In the world of the Awakened, a thief is nothing more than a herbivore.
The only things he possesses are techniques to steal slightly better. He has no ability to defend himself or attack anyone. No, even if he did, there was no way he could do anything against the strongest man standing before him.
Gulp.
Saliva slid down his throat.
Hunter Lee Hyunbin spoke casually.
“I met a frieeeeeend—!”
He suddenly began to sing.
‘What is going on?’
The thief trembled with fear. Was this a new method of arrest? Or was he trying to enjoy some entertainment before catching him?
“One hundred million years ago—! In the olden days—!”
The thief felt something strange. Hyunbin avoided his eyes as if he had not seen him at all. Then, he opened the gate.
‘He’s coming in here? No way…!’
The thief realized that this house belonged to Lee Hyunbin. Out of all the houses, why did he have to choose this one? He had once laughed while watching a story about a robber who broke into a police officer’s home.
‘I’m even worse!’
It wasn’t just any Hunter; it was the house of an S-rank Hunter. Breaking into a cop’s house was adorable by comparison.
Hyunbin entered the house. He looked around. Fearing he might be caught, the thief curled his body. If he could just blend into the darkness…
Just then, Hyunbin looked at the CCTV. The thief felt his heart drop. The mud he had thrown to prevent the CCTV from filming was falling to the ground in clumps.
“I miss you so much—! Searching for the mother I long for, let’s all go out together—!”
Once again, Hyunbin acted as if he had not seen the mud falling from the CCTV. His voice even seemed to get louder.
The thief felt like he was going crazy with fear. Hyunbin must have seen him, yet he reacted like that. His heart felt like it was about to turn into powder.
Suddenly, Hyunbin stood perfectly still. The thief’s heart began to thud wildly.
“…?”
Hyunbin suddenly started to dance.
‘Is it some kind of hunting ritual?’
The thief recalled rituals primitive tribes performed before a hunt. His teeth chattered as he shook. However, the dance was strange. For some reason, it felt familiar.
‘Those damn insiders are impossible to understand.’
Apparently, people were currently doing a challenge where they performed this dance to ward off ghosts.
—Where are there any ghosts? There might be monsters, though.
He remembered a conversation he had with a friend. In this era, it wasn’t difficult for citizens to see corpses if they put their minds to it. Because of that, many horror stories that would have been popular in the past were circulating again.
‘Wait, could it be…?’
The thief had a premonition. He remembered how the man had slightly avoided his eyes even though they had clearly made eye contact.
The thief pulled a transformation mask out of his bag and put it on. It was a mask he wore to avoid being identified, but since he was currently blended into the darkness, it might be unexpectedly useful.
“Hehehe.”
He laughed low. At that moment, the dancing Hyunbin flinched.
“Aaaaaah.”
The thief laughed low again. Then, he courageously stood up. Hyunbin slowly turned his head.
His eyes met the thief’s. Under the moonlight, a pale face with long hair fluttering…
Seeing that, Hyunbin’s expression turned rigid. Like someone who had seen nothing, he fled into the house.
“What, is he scared?”
The thief let out a fishy sneer.
“Of me?”
How long had he been chased by Guarders under the label of “Villain”? He was simply a righteous thief who stole from the rich and always donated 10% of his loot. The Guarders were the ones who had framed a righteous man like him as a villain. And among them was Lee Hyunbin, a Special Guard holding the highest position.
An opportunity to humiliate such a man had arrived. An opportunity to blow away the sorrow of righteous thieves like himself in a single stroke.
What was that? What was that just now?
A virgin ghost? A head like that was just floating around. And it was on my house wall! Until now, I thought I had misseen it. But that wasn’t it. I saw it clearly. Definitely!
I quickly took off my shoes and turned on the lights.
“Karin. Hey, Katrinne.”
‘Is she sleeping?’ The lights were off. It wasn’t that I was looking for her because I was scared. I just wanted to confirm if what I saw was real. Even now, a head was floating on the wall…
‘Why is that thing coming here?’
The floating head flew toward me. Outside the living room window, the head tried to come inside.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump.
The head worked hard to get inside. But it couldn’t.
“Pfft.”
A laugh escaped me. I extended my middle finger toward the ghost trying to enter my precious, cozy home and spoke.
“Hey, this is bulletproof glass!”
As expected, money proves its value. Since it was expensive glass, it was this good. Even a ghost couldn’t pierce bulletproof glass. I’m going to end up advertising this.
However, the creature slithered away and disappeared somewhere. Did it give up? Only then did I feel relieved and stand up. Come to think of it, this house is safe. How dare a mere ghost try to come inside?
My Karin is an Eye of Truth. An Eye of Truth! She can Turn Undead any monster of the undead type in one shot. Ghosts are basically like the undead.
Feeling relieved, I regretted not buying those Huggies Diapers Winged. It wasn’t that I intended to use them, but they might have been necessary for the exorcism. Yes, better safe than sorry.
Just then, the sound of someone knocking on the door echoed.
“Open it.”
It was a dismal voice.
“Open it!”
The knocking sound returned.
“Karin. Katrinne, are you sleeping?”
My voice trembled unintentionally. I called for my Karin, but there was still no answer. ‘Could she not be home?’
“Karin, do you want to have a late-night snack?”
The response came from the door.
Beep, beep.
The sound of a dial being pressed reached my ears. Then, the door that shouldn’t have opened swung wide.
“Open it!”
“It is open! You opened it, so why do you keep telling me to open it!”
The creature’s head bobbed back and forth as if it were excited. A ghost had entered my home. I believed in that glass! What should I do now? Should I run?
The ghost approached me with a wide grin.
“Are you scaaared of meee?”
With that hideous face and long hair fluttering instead of a neck… it was a situation where anyone would be terrified. I pulled a heating eye mask out of my Inventory. It was something I used when I was tired, and though it was disposable, it was comfortable. It allowed my eyes to rest.
“What are you doing?”
The ghost asked kindly. I put on the eye mask. The reason ghosts are scary is simple. It is because they are visible. If you can’t see them, there is no reason to be afraid.
I steadied my breathing. Then, I swung my fist broadly toward the direction where I felt the ghost’s presence.
Crack!
The impact landed.
“Gah!”
The ghost, who had been full of leisure until now, screamed. Another hit.
“Urgh!”
The impact on my hand felt good. I beat the ghost like a madman, as much as I was scared.
“Whew.”
When it went quiet, I took off the eye mask.
‘What’s with this guy?’
“Who are you…?”
“Hehe…”
A man wearing a strange tight suit sneered fishily and said, “I made a top-tier afraid. I can dominate emotions…!”
With those words, the man fainted. What is he, a lunatic?
[Special Guard Hunter Lee Hyunbin arrests self-proclaimed righteous thief Hong Gil-dong after a struggle.]
An article appeared in the newspaper. With this, my achievements increased by one again.
Whew… honestly, I’m afraid of my own power. At this rate, won’t my name become widely known as a modern-day great man?
That girl Karin was sleeping soundly even though such a thing happened last night. What would have happened if I hadn’t come back in time and caught him?
Those three foreign brothers are also a problem. If they’ve become knights, they should protect their master. Their master was in danger, yet they were all spread out and sleeping.
Because I had to do an interview regarding last night’s incident, the kids went to the Guild office by themselves. Once I get there, I’ll have to put them through some rigorous training. It’s definitely not revenge.
When I entered the team office, it was quite noisy. What was going on?
“Pahaha! Then the Coach did this!”
Karin mimicked the motion of kicking a shuttlecock with her right foot and rhythmically drew crosses to the left and right. This time, she mimicked the kick with her left foot and took steps while drawing crosses again.
It was the ghost-repelling cross dance.
“He pretended ‘not’ to see, hehe, but he actually had the whole dance memorized.”
“He’s totally uncool, isn’t he?”
At Karin’s words, Seohyeonji burst into laughter. It wasn’t just the two of them; everyone else was the same.
“The Boss sang a song. To forget his fear.”
The testimony of the foreigners followed.
“Pwahahaha!”
Someone was rolling around, clutching their stomach. It was a familiar blond head. Just then, Kim Inho’s eyes met mine. He began to tremble.
“And then the Coach goes, ‘This is bulletproof glass!’ Oh, man. I thought I was watching a movie.”
“Ahem. Hem.”
“Inho, what’s wrong? Did you catch a cold?”
“Cough, ahem.”
Everyone looked back. Then, as if they had all caught colds, they started coughing and scattered away from each other.
‘They were awake.’
When I was looking for them, not a single one came out.
“Where is everyone going?”
“I suddenly have something to do…”
“Let’s play with me.”
The three foreign brothers and Karin looked at me warily.
“I said, let’s play.”
I returned after letting the traitors experience a two hour short-term full course.
They worked so hard that they were practically sweating from their eyes. After squeezing them to the very end, I went up to the rooftop.
“Sigh.”
Why are there only people like this around me? Around someone with such great character like me.
‘Ah, there was one exception.’
There was one person who believed and followed my words implicitly, no matter what I said. They never talked behind my back. They did whatever I told them to do.
‘I wonder if that fellow is doing well.’
They were quite capable too. Even if they were an Elf.
There was a woman walking through a Subspace where nothing could be seen. Much courage was needed to enter this place. It was a time she had chosen carefully, picking the Day of Revelation. She had waited for over ten years.
After he left, many things changed. Each time the achievements he had built collapsed, humanity moved closer to the path of destruction.
‘Once I pass through here, the Hero will be…’
The woman with beautiful green hair steeled her resolve once more. She walked through the space where she couldn’t see even an inch ahead, and then she walked some more. It was impossible to tell how long she had been walking there. It felt as if all her senses had been paralyzed.
And finally.
Light began to appear. Her eyes, not yet adapted to the light, stung so much she couldn’t see ahead properly. However, if she moved forward, she could have the reunion she had dreamed of with the Hero.
Once her eyes adjusted and the dark tunnel disappeared, the green-haired woman looked around. There were many people with black hair. Just like the Hero.
‘This is the place where the Hero was born and raised.’
Her eyes felt like they were turning red. It was a Concrete Jungle, different from where she lived. People were living huddled together within it. Although the System she had been connected to was damaged, the translation and knowledge systems were partially activating.
The conversations of the people she hadn’t understood before began to sound familiar.
“What’s with that woman?”
“She probably came to do game cosplay.”
“She’s a nerd, but she’s pretty. I’d go for it.”
“No way. Aren’t you considering her position? Show some consideration for others.”
She looked around. Coming through the dimensions via the Ancient Gate was fine. However, passing through the dimensions didn’t mean she would end up right next to where the Hero was.
‘The System is damaged, so I can’t use skills.’
The System had been damaged while crossing dimensions. It was a shame because if she could use telepathy or tracking skills, she could at least find the Hero’s whereabouts. Still, she was satisfied. She could finally meet the Hero.
Clutching her pounding heart, she asked the people around her to find out where the Hero was.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry…”
“Ah, yes? Me?”
The man flinched when a woman in an Elf cosplay spoke to him.
“Do you happen to know where the Hero is?”
The man was flustered by the cosplayer’s strange concept.
“Um… what do you mean by Hero?”
“The savior who protects this world and makes it prosperous.”
The man’s reaction was strange. He fled the spot quickly as if he were escaping. She questioned other people as well.
“Excuse me, do you know the Hero?”
“Does anyone know where the Hero is?”
“The Hero always saves us.”
She asked several times, but no one answered her. She fell into a predicament. Communication was fine, but it was difficult to confirm the Hero’s whereabouts. It was strange.
‘Could it be that this isn’t the dimension where the Hero is?’
She felt a sense of dismay. For now, feeling hungry, she sat on a park bench and ate the Elf’s Rations. Fortunately, it was a meal that provided vitality even with a small amount. The journey to find the Hero was likely to be difficult.
‘No, the Hero must be here. Let’s stay strong and find him!’
After wandering, she spent that night sleeping outdoors in the park.