I laughed as I read the article about my injuries—it was satisfying. I would have been a little disappointed if they hadn't acknowledged how much I'd gone through.
Ah, there was also an interview with a survivor. It said that Hunter Kim Geuk, despite clearly being in bad shape, took control of the situation and looked after the survivors...
I laughed as I read the article about my interview.
Although all my physical injuries had since been restored thanks to my Super-regeneration, the photo included in the article showed me with three fingers and a portion of my face sliced off.
I felt satisfied seeing the caption at the bottom of the photo: "Displayed fighting spirit and continued the operation despite suffering severe injuries." I would have been disappointed if they hadn't acknowledged how much I’d gone through.
Ah, there was also an interview with a survivor. It said that Hunter Kim Geuk, despite clearly being in bad shape, took control of the situation and looked after the survivors... This was also satisfying.
The article concluded with the fact that, thanks to my struggle, 89 households—or exactly 457 people—in that apartment complex were able to survive.
[KoreanNetRuined: Is the guy in the photo really the same lunatic who gave that interview?]
[ㄴ: Lmao true]
[Yonsik95: I didn't like him when he was bragging about making two people disabled because he couldn't control his temper. It makes me sick to think that some trashy thug who lives without a care for the future just happened to Awaken and make a fortune... But seeing him charge at monsters without any anger management issues is actually reassuring.]
[ㄴ Non-member comment: I’m a middle school classmate of that friend, Kim Geuk. Until he graduated, he was just huge, but he was a kid who always sat in the back row quietly reading history books. He doesn't have anger management issues.]
[ㄴ Yonsik95: He read books in the classroom? Not a thug who fights all the time?]
[ㄴ Non-member comment: At least in my memory, he wasn't a thug. Even if his expression was always dark, he was a kid who never fought anyone. I was surprised when I heard he caused trouble on his first day of high school, but seeing him now, he’s so different from the image in my memory that I’m just puzzled.]
[Non-member comment: Why does that guy keep doing interviews like that? Is he doing it on purpose to be funny? Is it a persona?]
[ㄴ Happy22: I don't know if he's trying to be funny or if it's a persona, but it's nice to see him looking so motivated and matching his words with actions. There are tons of thugs who sign contracts with local governments and then constantly badmouth the region, so this is fine.]
I scrolled down and down, but there was no end. That was because the number of comments had exceeded four hundred.
The article even had over 100,000 views, receiving a surprising amount of attention for a piece covering a mere local incident. It must have been because my interview was funny, leading people to share it across all sorts of sites.
Hmm, this outpouring of attention was truly thrilling.
Meanwhile, it seemed Baek Dam-bi had been reading the article too. She suddenly threw an unexpected question at me.
"Did you think I was saying something nerdy back then?"
"Yes."
"You're too much..."
I chuckled and looked over at the other colleagues.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on Baek Dam-bi and me. I guess it was quite surprising that Baek Dam-bi was making small talk.
As I grinned, the vehicle carrying our team departed.
It wasn't a standard vehicle, but a bus modified to allow access to the roof, and as I climbed up, the eyes of the people around us poured onto me.
"Now, Hunter Kim Geuk has come up!"
City Council Member Park Mi-hyeong, who had been giving a speech, held my hand high. She shouted into the microphone as if screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Everyone, give him a round of applause!"
The pouring applause and the chanting of my name... I waved my hand again and again.
As the vehicle carrying me passed through the true heart of Korea—Moraenae Market—I thought with an overflowing heart.
Anyway, it’s worth living to see days like this. To think I would end up participating in a parade like this as the protagonist?
Beside me, Park Mi-hyeong’s passionate voice continued to ring out.
"Thank you all for participating despite your busy schedules! It’s worth it, right? You all saw the articles this time! Here, Hunter Kim Geuk has accomplished such a heroic deed..."
It had only turned out that way as a result; the parade wasn't held specifically to honor my recent performance.
They had originally planned to hold this parade to advertise the fact that I had signed a contract with Incheon City, but because my recent performance was so famous, more people came to watch, and the praise directed at me simply increased.
Come to think of it, it was a strange thing. To hold an entire parade at the local government level just because they signed a contract with one Hunter?
Even if a new Police Commissioner or Fire Chief—someone responsible for the safety of the region—were appointed, they wouldn't make such a fuss. It was unusual to go this far for a Hunter, but they said it wasn't for no reason; it was a very important matter.
In other words, it was a very important matter for the recovery of local real estate values.
As for me, I hadn't understood until recently why that damn land price was so important, but after experiencing this incident, I roughly understood.
"Through this incident, Incheon City has proven that it can excellently respond to large-scale, unexpected incidents like this one... and that it has the ability to protect you, the citizens of Incheon..."
It’s a world where every Korean is desperate to get to Seoul.
It’s not because Seoul has good infrastructure or many jobs; everyone just wants to go to Seoul to survive.
You can tell just by looking at real estate prices. Seoul real estate prices, which were expensive even before the Gates opened, have now risen more than tenfold, while local real estate prices have actually fallen.
In Incheon alone, all sorts of buildings are dirt cheap.
If you look at the villas near Moraenae Market Station right there, the sale price is only 15 million won. Considering the skyrocketing prices these days, it’s an absurd price.
It’s the same for other regions besides Incheon, all because of the fear that living in the provinces makes it easier to become monster food. And in reality, that’s true.
Compared to Seoul, the provinces lack the budget to prepare for monster attacks. They don't have the money to sign contracts with expensive Awakened, nor the funds to deploy various equipment. Inevitably, they are significantly less capable of defending against monster attacks than Seoul.
In the midst of this, the monsters inside the Gates aren't fools. They have a tendency to target the easiest places first.
They also have a tendency to repeatedly target places where they previously succeeded in attacking without much damage.
When a Gate opens, regions that fail to properly eliminate the monsters that pour out often see Gates open there again later.
Consequently, places that fail to respond properly to an attack see their real estate prices plummet.
Once that happens, local businesses go bankrupt, and residents leave. Tax revenue shrinks, and the budget becomes even more insufficient. The ability to prepare for Gates is reduced to a miserable level.
Eventually, the neighborhood is branded as completely ruined. With the number of residents having dwindled so much, not only the local government but even the central government ends up abandoning the area.
That is how urban slums are born after the Gates.
Such slums are continuing to increase in the provinces. They are death lands where no businesses operate, only trash illegally dumped on the roadside piles up, and only the elderly who lack the strength to move and the homeless remain, waiting for the day they will be eaten by monsters.
And the death toll for this Incheon Gate incident was a total of thirty people. Most were just Hunters, homeless people who were illegally staying in empty buildings, and a few elderly or infirm people who were too slow to evacuate in time.
This was on the side of "defending it with almost no damage." Was this a result that would be hard to expect even in the most secure areas of Seoul?
As such, the result of successfully blocking this Gate was also excellent. The real estate prices near that apartment complex rose overall, and the price of that specific apartment rose sharply.
That isn't just a fact that would make real estate speculators smile. It has a deeper meaning.
It means that the residents there won't abandon the land they live on and leave, and that the nearby convenience stores and McDonald's branches will continue to operate. It means the trash the residents there separate won't be left abandoned forever, but will be collected before it starts to stink, and that the local and national governments will continue to look after those citizens.
Meanwhile, my Hunter team also climbed onto the bus and waved at the people.
Baek Dam-bi waved her hand particularly excitedly; one might have thought she was a celebrity invited to the event. I couldn't help but find Sung Moon-young, who was glancing at her from the side with a dumbfounded expression, so funny.
"Taking a photo! Now, smile..."
With me, the Academy graduates, and even Baek Dam-bi smiling, the parade ended.
As we gathered together to have a cup of coffee, everyone started making small talk.
"Jin-young-hyung, why do you keep looking at your feet? Did you drop something on the floor?"
"Sorry, my feet are itchy."
"Your feet are itchy? Why?"
"I think it's athlete's foot..."
"No, damn it. Do you not shower usually? Don't come near me..."
Surprisingly, Baek Dam-bi was also part of this messy gathering of men.
I glanced at Baek Dam-bi, who still had a smile playing on her lips.
She seemed to be in a good mood all day today. Why? Because she’s a mental patient who thinks she’s a celebrity, and she liked receiving attention from people like a celebrity today?
If it were until recently, I would have thought so too, but not anymore.
When that Spirit appeared, Baek Dam-bi volunteered to fight alongside me. Having already pocketed tens of billions of won in contract fees, I had assumed her ultimate goal was just to keep working even if people cursed at her, so I truly couldn't understand why she stepped up back then.
However, seeing her reaction when we defeated that Spirit, I know now.
She also had a desire to perform. That yearning to fulfill her role, that yearning to accomplish something others couldn't, as an Awakened.
The fact that she hadn't shown any enthusiasm while working until now was simply because she hadn't had the opportunity to perform. Therefore, she had immediately stepped up in a situation where she might be able to perform, and after achieving something akin to a feat, she must have been that happy...
"They don't pay you right away the day after a hunt in the provinces? When I was active in Seoul, they always paid the day after the hunt."
"It can't be helped. These days, the local governments aren't paying Hunters with their own funds; they're borrowing from Seoul every time they need to make a payment..."
Listening to the idle chatter between Jang Byeong-gon and Sung Moon-young, I asked, "Hasn't anyone been paid yet?"
"No. They said they'd pay at the end of the month."
"I got mine yesterday, though?"
"Wow, I guess they pay Awakened right away? That's really mean."
After grumbling, Sung Moon-young disappeared first.
As the others went their separate ways, I looked at Jung Jin-young, who was still wearing those military boots.
If they hadn't paid him yet, he must be penniless. I called out to him.
"Jin-young-hyung? Why don't you come with me for a bit?"
He was still afraid of me. Even now, he flinched, looking anxious as if he didn't know why I was calling him aside.
"Huh? Why..."
I didn't bother explaining; I just grabbed his shoulder and used Spatial Movement.
And there, in front of a shoe store, while Jung Jin-young rolled his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation, I said, "Pick out two pairs of shoes. One for everyday wear and one for when you're out hunting."
"Pick out shoes? Why all of a sudden...?"
"You said you had athlete's foot. It's probably because you're walking around in those military boots, which look like they're crawling with bacteria. Either throw them out or send them to the cleaners, and let's start wearing some other shoes."
"How did you know I had athlete's foot?"
"I heard you chatting earlier and kept it in mind."
At my words, Jung Jin-young's eyes widened.
After a long while, Jung Jin-young, still looking cautious, picked out two pairs of shoes. When I paid for them instead, his eyes widened again.
After leaving the store, I took him to a pharmacy. I paid for the medicine as well and added a word.
"I was too busy during the hunt to say it, but you did a good job this time. Let's keep working like this in the future, okay?"
As I said that and patted his shoulder a few times, Jung Jin-young reacted strangely again. He hung his head low, and his shoulders began to shake. I was so taken aback by his intense reaction to a simple word of encouragement that I didn't know what to do.
I waved goodbye and used Spatial Movement to make a cool exit.
Anyway, it's nice to have some financial breathing room. Even the price of athlete's foot medicine was terrifyingly high; I realized you really have to be a Hunter to afford that without a second thought.
Back home, I picked up my phone. Now that I'd taken care of my current teammates, it was time to look after my old ones.
"Oh, Yang Tae-gyu-ssi. It's Kim Geuk. Do you remember me? You remember the guy who acted as the muscle for the Korean Awakened Alliance, right? That's me... Ah, you do? You've been keeping up with my news lately? Well, that's good, no need for explanations then. I received my signing bonus a while ago, so I have some extra cash. When we parted ways last time, you said you were desperate for money but had nowhere to get a loan, right? So, I... Ah, yes. Yes. Forget the interest, just pay me back slowly when you can. Send me your account number via text, then..."
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