“We’ve been keeping a close eye on the target for the past week.”
Don’t lie. You just stuck a few cams and went off to work.
“Thanks to our discreet surveillance, we managed to catch a whiff of something.”
You mean you wandered around obviously trying to intimidate them? Didn’t look like you were even trying to collect evidence.
Unaware of what Cha Eui-sung was thinking, Lee Sang-jo continued lowering his voice with practiced ease. It felt exactly like being suckered into a voice phishing scam.
“But as you know, Awakened have highly developed senses—like animals, really.”
That face suddenly thrust into his space felt more revolting than scary. Cha Eui-sung instinctively pulled his head back, visibly uncomfortable, a flicker of unease surfacing in his pale eyes.
“Fortunately, it seems this criminal has grown quite attached to the village. Even has friends their own age, it looks like.”
“Y-Yeah…”
“I don’t think they’ll resist to the point of hurting the villagers, but it does mean there’s a risk they might flee.”
“Y-Yeah… Wait. Friends their age?”
Eui-sung, who’d been half-heartedly responding until now, suddenly widened his eyes. He glanced reflexively to one side, then quickly spoke up.
“Are you talking about Mr. Moon?”
“…Yes.”
“No way. He’s been here longer than I have. And he’s the kids’ teacher! He’s a good guy, really good.”
“Unregistered Awakening and concealment can occur regardless of someone’s profession. Besides, we’ve all heard the saying, right? Even a thief has friends. Even a murderer has family. A person isn’t bad to everyone.”
The shocking analogy left his mouth hanging open. His well-shaped legs momentarily gave out, trembling faintly. Glancing again in the same direction, Cha Eui-sung flinched at his own reaction and quickly turned his gaze back to Lee Sang-jo.
“Especially if the person in question is a teacher, then for the sake of the children, we need to act quickly. I believe you mentioned having a niece?”
The moment Seo-ryong was mentioned, Cha Eui-sung’s lips pressed tightly shut. His strikingly handsome face turned stiff, drained of color—an oddly compelling sight with a touch of bitter poignancy.
“From what I’ve seen, the citizen…”
“…Cha Eui-sung.”
“Yes, Mr. Cha Eui-sung seems to be quite close to him.”
He fidgeted nervously with his hands, but feeling someone’s gaze, he clenched them into fists. Forcing himself to meet Lee Sang-jo’s eyes, he was met with a sympathetic nod, as if the man understood.
After several false starts, Cha Eui-sung finally spoke in a trembling voice.
“…So what exactly is it you want me to do?”
***
“These Bureau bastards… total shitshow.”
Thud. Slamming the door shut, Cha Eui-sung clicked his tongue and flopped onto the couch. Sure, the Bureau couldn’t possibly micromanage every single agent’s misconduct—but still, how the hell was a guy like that walking around unchecked?
Criminal, huh. He’d never heard someone called a criminal before they’d even been arrested, much less convicted. Not even a suspect—just straight-up labeled a criminal. The guy must’ve had some kind of backing to be throwing words like that around without worrying about the consequences. Picking the most intimidating words possible, just to scare a kid stuck out in the countryside.
“Really curious to see how they clean up this mess. Might even learn a thing or two.”
Eui-sung had always taken the long, annoying route to avoid risk. And now he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of envy.
Brrr—Click.
“Oh, Mr. Kim Jeong-baek.”
—What now?
“It’s nothing big. Just think it’d be best if you avoided going out this weekend.”
—Ah. This Bureau shit again, huh. Knew it. Haa, I told you…
“I mean, it’s not like they suspect us, but considering what they do for a living, they’ve got good instincts. And I might’ve pissed them off a little. Just… try not to stand out.”
—Sigh… Think I’m gonna need emotional damages at this rate.
After repeating the same warnings several times and hanging up, he noticed the sun was already sinking fast outside his window. Cha Eui-sung locked the door, sprawled comfortably on the sofa, and turned on the TV.
The idle chatter of a Hunter-themed channel filled the room like background noise. He tore open a bag of popcorn for the first time in a while and tossed some into his mouth.
Crunch, crunch, crunch…
—After the Great Awakening, people thought the era of superhero fantasies had finally ended.
Crunch… fwoosh—crack!
—But ironically, the superhero genre gained even more popularity after the emergence of Hunters.
Rustle, crinkle, crunch—
—Experts say the existence of real Hunters brought fictional heroes into the realm of reality. We’re now living in a world where ordinary citizens can truly become heroes!
Honestly, these PR shows are part of the damn problem.
Once ostracized and feared, Awakened were reborn under the glittering title of “Hunter” and quickly soared in popularity.
A single man with the power to flatten others with one blow—a terrifying presence. And yet, also the only salvation capable of clearing dungeons that threatened the world.
To coexist with these chaotic forces—these necessary evils—the world had endured years of painful trial and error. In the end, obedient Awakened were fitted with collars made of gold and jewels, while those who strayed from the system were slapped with brutal punishments.
That’s how the Unawakened ended up with a neatly packaged version of a “hero.” The same people who had once cowered in fear now yearned to Awaken. Craved it.
But…
SAVE THE WORLD
—Protect the Earth!
Eui-sung scoffed while idly flicking through the system window. Hero, huh? If that’s the case, then what—he’s some god-sent Hero King now?
A random thought struck him. From this supposed “Hero’s” perspective, the world didn’t seem worth saving unless there was a guaranteed reward of wealth or fame. What about the “Demon King”? Would he see it differently?
Crunch!
At the same time, a stark realization flashed through his mind: if he were the Demon King, this trash heap of a world could’ve been wiped out in under a year.
Sure, ideally, he’d live long and happy. But if that wasn’t on the table, then dragging everyone else down with him didn’t sound like such a bad deal.
At least then, he wouldn’t die bitter.
“Hoo…”
A sudden wave of nausea welled up. Great. Here we go again.
Thump. Eui-sung dropped the popcorn bag to the floor and reflexively brought up his status window like a bad habit.
[Cha Eui-sung (S)]
Hero
—Feathered Blade that Pierces the Sky (S)
—Qi Sense (A)
—Charge (F)
—Vigor (F)
An S-rank—the highest grade recognized by the System. The elegant arc of letters made possible by Reawakening brought his spinning vision back into focus.
Cha Eui-sung pressed a hand to his forehead and bit down on his lip, forcing his erratic emotions into submission.
Shit, I haven’t been like this in a while. What the hell triggered it out of nowhere?
His irritation spiked again as his gaze landed on the ugly floral pattern on the wallpaper. Made him even more pissed for no reason.
“Tch!”
Everything was just pissing him off today.
Hoo— He exhaled sharply, sucking in a breath as he finally turned his head back. The flashing TV screen and irritating commentary grounded him in the present again.
Confidence that the past wouldn’t repeat. The illusion of stability.
Within that fragile sense of security, Cha Eui-sung let his body go slack and killed time once more.
***
Starting the next day, Cha Eui-sung didn’t leave his house.
He didn’t meet anyone, and he ignored all calls from unfamiliar numbers until they hung up on their own.
Eventually, after delaying for as long as possible, he finally answered—and of course, it was Lee Sang-jo.
“I get it. You’re just doing your job trying to catch a criminal. But there’s really no evidence or anything. Mr. Moon’s not that kind of person… Huh? A residential investigation…? Of me? Could I maybe get in touch with someone from the Bureau directly?”
To anyone listening, it was a suspiciously evasive response, ending with a parting shot so sharp it sounded like Lee Sang-jo’s blood pressure exploded on the other end. Then the call was cut.
Dragging things out any longer wouldn’t help. The guy would be getting more desperate by now. If the weekend passed and he still hadn’t gotten what he wanted, he’d probably start thinking something had gone seriously wrong.
“Aah, Assemblyman. It’s been a while. Have you been well? I just happened to come across some interesting information… Yes, about the Bureau…”
Now that he’d laid down the groundwork for damage control, there was nothing left to be afraid of.
He finally stood up late Sunday night, before the new week began.
Alright. The slippery little eel decided not to listen.
Wearing a simple outfit, Cha Eui-sung wandered through the neighborhood before heading toward a secluded lot—the same spot where Lee Sang-jo had planted his hidden cams.
Thud. Thud!
In the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep, the sound of digging echoed through the deserted space. Scraping with a flat stone for some time, he finally carved out a shallow hole, about a hand’s width deep.
That should be enough. He’d stalled plenty, and what he was doing looked suspicious as hell. After pricking up his ears to scan the area for any movement, Cha Eui-sung tossed the stone aside.
Then, just as he nervously reached into his pocket to pull something out—
“Out for a stroll?”
A casual, greasy voice, and then—bam—someone seized him by the back of the neck and slammed him down.
The long-awaited arrival of Lee Sang-jo.
“Ghk!”
With his face slammed into the dirt, Cha Eui-sung thrashed weakly on the ground. But there was no way a civilian could break free from a Hunter’s iron grip.
So startled he couldn’t even scream, he tried desperately to get a knee under himself, but that only made it more amusing. Laughter bubbled from behind him—low, amused, and grating.
“Phew. Been waiting to see when you’d come out. Even fed you the info myself, but you just tucked yourself into your little shell like a hermit crab and hid, spamming me with phone calls.”
His grumbling was pitched unnaturally low—so much that he barely even sounded like Lee Sang-jo. Had he been using a fake voice this whole time? Or was this one the fake meant to intimidate him?
“W-What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Cha Eui-sung struggled a few more times before giving up and rasped the question, coughing.
But instead of an answer, mocking laughter grew louder behind him—and then, unpleasantly warm breath ghosted right up to his neck.
Goosebumps erupted across his skin. In a chilling whisper by his ear, Lee Sang-jo said:
“Eui-sung, that’s not the question you should be asking. You’re supposed to say Who are you? first. I haven’t even shown you my face yet.”
