“Y-You…! Are you insane?!”
Kim Jin-cheol, President of the Korea Hunter Association.
He was one of South Korea’s first-generation Hunters and an active S-rank Hunter.
There were rumors that he had become considerably more mild-mannered after taking office as Association President, despite having once been known for his fiery temper.
“You crazy bastard! Are you trying to get someone killed?!”
Right now, however, Kim Jin-cheol looked exactly as he had in his active-duty days.
“Hey! Choi Ji-woong! Are you protesting or something?”
And it was not only Kim Jin-cheol.
Park Min-ho, the Special Division Director and one of the most influential figures in the Hunter Association, pressed his throbbing temple as he spoke.
“Ji-woong, answer me. What the hell were you thinking?”
The reason Choi Ji-woong, a team leader in the Special Division, was being torn into was simple.
“He is the Slaughterer! The Slaughterer! I have risked my life on more battlefields than I can count, but I have never seen eyes like his in my entire life. Just looking at him makes my knees go weak.”
The Returnee, Kim Si-hyeon.
Also known as the Slaughterer.
He had said he wanted to become an Association civil servant, and Choi Ji-woong had been unable to refuse him on the spot, instead telling him it was possible.
“You want to bring a demonic Returnee like that into the Association…? Are you trying to cause a catastrophe?”
At last, Choi Ji-woong, who had kept his head bowed the entire time, spoke.
“…Is that not a good thing?”
“What?”
“What did you say?”
“He is an SS-rank Hunter, even at the most conservative estimate. Did you not say that other countries, after receiving reports about the Ultra-Anomalous Gate incident, had already begun investigating him? If we make one wrong move, another country could take him from us.”
“Ahem.”
At Choi Ji-woong’s words, Kim Jin-cheol and Park Min-ho cleared their throats at the same time.
“If he works for the Association, would that not at least make him easier to keep track of? More importantly, a Hunter of that caliber joining the Association instead of a guild would itself be….”
“A first. Some operate independently, but not one of them has ever tried to join a government institution.”
Returnees were all extraordinary beings.
That applied to their power, their values, and the lives they had lived.
‘Britain’s King Arthur.’
He was a Returnee said to have come back after defeating a Demon King.
Apparently, he had become the king of that world after defeating the Demon King, and even after returning, he still tried to reign as a king, leaving the British government with a constant headache.
Choi Ji-woong had heard that they had even granted him part of British territory as a duchy.
Compared to that, a single civil-service position in the Association was nothing.
“…That is true.”
“President!”
Park Min-ho stopped Kim Jin-cheol before he could agree.
“That is not the problem.”
Park Min-ho, the highly seasoned Special Division Director.
He too was an S-rank Hunter like the Association President, one of only two S-rank Hunters possessed by the Association.
“It is too dangerous. If we simply leave him alone, he does not seem likely to leave the safe house. Would we not just be letting a ticking time bomb roam around for no reason?”
Park Min-ho’s concern was reasonable.
“…That Returnee is a lion. A tiger.”
“There are people who tame wild beasts.”
“Do you think he sees us as people?”
Park Min-ho was merciless.
“…Before the Slaughterer, we are ants. At least, that is what my instincts tell me.”
“You are exaggerating. It is not that bad. We have not even properly assessed his abilities yet.”
“Are you serious?”
Unlike Kim Jin-cheol, who had never properly faced Kim Si-hyeon, Park Min-ho had personally seen him slaughtering monsters and could not accept that so easily.
Either way, only one person had the authority to make the decision.
“…….”
Association President Kim Jin-cheol.
“Bring him in.”
The decision was made.
“If he goes berserk, we have no way to stop him anyway. In that case, we might as well keep him close and try to make it work somehow.”
“He is not someone we can put a leash on!”
“Who said anything about putting a leash on him?”
Kim Jin-cheol spoke with a resigned expression.
“Lion or tiger, let us just bring him whatever meat he asks for and keep him well-fed and comfortable. Would a full predator even bother paying attention to ants?”
And so, the decision was made to hire Kim Si-hyeon into the Association.
“And you are his handler, Choi Ji-woong. You started this, so you take responsibility and deal with it.”
“…Pardon?”
“What do you mean, ‘Pardon?’ Conversation over. Oh, and the Slaughterer is assigned to the Special Division.”
“President!”
Choi Ji-woong, who had accepted Kim Si-hyeon’s request while planning to dump him on some other department and slip away, had only one thought.
‘I’m fucked.’
This world was fairly different from the one I knew.
At least until thirty years ago, it seemed to have been an ordinary modern society much like mine.
Then, thirty years ago...
“There was an event called the ‘Great Upheaval’…”
According to Choi Ji-woong, the world changed with the ‘Great Upheaval.’
“A meteor shower fell from the sky, and monsters appeared along with Gates.”
“Ah. I know.”
I answered.
“I read about things like that in novels.”
Books had been my only friends.
They were the only hobby I could have while living with the loneliness of being alone and the constant fear that a zombie might tear me apart at any moment.
Five years after the zombie outbreak began, every light in Seoul went out.
By the tenth year, the entire world had been swallowed by darkness.
Televisions, YouTube, computers—none of them worked anymore.
The only things left to read were books printed on paper.
“…There were novels like that? If so, they might as well have been books of prophecy.”
Did fantasy novels not exist in this world?
Well, even in my world, only certain people read that kind of fiction, so perhaps someone like Choi Ji-woong simply had never known about them.
“Monsters appeared, but fortunately, so did superhumans called Hunters.”
Choi Ji-woong continued his explanation.
He said this was part of the basic training course required to become an Association Hunter.
“The differences in strength according to rank… the treatment Hunters receive….”
“Mm.”
“And even if someone is a Hunter, they must not kill people recklessly.”
I see.
“So I can kill them as long as I’m not reckless about it?”
“Yes! Yes! Of course. No, whether recklessly or carefully, you must not kill them.”
Realizing his mistake, Choi Ji-woong hurriedly corrected himself.
“There are laws, after all.”
“…Even if they try to kill me?”
At my question, Choi Ji-woong seemed to think for a moment before answering.
“Hunters are important national strategic assets, so legitimate self-defense does apply when protecting yourself. However, it is easier said than done. If a Hunter actually harms another person, they may still be punished. Of course, there are certain exceptions beginning at S-rank… Ah, please forget I said that.”
I scratched my cheek and asked.
“Gates are like independent spaces, right? What about in there?”
“Pardon?”
“If I kill someone there, is that not allowed? Couldn’t I just say… a monster did it?”
“Uh…! No! You cannot!”
Choi Ji-woong hurriedly protested.
“Crimes like that do actually happen, and they are difficult to punish, but—”
I nodded.
‘So I can.’
That was all I needed to know.
Choi Ji-woong went on to explain many other things about this world and the rules I had to follow while living in it.
“Whew. Did you understand everything?”
“I… understood.”
It had been ten full hours of lessons, repeated over several days.
“That is a relief. A lot of people run away because they hate sitting through this training.”
Really?
I had found it nothing but enjoyable.
After listening to nothing but the groans of zombies for years, simply hearing another person speak was entertaining.
Choi Ji-woong’s lengthy lessons could be summarized in a single sentence.
‘As long as I have a reason, I can do anything.’
That was the most important part for me.
If it was necessary for survival, I could do anything.
“You really understood it properly, correct?”
“Of course.”
More or less.
“Then do I start work tomorrow?”
I felt strangely excited.
“Do people not usually start work during the day?”
The more I learned about this world, the more fascinating it became.
It was finally my first day reporting to work at the Association, yet my shift began not early in the morning, but at eight in the evening.
“Are civil servants allowed to start work this late?”
“Ah, Special Division Hunters are a little different.”
Choi Ji-woong, standing beside me, explained.
“We work in three shifts. We never know when something might happen, so the post cannot be left unattended even for a moment. Is that perhaps… inconvenient…?”
“No. It doesn’t matter.”
“Haaah, that is a relief.”
I hardly slept anyway.
Even when I did, I divided my sleep into short thirty-minute intervals.
Lying down completely and falling into a deep sleep had been a luxury in a ruined world.
“If you need me to, I can work all three shifts.”
“No! No! That is quite all right!”
“Really?”
“We cannot overwork a valuable asset like you, Mr. Kim Si-hyeon!”
“I don’t mind.”
“No! I mind!”
His resistance was so fierce that I did not press the issue.
I had looked into the laws of this world before coming to work.
There were labor laws and things like that, so it was probably related to those.
I walked alongside Choi Ji-woong toward the building where the Special Division worked.
“What kind of place is the Special Division?”
I asked as we walked.
“You could call us the Association’s enforcers.”
“Enforcers.”
“We scout dangerous Gates, and we clear them as well.”
For once, Choi Ji-woong was not trembling faintly all over.
“We also deal with bad Hunters.”
“Bad Hunters?”
“Not every Hunter is a noble person. Many use their superhuman strength in the wrong ways.”
No.
That was wrong.
“Every person is precious.”
“Pardon? Ah, no, I did not mean that the Unawakened are not precious. I meant it more in terms of heroic sacrifice and—”
“I understand roughly what you meant.”
Of course Choi Ji-woong and I would see things differently.
I came from a world where I had been the only survivor, while he worked for something called the Hunter Association, alongside enough people to operate in three shifts.
“Still, every person is precious.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, we have arrived. This is….”
[Hunter Association Special Division]
That place became my first workplace.
“The Special Division.”
Shortly before Choi Ji-woong and Kim Si-hyeon arrived at the Special Division.
“…Is everyone ready?”
Special Division Director Park Min-ho and fifteen Special Division Hunters stood with grim expressions.
“Who are you?”
“We are the proud Special Division!”
The Hunters answered Park Min-ho.
“Who are we?”
“We are the sword that protects citizens amid the abnormal and the supernatural!”
Park Min-ho’s voice gradually grew louder.
“Our motto!”
“Punish Evil! Protect Humanity!”
“That is right!”
Their resolve was comparable to what they showed when preparing to clear an S-rank Gate.
They had not looked this determined even when facing the criminal Hunter organization known as the ‘Destruction Society.’
“Is everyone ready?”
Park Min-ho asked as his gaze swept across the Special Division Hunters one by one.
Each of them held a small bottle.
It contained a special drug supposedly created by the finest alchemists of the U.S. Hunter Association.
A drug given only to Hunters sent into impossible raids after resolving to throw away their lives.
-Death’s Illusion.
A cursed drug said to numb emotion and reason while erasing fear.
“Take it.”
GULP, GULP.
At Park Min-ho’s command, the Special Division Hunters immediately downed the drug.
Just as a crimson glow began to gleam in their eyes—
KNOCK, KNOCK.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Everyone, prepare to die if necessary.”
CREEEAK.
The door slowly opened.
“Welcome! Mr. Kim Si-hyeon…!”
Park Min-ho greeted Kim Si-hyeon while waving both hands like an amusement-park attraction attendant.