Chapter 14
There was something Kang Ha-min's parents had taught him when he was young.
Even if life was difficult,
live like a decent human being.
Neither his mother nor father was particularly special.
But they were both fairly good people.
If they saw someone struggling on the street, they were the kind of people who would at least stop once and ask if they needed help.
They had ordinary human compassion.
Naturally,
Kang Ha-min had grown up watching them.
No matter how difficult life became,
don't live without humanity.
That was why Kang Ha-min wasn't cruel enough to simply ignore a crisis in front of him.
However,
the consequences of helping were now his problem.
His parents had been in danger.
He had remembered the deaths that had once been nothing but numbers during his days as a civil servant.
He remembered his childhood friend who disappeared during a Dimensional Break.
All of those things came together,
so he had simply saved people first.
But...
Now my identity is going to be exposed everywhere!
Kang Ha-min still hated the thought of becoming famous.
Look at modern society.
It was cruel.
It was frightening.
The moment someone failed to match people's expectations, society wouldn't hesitate to tear them down.
Someone with naturally strong mental strength might survive that.
Kang Ha-min couldn't.
There was no way he could withstand that kind of harsh attention.
Even if he became a Hunter,
he wanted to remain quiet.
If the world was in danger because the Tower wasn't progressing,
he wanted to solve that quietly too.
He would rather be a slightly less wealthy rich man nobody knew than a rich man whose face was everywhere!
Uaaaaagh, Kang Ha-min!
He should have hidden more than just his face.
No.
If he had spent more time preparing,
several people might have died.
He wasn't going to let people die just to protect himself.
Kang Ha-min, timid even in the way he couldn't become cruel, smiled bitterly.
Fine.
He had saved people.
That was what mattered.
"O, okay."
At that moment,
a small child being held by his mother spoke.
"Mister, I'll keep it secret."
Mister.
That word stabbed him like a knife.
But the child's eyes were sincere.
If Ha-min had taken the time to fully prepare,
he might not have saved that child.
That thought helped remove some of the weight from his heart.
"We'll do the same."
"We'll keep it secret too."
"You saved our lives. Of course we'll do that much."
After the child,
the adults began speaking one by one.
They all came together with one purpose.
They wanted to grant their savior's request.
Ha-min unexpectedly felt emotional.
Human compassion hadn't disappeared from the world yet.
"Thank you."
He gave them a short greeting and turned away.
He could sense Hunters approaching from a distance.
The Dimensional Break had already been handled.
There was no reason to remain here.
"...Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, let's say later that you were the one who did all this."
That was that.
This was this.
"Very well."
Baek Cheon-myeong appeared beside him and nodded.
"Mister, thank you for saving us."
Listening to the child's final words,
Kang Ha-min smiled and left.
That was Kang Ha-min's first Dimensional Break.
Hunters arrived shortly after Kang Ha-min left.
Everyone who had been trapped inside the building had gathered in one location and survived.
The Hunters were shocked.
"There aren't any injured people?"
"Everyone on the missing-person list is safe."
"What happened here?"
It was the first time they had seen so few casualties from such a large Dimensional Break.
"We don't know."
"Yeah. Some gray monsters suddenly appeared and saved us."
For some reason,
all the survivors repeatedly claimed that gray monsters had saved them.
Even the reporters who came to interview them were confused.
Gray monsters had saved people?
What did that even mean?
But the survivors refused to say anything else.
It was a promise made for the hero who saved them.
Apart from the survivors refusing to speak,
the Hunters who had been present gave vague answers as well.
"There was a Hunter. He controlled dead monsters."
The situation had been so chaotic that very few people had seen him properly.
Still,
one fact became clear.
A mysterious Hunter had suddenly appeared at the scene.
That Hunter had saved countless people and defeated the monsters.
[Comments]
PukoPuko: What kind of Hunter controls monsters?
BNUT: Must be some kind of special Class.
daily_min: There's a video from the scene. Hard to see clearly but there are seriously a ton of gray monsters.
hunter_archive: http://...
AspiringRanker: Whoa, what the hell? How many monsters is that person controlling?
WishForClockout: At least A Rank, right?
narin.studio: I'm an active A Rank summon-type Hunter. Absolutely nobody among A Rank Hunters can do that.
Do Gyu-ho: I'm an A Rank Hunter and anyway, I can't do it~
GoDeungGyo: That's obviously beyond A Rank scale. Looks S Rank.
Srank_only: Might be a different type. If it's something like a Necromancer instead of a normal summoner, maybe A Rank isn't completely impossible.
happymoment: I'm an A Rank Necromancer and I can't do that ㅠㅠ
↳awaken_log33: We don't even have an S Rank summon-type Hunter in Korea, right?
↳Minne: Didn't Korea recently update the highest First Floor achievement? Could it be that person?
↳Mahozu: Yeah. The Hunter industry is already starting to go crazy trying to figure out who it is. Even Deus posted about it recently, and that guy has tons of achievements.
↳WalnutPeanut: LOL self-proclaimed strongest attention seeker Deus just got surpassed by little old Korea!!
↳today_haru12: Then doesn't that mean a new S Rank Hunter appeared?
↳Gaedori: If a new S Rank Hunter appeared, the government would've made a huge announcement already. It's been completely quiet.
↳Yuyoung: I work at a Hunter Marketplace. This is supposed to be confidential, but we recently received an official notice telling us to search for someone selling special items...
[This post has been deleted.]
Afterward,
Kang Ha-min safely reunited with his parents.
Considering they had nearly died,
his legs almost gave out the moment he saw that they were safe.
This was terrible for his heart.
He desperately hoped nothing like this ever happened again.
"Don't worry, Ha-min. Your father isn't going to die that easily."
"Listen to him acting tough. Ha-min, do you know how much your father panicked? He told me that if it looked like we were going to die, I should leave him behind and run first."
They could laugh about it now only because everything had already ended safely.
Even from the conversation,
Ha-min could tell how desperate the situation had been.
"Still, I'm glad you managed to get out safely."
"Seriously. Just like you said, we were lucky. The person staying in the bed across from us happened to be a Hunter."
"If it weren't for that person, we'd definitely have been trapped inside."
"That's 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 slightly too suspicious to call it coincidence.
"Really? Then we should thank that person next time."
"Absolutely. Apparently, they were called away to explain what happened because they're both a patient and a Hunter. We couldn't even thank them properly."
"Okay. If you meet them again, let me know too."
He had confirmed that his parents were safe.
After making sure his father was admitted to another nearby hospital,
Ha-min took out his phone.
Today's incident had convinced him of something.
I was far too careless about hiding myself.
His opponent was the government.
He had assumed hiding his identity from them would be easy.
This isn't enough.
If he wanted to hide,
he needed to do it properly.
If he truly believed in safety first,
he needed much stronger protection.
Kang Ha-min made up his mind.
He quietly entered an empty place.
"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, please make a call for me."
"Very well."
They called.
A voice answered from the other side.
[Yes, Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong. This is Shin No-seop speaking!]
Cheerful as always.
Kang Ha-min quietly opened his mouth.
"Department Head Shin. You placed someone near Kang Ha-min."
To protect himself properly,
he needed an ally.
The timing had been too perfect.
Even pretending it was coincidence couldn't explain it.
Silence continued from Shin No-seop for a moment.
[Yes. That is correct.]
As expected,
Shin No-seop's voice remained calm.
[It was wrong of me 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 everyone connected to him is important as well.]
Shin No-seop was the type of man who considered every possibility.
Even if his response ended up being excessive,
he would rather be criticized later.
Once something happened, it would already be too late.
And his judgment had actually been excellent.
"How many people know about the relationship between myself and Kang Ha-min?"
[Myself, the Director General, and a woman named Kim Min-ji who assists me.]
Shin No-seop was capable.
And he didn't seem like someone who would sell information to others.
"Can this Kim Min-ji be trusted?"
[Yes. She may appear unreliable at times, but she was specially recruited and trained by the government for classified duties.]
[She is also an orphan without parents or meaningful social connections.]
They even raised people like that?
Ha-min flinched after learning a little more than he wanted about the government's hidden side.
Still,
that made him trust Shin No-seop more.
Someone like this could protect Kang Ha-min's existence much more effectively.
"Well done. Just as you suspected, Kang Ha-min is a precious friend of mine."
"Your decision to help him was completely correct."
[That's a relief. Thank you for viewing my actions positively!]
"Then I would like you to continue protecting him in the future, beginning with outside threats."
[Yes. We will completely block access to information concerning him as well.]
As expected of someone sharp.
From Shin No-seop's perspective,
there had to be suspicious parts of the story.
But he didn't try to investigate any deeper.
He seemed ready to call black white if Baek Cheon-myeong asked him to.
With this, my information will be blocked, and the government will also prioritize protecting me and my parents.
Kang Ha-min finally relaxed.
He had used Baek Cheon-myeong as a substitute identity,
and now he had also gained a useful ally.
[Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong, since the situation has reached this point, I would like to tell you a few things.]
Shin No-seop's voice suddenly became serious.
"Speak."
[The Korean Hunter community is currently in a very dangerous situation.]
[After the previous S Rank Hunter Park Kang-jun was taken by China's lobbying, countries around the world began targeting Korean Hunters.]
Anything was difficult only the first time.
Once there was a single successful example,
others realized it was possible.
[Several nations are trying to recruit Korean Hunters, and quite a few have already left.]
The Hunter talent drain had begun in earnest with S Rank Hunter Park Kang-jun.
The fewer Hunters remained,
the weaker national defense became.
There were also fewer people capable of responding to Dimensional Breaks.
Modern weapons did not work properly against monsters.
Missiles and nuclear weapons could kill monsters,
but that was all.
The resulting civilian casualties would become many times worse, so those weapons couldn't realistically be used.
In the end,
Hunters were the best weapons against monsters.
[Did you notice during today's Dimensional Break that there weren't enough Hunters available?]
"...Yes."
Kang Ha-min was a former civil servant who had worked in the Dimensional Break department.
Recently,
the number of incidents caused by Dimensional Breaks had been steadily increasing.
The number of Dimensional Breaks themselves was rising day by day.
Even worse,
sudden Dimensional Breaks that activated without warning had also become more common.
It was almost as if the Tower were issuing a warning.
Like it was announcing the approaching Second Trial in advance.
[That happened because several Dimensional Breaks erupted in Gyeonggi Province first, so Hunters from the capital area were sent there.]
South Korea had a small population.
The world economy had collapsed after the First Trial.
South Korea had already suffered from a population crisis before that,
and the economic collapse had made things even worse.
As a result,
the country recorded a birth rate less than one-tenth of the world average last year, the lowest in the world.
A smaller population meant fewer Hunters.
On top of that,
South Korea's population was heavily concentrated in the capital region.
So whenever Dimensional Breaks occurred in other areas,
Hunters from the capital had to be sent there.
Naturally,
the burden placed on Hunters became even heavier.
Exhausted Hunters heard better offers from other countries and left.
That was the beginning of talent loss.
A vicious cycle.
The number of Hunters decreased,
and the talent drain became more severe.
South Korea was clearly in crisis.
[And other countries are actively exploiting that weakness. The same applies to S Rank Hunters.]
"You're saying I will become their next recruitment target?"
[Exactly. So if Hunter Baek Cheon-myeong's identity becomes public...]
"I will be targeted."
Kang Ha-min understood the situation.
[Yes. In fact, one person is already moving.]
Someone was already moving?
Who?
[Deus.]
Kang Ha-min's face froze.
America's self-proclaimed strongest Hunter.
The man who had rewritten countless Tower records.
The man expected to achieve the fastest Tower Ascension in history.
Deus.
He was searching for Baek Cheon-myeong.
