In the previous Hunter Exam, the swear words and all the bad deeds that Yum Ra-Du did were spread all over the world on GodTube. His parents, who were famous Hunters, tried to calm down the public, but other Hunters who took the Hunter Exam with him testified of Ra-Duâs actions. The problem was that their testimony was broadcast live on the evening news. His parents were well-established people in the industry and they quickly realized that the whole thing would only escalate if they kept covering for their son, so they told him to lay low for a while.
âEverything is clearly our sonâs fault, and also our fault for raising the child wrong. All the scolding from the public will be taken into account for our son. My husband and I will also reflect and do our best to educate our son.â
Saying that, they threw large sums of money into various nurseries and welfare centers. They also volunteered. They went on tv programs about parents suffering with the education of their children. As they continued to show such self-reflection, public opinion changedânow, everyone was sympathetic. Indeed, raising children was not easy.
With that, they successfully erased the past. Their image was as clean as fresh white laundry.
They told their son not to show himself in the media. If he wanted to get involved, they told him to take a picture of himself doing community service and post it. The next three years of his life were like a portfolio that determined the next ten years of his life.
âFuckâŠFuck!!â
That was why Ra-Du couldnât even curse at Ji-Cheok when they met at the Fortress of Hope. If he swore, he knew his parents would be furious!
âIf itâs my dad, Iâll just get beaten up and get it over with, but my mom always cries when sheâs mad. Fuck!â
There was no way for Ra-Du to fix his personality.
âI mean, whatâs so special about him? And why is I.L. here? Fucking hellâŠâ
I.L. was what the overseas fandom called âThat Hunterâ. Ra-Duâs role model was âThat Hunter,â so it was obviously hard for him to bear the news that such a person shared emails with Ji-Cheok.
âI feel something burning inside me!â
Crack!
Ra-Du couldnât stand it and broke the table in front of him.
âWhat am I going to do with this bastard? Fuck! If it wasnât for my mom, I wouldâve smashed his face.â
He blew out steam through his nose, clenched his jaw, and walked around in front of the big screen for a long time. Eventually, he picked up his phone as if he made up his mind.
âHey, Itâs me. I have some work for you to do. Do you know Um Ji-Cheok? Yes. I need you to try and stop him from whatever heâs doing. After all, a lot of streamers are going to try and take a video of Ji-Cheok because of [A/B]âs donation. Give them money to do the job, or if you have a person in mind, hire him and do whatever it takes to beat him up. Money? Donât worry about money. Just take care of Ji-Cheok, so that I donât have to see him anymore!â
Ra-Du got a bit emotional and continued to speak.
âThe unpopular GodTubers will do anything for money. [A/B] told them to take videos of Ji-Cheok until he got bored. He didnât say anything about not hurting Ji-Cheok. What? What do you mean you might get caught? Then think of a way to not get caught! Are you stupid? You bastards have no money and no brain!â
Click.
Ra-Du hung up the phone angrily and stared at the video.
âI am going to kill you somehow, just wait and see.â
* * *
Back in the old days, Hunters had no idea about how to clear the [Fortress of Hope] efficiently. At that time, Hunters had just realized that medieval bastard swords and katanas were more effective than guns, and that the teeth of Stone Ants were a little stronger than all those weapons. Facing the monsters, the Huntersâ limbs were shaking as if they were newborn baby deer trying to stand up, but the world was already filled with Gates and monsters were pouring out regardless of what the Hunters felt.
[Fortress of Hope] is a dungeon that starts when 100 people are gathered.]
Because no one knew about that, Dungeon Breaks kept happening and ant monsters were attacking the surrounding area. It was chaos. The first time Hunters learned about the start condition for the dungeon was with fifty soldiers, twenty firefighters, and thirty Hunters that entered the dungeon. Of course, there was no way seventy ordinary people and thirty Hunters could clear it. Humanity lost countless friendly neighbors again, and learned that dungeons also had âstart conditionsâ.
Some knowledge was gained with the sacrifice of people. There was no need to look at the Cthulhu myth or the Aztec history to find information about human sacrifices. It was enough to think about the discovery of fireâhumans had to sacrifice themselves to find out how hot fire was.
The path to a new era thus opened. In these modern times, humans were using [Fortress of Hope] as their playground.
âHello to all the viewers across the country~ Today I came to film the infamous Um Ji-Cheok. Me? Iâm just gonna be a Kkakdugi[1] of my team. You donât know what Kkakdugi is? You can always look it up on WonkypeâŠâ
âWell, this kind of special day only comes once in a blue moon! We are watching to see if Um Ji-Cheok will be able to defend the [Fortress of Hope] while also getting first place in all four teams. He has already announced that heâs planning to take first place times four! There are only ten minutes left for you to place a bet. Right now, people are betting more toward him failingâŠâ
âWow, they started an illegal betting pool? Why isnât GodTube blocking his account? Oh wait, is he using an overseas account where gambling is legal?â
âAs an expert of Defense Dungeons, in my opinion, Mr. Um Ji-Cheokâs behavior can only be seen as arrogance itselfâŠâ
âThis is beyond funny.â
Apart from Ji-Cheok, the Hunters didnât even take out their weapons, and just focused on their stream. They acted as if they had no intention of participating in the battle.
âThere are a hundred Hunters, and most of them are GodTubers who came to film me and donât really care about clearing the dungeon. It looks like theyâre going to get off their ass when the monster starts pouring out.â
Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
«High-level Hunters are also here with no intention of receiving the rewards, so there is no need to worry about clearing the dungeon. They are just waiting to see the execution of Master.»
âI guess they are here to see if I die while defending the fortress, or if I surrender out of fear, and my GodTube channel gets executed. A physical execution or a social execution. This is going to be fun.â
«If Master gives up here, the number of subscribers who are going to leave your channel is estimated to be about 100,000 to 150,000. Of course, the calculation is based on the manipulation of public opinion on various anonymous sites and social media platforms.»
âI know. Of course, people are gonna leave me if I give up here. There are already so many people who want me to fail.â
Ninety-nine Hunters had now gathered to execute one Hunter in the [Fortress of Hope], where one hundred friendly neighbors had sacrificed themselves to reveal the start condition.
«Master, it looks like some of them blatantly want to see you fail. Even if [A/B] asked them to film you, this is too much. Perhaps there is another party that is influencing the Hunters.»
âYou think itâs from the Jungha Group?â
«That is a possibility, but it could be from somewhere completely different.»
âWho the hell is it? Iâm too embarrassed to say it myself, but not a lot of people hold grudges against me. How pathetic do you have to be to do something like this?â
«At least theyâre not outright attacking you.»
âWell, Iâm also streaming right now, so if they attacked me, thatâs like digging their own grave. Although national law has lost its authority because of the International Hunter Law, public opinions cannot be ignored. So theyâre just sitting quietly and waiting for an opportunity. However, if I try to clear it on my own and fail, they would say things like âWe were just here to watch Ji-Cheok clear the dungeon, heâs just creating problems for all of us.â and pretend to fix the problem. After that, they would start framing me for being a troublemaker and make the public turn their backs on me.â
«Yes, Master. If they are successful, not 150,000 but up to 200,000 to 300,000 subscribers will leave your channel.»
âThere are many channels in the world of GodTube. Even if itâs not me, there are Hunters who can entertain the viewers. Thatâs the life of a GodTuber. Thatâs why everyone is so smart. This is not their first rodeo. Even the Hunters who arenât streamers are just sitting in the corner. If Iâm unlucky, all of the ninety-nine Hunters might have planned this together before entering the dungeon.â
«I think they are letting Hunters, who are not GodTubers, not fight so that it would be easier for the Ants to destroy the walls. »
âWell, that works for me.â
Ji-Cheok went to a Hunter who looked the poorest out of all the Hunters. How did Ji-Cheok know? This Hunter was not using a broadcasting skill, but one of Bi-Gaâs drones to shoot his video. This meant that he didnât have any Points to buy skills and he had to buy the drone by using most of his money, so he was desperate to get something out of the dungeon.
âHello,â Ji-Cheok said.
âHe..he... HelloâŠâ the Hunter replied awkwardly.
âFigures. He knows what heâs doing is pathetic. But still, he has to do it to make money.â
âI need to borrow your drone,â Ji-Cheok said.
âExcuse me?â
Without even saying his name, Ji-Cheok took the drone and turned on the screen.
âHello~ This is Um Ji-Cheok. This is a broadcasting drone, so itâs a bit difficult to find the right angle. I hope my face doesnât look too big.â
«Master, this is called the portrait angle. It is used a lot in PikPok.»
âThatâs fine. Letâs just go with it.â
âOh, you want to know why I appeared on someone elseâs stream? Itâs because of this guy! I was saying hi to him.â
Ji-Cheok wrapped his arms around the unknown Hunterâs shoulder and pretended to be friendly. The hunterâs face turned red.
âHe..Hello! Iâm Hunter Choco!â
â... You should really consider changing your username.â
«Itâs an emergency, Master! No one is going to remember that username!»
On top of that, nothing of Choco resembled chocolate. Not his hair color, skin color, weapons, or even clothing. His name was just Choco.
âWhy is your username Choco? Mr. Choco?â
âMy⊠my poodleâs name is Choco, so Iâm Choco too!â
«⊠When I searched his channel, there was a video of a dog, but it was all blurry. I am assuming he was shaking because he was nervous. I am worried about his channelâs future, Master. How would he survive in this rough GodTube world? These days, even a fennec has to do tricks to get a few subscribers.»
âIâm sorry, Cheok-Liang. It looks like I used you too much just because youâre my summoned beast.â
âI see, Hunter Choco~ Nice to meet you. Well now that weâve established that weâre friends, is it okay if I used your drone, Mr. Choco?â
At that moment, all the Hunters turned around.
âI guess they also think itâs weird pretending to be friendly to a random GodTuber.â
âYes, yes you can!â Choco said.
âThis guy must feel like he won the lottery, so itâs definitely weird for him~â
âOkay! This drone has limited A.I., so Iâll mostly show my face. I will also turn on my stream.â
[Hunter Kim Choco admires your character.]
[You have received 2 Likes.]
âWhat? His real name is Kim Choco? Then he shouldâve started with that! Why did he talk about his dog? It was a rare chance to be funny. Even when the opportunity knocked on his door, he couldnât grab it.â
«It is rare for someone to grab an opportunity as soon as it comes, like Master. Usually, they get nervous and just blurt out anything that comes to mind.»
âYou think so? Well, either way is fine. Letâs show everyone who the real deal is. I am the sunshine, the epitome of refreshing, and the Candy of Madness. I will protect this [Fortress of Hope] all by myself.â
1. Kkakdugi is a type of Kimchi, but in this context, it means a third wheel or a spare tire. â