Chapter 646 – Three Rewards (1)

“Aaaaah!”

“It’s a monster wave! “Run away!”

… It’s been a while, I had a dream from quite a long time ago.

Before I first gained awakening ability and became a hunter, it was a nightmare I had almost once a week.

It was a dream I barely had since I gained the awakening ability and started officially hunting monsters.

In a familiar space that I had not seen in a long time, my mind naturally recognized this sight as a dream.

‘Keeeeek!’

-Thump, coogung, thud!

Chuncheon, Gangwon-do. An amusement park located in what is now called an abandoned village.

A monster wave started from the basement of a factory near the amusement park.

A giant turtle-like monster with a hard and sharp shell on its back, and all kinds of other miscellaneous creatures that came out together.

“Jump! Jump out quickly!”

“Honey! Where is Hyunwoo?! Our Hyunwoo!”

“Ugh! Dadaaaaa!!”

‘Keeeeek!!’

… Colorful screams from all kinds of people everywhere. And the huge roar of an even bigger monster.

People who run away from monsters and stumble somewhere or trip over their own feet. And a group of Treralodons approaching those people.

And, when my legs were frozen to the floor in indescribable fear, people were being swallowed whole by the monster right before my eyes…

‘No, no.’

I couldn’t just watch this scene forever.

What on earth have I been building up my strength for?

It was so that I could respond properly when a situation like this came before my eyes one day.

In this dream, there is no longer Seong Tae-kyung, a ten-year-old child who cannot do anything.

The only one there is Seong Tae-kyung, a 23-year-old S-class hunter.

-Booooong.

After swinging the mithril greatsword taken from the subspace pocket once in the air, he approached the Trallodon that was gaping at the people and thrust it at him.

The mithril greatsword surrounded by my energy cut the giant monster’s neck in two, up and down, and dropped it.

-Cow!

With this, one.

Without stopping, it immediately flew to another Trallodon and repeated the same action. I was the only one in this place who could properly deal with this guy.

Two, three, four.

It didn’t matter whether ten or twenty came. Anyway, they were all cut down with a single sword the moment they faced my great sword.

In some cases, I threatened those that my sword could not reach with fire magic, or temporarily blocked their movement with plant magic.

Those running away were given the protection of speed and made to leave the scene as much as possible.

Troublesome mobs that weren’t Treralodon were killed with javelins and arrows, and if that wasn’t enough, blades nearby were thrown away.

The huge amusement ride that collapsed was frozen using cold magic. Although it was a temporary measure, the goal was to buy time to escape anyway.

I could easily block a monster wave of this scale on my own.

We were able to save everyone we could see without missing a single one.

The abandoned factory in Area A will not yet turn into a lake and be submerged, so if we move quickly, we will be able to block the dungeon in this area.

Now, by using purification, I am resistant to quite a few poisons, and even if I get hurt, I can just use a recovery spell.

As I was moving around alone in my dream, I was able to encounter a three-headed basilisk in a place that would have been Area A of the abandoned village.

They used swords, magic, and all other means to bring him to death.

There is no longer an abandoned village dungeon incident that caused hundreds of casualties and created tens of thousands of refugees.

Because now I have enough ability to block the monster wave on my own.

‘Yes, because I have this power.’

A terrible nightmare that has tormented me for over ten years.

However, this nightmare I had not seen in a long time was no longer a threat to me.

Now, the person who remains in this dream is not the helpless child Seong Tae-kyung.

The person standing here now was Seong Tae-kyung, the company’s S-class hunter.

That won’t change in the future.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“… After all, was it a dream?”

A few days have passed since I enjoyed a half-day date with Cheon Ji-hee.

It felt like I was having an old nightmare for the first time in a long time, something I rarely had since I started my life as a full-fledged hunter.

The incident in which the abandoned village was turned into a dungeon and my parents lost their lives to a trallodon.

It was a terrible nightmare that had plagued me once a week for over ten years.

“I haven’t really dreamed of it since I started being a hunter…”

It was a dream I had almost a year ago. But the good news is that today’s dream wasn’t just a nightmare.

In my dream today, I was Seong Tae-kyung, who was able to control the monster wave in the abandoned village and block the dungeon, not the me who was helpless and despairing after losing my parents every time.

It was the first time I didn’t have to see people dying in my dreams.

Not only that, it was also a dream where I saved everyone with my sword and my hands.

You could say it was simply a sight I saw in a dream, but for me, today’s dream definitely had a different meaning.

Starting to dream of becoming a hunter and setting a vain goal of creating a world where no one gets killed by monsters all started from the nightmare of that day.

Today, when I became a hunter and defeated that nightmare for the first time, I felt like I had definitely grown compared to before.

“… “I guess it’s because it’s a day.”

In many ways, today was going to be a special, unforgettable day for me, so it might have been natural to remember the dream that was buried in such old memories.

It’s been about a month and a half since the day I defeated the boss monster in the abandoned village and liberated the dungeon area.

Finally, I became an S-class hunter.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Although he grandiosely said that he had become an S-class hunter, there was nothing in particular that changed his daily life or anything like that.

In fact, the only impression I have is that the documents related to S-class hunters have finally been repaired.

I had already heard from the boss several times a month ago that I would be promoted to S-class, so I had no reason to doubt it, and as I continued to live as a hunter and satisfy my sexual desires as usual, the date for my promotion to S-class hunter was approaching.

‘What… Moving up from A level to A+ level and rising from A+ level to S level are two completely different problems…’

Unlike A+ level hunters, who can be promoted at their discretion by meeting the internal standards set within the guild, level S level and higher require promotion permission from the International Hunter Association.

Since he was an awakened person at a level related to the national power itself and had to carry out cooperative operations between countries in times of emergency, an S-class hunter was not only a national level, but a world-class human resource.

Since an S-class hunter cannot be given to just anyone, the selection process also becomes ridiculously difficult.

In fact, from the S level onwards, they were almost at the same level as national public figures. They only spoke of being public figures, but their actual status was somewhat similar to that of famous celebrities. Except that the celebrity has the power to compete one-on-one with an S-class monster.

S-class hunters do not necessarily belong to government guilds, and most of them simply remain in the guild they were active in and only change the terms of the contract.

In addition, from the S level onwards, you are quite free from various restrictions, so there are no restrictions even if you do not belong to a guild or create a personal guild.

In addition, there were quite a few conveniences only for S-class hunters when living as a hunter. Of course, it was the first place to be called in in case of a national emergency.

‘Until two months ago, I was only a B-class hunter.’

It was surprising that he was promoted to three levels at once, but that was a straight move from B-level to S-level, which was definitely the first in the history of Korean hunters.

Considering that even CEO Seo Ok-hee in her prime took three years to rise from B-level to S-level, this record will probably never be broken.

It was an unprecedented case not only in Korea but also around the world for a male hunter to be promoted to S-class, so of course the two weeks from the day of official promotion were busy in many ways. Although it was not as great as the time when he first came to the media’s attention as a male awakened hunter after coming back from an abandoned village.

At that time, there were more than one reason for attention to me, so I had no choice but to be very busy with various things, and compared to that now, it felt relatively relaxed.

The activities of a male awakened hunter were covered by the media for the first time, he defeated the boss monster of an abandoned village that had occupied the country for a long time, and he also faced embarrassment once in the past when it was revealed that he was a B-class hunter as well as a man.

There was already quite a bit of public opinion that it was not strange for me, a hunter who had even killed a three-headed basilisk, to receive an S rank.

Of course, there were people who did not truly believe that I was a male awakener or that I had the skills of an S-class hunter, so my actions over the past two weeks were to participate in various broadcast activities to prove myself.

“Saturday Saturday is Hunter! Today, we will be with Eun and Jade Co., Ltd.’S A+ class party, Azure Shield!”

“Hello~. This is Kang Hye-eun, the leader of the Azure Shield. And this is Seong Tae-kyung, our party’s first point and next leader.”

“Hey, go, Kang Hye-eun. “Is this being recorded now?”

“It’s not a recording, it’s a live broadcast. Have you never seen Totohun?”

“You know we don’t have a TV at home…」

I also covered the Azure Shield on broadcasts such as ‘Saturday, Saturday is Hunter’, which broadcasts hunters’ hunting scenes live.

National Bubble Sex Taekyung: Male multiple awakener? He’s a fraud. At best, it looks like they are paying money to do special filming and acting.

└ㅇㅇ(211.207): ㄹㅇㅋ. The synthesis was so obvious that it was ridiculous. The only people who don’t recognize this are idiots or idiots.

└└ㅇㅇ(11.002): I am a current company hunter and that is real. Seong Tae-kyung is already famous within the company. On days when he goes to work, he also works as a healer almost every evening. Azure Shield was originally at A level, but after he joined, it became A+ level.

└└ㅇㅇ(11.002): ㅇㅇ The above statement is correct. I also received treatment, and she treated me with much more care than most female therapists. Originally, I only went to get treatment for the stab wound in my leg, but I was touched when I saw that they looked after my throbbing wrist and stiff shoulder.

└└└National Bubble Seong Tae-kyung: Haha, these idiots are all company hunters, right? What is it without certification?

└└└└ㅇㅇ(11.002): Asshole, 11.002 is the company IP.

└└└└ㅇㅇ(39.7): I was the one who was screwed haha.

In addition, I received a lot of positive effects thanks to the company’s hunters voluntarily sharing stories about my activities as a healer at work on the Internet.

To be honest, it wasn’t that I worked hard because I wanted to make a good impression, but rather that I treated various minor injuries to test the effectiveness of my recovery spell.

Because of the blessings I have received, I will continue to work as a company therapist in the future.

And, of all the incidents that calmed down negative public opinion, the one that had the greatest effect was Lulucia mentioning me in a broadcast interview.

「… So, then, Saint Lulucia participated in the purification work with Hunter Seong Tae-gyeong until that morning, and then she also participated in the battle to subdue the Three-Headed Basilisk?”

「Yes~! Taekyung is a really great hunter! “It hasn’t been that long since we met, but he is my best friend!”

“Oh, to the extent that the saintess says Hunter Seong Tae-kyung is her best friend…」

“Ah, it’s not a saint, it’s Lucia…」

Because of her special status as a saint, Lulucia often appears in the media, and perhaps because of the fact that I was an S-class hunter, Lulucia at an official meeting was asked questions about me.

In many ways, the controversy over my qualifications as an S-class hunter died down quite quickly thanks to Lulucia singling out me and referring to me as an ‘indispensable friend.’

Most people probably think that it would be much better to get drunk on ‘Korean hunter Seong Tae-kyung recognized by her saint’ rather than refute what she, the saint of Vatican City, says.

Thanks to these various events, the controversy over my S-class qualifications subsided quite quickly, and fortunately, my daily life was able to regain the same peace as before within two weeks.

… Well, since awareness has changed once more, I can’t say it’s completely the same as before.

“Hello, Hunter Seong Taekyung!”

“Oh, hello.”

“Senior Taekyung Seong, are you going to work at the treatment room this evening?”

“Huh. I think I’ll probably do it. I think I’ll only be there for about two hours…”

“Yes! Thank you for telling me!”

Every time I go to work, the employees and other hunters recognize me and greet me warmly. On the days when I go to the treatment room, there are a lot more hunters than usual lining up to take care of my injuries.

Although there were many positive changes, they were really minor compared to the hardships I experienced when I debuted as the world’s first male awakened hunter.

It was not long after that that something truly changed my daily life.