How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

15. Incheon Hunter Kim Geuk – [3]

Since then, my last interview has been floating around the internet on various sites. It’s the interview about why I chose Incheon.

I did the interview without much of a filter, and because of that, it seems to have gained some sort of cult following. If you search for ‘Park Mi-hyung’ on the internet, ‘brainwashing ability user’ comes up as a related search term, and if you search for ‘Kim Geuk’, ‘Incheon crazy awakened’ comes up.

The same interview has already been posted three times on HuntWeb, and the comments are hilarious.

Ⓐ DumbYouth: I thought that guy was only abnormal on HuntWeb, but he seems to be abnormal in real life too;;

Anonymous: Isn’t he just acting the same way in real life?

Ⓐ DumbYouth: That’s definitely not an act. If it were just an act, he wouldn’t have left Seoul for Incheon.

Anonymous: If the interview content was just that ridiculous, I’d think he was just trying to get attention by making the interview funny, but he actually chose Incheon, which is definitely tougher and pays less, so he really seems crazy…

Ⓐ syberMagneto: Is that guy really like that in real life?

Anonymous: I went to the same academy as him, and he’s not like that in real life;

Anonymous: He’s really serious at the academy. He doesn’t talk much and doesn’t chat during class.

Anonymous: During physical training, he said he would use his super regeneration ability and worked out until his arm broke, so I respected him.

Ⓐ ElmayaKayo: What;;

Anonymous: He doesn’t smile much and his tone is quite aggressive, so it was hard to approach him at first. It’s really surprising to see such a strict person act like a madman on the internet and in interviews.

Ⓐ syberMagneto: So, how did your academy react to him deciding to work in Incheon?

Anonymous: Why?

Ⓐ syberMagneto: Don’t they dislike it because it’s tough? For an awakened person, working in Incheon is ten times harder than working in Seoul. Didn’t the academy dislike it because their awakened student went to a harsh place?

Anonymous: No, our headmaster seems to be really happy. If he had gone to Seoul, it would have been hard to place our academy people in his hunter team, but thanks to him choosing Incheon, we can send a lot of people from the academy.

Anonymous: They even praised Kim Geuk as a saint.

As I was reading through the comments, I remembered what I had to do.

I had to report the hunter team I had formed to the association soon.

I had already decided on the members to include in the team. I planned to continue taking the members I usually took with me.

Sung Moon-young, Kim Jin-joon, Lee Jong-ho, Jung Jin-young, Lim Hyung-taek…

Among them, Lim Hyung-taek and Jung Jin-young are far from being the best members.

First, Jung Jin-young has reflexes that are close to the worst, and he’s so clumsy that I’m worried he might freeze in a crisis. But didn’t the videos he took greatly contribute to increasing my value? I decided to take him with me as a reward.

And in the case of Lim Hyung-taek, he has a problem with his stamina being too low, so he might collapse in extreme situations…

Well, honestly, I don’t think it matters who I take with me.

I remembered the day I first defeated a monster, when I fought the rock spirit.

Whether it was Kim Jin-joon, who worked out harder than anyone else, Sung Moon-young, who boasted about knowing the hunter industry well, or 43-year-old Lim Hyung-taek, who lacked confidence in his stamina, I remember that they were all equally useless that day.

Really, they were all the same.

That day, in that abandoned building, the non-awakened hunter aspirants were nothing more than machines that praised me.

Spectators, not comrades fighting together. That day, popcorn would have suited their hands better than rifles.

Just like that day, wouldn’t all non-awakened people be similarly useless anyway?

Well, the incident that day might have been too extreme a case. After all, none of them had proper weapons in the first place.

But the encounter afterward was even more shocking.

I recalled the hunters I faced after the situation ended.

I thought that hunters who had been active in the field for a long time would exude an aura different from ordinary people. I mean, I thought that veteran hunters who had fought monsters while crossing the brink of life and death would have something special, even if they hadn’t awakened.

I was wrong. Those hunters were just thugs with guns, and all the guns they brought were K-2s. Assault rifles that could barely scratch that rock monster.

Surely, it must have been broadcasted that a rock spirit had appeared, so why did they only bring small arms? When I asked, what did they answer?

They said they had no intention of dealing with the rock spirit in the first place, didn’t they?

‘A monster like a rock spirit will be dealt with by an awakened hunter who arrives later. We’re just here to collect the allowance by moving around according to the association’s instructions. They even pay us just for being dispatched to the scene, right?’

My impression after hearing that was simple. ‘Scum who have no intention of working properly.’

When I asked how long they had been active, they proudly answered that they had been active for a year. And I was shocked to learn that those thugs had been active longer than the former hunter instructor at our academy.

That day, my illusion about ‘veteran non-awakened hunters’ was thoroughly shattered.

From what I witnessed that day, non-awakened hunters had no intention of protecting the city or handling important tasks. They were just parasites.

Seeing that, I thought there was no need to put skilled people in my team. It seemed that as long as they were non-awakened, they were all the same.

Whether non-awakened people have good stamina or have been active for a long time, they are all at a similar level anyway. Whether an ordinary person or a world champion in athletics, they are all much slower than a cheetah.

So, I formed my team with the thought that it would be enough to have people who could give great reactions when I performed. The principal was pleased, saying that I took good care of the academy people.

While I was organizing my thoughts, a call came in.

It was Ms. Park Mi-hyung. When I asked why she called, she said this.

“I have someone to recommend.”

“Someone to recommend? Are you talking about a hunter?”

“Yes! Mr. Kim Geuk, you haven’t formed your hunter team yet, right? I found out that veteran hunters need to join new hunter teams to teach them various things. So, I want to recommend a veteran hunter.”

“Well, the academy already decided to recommend two veterans.”

“Really? Can’t it be adjusted?”

Seeing Ms. Park Mi-hyung’s flustered expression, I made a decision right away.

“Well, I can contact the academy and ask them to recommend one less person, right?”

“Oh, I’d really appreciate it if you could do that. Is it really okay?”

“Of course, I should prioritize our lady.”

After the call ended, I contacted the academy, and indeed, the principal immediately accepted my decision, saying, ‘Really? Got it!’

So that afternoon, I met Ms. Park Mi-hyung at a cafe.

Next to Mr. Park Mi-hyung sat the ‘veteran hunter’ he had brought along. Seeing her, I frowned.

Is she really a veteran hunter?

She didn’t look like one at all. She was wearing sunglasses, but even just looking at her nose, she was a beauty. Her long straight hair reached her armpits, and she was wearing a crop top that exposed her navel, like something out of a magazine.

I began to suspect that Mr. Park Mi-hyung had brought me here under the pretense of recommending a veteran hunter, but was actually trying to set me up on a blind date.

Mr. Park Mi-hyung introduced the woman he had brought.

“This young lady has been a hunter for 2 years and 4 months. That’s only 2 months short of the longest record for a hunter. She’s truly a veteran among veterans, isn’t that amazing?”

Hmm, 2 years and 4 months of experience. Considering most hunters die or retire within a year, that’s certainly impressive.

But she still didn’t look like a hunter. I continued to doubt and asked.

“What’s her name?”

“Baek Dambi. Isn’t her name pretty too?”

It was a name I had heard before.

“Isn’t Baek Dambi the one you mentioned before? The ice ability user who the city tried to expel…”

“That’s right, that’s right. Wow, Mr. Kim Geuk, you have a great memory for someone who was a literary boy until middle school!”

Mr. Park Mi-hyung clapped his hands and suddenly began to introduce the 2-year-4-month veteran.

“Do you remember when the gate had just been open for about a year? By then, everyone had gotten used to the existence of the awakened…”

That’s right. It was the time when various discussions were held about conscripting the awakened, and eventually, the hunter system was established.

And there was a crazy atmosphere back then that anyone who awakened had to become a hunter.

“Really, back then, it didn’t matter if you were young or old, if you didn’t fight monsters after awakening, you were considered a traitor. At that time, Baek Dambi, who had just debuted as an idol, caught people’s eyes. Baek Dambi is particularly strong among ice ability users, you know? The fact that she was doing fan service instead of fighting monsters with her powerful ability made people angry.”

According to Mr. Park Mi-hyung’s explanation, all sorts of malicious comments and protest letters were directed at Baek Dambi’s idol group. Her agency eventually gave in to the heated public opinion calling her a traitor.

Thus, Baek Dambi started hunter activities temporarily to show the public, originally planning to return to her group after a few months. But things didn’t go as planned.

“It’s been a terrible recession then and now. While she was working as a hunter, her agency went bankrupt and her group disbanded. What could she do? She had to keep working as a hunter to make a living. But you know?”

As Baek Dambi continued her hunter activities out of necessity, it became apparent that her ice ability was not very useful for hunting monsters.

And recently, Incheon City, thinking that her ability was strong enough to become a powerful awakened hunter with time, signed a 4-year long-term contract with her to use her as long as possible. They ended up wasting the entire 16 billion won contract fee.

Thus, Incheon City repeatedly attempted various nasty tricks to break the contract and recover the contract fee (since good people of Incheon wouldn’t do such things, it must have been someone from Seoul working undercover in Incheon), and these attempts have continued recently.

“Mr. Kim Geuk, your contract also states that you must go on a certain number of missions per month, right? Baek Dambi’s contract says the same, but it seems she’s having trouble going on missions these days. If this continues, they’ll claim she’s in breach of contract and terminate it.”

“Why is she having trouble going on missions these days?”

“Her original hunter team disbanded, and no other hunter team is willing to take her. It seems everyone is wary of Incheon City…”

“So you’re saying it would be good if I included her in my team?”

“That’s right. The city pays the money anyway, so you don’t have to worry about the money. And this young lady, as a veteran, will teach you various things… Can I ask you this favor?”

Mr. Park Mi-hyung said he couldn’t abandon her because he had been trying to help her since the days of the Korean Awakening Alliance, and that Incheon City wouldn’t dare to give me a hard time for taking her in, considering they had signed a contract worth over 50 billion won with me.

After hearing the whole story, I nodded reluctantly.

“Well, there’s no reason it can’t be done, right?”

“Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Kim Geuk, really!”

Ms. Park Mi-hyung made a fuss for a moment and then looked at Baek Dambi.

“They said they’ll accept you into the team, it’s great! What are you doing? Hurry up and thank him!”

At those words, Baek Dambi greeted me in a small voice.

“Thank you…”

It seemed that Ms. Park Mi-hyung was not pleased with that response. She scolded Baek Dambi for why her voice was so low and continued to nag.

“First of all, take off those sunglasses! You’ve been wearing them all this time? Don’t you know it’s rude not to take off your sunglasses when talking? Take them off quickly!”

Unable to resist, Baek Dambi took off her sunglasses.

And thus, her sky-blue eyes were revealed. I thought to myself, she really is a beauty, as they said she debuted as an idol, when I met her gaze.

Oh…

A sudden dizziness. I was engulfed in a sensation of being sucked in somewhere.

The hallucination that I had become accustomed to began.

*