Chapter 47
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 047
Chapter Title: A-rank Hunter Nguyen - [5]
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I raised my thumb. As the host made a huge fuss in an excited voice, I turned my gaze to Mr. Naito.
That non-Awakener scum... Hate to admit it, but he'd racked up some serious merits this time too. He'd been the first on the scene, taken down about three Deathclaws rampaging on the road, and lured away that giant boar monster, which had drastically cut down on civilian casualties, or so I'd heard?
And yet, for staking his life like that, they were just giving him a lousy certificate—and the guy was grinning ear to ear. That attitude alone proved just how professional Mr. Naito was. Or maybe he was just thrilled thinking about bragging on some broadcast later?
While the other hunters here were enjoying the event in their own ways, one other hunter attending the ceremony looked utterly bored.
"Nóng quá đi..."
To be precise, it was Nguyen.
Even as the ceremony was in full swing, Nguyen had been muttering to himself nonstop. He sidled up to me casually and asked in a voice that wasn't exactly quiet.
"Kim Geuk? Wanna grab a drink after this boring crap ends?"
I wasn't thrilled about him acting like that at a sacred Incheon event, but what could I do?
I'd just heard that the guy had been put through the wringer by the local government. It was understandable that even being dragged to this event pissed him off.
I nodded politely to show my agreement.
And it seemed Nguyen really did like me—no empty words there. He flashed his gleaming teeth in a big grin right away.
After the awards wrapped up, they kicked off a fundraising auction of merchandise.
True to form for a hunter event, Incheon City had produced character goods featuring the hunters.
Among the gathered hunters, the most famous two—me and Mr. Naito—had our acrylic stands up for sale. Honestly, the quality was pretty meh, so wouldn't it have been way better to just sell those baby mushroom T-shirts instead?
But the crowd here had all come to see me and Mr. Naito, so the prepared items sold out in a flash.
Baek Dam-bi must have been insanely jealous. She slipped over to me and said,
"You're really popular, huh...?"
I replied in a consoling tone.
"It's 'cause I'm so cute."
Hmm, I'd never seen my round girl looking like she wanted to punch someone before.
Baek Dam-bi closed her eyes and opened them again, like she was holding back some impulse, then said,
"Must be nice being that cute... Really."
"If you're jealous, why not try adding 'yang' to the end of every sentence? You'd definitely be a thousand times cuter!"
I'd never seen Baek Dam-bi looking like she wanted to kill someone before either. With trembling lips, she said,
"I'd rather die...!"
I gave her a cheerful smile and parted ways with my round girl.
I was just about to head off for that drink with Nguyen as promised.
Some government official grabbed me.
"Excuse me, Hunter Kim Geuk? I overheard during the ceremony—you're planning to have a drink with Nguyen later, right?"
"Sorry for responding to him chatting me up during the event. Felt wrong to straight-up ignore him."
"No, that's not it. I have a separate favor to ask. I know it's a hassle, but during your drinks... could you chat with Nguyen and maybe ask if there's something bothering that guy?"
I raised one eyebrow.
"Ask him what's bothering him?"
The official explained in response to my question.
Forty minutes after the ceremony ended, as promised, Nguyen and I were drinking alone.
I poured him a shot and said,
"Thanks for the help this time—you saved my ass in more ways than one. I really came that close to dying."
Nguyen downed the shot I'd poured him and boomed,
"Why so formal? Awakeners gotta help each other out!"
"Well said."
"Besides, you looked like you were in a pinch—how could I ignore that? You know I really like you, Kim Geuk!"
"Yeah. Your teammates said the same."
Nguyen flashed his signature smile.
"I've met a ton of Awakeners, you know! Piles of 'em in Vietnam, plenty in Japan too, but none of 'em were heroes like you, Kim Geuk."
"I am pretty great, huh?"
I answered modestly, and Nguyen kept heaping on the praise.
"For real, you're amazing! I've seen plenty who brag about their strength, but never anyone with guts like you, swinging a hammer to smash monsters yourself! Sure, I've seen guys charge monsters recklessly out of some half-baked courage, but none had the skills and brains to rack up results like you..."
He went on praising me for a good while, so I returned the favor.
"You're pretty incredible yourself, Nguyen. You were so fast I couldn't even see you move! With specs like yours, your contract fee must be insane, right? Oh, you already finished that shot? Here, another..."
I poured him another, and Nguyen emptied it with a hearty laugh that'd cheer up anyone watching.
As we traded shots back and forth, I stayed perfectly fine while Nguyen's face flushed red from the booze.
In a tipsy slur, Nguyen asked,
"By the way, you're a Physical Enhancement type, right? Does booze even hit you? Liver too tough to get drunk?"
"Kinda, but you don't just drink to get wasted—you drink for the vibe too."
"Huh. Then I'll get drunk for both of us!"
Nearly shouting it, Nguyen—who was already red-faced from pounding drinks—kept chugging more and more.
Watching his heroic, larger-than-life drinking, I thought to myself.
A guy this boisterous was supposedly such a timid hunter that Incheon City called him a budget thief? He didn't strike me that way at first glance.
According to the official's complaints, the A-rank Hunter Nguyen right in front of me had a notorious rep for slacking off in Incheon.
I recalled our conversation back then.
'He meets the minimum dispatch quotas in the contract when gates open, sure! But once he's there, he won't touch the real A-rank work!'
'You mean stuff like handling the Force Field Bodies solo?'
'Exactly! But Nguyen just puts on a show of stepping up for the tough, dangerous jobs, fires off a few shots from his hunter rifle, claims he participated, and heads home! Total end-of-tour mindset—it's driving us insane. And he's got over two years left on the contract...'
I could see why they took it so seriously.
Even a high-paid athlete slacking off for the paycheck gives you headaches, but when it's an A-rank Hunter the city scraped together a budget for? Way worse. Unlike an apathetic athlete who might just tank some games, an A-rank Hunter's performance directly ties to the lives of the city's residents.
'But Nguyen seemed fine this time. He hopped on a bike, got to the scene quick, and even lured that massive monster—risking his neck.'
'Yeah. Over the radio, it sounded like he was actually taking charge for once? Super weird, so I asked his team why he was so gung-ho this time. Turns out it's personal fondness for you, Kim Geuk—just a one-off thing... So...'
Since Nguyen seemed to like me in particular, the official asked me to find out what the problem was myself.
Ask why he slacked so much, and what they could do to make him work hard like this time.
Honestly, I wasn't super motivated. The issue was obvious to me anyway.
'All the emergency calls, priority deployments—overworking him like that probably killed his drive to hustle.'
When I pointed out what his teammates had said, the official awkwardly tried to change the subject.
'What's done is done... We just want to check for other issues.'
So, they were ignoring the glaring problem anyone could see and hunting for some other flaw to pin it on.
What did they expect me to do? Even if I had a silver tongue, I couldn't fix this.
Still, since he'd asked, I wasn't gonna blow it off completely.
I looked at Nguyen.
He seemed to love booze from way back—chugging glass after glass. He was starting to look unsteady, but at this level of drunk, it'd be easy to pry out his real feelings.
So I asked,
"You're pretty unhappy with how they treat you, right?"
The answer came right away. Nguyen slammed the table with his fist and yelled,
"Unhappy? Hell yeah!"
"What's got you so unhappy?"
"They treat me like some disposable foreign laborer!"
Eh, right on the nose—no surprise there.
As I was about to console him, Nguyen kept going.
"They can't treat me like that... You know what I used to do? Know what I was in Vietnam before I became a hunter?"
"No clue. Color me curious—what?"
I wasn't really curious. Just the classic drunk line: "You know who I used to be?"
But Nguyen's answer blew past all my expectations.
"Me and my crew? We ruled a whole province!"
I blinked. First time hearing that one.
"Ruled a whole province?"
Nguyen bellowed in his drunken slur,
"Straight up! We took over the entire thing and played provincial lord!"
"How...?"
"One day, monsters poured out of a gate, cops all ran away? No cops left, so to save people, we needed new protectors! Me and a few Awakener soldiers rounded up survivors and ruled those weak-ass locals. Ruled 'em! Rule! Sounds badass just saying it!"
I suddenly recalled an article I'd read once. Vietnamese Awakeners who'd seized Ca Mau Province amid the security vacuum.
Those Awakeners had occupied Ca Mau Province back then, extorting locals for "protection" fees, demanding mistresses— all sorts of crimes. That part came back too.
Looked like the Nguyen in front of me was one of them.
I could guess the rest, but played dumb and asked,
"So why are you a hunter now?"
"Government ordered us to disband—we ignored 'em. So they rolled in the army to retake it... But our boss punked out at a few cannon blasts and surrendered!"
Sounded like it still pissed him off big time. Nguyen kept yelling.
"Fucking idiot! We had nine guys with Force Field exoskeletons—mortars what, scary? We're tough and fast; tank a couple shells, charge, slaughter the troops. Why the hell freak out?"
"Not many opposed the surrender, huh?"
"Some did say no way! But while we argued, government promised: surrender nice, big payout, ship you abroad as hunters. The idiots fell for it... Fucking morons!"
"They kept their word, though. You're a hunter now."
"That they did—and it proves we shouldn't have surrendered! Government knew they couldn't crush us, so they shipped us overseas to dump the troublemakers instead of executing or enslaving us."
I glanced around. Good thing this was a VIP room—just us two, and my mental net picked up no eavesdroppers.
Lucky. If anyone heard what was coming out of his mouth right now, it'd be bad news.
And blackout-drunk Nguyen kept spilling secrets he'd never tell sober.
He ranted on for a while, then started sniffling.
"If you'd been there back then, Kim Geuk... I wouldn't be treated like this shit now!"
"Why's that?"
"Who'd fear artillery with you there? Even an idiot figures: teleport out of danger! With you, no surrender... Hell, with a guy like you leading, we wouldn't have pussied out just 'cause some non-Awakeners showed up!"
Properly hammered, Nguyen was half-crying now.
He repeated how I should've been there a bunch, then sobbed about running into a Vietnamese guy in Korea who knew his crimes—threatened to report his record to the local gov and kill his hunter contract unless he paid up big from his signing bonus.
He bawled like that for ages, then suddenly looked at me and said,
"Kim Geuk? If you ever commit some big crime and can't hunter anymore, hit me up. Yeah? Or if hunting's too risky and shitty, call me no matter what!"
"Quit hunting and go back to Vietnam to seize another province together?"
Nguen nodded at my question. Nodded over and over, still sniffling.
"Those days were the best. Way better than now...! The women hanging with me back then..."