The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

‘Separate recycling, just remember this!’

Whirring. The faded, duct-taped paper rattled in the cold breeze. A thick figure like a beetle moved busily, squatting in an alley.

Thick padding, toad apron, rubber gloves, sweatpants and three-line slippers. Ui-jae was peacefully sorting through the recycling, dressed in his winter home-warming look. Ui-jae, who was removing the label of the plastic bottle, murmured like a complaint.

“No matter how much trash I throw away, there are so many…”

Gathering the labels together and throwing them into a plastic bag, he stomped on the plastic bottles to deflate them, then picked up the soju bottle.

Boom!

At that moment, there was a sudden explosion of firecrackers in the air. Cha Ui-jae, who raised his head wondering what it was, faced a familiar white window.

[Congratulations, J!]

[You became the new first place in ‘Region: South Korea’]

“…What?”

Plop. A heavy stopper fell to the floor. An empty soju bottle rolled out of the bag rolled over the asphalt.

‘Why does this guy say that I’m #1 when I’m recycling?’

Ui-jae didn’t even think to properly point out the contents because the guidance of the system was so stupid.

1st place? Me? Ui-jae wanted to ask, grabbing at least the collar if there was anyone who could answer. He couldn’t figure out why this news suddenly came in today, which could have ended normally.

Instead of asking the system for information, Ui-jae hurriedly turned on the Internet app with his cell phone. Fortunately or unfortunately, breaking news related to hunter rankings was posted at the top of the portal site’s main screen.

「[Breaking news] Korea’s No. 1 ranking, J」

「[Breaking News] Lee Sa-young, the undisputed No. 1 player, fell to No. 2 behind J」

「[Breaking News] Awakening Management Bureau, “the same hunter name cannot exist, not the same name”」

「[Breaking news] Awakening Management Bureau, “Possible system error, facts are being confirmed”」

「[Breaking news] Jung Bin captured boarding helicopter… heading to Incheon”」

Moreover, the number of articles increased with each refresh. The system was even kind enough to pop up a new ranking window for his reference.

JLee Sa-young ▼1The Gospel of Matthew ▼1Jung-bin ▼1GyuGyu ▼1Honeybee ▼1Doctor ▼1I am a craftsman ▼1Ham Seok-jeong ▼1Song Jo-heon ▼1Shield guy ▼1]

There was a blue down arrow next to every name except J. It was a devastating visual just by looking at it.

“Shit.”

Unconsciously, Ui-jae recalled a picture he saw in an Internet post one day.

Let’s find out what we shouldn’t do at the funeral

That’s

(Emotions with hands raised)

resurrection

You’ll be embarrassed if you suddenly come back to life, right?

See you next time.

Yes, Cha Ui-jae accidentally… committed an action that he should never do.

J. It’s a little embarrassing to say it himself, but he is so famous that he saved countless people while working as a hunter and appears as a hero who sacrificed himself with rifts even in learning cartoons read by children.

That kind of person resurrected after 8 years? And as soon as he came back, he took back the first place?

‘Of course they’ll be scouring the country to find him.’

He could hear a quiet life slowly receding from him. Only then did he realize. Oh, right. It wasn’t the firecrackers he’d heard earlier.

It was the sound of his small, precious, and quiet daily life exploding…

As he mechanically refreshed the screen in denial, anger rose in his chest as high as the number of updates in the corner. With a grunt, he plucked an empty soju bottle from the bar and, holding it by the spout, pointed it at the status window.

“Hey, what did I do to be number one?”

In the past, being number one could be a thing. J was strong, he was slashing monsters nonstop, and he was unstoppable in terms of ability and achievement.

But what about Cha Ui-jae? What Cha Ui-jae did after escaping from the rift was cleaning, recycling, washing dishes, making hangover soup, taking care of discount coupons, shopping, taking care of Ha-eun, donating to the Incheon Rift Foundation, sometimes catching a monster on the street and reporting it to the Rift Management Agency. It was just that much.

If this was all he had to do to become number one, a dog or a cow could have become number one.

[1st place perk reward]
[ Collect]

‘Give me the reject button.’

He looked for a decline button somewhere, but there wasn’t one, not even a tiny X, let alone a decline button. Instead, the system started highlighting the words ‘Accept’ in red.

You think I’m going to press that? No way. Ui-jae deliberately turned his eyes away from system, intending to continue ignoring it until he got tired of the weeding and broke down.

However, the system displayed a new window wherever he turned his eyes, and this time instead of receiving it, it floated a different option.

[■■■ Some of the deleted permissions will be restored]
[Restoring permissions…]
[■■■ Permissions to access Korea Channel 1 are being restored]
[Do you want to access Korea’s No.1 channel?]
[Yes]
[Yes]

As if he’d listened, the options increased. The problem was that nothing really changed.

Hunter Channel is a group messenger created by the system. A group messenger where you can share information, talk, and make announcements with each other. Of course, Ui-jae thought that they must have been forced into it because the hunters were only playing solo.

Anyway, there was an access standard on the channel to meet the user’s eye level, and channel 1 was a place where only the first to 50th places were given access rights.

In other words, Jung-bin, Honeybee, and Bae Won-woo are holding out on Channel 1.

Of course, Lee Sa-young.

‘You’re crazy. I can’t go in there.’

He tried to live quietly at best, but the world didn’t leave him alone. UI-jae picked up a soju bottle that had rolled far away and separated the lid and the glass bottle.

“Close the window because I’m never going in.”

[…….]

The system did not answer.

‘It’s finally quiet.’

As soon as Ui-jae breathed a sigh of relief and recovered the sticks and empty bottles scattered on the floor.

[!!Error!!]
[Time to choose is up]
[Automatically connects to channel 1]

“What?”

Ui-jae was appalled. What is this cheap system saying?

+82 [CH.1] 《J has entered》

‘It’s bullshit.’

How outdated this freaking system is and didn’t even have a nickname change feature! Cha Ui-jae, who was suddenly revived under the old name of J and was even connected to channel 1, lost his fighting spirit in an instant.

He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“Ha, haha.”

Whether he knew it or not, the chat, which had been frozen for a moment, began to climb at a frenzied pace with a flurry of messages.

:

:

[50] Romantic Opener: Much
[50] Romantic opener: Wow
[11] Shield guy: Whoa
[6] Honeybee: ?
[6] Honeybee: Real?
[34] Very small miracle: isn’t it a system error?
[50] Romantic opener: No, come on
[50] Romantic Opener: It’s going to be legendaryᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ
[8] I am a master craftsman: eiᄏ
[8] I am a master: a surprise a surprise cameraᄏ
[8] I’m a master: They plan it with the system ᄏᄏ to see our reactions ᄏ
[8] I am a master craftsman: like the one on TVᄏ
[8] I’m a master: Observation entertainer turned on. Oh, my. Lee Haewan.
[6] Honeybee: It’s crazy to escape from reality
[4] Jungbin: Hong Ye-sung ^^
[4] Jung-bin: I’m going to cut off the Wi-Fi for a momentarily.
[4] Jung-bin: Please be careful not to let others talk.
[8] I’m a master: (crying emoji)
[29] Manseokpal Boy: Didn’t someone else use the nickname?
[43] Toon: It’s not really J, is it;;
[4] Jung-bin: As you all know, ^^; Hunter names cannot be duplicated.
[4] Jung-bin: I think you’re very confused.
[4] Jung-bin: I’m checking, so please wait a momentarily. ^^
[29] Manseokpal Boy: Long-term non-contact nickname in online games
[29] Manseokpal Boy: I release it periodically…
[15] I don’t have a nickname: this isn’t a game.
[3] Matthew: Jung-bin.
[3] Matthew: The possibility that the rift might have reopened…
(TL/N: I know some of this doesn’t make sense, but I try my best  Chats are the hardest to translate)

The chat window, which was so hectic that he couldn’t read the careful questions of Matthew and Mok Tae-oh, froze. Ui-jae stopped breathing for a moment. If the Incheon rift is open again, Ui-jae has to go there.

He must go back to that hell and find the things he left behind. He must pay for the sins he committed.

Clank!

Ui-jae blinked. The soju bottle in his hand was shattered. The scruff of his neck has cooled down. He seemed to have been sweating without realizing it. Whoo, when Ui-jae breathed long and raised his head to clear the tiresome system window…

[2] Lee Sa-young : X

Lee Sa-young’s message appeared. Ui-jae blinked slowly.

[11] Shield guy: Excuse me, Mr. J?
[11] Shield guy: hoxy… Can you please chat once?

And even in this situation, Bae Won-woo was consistently tactless.

‘If it were you, would you hit it?’

For some reason, he felt relaxed. His confused mind seemed to sink little by little. Ui-jae, squatting on the floor, decided to borrow the power of AI as a last resort.

“Hi Nexby, find me a way to get out of Hunter’s channel.”

-Searches for how to leave Hunter Channel.

-No results.

Damn it.

“Huh? It’s not working.”

At the haejang-guk house, still crowded with hunters, a hunter snooped around the TV and pressed the remote control button. However, no matter how many times he pressed it, the TV showed no signs of turning on. He scratched his head and called out.

“This is supposed to be a TV, isn’t it broken?”

Ui-jae replied, filling the tray with empty dishes.

“Yes, it is. I looked at it this morning and it’s broken. I’ll call a repairman tomorrow.”

Of course it’s a complete lie. The TV was very fine. It’s because the cord is unplugged.

“I was going to eat while watching the 110-minute debate.”

As the man muttered with regret, the other hunters next to him began to intervene one by one.

“Is that what we’re doing today? Should we send a rescue team or not?”

”Oh, I’d love to see that.”

“We’ll have to look at it on our phones.”

“Can’t we call a repairman now?”

“He won’t be here tonight.”

There were a lot of disappointed voices here and there. But Ui-jae pretended not to hear them all. All to avoid the disaster of watching this week’s ‘110 Minute Debate’ together, which they were so eager to watch.

Today, a week after J’s appearance in the Hunter Rankings, the subtitle of the special live broadcast of ‘110 Minute Debate’ was as follows.

“J’s Return – Incheon Rift, Should Rescuers Be Sent in?

The resurrected party’s opinion was not included in all of this, not even by the bat of an eyelash, so Ui-jae woke up and unplugged the TV. His fists clenched tightly.

‘I’ll never let them see it.’