Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Heroine Saves the World 5
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A-rank fire hunter and illegitimate son of the chaebol Sama Group.
He was the man who'd clashed endlessly with the protagonist Kang Han until suddenly vanishing inside a gate around the midpoint of Sejong Wall.
Ironically, though, he was also the most popular side character.
It was all thanks to that ridiculously handsome face and his venomous personality.
Even the author had pointed it out once.
"Villains who carry poison are always the flashiest ones," she'd said.
I'd liked Sama Young quite a bit myself.
He was a bad guy, sure, but a bastard like that on your side? Rock solid.
There'd even been a time when I'd hoped he'd quit butting heads with Kang Han and just team up.
But that was back when he was just a character in a book. To me now, he's nothing but trouble.
"Gonna have to do something about that one too."
He does reawaken as an S-rank, but he turns pitch-black and comes back even more vicious. That's his future.
Then he hammers the Justice Guild relentlessly, obstructing them at every turn.
"You think I'll let that slide?"
Mountains of shit to handle. Actual mountains.
[Markets have ranks too: "Sama Hunter Market"]
Wow, how do they nail an ad that screams him so perfectly?
Bet Sama Young cooked that one up himself.
Right then, the taxi—which had been dead-stuck for ages—finally lurched forward again.
The final glance I stole at Sama Young's face? Still handsome enough to be straight-up burdensome.
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"Will you look at that shine."
Gazing up at the Korean Awakener Association after stepping out of the taxi, its sheer scale was too massive to take in at a glance.
A modern complex razed over the spot where luxury hotels had clustered across from City Hall—uniquely topped with hanok-style eaves.
Anyone could spot it as the Korean Awakener Association a mile away.
"Ah, can't fight that national pride rush."
I wasn't alone; a handful of tourist-looking folks nearby were snapping pics like mad.
This enormous, stunning association complex had every facility a hunter could need, perfectly outfitted.
Training grounds to labs researching gate ecosystems, the Awakener Support HQ smoothing out dungeon raids for hunters, and the very Awakener Registration Center I was here for today.
"Just gotta boot the association president asshole soon, and it'll be flawless."
After soaking in the architecture a bit longer, I made for the info desk.
"Hello, how may I assist you?"
The guide greeted me with a smile so wide it felt forced.
"Looking for the Awakener Registration Center."
"Ah."
...Ah?
Her vibe shifted oddly, and she handed me a map with a face suddenly, noticeably less friendly.
She jabbed at a minuscule building in the map's farthest corner, barely visible.
"Head here."
It was so tiny I had to squint hard at the map to make it out.
"Basement level 4, two buildings over."
"Basement... level 4."
Sure, massive building on a huge plot—basements make sense.
But come on.
"Ah, got it. Thanks."
I clutched the map, backtracked from where I'd been standing, and walked. Far.
And kept walking.
Windows thinned out; the once-glitzy interiors turned weirdly half-assed.
Finally hitting the association grounds' remotest building, a faintly screeching escalator welcomed me.
Down, down.
Hitting basement level 4, just like the guide said.
"Wow, association pricks are savage."
Under harsh fluorescent lights that didn't hold a candle to the natural flood from those vast main-building windows, a waiting room like a flea market sprawled—stuffed wall-to-wall with aspiring hunters like sprouts in a overcrowded steamer.
System picks just 0.01% of the population.
Even if you beat those odds to awaken, odds of hitting C-rank or higher for the 'hunter' title? Under 10% again.
Insanely stacked odds, but 'just awaken, and you're set' had long rooted deep in everyone's heads.
Dangers of facing monsters guns and bombs couldn't touch, rampage risks and all.
Yet hunters became the ultimate dream job anyway.
Bottom line: every one of the easily 100-plus crammed in this tight space was an aspiring hunter.
Even more hopeless? Folks like me, showing actual awakening signs, were rare as hell.
Most were desperate repeaters hitting it like lottery scratches—'maybe today?'—getting scanned over and over.
"Where the hell do I go?"
Too damn crowded to map the center's layout quick.
Off from the bank-chair rows hugging the wall a bit.
Unlike the messy, tense aspirants, sharp-suited guys or uniform-wearers with bold guild logos sat bored, scrolling phones.
Guild headhunters, no doubt.
Hovering for that slim shot at a solid new awakener to snag on the spot.
"Ugh, tucked back there like that, no wonder they're hard to spot."
I bee-lined for the reception desk I'd barely clocked.
"Hi. Here for the awakening scan..."
"Fill this out and wait over there."
She didn't even let me finish—zero motivation in her eyes, she flicked a clipboard my way.
"Scan's 50,000 won. No refunds, awakened or not."
Clearly beaten down, her deadpan drone like a vending machine spitting soda on button-mash had me filling the form anyway.
Handed it back, asked,
"Wait time?"
"See those folks back there?"
She pen-pointed the waiting room masses.
"Your turn after all them."
Translation: wait time? Fuck if we know.
Good thing I planned for this.
Pulled a sheet from my bag, slid it over.
"Got a doctor's note for awakening fluctuations."
"Note?"
Staff halted cold, finally looked up at me.
"Yeah. This bumps priority, right?"
"Uh, yeah. Kinda."
She nodded, a touch thrown, scanned the note top to bottom, then hemmed.
"Scanner's in maintenance now. We'll call you right when it's ready—hang nearby."
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Nailed it.
Smart move grabbing that note pre-discharge, just in case.
Else I'd be rotting in that horde all day.
Headhunters' eyes prickled my back now—caught wind from the staff chat, glancing over.
Whatever.
Nodded at her, scoped the waiting room.
"Main building all flashy and shit."
That subway-turnstile door behind the map guide popped to mind.
Registration card? Full access to all the perks beyond.
No card? Pound sand.
Touring the place like a sightseer, slow-walking the room, when a massive framed thing on the wall grabbed me.
Your standard public office history board.
But you couldn't just skim this one.
📜 History of Dungeon Breaks
A disaster striking when a dungeon beyond the gate isn't cleared in time or its monster population spirals out of control. In plain terms: monsters flooding out of the gate. Civilian casualties skyrocket among those powerless against them; surroundings lie in ruins—a nightmare scene.
"Ugh, plastering unpixelated pics like that, huge."
Scattered bodies everywhere, smoke billowing, shattered buildings—raw as hell in those shots.
Calamity-level: one break leaves devastation so vast, it's this world's top terror.
The board chronicled all five breaks to date, in sequence.
My eyes locked on the latest: the 5th Dungeon Break.
5th Dungeon Break
Caused by the reckless raid from Justice Guild and its 2nd Guild Master, the late Kang Young-won Hunter. Gangdong-gu, Cheonho Station area.
This mess is why Kang Han and Justice Guild hit absolute bottom now.
Their elite raid team? Total wipe—no survivors.
Including, naturally, guild master at the time: Kang Han's mom, S-rank Kang Young-won Hunter.
Justice Guild ate dungeon break blame, coughed up cosmic compensation.
Kang Han's debts he's grinding to pay? All born here.
"Whew. Sweet potato angst, sweet potato, full-on roasted sweet potato."
Thinking of Kang Han choking down pride swapped for cash? My throat closed up too.
"That's why it's extra suffocating."
That Cheonho-dong flop Justice Guild took? Just the opener for ramp-up unmeasurable mutant gates.
And the blank wall still.
Spot for the 6th Dungeon Break pic, staring it down, when—
"Ooh, stream's live."
"Bout time, was dragging."
Two dudes waiting nearby chatted up.
"Damn, Magma Guild's on fire."
"Told ya they'd pop off."
Buddy vibes; glued shoulder-to-shoulder, glued to their phone screen.
"Crank the sound."
No earbuds even, but no biggie.
Most waiting room sprouts were tuned to the same feed.
Weirdly gloomy, dead-energy room flipped buzzing in seconds.
"Right, raid streams."
Forgot; Sejong Wall barely touched 'em.
'Could milk this good later.'
I sidled to a corner wall, fished out my phone.
Stream channel? Cake—NerTube front-paged the live one already pulling tens of thousands.
Tap to join.
🔴 LIVE RAID STREAM
"Alright, big for an E-rank gate, yeah? Thoughts, Hunter Lee Jin-sik?" "Spot on. Gate in population-packed Sinrim-dong—folks were freaking..."
Caster, commentator, the works.
Raid live streams like sports games: top content, hunters' fame rocket fuel.
Handful of chosen supers risking necks against monsters for public safety.
Filming crews diving gates to capture it; production awakeners crafting dungeon-transmitting cams.
'Popularity? Inevitable.'
🔴 LIVE RAID STREAM
"Oh, Magma Guild's here!" "Guild Master Yang Hwa-yeon—A-rank fire brawler—up front as always!"
Hyped caster booming—
Waiting room speakers crackled with announcement.
"Nayeo-ju-ssi, Nayeo-ju-ssi, report to the testing room."
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