How an A-rank Hunter Lives - Chapter 68

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 68: Veteran Sergeant Kim Yo-han - [5]

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It didn't seem like this incident would make it into the media, but it was at least made public on Huntweb.

That meant everyone on Huntweb learned what had happened during the operation.

5myJesus: Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk! Kim Geuk!

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Kim Geuk, he's a hero!

Huntweb users even learned the details of how the operation unfolded because Kim Yohan exposed the whole thing to everyone.

Apparently, Kim Yohan had shown incredible quick thinking before the Special Forces members and I started fighting.

He hadn't been able to film the incident, but he had managed to take dozens of photos.

With dozens of photos arranged in chronological order, Kim Yohan explained what had happened.

Ⓐ SeoulTobagi: I had a bad feeling from the moment I was called in. I couldn't figure out why they wanted me to bring a Hunter Rifle.

(······)

In the end, Kim Seokhee surrendered and got on his knees. I thought it was over, but it wasn't.

The Special Forces members surrounded Kim Seokhee. I could tell something was off just by looking at them.

It looked like they were trying to block Kim Seokhee from view with their bodies. What the hell were they planning to do while hiding him?

That made me pull out my phone and start taking pictures right away. Then those bastards tried to stab Kim Seokhee all at once. Mr. Kim Geuk jumped in with Spatial Teleportation and saved him.

(······)

Mr. Kim Geuk was unbelievably strong. He beat every Special Forces member into the ground, then used Spatial Teleportation and vanished with Kim Seokhee. Watching that, I applauded like a seal with wild enthusiasm. At least a thousand times in my heart······.

After it was all over, I asked him over the phone. It seems the Special Forces have a policy of not subduing and arresting awakened people they find difficult to control, but simply killing them instead. Mr. Kim Geuk was horrified when he learned that and fought desperately.

Mr. Kim Geuk asked me to emphasize this point and tell everyone on Huntweb what happened.

The comments under the post were just as heated.

Ⓐ syberMagneto: Have those non-awakened pieces of trash really lost their minds?

Ⓐ Dragon: It's terrifying that they were going to kill him right after he surrendered. Does that mean if I get into an argument with the Special Forces because of some misunderstanding, they won't accept my surrender and will just kill me?

Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: No wonder they struggle so much with awakened criminals in the provinces but control them so easily in Seoul without much trouble. So this was how they did it.

Anonymous: So what's Kim Geuk's condition? Why can't he explain it himself right now? Did his arm get cut off, so he's recovering and can't type?

Ⓐ SeoulTobagi: No. His arm's already reattached, but he says he isn't confident he can explain the situation accurately in BabyMushroom's pretty way of speaking. So he told me to handle the explanation.

Anonymous: So that's why he's keeping his mouth shut? Is he seriously insane······?

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Kim Geuk really was incredible, but is this actually going to be okay? If that bastard Han Heeseok decides he wants something done, he doesn't give a fuck about the law. What if he suddenly comes after him?

Ⓢ Kang: This really crosses the line······.

After that, I spent my time enjoying all the praise calling me a hero and saying I'd done well.

My phone rang. I thought it was Park Mihyeong, so I answered it, but it wasn't.

“You son of a bitch!”

My face twisted when I recognized the voice of Han Heeseok, that non-awakened piece of trash.

“Is that you, Heeseok? I'm hanging up.”

“If you hang up, you'll die-”

I hung up right away, but it kept ringing. I couldn't set it to silent just because I didn't want to hear him. Park Mihyeong had told me she would call later and that I needed to be ready to answer at any time.

At this rate, he'd interfere with my call with Park Mihyeong.

“Why are you so persistent, huh?”

So I had no choice but to answer. An angry voice came through.

“I called you in to help with state affairs, and you screw things up like that?”

“Is ignoring every law and killing people state affairs? Convicting ice ability users without physical evidence, wiretapping civilians, and summarily executing wanted criminals even after they surrender?”

“The law exists to protect society, you crazy bastard. Does society exist to protect the law? Do I really have to explain every little thing to a bastard like you who only finished middle school when you won't understand anyway?”

Judging by how furiously he raged, he seemed extremely proud of all those extralegal acts.

I was too dumbfounded to say anything, but Han Heeseok kept shouting.

“What the hell makes you think you can act like this, huh? Are you relying on that bastard Kang Jun-chi? Do you think that coward is really going to quit everything and come all the way to Incheon to help you?”

“You must have worked hard wiretapping civilians. Looks like you've got a pretty good read on his personality too.”

“Shut up, you bastard! Where's Kim Seokhee?”

“I let him go.”

“Quit talking bullshit and tell me the truth! No, if you really let him go, bring him back right now. I'm giving you exactly two hours! Got it?”

He threatened me like that, then ended the call.

I put down my phone and thought: The Special Forces commander and his members were all the same. They treated the law like a line from an elementary school ethics textbook.

Now I understood why their attitude didn't make me feel any sense of kinship and only disgusted me.

It was ridiculous for people who acted in the name of the law to ignore it, especially because I knew they would invoke the law only when it suited them.

It wasn't particularly surprising that those civil servants acted that way. I'd already been through this again and again.

From when I assaulted my school disciplinarian and was sent to juvenile detention, to when my younger sister was arrested with the presumption of innocence completely ignored, the majesty of the law had only ever been wielded one-sidedly.

After going through this incident too, I became even more certain that I didn't need to obey the law either.

About an hour later, I received another call.

This time, it was Park Mihyeong. She spoke urgently.

“Stay inside your house, okay? You have to stay inside! Or use Spatial Teleportation and flee as far away as you can!”

“Why would I run?”

“The Special Forces have left for Incheon! The police here tried to stop them, but there was no way they could, and it sounds like they're coming after you, Mr. Kim Geuk······!”

I could guess why the Special Forces wanted to come after me.

I'd disappeared with wanted criminal Kim Seokhee, so they probably thought they could learn where he was if they arrested me. They'd probably charge me with harboring a criminal or something similar as well.

Park Mihyeong also seemed to have contacted people all over the place to stop the Special Forces.

Soon, hundreds of people gathered in front of my house.

First were the residents of Incheon······. The people who had come out with picket signs to protest when I was summoned by the Special Forces had gathered again to protect me this time.

“Special Forces, get out! Special Forces, get out!”

Then I saw my hunter team, gathered as if it were only natural. They had even brought guns, and I had no idea what they planned to do with them.

The head of the Hunter academy I attended was there too, along with its students and even Incheon civil servants. The mayor of Incheon and Park Mihyeong stood at the front.

Oh, and it seemed Huntweb had learned about the situation too.

I hadn't called for them, but my fellow Huntweb users had gathered here as well. I saw the five awakened Hunters from the previous gathering, along with other awakened Hunters whose names I didn't know.

Seok Jangsil stood out among them. He had covered his whole body in granite and taken the form of an eight-meter rock giant. As an elemental, he was clearly clad in invincible armor that wasn't even afraid of force-field blades.

I remembered how he had watched my Rock Elemental hunting video in the past and modestly said he didn't think he could beat me. I now knew that had been social politeness meant to flatter me.

I'd wondered how those awakened Hunters had learned about the situation. Apparently, my ring girl had heard about it from Park Mihyeong and posted the news on Huntweb.

Ⓐ syberMagneto: The Special Forces are on their way to arrest Kim Geuk. Everyone, assemble!

That was how the awakened people from Huntweb gathered here. They probably hadn't come only to protect me. They were likely here to protest the extralegal measure of summarily executing awakened criminals too.

Anyway, I felt like I'd seen this scene over and over in comics. A moving moment where all the protagonist's allies gathered to protect him.

It really was moving. Incheon residents and awakened Hunters had gathered to protect me?

It felt as if every stray thought in my head had been washed away.

The world, once tangled with all kinds of complicated things, seemed to split clearly into black and white.

Look. Incheon was good, and Seoul was evil. Awakened people were right, and non-awakened people were evil.

No one could deny that clear contrast. This situation reminded me of that fact······.

Several dozen minutes later, the Special Forces members arrived in front of my house.

“Kim Geuk, get your ass out here!”

Han Hee, the Special Forces' ultimate weapon, was with them this time. I couldn't help thinking this wouldn't be easy.

Soon, the Special Forces members, each carrying a sword, faced off against the people gathered to protect me. Their voices rang out as they shouted like hired thugs.

“Get lost already, or do you want us to stab you?”

Watching people try to block the Special Forces with their bodies, I thought that I couldn't cause trouble for these good people.

What would happen if I let them take me away? Would they force a guilty verdict on me? If so, that was fine. Someone with Super-Regeneration was ageless and immortal, after all. I could rot in prison for a few years and come out afterward.

If they dragged me away and tried to kill me, I could read the situation and escape with Spatial Teleportation······.

Having made my decision, I left the house. When I walked out the door, everyone's eyes focused on me.

One Special Forces member shouted.

“Get that bastard Kim Geuk!”

The Special Forces members moved, and the awakened people who had gathered to protect me stepped forward to stop them.

Just as the standoff between the two groups grew more tense, though, I went, “Huh?”

“Uh······”

Everyone's eyes widened. Everyone, including me, looked in one direction.

A taxi stopped, and a man stepped out of it.

Everyone recognized him. They couldn't help it.

Among countless superhumans, he was a Superman who stood above the rest. A Doctor Manhattan among ordinary heroes, the king of South Korea's superhumans.

He was Kang Jun-chi.

One Special Forces member muttered.

“Kang Jun-chi? How······?”

They must have wondered why Kang Jun-chi, who should have been in Seoul, had come to Incheon. But none of the awakened Huntweb users there, including me, cared about that.

Everyone gathered here only chanted his name.

“Kang Jun-chi! Kang Jun-chi!”

I met Kang Jun-chi's eyes and waved happily. He nodded, then gave a small, awkward wave back.

Kang Jun-chi began walking toward us.

Like Moses parting the sea, the crowd naturally split in two.

Kang Jun-chi walked through the opening and joined the awakened people. When he asked for a microphone, Kim Hyeongman immediately handed him one.

Holding the microphone, Kang Jun-chi spoke.

“When the country tried to conscript awakened people······ I think I said I'd tear everything down if they did that.”

He seemed to be taking issue with the mobilization of awakened people this time.

Of course, Kang Jun-chi hadn't come here for that reason alone.

“And now you'll kill awakened criminals first, even if they surrender?”

His voice rose. Kang Jun-chi growled.