When he was young, there was something he learned from his parents.
Even when life is hard, let us live decently.
His mother and father were not extraordinary people, but they were decent enough.
They were the sort of people who would ask if someone they passed looked to be in trouble.
They had ordinary compassion for humanity.
Having grown up under such parents, Kang Ha-min naturally learned from them.
No matter how hard life became, let us not live in a way unworthy of human beings.
That was why Kang Ha-min was not a bad enough person to ignore a crisis right before his eyes.
However, the price of helping in that crisis was Kang Ha-min’s to bear.
His mother and father being in danger.
The deaths he had only viewed as numbers during his days as a public official.
His childhood friend who had gone missing in a Dimensional Break.
All of it had come together, and he had saved people first.
‘At this rate, my identity is going to be completely exposed!’
Even now, Kang Ha-min was reluctant to let people know about him.
Look at modern society.
How harsh and frightening it was.
Modern society did not hesitate to cast people into the abyss if they did not suit its tastes even a little.
Perhaps someone born with exceptional mental fortitude could endure that.
But Kang Ha-min had no way to survive in that harsh modern society.
So even if he lived as a Hunter, he wanted to live quietly.
Even if the Tower’s failure to update became a crisis, he wanted to handle that quietly as well.
It was better to be a less wealthy man with less public exposure than a wealthy man whose face was known everywhere!
‘Aaaagh, Kang Ha-min!’
He should have concealed himself more thoroughly than simply wearing a mask.
No. If he had, several people might have died while he was getting ready.
He was not willing to let people die just to protect himself.
Even his inability to be cruel came from timid Kang Ha-min, and he smiled bitterly.
Right. He had saved people. That was enough.
“O-Okay.”
At that moment, a child in his mother’s arms spoke up.
“Mister, I’ll keep it secret.”
Mister.
The word pierced him like a dagger, but the child’s eyes were sincere.
If he had come after fully preparing himself, he might not have been able to save that child.
That fact allowed Kang Ha-min to shake off the weight in his heart.
“Good.”
“We will keep it secret as well.”
“You saved our lives, so of course.”
Following the child’s lead, the adults spoke one after another.
They all came together with one heart to honor their benefactor’s request.
Kang Ha-min felt a lump rise in his throat.
Human compassion had not disappeared yet.
“Thank you.”
After offering them a brief greeting, Kang Ha-min turned away.
He could sense Hunters approaching from far away.
The Dimensional Break had been dealt with.
There was no need to remain here any longer.
“……Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, later, let’s say this was something you did.”
Still, this was separate from that.
“Very well.”
Baek Cheon-myeong appeared at some point and nodded.
“Mister, thank you for saving us.”
With the child’s final thanks in his ears, Kang Ha-min smiled and left.
That was Kang Ha-min’s first Dimensional Break.
***
Hunters arrived belatedly where Kang Ha-min had departed.
Everyone who had been trapped inside the building had gathered in one place and was safe.
The Hunters were all astonished by what they saw.
“There are no injured people?”
“Everyone on the missing persons list is safe.”
“What in the world?”
For a large Dimensional Break that had erupted so suddenly, it was the first time there had been so few casualties.
“We do not know.”
“Yes, ashen monsters suddenly appeared and saved us.”
For some reason, the people only kept repeating that ashen monsters had saved them.
The reporters who had come to gather statements were equally bewildered.
What did it mean for ashen monsters to save people?
They refused to say anything more.
It was a promise for the hero who had saved them.
Separate from the people who refused to give statements.
“There was a Hunter. He controlled dead monsters.”
The Hunters at the scene also gave vague answers.
The situation had been so urgent that no one had seen things properly.
Still, one fact became clear.
A Hunter had suddenly appeared at the scene.
That Hunter had saved countless people and killed the monsters.
[Comments]
PukoPuko: What kind of Hunter even controls monsters?
BNUT: It seems like some kind of special class.
daily_min: There’s a video link to the scene. It’s hard to see, but there are a fucking ton of ashen monsters. For real.
hunter_archive: http://...
AspiringRanker: Wow, what the hell? How many monsters does that person even control?
WishToLeaveWork: Is that not at least an A Grade Hunter?
narin.studio: I am an active A Grade Hunter of the Summoning Lineage. There is absolutely no A Grade Hunter capable of that.
Do Gyu-ho: I am an A Grade Hunter, and anyway, I cannot do that∼
Godeunggyo: No matter who sees it, that is not an A Grade scale. It is S Grade-level.
Srank_only: It could be a different lineage. If it is a lineage like a Necromancer rather than a Summoner, then it is not completely impossible even for an A Grade Hunter.
happymoment: I am an A Grade Necromancer, and I cannot do it either. T_T
↳awaken_log33: There is not even an S Grade Hunter of the Summoning Lineage in our country, is there?
↳Minne: Was our country not the one that recently renewed the top Floor 1 achievement? Could it be that person?
↳Mahoju: Right. That is why the Hunter industry is starting to go crazy. Everyone is asking who it is. Deus even made a post a little while ago. He has a huge number of achievements.
↳WalnutPeanut: LOL. Deus, the self-proclaimed strongest attention seeker, gets pwned by the backwater country Korea!!@@@
↳today_haru12: Then is that not a new S Grade Hunter?
↳Gaedori: If a new S Grade Hunter had appeared, the government would have made a huge fuss and announced it long ago. It has been quiet until now.
↳Yoo Young: I work at a sales center. It is confidential, but an official notice came down a while ago. We were told to find a special-item seller…….
[This post has been deleted.]
***
Kang Ha-min later reunited safely with his parents.
Since they had nearly died, seeing that they were unharmed almost made his legs give out.
It was bad for his heart.
He hoped something like this would never happen again.
“Do not worry, Ha-min. This dad is not going to die anywhere.”
“Listen to you acting tough. Ha-min, do you know how much your father panicked? He said that if it looked like he was going to die, I should go on without him.”
They could laugh it off only because everything was over.
Even so, Kang Ha-min could vaguely sense just how urgent the situation had been from their conversation.
“Still, you somehow managed to get out safely.”
“Truly. Just as you said. Fortunately, the patient in the bed across from ours was a Hunter.
“If it were not for that person, we would have been trapped without a way out.”
“Right. We were lucky.”
His father agreed with his mother.
……The person in the bed across from them was a Hunter?
Kang Ha-min narrowed his eyes.
It felt strangely suspicious to dismiss as a coincidence.
“Really? We should thank them when we meet them next time.”
“Exactly. That person is a patient as well, but because they are a Hunter, they were called away to explain the situation at the scene. It is a real problem that we could not even properly thank them.”
“Yeah. When you meet them next time, let me know too.”
Kang Ha-min had confirmed that his parents were safe.
After confirming that his father had been readmitted to a nearby hospital, he took out his phone.
Today’s events had made him certain.
‘I hid myself too complacently.’
The other side was the government.
Yet he had assumed that he could hide his identity from that government too easily.
‘This is not enough.’
If he was going to hide, he had to hide more thoroughly.
If he was going to pursue a safety-first life, he needed to conceal himself far more securely.
He made his decision.
Kang Ha-min quietly went somewhere with no people around.
“Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, please make a call.”
“Very well.”
When he placed the call, a voice sounded from the other end along with the ringtone.
[ Yes, Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong. This is Shin No-seop speaking! ]
His voice was energetic today as well.
Hearing it, Kang Ha-min quietly parted his lips.
“Di-Director Shin. You assigned someone to Kang Ha-min.”
He needed a collaborator for this.
The timing had been far too perfect.
Even if it was made to look like a coincidence, the timing was too convenient.
How long did silence continue from Shin No-seop’s end?
[ Yes, that is correct. ]
Just as expected, Shin No-seop’s voice remained calm.
[ It was wrong not to inform Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong, but I believed it was necessary.
I do not know what relationship you have with Kang Ha-min, but if he is connected to you, then he is an important person. ]
Shin No-seop was someone who kept every possibility open.
Even if his measures were excessive, it was better to be criticized later.
If something happened, it would be too late.
And his judgment had truly been excellent.
“How many people know about my relationship with Kang Ha-min?”
[ Myself, the Director General, and a girl named Kim Min-ji who assists me. ]
Shin No-seop was a capable person.
Moreover, he was not the sort to sell information anywhere.
“Can Kim Min-ji be trusted?”
[ Yes. She may appear to have some unreliable qualities, but she is someone the government separately supported and raised for special missions. She is an orphan with no family or social ties. ]
They had even raised people like that?
Kang Ha-min flinched, feeling as though he had learned about the government’s hidden side for no reason.
But thanks to that, he could trust Shin No-seop even more.
Someone like this could protect Kang Ha-min’s existence more securely.
“You did well. As you judged, Kang Ha-min is a dear friend to me. Your decision to help him was entirely correct.”
[ That is fortunate. Thank you for viewing it favorably! ]
“Therefore, I would like to ask that you continue protecting him, beginning with protection from outside parties.”
[ Yes. We will block information about him at the source as well. ]
As expected of a perceptive person.
Shin No-seop surely had some suspicions.
But he had no intention whatsoever of digging any deeper.
He was at the point where, if Baek Cheon-myeong said black was white, he would agree.
‘With this, my information will be blocked, and the country will protect both me and my parents as its top priority.’
Kang Ha-min felt a great weight lift from him.
He had put Baek Cheon-myeong forward as a stand-in, but he had gained a useful ally.
[ Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong, given how things have turned out, I would like to tell you several things. ]
At that moment, Shin No-seop spoke in a cautious voice.
“Speak.”
[ The Korean Hunter world is currently in an extremely dangerous situation.
After former S Grade Hunter Park Kang-jun was won over by Chinese lobbying, the entire world has begun targeting Korean Hunters. ]
Anything was difficult only the first time.
The moment even one precedent remained, the possibility existed.
[ Several countries are attempting to recruit Korean Hunters, and quite a number of Hunters have actually left. ]
The Hunter exodus crisis had begun in earnest with S Grade Hunter Park Kang-jun.
The more Hunters there were who left, the more national defense weakened.
And fewer people remained who could respond to Dimensional Breaks.
Modern weaponry did not display its full power against monsters.
Missiles and nuclear weapons could defeat monsters, but that was all.
The resulting loss of life would be multiplied, making them an option that could not be chosen.
In the end, Hunters were best suited to dealing with monsters.
[ Did you notice that there was not enough manpower during today’s Dimensional Break incident? ]
“……Yes.”
Kang Ha-min had also been a public official who worked in the Dimensional Break Management Division.
Recently, the number of incidents caused by Dimensional Breaks had been steadily increasing.
The frequency of Dimensional Breaks was rising with each passing day.
Moreover, acute Dimensional Breaks with unpredictable activation times were also increasing.
It was as though the Tower were issuing a warning.
It seemed to be announcing the approaching Second Trial in advance.
[ That was because Hunters from the capital region were deployed to stop several Dimensional Breaks that first erupted in Gyeonggi Province. ]
Korea had a small population.
The global economy had collapsed after the First Trial.
As a result, Korea, which had already been facing a demographic cliff, had been hit even harder.
Last year, it recorded the world’s lowest birth rate, less than one-tenth of the global average.
A shortage of population meant a shortage of Hunters.
Moreover, because of the population concentration in the capital region, only the capital had many people.
There was no choice but to send Hunters from the capital to stop Dimensional Breaks occurring in other regions.
Naturally, this increased the burden placed on Hunters.
Tired Hunters heard about better conditions and left the country.
That was the beginning of both the talent drain and the vicious cycle.
The number of Hunters was declining by the day, while the talent drain had become severe.
Korea was clearly in a state of crisis.
[ And other countries are actively taking advantage of that fact. The same applies to S Grade Hunters. ]
“You mean I will be the next target for recruitment?”
[ That is right. Therefore, if Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong’s identity is revealed. ]
“I will become a target.”
Kang Ha-min had grasped the situation well enough.
[ Yes. In fact, one person is already making a move. ]
Making a move?
Who?
[ Deus. ]
Kang Ha-min’s face froze.
America’s self-proclaimed strongest Hunter.
The man who had rewritten countless Tower records and was set to achieve the fastest Tower Ascension.
Deus (Deus)
He was searching for Baek Cheon-myeong.