A Morning of Mixed Feelings

After eating breakfast with a swirl of complicated, delicate emotions, I asked Asne to take me to the mainland. Even though there probably wouldn’t be any real danger, every single ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠inhabitant insisted on waiting for me. Since they could stay hidden underwater using Asne’s power without being detected, I told them to do as they liked.

“Hmm? There are a lot of people over there. They must still be investigating the traces. Asne, let’s circle around to the far edge of Ttangkkeut Village.”

“Yes.”

Along the rocky shore, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Ttangkkeut Guild members I’d seen last time were still visible. I took a detour to the village’s outermost edge. Since it was the opposite side from the monster tracks, the area was empty. I came ashore without being spotted. After thoroughly checking the surroundings and having Asne scan the area with her domain, we arrived cleanly.

I’d rather not run into the Ttangkkeut Guild, but my car was parked at the village entrance. If I bumped into them, I’d just say I’d been investigating the opposite coastline.

“Hmm? You are… definitely the person I saw last night… 1st Grade Hunter Kim Minsoo, correct?”

“Guild Master of Ttangkkeut. Hello.”

Sure enough, 6th Grade Hunter Lee Kang-jae was standing near my car. Several other vehicles were parked around it. Thinking about it, they couldn’t have driven all the way to the ruined village, so leaving the cars here made sense.

“I hadn’t seen you for two days and assumed you’d gone elsewhere, but here you are.”

“Yes. It’s my first time in Haenam, so I went a little farther out to look around.”

I pointed behind me as I spoke. Lee Kang-jae nodded. “I see.”

“While you were here, did you happen to see any monsters?”

“Yes? Well… of course. There was a Sea Grok, and something enormous let out a blood-curdling cry before leaping out of the sea.”

“I see… so the monsters are still around…”

I told him about the creatures I’d encountered that first day. Naturally I left out the part where I’d killed them, but everything I said was still true, so I wasn’t lying.

“Those frog-like things aren’t very fast on land, so it’s a blessing for low-grade hunters like me.”

“You’ve had a hard time of it.”

“You mentioned you were investigating last time. How is that going?”

“We’ve confirmed the traces. However… rather than signs of an attack, it looks more like something huge was hurled around. As if an enormous force had flung it aside.”

The guild master had deduced everything perfectly from the tracks alone. My chest tightened with guilt, but I tried not to let it show on my face.

“There appears to have been a major battle in the sea. We found quite a lot of bloodstains in the area.”

“Maybe the monsters were fighting over territory?”

“The evidence does point that way. After a fight on that scale, monster activity dropped, so we’ve been staying on alert. At this rate, I get the feeling you might end up swallowing this whole place for yourself.”

“Pardon? Um… that’s…”

The guild master was applying subtle pressure. From his perspective this was their hometown; he wouldn’t want to hand it over to a stranger. Not yet, anyway.

“Haha! Well, the sea is vast and full of monsters. They’ll show up again soon enough. Unless we exterminate every last sea monster, we can’t guarantee the coast’s safety… It’s a difficult problem.”

“Haha… it really is.”

The guild master laughed and gave my back a few hearty slaps. It looked like I’d need to lay down some misdirection soon. He kept me a while longer before I found an opening, mentioned I had work to do, and slipped away.

Sigh… That middle-aged man’s conversational skills are no joke.

It felt friendly yet carried a certain weight. If he were an ally, he’d be someone you could rely on.

“Whew… The place to exchange gold… seems like the Association is the only option around here.”

I got in the car and searched on my phone, but there were no gold exchange shops nearby. The only place was the Hunter Association Haenam Branch. With no other choice, I drove there.

The interior was as quiet as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠last time. The moment I pulled a number ticket, a chime rang out.

“Hunter Association Haenam Branch. How may I assist you?”

Following the floating number like before, I approached the same female employee. She greeted me with the exact same professional smile.

“I’d like to exchange gold.”

“Gold exchange? Could you please submit your Hunter ID?”

I handed it over. My rank was still stuck at the very bottom—around seventy-thousand-something.

“1st Grade Hunter Kim Minsoo, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“How much gold would you like to exchange?”

“Four hundred gold.”

“We can provide cash or direct deposit. Which would you prefer?”

“Direct deposit, please.”

“Certainly. Please write your account information here…”

If you have starting capital, you can earn gold without ever entering a gate or dungeon. You simply buy goods in the market and resell them. The employee must see this all the time, because she didn’t bat an eye at my low rank. She simply processed the transaction with mechanical efficiency. She had probably already forgotten that I’d registered as an Awakened here.

Human nature is fickle. I had tried to hide my abilities, yet now that they were successfully hidden, I felt strangely bitter. They say even a needle in a pouch will eventually poke through. Apparently I wasn’t even at that level yet. It was fortunate, but the bitterness remained.

I’m not an attention seeker… It might be fun for a brief moment, but that’s all.

Telling myself it was for the best, I followed the instructions, filled out the circled sections on the form, and handed it back. The employee took it and entered the data with the same businesslike demeanor. About ten minutes later she informed me the transfer was complete and suggested I check my account.

I opened my banking app immediately. The money had arrived safely. Because of the fee, however, I received 3.6 million won instead of 4 million.

They took a full ten percent.

I swallowed my complaint—everyone knows the standard is 3.3 percent—and left the association. Using the app, I sent two million won to my mother and 1.5 million won to my sister, who is ten years younger than me. Then I left a message in our family group chat.

My father passed away the year my sister turned ten. I was twenty-five and working part-time jobs nonstop at the time. It wasn’t a monster attack, nor was he sick. He simply collapsed one day without warning.

His marriage was too harmonious… they called it a death from overexertion in the bedroom… what kind of ridiculous, tragic story is that…

The cause of his sudden death lay with my mother. She has a constitution that makes it difficult for her to get pregnant. My father, whose vigor was apparently exceptional, kept trying… and in the end… That was why the age gap between me and my sister was so large. I heard they kept trying for a third child for another ten years after my sister was born. In the end, my father died from that bedroom overexertion, my mother said. She spoke of it calmly, saying it wasn’t anyone’s fault, and I didn’t know what to say. I could only tell her I was sorry.

My mother’s name is Hwang Hye-jung. My father would sometimes look at me with a gloomy expression and say, “Son… doing it four times a day is too much…” That was the last conversation I ever had with him.

Anyway, our family had always been close, more like friends. The same went for my mother, Hwang Hye-jung. Just then, she called.

All I had done was say the words “I love you.” Yet my mother answered with a voice so happy it was audible through the phone. Why had I only ever grumbled instead of saying that until now? I really needed to do better from now on.

“Anyway! Your son is going to earn a lot of money safely and be a good son to you! That’s all you need to know!”

“Mom is happy as long as you’re healthy.”

“If you take away my health, there’s nothing left. You have to stay healthy so you can see more of us.”

“Hehe… that’s true. Mom will take care of her health.”

“Yeah. Is my sister still busy?”

“As always. She’s my daughter, but I barely get to see her face~”

Her words tickled something in my nose, so I changed the subject. Unlike me, who never had anything I particularly wanted to do, my sister had a clear dream ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and charged straight toward it. After endless effort, she finally debuted as a solo singer and was slowly gaining recognition. She had just released her first album and was so busy promoting it that even our mother rarely saw her.

“More importantly, is my son working on his love life yet?”

“I told you I don’t want to meet anyone right now.”

“Still, my friends are all starting to see their grandchildren…”

The barrage of nagging was about to begin. I briefly considered dodging it, but decided to listen. I had decided to be a good son, after all. Listening to her nagging was probably part of that.

After enduring nearly an hour of what felt like mental bombardment, I was finally released. Drained, I got back in the car and drove to Ttangkkeut Village. Avoiding the guild members who were still investigating, I returned to where the inhabitants were waiting.

Grandchildren… If our beautiful inhabitants had children, they would inherit that bloodline and be stunning, wouldn’t they?

I let myself indulge in that idle thought for a moment before checking the surroundings. Once I confirmed no one was around, I called Asne. She double-checked that nothing had entered her domain either.

The future was uncertain, so I would deal with the immediate problems first. And to do that, it seemed I would need to carefully clean up the traces… I began devising a plan to handle it as gently as possible, yet thoroughly and cleanly.