LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 4. RUN (2)
2:30 PM.
The perfect time to feel drowsy from digesting lunch.
A police officer who had responded to a report of a drunken person returned to the station.
He grabbed a cold can of coffee and yawned widely.
Hwaam.
This time always makes me want to sleep.
Thinking that, the officer returned to his seat. But for some reason, the place was noisy today.
“What’s up? Why is someone we all know acting like that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, come on! Is the country that struggling? Even these young folks are stealing food now.”
The officer glanced towards them.
From what he heard, the young man being held had eaten a bowl of soup at a restaurant without paying.
With that bright blonde hair, he looked quite like a troublesome youth.
The officer thought with a bit of prejudice as he stared at the captured person.
But wait. Looking closely, that face seemed oddly familiar.
“Wait…?”
“Huh?”
“You’re that guy from earlier!”
He put down the coffee he was holding and quickly approached.
What a coincidence!
“Aren’t you a Hunter?”
A Hunter who caught the Beginner Killer is now being questioned for eating without paying!
The officer chuckled and greeted Gi-ryeo.
*
“Please don’t do that next time~”
“I completely forgot! I have money at home. I definitely have 8,000 won in my piggy bank…”
“This is your first offense, so I’ll let you go.”
“I’ll make sure to pay the restaurant back later!”
I sighed in relief.
In my view, the shabby interior of the police station was in sight.
Phew…
Did I underestimate life on Earth?
Who would have thought I’d be detained just hours after arriving?
The only good thing is that this kind Earthling soon resolved all my issues.
“Can I go back now?”
“Yes. But before you leave…”
Finishing the paperwork, the officer spoke.
“Your name is Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo, right?”
“Yes.”
“From what you said in the investigation, it doesn’t seem like you’re a registered Hunter with the association. So how did you defeat that monster earlier?”
What association are they talking about?
I had nothing to say. So I kept silent, and the officer opened his mouth with a knowing expression.
“Could it be that you’ve just awakened? Did you just awaken?”
This Earthling is pretty kind.
So, this kind of question should be fine to ask.
“…What is awakening?”
The officer suddenly raised his voice. For some reason, he seemed so excited.
“No way, you really don’t know anything! So that’s why you panicked and didn’t even collect the body!”
“Pardon?”
“You should be heading to the Awakening Test Center right now! The monster you caught earlier is a C-Class! C-Class!”
What’s so special about this Awakening thing?
“How amazing is that! Wow, I’m envious, like winning the lottery!”
Is this something that every Earthling is supposed to know?
“Don’t worry about the test fee; it’s free. It’s close to here. You must go! Go and get tested! Okay?”
I didn’t want to stand out as an alien.
So, I obediently took the pamphlet the officer handed me and could soon leave the police station.
“It really is close from here.”
I looked at the rough map while descending the entrance stairs.
Awakening Test Center… huh.
“If they’re saying it like that, should I go?”
It wasn’t difficult to reach the location on the map.
My brain couldn’t even recall my own name, but thankfully, my navigational skills were still intact.
Fifteen minutes later.
I arrived at the white building nearby.
And only after entering the building did a memory come rushing back.
“Wait? What? I’ve been here before?”
Awakening Test Center.
These characters looked familiar.
I stared intently at the sign at the entrance when someone approached me.
“What brings you to the association?”
A high-pitched voice entered my ears.
Though it had no subject, I naturally turned to the person.
“It’s you again. Hello.”
“Ah…”
There stood Seonwoo-yeon, dressed in a suit.
It was easy to recognize since she looked the same as she did this morning.
“Ms. Seonwoo, right? Hello.”
I tried my best to greet her naturally as a fellow Earthling.
Then, Seonwoo-yeon smiled and shook her head.
“My last name is Seonwoo, and my first name is Yeon.”
“Yes?”
“That’s because it’s my legal name.”
Why are the rules for names different from Kim Gi-ryeo’s?
“Well then.”
Before I could ponder that mystery, she continued the conversation.
“Can I see your Hunter License now?”
Oh, right.
I remembered I had lied earlier about bringing the Hunter License.
Fortunately, after seeing the sign for the Test Center, some memories about the corpses returned to me.
So now I could confidently say it.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I panicked and misspoke; actually, I don’t have a Hunter License.”
“No wonder you didn’t come back.”
I continued to explain, recalling the memories.
“But I did register for Awakening. I took the test here. But I think I didn’t apply for the physical card because I was disappointed with the test results.”
“Really?”
“I just remembered. My Awakening grade is F.”
Yeah, F-Class.
I recalled.
Kim Gi-ryeo was an F-Class Awakened on Earth.
“You’re saying you’re an F-Class?”
At her surprised question, I nodded.
*
In front of the Seoul Awakening Test Center.
Seonwoo-yeon, who had just emerged from the Dungeon Spoils Processing Facility, had a chance encounter while heading home.
This morning, she ran into the mysterious Hunter who had intercepted the Beginner Killer again.
‘At first glance, he seems to be unregistered, so I was going to report him, but seeing him here makes me think he’s a legitimate Hunter?’
Seonwoo-yeon felt a sense of responsibility as she was, after all, benefiting from taxpayer funds.
Thus, she worried that the Awakening person before her might be engaged in illegal activity.
That’s why she approached him, initially to confirm before reporting.
“You’re an F-Class…?”
But she didn’t expect this kind of answer.
A person who took down a C-Class monster without a scratch was actually at the bottom of the Hunter rank?
“Then how did you catch the Beginner Killer?”
“Pure luck.”
“Luck?”
“That stupid bird was burying its head in the ground.”
It wasn’t impossible, assuming he was telling the truth, that an inexperienced Beginner Killer could accidentally kill itself.
There had been actual cases of it.
But Seonwoo-yeon didn’t believe his words.
Lie.
Her suspicions deepened.
This guy is an F-Class? Plus, a newbie who hasn’t even gotten a Hunter License?
Seonwoo-yeon didn’t just think he was a C-Class Hunter because he had the dead Beginner Killer with him.
What stood out more than anything was the expression on Kim Gi-ryeo’s face.
When a monster several times larger than him charged at him, he didn’t show any fear at all. Rather…
The sound of swallowing echoed in her ears.
C-Class monsters? It felt like he had dealt with hundreds of those?
When recalling Kim Gi-ryeo from that time, all she could remember was that blank expression.
Looking back now, it almost seemed like he had an aura unique to Upper Ranking Awakened, but how could she believe he was an F-Class?
Why is he hiding his rank?
Seonwoo-yeon decided to smoothly navigate the situation.
Most of those who hide their Awakening levels are likely dangerous individuals considering illegal activities…
“Ha-ha, I see. You were lucky. Beginner Killers are indeed not too bright.”
The top priority for Seonwoo-yeon was,
To safely get out of this place.
The staff, who had been dealing with everything in a very formal manner, suddenly burst into an awkward laugh.
At this, Kim Gi-ryeo… the alien pretending to be a human thought.
Earthlings express emotions through intricate facial muscle movements. I need to learn to show such expressions to give a sense of intimacy.
He roughly understood the communication methods of this place but faced one thing he couldn’t do.
Oh~ How many muscles does it take? This is hard! I can’t do it right now.
The alien pilot inhabiting the body of a human still struggled with fine control.
In other words, Kim Gi-ryeo still couldn’t manage to make facial expressions.
That was it.
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“What’s the matter?”
A little later.
Seonwoo-yeon seemed eager to finish the conversation, but when it came time to leave, she called him back.
Her face was slightly tense.
“So, uh… what’s your name?”
“Kim Gi-ryeo.”
“Got it. Mr. Gi-ryeo! I forgot to give you something.”
Nodding her head, Seonwoo-yeon quickly took her wallet out of her pocket.
Gi-ryeo wondered if she was about to give him a business card, but instead, she presented something entirely different.
Money.
“Here, take this.”
She suddenly offered a golden 50,000 won bill.
Giving money as a casual greeting? Where in the universe do they have such a great culture?
“Why are you giving me this?”
Gi-ryeo asked, bewildered, and Seonwoo-yeon answered cheerfully.
“Because it’s your money.”
“Pardon?”
“You left the body of the Beginner Killer behind this morning. I had no choice but to dispose of it.”
This meant that selling that monster bird would fetch money.
Gi-ryeo looked down at the bill in his hand.
50,000 won. The bowl of soup was 8,000 won each. So…
With this single bill, I can buy 6 bowls of soup!
He quickly calculated and his eyes sparkled.
But that wasn’t the end.
“That’s wild! That monster bird gets this much money? Are its feathers expensive?”
“No. The Beginner Killer is particularly soft, so it has no market value. However, this one contained a magic stone.”
“Magic stone?”
“Right. Like you said, you were lucky.”
The magic stone from a Beginner Killer is worth 600,000 won.
As Seonwoo-yeon explained this, Gi-ryeo held his breath for a moment.
600,000 won? That means I won’t have to worry about starving for a while.
But as he thought about it a bit more, he had something to question.
“Wait a second. 600,000 won? But shouldn’t I get more than just 50,000 won?”
Seonwoo-yeon answered as if she had anticipated his question.
Though her tone was gentle.
“That’s because I had to deal with the damage caused to the road and fence when you caught the Beginner Killer in my name.”
“Ah…”
“If only you hadn’t run away, you could have received legal Hunter immunity.”
“I’m sorry.”
Gi-ryeo bowed his head.
Then, Seonwoo-yeon relaxed her expression and returned his greeting.
“Well, have a good afternoon.”
The suited Hunter seemed to have nothing more to say. Quietly, she turned and went her way.
Gi-ryeo watched her go while tightly gripping the 50,000 won bill in his hand.
“In my hometown, that birdbrain would have been no better than a fly on the road.”
He murmured with a sigh of disappointment.
“Such a weak creature.”
A single Beginner Killer worth 600,000 won…
“To make 600,000 won just by kicking their neck.”
To survive, you need money.
Moreover, I settled on this Earth for a happy life, so I needed even more money to enjoy an ideal life.
So…
I must become a Hunter.
Suddenly, that thought crossed Kim Gi-ryeo’s mind.
Little did he know that he would regret this decision years later at a press conference…