Even Without a Status Window, Still a Hunter 1

I woke up and checked my mana circuits—they were not just fine, they were thriving.

If I'd pushed out the same output as yesterday in my old body, I wouldn't have been able to move without painkillers, or I'd have been out of commission for days without using any abilities.

I looked down at my chest, packed full of mana circuits. No matter how many times I saw it, it was still amazing.

Hmm.

What if these circuits had been concentrated somewhere else…?

"Thank you for putting them in my chest. I'll live a grateful life."

I shoved aside the specific examples that were too hard to even picture in my head, finished getting ready, and left the room.

Sunlight was vividly licking the leaves.

"Now what to do."

Hunters are basically freelancers by default. Once you join a guild, it's different, but until then, you're free to do as you please.

"Except when the country calls you up."

Our homeland declares a hunter mobilization order when something happens that even guilds can't handle.

It's a system unique to us—no other country has it. The moment it's declared, every hunter above the government-specified rank gets drafted.

No matter how I thought about it, these crazy bastards in the Republic of Korea.

Of course, the situation where a mobilization order gets declared is one where if we don't stop it, humanity's done for anyway.

It just pissed me off that they planned to squeeze every last hiding hunter for all they were worth.

I remembered a hunter from the Grand Canyon Gate outbreak who got dragged out of bed without even saying goodbye to his family.

'Must be nice. We don't even have family to say goodbye to.'"Now I don't even have friends to joke like that with."

The rotten, unpleasant memories came trailing after me as always.

"Gotta stay busy."

I shelved the idea of taking it easy and quickened my pace. When my mind was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mess, at least my body needed to be busy.

The Hunter Association's Suwon branch was already bustling with people waiting their turn, even early in the morning.

It felt like a weekday bank line. Yesterday's incident probably contributed to the crowd.

I quietly pulled a number ticket, waited my turn, checked my number, and approached the counter.

"Beep—welcome! This is the Hunter Association! How may I assist you?"

Unlike the Gwanak branch, the info desk here had a robot.

A white body with a round, cute design. Was this a skill too?

"I stopped by because I have a few questions."

"Beep—please tell me your questions, and I'll answer quickly and accurately."

"First off, is that thing a skill? Or just a customer service machine?"

"Beep—the Suwon branch is a priority application site for the smart AI system. I am 'Suwoni,' the AI in charge of managing the Suwon branch."

Of all places, I had to stumble into one run by a robot instead of a person.

"Beep—though managed by AI, if I can't answer, I retrieve responses from other association departments."

Did my distrust show on my face? I felt kinda bad now.

"I'd like detailed info on yesterday's Suwon Gate 3 incident. I know an A-rank monster appeared."

"Beep—no monster traces have been found inside the gate yet. Suwon Gate 3 will be closed to entry for the time being."

Should I have left a head or something…? Felt bad for the newbies now.

I didn't feel sorry for the guild folks hunting for a non-existent B—no, A-rank monster. That was their paid job.

It just bugged me that I'd messed up the newbies' schedules. But it was the best option.

"Got it. Then, something else."

Now for the main point.

"Is it possible to take requests without using a status window?"

The moment those words left my mouth, the eyes and expressions of everyone in the building shifted in an instant.

Some looked incredulous, some full of pity, and some… terrified?

Why the hell those faces?

"Beep—please wait a moment."

Suwoni's smiling LED face switched to an hourglass.

Seemed like my question was beyond its discretion.

"Beep—"

A minute later, the hourglass flipped twice, and Suwoni's face returned to a smile.

"Hello! I'm Kim Se-re-na, counselor at the Hunter Association Suwon branch."

"Yes."

"There was a part the AI couldn't easily explain, so from now on, I'll answer your questions."

Guess it wasn't a simple issue after all.

"You're F-rank Lee Ha-yoon, right?"

"Yes."

"May I ask why you want to take requests without involving your status window?"

Because I don't have one.

Every second-gen hunter has a status window. The system using it is already commercialized.

In this environment, they'd be wondering why? On purpose? What's the reason?

I gave the answer I'd agonized over since registering my hunter qualifications.

"My 'Given Purpose' sealed my status window."

Whew~.

Poor thing…

Aigoo…

The expressions of the onlookers boiled down to two: pity and disdain.

"I see. You're not voluntarily restricting yourself outside of the status window's purpose, right?"

"Pardon? No, not at all."

Who the hell would do that? Pretending to be a caveman in the modern age.

"Understood. Nowadays, even private requests come through status windows, so it must be inconvenient."

With that, she—she?—pulled out a document and handed it to me.

"Fill in your personal details here, and you should be able to take association-approved requests."

"Approved?"

"Yes. Without a status window, there's no monster kill record or inventory, so we only assign requests with solid proof."

"Ah."

My guess: there must be others besides me whose status window use was temporarily blocked or who threw tantrums to seal it voluntarily.

Former group: inconvenienced folks. Latter: ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠troublemakers.

The association probably made this form thinking, 'We'll squeeze every last bit out of even those hunters.'

Hunters are always in demand, even the deficient ones have uses.

Thanks to the seniors who paved the way, I easily got my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠halfwit-proof ID.

Nice. Livelihood problem solved.

"I can take requests, but there are none to take? That make sense?"

It was good that I'd gone through the hassle and found a breakthrough. But the Suwon branch had zero available requests I qualified for.

F-rank gigs were side cash for higher ranks, so I'd have to head to the provinces for decent ones.

"Might have to consider ranking up a bit."

I'd planned to just hunt F-rank monsters and scrape by, but with no work when I wanted it, the ordinary citizen life might have to go.

Vrrr!

My smartphone buzzed. It was Jeong Su-ah.

[Sis, you hear about the gate? Closed for a while.]

[Kinda heard. It's a bummer.]

[That's why, if you're free, wanna come over to my place? Requests are taking time, got nothing to do...]

"Why bother going outta my way."

I had no desire to build bonds. Su-ah was cute, but like a random street dog or cat.

Her uncle tossed in fat bonuses, but that was earned.

[Sorry, I'm busy. Let's grab food when schedules match.]

I typed a polite rejection and was about to send when—

'Oh… Come visit our house sometime! Uncle organized tons of materials!'

I recalled Su-ah's words from inside the gate yesterday.

Organized materials.

I wondered if I could hunter smoothly with 10-year-old knowledge.

I knew promising jobs like this had active communities overflowing with info. I could probably find what I didn't know easily enough.

"Feels foreign."

But it just didn't appeal. Asking questions with my rigid brain, dealing with casual-talking punks.

"Especially internet keyboard warriors I can't even smack."

I could zap a ghost in my face, but law hid the laners—I was powerless.

[When's good? I got time too.]

I deleted the text and sent a positive reply. Like spending a day with a dedicated guide.

'Ehehe~. Grandpa told me! Since I was little, I'd nag him for old stories… Ah.'

I was curious who this old geezer yapping about forgotten people was.