Evolution Theory of the Hunter

The wolf was now starting to evaporate. He slowly disappeared into ashes, and as those ashes turned to dust I thought to myself.

Irregular.

In the month and a half since the incident of irregulars had happened all over the world, this was the second  irregular I went up against. I don’t know how many more people might have been met with the incident again this time, but I knew it was going to be a big problem. The biggest problem though was that now we knew it wasn’t an isolated incident.

Is this job really ok?

“Is anyone hurt?”

“No. We’re all fine. How about you, SunbehOppa?”

“I hit my back and head a little hard but I think I’m ok now.”

“You sure you don’t have to go to the hospital?”

Glasses girl walked up next to me and checked my head. Luckily I don’t think I suffered a concussion, but there was a huge bump on the back of my head.

“Something like this will get better with just a couple days of rest. I don’t need to go to a hospital.”

“But still…”

I did have health insurance but I can only use it for big injuries. I pay about 2,000 a month so that I can have access to treatment no matter how much the bill is.

Since we now know that the irregular incident wasn’t a one time thing, keeping up the payments on my insurance would be necessary.

“It looks like it’s almost done.”

Han Jookseok said as he watched the rest of the dust crumble away. Only the wolf’s head was left and then soon, that too was gone.

Drop.

A skillbook had dropped to the ground.

Again?

“What!?”

Jung Sooah jumped up and grabbed the book before handing it to me.

“Take it.”

“Uh…do you need to be so loud?”

“You never know. There might be someone who might steal it and run.”

She whispered into my ear. True. There are a lot of cases of people taking skillbooks and running. But the way she was acting now was basically announcing to everyone on the team that she didn’t trust them. If it were me, I could never do something like that.

Was she doing this to take the hate in my stead?

Everyone started crowding around me. Manager Kim pushed Jung Sooah and poked out his chin.

“What is it? What is it? What kind of skill? If it’s a pro level skill then wouldn’t it be worth like a couple million dollars?”

“Let’s check first.”

Gulp.

I could hear someone swallowing. When I looked up, I saw Cho Youngoo staring at me with fire in his eyes. Looks like he’s someone who can’t hide his emotions very well.

“Hur..hurry.”

“Don’t expect too much. It could be a low level one too.”

I said this, but it was true that I was expecting alot too. If it was over level 3, the price of it would be more than a million. Though we would do a contribution split, each person would still get more than 100k each.

Flip.

I opened to the first page.

Everyone collapsed to the ground.

“Friendship…? Wait. And it’s only a level 0? Is there even such a thing?”

Sooah said with a sigh in her voice.

Everyone’s expression was full of disappointment.

Except me.

***

It was the second level 0 skillbook. The skill name was ‘friendship’.

Slam.

I closed the skillbook and got up.

I should probably start the official procedure.

“Level 0 skillbook. It is ‘friendship’. Is there anyone who would like to buy this skillbook?”

“Who would buy something like that? Unless they’re stupid.”

Manager Kim said with a sigh. His face looked like the face of someone who lost something very precious.

“Three of you have a skill already so you won’t be needing this…Bae Yeonkyoung?”

“Ah. I don’t need it either. I’m an archer. I would want a skill relevant to my ability though.”

“Hm…then I guess we should just sell this..we might get about 3000

dollars for it.”

“That’s it?”

Jung Sooah asked.

“I had put up a level 0 skillbook a while back. BUt no one wanted to buy it. The only offers I got were around that price.”

“Nah. Really?”

“I’ll ask one more time. Anyone willing to buy it for 3000 dollars?”

Everyone started looking around at each other. As expected. There was no one who wanted a dumb sounding skill…and a level 0 one at that…for 3000 dollars.

Sooah kicked at the ground. Then she raised her hand.

“I’ll buy it.”

“You?”

Glasses girl asked with surprise.

“It’s good for a porter to have a skill. It would probably help to decrease my chance of dying. I don’t know what this is, but seeing as it’s a level 0…looks like it would suit a porter just fine.”

“I guess…”

Glasses girl started to nod as Sooah explained her thought process. Everything related to killing monsters started at level 1. Skill, Item, Dungeon. So it made sense that everyone believed a level 0 would have nothing to do with a hunter.

The contribution ranking came out as: me, Cho Youngoo, Han Joonseok, Bae Yeonkyoung, then manager Kim. Of course manager Kim raised a fuss.

“Why am I fifth! I should at least be second! No…even third!”

“I’m a person too.”

At my words, manager Kim shut up. While everyone else had come together to save my life after I risked it to let them escape, he was the only one who hid. There was no way I would rank him any higher just because he didn’t run away.

“I…I told you to run away!”

“That’s true. But it’s also true that you didn’t help when we were trying to kill the monster.”

“Shit! That’s not fair! If it wasn’t for me, do you think we would have cleared the dungeon?”

“No we wouldn’t have.”

“Then you shouldn’t be ranking in this way!”

“But if anyone else had not been there, I would have died today.”

I said this as I looked to all the party members.

Cho Youngoo, Han Joonseok, Bae Yeonkyoung, Jung Sooah.

They had all gone up against a boss class monster just to save my life.

I knew that it was the right thing to do to make sure they were rewarded for it.

“Keu…”

Manager Kim put his head down after trying to say something..but changing his mind.”

“I will make sure you get more than enough contribution pay. Do you have anything to add?”

“Ye..yes.”

“What is it?”

“Will you call me again next time?”

Manager Kim asked. I nodded my head and Jung Sooah said.

“Manager Kim. It looks like you do have a conscience.”

“What you brat? Do you think I don’t have any pride at all?”

There was no one who responded to that.

***

When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar ceiling. I went to my fridge and got a glass of water to drink.

Gulp. Gulp.

“You’re awake?”

“Cough. Cough.”

I heard Jung Sooah’s voice behind me. I tried to remember what happened…ahh. After the hunt, we all went to a small restaurant to get dinner. The last thing I recalled was getting drunk, and Jung Sooah taking me into a cab.

This was all because manager Kim was drinking so hard that I ended up joining in. That old man.

“Aren’t you going home?”

“I was tired so I just went to bed. Why? I can’t do that?”

“You should ask first before just doing something like that on your own.”

“Haha.”

“Don’t laugh. I just might get used to you.”

Jung Sooah got up and washed her face to wake up. Then she padded on over to the kitchen to start making some ramen.

“Two?”

“Three.”

“Coming up.”

I helped set the table, and we ate the ramen quietly. When I finally realized that we were doing everything so naturally with any awkwardness, it was already too late.

“But why were you asking us to buy that?”

“Because it’s worth it.”

“You’re going to give me back my money right?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Chi. Really. You think 3000 just grows on trees?”

“You’re rich though. Remember the 50,000 you got from me?”

“I’ll be using it as my dowry. Should I just sell this damn thing?”

“Why? It’ll be such a waste. Learn it.”

“What? Me? Why? I won’t need it though.”

I wonder what kind of skill ‘friendship’ will prove to be?