Capitalist Monster Hunter

“Yuseong, today’s going to be tough.”

The boss’s voice already had a sigh mixed in.

“Isn’t every day pretty rough lately? I just have to roll with it.”

Yuseong replied, unfazed, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

The work he was doing now was physically demanding. 

Even if today was harder, it just meant a bit more spent on pain relief patches.

“This time, it’ll be tough mentally, too.”

“Boss. Don’t tell me…”

Yuseong’s eyes widened as he looked at his boss.

Please, don’t say it.

That’s what his eyes seemed to say.

But the boss just closed his eyes and patted Yuseong on the shoulder.

“Hang in there, Yuseong.”

“Sigh… Seeing a corpse messes with my dreams for days.”

“You think I’m any different? Let’s finish this before the smell sticks to our clothes. Changshik! Let’s get started!”

“Yes, boss!”

As the boss signaled the start, Yuseong took out a mask and put it on.

To do his job, he absolutely had to wear a mask. Otherwise, the stench might make him pass out.

Yuseong twisted the doorknob and slowly opened the door.

Creeeeak!

With a disturbing metallic sound, a foul stench pierced through his mask. The nasty smell made Yuseong grimace.

‘Ugh, what is that smell…?’

His mask’s filter was brand new, and he kept it in excellent condition. Even so, it couldn’t completely block out the smell.

‘I just have to bear it.’

The room reeked, enough to make his head spin, but there was no choice. He had to endure it.

“So, what happened here?”

Yuseong looked down at the body of an elderly person, decomposed it to the point where maggots were crawling on it, and asked the boss.

“They said it was a goblin.”

“A goblin?”

Goblin.

The boss casually mentioned a monster that would typically only appear in games. But Yuseong and the boss spoke as naturally as if it were a normal conversation.

In this world, monsters that seemed straight out of a game or movie killing people wasn’t unusual anymore—it was the norm.

“How did a goblin even get here and kill someone? It looks like this person died a while ago, but I didn’t see any news about goblins slipping through the Gate under the Security Bureau’s watch.”

“They probably covered it up. Imagine if the news reported that a goblin got past the Security Bureau and killed someone. The Bureau and hunters would get roasted. People would say, ‘What are we paying all these taxes for?’ The government, too busy protecting the hunters, probably put pressure on the media. Our country’s media is famous for shutting up for a bit of cash.”

“Are they even journalists if they won’t report the truth? That’s just trash journalism.”

“In this country, nothing’s off-limits if you have money. Being broke is a crime. If this old guy had been a conglomerate chairman, the whole country would’ve been flipped upside down.”

Yeah, he was right. In a country where nothing is off-limits if you have money, being broke was a crime. It was a messed-up reality, but true.

“Let’s clean this up quickly. We have a lot of places to hit today. Changshik! Bring the body bags!”

“Better hurry if we want to get home before sundown.”

If they wanted to finish before sundown, they had to get the job done quickly. 

Yuseong shut his mouth and quietly started cleaning.

“Yuseong, rest up, and see you next week. You worked hard today.”

“Thank you, boss. You too.”

“It’s not like I worked any less. Go home and get some rest. And don’t forget to wash your clothes—the smell’s probably soaked in.”

“Got it. I’ll be heading off then.”

“Alright, get going.”

The boss’s old gray van gradually faded into the distance.

Yuseong dragged his tired body inside his house.

“Ugh, my back.”

Squatting on hardwood floors all day had really done a number on his back.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

Bringing his sleeve to his nose, a strong, rotten smell hit him.

“Boss was right. The smell really stuck. No way this’ll come out over the weekend…”

The smell of a decomposing body wasn’t something that washed out easily. It was a smell that could soak through wallpaper into cement, so it wouldn’t go away so quickly.

Yuseong threw his reeking clothes into the washing machine and poured in a generous amount of detergent, adding a touch of the expensive fabric freshener he usually saved.

This much might get rid of some of the smell.

Beep! Beep!

Whirrr—

As the washing machine started, Yuseong headed straight for the bathroom to take a shower.

“Ah, that’s warm.”

The warm water seemed to melt away some of the fatigue in his body.

After finishing his shower, Yuseong laid down on his bed, feeling like he weighed a ton. He didn’t want to move at all. Planning to lounge around for a bit before falling asleep, Yuseong picked up the TV remote.

Beep!

Turning on the TV, Yuseong started flipping through the channels, pressing buttons on the remote.

“Thrall! You’ve made me all crispy!”

“No… you’re the one that made it juicy…”

“Crispy on the outside! Juicy on the inside! Order Garrosh Chicken now! We also have green tea chicken!”

A chicken commercial was playing on the TV.

“Ah, watching that makes me want to eat chicken.”

On the screen, crispy fried chicken was being displayed, looking incredibly appetizing.

But he had a lot of expenses this month. There was a graduation for the younger siblings at the orphanage, and one of them was entering college. He needed to save money.

“Let’s watch the news instead.”

Feeling that watching the chicken commercial might make him impulsively order some, Yuseong quickly changed the channel.

Beep!

“Yes! Our guest today is none other than South Korea’s SSS-ranked hunter, Mr. Kang In-han! Please give him a big round of applause!”

Wowwww!

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

As he changed the channel, loud cheers and applause echoed from the TV, comparable to the sound fans made when seeing their favorite idols.

“That guy Kang In-han has been on TV a lot lately.”

On the screen, the handsome hunter, Kang In-han, was scratching his head with a shy smile. He was a famous SSS-ranked hunter, renowned worldwide.

Kang In-han, an SSS-ranked hunter, was also the guild leader of the massive hunter guild, “Taeguk.”

“Hunters…”

It had already been over twenty years since these monster-hunting “hunters” had integrated into society.

Since the first monster break occurred at the end of the 20th century, the world had been revolving around hunters.

In the late 20th century, there was talk of impending rapture and other such chaos, but in reality, what nearly drove the world to destruction was the appearance of monsters from other dimensions.

Many people lost their lives. Yuseong also lost his parents during this time.

The only reason humanity could prevail against monsters, which were nearly immune to modern weaponry, was due to the existence of hunters, these beings with supernatural powers.

Hunters gained superhuman abilities in otherworldly realms called “Estel” and “Muhan” and returned to Earth with those powers.

They even brought along small fairy-like creatures that supported them.

Perhaps because the number of hunters traveling back and forth between Earth and these other worlds continues to increase, hunters quickly became a fixture in society.

Nowadays, being a hunter is the number one dream job among students. Yuseong agreed with that sentiment.

Who wouldn’t want a job where a single hunt could bring in high earnings?

Even clearing a low-level dungeon once can earn them as much, if not more, than a regular monthly salary, so who wouldn’t want to become a hunter?

Yuseong, scratching his belly and holding the remote, was one of those people who admired hunters.