Chapter 9: 9

Kim Bongpal and Seo Hayeon (5)

 

The two returned home and packed their belongings. In the case of Kim Bongpal, there wasn’t much to take. All he had was the cheap knife he loved, and he was thinking of leaving the rest in the Yeonbaek Plain.

On the other hand, Seo Hayeon had quite a lot to pack. It was just a place to stay, but she’d spent quite a bit of time decorating their house in Yeonbaek Plain. Even here, some hunters would walk around here like these two.

Seo Hayeon received the supplies she needed through one of those groups during the prior years she spent in the Yeonbaek Plain. It was a world where you could have anything delivered if you had enough money. And while Seo Hayeon was broke, her uncle had a lot of money. The abandoned house when the two first arrived was now indistinguishable from a family home.

“Throw away this, take this…ah! I should take this too.”

In fact, she wouldn’t even want to use most of these items even if she brought them to Seoul. Except for the hunter equipment and consumables, there were only a few pieces of clothing Kim Bongpal gave her and the tableware they used. Besides, they looked like they had been used for several years already. It would be better to go back to Seoul and buy new ones. But nonetheless, Seo Hayeon took them.

She didn’t know why, but she wanted them.

“Kid, have you got everything?”

“Yes.”

And the two left the Yeonbaek Plain, but they didn’t go straight to Seoul.

“Uncle.”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t we stop by Ilsan first?”

Kim Bong-pal nodded.

Ilsan. This was where the 7-star monster starfish first appeared, and it was also the place where the starfish died. After it was exterminated and Ilsan restabilized, people, erected a monument in memory of the hunters who died. In other words, there was an incense altar dedicated to Seo Kang Jun. For Seo Hayeon, the meaning of that place was inevitably different.

The place where her father was and a place she hadn’t visited for five years. She could have visited it whenever she wanted; she had reached the level where she could cross from the Plain to Ilsan in two hours as soon as three years ago.

But she never visited. Kim Bongpal didn’t ask or wonder why. Still, he knew that it was the product of her resolve.

And on their brief road to Ilsan, Seo Hayeon pondered about whether she knew what she wanted now, why did she react the way she did to Kim Bongpal wanting to go back, and whether she really wanted to become a Hunter now.

Several questions ran through Seo Hayeon’s mind. After much thought, however, she had no answers. It was still difficult to answer those questions. Maybe she already had an answer but was trying hard to ignore it.

“Everyone is here.”

It didn’t take them long to reach Ilsan. Yeonbaek Plain and Ilsan weren’t that far away, and unlike when she started, Seo Hayeon now had reached a level where she could put mana in her feet.

The incense altar was located on the outskirts of Ilsan. As the two entered, a man who appeared to be an employee greeted them.

“Hello. I’m here to visit hunter Seo Kang Jun.”

“Oh! Yes. Over here.”

Seo Kang Jun was a pretty popular hunter. He was handsome, one of the few S-class in Korea, and his hunting performance was also the best. He also had a story that won sympathy from the public. Losing a family to a monster and fighting to support his young daughter was something many could sympathize with in the years following the Outbreak.

Moreover, his death was also tragic. To die in subjugating the starfish, a 7-star monster nearly bringing Ilsan to the brink of annihilation. It was only natural that the public was saddened by his passing. The government spared no effort to pay tribute to Seo Kang Jun’s death, calling it a righteous sacrifice.

Whether to pay tribute or for some other purpose, the government did its best to honor Seo Kang Jun. The amount of compensation returned to Seo Hayeon wasn’t small. It was small compared to the 20 billion won Seo Kang Jun owed to Aegis, but it was still a considerable amount.

Several of Seo Hayeon’s relatives coveted the reward. Fortunately, Hwang Dongpal was quite thorough in that respect, and he knew how to use the power he held. How they became quiet so quickly was something that Seo Hayeon didn’t know.

“It’s damn big.”

The two arrived in front of Seo Kang Jun’s incense altar. As Kim Bongpal said, it was huge, and a photograph of Seo Kang Jun was placed in the center. His name was inscribed beside it. Considering the number of hunters sacrificed at that time was around 40, it wasn’t a small honor. But no one could be pleased with such an honor.

“I’ll be smoking outside, so come out when you’re done.”

“Yes.”

Leaving Seo Hayeon behind, Kim Bongpal marched out.

Tsss-

“Whooph.”

Kim Bongpal, lighting a cigarette, then took a piece of paper from his pocket. Then he lit the paper as well.

This was the letter that Seo Hayeon handed to Kim Bongpal at Seo Kang Jun’s funeral long ago.

“Fuck. This wasn’t a profitable business.”

The original request was to take care of Seo Hayeon until she became an adult, and she became an adult two years ago. Kim Bongpal didn’t know why he had remained the following two years. He would say he just wanted to if he were pressed for answers.

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Tsss-

Kim Bongpal, who quickly burned the cigarette down to its butt, put another in his mouth. In a way, this was Kim Bongpal’s way of paying tribute. There was a time when a pack of cigarettes was more valuable than gold.

At that time, even Kim Bongpal had to smoke sparingly. However, there were times when he and the other hunters hadn’t spared a cigarette. Such as when they paid tribute to fellow hunters. It was the rules of the hunters who lived in that era.

Perhaps the reason why Kim Bongpal was still unable to quit smoking was because of the many deaths he had witnessed.

“I guess it’s not that good to be this old.”

Kim Bongpal glanced at the building. Seo Hayeon was coming out now through the hazy cigarette smoke.

She had a face that he liked to see, but he wasn’t talking about looks. Although it was her first time visiting her father’s grave in five years, he couldn’t see any trace of tears. Rather, her eyes were full of determination. It looked as if she had decided something.

It was a face more suited to a hunter than the A-class and S-class Hunters that only held the name.

Kim Bongpal thought when he saw Seo Hayeon sitting at Seo Kang Jun’s funeral.

“You grew up well. Fuck.”

She had grown up pretty well.

 

* * *

 

The two left the incense altar and headed to Seoul. If they had gone from Yeonbaek Plain to Seoul without stopping by Ilsan, it would have taken less than an hour and a half. However, Seo Hayeon hadn’t visited Ilsan or Seoul for five years. Ilsan wasn’t the only place that held sorrowful memories.

Her mother, whom she could only know through photos, and her father, Seo Kang Jun. It had all happened in Seoul. Even the monster haunts back on the Plain were better than those bitter memories.

“We’re here.”

Kim Bongpal stopped first.

Seoul. She looked at the city that seemed like a nightmare. During the five years she left Seoul, Seo Hayeon thought it had changed a lot. She, her uncle, and even the city.

Seoul was a bustling city even before Seo Hayeon left. During the reconstruction process of the Republic of Korea, the most important thing at the time was the restoration of Seoul. It has developed further and become more splendid over the past five years.

But Hayeon didn’t feel the changes when she saw such things.

People’s faces are so calm.

A smile hung on the lips of each person walking by on the street. Kim Bongpal didn’t feel odd, but it was a strange sight for Seo Hayeon, who lived her whole life in Seoul after the Outbreak.

“…Uncle.”

“Yeah. What?”

“Why are they all smiling?”

Kim Bongpal tilted his head. Why were they smiling? It was natural to smile…

“Fuck?”

Only then did Kim Bongpal realize what Seo Hayeon was talking about. After the Outbreak, had the people ever looked like this? Everyone tried hard to pretend happily, but behind it was a melancholy that couldn’t help but leak through. That was normal.

Although it was said to have stabilized, life with monsters that broke through the border at least once a month didn’t allow people to remain at ease. Yet the melancholy vanished.

“I think they all won the lottery. Just don’t bother with them and come quickly.”

It was true Kim Bongpal felt a bit weird about it but didn’t think too deeply. Just because people got a little happier didn’t mean he cared. However.

“What? What the fuck is that?”

There was news that even Kim Bongpal couldn’t remain apathetic about.

“Uncle, wait a minute. I-I’m sorry. So what you just said….”

“Gosh! How many times do I have to say?! What mountain are you coming from? How are you doing monster hunting these days? Where are the new monsters?”

The end of the monster era had arrived.

Kim Bongpal blinked repeatedly and looked at the placard hanging behind the employee.

[Congratulations on achieving 10,000 hours of no monster appearances.]

“Then what have we done so far? Fuck.”

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