Delusive Fate

#093

The phone rang at the Hunter Management Team of the Central Center.

“Hello, this is Park Sang-yun, assistant manager at the Hunter Management Team of the Central Branch.”

– Excuse me. I’m a citizen residing in District B. I called here because the Central Center is practically the headquarters.

“Yes, yes. What can I help you with?”

– Are you not doing your job properly?

“Pardon?”

– Isn’t the Hunter Management Team supposed to manage hunters?

“Y-yes, that’s correct, but…”

– Then what do you do all day?

“Excuse me?”

– I’m asking what you do all day if you’re not managing hunters. In this harsh world where you could die on your way to work, people are struggling to make a living and paying taxes with their blood and sweat. You’re getting paid with that money, but you’re not doing your job. What exactly are you doing? If you’re going to work like this, give me back my taxes!!!!! You hunters and center officials think people won’t know if you cover up your mistakes among yourselves, but there are ways we can find out, you know? I’ll be watching you closely with both eyes wide open. Do your job properly from now on!

Park Sang-yun, a mere civil servant at the Central Center, laughed in disbelief at the phone call that ended abruptly after the caller said what they wanted to say.

“What was that? It was almost like being scolded by a parent. Are they crazy?”

The thunderous scolding from the anonymous complainant claiming to live in District B seemed to have been loud enough for the person in the next seat to hear everything.

“Why do people only go crazy at us? Are we civil servants or punching bags?”

Wang Seung-hyun, Park Sang-yun’s colleague in the next seat, started badmouthing the problematic complainant as if he had been waiting for the call to end. Thanks to the string of gossip that followed, Park Sang-yun was able to somewhat control his rising anger. The impulse to throw the entire phone across the room out of frustration subsided a bit. If he had given in to that impulse, he would have suffered the stress from the malicious complaint and faced the tragedy of having to replace company property with his own money. Park Sang-yun thanked Wang Seung-hyun, who had prevented such a disaster, with a Mona Lisa-like smile. Meanwhile, the Hunter Management Team office quickly became chaotic. Complaints erupted from all sides.

“This isn’t right, is it? How many days has this been going on?”

“Did another strange article come out today? Why has it been like this since morning?”

“That bastard Hwang Gu-young apparently published something again. Something about hunters’ negligence of duty and waste of tax money.”

“Oh, it’s true. It’s even on the main page of the portal? The title is completely… ‘Slacking Hunters and Lazy Centers, Another Annihilation for the Citizens?’ Hey, is there really no one in our team who has a debt relationship with this Hwang Gu-young guy? Everyone, trace back three generations. I’m telling you, this must be due to some grudge?”

Recently, the Hunter Management Team at the Central Center had found itself in a very tiring situation. While other centers’ Hunter Management Teams or Civil Complaint Response Teams were probably in the same boat, the Central Center had to deal with significantly more complaints as it was seen as the headquarters due to its “Central” name. Of course, it wasn’t entirely wrong to call it the actual headquarters, given that the Central Center acted as the control tower in emergencies and managed hunters who were major forces of B-class and above… Anyway.

Park Sang-yun and many others, who usually didn’t have to deal with general public complaints as they worked with hunters, were spending days unable to keep up with the flood of malicious complaints that had been pouring in over the past week. The cause of this situation was clear.

“Still no contact from Hunter Ki Baek-woo?”

“If there was, would we be like this?”

“But what’s with Healer Jung Yi-dam causing a fuss along with him?”

“If we knew that, would we be in this state?”

“Why are these two S-class bastards causing trouble together? They were getting along well, weren’t they? Did Ki Baek-woo’s craziness rub off on Jung Yi-dam while they were hanging out?!”

The S-class hunters, who were practically superstars, were living however they pleased. One was in seclusion, not knowing if they were alive or dead, while the other was gallivanting around but ignoring important raid calls. This was the fundamental cause of the situation.

“What is the Information Strategy Office doing? Why do they keep letting these kinds of articles get published! It’s not us who aren’t doing our job, it’s them!”

Due to the issue of trust between the state and its citizens, negative public opinion towards hunters had to be controlled to some extent. However, at some point, bad articles started breaking out almost daily. Civilians who were not hunters or hunter-related officials were accessing this news in real-time, getting angry, and snowballing the controversy. This was the actual cause of the situation.

And the real problem for the Hunter Management Team was that they couldn’t solve this issue despite the cause being so clear. Song Jung-ae, the team leader of the Hunter Management Team who was up for promotion and facing a work performance evaluation by the promotion committee, shouted in extreme stress.

“Manager Jang! Jang Eun-jun, you brought out Ki Baek-woo last time! Try to bring him out this time too! I don’t even want to hear the first syllable of a complaint call, so right now… No, where did Manager Jang Eun-jun go? Why isn’t he at his desk? Hey, Manager Jang!”

Manager Jang Eun-jun, who had just slipped out of the office anticipating this turn of events, flattened himself against the corridor wall to hide. Holding his breath in case he might be discovered, he inwardly responded:

I didn’t bring out Hunter Ki that time. Hunter Lee Han-sol resolved everything. Hunter Ki hasn’t been answering my calls since then. He doesn’t answer even if I call from my mom’s phone, dad’s phone, or girlfriend’s phone. Hunter Lee Han-sol’s number comes up as non-existent… His profile data hasn’t been updated with a new phone number, so we can’t contact him…! I’ve told you this many times! Please don’t do this to me…!

It was miserable days for everyone – the Hunter Management Team, the hunters, and the citizens angered by the hunters.

In the opinion of the Hunter Management Team members, Ki Baek-woo was the axis of evil in this situation. Until just a couple of months ago, Ki Baek-woo had been a highly regarded hunter. He was strong but not arrogant, didn’t unnecessarily try to gain approval, and just did what he was told – essentially the best business partner. And he was good-looking to boot.

Unlike other handsome S-class hunters like Choi Tae-hyuk who constantly showed off and complained, or Ji Woo-won who was so overly friendly that it made people uncomfortable and frustrated, Ki Baek-woo could be considered a flawless hunter as long as you didn’t try to get close to him.

However, as people can change in an instant, the once-normal Ki Baek-woo suddenly started behaving in ways even a hoodlum wouldn’t. He arbitrarily skipped gates that were crucial for national survival and citizens’ lives, and not only did he not contact the center, he ignored all incoming calls. He had always liked going home, but now he became a complete shut-in, causing A district raids to run in disarray for a while.

S-class was an irreplaceable rank. To fill that power, they had to bring in a bunch of A-class hunters, but high-ranking hunters weren’t common enough to be freely mobilized at any time, and the field quickly fell into chaos. Hunters’ schedules became a mess, and unnecessary accidents became frequent due to mismatched rosters that changed suddenly. Naturally, complaints from hunters also increased.

Even then, it was still at a manageable level. Of course, it was exhaustingly difficult to find replacement personnel for Ki Baek-woo. But Ki Baek-woo was an offensive hunter, and offensive hunters weren’t hard to find, so they could somehow gather people and muddle through each moment. Whatever the internal situation might have been, there were no outwardly visible problems, so there was no chance for reporters or ordinary citizens to discover that hunter management wasn’t being done properly.

Then, about ten days ago, Ki Baek-woo finally showed up at a site. It wasn’t like he had been gone for years, it was just a month, but he looked seriously different from before. Although his frame was well-balanced so it wasn’t too noticeable, his flesh had wasted away as if he hadn’t eaten properly, his complexion was so pale it seemed he might die any moment. His eyes were red and swollen, clearly showing his fatigue. On top of that, there was a sharp atmosphere around him that made it feel like you shouldn’t approach within 3 meters.

Ki Baek-woo seemed like a completely different person. He had never been the type to make small talk, but now he didn’t even give simple answers, as if he was mute. His long-awaited appearance at the site, far from providing good energy, only created discomfort and tension before he left. But regardless of that, all the related parties encouraged each other, saying they could now breathe a sigh of relief.

“According to the on-site briefing, Hunter Ki single-handedly shortened the raid by almost two days, right? Love him or hate him, S-class is S-class after all. As long as a hunter can destroy the Annihilation well, that’s what matters. As for his strange condition… won’t it gradually improve?”

Now that Hunter Ki Baek-woo has started doing raids again, we won’t have to deal with complaints from all sorts of hunters due to messed up rosters anymore. Phew, we can finally sleep peacefully. Hahaha.

They didn’t anticipate then that Ki Baek-woo would start living in seclusion again.

Ki Baek-woo, who had appeared after a long time looking like a patient, showed off tremendous combat power and then went into hiding again, becoming an even bigger subject of controversy than before.

All sorts of speculations ran rampant. Now, complaints that sounded almost like strike notices started pouring in, saying things like “Is Ki Baek-woo the only hunter? If Ki Baek-woo can do that, why can’t we?” As the atmosphere heated up, some reporters noticed this, and those hungry for issues eagerly spread these facts to the general public.

Headline News

▽ Latest ▽ Most Viewed

⋅ The tyranny of S-class hunters, is the state’s authority okay like this?

⋅ S-class hunters above the citizens

⋅ Gate situation endangered by S-class hunters

The controversy spread easily with all sorts of sensational titles. It was already a daunting situation, but the Hunter Management Team staff, who were trying to be optimistic that they could somehow manage it, never imagined that another hunter besides Ki Baek-woo would emerge behaving so outrageously.

[Exclusive] S-class Healer Jung Yi-dam spotted in city center after skipping raid

Moreover, they certainly didn’t expect it to be Jung Yi-dam, the most famous person in the hunter world who was receiving global attention, an S-class healing type… The situation worsened beyond control. Articles broke out almost daily.

⋅ Consecutive deviations of S-class hunters. Serious flaws in hunter management system

⋅ Center must admit lack of hunter management ability

⋅ Re-examining overseas cases of privatization of hunter management centers

Complaints began pouring into the center like crazy. Both hunters and civilians constantly harassed the Central Center’s Hunter Management Team.

“This is all because of Ki Baek-woo.”

The Hunter Management Team, who had collectively made appointments for initial psychiatric consultations due to stress from malicious complaints – it’s not a team dinner, but a group psychiatric appointment? Thoroughly fed up, they thought:

“In cases like this, it’s always the fault of the person who started it first. So this is definitely Hunter Ki Baek-woo’s fault. Let’s all go confront Hunter Ki.”

But we have no way to contact Ki Baek-woo. Even if we contact him, he doesn’t answer. Moreover, Hunter Lee Han-sol, who used to live with him, has apparently moved to District B. I guess they decided to live separately. They used to make a big fuss about being family and all that, but it ended up like this. But what do we do now? Without this hunter, who will help us?

As the Hunter Management Team staff seriously began to consider resigning amidst worsening public opinion, increasing complaints, and pressure from the center director, another incident occurred that would plunge them into complaint hell. That day, in the gloomy atmosphere of the Hunter Management Team office, someone suddenly let out a loud scream.

“Aah!”

“Huk! What is it? You startled me!”

“What’s going on? Who screamed? Are you crazy?”

“Kim, what’s the matter?”

Assistant Kim Yu-jin, who had jumped up from her seat with a pale face, shouted:

“Look at the official document that just came down…! It seems some crazy hunter has been going around beating up civilians…!”

With an expression that screamed “We’re really fucked now!”, Assistant Kim Yu-jin spoke. Team Leader Song Jung-ae, who had been staring at her with a blank face for a moment, shouted:

“Everyone, unplug the phone lines…!”