I Became a Hunter-1
I Became a Hunter-1
[Title: Today I'm going to register as a Hunter]
(Wriggle-wriggle-wormy-wormy-red-worm image)
But it seems there's no one else with a trait like Mo?th?er? like me.
Still, if I look around, there must be someone with a trait like Fa?th?er?, right?
-This bastard is here again
ㄴIs he a famous guy?
ㄴGo to yesterday's best posts lol
ㄴFck, he's just a troll
-The concept is solid, but the aggro is weak
ㄴI'll give you 2.5 points today
-I know high-tier traits are diverse, but 'Mother', you fcker
ㄴI have a trash high-tier trait, but isn't 'Mother' top-tier?
ㄴWhat's up with this guy again
-Mod, you son of a btch! Are you not managing this place?!
-If you're a mom, do you just give birth to kids and stuff?
ㄴI tried Conception and something dangerous popped out
ㄴConception, lololololol
ㄴFck, 'Conception', you son of a b*tch lololol
ㄴWhy don't you just say you have a Childbirth skill too?
"There are many lively children this morning."
The Hunter Gallery on the monitor screen. No, to be more precise, it's the Preliminary Hunter Gallery where people who 'dream' of being Hunters gather and are active.
The real Hunter Gallery doesn't allow activity unless you verify your Hunter Registration Card.
Meanwhile, Kang Yeo-ryeong smiled softly as she checked the post she had just written on the Pre-Hunter Gallery.
They were truly lively children, indeed.
Among them, there were children who engaged in somewhat extreme speech and behavior, but considering the children's age, it wasn't that strange.
Isn't it true that the younger one is, the more they tend to express their emotions a bit excessively?
Is it because I became a 'Mother'?
The subject of the ego was the human Kang Yeo-ryeong. But unknowingly, a part of the psyche naturally changed to fit the 'Mother'.
The current way of speaking was also a part of that change.
Of course, Kang Yeo-ryeong didn't feel any resistance to her change.
Perhaps it was because the change happened so naturally.
It wasn't that the changed version of herself was bothersome. And it wasn't like she had extreme thoughts like, 'I'm going to slaughter all humans!' either.
Just like that, Kang Yeo-ryeong, who was happily watching the comments being posted in real-time on her post, checked the time and got up from her seat.
It was time to go to the Korea Hunter Association for Hunter registration.
In modern times, unlike in novels, you didn't have to register as a Hunter just because you awakened.
People who wanted to register could register. People who didn't want to didn't have to.
However, the majority of awakened individuals register as Hunters through the Korea Hunter Association.
Basically, welfare benefits related to Hunters could only be received if you had a Hunter Registration Card.
Besides that, if you enter a Gate, hunt monsters, or use your abilities without registering because you find it annoying, you get punished accordingly.
In the past, an awakened individual with healing abilities didn't register as a Hunter.
They just healed injured people out of goodwill.
And that awakened individual became a criminal.
No matter how much they used their abilities based on goodwill, an unregistered awakened individual using abilities on ordinary people is a criminal act in itself.
Of course, the biggest reason awakened individuals register as Hunters is money.
Even if you enter a Gate secretly or hunt monsters, you can't sell the byproducts if you aren't officially registered as a Hunter.
In other words, the government. And the Korea Hunter Association are telling the awakened.
If you want to enjoy wealth, honor, and popularity as a Hunter, register properly on your own.
Kang Yeo-ryeong also knew that fact well, which is why she was going to the Korea Hunter Association today to register.
She had also prepared the necessary items properly.
"This should be enough, right?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong turned her gaze slightly and looked into the empty air as she spoke.
What was reflected in her eyes was the status window.
A status window that every awakened individual possesses.
A status window that objectively informs you of the abilities you possess more than anything else.
Of course, Kang Yeo-ryeong's status window was quite different from the status windows of ordinary awakened individuals.
[Re-re-re-re-re-complete-final-real-final-final.Ver Status Window]
Name: Kang Yeo-ryeong
Unique Trait: Mother of All Things
Unique Skill: Mother's Touch. Mother's Kiss. Mother's Encouragement. Mother's Wrath. Mystery of Life.
Derivative Skill: Conception. Child■.
"Ah, I made a mistake."
As Kang Yeo-ryeong waved her hand, the words like Re-re-re... that were stretched out in front of the status window disappeared, and only the word 'Status Window' remained neatly.
Besides that, the character in the word 'Child■' that a human couldn't understand and shouldn't understand disappeared.
Instead, the word 'Childbirth', made of proper human language, took its place.
"Hmm... I wonder if it would be better to remove the word 'Childbirth'."
Looking at the completed status window, Kang Yeo-ryeong muttered once again.
The current status window could be shown to other awakened individuals. And even if shown, it wouldn't cause ominous, blasphemous, immoral, and heterogeneous phenomena like the life form she conceived yesterday.
However, the memory of her days as a human asked if it wouldn't be better to remove the word 'Childbirth' written on the pseudo-status window.
The reason for saying so was truly cute.
"To think the name of the skill 'Childbirth' is too violent for humans. It's not that strange for a mother who conceived life to give birth, is it?"
Well, still, it was advice from the memory of her days as a human.
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who actively accepted the memory's advice, waved her hand in the air one last time and left the house.
The door closed, and the room was empty and desolate.
On the status window floating alone in the air, the skill 'Childbirth' disappeared, and the skill 'Blooming' replaced that empty spot.
The Korea Hunter Association, where one must go for Hunter registration, is located in Yeouido.
The house where Kang Yeo-ryeong lives is located in Guro-gu.
To go to the Korea Hunter Association located in Yeouido, it is convenient, easy, and fast to use public transportation like buses or subways.
However, Kang Yeo-ryeong did not use public transportation.
She just walked along the road on her two feet.
There was no grand reason.
In her days as a human, Kang Yeo-ryeong lived a life of waking up at dawn to go to work and coming home in the evening.
For her, walking around the streets in the early morning with the sun floating above her head was quite a fresh sensation.
Yes. If I had to say, this is.
"I could call it leisure."
Countless people pass by Kang Yeo-ryeong, who is walking along the sidewalk.
On the road right next to her, various cars moved quickly.
Kang Yeo-ryeong walked, enjoying the leisure she felt for the first time in a while, watching the humans moving busily with their own various goals.
Along with the warm sunlight pouring down from above her head.
Just like that, how long had she walked, enjoying the warm sunlight and leisure after a long time?
A loud noise was heard from far away.
Kang Yeo-ryeong felt curiosity at the loud noise that echoed from a place so far away that an ordinary human would never hear it, and even an awakened individual couldn't hear it properly unless they focused their senses.
"What's going on?"
Come to think of it, at some point, people were no longer visible around her.
The cars that were speeding on the road were not visible either.
"Did a Gate appear?"
Or did monsters flow in from outside the city?
The sound echoing in her ears was a mix of thick profanity and shouts full of hostility toward the opponent.
And the monster's shrieks and the explosion of something blowing up were messily mixed together.
It was a noise where various sounds were messily mixed, to the point where anyone who heard it would know that a big problem had occurred.
When Kang Yeo-ryeong, feeling curious about it, looked at the source of the sound.
A different, exotic sound flowed into her ears, unlike anything before.
Pl, please save me....
The sound of someone begging for their life.
It was a very. Yes, a very, very. It was a very faint plea that even most Hunters wouldn't be able to hear easily.
The desperate plea begging for life becomes fainter as time passes.
If just a few minutes pass like this, the owner of the voice will end their life and become a cold corpse.
At that, Kang Yeo-ryeong turned her body away from the direction where the loud noise was coming from, even at this moment, and moved her steps.
A fight between monsters and Hunters that flowed in from the outside.
Or a fight between Hunters and monsters that popped out after a Gate that existed avoiding human eyes collapsed.
Since she had never seen a proper fight between Hunters even in her days as a human, she was somewhat interested.
However.
"Yes, that's right. I'm a Mother, aren't I? What kind of mother could ignore a young child's desperate plea?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong moved in the direction of the child who was begging to be saved, forcibly holding onto the flickering flame of life, not the Hunters.
And the place she arrived at was the debris of a building that had collapsed due to the fight between monsters and Hunters.
Someone who couldn't evacuate in time was buried in the debris of the collapsed building.
However, the pleading voice was no longer heard from within the debris.
"Are they dead? Ah, that's not it."
The child buried in the debris was not dead yet.
However, they would die soon.
The flame of life that the child held was small and fragile, to the point where it wouldn't be strange if it went out at any moment.
Kang Yeo-ryeong thought while looking at the debris.
"Hmm, what should I do?"
Should I save the child dying buried in the debris?
Or should I just pass by pretending not to know?
Considering herself, who hasn't registered as a Hunter yet, it wouldn't matter if she passed by pretending not to know.
A fight between Hunters and monsters taking place outside, not inside a Gate, inevitably causes damage.
To the point where one or two people dying is not a big deal.
In other words, even if Kang Yeo-ryeong, who is not an official Hunter, ignores the child in front of her, no one would hold her responsible.
On the contrary, if someone else sees her using her abilities to save the child, she would become a criminal.
However.
"Yes, that's right. What kind of mother could ignore a child's pain?"
Kang Yeo-ryeong decided to help the child dying buried in the debris, rather than ignoring them like this.
【Conceive.】
Crack-!
As she whispered while spreading her hands wide, a crack was engraved in the air with an eerie tearing sound.
However-, unlike yesterday, the crack did not lead to a hole.
It was just that black smoke leaked out through the gaps of the crack engraved in the air and gathered on top of Kang Yeo-ryeong's wide-spread hands.
Kang Yeo-ryeong whispered again, looking at the black smoke that gathered on her wide-spread hands and was tossing and turning like turbulence.
【Bloom.】
Crack-!
In time with Kang Yeo-ryeong's whisper, an eerie tearing sound rang out once again.
At the same time, the black smoke that was running wild on her wide-spread hands took on a certain form.
It was an eraser.
Kang Yeo-ryeong looked at the eraser she had created and said.
"Yes. Indeed. If it's not conceiving life, it doesn't have a big impact on the surroundings."
Of course, the eraser was also having an impact on the surroundings.
But compared to the tentacles she conceived yesterday, the eraser's influence was so insignificant that it could be ignored.
With this, she confirmed one fact.
That conceiving objects or tools has a weaker impact on reality than conceiving life.
Of course, considering the size of the tool and the complexity of the parts that make up the tool, it was highly likely that it was so because this was a simple eraser.
Meanwhile, Kang Yeo-ryeong rubbed the air with the eraser she had created.
It was an action like erasing letters written on paper with a pencil.
And the result of such an action was not much different.
There was only a trivial difference: whether you erase the letters written on paper, or erase the debris of the collapsed building in front of you.
As the eraser moved, the debris disappeared cleanly.
What replaced that empty space was a poor child.
By human standards, they were old enough that it wouldn't be strange if they died at any moment, so it was natural to call them an old person.
But by Kang Yeo-ryeong's standards, they were just a poor child facing death.
The child's condition was serious.
Both legs were crushed by the collapsed debris. And bent steel bars were piercing through their abdomen.
Besides that, large and small wounds could be seen all over their body.
At least seeing their chest rising and falling faintly, they hadn't died yet, but that was it.
In 1 minute. No, if less time than that passed, that poor child would die.
Since the debris had disappeared, even if they were luckily spotted by a Hunter and survived, their two legs were crushed.
Even if they lived, it wouldn't be living.
Kang Yeo-ryeong stopped in front of the poor child whose faint flame of life was about to go out completely, and said.
"Ah, it's always sad to see the life of a poor child go out."
"Wh... o...?"
"I am a Mother."
"Please... save... me...."
Toward Kang Yeo-ryeong, who introduced herself as a Mother, the child pleaded.
The flame of life held by the child, who was begging to be saved, flared up strongly for a moment.
It wasn't that the time the child could live had increased thanks to the debris disappearing.
It was a phenomenon called 'lighting the lamp before it goes out'. It was just the body squeezing out all its strength right before death, temporarily infusing power.
Kang Yeo-ryeong looked at the child who was saying save me with a difficult voice and said.
"Ah, poor child. A child for whom it wouldn't be strange to die at any moment. Do you want to live that much?"
"I want to... live.... So... please...."
Kang Yeo-ryeong smiled at the sight of the child begging to be saved at her question.
It was so soft. And so gentle. And so benevolent.
But it was so eerie. And so blasphemous. And so immoral, and heterogeneous.
"This Mother is not cold enough to ignore a poor child's plea. So, I will help you."
Kang Yeo-ryeong, who said that, kissed the forehead of the child who was on the verge of death.
That act was 【Mother's Kiss】, which is recorded in the unique skill of the status window she created herself.
"Please, live happily for a long, long time. Poor child."
Kang Yeo-ryeong said that and disappeared after taking her lips off the child's forehead.
Meanwhile, the child who was left alone.
Ah...! Ah...!
Aaaaa...!
They shouted while looking up at the sky.
In the shout that burst out of the child's mouth, despair. Hope. Immorality. Blasphemy. Divinity. Restraint. Joy. Sadness. Anger. Greed. Desire were messily tangled and deeply embedded.
At the same time.
Crunch! Crunch-!
Crunch-!
The wounds disappear. And the body becomes young.
As if reversing time, the child's body goes from an old person to a middle-aged person.
Again from middle-aged to a young adult.
And from a young adult to a child.
Finally, from a child to a newborn.
One-, the change did not end.
The body of the child who became a newborn swelled up.
Every cell that made up the body proliferated madly, grew, and the body that swelled up in an instant no longer had the appearance of a human.
It was a ball. A ball made of flesh, where no human appearance could be found.
As if a heart were pulsating, a heavy resonance was bursting out from the ball that was once human.
And the moment that resonance reached its peak.
And the moment a Hunter who happened to be passing by discovered the ball made of flesh.
The ball burst.
Splat-.
Thud.
The flesh that made up the ball was scattered everywhere.
And something revealed its appearance from the center.
It was a monster.
A monster that was twisted, crushed, mixed, cut off, and forcibly stitched back together.
The monster had six arms and twelve hands. Twenty-three legs and one hundred thirty-one feet.
And the monster rolled its one thousand seventy-nine pupils around. And it moved its ninety-nine mouths, where snow-white teeth were densely packed, to make a clicking sound.
"What... is that?"
The Hunter who happened to discover the bizarre ball made of flesh. And discovered the ball that happened to burst. And discovered the 'child' who revealed its appearance from the ball that happened to burst, muttered that without realizing it.