Chapter 50 – Fame (1)

“Hello….”

-Yes, hello. This is 112.

A woman of unknown age parted her lips.

“I’m at 21 Hwaseo-dong…. I’d like to order two large black bean noodles, one regular, and one large sweet and sour pork, for delivery.”

-Hello?

“Yes….”

The dispatcher was momentarily taken aback by the sudden delivery order.

It could be a wrong number or a prank call. But she had to double-check, just in case, for that one sliver of a possibility.

-To be precise, you need two large orders of black bean noodles, one regular, and one large sweet and sour pork, is that correct?

The woman answered the dispatcher’s question in a low voice.

“Yes…. Please bring it quickly.”

The call disconnected.

The dispatcher immediately made another call.

“This is the dispatch center. We may have a hostage situation in the Hwaseo-dong area. I repeat.”

A police officer disguised as a deliveryman knocked on the door of the reported house. His colleagues readied their pistols to engage in case of an emergency.

“Delivery’s here.”

After he knocked again, a woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties cautiously opened the door.

“P-please just leave it in front of the door….”

The woman’s voice trembled. He could sense someone standing behind her.

“I could just bring it inside for you.”

“Please, just leave it out front….”

As if threatened by the culprit behind her, the woman wouldn’t open the door any wider.

“Alright, then, I’ll just leave it right…!”

As the officer bent down to set the delivery container on the ground, he yanked the door wide open.

“Hands up!”

The officer raised a taser gun to threaten the criminal.

As he shielded the victim, other officers who were on standby nearby moved in to apprehend the culprit.

The man, who looked to be in his early thirties, casually raised his hands and glanced around. His demeanor was far too relaxed.

His behavior triggered something in the officer’s mind.

‘An Awakened.’

The officer fired the taser at the man.

*Thwack.*

The taser’s electric prongs failed to penetrate his skin.

A crack formed on the lips of the impassive thirty-something man.

“What’s this? I had my hands up, and you shot me?”

“It’s an Awakened! Requesting backup from the Gaders…!”

“Aaaah!”

The female victim screamed.

The officer tried to fire the taser again at the culprit—no, the Villain who was charging at him—but was struck in the face.

The blow to his head sent the officer collapsing to the floor.

“Hello, friends. Is it okay to just barge into someone’s newlywed home like this?”

An ordinary person cannot defeat an Awakened.

The four officers dispatched to the scene were swiftly subdued, and the woman in her thirties, who had tried to escape, was once again grabbed by the back of her neck by the Villain and dragged back into what was once her happy home.

The problem was that they had stumbled upon an Awakened criminal.

News that a Villain had taken hostages spread like wildfire.

The police SWAT team was dispatched, as were the Gaders from the disaster agency. The Villain merely scoffed at the police forces blockading the house.

“Ugh, even if you’re an Awakened, you can’t escape…. Let the hostage go… Gaaah!”

An officer urged the criminal to surrender, only to have a kitchen knife stabbed through the back of his hand.

“Worry about yourself, you bastard.”

“How absurd. All we have to do is grab the money and run, you know?”

The Villains were a couple.

They were in their mid-twenties. In exchange for gaining superhuman powers through some chance event, they had begun to dabble in crime.

“Should I tell them my girl’s power? Huh?”

“Aww, don’t tell them.”

“What does it matter? They’re all gonna die anyway.”

At the male Villain’s words, the woman in her thirties trembled while tied up. The other officers did as well. The couple’s gazes were like those looking at animals, not people.

“I can turn my body into steel, and my girl here can turn herself and anyone she touches invisible.”

“!”

“So no matter how long you wait here, you can’t catch us, you idiot.”

Hearing the Villain’s words, the detective bit his lip hard.

“Yeah, I told you because I wanted to see that reaction. You’re all going to die anyway. I could let you live. Yeah. But I’m going to kill you. Why? Because I get experience points.”

The Villain cackled as he spoke. To celebrate, he popped open a bottle of beer, chugged it down, and waited for the cash bag to arrive.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

A knock sounded at the door.

The male Villain gave the female Villain a look. She pressed a knife to the thirty-something woman’s throat.

“Leave the money in front of the door and get lost!”

Despite the male Villain’s words, the knocking sound came again.

“I said leave the bag and scram!”

“Excuse me, sorry about this.”

The door opened.

The male Villain felt a surge of displeasure at the person who had ignored his command and opened the door.

How dare he.

The man with a sturdy build continued speaking with a smooth smile on his face.

“Hello. I’m an aspiring villain. I was so captivated by your profound aura of evil that I felt a sense of depraved attraction. Are you, by any chance, hiring?”

“What kind of bullshit is this?”

The man walked into the house without permission. At that moment, the thirty-something woman screamed. The female Villain had pressed the knife so tightly against the victim’s neck that a trickle of blood ran down.

“Can’t you see we have a hostage? Huh? You want to see this poor, innocent woman die because of you?”

“Whoa there, calm down, sir.”

“You look like an Awakened, too. Are you a Gader? I don’t know what kind of powers you have, but if you act up, a lot of people here could die.”

At the male Villain’s words, the Gader waved his hands and laughed awkwardly.

“I am a Gader, that’s true, but the job prospects on the villain side look promising. Do you offer the big four social insurances? What about benefits? Is there a set retirement age?”

It was a clumsy attempt at a joke.

He wasn’t stupid enough to not realize the man was trying to draw attention and buy time.

He had plenty of hostages anyway. The female Villain moved to slit the throat of the hostage she held.

In that instant, the female Villain felt a sense of emptiness. The hostage she had been holding was gone.

Not only that, but the tied-up police officers had all vanished as well.

“Ah, I don’t think the salary will work for me. I’ll have to pass on the job offer.”

“You son of a bitch! What the hell!”

The Gader walked forward, pulling on a pair of open-fingered gloves.

The man charged at the Gader, swinging his fist.

The Gader simply tilted his chin up, narrowly dodging the attack.

*Crack!*

The Gader’s low kick flew out.

The male Villain bared his teeth in a grin. During combat, his Iron Armor skill activated automatically.

A clumsy hit would only hurt the opponent. No, it would break their bones.

But the male Villain felt his world turn upside down.

*Thud!*

A single low kick sent the male Villain spinning in the air before he was slammed into the floor.

“Aaargh! My leg!”

“Tsk, tsk. Such a drama queen.”

“You crazy bastard!”

Seeing her partner taken down in one hit, the female Villain frantically used her invisibility skill.

There was no way they, as mere Awakened, could ever be a match for a properly trained Hunter.

After hastily using her invisibility skill, the female Villain steadied her breathing and tried to cautiously slip out of the house.

“…”

The female Villain saw the Gader looking directly at her.

She carefully shifted her position to the side, but he was still staring straight at her.

“Don’t waste your mana. Come here before you get hurt for no reason.”

“Okay.”

***

Leveling up certainly made using my skills feel a bit more comfortable.

The sudden spike in my Synchronization Rate gave me a lot of new skills, and I struggled a bit to get used to them.

So, I used my authority as a special Gader to explore various dungeons. It was literally a season for leveling up.

Thanks to that, I reached level 50 in just one week.

Considering the average level for a Hunter in Korea is 35, it’s an incredibly fast pace, but I can’t be satisfied with this.

My level used to be 100, after all.

“Ah, so you’re a native Korean.”

“Yes, that’s right….”

“You know, I’m somewhat acquainted with the Company Man. A shame you’re not friends.”

“If you could just let us go this one time…!”

Not all Villains are cut from the same cloth, I see.

The male and female Villains I just caught seemed to be level 5 at best. More importantly, their combat abilities were pathetic.

That Company Man fellow was, at least, different from these small fries.

“You know, the Gaders are supposedly short-staffed, so we were thinking of heading that way….”

The male and female criminals I just caught were spouting nonsense.

“I’ve been a huge fan ever since I started reading articles about you, Oppa.”

The female Villain said with a giggle.

I know for a fact she’s much older than me, yet she calls me Oppa.

They say you can’t spit on a smiling face. But I think I could probably throw a punch.

“Hunter-nim, are we good now?”

“Ah, yes. I’ve confirmed everything I needed to. You can take them away.”

The two were arrested and dragged away. Their criminal records will be checked, and they’ll receive punishment to match.

They might even be offered a reduced sentence in exchange for clearing dungeons.

“Thank you. Thank you so much…!”

The young couple who had been suddenly attacked came to express their gratitude to me.

“I was just doing my job.”

My inventory ability is certainly versatile. Hostage situations are useless against me.

-Synchronization Rate has increased by 1%.

By saving people, the system clearly recognizes the good deed, and my Synchronization Rate rises.

Thanks to that, my current Synchronization Rate has now surpassed 52%.

As I left the scene of the incident, I saw the spectating citizens cheering.

Hearing the cheers, nearby merchants also came out of their shops. The same went for reporters and news crews.

“Hunter Lee Hyunbin! We heard you played a crucial role in apprehending the Villains just now!”

I was getting somewhat used to dealing with reporters and citizens by now.

I once thought it would be amazing to draw a crowd everywhere you go, like celebrities do.

But experiencing it firsthand, it doesn’t seem all that great.

It feels like my every move is being monitored.

I’ve cleared all the nearby dungeons, and there are no reports about Villains.

‘Hmm, maybe I’ll head to the guild.’

Since my schedule was free for the first time in a while, I headed to the guild.

I passed through the guild lobby and entered the Team 3 office, but none of my team members were there.

“Oh, Team Leader. It’s been a while since you’ve been in.”

“Hello.”

An employee from the Operations Support department in charge of Team 3 greeted me cheerfully.

“I’ve been busy, so I couldn’t check, but has my team been training well?”

“Of course. They were so diligent they even bought me a chocolate latte every day.”

Hearing her words, I slowly made my move.

“Here, take this.”

“Oh my.”

“I promise you, this thing has the power to make your blood sugar explode.”

“Hehe. Hunter Kim In-ho is working hard, but Hunter Kim Tae-yang was throwing a fit, saying he was sick of training and wanted to go out into the field.”

Just as I thought.

“He was all excited today, saying he convinced the diligent Hunter Kim In-ho to go dungeon riding with him.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. The chocolate you give is a limited edition, so it’s extra tasty.”

Kim Tae-yang. I’ve got you right where I want you. You probably didn’t expect a living CCTV, even when I was away.

“Oh, right. Team Leader.”

She asked as she skillfully unwrapped a piece of chocolate.

“You had some mail. Should I bring it to you?”

“Mail?”

Was I expecting any mail?

“What is it?”

“It’s an invitation to a class reunion.”

So, it has finally come. The almighty reunion.

The one that’s bound to happen whenever someone makes it big.

Wait, do people actually still do these things?

Of course, school ties and regional connections are important, but they weren’t that meaningful in high school, were they?

Besides, I never even graduated from high school.

Let me try to remember anyone.

I even tried to recall if I had a first love.

Hmm. Nothing. I can’t remember anyone.

When I close my eyes and think, the only friends from past connections that come to mind are the cheerful bunch from the fantasy world.

Maybe they’re so impactful because they all died.

I don’t know.

“What should I do with it?”

At the employee’s question, I gave her a bright smile and replied.

“Please shred it.”