I'm Sick of Hunting!
"Ah! I just... I accidentally thought it felt like a new quest, and I got excited..."
"Y-You...!"
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
He was polite, but god, he was an incredibly frustrating guy to deal with.
Mari took a deep breath to calm herself. Even if this wasn't a particularly high-risk zone, she was still an unawakened hunter with terrible gear. It wouldn't be surprising if she lost her life out here.
"Please, just shut up! Keep your mouth closed!"
Her nerves were shot, making her voice sharp and biting. At her outburst, Yunjae quickly shut his mouth, looking at her warily.
"I'm sorry..."
Ugh. When he looks at me like that, it just makes me feel guilty.
Even though they had just met, she found herself caring about him to an unusual degree. Completely unaware that this was due to his maxed-out charm stat, she took another deep breath and kept walking.
"Ah."
Not long after, Yunjae opened his mouth again.
"What is it this time?!" she snapped.
BOOM! Right at that moment—
"Aaargh!"
A familiar scream echoed alongside a deafening crash.
"Jimmy?"
"M-Mari! It's a red-tail! A red-tail is...!"
Jimmy screamed, his face pale with terror.
"Screeech!" In that instant, a pair of crimson eyes flashed in the dark.
Squelch! "Gah!"
The red-tailed monster, its eyes glowing crimson, pierced Jimmy's abdomen with its spear-sharp tail.
"Aaaaah!" Bang! Bang! Bang! A terrified Jay blindly fired his gun at the beast.
Keke. However, a red-tailed monster was a tier above the black-tailed ones.
Swish! With a mocking hiss, the monster easily dodged his gunfire.
"Mari!"
"Jay!"
Jay screamed her name as he bolted toward her.
Bang! Bang! Mari aimed and fired at the red-tailed monster, but—
Kekeke! The red-tailed monster sneered, dodging her shots with ease.
"Damn it! Run, Slender Forearms!"
This was far beyond their ability to handle. Realizing this, Mari screamed at Yunjae.
"Ah! I told you, my name isn't Slender Forearms..."
Instead of running, Yunjae offered a timid protest.
"Is this a joke to you?! Just run!"
Before her desperate cry could even fade—Thwack! "Screee!"
Yunjae had somehow closed the distance and thrown a punch at the red-tailed monster.
Not only had he moved so fast it looked like teleportation—
"W-What?!"
The eyes of the surviving Jay and Mari widened in sheer disbelief as the red-tailed monster dropped dead from a single blow.
"I used to die to those guys a lot in the starting zone. It was pretty tough for a beginner area, though they're nothing once you level up. I assume that gentleman will respawn back in town, right?"
A monster that professional hunters couldn't even scratch with guns had been taken down with a bare fist—and in a single strike! On top of that, they hadn't even seen him move. He was too fast for the human eye to register.
"H-How on earth...?"
Seeing Mari and Jay standing there with their jaws hanging open, Yunjae scratched his head sheepishly.
"It was just a basic attack..."
Point 6 City Hall.
"To defeat a red-tailed monster... you people are truly incredible."
Mayor Manson shook his head in amazement as he stared at the severed red tail, the undeniable proof of their hunt.
He hadn't expected much from a trio of unawakened, bottom-tier C-class hunters who relied on basic firearms.
"I can finally breathe a sigh of relief!"
Although one of the three hunters he hired for security had lost his life, it was still an outstanding achievement. The black-tailed monsters only moved under the command of the red-tails. With the red-tailed leader gone, Point 6 would be safe from attacks for the foreseeable future.
"I've prepared a handsome reward for you."
Hearing Mayor Manson's words, Mari nodded with a conflicted expression.
"...We can't accept this reward."
"What the hell are you talking about, Mari?!" Jay, standing beside her, flared up instantly. "Jimmy died for this!"
"But we aren't the ones who killed it!"
At Mari's honest shout, Jay bit his lip hard.
"You didn't kill it? What on earth do you mean by that?" Mayor Manson asked, thoroughly bewildered.
"Damn it! I can't work with a stubborn, self-righteous bitch like you anymore!"
Watching a massive payday slip through his fingers, Jay spat out a curse and stormed out of the mayor's office. Mari looked down, her shoulders slumping slightly.
"Sle... No, a man named Lim Yunjae killed it."
"Lim Yunjae?"
The name sounded Asian.
"Is he an awakened ability user?"
An awakened hunter! They were a rare breed, usually organized into powerful guilds and operating in teams. There was no reason for someone like that to visit a tiny border town like Point 6.
"Well... it's a bit strange."
He certainly seemed like an awakened user, but he was incredibly bizarre.
"I've never seen an awakened user like him before."
Though she was at the bottom of the hunter hierarchy, she was still an experienced veteran of over ten years. She frequently kept up with the hunter community and had seen all kinds of awakened users.
As Mari shook her head, Mayor Manson looked at her curiously.
"In what way?"
"It's almost like..." No matter how she looked at it, he felt like a video game character. "...like he's a game character."
"Huh?"
What kind of absurd nonsense was this? Seeing him tilt his head in confusion, Mari explained.
"You'll understand once you see him. He's waiting at the City Hall information center. You can meet him there."
Ultimately, Mayor Manson wanted permanent security to protect Point 6. It would have been nice if she and Jay could have taken the job, but there was no way such an opportunity would be given to lifelong C-class hunters who only knew how to fire cheap guns. Hunters had strict hierarchies. Typically, awakened users occupied the top ranks, while unawakened humans could reach B-class at best. Most remained C-class. Even within C-class, they were divided into high, mid, and low tiers based on gear quality and skill. Armed with only basic firearms, Mari and Jay were at the very bottom of the mid-low tier. And now that Jay had just walked out on her, her prospects were even bleaker.
"Hmm. Would you mind coming with me to meet him?"
Since he was about to meet a mysterious, potentially powerful awakened user, Mayor Manson asked cautiously.
"I'll do that."
Mari needed to speak with him again anyway. She was the one who had left him at the information center because he had so many questions about the world. While it was tragic that they couldn't save Jimmy because Yunjae genuinely believed people "respawned in town," the fact remained that he had saved her and Jay's lives.
"Then let's go right away!"
Defeating a red-tailed monster meant he was at least a B-class hunter, if not higher. Watching the excited Mayor Manson, Mari felt a bitter pang of inadequacy as she led the way.
"Slender Forearms?"
Upon arriving at the information center, Mayor Manson flinched as he stared at Yunjae. Thanks to advanced real-time translation technology, language was no longer a barrier.
"...He really does look like a game character."
Clad in the glowing, ornate Goddess's Sacred Armor, Yunjae looked like he had stepped straight out of a virtual reality screen.
"Ahem. Well, he certainly looks powerful."
The sheer quality of his armor was so incredibly high-end that even Mayor Manson had to acknowledge his strength, even if the young man's overall appearance was undeniably bizarre.
"Yunjae."
Mari let out a sigh and called his name.
"So this is America... I wonder how I can get back to Korea..."
Having apparently gathered all the basic information he needed in that short span of time, Yunjae sighed.
"Are you Korean?"
"Ah! Yes, I am! And who is this?"
At Yunjae's polite question, Mari shrugged.
"This is the Mayor of Point 6."
"Oh, I see. Hello, Mr. Mayor!"
As Yunjae bowed politely, Mayor Manson shot Mari a highly skeptical look, as if asking, Are you sure this kid is the one who killed the red-tail? Then again, even Mari, who had witnessed it firsthand, still found it hard to believe.
"It was him. Definitely."
But when she firmly confirmed it,
"Hmm... He doesn't look very tough."
Mayor Manson shook his head. Setting aside his delicate, beautiful features—which were prettier than Mari's—there was one glaring detail...
"His forearms are incredibly thin."
It seemed the nickname "Slender Forearms" hadn't been given to him for nothing.
"Ah! No, they're not!"
Hearing this, Yunjae hid his arms behind his back, looking thoroughly dejected.
"I'm just naturally slender all over, that's all!"
"N-No, of course! It's perfectly fine..."
Though highly skeptical, the mayor knew the young man was an awakened user. An exceptionally powerful one, at that, capable of soloing a red-tailed monster.
"Anyway, I heard you defeated the red-tailed monster!"
"I swear, I wasn't trying to steal your kill!"
"Steal?"
"Ah! The other gentleman earlier accused me of stealing it, so..."
He had only stepped in because they looked like they were in danger, not to steal their prey... Seeing him instantly slump in depression, Mari let out a heavy sigh.
"That absolute bastard."
Jay had his life saved, and that was how he reacted? As Mari sighed deeply at the sight of the downcast Yunjae, he suddenly offered her a bright smile.
"But it's alright, Mari! I understand how frustrating it is to have your kill stolen."
"I'm sorry. And... thank you."
She had thought he was just a bizarre burden, but he was actually her savior. When Mari apologized for Jay's rudeness and expressed her complicated gratitude, Yunjae chuckled softly.
"Real people really are different from NPCs!"
He didn't seem to expect the robotic, overflowing gratitude of programmed NPCs; instead, he seemed to relish these raw, human reactions.
"Unbelievable..."
A chuckle escaped her lips despite herself. Brushing her hair back, she spoke up.
"Anyway, the Mayor..."
"I'll get straight to the point! Would you be willing to become a guard for Point 6?"
Pressed for time, Mayor Manson cut straight to the chase. While he only offered Mari and Jay a one-time reward, he was offering Yunjae a full-time, stable position. Although the hunter profession had become highly glamorized since the Portal Incident, that was only true for the top-tier elites. The rest were mere drifters, wandering the globe to wherever the money was. Most of them were people who had lost their families to the portals, left with nowhere to go and fueled by an unquenchable rage against monsters. But even they needed a place to settle down eventually.
"What do you mean by...?"
Just like that, Yunjae was handed a golden opportunity to settle down. Point 6 might be a small town, but such remote places often had less work and surprisingly good benefits.
"Exactly what it sounds like! Your job would be to protect Point 6 from the monsters threatening us!"
At that moment, Yunjae's face twisted into an expression of pure disgust.
"Huh?"
His aversion was so obvious that even Mayor Manson noticed it.
"Ah! I'm so sorry! It's just... I'm completely sick and tired of hunting..."
Yunjae quickly bowed his head in apology.
"W-What?"
"What are you talking about?!"
Mayor Manson wasn't the only one taken aback. Mari was just as stunned.
"Ah! I've been hunting for fifty-seven years straight. I really don't want to hunt anymore!"
At his shuddering declaration, Mayor Manson's eyes shook.
W-What is wrong with this guy?
Actually, setting that aside...
...Is he out of his mind?
The immediate thought that crossed the mayor's mind was that the young man was simply insane.
"Hmm."
Mari was equally at a loss. Was he really going to throw away such a perfect opportunity just because he "didn't feel like hunting"?
"Hey, think about this carefully! Even if you go back to Korea, it won't be the place you remember. You'd be much better off settling down here..."
"I'm not hunting. I'd honestly rather work part-time at an internet cafe than play any more games!"
He might be the epitome of a timid introvert, but on this single point, he was absolutely unyielding. Apparently, forcing someone to do something they hated for 500,000 hours straight did that to a person.
"Ugh!"
Still, Mari couldn't wrap her head around his decision. She understood he was completely out of touch with reality, but it was incredibly frustrating to watch.
"You are incredibly clueless about how the world works."
At her blunt remark,
"Ah! I'm sorry, Mari! But I really, truly don't want to do that kind of work anymore."
Yunjae shook his head, explaining that he had already spent over 100,000 hours hunting Mamon and had completely burned himself out.
"So... you're planning to go to Korea?"
"Yes. I'm sick of looking at Westerners."
"...Huh?"
"Ah! I mean, because all the NPCs were Westerners!"
As Yunjae bowed in apology, Mayor Manson glanced at Mari.
This kid is definitely not right in the head.
Unable to defend him, Mari could only offer an awkward, strained smile.
"That's a shame. I truly believed you would make an excellent guard for us."
Having lost interest in recruiting him, Mayor Manson spoke politely out of courtesy.
"Wait a moment! Let me talk to him."
Even if it wasn't her business, Mari couldn't bear to watch him throw away such a massive opportunity. She stopped the mayor and turned to Yunjae.
"Yunjae, we need to talk."
"Yes, Mari!"
He was fundamentally polite. He said some incredibly bizarre things, but he was undoubtedly a good person.
"This is a massive opportunity!"
"But hunting is..."
"Are you really going to keep making these ridiculous excuses? This is a job that people like me would kill for!"
She was sharp-tongued, but she was honest. As she emphasized just how great of an opportunity this was, Yunjae blinked and stared at her.
"But I still don't want to hunt!"
"You...!"
She had felt it before, but he really was an incredibly frustrating guy.
"You don't even have a place to go!"
Swallowing her rising anger, Mari tried to reason with him. Yunjae nodded, conceding her point.
"That's true. Since fifty-seven years have passed..."
"Exactly. Even if you go back to Korea, there will be nothing left for you. Do you really think an opportunity like this will just fall into your lap over there?"
Faced with her harsh, realistic argument, Yunjae's expression wavered slightly.