WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 14: Incheon Hunter Kim Geuk - [2]

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“There are already so few awakened person Hunters that the whole industry is barely getting by. They’re willing to welcome an ex-con like me just because I’m awakened, pay me a fortune, and put me to work. Who’s going to care whether I was on Ilbe, sexually harassed someone, or bullied kids at school? As long as I’m good at killing Monsters, that’s all that matters.”

Park Mihyeong seemed troubled by what I said. Her voice was drained as she gave me some advice.

「Yeah, I suppose you’d know more about the industry than I do, Kim Geuk. Still, please watch what you say, okay? My heart was pounding while I watched.」

I smiled and told her I understood before ending the call.

Just as I was feeling pleased, thinking this lady was the only one who worried about me, I got another call.

I checked to see who it was this time. It was the academy director. Was the director going to blame me for that interview too?

No. When I answered, all I got was praise.

「Kim Geuk, how am I supposed to thank you? You mentioned our academy directly in the interview. I was so moved I almost cried.」

The director kept thanking and praising me. Until the call ended, there wasn’t a single word criticizing my interview.

The academy director really was an industry insider too. That good-natured director clearly knew what would become a problem and what wouldn’t.

Well, that was what the Hunter industry was like.

* * *

The contract offers I received continued to be made public through the media.

The international market was already seeing the value of awakened people soar through the roof. Whenever another offer I’d received was revealed, people only envied or resented me. Nobody acted as though the amounts were absurd.

Everyone knew that even paying an awakened person like me billions of won a month was far cheaper than endlessly firing missiles that cost hundreds of millions or billions per shot.

In the end, the offers I received rose a little every day. Internet articles about me were filled with jealousy from non-awakened trash, and eventually, the day came.

On the day I was supposed to decide where to sign, I even gathered reporters for a major announcement.

The Association had arranged it. Apparently, publicly announcing that an awakened person had signed with a particular region had a positive effect on local land prices.

The Association president, who had come personally to this press conference too, spoke to me as if we were close.

“I heard Seoul offered you 150 billion for two years? Chongqing City? Anyway, it’s more than China’s original offer, and they’re throwing in all sorts of benefits too. Congratulations. Damn, excluding that fucking Kang Jun-chi, that’s a rookie record, isn’t it?”

“China offered more afterward. They really do have a lot of money.”

“But you’re not going to China, right?”

“I’m not going to China.”

“Oh, good! That’s patriotic...”

“It’s absolutely not for patriotic reasons. I heard Korea, China, and Japan all treat awakened people like shit, but China is the worst of the three.”

“Then if Japan had offered as much as China, would you have gone to Japan?”

“No. I’m signing domestically.”

The Association president frowned at me, but I didn’t care. Every Hunter knew this guy was basically half a civil servant planted there by the government. They also knew that anything the Association president decided in the Association’s name was effectively the government’s will.

Several people besides that idiot Association president came over to greet me.

“Congratulations on the rookie record! We’ll be seeing you in Seoul from now on, right?”

Every one of them congratulated me on the “150 billion for two years in Seoul” offer. They said that if I was already getting this much as a first-year rookie, they couldn’t imagine how incredible my next contract would be after I proved myself.

There was only so much I could pretend to be humble, so I just smiled and brushed it off.

But Seoul? Don’t be ridiculous.

I’d decided where I was signing from the beginning. Every other offer had only been a stepping stone toward negotiating better terms with that place.

So when it was time to announce my decision, I declared it.

“I’ve decided on Incheon.”

“Could you say that again?”

“I’m signing with Incheon. They made a generous offer of 52.5 billion for one year. I could feel just how high Incheon citizens’ expectations of me are, and here, today, I promise that I’ll never disappoint them...”

I went on about how honored I was to protect Korea’s spiritual capital, how I would carry on the glory of great Incheon, and whatever else. The reporters looked stunned, but they didn’t forget to press their camera shutters.

Amid the camera flashes going off around me, I remembered that hallucination.

My hallucination self, who had gone through that unpleasant experience, had also signed with Incheon. Twenty-nine billion for one year. Unlike now, Incheon had offered an especially high amount in the hallucination. They said it was thanks to Park Mihyeong’s efforts as an Incheon City councilor.

Thanks to that, the me in the hallucination had landed a decent contract and managed to save face among the awakened person Hunters.

On top of that, Incheon offering such good terms had felt like a kind of salvation to my hallucination self, who had been suffering from the delusion that all of Korea hated him. It had felt as though only Incheon had accepted him when every Korean shunned him.

Maybe the me in that hallucination had developed loyalty toward Incheon, which he’d already grown attached to...

Was I signing with Incheon now to repay the favor from back then?

Or, even if I wasn’t going so far as to repay a favor, had I chosen Incheon over better offers because my attachment to it had grown after experiencing that hallucination?

In other words, were my current decision and the pride in Incheon swirling inside me right now effects of that hallucination?

I don’t know.

But I had no regrets. Even if somewhere else offered more, I could always renew after a year under better conditions anyway...

The reporters, on the other hand, seemed to have a hard time understanding my decision. At their request, I gave an additional interview.

It went like this.

Q. Is there a reason you chose Incheon?

- There are two reasons. First, as I mentioned earlier, Park Mihyeong, an Incheon City councilor, has supported me both materially and emotionally until now. She personally suggested that I sign with Incheon City if possible. I decided to follow her suggestion.

Q. You said there were two reasons. What is the other one?

- An Incheon person can sell out the country, but they must never abandon Incheon.

Q. Even so, you shouldn’t sell out the country, should you?

- It’s fine. Any more questions?

Q. We’ll take that to mean you consider Incheon that important. In any case, there are many places besides Incheon that need capable awakened people, and we understand many of them offered vastly better contract terms. Was there any particular reason you chose Incheon despite setting aside all those offers?

- The other places weren’t worth considering from the start. Naturally, one Incheon resident’s life is more precious than the lives of ten thousand Seoul residents.

Q. That sounds as though people outside Incheon have no human rights.

- It would be stranger if non-Incheon people had human rights. How could it be a coincidence that Incheon’s “in” and the “in” in human rights are pronounced the same in Korean?

I answered that myself, but I thought it was a truly excellent line.

The interview continued with several more questions and answers before ending with one final joking exchange.

Q. Did Incheon City councilor Park Mihyeong perhaps brainwash you? If that’s true, please wave a carrot to signal that you need rescuing when you get the chance.

A. I understand that Park Mihyeong is not a mind-control ability user, but an Ice Crystal ability user, which is the formal name for a so-called ice ability user. Besides, an awakened person’s paranormal abilities don’t work on other awakened people, so why would you even say that?

I’d intentionally mentioned Park Mihyeong several times during the interview. They said there was nothing bad about a politician becoming better known, so I made an effort to get her name into as many articles as possible.

Mm, I really was such a loyal guy. Park Mihyeong herself didn’t seem to appreciate that fact, though.

「Kim Geuk, did you hit a reporter during the interview? Or grab someone by the collar and swear at them?」

Park Mihyeong called right away, her voice full of anxiety again. I answered calmly to reassure her.

“I didn’t hit anyone or swear at anyone. Why?”

「I saw the interview, and it went beyond malicious editing. Haven’t you read the articles yet?」

“I did. They reported it properly without distorting anything.”

It took quite a while to clear up that misunderstanding.

* * *

Footnotes:

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