Chapter 23
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 023
Chapter Title: My Little Sister Kim Seon [3]
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I played back each of the uploaded videos one by one. After watching nearly all of them, I trembled with a thrill that lingered like I'd just seen a masterpiece film that would stay with me for life.
It was incredible. Truly.
Kang Jun-chi... was he a god?
He truly seemed like one. Not some run-of-the-mill politician, but something greater, something beyond comparison.
The videos of Kang Jun-chi featured ordinary people committing petty crimes getting thoroughly punished.
Everything was stimulating, but one highlight caught my eye above all.
The scenes where police responded to reports but could do nothing—standing there dumbfounded, backing off helplessly, or just staring blankly...
Those moments gave me an astonishing level of vicarious satisfaction.
As far as I could tell, these videos weren't just about the cathartic thrill of private justice serving as a deterrent.
They were a display. A flaunting that he was above the law, that one individual named Kang Jun-chi stood over the rule of law itself.
A boast that even if he grabbed passersby, beat and tortured them, the police—no, the state and the law itself—couldn't touch him...
No president or assemblyman could pull that off. Sure, lawmakers had immunity from arrest, but they couldn't just grab random people, assault them, record it, and flaunt the evidence.
Yet this Awakener was doing exactly that.
Which meant Kang Jun-chi was above not just living constitutional bodies like lawmakers, but even the president elected by the majority of the people. Above the constitution itself, above the will of the masses... this one Awakener ranked higher...
Why does this bastard never get punished no matter what he does? If the police can't handle it, shouldn't they call in special forces or something to arrest him?
How? If Kim Jong-un executes his uncle, can Korean police raid in and arrest him for murder? No way. They can't even send cops, let alone the military, after Kim Jong-un. And if they can't punish Kim Jong-un, they sure as hell can't punish that guy either.
Is that bastard Kim Jong-un? Is he in North Korea?
He's more dangerous than Kim Jong-un, and the problem is he's right here in South Korea. It's like Kim Jong-un merged with his army and is wandering around Busan. How the hell do you touch that?
Reading the comments was shocking in its own right. So that's how S-ranks are treated.
I spent a while searching keywords like Kang Jun-chi and S-rank on the internet, digging through various pieces of info before sinking into thought.
Hunting academy instructor... training instructor... and my little sister, whom I'd just parted from. Thinking of myself, unjustly locked up before, and my family still imprisoned, rage bubbled up unbidden.
The law was irrational yet powerful, but it couldn't suppress that man, Kang Jun-chi.
Because he was a powerful Awakener.
And Awakener abilities grow. Each grows at different rates with different limits, and since Gates only opened a few years ago, data is scarce—no precise predictions possible...
Could I become S-rank too?
I want that. Like Mexican cartels slaughtering police and military in reverse, like the Mongol or Qing armies that razed the peninsula yet faced no punishment under this land's laws—I want to become a being beyond this land's laws.
And the one way I know for Awakeners to grow is simple: kill more monsters.
Of course, wishing for more monsters to pop up on sacred Incheon soil is absurd. So how?
After a moment's contemplation, an idea struck me.
It was good for both Incheon and me. I picked up the phone and called Park Mi-hyeong.
"Park Mi-hyeong? I have a proposal..."
Famous athletes get hounded by reporters. High-paid Awakener Hunters face much the same.
I scanned the reporters and officials before me with satisfaction. There was the Incheon City Council chair—more noble than even the mayor, some might say—along with several elected officials, and no fewer than four councilors from Incheon City.
It was astonishing they'd all gathered just from one phone call of mine.
I grabbed the mic.
"Ahem, Incheon forever, Incheon forever. To all you fine people of Incheon gathered here, and the rest from those insignificant other regions..."
Mid-sentence, Park Mi-hyeong snatched the mic from me.
I could've resisted if I wanted, but per our prior agreement, I let her have it without a fight. Better to yield the camera time to an aspiring politician anyway.
"...I'll just take it from here. Everyone okay with that?"
The reporters didn't look thrilled. Some sighed, others protested, "Come on, let Hunter Kim Geuk speak! That's what gets the clicks!" But Park Mi-hyeong ignored them, brazen as any politician.
"As you all know, monsters are out there among us. In the mountains, sewers, underground, rural areas, abandoned streets... even inside deserted buildings. Nowhere is safe, and Incheon is no exception."
Many monsters that emerge from Gates never return to them.
To beasts from barren, desolate Gate worlds, our realm is a fertile paradise. Even Korea's backwoods hills, scarce on wildlife, look like bountiful Edens to Gate monsters.
"When monsters settle in an Incheon district, residents can't endure and flee. More leave, more monsters move in. A vicious cycle plagues our beautiful Incheon. To break it, our proud Incheon son, Hunter Kim Geuk, has stepped up..."
Park Mi-hyeong rattled off what sounded like expert jargon afterward, but the gist was simple.
"So, you're saying you'll search out and exterminate the monsters already embedded in Incheon?"
A reporter's question drew a nod from Park Mi-hyeong.
"Yes, exactly."
"The nation has tried that multiple times already, only to fail miserably. Considering the lives lost..."
"Correct. Early on after Gates opened, reservists were mobilized. Many died or went missing. Even active-duty troops fared no better...
I lack military experience, so I can't pretend to know, but they say it's like urban warfare or guerrilla sweeps. Just throwing bodies at it doesn't work. Hunters have been deployed several times too, but the results were meager compared to the effort and casualties, right?"
"What makes this different?"
Park Mi-hyeong smiled.
"Rather than explain... better to show you. See that bucket over there? Any reporters, toss a few items in. Flip it over so we can't see... All in? Good. Kim Geuk?"
I focused my mind, spreading out my mental net. When it touched the bucket where the reporters had hidden items, I sensed its contents clearly. I listed them off.
"80 by 170mm notebook, 15.5cm pen, 163.4 by 78.1 by 8.9mm smartphone..."
Gasps erupted each time I named an item.
"Not magic, so... clairvoyance?"
"Something like that."
I explained my Teleportation's attached mental net and how it precisely detects objects in range.
Moving objects are even easier to pinpoint, especially living things.
"I can scan a 1-kilometer-plus-263-meter radius like this. It used to be much shorter, but after a few hunts, it expanded dramatically. Now that it's this wide, it'll be hugely useful for monster detection ops.
That's why I proposed a long-term extermination campaign based on this detection ability to Councilor Park Mi-hyeong. To my surprise, Incheon City fast-tracked budgets and plans."
More gasps rippled through the crowd.
Park Mi-hyeong, reluctant to relinquish the mic, joked,
"Man, the world is unfair. Why does one Teleportation come loaded with all these extras? With my Ice Ability, the best I manage is iced coffee. A friend of mine with the same power says even sharpening icicles is her limit—she'd rather just shoot a gun. Kim Geuk here? Born lucky."
"Some say Councilor Park Mi-hyeong is hypnotizing Hunter Kim Geuk to control him. True?"
"These people..."
The footage was streaming live on Incheon's official YouTube. With Park Mi-hyeong having gotten her fill, councilors and the mayor took turns speaking, ending the press conference.
"My goodness, what a lucky charm. I figured Kim Geuk was too popular to come to Incheon, so I just told them to sweeten the contract offer. Didn't expect results this good..."
It satisfied them as much as me. I shook hands with the Incheon mayor, posed for photos, and on the way home bought a 400,000-won frame to cherish one.
Meanwhile, word reached my Hunter team.
I'd gathered them thinking we might train for the op, when Seong Mun-yeong spoke up.
"This Incheon Reclamation Project? You proposed it, right, hyung?"
"Yeah?"
"Incheon City's really backing you hard. One word, and they allocate massive budgets..."
Seong Mun-yeong whistled in disbelief. I feigned nonchalance to hide my pride.
"How do you know the budget details?"
"Not exactly, but roughly. Why? Naito Sho's team is joining the op. Factor in their pay..."
Nationality aside, I frowned.
Naito Sho—that guy? Non-Awakener scum pulling quasi-Awakener pay.
And that clueless trash was joining us? Incheon's precious budget wasted on him?
It made my skin crawl.