WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈

Chapter 77: Special Forces Member Han Hee - [1]

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Q. “Your efforts over the past two months to rescue Miss Shin Mirae have paid off. I’d like to offer my sincere praise for that dedication, along with my congratulations.”

- “You mean congratulations on awakening a force-field exoskeleton ability in addition to my other abilities? Thank you.”

Q. “There is much more to praise than Shin Mirae’s rescue. It’s impossible not to be amazed by Hunter Kim Geuk’s overwhelming performance.”

- “That’s only natural.”

Q. “I’m once again impressed by Hunter Kim Geuk’s humility... Now that you’ve gained a new ability as well, your value as a Hunter is expected to rise without limit. Some even say you should practically be considered S-rank at this point. What do you think?”

- “It seems people who don’t know what S-rank means are saying that. Search ‘Kang Jun-chi’ on YouTube, and everyone will see just how lacking I am.”

Q. “Still, it would be hard to deny that Hunter Kim Geuk is far beyond ordinary awakened Hunters. Many people say your 50 billion-won contract with Incheon City, once considered a record-breaking rookie contract, was actually a bargain.

And in January next year, your contract with Incheon City will end and you’ll need to sign a new one. Do you plan to sign with Incheon City again then?”

- “Of course. An Incheon native might sell Korea off as an Aztec colony, but he can’t leave Incheon.”

Q. “Even so, would you consider signing with Seoul or another local government?”

- “I’m sorry, but I’m both a Hunter and a civilized man.”

Q. “What do you mean by that?”

- “I mean I can’t imagine living in a barbaric land outside civilization.”

Q. “But as I understand it, Incheon’s budget is insufficient. Next year, your contract fee will clearly rise far above its current level. Incheon City won’t have the budget to afford you.”

- “If they lack the money for it, shouldn’t the government support them?”

Q. “Why should the government do that?”

- “There’s an obvious reason.”

Q. “Would you care to explain?”

- “It’s simple. The government won’t want to see me selling cigarettes in Seoul alongside Kim Seokhee. If I end up doing that later, everyone should understand it was because the government failed to give Incheon enough money.”

This interview was also posted on Huntweb.

I read the comments beneath it.

Anonymous: Come to think of it, Kim Geuk’s specs were already incredible when he first debuted, but I saw the results from his latest reassessment, and all his awakened abilities had grown to an absurd degree... How is that even possible?

Anonymous: It’s true that even if most people hunt a lot, their abilities almost never improve that much, right? Some people hunt for ages and barely grow at all.

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: It depends on an awakened person’s potential. Just like mobile game characters have different level caps depending on their rarity, some can only reach level 30 no matter how much experience they gain, while others can reach level 60...

Anonymous: Fine, that’s a difference in potential, but isn’t the speed at which his awakened abilities grow still ridiculous? Did he buy some kind of experience buff like in a mobile game?

5myJesus: You wouldn’t say that if you saw the difference between how Kim Geuk hunts and how other Hunters hunt.

Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: Even Seoul Hunters like me have designated areas, so we only hunt once every few months. But Kim Geuk made all of Incheon his assigned area and responds every time a Gate opens, right?

Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: And while carrying out the Incheon Recovery Project, he was practically creating work for himself just to hunt. I hear he’s gotten even busier lately.

Those reactions alone showed how well I was doing as a Hunter.

I’d been doing well before, but now it was on another level.

I entered a Gate with my ring girl.

Before long, as we walked through that purple space, we found prey.

“They’re Deathclaws. Four of them... Can you bring them all at once?”

Baek Dambi asked, and I nodded.

Then I used Spatial Teleportation. Along with the Deathclaws in front of me, I crossed through the Gate and into reality.

The instant the Monsters and I teleported out, bullets poured in from every direction.

“Fire! Fire now!”

The Hunters waiting there all opened fire at once, aiming for the Monsters I had brought with me.

They fired without caring that I was among the Monsters. They trusted my force-field exoskeleton ability. Ordinary firearms had a hard time piercing my force field.

Sure enough, when the hail of bullets ended, I was uninjured. The Deathclaws I had teleported out with were riddled with holes, sprawled on the ground as blood streamed from them.

I’d repeated this work yesterday and the day before too. Ever since I became able to use Spatial Teleportation inside Gates, I’d kept at it every day without rest.

It was hunting without any real danger, almost mechanical work.

That was how I’d actively reduced the Monsters entering Incheon’s territory for a month. I hunted every last one, whether it came out of a Gate or was still inside one.

Of course, I was the only one who could do this, and I couldn’t use Spatial Teleportation without limit. I couldn’t clear out every Monster in Incheon all at once. I was working hard, but there were still plenty of Monsters left to hunt.

There were immediate results, though. The number of Gates opening in Incheon had noticeably decreased.

To be specific, while more than twenty Gates had opened in Seoul over the past month, only one had opened in Incheon. Everyone now knew that the Gate interior cleanup I was carrying out was having a clear effect.

Not long ago, I saw a nearby real estate office advertising a villa for sale at 40 million won. It had originally been worth around 15 million won, but it had risen that much. Had Incheon real estate prices risen by that much across the board?

I didn’t particularly want to say that it was thanks to a certain Hunter whose surname was Kim and whose given name was Geuk.

“Oh, look over there.”

As we drove home in a government vehicle after work, I spotted a huge banner on the street.

- Hunter Kim Geuk, Incheon believes in you!

- Please take good care of us next year too, just as you did this year!

Below the large message were a donation account number and a phone number. It seemed citizens were already raising funds for my contract renewal next year.

That alone showed that I hadn’t disappointed the people of Incheon.

“They’re treating you like some kind of savior...”

Baek Dambi said it enviously, and I grinned.

As you could see, everything was going perfectly.

That damn mushroom cloud still showed up in my dreams, but still...

* * *

When I got home, I logged onto Huntweb again.

I looked through the posts to see whether anyone had written about me, then my eyes widened.

There was a truly grotesque post on Huntweb.

Ⓐ SoulOfTheKoreanPeopleIsHan: The Special Forces are recruiting! Message this account, and I can offer advice about working in the Special Forces.

Ⓐ SoulOfTheKoreanPeopleIsHan: It’s true that the Special Forces earn less than Hunters, but there are values that transcend money. If you want the authority and pride of being a social elite, I recommend considering the Special Forces!

Promoting the Special Forces on sacred Huntweb?

It took real courage. Even before that incident, people on Huntweb regularly looked down on the Special Forces. Now that people had moved beyond contempt and begun to hate them, this person was trying to advertise them?

Sure enough, instead of inquiries about joining the Special Forces, the comments were busy mocking this brave friend.

Anonymous: Aren’t the Special Forces those pure murderer bastards who try to kill you the moment you surrender? I’m so scared that murderers are casually using the internet T_T

Ⓐ syberMagneto: They have no real skill, but they’re totally fine with murder and assault. Social elites who picked fights with outsourced civilian Hunters, then got their asses kicked six against one. Scary stuff.

Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: Those rotten bastards thought nothing of wiretapping civilians too.

How could I miss this festival? I joined right away and carefully wrote a mocking comment in a cute tone.

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Are there really bad men like that? BabyMushroom’s hands and feet are shaking because I’m so scared T_T The Special Forces? Just hearing a rough description makes them sound like a completely illegal organization... Shouldn’t we report them to the police right away and have them all arrested?

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Little, cute BabyMushroom! I’m super, super scared too, but the police are afraid of awakened gangsters, so they can’t arrest them even if we report them T_T

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Then where should we report them so those bad men get arrested?

Ⓐ Dragon: There’s a man named Kim Geuk who the Special Forces gangsters are afraid of, but I don’t know his phone number, so I can’t tell you T_T

Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Anyone wishing to contact Hunter Kim Geuk personally should inquire at the office of City Councilor Park Mihyeong, who will run as candidate No. 2 in next year’s Incheon mayoral election. Office number: 032-XXX-XXXX

Anonymous: Ah, Park Mihyeong’s brainwashing malfunctioned again.

Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Look, Special Forces friend. This is how you do viral advertising. Find some way to learn this trick. People might not know the name of Incheon’s mayor, but now everyone has memorized Park Mihyeong’s name.

Everyone on Huntweb was dogpiling this friend, who seemed to be a Special Forces member.

Then a former Special Forces member left a comment.

Ⓐ Justice1994: Han Hee, is that you?

Ⓐ SoulOfTheKoreanPeopleIsHan: No.

Ⓐ Justice1994: What do you mean, no? I clearly saw Han Heeseok using that account to post on Huntweb. I’m Kang Junman. Don’t you remember me?

Ⓐ SoulOfTheKoreanPeopleIsHan: Oh, Junman. Have you been doing well since leaving the Special Forces?

Ⓐ Justice1994: So it really is Han Hee. I’ve been doing damn well since leaving the Special Forces, punk.

Ⓐ Justice1994: Han Heeseok used your name to create that account and use it, right? Looks like you got your own account back after Han Heeseok was removed from his post.

As I watched that conversation, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

This friend was Han Hee? The Special Forces member everyone was mocking?

It was absurd. Han Hee was practically the Special Forces’ ultimate weapon, an awakened person so powerful that even I couldn’t take him lightly.

Yet that great awakened person was doing nothing but promoting an organization online?

It was obviously not the sort of work someone that powerful should be doing. An awakened person that strong would be wasting his talent and doing something pointless even if he rose to a high-ranking position and handled administrative duties. There was no need to explain how much worse it was for him to be doing the work of some cheap comment poster.

I wondered why he was doing it, but there was a reason for even that.

Ⓐ Justice1994: Why are you suddenly doing this, anyway? Did your seniors make you? Did they tell you to recruit people here in your spare time if you had nothing else to do?

Ⓐ SoulOfTheKoreanPeopleIsHan: Yes, well...

Ⓐ Justice1994: No doubt those bastards made you do it to torment Han Heeseok’s son after Han Heeseok was removed from his post. They probably don’t hold a grudge against you personally, so don’t take it too hard.

Ⓐ Justice1994: Anyway, everyone, stop picking on this friend. He’s young, innocent, and really kind, okay?

Did Huntweb users react to the fact that this friend was Han Heeseok’s son? They only became more excited, continuing to mock him and insult his parents.

I had no particular intention of stopping them, but it still made me angry.

Han Hee did not deserve to be treated like this. Shouldn’t a powerful awakened person be respected simply for being powerful?

Just as people treated me well, this friend, who had potential similar to mine, deserved similar treatment.

Yet he was being bullied in the Special Forces?

I could roughly guess why.

As I knew from meeting him last time, Han Hee had a timid personality and shrank before adults. He probably hadn’t adapted well to the rough men gathered in the Special Forces. He was young and had no social experience, so people had likely looked down on him in every way.

Now that his father, who had been his superior, was gone, this young awakened person was probably being openly ostracized in that damn organization.

In my judgment, Han Hee alone could defeat every other member of the Special Forces put together. Yet instead of ruling over them all, he was in the opposite position. It felt horribly unfair.

Before Gates opened, individual strength had not been especially important in organizational life.

Now that Gates had opened, being strong alone should be enough to stand above everyone else. Now that an individual could overwhelm a group...

The more I thought about it, the more furious I became, but there was no way I could help. I worked in Incheon, so it wasn’t as if I would ever meet Han Hee.

That was what I thought, but only four days later, I met Han Hee.

Footnotes:

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