Chapter 31: The Livestream

Zombies and skeletons were staggering out of the Gate, their dripping rotten flesh and rattling bones filling the onlookers with repulsion. The unique contamination process caused by the undead already began to take effect, turning the ground around them black.

"What the fuck!"

This was only a C-Class Gate, which meant that the level of those monsters coming out should be manageable. However, when faced with the horde of undead corrupting the land with each step that they took, Yoo Seh-Eun was nervous.

The second sibling mustered her courage and shouted, "Prepare for battle!"

This wasn't just a monster hunt, but a battlefield. They would have to fend off dozens or even hundreds of monsters before the battle was over.

The other Hunters had unconsciously fallen into a state of fear, only coming back to their senses upon hearing her shout. These Hunters who had already surrounded the Gate right as the Break began stepped forward with their weapons gripped tightly.

Just as they had all braced themselves for the oncoming charge, a voice amplified by a loudspeaker rang out behind the line of Hunters. "And where are you all going?"

Those who unconsciously turned around to look saw that a small commotion had broken out.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?!" a Hunter stammered.

Kim Ki-Rok innocently replied, "Me? I'm just holding a livestream?"

"Who said you could do that?!" questioned the angry Hunter.

"I did? Is there any reason why I shouldn't do a livestream?" Kim Ki-Rok asked rhetorically. "Though more importantly, shouldn't you answer my question first?"

There was still a sense of tension floating in the air, as the battle might break out at any moment, but everyone's attention was still being drawn to the commotion in the rear.

"It seems like the battle will begin soon, so where exactly are you going, Hunter Bae Seong-Min?" Kim Ki-Rok questioned, taking a moment to provide context to his viewers. "A C-Class Hunter from the Shooting Star Guild."

Upon hearing the name of this moderately famous Hunter, the onlookers became even more invested.

Kim Ki-Rok turned back to address the Hunter. "You may have awakened at the late age of twenty-nine years old, but after obtaining a C-Class ability, you have shown rapid growth. The Shooting Star Guild decided that you were a promising prospect, and you were able to become a C-Class Hunter in a short amount of time with their support. So... don't you think that you should answer me, Hunter Bae Seong-Min?"

"D-do you know who I am?" Hunter Bae Seong-Min stuttered in both fear and anger.

"I know everything about you." Kim Ki-Rok ominously revealed, "I know your address, I know your phone number, I even know which team from your guild you hunt with. Also... ah, dear viewers, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask for your understanding for a few moments while I mute the livestream. We need to discuss a private matter."

With that polite apology, Kim Ki-Rok turned off the microphone on his livestreaming app.

He began to speak in a voice so low that only Bae Seong-Min should have been able to hear him. "

Ahem!

I also happen to know who your fiancée is, Hunter Bae Seong-Min. As well as the identity of the fellow Hunter from your guild who you've been meeting in secret—"

"

Uwaaaah!

S-stop! Stop talking! Just tell me what you want!"

Kim Ki-Rok calmly smiled. "All I want is for you to return to the front line and fulfill your duty as a Hunter. If you do that, then neither your fiancée nor your fellow Hunter from the Shooting Star Guild will ever need to know about any of this. Deal?"

Bae Seong-Min suddenly realized something. "Hey, you son of a bitch! What's the point of muting the livestream! Everyone here has already heard what you just said!"

Kim Ki-Rok might have been speaking in a low voice, but a Hunter's physical senses were much sharper than those belonging to ordinary humans. Everyone around them continued listening in on their private conversation with eager expressions.

Because they all had to ready themselves for the imminent battle, no one was actively staring at the ongoing argument, but even the Hunters who were standing at the very forefront had their ears pricked up as they focused on eavesdropping as best they could.

Kim Ki-Rok waved off Bae Seong-Min's concerns. "Come on now. At least I'm not revealing your secrets live. If I did, you would definitely appear on the list of top 100 hated Hunters in all of Korea, maybe even the world."

"H-how dare you pull something like this, you bastard? You really want to become an enemy of the Shooting Star Guild?" Bae Seong-Min threatened.

Kim Ki-Rok simply smirked. "Heeeeey, when did I ever say that I wanted to become an enemy of the Shooting Star Guild? All I'm doing is urging Hunter Bae Seong-Min, who was trying to flee the battle, to do his duty."

Bae Seong-Min's entire face was beet red with anger, but he didn't dare to make any reckless moves. There were currently too many eyes on them.

On top of that, if he couldn't take down Kim Ki-Rok in a single blow, he wouldn't be able to handle what was to come. Kim Ki-Rok may have muted the microphone, but if it was turned back on and Bae Seong-Min started yapping some more nonsense, his life would definitely be over. At the very least, he would be socially ostracized.

Murmurs from the Hunters surrounding them filled the air.

"Wow! He's so screwed."

Bae Seong-Min was in line to become the next ace of the Shooting Star Guild and had already made a name for himself as a handsome celebrity Hunter.

In private, however, he had a problem living up to his reputation. There had been many rumors about what he had gotten up to before Awakening, and he had apparently become quite the horndog after that.

When getting engaged to the third-generation heiress of a family-owned conglomerate, he claimed to have straightened up his relationships with other women, but that was all just talk.

As the old proverb went, a habit formed by the age of three will last until you're eighty-three years old. As if to prove it wasn't just a turn of phrase, he still secretly dated numerous women.

Bae Seong-Min gritted his teeth. "Do you really think that you can get away with something like this?"

"

Hohoho.

Do you really think that I have any second thoughts over something as insignificant as this? Now then, please head back to the front line. Chop chop." Kim Ki-Rok rushed him.

"Hey! You're not just picking a fight with the Shooting Star Guild, you're challenging one of the top ten corporations in all of Korea!" Bae Seong-Min shouted.

Raising a brow, he replied, "So one of the top ten corporations in all of Korea would quarrel with our DG Guild just because of one Hunter like you, Mister Bae Seong-Min? Do you really think so?"

"D...G?" Bae Seong-Min scowled. "Why would they be scared of a mere guild?"

Kim Ki-Rok chuckled once more. "Our DG Guild is actually a small scale, brand-new startup guild, so it wouldn't be strange to call it a 'mere' guild. However..."

Bae Seong-Min's scowl deepened. "Huh?"

Kim Ki-Rok continued with a smile, "However, we have a strong relationship with the Hunters Association, and we're friendly with both the A-Class Shine Guild and the most famous guild in Daegu, the Golden Lion Guild. Would one of the top ten corporations in all of Korea—currently trying to break into in the Hunter industry—really want to get into a fight with our DG Guild over something like this? Especially when our name has already spread to about three-tenths of all the people in South Korea..."

As Hunter Bae Seong-Min frowned in concern, Kim Ki-Rok just smirked. "We might be small, but we are quite famous," he said, humming thoughtfully. "

Hmm,

a brand-new guild raising concerns over the tyranny of the larger guilds... That seems like it would work as a good title for the thumbnail..."

"Fuck," Bae Seong-Min cursed through gritted teeth.

With that, Kim Ki-Rok knew that he had won. "You'd better scurry back to where you were supposed to be in the first place. Quickly now. I can see that a lot of Hunters there are already staring at you with eyes screaming for help, Hunter Bae Seong-Min. Chop chop."

Bae Seong-Min's fists were trembling in anger, but he knew that Kim Ki-Rok was right. He may have spoken disparagingly of the DG Guild, but as he had mentioned, this guild wasn't something to be taken lightly.

It was an indisputable fact that the DG Guild had gained a lot of fame by arresting the S-Class criminal, Ma Ak-Soo, alongside the likes of the Shine Guild and the Golden Lion Guild. If such a famous guild pulled a stunt and started playing the victim for the media, the Shooting Star Guild wouldn't be able to come up with any good responses.

So would the Shooting Star Guild and his fiancée's conglomerate really risk the danger of offending the DG Guild over him?

And even if Hunter Bae Seong-Min decided to take the risk to go against the DG Guild, this damned bastard would surely go around spreading all of his secrets, making it a strong possibility that his fiancée would abandon him.

Kim Ki-Rok sighed. "You won't be able to get out of it in any case, so what's the point of all this hesitation?"

Bae Seong-Min was taken aback. "What?"

He shrugged and said, "Though I've muted the microphone, the livestream is still going on even now. And I've already introduced you to all of my viewers, Hunter Bae Seong-Min. There have also been a lot of comments posted about you."

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Bae Seong-Min snarled. "You son of a bitch, I'll kill—"

"Did you know that I was there on the front lines when Ma Ak-Soo was being subdued?" Kim Ki-Rok reminded him.

From the very start of their conversation until this very moment, the smile had yet to leave Kim Ki-Rok's face, but Bae Seong-Min now felt a strange sense of pressure exuding from him.

In the end, Bae Seong-Min tucked his tail and returned to the front.

After watching his back recede into the distance, Kim Ki-Rok turned his attention back to the smartphone floating in the air, which had been streaming the whole scene.

He switched the microphone back on and apologized to his viewers, "Oh my, I'm sorry for taking so long."

⤷ So you've managed to convince Hunter Bae Seong-Min.

⤷ It was because he was caught by your livestream, wasn't it?

⤷ That's probably the case. His name was revealed on a livestream being watched by thousands of people. If he still insisted on running away even then, he'd be nothing but a traitor.

"Hey now. Isn't it too harsh to call him a traitor. At most, he would be a deserter," Kim Ki-Rok chided.

⤷ Lololololol.

⤷ Lololololol.

Kim Ji-Hee, who had been left blinking to herself in confusion because of the long and extremely difficult to understand conversation, suddenly piped up. "A deserter?"

Kim Ki-Rok crouched down to her eye level and explained, "It means a bad person."

"A bad person?" Ji-Hee repeated.

"Mhm." Kim Ki-Rok nodded.

Ji-Hee slowly mumbled to herself, "De...sert...er. Bad person."

"That's right! Deee...sert...eeer."

Kim Ki-Rok was in sync with the viewers in watching over Ji-Hee nibbling on her fingers. He suddenly noticed something and readjusted the camera. "Ah! It's started!"

⤷ Started? What's started?

⤷ Idiot. The Break is finally underway.

⤷ Ah. That's right.

⤷ So the battle is starting now?

"That is correct. Now that the battle is about to start, we will turn the camera away from our pretty Ji-Hee's face to the battlefield, where rotten flesh is flying through the air and shattered bones are being ground into the mud." As the smartphone turned to film the area around the Gate, Kim Ki-Rok also began his own preparations for the livestream by addressing his audience, "Now then, I will begin my live commentary of the battle surrounding the Gate."

⤷ Aren't you going to do any fighting, Guildmaster?

Kim Ki-Rok responded, "I

am

able to put up a bit of a fight. However, please don't forget that my specialty lies in a different area. Now then... Ah, Ji-Hee, repeat after me, okay?"

"Ah, yeees," Ji-Hee responded quickly.

After making sure that Ji-Hee was ready, Kim Ki-Rok straightened up and announced, "Hello to all the viewers watching our livestream. "I am..."

Spotting his cue, Kim Ji-Hee chimed in, "I am...!"

"Kim Ki-Rok."

"Kim Ji-Hee!"

Kim Ki-Rok nodded in approval and continued, "Now then, we will begin the livestream,

Defense Against the Cursed Mountain Range's Break

, taking place in Mapo District, Seoul."

Kim Ji-Hee raised her arms and cheered. "

Waaaah!

"

***

Schiiiink!

After cleanly slicing through a zombie's throat, Yoo Seh-Eun let out a snort of laughter. "

Ha, hahaha.

"

From the moment Kim Ki-Rok had livestreamed the subjugation while foiling any interference attempts from members of the Hunters Association who were bribed by Ma Ak-Soo, Yoo Seh-Eun had suspected that he wasn't an ordinary person. As she spent more time with him, her assumptions became reality.

Their latest expedition might have been a long and grueling one, but Yoo Seh-Eun couldn't fault his lack of preparation for the way they had cleared the Gate. He had even gone so far as to order a catering service for them. In the evenings, they had even been provided with a karaoke machine so that they could relax.

Thanks to all of that, their fatigue had been minimized despite the length of their expedition.

Yoo Seh-Eun sighed. "He really is crazy. Crazy, I tell you."

In private, the Five Siblings of Mapogu called Kim Ki-Rok "Crazy Bastard." They weren't sure who first came up with the nickname, but it was quite fitting for this Guildmaster.

Kim Ki-Rok was busy narrating the fight like a sports announcer. "Ah! The famous C-Class Hunter, Bae Hee-Na, has taken down three skeletons in a single blow. Her speed-related ability is working in perfect harmony with her spearmanship! Anything to add, Miss Ji-Hee?"

"Spearmanship?" Ji-Hee asked quizzically.

"The way that she swings that long stick," Kim Ki-Rok explained more simply.

"I'm not really sure, but it is pretty." Ji-Hee nodded in appreciation.

"Yes. You're right, of course. Her swings are so sharp that they're almost a work of art. This isn't widely known, but while Hunter Bae Hee-Na might only be a C-Class Hunter in rank, through the adept use of her spear and ability, her actual combat capabilities aren't far from that of B-Class Hunters," Kim Ki-Rok noted.

"Wow!" Ji-Hee exclaimed.

Kim Ki-Rok's face grew serious. "Right as I say this, Team Three of the Korean Youths Guild, stationed at 12 o'clock from the Gate, is being pushed back. Such a state of affairs can't be allowed to continue. Team Two of the Do-You-Know-Kimchi[1] Guild should move to support them right away. Even if the relationship between the two teams is uncomfortable due to a prior clash within the Gate, isn't that nothing but a personal issue? Such issues shouldn't be brought into an important battle meant to protect the citizens of this country!"

"

Aaah!

Right as I say that! Team Two of the Do-You-Know-Kimchi Guild has gone in to support Team Three of the Korean Youths Guild. As expected of the Hunters of the Republic of Korea! I'm so proud to be a citizen of this country."

"

Hehehehe!

"

Even in the midst of this fierce battle with undead, the Hunters burst into laughter at Kim Ki-Rok's antics.

If his actions were akin to the reckless behavior of a crazed idiot, the Hunters would have only hurled curses at him. However, as he looked over the entire battlefield, Kim Ki-Rok wasn't just commentating for his audience but commanding the entire front line. Although the Hunters primarily focused on the battle before them, they found the commentary coming from the loudspeakers behind them very useful.

He warned the Hunters of which team was currently in danger and where the front line was about to be breached, all while facilitating smooth rotations between groups that needed rest and the reserves that were waiting in the rear.

At the same time, he was almost exaggeratingly promoting the heroics of each guild as well as their individual Hunters.

Kim Ki-Rok gasped. "Miss Lee Ji-Yeon from our DG Guild is currently flying over the battle."

Just like his commentary had described, Lee Ji-Yeon had leaped into the air and was floating there with her red mane of hair fluttering behind her.

"Hunter Lee Ji-Yeon is preparing to perform a big skill after she fuses with her contracted spirit, the Spirit of Fire, Ine! This is Hunter Lee Ji-Yeon's special technique! Do you know what Hunter Lee Ji-Yeon's special technique is, Miss Ji-Hee?" Kim Ki-Rok turned to his co-announcer.

Ji-Hee frowned in thought. "

Hmmmm?

Is it the Flame Sword?"

While fused with Ine, the Spirit of Fire, Lee Ji-Yeon would also become one with her sword. After her body heat grew hot enough to affect the surrounding temperature, Lee Ji-Yeon would be able to fire off huge blasts of flame from the center of her sword.

Kim Ki-Rok nodded in approval. "As expected of our Miss Ji-Hee. It is indeed the Flame Sword! How amazing! However, I would prefer to call this technique of Miss Lee Ji-Yeon by another name."

While everyone's gazes were fixed on the red-haired beauty glowing as fiercely as the sword she was swinging, their ears were attuned to Kim Ki-Rok's voice that was rattling off like a machine gun. "The Fire Queen Valkyrie Goddess 'Goddess of Gods' Lee Ji-Yeon's—"

Only for Lee Ji-Yeon to cry out in protest, "Guildmaster!"

1. This hilarious name was actually written using the English pronunciation. ☜