Gun-hwa (4)
The moment Yoo Seo-ah dropped that batshit crazy bombshell, the chat exploded in a flood of messages, leaving my head spinning. Fuck, should I just emigrate or something? How the hell am I supposed to keep working as a hunter in Korea like this? Should I go to Yoo Seo-ah and tell her to take responsibility for ruining my life, lie down, and let her deal with it? The situation had spiraled into utter despair, making thoughts like that cross my mind, but thankfully, the misunderstanding cleared up quick.
"Kang Jinseong the hunter saved my life four days ago at the Gangnam Station Gate. When I was stabbed in the back by that criminal Park Bong-su and collapsed, surrounded by A-rank mana beasts the beastmen, facing certain death."
Thanks to Yoo Seo-ah's immediate follow-up explanation. Wait, is "thanks" even the right word? She could've just led with that from the start.
With a twinge of annoyance, I glanced back at the chat, and the raging public opinion had been snuffed out in an instant.
Even comments questioning if I was actually strong started popping up.
The single phrase "Kang Jinseong was actually Yoo Seo-ah's lifesaver" had snowballed into this. Hearing stuff like that for the first time in my life left me a bit embarrassed.
"Heh heh, well this is awkward. I'm not that strong, you know."
As I rubbed under my nose with my index finger, feeling sheepish, Yoo Seo-ah continued praising my ability.
"Kang Jinseong the hunter has a special ability. It allows him to rescue anyone he's contracted with from danger, no matter where they are, teleport them to a safe zone, heal them, and protect them. Thanks to this miraculous power—and my connection to Jinseong-ssi who possesses it—my life was saved."
Rescue, healing, and protection. By listing off the Safe House's core features, Yoo Seo-ah earnestly preached the grace she'd received.
Once my Safe House ability got revealed, public opinion flipped completely.
"Jinseong-ssi saved my life and my entire future as a hunter. The supportive posts weren't at his request—they were my own initiative. It might sound presumptuous to him, but I really wanted to do something, anything, for him."
Yoo Seo-ah didn't stop there, adding that the fan posts were her solo decision.
Before long, chats even claimed Yoo Seo-ah wrote the fan posts and coined Gun-hwa just to cozy up to me.
With the explanation done and sentiment toward me reversed, the flames naturally turned toward the Hunter Gallery assholes who'd started it all.
"So please, stop the malicious rumors about Jinseong-ssi... I mean, Kang Jinseong the hunter."
The emergency clarification stream ended with Yoo Seo-ah bowing her head on screen. Nothing beat the victim stepping up personally for results. Hunter Gallery had scrubbed clean of anyone treating me like public enemy number one. Instead, the mosquito-spawn posters were getting wrecked.
Bzzz— Bzzz— Bzzz—
As I scrolled through Hunter Gallery, news articles flooded in from sites everywhere. With Cheongmyeong throwing their weight around, even the last stragglers on page 1 vanished clean.
"Whoa... that's some serious firepower."
Yoo Seo-ah's individual clout and Cheongmyeong's institutional muscle. I was genuinely awed by the force that shut down even Hunter Gallery trolls from their keyboards.
Vrrr— Vrrr—
I picked up to Yoo Seo-ah apologizing profusely once more.
"It's fine. Everything's resolved, right? My name's famous now—could even call it a win. Any team will welcome me with open arms from here on."
With it all sorted, I meant it when I told her it was okay. But while my issue was fixed, the stream had birthed a new one.
"By the way, Seo-ah-ssi, you sure this is okay?"
"Explaining my ability on stream to clear things up was huge for me, but now people are saying you're the one leeching off me."
My Safe House was basically an embarrassing lucky massage parlor from my view, but to others, it was top-tier. Thinking about it, every hunter would kill to have me as a close contact. The performance was just nuts. So naturally, backlash flipped to Yoo Seo-ah sucking me dry.
Hunter Gallery already had a post titled "Real Mosquito? Upvote lmao" with her pic slapped on.
"Won't that hurt your image, Seo-ah-ssi?"
I asked out of worry, since her rising star status could get tainted with "mosquito."
"Yeah."
"Pardon?"
??? What the hell is she on about? Yoo Seo-ah burst into delighted laughter.
She hung up after a rushed goodbye, sounding busy.
"..."
I stared blankly at my phone before pocketing it. On second thought, no real issue.
She's Yoo Seo-ah. Her existence is proof itself—any mosquito bullshit would get crushed quick.
Yeah. What I needed to focus on was myself.
"This whole mess happened because I haven't shown shit."
The fan post backlash stemmed from my weakness. If I'd been strong like Yoo Seo-ah, at least B-rank, would this have blown up? Nah. People would've just been curious and supported purely. Hunter world's all about merit.
But I was weak, with nothing to show. That's why a few unverified Gallery posts torched the whole community.
"Seo-ah-ssi fixed it great, but this can't keep happening. Can't just be satisfied with 'resolved.'"
This taught me what I needed. What to aim for.
"Gotta get strong. And build a crew."
Individual power and group power—both essential for the life I wanted.
And to get that, one thing to start.
"Time to launch a promo YouTube channel."
Promotion.