Chapter 30
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 030
Chapter Title: Riff-Raff [4]
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That was the end of it.
Not long after, the protesters dispersed.
It wasn't anything unusual—they couldn't come at me too aggressively. You could tell just from how low-key they were, despite showing up to protest.
The second reason they couldn't push hard against me was probably that everyone was scared of the bloodied Physical Enhancement Awakener who proudly boasted about his violent record in interviews.
"Those people backed off because they were afraid I'd threaten to cancel operations around here, right?"
Park Mi-hyeong nodded at my question.
"Probably."
"Seoul's scheming bastards..."
As I muttered, Park Mi-hyeong shook her head.
"Don't hate them too much. They're pitiful folks."
I gave her a look that said, What's so pitiful about them? She clicked her tongue.
"The problem started when the government plopped a huge containment facility right in the middle of the city. They built the Awakener facilities in other regions far from residential areas. But in Incheon, they stuck it smack in the urban center."
"Because all the locals fled due to the monster issues?"
"Exactly. Since no one lives around here anyway, they figured there'd be no residents to complain to, so the government just built the Awakener facility here on a whim. I get it as a building owner myself, but the property owners around here must be going insane with frustration right now."
She went on to explain that not everyone with land or buildings is rich these days. These weren't already wealthy people protesting to get even richer—it was just desperate folks trying to escape their poverty.
In my mind, I quietly granted those pitiful people full Incheon citizenship rights once more.
"Anyway, if anything like this happens again, call me right away. If I'm not in the middle of a job, I'll Teleport or grab a taxi and get here as fast as I can."
"No, Kim Geuk. How can you ask someone to do that? I have a conscience. I'm already dying of guilt for making you come out here once today..."
"Why are you talking like this is someone else's problem? Anything involving Ice Ability Awakeners is about my little sister, which makes it my business too."
I wasn't just saying it. I genuinely felt like this was my problem now. I didn't know the exact reason, but it sure didn't feel like someone else's issue.
But to Park Mi-hyeong, it must have sounded like empty words. She laughed in disbelief.
"You're just too nice, Kim Geuk. I heard you lent Yang Tae-ja two hundred million won last time? Even for me, one or two favors are fine, but keep getting help like this? I couldn't live with the guilt."
"Guilt or not, call me if it happens again, okay?"
After I insisted a few times, Park Mi-hyeong sighed.
"We'll think about that when the time comes... For now, I should pray no Gates open around here and keep things cool."
"Worried that if a Gate opens, the protesters will blame the facility again?"
"Yeah. But if one does open, the odds are highest it'll be right nearby, right?"
And ominous predictions have a way of coming true.
The next day, a Gate opened in Incheon. Just three hundred meters from the Awakener Containment Facility.
My phone went off again. The dedicated app, texts, KakaoTalk—all summoning Hunters.
"Everyone to the vehicles! Everyone to the vehicles!"
Our Hunter team, in the middle of an operation on Manwol Mountain, mobilized immediately.
Since the site wasn't far, our team skipped the helicopter and piled into the official van to head out.
Feeling antsy during the drive, I spoke up.
"I'll go ahead. Tell me your position when you arrive."
Seong Mun-yeong freaked out again.
"You're going alone again?"
I didn't answer and Teleported.
Not to some random spot—I appeared right where I was needed.
On the third floor of a commercial building. An uncle was fighting for his life against a Deathclaw trying to break in through the window, relying on a single mop.
The mop handle snapped clean off under the Deathclaw's hooked talons, and finally, the monster set foot inside the building.
The moment the uncle screamed, I appeared and smashed the beast flat with my hammer.
Even then, he screamed for a few more seconds before realizing what happened. He looked back and forth between the pulped Deathclaw and me.
His eyes widened at me.
"Hunter Kim Geuk?"
"Incheon forever."
Back then, chanting this victory mantra got no real response. Not anymore.
Finally buzzing with relief at being alive, the uncle grinned ear to ear, clenched his fist, and shouted back.
"Incheon forever!"
I flashed him a grin before Teleporting to the street. Another perfect landing spot.
I raised my Hunter rifle and nailed a Deathclaw crawling up a distant high-rise.
I almost fired at one racing down the road too, but held off—another Hunter had it in his sights.
Bang! A gunshot rang out, and the charging Deathclaw tumbled, bleeding out.
A silver bike sped past the fallen monster's corpse.
The guy in amateur knight cosplay—Naito-san. He'd ditched his team and rushed ahead solo, it seemed.
Riding like some cavalry hero, he handled the shotgun on his bike with pro-level flair. Medieval marching tunes blared from the bike's speakers. No wonder he was so popular, skill aside.
Of course, a non-Awakener zipping around on a shiny bike had no business outshining me.
I spread my mental net without waiting for radio chatter.
Reading the situation through it, I Teleported around and took down five Deathclaws in five minutes flat. Saved two more Incheon citizens from certain death too.
"Hunter Kim Geuk, thanks for coming to Incheon! First time I've ever felt my taxes were worth it!"
"Thank Councilor Park Mi-hyeong for luring me here. Vote for her next election..."
"Got it—next time I see her, I'll thank her for brainwashing you into coming!"
Danger seemed cleared up, so I was chatting with the folks I'd saved.
Then an urgent radio call came in.
After going back and forth with the voice on the other end, my eyes went wide.
"So, Otherworlders came out of the Gate?"
"Yes! If possible, could you capture one alive? But don't risk it if it looks dangerous!"
The radio kept crackling, but I couldn't focus.
The word "Otherworlders" made my heartbeat thunder in my ears.
I recalled the vision from before—the one where I got humiliatingly beaten by Otherworlders.
I had to steady my quickened breath from the tension.
As I focused on deep breaths, my Hunter team arrived.
"Hyung! Hear the radio? Otherworlders!"
Seong Mun-yeong looked thrilled, oblivious to my turmoil. I turned away from him.
I looked at Baek Dam-bi, her usual blank expression. Seeing her, I knew what to do.
I gripped my hammer tighter.
Some folks think the monsters pouring from Gates are born and raised inside them. Wrong.
Gates are like highway rest stops.
Beyond them lies another world, and that's where the monsters come from.
Sword World.
Named by a skeptical American politician who couldn't believe there was another world beyond the Gates. He mocked, "Another world? Some fantasy realm? Probably swords and magic, so Sword World it is." The sarcasm stuck, and it became the official name.
Sword World's defining trait? Desolation.
Its people are poorer than North Koreans, living in harsher conditions—even their leaders.
Just as Gate monsters go wild for our world's fertility, Otherworlders crave our civilization.
When Otherworlders first emerged from Gates, they didn't try talking or sending diplomats. They attacked without hesitation.
And the first place they hit wasn't the Blue House or the National Assembly—it was a local hardware store.
The reason was ridiculously simple: hardware was precious to them. Confirmed after capturing one and barely communicating.
Earth was much the same before the modern era—iron tools weren't cheap. But their world lacks tech and resources, making iron rarer than in our pre-modern times.
So they kept raiding hardware stores, then hardware and butcher shops, then rice shops and big marts for tools and food.
The Korean government offered to hand over scraps of iron and food if they'd just talk. No dice. Otherworlders acted like negotiation was a foreign concept. Every talk attempt ended in casualties.
Still, the government hasn't given up on dialogue entirely.
That's why they're trying to capture prisoners for talks now—there's a bounty for live captures.
"Ten billion won minimum per Otherworlder captured, right? Paid by an international group, not the country!"
"Yep. Gotta nab Sword Worlders to learn about Sword World."
Sword Worlders... Sounds like some Chinese ethnic minority, but it's short for Sword World people.
After four years of news coverage, the name feels familiar now.
Like North Koreans, Sword Worlders are just unseemly neighbors these days. Our first encounter wasn't as mystical or savage as I'd imagined.
"Over there—a Sword Worlder!"
Seong Mun-yeong pointed at a scrawny guy wandering an empty street.
There stood a Sword Worlder.
Short, emaciated, clad in rags that barely passed for clothes.
He clutched a K-1 rifle, scouting for shops to loot, but with no open hardware or butcher stores, he looked flustered.
No otherworldly awe at all. Just pathetic and shabby.
"Goblins and Sword Worlders both tote K-1s everywhere. Their standard issue?"
Lee Jong-ho joked, tension nonexistent thanks to how pitiful it looked. I asked,
"Dam-bi, your spirits can tell if someone's Awakened, right?"
"Yes, I can see it too."
"Mind checking?"
Baek Dam-bi closed her eyes, then opened them.
"Not Awakened."
"Not at all?"
Weird. The Otherworlders in my vision were definitely Awakened. No way a non-Awakener could've sliced my leg like that. My overdeveloped muscles make it so even a guillotine blade wouldn't cut me—how could a regular guy?
So this wasn't that moment from the vision?
As I pondered, my team moved first.
"Let's chat."
Baek Dam-bi approached the Sword Worlder. He yelled in some unintelligible language, aiming his rifle—then suddenly went limp, dropping it and trembling.
I didn't know exactly what she did, but it was her work. An Awakener could subdue a non-Awakener with a glance.
"Got one!"
Excited, Seong Mun-yeong and Lee Jong-ho rushed over and bound him.
Way too easy for a ten-billion-won prize. The next one was the same.
This time, Baek Dam-bi stayed back—the previous guy was suffering too much; might kill him. I went solo.
This Sword Worlder was scouting shops too, but with just a bat, no rifle. Non-Awakened. Not worth Teleporting for an attack.
I just walked up casually. Moments later, he spotted me. I greeted awkwardly.
"Hi?"
He didn't charge or flee. Instead, he did something completely unexpected.
Eyes bulging, mouth agape, he dropped to his knees and bowed deeply.
A full kowtow to me.
Even with precognition, I couldn't have predicted that. Unless I'd gut-punched him, why bow on sight?
While I stood stunned, Seong Mun-yeong tied him up. He didn't resist at all—like it was only natural before me.
"Why's this Otherworlder acting like that?"
Lee Jong-ho wondered. Im Hyeong-taek answered.
"Kim Geuk looks like an Awakener, so he's terrified? Muscles popping, Hunter rifle in hand—who wouldn't peg him as Physical Enhancement?"
"Terrified after coming to loot? Because Kim Geuk-hyung looks Awakened?"
"Probably."
"Shouldn't he run if scared?"
"Hm. Maybe fleeing an Awakener is blasphemy to them?"
I asked what that meant. Im Hyeong-taek explained.
"Read a book on Sword World last time. There, Awakeners are lords and kings. Not just stronger—completely different class."
"So non-Awakeners are peasants?"
"Lower than that... slaves or livestock? Something like that. They wouldn't dare attack or flee from an Awakener."
So this guy flattened himself the instant he recognized me as Awakened.
I looked at him, still prostrate despite bound ankles, mumbling pleas I couldn't understand.
His attitude was crystal clear.
Total submission...
That bow alone was a universal gesture of submission across cultures. He wouldn't dare look at his superior, ready to take a stomp or kick to his exposed back.
Realizing that afresh, something tickled inside me? Or ecstasy?
Either way, one of my inner desires was satisfied...
It was thrilling. Pure electricity.