We continued passing through one neighborhood after another.
The streets were eerily quiet, save for the occasional sound of debris shifting in the wind. My team moved with practiced caution, our eyes scanning the dark corners of every alleyway. Naito-san, still holding his camera, kept up a steady stream of commentary, his voice hushed but filled with an artificial, broadcast-ready excitement.
"As you can see, folks, we're currently deep in the heart of the sector. The tension is palpable! Our A-rank Hunter, Kim Geuk-ssi, is leading the charge with nerves of steel."
I ignored him, focusing instead on the readings from my radar. The signal was faint, flickering in and out, but it was there. A cluster of signatures, likely another nest. I signaled for the team to halt.
"Contact," I whispered, my hand instinctively dropping to the grip of my Hunter Rifle.
The team froze instantly. Jang Byeong-gon, ever the professional, immediately took up a defensive position, his eyes locked on the direction I was pointing.
"How many?" he asked, his voice barely audible.
"At least five. Maybe more. They're hunkered down in the basement of that building."
I could feel the familiar, cold prickle of adrenaline at the base of my neck. This was the reality of our work—a constant, grinding cycle of hunting and being hunted. I looked over at the others. They were tired, their faces smudged with soot and grime, but their resolve hadn't wavered.
"Alright," I said, my voice steady. "We do this by the book. No heroics. We clear the perimeter first, then we flush them out."
Naito-san, sensing the shift in atmosphere, zoomed his camera in on my face. I didn't bother to hide my scowl.
"You," I said, pointing at him. "Stay back. If you get in the way, I'm not coming back for you."
He grinned, completely unfazed by my threat. "Understood, Kim Geuk-ssi! The viewers love the intensity!"
I turned away, shaking my head. I didn't care about the viewers. I didn't care about the likes or the comments. I just wanted to finish this job and get home in one piece.
"Let's move."
We continued passing through one neighborhood after another. I was scanning the area with my Mental Mesh when I frowned.
"There’s a pack of Deathclaws in the sewer."
"The sewer?"
I relayed the information: the number of monsters, the location of the sewer where they were lurking, and the fact that there were three manholes nearby.
One of the Hunters grinned.
"This should be easier, don't you think? We can split into teams, wait in front of the manholes you mentioned, and then concentrate our firepower."
"Is there any chance they'll break through the ceiling instead of coming out of the manholes?"
"I doubt it. They can cut through a wall and push it aside, but if they cut through the ceiling, all the concrete and dirt would fall on them, which is a hassle. Plus, it's pretty thick, so it would take them a while to break through using their methods, right?"
And so, we split into three large teams to wipe them out.
First, the team I was in, and the team Baek Dam-bi was in (I had sent her to another team, judging that her drawing the Deathclaws' attacks on the front lines would help the other Hunters survive; she didn't seem to mind being used in such an important role).
Finally, the team led by Naito-san...
I watched the sewer entrance in front of me. I broadcast the monsters' movements beyond it to everyone via radio.
「Two are heading toward Baek Dam-bi’s side... and three are heading toward Naito’s, so be ready...」
After relaying the information to the other teams, I narrowed the range of my Mental Mesh. I had to prepare for the monsters that were about to emerge.
And the moment the three Deathclaws popped out, I and the other Hunters opened fire in unison, taking them down.
"Nice!"
Just like that, we took out our monsters without anyone getting hurt. What about the other teams?
I expanded my Mental Mesh and saw that Baek Dam-bi’s team had also finished off their share of monsters without incident.
I was just about to check on Naito-san’s side.
The radio blared loudly.
「Help! It’s Naito-san’s side, help me!」
I extended my Mental Mesh and asked urgently.
"How many?"
「Two... I only managed to kill one! One of them won't die even after being shot!」
Judging by the description, it was a Force Field Entity. That was a monster I had to handle myself.
I immediately used Spatial Movement to get there, but there was no Force Field Entity in sight. I only saw one Hunter gushing blood from his throat and two others groaning from injuries to their limbs.
The Force Field Entity, where are the Force Field Entity and the monsters?
I heard an engine sound in the distance. There was even loud music blaring.
I turned my head toward the sound and saw them.
Two Deathclaws were chasing a bike rider.
And there was only one Hunter who had brought a bike today.
Naito-san.
I watched the Japanese man riding his silver bike, firing his shotgun at the monsters chasing him, with two Deathclaws hot on his heels. Ah, now it was just one. One of them had just been killed by a shotgun blast as it tried to pounce on Naito-san.
But the Force Field Entity was still chasing him, perfectly fine. I focused my mind to use Spatial Movement while watching what was happening.
Just as the Force Field Entity closed the distance and was about to kick off the ground to leap, I saw Naito-san tilt his bike and his body all at once. It was a movement that would be impossible without observing the monster's minute actions in advance and predicting what would happen next.
Naito-san swerved his bike to avoid the Force Field Entity that had narrowly grazed him. Even as he made a sharp turn to ride in a different direction, his upper body remained turned backward.
Naito-san continued to fire his shotgun at the Force Field Entity chasing him. He had to know that such ammo wouldn't do anything, so why?
It must be to keep that monster chasing him. He was using the sound of gunfire to taunt it, to say, "I'm still attacking you, so don't go after the others, keep following me even if I'm hard to catch." If he didn't, and the Force Field Entity started rampaging among the other Hunters, they would all die.
There couldn't be any other intention. I could be sure of that just by looking at his eyes, which were fixed squarely on the monster even in this situation where life and death hung in the balance with every beat. The music blaring from the bike must also have been for the purpose of luring it.
Meanwhile, both the Force Field Entity and Naito-san were moving at an impossibly fast speed. It was difficult to calculate where to teleport to get close to them...
After some time, I finally succeeded.
I finally teleported next to them. The Force Field Entity was running right in front of me. Just as I pulled the trigger of my Hunter Rifle toward its flank, I made eye contact with Naito-san, who was pulling the trigger of his shotgun.
Surprisingly, in that split second, Naito-san’s eyes swept over me and the Force Field Entity that had appeared in front of him. I had never seen such kinetic vision, even back in my martial arts days.
And then, five "BANG!" sounds.
Five autocannon shells fired in rapid succession from my Hunter Rifle shredded the Force Field Entity.
"Ah!"
Only then did Naito-san lower his shotgun, look at me again, and smile as if he were finally relieved.
Life had returned to his eyes, too. It was an emotion that finally surfaced in eyes that I had thought couldn't be any calmer, even if he were playing a console game on easy mode.
"It hasn't even been a minute since I radioed, and you came right away? Spatial Movement really is great! It's practically like having an Awakened Hunter with high-end specs in multiple places at once..."
Is this guy being glib, or is he buttering me up?
It didn't seem to be either. It was clear he was genuinely relieved.
So, he had actually been that calm even while tense until just now. For a piece of non-Awakened scum...
"Are you hurt?"
"Thanks to you, no!"
After that, we quickly handled the cleanup.
I teleported the two injured men and the one who had become a corpse to the hospital before returning to the scene.
The smell of blood immediately permeated my nose. It was a scene where the blood of the Hunter whose throat had been half-severed had formed a pool. I had moved him to the hospital, but looking at the size of that blood pool, it was impossible to expect him to survive.
「Yes, we've wiped out another pack. One Force Field Entity was mixed in this time, do we get paid more...」
My body stiffened at the fact that there had been a fatality, but the other Hunters didn't seem to be affected.
"Wow, a Force Field Entity showed up and only one guy died. I really need to buy a lottery ticket."
Just by looking at their expressions, I couldn't even tell whose team the deceased had been on.
Judging by their faces, they all seemed composed—they looked appropriately somber and appropriately indifferent.
That day, we hunted 59 Deathclaws and one monster of unknown origin (there's nothing particularly special about it; just as new species are constantly discovered in the Amazon jungle, new, never-before-seen monsters are constantly popping out of Gates).
It seemed this was an astonishing hunting achievement to have accomplished in a single day.
As if to prove that fact, we even appeared on network news that day.
「The regional recovery project in Incheon has had a smooth start. Through an operation that lasted seven hours, a total of sixty monsters were killed, and two residential blocks were completely (...)
Compared to the previous Operation Eagle, where 10,000 reservists were mobilized, eighteen went missing, and five died, only to kill a single monster, this is incomparable...」
I felt once again how much the world had changed.
The fact that there were deaths and injuries from the very first day of the operation felt like a terribly unlucky start by my standards, but the news was describing it as something like a "surprisingly smooth start."
It seems the world has changed this much while I was idly doing human rights activism.
「Hunter Kim Geuk, who led this project, has also shown amazing... in Incheon last time...」
*******
After finishing my workout and washing up, I logged into HuntWeb.
I was about to write a post in a nice tone, but I stopped. I felt like doing so on a day when there were fatalities in an operation I led would be an insult to the deceased.
Instead of writing something, I decided to just read.
I searched for Naito-san on HuntWeb.
As a celebrity, a flood of posts related to him poured out.
That was how I learned quite a bit of information about Naito-san.
I learned that he was not only famous as a streamer but also as a remarkably skilled Hunter, and conversely, that he had become famous as a streamer because of that remarkable skill.
Also, he had another nickname on the internet besides Naito-san.
"B-rank Hunter."
Originally, there is no such thing as a B-rank among Hunters. There is only A-rank, which signifies an Awakened, and S-rank, which signifies an even more transcendent (super) level.
So, this was a title bestowed only upon Naito-san, meaning that because he was a non-Awakened, he couldn't perform the role of an A-rank Hunter who strikes powerful monsters like Force Field Entities by pouring out high firepower, but he was at the level just below that.
Unlike the negative connotation one might think of with "B-rank," it was a title given purely to praise him.
A nickname on the internet that wasn't for the purpose of ridicule? That really is a rare case. Just how impressive must his skills have been...
With my eyes narrowed, I was clicking the mouse repeatedly.
A system notification popped up, saying I had a message.
It was a message from that guy.
Ⓑ GoodHunter : I'm contacting you because I want to apologize.
I looked up the comment you mentioned, and I can see why you would be upset by the insult my team member suffered. I wrote that comment without much thought at the time, but I was thoughtless and rude. As I saw when I met her in person, Baek Dam-bi is someone who performs her role more than well enough, so she had no reason to be insulted by me.
I also apologize for the presumptuous post I wrote, calling you an ex-convict and all that.
I have already deleted the problematic comments and posts. I know that no amount of apologizing will ever be enough, but I offer my sincere apologies once again.
Ideally, I should apologize to Ms. Baek Dam-bi in person, but to do so, I would have to bring up the fact that disparaging posts about her were uploaded to the internet, and I am worried that this would only cause her distress. I am cautious about apologizing directly just to ease my own conscience. I will give it some more thought.
And Mr. Kim Geuk? The skill you displayed today was truly top-tier, just as I had heard! I am also deeply grateful for your help during that emergency!
I hope that when we meet again, we can greet each other with smiles. Wishing you a restful break!
They say the Japanese don't apologize often, but it seems that isn't always the case. It had been a long time since I’d seen an apology written with this much effort.
After reading his message in full, I shut down the computer.
Then, I thought about the events of the day and that Japanese guy.
He was certainly a man who fit the image of a "veteran non-Awakened Hunter" I had held in my mind.
But still, I didn't think I would ever come to like him.
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