Chapter 35
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 035
Chapter Title: Korean Awakener Alliance: Kim Geuk [2]
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“They told me to head to the Incheon Awakener New Haven? You mean the Awakener containment facility, right? Yeah, I'm on my way...”
Too exhausted to even attempt teleportation, I barely managed to flag down a passing taxi.
When I arrived at the location the official had mentioned, some kind of commotion was unfolding.
I looked up at the Incheon Awakener Containment Facility. Despite its grandiose name, it was just an apartment complex surrounded by a fence.
From the balcony on the 8th floor of one of the buildings, a middle-aged man had one leg slung over the railing, acting like he was about to fall any second. A suicide stunt, maybe?
The man was bellowing at the top of his lungs.
“Come on up here, you bastards! If you wanna take me down, come and get me! Should I freeze your hearts solid?!”
Was his threat that scary? The police gathered there weren't even thinking about approaching him; they were just hanging back behind the fence.
It was pretty obvious why they'd called me in—it had to be because of this mess. I walked over to one of the cops and asked,
“What's going on?”
The police turned to look at me. One who recognized me went wide-eyed.
“Hunter Kim Geuk? What the hell are you doing here?”
“An official told me to come here.”
“They sent Kim Geuk instead of Choe E-un? No way... Choe E-un should've been the one...”
I knew the name Choe E-un.
The A-rank hunter from Cambodia contracted by Incheon City. I'd never met him personally, but I'd seen his body.
“Choe E-un died in that last Incheon Gate incident.”
“What? Choe E-un's dead?”
“Yeah. He went up against a Force Field Body before I did—got his gut ripped open and his head half-severed.”
“But this is something only Choe E-un could handle...”
I couldn't figure out why the cops were talking like that.
From what I'd looked into, Choe E-un was a Physical Enhancement Awakener like me. If he could do it, I didn't see why I couldn't. So why insist on him specifically?
“Just tell me what's going on first. What were you planning to have Choe E-un do?”
In response, the cops pointed at the middle-aged man still yelling his head off from the balcony.
“You see that guy causing the scene?”
“Yeah. Isn't it just a suicide stunt?”
“It's not just any suicide stunt—it's him throwing a tantrum because he's pissed and demanding everyone listen to him. He's not just threatening to kill himself; he's saying he'll kill anyone who tries to stop his rampage. And the guy's an Ice Awakener...”
“So to keep anyone from getting hurt, you need an Awakener to step in. But don't you guys have any Awakeners on the police force?”
“We got one. An Ice Awakener.”
“Then why not call that person?”
The cop mumbled awkwardly at my question.
“That's... the guy in question...”
The cop pointed at the man on the balcony, and I narrowed my eyes.
The soldiers around weren't much help either. The ones normally stationed here had all gotten wiped out last time, and the new replacements clearly had no clue how to handle something like this.
No choice, then. I wasn't one to just stand around gawking, so I stepped forward.
I passed through the facility's front gate and headed toward him. The middle-aged man, who'd been screaming that he'd kill anyone who came closer, seemed to recognize me too.
“Kim Geuk?”
“That's me. Long live Incheon—Hunter Kim Geuk.”
The man looked flustered upon seeing me. With the enhanced vision unique to Physical Enhancement Awakeners, I could make out his expression clearly—his eyes were darting around in panic. He clearly hadn't expected me and looked extremely embarrassed.
I didn't want to embarrass him further in a situation like this. Keeping my voice as calm as possible, I asked,
“Sir, is there a reason you're doing this? Are you protesting something?”
The middle-aged man hemmed and hawed before answering.
“Yeah... it's a protest!”
“What are you protesting?”
“Those assholes have been doing roll call since the day before yesterday... Roll call!”
Roll call?
“You mean like the headcounts they do in prison?”
“Yeah, that army and prison crap! Every night before bed, they make us do it! All the residents line up in the hallway counting off one, two, three!”
“Is roll call really that bad?”
“Of course it is! Am I a criminal? I go out to work, come back, shower, step out for a smoke, and when I get back, that duty officer prick's bitching about why I missed roll call. Says everyone's been waiting up for me and asks if I'm not sorry—does that make any sense?!”
Apparently, Ice Awakeners in these facilities took confirming headcounts very seriously.
And after the soldiers got massacred last time, the ones managing the facility probably felt the need to show they were tightening up procedures, even if just for show. That must've led to adding this annoying new rule, which pissed off the guy enough to flip out.
As I tried to piece it together, one of the cops behind me muttered quietly,
“Can't you just teleport up there and drag him down?”
“No way. He's protesting because he feels wronged—if I yank him down humiliatingly, he might lash out with his powers, and I can't guarantee I'd block everything.”
“Ah... yeah, fair enough...”
I looked back up at the man and asked,
“So, how can I help? You seem pretty fed up—want me to call a reporter I know? But from my time with the Korean Awakener Alliance, I can tell you reporters don't cover Ice Awakener stories properly.”
“No reporters. Just get me out of this shithole! Or stop all this roll call bullshit!”
I racked my brain for how to fulfill that demand. I wasn't military, so I couldn't order them to stop roll call...
I tried my best to think, but exhaustion made my head fuzzy. So I went with the simplest idea that popped up.
“If living here's what's suffocating you, how about crashing at my place for a bit? I've got an empty room I don't use!”
The man looked stunned by my offer.
“No, I didn't mean for you to be that nice... Out of nowhere, what the...”
“Nah, come on over! I live alone! Wanna pack your bags now?”
I shouted up at him, but he seemed to find my offer overwhelming. Or maybe he felt bad making a hunter who'd nearly gotten his throat slit protecting them last time deal with his late-night drama.
After dithering for a while, he finally gave in.
“Shit... Sorry about this...”
He ended the stunt right then. Pulled his leg off the railing and went back inside.
After that, the cops went in to talk him down, and the situation wrapped up.
“Kim Geuk, thanks a ton for the help. You're better than the cops...”
As the grateful cop thanked me, something occurred to me, and I asked,
“But is this really something I should be handling?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, no matter how you slice it, this doesn't seem like hunter work. I have no idea why they called me... Is it really okay for me to butt into police business like this? What if something goes wrong—any legal protection or anything?”
Believe it or not, I'd never straight-up slept through criminal law class. I'd half-assed it at first, listening with one ear and letting it go out the other, but after the prof bought me coffee for actually studying, I felt too guilty to slack off and paid attention from then on.
That's how I knew hunters like me shouldn't get involved in stuff like this.
Hunters might carry guns, but legally, we're civilians. You can't go acting like you're the cops.
That was what I'd learned, anyway. But I was too tired to argue, figured the official wouldn't have called without reason, and stepped up anyway.
Still, it nagged at me, so when I pressed for confirmation, the cop dodged with vague words.
“Well... I don't really...”
Should I ask the official in charge? I was thinking, when a familiar voice rang out.
“What the hell is this? Why are you here, Kim Geuk?”
It was Park Mi-hyeong. Her face screamed 'what are you doing here,' so I just told her the truth.
“The official in charge told me to come.”
“An official? Why would an official call you?”
“Beats me. I figured it was important since they called, but the guy's nowhere to be seen... No clue what's going on.”
Park Mi-hyeong fell silent after hearing me out.
But the way she clenched her fists, she looked pissed off for some reason.
Wearing a smile that was obviously forced, she said to me,
“You went hunting today too, right? I heard you were out late... ”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Then you're exhausted, aren't you? Head home already. Go on, go on. I'll tell the driver of my car to give you a ride...”
That fake smile was hardening by the second, but I held back from asking why she was so mad. It was late, I was beat, and I had no bandwidth for nosiness.
I got into the car she pointed me to. As I leaned back in the seat, I heard Park Mi-hyeong yelling from behind.
It was the angriest shout I'd ever heard from her since meeting the woman.
“You crazy bastard! Are you insane? Have you lost your damn mind?!”
I stared in shock as she screamed into her phone, but then the car pulled away.
Even as we drove far off, her yelling kept echoing in my ears.
I woke up the next morning still baffled by yesterday's events. No one—not even the official—had properly explained what was going on.
To figure out just what the hell had happened, I logged into HuntWeb.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Sisters and bros, sisters and bros! Baby Mushroom's got a question!
I posted a pretty detailed account of yesterday's events, and replies poured in almost immediately.
Ⓑ GoodHunter: Oh, that's an emergency call...
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Emergency call? What's that? Looks like 'emergency' plus something—some system to call hunters for urgent stuff?
Ⓑ GoodHunter: Nah, not ambulance 'emergency'—it's grade-9 civil servant 'grade-9.' When a grade-9 civil servant calls out a hunter, that's an emergency call.
I had no idea what any of that meant.
But judging by Park Mi-hyeong's roar yesterday, even a third party could see it was infuriating.
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Have those non-Awakener trash lost their minds?
Anonymous: This real? No way this happened.
Anonymous: Emergency call on Kim Geuk? Incheon's gone mad.
The comments were flying in at a crazy rate, all with the same vibe—baffled or outright pissed.
Seemed like the fact that I'd been hit with one of those emergency calls was what set everyone off.
I searched what an emergency call was, and suddenly their reactions made sense.
Ⓐ syberMagneto: I've always wanted to kill off those city hall bureaucrats, but this time I really wanna wipe 'em all out.
Emergency calls were this shitty practice.
When a government office urgently needed Awakener manpower, they'd summon a contracted local hunter and put them to work.
Unlike the old days, now when emergencies hit, local governments, police, and fire departments all teamed up. So the agencies coordinated closely, lending each other help.
And when police or fire needed an Awakener ASAP, the local government would send one of their contracted hunters. Like for dealing with Awakener crimes or when a few monsters showed up in a residential area.
Not that I hadn't figured it out already, but all of it was blatantly illegal. Hunters weren't local government employees—they belonged to the Association. They were outsiders who wouldn't get a dime in compensation even if they died, so no civil servant could just order them around.
Cases like yesterday's police matter were especially bad. As my criminal law prof taught, hunters are civilians, not officials. If you step into police work and hurt someone, legal trouble follows.
To cover their asses if things went south, bigwigs in local government dumped the orders on low-level bureaucrats. Shifting blame to the bottom rung who couldn't be held accountable.
That's how grade-8 or 9 civil servants end up contacting hunters with illegal orders. And since grade-9s bossing Awakeners around was such a shocker, it got called an emergency call.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: No one told Baby Mushroom about this crap?!
Anonymous: 'Cause you're like Kang Jun-chi—no way you'd get hit with this, so no need to warn ya, Baby Mushroom...
Ⓐ BlockheadYouth: Wanna change your nick to Blockhead Mushroom?
I also figured out why everyone was so shocked I'd been targeted. Not every Awakener hunter dealt with this power-tripping crap.
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: Emergency calls are supposed to be a Seoul civil servant exclusive skill? Why in Incheon?
Ⓐ BabyBerserker: Why? 'Cause Seoul folks are sneaky evil?
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: Nope. Only in Seoul do A-rank hunters keep renewing contracts just to stay on good terms with bureaucrats;
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: They only pull this on insecure A-ranks worried about renewals due to skipping hunts or bad records. Even Seoul wouldn't dare emergency call a top-performer.
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: But Incheon emergency calling Kim Geuk of all people? As a senior hunter, I'd love to explain, but this makes zero sense even to me.
That senior hunter elaborated: civil servants in places like Incheon couldn't pull emergency calls on A-rank hunters.
Unlike Seoul, local areas offered shitty conditions for Awakener hunters, so it was the governments kowtowing for contract renewals, not the other way around.
Yet in infamous Incheon—most avoided by Awakener hunters—they dared emergency call me? Unthinkable when they should be buttering me up ahead of next year's renewal.
Ⓐ BlockheadYouth: Locals do it sometimes, from what I've heard.
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: First I've heard of it?
Ⓐ BlockheadYouth: Makes sense you wouldn't know as a Korean. They don't pull it on Korean A-ranks—only bully foreign A-ranks.
Ⓐ ElmaYaCayo: They do it to foreign A-ranks?
Ⓐ BlockheadYouth: Foreigners don't know the ropes, right? Even if it's not hunter work, if a bureaucrat orders it, they figure it's in the contract and go along—easy to exploit.
Ⓐ BlockheadYouth: Oh yeah, didn't that Cambodian A-rank in Incheon die? They were probably exploiting him, and called this guy as a backup?
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Non-Awakeners are truly insane??
Comments kept piling up as people tried piecing together the situation, but I was mentally drained and let out a sigh.
By now, even I was starting to get it.
Judging from the cops asking why it was me instead of Choe E-un, Incheon must've normally exploited that Cambodian A-rank for these jobs (no need to explain it was probably Seoul infiltrators messing around—no confirmation needed).
But as we know, the guy heroically bit it in the last Gate incident. So when the cops called, my on-duty official—who couldn't send Choe E-un—must've felt obligated to dispatch some contracted hunter as a substitute.
My handler's a kid around twenty, fresh out of high school, no military service. Like I was at that age, young bucks that age often act first, ask forgiveness never, clueless about boundaries.
He probably had no clue if what he was doing was legal or just rotten custom—thought any contracted hunter was fair game to send.
Whatever the exact reason, he sent me in dead Choe E-un's place.
The cops sensed something off when they saw me but couldn't pinpoint what, so things dragged on vaguely until it fizzled out.
Park Mi-hyeong, arriving late, clocked the situation and unleashed her fury.
Ⓑ GoodHunter: This is way too serious. We hunted till almost 6 PM yesterday? Calling on a rest day is bad enough, but dragging out someone who risked their life? Insane.
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Gas chamber's too good—gotta dismember the whole clan.
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Or chop off limbs and gibbet 'em at Gwanghwamun.
Anonymous: Even this edgelord's right for once
Ⓐ syberMagneto: Who'd have thought Baek Dam-bi never dealt with this, but our hotshot does? Mind-blowing.
Ⓢ Kang: Still suffocating watching those estuary idiots. If I wasn't paid to stay in Seoul, I'd storm in and flip the place. Anyone wanna tank Behemoth for me?
Even heavyweights like Kang Jun-chi were chiming in, ranting about what I'd gone through.
As more posts about my ordeal flooded HuntWeb, another one popped up.
Anonymous: Article on this already dropped lol scary