Chapter 79
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 079
Chapter Title: Special Task Force Member Han Hee - [3]
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I'd known it from the first time we met, but Han Hee was even more timid than your average fresh-faced newbie just starting out in society.
It took over ten minutes of me dragging him along before he finally mustered the courage to ask a question.
"Where are we going?"
"Oh, a hotel. One with a nice spacious restaurant."
Did he think I was taking him to some cheap soup joint? Caught completely off guard, Han Hee blinked in surprise, and I successfully hauled him all the way to the hotel.
The hotel restaurant already had some early birds who'd arrived. They spotted me right away and came over to chat.
"Ah, Boss!"
The pair approaching me now was an elderly couple, and realizing they were Jeong Jin-yeong's parents, I bowed my head politely and spoke.
"You're Jin-yeong's dad, right? I've been in his debt plenty of times."
"No, no! We're the ones who..."
Gratitude poured from the elderly couple's mouths—sincere thanks for looking after their utterly hopeless son, requests to keep taking good care of him, all sorts of appreciative words spilling out.
They clearly knew their hikikomori son was raking in a fortune thanks to someone, so I made an effort not to come off as too arrogant in front of them. Wasn't it only natural for the Incheon Duke to look after his sheep properly?
Once the couple had stepped back, I turned to Han Hee, who was standing there awkwardly.
"Oh, I forgot to mention—this is our hunter team's dinner gathering today. Still, slipping in and grabbing a bite shouldn't feel too weird. As you just saw, it's the kind of spot where team members bring their families to eat."
"Team members bringing their families to eat?"
"Yeah."
"In a place like this?"
Well, it was a bit overly lavish for a casual team dinner, to be fair.
Just look at that tuna sashimi over there—the last of the stock frozen before the gates opened, since we can't catch any more these days. You could feel the glory of the lost old world right here.
"Did Incheon City set this up? For Kim Geuk, who's done so much for the city..."
"Nah? It was a day off from hunting anyway, so I just booked it with my own money to treat the team."
"You reserved a hotel like this out of pocket?"
"Employee welfare? Something like that. I know dragging them out to eat on a day off might stress them out..."
I nodded toward Seong Mun-yeong and Lee Jong-ho and their families as I continued.
"But they all seem happy about it, right? See, they've even brought their families and friends."
On HuntWeb, only Awakener Hunters get the royal treatment, while non-Awakeners are dismissed as low-class lives who just happen to make bank—and that mindset isn't confined to HuntWeb; it's spread across all of Korean society.
So I figured I needed to give my Hunter team members chances to show some face to their families, to let the people around them know they get treated well by their boss on the job.
That's why I set up gatherings like this whenever the opportunity arose.
"Hang on a sec—I'll go say hi to the team members' families real quick. Han Hee, go ahead and start eating."
"Ah, sure."
And that's what I did. I went over first to greet my team members' families.
"Jong-ho's mom? It's an honor to meet you like this. You know your son does great work, right?"
"Oh my, I thought you were some celebrity, but you're Hyeong-taek's boss? That old thief Hyeong-taek really knows how to pick 'em. Ah, you brought your daughter too! She's a heat ray Awakener? Wow..."
In the middle of all that, Baek Dam-bi made her entrance. She came alone, no family in sight, and apparently her only friends were the ones from HuntWeb.
Ah, well, saying she even had HuntWeb friends might be generous—maybe she truly had none at all.
After guiding my poor round girl to her seat, I headed back to Han Hee.
Seeing him already piling his plate high and digging in made me pretty satisfied.
"You're eating well. Food to your taste?"
Han Hee flinched mid-bite, then slowly nodded.
"There's so much food I haven't even seen since the gates opened. Stuff I figure if I don't eat it now, I never will again..."
"Doesn't Han Hee get chances to come to places like this? Your dad's a high-ranking official, right?"
"Doesn't mean we've got money at home. Dad and I are both just salarymen in the end..."
That was pretty surprising. Wasn't Han Hee-seok the Vice Minister of National Security? A position like that should bring in plenty beyond just salary, but it looked like he was playing the incorruptible upright official to avoid any scrutiny.
The real victim putting up with it all was his talented son. What a repulsive situation.
Meanwhile, Han Hee eyed it all with obvious envy.
"Hunters really do make bank, huh? The employee welfare level alone is impressive. I know Kim Geuk is exceptional even among Hunters and earns especially well, but..."
"Jealous? Then quit the Special Task Force and become a Hunter. You'd rake it in just like me."
Han Hee gave an awkward laugh at my sincere words.
"How could I become a Hunter?"
"Not gonna? I heard last time you're not thrilled with Special Task Force life either— you planning to stick it out?"
"For the next few years...?"
"Why?"
"Mandatory service period left. About three years... Still, it's not all bad. Special Task Force duty exempts you from military service..."
I clicked my tongue at his excuse-like explanation.
"Still a loss. Isn't the mandatory Special Task Force service four to six years? Might as well do regular military duty instead of being tied down that long... Anyway, once the service period's up, you'll go Hunter right away?"
"I'd like to, but I'm not sure if I can..."
"Why? Dad gonna block you? Telling you not to do grubby manual labor like Hunting?"
"Not that it's lowly, but yeah, Dad will block me. He wants me to be a public servant..."
"So he forced you into the Special Task Force?"
"Yes."
"And now that you're in, Dad got booted from his Special Task Force commander spot, leaving you to suffer alone?"
"Yes..."
My blood pressure spiked at that spineless reply. Goddamn it.
I muttered exactly what I felt.
"Anyway, those Special Task Force assholes are a joke. The shit they pull, you wouldn't even call them Awakeners. They act like the world's still the same as before the gates."
Startled by the sudden outburst? Han Hee looked at me in panic.
I kept going.
"Han Hee. I'm serious—you're worth more than the entire Special Task Force."
"Huh?"
"Whether civilians or Awakeners, public servants or Special Task Force—nobody's adapted to the changed world yet. The world's different, but everyone's still thinking and acting with pre-gate values. That's why you're suffering like this."
"What are you saying...?"
"People might look similar, but they're not the same. It's nonsense to lump a rowboat with a warship..."
As Han Hee listened blankly, I continued.
"If regular folks are rowboats, your Special Task Force Awakener buddies are like medieval junks. They can ram and sink rowboats anytime... So they think they're hot shit? A fleet of junks is nothing to fear, right? Because they think the world's seas only have rowboats and junks. They figure sending a few panokseon will crush any intruder from foreign waters. But the world's changed now—they can't do that."
I sneered, then went on.
"Now the seas are crossed by thousand-ton ironclads. Whether junks or rowboats, fleets or singles, one can sink them all alone... And you know Han Hee, you're a special kind of ironclad, right?"
"Me?"
"Of course. You're the type that might even sink an aircraft carrier. Rowboats bitching, junks bitching—you've got every right to ignore them all and sail your own course... But like everyone else, you haven't adapted to the new world yet, so you can't bring yourself to do it."
I was saying, "One day, I hope you ram them all," when...
"Who's this?"
Seong Mun-yeong came over and asked, so I introduced him.
"Special Task Force's Han Hee."
"Ah, that 'Korean Spirit Unyielding' from HuntWeb?"
Before Han Hee's face could twist, I jumped in.
"And the moment he debuts as a Hunter, he'll get treated just like me."
I rattled off Han Hee's ability catalog right then, and Seong Mun-yeong reacted just as I'd hoped.
"Whoa, that's insane? Once he starts Hunting for real..."
I clearly saw Han Hee's expression shift at that reaction.
A rapid succession of emotions, fitting for an acceleration Awakener—hope, sighs, melancholy flashing across his face in quick succession. I witnessed it all.
Did that make him even more set on ditching the Special Task Force for Hunting?
I certainly hoped so. That's why I'd gone off on that rant.
It frustrated me to no end that this guy, who deserved my level of treatment, was starting a civil servant life on some non-Awakener loser's orders and suffering under far inferior people.
In the middle of eating, I muttered.
"Ah, looks like the association meeting's wrapped up?"
A flicker of realization crossed Han Hee's face. I fiddled with my phone, sent him some files, and said.
"Here, sent you the meeting recordings. Submit these to the Special Task Force. Just say you entered the meeting room and recorded it yourself."
It was an unexpected gift—he widened his eyes.
"How did you...?"
"I messaged earlier asking them to set it up separately. Did good, right? Now that the mission's done, eat comfortably. Play on your smartphone or head home whenever. Take it easy, yeah?"
By now, he had to realize this was genuine personal goodwill.
As I started to get up, Han Hee said.
"Thank... you. For everything."
I grinned.
"No big deal. Fellow ironclads and all. Oh, just to check—will the Special Task Force keep sending you for association stuff?"
"Probably..."
"Then don't bother unnecessarily—come straight to me. If I'm not there, call. Got it?"
Han Hee hesitated, then nodded.
After that, we all just enjoyed the meal together.
As everyone had eaten their fill and the gathering was winding down—time to part ways or grab coffee—the world reminded us how much it'd changed since the gates.
Dry lightning from clear skies had become far too common.
Unannounced disasters now struck with frustrating regularity, as if it were the most natural thing.
And today was no different.
'Ziiiiing...' Every Hunter's phone in the room rang at once.
Seong Mun-yeong checked his smartphone, face hardening. He said to me.
"Hyung, a Gate just opened...!"
No need to tell me. The aftermath—the Gate's unique flood of emotions—was already seeping into my head.
I'd adapted enough that it wasn't painful anymore, but the families my team members brought looked ready to pass out.
I stood up and announced loudly.
"Alright, everyone—time to evacuate. There's a shelter nearby; I'll teleport you all there!"
I was about to start with Seong Mun-yeong and his family when he asked.
"What about you, hyung? You didn't bring weapons either—are you evacuating too?"
"Me? I'll check the situation and decide."
I gave a vague answer and teleported Seong Mun-yeong and his family to safety.
Him included, none of my team members were useful in this situation. They hadn't brought weapons.
This was Seoul—unlike Incheon's laid-back cops who don't bat an eye at Hunters strolling with machine guns or rocket launchers, Seoul's petty police crack down hard, not even letting Hunters carry automatic rifles openly.
Of course, I was empty-handed too, but I'm no non-Awakener who turns useless after losing one gun. Right?
After evacuating everyone, I hurried to find something usable.
Ah, there it was. The bed of Seong Mun-yeong's pickup truck—his massive hammer loaded there.
Something he always carried for me, just in case.
As I gripped the huge hammer, Han Hee finally caught on to my intent.
His eyes went wide.
"Kim Geuk, you're stepping up now that a Gate's open?"
"Yeah."
"But you just said you'd decide after checking the situation...?"
"That was so the others wouldn't feel pressured to join if I, the boss, said I was going. And as an A-rank Hunter, it's only natural I step up in a situation like this."
Whatever he was thinking, Han Hee stared at me blankly.
I asked him.
"Come to think of it, I've never heard of the Special Task Force getting mobilized for Gates. No duty for you guys to respond?"
He didn't answer right away. After a long pause, he finally spoke.
"Well, Special Task Force members are forbidden from hunting monsters among ourselves."
"Wait, why? Some rule saying you get disciplined for killing monsters?"
I asked half-jokingly, but the answer was unexpected.
"Yeah. Not officially codified, but it's an unwritten rule shared among Special Task Force members... Even if Seoul City or the police request help with a monster sighting, we have to ignore it."
"Why the hell?"
"If we start popping out to hunt monsters once or twice, eventually it'll become expected to mobilize us for every hunt."
"Ah, can't risk dangerous work for your measly 1.2 mil salary?"
"Roughly, yeah... So if a Special Task Force member bags even a Deathclaw, the seniors go beyond just chewing them out—they see it as harming the organization..."
He trailed off, glancing at me warily. I could guess why.
Had to be embarrassing for him. Here I was, an Incheon Hunter with no obligation, stepping up out of professional ethics—while he hid because he feared his seniors. Shameful.
Honestly, hearing that made me think, yep, the Special Task Force really is a half-baked pack of rice-wasters. But I didn't say it out loud.
Like I always say, powerful Awakeners deserve respect.
Han Hee was still acting like a sheep, but he had plenty of reason for my respect.
Considering his pride, I said.
"Well, nothing to be done then. If you get a chance, could you grab a Hunter rifle from the nearby precinct?"
"Hunter rifle?"
"At least 50kg class. Bringing gear shouldn't count as joining the hunt, right? I'll head to the scene now, so leave it here when you bring it..."
Clearly uncomfortable doing nothing, he didn't refuse even this request.
"I'll grab it right away!"
With that, Han Hee shot off at a speed my eyes could barely track—only my mental net could follow his movement.
He vanished in an instant.
And I gripped the hammer tight, readying for the hunt.
Me, an Incheon-contracted Hunter, jumping into Seoul's mess—it was odd even to me. But whatever. If I want to go, I go. Who’s gonna stop me?
And it looked worth it.
Judging by the Gate's ripple I'd just felt, it was a big one. Massive monsters, powerful ones for sure.
Sure enough, a colossal monster's roar echoed from afar. The infrasound hit me with a sharp tingle, adrenaline surging through this hefty body.
Today, once again, I stepped into the octagon.