Awakening and the System
“Anyway, once you awaken, the system gives you really friendly guidance. It shows your level, how much experience you still need… Sometimes quests pop up too. I hear there are daily quests or something, but I’ve never seen one.”
The woman muttered that it was probably because her level was still low. When she noticed Kang Tae-sung seemed interested in awakening, she scratched her cheek and continued.
“It’s obvious, but if you hunt monsters in a group, the experience gets split between everyone. Actually, even if you add it all up, it seems like you get less than if you killed one alone. They call it a penalty… Still, it’s a lot easier with more people, so there’s no helping it.”
She told him that whether they were men or women, the hot topic among young people these days was becoming a hunter. A lot of them even enlisted in the military just to awaken.
“They say if you join the army, you’ll awaken within two years at least. Of course, if you’re confident in your skills or equipment, you can go solo or form your own group… but unless you’re from a chaebol family, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“I heard money lost its value?”
“Only in the provinces. In places with no real production, like rural areas or smaller cities. In Seoul or other major cities, it still works, apparently. There are even guys who deliberately bring a ton of cheap daily necessities and sweep up all the money from the countryside… Well, it’s dangerous work, so I guess that kind of profit is fair.”
She added that without people like them, there were places that couldn’t even maintain basic food supplies.
When she saw Kang Tae-sung tilt his head in confusion, her expression said she understood why he was reacting that way.
“You’re wondering why we’re holding out here instead of going to Seoul? It’s not exactly paradise there either. Even though the land expanded, the city size stayed the same. A place that used to hold ten million people is now crammed with over twenty million.”
And monsters popped out there just like anywhere else, she added.
“Some people say they actually appear more often in crowded places. Oh, and it’s definitely true that awakened people have higher aggro values.”
“Aggro?”
“They say the more monsters you hunt and the more experience you gain, the higher a certain value builds up. It’s not visible, but the more it accumulates, the more frequently monsters attack you.”
If two hunters were around the same level, the difference might not be noticeable. But if there was a hunter and a regular person, the monster would charge at the hunter without hesitation. The woman explained it in simple terms.
“That’s why some people deliberately avoid making big money from hunting. They just want to live quietly and for a long time. Not that there are many industries left that aren’t connected to this stuff.”
She said that almost the entire current industrial structure revolved around monster byproducts. The whole system had changed that drastically in just five years.
Hunters hunted. Everyone else worked in transporting byproducts, processing them, or manufacturing and applying the finished goods.
“Of course, even those factories and workplaces are hard to get into without connections. That’s why kids who aren’t old enough or strong enough to enlist end up throwing themselves into danger trying to become hunters.”
The woman’s gaze shifted toward her assistant on the other side of the bunker, who was watching the far side of the bridge. From what she said, the girl still hadn’t awakened. There was no telling when she would.
“There’s a high chance of dying before you even awaken. Especially these days.”
The girl must have realized they were talking about her. She glanced over, swallowed dryly, then quickly turned her eyes back to the far side of the bridge.
“In the last month alone, more than a hundred people have died. Most of them were civilians, of course.”
“Are there many awakened people?”
She told him that although the city once had a population close to a million, less than half of that remained now. That was when Kang Tae-sung asked the question.
“In this city? From what I know, there are about a thousand.”
“What’s the average level?”
“Obviously 1. The difference between level 1 and level 2 is like heaven and earth. Most people here have never even seen a level 2.”
“Can a thousand people defend a city?”
“It’s less about defending and more about holding out. We all gather in one spot, and if anything pops out, we take it down together. We try not to go outside if we can help it.”
“Are there many monsters approaching from outside?”
“Almost none during the day. At night… sometimes wolves come in packs if we’re unlucky. I really hope that doesn’t happen tonight.”
At least not during my shift.
The woman added that last part, then raised her hand and turned on the light on the watch she was wearing.
“Shift change is coming up. Let’s get ready.”
“Yes.”
Getting ready only meant adjusting the crossbow so it could be dismantled easily and gathering a few items from the floor.
But the slightly brighter expressions on both the woman and her assistant suggested that what they had been doing here was real guard duty that could actually threaten their lives.
“Now that I think about it, where did you come from? You didn’t cross through the factory district, did you?”
“I went around that area. It gave me a bad feeling.”
“Good instincts. There are a few people like that. Anyway, the factory district is crawling with monsters. It’s basically turned into a den. If we had the strength, we’d wipe it out… but we don’t, so it’s worrying.”
It was obvious that leaving it alone would only cause the number of monsters to keep growing. But right now, they were barely able to hold out by clustering together in the city center. They had no resources left to clear out external threats.
“This place will end up as one of two things. Either it gets recognized as an official base and the military is stationed here, or it gets abandoned.”
“Are you waiting for the military to be deployed?”
“It would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath. They say areas where the military is stationed get attacked by monsters more often, so it’s not exactly something to celebrate.”
She told him that right now, the country was in a state of every-man-for-himself. The government had neither the ability nor the justification to collect taxes.
“There are cities that protect their residents and collect a protection tax, but that’s only possible when they can actually protect people and when the residents have enough to spare… Right now, we can’t even be self-sufficient in food or drinking water.”
“Water is scarce?”
When he looked toward the river as he spoke, the woman chuckled.
“You want to drink that? Only if you want to get sick.”
She said that if you could purify it, there wouldn’t be a problem, but the water was so contaminated that even boiling it couldn’t fully clean it. Then she lightly tapped the ordinary-looking canteen hanging behind her waist.
“This canteen purifies water if you leave it in for about an hour. I paid 5 points for it.”
“Where do you trade using points?”
“You can do it through the system, or use it in trades between hunters. You’ll find out once you awaken. In the cities, they exchange it for cash or goods, but not around here.”
She showed him the back of her hand again, displaying her current points.
Points: 12.457
“It even shows up to three decimal places. When you hunt in a group, you only get a pathetic amount.”
“How many points do you usually get for killing one orc?”
“How did you know there were orcs? Oh, right. You mentioned it when you were talking about games.”
He hadn’t actually mentioned it, but she seemed to decide that was close enough and nodded, scratching the back of her head.
“Hunting orcs isn’t easy… You need at least five hunters to take on one. Now that I think about it, two orcs that appeared in the city center a while back killed quite a few people.”
She scratched her head for a long time as if trying to remember, then spoke with an uncertain expression.
“If someone killed one alone, I think it gives about 5 points.”
“Only that much?”
“Only? 5 points is a lot. Well, you’ll understand once you experience it.”
She waved her hand through the air as if manipulating something only she could see, then nodded and looked at Kang Tae-sung.
“Right now, the exchange rate in Seoul is about 1 point to 1 million won.”
“So 5 points would be 5 million won.”
“It’s not like there are that many trades, but still more than out here in the provinces. Of course, the real profit comes from monster byproducts, so points are basically a bonus.”
She added that you could also buy experience with points. She was seriously considering spending all the points she had saved so far on experience.
“They say you get incredibly strong at level 2, but even if I buy experience with points, I’m nowhere near it… so I can’t bring myself to use them.”
“Can’t you just hunt?”
“I do apply to the hunting teams regularly. But there aren’t any proper hunters in a place like this. We either come back empty-handed or barely escape with our lives. I’m including myself in that. I know I’m not some amazing hunter.”
She had awakened as a hunter, but she saw no real hope for the future. That was the common problem most hunters faced, she said.
Of course, the famous hunters active near Seoul earned far more points, bought better equipment, and hunted much stronger monsters.
“People in the provinces aren’t here because they want to be. Most of them just can’t go to Seoul because there’s no room left.”
The woman spoke almost as if lamenting. There was territoriality even among hunters. In Seoul, they were using newly created empty land to the north with new technology to produce enough food to be self-sufficient.
However, instead of sending the surplus down to the provinces, they stockpiled it in case of emergencies or funneled it into the warehouses of the powerful.
She had even heard that some of the food was being exported to other countries.
If that wasn’t an official declaration that they would not take responsibility for anywhere outside Seoul, what was?
Cities of decent size like Busan and Ulsan were in similar situations.
They were doing everything they could to become self-sufficient and had almost completely cut off communication with the outside.
It was as if several city-states had formed under the now-empty name of the Republic of Korea.
“Time to switch.”
At that moment, the low voices of men came from a short distance behind them. The number of people approaching was, as expected, two.
He had been told it was dangerous, yet they were only using two people to stand guard? The thought crossed his mind, but judging by the atmosphere, their job wasn’t to hold the position but to alert others if something appeared and then retreat.
Of course, they would try to stop it or buy time if possible, but there wasn’t much two people could do. Not unless they had guns.
“Huh? Who’s this?”
One of the approaching men asked upon seeing Kang Tae-sung. The woman acting as lookout simply shrugged in response.
“Never seen that face before. Is he an outsider?”
“He’s looking for someone. You’re coming with us, right? We’re pulling back to headquarters.”
“I suppose I should.”
There was no way to know for sure how likely it was that his family was still in this city. For now, all he could do was go to this place called headquarters and hope to meet someone who might have lived in his old neighborhood or knew his family.
Maybe I’ll even run into a friend.
A friend, huh.
Kang Tae-sung thought of something he hadn’t considered at all until now and gave a small shake of his head.