Gyeongseong’s Hunter Academy

A sphere that fluctuates with colours that a human cannot perceive – a Gate.

It was floating right in the middle of the intersection, the passing tram as if it had just been half eaten up and,

“The magic door opened! Hurry, call the……!”

『Nigero! Hayaku Nige- Agh!』

“EEEEEEK!”

‘…….’

As the pedestrians bumped into me whilst running away, I stood still, just looking at the Gate.

‘What the hell is this?’

As far as I knew the first ever Gate appeared in 2019. There was no way that thing had appeared in this era.

‘Did history change when I came back to this era?’

Soon after, monsters started spewing out of the Gate. What dragged themselves out of the Gate were three monsters in the shape of large cephalopods.

As I watched the scene unfold, dumbstruck, Song Byung-oh, who had quickly come next to me, shouted.

“Damn it, I’m not even an official Yeopsa yet but ……!”

As he said this he pulled something from inside his uniform. It was a revolver. I was surprised.

Wait, where the hell did you get a gun? Don’t tell me you’re planning on fighting these monsters with that gun. A regular civilian, let alone a student, with just a handgun?

We had just gotten to know each other, but I couldn’t let him die. I had to stop him.

“Hey! It’s dangerous! Do you even know what those are? What are you gonna achieve with that-”

“Obviously it’s dangerous, like I wouldn’t know! But even so, how am I just going to stand still when I’m a prospective Yeopsa student!”

“What?”

“If you’re afraid just step aside!”

As he said, he shoved me back, started walking towards the monsters with his arm extended and started shooting his gun.

Bang! Bang!

The deafening gunshots kept on ringing out one after the other. But he was fighting against monsters. I didn’t know how a student like him managed to get his hands on a gun, but these monsters were not something he could fight with just regular bullets.

But then,

Bang!

The bullets that directly hit the monster’s head exploded with a brilliant flash. This almost looked like,

‘Mana bullets?!’

They were mana bullets! I turned and looked at Song Byung-oh.

‘He’s an Awakened?’

In the 21st century there were also Hunters that put mana into bullets to injure monsters, and what Song Byung-oh was shooting as well, even if a bit clumsy, was very similar.

And now that I thought about it, the way he reacted was not one of someone who had never seen a gate. No, not just him, but also all the pedestrians seemed to start running away knowing what a Gate or monster was.

‘You’re telling me that it wasn’t me who changed history but rather that Gates already existed in this world? That’s why there are Awakened people…… Then also Hunters……’

All of a sudden, the word “Yeopsa(獵師)”, which I had seen several times already, came to my mind.

‘Yeop(獵) as in hunting.’

Yeopsa. Although they were unfamiliar Chinese characters, if I thought carefully it meant “hunter”. Did that mean, then, that Yeopsa was this era’s equivalent to the Hunters I knew?

If that was so, then was the “Yeopsa Vocational School” I was going to start attending the same as the “Hunter Academy”?

‘That’s absurd.’

I thought I’d been sent back in time to live a life different than that of a Hunter in a place with no Gates and no monsters, but it was just a world where Gates had existed for a long time and I’m just a freshman at the Hunter Academy?

I did make a wish saying that “I want to go back and attend the Hunter Academy”, but this is the way my wish is being fulfilled?

‘Oh, my…….’

Whatever it may be, if I, Baek Cheol-yeon, was a freshman at the Hunter Academy then I must also be an Awakened.

Up to this point, I had never thought that this body would be that of an Awakened, so I hadn’t even tried to feel the magic. But when I focused on my body I could feel the mana flowing.

‘Hmm……?’

However, the amount of mana was hardly amazing. If you rated based on the magic power rating of the 21st century, it was E-class or even lower. It was even less mana than I originally had.

Anyway, it was clear that I was an Awakened since I could sense mana, but this alone wouldn’t be enough to let me know what kind of ability I had.

In the 21st century, where I was a Hunter, there was a system that analyzed the mana pattern of the Awakened and showed it objectively with an indicator. Based on that, one could objectively see what kind of Awakened they were and how strong they were.

Since I was possessing another body I couldn’t expect that right now, but I called out the system call command just in case.

‘Status widow!’

Fwoop-!

[K-HUNTER’S STATUS SYSTEM ver.3.2.2]

[Starting up……]

‘It shows up?!’

But, as if to kill my expectations, the system immediately showed an error message.

[Error: User information is corrupt.]

[Unable to run status system.]

‘So it doesn’t work……’

The status system is implanted into the soul of each Awakened, so it must have come with me when I resurrected, but it seemed that something broke in the process.

Now that I couldn’t use the status window, I had no choice but to dive into it to find out what my ability was.

I looked around to search for something I could grab in my hand and found a sharp split wooden stick. As I focused a bit, the stick was infused with auror.

From the way the auror was infused, I thought that the student I had possessed was probably an Awakened in the style of an auror blower. However, since the amount of operating mana was so small the auror I infused was only enough to make the stick I was holding “slightly” harder.

Unfortunate, but this was enough for now.

I held the stick and stared at the monsters. I didn’t know what they were called here, but they were the kind of monster that we called “Cephalopods” in the 21st century, and I was quite familiar with them.

A typical cephalopod monster with monsters, roughly the size of a car, they looked like a mixture between an octopus and a jellyfish. Their movement speed was very slow, but their elongated tentacles were very agile and had a very long range, making them tricky opponents.

Their heads were hardened so firearms didn’t work on them, and, although the mouth that was in the middle of their extended legs was their weak point, due to their dozens of tentacles it was difficult to get close and damage them.

But they were categorized as only D-class monsters and I had killed plenty of them in my Hunter days.

Like the seafood looking things they were, magic – especially fire magic – would just cook them right up, ready to be sold in sushi restaurants, and even without fire abilities, they were monsters that you could defeat without any special abilities or weapons as long as you had the strength and good technique.

I clenched my weapon tightly and ran past Song Byung-oh towards the nearest of the three Cephalopods. Song Byung-oh shouted, surprised.

“Baek Cheol-yeon, you……?”

“Fire when I give the sign!”

After instructing Song Byung-oh, I headed straight to the Cephalopod, and as soon as I had barely reached its tentacle range, I turned right and started circling it in a large circle.

Maintaining close distance, I avoided the approaching tentacles by simply slapping them away with the end of my stick as I pulled the monster’s attention.

After all, it would be impossible for me to cut off the tentacles with a stick like this, and even if I grabbed a knife, it would be unreasonable to cut off the tentacles one by one by myself. Especially since if I get close enough to cut one off, the monster would attack me with its other tentacles.

Since each tentacle moves individually, the pattern would be too complicated, and as soon as I got into range, I would be surrounded by tentacles in the blink of an eye.

But, exactly this individual movement of its tentacles was also its blind spot!

If I swatted each tentacle away whilst moving around it like this, since it would be fixated on me, each tentacle would try to grab me and they would all just end up getting entangled.

And then, as the tentacles supporting its weight reach out towards me, it would start stumbling,

I would stop the circling movement, turn and start running straight at it. The tentacles, wrapped around the monster’s body, couldn’t react immediately to the movement approaching fast.

Crash!

I stabbed the monster’s mouth with my stick as it started to lose its balance. This was the weakest point on this guy’s body. If what I was holding in my hand had been a weapon that could inflict magical damage instead of just a regular stick, this would have been the end.

Of course, I wouldn’t have tried this kind of attack with a stick that couldn’t even hold magic normally, but I wasn’t alone right now. I twisted the stick and forcibly opened the monster’s mouth as I shouted.

“Song Byung-oh! Now!”

It would be over if we shot a mana bullet into the open mouth. Song Byung-oh wasn’t very experienced and his mana bullets were still weak, but they were more than enough to destroy the squishy internal organs and the power source, the magic stone beyond this fragile throat.

But what came flying by from Song Byung-oh wasn’t a mana bullet, but his panicked voice.

“Uh, y- yeah…… Wai- wait a second!”

I looked back, he was reloading now of all times. Song Byung-oh pulled something that looked like a bullet from his pocket, looking flustered, and he even dropped it on the ground.

‘For crying out loud.’

I was cursing inside, but it was hardly his fault. If someone had made a mistake, it had been mine for shouting out orders at and trusting a student who hadn’t even started his Hunter education.

But with this happening it was me who couldn’t afford to relax. The entangled tentacles started to unravel.

Even if I wanted to avoid it, the other two Cephalopods, that had noticed that something unusual was happening, started extending their tentacles towards me. It was a disaster.

‘Damn it. This is dange-’

At that moment, I heard a voice whispering behind me.

『Dokinasai(Please, move to the side).』

A person with long black hair started passing by in front of me, and suddenly an intense heat engulfed me. At the same time huge red flames surrounded the Cephalopods.

The tentacles that had been approaching me screeched as they started retreating, avoiding the flames. I quickly moved away from the fire as well.

The Inyoung (人: “In”, meaning person; 影: “Young”, meaning shadow) standing in the middle of the fire was a female student wearing a black “Sailor Moon”-style sailor uniform. The long Japanese sword she had in her hand was engulfed in flames as if it had been doused in oil.

『Yozo-sama(Lady)!』

A group of men rushed in front of the girl. The men, wearing black suits, were all carrying Japanese swords like the girl. They rushed at the Cephalopods and began cutting off their tentacles.

Song Byung-oh cried out.

“We’re alive! They’re Yeopsas from the “Shimazu Gumi”!”

I asked.

“Shimazu Gumi?”

“Yes! Look at their badges! Those are the badges the Yeopsa Union of the famous Shimazu Gumi wear!”

I realized that the “Yeopsa Union” he mentioned was probably their “Hunter Guild” equivalent. If that was so, then did this mean that these people were profesional Hunters belonging to a group?

Indeed, as soon as the men in suits began to fight the Cephalopods, two of them had already been downed.

Among them, the girl who had stormed in front of me particularly caught my eye. The girl wearing the black sailor uniform held the long sword that was almost as tall as her up above her head and

『HYAAAAA!”』

With a sharp shout, she lowered it towards the last standing Cephalopod. The hot, burning red blade cut the Cephalopod in half.

‘Whoa…….’

The flames and heat that rushed out were definitely those of a fire-style Awoken, but the swordsmanship that had just cut the Cephalopod in half was just her own physical skills, nothing to do with her Awakening.

It seemed that her ability was one where she applied her Awoken abilities as an aide and relied mainly on her own physical skills and technique. Even if some of her movements seemed a bit clumsy, her skills were nothing to laugh at.

Song Byung-oh, who had been watching, was amazed.

“As expected, the Shimazu Gumi is as amazing as I had heard!”

I couldn’t disagree.

All three Cephalopods that had burst out of the Gate had been eliminated in a few minutes since the Hunter Guild, or rather, Yeopsa Union “Shimazu Gumi” had arrived onto the scene. Even if the Cephalopods were low level monsters, they were quick and clean.

As soon as all the monsters had been eliminated, some of the Hunters started to put out the fires that had spread to the surrounding houses, and some placed a caution line around the Gate that was still open. It was exactly the kind of clean-up work that would be expected from professional Hunters belonging to a guild.

And the girl who had just defeated the last Cephalopod spoke to her surrounding guild, or rather, union members, ordering something, and then turned and started approaching us. Five union members followed behind her like an escort.

“Huh?”

Why is she coming this way? Does she want to see if we’re okay? But as the girl came close enough that we could make out her face Song Byung-oh started muttering.

“Wait…… Wait a moment. If it’s the Shimazu Gumi does that mean she’s ……?”

As soon as I tried to ask him if he knew who she was the girl had got close and started talking to us.

『That uniform. That should mean you are a freshman at the Gyeongseong Yeopsa Vocational School, entering this semester. Like me.』

It was the same as before, even though the girl was speaking in Japanese I could understand every single word that she was saying. So this meant that this girl was one of my school peers, just like Song Byung-oh who was standing behind me.

“Yeah.”

As soon as I answered, the girl stretched her hand and said.

『I am Renka. Shimazu Renka.』

Song Byung-oh, who had been standing behind me, started getting hiccups as soon as he heard that name. I didn’t know what was happening with him but…… Although I was a little taken aback by the girl telling us her name first, the only right thing would be to tell her mine as well.

I grabbed the girl’s, Renka’s white hand and said.

“Baek Cheol-yeon.”

『……Beku, Cho-ryon……』

Renka frowned slightly as she struggled to imitate the pronunciation. Then, as she was having a hard time, she closed her mouth.

『Wouldn’t it be better if I just called you Shirabayashi-san?』

……Wait, this…… I was not too comfortable since that was a Japanization of my name. But since Renka couldn’t pronounce the name “Baek Cheol-yeon” to save her life so I just nodded. It would be more comfortable for a Japanese person like her to call me by a Japanese name.

I answered in Japanese.

『Call me whatever you prefer.』

『It’s good to meet you, Shirabayashi-san.』

Only then did Renka tighten the hold on her clasped hand and said with a slight smile. But then, a young union member standing behind Renka shouted.

『Lady! That man is from Joseon!』

『……!』

Renka hurriedly let go of my hand. …What? She asked to shake my hand first, but as soon as she realizes I’m a “Joseon-jin” she doesn’t want anything to do with me?

As soon as I was about to start feeling offended she turned her head slightly to the side and quietly opened her mouth.

『Dahikiro-san.』

At Renka’s voice the young union member lowered his head and answered.

『……Yes, Lady!』

『For a person studying to be a Yeopsa there is no need to distinguish their inner good.』

『But a person from Joseon-』

As soon as Renka turned her head quickly and glared at the union member he stopped talking.

『……I’m sorry, Lady.』

Was it because Renka was ranked highly in her union? Even though this union member seemed to be an officer he couldn’t say a word at Renka’s remarks.

But even so, he kept his head high and staring at me as if displeased. So I stared back at the guy. What? What you gonna do?

The more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off. This kid, barely looking 25 years old, glaring at a grown-up and finishing every sentence with “Joseon-jin”. Was this the real feeling of sorrow you get from losing your country?

As my emotions intensified, my magical powers started to boil over. The stick was still clenched in my hand. I took a step towards the union member. Song Byung-oh shouted from behind me.

“He- hey, Baek Cheol-yeon!”

I ignored Song Byung-oh’s please and kept on staring at the union member. He also met my gaze, quietly resting his hand on the handle of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment.