That Bastard Is a Joseon Man!
The massive orb floated in midair, writhing with colors no human eye could comprehend—a gate.
It hung right in the middle of the intersection, half-devouring a streetcar that had been passing by at the time.
“The gate’s opened! Someone call the hunters right—!”
『Run! Hurry, run— ugh!』
“Kyaaaah!”
‘…….’
While panicked pedestrians slammed into my shoulder and fled, I simply stood there, staring at the gate.
‘What the hell is this?’
As far as I knew, the first gate had appeared in 2019. There was no way something like this should exist in this era.
‘Did the timeline change because I came back?’
Soon the gate began spitting out monsters. Three large cephalopod-like creatures wriggled out from its surface.
I was still staring in a daze when Song Byeong-o, who had somehow made his way to my side, shouted.
“Damn it, we’re not even official hunters yet, but still…!”
As he spoke, he pulled something from inside his school uniform jacket. A revolver. I was genuinely shocked.
Wait, where the hell did he get a gun? And was he seriously planning to fight monsters with it? A civilian? A student? With just a single handgun?
We’d only just met, but I couldn’t let him die. I had to stop him.
“Hey! That’s dangerous! Do you even know what those things are? A pathetic little revolver won’t—”
“Of course I know it’s dangerous! But I’m still a provisional hunter cadet. I can’t just stand here and do nothing!”
“What?”
“If you’re not confident, then stay back!”
He shoved me aside, stepped forward, extended his arm, and opened fire.
Bang! Bang!
The sharp reports slammed into my ears. But these were monsters. I had no idea where a student had gotten a gun, but ordinary bullets would never work against them.
Yet—
Boom!
The bullet that struck the monster’s head exploded in a brilliant flash of light. That was unmistakably—
‘Mana rounds?!’
They were mana rounds. I turned to look at Song Byeong-o.
‘An awakened?’
Even in the 21st century there had been hunters who infused bullets with mana to damage monsters. What Song Byeong-o had just fired was cruder, but it clearly operated on the same principle.
Now that I thought about it, his reaction didn’t seem like someone seeing a gate for the first time. And it wasn’t just him—the fleeing pedestrians all looked like they already knew exactly what gates and monsters were.
‘So history didn’t change because of me. Gates have existed in this world from the start? That means there are awakened people… and if that’s the case, then hunters must exist too…’
Suddenly the word I’d heard and seen several times—yeopsa (獵師)—struck me like a hammer.
‘The character for “hunt.”’
Yeopsa. It was an unfamiliar Sino-Korean term, but if you thought about it, it clearly meant “hunter.” Could it be that in this era, “yeopsa” was simply another word for hunter?
Which would mean the “Yeopsa Specialized School” I was about to attend was… a hunter academy?
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
I’d thought I’d been sent to the past where there were no gates or monsters, so I could live a completely different life. Instead, gates had apparently existed here all along, and I was a freshman at a hunter academy?
I’d wished right before I died to go back to the past and attend a hunter academy, but this was how my wish was granted?
‘Unbelievable…’
Whatever the case, if the current me—Baek Chulyeon—was a freshman at a hunter academy, then I had to be an awakened as well.
Until now I hadn’t even considered the possibility that this body might be awakened, so I’d never tried to sense mana. But the moment I focused inward, I felt it clearly flowing through me.
‘Hmm…?’
However, the amount was nothing impressive. By 21st-century standards, it was probably E-class or even lower. It was actually less than what I’d had in my previous life.
Still, the fact that I could sense mana proved I was awakened. That alone, though, didn’t tell me what type of ability I possessed.
In the 21st century, there had been a system that analyzed an awakened’s mana pattern and displayed objective stats. Thanks to that, you could clearly see what type of awakened you were and exactly how strong.
Since I was possessing someone else’s body, I hadn’t expected anything like that. Still, just in case, I mentally recited the command.
‘Status window!’
‘It worked?!’
But my hopes were dashed almost immediately.
User data corrupted.
Status system cannot be activated.
‘As expected…’
The status system was implanted into each awakened’s soul. It must have come with mine, but something had apparently broken during the possession process.
With the status window unusable, the only way to figure out what kind of ability I had was to test it in real combat.
I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon and picked up a wooden plank with a sharply splintered end. When I focused slightly, aura flowed into it.
The fact that aura could be infused meant this student’s body was probably an auror blower type. But the amount of mana I could handle was so small that the aura I added only made the plank a little harder than before.
It was disappointing, but for now it would have to do.
I gripped the plank and glared at the monsters. In the 21st century these had been called Cephalopods. I knew them well.
Typical tentacled cephalopod monsters. Each was about the size of a car, looking like a grotesque mix of octopus and jellyfish. Their bodies moved slowly, but their long tentacles were extremely agile and had impressive reach—tricky opponents.
Their heads were hardened against ordinary firearms, and their weak point was the mouth located at the center where the tentacles emerged. But with dozens of tentacles guarding it, getting close enough to deal damage wasn’t easy.
Still, they were classified as D-class monsters, and I had killed plenty of them back when I was a hunter.
Like the seafood they resembled, they were weak to magic—especially fire. Without any flame abilities, as long as your physical stats and technique were decent, you could take them down with nothing more than a simple weapon.
I held the plank and ran past Song Byeong-o, charging at the closest of the three cephalopods. He shouted in surprise.
“Baek Chulyeon, you…?”
“Fire when I give the signal!”
After giving the order, I charged straight at the cephalopod. The moment I entered tentacle range, I veered sharply right and began circling it in a wide arc.
Keeping just outside its reach, I lightly swatted away any tentacles that came near and focused entirely on drawing aggro.
There was no way this plank could sever tentacles, and even with a sword it would be pointless to cut them one by one. The moment you approached to slice one, the others would swarm you.
Because each tentacle moved independently, their patterns were complicated. Once you entered their range, you’d quickly be surrounded.
But that very independence was the creature’s greatest weakness!
If you kept lightly tapping the tentacles while circling like this, each one would stretch toward you—the source of aggro—until they tangled with one another.
And when even the tentacles supporting its body reached for me, causing it to stagger—
I abruptly changed direction at a right angle and charged straight at it. The tentacles wrapped around its body couldn’t react in time to the sudden shift from circular to linear movement.
Crunch!
I drove the plank with all my strength into the mouth that had been exposed when it staggered. This was the most vulnerable part of its body. If I’d been holding a weapon capable of delivering mana damage, the fight would have ended right there.
Of course, a plank with almost no mana infused in it couldn’t finish the job. Normally I wouldn’t have tried this tactic, but I wasn’t alone right now. I twisted the plank hard to pry its mouth open and shouted.
“Song Byeong-o! Now!”
One mana round straight into that gaping maw would end it. Song Byeong-o’s mana rounds were still crude, but they were more than enough to destroy the soft internal organs and the mana stone that served as its power source.
But what came from Song Byeong-o wasn’t a mana round—it was a panicked voice.
“W-wait! Just a second!”
When I glanced back, he was in the middle of reloading. In his haste he fumbled the bullets and dropped them on the ground.
‘God damn it.’
I cursed inwardly, but it wasn’t really his fault. If anyone was to blame, it was me for expecting a student who hadn’t even enrolled yet to pull his weight like a full hunter.
But now I was the one running out of time. The tangled tentacles were starting to unravel.
If I tried to dodge, the other two cephalopods had already noticed the disturbance and were reaching toward me with their own tentacles. This was bad.
‘Shit, this is—’
At that moment, a calm, quiet voice whispered from behind me.
Long black hair brushed past me, and suddenly a wave of scorching heat surged forward. At the same time, crimson flames engulfed the cephalopod.
The tentacles that had been reaching for me let out a hideous shriek and recoiled from the heat. I quickly stepped back as well.
The figure standing in the middle of the blazing inferno was a female student wearing a black sera uniform. The long Japanese sword in her hand was wreathed in flames, as if coated in oil.
A group of men followed right behind her. All dressed in black suits, they too wielded Japanese swords and charged at the cephalopods, slicing through the tentacles.
Song Byeong-o shouted.
“We’re saved! Those are the hunters from the Shimazu Gumi!”
I asked, “Shimazu Gumi?”
“Yeah! Look at those badges! They’re the famous emblem of the Shimazu Gumi hunter guild!”
So “hunter guild” was apparently called “yeopsa association” here. That meant these people were professional hunters affiliated with a guild.
Sure enough, once the suited men engaged the cephalopods, two of the three creatures were already lying on the ground in less than a minute.
My attention, however, was fixed on the female student who had cut in front of me earlier. The girl in the black uniform raised a sword nearly as tall as she was high above her head.
With a sharp battle cry, she brought the blade down on the last cephalopod. The red-hot sword sliced the creature cleanly in half.
‘Oh…’
The flames and heat were clearly from a fire-type awakened, but the swordsmanship that had bisected the monster in a single strike came from her own physical ability and technique, not her awakening.
It looked like she was the type who emphasized natural physical prowess and technique, using her awakening ability as support. Her movements were still a little rough, but her skill was nothing to scoff at.
Song Byeong-o, who had been watching, let out an impressed whistle.
“The Shimazu Gumi really lives up to its reputation!”
I had to agree.
Only a few minutes after the Shimazu Gumi—rather, the Shimazu hunter guild—had arrived, all three cephalopods that had emerged from the gate were exterminated. Even considering they were low-tier monsters, it was fast and clean work.
Once the monsters were dealt with, some of the hunters put out the fires that had spread to nearby buildings while others set up a cordon around the still-open gate. Very professional cleanup, exactly what you’d expect from guild hunters.
The girl who had sliced the cephalopod in half gave a few instructions to the surrounding guild members, then turned and began walking toward us. Four or five members followed behind her like bodyguards.
“Huh?”
Why were they coming this way? To say hello? As she got close enough for me to see her face clearly, Song Byeong-o muttered.
“Wait a second… If it’s the Shimazu Gumi, then that girl couldn’t possibly be…”
I was about to ask who she was, but the girl reached us first and spoke directly to me.
Just like before, even though she spoke in Japanese, I understood her perfectly. So she was also a future classmate, just like Song Byeong-o standing behind me.
“Yeah.”
When I answered, she extended her hand for a handshake.
The moment Song Byeong-o heard the name, he started hiccupping violently. I had no idea why he was reacting like that… I was a little flustered that she had introduced herself first, but it would only be polite to return the courtesy.
I took the girl—Renka’s—slender white hand and said, “Baek Chulyeon.”
Renka frowned slightly beneath her straight-cut bangs and struggled to pronounce it. Apparently finding it too difficult, she closed her mouth, glanced at the name tag on my uniform, and spoke again.
…Ah. That was the Japanese-style reading of my name. It felt a bit uncomfortable, but since Renka clearly couldn’t pronounce “Baek Chulyeon,” I had no choice but to nod. For a Japanese person, using the Japanese reading would probably be more comfortable anyway.
I answered in Japanese.
Only then did Renka give my hand a light squeeze and offer the faintest hint of a smile. But at that moment, one of the young guild members standing behind her shouted.
『……!』
Renka immediately withdrew her hand. What the—? She was the one who offered the handshake first, but the moment she hears I’m Joseon, she drops it like it’s on fire?
I was starting to feel genuinely annoyed when she turned her head slightly to the side and spoke quietly.
At the sound of Renka’s voice, the young guild member bowed his head.
When Renka whipped her head around and glared at him, the guild member fell silent.
Renka apparently held a fairly high position in the guild. Even though the man looked like a mid-level officer, he couldn’t utter a single word against her.
Yet even as he apologized, he lifted his head again and stared at me with clear displeasure. So I stared right back. What are you going to do about it?
The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got. This guy who looked no older than his mid-twenties was glaring at an adult and throwing around “Joseon bastard” every other sentence. Was this what it felt like to lose your country?
My emotions flared, and mana surged inside me without warning. I was still holding the wooden plank. I took a step toward the guild member. From behind, Song Byeong-o shouted.
“H-hey, Baek Chulyeon!”
I ignored Song Byeong-o’s attempt to stop me and continued glaring at the young guild member. He met my gaze, quietly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, clearly ready to draw at any moment.
『That bastard is a Joseon man!』