Chapter 302

More than thirty minutes had passed since the rescue team was deployed.

Hunters from other Guilds who had been assigned to guard the perimeter against any unforeseen incident had already drawn their weapons, while broadcast crews reported on the situation with microphones and cameras.

The commotion was not limited to the ground.

Dozens of combat helicopters circled overhead, and countless camera-equipped drones roamed the sky, broadcasting the entire scene across Korea.

“What are you watching so intently?”

“A live news broadcast.”

“News? You barely even watch variety shows. What got into you? Did something happen?”

“Do you carry your phone around as a decoration? It’s been over two hours since all hell broke loose over that Named Monster, asshole. Try checking the internet once in a while.”

“Holy shit. ‘Named Monster Appears… Jin Taekyung Presumed Dead.’ Is this for real?”

“I don’t know. I can’t hear, so stop talking to me.”

At home, at school, at work, and even aboard crowded public transportation during rush hour, everyone was staring at a television or the phone in their hand.

The live stream on HunterTV’s iTube channel had passed one hundred thousand concurrent viewers long ago.

└ Did Lord Fuck¹ really die?

└ Don’t say shit like that.

└ I’m not trying to be pessimistic. Honestly, at this point, his chances of survival are slim. The golden window for a rescue operation is fifteen minutes, and there hasn’t been a word for over an hour. On top of that, they’re dealing with a Named Monster.

└ Still, that rescue force was no joke. I’ve never seen so many A-rank Hunters gathered in one place.

└ That’s my point—what are they rescuing? You don’t rescue a corpse. You recover it. No wonder the Peace Guild Team Leader was screaming that they were fucking bastards earlier. Safety matters, sure, but saving the person should come first.

└ Facts: Lord Fuck¹ is already considered almost certainly dead. The deployed Hunters appear to be focused on raiding the Named Monster rather than rescuing him. Since there’s been no word from the rescue team either, we can’t rule out that the battle has already begun—or that they’ve been wiped out.

└ What? Wiped out? What happens if they get wiped out too?

└ What do you mean, what happens? The Named Monster goes on a foodie tour. It’ll probably start by eating the people waiting outside as appetizers. The surrounding area is already under an emergency evacuation order.

└ Fuck, I’ve got such a thick layer of fat I wouldn’t even taste good. Can’t we just cook it some ramen instead? ;

└ Are you another fucking idiot? You think it’ll go back into the Gate just because it’s full?

└ Guys, for a Named Monster like that, what’s its people max?

└ What the hell does “people max” mean?

└ The maximum number of people it can take.

└ Another idiot has joined the chat.

└ Do the assholes cracking jokes right now have nothing but udon noodles for brains? Have you thought about what’ll happen if monsters come out instead of people the next time the Gate opens?

As one commenter had bluntly pointed out, the situation was more serious than it seemed.

The Hunters deployed there possessed overwhelming strength, but their opponent was a Named Monster.

If it possessed power beyond anything they could imagine, the result would be catastrophic.

There had been cases where a single powerful Named Monster caused tens of thousands of casualties and destroyed an entire city.

As time passed, tension began to spread through the chat as well.

└ There really hasn’t been any news. Someone should’ve come out by now.

└ Aren’t rescue operations normally like this?

└ Nope. Communication devices don’t work inside Gates, so normally someone has to come out every thirty minutes and report that they’re still alive.

└ Then why hasn’t anyone come out? They said the battle site was just a stone’s throw from the Gate.

└ Are they fighting the Named Monster? Shouldn’t they deploy Central Plains forces?

Just then, the broadcast caught the Gate’s magic field rippling like a wave.

At the same time, the chat that had been consumed by heated arguments began scrolling upward at a maddening speed.

└ They’re coming out!!!

└ The magic field just moveddddd!

└ Go go go go go go go!

└ Please let it be people.

└ I want to see Lord Fuck¹. I hope he’s alive.

On the internet, on television, and at the scene itself, countless people—roughly half the population of Korea—watched the change taking place at the Gate.

Then, in the next moment—

Whoooosh!

The swirling magic field of the Gate began vomiting out several objects.

Human arms and legs. Clad in gleaming armor and armed with weapons, they marched out in neat ranks.

They were not monsters, but the Hunters who had entered earlier.

“Woooooah!”

The explosive cheer from the crowd startled the middle-aged man in a suit at the head of the group.

But he soon broke into a broad smile, his double chin folding as he waved.

“Yes! I’ve returned, everyone! We’re all safe!”

└ I’ve been wondering for a while—who’s that guy?

└ Lee Woojoong. It’s written “Seoul Branch President,” but you pronounce it “idiot.” Everyone already knows he’s incompetent.

└ Why is that asshole Lee Woojoong grandstanding?

└ The guy went in on a rescue operation and he’s the only one wearing a suit, lmao.

└ Lee Woojoong, man boobs, whatever—quit blocking the screen and move.

Criticism flooded the chat.

The cameras mounted on the drones avoided Lee Woojoong and filmed the Hunters emerging behind him.

First came the government-affiliated Hunters from the Association, which had led the operation. Then the cameras captured the Ares Guild members walking out with grim expressions.

They were carrying a stretcher covered with a large sheet. As it swayed with each step, one blood-soaked hand slipped out from beneath the cloth.

Pop-pop-pop! Click, click!

Camera flashes burst from every direction. A wave of mourning spread through the people watching.

└ Ah… I was hoping it wouldn’t end like this.

└ Jin Taekyung really did die.

└ May he rest in peace.

└ May he rest in peace. I hope he finds peace in heaven.

Just as everyone was swept up in grief, a voice rang out.

“Whoa. Why are there so many?”

“……!”

The news anchor solemnly reporting Jin Taekyung’s death, the photographers hammering their shutters, and even the chat being flooded with messages wishing the deceased peace—

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared wide-eyed at one person.

“Wow, look at all these cameras. By the way, is it really okay to broadcast something like this live?”

The young man looked around in fascination.

There was no one who did not know the name of the man wearing simple leather armor with a spear strapped to his back.

└ …Isn’t that Jin Taekyung?

└ Huh?

└ ?????

└ Why is hyung² coming out of there…?

└ Am I the only one seeing a ghost?

As everyone floundered in a pit of confusion, one field reporter was the first to recover. He thrust a microphone toward Jin Taekyung.

“A-are you Jin Taekyung?”

“No, this is Patrick.”

“What?”

“I’m kidding. It’s me.”

This asshole was making jokes? On live television?

Reeling from the completely unexpected dumb joke, the reporter pulled himself together and asked another question.

“So you weren’t dead.”

“Seeing as I’m doing this interview here, it looks like I didn’t.”

“Then who was the person on the stretcher that came out earlier?”

“Oh, him.”

Jin Taekyung scratched his neck before answering.

“Well, how should I put it… He’s a Hunter who was injured while fighting bravely. His injuries aren’t that serious, so he’ll recover soon.”

“Then where is the Named Monster?”

“The Named Monster? There isn’t one.”

“What? Are you saying there was never a Named Monster in the first place?”

“No, there was.”

Jin Taekyung calmly added,

“Now there isn’t.”

It was the moment a legend was born.

“There’s something I’d like to ask…”

Team Leader Choi suddenly looked up from the newspaper covered in squiggly foreign writing.

“Why exactly are you in my office, Mr. Jin Taekyung?”

“Why? Am I not allowed to drop by?”

“I’m asking because you come here more often than I do, and I’m the owner.”

“Come on, these things happen. I only stopped in for a minute to see you.”

“The door was locked.”

“It was open.”

“You broke the lock.”

“Really? How strange.”

“I’m asking just in case—really, just in case…”

Team Leader Choi removed his glasses and asked calmly,

“Do you come here because of the seventeenth-century-style Russian imperial sofa made by the Russian furniture master Sorkovache?”

Sprawled across the sofa, I answered,

“Absolutely not.”

“Do you realize that saying that while lying there makes you rather unconvincing?”

“Nope. Ah, this is comfortable.”

The price tag was uncomfortable, but once I lay back on it, I could not tear myself away.

As befitted a chaebol³—no, a third-generation hero—Team Leader Choi’s office was packed with things like this.

A state-of-the-art hologram TV with incredible picture quality was one of them.

“The next video we’d like to show you is the sensational clip that’s set the past week on fire. Johnson, have you seen it?”

On the screen, a Black man nodded in response to a question from a long-nosed white man. Looking at him, I could not help wondering why his name was Johnson.

“Of course, Conan. I’ve already memorized every line.”

“What line?”

“You know, the last thing he said.”

It was a popular American talk show, famous enough that even I had heard of it.

The co-host, Johnson, spoke with a solemn expression.

“It wath there. Now it’th gone.”

“Ha-ha! That was exactly the same!”

“…….”

Exactly the same, my ass. Does he have actual snails in his ears instead of cochleae?

I shook my head and turned off the TV.

They were bound to play that interview again as stock footage, so turning it off now was the wise choice.

“Your popularity shows no sign of fading.”

“I know. I said it without thinking. I had no idea it would become this big.”

“I’m afraid I see it differently.”

Team Leader Choi had already whipped up a cup of coffee. He sat down across from me and continued.

“It wasn’t the words that became a hot topic. It was the man who said them. You hunted two Named Monsters, and you did it alone. Of course the entire world is paying attention.”

A week had already passed, but the impact of that day had not faded. If anything, the flames were raging hotter than ever.

My official interview video on iTube passed two hundred million views within twenty-four hours, shattering the record previously held by an idol singer. Edited clips and all kinds of memes poured in from every corner of the world.

And on top of that…

“We’ve received another interview request from the American broadcaster CNM.”

“Another one?”

“I already told you that BCC in the United Kingdom made an offer. They want to invite you as a special guest and said they can give you up to twenty minutes for a live interview.”

“How special. Seriously.”

Interview requests were pouring in from the flagship broadcasters of major countries anyone would recognize by name.

Of course, I had not accepted a single one. By now, merely hearing about them made my head throb.

“Are you still considering it?”

“Yes. If it’ll help the Peace Guild grow, I should do everything I can, but…”

I lowered my voice until only Team Leader Choi could hear me.

“It’s all a lie.”

That was right. This was the most important part.

None of what surrounded me was actually true.

Team Leader Choi spoke with a tense expression.

“That… Did you bring it again today?”

“Of course.”

With the solemn expression of a priest performing a ritual to summon a god, I chanted the incantation.

“Come forth, Warlordmon!”

Inventory. Summon.

At the command I uttered in my mind, a glossy black skull appeared on my palm, making a tremendous racket.

“Who are you calling Warlordmon?! I am the master of the Black Forest and the commander of the great Army of the Dead! I’m a Skeleton Warlord!”

“Warlordmon, forward roll!”

“You insane human!”

“Warlordmon, Quick Attack!”

Papapapapat!

Team Leader Choi watched me clutch the Warlord’s skull and shake it at insane speed. Then he muttered as though he had attained enlightenment.

“Why on earth did you capture that thing and bring it back…?”