NOVEL WEB Chapter 1 - Life's Compass
Translator: FenrirTL
Editor: KYSOIWDI
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[ Chapter 1: Life’s Compass ]
2022.
“There are children here!”
It’s said that childhood experiences last a lifetime.
For the first time, a loud noise echoed in the normally quiet laboratory. From the end of the hallway, the sounds of objects breaking and shouts resounded.
Crash!
The glass window blocking the way shattered into pieces.
“Kids, are you alright?”
A man appeared, pushing aside the shattered glass.
“It’s okay now. You can come out.”
Other hunters followed the man into the lab. Whenever the hunters’ eyes met those of the researchers, the researchers couldn’t utter a word and trembled in fear.
The man picked me up from the front. Near the window, the lab director was sprawled in an undignified position. The man stepped on the director’s hand as he walked past.
The director, who had glared at the children and even pretended to raise his hand, couldn’t utter a single groan and watched the man cautiously.
To me, it felt like a revelation.
Look at the once-proud director now groveling!
“Mister.”
“Hmm? Are you hurt anywhere? Just hold on a bit.”
“No, that’s not it… Mister, you’re a hunter, right?”
“Hmm.”
“How can I become strong like you?”
“Oh, you want to become a hunter?”
The man answered sincerely.
“Then, shouldn’t you awaken first?”
At that moment, another hunter passing by overheard the man’s words.
“Hey! Don’t say weird things to the kid!”
“Weird things! Ahem. Awakening is important, but you can think about that later. For now, let’s focus on getting home.”
The man roughly ruffled my hair.
Holding me, the man walked outside. It had been a long time since I had seen the outside of the lab. Several ambulances were parked, and children like me, who had been rescued by hunters, were coming out of the lab.
“Kid, what’s your name?”
Before handing me over to the paramedics, the man asked for my name.
After a brief hesitation, I answered.
“Number 12.”
“What?”
Eleven-year-old me thought the man would get angry at that response, and I wasn’t wrong.
After seating me in the ambulance, the man saw the researchers being led out in handcuffs.
“Hunter Hong!”
Before anyone could stop him, he charged at the researchers. Honestly, I couldn’t see clearly. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, the man was kicking the lab director.
“Agh!”
“You bastards!”
“Please, spare me!”
Yes.
Power. Absolute power that no one could defy!
“Hunter Hong! What are you doing right now!”
At that moment, a clear, ringing voice was heard.
The man, who had been kicking the director and swinging his fists, shrank his shoulders. He awkwardly smiled and turned around.
“Ah, Inspector. What brings you here…?”
“What brings me here?! Didn’t you do this last time as well? You can’t be doing this!”
The woman in the pitch-black suit glared. The man’s shoulders shrank even more.
“Let him go immediately!”
“No….”
“No?”
“It’s not that….”
“Then?”
“Uh….”
The man, looking sheepish, let go of his hand. The director, who had fallen to the ground, couldn’t even wipe the blood dripping from his nose as he crawled backward.
The woman sighed with a dissatisfied expression.
“Thank you for your help, but this is causing us problems too. Please be more careful!”
“Well, ahem, it’s not something I can be careful about….”
“You have no intention of being careful, do you?!”
“Ahem.”
The man scratched his head and watched the woman warily. His expression overlapped with that of the director, who had been watching the man earlier.
Isn’t it surprising?
It was understandable that the lab director would watch the man warily.
After all, people’s lives are important to them, aren’t they? If there’s someone in front of you who can kill you with a flick of their finger, even your breathing becomes cautious. That’s how it was inside the laboratory.
But it seemed that the woman wasn’t a hunter. What on earth could a woman much smaller than him be that made that man so nervous?
“Who is that person?”
I asked the paramedic who was taking my temperature.
“Huh? Who?”
“That woman in the suit over there.”
“The Inspector? She came to manage this suppression operation….”
The paramedic paused to clear his throat.
“She came to help the hunters work better. To check if there’s anything they missed….”
“Is she like the lab director?”
“Lab director? Well, maybe similar…. Do you feel any pain anywhere?”
“No.”
I answered obediently.
“Where are we going now?”
“Uh, probably….”
“The doctor will check if you have any injuries.”
The woman in the suit, who had been scolding the man, said as she approached me. Behind her stood the man, looking very subdued.
The woman smiled brightly.
“Then you might be able to see your mom and dad too.”
It wasn’t helpful to me. But the other kids in the ambulance cheered at her words. I ignored their cheers and asked the woman,
“Are you that man’s boss?”
Wasn’t he just standing there awkwardly, listening to the scolding?
The woman quietly smiled.
“I’m not his boss, but I do scold him when he does something wrong.”
“Isn’t that a boss? The lab director always scolds the other researchers. We don’t like him either.”
“…I’ll make sure to scold that bad man for you.”
“But you look weak… You’re not even a Hunter, right?”
“Right. I’m not a Hunter, so I’m not strong. But what you see isn’t everything. There are many ways to punish bad people without hitting them, like this man.”
“How?”
“Well… Maybe by sending them to prison so they can’t come out for the rest of their lives?”
“Like us?”
The woman patted my head silently. Unlike the rough hands of the Hunter, hers were incredibly soft.
I asked the woman again.
“Then, how can I become like you?”
“Huh?”
“To scold the lab director, I have to become like you, right?”
“Well, you’d have to study hard.”
“Study?”
“To become like me, you have to pass the exams that the government holds. Even after passing, you have to work hard to become a high-ranking official.”
“Government exams….”
It was only later that I understood what the woman meant.
The overwhelming power wielded by Hunters. And the other, unseen but distinctly present power that allowed one to scold and control such Hunters without hesitation.
That was the moment the direction of my life was decided.