Creator’s Favoritism

The video began as soon as the Gate opened. The screen shook as it displayed the system message announcing that a containment-type Gate had opened in Yeouido. Screams of people mixed with the sharp cries of monsters.

As the camera panned, a familiar face appeared: Director Park. A dazed assistant director briefly flashed across the edge of the frame. Then the scene changed. I saw myself and Kang Chagyeong sitting in front of the elevator on the fifth floor. Viewed from a third-person perspective, it was clear we were both terrified.

“Your name?”
“Maeng Sun-woo…”
“Your name is Sun-woo?”
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
“My grandmother gave it to me… It’s written with the character for ‘gentle’ and the character for ‘cow.’”

The conversation I had briefly with the assistant director while climbing the stairs was also in the video. Of course, I never thought this casual chat would be recorded. Director Park had thoughtfully added subtitles at the bottom of the video. Why did he include such a useless part? Seeing my face in the video made me intensely embarrassed.

“Don’t you students have anything you want to say? To your family, maybe?”
“I don’t plan on leaving any last words.”

Oddly enough, all the dialogue was mine. It’s not like I was chattering away during the Gate incident. But compared to Kang Chagyeong, who kept her mouth shut like a clam, I seemed relatively talkative.

“Everyone… stay here for a moment. I’ll go check it out first.”

The scene changed again, showing my back as I went to rescue the corpse. What an idiot. Knowing now that the cry for help was actually from a monster imitating a human, I felt quite frustrated watching myself.

“Are you alright? Put your arm over my shoulder.”

I didn’t need to watch the rest to know what happened. In an instant, I was captured by the monster and struggled in pain. At the same time, the monster’s tentacle stretched towards the camera. The screen showed Kang Chagyeong, panic-stricken, leading Director Park and the assistant director as they fled in haste.

The wildly shaking camera captured only Director Park’s feet running up the stairs. The labored breathing of Kang Chagyeong and the assistant director, struggling to support the director in his cast, mixed noisily in the background.

Perhaps because both the director and assistant were in a state of panic on the rooftop, the video didn’t include the process of Kang Chagyeong’s death and subsequent awakening. The briefly interrupted video resumed with monsters swarming the rooftop, drawn by the aggro on me. I was barely visible, obscured by the monsters’ huge bodies.

As Kang Chagyeong jumped high and threw a punch, the monsters shattered with a thunderous sound. Her hair fluttered in the wind as she stood tall in the frame. The camera slowly zoomed in on my face, lying quietly unconscious among the fragmented monsters.

It was probably meant to show that I had contributed to the monsters’ annihilation, but sadly, it only served to contrast with the imposing figure of Kang Chagyeong.

“How is this possible…?”

The roughly ten-minute video ended with Director Park’s quiet exclamation.

Scrolling further down the page, I saw an explosive number of comments, arranged by the most likes.

[Look at Kang Chagyeong’s power. He’s truly legendary.]
┗ He’s practically a blender—pulverizes monsters with one punch.
┗ Does he even need to join Haniyeong(1)? Just send him straight to the Gates; he could slice through 100 monsters easily.

[May the victims rest in peace.]

[Gentle ‘sun’ and cow ‘u’… I’ll remember it!]
┗ I can’t believe my eyes. Is this really the name of someone about to enter high school?
┗ LOL, don’t mock it; his grandmother gave it to him.

[The moment the monster appeared, I leaked a little. I think my ability has awakened. Is it possible for me to become a Hunter?]
┗ Not a chance.

[To go help in that situation… such a spirit of sacrifice at such a young age. I guess that’s the kind of person who becomes a Hunter. If I were caught in a Gate, I’d just run for my life until a monster definitely killed me.]
┗ For real, LOL.
┗ Seriously, it’s amazing… I always thought Hunters were incredible, but still ㅜㅜ.
┗ Regardless of rank… S-class in character, at least.

While I appreciated the positive views, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly as I read the comments. It would have been much better if my innate skill was S-class rather than just my character. The memory of feeling utterly wronged at the moment of death was still vivid. It probably wasn’t much different for Kang Chagyeong.

After reading a few more comments with similar content, I wanted to check the most recent comments. When I sorted the comments by newest instead of most popular, the atmosphere changed drastically. It wasn’t hard to find comments evaluating and critiquing indiscriminately.

[Seriously, Maeng Sun-woo going to help when he’s just a civilian is so frustrating;; He’s just lucky he awakened and gets praised. If he hadn’t become a Hunter, he’d have just died for nothing.]
┗ Don’t talk nonsense.
┗ ? He’s not wrong, though, LOL?
┗ Honestly, it is frustrating~ He’s gonna have a hard time working as a Hunter later. But he’ll probably end up in an office job anyway since he’s F-rank.
┗ Maeng Sun-woo’s skill name is ‘Human Deserving Death’ lol—living up to his username.

[Going to save a monster, LOL—what a sucker.]
[8:18 Kang Chagyeong is so handsome; we almost lost a rare talent if he hadn’t awakened as a Hunter, LOL.]
┗ I admit his nose is S-rank too.
┗ Can’t he debut instead of becoming a Hunter?
┗ The system really does favor looks, I’m telling you. Have you seen most Hunters’ faces? If you’re ugly, just avoid Gates. It’s sincere advice.
┗ What’s wrong with you guys? ㅡㅡ

[Wow, it’s amazing Maeng Sun-woo didn’t die from that punch, LOL.]
┗ Hunter abilities don’t damage other Hunters, you know.
┗ Still… surviving that is impressive~~ Maybe Sun-woo is S-rank too?!!
┗ Nope, Maeng Sun-woo is F-rank~

[Weren’t there four prospective students for Haniyeong this time? Suddenly, there are two more.]
┗ Sigh, more taxes for us.
┗ You have time to complain about taxes? Without Hunters, the country would just collapse, LOL.

[The handheld camera work is nauseating. Is this a camera or a pedometer? Did you deliberately shake the camera at important parts? Can’t you film properly?]
┗ You try filming it, you XX.
┗ My criticism is valid, but you immediately use informal speech and swear? Are you crazy? Or are you the uploader?

I closed the comment section, feeling dizzy. My heart, which had been pounding while reading the aggressive comments, wouldn’t calm down easily.

Honestly, I don’t care if people trash me for being F-rank or only pay attention to Kang Chagyeong. The general public here isn’t important. What matters most is how the readers in the divine realm will react.

Usually, in shounen manga, you need to be world-class strong to gain readers’ affection, and there are generally two types of overpowered characters:
Type 1: Born overpowered.
Becoming strong quickly, backed by absolute power. Judging by her awakening as the youngest S-rank, Kang Chagyeong falls into this category.

Type 2: Becoming overpowered through effort.
With my innate skill being F-rank, Type 1 is already out of the question. But traditionally, in shounen manga clichés, Type 2 is preferred over Type 1.

Hunters gain experience by killing monsters, and experience usually leads to skill awakening. Hunters become stronger by awakening additional skills.

‘I guess I have no choice but to aim for this…’

The hardworking Hunter route, starting from F-rank. It’s not a bad choice for gaining readers’ popularity. I probably have some experience accumulated from killing that one F-rank monster in the previous Gate, but the amount was obviously pitiful.

‘To awaken additional skills, I’ll have to grind like crazy…’

It’ll be tough, but for now, I had no choice but to do my best and work hard.

“Tito thinks he has no choice but to do his best.”
“Ah, you startled me.”

The timing of the narration box’s sudden appearance was quite exquisite.

“Having polished the artwork for the first five chapters, Tito saves the file with an anxious look. He slowly composes an email starting with ‘This is the new modern fantasy work I mentioned earlier…'”

I watched the narration box with interest. It seems the webtoon set in this world hasn’t been officially serialized in the divine realm yet. To me, Tito is an omnipotent god, but in the divine realm, he was a webtoon artist nervously awaiting the review of his new series proposal.

While I resent that he made this world so perilous, I can’t help but feel a growing fondness for this human-like creator as I keep observing him.

“Let’s work hard together, Tito.”
I silently cheered for Tito’s proposal to pass the review successfully.

* * *

Time flew by. During that time, I gathered detailed information about Haniyeong from the internet. I needed to know everything that might be helpful.

Meanwhile, as the devil had said, vague memories of the three years before my suicide started coming back to me. For example, trivial facts like getting my driver’s license as soon as I turned twenty. However, important details related to why I committed suicide remained a mystery.

On the morning of my discharge, Park Hoon-min kindly drove me directly to the Haniyeong dormitory. Finding room 202, which he had mentioned, was my responsibility.

“Excuse me…”

However, behind the door I nervously opened, there was no one. Could it be a single room? I placed the box on the empty right bed and looked around the not-so-small room. Seeing another bed on the left, it seemed I did have a roommate.

Just then, an unfamiliar girl opened the door and entered.

T/N:

Haniyeong:  So the Korean text of the school was 한국이능력영재학교, which translates to “Korea Ability Gifted School” in English. Haniyeong or 한이영 is the shortened version of that name.