WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 29: The Eolregis - [3]

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I kept making Seong Munyeong shoot at me, even as his face turned miserable.

I tried to catch the bullets with my hands or dodge them, but it didn't go well. On my last attempt, I stuck a finger out first and only ended up losing a segment of it.

“Ah, fuck, seriously!”

Seong Munyeong complained like he was in more pain than I was after part of my finger got blown off. I was in so much pain I could've died, but seeing him scream still made me laugh.

In the end, Seong Munyeong declared that he couldn't take it anymore, so my training ended earlier than planned.

About an hour after Seong Munyeong ran off saying he was going to work out, I ran into him again at the academy gym. He looked startled.

“Why are you at the academy again?”

“I came to work out. Did you think I came to play Dungeon Fighter Online?”

“You lost part of a finger and you're working out? I can tell it's only half regenerated. Are you insane...?”

Whether he was horrified or not, I did what I had to do. With help from Teacher Yang, who was now receiving separate compensation from me, I started strength training. I repeatedly lowered a barbell so heavy that even four ordinary people couldn't lift it...

“Wow, this is fucking brutal...”

There were at least four times as many spectators watching me push my body to its limit or recording videos on their phones as there had been a few months ago.

I'd worked hard to promote this academy, and word had gotten out that I came here every day to work out despite being an active Hunter. Apparently, even though tuition had gone up, the number of students had increased tenfold.

The director told me excitedly that there were now so many students that they had to split them into morning and afternoon classes.

After working out until I was exhausted, I took a break. Seong Munyeong offered me a bottle of water, and I chugged it down. Once I finished, he spoke to me.

“Aren't you already strong enough to beat Elementals and Force-Field Creatures all by yourself? Especially that Force-Field Creature that came out when that huge Gate opened last time. They said even veteran A-rank Hunters couldn't handle it, and if you hadn't killed it back then, they had no idea how anyone could.”

“Praise from that rude mouth of yours sounds pretty good. Go on.”

“No, I wasn't trying to praise you... Didn't you say your sexual function seemed to have come back after you killed that Flame Elemental?”

“Yeah. The hospital tested me and said I was basically sterile, so I can't have children, but I can still enjoy myself. So?”

“Then why don't you spend your time playing around with women? It seems like you've already hit max level as an A-rank Hunter, so why do you keep training like some kind of masochist?”

I had no idea what kind of nonsense he was talking about.

“I'm not max level yet.”

“How do you know?”

Instead of answering, I recalled the vision I'd seen before.

I remembered Baek Dambi being dragged away through a Gate by Otherworlders. Then I remembered my own appearance after those Otherworlders had cut off my legs.

Just like when I saw that vision, Baek Dambi was still competing with Jeong Jinyeong for first and second place in the contest for who spoke the least on the team.

Still, quite a few small things had changed since then.

Sometimes Baek Dambi spoke to me first, even if it was rare. Lately, when team members were struggling because they didn't know something, she sometimes stepped in to teach them without being asked.

Our team probably felt far better to Baek Dambi than her old one had.

Of course, things between her and me were still awkward. Calling us close would be a stretch, never mind saying we were dating.

Still, just as her attitude toward me had changed a little, my thoughts about that woman had changed a little too. If what I saw in that vision really happened, I was sure I'd feel terrible.

I kept exercising, using the spectators' admiration and Seong Munyeong's scolding as background music, until I took another break.

Seong Munyeong, who had been fiddling with his phone, muttered.

“Oh, a post went up on Huntweb.”

“Naito-san?”

“Yes, that guy. He posted about something that happened today.”

Ⓑ GoodHunter: I nearly died today T_T

I chased after a few Goblins, and one of them picked something up. Then that bastard pointed an assault rifle at me.

There were a lot of guns lost when reservists went missing during Monster-clearing operations before, right? It looks like the Goblins had been keeping one of them like treasure.

I accepted that I was dead, but then something like a huge wall appeared in front of me and blocked the way.

Of course, it wasn't a real wall. It was Kim Geuk. His back is unbelievably broad;;

Anyway, Kim Geuk used Spatial Teleportation to get in front of me, and the bullet that came flying in at that moment hit his forearm (...)

I still can't believe I'm alive.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Kim Geuk once again. Long live Incheon!

5myJesus: How did he even grasp what was happening and take a bullet for you? That's fucking awesome, holy shit.

Ⓐ syberMagneto: Does it make sense for an awakened person to take a bullet for non-awakened trash? Since you're Japanese, either commit seppuku right now or prove that you were actually awakened. Pick one, you disgusting bastard.

Anonymous: Why is BabyMushroom such an absurdly manly guy in real life;

There were already plenty of comments. I added a few lines too.

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom, whom everyone missed, has appeared♡!♡!

It's a good thing BabyMushroom knows phase-shifting magic, nya! The moment BabyMushroom sensed the mister was in danger, BabyMushroom used Berserker magic and went, yappi! Then BabyMushroom protected the knight mister, nya!

Then it hurt so much, sniffle T_T BabyMushroom almost went hic, hic and cried, but Ice Princess Baek Dambi, big sis, used ice magic so BabyMushroom wouldn't hurt, nya! Thanks to that, good BabyMushroom can get a present from Santa Grandpa again this time, nya!

Everyone should pet the good BabyMushroom first, but after that, praise Ice Princess, big sis, too! Pinky promise with BabyMushroom's baby finger♡!!

Ⓐ syberMagneto: I said this last time too, but please stop...

I was enjoying the comments and reactions when Seong Munyeong muttered in a tired voice.

“Why do you even write things like...”

I looked up and met his eyes. Confusion appeared on his face, and he asked,

“Wait, do you always write in BabyMushroom's voice with that stern expression?”

“What expression do I have right now?”

“You look so angry that it's scary to talk to you. This is ridiculous, seriously...”

That was my expression?

It was true that I was in a bad mood right then. I also knew why.

I looked at Naito-san's post and thought,

Why the hell didn't this bastard upload the video?

Wouldn't it have been better if he'd attached a video of me shielding him with my body in a spirit of self-sacrifice? People's reactions would've been better, and I could've watched my heroic performance over and over again.

I remembered a cameraman being at the scene, but there was no video of me protecting him. I even checked his YouTube channel just in case, and there really wasn't a video uploaded today.

I had no idea why Naito-san kept doing these little annoying things. I frowned once, then focused on working out again.

Then I got a call.

It was from someone I knew.

「Kim Geuk? Do you have time right now?」

“Ah, Ms. Choi? I'm doing fine. What's going on?”

「The councilor is in a difficult situation right now. We've already called the police, but just in case, I thought I'd contact you too...」

I immediately told her to give me the location.

Then I used Spatial Teleportation to go where she told me.

* * *

The place I saw after teleporting was familiar.

It was a shabby low-rise apartment complex. The complex itself was surrounded by a solid wall as tall and thick as a fortress wall. Several guard posts stood around it, and soldiers carrying rifles stood atop them instead of security guards.

At the entrance to the complex, a sign read, ‘Incheon Awakened Persons New Home.’ Of course, nobody actually called it that.

This was an awakened-person containment facility, commonly known as the Freezer.

I'd come here often when I was working with Korean Awakened Solidarity on human rights issues, so I knew the place well.

In principle, it wasn't a facility that only held ice ability users, but I knew why it was called the Freezer anyway. Such facilities were generally packed exclusively with ice ability users.

As was widely known by now, weak and easy targets like ice ability users were always the first targets of the Monsters inside Gates.

That meant Gates frequently opened near ice ability users. And what happened when a lot of ice ability users lived together?

The entire place became a Gate cluster, a dangerous area that required soldiers to stay there permanently and guard it.

For that reason, awakened-person containment facilities like this were among the most reviled facilities in the region. This one supposedly held not just Incheon's ice ability users, but a whole lot of ice ability users from Seoul too.

When I looked around, something commonly seen in front of reviled facilities was happening here too.

An anti-facility protest.

“Get the Freezer out of Incheon! Get Seoul's ice blocks out of Incheon!”

“We want to start living decently too!”

“No storing Seoul ice in Incheon!”

Park Mihyeong was standing across from the people shouting all kinds of slogans. Beside her was Ms. Choi Sehui, whom that woman had taken around with her since her Korean Awakened Solidarity days. Choi Sehui looked restless as I approached them and spoke.

“What exactly is going on?”

The protesters surrounding the two women flinched. They scattered to either side at once, as if making a path for me.

That made sense. I was famous now too. Everyone who recognized me widened their eyes, and one man who looked a little immature shouted,

“Park Mihyeong's ultimate weapon! I heard he was brainwashed, but he really...”

I stared blankly at him because he was so ridiculous. The man hesitated and stepped back.

There was even disbelief in the way he looked at me. Why?

Then I remembered. The blood that had spurted out during training earlier was probably still all over my body. I hadn't cleaned it because I figured I would sweat during my workout anyway, then shower and wash it all off at once.

With part of one finger missing and my body covered in blood, I must've looked frightening. The protesters began moving away from me.

Park Mihyeong turned to look at me too. She looked horrified as well.

“Why did you come? I heard you got shot today... Oh my god, a seriously injured patient actually showed up!”

“A bullet isn't a big deal. This will all heal after I sleep, so you don't need to worry.”

“Whether you'll recover tomorrow or not, it's not right to accept help from someone who nearly died today! And you're in worse shape than I thought. Why did you even come? Did Choi Sehui call you?”

“No? A friend told me what was happening, so I came to see. Anyway, what's going on?”

Park Mihyeong stopped fussing over me and clicked her tongue at my question.

“Isn't it obvious? They want a reviled facility like the Freezer moved somewhere else.”

It wasn't particularly surprising. I'd seen situations like this many times while working in human rights activism.

Something else was strange.

“Maybe elsewhere, but there haven't been protests like this here before, though?”

That had been one of the one hundred billion pieces of evidence that Incheon citizens were morally superior to people from other regions, but Park Mihyeong herself denied it.

“This place was quiet because property prices were already devastated whether a reviled facility was here or not, so there was no point protesting. But property prices in Incheon have been recovering lately, right? I'm not trying to blame anyone, but thanks to a certain someone...

“They're even saying property prices here have a chance of rising. Since that facility looks like it might hold back those prices, these people gathered here.”

Park Mihyeong emphasized again that she absolutely wasn't trying to blame Kim Geuk, while I took in the situation.

It wasn't hard to understand.

Our operation area after Manwol Mountain had been around here, hadn't it? That meant property prices nearby would rise too. The landowners and building owners who had given up were finally gathering to protect their property values.

I looked at the protesters. I wanted to yell that I'd take this area out of our operation zone if they kept this up, but I held it in.

“This makes me uncomfortable. We're all working together to revive the area, so seeing this kind of strange result makes me depressed, doesn't it?”

When I spoke calmly, the protesters' attention turned toward me. One of them hesitated before shouting,

“Why would you be depressed? What does moving the Freezer have to do with you?”

Instead of explaining at length, I took out a Korean Awakened Solidarity business card from my wallet and held it out.

“Do you know Korean Awakened Solidarity? It's disbanded now, but until recently it worked for awakened people who were oppressed by society. I was involved with them for quite a while too...”

“Why were you doing that when you're not even an ice ability user?”

“My younger sister is an ice ability user. So is one of my teammates.”

The more I answered, the more uncomfortable the man's expression became, and the quieter his voice grew.

“Uh... Fuck, does your younger sister live in a containment facility like this?”

“No. She's in prison. They accused her of killing four people and sent her to prison without evidence just because she was an awakened person. It pissed me off so much that I kept working in human rights activism until I became a Hunter.”

“Still, uh... If a containment facility like this stays in Incheon, wouldn't your younger sister dislike it? Her neighbors might pressure her to live somewhere like this because there's a facility nearby. She'd hate that...”

“I don't know. We don't get along at all. My younger sister might be happy if she could live apart from me, even in a containment facility like this. First, she needs to get out of prison so I can ask where she wants to live. Thinking about when I visited her last time, fuck, I'm about to cry...”

Then I stared directly at him with a face full of melancholy.

His face had already been full of discomfort, and he couldn't meet my eyes for a while. He muttered, “Well, uh, well...” before finally saying,

“So, uh... I'm sorry...”

Footnotes:

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