Chapter 13
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 013
Chapter Title: Incheon Hunter Kim Geuk - [1]
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A quick Google search of my name brought up a flood of internet articles.
The most recent one was about my hunter contract.
"4 Years, 180 Billion Won" China's Chongqing City Makes Massive Contract Offer to Hunter Kim Geuk
They say using foreign contract offers as leverage makes domestic deals more favorable, so I publicized the one from China, and sure enough, this article popped up.
I stared at the headline, reading it over and over. No matter how many times I looked, I couldn't believe it.
It was an amount so absurd it felt completely detached from reality. 180 billion won—what the hell was that even?
I just couldn't wrap my head around it. All I could barely grasp was that I'd never need to bother with the lottery for the rest of my life.
Grinning, I clicked the article and scrolled down with the mouse wheel. The title said it all, so I jumped straight to the comments.
Goddamn Awakeners, every time they shamelessly whine about how hard it is to live, I wanna bash 'em with an aluminum bat.
Every time these Awakener human rights whiners open their mouths, it sounds just like chaebols bitching about taxes making life hard. Makes me wanna go on a shooting spree at an Awakener gathering.
My laughter died on my lips as I glared at those comments, face hardening. Non-Awoken trash daring to talk like that.
Drawing on my experience with the Korean Awakener Alliance, I fired off a lengthy rebuttal comment right away.
Something along the lines of: Awakeners who make it big like the handsome Kim Geuk here are less than 18% of the total. About 32% live ordinary lives just like before awakening, and the remaining 50% scrape by like criminals.
Then I bit my lip hard.
What a waste of time. Just like my Alliance activities had been pointless, I knew this was too.
From my days in the Korean Awakener Alliance, I'd felt it deep down: those 80% of Awakeners barely appeared on mainstream news.
The only ones in the spotlight were the lucky few like me. That's why every time we pleaded for Awakener rights, we got nothing but mockery like those comments.
Every time, I'd barely held back the urge to beat the smug cynicism out of those self-righteous pricks...
Damn it all.
Contract offers had been piling up from all over for a full month now. It was about time to decide, so interview requests were flooding in too. I've always enjoyed the attention, so I accepted pretty much all of them without turning any down.
Q. Where did you train and get your education?
"Bupyeong Hunting Academy—you know, the one about five minutes' walk from Bupyeong Station? The director there has a great vibe, and the prices are super reasonable, so even when my wallet was tight, I could attend without stress. And no, cheap doesn't mean crappy lessons. The instructors are all top-notch, especially this one Awakened trainer named Yang Tae-ja. I learned so much from him..."
Q. Congratulations on drawing so much interest even before starting your hunter career. Your future looks bright—anyone you'd like to thank?
"Park Mi-hyeong, that auntie. Oh, wait, is calling a city councilor 'auntie' rude? Anyway, I'd like to thank Park Mi-hyeong, the Incheon councilor. I've owed her a lot since my Korean Awakener Alliance days..."
I answered all sorts of questions politely, but of course, a surprise bombshell came flying in.
Q. We understand you did time in juvenile hall and prison. Any explanation or apology?
I furrowed my brow slightly but didn't flinch.
It was a question I'd expected. Someone trying to dig up dirt and rattle me.
The interviewer probably hoped I'd snap or squirm. But I had nothing to bow for. Not a damn thing.
I answered with full confidence.
"Yeah, my time eating prison slop was pretty long. Want me to explain why I had to eat it?"
Q. We heard it was assault-related. Can you explain starting from juvenile hall?
"Self-defense. First day of high school, bus was late, so I was about a minute tardy. The principal starts mouthing off. Can't remember exactly, but something like 'get on the floor and stretch.' He had a wooden plank in hand—looked like he was gonna swing it like a bat.
Me? The guy's shorter and narrower-shouldered than me, so I ignored the punk and tried to walk past. Then the idiot smacks the back of my head with it. That's me throwing the first punch, right? Straight to the face. He drops after one hit. Pathetic, so I stomped his face a bit. Worthless shit."
The reporter looked a bit queasy at my question. He hesitated, then pressed on.
Q. As a result, that teacher went blind in one eye, from what we hear. Anything to say?
"His fault for starting shit without taking off his glasses. I did nothing wrong. Though yeah, it pisses me off a little that it landed me in juvie. Him and his family better pray they never cross my path."
Q. And prison...
"Self-defense there too. I was in public service training camp. After meals, they make trainees do dishes without rubber gloves. Gloves are 'cooks only,' apparently. That night, they hand out a survey—write any training improvements. I put 'rubber gloves,' and the instructor storms in cursing about who wrote this crap.
Why kneel? I owned up to it. He comes at me cursing more. Of course I got pissed. Jumped up, and he taunts me to hit him if I'm man enough. That's a duel challenge, right? So I laid into him."
Q. That camp instructor ended up with a permanent leg injury, we hear.
"That bastard owes me thanks. One hit and he crumples, twitching on the floor. Looked like a frail anchovy—stomp the chest and something'd snap, he'd die. So I went for the legs instead, saved his worthless life. Plus, the injury got him discharged. Probably got compensated by the veterans' office. He should worship me as his lifelong benefactor."
Silence fell over the room. I just sat there calmly, staring blankly.
A few minor questions later, the interview wrapped up.
Sure enough, more internet articles spawned from it—and our dear Park Mi-hyeong must've seen them, because my phone rang right away.
"Kim Geuk?"
"Oh, Park Mi-hyeong? I made sure to mention you in the interview—good call, right?"
"Thanks for that, but that's not the point right now! Why'd you answer like that in the interview?"
She was blaming me for being too brutally honest, huh? I grinned and replied.
"Don't worry."
"How can I not? You can't stir up trouble right before signing a contract!"
"Don't worry. This won't cause issues."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I looked into it from all angles. Moral character isn't a factor in cutting an Awakener's value. Doesn't matter if you DUI and kill someone or bullied kids in school—they don't dock you for that. Saw a case where an Ice Awakener got tangled in bullying rumors before, no problem at all."
"You mean Baek Dam-bi?"
"Don't know the name, but yeah, a female Ice Awakener. You know her?"
"One of the Awakeners I supported during my Korean Awakener Alliance days. Ice Ability, back when it wasn't undervalued yet. Incheon City signed her to a fat long-term deal without knowing better, then tried some shady shit to cancel it later..."
"Sounds like her. Anyway, she came out fine, so I'll be fine too. Everyone says so."
"Then what would actually cause a problem?"
"Like bailing from a hunt in the ops zone without permission, or mental issues making you a psych ward regular. Or physical stuff—asthma, surgery history with risk of reinjury in some body part. Only mental or physical issues that mess with hunting participation kill deals. Past crimes? Fine, as long as you can still hunt."
I rattled off cases I'd dug up on HuntWeb—like Awakeners outed for Ilbe activity or sued for sexual harassment. None of them had any contract issues after.