WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 46: A-Rank Hunter Nguyen - [4]

──────

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom showed up today wearing sexy little bikini briefs♡♥♡!!

Big sisters and big brothers, pet BabyMushroom, nya! BabyMushroom protected Incheon again, nya!

BabyMushroom was resting after going yap, yap, yap! and putting all the bad hyenas in their place with these tiny, adorable hands, then getting petted by Ice Princess Baek Dambi, nya!

Then BabyMushroom felt a very nasty disturbance threatening the peace of the town, nya!

So BabyMushroom looked, and a super huge boar mister had come to town, nya! He was so big that even if a thousand tiny BabyMushrooms lined up, they wouldn't stand a chance, nya! BabyMushroom was so scared that this delicate little body trembled adorably...

Then Ogre mister came to town too, nya! BabyMushroom bravely scolded Ogre mister and told him to go home right away because he was being noisy, nya!

But then Ogre mister finally noticed BabyMushroom's beauty and cuteness, and both his eyes turned into hearts, nya!

(///♡o♡/// - He looked exactly like this, nya!)

Anonymous: By yap, yap, yap, does he mean that Monster massacre where he wiped out every Monster that came out of the Gate in under a minute...?

Ⓐ syberMagneto: Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstoppleasestop

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom was shocked when heart-eyed Ogre mister proposed and asked BabyMushroom to become his bride, nya!

BabyMushroom shook BabyMushroom's head back and forth, saying BabyMushroom was still too young to get married, nya!

But Ogre mister, already completely captivated by BabyMushroom's cuteness, wouldn't listen, nya! He rushed in, saying that if BabyMushroom refused, he'd kidnap BabyMushroom and make BabyMushroom his bride anyway, nya!

BabyMushroom's chastity was in danger!!!

BabyMushroom fought desperately to protect BabyMushroom's purity, nya! And Ogre mister wasn't the only one who'd fallen for BabyMushroom's beauty. Boar mister, who BabyMushroom thought was the cold and taciturn type, joined the fight to win BabyMushroom as his bride too, nya!

Ogre mister and Boar mister fought each other over who would make BabyMushroom their bride, and they both went to the afterlife, nya... Sob.

Honestly, men are all idiots, nya. Idiots who become addicted to BabyMushroom's cuteness the moment they see BabyMushroom...

BabyMushroom became a sinful woman who bewitched two men with fatal charm and got them killed, nya. BabyMushroom is a bad woman now, so Santa grandpa won't give BabyMushroom a present, but BabyMushroom already cried boo-hoo and lost the right to presents a long time ago, so it's okay, nya!

I looked through the comments on the post I'd worked so hard on. There were fewer over-the-top reactions than I'd expected.

5myJesus: Do you all know that thanks to this man's bloody struggle, only four people died despite it being a large Gate, and he resolved the situation without firing a single expensive missile?

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Everyone, be careful... If you reread this post after watching the video uploaded to YouTube this time, you'll be able to read the chilling message that BabyMushroom will beat anyone who doesn't say they've fallen for BabyMushroom senseless with a hammer, then shove 30mm autocannon rounds into their eyeballs and kill them painfully...

Anonymous: If you all get reincarnated as Monsters, don't go around eating people indiscriminately. If you do, even after dying, you'll get preserved online looking like this horrifying mess.

Anonymous: It is the ugly, painful death of a soul that cannot rest peacefully even after death.

Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: The video was seriously awesome. They said they're holding an award ceremony over this. Isn't this like the first time a local government has done something ceremonial for Hunters? Go represent all Hunters and make us proud!

Other than a few fainthearted people, everyone calmly analyzed this latest achievement.

People said the footage had spread overseas because the two giant Monsters killed this time were the ones that had rampaged horribly through Australia. Thanks to that, the video was being used as a source of nationalistic pride.

They also said that Gates had been opening at similar rates in Seoul and Incheon this month, but the reason Incheon had suffered an absurdly smaller number of casualties than Seoul was all thanks to the admirable BabyMushroom, and so on.

Everyone had gotten so used to my posts that their reactions were calmer than expected. It was so upsetting. Should I raise the threshold even further?

As I seriously considered it while scrolling through the comments, Seong Munyeong muttered, “You look happy right now too, but Dambi looks way happier than you... Did she get a huge reward payment this time or something?”

I looked at Baek Dambi at those words and was startled.

Even a blind person could have seen that she was in a good mood, because she was humming while looking at her smartphone. Her rhythm was a complete mess, which made it clear she definitely hadn't been the vocalist in her former idol group.

Come to think of it, she had every reason to be pleased.

While I hunted the giant Monsters, Baek Dambi had gone looking for the Gate and accomplished more than expected. Not only had she found it, but she'd also managed to observe the Monsters inside and report on their movements.

Wasn't it more important than anything these days to understand the Behemoth's movements? That alone was a great accomplishment. Before that, she'd even used her Ice Crystal ability to save me when I was on the verge of passing out. Since opportunities to use her ability were rare, that must have satisfied her pride as well.

She'd truly performed properly as both a Hunter and an awakened person, so it was only natural for that Cyber Magneto to be in a good mood.

I was satisfied too, and kept sipping my coffee.

“Kim Geuk? You were amazing this time!”

I'd heard that distinctive Incheon accent before.

Sure enough, when I looked up, Nguyen was standing in front of me.

“Ah, Mr. Nguyen? Thank you very much for this...”

“No, I should be thanking you! Keep this up, all right?”

I didn't even have time to be properly polite. Nguyen grabbed my hand and shook it wildly, patted my shoulder, then left. As I stared blankly after him for a moment, the Hunters under Nguyen came over and apologized in his place.

“Ah, he's a bit much, right? Sorry.”

“No, there's nothing to apologize for. Why's he acting like that?”

“It’s just that Mr. Nguyen really likes you, Kim Geuk. He praises you all the time too.”

“No, why?”

When I asked in genuine confusion, one of the Hunters said, “He says you've made his life a lot easier.”

“What does that mean?”

“Whenever something happens, they deploy the A-Rank Hunters brought in from overseas first, right? It's not exactly because they want to discriminate against foreigners, but foreign awakened people cost less than domestic ones...”

“I know. I heard they send foreign awakened people to the scene first because it's less of a burden if they die or get hurt. So?”

“So Mr. Nguyen used to get annoyed and angry because they kept calling him first whenever there was danger. But after you debuted, that completely stopped.”

“Why?”

“By the time Mr. Nguyen is deployed and arrives, Kim Geuk has usually handled almost everything already. Once the urgent situation is over, we can just kill one or two Deathclaws and comfortably fill the number of deployments listed in the contract. That's why he likes it.”

Seong Munyeong, who had been listening beside me, added, “Come to think of it, I've never seen Kim Geuk not deploy when a Gate opened. No wonder being a porter kept me busier than I thought. So this is unusual?”

The Hunter nodded and continued.

“And then there's the 9th-Grade Call... You went through that last time, so you know?”

“Of course I know.”

“Mr. Nguyen was under a lot of stress from 9th-Grade Calls too. After Cho E-un died, Incheon City kept trying to make Mr. Nguyen do the work. Whenever he refused, they would say unpleasant things and subtly threaten him as if they were going to penalize him, so he was furious.”

“Please make sure to explain properly that it was all the work of those Seoul bastards who infiltrated Incheon.”

“Excuse me? Ah, yes. Anyway, they say that because someone as famous as Kim Geuk openly exposed the 9th-Grade Call issue, they can't pull that anymore. So all that stress vanished, and he says he's benefited from you in many ways...”

As the Hunter kept talking, I smiled and responded, but felt my whole body grow hot.

It was that phenomenon where I saw someone's unfair story online, felt anger without meaning to, and my body temperature rose. It didn't feel like someone else's problem at all. I didn't even have to consciously think about it for rage to boil up inside me.

Why should even superhuman awakened people be treated like that? Nationality wasn't important in the first place. The only thing that mattered when dealing with people was whether they were awakened or non-awakened trash.

Didn't those disgusting Nazi bastards, who felt a sense of belonging to a country, even understand that? If I ever overthrew this disgusting country, I would definitely...

The moment I became aware of it, I immediately swept away that delusion.

Damn it. What the hell was I thinking?

The more hallucinations I experienced, the more my hatred for non-awakened trash and resentment toward this country grew.

At this point, I had no choice but to recognize how serious it was. Feeling superior to non-awakened people was one thing, but delusions about overthrowing the country were starting to seem dangerous.

I pushed away the delusion and tried to focus on the conversation in front of me.

The Hunter said, “And personally, he likes that you fight so damn well in such a manly way. He says he's worked not just in Vietnam, but Japan too, and he's never seen an awakened person fight like you.”

“That's probably because there are only two people with Spatial Teleportation, me and someone from the Netherlands?”

“No, he doesn't mean Spatial Teleportation. He means your whole fighting style is incredible! I watched the video that went up this time too, and...”

The Hunter was about to continue when an Incheon public official called out to us.

“Kim Geuk? And where did that Nguyen fellow go again... Anyway, everyone, start getting ready. The awards will begin soon...”

At those words, everyone stood.

We had come today to attend an award ceremony hosted by Incheon City.

They said it was an award ceremony honoring the Hunters for their hard work this month, but according to what Park Mihyeong had told me over the phone, it was specifically an award ceremony for me.

Then again, even I had to admit that my performance hadn't been ordinary.

Since the last Gate, Gates had still been opening frequently in Seoul, but they had only been opening sporadically in Incheon. Thanks to that, there was even room to hold this kind of ceremony.

Huntweb users claimed this might also be thanks to adorable BabyMushroom.

Their argument was that the Monsters watching from inside the Gate must have become wary after the smaller Monsters that came out were slaughtered in a minute, then the two giant Monsters were all killed less than ten minutes after leaving the Gate.

I didn't know whether that claim was true, but one thing was certain. I was just that awesome and great.

Park Mihyeong had sneered that if Incheon City wanted to renew my contract next year, they should normally at least give me a sizable bonus. But apparently the local government budget was in such bad shape that they could barely replace broken traffic lights, so they were giving me a nicely printed certificate instead.

There was technically a reward, but it was a small-value gift certificate usable at businesses participating in the Incheon Merchants Association. The members of my hunter team who had come to the ceremony, including Seong Munyeong, all looked indifferent. I didn't.

“Hunter Kim Geuk and his hunter team are entering! Please give them a warm welco-”

The moment I stepped onto the stage, thunderous applause rang out.

“Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!”

My name echoed through the venue, and I felt ready to ascend to heaven.

With a solemn smile, I raised my fist high, and the applause grew even louder.

“Ah, Hunter Kim Geuk? You're not going to stand like that for five full minutes like you did in the video last time, are you? Would you like to say a few words for the occasion...?”

“Long live Incheon. I would like to offer my gratitude to the esteemed citizens of Incheon, to City Councilor Park Mihyeong, who supported me and made it possible for me to be here, and to Mayor Lee Yul, the rightful ruler of Incheon, who arranged this event...”

I spoke with a dignified expression, but for some reason, laughter burst out from the audience.

“Ah, City Councilor Park Mihyeong! I'm sorry, but I laugh whenever I hear that name now. It looks like she still hasn't lifted the brainwashing. It really is good for Incheon!”

The host laughed as if the joke had cracked them up, then took back the microphone.

After that, the host went on about how Hunter Kim Geuk had made a great contribution to preventing major damage in this incident and praised me at length. Then their gaze suddenly fell on my ring girl standing beside me.

“And continuing with the commendations, Hunter Baek Dambi here made a proactive effort in the search...”

Basically, they commended her for finding Gates twice and reporting on the situation inside.

The host had spoken enthusiastically while giving me an award, even adding funny remarks, but their voice seemed to lose a little enthusiasm when praising Baek Dambi. Did they think she was no more than a supporting character in an award ceremony where I was the protagonist?

I glanced at Baek Dambi, wondering whether her feelings had been hurt, but that didn't seem to be the case.

My ring girl had even come here in a crop top and sunglasses. Only I, with Body Enhancement and superhuman vision, could have noticed the faint trembling at the corners of her mouth.

It looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh. Why?

My guess was that she found this commendation deeply moving. She had been so starved of opportunities to be recognized that she seemed to find even this objectively unremarkable occasion extremely valuable.

When the host handed Baek Dambi the microphone, she briefly spoke as if trying to act cool.

“It's an honor. Long live Incheon.”

“Oh, that line again! Did you catch it from Hunter Kim Geuk here?”

“Yes. He keeps forcing me to shout it...”

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried