How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

23. Younger Sister Kim Sun – [3]

I played each of the uploaded videos one by one. After watching nearly all of them, I trembled with excitement as if I had just seen a masterpiece that would remain in my life forever.

It was incredible. Truly.

Kang Jun-chi, is he a god?

He really seemed godlike. He appeared to be a great being, incomparable to any successful politician.

Kang Jun-chi’s videos contained content that thoroughly punished ordinary people committing minor crimes.

All of it was provocative, but there was one highlight that caught my attention.

The scenes where the police, having been called, could do nothing but retreat in confusion, or simply stood there blankly watching the situation unfold…

Those very scenes provided me with an astonishing level of vicarious satisfaction.

From what I could see, these videos were not merely about the thrill of private retribution.

They were a kind of display. A display of being above the law, a display of the individual Kang Jun-chi standing above the rule of law.

Even if he were to grab a passing citizen and assault and torture them, the police, as well as the state and the law, could do nothing to him…

Neither the president nor a member of the National Assembly could act like this. While members of the National Assembly have parliamentary immunity, they cannot grab a passing person, assault them, and showcase the evidence of their crime on video.

But that awakened individual was doing just that.

So, Kang Jun-chi was above not only the living constitutional institution of the National Assembly but also above the president, who was elected with the support of the majority of the people. In other words, this one awakened individual was above the constitution, above the majority of the people…

Yok1974: Why is this guy never punished for anything he does? If the police can’t handle it, shouldn’t special forces be deployed to arrest him?

ㄴ 2014Korea: What means… Can the Korean police go after Kim Jong-un for killing his uncle and arrest him for murder? No, right? The police, let alone the military, can’t even go after Kim Jong-un. And if they can’t punish Kim Jong-un, they can’t punish that guy either.

ㄴ Yok1974: Is that b*stard Kim Jong-un? Is he in North Korea?

ㄴ 2014Korea: He’s more dangerous than Kim Jong-un and the fact that he’s in South Korea makes it even more problematic. It’s like Kim Jong-un is wandering around Busan with his army; how can you touch him?

Reading the comments was also shocking. I guess that’s how they treat someone of S-rank.

For a while, I searched the internet for keywords like Kang Joon-chi and S-rank. After gathering various pieces of information, I fell into deep thought.

I recalled the school principal, the training camp instructor… and my younger sister, whom I had just parted with. Thinking about myself, who was unjustly imprisoned, and my relatives who are still imprisoned, made me feel a surge of anger.

The law is unreasonable yet powerful, but it couldn’t oppress that man, Kang Joon-chi.

Because he is a powerful awakened one.

And the abilities of the awakened grow. Each awakened person grows at different speeds and has different limits, and since it’s only been a few years since the gates opened, there’s not enough data to make accurate predictions…

Could I become S-rank too?

I want to be like that. Like the Mexican cartel that reversely kills the police and military, like the Mongolian and Qing armies that devastated the Korean Peninsula and couldn’t be punished by the laws of this land, I want to become an existence beyond the law of this land.

And the only way I know for an awakened one to grow is to kill more monsters.

Of course, hoping for more monsters to appear in the sacred land of Incheon is absurd. So how?

After a moment of thought, I came up with an idea.

It was something good for both Incheon and me. I called Ms. Park Mi-hyung to convey my thoughts.

“Ms. Park Mi-hyung? I have a proposal…”

*

Reporters follow famous sports players. It’s similar for high-priced awakened hunters.

I looked at the reporters and officials in front of me with satisfaction. Several elected officials, including the chairman of the Incheon City Council and the mayor of Incheon, who should be considered nobler than the president, and four Incheon city council members had gathered.

It was surprising that they had gathered with just one phone call from me.

I took the microphone and spoke.

“Ah, long live Incheon, long live Incheon. To everyone gathered here from Incheon and the rest of the insignificant regions…”

While I was speaking, Ms. Park Mi-hyung took my microphone.

In fact, I could have prevented it if I wanted to, but I let her take it as agreed. After all, it seemed better to give the camera time to the aspiring politician.

“…I’ll just speak. Is everyone okay with that?”

The reporters didn’t seem okay. They sighed or protested, saying, “Can’t we just let Hunter Kim Guk speak? That would make the article more popular!” but Ms. Park Mi-hyung ignored them. Like the shameless politician she was, she continued with her speech.

“As you know, monsters are around us. In the mountains, in the sewers, underground, in the countryside, in the deserted streets… and in abandoned buildings. No place is safe, and Incheon is no exception.”

Many monsters that escaped from the gates did not return to the gates.

To the monsters from the desolate and barren world inside the gates, our world is like a fertile land of blessings. Even the small hills behind Korean neighborhoods, where it’s hard to see a single wild animal, are like a bountiful paradise to the monsters from the gates.

“When monsters settle in any area of Incheon, the residents can’t endure and leave. When the residents leave, more monsters settle. This vicious cycle continues in the beautiful land of Incheon. To break this cycle, our proud Incheon native, Hunter Kim Guk, has stepped forward…”

After that, Ms. Park Mi-hyung said something that sounded professional, but the point was simple.

“So, you’re saying you’ll search and exterminate the monsters that have already settled in Incheon?”

Ms. Park Mi-hyung answered the reporter’s question.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“There have been several attempts at the national level, but they all ended in failure. Considering the loss of lives…”

“That’s right. When the gate first opened, reservists were mobilized. Many of them died or went missing. Even when active-duty soldiers stepped in, the results were no different…

I don’t have any military experience, so I can’t pretend to know, but urban warfare? Guerrilla cleanup operations? They said it was similar to those. Simply throwing in troops doesn’t yield results. There were several attempts to mobilize hunters, but the efforts and casualties didn’t yield any significant results either.”

“Is this time different?”

Park Mi-hyung laughed.

“Well, it might be faster to show you rather than explain… Do you see that bucket over there? Any of you reporters, put a few items in it. Turn it over so we can’t see… Done? Good, Mr. Kim Geuk?”

I focused my mind and spread out my mental net. As the net reached the bucket where the reporters had hidden the items, I could sense its contents. I listed the detected items.

“An 80 x 170mm notebook, a 15.5cm long pen, a 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9mm smartphone…”

Every time I identified an item, the people gathered here gasped in amazement.

“It’s not magic, is it? Is it a psychic ability?”

“Well, yes.”

I explained that my mental net, which was part of my teleportation ability, could very accurately detect objects within its range.

I also mentioned that it could detect moving objects even more accurately, making it much easier to detect living beings.

“I can search an area with a radius of 1km and 263 meters like this. Originally, the range was much shorter, but after a few hunts, it expanded significantly. With this much range, I believe it will be very useful for monster search operations.

Based on this psychic ability, I thought long-term cleanup operations might be possible, so I proposed it to Councilor Park Mi-hyung. To my surprise, the budget and plans were quickly established at the Incheon city level.”

Once again, gasps erupted from all around.

Park Mi-hyung joked, wanting to hold the microphone again.

“Seriously, the world is so unfair. Why does teleportation come with all these extra abilities? With my ice ability, the best I can do is put ice in my coffee.

One of my acquaintances, who has the same ice ability as me, said that even if you use the ability well, the best you can do is shoot sharp icicles, so it’s better to just use a gun. Seeing that, our Hunter Kim Geuk is really gifted.”

“There’s a rumor that Councilor Park Mi-hyung is hypnotizing Hunter Kim Geuk. Is that true?”

“Oh, come on, really…”

This video is going to be uploaded to the official Incheon city YouTube channel, right? After Councilor Park Mi-hyung, who had already taken her share of the spotlight, the press conference ended with a few words from the councilors and the mayor.

“Wow, what a blessing. Honestly, I didn’t expect Mr. Kim Geuk to come to Incheon because he was so popular. I just told them to offer a bit more for the contract, but I didn’t expect the result to be this good…”

It seemed to be a satisfying event for them as well as for me. I shook hands with the mayor of Incheon, took a photo, and bought a 400,000 won frame to cherish the photo on my way home.

Meanwhile, this news was also conveyed to my hunter team.

I gathered the team to prepare for the operation, and Seong Moon-young said,

“This Incheon recapture project? You said you proposed it, right?”

“So what?”

“Wow, Incheon city is really backing you up. You just mentioned it, and they immediately allocated a huge budget…”

Seong Moon-young clicked his tongue as if he was fed up. I responded calmly, trying to hide my satisfaction.

“How do you know how much budget was allocated?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I have a rough idea. Why, I heard Naito-san is also part of the team for this operation. Considering how much that Jap’s worth…”

His nationality didn’t matter, but I frowned.

Naito-san, isn’t that the guy? The human scum who gets paid almost as much as an awakened one despite being a non-awakened.

Is that guy who doesn’t even know his place going to be working with us? And precious Incheon budget is being spent on such scum?

It was a disgustingly unpleasant thought.

*