-seon’s words.
“Why should I?”
“You’re saying Kang Hyeon is lying. So let’s bet. 10 million won on the line.”
“Geez… How are we going to find out where Kang Hyeon is filming?”
“You know Woo-jun, right? The guy who recently joined Badass. I’ll ask Woo-jun, so let’s make the bet.”
“…”
“What? Scared? If you’re scared, just die.”
“Fine. Fine. Damn it. Does it make sense to take out an ogre in one hit?”
“Of course it does. Haven’t you seen that huge hammer Kang Hyeon swings?”
After that, Jeong Jae-seon and Kim Yeon-su continued to bicker for a while.
“Bastard. I’ll make you regret it.”
Eventually, the drinking session fizzled out, and on the way home.
Jeong Jae-seon took out his phone.
“Hey. What are you up to?”
“I just finished dungeon raiding in the evening and now I’m resting.”
The voice of Jo Woo-jun, a friend who recently joined the Badass Guild, came through the phone.
“What’s the occasion? You rarely call.”
“Just… How’s the guild treating you?”
“Every day is hell. Damn it. I knew Badass Guild would be tough, but it seriously exceeds imagination. Just today, I almost died three times in the dungeon, you know? But no one cares. Everyone here is just crazy.”
Jo Woo–jun rambled on as if trying to vent his frustrations.
“Phew, I feel a bit better after talking. So why did you really call? Just genuinely checking up on me?”
“No… To be honest, it’s because of Kang Hyeon.”
“Kang Hyeon? Our guild master?”
“Yeah.”
“What about the guild master?”
“This bastard Kim Yeon-su is saying that the videos Kang Hyeon’s been filming lately are fake.”
“Hmm…”
“You said Kang Hyeon’s going to hunt an ogre tomorrow, right? So we want to watch that.”
“I don’t know if that’s okay…”
“Please. I’m begging you. I need to put Kim Yeon-su in his place, you know? This is also about your guild’s honor!”
“Sigh…”
Jo Woo-jun’s deep sigh conveyed his dilemma.
“We’ve got a 10 million won bet on this, and I’ll give you 5 million.”
“Forget about the money. I’ll text you the location and details as soon as the guild master leaves tomorrow.”
“Okay, thank you! I really appreciate it.”
After ending the call, Jeong Jae-seon smiled confidently.
“Kim Yeon-su. Just you wait.”