Chapter 12: This is the real hunter, you are fake

Having received the sword from the blacksmith, I left the outpost for the Hunter qualification test Dante had proposed.

My destination was to the west, a place I had passed through when first coming to the outpost.

‘The Border Forest, he called it.’

I heard that because resources were abundant, the forest housed a diverse ecosystem.

Of course, the source of this information was Reina.

And currently.

She was still staying at the outpost.

At first, she had strongly insisted on following me.

“If you follow me, you’ll just be a hindrance.”

Momentarily speechless, she swallowed her words like a sigh and then nodded as if she had no choice.

‘Actually, this is just an excuse.’

I had originally considered using her as a monster spawner, but I decided to move alone because I felt I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy the battle if she was around.

After a moment of contemplation, she took out a container filled with insects from her pocket and handed it to me.

“This is a Pathfinding Bug. If you show it a trace of the monster you’re looking for, it will guide you. And be careful, hunting monsters without a special reason is illegal.”

At the time, I nodded in understanding at her words, but now-

“Sigh…”

I couldn’t suppress the sigh that welled up from a corner of my heart.

-Why is the streamer sighing?

-Is it because Ppatppat-i 2 isn’t here?

-Ayy hahaha

“No, it’s not that at all.”

-So f*cking firm hahaha

-Ppatppat-i 2 is crying now hahaha

-Walking through the forest is a bit uncomfortable, though.

As the viewers reacted to the sigh that escaped me while navigating the forest, I ended up revealing my inner thoughts.

“Why can’t we just kill monsters indiscriminately? Shouldn’t we just catch everything we see?”

-?

-??

-Huh?

-Wait, you sighed because of that? Hahahaha

-Well, according to the world’s lore, it’s for ecosystem preservation.

“Sigh… why do such useless things…”

-Hahahahahahaha

-Hahahaha I’m seeing this person for the first time today, are they always this much of a battle maniac? Why do they only think about smashing everything?

-Dunno

-It’s her second day streaming, so we don’t know either.

-It’s to stop people like you from hunting indiscriminately, hahaha.

It was a rule I couldn’t understand, having hunted every monster in sight in my previous world.

To not even be able to fight freely.

Then, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

Reina had definitely said this.

Hunting is impossible without a special reason.

Doesn’t that mean if there is a special reason, hunting is allowed?

When I shared this genius idea with the viewers, only dumbfounded reactions came back.

-No, that’s not what it means hahaha

-This is absurd hahaha

How could they not understand this.

I couldn’t help but shake my head at the viewers’ denseness.

[King of Clubs has donated 1,000 won.]
[That’s actually a meaningless statement.]

“Meaningless, you say?”

[King of Clubs has donated 1,000 won.]
[Just like you said, streamer, you can just catch them and say there was a special reason. If it’s possible, of course hahaha.]

-That’s true hahaha

-Ahem, any more than that is leaking heavenly secrets.

-As long as you can catch it, it doesn’t matter hahaha.

The viewers’ reactions were strange.

A feeling like they were hiding something.

“If it’s possible? What does that mean?”

[King of Clubs has donated 1,000 won.]
[It’s a bit long to explain, but if I must…]

“Ah, so that’s what it was?”

After hearing the viewer’s explanation, I nodded as if I understood.

To summarize the explanation roughly—

The condition ‘No hunting without a special reason’ was just an in-game setting that had existed for a long time.

A device created by the developers to deliver a deeper and richer story to the users.

However, this setting began to change its meaning slightly with the commercialization of virtual reality.

It started to be used as an ‘excuse’ for players to protect themselves.

To understand the background, one must first look at when the Wilds Hunter series was first introduced to virtual reality.

Unlike the old days of clicking a mouse to play games on a computer, now that players actually had to move their bodies to catch monsters, the difficulty level skyrocketed.

The game, which was already difficult, had now become unbelievably hard.

Thanks to this, players caught up in old memories, who went around hitting any monster they saw, ended up getting beaten up by the monsters instead.

Eventually, players reached a point where they avoided monsters altogether.

Because they couldn’t win!

Thus, most players moved towards hiding as much as possible and hunting only designated target monsters.

And.

Around that time, a one-line post that perfectly justified the reality they were experiencing appeared in the gallery.

[—— Wilds Hunter Gallery ——]

Title) You think I’m scared of monsters and avoiding them?

No? I was just following the ecosystem protection law designated by the Guild. I’m definitely not scared.

I am a model citizen.

---

Everyone who saw that post cheered.

The author began to be called ‘The First to Awaken,’ ‘The Prophet of the Blind’ among the gallery users.

-Ah, I have opened my eyes, O Prophet.

-(OpenedMyEyesCon)

-Eyesight restored.

-Thank you for awakening my ignorant self.

-I must worship!!

-(Meme of pointing to a knightly order’s crest with a finger, captioned “I was just following Guild law”)

-Bros… this is the law. From now on, it’s just ’cause of the Guild that we can’t hunt them T_T

And after that day.

The phrase ‘got scared’ disappeared, and only ‘I had no choice because of the Guild law’ remained.

But that.

“In the end, it means you were scared, right?”

-Kuaaaah!!!

-Don’t tell me the truth!!!!

-I was just following the Guild law!!

-Take that back…!!

-Hiss hiss

-(AngryCon)

-Ahem, scared? We were merely following the Guild’s regulations.

-Regulations, regulations.

Leaving the chat window, which was agitated like vampires exposed to sunlight,

I subtly finished organizing my thoughts.

“Anyway, as long as I can catch them, it doesn’t matter, right?”

-Yup

-That’s right.

“Then I’ll catch every single one I see.”

-Dude, don’t cross that river.

Having reached a conclusion, I continued to follow the Pathfinding Bug-

Crash!

Cra-bash!!

“Hyaaaa…”

I ‘normalized’ every monster in sight.

Unfortunately, only Domagirius, monsters I had already caught, appeared,

but I decided to be satisfied with the feel of using the new greatsword.

“This is a real hunter. You all are fakes.”

-Hunter normalization is Haerang’s job.

-You have violated the Guild’s regulations!!

-Lawbreaker, sh*thead.

-I’m gonna tell Ppatppat-i 2 everything!!

“Try it if you can. If you’re capable, of course.”

-Kyaaaah!!

-I’m going to turn to the dark side!!

While I was teasing the seething viewers.

A clear sound chimed, and the Pathfinding Bug stopped.

The bugs were spinning in circles in front of a large tree, perhaps having reached the destination.

The Kukridyaa should be around here.

But there were only traces of uprooted trees nearby; the creature itself was nowhere to be seen.

“It says it’s here, but I don’t see it.”

-Is the Pathfinding Bug broken?

-Usually, hitting it fixes it, let’s try hitting it!

Just then, a faint sound brushed past my ear.

The source was directly above.

I drew the greatsword from my back and jumped backward simultaneously.

At that moment, something massive slammed down where I had just been.

Dust obscured my vision.

And within it, something slowly rose.

As the wind blew and the dust cleared—

“Kieeeeeeeeek!!”

The Kukridyaa, resembling a chicken just as Reina had shown, shrieked and revealed itself.

Feathers with a bright yellow base and slightly red tips.

A large beak, and in its hand, a massive tree, as if declaring itself the culprit who uprooted it.

The creature, with its dark eyes, tilted its head like a chicken and stared at me.

“Quite a flashy entrance.”

-Wow, I was distracted and got super startled.

-That scared me.

-But how did you dodge that?

-IKR hahaha

Resting the greatsword on my shoulder, I continued to look at the creature and kindly answered the viewer’s question.

“I heard a sound.”

-You heard it?

-I didn’t hear anything.

-I heard it faintly.

-No lies.

“It’d be strange not to hear something that big flying at you.”

-That’s true hahaha

[Capybara has requested a 100,000 mission.]
[Clear Kukridyaa without taking a single hit. Since you called yourself a real hunter, this should be easy, right?]
[Time remaining: 59:58]

-Hahahahaha The final blow to the lawbreaker!

-The punishment for not following the Guild’s law!! Take it squarely!!

-Kukridyaa-hyung!! I’m counting on you.

-Hahaha I should set a mission too.

The mission prize money increased in an instant.

Seeing the mission prize reach one million won, I smiled softly.

“There are many donors today. The mission money you’ve all contributed will be used for my personal gain.”

As soon as my words ended, the Kukridyaa charged.

The creature swung the tree in its hand horizontally.

I ducked, bringing my upper body almost to the ground, and simultaneously placed the greatsword against my back, letting the tree brush past me harmlessly.

Whooosh!

As the sound of the wind splitting behind me was heard, I slightly twisted my wrist.

The greatsword shifted slightly in response—

Thwack!

With the sound of something embedding, my body moved in an instant.

The scenery rushed past accordingly.

I had used the snap of my wrist to catch one of the scales on the greatsword onto the tree.

Having already shifted my body’s center of gravity in the direction the tree was moving, I could move along with the tree’s swing without any significant impact.

As I disappeared from its sight along with the tree, the creature tilted its head in confusion.

In that gap, I dislodged the caught scale by moving my wrist and lightly landed on the tree the creature was holding.

“Kieek?”

Was it because it noticed the change in the tree’s weight?

The creature’s gaze quickly turned to the tree, but.

By then, I had already rotated my body and swung the greatsword.

CRASH!!!

“Kyaaaaaaak!!”

As if it received a huge shock, the creature’s head snapped in the direction I had swung.

It began to scream in pain.

Letting my body follow the inertia, I timed my rotation with the moment its head swung back and swung the greatsword again.

KWAAANG!!

A sound louder than before echoed through the forest.

Stumble, stumble.

The creature, which looked to weigh at least several hundred kilograms, swayed on its feet.

Thud.

Leaving the creature staggering in a groggy state, I landed on the ground and glanced at the chat window.

The chat window, which had been scrolling non-stop until just before I started fighting.

The firepower of the chat, which seemed like it would never die down, had paused the moment I began to fight.

And then.

-Hahahahahahaha

-F*ck, what did I just see? Hahahahaha

-How do you move like you’re using an omni-directional mobility gear while wielding a greatsword? Hahahaha

-Hahahahaha

-I’m quitting greatswords Hahahaha

-What? Be careful of one hunter?

-Who normalizes monsters? Haerang!!

-This is truly legendary hahaha

It started to explode with messages.

[King of Clubs has donated 10,000 won.]
[From this moment on, Haerang is the King of Greatswords!! Sign here!!]