Chapter 120. Mammal (4)
If Earthlings misunderstand on their own, then I should be grateful.
Even more so if that misunderstanding covers up their crimes.
Haaah.
Then I guess I managed to avoid prison time. Now I just need to leave the scene without hiccups…
“Wait a minute!”
At that moment, a newspaper reporter, standing in the corner, turned to Gi-ryeo with a question.
“So, how did Mr. Kim Hunter get injured like that?”
The S-Class Hunter in front of him was currently pierced by a spear.
Thinking back, this was no trivial situation to just brush off.
“And… the cocoon hasn’t disappeared, so does that mean there are still dangerous monsters inside?”
A long gash starting from his shoulder and ending at his ribs.
If a high-ranking Awakened received such injuries, there must be unimaginable foes lurking inside the cocoon.
The reporter swallowed nervously.
Of course, the answer returned was….
“Nope. What’s left in there are all C-Class monsters.”
A rather nonsensical response, to be honest.
In reality, this Hunter had been taken down by a weak monster contrary to their expectations.
Revealing such a truth would bring no benefit, so Gi-ryeo ultimately glossed over the explanation for his wound.
“Don’t mind this. It’s from something else.”
But a single statement wouldn’t resolve the situation.
Earthlings are typically curious beings.
Furthermore, there were those who made a living by gathering information.
“Uh, anyway, I should be going…”
In order to dodge the incoming barrage of questions, Gi-ryeo quickly made his exit.
He fled under the pretext of his injury.
“As you can see, I need to go get treated.”
“Oh!”
“The remaining C-Class monsters will be left to the Association.”
At that, one of the staff hurriedly followed him.
“Hey, Hunter! We’ll take you to the hospital!”
Thus, Kim Gi-ryeo gradually distanced himself from the pine forest.
Click!
The reporter quietly captured the scene with his camera.
*
Dungeon Break at the E-Class Gate.
Normally, such incidents would only circulate as local news.
[Breaking News: A Dungeon Break has occurred at a garbage dump in Gampo….]
But this time it was different.
The nest incident that occurred in the port town had unusually taken over the national 9 PM news slot.
Monsters of D and C-Class appeared from an E-Class gate.
Some speculated that this abnormal mutation was what drew attention to the cocoon, but the scoop had even more astonishing elements.
“Whoa.”
That Dungeon Break had, quite surprisingly, an S-Class involved…!
“What’s going on?”
Upon hearing that a top-ranking Awakened was in Gampo, viewers’ interest piqued instantly.
What followed from the announcer was shocking.
[In related news, the seriously injured S-Class Hunter has been safely transported to the hospital.]
Supporting this explanation was a video clip obtained through a regional reporter.
In the footage, a Hunter who had recently been announced as S-Class stood there, almost his entire upper body was pixelated in red.
The media didn’t frivolously use the term ‘seriously injured.’
One of the four strongest in Korea appeared in such a state overnight. Would that not cause upheaval?
[New post every 24h (63)]
Naturally, the world buzzed with the latest news.
[Whoa]
[???]
How did that Hunter get injured?
What happened inside the cocoon?
Moreover, the waste disposal gate is managed by the government, so why did that dungeon break in the first place, etc.
An unending stream of questions poured forth.
[Title: Hello. I’m a resident of Gampo.]
However, just half an hour later.
Initated by this post revealing the writer as a Gampo resident, increasingly detailed eyewitness accounts began to emerge.
————————==
Title: Hello. I’m a resident of Gampo.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
There are various rumors circulating about the waste disposal dungeon break incident that was featured on TV, and as someone who witnessed the event firsthand, I have something important to say.
I’m not great at writing posts, but still, I’ll try to explain despite the difficulties…
————————==
Soon enough, netizens learned the detailed outline behind the injury of the S-Class Hunter.
————————==
(omitted)
To relay what I heard: According to reports, Mr. Kim Gi-ryeo discovered the Dungeon Break incident while casually touring Gampo.
When someone nearby mentioned a person was dead inside that cocoon, he immediately rushed in.
Not wanting to leave behind a corpse…
Honestly, would an S-Class seek glory from such trivial Dungeon Breaks?
He acted solely with the solemn intent of memorializing the fallen Hunter.
Yet, rather than gratitude, is it right to malign such a noble figure without basis…?
I can explain why he got injured too.
The following is a chat with a friend who works at the Hunter Association.
————————==
However, given the nature of ‘eyewitness accounts,’ the original post contains some subjective distortions.
.
.
.
————————==
Title: Gampo Resident 2
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
I didn’t realize there was a limit to post size. So, I’ll post a new one.
————————==
A short while later, an explanation of how Kim Gi-ryeo got injured appeared on some internet bulletin board.
More accurately, it would be correct to say it explained the characteristics of the [Quiet Tomb].
As you know, the [Quiet Tomb] exhibited bizarre phenomena that made its internal difficulty fluctuate rapidly.
Yet an additional strange detail emerged.
—————==
…There supposedly wasn’t a boss.
—————==
After the situation calmed down, the Hunter Association dispatched investigators to uncover what monsters occurred inside the cocoon.
At that time, they encountered the bizarre phenomenon of having no chief entity present.
With blue fur and thin arms, only numerous emaciated new-type birds were found in the hunting-free cocoon.
‘No boss?’
Could it be that the absent boss injured Kim Gi-ryeo?
And the question of whether any monsters could injure an S-Class inside a dungeon like [Quiet Tomb] could be sufficiently explained by past events.
There are precedents, after all.
[Hey, didn’t Ahn Yoon-seung get wrecked as an F-Class too? Isn’t it possible another absurd monster popped up this time?]
Given all the information, the surprising injury of an S-Class Hunter becomes a more comprehensible situation.
[Wow, that could have been a huge disaster… So there was a monster that could injure an S-Class without anyone knowing.]
[If more time had passed, that place would have truly turned into chaos. There are hardly any Hunters stationed around.]
[Omg]
People soon developed a near-convincing theory.
They believed Kim Gi-ryeo must have encountered a terrifying monster inside that red cocoon.
In reality…
The difference was just that the dungeon boss wielded a tool.
“Achoo!”
So what?
Just as intended, Kim Gi-ryeo managed to keep the identity of his assailant unclear and easily deceived the public.
However, the reticence he had while trying to conceal theft began to be exaggerated…
● Real-time Trending Tags
#SeverelyInjured #OnSitePhoto #KimGiRyeo
About three hours later.
The internet was thrown into chaos again.
This was due to a certain Gampo resident uploading an unedited on-site photo of Kim Gi-ryeo’s injury.
[Wait, is that how bad it was???]
[No wonder there was such heavy pixelation on the broadcast.]
[Shocking, for real.]
The unaltered photo from the scene was indeed horrific.
The man in the image was skewered through his shoulder and torso with thick spears like iron bars.
As a result of the bleeding, his upper body showed no sign of being intact.
“Crazy….”
A Hunter is a profession that involves hunting monsters.
So naturally, getting injured often comes with the job…
Yet facing such stark realities, anyone would have to feel a sense of reassessment.
“Wait, even after getting so badly hurt, the victim has been enduring and cleaning up until now?”
As a result of this incident, Kim Gi-ryeo’s reputation flipped drastically.
[Tsk. Don’t those who badmouth such a person think at all?]
[ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
“Did you guys see the newly resurfaced news? The old man who found his granddaughter was interviewed. I almost teared up seeing him express his gratitude.”
With the dangerous nature of the job, it’s common for those in this line of work to prioritize saving their own skin.
There’s no sacrifice for a Hunter who has already passed.
Yet in this age, an S-Class Hunter went through all that bloodshed to recover a corpse…
“So touching. Truly.”
A little while later.
A local reporter from Gampo released a photo depicting Kim Gi-ryeo holding the deceased D-Class with care.
Upon seeing this image, even the Hunter’s haters began to change their attitudes one by one.
[We were the ones who were unreasonable.]
[Of course, it’s only natural for such a dignified person to see other beings as lesser.]
[Hello, this is the manager. This is now Kim Gi-ryeo’s fan cafe in Korea, and any posts that defame this Hunter will result in permanent ban. Good luck out there.]
People were left feeling like they had been hit on the head, filled with remorse.
During this process, netizens quickly found a new target to hurl their criticisms toward…
[Where did all those who used to insult Kim Gi-ryeo go? Haha.]
That’s just how cyberbullying works, right?
People began to mock past comments that had criticized Gi-ryeo, such as this example that sprouted everywhere.
————————————
[Title: Bet my ears he’ll be slacking off as a beastly man.]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
[COMMENT(40)]
ㄴPilgrimage site
ㄴHey
ㄴHaha
ㄴAre you Korea’s Van Gogh?
ㄴHaha
ㄴCome on, half-ear.
————————————
In just a few days, who could have predicted the opinion shift would turn out this way?
Ugh, rather than gaining a new body, my own body has met with misfortune! How did such unfortunate events happen…!
At the same time.
Kim Gi-ryeo sighed heavily, lamenting his fate.
He lost a corpse.
Medical bills piled up.
As he saw it, he had suffered significant losses from this incident.
“My precious time!”
Sniff sniff.
In that way, Gi-ryeo wiped his tears, entirely unaware that he was benefiting in some other way.
Moreover, come January 1st.
That month, an incident was about to occur that would further solidify this positive momentum…
[Terrifying ‘January’… Is another great upheaval approaching?]
[Nationwide Siren Warning]
[Expensive equipment proves useless… Hunters suffering from Sirens.]
