Episode 3
Today was the anniversary of Cheon Ubin’s death.
Twenty-five years ago, the South Korean government had designated a public holiday to commemorate his death, and memorial events were held every year.
As time passed, many had now forgotten Cheon Ubin’s existence, but there were still many who remembered and missed him.
“Today marks the 25th anniversary of Cheon Ubin’s death. Cheon Ubin, called humanity’s hero, conquered a staggering 101 Nests and was known as the greatest hunter of his time….”
The news talked about Cheon Ubin, and videos about him were uploaded on online video platforms.
The view counts on these videos were all high.
They were the type commonly called nationalistic hype videos.
Park Hyeonseo, who worked as an active hunter, scoffed as she watched them.
“This is just absurd.”
These days, the older folks were the problem.
They lived immersed in nationalistic hype videos that didn’t fact-check at all and only spouted nonsense.
The times had changed, yet they were still living in the past.
Park Hyeonseo hated all these nationalistic hype videos, but if she had to pick the worst, it was undoubtedly the ones about Cheon Ubin.
“What’s so great about a regular hunter who didn’t even contract with a Constellation?”
There was actually a reason Park Hyeonseo harbored such ill will toward Cheon Ubin.
It was none other than her father, Park Hyeontae.
It was said that Park Hyeontae had made quite a name for himself as a first-generation hunter.
Though that was according to his own claims.
Anyway, what mattered was that Park Hyeontae was an extreme Cheon Ubin fanatic.
“Hyeonseo. You know how great Hunter Cheon Ubin is, right? Youngsters these days should learn from Hunter Cheon Ubin.”
She could understand praising him to some extent.
By the standards of his time, Cheon Ubin had been a great hunter, and her father had supposedly owed his life to Cheon Ubin several times.
How grateful must one be to a lifesaver?
But even so, there were limits.
“Hyeonseo. Back when I was active, the US President would prostrate himself at a single word from Hunter Cheon Ubin. Don’t lie? I’m telling you it’s true!”
“Hyeonseo. Look at what those Apostle bastards are doing these days. Hiding deep in their territories! If they do that, who’s going to raid the Nests?”
“Hoo, if Hunter Cheon Ubin were here, the world wouldn’t have become such a spectacle!”
Every time he opened his mouth, it was Cheon Ubin, Cheon Ubin, Cheon Ubin!
Nowadays, just hearing the syllable “Cheon” in Cheon Ubin’s name was enough to make her sick.
Because today was Cheon Ubin’s death anniversary, Park Hyeontae’s praise was even more effusive than usual.
Naturally, Park Hyeonseo’s irritation had risen along with it.
‘Dad just doesn’t understand anything!’
Even after leaving the house, her mood didn’t improve.
She went onto “Monster Hunter,” a hunter community she frequently used.
As expected.
The community was ablaze with topics about Cheon Ubin.
-Today too, the boomer squad started hyping up Cheon Ubin again. So cringe lol
└For real, their assholes must be loose. What’s there to praise about some outdated hunter?
└Look at Cheon Ubin’s achievements. For fuck’s sake, shut your mouths and pay your respects on a day like this.
└Yeah~ Cheon Ubin would get 5-second-ko’d by an Apostle~ The stats show hunters these days are 1.5 times stronger than in Cheon Ubin’s time, and Apostle levels have risen over 3 times~
└This is right. The level between back then and now is different. It’s true his achievements were great, but it’s disgusting how people hype him up saying he’s still the strongest.
They were debating over Cheon Ubin, but those with opinions similar to hers were generally dominant.
-Hunters are stronger these days because there are more Contractors, but regular hunters who haven’t contracted are the same now as they were back then
└Exactly. Without a contract, there’s a limit to how strong you can get. That’s just a fact. Even if Cheon Ubin was strong, the limits of a regular hunter are clear.
Park Hyeonseo nodded with a faint smile after reading the posts for a while.
Seeing people who thought like her put her mind at ease.
‘See? If you just look a little, you can tell what’s true.’
In the end, Cheon Ubin was that kind of existence.
A deified figure.
A memory upgrade for the old-timers.
Cheon Ubin had been great, but not to the level of deification that his fanatics clamored about.
In reality, the only country left in the world that remembered and commemorated Cheon Ubin was South Korea.
And even that was limited to old people.
To modern people, Cheon Ubin was just one of many people in textbooks who had given them a day off.
“When did it get this late? I need to hurry!”
Park Hyeonseo checked the time and quickened her pace.
Today was the day for a meeting and preliminary scouting for an upcoming hunt.
She had accumulated enough experience as a hunter to become a team leader who led her own team, but a higher rank didn’t mean she could be late to appointments.
“We were supposed to meet around here.”
As she looked around at her smartphone, she heard a commotion.
“Run!”
“Kyaaaa!”
People were fleeing with terrified expressions.
Feeling that something was wrong, Park Hyeonseo’s eyes gleamed.
‘It’s not a monster. Hunter crime?’
Her deduction was natural.
This was the territory of the Constellation ‘Dangun Wanggeom.’
A Constellation’s territory was a kind of safe zone.
A land where rifts didn’t occur and monsters were reluctant to approach.
So this commotion was most likely a fight or crime between hunters.
‘Whatever it is, I have to help!’
Park Hyeonseo quickly ran toward the source of the commotion.
Mid-run, her hand naturally moved to her waist.
Shhhhing-
With a cold sound, her sword was drawn.
The sharp blade glinted as it reflected the sunlight.
‘There.’
She finally arrived at the source of the commotion.
An utterly unexpected sight unfolded before her.
“Benatorox!?”
Benatorox, a level 4 danger monster.
It was very difficult to hunt due to its intelligence and its trait as a flying monster.
‘Why is a monster in a Constellation’s territory!?’
She was bewildered by the unexpected situation, but only for a moment.
Keeaaack-!
Benatorox shrieked and began charging.
Though a flying monster, its speed on the ground was on par with any fierce beast.
It hadn’t been assigned a high danger level of 4 for nothing.
‘My luck is total shit today!’
That wasn’t something she could hunt alone.
Park Hyeonseo was a high-grade Saint.
In other words, a hunter who had contracted with a Constellation, but her Constellation, Gwak Jaeu, wasn’t very strong.
A bottom-tier Constellation who lacked the strength to even have his own territory.
No matter how high-grade a Saint she was, at her level, a level 3 danger monster was too much.
Against a level 4, she might not even be able to hold out.
But she had no intention of running.
‘I’ll hold out somehow!’
If she held out a little longer, other hunters would come.
Here, she had no choice but to hold out, come what may.
The moment Park Hyeonseo made that resolution.
“What the hell is wrong with this birdbrain!?”
Thwack-!
A blunt, satisfying impact rang out from the back of Benatorox’s head.
The charging creature fell flat on the ground and slid to a stop right at Park Hyeonseo’s feet.
“...?”
Park Hyeonseo stood there with her mouth open, only blinking.
A man appeared on top of the fallen Benatorox.
His face full of displeasure, the man shouted.
“I’m trying to get to Seoul, but this bastard keeps going back!”
***
The man brimming with dissatisfaction, Cheon Ubin, repeatedly kicked Benatorox in the side.
“Why won’t you listen!?”
“Keeeek! Keek!”
“Shut up! Who said you could talk back!?”
“Keeeek!”
“Just die.”
“Keeeeeeek!”
After several more punches, Benatorox’s eyes rolled back.
It was dead.
Park Hyeonseo could not comprehend the scene unfolding before her eyes.
‘What in the world is going on...?’
A level 4 danger monster had appeared in a Constellation’s territory.
Then a beggar in bizarre clothes showed up and beat it to death with his fists.
It was the kind of story you’d be called crazy for telling anywhere.
With such an absurd story actually happening before her eyes, she didn’t know how to react.
It was then that the man spoke to her.
“Hello.”
“Ah, hello...”
Park Hyeonseo nodded cautiously.
“Korean?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a relief. I guess Korea hasn’t fallen yet.”
Cheon Ubin looked Park Hyeonseo up and down, then focused on the sword in her hand.
“Are you a hunter?”
“Yes!”
“You know I just saved your life, right?”
“Excuse me? Yes! Thank you!”
“Then treat me to a meal.”
In truth, the monster threatening Park Hyeonseo was one Cheon Ubin had brought himself, but what did that matter?
Cheon Ubin was hungry, and he needed money to fill his stomach.
Park Hyeonseo, unaware of the circumstances, nodded reluctantly.
At her reaction, Cheon Ubin grinned.
“To the nearest gukbap restaurant!”
***
The man was shoving his face into a bowl of gukbap.
She had been too flustered to even ask his name.
Park Hyeonseo stared at the man before her.
‘What on earth is this guy?’
The man was strange in many ways.
Clothes roughly stitched together from unidentifiable leather.
His hair was an unkempt mess.
He looked no different from a caveman in a textbook.
However, his shabby appearance couldn’t hide his looks; with some grooming, he would be a handsome man rivaling celebrities.
Park Hyeonseo, who had been absentmindedly studying his face, quickly shook her head.
‘I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s definitely an incredibly powerful individual.’
Whatever his identity, one thing was clear: he possessed tremendous strength.
A level 4 danger monster, Benatorox.
There weren’t many people who could toy with such a monster.
‘An Apostle? Or a high-grade Saint of some famous Constellation?’
Just as Park Hyeonseo fell into thought.
The man raised his hand.
“Boss! One more special dwaeji-gukbap here!”
Park Hyeonseo lowered her head and let out a small sigh.
‘Maybe he’s just a gukbap beggar after all...’
It was already his eighth bowl.
Seeing him devour the food like someone who had starved for ten days, he was no different from a glutton—Apostle or not.
“Huuaah! *Slurp slurp!* Now this is gukbap! A knockoff really can’t compare to the real thing!”
“...Aren’t you full?”
“Not yet. Let’s fill up to ten bowls first, then go eat something else.”
“...Yes.”
Park Hyeonseo clenched her fist.
‘He’s definitely a beggar!’
Hunters ate more than ordinary people.
Usually two or three times as much, sometimes over five times.
So eight bowls of gukbap weren’t an impossible amount.
But...
‘This is a hunter gukbap restaurant! The portions are twice as big—how is he finishing them!?’
The gukbap here was twice the size of regular portions, and he had ordered the ‘special,’ making it 1.5 times larger still.
In other words, his eight bowls were equivalent to twenty-four regular bowls.
Even hunters known for their huge appetites would throw in the towel at this point, yet the man showed no signs of slowing.
Unless he had a black hole in his stomach, how was this possible?
She couldn’t believe it even as she watched.
“Khwah! It’s piping hot. Gukbap really hits the spot! Tastes great and the best value for money!”
Meat was precious.
Precious things were naturally expensive.
The hunter gukbap “special” that Cheon Ubin was currently eating cost 250,000 won per bowl.
Eight bowls meant a total of 2 million won.
Park Hyeonseo’s income was not low, but she couldn’t throw around 2 million won carelessly.
‘I have to endure... He’s my lifesaver...’
She desperately endured the thought that she shouldn’t get angry at her savior over some money.
Though in truth, he wasn’t her savior at all.
Badum, badum-dum! Dum-dum-dum-dum!
It was then that a military band performance played on the TV.
The man, who had his face buried in his bowl, perked up his ears and raised his head.
“What’s that? Some kind of event?”
“Today is Cheon Ubin’s death anniversary. That’s why they are holding memorial events.”
“Huh? What did you say today was?”
“Death anniversary of Hunter Cheon Ubin.”
“...What does death anniversary mean again?”
Park Hyeonseo’s eyes narrowed.
She thought he might be joking, but the man really seemed to not know what day it was, or even what a death anniversary meant.
“Are you really Korean? He’s in the textbooks. Hunter Cheon Ubin! Today marks 25 years since his death.”
The man’s eyes and mouth went round, and he froze.
“...”
After spacing out for a while, he soon buried his face back in his bowl.
“Fuck... 25 years have passed... I was stuck there like a damn dog... I hope that bastard didn’t already kick the bucket somewhere...”
He mumbled something while slurping the gukbap, and it was hard to make out exactly what he was saying.
However, from the curses mixed in here and there, he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.
Rattle-!
Then the restaurant door opened.
A large man clad in iron armor entered and swept his gaze over the store.
He then nodded as if satisfied.
“Boss!”
“Yes? Yes!”
“Send all the customers out! We have a church dinner meeting to hold here.”
“Uh... well...”
The middle-aged man who appeared to be the owner flustered, not knowing what to do.
Then the thug—or customer—spoke again.
“Everyone get out now! I’ll pay for what you’ve eaten.”
All the customers in the restaurant stood up from their seats.
Even though this was a gukbap restaurant for hunters, and over 80% of the customers were hunters.
Everyone left the store, avoiding eye contact with the man.
“Hey, hey. Don’t act tough. He’s with Gwanggaeto the Great.”
“That emblem means he’s a high-grade Saint. If you mess with him, you’re dead.”
“What’s he doing here? This isn’t even their area.”
“Shh! Be quiet. He’ll hear you.”
“Saved on gukbap. Profit!”
Everyone grumbled, but no one had the guts to curse in front of the large man.
The problem wasn’t the man himself, but the emblem on his armor.
A three-legged crow on a red background.
It was the crest of Go Damdeok, Gwanggaeto the Great, one of Korea’s Four Great Constellations.
“Hey! We need to get out too.”
Park Hyeonseo’s voice grew urgent.
While all the customers were leaving, the man in front of her still had his face buried in his bowl, so she was burning with anxiety.
“We have to go now! You know how dirty the temper of those Gwanggaeto bastards is!?”
“Wait. I haven’t finished eating yet.”
“How is a bowl of gukbap important right now—”
Park Hyeonseo trailed off and clamped her mouth shut.
Before she knew it, the large Saint of Gwanggaeto the Great was standing beside her.
“You there. Didn’t you hear? I told you to get out.”
At the large man’s words, the man finally raised his head from his bowl.
The man swept his gaze over the hulk and blinked.
“Huh? Isn’t this a mad dog?”
The moment the man’s words left his mouth.
The restaurant was swallowed by silence.
Park Hyeonseo too stared at the man with wide eyes.
‘This crazy bastard!’
Mad dog.
In other words, the Chinese characters for “mad” (狂) and “dog” (犬).
It was the nickname that followers of Gwanggaeto the Great hated the most.