How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

24. B-Class Hunter Naito-san – [1]

“Ah, nice to meet you all! As announced beforehand, we will be going on a hunt today. Ah, it’s not that a gate has opened! If it were an emergency with an open gate, we wouldn’t be broadcasting so leisurely like this, right? This time, we are not defending but attacking! Collaborating with the hunters of Incheon city…”

Watching him babble, I thought. This Japanese scum speaks Korean well.

His accent was a bit peculiar, but it was decent standard Incheon dialect. He was speaking that standard Incheon dialect while looking at the camera.

Is he filming a video to upload on YouTube? That disgusting non-awakened scum.

That guy was Naito-san (ナイトさん). His real name is Matsumoto Masashi, but he’s called that because his streamer nickname is ‘Knight-san’?

Anyway, I didn’t like him. Internet broadcasting during a life-threatening hunt, is this a joke? I had to resist the urge to smash the camera.

And look at that scum, all dressed up.

“What the hell is that outfit? Is it a cheap cosplay costume?”

Seong Moon-young answered my question.

“It’s probably a hoodie sold on the internet? The hood looks like a medieval knight’s helmet, and there are weird decorations on the shoulders to make it look like pauldrons, but other than that, it’s just normal clothes. Since his concept is a medieval knight, he wears such outfits.”

Seong Moon-young seemed to speak without much thought, but I was boiling with anger.

I glanced at Baek Dan-bi, who was dressed as usual. Thinking about how that woman gets called a crazy b*tch for wearing crop tops, I couldn’t understand why this non-awakened scum’s playful outfit was tolerated.

Anyway, I didn’t like him. Every aspect of him.

As I sat there sulking, Naito-san approached. Unnecessarily streamer-like lines flowed from his mouth.

“Everyone? This is the protagonist of this project. Hunter Kim Geuk! He’s not only a physical enhancer but also a teleporter! Wow, just by looking at his abilities, you can tell they’re brilliant, right?

There are many cases where the awakened abilities are superior, but the skills are just so-so! But as you might have seen in his videos, this person is definitely not one of those cases! With muscles trained to the highest level and indomitable willpower, befitting a former UFC fighter! And his splendid use of teleportation, as if they had pre-coordinated for a movie…”

Even in the midst of being praised, I glared at him. I filled my gaze with the utmost displeasure towards this disgusting situation where a non-awakened scum was evaluating an awakened one.

Naito-san seemed to notice my gaze and looked flustered. He spoke to me with an unnaturally bright smile.

“Nice to meet you, Kim Geuk! Wow. I’ve seen you a few times on Huntweb, but it’s my first time meeting you in person! Um, did I perhaps make a mistake…?”

The last question was asked quietly. Why was I showing such obvious dislike from the first meeting?

I couldn’t bring myself to say that I didn’t want to treat him like a human because he wasn’t an awakened one or from Incheon. So, what reason could I use to show my dislike towards this guy?

He pulled out a memory from his mind and opened his mouth.

“This isn’t live, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. It’s a recorded broadcast…”

“Then I’ll ask a personal question. Was your HuntWeb nickname GoodHunter?”

“What? Oh, yes.”

“A year ago, you commented on a post about Baek Dambi, asking why I didn’t correct her attitude even if it meant hitting her, right?”

I vaguely remembered seeing such a comment, so I asked, and it seemed I was right.

Naito’s eyes widened, and he stammered a reply.

“I don’t remember exactly, but it wasn’t meant to say hit her if she doesn’t listen…”

“And you also posted something about ex-convicts entering the hunter industry and muddying the waters. That was directed at people like me, wasn’t it?”

Naito couldn’t answer immediately. He kept his mouth shut, seemingly trying to come up with an apology, and I snapped at him.

“Get lost, you b*stard.”

Naito hung his head in defeat and muttered, “I’m sorry, I’ll explain later…” and then retreated.

Seong Mun-yeong, who had been listening to the conversation next to me, asked.

“Did that guy post such things on HuntWeb?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you remember all that?”

“I have a good memory. Thanks to this memory, I was in the top 1 or 2 of my class without attending any academies until I graduated middle school.”

“Whether that’s true or not, it’s scary to see you holding grudges and growling with that amazing memory…”

After Seong Mun-yeong grumbled and retreated, this time, Baek Dambi approached me and spoke.

“Do you not like that Japanese guy? It seemed like you were cursing and chasing him away earlier.”

“Yes, I really dislike him… Do you like Naito? Are you a fan of his show?”

“No, I don’t know what it is, but I wanted to say you did well. I don’t like that guy either.”

This girl has a good eye for people.

Feeling a sense of camaraderie, I absentmindedly held out my palm. It was a signal for a high-five, and I was surprised at myself for doing it.

Smack. Baek Dambi met my palm with hers.

Although I couldn’t see her expression because of the sunglasses, I could tell she was also surprised by her action.

“Hmm?”

Feeling like I had gained something, I smiled, and Baek Dambi quietly returned to her place.

Meanwhile, more hunters were gathering. And now, Naito was only watching me from a distance, not daring to approach and act friendly. In this situation, I was somewhat satisfied.

Ms. Park Mi-hyung, who came to check the preparation status, seemed dissatisfied.

“Did something happen? Why are you two so far apart when I told you to stick together?”

“Something happened in the past.”

“I don’t know the details, but try to get along if possible, okay? I didn’t call him for no reason. When I brought him, the promotional effect was tremendous. We paid a lot of money to bring him to inform about what’s going on in Incheon.”

Is that why his price is exorbitantly high? Is it because he’s more famous than most awakened ones, making the promotional effect better?

It was absurd, but I decided to endure it. I could understand the importance of that promotion.

Soon, the ‘Incheon Recapture Project’ began.

*

While riding in the official car, I focused my mind. After dealing with three powerful monsters, I expanded my mental net several times wider than before.

Objects within a radius of over 1 km began to be captured in my brain. I only observed the moving objects.

That’s a car, that seems to be a homeless person, and that is…

“Found it.”

I reported the location of the monster I just detected, and the information was transmitted to all the hunters gathered here.

The hunters set off towards the location I indicated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Naito, while driving his silver bike, didn’t stop chattering to the camera.

“Look over there. See how the trash is piled up like a hill in the alley? For those of you in Seoul, it might be hard to see something like this, but those living in the provinces might see it often. When an area is designated as a danger zone, garbage collection trucks don’t come often, but if the residents haven’t all left yet, the trash piles up like this.

It’s not just in Korea; there are many places like this in Japan too. In Korea, almost all of Seoul is properly managed, but in Japan, there are many places in Tokyo where slums have formed like this…”

Hearing those words made my disgust for him grow. Isn’t he subtly comparing Japan and praising Korea? That kind of subtle nationalism was even more disgusting. That must be the secret to his popularity.

“Look. Do you see the square hole in the villa’s outer wall? It’s cut so neatly as if measured with a ruler. The Deathclaw cut the wall with its force field blade and made a hole to put its body through. No matter how sturdy the house is, it’s useless.

That’s why villas and country houses in Korea are ridiculously cheap. When monsters attack, they always target low-rise buildings first, which are easier to reach than high-rise apartments.

If you look around here, there are only villas and houses under three stories, right? These places have almost lost their value as normal residential areas in Korea. Although mansion prices have skyrocketed in Japan too…”

As he said, there was no sign of life around here.

In the villa village where everyone had left, there was no reason for these abandoned houses to be traded. Even villas that were almost new had long lost their property value and had become troublesome concrete piles.

When neighborhoods like this become deserted, the negative effects spread to the surrounding residential areas. Monsters settle in abandoned villages and buildings, and they even attack the nearby residential areas.

So, just exterminating the monsters around here would surely increase the value of all the buildings in this area.

The hunter team stopped. Everyone took positions around the building I pointed out.

“Everyone, to your positions, to your positions!”

The position assigned to me and my hunter team was the rearmost. Only Baek Dambi was included in the encirclement, and we took on the role of a reserve unit in case of unexpected situations.

As someone who planned to hunt as many monsters as possible, I grumbled about the situation.

“Ah, damn. It would be faster if I went in and shot them all myself. Why did they call so many other hunters…”

“Hyung, you said you get tired when you teleport out of sight. So, if we want to carry out the operation for a long time, this seems like the right thing to do, right? Also, we need to save the awakened ones because they shouldn’t get hurt recklessly. The latter is probably the more important reason, right?”

Eventually, someone threw something into the building.

After a while, some smoke started to escape through the cracks in the windows. Whether it was tear gas or mustard gas, I wasn’t sure, but it was a chemical weapon meant to force the monsters inside to come out. It was a means we could use because we were sure the monsters were in there.

“They’re out! Everyone, fire!”

Finally, the monsters revealed themselves.

As I had previously identified, they were Deathclaws. Four of them.

In this kind of situation, you would normally expect the enemies to jump out of the windows or doors, and you would concentrate your firepower there, but not with these guys.

The Deathclaws popped out from the first-floor wall, the second-floor wall. They always did that. With their fancy force field blades, they could cut through concrete walls in an instant and jump out from anywhere. Because you never knew where they would pop out, it took five hunter teams to surround this small villa.

The Deathclaws, emerging from various positions, leaped towards the hunters forming the encirclement.

Even under the concentrated fire from everyone, one of the claws managed to reach a hunter’s body.

The woman at the very front of the encirclement…

“Dambi noona!”

Seong Moon-young screamed in horror as the Deathclaw’s hooked claw slashed her neck. The Deathclaw, having landed on the ground, eventually collapsed under the subsequent gunfire.

And what about Baek Dambi?

Instead of blood pouring out from her half-severed neck, ice particles scattered.

And that was it. She didn’t say a word.

Baek Dambi calmly poured mineral water on the cut on her neck. As the spirits’ body repair mechanism worked, the water froze and filled the damaged area, and her neck was instantly restored.

Seeing this, Seong Moon-young’s eyes widened in astonishment. I was surprised too, but I pretended not to be and spoke.

“Why are you so surprised? I told you last time, like a nerd, that her ice abilities had developed so much that she became an ice spirit. Unless her human form is completely destroyed, she won’t die.”

“Still, seeing it in person is shocking… No wonder she’s always at the forefront…”

My heart was definitely pounding too. Damn it.

I realized one thing anew.

This is really dangerous.