Chapter 42: The Start of December (2)

"

Kyaa!

"

"Delicious!"

Beer and meat were a killer combination.

Occasionally, the beer would evolve into soju bombs[1]. Aside from a few Hunters who were away on Gate expeditions and others who left early due to prior commitments, everyone else in the guild was present at the company dinner.

In the end, Kim Ki-Rok couldn't handle such a large crowd alone, so he hired extra hands from a nearby guild and enlisted the help of those with some cooking skills to prepare the food.

The guild's growth was undeniable.

At this point, I'd say the first milestone has been achieved...

It was time to prepare for the next step.

There were two major incidents to keep an eye on this year.

The first one was a Break at The Black Mountain Range in Mapogu, where many civilians had lost their lives. The next one was a large-scale Gate appearance on the tenth day of this month.

Using Record, Kim Ki-Rok pulled up a log of the incident in the air, visible only to him.

Date: December 10, 2040

500 Gates appeared. They were evenly distributed across various countries, seemingly taking into account the number of Hunters available in each nation. The Gates remained active for thirteen days, and on the fourteenth day, they underwent a Break.

As Christmas and New Year's approached, many guilds had shifted their focus from Gate activities to internal affairs or daily routines. Meanwhile, the Hunters Association had been preoccupied with monitoring power struggles between Awakened criminals, failing to handle the impending Breaks. As a result, on December 24, the invasion of monsters led to a massive number of casualties.

The incident came to be known as "Bloody Christmas."

In truth, Bloody Christmas was the result of multiple issues overlapping, ultimately leading to catastrophic damage.

At first, there was panic as 500 Gates had appeared simultaneously across the world. Nevertheless, the Hunters Association and national governments quickly detected the anomalies and immediately ordered Hunters to prioritize eliminating the newly formed Gates.

However, the Hunters had not budged because it would be an enormous burden to suddenly switch to a different Gate. They had spent countless hours studying the terrain, analyzing monster weaknesses, and optimizing their hunting strategies. There was no reason to suddenly abandon all that preparation and take on an unfamiliar Gate unprepared.

Out of the newly appeared Gates, 24% of them—amounting to 120 Gates—were left unattended because of these Hunters' unyielding perspectives, resulting in simultaneous Breaks and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians as well as thousands of Hunters.

Among them, twenty-three Gates were located in South Korea.

What to do...

Although the Hunters Association's course of action may have been somewhat passive, they had followed proper protocol. The problem was that the guilds had ignored the Association's recommendations.

"But I should still contact the Hunters Association, right?"

In the Republic of Korea's Hunters Association, there were Awakened who could detect mana. They were able to locate the position of Gates quickly and could even estimate the approximate time a Break would occur, although it wasn't perfect.

However, the failure to defend civilians from the Break had not solely been because of the guilds' passive attitude. The issue also stemmed from Awakened criminals who had been using their abilities to commit crimes for personal gain.

After the sudden rampage at The Black Mountain Range in Mapogu, the Hunters Association, government, and various guilds had tightened their security, forcing Awakened criminals to lie low for some time.

The criminals eventually struck again, this time raiding a Hunter department store. This attack had unfortunately coincided with the mass Breaks, which might lead one to assume that it was a coordinate attack.

In actuality, the criminals had been just as surprised, and in order to fend off the incoming monster wave, they even joined forces with Hunters who had been dispatched to arrest them. The moment the battle reached a temporary stalemate, they had ambushed those very Hunters with whom they've been fighting alongside and made their escape.

In any case, the interference of these criminals only worsened the situation and caused more causalities.

The only takeaway here is that we have to proactively spread awareness about the danger and rewards of the Gates, both domestically and internationally...

With that, the method of action was prepared ahead of time.

Although calling it "prepared" didn't quite feel right, as this was a tactic used in previous Attempts, only too late.

"Filming won't be difficult..." Kim Ki-Rok muttered to himself.

"Huh?"

At some point, the second and fourth siblings of the Mapogu team had sat down in front of their plates.

Kim Ki-Rok saw this as a perfect opportunity to ask, "Will you be free to participate in some Gate activities for a week?"

"Is it a new Gate?"

Under Kim Ki-Rok's active support, his guild members had grown more than five times faster than the average Hunter. Just last month, the Mapogu team had received their B-Class Hunter licenses. However, with so few B-Class Gates available, they had instead been crashing at Gates belonging to friendly guilds for work.

"That's correct. And on December 10th..."

The fourth sibling, Lee Ji-Ah, who was just about to reach for her plate, cautiously looked up at Kim Ki-Rok.

"I'll be participating as well."

"Huh?" Her interest was piqued at this news.

With how busy things had been, she rarely had the chance to team up with him, which was a bit of a shame. Although Kim Ki-Rok was known as a management-type Hunter with his Discernment ability, she knew that he also possessed combat abilities, having participated in suppressing the Awakened criminal Ma Ak-Soo.

As Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Ah looked at Kim Ki-Rok, their eyes sparkling with curiosity, he placed skewers of alternating meat and vegetables on the grill.

"Of course, it's not just the Mapogu team and Miss Ji-Yeon that will be involved in this operation," Kim Ki-Rok said.

"So other Guild members will be joining as well?"

"That's right. And during that time, we'll also be launching a type of content that DG Guild hasn't done before."

"Content?"

"Content for our stream."

Yoo Seh-Eun and Lee Ji-Ah both accepted it as if it were the most natural thing but then tilted their heads in slight confusion.

The guild's MeTube channel was considered one of the driving forces behind their exponential growth. A wide variety of videos had been uploaded, and new content was still being posted regularly, ranging from livestream recordings to guild members' introduction videos and vlogs of their daily lives.

Kim Ki-Rok had even filmed educational videos under the alias "Uncle Kim," wearing an afro wig[2] for comedic effect.

Subscriber numbers had skyrocketed, and not long ago, the channel had even received a Gold Play Button. No other guild-run channel even came close in terms of popularity.

So, what kind of content had the DG channel yet to attempt?

"Ah! Gates."

At Lee Ji-Ah's realization, Yoo let out a gasp and nodded in agreement. That was indeed something they hadn't done yet.

Since Gates were portals to another dimension, livestreaming wouldn't be possible. However, pre-recorded videos that were then premiered might just work.

"But why start on December 10th?" Nam Dong-Wook voiced his curiosity.

If they had already decided, why not start immediately?

"That's because this Guildmaster has a lot of work to do," Kim Ki-Rok answered.

"Man, being a Guildmaster sounds like a nightmare."

"Well, at least it pays well."

"Hunters make good money too, Guildmaster."

"That's true. Well, there's nothing I can do. I've got to work hard to support the never-ending growth of our DG Guild."

"

Pfft.

"

Kim Ki-Rok had a habit of starting off normally and then veering off into the bizarre.

The dinner party atmosphere was fantastic, and at the heart of it was Fairy Flower, a six-member idol group that hadn't yet debuted due to a lack of members.

"Seoul! Incheon! Daejeon! Busan! Snap!"

"

Aha!

"

"Seoul! Incheon! Daejeon! Busan! Snap!"

"

Aha!

"

Drunken Hunters and staff swayed along, enjoying Fairy Flower's performance, drinks in hand. It was a wild party where humans and Elementals danced together.

"Guildmaster! I have a question!"

The one raising her hand enthusiastically was Sumihara Shina, an Intermediate Water Elemental from Japan. Despite being in her mid-twenties, she looked no older than a high school student.

"Yes. Ms. Sumihara."

"DG Guild is short for something, right?"

"That's right. We are a bit short-staffed right now and lacking in members."

"No, no. I mean, isn't DG an abbreviation?"

"That's right. Our name is also tiny, just like us."

"No... surely the guild can't

still

be considered tiny..."

"Well, technically, we're still just an average C-Class guild."

"That's because the number of people suddenly increased, and the average class of... No, don't change the subject."

"Yes. Please continue, Ms. Sumihara."

"DG stands for Dragon, right? People keep thinking it's "Dangerous Guy," like,

all

the time."

There were currently two popular theories about the origin of DG Guild's name: that it was short for "Dra-Gon," or that it was an abbreviation of "Dangerous Guy." The latter theory unexpectedly gained more traction, as Kim Ki-Rok was truly a dangerous guy. No one knew what he was going to do next.

"No, it's not that."

"I knew it. It wasn't Dangerous Guy!"

"That's right."

"Then is it short for Dragon?"

"It's not Dragon either."

"Then what is it?"

"Delightful Goodies."

"Excuse me?"

"Delightful Goodies."

Dragon? No.

Dangerous Guy? Nope.

The abbreviation for DG was Delightful Goodies.

As the guild members collectively lost their sense of reason, Kim Ki-Rok hummed along to Fairy Flower's song, grilling skewers as if nothing had happened.

***

Humans are adaptive creatures. An unintended consequence of this fact is that even the most delicious food can become dull if eaten too often.

The same goes for online content. That's why the owner of the DG channel, Kim Ki-Rok, who had initially attracted much attention with his sensational videos, shifted toward content such as the one titled "A Hunter's Daily Life."

To his surprise, even daily life videos performed well, so he hired a dedicated filming crew to regularly capture and upload behind-the-scenes moments of the guild's activities.

During the recording of the guild's dinner party, the camera crew found themselves in deep contemplation.

"Should we delete this footage?"

After some thought, the producer made a decision. "Just cut the last part out."

Meanwhile, Sumihara was in the midst of an existential crisis. "

Ha... Hahaha...

Delightful Goodies? How can someone name a guild that...?"

1. A popular Korean cocktail made by mixing soju and beer to make a stronger and smoother drink. ☜

2. Probably in reference to Bob Ross, who the Korean affectionately call "Bob ajeossi" or Uncle Bob. ☜