Today, in the morning, Si-Hun got a text from Jae-Un to hang out.
He texted
"Broo, let's visit the stray cats shelter. That place is full of kittens, and you know I ADORE cats!!"
"Why do you suddenly wanna visit there?''
"I want to adopt a cat."
"Hmm. Okay. I'm coming right away."
He darted out to get some fresh air.
He was finally free to touch some grass.
He was about to get out of the door when Kuro held his collar from behind and dragged him in.
"Wear an upper."
"Bro you don't get to tell me what to do."
Kuro took the upper from the wall rack and dumped it onto his face.
"UGH."
Si-Hun went outside and finally breathed.
"Agh…I can finally be free from all the raids."
Si-Hun walked to the nearby stray cats shelter.
He saw Jae-Un waiting there for him at the reception.
He waved at Si-Hun and signaled him to come inside.
Si-Hun walked in.
The doorbell rang when he opened the door.
They both went to the area and fed some cats.
Jae-Un was busy playing with kittens.
Si-Hun saw a cat that was sitting alone in a corner.
Si-Hun went near it and caressed its head.
"You're a cute one."
The cat wiggled its tail.
He was busy playing with the cat when he didn't notice that someone was standing behind him, admiring him.
It was Su-Yeon.
She was looking at Si-Hun, her doe eyes flickering.
Si-Hun felt someone's presence and looked behind.
Su-Yeon was standing at a distance, seeing Si-Hun caress her own cat.
"Oh, hey…that's actually my cat." She said, smiling.
"Is that so. It's..adorable."
Kuro looked at Si-Hun and smirked.
Si-Hun narrowed his eyes and ignored him.
"Haha, I leave him here in the daycare till I am free from university. His name is Kira."
Kuro looked at Si-Hun and whispered near his ear.
"Master, it's similar to my name, hehe."
"Oh, so you've come to take him, right?"
"Yeah. You can come and play with him sometimes. He seems to like you."
"I will, haha."
Si-Hun stood up and handed the cat to Su-Yeon.
Si-Hun saw her leaving and kissing her cat on the nose.
Si-Hun went back to Jae-Un when he got a call.
"Hello."
"Yes?"
"Si-Hun, actually, today's raid's timing has been changed. You have to come earlier, in about 45 minutes."
"You're telling me at this hour."
"I'm sorry. They told us out of nowhere."
"It's fine."
"Ok, bye, be there at 4."
"Ok. Bye."
He hung up and told Jae-Un that he had to go.
"Jae-Un, I have to leave. I'm sorry, but our supervisor just called and informed me that the timing has been changed. I have to reach earlier."
"Si-Hun, come one. You're always on the run."
"Can't help it. I gotta do this to survive."
"I understand, bud. It's hard to survive in this time."
"Yeah. Life is tough."
"It is. So, I'll see you in the next raid?"
"Hope so."
"Bye,"
"Bye."
Si-Hun excused himself and left from there.
Si-Hun headed straight for the raid.
It was a C-ranked portal.
Si-Hun, without wasting time, went into the portal.
The portal was a normal C-rank.
He killed a few goblins, but his main task was to mine mana stones.
After killing all the monsters, Si-Hun and the other predators went into a huge chamber, which had a lot of mana stones.
The mana was too much.
It was suspicious that no one mentioned this.
This mana was worth a lot.
The other group of predators sent Si-Hun and a few other minors to mine the mana stones while they took a break.
Si-Hun, with a few other predators, went to the mana chamber to mine.
They had just entered the chamber when they suddenly heard a heavy sound.
They looked around to check what this was.
Realization hit them hard when they got to know that they were trapped.
"It's those high-rank predators! They enclosed this chamber so no one can come out, and they can steal all the mana stones that we mine!" A miner shouted.
"So that's why they didn't bring many predators, to steal this unusual amount of mana stones."
Everyone was panicking when they heard a voice.
"No one will leave this chamber until all the mana stones are mined. If you disobey, you will die. You all will get a small share. Now mine!" The voice echoed in the chamber.
The predators were scared, so they just followed the command like puppets.
But Si-Hun wasn't gonna die such a pathetic death.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and stood there, smirking.
The one who was keeping an eye on the chamber through an exposed corner, noticed and shouted.
"Hey! You bastard! Why aren't you doing any work!?"
Si-Hun sensed the voice and knew exactly where it was coming from.
He looked in that naked corner and squinted his eyes.
He then smirked.
"And if I don't, what are you gonna do?"
"Ugh! You will be killed if you don't get to work right now!"
"I won't," Si-Hun said, completely unbothered by the threat.
'So you'll not listen like this. I'm calling the leader."
As the man left, Si-Hun quickly opened his stats.
He looked for a new ability, and he found one; the perfect one.
"Shadow Veil."
The ability could enable a user to become invisible.
It was a stealth ability that could be used for a decent amount of time, and even be upgraded to unlock its usage without limitation.
It was like a veil that made the person a shadow, completely hidden from human eyes.
Si-Hun had this ability in notifications, which he never checked.
"Hey! You bastard sure want to die!"
The predator was their leader, and he was fuming.
He broke the rock wall and entered the chamber.
The broken rock pieces splattered everywhere, some even hitting people, and one of them came right at Si-Hun and made a cut on his cheek.
Si-Hun didn't like getting hit on the face.
He stayed quiet, which was the biggest threat.
The leader came in front of Si-Hun, thinking he was scared, which is why he didn't lift his head to meet his gaze.
"Oye! You were blabbering so much before? Where'd that sharp tongue of yours go!? Now you're even scared to meet my eyes."
The man said with such pride.
Si-Hun stayed quiet.
His silence was scary.
The man was angry when Si-Hun didn't reply.
He pushed his shoulder, and that's when Si-Hun snapped.
"I DON'T LIKE GETTING MY FACE TOUCHED.''
The man flinched seeing him like this.
"Shut your nonsense and get bac-
"Shut your fucking mouth, bastard." Si-Hun said, his tone quiet.
His eyes were emotionless, unreadable as ever.
"HOW DARE YOU!?"
The predator was about to punch him when Si-Hun stepped aside, causing the man to fall flat on his face.
Si-Hun didn't wait a second and walked towards him.
His eyes held no emotion, cold, unreadable.
He stepped on the man's face, his cheek getting bruised by the force.
"A-ahh..'' The man's voice came out broken.
Si-Hun rubbed his foot on his face and lifted it again to stomp on his face.
This time, he stomped even harder.
"YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE TOUCHED ON YOUR FACE?" Si-Hun said, his actions as merciless as ever.
The man didn't say anything, gulping his words.
"WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING!?" Si-Hun shouted at the man, making everyone flinch.
He hated traitors. This man first betrayed his own team, and now he pissed him off.
Everyone at this point was scared.
The other high-rank predators were frozen, seeing this merciless sight of their strong boss getting crushed under a weak miner's( or so they thought)foot.
Si-Hun stepped away from his face and knelt down to his level.
"How do you feel?"