Gazes Become Killing Intent
That misunderstanding had already spread outside the gate before I even made it out.
The possessed knight had already vanished in a puff of black smoke.
In the corner of my vision, only the faint kill log remained, while my party members were still panting behind me.
I was alive.
Just that fact alone made my legs feel like jelly.
But then my phone buzzed first.
Brrrrr.
The vibration in my pocket wouldn't stop.
It felt more ominous than when the knight had charged at me with his sword inside the dungeon.
'No way.'
I turned on the screen with trembling hands.
Current Viewers: 512
No.
I'm not playing dumb. I genuinely have no idea.
I scrolled down.
The same video kept duplicating with different titles.
F-Class Makes Hidden Boss Submit. Knight-Type Boss Kneels from One Glare.
State Agency's Hidden Unregistered Ranker Discovered. Lets Party Land the Finishing Blow.
My fingertips went cold.
In the video, I was looking down at the knight.
My face was actually frozen in terror, too scared to even blink, but the comments interpreted that expression entirely as murderous intent.
'That's killing intent?'
'That's the face of someone right on the brink of death.'
I muttered to myself inwardly.
If I said it out loud, my voice would probably crack with sobs.
Hunter Agency staff in yellow vests came running from the gate exit.
One of them grabbed his radio and shouted.
"Survivors confirmed! All returned safely!"
That part was fine.
The problem came next.
The staffer approached the leader and turned on the tablet in his hand.
"We've received a report of a hidden boss appearance. We'll need to confirm the kill circumstances."
The leader glanced at me. I shook my head ever so slightly.
Please. Don't mention me.
Just say we all got lucky and survived.
The leader nodded gravely.
I let out a breath of relief.
"Kang Minsu didn't lay a hand on it himself."
My relief lasted less than half a second.
"But the knight dropped its sword and knelt before Kang Minsu. We just finished it off in that opening."
Dude.
That's even weirder.
The staffer's finger froze over the tablet.
He glanced at my face, then back at the leader.
"Non-contact subjugation possible."
"No."
The word slipped out of my mouth reflexively.
The staffer, the leader, and the party members all turned to stare at me.
My throat closed up instantly.
"I-It just... suddenly stopped. I didn't do anything."
The leader's gaze grew even more serious.
"We understand. You don't want to reveal your identity."
"No, that's not it."
"We'll be as discreet as possible in our statements."
The agency staffer jotted it down.
Subject denies using abilities. Multiple witnesses. Boss entity halts behavior after eye contact with subject.
"Don't write it like that!"
My voice came out louder than I expected.
The area went silent in an instant.
The rescue team gathered at the gate entrance turned to look at me.
A staffer checking on the injured lifted his head.
Two passing hunters slowed their steps.
All those gazes stuck to me at once.
Inside the dungeon, the knight's sword had flown at me from one direction.
What terrified me was having nowhere to dodge.
But now it was different.
No blades in sight, yet eyes came flying from all sides.
Not knowing what anyone believed made it even harder to breathe.
I was just an F-class porter.
I'd nearly died frozen stiff just moments ago.
Yet people outside the gate were putting distance between us with every look.
As if I might explode just standing there.
'What is this?'
Sweat pooled in my palms. It was a different kind of fear from facing the knight.
Back then, I feared death.
Now, I feared the gazes after surviving.
The leader was still explaining to the agency staffer.
"It's true. We didn't attack first. The knight stopped on its own, and Kang Minsu never moved a muscle the whole time."
I couldn't move, you idiot.
Current Viewers: 683
I wanted to cry.
People's gazes toward me were growing more cautious by the second.
Cautious, yet filled with expectation at the same time.
That was the worst part.
Monsters charge—you just dodge.
But expectations? You can't see where they come from.
Or how far they'll balloon.
A small notification chimed from the agency staffer's tablet.
A red line appeared on one side of the screen.
[Temporary Observation Target Registered]
The moment I saw those four words, my breath caught in my throat.
Observation. I hated that word more than monsters.
"Wait. Am I being put under observation?"
The staffer avoided my eyes.
"It's just procedure."
That answer terrified me most.
"Procedure" usually meant no escape hatch.
That was when I first realized it.
Gazes could pierce like killing intent.
If that's where it ended, it might've been bearable.
Current Viewers: 683
"...I'm screwed."
I pulled out my phone again.
The community Hunter Gallery.
The real-time best list was already flooded with my name.
The same video, titles tweaked, lined up one after another.
[F-Class Makes Knight Boss Submit with a Glare]
[Hunter Who Let Party Take Finishing Blow on Hidden Boss—True Identity]
[Isn't This a State-Hidden Unregistered Ranker?]
Views kept climbing.
Comment counts exploded with every refresh.
In the GIF, I didn't even flinch before the knight's sword,
looking down at it with an arrogant expression.
I'd actually been too rigid to close my eyes.
And the knight trembled before me before kneeling.
The comment reactions were a sight to behold.
Below that, it got even wilder. Some claimed I'd deliberately tamed the hidden boss before handing off the kill,
others spun long conspiracy theories about the agency hiding my rank.
One GIF, one comment, one speculation spawning the next in seconds. Even the faces of people who'd glanced at me by the gate seemed to overlap in the replies.
Nothing had happened yet, but it felt like my backstory was already spreading across the whole city. Just imagining how strangely my three-syllable name would roll off strangers' tongues twisted my gut.
The agency staffers weren't normal either. One holding a radio snuck a glance my way, then straightened his posture entirely.
On the other side, people mouthed my name silently, whispering as if hearing it would be trouble.
That scared me more.
I was just a porter who'd gotten lucky and survived, yet the vibe was like handling someone responsible for a national incident.
The wind outside the gate was cool, but cold sweat kept trickling down my neck.
At this point, it was clear. Making one knight kneel wasn't the end of it.
Now people outside the dungeon were crafting their own stories about me. That was the most horrifying part.
Monsters at least—you know right away if they'll bite. But people? No.
Even smiling faces approaching, you can't tell what they believe, what they expect, how much they've inflated it.
Even from the temporary tent by the gate, eyes flicked my way. A staffer flipping papers paused his pen; two rescue team members lowered their voices for no reason.
The air around me seemed to stiffen with every step I took. A different breed of terror from standing before the knight.
Gazes tracking me instead of blades.
I hadn't done anything wrong, yet people's expectations clung first.
No visible foe to flee from—that choked me most.
If another monster popped out, fine. But these murmurs? No clue how far they'd spread.
"I'm not... I'm really not..."
I shoved my phone into my pocket, face crumpling.
Couldn't even walk the streets freely anymore.
Just go home.
Bury myself under the covers and sleep.
Then the leader ran up late and pressed something into my hand.
A crumpled wad of 50,000-won bills.
"Today's pay. No, it's peanuts compared to the value of your life, but..."
"Ah, yes. Thank you."
I lacked the energy to argue and pocketed it.
Getting out of here came before money now.
I bolted for the bus stop like I was fleeing.
Behind me, party members bowed at 90 degrees.
Onlookers murmured.
"Who's that guy?"
"Some hunter, I guess."
"Why the deep bows?"
I hunched over and boarded the bus.
The driver eyed me briefly.
Does he recognize me?
"Kid, fare."
"Ah, yes."
Good, he doesn't.
I sighed in relief and took the backmost seat.
But the blue window before my eyes stayed lit,
and the viewer count kept rising.