WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 11: Rock Spirit - [4]

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Several online news articles covered this incident. Nearly twenty people had died, including Association staff, so that was only natural.

But from what I could see, there was nothing natural about the contents of those articles.

"What the hell is this? One awakened examinee was confirmed to have survived after escaping the scene using Spatial Teleportation... Why do all the articles end like this?"

When I confronted her, Park Mihyeong looked troubled.

"Kim Geuk, calm down."

"Do I look like I can calm down right now? These articles make it sound like everyone died because I ran away alone using Spatial Teleportation!"

My whole body shook whenever I looked at the articles online.

They never mentioned that I'd rescued two people with Spatial Teleportation. They never mentioned that I'd used Spatial Teleportation to try to find a weapon to fight that monster, much less that I'd returned to the scene.

In those articles, I wasn't even a survivor, but a fugitive.

A coward who abandoned his companions.

The articles implied that the people left behind had been wiped out because an awakened person, who possessed superhuman strength and could have fought back, had fled alone.

It went beyond misreporting. I could feel the malice behind it.

Malice directed at me alone.

The fact that they specifically mentioned Spatial Teleportation made it especially vicious. I was the only person in the country with that ability. They hadn't printed my name, but it was far too obvious who this cowardly awakened person was supposed to be.

"How many people in the Association building heard me shouting, 'Hunter Rifle, Hunter Rifle!'? So how could an article like this come out? I even saved two people, but there's not a single statement from those bastards!"

I shouted at the top of my lungs, and Park Mihyeong scrambled to calm me down.

Only after a long while, when I finally exhausted myself, did Park Mihyeong manage to soothe me. She promised to use her name as a city councilor to request a correction and lodge a formal protest.

Of course, that alone wasn't enough to reassure me. The moment I got home, I opened Huntweb.

Feeling as if I were losing something precious inside myself, I wrote a post. I even gave up the persona I'd maintained for over four months.

Ⓐ BabyBerserker : This is unfair. Please, everyone, help me.

The post, written under that title, quickly became a hot topic on the site.

After users learned what had happened that day, what I'd gone through, and how unfairly I was being treated, they began leaving comments.

Thankfully, there were plenty of mocking comments, but even more people sympathized with me or tried to help.

Even the person I had thought was a lunatic tried to help me.

Ⓐ syberMagneto : Isn't this some scheme to drive down your price?

Ⓐ BabyBerserker : What do you mean...?

Ⓐ syberMagneto : If you're a Body Enhancement user with a rare special ability, shouldn't they pay you twice what regular awakened people get? Whether they want to sign you at the international rate or the domestic rate, they'd have to pay an astronomical amount. Aren't they pulling this shit because they don't want to pay what you're worth?

What Cyber Magneto, that lunatic, was arguing was this.

My abilities as an awakened person were obviously powerful and useful, so even government agencies would find it burdensome to hire me at my proper value. They also couldn't set my value far below the international rate, because Chinese or Japanese brokers might snatch me up.

So they must have tried to disguise me, an obvious top-grade product, as a defective one to drive down my price.

Ⓑ GoodHunter : Even so, would a government agency pull something so childish? It's not even a private company.

Ⓐ syberMagneto : Non-awakened trash like you wouldn't know, but local governments will do anything to save money on awakened people. Don't you know every local government outside Seoul is running dry?

Ⓐ syberMagneto : They don't care whether it's childish or petty. They'll do it all.

Anonymous : Like what, specifically?

Ⓐ syberMagneto : Not long after Gates started opening, everyone thought every awakened person was strong. Back then, Incheon City signed an ice ability user to a four-year employment contract. Later, when they wanted to break the contract, I saw them fabricate rumors that the user had been a bully.

Ⓐ syberMagneto : And in this case, foreign brokers can't easily learn the details, right? If they copy and spread some internet trash, it'd work as a smokescreen against foreigners. They make foreign brokers hesitant to approach, then sign you domestically for next to nothing.

The speculation was too ridiculous to believe outright.

Yet several people agreed beneath the comment, and their awakened badges made their claims sound more credible. They all said that before signing with local governments, they'd been nitpicked over every kind of bizarre excuse.

My head had been spinning for a while now. My heart kept pounding.

Was the country really determined to slander me? Were they ruining my reputation this thoroughly just because they wanted to pay me less?

Without thinking, I looked through the comments on my post again.

Anonymous : He abandoned all his comrades and saved himself, and now he's making fucking excuses. Desertion in the face of the enemy is grounds for execution, so just die.

Most of those who left mocking comments were Anonymous. I guessed they were probably all non-awakened Hunters. The dregs of society, reduced to throwing their lives away because no one would take them in.

They were jealous that I, an awakened person, would earn hundreds of times what they did. That was why they were pulling this shit...

Ⓐ ElmaYaKaeyo : What a rotten thing to happen right at the start of your debut. Hang in there. As your senior, I'd like to buy you a drink, so check your messages.

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth : Can we even blame him if he really ran away? Everyone knows a Body Enhancement user would struggle against a Rock Elemental even with a Hunter Rifle. Whether it was true that he returned to the scene or not, shouldn't we assume there was some sinister intent behind articles written like this?

Ⓢ Kang : This is exactly the kind of shit Hell Peninsula's sea roach vermin pull, lol. Want me to go turn the place upside down?

In contrast, the owners of special badges, in other words, awakened people, all left comments saying they understood how I felt.

The contrast was painfully clear. It felt as though the world had split into black and white.

I was angry, but also strangely moved. It felt like I'd found people on my side after being abandoned by the whole world...

My head was still spinning, but I had things to do.

After shutting off the computer, I chewed on uncooked ramen and headed to the academy. I had to tell the people there exactly what had happened.

It was a day off at the academy, so there were barely any people around, though a few were working out. Their eyes turned toward me, and even though I'd come to explain myself, I flinched.

I was afraid they'd seen the articles too.

I hurried past them, almost running away, and headed into the academy lobby. There, I saw a familiar face.

It was the director, someone who'd remained full of smiles even during these difficult times.

It was terrifying.

The director didn't smile upon seeing me. Their gaze was far too cold.

My heart began pounding again. Had they read the articles? Did they think several trainees had died because I ran away?

The director's blank expression felt as if it lasted more than a minute, almost five.

It had only felt long. In reality, that expression had lasted barely a second. A sympathetic smile once again spread across the director's face, which had seemed as though it would never smile again.

"Oh dear, Kim Geuk. I don't even know how I should comfort you..."

For some reason, those words sounded like a demand to know why I was still alive so shamelessly.

"You really went through a lot. It was hard, wasn't it?"

The director earnestly offered reassuring words, but none of them comforted me. I still couldn't forget that brief, expressionless look from earlier.

I didn't think I ever would.

* * *

"See? I told you there were tons of articles. 'A Hammer That Shatters Rocks Rings Out with a Refreshing Boom in Incheon,' 'One Rock Elemental Single-Handedly Subdued by an Examinee'..."

Seong Munyeong waved his smartphone around excitedly. He said the internet was overflowing with articles about what had happened.

"There's even an interview where they asked an awakened person working in the Hunter industry what they thought. Rock Elemental? Ah, so that's what it means. They said a Rock Elemental is hard for a Body Enhancement user to fight alone, so it was only natural to run in that situation without a weapon. But you beat it to death with just a hammer, so you were really brave and amazing. Wow, the person they interviewed was Kim Seokman? They must be a senior in the industry. You should buy them a drink sometime."

Lee Jongho chimed in.

"Buy Jeong Jinyeong a good meal too."

They said Jeong Jinyeong's video, which had been uploaded to YouTube, had gotten an incredible number of views in just one day.

There were plenty of videos on YouTube of Body Enhancement users showing off their muscles or slaughtering Monsters with ultra-heavy Hunter Rifles. But it was the first time anyone had uploaded a video of someone beating a Monster from a higher weight class to death with something that barely counted as a weapon.

The footage from that day had even been used by terrestrial news broadcasts, so they said Jeong Jinyeong's contribution deserved serious recognition.

"Still, judging by the YouTube views, the revenue should be pretty sweet."

Seong Munyeong raised his voice, sounding frustrated by my answer.

"The money isn't important right now. What's important is that your value is going up!"

"What value?"

"You got famous, so your value will shoot up too!"

"Is a Hunter's value really connected to fame? Soldiers and police officers don't get paid more just because they're famous."

"It's different from soldiers and police! You know how a region's land prices recover when they sign a famous Hunter, right?"

Seong Munyeong argued that Huntweb had so many users for a reason. There were real estate speculators concerned with land prices, as well as ordinary people who wanted to obsess over famous superpowered people.

Far more people than I'd imagined cared about which local government had signed which awakened person. That was why an awakened person's fame was so important.

Footnotes:

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