The Hero Has Returned

Chapter 4 - Identity (2)

The monster that had been threatening the ordinary citizens was gone.

The people who had been in a panic finally calmed down.

They supported the injured among them and calmly waited for the rescue team.

I looked down at the viscous blood on my fist.

I'm still dazed.

There wasn't even a sensation of hitting something.

'The moment it touched, it was on the level of just going SPLAT! and bursting.'

The experience of the energy that had surged through my body gathering into a single point in my fist was also a first for me.

I clenched and unclenched my fist.

Now, even if I tried to squeeze out any mana, the amount was negligible.

I turned my head.

Seo Gwang-pal was passed out, slammed into the bus.

With his helmet broken, the bastard's bald head was revealed.

His bald head glittered, reflecting the sunlight.

The power to take out Big Lava in one shot and easily subdue a pro Hunter.

I once again realized the true power of .

However, while it was a cheat-like skill, a fatal restriction also existed.

Ding.

[ Awakened's Balance ]

: ₩1,076,565,998

As expected, the amount had decreased.

Once for Big Lava, and again for Seo Gwang-pal.

A total of 2 million won had been withdrawn so far.

It was a strange feeling.

What if that had been real money?

I definitely would have felt it was a waste.

In the past, I was a terrible miser.

Every time I spent money, it felt like blood was draining from my body.

However, this time, I am confident that I spent the money on the right thing.

But there was something else that was bothering me more.

Only withdrawals were recorded in the system.

Is there no way to increase the Awakened's Balance?

Can't I receive deposits from somewhere like a salary, or save up my own money?

'...I don't know.'

I wracked my brain, but nothing came to mind.

The 1 billion won I saved over my entire lifetime.

It's like cyber money, but it won't last forever.

To use an analogy, it was like a well that was only waiting to dry up.

If I keep drawing from it, and drawing from it, it will eventually reveal its bottom.

At this rate, that day will inevitably come.

When it does, what will I do?

"......"

In my previous life, too, the biggest problem I faced was money.

'It feels like I'm trapped in a whirlpool of reincarnation.'

Worrying about it wasn't going to solve it right now.

I had no choice but to figure it out bit by bit.

A way to escape from the wheel of fate.

"Excuse me."

Someone spoke to me.

When I turned around, it was the pregnant woman I'd met on the bus.

"Thank you for helping me."

She supported her mountain-like belly with both hands and bowed her head to me.

"I'm so grateful, I don't even know how I should thank you."

The little boy next to her followed his mother's lead and bowed his head.

"If you could give me your contact information, I'll be sure to reward you."

I was a man obsessed with money, but I hadn't done it expecting something in return.

It was an act done on impulse, but it was cathartic, as if a weight had been lifted from my chest.

"That's not necessary."

I could feel prickly gazes from all around.

Their eyes were filled with a sense of awe.

"That person must be a Hunter, right?"

"I don't know. With his face covered like that, I can't tell who he is."

"Seo Gwang-pal is a C-rank, isn't he? To take that bastard out in one hit... Is he a B-rank or higher?"

"No way, that can't be."

This is a bit burdensome.

"Would it be alright if I kept this?"

I gently tugged at the purple handkerchief that was covering my face.

"Of course! Absolutely! Ah, I'll buy you a new one."

"This is more than enough."

The child next to the pregnant woman didn't say much.

He just looked up at me with his bright, clear eyes.

"Mister. Are you really a hero?"

"......”

He must have heard me talking about being a hero.

I'd only said it in the heat of the moment.

Thinking back on it, my face burned with embarrassment.

I gave an awkward nod.

"Well, yeah. Something like that."

The child's jaw dropped.

"...Woooow. For real?"

Seeing the innocent child, my own tension eased.

The hero I admired, Zin Shak.

If I had met him when I was young, I probably would have made the same face.

I bent down and picked up what was on the ground.

It was the character toy in the steel suit that the child had dropped.

I placed it in the kid's arms.

"Shh. It's a secret between us. A hero has to hide his identity, you know."

Watching the scene, the pregnant woman smiled warmly.

The child nodded his head so vigorously it looked like it might fall off.

"Okay!"

A siren wailed from somewhere as the rescue squad arrived.

People started heading toward the rescue team one by one.

I parted ways with the pregnant woman with a final nod.

"We should get going now. My son was very frightened."

The child, led by his mother's hand, kept turning back to look at me.

I raised a finger to my lips.

The child grinned, copied my gesture, and made a shh! sound.

For a while, I watched the back of the affectionate mother and son.

Then, I turned and started walking in the opposite direction of the crowd.

I approached the spot where Big Lava was.

The Hunter who defeats a monster has the primary rights to it.

Big Lava was entirely mine, but.

As it was now, there were no parts or anything else to salvage.

Because it had been turned to mush with a single punch.

But that was fine.

The finishing touch was something else entirely.

The body had been torn to shreds, but something had been left on the ground.

I picked it up.

It was about the size of my fist.

It was a mana stone, the monster's core.

When I peeled off the sticky, dirty shell, a reddish mineral was revealed.

Then and now, mana stones are a precious resource.

They are used as a key material in semiconductors, and as a raw material for batteries.

They were also highly liquid.

There were even specialized mana stone exchanges that would convert them to cash immediately.

Naturally, the price was formed in proportion to the monster's bounty.

The market price could be checked in real-time with a simple search.

[[ Big Lava ]] Crisis-Grade.

– Mana Stone: $8,023.

About ten million won in Korean currency.

In the future, the value of mana stones would rise even higher.

This was because not only were they useful, but they were also treated as gemstones in their own right.

Wealthy women, in particular, were fanatical about mana stones with their mysterious colors.

Isn't it ironic?

That the most hideous of beings represents the most beautiful of things.

It truly is a strange world.

I held the mana stone up to the sunlight.

As the red mineral was exposed to the light, it slowly began to take on an orange hue.

A mutated monster's mana stone also transforms.

Just as a four-leaf clover symbolizes good luck.

The value of a variant mutant mana stone was even higher.

The price was usually 10 times the normal market rate.

"One hundred million."

Even after saying it out loud, it didn't feel real.

Around this time in my past life, my annual salary was somewhere around 30 million won.

To earn 100 million, I would have had to endure grueling physical labor for well over 10 years straight.

Of course, the work of catching monsters is accompanied by just as much risk.

What would happen if I actually earned money using my Awakened ability?

Perhaps.

I might surpass the 1 billion won I had saved over a lifetime in just a short period.

I already had 100 million in my hand, after all.

"Ouch."

The pain I had forgotten due to the adrenaline rushed back.

My forehead was stinging, so it must have been torn open.

One by one, the injured people boarded the ambulances.

My cell phone rang incessantly.

—Cap'n. U still alive, right?

—Pleeze answer the phone!

—R u even comin in 2day?

They were text messages from Kkalkki, the foreign worker from the same factory as me.

It was a moment of choice.

Do I go to the hospital like an ordinary person?

Or do I continue on this extraordinary path?

Looking around, I saw a CCTV camera installed on a utility pole.

I still hadn't registered as an Awakened.

I didn't have a Hunter's license either.

However, there's no law that says a civilian can't beat up a monster.

There were a considerable number of skilled Hunters who worked as freelancers.

But attacking a Hunter is strictly illegal.

On top of that, I messed with the notoriously troublesome Dio Guild, so it probably wouldn't be easy to get away with this quietly.

According to rumors, the Dio Guild punished their opponents with thorough retaliation.

Still, I didn't have the slightest intention of turning myself in peacefully.

I was just gratified that I got to take care of a bastard I couldn't stand looking at with my own two hands.

'Bring it on.'

I covered my face, so if I'm lucky, I might be able to avoid exposing my identity.

"Hmm."

For now, should I try to run as far as I can?

I turned my back to the CCTV and slipped into a side street.

When I came out onto a main road, people were pouring out of a subway exit.

I naturally blended into the crowd.

I untied the purple handkerchief that was covering my face and wiped the blood flowing from my forehead.

Mixing into the throng of people in the city, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

There is something I learned to the very bone through my past life.

That the world doesn't care about me.

Whether my grandmother, who couldn't even get proper treatment because we were poor, died of cancer.

Or my younger brother was murdered by a Villain.

No one cared about my suffering.

Having died and come back to life, I now understand.

Money was a mirage.

A banknote, in and of itself, is nothing more than a piece of paper.

And 1 billion was nothing more than a numbers game printed in a bankbook.

However, once it passes through the system of capitalism, the story changes.

The warm beef and radish soup my grandmother used to make would be impossible without money, and you needed money to get even a semi-basement apartment.

If I had been rich, my family would never have been exposed to all sorts of dangers.

Because then I'd be able to freely employ Hunters or bodyguards.

Therefore, in this life, I must become rich.

To protect myself and my family, without being swayed by others.

Just working myself to death for 30 years is inefficient.

Let's go for an easier, faster way.

How?

I was so afraid of losing money that I never invested in anything at all.

I foolishly only saved money until I had 1 billion won.

Although I had some faint memories of stocks and cryptocurrency.

They were useless since the market had collapsed after the Gates opened.

Should I become a Hunter and earn money?

That's not a bad idea either, but.

There was a better plan.

In my past life, all I ever did was endure and persevere.

Steadfastly, for 30 years.

Come rain or come shine.

Even on days when I was burning up with a high fever, I never took a day off work.

My workplace, where I cried, laughed, and despaired.

The answer was right there.

I checked the large clock on a high-rise building.

I've been delayed somehow.

I'm late, but I decided to take the fastest route to work.

"Taxi!"

I held out my hand, but it was no use.

Forget a taxi, perhaps because of the Big Lava commotion, this road was also completely jammed.

What should I do?

As I was pondering, I heard a loud noise.

OONTS-OONTS! OONTS-OONTS!!!

It was music blaring from a motorcycle ridden by a delivery man waiting at a red light.

It was tuned so gaudily that despite it being broad daylight, multicolored LED lights were flashing.

The driver's forearms were covered in tattoos.

Our eyes met.

"What are you looking at?"

He scowled, as if he thought I was trying to pick a fight.

I ignored him and waved my hand in the air, trying to hail a taxi.

The delivery man saw me, then turned off his engine.

"Hey. Are you a Hunter?”

Blood was trickling down my forehead, and the work clothes I was wearing were filthy with pieces of the monster's corpse.

My fist was covered in green blood.

It was more than enough to be mistaken for a Hunter.

I didn't give much of a reply, and he took it as a confirmation.

"The variant monster that popped up in Eunpyeong-gu. You're the one who took it down, right? I heard it on a news flash."

He tapped the Bluetooth earphone in his ear.

"Hop on. I'll give you a ride."

I wanted to ask why.

But I decided to hear the answer later.

I got on the back seat of the motorcycle.

"Where to?"

"The Ilsan Hunter Industrial Complex. And the faster the better."

The delivery man smirked and said.

"You know what? I'm the third fastest in Eunpyeong-gu."

"What about the first and second?"

"They're all dead."

He yanked the handlebars, and as my body was thrown back, the motorcycle shot forward.