WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈
Chapter 58: Special Forces Commander Han Hee-seok - [2]
──────
Kang Jun-chi's face twisted. He opened and closed his mouth as if he wanted to protest, so I continued.
“This is definitely the kind of thing that makes you swear, but it isn't some sign that they're planning to assassinate you.”
“Then what is it?”
“The higher-ups are just desperately trying to figure out what you're thinking. Your safety is directly tied to national security, isn't it? And here you are, refusing even the food the hotel provides and acting like a paranoid lunatic. They're doing this because they want to know what you're so dissatisfied with.”
Kang Jun-chi asked suspiciously.
“How do you know enough about those bastards' minds to explain it?”
“Because one of them called me before I came here. The guy who's the Special Forces Commander was trying to pry into what we talked about.”
“You didn't tell him, did you...?”
“I didn't answer. I brushed him off with some bullshit.”
“That was... good.”
“Anyway, I could tell they were trying to figure out what you're thinking. You can't keep living like this, always paranoid.”
Kang Jun-chi frowned as if he did not want to hear it, but I kept talking.
“No matter how I look at it, it makes no sense for the government to try to kill you. If you disappeared right now, Behemoth would flatten Seoul. Why would they kill you?”
I also told him that living this way was bad for him. What was the point of staying in a five-star hotel if he could not even eat its good food and had to go out for every meal?
I was not saying it because I had some grand plan about an awakened-person revolution or overthrowing the country. I said it because I was worried about him as a friend.
I had once hoped that if Kang Jun-chi kept growing more suspicious of the government, he might someday overthrow the state. Still, I could not look at him like this and speak with those ulterior motives in mind. No matter what, how could I stand by while he suffered alone?
“So what do you want me to do? Just let it slide even if they plant listening devices?”
I answered Kang Jun-chi's question.
“File a proper complaint with the government agency involved and make sure it never happens again. I do not know whether it was the National Intelligence Service or some other agency, but...”
While I was still speaking, Seok Jangsil's voice came from nearby.
“I know who did it. I found another listening device.”
Kang Jun-chi's eyes widened.
“Where?”
Instead of explaining, Seok Jangsil placed a finger against the hotel wall and poked it.
The hard marble wall could not repel his finger.
A tiny section of the wall crumbled away like paper where his finger had dug in, exposing the inside.
There was some kind of small mechanical device inside the hotel wall, probably a listening device. Even I was surprised.
“How did you find that?”
“I'm a rock ability user, remember? The hotel wall is marble, so I sensed its structure and found a slightly hollow spot. It looks like someone hid a listening device inside, then covered it with an extremely thin layer of wall. I know whose method this is.”
“Whose?”
“Han Hee-seok's.”
“Han Hee-seok? The Special Forces Commander?”
“Yeah. That bastard.”
Kang Jun-chi asked, “Why would the Special Forces want to listen in on me?”
“Because Han Hee-seok is as crazy as you are.”
Kang Jun-chi frowned, but Seok Jangsil did not care and continued. That was when I realized the two were much closer than I had thought.
I also realized just how severe Kang Jun-chi's paranoia was, considering he could not even trust someone this close to him and had called me instead when his life seemed to be in danger.
“This is Seoul, right? The Special Forces are the unit created to keep awakened people from running wild in the capital. Every awakened Hunter active in Seoul is watched by that bastard Han Hee-seok. If you're a lunatic who believes the government is trying to kill you, then he's a lunatic who believes awakened Hunters are plotting coups around the clock.”
“Can you stop calling me a lunatic?”
“I'll stop after you go see a psychiatrist. Anyway, Han Hee-seok is another lunatic. Whenever awakened Hunters gather just to drink coffee, he thinks they're meeting to plot a coup, then interrogates them about why they gathered and what their intentions are. He tried to bug me too.”
“You too?”
“Yeah. The Special Forces have a rock ability user too. Last time, I saw that guy hide listening devices like this in coffee shops that Seoul's A-rank Hunters often visit. He probably did the same thing at your place without realizing that method had already been exposed.
“So, like Kim Geuk said, don't get too stressed out, okay? A crazy bastard did something crazy. You do not need to tremble just because you think you're the only one this kind of shitty thing happens to.”
Seok Jangsil seemed to be trying hard to explain it for his sworn brother's mental health, but Kang Jun-chi did not seem to take any of it to heart.
He only cared about one thing.
“So if I want to fuck someone up over this, I should fuck up Han Hee-seok?”
“That is true, but are you really going to do it?”
“Why, are you going to stop me too?”
“No. If you do it, it'll feel great. Why would I stop you?”
Seok Jangsil grinned, and Kang Jun-chi asked me for Han Hee-seok's number.
I showed him the call history on my phone, and Kang Jun-chi bit his lip.
“That fucking bastard must've called you right after planting the listening device.”
He seemed newly enraged. Kang Jun-chi called Han Hee-seok, and he answered immediately.
「Yes, this is Han Hee-seok...」
“It's Kang Jun-chi. You've got thirty minutes, so get your ass over here right now. Otherwise, forget Behemoth, I'm heading straight back to Busan. Got it?”
Han Hee-seok answered through the phone without even seeming to hesitate.
「Yes, I'll be right there. Right away...」
Han Hee-seok arrived in less than ten minutes. He was the Special Forces Commander himself, the man whose face I had seen when I searched online.
He had abruptly addressed me informally on the phone, suddenly lowered his voice, and tried to interrogate me. Yet he did not dare act that way around Kang Jun-chi.
An interrogation began between the two of them. Their exchange went something like this.
“Did you order the listening device installed?”
“I did. I truly have nothing to say in my defense.”
“Why did you do it? Did you want to die?”
“Mr. Kang Jun-chi had refused all the health examinations the government recommended and all the meals provided by the hotel, and often left his residence for hours without notice. I did it to learn why you were doing that...”
“Enough excuses. I plan to beat you now. Do you intend to retaliate later?”
At the last question, Han Hee-seok squeezed his eyes shut and answered.
“No.”
Then the kind of “lesson” Kang Jun-chi usually delivered in his YouTube videos began.
I watched Han Hee-seok float into the air and slam into the floor and ceiling over and over. He did not scream, only let out quiet groans, and Kang Jun-chi snapped at him as if even that displeased him.
“Oh? You're holding back your screams? Still trying to protect your pride?”
Han Hee-seok stopped holding back his screams. As booming shrieks loud enough to satisfy Kang Jun-chi's sadism poured from his mouth, I left the hotel room.
Seok Jangsil came out with me and spoke in a tired voice.
“Ugh, he wasn't like that when I first met him. Now he's completely lost it.”
“What was he like when you first met him?”
“I met him when they gathered awakened people from the reserve forces and formed a separate unit. The awakened people there talked about what we'd do for a living with our awakened powers once everything was over. I said I wanted to use my power for loading and unloading delivery trucks, and Jun-chi said he'd do the same. We really hit it off right there.”
“Seok Jangsil, you're a rock ability user, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Can you do loading work with that ability? I heard rock ability users are strong too...”
“Ah, I tried it myself, and it was hard! It's harder to control your strength than it is for a Body Enhancement user, so I kept damaging the packages. I had no choice but to become a Hunter, but it really sucks...”
We had been chatting pleasantly for about ten minutes when Han Hee-seok finally came out of the hotel room.
His eyes were badly swollen, and his clothes were torn in several places, as though he had been beaten all over. Still, he left under his own power.
He seemed to have suffered far less than Kang Jun-chi's usual targets. Maybe Kang Jun-chi had been afraid to really work over a high-ranking civil servant.
Neither Seok Jangsil nor I cared about Han Hee-seok as he left. We were focused on Kang Jun-chi.
His expression looked refreshed, as though he had finally vented his anger. Seok Jangsil asked him.
“So what are you going to do now? Move somewhere else?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
A little later, Kang Jun-chi led us somewhere.
* * *
We arrived at one of Seoul's rare vacant lots.
It was a planned construction site with nothing but sand. Standing in the middle of it, Kang Jun-chi said, “I'm staying here for a while.”
Before we could even ask what he meant, Kang Jun-chi used his power.
That force-field ability stronger than a nuclear explosion.
“Uh, what?”
The ground shook wildly, as though an extremely powerful earthquake had struck.
Leaves rained down. Trees and buildings shook violently, and the earth itself seemed to scream. A cloud of dust shot high enough to reach the sky and blocked my vision...
Then, after a brief moment that felt long, a huge hole stood before us, along with a small mountain made of dirt and granite. He must have created that mountain by digging out the hole.
The hole was too deep for its bottom to be visible at a glance. I used my mental net to gauge its depth and recoiled in shock.
Kang Jun-chi explained calmly.
“I dug out a cavern eight hundred meters underground. I'll live in there for a while, so no assassin can sneak in...”
In less than three minutes, Kang Jun-chi had created an eight-hundred-meter-deep tunnel and a two-hundred-meter underground space. Even in this modern age crawling with awakened people boasting all kinds of supernatural abilities, it was something that could only be called a miracle of God.
Was democracy really supposed to continue after this? Were all people still equal?
As I shuddered, Seok Jangsil stood blankly for a moment before asking, “Eight hundred meters deep... Are you planning to install an elevator?”
“No. If I install one, someone could use it to sneak in, so I won't. I can move up and down with my force field.”
“Connecting water and electricity will be hard...”
“Water and electricity? How would I connect those?”
“You'd call contractors?”
Kang Jun-chi answered firmly.
“No. I can't trust anyone, contractors included. What if a contractor gets recruited by the government and installs listening devices? Why would you even suggest something like that?”
“Then you're going to live without water or electricity?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you actually insane?”
It looked insane to me too. He was going to live alone underground without electricity or water. What kind of prison sentence was that?
I tried to stop him, asking why he was choosing to suffer and telling him to think again, but it was useless.
Instead of being persuaded by me, Kang Jun-chi tried to persuade me.
“Kim Geuk, this isn't the time for you to talk so comfortably. I think you're in danger too.”
“What?”
“I think you're at just as much risk of assassination as I am.”
What was he talking about now?
“Are you trying to infect me with your anxiety too?”
I asked in disbelief, but Kang Jun-chi continued in the same grave voice.
“No. From the government's perspective, you're just as dangerous as me. I watched the video this time, and you're fucking strong. You took down several awakened people by yourself. Doesn't that mean that even if they stationed a whole bunch of awakened guards at the Blue House, you could break through all of them alone?”
“So?”
“So if you took a Hunter Rifle and opened fire at the Blue House or the National Assembly, there'd be no way to stop you. And you have Spatial Teleportation. If you started bombing places, nobody could stop you. Wouldn't the government want to eliminate you if it got the chance?”
Kang Jun-chi earnestly warned me that I could not let my guard down either and needed to be careful at all times.
“I'm a Body Enhancement user, so poison won't kill me. I don't need to worry that much.”
“They could send an assassin. Can those muscles deflect force-field blades? So here's my proposal... Want me to make you a place like this too?”
“You mean an eight-hundred-meter-deep cavern?”
“Yeah. You can use Spatial Teleportation, so you could remove the entrance entirely. You'd be perfectly safe. It'd be a hideout that nobody but you could enter. At eight hundred meters deep, even bunker busters and nuclear bombs probably couldn't reach it...”
“No. I'm fine, really.”
“This bastard is way too carefree... If you change your mind later, contact me, okay? I'll make it for free.”
When I glanced at Seok Jangsil, he only sighed.
That was how our meeting ended that day.
“It was nice meeting you today. Let's meet again and have a meal sometime, okay?”
After shaking hands with Seok Jangsil, I went home.
On the way back, I suddenly regretted my actions. I regretted having calmed Kang Jun-chi down that day.
Anger rose in me at the thought that I had missed the chance to wipe out Seoul and all the non-awakened vermin there, but I shook my head and drove that thought away.
I knew I needed to ignore the negative feelings that had appeared after I began seeing those hallucinations, whether they were my hatred for Seoul or my hatred for non-awakened vermin.
I knew that hatred was not entirely mine.
It belonged to another me, the terrorist Kim Geuk. I knew that if I stepped forward to act on hatred that was not mine, everything I had would be ruined.
Someday, awakened people would have to rule Korea. That was an obvious fact that did not need to be questioned, but I did not need to be the one to lead that future.
The next day, my phone rang again.
I now knew whose number it was.
「Kim Geuk?」
I spoke curtly to Han Hee-seok through the phone.
“Special Forces Commander? What is it?”
I thought he might be trying to vent his anger over yesterday, but that was not it.
「I'm calling to apologize. I behaved improperly. I looked into it, and I learned that you aren't someone who easily controls his anger. I made a serious mistake. I sincerely apologize.」
I thought in confusion. Why was this non-awakened vermin suddenly acting like this? He could not have learned, after being taught a lesson by Kang Jun-chi today, that he needed to treat awakened people with respect...
He did not seem to be mocking me either. This non-awakened vermin was suddenly flattering me.
「When I investigated further, I found that in the past eight months, you had been dispatched far more often than awakened Hunters who had been active for over three years. Whenever Hunters were called to Incheon, you always responded and stepped in without sparing yourself to suppress the situation. I failed to recognize such a patriot and acted so rudely...」
I soon realized why this non-awakened vermin had abruptly changed his attitude.
We had not destroyed the listening device in that hotel room, so he must have eavesdropped on our conversation.
After hearing me calm Kang Jun-chi down, he might have thought I was moderate toward the government and needed to be handled carefully. Or perhaps he thought I was close to Kang Jun-chi and could be used to control him.
Either way, he was really working hard. He had been beaten badly earlier that day, yet here he was trying to repair the situation, even setting aside his pride.
「...Anyway, I won't bother you by prying into anything again, so please rest assured. I hope you'll continue hunting diligently. Goodbye.」
After ending the call, I opened Huntweb with mixed feelings.
I saw a post.
For once, Kang Jun-chi had posted something other than a video of him teaching someone a lesson.
When I opened it, it was a post complaining about his life.
Ⓢ Kang : I spent one night in the place I just set up, and my back hurts like hell. It's already fucking miserable...
It's hot, so I'm sweating, but I can't wash. I can't even use a toilet, so this is way too hard and miserable T_T
I really can't live like this. Should I just take off somewhere?
Suppressing my exasperation, I left a comment.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker : Then do you want to come to Incheon?
Ⓢ Kang : No... I have to go around to restaurants to eat, but almost every restaurant in Incheon is closed. There aren't many Lotterias or McDonald's that are still operating in Incheon either, right?
This fucking bastard?
While I controlled my outrage, more comments quickly appeared.
Ⓐ Stonehead Youth : Jun-chi, if you don't want to live in Korea, where would you go? Are you thinking of leaving Korea for America?
Ⓢ Kang : No... America has nuclear bombs, and I'm scared they might use one on me.
Ⓐ Stonehead Youth : ;; If not America, where would you even feel safe? Some third-world country in Africa?
Ⓢ Kang : What if I just went to Soweol?
Ⓐ Stonehead Youth : ???
Ⓐ Stonehead Youth : Sword World? Why would you go somewhere poorer than North Korea?
Ⓢ Kang : Awakened people are apparently a normal part of life there. If I went to live there, wouldn't people just accept it?
Ⓢ Kang : I should wait for a Gate to open. If one opens nearby, I'll jump straight in.
I was gradually figuring out that Kang Jun-chi had a habit of making empty boasts online. Whenever something happened, he would say, “Want me to go overturn everything?” and then do nothing.
This time was probably the same. Thinking that, I closed Huntweb.
* * *
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
