Police vs. Firefighters (3)
After taking care of the villain out on the road, I ate dinner alone with Jin Harang.
Normally, she would’ve been the one singing the praises of mala tang, but...
“……”
For once, she was silent.
She kept her mouth shut and wore a dark expression.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t it good?”
“No. It’s delicious.”
Jin Harang looked like she might cry.
'What’s gotten into her now?'
I had a rough idea.
Probably...
Just then, Jin Harang set down her chopsticks.
“Team Leader Choi.”
“What?”
“You know...”
She fumbled through the words.
“Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Republic of Korea Hunter Regulations. First, save citizens from monsters. Second, don’t turn power into authority.”
She went on,
“I thought that if you followed the law, you’d be a good hunter... But these days, I’m not sure what’s right anymore.”
When the Gates appeared, society had been thrown into chaos.
And it wasn’t just because of the monsters.
With police corruption and the government looking the other way, the friction and conflict inside human society only grew worse.
If you stripped it down to the facts, Jin Harang was right.
A hunter only had to kill monsters, didn’t he?
She had done her duty, but she still looked troubled.
“Team Leader Choi. I was arrogant. I guess I was wrong to think hypocrisy could still count as good. Right?”
No, it wasn’t.
Giving interest-free loans to the common people was, by any standard, a good thing.
But using those loans as an excuse to suck the marrow out of the poor was evil.
Even if the action looked the same, the result could leave one person better off and another ruined.
Good and evil were nothing more than concepts humans had made up.
In reality, there was no such thing as good or evil.
I didn’t show any of that complicated mess on my face.
“Cut the crap.”
I picked up a piece of guobaorou and shoved it into her mouth.
“Eat this.”
“Mmph.”
Jin Harang chewed the pork with her cheeks puffed out.
I knew there was no such thing as good and evil.
Then did that mean heroes were unnecessary?
No.
Even if good and evil didn’t truly exist,
I still believed this world absolutely needed heroes.
That was my conviction.
Jin Harang’s shoulders drooped.
“Sigh. You’re right, Team Leader. No matter how ugly this world gets, what can I even do? I’m only a D-class hunter.”
Her worries were the kind anyone could have.
It wasn’t just about fighting evil.
Climate change, environmental pollution, poverty and inequality, racial discrimination, conflict, ideological clashes.
One person was powerless to solve the problems of the world.
“By that logic, I’m only a B-class hunter too. Don’t expect some grand answer from me.”
“Yes...”
Jin Harang still didn’t seem to have recovered.
She hung her head, apparently having lost her appetite.
I left her alone.
Casually, I slurped down the corn noodles.
Then I spoke.
“Jin Harang.”
“Yes, Team Leader Choi.”
“When you don’t know what’s right...”
I met her eyes.
“Do what you believe is right.”
The words came out and even I was surprised.
I was repeating exactly what Grandma had once told me.
Unexpectedly, Jin Harang found her energy again from those few words alone.
“Yes! I will!”
Only then did she pick up her chopsticks and slurp up the bunmoja noodles.
“What should we eat after this? How about cheesecake and mango smoothies?”
“You still want more?”
“Come on. Dessert stomach is a separate stomach!”
Jin Harang smiled brightly, just like always.
The next day, news of my run-in with the villain spread everywhere.
The articles came with video footage shot by bystanders.
It showed me knocking down the Dark Alliance all by myself.
The comments section went up in flames.
The Dark Alliance had something to hide, so they didn’t make a fuss over the matter.
On the contrary, because their blocking of the fire truck was already drawing public outrage, they seemed to be keeping their heads down.
I’d been thrust into the spotlight again without meaning to, but I kept my composure.
I went about my daily life just like always.
“Phew. That was rough.”
I finished special training with Na Sang-min and came out of the shower room.
I wiped down the solid, muscular body reflected in the full-length mirror.
“Hm.”
I stared at the mirror for a while.
It wasn’t because I was captivated by my own lean body.
My gaze had locked onto the blue window reflected there.
I’d burned through a lot of the billion won I started with.
That much was only natural.
The stronger my enemies got, the more often I had to use hero abilities.
The problem was...
I still hadn’t found a way to increase my money.
As long as I kept acting as a hero, my balance would inevitably keep shrinking.
Someday, it’ll hit zero.
To borrow the expression of that loan shark villain,
it’ll turn into no money at all.
So what should I do?
It would be nice if I could find a way to increase my balance, but I also had to prepare for the possibility that I wouldn’t.
I couldn’t just keep spinning the wheels of blind hope.
I’d need to prepare for the worst.
I already had a few plans in mind.
First, get as strong as possible before the balance ran out.
At the very least, reach S-class.
And if possible, go beyond that.
Second, save as much as I could unless it was a truly critical moment.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue and frowned.
Instinctively, I hated the second option.
I already lived like a miser in my past life. And you want me to do it again?
Absolutely not.
No matter how much it was virtual money, I didn’t want to spend every day worrying myself sick over it.
No choice, then. I’ll have to go with the first plan.
That didn’t mean I could spend recklessly, though.
The plan stayed the same.
I won’t touch the Awakener's Balance during the Police-Fire War.
Instead, I moved my gaze through the empty air.
A clear line of blue text came into view.
HERO SELECTION TICKET
1 use
It was the reward I’d received after entering the Pig Room.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind.
If I picked the right hero...
Couldn’t I fight efficiently without spending any money?
For example...
HERO SKILL SHOP
123. Ali Abbas Jafar.
124. Lyon.
125. Creature Man.
...
I scrolled the list down endlessly.
From Super Kid at number 1 all the way to Zin Shark at number 999, the names of heroes stretched on and on, enough to make my tongue tingle.
Let’s see.
Who would be good?
Then my hand stopped.
HERO SKILL SHOP
333. Bear Man.
1)Assimilation
A passive skill that lets you befriend all kinds of animals and monsters, just like the character’s comic-book setting.
(₩0)
It was funny how the same number came up three times in a row.
If I were to read into it...
The number three represented perfection in both East and West.
In the West, the number three was said to combine one, which symbolized good, and two, which symbolized evil.
Bear Man, huh...
Bear Man wasn’t a particularly famous character.
Most adults probably wouldn’t know him.
But...
Among kids, he’s basically the president.
Bear Man was a hero from an animated show for children.
A huge man wrapped in bear hide.
At first glance, he looked ferocious.
But inside, he was endlessly soft-hearted and cowardly.
Bear Man’s nickname was “the forest’s ultimate social butterfly.”
With his gentle personality and warm, friendly look, he had a natural gift for getting along with animals and plants.
Beautiful birds would perch on his shoulders and chirp away,
and all kinds of animals would burrow right into his arms.
A guardian who protected life and maintained the world’s balance by wielding the great power of nature.
In other words, a Druid.
There was a reason I’d taken such an interest in Bear Man.
A unique ability.
If I remembered correctly...
When I clicked Bear Man, the first ability appeared below.
HERO SKILL SHOP
333. Bear Man.
1)Assimilation
A passive skill. It lets you become friends with all kinds of plants and animals, exactly like in the comics.
(₩0)
And on top of that,
Because it was a reward from a mission, it cost nothing.
Without any special controls at all.
Without spending a single won.
A constantly active ability like that was perfect for the Police-Fire War.
This time, I had to fight more than one villain on my own.
Later reports said the 100 villains deployed in the Police-Fire War had wildly different awakened abilities.
Wizards, assassins, thieves, gunners, poison users.
They were all elite units specialized for combat.
Maybe there’s a Druid in there too.
To take on 100 villains...
I fell silent for a moment and let my imagination run.
More than ten thousand police officers and firefighters would gather at Gwanghwamun.
With the area packed so tightly there’d be no room to turn around, even moving freely would be a challenge.
Even if I used a hero skill,
Infinite Acceleration from Speeder would be useless.
What about Bear Man?
It would depend on the situation, but if I used him well...
I could definitely make him work.
I clicked without hesitation.
A cheerful chime rang out, and blue text appeared.
Bear Man has been purchased.
When I stepped outside the building, a cool breeze brushed the moisture from my hair.
“Ah, that feels good.”
Suddenly, a blinding flash went off.
“Hunter Choi Yongki! Please say a few words about what happened yesterday!”
“Is it true that you acted personally because you were furious about the police’s lazy response?”
Countless reporters had gathered in front of the Dio Guild entrance.
I’d expected this to some degree, so I wasn’t rattled.
Reporters wrote articles about me, and through that, I kept getting pulled into the public eye.
I’m getting used to this now.
Microphones thrust toward me from every direction.
“What do you think about the idea that hunters should be granted arrest powers?”
“If that happens, won’t hunters’ authority become even more overwhelming? What do you think, Hunter Choi?”
“Please, just give us a word!”
If I tried to answer each one, I’d be here forever.
There was no point wasting time on them.
“I’m passing through.”
I ignored the interview and kept walking.
One reporter shoved a microphone toward me.
“Hunter Choi Yongki!”
I met the reporter’s eyes.
He was a young man with bright, glittering eyes.
“Since you helped the firefighters, can we interpret that as support for the firefighters’ union? Are you planning to attend the Firefighters’ Rally?”
I stopped walking.
I needed to make this one thing absolutely clear.
Behind me, the Dio Guild building stood tall like a castle wall.
If I didn’t state my position clearly, it could cause trouble.
Worse, my opinion might be taken as the official stance of the entire Dio Guild hunter force.
I shook my head firmly.
“I’m not attending the Firefighters’ Rally.”
B-class hunter, Typhon Choi Yongki.
A hunter’s main duty was to exterminate monsters and successfully close Gates.
But that alone couldn’t change the world.
I looked straight into the camera and continued.
“I sincerely hope this protest ends peacefully.”
Again, let me be clear: I am not participating in the Firefighters’ Rally.
As for joining the Police-Fire War, where police officers and firefighters would clash head-on...
That’s the job of the Purple Devil.
Leaving the barrage of questions behind me, I walked forward with my head held high.