Why Is Everyone Staring at Me?
A day had passed since the news broadcast.
The internet was in absolute chaos.
1. Kang Minsu
2. Crater Cave F-Class
3. Dungeon Break Solo Defense
4. Kang Minsu Identity
5. SSS-Class Disguised Job Hunt
"Haa..."
I turned off my smartphone screen and let out a deep sigh.
I pulled my hat low over my eyes and tugged my mask up to my chin as I descended the villa stairs.
Perfect disguise. No one would recognize me as that 'crazy newbie' like this.
I headed to my usual night shift at the convenience store, just like always.
11,042
After yesterday's news, the blue window in my vision refused to drop below ten thousand viewers.
If anything, it was bouncing between twelve and thirteen thousand, hyperactive as hell.
It's 'cause I'm dragging my slippers, you idiots...
I grumbled inwardly and stopped at the crosswalk.
Rush hour meant the streets were packed.
I kept my head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
But when the signal changed and I stepped into the crosswalk, something weird happened.
People approaching me slinked aside like they'd rehearsed it.
My path cleared like the Red Sea.
"Uh...?"
I froze in confusion.
Did I smell or something?
Or was my face that scary even through the mask?
I snuck a glance at their faces. They didn't seem to recognize me.
But they held their breath like they were fleeing something, keeping distance. Their eyes flickered with faint tension and unease.
Just like dungeon monsters dodging me.
Gaze Pressure maintained at C-Class level even in everyday spaces.
Ordinary people may feel an inexplicable sense of pressure.
"Ah..."
It hit me then.
These ten thousand gazes were leaking out beyond the dungeon.
People were dodging me without knowing why.
Please don't come over...
I made a miserable face and bolted into the convenience store.
Ding-a-ling.
"Oh, you're here."
The store manager at the counter greeted me with a bored look.
He was a middle-aged guy, the epitome of a capitalistic drone indifferent to worldly affairs.
"Store Manager, I'm here."
I took off my hat and mask to bow.
He glanced at me, then pulled a newspaper from under the counter and tossed it over.
Front page.
There was a massive photo of my back from yesterday's CCTV.
"You?"
The store manager asked curtly.
I swallowed hard. What now?
Deny it? But the uniform and build matched too perfectly.
"Uh... well..."
"Whatever. Don't care. Save the multiverse or the city, not my problem."
"You forgot to erase the expiration dates on yesterday's discarded bentos. Do it right."
He cut off my excuse without listening.
His blunt, indifferent tone made the C-class pressure weighing on my shoulders vanish like smoke.
"S-Sorry! I'll be careful from now on!"
I bowed ninety degrees.
Capitalism reigns supreme, after all.
No matter if I was some hero in a misunderstanding with ten thousand viewers— the store manager held my part-time life in his hands.
"Shift change. Sort the three ramen boxes that came into the warehouse."
He grabbed his jacket and breezed out.
I sighed in relief and slipped on my vest.
11,540
"The store manager's just oblivious..."
I muttered as I headed to the warehouse, ripping open the ramen boxes to stock the cup noodles.
Mindless work. The time when my mind felt most at ease.
Time passed, past midnight.
The streets quieted, customers thinned out.
I leaned on the counter, staring blankly into space—or rather, at the blue window.
That's when the convenience store door creaked open cautiously.
Two young guys in hoodies and masks entered. Both clutching phones. Less like customers, more like they were scouting for someone.
"Hey."
One approached the counter, slyly angling his phone lens at me.
"You're Hunter Kang Minsu, right? For the hunter gallery—can I film just ten seconds?"
My heart dropped.
Not drunks this time—filming creeps.
"No filming. I'm working."
I said lowly, but he grinned and stepped closer.
"C'mon, I'm a fan. Say something. Everyone says the real-life pressure's different."
The other guy circled to the shelves, finding an angle.
The camera sweeping the store without permission creeped me out more.
I instinctively stepped back.
My shoulders hunched, nape chilling.
My cowardly F-class survival instincts screamed to smack that phone away.
But.
Viewers are enraged.
Gaze Pressure rising to C-Class.
Over ten thousand viewers' irritation surged at once.
It flowed through me, filling the store.
The fluorescent lights seemed to flicker faintly.
The guy's grin died first as he shoved his phone forward.
"Uh...?"
His hand trembled holding the screen.
His curious sparkle dulled instantly.
"Dude, why's it suddenly hard to breathe...?"
His friend by the shelves went pale too.
They dropped their phones in unison.
"S-Sorry. I'll delete the video."
"Sorry. Thought you were just a fan... crossed the line."
They bowed and fled the store.
Ding-a-ling.
The bell rang, and they vanished into the dark.
"......"
I stared blankly at the closed door.
"Control my ass... I didn't do shit..."
I rubbed my forehead.
Dungeon monsters, street pedestrians, boundary-pushing customers.
This pressure from ten thousand viewers had become part of my life.
Grateful it kept monsters and creeps away.
But living forever making people tremble? My future looked bleak.
"I just wanted a normal life..."
I fiddled with a barcode and sighed softly.
Then my pocket phone buzzed briefly.
Again. Thanks to the insane misunderstanding that I 'resolved' yesterday's dungeon break, the bureau recognized me as full Hunter and force-assigned me.
Smaller text below: Temporary special management subjects who refuse disaster-class raid assists may face rank review and activity suspension.
F-class me protesting? Bureaucracy would choke me first.
"Dungeon tomorrow too?"
I clutched my head.
At this rate, I'd meet something scarier than a hidden boss and not even leave bones.
No way. Can't keep getting dragged around defenseless.
I steeled my eyes.
If I couldn't clear this massive misunderstanding, and D-class dungeon awaited tomorrow, I desperately needed my own tear-jerking advanced survival strategy.
F-class porter stamina meant a D-class monster graze would instant-kill me.