Chapter 646: Three Rewards (1)

“Kyaaak!”

“It’s a monster wave! Run!”

…It’s been a while, but I had a dream from quite a long time ago.

It was a nightmare I used to have about once a week, before I first awakened my abilities and became a Hunter.

I hadn’t really dreamed this dream since I awakened my abilities and officially started hunting monsters.

In the familiar space I found myself in after so long, my mind naturally recognized the scene before my eyes as a dream.

‘Kkyaaaak!’

-Kugung, Kugung, Kugung!

Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. An amusement park located in what is now called the Abandoned Village.

A monster wave that started from the basement of a factory near that amusement park.

Giant turtle-like monsters with hard, sharp shells on their backs, and all sorts of other miscellaneous freaks that came bursting out with them.

“Run! Hurry, run!”

“Honey! Where’s Hyunwoo?! Our Hyunwoo!”

“Uwaaang! Daaaaad!!”

‘Kkyaaaak!’

…All sorts of varied screams from people all around. And the even louder, massive roars of the monsters.

People running away from monsters, tripping over something or getting their feet tangled with each other. And a horde of Treralodons approaching those people.

And, when my legs froze to the ground in indescribable terror, people were swallowed whole by monsters right before my eyes, one by one…

‘No, no.’

I couldn’t just keep watching this kind of scene forever.

What on earth have I been building up my strength for all this time?

It was to properly respond when a situation like this struck before my eyes someday.

The ten-year-old kid Sung Taekyung, who could do nothing in this dream, is gone.

All that’s left is Sung Taekyung, the twenty-three-year-old S-class Hunter.

-Vwoom.

After swinging the Mithril Greatsword taken from my subspace pocket once through the air, I approached a Treralodon baring its jaws towards the people and thrust it forward.

My Mithril Greatsword, imbued with my energy, severed the giant monster’s neck vertically, top to bottom, and dropped it.

-Kuwung!

That’s one.

Without stopping, I immediately flew to another Treralodon and repeated the same action. Because at this place, right now, I was the only one who could properly handle these guys.

Two, three, four.

It didn’t matter if ten or twenty came rushing. They were all guys who’d be sliced in half the moment they faced my greatsword anyway.

For those my sword couldn’t reach, I threatened them with fire magic or temporarily blocked their movement with plant magic.

To the fleeing people, I cast the Blessing of Swiftness and urged them to leave the scene as quickly as possible.

The annoying minor monsters, not Treralodons, were dealt with using javelins and arrows, and if that wasn’t enough, I threw nearby sharp objects.

I used ice magic to freeze the collapsing giant amusement rides. It was only a temporary measure, but the goal was to buy time for escape anyway.

A monster wave of this scale? With my current self, I could handle it alone.

Every single person in sight, without exception, I could save them all.

The abandoned factory in Area A probably hasn’t become a lake and sunk yet, so if I move quickly, I might even be able to prevent the dungeonization of this area.

With my current self, I had resistance to most poisons using Purification, and even if I got injured, I could just use a healing spell.

Thus, moving freely all over the place alone in the dream, I encountered the Three-Headed Basilisk at the location that would become Area A of the Abandoned Village.

Using my sword, magic, and all other means, I brought the creature to its death.

The Abandoned Village dungeonization incident, which caused hundreds of casualties and tens of thousands of refugees, no longer exists.

Because my current self possessed enough capability to stop a monster wave alone.

‘Yes, because I have this strength.’

This damned nightmare that had tormented me for over ten years.

However, this nightmare I faced after so long was no longer something that could threaten me.

Because the Sung Taekyung remaining in this dream was no longer the powerless child.

The one standing here now was Sung Taekyung, an S-class Hunter from the company.

And that would not change in the future.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“…As expected, it was a dream.”

A few days after enjoying a half-day date with Cheon Jihee.

It felt like I had the old nightmare, which I rarely had since starting my Hunter career in earnest, for the first time in a while.

The incident where the Abandoned Village became a dungeon and my parents lost their lives to Treralodons.

It was a damned nightmare that had tormented me about once a week for over ten years.

“I haven’t really had it since I started my Hunter life…”

It was a dream I hadn’t had in over a year.

Still, the fortunate thing was that today’s dream wasn’t just a nightmare.

Because the me in today’s dream wasn’t the me who always lost my parents helplessly and despaired without being able to do anything, but Sung Taekyung, who could manage the monster wave in the Abandoned Village and prevent its dungeonization.

It was the first time I didn’t have to see people die in that dream.

Not only that, but it was also a dream where I saved everyone with my sword and my own hands.

One could simply say it was a scene witnessed in a dream, but to me, this dream today felt like it held a distinctly different meaning.

The reason I started dreaming of becoming a Hunter, the reason I set the unrealistic goal of creating a world without people dying from monsters, it all began from that nightmare.

Because today, the first time I truly won against that nightmare after becoming a Hunter, I felt like I had definitely grown compared to before.

“…Perhaps it’s because it’s such a day.”

In many ways, today was destined to be an unforgettable, special day for me, so it might be natural to remember a dream buried in the back of my old memories like this.

About a month and a half since the day I defeated the boss monster of the Abandoned Village and liberated the dungeonized area.

Finally, I became an S-class Hunter.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Although I grandly declared becoming an S-class Hunter, nothing drastically changed in my daily life because of it.

In reality, my only sentiment was the vague feeling that the paperwork related to becoming an S-class Hunter had finally been processed.

I had heard from the CEO multiple times starting a month ago that I would rise to S-class, so there was no reason to doubt it. I just continued my Hunter life and my libido-resolving life as usual, and the promotion date to S-class Hunter arrived.

‘Well… rising from A-class to A+ class and rising from A+ class to S-class are issues on a completely different level….’

Unlike A+ class Hunters, whom the guild can promote at its discretion if internal standards set by the guild are met, S-class requires approval from the International Hunter Association.

As Awakeners whose level is tied to national power, and who must even participate in international cooperative operations during emergencies, S-class Hunters are personnel on a global level, not just national.

Since S-class Hunters cannot be granted to just anyone, the selection process becomes ridiculously stringent.

In reality, from S-class onwards, it’s almost equivalent to state certification, but despite being certified, their actual position is somewhat similar to that of a famous celebrity. Except that celebrity possesses the combat power to face an S-class monster one-on-one.

Being an S-class Hunter doesn’t automatically mean belonging to a government guild; most usually remain with their active guild and just change their contract terms.

Furthermore, from S-class onwards, one becomes considerably free from various restrictions, so there are no particular limitations even if one doesn’t belong to a guild or creates a personal guild.

Additionally, there were quite a few conveniences exclusively for S-class Hunters during their Hunter activities. Of course, they were also the first to be summoned in case of a national emergency.

‘Just two months ago, I was barely a B-class Hunter.’

A three-rank promotion at once is astonishing, but a straight jump from B-class to S-class? That was definitely a first in the history of Korean Hunters.

Considering that even CEO Seo Ok-hee took three years to rise from B-class to S-class in her prime, this record will likely remain unbroken forever.

A male Hunter reaching S-class was an unprecedented case not only in Korea but globally, so naturally, the two weeks following the official promotion were busy days in many respects. Though not as hectic as the time I survived the Abandoned Village and first garnered media attention as the first male Awakener Hunter.

Back then, the reasons for the attention on me were numerous, making me incredibly busy with various things; compared to that, things felt relatively calmer now.

My activities as a male Awakener Hunter being broadcasted for the first time, defeating the boss monster of the Abandoned Village that had occupied the land for a long time, and the revelation that I was a male B-class Hunter – I had already gone through quite the ordeal once in the past because of these.

Public opinion had already largely formed, suggesting that it wasn’t that strange for me, the Hunter who killed the Three-Headed Basilisk, to receive S-class.

Of course, there were still people who didn’t properly believe that I was a male Awakener or possessed the skills of an S-class Hunter, so my actions over the past two weeks involved participating in various broadcast activities to prove myself.

‘Saturday Saturday is Hunter! Today, we’ll be with Eun & Ok Co., Ltd.’s A+ class party, the Sky Blue Shield!’

‘Hello~. I’m Kang Hye-eun, the leader of the Sky Blue Shield. And this here is Sung Taekyung, our party’s only male member and next leader~.’

‘Hey, H-Hye-eun. Is this being recorded right now?’

‘It’s not recording, it’s live! Haven’t you ever watched Sat-Sat-Hunter?’

‘You know we don’t have a TV at home…’

Sometimes, we’d be featured on shows like ‘Saturday Saturday is Hunter,’ which broadcast Hunter hunting scenes live, with the Sky Blue Shield.

NationalBubbleSungTaekyung: Male multiple Awakener? He’s a fraud. Must be acting with special effects paid for with money.

└Yeah (211.207): Lololol. The CGI is so obvious it’s ridiculous. Only rookie writers or dickheads wouldn’t recognize it lol

└└Yeah (11.002): I’m a current company Hunter, and it’s real. Sung Taekyung is already famous within the company. On days he comes to work, he almost always does healer activities every evening. The Sky Blue Shield was originally A-class too, but they became A+ class after he joined.

└└Yeah (11.002): Yeah, what the commenter above said is true. I’ve been treated by him too, and he was much more thorough than most female healers. I originally went just for a leg stab wound, but seeing him treat my aching wrist and stiff shoulder too, I was genuinely moved.

└└└NationalBubbleSungTaekyung: ㅋㅋ All you rookie writer bastards talk big, huh? If there’s no proof, then what?

└└└└Yeah (11.002): You idiot, 11.002 is the company IP.

└└└└Yeah (39.7): Looks like you were the rookie writer bastard lol

Besides that, I received a lot of positive effects thanks to the company Hunters voluntarily sharing stories online about my considerable activities as a healer at the company.

To be honest, I didn’t work hard just to make a good impression; I was simply treating various minor injuries to test the effects of my healing spells.

Since I’ve received so much, I suppose I’ll have to continue my healer activities at the company.

And, among the events that quelled various negative opinions, the one that had the greatest effect was Lulusia mentioning me in a broadcast interview.

‘…So, Saintess Lulusia, you participated in purification work with Hunter Sung Taekyung until that morning, and then participated in the Three-Headed Basilisk subjugation battle?’

‘Yeees~! Taekyung is a truly wonderful Hunter~! We haven’t known each other for very long~, but he’s my very best friend~!’

‘Oooh, if the Saintess herself calls Sung Taekyung Hunter her best friend….’

‘Ah, it’s Lulusia, not Saintess….’

Lulusia, due to her special position as a Saintess, often appeared in the media anyway. Coincidentally, perhaps because I had just achieved S-class Hunter status, Lulusia was asked questions related to me even in an official setting.

Thanks to Lulusia specifically mentioning me as her ‘best friend’ there, the controversy surrounding my S-class Hunter qualification subsided quite quickly in many ways.

Most citizens probably thought it was better to embrace the ‘South Korean Hunter Sung Taekyung, recognized by the Saintess’ rather than bothering to refute the words of the Saintess of Vatican City.

Thus, due to various events overlapping, the controversy regarding my S-class qualification surprisingly subsided quite quickly, and thankfully, my daily life regained its former peace within two weeks.

…Well, considering my recognition level changed once more, I can’t say it’s completely the same as before.

‘Hello, Hunter Sung Taekyung!’

‘Ah, hello.’

‘Sung Taekyung Sunbaenim, will you be coming to the treatment room this evening?’

‘Yeah. I probably will. Though I don’t think I can stay for more than about two hours….’

‘Yes! Thank you for letting me know!’

Every time I went to the company, employees and other Hunters alike would recognize me and greet me warmly, or on days I worked in the treatment room, far more Hunters than usual would line up asking for treatment for their injuries.

While there were various positive changes like that, they were truly minor compared to the hardships I faced back when I debuted as the world’s first male Awakener Hunter.

The event that would truly turn my daily life upside down happened a short while after that.