Keyboard Warrior?!
There are many departments within the Hunter Management Department. However, the core department is undoubtedly the Hunter Conquest Division of the Hunter Management Department. And the most central team is, of course, the two Hunter Conquest Teams.
The authority of the Hunter Conquest Teams is immense. That power is not limited to any specific field. It encompasses all areas, including budget, personnel, general affairs, and enforcement. It is truly the core of the core departments. That is why Hunter Management Team 1 and Team 2 are in constant competition.
Team 1 Leader Park Hae-soo, Team 2 Leader Choi Su-won. From the moment they joined the company, the two were rivals and colleagues. Choi Su-won was the top graduate, Park Hae-soo the runner-up. Their relationship began long before the Hunter Management Department, dating back to their days at Hankuk University. But the top spot was always Choi Su-won’s, and Park Hae-soo was always the second-in-command.
"Well, well, this is an honor. I watched your performance very well."
Choi Su-won glanced at the stiff Kim Yoon-ho and walked toward Cheon Yooshin.
"I’ll handle Team Leader Kim Yoon-ho myself. As the team leader in charge, I’ll see him out cleanly."
"I’m sure you’ll handle it," Cheon Yooshin shrugged.
"I’d like to have a serious talk with you. Would you mind going somewhere quiet for a cup of tea?"
"Hmm, let’s see? I’m a bit tired right now."
Choi Su-won’s expression stiffened for a moment before smoothing out. But it was so brief that no one noticed the change except for two people. Cheon Yooshin and Park Hae-soo.
"Hmm, I understand. Then I’ll make the offer right here. How about it? Why don’t you come to our Team 2?"
"Hey, Choi Su-won! What are you doing right now?!" Park Hae-soo hurriedly stepped between them.
"Oh! Don’t misunderstand. I’m just making an offer."
"You shouldn’t be poaching members from other teams like that."
"Isn’t team transfer actually free? We’re different from other departments. Why are you like this, when you know that better than anyone?"
At those words, Park Hae-soo bit his lip. Choi Su-won was right. Transfers between Hunter Conquest Teams are indeed free. Since they put their lives on the line entering gates, survival rates are higher when members who work well together stick together. That is why team transfers happen frequently.
"I haven’t finished speaking yet. Cheon Yooshin. I offer you the position of Attack Team Leader. Would you take the vacant position of Attack Team Leader?"
"What?" Park Hae-soo frowned as if he couldn’t believe it. An Attack Team Leader and a mere team member. The two scales of the balance naturally could not be equal. Park Hae-soo’s gaze turned to Cheon Yooshin.
"Oh, right! I heard. That you obtained a skill book and a yellow magic stone inside the gate. If you accept the Attack Team Leader offer, you can handle the items obtained within the gate at your own discretion."
"...What? A yellow magic stone and a skill book?" Park Hae-soo asked blankly. A yellow magic stone! A skill book!! There wasn’t a single thing there that wasn’t incredible. And an Attack Team Leader with the discretion to handle both items. Even if it were himself, he would have closed his eyes and accepted the position of Attack Team Leader.
'I lost.' Park Hae-soo squeezed his eyes shut. It was always like this. That damn Choi Su-won would always snatch away the meal he had prepared. It was like that in school, and it was like that when they joined the company. 'I got robbed again this time.'
Bitterness filled his mouth. That was when:
"What are you talking about? Why would I do the Attack Team Leader job and get a headache? I don’t have the slightest intention of playing nanny to kids at my age."
"...Pardon?"
"...!"
Choi Su-won asked back like a fool, and Park Hae-soo’s eyes widened.
"And the ownership of these items is mine. That... former! Attack Team Leader guy promised me. That everything obtained inside the gate was an incentive. So, the yellow magic stone and the skill book are all mine."
Yooshin’s face was full of spite, as if he would throw a punch if anyone disagreed. He looked like a child trying to protect his toy.
Choi Su-won, who had maintained silence for a moment, shrugged with an awkward laugh.
"Hahahaha, if you made such a promise, you should naturally keep it. I understand. But please contact me if you ever change your mind. Hunter Cheon Yooshin."
Saying that, Choi Su-won stepped back. Park Hae-soo couldn’t believe this situation. Because it felt like he had won against Choi Su-won for the first time.
"Why, why did you make that choice?" He had secretly hoped. Loyalty to him? Or affection? Or because of the things he had done for Cheon Yooshin all this time?
But.
"It’s just because it’s annoying. Well. I can’t play nanny to kids at this age, can I? Attack Team Leader, of all things. It’s not like I’m a team member who just plays and eats."
Huh? No, then does that mean if he was offered a spot as a team member instead of a leader, he might have gone? Park Hae-soo couldn’t bring himself to say his thoughts out loud. He felt like the very things he was thinking would pop right out of Cheon Yooshin’s mouth.
"Hurry back home and play and ea..., no, please rest comfortably."
"Uhehehe, that’s good. As expected, Team Leader Park understands my heart the best, right? Please take care of the cleanup on your own. Oh! And the magic stones in those people’s bags belong to them. Please take care of that too."
"Yes, yes. I understand."
Park Hae-soo smiled brightly. Either way, Hunter Cheon Yooshin would remain in his team.
Crash!
The man slammed his keyboard so hard it broke.
"Ah, this bastard is for real!"
The tone that made him angry for some reason, the guy who wouldn’t believe his words—someone placed a hand on the shoulder of the man who was full of resentment.
"Why, is the work not going well?"
A familiar face, it was Park Hae-soo.
"Ah! Team Leader! No, I’m trying to shape public opinion, but some bastard keeps picking fights."
"It’s okay. It’s okay. Truth is what matters, and it’s enough that the name Cheon Yooshin is imprinted on public opinion. You’re doing well. Just keep doing that."
The Hunter Management Department was currently manipulating public opinion. To package Cheon Yooshin as strong, righteous, and brave. To be precise, it was to launder the image of the Hunter Management Department where such a Cheon Yooshin had nested. And the effect was spot on. After the successful conquest of the D-class gate, inquiries about joining the Hunter Management Department were pouring in.
It was a time when one couldn’t help but feel their heart swell. Park Hae-soo patted the employee’s shoulder and returned to his seat. Still, as if the employee hadn’t vented his anger, he operated the program on his desktop.
"I have to track this bastard’s IP, what the hell is he doing with his life to play around like this?"
His fingers on the keyboard began to move as if dancing. In less than a few seconds, the IP popped up.
'Found you. 3487!'
After a few clicks of the mouse, the webcam on the opponent’s monitor activated. '3487! Let’s see what kind of face you have. Hehehe.'
The interior of the room began to be illuminated. And.
"...Uh?"
The man’s eyes trembled violently. The face of 3487 shown on the webcam was someone he knew all too well. It was Cheon Yooshin, the very person they were working hard to promote.
'Ah, no, why!'
A silent scream was representing his heart.
Like a leopard running across the plains, Cheon Yooshin’s fingers were nimbly moving across the keyboard. His eyes were fixed on the monitor, and a smile was hanging on his lips. To him, the virtual world beyond the monitor was everything right now.
'Finally found it. My true calling!' Cheon Yooshin muttered with a serious expression.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
His fingers, possessing the body of a superhuman, moved so restlessly that they seemed to create clones, and the world inside the monitor was changing according to his will. Sometimes with sharp criticism, sometimes with humorous satire. A true sword fight unfolded with only his fingers across the monitor! Fistfights and attacks using Magi were fun, but the keyboard, a new weapon, was giving him the fun of a new genre.
There, Yooshin was neither Hunter Cheon Yooshin nor Cheon Yooshin of the Republic of Korea. Only the keyboard warrior, Cheon Yooshin, existed.
Crack.
"Who should I crush today? Hehehe!"
Stretching his fingers, Cheon Yooshin went looking for his next prey. He mainly looked for targets in the comments of trending news, but keyboard battles end surprisingly quickly.
'Is there no opponent worthy of facing me?'
He searched the virtual space for 30 minutes. There weren’t as many topics as he thought. Just gossip, mostly. After all, the media was currently plastered with his own story.
Eventually, Yooshin entered the forbidden zone. He began to target the comments on the articles where he was the subject, one by one.
10 minutes later.
Yooshin’s eyes, stretching his stiff neck and fingers, sparkled.
"Oho? This is quite strong?"
The level of the keyboard warriors was quite high. They were refuting his attacks head-on with quite credible information and logic.
"But how did those guys know?"
He hadn’t even released the yellow magic stones to the market yet! Park Hae-soo had pleaded with him. To keep the items obtained this time a secret. So he had said he understood.
That was when Cheon Yooshin’s eyes widened. A single comment was sparkling where his gaze had stopped.
"Ah, fuck!"
Cheon Yooshin blurted out without realizing it. Cheon Yooshin kicked the floor in surprise and pushed his chair back. The distance to the keyboard widened in an instant. His heart, which maintained composure even when facing hundreds of demons alone, was now beating fast as if it had a turbo engine attached.
"Ho, how did they know?"
Cold sweat was already running down his face. Yooshin himself knew that if he were caught, it would be a total disgrace. No matter how much he had mastered the art of having a thick face...
Cheon Yooshin took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
"Do you have evidence? I can just deny it! Let’s be cool, let’s be cool!"
That was when:
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
"Huck!"
Cheon Yooshin’s heart beat even faster. His gaze went back and forth between the monitor and the front door. Cold sweat ran down his spine.
"Has the report already been filed?"
His imagination was already painting the worst-case scenario. The cyber investigation team breaking in and taking him away, the sight of himself in handcuffs plastered all over the news.
'National Hero Cheon Yooshin, his true identity was a keyboard warrior!!!'
Cheon Yooshin squeezed his eyes shut. Just thinking about it was the ultimate disgrace.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang once more.
"Wh, who is it?"
Cheon Yooshin’s voice trembled, which was rare to hear.
"Delivery!"
"...What?"
Cheon Yooshin wore a dazed expression. After being blank for a moment, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah, it’s a delivery."
After receiving the delivery and sitting down, Cheon Yooshin’s phone rang.
[Hahahaha! Hello. This is Team Leader Park Hae-soo.]
"Oh? What’s up? Am I not still on vacation?"
Cheon Yooshin was on official vacation. It was a kind of reward vacation for conquering the uncleared gate.
[Ah, that’s right. You still have 2 days left. Actually, it’s nothing else. We’re having a team dinner today, and I called because I was wondering if you had any thoughts of coming.]
A team dinner? A flurry of imagination unfolded in Yooshin’s mind. The holy land of office workers, the cradle of stress relief! A pub full of lively laughter, isn’t a team dinner where you can put aside tomorrow’s stress for a moment and laugh, chat, and pat each other on the shoulder?
"I have to go. A team dinner. Where is it!?"
His heart began to pound in a different sense.