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He really didn't want to admit it. But, Choi Kahng-Sik couldn't help but feel his confidence rise up again as the lost strength flooded back to his body. All thanks to a certain 'impatient' viewer's return.

It was just a tad, though.

'Nothing wrong with having more strength, right?'

Now, it was important to figure out what kind of monsters went on a frenzy here. Well, if it was a creature he couldn't do anything about, then he had no choice but to think very hard about his future and beat a hasty retreat.

[A certain impatient god is disappointed.]

Choi Kahng-Sik simply ignored the impatient god's complaint and surveyed his surroundings. Since he didn't know where the monster might pop out from, he couldn't let his guard down for one second.

It was then, Hahn-Joh-Seop shouted out in anger.

"Hey you, Parachute!! You can't do jack sh*t here!! You can't even use superpowers! Hah!! You really think that crappy tactic of poking monster as*holes will work a second time?!"

"Is there a reason why it won't work?"

Choi Kahng-Sik asked back while tilting his head.

The thing was, most monsters didn't share information with others of its ilk. And this gradual increase in the gap of knowledge and information was the best hope mankind had against the threats of the monster-led extinction.

The effectiveness of varying strategies to subjugate monsters was always improving, and that in turn helped to shore up the weakness of the human race as well.

Of course, there were monsters that humans had no hope of winning against, no matter what.

'Such as the Bul-Raid...'

The youth struggled a little to get rid of the distracting thoughts and turned to look at the handsome Hunter.

"Am I wrong?"

"God d*mn it..."

Hahn Joh-Seop couldn't answer Choi Kahng-Sik and could only chew on his lower lip in frustration.

'I, I gotta come up with something, quick!'

Seeing the restless face of his Cameraman, Hahn Joh-Seop was now certain of his audience rating plummeting like a ton of bricks falling off a cliff.

He needed something to reverse this situation.

And so... He finally made up his mind.

"Get out of the way! Hey, Mister Parachute, Let me show you what a real Hunter is!"

Hahn Joh-Seop shouted out while stepping forward like a guy cutting in front of a queue.

His public image was already destroyed by now. No, rather, his actual personality was revealed to the public, instead. So, he decided not to make excuses or apologize, but be upfront about it and wear a really thick skin while he was at it.

'I'll change my persona to an MS with actual skills today.'

He was already getting pretty sick and tired of his old persona anyways. The images of those upright and confident backs of the top stars, who didn't really care all that much about how audiences reacted to them, appeared before his eyes.

He believed that he could become just like them, too.

By using this crisis as his stepping stone!!

"Mister Hahn Joh-Seop. You're saying that you'll kill the monster all by yourself?"

"Ahaha! Feeling scared, Parachute? Who do you think I am? I am an intermediate-level Hunter! One lightning strike from me and a measly one-star monster is as good as dead!"

*SFX for electricity arcing around*

Blue sparks buzzed and danced in Hahn Joh-Seop's hands.

'As expected... He didn't become famous just because of his face, huh.'

Having seen quite a few Espers in his life, Choi Kahng-Sik developed a pretty discerning pair of eyes. Han Joh-Seop's skills as a Hunter, as far as he could tell, were more than enough to be rated as first-class without a doubt.

His personality was excluded from the evaluation, of course.

"Sure. Do what you want."

"That's right. You just watch from over there while sucking on your thumb, got that? Well, I don't think the mere likes of you will get in my way, though!"

"Sure, sure."

"...Grit!!"

Although he found Choi Kahng-Sik's laid-back attitude completely unacceptable, Hahn Joh-Seop nevertheless decided to hurry with his steps and ignore the youth for now. Meanwhile, the hired Cameraman diligently chased after him.

And, the comments were getting heated up, too.

┖ Eh-whew! I thought as much from a regular guy. ㅡ.,ㅡ

┖ Has the bubble really burst? ㅋㅋ

┖ And this is where I log off.

┖ Thanks for the good show. Bye now. ㅅㄱ

However, Choi Kahng-Sik didn't budge regardless of what the comments were saying.

He was a "weakling" without a superpower, so he always tried to remain objective and observe the unfolding situation first.

Even now, nothing's changed.

'No way a single one-star could cause this much carnage.'

Several buildings were totally destroyed, flattened to the ground.

Indeed, monsters did often bend laws of physics and broke common sense, but even such things were dependant on monsters' star rankings. The scale of destruction this time could only be committed by a monster with at least a two-star rating.

But, if that wasn't the case?

ROAR!!

"Over there?"

Hahn Joh-Seop fired off a lightning bolt in the direction of the monster's roar.

Buzzzz!

"Kueweh?!"

The monster cried out in shock after it got electrocuted.

The huge monkey monster that jumped out from the ruins of a collapsed building, in order to prey on the unsuspecting humans below, was struck by the lightning and staggered around, its entire frame shaking as electricity buzzed around its scorched fur.

And its identity was...

None other than the one-star rated monster, Any-Won, of course.

During that gap when the monster was suffering from paralysis caused by the electricity coursing through its body, Hahn Joh-Seop's second attack flew out and struck the creature.

*SFX for the monster's low growling*

The Any-Won became tattered in the blink of an eye, but it couldn't do a thing against Hahn Joh-Seop's quick and deadly superpower.

And so, this was the moment when the majesty of the intermediate Hunter would be revealed to the whole world to see.

"Ahaha!! Did you enjoy the show? Ha? Parach.... Heok?!"

Hahn Joh-Seop turned around in excitement and then, hurriedly dived and rolled on the floor out of sheer fright.

Bang!

That was from the punch of a huge silhouette emerging right behind his back without a warning!

The hard asphalt ground cracked apart, now roughly resembling a spider's web.

If Han Joh-Seop didn't look back to show off to Choi Kahng-Sik, then he'd be a bloody meat paste by now.

ROAR!!

The monster roared out in irritation after its surprise attack failed rather unexpectedly.

The clearly-surprised handsome Hunter stood right back up and shouted out in fluster.

"What the hell?!"

"What do you mean, what? It only means there's more than one. Obviously."

Choi Kahng-Sik grabbed a metal pipe rolling on the ground nearby and rushed towards the second monster.

'I'm seeing a lot of you today.'

The furry monster that hid underground before breaking out was the same species as the first monster: yet another one-star ranked monster, Any-Won.

The fact that he was getting rather familiar with that monster's a*s made him feel a tone of 'regret' and at the same time, also gave Choi Kahng-Sik a nasty mental shock, too.

Two monsters had raided the city simultaneously.

'And my place got swept up in the process, too.'

Of course, Choi Kahng-Sik couldn't forgive them!

He would avenge the fallen rooftop room that had been with him for the last six years!

And the perfect opportunity presented itself as the Any-Won's back was facing him while it was paying attention to Hahn Joh-Seop.

Choi Kahng-Sik's battle strategy remained the same as before.

[A certain god can't look on anymore.]

[Another god is feeling very uncomfortable.]

"Kuue~ehhhck?!"

Soon enough, a rather distinctive scream of pain resounded out.

┖ Dang it! And I was just eating, too! So dirty.

┖ Hey, Mister MS, what's the reason for stabbing there again?

┖ Can't you fight fair and square?

┖ It's really cowardly. ㅋㅋ

Choi Kahng-Sik decisively ignored the viewers' complaints. Actually, it was probably far more insane that he was busy checking out the comments with the shoulder-mounted camera's screen, even in the middle of this chaos.

He looked straight into the camera and spoke in a reassuringly open tone of voice.

"Everyone. I can't help it, because you see, the weapon itself isn't good enough for the job at hand. If you wish to see this incompetent MS fight a cool-looking battle in the future, please don't forget to donate generously! I heard that nowadays, axes made out of the monsters' jawbones are in demand..."

┖ Fine. Here, food. (Oink, oink)

┖ Is it fine with Benjamins?

┖ If it's entertaining, I'll support you. ^^

Compared to the current audience rating, the donations coming in seemed way too insufficient. Still, for an MS who just got started and therefore wasn't that 'trustworthy', it was also quite a good amount.

And then.... donations began accumulating pretty dang quickly.

Choi Kahng-Sik was left quite dumbfounded, even though he was the one who asked for this.

'This is why people want to become an MS!'

This was on another level compared to a Cameraman's wages. However, upon realising that this seemingly huge amount was just the tip of the iceberg, goosebumps broke out all over his body.

A wry smile formed on his lips as he took position behind the Any-Won.

"Well, I feel motivated, that's for sure."

Indeed, if he decided to run away now after receiving this much money, he'd be buried six feet under, socially speaking. Which meant that he was stuck in a situation where either the monster or himself had to die...

"Attack! Fire!!"

"Now is our chance when it's paralyzed!"

"Don't you dare hold back! Shoot!"

A dozen or so soldiers armed with guns lined up to the side.

The uniforms of the past were coloured in the frog-like green hues that favoured blending in with the surroundings. But the newer ones were red with sparkling fluorescent substances inserted in between.

In other words, designed to be as overly eye-catching as possible!

It was designed so the soldiers would become monsters' targets instead of powerless civilians or all-too-important Hunters.

"Are you crazy?!"

Choi Kahng-Sik cried out moments before the guns started spitting lead.

'I'm also a powerless citizen too, you know?!'

The youth let go of the pipe already stuck pretty deep in the rectum of the suffering monster and dived to the ground, while not really finding the time to voice his grievances out loud.

Blam, blam, blam, blam!!

Countless bullets flew right past over his head.

*SFX for bullets digging into the monster's flesh*

Roar?!

These guys were different from the conscripted soldiers of the past. From privates to sergeants, they were now career soldiers, being paid a monthly salary.

One could tell the level of their mental fortitude just from their uniforms designed to attract monsters' aggro.

Love of their country, loyalty to the cause, the courage to stand up, devotion...

And because of all these reasons, they boasted high accuracy even when facing urgent situations such as this one. They also were well aware of the fact that they had to kill the monster if they wanted to survive.

'They really don't seem to care how valuable a bullet is!'

That was yet another thing different from how it was in the past.

In the past, bullets used to be pretty cheap compared to how destructive they could be. However, what with the world going through the shortage of raw materials nowadays, the cost of manufacturing bullets increased by several hundred folds. Even a new profession of picking up soldiers' missing shells popped up, as a result.

*SFX for a monster's pained growl*

The one-star ranked monster, covered in countless bullet holes all over its body, roared out in pain. Blood came trickling down from its furry body.

But, that was all.

Not one bullet managed to penetrate the thick skin of that Any-Won and simply ended up being nothing more than flesh wounds.

*SFX for wounds closing up*

Even worse, it was healing itself already!

The flowing blood got absorbed back into the monster's skin as if it was some kind of sponge.

This was the distinctive characteristic and insane healing speed of monsters that drove mankind to the corner, in full display. Nobody knew exactly where those two abilities could come from. Maybe the Cores? Who knew.

There were only two battle strategies that worked against monsters.

Melee attacks and/or superpowers.

Ranged weapons, such as guns, could only buy time.

But ordinary human beings, brandishing swords or spears to attack a monster, would simply get knocked off their feet by the enormous fist of the said monster first.

So, these soldiers were anxiously waiting.

'Godd*mn it! The support has got to show up soon....'

'I'm out of bullets!'

'Are the Hunters still too far away?'

….They were anxiously waiting for the arrival of Espers that could break past the monsters' thick skin and cause actual, tangible damage. Currently, the MS Hahn Joh-Seop was the most powerful person present, but...

"Y-you stubborn b*stard...!!"

Roar!!

But, he was in the middle of exchanging attacks with the Any-Won that failed to kill him with the ambush.

*SFX for empty gun chambers clicking*

And now, no matter how many times the soldiers squeezed the trigger, no bullets came out of the guns.

"That idiot Hunter..."

"Everyone, we attack together at the same time!"

The rifles were attached with long bayonets up front; grave determination flashed by the eyes of the soldiers gripping their rifles like spears.

They weren't even hoping to win here.

No, they could only wait for a Hunter to show up and help before they were annihilated.

*SFX for a monster's growling*

At last, the Any-Won noticed that the soldiers ran out of bullets and the ends of its lips arched upwards.

And it began the wonderful deliberation on how it should go about killing these cheeky prey...

STAB!

"Kuuooohhhohck?!"

The monster that didn't even falter when hit by hundreds of bullets issued a rather odd cry, while its lower body began trembling suspiciously.

It could only turn the head around to glare at culprit standing behind its back.

[A certain god displays his dislike for reruns.]

[A certain impatient god wants to see something dying as soon as possible.]

[A certain god is distributing fresh popcorns.]

[Number of viewers: 4]

"Pah! Who cares if it's a rerun?!"

If it worked before, then he was gonna wring it 'till it was completely dry!

Choi Kahng-Sik snorted towards the empty air. He then used his foot to push the end of the metal pipe, the rest already stuck up the as*hole of the monster, one more time with everything he had.

Using the body that got strong all thanks to these gods!!

"Kuooouah?!?!"

The Any-Won began panicking.

What an unbelievable level of power for a mere human! Even if its lower body lost all strength because of the searing pain, the monster still couldn't believe that the weakling managed to push it off balance.

Its expression showed how confused it was.

That was why its response was late by one beat.

"Hahp!!"

Choi Kahng-Sik used his entire body to push.

The Any-Won decided that it no longer wanted to be on the receiving end, and tried to swing its fist while turning around.

Pow!!

Unfortunately for it, the opponent was faster.

When a human and a monster collided, a sound akin to someone beating a drum exploded out.

The part of the monster Choi Kahng-Sik aimed at with his entire body was its knee.

"Keuk?!"

The shock and pain from what felt like running into a solid concrete wall surprised him, but it was all worth it.

"Kuweehck?!"

With one of its knees folded, that Any-Won wobbled.

And right next to the monster was the hole that led to the underground, the one created by the other monster when it tried to mount the surprise attack on the MS Hahn Joh-Seop.

It desperately tried to not fall in it, but...

"Just fall in already."

Tap.

"Kuoooooohhh?!"

As soon as the little human pushed from behind, the monster fell into the hole.

┖ Oh, my, god. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

┖ Hey man, is this guy for real?

┖ Did the monster die from the fall? (◑ω◐)?

┖ It fell head first. I saw it. ^^

'Dying from that? No way, man.'

If monsters died that easily, mankind would've swept them all away by now.

Choi Kahng-Sik slung the strap of the camera around his neck, and...

Grab.

Holding a metal pipe in each hand, he jumped into the hole without hesitation to follow after the Any-Won.

< Chapter 7: Viewers (3) > Fin.

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