Chapter 4

Chapter 4

'Come to think of it, it was suspicious that a timid desk-jockey hunter would take on the role of my aide without a second thought.'

From what the inmates had told him, his reputation on the surface wasn't exactly flattering.

Though it was the reputation of the "Mirror Mask," not "Yeom Sahyeon."

Sahyeon clicked his tongue and slowly scanned Haeseong with his grey eyes.

The man's face was taut with nerves, his eyes darting around.

"So what's your ability?"

"...Pardon?"

The unexpected question made Haeseong stare back blankly.

"I don't know your trait either. Isn't it basic courtesy to tell me yours before asking about mine?"

"Oh, oh!"

Haeseong let out an exclamation.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think of that."

And then he straightened his posture and apologized politely.

When Sahyeon gave a casual nod, Haeseong cleared his throat and began in a measured voice.

"My grade is A-rank. My trait is Chronicler, and... you can just think of it as having a pretty good memory."

"Chronicler......"

Sahyeon slowly dredged through his mental archives.

"If you used it right, couldn't you operate as a combat hunter too?"

The defining feature of the Chronicler trait was that anything stored in the mind was never forgotten.

Whether it was information about monsters or attack patterns.

But this wasn't limited to mental activity alone. The user could perfectly copy an enemy's attack patterns and apply them in actual combat.

If Haeseong had seen and experienced monster or hunter battles firsthand in the field, he might well have grown into a fairly competent combat-type hunter.

Haeseong scratched his forehead and lowered his head.

"Uh...... I suppose so, yeah. But......"

Haeseong wet his lips and trailed off.

Sahyeon raised an eyebrow and spoke in an offhand tone.

"Ah. Are your other stats lacking?"

"Yeah...... only my Intelligence stat is high...... So I've only been doing support work."

Haeseong hung his head low and said it in a small voice.

"Still, I like the work I do. Knowing that I can be even a little bit of help to the hunters working hard in the field."

He finished with an awkward smile. Sahyeon watched him in silence.

"Working hard, my ass."

What good was having power? There were more than enough bastards sitting around in the back doing shady work.

Just looking at the ones dragged into the prison, the discipline among hunters these days hadn't just loosened — it had vanished entirely.

How those types treated non-combat hunters was painfully obvious.

For hunters, power was as good as authority.

Sahyeon bit down on his cola straw with a sour expression and shifted his gaze to the restaurant's display, where an ad was playing.

The next instant, his brow creased.

"Isn't that Baek Iwon over there?"

"Excuse me? Hunter Baek Iwon? He shouldn't be back yet......"

Haeseong turned with a puzzled face to follow where Sahyeon was looking.

The large monitor mounted behind Haeseong.

A man with neatly cropped white hair and striking features filled the screen. Subtitles scrolled across below his face.

[When the emergency alarm sounds, follow the hunter's instructions and immediately evacuate to the nearest shelter—]

"Oh, that's a Hunter Iwon public service announcement!"

"A public service announcement?"

Sahyeon let out a dumbfounded laugh.

"Hunters do that kind of thing too?"

"Uh...... it's pretty normal? Hunters appearing in ads is common these days."

A reaction as if he were seeing a hunter PSA for the very first time.

"Did you seriously come from some mountain with no cell reception......?"

Haeseong asked cautiously, his face bewildered.

"Something like that."

A mountain, specifically underground — but close enough.

Sahyeon swallowed the rest and smirked, and Haeseong's eyes went round as a rabbit's.

"W-Really? Then—"

Just as he was about to follow up—

"Wow!! It's Hunter Baek Iwon!!"

A small child came bounding over with a shout. The kid had spotted Baek Iwon's face splashed across the monitor and come running.

The piercing high note struck Sahyeon's eardrums, and his brow crumpled reflexively.

"Ha. What did Baek Iwon ever do to deserve that kind of racket?"

"These days, hunters are more popular than most celebrities. Especially Hunter Baek Iwon — he's handsome, you know."

Having taken Sahyeon's mountain story completely at face value, Haeseong began to explain step by step.

"Hunter Baek Iwon is especially popular as the number-one role model among children."

It had been about four years since Hunter Baek Iwon first appeared in the media as an S-rank Hunter.

His unrivaled power as the Ranking 1st, his actor-grade looks, and on top of that, a reputation for character so sterling that heartwarming stories poured out every time. His popularity ranking sitting at first place was, in a sense, inevitable.

"Baek Iwon is already Ranking 1st?"

Sahyeon raised an eyebrow, and Haeseong blinked in confusion.

"But how do you know Hunter Baek Iwon?"

Apparently it was strange to know Baek Iwon but not know about hunter PSAs.

'It's not like we're close or anything.'

Sahyeon was about to answer casually when—

"He really is so cool!!"

The child's voice struck his eardrums again, and the crease between Sahyeon's brows deepened.

[—With great power comes great responsibility.]

Every time the image of Hunter Baek Iwon on screen changed, the child let out enormous exclamations and bounced in place.

Sahyeon opened his mouth toward the kid without a moment's hesitation.

"What are you, a Monstrous Bird? Screeching and bouncing around in a public place like that."

The Monstrous Bird — a monster that attacked with sound waves.

Its ear-splitting shrieks targeting the eardrums were a dead match for the child.

"A, a Monstrous Bird......?"

At Sahyeon's words, the child froze with his mouth hanging open.

His reaction was as if he'd just been hit with the worst insult imaginable.

And for good reason — the Monstrous Bird's screeching was bad enough, but its appearance was truly hideous.

Even as the child stood there looking thoroughly traumatized, Sahyeon was still narrowing his eyes in displeasure when—

"I told you to pick out your order, and here you are. What are you doing?"

While the kid stood there stiff as a board, a student in a school uniform walked over.

"Sissy......"

The child's eyes, now brimming with tears, turned to the student.

"...What? Are you crying?!"

"That mister over there...... called me a Monstrous Bird!"

"What?"

"He said I'm ugly and loud— WAAAH!"

Haeseong panicked and apologized on Sahyeon's behalf.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. The thing is......"

Haeseong tried to explain the situation, but the sister, who had already grasped what had happened, waved her hand.

"Oh, no, it's fine!"

The sister shook her hands, then looked down at her younger brother and clicked her tongue.

"Hey, Ji Eunwoo. Didn't I tell you not to run around like a colt screaming outside?"

Under the firm scolding, the little brother jutted out his lower lip in a pout.

"Now hurry up and apologize."

The sister must have been quite strict, because the brother reluctantly said his sorry.

Under the sister's authority, the situation was resolved quickly.

After the sister gave Sahyeon and Haeseong a polite, no-nonsense goodbye, she slung her arm around her brother's shoulders and led him away.

"You're getting a single burger, no combo. That's your punishment."

"Aw, Sissy!"

The siblings bickered in front of the kiosk.

Haeseong let out a faint smile.

"Nice to see, isn't it?"

"What is."

Haeseong paid no mind to Sahyeon's disinterested answer and watched the siblings with gentle eyes.

"Everyday scenes like that. When I think that the work I do as a hunter is about protecting people's daily lives, I feel a real sense of purpose."

"......"

Sahyeon crunched through the remaining ice in his cola cup and slowly looked around.

The world he had known was a grim, perilous place where a Gate could appear at any moment and obliterate a city.

Far from hunters kicking back and playing celebrity, it was a miracle if the person you saw yesterday wasn't a corpse by tomorrow.

The same went for the non-Awakened civilians, peacefully eating burgers in the middle of a Dungeon Break.

Even Sahyeon hadn't anticipated this kind of scene before coming up to the surface, but......

"What is this, a documentary?"

Sahyeon scowled with open distaste.

Protecting people's daily lives. He couldn't fathom such a sentimental reason. To him, an Awakened's power was nothing more than a means of survival.

"I suppose so......"

Haeseong's shoulders drooped with a deflated expression.

"You're right — talking like that during a national emergency is a bit much."

As Haeseong scratched his face sheepishly and added that, Sahyeon raised an eyebrow and gazed out the window.

"Now that you mention it, it is oddly quiet for an emergency."

"True. We're still in the early stages, and since Hunter Baek Iwon was dispatched right away to the A-rank Gate that appeared this morning, the damage hasn't been too bad."

Haeseong nodded, looking out the window along with him.

"Of course, if another Gate were to burst open right here, that's when it'd turn into chaos."

Just as Haeseong was continuing in a calm tone—

BUZZZZ—!

BUZZ— BUZZZZ!

Haeseong's and Sahyeon's watches began vibrating simultaneously.

Haeseong's eyes went wide.

Sahyeon, unfazed, glanced down at the watch buzzing on his wrist.

"Like this?"

"Uh, y-yes, like that......?!"

Haeseong's voice cracked.

The Gate Detection Device had responded.

Which meant......

"W-Wait!!"

Haeseong had just kicked back his chair and leapt to his feet when—

BEEEEEEEP—

BEEEEP—

BEEEEEEEP—

Shrill alarm tones erupted from every corner of the restaurant.

Everyone froze mid-motion, eyes wide with shock.

The lively variety show playing on the restaurant monitors cut to a blue screen.

And above it, the Hunter Association logo — a pair of wings flanking a spear — appeared.

Over the blaring alarm, an announcement played.

[Abnormal Gate energy has been detected in the vicinity of Seocho Station intersection. Citizens in the affected area are advised to—]

Sahyeon tapped the table with his index finger.

"Abnormal Gate"......

It meant a rift could open at any moment, forming a Gate.

And—

"The Seocho Station intersection... that's right here?!"

Haeseong clutched his head with both hands.