Hunter Kim Bongpal (3)

“Fuck. This sucks.”

That was Kim Bongpal’s response. The world was once destroyed and restored, but the people weren’t the same as before. Much of the previous world’s morality was gone. No, had it been like this before too? Had the merchants done business with the sorrows of others even before the world was destroyed?

Kim Bongpal didn’t know and had no intention of finding the answer. This was because worrying was nothing more than an act for him, and he had no reason to do so. So, he just did what he could and wanted to do.

“Wait! You can’t come in!”

“Fuck off.”

“Yes?”

“I said fuck off.”

Many years had passed since his time as a hunter, but the experience of his work remained intact. In other words, even though he’d been playing and eating for over 10 years, his magic was still imbued with a killing aura that criminals couldn’t handle. The person who guarded Seo Kang Jun’s funeral may have awakened his own mana, but he was no exception.

“C-Come in, please.”

The E-class Hunter couldn’t finish speaking. He would’ve died if he spat out one more word here. That was the feeling flashing through his mind. According to his experience stepping up to the edge of the Hunter world, there was a high probability that his hunch wasn’t mere suspicion.

The reporters who wanted to enter the funeral home watched with dissatisfaction.

“Fuck. Why did you bother to look cool if you were going to step aside anyway?”

Kim Bongpal looked around once inside.

The room was filled with people chatting and mourning the loss of Seo Kang Jun, but none of them were the ones Kim Bongpal was looking for.

Kim Bongpal estimated how many years had passed since he retired, and he didn’t know exactly, so he guessed it was around 10 years. At that time, he was just a toddler, so he must have been a middle or high school student. And there was only one person at the funeral who satisfied that condition.

“Fuck. Still, I have to say goodbye.”

Kim Bongpal, staring down at a seated girl in mourning clothes, turned his gaze to the portrait of the deceased. It was the first time he’d been to a formal funeral like this, except for his sister’s funeral, which was held in a Catholic church. He wasn’t familiar with the series of procedures for bowing to the deceased and comforting the mourners.

He had never bowed before anyone in his life. Therefore, Kim Bongpal didn’t bow to Seo Kang Jun’s portrait as others did.

“I told you that if you’re going to die, have some yukgaejang. You really didn’t listen.”

Those were his only words to Seo Kang Jun. This was enough as a last goodbye.

Kim Bongpal thought so and approached the girl.

“Hey. What was it? Seo Hayeon?”

The unfamiliar name lingered on Kim Bongpal’s tongue. She was the daughter of Seo Kang Jun, who, until now, he thought was called Kang Hayeon. At Kim Bongpal’s call, the girl named Hayeon raised her head. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were full of tears.

Kim Bongpal had seen countless people with that kind of expression until now. He’d seen it on the faces of those who had nothing to rely on.

“Who are you?”Seo Hayeon asked.

Kim Bongpal pondered for a moment. What was he supposed to answer? The guy who used to be an A-class Hunter? Or Kang Jun’s senior? Or the one who cut off the head of the monster that killed her mother? They were all vague answers to Seo Hayeon’s sorrow.

In the end, Kim Bongpal gave the most common answer. The name that twelve years ago, the five-year-old Seo Hayeon called him by.

“…Your uncle.”

Seo Hayeon’s eyes widened. It was difficult for her to remember most of what happened when she was five, but she vaguely remembered that she had followed someone around when she was young. She always called him ‘little uncle,’ and he would get mad, saying he was the ‘big uncle.’ But the man in front of her now couldn’t be that person. That was 12 years ago, but he couldn’t be more than six years older than her.

“Fuck off.”

“What?”

“I said fuck off!

Of course, it was disconcerting to Kim Bongpal to hear his niece tell him that when even her father wouldn’t dare.

“Fuck. I even changed your diaper when you were young, yet you act like this.”

Kim Bongpal frowned. It wasn’t because of any other reason that Seo Hayeon recognized Kim Bongpal. Just the sound of him cursing was too familiar to ignore.

* * *

“Fuck. I’ll pay for the counseling with help.”

Kim Bongpal was holding a letter from Seo Hayeon, given to her by her father. He’d left it to Seo Hayeon a few years ago with the instructions to give it to her uncle when he stopped by. There wasn’t much written on it.

“Haah. Fucking bastard. I shouldn’t have come to the funeral.”

Kim Bongpal crumpled the letter.

It would have been better to throw it away without reading it.

But now, he couldn’t help since he’d already read it.

[Please care for Hayeon until she becomes an adult in place of the consultation fee, Hyung. -Kang Jun-]

“Fuck.”

He couldn’t help but complete the first request Kang Jun had ever made.

* * *

“I want to become a Hunter too.”

This ambitious brat. Just like her dad.

“You can’t.”

“Why?”

“You have no talent.”“Gasp. How does uncle know that!”

Actually, Kim Bongpal didn’t know. Still, he didn’t want Seo Hayeon to become a Hunter. If anyone who knew Kim Bongpal knew that he thought like that, they would be surprised.

“I can tell just by looking at your dad.”

“Yes?”

“Your dad wasn’t talented either. So, I told him to give up as soon as possible.”

Seo Hayeon’s mood grew somber at the mention of Seo Kang Jun. Two days had passed since the funeral, and while her sorrow had lessened, it was still too short a time.

“Well, don’t talk about the S-class Hunter stuff. He wouldn’t have died if he had talent in the first place. Fuck.”

Kim Bongpal’s words made Seo Hayeon even sadder. But even that, Kim Bongpal didn’t notice.

Seo Hayeon swallowed her tears.

“Still, I want to become one.”

“…”

Kim Bongpal sighed. Her face was the same as Seo Kang Jun’s, and it was the same expression he saw when he told Seo Kang Jun to give up his life as a hunter. So, he knew Seo Hayeon would try to become one even if he told her not to. Perhaps even more so.

“What about the awakening?”

“Yes?”

“When did you awaken? Your mana flow is pretty stable.”

“…Three years. It’s been three years.”

If it’d been three years, Seo Hayeon would’ve been 14 years old when it happened. Except for the first generation, who awakened at the time of the Outbreak, most people experienced their awakening during moments of great stress or trauma. He wondered what could’ve been shocking enough to cause a 14-year-old girl to awaken.

But Kim Bongpal didn’t ask.

The faint memory of hearing someone during the funeral say, ‘Hunter Seo Kang Jun wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t lost one of his arms because of his daughter three years ago…’ fluttered through Kim Bongpal’s head.

Three years, Kim Bongpal thought. Three years was too short to show a stable mana flow like Seo Hayeon’s right now. Seo Hayeon showed that level of flow meant that she had the talent to become a Hunter. And aside from being talented, Seo Hayeon must’ve practiced cycling her mana daily. By herself.

If it was the Seo Kang Jun that Kim Bongpal knew, there was no way he would let his daughter become a hunter. So, without any help, she reached this level. She wasn’t just talented by the world’s standards but by Kim Bongpal’s.

“Uncle, I seriously want to become a Hunter.”

“…”

But Kim Bongpal still didn’t want Seo Hayeon to be a hunter, and Seo Kang Jun wouldn’t have allowed it either.

“Later, we’ll talk about that later.”

In the end, Kim Bongpal decided to avoid the conversation. Seo Hayeon stared him down a moment before nodding.

For Kim Bongpal, dealing with Seo Hayeon was more difficult than dealing with a 6-star monster. His prior tricks of solving problems with violence or intimidation wouldn’t work here, not on this young schoolgirl.

“Haah. Just take a rest at home. I have some work to do.”

So, Kim Bongpal decided to solve the problems he could initially, starting with what he was best at. What Kim Bongpal was recently best at was spending money, but besides that, what he was good at back when he was on active duty.

“Hey, you. Fuck. Let’s talk.”

Cutting people to pieces. Or just threatening to cut someone to pieces.