Awakening the Family
The truth was, he hadn’t seen many people lately. Everyone had been clustered together in specific spots within their districts—like the gymnasium in the 4th District—living almost like they were in hiding. That was why so few ventured outside.
Now those same people were pouring into the streets, crowding around the former City Hall. From the snippets of conversation he caught, it sounded like they were taking on public works assignments.
Most of the jobs involved cleaning the streets or repairing damaged shops and buildings, so the available work was limited. Yet there were far too many people looking for it.
Since they couldn’t burn through limited supplies too quickly, the jobs dried up fast. The rest of the crowd was left stomping their feet in frustration or heading toward the old headquarters offices that had recently been set up in the old city district. There were still some remaining ration tickets, so perhaps they could exchange them for supplies.
Once the constant stream of busy pedestrians and vehicles thinned out, the streets finally felt somewhat quiet again.
“Now it actually feels like a place where people live,” Kang Han-sung remarked as he started the truck again, intending to head into the City Hall. But armed guards blocked their path.
The guards, all armed with rifles, were ordinary civilians. They had been recruited after the original security forces withdrew, so they still looked awkward and inexperienced. Even so, the guns in their hands were real.
“Please state your identity and purpose of visit.”
Their tone, clearly following pre-taught protocol, sounded more like civil servants than soldiers. After Kang Tae-sung gave their names and reason for visiting, the guards didn’t turn them away. They simply moved the barricade aside and let them through.
The parking lot already held quite a few vehicles. There were small cars and large ones, but most were electric. Some had always been electric; others had been converted. After finding an empty spot among them, the group headed toward the bustling temporary trading post that was visible even from a distance.
Most of the people gathered around it were hunters. Some wore combat gear, others dressed however they pleased, but the overall atmosphere was unmistakably rough.
There was laughter and the occasional cheer of admiration, but it lacked the chaotic, broken energy of the outlaws they had seen on the city outskirts the night before.
If he had to put it into words, it felt like freedom. Or perhaps confidence.
It was the sound of people laughing as if to say that no matter how much the world had changed, they could still carve out a place for themselves.
Kang Tae-sung moved to the side and climbed up onto a nearby wall, then reached down to help his younger brothers up.
There seemed to be more spectators than actual traders. On one side, monster hides and fangs were piled haphazardly. On the other, people who looked like government officials were busily working with calculators and strange measuring devices.
“Oh, a core.”
The core someone had brought out immediately drew the attention of the other hunters. They seemed more interested in the mana reading than the price. Tae-sung couldn’t see the exact numbers through the crowd, but from the whistles that followed, it must have been a decent value.
The hunter who had offered it received a rather thick wad of cash in return. Still, everyone knew there weren’t many places to actually spend that money right now.
Perhaps that was why some people who had come to sell changed their minds and took their goods back.
As he watched, Kang Han-sung spoke up quietly.
“There’s talk that in the long term, they might eliminate or drastically reduce cash entirely and replace it with points as currency.”
He added that it was probably a rumor that had spread from Seoul, but it was hard not to tilt his head at the idea.
Yet the explanation that followed made it a little easier to understand.
Devices had been developed that would allow ordinary people—who normally couldn’t use points—to do so. The rumor was that they were already being tested in Seoul.
These devices came in the form of cards, similar to old bus or credit cards, or as chips that could be inserted into phones. Whether hunter or civilian, anyone would be able to deposit, withdraw, or spend points from a bank account just like they used to do with cash.
The biggest reason such rumors were circulating was the difficulty in obtaining the raw materials needed to produce physical currency.
On top of that, international trade could no longer rely on the old dollars or euros, so points were seen as the most suitable replacement.
However, since points were fundamentally produced through hunters hunting monsters, it was unclear whether the government had the ability to immediately abandon the concept of cash and start buying up monster byproducts with points.
“Look over there, hyung.”
The youngest pointed toward a signboard that someone had just set up after walking out of the City Hall building.
“Hmm.”
The sign stated that for cores—unlike other byproducts—they would also accept points in addition to cash.
“They must be running low on cash.”
“Could be.”
At Kang Tae-sung’s words, Kang Han-sung nodded. Only then did he notice several hunters who had been hesitating step forward and offer their cores.
“As expected. They never planned to sell for cash in the first place.”
Even the hunter who had just received a thick bundle of money came running back and joined the line.
Watching quietly, they learned that the average trading price for a single core was between ten and fifteen points.
Apparently that was an acceptable rate. More people in the crowd began pulling out cores and stepping forward.
“Ten to fifteen points is roughly over ten million won. Not bad at all.”
With no real benchmark to compare it to, Kang Han-sung figured it seemed reasonable and quickly pulled out his tablet to search the internet. He soon nodded.
“Yeah, it’s cheaper than Seoul. From what I see, Seoul’s going for about one and a half to two times higher.”
“Arbitrage?”
“Could be. Or maybe Seoul consumes so much electricity that they’re trying to buy up cores cheaply from the provinces.”
“The government must be happy they have transport aircraft.”
“That’s how it usually goes.”
Kang Han-sung laughed and replied to his youngest brother, who was shaking his head. Then he suddenly noticed Kang Tae-sung jumping down from the wall and heading toward the makeshift trading post.
“You’re selling today?”
“Did big brother have cores?”
“He said he had a few. I didn’t ask on purpose, so I’m not sure exactly how many. Oh, is he selling three?”
A collective murmur of admiration rose from the trading post. It was a sound mixed with envy directed at the man who had just placed three cores on the counter by himself.
Kang Tae-sung nodded politely when the civil servant in front of him held up the measuring device and showed him the numbers that appeared. After handing over the three cores, the number 30.52 floated above the machine in front of him. It looked almost identical to the way hunters manifested points when transferring them.
When he swept his hand through it as if grabbing the numbers, they were cleanly added to his own points. As Tae-sung returned to his brothers, he confirmed that his total had now surpassed one hundred points.
“Never seen that guy before.”
“Anyone hunted with him?”
“Three cores by himself? What team is he on?”
“Maybe a team leader?”
The surrounding hunters glanced at Kang Tae-sung and whispered among themselves, but none actually approached him. By the time they considered striking up a conversation, he was already far away.
Once the attention shifted back to the trading post, Kang Tae-sung returned to the truck with his brothers.
“Did you make a lot?”
Kang Han-sung asked with a deliberately mischievous expression. But Kang Tae-sung didn’t miss the faint shadow that lingered on one corner of his brother’s face.
That was exactly why he responded with equal mischief.
“Jealous?”
“Jealous my ass!”
I’m going to awaken too!
Kang Han-sung shouted as if it were nothing and gripped the steering wheel. Kang Tae-sung sat down in the cargo bed. Since there was no glass behind the passenger seat, he could easily talk with his brothers.
“Let’s start today.”
“Hm?”
“You two need to awaken as well.”
“…Me too?”
Kang Yeon-sung, who had turned his head slightly to ask, looked overwhelmed despite the simple question.
“How long are you going to keep hunting rats?”
“Ah. You knew about that?”
“In-hye told me.”
“What? What? What did In-hye say?”
Kang Han-sung, who had been lightly pressing and releasing the accelerator, nodded in understanding after hearing the rest.
“That story’s true. Even among rats, the bigger ones give experience points. Anyone who knows, knows.”
He added that there were even bugs that gave experience, and some people went around pouring water into every anthill they saw.
“But with my eye like this…”
“Close combat would be difficult. When life and death are decided by a few centimeters, yes.”
At his eldest brother’s cold assessment, the second brother—who was driving—nodded in agreement. Kang Yeon-sung’s expression grew even darker.
“That’s why you should fight from a distance instead.”
This time it was Kang Han-sung who spoke, and Kang Tae-sung nodded at his words.
“Depth perception stops mattering so much once the distance becomes extreme.”
“When shooting a gun, people often close one eye to aim. Sometimes they keep both open. Well, it’s still not as good as having two eyes, but you’ll just have to work harder.”
“Then do I have to use a gun?”
But firearms were burdensome because of ammunition consumption. And the noise made them even less ideal.
“There are plenty of weapons you can use from a distance without needing a gun. Bows, throwing knives, and if nothing else, you can throw rocks.”
“Rocks seem a bit…”
“Choose whatever you think you’ll be best at. I’ll help you with the awakening.”
When Kang Tae-sung said that, Kang Yeon-sung closed his mouth with a thoughtful expression. Kang Han-sung turned the steering wheel along the road and shook his head.
“If someone overheard, they’d think there was some kind of awakening cram school.”
“What about you? Weren’t you only handling guns before?”
“Basically, yes. But I’ve learned a bit of everything. Personally, I think dagger techniques aren’t bad.”
“A dagger can’t be your main weapon. Pick something stronger. Something that can add its own weight in addition to the power coming from your body.”
“Come on. Daggers are faster though. Isn’t speed what matters?”
“It doesn’t matter if you can accurately sever major arteries.”
“…I’ll think about a bigger weapon.”
Apparently unable to claim confidence in good conscience, Kang Han-sung clicked his tongue and answered that way.
“But how are we going to do this? Even if we gather everyone at the school who can go hunting, there are only three of us guys left.”
Until recently, other young men had been helping Kang In-hye, but after Oh Sang-man’s subordinates came and went that day, they had left the school one by one.
“You want to hunt with just the three of us? It might be possible with big brother, but…”
“Three is too many. We’ll go in pairs.”
Kang Tae-sung cut off Kang Yeon-sung and spoke firmly. The more people there were, the more drastically the experience points were reduced.
Thank you.
See you next time…