“We’re already struggling with a shortage of Awakened Hunters. They’re willing to pay a fortune to hire even an ex-convict like me just because I’m an Awakened. Who cares if I was an online troll, a harasser, or a school bully? As long as I catch monsters well, that’s all that matters.”
My words seemed to leave Park Mi-hyeong feeling troubled. I could tell by the way she offered advice in a deflated voice.
“Right, well, I suppose Kim Geuk-ssi knows more about the industry than I do. Still, please, watch what you say, okay? My heart was pounding just listening to you.”
I laughed and said I understood, then ended the call.
Just as I was feeling pleased that this ajumma was the only one who cared about me, another call came in.
I checked to see who it was this time, and it was the Academy’s Director. Was this guy also going to blame me for giving such a ridiculous interview?
It wasn’t that. When I answered, it was nothing but praise.
“Kim Geuk-ssi, how can I ever thank you enough? You mentioned our Academy directly in the interview. I was so moved I almost cried!”
The conversation continued with nothing but gratitude and praise for me, and until the call ended, there wasn’t a single word of criticism regarding my interview.
It seems the Academy Director is also an industry insider, after all. It was clear that even he, a man of good nature, knew exactly what would be problematic and what wouldn’t.
Well, that’s the kind of place the Hunter industry is.
*******
Following that, the contract offers I received were disclosed to the media.
The value of Awakened individuals in the international market was already skyrocketing. As my offers were made public, people were jealous or envious, but no one found them absurd or unbelievable.
Everyone knows that paying an Awakened like me several billion won a month is far cheaper than endlessly firing missiles that cost hundreds of millions to billions of won per shot.
Eventually, the contract offers I received increased little by little every day, and the internet articles about me were layered with the jealousy of various non-Awakened dregs, and finally, the day arrived.
On the day I was to decide which organization to sign with, I grandly gathered the reporters.
It was a venue arranged by The Association, not me. The reasoning was that having an Awakened person announce which region they were signing with had a positive impact on that region’s land value.
The Association’s President, who had personally attended this press conference, struck up a conversation with me, acting friendly.
“I heard you received an offer of 150 billion won for two years from Seoul? And Chongqing? Anyway, it’s a higher amount than the first offer from China, and it includes all sorts of perks. Congratulations. Wow, excluding that bastard Kang Jun-chi, that’s a new record for a rookie, isn’t it?”
“China did call with a higher number later on. They certainly have a lot of money.”
“But you’re not going to China, right?”
“I’m not going to China.”
“Oh, that’s the spirit! Patriot—”
“It’s absolutely not for patriotic reasons. I just heard that while South Korea, China, and Japan all treat Awakened individuals terribly, China is the worst.”
“Then if Japan had offered as much as China, would you have gone to Japan?”
“No? I’m signing with a domestic team.”
The Association’s President frowned at me, but I didn’t care. Every Hunter knows this guy is essentially a government-appointed bureaucrat. And that whatever he decides in the name of The Association is effectively just the government’s will.
Besides this idiot of an Association President, there were many others who greeted me.
“Congratulations on the rookie record! We’ll be seeing you in Seoul from now on, right?”
They all mentioned the “150 billion won for two years in Seoul” and offered their congratulations. They said that if this was the contract for a first-year rookie, imagine how incredible the next contract would be after I’d proven my worth.
I didn’t want to act humble every single time, so I just laughed it off.
But Seoul? That was out of the question.
From the very beginning, the place I intended to sign with was already decided. All the other contract offers were merely stepping stones to secure a better deal with that one place.
And so, when it came time to announce, I declared:
“I have decided on Incheon.”
“Could you repeat that?”
“I am signing with Incheon. 1 year for 52.5 billion won—they made a generous offer. I have felt how high the expectations of the Incheon citizens are, and I promise here and now that I will never disappoint them…”
I continued on about how honored I was to defend the spiritual capital of Korea, how I would ensure the glory of great Incheon would continue, and so on. The reporters looked bewildered, yet they didn’t forget to keep pressing their camera shutters.
Amidst the camera flashes blinking at me, I recalled the hallucination from before.
The version of me that went through that unpleasant ordeal—the me in the hallucination—had also signed with Incheon. 29 billion won for one year. Unlike now, in the hallucination, Incheon had offered an exceptionally high amount, which was said to be the result of Park Mi-hyeong’s efforts as an Incheon City Council Member.
Thanks to that, the me in the hallucination had managed to secure a decent enough contract to save face among other Awakened Hunters.
Furthermore, to the me in the hallucination, who suffered from the delusion that all of Korea loathed him, Incheon’s offer of such good terms felt like a form of salvation. It was as if he felt that Incheon was the only place that accepted him, a man shunned by all Koreans.
And so, the me in the hallucination seemed to have developed a sense of loyalty to Incheon, a place he already held affection for…
Is the current me signing with Incheon to continue that debt of gratitude?
Or, even if I’m not grandly trying to repay a debt, is the reason I chose Incheon despite other better offers because my affection for the city grew even stronger after experiencing that hallucination?
In other words, is my current decision, and the pride for Incheon swirling within me, an influence from having experienced that hallucination?
I don’t know.
But I have no regrets. Even if another place had offered more, I could just renew for better terms after a year anyway…
Meanwhile, my decision seemed truly difficult for the reporters to understand. At their request, an additional interview was conducted.
The interview went as follows:
Q. Is there a reason you chose Incheon?
- There are two reasons. First, as mentioned earlier, Park Mi-hyeong, an Incheon City Council Member, has supported me in every way possible, and she personally suggested that I sign with Incheon if possible. I decided to follow her suggestion.
Q. You said there were two reasons; what is the other one?
- Because even if an Incheon person sells their country, they must never abandon Incheon.
Q. Isn’t it wrong to sell the country, no matter what?
- It’s fine. Any other questions?
Q. I will take that to mean you value Incheon that highly. Regardless, I know there are many places other than Incheon that need capable Awakened individuals and offered far superior contract terms. Is there a special reason you had to choose Incheon, setting all those other offers aside?
- Other places weren’t worth considering in the first place. It is only natural that the life of one Incheon citizen is more precious than the lives of ten thousand Seoulites.
Q. That sounds as if people outside of Incheon have no human rights.
- It would be stranger if non-Incheonites had human rights. How could it be a coincidence that the ‘In’ in Incheon and the ‘In’ in human rights are the same sound?
I was the one who answered that, but it really does seem like a masterpiece.
The interview, which involved several more questions and answers, ended with a final, joking exchange.
Q. Did Incheon City Council Member Park Mi-hyeong brainwash you? If that’s really the case, please shake a carrot when you get the chance so we can request a rescue.
A. I believe Park Mi-hyeong is an Ice-Ability User (the official name for so-called Ice-Ability Users), not a mental manipulator. Besides, an Awakened’s paranormal ability doesn’t work on other Awakened, so why would you say such a thing?
Mentioning Park Mi-hyeong several times during the interview was intentional. I was told that for a politician, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, so I tried my best to get her name mentioned in the articles as much as possible.
Well, that’s how loyal I am. Though Park Mi-hyeong didn’t seem to realize that fact.
“Kim Geuk-ssi, did you hit a reporter during the interview? Or did you grab someone by the collar and curse them out?”
The voice of Park Mi-hyeong, who had called me immediately, was once again filled with anxiety. I answered calmly to reassure her.
“I didn’t hit anyone, and I didn’t curse, so why?”
“I saw the interview, and it went beyond malicious editing. Haven’t you read the articles yet?”
“I saw them. They published it just fine without any distortion.”
It took quite a while to clear up this misunderstanding.
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