From the perspective of the hunter-hate group, Kim Giryeo’s composure was impossible to understand.
“This bastard is seriously strong...”
However, the situation became perfectly clear with even the slightest glimpse into the other person’s thoughts.
“With the strength of an F-rank, I’m supposed to struggle and try to shake him off.”
A moment later, Giryeo squeezed his eyes shut, holding back the tears that threatened to spill.
Who could ever have imagined it?
Korea’s fourth S-class hunter was actually a rank-fraudster—and was now being held captive by an ordinary civilian...
***
Do you know the greatest difference between an F-rank Awakened and an ordinary person?
It is the ability to use supernatural powers.
In other words, unless an F-rank has awakened an ability that enhances physical strength, there is surprisingly little difference between their physical capabilities and those of an ordinary person.
So, if you happen to get caught by someone who has trained diligently to build up their strength, you may find yourself in serious trouble.
Just like I had now.
“Damn it.”
Thus spoke the lowest-ranking hunter.
The blackmailers had suddenly seized me by the collar, and I could not even escape.
“How could something this humiliating happen...?”
Of course, I had a reinforced defensive ring, so they could not actually hurt me.
But I still possessed the pride of an archmage. An incident like this was enough to make even my heart ache.
“Please let go of me.”
Swallowing my sorrow, I politely asked him to release me.
However, the instant I spoke, the man in front of me flinched in surprise and subtly loosened his grip on my collar.
“Wh-what are you planning?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, if you don’t want to give us the money, you could just leave. S-so why are you still standing here like this?”
The blackmailers seemed desperate for an explanation, but revealing the truth was hardly an option.
The truth was simply that I was the weakest of all Awakened people and lacked the strength to resist.
“Hmm.”
So, before making a desperate sprint for freedom, I searched for a plausible excuse.
“You said earlier that your arm was genuinely injured, correct?”
“What?”
“Hmm. But if I, an S-class hunter, were to shake you off when you have already fractured a bone for the sake of this self-inflicted-injury scam...”
Crack.
I pressed my bent index finger against my thumb, producing a succession of sharp cracks from my joints.
I offered no further explanation, but surely a gesture like that would be enough to make them understand.
F-for now, let us proceed under the assumption that I, an S-class hunter, am restraining myself out of concern that a frail ordinary person might be injured.
A desperate bluff!
I lied to keep them from discovering that my rank was fraudulent.
But even if the bluff worked, it would not improve my situation by much. If all three of them decided to attack me at once, my true abilities would be exposed in an instant.
“Damn it.”
This was precisely why I should have carried the [Surprise Box] with me at all times.
Regretting my carelessness, I glanced farther down the alley. My original plan had been to run away and put as much distance between us as possible.
“—...Huh?”
But at that very moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the other end of the alley.
“—Uncle!”
Everyone present turned their heads at once.
What came into view was someone whose height barely reached half of Kim Giryeo’s.
“Wow! It really is that uncle!”
It was a face I remembered.
“Hello!”
Was that not the little Earthling the archmage had encountered on the very first day after his reincarnation?
“Hmm? You’re...”
“Doyu! Mom told you not to run like that! You’ll hurt yourself!”
This time, however, the boy was not alone.
When I belatedly raised my head, I noticed an adult woman—apparently the child’s mother—standing beyond the entrance to the alley.
Now that a witness had appeared, how would the self-injury blackmailers react?
Tap!
They exchanged glances.
Then, before anyone could say a word, they hurried out of the alley.
It seemed they lacked the courage to cause trouble in front of another ordinary civilian.
***
When I failed to respond, the child greeted me once more.
“Hello!”
Yes, hello.
You may be too young to understand this, but I am actually in a rather unfortunate predicament at the moment.
“Ah, um... H-hello! You’re Hunter Kim Giryeo, aren’t you?”
While I watched the fleeing criminals disappear, the child’s mother approached me with hurried steps.
“W-what happened here...? Should I call the police?”
My clothes were crumpled, and one of my buttons had been torn off. I hardly looked normal.
Sensing that something was wrong, she cautiously asked what had happened, but unfortunately, I could not ask her for help.
“How could I possibly admit that an S-class hunter was grabbed by the collar by an ordinary person...?”
Therefore, I simply told the passerby not to worry about it.
Just then, the child standing between the adults suddenly grabbed the leg of my trousers and spoke.
“Mom, now that I think about it, weren’t we supposed to say thank you to this uncle?”
The young woman smiled.
“Actually, Hunter Kim Giryeo, there’s something I’ve always wanted to tell you. I thought that if I ever had the chance to meet you... I wanted to thank you for what you did that day.”
“Pardon?”
“The police told me that you once saved our child, Hunter-nim...”
Was she referring to the Beginner Killer incident?
Well, I had attempted to save the child. Things had merely gone wrong when I discovered that I could not use magic.
“Did he recognize me?”
“Of course. Even a child remembers something like that.”
The young Earthling’s mother bowed deeply as she spoke.
“Thank you so much. It’s entirely thanks to you, Hunter-nim, that our child is safe.”
The woman went on to explain that, ever since that day, she had never allowed her child to wander around alone.
She continued talking about how frightening it was to raise children in a world filled with monsters, but it was not a subject in which I had much interest.
“Mom, but this uncle stole my ice cream.”
“How could I possibly repay you...?”
“I told you, this uncle ate my ice cream.”
I looked down at the chattering child and answered without thinking.
“There is no need to repay me.”
As someone had just pointed out, I had already received the promised reward.
“Your name is Doyu, correct?”
“Yes! Kim Doyu!”
For a moment, he seemed to have grown taller.
I studied the changes in that small life for a while, then prepared to leave him with a few words of encouragement.
“Since you managed to survive this time, take better care of yourself from now on. And study hard.”
However, just as I was about to leave, Doyu’s guardian hurriedly called after me.
“Wait!”
“Yes?”
“Um, well... I don’t have anything prepared, but I was just on my way home from grocery shopping.”
Rustle.
She reached into her shopping basket and pulled something out.
It was a glass bottle filled with organic tangerine juice.
“I-it isn’t much, but please accept this.”
She held out the bottle of juice.
Thank you for saving my child. I’ll always be cheering for you, Hunter-nim, so please take good care of yourself.
“This has a lot of vitamin C... I heard that colds are going around again, so it should be good for your health. Oh, but perhaps Awakened people don’t catch colds...?”
Her voice trembled so violently with nervousness that I could barely understand her.
Nevertheless, her intentions came through clearly.
“Awakened people get sick as well.”
My anger toward Earthlings had reached its peak when I encountered the self-injury extortionists.
“Thank you. I will enjoy it.”
It was admirable not to forget a kindness.
Thanks to this small gift, I found myself thinking that even if I eventually recovered my lost power, perhaps I should not annihilate every Earthling after all.
...Not yet, at least.
***
Tap.
The protesters who had fled to the distant roadside, where cars streamed past, spent some time catching their breath.
“Damn it. Why did that brat have to show up and ruin everything?”
They were frustrated that their plan to provoke an S-class hunter into attacking them had failed.
However, one member of the group reacted differently.
“I think the outcome would have been the same even if that child hadn’t appeared...”
The thin man holding an expensive camera cast a disapproving glance at the three people who had fled the alley.
Something clearly bothered him.
“You all saw it, didn’t you? Kim Giryeo didn’t lay a finger on him, even after being treated like that, because he was worried he might hurt him.”
This middle-aged man was a third party who had secretly positioned himself at a distance, intending to record footage of an S-class hunter assaulting an ordinary civilian.
“At first, I wondered why he didn’t even try to pull away. But it turns out he stood there and endured everything because he was worried that the man’s broken arm might get worse.”
After witnessing what had happened, however, the cameraman had changed his mind.
Their argument had plainly been unreasonable, yet Kim Giryeo had still chosen to protect ordinary civilians, even under those circumstances.
His personality was completely different from what his appearance suggested.
The cameraman ordinarily harbored a deep dislike for hunters, but this time, even he could not help seeing things differently.
“Hey, that only happened because we went too easy on him! If we push him harder, he’ll definitely show his true colors!”
The perpetrators, however, remained confident.
Insisting that their method had simply been ineffective, they began planning to pour alcohol over the hunter the next time they encountered him.
“If that’s what you’re planning to do, count me out.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Isn’t it obvious? No matter how many times we try, the result will be the same. What would be the point? We’re not complete idiots.”
The cameraman clicked his tongue in disgust.
In any case, he had not joined them because he genuinely believed their claims that they could change society.
“Wait! If you leave, who’s going to film us?”
“Just ask someone else from the chat room to come to the next meeting. Either way, I’m done.”
He walked away without the slightest hesitation.
The remaining protesters’ faces twisted with frustration.
Nevertheless, their enthusiasm had not diminished.
In particular, the man who had gone so far as to break his own arm to frame someone else possessed considerable experience in such matters.
“All right, everyone. Don’t worry. Let’s decide on the date for our next attempt.”
“Are you sure it’ll be okay? He must remember our faces.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”
The leader of the anti-hunter group spoke with complete confidence.
“You all know who I am, don’t you? I’m the one who received settlement money from Jung Haseong.”
“That happened during the Dungeon Break incident, right?”
“Exactly. I ran straight into a place engulfed in flames and lay down in the middle of the chaos. With courage like mine, what couldn’t I do?”
Thump, thump.
He continued speaking as he struck himself proudly on the chest.
“Don’t worry. Just keep tracking Kim Giryeo’s movements. Watch him carefully and find out which places he visits frequently, exactly as we did today.”
At that moment, however, someone who had remained silent until then suddenly offered a new suggestion.
“...Wouldn’t it be better to target a different hunter?”
The voice that entered the conversation was remarkably deep.
“Instead of Kim Giryeo, there’s another S-class who seems likely to give you the reaction you want if you provoke him.”
“Ah, do you mean Kang Changho?”
The leader shrugged.
“As I already told you, that man lives in a heavily secured residence. The security is far too strict. It wouldn’t work.”
But why were his companions reacting so strangely?
Their mouths had fallen open, and they were staring blankly upward as though they had seen a ghost.
“Wait. Who was I just talking to...?”
Gasp.
A chill ran through the group leader, and he swiftly looked behind him.
A shocking sight entered his vision.
There stood a figure whose massive physique made even the leader’s relatively sturdy build appear small.
“What the—!”
Kang Changho stood directly behind him.
The man stumbled backward in shock.
“No! Why do these S-class hunters keep wandering around this neighborhood without making a sound...?”
Ordinarily, the mere presence of a top-class Awakened person should have provoked an instinctive physical reaction.
Looking more closely, however, he noticed that Kang Changho wore a ring on every finger of his right hand.
In other words, he had used items to suppress his magical power, allowing him to approach without being detected.
“I tried imitating Kim Giryeo, but C-class seems to be my limit.”
The hunter with dragon-like eyes removed a vial of red potion from the pouch at his waist and glanced toward a nearby alley.
It was the alley leading toward Kim Giryeo’s studio apartment.
“Incidentally, I came to check on him after returning to the country. I didn’t expect him to remain so passive in a situation like that.”
Was he simply too kind?
Did he have some unusual hobby?
Or perhaps...
“Hmm.”
Deep in thought, Kang Changho pulled the cork from the vial.
Meanwhile, the members of the anti-hunter group stood frozen in place, as though their earlier bravado had been nothing but a lie.
Their silence, however, did not last long.
The S-class hunter soon issued a warning to the people standing before him.
“Following people around is pointless.”
Ugh!
That was the last conversation they had.
Afterward, all they could remember was the sickening sensation of bone and flesh giving way as a fist crushed their noses.
.
.
.
Whoosh.
Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
Above a yellow-sand beach on the western coast, the familiar outline of a passageway began to emerge.
An unidentified gate radiating blue light.
It marked the appearance of a dungeon.
The gate, which had materialized on a secluded stretch of beach, had—