Three years ago, the first incident occurred in the middle of Seoul.
A fissure appeared in the clear sky. Never-before-seen monsters from another world invaded through the rip.
That was the first fissure that appeared on Earth.
Fissures are tunnels between Earth and dungeons of another world. The first fissure, which appeared in Seoul, would have resulted in great damage since they didnât know anything about the existence of the other world, monsters, gates, or dungeons, butâŠ.
At that time, a young man awoke new, unseen powers. With his awakened powers, he wiped out all of the invading monsters.
That young man was the worldâs first awakened one, Shin Jiho.
Of course, Shin Jiho became famous immediately. It was to the point where anyone who was even the slightest bit connected to modern culture knew his name.
Shin Jihoâs name, face, upbringing, family, school, friendsâŠ. A lot of information was spread around the world.
As a city with a population of about ten million, there were countless videos of Shin Jihoâs awakening. Shin Jihoâs awakening videos earned hundreds of millions of views on MeTube1.
However, the subject of the rumors wasnât able to feel his own fame for a very long time.
Perhaps because of the great energy that he had used, Shin Jiho collapsed on the spot. He was in a coma for two years.
Two years.
Some may say that time is short, others may say itâs long. During that time, the period of great confusion had passed.
Many people awakened their powers after Shin Jiho, and as society was starting to accept gates and awakened ones as the new normalâŠ
Shin Jiho finally woke up.
Though it wasnât as much as when he had just awakened his powers, there was still a lot of attention on Shin Jiho. The entire world focused on him as soon as he regained consciousness.
One year later, Shin Jiho had fallen out of public attention.
âShin Jiho, behind you!â
Shin Jiho ducked instinctively at Lim Seung Jooâs sharp warning. However, his judgment must have been wrong, as the attack that came flying from behind hit Jihoâs head.
âOof!â
His head spun from the strong impact. His vision turned white. Jiho quickly drew up the mana in his body. As he did that, his exhausted body temporarily regained its strength.
As he familiarly swallowed the blood in his throat, he clenched his gloved hand and brandished it.
Thump!
Although the sound made was light, the effect was impressive.
The monsterâs head was crushed with Jihoâs one punch. Its blood and skin splattered everywhere from the impact.
Lim Seung Joo approached Jihoâs side and clicked his tongue at the messy sight.
âWhy did you not avoid it? What if it had poison?â
âThis much is okay.â2
Even though Lim Seung Joo knows that Shin Jiho has no strength to avoid it, he always asks sarcastically like that.
Lim Seung Jooâs attitude was not the proper attitude that a vice-guildmaster should have for the guildmaster. But Shin Jiho didnât say much about it.
Rather, he couldnât say anything.
Because it was a relief that Lim Seung Joo was in the guild in the first place.
âNext time, I will try to avoid it.â
Jiho smiled as he spoke. However, Lim Seungjoo was, unfortunately, the type of person who could calmly spit on a smiling face3. Although he didnât actually spit because he didnât want to get reported, he turned his gaze away to the scene with a scowl, showing his dislike.
âYou should go back in, Guildmaster. Iâll clean up the scene.â
It meant, Stop bothering me and f*ck off.
âMm, okay.â
It would be uncomfortable anyways if the two stayed together. The relationship between the guildmaster and vice-guildmaster of the same guild was awkward.
And on top of that, Lim Seung-Jooâs words were right.
Todayâs task was to clean up a small-scale fissure that opened in a residential area. Although there was an evacuation order, since it was a large neighborhood, a crowd was gathering quickly.
If Shin Jiho, whose face was well-known, stayed there, it would only get messier.
âThen I will head bâŠâ
Shin Jiho stopped in the middle of his words and closed his mouth tightly. He had a bad feeling.
His head spun and a familiar sense rose up. He felt pain, as though a weight was crushing him and a sharp weapon was cutting him up inside.
In the end, he couldnât hold it in, and as he coughed, blood surged up.
Through his hazy consciousness, he could see Lim Seung Jooâs annoyed face.
Ah, again.
Is what Lim Seung Joo seemed to be saying.
Sorry to inconvenience you, a**hole.
Without being able to say what he was thinking, Shin Jiho slowly lost his consciousness.
Shin Jiho opened his eyes in a hospital ward.
It didnât seem like he had been unconscious for long. The ceiling was unfamiliar.
If he had been unconscious for a long time, he would have been moved into his personal ward in Chungram Hospital, the hospital specialized in hunters, so this must be a hospital close to the scene.
âAre you awake, Song Jiho-ssi4?â
Song Jiho nodded his head half heartedly at the personâs words. He just wanted to lie down and rest, but the medical staff moved around him busily after confirming that he was awake.
However, there was no cure nor medicine for chronically vomiting blood and passing out. The medical staff and healers could only check his state before letting go.
Finally getting some time alone, Jiho checked the news on his hunter terminal.
<table>C-Rank Fissure Appears in Bangbae 2-dong 5 , Resolved in 40 Minutes⊠Deaths: 0</tbody></table>
There wasnât much else about todayâs gate. Thankfully, it seems like him fainting didnât make it to the news.
His father or Joo Yiwon probably blocked the news for him. Of course, there was probably also the fact that the publicâs interest in Shin Jiho had decreased a lot. There werenât many headlines with his name on it these days.
Of course, the hunter community, which had a different informant, was probably mocking him again.
Shin Jiho, who had never gone on the Internet much, hadnât known that hunters were talking about him on internet forums. He had heard about it coincidentally from his guild members, and when he checked the site, his name was going up and down the rankings frequently, despite his low rank.
<table>Hunter Space 6 Title: When will No Name disband</tbody></table>
<table>Lim Seung Joo is pitiful his face is always sour Comments:</tbody></table>
<table>â Probably when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stops his hobby</tbody></table>
<table>What do you mean He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named you say his name all the time here lol. Why canât you say Shin Jiho, the useless f*cker who only has the title of first awakened one and nothing else</tbody></table>
<table>Thatâs a little too harsh ă ă heâs still young⊠If he sees stuff like this, I feel like the kid will cry; how pitifulâŠ</tbody></table>Hunter Space Title: If I was Shin Jiho I would just play around</tbody></table>
<table>Why is that a**hole that can do whatever he wants, a hunter?</tbody></table>
<table>If it were me, I would just marry Joo Yiwon and leech off of him7 Comments:</tbody></table>
<table>â Shin Jiho doesnât like Joo Yiwon</tbody></table>
<table>â What do you mean marry and leech off lol Joo Yiwon would become the live-in-son-in-law</tbody></table>
<table>Isnât he already one? At Joo Yiwonâs level he doesnât have to be Chungramâs guildmaster. If he was independent he could do whatever the f*ck he wants and keep all the money to himself but the reason why heâs Chungramâs guildmaster is because he received it from his father-in-law</tbody></table>
<table>Ah it all makes sense</tbody></table>
<table>It really does make sense lolol at Joo Yiwonâs level the company is beneath him8Â and itâs probably easier to use a guild thatâs already set-up</tbody></table>
<table>But if it were me I would just stay at Chungram. You canât underestimate Shin Jihyeâs abilities to handle situations</tbody></table>
<table>Thatâs true and sheâs hot too heh</tbody></table>
<table>Sheâs a married womanâŠ</tbody></table>
<table>Sheâs a divorcee</tbody></table>
<table>The people who wouldnât be to say sh*t in front of Shin Jihye are the ones who talk sh*t about her being married or divorced; f*ck take this warning and let me sleep</tbody></table>Hunter Space Title: Truthfully Shin Jihoâs face is a waste</tbody></table>
<table>If he just toured around a bit and waved his hand he would be the national hero9Â but because heâs trying to be a hunter heâs just getting cursed at Comments:</tbody></table>
<table>â He would still get cursed out here for sticking out</tbody></table>
<table>He is sticking out what is a B-rank doing</tbody></table>
<table>â Must be a masochist he wants to be cursed at</tbody></table>
<table>I didnât know that</tbody></table>
<table>(Deleted comment)</tbody></table>
<table>(Deleted comment)</tbody></table>
<table>Donât cross the line I sent a pdf of it to Chungram</tbody></table>
<table>What did he say?</tbody></table>
<table>Something sexual about Shin Jiho</tbody></table>Hunter Space Title: So if an invitation comes from No Name, accept vs. not accept</tbody></table>
<table>I would accept Comments:</tbody></table>
<table>â Of course I accept</tbody></table>
<table>â I would definitely accept lol if I could get a lot of money and scouted by Chungram Iâm set</tbody></table>
<table>The winnerâs ending</tbody></table>
<table>F*ck</tbody></table>
<table>â I wouldnât accept isnât it not worth it?</tbody></table>
<table>If youâre of a high rank it isnât but if youâre C-rank or below itâs worth it⊠itâs a B-rank guild but the requirements are the lowest</tbody></table>
<table>â But does Chungram really scout people from No Name?</tbody></table>
<table>Yeah itâs real</tbody></table>
<table>Thereâs even an article search it up</tbody></table>
<table>â If you want to rise up itâs sh*t but if you want easy money, itâs perfect</tbody></table>
<table>â I should go and lick Shin Jihoâs toes lick lick</tbody></table>
<table>Crazy f*cker</tbody></table>
In the hunter community, Shin Jiho was a punching bag for when they were bored. Contempt, jealously, and sexual harrassment all mixed together to create chaos.
Although he was dumbfounded, he didnât take any action. After finding out, his dad had said that he would sue everyone, but Jiho stopped that as well.
If someone reported it, then it would get even messier, saying that they were tyrannizing innocent hunters.
And in fact, other than the nonsense about his relationship with Joo Yiwon, everything else wasnât completely wrong.
Awakened ones are split into S, A, B, C, D, and F ranks. And when Shin Jiho went to get his rank assessed, the entire world thought that Shin Jiho was at least S-rank, or that he would be SS-rank, of which there was only one in the world at the time.
However, Shin Jiho was only a B-rank.
Footnotes
( Click on the numbers to return)
1. Probably YouTube.
2. I think itâs important to point out that Shin Jiho talks in a polite tone (~ì (â~yoâ) ending) most of the time, unless he is with the people he is close to. Here, Lim Seung Joo switches between the two. The first sentence is polite, but the second is very casual, and the tone is almost condescending, which is hard to convey in English.
3. The original idiom is âìë ìŒê”Žì ìčš ëȘ» ë±ëë€,â or, âYou canât spit on a smiling face.â Basically, it means that a person is less likely to be mean to someone who smiles. However, the idiom is twisted here to say that LSJ is the kind of person who can spit on a smiling face.
4. -ssi (ìš) is a suffix that Koreans use to address people with respect, sort of like Mr./Ms./Mrs.. I will be keeping âssi because I think it flows better.
5. The name of a neighborhood in Korea. ë (âdongâ) will usually refer to a neighborhood.
6. Forums hate punctuation and grammar, which makes Bird hate them. Thereâs also a lot of slang and cursing. I will add punctuation here and there for the sake of clarity, but not to all the places that need them in order to keep it similar to the original. Hopefully, the ones I leave will make senseâŠ
7. This word is ì·šì§ (âchwi-jibâ), which is an acronym for ì·š ì (work) and ì ì§ (marriage). Itâs used in a derogatory way to make fun of women who marry a man to live off of them instead of working.
8. (AKA Bird cries over business terms) When signing a contract in Korea, you have the ê° (âgabâ), or the boss/hirer, and the ì (âeulâ), or the contractor/hire. The forum describes Joo Yiwon as a ìíŒì (âsuper-eulâ) which means that even though heâs the hire (the one with less power), he actually has the power.
9. Where do I even start with this. The word used here is ê”ëœ (âgook bbong) which is a acronym for ê” ê° íëĄ ëœ (âgook-ga hero-bbongâ). ê”ê° refers to nation/country while íëĄëœ is methamphetamine, or, meth. It was once used to make fun of people with extreme nationalism. However, these days, itâs more used to describe people who raise Koreaâs prestige. Examples include figure skater Kim Yuna, soccer player Park Ji Sung, and singer Psy.