WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈
Chapter 85: Academy Entrant Shin Mi-rae - [2]
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What the hell was this supposed to mean?
Eyes wide, I read through the material attached to the post.
‘List of official faculty and instructors for the Hunter Academy, along with its curriculum’...
It looked like someone had obtained internal documents and uploaded them instead of publicly released material. The more I read through the list, the hotter I got. Fucking hell.
It was such a spectacle that I could understand why Kim Hyeongman was so angry.
First, the man slated to become principal was the president of the Hunter Association.
He was still in that position, but he was due to be kicked out this November.
Instead of doing what an Association president should, like Hunter education and representing Hunters’ interests, he was famous for constantly trying to give Monsters Sino-Korean or native Korean names. His failed attempt to rename Goblins and Ogres as folk goblins and boisterous folk goblins was practically an industry legend.
Well, I could forgive that much. He’d need to make a living after getting kicked out of the president’s seat, after all.
I didn’t care who filled positions like math instructor or Korean-language instructor either. So I could tolerate the faculty list being stuffed with people I’d never heard of.
But what enraged everyone on Huntweb, me included, was the section below that. The Korean history instructors, physical education instructors, youth counselors, and the rest were all villains.
Anonymous: Why are there so many former soldiers on the list of special-training instructors?
Ⓐ Dragon: What the hell is this Korean history instructor’s career record? It says they were a political-education officer. Are they planning to teach political indoctrination instead of Korean history?
Are they going to teach that Goguryeo, which constantly waged wars of conquest, was the proud history of the Korean people, but Koreans have never invaded another country and are a peaceful people?
Ⓐ Stonehead Youth: Since Hunters basically do soldier-like work, did they put it together with the vibe of a military academy?
There were also several people on the faculty list from the Nonprofit Religious Corporation Mystic World Meditation Center.
I knew what that group did. They were the cult parasites who came to see me while I was desperately trying to rescue Shin Mirae, saying they would help with my mental training.
They claimed they could help awakened people train, then kept pushing Buddhist and Taoist meditation methods that had never been proven effective on awakened people.
At one point, they even taught trainees to walk barefoot on dirt because they needed to absorb the energy of the earth to awaken a rock ability. That alone showed how untrustworthy they were.
They had enough influence to sink their hooks into every awakened-person center in Seoul and make money off them. This time too, they had wormed their way in and secured positions as youth counselors and special-training assistants.
Then I looked at all the former soldiers occupying the training-instructor posts, and my chest tightened.
How did they intend to control students with Body Enhancement or force-field exoskeleton abilities with those people? How dare those non-awakened dregs?
It was obvious at a glance that normal discipline would never be enough. Even prisons struggled to control awakened-person inmates.
So how were they planning to control awakened teenagers?
Looking at all the former soldiers filling the faculty list, it was obvious even without seeing it firsthand.
They were probably planning to control young awakened people like soldiers. Suppress them, suffocate them, and make them obey their superiors without question...
There were at least some former Hunters on the instructor list, but even that seemed to disgust my comrades on Huntweb.
Anonymous: What the hell is Park Juheon doing as a special-training instructor? That bastard got thrown out of the Special Forces for trying to kill someone, and they’re letting him teach students again?
Everywhere I looked, it was a complete mess.
Not just the faculty list, either. Even the warnings in the admissions guidelines were awful.
It looked like a large number of students would be unable to endure it and drop out midway, so maybe they wanted to prevent that. At the very top, it stated that if a student left the program early, their family would be evicted from the leased apartment.
Even after graduation, the students wouldn’t be free to work as Hunters. Since all education costs were government-funded, the guidelines said graduates would have to serve at an institution for at least five years, up to ten.
They clearly intended to hold those apartments hostage, handle young awakened people however they pleased, and exploit them for cheap labor.
Maybe the combination of military instructors and a cult was especially memorable.
There were plenty of interpretations like this on Huntweb.
Ⓑ GoodHunter: Could this be an attempt to brainwash young awakened people? I heard China has several awakened-person schools like this too...
A lot of people had similar opinions. I thought so too.
I didn’t know whether it was merely suspicion, but it made my blood boil.
What angered me even more was that, despite their intentions seeming so obvious, countless parents would still force their children into that Academy.
Anonymous: They’ll still get tons of applicants, right? They’re giving people apartments in Seoul.
Anonymous: Seriously, you hand over one awakened kid and get a free home in Seoul. What a fucking deal.
Everyone was furious and going wild when another post went up on Huntweb.
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: We’re filing a group protest through the Association!
All Association members, follow the link and sign your consent!
The Hunter Association plans to lodge an official protest on behalf of everyone on that list, okay? It may be a hassle, but don’t let this slide. Every single one of you needs to... (...)
Won’t Kang Jun-chi lend his name this time?
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom will take responsibility and borrow Jun-chi’s name, pwease!
I sent a message to Kang Jun-chi’s account with the link attached and asked to borrow his name.
A response came back not long after.
Ⓢ Kang: Why would I?
I didn’t give him a long explanation. I simply sent him materials I had collected during my time with the Korean Awakened Solidarity, including cases in the Middle East where awakened boys and girls had been trained and used as surprise-attack weapons and assassins.
Ⓢ Kang: Put my name at the very top.
A little later, I got a call. It was Kim Hyeongman.
「You really are close with Jun-chi! I gave up because I was told it would be no use asking Jangsil. How did you get him to sign? And of course, did you sign too, Kim Geuk?」
“There are ways. And of course I signed.”
「Anyway, you did really well! By the way, can we put your name below Jun-chi’s? After Jun-chi’s name, the name that carries the most weight is Kim Geuk...」
That made me smile with genuine pleasure.
“I’d be honored.”
And so, the next day, the Hunter Association submitted a protest petition to the relevant agencies. In less than half a day, it had gathered the names of around a hundred awakened Hunters, along with assorted non-awakened Hunters.
The response came back quickly too.
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: I got a reply from the relevant agencies!
They say they’re sorry for causing so many misunderstandings and would like to meet so we can discuss things?
They say they never planned to ignore the Association and proceed however they wanted, and that they intend to receive plenty of help from the Association.
Anyway, it looks like they don’t plan to ignore what we have to say, so we should meet them first.
I’ll send an official notice separately later, but if anyone whose name is on the Association committee wants to get involved in this, please contact me!
I was a little surprised to hear that. They had responded to a group protest this quickly?
The response from the relevant agencies attached to the post was so deferential it almost felt like a declaration of surrender.
There had been a misunderstanding, they were sorry anyway, they would listen carefully to what we had to say, so please meet them... No matter how I looked at it, those weren’t phrases a government agency should use in a letter to an ordinary association.
Had Kang Jun-chi’s name scared them? Or maybe seeing the hundred other awakened people listed beneath it had intimidated them.
Either way, I could roughly understand why the Special Forces had gone so far to stop awakened people from gathering by any means necessary.
When ordinary self-employed people got together and raised their voices, the government could calculate the votes, pretend to listen, then ignore them. But when awakened people gathered to protest, they couldn’t brush them aside that way.
You couldn’t handle the protest of people carrying guns and swords like that.
Even the list put together in half a day on an internet site was no different from a land battleship escorted by a hundred tanks. A group of awakened people like this seemed capable of taking direct action against the government.
Anyway, it was good news. And how could I possibly stay out of something like this?
I wrote a post in a cute tone.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom’s purity is in danger again!!
Tiny little BabyMushroom finally graduated kindergarten... Next year, BabyMushroom will be entering elementary school, pwease T_T
Kindergarten boys with pee-pees haven’t discovered sex yet, so they weren’t drawn in by cute BabyMushroom’s charms. But I know elementary school boys these days mature early for their age, pwease!
So everyone in the class will be drawn to BabyMushroom’s fatal charm. How should BabyMushroom behave to protect her purity, pwease? Should BabyMushroom wear an uglier bra, pwease? T_T
Actually, BabyMushroom is even more worried about the teachers!
If some teacher full of desire secretly calls only BabyMushroom into the staff room, what can BabyMushroom do when she has no choice but to submit because she’s a student, pwease?
BabyMushroom is so worried and scared of both students and teachers, pwease T_T
I read the comments beneath it.
Anonymous: Why are you suddenly terrorizing us with posts when this is serious? Did hearing about school inspire a new way to torment everyone?
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Please stop... T_T
There were many fools who failed to understand my meaning, but there was always a sage among fools.
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: Every sentence drips with anger. Kim Geuk must be really furious too. This matter is bothering you a lot too, right?
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: Kim Geuk is also vice chairman of the Awakened Committee, so are you planning to step up with us this time?
Anonymous: Huh? That’s what it means??
As expected of someone who raised an Elementalist, Kim Hyeongman had good reading comprehension.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: BabyMushroom doesn’t know who Kim Geuk is, but that mister says that’s exactly what it means, pwease!
After I left that comment, all kinds of comments hinting at shock and horror appeared below it. Then Kim Hyeongman commented.
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo: It’s very reassuring that Kim Geuk is willingly stepping up!
We’ll let you know the date and location through the Association, so make sure you come, okay? I’m counting on you, Kim Geuk!
* * *
A few days later, I went to meet government officials alongside Kim Hyeongman and the awakened Hunters affiliated with the Association.
Kim Hyeongman was raising his voice on our behalf.
“So why are you pushing this through without saying one word to the Association? It’s a Hunter Academy. Does it make any sense to bypass the Hunter Association? The Association isn’t a puppet institution anymore, so are you openly ignoring us or what?”
Kim Hyeongman wasn’t exactly an awakened-person rights activist. What concerned him right now wasn’t the rights of young awakened people who would be oppressed at that Academy.
Kim Hyeongman was set to become the president of the Hunter Association this November. He wanted to represent Hunters’ interests.
To be more specific, he wanted all kinds of positions at this Hunter Academy to become post-retirement jobs for Hunters. He was angry because random riffraff who weren’t former Hunters were filling the Academy’s positions.
So Kim Hyeongman’s argument was consistent. He wanted the Hunter Association to secure the important positions at the Hunter Academy that would be established this time.
“I don’t know how you obtained these documents, but these are temporary appointments, not final decisions! To already point out this problem and that problem based on them...”
The government representative seemed to be rambling through an explanation, but Kim Hyeongman didn’t even pretend to listen.
“So! If you aren’t going to ignore the Association! Pick out roughly which positions the Association can select people for!”
“No, I mean...”
“What do you mean? We’re saying we’ll send former Hunters to the Hunter Academy. What’s the problem with that?”
Maybe he was exhausted by Kim Hyeongman’s Elementalist-like behavior. The government representative let out a deep sigh, then narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but... there are former Hunters among the people already slated for appointment.”
“Former Hunters? Who?”
“Someone who worked as a Hunter and then served in the Special Forces. I hear everyone who worked in Seoul knows the name and face...”
The way he lowered his voice and emphasized “Special Forces” made it seem as though he might have wanted a particular reaction from us.
A suitably cowed Hunter reaction, afraid of the Special Forces.
But we didn’t give him the sort of reaction he might have wanted.
Kim Hyeongman suddenly opened his eyes wide, grinned, and said only this.
“Oh, someone from the Special Forces? Is it that guy? Bring him here.”
The man called the person in question. While we waited for him to arrive, we whispered among ourselves.
“Those bastards seriously don’t seem to know anything about the Hunter industry. They must have just heard somewhere that Hunters avoid Special Forces members and tried something like a threat...”
A little later, the Special Forces member appeared.
It was Park Juheon, a muscular man built like a leopard.
A former Hunter and Special Forces member who had rushed at me and gotten his arm cut off...
Just as I recognized him, Park Juheon recognized me.
“You...!”
Park Juheon seemed to spot me first. Then again, it would’ve been hard to walk past a 2.1-meter giant without noticing.
I smiled. The Hunters gathered beside me smiled too.
Cold, malicious smiles.
The government representative who had called Park Juheon seemed to realize something was wrong, and panic crossed his face. I could hear him whispering into Park Juheon’s ear.
“Do you already know each other? Are you friends?”
Footnotes:
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