Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Hunters
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Standing in front of the shopping mall wall, I checked the map and my position one more time.
But no matter how much I looked it over, the path marked on the map wasn't visible anywhere.
There should definitely be some kind of door right in front of me if I followed it correctly, but all I could see was a plain concrete wall.
"Don't tell me I've discovered a new trait at this age? Do I have a terrible sense of direction or something?"
I muttered that in frustration, but of course, that wasn't it.
At least in the beginning when I entered the mall, everything matched the map perfectly.
Something felt off around the middle, and before I knew it, I'd ended up like this.
'Then maybe they gave me a messed-up map from the start?'
No way.
If someone spent 200 million won just to pull a petty prank like that, they'd deserve the Psycho of the Year award.
Besides, this wasn't through some middleman—it was a direct request from a Hunters constellation. They're paying out of their own pocket for this. No sane person would sabotage their own job, and no one should!
"Ah, wait, maybe...?"
A sudden thought hit me, and I thrust my fist toward the concrete wall.
Thud.
All I felt was the hard surface of the wall.
Harry Potter, you lunatic.
How the hell did you think you'd dive through a solid wall like that? Unless you're some freak who can shrug off a six-week injury on the spot, it doesn't make sense.
And at this point, I finally pieced together what was going on.
The map was probably drawn correctly.
Just not from my perspective—from everyone else's.
'Heh, you guys and I live in different worlds.'
For real.
Like, seriously different, damn it.
There's no devil statue or giant door like on the map—nothing.
Whew.
In the end, I let out a sigh and stepped back from the wall.
I couldn't just sit here hoping the concrete would magically split open. I had to do something.
Two options came to mind.
One: head back and say, 'Turns out I don't have what it takes to handle this job lol ;; sorry bro.'
'Rejected.'
Obviously not.
Not only would I lose the payout, but that jacked-up psycho outside was grinding his teeth, waiting for me. I'm probably the strongest in the world against pollution crap, but I'm weak to physical hits.
If that meathead lost it, even with my haunted house exploration gear boosting my offense and defense, I didn't think I could win.
'Plus, I couldn't face So Boss.'
He went out of his way to hook me up, and bailing on the first gig would kill any future chances.
Of course, knowing him, he'd probably say:
'You went all the way there and couldn't find the path, so you just came back? Hahaha! Are you an idiot?'
Still, once you've taken a quest, you don't give up easily.
So the other option: find another way.
"Guess that's all there is."
No matter how I thought about it, that was the answer.
It was already evening, so one wrong move and I'd be up all night, but better than nothing.
If luck was on my side and I found the goal, problem solved. Even if not, I'd at least know I tried my best and failed just short.
'Looks like no one else can even get close here.'
They treated it like radioactive wasteland. Who'd blame someone for going in and coming out?
With that decision made, I turned from the wall and started searching.
The sun had fully set, so I rummaged through the ruined mall relying on my small light.
Walking through empty space with just a tiny light was honestly creepy.
No wonder liminal space horror stories trend online. This abandoned mall had an instinctive eeriness all its own.
The one saving grace: I had a rough idea of where to go.
'Just check the basement stores and parking lot.'
My unique trait just meant my perception of constellations differed from others—it didn't invert reality or show falsehoods.
For example, I'd never experienced something illogical like everyone else being underground while it looked like the rooftop or third floor to me.
That's what I was doing first—searching the underground parking lot—when it happened.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Boom!
Less than ten minutes in, a massive rumble mixed with the sound of water droplets.
"Kyaaah!!!"
I let out a scream like Guan Yu mid-game, totally involuntary.
What the hell!
That sound couldn't come from an empty space!
What was it? Wild animal? Human?
No way there's actually a person in a dump like this. Some homeless guy set up a sucker-punch waiting room or what?!
I snapped open my telescoping baton and aimed at the noise.
"Stop scaring people and come out already, you bastard! I know you're there!"
Stay calm.
I had my baton and haunted house gear.
That boosted my bare-handed attack power by nearly 30.
Unless it was a full-body muscle freak or a Siberian tiger thought extinct in Korea, I could handle it.
"Come out nice and easy, and I'll hit you three times instead of one! You don't wanna end up with a Smurf-blue ass for skipping English homework either!"
But man.
This was scary as hell.
I finally got why frilled lizards flare their neck when bored. In modern society with cops and laws, maybe not, but in the wild, the biggest, loudest one wins.
So I yelled even louder than before.
"Don't like it? Should've behaved from the start! No choice! You're standing through class for a month starting today!"
And maybe my desperate bluff worked.
"Khehehehehe!"
A grotesque laugh echoed, and the source of the noise revealed itself.
And holy shit, it was actually a person!
If it was an animal, I could've chased it with the light and baton, but a person? What now?!
I didn't think talking would work.
If they wanted to chat, they'd have called out first instead of that creepy laugh and entrance.
Visually, they looked more like a subhuman than a proper person.
A bushy beard covered their whole face, and the eyes peeking through my light were half-rolled back.
And crucially...
'Why is he naked?!'
This freak seemed clueless about clothes.
Talking to that would be the real shock.
'...Wait a sec.'
I squinted at the naked weirdo.
Why is he so damn small?
No, not like that.
Not a specific part—his whole body was tiny.
He'd barely reach my chest on tiptoes, but maybe the distance tricked me?
Right as that doubt hit...
The naked freak spoke first.
"Muttering nonsense out of the blue—you must not be right in the head. Then again, you have to go mad to survive this hell."
Seemed like language skills weren't fully degraded, but the content was the problem.
"Hell? Mad? What the fuck are you talking about? What have you been doing here, asshole?"
"What else? Cleaning up greedy trash."
"What?"
"Heh, scared? Don't worry. You'll join them soon. Heaven... it's almost heaven. With you as the last, I'll reach the skies. The tower collapsed? Lies. Outsiders know nothing. The trials aren't over. Soon I'll ascend like them!"
This psycho pervert's ramblings made zero sense!
Spouting his own delusional lore—classic early schizophrenia symptoms.
Guys like that don't hear you anyway.
I stayed silent, but soon a low chuckle escaped the freak's lips.
"Too terrified to speak? Makes sense. Even survivors so far couldn't handle one of my blows, so this works out! The moment your scream echoes, my great task completes!"
Then he charged at me.
"Uwaaaah!"
I screamed reflexively.
Of course!
A scrawny naked middle-aged guy rushing you is a once-in-a-lifetime freakshow!
"Kekekel! Hold still! It'll be quick!"
No, fuck!
Even if I told him to count ceiling stains!
Horrified, I swung the baton with all my might.
No way I'd let him do what he wanted.
"Pathetic, with just that..."
Crack!
"Guek!"
He tried saying something, but a crisp hit rang out first.
Thud!
The freak rolled across the floor.
He clutched his smacked cheek and looked up.
"...How...?"
Like, 'You're the first to hit me like this!'
That face only suits a Ro Boss-level beauty.
A bearded uncle pulling it just pisses me off.
"How what, fucker?! Charging straight at me? Only an idiot would miss!"
"Wait, hold on! That weapon! This feel... Don't tell me it's a relic from an outer god? So you have a trick up your sleeve!"
But seriously, what the hell is this guy's babble?!
"Bought it for 60,000 won on Coupang as a self-defense tool, dickhead!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
I mercilessly swung at the downed freak.
His charge stirred unspeakable grief and rage in me.
Least he deserved three skulls.
He desperately raised his arms, but that was stupid.
Once you're on the bottom, run—don't block a baton barehanded, especially at that size.
Impossible.
Sure enough, screams poured from his mouth.
"Guhek! Kek! Stop! How dare you! Do you know who I am?!"
"Who?! A crazy psycho perv lurking naked in the underground lot!"
I shouted, swinging faster.
Frankly, in the city, this freak would've been arrested in three minutes flat—a heinous criminal.
And I've never tolerated evil unfolding before my eyes.
Normally bound by overdefense or vigilantism rules, but here? Pure wilderness, no laws.
So.
"Cry! Hell Baton!"
Crack! Crack! Snap!
"Aaaak! Stop!"
"Hit a bone? Yeah, bone hit, you fuck!"
"Stop! How! How can you pierce the divine beast's hide?! Even Hercules couldn't breach this armor!"
"Then that punk was dogshit! Why's a naked perv got so much to say?!"
I bantered back at his nonsense while beating on.
Scum like this don't learn from a light thrashing.
Smash their little world to bits.
That's how they realize something's wrong!
'Dr. Oh, Trainer Kang.'
I'll make a man out of someone today.
Grant me strength.
"Damn! I didn't want to use this!"
Huh? Wait, what?
Sizzle!
Something shot from his body and hit me.
But that was it.
"...Impossible! Even basilisk venom has no effect?!"
"Oh? Still not learning, huh?"
You little shit.
I flinched for a sec.
No good. Whatever you sprayed, you're dying for real today.
Snap!
Snap!
"Aaaah!"
Miserable screams echoed through the underground lot for a while.
The freak quieted down twenty minutes later.
Chirrr. Chirrr.
The midnight crickets drilled into Park Ho-cheol's ears.
The Hunters hunter clicked his tongue.
He hated this situation.
Really, in every way.
Not just killing time on an empty Sunday evening roadside.
Park Ho-cheol had varied reasons for feeling this way.
Hunters failing the tower raid and losing half their forces.
Myrmidons betraying them the moment weakness showed, despite being allies.
Losing a sacred relic in the tower, leaving them defenseless to the betrayal.
He and his revered big sis bowing to an outsider to fix it.
Even her collapsing from the queen's reckless request.
Nothing lately pleased him.
Bad luck piles up, sure—but this was overkill.
Still, the absolute worst was himself.
Simple reason.
Even as comrades fell and things worsened, he could do nothing.
He thought he'd risen to core member status, but when shit hit, he was just another grunt tossed into battle.
Take now.
Back in the pollution zone for the queen's lost relic, but his job? Shove an outsider in and wait.
Of course, he knew rationally it was best.
The tower atop old Linne Mart had mutated into a vicious pollution zone post-conquest.
It birthed one ascender, countless failures, and turned the area uninhabitable.
Monsters inside? Untold numbers. Even challenging the entrance would cost Park Ho-cheol and all remaining Hunters their lives.
And reaching the basement relic? Over seven trials, they said.
So he knew.
Going in meant death.
Unless he could freely roam 'that' Happiness Apartment, waiting outside was better.
"...Fuck."
Yet he still hated it.
Especially thinking of that parasite-lookalike outsider.
What happened in the apartment? Guiding his trembling big sis—first face he'd seen—calmly.
Unable to act himself, yet this unsettling guy might... It drove Park Ho-cheol mad knowing he was inside.
Of course, he knew the emotion.
Inferiority.
The most common feeling watching another succeed where you can't.
But he couldn't hide the discomfort.
This type of inferiority was rare in his life.
Unfamiliar to someone always advancing.
As he soothed his frustration with a harsh cigarette...
Ruuuuumble—!
A massive wave.
Power no modern person could ignore erupted from the Linne Mart tower.
One fact surfaced in Park Ho-cheol's mind.
They said inside was a giant solitary beast.
Failures and the false prophet devouring each other into a horrific monster.
'Then.'
Is this wave from that thing?
The one that swallowed Hunters siblings and all other climbers?
Could that unsettling guy inside face it?
Doubts swirled like waves.
But Park Ho-cheol shook his head.
Whatever happened inside, he could do nothing outside.
His task: endless wait of unknown days, withdraw if the hidden relic signal cuts.
To know success or failure, he'd endure this frustration a while longer.
An unbearable emotion surged.
He forced his eyes shut amid cricket chirps.
Sleep might make this pass quicker—no choice.
But that resolve proved pointless.
"Hey, meathead!"
"..."
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Had a little incident inside."
The man heading to the tower returned just past midnight.
Right hand: sacred belt.
Left: a monster so profane even looking felt sinful.
Park Ho-cheol's jaw dropped.
"And this guy's not even greeting his hyung? Is our bond that weak?"
Spouting nonsense right away proved no hallucination.