Chapter 120

If the Earthlings chose to misunderstand the situation on their own, that only worked in his favor. Especially when their misunderstanding conveniently concealed his crime, there was no reason for him to correct them.

‘Phew.’

In that case, he had escaped imprisonment.

Now all he had to do was leave the scene without causing any further trouble—

“Wait a moment!”

Just then, a reporter standing off to one side called out to Kiryeo.

“Hunter Kim, how did you get so badly injured?”

The S-class hunter before him had been impaled in several places. Considering the condition of his body, it was hardly something that could be dismissed lightly.

“A-And... since the cocoon still hasn’t disappeared, does that mean there are dangerous monsters remaining inside?”

A long wound stretched from Kiryeo’s shoulder all the way down to his ribs.

If even a high-ranking Awakener could suffer an injury like that, then an unimaginably powerful enemy must still be lurking within the cocoon.

The reporter swallowed nervously.

Of course, the answer he received was—

“No. Everything left inside is C-rank.”

It sounded absurd.

In truth, Kiryeo had been defeated by a monster far weaker than anyone would have expected. Since revealing that fact offered him no benefit whatsoever, he chose not to give a clear explanation for his wounds.

“Don’t concern yourself with this. I was injured by something else.”

But, as expected, a situation like this could not be resolved with a few vague words.

Earthlings were naturally curious creatures, and some of them had made gathering information their profession.

“Well, in any case, I should be going...”

To escape the barrage of questions, Kiryeo hurriedly withdrew from the scene, using his injuries as an excuse.

“As you can see, I need medical treatment.”

“Ah!”

“I’ll leave the remaining C-rank monsters to the Association.”

One of the staff members immediately hurried after him.

“H-Hunter! We’ll take you to the hospital!”

Kim Kiryeo gradually disappeared from view, leaving the pine forest behind.

—Click!

The reporter quietly captured his retreating figure with his camera.

***

A dungeon break at an E-rank gate would normally have been little more than a local news story.

[Our first report tonight: a dungeon break has occurred at a waste-disposal facility in Gampo...]

This time, however, things were different.

The incident involving the nest in the coastal village had unexpectedly claimed a place on the national nine o’clock news.

“Wow.”

After all, an S-rank hunter had been involved.

That alone was enough to make the event extraordinary.

“What happened?”

Viewers who had initially tuned in out of curiosity at the sight of a top-tier Awakener in a seaside village were soon shocked by the announcer’s next statement.

[Meanwhile, the severely injured S-rank hunter has been safely transported to a hospital.]

The report was supported by footage obtained from a local journalist.

In the video stood a hunter who had only recently been officially announced as an S-rank.

Nearly his entire upper body was obscured by a red mosaic.

The media had not described him as severely injured without reason.

There were only four top-ranked hunters in all of Korea, and one of them had suddenly appeared in that condition.

How could the nation possibly remain calm?

[24h My New Post (63)]

Naturally, the internet erupted almost immediately.

[Wow.]

[???]

[What?]

How had that hunter been injured?

What had happened inside the cocoon?

And since the waste-disposal gate was managed by the government, how had a dungeon break occurred in the first place?

Questions poured in without end.

[Title: Hello. I am a resident of Gampo.]

Then, roughly thirty minutes later, a post appeared from someone claiming to live in Gampo.

After that, increasingly detailed eyewitness accounts began surfacing one after another.

***

Title: Hello. I am a resident of Gampo.

***

There are many rumors circulating about the waste-disposal dungeon break shown on television, but as someone who witnessed the incident in person, there is something I desperately want people to know.

I am not accustomed to writing on online forums, but I will do my best to explain what happened...

***

Before long, netizens learned the broad outline of how the S-class hunter had been injured.

***

(omitted)

To repeat what I heard, the situation was apparently as follows.

Hunter Kim Kiryeo happened to learn of the dungeon break while visiting our area.

At the time, he heard that someone had died inside the dungeon, and he entered without hesitation.

He went in to retrieve the body.

Honestly, what possible benefit could an S-class hunter gain from dealing with such a minor dungeon break?

He acted solely out of respect for the hunter who had died.

Yet instead of showing gratitude for such a noble act, people are slandering him without evidence. Is that truly right?

I can also explain how he was injured.

Below is a messenger conversation with an acquaintance of mine who works for the Korean Medical Association.

***

However, as was often the case with eyewitness accounts, the post contained a fair amount of subjective interpretation.

***

Title: Gampo Resident 2

***

I did not realize there was a limit to the length of each post, so I am continuing in a new one.

***

A little later, an explanation for Kiryeo’s injuries appeared on another online forum.

More precisely, it was an explanation concerning the unusual characteristics of the [Silent Graveyard].

As reported in the news, the interior of the [Silent Graveyard] had undergone an abnormal mutation that altered its level of difficulty.

However, a closer investigation revealed an additional anomaly.

***

...There was no boss.

***

Once the situation had been brought under control, the Hunter Association dispatched investigators to determine what kinds of monsters had emerged from the nest.

Yet they encountered a bizarre phenomenon.

No leader, dominant specimen, or boss monster could be found anywhere at the scene.

The only creatures discovered in large numbers after the nest was cleared were the newly mutated bird monsters, with their blue feathers, thin arms, and emaciated bodies.

‘There was no boss?’

Could the missing boss have been the creature that injured Kim Kiryeo?

And could a dungeon like the [Silent Graveyard] truly have produced a monster capable of wounding an S-rank hunter?

That question could already be answered by looking at past incidents.

There was precedent.

[Hey, didn’t Ahn Yoonseung get taken down back when he was F-rank? Wasn’t that also because some ridiculous monster appeared out of nowhere?]

When all the available information was considered, the idea that an S-rank hunter had unexpectedly suffered serious injuries became somewhat plausible.

[Wow. Then this could have turned into a massive disaster...]

[So there was a monster powerful enough to injure an S-rank hunter, and no one even knew it was there.]

[If there had been any delay, it would have been catastrophic. There are barely any hunters stationed in that area to begin with.]

[ㄷㄷㄷ]

Before long, the public had become almost entirely convinced that Kim Kiryeo had encountered an immensely powerful monster within the red cocoon.

In reality...

The only subtle difference was that the gate’s boss had known how to use tools.

“For some reason, my ears are suddenly itching.”

Well, it did not matter.

Just as he had intended, Kim Kiryeo had successfully deceived the public by refusing to identify the creature that had attacked him.

However, the quiet, evasive behavior he had adopted to conceal his theft was gradually being exaggerated into something entirely different.

#serious_injury #scene_photo #KimKiryeo

Approximately three hours later, the internet descended into chaos once again.

This time, a local resident who had witnessed the incident uploaded an uncensored photograph of Kiryeo’s injuries.

[Was he really injured that badly???]

[F*ck, is this what they covered with the mosaic on television?]

[This is seriously horrifying.]

The unedited photograph was genuinely shocking.

In the image, thick, spear-like objects pierced the man’s shoulder and torso.

Blood covered nearly the entirety of his upper body, leaving scarcely any part of him untouched.

“That’s insane...”

Hunters made their living by fighting monsters.

Naturally, injuries were an unavoidable part of their profession.

Even so, seeing the brutal reality without any censorship stirred emotions that abstract knowledge never could.

“He was injured that badly, and he still gritted his teeth and carried the body out?”

The incident caused public opinion of Kim Kiryeo to change dramatically.

[Ugh. What about all those people who kept insulting him? Don’t they have anything to say now?]

[ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

[Did you see the latest report? The grandfather who was searching for his granddaughter gave an interview. His eyes were completely red while he thanked Hunter Kim. I started crying too...]

Because hunting was such a dangerous profession, most people in the industry were already occupied with protecting their own lives.

There was little reason to risk oneself for a hunter who was already dead.

And yet, in an age like this, an S-rank hunter had entered the dungeon while covered in blood and endured terrible injuries merely to retrieve someone else’s body.

“It’s moving. Truly.”

Soon afterward, a local Gampo journalist released a photograph of Kim Kiryeo gently carrying the deceased D-rank hunter in his arms.

After seeing the image, even those who had once criticized him began reconsidering their opinions.

[We were the ones who were completely wrong.]

[;; No wonder someone that dignified regarded everyone else as beasts...]

[Hello, this is the administrator. As of today, this community is now an official Korean fan café for Kim Kiryeo. Anyone who posts defamatory comments about the hunter will be permanently banned and will not be permitted to rejoin. Anyone who dislikes this policy is free to leave.]

They reacted as though they had been struck over the head, hurriedly repenting for their earlier judgments.

And amid this wave of remorse, netizens quickly found a new target for their anger.

[Where did all the people who insulted Kim Kiryeo’s personality disappear to? ㅋㅋ]

Such was the nature of online harassment.

People began digging up and mocking old posts that had criticized Kiryeo.

Before long, posts like the following had become common pilgrimage sites.

***

[Title: I’ll Bet My Ears That Beastman Will Neglect His Duties]

***

[COMMENTS (40)]

ㄴPilgrimage.

ㄴㅎㅇ

ㄴㅋㅋ

ㄴAre you Korea’s Van Gogh?

ㄴㅋㅋ

ㄴWelcome, one-eared man.

***

Who could have imagined that public opinion would reverse so completely in only a few days?

‘Ugh! Not only did I fail to obtain a new body, but the one I already had has been ruined! How could I possibly suffer such terrible misfortune...?’

At that very moment, Kiryeo let out a deep sigh and lamented his fate.

He had lost the bodies he wanted, and now he was faced with an enormous hospital bill.

As far as he was concerned, the damage he had suffered during the incident was anything but minor.

‘What a complete waste of time!’

Sniff. Sniff.

And so, Kiryeo wiped away his tears, entirely unaware that he had gained something else from the situation.

However, in January—the month in which the new year began—an incident would occur that brought this favorable momentum to an abrupt end...

[The Terrifying “January”... Will Another Cataclysm Strike?]

[Nationwide Siren Alert]

[Expensive Equipment Proves Useless... Hunters Struggle Against Sirens]