[Buff-Palrog] (TL: the "Palrog" is a made-up Hanja word that loosely translates to "eight records.")
A monster that forms a herd with others of the same species, each possessing one of the eight different buffing abilities. It normally looks like a large water buffalo.
It 'exchanges' powers that it can't use for itself with others in the herd. The higher the buffs stack, the stronger they become.
As they will become more dangerous the larger the herd, let's exercise great caution.
After MS Hahn Joh-Seop made that declaration, Choi Kahng-Sik spent most of his time going through real estate agents and internet sites searching for a new place to call home, now that his shopping centre rooftop was no more. However, for the past several days, he just couldn't escape the fate of being stuck in a Korean dry sauna. (TL: for more info on the Korean dry saunas, type "jjimjilbang" in the Wikipedia search engine.)
It was true that staying in a dry sauna wasn't all that bad.
Well, there was a public bath, a rentable sleeping quarters, a restaurant, an internet cafe, and even a barbershop, too...
Yup, he could buy just about everything he needed, with the sole exception of clothes. Even then, he could just wear the bathrobes provided by the dry sauna, so he didn't even have to worry about washing his original clothes or anything.
The point about being a poor substitute remained the same, though.
'Rather than worrying about meeting the best MS in Korea, I gotta concentrate more on finding a permanent place to stay.'
Choi Kahng-Sik spat out a long groan.
Now normally, if one's living quarters were destroyed by the monsters, then Big Brother, AKA the government, was supposed to support the victims. Unfortunately, the places such as the rooftop room of the shopping centre he used to live in, were deemed illegal occupation of land, similar to shanty towns, and were not recognised as the 'official residence'.
That was why he didn't even receive a penny as compensation.
Sure, Choi Kahng-Sik came into a considerable amount of money in a short period of time thanks to his antics on air, but the current house prices were not something to laugh about.
Security deposits, monthly rentals, leasing, something in between the latter two...
He looked at various options, but couldn't find anything truly satisfactory just yet.
In the end, money proved to be the biggest obstacle.
[A certain god is asking if you're a pauper.]
[A certain impatient god is guffawing really hard.]
[Another god is sniggering.]
[A different god is looking at you with pity.]
These rotten self-proclaimed gods were seemingly trying to provoke him every day with these dang messages. Choi Kahng-Sik had been asking himself if they were really gods or devils in disguise or something.
'Are they deliberately trying to test my faith in them...?'
That was the optimistic interpretation of the situation.
"Mom, mom! That Monster Streamer, he's really here!"
"Oh, my goodness me! I thought it was just a rumour."
"Should we go speak to him?"
People who discovered him slumming it out in the dry sauna began murmuring among themselves.
Those who simply woke him up for a handshake actually belonged to the 'considerate people' category. Because some even aggressively cornered him and tried to make him admit that he was faking his streams. Choi Kahng-Sik couldn't rest his mind like this.
He glanced around and groaned again.
'I thought that staying in the dry sauna wouldn't be a big deal.'
He didn't expect to receive this much attention.
Well, he never experienced such problems when dragging the drunk MS Yu Il-Ahm into this place. Never mind people recognising him, they treated him like a useless drunk and Choi Kahng-Sik was always left embarrassed by those encounters.
They said that fame only lasted for a brief moment!
He was feeling that old adage with his entire being right now.
However, it wasn't wise of him at the moment to get a motel room just because he wished to avoid being inconvenienced.
Because...
┖ Just how poor is this MS?
┖ Hey, Mister MS? Take this birdfeed. Be strong, man. ㅠ
┖ Yo, dude. Take this, and just go buy yourself ramen or something.
'...All this adds up, you see.'
Yup, he was getting sympathy donations at the moment.
The viewers were sending in donations after hearing about his pitiful circumstances. And, although the actual amount wasn't as grand as what he got during the fights against the monsters, it was still high enough and he couldn't ignore them at all.
It was to the point where he didn't even care about the support of the tightwad government anymore.
"Well, young man. Treat this place like your own home, okay?"
The gentle-looking lady owner of the dry sauna was also rather generous with her hospitality as well. She made a decent killing via the increased number of customers visiting her place as they flocked to see the famous MS residing there.
As his reward, his accommodation was provided for free.
Now normally, the sauna's personnel would gently 'persuade' those guests who stayed for more than 12 hours. But he openly received special treatment. No, it was more like they were making sure to meet his everyday needs so he'd never leave this place!
"You know, I shouldn't be doing this... Oh, okay. Few more days."
Those 'few more days' kept piling on, and he ended up staying in the dry sauna for over a week.
Choi Kahng-Sik found the perfect place on the warm stone floor and placed his blankets there before lying down comfortably all the while enjoying his new lifestyle to the fullest.
That was the case until someone rudely interrupted his fun.
"Hey you, Parachute! You despicable son of a b*tch!"
A handsome man who even made the loose-fitting dry sauna robe with blue stripings look good, was bitterly complaining while his nostrils flared up.
His name was probably...
"Uh? Mister Hahn Joh?"
"It's Hahn Joh-Seop!!!"
"Who cares about your name? In any case, why are you spouting more bullsh*t after invading the peace and quiet of this wonderful dry sauna?"
Choi Kahng-Sik replied with a totally disinterested tone of voice.
"It's not bullsh*t! If you're really a Hunter, then go out there and hunt monsters to build up your audience base and spread your name!"
"Hey, can't you see I'm in the middle of a crisis to my very livelihood?"
"A crisis?! Just where the frack is this crisis you're talking about?!"
Hahn Joh-Seop blew his top.
He planned to broadcast a cooperative hunt with MS Kim Soh-Yun from this morning. So, he came around to check on the current condition of his competition in advance, but this.....
'He's staying in a dang dry sauna?!'
Up until today, Hahn Joh-Seop practised his superpower, even going so far as to take a break from hunting monsters so he could concentrate on his training.
And, in order to make up for the humiliation of their previous encounter, he even worked hard on his fitness level and eventually got himself a proper six-pack, too!
Yet, his competitor was lazing around! Not only that, he was actually making the dream of 'creative economy' come true by earning money while staying on his back most of the time!!
The youth replied while letting out a massive yawn.
"Hey, Mister Hahn Joh. Do you have any idea how sorrowful it is to have no home to go back to?"
"I don't even want to know!"
Hahn Joh-Seop's innards were boiling up.
'Hold it. Be patient.'
The more one endured, the sweeter the fruit of victory would become. That dang Parachute wouldn't be able to remain so lackadaisical for too long.
'You will be regretting this later... Mm?'
The handsome Hunter narrowed his eyes and threw out a cautionary question.
"Hey, Parachute. What is the meaning of this?"
"What do you mean, what? Stop getting heated up over nothing, and why don't you take a bite of this boiled egg? It's apparently been cooked in this dry sauna's famous charcoal kiln or something. It's actually really tasty, you know?"
"..."
"...Ah? What, you need salt?"
Something inside the head of Hahn Joh-Seop snapped.
"You, come with me!! We'll use my car! Right this moment!"
"Hey, man. I'm moving as you wanted, so what's the problem this time?"
Sitting on the passenger seat, Choi Kahng-Sik looked at the driver's seat and asked in a disbelieving tone of voice.
'I mean, he's still acting like this, even though we bathed together and all.'
Was it because they were not BFFs that Hahn Joh-Seop was being this shy or something? (TL: TIL that in Korean, BFF literally translates to "testicular friend". A slang, obvs, but still....)
If he knew this would happen, he should've insisted on using the public transport even if it was a wee bit inconvenient, or so reflected Choi Kahng-Sik inwardly. Hell, he was feeling so uncomfortable, the boiled egg he ate not too long ago was now giving him indigestion.
The handsome Hunter with an equally uncomfortable face replied back.
"It's nothing!"
"Oh, really?"
"..."
"..."
How far had they traveled in this silence?
Hahn Joh-Seop brought the car to a halt by the red light and opened his mouth as if he was throwing something out from there.
"Cough. Look here, Parachute. Can you really develop muscles like yours by lugging around a camera?"
"Well, if you lug one around for around five years straight, you'll find out."
"...."
Annnd, Hahn Joh-Seop became even more dissatisfied with that.
He was feeling quite confident about himself, right up until the moment he took his shirt off to take a light shower. Well, it was a dry sauna and all, so he thought, might as well.
That's right - right up until he took his clothes off.
'D*mn it!! How can that even makes sense?!'
However, as soon as he saw the naked body of Choi Kahng-Sik, his confidence was crushed into the size of molecules.
What an overwhelming feast for the eyes that was!!!
It was like looking at a Greek statue.
Parachute's muscles were definitely not the fake products that could be achieved in a short amount time with a regime of protein-intensive diet.
Hahn Joh-Seop could only shudder from the sense of the heavy defeat.
"Wait a minute...."
Choi Kahng-Sik finally gained a hint on the cause of this awkward silence and his eyes narrowed to a slit.
In the profession of the Monster Streamer, the relationship dynamic of 'Hunter & Cameraman' was definitely that of 'the bossman & the hapless underling'. Which meant that quickly figuring out the boss's current moods came with the territory. Except for when one was trying to p*ss the other guy off, obviously.
"..."
"..."
"Parachute. Don't say another word."
"Seriously, man? Come on now, Mister Hahn Joh-Seop. Are you a middle or a high schooler? You are getting all competitive about something so minor?!"
"Kkeuck! Godd*mn it...."
"It's okay, I understand. I know that a man's pride is a precious thing."
Well, thanks to this guy, Choi Kahng-Sik ended up grasping at a very good opportunity, after all.
The Monster Streamer Kim Soh-Yun.
Unless you were somebody, you wouldn't even get a chance to exchange business cards with her. However, it was the same thing as Hahn Joh-Seop hand-delivering a lucky chance to broadcast alongside someone as famous as she was to Choi Kahng-Sik.
'I guess he's an idiot I should be grateful to.'
"Parachute, get out. We're here."
While the two men idly chatted on, they had arrived at their destination.
"This is...."
"It's the Gimpo International Airport. The most well-known airport in Korea, at least before the one in Incheon opened up. Well, that was all in the past, though."
Of course, Gimpo Airport was destroyed a long time ago.
The destroyed aeroplanes and the wreckage of vehicles were strewn about all over the wide, barren plains.
Choi Kahng-Sik silently swallowed back his groans.
'This...is a danger zone.'
For him, the historical fact of this place being an airport held no great importance. What he stared intently at was all the scattered metal bits in this place.
As one might expect, natural resources were in short supply nowadays.
Therefore, in a world where most of the planet's surface was occupied by various monsters, recycling was not an option, but a must.
However, all these material were left abandoned in this place. Even though this former airport was only a stone's throw away from Seoul, not one person was thinking of recycling all those plane wreckages.
There was only one possible reason for this.
"Hey, Mister Hahn Joh-Seop. What monsters call this place home?"
And that reason was, either a really, absurdly powerful monster was living here, or there was a large group of them, making it pretty much impossible to salvage the wreckage.
Hahn Joh-Seop snorted derisively when asked this question.
"As expected, there's no helping a dang Parachute, is it? It won't be too late to reveal such minor information when we're on the air. It's polite manners to say hello to others first!"
He pointed to the group of people that had arrived earlier and were waiting for them.
It was all a bit noisy and crowded over there.
"Just be honest and say you don't know."
"..."
"In any case, let's go and take a look."
And so, they arrived at the designated place.
Choi Kahng-Sik took a look around him and whistled.
'A famous MS does things a bit differently, doesn't she?'
Compared to those that could only hire a single Cameraman, she did things on a whole different level. Everything from the accompanying staff members, broadcasting equipment, and all the way to support vehicles, were large in scale and high in quality.
But then, the main character of this event was even more impressive than anyone else out here.
Hahn Joh-Seop rushed past Choi Kahng-Sik like a blowing wind, stepped forward and bowed his head oh-so-politely. Obviously, he'd stop behaving like a rude young man and transform himself into a dashing gentleman on occasions like these.
"Ahaha! My apologies for coming late, Noo-nim! I should've come before everyone else and scouted the area first." (TL: "Noo-nim" is one of the highest honorifics available to refer to an older female.)
A dazzling smile formed on Hahn Joh-Seop's lips as he ingratiated himself to a stunningly beautiful woman, who was clearly in charge of running this whole operation.
"Aren't you a relaxed fool."
After seeing that despicable behaviour, Choi Kahng-Sik decided to simply follow that man. No matter what, he was just an invited guest. He at least possessed that much sense of discretion.
As for the MS Hahn Joh-Seop?
Too bad for him, the protagonist of today's program was definitely someone else.
If it weren't for this beautiful woman who was actually coming out to greet them, then mobilising such a large scale of personnel, equipment, and vehicles wouldn't have been possible at all.
"You arrived faster than I thought."
The beautiful woman silently approached the two men like a master assassin, and she proceeded to study both men with a narrowed pair of jet-black eyes.
Those eyes reminded one of looking into a deep, murky quagmire.
Indeed, her unexplainable beauty could charm the pants off any man, but at least for now, Choi Kahng-Sik's attention was solely focused on her feet, not her face.
'This woman, she's actually floating in the air.'
Underneath the black coat adorned with countless medals of merit, the pair of black boots clinging onto her legs, right up to her thighs like some sort of leathery kneesocks, were floating a couple of inches off the ground.
Choi Kahng-Sik wasn't staring because he found her superpowers really impressive or anything like that.
No, it was because of her application of her powers in the so-called mundane, daily activities.
It was fairly simple in theory, but using superpowers wasted quite a lot of one's mental energy, so keeping up with the expenditure was no laughing matter.
In other words, this woman possessed both the ability and the talent. On top of that, she was even a hard worker and had a dedicated, no-nonsense attitude.
"Isn't it rude to continue staring at a young lady's legs?"
"Ah, yes. Excuse me. Nice to meet you. My name is...."
"You're the MS Cameraman, yes? I am MS Kim Soh-Yun. Ignore those fools who call me noo-nim or goddess, understand? I've seen your previous streams. This program will last for two nights and three days, including staying awake the whole night. So, please be prepared."
She said what she wanted to convey and nothing else besides.
'Two nights and three days, and staying awake, too?'
This was the first time Choi Kahng-Sik heard about this. When he glanced at MS Hahn Joh-Seop and that pale face of his, it seemed that this fool also had no idea.
'I see. So, this must be the 'variety survival' type program, then?'
The youth smirked deeply and replied.
"I can endure up to three nights and four days without a problem."
And then, he bravely reached out for a handshake.
MS Kim Soh-Yun glanced at the offered hand for a short while, before a smirk formed on her face. It was as if she was sneering at him, but thanks to her beauty, it sure didn't feel like she was dissing him at all.
Her voluptuous lips parted open.
"We'll see if you will remain without problems. In particular, newbies have this nasty habit of trying to show off how cool they are, making it a bit cumbersome for the rest of us. Or, passing out in the middle of broadcasts, even."
"That's not going to happen."
"Oh, really?"
"There is an old proverb you might've heard of - that seeing is believing."
"Ng? Ahaha! Indeed, you're right!"
And so, the man and the woman shook hands.
"Mister Choi Kahng-Sik, I sincerely pray that you're not all talk and no substance."
"And I'll be in your care, as well."
[A certain god looks at the joined hands and is getting all fired up.]
[A certain impatient god is encouraging you to push her down.]
[Another god is waiting expectantly.]
...But, that wasn't gonna happen, though?
'I shall promise to deliver a perfectly family-friendly program.'
[A certain god is very disappointed.]
< Chapter 9: A Star (1) > Fin.