Chapter 4
Chapter 4
1. Status Window and Tutorial -2
Before I became a hunter, I made a living as an idol.
To put it a bit more precisely, you'd have to add "barely" or "struggling." We were known only to a small circle—maybe even more famous among grandpas and grandmas at senior centers than among young people.
Yeah. The group I was in was unpopular as hell. A so-called third-tier idol group. The kind that couldn't even dream of a fancy concert, just shuffling around rural village halls shaking tambourines.
If you ask how I ended up becoming an idol, it's a bit complicated... No, I started because they said if you're at least somewhat good-looking, you can make big money. The agency director blew smoke up my ass, saying my natural white hair was unique, that I was born to be an idol.
But there were more good-looking people in the world than you'd think. On top of that, there were bastards who were insanely good at dancing and singing too. I had the qualifications to stand at the starting line, but I didn't have the kind of talent that guaranteed success.
Add to that contract problems with the agency bastards, the CEO's shockingly outdated eye for talent, and a few members going off the rails—crashing and burning was maybe the natural outcome.
Then a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came our way.
A precious opportunity that might have revived the group itself. That golden time when the world's attention was focused on us... Although in the end we couldn't even capitalize on it and it blew up. Anyway.
That opportunity started with a post on an internet community.
[These bastards only do senior center shows, what are they doing, collecting regional red ginseng candy???]
"We want to perform too, you son of a bitch!"
I was the first person to see that post, and unable to contain my fury at the sentence that stabbed me right in the gut, I ended up blurting out a curse.
If I'd been alone in the dorm, it wouldn't have been a problem. I'd have gotten cussed out from the next room for being loud, and that would've been the end of it.
But at the time, I was doing a real-time chat broadcast on social media with about seven fans.
I begged the fans over and over not to spread it around, but do people listen just because you tell them to? A few days later, a third-rate idol's triggered reaction traveled through the wires and spread across the entire internet. I got chewed out by the director.
But you never know how things will turn out. That incident gained a cult following, and I got called the Red Ginseng Idol around the internet—receiving massive attention for the first time in my idol career.
That was the moment my perspective on communities changed. From a trash can full of malice to a sea of opportunity—dangerous, but occasionally hiding treasure.
From that day on, I swept through every internet community of any decent size. Because I thought if I could use this well, I could go viral. Because I thought maybe I could create a second stroke of luck with my own hands.
...That attempt failed too. But the experience still remains.
So what I'm saying is...
General | (Hunter1) | how do you ues thsi
General | (Hunter1) | no but the system translates automatically so how does a typo even come out
General | (Hunter1) | can you please delete the random box
Even though I was startled for a moment, this kind of atmosphere wasn't unfamiliar to me.
No, actually, it's great.
[General | (Hunter1) | Hello, I just got here, but what exactly is this system thing? Can someone tell me...]
: So this system thing suddenly appeared. What does it mean that it picks only one person from a planet? Are you guys also being attacked by trees?
└ First, if you've turned on the system, go to the shop and buy the most expensive weapon. It's fine to go into debt to buy it, go go. You'll pay it back quickly.
└ Waste of credits, no no no no;
└ A newcomer! Welcome! We are the [Hunter Alliance]. We provide support and education for beginner hunters, so if you're interested in joining, please contact us!
Look at that.
Someone in a similar situation to me—someone encountering the system for the first time—posted a question. But the comments below were almost like a Neapolitan horror story. The atmosphere wasn't one of answering kindly and honestly.
And... this board seemed to have no moderators, or was run extremely loosely. There wasn't even the usual announcement post, and no guide for beginners existed either.
A den of chaos where people run their mouths under the shell of anonymity. I already knew the answer to how to behave in a place like this to extract the maximum amount of information.
Quietly read the flow. Read posts carefully. Flip through pages and check all kinds of shitposts, and a few posts that especially get mocked will catch your eye.
You have to look at these very carefully.
Things like: there's a culture of keeping nicknames anonymous and protecting anonymity. Or: old-fashioned or serious posts get terrible reactions.
If you follow these so-called "taboos," you can safely and smoothly blend into the community. But then no one would pay attention to you. You have to do the opposite.
Mockery comes with attention.
I wrote and posted a single post while stepping on every landmine I'd identified. This 33-character title was about as perfect a clickbait title as you could make.
This is the perfect answer I present. With this, I will suck up all the information...!
Ding!
[General | Hunter 1 | My peers these days... // Your post has been registered.]
........
But as if it were a lie, no one paid any attention. Not even a single comment was left.
I don't know why, but it failed spectacularly.
I sidled up to Minsik, who was directing the civil engineering work, and started talking.
"...Minsik. Hey, do you remember when the internet was working fine? You know, online communities."
"Yeah. I remember."
Then Kim Minsik lifted the corner of his mouth like he'd caught me red-handed. And then he went and dragged up some musty old past incident and laid it out in the present day.
"This is bringing back vivid memories of when you tried some clumsy stealth advertising on a forum, got caught red-handed, and kicked up a whole controversy. The boss told you never to touch online communities again even if you died and came back, remember? That was the only good call that bastard ever made."
"No, it was a plan built on thorough theory. I still don't understand. What the hell was the problem? Should I have made the tone lighter?"
"It was cringe. I've never seen a post that cringe in my life. Even if an AI wrote it, it would've been less awkward. Noah. You don't analyze the vibe—you feel it, dumbass."
"........"
This is fucking unfair. My plan was definitely perfect.
"Taeho, I'm going to have a quick meeting with Noah Won, so keep things moving."
"Yes, sir!"
Minsik dumped the construction site he was directing onto a subordinate hunter, then left the quarantine zone and headed toward some nearby underbrush that had spread in. I could tell he had something to say, so I quietly followed.
After the Gate Incident—all surviving humans were suffering from plant phobia, so it was a safe place with little risk of someone following to eavesdrop.
As soon as everyone was far enough away, he fired a blunt question without any preamble.
"Is that the secret to how you killed the EX-grade Monster?"
"When a person keeps his mouth shut, you could at least pretend not to notice."
"The great Noah Won grabs a working man and starts spouting random shit—how am I supposed to just let that slide? If the internet were back up, everyone would be going crazy, but no information reached my ears... Time to spill it."
"........"
After a brief moment of deliberation, I nodded.
It wasn't an impulsive decision, of course. While exploring the hunter board, I'd found multiple cases of people sharing information about the Status Window with others who weren't users. There was no penalty for revealing secrets.
Some bastard even claimed the system was divine revelation and was playing cult leader on his planet. If there were people shouting it on a planetary scale, it was probably fine. And right now, I was in a situation where I needed help...
"So here's the thing."
I briefly explained the situation. The system I'd been granted and the Support Request. Credits and debt. Stages and Party Matching. And the community "hunter board"—my only means of searching for information.
After hearing my story, Kim Minsik seemed to be deep in thought. Just in case he said something like "Are you crazy?", I was preparing a few pieces of evidence that the system wasn't a hallucination.
The part Minsik latched onto was somewhere else entirely.
"...So this system thing is granted 'to the individual with the most outstanding talent on the planet'?"
"Yeah. That's what I heard. Why?"
He's not the type to get jealous out of nowhere. What's this?
The bastard thought for a moment, then snorted and started spouting nonsense.
"No... I've been telling you forever. You've got talent. Keep at it. See? If you just listen to me, good things can fall into your lap even while you're sleeping."
"When did you ever say I had hunter talent? Just like the director, you said I had idol talent. And that group, as you well know, fell apart completely."
"Right, and that's exactly what I'm saying. According to the system, you're the most talented person on this planet. More than that S-rank hunter, Max Owen!"
Max Owen—the only S-rank hunter on Earth, treated as humanity's protector or a messenger sent by God. If a hunter overwhelmingly more powerful than him were to appear in this world—
"Hunter Noah Won has the talent of an idol."
He would be close to an object of worship.
"Stop forcing that connection, dumbass."
It wasn't a very funny joke.
As a result of putting our heads together with Minsik and digging through the hunter board, we were able to get a decent feel for this system thing. First of all, regarding its influence.
"This is starting to feel like a horror story."
"...Yeah, no kidding."
Judging from the posts on the board, the 『System』 was definitely something on a cosmic scale. On the hunter board, you could frequently find stories that sounded like characters had walked right out of a novel.
On one planet, it looked like people could shoot magic like in a fantasy world. Another planet was facing the threat of nuclear war. Some places had science and technology far more advanced than our Earth.
The forms of civilization varied wildly, but wherever the system's touch reached, there was one clear commonality. A Gate had opened, and those goddamn plant bastards had begun their invasion.
In other words, the system was in opposition to the Monster Trees. By supporting system users.
Community, Party Matching, Status Window, Shop. Each one was a function so valuable it was hard to put a price on. I couldn't even begin to guess how it was accomplished.
Just looking at Party Matching alone. In the face of the disaster that is the Monster Trees—manpower is gold. It lets hunters cooperate while ignoring the constraints of space and time.
The Shop goes without saying. When I took a quick look last time, it was selling items like the 『Thunder Dragon's Spear』 that looked impressive at a glance.
The Monster Trees invade endlessly with infinite numbers. As far as I knew, since the Gate Incident, the plant bastards' attacks had never once stopped. The other hunters on the board were in the same situation.
No matter how brilliant a civilization they had, it gets wrapped in those green stems and leaves and crumbles.
In that sense, the 『System』, which seemed to provide unlimited support, was like rain after a drought... but.
Rain after a drought is a good thing. But if there are this many thirsty people trying to drink that rain—can that place really be peaceful?
[General | (Hunter1) | The bastard who said to buy a weapon even if you go into debt, come out]
: The shop got locked because of you, you son of a bitch, what are you going to do about it
└ lolololololololol
└ (OP) No, I'm not joking, I'm serious, what are you going to do about it, you fucking bastard
└ Sorry for the late information. Occasionally beginners fall into traps like this. But the [Hunter Alliance] is different. The Alliance provides support and education for beginner hunters, so if you're interested in joining, please contact us!
Of course not.
I could feel a subtle undercurrent of competitiveness flowing from this 'Community.' Also, according to Minsik's analysis, this place seemed to be divided into several loose spheres of influence. Conflicts could also be witnessed frequently.
Right. There's no way this many people could live together in harmony. To put it in perspective, it's like cramming hundreds of idol fan cafes into one place.
At a glance, it looks open and welcoming, but it's actually closed off.
Since there are no moderators, meaningful information posts that occasionally appear can't be categorized or pinned. After a little time passes, they get buried under countless shitposts and disappear far away. Probably on purpose. This is.
People muddying the waters so others can't get proper help... are numerous.
"So the reason my plan failed was because sabotage forces actually exist. Now all the mysteries are clearly solved."
"It's just that you wrote it badly. If you'd actually drawn attention, people would've come and at least left a lie in the comments."
"Shut up. Anyway."
If this place is like a savanna ecosystem... getting real information from the community would be nearly impossible.
In the end, you could only get valid information through personal connections. Meeting people directly and building relationships. Getting tied together by mutual interests.
And the 『System』 has a means for that.
[Party Matching].
So I'm supposed to meet people directly through this, get beaten up, and learn?
"Hoo..."
And in a place like this... I have to climb up.
Because I have a 10 billion Credit debt, the shop is locked, and if I stay in my current state, I have no idea when I'll ever be able to pay it back. I have to grind my way up the ranks.
Then I can become hope.
Let's go. First, let's just charge in. First, gather all my equipment, figure out which stage is safe, and then experience 'Party Matching' firsthand. This time, I'll properly seize the opportunity.
At the very moment I made that resolution. An unnatural sound effect rang in my ears.
Ding!
[1 Notification]
[(Notification) Tutorial stage progression is recommended. Time until next tutorial stage: 22 : 07 : 39...]
"...So it's not telling me to go in completely blind."
On the sixth day after being granted the 『System』, I received the tutorial guide notice.
With a goal in sight, time flew by. I rested during the remaining time and brought my physical condition to its peak. That meant Minsik and my other close associates had to work more, but they'd understand.
And then, the day of.
Officially, I told people I was leaving to identify the location of important supplies from the former Republic of Korea and retrieve them personally. Since I didn't know how long the tutorial would take, I gave myself plenty of wiggle room with the excuse.
The Seoul leadership gathered in one place to see me off.
Team Leader Park, the man who kept everything running. B-rank hunter Lee Hyejin. B-rank hunter Kim Minsik. And me—A-rank hunter Noah Won. These four people were the main figures leading the city-state of Seoul. They all had one thing in common: deep dark circles under their eyes.
Team Leader Park was worried.
"Hunter Noah Won. Is it such a valuable item that you must leave so suddenly?"
"Yes. It's worth going even if there's nothing to harvest."
"Then how about sending another hunter under your command? I'm very worried. If something were to happen to you, Hunter Noah Won, along the way..."
At that, Lee Hyejin—a high school student and flame-type hunter—spoke up bluntly. Her face was smeared with soot from running manual heating.
"Team Leader Park. They said it's not even a place with severe encroachment, so would Seoul's proud armadillo, Hunter Noah Won, get so much as a scratch? You worry too much, that's your problem."
"...Hyejin, it's the Black Tortoise of Seoul."
"An armadillo is cuter than a turtle."
And Kim Minsik, the only one who'd heard about the 『System』, didn't say anything one way or the other—he just raised a single thumb.
I decided to gratefully accept Team Leader Park's concern and Lee Hyejin's faith. I walked into the underbrush, waving my hand. There wasn't much time left before tutorial entry.
"I'll be back. I'll do my best to bring back results."
"Come back safe, Noah!"
"Please return safely, Hunter Noah Won!"
"Bring back lots of good stuff!"
Words of encouragement piled onto my back as I walked away. Rubbing the corner of my mouth with my finger, I pushed deep into a secluded mountain area where no one could peek.
[(Notification) Tutorial stage progression is recommended. Time until next tutorial stage: 00 : 00 : 39...]
The timing was just right.
When the numbers—falling quickly or slowly—reached 00, the System asked me.
[Would you like to enter the tutorial stage? {y/n}]
"...Yeah."
Fwooosh—!
And then, a violent white light that felt like it was forcing my eyes shut filled my vision.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in a wide field with about a hundred other people.