WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving as a B-Rank Hunter ◈
Chapter 21
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Dohyeon slowly looked around the apartment.
The living room connected to the kitchen was a mess, completely unorganized. Empty cardboard boxes, finished takeout containers, half-full drink bottles, and other junk lay scattered everywhere.
He glanced into the small room farther inside and saw rumpled bedding, monitors, and game consoles strewn about. Half-eaten snack bags littered the floor as well. There was also a pile of clothes that might have been laundry.
The whole place looked as though no adult had ever touched it.
While Dohyeon inspected the apartment, the girl and the child sat huddled in one corner of the living room. The girl seemed somewhat dazed now that her tension was easing, while the child had slipped from her arms and was watching Dohyeon with bright, curious eyes.
After checking the small room, Dohyeon met the child’s gaze and headed for the large room across from it.
“Hmm.”
It was utterly unlike the rest of the apartment.
Six monitors, computer towers of various sizes, a large router that looked like part of a server setup, and long cables hanging from it like bundles of noodles. There were hard cases piled in one corner, with drones resting on top.
Portable hacking equipment, including laptops and small terminals, took up plenty of space as well.
The only things in the room that seemed to suit the girl outside were the gaming chair and cat-ear headset.
Dohyeon continued through the apartment, checking for anyone in hiding or anything that could be used as a weapon. He inspected the bathroom and utility room as well, but found nothing else of note.
Once he finished searching, he stopped in front of the girl sitting on the floor.
“...”
The girl kept her eyes lowered instead of meeting his gaze. Only her fingers fidgeted.
Meanwhile, the child sniffed once, then stared straight up at Dohyeon.
When their eyes met, the child spoke.
“You’re tall.”
“Am I?”
“How’d you get so tall?”
“You’ll grow tall too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
The child broke into a broad smile.
“If I get as tall as you, mister, I can carry my sister on my back. She always carries me.”
“I see.”
After that brief exchange, Dohyeon looked toward the girl. She was watching him anxiously.
Dohyeon spoke.
“Name.”
“Pardon?”
The girl flinched, then lowered her eyes again as she answered.
“... Yang Haneul. I’m Yang Haneul. This is Yang Gihyeon.”
“Yang Gihyeon! I’m Yang Gihyeon!”
Yang Gihyeon threw both hands into the air with a bright smile, unaware of anything, while Dohyeon continued speaking without taking his eyes off Yang Haneul.
“Yang Haneul. Looking at you, it seems you know exactly what you did. Don’t you?”
“... Yes. I know. I sold information that could cause problems. But we... we didn’t have any other choice...”
She slowly raised her head.
“Um... then who exactly are you, mister?”
Dohyeon did not answer. It seemed this girl had imagined the worst possible outcome, but had not been sure exactly who would come for her. When he remained silent, she tilted her head and continued.
“Black Market? Or Dungeon Forum? Username JudgeKimGwanyong? Kim Sucheol? Or Jo Yangseok? No? Some old hand called Scrap Iron? So who are you?”
Dohyeon still did not answer. The ambiguity of one’s identity was a powerful weapon. That was why he did not call Yang Haneul a113, either. It was likely a username she used only when dealing with him.
Instead, he asked a question.
“How old are you?”
“... Seventeen.”
Older than she looked. Or perhaps she was simply underdeveloped.
“You’re the Observer active on Dungeon Forum?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you been active?”
“Uh... a little over two years.”
Dohyeon’s eyes widened slightly. That meant she had started at fifteen. It also meant she had been dealing with him almost from the beginning.
Surprising. I thought the Observer was an experienced hacker.
Observers had started out as operators under military leadership. Back then, their desk work was less about finding where dungeons would open in advance and more about locating dungeons that had already opened, sealing off the surrounding area, and dispatching hunters.
When the hunter training plan fell apart, the entire operation was dissolved with it. As far as he knew, it had later passed into private hands.
Dohyeon had thought a113 might be one of the military hackers who had moved into the private sector at the time. Until the most recent incident, the information the Observer provided had been exceptionally good.
Even as those thoughts passed through his mind, Dohyeon’s face remained expressionless. He had no reason to treat Yang Haneul warmly, and creating a slightly tense atmosphere would not hurt, either.
But as she watched him, Yang Haneul’s expression gradually brightened.
“Um... mister, you’re not some human butcher who kills people without asking questions, right? Right? Then are you JudgeKimGwanyong after all?”
“Why have you become so reckless lately?”
He answered a question with another question. Yang Haneul pouted as she replied.
“... I’m trying to get out of here. I needed money quickly.”
“You’re trapped?”
Yang Haneul frowned at his question. But even with her eyes and lips set in a sulky pout, there was nothing fierce about her expression.
“You mean, am I trapped? In a way. But more than any physical restraint, what has me chained up like a dog is my life right now.”
That was all she said before crossing her arms and falling silent. The corners of her tightly pressed lips trembled faintly. She was trying to hide it behind an exaggerated expression, but the girl was on the verge of tears.
“Hmm...”
I’m not good at counseling teenagers. That wasn’t why I came here, either. Still, he could not put a knife to the neck of a child like that, force everything out of her, and order her to burn her entire database.
He might have done it if necessary, but Dohyeon believed he was not that far gone yet.
So he dragged over a chair from one side of the living room, placed it in front of Yang Haneul, and sat down. She looked at him with wide eyes.
Leaning against the back of the chair, Dohyeon spoke.
“Where are your parents?”
“... Those fucking bastards ran off.”
Even Dohyeon looked slightly surprised at the words that burst from her mouth. For some reason, he could hear the Valkyrie’s hearty laughter ringing in his ears.
Yang Haneul glanced at him as if regretting what she had said, but when he only listened in silence, she fidgeted with her fingers and carefully began her story.
Yang Haneul, seventeen years old. Yang Gihyeon, four years old.
Yang Haneul first touched a computer when she was seven. Between a father addicted to alcohol and drugs and a stepmother who squandered money on gambling, that machine of zeroes and ones became both her parent and her friend.
In an earlier era, people might have made a fuss around the neighborhood, if not the whole world, over the birth of a computer science prodigy or programmer.
But just as her talent was about to bloom, the Odin Shock brought explosive advances in automated machines and AI, leaving mid-level and low-level computer engineers unemployed one after another.
The bigger problem was her parents. Rather than supporting her talent and helping it grow, they sought ways to use it to make money immediately.
She began hacking in earnest at ten. At first, her parents acted as intermediaries while she remotely disabled CCTV cameras or stole data.
Naturally, she became entangled with gangs that were expanding at the time, and that was when she met President Choi, the current owner of this building.
President Choi provided Yang Haneul with equipment and space, making her work for nearly nothing. Yet he did not stop her from finding other side jobs apart from his work.
She learned later that his absurd reasoning was that desperation would make her work harder to hone her skills.
It was absurd because most of the money Yang Haneul made from those side jobs was squandered by her parents on alcohol, drugs, and gambling.
At President Choi’s businesses.
“... Then Gihyeon was born. Heh. Gihyeon wasn’t my dad’s child. That bastard was so drugged out, he wasn’t even in any state to do that. That crazy bitch went somewhere, sold her body to pay off gambling debts, and suddenly got pregnant. Then she went and gave birth anyway.”
Whether Yang Gihyeon listened to her story or not, the child had come beside Dohyeon’s chair and was looking him over from every angle. Yang Haneul watched Yang Gihyeon with eyes filled with pity, resignation, sadness, and a little anger.
“Your stepmother got pregnant with some unknown man’s child... Does that mean this child isn’t your sibling?”
“No. Gihyeon is my sibling no matter what anyone says. No matter what anyone in the world says, even if we don’t share a drop of blood, no matter what those fucking bastards did. What sin did this child ever commit, other than being born...?”
As Yang Gihyeon grew, Yang Haneul felt they needed a more stable source of income. Something safer and steadier than stealing motel camera footage of cheating couples or deleting CCTV footage from sites where hunters had been murdered.
That was why she began working as an Observer. Fortunately, just as she had talent for computers and machines, she also had a talent for observing Anomalies and dungeons, so the career change was not difficult.
What information to sell, what information to hide, and what harmless information to sell so that hunters who bought it would survive and buy information again.
She adapted quickly. Until recently, she had thought she might save up enough money to leave this building and escape President Choi’s grasp.
“... Until those insane fucking bastards piled gambling debts and drug expenses under my name, took out private loans too, and ran away. They abandoned Gihyeon as well. Those pieces of shit...”
Naturally, all those debts ended up with President Choi. He had driven two useless addicts, a druggie and a gambler, from his business and gained complete control over one very useful hacker.
With things like this, Yang Haneul had no choice. She could only gather whatever money she could immediately obtain, then plan her escape.
But President Choi had anticipated even that. So he blocked all the building’s exits and stationed a guard at the one central entrance left open. The intimidating brute Dohyeon had seen outside the building.
That man had not been stopping people from entering.
He had been stopping people from leaving.
“...”
“...”
Even while his sister spoke, Yang Gihyeon climbed onto Dohyeon’s thigh. Then the child naturally climbed up Dohyeon’s body, trying to get over his shoulder.
After Gihyeon went over his shoulder, Dohyeon felt the child suddenly drop, so he caught them and set them down beside the chair. Gihyeon beamed and held out both hands, asking him to do it again.
When Dohyeon looked at Yang Haneul, she hurriedly pulled her sibling close.
“Why? I wanna play with mister.”
“Come here, Gihyeon. Not now. Right now...”
Yang Gihyeon made a tearful face, but after seeing the shadowed look on their sister’s face, pressed their lips tightly together and held back the tears.
[What a good child.]
Whether the Valkyrie found that admirable or not, Dohyeon stared expressionlessly at Yang Haneul before speaking.
“I understand the situation well enough. Is there a separate backup database somewhere other than here?”
“No. There isn’t...”
Then that was enough. It did not seem like a lie. After telling her story, Yang Haneul appeared to have resigned herself to something. It was as if she was accepting that she could not escape this place, or her life.
Dohyeon took a small flash drive from his pocket. The concentrated Vanaskelium inside glimmered as though it were rippling.
He rose from the chair and headed toward the large room filled with computers and servers. Yang Haneul could only stare blankly at his back.
Standing before the computer with its multiple monitors, Dohyeon surveyed the cables and devices crowding the room, then raised the flash drive.
It was a USB killer device infused with concentrated Vanaskelium. At the very least, it could destroy every piece of hardware in this room beyond repair.
If he erased the information Yang Haneul had on him with this and left, his objective would be complete. Since he had not even given his name, she would not know who had done it.
[If you simply leave like that, the girl will remain in a dark abyss.]
The Valkyrie’s voice reached him, but Dohyeon lightly ignored it. Her circumstances were sad, but that was not a reason for him to help her. These days, ruined families and teenagers with unfortunate stories were everywhere.
Besides, the place they lived was somewhat shabby, but their situation was not truly hopeless. As long as they worked only for President Choi, things would not be so bad.
More importantly, this was not an era that would change because Dohyeon helped one person.
Just as he was about to plug in the USB killer device, a voice came through the speaker on one side of the desk.
[Who the fuck are you?]
“...”
Dohyeon paused. Then he raised his head and quickly searched the room, focusing on the walls and corners unlike before.
[Who the fuck are you, and why are you there? Where’s Yang Haneul?]
After carefully examining the walls and corners, he spotted a hole smaller than a fingernail in one corner of the ceiling. A camera lens glinted inside.
So they were monitoring the inside, too. Even as he thought that, Dohyeon did not stop his hand from plugging in the flash drive.
Click.
The screens of all six monitors began flashing.
[What the fuck is this bastard doing? Fuck, don’t move a muscle. That crazy bitch Yang Haneul is up to something again...]
A chain of flashing lights began where the flash drive was plugged in, traveling through the cables to the other devices and router. Sparks even flew from some of the machines with a Crackle!
Then the monitor screens abruptly went dark, leaving only blackness behind.
After confirming that the sparks had not started a fire, Dohyeon returned to the living room. Yang Haneul was clutching her sibling tightly, trembling all over. A commotion could be heard outside the apartment door.
Soon, someone pounded on the door with a Bang! Bang! and shouted.
“We know you’re in there! Open the fucking door!”
Yang Haneul curled up farther into the corner. Regardless, Dohyeon stood in the middle of the living room with one hand in his coat pocket, staring at the front door.
There was a brief commotion outside, followed by the sound of a key entering the lock. They either had a spare or a master key.
The door flew open, and a group of dark, burly men with grim expressions poured into the entrance.
But despite entering so boldly, they hesitated in confusion at the sight of Dohyeon standing confidently in the middle of the living room and Yang Haneul cowering behind him.
One intimidating brute stared in confusion before barking at Dohyeon.
“Who the fuck are you, punk?”
“An uninvited guest.”
“What, what? What the fuck did this bastard say?”
The man immediately looked furious. He strode toward Dohyeon and reached out to grab him by the collar.
“Where the fuck did this bastard come fr-”
The next moment, the brute’s body spun around his outstretched arm.
Then he flew.
The man sailed through the air and crashed onto the table on one side of the living room. Takeout containers and trash scattered everywhere as the table shattered beneath him.
The brute lay sprawled there unconscious.
“What the fuck...”
“Who the hell is that?”
The burly men hesitated at the seemingly magical event that had unfolded in an instant. Of course, Dohyeon had thrown the brute precisely to get that reaction.
In a one-on-one fight, he could take thugs like these ten times over. But when there were two or three of them, even Dohyeon would be in danger. A single mistake could lead to a fatal blow, and once that happened in a many-against-one fight, it was practically over.
That was why he had started so forcefully. He needed them to be too shocked to rush him recklessly.
As expected, when the men in front hesitated, someone emerged from the back.
“Good grief, you idiots. What a waste of all the food you’ve eaten and all those replacement limbs you got. Move!”
The person who appeared while smacking the backs of the brutes’ heads was a pleasant-looking man who appeared to be in his mid-forties. He stood before the men, shoved his hands into his pockets, and faced Dohyeon.
“Hmm. Don’t recognize you.”
After glancing at the cowering Yang Haneul, he spoke.
“Who are you? Don’t tell me that bitch hired you as some kind of fixer.”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I came here on business. That business ended a moment ago.”
“...?”
The man tilted his head, then clicked his tongue and took a cigarette from his pocket. He lit it, took a deep drag, and spoke.
“You’re not going to tell me what that business was?”
“It’s already over.”
“Well, I suppose I can ask that bitch Yang Haneul.”
He took another long drag, narrowed his eyes, and spoke.
“You a hunter?”
“...”
Dohyeon did not answer, but that seemed to be answer enough. The man grinned.
“I’m Choi Hakju. I run a small business. It seems that bold little bitch there caused you some trouble...”
Choi Hakju. President Choi, the man Yang Haneul had spoken of. With his cigarette hanging from his lips, he silently examined Dohyeon. His gleaming eyes resembled those of a predator in the wild, encountering an unfamiliar animal and wondering whether it could be eaten.
Dohyeon calmly endured that gaze.
“... Heh heh. I wonder what stupid shit she did to bring someone like you here. Anyway, well. If your business is over, why don’t you leave?”
The nearby brutes looked surprised by President Choi’s words.
“Boss, you’re just letting this bastard go-”
“Shut up, you idiots. Anyway, that bitch Yang Haneul is fine, isn’t she?”
“...”
At those words, Yang Haneul lifted her head from where she crouched and glared at President Choi. Her eyes were filled with anger, but tears streamed from their corners.
“Equipment can be bought again. What I need is that bitch’s brain. So if your business is over, get out of my place.”
Dohyeon answered by tugging once at his collar to straighten his clothes. President Choi smiled broadly as if he found the sight amusing, then stepped aside. Naturally, the other brutes moved aside beside the entrance as well.
As Dohyeon walked through the gap, they glared at him menacingly but did not move recklessly. They seemed more disciplined than he expected for thugs.
Though they were still thugs.
As Dohyeon left the apartment, President Choi’s voice followed him.
“You ungrateful little bitch. After everything I’ve done for you, you just had to cause trouble. Is it so hard to quietly do as you’re told?”
“... Who raised me? I raised myself! Stop talking shit and give back all the money you squeezed out of me! Why should I have to pay the debts of those fucking bastards?”
“Heh heh. What a bold little bitch. Now I regret not laying a hand on you all this time. I should’ve beaten you. Don’t you think?”
“Yes, Boss!”
Dohyeon relaxed his shoulders. He had wondered whether they were pretending to let him go only to attack him from behind, but it seemed they truly intended to let him leave.
Then again, from a thug’s perspective, few things were as stupid as getting into a fistfight with a hunter.
It was not like fighting an ordinary martial artist. There was no reason to brawl barehanded or with blades against killers who actually killed people inside dungeons.
If necessary, they could just get a gun and shoot him.
In any case, things had not ended badly considering how impulsively this had begun. There had been some friction near the end, but he had erased the information and walked away uninjured.
Now he just had to go home and find a new Observer-
“Ah, I don’t even need to beat you. I should just knock your sibling around a little. What do you think?”
“What? You crazy bastards! Where could you even hit this child-”
“Then you should’ve listened instead of acting like a bitch, you fucking whore.”
“Don’t. Touch. The kid!”
“What the fuck, this bitch.”
Smack!
Something crashed to the floor.
Then the child cried.
“...”
Dohyeon stopped walking.
It was a strange sensation. His heart pounded while the child’s crying echoed around him, and a faint Eeeee of tinnitus rang in his ears. The edges of his vision curled inward, distorting the scene before him as if he were looking through a concave lens.
He had no connection to those children. If anything, Dohyeon was the one who had suffered a loss. Yang Haneul had sold faulty information and sold his personal details. Besides, that President Choi bastard was not going to kill her. She might get beaten, but it was only that much.
... Only that much?
Brief images passed through his mind.
A drunken father beneath dim fluorescent lights.
A mother lost in her own world, muttering incomprehensible words.
A boy curled up and hiding in a dark corner.
His heartbeat stopped.
The tinnitus vanished.
His vision had never been clearer.
The goddess’s voice reached him.
[Wield the rage within you, warrior.]
Dohyeon turned around.
“You crazy bitch, where do you think...”
“Boss, are you okay?”
When President Choi tried to lay a hand on Yang Gihyeon, Yang Haneul bit his hand. President Choi gave a hollow laugh as he looked at Yang Haneul, who had taken a slap and fallen to the side. What was she, a dog? Biting his hand?
After briefly inspecting the bite, President Choi reached out to grab Yang Haneul by the hair. She seemed to need a little more discipline. He was going to make her work exclusively for him now, and it would be troublesome if she kept acting like this.
The voice of a brute beside him stopped that hand.
“Uh, Boss?”
“What?”
“That guy...”
President Choi turned his head and saw Dohyeon standing silently inside the apartment again.
“What? You got more business here?”
“Yeah.”
“... More?”
President Choi’s eyes widened as he asked.
It was because of Dohyeon’s eyes.
Two yellow eyes gleaming like those of a wolf.
Dohyeon let those eyes shine as he spoke.
“Those kids. They’re mine.”
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