WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 52: Baron of Gyeyang-gu Kim Seok-hee - [3]

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Q. Have you heard that the attackers were all released because the police failed to do their jobs?

- I have. Park Mihyeong, who's running as candidate number two in the upcoming Incheon mayoral election, was absolutely furious. I couldn't give out Councilor Park Mihyeong's office number earlier. Can I say it now?

Q. No. Instead of Councilor Park Mihyeong's office number, how do you feel about this?

- Pleased.

Q. I expected you to be devastated, so that's surprising. Why are you pleased?

- Nothing special. It just made me think it would've been great if the police who came looking for me after I broke my school discipline teacher's legs had been like this too.

Q. Is there anything you'd like to say to the police about this incident?

- I don't have anything in particular to say to the police, but there is something I'd like to say to Kim Seokhee, who calls himself the Baron of Gyeyang-gu.

Q. Please do. What would you like to say to Kim Seokhee?

- Gyeyang-gu is too large to be a mere barony. It should be a county. As the ruler of that land, calling himself a baron lowers the standing of Incheon, so it's difficult to tolerate.

Q. What do you mean by that?

- Kim Seokhee should call himself the Count of Gyeyang-gu, not the Baron of Gyeyang-gu. Of course, he could also call himself the Marquess of Gyeyang-gu, since he guards a border region adjacent to the barbaric land of Seoul.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to say to him?

- No.

Q. If the Incheon Recovery Project continues and the police remain as helpless as they were this time, more conflicts can be expected in the future. Would you consider abandoning the operation in that case?

- I have no intention of giving up. Not even a little.

Q. Is there a reason for that?

- Because I'm stronger than Kim Seokhee.

Q. Could you elaborate?

- I don't listen to people weaker than me. If Kim Seokhee wants to drive me out, he should come himself and prove that he's strong.

* * *

When I logged into Huntweb, it was full of nothing but talk about me.

People who had watched my interview reacted with admiration, saying things like, “BabyMushroom is a real man, damn,” while others lamented, “He's trying to do more than he's being paid for, so how can the country refuse to support him this badly?”

One post caught my eye amid all that, so I clicked on it.

Ⓐ Justice1994: I became a police officer through the special awakened-person recruitment program and have to serve for six years. I've still got four years left.

As an active police officer, I'll explain the situation involving Kim Geuk. There's no reason for everyone to be shocked by what the police are doing.

Why would cops risk their lives fighting awakened criminals?

Every cop motivated enough to do that died within two years of the Gates opening, fighting Deathclaws and armed robbers.

What about the cops who survived? They're only thinking about catching drunk drivers, letting them off, and demanding bribes. Police civil-service positions have become so unpopular that this year's police recruitment didn't even fill half its quota. Nobody has to worry about getting fired even if they slack off, so who the hell would work hard?

As you know, the police don't intervene anymore when someone reports online insults targeting their parents or family, or sexual harassment. Does it make sense to waste police resources because someone got cursed at online in an era full of armed robberies and mass shootings?

Then do the police actively respond to violent crime?

I'll say it again. Every cop who worked hard died within two years of the Gates opening!

These days, the police don't even pretend to look for missing people. There are so many missing people now that they say there's no way to find them all, and that looking is also a waste of police resources.

Even if someone reports that their family member seems to have been trafficked, they say a Deathclaw probably dragged them off and won't even send a patrol car.

Their mentality from the start is, why risk your life for this salary?

As you know, prices have gone completely insane while civil servants' pay has stayed the same. Police morale has crashed. Every cop has firmly convinced themselves that getting hurt while earning this salary would be a loss.

So don't expect anything impressive from the police. I'm a force-field exoskeleton user working for four million won a month, and even I have no motivation. If someone reports a Deathclaw, I'll take a thirty-minute walk, say, “Nope, nothing here,” then go back to play mobile games.

Anonymous: You're proud that the so-called protectors of the people ignore citizens in danger? You fucking tax thief.

Ⓐ Justice1994: Then pay me like a Hunter if you're unhappy lol. I became a cop because I didn't have the nerve for kill-or-be-killed fights against Monsters, but residents keep reporting Monster sightings to the station. That pisses me off to begin with. It pisses me off even more that they don't ignore those reports and send me out every time, so please stop complaining.

Reading that made me realize all over again how hard life had become. I continued scrolling through the various posts on Huntweb.

Eventually, I came to roughly understand this absurd situation.

According to what I'd learned on Huntweb, Kim Seokhee was a powerful awakened person with both a force-field exoskeleton and Body Enhancement.

Naturally, he had enjoyed great success as a Hunter. His Hunter license was revoked because he had committed an accidental killing.

One day, Kim Seokhee got into an argument with another driver, failed to control his strength, and killed the other person.

Naturally, that was the end of his life as a Hunter. Kim Seokhee fled instead of submitting to arrest by the police.

The police tried again and again to arrest him afterward, but every attempt ended in miserable failure. It couldn't have gone any other way. How could ordinary police officers possibly subdue such a powerful awakened person?

Even after becoming wanted, Kim Seokhee found a way to make a living. He gathered awakened people who had awakened abilities but could not work as Hunters for various reasons, leaving those abilities to go to waste, and formed a violent criminal organization.

Kim Seokhee had no especially remarkable talent for running this organization, nor did he have some powerful backer. Yet it had lasted for over two years, and even though the police knew exactly where its base was, they had not wiped it out.

More precisely, they couldn't. It was physically impossible.

Kim Seokhee's organization had three force-field exoskeleton users alone. On top of that, Kim Seokhee's own force field was exceptionally sturdy, far beyond the average. If they wanted to break through it, the police's anti-materiel sniper rifles and recoilless rifles wouldn't even come close.

To subdue the awakened people in that organization, they would have to be prepared to blow up an entire building. They would need to rain down all kinds of well-known missiles, whether TOW missiles or Hellfire missiles, or simply bomb the place with aerial bombs.

Of course, that was not something they could do just to take down a few thugs. It wasn't realistic for the military to deploy at full strength to wipe out gangsters selling cigarettes.

In the end, the police realized there was nothing they could do against Kim Seokhee's gang. Their helpless response continued until things reached this point.

So, as for how I felt about being caught up in this situation...

Just as I said in the interview, I was pleased.

I still felt the same thrill I had felt when I watched Kang Jun-chi's video.

Awakened people trusting in their strength and disregarding public authority? What could possibly be cooler than that?

It was simply exhilarating. Even more so because the police, who had never left me with a single good memory, were being this helpless.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: You there?

So when a message arrived from Kim Seokhee, I was able to respond in a cute tone, full of delight.

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Are you looking for BabyMushroom, the magical girl who protects the village? Of course I'm hereee!

Ⓐ GangStar☆: Can't you be serious for once? This seems like a serious situation.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: I guess you acted tough as fuck in that interview too. Do you think that makes you look cool?

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Of course BabyMushroom isn't cool! Little baby BabyMushroom has a warm hearttt♡♥♡!!

Ⓐ GangStar☆: You're still pulling this shit... You shouldn't be acting this disrespectful toward me in the first place. You know why?

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Why is thattt? BabyMushroom is curious curious!

Ⓐ GangStar☆: You're a convict, but the law changed last time so you could become a Hunter, right? Do you know who you have to thank for that? It's all thanks to me.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: The government learned because of me that cutting off a powerful awakened person's livelihood just because they committed a crime makes the situation worse.

Even if someone like me gets convicted, they don't quietly go to prison, come out, get a part-time job at a convenience store, and live modestly. They smash the hell out of everything and find a new way to survive. I taught those people in high places that. That's why they even changed the law, saying they'd pay ex-convicts and anyone else, so please stop doing weird shit and just work as Hunters. Isn't the debt you owe this senior tremendous?

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Is that sooooo? Big bro, BabyMushroom is so grateful!!

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: A kiss of affection for my wonderful big bro, mwah♡! Ehehehe, it was only a kiss on the cheek, but BabyMushroom is so embarrassed T_T

Ⓐ GangStar☆: Ah, fuck, seriously.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: I'll kill you.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: Do you still not understand the situation? Don't you think you're going to get completely fucked over like this?

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Of course BabyMushroom is scared, but I won't be discouraged! Little baby BabyMushroom has courage!

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: And BabyMushroom is much stronger than Kim Seokhee too lol.

I had gone out of my way to provoke him, but his response was cold.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: Even if you don't get hurt, other people might.

Ⓐ GangStar☆: Remember that.

Maybe he was furious, or maybe he decided there was no point in talking to me anymore. Either way, the messages stopped there.

I felt a little thrill and a little anxiety at the same time.

Was this bastard threatening to hurt the people around me? My family members were either dead or in prison, so there were only certain people around me he could target.

My hunter team.

I immediately skipped over Park Mihyeong and called the mayor of Incheon.

“Mr. Mayor? I'm in a difficult situation right now. Could you help me?”

I told him what threat I had just received and asked him to pull some strings. In other words, to make the police who weren't doing their jobs actually move.

It seemed the mayor was furious about this situation too.

「I know how serious this is. Now that the world's changed, even petty gangsters are rotting the city to its core. I truly don't know how I can face you, Mr. Kim Geuk.」

“So, will you help me?”

「Of course I will! The government normally doesn't want matters involving awakened people shown on the news, but this somehow made the news. No matter how passively the police want to work, they can't act like they did last time when things have gotten this bad. I'll do everything I can. I'll press them to assign personnel properly...」

Of course, the mayor also knew it made no sense to trust the police in a situation like this.

He promised to station civil servants near the homes of my hunter team members as well. Those civil servants would not be able to stop anything if something happened, but they would at least be able to report it immediately.

And sure enough, not only police officers but civil servants were assigned around me and my hunter team.

Thanks to that, nobody was kidnapped in the middle of the night, but I still couldn't relax.

* * *

Footnotes:

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