Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: 43. Worries (3)
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I looked at Baek Seung-hyeon's wife.
"Ah, hello?"
Her first impression was rough.
Not just her face, but her voice and mannerisms all carried that unmistakable immaturity common in people without much experience.
How had this woman, who looked barely into her twenties, met Baek Seung-hyeon, who was over thirty, and even had a kid with him?
Before the war, it would've required a tangle of coincidences and drama. But now, two and a half years after the war began, no elaborate backstory was needed.
The burn scars on her arm from being branded like livestock, the scar on her face, the missing tooth that showed when she smiled—they painted a 100% convincing picture right there.
"He rescued me from some gangsters, and well, that became our bond, leading us here."
Baek Seung-hyeon had started off talking to me casually like it was natural, but at some point, he'd switched to polite speech.
Probably right after I removed that capsule on my own.
I'd let it slide since we didn't interact much, but things were different now.
If I decided to live here, Baek Seung-hyeon would be my neighbor.
"Speak comfortably. Senior."
"Well, if you say so. You do the same."
"No. Polite speech suits me fine."
Baek Seung-hyeon's home as a new dad was, well, a shack.
Made literally from planks.
Guessing the construction: a brick foundation, plywood laid on top, then planks haphazardly fitted and nailed over that, topped with a corrugated metal roof.
I've seen rural barns or tool sheds built like that, even helped Old Man Kim make one.
No plumbing, naturally.
Bathroom trips meant heading to the communal outhouse out back, and water came from the pipe next to it.
"......"
Was this a house or a pigsty?
"In this day and age, do you know how precious it is to have one house per family?"
Baek Seung-hyeon grinned at my stunned expression.
"Plus, this Hunter House has electricity. You can read or write at night? Charge stuff inside without lining up at the public phone stations."
This guy.
He actually liked this place.
A bit later, Baek Seung-hyeon led me to the spot where I'd potentially live.
My new house candidate was another shack diagonally across from his.
"......"
Is this a house?
First thought upon seeing it.
Felt like a homeless guy's cardboard box shelter, just scaled up.
What about inside?
Baek Seung-hyeon had at least tried decorating his with some wallpaper scraps.
Maybe it's cozy enough? I comforted myself as I opened the door.
Squeak squeak!
What greeted me were a few sewer rats.
The corners crawled with the city's most repulsive bugs.
"......"
No words came.
Only one thought.
I have to live here?
"Gonna need to disinfect it."
Baek Seung-hyeon stepped inside casually, unfazed by the bugs, and poked around.
"No wiring done here anyway, so after a good clean, it'll be livable. Might as well fix the leaks too?"
I wanted to relay what Kim Daram had told me.
How do you live in a dump like this?
"How long have you been here?"
I asked as we hurried out of the shack.
Baek Seung-hyeon pulled out a cigarette and offered it to me.
I waved it off.
"Don't smoke?"
"I'm good."
I'd decided not to smoke his cigs.
They tasted like corpses.
"About half a year ago?"
Baek Seung-hyeon lit up and gazed at the sky.
"Wasn't it built recently?"
"Nah, it's been here since Kim Daram's time."
"Kim Daram?"
He nodded, glancing at me.
"Did you know what she did before she vanished?"
"She managed us freelance hunters. Didn't she tell you?"
"No. Nothing like that."
After I retired, we'd met personally a few times, but never talked work.
I figured she was some high-up on the National Crisis Committee, but no specific title.
"For an ordinary person to cling to a high position..."
Baek Seung-hyeon exhaled smoke and sighed.
"...they can't rely on their own skills. They have to burn something—usually old connections, past favors as fuel. That's how they hold on."
He spat on the ground.
"Even companies are like that, right? Retired big corp guys coasting on old knowledge, or setting up leech firms sucking maintenance fees from their old employers."
Listening, I felt a twinge of shame.
I hadn't looked into it.
Exactly what Kim Daram did as a committee member in that Awakener playground.
Lee Sanghun came from money, had political savvy, built solid networks—his foundation was unshakable even against Awakener powers. But Kim Daram? Orphan, team junior, no standout achievements in her name.
Smart and meticulous, sure, but talent's a dime a dozen.
On the battlefield, maybe. But decision-making roles? Not that demanding.
Now, my junior's secret was spilling from my senior's lips.
"Know who created the freelance hunter system?"
"Kim Daram made freelance hunters?"
News to me.
But it somehow fit.
"Committee didn't want direct responsibility for retirees like me, so they made it cheap contract work. 'Freelance' sounds nice, right?"
Baek Seung-hyeon snorted, then continued.
"She turned seniors, peers, juniors into real day laborers. Stuck straws in her past and sucked 'em dry."
He sighed, pulling out a radio for me to see.
K-walkie-talkie. Military model, just like mine.
"......The day she defected to the Legion faction, she left this behind. Probably scared of tracking. Radios can be reverse-traced for artillery or airstrikes."
"You could've told me back then."
I meant it.
If I'd known her true colors sooner, I wouldn't have mourned her so much.
Wasted time and emotion.
"Back when?"
"In front of the National Assembly."
Baek Seung-hyeon looked serious.
"You wouldn't have believed me then."
No retort.
He was right.
Even if he'd spilled the truth, I wouldn't have bought it.
Still, my question and his answer chilled the air.
Silence wrapped us.
His baby broke it.
"Wahhh!"
Unlike his dad's soft tone, the kid had lungs.
Soon, his wife emerged from the shack, cradling the crying infant.
"Honey~."
"One sec."
Baek Seung-hyeon excused himself to me and headed back.
His wife handed over the bundled baby.
He took it like delicate jewelry, then cooed and rocked with practiced ease.
"There, there. Good baby. Goochie goo. Gaaah~ Kyaa!"
His weird faces, rhythmic shakes, patient endurance, whispers in the ear—it was pure everyday dad.
While he soothed the kid, his young wife approached me.
"One year my senior, right?"
She eyed my face.
"Yeah."
"You look so youthful? Not young, just... well-fed and well-rested."
"That's spot on."
I offered her the goral sausages I'd brought.
"It's not much, but think of it as a gift."
"Whoa, sausages? You made 'em?"
"No, from an acquaintance."
"Ah, got it. My honey knows lots of folks, but no real substance..."
She sighed, staring at the ground, then brightened, gazing at the blue sea visible through the narrow corridor.
"But still, my honey's strong."
"He is."
I agreed.
Baek Seung-hyeon was strong.
In every sense.
*
In front of the communal bathroom and water pipe stretched the harbor sea.
Tracking gulls overhead, Baek Seung-hyeon spoke.
"She took her whole family when she left."
"Really?"
"And more. Poached obedient freelance hunters and bolted."
The story of my junior Kim Daram, as told by Baek Seung-hyeon, mirrored reality.
Unreasonable, selfish, yet convincingly nod-worthy.
I recalled our last parting.
"Anyway, I'll contact you once I settle."
She'd promised to reach out.
She never did. Instead, killers showed up, chasing me here.
"She had some sense, though. Noticed I hated her guts, so she skipped me when spilling plans."
He snorted, grinning at me.
"Enough gloom?"
"Yeah, that covers it. More to say?"
Grinning mischievously like a boy, he replied to my question.
"Remember orientation?"
Orientation.
Hadn't heard that word in ages.
Still vivid.
Nearly a thousand freshmen sweating through flower-bud frost, prepping mass games.
Grade-level mass game competition.
That was our school's orientation.
Newbies trained under seniors for a month, then all transfers gathered on the field for grade showdowns.
Seniors flaunted perfect unison, like a thousand as one, thundering shouts to crush our spirits midway.
We freshmen rallied with our own grit, pulling off a united front.
Seemed pointless then. But it stuck clearest through years of school.
Meant something.
One third-year senior stuck out.
Buzzcut, name forgotten. Unfazed before thousands, bellowing commands that devoured the whole scene.
Kid me thought it cool. Still do.
He's dead now.
Not alone.
Kids in the stands holding cards, moving as one—they died young too.
Few survivors, scraping by uncertain days.
"Jeon Hyun-jik. Curse of the 17th class. Oddly, active in South America."
Baek Seung-hyeon showed me remnants of our school.
"Bang Jae-hyuk. 15th. Knee injury held him back from greatness. Now just backup shooter, but outguns Kim Daram."
All from my school, same era.
Yet why?
"This is Ha Tae-hoon. 11th. My senior. Why 'mister'? He insists."
These people staring felt alien.
The disconnect wasn't just mine.
Former mass game comrades whispered among themselves, shooting vague hostility or wariness my way.
"Ignore it. Place is like that. Bunch of hurt pups. They guard first. Think beaten dogs."
Baek Seung-hyeon brushed it off.
"Hang around, you'll warm up."
"......"
No reply.
Those hollow eyes—they seemed like strangers, mismatched for me.
"Alright, let's tidy your place?"
He rolled up sleeves.
"You helping, senior?"
"Rare visit from a precious junior. Gotta pitch in myself."
He shoved me aside, handling the cleanup solo: ripping rotten planks, spraying disinfectant, setting up a cot, even running wiring and hanging a light.
"......"
Over-the-top kindness.
Burdening, even.
And excessive favors always come with a price.
"Can you fight?"
There it was—his real intent.
Familiar, relieving even. I answered calmly.
"To a degree."
He nodded.
"......There's a Mutation. Help me deal with it."
That the ask?
Monster, I'd decline. But Mutation? Different story.
Still, a hunter like him struggling against one?
Didn't add up. I probed.
"Mutation? How many?"
Maybe dozens.
Dozens? Pass.
"One."
I doubted my ears.
One?
Not even a monster—just a lone Mutation?
Pure curiosity now. I met his eyes.
"What kind?"
"Chimpanzee."
"Ah."
Knew it'd be trouble from the base species.
But chimp's a chimp.
Bigger, stronger, human-smart? Still no bullet-deflecting tricks.
"Check this."
He showed a phone pic.
Ruined dome stadium.
Entrance: about ten people hanged like fruit.
"Its work."
"Looks human."
No surprise.
My own neighborhood had a Gold like that.
"Hunter I know said..."
Baek Seung-hyeon glared at the photo, biting his lip.
"...that Mutation? High chance it's an Awakener."
"......That's new."
My old teacher, Jang Gi-young, came to mind unbidden.
"If Woo Min-hee brings its corpse, she'll ship me to Jeju."
"Jeju?"
"Yeah. Jeju."
"Heard the refugee fleet to Jeju sank at sea."
"Rumors. But."
He turned back.
His crumbling shack, wife, kid.
"I have to go to Jeju."
"No guarantee it's better."
He beckoned his young wife.
She approached; he hugged their child.
"Place Kim Daram wanted, right?"
The baby giggled at dad's face from his arms.
Even tiny heart knew dad was great.
Rocking the kid, Baek Seung-hyeon eyed me desperately.
"We wanna live better than Kim Daram's family."
Words heavy?
His crushed my shoulders.
Heavier than one family's worth, at least.
"......Help just once?"
I bowed my head, gathering thoughts.
Lifted it, answered.
"Where?"
Reasons aplenty.
Curious about Mutation-Awakener. Test Baek Seung-hyeon's real skills.
New freelancer gig—showing chops is polite.
But biggest one?
Staying here means facing that monster eventually.
If he dies, it falls to me next.
Better with him.
Not just senior's plea tugging my heartstrings.