How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

20. Ice Ability User Baek Dambi – [5] (Revised)

I laughed as I read my interview article.

Thanks to my super regeneration ability, all my physical injuries were now healed, but in the photo inserted in the article, I was missing three fingers and part of my face.

I was pleased to see the caption at the bottom of the photo that read, “Despite severe injuries, he continued to carry out the mission with indomitable spirit.” I would have been disappointed if my efforts hadn’t been recognized to this extent.

Ah, there was also a survivor interview. An interview where Hunter Kim Geuk, despite his poor condition, managed to control the situation and take care of the survivors… This is also satisfying.

Thus, the article ended with the note that as a result of my efforts, 89 households, precisely 457 people, in the apartment complex were able to survive.

KoreaRuined: Is the berserker in the photo and the lunatic who gave that interview really the same person?

ㄴ: For real, lol

Yonsik95: I didn’t like it when that b*stard bragged about making two people disabled because he couldn’t control his anger. It feels even worse to think that a thug who lives without thinking about the consequences got lucky and awakened to make a fortune… Seeing him charge at monsters without controlling his anger makes me feel secure, really.

ㄴ GuestComment: I went to middle school with Kim Geuk. Until he graduated middle school, he was just a big guy who quietly read history books in the back of the class. He doesn’t have anger management issues.

ㄴ Yonsik95: He read books in class? Not a thug who fought all the time?

ㄴ GuestComment: At least in my memory, he wasn’t a thug. He always had a dark expression, but he never fought with anyone. I was surprised when I heard he caused trouble on the first day of high school, but now he looks so different from my memory that I’m just puzzled.

GuestComment: Why does that b*stard keep giving interviews like that? Is he doing it to be funny? Is it a concept?

ㄴ Happy22: I don’t know if he’s trying to be funny or if it’s a concept, but he looks enthusiastic and consistent in his actions. There are so many thugs who sign contracts with local governments and then disparage the region at every turn, but he’s different.

I kept scrolling and scrolling, but it didn’t end. The number of comments exceeded 400.

Even the article’s views were in the hundreds of thousands, which was surprising attention for an article about a local incident. It must be because my interview was funny and got shared on all sorts of sites again.

Hmm, this overwhelming attention was truly thrilling.

Meanwhile, it seemed Baek Dambi was also reading this article. Suddenly, she asked me an out-of-the-blue question.

“Did you think I sounded like a nerd back then?”

“Yes.”

“That’s too much…”

I chuckled and looked at the other colleagues.

Everyone’s eyes were on Baek Dambi and me. It seemed they were quite surprised by Baek Dambi’s chatter.

As I was grinning, the vehicle carrying our team started moving.

It wasn’t an ordinary vehicle but a bus modified so you could go up to the roof. When I climbed up to the roof, people’s eyes were on me.

“Here comes Hunter Kim Geuk!”

Councilwoman Park Mi-hyung, who was giving a speech, raised my hand high. She shouted into the microphone.

“Everyone, give him a round of applause!”

Amidst the pouring applause and the chanting of my name… I waved and waved again.

As the vehicle carrying me passed through the true heart of Korea—the Moraenae Market—I thought with a full heart.

Anyway, it’s worth living on. Who would have thought I’d be the star of such a parade?

Next to me, Councilwoman Park Mi-hyung’s passionate voice continued to echo.

“Thank you all for participating despite your busy schedules! It’s worth it, right? You all saw the article this time! Hunter Kim Geuk here has done a great job…”

As a result, it just turned out that way, but the parade was not held to celebrate my recent achievements.

Originally, this parade was planned to advertise my contract with Incheon City, but due to my recent fame, more people came to watch, and the praise directed at me increased.

When you think about it, it’s strange. Holding a parade at the municipal level just because they contracted with one hunter?

Even when a new police chief or fire chief, who is responsible for the safety of the area, is appointed, they don’t make such a fuss. It’s unusual to do this much for a hunter, but they said it was a very important matter.

That is, it is very important for the recovery of the surrounding real estate value.

I couldn’t understand what was so important about the land value until recently, but after experiencing this incident, I roughly understood.

“With this incident, Incheon City has proven that it can respond excellently to unexpected large-scale incidents like this one… and has the ability to protect the citizens of Incheon…”

It’s a world where all Koreans are desperate to go to Seoul.

Not because the infrastructure is good or there are many jobs, but simply to survive, everyone wants to go to Seoul.

You can tell just by looking at the real estate prices. The price of Seoul real estate, which was expensive even before the gates opened, has now risen more than ten times, while local real estate prices have fallen.

Even in Incheon, all kinds of buildings are dirt cheap.

For example, the sale price of a villa near Moraenae Market Station is only 15 million won. Considering the recent surge in prices, it’s an absurd price.

Not only Incheon but other regions are in the same situation, because of the concern that living in the provinces makes it easier to become monster food. And that’s actually true.

Compared to Seoul, the provinces lack the budget to prepare for monster attacks. They don’t have the money to contract with expensive awakened ones or to deploy various equipment. Inevitably, compared to Seoul, they are significantly less able to defend against monster attacks.

Meanwhile, the monsters inside the gates are not fools. They tend to target the easiest places first.

They also tend to repeatedly target places where they have successfully attacked without significant damage early on.

When a gate opens, regions that fail to properly deal with the monsters that pour out often have gates open again later.

As a result, places that fail to respond properly to attacks see their real estate prices plummet.

When that happens, local businesses go bankrupt, and residents leave. Income decreases, and the budget becomes even more insufficient. The ability to prepare for gates drastically decreases.

Eventually, the area gets branded as completely ruined. The population decreases so much that even the local government and the central government give up on the area.

Slums in cities after the gates open are born that way.

Such slums are continuously increasing in the provinces. They are lands of death, with no operating stores, only piles of illegally dumped garbage on the streets, and old people and homeless people who don’t even have the energy to move, just waiting to be eaten by monsters.

And the total number of deaths in this Incheon gate incident was thirty. Most were hunters, and a few were homeless people who were illegally staying in empty buildings and elderly people who couldn’t evacuate in time due to their slow reactions.

This is considered “defending with almost no damage.” It’s a result that would be hard to expect even in the most fortified areas of Seoul.

Thus, the excellent result of defending this gate is also excellent. The real estate prices near the apartment complex have generally risen, and the price of the apartment itself has risen significantly.

It’s not just that real estate speculators are smiling. It has more meaning than that.

It means that the residents there will not give up and leave the land they live on, that the nearby convenience store and McDonald’s branch will continue to operate. The garbage sorted by the residents will not be left unattended forever but will be collected before it starts to smell, and the local government and the state will continue to take care of the citizens there.

Meanwhile, my hunter team also climbed onto the bus and waved to the people.

Baek Dambi waved her hand particularly excitedly, to the point where one might think she was a celebrity invited to the event. It was so funny to see Seong Munyeong glancing at her with a bewildered expression next to her.

“Taking a photo! Smile…”

The parade ended with smiles from me, the academy graduates, and even Baek Dambi.

As we gathered for a cup of coffee, everyone started chatting.

“Jinyoung, why do you keep looking at your feet? Did something fall on the floor?”

“Sorry, my feet are itchy.”

“Your feet are itchy? Why?”

“Maybe it’s athlete’s foot…”

“No way, do you not shower regularly? Don’t come near me…”

Surprisingly, Baek Dambi was also part of this messy gathering of men.

I glanced at Baek Dambi, who still had a smile lingering on her lips.

She seemed to be in a good mood all day. Why? Like a delusional person who thinks she’s a celebrity, was she happy to get attention in front of people like a celebrity today?

Until recently, I would have thought so too, but not anymore.

When that spirit appeared, Baek Dambi volunteered to fight alongside us. Having already pocketed hundreds of billions of won as a signing bonus, I thought her ultimate goal was to continue her activities even if people criticized her. So, I couldn’t understand why she stepped forward at that time.

But seeing her reaction when we defeated that spirit, I now understand.

She also had a desire to make a mark. A desire to fulfill her role, a desire to achieve something that others couldn’t, like an awakened one.

The reason she hadn’t shown any enthusiasm in her activities so far was simply that she hadn’t had the opportunity to shine. So, she immediately stepped forward in a situation where she might be able to shine, and after achieving something similar to a success, she was so happy…

“In the provinces, they don’t pay you the day after a hunt? When I was active in Seoul, they always paid the day after the hunt.”

“It can’t be helped. These days, the provinces don’t pay hunters with their own money. They borrow money from Seoul every time they need to pay…”

Listening to the chatter between Jang Byung-gon and Sung Moon-young, I asked.

“Hasn’t everyone been paid yet?”

“No. They said they’ll pay at the end of the month.”

“I got paid right away yesterday.”

“Wow, do they pay awakened ones immediately? That’s really unfair.”

Grumbling, Sung Moon-young disappeared first.

As everyone else went their separate ways, I still saw Jung Jin-young wearing his military boots.

If he hadn’t been paid yet, he would also be penniless. I called out to Jung Jin-young.

“Jinyoung? Come with me somewhere.”

He still feared me. Even now, he flinched suddenly, not knowing why I was calling him separately, looking uneasy.

“Huh? Why…”

Without explaining, I grabbed his shoulder and teleported.

In front of a shoe store, with Jung Jin-young rolling his eyes in confusion, I spoke.

“Pick out two pairs of shoes. One for everyday wear and one for hunting.”

“Shoes? Why all of a sudden…?”

“You said you had athlete’s foot. It’s probably because you’ve been wearing those boots that are full of fungus. Either throw them away or get them cleaned, and wear different shoes.”

“How did you know I had athlete’s foot?”

“I overheard you talking about it earlier.”

Jin-young’s eyes widened at my words.

After a while, Jin-young, who had been looking around, picked out two pairs of shoes. When I paid for them, his eyes widened again.

We left the store and went to a pharmacy. I paid for the medicine as well and said a few words.

“I couldn’t say it at the time because I was busy hunting, but you did well this time. Let’s keep it up, okay?”

As I said that and patted his shoulder a few times, Jin-young reacted strangely again. He bowed his head deeply and his shoulders shook. I was surprised at how strongly he reacted to just a bit of encouragement.

I waved goodbye and teleported away, parting with him in style.

It’s nice to have some financial freedom. Even the price of athlete’s foot medicine was ridiculously high, but as a hunter, I can afford it without any trouble.

When I got home, I picked up my phone. Now that I’ve taken care of my current colleagues, it’s time to take care of my former colleagues.

“Hello, Mr. Yang Tae-gyu. This is Kim Geuk, do you remember me? The guy who used to work for the Korean Awakening Alliance… Oh, you remember? Have you been keeping up with my news lately? Great, then I don’t need to explain.

I recently received a signing bonus, so I have some extra money. You mentioned last time that you needed money but had nowhere to borrow from, right? So I… Oh, yes. No interest, just pay me back slowly when you can. Send me your account number by text, then…”

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