Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“Father! Be careful!”

“Do not move!”

Father’s muzzle turned toward me.

‘Ugh.’

When Father’s muzzle was pointed at me, even I, who had been through all manner of hardships and battles, felt a chill run down my spine.

Father was a marksman.

Even in the Special Forces world, he was known as a gunman among gunmen, so there was no need to question his skill.

If I made even the slightest wrong move, at least three rounds would be lodged in my chest in the blink of an eye.

Slowly, very slowly, I raised both hands.

I might not have cared if it were someone else, but I did not want to be shot to death by Father.

I needed to become strong quickly and free myself from the threat of firearms.

“Haha.......”

The other me laughed as if he was troubled.

“Why is the atmosphere in this house so murderous? I cannot even play a joke. The son has an axe, and the father has a gun. Excuse me, sir. Over there is your son.”

The other me pointed at me.

What was this situation?

“Then who are you?”

This time, Father’s muzzle turned toward the other me.

“As for me...... I suppose I could say I am no one, yet someone who can become anyone.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means this.”

The other me swept a palm over his face with a smooth swipe.

“......!”

Father and I were both startled out of our wits.

The other me’s face had changed into Father’s face.

“What kind of Monster is this......?”

“A Monster? That is harsh.”

At my mutter, the one with Father’s face and my body looked wounded.

“I am sorry, but I am not a Monster.”

“Then what are you?”

“Well. I do not know either. Who I was, or where I came from. But what is certain is that I know you, Master.”

“Master......?”

“You are my master, and I am your faithful servant.”

“Stop spouting nonsense and answer what I am asking.”

“Heh. I suppose it cannot be helped.”

He gave a faint laugh, then scattered like a whirlpool and soon vanished.

In the place where the unidentified figure had disappeared without a trace, a single golden card floated in the air.

[Mutation]

Magic Card

★★★

Mimicry and Transformation

“No way.”

Only then did I realize what had happened, and I approached the [Mutation] card as if possessed.

‘The card...... pretended to be me?’

‘I would not say I pretended. It was only one little joke.’

The card’s voice echoed through my mind.

‘A joke? I nearly got shot to death by Father.’

‘How was I supposed to know that would happen?’

‘......?’

‘Nothing happened, did it? Then it is fine. Right?’

‘Are you insane?’

The sheer shamelessness of the Mutation card left me speechless.

You just wait.

Haa.......

“What happened? And what is that card?”

“Um. I think it is because of my ability.”

“Your ability?”

“It is a long story.......”

“I do not care if it is long, so tell me first. I nearly shot my own son to death, so I should at least hear what happened.”

How was I supposed to explain this?

Even I was bewildered and had no idea what was going on.

“What happened?”

Mother looked anxious because of the sudden commotion.

“It is nothing.”

“It is nothing.”

Father and I answered at the same time.

***

In the end, I had no choice but to tell my family about my ability at the dinner table.

“So...... your Spirit Sword is not in the form of a weapon, but a deck of cards, and the cards absorb Runes?”

“Yes.”

“And the cards can also appear in human form?”

“It seems so.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“I still do not know much either. What exactly my ability is.......”

“I suppose that is only natural. You have not been a Hunter for long.”

Father nodded as if he understood.

“All right. Train hard from now on. The process of learning about your own ability is important. You need to know what you can do and what you cannot do...... In any case, be careful.”

Father stopped speaking partway through, glanced at Mother, and changed his words.

He probably wanted to say that I needed to know those things in order to survive for a long time, but he seemed to hold back because he did not want Mother and Eunha to worry.

“What are we listening to?”

“I do not know either, Mom.”

Mother and Eunha looked confused, as though they could not understand what was going on.

“So people pop out of your cards, Big Bro?”

“Probably?”

“Wow. Then is it like Summoning?”

“It seems like it, but also not quite.”

“I do not really know what it is, but it is an amazing ability. I have never heard of a Hunter who uses cards before.”

“It is my first time too, so do not go around saying unnecessary things anywhere.”

“I know that much, okay?”

Eunha pouted.

“But people are saying you are handsome.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The comments are in an uproar, you know? They are saying you are really handsome. Good grief. I guess everyone looks handsome to people as long as they are Hunters. There is already a fan account for you on SNS.”

“Stop talking nonsense and eat. Do not fiddle with your phone at the table.”

But Mother and Father reacted differently.

“Our son really is handsome.”

“Ahem. I wonder who he takes after to be this handsome.......”

When Eunha heard that, she frowned.

“Mom, Dad, what part of Big Bro is handsome? No matter how I look at him, he is ordinary. If you keep praising him like that, he will really think he is handsome.”

Oh?

Look at this brat.

“You are in no position to talk about anyone else, so just eat.”

“What? What is that supposed to mean?”

“You think you are actually pretty just because Mother and Father keep telling you that you are pretty.”

“Who? Me?”

“Are you not?”

“I get told I am pretty wherever I go, okay? So often that I am sick of it.”

“That is because people are kind.”

“Should I grab someone passing by and ask whether I am pretty or not?”

“Just do not threaten them with a gun when you ask...... Pfft!”

I ended up laughing without realizing it.

It was not because teasing Eunha was fun. It was because I could not remember how long it had been since I had bickered with her like this.

Before I returned to the past.

After Mother passed away, both Eunha and I lost our smiles, and we could not even exchange a light joke.

And yet here we were, bickering again at the dinner table while our parents watched.

“Cha Eunseong, are you finished?”

“Enough. Let us just eat.”

“You made fun of me as much as you wanted, and now you want to stop?”

“Let it slide just for today. I am tired.”

In truth, I was not tired at all, but tears felt as if they might suddenly well up, so I made a vague excuse.

After all, nothing would be more troublesome than suddenly crying while childishly arguing with my little sister.

***

After finishing dinner, I returned to my own space and took time for maintenance.

A proper Hunter tended to consider maintenance time extremely important.

Equipment had to be maintained and repaired regularly so it could be used in the next battle.

‘Honestly, everything is disposable.’

I put all my equipment, including my combat uniform, Plate Carrier, and tactical boots, into a large trash bag and threw it away.

If it had merely been dirty, I would have just used it, but the problem was that too much Monster blood had soaked into it.

Some Monsters had an extremely sharp sense of smell, so they could detect the scent of blood clinging to equipment.

‘Can I...... protect my family?’

I thought as I cleaned my gun.

‘It will not be easy.’

If people heard that, they would curse at me and ask what kind of nonsense I was spouting, but this was truly the most peaceful and livable period for humanity.

For now, the world still functioned, and society was still being maintained.

But the story would change once Transference phenomena began in earnest and the Gates generated all over the world started erupting.

The already high mortality rate of Hunters would rise sharply, and once the number of dead began to exceed the number of newly Awakened Hunters...... there would be no answer from that point on.

No matter how skilled Hunters were, it would ultimately be like pouring water into a bottomless jar, and humanity would slowly dry up and die.

Once [That Incident] happened...... wait.

‘What date is it today?’

I turned on my phone and checked the year and date.

‘So there is about a year left.’

[That Incident] was the worst disaster that occurred about a year after I became a Hunter, and it was the signal flare for humanity’s extinction.

The Day of Grief.

The incident in which more than ninety percent of the top Rankers were killed in action.

Because of that incident, humanity all but completely lost its ability to respond to high-level Gates or large-scale Transference phenomena.

And as the next generation of Hunters filled the empty seats left by the top Rankers, a generational shift occurred among Hunters as well.

I was also one of the Hunters who had ridden that tide of generational change.

“I have to stop it.”

In my urgency, the thought slipped out of my mouth.

Humanity’s extinction?

Honestly, I did not know whether I could stop it.

But if I could stop [The Day of Grief].......

“Maybe it might be possible.......”

Right. If the top Rankers currently active did not die and continued holding the line, it would be fair to say there was at least a faint thread of hope.

At the very least, delaying the extinction by several years seemed entirely possible.

But how could I stop the Day of Grief by myself?

In fact, stopping the Day of Grief itself was easy.

The top Rankers only had to make use of a few pieces of information I knew.

Releasing the information would also be easy.

What would be so difficult about writing a few lines on the Hunter Link board and posting them?

But making the top Rankers believe my information was an entirely different problem.

At present, even if I said I could make soybean paste out of soybeans, very few people would believe me.

Who would believe the words of a newly Awakened chick of a Hunter?

Even if they did believe me, that would be a problem too.

If it became known that I had precognitive ability, the Hunters would probably start fighting over me.

After all, only a tiny minority of Hunters fought purely for humanity’s sake.

‘I have to make the Hunters believe what I say somehow. At the same time, it would be best if my identity were not exposed. In that case...... I suppose the Hunter Link board really is the only option.’

Hunter Link’s Information Sharing Board was a hotbed of all kinds of fake news and false information, so it had practically been half-abandoned.

‘If I keep posting steadily, maybe one or two people will start believing.’

Since I could not think of any better method, I logged into Hunter Link for the time being and opened the Information Sharing Board.

‘The incident that will happen soon is.......’

I searched my memory and wrote down two or three major incidents that would occur around this time, then posted them anonymously.

[Your post has been registered!]

It was a board where tens of thousands of posts were uploaded every day, so mine would be buried immediately. Still, if I kept writing posts whenever I had time.......

DING!

A notification rang.

[A comment has been posted!]

Already?

It was obviously going to be a malicious comment.......

[A comment has been posted!]

Again......?

But that was only the beginning.

DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING....... DING!

[A comment has been posted!]

[A comment has been posted!]

......

[A comment has been posted!]

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of comments appeared.

“Wh-what is this?”

I was flustered.

Was this really something people would dogpile over, when it was just one common, pointless post?

Curious about what had made the board users so angry, I opened the comment section.

“Ah.”

Only then did I realize why my post had caught fire, and I nodded.

The content of the post was beside the point.

The reason the board users had no choice but to comment was the star attached beside the author information field.

[Author Rank]

★★★★★★★★★★

A 10-Star Hunter.

It was a rank that could not exist yet.

At this point in time, the highest-ranking Hunter was only 7-Star.