Hunter Link
Thud! The special forces soldiers raised their guns in unison and aimed straight at Du-hyeon.
“H-Hiiik!” Du-hyeon yelped and flattened himself to the ground like a frog.
“It’s fine. Lower your weapons. Now.”
“But……”
“Really. It’s all right.”
“Understood. Stand down, everyone!”
The platoon leader had been about to search Du-hyeon, but at my insistence he ordered the guns lowered. I sighed. Why did they have to scare the kid like that? Still, they were only doing their job, so I let it slide without complaint.
“Du-hyeon.”
“D-Don’t shoot! Uuugh!”
“Du-hyeon.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“……”
He was so terrified he refused to get up.
“I told you, it’s fine. Get up.”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah, you idiot.”
I smiled and helped him to his feet.
“Come on. You’re getting dirt all over your clothes.”
“Is it really okay?”
“Have you only ever been lied to?”
“You lied to me earlier.”
“……”
I had no good comeback for that.
“That was then. It’s fine now, so get up.”
“Okay.”
Once Du-hyeon was standing, I called over one of the soldiers and told him to bring Du-hyeon’s delivery motorcycle. “Thanks for letting me use it. Sorry I took it without asking. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you.”
“If you’re really sorry, why’d you take the bike without saying anything? Because of you, today I……”
Du-hyeon was still fuming when his eyes suddenly went wide. The keys jingled.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Car keys? A BMW?”
“Right.”
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because it’s yours now.”
“Huh?”
Vroom! Right on cue, a special forces driver pulled up in a compact BMW SUV.
“Take it.”
“F-For real?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously?”
“Have you only ever been lied to?”
I grinned and pressed the X2 keys into his hand.
“You rode that bike well. This is a gift. I picked it out especially for you.”
“B-Bro!”
One minute he was calling me every name under the sun, the next he was ready to worship me. The about-face was ridiculous, but I understood where he was coming from and didn’t bother teasing him.
“From now on, you’re my real big brother!”
“I’m your dongsaeng, remember?”
“Come on! Anyone who buys me a car is automatically a hyung!”
“That happy, huh?”
“Obviously!”
Du-hyeon clutched the keys and started bouncing around like he was about to do a backflip on the spot.
“Kid.”
Seeing him so excited made me happy too. He’d earned it. Thanks to him fighting alongside me during the gate incident, my burden had been lighter.
“Drive safe. If you ever need help with anything, just say the word. I’ll do what I can.”
“Yes, hyung!”
Du-hyeon looked ready to split his face grinning.
* * *
“What on earth is all this?”
Father looked genuinely startled. His son had left to register as an Awakened and returned in a helicopter, escorted by armed soldiers. Of course he was shocked.
“That’s how it turned out. Haha.”
“What do you mean, ‘that’s how it turned out’? Explain properly.”
He wasn’t going to let me brush it off with a laugh. Fair enough. Father wasn’t an idiot; he could tell something was off. Even if he wasn’t an Awakened himself, he’d spent over ten years as an active-duty officer fighting monsters. He knew how the industry worked.
“So you’re saying you awakened into a completely new role that didn’t exist before? And that’s why the Defense Strategy Department is giving you special treatment?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
“Good grief.”
Father’s expression was one of utter disbelief.
“You don’t like it?”
“Like it? My only son just became even more of a target. Why would I be happy about that?”
“Eun-ha’s here too…… Ack!”
I clutched my head in pain. How could a single flick to the forehead hurt so much?
“You’re my only son!”
“Ugh.”
“You little brat. Talking nonsense to your father.”
“S-Sorry.”
“Anyway, all that special treatment is just the price of your life.”
“I know.”
“What parent would want their child to live comfortably off the value of their own life?”
“Still, good things are good things. Can’t you just enjoy it a little? We should take what we’re given.”
“You’re not wrong, but……”
“I’ll promise not to die doing something stupid. So don’t worry too much.”
“I’ll try.”
“And this is a new car. I brought it for you, Father.”
“It’s the same model as the one I used to drive. Sierra?”
“Yes.”
“Forget it. You take it. I can manage without a car.”
“I have my own.”
“You do? Hmm.”
“You might as well take it. You don’t have a car right now anyway.”
By now, Father’s old car was probably buried under the rubble of our collapsed apartment. I hadn’t thought to move it beforehand because everything else had been so chaotic. I should have parked it somewhere else.
“Yes, dear. You’ve worked so hard all this time. Think of it as a gift from the country and just drive it.”
“That’s right, Dad.”
With Mother and Eun-ha both chiming in, Father finally dropped his stubbornness and accepted the keys.
“All right, I will. I’ll drive it well. Can’t refuse a gift from my son.”
“Good choice.”
I grinned and turned to Mother.
“We’ll be moving in a few days. Just hold on until then.”
“You’re really giving us a house too?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“We’re planning to go to the Hyperion Penthouse.”
“Hyperion…… that place???”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible!”
The Hyperion Penthouse in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu. Even at current prices it was worth well over twenty billion won. It was a Tier-1 safety-rated building, one of those dream residences everyone wanted to live in.
“Really? We’re going to Hyperion?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. So Cha Eun-seong really is an Awakened.”
Eun-ha looked me up and down like I was some kind of zoo animal.
“But does it make sense for you to become an Awakened?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not even that handsome.”
“……”
“Aren’t the good-looking ones supposed to awaken? Like our Hobin oppa?”
Good grief. I couldn’t even find the words. I wasn’t handsome? Sorry, but I was plenty good-looking. Just because my role was Supporter didn’t mean I hadn’t enjoyed my share of popularity back when I was in the ranker circles. People even used to joke that I was just there as eye candy.
In my previous life, after Father died, I’d been quiet and gloomy, never joking around. But now, without that tragedy, Eun-ha was like an unrestrained colt.
“Hobin oppa, my ass. That guy’s going to die soon. If he dies, you’ll die with him.”
The “Hobin oppa” she was talking about was a member of a popular boy idol group and an Awakened. Supposedly he was going to juggle both idol and hunter activities…… Yeah, right.
“Who’s dying?”
Eun-ha snorted like I’d said something ridiculous.
“Why are you cursing poor Hobin oppa?”
“You started it.”
“When?”
“You said I wasn’t handsome.”
“So you are handsome? What are we going to do with you, Eun-seong? Your self-awareness is nonexistent.”
“You little……”
I barely stopped myself from smacking her. Strangely, I didn’t actually mind her shameless attitude. Probably because she’d never had to experience losing her family.
I suddenly hoped she could stay this way forever—completely shameless and carefree.
“Forget it. I’m done talking. Haa.”
“Only because you ran out of things to say.”
“Want me to leave you behind when we move?”
“What?”
“I could just take everyone else and leave you here while you’re at school.”
“Th-That’s……”
“Guess the refugee camp suits you?”
“I-I-I-I!”
She trembled, grinding her teeth in frustration.
Heh. Keep running your mouth and see what happens.
‘Though that guy really is going to die.’
According to my memories, that Hobin guy was scheduled to die in about a month. How exactly? I hadn’t paid much attention, so the details were fuzzy, but the fact that he died was certain. What was it again……?
Buzz, buzz! My phone rang, cutting off my thoughts about Hobin.
Impatient as ever. 010-XXXX-XXXX. Choi Yoo-ra. I’d told her to wait, but she couldn’t even last that long before calling. This wasn’t a good time to answer, so I pressed the side button and declined.
Because of wiretapping risks, Awakened weren’t supposed to use unencrypted communication devices with each other. Just like I didn’t trust the Defense Strategy Department, they didn’t trust us. Especially when it came to Awakened, government surveillance was standard procedure. For someone like me who’d signed an official contract, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say every call, message, and even personal SNS account was being monitored. We just had no proof.
‘If she really wants to talk, she can reach me through Hunter Link…… Oh, right. I don’t have an account yet.’
I finally understood why Choi Yoo-ra had risked calling on a regular smartphone.
* * *
There was a saying that all Awakened were mentally connected. In a way, it was true. And there was solid reasoning behind it. Awakened had access to a very special network that only they could use.
Hunter Link.
A psychically responsive network that guaranteed absolute anonymity. Connecting was simple. Close your eyes, focus your mind, and draw up your ether. The person who discovered this was surprisingly a first-generation Korean hunter who used to be a monk. Monk Taebong. His callsign was Maitreya—the future Buddha. Fitting for a monk, he’d stumbled upon Hunter Link while meditating and spread the knowledge to the world. He’d named it the “Mind-Responding Web,” but everyone just called it Hunter Link because the original name was too difficult.
Late at night, after confirming that my family was asleep, I plopped down beside the field cot and sat cross-legged. While connected to Hunter Link I’d be completely defenseless, but with the special forces soldiers standing guard outside our tent, I could relax.
I closed my eyes, focused, and slowly drew up my ether. Gradually, I felt my consciousness shift beyond reality, and an entirely different world unfolded before me.