How To Survive as a Class a Hunter

27. The Scoundrels – [1]

I woke up again today with his mushroom cloud.

As always, it was terrible. Unable to overcome the anger and depression that consumed my head, I shed tears, waiting for these negative emotions to leave my mind as quickly as possible.

Even after calming down a bit, I still had no energy.

Damn it, starting the day like this every time is just terrible.

With still trembling hands, I picked up my phone and opened HuntWeb. Then, I stopped short of pressing ‘Write’ and focused on the screen.

YYY: “Hunter Kim Geuk” leads Incheon recapture project, “1/7 great success” in just three months

I can feel that I’m doing well these days. Just when I was about to write a post to get some attention, I saw a post about me already up.

I read the article attached to the post.

It was an article praising the achievements from my recent activities.

In just three months, they said I completely purified an area equivalent to 1/7 of Incheon’s danger zone, that there had been zero casualties from wild monsters in the operation area and nearby for the first time in years, and that I had more than earned my 52.5 billion won contract value in less than half a year…

Even amidst the agony, the praise and attention directed at me were sweet.

As I read through the full article, my eyes eventually turned to the comments.

Anonymous: Did you see the Incheon redevelopment announcement? The building owners in the area reclaimed by Kim Geuk’s operation hit the jackpot this time;; They said they would demolish all the villas, multi-family houses, and country houses regardless of the construction year and build a fortress-like apartment complex.

Ⓐ Elmaya Kayo: When I first saw this guy’s interview, I thought some thug had come in to muddy the waters, but the more I see him, the more amazing he is. Respect as a fellow A-rank!

Anonymous: You went on operations four times a week? That’s intense. How many people died?

5myJesus: A total of 3. One on the first day, and two more over the next three months.

Meanwhile, I also see my follower. Oh my Jesus, my follower who appeared about three months ago.

Anonymous: ? Why didn’t more people die? With so many operations, only three deaths seem impossible.

5myJesus: Encouraged by the results, the city of Incheon provided more robust equipment support. After the first day’s death, Kim Geuk seemed a bit shocked and took on more risks himself, reducing the danger for everyone else.

5myJesus: Even with his efforts, it was impossible to have no deaths at all, so two more died eventually. But every time someone died, Kim Geuk paid a lot of condolence money.

Anonymous: How much did he pay?

5myJesus: I don’t know. He asked the bereaved families to keep the amount secret. He said it would be a nuisance to other awakened hunters if a tradition of paying a certain amount of condolence money started.

5myJesus: But considering the bereaved families of the deceased hunter team members also paid quite a bit, it seems he paid a lot, seeing how they held his hand and wept.

If I were the Duke of Incheon, I would have granted that friend Ganseok-dong as his fief and made him the knight of Ganseok-dong. It’s a pity. Why did democracy take root and deprive me of my rightful rights?

Anyway, ah…

I could feel the good energy that had left my body being replenished.

In this good energy, I encouraged myself. I told myself that in such a perfect situation, the nuclear explosion could not happen in the future, that it was all just a pipe dream, and there was no need to suffer every morning.

It seemed to really work. Fully energized, I gulped down a protein shake.

After finishing my breakfast, I took a shower to wipe off the sticky cold sweat clinging to my body and left the house.

Another day of hunting begins.

*

The operations carried out over the past three months have yielded visible results.

Although it’s awkward to say it myself, the results were unprecedentedly remarkable, even in my view.

As praised in the article, we have so far cleared monsters from 1/7 of the areas designated as danger zones in Incheon. We did the same in areas not designated as danger zones, and reduced the frequent wild monster attacks in the vicinity to almost zero.

Naturally, the real estate prices in the areas where I conducted operations and nearby areas have risen noticeably. Even the prices of villas and multi-family houses, which were so cheap that there was no prospect of rising, have jumped several times. They say it’s thanks to the hope that even buildings with no residential value could be redeveloped into apartment complexes.

In the meantime, it’s no surprise that some areas where commercial districts had collapsed have been restored, and many residents who had left have returned.

As a result, I am seriously considering moving because there is no more space to put the commendations from the city and the bouquets from the residents’ representatives.

My popularity is indeed considerable. Now, whenever we gather for hunting, not only officials but also other people gather in large numbers. People who came all the way here to cheer us on.

This time, too, fans, residents, and reporters were gathered in large numbers, having somehow found out the assembly location.

One of my young female fans shouted.

“Oppa! Do you remember me?”

“Ah, are you the one who was on the rooftop of the Dongyang Apartments? I remember you were sending a bunch of KakaoTalk messages on your phone. It seemed like you were sending your last goodbyes. Wasn’t it embarrassing later?”

“It was extremely embarrassing… Anyway, oppa, I was worried you might use weird speech patterns like on the internet when we met in person, but you seem perfectly normal in reality! I’m really relieved!”

“Ah, YYY?”

“How did you know!”

He smiled and even signed my phone case with ‘Incheon Forever.’

It was noisy in one corner. I turned my gaze there and secretly frowned slightly.

“Naito-san, look over here!”

Damn it, there was just one thing that bothered me amidst the perfection of everything.

It was Naito-san, that damn non-awakened scum whose popularity and fame were rising.

It was because he had also been participating in the operations I led and uploading videos. So, people started to think that he also played a part in this operation, which I could have handled alone, and considered him one of Incheon’s saviors.

It was a terrible thing. Truly.

Even now, fans were flocking to him, though fortunately, there were fewer than the residents and landlords who were flocking to me. But the fact that he had fans at all was disgusting.

Even our team’s beautiful Baek Dambi didn’t have fans, but there were people following that scum?

I glanced at Baek Dambi and, sure enough, she didn’t look pleased. You could tell just by the way she kept her mouth tightly shut.

Meanwhile, for some reason, a reporter had come today.

A woman thrust a microphone at me.

“Hello, Mr. Kim Geuk! You’re the hero who’s been revitalizing the entire city of Incheon lately, right? It’s an honor to meet you in person!”

The interview with her, which started with praise, wasn’t too bad. From the usual questions about which region I would be operating in next to the silly question about whether I would choose Incheon again when renewing my hunter contract next year, which was expected to be the best ever.

While I was answering sincerely, one unpleasant question suddenly popped out.

“Mr. Kim Geuk, you’re being evaluated as the best awakened hunter ever, surpassing even Incheon! On the other hand, Mr. Matsumoto, who is a non-awakened person, has achieved all these results… Many find it interesting to compare him to you, known as Naito-san!”

I couldn’t understand why that non-awakened scum was being mentioned all of a sudden.

“Is that so?”

I tried my best to maintain a smile, but it wasn’t easy.

The next question was especially unpleasant.

“There are many opinions on the internet treating you, the best awakened hunter, and Mr. Naito, the best non-awakened hunter, as rivals! Could you share your thoughts on your current colleague, Naito-san?”

And I felt the smile disappear from my lips.

The best I could do was not show my anger on my face. I barely held back from asking the woman in front of me if she was from Incheon or Seoul and opened my mouth.

“Mr. Matsumoto, he’s really skilled. I’m sure he would have excelled even if he had pursued sports instead of being a hunter. There’s something beyond just having a lot of experience and being good with a gun.

His reflexes and composure, it’s not something you can achieve through training. He was born with it and is exceptional. There are times when I’m amazed at how he can do what he does while working on operations together.”

“Is that so! Thank you so much for the detailed answer…”

“But isn’t there a reason why weight classes exist in martial arts?”

I deliberately laughed. Glancing at Naito-san, I continued speaking with a middle finger raised in my mind.

“No matter how experienced he is, no matter how good his reflexes are… No matter how calm he remains in a crisis, there’s a weight class difference between a 50kg human and a 700kg grizzly bear.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“I’m definitely much stronger. There’s no comparison.”

I think I almost growled the last words.

However, the reporter in front of me was clearly from Seoul. She didn’t notice the displeasure that had settled within me at all.

“Wow, such amazing competitiveness! Is that passion the secret to your past achievements? Now, a word about your determination for this hunt…”

The unpleasant interview ended with a cheer for Incheon.

Seong Moon-young, who had been listening to the interview from behind, approached me stealthily. He spoke to me with an uneasy expression.

“Hyung, why are you so angry?”

“I’m not angry.”

“It was obvious you were really angry. The veins on your clenched fist were bulging like spider webs. It started around the time Naito-san was mentioned, right?”

“Did I?”

“You did. You even received an apology last time, so why do you still dislike him so much?”

It was a difficult question to answer. How should I even respond to this?

I chose my words carefully to avoid sounding like a madman.

“He keeps harping on about being a non-awakened, non-awakened.”

In Marvel, DC, or even Japanese shonen manga, there’s always a character who has no special abilities.

Surrounded by characters with special abilities, they stand out even more because they have none. Such characters are often popular and, thanks to the authors’ favoritism, they sometimes outperform characters with special abilities by several times.

Since I met Naito-san, I’ve come to dislike all such characters.

Whether it’s Batman or Hawkeye, if they’re inferior ordinary people, they should know their place and quietly eat popcorn while the superpowered heroes are active.

“Why does that matter?”

“He keeps emphasizing how amazing he is despite being a non-awakened. Isn’t that just a way of saying that I’m only great because I’m an awakened? If we were under the same conditions, wouldn’t he be much greater, and isn’t that just putting me down?”

“Why are you overanalyzing it? He’s just amazing because he performs at the level of most awakened despite being a non-awakened…”

I sighed.

Naito-san’s evaluation on Huntweb was the same. ‘Despite being a non-awakened,’ ‘even though he’s a non-awakened,’ ‘as a non-awakened…’

Naito-san was being treated specially just because he was a non-awakened.

Without awakening, he performed at a level comparable to awakened individuals and even signed contracts equivalent to those of awakened individuals. It was truly a human victory. So, he was considered much greater than the half-baked awakened ones.

In my opinion, this is an extremely unfair evaluation. I feel this way even more because of Baek Dambi, who, despite being an awakened member of the team, is not properly treated.

Baek Dambi, that ice ability user, is clearly contributing more than non-awakened hunters, contrary to the harsh evaluations on Huntweb.

Even if she doesn’t make flashy performances, she always takes on the most dangerous roles in the most perilous positions. She did the same in the operations conducted over the past three months.

How much her silent role of luring the monsters’ attacks to herself helped me, who was trying to save even one more person?

Objectively speaking, her skills are surprisingly good, but since she doesn’t wield any extraordinary weapons, her contributions were much greater than that of Naito, who didn’t make any significant contributions compared to other hunters.

But look at her. She comes with makeup and a crop top to look pretty, yet she receives no attention.

Even when I grabbed a few reporters who came by and explained how significant her role was, they all remained indifferent. They just added a line or two of praise in their articles, as if saying, “Well, she’s an awakened one, so she should at least do that much.”

As long as Naito is around, wouldn’t even a decent A-rank hunter receive similar treatment to her?

If I had protested about this, what response would I have received? Wouldn’t I have been scolded, saying that she should know her place since she couldn’t perform better than non-awakened ones despite being awakened?

Anyway, I’m angry.

If I had the authority to change all this, I would ban non-awakened ones from being hunters. As I experienced three times over the past three months, weak non-awakened ones being hunters are of no help and only end up dying. It would be better to just prohibit them from doing it altogether.

The title of ‘B-rank hunter’ that Naito has would be given to slightly lacking awakened ones like Baek Dambi, and people would cheer for them as they pass by.

Non-awakened ones who don’t know their place and try to match us would be beaten up unless they are from Incheon…

While I was deep in thought, Naito approached. He smiled and shouted,

“Let’s work hard today as well. Um, is this how you shout it? Long live Incheon!”

How much more at ease would I have been if I had seen a future where this treacherous guy with a sinister heart would harm me?

But since my prophetic ability, which could activate at any time, didn’t show such a future, I had no choice but to nod.

“Yes. Long live Incheon.”

I don’t think I responded enthusiastically, but Naito smiled as if he was pleased and headed somewhere to lead his team.

And knowing that my hatred for him was irrational, I took a deep breath.

I tried to calm myself, overwhelmed by emotions that were hard to explain to others.

I forced myself to think rationally.

Naito was clearly contributing to Incheon, didn’t seem like he would harm me, and was one of the comrades I would fight alongside for now.

With that uncomfortable comrade, I headed to Manwolsan.

To Manwolsan, the greatest spiritual mountain in Eurasia, where all sorts of monsters swarmed, creating extensive slums in nearby Bupyeong and Ganseok-dong, and where clearing out the monsters would bring back numerous residents and revive the land prices and commercial districts.

*