KEG 17

“What about you? Did you undergo a second awakening or something? Don’t you have anything?”

After searching through Gil Sangwook’s memories with the help of Hunter Park Suheon, it was revealed that Hunter Kim Haeseon was the only person who listened to Gil Sangwook and comforted him.

Gil Sangwook had honestly spoken about his negative emotions, such as his inferiority complex, and Hunter Kim Haeseon had always listened attentively. She had also advised him to search online for organizations of people who had been victimized by Hunters.

Through this, Gil Sangwook discovered an anti-Esper group and became tainted by cult ideologies, and his daily life slowly began to crumble.

“So you’re not completely broken yet.”

Hunter Kim Haeseon reached out her hand toward my face.

“I learned two interesting things in this gate.”

My body wouldn’t move, so I just stared at her palm.

“One from Park Suheon, and one from you.”

The thick fingerprints on the inside of her palm squirmed and moved, overlapping and twisting together to create an unusual pattern.

Or is this not real? My vision feels heavy and blurry…

“I’m thinking of putting what I learned from Park Suheon to use.”

Kim Haeseon whispered to me to have a good dream.

And just like that, everything disappeared.

Literally vanished right before my eyes. The fingerprints, Kim Haeseon, and the night view.

“Hey, Ha Seongho.”

I turned my head upon hearing the sound of someone calling me, I found myself wearing a military uniform, back in the day when I had reported an A-class Hunter in the army.

The location had also changed; it was no longer the terrace of a bar, but a materials warehouse behind the parade ground.

“Damn it, it was a total pain to be called around because you snitched me. Do you know that?”

The A-class Hunter had a face different from the one I remembered.

That face was…well…

“Baek Yejun?”

“You dare to call me by my name? Do you want to die?”

Whack!

Then, the A-class hunter with Baek Yejun’s face kicked me in the stomach with his boots, just as I remembered, and brutally stomped on me as I fell.

Even as he stomped on me, his face changed in real-time, from the A-class hunter of that time to the Brigade Commander, then to the operations staff officer. It transformed into the faces of the figures who had tormented me from my memories.

Thump! Pow!

“Did you do wrong or not?”

The hallucination I was seeing now seemed to have the same goal as back then: forcing me to admit I was wrong and squeezing screams out of me until it was satisfied.

“Move….”

Whack!

“What the hell are you saying?! Answer properly!”

The opponent’s voice echoed unrealistically in my head, and his visit our site figure was distorted, appearing even more ferocious and enormous.

Did she show Gil Sangwook this kind of hallucination to break him too?

“Huh? I asked if you did wrong!!”

But I am not Gil Sangwook.

“Get your foot off me.”

Crash–!

I grabbed the attacker’s foot, pulled him down to the ground, and climbed on top of him.

Smack!

“Ugh, ugh?!”

I wouldn’t be afraid even if these people appeared right in front of me.

Violence and humiliation are not things I fear.

Crack!

“Hey, aren’t you going to put your guard up?”

This time, the hallucination wearing face of the officer who used to mock me as ‘Sergeant Crow’ raised his guard, seemingly flustered by my punch.

Perhaps this hallucination was created based on my memories, as it was confused by the difference from my recollection when I counterattacked. As a result, it acted like it was broken, unable to take any action.

It wasn’t that I had gritted my teeth and endured for this moment, but for the first time, I felt that doing so was the right thing to do.

“W-wait…!”

Smack!

“Wait my ass, you bastard. Clench your teeth tight.”

I felt grateful that back then, the Espers had tormented me with only their fists and boots, without using their abilities.

If we had fought hand-to-hand with no abilities involved, I would have won.

Crack!

“This is insubordination! Do you want to go to the brig…!”

Smack!

“I already did, you piece of shit. Because of you.”

Even though it was an hallucination, the more I beat him, the more realistic it felt, blood and bruises appeared.

“How did you know I wanted to beat the crap out of Baek Yejun and prepare something like this?”

“What?”

Smack!

“Shut your mouth. You’re enjoying this.”

The face shifted past Baek Yejun again, this time becoming the Minister of National Defense, and I beat the hallucination like a washerwoman pounding laundry while desperately praying that I would not wake from this sweet dream.

***

Just before entering the gate, I slipped my arm into the harness and asked Baek Yejun a question.

“The formation looks strange. Why is it like this?”

“What is strange?”

Baek Yejun countered my question. I fastened the harness buckle on my chest, fluttering the note he had written for me, and continued speaking.

Personnel Formation Order

1 Hunter: Scout

2 Hunter: Baek Yejun

3 Hunter: Healer

4 Hunter: Choi Gukhwa

5 Filming Team: Ha Seongho

6 Filming Team: Drone Technician

7 Hunter: Kim Haeseon

8 Hunter: Park Suheon

9 Hunter: Dealer

“Why is the healer in third position? Medics are supposed to be priority targets for protection and management.”

“It’s partly because the filming team consists of non-combat personnel, so we positioned you in the middle.”

Without even glancing at Baek Yejun as he answered, I placed one leg on a box of a suitable height, fastened the holster buckle on my thigh, and asked back.

“Is that measly filming more important than combat?”

Baek Yejun answered nonchalantly, without erasing the smile on his face.

“That’s just how it is. Everyone gives up their lives when it comes to filming.”

The site of the gate raid was degenerating from a life-or-death struggle or a noble sacrifice for humanity into a mere show. It was a critical point where vulgar market logic – which had proceeded as if it were a natural progression since massive capital intervened and the Hunter qualification exam was commodified – was overwhelming the value of human life.

Two out of nine people were non-combat filming staff.

If those two spots had been filled with healers, damage dealers, or other operational troops, the survival rate would have increased by at least 1.5 times.

Money is good, but isn’t living better?

“Did everyone agree to this?”

“Ask them when you have time. They accept it as a matter of course, so no one will question it.”

I resolved that once we entered the gate, I would grab someone and ask them to clear up any doubts.

“I get the filming team, but why is the healer in third place? If necessary, fourth or seventh, or even fitting him in between the filming team for fifth or sixth would have been enough.”

“I’m here.”

“What?”

“It’s safer behind me than in the middle. So what’s there to worry about?”

I was so stunned for a moment that my leg, resting on the box, wobbled.

Come to think of it, Baek Yejun was second, the healer third, and behind them was Hunter Choi Gukhwa, a damage dealer.

“Was that your own suggestion? Did you propose placing the healer behind you?”

“No, it was a majority vote. We hold strategy meetings via video conference before the raid.”

I had assumed they just gathered at the gate, signed the roster, and stormed in to defeat the monsters, but I was surprised to find that a much more systematic system existed, requiring pre-registration, strategy meetings, and even tactical briefings.

“Our lives are on the line, so we have to do at least that much.”

Baek Yejun shrugged like he was stating the obvious.

Even though it was a show performed in front of the camera, since lives were on the line, they weren’t supposed to enter without any preparation. To make anything a profession, one had to possess a certain level of professionalism.

“What exactly is on the line?”

“You.”

I fluttered the paper with the formation written on it.

“I see an intention to keep the healer far away from the 9th one.”

A brief silence fell at my answer.

Then, Baek Yejun tilted his head slightly as if he had discovered something interesting.

“Go on~.”

The tone was sweet, and I got goosebumps for a moment. It felt as if something cold had swept over my entire body.

But that was all. I continued what I had to say.

“The 7th one. This person is the most suspicious.”

I placed the paper on top of the box and tightened the loose straps of my harness. Baek Yejun’s gaze quietly shifted between me and the paper.

“If you couldn’t change the filming team’s placement, this is the most suitable spot for a healer, along with the 4th, so it’s strange that he’s occupying it. It’s as if you are trying to keep the 9th and the healer as far apart as possible to prevent her from receiving treatment.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And if this person swayed public opinion during the meeting to place the healer in the 3rd spot, or if she insisted on taking the 7th position, then it’s certain.”

“And that means?”

I bent over to tighten the holster around my thigh and pulled my baseball cap down.

Then I pressed my finger against the seventh name on the paper, Kim Haeseon, and looked up at Baek Yejun.

“This person is probably the biggest asshole here.”

***

“You must have had a good dream.”

When I woke up, the ceiling was familiar yet unfamiliar.

It sounded strange, but this was the only way I could describe this place.

I was lying on a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. When I opened my eyes, I met the gaze of the white-haired man I had been beating up in my hallucinations.

“You looked like a different person when your brows smoothed out.”

“…You look like a different person too.”

After seeing Baek Yejun’s face contort and turn ugly, facing his smooth and composed expression again, made me realize I had returned to reality.

“You must have dreamt of me.”

“Yes. I beat the hell out of you.”

I picked up the phone from the bedside table, fumbled my way into a video streaming site, and typed Baek Yejun into the search bar. It was to see the consequences of the deed I had committed.

“The live stream has ended, but you can still watch the replay, and the video hasn’t been taken down yet.”

“How do I view public opinion?”

“You just need to tap the word ‘Comments,’… no, that’s an ad window~”

I mounted a body cam inside my jacket and recorded everything from the get-together to my conversation with Hunter Kim Haeseon, then live-streamed it to Baek Yejun’s personal channel. It was a consensual act committed with permission from the channel owner right in front of me.