The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low

ppagak!!

Using my god-given fuselage vision to locate the wooden sword, I had a brief moment of deliberation. Should I grab it? No, if I grab it, it’s over.

I rolled my head hoping that my brain would work a little faster. Or should I pretend to be sick? Yeah, this is better! After quickly finishing my judgment, I tilted his body a little and wrapped it around my left shoulder. I didn’t forget to let out a little groan.

“Argh, ouch.”

“…….”

“Oh, and how hurt it is.”

Of course, it didn’t do much good. I sounded perfectly fine to myself, and in my panic, I’d faked the pain a little faster than I’d intended. My eyes narrowed. What kind of wooden sword is that? A ladle of haejang-guk house would be stronger!

Flying in a perfect parabola, the wooden sword landed with a thud among the stacked boxes.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“It hurts…. a lot…”

I tried to make a soulless boast, but it didn’t stop the eerie silence from filling the container.

Choi Seok-yoon alternately looked at a broken wooden sword with a blank face, a wooden doll that stopped as it was, and Ui-jae’s arm around his shoulder. Choi Seok-yoon was about to say something. With a thud, the doll’s right arm fell limply to the floor.

The eerie silence had now gone beyond stillness to loudness. I glanced at the doll’s arm on the floor and gritted my teeth.

‘Don’t you check your supplies, you bureaucrats, you’re really fucking slipping up….?’

I came to my senses after blaming each government for all these unexpected situations. This is no time to blame old dolls and weak wooden swords! I had to settle this unanswered situation quickly. Choi Seok-yoon was slowly coming to his senses.

“Excuse me, Cha… Ui-jae?”

“…Yes.”

“The skill you just used, is it a D-rank?”

Choi Seok-yoon’s face was full of doubts. I calmed myself down and replied.

“Yes, that’s a D-rank skill.”

“But why the doll and the wooden sword were broken…”

“I don’t know…”

His head hung low. Then he rubbed the floor with his worn sneakers and muttered.

“It says it strengthens your body, but I’m not sure what or how it strengthens it….”

I stammered, then rubbed the back of my neck and asked sullenly.

“Excuse me, sir. This doll, I’ll have to compensate you, right?”

“Yes? No, for now….”

“Is this really expensive?”

[Trait poker face (B) is activated]

When I rubbed my shoulder where the wooden sword had struck him, Choi Seok-yoon began to panic.

‘Oh, my. What are you saying to someone who just awakened!’

There is a story that has spread like a joke in the hunter industry. Newly awakened people are very, very, very, very sensitive and must be handled with the delicacy of a bomb!

Of course, it was also well known to the people working at the Awakening Registration Center. Not that it wasn’t true. Because that’s what the instructor training the new officials was shouting at the top of his lungs.

“The newly awakened are very sensitive as they adjust to a suddenly changed environment. You need to be very careful when dealing with them, as small irritations can turn into big problems.”

To summarise, the advice was that new awakeners are just as sensitive and moody as someone who’s been up for 72 hours, and can go round in circles, so don’t mess with them, just soothe them and get them registered.

Fortunately for Ui-jae, Choi Seok-yoon was a new employee. A new employee who still has the special law education for awakeners in his head, emphasizing over and over again, the importance of caring for the general public and new awakeners, was still fresh in his mind!

If he’d had a better eye, he might have noticed that Ui-jae’s eyes looked like they were ready to punch anyone in the face, but unfortunately, the near-brainwashing training he’d received from the Awakening Bureau had put a wedge in Choi Seok-yoon’s eyes. Besides, Ui-jae’s handsome face, even if it was hidden by the hood, added to his credibility.

‘Of course, what does an Awakened who just awoke three days ago know?’

Choi Seok-yoon’s idea leaned toward the need to soothe the new awakened in front of him before he could overcome his emotional ups and downs and caused a bigger accident. He will return to the bureau soon, so he can’t cause trouble. Choi Seok-yoon coughed and picked up the doll’s broken arm.

“That’s all right. This doll is very old. We were going to replace it when we moved to the main building.”

“Oh… Is that so?”

“Yes, you don’t have to worry too much. We’re done with the skill demonstration for now, shall we measure your abilities?”

Choi Seok-yoon smiled gently and pointed to the measuring machine. I smiled back, but inside, I thought that the time had finally come.

‘It’s a mountain beyond the mountain.’

This damn measurement never ends.

Choi Seok-yoon pointed to the foothold.

“If you take off your shoes and go up here, the machine will check the rank and capabilities registered in the system and display them on the monitor. Ui-jae, you just have to stand there. Easy, right?”

“Yes.”

Too easy was the problem. Even if he dropped one rank from his actual rank, Cha Ui-jae’s current rank was A-rank. It’s as far away as heaven and earth from the D-rank he wants.

I quickly looked around. One monitor connected to the machine is placed on the desk. Why don’t we check the results and break it down if it’s not appropriate?

To do so, Choi Seok-yoon had to turn his eyes or or at least get him out of the room. I stopped taking off my shoes and raised my hand.

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Yes, may I help you?”

“My shoulder is a little sore from the blow I just received… Do you think I could have some potion?”

[Trait poker face (B) is activated]

I looked as sullen as I could. It would be a cheap supply potion to give to an awakened who came to register, so it wouldn’t be in his personal inventory, and it would be expensive to give me one of his own… He would have to go to the warehouse after all.

As I expected, Choi Seok-yoon scratched the back of his head while looking around.

“Oh, the potion is in the warehouse right now… I have to go for a while, is that okay?”

“Yes. I’ll do the measuring in the meantime. You said the machine would do it anyway.”

“Would you? Then I’ll be back soon! You can stand according to the shape of your feet. Don’t move too much. If you hear the bell sound from the machine, you can come down and check the result. I’ll be right back!”

As soon as Choi Seok-yoon stepped out of the room, I quickly took off my shoes and climbed onto the footstool. The blue light began to scan the whole body from the feet. After a while, a red alphabet appeared on the monitor with a bell.

[Number 93, Cha Ui-jae’s rank is A]

‘I knew it, you bastard.’

I sighed, recalling Min-ki, who was shouting ‘Fighting!’ I wanted to ask, shaking his collar, if it was really the best to measure today, but I couldn’t imagine that the potion I tested on my body wouldn’t work, so it didn’t mean that I could get an answer.

At this point, I’m going to have to do some minor tinkering with the computer. For proof, I stepped off the foothold and crumpled up my shoes.

Thud!

Suddenly the world rang loudly. After a few seconds of rumbling, the door and container began to rattle and shake, and a typhoon-like wind blew in. And this is in a windowless container!

Unable to overcome the strong wind, the hood that Iwas wearing was taken off. Covering my face with my arms, I took a step back and managed to steady myself.

“Awakened! Are you okay….”

Choi Seok-yoon with a package of potions appeared at the door. His hair was in disarray, perhaps because he managed to get here through the wind. As he checked his condition, my eyes widened at the sight behind him. A blue glowing vortex appeared behind Choi Seok-yoon.

It’s a rift!

I hurriedly reached for Choi Seok-yoon and shouted loudly.

“Hold my hand!”

“What? Huh? Huh? Argh!”

Choi Seok-yoon, who was looking around with a puzzled look, screamed and was sucked into the rift. I clenched my teeth. An unknown cold sweat flowed down the temple. I feel nauseous. I felt like something was going to come up with a lump in my throat.

What will happen if I am sucked into a rift like this. I slowly rose and began to gasp a little at the terrible sight that filled my consciousness.

Hands clinging to life, the unrecognizable corpses of people trampled by monsters, blood so thick you can’t tell where it came from.

And left in the rifts…

“Ah, fuck.”

Blue light washed over my head like a wave. I squeezed my eyes shut.