Chapter 184 – Establishing the Hierarchy

The three foreigner brothers were in a meeting.

“Every group needs a leader. No group can exist without one. In that sense, I think I should be the leader since I’m the oldest.”

Rawin spoke with confidence.

As the eldest of the three foreigner brothers, it was only right for him to take the lead. But the second brother, Leon, objected.

“No. You like anime too much, hyung. Anime hinders progressive thinking and only leads to wasted time. I think it’s right for me to do it, as I’m the smartest among us.”

“What’s wrong with anime?”

“It’s embarrassing.”

Leon pointed at the anime character t-shirt Rawin was wearing.

But Rawin wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. When he first came to the modern world, he wanted to run away because of the Hero’s existence. But this place had such a wonderful culture.

Anime contained incredibly fantastic stories.

Watching it, he felt an immersion so deep it was as if he had melted into that world without realizing it.

“Miyuki-chan is not embarrassing. She’s a very diligent, kind, and perfect wife.”

For the first time in his life, Rawin argued with all his heart.

“And what’s wrong with Miyuki-chan? It’s better than the shirt you’re wearing, isn’t it?”

Leon was wearing a t-shirt with a flamboyantly gay man printed on it. He countered with his own logic.

“It’s popular for men to get together in the modern world. You just don’t know the trends, hyung.”

“No. You’ve got it wrong. The kind of getting together they want doesn’t involve your mug, at least.”

“Shut up.”

As the two bickered, Vincent, who was black, watched them with his fingers interlaced.

“The real leader should be Vincent. The reason is even stated in the Goguryeo Subakdo murals.”

“Are you crazy? Someone of my age should be doing this.”

“No. I, who possesses love for all humanity, should do it.”

“Enough!”

Vincent slammed his hand on the table. Then, his eyes flashing, he opened his thick lips.

“You’re both wrong. The boss is supposed to be the one with the most recognition.”

At Vincent’s words, Rawin and Leon frowned.

“Who do you think has been feeding our foreigner trio all this time? No one but Vincent. Look, in this country, they even hold elections to choose their king. In other words, the person with the most recognition should be the leader.”

The foreigner brothers continued to argue about who would be the leader.

“Idiots.”

Kim Tae-yang, watching their daily squabble over the pecking order, openly scoffed.

“Stay out of it, blondie. We don’t consider you a foreigner.”

“What are you talking about? I’m a native Korean.”

“Don’t fake your origin. Anyone can see your hair is imported.”

“This bastard is now dissing my parents so naturally, huh?”

Kim Tae-yang and Vincent growling at each other every day was also a common sight.

But today, things took a different turn.

The blonde Tae-yang opened his mouth.

“Hey, you three are always fighting over your ranks. But why don’t you try to sort it out with that guy in the break room over there?”

“…”

Vincent’s thick lips closed.

Besides Grandma Park Deok-soon and the celebrity Genie who had recently joined Team 3, there was someone else who had been subtly showing up at the training facility.

He was an incredibly handsome man with blonde hair.

People who saw him for the first time suspected he might be a celebrity due to his good looks, but his actions were a bit strange.

He never trained in the training room; instead, he spent every day gluing eyes onto dolls.

The strange thing was, not even the great Hyunbin forced the new foreigner to train.

That was a first.

‘What, is that eyeball-fetishist-looking guy that high-level?’

For the first time in a while, Kim Tae-yang’s competitive spirit was stirred.

He wasn’t interested in the foreigner trio’s pecking order, but he was curious about how skilled the new foreigner was.

“Should I give it a go?”

“As your rival up to this point, I advise you: size up your opponent before you charge in.”

“Rival? Who?”

Vincent flashed a toothy grin.

Seeing it, Kim Tae-yang snorted in disbelief.

The guy gets beaten up one-sidedly whenever they spar, yet he never admits defeat.

Although, Vincent’s endurance was so good that Kim Tae-yang, the one doing the hitting, felt like he was the one running out of stamina.

Siegfried, a man even that Vincent didn’t dare to challenge.

His body was itching for a fight.

Kim Tae-yang approached Sieg, who was in a corner, busy attaching eyes to a doll.

He paid no mind to Kim Tae-yang’s approach, quietly focusing on meticulously attaching the doll’s eyes.

“You really have nothing better to do. Did you come all the way here just to glue on some stupid doll eyes?”

At Kim Tae-yang’s words, Sieg’s hand, which had been in the middle of his work, came to a halt.

He lifted his head.

He was definitely handsome. A high-bridged nose. Delicately sculpted lips. A smooth jawline. He had the looks of a statue carved by God himself.

“Do not disrespect the doll’s eyes. Have you ever, for even a moment, been a burning eyeball for someone?”

“What kind of nonsense is this…?”

In any case, none of the foreigner family members who joined the team were normal.

Kim Tae-yang spoke again.

“Do you just do that doll-eye part-time job all day? If you’ve joined our team, you should be lifting weights. Or sparring. You should be doing something productive, shouldn’t you?”

“I am doing something sufficiently productive.”

“Oh, really? How much do you get for attaching those doll eyes?”

At Kim Tae-yang’s question, a haughty smile appeared on Sieg’s lips. He then held up all his fingers.

“For each eye, a whopping 5 won.”

“…?”

“If I finish everything in this bag, it’s a grand total of 5,000 won.”

Sieg answered with a face full of pride. Kim Tae-yang was so dumbfounded he was momentarily speechless.

“I have to meet the deadline today, so if you’ll excuse me.”

“What, just 5,000 won? Hey, I’ll give you that money.”

At Kim Tae-yang’s words, Sieg replied grimly.

“Are you the son of some nouveau riche family?”

“?”

“You should use such a large sum of money for a better cause.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kim Tae-yang stared at the dead-serious Sieg with a baffled expression. It seemed like he was being mocked, but Sieg’s face suggested otherwise.

Seeing how the foreigner trio gave him a wide berth, he was probably an upgraded version of them, but there was no way to see his skills.

So, Kim Tae-yang decided to provoke him a little more.

“Hey, let’s do this. If you beat me in a sparring match, I’ll glue on all those doll eyes for you.”

“…”

“If you lose…”

“No, you don’t have to say it.”

He placed the doll eyes he was holding on the floor.

“Because I will not lose.”

“Ha, this is nuts.”

Kim Tae-yang smirked at Sieg, who was brimming with the confidence of a teenager with eighth-grade syndrome.

Seeing this, Kim In-ho belatedly tried to stop him.

“Hey, Tae-yang. What are you trying to do?”

“Ah, today’s training is all done. Besides, the Director is busy whipping Grandma and Genie-noona into shape these days, so he won’t be coming for a while.”

Kim Tae-yang confidently stepped onto the ring and beckoned provocatively with his hand.

“Just so you know, this body has taken down 6-star monsters. Let’s sort out the pecking order.”

“I should contact the doll workshop owner in advance. I can tell her I can move up the deadline.”

Sieg climbed into the ring. Kim Tae-yang, looking like he was finally about to have some fun, grinned and got into his stance. But Sieg just stood there with his hands hanging loosely, completely defenseless.

“What, you don’t know how to fight? Need to use a weapon?”

“I use a sword.”

“Then use it.”

“No, it’s not necessary.”

Kim Tae-yang looked at Sieg and burst out laughing. Then, he stepped in and closed the distance in an instant.

“Here I come!”

Kim Tae-yang playfully swayed. He intended to show off his nimble footwork without even throwing a punch at his opponent.

As he was dodging imaginary attacks with whooshing sounds, Kim Tae-yang was hit by a three-punch combination.

“Huh?”

Sieg was still standing with his arms hanging loosely.

“This is pissing me off.”

Kim Tae-yang raised both his arms and quickly closed in, throwing a low kick.

*Thwack!*

Kim Tae-yang felt his head snap back. For a moment, his vision went white.

This time, he saw it. Sieg dodging his low kick, closing in from the side, and throwing a straight.

‘What is this bastard?’

Kim Tae-yang, caught off guard by the attack, felt a surge of anger.

He charged fiercely at his opponent.

But he couldn’t land a single punch.

*Pow, thud!*

He was the one taking the hits.

“Shit, I thought you said you didn’t know how to fight.”

“I don’t.”

Sieg said as he raised his hand.

“But I know how to hit.”

“Argh, you foreigner gang are all the same!”

Before long, Kim Tae-yang was knocked down by Sieg and lay stretched out on the ring floor.

“I’ll be counting on you.”

With those words, Sieg stepped down from the ring, and Vincent looked at Kim Tae-yang, grinning from ear to ear.

“Fuck…”

Kim Tae-yang cursed as he started gluing on the doll eyes.

He wasn’t overwhelmingly strong like Hyunbin, nor was his strength obvious like Henri’s.

But fighting him directly, it felt strangely like he was being played with.

“Tae-yang, I heard you got wrecked?”

As if he wasn’t annoyed enough, Team Leader Henri was sipping a soju shot glass next to him.

“Wrecked? No, I was just careless.”

“Really? Looks like you’ll be gluing doll eyes tomorrow too.”

“No. There’s absolutely no way that’s happening.”

Kim Tae-yang boasted to Henri, who had been his idol.

After spending the night gluing doll eyes, Kim Tae-yang waited for Sieg the next day.

Soon, Sieg arrived for work with his usual side job.

Kim Tae-yang confidently told Kim In-ho.

“I’m gonna go wreck him!”

But it was always Kim Tae-yang who got wrecked.

Henri, the leader of Team 3, let Kim Tae-yang bang his head against a wall.

He should have realized something was up when Hyunbin didn’t assign any training to Sieg.

Henri himself was surprised when he first saw Sieg.

Hearing that Sieg had saved Audrey, who was like a daughter to him, he had brought a case of soju as a gift to express his gratitude.

But the aura emanating from Sieg was different.

He felt like a perfectly forged sword.

To have one’s mana so tightly wrapped around one’s body was a difficult feat even for an S-Rank Hunter.

As an exceptional fighter himself, Henri had noticed that Sieg was overwhelmingly strong.

“Damn it, I’m gonna crush you today!”

“It is impossible for you.”

Kim Tae-yang didn’t give up and continued to challenge Sieg.

It was like hitting a rock with an egg.

“Take care of your body while you’re at it. I would not like to lose a good doll-eye-attaching assistant.”

“Wow, do all you foreigner family members come with a provocation skill as a default option?”

Hyunbin didn’t stop Kim Tae-yang’s reckless challenges.

Even if he was brutally defeated, a type like Kim Tae-yang learns best by experiencing things firsthand.

Knowing this, Hyunbin had started with sparring against Kim Tae-yang from the beginning.

‘Well, it looks like he’s slowly getting the hang of it, though.’

The number of times Tae-yang managed to evade attacks began to increase gradually.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could beat Sieg.

Just as Kim Tae-yang specialized in interpersonal combat, Sieg had never lost a one-on-one fight in his life.

“Your punches are like sugar. They melt before they even reach me. Are you really going to fight with something like that?”

“I had no idea your dream was to be a monster masseuse. You’re going to hunt with attacks like that? No. You’ll give them a massage!”

On the opposite side of where Kim Tae-yang and Sieg were sparring, Henri was putting the three foreigner brothers through a hellish workout.

“Good, good.”

Hyunbin nodded his head with a satisfied smile.

“Hyunbin, this doesn’t seem good…”

Hyunbin gave a broad smile to Genie, who was trembling as she lifted a barbell.

“No, it’s good.”

“No, Hyunbin… It’s not good.”

“Come on. I said it’s good. Should we do a vlog?”

“Huh…?”

“I heard you like vlogging.”

“No, we don’t have to do that…”

The light on the phone set up on a tripod turned on.

“You just have to enjoy it. I heard you like communicating with your fans. Now, shall we properly wreck those arms?”

Watching this scene from a distance, Seo Hyun-ji quietly observed the process of Genie losing her romantic ideals about superheroes.

Following Seo Hyun-ji, the sight of Genie, the leader of Four-Girl, also getting wrecked turned the chat window into a sea of fans’ tears.

He checked the tactical situation of the team going out for a dungeon raid and managed the training progress of each team.

Even with such a busy schedule, Hyunbin never skipped his own training.

Flowers grow on love.

The more love you give them, the more beautifully and splendidly they bloom.

Muscles were the same.

The more attention you give them, the more firmly and powerfully they blossom.

After finishing his daily routine, Hyunbin was at home conversing with his muscles when he saw his phone screen light up.

-Hello, Hunter Lee Hyunbin. This is Management Team 1 of the Union Hunters’ Asia branch. Would you be available for a call?

The corners of Hyunbin’s mouth lifted.

He had expected a bite sooner or later. From the 100 Mages.

The short break was over.