BXBX NOVEL Chapter 3
The other staff around him stole a glance at him. Everyone had the same thoughts on their mind. There he goes again, acting like a jerk as usual. Lee Joo-Heon was that kind of guy.
“Hiker? Bullshit.”
Monsters were a threat to human life, and hunters were true heroes who fought them at the frontline. Hence, being a hunter was glorious. Fame and wealth automatically followed you. Hunters were devoting their ability to their country. They were great people.
That was what Lee Joo-Heon thought about himself. He was mad because only ordinary people dared talk to him so casually.
“F***ing ingrate. He doesn’t even know who is saving him.”
Lee Joo-Heon tried to think about the situation to calm himself down. It was very strange. A sudden gate appearance had been unheard of in the past. Then, there was a clearing period of about two weeks for an open gate. If the gate was not cleared during that period, a gate break would occur, and the monsters inside would rush out.
However, just now, in Bi-Bong mountain, nothing happened. It was an absurd situation. Could the gate detector have operated inaccurately? This wasn’t the 2010s, after all.
Anyway, the company he was in was the group that was created during the drastic change of the world and settled chaotic Korea. The team’s reputation was outstanding. Later on, other hunters created guilds by themselves, and soon, they created new hunting laws.
Now, teams competed to be deployed to a gate. However, Joo-Heon would never quit his job. His position provided high salaries; even newcomers started with a million won. Who would quit when they could earn a lot of money easily?
Then, there came a voice from the back.
“Did you manage to check every attendance?”
“Team one clear.”
Then, there came a silence.
Everyone stared at Lee Joo-heon. He opened his mouth.
“Team two clear.”
He already erased the memory of an arrogant hiker. Instead, he was thinking about Yoo Ee-Na.
When would she return? He was excited at the thought of scolding her.
* * *
‘He definitely wants to f*** me up.’
At this, Ee-Na sighed.
She was at An-Seong of Gyeong-Gi.
Her office was located in Seoul, about a couple of hours away. As she sighed, the mysterious hiker asked.
“Should I beat his ass?”
Ee-Na could not resist laughing. “Who? Lee Joo-Heon? You are going to beat his ass?”
“Do I look weak to you?” The man muttered.
“How are you going to beat him? By putting in some complaints?”
Both the hiker and Ee-Na laughed at that.
“I’ll just have to endure his scolding. Well, that’s just like all other workplaces,” she said.
“You’re funny,” the hiker told her.
“Am I?”
“Yes, you are.”
Ee-Na shrugged. It was quite a pleasant compliment. It had been a while since she heard someone tell her that.
“Hold on. We have to deal with our business first. Where do you live? Oh, wait.”
She had forgotten the basic manual. She definitely was a newcomer. According to the manual’s 33 pages and 12th line, despite an evacuation order, if there was an unidentified person, civil servants could legally collect their private data. It was also written in hunter’s special law, number eighteen.
Ee-Na scratched her head and asked, “What is your name?”
“Lee Hwan, the first name is Hwan, and the surname is Lee.”
“What a nice name.”
Suddenly, she realized something.
It was a name that she heard before. “Lee Hwan……. Lee Hwan, sir?”
Then Ee-Na wrote something on the hologram. Soon, she could not hide her astonishment at what she read.
“Holy sh**!” She burst out.
* * *
Geez, what was wrong with this woman?
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked her.
“Eh, sir…”
She was watching her watch and me repeatedly. “Can you put your hand out?” She asked.
Was that for asking me out to date?
“Do you want me to grab your hand?”
She quickly shook her head as if she had made some mistake. Then, she touched the smartwatch. Another screen appeared.
“You see that square box on the screen? Put your right hand on there. We need to check your fingerprint.”
As soon as my hand touched it, a beep sounded.
“It matches… Unbelievable.” She blinked her eyes and stared at me quietly.
I had only known her for a short time, but one thing was clear. She certainly was a clumsy woman.
“Can you explain?”
“Ah… Sure. Did you know that you are on the missing list?”
I shrugged. How was I supposed to know that while I was in another world?
“Is your brother’s name Lee Ho?”
I blinked in disbelief. Jeez, technology advanced a lot. She found it out so quickly.
I nodded with a surprised expression; this time, I was more surprised than she was.
“Goodness! You are Lee Ho’s brother?”
“You know him?”
“Of course! Everyone in this country, no, in the world, knows him! He is not only one of the strongest hunters, but also selected as a 3rd place for the most influential person in the world in Times!”
What in the world was going on?
“My brother is one of the strongest hunters? What just happened?”
“So you are his brother… That’s why I felt like I’ve seen you before. He spread posters to find his missing brother. I saw you through that poster… but you seem much younger than I thought?”
Well then, that was quite a shock.
What the hell happened here? One of the strongest hunters? Selected as one of the most influential people in the world?
And other than that, her watch had become quite interesting, too. I thought it was a gadget, but now I sense an aura inside that watch. Could it be a type of artifact?
It was not just that. Her armor and other equipment were similar to it. They seemed quite complicated. It was totally different from what I knew.
“Just a moment ago, Mr. Lee has arrived from America. Would you like me to take you to him?” she asked.
“Where is he?”
“In Seoul.”
However, one thing was clear to me.
My brother was now a celebrity. Well, he was indeed good-looking, just like me. But was it enough to attract the whole world?
I scratched my chin before saying it out loud.
“Let’s head to Seoul.”
* * *
The 16th of April of 2019 was just another ordinary day.
As usual, we worked, ate, and slept. That was the day. Usually, I would have woken up in my room. Yet, I woke up in the Sky Mountain range of the Valhalla continent.
However, it seemed that I was not the only one who experienced dramatic changes. To be more precise, everyone on the Earth had experienced drastic changes. Just like a recreation of the world.
Objects called gates appeared, and along with them came monsters. People gained a tool called a system, which allowed them to become stronger. However, not everyone was able to use the system. Only the chosen one could.
These ones were called awakeners, and soon, that became their job. They were now what people called hunters.
And today, the 3rd of June, 2029, my brother was in The Big Three, one of the three strongest hunters in the world. He had a special ability called manifest, and he had a weird title called “The Manifester”. That was what I heard from Ee-Na Yoo. After hearing that, I was able to express my feeling in one sentence.
“This world is f**ked up as well.”
“Agreed.”
I turned my head and asked. “By the way, you like my brother?”
She trembled for a bit and answers. “A little…?”
“It doesn’t seem to be ‘a little’ based on what I see…”
When we first met, she sounded as if she had seen me before. Among many other people, she still remembers my name on a missing list? Nonsense. It’s quite simple. She must be a fan of my brother. She remembered the poster he spread. Wow, that continuously surprises me.
“What’s the matter?”
I just smiled and thought of my brother. Good lord, now he got a fangirl.
“What’s that gaze? I’m not a weird person, you know.”
“I didn’t say you were a weird person.”
“…”
“But that’s a relief. He is doing fine.”
And with that, we entered Seoul.
* * *
“Master.”
The man, with his hair tied straight, turned his head slightly.
Manifester Lee Ho – Korea’s strongest hunter and the leader of Korea’s best guild Cheon-Myeong.
His chief secretary, Hong Jong-Geun, had given him the news.
“Your missing brother has been found.”
Lee Ho immediately turned around.
“Found?”
“Yes, now he is waiting at the lobby with a staff from the office department of hunters.”
“Is there a possibility that he is a faker?”
That, indeed, was a reasonable question. All of the reports he had received so far were false.
It had been six years since the last faker, but who knew?